For a long time, popular Telugu television news channel TV9 had been the most hated channel for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaders.They used to call it Andhra channel and accuse its chief executive officer Ravi Prakash of being a puppet of Andhra rulers.During the Telangana movement, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao used to give a call to the people not to watch the channel, as it was spreading hatred against Telangana.

Even after the formation of Telangana, the TV9 was accused of carrying anti-Telangana stories like exaggerating the suicide deaths etc.In fact, soon after coming to power, KCR made the cable operators black out the channel for several months. However, the channel was restored after the management later succumbed to the government pressures.Yet, the TRS continued to treat it as an Andhra channel whenever there was on occasion. But the stand seems to have changed now, after it was decided that the channel changed hands.

New investors, supposedly My Home Group of J Rameshwar Rao and Megha Infra headed by Krishna Reddy are set to take over the channel shortly. Both are said to be backroom boys of KCR.However, Ravi Prakash will continue to be the CEO of the channel and control the day-to-day operations of the channel.Since the investors are closer to KCR, he has also become a close friend of the TRS bosses. He is now hobnobbing with the TRS bigwigs.

The other day, he laid foundation stone for a new school at Rangadampalli of Siddipet district under the banner of Ravi Prakash foundation.The function was attended by KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao, minister for irrigation and he heaped praises on Ravi Prakash for his social service. He said Ravi Prakash should be appreciated for his efforts to extend quality education to the poor.And Ravi Prakash, too, was all praise for Harish Rao for his support. He said he was extremely happy to be a part of government’s efforts for the Golden Telangana.

So, when a person surrenders to KCR’s family, it doesn’t matter if he is Andhra or Telangana!

Washington: A woman shot dead three persons and injured three more before turning the gun on herself in an attack at a warehouse complex in Maryland in the US, police said.The shooting happened on Thursday at a pharmacy distribution centre in Perryman, near Baltimore, BBC reported.The attacker, Snochia Moseley, 26, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for her attack is unclear.

Mass shootings by women are rare, with more than 95 per cent of such attacks in the US carried out by men.
The shooter was a temporary employee who reported for work as usual that morning, Harford County Sheriff’s Office said.She began shooting outside, then inside the facility, with a 9mm Glock handgun that she had brought with her.

Police were on the scene within five minutes, by which time the shooter had killed three persons and injured three more.Officers found the suspect in a critical condition, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head — she died later in hospital.

She was from Baltimore County, police said.

She owned and had registered the handgun, and had taken several magazines of ammunition with her, police said.The sheriff’s office initially urged residents to avoid the area, which is about 40 km north-east of Baltimore.But it later tweeted that “we do not believe there is any further threat to the community”.

`Hindi continues to be the most widely spoken Indian language in the US, followed by Gujarati and Telugu.However, in terms of percentage increase, if the data of 2010 is compared with the most recent figures for 2017, the number of Telugu speaking individuals has risen the most by 86%.

The American Community Survey (ACS) data, recently released by the US Census Bureau for 2017, it measures the US population as of July 1, 2017 shows that nearly 21.8% of residents in US aged over five (which include native-born, legal and illegal immigrants) speak a language other than English at home.

Of the total populace of 30.5 crore, 6.7 crore spoke a foreign language at home. In FY 2016, with 6.5 crore out of a total populace of 30.3 crore, speaking a foreign language at home, the percentage was slightly lower at 20.6%.

In absolute numbers, Hindi remained the most widely spoken Indian language in America with 8.63 lakh speakers, followed by Gujarati (4.34 lakh) and Telugu (4.15 lakh).The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which is viewed as an anti-immigration think-tank, has analysed this data, specifically comparing the statistics of 2017 with 2010.

Telugu boom in US driven by H-1B craze in T & AP

As per its report, over a seven-year period from 2010, the number of Telugu speakers has risen exponentially by 86%. The corresponding rise as regards Hindi and Gujarati speakers was just 42% and 22% respectively.TOI in its edition dated Sept 17 had reported that 26.10 lakh of the US population were born in India (this figure did not include those having Indian parents but born in the US). In the backdrop of this statistic, at least 33% Indians in the US speak Hindi, nearly 17% speak Gujarati and Telugu.

CIS reports that total figure of those who speak a foreign language has more than doubled since 1990 and tripled since 1980.According to CIS, in US’ five largest cities, 48% speak a language other than English at home. For instance, in LA it is 59%, in NY and Houston its 49%.TOI for the purpose of its analysis has primarily relied on the data available on the US Census Bureau-American Fact Finder website.

However, for 2010, this website did not separately show some Indian languages, which did not then have a large speaking populace – like Telugu, Bengali and Tamil but clubbed them as ‘other Indic languages’.For this specific breakup, TOI has relied on the CIS report. ACS is the largest survey undertaken by the US government each year and includes over 20 lakh households.According to a few Immigration experts, one of the possible reasons for the significant rise in the Telugu speaking population is that many employees in the technology sector, which is a major employer of H-1B visa holders, hail from Andhra Pradesh.