A third press conference was held for this monumental event. Nightmareofbattle has the story for you

It appears the Shinya Aoki-Tatsuya Kawajiri Dream title match will be postponed to allow both fighters to compete in the Dream vs SRC matches. Aoki will take on current SRC champion Mizuto Hirota in sort of a Japanese lightweight title unification though the fight is only 3 rounds. Kawajiri will meet Kazunori Yokota.

Aoki and Kawajiri should be favorites hoewever it is not known how the two organizations stack up to each other. Aoki has the edge on the ground in his fight, however Hirota is a good striker with heavy hands which is Aoki’s kryptonite. Kawajiri did not seem motivated for this fight which could cause him to be upset.

Kazushi Sakuraba will most likely not fight due to injury.

There may be yet another press conference or 1-2 more fights announced. Melvin Manhoef  vs Kazou Misaki is rumored.

Japan’s biggest annual show is coming up. The New Year’s show is the biggest fighting event of the year. This year’s show combines the Sengoku fighters into FEG’s Dream promotion with several Dream vs K-1 matches. Here is the match ups that have been announced so far

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Dream vs Sengoku Matches

Kid Yamamoto vs Masanori Kanehara (FW)

Hiroyuki Takaya vs Michihiro Omigawa (FW)

Hideo Tokoro vs Marlon Sandro (FW)

Mach Sakurai vs Akihiro Gono (WW)

Katsuyori Shibata vs Hiroshi Izumi (Possible open-weight match)

Alistair Overeem vs Kazuyuki Fujita (HW)

There are plans to add at least 1 additional Dream vs SRC match

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Lightweight Title Match

Shinya Aoki vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

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Super Hulk Tournament Final

Sokoudjou vs Minowaman

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K-1 Fights

Ray Sefo vs Yosuke Nishijima

Masato vs Andy Souwer

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Main Event

Hidehiko Yoshida  vs Sotoshi Ishii

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There are other superfights that are being planned as well. Kazushi Sakuraba expressed his interests in fighting also.

Read about the press conference here and here

About the Telangana region :

Telangana: is a proposed new state currently part of Andhra Pradesh in India. The name means “land of Telugus”. It corresponds to the Telugu speaking part of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad.

Telangana

Telangana has the largest area, with 1,14,800 kms of the three regions namely Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra and Telengana. The region lies on the Deccan plateau to the west of the Eastern Ghats range, and includes the northwestern interior districts of Warangal, Adilabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, and the state capital, Hyderabad. The Telangana plateau is drained by two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna. Apart from the major rivers, there are other small rivers such as Bhima, Dindi, Kinnerasani, Manjeera, Manair, Penganga, Praanahita, and Peddavagu and Taliperu.

Culture and Identity :
Telangana has its own distinctive culture and identity. The Telugu language spoken here has evolved into a new dialect. Diwali, Dassera, Eid-ul-Fitr and Ugadi are prominent festivals in Telangana. The region also celebrates distinctive festivals like Bathukamma, and Bonalu. The other festivals, such as, Holi, Moharram and Vinayaka chaturthi are also celebrated with great enthusiasm as in northern India.

Telangana movement (History and its course) :  The first battle for separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh erupted in 1969 under the leadership of Marri Chenna Reddy. However, he betrayed the people who trusted him and actively participated in the movement under his leadership. The movement disturbed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people one way or the other. It was a big blow to the generation of the times, which forgot all about the movement following its failure. People realised that politicians would take them for a ride and benefit from their movement for a separate state.

Post-independence history : India became independent from the British Empire in 1947. The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence, but the Indian Government amalgamated his state of Hyderabad by force on September 17, 1948 after the successful execution of “Operation Polo” by the Indian Army. When India became independent, the Telugu-speaking people were distributed in about 22 districts; 9 of them in the Telangana region of Nizam’s Dominions (Hyderabad State), 12 in the Madras Presidency and one in French-controlled Yanam. A Communist led peasant revolt started in 1946, lasted until 1951. Meanwhile, Telugu speaking areas were carved out of an erstwhile Madras state by popular agitation by the leaders like Potti Sri Ramulu to create Andhra state in 1953.

Merger of Telangana and Andhra :

telangana

In December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganization Commission to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission. The efforts of this commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as Home Minister from December 1954. The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India’s states. The States Reorganization Commission (SRC)-1955 was not in favour of merging the Telangana region with the then Andhra state. Para 382 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said “opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit, public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself. Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra, though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future”. The concerns of Telanganas were manifold . The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education. Para 386 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said “After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification.”
The central government decided to ignore the SRC recommendations and established unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. However, a “Gentlemen’s agreement” provided reassurances to the Telangana people as well to Andhra people in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions. This agreement is known as Gentlemen’s agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956).

Major movements :

1969 Movement : In the following years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, however, the Telangana people had a number of complaints about how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. Discontent with the 1956 Gentleman’s agreement intensified in January 1969 when the guarantees that had been agreed on were supposed to lapse. Student agitation for the continuation of the agreement began at Osmania University in Hyderabad and spread to other parts of the region. Government employees and opposition members of the state legislative assembly swiftly threatened “direct action” in support of the students. This movement, also known as Telangana movement, led to widespread violence and deaths of hundreds of people and students of this Telangana region. Approximately 360 students gave their lives in this movement.
Although the Congress faced dissension within its ranks, its leadership stood against additional linguistic states, which were regarded as “anti-national.” As a result, defectors from the Congress, led by M. Chenna Reddy, founded the Telangana People’s Association (Telangana Praja Samithi). Despite electoral successes, however, some of the new party leaders gave up their agitation in September 1971 and, much to the disgust of many separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks.

Movement in 1990-2004 : The emotions and forces generated by the movement were not strong enough, however, for a continuing drive for a separate state until 1990s when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), promised a separate Telangana state if they came to power. BJP created Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarkhand states in year 2000 as promised. But the BJP could not create a separate Telangana state because of the opposition from its coalition partner, Telugu Desam Party. These developments brought new life into the separatist Telangana movement by year 2000. Congress party MLAs from the Telangana region, supported a separate Telangana state and formed the Telangana Congress Legislators Forum. In another development, a new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (or TRS) was formed with the single point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state, with Hyderabad as its capital lead by Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao popularily known as KCR.
Proponents of a separate Telangana state feel all the agreements, accords, formulas, plans and assurances on the floor of legislature and Lok Sabha, in last 50+ years, could not be honoured and Telangana was forced to remain neglected, exploited and backward. The experiment to remain as one State proved to be a futile exercise and therefore, separation is found to be the best solution.

Silent run during 2004-2008 :  In 2004, for Assembly and Parliament elections, the Congress party and the TRS had an electoral alliance in the Telangana region with the promise of a separate Telangana State. Congress came to power in the state and formed a coalition government at the centre. TRS joined the coalition government in 2004 and was successful in making a separate Telangana state a part of the common minimum program (CMP) of the coalition government. In September 2006 TRS withdrew support for the Congress led coalition government at the centre on the grounds of indecision by the government over the delivery of its electoral promise to create Telangana.In December 2006, the TRS won the by-election to the Karimnagar parliamentary constituency with a record margin. There was pressure on the Congress party to create a Telangana state in 2008.

All TRS legislators in Parliament and in State (4MPs, 16MLAs, 3MLCs) resigned in the 1st week of March 2008 and forced by-elections to increase the pressure on Congress party, and to intensify the movement. By-elections for the 16 MLA seats, 4 MP seats were held May 29, 2008. During the election campaign the TRS party said it is a referendum on a Telangana state but both Congress and TDP parties said it is not a referendum on Telangana and also said that they are not opposed to the formation of Telangana state. To the disappointment of Telangana proponents TRS retained only 7 out of 16 MLA seats and 2 out of 4 MP seats after the by-elections.
In June 2008, Devender Goud, who is considered number two in the TDP, a politbureau member and Deputy Leader of the Telugu Desam Legislature Party, resigned from the party saying he would devote his time and energy to the formation of a separate Telangana state. In July 2008, Mr Goud along with some other leaders like Mr. E Peddi Reddy formed a new party called Nava Telangana Praja Party.
On 9 October 2008, in a historical turnaround from its 26-year history TDP announced its support for the creation of Telengana.

Declaration of statehood : The Nava Telangana Party, led by the former home minister of Andhra Pradesh, T Devender Goud, declared Telangana as a separate province within India on November 2, 2008. Konda Laxman Bapuji announced that “We solemnly declare statehood for Telangana on November 2, 2008.” Goud released ten pigeons in the air symbolising the ten districts of the region, while he also unfurled the national flag on the occasion. Along with his party activists he was later arrested when they tried to barge into the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat to change the name plate from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana. A scuffle then followed between the police and the NTP workers before the party workers were taken to the Chikkadapalli police station.

From Feb-2009 : In February 2009, state government declared that it had no objection, in principle, to the formation of separate Telangana and that the time had come to move forward decisively on this issue. To resolve issues related to it government constituted joint house committee. Ahead of the 2009 General Elections in India all the major parties in Andhra Pradesh supported Telangana state. The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) again announced their policy of having smaller states and will create 2 more states Telangana and Gorkhaland if they win the election.
Congress Party still says it is committed to Telangana statehood, but claims Muslim minorities are opposed to creation of separate state along with majority of people. Analysts, however, feel that the “Muslim reluctance card” has been very smartly played by Chief Minister Y.S.R, who is opposed tooth and nail to the formation of the new state. Telugu Desam Party(TDP) promised to work for Telangana statehood. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) joined a Mahakutami(or grand alliance) with TDP and left parties to defeat congress party for denying statehood for Telangana.
Praja Rajyam Party(PRP), newly founded by film star Chiranjeevi, too supports Telangana statehood. Nava Telangana Party merged with PRP after it realized that there is not enough political space for two sub-regional Telangana parties with Telangana statehood as main agenda. Several political parties, including some Telangana congress leaders, criticized Chief Minister,Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy(YSR), when he changed his stand from pro-Telangana and gave anti-Telangana statements after the polls.
Congress returned to power both at center and state. TRS and the grand alliance lost the elections in overwhelming fashion.
In september 2009, Chief Minister, YSR died in a chopper crash while flying in bad weather.

In the first week of Dec 2009, the TRS president, K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) started a fast-unto-death demanding that the Congress partyintroduce a Telangana bill in the Parliament. Student organizations, employee unions and various organizations joined the movement. Scores of people commited suicide in support of Telangana state. Telangana bandh (strike) shuts down Telangana on Dec 6th and 7th. Student organizations planned a massive rally at state legislature(Assembly) on Dec 10th. Government warned that the rally does not have permission and deployed police troops though out Telangana. The decline of KCR’s health has contributed to a sense of urgency for the central government to take a decision on the issue of Telangana statehood.

Telangana state formation process :

TRS Flag

On Dec 9th 2009, 11:30 PM, Mr. P. Chidambaram, Union Minister of Home Affairs, on behalf of the Government of India announced that a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for the creation of a separate Telangana state will be passed. Mr. Chidambaram also informed that process for the formation of a separate Telangana state will be initiated soon. KCR ending his 11 day fast said from his hospital bed that this a true victory of the people of Telangana.
On December 10, 2009, Indian government has agreed to start the process of forming a separate Telangana. Central government asked Andhra Pradesh state government to pass of a resolution in the legislative assembly(As per article 3 of Constitution, Parliament does not require assembly resolution to create a new state. Its mere formality).
Telangana and Hyderabad celebrated the central government decision while non-Telangana regions of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseemaregions (Andhra region) protested.
Several members of Andhra Pradesh’s legislature submitted their resignations to protest the creation of the new state. As of 11th December atleast 117 legislators and many Members of Parliament had resigned in protest of the Government’s decision to carve out a new state of Telangana. All of the Legislators/MPs’ resigned belong to Andhra(Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema) region.

My view :   The discrimination is everywhere and in every aspect. Telangana people are a minority in government as well as in private sectors, which are largely in the hands of Andhrawalas.

+ve points for the formation of a new Telangana state:
1.A set of people with a set of different cultural practices is entitled to its own government. Any violation of this natural law amounts to denial of rights. For example, marrying one’s sister’s daughter is a common practice in Andhra while a sister’s daughter is treated as a daughter in Telangana. So you can see the differences between the cultures.
2.Though the language spoken by both the Andhrawalas and Telanganawalas is called Telugu, the two are different. The way it is spoken is different. In fact, most of the language is not understood by each other, unless one is used to it for sometime.
3.Smaller states are better for people as well as governments in terms of accessibility and distribution of resources.
4.Three States, viz, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, were created recently on the basis of the foregoing criteria and they are doing very well.
5.The demand for Telangana state is the oldest of such demands throughout the country. Similar demands obtain in respect of Vidarbha, Bundelkhand and Ghorkhaland. The Congress Party is in favour of a separate Bundelkhand state.
6.Andhrawalas need not change themselves as Telanganawalas while they are in Telangana. They can proudly live as Andhrawalas, follow their culture, language and lifestyle, which are different from that of Telangana.

-ve points about this issue :

1.The politicians of Telangana (Congress and TRS mainly) see the issue as their only route to power. BJP also sees a chance to become a king maker if not a king, in a separate Telangana.

2.Interestingly, the CPM and CPI leadership in AP is not enthusiastic about Telangana even though their strength in AP is mainly in Telangana districts.

3.It is no wonder thatABVP activists in OU are in the front of the current agitation.And the Congress leaders who are pro-Telangana, who had lost their voice during YSR’s reign have now found a fresh energy.

4.The situationanow,is leading to some very inane conspiracy theories in the local media. I was watching a discussion on a Telugu channel this morning where the panelists were alleging the following:

-Sonia/CWC see a risk in the dependency on AP with 42 LS seats.They know that YSR is not around to win them over 35 in 2014.They feel that by giving Telangana, they can count on majority of seats from the new State.That way, they will be reducing the dependency on YS Jagan or YSR’s legacy.

-Chidambaram from TN and Veerappa Moily from KN are being influenced by lobbies from their home states. A unified AP is fast emerging as a financial, business and health care hub in South India.A divided AP will be weaker because the richer Coastal AP businessmen will lose the Hyd advantage. Also, upper riparian States like Maharashtra and KN see an advantage in dealing with a smaller Telangana than a large state such as AP.

-Veerapa Moily is also being influenced by senior Congress leaders from Telangana.

-Sonia Gandhi thinks its easier to manage the state congress units of two smaller states than that of a larger state with powerful Rayalaseema leaders such as YS Jagan.On one hand, Telangana leaders will be beholden to her and OTOH, caste equations in rest of AP will ensure Congress dominance there as well.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telangana

http://www.merinews.com/article/telangana-issue-comes-to-a-flash-point/129463.shtml

http://telanganamedia.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/towards_a_history_of_the_telangana_movement/

http://kumarsbol.blogspot.com/2009/12/telangana-issue-what-exactly-is-going.html

The SRC is organising a Mufti Day TOMMOROW Wednesday, November 25th 2009.

Students can wear clothes of their choice, though they must make sure they’re suitable for the normal daily school activities.

~SRC Representative

We’ll have to pay 500 fils (half a KD) to participate in this event, the proceeds will go to fund raising efforts in which the school is currently involved.

Have fun!

The Second Shift

Bombay based ‘The Second Shift‘ comprises of talented bunch of  corporate working  class guys who have resurrected their passion for music while they are not doing the 9-5 shift.  Well that is ‘The Second Shift‘ as they aptly call the band.  The band consists of  Ashley Murray on Drums, Mohit James on  Bass, Prashant Sumanth on Drums/ Vocals,  Sandeep Mittal (co-founder gigpad.com) on  Guitar Vocals, Vinod Easwaran on Vocals,  and SRC on Guitar. The Second Shift recently released their self titled debut album, you can own a copy by mailing the band OR download few songs from their reverbnation.com page.  As I write the band is placed at #6 spot on the reverb charts and rapidly climbing.

Yesterday, I was at Dempsey Hill to catch a local Rugby Match.
Blacks Vs SRC.

*Note to everyone: Please wear slippers if you’re going to watch Rugby @ Dempsey.The muddy field is the undoubtedly the minus point.

The match was Blacks (Seniors)Vs SRC (Seniors).

Blacks: Black & Gold
SRC: White & Red

Formation of Ruck by Blacks.

A fully formed Ruck.

There was definately much tension felt in the air cause of the both team’s intense rivalry. Even though the Blacks were at a losing end, they put on a great fight,despite the muddy pitch.

There were several injuries during the match.2 Blacks players had to be replaced due to severe injures before half time. One fractured his leg while the other fractured his arm. Both of the players had to be sent to hospital immediately. Thankfully, an ambulance was called for a standby.

I felt that this game was a give away game for the Blacks because they could have easily won the match if the pitch was in perfect condition. But, I know its not called “Good Sportsmanship” to blame it on the pitch. The sudden substitution of 2 new players found the Blacks in a little miscommunication. Blacks found themselves at the losing end.

Hopefully, The Blacks will be able to bounce back from the defeat. And I pray that the injured players will be fully recovered for the next game.

*All pictures were taken by me on 14th Nov 2009.

Today’s addition to #shitalliterationweek is made up of tunes taking their palette of sound from 16bit/chiptune early Nintendo consoles. Hence Tetris Thursday…

First one is from grime producer SRC, Butterz has just interviewed him for his blog as an artist to watch out for 2010. After hearing this tune in Oneman, Tomb Crew and Jackmaster’s sets recently I’ve been waiting for details of a release, only to find out he’s given it away for free. The Nintendo reference is obvious in this one . You can grab the whole of SRCD Vol 4, from which this is taken, here. Be warned this is catchy as hell.

SRC – Goomba Riddim

Zomby gave these tunes away for free on his twitter after some sort of fight with the label. Zomby’s trade mark bleeps meet garage riddims in these two, more afterhours-blissed out business than what we’re used to from him. I think he even uses the Nanoloop in some of his production, check the YouTube vids of many-a-neek getting busy.

Zomby – Digital Flora

Zomby – Digital Fauna

This last one not so much 16-bit, but definately game related. Mumdance’s remix of Maximo Park in a style he’s dubbed Kerplunk, because it reminds him of, um, Kerplunk (the game.)

Maximo Park – Lets Get Clinical (Mumdance Kerplunk Remix)

SRC Lists, founded in 1998, is a company that has developed an effective way to provide qualified leads to financial and insurance services.  They distribute thousands of leads each month to their clients, most of who come back because of their satisfaction with the leads.  SRC Lists firmly stand behind their brand and the quality of their leads.  Their three way guarantee includes innacurate phone number and address replacement at no charge, exclusive leads not resold for six months and 100% money back guarantee after the first 90 days if the customer doesn’t earn atleast $1000 for every one hundred names.  They would not make that offer if they didn’t highly believe in the quality of their leads.  So if you are an insurance or financial company looking for sales, contact SRC leads at 1800-370-7330.

by Judith Balea, for ABS-CBN NEWS, October 29, 2009.

MANILA – While the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has grand visions of playing a role in guiding listed firms into corporate governance stature and aims to pioneer in Asia alistings board that highlights the “blue chips of blue chips,” recent incidents at the bourse show it is having trouble keeping its own house in order.

Key management officials have left the exchange almost one after the other in the past 8 months. Coffee shop talks have been rife that even PSE president and chief executive officer Francis Lim’s supposedly secured tenure is on the line—a persistent rumor that has gone through the cycles and has been growing louder in recent weeks.

It didn’t help that in July, an encounter between a board director and a mid-level executive in a public place fueled an already gloomy disposition of some staff.

Meantime, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the corporate regulator that oversees the PSE, has not been consistent. It stayed back when PSE elevated some exchange- and investor-related concerns, but intervened when there were listed companies that defied PSE’s rules…(continue reading)

SRC has announced plans to release the first three SR5 AEG models in November 2009. The AEGs should be available in the states Jan 2010. For more details and photos see our Facebook Airsoft SRC SR5 Picture Page

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129276&id=50077645727&l=a358cb96eb