Sanjana: Don’t make such hue and cry about my topless scene

Posani Krishna Murali's next, Dussasana, starring Srikanth and Sanjana in the lead, is courting controversy for no apparent reason. Or so says the film's heroine Sanjana.

Posani Krishna Murali's next, Dussasana, starring Srikanth and Sanjana in the lead, is courting controversy for no apparent reason. Or so says the film's heroine Sanjana.

Trouble has come in the form of a scene in which the villain rips her top to harm her. "In the scene, the director got me to wear a skin-colour (nude) corset under a green top. For added effect, my upper body is graphically blurred to give the impression that I am topless. But, I'm not topless," clarifies the actress.

What's irked Sanjana is that the reports are making a big deal out of nothing. "If I were really that bold and wanted to put my assets on display, I wouldn't want any blurring done. But I'm not like that. Even if I were to get a role opposite the biggest actor in the world, I would never bare all. I'm not so desperate for attention to have to stoop to that level," she asserts and adds, "What's worse is that this scene is neither sexy nor hot; nor is there harassment like rape or molestation. So where's the need to make such a hue and cry about it?"

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T-unrest will make biz crash: Nasscom

T-unrest will make biz crash: Nasscom

Jan. 7: The political developments in Andhra Pradesh could end up damaging the IT sector, which is a major employer in the state. Software industry body Nasscom says that such disruptions could lead to jobs being shipped out of Andhra Pradesh to other rival centres.

IT sector is a major employer in Hyderabad with over 1.5 lakh people employed directly just in the Hitec City. The warning comes in the wake of a two-day strike called by pro-Telangana agitators against the Justice Srikrishna Committee report.

“We have nothing to do with Andhra Pradesh being one state or split into many — it’s a political decision. All that we want is that there should not be any disruption of our work,” said the Nasscom president, Mr Som Mittal.

He mentioned that Andhra Pradesh has invested a lot in developing the infrastructure of Hyderabad and building its image as an information technology hub and cautioned that demonstrations and shutdowns could damage the goodwill earned over all these years.

Mr Mittal said, “Agitations should not mean that people can’t commute to their offices. Our customers can get wary about any disruption because we (IT companies) handle their 24X7 mission critical work. The IT industry has created jobs for the state and politicians should realise that companies have options to move jobs to other states.”

He recalled that some jobs were moved out of Vizag because of bandhs in 2009. Though there were some instances in 2009, where some employees could not reach office due to bandhs, Mr Mittal said there were no reports of agitation affecting the employees of IT companies and hoped that such mature behaviour would continue.

Companies, however, have their contingency plans ready. They have asked employees to work from home or stay in offices’ rest area, if required.

 

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Media Restrictions On Telangana News !

Media Restrictions On Telangana News

The Telangana agitations that seem to have flared up after the Srikrishna Committee reportwas made public, may not affect Hyderabad as much as last

7th Jan, 2011: It may be too early to say this, but it appears like the Telangana agitations that appear to have flared up all over again yesterday after the Srikrishna Committee report was made public, may not be as raucous as they were last year, or affect the city as much.

The foremost reason may be that the Telugu TV news channels, that went berserk with competitive sensationalizing last year, to the extent of beaming live images of self-immolation by students and repeating those gory visuals ad nauseum, appear to have been significantly gagged. Yesterday a channel was even blacked out for some hours for trying to show the violence in OU.

The news channels had aggravated the situation significantly in late 2009 and early 2010, by giving mileage to just about everything controversial that the agitators (whether Telangana or Seemandhra) were saying and doing. As a result, highly provocative and divisive views, both from leaders and ordinary people in the countryside, inciting violence gained mass visibility.

TV channels desperate for bytes would even go to the districts to get quotes from the "common man" and ascertain the "pulse" at the grassroots. Obviously, however, only those people with strong opinions and willing to say virulent things on camera would get mileage, creating 2 issues: (1) even if only 1 person in every 5 felt that way, it would appear like everyone felt that way, and (2) to be seen on TV, you had to say sensational stuff. Indeed, it's hard to recollect many people speaking reconciliatory language.

The net result of giving mileage to only a few with strong opinions was to enable them give out versions/impressions of their choice to the masses, which slowly led more and more people to believe in these versions/impressions, and increase the number of people participating in arson and violence.

In an era where mostly only informed and accomplished people had access to mainstream media, such a scenario where the state got polarized through bigoted opinions would not have arisen.

Last year also had channels competing for TRPs hyping things without a sense of proportion, and making it look like the whole of Hyderabad was burning when a few incidents happened in specific pockets of the city.

The high mileage for such acts increased the number of perpetrators.

Considering that the government appears to have issued an unofficial gag order, this time, hopefully, things will not go out of control due to an errant media. However, TDP's Telangana political leaders are already protesting the restrictions.

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Cong says T-report objective, to adopt wait-and-watch policy

Cong says T-report objective, to adopt wait-and-watch policy

New Delhi: Congress on Thursday said it will adopt a wait-and-watch policy on Justice Srikrishna Committee report on the issue of Telangana noting that various options have been given and "we can not shut our eyes to them."

"The report is open, transparent and very objective. They have given a lot of options. We cannot shut our eyes on that. It is for the parties concerned to deliberate on that," said Union Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is also the in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh.

Senior party leaders, who declined to be identified, said that the party would not be in a hurry to give its views on the matter and would await the reaction to the report of the committee and the outcome of the second meeting of political parties being convened by the Centre.

They felt that certain parties boycotted the first meet in order to avoid taking a stand on the contentious issue.

Moily expressed confidence that the parties which boycotted Thursday's meeting will attend the next meeting.

The full text of the Telangana report

Parties like TRS, TDP and BJP had boycotted the meeting convened by Home Minister P Chidambaram.

"In the light of the report, they (parties who boycotted the meeting) may really change their mind and come for the second meeting. They will also realise that in parliamentary democracy participation is important," Moily told reporters here. He was speaking to the media at the AICC headquarters after attending a meeting of party general secretaries.

When asked about the reactions from Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana Region to the report, Moily said: "We do agree that sentiments are very high on this issue. That's why we appointed this committee under the chairmanship of Justice Srikrishna. He has given his report. Now everyone should go through the report. That is why the home minister has called a meeting again. We will discuss the matter there."

Srikrishna finds case both for and against separate Telangana

Moily said that leaders of various political parties who were invited for the meeting, had been given copies of the report, and Home Minister has told them "we will meet again after you go through the report."

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Pro-Telangana outfits reject Srikrishna solutions

Pro-Telangana outfits reject Srikrishna solutions

Hyderabad: Pro-Telangana outfits in Andhra Pradesh have rejected the Srikrishna Committee report and have started chalking out their future course of action.

The report of the five-member committee that examined the issues pertaining to the current demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as for keeping the state united was released by home minister, P Chidambaram, in the forenoon of Thursday.

While the joint action committee (JAC) of Osmania University gave a call for Telangana bandh on Friday in protest against the report, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is spearheading the movement for a separate statehood for the region, appealed to the people to continue their agitation.

TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao ridiculed that the "report can be interpreted in anyway. We could think that it is in our favour and they (those who want to maintain status quo) can think it is in their favour."

"We will not accept anything short of a Telangana state," Rao asserted at a dharna organised by the party and other pro-Telangana organisations soon after the report was made public.

According to Rao, his interest in the report was confined to the portion that talked about "reverting to the 1956 position." To put in context, prior to 1956, before the formation of AP, Hyderabad state comprised the Telangana region.

He appealed to the Prime Minister not to deter, "don't dillydally on the commitment given on December 9." On December 9, 2009, while Rao was on an indefinite fast, the Centre had announced that the "process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated."

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Telangana Forum convenor N Janaradhana Reddy said the "report is of no use." He wanted introduction of the Bill for bifurcation of the state in the ensuing Budget session of Parliament.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been maintaining that it would extend its support if a Bill for the creation of Telangana state was introduced in Parliament, said it was time for the ruling Congress to take a "political decision" on the issue.

TRS, TDP and BJP had boycotted the all-party meeting held by Chidambaram in the national capital to hand over the committee report.

Rejecting the report, revolutionary balladeer and Telangana Praja Front leader Gaddar said it should be "thrown into a dustbin." The leaders of various other organisations involved in the ongoing separate Telangana agitation also said the solutions offered by the committee were not acceptable.

State secretary of Communist Party of India K Narayana said the report created more confusion rather than providing a solution to the burning issue. CPI has extended its support to the creation of Telangana state, while CPI (Marxist) is against bifurcation of AP.

Meanwhile, the state government has deployed police in large numbers across Telangana and other parts of the state as a precautionary measure.

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