THE CAPITAL AMARAVATHI'S HISTORY

                           AMARAVATHI - THE LORD BUDDHA

   The historical region of Amaravathi, chosen to be the capital city of the new Andhra Pradesh,

resembles the terrain of 1960s Singapore. But the attempt is to replicate Amaravati as Singapore in the 21st century, a commercial island city-state on the Krishna riverfront. But this will be a mammoth task, given the innumerable hurdles that lie in wait for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.

Chandrababu Naidu.

  The bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and residual Andhra during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime left many scars on Andhra Pradesh. The split State has a Rs. 17,000 crore budget deficit, with no capital city to call its own. Though the State machinery has been allowed to function from Hyderabad for 10 years after bifurcation, several departments have had to suffer step-motherly treatment in the new Telangana regime under its first Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao.

  The bifurcation, which took place ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, deeply hurt Telugu pride, but political parties across the spectrum, in their constant attempts to be politically correct, have not revealed these wounds. The loss of Hyderabad, or Cyberabad as it was fondly called, in which Andhra Pradesh has high stakes, was another blow. It was especially painful for Mr. Naidu, whose efforts to conceive of and build Hyderabad into a world-class cyber city are well known.

While cash-rich Telangana is in celebratory mode on its first birthday, Mr. Naidu has resolved to have no festivities. Instead, there is going to be a Nava Nirmana Deeksha or focus on the building of a new State.

   Mr. Naidu apparently wants to turn this adversity into an opportunity by planning a world-class capital on the banks of the river Krishna. About 7,068 sq. km have been earmarked for the capital region, of which 225 sq. km have been dedicated to Amaravathi, the capital city. In the words of Mr. Naidu, it will not just be “an administrative capital but an economic driver, a people’s capital, and an affordable city”.

    Amaravathi, meaning ‘abode of the immortal’, is a small town in Guntur district, and was specifically chosen by Mr. Naidu to leverage on its rich 2,000-year-old heritage. It was the capital of the Satavahana kings between the 2nd and 3rd century BCE — they ruled most of the country from here — and also an important region for Buddhism.

   Mr. Naidu wants the new capital to be Andhra Pradesh’s pride. “After the bifurcation, he wanted to develop Amaravathi into a world class city and a huge metropolis near Visakhapatnam, as a fitting counter [to Telangana],” said a leader closely associated with the Chief Minister.

   The people’s response to the government’s intended pooling of around 33,000 acres needed for the capital has been positive, according to ministers and officials. The government was able to successfully convince farmers and pool almost half of the land along with ownership rights. The offer of annuity and developed residential and commercial land has been received well by several land owners.

TOLLYWOOD COMING TO VIJAYAWADA

                TOLLYWOOD SHIFTS TO VIJAYAWADA

   

  After the bifurcation of the State, many people were wondering as to why Tollywood was not being wooed to Andhra by Chandrababu Naidu.

Rather, it was KCR who announced a film city which in all likelihood will not see the light of day. But the film industry is abuzz with speculation now that Tollywood has finally received the summons from Chandrababu Naidu.  

  Apparently, a top producer of Tollywood who is also a studio owner is the key man and Naidu’s interlocutor in this matter. Naidu wants the industry to come up in Amaravathi and there are many benefits to the decision to relocate the industry there. The first major problem is that of land. Thousands of acres are needed for studios and that much land is not available in Vizag. 

  If the industry shifts to Amaravathi, much employment will be generated locally and will boost the floating population in the area. The tourism in and around the area will also improve tremendously. Hence Naidu has reportedly expressed his intentions to the key members of the film fraternity through this producer. But obviously this is not a move that can happen overnight. Hence Naidu is also believed to be collecting feedback on the pros and cons of this proposed move.

   How will this impact the business of Tollywood especially in Nizam area if the industry moves away from Hyderabad? What benefits is Tollywood expecting from the AP government for shifting base, in terms of land, subsidies, taxation etc?

     While those who have already settled in Hyderabad and have assets here might find the decision tough, younger producers and new entrants are keener on shifting to Andhra.With the master plan for the capital region to be finalized soon, Naidu understandably wants to settle the issue as soon as possible. Hence, the elders in Tollywood are having serious discussions on the matter.

What about Ramoji Rao?

  The only person that KCR currently fears is Ramoji Rao. Why? We have no idea on what ace Ramoji Rao has up his sleeve, but apparently it is dangerous enough to make KCR go in person to meet him and arrive at a compromise. So, will Naidu’s decision not affect Ramoji’s film city? No, is the answer from industry sources.

  In the first place, Naidu would not have taken such a decision without Ramoji’s consent. Besides, Ramoji intends to develop his film city as more of a tourist destination than a studio.

    Anyway, the number of Bollywood and Tamil films being shot at RFC has increased considerably. And once his ‘Om City’ at RFC gets underway, his successors will be rich until the end of ‘Kaliyug’.

   The money being generated from Tollywood is peanuts for Ramoji. Besides, he can easily construct another studio in Andhra.

So, by all accounts Naidu has an important role in mind for Tollywood in the new capital region and chances are that the industry will oblige. 

ALMOST VIJAYAWADA IS CAPITAL

     

                THE ACTUAL CAPITAL-VIJAYAWADA

     The Andhra Pradesh government is exploring the possibility of launching a unique crowdfunding initiative to develop its capital city Amaravathi coming up in the Vijayawada region. Under the crowdfunding initiative, people would

get their names engraved on a “digital brick” for having made a contribution to the capital city. The idea was discussed in a meeting chaired by state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu yesterday, on the arrangements for the

foundation stone laying ceremony to be held on October 22.

“This will bring a sense of ownership of the capital,” the state government quoted Naidu as saying. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the foundation stone laying function on October 22 (Vijaya Dasami) and the state government is planning to make it a grand event. The Chief Minister has asked the officials to expand the capacity of the event site to accommodate over one lakh people as a large number of people are expected to turn up. The event would also have a special performance called “Raithu Vandanam”, thanking farmers for their contribution to the capital. 

     Meanwhile, the state’s Information and Public Relations department today commenced all its operations from Vijayawada, as part of the process of shifting all the state government offices from Hyderabad, which was the capital of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Dr P Krishna Mohan, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), has taken up the additional charge of Commissioner, Information and Public Relations department, according to a release issued by the department. 

     Further, Ch Johnson, an officer in the cadre of Regional Joint Director in the Information department, has taken up the responsibility of coordinating all activities in the CMO.

The Brand New Capital AMARAVATHI

     

                           BRAND NEW AMARAVATHI

     The government of Singapore on Monday presented the Seed Capital Area (SCA) Master Plan for Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravathi to Chief Minster N Chandrababu Naidu in

Rajahmundry. The Seed Capital Area Master Plan is the final of the three-stage Master Plan submitted by the government of Singapore.

   The SCA Master Plan is for an area of 16.9 sq-kms and would be developed in 5 phases. The Seed Development Master Plan sets out in detail the land use and infrastructure plans for the start-up area of Amaravati. The Seed Development will rise on the south bank of the Krishna River as the heart of Andhra Pradesh’s new capital city. Its civic district will house the institutions and buildings of the government of Andhra Pradesh, including the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.

    “Amaravati is envisaged to be developed as smart, green and sustainable city. In the line of being developed as the People’s Capital of Andhra Pradesh, our aspiration is to create a vibrant, diverse, inclusive and modern city which will be a symbol of pride for the people of Andhra Pradesh and India,’’ CM Naidu said. “My heartfelt thanks to the Government of Singapore for their dedication and fast pace of work. October 22, 2015 has been decided as the day of laying foundation stone for Amaravati. We need to begin ground work from that day. Amaravati is a project which is being watched by people across India,” Naidu said.

    The six key factors taken into consideration for this Master Plan are “providing jobs and homes, world-class infrastructure, quality living, protecting identity and heritage and resource management and environment.” S Iswaran, Second Minister for Trade and Industry, said, “This is where the beginnings of a great city will be established and Singapore is honored to play a small part through the master plans for Amaravati.

    However, our partnership with Andhra Pradesh will begin from this point by assisting them in the development of capital city.We will continue to collaborate on development of Amaravati.” 

TODAY MOON IS BIGGER THAN DAILYONE

                                                 THE BIG MOON


“Today’s moon in the evening and night sky is five per cent bigger and around 12 per cent brighter than the average full moon,” said Dr Debiprosad Duari, director of M P Birla Planetarium, Kolkata.
Moon is now roughly at a distance of 3,56,800 km from the earth, a little closer than the average earth-moon distance of 3,84,000 km.

    The rare celestial event is often described as a “Super moon” by astronomers and skywatchers.
“Today’s moon is at the perigee and also it happens to be full moon,” Duari said explaining the reason of the large appearance of the moon.

         Although Indians could enjoy the ‘Supermoon’ but they are going to miss a total lunar eclipse since the totality of the eclipse will start after 7 am tomorrow.

“But people from North and South America, well almost everybody, and people in Europe will see the moon as bigger and also ‘blood red’ in colour. Because during a total lunar eclipse moon does not become black, but gets a reddish-copper tinge which popularly is mentioned as blood red,” the expert on celestial bodies said.

  This happens because the red light of the sun’s white light gets least scattered by the atmosphere and falls on the moon during an eclipse making it look blood red, he added.

      This rare phenomenon of a supermoon and blood-red moon together was last seen during 1982 and will recur only in 2033.

GOOGLE OFFERS FREE WI-FI AT 400 STATIONS ACROSS INDIA

       

                 Google  To Offer Wi-Fi Services At 400 Stations Across India




A day after tech giant Google come out with proposal to setup Wi-Fi network across railway stations in India, followed by Modi visit to the company headquarters on Sunday.

 The RailTel Corporation, a railways PSU unit, announced partnership with US tech giant Google to setup high speed wi-fi network across 400 railway stations in India. “Railway stations being places of human aggregation of all sections of society are ideal places to bridge the digital divide. With high penetration of smartphones, the station Wi-Fi could become locations where people can get initiated into experiencing broadband and digital literacy,”

Once the project comes to reality and starts providing internet services, people in the railway station can access to high speed wi-fi services capable to provide HD video streaming services and passengers will be able to download a movie in 4 minutes before they embark on long journeys.

 Besides just providing internet services to railway users, the RaiTel said, it is planning to bring the station ecosystem under purview of Internet of Things (IOT) by leveraging Google setup high speed wi-fi network, allowing vendors to offer customer services and Railways to internally.

FACEBOOK TO LAUNCH LOW COST WI-FI

                                
                                      Facebook  Low Cost Wi-Fi


     Facebook vice president for mobile and global access policy Kevin Martin said the company is in plans to launch Free Wi-Fi internet service without Advertisements and Video for user base in India, esp. the segment which is vulnerable to data cost, that hampers an individual interest to access basic web services.By offering internet services without ads and videos, enables users to consume lesser bandwidth, Martin said.

He added that Facebook’s connectivity lab has been working with drones and unmanned aerial vehicles to lower the cost of service to people.

Martin also reiterated that the social networking giant supports the concept of net neutrality and Internet.org  initiative is to enable people to realize the importance of internet by providing access to basic web service free of data cost.