No 'fish medicine' for kids, says Andhra rights panel

Hyderabad,May-31: A fresh controversy hit the famous 'fish medicine' therapy for asthma patients as Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission Tuesday ordered that children below the age of 14 should not be administered it.

Acting on a petition by Balula Hakkula Sangham, an NGO working for children's rights, the commission asked the Hyderabad district administration to ensure that no child below 14 years is given the 'fish medicine'.The annual event of distribution of fish medicine is to take place at Exhibition Grounds here June 8-9.The Bathini Goud family of Doodhbowli in the old city of Hyderabad has been administering the medicine free of cost for 165 years.Asthma patients from different parts of India every year gulp down a live 'murrel' fish with a yellow herbal paste in its mouth. The herbal paste, the contents of which remain a family secret, is believed to cure asthma and other respiratory diseases.The NGO president Achyut Rao said since the 'medicine' is given by the family members under unhygienic conditions, it may also spread infection.fish medicine lost its popularity in recent years after NGOs, working to inculcate scientific temper among people, termed it as a fraud and approached court.They argued that the herbal paste contains heavy metals and caused more harm than good to the patients.After the controversy, the Goud family began calling it 'fish prasadam' or holy offering.The Goud family claims that the secret formula for the herbal medicine was given to their ancestor in 1845 by a saint after taking an oath from him that it should be administered free of cost.
================================================

Minister from Telangana quits

Hyderabad, May 31 : An Andhra Pradesh cabinet minister Tuesday submitted his resignation to the governor over the delay in carving out a separate Telangana state.Endowments Minister J. Krishna Rao, who had sent his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi March 3, met Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation.He later told reporters that he had fulfilled his promise made to the students of Osmania University by submitting his resignation."I have resigned as the Congress leadership has failed to make a clear-cut announcement for formation of separate Telangana state," he said.The minister later met Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to explain the reasons for his decision.He demanded that all the ministers and legislators from Telangana resign to exert pressure on the leadership to accord separate statehood to the region.He also announced that he would resume his 'padyatra' for the separate state on Wednesday and cautioned the government against making any attempt to stop it.The minister's 'padyatra' in Mahabubnagar district May 21 had sparked a row with the police arresting him and his cabinet colleague D.K. Aruna to avert a clash between them.Aruna opposed the 'padyatra' saying the minister had not taken her permission to undertake the visit in her constituency.Krishna Rao has resigned at a time when Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising various pro-Telangana groups, plans to intensify the agitation in the first week of June.
==================================================

NDA ready to support bill for Telangana state: Sushma Swaraj

Hyderabad, May 31: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj Tuesday urged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to bring a bill for formation of separate Telangana state in the next parliament session, assuring support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).Addressing a public meeting at Karimnagar Tuesday night, she said if the government brings a bill in the parliament session beginning in July, she would ensure that it is passed with two-third majority.Stating that she had come to the region to draw the battle-lines, Sushma Swaraj reminded Telangana MPs of Congress party of June 1 deadline set by them for their party leadership to make a clear-cut announcement on the Telangana bill.The BJP leader said her party would not rest till a separate state is achieved. "If the government brings a bill in parliament, we are ready to support it but if it fails to do so we will bring the bill and pass it after we come to power," she said.She said ever since the forcible merger with the Andhra region in 1956, the people of Telangana got only commissions, committees, formulas, documents, promises and assurances.On the Srikrishna committee, the BJP leader said it crossed all the limits by suggesting to the government the Telangana movement be suppressed through political and media management."I am ashamed at reading the contents of the secret eighth chapter of the report, in which the committee expressed the apprehension that separate Telangana state will become a Maoist state or a BJP-ruled state," she said.She however said by supporting the demand for separate Telangana state, she was not opposing the people of Andhra and pointed out that three new states were carved out during BJP-led NDA rule.Sushma Swaraj said the demand for Telangana state arose from the imbalanced growth, injustices and discrimination. She termed the movement for separate state a struggle to keep alive the region's culture and its own identity.If it is not a fight for self-esteem, 600 people would not have laid down their lives and citizens from all walks of life would not have come on to the streets," she said.
==================================================