NTR not just name, but soul of telugu pride, says Naidu
Kadapa: 'NTR is not just three letters; he is the soul of Telugu self-respect and a sweet memory forever etched in the hearts of the poor,' stated TDP National President and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, addressing a massive gathering on second day of Mahanadu on Wednesday.
Paying floral tributes to NTR's statue on his 102nd birth anniversary, the Chief Minister described NTR as a transformational leader, who redefined power as service and society as sacred.
'NTR declared that rulers are not masters but servants. He transformed governance with the powerful ideal that 'society is the temple, and the people are gods',' the CM said. He called NTR Jayanthi a festival for all Telugu people and pledged to realise his dream of a poverty-free society. 'Only the Telugu Desam Party, inspired by NTR's ideals, can achieve this vision,' he asserted.
Describing NTR's journey from a humble government employee to a towering figure in both cinema and politics, CM Chandrababu said, 'No other individual has ruled two domains with such supremacy. NTR was not just a movie star or political leader—he was a historic phenomenon.'
Despite hardships, NTR built his life on self-discipline, integrity, and perseverance. His life was a source of inspiration and continues to instil confidence in generations of Telugu people.
'NTR meant assurance to the poor, friendship to farmers, courage to the distressed, and support to women and workers,' the CM said.
He entered politics not for power, but to repay the people who made him a star. At 60, he launched a political revolution that altered the landscape of Indian democracy forever.
He replaced dynastic politics and corruption with a clean, welfare-oriented alternative and famously said: 'Power is responsibility, not privilege.'
Naidu highlighted the enduring legacy of the yellow party flag introduced by NTR: 'It symbolises welfare, self-respect, and future aspirations of the Telugu people.'
From Rs 2/kg rice, Janata clothes, and free housing to pensions, affordable power for farmers, mid-day meals, property rights for women, and irrigation projects—NTR brought revolutionary reforms that remain benchmarks today.
He also introduced landmark reforms like abolishing the Patel–Patwari system, launching the Single Window policy, and introducing reservations for BCs and women in local bodies.
As TDP completes 43 years since its founding on March 29, 1982, the CM affirmed the party's renewed commitment to NTR's ideals. 'With the 2024 people's mandate, we are moving from destruction to development.'
Chandrababu concluded his speech with a powerful pledge: 'Our movement to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality will be our true tribute to NTR.
The Six Guarantees and My Telugu Family initiatives will be game changers. With NTR's blessings, by 2047, Telugu people will shine on the world stage.'
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India Today
13 minutes ago
- India Today
Not just water, money too flowed from India to Pakistan as part of Indus treaty
"I have stuck my neck out to secure funds from various friendly governments," an impatient and anxious World Bank president, Eugene Black, told Indian and Pakistani negotiators in April 1959. He needed to break the impasse over the agreement over the Indus waters. Time was running out, and an agreement could not be reached for the potential Indus Waters Treaty even after eight long years of impasse ended only after India and other donor countries agreed to pay $1 billion ($10 billion today, factoring in inflation). Of this, India paid $174 million ($1.6 billion today) to paved the way for the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. Under the agreement, Pakistan was granted exclusive rights over the western rivers, the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum, while India retained unrestricted use of the eastern rivers, the Ravi, Beas, and billions of gallons of water continued flowing into Pakistan, millions of dollars also flowed from India to Pakistan for the next 10 years, as compensation for India's exclusive access to the eastern almost six decades later, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is again in the spotlight. Following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, India announced the suspension of the IWT. Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists killed 26 civilians, mostly Delhi said Pakistan's actions violated the treaty's foundational principles of goodwill and friendship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed this stance, saying, "blood and water cannot flow together", as the treaty was kept in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ceased support for terrorism. This marked the first time since its signing in 1960 that India paused the urged India to reconsider the suspension of the pact, citing its critical role in supporting 80% of its agricultural water needs. Despite a ceasefire agreement on May 10 after a mini-war, India has kept the IWT in abeyance, with reports indicating that it will be fast-tracking projects on the western rivers to tap the suspension of the IWT came after India's patience was tested regularly by Pakistan and its gave Pakistan both water and money, but Pakistan returned the favour with this backdrop, it's worth revisiting the treaty's circumstances, how negotiations took shape, the rationale behind India's payment to Pakistan, how the payout of $174 million was arrived at through intense bargaining, and how Pakistan ultimately let India's then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, down even after the IWT was signed. The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 by the Government of India, led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (L), and Pakistan's President Ayub Khan. (Image: World Bank) WHY WAS INDUS WATERS TREATY NEEDED?The Partition of India in 1947 split the Indus River System, which had long irrigated vast farmlands, between India (the upper riparian) and Pakistan (the lower riparian). By 1948, India's use of the river waters triggered a panic in the newly-formed Islamic Republic. An interim agreement was signed, but Pakistan said it remained 1956, as PM Nehru prepared to dedicate the Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej River to the nation, tensions with Pakistan escalated sharply. The risk of a war loomed."Take up Arms" and "A Black Day" were the headlines in Lahore's Urdu newspapers, noted Niranjan Das Gulhati, the chief Indian negotiator and technical advisor during the formulation of the World Bank stepped in to mediate a long-term challenge was immense: to divide a single, integrated water system between two hostile neighbours. The solution took shape in the form of the IWT, in what would become one of the most complex international water-sharing agreements. The Indus River originates in Tibet near Lake Mansarovar, flows northwest into Ladakh, then enters Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, then traverses the length of Pakistan from north to south, and drains into the Arabian Sea near Karachi. (India Today File) advertisementFORMAL PROPOSAL AND THE FIRST DEADLOCK OF INDUS WATERS TREATYNegotiations formally began in May 1952, facilitated by the World Bank. The process moved in 1952 to 1954, a working party of engineers from both countries, along with World Bank officials, developed technical proposals. In 1954, the Bank presented its formal proposal, suggesting a division: India would get exclusive use of the Eastern rivers, and Pakistan the Western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab).Pakistan accepted the principle but insisted on a massive replacement plan to offset the loss of Eastern river said it would not fund this entire plan, leading to a deadlock, noted Niranjan Das Gulhati in his 1973 book, Indus Waters Treaty: An Exercise in International 1955 and 1958, negotiations stalled India and Pakistan remained wasn't until 1959 that a breakthrough seemed year, officials of the World Bank (then called the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), including its President Eugene Black and Vice President WAB Iliff, undertook intensive shuttle diplomacy between New Delhi, Karachi (Pakistan's capital until 1959), Washington DC and London. The Indus Waters Treaty negotiations spanned eight arduous years, from 1952 to 1960, involving intense mediation by the World Bank. WAB Iliff (R), as Vice-President of the World Bank, played a crucial role in mediating the treaty, and ultimately signed the agreement on behalf of his organisation. (Images: World Bank) INDIA RESISTED SHARING PAKISTAN'S FINANCIAL BURDENPakistan's demand for aid was rooted in the fact that it had lost access to the canals and their networks fed by the Eastern rivers, some of whose headworks were then laid in India. To survive agriculturally, it needed to build new infrastructure to tap the Western rivers: link canals, dams, and barrages. The estimated cost exceeded $1 World Bank began seeking contributions from major powers. The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany pledged funds. But the treaty couldn't move forward unless India, gaining exclusive rights over the Eastern rivers, also agreed to initially the World Bank argued that India was benefiting by securing exclusive rights and therefore should bear part of the replacement cost. The Bank also made it clear that without India's contribution, the treaty would collapse. Camels on a dry riverbed of the Indus River in central Sindh. Pakistan depends on the Indus Basin for nearly 80% of its agricultural water needs, making it the lifeline of the country's farming and food security. (Image: Reuters) WHY PAKISTAN WANTED MONEY AFTER INDUS WATERS TREATY?In May 1959, Iliff told Gulhati, India's chief negotiator, that Eugene Black had put his credibility on the line, saying, "A stage has been reached. If the negotiations are to break down, I should know immediately; otherwise my reputation with these governments would be at stake".The World Bank secured commitments from friendly nations based on India's assumed participation. If India refused to pay, the deal would fall apart."Before I left Washington in the third week of April, Iliff told me that, in New Delhi, Black would propose to the Prime Minister [Nehru] that India should pay $250 million as her contribution towards the cost of works to be built in Pakistan. I said that this was much too high a figure," Niranjan Das Gulhati wrote."However, the horse-trading in New Delhi was to be limited to the range of $158 million, which sum we considered fair, and $250 million, which Iliff regarded as a fair deal. Pakistan was hardly concerned as the Bank was undertaking to underwrite the entire cost of her works from assistance by friendly countries," he closed doors, Iliff and Indian officials, including then Finance Secretary, BK Nehru, debated the numbers. After much back and forth, they settled on $174.8 million (62.06 million pound).India would pay 10 equal annual instalments into the Indus Basin Development Fund, managed by the World Bank, until 1970. The fund financed Pakistan's massive infrastructure projects like the Mangla Dam and various link contribution was earmarked specifically for Pakistan's "replacement works" under the Indus Basin Development Contributions to Indus Basin Development Fund (1960)ContributorFinal Contribution (Approx.)United States$315 millionWorld Bank (IDA & Loan)$250 millionUnited Kingdom$90 millionCanada$70 millionAustralia$20 millionGermany (West Germany)$12 millionNew Zealand$6 millionIndia83 crore (approx $62 million)Pakistan (self-financed)$100 million (approx)Total Estimated CostOver $1 billionPAKISTAN REMAINS HOSTILITIE DESPITE INDUS WATERS TREATYWith the finances sorted, the treaty was finally signed on September 19, Nehru and Pakistan's President General Ayub Khan formalised the agreement in Karachi. World Bank Vice-President WAB Iliff signed it on behalf of his idealist in Nehru hoped that this IWT would usher in a new chapter in India-Pakistan relations. He believed that resolving this vital issue could pave the way for cooperation on other issues, including just months later, Gulhati, in his book, recalled Nehru telling him: "I had hoped that this agreement would open the way to settlement of other problems, but we are where we were".Four years after signing the IWT, in 1964, Pakistan's replacement works exceeded initial estimates. A supplementary agreement was signed to raise additional funds from donor countries. India did not pay again, as its financial obligation had already been fulfilled under the terms of the original treaty in the massive diplomatic and financial effort India put into the IWT, Pakistan continued to challenge and bleed India on several fronts. The Pahalgam attack was the latest of Pakistan's five years after the IWT was signed, Pakistan dragged India into a war after it infiltrated Kashmir and parts of spirit of goodwill that Nehru hoped the treaty would foster quickly retrospect, while the Indus Waters Treaty is still hailed globally as a successful case of water diplomacy, it came at a high cost for India, not just in terms of water allocation, but also in hard just with money, India paid with goodwill and trust too, only for Pakistan to repeatedly betray it. This very pattern of Pakistan's behaviour is what the Narendra Modi-led government, by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, has now attempted to InMust Watch
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First Post
20 minutes ago
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Sharif punches holes in Pakistan's 'victory' claim, Munir worries about water
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Business Standard
24 minutes ago
- Business Standard
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