Art by Nature Borra Caves - Andhra Pradesh Magazine · Art by Nature Borra Caves Consolation Prize...

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Art by Nature

Borra Caves

Consolation PrizeWinner underTourism category inphotographycompetitions held byDIPR for 2016.Photo by K R Deepak,Visakhapatnam

C O N T E N T SForeign Tour FetchesReturns

CM’s DeepavaliGift to Vizag

AP to become'aquaculture hub' inthe world

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NRT journo on wikifoundation 19

CM receives Golden Peacock

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The three-nation trip of thehigh-level delegation led byCM Chandrababu Naiduexhaustively explored alloptions for technologies andinvestments that can benefit AP.

AP to emergeas blockchain tech

capital

Happening Andhra

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Mastercard signsMoU with AP

13Literaryreminis-cencesof GurazadaApparaoPantulu

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14 What’s Brewing InTelugu Film Industry?

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Various developments across thestate of Andhra Pradesh.

Major Govt servicepayments in APDigitised22

Financial aid to newly-married BC couples

Thomson Reuterslaunches two digitalinitiatives

Five investmentproposals approved

StadiArena to createsports facility

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Highway and WaterwayProjects launched

NOVEMBER 20174 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

Visakhapatnam is all set to live up to its tag, the City of Destiny. ChiefMinister N Chandrababu Naidu has been assiduously nurturing theport city not only to become a gateway to South-East Asia but also

a hub for state-of-the-art technology.

Andhra Pradesh Government has been promoting Visakhapatnam asFintech hub focusing on converging finance and technology and tocreate large avenues of growth. As a result, the vibrant city, also knownas Vizag, has become a truly happening place. A slew of cutting-edgetechnology conferences are taking place even as the city is beingtransformed in to a smart and people-friendly metropolis.

The two-day conference on Blockchain technology held recently in thecity is expected to provide a further boost to the Fintech Valley in Vizag.With a target of generating one lakh jobs in the IT sector and two lakhjobs in electronics in the State by 2019, the dynamic IT Minister N Lokeshhas been sparing no effort in bringing the cream of technologycompanies to Vizag. Even as the New Jersey-based company, Conduent,is setting up a 5,000-seater facility here, several Fintech companies suchas Lycos, Kissht, Rubique and Bodhtree have committed themselves tostarting operations, while several more are in the pipeline.

The city of the future is also witnessing a transformation in infrastruc-ture. The city’s resilience and the CM’s resoluteness were evident in theface of a devastating cyclone of Hud Hud magnitude. Now efforts are onto make the city calamity-proof. The latest in this effort is the work forthe underground electric cabling project that will ensure uninterruptedpower supply at all times. The expanded airport with more seatingcapacity and ceremonial lounge, the LED street lights, the street artadding colour to the city, the increasing greenery all around are onlysome of the additions that are shaping the new look of the city. TheAircraft Museum, the anti-submarine warfare corvette, INS Kiltan, bothunveiled in October, are a further boost to the image of Vizag.

Few visitors to Vizag can miss the turnaround the city has beenwitnessing for some time. As the CM continues to focus on making thecity a leading destination for business, technology and leisure, the day isnot far off when Vizag will shine as the jewel in Andhra crown.

Ramesh KandulaEditor

EDITORIAL

CommissionerS Venkateswar IISEditorRamesh Babu KandulaExecutive EditorNaresh NunnaCover PageCM & Delegation in the USA

Second Cover Borra Caves

Third CoverMonth in pics

Fourth CoverAPIIC Advt on Sunrise State

Published by:Information & Public Relations DepartmentGovernment of Andhra PradeshHyderabad - 500 028Ph: 040-23300258

Views expressed by various authors in this issue reflect theirpersonal opinions.

DesignKarthik Beesu

Photos:T.Srinivasa Reddy, VijayawadaPrinted atCaxton Offset Pvt. Ltd.HyderabadEach Issue : Rs 20/-Annual Subscription : Rs 220/-www.andhrapradeshmagazine.orgEmail: [email protected]

ANDHRA PRADESHPublished Monthly In English & Telugu

November 2017Volume:13 Issue:6Salivahana Era 1939

Printed and Published by Ramesh Babu Kandula on behalf of Director/Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Dept.;Printed at M/s Caxton Offset Pvt. Ltd., 11.5.416/3, Red Hills, Hyderabad - 500 004; Published at Office of Director/Commissioner ,I&PR Dept, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Samachar Bhavan, AC Guards, Hyderabad - 500028. Editor: Ramesh Babu Kandula.Ph: 040-23300258.

The City of the Future

NOVEMBER 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 5

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu received the ‘Golden Peacock Award’ underthe category – Global Leadership in Public Serviceand Economic Transformation – from the Instititeof Directors at a convention in London. Naidu received theaward for his excellence in public service. Much like corpo-rate companies are accountable to its shareholders, I amalso accountable to the common man, he said on the occa-soin, adding that the award was areminder of his responsibilities.Giving a presentation at the 17thLondon Global Convention to at-tract investments during hisacceptance speech, Naidu said,“In Q1, 2017-18, AP registered agrowth rate of 11.72 per cent,which is double the country’saverage.” Earlier eminent recipients of theaward under other categoriesare – anti-corruption crusaderAnna Hazare, agricultural scien-tist M S Swaminathan, OdishaChief Minister Naveen Patnaik and former Delhi chief min-ister Sheila Dikshit. Naidu’s wife and managing director ofthe Heritage Foods Nara Bhuvaneswari also received theaward under the category – Corporate Governance and Sus-tainability, the release said. The Golden Peacock Award, in-stituted by the Institute Of Directors (IOD), India in 1991,are claimed to be regarded as a benchmark of corporate ex-

cellence worldwide. Earlier in an investors’ meet, the Chief Minister made astrong plea to British industries to invest in his state andparticipate in building the new capital Amaravati into "oneof the best capitals in the world".He said that he was confident that Andhra Pradesh wouldbe among India's top three states by 2020 and be rankedtop-most on the happiness index by 2029."There are a lot of reforms going on in our state, across au-tomobiles, agro-processing, defence and aerospace and somany other areas," Naidu said. "I request all industryfriends here [UK] to come to Andhra Pradesh for invest-ment, it is a win-win situation. We do business in a sincereway," he said.Naidu also highlighted India as the only investment desti-nation in the world that had the potential of double digitgrowth."India is a great country with inherent strengths of demo-graphic dividend, maximum English speakers and we arevery strong in technology. Google, Microsoft, all these com-panies have one top executive from India and of all the Indi-ans in such companies, one out of four will be from mystate," he added.Naidu received the award from UK Secretary of State forInternational Development Priti Patel, who herself wasawarded by the IoD India for Leadership in Public Service &UK-India Economic Relations.Patel, the first Indian-origin member of the UK Cabinet,also highlighted how her Department for InternationalDevelopment (DfID) was working closely with thegovernment of Andhra Pradesh."We are paving the way for sustained and inclusive growthin the state by looking at investment through our privatesector investors. Our own partnership in Amaravati is onintelligent transport on the future of the smart city," shesaid.The other key Golden Peacock Award winners at the 17thIoD India convention in London included Distinguished Fel-lowships for UK minister of state for housing and planningAlok Sharma and Ahmed Bin Sulayem, executive chairmanof the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).A string of Indian and global companies, such as Volvo,Capgemini, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro,received the annual Golden Peacock Awards for CorporateGovernance and Sustainability.

CM receives Golden Peacockfor Public Service & Economic Transformation

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The GoldenPeacock Award,instituted by the

Institute Of Direc-tors (IOD) India in1991, is claimed to

be regarded as abenchmark of

corporate excel-lence worldwide.

CM Chandrababu receiving Golden Peacock Award from UKSecretary of State for International Development Priti Patel.

6 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG NOVEMBER 2017

The nine–day tour of thehigh-level delegation led byChief MinisterChandrababu Naidu to theUS, UK and UAE has been successfulin exploring the immense possibili-ties for investments and technologytransfer, besides providing exposurefor the sun-rise State of AndhraPradesh. The whirlwind tour saw aplethora of interactions and agree-ments with top companies withexpertise in various fields. Theoccasion was also used by the CM incalling upon the strong Non-Resi-dent Community in both the US andthe UAE to invest in AndhraPradesh. Another highlight of thisvisit is the focus of the delegation onobtaining best technologies forboosting the agriculture sector inthe State. The high-level delegationincluded Finance Minister YRamakrishnudu, AgricultureMinister S Chandramohana Reddy,Municipal Minister Narayana,Advisor (Communications) ParakalaPrabhakar, Economic DevelopmentBoard chairman J Krishna Kishoreand several senior officials.

The CM on his return summed upthe trip sayhing that his three-nation tour was aimed at bringing10 billion dollars investment intothe state."My three-nation tour is aimed at10 billion dollars investment and50,000 jobs. I have this time focusedon agricultural technology as con-tinuation to our focus on Informa-tion and Technology (IT)" he said.Non-Resident Telugus toinvest in AP The Chief Minister’s trip in the USbegan with assurance of coopera-tion to the IT companies comingforward to set up their shops inAndhra Pradesh. During his interac-tion with representatives of variousIT companies in the United States ofAmerica on the first day of his nine-day tour, he attended a meeting inChicago.Most of the representatives of 80 ITcompanies who attended the meet-ing were Telugu people settled orworking in the USA. All of themshowed keen interest to be part ofIT sector development in the State.

IT Taskforce chairman GarapatiPrasad made a presentation on ITCity on the occasion.Around 450 Non-Resident Telugusin the USA have shown their interestto invest in Andhra Pradesh, while100 companies have shown interestto have an MoU with AndhraPradesh Economic DevelopmentBoard. The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment has set itself a target to ensureat least 500 IT companies set uptheir units in the State in next 12months. Meanwhile, Chicago StateUniversity chairman and depart-ment of mathematics and computersciences head Prof Rohan Athelaheld discussions with the Chief Min-ister.He invited Chandrababu Naidu tothe 150th anniversary celebrationsof the university and its graduationceremony (convocation) to be heldin May next year.On the occasion, Rohan promised toshare his knowledge and expertisein Dynamic Cyber Security pro-gramme with the universities inAndhra Pradesh. TANA (Telugu As-sociation of North America) repre-

FOREIGN TOUR FETCHES RETURNS

The three-nationtrip of the high-leveldelegation led byCM ChandrababuNaidu exhaustivelyexplored all optionsfor technologiesand investmentsthat can benefitAndhra Pradesh.

CM and Ministers at Iowa DuPont Pioneer farm.

sentatives who met the Chief Minis-ter expressed their interest to con-struct TANA Bhavan in Amaravatiwith an investment of two millionUSD and requested for necessaryland. CM visits DuPont Pioneer’sglobal HQThe Chief Minister visited the globalheadquarters of DuPont Pioneer, aleading producer of hybrid seeds andgenetically-modified crops, at Iowaon the second day of his US tour.

DuPont Pioneer Vice-President (inte-grated solutions) Brad Lance ex-plained how the company was able torepose the customer confidence foreight decades and it is still goingstrong in plant genetics. He focusedon research projects and businessoperations in more than 90 countriesspanning the development and distri-bution of high-quality corn, soy-abeans, sorghum, sunflower, alfalfa,canola, wheat, rice, cotton, pearl mil-let and mustard seed as well as for-age additives and a variety ofservices and expertise.Naidu asked about the influence of

factors like the quality of seeds,climate and soil management on pro-ductivity and sought to know ways toimprove it further. The DuPont scien-tists promised to extend their coop-eration having extensively worked inWarangal, Guntur, East and WestGodavari districts in the stated areasof R&D.Later, the CM and his team visitedmechanised farms, where theyobtained inputs on utilising the latesttechnologies.

He also met with the Governor ofIowa Kim Reynolds during the RoundTable Conference at Iowa State Uni-versity Seed Park where he spokeregarding the agricultural transfor-mations taking place in AP.Consortium for adopting bestagri practicesThe State Government was keen onrealising the potential of the agricul-ture sector, the Chief Minister toldsenior executives of agri business andseed companies at a round-table or-ganised by the US-India StrategicPartnership Forum (USISPF) at Iowa.

The expertise of reputed agenciessuch as the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation was being availed, hesaid. The Gates foundation offered todevelop soil-nutrient profiles to helpthe farmers achieve higher yield on asustainable basis, Naidu said and an-nounced that Mr. Bill Gates wouldparticipate in an international agri-culture conference scheduled to beorganised in Visakhapatnam in No-vember.Naidu later participated in TDPForum meeting in the Des Moines,the capital of Iowa State.The CM also held interactions withWilliam Howard Northey, Under Sec-retary for Farm Production and Con-servation in the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture. Naidulater held deliberations with Wa-geningen University Executive BoardPresident Louise Fresco on researchin the field of nutrition and healthyfoods.An official release said the CMsuggested that the Government ofAndhra Pradesh, the Iowa State, andWageningen University could form aglobal consortium for taking the bestagricultural practices forward formutual benefit.Naidu discussed the latest develop-ments in agricultural research withWendy Wintersteen, Dean of Collegeof Agriculture and Life Sciences, atIowa State University. Naidu alsotook part in the World Food Prize-2017 programme, where he met ahost of scientists and businessmen.Integrating technology andagriculture The AP government and the IowaState University have a partnershipto develop a Mega Seed Park in


The State Government was keen onrealising the potential of the agriculturesector, the CM told senior executives ofagri business and seed companies at around-table organised by the US-IndiaStrategic Partnership Forum at Iowa.


Kurnool, the foundation stone forwhich was laid by the CM on October9. He said the climate and other con-ditions will help the city become ahub of seed research and develop-ment for India and the State govern-ment would be partnering withseveral global foundations, researchinstitutions and universities for theproject. The Park will have worldclass laboratories and seed process-ing facilities, Naidu said. The ChiefMinister said the plans were also todevelop a globally reputed organicagriculture sector for AndhraPradesh. The US-India Strategic PartnershipForum (USISPF) hosted a round tablein Des Moines for Naidu and U.S. agri-cultural companies attending theWorld Food Prize events at the IowaState University , where the ChiefMinister was a guest. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naiduleft for Dubai from New York, wherehe held discussions with the honchosof the MNCs on the final day of hisU.S. visit.Purna R. Saggurti, Head of the GlobalInvestment Banking at the Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch, Jeffrey Hamil-ton, Senior Director at Pfizer Inc.,S&P Global Infrastructure HeadSwamy Kocherlakota, Magna Interna-tional Chief Technology Officer

Swamy Kotagiri, and Tasty Bite Eata-bles Limited and US-India StrategicPartnership Forum president MukeshAghi were among the dignitarieswhom Naidu called on.Later, Naidu met former NITI Aayogvice-chairman Arvind Panagariya,who is now professor at the Colum-bia University. Nalanda 2 campusAccording to an official release, Na-landa 2, a U.S.-based higher educa-tional institution, agreed to set up aworld-class university in Amaravati.This was conveyed to Naidu by Na-landa 2 founder-president ShailendraKumar. Naidu invited Magna Interna-tional, a Canada-based automotivecomponent manufacturer, and TastyBite Eatables Limited to set up theirunits in A.P.join hands with APNRTThe Chief Minister called upon the25 lakh–plus Non-Resident Telugus(NRTs) in the United Arab Emirates(UAE) to join hands with the AP Non-Resident Telugu Society (APNRTS)formed by the State Government formutual benefit.He requested the NRTs to explore in-vestment opportunities in the Stateand promised to take care of theirwelfare for which a fund of Rs 40

crore has already been created.Addressing a gathering of NRTs or-ganised by APNRTS in Dubai on Sat-urday, the CM said he had prepared avision document and needed the co-operation of all Telugu people settledabroad. He said priority is beinggiven to establishing air connectivitywith global cities and wished that adirect flight is introduced from Dubaito Amaravati.‘Abu Dhabi InvestmentAuthority keen on AP’The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority(ADIA) expressed keenness on mak-ing substantial investments inAndhra Pradesh particularly in theinfrastructure sector. ADIA DirectorKhalil Mohammed Sarif Foulathi gavean assurance to that effect to ChiefMinister Chandrababu Naidu in aninteraction in Abu Dhabi..Naidu said the phenomenal successof the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’sgrowth into an economic power-house was an inspiration for all andhe would like the ADIA to explore theopportunities in AP which, he as-serted, was providing the best of con-ditions for doing business.The country which was perceived tobe just a desert had undergone adramatic transformation as the rulersand the businessmen took the adver-sities in their stride and had come upwith such a model of developmentthat proved to be the envy of others,the CM observed.Naidu said the State had targeted15% growth rate over the next 15years, for which efforts were beingmade with the help of the Centralgovernment and other interestedparties. Focus had been laid on theconstruction of the capital city Amar-

CM with Iowa Governor Kimberly Reynolds


avati and it was a matter of pride thatthe Singapore government was ex-tending a helping hand in that en-deavour.Natural resourcesNaidu said the State was at the fore-front of utilising its natural resourcesoptimally and agencies like the ADIAcould look at agriculture, mining andother sectors as potential destina-tions for their investments. IndianHigh Commissioner in UAE NavdeepSingh Suri and First Secretary DineshKumar were present. Naidu inter-acted with B Raghuram Shetty, Chair-

man of BRS Ventures, and otherbusiness tycoons, over breakfast. Hehad lunch with UAE Minister of Cul-ture, Youth and Social DevelopmentSheik Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyanand held discussions with MubadalaGroup CEO Homaid Al Shimmari, whopromised to explore the opportuni-ties in aerospace, renewable energy,healthcare and real estate amongother sectors.MoUs with UAE firmsThe Andhra Pradesh Government

signed two major deals with Dubai-based firms, which could net a totalinvestment of $7.5 billion for thestate. The AP Economic DevelopmentBoard signed a memorandum of un-derstanding with Aviation City LLPfor developing an aero city hub inAndhra Pradesh with an investmentof $5.5 billion. The Board signed an-other MoU with bin Zayed Groupwhich promised to invest $2 billion invarious infrastructure projects in thestate. The AP government will have to se-cure 10,000 acres of land for the pro-posed aero city hub - the location is

yet to be decided - which is expectedto create 15,000 direct jobs and5,000 indirect ones. The Aviation City LLP team will visitthe state in November to study theproject and will submit a preliminaryreport in January in Davos. State, DP World set up jointworking groupThe Chief Minister requested SultanAhmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of theDP World, a global leader in maritimelogistics business, to make invest-

ments in Andhra Pradesh. In a meet-ing with Sulayem in Dubai, Naidusaid the DP World Group could forayinto the seaports and logistics sectoras AP offered excellent opportunitiesfor mutual growth. The two sides setup a working group jointly led by A.P.Principal Secretary (infrastructureand investment) Ajay Jain and DPWorld Chief Financial Officer YuvrajNarayan.Prior to that, Naidu addressed agathering of the Indian Business andProfessional Council.Naidu then called on Emirates AirlineSenior Vice-President Adnan Kazimand Fly Dubai CEO Ghaith al Ghaith towhom he suggested to choose AP asan integrated logistics hub by avail-ing themselves of the infrastructurebeing created to promote the civilaviation and aerospace sectors.On Day-2 of his visit to Dubai, the CMsaid AP took steps for the establish-ment of aircraft Maintenance, Repairand Overhaul (MRO) and the twoDubai-based global airlines couldexplore the opportunities thereof. Hesaid AP was strategically positionedin South Asia and Amaravati, Tirupatiand Visakhapatnam could beconnected to Dubai. These linkageswould strengthen the ties betweenthe State and the United ArabEmirates (UAE).Kazim said that the CM had played aninstrumental role in getting EmiratesAirline to operate from Hyderabad inthe unified State and promised towork on the proposals put forth bythe CM. Later, Naidu met UAE Minis-ter of Economy and Federal CivilAviation Authority Chairman Sultanbin Saeed Al Mansoori, who cameforward to collaborate in IT andfinancial technologies. Mansoori said

The CM suggested to Emirates AirlineSenior Vice-President Adnan Kazim andFly Dubai CEO Ghaith al Ghaith tochoose AP as an integrated logistics hubby availing themselves of the infra beingcreated to promote the civil aviation.

CM interacting with investors from UAE


AP’s long coastline offered tremen-dous opportunities for players in themaritime and transport sectors, inwhich the UAE would like to becomea partner. Indian High CommissionerNavdeep Singh Suri and others werepresent in the deliberations.UK assures assistance to APImmediately after landing in London,

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidumet Secretary of State for Interna-tional Development (UK Minister)Priti Patel. The Chief Minister urgedher to help Andhra Pradesh by ex-tending best technologies available inEurope and UK. He also recalled thatUK helped in the past too in settingup of Centre for Good Governanceand Human Resources Development(HRD) Institute when served as ChiefMinister of combined AndhraPradesh. Responding to it, Ms Patelassured him of extending all possiblehelp.UK based Santander Bank India DeskDirector Edward Dixon, at anothermeeting, told the Chief Minister thatSantander Bank would extend finan-

cial assistance to exporters fromAndhra Pradesh and importers fromUK. The bank would act as liaison be-tween the exporters and importers.The bank representatives respondedpositively to Naidu’s request to ex-tend their cooperation in developingFintech Valley.At another meeting, Ajay Rajan Guptaof Indo-UK Institute of Health told

the Chief Minister that Health Cityworks would commence at Amaravatifrom December this year. Larsen andToubro (L&T) was awarded theworks and construction of buildingswould be completed by October2018, he said.In response to a proposal from Naiduto set up a manufacturing unit inAndhra Pradesh, Telematic Biomed-ical Services (TBS) Group GeneralManager (Foreign Affairs) NicolaPangher assured him that the TBSrepresentatives would hold discus-sions with AP Economic Develop-ment Board (EDB).The Chief Minister has invited naturalsweetener manufacturing company,

Pure Circle, to take up plantation inAndhra Pradesh. The company hasorchards in South America, EastAfrica and China and is into manufac-turing of natural sweetener as alter-native to sugar. He said that a pilotproject can be taken up in A.P. afterstudying the soil conditions etc. PureCircle CEO Magomet Malsagov toldhim a team would visit AP in the firstweek of November to study theprospects.Looking for the best designs,Naidu tells F+PThe Chief Minister expressed satis-faction with the Amaravati designssubmitted by Foster+Partners (F+P)during his second day’s discussionswith Lord Norman Foster in London.Naidu suggested some changes to theLegislative Complex designs and gavethe nod for those of the High Courtwhile asking for three options as faras the designs of the Secretariat wereconcerned, which he wanted to bebuilt in five towers. He insisted thatthe public feedback should be at thecentre-stage of the entire exercise.He was looking for the best designsas he carried the burden of theexpectations of five crore people andtheir wish to build a city that hadvery few parallels.The CM requested Foster to ensurethat the designs stood out as uniqueones saying it was because of hisfirm’s global reputation that the taskwas entrusted to him and histalented team of architects anddesigners.The whirlwind tour of the CM wasfruitful in broadening the horizonsfor Andhra Pradesh in bothinvestments and technolgies.

UK based Santander Bank India DeskDirector Edward Dixon told the ChiefMinister that Santander Bank wouldextend financial assistance to exportersfrom Andhra Pradesh and importersfrom UK

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The AP delegation with Foster of Norman Foster Consultants


The AndhraPradesh Cabinetapproved a newscheme providingfinancial aid forthe newly-married couplesbelonging to the BackwardClasses. The scheme, namedafter the Chief Minister asChandranna Pelli Kanuka,will be launched in the NewYear.Only those that have a whiteration card or which arebelow poverty line are eligi-ble. The bride must be above18 years of age and thegroom above 21. The couplewill be gifted Rs. 30,000. It is estimated that 40,000 mar-riages will take place in 2017-18. The government willspend Rs. 120 crore.Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has suggested thatto avail this scheme, a minimum educational qualificationof Class X should be compulsory. The Chief Minister alsoordered to make it mandatory to register marriages.The Cabinet also approved a proposal relating to virtualclassrooms in the schools. In addition to this, in the cabi-net meeting held on October 10, 2017, issues like planta-tion, sand, heavy rains, water preservation, seasonaldiseases were are also discussed.The approved proposals are as follows:

Virtual Classrooms The Cabinet approved for the selection of Trigin Technol-ogy Limited for setting up and managing cloud-based vir-

tual classrooms in selected schools.The project will be im-plemented in selected municipal schools. This projectcosts Rs. 160 crore.The Chief Minister directed all municipal high schools beequipped with virtual classrooms by the end of this year.Education department is assigned the task of preparingthe content for virtual classrooms.AP migrants welfare and development policy The Cabinet approved the proposal of "AP migrants wel-fare and development policy" with Rs. 40 crore. This pol-icy aims at the welfare, safety and rehabilitation of theNon-Resident Telugu (NRT) people. As many as 25 lakhNRTs will be benefitted through this.Under this policy, the NRTs will be provided skill develop-ment training, so they can earn enough income. The entre-preneurs among the Andhra Pradesh Non-ResidentTelugu ( APNRT ) will be encouraged to invest in the state.A round-the-clock helpline will be set up for those, whoare going abroad.An APNRT Insulin scheme will be set up. If anybody diesor gets injured, he or the kin will be paid Rs. 10 lakh.Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) landallocations:The State Government is allocating lands to various com-panies with the view to get investments worth USD 6 bil-lion to Amaravati in next ten years. With such allocations,the capital region will become a "vibrant economic hub".With these allocations, famous universities and academicand medical institutes will be setup in Amaravati.The cabinet also approved allocation of lands to theGopichand Badminton Academy, Brahma Kumari Society,Nandamuri Basava Taraka Ramarao Memorial CancerFoundation, the Xavier School of Management, andL.V. Prasad Eye Institute.

FINANCIAL AID to newly-married BC couples

The Cabinet alsoapproved allocation of

lands to the Gopic-hand Badminton

Academy, BrahmaKumari Society, Nan-

damuri Basava TarakaRamarao MemorialCancer Foundation,the Xavier School of

Management, and L.V.Prasad Eye Institute.

v


The Chief Minister reviewed the projects in thecapital region at a meeting with CRDA in theSecretariat. Projects with an approximate cost ofRs 13,000 crore are being grounded in the nextfew weeks. Some projects are a part of Land PoolingScheme (LPS) infrastructure, some are government com-plexes and some are trunk infrastructure. The tenders for the LPS infrastructure will be releasedunder the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), a popularmodel for most NHAI contracts.The concession period will be 13years instead of 17, with 3 years ofconstruction and 10 years of oper-ation and maintenance (O&M).Secondly, the share of the projectcost will be 49% by the state gov-ernment, and 51% by developers(as opposed 40% and 60%). Thegovernment will have an increasedshare, because the projects willnot be making as much as rev-enue as NHAI projects. Lastly, theState Government will give guar-antees to provide for any shortfallin repayment of annuity. Five major projects have been finalised, and their tendersare ready to reach the market on October 11. The total es-timated cost of the 5 projects is Rs 10,000 crore: • Zone 4 of 1,360 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 817crore, • Zone 5 of 5,174 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 2,383crore, • Zone 9 of 6,902 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 3,714crore,

• Zone 12 of 7,838 acres at anestimated cost of Rs 2,102 crore and • Zone 12A of 3,860 acres at anestimated cost of Rs 1,498 croreStadiArenaUK-based StadiArena AmaravatiLimited, which had entered into anagreement to develop sports stadia inthe capial, presented their proposalto create a state-of-the-art sportsfacility, to promote an internationalstandard of sporting and leisure facil-ities. “Andhra Pradesh will be able to hostnational and international sporting events, and the youthof our state will be encouraged to undergo training ofhigh standard”, said the Chief Minister. Officials said that 20 acres of land close to the river havebeen identified near the government complexes. The fa-cilities include a multi-use sports pitch, and spaces andamenities for tennis, basketball, volleyball, yoga, tabletennis, swimming, badminton and dance. There will alsobe facilities for medical science and rehabilitation. The project will be executed in two phases. Phase one (ata cost of 19.89 million pounds) will be the establishmentof conference and exhibition centres, with StadiArenasports area, events park, members club and disasterrecovery centre. Phase 2 (at a cost of 16 million pounds)will include the construction of hotels, self-cateredaccommodation, retail and leisure facilities. The sports area will have a capacity of 10,000 people, anda 4,000 capacity multi-use arena.

Water Festival – Amaravati 2018Officials of UIM Powerboat Racing will be organizing theF1H20 Water Festival in Amaravati in 2018. The eventwill span across 15 days with a wide variety of events,making it an entire dedicated month including celebra-tions and preparations. An MoU initiating the partnershipbetween UIM Powerboat Racing and the Government ofAndhra Pradesh was signed. Lord Venkateshwara AbodeNoted film director Boyapati Srinu presented his ideas tocreate a structure dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara. TheChief Minister appreciated his efforts. He asked the filmdirector to follow up the project with officials from theirrigation and infrastructure departments.

StadiArena to create sports facility

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StadiArenaAmaravati Limited

presented theirproposal to create

a state-of-the-artsports facility to

promote an inter-national standard

of sporting andleisure facilities.

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 13NOVEMBER 2017

Global payments technologymajor Mastercard and theAndhra Pradesh govern-ment in October signed apact to create a “digital ecosystem”in the State. It focuses on imple-menting a 4-pronged agenda for theState.Signed by Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister Chandrababu Naidu andMastercard President & CEO AjayBanga, the pact will see implementa-tion of innovative payment technolo-gies that will help the State movetowards a cashless society as also toelevate its foothold as a smart city.Mastercard, through a mobile app,will help create a marketplace solu-tion for farmers to buy and sell cropsin a safer and simpler way besidesbeing able to get access to credit andtransparent pricing.“The first one is to really work hardin enabling farmers to find access tothe new ways to be able to get theirproduce to markets and connect to

buyers and get paid for it in the formthat does not allow middlemen toget between them and take awaywhat is theirs,” Banga told reportersat the MoU signing.The two-year memorandum of un-derstanding (MoU) ‘Fintech Valley’was inked between Mastercard andAndhra Pradesh Electronics ITAgency (APEITA) to enable a safeand secure digital solution at theState level.Naidu said he strongly believes intechnology and fintech (financialtechnologies). “I think we can dowonders.Technology is going tobring revolution now. I strongly be-lieve that compared to physical cur-rency, digital currency will be costeffective.”The pact will also include collabora-tion on smart city and develop asmart transit solutions to help speeddaily commutes and bring efficiencyacross public transportation system.“To me it (smart city) is about mak-

ing lives easy for the citizen of a city,”Banga said.They should be able to commutethrough multiple ways seamlesslywithout having the need to pay ateach instance separately, he added.Besides, Mastercard will work on cy-bersecurity to make digital pay-ments secure and hold a globalconference in Andhra Pradesh annu-ally from mid-2018 for exchange ofideas.And lastly, the partnership will worktowards enhancing financial, digitalliteracy and expertise through aknowledge sharing and skilldevelopment programme to supporta Centre of Excellence at a leadinguniversity in Andhra Pradesh.“This initiative will provide access toMastercard Labs and Global Technol-ogy Hubs to support the dynamicvision of building capacity to makeAndhra Pradesh a model for digitalpayments excellence,” the companysaid in a statement.Mastercard Senior Vice Presidentand Group Head, Global CommunityRelations Ravi Aurora said the com-pany is deeply committed to Indiaand it will invest USD 750-800 mil-lion over the next four to five years.“Mastercard has a very deep com-mitment to India we have since 2014invested over USD 500 million inIndia. We have a commitment in thenext four years for another betweenUSD 750 -800 million investment inIndia,” Aurora said.He said India is a key market andMastercard is committed both for‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’. Of itstotal global workforce of 15,000employees, about 14 per cent areemployed in India, he added.v

MASTERCARD SIGNS MOU WITH AP

CM Chandrababu and Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga signed the pact.


Union Minister for Roads,Transport and HighwaysNitin Gadkari inauguratedhighway projects worth Rs1,928.46 crore in Andhra Pradesh onOctober 3, and also laid stone forhighway projects worth Rs 2,540crore.The Minister laid the foundationstones for several national highwayprojects in the State and inauguratedseveral others, along with Vice-Presi-dent M Venkaiah Naidu and ChiefMinister N Chandrababu Naidu.The projects include rehabilitationand upgradation of existing NationalHighways, besides construction of a

4-lane bypass to Vizianagaram Townon NH 43 (New NH 26). About 415km of National Highways were inau-gurated by the minister and he laidthe foundation for another 250 kmNH.Gadkari also laid stone for the devel-opment of Muktyala to Vijayawadastretch of Krishna River (NationalWaterways - 4). It is proposed to bedeveloped in three phases - Muktyala

to Vijayawada (Krishna River) (82Km), Vijayawada to Kakinada (Elurucanal & Kakinada canal) and Rajah-mundry to Polavaram stretch ofGodavari (233 Km) and CommamurCanal, Buckingham Canal and bal-ance stretches of Krishna & GodavariRivers (573km).Work on the development of the 82km from Muktyala to Vijayawadastretch has already started. Thedredging began in the shallow areasin May this year, and the work isexpected to be completed by June,2019.National Waterway No 4 wasdeclared in November, 2008 for a

total length of 1078 km. This lengthwas extended to 2890 km by NWAct-2016.Polavaram before electionsThe mega Polavaram irrigation proj-ect on the Godavari will be com-pleted before the next GeneralElection in 2019 and the Union Gov-ernment will render all necessary as-sistance to the State Government for

the purpose. The Union Minister saidthis at the Indira Gandhi municipalstadium.Seven NH projects were dedicated tothe nation and foundation stoneswere laid for six NH projects in theState, the total cost of all the projectsbeing Rs. 4,153 crore.Foundation stone for the develop-ment of National Waterway Four(Kakinada-Puducherry) was also laidby the minister. In the first phase ofthe project, the stretch betweenMuktyala to Vijayawada will be de-veloped. The total project cost is Rs.7,015 crore and the length of the wa-terway 315 km.Nitin Gadkari said it would be diffi-cult to complete the Polavaram proj-ect before the next General Election,but no effort would be spared andthe target would be achieved. "I willdo my level best to complete thePolavaram project on time. That ismy assurance to you," he said.He said the Union Goverment wouldspend more than Rs. 1 lakh crore onimproving the national highways inAndhra Pradesh and it would give atremendous boost to the develop-ment of the State.He said under Sagaramala severalport-related projects would be takenup in the State. The capacity of theVisakhapatnam port would beexpanded.He said the Visakhapatnam-Chennaiindustrial corridor was anothermajor project which would benefitthe State enormously and it would betaken up expeditiously.The Andhra Pradesh Chief Ministerthanked the Union Minister pro-fusely and said he was confident thatPolavaram project would be com-pleted on time, with the Centre's as-sistance.Venkaiah Naidu expressed his happi-ness over the launch of so many proj-ects on a single day in the State. Hesaid linking of rivers was of utmostimportance. State Governor E.S.LNarasimhan also spoke.

HIGHWAY and WATERWAYProjects launched

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Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Governor Narasimhan andChief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the inauguration of highway projects.


Andhra Pradesh Governmentis keeping its promise of de-veloping the VisakhapatnamSmart City on the fast track.This was evident when the AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu made a whirlwind tour of theport-cum-steel city in mid-October tolaunch a series of programmes whichgo a long way in the development ofthe mega city.The Chief Minister laid foundationstone for the construction of a flyoverat NAD Kotha Road and asserted that itwould be completed in 18 to 24months.There were problems even when fly-overs were constructed but it was anew experiment in engineering andtraffic from no side would be affected.The double rotary flyover will be con-structed at a cost of Rs 113 crore andthe contract has been awarded to city-based construction company, VijayNirman.The flyover will resolve the trafficwoes of the public for the past severalyears. According to the Chief Minister,

though several flyovers were built inthe country, they could not fully ad-dress the traffic problems due to somereason or the other. The NAD flyoverhad a wonderful engineering designwith a two-tier rotary mode separatormodel which facilitates traffic of smallvehicles below and the heavy vehiclesabove with pedestrians able to crossthe roads from all four sides with ease.It was also designed to meet the futurerequirement of metro rail.When completed, about 8,000 to10,000 vehicles could pass on theflyover per hour and one lakh per day,according to experts.Naidu said that he has lot of love forVisakhapatnam. Though Amaravatiwould be new capital, efforts were onto make Visakhapatnam as the finan-cial capital of the State. Houses for allwere being sanctioned to make thecity slum-free and setting up of large-scale units, he pointed out.The Chief Minister also inauguratedthe VVIP lounge at the VisakhapatnamInternational Airport, constructed at acost of Rs.50 lakh.

The lounge, constructed in a 4200square feet plinth area has centralair-conditioned facility a provision tohold meetings with 300 delegates,CM’s chamber, an ante room, pantryand toilets.Another programme on the day wasopening of the TU-142 War aircraftmuseum on the beach road which willbe a major tourist attraction in addi-tion to the submarine museum, INSKurusura closeby. The Chief Ministerunveiled a plaque at the museum. TheTU-142 fighter aircraft of the Navy,which was decommissioned after 29years of service, has been placed on aspecially erected platform and it isbeing converted into a museum. Thegreater part of the work has beencompleted, and the museum will beready by December. The Visakhapat-nam Urban Development Authority(VUDA) and the State Government arespending Rs 10 crore on the project.The CM described it as a Deepavali giftto the people of the city.- B. Prabhakara Sarma

CM’S DEEPAVALI GIFT To VIzAGAs part of theefforts totransform Vizaginto a pulsatingand highlymodern city,the Chief Ministerlaunched a slewof initiativesincluding aflyover, airportlounge andaircraft museum.


Andhra Pradesh is set to become theaquaculture (farming of fish) hub ofthe world, said Chief Minister Chan-drababu Naidu. Speaking at an in-teractive panel session on 'Nourishing theFood System' at World Economic Forum'sIndia Economic Summit 2017 in NewDelhi, he informed that aquaculture inAndhra Pradesh is growing at the rate of 42percent and it also has the advantage of along coastline of 974 kms."Andhra Pradesh has achieved 27.7% growthrate in agriculture for first quarter of 2017-18," said Naidu."We have achieved saturation in soil testing.Through drone based cloud technology, weare giving soil test reports in real time forfarmers in the state," he added.

The Chief Minister also said that his govern-ment is engaging with Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation, World Bank, World Food Prizeto draft a strategy to produce results for thecommon man. Naidu further said, "We areorganising a seminar in the state on tech-nologies in agriculture along with Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation in November."He stated that the Andhra Government is en-couraging startups and technology compa-nies for benefiting the farmers and it wantsto implement all the technologies availablein the world for forward and backward link-ages in the agriculture market.The CM stressed the need for concerted ef-forts to accelerate growth in the agricultureand food processing sectors in the country.Encouraging Public Private Partnerships(PPP) is the need of the hour to make thesectors commercially viable, he has said.Naidu said both the State and Central gov-ernments would have to join hands to en-courage PPPs in agriculture and foodprocessing.The governments would have to formulateand implement suitable policies that stimu-late growth in these sectors. Also, the gov-ernments would have to invest huge money.All the stakeholders would have to joinhands to give the much-needed impetus tothe food processing sector, he said.Stating that standalone units cannot survive,he said there was a need for medium andmega food parks to make it more economicaland commercially viable.Naidu said both the State and Central gov-ernments would have to join hands to en-courage PPPs in agriculture and foodprocessing. The governments would have toformulate and implement suitable policies

AP to become 'Aquaculture Hub'IN THE WORLD: CM NAIDU

State encouraging startups in agri sector

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu speaking at a panel session on‘Nourishing the Food System’, at the India Economic Summit in NewDelhi. Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is seen.

that stimulate growth in these sectors. Also, the governments wouldhave to invest huge money. All the stakeholders would have to joinhands to give the much-needed impetus to the food processing sector, hesaid.Stating that standalone units cannot survive, he said there was a needfor medium and mega food parks to make it more economical and com-mercially viable. Over 600 international and regional leaders partici-pated in the summit hosted under the aegis of World Economic Forum inpartnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).The summit that started on October 4 will conclude on October 6. TheChief Minister’s meetings at the summit were coordinated by the AndhraPradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB), a single stop windowfor investments, trade, and partnerships in AP. On the occasion, the ChiefMinister and Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard, signed alandmark agreement, “Fintech Valley MoU.”Naidu also attended the launch of “Mission Creative Million,” a move-ment designed to impact one million creative producers over the courseof 10 years through strategic interventions in the creative and manufac-turing sectors organised by the not-for-profit organization, IndustriesFoundation. In addition, the APEDB, under the leadership ofits CEO J Krishna Kishore, facilitated the ChiefMinister's interactions with business leaders andinvestors in the state's key focus sectors like fi-nance, IT, infrastructure, manufacturing, educa-tion and agriculture.Bilateral meetings of Naidu includedmeaningful interactions with Kulin Lalbhai, Ex-ecutive Director, Arvind Mills, Amit Narayana,Founder AutoGrid, Ajey Mehta, MD India - HMDGlobal, Kanwar Bir Singh Anand, Managing Di-rector & Chief Executive Officer, Asian Paints,Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and ExecutiveChairman of the World Economic Forum,Shobana Kamineni, President, CII and Chandra-jit Banerjee, Director General, CII, Kanika Choudhary, the HonoraryAmbassador of Philadelphia to India and Adi Godrej, Chairman, GodrejGroup.Some highlights of these meetings included Adi Godrej stressing onGodrej Agrovet's intent to continue to expand in palm oil plus invest-ment and development in Andhra Pradesh. Kanika Choudhary, HonoraryAmbassador of Philadelphia to India, spoke about bringing a knowledgecluster in Amaravati with best practices from universities in Pennsylva-nia, United States.Jasti Krishna Kishore, Chief Executive Officer, APEDB, said that the IndiaEconomic Summit presents an opportunity for Andhra Pradesh to show-case its growth engines and development models while understandingthe best practices around the world.Over 600 international and regional leaders participated in the summithosted under the aegis of World Economic Forum in partnership withthe Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).NOVEMBER 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 17

v

Over 600 interna-tional and regional

leaders partici-pated in the sum-mit hosted under

the aegis of WorldEconomic Forum

in partnershipwith the Confeder-

ation of Indian In-dustry (CII).

Five investmentproposalsapprovedThe State Government, at ameeting of the State InvestmentPromotion Board (SIPB),approved of five new proposalsrelating to setting up of industries andinvestments in the State.Toray Industries India Private Limited, atechnical textile manufacturing com-pany, will be setting up a unit on 109.35acres at Sri City in Chittoor district. Thefirm will invest Rs 970 crore and willprovide direct employment to 130people and indirect employment to 520people. The company is expected to startcommercial production in April 2020.Page Industries Limited, an exclusivelicensee for Jockey and Speedo, willestablish a project for garment manufac-turing and warehousing at Rapthadu inAnantapur district. An investment of Rs129 crore will be made in the project,which will generate direct employmentfor 6,420 people. The company will startcommercial production in October 2018,and the expected turnover in thefinancial year 2020-21 is Rs 1,080 crore.Rockman Industries Limited will invest₹652 crore to set up a unit in Chittoordistrict. The firm specialises in alu-minium alloy wheels and die-castingcomponents for two and four- wheelers.The project will generate direct employ-ment for 1,000 people and indirect em-ployment for 500.An IT firm, Conduent Inc., will be invest-ing ₹649 crore for their project inVisakhapatnam. The project includes di-versified business process services andgenerates direct employment for 5,000people.Gouttephone Technologies (P) Limited,an electronic manufacturing company,will set up a unit on 5 acres, for touchpanel manufacturing, at Atchutapuramin Visakhapatnam district. Their invest-ment amounts to Rs 504.07 crore, andthey commit to employ (direct) 300people.

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THoMSoN REUTERSLAUNCHES TWo DIGITALINITIATIVES

In a boost to the digitisation efforts of Andhra Pradesh, ThomsonReuters and the State Government launched two strategic initia-tives. Thomson Reuters, the Government, and Gitam Universitycollaborated to launch a Fintech lab called Innovation AppStudio,which was inaugurated by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu andIT Minister Nara Lokesh. Thomson Reuters is the world’s leadingsource of news and information to the professional markets in over100 countries.Innovation AppStudio will be hosted on the Gitam University campusin Visakhapatnam. It will be open to students, academia, researchers,start-ups, aimed at strengthening the ecosystem. The second initiativewas the launch of Digital Content Exchange as part of the govern-ment’s e-Pragati project. Digital Content Exchange will offer trustedcontent powered by Thomson Reuters e-book software, ProView andlegal research solution, WestLaw and will be used by educational in-stitutions and the government departments. “These strategic initia-tives were only the beginning after we signed an MoU with thegovernment sometime ago,” Thomson Reuters Managing Director(South Asia) Pradeep Lankapalli told The Hindu.While ProView will facilitate quick access to a host of e-books fromThomson Reuters as well as third-parties, WestLaw will give stake-holders access to global and local content including expert materials.Lankapalli said: “Thomson Reuters is proud to collaborate with the APgovernment in realising Mr. Naidu’s vision of building a world-classFintech ecosystem in Vishakhapatnam.” He said Innovation AppStudiowould enable the students, start-ups, and researchers to access Thom-son Reuters Open Platform capabilities, including its flagship financialplatform, Eikon Digital Content Exchange, bring together ThomsonReuters world renowned tools and capabilities that allow stakehold-ers to deploy third-party content, e-books and legal research.v

The Andhra Pradesh Governmentsigned a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) with Ohio State, envisagingfee concession to the students of the Statestudying in that university.Minister for Human Resource DevelopmentGanta Srinivasa Rao and his team met OhioState Education Minister John Carey at hisoffice in Columbus and entered into the pactthat would benefit thousands of AP studentswho join the university every year to pursuehigher education.Under the agreement, students who get ad-mission in the university can save from Rs8.5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in the undergraduateand graduate programmes. The Minister saidabout 4,000 students migrated to the USevery year seeking admission in the univer-sity.The Minister said the agreement wouldcome into force immediately and studentswould be eligible for the benefit from thenext quarter in January (2018). The Ministersaid efforts were on to reach similar under-standings with universities in other coun-tries such as China, the UK and Australia.He also added that three educational citieswill come up at Vizag, Amaravati and Tiru-pati where educational institutions that offerKG to PG will come up.The Minister furthersaid that state cabinet approved to sanctionRs 4,500 cr to provide necessary infra-structure in all the schools in the state.

AP inks deal withohio University


Wikimedia Foundation announced the appoint-ment of Raju Narisetti, a veteran media exec-utive and journalist, to the WikimediaFoundation Board of Trustees. Raju brings more than 29 years of media experience acrossthree continents. He is currently CEO of Univision Commu-nications Inc’s Gizmodo Media Group, the publisher of Giz-modo, Jezebel, Lifehacker, The Root, and others.“Raju has dedicated his life’s work to information as a publicservice. His commitment to editorial integrity, independence,and inclusion is deeply aligned with Wikimedia values. Hispassion and expertise in digital strategy and internationalgrowth will be invaluable to our movement’s future as weadvance our global free knowledge mission,” said WikimediaFoundation Executive Director Katherine Maher.Prior to joining the Gizmodo Media Group, Raju served asSenior Vice President, Strategy, at News Corp, one of thelargest media companies in the world and the publisher ofThe Wall Street Journal and The Times of London. In thatrole, Raju was responsible for identifying new digital growthopportunities globally for News Corp.“There has never been more urgency in Wikipedia’s 16-yearhistory than now, for upholding the values of free exchangeof information and knowledge,” said Raju. “Despite mountingchallenges around the world, rapid innovation is creatingtremendous opportunities for the Wikimedia Foundation. Ihave much to learn, but am also looking forward to lendingmy nearly three decades of global media experiences to themovement, to help engage more digital and mobile audi-ences, particularly diverse young people, and harness theirenergy to benefit from—and support—the vital values thatunderpin all Wikimedia initiatives.”

Before joining News Corp, Raju spent nearly 25 years as ajournalist and editor. He started at The Economic Times inIndia before moving to The Dayton Daily News (Ohio), TheWall Street Journal (WSJ), and The Washington Post. Startingout as a summer intern at WSJ, he eventually became Editorof The Wall Street Journal Europe and later Managing Editorof WSJ’s digital newsrooms. At The Washington Post, he wasthe Managing Editor who led the Post’s rethinking of its sep-arate digital and print newsrooms and operations.A native of Hyderabad, India, Raju is also the founder of Mint,currently India’s second-largest daily business newspaperby circulation.“Raju’s extensive international and journalistic experiencewill add valuable perspective to the Board as we look tobring new voices from around the world into our movement.I am impressed by his willingness to learn about and em-brace the values behind the Wikimedia movement, and lookforward to working with him to support our free knowledgemission,” said Nataliia Tymkiv, Governance Chair for theBoard.Raju is currently the Vice-chair for the Board of Directors ofthe International Center for Journalists, as well as a memberof the Board of Trustees for the Institute of International Ed-ucation, which administers the Fulbright Scholarship pro-grammes. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.Raju joins eight other Foundation Trustees who collectivelybring expertise in the Wikimedia community, financial over-sight, governance, and organizational development; and acommitment to advancing Wikimedia’s mission of freeknowledge for all. He was approved unanimously by theWikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. His term is effec-tive October 2017 and will continue for three years.

NRT JOURNO on Wiki FoundationA rare honour to Raju Narisetti, veteran media executive and journalist,

who is currently CEO of Gizmodo Media Group.

Raju’s extensive international and journalisticexperience will add valuable perspective to the Board aswe look to bring new voices from around the world intoour movement.

- Nataliia Tymkiv,Governance Chair for Wiki Board

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20 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM NOVEMBER 2017

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu hoped that Visakhapatnam would soonbecome blockchain capital of not just India butof the world. Addressing Blockchain BusinessConference in the city, he said that Andhra Pradesh hasbecome the first state in the country to pilot blockchaintechnology in two departments and plans to deploy itacross the administration.He disclosed the state had also created the largest reposi-tory of used cases for global start-ups to test their solu-tions. As the state was leading ine-governance, it was usingblockchain technology to addresscyber security issues.The two-day conference organisedby Fintech Valley Vizag was at-tended by regional and interna-tional experts, startups, corporates,leading FSI executives, regulators,entrepreneurs, policy makers andacademics to explore blockchaintechnologies, its applications andhow it will impact the financialservices industry.The Chief Minister said the state was positioning itself totake advantage of the niche technologies to create busi-

ness and investment opportunities.The inaugural session saw launch of two accelerators byICICI and Mahindra Finance in Fintech Valley Vizag, whichwas established last year. The two companies will bring30 startup companies each here, mentor and finance themto solve the problems.Protecting IT assetsState IT Minister Nara Lokesh, who attended the pro-gramme, said that blockchain is a new era of “disruptivetechnology”. Lokesh said Andhra Pradesh will go beyondpilot projects that have been taken up by the Governmentpertaining to the IT sector. “We are the first state to useblockchain pilots,” he added. Explaining that the technology was required to preventtampering of land records, which had already been digi-tised and placed online, he said similarly, the technology isused in Transport Department to streamline titles of thevehicles.Stating that Andhra accounts for 60 percent of Aadhaar-based transactions and extensively uses technology fordelivery of services, Lokesh said the state requiredblockchain to protect the IT assets.The state government's Advisor, Information Technology, JA Chowdary said that the Monetary Authority of Singa-

AP to emerge asBLOCKCHAIN TECH CAPITAL

Recognising theimportance of

blockchain tech-nology in near fu-

ture, AP Govt heldtwo-day Interna-tional Blockchain

Conference inVizag.

pore, Tata Capital, State Bank of India, HDFC, Bajaj FinService and others plan to set up accelerators.Partnering with 40 banks and fi-nancial institutions, Fintech Valleyhas already created biggest reposi-tory of used cases. The start-upswill work on problems to come outwith solutions and this will becomeintellectual property of FintechValley, he added.The inaugural session of the con-ference also saw launch of IndiaFintech Forum, India BlockchainForum, Blockchain Report AbyWipro and Blockchain Hiring Por-tal.NASSCOM President R Chan-drasekhar announced that as part of its 10,000 startupprogramme, it will set up a 70-seat facility in Vizag to helpincubate startups, mentorship and provide world class

products.The Chief Minister said nine companies were already setup in Fintech Valley while 16 companies would start theircommercial operations soon. Naidu said the Governmentencouraged global fintech companies such as BroadRidgeFinancials, HSBC and Thomson Reuters to set up Fintechacademies, announced $1 Million global Fintech ChallengeAward."We are also in the process of establishing Rs 500 croreFintech Fund for startup companies operating in the do-main and housed at FinTech Valley," he added.$2 billion in IT investments targetedThe Andhra Pradesh Government aims to attract $2 bil-lion of investments and create about 100,000 jobs in the

information technology (IT) sector, the chief minister said.Underlining the need to utilise technology to improve theagriculture sector in the state, he said,“Soil testing is a bigproblem. But recently, Microsoft came forward to do it ona real-time basis,” and announced that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates will visit the state in November to at-tend an event on agriculture in the state.Naidu also said nine companies have already set shop inFintech Valley in Visakhapatnam and that another 16 areset to come. Terming the arrival of blockchain as the“fourth industrial revolution”, he asserted that Visakhap-atnam will become a knowledge hub.Thomson Reuters, AP launch 2 IT projectsThe Government of Andhra Pradesh and ThomsonReuters together launched two major IT projects inVisakhapatnam. The announcement was made at the in-auguration of the two-day conference on Blockchain. Thefirst project is the setting up of an innovation app studioin Gitam University. It will be open to students, academics,

researchers, and start-ups. The second project, DigitalContent Exchange, under e-pragati scheme offers contentpowered by Thomson Reuters e-book software, Proview,and legal research solution, WestLaw.Expressing happiness at partnering with the AP govern-ment, Pradeep Lankapalli, Managing Director of ThomsonReuters (South Asia), said it would greatly help in realis-ing the dream of building up a world-class ecosystem forFintech in Visakhapatnam and for improving governancein the State. It will stimulate research and be of great helpto start-ups and students, he added.He commended the efforts of the State government in pro-moting Blockchain technology which no doubt wouldmake a great impact in future, though it was still in a nas-cent stage.NOVEMBER 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM 21

v

At the two-dayconference,

around 50 speak-ers presented

their ideas pertain-ing to the

Blockchain tech-nology to over 300delegates from 10

countries.


Global digital payments processing company Visaand the Government of Andhra Pradesh, enableddigital payments for various state owned serviceproviders starting from bus rides to water taxpayments under the Vizag Digital Dhan Sankalp (VDDS)project. The digital payment service has been enabled for prop-erty and water tax payments at Greater VisakhapatnamMunicipal Corporation (GVMC), busservices run by Andhra Pradesh StateRoad Transport Corporation (AP-SRTC), tourist locations at Visakhap-atnam Urban Development Authority(VUDA), and utility services ofEastern Power Distribution Companyof AP Ltd (EPDCL), a report inEconomic Times said.Visa also said that the digitisation ofvarious other payments like educa-tional institutions, small and micromerchants, and street market vendors is underway as thestate government is considering mandating digital accept-ance through amendments to the AP Shops and Establish-ments Act. The big push towards digital payment of citizen-servicesis part of the vision of ‘Vizag less–cash city’ initiative un-

derway between Visa and the StateGovernment of Andhra Pradesh thataims to offer efficient services throughbetter adoption of digitization acrossthe masses. Also for the first time,citizens in the state would be able touse their contactless cards to makepayments digitally for services such astransportation and tourism. “Having set the benchmark as the firststate in India to embark on digitizationof government services on such a largescale, we have further raised the bar by extending theproject to cover electricity, municipal taxes, transport andtourism payments. Digitization of transactions will lead toa reduction of costs and improved convenience for allstakeholders involved, as we continue to realise ourvision of making Vizag, India’s first less–cash city and theFinTech Valley of India,” said Lokesh .“Digital transformation of payments will improve publicservice delivery by infusing more efficiency and trans-parency into the system. Today, what citizens want is anew type of experience: one that is frictionless, seamlessand we are excited at the role that contactless technologysuch as Visa payWave cards can play in enabling citizensacross the state. Digitization of payments will helpre-imagining a smarter nation driven by the synergy be-tween citizens and the state and roll out superior citizenexperience rooted in transparency,” said TR Ramachan-dran, Group Country Manager, Visa, India & South Asia. The New Indian Express reported that the AndhraPradesh Government will soon be amending the Shopsand Establishment Act to facilitate digital payments.Theamendment will help enable digital payments for govern-ment and business segments using the latest technologiesin Quick Response (QR) code and Near-Field Communica-tion (NFC) and make payments more efficient for busi-nesses.

Major Govt servicepayments in AP Digitised

v

Nara Lokesh,Minister of IT and

Panchayat Raj,said: “We want

to make Vizagthe first city to

use less cashtransactions.”

Digitization of transactions willlead to a reduction of costs andimproved convenience for allstakeholders involved.

Snapshot

NTRVaidya Seva, a flagship scheme ofall health initiatives to providequality health care to the poor, Ar-ogya Raksha, a scheme to assist above poverty line fam-lies from catastrophic health expenditure are majorinitiatives of the State Government. Besides, EmployeeHealth Scheme and Working Journalists Health Schemeare also operational. In further efforts to boost public health services inAndhra Pradesh, the State Government had enteredinto an MoU with US-based Cerner Centre which willhelp the government establish a knowledge commandcentre for monitoring and regulating public health.The Cerner Centre will not only make a public healthanalysis but will also provide forecasts and alerts. Ac-

cording to Health Minister K Srinivas, the Tata Trustswill offer technical assistance by acting as knowledgepartner for providing better services at Nellore,Kurnool and Visakhapatnam cancer units.“This is the first initiative in the world to check thespread of diseases and their prevalence," he said. The`Mahaprasthanam' scheme, which will provide freetransportation to shift bodies of the deceased fromgovernment hospitals is being extended to all the 13districts.Besides, the establishment of AIIMA in Mangalagiriand several world class research medical centres andhospitals in the capital city of Amaravati are expectedto bring about a qualitative change in the healthprofile of the State.NOVEMBER 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 23

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Zamindar of Amaravati, Raja Vasireddy VenkatadriNayudu (1783–1816), was blamed for the transferof all the important sculpted stones to themuseums in London and Madras. Those miscon-ceptions are based on the widely accepted theory whichdescribed the Zamindar as a demon who destroyed theinvaluable heritage of Andhra. How did this come to pass? Let’s get some facts right…The story was a concoction by James Burgess, Director,Archaeological Survey of South India and Principal ofBombay (JJ) School of Art. He had a fight with an officercalled Henry Cole Jr (Conservator of Ancient Monuments)whose father was the Sr. Cole who had exhibited theAmaravati Marbles in Paris.Jr. Cole had insisted that Amaravati stones be left at Amar-avati. Burgess wanted to move them to Madras. He thoughtCole was meddlesome. He had argued that the sculptureswould be destroyed by the ignorant Telugu boys. To provehis point he had stated that Mackenzie had left around 75stones at the site and they were ground up by the Rajah’smen for lime. This allegation stuck.Let us look at what had happened to the stones unearthedby Mackenzie.Ferguson says that between 1797 and 1816 Mackenzie had

visited Amaravati many times. We have record of only onevisit in 1816. Mackenzie had not recorded his activities atthe site except for the drawings. Out of as many as 89 draw-ings of stones, only around 8 actual stones are availabletoday.Mackenzie’s records show the plans of a market buildingbuilt by Robertson (then Collector of Kistna). Today thejunction of four roads at Machilipatnam named after Pat-tabhi was where the market was built. According to theplans in Mackenzie documents, the three storied market re-quired 88 large sculpted stones and 38-40 smaller stones.According to Jennifer Howes (2002: 58) an expert onMackenzie, existence of these drawings and the note inMacKenzie papers proves that Mackenzie knew of Robert-son’s Market and had helped its construction by supplyingstones. The existing stones from Mackenzie’s drawings were

Stop Blame GameWas Zamindar of Amaravati a Destroyer of Sculptural Treasure?

Sai Papineni

It is a widely circulated misconceptionthat the Zaminder of Amaravati wasresponsible for the destruction of theBuddhist sculptures. It was completelyinaccurate, writes Sai Papineni.

john Guy, Curator South and South East Asia, The MetropolitanMuseum of New York calls on Parakala Prabhakar. Sai Papineni andEmani Sivanagireddy are also seen.


also recovered from Masulipatam by El-liott.This proves beyond doubt that therewere no sculptures left at Amaravati byMackenzie for the Rajah to destroy.But our historians blamed him and stilldo...***Let us look at what Elliot had said in 1845when he visited the site: He said that the site was as Mackenziehad left. It was undisturbed by natives.Now that was thirty years after Macken-zie’s last visit. We don’t need any otherevidence to exonerate Nayudu.Finally, in the words of Henry Cole… Hismemo in 1882…‘It was true that many years ago thegrandfather of the present Zamindar hadremoved bricks and stones, but he wouldhave been concerned with simple re-moval of material, not with smashing anddestroying sculpture.’Further, he said, ‘the place is now easilyaccessible to any idle boy who wishes topass away his time in hammering offcarved surfaces, but it is really surprisingto me how little evidence there is of dam-age of this kind.’Now that the blame game is settled, let'slook at what had happened to the stones.Around 120 stones called Elliot's Marblesplus a few acquired from other sourcesare at the British Museum. A large por-tion of 450 plus reached Madras whichthe Madras Museum needs to account for,but other than around 200 stones dis-played in the building no. 1, we know lit-tle. A few in Delhi, Calcutta, Berlin andParis which are well taken care of, weknow about. And whatever is left or un-earthed later at the site now lying-in atAmaravati.In the year 2020, a trip to the USA duringthe fall will provide an opportunity to seeall the important stones of Amaravati to-gether at one place. The MET of NY loanevent in Autumn'20 will showcase them.v

It is Indian sport’s biggest coming-of-age story. Kidambi Srikanth, thatshuttle juggernaut, has proved his mettle with his 4th tour title of theyear. Kidambi Srikanth, the 24-year-old from Guntur, broke newground with his feat in the French capital.Kidambi Srikanth continued his rampaging form as he completely out-classed Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 21-14, 21-13 to clinch the French OpenSuper Series Premier title. This was on top of the Denmark Open Titlewhich he won earlier in the same month. This is Srikanth's fourth Super Series title of the year (sixth overall) and bydoing so, Srikanth joins the likes of Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Chen longto become only the fourth player in the history of the game to win foursuper series titles in one year.He is the fourth male player to win four or more Super Series events in ayear — joining legends Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long. He brokethe tie with Saina Nehwal, who was the only Indian shuttler to have wonthree Super Series titles, in 2010. Kidambi has beaten World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen (Denmark Open QF),reigning Olympic champion Chen Long (Aus Open final) and World No. 2Son Wan Ho (Aus Open Rd 2, Indonesia Open SF) in 2017.

Kidambi Srikanth won his fourth tour title of the yearby defeating Kenta Nishimoto at the French OpenSuper Series.

The King of Fast Court

v


Elk Hill House,Ooty,

21.5.1909. My dear Munisubrahmanyam,I am glad to learn that your Rev. (revered) fa-ther and mother are doing well. Please tell mypranamams to your father. I am glad you likemy play. I value your opinion. I went throughthe forms (pages) you sent. While readingthem I am amused. That is the sure test of abook being readable. The element of surprisewill be wanting for an author and if still a bookinterests him, it must be interesting indeed.True, the scenes in which MTH�¿ìŒ (Meenakshi)appears are not very edifying. For one thing, Ican quote precedents. To begin with, Shake-speare's Doll Tearsheet and Mine Hostess,Dame Quickly in Henry IV & Henry V andMerry Wives make a most interesting group

with Sir John Falstaff. Not edifying persons"any of them" but Falstaff, the reprobate, rep-resents the high watermark of Shakespeareanhumour— Falstaff who lives in the reekingatmosphere of a bawdy house. Madhuravani isfar purer than the Hostess of Doll. Otway, if I remember rightly , has a really dis-gusting scene in "Venice Preserved" - a highdignitary of state demeaning himself before acourtesan.Realistic writing must certainly bring up someelements which on one's moral sense, in spiteof artistic idealisation. Partly moral censure isa matter of temperament. Growing up in thecompany of your cousin, you abhor immorality.A nautch girl shocks you. I congratulate you onyour fine moral sense. That is why I do notwant to discuss this question with you in full.But I believe you are wise beyond your yearsand I may (spoil you…).Poetic justice is not what it was at one time. Ipaint life artistically idealizing, of course.Though art is my master, I have a duty to thesociety. Therefore, the reader can ask onequestion. Have I made vice attractive'? I hopenot. In the first edition Madhuravani wascolourless inequity. Now she is fully drawn.What I must confess, my conception of thecharacter altered as the book advanced.Whether it has created any inconsistency, I donot know. But what does inconsistency matter,if it is accounted for? There is so much of in-consistency in human nature. I am myself fas-cinated with Madhuravani. So I reformed herin the last Act. You cannot quarrel now.The book has gained an unobtrusive, butstrong moral purpose. You will find that I donot at all trifle with life. I take a very difficultmatter in a book that bubbles with laughter,quite seriously. Do not forget the humanity of a nautch girl.Her joys and sorrows are as serious a matteras yours or mine. How is an unchaste wife or a

k k k

Literary reminiscences Of

GURAZADA APPARAO PANTULU

- Ongole Munisubrahmanyam


rakish husband, (and society teams with both) betterthan a nautch girl, who is not a fraud in the sense thather label is correct? She breaks no marriage bond. What have you to say to the Gieshas of Japan whom no-blemen marry and certainly you know Aspasia ofGreece. Read Laedm (?) Both countries have theirmarked history. The fact is the study of anthropologyhas necessitated readjustment of social ideas. There isno use of blinking facts. What is the meaning of makingso much of the sexual ties? Do not think that I am belit-tling the Importance of the institution of marriage inthe history of social evolution. Humanity progressedmuch in knowledge during the past two centuries andthinking men have begun to examine old ideas andideals. If the institution of marriage has conduced toprogress, it must not be forgotten that the idea of theinviolability of the marriage tie was the cause of untoldmiseries. Wishing you all happiness, Yours affectionately,Elk Hill House,Ootacamund,

24th May, 1909 My dear Munisubrahmanyam,Thanks for your card. I received your list of words.Some of them you will find in dictionaries. I shall give apretty long list at the end of the book. Mr. Y. NarayanaMurti calls my book a wonderful work of art. But atpage 120 you are only at the threshold of the main in-terest. I consider the succeeding scenes the best in thebook. Mr. Venkateswarlu sent me a copy ofVenkataraya Sastri's Usha. Poor Venkataraya Sastri hasno idea of art. He resorts to Viskambhakams to tell thestory like Greek choruses and English prologues. Thegods are all made cowards, and Bana is made arrogant,insolent and petty, not certainly a father of whom Ushacould be proud. He addresses dikpalas ÿ¹s (Oreh). I am laying down the scheme of another play. A third isalready in manuscript, as you know. But the printing?There is the rub. Wishing you all happiness, Yours affectionately,v

India has exported 5777.61 million dollars worth ma-rine products during the year 2016-17, T Dola Sekhar,Director of Marine Products Export Development Au-thority (MPEDA), Kochi, disclosed.Dhola Sekhar has said during his visit to Bhimavaram thatcomparing to the European Union (EU), the SoutheastAsia Countries have recorded the marine products ex-ports at 43 per cent. The EU recorded 17 percent, USA 16percent, Japan 16 percent, Middle East 5 percent whileChina recorded 4 percent.He stated, `Andhra Pradesh has its prominence in the ex-ports of marine products. In the Year 2016-17, the rest ofIndia quantity of exports is 80 percent and AndhraPradesh contributed 20 per cent. As far as export value isconcerned, Andhra Pradesh stood in first place with 34per cent and rest of India value is 66 per cent, he said. Andhra Pradesh produced shrimp at 63 % while rest ofIndia was only 37 percent during 2016-17, he added. Outof that, it is observed that the L-Vanammei shrimp cultureproduced 70 percent, he added. The director has said thatthe MPEDA is promoting farm enrolment/hatchery/pro-cessing plant registration and conducting various exten-sion programmes and awareness programmes against theuse of banned antibiotic in aquaculture. It promotes di-versified aquaculture. In both West and East Godavari districts, about 10,467hectares with 4,370 number of farms, have been surveyedby GPS in Bhimavaram division of MPEDA. He said thatthe MPEDA is giving top priority for registrations ofshrimp farmers.

AP ahead inAqua Exports

v

NOVEMBER 2017

Anew digital wave is takingTelugu film industry bystorm and it’s showing noshows of stopping anytimesoon. In fact, this new wave has givena big platform to lot more filmmakersand actors to explore a mediumbeyond the 70 mm screens. Gone arethe days when Telugu filmmakersand producers were content withmaking big money through revenuefrom theatrical rights and TV satelliterights. Today, the work flow of almostevery big film has changed consider-ably and the entry of new internet-based services like Netflix, AmazonPrime, Hotstar among several othershas opened up a new revenue streamfor content creators. And it’s makinga whole lot of difference to how thefilm industry churns out content.Not so long ago, the revenue fromsale of satellite rights used to be a

crucial part of the filmmaking busi-ness. For low-budget film, this rev-enue guaranteed a substantialrecovery of the budget even if thetheatrical release didn’t fetch themgood results. However, the TV indus-try went through a lot of upheavals inthe past few years due to fluctuatingrevenues from advertising, which hada major domino effect on theindustry. Even today, most of theleading TV channels prefer waitingfor a medium or a low-budget film’srelease to see how well it does at thebox-office before snapping theirsatellite rights. Amidst these circumstances, globalOTT content (Over-The-Top)providers like Netflix and AmazonPrime are slowly changing the gamefor everyone. Along with these twoglobal giants, regional OTT playerslike Hotstar, Viu, Voot, Alt Balaji, Sun28 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

Netflix, Amazon Prime, HotstarWhat’s Brewing In Telugu Film Industry?

A series of newOTT Contentproviders arechanging theway newcontent isproduced andconsumedacross thecountry, andTelugu filmindustry ismaking themost of thisnew wave.

NOVEMBER 2017

Nxt among several others are pouring big money to ei-ther produce content on their own or bag the streamingrights of popular films. For instance, Netflix pipped allother streaming giants to snap the online streamingrights of Baahubali : The Beginning and Baahubali : TheConclusion (except the Telugu version) for a whopping$4 million, according to several reports. On the otherhand, Amazon Prime has struck lucrative deals withquite a few production houses in Telugu film industrywhich has become a blessing in disguise for several pro-ducers. Some of recent Telugu films like Ninnu Kori,Nene Raju Nene Mantri, Arjun Reddy to name a few havealready landed on Amazon Prime much before theywere aired on TV.That’s not all. Nearly all the OTT content providers arebetting big on web-series, mini-series, and made-for-in-ternet content to increase their subscriber base. Whilethis model has already become a smash hit in Hindi withNetflix striking mega deals to adapt Vikram Chandra’sSacred Games and Aravind Adiga’s Selection Day, apartfrom a female-led detective series Again as original se-ries, Amazon Prime too has had its success story withFarhan Akhtar-backed Inside Edge. Down south, Viu ismaking giant strides to make original series like RanaDaggubati’s Social, Pelli Gola, and Pilla. On the otherhand, Yupp TV has announced a huge fund to produceoriginal series in Telugu and other languages acrossIndia. In the past couple of years, several actors and filmmak-ers have jumped on to this bandwagon, particularly tocreate web-series, to reach out to a different segment ofthe audience. Actors like Rana Daggubati (Social),

Dhanya Balakrishna (Pilla), Abhi-jeeth (Pelligola), Sumanth Ashwin(Endhukila) and Navdeep and Te-jaswi Madivada (Mana MugguriLove Story) etc., have been part ofthis trend. Moreover, several film-makers like Pavan Sadineni, Nan-dini Reddy, Balaji Mohan, DevaKatta have been associated withsuch web-series. Rumours are also rife that AryaMediaworks, the production housebehind Baahubali, is planning to foray into this spacewith its live-action adaptation of ‘Rise of Sivagami’ novel,and it’ll be interesting to see how it changes the gamefor everyone. The fundamental change which has fuelled this demandfor new content has been the change in consumer be-haviour. With the number of smartphone users skyrock-eting in recent years, along with telecom companiespromising better internet speeds and more data fortheir customers, it has turned into a boon for OTT play-ers and also the audience. The arrival of Jio into the tele-com space has been a major differentiating factor and itled to a tectonic shift in terms of data consumption onmobile phones. Consequently, all other telecom firmslike BSNL, Vodafone, Airtel have been offering lucrativedata plans at cheaper rates to retain their customerbase. So, what does this mean for Telugu film industry?While 2017 has been a remarkably good year for Telugucinema at the box-office with several films doing exceed-ingly well at the box-office, the rise of digital medium asa platform for mass consumption means that filmmak-ers and actors no longer have to pin their hopes only onfilms to make their mark. Today, all you need is a solidscript and a proper plan to execute it to convince one ofthe several OTT players to fund your dreams. In the end, there’s no denying that the big screens willcontinue to be the number one choice for moviegoers,but with content getting better and better on other plat-forms, the OTT platforms are here to stay for the longhaul.- Hemanth Kumar C R

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 29


Amazing Andhra Pradesh

A PrimevalMajesty!

Gudimallam Sivalinga


how to reach Located on a diversion from the Tiruchanur Road, Gudimallam ishardly 20 minutes drive from Renigunta. The tight and twistedroad, as it made its way along hamlets and then green fields ironi-cally near the dry river bed of the Swarnamukhi, leads to Gudimal-lam. By AirBy air accessing of this fort is also possible as Tirupati is the near-est airport.By RailTirupati is also well connected with all major trains across thecountry. Tirupati is also the nearest railway station.By RoadA sound and dense road network is available in Tirupati. NationalHighway and state highways both cross the Tirupati.accommodationHaritha Hotel, Tirupathi (Srinivasam): With air-conditioned suitesand rooms and standard rooms, the Haritha Hotel is the perfectbase to stay. Being a world-class pilgrim city, Tirupati has 3-star accommoda-tion.

Dr Lenin Dhanisetty

Andhra Pradesh has been aState of consistent astonish-ment that allows one to travelthrough times. It is not foraltering the course of history, but torevisit the past and to understand ourroots deeply. Gudimallam, a tiny villageabout 31 Km from Tirupati, is such aplace that takes the visitors to 3rdcentury BC. Sri ParasurameswaraSwamy Temple of Gudimallam, an un-ostentatious village temple situatedamidst the rice fields on the banks ofSwarnamukhi river, accommodatesworld’s oldest Sivalinga of a primevalmajesty.World's oldest TempleAccording to Archaeological Survey OfIndia (ASI), that maintains the temple,this is probably the oldest continuouslyworshipped temple in the world.Amazingly lifelike Linga in the templeis shaped like a phallus and it also hasan image carved on it. The engravedimage shows a dwarf sitting on hishunches, with a hunter perched on hisshoulders. The monolithic lingam is ex-ceptional and seen nowhere else. Thetexture of the stone varies too, and isclearly seen when the lingam is un-adorned. The lingam has a peetham(base), part of which is still buriedunder the ground. ASI officials aver that the Black andRedware grates of the 2nd or 3rd cen-tury AD were found during the courseof excavations conducted in 1973. Pot-sherds of the Andhra Satavahana pe-riod (Circa 1st century AD to 2ndcentury AD) and large sized bricksmeasuring 42x21x6 cm of the same pe-riod have also been found. Hence somehistorians assign the temple to the Sa-tavahana period.Legend Depicts TrinityThe Parasurameshwara lingam is be-lieved to portray the divine trinity. Thelegend of the temple links it up to Para-surama, a warrior sage, who is an in-

carnation of Lord Vishnu. Bowingdown to his father’s command,Parasurama cut off his mother-Renuka’s head. Though his motherhad got back her life, Parasuramafelt guilty, since he had sinned byraising his axe (parasu) against hismother. He came to the banks ofthe river Swarnamukhi where hemeditated on Lord Shiva to expiatehis sins. Each day, a lone flowerwould bloom in the river, whichthe sage would offer to the Lord.Once, Lord Brahma decided to testhim, and arrived in the form of adwarf to assist him with hisprayers. He starts plucking and

throwing off the single flower intothe currents of river. One day Para-sura catches Brahma in the act ofplucking the flower. Enraged by hismischief, Parasurama chases thedwarf, brandishing the axe. ThenBrahma seeks Lord Shiva, whopacifies Parasurama. Shivacleanses Parasurama from all hissins. Further, he blesses Parasur-ama and Brahma by merging themwith the lingam, Brahma crouch-ing down as the dwarf and Vishnuas Parasurama on his shoulders,holding his axe and a ram’s head.Such is the story of this uniquetemple!


AP State cancer centre in KurnoolRajya Sabha member TG Venkatesh said Vice-PresidentM Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu will lay foundation stone for the State CancerCentre in three months at a cost of Rs 125 crore. He saidthe Central government has sanctioned its share of Rs55 crore for construction of the centre. He was review-ing on policy guidelines on the State Cancer Centre withTata Trust members at Hotel Mourya Inn. He said theCentre will be set up with sophisticated technology on afive-acre site on the premises of the Government Sarva-jana Hospital.

DGP adopts 11 schools in MangalagiriAndhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) N Sam-basiva Rao has adopted 11 government schools presentin the Mangalgiri Mandal. He inspected one of theadopted Schools - Pedavadlapudi ZP School on Mondayand suggested certain measures to upgrade the Schoolin academics.Speaking to the media, Sambasiva Raosaid that the schools in the state need to be protectedby the police hailing from the region

Rs 100 crore sanctioned for beach faceliftThe state government has sanctioned Rs 100 crore forthe beach face lifting from the Coastal Battery toRushikonda coast in Vizag city. The district administra-tion has been preparing a detailed project report for thebeach facelift. District Collector Pravin Kumar visited theBeach Road recently and recollected his experiencesafter HudHud cyclone. Though the devastation was verybig, the entire government stayed in the city and re-de-veloped the city within no time. The state and Centralgovernments sanctioned Rs 3,300 crore for the revivalof all the systems. Erecting of one lakh LED streetlightsand underground power cable project and other workswere taken up after the HudHud cyclone, he added.

Premier Kabaddi League in januaryAME Sports Private Limited is staging Andhra PremierKabaddi League both in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnamin January next year, according to company presidentHimabindu Reddy. Taking part in the logo release of theevent, she said that the tournament will help win thehearts of the sporting public of the State, especially therural areas. “Players who perform well in the league willstand a chance to represent Andhra Pradesh in theother premier national events. Ms Reddy said that thecompany has signed a pact with the Andhra Kabaddi As-sociation for five years to stage the event. AndhraPradesh Kabaddi Association secretary Veeralankaiahsaid that eight teams would be selected after a selectionprocess in the 13 districts. This tournament will be heldfor 16 days and 32 matches will be featured. It will beheld from January 27 to February 13, 2018.

NRCB signs agreement with AP GovtThe National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB),Tiruchi, has signed a memorandum of cooperation withthe Andhra Pradesh government and would serve as aknowledge partner in developing technologies relatingto banana production. S Uma, Director, NRCB, and MGirija Shankar, Secretary to Government, Industries andCommerce Department, Andhra Pradesh, signed theagreement recently in the presence of N ChandrababuNaidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. AndhraPradesh is the leading producer of several crops includ-ing banana.

Merger of 45 outlying villages in VMCChief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed the Mu-nicipal Administration Department authorities to makeway for the merger of 45 suburb villages into the Vi-jayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC). Mayor KoneruSridhar had earlier proposed the merger of the nearby

HAPPENING AP

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu unveiled a plaque tomark the foundation for the Aircraft Museum coming

up on Beach Road in the presence of Vice Admiral H.C.S.Bisht, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern NavalCommand. Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinarajappa,Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, HRD Minister GantaSrinivasa Rao, Anakapalli MP Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao,and MLAs and MLCs were present. the TU-142 Aircrafthas been placed on the specially erected platform. TheChief Minister, accompanied by the ENC Chief and others,went inside the aircraft and spent quite sometime.Thenaval maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine war-fare (ASW) aircraft has a chequered history.

CM Chandrababu Naidu with Ministers on the occasion.

TU-142 Aircraft Museum in Vizag


villages which have been the most chosen destinationsfor realtors to build apartments and lay vast residentialproperty ventures that are worth crores of rupees. Themerger of the villages like Kanuru, Gollapudi, Enikepaduthat already has numerous apartments is expected tomake the civic body richer as the income through prop-erty taxes and vacant land tax goes up.

120 Amaravati farmers to SingaporeMore than 120 farmers, who gave their land in the Ama-ravati capital region under the land pooling, are beingsent to Singapore by the state government to learnabout best business practices. Farmers, who got plotsdepending on the size of land they gave, can be helpedthrough entrepreneurship and business developmentskills and they may become role models for others,officials said. About 32,000 farmers gave their land forconstruction of Amaravati. Officials said a majority ofthese farmers have never set foot outside AndhraPradesh. “Farmers are the original citizens of the capitaland they should be happy. Their transition into theentrepreneurship sector must be smooth, so we mustensure that skill building is a continuous process,” Naidusaid.

Tirupati to get new RTC complexChittoor District Collector PS Pradyumna has agreed toallot 25 acres to APSRTC on the outskirts of the pilgrimcity. This will help to decongest the traffic in the city andexisting bus stand. At present, RTC Central Bus Station inTirupati has 64 platforms in 12 acres. The RTC officialsare finding it difficult to provide amenities for 1.75 lakhpassengers, who travel daily through Tirupati BusStation. More number of buses are being introduced toclear passenger rush but there is no possibility toconstruct additional platforms in the existing bus stand.Apart from meeting the present requirements,keeping in view of the future needs for the next 50years, the RTC felt that there is a need to construct abig RTC complex.

Addl 150 cr released for railway line The Centre has released an additional Rs 150 crore forthe proposed Pithapuram-Kakinada railway line. Theland acquisition has been going on for the railway lineproject. Earlier, it released Rs 50 crore for the project.Kakinada MP Thota Narasimham and MLA of Pithapu-ram NVSN Varma, who disclosed this information, saidthat the land acquisition at some places was not yetthrough. They also said that the dream of TDP founderNT Rama Rao – installing statue of Alluri Sitaramaraju inParliament Hall – would soon be realized. Assurancesmade to people by Chief Minister at Pithapuram – mod-ernisation of Yeleru Canal, checking floods to theSuddagadda and implementing Purushottapatnam LIScheme – are being fulfilled one after the other, theyadded.

Boating facility launched in Krishna canalThe Krishna Eastern Main Canal traversing through thecity will soon attract throngs of fun-lovers thanks to theboating facility introduced by the tourism wing. In col-laboration with the city-based Amaravati Boating Club(ABC), the authorities introduced boats in the canal lo-cated opposite the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation(VMC) office in PPP mode. “The Tourism Departmenthas identified 11 spots including the Alankar Centre forsuch facilities as part of the city beautification drive,”said Himanshu Shukla, Director, Andhra PradeshTourism Development Corporation (APTDC).

TTD plans to introduce e-softwareThe TTD is contemplating to introduce e-software in allits departments to usher in more transparency. The ini-tiative will also provide the impetus for a paperless ad-ministration in the religious institution. TTD JEO K SSrinivasa Raju said that the concept will be introducedin a phased manner in all the departments at Tirumalaby March 31.

v

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidulaunched Swachh Andhra Mission on the occasion of

Gandhi Jayanti. Ace shuttler PV Sindhu, who has beenchosen as the brand ambassador of Swachh Andhra alongwith state minister for Information Technology and RuralDevelopment Nara Lokesh and public representatives,were the dignitaries who joined Naidu on this occasion.About the future plans in order to achieve the goal ofOpen Defecationfree state, the CM indicated that StateGovernment is all set to construct 22 lakh more toiletsby March 2018. On the occasion, the CM flagged off sev-eral vehicles

CM Chandrababu Naidu gifting a plant to Sindhu

P V Sindhu, ambassador for Swachh Andhra

34 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM NOVEMBER 2017

1 LAKH HOUSES

It was a dream come true for these people. The Andhra Pradesh Gov-ernment conducted house-warming ceremony for one lakh housesacross the state, with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu formallylaunching the programme in Vijayawada on October 2. On the oc-casion, the Chief Minister also declared three districts — West Godavari,Krishna and SPS Nellore — as open defecation-free (ODF) and said thetarget was to make the entire state ODF by March 2018.“We created history in the country by inaugurating one lakh houses in aday. One lakh houses each will be inaugurated on December 25 (2017),January 14 and June 8 next year,” Naidu said on the occasion. The StateGovernment targeted to build 17.40 lakh houses for weaker sections, in-cluding 12 lakh in rural areas, at a total cost of Rs. 50,000 crore, he said. Under the NTR Housing Scheme, the Andhra Pradesh Government under-took the construction of 12 lakh houses in the rural areas at a cost of Rs16,000 crore and 5.40 lakh houses in towns costing Rs 33,000 crore withthe Central and the State governments contributing Rs 1.50 lakh each to-wards subsidy. The Chief Minister said it was a unique programme notconducted anywhere else in the country and was in sync with the govern-ment’s endeavour to provide basic amenities to all the needy, thereby im-prove their living conditions.So far 4,471 villages across the state have been declared ODF while an-other 8,383 villages have to achieve this. All urban local bodies have al-ready been declared ODF, the Chief Minister said. Another 21.61 lakhtoilets were still required to be built out of the total target of 48.20 lakh,he said. The Chief Minister gave away awards and certificates to collec-tors of West Godavari, Krishna and SPS Nellore districts and the officialsconcerned for making the districts ODF. He also felicitated badmintonstar P V Sindhu and noted writer Jonnavittula Ramalingeswara Rao forbeing brand ambassadors of Swachh AP. The Chief Minister also launched a revamped personal insurance schemePradhan Mantri Chandranna Beema on the occasion. As many as 2.13crore workers in the unorganised sector are covered under the scheme,which also provides for insurance payment of Rs. 2 lakh even in case ofnatural death of persons below the age of 50.

3rd phase of farmers’debt redemptionlaunchedThe Andhra Pradesh Governmentreleased Rs 3,600 crores for thethird tranche amount of thethird instalment, under Crop LoanWaiver Scheme in the state. Keepinghis promise, Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu launched the thirdphase of debt relief to farmers by giv-ing a cheque for Rs 3,600 crore tofarmers at Jupadu Bungalow inKurnool district. On the occasion, theChief Minister distributed debt waivercertificates to beneficiaries in the dis-trict, kicking off the implementation ofthe scheme across the State, benefiting36.72 lakh farmers.He assured to usher in a blue revolu-tion to promote pisciculture and to de-velop horticulture on one crore acresin the State. He assured fodder on 50%subsidy for dairy units. This is thethird instalment of the debt redemp-tion, along with 10 per cent interest.The amount would be deposited in thebank accounts of eligible beneficiaries. “The Government, as per the promisemade by Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu, has already credited Rs4,493 crore in the accounts of 23.76lakh farmers as part of the one-timesettlement for those beneficiaries whohad availed crop loan up to Rs 50,000,”Agriculture Minister S ChandramohanaReddy said. A whopping sum of Rs 3,071.69 crorewas distributed among 31.22 lakhfarmers in Andhra Pradesh in the firstinstalment of the debt redemptionscheme. In the second phase of thescheme, a fund of Rs 3,300 crore morewas spent by the government to waivethe loans of 36.99 lakh farmers. Statingthat the Government is implementingthe debt redemption scheme for farm-ers to a tune of Rs 24,000 crore despitenon-cooperation from the ReserveBank of India, he said it had alreadyspent Rs 14,000 crore on three phasesof debt redemption scheme, which willbe completed in two more phases.

House-Warming Ceremony for

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CM handing over a house allotment lettre to a beneficiary on Gandhi jayanthi.

IN PICS

Pic 1: CM Chandrababu Naidu in conversation withGoa CM Monohar Parikkar during the latter’svisit to Vijayawada.

Pic 2: CM presenting Ramineni Foundation Award toCentral Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary.

Pic 3: Chandrababu felicitating Grammy Award win-ner P A Deepak and assured cooperation in set-ting up Animation Studio in AP.

Pic 4: CM releasing cheque for the latest installmentof Rs 3,600 cr towards Debt Redemption offarmers.

Pic 5: CM along with Ministers while releasing book‘Action Plan of Andhra Pradesh ODF State’ forSwachch Mission.

Pic 6: CM, along with other high-level delegationmembers, at a meeting organised for Non-Resi-dent Telugus in UAE.

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Regd. No. H-HD-1082/2016-18 APENG/2007/20679Published on: 01/11/2017 Posting Dt: 6th

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