Telangana govt asked to release funds for GRMB by Jal Shakti ministry
Hyderabad: Post the Centre’s proposal to wind up the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) citing lack of funds, union Jal Shakti ministry secretary Pankaj Kumar on Friday wrote a letter to Telangana chief secretary Santhi Kumari, requesting that the required funds be released.\
Pankaj Kumar said that the GRMB had approved a budget of Rs 10 crore for the financial year 2022-23 and Rs 16 crore for the current financial year 2023-24.
On the other hand, the Godavari management board has reported that no fund has been released from the state governments with regard to the previous and as well as current financial year and the board is utilizing its reserve fund to meet all expenses required for the discharge of its functions.
“The reserve funds are almost exhausted by now,” Pankaj Kumar wrote in his letter.
He further mentioned Clause 1(m) of the Gazette Notification issued in July 2021 in his letter and recalled that Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are responsible for any unwanted consequences in projects as they are still delaying the release of funds.
Requesting that funds may be released to GRMB immediately by the state, Pankaj Kumar said that the functioning of the board is being affected adversely.
Additionally, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) also called out to the Centre on the state government’s delay in releasing funds.
A UN body has declared that the detention of a long-term Guantánamo inmate, Abu Zubaydah, has no lawful basis and called for his immediate release, warning that the systemic deprivation of liberty at the camp may “constitute crimes against humanity”.
The UN working group on arbitrary detention (UNWGAD), also declared the UK, among other countries, was “jointly responsible for the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Mr Zubaydah” over his more than 20 years in detention.
The UNWGAD finding released on Friday specifically addresses the case of Zubaydah, a 52-year-old Palestinian captured in Pakistan in March 2002, and held and tortured in a series of CIA black sites, before being transferred to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp in 2006. The US initially claimed he was “number three” in al-Qaida but later conceded he was not a member at all.
The finding went further to address detention at Guantánamo in general, and “expresses grave concern about the pattern that all these cases follow and recalls that, under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity”.
The UN working group is a quasi-judicial body, issuing legal judgments on behalf of the international community, but they are not binding, nor does it have the power to enforce its findings. It is made up of five legal experts from around the world: the current panel consists of lawyers, law professors and former judges drawn from Malaysia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Ecuador and Zambia.
Abu Zubaydah. Photograph: AP
Friday marks the first time an international body has referred to the 21-year-old prison camp as a potential crime against humanity, the first time such a body has ruled against the US for Abu Zubaydah’s detention, and the first international case finding against the UK, Morocco, Thailand and Afghanistan, all of whom are deemed complicit in arbitrary detention, rendition and torture.
The decision also found Pakistan, Poland and Lithuania to be part responsible: Pakistan for participation in his arrest and rendition, and Poland and Lithuania for hosting black sites. The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled against Poland and Lithuania for their participation in the web of secret detention facilities and rendition flights.
Helen Duffy, Zubaydah’s international legal representative, who runs a Hague-based legal group, Human Rights in Practice, said: “Today’s decision is a powerful reminder of the complete unlawfulness of Guantánamo, and our client’s situation in particular.”
“The UK has been found legally responsible for ‘complicity’ in our client’s torture and ongoing unlawful detention, and reparations should follow,” Duffy said. “This can include offers of relocation, recognition and apology, rehabilitation and compensation.”
She added: “We need to reckon with the fact that the ‘war on terror’, as waged for 20 years, has failed. But we cannot pretend to learn lessons from it while perpetuating its most notorious wrongs.”
There are 30 inmates left at the Guantánamo camp, of which only one has been convicted of a crime; 10 are involved in military tribunal proceedings, although in most cases, the trials have not even started; 16 have been recommended for a transfer to another country, pending security guarantees; and the Biden administration has been in quiet negotiations with foreign governments to persuade them to accept transferred inmates.
Zubaydah is one of three “forever prisoners” who have not been charged and not been recommended for transfer.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Hyderabad: BJP leader K Laxman on Friday found fault with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for allegedly not responding to the release of former Bihar MP Anand Mohan Singh, who was convicted in the 1994 murder of an IAS officer from Telangana.
The Rajya Sabha MP termed as ‘shameful’ Rao not responding to the Bihar government’s decision to release the convict in the killing of G Krishnaiah, who hailed from Mahabubnagar.
Laxman, who is also National President of BJP’s OBC Morcha, said intellectuals, Dalit associations and all those who want democracy to triumph should condemn the decision of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The former chief of BJP Telangana unit, in a tweet, sought to know whether Chandrasekhar Rao would still be politically friendly with Nitish Kumar.
Reacting to the release of Anand Mohan, Laxman said, “I strongly, condemn the release of Anand Mohan who was sentenced to life imprisoned for the murder of Bihar IAS officer G Krishnaiah who hails from the Dalit community in Telangana.”
“Will KCR still be politically friendly with Nitish Kumar now or will he stand with the Krishnaiah’s family to ensure justice for the brave son of Telangana?,” he asked in a tweet.
Gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, who was serving a life sentence, was released from Saharsa jail in Bihar on Thursday morning after being behind bars for 15 years.
The former Bihar MP was released under a jail sentence remission order after the Nitish Kumar government’s recent amendment of prison rules which allowed the early release of 27 convicts, including him.
Singh was convicted for his role in the 1994 murder of the then Gopalganj collector G Krishnaiah during the funeral procession of Muzaffarpur gangster Chotan Shukla.
Hyderabad: Slamming the Nitish Kumar government for release of former MP Anand Mohan Singh who was convicted for his role in the murder of IAS officer G Krishnaiah in Bihar, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday demanded that the State government withdraw its decision.
He asked whether Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is visiting other States in the country claiming himself to be the Prime Ministerial candidate, would give the message that his government has released a man who is convicted for the murder of a Dalit officer. Krishnaiah hailed from Telangana.
Gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, who was serving a life sentence, was released from Saharsa jail in Bihar today after being behind the bars for 15 years.
Owasi described the Bihar government’s decision to release Singh as the murder of Krishnaiah for the “second time”.
It is regrettable that the IAS Officers’ Association in Bihar is silent on the issue, Owaisi said while addressing mediapersons here.
He asked as to why the prison rules have been amended to release one person.
The AIMIM president said he hopes that Nitish Kumar who used to claim that he would not compromise on corruption and criminal justice would rethink on his decision.
Owaisi said a wrong message is being given to the weaker sections, especially Dalits, and to public servants in the State with the government’s move. “We demand that the Bihar government withdraw its decision,” he said.
The government’s decision shows that the parties in power release such people from prisons for their political benefit whether it is BJP government in Gujarat or Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, he claimed.
Saying that Krishnaiah’s wife stands alone today seeking justice for the murder of her husband, he said where is the social justice that Nitish Kumar and RJD talk about.
When asked that no major political party in Bihar appears to be voicing opposition to the move, he alleged that the upper caste MPs in BJP are not opening their mouth. “What was done in the case of Bilkis Bano, you have done the same thing here by letting off the killers of Krishnaiah,” he said.
Singh was released under a jail sentence remission order after the State government’s recent amendment of prison rules which allowed the early release of 27 convicts, including him.
The former MP was convicted for his role in the 1994 murder of the then Gopalganj Collector Krishnaiah during the funeral procession of Muzaffarpur gangster Chotan Shukla.
Owaisi said he would visit Uttar Pradesh in connection with the local body polls where his party is contesting.
When French Polynesia was overrun by the invasive African giant land snail, another alien species, the predatory rosy wolf snail, was introduced to solve the problem.
Unfortunately the rosy wolf snail devoured tiny, endemic partula snails instead, hunting down the scent of their slime trails at three times the speed of a normal snail.
But the extinction-threatened partula snails are now inching back to health thanks to the largest ever release of an “extinct in the wild” species, with more than 5,000 of the snails returning to the island after being bred in captivity.
Thousands of partula snails belonging to 11 different species have been reared at London and Whipsnade zoos, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and Saint Louis Zoo in the United States, individually marked with a dot of red UV-reflective paint, and released on to the islands of Moorea and Tahiti.
The paint ensures the 1 to 2cm-long nocturnal snail will glow under UV torchlight to help conservationists monitor the growing populations.
More than 5,000 of the snails have been returned to the islands after being bred in captivity. Photograph: ZSL
Dr Paul Pearce-Kelly, curator of invertebrates at ZSL and coordinator of the partula conservation programme, said: “Despite their small size these snails are of great cultural, ecological and scientific importance – they’re the Darwin’s finches of the snail world, having been researched for more than a century due to their isolated habitat providing the perfect conditions to study evolution.
“This collaborative conservation initiative is, without a doubt, helping to bring these species back from the brink of extinction and shows the conservation power of zoos to reverse biodiversity loss.”
The last few surviving individuals of several partula species were rescued in the early 1990s by London and Edinburgh zoos to begin an international conservation breeding programme across 15 zoos.
Eleven species have been saved, including the very last known individual of the Partula taeniata sumulans variety, which was given to Edinburgh zoo in 2010 where it was bred back to a safe level of several hundred.
Another partula species, Partula faba, wasn’t so lucky and the nine individuals taken to Edinburgh zoo did not breed successfully in captivity and the species became extinct in 2016.
Working with the French Polynesian government to prepare the islands for their return with predator-proof snail reserves, the zoos began to fly snails back to the wild nine years ago.
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Since then, more than 21,000 partula snails, including 11 species classified as “extinct in the wild” by the IUCN Red List of endangered species, have been released on the islands. This year’s reintroduction was the largest number so far.
Partula snails, also known as Polynesian tree snails, play an important role in maintaining tropical forest health by eating decaying plant tissue and fungi. Returning them to the wild helps restore the ecological balance to the islands.
Christophe Brocherieux, project manager for the Polynesian government’s environment ministry, said: “We are proud to be partners in this programme, which highlights the importance of not being discouraged and of persevering to realise successful outcomes for all our conservation projects.”
Mollusc specialist Dr Justin Gerlach of Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, and another collaborator on the project, said: “The releases have shown that partula snails that have been bred in zoos for generations have adapted really well to being back in the forests of their ancestors.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Hyderabad: Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Smita Sabharwal has requested the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of India to intervene in the release of convicts involved in the killing of IAS officer G. Krishnaiah in Bihar.
Smita, who is secretary to the Telangana chief minister, on Wednesday, expressed solidarity with the family of Krishnaiah.
“Sometimes one wonders if being a civil servant is worth it. Request the SC and CJI to intervene,” tweeted Smita, who is known for expressing her views on burning issues.
She retweeted the statement of the Central IAS Association, which expressed its deep dismay at the decision of the Bihar government to release the convicts involved in the brutal killing of G. Krishnaiah, former District Magistrate of Gopalganj.
A convict charged with murder of a public servant on duty, cannot be reclassified to a less heinous category. Amendment of an existing classification which leads to the release of the convicted killer of a public servant on duty is tantamount to denial of justice, said the IAS Association.
It also stated that such dilution leads to impunity, erosion in morale of public servants, undermines public order and makes a mockery of the administration of justice. The Association requested the Bihar government to reconsider its decision at the earliest.
Krishnaiah’s family, which lives in Hyderabad, has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and stop release of former MP Anand Mohan Singh, who had instigated the bureaucrat’s lynching.
The slain Dalit IAS officer’s wife Uma said that she was shocked by Bihar government’s decision to release former MP Anand Mohan Singh by amending the Bihar prison manual.
Uma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene and make Nitish Kumar withdraw his decision which will set a bad precedent and have serious repercussions for the entire society. “My husband was an IAS officer and it is the Centre’s responsibility to ensure that justice is done,” she said.
She alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is releasing the killer of her husband for votes of Rajputs and to form government again.
Hyderabad: Good news for those who are planning to apply for a passport in Hyderabad or waiting for the appointments as the Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the city are going to release 500 additional appointments daily for two weeks starting on April 27. This decision has been taken due to huge demand and long waiting times for appointments in the city.
Due to Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti, the functioning of these PSKs and POPSKs was suspended on April 14, and applicants were advised to reschedule their appointments to the next available date.
However, due to the high demand, the waiting time was long. To tackle this issue, the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Hyderabad, has decided to release the additional appointments.
Passport appointment availability at offices in Hyderabad
These additional appointments will be made available at five Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in Telangana. Out of five PSKs in the state, three are located in Hyderabad.
The earliest passport appointment available in Hyderabad is June 15.
Location of Passport Offices
Application type/Quota
Earliest appointment date
Ameerpet
Passport/Normal
June 16, 2023
Ameerpet
Passport/Tatkal
May 20, 2023
Ameerpet
PCC
April 28, 2023
Begumpet
Passport/Normal
June 15, 2023
Begumpet
Passport/Tatkal
May 20, 2023
Begumpet
PCC
April 28, 2023
ToliChowki
Passport/Normal
June 15, 2023
ToliChowki
Passport/Tatkal
May 20, 2023
ToliChowki
PCC
May 1, 2023
This means that the demand for passport services in Hyderabad is quite high and applicants need to plan their application process well in advance.
Steps to apply for passport at PSKs in Hyderabad
Visit the official website of Passport Seva
Visit the official website of Passport Seva (click here) and click on the ‘New User Register’ button if you are a new user. If you are an existing user, you can log in to the portal using login credentials by clicking on ‘Existing User Login’.
Apply for fresh passport/re-issue of passport
Once you are logged in, click on the link ‘Apply for Fresh Passport/Re-issue of Passport.’ The application form will appear.
Fill application form
Applicants can fill out the form online or download it, fill it out offline, and then upload it. It is mandatory to fill all the required details accurately.
Pay passport fee
After filling out the form, applicants have to pay the required fees, which vary for different categories of passports. The fees can be paid online through credit/debit cards, internet banking, or SBI Challan.
For normal passport of 36 pages, the fee is Rs. 1500 whereas, for tatkal, it is Rs. 3500. In case of 60 pages passport, the normal fee is Rs 2000 and tatkal fee is Rs 4000.
Book passport appointment alots at PSKs
Once the payment is done, applicants can book passport appointment slots at PSKs. The applicants can select the PSK of their choice.
Visit the PSK
On the day of the appointment, applicants have to visit the PSK at the specified time. They have to carry all the required documents, including proof of address and proof of identity.
Pass through various stages
At PSK, applicants have to pass through three stages for biometric data capture and document verification
Police verification and dispatch of Passport
After the completion of all the stages, police verification will be conducted at the applicant’s address. Once the police verification is completed, the passport will be dispatched to the address mentioned in the application form.
Hyderabad: G. Uma Krishnaiah, widow of slain Dalit IAS officer G. Krishnaiah, has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and stop release of former MP Anand Mohan Singh, who was convicted for the bureaucrat’s lynching.
A day after the Bihar government decided to release Anand Mohan Singh by amending the Bihar prison manual, she said she was shocked by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s move.
Uma Krishnaiah said Modi should intervene and make Nitish Kumar withdraw his decision which will set a bad precedent and have serious repercussions for the entire society. “My husband was an IAS officer and it is the Centre’s responsibility to ensure that justice is done,” she said.
She alleged that Nitish Kumar is releasing killer of her husband for votes of Rajputs and to form a government again.
“He (Nitish Kumar) thinks that by releasing him, he will get votes of all Rajputs and this will help him form the government again. This is wrong,” said Uma, who lives in Hyderabad.
“This goes on in Bihar but this is not good. There should be good people in politics and not criminals like Mohan,” she said.
Krishnaiah, an IAS officer of 1985 batch, was killed on December 5, 1994. Then Gopalganj District Magistrate, he was killed by a mob allegedly provoked by Anand Mohan Singh. The mob, which was protesting with the body of Chhotan Shukla, a gangster-politician of Anand Mohan’s party, who was killed a day earlier, dragged Krishnaiah out of his car and lynched him.
Anand Mohan Singh was sentenced to death by a lower court in 2007, but the Patna High Court commuted the penalty to life imprisonment in 2008. He has been in jail for 15 years.
The widow of the slain bureaucrat said that she was not happy when he was awarded life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. “Now it is heartbreaking for me that he being released even before completing the sentence,” she said
Uma Krishnaiah, who had moved to Hyderabad a few days after losing her husband, said the Rajput community should also think if a criminal like Anand Mohan Singh can do any good to them and to the society.
She believes that this action of Nitish Kumar will embolden criminals to take law into their hands. Uma Krishnaiah, 60, is of the view that release of Mohan may endanger the lives of civil servants and government officers discharging their duties honestly as the criminals will think that they can take law into their hands and do whatever they want and come out of jail.
She revealed that some IAS officers of 1985 batch are in touch with her and they were contemplating to move the Patna High Court or the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of Nitish Kumar government.
It was a life full of struggle for Uma Krishnaiah. After losing her husband, she had moved to Hyderabad with two daughters, aged 7 and 5. The family was traumatised after what it had to go through.
She took up the job of lecturer in a college in Hyderabad to look after the family. She was allotted a house site in Prashasan Nagar in Jubilee Hills, where she constructed her house.
Retiring in 2017, she ensured good education for both the daughters, who are currently employed as a bank manager and a software engineer.
The coins will be minted under the authority of the Central Government. The official notification by the Ministry of Finance stated: “The coin of One Hundred Rupees denomination shall only be coined at the Mint for issue under the authority of the Central Government on the occasion of “100th Episode of Mann Ki Baat.”
When will Rs 100 coin be available in the market?
On April 30, the day of the 100th airing of the radio show Maan Ki Baat, the government will release a commemorative coin. The coin will have a value of Rupee one hundred. Even though commemorative coins are regarded as legal currency, they are not made available for widespread use. They can be obtained from the listed organisations.
What are the specifications of 100-rupee-coin?
According to a statement from the Finance Ministry, the coin will be different from other Rs 1, 2, 10, etc coins. It will be round with a 44 mm diameter and 200 serrations. The metal content of the 35-gram coin will be a quaternary alloy with a silver content of 50%, copper at 40%, nickel at 5%, and zinc at 5%.
The coin obverse face will feature the Lion Capitol of Ashoka Pillar in the centre with “Satyamev Jayate” inscribed below. In Devnagri script the term “Bharat” will be written along on the left periphery and in English the term “INDIA” will be written on the right periphery.
Additionally, it must display the international numerals for the rupee sign “₹” and the denominational value “100.” On the back of the coin the logo of “100th Episode of Mann Ki Baat” consisting of an image of a microphone with sound waves and the year ‘2023’ will be written on it. Mann Ki Baat 100’ in Devnagri and in English is written above and below the microphone image, respectively. (DNA)
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao seems to have planned a hat-trick with effective implementation of welfare schemes. In the last two years, due to the delay in the release of the budget, the welfare schemes have come to a standstill. The Chief Minister, while reviewing the reasons for the delay, has approved the release of the budget for welfare schemes through a green channel.
According to reliable sources, the Chief Minister said that the budget for welfare schemes of weaker sections, Dalits, women, farmers and minorities should be released through a green channel so that the support of these communities is available with the government.
If the sources to be believed, the office bearers submitted a detailed report to the Chief Minister regarding non-release of the budget, in which the slowdown of various schemes was apprised. The chief minister is said to have directed the Finance Department officials not to delay the release of funds for welfare schemes and to carry out the release through the green channel.
The Chief Minister directed release of Rs 3,210 crore required for Kalyanlakshmi and Shadi Mubarak schemes. Thousands of applications for both schemes are said to be pending. The Chief Minister said that there is no shortage of funds, so steps should be taken to release the budget of welfare schemes through green channel system.
The schemes identified by the chief minister include Aasra Pension, Rythu Bima, Ritu Bandhu, free electricity supply to farmers, Arogyashree, KCR kits, Re 1 per kg rice, scholarship and Chief Minister’s Overseas Scholarship Schemes.
The chief minister is confident that welfare schemes can make the BRS successful for the third time. The state’s economic situation has been weak for two years due to Covid-19. The chief minister asked the officials to take steps to fully spend at least the current year’s welfare budget.
