MINING: Andhra Pradesh netas on ore hunt in SA!

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August 8, 2011 / By Ch. V.M. Krishna Rao, DC, Hyderabad.

Our politicians and industrialists are now eyeing the mineral wealth of Africa, specifically that of the West and Central Africa countries which have some of the world’s largest unexploited deposits of iron, coal and other minerals.

Our politicians and industrialists are now eyeing the mineral wealth of Africa, specifically that of the West and Central Africa countries which have some of the world’s largest unexploited deposits of iron, coal and other minerals.

They are tying up with big companies like BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Chinalco, Tata and Vale, who are already exploring for iron ore in and around the Sahara desert.

The former Congress minister, Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, recently picked up shares in a multinational mining company based in London and his firm also shipped a giant drilling machine from Hyderabad to Africa.

Similarly, Mr Y.S. Dushyanth Reddy, a close relative of YSR, is currently involved in coal mining contracts there. It’s not only these ministers, but also around 50 politicians and contractors, like Midwest Granites, are involved in the mining industry in Africa.

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/andhra-pradesh-netas-ore-hunt-sa-151

INDIA's LITERACY DRIVE: AP fails to learn its lessons!

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• June 22, 2011 
• DC.

• 
  

June 21: At the recent launch of the “ enrollment drive” programme in schools coinciding with the beginning of the new academic year on June 13, the Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, said he was ashamed to admit that Andhra Pradesh’s literacy rate lagged behind all the other stat`es in south India. In fact, AP is competing with Jharkhand for a place at the bottom of the literacy ladder.

The huge dropout rate in government schools in the state poses a major challenge to the government, but one it seems in no hurry to accept. The state has an unacceptably high dropout rate of 46.21 per cent at school-level. Out of every 100 students who were admitted to class I during 2000-01, only 54 reached class X in the last academic year in 2010-11. The dropout rate is higher in the case of students belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, primarily due to poverty, which forces them to work at a very early age. In the case of STs, the dropout rate is a whopping 72.66 per cent, while in the case of SCs, it is 49.68 per cent. More girls drop out of school among STs — 73.77 per cent — as opposed to 71.61 per cent in the case of boys. The dropout rate among SC boys is 49.68 per cent, and 49.67 per cent in the case of SC girls.

Five districts in the state have recorded a dropout rate of more than 50 per cent between the academic years 2000-01 and 2010-11. Mahbubnagar, known for large-scale migration of labour, has the highest dropout rate of 59.97 per cent, followed by Kurnool with 57.44 per cent. Medak recorded a dropout rate of 56.87, Prakasam, 55.65 and Guntur recorded a dropout rate of 53.07 per cent during this period. Two districts each from the Telangana and the Andhra regions figure in the list of five districts with the highest dropout rates, the other being a district in Rayalaseema region.

There is no dearth of lip-service to Primary Education and Health, but when it comes to some concretised results, the lowest of budgetary allocations are made and the little granted funds too are allowed to lapse due to rank apathy of the Administration!

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/ap-fails-learn-its-lessons-877

WIKILEAKS: ‘Cash for votes a way of political life in South India’, says Maran!

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SARAH HIDDLESTON / the hindu.

Politicians admit to breaking election law: ‘yes, that's the great thing about democracy'

Politicians and their aides in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh admitted to violating election law to influence voters in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls through payments in the form of cash, goods, or services, according to a revealing cable sent to the State Department by Frederick J. Kaplan, Acting Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate-General in Chennai. In conversations with a visiting consulate team, Karti Chidambaram of the Congress, M. Patturajan, confidant of Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers M.K. Alagiri and former Mayor of Madurai, and Member of Parliament Assaduddin Owaisi of the Majlis-e-Ittenhadul Muslimeen spoke without inhibition about how they, their principals, or their parties made payments to voters during the election campaign.

In a cable sent on May 13, 2009 (206688: confidential), accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks, Mr. Kaplan detailed the role and impact of money power in corrupting the electoral process, drawing from information gathered from a variety of sources in the field: “Bribes from political parties to voters, in the form of cash, goods, or services, are a regular feature of elections in South India. Poor voters expect bribes from political candidates, and candidates find various ways to satisfy voter expectations. From paying to dig a community well to slipping cash into an envelope delivered inside the morning newspaper, politicians and their operatives admitted to violating election rules to influence voters. The money to pay the bribes comes from the proceeds of fund-raising, which often crosses into political corruption. Although the precise impact of bribery on voter behavior is hard to measure, it no doubt swings at least some elections, especially the close races.”

Though Embarrassing, I confirm he speaks truth!  But my observation has been that the smart voter would accept money whoever gives him, but votes for his choice candidate or party.

Full story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/article1541302.ece