HYDERABAD: In a move that will almost double the salaries of Telangana employees, the state government announced implementation of the pay hike recommended by the pay revision commission (PRC) with a fitment of 43%.

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said at a press conference on Thursday that the pay panel, headed by special chief secretary to the government K Pradeep Chandra, was the first PRC of Telangana.

"Ours is an employee-friendly government. We have recognised the employees' role in realisation of statehood. The notification of the implementation of pay hike will be issued on Friday which is regarded as goddess Lakshmi's day," said the chief minister.

The pay hike, which results in an additional burden of Rs 6,500 crore to the exchequer, will be implemented with retrospective effect from June 2, 2014 - the day Telangana was formed. The chief minister said that the arrears would be deposited in the employees' general provident fund (GPF) account which fetches 8.5% interest. The revised salaries will reach the employees beginning this March.

The announcement led to jubilation in the Secretariat and employees celebrated by bursting fire crackers. Over 3.5 lakh government staff will enjoy the benefit.

"We thank the chief minister for the PRC implementation. We know this would a burden on the exchequer. We assure that the employees will work hard to enhance revenue for the government," chairman of Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers' (TNGO) Association, S Devi Prasad Rao, said.

While the 10th PRC headed by PK Agarwal had recommended 29% fitment in its report submitted in July 2013, Telangana employees demanded 69% and a minimum monthly wage of Rs 15,000.

The government constituted the Pradeep Chandra committee to look into the demands of employees. After several rounds of consultations with representatives of various employee associations including TNGO and Telangana Gazetted Officers' Association (TGO), the committee recommended the pay hike formula.

The chief minister said that he hurried to announce the new pay since a notification was expected any moment for the state legislative council elections due in March. Once the notification is issued, the government could not have implemented the hike since the poll code will not allow it.

While there is no mention about the demand of the minimum wage of Rs 15,000, the CM said that the PRC would look into pending anomalies in the salary structure. "We hope that this issue would be addressed by the panel and employees will get their due," said chairman of commercial tax employees' joint action committee, T Vivek.

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Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad

Mecca Masjid (Arabic: ‎and Urdu: مکہ مسجد‎, Telugu: మక్కా మసీదు), also Makkah Masjid, is one of the oldest mosques in Hyderabad, Telangana in India, And it is one of the largest masajids in India. Makkah Masjid is a listed heritage building in the old city of Hyderabad, close to the historic landmarks of Chowmahalla Palace, Laad Bazaar, and Charminar.

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, commissioned bricks to be made from the soil brought from Mecca, the holiest site of Islam, and used them in the construction of the central arch of the mosque, thus giving the mosque its name. It formed the centerpiece around which the city was planned by Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah.^[2]

History and construction

Makkah Masjid was built during the reign of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th Qutb Shahi Sultan of Golconda (now Hyderabad). The three arched facades have been carved from a single piece of granite, which took five years to quarry. More than 8,000 workers were employed to build the mosque. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah personally laid the foundation stone. The construction was later completed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb after conquering Hyderabad.

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the French explorer, in his travelogue observed;

"It is about 50 years since they began to build a splendid pagoda in the town which will be the grandest in all India when it is completed. The size of the stone is the subject of special accomplishment, and that of a niche, which is its place for prayer, is an entire rock of such enormous size that they spent five years in quarrying it, and 500 to 600 men were employed continually on its work. It required still more time to roll it up on to conveyance by which they brought it to the pagoda; and they took 1400 oxen to draw it."^[3]

Mecca Masjid frontage

Makkah Masjid minaret

Graves in the Makkah Masjid

Architecture and design

The main hall of the mosque is 75 feet high, 220 feet wide and 180 feet long, enough to accommodate 10,000 worshipers at a time. Fifteen arches support the roof of the main hall, five on each of the three sides. A wall rises on the fourth side to provide Mihrab.

At the peak of the minarets flanking the mosque is an arched gallery, and above that a smallish dome and a spire. Inscriptions from the Qur'an adorn many of the arches and doors. The main structure of the mosque is sandwiched between two massive octagonal columns made out of a single piece of granite. The cornices running around the entire mosque structure and the floral motifs and friezes over the arches remind the tourist of the great attention paid to detail in Qutub Shahi architecture. They have a close resemblance to the arches at Charminar and Golkonda Fort.

On the four sides of the roof on the main mosque, the ramparts are made of granite planks in the shape of inverted conches perched on pedestals. From the cornice of the mosque, its minarets are not as high as the minarets on the mazaar (Nizams tombs) haven from their cornice. The octagonal columns have arched balconies on level with the roof of the mosque with an awning for a canopy, above which the column continues upwards till it is crowned by a dome and spire.

Mecca Masjid street view from Charminar

Tombs

The entrance courtyard it is best of the mosque, a rectangular, arched and canopied building houses the marble graves of Asaf Jahi rulers. This structure came up during the rule of the Asaf Jah rulers. It contains the tombs of the Nizams and their family.

At both ends of this resting place for the Asaf Jahs and very much a part of it, are two rectangular blocks with four minarets each. These minarets have elegant and circular balconies with low ornamental walls and arches. Above them is an octagonal inverted platter from which the rest of the minaret soars till it is arrested by a dome and a spire.

Maintenance issue

The Makkah Masjid is a listed heritage building, however, lack of maintenance and growing pollution has withered and cracked the structure. It received a chemical wash in 1995. To prevent further damage, the Andhra Pradesh government made Charminar a traffic-free zone in August 2001.

Legends

On the edge of the pond are two stone and slab benches, whoever sits on them, according to legend, returns to sit on them again.

A room in the courtyard is believed to house a hair of the Islamic prophet Muhammed.

 

Inventions and Discoveries

Invention	Year	Inventor	country
Acetylene Gas	1862	Berthelot	France
Adding machine	1642	Pascal	France
Adhesive tape, Scotch	1930	Richard Drew	USA
Aeroplane	1903	Orville & Wilbur Wright	USA
Air conditioning	1902	Carrier	USA
Aeroplane, jet engine	1939	Ohain	Germany
Airship(non-rigid)	1852	Henri Giffard	France
Aerosol spray	1926	Erik Rotheim	Norway
Artificial heart	1957	William Kolff	Netherlands
Atomic bomb	1945	J Robert Oppenheimer	USA
atomic numbers	1913	Moseley	Britain
atomic theory	1803	Dalton	Britain
automatic rifle	1918	John Browning	USA
Bakelite	1907	Leo H Baekeland	Belgium
ballistic missile	1944	Wernher von Braun	Germany
balloon	1783	Jacques & Joseph Montgolfier	France
ballpoint pen	1888	John J loud	USA
barometer	1644	Evangelista Torricelli	Italy
battery(electric)	1800	Alessandro Volta	Italy
bicycle	1839-40	Kirkpatrick Macmillan	Britain
bicycle tyres(pneumatic)	1888	John Boyd Duniop	Britain
bifocal lens	1780	Benjamin Franklin	USA
bleaching powder	1798	Tennant	Britain
Bunsen Burner	1855	R. Willhelm von Bunsen	Germany
burglar alarms	1858	Edwin T. Holmes	USA
calculus	1670	Newton	Britain
camera, Kodak	1888	Walker Eastman	USA
canned food	1804	Appert	France
Car(Steam)	1769	Nicolas Cugnot	France
car(Petrol)	1888	Karl Benz	Germany
Carburettor	1876	Gottlieb Daimler	Germany
Cassette, Audio	1963	Philips co.	Holland
Cassette videotape	1969	Sony	Japan
Celluloid	1861	Alexander Parkes	Britain
Cement (Portland)	1824	Joseph Aspdin	Britain
Chemotheraphy	1909	Ehrlich	Germany
Chronometer	1735	John Harrison	Britain
Cinema	1895	Nicolas and Jean Lumiere	France
Clock (Mechanical)	1725	I Hsing & Liang Ling Tsan	China
Cloning, DNA	1973	Boyer, Cohen	USA
Cloning, mammal	1996	Wilmut, et al	UK
Compact disc	1972	RCA	USA
Compact disc player	1979	Sony, Philips co	Japan, Netherlands
Computer, laptop	1987	Sinclair	Britain
Computer,mini	1960	Digital corp	USA
Crossword puzzle	1913	Arthur Wynne	USA
CT Scan	1973	Hounsfield	Britain
Diesel engine	1895	Rudolf Diesel	Germany
Disc brakes	1902	Dr. F Lanchester	Britain
Disc, video	1972	Phillips co	Holland
DNA, structure	1951	Crick-UK,Watson-US,Wilkins-UK	--
Dynamo	1832	Hypolite Pixii	France
Electric flat iron	1882	H.W. Seeley	USA
Electric lamp	1879	Thomas alva Edison	USA
electric motor (DC)	1873	Zenobe Gramme	Belgium
Electric motor (AC)	1888	Nikola Tesla	USA
Electric iron	1882	Henry W.Seely	USA
Electric washing machine	1906	Alva J Fisher	USA
Electromagnet	1824	William Sturgeon	Britain
Electron	1897	Thomson J	Britain
Electroplating	1805	Luigi Brugnatelli	Italy
Electronic computer	1824	Dr Alan M turning	Britain
Facsimile machine	1843	Alexander Bain	Britain
Fibre-optics	1955	Kepany	Britain
Film (moving outlines)	1885	Louise Prince	France
Film (talking)	1922	J. Engl, J.Mussolle & H Vogt	Germany
Film (musical sound)	1923	Dr Le de forest	USA
Floppy disk	1970	IBM	USA
Frequency modulation	1933	EH Armstrong	USA
Frisbee	1948	Fred Morrisson	USA
Fountain pen	1884	Lewis E. Waterman	USA
Galvanometer	1834	Andre-Marie Ampere	France
Glider	1853	Sir George Cayley	Britain
Gramophone	1878	Thomas Alva Edison	USA
Helicopter	1924	Etinne Oehmichen	France
HIV	1984	Martagnier	France
Holography	1947	Denis Gason	Britain
Hydrogen bomb	1952	Edward Teller	USA
Intelligence testing	1905	Simon Binet	France
Jet engine	1937	Sir Frank Whittle	Britain
Laser	1960	Theodore Maiman	USA
Launderette	1934	J.F. Cantrell	USA
Lift (mechanical)	1852	Elisha G Otis	USA
Lightning conductor	1752	Benjamin Franklin	USA
Locomotive	1804	Richard Trevithick	Britain
Logarithms	1614	Napier	Britain
Loom, power	1785	E cartwright	Britain
Loudspeaker	1900	Horace Short	Britain
Machine gun	1718	Richard Gatling	Britain
Magnetic recording tape	1928	Fritz Pfleumer	Germany
Match, safety	1826	John Walker	Britain
Microphone	1876	Alexander Graham Bell	USA
Microprocessor	1971	Robert Noyce & Gordon Moore	USA
Microscope,comp	1590	Z.Janssen	Netherlands
Microscopes, elect	1931	Ruska Knoll	Germany
Microwave oven	1947	Percy LeBaron Spencer	USA
Motorcycle	1885	G. Daimler	Germany
Movie projector	1593	Thomas Edison	USA
MRI	1971	Damadian	USA
Neon lamp	1910	George Claude	France
Neutron	1932	Chadwick	Britain
Neutron bomb	1958	Samuel Cohan	USA
Nylon	1937	Dr Wallace H Carothers	USA
Optical fibre	1955	Narinder Kapany	Germany
Paper	AD 105	-	China
Pacemaker	1952	Zoll	USA is
Pasteurization	1867	Lewis Pasteur	France
Pencil	1792	Lacques Nicolas Conte	France
Periodic table	1869	Mendeleyev	Russia
Photocopier	1938	Carlson	USA
Photoelectric cell	1893	Julius Elster, Hans F Geitel	Germany
Photo film, celluloid	1893	Reichenbach	USA
Photo film, transparent	1884	Goodwin Eastman	USA
Photography (on metal)	1826	J.N. Niepce	France
Photography (on paper)	1835	W.H. Fox Talbot	Britain
Photography (on film)	1888	John Carbutt	USA
Piano	1709	Cristofori	Italy
Pistol, revolver	1836	Colt	USA
Plutonium fission	1940	Kennedy, whal,Seaborg,Segre	USA
Pop-up toaster	1927	Charles Strite	USA
Printing press	1455	Johann Gutenberg	Germany
Printing (rotatory)	1846	Richard Hoe	USA
Printing (Web)	1865	William Bullock	USA
Proton	1919	Rutherford	New Zealand
Quantum theory	1900	Plank	Germany
Radar	1922	AH Taylor and Leo C Young	USA
Radiocarbon dating	1947	Libby	USA
Radio telegrapy	1864	Dr Mohlon Loomis	USA
Radio telegrapy (trans Atlantic)	1901	G Marconi	Italy
Rayon	1883	Sir Joseph Swan	Britain
Razor (electric)	1931	Col Jacob Schick	USA
Razor (safety)	1895	King C Gillette	USA
Refrigerator	1850	James Harrison, Alexandre catlin	USA
Relativity theory	1905	Einstein	Germany
Rubber (latex foam)	1928	Dunlop Rubber Co.	Britain
Rubber (Tyres)	1846	Thomas Hancock	Britain
Rubber (Vulcanised)	1841	Charles Goodyear	USA
Rubber (waterproof)	1823	Charles Macintosh	Britain
Safety pin	1849	Walter Hunt	USA
Safety razor	1903	King camp Gillette	USA
Seatbelt	1959	Volvo	Sweden
Self-starter	1911	Charles F Kettering	USA
Ship (steam)	1775	IC Perier	France
Ship (turbine)	1894	Hon Sir C Parson	Britain
Silk manufacture	50 BC	-	China
Skyscraper	1882	W Le Baron Jenny	USA
Slide rule	1621	William Oughtred	Britain
Spinning frame	1769	Sir Richard Arkwright	Britain
Spinning Jenny	1764	JamesHargreaves	Britain
Spinning Mule	1779	Samuel Crompton	Britain
Steam Engine	1698	Thomas Savery	Britain
Steam Engine(Piston)	1712	Thomas Newcomen	Britain
Steam Engine(Condenser)	1765	James Watt	Britain
Steel(Stainless)	1913	Harry Brealey	Britain
Stethoscope	1819	Laennec	French
Submarine	1776	David Bushnell	USA
Super Computer	1976	J.H Van Tassel	USA
Synthesiser	1964	Moog	USA
Tank	1914	Sir Emest D Swington	Britain
Tape recorder	1899	Fessenden Poulsen	Denmark
Telegraph	1787	M Lammond	France
Telegraph code	1837	Samuel FB Morse	USA
Telephone, cellular	1947	Bell Labs	USA
Telephone (imperfect)	1849	Antonio Meucci	Italy
Telephone (perfected)	1876	Alexander Graham Bell	USA
Telescope	1608	Hans Lippershey	Netherlands
Television (mechanical)	1926	John Logie Baird	Britain
Television (electronic)	1927	P.T Farnsworth	USA
Television, colour	1928	John Logie Baird	Britain
Transformer	1831	Michael Faraday	Britain
Transistor	1948	Bardeen, Shockley & Brattain	USA
Transistor radio	1955	Sony	Japan
Uranium fission, atomic reactor	1942	Szilard Fermi	USA
Vacuum cleaner	1907	Spangler	USA
Videotape	1956	Charles Ginsberg	USA
Velcro(hook-and-loop-fastner)	1948	Geprges de Mestral	Switzerland
Washing machine(elec)	1907	Hurley Machine co	USA
Watch	1462	Bartholomew Manfredi	Italy
Welder (electric)	1877	Elisha Thomson	USA
Windmill	600	Persian corn grinding	-
Wireless (telegraph the)	1896	G Marconi	Italy
x-ray	1895	W.K Roentgen	Geremany
Zip Fastener	1891	W.L Judson	USA

Constitution of India and Polity

The present constitution of India was framed by the Constitution Assembly of India setup under Cabinet Mission Plan of May 16, 1946.
Composition of Constituent Assembly:-

• The Constituent Assembly consisted of 385 members, of which 292 were elected by he elected members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies while 93 members were nominated by the Princely States. To these were to be added a representative each from the four Chief Commissioners Provinces of Delhi, Ajmer-Marwar, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
• Each Province and each Indian State or group of States were allotted the total number of seas proportional to their respective population roughly in the ration of one to a million.
• B N Rao was appointed the Constitutional Advisor of the Assembly.
• The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place of Dec 9, 1946 with Dr. Sachidanand Sinha as its interim President. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as its President n Dec 11, 1947.
• The Assembly framing the Constitution.had 13 Committees.
• The all-important Drafting Committee, which bore the responsibility of drafting the Constitutional document during the recess of the Constitutent Assembly, from July 1947 to September 1948, was formed on August 29, 1947. Its members were:
  1. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
  2. N. Gopalaswami Ayyar
  3. K.M. Munshi
  4. Syyed Mohd. Saadulla
  5. N.Madhav Rao
  6. D.P.Khaitan (T Krishnamachari, after Kahitan’s Death in 1948)
• It was finally passed and accepted on Nov 26, 1949. The session of the Assembly was held on Jan 24, 1950, which unanimously elected Dr, Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. In all the 284 members of the Assembly signed the official copies of the Indian Constitution which came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, known and celebrated as the Republic Day of India.