Telugu note comes in English

The state government has triggered more than a few laughs by issuing notices in chaste English to shop owners to compulsorily display signboards in Telugu.

Traders who are angry at the labour department move to make Telugu signboards mandatory were quick to seize on this contradiction and asked the government to clean up its act before advising others.

The labour department has served prosecution notices to shop owners to display Telugu signboards prominently or face imprisonment of up to three months.

“It is ridiculous that the government is threatening shop owners over the issue even while introducing English medium education in Telugu medium schools,” said Mr Shyam Kumar, a trader. “It has also issued the notice in English.” Other traders have compared the government move to the discriminatory Jaziya tax imposed by the Mughal emperor Aurangazeb.

The Twin Cities Traders Welfare Federation, which has taken up the cause of its fraternity, advised that the government must first switch over to Telugu from English in its daily administration before moving against traders.

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao kin ignore Telugu Desam

Film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna will take his time to join the Telugu Desam formally, as will his nephews Jr NTR and Kalyan Ram.

The trio donated blood at the Indo-American Cancer Hospital at Banjara Hills to mark the birth anniversary of the family patriarch N.T. Rama Rao. However, they did not travel the short distance to the Telugu Desam headquarters, as the party president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, had announced previously.

The NTR Trust organised a separate blood donation camp at the NTR Trust Bhavan, besides a mass poor-feeding programme.

Balakrishna indicated that he would campaign for the Telugu Desam next year. “I had campaigned for the party even earlier,” Balakrishna told newsmen at the Indo-American Cancer Research Institute here on Wednesday.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Babu gets lucky

The Election Commission on Tuesday warned the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, for violating the model code of conduct on May 19 at Rajpur village in Jadcherla Assembly segment of Mahbubnagar district.

Mr Naidu had made a speech at an election meeting in the village even after the stipulated deadline of 10 pm.

Rejecting his explanation of the incident, the Election Commission asked the TD chief not to repeat things in the future.

Police had filed a case against Mr Naidu for violating the poll code and the EC asked the district magistrate to submit a report on the issue after Congress workers lodged a complaint.

The EC also sought Mr Naidu’s explanation, but he denied any violation of code.

However, after taking the district magistrate’s report into cognisance, the EC has issued a warning to Mr Naidu.

“The commission asked the Opposition Leader not to repeat such mistakes,” said the Chief Electoral Officer, Mr I.V. Subba Rao. “If such things occur again, it will take appropriate action.” The EC also announced that it would examine the statement made by the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, on agriculture loans at Hyderabad two days ago.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Russian uranium arrives in India

In a landmark development, the first consignment of Russian uranium fuel for Unit-1 of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) arrived on Sunday, the Nuclear Power Corporation said in a release on Monday.

KKNPP comprises of two units of 1000 MW each and are at an advanced stage of completion in technical collaboration with Russia. The two units have pressurised water reactors, which use light enriched uranium (LEU) as fuel, which is in use in several countries.

Lifetime fuel supply for the Koodankulam reactors is covered through a sovereign guarantee given by Russia. The KKNPP is under construction at Koodankulam in Radhapuram taluk of Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district. It is being set up through a bilateral agreement between the former USSR and India.

The corporation said construction activity is being carried out round the clock for early completion.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Spacecraft nears Mars

A three-legged Nasa spacecraft was closing in on Mars Sunday for what scientists hope will be the first-ever touchdown near Mars’ north pole to study whether the permafrost could have supported primitive life.

The time it takes the Phoenix Mars Lander to streak through the atmosphere and set down on the dusty surface has been dubbed “the seven minutes of terror” for good reason. More than half of the world’s attempts to land on Mars have ended in failures.

“I’m a little nervous on the inside. I’m getting butterflies,” Peter Smith, principal investigator from the University of Arizona, Tucson, said on the eve of the landing. “We bet the whole farm on this safe landing and we can’t do our science without this safe landing.”

Phoenix is pre-programmed to plummet through the Red Planet’s atmosphere, and will rely on the intricately choreographed use of its heat shield, parachute and rockets to slow its descent from over 12,000 mph to a 5 mph touchdown.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Super car by magnificent 7

Seven mechanical engineering students in Punjab have independently developed a new concept car capable of running for 250 kilometres on a single litre of ordinary 91 octane petrol.

The vehicle has been selected for the World Super Mileage Event organised by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) International in Michigan this June.

Built at the privately-run Rayat Institute of Engineering and fleshed out at a total project cost of Rs 21,32,000, the “Rayat Super Mileage Vehicle” was unveiled by its young makers in Chandigarh on Thursday afternoon.

Standing on three slim wheels, the RSMV is powered by a mere 92cc engine supplied to all contestants by Briggs & Stratton of the US, and has been equipped with a transistor-controlled ignition, disc brakes, a modified carburettor, a unique new battery recharge system and a centrifugal clutch design.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Andhra Pradesh babus default on bills

Nearly two dozen IAS, IPS and IFS officers of the state have not paid power and water bills worth Rs 10 lakh.

Central Discom and Water Board officials are finding it difficult to recover dues from the top babus, who include the present DGP and a former chief secretary. Many of the bills are nearly 10 to 15 years old.

IAS officers who have to pay pending power bills are Mr A.K. Parida, Mr Vinod Kumar Agrawal, Mr Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Mr L.V. Subrahmanyam, Mr Kamalavardhan Rao and Mr R.M. Gonela.

Similarly, IPS officers including Mr K. Aravinda Rao, Mr Kripanand Tripathi, Mr B.L. Meena, Mr K. Rushya Rao (now retired), Mr A.B. Venkateswara Rao, and Mr Vinay Kumar Singh have defaulted on power and water bills. The lone IFS officer in the list is R.K. Suman.

While the power bill dues range from Rs 400 to Rs 85,000, the water bills range from Rs 600 to Rs 10,000.

Among water bill defaulters are IAS officers, Mr L.V. Subrahmanyam, Mr Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Mr T.K. Diwan (retired as Chief Secretary), Mr P. Subrahmanyam, Preethi Sudan and Mr S.N. Mohanty.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

No land for Information Technology companies to set up shop

Several major Information Technology companies have been waiting in vain for land from the state government to set up their units around the city.

Though the government claims to have a pro-IT stance, it has not yet responded to the applications of top-notch companies such as Siemens, HCL, Applabs and Value Labs for land.

The state government did say some time back that it would not allot any more land around Hyderabad to IT firms but it made exceptions for companies such as Infosys. “We expected a positive response from the government when we proposed to set up our second centre in the country in Hyderabad,” said a Siemens official. “But it has not taken a decision yet.” In fact, the IT department does not have even a single acre to allot to the IT companies. The state government has transferred hundreds of acres to the AP Infrastructure Corporation for auction, because of the increasing pressure on land around Gachibowli and in the vicinity of Shamshabad Airport.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Green tea may help get rid of sleep apnea

Compounds found in green tea may help ward off the neurological damage that can come with the breathing disorder sleep apnea, a new animal study hints.

Researchers found that when they added green tea antioxidants to rats’ drinking water, it appeared to protect the animals’ brains during bouts of oxygen deprivation designed to mimic the effects of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

The findings suggest that green tea compounds should be further studied as a potential OSA therapy, the researchers report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

OSA is a common disorder in which soft tissues in the throat temporarily collapse and block the airway during sleep, causing repeated stops and starts in breathing throughout the night.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Orkut used in credit card scam to buy airline tickets

An inter-state gang operating from Mumbai and Visakhapatnam used the social networking website Orkut to buy airline tickets with stolen credit card data.

The tickets were sold at a discount to unsuspecting buyers, mostly employees of the Vizag and Bokaro steel plants who were availing their leave travel concession.

The city Central Crime Station (CCS) police busted the gang following a complaint from a Hyderabad-based person who found that the gang had fraudulently used his credit card data to purchase the tickets.

The CCS police has arrested one Umapathi Thakur alias Vikas Kumar alias Praveen, 22, of Jharkhand, from Visakhapatnam for the gang, saying he was a key operative. The Mumbai-based scamsters who booked the tickets with stolen credit card data are still at large.

Umapathi’s office, Ganga Ticket Solutions, was located near the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

The scam started unravelling when one Ravinder Reddy of Kalyannagar in Dilshuknagar received an SMS from ICICI Bank on May 6 stating that he had purchased an air ticket from Kolkata to Guwahati.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Andhra Pradesh workers migrate over wage limit

The state government’s decision to impose a cap on the daily earnings of workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has triggered large-scale migration from drought-hit districts.

After a full of three years, poor people are migrating in large numbers from districts such as Srikakulam, Kurnool, Anantapur, Chittoor, Mahboobnagar and Nizamabad in search of jobs.

While nature’s fury was the prime cause of migration in earlier years, it is the state government’s decision to restrict the maximum daily wage in NREGS to Rs 100 and minimum to Rs 80 which has triggered the latest exodus. “Minimum wages of the state were last reviewed in 2004,” said an official of the labour department.

“Many states have revised the minimum wages because of the recent rise in prices of essential commodities.” More than 10 states in the country are offering higher minimum wages to the workers, he said. Prior to the imposition of the restriction, several people in the villages used to earn Rs 150 to Rs 200 per day by working extra hours.

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Bangla accent of bomber points to Harkut-ul-Jihad-e-Islami

The Rajasthan police has put together a sketch of one of the people it suspects was behind Tuesday’s terror blasts in Jaipur. The man depicted in the sketch is believed to have purchased one of the cycles used in the attacks from a local shop in Jaipur.

The Jaipur police on Wednesday evening zeroed in on a shop called Santosh Trading Company in Kishanpole market which is believed to have sold an “Enron” cycle to the suspect on the day of the bomb attacks. Police sources revealed that six cycles of different brands, used in the blasts, were purchased between 11 am and 2 pm on Tuesday afternoon.

The sketch released by the police revealed a well-built person around 25 to 26 years of age. The interrogation of the shop owner revealed that the person parted his hair in the middle and “spoke in a Bengali accent”. These fresh revelations reinforce the claims of the security agencies that the Bangladesh-based Harkut-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) was behind the blasts, the sources said.

While three of the bicycles were “Hero Rangers”, the rest were of a different make, said the police sources. The Rajasthan police suspects that all the cycles used in the blasts were purchased from Kishan Pole market. The police is also questioning other cycle sellers to come up with sketches of other possible suspects.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

60 Killed As Terror Hits Jaipur

Eight bomb blasts triggered by terrorists over just 12 minutes on Wednesday night killed at least 60 people in the heart of Jaipur and injured 200.

The explosions, the first terror strikes in the Pink City, occurred in markets usually teeming with people and near the Hanuman Mandir in the walled city.

The bombings took place as India marked the 10th anniversary of nuclear tests conducted on May 13 in Rajasthan, but it was unclear if there was any link.

“According to the information I have received, 60 people have died and 150 have been injured,” said the Rajasthan chief minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje.

The Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) is suspected to be behind the blasts, home ministry sources said.

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

New decoy to seduce missiles

The city based Defence Electronics Research Laboratory is developing a hitech decoy system which will be able to ‘seduce’ missiles away from their legitimate targets.

The decoy, meant for the Indian Navy, will be equipped with the most modern electronic warfare system. DLRL is planning to collaborate with international firms to develop the technology.

“It will emit strong signals to seduce an in coming missile and detract it from the targeted path,” said the DLRL director, Mr R. Sreehari Rao. “The missile will hit the decoy and the target will be protected.” The decoy can also be towed to enable an aircraft to draw the missile’s attention to a false target. It is programmed to present a more attractive target to the missile.

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

City turns into hub for flight refuelling

Hyderabad has become a major hub for refuelling of aircraft thanks to the cut in sales tax on aviation turbine fuel.

The number of aircraft refuelling in Hyderabad has doubled from 60 to 120 in just two months following the government’s move to reduce sales tax on ATF from 33 per cent to 4 per cent.

ATF costs around Rs 48,000 per kilo litre in Hyderabad and Rs 60,000 per kilo litre in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Sales tax on ATF ranges from 20 to 35 per cent in other states.

ATF intake by airlines at the Shamshabad airport has also doubled from 550 kilo litres to 1,100 kilo litres per day.

Airlines save around Rs 2.8 lakh per A-320 aircraft, which have a 24-kilo litre intake capacity, by refuelling at Hyderabad. Several airlines are opting for overnight parking and flight origination from Hyderabad.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Murder in United Kingdom: Student from city charged

The West Midlands police of Britain has charged a postgraduate student from Hyderabad for the murder of Vempala Samrajya Jyothirmayee, 23, of Vijayawada, at her hostel in Birmingham on Tuesday night.

The arrested student, N.Nagraj Kumar, 24, who was staying with Jyothirmayee, is suspected to have killed her along with two other men, who were also living in the hostel at Handsworth. Sources said Nagraj was Jyothirmayee’s boyfriend.

Jyothirmayee, who was studying for a master’s degree in public health in the University of Wolverhampton, was found lying dead in her hostel with severe head injuries.

West Midlands police officials said they arrested the 24 year-old student on Tuesday on suspicion of murder.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

YouTube invites Congress, BJP to election party

The presidential election campaign in the United States this time is being fought as much in the party primaries as on YouTube, the enormously popular Google-owned site where anyone can post a video free of cost. In the run-up to the next general elections in India, we may see a similar online video war between the Congress and the BJP.

Google announced the launch of YouTube’s India operations on Wednesday. However, it has already broached the use of YouTube with the BJP and the Congress in their campaigns for the coming general elections.

“We will provide space to the parties for telecasting video campaigns. We can also create customised interactive platforms for them,” says Google India managing director Shailesh Rao.

YouTube could become the quickest and cheapest mass based electronic means of reaching out to young urban voters in this country. YouTube already has some 200,000 registered users in India, the company claims another five million occasional visitors to the site. Most of them are in the age group of 20 to 30 and located in urban centres.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Deccan ChargersTakes Chennai

The IPL could well be a tournament decided by momentum shifts. Deccan Chargers seven-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings here on Tuesday was a tribute to their self belief.

The way the team moved in the field told the tale. There was a spring in the step that hardly indicated their tournament record thus far. This was the best chance for Chargers to stage their comeback bid.

Adam Gilchrist and his men would for a moment have thought they were in Uppal rather than in distant Chepauk as the crowd cheered every boundary or six that flowed from the blade of the Chargers.

After restricting the Kings to 144 for 7, the Chargers rode on Gilchrist’s 36-ball 54 to overhaul the target with two overs to spare. The IPL looks wide open now. Every side will now fancy their chances of making the final. Adam Gilchrist had a promise to keep. “We will do justice to the inspiring name you provided the team,” Gilchrist had said to S. Nandakumar who had won the ‘Predict the name’ contest and he did just that.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

10,000 dead: Burma

Burma’s military junta believes at least 10,000 people died in a cyclone that ripped through the Irrawaddy delta, triggering a massive international aid response for the pariah state in Southeast Asia.

“The basic message was that they believe the provisional death toll was about 10,000 with 3,000 missing,” a Rangoon based diplomat told Reuters in Bangkok after a briefing by the Burmese foreign minister, Mr Nyan Win. “It’s a very serious toll.”

The scale of the disaster from Saturday’s devastating cyclone drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The official toll on state media stands at 3,394 dead and 2,879 missing, although those figures only cover two of the five declared disaster zones, where UN officials say hundreds of thousands are without shelter or drinking water.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Japan to assist IIT-Medak

Japan is keen to collaborate with the new Indian Institute of Technology coming up in Medak. It has also expressed its willingness to extend financial aid of up to Rs 4 crore to the institute.

The United Kingdom and the United States are looking at joining hands with one of the three new IITs to be established in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, and official sources said those countries are also likely to work with IIT-Medak.

The UK and US are to provide monetary assistance to the institute they choose to collaborate with.

Though Japan initially offered to assist the IIT to be set up in Bihar, it eventually dropped its plans in favour of Medak, citing poor law and order conditions in Bihar. The Centre had proposed to Japan the idea of forging a tie-up with the IIT in Bihar during the visit of the former Japanese prime minister, Mr Shinzo Abe, to India in August 2007.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

Nizam kin hunt for lost diamond

The descendants of the last Nizam who are jostling to get a share of his frozen funds are also trying to trace his “missing diamond”.

It is estimated that the missing diamond of Mir Osman Ali Khan would command a price of Rs 1,000 crore in the international market, if it is recovered.

Simply called the Nizam’s diamond, it was last seen some 60 years ago in the state treasury of the then Hyderabad State. The diamond went missing in mysterious circumstances just before the Indian Army annexed the Nizam’s state in 1948.

Experts say the Nizam’s diamond weighs 277 carats. It has been listed a “missing precious stone” of historical importance by the World Diamond Council.

Historical records say that it was mined at Kolluru village on the banks of the river Krishna in 1830. Several European historians including Tavernier have referred to it as a prized possession of the Nizam.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle

‘National security’ case filed on KCR

Police has booked a criminal case against the Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief, Mr K.Chandrasekhara Rao, for “concealing information related to national security”.

The case was booked on the direction of first class magistrate, Mr R. Kishore Babu. KCR had said in a press meet on February 14 in Hyderabad that the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the power minister, Mr Mohammed Shabbir Ali and the Greater Hyderabad Congress president, Mr Danam Nagender, hatched a plot to create communal disorder in the capital.

“I had all the evidence of the conspiracy and I will expose it at appropriate time,” he said.

Following this statement, two advocates, Mr Udathaneni Rama Rao and Mr Kuthumbaka Ramesh, approached local court on February 25 appealing it to order the police to file a case against TRS chief for concealing information related to national security.

According to the lawyers, as an MP, it was KCR’s duty to inform and show the evidence relating to the plot to the police or judiciary. However, the district magistrate rejected the case.

To read the full article, click here
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle