HYDERABAD, TUESDAY OCTOBER 6, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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Two CRPF soldiers were killed and three others injured in a terroristattack on the outskirts of Srinagar this afternoon. The terrorists

opened fire at the security forces when the personnel were on duty on ahighway, police said, adding that they seemed to have come from a"marshy area" nearby. It's not yet clearif the terrorists have escaped. A searchoperation is going on, and the area hasbeen cordoned off. This is the fourthattack on the security forces in thesame area, which is usually heavilyguarded, in the last few weeks.

2 CRPF SOLDIERS KILLED IN TERRORATTACK ON OUTSKIRTS OF SRINAGAR

CENTRE'S INTEREST WAIVER PLANFAILS TO DEAL WITH ‘MANY ISSUES’: SC

Netflix has partially released its much-awaited series on four Indiantycoons facing fraud allegations after a state court lifted an injunction

over the weekend, a lawyer representing Netflix said on Monday. The "BadBoy Billionaires: India" documentary series about liquor tycoon VijayMallya, Subrata Roy of the Sahara group, IT executive Ramalinga Raju andjeweller Nirav Modi was set for release last month. Netflix,the world's largest streaming service, suspended theshow's release after an order from the Araria district courtin Bihar where the Sahara group argued it would damageRoy's reputation. Late on Saturday, the court lifted theinjunction, said Amit Shrivastava, a lawyer for Netflix.

Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice together with Briton MichaelHoughton won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for the

discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, the Nobel jury said. The three werehonoured for their"decisive contribution tothe fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a majorglobal health problem thatcauses cirrhosis and livercancer in people aroundthe world," the jury said.

The Supreme Court today said the centre's affidavit on waiving "intereston interest" on loans up to ? 2 crore, frozen during a six-monthmoratorium granted because of the coronavirus crisis, was notsatisfactory and asked for a do-over in a week. The affidavit "fails to dealwith several issues raised by petitioners", the court said. The centralgovernment has been asked to consider theconcerns of the real estate and powerproducers in fresh affidavits. The SupremeCourt also noted that "no consequential ordersor circulars" were issued by the governmentor RBI on enforcing the centre's decisions.

NETFLIX RELEASES 3 EPISODES OF ‘BADBOY BILLIONAIRES’ AMID LEGAL TUSSLE

8

ComMin startsprobe to reviewanti-dumpingduty

5

Modi ‘finishing'farmers, labourerswith new farmslaws: Rahul Gandhi

2

Hathras:Opposition lives inglass houses,shouldn’t caststones

3 WIN JOINT NOBEL FOR MEDICINEFOR DISCOVERY OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated October 4, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Ashwin (Adhik) & Krishna Paksha

Panchangam

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Nakshatram: Bharini: 02:56 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 07:38 am – 09:07 am

Yamagandam: 10:35 am – 12:04 pm

Varjyam: 04:25 am – 06:13 am

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Good Time: (to start any important work)

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FFoorreeccaasstt:: Mostly cloudyTemp: 32/22Humidity: 62%Sunrise: 06.07 amSunset: 06.01 pm

{

20 newborns found to beCovid positive at GandhiDocs suspect aerosol transmission for infectionsNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Of the 600 babies born atGandhi Hospital since March,as many as 20 newborns test-ed positive for Covid19 imme-diately after birth.

Hospital authorities do nothave conclusive evidencewhether the infection spread tothe neonates directly from themother or through aerosols.

Transmission of the virus toneonates is thought to occurprimarily through respiratorydroplets during the postnatalperiod when the newbornswere exposed to their mothers.

A Gandhi Hospital doctorsaid: "We are very certain thatthe babies were not infected byhospital staff as they are alwayscareful and wear PPE gear andmasks. Even the possibility ofintrauterine, intrapartum, orperipartum transmission is rareand unclear. The only possible

reason is the aerosolgeneration happening dur-ing the delivery. When themother is delivering the baby,she will be under stress, due towhich aerosol generation willbe high. The virus may bespreading to the child throughthese aerosols because the envi-ronment is contaminated by theCovid-19 positive mother."

Research suggests that onlyabout 2 percent to 5 percent ofinfants born to Covid-19 pos-itive women near the time ofdelivery are infected in the days

after birth.Since March, nearly 600

patients have given birth and asmany as 800 pregnant Covid-19 patients have been treated atGandhi Hospital. Of this, near-ly 300 deliveries were throughC-Section.

The hospital authorities saidthat "The C-Section is per-formed based on the patient'shealth condition. If the moth-er has mild and moderatesymptoms, pregnancy is a riskfor her and it is important todeliver the baby quickly."

2 Telugus find joy in JEE AdvancedNAMRATA SRIVASTAVAn HYDERABAD

Gangula Bhuvan Reddy fromKadapa has bagged the secondrank while Hardik Rajpal fromHyderabad bagged the sixthrank in the Joint EntranceExamination (Advanced), theresults of which were declaredby the Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT)-Delhi onMonday.

Chirag Falor of IIT-Bombayzone was declared the topranker in Common Rank List(CRL), scoring 352 out of 396marks. Bhuvan Reddy scored345 out of 396 marks whileKanishka Mittal of IIT,Roorkee zone, the top-rankedwoman with CRL 17, obtained315 marks.

This year, a total of 1,60,838candidates had registered for

the exam of which 1,50,838appeared and 43,204 weredeemed to have qualified. Ofthis, an overwhelming major-

ity (1,25,715) of those who reg-istered were male and 35,121were female. While 1,17,987males took the exam, only

36,497 qualified while 6,707 ofthe 32,851 women whoappeared qualified.

1 mn CCTV camerasto keep vigil over Hyd

IT Minister KT Rama Rao addresses the review meeting on the security situationin Hyderabad on Monday.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Despite Hyderabad being acity with the most number ofCCTV cameras, the govern-ment is gearing up to addanother million cameras in thecity. The TRS government isaspiring to make Hyderabadthe safest city by million cam-eras. The city currently has 5.8lakh CCTV cameras.

Minister KT Rama Rao onMonday informed police offi-cials that more cameras need

to be installed and pro-grammes to be organised toset up a total of ten lakh cam-eras in Hyderabad.

KTR, along with HomeMinister Minister Mohd.Mahmood Ali, reviewed theprogress of installation ofCCTV cameras in Hyderabadon Monday. Accordingly, morecameras are likely to come upin the outskirts of the city andits municipalities and corpo-rations.

PNS n HYDERABAD

With a series of festivals on thehorizon, the Telangana Stategovernment is taking nochances with the arrangementsfor Bathukamma, Dasara andDiwali.

At all cost, the TS adminis-tration does not want a spurtof Covid cases after the festiv-ities end, something that hasundone all the good work thatKerala had done in the first fewmonths of the pandemic.

Presently, Telangana hasmanaged to keep the numberof infections down, and is per-forming much better than

expected, considering the sizeof its population. Likewise,Kerala had managed to keep

the spread under control forlong, but it appears that every-one - from the administration

to the citizens - relaxed. Therewas laxity in Kerala duringOnam (August- September)and this resulted in a surge ofcases in September.

TS Health Minister EatalaRajender said, "Bathukammaand Dasara are major festivalsin the state with a large num-ber of women participating.People have to strictly followthe Covid protocols issued bythe government during thesetwo festivals. Covid-19 cases inKerala shot up immediatelyafter the Onam festival asthousands of people gatheredand forgot precautions."

State learns lessons from Kerala ‘lapse’Telangana on alert for Bathukamma, Dasara; keen to avoid Onam like disaster

PNS n HYDERABAD

An increasing number ofCovid-19 patients are report-ing retinal complications lead-ing to blurring of vision.

Doctors believe thatCoronavirus is possiblyobstructing blood supply to theretina, leading to a complica-tion called Retinopathy. Whenthe retina of the eye gets dam-aged, it results in vision impair-ment.

According to Dr RajaNarayanan, Senior RetinaConsultant - LV Prasad EyeInstitute, "Retinopathy due toCovid-19 or steroids treat-ment usually occurs within 2-

4 weeks after theinfection isresolved. Sopatients whohave recov-ered from Covidand had been treatedwith steroids should watchout for such symptoms forthe initial weeks or till thetime they are on steroidsfor lung complications.The most common symp-tom is blurring of vision notnecessarily accompanied byredness or pain."

The doctor said that theywere seeing patients withretinopathy, either due toblockage of the retinal blood

vessel or swellingof the retina.

But, the riskto develop

this condi-tion is very low

- about 0.1 percent.

Also, critically ill Covid-19 patients who are beinggiven steroids to mitigatelung and other complica-tions can be at the risk of

developing steroid-relatedocular complications.

Dr Sunita Chaurasia, asenior cornea consultant, said,"The steroids that are admin-istered to treat elderly Covidpatients can lead to a relative

immune-deficient stage andhence there is also a risk ofdeveloping certain viral condi-tions such as herpes zosterophthalmicus. This is a condi-tion that presents with skineruptions and excoriationsinvolving the eyelid and thesurrounding area, along withsecondary conjunctivitis-likesymptoms such as redness anddischarge. The condition canbe associated with pain/ tin-gling sensation in and aroundthe eyes."

Doctors advise good eyehealth practices, being vigilant,and consulting doctors imme-diately if one experiences anycomplications with vision.

Covid cure leading to blurry visionCases against Jagan to bedisposed of in 9 monthsPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court hasdecided to take up hearing onpending cases against sit-ting and former MPsand MLAs everySaturday.

It has also decidedto constitute twomore special courts atKarimnagar andMahbubnagar to deal withpending cases against the leg-islators.

There are 118 cases pendingbefore one Special Court atHyderabad and 25 cases before

the CBI court and other spe-cial courts for offences underthe Prevention of CorruptionAct. A total of 17 cases, includ-

ing Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy'sdisproportionate assetscase, pending beforethe Principal CBIcourt at Hyderabad,

are proposed to be dis-posed of within nine

months. Out of 118 cases,non-bailable warrants are to beexecuted in 10 cases and sum-mons are yet to be served onthe accused in 48 cases.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The State ElectionCommission on Mondayaccepted the recommendationof eight of the 11 political out-fits to conduct elections to theGHMC through ballot papersystem in view of theCoronavirus cases.

The SEC said that the deci-sion was announced only aftereliciting the opinion of allpolitical outfits.

Among the major con-stituents, only the BJPexpressed the view that theelections be conducted

through Electronic VotingMachines, while eight politicalparties favoured casting ofpaper ballots.

The SEC is understood tohave inclined towards a ballot

paper system since enoughnumber of VVPATs are notavailable. The M-2 EVMS donot support the state-of-the-artVVPATs. Therefore, the SEChas no alternative except buy-ing M-3 EVMs. It would puta burden of Rs 50 crore on thepoll panel, according to thosein the know.

Moreover, the ECIL is notprepared to fulfil the ordereven if the SEC were to placean order with it for supply ofM-3 EVMs, an official of theSEC on the condition ofanonymity said.

GHMC polls on ballot paper

PNS n HYDERABAD

The ruling YSR CongressParty in Andhra Pradesh isopen to a dialogue on join-ing the NDA at the Centre ifthe Special Category Status tothe state is accorded and allpromises made in theAndhra PradeshReorganisation Act are ful-filled, senior YSRCP leaderand Chief Whip in theAssembly G Srikanth Reddysaid on Monday.

His comments came on aday when Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy left forNew Delhi to participate inthe Apex Council meeting onwater issues on Tuesday andis also scheduled to meetPrime Minister NarendraModi.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Jawaharlal NehruTechnological University willannounce the results of TSEAMCET-2020, EngineeringStream on Tuesday. Ahead of the results, theJNTU released the admissionschedule. It was decided thatthe admission process forEAMCET will commence onOctober 9.

YSRCP ‘open’to talks onjoining NDA

TS EAMCET results today

MEET THE STARS FROM KADAPA, HYDERABADGANGULA BHUVAN REDDY, KADAPA, AP (RANK: 2ND)

“Iam so happy with myperformance. I studied very

hard to achieve this. My parentsand younger brother have beenecstatic since the results weredeclared. In fact, they got me myfavourite cake as well to celebrate.”While it’s time for celebrations atthe Gangula resident, Bhuvan Reddy hasn’t lost sight ofhis long term goal: “I have always loved mathematics andnow want to do Computer Science Engineering from IIT-Bombay. I can't wait for the classes to start.”

HARDIK RAJPAL, HYDERABAD, TS (RANK: 6TH)

“Ididn’t expect such agood rank. However, I

was very confident when Iwrote my paper. I used tostudy for hours and I feelmy hard work has paid off.My parents are happierthan I am.” He said that hewas always fascinated with computers. “Hence, Iwant to do Computer Science Engineering fromIIT-Bombay. I am inclined towards learning aboutArtificial Intelligence (AI).”

TS Health Minister Eatala Rajender launches the de-worming drive for kids bygiving an Albendazole tablet to a child in Hyderabad on Monday.

BORROWING TALE

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana state govern-ment on Monday insisted thatthe Centre must compensateStates for their revenue short-fall of Rs 2.35 lakh-crore in thecurrent financial year and notask States to borrow for thepurpose.

Participating in the Goodsand Services Tax (GST)Council meeting chaired byUnion Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman via videoconference on Monday, TSFinance Minister T HarishRao reiterated the State's standthat the Centre must borrowthe amount and distribute itamong the States, rather thanStates approaching financialinstitutions for loans.

It was during the last GSTmeeting on August 27 thatStates were given two optionson compensation.

Hospitalauthorities haveno conclusiveevidence on thespread directfrom the motheror throughaerosols.

TS sticks to its guns at GST Council meet

KCR to review lawand order on Oct 7 PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has con-vened a meeting with stateHome and Forest Ministersbesides senior officials onWednesday to discuss lawand order, womens safety, thedrug menace and otherissues. "The meeting isexpected to discuss at lengthon law and order situation inthe State, women safety, pro-tection of forests, controllingtimber smuggling, regulatingthe use of drugs like ganjaand other issues," an officialrelease said.

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SolipetaSujatha TRS candidatefor Dubbaka

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020

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PNS n NIZAMABAD

It seems like Coronavirus pan-demic is changing boozinghabits in districts. The recentsale trends in Nizamabad wineshops indicate as much, withbeer, once the most sellingalcoholic beverage, remainingon the shelves, while whiskeybottles are literally flying offthem.

The reason is quite strange,according to wine shop own-ers. Many tipplers, who earli-er went home with more thanone bottle of beer are nowavoiding it, especially chilledbeer, fearing that they mightcatch a cold if they drink thechilled beverage. With coldbeing counted among symp-toms of Covid-19, this has hitbeer sales hard, they say.

As a result, the sale of beerhas come down drasticallyduring the past two months inerstwhile Nizamabad district.

As the cost of beer alsoincreased enormously, the tip-pliers have totally avoided beerfrom their menu. However,they prefer to consume brandyand whiskey more. Because ofincessant rains, the atmos-phere is rather cool. Therefore,the alcoholics prefer whiskeyover beer.

According to statistics fur-nished by the ExciseDepartment, the sale of beerduring August and Septemberthis year was 20 per cent whencompared to the sale of beer

during the correspondingmonths last year. In September2019, 1.83-lakh beer cases weresold in undivided Nizamabaddistrict comparedto 1.40 lakhsold in September this year. InAugust 2019, over 1.76-lakhbeer cases were sold. The saledropped to 1.46-lakh casesduring August this year. Thedrop in beer sales was put at30,000 cases. Meanwhile, thesale of liquor has increased inthe district. In Septembermonths last year, over 1.12-lakh cases of liquor were sold.

However, in September thisyear, the sales increased to1.27-lakh cases.

Because of Coronavirus,people have stopped drinkingcold drinks. As a result, beerprices have increased. Largebeer which was priced Rs 120last year now sells at Rs 160 abottle. The money spent onbuying liquor fetches a quarterbottle of the branded liquorbottle. Therefore, the tipplersprefer to have a quarter bottleof liquor rather than havingtwo beers.

In spite of beer pricesincreased leading to alcoholicsstaying away from beer, therewas no drop in excise revenue.In 2019, the state governmentgot Rs 19.09 crore revenue inSeptemer as against Rs 23.43crore revenue earned by theexcise department during thecorresponding month this year.This is attributed to increase inprices of beers.

Undoubtedly, themurder of a womanbelonging to

Valmiki community inHathras caused deep sorrowto the people of the country.

When such incidents takeplace, everyone should con-demn such incidents and con-sole the victims.

However, atrocities onDalits are not limited to a par-ticular state. The argumenthere is that when such inci-dents took place earlier, whatthe various governments didto prevent recurrence.

In the Hathras rape-cum-murder case, four personswere arrested and cases werefiled against them under dra-conian laws.

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath con-stituted a SIT to unearth thefacts and also recommendeda CBI probe into the mostdespicable incident.

Not surprisingly, Congressand other Opposition partieshave been trying hard to sling

mud on the Yogi administra-tion in a bid to malign it.

These parties, which wererejected by the electorate inthe general elections, are try-ing to make the most of everyopportunity they get to deal ablow to the BJP.

Even before the investiga-tion into the Hathras incidentis completed, the Congressand other Opposition partiesare acting as judges and try-ing to use the incident to pro-ject BJP as anti-Dalit. They aretrying to change public opin-ion against the BJP. Rahul andPriyanka Gandhi, and othershave made a beeline to thehouse of the Hathras rape vic-tim and make her family issueanti-government statementsto create confusion among thepeople. The BJP top leadersare not willing to react to themurky politics being played bythe Congress. They are notprepared to allow theCongress to gain any mileageout of it. When the Congressleaders were out to play their

farce, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was busyinaugurating the Atal Tunnel,built at a height of over 10,000feet in the Peer Panjal range ofthe Himalayas.

In 2000, former PM AtalBehari Vajpayee promised tobuild the tunnel. But subse-quent governments did notregister much progress in theworks barring execution ofsome drilling works here andthere. But the Modi govern-ment, soon after coming topower, speeded up executionof the works and allocated Rs3,200 crore to ensure its com-pletion using the most mod-ern technology.

The Modi government alsocompleted the BogibeelBridge, whose works did notprogress in successive regimes.The bridge links ArunachalPradesh with other North-Eastern states.

Vajpayee also launchedMaha Setu works to link twomain areas in Mithilanchal inBihar during his regime. TheModi government also execut-ed this project on a war-foot-ing. When development ofDaulat Beg Oldi airstrip nearthe strategic Karakoram valleygot delayed by over 45 years,the Modi government com-pleted the project. Modi’sobjective is to ensure that

infrastructural developmentprojects, not only in the bor-der region, but wherever theyare taken up, should be com-pleted as early as possible. Heis of the view that the countrywould develop socially andeconomically because of theexecution of infrastructuraldevelopment projects.

During the pandemic,Modi extended to the peopleof the country efficient lead-ership and made the country

self-reliant in production ofmedical equip-ment. Hisobjective inmaking thecountry self-reliant was tomake it modern,stronger and safeand make it stand in thecomity of nations to makeevery Indian hold his headhigh. Even global nationsrealised this, but not theOpposition. Out of jealousy,the Opposition attacks thegovernment with maliciouscampaigns.

When Parliament passedthe agriculture laws to provideopportunities to the farmer tosell his produce freely in anymarket in the country, theOpposition unleashed a mali-cious campaign against thegovernment.

As farmers and people didnot believe their campaignagainst agriculture laws,Congress leaders have decid-ed to raise a hue and cry over

the Hathras incident. Their objective is notjustice to the old vic-tim, they want to useher death to suit theirpolitical goals. In fact, more atroci-

ties on Dalits take place inCongress-ruled states.

In Jalore, the local sarpanchand his goons disrobed a Dalityouth and beat him black andblue and got his head ton-sured. In Barmer, a 26-year-old Dalit youth died in policecustody. In Nagore, anotherDalit youth was disrobed forindulging in petty thieveryand petrol was poured in hisanus.

According to NCRB data,incidents of crime againstDalits in Rajasthan haveincreased by 47 per cent dur-ing 2018-19. These incidentswould not come to the noticeof either the Congress orsome media representativeswho play second fiddle to it.

Under whose watch didlynching of Dalits take place

at Bara, Batanipur Tola andLakshman Bathe in Bihar andKhairlanji in Maharashtra?In 2010, when BhupinderSingh Hooda was HaryanaCM, a Jat youth had beaten upDalit youth black and blue inMirchpur for hitting a dogwith a stone.

Even after the Dalit youthtendering apology, theirhomes were targeted and seton fire leading to the death oftwo.

The Delhi High Court, in itshistoric verdict, ruled that theJat youth attacked the Valmikicommunity youth only toteach them a lesson and found13 persons guilty.

Why did Rahul andPriyanka not go to Mirchpur?

If atrocities on Dalits are ayardstick, it can be easily seenthat the hands of the Congressand other Opposition are fullof blood.

Those who sing praises ofcaste Hindus and those witha slave mentality would not beable to understand this.

Y SATYA KUMAR

BJP National Secretary

TRULY

SPEAKING

Even before the investigation into theHathras incident is completed, the Congressand other Opposition parties are acting asjudges and trying to use the incident toproject BJP as anti-Dalit. They are trying tochange public opinion against the BJP

Hathras: Opposition lives in glass houses, shouldn’t cast stones

Tipplers ditch ‘chilled'beer for ‘warm' whiskey PNS n NEW DELHI

Net leasing of office space fell50 per cent across seven majorcities to 5.4 million sq ft in theJuly-September quarter as cor-porates and coworking playerscontinued to defer their expan-sion plans due to the Covid-19pandemic, according to prop-erty consultant JLL India.

The net absorption of officespace stood at 10.9 million sqft in the year-ago period acrossseven cities -- Delhi-NCR,Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai,Pune, Hyderabad andBengaluru. During theJanuary-September period of2020, the net office space leas-ing dropped by 47 per cent to17.3 million sq ft from 32.7million sq ft in the corre-sponding period of the previ-ous year.

"India's office market wit-nessed a net absorption of 5.4million sq ft in quarter endingSeptember 2020 (Q3), anincrease of 64 per cent versusquarter ending June 2020

(Q2)," JLL India said in astatement. During July-September 2020, Bengaluruwas at top with net leasing of2.72 million sq ft, followed byHyderabad at 1.54 million sqft. Leasing of office space inPune stood at 0.46 million sqft, Mumbai 0.28 million sq ft,Chennai 0.21 million sq ft,Delhi-NCR 0.2 million sq ftand Kolkata 0.02 million sq ftduring the July-September2020. JLL India did not providethe year-ago period data in thestatement. Except forBengaluru which witnessed amarginal increase in rents,office rents in Q3 2020 vs Q22020 remained stable across allmarkets under review, it added.

"Increased office space consol-idation and optimisationstrategies of corporate occu-piers resulted in subdued netabsorption levels, which couldnot keep pace with new com-pletions. This resulted in over-all vacancy increasing from13.1 per cent in Q2 2020 to13.5 per cent in Q3 2020," thestatement said.

In 2019 calendar year, thenet office space leasing stoodat record 47 million sq ft onrobust demand from large cor-porates and coworking players.However, the COVID-19 pan-demic has impacted the officedemand as corporates are cau-tious and deferring decisionson their expansion plans.

Office space leasing drops50% in Sep quarter: Report

In 2019, the netoffice space leasingstood at record 47million sq ft onrobust demand fromlarge corporates

Tipplers areavoiding beer,fearing thatthey mightcatch a cold ifthey drink thechilledbeverage

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao late onMonday announced SolipetaRamalinga Reddy's wifeSujatha's as TRS candidate forfor Dubbak by-election.

While announcing hername on Monday night, KCRsaid that Solipeta RamalingaReddy had played active rolein Telangana movement.“Ramalinga Reddy workedhard to attain spearate statewith commitment. RamalingaReddy strived hard for thedevelopment of Dubbak con-stituency till his last breath.Ramalinga Reddy's entire fam-ily strived hard for theTelangana movement and forthe development of con-stituency. Entire Ramalinga

Reddy's family has good rela-tionship with the people of theconstituency. RamalingaReddy's family members areright candidates to representthe constituency and for itsdevelopment,” the ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao said. “The party finalisedSujatha's name only after hav-ing deliberations with theleaders of Siddipet district,” theChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao stated.

Continued from Page 1

Eatala said that festivalscan always be celebrated later,but life is important. "If thegovernment's instructions arenot followed, problems willsurface in our state and thesemay be similar to that report-ed in Kerala," he said. Not justTelangana, even states likeWest Bengal and Karnatakaare trying to keep the festiv-ities simple and avoid a'Kerala-like' situation.

Kerala had relaxed the Covid-19 protocols during Onam festi-val and is paying for its mistakeas the state is reporting cases rang-ing 7,000 to 8,000 cases each day,of late.Kerala Health Minister KKShailaja, who won praise for con-trolling Covid situation in herstate, said that it is now "the mostvulnerable Covid-19 hotspot inIndia".

The Health Minister made itclear that Aarogyasri will beimplemented in the state byclearing the existing loopholes.The Minister said that they havediscussed the issues with corpo-rate hospitals with the authoritiesconcerned.

Continued from Page 1

Jagan 's meet ing withModi has led rising ofpolitical temperature in thestate as speculation is rifethat the YSRCP may joint h e B J P- l e d Nat i on a lD e m o c r at i c A l l i an c e(NDA), an assumptionvehemently rejected bySrikanth Reddy.

He said they were openfor a discussion on joiningthe NDA if the Centre ful-filled all promises made int h e A n d h r a Pr a d e s hReorganisation Act andaccords Special CategorySt atu s w h i c h we repromised by during thebifurcation of the state in2 0 1 4 t o c ar ve outTelangana.

"Our joining the NDA ispure speculation. We havesaid (earlier) without ful-filling the long standingdemands of Special Status,we cannot think about it(joining the NDA)," hesaid.

"We are more concernedabout the welfare of ourstate. If they consider allissues that are mentionedin the bifurcat ion (APReorganisation Act) actand announce special cat-egory status, then we willtry to discuss that. We willstart a dialogue," SrikanthReddy told PTI.

He, however, said therewas neither any invitationfrom the NDA nor anyproposal from YSRCP tojoin the alliance.

YSRCP open totalks on joining NDA

Continued from Page 1

In this regard, senioradvocate and amicus curi-ae Vijay Hansaria onMonday filed a reportabout the pending casesagainst public representa-tives from various states of

the countrybefore theS u p r e m eCourt in theA s h w a n i

K u m a rUpadhyaya vs

Union of India and otherscase.

The matter is expectedto come up for hearing onTuesday before the apexcourt.

Continued from Page 1

KTR also asked the officialsto look into the possibility ofsetting up CCTV cameras onthe newly-built flyovers, Metropillars, and also near parks,lakes and Basti Dawakhanas.

Responding to the sugges-tion, DGP Mahender Reddyinformed the Ministers thatinstallation of large numbers ofCCTVs in the city has helpedreduce certain types of crimeand has also proved helpful insolving crimes and nabbingcriminals.

KTR instructed MA&UDofficials to coordinate with thePolice department to ensure allcommercial complexes, gatedcommunities, malls, IT Parks,parks, shelter homes, govern-ment hospitals, bus terminals

and markets instal CCCameras mandatorily.

He instructed officials towork closely with various gov-ernment departments, publicsector undertakings, residentialwelfare associations to instalCCTV cameras whereverrequired.

The Minister reminded thatChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has giventhe highest priority to citizensafety and has initiated sever-al measures to beef up securi-ty in the state.

It may be mentioned herethat Hyderabad stands at 16thplace in the world in the num-ber of CCTV cameras, accord-ing to a report.

The Minister stated thatnew investments have beencoming to Hyderabad city,

resulting in the overall expan-sion of the city. KTR stated thatthe safety and security levelswill increase many fold in thecity with the CommandControl Centre coming intousage. The Ministers also dis-cussed prevention of cyber-crimes which have notablyincreased during the lock-down. They instructed theofficials to increase the numberof cyber experts to crack cyber-crimes.

Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan,MA&UD Principal SecretaryArvind Kumar, GHMCCommissioner Lokesh Kumar,Police Commissioners ofHyderabad, Cyberabad andRachakonda, and also officialsfrom the MunicipalAdministration and Policedepartments participated.

Continued from Page 1

The first option was pro-vision of a special window inconsultation with the ReserveBank of India to provide Rs97,000 crore at a nominalinterest rate, and the secondwas for the States to bear theentire gap in revenue short-fall of Rs 2.35 lakh-crore inconsultation with the apexbank.

Harish Rao, supported byother States, demanded thatthe meeting should first dealwith the GST compensationissue before taking up anyother item listed on the agen-da. He reiterated Telangana'sstand that States have thelegitimate right to get com-

pensated when there wasrevenue shortfall, particu-larly this time with theCovid-19 induced lockdownthat shut down all econom-ic activities across the coun-try.

"The government has col-lected cess for six months andthere are three instalmentspending to be paid to theState. This must be paidimmediately," Harish Raodemanded. He also demand-ed immediate release of theIntegrated Goods andServices Tax (IGST) dues tothe States, and pointed outthat Telangana was yet toreceive Rs 2,638 crore ofIGST share from the Centre.

KCR to reviewlaw and...Continued from Page 1

The meeting comesagainst the backdrop of statepolice efforts to check Maoistpresence in the state, partic-ularly in Bhadradri-Kothagudem, neighbouringChhattisgarh, and other dis-tricts. Three Maoists, includ-ing two women, were killedin an exchange of f irebetween the ultras and policein Bhadradri-Kothagudemdistrict on September 23.Separately, two Maoists werekilled in an exchange of firebetween the extremists andpolice in Kumram Bheem dis-trict in the state on September 19night. The Bhadradri-Kothagudem police recently saidextensive search operationswould be taken up in the wakeof detecting movement ofMaoists.

TS learnslessons from...

1 mn CCTV cameras to... TS sticks to itsdemand on ...

Cases againstJagan to bedisposed of in 9 months...

Solipeta Sujatha TRScandidate for Dubbak

Late RamalingaReddy's wifeSujatha is theright candidate torepresent fromDubbak, says KCR

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020 hyderabad 03

IN BRIEFIN BRIEF

Under the aegis of Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology (MeitY) and in line

with the Digital India movement,RLG India drives the Clean to Greencampaign to encourage safe andresponsible disposal of electronicwaste (e-waste). Through the

campaign, RLG India reinforces its commitment towards building asustainable and greener environment and preventing the poisoning ofour ecosystem due to the flow of e-waste into landfills.Radhika Kalia,MD, RLG India, who drives the Clean to Green campaign, said,“Under this programme, we acquire discarded and unwantedelectronic products and recycle them to protect the environment. Thee-waste can either be dropped by owners at our various collectioncentres, or, on request, collected by our team from homes.” Thevehicle is accompanied by a team of ‘Clean to Green Champions’.The champions created awareness among the various stakeholdersegments about responsible disposal of e-waste,

RLG launches Clean to Green e-waste collection campaign

T-Hub on Monday announcedthe launch of the fourth batchof its flagship programme,

Lab32. The startups will receivegoal-oriented consultation fromleading experts on product designand market expansion. T-Hub hasdesigned the programme suchthat the startups will not be required to be physically present andmake the best use of various benefits of Lab32 through activeinterventions. The batch of startups are from cities such asHyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Ravi Narayan, CEO of T-Hub andChief Innovation Officer of Telangana, said, “The fourth batch ofLab32 has around 50 per cent of the startups in the early and mid-growth, that have not just managed the challenges that the pandemicintroduced into their markets, but are ready to thrive. There are someexceptional minds behind each startup’s team who have the potentialto tap into the rapidly evolving opportunities in the digital economy inIndia.” Additionally, Lab32 will be offering the startups variousopportunities for collaboration and relationship building with relevantalumni startups and startups that are already part of the T-Hubcommunity.

Cybercrimes are more than it meets eyeDURGA PRASAD SUNKUn HYDERABAD

The cybercrimes which arerampant now-a-days are morethan what it meets the humaneye. Investigators opined thatthey were meticulouslyplanned and implemented.

Recent arrest of five OLXfraudsters by the Cyberabadcybercrime police threw a lighton their nefarious activitieswhich kept the wheels onrolling. The kingpins of thecyber criminals have to climba ladder to attain the leader-ship.

Each and every member ofthe gang is diligently trained ineach step before forming theirown gang. The story of thekingpin Rukhmin clearly sumsup the different stages of OLXfraud. Rukhmin used to workas a labourer before meetinghis school friend Asif, who wasalready involved in cyberfrauds. Under Asif 's tutelage,Rukhmin learnt several tricksincluding money withdrawal,arranging bank accounts,impersonating delivery boys

and such others. Later heformed his own gang with hisassociates Murfeed, SaikulKhan, Sharukh and RakhamKhan.In the training process, ifa cyber criminal who wasgiven the task of withdrawingmoney, under any circum-stances fails to withdraw themoney before it gets blocked bylaw enforcement authoritieshe/she have to refund themoney to fraudster whoemployed him. If the moneywas withdrawn, he gets 8 percent commission. This is first

and crucial step in the trainingprocess where it trains thebudding criminal to act swift-ly and prepare them for futurehurdles.

Sharing his experience dur-ing his mission to nab the OLXfraudsters, M Ravinder Reddy,Cyberabad cyber crime inspec-tor said, "We landed inMundiya village of Bharatpurdistrict during our preliminaryfield work and scenes at the vil-lage left us bewildered. The vil-lage has a population of near-ly 2,000 people and earning

capacity is around Rs 20,000.To the surprise, everyday theyformed a beeline in front ofATM and analysis of transac-tions revealed that around Rs20 lakhs per day have beenwithdrawn from the ATM."

To escape judicial prosecu-tion, they meticulouslyplanned the crimes by usingbank account and SIM cardsregistered under differentnames far away from theirstate. They brought the fakeaccounts for Rs 10,000 and SIMcards for Rs 3000. So that the

evidence couldn't be tracedback to them and go scot-free.

Another step is to approachthe target impersonating asdelivery boys and make the vic-tim believe that the product isbeing delivered and the deliv-ery boy is on the way. Once tar-get fall for the trap, the accusedcollects money from the victimthrough digital wallets for theitem sold. In case of him beingthe purchaser, he sends QRcodes of digital wallets and askthe victims to pay for it insteadof receiving the payment.

Each member of the ganghad different tasks to performand divide among themselves.Murfeed and Saikul postsadvertisements in OLX plat-form for sale or sometimesthey act as buyer and lures thecustomer.

Another accused Sharukhprocures accounts from theaccount holders by paying Rs10,000 each and give theaccount numbers along withATM cards to the main fraud-sters. Rakham Khan imperson-ates delivery boys and cheatsthe victim.

SBI observes joy of giving week,donates refurbished computers

'Joy of giving' week isobserved every year inIndia from October 2 to 8marking a period ofvarious philanthropicactivities carried out bycorporates, NGOs,government institutionsand others. This periodmarks an opportunity for

all individuals and corporates to reach out to the lesser privileged andhelp them by giving back to the society by way of time, money,resources or through any other means. As part of the celebrations,SBI Hyderabad Circle has arranged for series of donation activitiesthat will take place during the course of the week. The activitiesinclude donation of clothes, refurbished computers, stationery items,to old age homes and orphanage homes through identified NGOs. OPMishra, Chief General Manager, SBI Hyderabad circle on Mondayhanded over refurbished computers to identified NGOs such asSaraswathi Vidya Peetham, Vaidehi Seva Samithi, Heaven HomesSociety, Padmavathi Institute, Manchikalalu and Pamencap. The bankwould be distributing 100 refurbishing computers during the week.

App-based workers in citydemand security schemes PNS n HYDERABAD

The app-based drivers inTelangana have demanded thatthe Central Governmentimplements social securityschemes for platform workersproviding life and disabilitycover, accident insurance,health and maternity benefitsand old age protection withmandatory contributions fromplatform aggregators. Platformworkers should ask to be cov-ered under EPFO schemes.

In a letter sent to the at least60 MPs, they mentioned, "Allplatform work arrangementsshould be subjected to legaltests. In all instances where theexistence of an employmentrelationship is established,

employer liability obligationsmust be placed on platformaggregators. This includes mat-ernity benefits, employee prov-ident fund and other benefitsas required under law."

They further added, "Thedraft code on occupationalhealth, safety and workingconditions, 2020 should also be

extended to platform workers.A definition of workplace andworking hours for platformworkers should be providedand platform aggregatorsshould be held accountable forthe safety of platform workerswhile they are on the job,including in the case of harass-ment, accidents, and assault."

Child traffickingracket busted, 20minors rescuedPNS n HYDERABAD

Rift between a mediator andbusinessman who employedchild labour in his bangle bu-siness brought out the childlabour racket in Balapur.

Police officials rescued 20children and arrested fiveaccused. The main accusedThoufiq along with his broth-er Sarfaraj was running a ba-ngle business. Thoufiq emp-loyed 14 minors from Biharwith the help of Mano Devi.Thoufiq was not paying themoney to the families of kids.

The family members land-ed in city to enquire abouttheir children. When con-fronted Thoufiq, he startedthreatening the parents, whoapproached Police. BalapurPolice conducted raids andrescued 9 children. Thepolice conducted raids twomore premises at Errakuntaand rescued 9 children. Theofficials arrested Mujahid,22 and Imtiyaz, 30, who werealso into bangle business.

Traffic crawls at snail's pace due to ongoing road works at Punjagutta on Monday.— SSV CCHARY

BUMPER-TTO-BBUMPER

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

Around 1000 students fromvarious engineering colleges inthe city staged a protest in frontof Jawaharlal NehruTechnological University,Hyderabad on Monday. TheNational Students' Union ofIndia, State President,Balmoori Venkat led theprotest.

The students expressed agi-tation against the Universityfor planning to hold the finalexams for all the students of all

the years, despite the UGC ask-ing the authorities to onlyconduct exams for final yearstudents.

Venkat said, "The examshave become a spot of trans-mission of Coronavirus in the

state. When the UGC hadordered to conduct only finalyear exams, why is JNTU-Hasking others to give theexam?"

The protest was so severethat the police had to interveneto maintain peace.

"They hit us and draggedseveral of the students away. Apolice official even chokedme, my neck has been hurtingsince then. One student evensuffered from a head injury.Why is the government treat-ing students like this?" ques-tioned Venkat.

IPL betting racketbusted, 8 arrested PNS n HYDERABAD

The special operations team ofBalanagar busted a cricketbetting racket and arrestedeight members including themain organiser and punters onMonday. The officials seizedRs 22 lakhs cash and bankaccounts of the accused whichhad Rs 13 lakhs.

The accused were identifiedas Chandoor Shashank, 34-year-old bookie and Praveen ,Prasad Reddy, Shyam Rao,Pradeep, Pavan, Tarun Reddy,and Deepak Singh.

Meanwhile, the North ZoneTask Force team arrested anorganiser Mahesh PrasadTiwari and punters identifiedas P Mukesh Kumar and PVikram. The police haveseized around 50,000 fromthem.

The South Zone Task Forceteam on Monday busted acricket betting racket run formOsmania University policestation limits and caught threepersons. The police seized Rs30,000 cash, three mobilephones and other articles fromthem.

Students stage protest at JNTU

TS EAMCET...continued fro, page 1

In a meeting attended byTSCHE chairman T PapiReddy along with NavinMittal, IAS, Commissioner ofTechnical Education andConvenor, TSEAMCET-2020Admissions, B. Sreenivas,Camp Officer, TSEAMCET-2020 admissions and others,students were asked to filltheir basic information foronline counselling afterreceiving their results andselect the fee paymentoptions between October 9and 17. Verification of certifi-cates will take place betweenOctober 12 and 18.The stu-dents will be allotted provi-sional seats on October 22.

GHMC polls on...continued fro, page 1

As far as the spread ofCoronavirus is concerned,officials say that there will beno major difference whetherthe polls are held through thesystem of ballots or EVMs, aslong as ample precautions aretaken.

In EVMs, the voter has topress the button. While cast-ing the ballots, the voter has touse the same stamp to cast hisor her vote against the candi-date of their choice.

With the SEC making itsdecision clear, notification forthe GHMC polls is likely to bereleased in the first or secondweek of November, settingoff the process that, for manyof the outfits, is a matter ofimmense prestige.

Responding to a letteraddressed to the GHMC bythe SEC on the method ofpolling, the GHMC said thatit would have no objectionwhatever is the method ofpolling and expressed its readi-

ness to make all arrangementsto hold the polling.

There are over 7,000 pollingbooths in the GHMC limits.Earlier, there were over 1,400voters listed under eachpolling booth. Now, the SECwants to reduce the number to750-800 per polling booth.However, the number may goup to 1,000. At this rate, itwould require at least 11,500to 12,000 polling booths to beset up in the GHMC limits.

According to official esti-mates, depending on the num-ber of contestants each pollingbooth needs two or three bal-lot boxes. Taking into consid-eration the need to maintainthe buffer of over 20 percentballot boxes, at least 40,000-45,000 ballot boxes are need-ed to conduct the polls.

The state government islikely to use the 29,000 ballotboxes belonging to Telanganabut were given to the AP.Besides these, the SEC is like-ly to requisition more boxesfrom Karnataka.

T-Hub launches fourth batch of Lab32 flagship programme

Academic collaborations, multi-disciplinary and applied researchshould be linked to India-related

priorities, said Professor RajendraSrivastava, Dean, Indian School ofBusiness (ISB) while moderating thefirst panel session on themanagement vertical at the VaishwikBhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV)Summit 2020. This summit has beenconceptualised under the leadershipof Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a month-long global summit ofnon-resident Indians, domestic scientists and academicians.Srivastava while mentioning that there was a huge potential in globalacademic collaborations was realistic and outlined the variouschallenges including that of connecting resident managementscientists with the NRI/Diaspora community, the implications of theNew Education Policy (NEP), the need to focus on problems worthsolving, acceleration of quality and impact of research, developingnational soft power through academic collaborations and fosteringinter-disciplinary research like between medicine and technology.

‘Academic collaborations should focus on India-related priorities’

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020 hyderabad 04

‘Priority to enhance edu standards’PNS n HYDERABAD

Ministers KT Rama Rao andSabitha Indra Reddy, MallaReddy, Puvvada Ajay andMohammad Mahmood Aliheld a high level meeting withthe representatives of the pri-vate educational institutions atMCRHRD on Monday.Ministers stated that the gov-ernment has been receiving alot of suggestions from the par-ents during this crisis situation.The Ministers responded pos-itively and stated that all thesesuggestions will be taken intoconsideration by the govern-ment.

Ministers asked the heads ofthe educational institutions tostay considerate regarding thesalaries of teachers and lectur-ers of their respective institu-tions. The government will betaking steps to strengthen theeducational system in the rural

areas. Ministers stated that thegovernment is completelyagainst the corporatisation ofeducation.

They stated that the govern-ment is improving the facilitiesof institutions providing edu-cation from KG to PG and atthe same time, frequently hold-

ing meetings with the heads ofthe private educational institu-tions to provide quality andaffordable education to all.

They also stated that thegovernment will alwaysencourage and support thesmall and medium level educa-tional institutions set up in the

rural areas. KTR said that theIT Department will providecomplete support to the engi-neering, polytechnic studentsin placements. He added thatthe government throughTelangana Academy for Skilland Knowledge (TASK) willhelp the students train, upskilland make them industry ready.

Ministers responded posi-tively to the demands put forthby the representatives of theeducational institutions and atthe same time stated that thereis a need for these institutionsto come in support with thegovernment for creating bettereducational infrastructure inthe state.

During the meeting, repre-sentatives of the engineeringand pharma, vocational, B.Edand TTC colleges brought theirissues to the notice of the min-isters. Ministers assured that allthe issues will be discussed and

addressed in a strategic man-ner. KTR stated that theTelangana government hascleared the long pending reim-bursement fees amount forthe welfare of the students. Therepresentatives of the educa-tional institutions expressedhappiness over the meeting andstated that no governmentbefore had held such a meetingto discuss the issues pertainingto private education institu-tions.

MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy,Telangana State PlanningBoard Vice-Chairman B Vinod,Telangana State Council ofHigher Education Papi Reddy,Special Chief Secretary HigherEducation ChitraRamachandran, PrincipalSecretaries Jayesh Ranjan andArvind Kumar and secretariesand heads of various depart-ments participated in the meet-ing.

TRS Government lootingpeople, allege Cong leadersPNS n HYDERABAD

.Congress leaders BhattiVikramarka, T Jagga Reddy,Komatireddy Venkat Reddyand V Hanumantha Rao, onMonday, launched a scathingattack on the TRS govern-ment. The Congress leadersalleged that the TRS govern-ment is looting the people inthe name of LayoutRegularization Scheme (LRS).They asked the people not topay money for the LRS andassured them that they willabolish the LRS after comingto power. "The government isburdening the people only toclear the debts borrowed by it,"they alleged.

Speaking to the media atAssembly Media Hall, CLPleader Mallu BhattiVikramarka said that the gov-ernment is threatening people,who purchased plots by savingmoney with their hard work,by stating that it will not doregistration if they don't paythe LRS.

"Instead of regularising theplots, the government is loot-ing the people in the name ofLRS. The government shouldreveal as to why it is collectingfees again in the name of LRSas it had already collected thefee when people registered

their plots. The Congress willstorm to power in 2023," hesaid. Speaking to themedia at GandhiBhavan, BhongirM PKomatireddyVenkat Reddyalleged that theTRS govern-ment has broughta dark GO 'LRS'."KCR and MunicipalAdministration Minister KTRama Rao are giving publici-ty in newspapers asking thepeople to do LRS. The peopleare already in neck-deep indebts with Corona pandemic.I filed PIL in the High Court.The Court asked the govern-ment to file a counter affidavit.KCR and KTR planned to col-lect Rs 1 lakh crore only fromRangareddy district in thename of LRS. The TRS govern-ment is contemplating to col-lect Rs 3 lakh crore acrossTelangana. The Congress will

fight against LRS by standingby the side of the people. TheCongress will approach the

Supreme Court if need aris-es. No one has to apply forLRS and not to paymoney for regularization.The Congress will do LRSfreely after coming to

power", he said.On the other hand,

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao alleged thatthe Chief Minister has takenup assets survey only to bur-den the people.

The people would revoltwhen they approach the peo-ple. The TRS government istrying to increase its revenuethrough the LRS and assetssurvey, he said. The GOs 131and 135 are also to loot thepeople only, he alleged givinga call to the people to give abefitting lesson to TRS in theupcoming Dubbaka by-polls,GHMC and graduate MLCelections.

Dubbak by-poll: CherukuSrinivas to contest from Cong?PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress party’s contact withformer Minister late CherukuMuthyam Reddy’s sonCheruku Srinivas Reddycleared the way for ruling TRSas the pink party late onMonday night announcedSolipeta Sujata as its candidatefor the Dubbak by-election.

Earlier, the ruling TRS wasin dilemma to announce theparty candidate as there wasdemand for the ticket fromboth Cheruku family and lateSolipeta Ramalinga Reddy’sfamily. The Congress is incontact with Cheruku SrinivasReddy. On Monday, the partyheld discussions with him.According to sources, SrinivasReddy is getting ready to catchthe Congress party’s hand bycontesting from the GrandOld Party ticket in Dubbakaby-election.

Srinivas Reddy, who is in thepink party now, demandedTRS ticket to contest the

Dubbaka elections. Accordingto sources, the inclination ofparty leadership towardsSujatha had hurt CherukuSrinivas Reddy and he isinclined to join Congress party.

On the other hand, seniorCongress leaders came in con-tact with Srinivas Reddy andheld discussions with him.According to sources, Srinivas

Reddy's joining will be a for-mality if the Congressannounces his name as theparty candidate for Dubbakaby-election. TPCC Chief NUttam Kumar Reddy, whostated that the party willannounce its candidate forDubbaka election, said that theparty will announce the partycandidate on Tuesday keepingthis development in view, it islearnt. However, Uttam saidthat he didn’t have any infor-mation on Srinivas Reddy’sjoining the party. TheCongress almost finalised for-mer MLA T Narsa Reddy’sname as its candidate.

Following the developments,the BJP, which is adoptingwait and policy approach isalso trying to attract SrinivasReddy to induct him into theparty and hence it is notannouncing its candidate yetthough the party leaderRaghunandan Rao is rigorous-ly indulging in campaigningparty ticket to him.

HC: Provide

facilities in

Urdu schoolsPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Courtdirected the state govern-ment to inform it about thesteps taken in providing ade-quate facilities in Urdu medi-um schools and colleges toenable the students to pursuetheir studies through onlinemode. The court asked thegovernment as to why theonline classes were not beingconducted to these studentswhen the state has a largepopulation who are moreconversant with Urdu lan-guage. A division bench ofthe HC made these remarkswhile dealing with a PIL filedon the issue. The petition wasfiled by MD Abdul Sami, aresident of Red Hills in thecity. It later adjourned thePIL filed on the issue toOctober 12,2020 for furtherhearing.

Imbibe spirit ofadventure: GuvPNS n HYDERABAD

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Mondayexhorted the students to incul-cate the spirit of adventure andgood habits from early on soas to lead a healthy and suc-cessful life. She said that beinghonest, truthful, confident,courageous and adventurousneed to be part of the charac-ter development from child-hood.

The Governor was virtual-ly addressing the students onthe topic of "Grand Vision forYouth in India" organised bythe Silver Oaks InternationalSchools on their Student Self-Government Day, from theRaj Bhavan. Exhorting thestudents to enjoy the habit ofbook reading, Soundararajanreminisced that her fatherinculcated the book readinghabit in her by presentingSwami Vivekananda bookwhen she was in 4th standard.The Governor urged parents

and teachers to present booksto their children and encour-age them read non-academ-ic books too.

She had particularly sug-gested the book titled "ExamWarriors" written by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi asthe most useful to help themovercome the fear of exami-nations and to do well in theexaminations. She alsoemphasised on the need topractice Yoga and meditationto improve their concentra-tion and read the everydaylessons on the same day andlikened it as we take foodevery day to satiate our everyday hunger.

Hetero Drugs adopts2,543 acres of forest areaPNS n HYDERABAD

Government of Telanganaefforts in protection of Forestsand Harita Hararm pro-gramme under the leadershipof Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao andGreen India Challenge initiat-ed by Rajya Sabha MPJoginapally Santosh Kumarinspired Hereto Pharma toadopt 2,543 acres ofMambapur - Nallavelli Forestarea.

Hereto chairman Dr ParthaSaradhi Reddy after plantingsaplings and laying foundationstone at Urban Forest, handedover a cheque of Rs 5 crore tothe government in the pres-ence of Minister for ForestIndrakaran Reddy, RS MPSantosh Kumar, Forest officialsand public representatives.Mumbapur Urban Forest

Block is located nearGundlapochampalli inSangareddy district. TheUrban forestry is extended in3 comparments. Mumbapur(17,77acres), Nallavelli (766acres) is adopted by HeretoPharma.

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao recentlyvisited Narsapur Forest areaand ordered Forest officials totake proper care and protec-tion as it's located near OuterRing Road near IndustrialCorridors and Highways of

Narsapur-Medak Bhodhan.Hetero chairman Dr ParthaSaradhi Reddy appreciatedGovernment of Telanganaefforts and RS MP Santosh ini-tiation. He stated that theseefforts motivated him to comeforward for adoption. SantoshKumar appreciated HeteroPharma, a world leader inretro viral drugs and which haspresence in 126 counties forcoming forward with socialcommitment and environmen-tal concern to protect greeneryby adopting Urban Forest.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The State Police will imple-ment a three-pronged strate-gy to deal with Maoists, whohave made their presence feltin Telangana after nearly 12years. The strategy comprisesof strengthening the SpecialIntelligence Bureau whichplays pivotal role in reiningMaoist activities in the state,deployment of the AreaDomination Parties, compos-ing them of live wires pickingthem from recently graduatedpolice training academy, forcombing forests instead ofGrey Hounds sleuths andensuring early completion ofthe trial of leaders of people'sorganisations arrested butreleased on bail on charges oflending support to theMaoists.

The significance of the strat-egy is explained by DGPMahender Reddy paying spe-cial interest to it. Recently, hecamped for five days in erst-while Adilabad district. OnSunday, he participated in a

meeting with police officersheld at Venkatapuram policestation in Mulug district. Themeeting was attended by offi-cials of the Union HomeMinistry, CRPF, top brass ofthe Chhattisgarh PoliceDepartment.

As part of the strategy, thepolice authorities, to strength-en the Special IntelligenceBureau, posted additional SPof Khammam Balla Rajesh inplace of additional SPMuralidhar who was trans-ferred out. Rajesh has experi-ence in working in Adilabadand Khammam districts.Dayanand Reddy, who retiredas additional SP in erstwhileWarangal district, and addi-tional SP Srutakirti wereappointed to the bureau.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyon Monday suggested ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao to argue strongly onbehalf of people of Telanganain the Apex Council meetingto be held on October 6 . Hequestioned the Chief Ministerto reveal as to why the latterfailed to speak when the statewas meted out injustice for thelast six years in water share. Heasked KCR to reveal whetherCentre will say 'no' if KCRwants to solve the water sharedispute with Andhra Pradeshstate.

Speaking to the media onMonday, Kishan Reddy saidthat he didn't need TRS lead-ers' certificate to him. Healleged that KCR is opposingCentre's farm laws with polit-ical reasons. He alleged thatthe opposition parties are stag-ing agitations against Farmlaws with political motives.

TRS using 2BHK schemefor polls

Alleging that the TRS partyis using 2BHK scheme forelections, Kishan Reddy saidthat the state government isdiverting the funds given bythe Centre for the construc-tion of houses. "The AndhraPradesh government con-structed 7 lakh houses with the

Central funds. About 20 lakhpoor living in Hyderabad haveno houses. The Centre is readyto give its share if the state gov-ernment constructs housesfor the same," Kishan Reddysaid making it clear that he willtake the responsibility ofbringing the Centre's share ifthe state government con-structed any lakhs of houses.

He alleged that the TRSgovernment failed to con-struct double bed room hous-es as it assured. Kishan Reddyvisited 2BHK units construct-ed in Musheerabad con-stituency along with OBCMorcha national president DrK Laxman . On the occasion,Kishan demanded the stategovernment to complete theconstruction on war footing.

However, the beneficiariesexpressed their unhappinesson the occasion by stating thatthe government had not yetcompleted the constructionthough it laid the foundationstone in 2015. Women stageddharna demanding the gov-ernment to hand over 2BHKunits. They said that they willnot cast their vote if not allo-cated double bed room hous-es before GHMC elections.They demanded the govern-ment to pay the rent they arepaying for the last five years ascompensation.

‘Govt misleadingpeople on 2BHKs’

TRS govt smotheringdemocracy, alleges UttamPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC president N UttamKumar Reddy alleged that theruling TRS was smotheringthe democracy to win theMLC elections fromNizamabad Local BodiesConstituency. He was address-ing a press conference atGandhi Bhavan on Monday,along with TPCC workingpresident A Revanth Reddyand ex-Leader of Oppositionin Legislative CouncilMohammed Ali Shabbir.

Uttam said that Telanganawas expected to emerge as amodel State in upholdingdemocratic values. However,the Kalvakuntla family mur-dered democracy after comingto power in 2014. He allegedthat Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao hasturned politics into a dirtytrade by indulging in bulkpurchase of elected represen-tatives of opposition parties.He said KCR has repeatedlyridiculed the democratic

process of elections by turningelected representatives intocommodities who could bepurchased for a price.

"KCR and his family is earn-ing huge illegal wealth throughcorruption and commission invarious projects and utilises thesame money to purchase elect-ed representatives of otherparties," he alleged. The TPCCchief said that all democraticnorms were thrown to thewinds in the elections forNizamabad Local Bodies MLCseat. He said TRS lackedstrength to win the MLC seatfrom Nizamabad Local Bodiesconstituency. But after fieldinghis daughter K. Kavitha as TRScandidate, CM is engineeringmass defection of MPTCs,

ZPTCs, Councillors andCorporators belonging to otheropposition parties into TRS.

"Those local bodies' repre-sentatives were elected by thepeople who voted against TRS.However, by making themjoin TRS, KCR is insulting thepeople's verdict. KCR has norespect for people's choice,democracy or the Constitutionof India. People of Nizamabadhad rejected Kavitha in the lastLok Sabha election. Therefore,he is now insulting people bymaking elected representa-tives of other parties defect toTRS to make his daughter aMember of Legislative Council through illegal, uneth-ical and backdoor methods,"he alleged.

Strategy in place tocurtail Maoist activities

Kodandaram to

contest in MLC

elections

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS)Chief M Kodandaram willcontest from Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam gradu-ates constituency in the MLCelections. Party vice presidentVishweshwar Rao announcedhere on Monday. Sources saythat the TJS founder is con-testing the the polls as a per-son who can question thegovernment and the party issure of his victory as healready visited the constituen-cy and had direct contactwith the unemployed gradu-ates.Manickam Tagore alsoopined that Dubbaka electionis prestigious to the party. Atthe same time, the partywants to fight the electionsprojecting the party but notthe candidate as it will helpthe party prospects in future.

It may be recalled thatafter failing to make his pres-ence felt in the last assemblyelections in Telangana inDecember 2018, formerOsmania University (OU)professor and TJS presidentM Kodandaram is planningto try his luck in the ensuingelections to state legislativecouncil under graduates’quota. The elections to thetwo MLC seats under grad-uates’ constituencies – onecomprising Nalgonda,Warangal and Khammamdistricts and another encom-passing Rangareddy,Mahbubnagar andHyderabad districts - arescheduled to be held inFebruary and March.Kodandaram, once a pro-tégé of TRS and chief min-ister K Chandrasekhar Rao,has announced his inten-tions to contest the MLCelections from Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam gradu-ates’ constituency.

Earlier, theruling TRS wasin dilemma toannounce theparty candidateas there wasdemand for theticket from bothCheruku familyand Solipetafamily

PNS n HYDERABAD

.The Gachibowli Police onMonday arrested four morepersons in connection withHemanth murder case.

The accused were identi-f ied as Somayala Raju,E r u k a l a Kr i s h n a ,Mohammad Pasha andByagari Sayanna, all hailingf rom Vat t i n a g u l ap a l lyVillage.

He m ant h f rom t h eVaishya Community andAvanthi from Reddy com-munity after being in lovefor eight years married onthe sly on June 11, 2020.

Upset over the same,Avanthi's family membershired contract killers, toeliminate Hemanth. As pertheir plan, the family mem-bers barged in their resi-

dence in TNGOs colonyand abducted both of themon September 24. However,Avanthi escaped from theclutches of the accused.

Mat e r n a l u n c l e o fAvanthi, Yugender Reddyalong with contract killerskidnapped Hemanth andkilled him by strangulatingon the city outskirts.

The Cyberabad Policeb o oke d 1 8 m e mb e r s ,including Avanthi's par-ents Donthireddy LaxmaR e d dy an d h i s w i feDonthireddy Archana, int h e mu rd e r c a s e , an darrested 14 members onSeptember 25.

On Monday the policearrested remaining accusedand sent them to judicialcustody.

HONOUR KILLING

Four more held for Hemanth's murder

Covaxin to useViroVax's adjuvantPNS n HYDERABAD

Vaccine maker Bharat Biotechon Monday announced itsnovel coronavirus vaccine(under development) Covaxin,which was approved forhuman trials, will use adjuvantAlhydroxiquim-II to boostimmune response and longerlasting immunity. Accordingto a press release issued by thecity-based vaccine innovator,the technology is being usedunder a licensing agreementwith Kansas-based ViroVaxLLC. Covaxin is an inactivat-ed vaccine derived from astrain of SARS-CoV-2 virus,isolated at the NIV, Pune, anIndian virology research insti-tute. The inactivated virus isformulated with ViroVaxsadjuvant to produce the vac-cine candidate, it said.

Bharat Biotech is currentlyconducting Phase II human

trials of Covaxin after receiv-ing approval from the DCGI."There is critical need fordevelopment and availabilityof adjuvants that elucidatemechanisms of action induc-ing greater antibody respons-es to vaccine antigens, thusresulting in long-term protec-tion against pathogens.Adjuvants also enhance thesustainability of the globalvaccine supply on account oftheir antigen-sparing effect,"Krishna Ella, Chairman andManaging Director of BharatBiotech,said.

Bharat Biotech is

currently conducting

Phase II human trials

of Covaxin after

receiving nod from

the DCGI

nation 05HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020

PNS n SANGRUR (PUNJAB)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Monday alleged that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wasfinishing "farmers and labour-ers" with the three farms lawsjust as he had destroyed smallshopkeepers with demonetisa-tion and GST.

Addressing a gathering inthis Punjab town, Gandhi alsoasked the BJP-led Centre whyit was in a hurry to bring thelaws when there was a pan-demic on.

Like Modi finished smallshopkeepers and small medi-um businesses with GST(Goods and Services Tax) anddemonetisation, he is finishingfarmers and labourers the same

way and slashing your throatswith these three laws, he said.

Gandhi underscored the

need for improving the foodprocurement and PublicDistribution System and

acknowledged that they hadshortcomings.

There is a need to strength-en this system. More mandisneed to be set up. There is needto guarantee MSP. There isneed to give infrastructure tofarmers. there is need to set upsilos, he said.

Narendra Modi is not doingthis. Modi is not strengtheningthe system... If Modi gives bet-ter PDS and guarantees MSPand gives more mandis, thenAmbani and Adani cannotmake money, the Congressleader alleged . Gandhi, who isholding a series of tractor ral-lies named 'Kheti Bachao Yatra'across the state to protest theCentre's new farm laws,accused the prime minister ofdestroying the system.

Punjab CM also addressedthe gathering and hit out at theCentre over the new farm laws.

Terming them "black laws",Singh said his governmentwould take steps to safeguardinterest of the farming commu-nity.

Modi ‘finishing' farmers, labourerswith new farms laws: Rahul Gandhi

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Haryana government has noproblem if Rahul Gandhienters the state with a few peo-ple for his tractor rallies onTuesday and Wednesday, buthe will not be allowed to bringa big crowd to "disturb" theatmosphere, Home MinisterAnil Vij has said.

Gandhi, who is holding trac-tor rallies in Punjab against thenewly enacted farm laws, is setto reach Pehowa town inKurukshetra district ofHaryana with his supportersTuesday and address a gather-ing. He will also address pub-lic gatherings in Karnal,Congress leaders said.

"If he wants to come aloneor with just a few people,there is no problem. He cancome 100 times, we have noobjection. But if he comeswith a big crowd from Punjabto disturb Haryana's atmos-phere, then we will not permit.We are not going to allow that,"Vij told PTI on Monday.

"…This issue concerns our

law and order. Last month, twoCongress-sponsored rallieswere also stopped by us fromentering our state. Congress isin power in Punjab and theywant to use state machinery tospoil Haryana's peacefulatmosphere, which we willnot allow,” he added.

He alleged that Congress istrying its best to instigate thefarmers of Haryana but thestate government will not allowthem to “succeed in theirdesigns”.

"Under no circumstanceswill we allow Congress's evildesigns to spoil peace andtranquillity in Haryana, wewon't permit (it) at any cost,”he said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

A fresh war of words eruptedbetween the UP governmentand opposition leaders overthe Hathras incident, withsenior SP leader Ram GovindChowdhury charging thatChief minister YogiAdityanath was inciting hisparty men and said the "con-spiracy of caste and commu-nal violence" should be thwart-ed.

Chowdhury's remarks camea day after Adityanathslammed the Opposition overtheir relentless attack on hisgovernment over the Hathrasincident, saying they are“indulging in newer conspir-acies” to trigger riots andhamper development.

Chowdhury charged that,"After making UP a sick state,Adityanath is returning to hisold ways. People of the stateshould remain alert and main-tain brotherhood and amity.Samajwadi people should beready to give sacrifice to pre-vent the state from riots, whichmay be orchestrated by theCM and his team."

"The chief minister, in a bidto hide his failures, is incitinghis partymen. The conspiracyof caste and communal vio-lence should be thwarted," hesaid. Referring to the chiefminister's remarks that thosewho don't like development

were trying to incite casteand communal riots,Chowdhury said, "BJP work-ers should expose this conspir-acy." "The people of the stateshould remember past recordof Adityanath...Instead ofestablishing rule of law, he isbreaking dignity of law.Everyone should remain alertfrom this," he said.

"The people are demandinglaw and order, security ofwomen. SP and oppositionwant to ensure that this voicereaches the CM but he doesnot want to hear. His team issuppressing the opposition'svoice," he charged.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Monday said his governmentwill soon bring a new policy under whichagencies will have to transplant 80 per centof the trees affected by their projects to anew location. Many times cutting of treesbecomes necessary for developmentactivities like constructing a road orbuilding. Till now, the government's policyrequired agencies to plant 10 saplings for each tree felled duringtheir construction work, Kejriwal said during a digital pressconference. "No one knows how much time these 10 saplings wouldtake to grow. So, we are soon going to approve a new policy underwhich agencies will have to transplant 80 per cent of the treesaffected by their projects to a new location," he said. "They will stillhave to plant 10 saplings each for every tree felled... The number oftrees won't reduce this way," he said.

UNNAO (UP): A six-year-oldnephew of the woman, whowas allegedly raped by fivemen last year and later burntalive in December while goingto attend a court hearing in thegang-rape case, has gonemissing. The child wentmissing on Friday from hisvillage in Bihar area and is yet

to be traced, a senior police official said on Monday. "Fourteen policeteams have been deployed to work out the case,” said UnnaoSuperintendent of Police Anand Kulkarni. The missing child, a classone student, is the son of the brother of the 23-year-old woman, whowas allegedly gang-raped by five men last year.

PANAJI: Film actor Pooja Bedi on Monday saidher e-commerce website registered in Goa hadbeen hacked by some people who threatenedto sell drugs on the site if she did not paythem ransom. In a series of tweets, Bedi saidshe had filed a complaint with Goa police'sCyber Crime Cell last week after an earlierhacking incident but the modus operandi wasrepeated late Sunday night. "Dear @DGP_Goamy ecommerce website happysoul.in HACKEDAGAIN last night and this time they state if I dont pay ransom theywill sell DRUGS on my website. I havev registered FIR in old goapolice cyber cell last week but no action from cops. My companyregd in Goa @goacm." Superintendent of Police (Crime) ShobhitSaxena said the hacking incident of last week was solved and a freshprobe had begun after Bedi filed a new complaint.

MORENA (MP): Union Minister Narendra SinghTomar hit out at the Congress during theMadhya Pradesh bypoll campaign claiming abridge whose foundation stone was laid in the1980s by then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi wasstill incomplete but the BJP would get itcommissioned soon. He was speaking inAmbah, where a bypoll is scheduled, in Morenain the state's Chambal region late Sunday

evening. "The BJP is committed to the development of the Chambalregion. Then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of thePinahat bridge in this area but not a single brick was placed bysuccessive Congress governments," he said. The Pinahat bridge onthe Chambal river will link the state with Uttar Pradesh. "The BJPgovernment started work on the bridge but the Congressdispensation did not release payments to the contractor because ofwhich they quit. We will construct this bridge soon," he claimed. Hepraised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping Article 370 andending special statehood privileges of Jammu and Kashmir, and alsopaving the way for the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

6-year-old nephew of Unnaorape victim missing: Police

Actor says her e-commercesite hacked, drug threat issued

MP bypoll: Tomar attacks Congover incomplete Pinahat bridge

AURANGABAD: Sixpeople who entered anirrigation project inMaharashtra'sAurangabad as part ofa protest for Marathareservation weredetained on Mondaymorning, police said.The incident happenedin Bor Dahegaon, said a Vaijapur police station official, adding that nocharges had been slapped on them as yet. The Supreme Courtrecently stayed the implementation of quota for the Marathacommunity in education and jobs, which has led to sporadic protestsstatewide for the past few weeks.

Maratha quota: 6 detained fromAurangabad irrigation facility

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Monday toldthe Supreme Court that "secret"extradition process was goingon to bring fugitive business-man Vijay Mallya to the coun-try but it was not aware aboutits status.

The Centre also told the topcourt that it was not a party tothe proceedings. A bench ofJustices U U Lalit and AshokBhushan asked Mallya's lawyerto inform the court what kindof "secret" proceedings aregoing on to extradite him.

Advocate Ankur Saigal,appearing for Mallya, told theapex court that he was notaware what kind of proceed-ings are going on.

He said, "I have knowledgethat my request against extra-dition has been rejected".

The bench also directedMallya's lawyers to apprise it byNovember 2 when can thefugitive businessman appearbefore the court and when the"secret" proceedings are goingto end.

Advocate Rajat Nair, appear-ing for the Centre, told thecourt that extradition requesthas been made as per thedirection of the court.

"Some secret extraditionproceedings are going on towhich we are not a party.

"Extradition proceedingshave been upheld by the high-est court of UK but it has notbeen happening as of now," hesaid.

The apex court had earlierdirected Mallya to appearbefore it on October 5 whiledismissing his plea seeking

review of the 2017 verdictwhich held him guilty of con-tempt for transferring USD40 million to his children inviolations of court orders.

Mallya, an accused in bankloan default case of over Rs9,000 crore involving hisdefunct Kingfisher Airlines, isin the United Kingdom.

The apex court had in Junedirected its registry to explain

as to why Mallya's review peti-tion had not been listed beforethe concerned court for the lastthree years.

It had directed the registry tofurnish all the details includingnames of officials who haddealt with the file concerningthe review petition in the lastthree years. The apex court's2017 order had come on a pleaby consortium of banks led bythe State Bank of India (SBI),which had said that Mallya hadallegedly transferred USD 40million received from Britishfirm Diageo, to his children in"flagrant violation" of variousjudicial orders.

It was dealing with pleas oflending banks seeking con-tempt action and a direction toMallya to deposit USD 40 mil-lion received from offshorefirm Diageo respectively.

‘Secret proceedings going on to bring Mallya’

PNS n AHMEDABAD

Nearly 35 Gujarat Congressworkers and two party MLAswere detained here onMonday after they held aprotest without permissionover the alleged gang-rapeand death of a Dalit womanfrom Hathras in UttarPradesh, police said.

A similar protest was heldin Surat where around 20Congress workers weredetained, they said.

The Congress held protestsin all major cities of Gujaratas part of the party's call for'satyagraha' by its leaders andworkers at district headquar-ters of states across the coun-try against the BJP govern-ment in Uttar Pradesh to seekjustice for the victim and herfamily. In Ahmedabad, theprotest was organised outsidethe collectorate and was ledby city Congress presidentShashikant Patel and MLAsGyasuddin Shaikh and ImranKhedawala.

"The BJP government inUttar Pradesh is trying toshield the culprits. And whenour leaders went to Hathrasto meet the victim's kin, theywere manhandled by thepolice," Patel alleged beforehis detention.

"As a responsible opposi-tion party, we will not sitquiet against such lawless-ness," he added.

Protest overHathras case:Cong MLAsdetained

‘Can't allow Rahul to bring crowdfrom Punjab to disturb atmosphere’

BJP observes bandh toprotest leader's killingPNS n KOLKATA

BJP activists on Monday putup road blockades in WestBengal's North 24 Parganasdistrict as part of a 12-hourBarrackpore bandh called by itto protest the killing of a partyleader.

The BJP workers burnt tyresand blocked major thorough-fares such as Barrackpore-Barasat Road and KalyaniExpressway, bringing trafficto a complete halt in the area.

A large posse of policemenhave been posted at variousplaces in Barrackpore wherethe protests are taking place, an

officer said.BJP leader and local coun-

cillor Manish Sukla was shotdead on Sunday by two bike-borne assailants near Titagarh,police said.

"A person was shot dead lastevening in Titagarh area ofBarrackpore. Police is investi-gating the crime and looking

into all possible reasons includ-ing personal enmity becausethe victim was accused insome cases of murder andattempt of murder." the WestBengal Police said on Twitter.

The state police also urgedpeople not to draw any conclu-sion in the death case until theinvestigation is over.

"Irresponsible comments onsocial media tantamount tointerference in the investiga-tion. Please refrain from this,"it said. According to sources,the investigation has beenhanded over to the CID and itssleuths visited the TitagarhPolice Station.

PNS n HATHRAS (UP)

The Hathras Police have lodg-ed an FIR against "unknown"persons for alleged attempt totrigger caste-based conflictand invoked serious charges,including sedition, officialssaid on Monday.

The development comesamid an undying controversyover the death of a 19-year-old

Dalit woman after she wasallegedly gangraped, and con-tinuous protests and visits toher village by political leadersand activists. The FIR waslodged at the Chandpa policestation on Sunday afternoonand names “unknown” asaccused, according to police.

The FIR mentions 19charges under the IndianPenal Code (IPC).

PNS n SHIMLA

Himachal Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur has decided tokeep himself in home quar-antine for three days as anprecautionary measureagainst Covid.

The CM had on October 3met some persons in Manali,who tested positive for coro-navirus infection on Sunday.

Women from disadvantagedsocial groups at greater risk

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

PNS n NEW DELHI

Calling for attention to cases ofsexual violence against womenand girls in India, the UN inIndia said the alleged rapeand murder in Uttar Pradesh'sHathras and Balarampur are areminder that those from dis-advantaged social groups are atgreater risk of gender-basedviolence.

In a statement, the UN inIndia said it is essential thatauthorities ensure the perpe-trators are brought to justicespeedily and families areempowered to seek timely jus-tice, social support, coun-

selling, healthcare and rehabil-itation.

"The recent cases of allegedrape and murder in Hathrasand Balarampur are anotherreminder that despite theimpressive progress made on anumber of social indicators,

women and girls from disad-vantaged social groups faceadditional vulnerabilities andare at greater risk of gender-based violence," it said.

The steps being taken by theIndian government tostrengthen safety measures forwomen and girls are welcomeand urgent, the United Nationssaid.

"We support the PrimeMinister's call for strict actionagainst the culprits.Entrenched social norms andbehaviour of men and boysthat lead to gender-based vio-lence must be addressed," itsaid.

FIR for bid to triggercaste-based conflict

HC seeks govt's reply on man'splea to reconduct son's JEE test PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court hassought the Eduction Ministry'sreply on a father's plea seekingdirection to the authorities toconduct JEE (Advanced) 2020exam afresh for his son, whowas harassed at the centre fornot bringing photograph andtransparent pen.

The father claimed that therewas no such condition to bringa photograph and his son washounded for 45 minutes andallowed to enter the examina-tion centre thereafter, leading toa panick situation for him.

Justice Jayant Nath issuednotice to the ministry andOrganising Chairman of JEE(Advanced) 2020 for their

replies and listed the matter forfurther hearing on October 7.

Petitioner Pawan KumarSingh also sought stay on thedeclaration of results till thependency of the plea, sayinggrave prejudice would becaused to him. The court, in itsOctober 1 order, said that at thisstage, it is not possible to with-hold the result of JEE wherethousands of students haveappeared.

Delhi airportlaunches facilityfor passengers toenjoy virtual reality PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi airport has launcheda facility for passengers to enjoyvirtual reality shows in a semi-circular structure or dome ontopics such as urban landscapeand ice age, its operator DIALsaid on Monday. "Located nearboarding gate 41 (of Terminal3), this mini planetarium, hav-ing a semicircular structure,boasts of a curved screen thatgives a life-size cinematic plat-form to provide real, immersive,end-to-end travel experiences tothe passengers," the DelhiInternational Airport Limited(DIAL) said in a press release onMonday. The dome has beendesigned and conceptualised ina way that passengers of all agescan enjoy the virtual realityshows for a time period rang-ing from seven minutes to 15minutes, it added.

NCW seeksexplanation PNS n NEW DELHI

The NCW has sought anexplanation from the UPpolice over the alleged man-handling of Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra whileshe was on her way toHathras to meet the family ofa woman who died after shewas allegedly gang-raped.

"@NCWIndia condemnsthe alleged manhandling of#PriyankaGandhi by policewhile she was on her way to#Hathras. This insensitivebehaviour is totally unac-ceptable," the NCW tweeted.

Gandhi underscoredneed for improvingfood procurementand PublicDistribution Systemand acknowledgedthat they hadshortcomings

Chowdhury'sremarks came aday after Yogislammed the|Oppn over theirrelentless attackon his governmentover the Hathrasincident

Himachal CMquarantinedself for 3 days

INDIA CORNER

Will soon approve treetransplantation policy: CM

‘MANHANDLING'OF PRIYANKA

SP leader Ram Govindslams Yogi Adityanath

Addressing the historic75th session of theUnited NationsGeneral Assembly(UNGA) recently,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yetagain made a forceful plea forreforming this international bodyand making the UN SecurityCouncil (UNSC) more represen-tative and balanced. Modi hadflagged this issue six years agowhen he addressed the UNGA forthe first time as India’s PrimeMinister in September 2014. Onthat occasion, he told the membercountries that no one country orgroup of countries can determinethe course of the world. There hasto be a genuine international part-nership. This is not just a moralposition but a practical realityand these efforts should begin withthe UN. “We must reform theUnited Nations, including theSecurity Council, and make itmore democratic and participative”,or else it could “face the risk ofirrelevance” if it remained resistantto change. The Prime Minister wasobviously emphasising India’s rightto be a permanent member of theUNSC, a status enjoyed by the P-5 — US, UK, France, Russia andChina — who are also armed withextraordinary veto powers.

He returned to this theme onceagain when he addressed theUNGA last month. Referring to thecircumstances prevailing in 1945when the UN came into being, hetold his audience that memberswere now in a completely differentera — the 21st century. Therefore,the international community mustask itself whether the character ofthe institution, constituted in 1945,was relevant even today? He spokeof the regard that the people ofIndia have for the UN and saidthey wonder whether the reformprocess will ever reach its logicalconclusion. “For how long willIndia be kept out of the decision-making structures of the UnitedNations?...When we were strong,we did not trouble the world; whenwe were weak, we did not becomea burden on the world. How longwill such a country have to wait?”

The Prime Minister was echo-ing the sentiments of 1.35 billioncitizens of the country when hehinted that India’s patience wasrunning thin. Indians find it dif-ficult to fathom why their countryis kept out, especially when it hassuch strong credentials. It is the

world’s largest and most vibrantdemocracy with 911 millionelectors, of whom over 600million exercised their franchisein 2019. It is also the mostdiverse nation in the worldwith unparalleled ethnic, cultur-al and linguistic diversity andhome to all the major religionsin the world. Indians speak121 languages and 270 dialects.Further, India accounts for 18per cent of the global populationand will overtake China andbecome the most populousnation by 2027. Add to this itseconomic and military strength— it is the fifth-largest econo-my and one of the top five mil-itary powers in the world.Finally, it is a founding memberof the UN, one of the 26 signa-tories at the first conference in1942 and has made a phenom-enal contribution to the organ-isation’s peace-keeping effortsacross the world. Are these notenough reasons for India to bea permanent member of theUNSC?

As proud citizens of theworld’s largest and most vibrantdemocracy, Indians also havethe right to demand that the UNremain faithful to its own fun-damental postulates. Is it notstrange that the Preamble to theCharter of the United Nationsreaffirms faith “in the equalrights of men and women andof nations large and small…”and yet, actively promotes ahierarchy of nations and conse-quently, of human beings? Howcan India, which has equality asa fundamental precept in its

Constitution, accept this form ofgraded membership?

Further, Article 2 of theCharter says the UN is based onthe sovereign equality of allmembers. How is this achievedwhen a nation with almost one-fifth of the global population isnot a permanent member of theUNSC whereas two Europeannations — UK (67 million)and France (65 million), eachwith a population equivalent tojust one of India’s 28 states(Karnataka) — are permanentmembers of the UNSC?

Articles 108 and 109 of theUN Charter are also whollyundemocratic because even iftwo-thirds of the members of theUN agree to amend the Charter,any of the five permanent mem-bers of the UNSC can use itsveto power to block the amend-ment. This is absolutely unde-mocratic and unworthy of beingpart of any civilised institutionin the democratic world. Whyshould the world’s largestdemocracy put up with this?

These articles enable mem-bers of the P-5 to play politicsand stonewall reform. That iswhy the efforts of the G-4(India, Brazil, Japan andGermany) to support eachother’s bid for a permanentseat in the UNSC have not thusfar fructified.

The international communi-ty must understand that India’spatience, despite all its philo-sophical underpinnings, is notinexhaustible and that there isa new India emerging — opti-mistic, self-confident and self-

reliant (atmanirbhar). It is truethat seven decades ago, givenIndia’s economic plight aftercenturies of colonisation, itlacked the gumption to stand upand demand its rightful place.But that is not the India of today.This is not a tame India. This isa bold India. A billion-plus cit-izens of this nation are nolonger willing to accept theseinequities as part of their karmaand reconcile themselves to thesecond-class status thrust onthem 75 years ago.

India is shaking off the delu-sions of the past. It has shed itsinnocence and gullibility thatwas in full display during the“Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai” daysand has realised that it mustbecome strong and resilient topromote peace in its neighbour-hood and the world. TheChinese are getting a taste ofthis, and as the momentumpicks up, other nations too willbegin to sense it. This is irre-versible. Having nudged hiscountrymen towards this newthinking, Modi is sensing thechange. That is why he made aspecific reference to the aspira-tions of the people vis-à-vis UNreform.

India will celebrate the 75thanniversary of its independencein 2022. The UN must use theoccasion to redeem itself,acknowledge that democracy isthe most civilised political sys-tem ever devised by man andinvite India to the high table.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal)

Given the ongoing stalemate with China along theLine of Actual Control (LAC) and Beijing resur-recting its untenable 1959 claims, the

Government has decided to shore up its defences. Ithas eased spending restrictions on emergency armsprocurements and additional funding for the BorderRoads Organisation. The immediate buys that need tobe made include missiles, precision-guided munitions,drones and assault rifles from the US, France, Russiaand Israel. Though India will formally induct the Nirbhaysubsonic cruise missile into the Army and Navy afterthe seventh trial next month, it has already moved a

limited number of the missiles to the LAC to boost its defence preparedness. How seri-ous the situation is on the border can be gauged from the fact that the cash-strappedGovernment had in April issued instructions to re-prioritise spending and a few Ministriesand departments had to face spending cuts. With the Centre stepping up borrowingsin a pandemic-stressed economy, the easing of spending restrictions on defence showsthat it is not ready to back down and is serious about sending a strong message toBeijing that it is in for the long haul. There are fears that the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) may use its 1959 territorial claim to put pressure on the six other areas of differ-ences in the western sector that have not been impacted in the ongoing standoff so far.

Of course, these decisions and acquisitions are too late and too little as the timeframe for any typical defence procurement usually takes five years. They give the forcesthe finances to buy additional systems, ammunition, repairs and so on, but there won’tbe capital accretion. The Government has transferred the procurement responsibility tothe services and most importantly, removed the financial representative from the chain.So the discretionary powers to spend have been given to them to cover the immediateshortfall. But the lead time still remains the same. So it is left to the services to plead,push and cajole the vendors to supply the items. Conversely, the Centre has shifted itsresponsibility when it comes to the crunch on to the services by giving them the pow-ers to spend, making sure that they are stocked up and ready. This when the enemy isat our doorstep. But the ground reality is far different. So for now, it is the valour of ourservices that will have to see us through any engagement with China, particularly throughthe harsh winter months ahead.

That the BJP is keen to have Bihar on its own termsis no secret even though it has agreed to a 50 percent seat split with its ally, the Janata Dal (United),

and has publicly expressed full faith in Chief Minister NitishKumar as the leading face of the combine. But the factis it wants to cannibalise him without appearing so overt-ly ambitious. Besides, the growing trust deficit in Nitish,given his inept handling of the pandemic, the floods andthe returnee migrants, is something that the BJP doesnot want to bet on or be burdened with in the long term.If anything, it wants Nitish’s victory to be entirely depen-dent on it so that it can keep him in line and going for-

ward, can even change him mid-course with its own man or somebody who would besubservient to its design. In fact, it has ambitions to become the single-largest party inthe State. It wants to posit itself as the deliverer party, considering that despite Nitish’spoor legacy, voters still buy into the aura of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it, there-fore, wants to encash it as soon as possible. It is against this perspective that one mustsee the decision of Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to contestagainst JD(U) despite being part of the larger National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It wantsto undercut Nitish and become the BJP’s B-team with the latter’s blessing. For the LJP,with the potential to swing six to 10 per cent of the votes, can dent the JD(U) votebaseand give an upper hand to the BJP. For playing spoiler, the LJP would either be rewardedat the State-level or even get another Central Ministry in return. Besides, Ram Vilas Paswannow wants his son Chirag to take the decisive lead in State politics and become his right-ful heir. As the BJP’s proxy, the LJP had already begun targeting Nitish long before thepandemic with Chirag Paswan losing no opportunity to lambast his poor performance.Not that Nitish was not aware of this strategy but considering he needed the BJP, he triedto squeeze out the LJP in seat-sharing, thereby ensuring that the JD(U) could retain itsbargaining edge. To that end, he even got Paswan’s Dalit contender, Hindustani Awam Morchapresident Jitan Ram Manjhi, into the JD(U) fold, hoping to convince the BJP that he wasgood enough without the LJP. Except that the BJP, now that it has agreed to a 50:50 seat-sharing with Nitish, wants LJP to be the vote-cutter, increase its tally with the junior allyand bypass Nitish altogether. Dalits account for 16 per cent of Bihar’s population and halfof these are Paswans, a segment that has been loyal to the LJP over the years. But Nitish,by introducing sub-quotas for Mahadalits, chipped away his base. Manjhi isn’t exactly aswinger despite Nitish’s best efforts and the ambitious Chirag feels that with the Chief Minister’spolitical stock at an all-time low, this is the best time for the LJP to shore up its base andanoint himself as a key power player. Besides, he wants to emerge as an alternative toRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also looking at the Assemblyelections as his coronation. Many believe that Chirag has a better appeal and acceptabil-ity among the youth in general than the arrogant Tejashwi and wouldn’t want to miss anopportunity to prove as much.

Tejashwi may be the face of the RJD but the party derives its political relevance fromthe legacy and aura of Lalu Yadav, still considered the best challenger to the NDA bloc.Ideally, with Lalu at the helm and on its own, it would have a fighting chance as it is bestplaced in terms of winnability. But it needs a strategic partnership simply because the mul-tiplicity of like-minded parties and the Congress, which still has a consolidated Muslimvotebank, would mean that the non-NDA vote could be badly divided. Besides, Lalu, whois battling health issues, is not on the ground to smoothen wrinkles in the grand allianceor mahagathbandhan. So the allies are becoming aggressive about bargaining for seatsin return for staying together and that could push down the RJD’s seat quota. As it is,many allies are upset with Tejashwi for pursuing his individual ambition, grooming his yesmen and running down senior leaders of the caste movement as deadwood. He was oneof the reasons why Lalu’s upper caste comrade-in-arms Raghuvansh Prasad Singh resignedbefore he died. This brazenness has cost the RJD its dependable associations with theLeft and the Congress. In fact, though Lalu wants to give the Congress no more than 60seats, the latter is demanding a price of “loyalty,” wanting 70 instead. The Left partieshave their dedicated pockets but are only a fringe presence to influence the verdict. If inthe process of bartering away seats in the allied clutter, the RJD gets about 140 seats,then its total would be again hovering around the 100-seat mark. A reduced number ofseats for the RJD will only help the BJP. Besides, it can splinter unhappy, smaller partiesby luring them away with governance positions. As for the Congress, another poor per-formance could see the party losing further members to the BJP. Alternatively, if it doeswell, then it can even restrain Lalu. And should Nitish indeed feel the need to detach him-self from the NDA and jump ship going forward, the party could even build bridges withhim. So this election is turning out to be a tussle for the Opposition’s political relevancerather than people’s issues. And if the youth leaders do deliver, then Bihar would have wit-nessed another change in its social and political template.

Why Chirag is the key

Ethics of journalismSir — Ruling out theories of poi-soning and strangulation, theAIIMS medical board, in itsreport to the CBI, revealed thatthe cause of actor Sushant SinghRajput’s death was indeed sui-cide. Ever since the 34-year-oldactor was found dead on June 14in his Mumbai apartment, manynews channels had falsely cookedup theories of his murder andstarted a witch-hunt against hisgirlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.Under pressure from the mediatrial, the case was handed over tothe CBI for further investigation.

The media is supposed to bethe fourth pillar of democracyand report unbiased news.Rajput’s case is a perfect exam-ple of how media houses sensa-tionalise news rather than report-ing facts. They have become atool for political parties to dis-seminate their propaganda andpolarise the masses. Further,news debates are being used asa platform to distract peoplefrom important issues ratherthan being informed. There is anurgent need for implementationof the rules laid down by exist-ing media regulatory bodies.

Falguni AswaniUjjain

Caste and genderSir — There is no doubt that evenafter 73 years of Independence,not much has changed when itcomes to caste discriminationand divide. Atrocities againstDalits and Scheduled Tribes arecommon across the country.And the recent rape-murdercase of the young Dalit womanfrom Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras is

one of many such instances.What is more shameful is theextent to which the StateGovernment is ready to go inorder to save the culprits. The UPpolice has claimed that the foren-sic report of the 19-year-oldwoman’s viscera has establishedthat she was not raped. How canone believe this, given the man-ner the police cremated herbody? Having said that, the fault

not only lies in our police andjudicial system but also the soci-ety which woke up too late in thiscase. There is not only a need formore stringent laws but also apolitical will to implement them.It is also time that we root out thepatriarchal and casteist mindsetfrom society and not feed it tocreate a political constituency.

Bal GovindNoida

A hard lessonSir — US President DonaldTrump, who has been playingdown the threat of theCoronavirus pandemic from itsoutset, has tested positive alongwith his wife Melania. Feverishand fatigued, Trump was flownto a military hospital on October2 after being injected with anexperimental drug combination.In a video he posted from thehospital, he said that he wasimproving and would be “backsoon” but he also acknowledgedthat the crucial coming dayswould be “the real test.” With this,the prospects for two remainingpresidential debates and whetherthe President will have to yieldpower temporarily to VicePresident Mike Pence if his con-dition worsens are unknown.Also, now that Trump under-stands the severity of the pan-demic that has killed more than2,08,000 Americans, he shouldadopt a serious approach in thefight against the virus and stopsending mixed messages onmask-wearing.

Sanjana SoniUjjain

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020

06

Don’t test our patienceIt is high time that the UN recognises India’s potential and its contribution to the

organisation and makes it a permanent member of the Security Council

We are given equal importance,job security, financial benefitsthrough cash awards when wewin. All these are great encouraging factors to take upthe sport professionally.

Hockey player—Navneet Kaur

Row over AIADMK CM candidate

The rift between the two factions, one led by ChiefMinister Edappadi Palaniswami and the other byDeputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, within the

ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu is widening as the Assemblyelection is approaching. The internecine feud primar-ily centres on the finalisation of the party’s chief min-isterial candidate. Both the leaders covet the top job.

Having tasted power and consolidated his positionin the party, Palaniswami is firm on staking his claimto lead the party in the election. On the other hand,Panneerselvam feels he is a credible choice as he claimsthe blessings of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. A dis-united AIADMK coupled with anti-incumbency couldhand over an easy victory to the Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (DMK) waiting in the wings.

Jayalalithaa was not disadvantaged by her proxim-ity to the BJP and her personal rapport with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. However, the perception thatthe present AIADMK Government dances to the tune

of the BJP might affect its electoral fortunes, given thestrong anti-BJP sentiment in the State. The DMK ledby MK Stalin could romp home by riding on the party’sopposition to Hindi imposition, NEET, the dilution offederal autonomy and most importantly, Tamil pride.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Defence spending

The BJP is using the LJP to undercut Nitish Kumar and increaseits bargaining chip in the Bihar election

With China heaving down, the Govt may have easedpurchase restrictions on procurement but these take time

A SURYA PRAKASH

AS PROUDCITIZENS OF THE

WORLD’S LARGESTAND MOST

VIBRANTDEMOCRACY,

INDIANS ALSOHAVE THE RIGHT

TO DEMAND THATTHE UN REMAIN

FAITHFUL TO ITS OWN

FUNDAMENTALPOSTULATES.

INDIA IS NOLONGER WILLING

TO ACCEPT THESECOND-CLASS

STATUS THRUST ON IT 75 YEARS AGO

In the last three months,458,000 jobs have beencreated — 60 per centof which have gone towomen, 40 per cent toyoung people.

Australian Treasurer—Josh Frydenberg

The farmers will not bescared into submission. Theywill face COVID pandemic butfight for their rights on thestreets of Punjab and the restof the country.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

The best thing we can donow for all those who havesuffered in the course ofthis pandemic is bring it toan end in the speediestpossible way.

British PM—Boris Johnson

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

S O U N D B I T E

A taxing question

(RAPES) CAN ONLY BE STOPPED THROUGH GOOD VALUES

AND NOT GOVERNANCE OR VIOLENCE. PARENTS SHOULD

INSTILL GOOD VALUES IN THEIR DAUGHTERS

—UP BJP MLA

SURENDRA SINGH

THIS IS THE FILTHY RSS MALE CHAUVINIST MENTALITY

AT WORK. MEN DO THE RAPING BUT WOMEN NEED TO

BE TAUGHT GOOD VALUES.

—CONGRESS LEADER

RAHUL GANDHI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Reining in the fiscal deficit has always been achallenge for the Centre especially after theenactment of the Fiscal Responsibility and

Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003, whichrequires it to maintain the shortfall within a spec-ified threshold. At the same time, there are certainthrust areas, such as education, roads and otherinfrastructure, telecommunication networks inrural areas, exploration of oil, gas and so on, whichthe Government feels won’t get the desired fundsin the normal course of budgeting. This led to suc-cessive dispensations to think of a special tax orcess — a form of tax charged/levied over and abovethe base tax liability of a taxpayer. These includeUSO (Universal Service Obligation) levy imposedon telecom service providers, cess on CrudePetroleum Oil (CPO), Road and Infrastructure Cess(RaIC), Primary Education cess (PEC), Secondaryand Higher Education cess (SHEC), Education cesson Imported Goods (ECIG), R&D cess and so on.The proceeds from these taxes are credited to theConsolidated Fund of India (CFI) and subsequent-ly transferred to a non-lapsable fund, for instance,the USO Fund (USOF) — based on the appropri-ation approved by the Parliament — created in thepublic account for utilising exclusively for the pur-poses for which it is collected. The financing of thespecified activity thus gets shielded from the vul-nerabilities associated with the normal budgetingexercise.

Prima facie, the idea sounds appealing. But thebig question is if this is working. Are funds beingutilised for the declared purpose? Are the outcomescommensurate with the intent? To answer thesequestions, let us look at the reports of theComptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG)brought out from time to time. The Centrecharges licence fee at eight per cent of the adjust-ed gross revenue (AGR) of telecom serviceproviders. This includes five per cent as appropri-ation for crediting to USOF (set up in 2002) whilethe balance three per cent is retained with the gen-eral exchequer. For 2018-19, the CAG has notedthat out of a total collection of about `6,900 croreas USO levy, only `4,800 crore was transferred tothe USOF, implying a shortfall of `2,100 crore.Against a collection of ̀ 1,10,000 crore since 2002,the amount disbursed till date is only ̀ 54,500 crore.The balance `55,500 crore remains with the CFI.Coming to the SHEC, the Government started col-lecting this levy from 2006-07 and until January2019, could harness about ̀ 94,000 crore. The entireamount has been retained in the CFI. In this case,even the public account christened as Madhyamikand Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh (MUSK) was createdonly in August 2017 (more than a decade after thecollection started) and has not been opera-tionalised so far.

The R&D Cess Act, 1986, provides for levy andcollection of cess on all payments made for theimport of technology. The proceeds of this wereto be disbursed as grants-in-aid to the TechnologyDevelopment Board (TDB) set up in 1996. During1996-97 to 2017-18, a total of about `8,000 crorewas collected. Of this, a mere ̀ 800 crore was trans-ferred to the TDB. Furthermore, though the cesswas abolished from April 2017, it continued to becollected during the following two years, viz. 2017-18 and 2018-19. In case of Clean Energy Cess(levied on coal supplies) since 2010-11, theamount denied to the designated fund, viz.

National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF),was about ̀ 44,500 crore. Likewise, in thecase of the RaIC, (earlier nomenclatureRoad Cess), there was a “short transfer”of about ̀ 72,000 crore in the amount col-lected since 1998-99 till March 31, 2018to the Central Road Fund (CRF), thepublic account.

Unlike other taxes, which are part ofthe “divisible pool” to be shared with theStates as per the recommendations of theFinance Commission, the Centre gets toretain all of the cess (which goes to theCFI and is available for general use).Because its finances have come underserious stress during the current pandem-ic year, its reliance on RaIC has increasedby leaps and bounds. It raised centralexcise duty (CED) on petrol and dieseltwice this year in March and May, most-ly through hike in the cess. At present,out of CED on petrol of ̀ 33 per litre, ̀ 18per litre or 54.5 per cent comes from thecess. For diesel, out of ̀ 32 per litre CED,RaIC is ̀ 12 per litre or 37.5 per cent. TheGovernment also levies the Oil IndustryDevelopment (OID) cess currently at 20per cent ad-valorem on the price thatdomestic producers of crude, namely theOil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) and the Oil India Limited(OIL), get on their supplies from nomi-nated blocks and pre-NELP (new explo-ration licensing policy) exploratoryblocks. Collected under the Oil Industries(Development) Act of 1974, though thecess proceeds are intended to fundresearch, exploration and developmentwork, yet the money remains with theCFI.

As pointed out by the top auditor,there are irregularities galore in the man-agement of the cesses. These includeshort or “nil” transfer of cess proceedsfrom the CFI to the dedicated non-lapsable fund in the public account set

up for the specified purpose. In certaincases, the public accounts were not evencreated long after the Government start-ed collecting the tax. In others, it contin-ued to collect even after the same wasabolished. The Government has, in fact,used them primarily for increasing its“general revenue” and meeting the fiscaldeficit target. If an overwhelming shareof proceeds (or even the whole of it) fromthe cess remain with the CFI, what elseone should conclude? Or the dedicatedpublic account where the money has togo (for use in the intended purpose) isnot even created, what else can one infer?

Meanwhile, these cesses continue toinflict damage on the stakeholders whobear their brunt. Look at the impact ofthe five per cent USO levy on telecomservice providers. In an intensely com-petitive environment, wherein they arecompelled to keep the tariff low (this isalso in sync with the dire need to makethese affordable to consumers, with amajority of them having a low income),such levy has the effect of raising the costof services and making them unviable. Infact, there is a strong case for scrappingthis tariff.

This was recognised by none otherthan the Union Telecom Minister, RaviShankar Prasad, when he wrote to theFinance Ministry: “Given that rural tele-density has significantly increased sincethe time the fund was set up, it is pro-posed that the USO levy may be reducedfrom five per cent to three per cent. Thetwo per cent USO levy reduction may bemade available to the telecom serviceproviders provided that this amount isutilised by them for carrying out researchand development for development anddeployment of indigenous technologiesin the country.” Yet the Government con-tinues with status quo, the sole reasonbeing easy availability of funds (from

USO levy) which can be used for plug-ging its general deficit. Look at the RaIC,which accounts for a major slice of theCED on petrol and diesel and togetherwith the cascading effect of Value AddedTax (VAT) leads to a bizarre situationwhereby taxes alone account for abouttwo-third of their prices at the pump. Thehigh fuel price contributes to high infla-tion and higher cost of fertilisers andfood. Since the Government controlstheir prices at a low level to make themaffordable, much of the extra revenue isgiven back as higher subsidy.

To that extent, the revenue gain fromthe cess (besides other taxes) is imaginary.Likewise, 20 per cent OID cess ondomestic supplies of crude (besides the20 per cent royalty ONGC/OIL need topay to State Governments in respect ofonshore supplies and 10-12.5 per centroyalty to the Centre on offshore supplies)impacts the viability of producers at atime when their realisation from sale hasplummeted (courtesy, the steep declinein the international price of crude).

Despite the cesses not serving theintended purpose and their negative con-sequences, the mandarins in the FinanceMinistry appear to be in no mood to saygoodbye to them. Amid the current cri-sis created by the pandemic, when the taxcollections have been severely impactedand expenditure commitments have bal-looned, they may not even entertain anydiscussion on this. Nonetheless, there isdire need to put abolition of these cess-es on the high table as these are not onlycounter-productive but also make ourpolicy planners and administrators com-placent with regard to sustainable waysof balancing the budget. Will theGovernment go on a course correction?One can only wait and watch.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based pol-icy analyst)

As pointed out by the nation’s top auditor, there are irregularities galore in themanagement of the various cesses as they have been appropriated to manage deficits

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Acts of growth, empowerment

VIJAY BAHADUR PATHAK

UP is developing 27 modern Kisan Mandis and24 of these will have cold chamber and ripening

facilities for preservation of farm produce

UTTAM GUPTA

IN CERTAIN CASES, THE

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS WERE NOT

EVEN CREATED LONG

AFTER THE GOVERNMENT

STARTEDCOLLECTING THE TAX. IN

OTHERS, THEGOVERNMENT

CONTINUED TOCOLLECT THE CESS

EVEN AFTER THE SAME WAS

ABOLISHED. NONETHELESS,

THERE IS A DIRENEED TO ABOLISHCESSES AS THESE

ARE NOT ONLYCOUNTER-

PRODUCTIVE BUTALSO MAKE OUR

POLICY PLANNERSAND

ADMINISTRATORSCOMPLACENT

WITH REGARD TOSUSTAINABLE

WAYS OFBALANCING THE

BUDGET

The Opposition is staging protests against the recent farm reformsthough the measures contained in the three Acts will enable bar-rier-free trade in agricultural produce and empower farmers to

engage with investors of their choice. These Acts, which are a bid bythe Centre to empower growers and double their income by 2022,will free them from unnecessary legislation, bring fundamental changes,give impetus to investment and increase employment in the agricul-ture sector, which in turn will strengthen the economy of the coun-try. The promotion of contract farming will help farmers reach an agree-ment with food processing units/exporters on an individual or organ-ised basis. It will also enable them to reduce the input of fertilisersand seeds, reduce other costs and use modern techniques to max-imise products and get a better market as they will have the oppor-tunity to work according to national-international demands.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act seeks to create an ecosystem where the farmers andtraders enjoy the freedom of choice relating to sale and purchase ofproduce. This facilitates remunerative prices through competitive alter-native trading channels to promote efficient, transparent and barrier-free inter and intra-State trade. This was proposed because there wererestrictions to selling agri-produce outside the notified AgriculturalProduce Market Committee (APMC). And growers could sell the pro-duce only to registered licensees of the State Governments. This leg-islation will open more choices for farmers, reduce marketing costsand get them better prices. It will also help growers of regions withsurplus produce to get better prices and consumers of regions withshortages, lower prices. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act seeks to pro-vide for a national framework on agreements that empowers grow-ers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers,exporters or large retailers for services and sale of future produce ata mutually agreed remunerative price framework, in a fair and trans-parent manner.

This has been done because agriculture is characterised by frag-mentation due to small holding sizes in India and has certain weak-nesses such as weather dependence, production uncertainties andmarket unpredictability. This makes it risky and inefficient in respectof both, input and output management. Now the risk of market unpre-dictability will be transferred from the grower to the sponsor. Farmershave been given adequate protection and an effective dispute reso-lution mechanism has been provided with clear redressal timelines.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act seeks to removecommodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and pota-toes from the list of essential commodities. This will remove fears ofprivate investors of excessive regulatory interference in their businessoperations. The freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and sup-ply will lead to harnessing of economies of scale and attract privatesector/Foreign Direct Investment. Farmers suffer huge losses whenthere are bumper harvests, especially of perishable commodities andthis Act will help drive up investment in cold storages and moderni-sation of the food supply chain.

The Opposition parties have Governments in different States andthey should show what they have done for the farming community.Take the case of Uttar Pradesh (UP) which is striving hard to doublethe income of farmers. During the lockdown, the Yogi AdityanathGovernment exempted 45 items of fruits and vegetables from mandifee, which benefited growers who are now free to sell their produceanywhere in UP. They also have the option to sell their goods in themandis where only one per cent user charge is taken from traders.Besides, all 119 sugar mills of UP ran at full capacity and produced126.36 MT of sugar after crushing 1,118 lakh tonnes of sugarcane.As a bumper kharif crop is expected, the Mandi Parishad and the StateWarehousing Corporation are building warehouses of 5,000 MT capac-ity each in 37 mandis. Farmers can keep their produce here free ofcharge for 30 days, after which they will get 30 per cent rebate onthe rent, so that they can sell their products when they get the bestprice. The UP Government has ensured that the produce will be recog-nised as a guarantee for the farmers to get bank loans.

UP is developing 27 modern Kisan Mandis and in 24 of these,cold chamber and ripening facilities for preservation of fruits and veg-etables are being made. This project will have a ripening chamber of20 MT capacity and a cold chamber of 10 MT capacity. It is expect-ed to be completed by 2020-21. Also, during the lockdown, 35.77lakh tonnes of wheat was purchased, as were pulses and oilseed andit was ensured that the market price should be at least at par or abovethe Minimum Support Price. Now efforts are afoot to purchase paddy,pulses and oilseeds at the MSP in order to benefit farmers.

(The writer is a member, Legislative Council of Uttar Pradesh andvice-president of UP BJP)

It was supposed to be the most loyal,oldest and time-tested ally of theBJP but ground realities and com-

pulsions of State politics in Punjab inthe wake of the passage of the threefarm Acts forced the Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) to hurriedly exit the NDA.Had there been even a slight delay inannouncing the divorce from theNDA, the party, whose major votebank comprises the farmers and thosein the rural areas of Punjab, would haveseen an erosion of its base at a crucialjuncture. Plus, the SAD draws itspower from influential Sikh religiousorganisations, which would not havetaken too kindly to the party contin-uing to be in an alliance with the NDAafter its decision to push through thethree farm Acts despite protests by thefarmers.

The primary concern of the SADat the moment is the March 2022Assembly election, the countdown forwhich has already begun in the Statewith the political positioning by var-ious parties. For the SAD, being a partof the NDA is a secondary concern atthe moment, focussing as it is on gain-ing public traction and getting on theelectoral bandwagon.

Particularly as the SAD’s mainrival, the ruling Congress Party, whichis facing anti-incumbency sentimentsin the State, has been aggressively tar-geting the farm Acts to divert atten-tion from its lacklustre performance inthe last 42 months. It would have chal-lenged the SAD for being part of analliance which passed the “anti-farmer” laws.

However, SAD patron and five-time Chief Minister Parkash SinghBadal and party president SukhbirSingh Badal sensed the mood andstrategy of the Congress and tookimmediate measures by quitting theNDA. Harsimrat Kaur Badal wasasked to submit her resignation fromthe Cabinet and when this was dubbedas “too little, too late”, SAD walkedaway from the NDA to stop the

Congress from becoming the ful-crum of a pro-farmer political mobil-isation.

However, the question remains,how deep is the fissure between theSAD and the BJP and is the split per-manent? Moreover, questions arebeing raised whether this was mereposturing and a strategy to buy time?Will the two once again enter into anelectoral alliance for the 2022 Assemblypolls and then the 2024 Lok Sabhaelections?

The Badal patriarch has time andagain described the SAD-NDA allianceas “made for each other” and even afterthis break, he has refused to join in anypublic mudslinging against the formerpartner. He also did not get swayed bythe temporary sentiments of hostilitytowards each other. Perhaps he wantsto leave a window of rapprochementajar as and when the time comes. Manyin Punjab believe that this time wouldbe a few weeks before the Assemblyelections when the din associatedwith the farm Acts dies down in duecourse and a formula is evolved toappease the farmers, who are on thewarpath at the moment.

Punjab has more or less been a

two-party system for decades now,where the SAD-BJP and the CongressParty have shared power for long,though the equations changed slight-ly after the emergence of the AamAadmi Party (AAP) and its decent out-ing in the last State polls.

The BJP’s votebank in urbanpockets of Punjab is an increment innot only sociological terms for theAkalis but also psychologically as ithelps the alliance present itself to theelectorate as an ideal Sikh-Hinducombination, carrying the legitimacyof the entire population. With the SADparting ways with the NDA, whichmany, even those in the Badal-ledparty, believe is temporary, this idea ofa composite Sikh-Hindu electoralalliance has been dented. This is like-ly to carry an adverse message for therest of the country as well, where theOpposition could paint the BJP as“anti-alliance” or a party which couldnot keep a Sikh minority party in itsfold or accommodate the viewpoint ofits alliance partners.

Talk to the Akali Dal leaders inprivate and they admit that backdoornegotiations would begin once the heatgenerated by the Acts subside and the

churning for the Assembly electionsstarts. Even BJP leaders in the State arenot sure what exactly to say at themoment. Behind the public posturingand the bravado of a couple of saffronleaders, who talked of a “clean sweepand Modi wave in next elections”, liesa lurking fear on how to pick candi-dates and build the organisation in therural pockets of the State. Hitherto,they had never been to the rural areasas it was always left for the Akalis. Evennow, after the divorce, the saffron partyleaders are taking no steps to build asemblance of a political structure in theSikh-dominated rural pockets. Perhapsthey, too, have a sense that the break-up is temporary and they should notdo anything to aggravate the situationas of now.

The argument that the Shiv Senawalked away from the BJP and formeda Government in alliance with theCongress and the-Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) in Maharashtra and thatsomething similar could happen inPunjab, simply does not hold ground.The reason is simple — the SAD wouldcease to exist if it even goes soft on theCongress in Punjab, forget aboutentering into any sort of understand-

ing with the grand old party. The SAD was born on an anti-

Congress plank and has consistentlymaintained that in the two-party elec-toral ethos which the State has devel-oped historically. The BJP or its earli-er avatar, the Jan Sangh, has alwaysbeen a minor player in the border State.Even at the height of the NarendraModi wave in 2019, the Congress man-aged to swim through. For the BJP,Punjab is more or less politically sim-ilar to Kerala or Tamil Nadu — what-ever it does, however hard it tries, itcannot get a foothold as of now if itgoes solo. The reason is simple —demography and the socio-religiousprofile of the electorate.

Of course, the farm Acts couldhave consequences in neighbouringHaryana as well where the BJP is in apost-election alliance with theJannayak Janata Party (JJP). The Ajayand Dushyant Chautala-led familyparty has so far stuck to the chorus thatthe Acts would not take away even an“iota” from the farmers and their inter-ests are safe, but they, too, are slightlyapprehensive given the support thefarmers’ agitation is receiving from therich Jat growers — the main social and

political base of the JJP. But asAssembly elections in Haryana are fouryears away, sitting ensconced in theState Government is far more politi-cally rewarding for the JJP than facingan uncertain future and an uncertainelectoral outcome if it withdraws sup-port at this juncture.

If the ongoing season of paddyprocurement goes well, farmers get theMinimum Support Price (MSP) andare able to sell their produce in themandis without any difficulty; theapprehensions related to the farm Actswould be addressed automatically toan extent. Then comes the wheat sow-ing and harvesting season in Aprilnext. Farmers and political parties likethe SAD and the BJP will look at thattoo. And if everything goes as per whatthe proponents of the Acts in the BJPare saying, there could be a rethink inthe strategy of the SAD and itsapproach towards the NDA. Many inPunjab believe that the SAD wouldwait till the next wheat harvesting sea-son and take a call on whether thedivorce with the NDA and the BJPwould be permanent or temporary.

(The writer is Senior ResidentEditor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

A real break-up or political posturing with eye on polls?Many believe that the SAD would wait till the next wheat harvesting season and take a call on whether the divorce with the BJP would be final or not

AMITABH SHUKLA

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020 money 08

Dividend payouts leavelittle cash with NOCsPNSn NEW DELHI

The extraction of large share-holder payouts from nationaloil companies by the govern-ment leaves little cash surplusfor them to meaningfullyinvest in low carbon alterna-tives, Moody's InvestorsService said on Monday.

The government has man-dated national oil companiessuch as Oil and Natural GasCorp (ONGC) to pay a min-imum 30 per cent of their netprofit as dividends to share-holders. The government ben-efits out of such payout as it isthe largest shareholder in thesefirms and also gets tax on suchpayouts.

In a new report, Moody'ssaid energy transition posesvarying degrees of credit riskto the world's largest nationaloil companies (NOCs).

"The Indian government

has also been extracting largeshareholder payouts from itsNOCs leaving little cash sur-plus for them to meaningful-ly invest in low carbon alter-natives," Moody's said.

While there has been a sig-nificant increase in invest-ment in renewables in India,this has been done by govern-ment-owned and privately-owned utility companiesrather than NOCs, it said.

India is the world's third-largest consumer of oil (about5 per cent of global consump-tion) and is heavily dependenton imports to meet theseneeds.

Rays Experts commissions 600MW solar projects in RajasthanPNSn NEW DELHI

Rays Experts on Monday saidit has successfully commis-sioned six solar parks inRajasthan with a combinedpower capacity of 600megawatt (MW).

Rays Experts has investedRs 3,000 crores on the sixparks which are spread across2,500 acres of land, mainly inthe districts of Bikaner andJodhpur, and provide morethan 4 lakh houses withrenewable energy, a companystatement said.

According to the statementthe deployed solar parks havebenefited thousands of fami-lies by helping create businessand employment opportuni-ties.

The projects have collective-ly provided employment to

over 2,000 people so far. Theyare further employing close to600 people each month for thepark maintenance and addi-tional capacity expansion.

This is over and above otherbenefits for the state includingenhanced business produc-tivity, reduced carbon emis-sions, lower power tariffs, andincreased GST collection.

With its solar parks, RaysExperts has catered to morethan 275 customers in variousindustries ranging from tradi-tional namkeen (snacks),wool, media, hotels, hospitals,and marble industries, along-side others.

"Rajasthan has over 15 GWsolar plants in the planningstage for the next 3 years andwe are proud to be a part of itssolar journey," Rays ExpertsMD & CEO Rahul Gupta,

MD & CEO said in the state-ment.

Rays Experts plans oninvesting Rs 50 crores addi-tionally in Rajasthan over thenext two years.

The Solar EPC (EngineeringProcurement Construction)and park developer has a cur-rent order book of 250 MW inthe state.

It is developing around foursolar parks in other states aswell, three of which have beenapproved and are in advancedstages of development.

The company aims to reachthe 1,000 MW installationmilestone by the end of 2021,it added.

Rays Experts is India's lead-ing innovative solar solutionsprovider and one of the largestsolar power EPC and develop-ment companies.

NEC Tech rechristened‘ NEC Corporation’ PNSn NEW DELHI

NEC Technologies India onMonday announced itsrebranding to NECCorporation India (NEC) asthe company looks to enhancefocus on the Indian market.

The company plans toestablish a new centre of excel-lence (COE) for the trans-portation business in India byleveraging its expertise in sup-porting over 4,000 busesacross various BRT (bus rapidsystem) projects in the coun-try.

"We are promoting an 'IndiaGo Big' initiative by leveragingour solution development anddelivery capability from Indiato aid global business growth.The name change is a result ofa rebranding effort designed tomirror the focused approachand our commitment to theIndian market," NECCorporation India Presidentand CEO Aalok Kumar said ina statement.

Japan-based NEC startedoperations in India in the

1950's and expanded its busi-ness from telecommunica-tions to public safety, logistics,transportation, retail, finance,unified communication andIT platforms.

The company has set upCOEs for analytics platformsolutions, big data, biometrics,mobile and retail etc.

"NEC has plans to expandthe portfolio and depth of itssolutions and services offeredboth in the Indian market andglobally. Supported by a strongand talented workforce of6,000 employees in India, thecompany now serves as aglobal delivery hub for off-shore support and productdevelopment, pursuing furthergrowth in the domestic mar-ket," the statement said.

NEC's key projects includethe Chennai-Andaman sub-marine cable project, whichwas recently inaugurated byPrime Minister NarendraModi, biometric-based paper-less boarding solution in avi-ation sector and smart cityprojects.

Vodafonelenders approvemerger of IndusTowers with BI PNSn NEW DELHI

British telecom majorVodafone Group on Mondaysaid it has received anapproval from its lenders,who contributed in fundingfor Vodafone Idea, to proceedwith the merger of IndusTowers with Bharti Infratel.Vodafone Idea holds 11.15per cent stake in IndusTowers, which is estimated tobe valued at around Rs 4,000crore. Vodafone Group Plchad announced onSeptember 1, 2020 that it hadagreed to proceed with themerger of Indus TowersLimited and Bharti InfratelLimited (Bharti Infratel,together the 'combined com-pany'). "The agreement toproceed was conditional onconsent for a security pack-age for the benefit of the com-bined company fromVodafone's existing lenders,for the 1.3 billion euros(about Rs 11,100 crore) loanutilised to fund Vodafone'scontribution to the VodafoneIdea Ltd rights issue in 2019.This consent has now beenreceived," Vodafone said in astatement. The parties willnow approach the NationalCompany Law Tribunal tomake the merger schemeeffective. "The parties areworking to complete thetransaction expeditiously,"Vodafone said in a state-ment.

Flipkart partners Paytm for festive salePNSn NEW DELHI

Walmart-owned Flipkart onMonday said it has partneredwith fintech major Paytm toprovide customers a slew ofoffers and benefits during itsfestive season sale.

"This partnership will enablemillions of Paytm users toconveniently pay through theirPaytm Wallet and Paytm UPIwhile shopping on Flipkartduring The Big Billion Days. Inaddition, Flipkart customerswill enjoy instant cashback totheir Paytm wallets," a state-ment said.

This partnership is well-aligned with Flipkart's prepa-ration ahead of the upcoming

festival where it sees a hugesurge in the orders across thecountry and will further boostthe uptake of digital transac-tions as India continues tostay indoors and maintainsocial distancing, it added.

Flipkart will host its annual'The Big Billion Days' salefrom October 16-21, whileMyntra will hold its 'BigFashion Festival' betweenOctober 16-22.

The events will focus ondelivering a wide range ofproducts to existing and newconsumers, while providinggrowth opportunities toMSMEs (Micro, Small, andMedium Enterprises) and sell-ers across the country.

Flipkart rival, Amazon.in isexpected to announce its saledates later this week. Value-focussed e-commerce market-place Snapdeal had said it willhold its first sale in mid-October to coincide withNavratri festivities. Its nexttwo sales will run in lateOctober and early November.

E-commerce companies seea large chunk of their businesscoming in during the festivesales and they make significantinvestments ahead of time toramp up their capacity to beable to handle the spike inorders. Festive season seesplayers holding multiple saleevents, timed around Dussehra

and Diwali. Electronics, fash-ion and home furnishing aresome of the categories that seea huge demand during thefestive season. A report byRedSeer estimates that festivesales this year are expected toalmost double and touch USD7 billion in GMV as comparedto USD 3.8 billion in the sameperiod last year.

"Our partnership withPaytm showcases our com-mitment to make digital pay-ment solutions customer-cen-tric and inclusive, democratis-ing digital payments for all.This festive season millions ofPaytm users across the countrywill have access to their walletsand UPI on Flipkart," Flipkart

Head - Fintech and PaymentsGroup Ranjith Boyanapallisaid.

He added that digital pay-ments, including UPI, contin-ue gaining prominence in Indiaand Flipkart believes that dig-ital adoption will help India geteconomically stronger.

"Flipkart has championede-commerce in India, andtogether we aim to replacecash on delivery with digitalpayments via Paytm Walletand Paytm Bank account. Ouraim is to empower millions ofIndians with innovative solu-tions that would play a key rolein building AtmanirbharBharat," Paytm PresidentMadhur Deora said.

Dr Reddy's joins hands with SBTi,aims to cut greenhouse gas emissionsPNSn NEW DELHI

Dr Reddy's Laboratories onMonday said it has committedto reduce its greenhouse gasemissions by 55 per cent by2030.

The Hyderabad-based drugmajor has joined hands withthe Science Based Targets ini-tiative (SBTi), thus becomingthe first Indian and the thirdAsian pharmaceutical compa-ny to have set its science-based targets to further min-imise environmental impact,Dr Reddy's Laboratories said ina statement.

The company has commit-ted to reducing its Scope 1 and

2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions by 55 per cent by 2030from 2017-18 base year, whichare in line with the latest cli-mate science of limiting glob-al warming to below 1.5°Cabove pre-industrial levels, itadded.

Continuous improvement

in our environmental perfor-mance is a notable aspect ofour sustainability journey. Weare delighted to join SBTi intaking a science-basedapproach to set our GHGemission reduction targets andaccelerating our efforts to cre-ating a positive impact on ourplanet," Dr Reddy'sLaboratories Co-chairman andManaging Director G V Prasadsaid.

As of 2019-20 fiscal, DrReddy's said it reduced itsScope 1 emissions by 8.6 percent and Scope 2 emissions by20.7 per cent over the baselineof 2017-18 fiscal.

The combined Scope 1 and

2 emissions have been reducedby 13 per cent over the samebase year, putting the compa-ny on a fast track to achievingGHG reduction targets, itadded.

SBTi, a joint initiative ofCarbon Disclosure Project,United Nations GlobalCompact, World ResourcesInstitutes and World WideFund, provides companies witha clearly defined pathway tofuture-proof growth by speci-fying how much and howquickly they need to reducetheir greenhouse gas emis-sions to limit global warmingto well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Suresh Prabhu launchesIndia Bamboo ForumPNSn NEW DELHI

Former Union Minister SureshPrabhu has launched an inde-pendent forum with an aim togive boost to the bamboo sec-tor by promoting entrepre-neurship, research, and tradeof high quality bamboo prod-ucts in a sustainable manner.

The India Bamboo Forum-- conceived and conceptu-alised by Prabhu -- will under-take the work by bringingtogether a voluntary group of55 committed leaders in thebamboo sector.

"The forum will workactively with the stakeholdersfrom institutions from withinIndia and abroad, policy mak-

ers and industry and identifyspecific thematic areas thatrequire resolution at the stateand national ecosystems,"Prabhu told PTI.

Prabhu added that thegrowth of bamboo sector willhelp prevent deforestation,create jobs, and help increasefarmers' income.

To begin with, five areas ofnational importance have beenidentified -- development of adedicated knowledge dissem-ination portal, improving tech-nical standards, skill develop-ment, providing mentorship tobamboo startups and creationof a platform for facilitatingbuyer-seller linkages of bam-boo products, he said.

Agritech startupUnnati hasraised USD

1.7 million (aboutRs 12.5 crore) inpre-series Afunding fromNabventures Fund.Unnati has createda platform todigitalise the majorcomponents in thefood andagribusiness value chain. The predictive capabilities of the datacaptured by the platform enhances efficiencies while its transparentprocesses help in building trust among farmers and FPOs (Farmer'sProducer Organisations)," Nabard and Nabventures chairman G RChintala said in a release.A subsidiary of Nabard, Nabventures is aventure growth equity fund that invests in agritech, food, agri/ruralfintech and rural healthtech/edutech. It has an asset undermanagement of USD 75 billion. The parties will now approach theNational Company Law Tribunal to make the merger schemeeffective. "The parties are working to complete the transactionexpeditiously," Vodafone said in a statement.

Five fintech playersEarlySalary,KreditBee, Kissht,

CashE, and LoanTaphave come togetherto form anassociation - FinTechAssociation forConsumerEmpowerment(FACE).Theassociation waslaunched last week topromote a robust,diverse and inclusive

FinTech ecosystem in the country, a release said.It aims to driveethical lending practices among the Indian FinTech sector andestablish thought leadership in consumer finance by sharing bestpractices, consumer trends, and research insights and play an activerole in the industry policy, the release said.

Motilal Oswal FinancialServices (MOFSL) saidits board has appointed

Arvind Hali as the newmanaging director and chiefexecutive officer of MotilalOswal Home Finance(MOHFL).The board has alsoappointed Amar Bahl as thedeputy managing director andCOO of the housing financecompany, a release said.

Unnati raises USD 1.7 mn from Nabventures Fund

Fintech players form associationto promote responsible lending

MOFSL appoints Arvind Hali asMD, CEO of its housing arm

The results of the firstedition of NationalStartup awards will

be released byCommerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyalon Tuesday, an officialstatement said.TheDepartment forPromotion of Industryand Internal Trade(DPIIT) has conceivedthe first-ever award torecognize and rewardoutstanding startups andecosystem enablers thatare building innovative products or solutions and scalableenterprises, with high potential of employment generation or wealthcreation, demonstrating measurable social impact, it said onMonday.The winning startups will get cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh each,along with opportunities to present their solutions to relevant publicauthorities and corporates for potential pilot projects and workorders. The first edition of the awards invited applications across 12sectors which were further sub-classified into a total of 35 categories.

Commerce Min to release firstedition of National Startupawards on Tuesday

MONEY MATTERS

Markets march higher; TCSzooms 7% on buybackPNSn MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexdarted up for the third consec-utive session on Monday,buoyed by robust gains in ITand banking stocks amid abroad upmove in global mar-kets.

TCS soared over 7 per centafter the IT major said it willconsider a share buyback pro-posal later this week.

Starting off on a high note,the 30-share BSE Sensexzoomed to the day's peak at39,263.85, before ceding someground to settle at 38,973.70,up 276.65 points or 0.71 percent. Likewise, the broaderNSE Nifty rose 86.40 points or0.76 per cent to close at11,503.35.

TCS was the top performeron the Sensex chart, rallying7.30 per cent.

In the process, the IT giantbecame the second Indianfirm after Reliance Industries

to cross the Rs 10 lakh croremarket valuation mark.

Other prominent gainersincluded Tata Steel, SunPharma, Infosys, TechMahindra, IndusInd Bank,HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, HUL,Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank,spurting up to 4.71 per cent.

On the other hand, BajajFinserv, Bajaj Finance, BhartiAirtel, Bajaj Auto, PowerGridand ITC were among themajor laggards, shedding asmuch as 2.70 per cent.

With the global markets'focus turning to US PresidentDonald Trump's COVID-19treatment, reports of animprovement in his healthboosted investor sentiment,analysts said.

PNSn NEW DELHI

The Commerce Ministry'sinvestigation arm DGTR hasinitiated a probe to review theneed to continue imposition ofanti-dumping duty on certaintypes of steel products import-ed from China, Korea,European Union, South Africa,Taiwan, Thailand and the USfollowing complaints fromdomestic industry, according toa notification.

Jindal Stainless Ltd, JindalStainless (Hisar) Ltd and JindalStainless Steelway Ltd havefiled an application before theDirectorate General of TradeRemedies (DGTR) on behalf ofthe domestic industry for sun-set review of anti-dumpingduty imposed on imports of'Cold Rolled Flat Products ofStainless Steel of width 600 mm

to 1250 mm and above 1250mm of non bonafide usage'from these countries.

The applicants have allegedlikelihood of continuation orrecurrence of dumping on theproducts coming from thesecountries and have requested

for review and continuation ofthe duty imposed on theimports.

On the basis of the duly sub-stant-iated application by or onbehalf of the domestic indus-try, and having satisfied itself,on the basis of the prima facie

evidence submitted by thedomestic industry, about thelikelihood of continuation orrecurrence of dumping andinjury to the domestic indus-try...the authority, hereby, ini-tiates a sunset review investi-gation," the notification, datedSeptember 30, said.

DGTR would review the needfor continued imposition of theduties in force and exa-minewhether the expiry of exis-tingduties are likely to lead to con-tinuation or recurrence of dump-ing and impact the domesticindustry.The duty on the prod-uct was first imposed in February2010 and was later extended inDecem-ber 2015.The duty isaimed at ensuring fair tradepractices and creating a level-playing field for domestic pro-ducers with regard to foreignproducers and exporters.

ComMin starts probe toreview anti-dumping duty

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TuesdayOctober 6, 2020

UNDERSTANDING COVIDAND ITS AFTER-EFFECTS

xperts have observedthat Covid-19 has anadverse effect anddamage on parts ofthe body. It is alsopredicted that a new

wave of post-coronavirus-kidneydisease is expected to occur.

When asked what are the kindof health issues a Covid-recov-ered person might face, DrSuresh Sankar, Nephrologist, andSenior VP Clinical Affairs says,“Patients who recovered fromCovid-19 have been reported tocomplain of fatigue, headaches,vertigo, dyspnoea, breathlessness,and cognitive difficulties. Thesecomplications are not commonand usually occur a few weeksafter recovery. We must remem-ber that the disease is only knownfor 8 months; the medical com-munity is continuously andrapidly learning.”

He says diabetics are at a high-er risk of having a more severeattack of Covid-19 infection.“During the acute phase of ill-ness, glucose control can be chal-lenging requiring adjustment ofmedications including the needfor a higher dose of Insulin.

Steroids that are commonly usedto treat Covid-19, if patients needoxygen and Covid-19 infectioncause blood glucose disturbance.We are learning of Covid-19 hav-ing other organ involvements, awide spectrum of presentations,differing duration, and lastly alsohaving post-infection sequelae.We are yet to understand the pre-disposition, risk factors of thesepresentations, and hence an effec-tive therapeutic strategy cannotbe done. Of highest impact is thesevere form of the disease duringthe acute phase, when otherorgans including the heart, thecirculation, kidneys, and brainare affected. A small subset ofpatients also develops have anexcessive reaction of the immunesystem which manifests as fever,breathlessness,” Dr Suresh says.

So what are the nephrology-related treatments can Covid-19hit patients expect? He answers,“Patients may develop temporaryacute kidney injury from Covid-19 infection mostly when there isa multi-system involvement ofthe body. For patients withchronic kidney disease, there mayrisk of temporary worsening. A

kind of blood pressure controldrug, called ACE-inhibitors canbe continued though there wereconcerns about it in March 2020.Patients on dialysis must contin-ue their regular schedule. Kidneytransplant recipients mightrequire adjustment of medicationdosing.”

Covid patients are increasinglybeing detected with retinal com-plications leading to a blurring ofvision. Retinopathy is a kind of aretinal vascular disease where theretina of the eye gets damagedbecause of abnormal blood flow,resulting in vision impairment.On the same, Dr Raja Narayanan,Senior Retina Consultant, L VPrasad Eye Institute, says,“Retinopathy due to Covid-19 orsteroids treatment usually occurswithin 2-4 weeks after the Covid-19 has resolved. So patients whohave recovered from covid andhad been treated with steroidsshould watch out for such symp-toms for the initial weeks or tillthe time they are on steroids forlung complications. The mostcommon symptom is blurring ofvision. But the good news is that,so far, based on the cases report-ed to us, the risk to develop thiscondition is less than 0.1%.” DrNarayanan continues, “It’s notmandatory for all Covid-19recovered patients to undergo adetailed eye examination, butthose who experience blurring ofeyesight or any other similarsymptoms even after covid hasresolved should get their eyesexamined without delay.”

Dr Sunita Chaurasia, SeniorCornea Consultant, L V Prasad Eye Institute advises,“Maintaining good eye healthpractices, being vigilant, and con-sulting the doctors immediately ifyou experience any complicationswith your vision, is very impor-tant. Early diagnosis and treat-ment can help safeguard thevision of the patient.”

Women are, at present, ontheir backfoot with reproductiveand gynecological health issuesduring these trying times.Observations show that pregnantpatients are at no greater riskthan the general population andthe pregnancy outcomes are notadversely affected by Covid-19.Dr Rooma Sinha, Hon Professorand Senior ConsultantGynecologist, Apollo Hospitalstells us, “There is a need toacknowledge the unintendedconsequences of the pandemicand subsequent lockdown onwomen’s health in general. Wemust consider their mental healthissues, rise in domestic violence,and more importantly the lack ofaccess to gynaecological treat-ments. Contraception and safeabortion advice and accessibilitymust be insured to avoid unin-tended pregnancies. Abnormalepisodes of bleeding during men-strual cycles which could heavy,delayed, irregular, or after sex.Postmenopausal women withbleeding should not ignore thissymptom as there are concernsabout gynaecological cancer inthis situation. Associated with

pain and anaemia are conse-quences of these conditions,women are advised to reach outto gynecologists to address theseconcerns, either online or if pos-sible with physical appointments.”

“Chronic conditions like pelvicpain and infections, endometrio-sis or fibroids deserve attentionand can be managedby medicines or withsimple outpatient sur-gical procedures. So,there is no reason tosuffer silently aswomen’s health andhappiness is thenidus for the wholefamily’s well-being.Start with a gooddiet, regular exer-cise, and weightloss whereappropriate, asthis is oftenthe firstadvice theyreceive fromclinicians,”she adds.

We arein a longhaul withtheCorona-virusinfection.Remai-ninghealthycould nothave beenbetteremphasisedthan thepresent time.So stay vigi-lant andhome.

E

DR RAJA NARAYANAN DR ROOMA SINHA DR SANKAR DR SUNITA CHAURASIA

COVID-19 is known todamage the lungs; however,

as more people becomeinfected, a deeper

understanding of the diseaseis emerging, daily. To helpunderstand the underlyingissues, K RAMYA SREE

speaks to doctors of differentspecialisations on how to

tackle them

Saba Saudagar has been thetalk of the town for her

recently released web seriesCrackdown and fans are

certainly loving it. She hastaken on a completely newavatar as she plays the role

of a sweet and naivedomestic help at the RAW

chief's residence. Althoughshe is fully aware of thedespicable marriage life

between Zorawar and hiswife Garima, Fawzia is loved

by both the husband andwife. Fawzia, in her personallife, has a sweet family thatincludes her husband and anew-born baby. However it

seems like cooking tastyfood, looking after Zorawar’shome, and then looking after

her very own baby is whatFawzia’s whole life revolves

around until the truth is out.The actress talks to The

Pioneer's SHIKHA DUGGAL

and reveals more about herrole, life, and the industry

Never seen beforeavatar of actress Saba!

awzia, your charac-ter — does she have a hidden agenda?

Well, I believe it would bereally fun for the audi-

ences to find that out themselves!Being naive at times can imply ‘dan-ger’. She’s underplaying it by main-taining a certain barometer and Ipersonally didn’t want to overdo it.She just wants to bring truth to thetable and nothing else. I don’t limitmyself to certain characteristics andthe challenge arrives in meeting theexpectations of our audiences.

How's the new espionageseries different from othershows?

A beautifully shot web show, itscinematography, the pace, and thrillkeeps you hooked throughout. On apersonal level, I wanted to see moreof it due to its splendid picturisation.It's an interesting spy drama thatunderstands the psyche and upheavalof the main protagonists in the show.It takes the conventional route bymerging an espionage thriller over-shadowing the human aspects of thestory. A rightly tapped digital showwithout succumbing to jingoism!

How does one rememberFawzia?

It’s a surprise element, I havenever done a character like this sofar and I am sure all those whoknow and love me will be equally

surprised and satisfied watching meas Fawzia! From Gandi Baat’sKanchan to Crackdown’s Fawzia —it only helps me showcase my versa-tility as an actor.

Saba's best-loved characteron the screen?

There’s a saying ‘Be your own bestcritic’ however in my case it’s com-pletely the opposite, I tend to alwaysshy away from watching myself on-screen and when I do, I observefrom a completely different perspec-tive such as ‘I could have done thisbetter here’ or ‘I could have lookedmore appealing there’ and the listgoes on. Hence, I am never satisfied,even if I am highly appreciated bymy fans! Things changed this time,for the first time ever, after watchingmyself as Fawzia in Crackdown, Iactually felt I deserve a pat on myback! Due to a prominent fact, thatdespite a limited screen time I man-aged to leave an impact.

How does it feel to be direct-ed by a blockbusterBollywood director?

It’s an honour to be directed by'the Apoorva Lakhia’, who hasalways been in awe of his creations.Given how seasoned and an experi-enced filmmaker he is and who hasworked with the who’s who of theBollywood film industry, it becomeseasy for an actor to deliver his/herthe best performance because of thekind of clarity he has and seeks -

what he wants and to what percent-age! The entire set operated with somuch clarity, professionalism, andpunctuality. As a director makessure that nobody’s energy is gettingwasted due to somebody else’s con-fusion! Besides that, he’s the masterof action.

How do you think OTT plat-forms are changing thedynamics today?

It’s changing big time, and it’schanging for the better! The scriptand content are the only champi-oning points now. You don’t need astar of a particular stature or marketvalue, to drive your audiences crazy.It has opened many doors of oppor-tunities to a diverse crew of talentwho were long awaiting their due.Also, I feel the casting criteria haschanged so much — concrete faceswith tangible talent are more relat-able than glamour-clad figures.

Saba's take on the insider-outsider debate?

Well, insiders do get easy accessand numerous opportunities butwhat matters is who stays longer inthe race! If you aren’t able to deliver,you will not sustain it. As an out-sider, it certainly gets tough meetingthe right people at the right time,nonetheless, I believe time, patience,hard work, perseverance and skilledcraftsmanship in the long processdo pay off at the end. The idea is tohang in there!

WOMEN ARE, AT PRESENT, ON THEIR BACKFOOT WITHREPRODUCTIVE AND GYNECOLOGICAL HEALTH ISSUES DURINGTHESE TRYING TIMES. OBSERVATIONS SHOW THAT PREGNANTPATIENTS ARE AT NO GREATER RISK THAN THE GENERALPOPULATION AND THE PREGNANCY OUTCOMES ARE NOTADVERSELY AFFECTED BY COVID-19

F

10

Hyderabad Tuesday October 6 2020

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

BOOKS

what’s brewing?PARTY

SEASONALDELIGHTS

Giving in to demands of fans of the brand,Cream Stone had actress Laya launch their

seasonal shakes like Coffee Hazel, NuttyNuts, Vintage Chocolate, Black Currant, Go Banana

and the Sitaphal (Custard Apple) Creamtub,which are now available at all creamstone

outlets. Don't miss their latestaddition, the White Forest Ice

Cream Cake!

5 books to read during Unlocktories of powerfulfemale leads,explored in a varietyof contexts andevocative of a wholespectrum of emo-

tions, make for good reads, justas the country is getting moreand more active post the lock-down.

Apart from the classics, hereis a list you can choose from.

‘MOTHER AT NINETEEN'

BY GULISTA CHAUDHARY

Gulista Chaudhary’s Motherat Nineteen is a tale of love, sac-rifice, friendship, relationshipand foremost — motherhood.The plot revolves around thedecisions that we make in lifecan make or break relationships.Aashna made a decision ofbeing a 19-year-old, unmarriedmother. Little did she know thatshe’ll break all other relation-ships in the process. The authoris a dynamic speaker and a per-sonality development coach. Shedrew inspiration for writing thisbook from her personal life andalso facing ideologies of themale dominant world.

‘ENDURER'

BY KAPIL RAJ

Kapil Raj’s Endurer is a heart-rending story of a girl, whosebeliefs and horror has been bat-tered, stands up to make choic-es, rediscovering the meaningof life. The story revolvesaround Palak who is the epito-me of beauty and charisma andlives a privileged life. Sheattends a reputed institution ofhigher learning, has a group ofclose friends, and is the objectof admiration and desire.Nothing was right or wrong inher world. Life was a fun fedroller coaster. Newfound love,drugs, cat-fights, patch-ups,crushes, night hangouts, andunplanned trips, she was expe-riencing whatever passed herway. Her exploration goes toofar when she attends a raveparty. She wakes up to the hor-ror of finding herself raped.

‘THE ANATOMY OF

CHOICE' BY HARSHALI

SINGH

Harshali Singh’s TheAnatomy of Choice talks aboutwhether choice is really a possi-bility for women. The storyrevolves around BhavyaSharma, the second offspring ofthe Sharma family that inhabitsa large historical haveli nearChandni Chowk in Delhi, with

its mysterious mausoleum. Thisis the second novel in the‘Haveli series’. “If you can’t han-dle me at your worst, then youdon’t deserve me at my best”,this quote attributed to MarilynMonroe applies to this novel’spivotal character Bhavya equally if not more. Thestrength of this dual narrativelies in creating a fascinatingplot where the internal andexternal conflicts of her twoprotagonists, Bhavya andNoorie, are juxtaposed. Thestory also complex subjectssuch as polyamory and amoral-ity, and normalizes them. Thethemes of love, separation, lossof honour, rebellion, sacrifice,sorrow, and catharsis are pre-sent in the story.

‘5 MINUTES'

BY VRINDA SINGH

Vrinda Singh’s 5 minutes is athriller. Just like riding on aroller coaster, reading thisbook alternates between making you feel excited andexhilarated, happy and sad,disappointed and desperate, in just 5 minutes. What makes this book worth readingis the author's collection ofvarious real-life incidents jot-ted down into subtle 16 chap-

ters which are fast paced,grounded in reality, adrenalinesoaked, grab you by the feels,keep-you-guessing, intriguing,completely unexpected, heart-breaking yet hopeful and acrazy read on the wild side.The author started the story asa thriller and also ended likeone but what happens in themiddle is exactly what carriesthe readers through ways ofengaging with whirlwind ofemotions, confusion, drama,pain and love.

‘MIRAGE'

BY NILAKSHI GARG

Nilakshi’s Mirage is the new-age story of the female tattooartist, Bethany Carlson, operat-ing her tattoo parlour inChicago, Illinois. She is theprotagonist of this story. Shehas seen quite a lot of nasty upsand downs in her life. But wewill get to know about it muchlater. Because of her earlier life,she has not found anyone totrust to date. This is all beforeshe is forced to attend her col-lege’s Alumni party alone.There she meets, the oh-so-handsome, Gerald Fletcher. He is a very straight forwardman and from there the storyunfolds.

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he first looks ofactors ShivaKandukuri andPriyankaJawalkar fromcinematographer

VS Gnana Shekar’s maidenproduction venture,Gamanam, were unveiled bythe makers on Monday. Shivaplays an aspiring cricketer fromOld City in the film, whilePriyanka will be seen as his loveinterest.

Directed by debutante Sujana,a Hyderabadi who learnt film-making ropes from New Delhi,the film, a human drama, will bereleased in Tamil, Kannada,Malayalam and Hindi languagesas well. The entire shooting parthas been wrapped up and it ispresently in post-production.Maestro Ilaiyaraaja has scored themusic.

Gnana Shekar, who doubled upas a lensman, has producedGamanam in collaboration withRamesh Karutoori and VenkiPushadapu. Shekar is keen on abig screen debut for the film, co-starring Shriya Saran. “Wethought of giving it to prominentstreaming players initially, butwhile doing the colour grading, Ifelt it was better fit for the silverscreen as it looked like a biggerfilm. The moment you see it in alaptop or on a smartphone, thevisual and sound experience willbe lost. We are waiting. If we arelucky enough, it will go to cinemahalls or it will go straight tostreaming. I can’t hold it forlong,” he told us last month. Withcinema halls set to reopen fromOctober 15, wonder what'd beShekar’s decision now.

11

Hyderabad Tuesday October 6 2020tollywood

KRITHI SHETTY IN CONTENTION TOROMANCE NANI

Even before her maiden Telugu film, Uppena, opens in cinemas,Krithi Shetty has landed a key role in Nani-starrer Shyam Singha Roy.

The makers are happy with her look test, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

angalore girlKrithi Shetty hascaught the atten-tion of filmgoers

with her cutelooks and killer

smile from the promotionalmaterial released so far of

the anticipated Uppena. Nowonder she is on the wishlist of many filmmakers as

well. While she was attachedto films of Nikhil and

Vishwak Sen in the recentpast with no confirmation

from the makers, ThePioneer has understood thatshe is in leading contention

to romance Nani in RahulSankrityan’s Shyam Singha

Roy. The film’s story, besidesSai Pallavi, has scope for

two other actresses in signif-icant roles and Krithi is in

talks to play one role.According to a well-

placed source close to thedevelopment, Rahul has

gone through multiple newprofiles before considering

Krithi. “Impressed by herlooks and skills from

Uppena, the director hasspoken to her. He even did a

look test with her last weekin Hyderabad. The results

were pleasing but still somethings need to be sorted outbefore he takes a final deci-sion. One thing’s for sure isthat if she comes on board,the role will be a departure

from what she had played inUppena.”

An inquiry sent to film’sproducer Naga Vamsi didn’t

elicit any response.The source adds that

Shyam Singha Roy, a periodromance, will have the cam-eras rolling in December. It

would be filmed acrossHyderabad and Kolkata pre-

dominantly. “As far as theother actress is concerned,

the makers will be finalisingthe name shortly,” the

source concludes.

M

fter Nikhil, Rana and Nithiin,it looks like it’s the turn ofanother most eligible bachelorfrom T-town, Sai Tej, to bidfarewell to his bachelorhoodstatus. According to reports,

the actor’s mother Vijaya, after pursu-ing his son to consider settling downfor over a year, has finally convincedhim. The 33-year-old has even givenhis nod to a girl she picked from herrelative’s side. She later spoke to thehead of the family, Chiranjeevi, whotoo expressed his happiness with thealliance. The engagement is aroundthe corner, while the wedding, due tocoronavirus crisis, will be schedulednext summer. Sai too, it is said, ishappy with the deferment as it giveshim the time to know each other.

On the work front, the actor, whorecently completed the shooting ofdebutant director Subbu’s SoloBrathuke So Better, is set to start film-ing for Deva Katta’s next, which rollsshortly in Hyderabad. He plays ayoung IAS officer in the untitledsocial drama. After completing thisfilm, he will move to the sets of direc-tor Karthik Dandu’s mystic thrillerbased on thesuperstitiousbeliefs ofthe late70s.

A

Sai Tej toend solobrathukeso betterstatus?

annada superstarKichcha Sudeep, whooften travels down toHyderabad for theshoot of his variousKannada films, called

on Telugu superstar PawanKalyan on Monday at hisparty office in Hyderabad.The former spent an hourcloseted with the latter,exchanging views on presentissues and shooting in adher-ence with COVID-19 guide-lines in the new normal.According to a press release,Sudeep’s forthcoming films

featured in the chat as well.Taking to his Twitter page,

Sudeep described Pawan as agrounded human. “Met asimple grounded human@PawanKalyan i must admit.Wonderful interacting withyou sir (sic),” he wrote.

While Sudeep has alreadyresumed film shooting morethan two months ago by dri-ving to Hyderabad, Pawan,who is observing the sacredChaturmasya vrata deeksha,is set to join the sets of hiscomeback film Vakeel Saabafter Dasara.

K

Sudeep's rendezvous

with Pawan Kalyan

RRR resumesore than sixmonths afterits shoot wassuspendeddue toCOVID-19

outbreak, filmmaker SSRajamouli has resumedthe shooting of RRR,starring Jr NTR andRam Charan, inHyderabad on Monday.While the makersrefrained from reveal-ing more details exceptfor indicating theresumption, some

reports indicate thatschedule on Monday isa part of a trial planfrom the filmmaker tocheck whether he canfilm without any mem-bers contracting coron-avirus. The actualshoot, it is said, willcommence afterDasara, with his princi-pal actors joining nextmonth.

Set in 1920s pre-independent India,RRR, a production ven-ture of DVV Danayya,

revolves around the fic-tional exploits of tworeal freedom fightersKomaram Bheem(played by NTR) andAlluri Seetharama Raju(Charan). Before thepandemic brought theshoot to a halt,Rajamouli managed tocomplete close to 75percent of the shoot.An MM Keeravanimusical, the film alsofeatures Ajay Devgn,Alia Bhatt and OliviaMorris in key roles.

M

Rajendra Prasadand Naresh inKothi Kommachi

et to belaunched onDasara laterthis month,the filmingof Satish

Vegesna’s KothiKommachi, fronted byMeghamsh Srihari andSameer Vegesna, willroll from November 2.“The first schedule willbe shot in the scenicAmalapuram, while thesecond will be filmedacross Visakhapatnam.The director is planningto wrap up the entirefilm by December-end,”says a source.

The source adds that

Satish has assembled astrong supporting line-up for the project, aconfusion comedybetween two couples,with focus on familyties and emotions. “Thelikes of RajendraPrasad, Naresh VijayaKrishna, Praveen andSudarshan who Satishworked with in the pastwill feature in this filmas well, playing impor-tant supporting roles.The names of the lead-ing ladies though willbe out shortly,” thesource informs.

A production ventureof MLV Satyanarayana,

the film will have musi-cal score by AnupRubens, while promi-nent lensman Sameerhas been roped in as thecinematographer.

S

T

The firstschedule will beshot in thescenicAmalapuram,while thesecond will befilmed acrossVisakhapatnam

First look of Shiva andPriyanka from Gamanam out

PTI n DUBAI

Senior leg-spinner Amit Mishra wasruled out of the ongoing IPL along

with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whocould also miss the tour of Australia atyear-end, after the duo sustained dif-ferent injuries while competing forDelhi Capitals and SunrisersHyderabad respectively.

While DC’s Mishra fractured hisring finger while bowling againstKolkata Knight Riders on October 3,Bhuvneshwar picked up the thighmuscle injury on October 2 when SRHtook on Chennai Super Kings. He islikely to be out of reckoning for themuch-awaited trip Down Under.

The 37-year-old Mishra had threewickets from three games this seasonwhile Bhuvneshwar also had equalnumber of scalps albeit after playing amatch more.

“Amit has fractured his ring fingerand is out of IPL tournament.

Obviously, it is a very disappointingnews considering he was integral toDC’s plans,” a source from Mishra’smanagement team confirmed.

Delhi Capitals’ later issueda press release, stating that thebowler will consult a special-ist on his return to India forrecovery and rehabilitation.

“Mishra will now consultwith a specialist over the next fewdays to determine the most appro-priate course of management forthis unfortunate injury. Everyone atDelhi Capitals wishes him a speedyrecovery,” the statement read.

As far as Bhuvneshwar is con-cerned, the extent of his injury is stillnot clear but it could take a good 6to 8 weeks for the 30-year-old tocompletely recover from thesetback.

“Bhuvneshwar Kumaris out of IPL with a thighmuscle injury. It is probably

a grade 2 or 3 injury, which could meanthat he would be out for at least 6 to 8

weeks. It might effectively rulehim out of India’s tour ofAustralia,” a senior BCCI officialtold PTI.

What will hurt the fran-chises is the fact that bothbowlers were integral to theteam’s plans.

Mishra, as a wrist-spin-ner, was very important strate-

gically for Capitals on biggergrounds as he showed his skillsagainst Chennai Super Kingswith brilliant figures of 4-0-23-0.He returned 1/14 in 2 overs,

including the wicket of ShubmanGill, against KKR.

It was while trying to get holdof a return catch offered by NitishRana that Mishra fractured his fin-ger which forced him to leave the

ground.In case of Bhuvneshwar,

the injury was sustained while bowlingthe 19th over of CSK’s innings duringtheir clash.

There was heavy strapping on histhigh but he was in so much pain thathe hobbled out of the ground aftersending down just one ball as AbdulSamad finished his over.

His injury will be a massive blowto SRH skipper David Warner as hestruggles for quality death bowlers inhis side which is short on experience.

In case of Bhuvneshwar, he mightstay back in the UAE as the Indianteam’s physio Nitin Patel is also thereas part of the BCCI’s medical team.

Being a centrally-contracted play-er, Bhuvneshwar's rehabilitation will beentirely looked after by the BCCI.

However, for the past one yearBhuvneshwar has been mostly out, dueto side strain and hamstring injuriesand only recently, made a comebackduring the IPL. He had missed the NewZealand tour earlier this year.

KL Rahul 302 runs

Kagiso Rabada 10 wickets

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020

12

MOTION PICTURE

DUGOUTWe did the small things right.That's what was important tous. The kind of start we got inbatting, that's what we needed.Hopefully we'll be able toreplicate this in coming games

It's hard being on the losingside for so many games on thetrot. We need to come backharder and better. There's norocket science where we aregoing wrong, it's the execution

The conditions are very foreignfor me, very hot, but you haveto be clear in your head,execute what you want to do,and not worry about the balltravelling out of the park

The last two games haven'tgone to plan for us afterwhat was a really goodstart to the tournament. ButI guess that's the way T20cricket goes sometimes

TODAY

Live from 7:30pmSTAR SSPORTS 11

VVSS

POINTS TABLEP W L NRR PTS

1 MI 5 3 2 +1.214 6

2 DC 4 3 1 +0.588 6

3 RCB 4 3 1 -0.954 6

4 KKR 4 2 2 -0.121 4

5 RR 4 2 2 -0.317 4

6 CSK 5 2 3 -0.342 4

7 SRH 5 2 3 -0.417 4

8 KXIP 5 1 4 +0.178 2

Mumbai Indians players Trent Boult and Chris Lynn pose forphoto after the duo played golf @mipaltan/Twitter

QUINTON NEVER STOPPED BELIEVINGMumbai Indians opener Quinton de Kock, who roaredback to form with a breezy half-century after anindifferent run, “never stopped believing” in his ability,said the team's fielding coach James Pamment onMonday. The seasoned South African made a 39-ball 67against Sunrisers on Sunday. “We all know the qualitythat Quinton possess, so I'm not saying that it was just amatter of time, but you have to still work extremely hard.“You still have to believe in yourself and he neverstopped believing in his ability to be effective for theteam,” Pamment said.

WE BACK OUR PLAYER’S WAY LONGER CSK's “reticent” approach to change when faced withpoor results has been the key to its success over theyears, said head coach Stephen Fleming, citing ShaneWatson as a shining example of what the side hasachieved. Watson finally came good with an unbeaten 83off 53 balls in his fifth game as an opener, helping CSKrecord an emphatic 10-wicket win over KXIP. “I think ithelps as players know they get more opportunities...Weare reticent to changing the team other than realising theareas that we are not happy with,” Fleming said. “We tryand improve and if players are doing the right thing wewill back them as long and even longer than possible,”CSK's long-serving coach echoed what has been hisskipper MS Dhoni's philosophy over a decade now.

PTI n ABU DHABI

Rajasthan Royals may need torejig their Indian line-up slight-

ly when they try to pull their IPL cam-paign out of the current rot againsta supremely confident MumbaiIndians on Tuesday.

Starting with a bang atSharjah on a conducivebatting surface, Royalshave suddenly hit a slumpon bigger grounds ofDubai and Abu Dhabiwith their willow-wielders not look-ing half as menacing as they did dur-ing the first two games.

“The last two games haven’tgone to plan for us after what was areally good start to the tournament.But I guess that’s the way T20 crick-et goes sometimes. We have been out-played by the opposition on bothoccasions,” Royals skipper SteveSmith said on the eve of the match.

“Hopefully, I am able to score afew runs tomorrow. I’ve missed outon the last two games but that hap-pens,” Smith added.

Mumbai Indians, on the otherhand, have been solid in their lastcouple of games and are current-ly on top of the table by virtueof a better net run-rate com-pared to Delhi Capitals, whoare also on six points.

After a heart-breakingloss to Royal ChallengersBangalore in the Super Over,the defending championsbounced back in style, defeat-ing Kings XI Punjab andSunrisers Hyderabad by 48and 34 runs respectively.

The best part of MI’scamaign so far is that theyhave ticked almost all theboxes with skipper RohitSharma (176) in good touchand now Quinton de Kockalso looking ominous.

Kieron Pollard is consis-

tent as ever, Ishan Kishan has lookedsolid and Hardik Pandya is also fin-ishing games with the bat. Hardik’sbrother Krunal joined the party in thelast game.

MI’s replacement pacer JamesPattinson (7 wickets) has been a rev-elation alongside the redoubtable

Jasprit Bumrah and thecrafty Trent Boult. OnceHardik starts bowling, allthe pieces of the puzzle willnicely fit in.

In contrast, Royalswould like to arrest the slide beforeBen Stokes completes his quarantineand is available from October 11.

One of the primary reasons oftheir fall has been the poor form ofJos Buttler (47 runs from 3 games)along with yet another dismal showfrom Jaydev Unadkat (1 wicket from4 games at 9.97 economy). Theyoung Riyan Parag has also seemedcompletely out-of-depth unlike lastyear.

Skipper Steve Smith might con-sider dropping Parag, who is not

exactly a top of the line off-spin-ner, and give another much-talked-about youngster Yashasvi

Jaiswal a go at the top of theorder. Smith might bringhimself in the middle togive stability to the line-up.

He indicated thatthere could be a few

changes.“We will see which of

our players fit in our plansfor tomorrow’s match andfit in certain scenarios inthe game and try and getthe best match-ups forMumbai.”

In bowling, Smith maytry out the experiencedVarun Aaron who has a lotmore pace than Unadkat orthe young Kartik Tyagi whocan bowl at 140 kmph.

Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Ben Stokes poses for photo after hecompletes his training @rajasthanroyals/Twitter

Chennai Super Kings batsman Shane Watson’s pre-match tweetthat went viral after CSK beat KXIP by 10 wickets on Sunday

DUBAI (PTI): RoyalChallengers Bangalore cap-tain Virat Kohli inadvertent-ly applied saliva on the ballafter stopping a crackingdrive during an IndianPremier League match hereon Monday, violating theICC’s Covid-19 protocol.

Fielding at shot coverduring his team’s gameagainst Delhi Capitals, Kohlidid not let the ball, that washeaded in his direction at agreat speed, go past him.

While the Indian captaindid not show any discomfort,he ended up applying saliva

on the ball at the DubaiInternational Stadium. Thishappened after DC openerPrithvi Shaw launched into abooming drive against pacerNavdeep Saini in the thirdball of the third over after

Kohli elected to field.The skipper, though,

realised his mistake immedi-ately, smiled and alsoacknowledged the slip-upby raising his hands.

Amazed at Shaw’s pow-erful shot and Kohli’s brilliantfielding, Sachin Tendulkarpromptly put out a tweet inappreciation. “What anincredible shot by@PrithviShaw there! A mil-lion dollar reaction by@imVkohli after almostapplying saliva on the ball.Sometimes instincts takeover!" Tendulkar tweeted.

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

On a day of incredibleresults, Aston Villa pro-

duced one of the most stun-ning scorelines in the histo-ry of Premier League footballas they beat defending cham-pions Liverpool 7-2 onSunday, not long afterManchester United werebeaten 1-6 at Old Trafford byJose Mourinho’s Tottenham.

Villa captain JackGrealish was in inspired formwhile Ollie Watkins scored afirst-half hat-trick asLiverpool were ripped apartby the club that just aboutstayed in the Premier Leagueby surviving relegation on thelast day of the previous sea-son.

Jurgen Klopp wasso taken by surprise atLiverpool’s collapsethat he actually wore abemused grin at timesas his team fell to thebiggest defeat of theGerman’s career.

Liverpool’s chief tormen-tor was Ollie Watkins, whobecame the first Villa playerto score a hat-trick against theReds for 88 years.

Watkins bagged Villa’sfirst after a mistake byLiverpool keeper Adrian inthe fourth minute.

He netted again in the22nd minute beforeMohamed Salah got oneback.

John McGinn’s deflectedeffort made it three and

Watkins scored Villa’sfourth before half-time.

Ross Barkley, inhis debut after joiningon loan from Chelsea,scored Villa’s fifth afterthe break with the aid

of a deflection.Salah reduced the deficit

but Jack Grealish netted num-ber six before Villa’s captainran clear to cap the rout.

Second placed Villa havewon all three league gamesthis term, while Liverpool’sfirst defeat of the season leftKlopp wondering how to fixa leaky defence that hasshipped 11 goals in fourmatches.

No defending championin 67 years has lost so heav-ily in England. It’s been 57years since Liverpool wasbeaten as badly.

“We lost kind of the plot,”Liverpool manager JürgenKlopp said.

“The results are strange.”With Leicester opening

Sunday with a 3-0 loss toWest Ham, it leaves Evertonand Villa, whose last titlescame in the 1980s, leading theway with perfect starts.

AFP n PARIS

Petra Kvitova returned to theFrench Open quarter-finals

for the first time in eight yearson Monday while German vet-eran Laura Siegemund, whoreached her first Grand Slamquarter-final.

Two-time Wimbledonchampion Kvitova is through tothe last eight at Roland Garrosfor just the second time. Herbest run in Paris came when shereached the semi-finals in 2012.

Seventh seed Kvitova, whomissed last year’s tournamentdue to an arm injury,defeated China’s ZhangShuai 6-2, 6-4 and willnext play world No 66Siegemund, who madethe second week of aGrand Slam for the firsttime in 16 attempts.

“It’s been really difficult. Itwas a tough one for sure,” saidKvitova, who will climb backinto the top 10 following herperformance in Paris.

“She served very welland played very aggres-

sive. I’m really happy Imanaged to win even if I didn’tmanage to serve it out at 5-2.”

“When the roof isclosed it’s like being indoors

and I really love to play,” addedKvitova.

Siegemund, 32, advanced toher first Grand Slam quarter-final in singles after defeatingformer junior champion PaulaBadosa of Spain 7-5, 6-2. Shebecame the fourth unseeded

player to make the last eight thisyear, joining Iga Swiatek, Nadia

Podoroska and MartinaTrevisan.

“I didn’t get angry whenthings weren’t going my way,”said Siegemund, who trailedBadosa 5-3 in the first set. Ithink we were both kind ofstruggling but I think I kept it

together better.”Siegemund

won lastmonth’s US

Open women’sdoubles titles along-

side Vera Zvonareva.

NOVAK WWINSNovak Djokovic reached

the French Open quarterfinalsfor the 11th consecutive year,extending his own Open-erarecord at the tournament.

The top-seeded Djokovicfaced his toughest challengeyet this year at Roland Garrosbut still won rather easily againstNo. 15 seed Karen Khachanov6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at Court PhilippeChatrier, taking the last fourgames.

The stadium’s new $55 mil-lion retractable roof was shutbecause of a heavy downpour.

Djokovic has won all 12 setshe’s played in Paris this year anddropped a total of only 25games so far. He lost five gamesin each of his first three match-es.

This victory puts Djokovicin his 47th Grand Slam quarter-final, second only to RogerFederer’s 57.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara,Hanuma Vihari and the support staff

led by head coach Ravi Shastri are likely tohave a six-day quarantine in Dubai duringthe business end of the IPL before flyingoff to Australia.

India are set to travel to Australia witha jumbo squad comprising 23 to 25 play-ing members across formats consideringthe requirements of the series to be playedin bio-bubble amid the Covid-19 pandem-ic.

The BCCI is trying to work out thelogistics to smoothly transfer the squadfrom one bio-bubble in the UAE to anoth-er in Australia where they might have togo for a two-week quarantine unless therules are relaxed.

While there was a plan that coachingstaff and non-IPL players will leave direct-ly for Australia, an alternate plan is beingworked out.

“The most feasible plan right nowlooks like entire team flying togetherfrom Dubai in one chartered flight. For that,the two Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara,Hanuma Vihari, along with our coachingstaff of Ravi Shastri, Bharath Arun, VikramRathour and R Sridhar will arrive in Dubai,most probably at the end of this month,”a BCCI source, currently in Dubai, told PTI.

“In all likelihood, the non-IPL playersand the coaching staff along with other sup-port staff, would have to undergo a six-dayquarantine with a separate bubble beingcreated for them. They will also undergotests on Days 1, 3 and 6. Once IPL is over,the squad will come together and fly outDown Under,” he said.

The plan is easier to manage logistical-ly as most of the players who will be board-ing the flight to Australia are playing in theprotected environment of the IPL.

AFP n BARCELONA

Barcelona dropped theirfirst points of the season

on Sunday as Sevilla madea statement of intent in La Liga’s titlerace by drawing 1-1 at Camp Nou.

Luuk de Jong gave Sevilla an earlylead and while Philippe Coutinho lev-elled two minutes later, the visitors werearguably the better side in a frantic con-test.

The draw brings an end to RonaldKoeman’s perfect start as Barca coachbut he might not be too displeased witha point, even if his team also hadchances to snatch a winner.

“We were less energetic than in thefirst two games but that also dependson the opposition,” said Koeman.“They have defended well.”

“Getting a point at this ground isalways tough, (but) I am not satisfied.We had our chances. It istoo bad we couldn’t havegotten a better result,”Lopetegui said.

Real Madrid arethree points ahead ofBarcelona but hav-ing played a gamemore, after their 2-0 win overLevante earlieron Sunday sentthem to the top of thetable.

PTI n DUBAI

Australian all-rounderMarcus Stoinis cracked a

blistering 53 while Prithvi Shawsmashed 42 runs to take DelhiCapitals to a competitive 196for four against RoyalChallengers Bangalore in theirIndian Premier League matchhere on Monday.

Stoinis, who was droppedon 30 by Yuzvendra Chahal,made RCB pay for the mistakeas he raced to his 53 in just 26balls, hitting two toweringsixes and six fours at the DubaiInternational Cricket Stadium.

Shaw, however, missedwhat would have been a well-deserved half-century.

Invited to bat, Shaw pro-vided a blazing start, hittingthree fours off pacer IsuruUdana in the game’s very firstover. His innings was lacedwith five boundaries and twomaximums.

The opening duo ofShikhar Dhawan (32 off 28-balls) and Shaw put up a 68-

run stand and looked to go thedistance before the RCB

bowlers made a splendidcomeback.

Mohammed Siraj providedthe first breakthrough for histeam by removing the danger-ous looking Shaw.

After Udana accounted forDhawan, young DevduttPadikkal pulled off an excellentcatch at the boundary to dis-miss DC's in-form skipperShreyas Iyer (11).

Stoinis and Rishabh Pant(37) immediately got into therecovery act. The duo stitchedan 89-run partnership.Shimron Hetmyer also playeda short cameo, the Guyanesehitting a six in the last over.

Siraj (2/34 in 4 overs) wasthe most impressive bowler forRCB as he picked the keywickets off Shaw and Pant.

After an expensive firstover, Chahal pulled thingsback but couldn’t provide abreakthrough for his team.

Playing in place of AdamZampa, Moeen Ali (1/21) andUdana (1/40) claimed a wick-et each, while WashingtonSundar (0/20 in four overs) wasthe most economical.

Shaky Royals facerampaging MI

MATCHES 20

MUMBAI INDIANS 10

RAJASTHAN ROYALS 10

Stats: Faisel FFeatures

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