Anitha is the first Chenchu girl to clear Intermediate from her village now aims to become a teacher at Chench colony, Chandampet mandal in Nalgonda district. Photo: Singam Venkataramana / The Hindu
By clearing the Intermediate exam, Dasari Anitha has not only become the first girl from Chenchugudem to do so, but also an inspiration to other tribal girls
Dasari Anitha may be no Malala Yousufzai, but her achievement has left the whole Chenchu tribal habitation in Chenchugudem ecstatic. The 18-year-old has cleared her Intermediate examination, a feat no girl from the Chenchu tribal village has ever accomplished.
Anitha scored 671 marks out of a total of 1,000, something the villagers say would encourage girl education among Chenchu families.
Located in Timmapur Panchayat under the Chandampet mandal, the 42-house exclusive Chenchu habitation had never sent a girl to college until Anitha was admitted to the Tribal Welfare Residential Education Societies’ College in Damarcherla mandal two years ago (the Biology-Physics-Chemistry group).
The previous highest qualification was that of a girl who had studied up to the class 7, says Anjaiah, Anitha’s father. “But she was married off at a very tender age,” he said.
However, things have changed after Anitha went to college, he said. Twelve girls have since been admitted to the Mini Gurukulam in Chandampet to classes 5, 6 and 8.
Anitha told The Hindu that she aimed to become a teacher after completing her two-year Teacher Training Course (TTC).
Her mother Eedamma said the family was elated at her achievement and was looking forward to seeing Anitha become a teacher. She hoped Anitha’s achievement would inspire her three younger siblings.
The Chenchu couple cultivates various crops in their two-acre land, but that still leaves them little for two square meals a day for their six-member family.
The Chenchu habitation has appealed to the government to provide Anitha a TTC admission and guide her to become a teacher as her achievement could provide a boost to girl education not only in the nine tribal habitations of Chandampet mandal, but also in Chenchu families living in adjoining Nallamala forest.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by Staff Reporter / Chandampet (Nalgonda Dt.) – July 09th, 2014
One of the most lasting legacies of the Deccan has been the water management policy formulated by the Kakatiya dynasty, which relied mainly on small tanks for its irrigation and drinking water requirements. There was a time when the Telangana countryside boasted of thousands of tanks which ensured a perennial supply of water for settlements across the region. The Qutub Shahi rulers continued the practice by adding numerous tanks of their own, especially in the areas abutting the citadel at Golconda. A majority of those tanks continued to serve the population till post-reorganisation exploitation of the region’s resources led to their being either rendered dry or unusable due to pollution.
Following the great floods of 1908, Mahboob Ali Khan, the then Nizam of Hyderabad, sought long-term and effective solutions to the perennial inundation brought on by a recalcitrant Musi. Initiating the process of ‘improvement’ with a search for the right person to handle the future planning of Hyderabad, the Nizam refused the recommendations of Lord Curzon in offering the services of Sir Michel Esthesol, director general of irrigation, Government of India. Ignoring the availability of T D Mackenzie, chief engineer of the Nizam’s Dominions, he chose the native expert Sir M Visvesvarayya for the job. This was not just a pointed snub at the British, who had already antagonized the Nizam with their unreasonable attitude in dealing with the state, but an informed decision if one takes into account the renowned engineer’s role in influencing policy at the irrigation commission. Visvesvarayya’s ingenious flood control proposal for Hyderabad led to the creation of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, the two ‘balancing tanks’ located upstream of the city. The twin reservoirs, based on the Kakatiya model, served the dual purpose of taming the Musi and at the same time providing an assured water supply to the city.
It is said that 16 villages were submerged to create this sprawling lake, which once spread over 45 square kilometres. The painful displacement of ancient settlements was, however, amply justified by the immediately-apparent benefits of the scheme. Foremost among these was the delivery of safe potable drinking water directly to homes.
Popularly known as Gandipet, Osman Sagar has found a unique place in the hearts of a grateful public, who swear by the curative properties of its waters. It is claimed that the Gandipet waters provide a panacea for almost all known ailments. No wonder then that Gandipet ka Pani, along with the equally notorious Hyderabadi Biryani, has been traditionally blamed for luring visitors into settling down in the city once they acquire a taste for these two cherished commodities.
Understandably, the Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan remained ever suspicious of Gandipet water, refusing to drink even a single drop from the reservoir named after him! This abhorrence is generally believed to have stemmed from an ingrained preference for the waters of Bam Rukn-ud Dowla, the traditional source of drinking water for Hyderabadi Royalty. The fact that the Nizam never let his personal preferences stand in the way of progress is abundantly manifest in the fact that King Kothi remained unconnected to the state-of-the-art water supply and sewerage network that was commissioned for the city. There is a popular belief that this resolute stand against modernisation arose due to an assurance given by the Nizam to his palace staff that change would not deprive them of their jobs.
Hyderabad was once famous for its gardens and the suburbs of the city were referred to as the ‘Baghaat’ or Garden district. However, by the time of the 1908 floods, most of the historic water bodies in the city and its periphery had been commandeered to cater to the drinking water requirements and minor cultivation needs. The lush gardens of Hyderabad were but a distant memory. With the two major reservoirs providing for the water needs of the city, older water bodies were free to cater to parks and gardens proposed under the city improvement scheme. In certain areas, lakebeds were to be drained and reused as open spaces and parks. Though the implementation of CIB proposals was abandoned post re-organisation, the Hussainsagar continued to irrigate the gardens of Osmania University and downstream localities till industrial effluents rendered it into a cesspool.
The proposal of the Telangana government in favour of protecting lakes is a welcome move and signals a return to the maliciously abandoned schemes of the CIB. Emulating the Kakatiyan legacy bore fruit during the Asaf Jahi period, especially during the reigns of the last two Nizams. Revisiting Visvesvarayya’s proposals and reverting to traditional water management systems will undoubtedly prove to be immensely beneficial for Telangana.
The writer is a well-known conservation activist.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / by Sajjad Shahid, TNN / July 06th, 2014
Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad:
Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which took complete control of the Legislative Council and won the Chairman’s post, has made an equally stellar performance in the corporation and municipal elections.
It has bagged the entire three Mayors’ posts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Ramagundem municipal corporations. It also won 23 municipalities, followed by the Congress 17, Telugu Desam 4, BJP 3, MIM 2 and Independent 1 in the state.
Elections were held for 50 of the 52 municipalities. Elections to Nalgonda and Suryapet chairpersons’ posts have been postponed.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, closely monitored the elections and put IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, irrigation minister T. Harish Rao and other ministers, MPs and MLAs to oversee the polls across Telangana.
In fact, the Chief Minister asked several ministers, MPs and Legislators who planned to attend the ATA convention in the US, to cancel their visits and focus on the polls. “The TRS is moving forward towards making a Golden Telangana. People have reposed faith in the TRS and the Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, yet again. We will develop all the municipalities, ensure basic and modern amenities un-der the leadership of KCR,” said B. Vinod Kumar, the TRS MP and politburo member.
Mr Vinod Kumar said the state government would strive to ensure some cities in Telangana to be among the 100 major cities planned by the Modi government.
“The Chief Minister would certainly take up the matter with the Modi government to include some cities in Telangana for focussed development and make it like one of the international cities,” he said.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Policits / by DC Correspondent / July 04th, 2014
Kushagra Mohan of Hyderabad who won the silver medal in the under-10 category of the Asian Youth chess championship in Tashkent. / by Arrangement / The Hindu
Kushagra Mohan clinches silver medal in the Asian Youth Chess Championship in Tashkent.
Kushagra Mohan, a fifth standard student of Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, provided a silver lining when he clinched the silver medal in the just-concluded Asian Youth Chess Championship in Tashkent (Uzbekistan).
The city boy won the medal in the under-10 category representing India, which incidentally is his second after his bronze in the same event last year. Coached by Rama Raju, Kushagra, who is a Candidates Master now, is already dreaming big and his next big event is the World Youth Chess Championship in Durban (South Africa) this September.
“My confidence level is high after the Tashkent silver. I hope to keep improving,” he said. Ever since his bronze in the 2011 national under-seven championship in Pune, Kushagra has been making a slow and steady progress which was evident when he won the Asian Schools Championship silver the same year.
With father Rajesh Mohan, a businessman, and mother Meena encouraging him to the hilt, Kushagra, who idolises the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen, is in the mood to script a few more success stories in the world of chess.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – July 02nd, 2014
Picture for representational purpose (Photo: DC/File)
Vijayawada:
After dividing the police force, the trained sniffer dogs were divided between the two states. Apart from making the sniffer and tracker dogs stationed in each region to stay put, the intelligence security wing dogs were also distributed. According to ISW officials, AP got 10 sniffer dogs while Telangana got eight based on the population.
DSP of dog training academy at Moinabad K. Subrahmanyam said, “The dog squads are divided, but the training academy is the same. We have 40 dogs being trained in our academy and they will be inducted to the police force as per the earlier requests. We already have five attacker dogs of Belgian Malinois with Octopus the anti-terror force.
In the present batch that is undergoing training, we have five more Belgian Malinois being trained.” However, the requirement for sniffer and tracker dogs from the districts has been increasing. In Machilipatnam on Thursday a sniffer dog died and police cremated it with the official salute. “Several dogs have become old and sick. There are deaths reported from the district units regularly,” said an official.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by DC Correspondent / June 29th, 2014
Art gallery puts up a collection of visuals on the journey of the medium of radio. As the title revealed, it took the viewer on a journey, of how radio evolved with some local attention on how ‘All India Radio’ (AIR) or ‘Akashvani’ came about, since the 1930s.
At first glance, it looked as if it was a typical film function. But the resemblance ended there. Visitors could then see the distinction at ‘Journey of Radio’ a collection of visuals put together by Muse Art Gallery.
It took a while for guests to go up and down the long corridor at the Marriott Hotel here, looking at paintings and other visuals that seemed to tell a story on their own.
As the title revealed, it took the viewer on a journey, of how radio evolved with some local attention on how ‘All India Radio’ (AIR) or ‘Akashvani’ came about, since the 1930s. The collection of 50 visuals was initiated by the curator of the gallery, Kaali Sudheer.
Veteran announcers Jyothsna and Ilyas, whose tryst with AIR is over 3 decades old, spoke of how serious their programmes were in those days when there was no television. “While officially, our duty hours were 7 hours only, we would normally spend 10 hours and sometimes, during important occasions, it would go up to 15 hours too,” said Ilyas.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – July 01st, 2014
Princess Faizunnisa Begum, the eldest daughter-in-law of the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, died here on Friday. She was 92. She is survived by five sons and a daughter.
The princess was married to Nawab Hasham Jah Bahadur. The Nizam, who nicknamed her ‘Faizu’, presented two gold bangles to her at the time of her marriage in 1935. After the wedding, the Nizam dropped the couple personally at their residence, according to Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, grandson of the Nizam.
The princess was laid to rest at Masjide Judi in King Kothi where the last Nizam also rests. A large number of Nizam family members were present on the occasion.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – June 28th, 2014
Swimmers from different age groups from Hyderabad who won medals in the recently-held National life-saving pool championship in Pune. PHOTO: By Arrangement / The Hindu
Swimmers from Hyderabad put up a creditable performance winning four gold, 11 silver and seven bronze at the National Life-saving Pool Championship-cum-training in Pune. The camp’s focus was on life-saving techniques, a media release said.
The young talent, in the age group of 12-17 years, were initially given training in the different forms of saving lives in water. The swimmers were also taught how to respond to crisis calls, with focus on the recent Beas tragedy in which some college students from the city were washed away due to the sudden release of water from a dam.
For the 14 swimmers from the city, who had trained at the SAAP swimming pool here, it was an experience to remember.
“It is a creditable performance given that this was the first-ever exposure for the children, who had initially joined the pool at the Police Control Room solely for recreation. We hope to keep improving in the days to come, given the abundance of talent,” says coach Hajira Abbasi.
“It is a unique event wherein the skills of young talent are not only put to test, but in the process, they are made aware of their social obligation: that of helping the needy in the waters,” says the coach.
Dr Surya Prakash Singh, a scientist at the Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Division of the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, has been given the prestigiouYoung Scientist Award by the government of Uttar-Pradesh. The Council of Science and Technology UP Government selects bright and young scientists below 35 years age for this award every year for the recognition of their significant contributions in their respective area of research. The award has been bestowed to Dr. SP Singh on his contributions in the area of chemical sciences particularly on solar energy research.
Dr. Singh is working as a Scientist at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad. He studied chemistry at the University of Allahabad, India, and obtained his Ph. D in 2005. After working at Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, as a postdoctoral fellow (2006-2008), he joined, as an Assistant Professor at Osaka University, in 2008. He worked as a researcher at Photovoltaic Materials Unit, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Japan (2010-2011).
He has been involved on novel C-C bond forming reactions and synthesis of New and Highly Efficient Sensitizers for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Organic-Thin Film Solar Cells and published over 85 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 5 patents, editor of two books and author of two book chapters. He is guest editor in chief for several international journals like Advances in Optoelectronics, Journal of Nano Energy, Current Organic Chemistry, and Power Research etc.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / by Ch. Sushil Rao, TNN / June 28th, 2014
What gives late 19th century photographer Raja Deen Dayal’s work the acclaim it has received? An exhibition showcasing arguably India’s first professional photographer’s works tries to dissect
LISTENING TO THE PHONOGRAPH: DEEN DAYAL, GHALIB JUNG AND FRIENDS AT HYDERABAD 22ND MAY 1891The palpable excitement of Nawab Ghalib Jung and his friends whilelistening to the first phonograph in Hyderabad is visible. Such naturalexuberance is seldom seen in 19th century photography
Lala Deen Dayal was to Indian photography what his peer Raja Ravi Varma was to painting. As a 20-something civil engineer, Deen Dayal was working at the draughtsman office at the Indore Public Works Department when he heard an ominous rumour — all draughtsmen were to be replaced by photographers. It was 1866. Dayal decided to brush up his photography skills; a subject that he had learnt during his final year in college. A decision that paved the way for Deen Dayal to eke out a successful career in professional photography.
Vikram Sampath, Executive Director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), says: “The heavy Bellow cameras of the 19th century would have been cumbersome. But his photographs are so extensive that they can be the starting point for fleshing out the socio-cultural aspect of that period.” IGNCA is presenting the exhibition Raja Deen Dayal Photographs, a collection of 150 rare period photographs which will be shown in the city for the first time.
Sampath says he can imagine how hard it must have been for Deen Dayal to get people to be photographed, considering the superstitions around the act. “People believed that if photographed, their life span would be reduced.” It was not uncommon for him to break the glass-plate negative in front of the subject after giving them their photographs, probably to assure them that it wouldn’t be used again. But he would have stealthily kept another copy in the archive.
Grand old man
Here was an Indian photographer appreciated by Indian maharajas (the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, in fact, wrote a verse in praise of him) and British Viceroys. His photographs were exhibited to great reviews in international exhibitions. He was appointed the court photographer for Hyderabad (1885); Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, the Nizam of Hyderabad, conferred on him the title Musawwir Jung Bahadur (the Bold Warrior Photographer) and referred to him as Raja Deen Dayal. In 1897, Queen Victoria granted him the Royal Warrant, which meant he could cover the Delhi Dubar (1903). He had flourishing studios in Secunderabad, Indore and Bombay that were operated by his firm Deen Dayal & Sons. And even after his death (1905), his fifth generation has photo studios in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Not bad for a man who was born (1844) in a small town near Meerut.
Luck and talent
In 1870, when Deen Dayal was hired by the Archeological Survey of India, his brief was to capture 78 monuments of Central India. The technique used was refreshingly different. The monuments stood out against the sky as he captured them from a low angle, making them imposing and grand. Some, like the Gwalior Fort, had an extraordinary view of the sharp precipice below the steep path leading up to the main entrance. The portraits of the monuments form an extensive collection of places across India.
Deen Dayal quit his government job to pursue photography when he realised that the albums prepared by him on Indian monuments were a hit with the British officers returning to Britain. Sir Henry Daly appointed him the official photographer for the Prince of Wales’s tour of India in 1875. He started accompanying the Viceroys, Lord Dufferin and Lord Elgin, on their tours. His interactions with Indian royalty gave him unmatched access to their world. By being the court photographer of the Nizam, Deen Dayal secured a generous patron and an easy access to British officers in the cantonment. He was probably the first Indian photographer to have a Zanana (ladies only) studio at Hyderabad which was run by a specially-appointed employee, Kenny Levick.
From glass plates to digital
Deen Dayal’s family had preserved the glass-plate negatives with history recorded on them. Those negatives required long exposures and hours of work. Each comes with documentation of the place and year, apart from the name of the royals or nobles. The commoners were categorised broadly with captions such as ‘Maratha’ and ‘Brahmin’. IGNCA has reproduced the originals after the entire collection of about 3,000 negatives were handed to them by the family in 1989. These were then digitised and the first exhibition took place in New Delhi in 2010. For all aficionados of photography, this show remains the best place to know how it all began for one photographer, arguably the first Indian professional photographer.
Raja Deen Dayal Photographs, 10 am to 5 pm till July 20, NGMA
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Entertainment> Lounge / by Jayanthi Madhukar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / June 23rd, 2014
