1349- Telangana, Demerger:A long journey

Here are some events, some going back to 1948, that have preceded the formation of Telangana state.
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Hyderabad: With the Lok Sabha passing the bill for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh Tuesday, decks have been cleared for formation of Telangana as the 29th state in India. Following are the major events in the history of Telangana since 1948:
1948: Indian Army annexes princely state of Hyderabad, which comprised different regions, including Telangana.
1950: Telangana became Hyderabad State.
1952: First elections held in Hyderabad State.
Nov 1, 1956: Telangana merged with Andhra State, which was carved out of Madras State, to form Andhra Pradesh, a united state for Telugu-speaking people.
1969: 'Jai Telangana' movement for separate statehood to Telangana began. Over 300 people killed in police firing.
1972: 'Jai Andhra' movement began in coastal Andhra for separate Andhra State.
1975: Presidential order issued to implement six-point Formula, providing some safeguards to Telangana.
1997: BJP supported demand for Telangana state; in 1998 election, it promised 'one vote two states'.
2001: K Chandrasekhara Rao floated Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to revive Telangana movement.
2004: TRS fought elections in alliance with Congress, wins five Lok Sabha and 26 assembly seats. UPA includes Telangana issue in common minimum programme.
2008: TDP announced support for Telangana demand.
2009: TRS contested elections in alliance with TDP but its tally came down to two Lok Sabha and 10 assembly seats.
Sep 2: Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in helicopter crash, triggering political uncertainty.
Oct 2009: Chandrasekhara Rao began fast-unto-death for Telangana state.
Dec 9: Centre announced decision to initiate the process for formation of Telangana state.
Dec 23: Following protests in Rayalaseema and Andhra regions (Seemandhra) and en mass resignations of MPs and state legislators, centre put the process on hold citing need for consensus.
Feb 3, 2010: Centre set up five-member Srikrishna committee to look into Telangana issue.
Dec 2010: Srikrishna committee submitted its report, suggested six options
July 30, 2013: UPA coordination panel and Congress Working Committee decided to carve out Telangana state. Protests in Seemandhra.
Oct 3, 2013: Union cabinet approved the proposal to divide Andhra Pradesh. A Group of Ministers (GoM) was constituted to prepare the roadmap after consultations with all stakeholders.
Oct 25, 2013: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy raised banner of revolt against Congress leadership. He wrote letters to president and prime minister urging them to stop bifurcation process.
Dec 5, 2013: Union cabinet approved draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 prepared on the basis of recommendations by the GoM. Bill sent to President Pranab Mukherjee with a request to make a reference to Andhra Pradesh legislature to obtain its views under Article 3 of the Constitution.
Dec 9: The President gave time till Jan 23 to the state legislature to give its views.
Dec 12, 2013: Bill brought to Hyderabad in a special aircraft and amid tight security.
Dec 16, 2013: Bill introduced in both houses of state legislature amid clashes between Seemandhra and Telangana lawmakers.
Jan 8, 2014: After disruptions for several days, debate finally began on the bill in assembly and council.
Jan 21, 2014: State government sought four more weeks to debate the bill. The President gave one week.
Jan 27, 2014: Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy gave notice to assembly speaker for a resolution to reject the bill.
Jan 30, 2014: Amid ruckus, both houses of state legislature passed by a voice vote official resolutions, rejecting the bill and appealing to the President not to send the bill to parliament.
Feb 5, 2014: Chief minister staged sit-in in Delhi to oppose bifurcation.
Feb 7, 2014: Union cabinet cleared the bill and rejected Seemandhra leaders' demand to make Hyderabad a union territory. Bill sent to the President for his approval to table it in parliament.
Feb 11, 2014: Congress expelled six MPs from Seemandhra for moving no-confidence motion against government.
Feb 13, 2014: Bill introduced in Lok Sabha amid clashes between MPs from Seemandhra and Telangana. L. Rajagopal, a MP from Seemandhra, used pepper spray in the house. Speaker suspended 16 MPs, including Rajagopal, for rest of the session.
Feb 18, 2014: Lok Sabha passes Telangana bill
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1348- Telangana, the 29th State, is real at last

If Jawaharlal Nehru described the integration of Telangana with Andhra in 1956 as the marriage of a reluctant bride, its bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh in 2014 is marred by huge political drama
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Hyderabad: The State of Telangana has finally turned real, as the Bill for formation of a separate state was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday evening (the20th of 2014) . The aspirations of the people of the region for a separate State, voiced through endless agitations, suicides and political struggles spread over five decades were fulfilled on Tuesday by the Lok Sabha, which passed the AP Reorganisation Bill.

The demerger of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, itself the first State to be formed in 1956 on linguistic basis, will lead to the creation of the 29th State with 10 districts, and Hyderabad as the joint capital for 10 years.

The residuary Seemandhra region will have 13 districts.

If Jawaharlal Nehru described the integration of Telangana with Andhra in 1956 as the marriage of a reluctant bride, its bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh in 2014 is marred by huge political drama, enacted by the Congress and the BJP that culminated with an unprecedented passage of the Bill through a voice vote and short discussion behind closed doors in the Lok Sabha.
The acrimonious division of Andhra Pradesh by the Congress-led UPA Government — especially the manner in which it pushed through the Bill since the CWC resolution of July 30, 2013, chaired by Sonia Gandhi — lent a political colour to the whole saga.

The Telangana struggle: A timeline in pictures
The 1969 Separate Telangana movement, championed by the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS) under Marri Chenna Reddy, who went on to become the CM of AP twice, came closest to realising the dream.

After a lull that lasted two decades, the movement was revived in 2001 by the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS), floated by K Chandrasekhara Rao, who quit the TDP after being denied a ministry by Chandrababu Naidu. His political manoeuvring, steadfast approach, including the fast unto death in September 2009, precipitated matters in favour of a separate State.

In the past decade, most political parties — Congress, TDP, CPI and YSR Congress — have tried their best to derive political mileage in successive elections through open alliances with the TRS.
The ‘dithering and delaying’ tactics of the Congress and the dual strategy of the TDP (seeking justice for both regions over the years) have pushed the State into political chaos and affected its economic growth.

The ‘fast track’ decision of the Congress resulted in a counter agitation in the Seemandhra region, reasonably spontaneous and led by local leaders.
The sporadic protests demanding a united AP threatened to rise into a strong movement over 65 days, before it started losing steam with political parties jumping into the bandwagon and trying to hijack it for political gains.
Dissents started brewing and baits of discussions addressing their concerns by the Congress started weakening it.
This led to the constitution of a Group of Ministers to focus on contentious issues such as Hyderabad, river waters, education and power.

Parliament approves Telangana; a new state is born
At another level, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu launched himself into an all-out effort, lobbying with all national parties, including getting close to the BJP for an alliance. AP Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy projected himself as an integrationist, rallied Congress legislators, threatening to float a separate party, sat on dharna in Delhi, loudly articulating that the party would bite the dust in the State.
YSR Congress chief, YS Jaganmohan Reddy competed with Naidu in trying to gather support for a united Andhra cause and opposed the Centre.
Ultimately, their political scheming and efforts seem to have not yielded fruit. In the end, analysts feel the division has been hastily thrust on a progressive State, instead of amicably settling issues and laying the ground for both States to grow rapidly.

Telangana erupts in joy after passage of Bill in Rajya Sabha
The whole of Telangana erupted in joy as the Bill for formation of a separate state was passed by the Rajya Sabha Thursday evening.
Telangana supporters danced in the streets, burst crackers, splashed gulal (colours), and distributed sweets in Hyderabad, Warangal, Karimnagar and other towns.
Throngs of people visited the Telangana martyrs memorial in Hyderabad.
TRS, which was in the forefront of separate statehood agitations, had made arrangements at its office in Hyderabad for celebrations as activists gathered.
Telangana is set to become the 29th state of the Union with Parliament approving the historic bill to carve the new state out of Andhra Pradesh amid vociferous protests by members from Seemandhra region as also from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena.
The suspense over the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2014 came to an end with BJP eventually backing the government.

1347- Marconi Prize Winner- Arogyaswami Paulraj

1346- A primer to help you pick a phone that’s right for you

HOW TO BUY A SMARTPHONE

Shopping for a new handset? Great! You can finally buy that device you’ve always wanted. But how do you navigate through jargon like dual- and quad-core, GHz, mAh, and megapixels? What makes one operating system different from the other?  read

 – Savio D’Souza (TOI, February 09, 2014)

(1)OPERATING SYSTEM Make no mistake, it’s the OS that puts the ‘smart’ in your smartphone, so before buying, it’s always a good idea to know about the different ecosystems that exist… The Android OS promises native integration with Google services that include Search, Gmail, Maps, Hangouts, YouTube, etc. Besides, you get access to over a million apps in its Play store. The best part? Titles that might be paid downloads on iOS and Windows Phone are sometimes available for free here. Another advantage of an Android handset is that these are plug-and-play. You can simply connect it to your PC via a USB cable to begin transferring files to and from the device with zero hassles. Also, you can choose from phones—costing as less as 4,000 right to those that are priced at over 50k—from vendors such as HTC, LG, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and even from local players like Karbonn, Lava, Micromax, Spice and Xolo. Just remember, Android versions are alphabetically named, and the latest in the market are Jelly Bean and Kit-Kat. Make sure you’re putting your money on either of these. Windows Phone is now playing catch-up with Android and iOS – and at last count, its app store just had over two lakh titles. Still, most popular apps have already made their way to this platform. Also, WP handsets in India primarily come from Nokia – and while the OS needs improvements, you get really good hardware for the price you pay. Plus, these devices come with subscriptions to free content like music and movies (depending on the model you buy), and also Here Maps and Drive+, which are arguably the best map and navigation services in the country. iOS, only found in iPhones, is extremely intuitive to use – and since Apple vets every title that makes it to its App store, you’re promised high-quality digital content in the form of educational material, music, videos and apps. The OS itself promises smooth operations, and you’ll find very rare instances of iPhones freezing during use. On the downside, you’ll have to use iTunes to connect the handset to your PC, and this can prove to be quite annoying. And yes, only buy from local authorised dealers; iPhones picked up from abroad are not covered under local warranty.
 
(2)PROCESSORS When shopping, you are bound to hear about dual-core, quad-core, and even octacore processors. But what should you put your money on?
    While a greater number of cores are supposedly better, it does not give you a true picture of how a smartphone may perform. Why? Well, not all cores are designed identically. UK-based ARM, which designs these chips, licenses different architectures – with names such as Cortex A5, A7, A8, A9, A12, A15 – to manufacturers. Here, higher numbers mean better chips. In effect, a phone that uses a quad-core A15 will definitely be more advanced than a handset with a quad-core A5. In fact, there might be instances where dual-core processors might fare better than quad-core chips.
    Also, a lot of how a processor performs depends on how the OS utilises its abilities. So an iPhone on a dual-core processor could be a better performer than many quad-core Android phones.
    That said, these are some of the names you can expect to hear when shopping…
    Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 600 and 800 chips, Samsung’s octacore Exynos, and Apple’s dual-core A7 (found on the iPhone 5s, and not to be confused with ARM’s Cortex series) are the top dogs in this market.
    Devices like the Nokia Lumias use mid-range dual-core Qualcomm S4 chipsets that are also seen in handsets like the Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro and the Sony Experia M. Older iPhones use a dualcore A6 processor (again, not to be confused with ARM Cortex).
    In the mid- to low-price brackets, you’ll find dual-core Intel Atom chips, the quadcore MediaTek MT6589, and Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon 200 and 400.
 
(3)DISPLAY The best way to judge a smartphone’s screen is to look at it from different angles for changes in colour, and also in varying lighting conditions for visibility.
    Invest in a Full HD (1080p) display if you’re buying a phablet. On the other hand, HD (720p) screens work well for devices up to five inches in size. On smaller devices, load a web page to see if the text is crisp, and can be read without any strain to your eyes. In any case, avoid smartphones with lesser than WVGA (800x480px) resolution. AMOLED screens are best when it comes to displaying punchy colours. LCD screens with IPS technology comes a close second, while TFT LCDs should be avoided if you can. 

(4)RAM It’s plain and simple: more RAM is always better.

(5)STORAGE We carry our world – e-mails, social networks, photographs, videos, music – with us on our smartphones, so when buying, always budget for a phone that comes with ample storage.
    Generally, if a phone lists its capacity as 8GB, only about 6.5GB will be available to the user. So if you need 4GB, buy a phone with 8 to 16GB.
    More megapixels and HD video recording capabilities result in images and videos that occupy more space. Also, if you plan on watching Full HD movies on your phone, ensure you have at least 32GB storage.
    If possible, opt for a model that supports microSD cards of up to 64GB so you can always add more memory when you need it.
 
(6)SIZE In our experience, a screen of four to five inches works well for most purposes.
    A phone that has a screen bigger than five inches could be slightly uncomfortable to use with one hand. Also keep in mind that big-screen phones are heavy, and can be uncomfortable to carry in your pocket.
    On the flip side, large screens allow for a better experience while watching movies, playing games and browsing the web.
 
(7)CAMERA A 5MP camera is capable of 8x6-inch prints even at 300dpi (dots per inch), which is the standard resolution used in professional printing.
    So, if you’re looking for a good camera phone, dump the idea that more megapixels will give you better pictures. Instead, look for phones that boast of good camera optics (go for devices that come with Carl Zeiss lens). Remember, a high-resolution camera with a low-quality lens will only give you low-quality pictures in high resolution.
    In any case, if you need a snapper only for photos you’d like to share on social networks or Instagram, a 10MP camera phone is going to be overkill.
    Opt for cameras with BSI (backside illumination) sensors for better low-light photography; make sure it comes with an LED flash.
    In our experience, if you want a good shooter, you have to shell out extra bucks. Good photos are a result of adequate megapixels, good lens and sensor technology, as well as high-end processor chipsets. The Nokia Lumia 1520, 1020 and 925, the Apple iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy S3, S4 and S4 Zoom, LG G2, and HTC One are known for their good snappers.
    For your front-facing camera, one megapixel is more than adequate.
 
(8)BATTERY You may have the best hardware at your disposal, but if you keep running out of battery, your handset is quite useless…
    Bigger screens, extra cores, and more sensors mean greater power consumption. If you’re considering a smartphone over 4.5-inches in size, look at devices that come with at least a 2000mAh (milliamp-hour) battery. The higher the mAh, the longer the battery will last.
    If possible, select devices that come with lithiumpolymer batteries over lithium-ion. The former are lighter, and also retain their charge for longer.
    And yes, preferably, buy a device that comes with a user-replaceable battery (although a handset like the Lenovo P780, which comes with a 4000mAh non-removable li-polymer battery, could prove to be an exception to the rule).
 
Note: Established brands tend to have better after sales service. But if you’re opting for a handset from a lesser-known manufacturer, check for its service centres in your city. A web search about a company’s track record should give you a fair idea if the organisation is in a position to meet its warranty commitments. (With inputs from Javed Anwer) 
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1345- 'మెరిటోక్రసీ '- నీ చిరునామా ఎక్కడ?

 ...సత్య నాదెళ్ళను మైక్రోసాఫ్ట్ సీ.ఈ.ఓ.గా నియమిస్తున్న తరుణంలోనే అమెరికా ఆధ్యక్షుడు ఒబామా మరో ప్రవాస భారతీయుడు డా|| మూర్తిని అమెరికా చీఫ్ సర్జన్ గా నియమించారు.
డా|| మూర్తి వయసు కేవలం 36 సంవత్సరాలు. అమెరికాలో అత్యంత ఉన్నత స్థానం, వైద్యరంగంలో సాధించారు, కర్ణాటకాకు చెందిన డా|| మూర్తి.
అమెరికాని మనం ఎన్నో రకాలుగ విమర్శించినా వారు అనుసరించే 'మెరిటోక్రసీ ' విధానాన్ని మాత్రం మనం అభినందించాల్సిందే.
విదేశాలలో ఇటువంటి విజయ గాధలు మనం మున్ముందు అనేకం వినబోతున్నాం. వారి మెరిట్ ని ఉపయోగించలేకపోయినందుకు భారతదేశం సిగ్గుపడాలా! లేక ఎక్కడో ఒకచోట తమ మెరిట్ కి గుర్తింపు తెచ్చుకున్నందుకు అభినందించాలా?

(డా|| దుగ్గరాజు శ్రీనివాస రావు, స్వాతి వార పత్రిక)
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1344- In jest- What do I send! :-)

(via Facebook/ /OMG! Paradise SG)
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1343- Jest a minute...

(via Facebook/ jaya kumar)
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A man received message from his neighbor...

"Sorry sir.., I am using your wife. I am using day and night. I am using when you are not present at home. In fact I am using more than you are using. I confess this because now I feel very much guilt.
Hope you will accept my sincere apologies."

Man went home and had a big fight with his wife.

Few minutes later he received another message.

Sorry Sir, spelling mistake.., it's not wife but wifi. _______________________________

1342- A wife

 via Facebook/ Buzzintown

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