#KHABARLIVE BLOG

‍‍Gandipet, Himayatsagar Flood Gates Opened, Colonies Along Musi River Flooded, Residents Decry Apathy Of Authorities In Hyderabad

2021-09-29T17:23:00.001+05:30

Surplus water continues to be let out from Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs. Areas in the Old City in Hyderabad located along the Musi river were among the most affected after the city based twin reservoirs marked full after received over 100 mm of rains.

Following excess inflow of water, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) lifted 12 gates of Himayatsagar reserviour up to two feet, and six gates of Osmansagar reservoir up to three feet. This led to an increase in the water levels in the Musi. As a precautionary measure, traffic police closed Chaderghat causeway and Moosaram bridge for vehicles following the rise in water levels as a result of huge inflow from upstream.

Areas such as Barkas, Mecca Colony, Chandrayangutta, Aliyabad, Bahadurpra, Malakpet, Kalapather, Nawab Sahab Kuntta, Hasan Nagar, Rajendar Nagar and Karwan were heavily flooded. “Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and town planning officials should check as to how people are being allowed to build illegal constructions along open nalas, amid water channels. The rains expose the apathy of authorities towards public problems Old City areas,” said a social activist.

In result, the released excess water entered houses in low-lying areas with many having to use electric pumps to drain it out.

The Musi river remained flooded with surplus water continuing to be let out from Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs. The alert for residential areas along the river continued due to the huge flow of water, almost touching the bridges at a couple of points. Hyderabad traffic police reopened Moosarambagh bridge for traffic. An official said if water level increases, the bridge will be closed again.

Moosarambagh and Chaderghat causeway were closed for traffic. While Chaderghat causeway was reopened for traffic after a few hours, the restriction continued on the other bridge. Police said the water level situation at both places remained the same as it was.

Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is releasing the water from twin reservoirs following heavy downpour in the catchment areas over the last 2-3 days. Though rains receded since Tuesday, the reservoirs continued to receive huge inflows from the catchment area.

The HMWS&SB has alerted the administrations of Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts, police and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) about the possibility of floods in the Musi river, so that residents of the surrounding areas could be shifted to safer locations.

At least 400 families from areas along Musi banks at Chaderghat and Moosarambagh were shifted to relief camps.
A body was seen floating in Musi at Moosarambagh. Locals shot the video of the floating body and alerted the police. However, by the time the police could react, the body got washed away.

Two people were washed away in two separate incidents in Vikarabad and Kamareddy districts when heavy rains lashed the state under the impact of cyclonic storm 'Gulab'.

Those living in areas along the Musi river were alerted and asked to move to safer places or take precautionary measures in case water level rises. Residents are also concerned that the downpour will give rise to a mosquito menace

which could result in a rise in cases of dengue and other vector-borne diseases.

“So far, no officials have come to resolve issues being faced by us. We urge the GHMC mayor and the commissioner to come around Old City to find out more about public issues,’’ said, the residents of Mustaidpura and other colonies. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Digital Trends For Businesses In 2021

2021-09-29T15:25:00.001+05:30

2020 was a rough year for sure, and we couldn’t have been more eager to bid our farewell to it. However, we can't help but think of the changes the year 2020 made in our personal and professional lives. All businesses have evolved to ensure that they can survive the financial blow that the 2020 pandemic caused them. Businesses have adjusted themselves for the upcoming 2021 fiscal year to crunch out the profits. You need to look at your business's future, and you need to grab the latest technology and implement it in your business for faster adaptation.

Today, we are discussing some of the latest trends for small businesses in 2021. One must implement these measures to get higher profit margins along with the opportunity of expanding their business in new territories.

1. Keep Your Business Active On Social Media

During the global lockdown, businesses were only able to interact with their customers through the internet. As we moved to another year, we can still see social media as a more considerable influence for big brands and small businesses. There will be a significant push towards creating authentic content for social media, which is specifically curated for the audience. Along with this, businesses need to collaborate with the micro-influencers of their niche. Those who drive the conversation of the same niche.

2. Do Not Be Afraid Of Trying Something New

If you are a small business, you are indeed looking for something light and agile. But once your business picks up speed, there will be a lot on your plate every day. 2020 took a lot of businesses to test unknown territories, leaving no option for a company to stay on a familiar ground on which they used to work in the past. Adapting to the recent changes has now become an essential part of the business cycle. This resulted in small business owners being more creative and inventing new ways to cover their losses. 2020 brought forced restructuring with it, but now companies are taking it as a blessing as the changes have brought benefits outside the pandemic situation.

3. Data Is Your Biggest Asset

From the last decade, we can confirm that data volume will be increasing from 2021 to 2030 as more and more people are getting connected to the world through the internet. Businesses need to leverage the data to understand how their customers react and interact with their services. In addition to this, it improves the company's decision-making, helping it to stand out from the rest of the competition.

4. Focus Your Shift To Online

If you are not doing it right now, you might have to do it in the coming years. In 2021, businesses are trying to connect with their online customers to increase online sales. For companies looking for a change in their marketing, this is the best time to keep an extra budget for online marketing. While staying at home, we have already seen how humans can still do almost everything that they desire, and companies are working tirelessly to make this transition as smooth as possible.

When you have an online presence, you have a place on the web where you can direct people to learn more about what you do and what type of services you offer. On the other hand, taking your business online will expand your customer base, which every business owner dreams of achieving.

Conclusion

In 2021, you need to adapt your business to meet people's heightened demand to find useful information, so it will make things easier for customers to make purchases and be able to work with other businesses. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Reforestation To Improve Green Cover Through 'Seedcopters' In Telangana

2021-09-29T14:46:00.001+05:30

Telangana will take up reforestation of forest lands allotted to tribes under a special legislation, as part of efforts to improve the green cover.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao approved a proposal for collaborative research on reforestation of ROFR (Recognition of Forest Rights) lands.

The government, through the forest department, will promote planting of trees by the individuals and communities in these lands as most of these lands are not having irrigation facilities and are poor in fertility and productivity.

"This is with a view to bring these lands under tree cover and as part of the Haritha Haram project to increase the tree cover in the state from 24 percent to 33 percent," said a statement from the chief minister's office.
An area spread over 40 hectares will be set apart at Mulugu forest in Medak district for the collaborative research between the forest and horticulture departments.

Forest rights over 3.41 lakh hectares of forest land were recognized in favour of about one lakh people and 744 communities in the state since 2008 under Scheduled Tribes and other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

The forest department with collaboration from horticulture university take up experiments with different types of horticulture, silviculture and agriculture species so as to improve the economic status of the individuals and communities and also to maximize and harness the productivity of these lands.

The State has reported a recorded forest area of 26,904 sq km which is 24.00% of its geographical area. The Reserved, Protected and Unclassed Forests are 75.65%, 22.07% and 2.28% respectively, of recorded forest area.

Forests play a major role in supporting livelihood activities of rural poor and tribals, mitigating the threat of global warming besides, conserving the fertile soil and vulnerable Wildlife. For the year 2015-16, forestry and logging contribution is 0.4 percent to State GVA and 3.3 percent to agriculture & allied sector’s GVA.

Forest area in Telangana is 27,292 sq. km. accounting for 24.35 percent of total geographical area. Out of 27,292 sq.km, Reserved Forest area is 19,696.23 sq. km, Protected forest forms 6953.47 sq. km and the rest 642.30 sq. km is unclassified.

Forestry in Bangaru Telangana

In terms of District wise forest cover, Adilabad has largest area under forest, followed by Khammam. However, in terms of percentage area under forest, Khammam stands first with 48.9 percent of total geographical area under forests, followed by Adilabad with 44.9 percent and Warangal with 28.88 percent.

National Forest Policy of India envisages a minimum of 33 percent of the total geographical area under forest/tree cover to maintain environmental stability and ecological balance; that are vital for sustenance of all life-forms including human, animal and plants.

The role of forests as carbon sinks endows them added recognition as an important environmental factor. However, except in two districts, area under forest cover is less than desired 33 percent.

Telanganaku Haritha Haram

Telanganaku Haritha Haram, a flagship programme of the Government, envisages to increase the present 24% tree cover to 33% of the total geographical area of the State. The thrust areas to achieve the above are two-fold; i) initiatives in notified forest area such as rejuvenating degraded forests, ensuring more effective protection of forests against smuggling, encroachment, fire, grazing etc., ii) major fillip is sought to be given to Social Forestry for achieving the second objective.

In the areas outside the notified forest, massive planting activities will be taken up in areas such as; road-side avenues, river and canal bank, barren hill, tank bunds and foreshore areas, institutional premises, religious places, housing colonies, community lands, municipalities, industrial parks, etc.

The Telanganaku Haritha Haram programme was launched on 3rd July, 2015. 230 Crore seedlings are proposed to be planted in the State during the next three years. Out of which, 130 crore seedlings are proposed to be planted outside the notified forest area (10 crore within HMDA limits, and the remaining 120 crore in rest of the State).

It is also proposed to plant, and rejuvenate the viable rootstock to achieve 100 crore plants inside the forest areas by way of intensive protection of the forests. The field functionaries of various line Departments have undertaken identification of sites for planting and prepared village Action Plans.

The Village Action Plans will be consolidated at Mandal level and finally at the District level to form District Action Plan. At State level, two committees; the State Level Coordination and Monitoring Committee, and the State Level Steering Committee will oversee the progress of the Telanganaku Haritha Haram programme.

Revenues from Forest

Forest products in the State include timber, bamboo, firewood and charcoal, beedi leaves and miscellaneous. The income accrued from forestry sector in the State is Rs.148.28 crore in 2013-14, Rs.82.08 crore in 2014- 15 and Rs.71.33 Crore in 2015-16 (upto November 2015).

Reforestation Through Seedcopters

The Telangana government in partnership with Marut Drones, a city-based startup, is set to launch a drone-based afforestation project named 'Hara Bahara', under which seed balls will be dropped in barren and empty forest lands to turn them lush green abode of trees.

Fifty lakh trees will be planted in about 12,000 hectares of land in forests across the state under this project.

State IT and Industries ministry unveiled 'Seedcopter Drone' by Marut Drones and launched poster campaign for 'Hara Bahara'. Seedcopter, an aerial seeding solution for rapid and scalable reforestation, will bring community, science and technology together for an inclusive, sustainable and long-lasting solution.

This project uses drones to disperse seed balls over thin, barren and empty forest lands to turn them into lush green abode of trees. The process begins with a field survey and mapping of the terrain area to understand the ecosystem and demarcate the areas needing urgent attention. #KhabarLive #hydnews

15 Latest Laptops Of 2021 — Which One Will Be The Best For You?

2021-09-14T17:06:00.001+05:30

In this remote work culture, it's important to have a high-functioning laptop. It will be difficult to work with a device that crashes frequently. Buy a new one if the existing laptop is creating issues. Moreover, there are plenty of laptops that you can choose from. But, before buying a laptop, certain factors need to be considered. Make sure to check the device's storage capacity. It should have at least 8 GB of RAM. Or else, you might have to spend money on installing an additional HDD.

You might have checked the laptop's design and price. But, that's not enough! Every individual should check which processor the laptop has. Go for a device that has either Core i5 or i7. It will increase your multitasking speed efficiently. Check the screen size and the GPU of the device; that’s also important.

Make sure the laptop is easy to access and portable. Moreover, if you want a gaming laptop, look for the device’s refresh rate. You won’t be able to play intensive games if the laptop has a 30Hz refresh rate. And, whether you are a video editor or a gamer — there is a laptop for everyone. Here, we have compiled a list of laptops that will be worth buying in 2021:

LG Gram 17 — The Most Light-Weighted Laptop

Do you need a compact-sized laptop that weighs only 1.35 Kg? Opt for buying this LG laptop. It delivers power pack performance and is ultra-portable. Moreover, LG Gram’s 17-inch display is ideal for content streaming, editing and gaming. This laptop also has a comfortable keyboard and has Intel’s Core i7 processor.

LG Gram 17 has a Lithium battery that can last up to 19.5 hours. Additionally, the users get 16 GB of RAM in LG’s Gram 17. LG has also included a 512 GB solid-state drive in this device. LG launched this device in the global market on December 11, 2019. Many users have experienced sluggish performance in this laptop within a year. Contact a laptop repair service expert if you experience any problem with the LG Gram 17.

Dell XPS 13 — A Best Budget Convertible Laptop

Dell has elevated the user’s expectations by launching high-quality laptops every year. And, recently Dell announced that in October 2021, its XPS 13 is going to be rolled out. This Dell laptop will have Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors. Additionally, it has 8 GB of RAM and a flexible port selection. Dell’s XPS 13 2-in1 laptop has a Thunderbolt 4 and microSD slot. You can also get Intel Xe integrated graphics in this latest Dell product.

Do you want to know what the other standout features of the Dell XPS 13 are? It has 12 hours and 15 minutes of battery longevity and a huge display. So, don’t wait! Go to the nearby Dell store and buy this laptop now.

Asus Rog Zephyrus G15 — Awarded as the Best Windows Laptop

If you need a Windows 10 laptop at a reasonable price, go with Asus Rog Zephyrus. Moreover, you can also play AAA titles games like Minecraft Dungeons and COD Warzone here. Asus’s Rog Zephrus contains a QHD display which is best suited for multitaskers. You can work on multiple tabs simultaneously on this Asus laptop. Additionally, Asus has included an AMD Ryzen processor in this device. Its super-responsive touchpad and keyboard are what the users liked the most.

HP Elite DragonFly — Ideal for Every Professional

HP released the Elite Dragonfly laptop on January 11, 2021. Within 6-7 months, this HP laptop gained popularity owing to its notable features. HP Elite Dragonfly has a 13.3-inch display, and it has been rated as the best 2-in-1 laptop. It has a wide range of ports, including Thunderbolt 3. And, HP Elite Dragonfly features Intel’s 8th-Gen Core i3 processor.

HP has included a Sure View privacy screen technology in this laptop. There is also a built-in Tile Tracker in Elite Dragonfly. With this feature, you can locate the device, even if it's turned off. And, if you need a laptop that can last up to 12 hours, this HP laptop is ideal for you.

Razer Book 13 — A Portable Business Laptop

Razer Book 13 was launched on November 5, 2020, in the global market. Since then, millions of entrepreneurs have bought this light-weighted workstation. Moreover, this Razer laptop has an RGB keyboard and Intel’s Core i7 processor. You get 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB PCIe solid-state drive.

Do you need more storage space? Consider installing 64 GB of RAM to expand Razer Book 13’s storage capacity. Though Razer didn't design this laptop for gaming, it contains incredible integrated graphics.

With this, the users can play the best FPS games like Soldier of Fortune and F.E.A.R. So, what are you waiting for? Buy this sleek-designed laptop and bring ease in performing the business works.

MacBook Pro — One of the Best Apple Laptop

Do you need a laptop that has a 16-inch display and Intel’s latest processors? Go with MacBook Pro. Starting from professional gamers to content creators, everyone can use this laptop. Moreover, Apple has included an M1 chip in the Mac laptop to improve the user’s experience.

The M1 chip is considered to be one of the fastest processing chips. You can perform multiple tasks in MacBook Pro without getting system crash issues. By offering high-quality audio speakers, MacBook Pro has stood out from the competition.

Acer Swift 3 — Acer’s Best Creation

Acer Swift 3 offers incredible features at a jaw-dropping price. In this laptop, you get an AMD Ryzen 7 4700 U processor and 11 hours of battery longevity. Additionally, Acer has added Radeon Graphics which is ideal for streaming and gaming. Content writers can increase the typing speed with Swift 3’s super-swift keyboard. And, Swift 3’s design and large screen size have received massive appreciation from the users.

Asus Zenbook 13 — A Compact-Sized Laptop

ZenBook 13 is Asus’s first-ever laptop that has Number Pad 2.0. Moreover, this Asus laptop features a 13-inch OLED display. ZenBook 13 also has an Intel Core i7 processor and Intel’s Iris Xe Graphics. Additionally, you get 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB solid-state drive. Despite its large size, the Zenbook 13 is extremely lightweight. So, buy this laptop, if you often have to travel for business purposes.

HP Envy 13 — The Best 13-inch Laptop

HP Envy’s sturdy and stylish design is worth praising. And, this HP laptop is armed with Intel’s 11th-Gen processors. It offers outstanding performance to the users. You can use this device for more than 11 hours on a single charge.

HP Envy also comes with a solid port selection. Along with two USB A ports, you also get a Thunderbolt 4 port. If you are looking for an HP laptop with an Intel Core i5 processor, opt for this one.

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex — A High-Rated 2-in-1 Laptop

Samsung's Galaxy Book comes with a blue aluminium frame and premium chassis. Along with this, this Samsung laptop comes with a QLED screen and 10th-Gen Intel Core i7 processor. Use Galaxy Book flex’s “Tablet Mode” to convert this laptop into a tablet. Samsung has included an S Pen with which you can use to take down notes easily. Starting from graphic designers to college students, everyone can use this laptop.

Alienware m17 R4 — An Incredible Gaming Laptop

Alienware m17 R4 will be a valuable addition to your gaming setup. It has an RTX 3080 GPU and Intel 10th Gen Core i9 processor. Additionally, Alienware has added 16 GB of RAM, which can help you to store numerous game files. Alienware m17 R4 also comes with a 360 Hz refresh rate monitor. Enhance the chance of winning in a multiplayer game by buying this affordable laptop.

Acer Chromebook Spin 713 — An Easy-to-Access Chromebook

Acer Chromebook Spin 713 contains an Intel Core i5 processor. And, with this powerful processor, you can run multiple apps simultaneously. It also has 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD. From Chromebook Spin 713’s 13.-inch vivid display, the users can do more than video editing.

Moreover, this Asus laptop can last more than 10 hours and can handle daily workloads. But, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 doesn't have high-quality speakers. So, if you mostly use a laptop for streaming online movies, go for another option.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga — Ideal for the Remote Workers

Do you need a portable laptop to serve business purposes? Look no further; buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga now. It has Intel’s Core i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM. Additionally, you get a 512 SSD and integrated Iris Xe graphics. ThinkPad X1 Yoga is one of the most purchased Lenovo laptops of 2021.

It comes with a wide range of epic features including IR cameras. There is even a super-responsive fingerprint sensor and webcam protection in this laptop. And, you can work for straight 15 hours in Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga.

LG Ultra Gear 17 — Latest Addition in LG’s Ultra Series

When it comes to performance and accessibility, LG’s Ultra Gear model is unbeatable. It comes with a 17-inch display and Intel Core i5 processor. Additionally, you get 8 GB of RAM and Nvidia graphics on this device. LG Ultra Gear 17 also has a web camera and 2 audio speakers. There are also 4 different USB ports in this LG laptop. Do you need a laptop which will have both a headphone and a microphone jack port? Then, this LG's latest Gear Ultra model will be the right choice.

Huawei MateBook 14 — Get All in One Laptop

Huawei MateBook 14 has AMD Ryzen 4000 processor and delivers powerful performance. Additionally, Huawei has included a 2K Full-screen technology in MateBook 14. You can share the device's screen with the "Huawei Share" feature. It comes with a Shark Fin cooling fan which has ultra-thin blades.

With this, the users can prevent the device from overheating. MateBook 14 features Intel’s 11th Gen Core i7 processor and is ideal for multitasking. So, spend a few bucks and get this top-rated laptop now.

What are the Other Business Laptops that will be Worth Buying in 2021?

You can buy Lenovo Yoga 9i,, and it’sideal for both students and creative professionals. And, if you need an ultraportable laptop, Dell Inspiron 16 can be the go-to device. Go with Lenovo IdeaPad if you need a Windows laptop at an affordable price. So, take time, check the laptop features and get the right one for you. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍‍The Best 5 Ways To Build Your Brand Online

2021-09-14T00:27:00.001+05:30

As you may have noticed the cost of acquiring customers by running ads on Google or Facebook has increased by over 30-40% compared with last year.

This means that some of the businesses that were reliant on these platforms are not able to grow. In this article, we are sharing five alternative ways to build and grow your business online.

We will start by understanding the importance of building your brand and how it can help you grow your business for the long term. The following tactics will guarantee success for your business, but at the same time, it needs lot of focus commitment.

A case for building a brand – why?

Most of the small businesses and start-ups rely on short-term marketing efforts. Unfortunately, in this digital dominant marketing world, we become obsessed with ROI, metrics and measurable goals.

As a savvy digital marketers, we think of marketing as more of the bottom of the funnel optimization. If we spend X, how much Y do we get? How many leads, how many closures, how many sales? All measured and accounted. The best part is that digital advertising platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads makes it simple.

There is nothing wrong with it but, this leaves you at the mercy of advertising platforms such as Google, Facebook etc. Once the bidding war starts between many advertisers for the same audience, all the advertisers pay higher and higher prices. The only winner that remains is the platform itself. It can shoot your per customer acquisition costs through the roof.

And then you think – may we could have made an effort to build our brand earlier.

Let’s step aside for a while and observe.

We see some of the largest brands like Freshworks or any of those big companies; they spend a massive amount of time and energy just building the brand, right? So they’re not talking about selling you a CRM or asking you to join a demo; they’re just investing in brand awareness.

Why brand? Though it takes longer to build brand awareness and affinity, it acts as an accelerant through the rest of the marketing and sales processes. Prospects go directly to Google and search for your brand name and enter your sales funnel. And indeed, these prospects have very high conversion rates, lowering your per customer marketing cost.

And don’t get intimidated; it doesn’t require a massive advertising budget but only consistent effort and planning.

Let’s go right in with first technique.

FIRST: Build Trust by Offering Valuable and Insightful Content

Music is content. A piece of good music is valuable content. A blog article is content. An insightful blog article is brandable content. A social media post is content. Shareable social media is valuable content. You get the idea. In the content world, quality wins over quantity.
Valuable content builds brand affinity. It builds trust and makes people choose you over competitors. Leading with valuable and educational content can create an everlasting marketing machine.

Nowadays, creating videos, building a Youtube channel, and building a podcast has never been easier.

It always helps to think about what value a user can extract from your content. Be it insight, save money, or even laugh. Your high quality content should add value to your audience. This is the mantra.

Don’t worry that the sales cycle is long. Play the long game. Provide value to your audiences, and they will reward you.

SECOND: Get Brand Collaboration to Reach Your Target Audience

Let’s be practical; creating a decent amount of good content takes a lot of effort and time. Further, it will take months before you can build your audience.
Here is what you can do. First, identify influencers, bloggers and marketers who already have your target audience and collaborate with them. It will give you a head start.

You can call this whatever you want, kind of influence or marketing or affinity marketing or partnerships or anything like that. But my idea behind it is to take the same approach. Partner with somebody else either in your industry or serves the same industry or has the attention of your industry. You can do anything to piggyback on someone else’s audience, essentially.

Also, look for synergies and complimentary. For example, if you sell mobile accessories, you can partner with tech and mobile bloggers and Youtubers. There are many synergies here, they are not competitors, but they can provide value. We can bring an audience to them that they wouldn’t have been able to reach before, and they can get an audience to us that we wouldn’t have been able to reach before.

It works when both the partners benefit equally. So I think it has to be that way that there’s an equal benefit or very close to similar use for both parties.

THIRD: Build Organic Social Channel With Deep Content Strategy

It is no surprise that organic social is usually underutilized.

In digital marketing, paid social channels can be so effective that businesses often lack the patients to invest in organic social. Instead, they can run a Facebook ad or Linkedin ads to increase reach, drive traffic, generate leads or sales quickly.

But building brand awareness and brand affinity need a different strategy. Owning and building followers on organic social channels is highly rewarding in the long run.

Writing a blog post for SEO purposes and then sharing that blog post on organic social doesn’t work. To build your brand, you will need to attract your audience with the right content concepts.

Additionally, if your competitors are not big on organic social, it is a huge opportunity. Double down on organic social and see your cost of customer acquisition goes down. Promising content compounds and creates an everlasting competitive advantage.

FOURTH: Build A Community

The idea here is to build brand affinity by building a community. A community is something interactive and engaging – consistently. That’s what I mean by community.

To build a community, have a discussion. For example, do a webinar rather than doing pre-recorded videos. Then, your customers or prospects can join the conversation, contribute questions, and you can answer and discuss.

Most software companies host user events or annual conferences. Something that builds discussion builds a community, even if that’s only once a year — a big way to build brand affinity.

Suppose you are a manufacturing company or a technology company. In that case, there are many ways you can start a discussion because there are people in your industry who want to grow and discuss ideas.
The marketing team has to start somewhere to promote an idea. So, for example, show what you’re doing with your equipment or our product. Where do you integrate? How does this work? How does it save you? And people will show you different use cases of leveraging your product than you ever thought was possible. Because people always find new solutions. So having that sort of thing not only helps you identify your customers better but also propels your brand forward.

If leveraged correctly, your customer is your best salesperson, but how can they sell on your behalf if those people don’t have a microphone? Right? So it’s always been that case studies referrals, testimonials, That’s what people want at some point of that buyer’s journey. They want to see that they want someone to instill confidence in them. So a conversation led by your customers talking about how happy they are with your product or service or how they’ve leveraged your technology to impact their business can make a huge difference.

FIFTH: Events and Webinars

The fifth idea is events.
Suppose you are hosting events, whether they’re small or big, intimate conversations that helped build that community. Seek collaboration with industry experts and speakers that inherently brings some brand awareness and credibility to the brand.

And then you mix in the rest of these components that we’re talking about, of adding value by creating a sense of community that is going to be something that takes you to the next level. So it’s an engagement that matters.

Create a positive experience. And it’s something that, frankly, you know, as marketers, you might not be able to measure, but you certainly can see the impact over time.

Well, this is a marathon, not a sprint.

There are tons of other things you can do. These are just five ideas that I came up with, but I’ve seen work.

All the best. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Follow 4 Easy Steps To 'Renew Your ‍‍Driving Licence' Online

2021-09-14T00:25:00.001+05:30

Here are four easy steps to follow to get renewed your driving licence online. The simple and easy method to fill details online, submit documents, pay fees and get your card approved.

When the validity of driving licence is over, usually we approach an agent. However, you can apply for renewing your expired driving licence and even pay the fees online. You can apply online and submit the copy at the RTO office.

Step 1
All the information like the licence and vehicle registration details is available on the website of the motor vehicles department (www.parivahan.gov.in). Open the Parivahan website. On the webpage, 'Vahan' deals with vehicle-related procedures and 'Sarathi' deals with licence-related issues. Click on Sarathi, choose driving-related service and then on the state from where you have obtained your licence. All the services related to the driving licence will appear on the screen.

Step 2
Choose 'DL Service' (driving licence service). Provide your licence number and date of birth and the details about the licence owner will appear. If the details are correct, then click on the 'yes' option. Then choose ‘driving licence renewal’. The option to update your mobile phone number will show up. If you haven't updated the mobile phone number, then do it and immediately you will receive the application number as SMS.

Step 3
When you apply for renewal of driving licence, you will get the options to download the self-declaration form, form 1, form 1A and form 2. These are the forms for medical fitness, eye certificate and physical fitness. Download them and take prints. The form will have your photo and digital signature. Visit a medical officer and eye specialist, get yourself examined and obtain a signature from them on the form.

Step 4
Open your application window after providing your application number and date of birth, get all the documents scanned and upload them. While scanning, ensure that the medical officer-eye specialist's seal and registration number are clear. After that, pay the fees online and then submit the application. After the online procedures are over, submit the copies of all the documents at the RTO along with the original driving licence. Also provide an envelope with your full address along with pin code and phone number, and a Rs 42 stamp. The licence will reach your home. Due to the prevailing circumstances, all the validity dates of driving licences have been extended until December 31. The application can be submitted through Akshaya Kendras or E-Seva Kendras.

How to change address
If you want to change your address on the driving licence, you can apply through the 'Change of address' option on the Parivahan site. The address can be updated during driving licence renewal too. The service will cost Rs 260. You need to uploaded all the required documents for address change.

RTO appointment
You need to book an appointment with the RTO when you are changing your address, when you are applying for a duplicate driving licence or if you want to make any changes on the licence. On the day of appointment, you need to be present at the RTO with a self-declaration.

Grace period
If you are applying for renewal of the driving licence within one year of the expiry of its validity, you can do so without paying any fine. If it is after a year, you need to follow the procedures required for applying for a fresh driving licence. For up to five years, you need to give only the part two road test. If it is over five years, you have to appear for the part one ground test (H test) too. Currently, you can renew your licence within the last year of its validity.

Black list
If you get involved in any criminal activity, your driving licence will be blacklisted. You can remove your name from the blacklist only after you pay a fine, after the completing the duration of the punishment like licence suspension, or after attending in-person for a hearing. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Why Many Young People Are Dying With Massive Heart Attack Or Cardiac Arrest?

2021-09-12T23:48:00.000+05:30

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The recent death of 40-year-old actor Sidharth Shukla reportedly from a heart attack and subsequently cardiac arrest has brought home the fact that even the young and seemingly healthy are susceptible to heart related issues.

Nowadays, 1 in 5 heart attack patients are younger than 40 years of age. Here's another troubling fact to highlight the problem: Having a heart attack in your 20s or early 30s is more common. Between the years 2000-2016, the heart attack rate increased by 2% every year in this young age group.

Arvind Rao does not fit the profile of someone who you would imagine having a heart issue. At 33 years of age, he works out every day, and doesn’t smoke and rarely drinks. So when he found he was having what he assumed was gastritis pains, he put it down to all the eating out he had been indulging in over the past couple of days. When the pain didn’t subside, he decided to visit the doctor. A test revealed he was having a mild heart attack. Luckily, the doctors quickly took action and he survived it.

“Being young does not mean one is immune to heart attacks,” says Dr Sandesh Prabhu, Consultant–Cardiology & Electrophysiology, Care Hospitals, Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. “We are seeing more youngsters coming in and presenting with cardiac issues these days-- before sons used to bring in fathers who were having heart attacks, now we see parents bringing their sons in.”

The recent death of 40-year-old actor Sidharth Shukla reportedly from a heart attack has brought home the fact that even the young and seemingly healthy are susceptible to heart-related diseases as well.

A heart attack, known as a myocardial infarction, is when the blood supply in the coronary arteries reduces due to a blockage leading to the muscles dying because of lack of oxygen. “These blocks are caused by plaque rupturing,” says Dr Sakthivel, Consultant - Cardiologist at Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad. When there are fatty cholesterol deposits (plaque) in the arteries and a person is exerting too much, stressed, or has increased sympathetic overactivity (where the nervous system goes into overdrive due to stress and can raise blood pressure and affect the cardiovascular system), the plaque ruptures and leads to clot formation and heart attack. A heart attack that isn’t caught in time can lead to cardiac arrest.

“A lot of young people in their 20s and 30s are coming to us with myocardial infarction and need bypass surgery and angioplasty,” adds Dr Sakthivel.

But what causes these heart attacks? There are the typical reasons– obesity, hypertension, smoking, doing recreational drugs and a family history of heart disease. But there are also harder to quantify reasons like stress, sedentary lifestyle and eating junk food which is leading to more youngsters presenting with coronary conditions. Most times it is a combination of factors that leads to heart attacks.

Stress, Dr Prabhu says, is something that should not be ignored and is a common risk factor when it comes to heart attacks.
“We see so many youngsters who are in high-pressure jobs and very stressed,” says Dr Prabhu. Moreover, with prolonged work hours, no work/life balance, lack of physical activity and with job security becoming an issue due to the pandemic, stress is at an all-time high for many.

Family history has a role to play as well. If hypertension, heart diseases or diabetes run in the family, it tends to present earlier in each generation and adds to the risk of having a heart attack. This makes it important for people to get themselves medically screened from a younger age and more frequently, says Dr Sakthivel.

To prevent heart attacks, doctors highlight the importance of doing 30 minutes of activity daily (jogging, walking or any form of cardio), medical screening once every couple of years after the age of 35 (if there is a family history of certain diseases, tests need to be done every year and from an earlier age), no smoking, eating a fiber-rich diet, maintaining a healthy weight and keeping stress under control.

While men more commonly have heart attacks, women aren’t completely immune to them. “The problem is that with young women the diagnosis or presentation is late as they assume it isn’t a heart attack. They only come when symptoms are severe,” says Dr Prabhu.

How does one know they are having a heart attack? “There are varied presentations,” says Dr Prabhu. “While some come in with the classic chest pain. Many present with a typical presentations like gastritis, but when we do an ECG, ECHO we see a heart attack is taking place.”

Moreover, when a young person who is seemingly fit comes in with chest pain or breathlessness, the suspicion of heart attack is less and a lot of times the relevant tests aren’t done by medical professionals. “Please make sure you are evaluated for one if you have symptoms or family history,” cautions Dr Prabhu. “Rather than assuming it is not a heart attack, it is better to prove it isn't one.”

Symptoms to look out for and when to see a doctor:

> Chest pain. Sudden onset and atypical and usually radiating down the left arm.
> Breathing difficulty
> Sudden onset of fatigue and lethargy
> Sudden onset of exertion intolerance
> If there are pre-existing conditions like hypertension, diabetes and there is the development of any new symptoms please get it checked. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Rethinking Sustainable Solution To 'Rohingya Crisis' - Limits Of World Bank’s Proposal

2021-09-11T23:54:00.001+05:30

Washington-based global lender the World Bank, through concessional lending arms, has gone to bat for Bangladesh to foster its development initiatives since 1972; committing more than $30 billion by backing priorities in economic, social and infrastructural development.

Since 2018, this UN affiliated multilateral body, largest source of financial assistance to developing nations, has committed a total $590 million grant to support Bangladesh to confront the challenges posed by the influx of the forcibly displaced Rohingya.

Recently, this bank has been extensively denounced both by policy wonks and mass people after its proposal, through "Refugee Policy Review Framework'' (RPRF), on Rohingya's integration in Bangladesh. How rational is this proposition of the World Bank?

Four years ago, in late August 2017, "breaking-news" across the world were dominated by the massive influx of Rohingyas to Bangladesh, a result of military-backed bloody "clearance operation". A 444-page report of the UN's Independent Fact-Finding Commission substantiated that more than 7,25,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after this deadly crackdown.

The degree of atrocities of this "campaign of terror" embarked on by the military was so intense that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights referred to it as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing" whilst other investigators dubbed it as "genocide". In the first three weeks of August 2017, Bangladesh received more refugees than entire Europe did in 2016 during “Syrian crisis”.

Since then, Bangladesh has been generously hosting more than 1.2 million Rohingyas as short-term guests ensuring "safe haven" on humanitarian grounds. Now, Cox's Bazar based 13 Kilometers long Kutupalong "mega-camp", the largest refugee settlement camp in the world, is the home to this beleaguered community.

Rohingyas, living in Arakan for thousand years, have been actively involved in Burma's politics since independence. The recognition of Rohingya as Myanmar's citizens by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) resolves their identity crisis by providing a legal base.

Besides, in the hearing of ICJ, Aung San Suu Kyi defined Rohingyas as Arakan’s Muslims. Myanmar signed two repatriation agreements with Bangladesh in 2018 and 2019 respectively giving consent to take back their citizens. Although these repatriation agreements were in vain due to reluctance of Myanmar, still these agreements are significant proof of Myanmar’s official stance on Rohingyas’ citizenship.

Though there is no light at the end of the tunnel, still Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, in response to the WB's framework, stated in point blank that they have no desire to receive Bangladeshi citizenship and would like to return to Myanmar.

The WB has proposed to review the RPRF for 14 member states, currently hosting refugees, including Bangladesh, for gauging the effectiveness of the grants for the refugees and host communities under its "soft-loan window" International Development Assistance. This global framework, being reviewed triennially, undertaken in cooperation with UNHCR, suggests providing refugees the rights to procure land & property, choose place of residence & freedom of movement, have equal access to the nation's public service & the labor market etc. like the citizens of the host country. The WB offered $2 billion to Bangladesh, if it integrates Rohingya refugees with economic & social rights.

The framework is germane for Bangladesh since this move will pave the way for the Rohingyas to become permanent citizens through integration into Bangladesh’s populace. Bangladesh reiterated its stance, by rejecting the proposal outright, stating that Rohingyas are not “refugees” rather “forcibly displaced persons” to whom Bangladesh extended temporary shelter.

The study "Impacts of the Rohingya Refugee Influx on Host Communities" conducted by the UNDP expounded how the overcrowding Rohingyas affected host communities. The major adverse impact includes price hike, increase of poverty, rise in housing cost, reduction in wage rate, deforestation, environmental casualty etc.

Moreover, the rise of intragroup and intergroup conflicts in the Rohingya camps shrunk the space of coexistence between the host communities and refugees by recasting the social makeup. This month, August 2021, marks the fourth anniversary of the Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh, but a sustainable solution is yet to be found.

The 1951 Refugee Convention suggests three way-outs to the refugee crisis: integration; settlement to a third country; or repatriation. Approximately 166.65 million population of Bangladesh, 8th largest in the world, makes it one of the densely populated countries with 1,125 people in per sq. km.

This small country, 92nd in terms of land size, with a total landmass of 147,570 sq. km, slightly smaller than the US Iowa state, is hosting 1.2 million Rohingyas which is higher than the total population of Bhutan. No country in the world is bearing the burden of so many refugees as by overpopulated Bangladesh. Bangladesh, with an unemployment rate of 5.30%, exports approximately 60,000 workers abroad every year which indicates the country's inability to create employment and struggle to generate employment for its gargantuan unemployed youths.

This attracts pointed attention towards inadequate demand of labor in Bangladesh. So, the possibility of integrating the Rohingya into the local community is nipped in the bud. As the number of Rohingya refugee is gigantic, more than a million in Bangladesh and some more are living in 19 other countries and no country has shown interest in receiving them, the option to settle them to a third country seems impassable in foreseeable future. The only way out to Rohingya crisis lies in safe repatriation to Myanmar.

As the Rohingyas also want to return to Myanmar, integration into Bangladesh, following WB's recommendations, is like denial of their fundamental & human rights. Some local experts believe that integration may lead to a new “Palestine Crisis” by jeopardizing the sovereignty of Bangladesh and endangering the geo-political stability of South Asia.

This kind of proposal from responsible global leaders like WB will motivate Myanmar to slacken the repatriation process by increasing complexities to this multifaced dilemma. Instead of suggesting such impracticable proposal, WB could create pressure on Myanmar to comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 by the UN. It could offer financial incentives to Myanmar for expediting the repatriation in internationally monitored safe zones. Some international organizations are planning long-term programs for this “short-term emergency crisis” which will just linger the repatriation process.

Bangladesh is trying its level best to ensure decent arrangements for Rohingyas with its limited financial strengths. Despite not being a signatory of 1951 refugee convention, Bangladesh complies with its conditions, i.e., not forcing any Rohingya to go back to Myanmar.

Accepting WB’s proposal will add fuel to the fire by acting as a pull factor for other Rohingyas, around six lacs, to come to Bangladesh from restive Myanmar. Bangladesh has to bring substantial changes in its policy if it agrees to accept the framework, a complex & time-consuming process which will intensifies the misery. Safe & dignified repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar is the only sustainable solution to come to an end to their plight. Bangladesh needs more support from international communities to resolve this crisis.

The country may expect that the world communities will consider all the relevant issues including socio-economic conditions of Bangladesh before making any recommendations to resolve the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis by bringing light of hope to put an end to their struggling present. #KhabarLive #hydnews

(About the Author: Kazi Mohammad Jamshed, a strategic affair and foreign policy analyst, working as a lecturer at department of International Business, University of Dhaka. He can be reached at kazi.duib@gmail.com)

How 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Option On Ecommerce Lead To Rise In Consumer Debts?

2021-09-11T18:10:00.001+05:30

Consumer credit is rising. Given the enormous liquidity being pumped into the system, consumer credit and debt is headed for disaster.

But it should be highlighted that economic euphoria may be taking over the market right now, driving up demand. However, given the public’s crippled financial capacity owing to pandemic-related health costs or rising crude or gasoline prices, it is reasonable to expect debts to continue to climb indefinitely.

In light of easy credit, the “Buy now, pay later” concept has swept the credit business. While it is undeniable that such choices are rising in favour, several analysts have warned of increased default risks in the future. This is owing to the lack of credit checks and the “opaque” debt reporting mechanism currently being used.

The BNPL system does not scrutinise consumer credit histories. This mechanism can cause lenders to undervalue borrowers’ debt levels when evaluating fresh loan applications. This implies that the system is based on a frail monitoring mechanism that might cause a massive credit bubble. Consumers are also at risk of accruing greater credit card debt. In order to pay off past “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) obligations, a consumer may overspend, resulting in new credit card debt.

The BNPL system is strongly integrated into the economy as BNPL service providers frequently partner with retailers, both online and offline. This allows users to pay in future instalments.

This payment option is gaining appeal among younger investors due to the economy’s flexible lending policy. In response to the growing demand for BNPL services, more businesses have begun offering them.

That digital payment companies like Square are buying Australia’s “buy now pay later” supplier Afterpay for $29 billion shows how popular BNPL services are becoming.

But what will cause future increases in consumer debt? As a first point, the sector’s debt performance reporting is “obscure” and the debt monitoring mechanism is non-existent due to the absence of background credit checks Worse, many of these service providers do not report usage to credit bureaus, thus complicating the matter. Notably, BNPL debt is rarely visible on borrowers’ credit files. Growth in consumer debt can cause havoc on the economy as a result of this.

Desperate to avoid bankruptcy, these organisations providing BNPL services do not evaluate users’ creditworthiness or financial standing.

For big-ticket items like electronics, furniture and appliances, instalment plans or classic “BNPL” services were previously employed just for big-ticket items. This is because the latest “buy now, pay later” programme is aimed at younger, tech-savvy consumers.

More loathsome and uneventful sweets than credit cards and ordinary instalment loans make the whole plan even more nefarious and unpleasant. It has low or no interest rate, no late fee, and huge loan limitations that these technological apps offer as sweeteners. It also doesn’t require any credit checks. Deduced from the foregoing, this is clearly a formula for economic doom.

Also, organisations that provide such services do not have to bear the weight of the consequences. Consumers who don’t read the terms of borrowing could be negatively affected by this plan.

Rescheduling payments or being charged more owing to inadequate information are examples of potential costs. However, such borrowing might lead to an endless debt cycle. Without timely payment, Bnpl users may find themselves in danger. With credit cards and other strange methods of debt financing, many BNPL customers will be forced into a vicious cycle of debt.

Because of the pandemic, online purchasing has increased dramatically, leading to an increase in non-performing loans. Analysts warn that the rise in such services is related to the convenience of application and low cost of borrowing, in addition to lenient credit policies.

Because the system relies on a fragile monitoring mechanism, its failure might imply economic disaster. An economic bubble is becoming more likely as new platforms like Phonepay enter the market. As a result, authorities must take control of the situation. #livehyd #LiveHyd

‍‍‍‍‍Are Telugu States Usher 'Privileges To Brahmins' Under 'Upper Caste Politics' Influence?

2021-09-11T18:07:00.001+05:30

The Telugu States (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_states) govts know that while Brahmins (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin#:~:text=Brahmin%20(%2F%CB%88br%C9%91%CB%90,of%20sacred%20learning%20across%20generations) are electorally insignificant, they can influence others.

Telugu state governments in south India, representing both sides of the Hindutva divide, have strengthened their outreach programmes for Brahmins, in order to remain politically relevant among the community and counter opposition parties’ attempts to woo them.

In the Telugu-speaking non-BJP-ruled states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Brahmin population is negligible and their mandate politically insignificant. But none of these states’ governments have taken their eyes off this influential community, frequently unveiling schemes to incentivise education and employment, or to perpetuate ‘their’ Vedic culture.

Of course, the benefactors of these initiatives must show proof of caste — that they are Brahmins by birth — as most of them are from the economically weaker sections.

In Andhra, the Brahmins have always thrown in their lot with the Reddy community since a fight with the erstwhile Chandrababu Naidu government. But are they happy with Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, particularly when the opposition BJP tomtoms itself to be the “protector of Hindu dharma?”

Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao publicly lives the life of a ‘devout Hindu’. And while there’s hardly any representation of Brahmins in his government, he continues to put them on a pedestal — now and then, he gets vocal in his demand for a Bharat Ratna for former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, who hailed from the community.

Intellectuals, however, point out it is farcical to base policy outreach on the feudal concept that Brahmins are powerful.

The Andhra government’s Vedic education scheme for Brahmins has come in for particular criticism. Political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote (https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/brahmin-welfare-schemes-social-justice-7495186/) that the state cannot provide support to a profession whose eligibility is determined by birth. If Vedic studies are good for Brahmins, they should be good for all, he argued.

Both the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have designated Brahmin welfare departments — set up in 2014 and 2017 respectively — and portals, which describe the community as ‘brilliant’ and ‘big’ thinkers.

The Telangana Brahmin Samkshema Parishad — the government body working for the upliftment of the community — says on its website (https://brahminparishad.telangana.gov.in/FirstPage.do) that BRAHMIN stands for “Broad and Brilliant in Thinking; Righteous and Religious in Livelihood, Adroit and Adventurous in Personality, Honesty and Humanity in Quality, Modesty and Morality in Character, Innovation and Industry in Performance and Nobility and Novelty in approach”.

Andhra Pradesh’s site (http://www.andhrabrahmin.ap.gov.in/bwc/aboutus.aspx) defines the community as “Big Thinking, Resource Leveraging, Attitude (positive), Hard Work, Modesty, Integrity and Neo Thinking”.

Both state governments offer financial assistance for higher education, entrepreneurship, skill development, coaching for competitive exams — primarily for the economically weaker groups within the community.

Such schemes, however, are not exclusive to the Brahmin community in the states. There are designated departments working for backward communities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, offering almost similar financial assistance to promote empowerment.

There is not a single Brahmin minister in KCR’s cabinet, nor in Jagan’s, except Deputy Speaker Kona Raghupathi. There are only a handful of Brahmin legislators in both states, which reflects the fact that Telangana has less than 3 per cent Brahmin voters while Andhra has 5 per cent. But Brahmins are important to both the CMs, say analysts.

There are also financial assistance schemes to promote ‘Vedic culture’ and ‘Vedic education’ in the community. The Telangana Brahmin Parishad offers a scheme named ‘Vedahitha — Vedic Students’, which pays each Brahmin student a sustenance grant of Rs 3 lakh after the successful competition of ‘Smarta’ studies and Rs 5 lakh after finishing ‘Agama, Kramantha and Ganantha’ studies.

A similar scheme in Andhra pays as high as Rs 36,000 annually for a period of six years.

In Telangana, the government bears 75 per cent cost of construction of ‘Brahmin Sadans’ at district and mandal levels under its ‘Brahmin Sadan Scheme’.

Andhra’s ‘Vasishta Scheme’ provides coaching for competitive exams such as the civil services, paying candidates’ boarding and lodging charges.

One of the eligibility criteria for all these schemes is that the beneficiary and the parents should be Brahmins.

From 2015 to 2019, mostly under Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra spent Rs 216 crore on welfare schemes for the community.

The Andhra government also offers financial assistance for funeral expenses of a deceased from a Brahmin family, if the family cannot afford it.

Political analyst Telakapalli Ravi told #KhabarLive, “Considering our society, Brahmins still play a major role in public opinion. They hold influential positions. Though their economic and political power may not be much, several government advisers belong to the community, and there are bureaucrats in top positions.”

Ravi added that chief priest of the famous Tirumala Temple, A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu, had a certain amount of influence in former CM Chandrababu Naidu’s government.

But that does not mean there are no poor Brahmins, he pointed out.

In Telangana, KCR’s most recent sop to Brahmins was the year-long Narasimha Rao birth centenary celebrations he announced in 2020. A statue of the former PM was erected in Hyderabad in June, which the CM himself inaugurated. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, in the graduates MLC polls, named his granddaughter a candidate, and she ended up winning.

“KCR does not give the community much power but keeps them on a pedestal, conveys that he is respecting them,” Ravi said.

Prof. Kodandaram Reddy, founder of political party Telangana Jana Samithi, said the community is present mostly in urban pockets.

Brahmin voters dominates 12 urban assembly constituencies in the state out of the total 119, according to Telangana BJP leader Ramchander Rao.

Compared to Andhra Pradesh, the Brahmin community in Telangana was not initially influential due to the zamindar (landlord) culture and the Nizam rule. But things changed and certain sub-castes from the Brahmin community such as ‘Karnam’ took over maintaining village records and looked after revenue, Kodandaram Reddy said.

Meanwhile, political analyst Pratap Bhanu Mehta said that secularism and social justice have become “farcical ideas” in these states. He opined that politics and public policy were being reduced to “jati-based” mobilisation in the most absurd way.

“Can you think of anything more grotesque than the idea that in the 21st century the state provides support to a profession whose eligibility is determined by birth? If Vedic education is unalloyed good, why should it not be open to all, subject to conduct rules? How can the state discriminate and confine it to Brahmins identified by birth? This cannot pass any constitutional smell test,” he wrote.

“…this is exactly the perversion of social justice discourse that was set in motion post-Mandal where the question of deeply entrenched historical discrimination was confused with backwardness and poverty in general,” Mehta added.

Other analysts say the state governments continue to keep Brahmins in good humour because of their ‘reverential position’ in society, despite the negligible vote bank.

Independent activist Sky Baba said: “Decades-old feudal systems believed if Brahmins were in an authoritative position, everything would automatically be in place. These governments are still following that sentiment.”

But think of the regression this represents in politics. Recognising caste to overcome discrimination was one thing. But entrenching it as a compulsory identity, certified by the state, and reproducing birth-based entitlements are a perversion of social justice.

Politics and public policy is being reduced to jati-based mobilisation in the most absurd way. Dalits were poor on account of their caste, which is why caste was recognised.

Now the state wants to ensure that all who are poor are permanently stamped with their caste by an official seal. The free for all that is ensuing for reconfiguring caste-based benefits, the demands of local domicile reservation, are signs of pessimism about the economy.

Much heat will be generated about how to distribute the current and shrinking pie of jobs and resources along jati lines. But no one is getting seriously upset about the fact that the pie is not growing as fast as we need it to.

The benefits for Brahmins may seem like a reductio ad absurdum of our politics, a little farce. But behind it is a great tragedy, of a nation with diminishing prospects for everyone, encouraging them to reach into the narrowest-minded conceptions of identity and calling it social justice. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍Telecom Department flags unauthorized sale of Mobile Signal Boosters in India by e-commerce firms, writes to Customs Department

2021-09-11T18:05:00.001+05:30

Considering unauthorized mobile signal repeaters & walkie-talkies as a security threat, DoT asks Customs dept to sought strict implementation of import rule and DoT flags unauthorized sale of Mobile Signal Booster by e-commerce firms.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) wrote to the Customs department flagging unauthorized sales of Mobile Signal Boosters by e-commerce firms and sought strict implementation of import rules to curb such practices.

Mobile Signal Boosters are considered the major reason for call drops and India had already banned them. But through e-Commerce, many types of Mobile Signal Boosters, specially imported from China, have found their way into India, for the past so many years.

The telecom department in a letter to the Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) chairman said that it has come to its notice and has also been reported by the Intelligence Bureau about certain models of walkie-talkie sets available for sale on some e-commerce platforms without any compliance to the regulatory requirement of the department. The mobile signal booster and walkie-talkie sets fall under the category of transmission apparatus incorporating reception apparatus which are not permitted to be imported without a license.

The wireless technology monitoring group of the DoT brought down 140 illegal mobile signal boosters during a week-long raid in the state capital.

“While the department is continuing to take appropriate action in this regard in cases of violation, but to restrict the inflow of such unauthorized wireless equipment including mobile signal booster/ repeater in the country, it is requested to strictly enforce the provisions enshrined in the import policy of DGFT in this regard,” the letter said.

Recently, the wireless technology monitoring group of the DoT brought down 140 illegal mobile signal boosters during a week-long raid in the state capital. The raids were conducted in several parts of Hyderabad, including Jubilee Hills, Madhapur, Banjara Hills, Khairatabad, Rajendernagar, Kukatpally, Begumpet and Basheerbagh areas. Last year, DoT officials seized and removed around 400 illegal mobile signal boosters, resulting in call drops.

The unauthorized mobile signal repeaters and walkie-talkies can help anti-social elements set up illegal communication infrastructure. Most people also use this equipment to boost mobile signals in their premises which adversely impacts telecom networks in surrounding areas resulting in call drops, poor call quality, etc. Most of this equipment are illegally imported from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.

“Further, notice has also been served to various e-commerce platforms to refrain themselves from selling/ facilitating the selling of unauthorized wireless equipment including signal repeaters/ boosters. Few of such e-commerce platforms have complied with the instructions.

However, such unauthorized wireless equipment including mobile signal repeaters/ boosters are still available for sale on some of the e-commerce platforms and in the grey market,” the letter said. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍'Yeh Dosti Hun Nahi Chodenge....' - Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri And India-England Test Series

2021-09-11T11:23:00.001+05:30

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri might have more answering to do now that the fifth Test of India’s tour of England has been rendered redundant, and the IPL’s early participation may have been compromised.

After Covid Gaffe on the event of The coach’s book launch, the Team India is drawing comparisons with the Australians from two years ago, when they partied on the England pitch after getting ahead in the Ashes only to have to settle for a humbling draw in the end. After all it is hard to imagine any international sports team with a tour in the balance whose coach decides to launch his book overseas.

Three Tests down after that fateful misadventure at the World Test Championship final, Kohli and his team were yet to establish themselves convincingly as “the team to beat” as the Indian captain declared at Shastri’s book launch.

The eventual result in favour of the visitors on the final day of the fourth Test only reaffirmed that fact, as India had to dig themselves out of a hole and not without substantial help from the wobbly hosts. Few teams could have got a reprieve, let alone a jail-free card, after being twice bowled out for less than 100, had they been playing against a stronger, more consistent team than England.

It is something of a feat that India under Kohli have pulled off what the team under Kapil Dev did, winning two Tests in a series in England. Overall India were favourites but not outright winners, which says something given how low England have been on the Test charts.

The fact remains that the trophy cupboard has been empty since 2013 despite the familiar and repetitive backslapping between coach and captain. No amount of touting wins by the coach (which seems his most effusive role to date) is going to change that. Not unless India have a trump up their sleeve for the Twenty20 World Cup which is expected to be Team Shastri’s last hurrah.

For now all the bluster has led to massive embarrassment and worse, a potential series hanging in the balance, as Shastri and the rest of the support staff remain quarantined because of a positive Covid test which has overshadowed the fourth Test and cast a huge cloud of doubt over the possibility of the fifth.

There have been a fluster of discussions between the ECB and BCCI over the awkward timing of the fifth Test, which now threatens to compromise the IPL interests of the latter, and over the impossibility of moving the IPL back so close to the T20 World Cup.

It was the ECB who came out with the statement first, which might lead to some clarification and correction from the BCCI, who have been opposed to the ECB’s demand that India forfeit the match:

“Following ongoing conversations with the BCCI, the ECB can confirm that the fifth Test between England and India Men due to start today at Emirates Old Trafford will be cancelled. Due to fears of a further increase in the number of COVID cases inside the camp, India are regrettably unable to field a team.”

Reportedly the ECB changed the wording of this statement, adding the word “regrettably”. The mean of forfeiture also disappeared in a matter of minutes from the public eye, suggesting that backdoor negotiations were still happening at the late hour - with India unwilling to cede their advantage and England wanting to hold India accountable.

Rajiv Shukla was first to speak on behalf of the BCCI, to suggest that despite the ECB claiming to release the statement after discussion with the BCCI, “the match was only called off. The match was not forfeited.” That still seems like a bone of contention, with the ECB not alluding to the result since taking the forfeit statement off the table.

It only highlights how the situation has quickly spiralled from a coach’s breach to several considerations about the match to now boards playing tug of war at the negotiating table, undoubtedly with some give and take before deciding what the final result of the series will be.

Once again it will be a game decided by the boards and not by the play on the field, in what should have been a straightforward decision with pre-laid contingencies.

If this was not a bad enough reflection, intentions on all sides were plainly evident as the ECB wanted India to forfeit the match if any of the players tested positive ahead of the Test, while India felt they would rather call off the match (without forfeiture) for fear that positive results here would impact foreign participation and timely preparation for the imminent second leg of the IPL.

It is not an everyday occurrence that on the eve of an important Test match that could possibly decide the series result, that the head coach of the visiting team decides to launch his book.

Ravi Shastri should thank his stars that it was a relatively modest affair. India’s position in the fourth Test looked like it would force Kohli to eat humble pie, before another horrendous England collapse on the final day made India’s win easier.

Flabbergasted was not the word as a muted launch was planned for Ravi Shastri’s book on the eve of the Oval Test, particularly since India had been blowing hot and cold through the first three Tests, coming into the contest with an emphatic win at Lord’s but succumbing to the understaffed hosts almost immediately to even the scales.

One does not have to leaf back very far into history to see that the Indian captain is standing on fragile ground. While his captaincy future might not be in immediate doubt, his words at the end of the World Test Championship have the potential to come back to haunt him.

Having lost rather poorly in the end to a determined New Zealand team in Southampton, Kohli was visibly miffed. In a familiar sermon of heads will roll, he seemed to suggest that there were too many tourists on the trip, and players who lacked intent and had it made it to the team despite his own exhortations for accountability.

It would have been a scathing but true indictment if the captain had been at the helm of more than one shoddy performance without a team of his choice at his disposal.

A disgruntled, not to mention embarrassed Kohli, could not quite mirror the reactions of Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, in defeat. Instead of taking responsibility he virtually threw the team under the bus.

His statements in the immediate aftermath, which included the words, “Bring in the right people who have right mindset to perform,” must now make him look sheepish because by his own batting assessment on the England tour, he cannot be asking much of his team when as captain he has been quite unable to counter England’s charges with the ball.

Meanwhile his counterpart, England captain Joe Root, has been in impeccable form in both victory and defeat.

Contrary to Sourav Ganguly’s recent assertions that India are the better team by a mile, Virat Kohli’s team haven’t shown quite the impetus that should have put them in the driver’s seat much sooner.

Given that their last Test appearance was down under when Ajinkya Rahane led the team in the three remaining Tests to a phenomenal series victory after Kohli’s departure after the first Test in Adelaide (which incidentally India lost) the disgruntlement of a grumpy captain unwilling to accept defeat gracefully became all too apparent.

After all, Kohli and Shastri have had more than just a few run-ins when the Indian selectors were left red-faced, having picked squads for tours while coach and captain made their own calls, sometimes in obvious contradiction of the selectors’ assessment.

To somehow suggest that the team was thrown into disarray after his absence for a few easy riders, when the results were emphatic Down Under is something that will unfortunately go down in the tour diary.

It is true that Shastri took over as head coach at a turbulent time, when he was director of cricket and Duncan Fletcher was not having a good time as India coach.

But the shenanigans that followed in the falling out between Kohli and the subsequent coach he did not want, Anil Kumble, in an unfair one-year tenure for the leg spinner before Shastri’s surprisingly smooth reappointment by the Kapil Dev led Cricket Advisory Committee in 2019, showed that Shastri and Kohli had developed an all too comfortable relationship of bonhomie, allowing one to take a comfortable backseat while the other had unfettered reign, on and off the field.

Accountability too must then come from the top down.

Cricket fans were not willing to look past the obvious. In one of the more prominent instances, cricket aficionados were agreed that Shastri, as coach, should have had a more mentoring hand in how he handled Rishabh Pant.

Pant to his credit bounced back from being initially overlooked for the World Cup, then being asked to unfairly fill big boots in the semifinal. And did so again after being targeted by the coach when the going got tough for India Men, to transform himself into one of the chief architects of India’s success in Australia under Rahane - all under the tender age of 21.

For those who chose to paint lightly India’s victory down under, it could be argued that the challenge for Kohli has been fairly similar to that for Rahane. Although it is hard to fault Kohli who has been a prolific run getter in Test cricket, not to mention a champion for the five day format, his bat has been conspicuously silent when it came to the big hundreds. If intent and performance hold measure, Jimmy Anderson has painted the Indian captain in such humiliating light that it is hard to see how Kohli can lift his own profile without a captain’s knock to his name.

It bears repeating that England’s team is a visibly compromised one. Although they have creditably taken the challenge to their superior visitors, frankly speaking the situation has not changed much before or during the series, where the burden of run-getting remains with their captain, Joe Root, and of the bowling strike on James Anderson.

While others have played support to spoil India’s facile part, India will look back on this series, irrespective of the result of the fifth Test, and wonder why they were so inconsistent for a team that should have had a tighter leash on the game, given the strength in their batting and the genuine talent in their seam bowling, which has also come to their rescue with the bat on more than one occasion in the past year.

Excuses are often made in hindsight. India, who have more recently adopted the policy of next to no tour matches before Test series - call it the bane of the Indian Premier League era, pandemic notwithstanding - are often seen being bloated with praise by the likes of Ravi Shastri when the wins come, or being scathingly cut down by the likes of the coach, who targets one or two players - not unlike his stint in the commentary box where he is likely to return.

Given the imperative for India to re-establish their authority over the game, particularly after the humiliating climbdown from Lord’s and with results swinging wildly through the course of the series, the opportunistic manner of the coach’s book launch unfortunately only shows that Ravi Shastri timed this one wrong, and not for the first time in this rather cosy coach and captain relationship.

Winning for Virat Kohli has become more than a matter of prestige and pride. It is important for the outgoing coach to finish this relationship on a high to secure the captain’s consent in the choice of the next coach. After that acrimonious falling out with Kumble, Kohli too will be under scrutiny.

Shastri’s exit might make life easier for many. After all, it was Shastri who took to social media to lament before the series how Bharat Arun, the bowling coach, had to serve isolation time as per UK health protocols after coming into contact with throwdown specialist-cum-masseur, Dayanand Garani:

“My right hand back in the house. Looking fitter and stronger after being in isolation for 10 days even though testing negative all the way. Bloody frustrating these isolation rules. 2 jabs of the vaccine has to be trusted.”

With a blasé, ignorant attitude like that, coming as it does from the head coach whose vaccination certainly didn’t spare him the embarrassment of covid at an inconvenient juncture putting the team and the series in peril, is it surprising that India find themselves in this late and rather needless off-field turmoil?

Fortunately, the second leg of the truncated Indian Premier League is not too far off, and even with the possibility of prolonged player quarantine as a result of this mishap, all shall soon be a thing of the past. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Where Is The 'Water Treatment Plant' At Twin Reservoirs For Hyderabad?

2021-09-08T19:00:00.001+05:30

The long-awaited water treatment plant to Hyderabad city is still on papers after 10-years. The government apathy towards implementation is very poor. Though the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) designed the project, it is yet to see the light of the day.

Callousness of civic authorities is not only causing huge losses to the exchequer, but also is depriving its denizens of their rightful amount of drinking water for long. Construction of a 90-million gallons per day (MGD) water treatment plant (WTP) at Osmansagar and Himayatsagar lakes proposed 10 years ago is still lying on paper, as authorities seem to be insensitive to the basic needs of people.

If the water treatment plant had been constructed, it would have catered to the drinking water needs of 10 lakh people and avoided inundation at low-lying areas along the Musi during October last year and for the last three months this year. Though the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) designed the project, it is yet to see the light of the day.

According to highly placed sources, after the 1908 flash floods caused massive losses of lives and properties, the civic authorities were forced to initiate flood control measures. Renowned civil engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya suggested constructions of two storage reservoirs on Musi named as Osmansagar and on Esi, its tributary, as Himayatsagar.

As the population of the then Hyderabad started increasing, the said flood control storage reservoirs were converted as drinking water supply sources and supply began from Osmansagar in 1920 (construction began in 1912 and completed in 1920) and from Himayatsagar in 1927 by gravity. The water treatment plants constructed at Asifnagar and Mir Alam till date have been treating 40 MGD water which are being supplied in the city.

A decade ago, the twin reservoirs reached their dead storage levels and the water board officials, in order maintain the full tank levels, proposed to construct a 90 MGD water treatment plant linking Osmansagar and Himayatsagar and draw water through gravity from KP Laxmidevipally reservoir as a part of Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation project. If the project was executed, it would have treated water and supplied to about 10 lakh consumers at Rs. 10 per kilolitre since it could have avoided the electricity and other charges unlike drawing water from hundreds of kilometres from the Krishna and the Godavari river basins apart from avoiding flash floods.

A senior HMWSSB official said the city could have avoided not only flash floods along Musi but also would have catered to the drinking water needs of 10 lakh families at a very cheaper price if the 90 MGD water treatment plant was constructed. He said currently the water treatment plants at Asifnagar and Mir Alam could not treat beyond 20 MGD as they were constructed during early 1900's and the excess floodwater from the upstream areas were left into the Musi by lifting the gates of twin reservoirs which has been inundating hundreds of colonies in the downstream damaging properties and claiming lives. "City has to live with the flash floods in the coming years and construction of a 90 MGD water treatment plant would be a great help as it could save the city from submergence and cater to its drinking water needs,” the official added.

Apart from the twin reservoirs, Manjira Phase I and II, Singur (Manjira phase-III and IV), Krishna Phase-I, II, III and Godavari Phase-I have been serving the drinking water needs of the city. As of now, the total installed capacity for Hyderabad drinking water supply is 602 MGD.

At present, a total of 430 MGD is being supplied in the service area of HMWS&SB which is extended beyond the GHMC limits up to the outer ring road (ORR). #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍‍BLOGWIRE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

2021-09-08T13:59:00.001+05:30

What is your story? That's the million dollar question at BlogWire these days. Did you see all the new sections on our website?

In case you missed, we introduced a whole new section to #KhabarLive Hyderabad and it's called BlogWire. It's a place where you, I and anyone you know who wants to share their thoughts but doesn't have a platform can contribute. There are no logins needed, no ads to jar your reading experience and you don't need to be an influencer to contribute! All you have to do is follow the rules of contribution and if accepted, you will get a by-line for your article as well.

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Add title + Blurb or Summary + relevant header image [with source of the header image]

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Send in the details to hydnews@gmail.com.

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You are free to share the link on your social media handles but not on your blog/website. Duplication of content like this will lead to Google penalizing your blog and our website.

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By default, copyright of all posts on BlogWire rests with individual authors. This is why we ask you to submit a bio and your blog/social media links so due credits can be given.

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#Sponsored: ‍‍The 'Unexplored' Coastal Experiences In Saudi Arabia

2021-09-07T18:39:00.001+05:30

The Red Sea Project aims to transform the country’s coastline into a luxury resort destination, from restaurant hopping in KAEC to snorkelling at Umluj and diving in Jeddah, here are the best off‐beat coastal experiences you can have in Saudi Arabia.

When one thinks of Saudi, images of vast deserts and grand mosques get formed in the head, but not many are still aware of the fact that the country is blessed with its share of tranquil beaches, which promise to offer an unparalleled and blissful experience. The kingdom’s ambitious Red Sea Project is aimed at transforming the country’s coastline into a luxury resort destination. The magnificent azure blue waters and the peaceful environs of these beaches will instil a sense of calm in you as you discover a world away from the dunes.

And there’s so much more that you could do when exploring these fantastic beaches. We’ve curated a list of the best coastal experiences in Saudi. Read on.

Being Romantic at Half Moon Bay Beach

As its name suggests, the beach is shaped like a half moon and continues to remain one of the most popular tourist destinations in Saudi. Known for its clear blue waters and white sandy stretch, the beach is located in Al Khobar and offers a myriad of activities for visitors. Apart from enjoying a relaxing swim, you and your partner can also get down to some fun and learn how to scuba dive or go for a romantic horse ride. The beach resorts here are simply marvellous and luxuriating in their plush and serene environs is an absolutely divine experience, to say the least.

Exploring Untouched Marine Life at Farasan Island

Famous for their rich underwater life and subtropical shores, the beaches of the Farasan Island are surrounded by beautiful mangrove forests and fossils. When here, you must not miss a chance to go deep sea diving as this is one of the best diving spots in Saudi. Often referred to as one of the most offbeat beach destinations in the world, Farasan Island is also known for its marine sanctuary. Home to as many as 231 species of aquatic creatures like fishes, turtles, dolphins and lobsters, the sanctuary was developed with an aim to preserve the abundant wealth of the incredible sea life that Farasan is blessed with. If you are fortunate enough, you may even chance upon the critically endangered green and hawksbill turtles.

Snorkelling at Umluj Beach

Also known as the Maldives of Saudi, Umluj Beach is a great option for those who are looking for a lesser crowded beach. Home to some amazing natural springs, the beach is a sheer delight for every nature lover, thanks to its rich marine biodiversity. The beach is untrammelled by tourists and the kingdom has also put a ban on the entry of ships and ferries here. Any visit to Umluj beach would be incomplete without experiencing the adventure that is coral reef snorkelling. One of the most unexplored snorkelling destinations in the world, Umluj promises to be an extraordinary experience with its incredible sea life and excellent weather throughout the year.

Restaurant Hopping at KAEC

Located on the coast of the Red Sea, King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi is nothing less than a paradise for those looking for brilliant gastronomical experiences. Dotted with upscale restaurants and chic cafes, KAEC is surrounded by tranquil sandy beaches. One of these beaches is Yam beach, which makes for a perfect destination to enjoy a fun-filled family vacation. No matter what type of dining experience you and your loved ones are looking for, King Abdullah Economic City offers myriad options to please every palate. From fine dining to quick eats, be prepared to eat your heart out. From Italian and Mexican to Mediterranean, you will get everything here.

Reef Diving off Jeddah

Saudi's Red Sea coast offers perfect conditions for year-round diving, with the major diving sites being around Jeddah. Blessed with an incredible aquatic life and numerous wrecks and reefs, Jeddah’s diving sites offer great opportunities to witness underwater life at its majestic best featuring large sea fans, coral bushes, grass beds, colourful soft corals and endless outcropping.
Some of the commonly witnessed aquatic species include eels, rays, lionfish, clownfish, octopus, turtles, lobsters and starfishes. The best diving sites in Jeddah include Miss Marie Wreck, Boiler Wreck, The Farasan Banks, Cable Wreck and Jabal Al Lith. The most challenging of all diving sites in Jeddah is the Ann Ann Wreck, which continues to draw divers from all corners of the world.

(Book your Saudi Arabia holiday with Travel Tours. Call 1800-572-1977 or send us an email at holidays@traveltours.in)

‍Historic ‍'Mir Alam Sabzi Mandi' Structures In Dilapidated And Neglected Goes Hitech Soon In Hyderabad

2021-09-07T16:50:00.001+05:30

The historic sabzi Mandi named as Mir Alam Mandi in Nizam's era which structures are in sheer neglected will be restored soon. This is a long-pending development listed in several political manifestos and ruling party agenda too.

The kaman (arch) of the Mir Alam Mandi in a dilapidated condition. Special secretary (Urban Development) Arvind Kumar announced that the 200-year-old Mir Alam Mandi will be restored by the state government. He was speaking after visiting the mandi, which has 43 wholesale shops and about 300 vendors spread over five acres.

The kaman (arch) of the market is in a dilapidated condition. There have been constant complaints of the arch chipping off and it requires urgent restoration. One of the pillars is also in very bad condition. Social and heritage activists have been raising the issue of the kaman being in a dilapidated state from time to time.

Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi, who was also present during Arvind Kumar’s visit, had earlier raised the issue of restoring Mir Alam Mandi during a review meeting municipal administration minister K.T. Rama Rao.

The government also proposes to restore the Nampally Sarai near the Hyderabad Railway Station.

Moazzam Jahi Market, which has been restored, has become a model for the government to take up renovation of other markets and historical places in the city. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍BPL Families Replaces Firewood Instead Of LPG In Rural Telangana As Gas Price Rises

2021-09-07T16:38:00.001+05:30

As the LPG steep rise in domestic cylinder prices and drastic cut in subsidy amount over the past two years have been forcing consumers from BPL (below poverty line) sections switch back to firewood and kerosene.

This trend is seen more in villages and interior areas when compared to cities and towns. The demand for refills has come down significantly from these sections indicating how consumers are shunning LPG and switching back to age-old methods of using firewood and kerosene for cooking purposes.

The agencies handling the mid-day meals scheme in government schools are also hit by rising prices of LPG and are switching back to firewood, unable to afford costlier cylinders.

"There are nearly 1.14 crore domestic LPG connections in Telangana. Of them, 30 lakh connections pertain to BPL sections. They were given connections under the state government's Deepam scheme and the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. There is a sharp reduction in ordering refills from these sections," said D. Ashok Kumar, president, Greater Hyderabad LPG Distributors Association and also the president of Association of Bharat Gas Distributors and Associates of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

"When PM's Ujjwala Yojana was launched in 2016 for BPL sections, the price of a cylinder was Rs. 590. Today, it has increased to Rs. 930. They are receiving a subsidy amount of just Rs. 40 into their bank accounts later as part of direct benefit transfer scheme. We have seen a 25 percent drop in refill orders from these sections for the past few months. However, this trend is seen more in rural and interior areas than in towns and cities, where firewood is available," Kumar added.

Government schools across Telangana reopened from September 1 after a 17-month break due to Covid-19 pandemic. Students are being served mid-day meals in all government schools from September 1.

Collectors and education officers of respective districts who are making surprise inspections of schools to assess the conditions in schools are shocked to find school premises filled with smoke as agencies cooking meals are using firewood unable to bear higher LPG price.

Nirmal district collector Musharraf Ali Farqui issued notices to two schools recently when he found agencies using firewood to cook meals against the norms. Though the Centre and the state government reimburse cylinder cost to these agencies later, it takes a few months to get the bills passed.

"They need one or two cylinders per week to cook meals depending on the enrollment of students in a school. They are finding it difficult to pay higher LPG price initially and wait for months to get their bills from the government. To overcome this, they are switching back to firewood in villages and interior areas," official sources said. #KhabarLive #hydnews

#Sponsored: Why Should You Choose The Best Surgery For Your Eye Operation?

2021-09-06T15:53:00.001+05:30

Your eyes are the most precious part of your body. It gives you the ability to see everything happening in the world. So any compromise with the treatment for your eye can be considered unwise. You must choose the best surgical treatment for your eyes, such as the LASIK eye operation or more advanced SMILE treatment.

Nowadays, every laser eye surgery operation involves the procedure to ablate the corneal tissues. This is either done through removing the epithelium, like in PRK treatment, or flapping the cornea, like in LASIK operation. However, more advanced treatment solutions like SMILE have enhanced the laser technology with bladeless and flapless surgery methods.

There are several reasons why you must choose the best surgery for your operation, and some of them are discussed below. So check them out.

1. More Advanced Laser Technology

Best surgery for eyes like LASIK eye operation or SMILE surgery uses the most advanced laser vision correction technology for the optimal safety, comfort, and success of the surgery. This advanced technology helps to ensure quick recovery after the surgery too.

2. Quick Surgery Procedure

The best surgery for eye operation with LASIK eye operation or SMILE treatment will help you avail of the one-step one-laser procedure for quick and efficient results. This procedure takes a few minutes to get done successfully by the best surgeon. The procedure to reshape the cornea with a laser takes 30 seconds for completion only. Within half an hour, you will enjoy the completion of a quick surgical procedure.

3. Safer Than Other Methods

The best surgery for your eyes will help you avail yourself of the safer mode than other methods. It can be troublesome to wear glasses or contact lenses for a long time as your eye condition worsens every day. So, getting surgery procedures like the LASIK eye operation or SMILE is far better as they reshape the cornea within minutes for a lifetime benefit.

4. Bladeless And Flapless Treatment

You must avail of the best surgery as they are primarily bladeless and flapless treatment procedures. You won’t have to fear the consequences of the after results from the surgery. There will be very low or no risk involved with the right surgery procedure by the best surgeon.

5. Minimally Invasive Surgery

The latest and best surgery methods like the SMILE treatment or LASIK eye operation are always less invasive than other methods. This is because the procedure ensures minimal flap or no flap for the corneal stability of your eyes. This helps you enjoy long-term eye strengthening.

Additional Reasons To Choose Best Surgery For Eye Operations

The best surgery like SMILE will leave your cornea untouched to preserve its biochemical strength, which other methods will not.
The lesser use of laser energy ensures reduced inflammation through the best eye surgery option.
If you choose the SMILE operation procedure, you will enjoy meagre chances of dry eyes as there is no creation of a flap around the cornea.

Bottom Line

So get the best use of this article and choose the best surgery method for your eye operation to ensure optimal efficiency in results. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍How 'Female Egg Donors' Dupe IVF Clinics In 'Fertility Fraud' To Make Some Big And Quick Bucks?

2021-09-05T20:21:00.001+05:30

Despite the stringent laws and absence of any regulatory authority, thousands of fertility clinics have mushroomed in the country over a period of time.

With infertility rising among couples in India, fertility clinics have become a booming business. Reports say that out of 10 lakh annual In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) cases in the world, 2.5 lakh, which is 25 per cent of the global share, take place only in India.

In the absence of any regulatory authority, thousands of fertility clinics have mushroomed in the country over a period of time. There is no monitoring mechanism in place on their quality of services and treatment which makes stakeholders, especially couples, vulnerable to various types of fraud.
One such fraud is committed by female egg donors where they hide their personal details, religion, and donation status to cheat fertility clinics.

IVF is a medical procedure in which a female egg and a male sperm are fertilised in a petri dish or outside the female body. After fertilization, it is placed in the female’s womb to grow as a fetus as in the case of a normal pregnancy.

Couples, where one of the two are infertile due to various reasons, opt for IVF clinics that arrange either female eggs or male sperm depending on the need in the case.

“If in a couple, the female partner is not able to produce enough or healthy quality eggs, we need female egg donors and if the male is unable to produce good quality sperm, we look for male donors,” Dr Suparna Banerjee, Clinical Director of Ankur Fertility Clinic, Kolkata and Institute of Reproductive Solution, Uttarpara.

“There is always a high demand for female egg donors, especially, in tier II and tier III cities. This is because while a male can give millions of sperms with natural stimulation, females are administered hormonal injections for 10 to 12 days so that they can produce some 10 to 20 eggs,” Dr Banerjee said.
Fertility experts say that a female’s egg quality deteriorates with each donation and good clinics don’t entertain a female donor more than three to four times.

“Though so far as I know, in many developed countries one female donor can donate eggs six times,” Dr Banerjee said.
Also, only healthy young females below the age of 30 years are considered good candidates for egg donation. These issues are governed by guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research as there is no law that regulates IVF procedures in India.

All these factors restrict female donors from egg donation and force them to resort to deceiving tactics. Fertility clinics say that female donors hide their age, religion, times they have donated eggs in the past, and their health status.

“While performing health check-ups we catch them red-handed. Like ultrasound can give us an idea of the history of their egg donations in the past but sometimes they can manage to get away with it,” Dr Saurav Prakash Maity, Gynaecologist and Fertility expert, Rashmika Fertility, Kolkata, said.
Dr Maity added, “We can catch them only when we retrieve poor quality eggs from them.

These experts say that there is no centralised data of donors in India and each clinic maintains its own records. So clinics cannot crosscheck and donors exploit the situation.

“They even manipulate their age and name by getting fake government IDs like Aadhar Card or Driving license issued. Just recently I caught a lady who came with a different Aadhar card with a different name,” a fertility clinic owner in Delhi said requesting anonymity.

Dr P Agarwal, MD, Sanjivani Test Tube Baby Centre, Sambalpur, Odisha said, “In places like Odisha where infertility among couples is a big issue, we always face a shortage of female donors and we have to depend on states like Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Mumbai.”

Fertility experts say that a female donor earns between Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 for each donation and normally those who are in need of money come forward for that.
Experts have differences of opinion on the question of payment as many feel that they are well-compensated while some call it exploitation by the hands of fertility clinics which force women to go for multiple donations and commit fraud. Some experts also say that since there is no regulator, IVF clinics also try and exploit these helpless women by sometimes paying them as minimum as possible.

The government is in the process of bringing legislation and the current Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill is being deliberated upon among stakeholders. Interestingly, the bill says that a woman cannot donate eggs more than once in her lifetime.
Fertility experts say that this will not only create a huge shortage of donors but increase many types of frauds as well.

“Unless the government maintains a national database of all the donors and gives its access to all the IVF clinics, it is impossible to ensure one donation per female donor in India. It will increase a huge shortage of donors and couples have to pay more also,” the Delhi-based fertility clinics quoted above said. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍'‍Kolam, The Raj Gonds Riddles' Of Andhra Pradesh - A Sheer Reflection On Telangana Languages

2021-09-05T20:12:00.001+05:30

“Riddles are probably the oldest extant forms of humour”, says Encyclopaedia Britannica. They are also the vehicles of heritage knowledge for every community. They were in vogue from the earliest literary texts of Vedas.

The following riddle from Rigveda is popularly cited (for ex: by Velaga Venkatappayya in Podupu Kathalu, 2008, p. vii).
Dwaanuparnaa sayujaa rakhaayaa samaanam
Vriksham parisha swajaate yoranyah
Pippalam swaadyatti ankyovashnannabhi baaka reti

Thereafter many Itihasas, Puranas, poetic works, stories, Jain and Buddhist texts and Bible mention the riddles and they are more popular among the rural people. The peoples’ memory is rightly emphasised by Devendra Sathyarthi (in “Indian Children’s Rhymes and Chants”, Modern Review, October – November, 1936, p. 39): “The people were the victims of great catastrophes, but none could kill the children’s indigenous games and home spun songs”.

During the evening times of leisure the village elders, boys and girls gather in the courtyard of a village/street elder and pose riddles to each other to uncover the intended meaning. Not only are they humorous in spelling out rhythmically by expressing the beauty of the language and vocabulary, but also carry the knowledge of their environs indirectly suggesting ‘learn to live’. This way the riddles are not only entertaining but also educative.

One of the most ancient races that have been carrying the heritage of riddles is of Kolams. Renowned anthropologist Professor Haimendorf made the following observations on the Kolams (The Raj Gonds of Andhra Pradesh, pp. 32, 38 & 345-48) — “The population that can best claim the epithet ‘aboriginal’ is the Kolams or Kolavars … several thousand members of the tribe are found scattered over the greater part of the Adilabad district from the uttermost corner of Kinwat to the taluqs of Sirpur and Lakshetipet in the east and south. Most Kolams speak a distinct tribal language, but some groups in the west have exchanged this for Marathi while in the east there are communities of telugised Kolams. In their own language, the Kolams call themselves Kolavar, but in Gondi they are called Pujari, in Telugu Mannevarlu, and in Marathi and in Urdu Kolam. Their tribal language known as Kolami is a Dravidian tongue and belongs, like Gondi, to the intermediate group of Dravidian languages, agreeing in some points with Telugu and in others with Tamil and connected forms of speech. The Kolami spoken in Adilabad is unintelligible to Gonds and judging from my limited word lists it seems, at least in vocabulary, to have closer affinities to Telugu than to Gondi… Those outlying groups who have fallen under the sway of either Marathi or Telugu culture and lost with their language many of their old customs occupy a different position; they are in the process of becoming a Hindu caste, and between them and the Gonds there is no feeling of common tribal tradition”.

His observations made some points clear — one, Kolams are one of the most ancient tribes in South India (across erstwhile Adilabad district in Telangana). This is why the Government of India recognised them as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PvTG). Their population is almost stagnant for the past three decades — 1991 to 2021 — oscillating between 40,000 and 45,000 while the population of all other communities in India are increasing. Two, the Kolams speak a language of their own and it belongs to “intermediate group of Dravidian languages”, like Gondi and Telugu. Linguists starting from Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (Telugu Verbal Bases Comparative and Descriptive Study, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1961, p. 269) recognised Kolami as one among the 11 languages belonging to the Central Dravidian branch of proto Dravidian language. Third, the Kolams living on the borders are losing their language and culture to those of Marathi and Telugu. This is a threat to their ancestral heritage.

Fourth, the Kolam vocabulary is more akin to Telugu than to Gondi. Well-known linguist P. S. Subrahmanyam concludes that the Kolavagotti (language of Kolams as they call it) imbibed many words from Telugu. Therefore it can be presumed that their homeland might be the Telugu land itself (Draavida Bhaashalu, 1977, p. 42 & Kolavagotti, jstor, 1998).

However, other scholars like M. Rama Rao (Temples of Tirumala, Tirupati and Tiruchanur, TTD, 1999, p. 3) trace the roots of Kolams to the down south, i.e. Tirumala Hills called Vengadam in the remote past: “Vengadam was inhabited by an uncivilised tribe of hunters known as the Kalvar. Their chieftain was Pulli, who was a fierce and powerful master. He and his people spoke a language which was different from the language of Tamilaham. The Vengadam hill was known to many poets of the Sangam age as famous for its forests, for its elephants, for its streams and for its drunken bouts”.

It appears to be true, because the word Kalvar is similar to Kolvar; kal meaning offshoot. There are still some villages by name like Kollam Penta and Komman Penta (in Nallamala forests in Nagarkurnool district) that suggest their migration from south to north through the hinterland of Telangana, during the times of far histories.

The word kollam and even kolam also means rangoli. Rangoli is elaborate among the Kolams and festivals can not happen without them. And, kolam was very popular with the people of Indus valley civilizations, some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. This way the ancestry of the Kolams goes back to proto-historic times and their language stands as a link between the south and north Indian regions.

However, now the two observations of Professor Haimendorf – losing of Kolam language and culture to their associated dominant peoples and its affinity to Telugu – prompt us to study the language of the ancient race of Kolam. As such, five years ago I started encouraging Athram Mothiram to collect folk songs of his own tribe Kolam. Initially he did not find ‘great things’ in the folklore, but as I went on convincing him on the importance of his ‘community memory’ which is entering the endangered zone, he finally utilised an opportunity and recorded the riddles spelt out in leisure time by Kolam students studying classes 3rd to 10th in the Government run residential school in Endha, Utnoor Mandal, Adilabad District, during the closing months of 2019.

Further, few months earlier Athram Mothiram participated in another similar evening session in a Kolam village Choupanguda, Wankidi Mandal in Kumram Bheem Asifabad District with six teenagers and a youngster – Athram Ravi (12), Anasuya (15), Kova Renuka (15), Sidam Kavita (15), Kova Prasad (13), Kova Bheemrao (26) – and recorded the riddles (altogether 112).

The riddles in their language Kolami are labelled sitah and are posed randomly in an enthusiastic flow. Yet, earlier scholars tried to present the riddles in a systematic manner and a scholar on the subject Archer Taylor divided them into five groups – animal related, human related, tree related, things related and non comparable riddles. But a primary study of the riddles of the Kolams leads us to divide them under the following categories:
1. House, food and health related riddles
2. Forest and environment related riddles
3. Agriculture related riddles
4. Culture and education related riddles

Till recent times, the Kolams lived upon food gathering, hunting and a primitive agriculture stage. Therefore, we find more number of their riddles (62) revolving around the things related to the ways of acquiring food in the forested environs (25) and from their primitive cultivation (18). Since they are strong believers in appeasing their deities by playing musical instruments during their fairs and festivals, we come across those things in the riddles (4). Education is a relatively latest addition to the social system and this is also evident in their riddles (3).

The house related riddles are about house plastering, swing, clothesline, door, pot hanging ring, wooden pillar, sweeping, termites, bore pump, lamp, ladder, dog tail, neem fruits, umbrella, andugu tree, oil presser, log and thorns. Food related items include popcorn, spatula, custard apple, tamarind fruit, egg, castor oil, mahua flowers, fire ash, bean support log, stove, cake piece, pan, millstone rawa, bitter gourd, match stick, fire, salt, onion, brinjal, nutmeg and maize. Human related things are shade, spit, nose, cry, leather sandals, old people, kid, comb, navel, eyes, nails, teeth, tattoo and lice. Forest related riddles are about Vemapli tree, Buduma fruits, Morri nuts, Aare leaf, wild bitter gourd and bamboo shoot. Birds like sparrow, gijigaadu and peacock and terrestrial animals like rats, ants, porcupine, boar, scorpion, chameleon, squirrel, fishermen – fish, burrowing quail and partridge appear to be humorous riddles. Environment is reflected through the riddles to unfold the intended meanings of stars, valley, stream, air and moon.

Agricultural equipment is expressed through the riddles on machan, paise, axe, ship, causeway, goad, blacksmith, cart axle. Cattle related riddles include the meanings of cow, cow udder, tail and the crops include millet, sesame, fangs, cotton, groundnuts and maize.

There are riddles that talk about musical instruments like Dol, Kaalikom, Dandaari cap and flag. Book and pen are also dealt in few other riddles. The above words are very close to Telugu vocabulary.
To cite a few riddles: the Kolami riddle “iduput mudipi” can be translated as “idupulo mudi” in Telugu; another Kolami riddle “thutthur thummeng, netthur thothed” can be translated as “thurrmane thummedaku netthuru ledu” in Telugu; the Kolami riddle “sikding ver thod, jinkskung jaaga thod” can be translated as “chikkuduku veru ledu, jinkaku jaaga ledu” in Telugu.

A general observation of the Kolami words let us find them with similar spelling and phonetic sound of the Telugu words. For example: the Kolami word gol is gollu in Telugu; chimni is same in both the languages; neenda in Kolami is needa in Telugu; satri in Kolami is chatri in Telugu; cheeme in Kolami is cheemalu in Telugu; the Kolami word pelaa becomes plural word pelaalu in Telugu. Thus, there are slight differences between the two languages, especially in respect of prepositions and verbs. Most of the Kolami words end with nasal sounds which can not be written so easily.

This appears as one of the reasons for the absence of script for the language.
Several scholars made considerable efforts to understand the language and vocabulary. Emeneau’s classic work (1955) presents a detailed grammar, vocabulary (with cognates for Dravidian words and identification of loans from Indo-Aryan and other sources), a discussion on the relationship of the language with the other ones of the Dravidian family, a chapter on the features of the Adilabad dialect as found in P. Sethumadhava Rao’s work (A Grammar of the Kolami Language, 1950) and a few texts. Other tribal languages Naikdi and even Naiki of Chanda can be considered as dialects of Kolami for all practical purposes, say linguists P. S. Subrahmanyam.

Thus, Kolami is not only related to the Telugu language but also to other tribal languages and carries historical community memory through the folklore like riddles. All the dialects of the language Kolami are on the edge of disappearing now. If their folklore is not studied and recorded, the humankind will lose the much needed diversity. I hope this benign effort will serve the interests of the scholars on the subject to take up further works like this to preserve the endangered community’s heritage memories. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Jagan, Sharmila 'Rift Politics' Visible During YSR Tribute Meet At Idupulapaya And Hyderabad

2021-09-05T20:04:00.001+05:30

Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy and sister Sharmila have not had the best of ties since July, when she launched her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) in Telangana without her brother’s backing.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy skipped a meeting to celebrate the legacy of his father and former Congress CM Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, further fuelling speculation of a rift with his sister Y.S. Sharmila.

The meeting in Hyderabad Thursday, the 12th death anniversary of YSR, was hosted by Jagan’s mother Y.S. Vijayalakshmi. While the Andhra CM gave it a miss, it was attended by sister Sharmila.

Earlier in the day, however, Jagan had accompanied his mother Vijayamma and sister Sharmila to pay homage to his father at the YSR Ghat in Idupulapaya, Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh. Even then, sources said, there was a “coldness” between the siblings.

“Though they came together, they did not talk to each other much even though they were there for about 40 minutes,” a source close to the family told ThePrint. “It seems like there was pressure from the mother to appear together and not fuel further speculation. They attended it together but it was more to save face.”

The two siblings have not had the best of ties since July, when Y.S. Sharmila launched her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) in Telangana without her brother’s backing.

Back then, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, an advisor to the Andhra government and a member of Jagan’s YSRCP, clarified that the chief minister was against the idea of a political party in neighbouring states.

Since then, speculation has been rife that the rift between the duo has only grown.

The ‘YSR commemoration meeting’ Thursday held significance as the 12th year is related to the Hindu water festival Pushkaralu, which occurs once in 12 years.

Experts say this was planned as YSR was known to be connected to water and took personal interest to revamp the state’s irrigation system.

They added that it was also held in Hyderabad in an attempt to leverage Sharmila’s political party in Telangana.

“I believe the meeting was organised to reignite memories of YSR for people in the Telangana region. Inviting YSR’s contemporaries is a statement Sharmila is trying to make about the support she has,” political observer Palwai Raghavendra Reddy said.

“The presence of invitees from Andhra-Rayalaseema regions might not help her greatly electorally but it is certainly good for optics.”
Sources said that mother Vijayamma, who holds an honorary position in Jagan’s YSRCP, was personally involved in sending out invitations. They added that invitations were sent to over 250 people, which included former civil servants, and political party leaders who once worked with YSR in the Congress.

A majority of YSR loyalists in the Congress party did not attend the meeting.
Sources in the Congress said the party had, both in Andhra and Telangana, issued a diktat directing leaders not to attend, saying the meeting was “politically motivated”.

Despite that, at least three Congress leaders attended, including former Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao.

YSRCP leaders, although a majority of them are based in Andhra Pradesh, voluntarily abstained from attending the meeting.

A senior government official, also a close aide to the Reddy family, told ThePrint on condition of anonymity, that he was also invited to the meeting but refrained from going following “orders from the top”.

“Most of the party leaders were in Andhra and all of them celebrated YSR’s legacy in their own constituencies — in mandals and villages. So, they were all busy there,” YSRCP MLA Abbaya Chowdary told ThePrint.

Y.S. Sharmila has always campaigned for brother Jagan — be it before the 2019 assembly elections when he won by a thumping victory or in 2012, when she managed to keep YSRCP active with a 3000-km padayatra after Jagan was jailed in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

She has, however, never been part of his government or the cabinet. But party insiders told ThePrint that she had asked for her rightful share in the form of a Rajya Sabha nomination, which her brother denied. They added that the chief minister is not keen on power sharing within the family.

Their political tussles have begun showing in their personal lives. Unlike every year, Sharmila did not visit her brother Jagan on Rakhi this time around. She instead wished him on social media platform Twitter, and tied Rakhis on a few of her party leaders.

Sharmila has also begun referring to herself as the “daughter of YSR” — right from her Twitter bio to her public meetings. On her father’s death anniversary Thursday, she tweeted that YSR always pushed her to win even if she was fighting alone.

Stuck in the rift between the siblings is Vijayamma, who is now visibly supporting Sharmila in her political venture. For long in the shadows of her husband and then son, Vijayamma has begun coming to the fore.

She attended Sharmila’s first public meeting in Khammam in April and also sought blessings for her daughter. She was also present at the YSRTP’s grand launch in Hyderabad on 8 July.
Speculation is now rife that Vijayamma, who has largely been inactive in Jagan’s YSRCP, might give up her position in the party to support Sharmila.
“For her, both her children are the same. She has perhaps now decided to support Sharmila,” a senior YSRCP leader said on the condition of anonymity.

“She stood by Jagan when it was necessary and now it is Sharmila’s turn. She cannot do that while holding a position in Jagan’s party. In fact, Jagan’s wife Y.S. Bharati (though officially not part of the party) has a better say in the YSRCP than the mother.” #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Teachers Are 'Real Architect' Of Children’s Future

2021-09-03T19:59:00.001+05:30

On the special occasions like Teacher’s Day we say all sorts of noble words about the vocation of teaching, and some teachers are awarded by the State, the fact is that as a society we are not very serious about the role of teachers as the messengers of emancipatory education.

To begin with, let us dare to be “impractical” and imagine what the vocation of teaching ought to be. Well, we might find amid ourselves a spectrum of “knowledgeable” people — experts and specialists.

But then, a teacher is not just a subject expert. She teaches not merely quantum physics or medieval history; she does something more. She walks with her students as a co-traveller; she touches their souls; and as a catalyst, she helps the young learner to understand his/her uniqueness and innate possibilities. She is not a machine that merely repeats the dictates of the official curriculum; nor is she an agent of surveillance — disciplining, punishing, hierarchising and normalising her students through the ritualisation of examinations and grading.

Instead, she is creative and reflexive; and it is through the nuanced art of relatedness that she activates the learner’s faith that he is unique, he need not be like someone else, he must look at the process of his inner flowering, and the artificially constructed binary of “success” and “failure” must be abandoned.

There is another important thing a teacher ought to take care of. She must realise that there are limits to teaching and sermonising; and she is not supposed to fill the mind of the learner with a heavy baggage of bookish knowledge.

Instead, her primary task is to help the learner to sharpen the power of observation, the ability to think and reflect, the aesthetic sensibility, and above all, the spiritual urge to experience the glimpses of the Infinite. In other words, once these faculties are developed, one becomes a life-long learner — beyond degrees and diplomas.

In fact, teaching as an act of communion, and studentship as a project of the integral development of the physical, vital, intellectual and psychic states of being, can create the ground for emancipatory education. And emancipatory education is not a mere act of “skill learning”; nor is it pure intellectualism with academic specialisation.

On the other hand, on September 5, the Teachers Day is celebrated to honour the memory of India's first Vice President and to commemorate the importance of teachers in our lives. It is supposed to be a special day for the appreciation of teachers who are the real fountain head of a strong nation.

Indian culture had always treated them as most important pillars. Even Lord Krishna, Rama or any kings during medieval period who ruled the country had taken lessons under a Guru and this speaks a lot about the importance of a teacher.

The teachers have a very difficult task and play the role of torchbearers, work with dedication even in adverse conditions to make the young generation prosper in all respects. It is time for the political executive and the teachers to have a serious introspection about the role of teachers then and now and see what kind of reforms needed to be brought in the system to ensure that the core values of education and the healthy relationship between the teachers and the taught is restored.

As a matter of fact, emancipatory education is the willingness to live meaningfully, creatively and gracefully. It is the ability to identify and debunk diverse ideologies and practices of domination and seduction — say, the cult of narcissistic personalities that reduces democracy to a ritualistic act of “electing” one’s masters, the doctrine of militaristic nationalism that manufactures the mass psychology of fear and hatred, or the neoliberal idea that to be “smart” is to be a hyper-competitive consumer driven by the promises of instant gratification through the ceaseless consumption of all sorts of material and symbolic goods.

And a teacher ought to be seen as the carrier of this sort of emancipatory education that inspires the young learner to question sexism, racism, casteism, ecologically destructive developmentalism, hollow consumerism, and the life-killing practice of “productivity” that transforms potentially creative beings into mere “resources”, or spiritually impoverished and alienated robotic performers.

Yet, the irony is that we do not desire to create an environment that promotes emancipatory education, and nurtures the true spirit of the vocation of teaching. Look at the state of an average school in the country.

With rote learning, poor teacher-taught ratio, pathetic infrastructure, chaotic classrooms and demotivated teachers, it is not possible to expect even the slightest trace of intellectually stimulating and ethically churning education. It is sad that ours is a society that refuses to acknowledge the worth of good schoolteachers.

Moreover, because of nepotism, corruption and trivialisation of BEd degrees, there is massive devaluation of the vocation.

Likewise, while the triumphant political class has caused severe damage to some of our leading public universities, and fancy institutes of technology and management see education primarily as a training for supplying the workforce for the techno-corporate empire, teachers are becoming mere “service providers” or docile conformists. Here is a society hypnotised by the power of bureaucracy, the assertion of techno-managers and the glitz of celebrities. Not surprisingly then, it fails to realise that a society that has lost its teachers is dead.

However, those who love the vocation of teaching and continue to see its immense possibilities should not give up.

After all, ours is also a society that saw the likes of Gijubhai Badheka, Rabindranath Tagore and Jiddu Krishnamurti who inspired us, and made us believe that a teacher, far from being a cog in the bureaucratic machine, carries the lamp of truth, and walks with her students as wanderers and seekers to make sense of the world they live in, and free it from what belittles man. We must celebrate this pedagogy of hope.

Teachers Day should not end with some celebrations. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan saw education as the most important tool to metamorphose our society into an inclusive one. The question now is whether our present education system is inclusive. Are teachers playing the role of Shilpis (sculptors) and making children strong enough mentally to face any situation in life?

The role of a teacher is multifarious one. "Teaching is an ongoing process, which like mercury never settles at a particular place but keeps flowing with everlasting grandeur." They should be sharp, enlightened, updated, innovative, perseverant and ever ready to learn new things and unlearn old ones so that they produce the best of human resources, who are not only employable but should have enough resilience to absorb highs and lows of life. Does such a situation prevail in our country?

Under Gurukul system, the Gurus (teachers) used to lay emphasis on practical education, developing observation skills of a student and above all there used to be a system of questioning, discussion and debate. A week student was always attached to a bright student so that the bright student would help the weak student.

But now it is other way round. The weak students are segregated from so-called cream and made to sit in a separate section which leads to negative impact on them as they are stamped as weak students. All this is part of commercialisation of education.

The system of listening to what teacher says, copy what is written on black board, learn by rote the so-called important questions is resulting in a situation where students are committing suicide if one gets 85 per cent marks instead of 90 per cent.

There are also cases where students are committing suicide, thinking that they may not get good marks. The political executive of the country and the teachers should ponder over such issues and bring major reforms to restore the values of education and importance of teacher that was seen in the olden times. The governments too should free the teachers from doing other works like door-to-door enumeration work or drafting them for election related work. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Feel The Magic Of Urdu Sher And Shayari

2021-09-03T19:53:00.001+05:30

Urdu is one of the most attractive languages that built a popularity of its own since Shayaris have taken a pace in the form of beautiful couplets. The ‘couplets’ have become the face of Urdu dialect these days whose words actually come from the hearts of Shayars (or) Shayaranas who knows the pain of a heartbreak.

Shayaris is mostly associated with heartbreaks or confessing love to your beloved. So, by now you must have understood that Shayaris can indeed be a beautiful way to convey your emotions with utter depth!
You may find many celebrated Shayars across the country and in the city of Hyderabad too, for instance,

Rahat Indori is the biggest face in this arena who is an appreciated Shayar of all times. Who can forget these lines: ‘Itni shiddat se maine tumhe chahne ki koshish ki hai, ke har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai’ (With so much of desire I have always wanted you, and the whole world has now come together to help me be with you), the viral couplet from Shahrukh Khan-starrer that went viral when Om Shanti Om released, such is the influence of it. Shayari is a very rich tradition of poetry and has many different types and forms.

It borrows its style primarily from the Persian language! It’s a Hindi or an Urdu word for a short poem or couplet as mentioned earlier, consisting usually of two to four lines. It has some meter and usually has a profound meaning.

The rhyming poetry as it is called basically comprises a couplet known as Sher. And this is how this form of poetry derives its name Sher O Shayari. Like other languages, the history of Shayari shares its origins and influence with other linguistic traditions within the Urdu-Hindi-Hindustani mix!

Today it forms an important part of Pakistani and North Indian culture.
In the Urdu poetic tradition, most poets use a pen name called the Takhallus. This can be either a part of a poet’s given name or something else adopted as an identity.

So the traditional convention in identifying Urdu poets is to mention the takhallus at the end of the name. In Pakistan, Urdu poetry is written in the standard Nasta’liq calligraphy style of the Perso-Arabic script. However, in India, where Urdu poetry is very popular, the Perso-Arabic is often found translated into the Devanagiri script.

Who would have thought that there will be a day when poetry and Shayari lovers would get to see legends like Javed Akhtar Sahab, Dr. Kumar Vishwas, Kausar Munir, and Zakir Khan share the same stage and narrate Shayari, incidents, and anecdotes from their lives. What felt like a dream was made into a reality that charmed one and all via the ‘India Shayari Project’.

Themed around ‘celebrating poetry, celebrating freedom’, the specials showcased these stellar poets shed light on some very special moments from their lives that gave fans the chance to know them up close and personal.

Having left poetry and Shayari fans with ample food for thought, here’s what the living legend Javed Akhtar had to say about the present and future of Shayari and making it accessible to the youth, “Shayari will continue to exist till the time people can emote and feel.
The real question, however, is how it reaches out and strikes the right chord with the audience.

As far as the path where Shayari is headed, I believe that despite the younger generation not being much into reading, they still consume Shayari through electronic or digital mediums and this special is also a way of making it accessible to youth.” With all the eyes on the master wordsmith, he feels that yes ‘Shayari is getting its due appreciation!’“This is the 5G generation, which is fully absorbed into various musical genres.

Who even remembers Shayars? I want to be a responsible influencer from the Hyderabadi city and bring back the memorable poetic days of Shayaris adding a social message to it and that is what I am up to. I tend to pick up what is happening in the current scenario, intertwine that into the four most relevant couplets that would want my audience to be lost into it.

Earlier I began with the typical dakhani dialect and now it has a little mix of Telugu also into it so that every native can resonate with it. Having said that, I want my shayaris to be out there in every nook and corner of the city,” shares Mohammed Furkhan Ahmed, who gained popularity with his Shayari version of Jhonny Jhonny in the city along with his band.

We have always heard about the known men in this profession, what about the women though? Kausar Munir shares why she is yet to be called Shayara and about women in poetry. She is the woman behind the magical lyrics like Love You Zindagi, Maana Ki Hum Yaar Nahin, Falak Tak among others. “I am yet to be called ‘Shayara as it’s a very big word and needs to be earned and I am in the process of doing that. I don’t think poetry has any gender and neither is it true that I, being a woman, will feel more pain and emotions than a male counterpart.

It’s all about the talent and it cannot be further classified into gender,”she added. Let us agree, one must not go blank when someone recalls a woman Shayara. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍Will Andhra Pradesh People Ever Forgive Congress Party?

2021-09-03T19:49:00.001+05:30

In the context of the manifest as well as probable consequences of the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh, the moot question for the Congress is: Will the people of residual Andhra Pradesh ever forgive us?

The grand old party, due its 'misguided' strategy, is yet to come out of the clutches of the 'Frankenstein' monster it had unleashed by way of bifurcation. There is no doubt that the people of Telangana benefited more from bifurcation than those of residual AP, considering that bifurcation per se was carried out by flouting all democratic norms and without even a proper discussion in Parliament.

Of course, the Congress was aware that it would lose the goodwill of voters in the Andhra region, considering that the very dea of bifurcation was initially rejected by the legislature of the undivided AP by voice vote.

The Congress had forged post-poll alliance with the YSR Congress party headed by YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The Congress thought that there would be no political harm for itself in the 2014 elections due to AP's bifurcation should it fail to get a single seat. It was confident of getting support from the eventual winner with a good number of seats. With this reading, the Congress looked confident of getting maximum Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, ahead of the UPA government granting the new state. This was on top of the possible support coming from Andhra with its arrangement with YSRC should it emerge victorious.

Now, the Congress is planning to restart its political journey in Andhra Pradesh with it new-found promise of Special Category Status (SCS) that was assured by then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the floor of the Rajya Sabha. Later, it was denounced by the BJP government, though arguments in favour of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh were then made by none other than M. Venkaiah Naidu in the Upper House.

In fact, Venkaiah Naidu had suggested that SCS should be given for 10 years, instead of the five-year period assured by the Prime Minister. The Congress picked up the slogan of SCS that was rejected by the BJP government, though it had previously backed SCS.

The Congress got political life and life support from the people of undivided AP twice. The Congress got 41 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in AP in the 1977 elections, after it faced a humiliating defeat all over the country in the post-Emergency period that turned the destiny of Congress. People of AP had given 30-plus Lok Sabha seats in two consecutive elections -- 2004 & 2009 that literally helped the UPA rule the country for 10 years as there was no other state in the rest of the country that had given the party such huge number of seats. The Congress' plight then can be understood from the fact that in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress got only two seats (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi).

Hence, the Congress is trying woo Andhra Pradesh without treading on the tender toes of Telangana people. Its USP is that it granted T-State knowing fully well the fact that it would badly affect its political prospects in the residuary state of AP. It is OK if it is seen as having had a hidden understanding with the YSRCP of Jaganmohan Reddy on possible post-poll support.

Considering the negative implications of taking up SCS, especially in the context of Telangana Rashtra Samiti's oft-repeated assertion that 'Andhra' leaders had given a short shrift to Telangana region in the combined AP, the Congress has started making it clear that its support for SCS to AP would not be at the cost of the interests of people of Telangana.

Former president of AICC Rahul Gandhi had a series of meetings with Andhra leaders on the possibilities left for reaching out to people of AP. Naturally, it was pointed out that the grand old party had deceived the people of Andhra in the process of bifurcation. Nobody had a clear answer when Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked: "Will the people of Andhra Pradesh ever forgive us?"

However, all of them underlined that a committed approach towards realisation of SCS would enable the party to win back the confidence of AP people to some extent so that the party can regain lost ground in the not-so-distant future. The leaders also drove home their point that proximity with Chandrababu Naidu of TDP would be detrimental to the interests of the party. According to them, the Congress can bank on 7-8 per cent of the voters in AP. But for its truck with TDP, its vote bank would have been 10% of voters.

Political strategist and psephologist Prashant Kishor (PK) has been asked to look into the ways in which the party can reach out to people of AP after overcoming the minus points related to bifurcation. PK had worked with YSRCP, which emerged victorious in the 2019 polls winning 151 Assembly seats out of 175, creating history. Despite being asked to work for YSRCP again in 2024 by none other than Jagan at a thanksgiving programme, Prasanth did not agree this time.

Congress had to first choose one person to head the party in the state in place of P. Sailajanath. The name of former Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy surfaced. Despite Kiran's reluctance to helm the Congress over its questionable role in the bifurcation episode, he is being pressurized to accept the responsibility.

Will this high-profile man accept the offer made by the party's high command is a big question? Before Kiran gives an answer, the Congress per se has a long troublesome journey ahead. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Why Telangana ‍‍Congress Fixed A Price For Huzurabad Ticket?

2021-09-02T20:35:00.001+05:30

Political hulchul begins in Huzurabad bypoll likely to be scheduled in lasy week of this month. Even as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Bharatiya Janata Party have intensified their campaign for the upcoming by-election to Huzurabad assembly seat, the Congress party is still lagging behind its rivals in all aspects.

While former minister Eatala Rajender has already been finalised as the BJP candidate, the TRS leadership recently announced the candidature of youth leader Gellu Srinivas Yadav to fight the by-elections.

Both the candidates have already been touring different parts of the constituency, though the Election Commission of India is yet to take a call on the announcement of schedule for the by-election. But the Congress is still waiting for muhurtam to finalise its candidates.

Though there are reports that the Pradesh Congress Committee has zeroed in on the candidature of former minister Konda Surekha for Huzurabad, the party is trying to create an impression that it is following a democratic process in the selection of the candidate.
It has called for applications from candidates interesting in contesting the by-poll, so that the party would select the best among them.

According to PCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud, interested candidates can apply for the party ticket from 10 am on Wednesday to 5 pm on September 5.

What is worse, it has set a price for the party ticket to fight the Huzurabad by-poll. The aspiring candidates should submit a demand draft for Rs 5,000 along with the application for the party ticket and this amount is non-refundable.

A committee of the PCC comprising Bhatti Vikramarka, Damodar Rajanarasimha, Ponnam Prabhakar, T Jeevan Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, Warangal DCC president Nayini Rajender Reddy and Karimnagar DCC president Satyanarayana would interview the applicants on September 6.

The committee would then send the report to the AICC by September 10 and the AICC in turn would finalise the candidate, Mahesh Kumar Goud said.
One wonders why the PCC is following this process, instead of identifying the suitable candidate for Huzurabad straightaway, like how the TRS and the BJP have done.

“If the PCC wants to follow this process, why has it consulted Konda Surekha earlier? It looks like the PCC wants to make as much money as possible from the applicants. In any case, the party knows the chances of winning Huzurabad by-poll are very bleak. Why all this farce?” a Congress leader asked. #KhabarLive #hydnews