The NEWS you like - May 2015

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www.thenews.co.in

VOL.3 | ISSUE: 4 | MAY 2015

Misuse of religion, religious institutions goes unchecked

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Majority PIOs lack awareness of RTI Act

EDITOR’S DESK 64 PAGES: PA G E S : 64

igion, Misuse of reltitutions religious ins ked goes unchec

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Editor SUDHAKARAN

Principal Correspondent D Bal Reddy Senior Correspondents G Srinivas Mallesh Babu

Reporters M.Praveen Kumar, A Kullayappa Mohsin Bin Hussain Al - Kasary A Ravi Kumar Photographers M Vijay S Sridhar, Shair Ali Baig Cover & Layout T. Srinivasa Rao

General Manager Mohd Nizamuddin

Chief Executive (Marketing) Venkata K Ganjam (GK)

Central Marketing Office (TS) Hyd: 85208 54954, 90306 29615

Central Marketing Office (AP) Vijayawada: 85208 54954, 98491 76747 The News You Like Phone: 9701141377, 9848133363 E-mail: thenewscoordinator@gmail.com Website: thenews.co.in

Address for correspondance: #3-5-890, Flat No. 106, Paras Chambers, Beside Telangana Tourism Bldg, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad-500029. Phone: 98481 33363, 97011 41377. email: 24thenews@gmail.com thenewscoordinator@gmail.com Printed, Published And Owned By Ramya Sree , Printed At S.M.S. Press, H.No.11-38, Pragathi Nagar, P&T Colony, Saroor Nagar, Dist Ranga Reddy – 60, Published At The News Publications, H.No.334,B , Prajay Sai Gardens, Keesara Mandal, Dist - Ranga Reddy, Telangana

epal is busy getting over its worst natural disaster that killed over 7,000 and injured nearly 14,000 people.

Among the affected population, 32 lakh are women and children. Of the total women, 5.25 lakh are in the reproductive age, of whom 21,500 are pregnant. Also, 21 lakh affected population is below the age of 18.

A UN report estimated that around US $415 million are required to get the quake-ravaged Nepal back to normal.

Meanwhile, Indian government was quick enough to reach out to the quake victims and provide succor even as its neighbor Pakistan has sent beef masala hurting the religious sentiments of the majority Hindu country while China, which has been trying to forge close ties with Nepal lagged behind in providing relief for the victims.

In this backdrop, Nepalese vented their anger and disgust on India media through social media. Terming it as a 'public relation exercise’ on behalf of the Indian government, Nepalese took to Twitter and blogs to slam Indian journalists.

The criticism is seen as an orchestrated attempt by the Pakistan’s intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Chinese authorities in an apparent attempt to cover up their failure in reaching out to the quake victims.

It was due Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s quick reaction that relief teams and material reached Nepal faster than anybody had expected. It may be recalled that soon after getting news about Nepal’s earthquake Modi had said, “Nepal’s pain is our pain” and extended a helping hand.

It is time aid agencies and people of India and other world countries forget all the differences and extend a helping hand to the earthquake victims in the hour of need.

Everyone should have a broader outlook and think on humanitarian grounds.

Let’s hope Nepalese get back to normalcy and inch towards development taking Japanese as inspiration, who after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, vanished into the thin air and came back as the phoenix.

Editor : Sudhakaran

The News You Like | May, 2015

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CONTENTS

FOCUS

FOCUS FOCUS

ATDC offers skill development courses

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Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC), under the aegis of Apparel Export Promotion Council, has emerged as India’s Largest Vocational Training Network for the apparel sector with around 175 ATDCs including 65 ATDC Vocational Institutes and over 135 ATDCSMART Centres and Skill Camps present in major apparel clusters spread across 22 states & 85 cities Pan India. ATDC has already trained 1, 57,731 people between 1996 and 2013 and transformed lives by providing gainful employment to youth, women and disadvantaged sections of the society.

With the advent of skill development initiatives in the country and the introduction of Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) by the Union Ministry of Textiles in October, 2010, ATDC was selected as a nodal agency on Pan- India basis for implementing the Skill Development Scheme. In addition it is important to note that ATDC is the only organization which offers shop fflloor,

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Ms. Ms. Pramila Pramila Rani, Rani, Sr. Sr. Principal Principal

supervisory and managerial level courses within the education and training eco-system.

ATDC is advancing forward on the agenda to ‘Target, Train, focus Transform‘ with on “employability”, especially for school dropouts, less educated youth, women, disadvantaged section of the society, differently abled, rural, semi urban, special section such as trans genders, jail inmates, OBC and Safai Karamchari etc. ATDC gives a new direction and thrust to skill development in the labor-intensive apparel sector that operates in a globally competitive environment.

The News

r N Saibaba, a distinguished scientist of the Department of Atomic Energy and the Chairman and Chief Executive of Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad, is a Gold Medalist in Mechanical Engineering Andhra from University, Visakhapatnam.

After graduation, he joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Training School at Mumbai and pursued One Year Post Graduate Course in Nuclear Science & Engineering. He has been awarded Doctor of Philosophy by the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), Mumbai for studies on Designing and Optimization of Hot and Cold Deformation Process for a Two Phase Zirconium based alloy.

Dr Saibaba developed expertise in the manufacture of Seamless Tubes in a variety of strategic and exotic materials for meeting critical requirements of the Departments of Atomic Energy, Space and Defence.

He has made several pioneering contributions in the manufacture of critical core regime, NFC had to build indigenous capability for design and manufacture of special purpose equipment for pilgering, honing, sintering, welding, machining, final assembly etc. While some of these equipment were conceptualized, designed and fabricated in-house, Indian industry played a vital role in developing a lot of criminal equipment.

Over the years, NFC has perfected the technology of manufacturing seamless tubes such el tubes, pressure tubes, as calandria tubes etc., improving the

FOCUS FOCUS

Personal ersonal P Touch T ouch

components for Power Reactors, some of which were developed for the first time in India.

The ffiields of specialization of Dr. Saibaba include fuel fabrication for PHWRs & BWRs; manufacture of Seamless Tubes; machine building for fuel fabrication; fabrication of core sub-assemblies for FBRs; development of Seamless Calandria Tubes, Square & Hexagonal Channels, Pressure quality, material recovery and productivity. NFC also manufactures seamless tubes in different grades of materials for strategic applications, meeting critical requirements of the departments of atomic energy, space and defence.

These include Truss Rod Assemblies for GSLV, hydraulic tubing for Light Combat Aircraft, special grade copper blanks for Prithvi and Nag Missiles, Missle casing and gun barrels, Start shaped and Louvre’s proffiile seamless tubes r battle tanks, special grade r Nuclear seamless tubes The News

skilled manpower to the industry in order to improve the technical edge in manufacturing as per international parameters, generate employment opportunities for weaker sections of the society by providing them training in the ffiield of apparel making and allied areas and upgrade the technical skills to improve quality, productivity and efficiency level of the Industry.

ATDC Vocational Institutes offer long terrm m programs which are a vital parrtt of the vocational training system for careers in apparel, fashion and textile leading to award of Cerrttificate, Diploma and Advance Diploma by ATDC and certification through National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT), DGET, Ministry of Labour & Employment to provide the key production and quality related personnel to the Apparel Industry.

Admission notice for the ATDC courses to commence in July 2015 has been issued and interested candidates can get the prospectus free of cost from the website ww ww w.atdcindia.co.in.

P6 Nepal earthquake: P31 death toll could reach 12,000

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Tubes etc.

He authored/co-authored about 110 Technical Papers that were published in various international Journals and in the Proceedings of National/International Conferences/Seminars/Symposia.

Dr Saibaba has been conferred with many prestigious Awards that include Visveswarayya Award from the Institution of Engineers (India), Indian Nuclear Society (INS) Award for contributions in the field of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technologies, Scientific & Technical Excellence Awards of the Department of Atomic Energy for contributions as Group Leader, Annual Meritorious Award from the Management of NFC etc.

Dr. Saibaba is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences (APAS), Honorary Fellow of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and is a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (INST) and the INS.

Tabs & Cops ............................5

IPL News ...............................10 Cover Story............................11

Police Action .........................17

ramaliNga raju, NiNe others fouNd guilty P

Submarine, seamless tubes for Advanced Ultra Supercritical Boilers and Brahmos.

Having highly qualified and committed team of scientists, engineers and technicians combined with state-of-the-art equipment, technology and total quality management, NFC has achieved record production under the stewardship of Dr N Saibaba, Chairman and Chief Executive of NFC, Hyderabad. NFC has been surpassing its own records and achieving highest production year a er year.

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2015

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Guns & Cops .........................21 Crook &Cops.........................22 Special Report .......................23 Religious Politics ..................25 Gender Equality ....................30 Gita Gyan ..............................36

Son of Soil .............................38

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two simi terrorists killed

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Environment News.................40 Business News .......................41 Legal News ............................42 Health News ..........................43 Global News ..........................46

CHAMPION OF THE THE CHAMPION OF BACKWARD BACKWARD CLASSES CLASSES

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THE NEWS BUREAU

e was born in a rich farming family from Ranga Reddy district in Telangana. But he always lived a life that is down to earth and he has been accessible for the needy people from the oppressed sections of the society.

Born on January 13, 1954 in Rallagudipally village of Ranga Reddy district, R aga Krishnai ,

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The News

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popularly known as R Krishnaiah, has been at the forefront of agitations for the rights of BCs, SCs and STs. He did his Bachelors in Commerce from Vikarabad in his native district and then took his bachelors and masters in law, masters in arts and did M.Phil from Osmania University in Hyderabad.

He has been active in fighting for the rights of the oppressed sections of the society since his stude d s 2015

due to which he was elected as pres ident of S C, S T and BC h os tels student union way back in 1972. For four years he was the leader of OU College students and in 1977 he was elected as the state president of the outfit fighting for the rights of poor students belonging to BC, SC and STs. He is currently acting as the president of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association, president of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Unemployed Sangarshana Samithi. He is also the founder and editor of the periodical BC Garjana.

Students and youth from the oppressed sections rallied behind Krishnaiah due to his honesty and apolitical approach in waging

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Spiritual News .......................48 News Bites .............................50

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Nehru spied oN Netaji family for 20 years

The News You Like | May, 2015

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Focus .....................................51 Interview................................56 Focus .....................................58

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SC wants CCTV cameras at police stations

MOULLIM MOHSIN BIN HUSSAIN AL KASARY

he Supreme Court of India has directed the Delhi Police to install CCTV cameras in all police stations in the national capital in two months.

Concerned over the behaviour of policemen towards complainants, especially women, a bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice S A Bobde said on April 22 that the Delhi Police Commissioner will ensure that CCTV cameras are installed at conspicuous places in all police stations in Delhi within the stipulated time.

The apex court said the report to be filed by the police commissioner should also mention details of cameras already installed and how many of them are functional.

“Let them file an affidavit and tell us if they have installed CCTV cameras. And if they have done so, how many of them are actually functional. The report by the commissioner shall contain this information clearly,” the bench said and posted the matter for hearing on May 11.

The order came in the wake of an incident wherein a woman lawyer from the apex court was allegedly manhandled by some policemen and

others inside a police station in Delhi in April last year.

Based on a letter from another woman advocate, Mahalakshmi Pavani, the court had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and sought explanation from the Delhi Police. It had also appointed senior advocate

Vijay Hansaria as amicus in the case and asked him to give suggestions in the matter.

On April 22, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for the Delhi Police and accepted most of the suggestions by the amicus, following which the bench handed over the investigation of the matter to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.

The apex court asked the Special Cell to register an FIR in the matter and investigate all people, including policemen, allegedly involved in the

TABS & COPS

incident. The investigation shall be conducted by an officer not below the rank of the deputy commissioner of police and a report will be submitted to the court by May 11.

It may be recalled here that the Hyderabad police had installed CCTV cameras in the offices of Assistant Commissioners of Police only to keep a watch on the persons kept in the lock-up so as to prevent custodial violence, deaths and abuse of powers by the police officials.

However, custodial violence continue to take place since the police personnel continue to violate the guidelines and circulars issued from time to time not to keep persons in lock-up at the police stations and instead they should be kept in lockups only at the ACP offices, that too in unavoidable circumstances.

Now that the apex court had directed the Delhi police to install CCTV cameras in all police stations, it is time for Hyderabad and Cyberabad police to install CCTV cameras in all police stations to prevent abuse of powers by the police officials. And the CCTV cameras should be linked to the command control room set up at the Commissioner’s office. This would also help reduce corruption in police stations.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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NATURAL DISASTER

Nepal earthquake:

Death toll could reach 12,000

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THE NEWS BUREAU

he death toll in the Nepal earthquake could reach 10,000 even as survivors’ despair turned to anger at the government’s failure to provide

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succor. In an interview to a news agency, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said, “The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing. It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal.”

The death toll in Nepal alone rose

The News You Like | May, 2015

to 5,057 on April 28. The death toll could go up to 10,000 because information from remote villages hit by the earthquake is yet to come in, Koirala said.

According a UN report, around 40 percent of the country and 6.6

million people were affected by the earthquake and aftershocks that hit the country. The earthquake also caused an avalanche in the Himalayas and as many as 17 bodies have been recovered from the Mount Everest base camp with 60 people

being injured.

More than 60 earthquake-related deaths were reported from the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India and about 20 from Tibet. Authorities in these states as well as West Bengal, Delhi and Sikkim are trying

to assess the damage even though the intensity of the quake was much less in these two countries.

Over 2,000 Indians trapped in the tragedy were rescued from Nepal capital Kathmandu and other parts.

The ministry of external affairs has, meanwhile, come up with a 24-hour control room for queries regarding the earthquake and survivors.

Health workers said they feared a major health crisis was unfolding among survivors of the quake who are living in the open or in overcrowded tents with no access to sanitation or clean water.

Efforts to distribute aid are proceeding at an agonisingly slow pace, sparking anger among frustrated survivors. The delay stems in part from the extent of damage caused by the quake and interruptions from strong aftershocks.

“Rescue operations are underway, and in many places where buildings have collapsed there might be people trapped,” said Rameshwor Dangal, head of disaster management at Nepal’s home ministry.

If the toll does reach 10,000 it would be even higher than the 8,500 killed in a massive quake in 1934 – Nepal’s worst disaster to date.

OP Singh, the head of India’s National Disaster Response Force, said finding survivors and the bodies of the dead would take time since the heavy equipment needed to clear rubble could not fit through many of Kathmandu’s narrow streets.

“You have to remove all this rubble, so that will take a lot of time ... I think it’s going to take weeks,” he said.

The desperate poverty of the survivors is the thread that runs through the tragedy unfolding in Nepal. Though many had predicted an earthquake in Kathmandu would

The News You Like | May, 2015

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NATURAL DISASTER

bring the newly constructed cement apartment blocks tumbling down, it was the older, brick and wood homes that, almost exclusively, were reduced to rubble. Anyone who stayed in these could not afford better.

The aid situation is expected to improve as more planes packed with supplies arrive from India, China, the US, the UK, Australia, Pakistan and other countries, although that operation too is being held up by congestion at Kathmandu’s airport, and by shortage of workers to unload cargo and vehicles to ferry supplies to where they are needed.

While the scale of the disaster is not yet fully known, aid workers said the humanitarian impact was likely to be overwhelming.

The United Nations estimates that as many as eight million of Nepal’s 28 million people have had their lives disrupted by the earthquake, adding that it was releasing US$15m from an emergency response fund to help the victims.

The UN said more than 1.4 million people need food assistance,

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including 750,000 who live near the quake’s epicentre in poor quality housing. Tens of thousands are thought to have been left homeless.

As smoke from hundreds of funeral pyres filled the air in Kathmandu and the surrounding countryside, some survivors spoke of the near futility of attempting to reach anyone still alive in the rubble.

Amid the destruction and chaos, parts of Kathmandu were coming back to life. Yet thousands are still camping in open spaces, too

The News You Like | May, 2015

frightened to return to their homes.

Some say they will wait until 72 hours have passed, but continuing aftershocks rekindled their fear.

Many were still seeking treatment for serious injuries, some waiting outside hospitals. The morgue at Bir hospital, the capital’s biggest, was overflowing, with bodies lined up outside.

There was also the fear of disease. “Now there could be communicable illnesses, diarrhoea, flu and so forth.

Pak sends beef masala for Nepal earthquake survivors

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THE NEWS BUREAU

n a shocking revelation, it has come to light that Pakistan has sent beef masala for the survivors of earthquake as part of the relief package from Pakistan.

Nepal, the only Hindu country in the world, treats cows as sacred and there is a blanket ban on slaughtering the animal. Doctors at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu said that packets of beef masala were sent by Pakistan as part of relief aid to the survivors. “When we reached the airport to collect the food items from Pakistan, we found packets of ready-to-eat meals, including packets of beef masala.

There were other food items too," a doctor said.

The shocked doctors chose to have food from a hotel instead. "We did not touch the Pakistani aid," the doctor said. Official sources said the matter has been conveyed to Prime

Minister Sushil Koirala. An internal inquiry would be carried out to verify the facts and the issue would be raised at the diplomatic level with Pakistan if the reports related to beef masala are found to be true.

A press note of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Pakistan says that the National Disaster Management

Authority had dispatched the second of two sorties of C-130 aircraft on April 28 in collaboration with Pakistan Army, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan Air Force.

The relief goods include 250 tents, 200 food packs (2.6 tons), 1,000 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), 1,000 blankets and 33 cartons of medicines, the press note said.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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IPL NEWS

Beware of honeytraps BCCI tells cricketers

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THE NEWS BUREAU

n an apparent move to protect the sanctity of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the image of its players, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sat down with the players of different franchises and explained to them how fixers use honeytraps to woo cricketers.

The menace of spot-fixing has once again engulfed the cash-rich league and the news of a Rajasthan Royals player being approached made headlines recently. Strangely, the BCCI refused to name the players involved but confirmed the news.

Though this time another domestic player tried to lure the cricketer, it is a known fact that fixers and bettors often use honeytraps to draw players into their web.

While the BCCI's Anti-

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Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) officials have previously worked to make players aware of such moves by fixers and other suspect elements, this time they got into an in-depth discussion on how to avoid honeytraps and stay away from fixers.

An official of one of the franchises said that the team had a full session with their ACSU official where the emphasis was on explaining to the players the network through which fixers generally work and how they finally force the cricketers into joining hands with them.

The official said, “It is often seen that the players feel they are too smart to be trapped, but the reality is that we are all human beings and these things can happen to any of us.

So the official told us how they first plant a character with an imaginary

The News You Like | May, 2015

name in the life of a player.

This person will start off as a fan, and then try to get to know the player personally.

“It starts with frequent messaging to make the bond with the player stronger. After this, the cricketer is approached to go out for dinner and frequent attempts are made to get intimate with him at the earliest.

Once this aim is achieved, an MMS reaches the player, followed by a phone call by the fixers. This is the time when the player is given the choice of either joining hands with them or seeing the MMS being leaked on the internet. There is no chance of a happy ending for the trapped individual,” he explained.

A BCCI member said the Board was doing everything to stop the fixing menace. “We are trying our best. The image of the game can’t keep taking a beating,” he said.

COVER STORY

Mother of all scams in APCO

Handloom weavers left in lurch

Ring comprising Gujjala Srinu, Varaprasad, Prasad Reddy and others swindle public money

a group of people including apCo chairman m hanumantha rao, marketing officer of hyderabad and secunderabad Varaprasad, procurement officer prasada reddy, one of the directors of apCo from kadapa district gujjala srinu and some others have allegedly been siphoning o hundreds of crores denying livelihood for thousands of weavers working on handlooms.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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COVER STORY

Varaprasad’s role curcial in the scam

t is alleged that Varaprasad has been able to enter APCO in the year 1982 without any recruitment. According to a report appeared in Weavers Times, the then managing director of APCO, P P Williams had helped Varaparasad enter APCO without a formal recruitment procedure.

However, he was suspended for resorting to gross irregularities and swindling public money while working in Kurnool district. A criminal case was also registered against him and 31 others including Prasad Reddy, which is still pending, the report said.

Subsequently, he managed to get reinstatement and got posting in Nalgonda district. Varaprasad did not mend his ways even after reinstatement but continued his corrupt activities. Bypassing the then APCO managing director Sameer Sarma’s directions to purchase stockpiled cloth from handloom weavers

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G SRINIVAS

he Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society Limited (APCO), the apex handloom weavers’ cooperative society of Andhra Pradesh, is mired in scandals running into several hundreds of crores.

A group of people including APCO chairman M Hanumantha Rao, marketing officer of Hyderabad and Secunderabad Varaprasad, procurement officer Prasada Reddy, one of the directors of APCO from Kadapa district Gujjala Srinu and some others have allegedly been siphoning off hundreds of crores denying livelihood for thousands of weavers working on handlooms.

It all began in the year 2010 when

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amounting to Rs 10 crore, Varaprasad purchased Rs 14 crore worth substandard cloth made by power looms. APCO had to sell the substandard cloth at 50 percent discount resulting not only in huge loss for the organization but also denial of justice for the handloom weavers, the report said.

The then APCO managing director Sameer Sarma ordered an enquiry and suspended Varaprasad.

But he managed to get reinstatement using his clout and got posted to livery division at Secunderabad. It was exactly at this point of time the Rajiv Vidya Mission placed orders on APCO for the supply of crores of pairs of school uniforms.

Grabbing the opportunity, he along with Prasad Reddy joined hands with Gujjala Srinu and with the alleged active connivance of the chairman Hanumantha Rao, resorted to massive irregularities and swindled crores of rupees, the report claimed.

the school education department decided to procure school uniforms as part of Rajiv Vidya Mission’s (RVM) Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) from APCO. Documents available with The News, which were secured under the Right to Information Act, clearly show that the school uniforms, meant to be supplied for government and quasi government school students free of cost, must be procured from ‘APCO only’ so as to provide employment to the local weavers.

Documents available with The News also show that the government has issued instructions that APCO should exhaust the stock of material of local weavers first and shall also provide them work up to the time frame stipulated before the APCO procures any additional requirement

The News You Like | May, 2015

either from any power looms within the state or outside.

However, Gujjala Srrinu formed a ring of corrupt officials in the APCO and bypassed the government orders to make quick bucks denying a living for the handloom weavers across the state. While the handloom weavers continued to commit suicides, Gujjala Srinu and his ring procured huge quantity of cloth from power looms and cloth making industries outside the state, sources said.

One of the key persons to who aided the massive scandal is said to be Varaprasad, working in the livery division of APCO and posted at its godown at Secunderabad. Varaprasad and another of his colleague Prasad Reddy were entrusted with the task of inspecting the cloth arrived at the

godown and certify whether it was actually made by handloom weavers.

However, the duo in collusion with Gujjala Srinu allegedly issued false certificates while some other employees including the chairman Hanumantha Rao helped the kingpin in getting payments in the name of 20 weavers societies registered in Kadapa district, which are said to be the benami societies run by Gujjala Srinu.

Further, what comes as a shock is that the ring operated by Gujjala Srinu has been able to manage even the officials of Rajiv Vidya Mission and the school education department and got extended the deadlines to supply the cloth according to their convenience.

Separate letters written by the then state project directors of Rajiv Vidya Mission clearly show that the APCO has been directed to supply the cloth meant for the respective academic years by the end of

academic year, i.e. in April of the respective year.

Sources said in all probability, the ring operated by Gujjala Srinu could have swindled more than Rs 200 crore without even supplying the cloth since they got the benefit of extension of deadline for supplying

the cloth till the end of April. It is known to one and all that the last working day for all government schools is April 23 every year and no one would even remember the next academic year about the non-supply of the cloth for the previous academic year, the sources told The

The News You Like | May, 2015

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COVER STORY

News. Further, the ring operated by Gujjala Srinu and actively assisted by Varaprasad and Prasad Reddy have bypassed the government orders stipulating that the APCO should supply the cloth through its local units. Instead, the ring purchased huge quantity of cloth from industries in Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country and supplied it to the schools thereby denying livelihood for the local handloom weavers. Further, the ring had eliminated transport contractors who did not extend their cooperation for the irregular and illegal activity.

Instead, they managed to rope in unauthorized and unlicensed transport operators though the guidelines stipulate that the transporters should have registered

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with APCO and have certain minimum experience besides financial resources to transport the cloth safely to the destination points.

When confronted, APCO chairman Hanumantha Rao denied any violations and irregularities in procurement and supply of school uniforms during his stint. However, he could not give a satisfactory reply as to why the contract for supply of cloth meant for school uniforms was given only to some weavers societies registered in Kadapa district.

In fact, there are thousands of

The News You Like | May, 2015

handloom weavers’ societies across the state twin states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh comprising several thousands of weavers looking for work. A majority of them are starving and even committing suicides due to lack of work.

In this backdrop, people like Gujjala Srinu and corrupt officials like Varaprasad, Prasad Reddy and others are snatching away the right to life of thousands of weavers and swindling hundreds of crores in collusion with the corrupt officials of some other departments.

It is time the government initiates stern action against Gujjala Srinu and the corrupt officials of APCO who are swindling crores of rupees of public money.

GUILTY SCAMSTERS

Ramalinga Raju, nine others found guilty

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THE NEWS BUREAU

ll the 10 accused in the Satyam accounting fraud case including the disgraced founder chairman B Ramaling Raju

were found guilty by a special court at Hyderabad on April 9.

The multi-crore accounting fraud in the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SCSL) that came to light six years ago was probed by the

Central Bureau of Investigation.

One of the country's biggest accounting fraud, the scam had come to light on January 7, 2009, when Ramalinga Raju confessed to manipulating company's account

The News You Like | May, 2015

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GUILTY SCAMSTERS

books and inflating profits over many years to the tune of crores of rupees.

Raju and some other accused were arrested by the Crime Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh Police after he allegedly confessed to the fraud, along with his brother Rama Raju and others.

Around 3,000 documents were marked and 226 witnesses examined during the trial that began nearly six years ago.

Beside Ramalinga Raju, the other accused include his brother and Satyam's former Managing Director B Rama Raju, former Chief Financial Officer Vadlamani Srinivas, former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas, Raju's another brother B Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam and Satyam's former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta.

Raju and others were charged with offences like cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust under relevant sections of IPC for inflating invoices and incomes, account falsification, faking fixed deposits, besides allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various Income Tax laws.

In February 2009, the CBI took over the investigation and filed three charge sheets which were later clubbed into one. The first two charge sheets dealt with the account fudging

by Raju with the assistance of nine others, while the third charge sheet relates to "violation" of various Income Tax rules.

While the CBI accused Raju and the others of cheating, breach of trust by way of inflating invoices and incomes in the first and third charge sheets, the second one dealt with the accused allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws.

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the CBi alleged that the scam caused a loss of `14,000 cr to shareholders of satyam During the trial, the CBI alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam, while the defence countered the charges saying the accused were not responsible for the fraud and all the documents filed by the central agency relating to the case were fabricated and not according to the law.

The Enforcement Directorate had also filed a charge sheet against them under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. In January last year, Ramalinga Raju's wife Nandini Raju and sons Teja Raju and Rama Raju

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were among 21 relatives of the exSatyam boss who were convicted by a Special Court for Economic Offences here for default in Income Tax payment.

Last year, on December 8, Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, Vadlamani Srinivas and former director Ram Mynampati were sentenced to six months jail term and fined by the Special Court for Economic Offences in connection with complaints filed by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for violation of various provisions of the Companies Act.

POLICE ACTION

Five terror accused shot dead in Telangana

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THE NEWS BUREAU

elangana Police gunned down five terror accused on April 7 as they allegedly tried to escape the police custody while being taken to a court in Hyderabad from the central prison in Warangal.

The incident occurred between Alair in Nalgonda district and Jangaon in Warangal district - about 80 kms from Nalgonda. It is said the terror accused tried to snatch the weapons from the police escort personnel and open fire on the men on duty in a bid to escape.

The five accused - Viqaruddin Ahmed and his four associates - Syed

Amjed, Izhar Khan, Mohammed Haneef and Mohammed Zakir - were involved in the killing of two policemen and were arrested in 2010 after a series of attacks on police in Hyderabad and were lodged in Warangal Central Jail.

The terror accused were the members of Tehreek Ghalba-EIslam, an extremist organisation. The kingpin of the gang - Viqaruddin had earlier plotted to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well.

Viqaruddin also had links with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He began his activities as a member of the Darsgah Jihad-O-

Shahadat (DJS), a Hyderabad based outfit that trains its members in martial arts and use of weapons such as swords and sticks in the garb of self defense.

The Telangana government ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident even as several organizations and including human rights activists termed the incident as a stage managed encounter.

Incidentally, Viqaruddin’s encounter is preceded by a fierce gun fight between the police and three undertrials on the run belonging to the banned fundamentalist outfit – Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

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POLICE ACTION

AP: 20 wOOdCutteRs hIRed By Red

sAndeR sMuggleRs kIlled In POlICe ACtIOn

As many as 11 persons were killed in Cheekatikona, while nine more died in Eethagunta, both deep in the forest.

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The News You Like | May, 2015

mastan Vali developed a relationship with the actress after she acted in a movie produced by him. subsequently

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wenty persons, hired by red sander smugglers, were killed in alleged police action in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh on April 7. The encounters took place in Seshachalam Hill ranges near Tirupati in the wee hours. The bodies were scattered all over the encounter site.

As many as 11 persons were killed in Cheekatikona, while nine more died in Eethagunta, both deep in the forest. At the end of the operation lasting for several hours, 20 persons were found dead, police said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Special Task Force) M Kantha Rao confirmed the number of deaths in the encounters.

According to police, the smugglers had hired twenty woodcutters/coolies for the tree felling job. The Special Task Force members, who were engaged in combing operations in Srinivasa Mangapuram, Srivarimettu and Eethagunta areas of Chandragiri Mandal abutting the Tirumala hills since April 6, found more than 100 woodcutters engaged in the task of felling trees.

The policemen asked them to surrender, but the woodcutters hailing from Tamil Nadu rained stones and hurled sickles at them, forcing the STF to open fire in self-defence.

A day after the encounter killings, AP government informed the High Court at Hyderabad that a murder case has been registered against unknown STF personnel involved in the encounter.

Additional Advocate General D Srinivas informed a division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar that an FIR was filed on a complaint from Muniammal, the widow of a Tamil Nadu woodcutter, at the Chandragiri police station.

In her complaint, Muniammal said her husband Sashi and others were daily wage labourers who were going to find work when Andhra Pradesh policemen took them away and shot them dead, that it was not an encounter as police claimed.

The killings led to an uproar in Tamil Nadu where political parties condemned the brutal police action and said 12 of the dead were

labourers from their state.

The FIR was registered under IPC sections of murder (302) and kidnapping (364) against unknown personnel of the STF. The High Court was also told that the government was setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to conduct an inquiry.

Taking suo motu cognisance of Muniammal’s complaint, the High Court had earlier made her a petitioner in the case filed by Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) which had alleged that it was a case of murder and the victims were poor labourers from Tamil Nadu.

Muniammal moved an application on April 8 through her counsel seeking directions to the Andhra Pradesh government to conduct post-mortem examination of the bodies of her husband and five others once again by an expert medical team and videograph the entire process. Meanwhile, police have launched a probe into the suspected role of a Telugu movie actress in the red sanders smuggling.

The actress is said to have transferred red sanders smuggling related cash through her bank account in Hyderabad to some locals in Kurnool.

It is said the actress has been in a relationship with YSR Congress leader and Chagalamarri mandal president K Mastan Vali, who was arrested on April 13 for his role in the red sanders smuggling.

Film industry sources said Mastan Vali developed a relationship with the actress after she acted in a movie produced by him. Subsequently, she helped him in transferring the illegal money to various persons through her bank accounts.

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POLICE ACTION

Two SIMI terrorists killed

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Four policemen lay their lives in the line of duty

THE NEWS BUREAU

wo activists of the banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and two police officials were killed in a fierce gun battle at Janakipuram village of Motkuru Mandal in Nalgonda district of Telangana on April 4. The two armed assailants killed in the encounter have been identified as - Mohammed Aizazuddin and Mohammed Aslam both members of SIMI who had escaped from a jail in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh in October 2013.

The police team, which went on the trail of the fugitives following a tip off came under sudden attack due to which constable Nagaraju died on

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spot while sub-inspector Siddaiah succumbed to bullet wounds later while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad. Inspector Bala Gangi Reddy, who was grievously injured in the attack, was also admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad.

The two terrorists were chased by the police team while they were fleeing on a bike. However, the assailants fired at the police killing constable Nagaraju. In retaliatory firing, both of them fell to the bullets," said Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma.

Earlier on the intervening night of April 1 and 2, 2015, the same assailants had opened fire on a police team that was conducting vehicle checking near Suryapet Hi-tech Bus

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Stop, killing police constable Lingaiah, Home Guard Mahesh and injured Inspector Mogilaiah and Home Guard Kishore. The assailants also injured a civilian Dorababu when the latter did not stop his car as demanded by the former.

The government announced a compensation of Rs 40 lakh each for the bereaved families of the constables and Rs 10 lakh for the family of Home Guard Mahesh. The government also announced a compensation for the sub-inspector Siddaiah as applicable. Further, the government assured a job for the kin of the slain police personnel besides giving the salary to the family till the superannuation of the police personnel killed in the line of duty.

GUNS & COPS

Cops want indigenous INSAS rifles replaced

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harkhand Armed Police (JAP) personnel have asked their top brass to replace the indigenously-made INSAS rifles as the magazines crack after continuous firing putting lives at risk.

The problem came to light during a recently held interactive session of the Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) and India Reserve Battalion (IRB).

The INSAS rifle is one of the main weapons of the paramilitary forces that are engaged in fighting Maoists in Jharkhand.

The demand comes in the wake of the land mine blast triggered by the Maoists near Cholnar in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewarda early last month killing five security personnel and injuring seven others. A day after the state paid tribute to the seven Special Task Force (STF) jawans in Bastar, the Maoists detonated a powerful IED landmine that lifted the mine protected vehicle in the air with nearly a dozen jawans of Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF)

inside. President of the Jharkhand Policemen’s Association (JPA) Akhileshwar Pandey informed the ADG who attended the session on behalf of Director General of Police, Jharkhand, D K Pandey: “Jawans of both JAP and IRB have complained that the magazines of their INSAS rifles crack after some rounds of continuous firing, thereby posing a threat to their lives.”

A JAP jawan said: “The fibremade magazines, after 100 to 150 rounds of continuous firing, develop cracks and put our lives at risk.

“Moreover, sudden snapping of the magazine results in the rifle coming apart. Anyone may get injured or

killed.” However, the seniors feel that cracking of INSAS magazines is not an issue. DGP Pandey said: “It is a general phenomenon that while operating, cracks may sometimes appear in a machine, which is immediately changed. This can happen to any machine on account of its excessive use.”

Ch_01: Jawans search for injured colleagues after Naxals blew up an anti-landmine vehicle in the Dantewada district Ch_02: An injured `jawan is being taken for treatment. Sources said that around 60-70 armed guerrillas carried out the attack at Cholnar

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CROOK & COPS

Father rapes 6-year-old daughter

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Victim awaits justice for over a year

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six-year-old girl, who was sexually assaulted by her own father a year ago, is still awaiting justice as the investigators have delayed in filing the charge sheet, while the accused is roaming free after securing bail.

Though the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 prescribes that the trial should be completed by the court within a year, the investigators have filed the charge sheet only on October 10, 2014 and the case is listed for May 5.

It may be recalled the accused

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Mohammed Yakub Ali aka Ayub of Amberpet had resorted to heinous crime on his six-year-old daughter in the absence of the girl’s mother in the first week of June 2014. The victim’s mother came to know about the offense when she took the girl to a hospital on returning home two days later.

The victim’s mother took the girl to a private hospital when the latter complained of pain while urinating.

The medicine prescribed at the private hospital did not work and the victim kept complaining about unbearable pain. It was only two days later that the victim disclosed to

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her mother about what her father had done to her.

A devastated mother took the girl to a government hospital for examination and treatment. The doctors at the AP Vaidya Vidhana Parishad Hospital gave a report which indicated of sexual assault on the girl following which the victim’s mother lodged a complaint with the Amberpet police.

The police registered a FIR (No.277/2014) on June 11, 2014 and arrested the accused. However, the accused subsequently secured bail and is roaming a free bird. It is said the accused with the support of his father Mohammed Wajeed Ali has been trying to get out of the case.

Source said Wajeed Ali enjoys considerable influence in police department because of his previous association with the department as a constable (driver). According to sources, Wajeed Ali had worked as a driver for a senior IPS officer for a long period during his tenure and hence he has been able to exert influence on the Amberpet police resulting in delay of the trial.

Station House Officer of Amberpet police station, P Venkata Ramana, told The News that a charge sheet has been filed on October 10, 2014 before the court concerned and the same is listed for trial from May 5.

SPECIAL REPORT

One girl child is killed every 18 seconds

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ore than 1.27 crore girls were killed in the uterus between 2000 and 2014.

This is almost half of the total sex selective abortions across the globe in this period and also the highest in the world followed by China and Pakistan.

Around the world, as many as 2,45,61,345 girls disappeared before birth in the last 14 years. The Population Research Institute, a nonprofit research group, revealed the disturbing data estimating that the daily average sex selective abortions in India is 2,332.6.

China and Pakistan fall in the same line with 96,15,875 and 12,80,228 sex selective abortions between 2000 and 2014. This calculation is based on averages from the countries where the problem is widespread.

Many other countries practice sex selective abortions but it is not as

frequent so as to affect the average sex ratio of the country. The countries on the list are those in which sex-selective abortions occur so frequently that they skew the national average. Therefore, the number of female fetus killed or aborted in this period may be even more than 24 million.

Over the last 14 years, there was an average of 4,575 abortions every day across the globe. That comes to about one abortion motivated by gender every 18 seconds.

In India, the declining sex ratio is evident when drawing a comparison in the census figures. According to Census 2011, the child sex ratio (the number of girls per 1,000 boys) in India has gone down from 976 in 1961 to 918 in 2011. This ratio was 962 in 1981, 945 in 1992 and 927 in 2001.

This is happening at a time when women are competing with men in all spheres of life. Another astonishing fact about the skewed

child sex ratio comes from Census 2011 that reports maximum sex selective abortion from Surat district of Gujarat. The child sex ratio in Surat is 814 which is lowest in the country among urban agglomerations.

Sex ratio is used to describe the number of females per 1000 of males. Sex ratio is a valuable source for finding the population of women in India and what is the ratio of women to that of men in India. In the Population Census of 2011 it was revealed that the population ratio inIndia 2011 is 940 females per 1000 of males. The Sex Ratio 2011 shows an upward trend from the census 2001 data. Census 2001 revealed that there were 933 females to that of 1000 males. Since decades India has seen a decrease in the sex ratio 2011, but since the last two of the decades there has been in slight increase in the sex ratio. Since the last five decades the sex ratio has been moving around 930 of females to that

The News You Like | May, 2015

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SPECIAL REPORT

of 1000 of males.

The major cause of the decrease of the female birth ratio in India is considered to be the violent treatments meted out to the girl child at the time of the birth. The Sex Ratio in India was almost normal during the phase of the years of independence, but thereafter it started showing gradual signs of decrease.

Though the Sex Ratio in India has gone through commendable signs of improvement in the past 10 years, there are still some states where the sex ratio is still low and is a cause of concern for the NGO organizations.

One of the states which is showing a decreasing trend in the population of women 2011 and is a cause of concern is Haryana. The state of Haryana has the lowest rate of sex ratio in India and the figure shows a number of 877 of females to that of 1000 of males.

There are also states such as Puducherry and Kerala where the number of women is more than the number of men. Kerala houses a number of 1084 females to that of 1000 males. While Puducherry and Kerala are the only two states where the number of female is more than the number of men, there are also states in India like that of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra where the sex ratio 2011 is showing considerable signs of improvement.

Some facts related to the Sex Ratio in India follows, the main cause of

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Sr. No.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

State

India Kerala Puducherry Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh Manipur Chhattisgarh Meghalaya Orissa Mizoram Goa Karnataka Himachal Pradesh Uttarakhand Tripura Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Lakshadweep Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Rajasthan Gujarat Bihar Uttar Pradesh Punjab Sikkim Jammu and Kashmir Haryana Andaman & Nicobar Islands Delhi Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu

the decline of the sex ration in India is due to the biased attitude which is meted out to the women.

The main cause of this gender bias is inadequate education.

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Sex Ratio 943 1084 1037 996 993 992 991 989 979 976 973 973 972 963 960 958 950 948 946 938 931 931 929 928 919 918 912 895 890 889 879 876 868 818 774 618

Child Sexratio 919 964 967 943 939 936 969 970 941 970 942 948 909 890 957 962 956 948 911 972 943 918 894 888 890 935 902 846 957 862 834 968 871 880 926 904

Sex Ratio 933 1058 1001 986 978 978 990 975 972 938 960 964 970 964 950 932 934 941 947 901 909 920 922 922 921 921 898 874 875 900 861 846 821 773 811 709

Child Sexratio 927 965 913 959 896 975 868 932 979 883 963 973 957 967 960 845 957 966 960 798 926 965 953 946 964 908 942 961 938 964 964 941 942 819 909 916

Pondicherry and Kerala houses the maximum number of female while the regions of Daman and Diu and Haryana have the lowest density of female population.

RELIGIOUS POLITICS

misuse of religion, religious institutions goes unchecked

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MOHSIN BIN HUSSAIN AL - KASARY

isuse of religion and religious institutions for political purposes has been taking place unabated as the enforcement agencies turn a blind eye to the violations.

This aspect assumes significance in the wake of the High Court order to the authorities to conduct the elections for GHMC by the end of 2015, for Hyderabad has been at the forefront for misuse of religion and religious institutions for political purposes.

Take the case of 2014 general

elections wherein about 170 Muthawallis and Sajjadagan, acting under the instructions of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leaders including those contested from different assembly and parliamentary constituencies have resorted to the violation of the provisions of the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988 and various other laws.

The 170 Muthawallis and Sajjadagan, associated with one or the other religious institutions, have influenced the Muslim electorate to vote for AIMIM candidates through an advertisement in Urdu daily

newspaper Ethemad on April 29, 2014 – a day before the polling – thereby violating model code of conduct.

The advertisement appeared in Urdu daily Ethemad, owned by Owaisi family, with its office in Darussalam, Hyderabad the same premises where AIMIM has its headquarters, was issued by about 170 clerics - Muthawallis and Sajjadagan - in a deliberate attempt to incite communal feelings and polarize the votes in favour of AIMIM candidates.

The act of Muthawallis and Sajjadagan in issuing the

Enforcement agencies refuse to take action The News You Like | May, 2015

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RELIGIOUS POLITICS

The Ethemad Urdu newspaper in which 170 Muthawallis and Sajjadagan have issued advertisement in favour of MIM candidates violating model code of conduct.

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The News You Like | May, 2015

advertisement attracts punishment for promoting enmity between classes in connection with the election as prescribed under Section 125 of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1951. Further, Section 126 of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1951 prohibits displaying any election matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency. However, the advertisement issued by Muthawallis and Sajjadagan Ethemad Urdu Daily was published one day before the polling, which is blatant violation of model code of conduct.

The advertisement said communal parties were trying to construct Ram Mandir in place of Babri Masjid, introduce common civil code and create horror through riots in Gujarat and Muzaffar Nagar and other places. It tried to instigate the voters of a particular community saying the wounds inflicted by the communal parties were still afresh and Muslims were being harassed across the country. The persons issuing the advertisement lauded the activities of MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi and appealed to Muslim voters to cast their votes in favour of MIM candidates.

The advertisement attracts penal provisions under The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988, Sections 153A (1)(a) [Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony], 171 (c) [undue influence at elections] R/w 171 (f) [punishment for undue influence at an election], 171 (g) [false statement in connection with an election], 505 (2) [Statements

creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between Classes], 120-B (Punishment for criminal conspiracy) R/w 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of Indian Penal Code.

Further, according to Section 101 of The Wakf Act, 1995 (43 OF 1995), Muthawallis and Sajjadagan are public servants and the Indian law bars public servants from associating themselves with any political party and incite communal feelings.

Also, the act of Wakf Board CEO in not giving information to the police against the Muthawallis and Sajjadagan as provided in The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988 attracts the provision of Section 202 (Intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) of IPC. The enforcement agencies – election authorities, police and the Wakf Board – were supposed to take suo-motu action against the advertisers and the persons at whose instigation and for whose benefit the advertisement was issued. However, no action was taken either suo-motu

or on a complaint given by various persons for the reasons best known to the enforcement agencies.

Series of complaints were given to the Election Commission of India, Chief Electoral Officer, District Election Officer, CEO of the Wakf Board and the police officials by different persons.

Two complaints were specifically given to Chatrinaka police but the Station House Officer has been delaying the registration of FIR though it is mandatory for him to register FIR in the wake of the advisory (No. 15011/91/2013– SC/ST–W, Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Centre State Division, dt.05/02/2014), issued with respect to compulsory registration of FIR u/s 154 Cr.P.C when the information makes out a cognizable offence.

Disappointed with the attitude of the police, the complainants told The News that they were planning to knock the doors of justice to see that the police registered cases based on their complaints and thoroughly investigate the violation of laws.

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MURKY POLITICS

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Nehru spied on Netaji family for 20 years

THE NEWS BUREAU

awaharlal Nehru government spied on the kin of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for nearly two decades.

This startling fact was revealed in two recently-declassified Intelligence Bureau (IB) files. The files, moved to the National Archives, show unprecedented surveillance on Netaji’s family members between 1948 and 1968. The revelations have shocked the Netaji family. Nehru was the prime minister for 16 of the 20 years and the IB reported directly to him. The files show the IB resumed British-era surveillance on

Surveillance is conducted on those who have committed a crime or have terror links. Subhas babu and his family fought for India’s freedom; why should be they placed under surveillance? the two Netaji family homes in Calcutta: 1 Woodburn Park and 38/2 Elgin Road.

Apart from intercepting and copying letters written by Netaji’s family members, agency sleuths shadowed them on their domestic and foreign travels. A series of handwritten messages shows the agents phoned in the IB headquarters to report on the family’s movements.

Bose was the INC president in 1939 but quit following political differences with Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru

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For reasons still not entirely clear, the agency focused on Netaji’s nephew siblings Sisir Kumar Bose and Amiya Nath Bose. These sons of Sarat Chandra Bose were the closest to Netaji in his two decades as a Congress activist. They also wrote several letters to their aunt Emily Schenkl, Netaji’s wife, in Austria.

“Surveillance is conducted on those who have committed a crime or have terror links. Subhas babu and his family fought for India’s freedom; why should be they placed under surveillance?” asks his grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose, a Kolkata-based businessman.

Netaji’s only child Anita BosePfaff, a Germany-based economist, says she is startled.

“My uncle Sarat Chandra was politically active until the 1950s and disagreed with the Congress leadership. But what surprises me is that my cousins could have been under surveillance… they had no security implications at all,” she says.

subhas Chandra Bose escaped from india, first to hitler’s germany, and later to japan, where he revived the 40,000-strong indian National army in 1943, the first military resistance to the British since the 1857 war of independence “The documents show the intensity of the bias against Netaji and his family,” says former Supreme Court judge Asok Kumar Ganguly, adding: “More shockingly, the bias is by a government of independent India against a man who sacrificed everything for the country.”

Author and BJP national spokesperson M J Akbar believes the Congress was apprehensive of Bose because the nation, after all, would have welcomed his return. Bose was the only charismatic leader who could have mobilised Opposition unity against Congress and offered it a serious challenge in the 1957 elections. It is safe to say that if Bose were alive, the coalition that defeated the Congress in 1977 would have trounced it in the 1962 general elections, i.e. 15 years sooner, he says.

IB files are rarely declassified.

The original copies of these files are still classified by the West Bengal government. Anuj Dhar, the author of ‘India’s Biggest Cover-Up’ who first spotted the files at National Archives in January this year, believes these were accidentally declassified.

“There have been such cases in the US where documents classified by the CIA, like the mole in Mrs Gandhi’s cabinet in 1971, were declassified by the state department,” he adds. Netaji was the Indian National Congress president in 1939 but quit following political differences with Gandhi and Nehru.

He escaped from India, first to Hitler’s Germany, and later to Japan, where he revived the 40,000-strong Indian National Army in 1943, the first military resistance to the British since the 1857 War of Independence.

Netaji, then 48, is thought to have

died in a mysterious air crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945, three days after Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces.

The mystery around his disappearance has only been enhanced by over 150 files kept with the PMO, IB, Home Ministry and External Affairs Ministry, which the government has refused to declassify for decades.

In a written reply on December 17, 2014, Union Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parthibai Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha that the declassification of ‘Netaji Files’ would impact on India’s relations with friendly foreign countries.

The incensed Netaji family now wants speedy declassification of a clutch of top secret ‘Netaji Files’.

These sensational documentary revelations, it believes, could well be the tip of the iceberg.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru at a Congress meet

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GENDER EQUALITY

indian schools now have equal ratio of girls and boys

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ndia has made impressive strides in improving the number of female students in primary schools resulting in equal ratio of girls and boys.

According to a report by UNESCO, India is the only country in South and West Asia to have an equal ratio of girls and boys in primary and senior schools this year – a very good news for a country battling sharp criticism over its treatment of women.

India has also reduced its out-ofschool children by over 90 percent

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since 2000, when 164 countries committed themselves to six global education goals, the report says. It also says that India is close to achieving universal enrollment of children in pre-preliminary schools, and it has achieved the target of universal primary school education.

Vice chancellor of National University of Education Planning and Administration, R. Govinda says, “Back in the 1990s, schools were quite inadequate compared to the number of children. Today, we have achieved access to school for everyone. We now have to make these schools deliver.”

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India stepped up investment in education from about $14 billion to $62 billion between 2005 and 2014.

About 45 percent of schools now have electricity, up from 20 percent in 2003. About 78 percent of paved roads have been built around schools, up from 63 percent. India also passed the ambitious Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education in 2009, part of a series of rights-based legislation for social services, and levied a special tax surcharge for education.

Despite this India still lags behind in reducing overall adult illiteracy, and more work needs to be done to raise the quality of education. Further, it has been found that learning outcomes remained poor though school infrastructure and facilities improved. Fifth-grade students in government-run schools in nine Indian states cannot read secondgrade textbooks.

“The children are physically present, but many of them are cognitively absent. Addressing learning is the next major issue for us,” Govinda said. “We have to significantly enhance teacher quality now.”

FOCUS

AtdC offers skill development courses

THE NEWS BUREAU

Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC), under the aegis of Apparel Export Promotion Council, has emerged as India’s Largest Vocational Training Network for the apparel sector with around 175 ATDCs including 65 ATDC Vocational Institutes and over 135 ATDCSMART Centres and Skill Camps present in major apparel clusters spread across 22 states & 85 cities Pan India. ATDC has already trained 1, 57,731 people between 1996 and 2013 and transformed lives by providing gainful employment to youth, women and disadvantaged sections of the society.

With the advent of skill development initiatives in the country and the introduction of Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) by the Union Ministry of Textiles in October, 2010, ATDC was selected as a nodal agency on Pan- India basis for implementing the Skill Development Scheme. In addition it is important to note that ATDC is the only organization which offers shop floor,

Ms. Pramila Rani, Sr. Principal

supervisory and managerial level courses within the education and training eco-system.

ATDC is advancing forward on the agenda to ‘Target, Train, Transform‘ with focus on “employability”, especially for school dropouts, less educated youth, women, disadvantaged section of the society, differently abled, rural, semi urban, special section such as trans genders, jail inmates, OBC and Safai Karamchari etc. ATDC gives a new direction and thrust to skill development in the labor-intensive apparel sector that operates in a globally competitive environment.

ATDC aims to provide skilled manpower to the industry in order to improve the technical edge in manufacturing as per international parameters, generate employment opportunities for weaker sections of the society by providing them training in the field of apparel making and allied areas and upgrade the technical skills to improve quality, productivity and efficiency level of the Industry.

ATDC Vocational Institutes offer long term programs which are a vital part of the vocational training system for careers in apparel, fashion and textile leading to award of Certificate, Diploma and Advance Diploma by ATDC and certification through National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT), DGET, Ministry of Labour & Employment to provide the key production and quality related personnel to the Apparel Industry.

Admission notice for the ATDC courses to commence in July 2015 has been issued and interested candidates can get the prospectus free of cost from the website www.atdcindia.co.in.

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FOCUS

Hyderabad, surpassing its own records

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uclear Fuel Complex (NFC), one of the constituent units of department of atomic energy (DAE), has been playing a key role in achieving self-reliance and indigenization in fabrication of nuclear fuels ever since its inception in 1971.

The NFC has been supplying natural and enriched Uranium Oxide fuels and Zirconium alloy core components for all the power reactors in India. Indigenous resources, knowhow, and process equipment are being extensively utilized.

NFC is perhaps the only facility in the world wherein both Uranium Oxide fuels and Zircaloy alloy components are fabricated starting from the basic raw materials Magnesium-di-uranate and Zircon sand respectively – under the same roof.

In addition, NFC has manufactured and supplied stainless steel core components for the Fast Breeder Reactor programme,

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major achievements of NfC during 2014-15 1252.3 MT PHWR Fuel, 47 percent higher than the rated capacity 16.26 lakhs PHWR Fuel Tubes, against the target of 15 lakhs 700 numbers of coolant tubes through new process of double radial forging against the target of 650 602 MT of melted ingots against the target of 570 700 MT of Zirconium Sponge (450 MT of Zirconium Sponge at ZSP, NFC and 250 MT at ZC).

Rs. 150 crores of production value through SS tubes and job orders 2270 kgs of Niobium metal All the above are the highest ever achievements of NFC. NFC has developed several new products and processes.

Other developments made in NFC during 2014-15 include Installation of electro coagulator unit to reduce the uranium level below 60 ppb in the raffinate water Indigenisation of final compaction press Development of spacer pad welding machine for AHWR Development of fully automated MDU powder sample collection unit

Seamless alloy steel and Titanium tubes and other special high purity materials for both nuclear and non-

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nuclear applications.

After the Pokhran tests and the subsequent technology denial

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r N Saibaba, a distinguished scientist of the Department of Atomic Energy and the Chairman and Chief Executive of Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad, is a Gold Medalist in Mechanical Engineering from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

After graduation, he joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Training School at Mumbai and pursued One Year Post Graduate Course in Nuclear Science & Engineering. He has been awarded Doctor of Philosophy by the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), Mumbai for studies on Designing and Optimization of Hot and Cold Deformation Process for a Two Phase Zirconium based alloy.

Dr Saibaba developed expertise in the manufacture of Seamless Tubes in a variety of strategic and exotic materials for meeting critical requirements of the Departments of Atomic Energy, Space and Defence.

He has made several pioneering contributions in the manufacture of critical core regime, NFC had to build indigenous capability for design and manufacture of special purpose equipment for pilgering, honing, sintering, welding, machining, final assembly etc. While some of these equipment were conceptualized, designed and fabricated in-house, Indian industry played a vital role in developing a lot of criminal equipment.

Over the years, NFC has perfected the technology of manufacturing seamless tubes such as fuel tubes, pressure tubes, calandria tubes etc., improving the

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components for Power Reactors, some of which were developed for the first time in India.

The fields of specialization of Dr. Saibaba include fuel fabrication for PHWRs & BWRs; manufacture of Seamless Tubes; machine building for fuel fabrication; fabrication of core sub-assemblies for FBRs; development of Seamless Calandria Tubes, Square & Hexagonal Channels, Pressure quality, material recovery and productivity. NFC also manufactures seamless tubes in different grades of materials for strategic applications, meeting critical requirements of the departments of atomic energy, space and defence.

These include Truss Rod Assemblies for GSLV, hydraulic tubing for Light Combat Aircraft, special grade copper blanks for Prithvi and Nag Missiles, Missle casing and gun barrels, Start shaped and Louvre’s profile seamless tubes for battle tanks, special grade seamless tubes for Nuclear

Tubes etc.

He authored/co-authored about 110 Technical Papers that were published in various international Journals and in the Proceedings of National/International Conferences/Seminars/Symposia.

Dr Saibaba has been conferred with many prestigious Awards that include Visveswarayya Award from the Institution of Engineers (India), Indian Nuclear Society (INS) Award for contributions in the field of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technologies, Scientific & Technical Excellence Awards of the Department of Atomic Energy for contributions as Group Leader, Annual Meritorious Award from the Management of NFC etc.

Dr. Saibaba is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences (APAS), Honorary Fellow of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and is a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (INST) and the INS. Submarine, seamless tubes for Advanced Ultra Supercritical Boilers and Brahmos.

Having highly qualified and committed team of scientists, engineers and technicians combined with state-of-the-art equipment, technology and total quality management, NFC has achieved record production under the stewardship of Dr N Saibaba, Chairman and Chief Executive of NFC, Hyderabad. NFC has been surpassing its own records and achieving highest production year after year.

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FOCUS

the ChampioN of BaCkward Classes

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e was born in a rich farming family from Ranga Reddy district in Telangana. But he always lived a life that is down to earth and he has been accessible for the needy people from the oppressed sections of the society.

Born on January 13, 1954 in Rallagudipally village of Ranga Reddy district, Ryaga Krishnaiah,

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popularly known as R Krishnaiah, has been at the forefront of agitations for the rights of BCs, SCs and STs. He did his Bachelors in Commerce from Vikarabad in his native district and then took his bachelors and masters in law, masters in arts and did M.Phil from Osmania University in Hyderabad.

He has been active in fighting for the rights of the oppressed sections of the society since his student days

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due to which he was elected as president of SC, ST and BC hostels student union way back in 1972. For four years he was the leader of OU College students and in 1977 he was elected as the state president of the outfit fighting for the rights of poor students belonging to BC, SC and STs. He is currently acting as the president of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association, president of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Unemployed Sangarshana Samithi. He is also the founder and editor of the periodical BC Garjana.

Students and youth from the oppressed sections rallied behind Krishnaiah due to his honesty and apolitical approach in waging

agitations. The agitations under his leadership immensely benefitted the oppressed sections, particularly the students from the weaker sections as the successive governments were compelled to accede to the demands.

He launched agitations since 1976 demanding for separate hostels for high school students due to which the successive governments have been compelled to start more than 5000 separate hostels for BC, SC and ST students so far wherein 5 lakh students can find accommodation and food free of cost.

Another significant achievement of Krishnaiah’s agitations has been that the governments had to provide scholarships for poor students in junior, degree and university colleges. Further, more than 600 residential colleges were constructed across the state for the weaker and oppressed sections of the society.

His honesty has been proved beyond any doubt in the year 1980 when he refused to withdraw his agitation for implementation of

reservations in private engineering colleges though the managements of private engineering colleges tried to buy him out for Rs 15 lakh.

Subsequently, he fought for the reservation in mandal parishad, Zilla Parishad, municipal elections in the year 1996. He made the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N T Rama Rao to concede for 20 percent

reservation for backward classes.

Between 1989 and 1993 he fought for reservations in village panchayats for BCs. As a result, government had to provide 34 percent reservations for BCs. In 1990, Krishnaiah led protests and agitations for the implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations. In the year 1996,

he launched agitations demanding check issuing powers for sarpanches of village panchayats to ensure ‘Gram Swaraj’.

He also led agitations resulting in imposing ban on single number lotteries in the state. It may not be exaggerating to say that successive governments have issued more than 2000 GOs as a result of his agitations in the last 35 years.

Currently he is fighting for 50 percent reservation for BCs in judiciary, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assemblies and parliamentary seats from the two states.

Most importantly, he is fighting for BC Act similar to SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 to prevent atrocities against backward classes.

He is also fighting for increase in BC reservation quota from 27 percent to 50 percent due to addition of 20 more castes into existing 92 castes of backward classes category.

Krishnaiah is currently Telugu Desam MLA from LB Nagar Assembly Constituency in Telangana.

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GITA GYAN

Muslim

Bhagav compe

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ariyam Asif Siddiqui, a 12year-old Muslim girl pursuing class VI student at the Cosmopolitan High School in Mumbai, spent this winter studying for the inter-school 'Shrimad Bhagavad Gita Champion League' competition organised by the

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International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON).

Participants in the Gita competition, which has been organised in Mumbai for the past four years, come from diverse economic, social and religious backgrounds, said Anand Caitanya Das, an event coordinator with ISKON. "We are not so concerned with the religion of the

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winner. Our goal is to share the wisdom and spirituality of the Gita with all children," he said.

Siddiqui pored over a book of Bhagavad Gita stories, which ISKON provided to almost 5000 students from the fifth to the tenth grade in more than 100 competing schools in the city. She won in the sixth grade category.

girl wins

ad Gita e tition

The victory of the Muslim girl in a competition about Hindu holy scriptures resonates against the backdrop of heightened religious anxieties stemming from a slew of incendiary statements by politicians.

Siddiqui was honoured by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and she will soon head to Uttar

Pradesh to meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who wants to felicitate her as a symbol of religious harmony.

Siddiqui's discovery of other faiths began several years before this competition. "We are Muslims. But ever since I was kid, my parents pushed me to learn about religions other than Islam. The curiosity has grown since then," she said.

Siddiqui recalled how quickly a fight on the playground divided children along religious lines. Her colony friends were a mix of Hindus, Muslims and Christians, but when they had a spat, she said, girls of the same religion would stick together.

"Hindu would be with Hindu, Muslim with Muslim and Christian with Christian. I would tell all of this to my father and he would reply that it is unacceptable to make friends or take sides based on religion," she said.

Siddiqui’s father Asif Naseem Siddiqui told media persons that he

encouraged his daughter to enter the competition on one condition. "I told her that she should take part to learn about Hinduism, not to cram for a competition," he said.

"I want my daughter to have genuine knowledge about all religions so she can think for herself and no one can ever mislead her. It is not likely that Siddiqui will be misled. The sixth grader, who plans to be a lawyer, said she has already learned two life lessons from the Bhagavad Gita stories: "The path to the truth is non-violent and no one should insult anyone else."

After making her first forays into learning Hindu scriptures, Siddiqui plans to continue her study of the Gita, this summer. But the challenge is not too daunting since she finds the Gita echoes many of the teachings she already knows.

"The Gita is the same as the Koran. They both came from the Gods. They have different stories but the same principles," she said.

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SON OF SOIL

MECHANIC’S SON GETS FULL SCHOLARSHIP TO MIT

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The News You Like | May, 2015

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e never thought he would enter Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), commonly regarded as the world’s foremost school of engineering, until he joined Avanti, a social enterprise run by IIT alumni which relies on peer learning methods to give affordable coaching to students.

The 17-year-old Kanpur boy, Ayush Sharma, son of a mechanic in state public works department and a retired employee of the Central Reserve Police Force, is now elated he secured a seat in MIT with a full tuition waiver.

"I had heard about MIT during my school days when I would read about one or the other path breaking research their students or professors were doing in the international pages of the newspapers," Ayush told a news portal. "I had never ever considered I would be applying there as it seemed so out of reach."

"None of my parents have been to a full degree college. My father has a diploma after which he started his job as a mechanic,” he said.

It was not a cake walk for Ayush.

He was enrolled in the local Kendriya Vidyalaya. Though his written English was fair, he had difficulty speaking and communicating in the language. He had no idea how to apply for US schools. While pursuing class 11, he joined Avanti, a social enterprise run by IIT alumni which relies on peer learning methods to give affordable coaching to students.

Some time later, with the help of Avanti’s foreign applications program leader, Taylor Gregoire-Wright, heapplied for Yale's Global Scholars Program, a short summer course.

“When I first assessed Ayush for our study abroad program, I was not sure he would be able to cope and his

i had never ever considered i would be applying there as it seemed so out of reach communication skills needed improvement,” Taylor said.

However, not only did Ayush qualify for the prestigious program, but he received full tuition waiver from the Ivy League school as well.

He still needed funds for his travel to the US. Through an amazing crowdfunding campaign, he raised the entire amount of Rs 90,000 in just six hours. “Ayush returned from Yale completely transformed,” said Varun Varma, Avanti’s head of sales, who Ayush credits for his opportunity to study abroad.

Though peer learning at Avanti and their support for his application and funding process have been key to Ayush's path to MIT, he said one of the personal obstacles he had to overcome was speaking English. "It was one thing that I really had to do on my own and no one could have taught me," he said. "There were few people among my Kanpur

acquaintances who I could speak in English with, so I would end up talking to myself. Little by little, I improved."

Ayush's parents are delighted and proud of their son, but apprehensive too. He said his parents have been extremely supportive and his father took him to Lucknow for his TOEFL examination and then to Delhi forhis SAT. Ayush is now looking forward to exploring as much of MIT's offerings as he can. The MIT scholarship amounts to more than Rs1 crore over four years.

His long-term plans are to work on the education system of developing countries. This is partly from his own experience in India and thepositive learning environment at Avanti.

"The level of scienceeducation in India is just not good enough. Many students don't really get to appreciate what science means, he said."

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ENVIRONMENT NEWS

Global warming, energy crisis, depleting resources iit delhi students attempt to find single solution

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group of students at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi are attempting to find a solution to three environmental issues – global warming, energy crisis and depleting resources. The alarming concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), one of the main contributors to global warming, has raised the need for minimising generation and sequestration of the gas.

The research group at IIT Delhi, under the leadership of Associate Professor Anil Verma, has attempted to reduce quantity of pollutant in air and also convert it into several valuable products.

Verma, from the Department of

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Chemical Engineering at the technology institute said, “We are involved in electrochemical conversion of CO2 and found that CO2 can be used to generate methane and other valuable products."

The conversion of carbon-dioxide into methane has been using renewable sources of energy like sun or wind. Conventionally the gas is dissolved into a solvent during conversion. Verma’s team captures the gas directly in a reactor where it is converted into methane and other products like formic acid and hydrogen gas.

Verma, who has been working on this project with the team for nearly seven years now, says, “We have developed such a reactor in the lab and converted CO2 to methane and

The News You Like | May, 2015

some other value added products.

This process saves both time and money.” "Conversion of CO2 will reduce global warming effect; methane that is produced can directly be used as fuel for transportation, and the solar or wind energy used for the process is stored in the fuel that can easily be transported using the present infrastructure and utilised whenever required," Verma explains.

However, Verma admits about several challenges that are being faced in the process, the major one being, ‘poisoning of the catalyst’.

“The catalyst that speeds up the reaction gets used up before the reaction is complete,” Verma says adding that they are on the lookout for scholars who can take up the poisoning issue and offer a solution.

BUSINESS NEWS

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Mobile roaming to be cheaper from May 1

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his May Day brings good news for mobile users. Calls while in roaming will be cheaper by up to 23 per cent, while sending SMSes will cost up to 40 per cent less from May 1 as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has slashed ceiling tariffs.

However, subscribers will not be able to avail of schemes that allowed them to make calls and send SMSes while in roaming at home circle rates.

"TRAI has reduced ceiling tariffs for national roaming calls and SMS and has mandated telecom service providers to offer a special roaming tariff plan. These changes will come into effect from May 1, 2015," TRAI said in a statement. TRAI has cut the ceiling rate that a telecom operator can charge for STD calls on roaming to Rs 1.15 per minute from Rs 1.5.

Similarly, national SMS rate has been reduced to 38 paise from Rs 1.5 per SMS. Also, an operator can charge a maximum 25 paise for each local

SMS instead of the current Rs 1 per SMS at present. A telecom operator can charge a maximum 80 paise per minute for a local call instead of Rs 1 permitted at present. For incoming calls during roaming, a mobile customer will be required to pay a maximum of 45 paise only per minute instead of 75 paise now.

On the other hand, in a blow to consumers, the regulator has removed the roaming tariff plan, RTP and RTP-FR, under which the consumer paid the same charges as his home circle or service area while in roaming.

Under 'Roaming Tariff Plan (RTP)' clause, the charges for outgoing voice calls and outgoing SMS, both local as well as long distance (inter-circle), did not change with the location of the subscriber within the country.

The 'RTP-FR' plan allowed the

subscriber to pay same charges as his home service area for outgoing local and STD calls as well as SMS during roaming. In addition, incoming calls were free on roaming in lieu of fixed charges under RTP-FR. The regulator has mandated operators to introduce a new 'Special Roaming Tariff Plan', which will offer only free incoming calls on payment of a fixed charge, but do away with other features.

Under 'Roaming Tariff Plan (RTP)' clause, the charges for outgoing voice calls and outgoing SMS, both local as well as long distance (inter-circle), did not change with the location of the subscriber within the country.

The 'RTP-FR' plan allowed the subscriber to pay same charges as his home service area for outgoing local and STD calls as well as SMS during roaming. In addition, incoming calls were free on roaming in lieu of fixed charges under RTP-FR. The regulator has mandated operators to introduce a new 'Special Roaming Tariff Plan', which will offer only free incoming calls on payment of a fixed charge, but do away with other features.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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LEGAL NEWS

divorced muslim women entitled to maintenance from ex-husbands

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ivorced Muslim women are entitled to seek maintenance from their ex-husbands under the Criminal Procedure Code which provides the same relief to wives, children and parents, the Supreme Court recently said.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant referred several judgements of the Supreme Court where law has been settled that a magistrate can grant maintenance to a divorced Muslim woman and parameters and considerations are the same as stipulated in Section 125 of the CrPC. Dealing with the issue of applicability of Section 125 CrPC to a Muslim woman who has been divorced, the bench upheld a trial court's order which had directed a retired Nayak from Army to pay Rs 4,000 maintenance to his divorced wife. The behch said, "there can be no shadow of doubt that Section 125

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CrPC has been rightly held to be applicable by the family judge." The bench was disturbed to know that the application for grant of maintenance was filed by the woman in 1998, which had remained undecided by the family court till February, 2012. It said it was also shocking to note that there was no order for grant of interim maintenance.

"It needs no special emphasis to state that when an application for grant of maintenance is filed by the wife the delay in disposal of the application, to say the least, is an unacceptable situation. It is, in fact, a distressing phenomenon.

An application for grant of maintenance has to be disposed of at the earliest.

The family courts, which have been established to deal with the matrimonial disputes which include application under Section 125 CrPC, have become absolutely apathetic to the same," the bench said.

The counsel for the woman had submitted that Section 125 CrPC was

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applicable to Muslim women and the family court had jurisdiction to decide the issue. The objection over the maintainability was initially raised by the ex-husband before the trial court.

The bench was deciding an appeal filed by a Muslim woman challenging the high court order reducing the amount of maintenance to Rs 2,000 from Rs 4,000 awarded to her by a trial court. It set aside the high court order and allowed the woman's appeal, noting that the aspects have gone uncontroverted as the husband had not appeared and contested the matter.

The family judge in Lucknow, while dealing with the application, had not accepted the primary objection on maintainability under Section 125 CrPC as the applicant was a Muslim woman. It had held that even after the divorce, the application of the wife under the provision was maintainable in the family court.

HEALTH NEWS

India needs large graphic health warnings

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orld Lung Foundation has appealed to the Government of India to dismiss tobacco industry misinformation and implement large graphic health warnings on tobacco packs without further delay, in fitting tribute to the bravery of Sunita Tomar who died on April 1.

After a diagnosis of tobaccorelated oral cancer and major surgery at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Sunita – with the support of her family – agreed to tell her story in a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness of the harms of tobacco and to help prevent others from suffering her fate.

Large graphic warnings, like hardhitting mass media campaigns, are proven to be highly effective in warning people about the health harms of

tobacco, irrespective of the audience’s level of literacy.

Large graphic warnings also transcend language barriers in countries like India, where different languages and dialects are used across a large national population. In addition, large graphic warnings can play an important role in helping to

prevent children from initiating tobacco use.

A study published last year in the Journal of Public Health – based upon research in India and several other low and middle income countries - found that current small or text-only warnings on tobacco packs do not help children understand the real harms of tobacco.

Critically, the study found that of all the countries surveyed, children in India exhibited the lowest levels of awareness of health warnings on tobacco packs.

Nandita Murukulta, Country Director, India and Director – Global Research and Evaluation, World Lung Foundation, said: “We were saddened to hear of the death of Sunita Tomar.

Sunita was in many ways an Everywoman. From a small town called Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, she married at fourteen, had two young sons, lived with her parents-in-law

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HEALTH NEWS

and aspired for more for her children.

Like many women, Sunita began to chew tobacco in the form of an oral dentifrice, ignorant of the lethal effects of a supposed dental hygiene product. Within a few years, she developed oral cancer. Hers is not an uncommon story.

Sunita was exceptional in her desire to warn others about the harms of tobacco; to provide them with the information and knowledge she didn’t have; to help them make better, healthier choices.”

Vaishakhi Mallik, Program Manager, India worked closely with Sunita during the filming of the PSA and recalls, “Sunita was a true fighter. During the filming she was frequently tired and uncomfortable, but she overcame her physical and emotional pain to speak with dignity and clarity to the media, never flinching in the face of all that scrutiny. She wanted to fight for a tobacco free world that would save her children and others from the suffering she experienced.”

Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi of Tata Memorial Hospital was Sunita’s surgeon and was with her in her final days and hours.

He said, “Sunita wanted to see government’s commitment to tobacco control. It looked like the government had heeded that call, but duplicitous tobacco industry tactics and misinformation – which stand in clear contrast to Sunita’s honesty and bravery – is delaying progress. Sunita believed that Indians deserve to know the truth, and large graphic warnings are one of most effective ways of communicating the reality of tobacco’s harms.

Rapid implementation of these warnings, rather than delays

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motivated by the tobacco industry’s desire to keep it profits high, would be a fitting tribute to this brave woman.”

According to The Tobacco Atlas, nearly a quarter (23.2%) of adult males, 3.2% of adult females, 5.8% of boys and 2.4% of girls smoke tobacco in India.

In

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addition, more than a quarter (25.9%) of adults use smokeless tobacco. In total, more than 2,542,000 children and more than 120,000,000 adults in India use tobacco each day.

As the use of all forms of tobacco has increased, so has tobaccorelated disease and premature death. Tobacco is the cause of 14.3% of male deaths and 4.7% of female deaths in India, killing over 981,100 Indian citizens every year. The government of India acknowledges that tobaccorelated disease costs the Indian economy over 1.4 trillion rupees every year – just among adults aged between 35 and 69. The total cost across all age groups – including illness caused by tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke among children and the elderly - would be higher.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of mortality in the world today, and is responsible for more than five million deaths each year—one in ten preventable deaths worldwide.

The implementation of graphic pack warnings is one of the World Health Organization’s strategies to reduce tobacco consumption.

INDIA'S YOUTH HIT HARD BY DEPRESSION

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ore than 42 percent of employees in the Indian private sector suffer from depression or general anxiety disorder due to pressing schedules, high stress levels and performance related incentives.

According to a study conducted by industry association Assocham,

Delhi has the highest number of such employees, followed by Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Pune.

People working in the public sector are less likely to be depressed or suffering from anxiety disorders due to lesser work pressure, the study said.

Chairman, Assocham Health Committee Council, Dr BK Rao said,

“Lack of self confidence, unrealistic expectations and a lack of nutritious diet are responsible for these psychological conditions. Work pressure can be a killer if not handled right.”

The study said that such issues have increased by around 50 percent in the last eight years. Twenty three percent of corporate employees suffer from obesity which in turn increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The report is based on the views of 1,250 corporate employees from 150 companies across 18 broad sectors including media, FMCG, infrastructure, telecom, education, manufacturing and knowledge process outsourcing.

Most of them were in the age group of 20-29 years, followed by 3039 years indicating such issues are mostly prevalent among younger professionals than older executives.

To add to the problem, 57 percent of the respondents said they never exercise, and are not able to sleep for more than six hours a day. Lack of exercise and sleep are considered as important factors contributing to lifestyle diseases.

Director of Neurology and Sleep Center and Chairperson of the Department of Sleep Medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, Dr Manvir Bhatia says, "Most of the people suffering from sleep deprivation don't realise the actual reason and seek medical advice only when serious symptoms such as heart problems develop.”

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GLOBAL NEWS

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SANSKRIT FEVER

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he South Asia Institute of University of Heidelberg is forced to start summer school in spoken Sanskrit in Switzerland, Italy and India following huge demand for Sanskrit and Indology courses.

Going by the huge demand it appears the Germans may eventually become the custodians of Sanskrit, its rich heritage and culture.

Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, head of classical Indology at the University said, “When we started it 15 years ago, we were almost ready to shut it after a couple of years. Instead, we had to increase strength and take the course to other European countries.”

In Germany, 14 of the top universities teach Sanskrit, classical and modern Indology compared to just four in the UK. The summer school spans a month in August every year and draws applications from across the globe.

“So far, 254 students from 34 countries have participated in this course. Every year we have to reject many applications,” said Dr. Michaels.

Apart from Germany, the majority of students come from the US, Italy, the UK and the rest of Europe. Linking Sanskrit with religion and a certain political ideology was stupid and

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The News You Like | May, 2015

detrimental to the cause of its rich heritage, the professor said.

“Even the core thoughts of Buddhism were in the Sanskrit language. It is essential to read the original Sanskrit texts as these are some of the earliest thoughts and discoveries to better understand the genesis of oriental philosophy, history, languages, sciences and culture,” he added.

Francesca Lunari, a medical student who has been studying Sanskrit at Heidelberg University, said, “I am interested in psychoanalysis and must know how human thoughts originated through texts, cultures and societies. I will learn Bangla also to decipher the seminal works of Girindra Sekhar Bose, a pioneer of oriental psychiatry who has hardly been studied – even in India.

Learning Sanskrit is the first step,” she said.

Languages such as Bangla, in which Bose had written his theories challenging Freud, might face a crisis similar to Sanskrit because of the onslaught of English if these languages aren’t preserved within households, felt Dr Hans Harder, head of the department of modern South Asian languages and literatures (modern Indology), Heidelberg University.

“A significant part of the global cultural heritage will become extinct if major languages

GRIPS GERMANY

like Hindi and Bangla fall prey to Indian English which, in the process, has only got poorer,” he added.

An expert in Bangla, Hindi and Urdu apart from European languages, Harder cautioned against such a disaster as more upwardly mobile families stop teaching their own language to their children.

“One can better understand evolution of politics and economics by studying Arthashastra

by Chanakya,” said Dr. Michaels.

So this semester the institute is offering a course on human physiology and psychology in the early Upanishads by Anand Mishra, an IIT mathematics graduate who took up the study of Sanskrit for his research on evolving a more grammatically suitable computing language.

“Working on Panini’s Sanskrit grammar, I realised it could be a great tool in computing language,” said Mishra.

Dr. Michaels feels that instead of indulging

in a political and religious debate, Indians should try to preserve their heritage.

“Don’t we conserve a rare, old painting or sculpture? This is a live language…and rich cultural heritage which might become the casualty of neglect just as great civilisations like Hampi, the art of Ajanta and temples of Konark got buried in oblivion. It was up to the British to discover them later.

Sanskrit, along with its culture, philosophy and science might become similarly extinct,” he claimed, adding: “On the other hand, there is so much yet to discover through Sanskrit…details of Indus Valley civilisation, for example.”

Germany has already been a storehouse of Sanskrit scholars to the world. “The majority of Sanskrit scholars, including those at Harvard, California Berkeley and the UK, are Germans,” he said.

In this backdrop, educationists in India feel that it is very important to introduce Sanskrit at the school level to enable students have a better understanding of the subject.

“Sanskrit is an essential part of every Indian soul. Without the language, the society loses its identity. From Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Mahatma Gandhi, everyone was inspired by the language. The whole renaissance period was based on Sanskrit literature,” Professor Ramesh Bharadwaj, head of the Sanskrit department at Delhi University, said.

Historians, meanwhile, feel that successive governments have taken no initiatives to promote the language among the people.

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SPIRITUAL NEWS

The Pyramidal Structure T

he manifest creation is run on prana shakti, this prana is present in every spec of Creation. Prana is a frequency, it emerged from Brahma and divided into different frequencies or vibrations. The subtler frequencies stilled themselves in higher dimensions, beyond the prithvi loka – bhuva, maha, jana, tapa and satya.

The grosser frequencies stilled themselves in the lower dimensions – the taals. Prithvi loka or bhuloka is the only dimension, where all these frequencies are accessible to a being.

look around yourselves and tell how many people are actually doing service and charity and helping others and how many are living for themselves.

Yogis sitting in dhyan on the Himalayas still themselves in subtler frequencies gaining access to the world of ether, to devs and devis.These Rishi munis are using their tapobal to keep the creation going. And they appear in front of and help the souls / beings who wish to go beyond, away from the crowd, at the base of the pyramid. The

And these varying frequencies ofprana, exist in a pyramidal structure. The grossest frequencies form the base of the pyramid, and the subtlest frequency being the pointed top. There is a lot of space at the base of the pyramid – majority of people we meet and interact with exist in this plane. They spend their lives in pursuit of basic desires – food, sex, money etc. As one moves up the pyramid – the number of people reduces, while at the top there is only room for one, because only so many have the entitlement to access the Ultimate. A living proof of this is just

pyramid is so designed that the tip attracts maximum energy of the higher frequencies and the lower parts maximum energy of the lower frequencies. Stilling the prana indicates having complete control over it and this happens, not per force, but naturally. It is like building a dam on the river, the water is there but it is in your control when, where and how much to release. This, in fact, is the underlying principle of Sanatan Kriya, which helps a practitioner to gain complete control over prana, from where it can be channelized as per one’s desire for

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YOGI ASHWINI desired manifestations.

Control over prana is essential for when you progress in yog, you are given siddhis, siddhi is that what you want, happens. When you get the siddhis, you are at a level of balance, you get engrossed in them and don’t want to move upwards. Those siddhis then have to be left behind, that is an imbalance has to be created, only then will one moves towards a higher balance. These siddhis are considered pitfalls in yog and are given to only those who have the capacity to overcome them and if the practitioner does not leave them at the time, he/she remains stuck. The closer you are to the bottom of the pyramid, the more you are tied to the force of gravity as you're closest to the physical world. This force is so strong that it doesn't even allow thoughts to go to the higher planes, forget action. That is the reason why you will hardly find anyone doing genuine service and charity around you or helping others. The basic principle of manifested creation is being bottom heavy or in other words, highly physical and selfish in nature, this blinding out the reality.

It's only when lightness emerges by karmas with the help of the Guru that the ascent happens. But the ascent also ties you with siddhis, because

ultimately siddhis are either used for yourself or for creation.

Remember that the journey of yog is in the shape of a pyramid. The higher you go, the lesser the number of people, because lesser is the accommodating power of every subsequent level. You will notice that as you progress on the path, you will be able to relate to lesser number of people. The closer you are to the base of pyramid, the more will be your attractions for the physical things but as you move up the attractions of physical start declining and your ability to attract things towards you increases. So no matter how cool or big you think you are, your desires and actions determine your state. A higher frequency has all the lower frequencies in it, but a lower frequency does not have frequency which is required at a higher level.Therefore, what was required at a lower level is not required at a step higher and so is left behind, not forcefully, but naturally, due to change in pranic frequency

and subsequent change in desires.

This is called evolution.

People often tell me that they have the desire but what about the family, responsibilities etc. Here one needs to understand that, whatever is your desire, that you do any which way. You find a way to do it no matter who stops you, because that is your natural state, your natural frequency. There is nothing wrong in desires, but it is a state which has to be transgressed. Holding the hand of the Guru, the desires change to higher desires. If you are finding excuses not to do something then that

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means that you do not have the desire for it as yet. Wait for your desire to change, wait for the frequency to change, not forcibly, but naturally, through yog. When the desire changes, the experiences of yog, happen simultaneously. That is an indicator. It is your experiences that make you rise through the pyramid, not by just thinking about it.

Remember, this pyramid of spirituality is three-dimensional, indicating the entire manifested creation in totality and the route away from it. And it extends up and down.

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NEWS BITES

The NMDC celebrated 124th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar on April 14, 2015 at its head office. Director (Technical), N K Nanda was the chief guest of the occasion, while other directors and officials were present.

harish Java takes charge as CGM, NABARD Harish Java has been appointed as Chief General Manager of NABARD, Andhra Pradesh Regional Office.

He took charge on April 16, 2015.

Earlier, Harish Java worked in Institutional Development Department, NABARD, Head Office, Mumbai.

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The previous CGM, Jiji Mammen has been posted as CGM of Mudra Bank. A native of Kerala, Jiji Mammen has held several key positions in NABARD and earned laurels.

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FOCUS

KARNATAKA: INDUSTRIAL GROWTH FOR MITIGATING POVERTY

K

THE NEWS BUREAU

arnataka is one of the leading states in driving India's economic growth. The state GDP of US$ 49 billion in 2012-13 grew at 5.3 percent, higher than the national GDP of 5 percent when compared to financial year 201112.The state's export of US $ 40 billion during the period 2012-13 constitutes 12.69 percent of all India exports. Its share in the national exports for IT is 40 percent and for electronics and hardware is 38 percent. The share of electronics and software in state's exports stands at 60 percent for the period 2012-13. The

state is home to the fourth largest technology cluster in the world after Silicon Valley, Boston and London.

Manufacturing sector employs 11 percent of the work force followed by construction sector with 9.60 percent.

Service sector employs 46 percent of the work force as per Economic Survey of Karnataka 13-14.

Karnataka is the Knowledge Hub of Asia with 201 plus Engineering colleges, 114 plus Medical colleges and institutions, 50 Universities and 13 International Schools apart from presence of more than 370 plus world renowned high end research and development organizations.

The World Economic Forum has

identified Karnataka among the top four innovation hubs in the World.

With good rail, road and air connectivity, logistic support, infrastructure, excellent telecommunication network and peaceful labour, the state has been a preferred destination for investment attracting four largest FDI in the country. The state is considered as the fastest growing market in India.

State has been ranked first for a healthy business climate and attracting investments by World Bank's Investment Climate Index and Bangalore – Best India City to Live in - Quality of Living Survey Worldwide Rankings, 2011.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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Sustainable development is our motto:

S

iddaramaiah The vision of Industrial Policy 2014 19 is to build a prosperous Karnataka through inclusive, sustainable and balanced industrial development thereby creating large employment opportunities, says Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The policy aims to maintain an industrial growth rate of 12 percent per annum and enhance the contribution of manufacturing sector to the state GDP from present level of 16.87 percent to 20 percent by end of policy period and spread industrial growth to nook and corner of the state, he said. Siddaramaiah also said sustainable development is integral to the spirit of this policy and special focus is on manufacturing sector, Karnataka state government considers industrial growth as a means to mitigate poverty and unemployment. Development of industry, trade and service sector promotes higher capital formation, improves per capita income level, absorbs surplus work force.

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creation of employment opportunities and promotion of MSMEs which have a strong base in Karnataka.

Entrepreneurs belonging to SC/ST, Minority Community, Backward Classes, Ex-servicemen and Women have been given special attention to encourage enterprise creation and industrial capacity building by them for an inclusive growth & sustained development. “I am glad that the Hyderabad Karnataka region along with industrially backward taluks have received adequate attention with a view to createa strong industrial base with equitable allocation of funds and for overall development of the state,� Siddaramaiah said.

To realize these benefits and expedite socio economic changes, the state gives top priority for industrial development. In the process, it is aimed at advancing the cause of inclusivity, balanced industrialization and creating employment opportunities across different classes

The News You Like | May, 2015

and categories of populace.

The State was the first to bring out an Industrial Policy and has brought subsequent policies with the sole objective of taking Karnataka to newer heights in respect of industrialization and to sustain growth over the years.

karNataka, a preferred destiNatioN for iNdustry

A

dditional chief secretary to commerce and industries department, Government of Karnataka, K Ratna Prabha says, “The Industrial Policy 2014-19 aims to position Karnataka in the forefront by providing adequate infrastructure support with attractive enhanced incentives and improved facilitation mechanism coupled with reforms and create an environment to enhance ease of doing business in the state.�

The Policy endeavors in reaching its objectives by creation of quality infrastructure with comprehensive facilities, human resource development through capacity building & skill up gradation and looking beyond Bangalore for spreading the fruits of industrialization to the entire state, she said.

She further said that the thrust areas and strategies proposed in the policy attempt to distribute the

economic benefits across a wider cross section of the society in an inclusive manner, by encouraging women, SC/STand other backward sections of the society. Many reforms are proposed across major departments including online filing of combined application and approvals to facilitate ease of doing business, optimum utilization of resources, encourage vertical development in industrial areas, protect the scarce industrial land, reduce inspections, enable submission of online returns etc. to boost the morale of the investors.

Special focus has been given to MSME sector with various initiatives to encourage manufacturing MSMEs including marketing support and fillip to enhance their competitiveness in international trade, Ratna Prabha said. She appealed to all stakeholders to join hands with the government in making Karnataka a preferred destination for Industry.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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FOCUS

IHM-Hyderabad celebrates Annual Day

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The News You Like | May, 2015

T

THE NEWS BUREAU

he annual day of Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition was organized with great pomp and show. The two day event was graced by guests from hotel industry and other areas. The event began on April 8 with prize distribution ceremony for the academic year 20142015 for various co-curricular activities.

India’s numero uno table tennis player Naina Jaiswal, athlete Syeda Falak, who represented India at several world karate championships and professional body builder Mohtesham Ali, CORRIGENDUM who won the silver medal at Mr World he name of IHM2008 at Las Vegas Hyderabad was and also achieved inadvertently printed as the 6th place at Mr IIHM in these columns Universe, Florida in April 2015 issue in the were guests of the report titled ‘Nurturing Professionals for occasion.

Hospitality Industry’.

Cultural We regret the error. programmes with stellar performances by the students were organized on the second day. Celebrity Chef Puneet Mehta, Vijay Tenneti, Vice president of Daspalla Hotels, Hyderabad were the chief guests. The show stopper was the Bar flair performance by Mithun Bhadekar and faculty. The event ended with a sumptuous buffet for the guests and the students.

T

The event began with the welcome speech by principal Sanjay Kumar Thakur. The Institute launched its book on “Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Cuisine”, authored by the chef faculty of the institute. The Literary Committee released the 30th edition of “CACKLE”, the annual magazine of the institute.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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INTERVIEW

Majority PIOs lack awareness of RTI Act

Dr S Imtiyaz Ahmed has been the Information Commissioner posted at Andhra Pradesh Information Commission for over three years. Speaking to The News, he shared his experiences and made valuable suggestions for creating awareness among the Public Authorities as well as the public with respect Right to Information Act. Excerpts of the interview‌ A B HUSSAIN

You have been the Information Commissioner for over three years.

What are your experiences and observations during the period with regard to implementation of the Right to Information Act 2005?

I am surprised to find 50 to 60 percent of Public Information Officers lack complete knowledge of the Act even today. This has been causing trouble both for the PIOs and the RTI applicants. I have noticed many PIOs claiming they are ignorant of the procedures. Steps taken by the governments to create awareness are not yielding fruits at the field level and this is one of the main reasons for the delay in providing information for the applicants.

What has been your priority as an Information Commissioner?

I ensure that information to the applicants is provided at the earliest by the PIOs. I ensure implementation of my orders and continuously monitor the status of implementation so that the RTI applicants get the information sought for.

What are the problems faced by Information Commission in the implementation of RTI Act? It is a good question. We are facing serious staff crunch. We hardly have six to seven persons, that too

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on temporary basis, to assist each Information Commissioner while in states like Maharashtra each Information Commissioner is provided with about 25 office assistants.

Further, those working in Maharashtra are permanent employees. This would ensure accountability besides improving the efficiency of the information commission. We can ensure speedy disposal of applications if we get adequate manpower.

First appellate authorities are not properly responding. Will the Information Commission recommend training for them?

Yes. As I said it is the responsibility of the government to see that the object of the RTI Act is achieved by imparting proper training for the PIOs and the first appellate authorities by way of conducting awareness programmes. Further, the government should take action whenever Information Commission recommends something in connection with the PIOs or appellate authorities. Anyway, we keep writing to the government on the need for providing proper training for the PIOs and appellate authorities.

Is it not possible to introduce public private partnership (PPP) for the implementation of RTI Act? It is a good idea to have public private partnership (PPP) model. But care should be taken that only selfless

NGOs are allowed to work with the Information Commission and other government departments in conducting awareness programmes. The awareness programmes could be conducted both for the Public Information Officers and the general public as well.

What do you think is the reason the governments are not paying attention for effective implementation of RTI Act? This is a question which should be answered by the government. Though the burden of effective implementation, creating awareness with respect to RTI lies with the government according to Section 26 of the Act, I suggest the government should entrust the responsibility to the Commission. The government should provide adequate budgetary assistance for the purpose along with infrastructure and manpower.

What could be the best use of RTI Act? The Act should be used in public interest which should be genuine. However, due to lack of awareness, vague applications are made by many while some are resorting to misuse. Awareness is the need of the hour.

Do you ensure protection for applicants in case of threat to their lives?

Certainly we take steps to protect the RTI applicants.

We write to the authorities concerned in some cases direct the police stations concerned to provide safety.

Further, we warn the public information officers if they resort to any mischief against the applicants.

apiC imposes peNalty oN pio

AP Information Commissioner Dr S Imtiyaz Ahmed has imposed a penalty of Rs 1,000 on the Public Information Officer at the office of the District Education Officer, Hyderabad for not providing information either in part or full, sought by the RTI Applicant.

The Information Commissioner imposed the penalty in 15 cases and the total amount of penalty comes to Rs 15,000.

The cases before the Information Commissioner were numbered as 7179 of 2015 to 7199 of 2015.

The complaints were filed by RTI Activist A B Hussain.

That is not true. If the PIOs stick to rule book and provide the information as per law, nobody can harass them. Those who lack awareness only make such complaints.

Do you think people should have judicial background to seek appointment as Information Commissioner?

It is good if people with judicial background become Information Commissioners. However, Section 15(3) of the RTI Act says that expert from any field can seek appointment as Information Commissioner.

Many government departments including Education Department are not disclosing the information on their websites as stipulated in Section 4(1)(b) of the Act. What is the remedy for this?

True. Not only Section 4(1)(b) disclosure but the PIOs are not following Section 4(1)(a) which stipulates that all the records must be streamlined and updated so that information could be provided to the applicants as quickly as possible. About 80 percent of the PIOs are not following the rules. The government should take it seriously and NGOs and civil society must play an active role in changing this situation.

Some PIOs complain that RTI Act has become a tool to harass them. Do you agree with that?

What is your message for our readers?

Make use of RTI Act and seek information for public interest. Never ever misuse the provisions of the Act.

Do you think common people are increasingly using the RTI Act? I don’t think so because majority of the common people are still unaware of the RTI Act. For example, the governments are introducing welfare schemes for the downtrodden. But the actual beneficieries are unaware of it though they can make use of the RTI Act to get complete information about the schemes.

Have you ever filed RTI application?

Yes. I have filed number of applications before I entered the Commission. Since all my applications were in public interest, I did get information in some instances government could recover the money mismanaged by certain corrupt officials.

The News You Like | May, 2015

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NO.SBTET/EE-II-3/442/POLYCET-2015/TS/2014 Date: 21-04-2015 01. POLYTECHNIC COMMON ENTRANCE TEST-POLYCET-2015 The State Board of Technical Education and Training, Telangana, Hyderabad will conduct "Polytechnic Common Entrance Test-POLYCET-2015" for the candidates seeking admission in to all Diploma Courses in Engineering and NonEngineering/Technology offered at Polytechnics/Institutions (including Aided and Unaided Polytechnics/ Institutions and 2nd shift Polytechnics in Private Engineering Colleges) in Telangana State for the academic year 2015-16 02. Eligibility to appear for POLYCET-2015.

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Commencement of sale of POLYCET-2015 Application and 28-04-2015 (Tuesday) Instruction booklet (Booklet cost including Application Form Rs 20/-)

Commencement of filing of online application (Rs 330/- 28 -04-2015 (Tuesday) from Helpline centres/ AP Online centres / Through payment gate way)

Last date for sale of POLYCET booklet and filing of online 13 -05-2015 (Wednesday) application form

Date and Time of conduct of POLYCET-2015 Examination 31-05-2015 (Sunday) Time: 11.00 AM to 1.00 PM

04. For detailed Notification visit the Website: sbtetap.gov.in and for filing ONLINE application visit URL: https://polycetts.nic.in Place: Hyderabad.

Date: 21-04-2015.

Sd/-Smt. A. Vani Prasad, IAS Chairman, SBTET & Commissioner of Technical Education, Telangana, Hyderabad

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