Recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award Shanta Sinha hit the nail on the head by making an apt observation at the presentation of Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014. Prof. Sinha, who is also former head of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, found fault with the organisers of the function identifying Tessy Thomas and Geetha Varadan, the two scientists chosen for the honour this year, as ‘women’ scientists.
“They are scientists in their own right,” she observed, adding that by calling them ‘women scientists’ the society was trying to stereotype their achievements. The opening remarks set the trend for the event at Tenali.
Dr. Thomas, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory of DRDO, and Geeta Varadan, Director, Advanced Data Processing Research Institute ISRO, took the audience on a journey of remarkable achievements in missile development systems and remote sensing technologies.
Major issue
in plain speak
Government Chief Whip in State Legislative Council N. Rajakumari did some plain speaking with the local media in Ongole the other day.
The lady was honest enough to admit: “We are not in a position to dictate terms any longer to the BJP which enjoys a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha.
All that we can do is to use all our persuasive skills to convince the party at the Centre on the need to confer special category state status on Andhra Pradesh, which has been divided in the most unjustified manner.”
She said the ruling party at the Centre was weighing the pros and cons in the wake of competing demands from other States for such status.
Meanwhile, CPI (M) Central Secretariat member V. Srinivasa Rao said it seemed that the BJP was preparing the ground to ditch the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) while the YSR Congress (YSRC) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Telangana were waiting for an opportunity to hobnob with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
An out-and-out
women’s show
Special care was taken to ensure that the stage was dominated by women during the International Women’s Day celebrations which was organised officially by the State government at the Kanuparthipadu Zilla Parishad High School grounds near Nellore on Sunday.
During the programme, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was seen flanked by all women officials and leaders as he felicitated distinguished women from various walks of life for their achievements. The Chief Minister also addressed the gathering as the chief guest on the occasion.
Except Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana, it was an all-women show on the dais.
Women and Child Welfare Minister Peethala Sujatha, Nellore District Collector M. Janaki and others were seen helping conduct the proceedings during the celebrations.
Several Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders expected to be present on the dais were given the go-by.
However, the occasion came as a good opportunity for the Telugu Mahila leaders to hog the limelight along with the dignitaries.
(With inputs from
P. Samuel Jonathan
in Guntur,
S. Murali in Ongole
and G. Ravikiran in Nellore)
