Buddhist remains datable to the 1st century BC were identified on the top of a hill at Vaikunthapuram, a village in the new capital region. In an archaeological excavation held by Dr. E. Sivanagi Reddy, CEO, Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and a Buddhist archaeologist, the Buddhist relics were unearthed. Based on a clue given by the local people that there were some bricks and remains of pots, Dr. E. Sivanagi Reddy took up the excavation. He said he examined the two Siva Lingas that surfaced on the bed of river Krishna after the water receded. The Lingas, he said, were datable to the 5th century AD (Vishnukundin times), based on the Stylistic Grounds.

Dr. E. Sivanagi Reddy, assisted by the villagers including Bhogineni Nageswara Rao, Subhakar Medasani and Chaitanya Ravela, continued their search atop the hill of Vaikunthapuram and found three mounds of bricks and red-coloured pottery. Upon these mounds, stupas were raised. The bricks used in the construction of stupas and viharas measure 60X30X8 cm and 58x28x7 cm, belonging to the Satavahana period i.e., 1st century BC, he stated.

There are terracotta and brick tiles in huge quantities, of course broken, used to cover the chaityas and viharas, Dr. Reddy said. The excavations also revealed that the Buddhist monks depended on two tanks, spread in half an acre, and two rock cut cisterns for drinking water At the centre of the Stupa, a few years ago, treasure hunters dug up and found a relic casket with a gold leaf which was handed over to the Guntur district collectorate, said Subhakar and Chaitanya. The hill at Vaikuntapuram which has the remains of Buddhist stupas, chaityas, and viharas survived from 1st century BC to the 5th century AD and was occupied by Saivites during the Vishnukundin times and by the Vaishnavites in between 13th-17th centuries AD as there are temples of Venkateswara, one at the foot of the hill and another on the hilltop, according to Dr. Reddy.

Raja Nishanth Pothineni, from Vijayawada's short film "60 EIGHT" is going to be screened in Cannes film festival which is currently going on in France. Raja Pothineni is currently settled in United States. He has done his schooling in Siddhartha Public School, Vijayawada. He is the son of Dr.Ramesh, Ramesh group of Hospitals and the cousin of Tollywood star hero Ram Pothineni.

Mr.Raja, has done PG in USA and pursuing film Making. The 15-minute short-film titled “60 EIGHT” is about John who has an accident at the age of eight. The accident leaves him in a minimally conscious for 52 years. As he struggles through life, he comes across someone from his past, his best friend, eight-year-old Sarah. It is a fictional drama and will be screened under school film category.

The State government gave its nod to implement free education to the children of farmers and other landless poor of the Land Pooling Scheme in capital region. A government order on Monday said listed out guidelines to be followed in the implementation of the scheme to reimburse tuition fees.

Under the scheme, government and recognised polytechnics, convener quota (Category A) in respect of professional colleges and university colleges, excluding intermediate colleges are considered as “eligible colleges".

Students who were residents as on December 8, 2014 in Amaravati, irrespective of the parental income or community, studying in the eligible colleges would be eligible.

The new free education scheme would be applicable for a period of ten years starting from the academic year 2015-16. Those who became eligible during the last year of the scheme would be continued as well. Eligible students studying post metric courses in eligible colleges can apply online in prescribed format for tuition fee reimbursement within one month from the date of admission.

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Vijayawada City Kid Cherukuri Dolly Shivani showed her archery skills in Colors TV Reality show infront of Aishwariya Rai Bachchan, and other Bollywood stars Karan Johar, Kiron Kher, wife of Anupam Kher, Malaika Arora and Ranadeep Hooda.

The four-year-old kindergarten student at K.K.R. Gowtham School, who entered the India Book of Records and Asian Book of Records for her archery skills last year. In this reality show she has successfully completed three rounds and is into fourth round.

“During the first round at Hyderabad, she bursted the balloons of her choice. But later at Mumbai she succeeded in blasting the balloons of the judge’s choice from seven-metre and 10-metre distances,” said archer’s father Ch. Satyanarayana

Aishwariya Rai is thrilled with the little kid performance and praised her and wished her for the next round.

Dolly Shivani Cherukuri is from Volga Archery Academy

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