Prasad to open modern Pangasinan (Philippines) seed facility

Prasad Seeds Philippines Inc., a unit of Prasad Seeds of Hyderabad, India,  open Wednesday a $10-million corn seed processing facility in Rosales, Pangasinan on July.

Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, lead the inauguration of a state-of-the-art corn seed processing facility to help boost the country’s corn self-sufficiency goal.

A pioneering investment of Prasad Seeds, the corn seed processing facility will help transform Pangasinan into becoming the “seed capital” of the Philippines, said former agriculture secretary William Dar.

Dar, Prasad Seeds strategic adviser for global expansion, said Prasad Seeds Philippines Inc., led by Karumanchi Prasad as Chairman, would initially provide such services as corn drying, shelling, treating, conditioning and packaging, including fumigation, warehousing and cold storage, seed production research trials and commercial seed production.

He added the company’s solid three-decade experience in India had led to making Andra Pradesh, now Telangana the seed capital of India, where most of the multinational seed companies had availed of the seed processing services of Prasad Seeds.

“Likewise, we will aspire to transform Pangasinan into becoming the seed capital of the Philippines, and eventually the country as the corn seed hub in Southeast Asia,” said Dar, adding Prasad Seeds planned to expand its operations in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Prasad Seeds Philippines initially forged a service agreement with Syngenta, a global seed company, to process its locally-produced hybrid corn seeds. Syngenta also served as a staunch partner of Prasad Seeds in India.

Convinced that its investment augurs well for the country’s corn industry, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala recently endorsed Prasad Seeds Philippines to the Board of Investments a ‘pioneering status.’

In an endorsement letter to Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Alcala said the investment of Prasad Seeds Philippines in corn seed processing facility featured improved fuel efficiency, power savings and improved corn seed quality and recovery.

Prasad Seeds employs a drying technology that uses fuel efficiently and consumes 20 percent lesser LPG compared with existing dyers. It also uses US-designed blower and burner systems that result in shorter drying time and reduced power consumption by 20 percent.

Prasad Seeds dryers, thus, achieve 52 percent to 54 percent recovery, six percentage points higher than similar facilities in Pangasinan, producing much cleaner seeds, with better vigor and germination, and therefore higher yields.

TruJet's first flight takes off from Hyderabad to Tirupati

HYDERABAD: The maiden flight of city-based regional low cost carrier TruJet, part of Turbo Megha Airways Pvt Ltd, took off today from here to Tirupati. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated the first commercial flight of TruJet, promoted by a group of investors Vankayalapati Umesh (MD) and Tollywood actor Ram Charan Teja. 

The minister attended the candle-lighting ceremony at the Shamshabad Airport here this morning and flagged off the first flight to Tirupati to mark official launch of Trujet flight services, an official statement said. 

Promoters of the company Vankayalapati Umesh (Managing Director) Ram Charan and Prem Kumar were among others who were present on the occasion. 

The airliner has plans to acquire more aircraft and setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility entailing an investment of Rs 500 crore as it also plans to gradually add new destinations. 

The company has a fleet of two ATR 72-500 aircraft leased from an Irish company.

Dr.Venkata Kolli win American Psychiatry Association MindGames quiz

Three Indian origin doctors, two of them having roots in the region, have brought laurels for the country by winning the American Psychiatry Association Mind Games Quiz competition held at Toronto recently. This is the first time in the history of this quiz since its inception in 2007 that three Indian origin doctors formed the team and emerged victorious over doctors from New York Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Campus) and New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell Campus) in USA.

The winning participants in the "Jeopardy"-like quiz competition were Venkata Kolli, M.D., Varun Monga, M.D., and Rohit Madan, M.D. They won with an exciting, come-from-behind victory after wagering 3,000 points on the final MindGames question and giving the correct answer to "Name the brain region activated when an individual is in a resting state." (Answer: Default Mode Network).

Dr Venkata Kolli is from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. He received his medical degree from the NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. He also trained in the United Kingdom.

World University Games: Surekha strikes silver

Surekha, along with Punjabi University student Kawalpreet Singh, loses to the host team from Republic of Korea in the final

 Vijayawada archer and Koneru Lakshmaiah University student Vennam Jyothi Surekha won a silver medal for the country in the World University Games in progress at Gwangju, Korea, on Tuesday.

She, along with Punjabi University student Kawalpreet Singh, lost to host Republic of Korea in the mixed compound event. Indian duo punched 150 against the host nation’s 157.

“Korea was in lead right from the first game. Jyothi garnered 77 points (out of 80) while Kawalpreet was able to haul 73. Kalwalpreet looked a bit dejected as earlier the day he lost to Italy in the men’s team bronze medal event,” Surekha’s father Surendra said.Earlier, Surekha and Kawalpreet defeated Belgium pair in the bronze medal fixture. Belgium gave a tough fight but the Indian archers managed to move ahead (154-153) just in time.

In the quarterfinal, the Indian duo defeated Mexico by three points (156-153).

In the individual event, Jyothi Surekha, a third year engineering student, finished fifth as she went down to a Mexican archer just by one point (146-147) losing an opportunity to enter the semi-finals. Surekha’s medal is the first one by any athlete from the State in the World University Games.


She is unlikely to come to Vijayawada as she, after landing in Delhi on July 10, will undergo a training stint and later would proceed to Copenhagen (Denmark) to take part in the World Archery Championship from June 26.

5 Kammas selected for Civil Services (UPSC) 2014

Here is the list of candidates selected for Civil Services 2014

GOWTHAM POTRU - 30 Rank

LAKSHMI BHAVYA TANNEERU - 88 Rank

CHINTAGUMPULA RAKESH - 122 Rank

VALLURU KRANTHI - 230 Rank

VARUN GUNTUPALLI  - 261 Rank

A road named after Veerasamy Naidu in Singapore

Veerasamy Road - Little India/ Singapore

Veerasamy Road was renamed twice in its history; it was originally called Inche Lane, and was renamed Jalan Tambah in 1910. In 1927, the road was renamed again as Veerasamy Road, in honour of Dr N. Veerasamy Naidu (1865-1926), one of Singapore’s first Indian doctors and a leader in the local Indian community.

After his education at Raffles School, Dr Veerasamy became a medical practitioner for 40 years. He was later appointed as a Municipal Commissioner and Justice of Peace. Dr Veerasamy was buried at his family burial ground at Bedok after his death in 1926.

It was only in 1912 that the first Hindu public Holiday was granted to the Indian community by the government. This was for Deepavali,57 but it was notlegislated as an annual affair. The first LegislatedHindu Public Holiday came in 1914 when the Hindu community was given a say to choose between Deepavali or Thaipusam. In a meeting of the Hindu Association, presided by Dr Veerasamy.

Ravi Suryadevara Elected as President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago

Ravi Suryadevara elected as President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago, AMCHAM T&T (First Vice President, AMCHAM T&T)

Ravi Suryadevara is the C.E.O. and co-owner of Trinidad Valve and Fitting Company Limited. He has 15+ years experience in the process instrumentation, control and automation field.

Ravi Suryadevara was educated at St, Mary’s College in Port-of-Spain. He attained a BSc. in Nuclear Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in Finance/Tourism at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, The University of the West Indies.

Mr. Suryadevara is the Trade and Investment Committee Chair. He is also a member of The Energy Chamber.