Despite protests in Telangana, the Parliament on Monday passed a bill in support of the multi-purpose Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, with the Union government assuring of all possible steps for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected people. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, passed by Lok Sabha last week, was approved by Rajya Sabha by a voice vote on Monday, after a debate during which Congress and BJP sought to take ‘credit’ for bringing the amendment, which would displace lakhs of tribals and subvert the spirit of article 3. Congress member and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said while it was not easy to implement the project, it was good to find the NDA government taking it forward. This ...

ITC today disclosed its plans to set up a paper manufacturing unit in Telangana with an investment of Rs 3,500 crore. Pradeep Dhobale, ITC Executive Director and in-charge of Paperboards, Specialty Papers and Packaging businesses met with CM KCR and discussed ITC’s plans in setting up agro-based industries, food processing units, plantations along with a paper manufacturing unit with an initial investment of 3500 Crore. The CM  explained the rich resources Telangana has and reciprocated by saying his Government would help ITC with land and other resources to set up it’s units. More details are awaited. ITC presently has 2 of it’s operations in Bollarum and Bhadrachalam. The facility in Bhadrachalam is India’s largest integrated pulping and paperboard manufacturing unit.  

In what could be termed as a prelude to Satya Nadella’s visit, the Microsoft (India) chairman Bhaskar Pramanik has met with CM KCR on Monday. Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao was present at the meeting. The meeting discussed Microsoft’s expansion plans in Hyderabad. Pramanik briefed Rao of the activities of Microsoft in India and also discussed the tax policy being followed in the country. A statement from the chief minister’s office said Pramanik announced that Microsoft will further expand its operations in Telangana. The global software major has its India development centre here. Set up in 1998, it is the largest R&D centre of Microsoft outside its Redmond (US) facility. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will be visiting Hyderabad next month. In fact, when ...

Osmania University is the 7th best university in the country as per India Today-Nielsen survey for year 2014. The University of Hyderabad is ranked 5th. Kakatiya University is ranked 36 while Andhra University is ranked 10th. The rankings are for all State and Central universities. Among State universities, OU is ranked 2nd after University Of Delhi in the country. The higher education system in India is the third largest education system in the world, in terms of scale. There are signs of improvement in the education system. Ten universities from India made it to the list of Asia’s top 100 universities, in several surveys this year. Increased investment in infrastructure, research, skill development and foreign universities partnerships, which made these universities ...

The centre thinks Telangana is the only state in India that doesn’t require an AIIMS like institution! While the Centre granted AIIMS-like institutes to the 4 States of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, AIIMS-like institutions have already been established in the 6 states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chatisgarh and Uttarakhand.  The union health ministry  announced it has written to all remaining States, barring the sparsely populated north-eastern states, to identify lands for setting up AIIMS. The catch is that the centre has written to the 11 States Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Punjab and not for Telangana. In effect, Telangana is the only State the Centre has no plans to ...