The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Fine with a smile

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Tuesday, Apr 01, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Fine with a smile

For motorists confronting traffic police officers and constables after committing a traffic related offence is not a pleasant experience. You have made a mistake, argue for a (brief) while that you are not wrong and soon start pleading with the cop to let you go. All through this the police officer and the constables are very stern and most of the times rude, except may be in a very few cases. But in the US the police are not so, says former Rector of Andhra University and Director of Centre for Policy Studies A. Prasanna Kumar. A couple of young men from India were stopped by a policeman for over-speeding. The police man was smiling and also said a few good things about India but slapped a hefty fine.

Numbers magic

Numbers can work miracles –from bringing money, prosperity, and success to curing diseases, according to noted numerologist Sanjeewan Nehru. For one who changed his own name from Sankaraiah to one of first Prime Minister of India, he was a graduate engineer with BHEL for 18 long years and involved in designing of its many projects. He also dabbled in politics without success and when he found others succeeded without much effort, he wondered why. When came across a book by Cheiro and found it very interesting, he began research in the numerology. “Fate has driven me to this field to change the fate of a lot of people,” Mr. Nehru, who has the reputation of making slight changes in names of top leaders like Atal Bi(e) hari Vajpayee and Jayalalitha(a) which brought them long spells of power, says. However, he derives the utmost satisfaction while curing chronic ailments, he states. The numerologist who is available on mobile no: 9392426726, also observes that after Hyderabad became Greater Hyderabad, the numerological sum changed to 16, one associated with blasts like WTC building which also stood for16. Similarly, the prefix Greater to Visakhapatnam also became 16 which was why more gory incidents and mafia entry were witnessed, he notes.

Threat to fauna

A collection of owls and bats has found a home at one of the oldest peepal trees in the Bio-diversity Park at the RCD Hospital. The centuries old trees in the city used to be the habitats of several creatures. Unfortunately, the merciless chopping down of trees in many areas has deprived them of their homes. While just a decade ago owls and bats used to be a regular sight in the surroundings, they are now rarely spotted in the city. Many animal and bird species have slowly become extinct due to environmental pollution and habitat destruction.The one bird that has sadly almost vanished from the urban space is the friendly house sparrow. For unknown reasons, the sparrow has started to die out, similar to the fall in frog and toad population worldwide. Environmentalists feel that there is an urgent need to protect the habitats of the rich faunal species in our surroundings. Or else, just like the friendly sparrow, owls, bats and many exotic creatures of the wild will also shrink into oblivion soon.

Unhealthy trends

An engineering dropout has opened a tuition centre for SSC students. The tuition teacher, perhaps, failed to master the art of teaching but decided that his students should pass the 10th Class Examination with ‘flying colours’. He donned the role of a ‘flying squad’ officer and proceeded to the Rammurthy Pantulupeta Municipal School where his students were taking the examination, for a ‘surprise check’. The invigilation staff caught the ‘flying squad’ officer napping when he was passing on slips to his students. It was exactly for this reason that educationist and MLC Chukka Ramaiah had opposed the proposal of the State Government to give weightage to Intermediate marks in the ranking of EAMCET. “Some corporate colleges can influence the valuation process to secure better marks for their students in Intermediate and thereby claim top ranks in EAMCET,” he feels. The unhealthy trends among corporate colleges can put students of rural colleges, which suffer from lack of infrastructure and teachers, in a disadvantageous position. The State Government should give serious thought to check the ‘unhealthy trends’ before going ahead with proposal.

(G. Narasimha Rao,

B. Prabhakkar Sharma, Nivedita Ganguly and

B. Madhu Gopal)

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