TTD's dirty linen is being washed in the public which is covered by various media outlets. The Head priest Ramanna Deekshitulu has been eased out on attaining the age of superannuation (65). In all fairness the retirement is fixed only for regular Govt employees, enjoying the time-scale of pay, having fixed  TA &DA. Having leaves, and holidays of various kinds, with other perks, perquisites while in service, terminal benefits at the time retirement, pension after retirement, till his death, and family pension throughout the lifetime of the spouse, as far as my knowledge goes, as an HR professional. Therefore, TTD priests do not come under such category. But here not a day passes without arms and wings of Govt meddling with Hindu religious institutions. The abode of worships, centers of unity in diversity, are turned into hotbeds of controversies. Of all the places, the most revered one,  TTD, is always in the news, for the bad reasons. TTD board being an autonomous body, it can fix its own rules, but the norms must be applicable to all, including, Board Members and Chairman, alike, but it’s confinement only to selected priests smacks not only of arrogance, ill-motivation, but also it sounds irrational and ill-logical.

Ever since the new board has assumed office, it has been triggering unnecessary controversies, and the present retirement issue is entirely afresh. Any unpleasant decision should always be implemented in a smooth and dignified manner.  But in this case, the decision to ease them out was taken, after the chief priest, revealed, certain lapses in Administration, of the temple, sent the wrong signal, leading people to think that it is purely an act of vengeance. As per the present action, the axe may fall on all Archakas of all temples in AP.

The board is bound to give an explanation to the objections raised by none other than the Head priest. It has to instill the confidence in devotees, by clearing the doubts they have in their minds. The main contentions of Deekshitulu that they are not allowed, to follow AGAMA rules, in worshiping the God, missing many ornaments, presented by kings like Srikrishna Devaraya, and damaging old constructions, etc, should be clarified, with authentication.

A constant lingering question that arises in my mind is, why are Hindu temples involved in so many controversies? Govt even can not dare to think of intervening in the religious affairs of other communities. Questioning irregularities at one of the most sacred pilgrim centers for Hindus, can not invite summary removal from the from service itself, in the name of retirement. By this action, the TTD board raises suspicion that it has something to hide from the public.

It is alarming that WHO has ranked 14 Indian cities to be among the 20 most polluted ones globally. This is a serious issue as it does affect, countless lives, even though it may feel like an invisible phenomenon. I was aghast to note that the levels of Air Pollution in our cities have risen to an extent that breathing normal air is equal to smoking twenty-three cigarettes a day.
The occurrences of the heat wave, dust storms, and flash floods have been on the rise. Past week,  some people lost their lives, because of hail storms and thunderbolts in some places.  The root cause for all these natural calamities is nothing but mindless deforestation. Our cities are only concrete jungles. Deteriorating air quality in Hyderabad city is also alarming. The green cover has been fast receding and I see no proper plan on the part the governments to protect the environment. It’s high time the measures of damage control were put in place. The current practice like “planting one sapling and cutting one hundred trees” has to stop otherwise it will leave us in the lurch.
Now are living a life where we have to buy water and I feel if we continue neglecting our environment very soon we may end up needing to buy fresh air too.
Policies to fast-track the use of electric vehicles should become a priority, which KCR may be doing it if everything goes well, as per yesterday’s news report.
The state of our public transport such as buses is a separate story. The Auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers are equally harmful.
Both central and state governments, need to take concerted efforts, to address the serious problem, instead of concentrating on Bullet trains, this is the need of the hour.

Recently  NTV had a storyboard show on the judiciary, impeachment, and its implications.  What I understood from the program is that the proposal for the impeachment motion was ill-conceived. As far as I know, this is the first time, in the Indian history that there has been a move to impeach the CJI of SC. This impetus move was conceived by Congress, followed up few other parties, including Communists. However, this proposal has been turned down by Vice-President of India, Mr. VenkaiahNaidu with an observation that it lacked substantial merit.
The constitution, it seems, says, that a CJ could be impeached only on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. However as the political class attempted to debate on the differences in the top judiciary of the apex court , the top court must itself address the issues being seized by politicians, who insist that the CJ is not assigning sensitive cases to senior judges and allotting them to his hand-picked judges, in his capacity as master of roaster . I don’t know whether this comes under proven misbehaviour? When it contends and cites the public outburst of four senior judges of SC and their allegations of abuse by CJ. The CJ must have addressed these issues by convening a full court. Another issue which was raised and had had some dark ramifications including insinuations about the way he dealt with a petition by a medical college a case of suspected bribery etc.  But are the senior judges who question these acts of CJ entirely wrong? While putting in place the Collegium system for judicial appointments, the SC says “consultations with CJ” meant that the consultation with a plurality of judges.
Mr. Naidu rejecting the motion against the CJI, maybe a big setback to the opposition parties, but the image of the apex court is greatly tarnished in eyes of general public. Judiciary should regain the lost confidence which is the need of the hour. Given the simmering discontent within the judiciary, the issue certainly deserved closer scrutiny as it was also chance for the political class to engage itself in an enlightened debate on the wide range of issues affecting the higher judiciary. An impartial inquiry would have instilled confidence in the common man.
The serious action may be a resultant of  “LOYA’s CASE” Supreme court’s ruling.  This case may be a victory for Amit Shah, but it doesn’t explain why the Judge’s family said that he had been offered Rs100crores, and why there were  unexplained injuries on his body and why the entire data has been erased from his phone when the instrument was returned to his family, three days after his death? All these incidents cast aspersions on the justice delivery system and therefore it would be seen by some as reluctance to bring out the truth.