Private Travel Agencies Exploit Haj Pilgrims

 Private travel agencies in Hyderabad are fleecing Haj aspirants every year in lakhs by taking advantage of the large number of seats allocated to them by the central government. The dream of luxurious travel and completion of Haj by private travel agencies is gradually turning in to a nightmare for pilgrims, who have chosen their services over the government-supported Haj facilities through the Haj committee.

“Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj.”

In most of the instances, proper facilities are not provided to pilgrims as promised before leaving for Haj, and are left to fend for themselves in the foreign country despite paying huge money. The private agencies attract these aspirants with ‘beautiful’ promises and under different categories like deluxe, super deluxe and so on. Private agencies are charging about Rs 3 to 4 lakh from each pilgrim and in some cases the charges are as high as Rs 4.5 lakh for each pilgrim.

On the contrary, the charges for pilgrims who go for Haj through the state Haj Committee remains is between Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.80 lakh for similar arrangements and facilities. One of the victims of private tour operators is the Officer on Special Duty Elections Faheem Saberi who went for Haj last year with his spouse. Explaining his ordeal, he said that they paid Rs 3.5 lakh per head for Haj, but whatever promised to him was not provided.

He said, “Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj. We were forced to live in a congested hotel room in a 14-storey building with only two lifts.” Declining to reveal the name of the tour operator he said that he has written a complaint letter to the Ministry of External Affairs to look into this matter and come to the rescue of people who are being exploited.

He said, “It is the right time that the central government decreases the quota for private agencies and increases the pilgrims’ quota to the state Haj committees in the country.” The central government has allocated 40,000 slots for pilgrims to the private travel agencies across the country and agencies of the state bagged around 2,300 slots this year. On the other hand, the state haj committee was allotted 2,700 slots out of which only 1,223 seats were left open for draw this year. The remaining seats come under reserved categories. 

About 15,000 people have applied for the mere 1,223 slots for Haj 2015 and 12 persons are vying for each seat. Another victim of the private travel agencies Mumtaz Ahmed a retail businessman said that it was his worst decision to go for Haj by a private agency last year. He claimed to have paid Rs 4 lakh for Haj and expected luxurious arrangements by the agency. He said, “The facilities provided by the private agency were not even close to the facilities provided by the Haj Committee of the state.”

Charges under Private Agencies
-Private Agencies charge Rs 3.5 to Rs 5 lakh per head
-Poor facilities and don’t keep the promises
-Take the pilgrims by cheap airlines as against the promised one of Saudi Airlines
-Promise food but don’t provide proper food at right time
-Pilgrims are left in lurch during Haj rituals

Requirement for the Travel
Agency license
-Labor License issued by state government/municipal authorities
-Trade License issued by municipal body
-At least three years’ experience in Haj pilgrims’ service
-Should have turnover of Rs 1 crore per annum in air travel service
-Should deposit Rs 25 lakh in the Ministry of External Affairs
-Trained staff

Rationalization of Schools in Telangana

The State government has decided to modify GO No.6 intended to ‘rationalise’ government schools across the State from the next academic year, though certain unions of teachers had expressed apprehensions that schools having poor student strength would be eventually closed down. The GO No 6, released in September 2014, was kept in abeyance, following protests by teachers unions. 

The State government has since decided to introduce some changes in the instructions given under the GO No 6, before going ahead with the rationalisation plan. The earlier instructions laid down benchmarks for allowing government-run primary and high schools to function. It was decided that high schools with less than 75 students and primary schools with less than 20 students should be closed down and such students sent to other nearby school.

Inspections in the previous year revealed that about 300 high schools and 2,000 primary schools would come under the axe, going by the parameters set by the State government. However, after fierce opposition from teachers’ unions, the State government stepped back on this issue earlier. The issue of rationalisation of schools and teachers is again under discussion as the demand for DSC has been increasing for some time now. Director and Commissioner of School Education T Chiranjeevulu said that currently the GO was not being implemented.

However, it could come into force with some changes after the current academic year. He declined to speak on the changes that would be made to rules under the GO No 6. The Telangana Teachers Joint Action Committee (TTJAC) has alleged that the State government wanted to shut down State-run schools in the name of ‘rationalisation’. The TTJAC chairman, P Venkat Reddy, said that the government should instead increase facilities for rural students so that they could reach the school. 

The government should see how many private schools were being run in the same locality or village. “The government should rationalise private schools before preparing to close government schools. Each village must have a public school,” he said. He said that the fall in the number of students at government schools did not happen overnight, but over a period of time because of the official apathy and neglect by successive governments.

Representatives of teacher unions also argue that shutting down any government school was against the Right to Education Act (RTE) and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Negligent EFLU Management

Students are seething in anger against the authorities of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) which has seldom been on time in conducting entrance examinations. Their omissions and commissions have put the students seeking admissions into different courses at the receiving end. The EFLU administration failed to conduct the entrance examinations as per the notified scheduled. 

Students paying high price for lapses

The changes effected in the schedule often without following the due procedures had cost the opportunity of the students to pursue higher studies. The schedule given in the hall tickets could not be honoured in respect of the entrance exam for different courses during past two years. Adding further more to the travails of the students, they were given wrong question papers. Even the timing of the entrance examinations were also mentioned wrongly in the question papers. 

There was often a mismatch between the courses for which entrance examinations held and the timings mentioned on the hall tickets. This happened in the case of MA MCJ examination. Those students who failed to turn up were not allowed to appear again for the examination.
Telangana Students Association (TSA) activists said that in one case the authorities have given question paper of previous year and realized their mistake after lapse of one hour. 

Later the management announced that the examination for the same paper would be conducted on next day. But the students coming from Kerala and Bangalore did not attend it as they have already reserved the return tickets to return to their home towns.

Sweeping Changes in Teacher Education

 The curriculum of the Education studies in the state is all set to undergo major changes from the next academic year as the duration of the Bachelor of Education (B Ed) course would be raised to two years and other changes would also be introduced. 

These changes have been under consideration for a long time after National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has formed the guidelines. The council was also contemplating to change the structure of syllabus and inclusions of more topics in the teacher education studies.

Major changes include the enhancement of course duration from one year to two years and alterations in examination pattern. As per the decisions taken by the School Education Department, the examination papers for the Education Studies (B Ed) in the next academic year would be 12 unlike 6 in the pat.

At the same time the duration of internship or Teaching Practice would be for 20 weeks (6 months) instead of 8 weeks (two months). Higher Education Council Chairman T Papi Reddy said that Centre was contemplating these changes for a long time and National Council for Teacher Education has already informed the changes. 

He said that changes were being introduced to strengthen the teacher education. He said that if a teacher has been trained well, he/she can educate the students in a better way. He said that notification for B Ed would be released soon and entrance examination would be conducted in June this year. These changes also come with some other strict norms for students. They would be asked to complete B Ed within three years from the date of admission. Internship or practical teaching session would include interaction with students and with community, skill development and communication development. 

The teacher training period would conclude with the presentation of papers by the candidates. On the other hand the examinations would be conducted semester wise and the number of papers would be 12 for two years.

From a beginner to Selfish

Industry Specific ITIs

With an intention to provide trained people as per the requirements of industry, State government is going ahead with a plan to establish industry-specific Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) across the ten districts of the State.

Efforts are on to change the syllabus to make it suitable to train the students in acquiring skills needed by the industry. The Technical Education wing of the government is contemplating to link them to the industries as well. Government says that such institutes would ensure a rise in the number of employable youngsters from the semi-educated rural youth in the future.

"While announcing the agricultural ITI, Chief Minister has also hinted that several other such institutes would come up in other districts of the State"

The Industrial Training Institutes were established with an intention to train the youngsters in taking up the technical jobs in the industries. However, existing curriculum was not meeting the present day standards of the industry and therefore created a need to relook into it. Government sources said that industry-specific training centres would come up one by one in due course and the process has already begun in this direction. Each centre would train the students in a particular sector. 

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has recently sanctioned an Agricultural ITI for the Yellareddy mandal in Nizamabad district. This ITI would help train the students in agriculture related technology. 
The construction of Yellareddy ITI would begin very soon. While announcing the agricultural ITI, Chief Minister has also hinted that several other such institutes would come up in other districts of the State.

The districts that were identified for industrial specific ITIs are Medak, Karimnagar, Khammam, Adilabad and Mahabubnagar. ITI with Forest as core subject would come up in in Adilabad and Irrigation and Electricity related one would come up in Mahabubnagar.

Mission Kakatiya to Revive and Restore Tanks

Mohammed Younus / Nizamabad : Mission Kakatiya, the historic programme of the Telangana government to revive and restore over 46,000 tanks and other water bodies across the State, kicked off on Thursday amidst a festive atmosphere at Sadasivanagar village in Nizamabad district. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao formally launched his government’s flagship programme by participating in the removal of silt from a village tank. Accompanied by Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao and other Cabinet colleagues, he unveiled a pylon to mark the occasion.

Launches his flagship programme Mission Kakatiya;
warns against irregularities in implementation of scheme

The Chief Minister blamed it on previous rulers of the united Andhra Pradesh for the destruction of lakes and water bodies in the last six decades, though earlier invaders had spared the lakes. “The kings, who had ruled the region, protected the lakes for abundant produce and we salute the Kings of Reddy and Kakatiya dynasties for their great contribution for keeping alive the chain of tanks that catered to the crops needs,” KCR said and added that the government was committed to bring back that sheen on the faces of farmers. He asked the public representatives to be with the people and officials while carrying out works of Mission Kakatiya and ensure successful completion of the project by taking it up as a challenging task. 

He said, “I urge upon all the public representatives to be with people alongside the Kakatiya Mission works as soon as the budget session ends.” Calling upon farmers to liberally use the de-silted nutrient-rich mud from the tanks and improve their yield, he asked them to ensure that quality of works was not compromised at any level. The Chief Minister called upon the people and public representatives to participate in the Mission Kakatiya project on a similar scale as they did during the Telangana movement. 

He said, “Every one took part in the Telangana movement and we succeeded. We should emerge winners yet again by completing the task of reviving all the tanks in the state.” On maintaining standards and quality of the lake works, KCR said the officials were directed to blacklist the contractors who failed to comply with the norms. He also warned that those who indulge in irregularities in the lakes restoration works would be sent to jails. Online tenders would be called for transparency and those eligible could get the bids to complete the works on time with quality he said. The Chief Minister announced several sops, including Rs 1 crore from CM Relief Fund, besides the funds allotted in Mission Kakatiya. 

KCR also sanctioned 11 sub stations with 33/11 KV capacity, ITI and 100 bed hospital for Tadwai Mandal, Nagireddypet, Malthummeda, Agri Polytechnic College between Medak and Nizamabad, Community and marriage halls for Muslims and Christians. Earlier, he formally inaugurated the tank revival scheme by digging up the abandoned tank at Sadasivanagar along with state ministers T Harish Rao, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Yella Reddy legislator E Ravinder Reddy and other party leaders. 

Speaking on the occasion, irrigation minister T Harish Rao said that the accumulated mud in the tanks for long time would be useful for the agricultural lands. He said, “Farmers must make of use the silt and mud taken out of these tanks and abandoned ponds. It will help them improve their productivity. Farmers can decrease the use of pesticides and the yield will up by 30 per cent for each crop during the coming years.” He said that the idea of Mission Kakatiya was a historic moment in the state after a thousand years. 

He said, “Kakatiya rulers were concerned about the people and they dug up several thousand tanks in the state and the TRS government is reviving all these abandoned tanks to give a push to agriculture in the state,” he said. The minister informed that every year 20 per cent of the identified tanks would be revived. “In Nizamabad, around 3,000 tanks and ponds were identified by the government during a survey of which 651 tanks would be preserved in the first phase,” he said.

Ensuring transparency in execution of de-silting works, the minister said that tenders for nearly 2,210 tanks have been allotted out of the 46,447 tanks that would be revived during the first phase. Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said that selection of Sadasivanagar village for the launch of Kakatiya Mission was a wise and relevant step as the area was not supported by any water project or canal and solely depended on ground water or village tanks.

The Chief Minister thanked several people who came up with donations for the Mission Kakatiya project, including Mohan Rao from Karimnagar district for donating Rs 1.5 crore for the project and adopted four lakes in the district.