Maytas grew fastest under YSR
Trying to counter the oppositon charge that Maytas Infra was the single largest beneficiary for all contract works released by the YSR government, the finance minister said, "Maytas has been in business since 1996-97 under the name of Satyam Constructions when the TDP was in power with N Chandrababu Naidu as the chief minister. The allegations unleashed by the opposition parties are far from the truth," he said and released figures relating to the growth of the infrastructure company.
As per the figures for Satyam Constructions which was rechristened Maytas Infra in 2003, it had a meteoric rise since 2003-04. The company had registered a turnover of Rs 383.39 crore in 2004-05 and grew rapidly to Rs 396.04 crore in 2005-06, Rs 782.05 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 1873.93 crore in 2007-08. The company has interests in road works, irrigation projects, oil & gas, energy and other major infrastructure works.
The growth during the TDP regime is negligible as compared to what was registered during the Congress rule. The company had a turnover of Rs 20.76 crore in 1996-97, Rs 49.35 crore in 1997-98, Rs 92.43 crore in 1998-99, Rs 101.02 crore in 1999-2000, Rs 124 crore in 2000-01, Rs 146 crore in 2001-02, Rs 192.26 crore in 2002-03 and Rs 299.33 crore in 2003-04.
Rosaiah said a detailed examination was underway at the chief secretary's level to assess the financial capabilities of Maytas Infra and their partners to execute the Hyderabad Metro Rail, Machilipatnam port and Pranahita-Chevella projects, which need huge cash investments. "Let all the enquiry reports come out," the finance minister said.
Source:Timesofindia
Centre's Rs 1750-cr largesse for Kadapa
In yet another largesse for chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's home district of Kadapa, the Centre on
Thursday cleared a Rs 1,750-crore proposal that would provide major road connectivity to it with the rest of the country.
"The proposal cleared by the Union cabinet committee on economic affairs entails four-laning of the NH 18 from Kadapa to Kurnool where it would meet the NH 7, thus giving major road connectivity to the CM's home district with the rest of the country," an official said.
As per the proposal, the stretch of NH-18 that would be converted into four-lane is the Kadapa-Mydukur-Kurnool section. "Of the total road length of NH-18, the stretch from 167.75 km to 356 km falling under Kadapa and Kurnool is being converted into a four-lane. The proposal clearly envisages giving major road connectivity to Kadapa district only," the official added.
The proposal was cleared under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase III and is to be awarded to private partners under the Design- Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) mode. The project cost is estimated at Rs 1754.12 crore including the cost of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) and pre-construction. The Centre would provide the viability gap funding (VGF), which would not exceed 40 per cent of the total project cost excluding the cost of land acquisition, R&R and pre-construction.
The project will be developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through the private sector concessionaires who will be selected by NHAI following a two-stage bidding process. The first stage of the bidding process, i.e. pre-qualification of the bidders, has already been completed by NHAI. The second stage of bidding process is in progress. The concession period for both the sub-project has been kept as 30 years including 910 days of construction period.
Satyam controversy effects AP politics
non-Congress alliance, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Thursday that there was no question of sailing with the Congress after the Satyam fraud. This was even as TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, CPM state secretary B V Raghavalu and CPI leaders Survaram Sudkhakar Reddy and K Narayana charged at a joint press conference here that chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had "personally negotiated with some companies the possible takeover of Satyam Computer Services" before B Ramalinga Raju made his confessional statement admitting to fraud. This was in the intervening period between the stymied effort by Satyam to take over Maytas and Raju's confession. The leaders dubbed the Satyam episode as a Rajaskehara Reddy-Ramalinga Raju joint scam and hinted that YSR knew about the state of affairs at the company much before it became public.
The joint press conference was held after a four-hour long meeting of the new alliance partners at the residence of Naidu on Thursday. Chandrasekhar Rao said he was having internal consultations with his now finalised alliance partners for a few weeks but had a taken a firm decision not go with the Congress only after the Satyam scam came to light. Though TRS had parted way with the Congress a few months ago and was showing signs of tying up with the TDP, immense pressure was being borne on Chandrasekhar Rao by sections of the Congress to tie up with the party once again.
All the leaders asserted confidently at the press conference that there was enough evidence to prove that the chief minister had direct interest in the Satyam group. Quizzed about the Congress allegation that it was Naidu who had promoted Ramalinga Raju, Chandrasekhar Rao said: "Yes, it was Naidu who made Raju share the dais with then US president Bill Clinton
. At that time, Satyam's dealings were clean and it was among the top companies. But things changed after Rajasekhara Reddy became the CM."
"The CM should explain whether or not he was informed by Raju about his plans to take over Maytas," Rao said.
Source:Timesofindia
Telugu Tejam Contest TV5 Results
Ramoji Rao, Chandra Babu,IIT Ramaiah and Pawan Kalyan elected in TV 5 Telugu Tejam contest
TV 5 today announced its results of Telugu Tejam contest which they conducted recently. From politics Chandra Babu elected as Telugu Tejam and Pawan Kalyan from cine field. Master Bastsman V V S Lakshman elected from sports category and Chukka Ramaiah from Education sector. Ramoji Rao elected from Business sector.
Political - Chandra babu naidu
Cinema : Pawan Kalyan
Sports : VVS Laxman
Education : IIT Ramaiah ( Chukka )
Elections in India
Since independence, elections in India have evolved a long way, but all along elections have been a significant cultural aspect of Independent India.
In 2004, Indian elections covered a electorate larger than 670 million people — over twice that of the next largest, the European Parliament elections — and declared expenditure has trebled since 1989 to almost $300 million, using more than 1 million electronic voting machines[1].
The size of the huge electorate mandates that elections to be conducted in a number of phases (there were four phases in 2004 General Elections). It involves a number of step-by-step processes from announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India, which brings into force the 'model code of conduct' for the political parties, to the announcement of results and submission of the list of successful candidates to the executive head of the state or the centre. The submission of results marks the end of the election process, thereby paving way for the formation of the new government.
Indian electoral system
The Parliament of India comprises the head of state — the president — and the two Houses which are the legislature. The President of India is elected for a five year term by an electoral college consisting of members of federal and state legislatures. Parliament of India has two chambers. The House of the People (Lok Sabha) has 545 members, 543 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies and 2 members appointed to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The two unelected members are a relic from the past. The 543 members are elected under the plurality ('first past the post') electoral system.
Council of States (Rajya Sabha) has 245 members, 233 members elected for a six year term, with one-third retiring every two years. The members are elected by legislators of the state and union (federal) territories. The elected members are chosen under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. The twelve nominated members are usually an eclectic mix of eminent artists (including actors), scientists, jurists, sportspersons, businessmen and journalists and common people.
History of elections in India
The first general elections were conducted in India in 1951, for 489 constituencies representing 26 Indian states. At that time, there were a few two-seat and even a three-seat constituency. The multi-seat constituencies were discontinued in the 1960s.
History of political parties
The dominance of the Indian National Congress was broken for the first time in 1977, with the defeat of the party led by Indira Gandhi, by an unlikely coalition of all the major other parties, which protested against the imposition of a controversial Emergency from 1975-1977. A similar coalition, led by VP Singh was swept to power in 1989 in the wake of major allegations of corruption by the incumbent Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. It, too, lost its steam in 1990.
In 1992, the heretofore one-party-dominant politics in India gave way to a coalition system wherein no single party can expect to achieve a majority in the Parliament to form a Government, but rather has to depend on a process of coalition building with other parties to form a block and claim a majority to be invited to form the Government. This has been a consequence of strong regional parties which ride on the back of regional aspirations. While parties like the TDP and the DMK had traditionally been strong regional contenders, the 1990s saw the emergence of other regional players such as the Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Janta Dal. These parties are traditionally based on regional aspirations, e.g. Telengana Rastra Samiti or strongly influenced by caste considerations, e.g. Bahujan Samaj Party which claims to represent the Dalits.
Presently, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress Party is in power, while the National Democratic Alliance forms the opposition.
The Election Commission
Elections in India are conducted by the Election Commission of India, the authority created under the Constitution. It is a well established convention that once the election process commences, no courts intervene until the results are declared by the election commission. During the elections, vast powers are assigned to the election commission to the extent that it can function as a civil court, if needed.
Electoral Process
Electoral Process in India takes at least a month for state assembly elections with the duration increasing further for the General Elections. Publishing of electoral rolls is a key process that happens before the elections and is vital for the conduct of elections in India. The Indian Constitution sets the eligibility of an individual for voting. Any person who is a citizen of India and above 18 years of age is eligible to enroll as a voter in the electoral rolls. It is the responsibility of the eligible voters to enroll their names. Normally, voter registrations are allowed latest one week prior to the last date for nomination of candidates.
Pre elections
Before the elections, the election commission announces the dates of nomination, polling and counting. The model code of conduct comes in force from the day the dates are announced. The code of conduct specifies that the central and state governments cannot announce any major sops to the electorate to prevent any unfair swings in the voting pattern. No party is allowed to use the government resources for campaigning. The code of conduct stipulates that campaigning be stopped 48 hours prior to polling day. For Indian states a pre-election is a must.
Voting Day
Campaigning ends the day before the voting day. Government schools and colleges are chosen as polling stations. The day of the elections is declared a holiday and all liquor shops and bars are shut down. The Collector of each district is in charge of polling. Government servants are employed to many of the polling stations. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being increasingly used instead of ballot boxes to prevent election fraud via booth capturing, which is heavily prevalent in certain parts of India. An indelible ink manufactured by the Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited is applied usually on the left index finger of the voter as an indicator that the voter has cast his vote. This practice has been followed since the 1962 general elections to prevent bogus voting.
Post elections
After the election day, the EVMs are stood stored in a strong room under heavy security. After the different phases of the elections are complete, a day is set to count the votes. The votes are tallied and typically, the verdict is known within hours. The candidate who has mustered the most votes is declared the winner of the constituency.
The party or coalition that has won the most seats is invited by the President to form the new government. The coalition or party must prove its majority in the floor of the house (Lok Sabha) in a vote of confidence by obtaining a simple majority (minimum 50%) of the votes in the House.
Voter registration
Absentee Voting
As of now, India does not have an absentee ballot system. Section 19 of The Representation of the People Act-1950 (RPA-1950) allows a person to register to vote if he/she is above 18 years of age and is an ‘ordinary resident’ of the residing constituency i.e. living at the current address for 6 months or longer. Section 20 of the above Act disqualifies a non-resident Indian (NRI) from getting his/her name registered in the electoral rolls. Consequently, it also prevents an NRI from casting his/her vote in elections to the Parliament and to the State Legislatures.
The Representation of the People (Amendment) 2006 Bill was introduced in the Parliament by Shri Hanraj Bharadwaj, Minister of Law and Justice during February 2006 with an objective to amend Section 20 of the RPA-1950 to enable NRIs to vote. Despite the report submitted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee two years ago, the Government has so far failed to act on the recommendations. The Bill was reintroduced in the 2008 budget session of the Parliament to the Lok Sabha. But no action taken once again.
Source:Wikipedia
LokSatta
Time to act is - Now!
Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Guwahati…. Do we need more warnings? We all hate today’s politics. But this hatred will take us nowhere. We need new politics. So far, we have been helpless. Traditional parties have become dens of corruption, cynicism, casteism, criminality and family rule. Now, there is a new, ethical platform to fulfil our aspirations: Lok Satta Party in Andhra Pradesh (AP).
Lok Satta Party
* Embodies the truly New Political Culture
* Has a powerful transformative agenda
* Has a real chance of winning - a historic opportunity
Lok Satta is known to 75% of the people of AP. Lok Satta’s credibility after twelve years of record is impeccable. Its agenda is to transform India and promote dignity, opportunity and justice to all. Two-thirds of voters want clean politics and competent government; they provide Lok Satta a real chance of success.
We invite you to participate. New Political Culture offers opportunities for everyone: you can be a member, a party builder, a leader or a candidate for public office. We need leaders not based on caste or family background. And, we need ethical money for ethical politics.
I. Lok Satta Party Embodies New Political Culture
Genuine party democracy: LSP only mainstream party with elected leadership at all levels LSP members choose party’s electoral candidates in a democratic and transparent process Self-correction institutions - members have power to recall elected party leaders
Ethical resources: LSP India’s only party to raise and deploy funds in a totally transparent and ethical manner Party's audited annual financial accounts made public
Party of youth: 50% of leadership positions in Party’s General Councils reserved for youth one-third, for women.
New culture of politics: Agenda and action symbolize inclusive, practical, acceptable and national approach - above region, religion, caste or class No politics of rasta-rokos and bandhs
II. Powerful agenda to transform Andhra Pradesh
* Coherent, inclusive and practical political framework for entire India
focused on AP for now but completely national in agenda and approach
* Agenda harmonizes conflicting interests and acceptable to diverse sections of the public Credible and effective policies and priorities on even complex issues: SEZs, reservations, national security & human rights, wealth & subsidies, etc. LSP’s credibility on governance agenda and public policy unmatched in contemporary Indian politics LSP’s practical, effective, affordable and achievable set of measures released as 50 Irrevocable Guarantees to the People (www.loksatta.org/images/50_Guarantees.pdf ).
* High quality education, universal and comprehensive public healthcare (no more out-of-pocket burden for hospital costs), skills to guarantee employment Setting up National Volunteer Corps to enable youth to serve the country and make a living
* LSP opposes further, unconstitutional expansion of reservations (beyond 50%) and deepening caste divisions 10% bonus marks in competitive exams to students of poor, rural families - irrespective of caste opportunities for growth for everyone – irrespective of circumstances of birth.
* Directly elected and fully-empowered district governments Additional funds directly to the village and urban ward governments (Rs.1000/- per capita, times the population) to implement village manifestoes Developing 1000 small towns in AP with modern infrastructure
* Police Reforms: eliminating political interference in crime investigation and public security Judicial Reforms: setting up local courts for accessible, affordable and quick justice Assets of the corrupt to be seized for public use Fusing of state authority with public accountability.
* Revitalizing agriculture by credit, input and marketing reforms; expanding agro-industries for enhancing rural incomes
III. LSP’s real chance of electoral success – a historic opportunity
Unmatched credibility and reach: LSP built on India’s largest civil society movement since Independence Lok Satta is known to 75% of the people of AP and with near-universal acceptance 1 94% of television news viewers supported the formation of LSP and its agenda 2 Party Chapters in all districts of the State; grassroots units cover over 90% of Mandals Unmatched successes over the past decade (see box below)
Strong Platform: LSP contested independently against all established parties in May 2008 bye-elections (AP) Despite massive money-and-muscle power deployed by opposition parties, LSP’s candidates secured 18% and 14.5% vote share in two critical constituencies
Quadrangular Contest: Four-way fight in AP in 2009 elections Congress (I), TDP, newly-formed PRP against Lok Satta Party But, two-thirds of voters support clean politics & half of the electorate not swayed by money-and-muscle power (see pie chart) LSP offers genuine political alternative Challenge is to make them aware of the strength of their numbers LSP geared for >25% vote share; enough to win in 2009
The Time is Ripe: People increasingly rejecting established political culture Electorate thirsting for meaningful political change; ready to vote for good governance Urgent need for New Political Culture 2009 elections offer a historic opportunity
Lok Satta's Decade of Unmatched Successes
* Arrested increasing criminalization of politics in AP; led to mandatory disclosure of electoral candidates' financial and criminal antecedents across India
* Political funding law reform (2003) enables transparent and legal contribution to parties through 100% tax-exemption
* 91st Constitutional Amendment to limit size of Council of Ministers
* Tightening of anti-defection provisions in Constitution's 10th Schedule
* Right to Information Act (2005)
* Citizen's Charters introduced in India
* Bill to establish Local Courts & Constitutional Amendment Bill to liberate cooperatives from government clutches (both in final stages, before Parliament)
* National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
* Procedural reforms in Indirect Taxation
* Voter roll-improvements reduce errors (from 44% to 12% in urban areas)
* Post Offices now made permanent nodal centres for voter registration (starting with AP) . Easy, permanent, 24x7 and universal access to voter rolls achieved
IV. What is needed for transforming AP’s politics?
Resources:
* Ethical politics needs ethical resources
* Every single contribution will help strengthen the foundation of New Political Culture and for LSP to launch a focused challenge to the status quo.
* Contributing to Lok Satta Party’s New Political Culture is easy, completely safe and a secure process (see options). Visit www.loksatta.org/Contribute.php today
* All contributions to Lok Satta Party eligible for 100% tax-exemption.
Dynamic, young leaders and candidates:
* We invite public spirited citizens, young Indians, successful professionals to come forward and join LSP to shoulder responsibility as party leaders and electoral candidates.
*
Candidates and party leaders are chosen in a totally democratic and transparent manner
The opportunity is at hand. The time for action and support is now.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan
President
Source:http://www.loksatta.org/TimetoActIsNow.html
Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy
He graduated in medical science from Gulbarga University and practiced medicine for sometime in his native Kadapa District. The hospital his father built for him at Pulivendula is still running. The YS family also built and ran a degree college and a Polytechnic College at Pulivendula which was later handed over to the Loyola Group of Educational Institutions. Another junior college at Simhadripuram, a small town in the vicinity of Pulivendula, is being run by YS family
YS Rajasekhara Reddy was elected as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh by the Legislature party of the Indian National Congress after the later won 185 seats of the Legislative Assembly in the May 2004 elections. [3] The Government initially consisted of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) which later withdrew its support owing to the lack of progress in the process of formation of a separate Telangana State