10/10 GPAs galore
This is the first time in the history of SSC exams that the results will not be declared since there is no question of judging who all passed or failed because the State government has decided to promote all Class X students automatically due to lockdown. As a consequence, there will not be supplementary exams.
The sole interest was now focussed on grades achieved by children on the basis of their performance in internal assessments conducted in schools.
Of the 5.35 lakh children who enrolled for the exams, nearly 3.75 lakh were from private schools which were blamed for awarding internal assessment marks to their children at free will. It was said that they awarded 20 out of a maximum of 20 marks in each subject to 1.5 lakh students. Since there is a weightage of 20 marks for internal assessment, as many marks are multiplied five times for the overall grade points in each subject. The grade point average for all these students was likely to be 10/10.
Leaders forced to keep away
The surge in number of coronavirus cases has apparently created a panic among elected representatives.
With some of them testing positive for the virus, ministers and MLAs are taking care to avoid mass contact not to give scope for contacting the virus. Some ministers are going ahead in asking the people not to meet them directly and instead, represent their grievances over telephone. Elected representatives of Warangal resolved unanimously in this regard and assured people of their constituencies that arrangements will be put in place to receive their grievances round-the-clock.
It is indeed a tough decision taken by them because politicians prefer to be among people all the time, especially at a time when solutions to crying problems did not appear in near future.
Make hay while sun shines!
At a time when there’s large-scale retrenchment in private sector due to severe slowdown of the economy under the impact of COVID-19, some blessed ones in the public (government) sector are getting extension of services even after their attainment of superannuation age. With the help of their reach in the corridors of power such individuals are getting extension of service denying senior positions to those down the line or an opportunity to the unemployed youth waiting for recruitment to fill those vacancies. Although there are several bureaucrats and other officials clinging on to one post or the other, including the role of advisors even after retirement, the classic example is that of an engineer holding a key position in the Irrigation Department who has been getting extension after extension since July 2013. Another senior irrigation engineer who was in-charge of executing the head works of one the two most spoken about projects in Telangana was denied extension of service mid-way through execution of works in spite of his “commendable” work. More recently, a lecturer in Higher Education Department and another official in Excise Department were given extension of three years each as their kin are office-bearers of an employees’ association and have close ties with political bosses.
Hopes of transfer in police department were raised once again as some officials are slated to retire by the end of this month. At least five senior officers, including Warangal Police Commissioner V. Ravinder, Special Investigation Branch chief T. Prabhakar Rao, State Police Housing Corporation Managing Director B. Malla Reddy, Cyberabad Joint Commissioner A. Venkateshwar Rao and Nirmal Superintendent of Police C. Shashidhar Raju, are demitting their office.
With this, several officers are hoping that they will get new assignments. The grapevine is that at least two superintendents of police from north Telangana and one from West Zone are likely to find a place in three urban commissionerates, while a few deputy commissioners of police posted in Cyberabad and Rachakonda are hoping of getting transferred to districts. Moreover, the aspirants for promotion, especially Group-I officers from 2009 batch, are pulling the levers of power to find good placements.
(N. Rahul, M. Rajeev, B. Chandrashekhar and Abhinay Deshpande)