THE TELANGANA STORY

What is Telangana?
Today, Telangana is a region comprising 10 of Andhra Pradesh’s 23 districts. Originally, it was a part of the erstwhile Nizam’s princely state of Hyderabad. The region accounts for 119 seats of 294 in the assembly.
When did Telangana merge with Andhra?


In 1948, India put an end to the rule of the Nizams and a Hyderabad state was formed. In 1956, the Telangana part of Hyderabad was merged with then Andhra state (carved out of Madras Presidency in October, 1953). The remaining parts of the Nizam’s empire merged with Karnataka and Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh became the first linguistically carved state in the country after Gandhian revolutionary Potti Sreeramulu, on a hunger strike over the issue, died on December 16, 1952.



When did the movement for a separate Telangana kick off ?
The first Telangana movement intensified in 1969. There was a distinct difference between Andhra and Telangana regions. Since Andhra was part of a colonial Madras Presidency, education levels and development of this region were better than in feudal Telangana. People from Telangana were against merger with Andhra state as they feared they would lose jobs to them.
Cultural differences, too, remain. Under Nizam’s, and before that, under the Qutb Shahi rule, the culture and langauge in Telangana bore influences of north India. Emphasis on festivals are also different.
What happened in the 1969 agitation?
Primarily a student-driven protest, it turned historical for the number of people who took part in it. Over 350 students were killed in police firing and lathi charge. Osmania University was the movement’s hotbed. Congress leader Marri Channa Reddy, who raised the ‘Jai Telangana’ slogan, diluted the movement by merging his Telangana Praja Samithi Party with Congress — Indira Gandhi made him the chief minister after this. That’s how the movement collapsed: a result of Indira Gandhi’s masterstroke. P V Narasimha Rao, too, was made CM in 1971 because he was from Telangana region.
What’s K Chandrasekhar Rao’s role?
In the 90s, KCR, then a member of the Telugu Desam Party, was hopeful of a ministerial post in the state government but was made deputy speaker after the 1999 elections. He quit TDP in 2001 to champion the cause of a separate Telangana state and founded Telangana Rashtra Samithi. All this while, with faster development in the rest of Andhra, a strong feeling was gaining ground in Telangana that it was being exploited and that the region’s surplus was being transferred to finance development in the rest of the state. In 2004 election, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy joined hands with KCR, promising a separate Telangana. But YSR got cold feet and backtracked, triggering resignations of TRS MLAs. KCR quit his Union ministry post.
What’s the stand of other political parties on Telangana?
Congress continues to flip-flop, while TDP, which was against separate Telangana until 2009 election, is now supporting it. BJP, CPI and PRP support Telangana. CPM’s stand still unclear, but by and large, it is opposed to Telangana.
What’s the Hyderabad angle?
Hyderabad, which is within the Telangana region, is a bone of contention between votaries of Telangana and those against it. The issue of AP capital remains a stumbling block in the creation of Telangana.

INDIAN SCHOOLS ANY PARALLELS TO PORTUGAL or NW-EUROPE ? III

ALARMING TREND !- DEC 2 Three students and two teachers beaten up when two groups of students clashed inside a school at Timarpur. The attackers also burnt a teacher motorcycle.
- OCT 22 A girl from Arunchal Pradesh molested by nearly 200 boys at Bharat Nagar in the New Friends Colony. The girl was just passing to attend classes at Jamia University when boys stopped her
- SEP 10 Five girls killed in a stampede in a Khajuri Khas school. Boys had allegedly misbehaved with girls at a staircase, causing the stampede ,!

Of course these are not the real Indian problems I brought this just to show that India also has normal comparable to Europe problems and not only a problem that if some drunken driver in a MB missed the road and killed 3 people on the side walk.

INDIAN SCHOOLS- ANY PARALLELS TO PORTUGAL or NW-EUROPE II

New Delhi: Molestation of a girl from Arunachal Pradesh in a New Friends Colony school, manhandling of teachers at a school in Timarpur, and now violence against a group of schoolgirls at Shalimar Bagh — the incidents of rowdyism in government schools are increasing. This despite the fact that these schools are posting better results in Board exams and have implemented life-skill programmes like YUVA.
Teachers attribute the alarming trend to disproportionate student-teacher ratio. There are not enough teachers to control the high number of students who study in government schools. They also say students are now blatant in their approach. They have nothing to lose with a ban on corporal punishment in place. In such a scenario, will the defaulters go unchecked?
Explained D K Tiwari, secretary, Government Schools Teachers’ Association, ‘‘It has become difficult for teachers to maintain discipline among students as they no longer fear any action.’’ Tiwari added that there has been an increase of nearly five lakh students in 930 government schools in the city in the last six years. However, the government hasn’t recruited enough teachers all these years.
‘‘We worked hard to improve the results due to which the number of students opting for government schools has increased. But there are nearly 7,000 posts of teachers still vacant,’’ said Tiwari. He added: ‘‘We need 14,000 more teachers for over 13 lakh children studying in government schools today. We have conveyed this to the chief minister but nothing has changed.’’
According to teachers, many classrooms have 80 to 100 students whereas the prescribed teacher-student ratio is 1:40. ‘‘How do we give personal attention to every student? It’s almost a crowd out there,’’ Tiwari said.
‘‘We can’t strike a name off the rolls in case of misconduct. The students in a class are from different age groups as many admissions are done due to political pressure. So it becomes difficult to work on the attitudes of such a heterogeneous group,’’ said a senior government official. ‘‘The posts are sanctioned by the finance department. They take nearly two to three years to sanction posts. In the meantime, the number of students shoot up. Besides recruiting more teachers will need a huge financial outlay that the government can’t afford,’’ the official

INDIAN SCHOOLS -ANY PARALLEL TO PORTUGAL or NW-EUROPE ?

In what appears to be a simple argument turning into a major catfight, two groups of students of a government girls’ school in Shalimar Bagh clashed on Monday afternoon just outside the school premises. What’s worse the students of Class XI and XII of Rajkiya Ucchatar Madhyamik Balika Vidyalaya roped in their male friends and brothers to teach the junior girls of class X a ‘lesson’, said sources. Injured in the fight, four class X students were admitted to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital.
According to the police, the incident was a fallout of an argument between girl students of classes XI and XII on one side and those of class X on the other. ‘‘An argument had broken out between these two groups on December 4, the day the school had organized its sports day. An intervention by teachers diffused the situation and the matter was reported to the principal,’’ said the officer investigating the case.
However, on Monday, seniors again threatened the juniors. ‘‘As soon as classes resumed, they told us that they would teach us a lesson outside the school. Since we were intimidated, we were returning in a group. Around 1.30pm, when we reached a sweet shop, 200 metres away from the school, we saw the seniors waiting for us. They surrounded us and used abusive language. As we tried to force our way out, we were surrounded by several boys — some of them students of the day school. Many of them were brothers and friends of the senior girls,’’ said one of the victims, who refused to be named. The victims told the police that the seniors along with these boys assaulted them. Said one of the victims at the hospital: ‘‘I was pushed to the ground by a girl. Before I could get up, one of the boys ran a bike over my legs.’’
Despite the battering, sources said, Class X students went back to the school asking the principal to step in. ‘‘However, she asked us to put our complaint in writing. Meanwhile, the locals called the police and we were sent to the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital. Four of us were admitted,’’ said one of the girls of class X. The principal of the school could not be contacted.
‘‘A case of molestation, wrongful confinement and hurt has been lodged at the Shalimar Bagh police station. At present, we are recording the statements of the students,’’ said a senior district official. Sources in the police said they have already detained a few boys in this respect. ‘‘We are treating the case delicately as it involves minors,’’ added the official.

THE TELANGANA FREEDOM FIGHTERS- 17 CASAUALITIES UP TO NOW

Hyderabad: Telangana remained on the boil and the 48-hour bandh called by TRS demanding statehood saw five more suicides, forcing the Centre to review its options.
The suicides on Monday took the death toll to 17. Seven others tried to end their lives while activists resorted to arson, destruction of public and private properties and demolition of cell phone towers. Train passengers were the worst hit as TRS activists stopped trains for over six hours at some stations.
The Telangana activists appeared to be in no mood to relent, with the spate of suicides only adding to the pressure on TRS and others to fight till the bitter end. After taking part in a TRS rally, G , 45, hung himself to death at his home in Ande village in Mirdoddi mandal of Medak in the afternoon. He left a suicide note demanding separate Telangana. Another activist Narsing Nayak, 35, hung himself from a tree at Mamidipalli in Sangareddy mandal.
In Nalgonda district alone, three ‘T’ sympathisers committed suicide. TRS activist Satish haung himself at Veeravelli village in Bhongir mandal. “Prior to taking the extreme step, Satish took part in a rally and shouted Jai Telangana slogans,” the grieving parents said. Lingaiah of Nemmikallu in S Atmakuru mandal consumed pesticide at his home. He died later in a hospital. Mallesh of Palaram village in Nadigudem mandal consumed pesticide to end his life. “He died shouting Jai Telangana slogans. We have shifted the body for an autopsy,” a police official said.
A tribal girl, Janabai, 18, poured kerosene and torched herself during a TRS rally at Gauraram village in Gandhari mandal in Nizamabad in the afternoon. She suffered 80 per cent burns as doctors at the Banswada hospital said her survival chances were remote. A TRS activist Raju is battling for his life after he held a high tension electricity wire at Turkapadgam village in Kandi mandal of Medak. “Even as he experienced a powerful shock, Raju kept shouting Jai Telangana,” a relative said. In Karimnagar district four ‘T’ sympathisers attempted suicide.
In Adilabad district TRS activists vandalised the office of Sirpur paper mills at Kagaznagar by smashing the windowpanes and damaging furniture. At Thogutta in Medak, the activists went berserk and damaged the house of Dubbaka MLA Muthyam Reddy. Furniture was burnt, glass windows were broken and other household articles were strewn all over. The activists were lathicharged by the police.

IS INDIA GOING OUT OF WATER ?

In a city where clean water has become a commodity that is delivered to the highest bidder, the poor often have to go without.
Yet those who have money can easily get enough. In Mumbai's wealthy suburbs, large tankers delivering water are commonplace.
Every day more than 5,000 tankers deliver some 50 million litres of water to people who can pay, according to unofficial estimates cited by the newspaper Mumbai Mirror.
Water shortages
But even if the wealthy were to go without such top-up deliveries, there would probably not be enough water to go around.
Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) delivers some 90 litres of water per day to the city's residents.
That is far short of the 135 litres of water the World Health Organization (WHO) says they require for their basic needs.
So in Mumbai, there is growing anger over the water shortages.
Last month, BMC hydraulic engineers' office was vandalised by activists. Over the weekend, a man died after violent clashes in the city between police and protestors who demanded better access to water for the disabled.
Global problem
But the lack of access to clean water is by no means merely a problem facing those who live in India's biggest cities.
In the central Indian city of Bhopal, people who live in some of the slums pump drinking water from groundwater contaminated by industrial pollution. Children who live in the slum play by the filthy and rubbish-strewn river that runs past.
Head out into rural India, and three-quarters of the population does not have access to safe drinking water.
As the population continues to grow the problem is getting worse.
India's water needs are set to double over the next two decades, according to consultants McKinsey.
Production of rice, wheat and sugar is set to push up demand from Indian agriculture, the consultancy warns.
And the problem is growing, both in India, as well as in China, South Africa and Sao Paulo state in Brazil.
By 2030, the four areas will account for more than two fifths of the world's water demand, largely thanks to a sharp rise in food production, McKinsey says.
By then, demand for water will be 40% higher than it is currently, the consultancy predicts.
Huge market
Many in India are looking to the industrialist Ratan Tata for a solution.
There are high hopes that he has delivered after Tata Group launched a water purifier that helps curb the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid or diarrhoea.
Tata's purifier will cost less than 1,000 ($21.50; £13) rupees to buy, half the price of the popular Pureit purifier already being sold by Hindustan Unilever.
Tata Chemicals' managing director R. Mukundan insists its purifier is unique.
"It doesn't compete with any existing product."
Moreover, he says, "this is opening up a complete new market" - one that is huge and growing.
Although limited access to safe drinking water is a huge problem in India, this is a global problem that affects about a billion people, according to the WHO.
"For the vast majority... today's water crisis is not an issue of scarcity, but of access," the WHO says.

As long as the only goal of India is to rise is population without considering the provide them a decent live the situation will go from bad to worse, ending in a collaps with civil war situations in the fight for essential commodities.

SUDDEN RISE IN H1N1 CASES IN DELHI , 233 REPORTED ON SATURDAY

NEW DELHI: On Saturday, 223 H1N1 influenza cases, including one death, were confirmed in the capital. This is the highest number of cases reported
in a day since the infection entered the city.

Though experts rule out the beginning of the ‘‘second wave’’, they advised doctors to give full-treatment dose to those who came in contact with H1N1 positive cases and were showing symptoms of the disease.

Of the 223 confirmed cases, 131 are children. Experts say once a case or two is tested positive at a school or college or any institution, full dose of tamiflu should be given to the rest who show clinical symptoms of H1N1 influenza. The state health department attributed the high figure to awareness about the disease and more number of testing facilities.

‘‘Now people have adequate knowledge about the disease. And with five private labs testing for H1N1, people are getting themselves tested,’’ said Kiran Walia, Delhi’s health minister.

Meanwhile, one 37-year-old man died due to H1N1 influenza at Safdarjung Hospital on Friday night. His reports tested positive on Saturday. So far, 29 people have died due to H1N1 infection in the capital.

toireporter@timesgroup.com
Fact is that the swine flu in India is extremely dangerous with a death rate of 1/31. An extremely deadly figure if compared to Belgium , now leading in the world wide statistics of dead rates from H1N1 with just 1/5,498 cases closely followed by Iceland and Portugal. Obviously the countries with the best medical treatment sytems. In Germany the risk to die is double as high as in the countries mentioned above 1/ 2004)
Amazing is that countries with an elaborated medical treatment systems have a lot high death rates as e.g. :
- Switzerland : 1/310
- Austria : 1/193
- Sweden 1/133
- Japan 1/132
- The Netherlands 1/35 ( very amazing und unexplainable since it is so close to the actual leader Belgium)
- US with 1/23 on the same level as developing countries and worse than India ( the explanation for this scaring figure I leave open for US citizens)

I am still very scared to get H1N1 in India and happy to return soon the Germany , Portugal and Belgium.