Monthly Archives: October 2016

Sagarmala to optimise logistics services in India

Business & Economy

Visakhapatnam :

The central government’s programme for port-led development – Sagarmala – is all set to optimise India’s logistics services in coming years, said Visakhapatnam Port Trust  deputy chairman PL Haranadh.

Participating in a conference on ‘Cost, Finance, Taxation and Accounting: Issues and Challenges in Logistics and Supply Chain Management’ organised by Gitam School of International Business on Saturday, Haranadh said logistics play an important role in economy of a country particularly if we reduce logistics cost that ultimately lead to positive impact on GDP growth.

He pointed out that the present thermal power plants are procuring coal through railways which is increasing the logistics cost. If the power sector depends on coastal shipping for coal supply, then it would reduce the logistics cost and also impact power tariff. This is applicable to the steel industry as well, he added.

He further said the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill would be of immense benefit to the logistic sector as it would reduce all costs.

IIM-Ahmedabad Public Systems Group professor and noted logistic expert G Raghuram said the GST Bill is a big advantage to e-commerce growth in the country. He suggested that the checkpoints could have been avoided irrespective of the GST through a proper IT-based tracking system.
“There is need to re-evaluate manufacturing and sourcing locations due to uniform taxation,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Visakhpatnam / TNN / October 30th, 2016

A tribe that saves Krishna dist. farmers from rat menace

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment
A Yanadi rat-catcher at Nagayalanka village in Krishna district.
A Yanadi rat-catcher at Nagayalanka village in Krishna district.

If the weather is good with farmers without bringing any cyclones in November, it is the rat that eats the paddy grains and leaves the farmer in despair. Then it is the Yanadi tribe members who visit the fields in winter and rescue the farmers from the crop damage due to rat menace.

Though rat-catching is not a profession of the Yanadi tribal people, they take it up as a seasonal livelihood activity in Krishna district. Rat-catching activity between November and December is likely to guarantee a few thousand rupees of income for each such family.

According to farmers, rats manage to settle in the fields expecting to collect paddy grain from November.

“We should keep an eye on the weather conditions and the presence of rats in the fields since early November. The crop damage caused by the rat is heavy if we fail to drive it away from the field,” say farmers of Machilipatnam.

Bamboo traps

In Krishna district, Diviseema region has a significant number of Yanadi tribal families who engage in rat-catching. “We do prepare an exclusive rat-catching device which is made of sticks or bamboo. We simply place it at strategic places across the field to catch rats alive,” say Yanadi tribal families talking toThe Hindu . They, however, do not wish to reveal their names.

The tribal rat catchers charge Rs. 20 for catching each rat. A farmer is required to spend at least a few thousand rupees on tackling the rat menace per acre.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by T Appala Naidu / Machilipatnam – October 31st, 2016

Four students selected for ‘innovation fellowship’

Education, World Opinion

As many as four students from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada (JNTUK) were among the 169 students being shortlisted by the Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design for the University Innovation Fellowship for the year 2016.

The students were being shortlisted by the prestigious institution from 449 institutions of higher education all over the world. Under this programme, the Fellows advocate for lasting institutional change and create opportunities for students to engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking and creativity at their school.

Colleges concerned will have to fund the students to go through six weeks of online training and travel to the annual UIF Silicon Valley meet up.

Vice-Chancellor of the JNTUK V.S.S. Kumar on Wednesday congratulated M.Srilekha, N.Likitha, B.Sandhya, S.Lakshmi Bhargavi – all from the CSE third year – who have been selected for the prestigious programme.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / Staff Reporter / Kakinada – October 27th, 2016