Month: July 2011

Hyderabad, July 26: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Monday sought to build pressure on the MLAs belonging to the Congress and Telugu Desam Party to resubmitted their resignations by taking the lead and faxing the resignations of its 11 MLAs to the office of Speaker Nadendla Manohar.

Mr Manohar had on Saturday rejected the resignations of all the MLAs which were submitted from July 3 to July 5, stating that the decision to resign had been taken in an emotionally surcharged atmosphere.

Hyderabad, July 26: Stating that the plan of Legislators submitting their resignations to mount pressure on the Centre to take an early decision on Telangana had more or less flopped as it had failed to produce the desired results, MLA from Warangal district Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy on Monday opined that the Congress MLAs should resubmit their resignations to the High Command rather than Speaker Nadendla Manohar.

Hyderabad, July 26: Even as it welcomed Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s promise to usher in corruption-free and transparent governance, the Lok Satta Party on Monday asked him to focus more on political and official corruption at the top.

Addressing media persons here, Lok Satta Party leaders said, “We should be grateful for small mercies like issuance of caste, income, birth and death certificates without the need for greasing the palms of officials at the village/mandal levels.”

Hyderabad, July 26: Telugu Desam Party Legislative Council Floor Leader Dadi Veerabhadra Rao on Monday expressed incredulity about the statement made by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy of providing corruption-free governance in the state, when he was leading the Congress party, which was known for its rampant graft.

Hyderabad, July 26: The Off Site Real Time (OSRT) system, being used by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, has bagged the m-Billionth Award for South Asia 2011 under the m-Governance category.

According to an official release by the GHMC, a Certificate has been issued in recognition of implementation of Off – Site Real – Time Monitoring System (OSRT) for developing and implementation of Real Time Monitoring System that offers Unique Accountability Mechanism through Mobiles.

Hyderabad, July 26: A new indigenous soft drink may hit the market if the government’s proposal bears fruit.

Efforts are on to extract ‘neera’ from toddy trees and subject it to different exposures and bottle it as another soft drink to appeal the palate of consumers.

An official committee visited Maharashtra and Gujarat states where the ‘neera’ soft drink is already sold.

The report is awaited. The team is also likely to visit Kerala and Tamil Nadu also for further study.

Hyderabad, July 26: Following the relentless pursuit of the issue by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Centre has released Rs 1000 crore to the Food Corporation of India towards payment of levy rice dues to the millers of the state by FCI.

The Centre’s decision came as a fall out of the efforts of the Chief Minister and the discussions he had with the Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Thomas.

Over the last three days FCI has paid Rs 270 crore to millers, an official statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.

Hyderabad, July 26: Chief Minister Mr N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday suggested setting up of a State Agriculture Commission or a Board which will work as an Advisory Commission on all the problems faced by the farmers and other issues of agriculture including remunerative prices, marketing etc.

He was speaking while reviewing in detail the various issues of Agriculture operations of the season in the State with Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, who holds the Agriculture portfolio and other officials at Secretariat.

Hyderabad, July 26: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday squarely blamed the state government for not attending to the poor Girijans in the Agency Areas of Adilabad and Visakhapatnam districts where the killer disease malaria was taking its toll.

“They are helpless yet the government, particularly the Health Department has been ineffective in protecting the lives of innocent Girijans,” CPM MLA Julakanti Rangareddy and former Rajya Sabha Member Madhu told media persons at the Secretariat on Monday.

Hyderabad, July 26: Telangana Rashtra Samithi Floor Leader Etela Rajender on Monday suspected the hand of Congress In-Charge of Andhra Pradesh Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad behind the decision of Speaker Nadendla Manohar to reject the resignations of Telangana leaders.

Talking to media persons on Assembly premises, Mr Rajender alleged Mr Azad was misusing the Speaker’s post in the name of Telangana state and murdering democracy in the state by violating the rights of elected representatives.

He alleged Mr Manohar has become `puppet’ in the hands of Mr Azad.

Hyderabad, July 26: Condemning the assault on Chander Rao, Officer on Special Duty at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan by Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA Harish Rao in New Delhi, Telugu Desam Party state general secretary Varla Ramaiah on Monday alleged that the both the Centre and state government lack the guts to arrest the TRS leader.

Talking to media persons at NTR Trust Bhavan, Mr Ramaiah demanded the arrest of Harish Rao for attacking Chander Rao, a Dalit employee in the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan.

Hyderabad, July 26: The Telugu Desam Party MLAs from Telangana region would resubmit their resignations to Speaker Nadendla Manohar once he returns from London.

TDP Telangana Forum convener Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Monday told media persons at the Telugu Desam Legislature Party Office that this decision was taken unanimously by the Forum members.

“We took a decision to personally hand over our resignations to the Speaker as there is no one in his office at present. We will wait for his return from London,” Mr Dayakar Rao said.

Mahabubnagar, July 26: The governing body of Mahabubnagar District Indian Red Cross society has been elected unanimously under the Chairmanship of district Collector M Purushotham Reddy on Sunday evening.

A press statement issued by district Collector on Monday stated that the newly elected governing body members have been named as Anantha Reddy, A Nataraj, Nagendra Swamy, Md Amar, Mamidipally Bheemreddy, P Laxman, Manohare Reddy Jayaraju, M Laxman, and P Yadaiah Gupta.

Hyderabad, July 26: Reacting sarcastically to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s comments that speaking against Speaker Nadendla Manohar’s decision to reject the resignations of Telangana MLAs could invite a jail term, Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA KT Rama Rao on Monday hailed the statement and stated that the MLAs are ready to face capital punishment if it means achieving a separate Telangana state.

Geneva, July 25: Amid a raging debate in India over wealth stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks, official Swiss bank figures show that the quantum of such money is only a very small fraction, or 0.07 percent, of the total assets of all foreigners with banks in this European nation.

As per the official figures disclosed by Switzerland’s central bank, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), total deposits of Indian individuals and companies with all the Swiss banks put together stood at about USD 2.5 billion at the end of 2010.

London, July 25: NASA will somehow have to accomplish its most ambitious mission – landing on an asteriod within 15 years, after a presidential directive.

The challenges are manifold, but NASA nerds are delirious at tackling the nitty gritty of such an inconceivably challenging project – though Hollywood has already done it in “Armadeddon” 13 years ago.

Ahmedabad, July 25: Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani on Monday discussed measures for smooth implementation of the project in a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Nilekani was made aware of the preparation of Gujarat government on the project implementation in the meeting, an official statement said.

Ahmedabad, July 25: Security has been beefed up in the city ahead of the third anniversary on Tuesday of the serial bomb blasts, Police Commissioner SK Sinha said.

57 people were killed and 200 injured when around 18 blasts rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008.

“400 personnel of the State Reserve Police Force and two units of Rapid Action Force have been deployed at various locations across the city,” he said.

Since Ahmedabad has always been on a terror radar, 72 check-posts have been set up to monitor the entry and exit of vehicles, Sinha said.

Bhubaneswar, July 25: A trade union leader here has sought Orissa Governor M C Bhandare’s sanction for prosecution of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in wake of the Lokpal report on the controversial Vedanta University project in Puri.

Dwarika Mohan Mishra, who had filed the complaint with the Lokpal against the Vedanta project, said, “I have written to the governor urging him to accord sanction under Prevention of Corruption Act for enabling suitable legal proceedings against the chief minister.”

Patna, July 25: Bihar Government on Monday rejected the opposition allegation of irregularities in land allotment by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA).

Chief Secretary Anup Mukherjee in his report, circulated to the press, said there was no irregularity in allotment of land to entrepreneurs who might be relatives of state ministers, MPs or bureaucrats.

“The lands have been allotted under framed rules and procedures with full transparency,” Mukherjee said.

Dhaka, July 25: Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was on Monday honoured posthumously with Bangladesh’s highest state award for her outstanding contribution to the country’s 1971 ‘Liberation War’.

Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, the daughter -in-law of the assassinated prime minister, received the “Bangladesh Swadhinata Sanmanona” from President Zillur Rahman at a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and nearly 1,000 top dignitaries.

Karachi, July 25: The Norwegian gunman, who killed over 90 people in two recent attacks in Oslo, was terrified of the idea of several ‘mini Pakistans’ appearing all over the map of Europe.

A 1,600-page manifesto titled ‘2083: A European Declaration of Independence’, written by Anders Behring Breivik, showed a picture of the future of Europe, citing poor human rights in Pakistan as the fate of the continent.

New Delhi, July 25: The Common Admission Test for the IIMs this year will have two sections instead of three and students will have 70 minutes to answer each of them.

The test will be conducted online within a 20-day period from October 22 to November 18.

“Candidates will have 70 minutes to answer 30 questions in each section which will have an on-screen countdown timer. Once the time ends for the first section, they will move to the second and will no longer be able to go back,” said Prof Janakiraman Moorthy of IIM Kolkata, who is the convenor of CAT 2011.

New Delhi, July 25:This story begins with a visit to the Madras War Cemetery early this year, by a man in quest of a trace dating back some 66 years. The man in question, Anil Dhir has a penchant for history and has an enviable record in unearthing the glories of the past. Dhir says he was in search of material for his article on the War Cemeteries in India, which took him from one end of the geography to the other.

New Delhi, July 25: The proposal to grant conditional Maharatna status to two PSUs – BHEL and GAIL – is expected to be taken up in the Cabinet by the end of next month, even though they do not meet the criteria.

The government is considering granting an exception to enable the two state-run companies to exploit investment opportunities up to Rs 5,000 crore without the government approval.

While equipment firm BHEL and gas utility GAIL do not meet the financial parameters for the Maharatna status, they are expected to fulfil the criteria by the end of this fiscal.