AP Profile

Andhrapradesh has 13 Districts, 656 Gram Panchayats, 12,858 villages and 18,858 settlements - having total population (as on date) about 55 million, in which about 37.5 million live in villages and settlements - where there are about 10 million people who struggle with less than Rs.10,000 percapita.

Temple or endowment institution property

Sri Raghurama Temple in Gollapalli near Nuzvid in Krishna district owns over 1,200 acres of farmland in a nearby hamlet Kothapalli. 

1. As many as 1,568 farmers are cultivating the entire land on lease.
2. In terestingly , 199 of them are Muslims, 
3. 204 farmers SCs 
4.  five tribals. 

Kanagala under Cherukupalle mandal in Guntur district about 300 acres of land belonging to Sri Venugopala Swamy Temple is being cultivated by Muslims. 

Traditionally temples in Andhra Pradesh which are now government controlled possess large tracts of land. Tenant farmers cultivate nearly three lakh acres of agriculture land in possession of various temples in the state and 30 per cent of them are Dalits. 

As per the GO, clause (f) of Rule 9 says, “No person professing a religion other than Hinduism is entitled to obtain lease either through tender ­cum­ public auction or otherwise.

The ancient Amaralingeswara temple at Amaravati gets Rs.22.48 crore by selling its land at Chennai. The Amaravati temple own 473 acres of lands in various areas of Tamil Nadu, but those lands were encroached in the last 70 years.

The endowments department fought toget back those lands but due to technical difficulties. The department proved 83 acres belong to Sadavarthi Satram of Amaralingeswara temple. The Amaralingeswara temple got Rs.22.48 crore due to auctioning of lands and the endowments department is planning to develop the facilities for devotees at the satram (choultry) and temple with the money.

According to the Amarlingeswara Swami temple priests, the then Jamindar Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu was the chief patron of the temple and his wife Venkatalakshmamma donated 471 acres of lands at Talambur on the way to Mahabalipuram of the then Madras to the choultry for maintenance purpose in the year 1907.

Further, she donated 74 acres of lands of Kogantivaripalem in Achampeta mandal of Guntur district. As the Chennai lands were encroached and there was no income after the formation of Andhra
Pradesh, the choultry was maintained on the income of Kogantivaripalem lands. The state government, endowments department and Peda Kurapadu MLA K.Sridhar put all efforts and succeeded to get back 83 acres of lands from the Tamil Nadu government on the basis of land records. But as the lands were in the clutches of encroachers who were refusing to vacate the lands, the endowments department decided to sell the lands and conducted auction at Chennai.

The lands were sold for Rs.22.44 crore during auction which was conducted in the presence of AP endowment joint commissioner, Krishnaji Rao.

`Hexit' (Exit from Hyderabad)

As power shifts from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, AP govt workers lives uprooted

June 27. That is the date by which 5000-odd employees of the Andhra government have to shift permanently from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. Another 15000 employees will shift in batches over the next two months.

Many are bidding tearful farewells to Hyderabad, where they have worked for more than a decade.

 On the 270 km long Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway to be more specific. 

 The shifting of the seat of power will cost Rs 5 crore. 

90 commissionerates and directorates, located in Hyderabad

the employees lakhs of files

over 70 lakh pages of official files have been scanned and transferred on the information highway.

1.3 lakh police weapons

11000 pieces of furniture 

 June 27 as it was deemed to be astrologically and numerologically (2 + 7 = 9, Naidu's lucky number) an auspicious date. One reason why Naidu was in no mood to accept any requests that time be given till October. 

 Team Andhra to bid a permanent goodbye to Hyderabad, the government employees will hope that they see a new dawn in the `sunrise state'.

ref:http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/power-shifts-hyderabad-vijayawada-ap-govt-workers-lives-uprooted-45471

“water guzzling polluting units”.

“There is nothing green about a golf course. It consumes a lot of water and chemical fertilizer six times more than what is required by a standard dry crop, which leads to pollution of groundwater and eutrophication of water bodies, leaving no chance for survival of fish. Use of pesticides, herbicides and biocides and exotic species of grass will result in loss of biodiversity,”

“an average golf course in a tropical country like Thailand needs 1,500 kg of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides per year, and uses much as 60,000 rural villagers do”. It means a clear loss of biodiversity.

 440 litres a day or double of what the inhabitants of an average 

Death certificates of 618 golf course superintendents by researchers at the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine showed an unusually high number of deaths from cancers, including brain cancer and non-Hodgin’s lymphoma. 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/does-hyderabad-need-10-golf-courses/article7929048.ece

Mujra

Mujra is a form of dance originated by tawaif (courtesans) during the Mughal era which incorporated elements of the native classicalKathak dance onto music such as thumris and ghazals or poems of those from other Mughal cultures such as Bahadur Shah Zafar.^[1] Mujra was traditionally performed at mehfils and in special houses called kothas. During Mughal rule in the subcontinent, in places such asJaipur, the tradition of performing mujra was a family art and often passed down from mother to daughter amongst Muslim practitioners. The profession was a cross between art and exotic dance, with the performers often serving as courtesans amongst Mughal royalty or wealthy patrons.

'Mujra' is also the traditional way of greeting among Marathas.^[2] A slight bow, then flapping the right hand in front of the chest 3 times is the traditional mode of greeting/salutation with which the courtiers in the Maratha princely states greeted their Maharaja, Maharani, their children, and other members of the royal family. 

Metro

Seven city in the country with a metro service: Kolkata, Delhi (NCR), Bengaluru, Mumbai and Jaipur.

• Each Chennai metro train can carry about 1,200 passengers, 
• seating capacity of 200 and standing capacity of 1,000. 
• The maximum speed of Chennai metro rail trains are 80 km/hour, they are expected to run at about 35 km/hour.
• The 14,600-crore Rupees project
• It will be the first metro project in the country to be properly integrated with other forms of public and private transport including buses, sub-urban trains and MRTS. 
• The project is expected to reduce the commuting time by 75 per cent from one end of the city to another. 
• The minimum fare for the metro service is Rs. 10, with the maximum being Rs. 40
• The first stretch falls on the second corridor that runs for about 22 km

Nepal devastated

Nepal’s strongest backs are mostly working in construction projects throughout the Middle East and other parts of Asia.

On average, about 1,500 Nepalis officially left for temporary jobs abroad each day in the 2014 fiscal year, up from six a day in 1996, according to the Nepali government. Even more are thought to have left unofficially for India; because the border is unchecked, no one knows the precise figure.

In some seasons, one-quarter of Nepal’s population may be working beyond the border, economists and labor officials estimate

 Nepal has 125 ethnic groups, 127 spoken languages

Many Nepalis express deep ambivalence about the country’s relationship with India, feeling that India has for decades alternated between intrusive meddling and hurtful neglect.  That is a crucial reason Nepal consistently refused over the past 50 years to accept India’s offers of development assistance or closer connections.

The poor state of roads connecting Nepal with India, symbolic of a lack of shared purpose and development efforts, has already hampered evacuation efforts and is bound to crimp relief work

• The UK is sending £5 million in funding for relief efforts

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/world/asia/nepal-known-for-its-toughness-and-disarray-is-seriously-tested.html?_r=0

Indus River

ref:http://www.diamerbhasha.com/IndusRiver.html

Indus River

Location :  Northwestern Frontiers Of Indian Subcontinent
River :  Indus
Also Known As :  Sindhu
Significance :  India's Name Was Derived From This Rivers Name.

It roared and spread itself, but it never hurt!

If time were called upon to tell a story, it would perhaps choose the banks of river Indus to do so. Here, the history of India could well be marked, both chronologically and historically.

The Legends

It has believed by the early Tibetans that this forceful and full river that guarded the frontiers of united India rises from the lake Mansarovar in Tibet. A few expeditions later, it was discovered that the Indus actually originates a few kilometres north of lake Mansarovar and together with it arise the Brahmaputra and the river Sutlej, through Mansarovar.Metaphorically, the four rivers that separated from this area were described as rising out of certain animals mouths, thereby ascribing the qualities to the river. The Pakshu went westward in the beginning and then came out of a horse's mouth to the east to be called the Brahmaputra. The Sita went southwards in the beginning and then came out of a lion's mouth to the north to be called the river Sindhu. The Ganga came out of an elephant's mouth and the Karnali from a peacock's mouth.
The waters of the river Brahmaputra are cold and it is said that the one who drinks these waters would become sturdy as a horse. The waters of the Indus are warm and it is said that the one who drinks from it would become heroic like a lion. Does that explain why invaders to India always conquered after stopping to quench their thirst at the Indus?
Legend has it that those who drink the waters of the Ganges would become as worthy as the elephant: with good memory, sense of gratitude, strong and auspicious. Similarly those who drink the waters of Karnali would be come as beautiful as the peacock. It is said these four rivers circle seven times around Kailash (also spelt as Kailas), the divine residence of Lord Shiva (also spelt as Siva), before gurgling down.

Derivation Of The Name - Indus

The lion river, the Indus derives its name from the Sanskrit word, Sindhu, which means a large water body, a sea or an ocean. In Greek, it is called "Sinthos" and in Latin, the "Sindus". The name gradually came to represent the people who lived beyond it and the name Hindus was born. It took less time to derive the name - Indus gave people a lot more.In the Rig Veda, there is a reference to "Sapta Sindhus", where Sapta means seven and Sindhus, refers to rivers. The seven rivers are the Indus, her five tributaries and the river Saraswati. The Rig Veda is also said to enumerate and many medicinal plants found on the banks of the river Indus.
The Mahabharata, another ancient Indian epic refers to Sindhu and the king who ruled the region that nestled on the banks of the river. While dating epics and texts are still arbitrary, the great Indus Valley Civilization at Harappa and Mohenjodaro, now in Pakistan, are eloquent testament of the culture and people of the region. A site similar to that and liked to that period has been unearthed at Lothal Gujarat, India.

India prints 15 billion pieces of currency annually, of which up to 12 billion are printed on foreign-made paper. The paper used for the currency is cotton-based, and has the advantage that it cannot be easily replicated, yet has the touch and feel of paper.

The ink, on the other hand, is imported from a Swiss company SICPA. An RBI official told dna that SICPA supplies most countries with ink for printing currency.

Currency paper manufacturing factory (in Mysore) was in advanced stages

At present, besides the paper and the ink, even the printing machines are imported. While the paper is imported after floating global tenders from countries such as Germany and England, the printing machines are imported from Japan and Switzerland.

Import costs of paper, ink and printing machines account for about 80% of the cost of printing the notes in India.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-why-videshi-paper-for-swadeshi-currency-pm-narendra-modi-asks-reserve-bank-of-india-2074240

http://www.sicpa.com/company-heritage/company

profiling of leaders

 An elaborate "proforma" including education, age, peculiar body marks, company the leader keeps, regular visitors, preferred spots for morning walks etc was created in 1987. This format was updated in 1999 to include several new identification points, the sources added.

 profiling of leaders started in 1957

ref:http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/profiling-of-rahul-gandhi-part-of-routine-process-started-by-congress-government-sources-746843?ndtv_alsoread

Conversion

In Greek the gospel term for Conversion is metanoia, meaning literally "Change of attitude" So  changing behavior, begins by changing our basic attitudes- towards life, others and self. When mind and heart are formed anew by light, our life and our choices, begin to changes apace,


In latin root conversion comes fro convertiere meaning literally to turn. Conversion implies turning away from the darkness and towards this light even in the night

‘Pakistan Ideology’ (Nazriah-e-Pakistan’)

The creation of a link between events in 712 and 1947 The Pakistan Ideology had begun to place Pakistan’s historical roots in lands from where Arab horsemen had begun to invade India from the 8th Century onwards

To the JI, the story of Pakistan began not during the Pakistan Movement, but with the invasion of Sindh by Arab commander, Muhammad bin Qasim, in the 9th Century who defeated the region’s Hindu ruler, Raja Dahir.

Khilafat Movment (1919-1924) had fragmented the views of Muslim Nationalists, with one section looking at it as a universal Pan-Islamic idea whose epicentre was India, and the other faction holding on to the idea’s India-centricity, concerned only with the economic and social uplift of the region’s Muslims.

Iqbal’s writings in this context attempted to bridge the gap between the two poles

qbal also emphasised that Muslims need not be taken in by modern concepts such as secularism because Islam was inherently secular as there was no concept of the Church and/or official clergy (as a mediator between God and man) in Islam.

But he added that they should now politically strive to carve out their own sovereign abode.

It was only when the Congress announced its Socialist manifesto that promised to outlaw feudal properties that the Muslim zamindars of Sindh and Punjab plus the nawabs of UP created the Pakistan movement

Once Pakistan was formed he inherited provinces where the Muslim League had never won an election - Ghafar Khan was the Frontier Gandhi and against the creation of Pakistan. Tiwana had Unionist Punjab and was against the creation of Pakistan. Sind with GM Seyed was against the creation of Pakistan.

They apprehended a a back lash from the Hindu majority , who had been subjected to Muslim rule for a thousand years. This fear was further confirmed when Hindus came into power in eight provinces of India in 1935 and immediately set about imposing their Hindu ideology and language upon the Muslims. The 1946 elections showed that even the Indian Muslims who had no intention of leaving India, voted for the Muslim League

In his dialogue with Dr. Ambedkar Allama Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British Government and with no central Indian Government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim Provinces in India

Jinnah’s Muslim Nationalism was still embedded in the act of safeguarding the economic, cultural and political interests of India’s Muslims.

Jinnah ordered that the Bengali writing system (close to Vedic and classic Sanskrit) be replaced with Arabic script and even with the Roman script.

It was as if the government was suggesting that Bengali could not be adopted as the national language because its writing system looked too much like that of Hindi.

Jinnah’s desperate attempt to replace the Bengali writing system was vehemently challenged by Bengali intellectuals and politicians and he had to beat a hasty retreat on the issue.


 witnessing the ascendency of leftist parties and student groups in West Pakistan, and the growing agitation by Bengali nationalists in East Pakistan, the JI declared that socialism and secularism were anti-Islam ideologies akin to atheism.

late 1960s, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed the socialist Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and when Sindhi, Baloch, Pushtun and Bengali nationalists had accelerated their agitation for provincial autonomy.


JI and other religious parties had explained the break-up of Pakistan in 1971 as a consequence of its rulers’ refusal to turn the country into an Islamic state and thus, giving secularists and ethnic nationalists enough reason and space to dictate terms and harm the unity of the country.


It had alarmingly seen the rise of socialist regimes in Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, Sudan, Somalia and Pakistan in the 1950s, ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Saudi Arabia hardly played a role in the matters of Pakistan before 1973. But after 1973 Bhutto’s Pakistan (just like Sadat’s Egypt) began to court the oil-rich Saudi monarchy, hoping to fatten their countries’ struggling economies with hearty hand-outs from their wealthy Muslim brethren (‘Petro- Dollars’).

But the money came with a condition. The Saudi monarchy was a passionate proponent of a rather puritanical strand of Islam (‘Wahabism’).


In 1976 PTV began running a series called ‘Tabeer.’ It depicted the 1857 Indian Mutiny as a Muslim Jihad against the British and their Hindu allies and the beginning of the Pakistan Movement.

in December 1976, a 9-party alliance of religious and anti-Bhutto parties united under the umbrella of the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA).

The alliance geared up to face Bhutto’s PPP in the 1977 election. And it was only when the PNA used the words ‘Nizam-e-Mustafa’ (The Prophet’s System) as its main slogan,

In July 1977, Bhutto’s own General toppled his regime in a military coup and promptly arrested him.

General Ziaul Haq was handpicked by Bhutto, in spite of him having a history of being highly conservative and an admirer of JI’s chief and Islamic scholar, Abul Ala Maududi.

When he imposed the country’s third Martial Law, Zia took PNA’s Nizam-e-Mustafa rhetoric and turned it into a draconian, and then a legislative ideological project, giving the whole concept of the Pakistan Ideology its starkest and weightiest Islamic aspect thus far.

Bhutto was hanged in April 1979 through a sham trial.

1980s, the Afghan war provided this lobby the opportunity to acquire weapons, military training and international patronage to fight the Russians.

In 1982 Zia announcing his dictatorship’s new set of so-called Islamic Laws.

 After 1989, when the Soviets left Afghanistan, the religious lobby decided to use their Afghan experience for turning Pakistan into a religious state.

Pakistan indeed was turned into a large laboratory where militant groups from all over the Islamic world were brought together, initially with support from the US and its Arab allies, to do all sorts of experiments with the country.

This exercise brought forth Taliban militants.But the Taliban are not the real cause of Pakistan’s identity crisis. They are just a symptom.

The gods of the past ought to be questioned if the goddess of present is to smile. Pakistan, however, is still stuck in 1947.

The generals did not really invent the doctrine of 'strategic depth'. They merely discovered it

The plan was to use the Islamist militants for creating the so-called strategic depth by bringing Afghanistan on Pakistan’s side in a possible conflict with India. This target was never achieved but the militants did become an existential threat to the Pakistani state.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1038961

http://www.dawn.com/news/1120284

Three important schools within this field are 

1. pluralism
2. inclusivism,
3. exclusivism. 

These each describe the relation of other religious traditions to Christianity and attempt to answer questions about the nature of God and salvation.

Pluralism is basically the belief that the world religions are true and equally valid in their communication of the truth about God, the world, and salvation. This is the popular view that all religions lead to the same God and all ways lead to heaven

Exclusivism:
 Believers ascend into Heaven while sinners and those who reject the faith are doomed to Hell.

 "All the nations may walk in the name of their gods This sense of superiority of a person's national deity may well have been the attitude of most of the Canaanite peoples toward their gods.

Exclusivism is the theological position that holds to the finality of the Christian faith in Christ. The finality of Christ means that there is no salvation in non-Christian religions. 

Inclusivism is the belief that God is present in non-Christian religions to save adherents through Christ.

Kashmir willow cricket bats

International cricket giants such as Sir Vivian Richards of West Indies and Sachin Tendulkar of India used Kashmir willow bats in the past with greatsuccess. 

"The industry is in shock and will not recover even in the next 20-40 years," Nazir Ahmad Salroo, head of Kashmir Bat Manufacturers Association, told Al Jazeera.

A business of $16.2m "and are growing". 

It takes 40 to 50 years for a willow tree to grow fully to yield a maximum number of clefts. In south Kashmir, many of these mature trees - planted alongside the bank of river Jhelum -

Beating retreat 2015

Curtain Raiser – Beating Retreat Ceremony 2015

This year the Indian tunes will be the flavour of the ‘Beating the Retreat’ ceremony here, tomorrow. As many as 20 out of 23 performances have been composed by Indian musicians. 

This year some ‘desi’ new tunes are being played for the first time like ‘Vir Bharat’, ‘Chhana Bilauri’, ‘Jai Janam Bhumi’ and ‘Athulya Bharat’. 

Other tunes are ‘Deshon Ka Sartaj Bharat’, ‘Cutty’s Wedding’, ‘Piper O’ Drumond’, ‘Gorkha Brigade’, ‘Ocean Splendour’, ‘Blue Field’, ‘Battle of the Sky’, ‘Anandloke’, ‘Dashing Desh’, ‘Flying Star’, ‘Glorious India’, ‘Bhupal’, ‘Indian Soldiers’, ‘Hathroi’, ‘Salam to the Soldiers’, ‘Giri Raj’, ‘Drummers’ Call’, ‘Abide With Me’ and lastly the ever-popular ‘Sare Jahan Se Acha’. 

The ceremony at the Vijay Chowk on January 29th every year marks the culmination of the four-day-long Republic Day celebrations. This year, 15 Military Bands, 18 Pipes and Drums Bands from Regimental Centres and Battalions are participating in Beating the Retreat Ceremony. 

‘Beating the Retreat’ has emerged as an event of national pride when the Colours and Standards are paraded. The ceremony traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army indigenously developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands. ‘

Beating Retreat’ marks a centuries old military tradition, when the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield and returned to the camps at sunset at the sounding of the Retreat. Colours and Standards are cased and flags lowered. The ceremony creates a nostalgia for the times gone by. 

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=115013

Modi's view

"He was of the view that she lacked the imagination to take India to the next level globally. She could not play several equations at the same time as the PMO wanted on the external affairs front, 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/46060063.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Modi’s alliteration and acronyms, staccato as military commands, echo the beat of a triumphal march: 
‘Make in India’;
 ‘Swachh Bharat’;

The four Ps for progress — People, Private, Public, Partnership; 

The five Ts to revive brand India — Talent, Tradition, Tourism, Trade, Technology; 

The ‘Road’ to revival — Responsibility, Ownership, Accountability, Discipline.

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/india-needs-a-dynamic-pm-like-narendra-modi/?intenttarget=no

Pakistan electricity

The power failure, one of the worst Pakistan has experienced, caused electricity to be cut in 80% of the country, including major cities and the capital Islamabad.

The whole of Pakistan just produces 7000 MW!!!! I am shocked. It's eastern neighbour , the Punjab state of India has an installed capacity of 7500 MW and produces at least 6000 MW. This state has a population of only 2.7 Crores against 20 Crores of Pakistan

compare with india,toal capacity 2,55,000 MW with many states having surplus power.only solar power generation to reach 1,00,000 MW in 2-3 years.

Pakistan's electricity distribution system is a complex -- and delicate -- web and a major fault at one section often leads to chain reactions and breakdowns of power generation and transmission

official pan supplier to Rashtrapati Bhawan

Madhuri paan from North Avenue’s Pandey Paan Bhandar.

The tiny shop in the capital’s North Avenue is the official supplier to Rashtrapati Bhawan and has the honour of serving paan to many famous political leaders as well as celebrities. It has in the past served paan to former US Presidents such as Obama, Bill Clinton and George Bush.

The shop offers 50 interesting varieties such as fresh fruit paan, black forest paan, strawberry, brownie walnut paan, cranberry sweet paan, wild blueberry, custard apple, kiwi, muskmelon and sweet paan with dried fruit.

Bbutterscotch paan and kiwi paan for Obama when he had visited in 2010, this time we will offer Madhuri paan, choco layer paan, custard apple paan and also butterscotch paan, among others.” Interestingly, Madhuri paan, made with honey and rose,