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AP is going to set up Drone Corporation

HYDERABAD: A Drone Corporation has been planned to set up by the government of Andhra Pradesh under the name ‘Board 4.0’. The cabinet meet that has been scheduled at Vijayawada on Thursday will be taking a decision on the matter. The government of the state will be allotting RS 50 Crore as corpus for the board, which would have a chief executive officer and other staff. Drone cameras, CCTVs, and required software and hardware will be purchased by the board. The state will be using the drones to study the position of the crop as well as the water levels in reservoirs and will be supplying them on a rental basis for some private functions so as to regulate their usage.

PO will not apply to B-category seats: HC

  HYDERABAD: On Wednesday, Hyderabad High Court’s division bench stated that the article 371 D of the Presidential Order of the Indian constitution will not be applied to B-category seats in private colleges that offer BDS and MBBS courses. The bench comprising Justice V Ramasurbramanian and Justice Anis rejected the pleas of the several students who objected the Association of Private Medical Managements’ decision. The associations affirmed that the management quota seats would be filled on merit basis according to rank obtained in NEET and any student from India can apply for these seats.

Navjot singh sidhu does a U turn; says open to alliance

“Aawaze Punjab” forum welcomes any alliance for the betterment of Punjab and will not be a political party", said Navjot Singh Sidhu making a big u turn on the turn of events in Punjab politics. Navjot Singh Sidhu, who recently launched a forum called the Awaaz-e-Punjab, has abandoned the idea of following through with a new political party to contest the Punjab elections, leading to speculation about a renewal of negotiations with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party. Mr Sidhu said in a press release today that he is inviting parties to ally with his forum, which he emphasised is not political, "for the betterment of Punjab". According to a reports sources close to Sidhu have said that the cricketer-turned-politician is not interested in contesting polls as he does not want to divide the "anti-incumbency" vote. Rather, Sidhu, according to the news channel, is interested in looking at a pre-poll alliance with parties contesting the Punjab poll. “Our battle is to shake the system that has ruined Punjab. Politics is not a profession but a mission. There is no personal or political vendetta, just a burning desire to place Punjab ahead of us and reinforce the positive forces,” he said. The cricketer-turned politician claimed that the launch of the Aawaaz-e-Punjab has had a “rousing response” in the state.

Kejriwal named in FIR; Targets Modi again

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is back in Delhi after undergoing a surgery in Bengaluru is back at targeting Modi. Kejriwal on Wednesday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his name was included in a FIR regarding alleged illegalities in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). “Don’t know why my name is in the FIR,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader told reporters here. “Without the Prime Minister’s approval, a Chief Minister’s name doesn’t comes in an FIR.” he said. "My role has not been mentioned even once in the FIR (First Information Report)." he added. The AAP chief also distributed copies of the FIR which named him along with DCW chief Swati Maliwal as “known/suspected/unknown accused”. Maliwal was on Monday booked by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi government on charges of alleged irregularities in recruitment in the women’s panel. Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia alleged that it is an attempt to “destabilise” the Delhi government. The FIR was registered on a complaint by former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh. ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena had said a case under sections 13(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC was registered against Maliwal.

PM's residence gets a new address in Delhi

The landmark 7 RCR, the official address of India’s Prime Minister, is history. The Race Course Road, where the Prime Minister’s official residence is located, was on Wednesday renamed Lok Kalyan Marg after a heated debate in the NDMC council meeting attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi among others. Lekhi who represents New Delhi constituency in Parliament proposed to change the name to Lok Kalyan Marg instead of Ekatma Marg which she had proposed earlier. The British-era RaceCourse Road was named after the Delhi race course, part of the Delhi Race Club, which was established in 1940. This is the second road in the Lutyens’ zone of Delhi to be renamed in recent times. In August last year, Aurangzeb Road in central Delhi was renamed Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in honour of the late President. AAP had, however, opposed the move to rename Race Course Road as Ekatma Marg and had demanded that it be rechristened after a martyr. The BJP pitched for the new name as a middle path after Mr Kejriwal came up with his own suggestion - Guru Gobind Singh Marg. "Many Sikh delegations came to me, but the majority in the meeting were in favour of Lok Kalyan Marg, Mr Kejriwal said.

Google launches whatsApp like messaging app 'Allo'

  Google has launched its latest mobile chat app, Allo, and with it Google Assistant – a chatbot that can be used in online conversations with friends. To counter the likes of Whatsapp and Hike Messenger, technology giant Google has launched its own version of a messaging app. Allo is the part of communication platform made in conjunction with Google Duo. Duo was releasedsome time back by the company, and it focused on video whereas Google Allo is focused on text communication along with sending media such as photos, audio messages, stickers and locations. Google Assistant is the next evolution of the search company’s efforts with Android’s Now on Tap, natural language search and voice assistant features.   The company says it will learn from your day-to-day activities and improve its suggestions, in the same way Google Now currently does within the Google search app on the iPhone and built-in to Android. Allo has features such as smart reply, options for sharing photos, emojis and stickers. Google Allo will also introduce users to Google Assistant, in a preview edition. "Now users no longer need to leave a conversation with friends just to grab an address, or share a YouTube video, or pick a dinner spot. Chat with your Assistant one-on-one in Google Allo to answer questions, or type @google to bring the Assistant into your chats with friends, whenever you need it," said the statement. 

Merger of rail budget with union budget approved

  The 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget has finally come to an end.  The Union Cabinet on Wednesday has approved scrapping of separate Railway Budget and merging it with the General Budget. The unanimous decision – to scrap over nine-decade old tradition of separate Railway Budget - was taken after Finance Ministry had proposed to restructure the entire budgetary system. This is the second major shift in the schedule of the budget by a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. The previous NDA government, under prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001, changed the time of presenting the budget to 11am, from the British era practice of presenting it at 5pm. "We are merging the union budget with the Railway budget. There will be only one budget.   The functional autonomy of the Railway to be maintained," Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. He said, "Debroy panel had recommended merger of Rail with general budget." Jaitley said the Cabinet has also in principle agreed to advance the date of presentation of the general budget to make sure the budget is passed by Parliament by 31 March, before the new financial year begins on 1 April. He added that the Cabinet has deferred a final decision on the date of presentation to a later day. “A final call on the actual date of the budget presentation will be taken after consultations depending on the calendar of state assembly elections next year.”

TRS didn’t fulfill any promises: Uttam

  HYDERABAD: On Tuesday, TPCC president, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi had not fulfilled any promises that had been made by the party after it came into power, adding that, water grid and irrigation projects were taken up only for commission and not for the people.  Uttam alleged that, the government doesn’t have money to waive of the farmers’ loans, to reimburse students’ fee and Arogya Sri, and to pay the coolies under MGREGS, but, thousands of crores were given to Water Grid and irrigation projects. The TPCC president in a training class that has been conducted for the workers of the party also said, “After coming into power in the 2019 elections, congress will undo the wrongs that are being committed by the TRS”.

TG received 92k objections on new districts

  HYDERABAD: Over 92, 513 objections as well as suggestions have been received by the government of Telangana on the creation of the new revenue divisions, mandals and districts. An exclusive grievances system, following the demands and outbreak of the protests in Telangana state, had been introduced by the government of TG so as to receive suggestions and objections on the reorganization of the new districts. 52,023 of 92, 513 objections and suggestions were related to the formation of new districts, 21, 120 were related to the creation of the new division and 18, 939 were related to the reorganization of the mandals. Highest suggestions and objections were received from Nalgonda District. Of 15, 344 suggestions received from Nalgonda 14, 020 were related to Yadadri District.

Tribute was paid to Bojja Tarakam by HC

HYDERABAD: On Tuesday, rich tributes were paid to the activist and the lawyer Bojja Tarakam by the Bench and the Bar of the Hyderabad High Court. The eminent lawyer passed away on 16th of September and the bench on this context said that, that was not only a loss to his family members but also to the judiciary. In the afternoon, in order to pay homage, the Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan, judges and legal fraternity members assembled in the First court. The services that were rendered by Tarakam to the society as well as the Judiciary were recalled and two minutes of silence as a mark of respect was maintained by the people who assembled.

Vishakapatnam is the richest city in AP

  HYDERABAD: Assembly constituency of Gajuwaka in the district of Vishakapatnam has a per capita income of RS 2, 64,332. It has transpired into the richest among all the segments of the assembly in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The government of Andhra Pradesh, in order to sketch the development strategies at the assembly segment level, has recently estimated the average per capita income of all the 175 constituencies of the assembly and according to estimation, Vishakapatnam District secured first place with RS 1, 24,172 and Krishna district secured second place with RS 1, 22, 773.

KCR failed to introduce welfare schemes

  HYDERABAD: On Tuesday, Digvijay Singh, the general secretary of AICC said that the Chief Minister of Telangana i.e., K Chandra Shekar Rao was good at planning corruption, but was not good at planning the welfare schemes for the poor. Mr. Singh said, “The government of TRS is not planning any schemes for the development at village, mandal or district level, but CM KCR came up with water grid so that avenues for thousands of crores are opened”. Adding that the costs of the project were escalated to receive huge kickbacks, Digvijay Singh asked the CM to inform the status of the Intensive Household Survey which the state government conducted after coming into power.

US lawmakers move bill to term Pak a terrorist state

  In a huge setback for the Pakistan government, US lawmakers have introduced legislation in the US Congress to designate Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism. This comes at a time just ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's speech before the UN General Assembly. The bill was moved by Congressman Ted Poe from Texas, who is the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California, who is a strong votary of the Baloch cause. In a statement on Tuesday announcing the bill, Poe said, ''Not only is Pakistan an untrustworthy ally, Islamabad has also aided and abetted enemies of the United States for years. From harboring Osama bin Laden to its cozy relationship with the Haqqani network , there is more than enough evidence to determine whose side Pakistan is on in the War on Terror.   And it's not America's'', he also added, ''It is time we stop paying Pakistan for its betrayal and designate it for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism".""Pakistan's reckless behavior in this regard is a serious security risk to its neighbors - and India unfortunately pays the price all too often. We condemn this tragic attack, as well as Pakistan's support for many criminals like the ones who carried it out, and stand firm in our commitment to our friends in India," Poe said. This is the first time in many years that there is talk of formally designating Pakistan a terrorist state. Such a measure was last discussed in 1993 after Pakistan engineered the Mumbai serial blast through Dawood Ibrahim, killing 259 people in a terrorist attack that was a precursor to many such attacks across the world, including in New York, London, and Madrid.

Amar Singh made SP National General Secretary

Samajwadi Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav appointed Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh as party’s national general secretary, on Tuesday. The "outsider" Singh's re-induction into the party was opposed by Mulayam's son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. "You have been appointed general secretary of Samajwadi Party. I hope in the coming days you will strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections," Mulayam said in a handwritten letter to Amar. The brief letter in Hindi signed by Mulayam on his Lok Sabha letter head was sent to media from state SP chief Shivpal Yadav's official e-mail id. Holding Singh responsible for the feud within the SP, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had recently said that “outsiders” have been interfering in party affairs. Singh, however, denied that Akhilesh’s barb was directed at him, saying that the chief minister was like a son to him and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav his brother. Singh was brought back into the party fold and was elevated to the Rajaya Sabha after spending six years in political wilderness. He had a falling out Mulayam Singh and was expelled from the party. Singh formed his own party and fielded candidates in all constituencies in the 2012 state assembly elections.

USDA’s FAS is set to organize a trade expo

  HYDERABAD: Adam Branson, a representative from US agriculture department said that, the country imported nearly $4.1 billion and exported $1.3 million worth food and agricultural products from and to India respectively during the year 2015. In order to boost the exports of the country in the current year, the Foreign Agricultural Service of USDA is planning to organize a Table Top Trade Exhibition on Wednesday at Hyderabad.  According to a press report released by USDA, customer oriented and high value food products like tree nuts, peanut-based snacks, peas and lentil, and barbeque sauces would be displayed at the event and the visitors would get to taste many of the products as well as delicacies made from these ingredients.

‘People are being misled by Congress’

  HYDERABAD: On Monday, T Harish Rao, the Irrigation Minister of Telangana government said that, for any losses suffered by the farmers who are being misled with regard to the land acquisition of the government, the opposition parties must be prepared to be held responsible. Mr. Harish also said that, the farmers were voluntarily coming forward to register their land in favor of the government for construction of Mallannasagar reservoir, adding that, the Congress party had approached the court only with the intention of misleading the farmers with the promises of better compensation.

UG must reconstitute KWMB committee: TG CM

  HYDERABAD: Union Government was asked by K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, to reconstitute the Krishna Water Management Board committee that has been appointed to determine the share of water between TG and AP. On Monday, a letter has been reportedly written to the Union water resources minister Uma Bharti by the Chief Minister, in which he said that no prior consultation had been taken with the government of Telangana on the committee’s composition and instructed that the members of it should not be involved with the projects and activities of one of the member states.

Grant permission to B.Ed. colleges: HC

HYDERABAD: Telangana state government has been directed by the Hyderabad High Court to grant permission to the B.Ed. colleges, which have been set up by the claimants, under Section 20 Telangana Education Act, 1982. Justice MS Ramachandra Rao said that, the government of the state has no power to reject the prayer of an institution for grant of permission or overrule the decision of National Council for Teachers Education, adding that, once NCTE had granted permission, it was deemed and implied that the institution was recognized.

TG and AP must give clarity on MBBS seats

  HYDERABAD: On Tuesday, Hyderabad High Court must be informed by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana whether their governments would allot the MBBS seats in private colleges to the students from the other states or not. The students from both the states have filed cases complaining that MBBS the seats in B category were being allotted by the managements of the private colleges to those who were not from AP and TG. Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice Anis will be hearing the arguments of the cases that have been filed by the students in this regard on Tuesday. According to article 371 D of the constitution of India and Presidential order, all the seats must be allotted only to the students of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.