Telangana is all set to get a new batch of all India officers. Surprisingly, they are not civil servants but professionals from a reputed corporate house which has corporate social responsibility in its DNA.
Thirty three of them are being specifically allotted by the Central Government to Telangana to implement the Swachh Bharat Mission, mainly to create an open defecation-free (ODF) State. While Hyderabad will get three officers, who will constitute the project management group, the remaining 30 districts will have one officer each.
They will be called Zilla Swachh Bharat Preraks and will be on the pay rolls of the Centre. However, the State Government will have the power to transfer them. The new mascots of the Swachh Bharat Mission will be accommodated in district Collectorates where they will be provided all infrastructure.
Drawing inspiration
Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao believes in the saying roads indicate the health of an economy.
He made no bones about it the other day when he wanted officials of roads and buildings to put in more funds and energy to improve the condition of roads in the State so that the meaning of road travel is changed for good.
He said that he drew inspiration to develop roads from a sign board in the office of Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari at Delhi which reads “American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because it has good roads”.
Too much of hair splitting in the phrase but it is worth demystifying the words because it has inherent message - roads will elevate the game of road transport.
TS seeks new schools
The State Government’s programme to start over 500 residential schools for various sections is welcome, of course, but what about criticism of teachers’ organisations and NGOs about poor conditions in government schools due to wilful neglect.
As things stand, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiam Srihari has taken it a bit ahead reaching out to Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekhar seeking Kendriya Vidyalayas in 14 districts and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the newly formed 21 districts.
The State Government also sought an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and also the Regional Institute of Education of the NCERT in Warangal.
Telangana will perhaps see the biggest expansion of government educational institutions in the country if the efforts yield results.
GST blues on way out!
The dust over GST is gradually settling down. Traders and consumers now have a fair understanding about what the new regime will do to their balance sheets. After initial hiccups in business, the trade limped back to normalcy in markets across the State.
The shopping malls and supermarkets recalibrated their software in tune with new rates.
This was an opportunity for small-time IT companies and startups to take calls.
At the other end, the consumers were handed out long invoices generated by devices due to the new software.
It doesn’t end there. Advertisements popped up in social media saying “Free GST software and tools for first 1,000 subscribers. Register now”.
(Rahul Devulapalli, B. Chandrashekhar, R. Ravikanth Reddy and N. Rahul)
