Reds tell UPA to stop toadying to US

Published on 9/9/2007  

VV Balakrishna

Visakhapatnam, Sept 8:Thousands of Left activists who gat hered in the city today to oppose the nuclear deal and the war games sent out a clear and loud message to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Concede our demands or face the consequences. The warning rang out from the public meeting at the RK Beach here which marked the culmination of two jathas from Chennai and Kolkata respectively which entered the city this morning.   The Left painted the town red, with their flags and festoons in all streets. In the afternoon, the cadres went in procession from Sripuram Junction to the venue of the public meeting. It was a veritable red river coursing its way towards the Bay of Bengal as the red-shirted activists made their way to the beach. And towering above them was the giant-size cut-out of the ‘demon’ George Bush garlanded with human skulls and bones.   A large number of activists from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Viskhapatnam and East Godavari districts took part and, significantly, over half of them were women and youth.   Women activists from remote places like Pedda Bayalu, Koyyuru, Chintapalli, Gk Veedhi, Araku and Paderu mandals in Visakhapatnam district showed up in strength which indicates the Left’s ability to create awareness in the masses on crucial national issues. The speakers were lustily cheered, more so when they came down Bush. Many weekend regulars at the beach also listened to the speeches with rapt attention

Red guns boom on Vizag beach

Published on 9/9/2007

VV Balakrishna

Visakhapatnam, Sept 8:A mighty Red river coursed its way towards the Bay of Bengal in Visakhapatnam today, The two jathas, led respectively by stalwarts AB Bardhan (CPI) and Prakash Karat (CPM) converged on the Ramakrishna Beach here. Where the two leaders assailed the UPA Government for its cosying up to the US, as witnessed by the nuclear deal deliberations and the ongoing wargames involving the navies of the US and those of its satellites.   They warned the UPA it would have to face the music if it went any further on the deal. Other leaders who addres sed the public meeting included Sitaram Yechury and BV Raghavulu (CPM) and S Sudhakar Reddy (CPI). Two other Left parties — the Forward Bloc and the RSP — were represented by Devabrata Biswas and Abani Roy respectively.   Addressing the rally, Karat said: The nuke deal is outside the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and the UPA is straying from it. The CMP stood for independent foreign policy. The UPA would have itself to blame if there is political instability in future.   He issued a stern warning to the Congress that if the government did not abide by the decisions of the Joint Committee which is meeting on September 14, the Left parties would have to decide on their future course of action. Bardhan echoed similar concerns over the US bid to gain strategic control over India and undermine its sovereignty, and ridiculed the recent professions of friendship by the US as a sham. He dismissed as baseless the contention that the Left parties were creating political instability in the country, and recounted the role they had played in pressuring the Government into enacting the Right to Information and implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee schemes.   For his part, Sitaram Yechury voiced the apprehension that if India tilted towards the US its enemy, Al-Qaeda, would target India. The US was just pursuing its self-interest in trying to sell one lakh crore worth of nuclear fuel to India and the nuclear power thus generated would prove prohibitively expensive, he averred. 

Red Star over Vizag

 Published on  9/8/2007 

VV Balakrishna

Visakhapatnam, Sept 7: A day ahead of the mock war as part of the five-nation joint naval exercise 500 nautical miles off the Visakhapatnam coast, the Left parties are all set to mock the exercise at a huge public meeting scheduled in this port city tomorrow. The Left is likely to issue a stern warning to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government demanding that it snap military ties with the imperialist US. The Left-Congress relations are already under tremendous strain following the nuclear tango. Strongly protesting the naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal on September 4-9 codenamed Malabar-2007, the Left parties are organising two vehicular jathas which will culminate in a public meeting tomorrow at RK Beach. Though the Malabar series is in its 13th year, this year’s is the biggest-ever peacetime show, having been expanded to include Japan, Australia and Singapore. The participating nations claim that the joint naval exercise is an anti-piracy and anti-marine terror drill, but the Left parties have made it clear that the naval exercise is an integral component in a grand strategic military alliance in the making. They have already sent strong signals that they would oppose any move taking the country into the American fold. ‘‘The Left parties are organising jathas to build mass support opposing the naval exercise and the N-deal with the imperialist US which is against the country’s sovereignty,’’ CPM district secretary Ch Narasinga Rao, told Express. The two jathas — one flagged off in Kolkata on September 4 and the other in Chennai the following day — will converge at Siripuram Junction in the city and then head for the meeting at RK Beach.

Swipe your ID card for top post in TDP!

Published on 5/11/2007  

VV Balakrishna

Hyderabad, May 10: Just one swipe with your ID card and you could win top posts in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)! TDP leaders who want to be in the good books of the party president N Chandrababu Naidu and want their services recognised have to swipe their identity cards at the party headquarters, NTR Bhavan, here. Punch card system for all functionaries of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will be introduced at NTR Bhavan after the silver jubilee celebrations later this month. Party chief Naidu sees many merits in the system. It inculcates a sense of responsibility among senior leaders. He can keep a track of each party activist and watch how much time he spends in the party office and what he is doing. The overall quality in the party’s work may improve and ultimately it will help Naidu in selecting the right person for the top post in the party. As is the case everywhere even party leaders and functionaries will have to punch their electronically made identity card before entering the office and leaving it. The punch cards will be issued to about 400 party functionaries including members of affiliated bodies. Besides, around 50 staff members of the NTR Bhavan too would get cards, instead of manual attendance registers. ‘‘Naidu’s idea was to make the party office a paper less one,’’ party sources say. On a trial basis the punch card system was introduced in the party office prior to Assembly elections in 2004, but was not fully used for various reasons. The NTR Trust Bhavan, currently houses, a dormitory, library, yoga and dhyana centres. The library which has around 5,000 books is the largest one owned by any party office in the state. Around 100 activists participate in Yoga and Dhyana classes daily at the party office. Of late, the party has been relying on SMS system to convey important messages to leaders across the state whenever agitations were taken up. The SMS system is also being utilised to create awareness among 20 lakh party activists on important issues and policies. It may be recalled that Naidu, when he was the Chief Minister, introduced the punch card system for the Ministers at state Secretariat

State set to be ‘Haritandhra’

Published on 11/17/2006
VV BALAKRISHNA

Hyderabad, Nov 16: Here is some cheerful news to eco-lovers. The State is inching towards achieving the goal of ‘Haritanadhra’ literally. Within and outside the reserve forest areas, the green cover is increasing. And the increase in the vegetation outside the reserve forest area in the State is the highest in the country.

The depressing news is the sight of some buffaloes happily grazing the well-grown grass on the road-dividers near the Begumpet police station. And some eco-insensitive people trampling the grass and cutting plants on the medians.

Coming to the ‘Haritandhra’, thanks to the collective efforts by the Vana Samrakshana Saimthis (VSS) and various government departments, the vegetation area in the reserve forests has increased by 5,097 sq kms in eight years. The increase in the vegetation within the reserve forest was 1,130 sq km in 2003 when compared to 2001 figures.

The green cover outside the reserve forest area increased to 12,120 sq km. It is 4.41 per cent of the state geographical area. The tree cover outside forest area in 2001 was 9,011 sq km. i.e. 3.28 per cent of the geographical area. Andhra Pradesh stood first in the country in vegetative cover outside the forest area, according to latest data available with the Forest Department.

The Forest Survey of India and the Geomatics Centre of the State Forest Department interpreted the satellite images available with National Remote Sensing Agency.

The Geomatics centre of the State forest department has bagged gold icon this year for the effective work done in the field of interpretation of mapping of forest vegetative cover and forest fire hazards zones.

The increase in green cover was significant achievement, said an official of Forest Department and attributed the same to Canadian funds pumped in during 1980-86 and the efforts put in by around 8,663 VSSs and farmers thereafter. Efforts of taking up plantation activity by social forestry wing, various other departments and private agencies like paper mills were the main reason for increase in green cover outside the forest area, according to sources.

Every year the department is planting around 30 to 35 crore seedlings across the State through various sources. In the present season, 47.72 crore seedling were raised in the State and so far 29 crore seedlings were planted.

DNA lab for seeds set to score a first

Published on 7/27/2006
VV BALAKRISHNA

Hyderabad, July 26: The first State-owned DNA fingerprinting laboratory in the country for testing genetic purity of seeds is coming up here. The laboratory is all set to function from next month.

The ground work for the laboratory, set up at Samithi Training Centre of Agriculture Department at Malakpet, has been completed and it will start testing the quality of seeds soon.

In view of the numerous complaints being received about failure of paddy, chilli, groundnut and cotton seed, the main focus will be on whether the seed will reach the flowering stage within the stipulated time given by the companies and give yield as claimed by the producers.

So far the department has relied upon conventional testing method i.e. ‘grow out test’ (GOT), which is time-consuming and useful only for postmortem. But DNA fingerprinting will give results within two days to the farmer clarifying whether the seed is genetically pure or not. This saves the farmer monetary loss.

According to officials, inferior seed is one of the major factors that is pushing the farmers into debt-trap. However, there is no mechanism to find out how much money is being lost by farmers due to impure seeds.

GOT tests require land, water and time. The purity of seed will be known only after the seed develops into a plant. By the time the results are out, farmers could have sown the seed and incurred severe loss. In the DNA fingerprinting system, the farmer can decide instantly whether to use the seed or not.

The laboratory, costing Rs 3.5 crore, is technically supported by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Research (NBPGR), Delhi. All the expenditure is borne by the State Government as it took the initiative to set up the lab on government lines.

Officials will conduct tests free of cost on the seed collected by agricultural officials or samples given by farmers. They will compare the seed characteristics with those collected by the officials from seed producers. ‘‘We have a database on all government-notified seed varieties.

Now, we are collecting the database on hybrid and Bt seeds developed by private companies,’’ agriculture officer Radha Madhav told Express. He said that they would be able to test 10,000 samples a year.

With the establishment of the DNA lab, the department would be in a position to initiate legal action against the erring seed-producing companies, he added.

One additional director and three agriculture officers are posted at the laboratory.

SEED LABS: Meanwhile, seed laboratories for conducting germination tests have been established in all the 19 districts this year.

Hitherto such laboratories have been existent only at Yemmiganuru, Tadepalligudem and Rajendranagar.

Members of CITU-affiliated building workers’ union staging a dharna at the Hyderabad collectorate on Wednesday, demanding a hike in wages and provision of work.Expressphoto

NAC to train 6,000 for jobs abroad

Published on  6/26/2006 

VV BALAKRISHNA

Hyderabad, June 25: The National Academy of Constructions here will certify over 6,000 workers trained in trades during the current year (2006-07).

Considering the heavy demand for construction workers in other countries the NAC is training in 15 branches of construction-related works to enable the certificate holder get jobs abroad.

The Protector General, Emigrants, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, has authorised NAC to export human resources abroad. The NAC offers training programmes in masonry, bar bending, plumbing and sanitation, carpentry, electrical house wiring, painter and decorator, operator excavating machinery, welder, general works supervisor, land surveyor, construction storekeeper, architects’ aide, digital architecture, interior decoration and crafts and several others.

NAC director general CT Chari says, NAC has a tie-up with reputed construction companies and it has been requested to send 150 technicians to Muscat and Dubai by a reputed company. The recruitment in West Asia and Malaysia is for well trained and skilled construction technicians.

The duration of the NAC courses is about two to three months and the fee ranges between Rs 7,000 and Rs 12,000. The amount includes training fee, food, protective gear, testing, certification and placement.

The NAC will award certificates which may help overseas job-seekers find suitable jobs. The NAC will also give certificates after conducting tests for masons and workers of other trades who are in this activity for a long time.

Globalisation would further push the need for formal training and have the skills of the work force tested and certified by recognised agencies like NAC, Chari pointed out.

The NAC acts on behalf of the trainees and identifies opportunities and openings for placement with contractors and construction companies. A carefully planned and coordinated process of placement ensures that the trained technicians obtain the best offer possible in terms of job, location and remuneration.

The NAC has set up training centres at 15 places in the state and planning to start one centre each in every district. The NAC centres are located at Kadapa, Visakhapatnam, Bhimavaram, Nizampet, Pulivendula, Podgatlapally, Anantapur, Amalapuram, Naidupeta, Samlkota, Vizianagaram, Etcherla, Sitampeta, Mahaboob Nagar and Sanga Reddy. The NAC is also planning to launch online job placements soon.