Acid test for officials
Krishna Pushkarams turned out to be an acid test for the administrative skills of officials and staff of various departments.
With a slew of review meetings and round-the-clock monitoring of the bathing ghats and the city’s main thoroughfares with the help of drones, CC TV cameras, and other devices, meeting the Chief Minister’s expectations has become a tough task for them.
There is no dearth of capable officers, but it is the multiplicity of instructions from none other than the Chief Minister that is making them run around to make things happen.
Of course, there are rewards for top performers, for which a rating mechanism has already been put in place.
It’s time, therefore, for the officials to get their act together.
The hectic activity inside the police command and control centre on MG Road is to be seen if one is to understand the seriousness of the duties that the officialdom is burdened with.
All said and done, there would be no disagreement on the fact that it is an effort worth making in public interest.
No takers for
red gram
The rytu bazaars are grappling with poor off-take of red gram by ration cardholders and also the problem of damage to stock, if it is stored upto three months. The cardholders are reluctant to purchase red gram as its price has gone down in open market.
While it is sold at Rs. 100 a kg in the open market, the same is priced at Rs. 120 a kg at rytu bazaars. The Centre has allotted 2,000 tonnes of red gram to Telangana which is milled and sold through rytu bazaars.
However, the sale was limited to only ten tonnes in the last one-and-a-half months.
The agitated rytu bazaar officials recently alerted Civil Supplies Department that the storage of red gram was a big problem as it was vulnerable to decay beyond a point though it was fit for consumption for up to two years.
Protecting labour rights
The Union Labour Ministry is firm that there should not be any compromise on safeguarding the rights of workers in workplaces with Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya claiming that political parties were not exempt from implementing the labour laws. Mr. Dattatreya, who briefed reporters about the proceedings of the just-concluded monsoon session of the Parliament, was faced with a series of questions on the enforcement of labour laws in the offices of the political parties, including Bharatiya Janata Party.
A seasoned politician, Mr. Dattatreya would not easily give in to the reporters’ queries on whether the PF and ESI facilities were extended to those employed in the BJP offices.
“We have initiated efforts to see that all the 44 laws governing labour are enforced and are taking steps accordingly in a phased manner. Political parties are not above board,” were his parting remarks.
Drop in admissions
Call it the growing influence of private schools on society or increasing lax on part of government schools – the latter’s loss is former’s gain – in the matter of attracting admissions into primary school. In spite of the attention being paid by the State government to improve the education sector by opening a large number of residential schools for minorities and BCs and introduction of English medium in primary schools, the number of children who have taken admission in first standard in government schools this year is much less than the last year.
Heads of Education Department are at a total loss unable to fathom the reasons for drop in the number of admissions as they stood at only 2.59 lakh children against 2.75 lakh children last year in nearly 20,000 schools! Less than 15 children on an average per school!
Cracking whip against teachers
The Education Department has decided to crack the whip against headmasters and subject teachers by issuing charge memos if results in government schools during last SSC exams were less than the district average.
The government had earlier come down heavily on special officers at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas by deciding not to renew their contract in similar circumstances.
The latest decision, as disclosed by Commissioner of Education, has doubled the pressure on teachers and headmasters to improve enrolment of children on one hand and produce good results on the other.
– Reporting by
V. Raghavendra,
N. Rahul, M. Rajeev,
B. Chandrashekhar &
Yunus Y. Lassania
