Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha is all set to enter the state Legislative Council.
The Election Commission has announced October 9 as the date of polling for the by-election for the post of MLC from Nizamabad Local Authorities Constituency. With TRS having 598 out of total 824 voters, Kavitha’s Win is a foregone conclusion. Kavitha had filed nomination for the by-election on March 18. Congress fielded Subhash Reddy while the BJP named P Laxminarayana as its candidate. But Congress and BJP are well behind in numbers with each having 140 and 84 members only. The election was postponed thrice due to ongoing COVID situation.
The vacancy in the Council caused by disqualification of incumbent R Bhupathi Reddy who defected to Congress by 2018.Both High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the disqualification.
K Kavitha was defeated in 2019 Loksabha election by BJP Candidate Dharmapuri Arvind who Jumped to BJP from TRS before election. It was a big setback to Telengana CM as he has registered a stupendous win few months before in State election.
The active cases in India have been hovering around the 1-million mark for some time now, despite the fact that new cases and recoveries are almost neck and neck now. Recoveries have now reached whopping 5 million mark.
Andhra Pradesh has registered a total of 6,81,161 cases of which less than 10 per cent — 63,116 cases — are active. The state has a doubling time of almost 65 days and its CFR has been on a downward trajectory, currently standing at 0.8 per cent and recovery ratio at 89%. 5745 people have lost their lives.
Karnataka has seen 6,892 cases in the last 24 hours along with 59 deaths. The total number of cases in the state currently is 5,82,458 of which about one-fifth (1,04,048) are positive cases. The CFR remains below the national average at 1.5 per cent. 8641 people have lost their lives.
Kerala is the new entrant standing at 4th place in the active cases count across India. There are 57,882 active cases with last week alone registering daily more than 6000 cases. CFR ratio is around 1.4% with mortality of 698 deaths
Tamil Nadu’s had 5,589 cases and 70 deaths in the last 24 hours taking its total cases to 5,86,397. However, the state now has a CFR of 1.60 per cent, which is higher than the national average and the doubling time is 72.5 days.
Telengana has registered 1,87,211 cases with active cases hovering around 30,000.CFR is similar to TN at 1.60 %.But Telengana is not doing good at testing and it tests are still at lower end.
Puducherry is at the bottom of the pyramid with only 26,685 cases. Active cases are hovering around 5014 with recovery ratio at 79.3%
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa called for the withdrawal of protests by farmers in the wake of the Farm Bills passed by the Central Government.
Trying to assuage the protesters, the CM said the interests of Dalits and tribals will be protected. “Even if you protest today, I ask you to come and discuss with us later. No irrigated land will be used for anything other than agriculture. No SC/ST land will be touched.”
He added, “I tried convincing protesters but they had their heart set on satyagraha.” He called for the protests to be withdrawn and claimed that the government has taken these decisions keeping the best interests of farmers in mind. Defending the new APMC law, Yediyurappa said, “Farmers can sell their crop anywhere where they get a good price, this is complete freedom to sell anywhere and this is what I have fought for many years. There was a time, if farmers sold in other districts, there were cases against them.”
“Due to this amendment, anyone can do agriculture. Where there is no use of agriculture, the land can be used for other purposes and people will get jobs. Keeping this in mind we have brought these Acts. In the coming days, I request farmer groups to not confuse farmers. Farmers, I am with you. Don’t encourage the protests,” the CM appealed on the new land reforms.
The call by farmer organizations for a state-wide bandh on Monday saw protest marches across the state.
As China has not deescalated tensions Ladakh and with the advent of winter, the Indian Army has deployed its T-90 and T-72 tanks along with BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), reportsANI.
The most important thing is these combat vehicles are capable of operating extremely cold in temperatures up to minus 40 degree Celsius. This is possible because they are Russian design and all Russian tanks are built to withstand the harsh winter.
#WATCH Indian Army deploys T-90 & T-72 tanks along with BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles that can operate at temperatures up to minus 40 degree Celsius, near Line of Actual Control in Chumar-Demchok area in Eastern Ladakh.
It was earlier reported that the Indian Army has received all-weather accommodation and multi-layered clothing in Ladakh to counter the harsh winter. Tents that has been purchased for the army consist of heaters, waterproof covers on the outside, and of an inside layer made of quilt to maintain warmth.
These tents also come with solar panels to provide electricity to the troops and keep our soldiers worm even in temperatures up to -50 degrees.
In another case of vandalism in the Southern state of Andhra Pradesh, miscreants yet to be identified attacked the idol of Nandi kept at the Abhaya Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Agara Mangalam village in Gangadhara Nellore Mandal of Chittoor district, the ANI reported.
According to the report, the Nandi idol in the temple was found broken near its pedestal on Sunday (27 September) morning.
Chittoor Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) K Eswar Reddy has formed three special teams to investigate the incident.
It was reported that the culprits might have vandalized in the hope of finding gold as rumours were going around that gold was kept under the idol.
Under the rule of Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, there is a rise on attacks on Hindu temples that have led to many Hindus to protest.
— भारत पुनरुत्थान – श्रीराम श्रीकृष्ण #शिवशक्ती (@punarutthana) September 27, 2020
Hindu temples are under siege in Andhra Pradesh, the land of Tirupati and Venkateshvara. Christian CM is not taking action. Conversion activity is increasing. Can this be tolerated? https://t.co/RYkHgSFscZ
In early September, a 62-year-old chariot of presiding deity Sri Lakshmi Narsimha was burnt in the famous pilgrim centre in East Godavari. In February miscreants using accelerant burnt down a chariot in Prasanna Venkateswara Temple in Nellore.
In 2018, when church was hit with stones in K'taka
Hindus & state BJP govt were insulted!
In 2015, when Church in Delhi was hit with stones
Hindus & Modi Govt were attacked!
But yesterday, 5th temple Andhra Pradesh attacked!
Also, idols of Sri Venu Gopala Swamy temple were destroyed in Rompicharla village in Guntur District and the idol of Sri Ganesha was reportedly stolen. Miscreants also reportedly desecrated many idols of Hindu god and goddesses in Pithapuram city in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh but no arrest has been made so far.
Pithapuram is one of the 18 Sakti Peethams and the goddess here is known as Puruhutika Devi.
There are many more such instances were Hindu temples have been desecrated in Andhra Pradesh under CM Y S Jaganmohan Reddy who has been accused of using the state machinery towards the evangelisation of Hindus of the state.
It seems like the DMK has found its new poster boy in IT entrepreneur Mr. Suresh Sambandam, to sell its old rotten stock about how it was because of the party and its brand of politics that Tamil Nadu’s economic and social development indices are ahead of other states in the country.
In his interview to Behindwoods Youtube channel with ‘Neeya Naana’ Gopinath, this man repeats the same half-truths and lies that has been peddled by the ‘Dravidian’ ideologues for years and because it comes from a seemingly apolitical person, people tend to buy this story.
However, the man is nothing more than a Murasoli reader who is wise enough to fabricate data in order to portray DMK as the pioneer of development politics.
In this article we bust some of the claims made by him in the interview that has been going viral.
#1
The title of the video “The rising Bill Gates from Tamil Nadu” is in itself laughable.
In the interview, both Gopinath and Suresh refer to the latter’s company as worth ₹1000 crores. Here are some numbers – Orangescape, which owns the product Kissflow was founded in 2003. It had a consolidated revenue of ₹28 crores for the financial year of 2019 and employs around 150 people despite doing business for close to two decades. If this gentleman is compared with Bill Gates, where would Shiv Nadar (Founder of HCL) or R.G. Chandramogan (Founder of Hatsun Agro Products) stand?
#2
Suresh Sambandam claims in the interview that Kamarajar defeated Rajaji in the Tamil Nadu Congress President elections. Listen to the video from 3:15.
The truth is that they never contested against each other. With this claim, Suresh Sambandham has exposed his shallow knowledge on history by confusing this election with the incident where Congress MLAs voted to elect the new Chief Minister after Rajaji’s resignation in 1954.
It was C. Subramaniam, who contested against Rajaji and that contest too was only a formality, as per Congress norms then. This information can be found in Rajmohan Gandhi’s book on Rajaji.
#3
He once again proved to be a reader of Murasoli by making absurd claims that it was Periyar who had asked Kamarajar to contest the Gudiyatham by-elections and that the latter won because Periyar had campaigned.
We don’t know from where Suresh Sambandam learnt history but here is the truth.
Gudiyatham was then a Congress stronghold. Before 1961, some Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies were marked as two member constituencies which were abolished through The Two- Member Constituencies (Abolition) Act, 1961. Back then, Gudiyatham was a 2 member constituency and both the MLAs elected in 1952 were from the Indian National Congress. Here is the data from Election Commission of India’s website.
One of the seats in Gudiyatham fell vacant and by-elections to it were conducted in 1954 in which Kamarajar decided to contest. Kothandaraman of Communist Party had contested against Kamaraj and lost with a margin of 38212 votes.
Periyar’s Dravida Kazhagam, had extended support to the Communists in the 1952 elections in order to defeat the Indian National Congress which it claimed was a Brahmin dominated party.
It must be noted that both the DMK and DK at that time were advocating secession from India and were dead against INC. But Periyar’s influence among voters at that point of time was negligible and Kamarajar was the tallest leader from Tamil Nadu in 1954.
To say that the powerful leader of ruling INC in Tamil Nadu won because of Periyar is as ridiculous as saying Karunanidhi won in Tiruvarur because of Veeramani’s campaigns.
Read some actual history Mr. Suresh Sambandham, not the ones getting churned at Periyar Thidal or Murasoli.
#4
Suresh claims that Tamil Nadu’s progress on social indicators is better than other states (read BJP ruled Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, etc).
In 1961, the literacy rate of Tamil Nadu was 36.39% and was already the 2nd highest in India. So, we were already ahead of the line. The DMK came to power for the first time only in 1967. Literacy rates of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 1961 were 20.87% and 21.95% respectively. During the past 50+ years, Tamil Nadu is only maintaining the lead to some extent. In fact, the incremental change in literacy percentage for the past 50 + years is 43.7% which is much lower than that of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar.
It is important to note that states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc has a much higher population than Tamil Nadu. Uttar Pradesh has thrice the population of Tamil Nadu, and for every 1 percentage increase, one needs to educate 3 times more people.
Also, just as Mr. Suresh says, literacy is not a good measure to evaluate educational achievement. According to Annual Status of Education Report 2018, only 40.7% of Class 5 children are able to read a simple story in Tamil that is of grade 2 level. This is much below the national average of 50.3%. In case of Uttar Pradesh, 52% of Class 5 children are able to read the same story in Hindi.
#5
Ever since the National Education Policy 2020 was rolled which states one of its objectives as increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of the country to 50% by 2025, the Dravidian chauvinists have been thumping their chests about how Tamil Nadu is 15 years ahead of rest of the country.
It is laudable that Tamil Nadu has a high GER. But it is just one of the parameters that talks about how many are currently enrolled in college education. However, the quality of the graduating students matter.
Tamil Nadu graduates lag behind their counter parts in the Hindi heartland states like UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand or even neighbouring states like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for that matter.
Take for instance the Civil Service Examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, a body that still holds the reputation of conducting recruitments in a non-partisan manner. In 2019, the all India first rank was secured by a candidate from Haryana while Uttar Pradesh produced the 3rd rank. The 7th rank was held by a person from Tamil Nadu and around 60 made it from the state of the 829 selected.
In 2018, the topper was from Rajasthan while in 2017 the all India first rank was from Telangana. During 2011-2015, Uttar Pradesh produced the largest number of candidates who cleared the civil service examinations. The arid state of Rajasthan comes second in the whole country when it comes to producing IAS officers. While one factor could be the population, a lot of people from these states aspire to be IAS officers and clear the exam. (Source: BYJU’S)
If one were to look at the list of toppers in CAT, it is even more disheartening. Only 1 person from Chennai featured in the 99.99% list. In terms of clearing engineering entrance exams like IITJEE, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana students steal the show.
All these states have a lesser GER % compared to Tamil Nadu. So, mere GER is irrelevant when most of those coming out turn out without relevant technical, logical and analytical skills to be employable. Tamil Nadu students are finding it difficult to compete with their counterparts in other states which is a structural flaw of the system here.
And look at the plight of the graduates in Tamil Nadu. This is what the high GER that has been achieved by opening up hundreds of substandard colleges has done.
#7
While Mr. Suresh Sambandam harps only on GER, there are several indicators in the same report he refers to, that shows states including Uttar Pradesh investing on education infrastructure and are even seen at a better position than Tamil Nadu today. (Source: AISHE)
#8
He says TN is the only state which has excelled in both social and economic parameters. Here is a look at socio economic indicators of some other states. (Source: Social Progress Index)
#9
One of the most absurd claim made by Suresh Sambandham is that when he likens Tamil Nadu to USA saying that the “Tamil region” has the maximum number of airports.
The fact is that there are only 2 only domestic and 3 international cum domestic airports in Tamil Nadu. Vellore airport has no scheduled flights. The one at Neyveli is non-operational and the other one is at Puducherry, a Union Territory.
Jharkhand (considered to be more backward than Tamil Nadu) has 3 domestic airports. Maharashtra has 15 (12 domestic and 3 international) airports, Gujarat has 4 domestic airports for commercial purposes and 3 international cum domestic airports. Karnataka has 6 domestic airports for commercial and 3 international airports. In Kerala, all 4 airports are international. (Source: List of Airports in India).
#10
Saving the best for the last – the claim of Tamil Nadu achieving a stupendous growth multiplier in the last 50 years (read Dravidian rule).
Dear Mr. Suresh Sambandham, Tamil Nadu has always been ahead of rest of the country for a long time in history. Especially during the British period, the development of Tamil Nadu (then Madras Presidency which included Andhra, parts of Karnataka, Kerala and extended upto Odisha) was as good as that of Bombay and Bengal Presidencies. But DMK sympathizers who are good at telling stories portray as if the state owes its growth to DMK.
Here are few numbers to put things in perspective.
The DMK sympathizers claim that the GDP of Tamil Nadu had grown from $0.34 billion in 1970 to $260 billion today, 764 times, while India grew only 47 times from $62 billion to $2.9 trillion. However, this is a totally flawed comparison. If in 1970 Tamil Nadu GDP was $0.34 billion and India’s GDP was $62 billion, Tamil Nadu’s share in Indian GDP turns out to be only 0.5% which cannot be the case.
Official statistics available with the Government of India show that in 1970-71, India’s GDP (at factor cost) was ₹44382 crores, while Tamil Nadu’s GDP was ₹2371 crores i.e., Tamil Nadu contributed 5.3% to India’s GDP.
Suresh has cleverly/ignorantly taken Tamil Nadu’s GDP at factor cost and India’s GDP at nominal value to draw comparisons. It is basic economics knowledge that one cannot compare GDP at factor cost with nominal GDP. (Once again, Mr. Suresh proves that he is a certified Murasoli reader.)
So, in essence, during the first 15 years of DMK rule, Bihar’s growth rate was slightly higher than that of Tamil Nadu. This seems to have continued until 2000.
The growth of Tamil Nadu post the 1990s has been due to the liberalization, privatization and globalisation reforms brought about by the Narasimha Rao government at the Centre. Thankfully, when India was liberalized the state was governed by AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa.
Seen in that light, all the southern states have grown since liberalization. The development of Tamil Nadu should not always be compared with other northern states simply because the southern states have had a geographical (coastline) and historical advantage.
It is to be noted that in the 100 years between 1920 and 2020, it was the AIADMK that has ruled for 30 years followed by the Indian National Congress which ruled for 25 years. The DMK and Justice Party ruled for 21 years and 17 years respectively.
However, the DMK and its stooges are now claiming the achievements of Kamarajar (INC) and Dr. MG Ramachandran (AIADMK) to themselves as if Tamil Nadu people are indebted to the party that is synonymous with corruption.
It is good that we serve as a benchmark for several states. But one should not boast about oneself and demean the efforts of others. Tamil Nadu should be looking up to European and Scandinavian countries and not look back to see how far we are ahead of other states.
It is not to say that nothing happened during the DMK rule. Yes, every government had contributed its fair share to the state’s prosperity. But to peddle a narrative that DMK was the saviour is just humbug.
West Bengal’s Minister Of Education Partha Chatterjee said on Sunday that undergraduate classes will be starting from November for first-year college students following the end of the admission process by October. Speaking about this, Chatterjee said that this decision had been taken after an online meeting with vice-chancellors of state universities.
“It has been decided that the new academic year will begin in December. Till November there are several festivals. After Durga Puja in October, there is Kali Puja, Diwali, Bhai Dooj, Chhat Puja and Milad un-Nabi. So there is no point in starting the academic year from November and then observe so many holidays on account of these festivals. Therefore, it is ideal to commence the new academic year from December,” Chatterjee told reporters.
The Minister also added that he has written to the UGC to start the new academic year from December. This comes after the recent notice by it, stating that classes should resume on November 1.
Notably, this is only for Undergraduate courses, as admissions for postgraduate courses are slated to take place until the end of November. Furthermore, close to 80% of seats in postgraduate courses are to be reserved for students who had completed their graduation in an affiliated college of that same University or that institute itself.
Hundreds of footprints dating back to 120,000 years ago have been found in Saudi Arabia, and it is suspected to be the earliest evidence of the existence of mankind. According to a new study in Science Advances, these footprints have been suspected to point to the earliest evidence of human movement into the region.
Researchers had found hundreds of these fossilized footprints while investigating the site of an ancient lake in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert. These had been exposed by means of sediment erosion.
There were about 376 ancient fossils that were found around Alathar Lake, of which a major portion belonged to horses, camels and elephants. Notably, elephant had gone extinct in this region about 400 thousand years ago. along with these researchers were surprised to discover seven “homin” footprints, which could possibly mean that this would be the earliest dated evidence of humans in the Arabian Peninsula.
Fossil and archeological records show that these conditions aided human migration from Africa to the Levant, researchers said. After studying the footfalls, experts believe the dense concentration of tracks suggests animals gathered around the lake as a result of dry conditions and diminishing water, while humans could have used the area for water and foraging.
In a move that China may not have expected, India has deployed BrahMos and Nirbhay cruise missiles and Akash surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in eastern Ladakh in case it launches a surprise attack, the Hindustan Timesreported.
The decision to deploy such weapons platform was taken after the Chinese deployments of stand-off weapons with the range of 2,000 kilometers on the Tibetan Plateau.
As per reports a sufficient number of the 500 km-range BrahMos cruise missile has been deployed Ladakh Sector and with that range, it can easily hit People’s Liberation Army (PLA) camps and air bases in the region if India is attacked.
BrahMos is a supersonic missile with the ability to evade enemy defences and can carry a 300 kg warhead on its target. The BrahMos missiles can also be fired from the air towards Chinese targets will within within Indian air space.
India has already test-fired this platform from Su-30MKI fighters of the Indian Air Force, modified to carry the air-launched version of the cruise missile.
The Nirbhay cruise missiles have a range of about 1,000 kilometres with the ability to skim and loiter near its target or can go round a target and perform several manoeuvres and then re-engage it. The Nirbhay missile can fly as low as 100 meters above and it is also able to pick out a target and attack it among multiple targets.
The Akash SAMs, are meant to target incoming threat from the air and has a range of 40. It is being deployed to protect our military installations and bases in the Ladakh region from enemy drones, helicopters and fighter aircraft.
For years, China has developed its infrastructure near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and only after the advent of the Modi government, India started working on developing its logistic in this region.
The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAF) has deployed a large number of fighters and helicopters in the region and have built reinforced concrete shelters for its fighters that were previously not available for its air bases on the Tibetan Plateau.
However, this time China will be facing a very determined opponent in the form of India. The Indian military has a lot of experience in operating in such harsh conditions which the Chinese don’t. The Indian soldiers have been given the state of the art winter gear to counter temperatures that can go to minus 50-degree celsius.
A pregnant woman from Malappuram district in Kerala lost her unborn twins on Sunday after she had been turned away by three hospitals. They had died following an emergency c-section.
20-year-old Shahala had recovered from coronavirus and had been discharged on September 15. She had contracted labour pain on September 26 and been taken to Manjeri Medical College hospital, where she had been refused treatment because she had previously been diagnosed with coronavirus. She had gone to other private hospitals following who had also refused treatment.
Her husband Shareef told the media that the hospital turned them away stating that they only treat coronavirus positive patients. She was later referred to the Kottaparambu government hospital in Kozhikode. When the couple reached the Kottaparambu hospital on Saturday afternoon, they were reportedly told that there were no doctors at the gynaecology department and were asked to go to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital.
“Can you imagine the pain when the amniotic sac is ruptured and water flows and the hospital still refuses treatment asking, “are you a COVID patient?”. All of this my wife had to endure. We didn’t even get justice from a government hospital. We had to travel hours together to get my wife, who was 9 months pregnant, admitted to a hospital. This did not happen in Uttar Pradesh. It happened in Malappuram and Kozhikode,” NC Shareef stated in a social media post.
Health Minister KK Shailaja has assured that proper action will be taken against the hospitals that had denied treatment, adding that alleged lapses from any hospital will be probed.
