12/02/12

Sunday, December 2, 2012

వైకాపాలోకి నాగార్జున, మంచు లక్ష్మి?

టాలీవుడ్ లో అగ్ర హీరోలలో ఒకరైన నాగార్జున వైఎస్సార్ కాంగ్రెస్స్ పార్టీలో చేరబోతున్నారట. నాగ్ విజయవాడ ఎంపీ సీటుని టార్గెట్ గా పెట్టుకుని ముందుకు సాగుతున్నట్లు సమాచారం. దీనికి సంబంధించిన చర్చలు, మంతనాలు అన్నీ పూర్తయ్యాయి. ముహూర్తం ఒక్కటే మిగిలివుంది. లగడపాటి రాజగోపాల్ లాంటి గట్టి ప్రత్యర్ధిని ధీటుగా ఎదుర్కోవాలంటే నాగార్జునే కరెక్ట్ అని వైఎస్స్ జగన్ కూడా భావిస్తున్నారట. ఈ మధ్యన పలుమార్లు నాగార్జున చంచల్ గుడా జైలుకి వెళ్ళివచ్చిన సంగతి తెలిసిందే.

ఇదే జైలులో నాగార్జున బిజినెస్స్ పార్టనర్ నిమ్మగడ్డ ప్రసాద్ ఉంటున్న సంగతి తెలిసిందే. నాగార్జున పైకి ప్రసాద్ ని కలవడానికి వెళుతున్నా అని చెబుతున్నా, నాగ్ మాత్రం జగన్ ని కూడా కలిసేవారని గుసగుసలు వినిపించేవి. ఈ విషయం మీద ఎవరూ పెద్దగా మాట్లాడకపోయినా, నాగ్ మాత్రం రాజకీయ తీర్ధం పుచ్చుకునే ఆలోచనతోనే జగన్ ని కలవడం జరిగిందట.

మరొకవైపు మంచు లక్ష్మి కూడా వైకాపాలో చేరనుందని సమాచారం. జగన్ కి మంచు ఫ్యామిలీతో బంధుత్వం ఉన్న సంగతి తెలిసిందే. ఈమె ఎక్కడినుంచి పోటీ చేస్తుంది? ఎంపీ సీటుకా ఎమ్మెల్యే సీటుకి పోటీ చేస్తుందా అనేది తెలియాల్సి వుంది.

- T.V. Com

13,761 private schools comply with RTE rules, register online

As many as 13,761 private schools have registered online with the Education Department as the last date for their mandatory registration under the Right to Education Act, 2009, came to a close on Friday.

Many schools that come under the Karnataka Unaided Schools Joint Action Committee (KUSJAC), which had earlier resisted registration on the ground that the process is too cumbersome, have also now complied with the rule.

“The government conceded our demand to allow offline registration with the Block Education Officers and we have done it,” said L. Shivarame Gowda, president of the KUSJAC.

Numbers not clear

There is no clarity as yet on whether and how many schools across the State have failed to register because several schools have registered offline, according to E. Nanjappa, Consultant on the Right to Education Act, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Besides, while the computer-generated statistics indicate that as many as 19,966 private schools were meant to register, Mr. Nanjappa said that the actual numbers could be lower because many composite schools run both primary and secondary schools come under one registration.

“The District Information System for Education (DISE), on the other hand, counts primary and secondary schools separately, irrespective of whether they are run by the same management or not,” he said.

“So, the actual number of schools who may have failed to register will be known only when we gather information from the field,” Mr. Nanjappa told The Hindu. It is estimated that close to 5,000 schools may be composite schools running under single management, he added.

As per the rules under RTE, registration of all private schools is mandatory for their recognition to be continued.

In the meanwhile, the Karnataka Unaided Schools Joint Action Committee, which held a meeting on Friday, has decided to meet Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Secretary and other officials of the Education Department on Monday to press for their other demands.

Their demands include formation of a State-level committee for implementation of the RTE, which includes members of school managements.

They are also demanding change in definition of “neighbourhood” and change in criterion for a child be deemed eligible for 25 per cent reservation under the RTE in private schools.

Jupiter to make closest approach to Earth

Jupiter, the largest after the Sun in the solar system, will be at its biggest and brightest on Monday night much to the delight of sky-gazers.

The planet, which has a system of rings, is at its closest approach and thus would appear more big and bright than usual, N. Sri Raghunandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India said.

The planet can be seen with naked eyes an hour after the sunset in the eastern direction on Monday. It will be visible all through the night and at midnight one can spot it in the southern direction at a higher elevation, he said.

According to him, Jupiter, which has a large number of natural satellites, will be in ‘opposition’ on Monday night. “A planet is said to be in opposition when it is directly opposite to the Sun from our view from Earth,” he said.

At its opposition, the planet is fully illuminated by the Sun and appears disc-like, he said, adding, Jupiter’s opposition occurs every 13 months.

The last opposition of the planet occurred on October, 29, 2011 and the next will be January 6, 2014.

The minimum distance of Jupiter from Earth is approximately 588 million kms while its maximum distance is about 967 million kms.

On Monday, the ring planet will be at 608 million kms, which is very close to its minimum distance from Earth.

“Because of its closeness to Earth, Jupiter will be shinning very bright at -2.8 Magnitude,” Mr. Kumar said.

TRAI moves to check arbitrary disconnection of SIMs

Telecom regulator TRAI has initiated debate on the issue of operators arbitrarily disconnecting services of customers on the grounds of ’non-usage of numbers’ or ‘inactive SIM connections’

According to information provided by telecom operators to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, around 20 crore SIMs were inactive for over a certain period of time and the total balance on that account stood at Rs. 128.9 crore.

TRAI has said that telecom subscribers at various forums have represented that their mobile connections were being disconnected arbitrarily by telecom operators.

“Deactivation of a SIM without prior intimation and on arbitrary grounds deprives the subscriber of his mobile number which might have been an identity for him for a long time,” said TRAI’s consultation paper on the issue.

As a result, consumers suffer from a potential loss of activity in both personal and professional set-ups causing an adverse impact on livelihood.

“While some consumers complained against the practice of deactivation of SIMs without prior intimation to them by their TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) when they were travelling in India or abroad, other subscribers lamented about disconnection of their life-time prepaid connections within a very short period of non-usage,” TRAI said.

Telecom operators in their meetings with TRAI have said that they have to deactivate SIMs to efficiently manage number series (mobile phone numbers) allocated to them by the Department of Telecom.

TRAI said it has found that telecom operators do not follow common criteria to disconnect inactive SIMs but added that “to manage their numbering resources better, the service providers have proposed to follow a procedure for deactivating mobile connections which are not used for a long time.”

In July 2011, DoT started allocating number series to telecom operators on the basis of active users on their network.

“However, while carrying out such deactivations, the customers should be informed transparently and those customers who wish to retain their connections even while not using them should have the option to do so on payment of a connection retention fee,” it added.

TRAI cited that its order on tariff plan with lifetime or unlimited validity “requires any subscriber to recharge” his mobile phone account “with any specified minimum amount within specified time periods” during validity of the plan.

“...to keep the said tariff plan valid, such specified time period or interval, shall, in no case, be less than six months,” the regulator said.

TRAI has fixed December 21 as last date for comments on this consultation paper, and December 28 as last date for counter comments.