Hyderabad is taking baby steps in becoming a venue for chip development. Ceremorphic, an American company that is focused on designing supercomputing chips has set up its first development center in Bhagwannagar. Built on over 35,000 square feet, the center will cater to chip development in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad.&nbsp;A section of the company's 150 employees are based at a 35,000 sq ft facility and the idea is to upscale the headcount to 400 by 2024 in Hyderabad.&nbsp;The company's management has revealed that Ceremorphic is moving towards the manufacture of a supercomputing chip. The company said it would build the TSMC5nm Node with the utmost reliability and power capability.&nbsp;The customer samples of the process node are expected to be ready by 2023. Commercial production is set to begin in 2024. The company, founded in April 2020 is planning to invest $10 million on the facility annually for the next few years.&nbsp;Ceremorphic has 100 patents and is expected to have 250 patents by end of this year. The company's founder and CEO Venkat Mattela say the US firm will heavily depend on the engineering contribution from the Hyderabad design center as all the engineering and R&amp;D happens here.

US Chip Design Firm Opens First Development Center In Hyderabad

Corona's third wave seems to have led to a decrease in traffic on city roads. Traffic police based on the Intelligence Traffic Management System (ITMS) said that traffic was down by 30 percent in the current situation as compared to normal time. Announcing holidays to educational institutions and the continuation of work from home by many private companies are the reasons for the reduction in traffic.Traffic is assessed by ITMS at the busiest intersections in the city. TIMS will calculate how many vehicles are passing through that intersection each day and identify the average number of vehicles that went that day. Vehicles arriving at junctions like Nalgonda Cross Roads, Abids, Rabindra Bharathi, Telugu Thalli Chowrasta, Patni, CTO, Rasoolpura, Jubilee Hills Checkpost, KBR Park, Sagar Society, etc. are counted. Four Lakh to Seven Lakh vehicles uses these roads normally.At Khairatabad Chowrasta on December 20 last year, the traffic was around 6.5 lakh to 6 lakh per day. As of January 20th, the traffic was between 4-4.55 lakh. The Jubilee Hills check post handles between 5-5.5 lakh vehicles on normal days. The vehicles count is around 3.5-3.85 lakh as of January 20. With the decrease in the vehicles on road, the average speed of vehicles on the roads also improved, according to ITMS.

Third Wave Effect: Traffic Down By Thirty Percent

It took four decades for the GHMC to finally focus on Old City roads. The Corporation is expanding 15 roads with high traffic. The widening works in these rounds have started at once. In the past, officials planned to widen the roads but all those plans were limited to proposals due to difficulties in acquiring assets.But with the growing population and increasing number of vehicles day by day, the traffic hassles are becoming more on the narrow roads. Some roads were widened 40 years ago as part of the Charminar development. Since then, not a single road in the Old City has been widened. Roads currently 20 to 40 feet will be increased from 60 to 80 feet.A total of 30 km of road widening is being carried out, officials said. Most of the traffic problems will be mostly solved once the works are completed. Old City will sport a new look once the widening works are completed. Officials plan to complete all the works within a year. A total of 600 properties are to be acquired in the designated areas. Officials estimate that the expansion of roads, along with the acquisition of assets, will cost a total of Rs 200 crore. They are trying to convince reluctant property owners using local leaders.

After Four Decades Of Neglect, GHMC Focuses On Old City Roads

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Chairman Krishna Ella and co-founder Suchitra Ella were conferred with Padma Bhushan on the 73rd Republic Day. Bharat Biotech is the manufacturer of Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine against COVID-19. It has got WHO approval and by many countries across the globe. It is the only Made in India vaccine against COVID-19 so far.&nbsp;Dr. Krishna Ella:He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. He later served as a Faculty of Research at the University of South Carolina Medical. He strongly believes that the solution to the health problems facing humanity is to develop vaccines. With his qualifications, knowledge, and experience, he has the potential to rise to great heights in America. But came back to India with the family with a passion for the homeland. Together with his wife Suchitra Ella, he founded Bharat Biotech in 1996 in the Genome Valley, Hyderabad. Vaccines have been developed for many diseases, starting with the hepatitis-B vaccine. Above all, his initiative in developing the COVAXIN against the COVID-19, the way he worked with the government (especially with the ICMR and the National Institute of Virology) ensured the early rollout of India's first COVID-19 vaccine. Krishna Ella also founded a company that produces livestock vaccines.Dr. Suchitra Ella:Although Dr. Krishna Ella is a perpetual researcher, his wife, Bharat Biotech Joint MD Suchitra Ella, is credited with playing an active role in the idea of returning home and starting his own company. A graduate in economics, she managed the company and oversees all aspects from production to administrative activities, marketing, and sales. Suchitra Ella's role is crucial in implementing the idea and research of Dr. Krishna Ella. With the support of the government and the cooperation of scientists from government research institutes, COVAXIN has become a reality because of both of them. That vaccine has put our country ahead of the rest of the world in the fight against the Pandemic.

Know Ellas - The Latest Padma Bhushans From Hyderabad

For the second consecutive year, Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) is going online. The 2022 edition will be held from January 28th to 30th (at youtube.com/c/hlf-india). This development has come after the third wave disrupting normal life across the country.&nbsp;Started in 2010, the festival is organized by “Hyderabad Literary Trust” in association with the Government of Telangana and with the support of several academic, literary, cultural organizations and publishing houses. This time the festival is happening in partnership with the British Council.This year’s festival is dedicated to the late Ajay Gandhi, founder of Manthan and one of the former directors of HLF. Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee is also among the delegates attending the festival. The organizers made sure that there is everything for every age in the fest.&nbsp;The festival includes Literary Sessions, Kaavya Dhaara, Stage Talks, Storytelling, Cultural Events, Workshops, Exhibitions, Moving Images Talkies, Youngistaan Nukkad, Nanha Nukkad, and Interlude. For more details of the festival and if you want to register for updates or as a volunteer, check out https://hydlitfest.org/

For Second Consecutive Year, Hyderabad Literary Festival Goes Virtual

According to the Dynamic Groundwater Resources of Telangana State -2020 report released by the state government on Tuesday, Hyderabad may be staring at a water crisis in the future as groundwater levels are 'critical'. Interestingly, Hyderabad is the only district with 'critical' among the districts of Telangana. The high population density and rapid commercialization are the reasons for groundwater exploitation.Meanwhile, Rangareddy, Jangaoun, Rajanna Sircilla have been categorized as semi-critical. The report is arrived after analyzing 584 mandals across all the districts. Groundwater levels in 25 mandals have been over-exploited as compared to 70 in the previous assessment. The report claims that the groundwater exploitation has come down due to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme and the Mission Kakatiya program."Due to the groundwater level management programs of the Government, the water table increased by more than four meters in the last six years yielded approximately 400 tmc of additional groundwater recharge. About 93 percent of villages and 70 percent of watersheds in the state come under the safe category," the report suggests.

Groundwater Levels In Hyderabad 'Critical'

On National Girl Child Day, a mother has tried to sell off her fourteen-year-old daughter in Balapur. At the last minute, the police rescued the girl and arrested nine people, including the victim's mother and grandmother.Syed Altaf, 61, of Mumbai, runs a travel agency. He divorced his wife six years ago and is preparing to get married again. He started consulting with the agents in Hyderabad three months ago. He sought help from Akhil Ahmed, an auto driver, to show him the girl for marriage. Through him, Zarina Begum and Shabana Begum entered the scene.The brokers started negotiations with the mother and grandmother of the girl (aged 14) from Bandlaguda. The Mumbai businessman finally agreed to buy the girl for Rs 3 lakh. On Monday evening, the nine accused took Rs 3 lakh to Zarina Begum's house near Habib Function Hall in Errakunta, Balapur Mandal.With this information, Rachakonda CP Mahesh Bhagwat alerted the staff at the field level. Under the supervision of Additional CP Sudhir Babu and LB Nagar DCP Sunpreet Singh, Balapur police entered the field and arrested the accused. Nine people, including the girl's mother and grandmother, were arrested and taken into judicial custody. Ten mobile phones were seized from them.

On National Girl Child Day, Mother Tries To Sell Teen Daughter

The Health Department has informed the High Court that the corona situation is not serious enough to impose a Night curfew in the state. "A night curfew is required if the positivity rate exceeds 10 percent. The state has so far given precautionary dose to 2.16 lakh people," the department informed the High Court which heard the corona situation in the state on Tuesday.The Director of Public Health (DH) Srinivasa Rao submitted the report to the High Court in this regard. "The state currently has a positivity rate of 3.16 percent. The positivity rate in a single district in the state did not exceed 10 percent. As part of precautionary measures, a ban is imposed on the big public congregations until the 31st of this month."The positivity rate is highest in Medak district at 6.45 percent, followed by Kothagudem at 1.14 percent. It was 4.26 per cent in GHMC and 4.22 per cent in Medchal. The ICU and oxygen beds occupancy rate is 6.1 percent. Over a lakh corona tests are being conducted on a weekly basis," the report mentioned. The Government also informed the court that a house-to-house fever survey was being conducted across the state and kits were distributed to 1.78 lakh people in three days. It was also revealed that 59 percent of those under 15 to 18 years of age were vaccinated.

Night Curfew Not Needed: Govt Informs High Court

The fever survey in Greater Hyderabad is happening only for the namesake. The Health staff are not going into gated communities and apartments despite being told to go from house to house. With this, the hotspots are being ignored. In Greater Hyderabad, there are up to four and a half million multi-story buildings in total, with the majority of the population living there.Most people with omicron symptoms are being casual and are preferring self-treatment. But Omicron being highly infectious is spreading to the family members and the neighbors in the apartments very easily. The fever survey has been going on for four days and until Monday, 1.70 lakh houses have been surveyed, officials say.GHMC estimates that there are a total of 16 lakh households in the city. The survey is also progressing slowly in Rangareddy and Medchal districts. Last year's Fever Survey Health staff went to the Independent houses in the bastis and colonies while ignoring the apartments. This time the survey is also being carried out similarly. In the areas where the surveys are finished, there are also allegations that people are lying about the symptoms to escape isolation and containment zones.In some areas like Kukatpally, Chandanagar, and Jubilee Hills, health personnel is not allowed to enter the apartments. As a result, it is not known how many people in those areas were infected with the corona. For an instance, In Shaikpet, Western Plaza Gated community, there are 400 plus flats with more than 40 positive cases. There is no fever survey in the gated community so far and the GHMC did not declare the apartment as a containment zone.

Fever Survey: Not For Apartments And Gated Communities!

<a href="https://darwinbox.com/">Darwinbox</a>, a city-based enterprise HR tech company, raised $72 million from investors, and the company’s valuation post this round will cross the one billion USD mark, which makes it the first unicorn from Hyderabad. The investment was led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) for the company founded by Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Peddi, and Rohit Chennamaneni in 2015 to build world-class technology products from the city.Existing investors in the company, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Lightspeed, Endiya Partners, 3One4Capital, participated along with TCV, shares Darwinbox. Since its last fundraise, the company has grown 200 percent and has raised $110 million to date. The company aims to accelerate product innovations and global expansion, including a launch in the US this year.According to Gopi Vaddi, general partner, TCV, their entity was excited to invest in visionary founders that are fundamentally transforming large markets. Today, Darwinbox’s HR Technology powers more than 650 global enterprises. Some of their notable customers range from Asia’s largest conglomerates to fast-growing technology unicorns, including JSW, Adani, Mahindra, Vedanta, SBI General Insurance, Kotak, TVS, National Stock Exchange, Ramky, Aurobindo, Yashoda, Big Basket, Swiggy, and MakemyTrip.While they started with a mission to build smarter and better technology for the modern-day employee, they intend to expand globally and hire exponentially across all geographies. Darwinbox has 12 global offices with over 700 employees and is hoping to expand its global footprint rapidly.

Darwinbox Becomes Hyderabad’s First Unicorn Serving Over 650 Global Clients

It’s raining mergers and investments in Hyderabad. More so in the pharma segment. With a strong pharma base, the city is attracting investments to the tune of hundreds of crores. One such latest investment comes from market leader <a href="https://www.piramalpharmasolutions.com/">Piramal Pharma</a> that invested Rs 101.77 crore in city-based Yapan Bio to augment the capabilities of its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business.As of now, the Mumbai-based company has acquired a 27.78 stake in Yapan as a result of the investment. The current investment will help Piramal Pharma to strengthen PPS or Piramal Pharma Solutions, its CDMO business, by widening its service offerings.Yapan Bio provides process development, scale-up, and cGMP compliant manufacturing of vaccines and biologics/ bio-therapeutics, including high containment product classes (up to BSL 2+), recombinant vaccines, RNA/ DNA vaccines, gene therapies, monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and other complex biologics.Piramal Pharma chairperson Nandini Piramal shares that the expertise found at Yapan will help Piramal provide existing customers with wider capabilities for developing and manufacturing large molecules. She adds that the investment will further support their growth strategy.This investment, coupled with market-leading capabilities of Grangemouth, UK site in antibody-drug conjugations and our sterile fill capabilities in Lexington, USA, demonstrates their commitment to growing their service offerings in large molecule CDMO space, says Piramal Pharma Solutions CEO Peter DeYoung.