The Team features business, professional and community leaders
Venkat Raman
Auckland, August 16, 2020
The New Zealand Chapter of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), elected Aucklander Jagan Mohan Reddy Vodnala as its President at a meeting held last week.
The Party was established by Telangana Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) 2001 to make Telangana a separate State. It took 13 years of discussions, debates and demonstrations to achieve the objective.
Mr Vodnala succeeds Vijayabhaskar Reddy Kosna, who held the post since the Samithi was launched in this country in 2016.
TRS Non-Resident Indians (NRI) Wing Coordinator Mahesh Bigala said that the appointment followed discussions held with former Member of Parliament and Founder-President of Telangana Jagruthi Kalvakuntla Kavitha in Hyderabad.
The New Team
Among the other new office-bearers are Narsinga Rao Enaganti (Chairman), Rama Rao Rachakonda, Abhilash Rao Yachamaneni, Kiran Kumar (Vice-Presidents), Arun Prakash Reddy (General Secretary), Varun Rao Mechineni (Treasurer), Sunita Vijay (Women’ Affairs Chairperson), Indra Sirigiri (Business Affairs Chairperson), Sujith Singh (Immigration Advisor), Srihari Rao Banda (Youth-in-Charge), Mohan Reddy Beerapu (North Island In-Charge), Srinivas Panuganti (South Island In-Charge), Rajeshwari Kondagari (Events In-Charge) and Ash Vodnala (Sports In-Charge).
Mr Vodnala said that he was honoured to lead TRS in New Zealand.
“I deem it a privilege to serve the people of Telangana and the members and supporters of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. The New Zealand Chapter will not only work to promote the interests of our community but also try and address issues of concern to them. We have a strong team to connect to the governments of Telangana and New Zealand and assist in matters relating to business, immigration, women, youth, sports and events,” he said.
Progressive State
The State of Telangana was formed on June 2, 2014 after 60 years of struggle and it now stands among the leading States in India in economic growth and social development.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi played a lead role in the formation of the State.
Located at the Centre-South stretch of the Indian Peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau, Telangana is the 11th largest and the twelfth most populated State in India with a geographical area of 112,077 kms. As per 2011 census, the population of the State was 350 million.
According to available figures, Telangana’s Gross Domestic Product during the past financial year (2019-2020) is expected to have reached US$ 140 billion, the eighth largest in India. The State economy is expected to grow at 7.2% with per capita income of US$ 2700.
Services dominate
The Services Sector continues to the largest in the State economy, accounting for 65%, followed by Agriculture (18%) and Industry 16%.
However, Agriculture has the largest labour force at 55.6%, while the Services Sector has only 26.6%, indicating the high level of technology being used. The State’s Industrial sector has only 17.8% of the total workforce.
Rice is the major food crop and staple food of Telangana. Other important crops include tobacco, mango, cotton and sugarcane.
Telangana is blessed with good water resources with the Godavari and Krishna Rivers flowing through, along with smaller Rivers such as Tungabhadra, Bima, Dindi, Kinnerasani, Manjeera, Manair, Penganga, Pranahitha, Peddavagu and Taliperu.
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, built across the Krishan River is the biggest in the world.
‘Promise’ fulfilled
Telangana was ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It joined the Union of India in 1948 after an Indian military invasion.
The ‘Promise’ of a separate State for the people of the Telangana goes back to August 15, 1947 when India became independent. The ‘Promise’ was not fulfilled even in 1957 when the ‘Linguistic Reorganisation of States’ was implemented.
Since then, the people of Telangana have been demanding delivery of that ‘Promise’ peacefully. It became a reality in February 2014, one of the major acts of the outgoing government of Dr Manmohan Singh. Telangana is an independent State today with Hyderabad as the Capital.
Andhra Pradesh (AP) continues as an independent State sharing Hyderabad as the de jure Capital, while Amaravathi is its de facto capital.
The promulgation of a Statute declaring Telangana as an independent State provided for such sharing for ten years. ‘Telangana Formation Day’ is therefore a very important and emotional event for the people of Telangana.
Tributes by Jacinda Ardern
Last year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern paid tributes to the people of Telangana, while participating in the ‘Maha Bathukamma Festival’ organised by the Telangana Association of New Zealand on October 12, 2018 in Auckland.
She said that hard work and penchant for progress of Telanganites were inspiring.
“I have heard a lot about the people of this great State in India and I have witnessed their unity and loyalty. I remember (the then) TANZ President Kalyan Rao Kasuganti waiting at the steps of Parliament Buildings to greet me as I drove to the Beehive from the Residence of Governor General after being sworn in as the Prime Minister about a year ago (October 26, 2017),” she said.
