Key news developments from Telangana

1. Red alert has been sounded by the Met department for Hyderabad which forecast heavy to very heavy rains today. The bulletin cautioned about massive water pooling on roads and low lying areas, traffic congestion, wet and slippery roads. State Government has already declared two days holidays for all educational institutions and directed the IT companies to follow three phase log out for the next two days in view of traffic congestion.
2. Rain over the past week has wrecked roads in many parts of the city.
3. Godavari was flowing well below the first warning level in the temple town of Bhadrachalam today as the flood situation eased to some extent. Inflows into Sriramsagar and other major irrigation projects on Godavari also came down.
4. A follow up story on after the High Court declared the election of Kothagudem MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao void.
5. Government decides to reimburse the entire fee of Backward Classes students admitted in top national institutions. This facility was earlier extended to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students.
6. Telangana BJP sets up a poll war room to prepare for elections with senior national leader Jaffer Islam as the head. Nizamabad MP, Arvind Dharmapuri is made the social media incharge while 22 other committees have also been constituted.
7. NGOs have called for more transparency in the ₹1 lakh financial assistance for minorities, as announced recently by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao. While the income ceiling is ₹1.5 lakh (rural) and ₹2 lakh (urban) per applicant, there is a need to revise this. They are also calling for more information on budgetary allocation and the number of beneficiaries this will reach.
8. Spotlight: Transplant of organs harvested from a brain dead baby shows how Hyderabad has emerged as a pioneer in transplanting organs from cadavers.
9. Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) is focussing on encouraging defections from Congress to counter the opposition party’s strategy. Bhongir District Congress Committee president Anil Kumar Reddy joining the Congress is a part of such exercise.
10. Telangana Government introduces practicals in English subject for Intermediate students from this year to help them gain skills in the language.