a grand celebration - andhra pradesh magazine grand celebration in a lyrical tribute to river...

A GRAND CELEBRATION

In a lyrical tribute to RiverKrishna at the Pavitra Sanga-mam, well-known dancerP Sneha Sarma presented aKuchipudi ballet on the river’sjourney of life, whichenthralled the audience.

The well-organised Krishna Pushkaralu were observedwith devotion along the course of the Krishna river.Vijayawada, however, was the hub of varoius culturalactivities with a Tirumala Temple replica, a colourfully litup Prakasam Barrage and cultural performances.

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Krishna Pushkaram

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The mega spiritual andcultural event was agrand success thanksto the tireless effortsput in by CMChandrababu Naiduand the administration.

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SEPTEMBER 20164 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

Where there is a will...

The Chandrababu Naidu Government never misses anopportunity to challenge its capabilities. KrishnaPushkaralu was one such occasion when the Government

deployed its resources to the fullest so that tens of lakhs ofdevotees experienced oneness with nature. The planning andexecution that went into 12-day long Krishna Pushkaralu isindeed an example of how a committed administration can pulloff the most complex event, with the help and support of a strongleadership.

After conducting the Godavari Pushkaralu on a grand scale lastyear, the Government did one better this time by smoothlyconducting the festival of river, despite the presence of hugecrowds everywhere. The deployment of technology on a largescale is another interesting feature this time. The Chief Minister’sconstant presence at the Command & Control Centre helped theadministration ensure laser focus on every minute detail.

For those who find fault with the Government for paying toomuch attention to a cultural and religious event, it should bementioned that the experience gained during such events goes along way in further improving the administration’s interface withthe citizens.

Along with the excellent conduct of Krishna Pushkaralu, cameanother good news for Andhra Pradesh. The stupendousperformance of P V Sindhu at Rio Olympics, with the only silvermedal ever won by an Indian woman, owes in no small measureto the initiative of Chandrababu Naidu to encourage sportsculture in the united state. Specifically, the Pullela GopichandBadminton Academy was built on the land given by Naidu for thepromotion of sport in Gachibowli. The offer from AndhraPradesh Government to Gopichand to build a world-classacademy in Amaravati is a testimony to the commitment of thisadministration to encourage sports in a big way in the new state.

The will is there; under the dynamic leadership of the ChiefMinister, the State is finding its way despite many an obstacle.

Ramesh Babu KandulaEditor

EDITORIAL

CommissionerS Venkateswar IISEditorRamesh Babu KandulaExecutive EditorNaresh NunnaCover PageThanksgiving to River Krishna

Second CoverThe Pushkaralu Celebrations

Third CoverGodavari Antya Pushkaralu

Fourth CoverAPIIC Advt on Sunrise State

Published by:Information & Public Relations DepartmentGovernment of Andhra PradeshHyderabad - 500 028Ph: 040-23300258

Views expressed by various authors in this issue reflect theirpersonal opinions.

DesignKarthik Beesu

Photos:T.Srinivasa Reddy, VijayawadaPrinted atCaxton Offset Pvt. Ltd.HyderabadEach Issue : Rs 5/-Annual Subscription : Rs 50/-www.andhrapradeshmagazine.orgEmail: [email protected]

ANDHRA PRADESHPublished Monthly In English & Telugu

September 2016Volume:11 Issue:3Salivahana Era 1938

Printed and Published by Ramesh babu kandula on behalf of Director/Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Dept.;Printed at M/s Caxton Offset Pvt. Ltd., 11.5.416/3, Red Hills, Hyderabad - 500 004; Published at Office of Director/Commissioner ,I&PR Dept, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Samachar Bhavan, AC Guards, Hyderabad - 500028. Editor: Ramesh Babu Kandula.Ph: 040-23300258.

SEPTEMBER 2016 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 5

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Following Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu’s meetingwith Prime Minister NarendraModi and other Union Minis-ters in the first week of August, thereis some movement at the Centre overthe Special Category Status.The central government said it is at a"fairly advanced stage" of discussionswith the state government and wouldarrive at a solution shortly.In a brief intervention in theParliament, Finance Minister ArunJaitley also admitted that at the timeof division of the state, the issue ofrevenue and finances has been"unfair" to Andhra Pradesh, which hasto be "compensated"."We are at a fairly advanced stage indiscussions with the Andhra PradeshChief Minister and will shortly arriveat a solution," Jaitley said.Naidu, during his meeting with thePM, reportedly told Modi that aspecial status was assured by the thenPrime Minister Manmohan Singh andendorsed by senior Bharatiya JanataParty leaders.Moreover, all political parties, includ-ing the BJP, had supported the AndhraPradesh Reorganisation Bill and thusall parties had responsibility towardsAndhra Praesh.

After the meeting, Chandrababu Naidutweeted, "Hon'ble PM has respondedpositively and assured that promiseswill be fulfilled. Requested him toconvert the assurances into action."State gets Rs 1,976 CrApparently moved by the continuedpressure over the lack of support toAndhra Pradesh, the Centreannounced its decision to give specialassistance of Rs 1,976.50 crore toAndhra Pradesh during 2016-17. Thisis part of its commitment to thepeople and to compensate the finan-cial impact of the bifurcation of theState of Andhra Pradesh.The amount includes Rs 1,176.50 forresource gap, Rs 350 crore for thedevelopment of 7 backward districtscovering Rayalaseema and NorthCoastal region and Rs 450 crore asassistance for the capital city ofAmaravati.Total sanctionThus, with the current sanction offunds, the Centre has so far providedassistance of Rs 8,379.50 crore toAndhra Pradesh. This includesRs 4,403 crore released during 2014-15 and Rs 2,000 crore released during2015-16 in terms of the provisionsunder the Andhra Pradesh Re-organi-sation Act, 2014.

Funds break-upAccordingly, cumulatively from the en-actment of the Re-organisation Act onJune 2, 2014 till 2016-17, Rs 3,979.50crore has been released to the succes-sor State of Andhra Pradesh for bridg-ing the resource gap for the financialyear 2014-2015, Rs 1,050 crore forthe development of 7 backward dis-tricts covering Rayalaseema andNorth Coastal region and Rs 2,500crore as assistance for the capital city.The latter includes Rs 1,000 crore re-leased by the Union Ministry of UrbanDevelopment for sewerage anddrainage schemes at Guntur and Vi-jayawada cities respectively and Rs850 crore released up to 2015-16 forthe Polavaram multi-purpose irriga-tion project, among others.CM for more clarityChief Minister Chandrababu Naidu,however, expressed unhappiness overthe latest aid and sought more clarity."The centre should first clarifywhether or not it is granting specialstatus to Andhra Pradesh. What it hasgiven in the form of financial grants isvery little. While the revenue deficit istoo high, they have given Rs. 1,176crore now but it's not clear if it is onlyan instalment," he told reporters.

Govt in advancedstages oftalks onspecial status to AP

CM meeting with PM Narendra Modi in Delhi

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Krishna Pushkaram, a 12-dayriver festival that comesonce in 12 years, witnesseda coming together of allsections of people inAndhra Pradesh as devotees, officialsand the Government worked tirelesslyto provide once in a life-timeexperience.The festival has this time seen nearlytwo crore devotees take a holy dipacross various ghats (banks) in threedistricts of Andhra Pradesh. The Stateused the government machinery andtechnology to the hilt to make KrishnaPushkaram a smooth and successfulaffair. The river festival began with traditionalgaiety on August 12 with AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu and his wife Bhuvaneswari join-ing Kanchi seer Sri Sri JayendraSaraswati in taking a holy dip in riverKrishna at Durga ghat in Vijaywada atthe start of the 12-day festival. DeputyChief Minister N China Rajappa and ahost of other ministers also took a holydip on the occasion.Vijayawada, the hub of the river festivalevery time, bubbled with activities aslakhs of pilgrims descended in the cityevery day from various parts of thestate. The ghats have been made widerthis time to avoid over-crowding andare guarded by volunteers oncanoes. Roads leading to the ghats have beendivided into separate lanes for pedestri-ans and vehicles. An army of sanitationworkers was deployed in Vijayawada to

KRIshNAPushKARAm

A COMING TOGETHER

Pushkaram, in Indianculture, signifies theinterdependence of manand nature. It is thanks-giving to the river for itsbounty. The KrishnaPushkaram, this timeround, brought thepeople and thegovernment together inobserving an ancientpractice in a moderncontext.

Expressing gratitude to the River Krishna for the bounty of life.


maintain cleanliness. The Chief Minister, who led the celebra-tions and personally monitored everyaspect of the festival - from cleanlinessto traffic management and crowd con-trol, said, "I want to inspire the peopleto associate (themselves) with the river,worship the nature. The river has givenus wealth all these years. Now, it's timefor us to give back." Devotees also swarmed the hill shrineof Kanaka Durga, the presiding deity ofVijayawada, and other temples. A major attraction of the festival is thedaily 'Harathi' (aarti) at the confluenceof Krishna and Godavari at Ibrahimpat-nam near Vijayawada. A host of culturalprogrammes were organised at variousplaces as part of the festival. The CMtook the lead by participating in theHarathi every evening every time hewas in town. Naidu said, "In the last two years, wehad two Pushkarams. One is Godavari,another is Krishna...People are associat-ing with this river...We have used tech-nology in a big way this KrishnaPushkaram...We are using CCTV (cam-eras) in a big way. Not only law andorder, not only traffic, even (in) crowdmanagement and also in cleanliness - inghats, on roads and in waters," he said. The authorities have also employeddrones for close monitoring. As manyas 18 drones were deployed.Technology – driven The state government launched websiteKrishnapushkaram.Ap.Gov.In containingexhaustive information about the event,a GPS-based mobile application forpeople to obtain information on ghats,bus services, etc., besides developing asoftware application, Kaizala, as aninteraction tool between the multi-disciplinary teams that have beendeployed for Pushkaram duties. Kaizala App was used to send messagesto all associated with the festival and formonitoring and coordination.

“Technology is helping us to do all thesedespite the state facing fund crunch.The state government has spent Rs1,200 crore for Krishna Pushkaram,including for building roads and otherinfrastructure, the CM said, adding thatorganisations like Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams and Akshaya PatraFoundation have made arrangementsfor free food for the pilgrims. Studentstoo came forward to help make it asuccess. Pushkaram or Pushkaralu is celebratedwhen Jupiter enters a particular zodiacsign every year on 12 rivers on rotation.The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanamsand Akshaya Patra Foundation havemade arrangements for free food supplyto four lakh pilgrims in all every day.Police deployed drones to keep a vigil atall Pushkar ghats while the governmentadministration is using mobile applica-tions to monitor every aspect, includingcrowd management, related to theevent.In all, 170 bathing ghats were readiedfor the event with Vijayawada city alonewitnessing a crowd of about 25 lakh perday.Nava HarathiOn the lines of Godavari Harathi lastyear, the Krishna Pushkaram was kickedoff with a grandiose Nava Harathi forthe river at Pavitra Sangamam nearIbrahimpatham. The Harathi, designedby film director Boyapati Srinu, becamethe most spectacular visual of the riverfestival. Devotees in their thousands

watched spellbound the ritualisticrespects paid to the river goddess bysaffron-robed priests. Like the GodavariHarathi, the Krishna Harathi too was of-fered daily. Cops turn Good SamaritansThe dreams of inmates of old age andorphanage homes to have a holy bathduring the Krishna Pushkarams werefulfilled with police offering them VVIPtreatment and taking them to thePunnami Ghat. Director General of Po-lice (DGP) N Sambasiva Rao, City PoliceCommissioner D. Gautam Sawang andAdditional DGs, IGPs brought smiles onthe faces of parents and children withtheir gesture. Police arranged wheelchairs and carried the physicallychallenged into the waters. About 300orphans and more than 100 inmates ofold age homes took the holy dip.Sambasiva Rao said the differently-abled devotees who could not come toghats and offer pujas, felt overwhelmedabout the initiative taken up the PoliceDepartment.Muslims take dip at PushkaramFor the Muslim families of Dachepalli,the Krishna Pushkarams are a part ofculture, where they take a traditionaldip in the free-flowing waters on theoccasion. Nearly 1,000 familiesgathered at Tangeda ghat for theceremony on the banks of the river, as itpassed Dachepalli mandal in Gunturdistrict. Men, women and childrensavoured the dip in the cool waters,with other communities joining them.

The Chief Minister led thePushkaaralu from the front,monitoring every aspect forpilgrim comfort.

8 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG SEPTEMBER 2016

“It has our village tradition to take bathhere as we believe the river has curativeproperties,” said Ch. Hasan Ahmed,member of the water distributioncommittee at Dachepalli.Bottled Krishna waterIndia Post took up supply of Krishna jalat the doorstep of its customers on theoccasion of Krishna Pushkaram. Seniorsuperintendent of Ongole postaldivision T.A.V. Sarma along with theIndia Post staff performed pooja beforebeginning distribution of the holy waterof the revered river collected during theongoing Pushkaram. “Our division stoodfirst among the divisions in AndhraPradesh and Telangana in the bookingswith order for supply of 25,000 bottlesof 500 ml capacity,” he said. The Krishnawater was purified in 13 differentstages for its use for puja and bathing,he added.Pilgrims prefer ghats in capitalregionNestled amid a range of hills, thebeautiful ghat located upstream ofPrakasam Barrage witnessed a steadystream of pilgrims during the KrishnaPushkaramulu.Families, both from the State and out-side savoured the serene ambience atthe ghat. Visitors enjoyed the freshnessof river water as it is located upstreamof the barrage. The Rayapudi ghat,which is also in the capital region,hasalso been drawing big crowds. TTD Temple Replica

A replica of Tirumala's LordVenkateswara temple was inauguratedahead of the Krishna Pushkaram inVijayawada. Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanam's Executive Officer DSambasiva Rao and other templeofficials performed the rituals afterinstalling the Lord's statue, marking theinauguration of the replica temple atSwarajya Maidan, as Kanchi seer Sri SriJayendra Saraswati graced the occasion.It has been a tradition for the TTD tobuild a replica of Lord Venkateswaratemple during the Godavari and KrishnaPushkarams, the river festival thatcomes once in 12 years. Arrangements had been made fordistribution of the Lord's prasadamwhile every devotee was given apocket-size picture of the Lord.Thousands of devotees visited thetemple daily during the Pushkaram.New-look Amaravati town In the ancient Amaravati town, theritual of a holy dip in river Krishnastarted off amid adequate security andlogistics ensuring all comforts to thepilgrims. The three main ghats, measur-ing about 400 metres and done withrough granite for durability, were builtwith funds sanctioned under theCentrally-sponsored PRASAD (Pilgrim-age Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmen-tation Drive)scheme.The former glory of Amareswara templewas restored, thanks to PRASAD andfunds sanctioned by the Endowmentswing. All encroachments were re-

moved and the cement flooring re-placed with rough granite for a tra-ditional ambience. The decorations andthe new brass railing in the inner sanc-tum lent a graceful touch to the place.An exquisite sculpture of Krishnavenicarved from a single block of blackgranite by artisans of Durgi village inGuntur district was installed at one ofthe ghats. Fishing boats brought fromaround Amaravathi mandalam weredeployed along the ghats to ensuresafety of the pilgrims in the river. Eachboat was manned by two persons readyto jump to action if necessary.Artists unveil story of Krishna at Bapu MuseumThe Bapu Museum looked colourfulwith various hues as dozens of paint-ings and photographs highlighting theheritage of Andhra Pradesh and the his-tory of river Krishna were showcasedboth by the Department of Archaeologyand Museums and Artist Associations’Guild as part of Krishna Pushkarams.Vintage photographs, collected andpreserved by the department, broughtto the fore century-old temples, forts,wells, inscriptions and places ofhistorical importance in variousdistricts. These works are displayed atthe coastal museum.Mini buses come to rescue of pilgrimsThe Guntur police and the RTC arrangedmini buses to bring pilgrims and theirfamilies directly to the pushkar ghat.The pilgrims were ferried free of cost.

Arrangementsprovided by the Gov-ernment includedfree transport,kitchen for supply offree food, freemedical camps,among otherfacilities, which madethe spiritualexperience morememorable.


v

The South Central Railway providedadditional stoppage for 10 more trainsat Kondapalli station during the KrishnaPushkarams, taking the total number oftrains allowed to temporarily halt atnine stations, to 103. Accordingly, the10 more trains halted for one minute atKondapalli station between August 11and 24.Handloom expo The Departments of Handlooms, as partof the Krishna Pushkarams, set up aspecial handloom expo at the FilmChamber hall at Gandhinagar inVijayawada. The expo, which was inau-gurated by Member of ParliamentKesineni Srinivas and MLA Bonda UmaMaheswara Rao along with MLC BuddhaVenkanna featured over 40 stalls fromall over the State. “The products aresold at the expo at the production cost,”said organiser M. Nagalakshmi.A vibrant cultural hub in themaking, says CMIn view of the Pushkaram, the Govern-ment renovated Thummalapalli Kalak-shetram. Inaugurating the newauditorium, Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu said theaesthetically-made up venue wouldwitness debates and discussions duringKrishna Pushkarams in which expertswould delve into several topics like riverlinking, Amaravati, Vanam Manam andother projects taken up by the Stategovernment. “Students and youngstersshould come in large number andparticipate,” he added.

He said soon after bifurcation, the Statedid not have even a good auditorium toconduct regular meetings. “We took adecision and granted Rs. 8 crore for therenovation.” The Chief Minister askedthe denizens to play the role of a goodhost to perfection and not to indulge inexploitation. The evenings witnessed culturalprogrammes both at the kalakshetramand the Indira Gandhi MunicipalCorporation Stadium.IMA chips inIndian Medical Association (IMA) tookup the task of imparting basic life-sav-ing skills to thousands of officials andvolunteers, who were later posted atvarious bathing ghats. The IMA taughtbasic life-saving skills to non-medicalstaff of the Revenue, Endowments,Municipal and the Police Departments.About 60 IMA members and 300medicos enlisted with the IMA to pro-vide medical and health services duringthe pushkarams.Individual corporate hospitals alsocame forward to provide, doctors, para-medics, ambulances, diagnostic kits andother life-saving equipment. Grand Display on Final DayA grand display of Pavitra Harati, cul-tural performances that reflected thetraditions of Andhra Pradesh, and aspectacular show of pyrotechnics,brought the curtains down on the once-in-12-year Krishna Pushkaram river fes-tival at the Pavitra Sangamam ghat near

Ibrahimpatnam. Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu, Union Ministers MVenkaiah Naidu and Suresh Prabhu,Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swamy ofAvadhoota Datta Peetham (Mysuru),and Olympic medallist PV Sindhu andher coach P Gopi Chand were specialguests.The government could heave a sigh ofrelief as the 12-day river festival cameto an end without any major mishap.Officials estimated that about 1.92 crorepilgrims participated in the pushkaram.Along with Naidu and his team of topofficials, it was an occasion to rejoice forthe approximately one lakh governmentofficers and staff, and nearly 15,000Volunteers in three districts — Krishna,Guntur and Kurnool. What was gratify-ing to all those who worked relentlesslyduring the Pushkaram was the wide-spread appreciation by the masses forthe foolproof arrangements made forthe festival.Police win accoladesThe role of South Central Railways andthe Andhra Pradesh State Road Trans-portation Corporation as well as thePolice was praised as they helpedmillions in reaching their destinations.From regulating the crowds at the rail-way stations and the Pandit Nehru BusStation in Vijayawada city to ensuringtheir safety at the ghats and extending ahelping hand to the needy, they wonaccolades from the people.

Millions of devo-tees who had aholy dip heapedlavish praise onthe elaboratearrangementsmade by theGovernment. TheCM’s pro-activerole was particu-larly lauded by thecommon people.

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 11

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu made not only AndhraPradesh but also the country proud by winning thesole silver medal in badminton in Rio Olympics. Inthe process, she set several records by being theonly woman athlete who won silver in Olympics from India. The 21-year-old sensation made the entire country glued totelevision sets when she played brilliantly against NozomiOkuhara who enjoyed a better ranking in the semi-finals.Though she could not repeat the feat with Carolina Marin inthe finals, what made Sindhu a darling of all sports lovers inIndia was the fact that she refused to be cowed down in thepresence of a stalwart and gave all her till the till the last.Sindhu’s achievement is remarkable not only because shewent where no Indian woman could ever reach, but also forinspiring the sporting fraternity of India to dream big.At a time when the country of 120 millions could make littleimpact on the world sporting stage, Sindhu, along with boxerSakshi Malik, saved the country from the ignominy of totalrout.No wonder, Sindhu was the top searched athlete in GoogleIndia, followed by bronze medal winning wrestler SakshiMalik, as the country was gripped by Olympic fever.A report in Times of India pointed out how Sindhu was notonly a great player but also a great sport as was evident inthe finals. “Sindhu, defeated but a moral winner, walked up, put herarms around her and gently lifted the weeping champion.They hugged, Marin still sobbing, Sindhu a picture of pre-cious composure. Then as the Spaniard walked to her coach,she left her fallen racquet behind. Sindhu quietly picked it upand placed it at the winner's bag before going on to greet herwaiting coach, Gopichand. The gesture said a lot, it showedrare silver mettle.”It was Sindhu fever all the way when the Olympian medallistset her foot on her homeland as she was greeted by hugebanners describing her as 'AP's lovely daughter'. CM Chan-drababu Naidu, who in a way paved the way for this historicachievement by helping P Gopichand to build the BadmintonAcademy in Hyderabad way back, handed over a cheque forRs 3 crore besides a plot in Amaravati for 1,000 squareyards. He wanted Gopichand to start the academy in Amara-vati and produce many more Sindhus from the state.

sINDhu splash in Rio


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Railway Minister SureshPrabhakar Prabhu, in thepresence of Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu,Union Minister for Urban Develop-ment M Venkaiah Naidu and otherMinisters, commissioned theNandyal-Yerraguntla railway line andflagged off the Nandyal-KadapaDEMU passenger through remotevideo link at the Railway Institute inVijayawada. The new train No.77401Nandyal-Kadapa will leave Nandyalat 6 a.m. and reach Kadapa at 9.45a.m. In return, train No. 77402Kadapa-Nandyal will leave Kadapa at10.05 a.m. and reach Nandyal at 1.50p.m.Train No.77403 Nandyal-Kadapa willleave Nandyal at 2.20 p.m. and arriveKadapa at 6.05 p.m. In return direc-tion, train No.77404 Kadapa-Nandyal will leave Kadapa at 6.30p.m. and reach Nandyal at 10.15 p.m.The trains will stop at Madduru,Koilkuntla, Sanjamala, Nosam, S. Up-palapadu, Jammalamadugu, Proddu-turu and Yerraguntla stations.Speaking on the occasion, Prabhusaid the new train would connect theRayalaseema region with the AndhraPradesh capital. The Nandyal-Yerra-guntla line had been laid at a cost ofRs.967 crore.Stating that the South Central Rail-way (SCR) would be developed in allspheres, the Minister said that A.P.would get its due from the Centreand the hurdles would be clearedsoon. “I am happy to be a RajyaSabha member from AndhraPradesh,” Prabhu said.The Chief Minister said the new trainand the line were a crucial link forthe development of Rayalaseema,which was a backward region. Theproposal for the line was made in1996, and it took 20 years for the

completion of the project, he said.Boost for exports“Many limestone, granite, cementfactories and ports will get con-nected with the new railway line andexport will get a boost. The RailwayMinister has made a proposal forMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) with A.P., which was acceptedimmediately. Beautification of rail-way stations will be made in theState soon,” Naidu said. He appealedto the Railway Ministry to completethe pending projects, including thethree new corridors.

Venkaiah Naidu said new linesestimated about Rs.18,672 crore anddoubling of lines, estimated atRs 23,137 crore were under exami-nation. He stressed the need forcoordination among the State andthe Central governments for overalldevelopment.The Minister said that about 41 lakhpassengers travelled through SCR forKrishna Pushkaram, and thanked theGeneral Manager, VijayawadaDivisional Railway Manager and theKrishna Pushkaram Officer onSpecial Duty (OSD) for making goodarrangements for the event.

NaNdyal-yerraguNtlaRailway Line Commissioned

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu,Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, andUnion Minister M Venkaiah Naidu flaggedoff the Nandyal-Kadapa passenger trainthrough remote video link in Vijayawada.

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 13SEPTEMBER 2016

At long last, Andrha Pradeshmay get its due in the as-sets of the united state.Telangana has finallyagreed to amicably divide assets andinstitutions in the 58:42 ratio on thebasis of population. According to reports, the HomeMinistry has managed to get the twostates to set up a fresh committee todivide the assets and the employeesof the various institutions and of-fices and thrash out the final details. There are about 107 training institu-tions listed under Schedule 10 of theAP Reorganization Act and 89 gov-ernment companies and corpora-tions under Schedule 9 which are upfor division since 2014. A Home Min-istry led effort for the division hadhit a near stalemate with the twostates not seeing eye to eye on thematter. However, a Supreme Courtorder in March 2016 categoricallystating that the 58:42 ratio for divi-sion had to be followed for the divi-sion, has forced Telangana to fall inline.In fact the only two sticking pointslikely to keep hanging fire longer, areexpected to be on the division of theenviably located Andhra Bhavan inNew Delhi and the larger PSUs as thelatter's division will have huge logis-tical and employee related repercus-sions. The two states have finally agreed toset up a four member committee

with an Organizing Secretary and anAdvisor from each state to amicablyand effectively divide all Schedule 9assets (as outlined in the AP Reor-ganization Act 2014) between Telan-gana and Andhra Pradesh Senior IAS officers- K R K Rao andPremchandra Reddy from Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh will lead theteam from their respective states todivide assets at the earliest possible.It is expected that 60-70% of theSchedule 9 assets and PSUs will bedivided smoothly through this mech-anism. The issue of dividing assets has beenrather contentious with Telanganaearlier claiming that those assetsthat lay in its territory should auto-matically be transferred to them.Andhra Pradesh had stronglyobjected as most institution were lo-cated in and around the capital Hy-derabad.

Finally in March 2016, the division ofthe training institutions underSchedule 10 tilted in favour ofAndhra Pradesh with the SupremeCourt recently rejecting Telangana'sclaims over the assets of the AndhraPradesh State Council for Higher Ed-ucation. The SC threw out Telagana'slocation based argument andordered instead that the assets anddeposits be divided in the ratio of58:42. As far as Andhra Bhavan is con-cerned, the issue is nowhere nearresolution with Telangana claiminghistoric right over the entire 20 acrearea off Ashoka Road citing that itwas the property of the Nizam of Hy-derabad and hence rests with Telan-gana. Andhra has been arguing forthe same population based 58:42ratio for division, asking Telanganato pick the 8 acre area they deemsuitable.

AP and Telangana to split assets in 58:42 ratio

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FollowingSupreme Courtorder, AndhraPradesh will getits due share of58 percent inassets located inHyderabad.


Dr. Avantsa Somasundar,tallest of the Progressivewriters, breathed his laston 12th August, 2016 afterbrief illness. He was 92. Over sevendecades of his active and illustriousliterary life, had published over 103books and thousands of essays.While he attained his initial famethrough his first book of poems titled‘Vajrayudham’, his later works are noless significant. He touched allgenres of Telugu literature beyondpoetry; story, literary criticism,drama, radio plays, monographs,translation and children’s literature.He traveled wide and far addressingenthusiasts on Telugu literature,more particularly modern poetry(Abhyudaya kavita) and free verse. Inthis process he acquired manyfriends and followers throughoutAndhra Pradesh and Telangana. His encouragement of young genera-tion of poets continued till his last.His long and detailed forewordsduring the early seventies havebrought to focus the young writers ofthe yore; Ismail, Srimannarayana,Dilavar Pratyusha and Viriyala Lak-shmipathi need a special mention. His authority on modern poets aswell as Renaissance poets in Teluguspeaks volumes in letter and spirit.His critically acclaimed renderings onKrishnasastry, Chalam, Puripanda,Narayana Babu, Anisetti andSeshendra are testimony to this. He was adopted by his maternal aunt,who provided initial insights into de-votional poetry and Hindu scriptures.He came under tutelage of KrishnaSastry, the famous renaissancepoet (Bhava Kavi) at an early age. andhad in friends Shashanka, son of SriVoleti Parvatisam (Voleti Parvatisamand Balantrapu Venkatrao garu areknown as Venkataparavatiswara

kavulu famous for their Ekanta Sevaand translation of many Bengalinovels) and Ramsha, another activewriter and critic. Somasundar, attracted to CommunistParty in his adolescence and was anactive participant in their movementsto alleviate masses. He was arrestedin Quit India Movement and later forparticipation in tenant farmeragitation. Vajrayudham was banned and itscopies confiscated and cases werefiled against Somasundar. The banwas released much later. During theTelangana Movement, it wasrecollected by late PervaramJagannadham that Khabardar poemfrom Vajrayudham was a very popu-lar song in the streets of Warangal. His more than 30 volumes of poetryilluminate his progressive thoughtand his support to the underdog. Heis known for his diction, imagery andcontent. His unpublished works include hisletters with who is who in Telugu thatcould provide insights into the jour-ney of modern Telugu literature.He established literary trust in hisname and for the past 17 years, hecelebrated his birthday (19thNovember each year) by felicitatingpersonalities who have made signifi-cant contribution in the field ofliterature and arts. He lived simple life devoting all histime for reading, writing and dis-cussing with friends of all ages. Heused to say “ I do not have any otheractivity except literature. I live for it.”Every one closely associated with himconfirms that he had no otheravocation that distracted him fromhis set goal. - Prasad Indraganti

“We poets of this age havenourished within ourselvesthe two opposing forceswhich produce life. Thehour has come when wemust choose. It is notmerely a question of choos-ing our mode of behavior;it is a question of choosingour inmost of sense of re-sponsibility. …How are wegoing to leave our trace onearth? Like a mark which asuffocating man leaves indesperation in the mois-tened clay?”

- Pablo Neurda(Our duty towards Life)

OBItIgnited soul of Letters


AP may get Hyundai arm Kia's plant

Hyundai sibling KiaMotors has finalised itsIndia entry plans andmay set foot in AndhraPradesh for its maiden factory, ac-cording to a Times of India report.The company, led by formerHyundai India boss H W Park, isclose to announcing its strategyand may pump in investments ofaround Rs 5,000 crore with aninitial capacity to produce 3 lakhcars annually, sources said.A high-level team from the Koreancompany reportedly has beencamping in India for the last manymonths, and Andhra Pradesh leadsa list of states which the companyhas shortlisted for potentialinvestments. Other states in frayare Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh."A formal announcement could bemade in the next couple of weeks.Kia officials are working on last-minute details, and looking at po-tential investment benefits offered

by the state governments, beforethey make an announcement," atop source said. "Andhra Pradeshis surely the front-runner."The Kia plant is likely to come upat Tada area abutting Nellore andChittoor districts. Sri City, locatedhere, is already home to IsuzuMotors.Park, who has a close understand-ing of the Indian market due to hisstint in the country, is keen to setup operations fast as he sees Indiaas the next engine for growth forthe auto market, notwithstandingthe current slowdown."The plant location at AndhraPradesh is being seen as strategicas it is within 80 km of Hyundai'sSriperumbudur plant (near Chen-nai) in Tamil Nadu. Suppliers willbe close, and also the port connec-tivity will not be far," a source said.Sources said Kia's facility may alsobe used to produce cars for

Hyundai's line-up, though therewill not be any sharing on theretail front. "Kia will like to posi-tion its front-end operations as anindependent entity, rather thanlooking at piggybacking onHyundai. This has been the philos-ophy for the company across mar-kets and India will be nodifferent," a source said.Kia's best-selling model (4.66 lakhunits in 2015) in overseas marketswas the B-segment Rio (known as'K2' in China). The Sportage com-pact SUV was the second bestseller with 3.99 lakh units sold,while C-segment Cerato (known as'Forte' or 'K3' in some markets),Optima (D-segment sedan) andSoul urban crossover followedwith sales of 3.57 lakh, 3.08 lakhand 2.03 lakh units respectively. Ithas already started the process ofidentifying possible models andkey suppliers. Kia sold a little over3 million vehicles last year.v

A Kia car model


ANANTAPuR GETs sPL PACKAGE

state celebrates INDEPENDENCE DAy in Rayalaseema


By selecting Anantapur for the flag-hoisting and announcement of thelargesse, Naidu, chose to give a fitting reply to those who werespreading the perception that Rayalaseema and the state’s mostbackward and drought-prone district were being neglected.In a gesture more thansymbolic, Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu not onlyheld the 70th Independencecelebrations in Anantapur, butalso proved his commitment to theRayalaseema region by announcingRs. 6,554-crore special developmentpackage for Anantapur district for aplethora of steps that includedrought-proofing.This is the second time that theIndependence Day celebrations weretaken to Rayalaseema region in threeyears after the bifurcation of AndhraPradesh. In 2014, Kurnool was thechosen place for unfurling flag.By selecting Anantapur for the flag-hoisting and announcement of thelargesse, Naidu, chose to give afitting reply to those who werespreading the perception thatRayalaseema and the state’s mostbackward and drought-prone districtwere being neglected. “Anantapurwas always close to the heart of NTR,our party’s founder. We will namethis Rs. 6,554-crore initiative afterhim and with his inspiration I wantto take it forward. A major part of it— Rs. 1,764 crore — will be utilisedfor drought- proofing.”The other components include Rs.2,400 crore for agriculture, Rs. 1,423crore for horticulture, Rs. 775 crorefor dairying, Rs. 850 crore and Rs.450 crore for the Peruru andBhairavanitippa irrigation projectsrespectively, another Rs. 450 crorefor reviving and modernising 450tanks.The number of farm ponds will bedoubled from the current target ofone lakh. All these are aimed atdrought-proofing the district.

“We will ensure that entire Ray-alaseema region which was neg-lected in the Congress rule seesall-round development.”Unfurling the tricolour at the NeelamSanjeeva Reddy Police TrainingCollege (PTC) stadium, Naidu reiter-ated his vision of making the Statethe best in the country by 2029 andthe most developed in the world by2050 while recalling how the undi-vided state of Andhra Pradesh andHyderabad developed during hisearlier stint ending 2004. He paidhomage to the freedom fighters andrecalled how Anantapur gave birthto some big achievers like SatyaNadella, the CEO of Microsoft.Devoting major part of his speech tothe “unscientific and unfair bifurca-tion” that left Andhra Pradeshwithout a capital city and with adeficit budget, Mr. Naidu said theprocess of separation was based on“a political conspiracy hatched” bythe Congress.“While the announcement of bifurca-tion was made on AICC presidentSonia Gandhi’s birthday, the actualseparation happened on June 2,Italy’s republic day. We are facingchallenges owing to this unfair bifur-cation and much of my time is goinginto facing them.”The Chief Minister presented anoverview of the impressive growthachieved in various fields, leading toa double-digit growth in the last twoyears despite the state being doggedby the bifurcation blues. Heexplained how the State made aturn-around in the power sector,winning a score of awards, talkedabout the good show of AP in WorldBank Rankings in Ease of Doing

Business awards. He also spokeabout the several visits he had madeto various countries to promoteBrand AP, and how this had helped inattracting investments worth sev-eral thousand crores. Touching upon the special categorystatus and other promises in the APReorganisation Act which remainunfulfilled, Naidu said that the StateGovernment would continue to putpressure on the Centre till justicewas done to Andhra Pradesh. “Therewould be no compromise on thiscount. Due to our constant follow-up,there is already some movement onthe special status issue,” he said.Earlier, the Chief Minister reviewedthe colourful parade by the policeand took salute at the main officialceremony at the Police TrainingCollege.Tableaux highlighted variousprogrammes and schemes ofdifferent departments. Theceremony showcased the state's richculture. Ministers, legislators and topofficials attended the ceremony.v


The status of Telugu as aclassical language hasbeen restored at last. Thehurdle in the form of apetition against Telugu and otherlanguages has finally beenremoved.Madras High Court declined tointerfere with the grant of classi-cal status to languages other thanTamil by the Central government.The court was disposing of peti-tions challenging the grant of clas-sical status to Telugu, Malayalam,Kannada and Odiya and normsgoverning such conferment. First bench comprising ChiefJustice S K Kaul and Justice RMahadevan said an expert bodyset up for the purpose was satis-fied that these languages met the

criteria and the court could not gointo the body’s opinions and find-ings.The bench had on July 13 lastreserved its orders on thepetitions filed by senior advocateR Gandhi who had challenged thenorms governing the grant of theclassical status and the statusaccorded to the four languages.“From the records it is evidentthat the expert body was satisfiedthat the languages comply withthe eligibility criteria. Therefore,this court cannot go into the opin-ions and findings of the expertbody,” the bench said in its orderin August.The court also said it disagreedwith the petitioner’s stand thatthe prominence of Tamil languge

would be lost if it was treated onpar with the other languages,which have been conferred classi-cal status. “We do not agree withthe petitioner. The prominence ofa language would not depend onthe development or fall of otherlanguages,” the bench said.Rather the growth and impor-tance can be attributed only to theusage of language and creativecontribution in the forms of artsand literature, it said. The benchsaid it was for experts to verifythat the languages satisfy thenorms and recommend for thedeclaration of classical status.Having satisfied themselves, theexperts had recommendeddeclaration of the languages inconsideration to be classical.“Facts which made the expertbody to recommend promulgationof such declaration has also beenplaced before us. As such we donot find any reason to interferewith the impunged declaration,”the judges said. Holding that thecourt cannot convert itself into aforum for debate on such matters,the bench said if the petitionerstill felt that the languages inquestion did not satisfy the crite-ria for grant of classical status, itwas open for him to approach theconcerned authorities.

Telugu’sCLAssICAL sTATus uPhELD

With hurdles clearedover the classicalstatus, Telugu cannow hope to getpatronage in the formof various initiatives tobe funded by theCentre.


Counter affidavits have been filed on behalf of theState of Andhra Pradesh and State of Telangana. It istheir case that the specialized body in the form ofExpert Committee examined both the claims of Tel-ugu and Kannada languages at its meetings held on10.06.2008 and 08.08.2008, where after recommen-dations were submitted. A mere dissent of mem-ber/members cannot be a ground to claim that therecommendations were not objective, even thoughthe Government accepted the recommendations.Such a policy decision of the Government, it is sub-mitted, is not amenable to judicial review. EvenTamil language got its classical status only on rec-ommendation of an expert committee. Telugu lan-guage, it is claimed, satisfies the elements ofantiquity, and also contains the characteristics ofthe other classical languages of the world.Reference was made as to how Tamil was classifiedas a Classical language, at which stage the antiq-uity was judged from the point of view of only1000 years as one of the three criteria.Subsequently, the requirement was made of arecorded history of over the period of 1500-2000years and that test was satisfied by the Telugulanguage. In respect of material for such antiquity, ithas been inter alia stated:-For instance, the Bhattiprolu stone Buddhist casketin proto Telugu belongs to B.C.3000 (Ref.EpigraphiaIndica Vol.ii, page no.232), The Erragudi Asokan

Rock Edict in Proto Telugu belongs to 257 B.C.(D.C.Sarkars Ashokan Studies, Calcutta 1979 pages7-8), the Ghantasala Brahmin inscription.Epigraphia Indica, Vol.27-1947-48, pages 1 to 4 andthe pillar inscription of Vijaya Satakarni, Vijayapuri,Nagarjuna Konda etc., belongs to First Century A.D..Further, Tummalagudem inscription of Vishnukund-inas belongs to 5th Century A.D. (EpigraphiaAndhrika,Vol.ii pages 9 to 14)From the records, it is evident that the expert body,was satisfied that the languages comply the eligibil-ity criteria. Therefore, this court cannot go into theopinions and findings of expert body.The petitioner also made a valiant attempt in plead-ing that the prominence of the Tamil languagewould be lost, if it is treated on par with other lan-guages, which have been conferred classical status,pending the writ petitions. We do not agree with thepetitioner. The prominence of a language would notdepend on the development or fall of otherlanguage.

ANTIquITy Of

TELuGu

The following is an excerpt of thejudgement of the Madras High Courtconcerning Telugu.

v


While receiving theAkkineni NageswaraRao InternationalAward in Hyderabad,the iconic actor Amitabh Bachchansaid that it is not Hindi cinema, butit is the Telugu film industry that isproducing largest number of moviesper year. We are naturally happywith the record, but what about thequality of films made? What aboutthe quality of film journalism thatcan help cultivate good audienceand thereby good cinema? As thesaying goes, “ we can expect goodfilms only when we have good audi-ence.” For that one needs good filmcritics and film journals. Todayapart from print media, we have anumber of television channels andinternet editions to bring filmnews/views/reviews closer to thefilm buffs at the click of a button.Unfortunately most of the print andelectronic media eyeing for the rev-enue, vie with each other for filmpromotional activities rather thancritical analysis and in depth report-ing. Veteran director DasariNarayana Rao once called such filmjournalsim as ‘pamphlet journalism.’ Way back in the late 1930’s long be-fore Telugu film journals made theirappearance, the periodicals betterknown as social magazines, pub-lished articles on film related news,views and reviews. In those earlyyears and three decades thereafter,noted writers and well known liter-ary personalities wrote on thesesubjects. Gudavalli Ramabrahmam,Tapi Dharmarao, Gopichand, Koda-vatiganti Kutumbarao, Sri Sri, Aru-dra, Samudrala Raghavacharya,

Buchibabu, K. Prathyagathma, Ka-malakara Kameswara Rao (both ofthem later became popular direc-tors), Nanduri Ramamohana Raoand Mullapudi Venkataramana, RaviKondalarao were among them. Withtheir writings on cinema, theyshowed the path for good film jour-nalism. As crass commercialism and herodominence took over, there was asteady decline in the quality of filmsmade in Telugu. Added to this wasthe emergence of a new set of filmweeklies which were in fact fanmagazines aimed at pampering pop-ular stars and directors. The pro-

ducers and stars too supported suchjournalism as by then for most ac-tors and filmmakers, cinema is nomore an art form but another optionfor business. As the rot began in theindustry, instead of sensitizing,these film magazines followed suitas they have to survive with the ad-vertisement money doled out by theproducers who used the film jour-nals as their promotional pam-phlets. Forget about unbiased film reviews,even the articles on stars and otherprominent figures in the film indus-try lacked quality. They talk aboutwhich star relishes which food, likes

TELuGu fILm

JOurNalISM tOday


which dress and such trivia. Glam-our photos of stars occupy mostspace even in some daily newspa-pers and squeezed in between allthis is a small news item on an ex-perimental movie being made inTelugu. To quote, Harold Ramis,“whenever a critic mentions thesalary of an actor, I am thinking, heis not talking about the movie.”As a matter of fact, a reader mostlyunaware of how a particular greatfilm, which is again a rarity in Tel-ugu, was made, its uniqueness, whyit is so acclaimed etc., Occasionally, afew producers of mega budgetmovies are giving behind the scenesbites to television channels as partof promos. However such producer-given promo material does not givea clear picture of the problems thetechnicians had faced during theshoot, how did they overcome themetc., unfortunately neither the printnor the electronic film media seemto consider these are importantthings to take to their viewers/read-ers. They may argue who wants toknow all this, their readers mostlyfans of a popular stars want to knowabout their favourite stars and theyare catering to their need. The fact ismost of the readers are interested toknow a lot of other things concern-ing cinema. Great films were made

in the past and are being made now,not only in Telugu but also in otherlanguages and in other countries toonews about them will benefit thereaders as well as the local film in-dustry.Film appreciation is an art and filmjournalism can do the job of educat-ing its readers/viewers on the sub-ject. However the Telugu filmmagazines do not get anywherenear to it. As for the film industry, itneeds no license to start a produc-tion unlike other industries, even tostart a hotel or a medical shop oneneeds to get a license. So far as thefilm industry is concerned, anyonecan register with its chamber, canmake a film. Such inexperiencedproducers depend on pamphletjournalism to boost their produc-tion. A really tragic state of affairsand the argument for some kind of acheck on the new entrants to thefilm field does not mean a curb ontheir freedom of expression. One may ask how then we accountfor the occasional good film in Tel-ugu and some of the best critical re-views we come across on a film.These are rare instances in an in-dustry that churns out over 300films per year and releases about200 movies. The pitiable situation is

that such huge industry can boast ofonly one or two meaningful films inits list every year. This is not ahealthy sign. Then what is the remedy? First ofall, the authoritaties concernedshould realize the real strength orpower of the media. Film apprecia-tion courses should be introduced atthe school level. Film society move-ments should be popularized byGovernment taking it to the citiesand small towns. This will help raisethe tastes of the audience towardsgood cinema by creating awarenessamong them. The State Governmentshould encourage good film journalsby instituting award for film maga-zines too like the awards now beinggiven to film journalists and bookson cinema. As the awareness levels increase,change too takes place. With a re-ceptive Chief Minister at the helmone can expect a film center with astate of the art film institute includ-ing a course in film appreciation andfilm journalism in the State’s newcapital city, Amaravati.- b.k. Easwar(The writer is a senior film journal-ist, script, lyric and dialogue writerfor the Nandi award winning film,‘Hrudayanjali.’)


eNglISh JOurNalIStS frOM aP

A REFoRMER AND A JouRNAlIST

KaNduKurI VeereSalINgaMJournalists, it is said, take themselves too seri-ously. First they describe facts, then they seetrends, and end up by seeing themselves astrends. It is to the credit of the host of AndhraPradesh journalists who have over the yearsmade the nation as a whole sit up that theymade the nation see them as trends, not merelyas trend-setters. Both the concept and contentof news have changed since the time these geniusestook up the pen to fight the battle for the country’s lib-eration, in the hearts and minds of men. If there wasfar greater submission to “news” then than there isnow, by an audience more intelligent if less vast, it wasbecause the readers in those days knew that theywere merely watching an epic battle waged by war-riors out to save their country rather than their ownskin. They hypnotized the readers and audience, with-out distorting facts. Facts were truly sacred then, notonly because they hurt the alien ruler but also for thereason that the people wanted them unvarnished. Inshort, journalists in general, and those of Telugu land,in particular, were custodians of public faith. Theywere there to inform and educate their readers, nottitillate them. They were not only crusaders for thecountry’s freedom, but they were also social reform-ers, for a mentally slavish society could never be reallyfree. It is also to the credit of these journalists thatthey never attempted an artificial interposition of ‘art’into journalism as a way of making ‘literature’. Theynever tried to bring a pretence of literature to the ago-nizing facts of those times. Art stole into journalismand much of what most of them wrote became litera-ture. Great history has usually been narrative history,but the narratives have been shaped by a point ofview, a philosophy of history and of human motives.History is what the unifying passion of the historianbrings to scattered facts. And Andhra journalists notonly unified facts to make history but unified historyto make of it a mosaic.Among them were those who made history. Their listmust necessarily be headed by Kandukuri Veere-salingam, a social reformer, social worker, eminentman of letters and, above all, a peerless journalist.When he was born, on April 16, 1848, women had novoice. He gave them voice. They have continued tochant his name for nearly six decades after he himself

had been silence by death. Today one hears ofwomen’s lib. But it was Kandukuri who conceived it.He practiced what he believed, and professed what hepracticed. He was the first to realize that to educate awoman is to educate the entire family. Women’s place,he believed and argued, was not the gymnasium. Theyhad as much right to be educated as did men, andthose who wanted them to remain forever in the areaof mental darkness only wanted thereby to perpetuatemale domination. It needed great moral courage toargue thus in a age when women’s education was a sinand talk of it was the last imaginable impiety.Veerasalingam was a Brahmin---not just by caste butalso in the real sense of the term---one who workedrelentlessly for the spread of knowledge and humanwelfare. He was born at Rajahmundry, washed by theholy Godavari. The holiness seemed to have beenwashed into Veereshalingam Pantulu. His thoughtswere holy, actions were virtuous, ideals were humane.His father, Subbarayudu, died while he was still achild. Cossetted by his mother, Punnamma, andbrought up by his paternal uncle, Veeresalingam de-veloped a universal vision, engendered by the early


bereavement. The boy was sick in body but sustainedby compensatory mental vigour. He had a quick graspand a retentive memory and rare concentration. Hewent to a street corner grammar school and returneda lover of literature. The boy read the Mahabharata,the Ramayana, the Puranas and acquired a noddingacquaintance with classics. The boy wrote poetry, butthere was nothing schoolboyish about it. His class-mates and teachers aike alike developed a liking forhim. The affection was fostered by admiration for hisextensive knowledge and innate wisdom. He marriedRajyalakshmamma in 1861. The piously intelligentwoman was wife to him and mother to all orphans.Passing a university examination in 1870, Veere-shalingam became a teacher in Rajahmundry in 1871and rose to be headmaster of an English mediumschool in 1872. He taught the students not only whatwas there in the books but also much that was not. Heasked them to fight superstition. He himself declared awar on it. He wanted scientific thinking to replaceblind beliefs. It was repugnant to his own rationalthinking that woman should be kept in bondage. Theonly freedom they enjoyed was the freedom to pro-duce children. Society was unwilling to recognize anyother role for her. Kandukuri condemned every one ofthese habits of thinking, and argued that educationwas what made a woman of woman. Orthodoxy wouldhear none of it. The diehards averred that educationwas really corruption as far as women were con-

cerned, and calculated to insulate female mind fromtraditional pious living. They quoted the Vedas chap-ter and verse in support of their quixotic theory.Kandukuri heard it all and countered each argumentrationally. Obscurantism had no place in his scheme ofthinking. He addressed many meetings on women’seducation. In defiance of orthodoxy, he even started aschool for girls at Dhavaleswaram in 1874. The move-ment received massive support, understandably, fromwomen folk. Students who, according to MathewArnold, are caught between two worlds, one dead andthe other powerless to be born, helped the birth of abrave new world, a world of emancipated women. Theorthodox got jitters really when Kandukuri started“Viveka Vardhani,” a monthly journal that preachedunorthodox notions like women’s liberation fromshackles of orthodox society. The journal, month aftermonth, exposed those who were making good at soci-ety’s expense, feeding on its credulity. It exhortedyouth to expose them and to work for the building of aprogressive society, rid of primitive superstitions.What Kandukuri wrote was read, and felt. It was readbecause he wrote the common language of men, a lan-guage that was people’s own. He talked to them intheir own language and they understood it. It was alsofelt because what he wrote was so true. The direct-ness, concreteness, and precision which characterizedhis writings in the journal left the people convincedthat Kandukuri knew what hewas talking and also what he wasasking. In an age when expres-sion outran thought, such delib-erate thinking could not beignored. It could be, and, indeed,was, criticized, but never ignored.Journalism was to prove a potentweapon in his hands, a weaponthat he used relentlessly againstthe Seven Devils of orthodoxy.In 1870 he took up the pen. Firstit produced a series of articles forvarious newspapers and maga-zines. But he was soon tired ofwhat looked like a hit-and-runapproach. The fight had to be sus-tained for it is less easy to con-quer the mind than to destroy thebody. So, in 1876, he started, be-sides “Viveka Vardhani” anotherjournal, “Haasya Sanjivani”. It sat-irized social evils, and had all theelements of Restoration Comedy.Kandukuri residence in Rajahmundry


Like Ben Jonson and Congreve, Kandukuri used hu-mour to highlight human degradation in contempo-rary society. Cheats, swindlers, thieves, debaucheesand all other corrupt people started feeling that theywere being prodded in the ribs with the well sharp-ened stiletto of satire. They were all cut to the quickand society stopped bleeding.Kandukuri still had enormous energy left to carry onthe fight. He started “Adarsha Vidyarthi Sangh” in1870 and it proved to be a potent instrument of socialreform. Of course, credit for the abolition of the inhu-man practice of “Sati” rightly goes to the unceasing ef-forts of Eswarachandra Vidyasagar and Raja RamMohan Roy. But credit should go to Kandukuri andnone else for the ending of compulsory widowhood.After all, it was not enough to save a woman from im-molating herself on the funeral pyre of her husband ifshe was thereby only be herself consigned to the burn-ing passions of youthful widowhood. A life saved couldnot be allowed to burn itself out. This was the noblestand Kanduduri took. Many a widow found a home

and husband, and thanked Kandukuri’s humanenessfor it. He was really a social reformer who hadadopted journalism. Yet he ended up as at least asgreat a journalist as a social reformer. Among his petaversions were child marriages, marriages of youngwomen with old men, Devadasi system, untouchabil-ity, dowry system, corruption. His writings left theworld a lot happier place to live in. It was not rid ofthese evils. It had the evils considerably weakened.K. Iswara Dutt said of Kandukuri: “Swimming againstTime’s current, Veeresalingam changed the current oflife in Andhra, with no predecessor in his line and nosuccessor of equal stature. His versatility was hardlysurpassed while as a writer of prose he was un-equalled. Later-day trends and developments in Tel-ugu literature have failed to dislodge him from thepeaks on which he stood as a class apart.”Rajaji wrote: “Andhra Desh and Andhra people couldnot be what they are if Veereshalingam had not ar-rived to vitalize them. He was one of the great men ofIndia, of keen insight, great courage and dynamic en-ergy. He fought against untruth and championed thecause of progress with Herculean vigour. Andhra is le-gitimately proud of him, so should all people in SouthIndia who know his work very well. His greatnessrests on its own strength and not any memorials wecan raise or maintain.”Dr. Radhakrishnan wrote: “Sri Veeresalingam Pantuluwas one of the earliest pioneers in South India to de-mand and work for radical changes in our society. Likeall pioneers, who are ahead of their time, he sufferedmisunderstanding and persecution. We owe it to hismemory to work for social regeneration even as hedid, braving all ridicule and danger.”Kandukuri died at “Ved Vilas,” his house in Madras onMay 27, 1919, after willing away all proceeds from thesale of his books to regular upkeep of the institutionshe founded. But his great bequest was freedom, self-confidence and self-respect to the women of Andhra.- Y. V. RamakotaiahSenior Journalist

Swimming against Time’s current,Veeresalingam changed the current of lifein Andhra, with no predecessor in his lineand no successor of equal stature. His versatility was hardly surpassed while asa writer of prose he was unequalled.

- K Iswara DuttEminent Journalist, Writer


vv

INDIA's fIRsT TExTILE CITy

LIKELy TO COmE uP IN APTextiles Minister SmiritiIrani reportedly spoketo Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N ChandraBabu Naidu for providing landand other facilities. With Naidu’sTelugu Desam Party being an allyof the ruling National DemocraticAlliance at the Centre, the pro-posal, mooted by the NITI Aayog,is likely to be accepted.Officials said Irani, along withNaidu and top officials from NITIAayog, would visit China to get afirst hand information on theworking and structure of the pro-posed mega textile city. The city would be largely cater-ing to the export market andbuild a brand for Indian textiles.China is a pioneer in buildingsuch mega textiles cities. TheChina Textile City in Keqiao dis-trict is one such example.Founded in the 1980s, China Tex-tile City is the first national pro-fessional textile market spreadover a construction area of 3.65million square metres with29,000 companies managing40,000 kinds of products.The textiles sector is the largestemployer in the country, employ-ing 32 million people and is criti-cal to Prime Minister NarendraModi’s plans to create jobs in thecountry.It announced a special packagefor the sector in June aimed atimproving India’s competitive-ness, which would lead to greaterproduction. The reforms, in turn,

are expected to generate 10 mil-lion new jobs in the textiles sec-tor in three years.The package is estimated to costRs 6,000 crore, which includesfunds for additional five per centduty drawback for the garmentssub-sector.The government is also workingon a revamped national textilespolicy, which is expected to beplaced before the Cabinet soon.The draft policy focuses onachieving $300 billion exportsand 35 million new jobs by 2024-25.Light Combat Aircraft manufacturing facility in APA weapons integration facility tomanufacture Light Combat Air-craft (LCA), said to be the first-of-its-kind in the country in theprivate sector, will be set up inWest Godavari district of AndhraPradesh at a total cost of Rs 2,135crore. Wem Technologies Private Lim-ited is partnering with LockheedMartin, the largest defence equip-ment manufacturer in the US, toset up this facility, Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu said. "Wehave decided to allot 350 acres ofland for this facility spread overVatluru and Bhogapuram villagesnear Eluru in West Godavari dis-trict. In the first phase, they willinvest Rs 635 crore and provideemployment to 650 persons. Inall, 2510 jobs will be createdwhen the facility becomes fullyoperational," he said.

India’s first integrated textiles city is likely to comeup in Andhra Pradesh. The central government hasalready initiated the process of identifying land,technology and expertise for the same, accordingto Business Standard. The strategic location of Amaravati and theproposed infrastructure development areset to make it a world class centre and aninfluence zone, according to report.Knight Frank LLP, an independent global prop-erty consultancy, which prepared the report saidthe proximity to urban centres like Vijayawadaand Guntur would ensure that the broader capi-tal would be provide large talent pool. Coupledwith necessary infrastructure, it would providea good option for the companies to move intoAndhra Pradesh, hitherto largely rural in charac-ter.Vijayawada and Guntur would be the two urbancentres that would benefit the most from thenew capital as their strengths would be fullyharnessed. Vijayawada, for instance, could bepromoted as the commercial capital and Gunturas the knowledge hub. The report says the capi-tal values in the emerging micro markets likeVuyyur, Autonagar and Poranki are in the rangeof Rs. 1,800 – Rs. 7,000 per sq.ft while those onthe Guntur side like Undavalli, Mangalagiri andGorantla valued between Rs. 2,200 – Rs. 4,500per sq.ft.The huge investment commitments from domes-tic and international corporates across indus-tries like retail, energy, education and hospitalcum medical institutions would have a positiveimpact on Amaravati’s real estate in particularand that of the capital region in general, the re-port said. The proposed high speed rail corridorwith Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad andphysical infrastructure like the metro rail wouldgive further impetus to the market.Knight Frank India chief economist and nationaldirector-research Samantak Das said the StateGovernment was trying its best to build the newcapital city, but it would be a while before itcould start functioning from this permanent seatof power. The proposed Greenfield capital hadalready generated unprecedented interest in thesurrounding areas and the two urban centres Vi-jayawada and Guntur would be the biggest gain-ers of this interest.

Amaravati set toemerge as influencezone, says report

Araku coffee flavor is capturing thetaste buds of coffee lovers across theworld. The coffee grown in theagency area of Visakhapatnam iswitnessing a spike in demand, evenas plans are afoot to enter instant coffee market.Clean Arabica coffee beans, organically grown inAraku by tribals, has been a premium seller onthe National Commodity & Derivatives ExchangeLimited (NCDEX), The Hindu reported. The Giri-jan Cooperative Corporation sold 700 milliontonnes of the virgin product, known as ArakuCoffeee, in the market in just a week.The Araku Coffee has some 14 serious biddersand most of it was bought by a couple ofexporters, according to GCC Vice Chairman andManaging Director A.S.P.S. Ravi Prakash.“The demand for Araku Coffee stored at ourgodown at Narsipatnam in the district is signifi-cant in view of the fact that the demand forcoffee from traditional sellers has fallen,” he said.The conventional trading platform ICTA-Bengaluru has only seen four to five MT of coffeebeing bought while Araku Coffee has sold closeto 70 MT per day, he explained.The Araku Coffee has commanded a premiumover Arabica coffees from across India.Thousands of tribal farmers harvest coffee beanswhich are pooled by the GCC and processed. TheCoffee Board has classified the Arabica from the

araKuCOffeeturNINg INtOPreMIuMBraNd

region as Araku Coffee. The distinctflavour has given it a high demand inoverseas markets, Mr. Prakash said.The tribals, who were being paidaround Rs 90 per kg by middlemen,are now getting Rs.90 as first instal-ment from the GCC and the balanceamount is remitted into the accountof the farmer on realisation from sale.This year it is Rs.165 per kg ofArabica Parchment and Rs.72 per kgof cherry. The GCC procured 1,400MT of coffee cherry and produced800 MT of clean coffee. “We have putup for sale 770 MT and are planningto hold 30 MT for retail sales,” theGCC chief executive officer said.The GCC is selling powdered coffee asGCC Araku Coffee and is soon tolaunch 70:30 blend of coffee andchicory to be sold as GCC Vaisakhi. Itis also planning to enter instant cof-fee market to address all categories ofcoffee lovers, he said.GCC products now at yourdoorstepMeanwhile, expanding the availabilityof its popular range of naturallygrown and processed products theGirijan Cooperative Corporation haslaunched two mobile stores.The two stores on wheels are goingaround popular tourist spots and res-idential areas to promote the productrange and also sell the products tocustomers. “In the 10 days since itssoft launch the response has beengood and in fact we have been able tonotch up sales worth Rs 6000 in atwo-hour visit to the Beach Road,”Ravi Prakash said.Most of the customers are visiting the

stall and directly buying the products.The most popular are Girijan Honey,Triphala Ras and Nannari Sherbet,next are the soaps and then coffee,tamarind and most of the customersare unaware of the entire range ofproducts sold by the GCC, he added.The mobile stores have already vis-ited Pendurthy, Simhachalam andGajuwaka and would be going aroundthe rest of the city in phases, RaviPrakash explained.Franchise model“We are planning a franchise modelfor increasing the number of outlets.One such franchise is ready for inau-guration at Gajuwaka,” he added. Thefranchisee would be paid mainte-nance expenses which would ensurethat the stores maintain the unifor-mity and deliver a quality experienceto the customer.This is in line with the governmentplans for providing a sustainablelivelihood for enterprising youth, es-pecially educated tribal youth, hesaid. The positive performance overthe last two years has helped GCCwipe out the accumulated losses andthe outlook for the future is brightwith the proactive support of TribalWelfare Minister Ravela KishoreBabu, he said.GCC is likely to enter into an agree-ment with Walmart India to sell itsproducts across India through theWalmart stores. The details are beingworked out, he said. GCC and Amulare exploring opening of co-brandedstores across the two Telugu-speak-ing states to market the products ofboth the cooperatives, the GirijanManaging Director said.


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elugu film industry's obsessionwith shooting in exotic localesabroad has a history of over 30years. Right from USA to NewZealand, Telugu filmmakers haveexplored some stunning locales inall the continents in the world, ex-cept Antarctica. However, in thepast few years, as Telugu film in-dustry kept visiting new locales,one continent has pipped everyother region to emerge as the hotdestination for our filmmakers andactors - Europe. The lush greenlandscapes, dotted with snow-capped mountains, along with cas-tles, alleys of cities like Paris, Lyon,

Barcelona and London have be-come common place in Telugufilms like never before. And of late,countries like Bulgaria have be-come so popular, as filmmakingdestinations, that they are evenbeing used as a proxy for othercountries. While the Swiss Alps and Keuken-hof Gardens in Netherlands werethe mainstay in the 90s and early2000s, the emergence of relativelylow-cost destinations like Bulgaria,Spain, Italy and Portugal in the pastfew years have changed the game.Bulgaria, in particular, is the

hottest filmmaking destinationright now in all of Europe, thanksto its abundance of highly-trainedprofessionals, good logistics sup-port and value for money. Back in2014, when SS Rajamouli wassearching for a location to shoot akey action sequence for his mag-num opus, Baahubali, he ended upchoosing Bulgaria over severalother options. And so did VamshiPaidipally to shoot several scenesin his recent film 'Oopiri'. Anotherupcoming bilingual film - 'Jaguar'too has plenty of stunts that wereshot in Bulgaria.

Europe Beckons telugu fIlMINduStry To Its hinterlands

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Europe has becomethe hot destinationfor Telugu filmmakersin recent times.It's not just the visualsplendour of virginlandscapes of Europethat draw filmmakersabroad, saysHemanth Kumar.


Travel Masters India Corporation(TMIC), one of the key players who arefacilitating film shootings abroad, hasbeen instrumental in popularising Bul-garia as the numero uno choice to shootin Europe. The reasons behind this areaplenty. The budget required to shoot incountries like Bulgaria is a lot less com-pared to what one would be forced tospend in Germany, France or UK. Andseveral technicians from Bulgaria, whocome onboard as action choreographersand stunt directors, have plenty of expe-rience of working in Hollywood produc-tions and high-end TV shows. SaranRaparthy, Head Of Film Logistics atTMIC, says, "The local crew offers greatsupport to our actors and many actorsgo back with great experiences aftershooting in Bulgaria. We recentlyworked on films like Baahubali, Oopiri,Shivaay, Jaguar and all of them were ex-tremely pleased with the output. Eventhe Bulgarian crew has gotten so usedto the pace at which the Telugu film-makers prefer to work that they under-stand our demands better."Then, there's Spain which is clearly afavourite destination for filmmakerslike Puri Jagannadh. While Barcelona

became a backdrop in Iddarammayi-latho, Puri Jagannadh chose Malaga andseveral other locales in the region for'Heart Attack'. And recently, the cast andcrew of his latest film 'ISM', starringKalyan Ram and Aditi Arya have beenshooting in and around Valencia inSpain. Sreenu Vaitla too has been flip-flopping between Spain and Italy for thepast few years, whereas VV Vinayak hastravelled the breadth of Europe, fromSlovenia and Iceland, to shoot songs forhis films. On the other hand, Sukumarhas chosen England to shoot his two re-cent films - 1-Nenokkadine and Nan-naku Prematho. It's not just the visual splendour of vir-gin landscapes of Europe that drawfilmmakers abroad. It's an open secretin the industry that it's a lot more eco-nomical to shoot abroad, a lot of times,than in India. Besides, cinematogra-phers love the soft light that's ubiqui-tous in Europe, compared to the harshlight and dust in the air that is commonin India, especially when it comes toshooting romantic scenes. There's alsothe prospect of being home sick whichpropels the entire cast and crew towork for longer hours to wrap up the

shoot as quickly as they can. "Comparedto India, there's Sunlight for longer du-ration in Europe. Sometimes, the crewworks for as many as 14 to 16 hours perday on the sets of the film. The long du-ration of the shoot, limited resources,and the fact that a lot of them get home-sick becomes a catalyst for the entirecrew to bond well with each other," saysSaran Raparthy.European countries have been bettingbig on tourism for a long time now andfilm tourism is slowly turning out to bea lucrative option for several countriesthat are looking at the Indian market toattract more tourists. Few countrieshave even come forward to give taxbreaks for shooting in their countriesand it also results in a boost for the localeconomy, thanks to the creation of jobsand more economic activity for shortperiods of time. With so much at stake, it's little wonderthat Europe has opened its doors formore filmmakers from Telugu film in-dustry to explore its hinterlands. Aslong as we get to see our favourite ac-tors create iconic moments in a land farfar away, no one's complaining.- Hemanth kumar CR

30 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM SEPTEMBER 2016

At last, justice has prevailed.The highest court of the landsupported the argument ofthe Andhra Pradesh Govern-ment that the assets of the unitedstate should be divided proportion-ately.The Supreme Court has dismissed apetition filed by Telangana to reviewan apex court judgment directing divi-sion of pre-bifurcation assets of theAndhra Pradesh State Council ofHigher Education (APSCHE) betweenthe two successor States in the popu-lation ratio of 58:42.A Bench of Justices V. Gopala Gowdaand Arun Mishra rejected Telangana’sreview petition against the APSCHE,observing that “no case for review ismade out.”“Application for hearing in open courtis rejected. We have gone through thereview petitions and the relevant doc-uments. In our opinion, no case for re-view is made out. The reviewpetitions are, accordingly, dismissed,”the Supreme Court observed in a brieforder on Tuesday, which was releasedon Wednesday.March 18 verdictWith this, the Bench refused to recon-sider its March 18 verdict which con-demned Telangana’s claim ofownership over the entire funds andassets of the erstwhile APSCHEmerely for the reason that they werelocated at Hyderabad, which is nowpart of Telangana after the bifurca-tion.“By no stretch of imagination can it beassumed that the complete takeoverof assets of the erstwhile APSCHE bythe Telangana State Council for HigherEducation, on the ground that theState institution happens to be in Hy-derabad, which is now a part of Telan-gana, was what the legislature had incontemplation while enacting the Re-organisation Act, 2014,” Justice Gowda

who authored the March 18 judgmenthad observed.The apex court had set aside the HighCourt’s decision that the successorState of Andhra Pradesh has ab-solutely no right over the institutionsin the city of Hyderabad solely byvirtue of the fact that Hyderabad fallsin the successor State of Telangana.The High Court had endorsed Telan-gana’s view that under Section 75 ofthe Reorganisation Act, 2014, assetsbelonging to specified institutionsunder the Tenth Schedule exclusivelybelong to the State.Justice Gowda, however, dismissedthis. “We are wholly unable to agreewith this contention advanced on be-half of the State of Telangana. If thiscontention is accepted, it would ren-der Section 47 of the 2014 Act, whichprovides for the apportionment of as-sets and liabilities among the succes-sor States, useless and nugatory,” theMarch 18 judgment said.

‘Sensitive, tricky’Noting that the “issue of bifurcation ofStates is both sensitive as well astricky,” the Supreme Court held that“care must be taken to ensure that nodiscrimination is done against eitherof the successor State.”“There must be an equitable bifurca-tion of the assets and liabilities of thestatutory bodies among the two suc-cessor States as well, to ensure wel-fare of the public at large residingwithin these territories,” the apexcourt had held.The Supreme Court had directed theapportionment of the assets of the AP-SCHE between the two successorStates in the population ratio of 58:42as per Section 2(h) of the 2014 Act.It had provided that in case the twoStates were unable to arrive at anagreement, the Central governmentmay constitute a committee and helpthe States reach an agreement withintwo months.

SC UPHOLDS AP PLEA ON DIVISION OF ASSETSDismisses Telangana petition, saying no case for review

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SEPTEMBER 2016 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM 31

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CM Chandrababu Naidu is an active social mediauser. Many of you have been actively followinghis activities with admiration. Here are a fewsnapshots from his Twitter account and thoseon him.

chief minister’ssocial network


Tuition fee structure for MBBS, BDS courses The State government has revised the tuition fee struc-ture for MBBS/BDS courses in unaided minority andnon-minority medical and dental professional institu-tions in the State. According to government orders, thetuition fee for MBBS course for ‘A’ category seats inboth private, unaided minority and non-minority med-ical colleges has been fixed at Rs.10,000 per annum andRs.11,00,000 for ‘B’ category seats. For ‘C’ category(NRI), it should not exceed five times maximum charge-able fee to ‘B’ category students per annum. For under-graduate dental courses in private, unaided minorityand non-minority dental colleges, the fee has been fixedat Rs.10,000 per annum for ‘A’ category, Rs.4,50,000 for‘B’ category and not exceeding five times maximumchargeable fee to ‘B’ category students. The tuition feeis payable annually for four academic years and therewill be a five per cent increment in tuition fee per yearto offset inflation.

Amaravati will be constructed by 2018Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Devel-opment P Narayana said construction of the capital cityat Amaravati would be completed by 2018. Plots to thefarmers who gave their land for pooling would be givenaway on lottery basis in October and November. Speak-ing at a workshop on ‘Mana Amaravat, he said Rs. 5 lakhcrore was required to build a world-class capital city. .Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wants the city tobe able to provide economic stability, viability, and op-portunities to people, he said. Many MNCs are showinginterest in setting up their shops in Amravati, but theyneed infrastructure and proper climate to operate, headded.

Venkataramana Reddy new NMM DirectorVemuri Venkataramana Reddy, former Director of SriVenkateswara University’s (SVU) Oriental Research Insti-tute, was appointed as the Director of National Missionfor Manuscripts (NMM), New Delhi. The main objectiveof the mission is to preserve, conserve and publish theancient knowledge hidden in various places acrossIndia. Prof. Reddy reiterated his resolve to preserve themanuscripts and propagate the ancient knowledge, be-sides encouraging various institutions, scholars and stu-dents with training programmes on manuscriptologyand palaeography (study of scripts used for writing).

Changes to oBC lists notifiedThe Union Government has notified several significant

changes in the central list of castes/communities for in-clusion/amendment/ deletion in respect of the State ofAndhra Pradesh and inclusion of several castes/commu-nities in the Central List of Other Backward Classes(OBCs) for the new State of Telangana. The gazette noti-fication dated August 11, uploaded on the governmentwebsite listed modifications in respect of 109castes/communities in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Third rail line between Vijayawada, GudurThe Central government has given its approval for theconstruction of the third rail line between Vijayawadaand Gudur Junction at an estimated cost of Rs.3,246.60crore. The expected completion cost of the project, ap-proved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairschaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is pegged atRs.3,875.68 crore. The 287.67-km-long third line, part ofthe Grand Trunk route connecting the northern andsouthern States, is expected to be completed in sixyears. The section contributes significantly to the move-ment of foodgrain to the southern States and it wouldaugment services of freight trains catering to demandsat various loading points.

Senior journalist Kasipathi passes awayEminent journalist and orator, Yadhati Kasipathi, whowas a sympathiser of the then People’s War Group,passed away recently. He was 75 and is survived by wifePushpa and two daughters - Pragathi and Vennela. Hehad been ailing for a few years. A native of Anantapurdistrict, he spent most of his life there. For long heworked for the Telugu daily ‘Andhra Prabha’. His newsitems were also published in The Indian Express . A vo-racious reader, he used to be found in his stuffy officesurrounded by papers. An accused in the Parvathipuramconspiracy case, he was also jailed for a while. He wasattracted by the Leftist ideology primarily due to topCommunist leader Tarimela Nagi Reddy.

Jaladi awards presentedActor Sharat Babu and lyricist and poet Chandra Bosehave received the Jaladi Jeevan Saphalya Puraskaramand Jaladi Atmiya Puraskaram respectively during the85th birth anniversary of the noted poet and lyricistJaladi. Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao presentedthe awards. MLAs V. Ganesh Kumar and V. Anitha, ac-tors Gollapudi Maruthi Rao and Vankayala Satya-narayana, star-maker L. Satyanand and founderpresident of the trust Jaladi Vijaya were present.

HAPPENING AP


Rs. 32 crore sanctioned for RajakasAndhra Pradesh Washermen Cooperative Societies Fed-eration Limited Chairman Rajahmundry Narayana, dur-ing a visit to Chittoor district, said that about Rs.32 crorehas been sanctioned, for the current financial year,aimed at the development and welfare of Rajakas,across the State. He later addressed the officials, duringthe review meet, and urged them work hard in achiev-ing the targets, so as to contribute towards their finan-cial development via government welfare schemes.“Hasten the construction of dhobi ghats across the dis-trict and hold regular review meets, once every threemonths, to keep a track of implementation of welfareschemes” he added. Narayana said that the federationwould tour the districts and identify problems at thegrassroots-level, before submitting a memorandum tothe government.

NTR Trust to open schools in all districts NTR Trust, the not-for-profit trust of the Telugu DesamParty, working in the areas of education, livelihood, andothers, will set up NTR Model Schools in each district ofAndhra Pradesh and Telangana in the coming days. Theschools, presently with three branches in Hyderabad,Warangal, and Krishna districts, have so far extendededucation facilities to close to 3,000 underprivilegedstudents, mostly orphans, within the schools as well asoutside. “We want to extend a helping hand to the un-derprivileged students so that they come out of the vi-cious cycle of poverty, factions, and extremism,” NTRTrust trustee Nara Lokesh said. Lokesh said that theTrust was planning to expand its operations to cover atleast 5,000 students in an academic year by 2020.

GE to invest up to $31 m in wind project in APGE Energy Financial Services will invest up to $31 millionin a subsidiary of independent power producer Mytrahand thus support development of a 200 MW wind en-ergy project in Andhra Pradesh. Mytrah Vayu (Tungab-hadra) Pvt. Ltd has entered into a definitive agreementwith Guayama P.R. Holdings B. V., an investment vehicleof GE Energy Financial Services in this regard. Announc-ing this the IPP with focus on renewable energy saidthat GE has agreed to invest $ 31 million in MVTPL tosupport the development of a 200 MW wind energyproject in Andhra Pradesh. GE will invest up to 49 percent of the capital of MVTPL.

TTD to make improvements at KalyanakattaThe TTD, which is seriously contemplating to improve

the facilities at Kalyanakatta, is also toying with the ideaof interlinking the monolithic structure with the old freemeals complex which at present has been transformedinto a Pilgrim Amenities Complex (PAC-IV). TTD Execu-tive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao said that it had becomeimperative on the part of the management to focus itsattention more on the Kalyanakatta as 35,000 to 50,000pilgrims get their heads shaved every day at the monu-mental structure in fulfilment of their prayers. The erst-while free meals complex, which at present is equippedwith more than 140 bathrooms, in addition to locker fa-cilities and commodious foyers will go a long way in ab-sorbing the impact of crowds if connected toKalyanakatta. The interlinking of both the monumentalstructures will also drastically trim down the waitingtime of the devotees being spent in the queue lines.

daily flight from Vizag to KolkataIndiGo introduced its first non-stop daily flight betweenVisakhapatnam and Kolkata with effect from August 15.Flight no. 6 E-885 will leave Kolkata at 10.30 a.m. andarrive visakhapatnam at 12.25 p.m. and in the return di-rection 6 E -886 will take off from Visakhapatnam at12.55 p.m. and reach Kolkata at 3 p.m. The introductoryall-inclusive one-way fare has been fixed at Rs.2,999.“Expanding operations in Visakhapatnam is in line withour growth strategy outlined for the domestic skies. Thenew flights are launched to cater to the needs of bothbusiness and leisure travellers, who are on the lookoutfor new and affordable flying options,” Aditya Ghosh,president of IndiGo, noted in a statement.

Stone laid for State police headquartersThe new headquarters for the Andhra Pradesh Policewill be built within four months on the premises of theAPSP 6th Battalion at Mangalagiri in the capital region.Located at a distance of 15 km from the Secretariat inVelagapudi, the police headquarters is the second majorgovernment office in the capital region. The buildingwould house the office of the DGP. It would come up on75,000 sq. ft. area on a site overlooking the NationalHighway. Director-General of Police N Sambasiva Raosaid that the state-of-the-art building in the reserve for-est area would be built in complete conformity withglobal standards. The ergonomic design of the buildingwould ensure optimum utilisation of space. The G+4structure with glass facade would be fully air-condi-tioned to ensure comfort for staff at all levels.

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34 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM SEPTEMBER 2016

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For the first time in the country, people in AndhraPradesh are availing sand free of cost, following APFree Sand Policy which came into force from March2016. The state government is expected to forgo arevenue of over Rs 200 crore due to the policy. As per the Policy, the sand in Andhra Pradesh is availablefree of cost for all people. Restrictions had been imposed onstoring excessive quantity of sand and mining in the areaswhere sand mining is prohibited. Criminal cases entailinghuge fines and imprisonment had been put in place in caseof violation of the policy.

Status of sand reaches• Number of reaches earlier operated bySHGs : 383• Number of currently operational reaches :508• Quantity available in the currently opera-tional reaches : 163 lakh cu m• Number of identified reaches for which ECis to be obtained:17 (13 lakh cu m)• Total reaches : 525 (176 lakh cu.m)Vigilance activity• Task forces created at Village, Mandal, Di-visional and District levels• Number of border check posts established: 71• Number of cases booked : 242• Number of vehicles seized: 442• Number of persons arrested : 376Status of Call Centre• Call centre established on 21.03.2016 toreceive complaints pertaining to sand ex-cavation• Toll free no. 1800 599 4599• Call centre is operational 24 hours a dayin 3 shifts Mana Sand Mobile AppThe Mines & Geology Department is devel-oping a mobile app called 'Mana Sand'where in users can upload the details of thesand requirement and can also find the de-tails of vehicle transport and details of theloading point and destination. The mobileapp “Mana Sand” is being implemented as apilot project in Srikakulam, Vizainagram,Visakhapatnam and East Godavari Districts.

fREE sAND POLICy

SHOWING GRATITUDE

Pic 1: Godavari Antya Pushkaralu celebrated withfervour in Rajahmundry.

Pic 2 CM Chandrababu Naidu felicitating Olympicsilver medalist P V Sindhu in Vijayawada.

Pic 3: CM in a mock badminton match with P V Sindhuon the felicitation stage in Vijayawada.

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Regd. No. H-HD-1082/2016-18 APENG/2007/20679Published on: 01/09/2016 Posting Dt: 6th

a grand celebration - andhra pradesh magazine grand celebration in a lyrical tribute to river...

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