IIT councelling from June 17th
Saturday, May 31, 2008

PV: The counselling for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will be conducted from June 17 to 21. All candidates, declared qualified in the examination, will be called for counselling and the courses allocated will be declared on June 30.

IIT-JEE 2008 Results: Andhra gets top ranks

PV: The number of candidates who appeared for this IIT-JEE 2008 exam has increased by nearly 28 per cent. Of the total number of candidates who qualified for the exam 1,078 candidates are from Narayana Group, 733 from Sri Chaitanya and 118 from Ramaiah. Students of Sri Chaitanya also secured 13th, 15th, 17th, 26th, 27th, 32nd, 35th and 39th ranks, while students of Ramaiah coaching centre secured 36th, 37th, 38th, 49th, 70th and 74th ranks.

Telangana: Gulf calling
Friday, May 30, 2008

PV: Thousands of people in the Telangana region woke up to phone calls from their kith and kin abroad urging them to go and vote for the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Most of the calls were from the Gulf and all are sympathisers of the TRS and Telangana. About 2.4 lakh people belonging to 10 Telangana districts are presently working in the Gulf.

Telugu boards are mandatory

PV: 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.

TV Campaign: YSR on Ramoji path

PV: Recall the famous slogan in Ads 'Margadarsi Todunte Aanandam Mee Ventey'. Now the slogan was made a parody as 'Congress Todunte Aanandam Mee Ventey'. The Ads are now rolling on TV screens and catching the attention of people. The Ads are made in very good standards unlike previous years. From background score to the angle of camera, everything is dealt in modern fashion.

Everything ready for Chiranjeevi party

PV: Chiru is coming with his party within 10-15 days....These days there is a lot of activity happening at the Geetha Arts office of Allu Aravind. The office is located at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad. The construction of the party office building is progressing at a brisk pace near this place. Every day thousands of supporters are gathering at the place from all over the state and they are seen spending time in the tents put up there.

Railway passengers in trouble
Thursday, May 29, 2008

PV: The activists of CPM stopped the Yeshwanthpur-Howrah Express at the railway station at Vizag putting the passengers at inconvenience for more than an hour. They organised the rail-roko programme in protest against the State's decision to shift the proposed establishment of Central University at Vizag to Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy's native district Kadapa.

Central University will be setup in Vizag: Purandareswari

PV: Putting an end to the controversy and apprehensions over the establishment of the Central University in Vizag as proposed earlier, the Union minister of state for human resources development, Ms Daggupati Purandareswari, said in Visakhapatnam that the varsity will be setup in the Vizag only. Talking to reporters, the Union minister said that the university will not be shifted to Kadapa which was speculated due to the announcement by the chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education, Prof. K.C. Reddy, stating that sufficient land was not available here to establish the university.

Minister inaugurates Tsunami houses

PV: The minister for women and child welfare, Ms Nedurumalli Rajyalakshmi, has said that the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, was committed to the construction of houses for all and has been giving financial assistance for it.

NDA returning to power: Venkayya

PV: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, expressed confidence in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) returning to power and the disappearance of the Third Front in the coming months. He said that 30 years of hard work by party cadres, projecting chief ministerial candidates besides promises like Rs 2kg rice and internet facility to every panchayat, had contributed to the BJP victory.

35 thousand new posts in Police department

PV: Minister for agriculture, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, said that law and order in the state was satisfactory under the leadership of Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. Speaking at the inaugural function of a traffic police station, Mr Raghuveera Reddy appreciated police for their commitment to keep law and order intact. He also praised them for their social service. The minister congratulated them for providing free mid-day meals to Intermediate students in Amarapuram. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said the government would issue a notification to fill 35,000 vacancies in the police department in the state.

High security suites for PM, VP and President

PV: Exclusive high-security suites for the President, Prime Minister and Vice President are being built in the Raj Bhavan guest house at a cost of Rs 3 crore. They are being designed in such a way that snipers won't be able to target the occupants from nearby high-rises. The Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence), Mr Aravinda Rao, has cleared the construction in Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Governor, Mr N.D. Tiwari. Lack of fortified places to put up visiting VVIPs has always troubled the police and the new suites will solve this problem. The state government has released Rs 3 crore for building the suites and the secretary to the Governor has requested administrative sanction for taking up construction worth Rs 16.22 crore in the Raj Bhavan premises.

EC files complaint against CM

PV: : The Election Commission ordered the filing of a complaint against the AP Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, for addressing a media conference after the end of the campaign period for the May 29 bypolls. Addressing a media conference after the end of the campaign period violates Section 126 of the Representation of People Act, the EC said.

APSRTC services crossed 70% OR
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

PV: The APSRTC has insufficient number of buses in their fleet. The existing fleet of 19,672 is not enough to cater to the needs of more than one crore passengers everyday. The occupancy ratio in RTC services has crossed 70 per cent as people are forced to travel in the jam-packed buses.

Telangana bypoll: I.V.Subba Rao code of conduct

PV: The soft-spoken chief electoral officer, Mr I V Subba Rao, may not be a temperamental Mr T N. Seshan, but he certainly sent shivers down the spine of political leaders and parties in the state. Strict curbs on poll expenditure and implementation of the model code of conduct forced political parties to avoid rubbing the Election Commission on the wrong side and in the process created a colourless campaign, restricted mostly to public meetings, rallies and media campaign.

Bypoll tomorrow: Exams postponed

PV: Osmania University has postponed the engineering and MCA exams that were to be conducted this week in view of the impending bypolls. The examinations are now scheduled to be held next month. The exams for first, second and final year BE students will commence from June 18. "The exams are postponed as a precautionary measure," said Prof. R. Nageshwara Rao, the controller of examinations, Osmania University.

CBSE Results: Army school student gets 96.2%

PV: Sarvesh Kumar of Army School, R.K. Puram, Secunderabad, secured 96.2 per cent marks in Class X exams of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the results of which were announced in Chennai. He is believed to be the top scorer from AP. Another girl from the same school, Alankrita Taneja, secured 96 per cent marks.

Highway deaths touched alarming levels

PV: National and state highways in Andhra Pradesh have turned into virtual death traps with thousands of people losing their lives every year. With officials neglecting the urgent need to repair and widen the roads, vehicles are also suffering wear and tear after trundling over potholes. The situation is the same in all three regions — Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana — and the number of accidents have now touched alarming levels.

Gas companies to hike prices
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

PV: Oil marketing companies have increased the deposit amount for releasing new domestic gas connections to consumers. A consumer seeking a new gas connection now has to pay Rs 1,250 as deposit and Rs 150 for the regulator. Earlier, it was Rs 850 and Rs 100. The oil companies have instructed all LPG dealers to collect the revised deposit with immediate effect. The companies, which are facing a financial crunch due to the surge in global crude oil prices, are adopting new techniques to cut losses.

Bye Elections: Hema Malini in Hyderabad for BJP

PV: The 'dream girl' of yesteryears, Ms Hema Malini, reenacted Basanti of Sholay, not on a tonga but on a truck converted into a ratham (chariot) on Monday to charm the voters of Musheerabad Assembly constituency. "I remember the shoot of the Sholay where I drove a tonga. This shaky truck brought back the memories," she remarked while addressing a whistle stop meeting at Kavadiguda.