Category Archives: Education

Vizag girl makes India proud at int’l pageant

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Visakhapatnam:

City girl Sharanya Mudundi was crowned the ‘Little Miss Grand Sea Intercontinental’ at Grand Sea Universe-2017 held in Sofia, Bulgaria, recently. Adding feathers to her cap, she also won the titles ‘Little Miss Grand Sea Asia-2017’, ‘Miss Popularity’ and ‘Best Interview’ at the fashion pageant .

Nine-year-old Sharanya represented India and competed with children from 30 countries. She also won the title ‘Little Model Earth India-2017’ and ‘Grand Prix Winner Model-2017’ at an international children’s pageant ‘Little Model Earth’ held at Johannesburg, South Africa, in March this year.

Speaking to TOI, Sharanya said, “I was on cloud nine after I won the titles at Sofia. Although it was a challenging task, bagging these has boosted my confidence. The theme being ‘Beauty for a purpose’, there were different rounds during the contest including interview round, national costume round, talent round and evening gown round. I also showcased our rich Indian culture and traditions. I performed yoga in the talent round and it was one of my memorable experience at the global fashion stage.”

Daughter of MSN Raju and M Swati, Sharanya is a Class-V student in Delhi Public School. Balancing both academics and fashion shows, she said that it is the support of her parents coupled with time management that helps her to focus on both.

National Director of India Valentina Mishra, who hails from the city, said, “She is the only Indian girl child to represent India on the global map and to win at an international pageant twice this year.” Valentina was awarded the winner of best director of the year by MMSEA BG, an international agency.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Visakhapatnam News / TNN / July 08th, 2017

Jnanpith winner C. Narayana Reddy passes away

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Leaders, Records, All
C. Narayana Reddy won the Jnanpith award in 1988. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal
C. Narayana Reddy won the Jnanpith award in 1988. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

CiNaRe was known for his use of Telugu in its pure form, and would not be swayed by filmmakers on the use of the language.

Eminent poet, litterateur and Jnanpith awardee C. Narayana Reddy, popularly known as CiNaRe, passed away in the early hours of Monday, aged 85. He was taken to a hospital following health complications and was declared dead.

CiNaRe, born on July 29, 1931 in Hanumajipet of erstwhile Karimnagar district, studied till his graduation in Urdu because Telugu as a medium was not available during the Nizam’s rule. However, because of his intense love for the language he taught himself Telugu and it was only during his degree that he took the option of Telugu as a paper. CiNaRe went on to do a post-graduate degree and a Ph.D on ‘Modern Traditions of Telugu’.

It was the late N.T. Rama Rao, who wielded the megaphone in film Gulebakavali, who gave CiNaRe his break as a lyricist. He wrote all the songs in the film, including the hit ‘Nannu dochukunnavate .. Vannela Dorasani.’

CiNaRe was known for his use of Telugu in its pure form, and would not be swayed by filmmakers on the use of the language.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1977 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992. His compilation of poems, titled ‘Viswambhara’, got him the Jnanpith award in 1988. In 1997, he was nominated as a Member of the Rajya Sabha. His academic distinctions include serving as a professor of Osmania University and as Vice Chancellor of the Telugu University.

Former Governor K. Rosaiah pays homage to C Narayana Reddy in Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: K.V.S Giri
Former Governor K. Rosaiah pays homage to C Narayana Reddy in Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: K.V.S Giri

Among those who condoled with the death of CiNaRe were Governor of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Those who visited the family residence and paid their respects included former Governor of Tamil Nadu, K. Rosaiah, Ministers K.T. Rama Rao, G. Jagadheeshwar and actor Venkatesh.

His last rites will be performed on Wednesday.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Authors / by Suresh Krishnamoorthy / Hyderabad – June 12th, 2017

Telangana boy tops Andhra Pradesh Eamcet for engineering

Education, Records, All

A. Sai Bharadwaj from Kothagudem stood second and Satyam Ralhan from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, third with 152.521 marks.

Ministers Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Somireddy Chandram-ohan Reddy, Kamineni Srinivas and Adi Narayan Reddy release Eamcet results in Vijayawada on Friday.(Photo: DC)
Ministers Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Somireddy Chandram-ohan Reddy, Kamineni Srinivas and Adi Narayan Reddy release Eamcet results in Vijayawada on Friday.(Photo: DC)

Vijayawada:

With 153.96 marks out of 160, Telangana student V. Mohan Abhyas stood first in the engineering stream of AP Eamcet 2017 in the results released on Friday.

A. Sai Bharadwaj from Kothagudem stood second and Satyam Ralhan from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, third with 152.521 marks.

V. Venkata Anirudh from Guntur topped the medical and agriculture stream with 150 marks out of 160. Dogga Sandeep from Vishakhapatnam stood second with 148.67 and Nunna Himaja from Rajamahendravaram secured third rank with 148.41 marks.

Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao Kamineni Srinivas and Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy announced the results and said the government had successfully conducted the examination online and released the result in a record one week.

Mr Srinivasa Rao said AP was the first state to conduct all common entrance tests online.

“The examination was conducted at 124 centres iin AP and four in Hyderabad. As many as 1,98,035 students enrolled for engineering stream and 1,87,484 appeared for the online examination, of  which 1,39190 students qualified with a pass percentage of 74.241,” he said.

Mr Chandramohan Reddy, after releasing the key for medical and agriculture streams, said 80,768 students had applied of whom 75,489 took the test. Of these, 64,379 students passed with 85.28 percentage.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / Deccan Chronicle / May 06th, 2017

Library on wheels for slum children

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education
Reaching out:Children from Jalaripeta near the Fishing Habour reading books at the mobile library of the WNS Cares Foundation in Visakhapatnam on Monday.K.R. DeepakK_R_DEEPAK
Reaching out:Children from Jalaripeta near the Fishing Habour reading books at the mobile library of the WNS Cares Foundation in Visakhapatnam on Monday.K.R. DeepakK_R_DEEPAK

It is equipped with 4G internet facility to introduce digital tech to them

Nine-year-old K. Sai, resident of Peda Jalaripeta, is a school dropout. Apart from helping his father in the fishing harbour, he dedicates three hours in a week to reading books in a colourful van. The van that arrives in his locality every week is the most awaited sight for Sai and many other children living in the fishing colony of Peda Jalaripeta. For, it is this bus that opens up a world of fantasy, scientific inventions and many magical historical chapters before them. Thanks to an initiative by WNS Cares Foundation (WCF), mobile library carrying more than 1,000 books, has been reaching out to children in slums in the city with an aim to bring about a transformation in the lives of the children from the underprivileged sections.

This novel initiative was first started in Mumbai in 2014 and later expanded to cities such as Chennai, Pune, Visakhapatnam and Nasik. With a total fleet of eight vans across the cities, the mobile library has so far reached out to over 8000 children in underserved areas. In Visakhapatnam, the initiative that was launched four months ago has already covered areas like Madhurawada Kalanagar, Pedda Jalaripeta Ferry Road, Markavalasa, Port Area Jalirepeta, Madhurwada Wamway Colony and Jodigudapalem. A teacher travels with each mobile library to teach the basic academic concepts to children. WCF refurbishes old vans and converts them into ‘libraries on wheels’. In Visakhapatnam, Surendra Revu travels with the van to remote areas and turns the van into a mini school by teaching the kids the basics of various subjects.

Speaking to The Hindu about the initiative, Shamini Murugesh, Honorary Chief Mentor, WNS Cares Foundation said: “The idea is to take education to the doorsteps of the children. Each mobile library is equipped with a solar inverter, fan and an umbrella for the kids to spread out. Children are also provided clean drinking water through water dispensers. In addition to this, the van also has a computer supported by a 4G Internet connection with the purpose of exposing the children to the world of technology and giving them access to more reading material. State Board course curriculum in a digital format is given in each of these vans to aid learning for children.”

The children are encouraged to take the books home and return them during subsequent weekly visits of the van, just the way a library functions.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / Nivedita Ganguly / February 28th, 2017

An ode to weaves, crafts

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education
Sizzling: Actor Pranita walking the ramp showcasing the collections designed by students at a fashion show in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. | Photo Credit: K_R_DEEPAK;K_R_DEEPAK -
Sizzling: Actor Pranita walking the ramp showcasing the collections designed by students at a fashion show in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. | Photo Credit: K_R_DEEPAK;K_R_DEEPAK –

Students showcase their collections at fashion show

The mood was electrifying at the AU Convocation Hall as models, with smouldering eyes and sensuous smiles, sashayed onto the ramp. The evening was filled with creativity, artistic talent and fashion extravaganza on Saturday as students of Queenz Institute of Fashion displayed their work in the annual designer show. Organised in association with Kanchi Kamakshi, some 32 students of the advanced diploma and diploma courses in fashion design offered by the institute showcased their collections which were uniquely themed to reflect the rich handloom and handicraft tradition of AP.

Creating a line that caught everybody’s eye the young designers added the much needed oomph factor to city’s fashion calendar. The event created a platform for aspiring fashion designers to think out of the box, come up with their own label and make a smart entry in the fashion circuit.

This year, the students had their fashion pulse on exploring different traditional weaves and crafts of the State. Right from spending time with the weavers and craftsmen of villages like Mangalari, Machilipatnam, Dharmavaram and Chirala to creating a fusion of styles that brings out freshness in the fashion scene, the young designers have gone a step further in their pursuit of capturing a different fashion essence.

“The students have spent more than six months in designing the creations. The main purpose of the show is to provide them a platform to innovate and tell the story of a rich textile and craft tradition of AP through the creations. Showcasing their work in the public domain gives them exposure,” said D. Satyaveni, faculty of the institute. The collection was showcased in groups which included cocktail wear, street wear, western party wear, indo-western, traditional drapes and saris. The Indo western collection designed by Sandhya, Padma and Deepti Patnaik was an ode to Dharmavaram silk. Draped in a bright orange and maroon ensemble, actor Pranita was the show-stopper of the sequence.

The team of young designers Sravani, Nilima, Nirisha and Anisha brought out a cocktail wear designing dresses with the traditional Uppada fabric and crochet. Designers Manisha, Sirisha, Jai and Shanti Priya took the Kalamkari prints of Machilipatnam and designed it in Khadi. Street wear got a fresh look with a fusion of Khadi and Venkatgiri. The collections were fused with Kondapalli toys in handbags and footwear, which are worth a mention.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / Nivedita Ganguly / Visakhapatnam – February 25th, 2017

Visakhapatnam gets public botanical garden

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

Visakhapatnam :

The city’s first non-private tropical botanical garden has been developed in Andhra University at the botany department block under the watchful eyes of professors J Venkateswarulu, BS Rao and MOP Iyengar.

Way back in 1946, the trio initiated plant growth in the department and specifically scourged the tropical region of north-coastal AP for rare specimens such as Red Sanders. Even today, the garden can be seen in all its full splendour, especially in the courtyard area and is still very well preserved.
However, AU which was once a green haven is now being converted into a haven for ornamental plants which do not even belong to the sub-continent.

The old botanical garden though tiny has retained its charm with more than 40 species of tropical plants and trees.

“The botanical garden in AU is probably the first non-private botanical garden in the city. A lot of people do not realise that till then, Vizag had a whole lot of private garden residences full of exotic tropical plants. However, there was none which could have truly belonged to the public,” professor P Venkateswarulu  said.

After cyclone Hudhud in October 2014, a lot of replanting work was done mainly because much of the old trees such as Red-Sanders and Sweet Tamarind took a heavy beating and had to be replanted again. Regarding the damage done, sources in the department said, “The damage was huge all across the district. However, the botanical garden is back on track.”

Way back in 1946, professors J Venkateswarulu, BS Rao and MOP Iyengar initiated plant growth in the botany department and specifically scourged the tropical region of north-coastal AP for rare specimens such as Red Sanders. Even today, the garden can be seen in all its full splendour, especially in the courtyard area and is still very well preserved

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Visakhapatnam News / by Venkatesh Bayyal / TNN / February 26th, 2017

GIET students selected as Stanford varsity Innovation Fellows

Education, Records, All, World Opinion
Achievers: The students selected for Stanford University Innovation Fellow programme with their certificates in Rajamahendravaram on Wednesday.
Achievers: The students selected for Stanford University Innovation Fellow programme with their certificates in Rajamahendravaram on Wednesday.

They will leave for U.S. on March 6 for a six-week programme

Three girls and a boy studying third year and second year engineering in the Godavari Institute of Engineering and Technology (GIET) have been selected for the Stanford University Innovation Fellows (UIF) programme. They are part of 224 students from 58 higher educational institutions from seven countries, who have been named University Innovation Fellows.

Rachana Parupudi (III ECE), Grushaker Sahani (III CSE), Sundari Jahnavi (II CSE) and M.V.S Sidhartha (III ECE) have been selected under the UIF programme and they are bound to leave for the U.S. on March 6 for a six-week programme.

Academic Dean Varaparasad said the programme empowers Fellows work to ensure that their peers gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to compete in the economy of the future.

Prof. Varaprasad said during the training, Fellows learn how to analyse their campus innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems and understand the needs of stakeholders to uncover opportunities to enrich the educational opportunities for their peers.

He said that they became change agents and also co-designers of the education experience as they create better educational environment for others.

The the total training programme is 13 weeks and after completing first six weeks, the students will be called for one week and in last another six weeks training will be given to them.

The faculty of computer science and electronics gave online training with the support of team from Stanford to the students with the support of Google and AP State Skill Development Corporation. After competing globally, GIET students stood second and were selected to the UIF programme.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Rajamahendravram / February 23rd, 2017

Face-to-face with writer of a lesson

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration /Positive News and Features
Telugu writer and traveller Dasari Amarendra with the students of the Government Tribal Welfare Boys High School at Bodlanka in East Godavari district. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Telugu writer and traveller Dasari Amarendra with the students of the Government Tribal Welfare Boys High School at Bodlanka in East Godavari district. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Students ask him background of the story

It was a pleasant surprise for the students of Class X at the Government Tribal Welfare Boys High School in the agency village Bodlanka, when they got a chance to interact with a writer, whose short-story was part of their syllabus. They posed him a series of questions ranging from the background of the short-story to the lifestyle of the writer during a session that lasted for about an hour. Some of the students even wanted to have a photograph with him. Amazed by their response, the writer also conducted a session on simple methods of learning English.

Dasari Amarendra, a retired engineer-cum-manager from the Bharat Electronics Limited by profession and a writer and traveller by passion, visited the school the other day, located about 70 km from Maredumilli, along with his friends and spent a few hours with the students. In the early 1990’s, he had translated a story for the National Book Trust and a portion of it had been made part of the State government’s syllabus.

During his interaction with headmaster Balu Reddy, Mr. Amarendra mentioned about the lesson ‘Chitragreevamu’ and expressed his desire to meet the students who learnt his story of a pigeon in their classroom.

It took a few minutes for the students to understand the fact that the man in front of them was the one who penned the lesson in the Telugu textbook. “By the time of writing this story, did you know that children would read it for years and answer questions on it in their exams?” asked Ganapathi Reddy, while his friends asked the writer’s intention in penning the story, duration and the immediate response from the readers.

Mr. Amarendra said he had never expected that his translation would become part of the curriculum and he would meet the students one day. Having been impressed with the enthusiasm of the children, Mr. Amarendra enquired with Mr. Balu Reddy about the pupils’ interest in other subjects. After coming to know that the students feel English as a tough nut to crack, he taught them simple methods of learning the foreign language. “The way the residential school is being managed is just amazing and the children here are very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. They promised me that they would speak to me only in English by the Independence Day-2018 and invited me as their special guest of the function,” Mr. Amarendra shared his joy with The Hindu.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by K.N. Murali Sankar Maredumilli (East Godavari Dist.)

Andhra medical college research on antibiotics shows promise

Education, Science & Technology

Visakhapatnam :

The superbug or multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria has become a challenge for doctors and curse for patients worldwide. As a result of misuse or over-usage of antibiotics to kill bacteria, certain bacteria became resistant to many drugs or antibiotics, and cannot be destroyed by antibiotic medicines even with combination of two or more drugs administered by doctors. Therefore, research is now focussed on evaluating the efficacy of non-antibiotics to treat MDR bacteria.

In this regard, the microbiology department of Andhra Medical College (AMC) has undertaken an interesting and much-needed research on non-antibiotics to counter threats from superbugs and thereby reverse the antibiotic resistance.

In a research titled ‘Reversal of Methicillin Resistance in MRSA by Thioridazine’ (MRSA is the name of the bacteria Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus while Thioridazine is the name of the non-antibiotic drug) undertaken by researcher Dr Ramakrishna Reddi under the guidance of Dr Professor N Lakshmi, drugs such as Thioridazine and other non-antibiotics are showing promising results against MRSA superbug and can also be effective for treatment of MDR Tuberculosis after further research and clinical trials.

“Bacteria multiply very rapidly. For example, 100 E Coli bacteria can become one million within six hours or so. Antibiotics are used as medicines to kill the disease causing bacteria but if in the million new bacteria, one or two mutates or changes, then these may not get killed by the antibiotics or drugs prescribed by doctors and develop into drug resistant bacteria. Sometimes, to counter drug resistance, the doctor treats the patient using combination of two or more antibiotics. But even then, the drug resistant bacteria may become resistant to the combination drugs and treatment would fail. Such bacteria, which develops resistance against combination drugs, are called MDR bacteria or superbugs,” explained researcher Dr Ramakrishna Reddi.

When the bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, treatment fails (as the bacteria doesn’t get killed by the medicines). But with reversal of antibiotic resistance, these bacteria lose their resistance and become sensitive to antibiotics again and thus treatment would be successful (the bacteria would successfully get killed by the medicines).

Elaborating on the research, Dr Reddi said, “When the antibiotics stop responding or fail to kill the bacteria causing the disease, then lab research indicates that non-antibiotic drugs like Thioridazine used along with the antibiotics can enhance the performance of antibiotics. However, clinical trials are still due for this though the research is promising. In itself, Thioridazine is an anti-psychotic medication, which has its own side effects. But isomers of Thioridazine (compounds with same chemical composition but different structure) has less side effects and significant antibiotic profile or properties and pain killers like diclofenac too has anti-biotic profile. With the rapid evaluation of drug designing software, these non-antibiotics, which show antibiotic properties can be tweaked in their structure using computer programmes and can be designed such that they can help in the fight against drug resistance or MDR evolving in bacteria and the cures.”

After one year of lab research, which has been quite promising, Dr Ramakrishna said, he is going for the next level that is structural alteration or designing level. “The structure of the drug compounds can be altered to see what new medicinal properties emerge with respect to anti-psychotic effects and microbial effects and accordingly, we will minimise the side effects and maximise its reversal of drug resistance properties,” added the doctor.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Visakhapatnam News / by Sulogna Mehta / TNN / February 16th, 2017

Three Andhra University students develop mobile app to cut down waiting time in queues

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology
The three students of Andhra university who came up with a mobile app for avoiding long queues | express
The three students of Andhra university who came up with a mobile app for avoiding long queues | express

Visakhapatnam  :

A team of three students ­— P Arvind, A Abhishek and E Anirudh ­— from the Computer Science department of Andhra University have come up with a mobile application ‘Waltz’, to bring down waiting in long queues at grocery stores and shopping malls.

Finding a way to showcase their idea at IIT Kharagpur Techno Fest which was held recently, they stood as the only team from AP in top five among the 20 best ideas selected.

“There were a couple of ideas which crossed  our mind. From our personal experiences, when my mother asked me to get something and I had to stand in long queue to get only one product at a grocery shop. I could see many walking away leaving the product.

Then we thought why can’t we come up with a mobile app and now with everything going cashless, we thought this would definitely attract the public,” said P Aravind, the first year CSC student. Through this app, one can scan the barcode and add to cart.

Once the shopping is done, they can pay the total bill online, instead of standing in long queues. They can show the e-bill in their phone and leave.

“We have also conducted mock tests for a month in a few shopping malls, where we could get good response.

For printing every bill, it costs `30 paise per customer. This can also be saved. Titled Waltz which means dancing to rhythmic sounds, every customer can just buy and pay bills while dancing round the mall,” said E Anirudh, second year CSc student.

“Our parents are very confident with the ideas we have proposed because they too know how tough it is sometimes standing in long queues. They completely supported us,” he added.

While the team will be given one year training and three months exposure to real market under the fellowship by C-Mint company of Bengaluru, these engineers are in plans to go for self-investment which costs `4 lakh.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / February 08th, 2017