By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 22, 2012: The sands of the 950-km-long East Coast of Andhra Pradesh, from Srikakulam in the north to Nellore in the south, is rich with the 'rare earth mineral' monazite, an ore of Thorium, a fuel for nuclear reactors. Monazite is one of the 17 rare earth elements which, as the name implies, are very scarce.
Of the total 21 million tonnes of rare earth element reserves in India, monazite itself makes up for 10.21 million tonnes with Andhra Pradesh topping the list with reserves of 3.73 million tonnes, said head of department of Geology at Andhra University, Prof. C. Kasipathy.
“Monazite is used for defence-related purposes, thorium especially is used as fuel for reactors due to its radioactive quality,” he added. Tamil Nadu stands second in the country with 1.85 million tonnes of monazite reserves.
The world’s rare earth element reserve is 150 million tonnes of which China alone accounts for 89 million tonnes followed by the Commonwealth of Inde-pendent States (CIS), the USA and India.
According to statistics of the Indian Bureau of Mines, while China produced 93,800 million tonnes of rare earths in 2011, India produced only 93 tonnes of monazite.
“The two processing units opened by private parties in collaboration with the government in Srikakulam separate monazite from beach sand — mined for other minerals — and send it to the Indian Rare Earths Limited factory in Chattrapur in Odisha. It is used for defence purposes by the Department of Atomic Energy,” said Prof. Kasipathy.
The Union government is now planning to step up indigenous production of other rare earth minerals which are components of objects we use in everyday life like smartphones, laptops, vehicles etc.
Several companies are foraying into rare earth production in India. Toyota Tsusho is one such company.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Vizag tank to keep India all fuelled up
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 20, 2012: Union petroleum minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Monday said that a massive underground strategic oil storage facility is being built in the port city of Visakhapatnam to help India tide over international crises that may affect fuel supply to the country.
The facility will be completed in four months, Reddy said.
“Around 13 lakh tonnes of petroleum res-erves can be stored in the cavern which can support the country’s fuel needs for 90 days during any global eventuality,” he said.
The government is setting up massive oil storage facilities in underground rock caverns at Mangalore in Karnataka and at Vizag. These would be in addition to the existing stores of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and will provide an emergency response in case of short-term supply disruptions during any global crises.
“I was there at the cavern yesterday and it was a spectacular sight. I was overwhelmed to see such a massive underground storage which is as tall as a 10-storey building. I wish to be in Vizag again within three to four months to commission it,” said Reddy.
The minister was in Vizag to dedicate HPCL’s Clean Fuels Project to the nation. The project, costing Rs 2,200 crores, would be useful in producing Euro IV standard fuel.
Vizag already houses an underground facility to store LPG, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. A joint-venture of HPCL with oil major TOTAL of France, the Cavern Marine Terminal can hold 60,000 million tonnes of LPG storage. Built at the cost of Rs 333.3 crore, the LPG facility was completed in 2007.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 20, 2012: Union petroleum minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Monday said that a massive underground strategic oil storage facility is being built in the port city of Visakhapatnam to help India tide over international crises that may affect fuel supply to the country.
The facility will be completed in four months, Reddy said.
“Around 13 lakh tonnes of petroleum res-erves can be stored in the cavern which can support the country’s fuel needs for 90 days during any global eventuality,” he said.
The government is setting up massive oil storage facilities in underground rock caverns at Mangalore in Karnataka and at Vizag. These would be in addition to the existing stores of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and will provide an emergency response in case of short-term supply disruptions during any global crises.
“I was there at the cavern yesterday and it was a spectacular sight. I was overwhelmed to see such a massive underground storage which is as tall as a 10-storey building. I wish to be in Vizag again within three to four months to commission it,” said Reddy.
The minister was in Vizag to dedicate HPCL’s Clean Fuels Project to the nation. The project, costing Rs 2,200 crores, would be useful in producing Euro IV standard fuel.
Vizag already houses an underground facility to store LPG, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. A joint-venture of HPCL with oil major TOTAL of France, the Cavern Marine Terminal can hold 60,000 million tonnes of LPG storage. Built at the cost of Rs 333.3 crore, the LPG facility was completed in 2007.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Vizag needs 52 more hospitals
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 20, 2012: Government apathy towards public health is shown up by the fact that the city has just 11 health centres run by the GVMC against the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms of one hospital for every 30,000 population.
As per WHO standards, Vizag city with 21 lakh population must have around 70 hospitals. Apart from the 11 health centres of the GVMC, seven hospitals are being run by some NGOs and voluntary organisations funded by various departments of the Union government. “Requisitions for additional hospitals or at least primary health centres by many organisations and social service outfits like us alw-ays fell on the deaf ears of GVMC authorities. Not everyone can approach the single King George Hospital,” said S.B. Rao of the Forum for Better Visakha.
Allocations in the GVMC budget also show that the public health department was always given a raw deal.
Public health was allotted Rs.132.2 crore of the total Rs.1,886 crore budget for 2012-13 a meagre seven per cent of the total budget.
It was Rs.159.76 crore last year’s budget of Rs.1,997 crore and 2011-12 budget allocations were just eight per cent.
GVMC officials too lament at the number of hospitals being run in the city. “We agree that public health is being neglected. Several proposals by us are not being viewed seriously. Nobody looks to be serious on the issue,” lamented a senior GVMC official, requesting anonymity.
NGOs are also furious over the attitude of the public representatives for not raising issues of public health on any platform.
“It is unfortunate that not even a single corporator or an MLA raised the issue for a constructive debate or strived for additional hospitals,” said K.V. Ramana of Jai Bheem Foundation.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 20, 2012: Government apathy towards public health is shown up by the fact that the city has just 11 health centres run by the GVMC against the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms of one hospital for every 30,000 population.
As per WHO standards, Vizag city with 21 lakh population must have around 70 hospitals. Apart from the 11 health centres of the GVMC, seven hospitals are being run by some NGOs and voluntary organisations funded by various departments of the Union government. “Requisitions for additional hospitals or at least primary health centres by many organisations and social service outfits like us alw-ays fell on the deaf ears of GVMC authorities. Not everyone can approach the single King George Hospital,” said S.B. Rao of the Forum for Better Visakha.
Allocations in the GVMC budget also show that the public health department was always given a raw deal.
Public health was allotted Rs.132.2 crore of the total Rs.1,886 crore budget for 2012-13 a meagre seven per cent of the total budget.
It was Rs.159.76 crore last year’s budget of Rs.1,997 crore and 2011-12 budget allocations were just eight per cent.
GVMC officials too lament at the number of hospitals being run in the city. “We agree that public health is being neglected. Several proposals by us are not being viewed seriously. Nobody looks to be serious on the issue,” lamented a senior GVMC official, requesting anonymity.
NGOs are also furious over the attitude of the public representatives for not raising issues of public health on any platform.
“It is unfortunate that not even a single corporator or an MLA raised the issue for a constructive debate or strived for additional hospitals,” said K.V. Ramana of Jai Bheem Foundation.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Vizag artist looks ‘within’ to paint
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 18, 2012: At a time when artists look to the outside world for inspiration, here’s a painter who looks “within”. The works of Ramesh V., who teaches painting at Andhra University, are full of devotion, faith and the theme of unity with god.
“Such themes are not articulated in contemporary art. It’s not a conscious attempt by me to choose them either. It’s my habit to read poetry and I express those lines (which have an impact one me) through my work,” he says.
The painter adds that extensive reading of Advaitic philosophy during the last few years have opened up his views on unity — the oneness of being, which is often reflected in his works. “It was sometime back in Bhagawan Ramana Ashram that I found these beautiful lines of poetry by Karaikal Amma (of 5th century AD) in Tamil Nadu. Karaikal Amma, who was a very beautiful woman, asked the Almighty to make her ugly so that nobody would bother her, so she could devote herself to god. Such was her devotion,” adds the painter.
Ramesh, whose roots lie in West Godavari, spent most of his childhood in Rajasthan and Bihar as his father was a government employee. After coming to know about fine arts courses offered in Baroda, he discontinued his studies at Udaipur. He completed his BA in fine arts and post-graduate in painting from Baroda. “No one inspired me to be a painter. I used to do small paintings at home when I was a kid and would thus surprise everyone,” says Ramesh.
Just back from New Delhi where his exhibition is going on, he says that he used the images of three poets — Karaikal Amma of Tamil Nadu, Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka and Lal Ded of Kashmir, all from different eras — in his work. “These women were not only known for the intensity of their devotion, but also for their loss of illusion and their insights into human existence, which inspired me to take up these themes,” he adds.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 18, 2012: At a time when artists look to the outside world for inspiration, here’s a painter who looks “within”. The works of Ramesh V., who teaches painting at Andhra University, are full of devotion, faith and the theme of unity with god.
“Such themes are not articulated in contemporary art. It’s not a conscious attempt by me to choose them either. It’s my habit to read poetry and I express those lines (which have an impact one me) through my work,” he says.
The painter adds that extensive reading of Advaitic philosophy during the last few years have opened up his views on unity — the oneness of being, which is often reflected in his works. “It was sometime back in Bhagawan Ramana Ashram that I found these beautiful lines of poetry by Karaikal Amma (of 5th century AD) in Tamil Nadu. Karaikal Amma, who was a very beautiful woman, asked the Almighty to make her ugly so that nobody would bother her, so she could devote herself to god. Such was her devotion,” adds the painter.
Ramesh, whose roots lie in West Godavari, spent most of his childhood in Rajasthan and Bihar as his father was a government employee. After coming to know about fine arts courses offered in Baroda, he discontinued his studies at Udaipur. He completed his BA in fine arts and post-graduate in painting from Baroda. “No one inspired me to be a painter. I used to do small paintings at home when I was a kid and would thus surprise everyone,” says Ramesh.
Just back from New Delhi where his exhibition is going on, he says that he used the images of three poets — Karaikal Amma of Tamil Nadu, Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka and Lal Ded of Kashmir, all from different eras — in his work. “These women were not only known for the intensity of their devotion, but also for their loss of illusion and their insights into human existence, which inspired me to take up these themes,” he adds.
A glimpse of Indian culture abroad
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 18, 2012: At a time when most young people today do not seem to care about our heritage and culture, two dancers in the US are doing their best to safeguard the tradition of Indian classical dance.
Navya Natarajan and Anwesha Das are currently in Visakhapatnam to participate in Bharat Nrityotsav, an international classical dance event. Navya who was born in Chennai studied microbiology to make a career out of it. But she quit soon to take up Bharatnatyam, which had been a part of her life since her childhood. “I felt my heart was in Bharatnatyam. Though I tried to build a career in microbiology, I later found that I was not able to do justice to it. And one fine day I decided to quit and take up dance which was a hobby for me in my childhood,” says Navya from California.
Navya is also happy teaching and passing on the ancient art form to the next generation in the US. She says any art form, especially classical dance, could change one’s life. She has been teaching dance for seven years in California now.
“Classical dance, or for that matter any Indian art form, would bring some discipline in one’s life. It would change one’s life for the better. One will be focused in life, which I myself experienced. And I see these kids and their parents so enthusiastic towards classical dance that they feel secured in a foreign land. And I derive great pleasure in it,” she adds. Anwesha’s tale too is quite similar to that of Navya’s. Born in Odisha, Anwesha now teaches Bharatnatyam in Seattle.
“I feel happy and take pride in safeguarding Indian culture by teaching Bharatnatyam to kids. Even parents feel that this is the best way to re-route their wards towards Indian culture,” says Anwesha, who did her MS in marketing and MBA in the US. Anwesha says that she knew that her career was a stopgap option and she took up a job only to be financially secure. She later quit and started exploring her roots. “I wanted to be associated with dance since childhood. Jobs initially were just to settle down. But later I quit and took up Bharatnatyam full time,” adds Anwesha.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 18, 2012: At a time when most young people today do not seem to care about our heritage and culture, two dancers in the US are doing their best to safeguard the tradition of Indian classical dance.
Navya Natarajan and Anwesha Das are currently in Visakhapatnam to participate in Bharat Nrityotsav, an international classical dance event. Navya who was born in Chennai studied microbiology to make a career out of it. But she quit soon to take up Bharatnatyam, which had been a part of her life since her childhood. “I felt my heart was in Bharatnatyam. Though I tried to build a career in microbiology, I later found that I was not able to do justice to it. And one fine day I decided to quit and take up dance which was a hobby for me in my childhood,” says Navya from California.
Navya is also happy teaching and passing on the ancient art form to the next generation in the US. She says any art form, especially classical dance, could change one’s life. She has been teaching dance for seven years in California now.
“Classical dance, or for that matter any Indian art form, would bring some discipline in one’s life. It would change one’s life for the better. One will be focused in life, which I myself experienced. And I see these kids and their parents so enthusiastic towards classical dance that they feel secured in a foreign land. And I derive great pleasure in it,” she adds. Anwesha’s tale too is quite similar to that of Navya’s. Born in Odisha, Anwesha now teaches Bharatnatyam in Seattle.
“I feel happy and take pride in safeguarding Indian culture by teaching Bharatnatyam to kids. Even parents feel that this is the best way to re-route their wards towards Indian culture,” says Anwesha, who did her MS in marketing and MBA in the US. Anwesha says that she knew that her career was a stopgap option and she took up a job only to be financially secure. She later quit and started exploring her roots. “I wanted to be associated with dance since childhood. Jobs initially were just to settle down. But later I quit and took up Bharatnatyam full time,” adds Anwesha.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Jeweller murder: Grandhi was carrying jewels for ad shoot
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 10, 2011: Murdered jeweller Grandhi Manoj Kumar was supposed to go to Mumbai to supervise the arrangements for an advertisement shoot featuring actor Shruthi Haasan that was scheduled for February 17.
As part of his company, Vaibhav Empire Pvt Ltd’s expansion plans, Grandhi wanted to open five outlets across the state and one in Bengaluru for which he had signed the actor for an advertisement campaign, said his close associate and business partner Mr Kankatala Mallik, who rushed to Bengaluru as he came to know that Grandhi had missed a 10 am appointment on Wednesday in Mumbai.
In fact, it was for the jewellery that Shruthi would wear in the advertisement that Grandhi had gone to Jaipur. He was carrying three bags of jewellery when he left his hotel at Bengaluru to go to the airport to catch his flight to Mumbai.
Mr Mallik said that Grandhi had landed in Bengaluru from Jaipur on Monday and checked into a star hotel in the morning. At about 10 am, he had visited a jewellery exhibition and later in the day he met local jewellery merchants and discussed his expansion plans.
Mr Mallik said the cab driver who was part of the gang that killed Grandhi had been with him since he had landed in Bengaluru.
Grandhi’s body would be brought to the city on Friday and will be kept at Vaibhav showroom before cremation.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 10, 2011: Murdered jeweller Grandhi Manoj Kumar was supposed to go to Mumbai to supervise the arrangements for an advertisement shoot featuring actor Shruthi Haasan that was scheduled for February 17.
As part of his company, Vaibhav Empire Pvt Ltd’s expansion plans, Grandhi wanted to open five outlets across the state and one in Bengaluru for which he had signed the actor for an advertisement campaign, said his close associate and business partner Mr Kankatala Mallik, who rushed to Bengaluru as he came to know that Grandhi had missed a 10 am appointment on Wednesday in Mumbai.
In fact, it was for the jewellery that Shruthi would wear in the advertisement that Grandhi had gone to Jaipur. He was carrying three bags of jewellery when he left his hotel at Bengaluru to go to the airport to catch his flight to Mumbai.
Mr Mallik said that Grandhi had landed in Bengaluru from Jaipur on Monday and checked into a star hotel in the morning. At about 10 am, he had visited a jewellery exhibition and later in the day he met local jewellery merchants and discussed his expansion plans.
Mr Mallik said the cab driver who was part of the gang that killed Grandhi had been with him since he had landed in Bengaluru.
Grandhi’s body would be brought to the city on Friday and will be kept at Vaibhav showroom before cremation.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Jeweller goes missing with gems worth Rs 3cr
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 9, 2011: A noted jewellery merchant from Visakhapatnam, Mr Grandhi Manoj Kumar, 47, who was on a business trip to Jaipur and Mumbai, went missing from the Bengaluru Airport on Tuesday morning. He was reportedly carrying diamonds and gold ornaments worth more than Rs 3 crore. The incident came to light on Wednesday morning. Mr Kumar had left for Jaipur last Sunday to purchase jewellery and rea-ched Bengaluru on Monday evening.
He was supposed to fly to Mumbai on Tuesday morning for further purchases. Unable to contact him by Tuesday evening, Mr Kumar’s relatives reached Bengaluru and lodged a complaint with the Airport police. Highly-placed sources said that CCTV footage at the airport showed Mr Kumar had entered the airport on Tuesday morning but had not boarded the flight.
“We have not received any complaints in this regard from anyone,” said city police commissioner, J. Purnachandra Rao. Mr Kumar, who is very popular in the city’s social circles, is the managing partner of a shopping mall, V Square, and owner of Vaibhav Empire on Railway Station Road. A native of Eluru in West Godavari district, Mr Kumar came to Vizag 15 years back and started his jewellery business.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 9, 2011: A noted jewellery merchant from Visakhapatnam, Mr Grandhi Manoj Kumar, 47, who was on a business trip to Jaipur and Mumbai, went missing from the Bengaluru Airport on Tuesday morning. He was reportedly carrying diamonds and gold ornaments worth more than Rs 3 crore. The incident came to light on Wednesday morning. Mr Kumar had left for Jaipur last Sunday to purchase jewellery and rea-ched Bengaluru on Monday evening.
He was supposed to fly to Mumbai on Tuesday morning for further purchases. Unable to contact him by Tuesday evening, Mr Kumar’s relatives reached Bengaluru and lodged a complaint with the Airport police. Highly-placed sources said that CCTV footage at the airport showed Mr Kumar had entered the airport on Tuesday morning but had not boarded the flight.
“We have not received any complaints in this regard from anyone,” said city police commissioner, J. Purnachandra Rao. Mr Kumar, who is very popular in the city’s social circles, is the managing partner of a shopping mall, V Square, and owner of Vaibhav Empire on Railway Station Road. A native of Eluru in West Godavari district, Mr Kumar came to Vizag 15 years back and started his jewellery business.
Errant hospitals to be blacklisted
By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, Feb 8, 2011: After several warnings, the GVMC is now getting ready to act tough on hospitals putting patients’ lives at risk by not complying with mandatory fire-safety norms.
After the tragic fire mishap at a hospital in Kolkata last year, it was reported and highlighted in these columns that many hospitals in Vizag city are also potential death traps in the event of a fire mishap as most hospital buildings lack fire fighting equipment.
Responding to the reports, GVMC commissioner Mr B. Ramanjaneyulu held a high level meeting with representatives of all hospitals coming under GVMC limits. The GVMC commissioner set a deadline of January 26 for hospitals to do self assessment of their buildings and submit check lists to the civic authority.
Though the response was very poor in the second week of January, by the time of the deadline, around 97 hospitals submitted their checklists to the authorities.
Of the 97, around 40 hospitals paid challans to the GVMC seeking no objection certificates (NOC) stating that their buildings have all fire-safety equipment and some are willing to install them in a time bound manner.
Now, with the deadline is over, the GVMC is mulling to wield its whip against errant hospitals. As a first step, these will be blacklisted and notices served on them to create awareness among people.
The list of errant hospitals will also be put on the GVMC website and will also be well publicised.
In the second step, licences will be cancelled and the final resort will be demolishing the hospital buildings.
“We are going to take action in a pragmatic manner in phases and this will begin within a week. We are scrutinising every checklist submitted by the hospitals carefully. Hospitals cannot put patients lives at risk,”
GVMC’s city planner Venkata Ratnam told this correspondent.
Hospital buildings which have four floors come under the GVMC purview.
Visakhapatnam, Feb 8, 2011: After several warnings, the GVMC is now getting ready to act tough on hospitals putting patients’ lives at risk by not complying with mandatory fire-safety norms.
After the tragic fire mishap at a hospital in Kolkata last year, it was reported and highlighted in these columns that many hospitals in Vizag city are also potential death traps in the event of a fire mishap as most hospital buildings lack fire fighting equipment.
Responding to the reports, GVMC commissioner Mr B. Ramanjaneyulu held a high level meeting with representatives of all hospitals coming under GVMC limits. The GVMC commissioner set a deadline of January 26 for hospitals to do self assessment of their buildings and submit check lists to the civic authority.
Though the response was very poor in the second week of January, by the time of the deadline, around 97 hospitals submitted their checklists to the authorities.
Of the 97, around 40 hospitals paid challans to the GVMC seeking no objection certificates (NOC) stating that their buildings have all fire-safety equipment and some are willing to install them in a time bound manner.
Now, with the deadline is over, the GVMC is mulling to wield its whip against errant hospitals. As a first step, these will be blacklisted and notices served on them to create awareness among people.
The list of errant hospitals will also be put on the GVMC website and will also be well publicised.
In the second step, licences will be cancelled and the final resort will be demolishing the hospital buildings.
“We are going to take action in a pragmatic manner in phases and this will begin within a week. We are scrutinising every checklist submitted by the hospitals carefully. Hospitals cannot put patients lives at risk,”
GVMC’s city planner Venkata Ratnam told this correspondent.
Hospital buildings which have four floors come under the GVMC purview.
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