‍BPL Families Replaces Firewood Instead Of LPG In Rural Telangana As Gas Price Rises

As the LPG steep rise in domestic cylinder prices and drastic cut in subsidy amount over the past two years have been forcing consumers from BPL (below poverty line) sections switch back to firewood and kerosene.

This trend is seen more in villages and interior areas when compared to cities and towns. The demand for refills has come down significantly from these sections indicating how consumers are shunning LPG and switching back to age-old methods of using firewood and kerosene for cooking purposes.

The agencies handling the mid-day meals scheme in government schools are also hit by rising prices of LPG and are switching back to firewood, unable to afford costlier cylinders.

"There are nearly 1.14 crore domestic LPG connections in Telangana. Of them, 30 lakh connections pertain to BPL sections. They were given connections under the state government's Deepam scheme and the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. There is a sharp reduction in ordering refills from these sections," said D. Ashok Kumar, president, Greater Hyderabad LPG Distributors Association and also the president of Association of Bharat Gas Distributors and Associates of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

"When PM's Ujjwala Yojana was launched in 2016 for BPL sections, the price of a cylinder was Rs. 590. Today, it has increased to Rs. 930. They are receiving a subsidy amount of just Rs. 40 into their bank accounts later as part of direct benefit transfer scheme. We have seen a 25 percent drop in refill orders from these sections for the past few months. However, this trend is seen more in rural and interior areas than in towns and cities, where firewood is available," Kumar added.

Government schools across Telangana reopened from September 1 after a 17-month break due to Covid-19 pandemic. Students are being served mid-day meals in all government schools from September 1.

Collectors and education officers of respective districts who are making surprise inspections of schools to assess the conditions in schools are shocked to find school premises filled with smoke as agencies cooking meals are using firewood unable to bear higher LPG price.

Nirmal district collector Musharraf Ali Farqui issued notices to two schools recently when he found agencies using firewood to cook meals against the norms. Though the Centre and the state government reimburse cylinder cost to these agencies later, it takes a few months to get the bills passed.

"They need one or two cylinders per week to cook meals depending on the enrollment of students in a school. They are finding it difficult to pay higher LPG price initially and wait for months to get their bills from the government. To overcome this, they are switching back to firewood in villages and interior areas," official sources said. #KhabarLive #hydnews

#Sponsored: Why Should You Choose The Best Surgery For Your Eye Operation?

Your eyes are the most precious part of your body. It gives you the ability to see everything happening in the world. So any compromise with the treatment for your eye can be considered unwise. You must choose the best surgical treatment for your eyes, such as the LASIK eye operation or more advanced SMILE treatment.

Nowadays, every laser eye surgery operation involves the procedure to ablate the corneal tissues. This is either done through removing the epithelium, like in PRK treatment, or flapping the cornea, like in LASIK operation. However, more advanced treatment solutions like SMILE have enhanced the laser technology with bladeless and flapless surgery methods.

There are several reasons why you must choose the best surgery for your operation, and some of them are discussed below. So check them out. 

1. More Advanced Laser Technology

Best surgery for eyes like LASIK eye operation or SMILE surgery uses the most advanced laser vision correction technology for the optimal safety, comfort, and success of the surgery. This advanced technology helps to ensure quick recovery after the surgery too.  

2. Quick Surgery Procedure

The best surgery for eye operation with LASIK eye operation or SMILE treatment will help you avail of the one-step one-laser procedure for quick and efficient results. This procedure takes a few minutes to get done successfully by the best surgeon. The procedure to reshape the cornea with a laser takes 30 seconds for completion only. Within half an hour, you will enjoy the completion of a quick surgical procedure.

3. Safer Than Other Methods

The best surgery for your eyes will help you avail yourself of the safer mode than other methods. It can be troublesome to wear glasses or contact lenses for a long time as your eye condition worsens every day. So, getting surgery procedures like the LASIK eye operation or SMILE is far better as they reshape the cornea within minutes for a lifetime benefit. 

4. Bladeless And Flapless Treatment

You must avail of the best surgery as they are primarily bladeless and flapless treatment procedures. You won’t have to fear the consequences of the after results from the surgery. There will be very low or no risk involved with the right surgery procedure by the best surgeon. 

5. Minimally Invasive Surgery

The latest and best surgery methods like the SMILE treatment or LASIK eye operation are always less invasive than other methods. This is because the procedure ensures minimal flap or no flap for the corneal stability of your eyes. This helps you enjoy long-term eye strengthening.  

Additional Reasons To Choose Best Surgery For Eye Operations

• The best surgery like SMILE will leave your cornea untouched to preserve its biochemical strength, which other methods will not.

• The lesser use of laser energy ensures reduced inflammation through the best eye surgery option.

• If you choose the SMILE operation procedure, you will enjoy meagre chances of dry eyes as there is no creation of a flap around the cornea.

Bottom Line

So get the best use of this article and choose the best surgery method for your eye operation to ensure optimal efficiency in results. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍‍‍How 'Female Egg Donors' Dupe IVF Clinics In 'Fertility Fraud' To Make Some Big And Quick Bucks?

Despite the stringent laws and absence of any regulatory authority, thousands of fertility clinics have mushroomed in the country over a period of time.

With infertility rising among couples in India, fertility clinics have become a booming business. Reports say that out of 10 lakh annual In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) cases in the world, 2.5 lakh, which is 25 per cent of the global share, take place only in India.

In the absence of any regulatory authority, thousands of fertility clinics have mushroomed in the country over a period of time. There is no monitoring mechanism in place on their quality of services and treatment which makes stakeholders, especially couples, vulnerable to various types of fraud.
One such fraud is committed by female egg donors where they hide their personal details, religion, and donation status to cheat fertility clinics.  

IVF is a medical procedure in which a female egg and a male sperm are fertilised in a petri dish or outside the female body. After fertilization, it is placed in the female’s womb to grow as a fetus as in the case of a normal pregnancy. 

Couples, where one of the two are infertile due to various reasons, opt for IVF clinics that arrange either female eggs or male sperm depending on the need in the case.    

“If in a couple, the female partner is not able to produce enough or healthy quality eggs, we need female egg donors and if the male is unable to produce good quality sperm, we look for male donors,” Dr Suparna Banerjee, Clinical Director of Ankur Fertility Clinic, Kolkata and Institute of Reproductive Solution, Uttarpara.

“There is always a high demand for female egg donors, especially, in tier II and tier III cities. This is because while a male can give millions of sperms with natural stimulation, females are administered hormonal injections for 10 to 12 days so that they can produce some 10 to 20 eggs,” Dr Banerjee said.
Fertility experts say that a female’s egg quality deteriorates with each donation and good clinics don’t entertain a female donor more than three to four times.

“Though so far as I know, in many developed countries one female donor can donate eggs six times,” Dr Banerjee said.
Also, only healthy young females below the age of 30 years are considered good candidates for egg donation. These issues are governed by guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research as there is no law that regulates IVF procedures in India.

All these factors restrict female donors from egg donation and force them to resort to deceiving tactics. Fertility clinics say that female donors hide their age, religion, times they have donated eggs in the past, and their health status.

“While performing health check-ups we catch them red-handed. Like ultrasound can give us an idea of the history of their egg donations in the past but sometimes they can manage to get away with it,” Dr Saurav Prakash Maity, Gynaecologist and Fertility expert, Rashmika Fertility, Kolkata, said.
Dr Maity added, “We can catch them only when we retrieve poor quality eggs from them. 

These experts say that there is no centralised data of donors in India and each clinic maintains its own records. So clinics cannot crosscheck and donors exploit the situation.

“They even manipulate their age and name by getting fake government IDs like Aadhar Card or Driving license issued. Just recently I caught a lady who came with a different Aadhar card with a different name,” a fertility clinic owner in Delhi said requesting anonymity.  

Dr P Agarwal, MD, Sanjivani Test Tube Baby Centre, Sambalpur, Odisha said, “In places like Odisha where infertility among couples is a big issue, we always face a shortage of female donors and we have to depend on states like Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Mumbai.”
  
Fertility experts say that a female donor earns between Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 for each donation and normally those who are in need of money come forward for that.    
Experts have differences of opinion on the question of payment as many feel that they are well-compensated while some call it exploitation by the hands of fertility clinics which force women to go for multiple donations and commit fraud. Some experts also say that since there is no regulator, IVF clinics also try and exploit these helpless women by sometimes paying them as minimum as possible. 

The government is in the process of bringing legislation and the current Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill is being deliberated upon among stakeholders. Interestingly, the bill says that a woman cannot donate eggs more than once in her lifetime. 
Fertility experts say that this will not only create a huge shortage of donors but increase many types of frauds as well.

“Unless the government maintains a national database of all the donors and gives its access to all the IVF clinics, it is impossible to ensure one donation per female donor in India. It will increase a huge shortage of donors and couples have to pay more also,” the Delhi-based fertility clinics quoted above said. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍'‍Kolam, The Raj Gonds Riddles' Of Andhra Pradesh - A Sheer Reflection On Telangana Languages

“Riddles are probably the oldest extant forms of humour”, says Encyclopaedia Britannica. They are also the vehicles of heritage knowledge for every community. They were in vogue from the earliest literary texts of Vedas.

The following riddle from Rigveda is popularly cited (for ex: by Velaga Venkatappayya in Podupu Kathalu, 2008, p. vii).
Dwaanuparnaa sayujaa rakhaayaa samaanam
Vriksham parisha swajaate yoranyah
Pippalam swaadyatti ankyovashnannabhi baaka reti

Thereafter many Itihasas, Puranas, poetic works, stories, Jain and Buddhist texts and Bible mention the riddles and they are more popular among the rural people. The peoples’ memory is rightly emphasised by Devendra Sathyarthi (in “Indian Children’s Rhymes and Chants”, Modern Review, October – November, 1936, p. 39): “The people were the victims of great catastrophes, but none could kill the children’s indigenous games and home spun songs”.

During the evening times of leisure the village elders, boys and girls gather in the courtyard of a village/street elder and pose riddles to each other to uncover the intended meaning. Not only are they humorous in spelling out rhythmically by expressing the beauty of the language and vocabulary, but also carry the knowledge of their environs indirectly suggesting ‘learn to live’. This way the riddles are not only entertaining but also educative.

One of the most ancient races that have been carrying the heritage of riddles is of Kolams. Renowned anthropologist Professor Haimendorf made the following observations on the Kolams (The Raj Gonds of Andhra Pradesh, pp. 32, 38 & 345-48) — “The population that can best claim the epithet ‘aboriginal’ is the Kolams or Kolavars … several thousand members of the tribe are found scattered over the greater part of the Adilabad district from the uttermost corner of Kinwat to the taluqs of Sirpur and Lakshetipet in the east and south. Most Kolams speak a distinct tribal language, but some groups in the west have exchanged this for Marathi while in the east there are communities of telugised Kolams. In their own language, the Kolams call themselves Kolavar, but in Gondi they are called Pujari, in Telugu Mannevarlu, and in Marathi and in Urdu Kolam. Their tribal language known as Kolami is a Dravidian tongue and belongs, like Gondi, to the intermediate group of Dravidian languages, agreeing in some points with Telugu and in others with Tamil and connected forms of speech. The Kolami spoken in Adilabad is unintelligible to Gonds and judging from my limited word lists it seems, at least in vocabulary, to have closer affinities to Telugu than to Gondi… Those outlying groups who have fallen under the sway of either Marathi or Telugu culture and lost with their language many of their old customs occupy a different position; they are in the process of becoming a Hindu caste, and between them and the Gonds there is no feeling of common tribal tradition”.

His observations made some points clear — one, Kolams are one of the most ancient tribes in South India (across erstwhile Adilabad district in Telangana). This is why the Government of India recognised them as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PvTG). Their population is almost stagnant for the past three decades — 1991 to 2021 — oscillating between 40,000 and 45,000 while the population of all other communities in India are increasing. Two, the Kolams speak a language of their own and it belongs to “intermediate group of Dravidian languages”, like Gondi and Telugu. Linguists starting from Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (Telugu Verbal Bases Comparative and Descriptive Study, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1961, p. 269) recognised Kolami as one among the 11 languages belonging to the Central Dravidian branch of proto Dravidian language. Third, the Kolams living on the borders are losing their language and culture to those of Marathi and Telugu. This is a threat to their ancestral heritage.

Fourth, the Kolam vocabulary is more akin to Telugu than to Gondi. Well-known linguist P. S. Subrahmanyam concludes that the Kolavagotti (language of Kolams as they call it) imbibed many words from Telugu. Therefore it can be presumed that their homeland might be the Telugu land itself (Draavida Bhaashalu, 1977, p. 42 & Kolavagotti, jstor, 1998).

However, other scholars like M. Rama Rao (Temples of Tirumala, Tirupati and Tiruchanur, TTD, 1999, p. 3) trace the roots of Kolams to the down south, i.e. Tirumala Hills called Vengadam in the remote past: “Vengadam was inhabited by an uncivilised tribe of hunters known as the Kalvar. Their chieftain was Pulli, who was a fierce and powerful master. He and his people spoke a language which was different from the language of Tamilaham. The Vengadam hill was known to many poets of the Sangam age as famous for its forests, for its elephants, for its streams and for its drunken bouts”.

It appears to be true, because the word Kalvar is similar to Kolvar; kal meaning offshoot. There are still some villages by name like Kollam Penta and Komman Penta (in Nallamala forests in Nagarkurnool district) that suggest their migration from south to north through the hinterland of Telangana, during the times of far histories.

The word kollam and even kolam also means rangoli. Rangoli is elaborate among the Kolams and festivals can not happen without them. And, kolam was very popular with the people of Indus valley civilizations, some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. This way the ancestry of the Kolams goes back to proto-historic times and their language stands as a link between the south and north Indian regions.

However, now the two observations of Professor Haimendorf – losing of Kolam language and culture to their associated dominant peoples and its affinity to Telugu – prompt us to study the language of the ancient race of Kolam. As such, five years ago I started encouraging Athram Mothiram to collect folk songs of his own tribe Kolam. Initially he did not find ‘great things’ in the folklore, but as I went on convincing him on the importance of his ‘community memory’ which is entering the endangered zone, he finally utilised an opportunity and recorded the riddles spelt out in leisure time by Kolam students studying classes 3rd to 10th in the Government run residential school in Endha, Utnoor Mandal, Adilabad District, during the closing months of 2019.

Further, few months earlier Athram Mothiram participated in another similar evening session in a Kolam village Choupanguda, Wankidi Mandal in Kumram Bheem Asifabad District with six teenagers and a youngster – Athram Ravi (12), Anasuya (15), Kova Renuka (15), Sidam Kavita (15), Kova Prasad (13), Kova Bheemrao (26) – and recorded the riddles (altogether 112).

The riddles in their language Kolami are labelled sitah and are posed randomly in an enthusiastic flow. Yet, earlier scholars tried to present the riddles in a systematic manner and a scholar on the subject Archer Taylor divided them into five groups – animal related, human related, tree related, things related and non comparable riddles. But a primary study of the riddles of the Kolams leads us to divide them under the following categories:
1. House, food and health related riddles
2. Forest and environment related riddles
3. Agriculture related riddles
4. Culture and education related riddles

Till recent times, the Kolams lived upon food gathering, hunting and a primitive agriculture stage. Therefore, we find more number of their riddles (62) revolving around the things related to the ways of acquiring food in the forested environs (25) and from their primitive cultivation (18). Since they are strong believers in appeasing their deities by playing musical instruments during their fairs and festivals, we come across those things in the riddles (4). Education is a relatively latest addition to the social system and this is also evident in their riddles (3).

The house related riddles are about house plastering, swing, clothesline, door, pot hanging ring, wooden pillar, sweeping, termites, bore pump, lamp, ladder, dog tail, neem fruits, umbrella, andugu tree, oil presser, log and thorns. Food related items include popcorn, spatula, custard apple, tamarind fruit, egg, castor oil, mahua flowers, fire ash, bean support log, stove, cake piece, pan, millstone rawa, bitter gourd, match stick, fire, salt, onion, brinjal, nutmeg and maize. Human related things are shade, spit, nose, cry, leather sandals, old people, kid, comb, navel, eyes, nails, teeth, tattoo and lice. Forest related riddles are about Vemapli tree, Buduma fruits, Morri nuts, Aare leaf, wild bitter gourd and bamboo shoot. Birds like sparrow, gijigaadu and peacock and terrestrial animals like rats, ants, porcupine, boar, scorpion, chameleon, squirrel, fishermen – fish, burrowing quail and partridge appear to be humorous riddles. Environment is reflected through the riddles to unfold the intended meanings of stars, valley, stream, air and moon.

Agricultural equipment is expressed through the riddles on machan, paise, axe, ship, causeway, goad, blacksmith, cart axle. Cattle related riddles include the meanings of cow, cow udder, tail and the crops include millet, sesame, fangs, cotton, groundnuts and maize.

There are riddles that talk about musical instruments like Dol, Kaalikom, Dandaari cap and flag. Book and pen are also dealt in few other riddles. The above words are very close to Telugu vocabulary.
To cite a few riddles: the Kolami riddle “iduput mudipi” can be translated as “idupulo mudi” in Telugu; another Kolami riddle “thutthur thummeng, netthur thothed” can be translated as “thurrmane thummedaku netthuru ledu” in Telugu; the Kolami riddle “sikding ver thod, jinkskung jaaga thod” can be translated as “chikkuduku veru ledu, jinkaku jaaga ledu” in Telugu.

A general observation of the Kolami words let us find them with similar spelling and phonetic sound of the Telugu words. For example: the Kolami word gol is gollu in Telugu; chimni is same in both the languages; neenda in Kolami is needa in Telugu; satri in Kolami is chatri in Telugu; cheeme in Kolami is cheemalu in Telugu; the Kolami word pelaa becomes plural word pelaalu in Telugu. Thus, there are slight differences between the two languages, especially in respect of prepositions and verbs. Most of the Kolami words end with nasal sounds which can not be written so easily.

This appears as one of the reasons for the absence of script for the language.
Several scholars made considerable efforts to understand the language and vocabulary. Emeneau’s classic work (1955) presents a detailed grammar, vocabulary (with cognates for Dravidian words and identification of loans from Indo-Aryan and other sources), a discussion on the relationship of the language with the other ones of the Dravidian family, a chapter on the features of the Adilabad dialect as found in P. Sethumadhava Rao’s work (A Grammar of the Kolami Language, 1950) and a few texts. Other tribal languages Naikdi and even Naiki of Chanda can be considered as dialects of Kolami for all practical purposes, say linguists P. S. Subrahmanyam.

Thus, Kolami is not only related to the Telugu language but also to other tribal languages and carries historical community memory through the folklore like riddles. All the dialects of the language Kolami are on the edge of disappearing now. If their folklore is not studied and recorded, the humankind will lose the much needed diversity. I hope this benign effort will serve the interests of the scholars on the subject to take up further works like this to preserve the endangered community’s heritage memories. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍Jagan, Sharmila 'Rift Politics' Visible During YSR Tribute Meet At Idupulapaya And Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy and sister Sharmila have not had the best of ties since July, when she launched her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) in Telangana without her brother’s backing.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy skipped a meeting to celebrate the legacy of his father and former Congress CM Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, further fuelling speculation of a rift with his sister Y.S. Sharmila.

The meeting in Hyderabad Thursday, the 12th death anniversary of YSR, was hosted by Jagan’s mother Y.S. Vijayalakshmi. While the Andhra CM gave it a miss, it was attended by sister Sharmila.

Earlier in the day, however, Jagan had accompanied his mother Vijayamma and sister Sharmila to pay homage to his father at the YSR Ghat in Idupulapaya, Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh. Even then, sources said, there was a “coldness” between the siblings.

“Though they came together, they did not talk to each other much even though they were there for about 40 minutes,” a source close to the family told ThePrint. “It seems like there was pressure from the mother to appear together and not fuel further speculation. They attended it together but it was more to save face.”

The two siblings have not had the best of ties since July, when Y.S. Sharmila launched her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) in Telangana without her brother’s backing.

Back then, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, an advisor to the Andhra government and a member of Jagan’s YSRCP, clarified that the chief minister was against the idea of a political party in neighbouring states.

Since then, speculation has been rife that the rift between the duo has only grown.

The ‘YSR commemoration meeting’ Thursday held significance as the 12th year is related to the Hindu water festival Pushkaralu, which occurs once in 12 years.

Experts say this was planned as YSR was known to be connected to water and took personal interest to revamp the state’s irrigation system.

They added that it was also held in Hyderabad in an attempt to leverage Sharmila’s political party in Telangana.

“I believe the meeting was organised to reignite memories of YSR for people in the Telangana region. Inviting YSR’s contemporaries is a statement Sharmila is trying to make about the support she has,” political observer Palwai Raghavendra Reddy said.

“The presence of invitees from Andhra-Rayalaseema regions might not help her greatly electorally but it is certainly good for optics.”
Sources said that mother Vijayamma, who holds an honorary position in Jagan’s YSRCP, was personally involved in sending out invitations. They added that invitations were sent to over 250 people, which included former civil servants, and political party leaders who once worked with YSR in the Congress.

A majority of YSR loyalists in the Congress party did not attend the meeting.
Sources in the Congress said the party had, both in Andhra and Telangana, issued a diktat directing leaders not to attend, saying the meeting was “politically motivated”.

Despite that, at least three Congress leaders attended, including former Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao.

YSRCP leaders, although a majority of them are based in Andhra Pradesh, voluntarily abstained from attending the meeting.

A senior government official, also a close aide to the Reddy family, told ThePrint on condition of anonymity, that he was also invited to the meeting but refrained from going following “orders from the top”.

“Most of the party leaders were in Andhra and all of them celebrated YSR’s legacy in their own constituencies — in mandals and villages. So, they were all busy there,” YSRCP MLA Abbaya Chowdary told ThePrint.

Y.S. Sharmila has always campaigned for brother Jagan — be it before the 2019 assembly elections when he won by a thumping victory or in 2012, when she managed to keep YSRCP active with a 3000-km padayatra after Jagan was jailed in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

She has, however, never been part of his government or the cabinet. But party insiders told ThePrint that she had asked for her rightful share in the form of a Rajya Sabha nomination, which her brother denied. They added that the chief minister is not keen on power sharing within the family.

Their political tussles have begun showing in their personal lives. Unlike every year, Sharmila did not visit her brother Jagan on Rakhi this time around. She instead wished him on social media platform Twitter, and tied Rakhis on a few of her party leaders.

Sharmila has also begun referring to herself as the “daughter of YSR” — right from her Twitter bio to her public meetings. On her father’s death anniversary Thursday, she tweeted that YSR always pushed her to win even if she was fighting alone.

Stuck in the rift between the siblings is Vijayamma, who is now visibly supporting Sharmila in her political venture. For long in the shadows of her husband and then son, Vijayamma has begun coming to the fore.

She attended Sharmila’s first public meeting in Khammam in April and also sought blessings for her daughter. She was also present at the YSRTP’s grand launch in Hyderabad on 8 July.
Speculation is now rife that Vijayamma, who has largely been inactive in Jagan’s YSRCP, might give up her position in the party to support Sharmila.
“For her, both her children are the same. She has perhaps now decided to support Sharmila,” a senior YSRCP leader said on the condition of anonymity.

“She stood by Jagan when it was necessary and now it is Sharmila’s turn. She cannot do that while holding a position in Jagan’s party. In fact, Jagan’s wife Y.S. Bharati (though officially not part of the party) has a better say in the YSRCP than the mother.” #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Teachers Are 'Real Architect' Of Children’s Future

On the special occasions like Teacher’s Day we say all sorts of noble words about the vocation of teaching, and some teachers are awarded by the State, the fact is that as a society we are not very serious about the role of teachers as the messengers of emancipatory education.

To begin with, let us dare to be “impractical” and imagine what the vocation of teaching ought to be. Well, we might find amid ourselves a spectrum of “knowledgeable” people — experts and specialists. 

But then, a teacher is not just a subject expert. She teaches not merely quantum physics or medieval history; she does something more. She walks with her students as a co-traveller; she touches their souls; and as a catalyst, she helps the young learner to understand his/her uniqueness and innate possibilities. She is not a machine that merely repeats the dictates of the official curriculum; nor is she an agent of surveillance — disciplining, punishing, hierarchising and normalising her students through the ritualisation of examinations and grading. 

Instead, she is creative and reflexive; and it is through the nuanced art of relatedness that she activates the learner’s faith that he is unique, he need not be like someone else, he must look at the process of his inner flowering, and the artificially constructed binary of “success” and “failure” must be abandoned.

There is another important thing a teacher ought to take care of. She must realise that there are limits to teaching and sermonising; and she is not supposed to fill the mind of the learner with a heavy baggage of bookish knowledge. 

Instead, her primary task is to help the learner to sharpen the power of observation, the ability to think and reflect, the aesthetic sensibility, and above all, the spiritual urge to experience the glimpses of the Infinite. In other words, once these faculties are developed, one becomes a life-long learner — beyond degrees and diplomas. 

In fact, teaching as an act of communion, and studentship as a project of the integral development of the physical, vital, intellectual and psychic states of being, can create the ground for emancipatory education. And emancipatory education is not a mere act of “skill learning”; nor is it pure intellectualism with academic specialisation.

On the other hand, on September 5, the Teachers Day is celebrated to honour the memory of India's first Vice President and to commemorate the importance of teachers in our lives. It is supposed to be a special day for the appreciation of teachers who are the real fountain head of a strong nation.

Indian culture had always treated them as most important pillars. Even Lord Krishna, Rama or any kings during medieval period who ruled the country had taken lessons under a Guru and this speaks a lot about the importance of a teacher.

The teachers have a very difficult task and play the role of torchbearers, work with dedication even in adverse conditions to make the young generation prosper in all respects. It is time for the political executive and the teachers to have a serious introspection about the role of teachers then and now and see what kind of reforms needed to be brought in the system to ensure that the core values of education and the healthy relationship between the teachers and the taught is restored.

As a matter of fact, emancipatory education is the willingness to live meaningfully, creatively and gracefully. It is the ability to identify and debunk diverse ideologies and practices of domination and seduction — say, the cult of narcissistic personalities that reduces democracy to a ritualistic act of “electing” one’s masters, the doctrine of militaristic nationalism that manufactures the mass psychology of fear and hatred, or the neoliberal idea that to be “smart” is to be a hyper-competitive consumer driven by the promises of instant gratification through the ceaseless consumption of all sorts of material and symbolic goods. 

And a teacher ought to be seen as the carrier of this sort of emancipatory education that inspires the young learner to question sexism, racism, casteism, ecologically destructive developmentalism, hollow consumerism, and the life-killing practice of “productivity” that transforms potentially creative beings into mere “resources”, or spiritually impoverished and alienated robotic performers.

Yet, the irony is that we do not desire to create an environment that promotes emancipatory education, and nurtures the true spirit of the vocation of teaching. Look at the state of an average school in the country. 

With rote learning, poor teacher-taught ratio, pathetic infrastructure, chaotic classrooms and demotivated teachers, it is not possible to expect even the slightest trace of intellectually stimulating and ethically churning education. It is sad that ours is a society that refuses to acknowledge the worth of good schoolteachers.

Moreover, because of nepotism, corruption and trivialisation of BEd degrees, there is massive devaluation of the vocation. 

Likewise, while the triumphant political class has caused severe damage to some of our leading public universities, and fancy institutes of technology and management see education primarily as a training for supplying the workforce for the techno-corporate empire, teachers are becoming mere “service providers” or docile conformists. Here is a society hypnotised by the power of bureaucracy, the assertion of techno-managers and the glitz of celebrities. Not surprisingly then, it fails to realise that a society that has lost its teachers is dead.

However, those who love the vocation of teaching and continue to see its immense possibilities should not give up. 

After all, ours is also a society that saw the likes of Gijubhai Badheka, Rabindranath Tagore and Jiddu Krishnamurti who inspired us, and made us believe that a teacher, far from being a cog in the bureaucratic machine, carries the lamp of truth, and walks with her students as wanderers and seekers to make sense of the world they live in, and free it from what belittles man. We must celebrate this pedagogy of hope.

Teachers Day should not end with some celebrations. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan saw education as the most important tool to metamorphose our society into an inclusive one. The question now is whether our present education system is inclusive. Are teachers playing the role of Shilpis (sculptors) and making children strong enough mentally to face any situation in life?

The role of a teacher is multifarious one. "Teaching is an ongoing process, which like mercury never settles at a particular place but keeps flowing with everlasting grandeur." They should be sharp, enlightened, updated, innovative, perseverant and ever ready to learn new things and unlearn old ones so that they produce the best of human resources, who are not only employable but should have enough resilience to absorb highs and lows of life. Does such a situation prevail in our country? 

Under Gurukul system, the Gurus (teachers) used to lay emphasis on practical education, developing observation skills of a student and above all there used to be a system of questioning, discussion and debate. A week student was always attached to a bright student so that the bright student would help the weak student.

But now it is other way round. The weak students are segregated from so-called cream and made to sit in a separate section which leads to negative impact on them as they are stamped as weak students. All this is part of commercialisation of education.

The system of listening to what teacher says, copy what is written on black board, learn by rote the so-called important questions is resulting in a situation where students are committing suicide if one gets 85 per cent marks instead of 90 per cent.

There are also cases where students are committing suicide, thinking that they may not get good marks. The political executive of the country and the teachers should ponder over such issues and bring major reforms to restore the values of education and importance of teacher that was seen in the olden times. The governments too should free the teachers from doing other works like door-to-door enumeration work or drafting them for election related work. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Feel The Magic Of Urdu Sher And Shayari

Urdu is one of the most attractive languages that built a popularity of its own since Shayaris have taken a pace in the form of beautiful couplets. The ‘couplets’ have become the face of Urdu dialect these days whose words actually come from the hearts of Shayars (or) Shayaranas who knows the pain of a heartbreak.

Shayaris is mostly associated with  heartbreaks or confessing love to your beloved. So, by now you must have understood that Shayaris can indeed be a beautiful way to convey your emotions with utter depth!
You may find many celebrated Shayars across the country and in the city of Hyderabad too, for instance,

Rahat Indori is the biggest face in this arena who is an appreciated Shayar of all times. Who can forget these lines: ‘Itni shiddat se maine tumhe chahne ki koshish ki hai, ke har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai’ (With so much of desire I have always wanted you, and the whole world has now come together to help me be with you), the viral couplet from Shahrukh Khan-starrer that went viral when Om Shanti Om released, such is the influence of it. Shayari is a very rich tradition of poetry and has many different types and forms.

It borrows its style primarily from the Persian language! It’s a Hindi or an Urdu word for a short poem or couplet as mentioned earlier, consisting usually of two to four lines. It has some meter and usually has a profound meaning.

The rhyming poetry as it is called basically comprises a couplet known as Sher. And this is how this form of poetry derives its name Sher O Shayari. Like other languages, the history of Shayari shares its origins and influence with other linguistic traditions within the Urdu-Hindi-Hindustani mix!

Today it forms an important part of Pakistani and North Indian culture.
In the Urdu poetic tradition, most poets use a pen name called the Takhallus. This can be either a part of a poet’s given name or something else adopted as an identity.

So the traditional convention in identifying Urdu poets is to mention the takhallus at the end of the name. In Pakistan, Urdu poetry is written in the standard Nasta’liq calligraphy style of the Perso-Arabic script. However, in India, where Urdu poetry is very popular, the Perso-Arabic is often found translated into the Devanagiri script.

Who would have thought that there will be a day when poetry and Shayari lovers would get to see legends like Javed Akhtar Sahab, Dr. Kumar Vishwas, Kausar Munir, and Zakir Khan share the same stage and narrate Shayari, incidents, and anecdotes from their lives. What felt like a dream was made into a reality that charmed one and all via the ‘India Shayari Project’.

Themed around ‘celebrating poetry, celebrating freedom’, the specials showcased these stellar poets shed light on some very special moments from their lives that gave fans the chance to know them up close and personal.

Having left poetry and Shayari fans with ample food for thought, here’s what the living legend Javed Akhtar had to say about the present and future of Shayari and making it accessible to the youth, “Shayari will continue to exist till the time people can emote and feel.
The real question, however, is how it reaches out and strikes the right chord with the audience.

As far as the path where Shayari is headed, I believe that despite the younger generation not being much into reading, they still consume Shayari through electronic or digital mediums and this special is also a way of making it accessible to youth.” With all the eyes on the master wordsmith, he feels that yes ‘Shayari is getting its due appreciation!’“This is the 5G generation, which is fully absorbed into various musical genres.

Who even remembers Shayars? I want to be a responsible  influencer from the Hyderabadi city and bring back the memorable poetic days of Shayaris adding a social message to it and that is what I am up to. I tend to pick up what is happening in the current scenario, intertwine that into the four most relevant couplets that would want my audience to be lost into it.

Earlier I began with the typical dakhani dialect and now it has a little mix of Telugu also into it so that every native can resonate with it. Having said that, I want my shayaris to be out there in every nook and corner of the city,” shares Mohammed Furkhan Ahmed, who gained popularity with his Shayari version of Jhonny Jhonny in the city along with his band.  

We have always heard about the known men in this profession, what about the women though? Kausar Munir shares why she is yet to be called Shayara and about women in poetry. She is the woman behind the magical lyrics like Love You Zindagi, Maana Ki Hum Yaar Nahin, Falak Tak among others. “I am yet to be called ‘Shayara as it’s a very big word and needs to be earned and I am in the process of doing that. I don’t think poetry has any gender and neither is it true that I, being a woman, will feel more pain and emotions than a male counterpart.

It’s all about the talent and it cannot be further classified into gender,”she added. Let us agree, one must not go blank when someone recalls a woman Shayara. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍‍Will Andhra Pradesh People Ever Forgive Congress Party?

In the context of the manifest as well as probable consequences of the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh, the moot question for the Congress is: Will the people of residual Andhra Pradesh ever forgive us?

The grand old party, due its 'misguided' strategy, is yet to come out of the clutches of the 'Frankenstein' monster it had unleashed by way of bifurcation. There is no doubt that the people of Telangana benefited more from bifurcation than those of residual AP, considering that bifurcation per se was carried out by flouting all democratic norms and without even a proper discussion in Parliament.  

Of course, the Congress was aware that it would lose the goodwill of voters in the Andhra region, considering that the very dea of bifurcation was initially rejected by the legislature of the undivided AP by voice vote.

The Congress had forged post-poll alliance with the YSR Congress party headed by YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The Congress thought that there would be no political harm for itself in the 2014 elections due to AP's bifurcation should it fail to get a single seat. It was confident of getting support from the eventual winner with a good number of seats. With this reading, the Congress looked confident of getting maximum Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, ahead of the UPA government granting the new state. This was on top of the possible support coming from Andhra with its arrangement with YSRC should it emerge victorious.  

Now, the Congress is planning to restart its political journey in Andhra Pradesh with it new-found promise of Special Category Status (SCS) that was assured by then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the floor of the Rajya Sabha. Later, it was denounced by the BJP government, though arguments in favour of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh were then made by none other than M. Venkaiah Naidu in the Upper House.

In fact, Venkaiah Naidu had suggested that SCS should be given for 10 years, instead of the five-year period assured by the Prime Minister. The Congress picked up the slogan of SCS that was rejected by the BJP government, though it had previously backed SCS.

The Congress got political life and life support from the people of undivided AP twice. The Congress got 41 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in AP in the 1977 elections, after it faced a humiliating defeat all over the country in the post-Emergency period that turned the destiny of Congress. People of AP had given 30-plus Lok Sabha seats in two  consecutive elections  -- 2004 & 2009 that literally helped the UPA rule the country for 10 years as there was no other state in the rest of the country that had given the party such huge number of seats. The Congress' plight then can be understood from the fact that in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress got only two seats (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi).

Hence, the Congress is trying woo Andhra Pradesh without treading on the tender toes of Telangana people.  Its USP is that it granted T-State knowing fully well the fact that it would badly affect its political prospects in the residuary state of AP. It is OK if it is seen as having had a hidden understanding with the YSRCP of Jaganmohan Reddy on possible post-poll support.

Considering the negative implications of taking up SCS, especially in the context of Telangana Rashtra Samiti's oft-repeated assertion that 'Andhra' leaders had given a short shrift to Telangana region in the combined AP, the Congress has started making it clear that its support for SCS to AP would not be at the cost of the interests of people of Telangana.

Former president of AICC Rahul Gandhi had a series of meetings with Andhra leaders on the possibilities left for reaching out to people of AP. Naturally, it was pointed out that the grand old party had deceived the people of Andhra in the process of bifurcation. Nobody had a clear answer when Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked: "Will the people of Andhra Pradesh ever forgive us?"  

However, all of them underlined that a committed approach towards realisation of SCS would enable the party to win back the confidence of AP people to some extent so that the party can regain lost ground in the not-so-distant future. The leaders also drove home their point that proximity with Chandrababu Naidu of TDP would be detrimental to the interests of the party. According to them, the Congress can bank on 7-8 per cent of the voters in AP.  But for its truck with TDP, its vote bank would have been 10% of voters.

Political strategist and psephologist Prashant Kishor (PK) has been asked to look into the ways in which the party can reach out to people of AP after overcoming the minus points related to bifurcation. PK had worked with YSRCP, which emerged victorious in the 2019 polls winning 151 Assembly seats out of 175, creating history. Despite being asked to work for YSRCP again in 2024 by none other than Jagan at a thanksgiving programme, Prasanth did not agree this time.

Congress had to first choose one person to head the party in the state in place of P. Sailajanath. The name of former Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy surfaced. Despite Kiran's reluctance to helm the Congress over its questionable role in the bifurcation episode, he is being pressurized to accept the responsibility.

Will this high-profile man accept the offer made by the party's high command is a big question? Before Kiran gives an answer, the Congress per se has a long troublesome journey ahead. #KhabarLive #hydnews