Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The American Telugu Association (ATA) members will adopt one village each in their motherland to contribute their might for its development. ATA has about 3000 members of whom about 300 will take up this programme over two years. ATA has chosen "Adopt a village" as its biennial theme this year and its chairman Gavva Chandra Reddy has started the initiative by adopting his native Pillalamarri village in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh. "Prime emphasis of 'Adopt a village' programme will be on creating infrastructure for schools, improving sanitary conditions and providing healthcare facilities through special camps in collaboration with voluntary organisations like the Lions Club," ATA organiser Arjun Dyapa said. Another prominent ATA member P Malla Reddy has built a college building in his native village near Bhongir. "There has been a good response from our members to the initiative and many are ready to adopt their native villages and contribute to their uplift," Arjun said. Meanwhile, most of the second-generation NRI youth have been showing an inclination to return to their motherland, given the growing job and business opportunities here. With the Indian economy on a boom compared to the US, NRI youth were keen on investing in Andhra Pradesh and set up manufacturing facilities. ATA is seeking guidance from the state government on the investment prospects in Andhra Pradesh so that prospective investors could set up shop here. "Unlike in the past, we need not move lock, stock and barrel from the US to do business here. We can open our units here and do business even staying abroad," Arjun pointed out.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Sunday, 6 July 2008
In Case of Emergency (ICE)
Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: A public-interest campaign called ICE is fast picking up across the country. ICE is aimed at creating an awareness among mobile phone users the need to store in their phone memory card a particular phone number of their closest family members or friends who could be contacted in an emergency situation. ICE precisely stands for In Case of Emergency. Almost everyone these days carries a mobile phone with many names and numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than the phone user, knows which of these numbers belongs to his\her closest family members or friends. "If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill suddenly, the people attending on us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know whom to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the right contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency) campaign," says a campaign mailer that is currently being circulated on the Internet. ICE is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by majority of the population, all one needs to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name ICE. An unknown paramedic hit upon the ICE idea after he found on many an occasion that there were always mobile phones with patients at the scenes of accidents but did not know which number to call. He, therefore, thought it would be good if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose and coined ICE. In an emergency situation, emergency service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialling the number one has stored as ICE. For more than one contact name, one can simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3. A great idea that might make a difference and help save lives! "Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our mobile phones today," the e-mail exhorts. "It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind in peace. ICE will speak for you when you are not able to," the email adds. Students and software professionals -- even some journalists -- have now taken it upon themselves to take the campaign forward and ultimately make ICE a unique national emergency code. Hail the move.
Hyderabad: A public-interest campaign called ICE is fast picking up across the country. ICE is aimed at creating an awareness among mobile phone users the need to store in their phone memory card a particular phone number of their closest family members or friends who could be contacted in an emergency situation. ICE precisely stands for In Case of Emergency. Almost everyone these days carries a mobile phone with many names and numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than the phone user, knows which of these numbers belongs to his\her closest family members or friends. "If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill suddenly, the people attending on us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know whom to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the right contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency) campaign," says a campaign mailer that is currently being circulated on the Internet. ICE is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by majority of the population, all one needs to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name ICE. An unknown paramedic hit upon the ICE idea after he found on many an occasion that there were always mobile phones with patients at the scenes of accidents but did not know which number to call. He, therefore, thought it would be good if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose and coined ICE. In an emergency situation, emergency service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialling the number one has stored as ICE. For more than one contact name, one can simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3. A great idea that might make a difference and help save lives! "Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our mobile phones today," the e-mail exhorts. "It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind in peace. ICE will speak for you when you are not able to," the email adds. Students and software professionals -- even some journalists -- have now taken it upon themselves to take the campaign forward and ultimately make ICE a unique national emergency code. Hail the move.
Sunday, 29 June 2008
The iPhone is wonderful
DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is not known to be technology or gadget savvy. But Apple's iPhone has become a rather indispensable tool in his hands these days. The iPhone, of course, is not owned by the Chief Minister. His enterprising and tech-savvy Chief Security Officer Masthipuram Ramesh uses the iPhone and it is coming in handy for RajasekharaReddy to dispose of applications related to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) -- just by using his fingertip. Even if he is touring a remote part of the far-off Srikakulam district or Adilabad or relaxing in his ownbackyard in Idupulapaya, Rajasekhara Reddy never misses the opportunity to clear pending CMRF applications. On an average, about 300 applications are received everyday by the ChiefMinister's Office (CMO) for financial assistance from the CMRF. Not a single application is kept pending as a team in the CMO, led by the Chief Minister's principal secretary P Subrahmanyam and private secretary Kiran Kumar Reddy, processes the applications in quick time and uploads them on the CMRF website. Hitherto, the Chief Minister needed to sit in front of his desktop computer to clear these applications. As he was constantly touring the state as well as other parts of the country, the CMRF applications used to get stuck. "This was creating troubles for the needy people as sometimes they were forced to wait for days to get the Chief Minister's approval for help. In critical cases, this wait could prove costly. So, we decided to integrate the website with the latest mobile handsets so that the applications could be processed in real time," a CMO official said. Initially, the CMO officials tried using the Blackberry device to download the CMRF site and process the applications. "Somehow, it did not work as desired," the CMO official pointed out. Then came Apple's iPhone, which is a virtual palm-top computer. It is fully loaded with a variety of features and browsing the web is amazingly easier. So, a foolproof system has been designed so that only the ChiefMinister, apart from his private secretary, can access the processing and approval part of the CMRF website. The specific page has details about the various applications received, the need for financial assistance and the amount to be sanctioned. A gist of the total number of applications, the sum sanctioned and the amount per person is also listed. During his "reserve" time while on tours, Rajasekhara Reddy opens the iPhone and completes the"formalities." In a flash, the main server in the CMO updates the details as soon as the Chief Minister grants his approval and sends back a message: "Thank you, dear Chief Minister." Rajasekhara Reddy indeed proves that one need not be tech-savvy to make effective use of technology.
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is not known to be technology or gadget savvy. But Apple's iPhone has become a rather indispensable tool in his hands these days. The iPhone, of course, is not owned by the Chief Minister. His enterprising and tech-savvy Chief Security Officer Masthipuram Ramesh uses the iPhone and it is coming in handy for RajasekharaReddy to dispose of applications related to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) -- just by using his fingertip. Even if he is touring a remote part of the far-off Srikakulam district or Adilabad or relaxing in his ownbackyard in Idupulapaya, Rajasekhara Reddy never misses the opportunity to clear pending CMRF applications. On an average, about 300 applications are received everyday by the ChiefMinister's Office (CMO) for financial assistance from the CMRF. Not a single application is kept pending as a team in the CMO, led by the Chief Minister's principal secretary P Subrahmanyam and private secretary Kiran Kumar Reddy, processes the applications in quick time and uploads them on the CMRF website. Hitherto, the Chief Minister needed to sit in front of his desktop computer to clear these applications. As he was constantly touring the state as well as other parts of the country, the CMRF applications used to get stuck. "This was creating troubles for the needy people as sometimes they were forced to wait for days to get the Chief Minister's approval for help. In critical cases, this wait could prove costly. So, we decided to integrate the website with the latest mobile handsets so that the applications could be processed in real time," a CMO official said. Initially, the CMO officials tried using the Blackberry device to download the CMRF site and process the applications. "Somehow, it did not work as desired," the CMO official pointed out. Then came Apple's iPhone, which is a virtual palm-top computer. It is fully loaded with a variety of features and browsing the web is amazingly easier. So, a foolproof system has been designed so that only the ChiefMinister, apart from his private secretary, can access the processing and approval part of the CMRF website. The specific page has details about the various applications received, the need for financial assistance and the amount to be sanctioned. A gist of the total number of applications, the sum sanctioned and the amount per person is also listed. During his "reserve" time while on tours, Rajasekhara Reddy opens the iPhone and completes the"formalities." In a flash, the main server in the CMO updates the details as soon as the Chief Minister grants his approval and sends back a message: "Thank you, dear Chief Minister." Rajasekhara Reddy indeed proves that one need not be tech-savvy to make effective use of technology.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Lakes turn cesspools
By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Before its transformation into the so-called high-tech city, thanks to the information technology boom, Hyderabad was famously known as the city of pearls and also the city of lakes. When someone talks about Hyderabad's lake system, the first one that strikes the mind is the Hussain Sagar lake, though there were over 532 water bodies in and around the state capital. These lakes, apart from serving as drinking water sources, also effectively helped in rain water harvesting in the semi-arid zone for irrigation. Rapid urbanisation over the past few decades has made the lakes redundant for irrigation. Unbridled discharge of domestic and industrial effluents and sewerage has turned the lakes into cesspools of filth. As demand for land increased with the spurt in population growth, lakes got encroached indiscriminately. Areas adjacent to the lakes were also converted into housing layouts resulting in encroachment of parts of water spread area. Dumping of solid wastes, immersion of idols and landfill activity are also threatening the lakes' existence. All this has also caused widespread ecological degeneration. Now, most of the once-famous lakes in and around the city are in a state of eutrophication. The bacteria and pathogens released into the lake water by discharge of sewage are contaminating the ground water causing water-borne diseases besides encouraging mosquito growth. Thus, lakhs of people living around these water bodies are vastly affected by several maladies. The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority has notified 169 lakes spread over 3000 hectares, of which 87 are moderate to highly polluted. Of these 87, 11 are classified under category-1 that reached eutrophication while others are classified under category-2 -- which too may reach the dangerous stage if neglected. Consider the Ramakrishnapuram (Mukkidi) cheruvu in Malkajgiri municipality, which has a water spread area of 13.7 hectares now. The lakebed is encroached and two inlets carry domestic sewage into the lake leading to heavy pollution. Without the encroachments, the lake's waterspread area should have been 18.66 ha. This lake once used to be an irrigation source but urbanisation has led to development of middle-class housing colonies, altering the land use pattern. The Sudulavani Kunta lake in Kukatpally is another example where encroachments have eaten into the water spread area significantly, resulting in excessive pollution of the water body. From the actual waterspread area of 5.9 hectares, the lake area has now shrunk to 4.9 ha with encroachments on all sides except the northern side where a weir stands. "As Hyderabad is expanding on all sides at a brisk pace, lakes in the erstwhile surrounding municipalities, that are now part of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, have been falling prey to unchecked encroachments. New residential layouts are being developed in areas like Kapra, Serlingampally, RajendraNagar and Kukatpally. This is threatening the existence of water bodies," a top Hyderabad UrbanDevelopment Authority official pointed out. All these years, various government agencies have tried to pass on the blame and wash their hands off even as environmentalists raised alarm over the degeneration of lakes and the adverse impact on the city ecological system. After the flash floods in August 2000, the then government spoke of restoring the waterbodies but that promise remained unfulfilled. Even the present government did not show much interest in the lake restoration work as realtors succeeded in thwarting all efforts of the administration to check illegal layouts and encroachment of water bodies. One reason that the authorities concerned repeatedly cited for not taking up the lake restoration projects was "dearth of funds." But now, with the Government of India generously funding infrastructure projects in urban local bodies, particularly the million-plus cities under the Jawaharlal Nehru NationalUrban Renewal Mission, the state government woke up to do at least something to save the system. The Huda has now completed a survey and prepared a detailed project report for "restoration and rejuvenation" of 11 lakes in the first phase at a total cost of Rs 71.45 crore. Once the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of JNNURM clears the project and pumps in funds, these lakes are expected to regain good shape, at least to some extent.
Hyderabad: Before its transformation into the so-called high-tech city, thanks to the information technology boom, Hyderabad was famously known as the city of pearls and also the city of lakes. When someone talks about Hyderabad's lake system, the first one that strikes the mind is the Hussain Sagar lake, though there were over 532 water bodies in and around the state capital. These lakes, apart from serving as drinking water sources, also effectively helped in rain water harvesting in the semi-arid zone for irrigation. Rapid urbanisation over the past few decades has made the lakes redundant for irrigation. Unbridled discharge of domestic and industrial effluents and sewerage has turned the lakes into cesspools of filth. As demand for land increased with the spurt in population growth, lakes got encroached indiscriminately. Areas adjacent to the lakes were also converted into housing layouts resulting in encroachment of parts of water spread area. Dumping of solid wastes, immersion of idols and landfill activity are also threatening the lakes' existence. All this has also caused widespread ecological degeneration. Now, most of the once-famous lakes in and around the city are in a state of eutrophication. The bacteria and pathogens released into the lake water by discharge of sewage are contaminating the ground water causing water-borne diseases besides encouraging mosquito growth. Thus, lakhs of people living around these water bodies are vastly affected by several maladies. The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority has notified 169 lakes spread over 3000 hectares, of which 87 are moderate to highly polluted. Of these 87, 11 are classified under category-1 that reached eutrophication while others are classified under category-2 -- which too may reach the dangerous stage if neglected. Consider the Ramakrishnapuram (Mukkidi) cheruvu in Malkajgiri municipality, which has a water spread area of 13.7 hectares now. The lakebed is encroached and two inlets carry domestic sewage into the lake leading to heavy pollution. Without the encroachments, the lake's waterspread area should have been 18.66 ha. This lake once used to be an irrigation source but urbanisation has led to development of middle-class housing colonies, altering the land use pattern. The Sudulavani Kunta lake in Kukatpally is another example where encroachments have eaten into the water spread area significantly, resulting in excessive pollution of the water body. From the actual waterspread area of 5.9 hectares, the lake area has now shrunk to 4.9 ha with encroachments on all sides except the northern side where a weir stands. "As Hyderabad is expanding on all sides at a brisk pace, lakes in the erstwhile surrounding municipalities, that are now part of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, have been falling prey to unchecked encroachments. New residential layouts are being developed in areas like Kapra, Serlingampally, RajendraNagar and Kukatpally. This is threatening the existence of water bodies," a top Hyderabad UrbanDevelopment Authority official pointed out. All these years, various government agencies have tried to pass on the blame and wash their hands off even as environmentalists raised alarm over the degeneration of lakes and the adverse impact on the city ecological system. After the flash floods in August 2000, the then government spoke of restoring the waterbodies but that promise remained unfulfilled. Even the present government did not show much interest in the lake restoration work as realtors succeeded in thwarting all efforts of the administration to check illegal layouts and encroachment of water bodies. One reason that the authorities concerned repeatedly cited for not taking up the lake restoration projects was "dearth of funds." But now, with the Government of India generously funding infrastructure projects in urban local bodies, particularly the million-plus cities under the Jawaharlal Nehru NationalUrban Renewal Mission, the state government woke up to do at least something to save the system. The Huda has now completed a survey and prepared a detailed project report for "restoration and rejuvenation" of 11 lakes in the first phase at a total cost of Rs 71.45 crore. Once the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of JNNURM clears the project and pumps in funds, these lakes are expected to regain good shape, at least to some extent.
Courting controversies
By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government in Andhra Pradesh never tires from overstepping its brief. Looks like the government has scant regard for the rule of law and the statutes.
In yet another controversial move, the state government issued two GOs that clearly undermine the role and authority of the local bodies, both rural and urban, in the state. The GOs, in fact, are a blatant violation of the Constitution (73 and 74 Amendment) Acts as they seek to bypass the established systems in the local bodies. The GOs No. 13 and No. 880 -- issued by the Planning Department and the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department respectively -- empower the respective district incharge ministers to recommend and sanction development works in the local bodies for which separate sums of Rs 992.70 crore (rural) and Rs 200 crore (urban) have been released. Such orders were unprecedented and ostensibly meant to dole out benefits to Congress workers in the form of nominated work contracts in the crucial "election year." The Rs 200 crore released to the urban local bodies (ULBs) are meant for maintenance of internal roads in towns while the sum of Rs 992.70 crore released to the rural mandals is meant for "integrated development of internal cement concrete roads and drainage facilities" in villages. Each rural mandal will get Rs 90 lakh as grant-in-aid to carry out the works while 109 municipalities and 12 municipal corporations (excluding Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam) will get Rs 1 crore each. Besides, ULBs will also get a share in the balance Rs 79 crore as per the population. Towns where roads works are sanctioned under the components of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission will, however, not get any grants from the state. Normally, the elected Councils of ULBs themselves list out the various works on priority and sanction them even if grants, in any form, are provided by the state or the Centre. But now, the state has entrusted the task of sanctioning the works to the "district incharge minister alone," clearly bypassing the elected Councils. Even the mandal-level works will also be decided and sanctioned by the district in charge minister, leaving no say for the local bodies in the entire process. The respective district Collectors will accord administrative sanction for the works chosen by the district in charge minister. "These GOs are illegal and are a clear violation of the Constitution. We shall launch a state-wide agitation against the orders demanding that the responsibility of sanctioning the works be vested only with the elected bodies," president of AP PanchayatRaj Chamber and member of Legislative Council Y BabuRajendra Prasad told this correspondent. CPM's urban affairs cell leader Ch Babu Rao too strongly opposed the GOs and said they would undermine the local bodies.
Hyderabad: The Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government in Andhra Pradesh never tires from overstepping its brief. Looks like the government has scant regard for the rule of law and the statutes.
In yet another controversial move, the state government issued two GOs that clearly undermine the role and authority of the local bodies, both rural and urban, in the state. The GOs, in fact, are a blatant violation of the Constitution (73 and 74 Amendment) Acts as they seek to bypass the established systems in the local bodies. The GOs No. 13 and No. 880 -- issued by the Planning Department and the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department respectively -- empower the respective district incharge ministers to recommend and sanction development works in the local bodies for which separate sums of Rs 992.70 crore (rural) and Rs 200 crore (urban) have been released. Such orders were unprecedented and ostensibly meant to dole out benefits to Congress workers in the form of nominated work contracts in the crucial "election year." The Rs 200 crore released to the urban local bodies (ULBs) are meant for maintenance of internal roads in towns while the sum of Rs 992.70 crore released to the rural mandals is meant for "integrated development of internal cement concrete roads and drainage facilities" in villages. Each rural mandal will get Rs 90 lakh as grant-in-aid to carry out the works while 109 municipalities and 12 municipal corporations (excluding Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam) will get Rs 1 crore each. Besides, ULBs will also get a share in the balance Rs 79 crore as per the population. Towns where roads works are sanctioned under the components of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission will, however, not get any grants from the state. Normally, the elected Councils of ULBs themselves list out the various works on priority and sanction them even if grants, in any form, are provided by the state or the Centre. But now, the state has entrusted the task of sanctioning the works to the "district incharge minister alone," clearly bypassing the elected Councils. Even the mandal-level works will also be decided and sanctioned by the district in charge minister, leaving no say for the local bodies in the entire process. The respective district Collectors will accord administrative sanction for the works chosen by the district in charge minister. "These GOs are illegal and are a clear violation of the Constitution. We shall launch a state-wide agitation against the orders demanding that the responsibility of sanctioning the works be vested only with the elected bodies," president of AP PanchayatRaj Chamber and member of Legislative Council Y BabuRajendra Prasad told this correspondent. CPM's urban affairs cell leader Ch Babu Rao too strongly opposed the GOs and said they would undermine the local bodies.
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