Telengana struggle

By agreeing to initiate the process for the formation of a separate state for Telengana,Congress has put an end to a long justified struggle of the Telengana people.Though states were originally formed on linguistic basis,if development of a particular region was hindered,there is nothing wrong in acceding to the demand.This should not be looked as narrow parochialism.This is a legitimate demand of the Telengana people.When newer districts are created with in the state for administrative convenience and development,creating a new state for the welfare and development of those people is a just demand.AP will be the first South Indian state to be split in to two. Already many new states like Haryana(1966 out of punjab),Uthrakhand(out of UP and Himachal in 2000),Jarkhand(out of Bihar in 2000),Chattisgarh(out of MP in 2000) were created from bigger states in North India.

AP was the first Indian state to be formed on linguistic basis after independence,carving out portions of former Madras presidency and part of the former Hyderabad Nizam's territory .Rest of the Hyderabad Nizam's territory were annexed to Karnataka and Maharashtra.The Telengana districts were underdeveloped and literacy rate was poor compared to the erstwhile Madras Presidency areas in the Andhra region.The Telengana struggle has a horay past.P.Sundarayya, one of the founders of CPI started the first Telengana peasants struggle against the Hyderabad Nizams.I would say he is the real pioneer of the Telengana people's struggle.Right from the start, people of Telengana expressed apprehension over being sidelined by the literate Andhra region people in all spheres like education,jobs and development.And they were right.Even after 62 years of indeppendence,the Telengana people had an axe to grind.The Osmania University was the hub of Telengana supporters,right from the start.M.Chenna Reddy started the first pro Telengana struggle politically by floating a party. Finally he merged his party with Congress and became the Chief minister.Later on to appease the people of Telengana, Mrs.Indira Gandhi made P.V.Narasimha Rao of Telengana region as the CM.KCR left TDP to float TRS . TRS fought last elections with Congress on the plea that congress would agree to form a separate Telengana state.But after assuming power Congress put its plans,in cold storage. KRS had to quit the ministry and revive his Telegana struggle.This time he got support from all fronts.But what is intriguing is how did YSR manage to hold on keeping the Telengana struggle under his fold over one full term and for the rest of the time he was the CM.Was there a political game behind the current struggle to unseat or weaken the current Andhra CM?

One hopes Hyderabad would not become a bone of contention between Telengana and Andhra people.Both sides should be accomodative,arrive at compromises and settle issues amicably.The creation of Telengana will be a shot in the arm for those who demand creation of a separate state for coorgs in Karnataka,Mithilanchal in Bihar , Sourashtra in Gujarat and Gorkha land out of West Bengal.Similarly there is a demand to create Bhojpur out of Eastern UP. It is mandatory for the State governments concerned to give recommendation to create new states out of existing territories of a state.This would also serve as an eye opener to those State government's that turn a deaf ear to the continous demands and aspirations of people of the backward districts in their state.

The population of bigger Indian states are larger than many small nations.Bifurcating bigger states would increase the ratio between the administrator and the people.That would ensure better service .Above all,I think a new state would ensure, an exclusive budgetary allocation for the development of that region.It would help the region's chances of getting equitable central assistance.Supporters of smaller states also cite examples of poor development of bigger states like MP,UP and Bihar after Independence compared to many smaller states.However resorting to violence for the creation of new states is something that is not acceptable.Demands for new statehood should be above petty politics and should be looked upon objectively by all concerned.

If there is no disparity in development between regions within a state,demands for separate statehood would not crop at all.Even if such demands arise for petty political end ,people would shun such movements, if it is not justifiable.The state governments concerned should ensure equitable distribution of developmental programmes across the state. When allocating funds for developmental activities with in the state there should be no overriding political considerations.

Obama countermands Bush on stem cells

The Bush administration barred research and funding on embryonic stem cell research by America's National Institute of Health(NIH)on moral grounds .This ban was in force from 2001.The catholics were against embryonic stem cell research.Even Pope John Paul II appealed to Bush to bar money for embryonic stem cell research.Finally Bush bowed to the pontiff's wish and banned funding embryonic stem cell research.Bush's national television speech on stem cell was considered as the best speech on 'medical ethics' ever made by an American President.Obama has now allowed funding to human embryonic stem cell research.He has asked NIH to develop guidleines for funding and research on human embryonic stem cells.This is an historic move.Obama once again proved he is guided by pragmatism.But his detractors feel it is moral arrogance.

He said he believed it was a "false choice between sound science and moral values".He also said "we have to work to ease human sufferings....."."Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident. They result from painstaking and costly research....and from a government willing to support that work... "

At the same time Obama was also very careful in saying that he would ensure that this "never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction." This could go along way in alleviating human suffering on a number of incurable diseases.There are over 100 million people suffering from diabetes world over.It is believed stem cell therapy could cure diabetes.

When Bush prevented government funding to embryonic stem cell research,the research work moved out to countries in Asia including Japan,China and India.Also countries like Britan and Scotland started research work on this field.India became a preferred destination for many.India offered good potential for English speaking scientists and diverse ethnicity for their research work.Though India does stem cell research,stem cell therapy is in a nascent stage.

Obtaining stem cells from legally abortioned embryos may be acceptable.There is a mushroom growth of fertility clinics now. Usage of surplus human embryos of an invitro fertilisation procedure for stem cell research is considered unethical by some,since these embryos have to be killed for harvesting stem cells.Also creating an human embryo exclusively for research work is also not palpable to many.I feel crossing ethical limits in biomedical research is something that can not be fended off for long in the days to come.

All said and done one has to agree,the natural corollary of medical breakthroughs using stem cells from human embryos would be human cloning.Those who oppose human cloning say that it is like breeding people to harvest their tissues,organs from their body and dispose them later.On the other hand those who support human cloning feels it is an opportunity to remake mankind to its potential. Who knows what is in store for our posterity?

Virendar Shewag -Will he create history ?

Virender Shewag has scored 284 at stumps on the second day of the third test match against Sri Lanka at Mumbai today. He is just 16 runs away from creating a world record.One wishes he creates a new world record by scoring his third triple century and become the first in the history of world cricket to score three triple centuries in test cricket.The other two who have scored triple centuries twice in Test Cricket are Don Bradman and Brain Lara.If Viru achieves this feat tomorrow,it would become a world record very difficult to beat for a very long time to come,since Lara has retired from active Cricket and the great Bradman is no more.His previous triple centuries were at Chennai last year against South Africa (319)and 309 against Pakistan at Multan in 2004.He was even described by the media as the'Sultan of Multan' for some time.One sincerely wishes in the process, he also overhauls Lara's world record of 400 in test cricket by any batsman in the world tomorrow.He is good enough to achieve this feat also.No doubt Schewag is considered as the most destructive batsmen in world cricket.

Bachan on Ilayaraja

Ilayaraja has composed the music for Bachan's forthcoming film PAA scheduled to be released on December 4th.Big B has sung a song in this movie on maestero's music.After recording the song at Prasad Studios,Chennai Bachan writes in his blog about Ilayaraja.

"The great Ilaiyaraja, pristine in white and just off from Balaji at Tirupati, conducts me at Prasad Studios for the song from PAA. I did it once when he was not around. I did it today when he was around. The world seemed different........

His eyes wild and bright. His language measured and pointed. His reason behind every note definite and pure and his decision final on the output. The master, the maestro, the magician the ‘little Raja’....

I am struck with emotion. It works its way up the belly through to the chest and heart and waits to explode into the eye lids. And I return back to the Hotel and I believe that I will wait till the morrow for the senses to dissolve before I can go any further ....."

Big B plays the role of a 13 year old boy in this movie and Abishek plays the dad's role.Bavatharini has also rendered her dad's composition in this movie.

Dam 999

Dam 999 is the title of a Malyalam movie under production.This movie is a Hollywood-Mollywood production on Mullai periyar .This dam was built by Britishers and the dam was leased out for 999 years to the then Madras Presidency by the Britishers. The 999 in the film title refers to the 999 years lease.After Independence when States were reorganised on linguistic basis the dam site became part of Kerala.This film is produced by a Dubai based business man Sohan Roy. He is also directing the movie .If one goes by the press reports and the interview of Mr.Roy, the movie is likely to portray the Kerala stand on the Mullaiperiyar row.The Kerala government stand is that the dam is not safe and increasing water levels would jeopardise the lives of those living in the down stream districts of kerala.The matter is subjudice.At this point,a film on this issue should not create unnecessary controversies.People who matter,at the helm in both states should earnestly try to resolve the issue sans political bias and narrow prejudices.The whole controversy is not about sharing the river water,but is about increasing the storage level of the reservoir.To my mind it is an absolute technical point.There can not be two sides to this issue.There could be only one fact.Tamil nadu demands increase in storage levels based on supreme courts order.Kerala continues to maintain,the dam is weak and if the storage levels are increased it could be disasterous and catastrophical.It is very unfortunate the technical people on both states are also taking sides and not coming out with the true position of the dam.The experts committee on technical feasiblility says storage levels can be increased since repair works have been carried out by Tmailnadu. But the Kerala earth science experts say the area where the dam is situated is prone to earthquakes and the dam can not withstand an earth quake.It is also true this area has experienced several tremors for some time.It is slowly snowballing in to an emotive issue.

Farming groups on the Tamilnadu side is giving pressure to the Tamilnadu government since irrigation and drinking water needs of the five rain shadow districts of Tamilnadu depends solely on the water release from Mullaiperiyar.Vast areas of land have already become barren and more than 8000 hectares of land went dry.It is high time politicians on both sides stop playing to the gallery and address the real issue with a view to resolve the issue rather than prolonging it by legal wrangles and litigations.It is very deplorable that all such issues between states are looked upon with a hidden regional and parochial agenda by those in power.This approach can never solve issues of this sort.Don't we have technical expertise to resolve an essentially technical issue? What prevents us from doing that?.The answer is dirty politics.One sincerly hopes better sense would prevail among our politicians of both states and would soon find ways to come out of this tangle.Let not Dam 999 producers complicate the issue and make it complex by projecting the consequences of a dam break in their movie.