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EC Gives Green Signal For Yatra’s TV Premiere
Yatra, the biopic on former Chief Minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh YS Rajashekara Reddy, released in cinemas worldwide on February 8th. Yatra’s satellite rights were acquired by MAA TV and the film’s world television premiere is scheduled at 12 PM tomorrow (April 7th).
However, several TDP leaders had filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Yatra’s TV premiere, alleging that the TV premiere has been scheduled just 4 days before the polling day to influence the voters in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the general elections.
But, the EC has given a green signal to Yatra’s TV premiere. In its response, the Election Commission said that a film’s TV premiere or theatrical screening don’t come under the EC’s purview, hence Yatra’s TV premiere doesn’t violate the Election Code which is in effect.
Mahesh And Allu Arvind Cut Off Those Elements
Though there were various news doing rounds that Allu Arvind said sorry to Namrata over Allu Arjun grabbing Sukumar’s film and so on, it looks like, these celebs are above all such ‘rumorous’ discussions.
Long back we have reported that actually, Allu Arvind wants to produce more films with heroes outside their compound and his ‘Geetha Govindam’ with Vijay Devarakonda on Geetha Arts banner is just a start of it. He’s now going to make a film with Mahesh Babu and the latest update is that the story is okayed.
Agreeing to the new story narrated by director Parasuram, who has delivered stupendous Geetha Govindam, Mahesh is said to be looking forward to working with him after wrapping Anil Ravipudi’s film. And this new film will be a pure love story without any commercial, glamour, fantasy and other spicy elements.
In his entire career, Mahesh has done some awesome love stories like Murari and Okkadu, but they all have full-on commercial masala elements. But now, Mahesh and Allu Arvind are said to have cut off all those commercial elements hoping that they will be at par with new generation’s expectations.
Social Media Talk: Where Is Allari Naresh, Pooja?
A walk with the helicopter, beating one guy in front of a big bunch of goons with their political head standing right in front, and then dressed up in middle-class look to give a lecture to media folks- well these are the scenes in Srimanthudu, Bharat Anu Nenu and the latest teaser of Maharshi as well.
Social media is buzzing that the teaser of Maharshi is heavily loaded with shades of Srimanthudu movie. And then the media scene where the hero talks about success reminded them of Bharat Anu Nenu. And those running montages of Mahesh Babu have become pretty common in most of his films. Well, a glimpse of Allari Naresh and Pooja Hegde would have changed this feel, however.
All these days it is believed that Maharshi is about three college friends, among whom one of them will return to India to help the other two. Now if a couple of shots of Allari Naresh and Pooja are included in the teaser, then the game would have been different. The film would have sounded very new rather making audiences believe that Mahesh played a safe game again with Srimanthudu format.
Also with Mahesh’s running shot becoming food for memes and Jabardasth skits, we wonder why director Vamsi Paidipally and one of the producers Dil Raju agreed to do it.
YSRCP manifesto promises many sops for farmers
Amaravati: Farm investment support of Rs 12,500 per annum, free crop insurance and interest-free loans for farmers are some of the major promises made by the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in its election manifesto released on Saturday.
Releasing the manifesto for the April 11 elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha, YSRCP president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy said if voted to power his party would implement ‘YSR Ryhu Bharosa’ under which every family will get an annual benefit of Rs 12,500 to Rs 1 lakh.
Tenant farmers belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Backward Classes (BC) and minority communities will also get an investment support of Rs 12,500.
Free borewells, setting up godowns, cold storages and food processing plants were the other measures promised to reverse farm distress.
Focussing on welfare, the manifesto aims to empower the marginalized sections of the society, the party said.
The YSRCP promised that Rs 15,000 will be paid under the ‘Amma Vodi’ scheme for women sending their children to schools. Female members of self-help groups (DWCRA) will get Rs 50,000 per annum under ‘YSR Aasara’.
The state government will also pay the interest payment on the loans of self-help groups.
Women belonging to the BC, SC, ST, and minority communities and over the age of 45 years will get Rs 75,000 annually under ‘YSR Cheyutha’.
Under ‘YSR Housing’, houses will be registered in the name of the women. The government will provide Rs.1 lakh support for the marriage of girls belonging to SC, ST, BC, and minority women.
The party also promised liquor prohibition.
The manifesto promised universal healthcare coverage for the lower and middle classes under ‘Arogyasri’. Any individual with an annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh can avail the Universal Health Card for free benefits. The card will be applicable for any medical expense over Rs 1,000.
Jagan promised jobs to 10 youth in every village at the village secretariat. In addition to that, 3.5 lakh village/ward volunteers will receive Rs 5,000 per month as honorarium. He promised to fill the 2.3 lakh government vacancies.
For students, there will be total fee reimbursement and an additional sum of Rs 20,000 will be paid for food and accommodation expenses every year.
The monthly pension for elderly persons will be increased to Rs 3,000. For welfare of the BCs, a separate BC Fund will be created, with a budget of Rs 75,000 crore. A similar fund will be created for Kapus too.
Barbers, tailors, washermen, weavers, hawkers, vendors, fishermen, and people engaged in other caste-based professions will also be provided assistance.
The party promised a Rs 1,150 crore fund for 13 lakh victims of the Agrigold scam. Other promises include a Minimum Support Price (MSP) Stabilization Fund of Rs 3,000 crore and a Natural Calamity Fund of Rs 4,000 crore.
If voted to power, the YSRCP will also contribute Rs 10,000 – Rs 35,000 for maintenance of temples, pay Rs 15,000 honorarium to ‘imams’ and ‘muezzin’ and Rs 5,000 to pastors.
US Reaches H-1B Visa Cap for 2020 in First Season
Washington: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it has reached the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for the fiscal year 2020, after it started receiving the applications for the most sought-after work visa among foreign, including Indian professionals.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows the US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The USCIS, the federal agency mandated with task of approving such applications, on Friday said “it has received a sufficient number of petitions projected as needed to reach the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap for fiscal year 2020.”
The fiscal year begins October 1, 2019 and it the USCIS started receiving the visa petitions from April 1. However, the agency did not reveal the number of petitions received by it in the first five days.
The USCIS said it will next determine if it has received a sufficient number of petitions to meet the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap.
The agency said it will reject and return visa fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not prohibited multiple filings. It will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.
Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2020 H-1B, the USCIS said. It did not say if it would resort to computerised draw of lots as was the case in the last several years.
Last year, the USCIS received 190,000 cap-subjected H-1B petitions. In 2018, it received 199,000 applications while in 2017, 236,000 petitions in the first five days after it started receiving the applications. The USCIS received 232,972 H-1B cap-subject petitions in 2016 and in 2015, it received 172,581 cap-subjected petitions.
This is the first season of H-1B petitions after the USCIS announced enforcing new rules for the most sought-after US work visa applications for foreign professionals.
The new rules give preferences to those who have completed their post-graduation degree course from any US educational institutions.
This year the USCIS has suspend the electronic registration requirement for the fiscal year 2020 cap season to complete user testing and ensure the system and process are fully functional.
Under the news system, the USCIS first selects H-1B petitions submitted on behalf of all beneficiaries, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption. Thereafter, the USCIS will select from the remaining eligible petitions, a number projected to reach the advanced degree exemption.
Changing the order in which the USCIS counts these allocations will likely increase the number of petitions for beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a US institution of higher education to be selected under the H-1B numerical allocations.
The USCIS says that the change will result in an estimated increase of up to 16 per cent (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected petitions for H-1B beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a US institution of higher education.
“These simple and smart changes are a positive benefit for employers, the foreign workers they seek to employ, and the agency’s adjudicators, helping the H-1B visa program work better,” USCIS Director L Francis Cissna had said in a statement.
“The US employers seeking to employ foreign workers with a US master’s or higher degree will have a greater chance of selection in the H-1B lottery in years of excess demand for new H-1B visas,” Cissna said.
In April 2017, US President Donald Trump, had issued the ‘Buy American and Hire American Executive Order’, instructing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “propose new rules and issue new guidance, to supersede or revise previous rules and guidance if appropriate, to protect the interests of US workers in the administration of our immigration system.”
The executive order specifically mentioned the H-1B program and directed the DHS and other agencies to “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.” (PTI)
