The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Neither yes nor no!

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Neither yes nor no!

Krishna district Collector Navin Mittal was rather diplomatic about the possibility of his stint, which has already crossed three years, continuing further in 2008. At the year-end press conference he called on Monday, a few reporters observed in lighter vein whether he listed 12 priority areas for intensive focus in 2008 so as to take up one issue each month. “Will you be there next year to complete these projects?” a reporter asked, prompting Mr. Mittal to play safe: “I’ve neither a particular desire to continue nor a disinclination to continue.” Well, as a seasoned bureaucrat, Mr. Mittal seems to know for sure how officials are routinely transferred, more particularly when the election fever has already begun to catch up.

Helping whom?

‘Praja Seva’, or public service, has become such a much-talked about word that even some political leaders have begun to detest it. Senior leader Yalamanchili Shivaji, at a seminar recently, sarcastically observed that “Praja Seva, of late, has become cheap.” He explained how political leaders leave a dharna camp as soon as TV reporters vanish from the spot. They also plead with the police to allow them to stage dharna till TV reporters reach the spot. And, reporters of the electronic media too seem to play a helping role. “They ask questions like whether any bus had been torched, if not, when, and so on,” he observed, rather acerbically.

Question and answer

In the question and answer session that followed a talk on ‘Opportunities for higher education in the US’, organised at PVP Siddhartha Institute of Technology last week, a B. Tech student asked whether ‘twinning programmes’ (a course that can be completed in the US after beginning it here) provide a chance for a candidate to cancel the course midway and return to parent college to continue it here. Different speakers gave different answers, with one saying that such candidates would have to lose a year. Suddenly, seminar convenor Chalasani Dutt grabbed the mike and impressed upon the student that he need not ask such a question. “You don’t have to entertain such fears, as nobody would like to come back after enjoying the ambience and rich life in the land of opportunities,” he told the youngster, delivering some much-needed pep talk.

Of success run

What is the reason for the consistent success of ‘10 K Run’ in Hyderabad? According to Y. Harishchandra Prasad, a core member of the ‘10 K Run’ foundation, it is the presence of a good number of women in various committees formed every year to organise the run. “There is no doubt that women do their job with more commitment. They have been the driving force behind the success of Hyderabad’s 10 K Run over the last five years,” Mr. Prasad disclosed. Ironically, only a handful of women attended the meeting held in the city last week by the core members of Hyderabad 10 K Run foundation to work out the modalities of the conduct of ‘Tiranga 10 K Run’ to be organised in the city on February 3.

K. Srimali, G. V. R. Subba Rao, G. Ravi Kiran and J. R. Sridharan

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Andhra Pradesh