PNS n NEW DELHI

The long wall and circular shrinediscovered during the excavationat the disputed site in Ayodhya,was part of a Hindu temple andnot of an Idgah Masjid orKannati Masjid," said K.K.Muhammed, former regionaldirector - North, ArchaeologicalSurvey of India (ASI).Muhammed said on two crucialaspects in the Ayodhya dispute- archaeological evidence andcorroborated literary evidence.

Muhammed, who was onthe team that carried out the dig-ging, rubbished Muslim parties'claims before the SupremeCourt that the "long wall" foundduring the excavations by theASI was scientifically exam-ined. "Archaeology is a scienceand ASI is an independentagency, and it submitted a sci-entific report to the AllahabadHigh Court. If the wall were to

be an Idgah or part of an Islamicstructure, then how will youexplain the recovery of terra-cotta (sculptures of god andgoddesses) and 'makara pranali',the image of a crocodile, whichis a symbol of river Ganga.These are not part of Islamic cul-ture," Muhammed said.

The ASI initially conducted aground penetrating radar (GPR)

survey of the disputed site tofind out if there was a structurebelow the Babri Masjid.

"The Masjid was not built onvirgin soil and the ASI reportestablished it scientifically. Theimagery of living beings is notintegral to Islamic religiousplaces. The huge wall and pillarsdates back to a temple, whichexisted there around 12th cen-

tury AD," added Muhammedvouching for the existence of atemple below the Babri Masjid.

The Muslim parties haveargued that the wall, whichdates back to the 12th centuryAD, was on the western side,away from habitation and hadlime-surki plastering inside itindicating its Islamic originsand that it may have been partof an Idgah. The Muslim partieshave also contested the Hindugroups' argument that the wallwas part of the temple. ClarifyingASI findings on the circularshrine recovered during the

excavations, Muhammed said itwas not Islamic in nature anddated back to 10th century."This circular shrine cannot bepart of Idgah, which is general-ly a very large congregationarea. This shrine is part of theHindu temple," saidMuhammed. The Sunni WakfBoard had pointed how the ASIreport even inferred there was acircular shrine dedicated to LordShiva at the site. The Board'scounsel told the apex court thatarchaeology is inexact science, asit involves a lot of inferring andconjecturing.

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TWO MONTHS IN JAIL FOR TELANGANA

9

INX MEDIA CASE

71 ex-babus write to Modion prosecution of officialsSays action demotivates diligent and honest officers from taking important decisionsPNS n NEW DELHI

Seventy-one retired bureau-crats on Friday wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,expressing concern over theprosecution of four formerofficials of the FinanceMinistry in the INX Mediacase and asserted that suchaction will demotivate dili-gent and honest officers fromtaking important decisions.They demanded that thereshould be a reasonable periodof time after which files shouldnot be reopened.

The letter has been signed byretired civil servants like for-mer cabinet secretary K MChandrasekhar, former for-eign secretary and nationalsecurity advisor ShivshankarMenon, former foreign secre-tary Sujatha Singh and formerDGP of Punjab Julio Riberio.

The ex-bureaucrats alsoexpressed concern over "selec-tive targeting" of retired andserving officers, apparently for"gaining narrow politicaladvantages".

Last month, the govern-ment issued a sanction to theCBI to prosecute former NITIAayog CEO SindhushreeKullar and others in connec-tion with the FIPB clearancegranted to INX Media, officials

said. Besides Ms Khullar, thegovernment also sanctionedthe prosecution of former sec-retary of the Ministry of Micro,Small and MediumEnterprises, Anup K Pujari, thethen director in the FinanceMinistry Prabodh Saxena, andformer under secretary in theDepartment of EconomicAffairs Rabindra Prasad in thecase involving INX Media,they said.

The government had alreadysanctioned the prosecution offormer finance minister PChidambaram in February thisyear, following which he wasarrested by the CBI.

The officers also hit out atthe government for makingofficers bear the brunt of crim-

inal proceedings that "originatefrom settling of politicalscores".

The former officials saidthis will only seem to confirmthe worst apprehensions ofcivil servants that they will getno protection for bona fide actsin the performance of theirofficial duties. They said allregimes, irrespective of theirpolitical affiliations, at bothcentral and state levels, havebeen "guilty of transgression".

"Serving officials will natu-rally be demotivated if diligentand honest officers are selec-tively targeted for punishmentfor no fault of theirs other thanthat they were implementingthe policy decisions of thegovernment of the day," the let-

ter added. "It will not be sur-prising if civil servants pro-crastinate before processingand examining every propos-al of importance, as they haveno guarantee that they wouldnot be implicated in criminalproceedings many years later,"the letter said.

The retired bureaucrats saidrules must be framed to makethe legal principle of estoppelapply on reopening decisionsbased on information provid-ed at the time the decision wastaken. If files are allowed to be"exhumed and dissected on thebasis of hindsight and that toowith no bar on the time thathas elapsed", no decisions willbe made at all in government,they added.

Sindhushree Kullar Anup K Pujari Prabodh Saxena

PNS n HYDERABAD

With the Bharatiya JanataParty striving to make inroadsinto Telugu states, and withthe Centre being critical ofthe TRS-led TS governmentand the YSRCP-led AP gov-ernment, neither TelanganaChief Minister KChandrashekar Rao nor hisAndhra Pradesh counterpartYS Jaganmohan Reddy gotany solid assurance from PMNarendra Modi, though bothhad been to Delhi this weekwith a litany of demands.

KCR has placed beforeModi a long list of demands,including financial assistanceto TS government's flagshipsschemes l ike MissionBhagiratha. Jagan has soughtfunds for Polavaram andCentre's aid for backwarddistricts, among otherdemands. Even controversialissues like reverse tenderingprocess taken up by AP andthe proposed projects to link

Krishna and Godavari riversfigured during discussionsbetween the leaders.

Although KCR and Jaganlooked cheerful during andafter their meetings with thePrime Minister, sources closeto PMO revealed that Modi isnot pleased with governancein the two Telugu states and

rues the political stanceadopted by the ChiefMinisters. Let alone give anyassurance, the Prime Ministerdid not even engage indetailed discussions with theChief Ministers, thus turningthe meetings into just cour-teous calls.

Continued on Page 2

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy having a word with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Day one of the indefinite strikeby TSRTC employees, in theface of State government'sthreat to sack them summari-ly if they fail to report for dutyby 6-00 pm on Saturday, was byand large peaceful.

Only 160 RTC personnelreported for duty on Saturday,while more than 40,000 tookpart in the strike.

Although 'alternative' busservices were in place at manylocations, it was largely MetroRail that saved the day andcame to the aid of commuters

who could not afford or wereunwilling to take private vehi-cles at fares enhanced due tothe strike.

The JAC of RTC workers isfirm on continuing the strikeand has made it clear that therewould be no let-up in theprotests till the governmentresolves their demands. Theleaders of trade unions demon-strated in front of the MGBSon Saturday.

JAC leader AswaththamaReddy demanded the govern-ment to fulfill the RTC work-ers' demands.

Continued on Page 2

The deserted Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station with just RTC union leaders and employees protesting on Saturday

Metro services operated to full capacity due to the RTC strike on Saturday

PNS n HUZURNAGAR

Symbols count during polls.Sometimes, it can make all thedifference upon counting ofvotes. In the Huzurnagar bypoll,TRS candidate SanampudiSaidireddy is facing a peculiarproblem. His party's symbol(car) can pale intoinsignificance beforethe rather intimi-dating symbol(road roller) ofanother candidate,V a n g a p a l l iKirankumar, statepresident of RepublicSena Party, floated by thegrandson of Dr BR Ambedkar.Kiran Kumar has previouslycontested for the Suryapet MLAseat and the Nalgonda LokSabha seat.

When contacted, he said thatthere was no sinister plan in hisopting for road-roller as symbol.

He pointed said that he had con-tested from Suryapet on thesame symbol. He denied hav-ing any relations whatsoeverwith the Congress. He said thathe was in the electoral fray onlyto make the Dalit voice heardand not out of lust for power. Itmay be mentioned here that

some unlettered voters,considering truck to be

TRS' car, had previ-ously exercised theirfranchise in favour ofthe candidate whoadopted truck sym-

bol, resulting in thedefeat of the TRS candi-

date. In fact, the candidate withtruck symbol polled over 7,000votes. The TRS has since allegedthat the Congress had stoopedso much in politics that it hadmade other parties to apply forsymbols like road-roller, truckand a farmer driving tractorwith ulterior motives.

TRS faces ‘road roller’threat in Huzarnagar

Former CEO of TV channelarrested

Ravi Prakash

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Police on Saturdayarrested Ravi Prakash, formerCEO of multilingual televisionnews channel TV9, for allegedcheating by diverting compa-ny funds. The police also tookformer Chief Financial OfficerM.K.V.N. Murthy into cus-tody. They were taken toBanjara Hills police stationwhere they were being ques-tioned. The arrests were madeafter two cases were registeredagainst them on a complaintby Alanda Media &Entertainment Pvt Ltd, whichowns TV9 group of channels.The management alleged intheir complaint that RaviPrakash and Murthy withdrewRs 18.31 crore from the bankaccounts of the company fromSeptember 2018 to May 2019.

Continued on Page 2

PNS n KACHCHALURU

Two more bodies recoverednear Dowleswaram barragewere on Friday identified asthose of Hyderabad-basedtourists Bhavani and PavanKumar, who had travelledby the ill-fated boat RoyalVasishta that went down inGodavari on September 15th.

With this, the number ofbodies recovered till date hasgone up to 38. In fact, fourbodies had washed up nearthe barrage, of which onlytwo could be identified. Theofficials have made arrange-ments to hand over the iden-tified bodies to relatives.

The operation to salvagethe ill-fated boat was sus-pended as the river wasswollen.

Dharmadi Satyam of Balaji

Marines, with his 22-memberteam, was awarded the con-tract to salvage the boat. Theteam conducted operationsfor three days to extricate theboat from the river bed, buthad to suspend operationsdue to floods. The operationswill resume after the floodsituation eases.

KCR to address lone publicmeeting on October 18PNS n HYDERABAD

Campaigning for theHuzurnagar bye-election willgain momentum after Dasarafestival, though the main con-tending parties have begunreaching out to voters in rightearnest. The Telangana RashtraSamiti and the Congress, keyplayers in the bypoll, are set tointensify their campaign onlyafter the festival.

The TRS is planning a hugepublic meeting in Huzurnagar

on October 18 in which partysupremo and Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao wouldparticipate.

Continued on Page 3

HUZURNAGAR BY-ELECTION

Royal Vasistha toll reaches38 with 2 more bodies traced

Aarey: Jolt forgreens as HCrefuses stayPNS n MUMBAI

Green activists suffered asecond jolt in two consecutivedays when the Bombay HighCourt on Saturday refused tostay ongoing felling of trees atMumbai's prominent greenlung, Aarey Colony, to makeway for a proposed metro carshed. A few green activists moveda fresh application onSaturday seeking stay for aweek on the Mumbai MetroRail Corporation Ltd(MMRCL's) action of chop-ping 2656 trees in the area, aday after the HC dismissedfour petitions filed by NGOsand activists challenging thedecision of Tree Authority ofthe Mumbai civic body allow-ing felling of trees.

The activists have soughtthe stay so that they canapproach the supreme court.

‘Long wall, shrine part of temple, not idgah’

Thai judgeshoots himselfin court BANGKOK: A Thai judgeshot himself in the chest infront of a packed court afteracquitting several murdersuspects and decrying thekingdom's judicial system inan impassioned speechbroadcast on Facebook Live.

Critics say Thailand'scourts often work in favour ofthe rich and powerful, whiledelivering swift and harshsentences on ordinary peoplefor minor offences.

But it is virtually unheardof for judges to criticise thesystem. KanakornPianchana, a judge at Yalacourt in the heart of theinsurgency-battered Thaisouth, was delivering theverdict for five Muslim sus-pects in a gun murder caseon Friday afternoon. Heacquitted the group, deliv-ered a courtroom plea for acleaner justice system, beforepulling out a handgun andshooting himself in the chest.

"You need clear and cred-ible evidence to punish some-one. So if you're not sure,don't punish them," the judgesaid addressing the court andbroadcasting his words on hisphone on Facebook live.

File photo

l KTR to participate inthree to four meetings

l KTR will stay inHuzurnagar on Oct 10and 11

JAC won't budge till govt resolves demands

Strike complete, Metro rises to the occasion

The number ofbodies recoveredtill date has goneup to 38. In fact,four bodies hadwashed up nearthe barrage, ofwhich only twocould be identified

Archaeology is a science and ASI is an independent agency, andit submitted a scientific report to the Allahabad High Court. If

the wall were to be an Idgah or part of an Islamic structure, thenhow will you explain the recovery of terracotta (sculptures of god andgoddesses) and 'makara pranali', the image of a crocodile, which is asymbol of river Ganga. These are not part of Islamic culture

— KK MUHAMMED, Former regional director - North, Archaeological Survey of India

Prime Minister non-committal on Telugu states’ demands

RTC STRIKE

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BUS STRIKE CRIPPLES COMMUTERS’ MOBILITY IN TSn Some being run with police escort; Sec 144 in force at bus depots; commuters have tough time to and from officePNS n HYDERABAD

TMU state general secretaryAswadhdhama Reddy onSaturday met the agitatingRTC workers in the city andtold them that the workerswould continue with their stirtill the merger of the RTC withthe government is done. Hedared the government to dis-miss him from service firstbefore it could lay its hands onother RTC workers. RTCworkers will lodge their protestin front of bus depots by cele-brating Bathukamma festivalon Sunday. On Monday, hesaid, he is going to launch anindefinite fast near Indira Park.

Earlier, JAC of RTC workersleaders, includingAswadhdhama Reddy, visitedMGBS, and monitored thestrike situation. They declaredthe strike as total, and appealedto the government to takesteps to resolve their problemsat least now. They raised slo-gans against the government.

Meanwhile, TJS presidentProf Kodandaram pledged hissupport to the RTC strike.

Traffic CI Nagamallu dis-played placards at LB Nagarcrossroads along with his col-legues in the city exhorting theprivate vehicle operators not tocharge additional fare and takeundue advantage of the strike.

In Mahabubabad, an RTCworker attempted self-immo-lation out of anguish that thegovernment is not resolvingthe workers' problems. Thelocals came to his rescue andsaved him from grievousinjury. The police took himinto custody.

Section 144 has beenclamped near RTC depots in

the state to avoid untowardincidents, even as RTC work-ers abstained from work at alldepots across the state. RTCofficials are operating busesunder temporary arrangementamidst police protection. Thepolice arrested workers who

agitated near the depots. At Hakimpet bus depot, 136

buses remained stranded, while139 stood idle at Hayathnagardepot. In Nizamabad district,the officials are operating 92buses.

At many other places, thou-

sands of buses confined totheir depots across the state.The Karimnagar bus stand,which is always abuzz withactivity, wore a deserted lookon the strike day. People faceddifficulty in getting transportduring the ongoing festivalseason.

Meanwhile, South CentralRailway operated Jan Sadharanspecial train betweenKachiguda and Nizamabad.The train leaves Kachiguda at11 am but reaches Kachigudaat 3 pm.

In Metpally, school buses arepressed into services to variousplaces.

Rachakonda police com-missioner visited the Hakimpetand Kushaiguda bus depotsand talked to depot managers.

On the outskirts ofMandhani in Peddapalli dis-trict, an unidentified personpelted stones at an RTC bus,inuring a boy in the process.

The RTC workers picketedthe Yadagirigutta-HyderabadRTC bus. A woman conductorattacked an ad hoc bus driverand conductor.

TSRTC managing directorSunil Sarma said that over3,000 buses are being operat-ed across the state in spite ofthe strike. In undividedKarimnagar district, 330 busesout of the 850 are operational,and in undivided Warangaldistrict 345 of 624 are on road.In undivided Nalgonda district,164 out of 750 are operational,while 250 out of 624 are run-ning in undivided Adilabaddistrict. In Nizamabad dis-trict, 92 services are beingoperated. The Sangareddy busdepot is operating 50 per centof the bus services.

Buses lie idle at the Ranigunj depot in the city on the first day of RTC employees’ strike on Saturday. A crowd of passengers at Jubilee bus stand waits for the odd bus that continued to ply A college bus, one of the many such, that doubled up as public transport vehicle on the strike day

RTC workers will protest in front of bus depots alongside Bathukammacelebrations on Sunday. On Monday,he said, he is going to launch anindefinite fast near Indira Park

Now, RTCstaff getanxious aboutSept salaryPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation(TSRTC) employees, whowent on strike fromSaturday, are beginning tofear payment of salaries forSeptember.

The employees have notyet been got theirSeptember month salariesand are eagerly waiting forOctober 7, which is onlyworking day before Dasarafestival.

Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumarannounced on Friday nightthat RTC employees, who-ever did not report at thedepots before 6 pm onOctober 5 will not be con-sidered as an employee ofthe corporation.

The state government'sdeadline passed onSaturday evening. Therewas no news of RTCemployees reporting forwork by that time. Now,they were anxious aboutwhether they would be paidSeptember salaries.

TSRTC employees, whoused to get salary on 1st ofevery month in UnitedAndhra Pradesh state, arecurrently paid before 7th ofevery month.

Stranded passengersvent ire at govtRAMAKRISHNA PERALAn KARIMNAGAR

There was widespread sym-pathy for RTC employees inthe politically volatile regionsof Karimnagar, Adilabad andNizamabad despite they wenton indefinite strike in themiddle of the festival seasonof Dasara in Telangana.

Commuters at bus stationswaiting for transport to theirnative places on the eve ofDasara were heard expressingtheir ire towards the TRSgovernment over the issue.Rajanna, a passenger waitingfor bus in the Kamaan area ofKarimnagar town for Siricillatown said the governmenthad failed badly in resolvingthe issues of the RTC employ-ees for the last three years.The employees had not askedfor a hike or bonus, they just

sought 32 per cent benefitsfrom the profits, Rajannasaid, adding that the KCRregime announced just 1 %additional benefits which ledto the strike.

Others likeVenkatalakshmi, a middleaged woman of Jagtial town,expressed similar sentiments.She said the promises andassurances of the governmentwere piling up and the regimetried to portray all theemployees and workers asanti-people.

Nearly all who were waitingat Kamaan bus centre fortransport sounded sympa-thetic towards the RTS work-ers. Some of them, however,suspected that the unionsand the government werehand in glove and feared thatit could be a ploy to privatiseRTC in the coming days.

FIELD DAY FOR CABS, JEEPS & AUTOSAVINASH DEEPAK PULI n HYDERABAD

Private bus operators and autorickshaw drivers made hay inthe five districts of erstwhileMahabubnagar as the RTCstrike crippled public transportsystem in the region.

Although some hired buseswere pressed into service, taxisand three-wheelers had a fieldday on almost all routes ofMahabubnagar district on thefirst day of the RTC strike.Since morning, auto rickshawswere seen overloaded withpassengers on all the routes. Inthe suburban and districtheadquarters limits, jeeps and

taxis charged passengers heav-ily for every trip. The cabsformed a 'syndicate' of sorts toply their vehicles only on routeswhere private buses were also notoperated by the RTC. The hiredbuses of RTC were operated onMahabubnagar-Hyderabadmain route and from the districtheadquarters like Gadwal,Narayanpet, Nagarkurnool andWanaparthi.

Interestingly, passengerstravelling to their native placesdid not resent RTC employees'strike. Many said the workerswere only demanding fulfil-ment of promises.

Some auto rickshaw driversin the Mahabubnagar city said

they made a decent sum onaccount of the bus strike aheadof the festival season. ObaidullaKhan, an auto driver, said heusually earned Rs 600 a day, buton Saturday he mustered Rs1,500. "I am hoping to makeone or two trips more to theadjacent villages," he said.

Jeep Owners' Associationleaders also said they werehappy that they could providealternative services to com-muters and earned well on thestrike day. Venkateshwar Reddyof the union said services pro-vided by association membershad become a valuable trans-port alternative in five districtsof erstwhile Mahabubnagar.

PV KONDAL RAOn WARANGAL

The RTC strike did not haveany impact on festival shop-ping in malls and shoppingcentres across GreaterWarangal on Saturday, a dayahead of the SaddulaBathukamma festival.

Shops and business estab-lishments were abuzz withactivity. Customers from evenrural parts flocked tradingcentres right from the morn-ing. In the major shoppingmalls in Hanamkonda, cus-tomers were compelled to waitfor their turn at billing coun-ters for five to six hours.

Private transport vehiclescame to their aid on Saturdayby extending services. Whilecustomers of tricities camelate in the evening, the onesfrom adjacent villages andtowns reached the malls andcentres in the first hours itself.

According to a shoppingmall owner Om Namashivaya,there was little impact on busi-ness on Saturday, though thepublic transportation system inthe triple town was hit due tosuspension of RTC bus services.

In the shopping centres atHanamkonda chowrastha, therush was heavy and even pri-vate vehicles were caught intraffic jams for one hour plusin the post-lunch session.

Since Saddula Bathukammaand Dasara fall in the first weekof the October, purchases andbusiness have been hectic from3rd October in particular, sayshop owners. The threat ofRTC strike gave scope foradditional business on Friday,

but the strike per se did notdampen business on Saturday.

Reports from five districtheadquarters of the erstwhileWarangal district suggest thatshopping for clothes on the eveof Dasara and SaddulaBathukamma increased to themaximum, compared to that ofprevious seasons. The owner ofa small shop in Janagaon dis-trict headquarters says that hisbusiness has been good thisseason and that though therewas a talk about recession, theimpact of that was not visiblefrom common customers.

Owners of major shoppingmalls say that shopping pat-terns might have changed, but

the habit remained strong thisseason, particularly inWarangal.

Considering that Dasarafalls on Tuesday and sincethere is no breakthrough yet intalks to end RTC stir, shopowners in the triple town lim-its of Warangal say that theymay witness some fall in salesin the coming two days, par-ticularly on Sunday because ofBathukamma immersion.

Lahoti of Warangal-basedmall says that RTC strike hasgiven them a booster as cus-tomers going to the state cap-ital for festival purchaseschanged their mind and didshopping in Warangal itself.

Megastar Chiranjeevi called on Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan on Saturday to greet her on theoccasion of Dasara. He urged the Governor to see his blockbuster film Sye Ra Narasimha Reddy, which the Governoragreed to do. The multi-lingual film was released on October 2 and has attracted positive reviews from people

Strike complete, Metro rises...Contineud from Page 1

He said that RTC workerscould not be cowed down byinvoking the Essential ServicesMaintenance Act. "Let thegovernment dismiss the work-ers from service," he said,while exhorting workers notto get disheartened by thegovernment's threats.

RTC employees' union gen-eral secretary Raji Reddy saidthat JAC would step up the stirand take it beyond the levelsreached during the SakalaJanula Samme. The decisionof the government to runbuses by engaging privateemployees was not proper, hesaid. 'Bangaru Telangana'was limited to KCR's family,he alleged. He appealed to thepeople to extend support for

RTC workers' strike. Besidesthese leaders, Thomas Reddy,Tirupati, VS Rao and otherleaders took part.

In all districts of the state,RTC workers launcheddemonstrations as part oftheir strike.

Metro meets rushCatering to the unusual

rush of passengers on accountof the strike, HyderabadMetro increased the numberof trains.

Hyderabad Metro RailLimited Managing Director NV S Reddy said Metro trainswere running extra hours,with some starting from 5 amonwards and the last oneleaving the terminal at 11.30pm and reaching other sta-tions at around 12.30 am.

Former CEO of TV....Contineud from Page 1

They allegedly withdrew themoney without the permis-sion of other directors of thecompany and claimed it to betheir bonus. Another case wasregistered against them for sell-ing TV9 logo. They werecharged with cheating andcriminal breach of trust.

This is the second time thatRavi Prakash and Murthy werebooked by the police on thecomplaint of Alanda Media &Entertainment Pvt Ltd. Theywere earlier charged withforgery and cheating.

Ravi Prakash, who had beenheading TV9 channel since itslaunch in 2004, was sacked inMay as the CEO by AlandaMedia, which last year acquired90.54 per cent stake inAssociated Broadcasting Pvt

Ltd (ABCPL), then owner ofthe TV9 group of channels.

After evading arrest for near-ly a month, Ravi Prakash hadappeared before police on June4 following the SupremeCourt's refusal to grant himanticipatory bail and askinghim to appear before the inves-tigators. He was questioned inthe case. The well-knownanchor claimed that he wasfalsely implicated.

The cases are a fallout of RaviPrakash's rift with Alanda afterit acquired majority shares inABCPL in August 2018 andnominated four persons to beappointed as directors on theboard.

The company alleged thatRavi Prakash and Murthyresorted to unfair methods toblock new directors from tak-ing over.

Modi adopts a non-committal...Continued from Page 1

"Both KCR and Jagan havesought Centre's aid for variousneeds, but Modi has not giventhem any assurance. The reasonfor PM being nonchalant aboutKCR and Jagan is that post-elec-tions both the leaders havebeen focusing on political agen-da-setting, rather than gettingdown to governance and main-taining a cordial relationshipwith Centre. "The BJP is sure

that if it has to make inroads inAndhra Pradesh and Telangana,it should fight seriously not justCongress and TDP, but alsoTRS and YSRCP," a seniorleader of BJP told The Pioneer.It is understood that KCR'srepeated efforts to blame theCentre for the state govern-ment's failures and Jagan'saggressive moves on reversetendering and other issues havenot gone down well with BJPnational bosses.

Festival shopping goes ondespite of RTC strike

Children give a dance performance on the Bathukamma at Raj Bhavan on Saturday

SERENE SSTEPS

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019 hyderabad 03

Super rich union leaderarrested in DA casePNS n HYDERABAD

A day after raids at the houseof junior lecturerMadhusudhan Reddy, theAnti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) arrested him onSaturday for illegally amassingwealth disproportionate to hisincome.

Madhusudhan Reddy (53) isthe president of the TelanganaGovernment Junior CollegesLecturers' Association. Hejoined service as a junior assis-tant in 1991 at the Board ofIntermediate Education (BIE),was subsequently promotedas a junior lecturer, and even-tually became president of thelecturers' association.

While the role of the asso-

ciation is to look after the wel-fare of junior lecturers, Reddyabused his position as presi-dent of the association anddemanded bribed to facilitatethe transfer of lecturers andpromotions. After numerous

complaints were filed againstReddy for demanding favoursfor transfer of employees, theACB booked a case against himand later carried out raids at hisresidence and his allegedbenamis.

ACB officials conductedsimultaneous searches at 10locations in Hyderabad,Vikarabad and Mahabubnagarin Telangana, and Kurnool inAndhra Pradesh on Friday.

The raids unearthed cashworth Rs 52 lakh in his bankaccount, Rs 52 lakh in fixeddeposits, Rs 16 lakh cash athis brother-in-law MahenderReddy's residence and anoth-er Rs 19 lakh with his col-leagues who are his allegedbenamis. Officials said thatReddy also owns immovableproperties worth Rs 1.81crore and a flat worth Rs 24lakh.

He was produced in a courtthat remanded him in judicialcustody.

n ACB finds lakhs in cash, crores in assets after raid on his house

Rs 1.84-cr gold seized fromairline official at RGIAPNS n HYDERABAD

The Directorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI) intercepteda customer service officer ofIndigo Airlines near the exitgate of international arrivalsand recovered 42 pieces of for-eign marked gold packed intwo packets from him onSaturday. The DRI hadreceived a tip off that led to theseizure.

Based on specific intelli-gence, officials stopped thecustomer service officer for acheck which yielded 42 piecesof gold in two packets, DRIsaid. When asked about thesource of the gold, the officersaid he had received the pack-ets from two passengers, whohad arrived by a flight fromDubai.

On examination, the goldweighed 4.9 kg. When quizzed,the two passengers and the air-

line officer admitted that theprecious metal was beingsmuggled into the countryand they did not have any sup-

porting document. The threepeople have been arrested andfurther investigations havebegun.

RIMEORNERC

Man arrested forharassing wifeonline

The Cyber Cyber Crimepolice of Rachakonda

arrested a man for postingobscene comments about hiswife on social media onSaturday. The arrestedperson has been identified asJohn George (30), a projectoroperator at a theatre in ECIL.According to police, followingan argument with his wife,John posted a group photo ofhis wife and her colleaguesand titled it 'CALL GIRLS'. Healso posted the phonenumber of the victim on thesocial media platform'Sharechat', said police.Based on a complaint, a casewas registered under section509 C of IPC and 66 C of ITAct. Police arrested Johnfrom Dammaiguda inNagaram.

Contineud from Page 1

Thus, KCR, who has taken thebye-election as a prestige issue,is going to work his magic onthe penultimate day of thecampaign, which ends onOctober 19.

According to sources, KTRwill participate in three to fourpublic meetings in the con-stituency ahead of KCR's show.As things stand, KTR mayparticipate in public meetingson October 10 and 11. If nec-essary, KTR will participate intwo more meetings.

Both the main contendingparties have prepared theground for campaigning.

The Congress held a publicmeeting at Huzurnagar on thelast date for filing nominationpapers i.e. on September 30,with party senior leaders,

including K Jana Reddy,Komatireddy Venkat Reddy,MLAs-Bhatti Vikramarka, DSridhar Babu, Seethakka andseveral others, taking part.

The TRS organized a roadshow and a public meeting onOctober 4 in which TRS work-ing president and IT MinisterKT Ramarao participated.Besides, TRS deployed hun-dreds of leaders in the con-stituency to campaign for the

victory of party candidate SSaidi Reddy. The TRS leadersare trying to meet every voterof the constituency and con-vince them all to cast theirvotes to their candidate.

On Saturday, Rajya SabhaMP Baudugula Lingaiah Yadavhad a meeting with Yadavcommunity voters in the nameof 'Yadava Sodarula AthmeeyaSammelanam' atGuduguntlapalem village in

Palakeedu mandal, along withNagarjuna Sagar MLA NomulaNarsimhaiah, Kodada MLABollam Mallaiah Yadav. In asimilar manner, TRS leadersand Ministers are organizingroad shows and street-cornermeetings to reach out to peo-ple of the constituency.

The constituency has sevenm a n d a l s - - Hu z u r n a g a r,Nereducharla, Garidepally,Mattapally, Palakeedu,Chintapally and Mellacheruvu.The TRS is dominant inGaridepally and Mattapallymandals and has made goodimpact in other mandals.

According to Congress lead-ers, their party is very strong inall mandals, though con-stituency-level party leadersare not as active as their TRScounterparts. However, TPCCchief N Uttam Kumar Reddy,

who had resigned from the seatupon being elected as MPnecessitating the bye-election,is striving to ensure thatCongress retains the seat.Uttam, who has won threetimes from the constituency, ismaking all-out efforts to ensurethe victory of his wife andCongress party candidateUttam Padmavathi Reddy.

As thing stand, TRS andCongress are the main players,though BJP and TDP candi-dates are also in the fray. StateCongress leaders have not yetchalked out any plans to fieldnational level leaders in thebye-election campaign.However, the party deploystate-leaders- MPsKomatireddy Venkat Reddy, ARevanth Reddy and others inthe campaign after the festival,it is learnt.

8 injured in RTCbus-car collisionPNS n HYDERABAD

Eight people were injuredafter a TSRTC bus and carcol l ided head-on atShankarampet in Medak dis-trict on Saturday morning.Sources said that the bus

travelling from Narayankhedbus depot was being drivenby a private driver, followingthe strike by the employees.Of the eight injured, thecondition of six people isstated to be critical. Theinjured were shifted to ahospital.

Man arrested for harassing woman IPS officerPNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad police arrested onSaturday a 28-year-old manwho was harassing a seniorpolice officer by creating fakesocial media platformaccounts on her name. Thearrested person was identifiedas Kunapareddy Manmohan,a resident of Krishna districtin Andhra Pradesh.

Police said that theyreceived a complaint from thesenior police off icer onThursday stating that someonehad created multiple fakeFacebook profiles on her namewith her official pictures. The

accounts shared obscene con-tent and her official contact

details with anonymous per-sons in degrading manner.

Based on the complaint, aspecial team was formed andafter investigation, the accountoperator was traced to Krishnadistrict in Andhra Pradesh.The team arrested Manmohanfrom his house on Saturdayand produced him in a courtfor remand.

Addl . D CP (CyberCrimes) KCS Raghuvir saidthat the man had createdsuch accounts against variousother police personnel andIPS officers. He did notdivulge the name the womanofficer who filed the com-plaint.

Police said the man had created suchaccounts against various other policepersonnel and IPS officers. He did notdivulge the name the woman officerwho filed the complaint

One morearrested inESI scam PNS n HYDERABAD

Of f ic ia l s of Ant i -Corruption Bureau onSaturday arrested the man-aging director of Life CareDrugs & Pharmaceuticals,B Sudhakar Reddy, in themulti-crore drug scamrelating to supply of med-icines to dispensaries andEmployees' State Insurance(ESI) hospita l s acrossTelangana, bringing thetotal number of personsarrested so far up to nine."Sudhakar Reddy person-ally pursued and met theDirector, Asst.Director andother officials. On accountof collusion, conspiracyand common intentionbetween them, he got pur-chase orders worth Rs 8.25crore," said an ACB official.

There appears to be nospecific reason mentionedfor placing such hugeorders to Life Care Drugsand Surgicals and s LifeCare Pharma whichbelonged to the accused.The rates were also higherthan the contract ratesagreed upon. Guidelinesissued by the central gov-ernment of Tlangana gov-ernment were also violatedby of f ic ia ls of IndianMedical Services (IMS), theofficial said. custody.

As RTC workers goon stir, private busesmake a killingPNS n HYDERABAD

Cashing in on the RTC strike,autowallahs, taxiwallahs andprivate buses have been charg-ing the commuters double thefare.

The auto fare fromAmeerpet to Secunderabadrailway station will be in therange of Rs 100-120. But, theautodrivers are collecting Rs200 taking advantage of thestrike.

Similarly, the fare fromSecunderabad railway stationto Sitaphal Mandi during nor-mal days at the most would beRs 10 per head. Because of thestrike, the auto drivers col-lected a fare of Rs 30-40 perhead.

More or less all over the city,the similar experiences werereported by commuting pub-lic.

The private bus operatorsare also collecting exorbitantfares, more than d ouble thefare, from public going totheir native places either inTelangana or Andhra Pradeshfor the Dasara festival.

The usual fare from LBNagar on the outskirts of thecity to Nalgonda is Rs 90. Buton Saturday, a higher fare of Rs200 was collected per head.Similarly, the fare for SuryapetI s Rs 130 per head, but thecollected fare was Rs 200.

The travelling public allegethat the fare being collected todestinations in AP formHyderabad are unusually high.

Meanwhile, traffic DCPDivyacharan Rao directed theautoricksha drivers, cabs, buesunder hire with the TSRTCnot to collect higher faresfrom travelling public takingadvantage of the strike byRTC workers.

At a programme held atVijayawada bus stop, he passedseveral instructions to dri-vers. He warned them againsttaking legal action if anyonewas found collecting higherfares.

Public going totheir nativeplaces inTelangana andAndhra Pradeshfor Dasara faceddifficulty

Large crowds of people wanting totravel to their native places seen atSecunderabad railway station

Based on specific intelligence,officials stopped the customer serviceofficer for a check which yielded 42pieces of gold in two packets

According to sources, KTR willparticipate in three to four publicmeetings in the constituency ahead ofKCR's show. As things stand, KTRmay participate in public meetings onOctober 10 and 11. If necessary, KTRwill participate in two more meetings

MadhusudhanReddy alsoownsimmovablepropertiesworth Rs 1.81crore and a flatworth Rs 24 lakh

Accused Kunapareddy Manmohan

KCR to address lone public meeting...

Brisk sale of Saddulu Bathukamma flowers in Hanamkonda in Warangal Rural district on Saturday.

FRAGANCE FFLOATS IIN TTHE AAIR

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019 hyderabad 04

CAPSULE

Musi project gatecomes offSURYAPET: Following flashfloods in river Musi, one of thecrest gates of the project acrossthe river came off on Saturdayevening, discharging flood waterdownstream. The inflows intothe Musi project are heavy underthe influence of the incessantrains all over the state. The crestgate no. 6 came off because ofthe force of the flood water. Theproject has 32 crest gates, butseven were completely closedbecause of various reasons,which left 25 gates partially-closed. Because of heavy inflowsinto the river, two gates werelifted to discharge 1,350 cusecs.On Friday night, the projectreceived heavy inflows whichcaused one gate to detach.Officials alerted the people livingin villages on the banks of theriver downstream. Farmers areworried about the discharge ofwater could affect crops.

Bathukamma comesin handy for by-pollcampaigningNALGONDA: Candidates andpolitical parties are using theBathukamma festival opportunityto connect with voters inHuzurnagar assembly segmentin the evening hours. With themajor political parties roping inwomen cadre from neighbouringdistricts to campaign for the by-election, Bathukamma has comein handy in the campaigns in therural parts. The TRS, however,has been most successful atconvening Bathukamma festivalassemblies in many rural parts.The Congress and TDP are alittle behind but have fieldedfemale candidates to make mostof the festival of flowers.Congress leaders fromneighbouring districtsaccompanied their candidate NPadmavathi Uttamkumar Reddyin the villages and took part in a'Dandia' programme and otherfestival dances in rallies.Congress is trying to win oversupport of the women of ReedhCharla mandal where the TRS isconcentrating on making abreakthrough. This mandal haselected Congress candidates inAssembly and parliament pollsin the past.

Today, we are driven by astrange phenomenoncalled 'Fear of Missing

Out'. We walk around likezombies glued to the hyper-active feed on our smartphones, sometime even wak-ing up during the night tocheck the messages being for-warded from one group to theother in a constant runningloop. Technology is accelerat-ing the process by creating adangerous overload of unfil-tered data where it's easy topass off unverified messages asfacts. Every time we see a mes-sage repeated in our feed itstarts gaining credibility. Ourintellects that were once thenatural filters and gatekeepersof the reasoning voice arebeing dumbed down. If thisseems uncomfortable, get pre-pared for future shock. Thiscould be just the beginning ofa dangerous cycle.

We seem to be rapidly head-ing into a future where allthinking humans could becontrolled, either directly orremotely from a centralisedcommand post. As we stop

using our intellect, intelligencelevels will plateau and peak ata suboptimal levels. Messagesbeamed to the neural centresin our brains will be easilyreceived by most people with-out questioning. We will seemore intellectuals speakingthe same uniform language,repeating top-line messageswithout dissecting, analysingand questioning facts. Therewill be some exceptions andoutliers, but fewer and fewer.Either these outliers will con-trol technology, or technologywill then begin to overtake us.We have read of this in Sci-Fi,but imagine if this couldalready be happening. Theworld is rapidly progressingtowards an AI augmentedautomated society. While onthe one hand it presents a fas-cinating picture of a stress-freeworld, it is also a frighteningthought. It opens up the pos-sibility of humans being con-trolled by these pre-pro-grammed algorithms that willdictate what we can do or say.

Some people might rub-bish the thought but it is start-

ing to become a scary reality.The only difference is thatmachines have not taken overyet. The messaging is stillbeing controlled by humanswho are able to manipulate theneural centres in the humanbrain intelligently and skill-fully. It is communicationstrategy at its best. Once theobjective is defined, messagesare curated and pushed into anetwork that accepts the infor-mation without questioningand propagates it in the con-

versation around us. This isvisible in strange ways.

Friends are increasingly get-ting narrow-minded in theirresponses, especially on socialmedia. They tend to be threat-ening, aggressive and unrea-sonable when the discussionstarts to scratch the surface.Their comments are derisive ofposts that they do not agreewith and openly scorn otherswho ask uncomfortable ques-tions. The personal experi-ences shared by different peo-

ple are often exactly the same- word to word, including thepunctuation. It is almost as ifthere are controllers spreadingthe curated content so swiftlythat it appears as a natural andspontaneous response to a sit-uation. There is clearly amethod to the madness in thecommunication that we arewitnessing around us everyday.

We do not engage anymore.We only propagate. We are fac-ing a threat of slavery to com-municated ideology insteadof intellectual communica-tions, because we have stoppedusing our intellect. Society isat risk.

Today, when the economy isgoing through an economicdownturn we should be wit-nessing the fiercest debatesamongst economists aboutwhat needs to be done toscaffold the economy and whatshould be the economic strat-egy going forward. Yet, we seelittle of that. Perhaps we havebecome escapists and are con-tent. Perhaps we rely on faithand do not believe in reason-ing any more. Somewherealong the way many of us,including several independentthinkers and sharp minds,have resigned ourselves.

We have been so over-

whelmed by the wear-and-tear in our own lives that wehave either become cynical orlack the will to even lookahead. We have stopped think-ing. We are willing to sit backand believe that this too shallpass and are reluctant toengage. This stage of evolutionof our society is worrying. Itseems to be the beginning ofthe dumbing down of ourown reasoning and intellect.We are reluctant to analyse orquestion. We are becomingrobots that can only transmitor relay messages. As a society,we are becoming intellectual-ly bankrupt and as individualswe are unwittingly becomingpropaganda machines.

If this is what is happeningtoday, imagine what couldhappen when programmedAI and pre-coded algorithmstake over. Algorithms observe,experiment, learn and evolve.The algorithms can useadvanced computer sciencetechniques such as machinelearning and neural network-ing to create new andimproved algorithms that are

based on observed results.Society needs to wake up tothis reality and start thinkingagain. Society cannot allowitself to be dumbed down. Weneed to sustain a society thatis vibrant and intellectuallyalive and not a slave to tech-nology.

It is not too late to course-correct and reverse the dam-age. We need to activate ourintellects. We need to startthinking again. Let us changethe game and analyse facts anddata before streaming any nar-rative. Let us unlock our mindsand move away from blindsubservience to faith andlooped communications. Ourgeneration could be the tip-ping point and we cannotafford to abrogate our respon-sibility. It is time to sound thealert. Either we start thinkingagain or we prepare for futureshock.

(Himanshu Manglik isfounder and president of

Walnutcap Consulting LLP.The views expressed are

personal)

Every time we see a message on oursmart phone repeated in a cycle it startsgaining credibility. Our intellects that wereonce the natural filters and gatekeepersof the reasoning voice are being dumbeddown. If this seems uncomfortable, getprepared for fut

HIMANSHU MANGLIK

Prepare for future shock

‘RTC strike benefitsunion leaders only’

KCR being unfair withRTC workers: ShabbirPNS n NIZAMABAD

Congress leader Shabbir Alion Saturday found fault withChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao over theway he was handling the RTCworkers' demand and strike.

He sought to know fromthe CM whether the move-ment for Telangana state-hood would ever have suc-ceeded without the partici-pation of RTC workers.

Calling KCR an oppor-

tunist, he accused the CM ofmaking a U-turn on RTCworkers' issue. The people will

dismiss KCR if he dismissesstriking RTC workers, heclaimed.

Shabbir Ali attributedremoving nine districts fromthe list of backward districtsin the state to KCR.

On quota for Muslims andSTs, he charged the CM withduping the two communitiesand called upon Muslims andSTs to teach KCR a bitter les-son by defeating TRS nomi-nee in Huzurnagar by-elec-tions.

Talasani says union leaders looking at selfishends, not RTC employees' interestsPNS n HYDERABAD

Animal Husbandry MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadav hasalleged that the RTC strikehas been launched to meet theselfish ends of RTC employ-ees' union leaders rather thanthe interests of RTC staff. Hesaid that the state governmenthas never held back inextending sops to RTCemployees despite the corpo-ration suffering losses of Rs1,100 crore every year.

Talking after the inaugura-tion of a milk cold storageplant at Narayanakhede onSaturday, Talasani said thestate government has given 44per cent fitment and 16 percent IR when the Telanganastate was created. On theirpart, RTC employees alsohave a responsibility towardsprotection of corporation byextending effective services tothe commuters, he said.

Talasani said that thesalaries of RTC employees arehigher compared to theircounterparts in other states ofthe nation. He said, besidesthis the state government alsosupplies 24-hour power topeople of the state while ear-lier rulers failed to do thateven after ruling the state for70 years.

Talasani Srinivas Yadav

TRS rule similar toRazakars': SomarapuRTC ex-chief says govt was coldto RTC workers' fair demands

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former chairman of TSRTCSomarapu Satyanarayana onSaturday launched a scathingattack on Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao andlikened his administrationwith that of the Razakars, theNizam's private army.

Addressing the media here,he attributed the current RTCstrike to the failure of the stateadministration. Earlier, RTCworkers struck work toachieve statehood toTelangana, but currenly theyhave been striking work insupport of their demands.

He said that the govern-ment regarded the transportundertaking as their ownorganisataion and ignoredthe interests of RTC workers.It is not fair on the part of thestate government to kill theRTC, which is one of thebiggest employers in the state.

Somarapu put the totallosses of RTC at Rs 3,300crore and the daily averageloss at Rs 300 crore. Heblamed the government forthe RTC losses.

Worldwide there is a sys-

tem called cross-subsidy, butit is not prevalent in ourstate, he said.

Of the RTC fleet of over10,000 buses, 2,000 are out-dated. The government failedto replace them with newbuses, Somarapu said.

He demanded the eitherthe GHMC or the StateGovernment to pay the RTCRs 1,470 crore annually tosupport its operations.

Shabbir Ali

Somarapu Satyanarayana

n It is not fair on the partof the state governmentto kill the RTC, which isone of the biggestemployers in the state,SomarapuSatyanarayana said

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The officials of CrimeInvestigation Department(CID), Vizag Regional Officearrested Sanjay Kumar Guradefor duping some NRIs andowners of educational institutesto the tune of Rs 1.65 crore inthe guise of introducing STEMEducation. He had asked themto invest in the project.

The 41-year-old SanjayKumar Gurade is a physics lec-turer of a private junior collegein Vizag city in between 2016and 2018 period and he posed

himself as an expert inRobotics subject and had pur-sued MS in USA in the subject.

The real name of Sanjay is BAjith Kumar Reddy and he isnative of Hanumakonda inWarangal, Telangana state.With his talkative attitude,Sanjay befriended with someNRIs and owners of few juniorcolleges in Vizag city. Later, heposed that he is working on aproject called STEMEducation, known for its focus

on Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematicsis relatively a new term in theIndian education sector and it

connects the students with theclassroom and the worldaround them.

Believing the words ofSanjay, few people invested inthe project expecting that theproject would help to expandtheir colleges.

Shyam Venkata Appala, anNRI and staying in the USAapproached the city police andlodged a complaint againstSanjay citing that he and hisfriends have invested Rs1.65crore in the Sanjay's StemEducation project Sanjay cheat-ed us and fled Vizag onDecember 8, 2018.

The city police have trans-ferred the case to CID, Vizag.

Based on the specific informa-tion, the CID officials nabbedSanjay at LB Nagar inHyderabad on October 1, 2019and he was brought to Vizagcity on October 2 and he wassent for judicial custody. "Ourinvestigation has revealed thatthe real name of Sanjay is BAjith Kumar Reddy and he isnative of Hanumakonda inWarangal, Telangana state. Hehad started Sri Vasista Classesnear Rama talkies in Vizag andSri Sanjivini IIT and MedicalAcademy in Vizag,” said a CIDofficer.

STEM EDUCATION PROJECT

Physics lecturer dupes NRIs to the tune of Rs 1.5 cr

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The state government registeredcriminal cases against 21 villagesecretariat employees for receiv-ing appointment orders withouthaving the prescribed eligibili-ty qualifications.

The incident came to light onre-verification of eligibility cer-tificates of some of the candi-dates. According to reports inAnantapur district, ward welfareand development secretaryposts have been notified inurban areas. The qualificationprescribed is BA (Humanities).

But some candidates took thetest with BCom and BSc qual-ifications and were selected onmerit. In the certificate verifi-cation too, they faced no objec-tions and later receivedappointment orders.

But some BCom and BSccandidates, who failed to getappointments, complained toAnantapur city police commis-sioner and the joint collector.Angered at the developments,district collector Satyanaayanaasked the police to registercriminal cases against person'swho got orders but did not haveBA (Humanities) qualifications.The collector also asked policeto register cases against officials

who verified the certificates. In all, 10 officials verified the

certificates, including three offi-cials working in Tadipatrimunicipality and three othersworking in Hindupur munici-pality.

A native of Hanamkonda in Warangal, Telangana

Case against 21 who gotjobs fraudulentlyPersons who did not meet criteria also got appointment

Accused SanjayKumar Guradeposed as an expertin robotics,claiming he did MSin the US in thesubject

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Whip G Srikanth Reddylashed out at TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu for mak-ing unsavoury remarks againstthe YSRCP government.Speaking to the media here onSaturday, he refuted the alle-gations levelled by the TDPleaders over the number ofbeneficiaries of the YS VahanaMitra scheme.

He warned Naidu to stopbaseless remarks against thegovernment, or else he has to

pay for his sins. He stated thatChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy has fol-lowed the traditions whiletaking part in theBrahmostavams and Navaratrifete at Durga temple. Even onthese issues also, they aremaking unnecessary com-ments, he added. "If there areany lapses in the schemes,inform us, we will correct them.But don't make sweepingremarks that too negatively,will damage you only", SrikanthReddy has warned Naidu.

Chief Whip rebuts Naidu'sunsavoury remarks on govt

G Srikanth Reddy

APSRTC to ply 100special busesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The APSRTC took mea-sures to tide over the crisisarising due to strike in theTSRTC. Many people fromAndhra Pradesh, who arestaying in Telangana, willtravel to their native placesfor Dasara. All those willface problems with thestr ike in the TSRTC.Therefore, the APSRTC isplanning to run 100 specialbuses from Hyderabad toVijayawada.

Already, on the accountof Dasara holidays, the RTChas arranged special buses.Now due to the strike ofTSRTC employees, theAPSRTC has started alter-native arrangements for thepassengers, who are travel-ling from Hyderabad toVijayawada. ThoughTSRTC has arranged privatevehicles due to the strike,APSRTC has to run extrabuses to cover the rush,of f ic ia ls opined. Theyinformed that a lreadybookings were opened forthe special buses.

People have to book theirseats in the buses and it isbetter to have reservationsthan the waiting at bus sta-tions for hours together,officials suggested.

Employees of RTC Unionexpressed their solidaritywith the striking staff ofTSRTC. Union leaders stat-ed that all the demandsraised by TRSRTC Unionsare genuine and theGovernment of Telanganashould consider them.

Angered at thedevelopments,district collectorSatyanaayanaasked the policeto register criminalcases aganstthose who gotorders in spite ofnot having BA(Humanities) asqualification

AkulaSatyanarayanaquits Jana SenaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Akula Satyanarayana, whohad contested fromRajahmahendravaram in2019 elections on Jana Senaticket, gave a shock to partypresident Pawan Kalyan bysending his resignation letter.

Akula Satyanarayana hasbeen impatient with PawanKalyan for the past few days.In the wake of Pawan's defeatin the elections, several seniorleaders have reportedly beenleaving the party.

Jana Sena leaders RavelaKishore Babu, ChintalaParthasarathi, RaghavaiahMarisetti, Sridhar Addepalliand David King left the partyafter its disastrous failure inthe elections.

Satyanarayana put an endto all speculations and sub-mitted his resignation letterto Pawan Kalyan. Akula'sresignation may have aninfluence on other unhappyleaders in the party and theymay follow their footsteps.

Jana Sena convener ofKrishna district PaleduguDavid Raju is said to havejoined the BJP in the presenceof State BJP President KannaLakshminarayana.

Pasupuleti Sudhakar, whocontested as Jana Sena candi-date from Kavali Assemblyconstituency, went to Delhi onAugust 1 and joined the BJP.

Naidu slamsJagan overuranium miningPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Upping his ante against theYSRCP government onTwitter, TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu lam-basted Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy for keep-ing mum over the activities ofAtomic Minerals Directoratefor Exploration and ResearchCentre for Uranium, whichhas undertaken mining fromGajulapalli to Allagadda inKurnool district without car-ing about the people, who arestaging protests against themining in a tweet on Saturday

He pointed out that YSRCPleaders skipped the all-partyround-table meeting, whichwas convened on the sameissue, where the leaders of par-ties attended. He pointed outthat nod for uranium miningwas given during the tenure ofthe then Chief Minister YSRajasekhara Reddy. Naidudemanded that the govern-ment stop uranium miningand save Nallamala forest.

SHORT READS

Goa govt releases Rs 60 cr for superspeciality blockPANAJI: The Goa governmenton Saturday released Rs 60crore for the super specialityblock being constructed at theGoa Medical College Hospital(GMCH) in Bambolim nearhere. The 500-bed superspeciality facility, being builtunder the Pradhan MantriSwasthya Suraksha Yojana(PMSSY), will be inauguratedby the end of this year. Thestate government on Saturdaygranted administrative andexpenditure sanction of Rs 60crore for the facility. "Theadministrative approval andexpenditure sanction of thegovernment is conveyed to theDean of GMC for the release ofRs 60 crore in 12 instalmentsof Rs 5 crore each, towardssetting up of the superspeciality block in GMC underphase II of the PMSSYscheme," the order issued bystate undersecretary TruptiManerkar said. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had laid thefoundation stone for the Rs350 crore project in February,2018. The Union government'sHospital Services ConsultancyCorporation Ltd is executingthe project.

Maha polls: NCPreleases list of 40 starcampaignersMUMBAI: The NCP onSaturday released a list of its40 star campaigners for theOctober 21 MaharashtraAssembly election, with partychief Sharad Pawar being at theforefront. Besides Pawar,Maharashtra NCP unitpresident Jayant Patil, seniorleaders Praful Patel, ChhaganBhujbal, Ajit Pawar and partyMP Supriya Sule are named asthe campaigners by the party.NCP chief spokespersonNawab Malik, party generalsecretary Jitendra Awhad,Leader of Opposition in theState Legislative CouncilDhananjay Munde, party's stateyouth wing head MehboobShaikh and women wingpresident Rupali Chakankar arealso named among the starcampaigners. The NCP iscontesting the Assemblyelection in alliance with theCongress and other like-minded parties. The NCP hadfought the 2014 Assembly pollsindependently and won 41seats.

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Barely days ahead of HaryanaAssembly polls, rebels are giv-ing a headache to both rulingBJP and main oppositionCongress, with a few of thementering the contest asIndependents.

Both parties had to faceresentment from leadersdenied party tickets.

With filing of nominationscoming to a close on Friday,BJP's sitting MLA from Rewari,Randhir Kapriwas, who wasdenied ticket, said he hasentered the fray as anIndependent.

From Gurgaon, sitting leg-islator of BJP Umesh Aggarwalfielded his wife Anita from theconstituency as anIndependent candidate.

Congress leader Ranjit SinghChautala, son of late deputyprime minister Devi Lal,entered the fray from Rania asIndependent after failing tosecure a ticket.

From Rania, Congress field-ed Vineet Kamboj.

There are a few other seatstoo where leaders of the twoparties may not have enteredthe contest but are expressingresentment against the candi-dates who have been allocatedtickets.

Kapriwas was replaced bySunil Musepur by the BJP.

When asked why he hadentered the contest, Kapriwassaid, "I have been a loyal work-er of the BJP, always held theparty's flag high and raisedissues concerning public. Inever indulged in any anti-party activity, but don't knowwhy I have been made to paythe price".

"When an outsider was field-ed, my supporters told methat I should fight and enter thecontest. I have filed my candi-dature as an Independent,"said Kapriwas.

Gurgaon MLA UmeshAggarwal's wife AnitaAggarwal has entered the frayfrom the constituency as anindependent candidate.

Aggarwal, who has not beenon good terms with Chief

Minister M L Khattar, wasreplaced by Sudhir Singla.

Aggarwal had on Thursdayposted a sarcastic tweet.

"Look at the blade of thisaxe, some have been axedwhile some are ready to bechopped off," he tweeted inHindi.

Notably, out of 48 sittingMLAs, the BJP has deniedtickets to 12 including minis-ters Rao Narbir Singh andVipul Goel replacing themwith fresh faces.

The saffron party accom-modated several turncoats,mostly from the IndianNational Lok Dal, who joinedit ahead of the Lok Sabhapolls and the upcomingVidhan Sabha elections.

In the Congress camp, the

infighting in the Haryana unitof the party reached thedoorstep of party presidentSonia Gandhi on Wednesdaywith former Pradesh CongressCommittee chief AshokTanwar and his supportersprotesting outside her 10Janpath home in Delhi. Theyalleged corruption in the dis-tribution of Haryana tickets.

On Saturday, Tanwarresigned from the primarymembership of the party.

"Congress is going throughexistential crises, not becauseof its political opponents butbecause of serious internalcontradiction," he said in afour-page letter posted onTwitter and addressed toGandhi.

PNS n MUMBAI

Grappling with rebellions in hisparty over denial of tickets forthe Maharashtra assembly elec-tions, Shiv Sena presidentUddhav Thackeray onSaturday took a dig at rebelsafter meeting leaders fromOBC and other communities.

Representatives of variousbackward communities andNomadic Tribes (NTs) metThackeray at an auditorium insuburban Bandra for fulfil-ment of their demands.

Speaking to reporters afterthe meeting, Thackeray saidthe leaders told him they hadno other expectations fromhim, but demanded "justice"for their respective communi-ties.

"Leaders are those who don'taspire for election tickets but

work for the welfare of theircommunities," he said.

Like other parties, the Senatoo is facing wrath of ticketaspirants in many constituen-cies where they were deniednomination for the October 21polls.

"Those who stand by youduring the battle are genuinepeople. If a government cannotprovide justice to communitieswhat's the use of such a gov-ernment? Leaders are thosewho don't aspire for poll tick-ets but work for the welfare of

their communities," he said.The Sena chief said he was

committed to ensure each andevery person in the societyavailed basic amenities.

"I will pursue your genuinedemands with new govern-ment. Your support is ofimmense value to me," he toldthe leaders.

Thackeray said the Sena wasthe only party that had takento streets for the cause of farm-ers and the common man.

"These communities havehad certain demands pendingsince the last several years, andnow they have approached the

Sena for justice. We will ensuretheir demands are resolvedwithin a legal framework orelse we will work out otheralternatives," he said.

"These community leadersare not asking for seats to

contest elections, but wantme to stand by them," headded.

The Sena is contesting on124 out of the total 288 con-stituencies in alliance with theBJP which has nominated can-didates for 150 seats. Rest ofthe seats will be allotted tosmaller allies from the BJP'squota.

Uddhav promises justice to caste groups

PNS n SRINAGAR

At least 14 persons, includinga traffic policeman, wereinjured in a grenade attack byterrorists outside the DeputyCommissioner's office inAnantnag township of southKashmir on Saturday, a policeofficial said.

This was the secondgrenade attack in the valleysince the abrogation ofJammu and Kashmir's specialstatus on August 5.

The terrorists hurled agrenade on a security patroloutside the heavily guardedDC office complex inAnantnag town, 55 km fromhere, around 11 am, the offi-cial said.

He said the grenade missedthe intended target andexploded on the roadside,causing splinter injuries to 14persons, including a trafficpoliceman and a local jour-nalist.

All the injured were admit-ted to a hospital and 13 ofthem were discharged aftertreatment. One person wasstill in hospital but he wasstated to be out of danger.

The blast sparked panicamong people in the town.

The area has been cor-doned off by security forcesand a hunt has been launchedto nab the terrorists behindthe attack, the official said.

No outfit has so farclaimed responsibility for theattack.

PNS n BENGALURU

Karnataka BJP president NalinKumar Kateel on Saturdaysaid the both the governmentsat the state and Centre havedone a 'good' job in handlingrelief work during the floods,amid criticism from the oppo-sition Congress and JD(S).

The Member of Parliamentfrom Dakshina Kannada con-stituency Katteel asked oppo-sition parties to cooperate withthe state government in pro-viding relief to those affectedby the calamity instead ofindulging in 'politics.'

"The state government hasnot failed in relief work, ourChief Minister Yediyurappahas done things that no gov-ernment in the past was able todo. He has taken decisionswhich no government hastaken so far," he said.

"Relief work has been takenup quickly...our governmenthas done a good job in han-dling flood relief," Kateel said.

Speaking to reporters here,he said, As support, the centralgovernment too, by sendingNDRF teams, study teams andreleasing funds, has done itswork."

In the face of criticism overthe delay in release of centralfunds for relief, the central gov-ernment on Friday hadannounced the release of Rs1,200 crore in 'advance' fromthe National Disaster ResponseFund to the flood-ravagedstate.

Referring to measures likegrant of Rs 5 lakh to fully-

damaged houses, Rs 10,000 asimmediate relief for thoseaffected, and Rs 5,000 month-ly as rental amount for thosedisplaced, he said the state gov-ernment has released Rs 3,000crore for relief and various ini-tiatives have been taken so far.

As many as 103 taluks in 22districts were affected due tofloods in August, in which over80 people were killed.

Around seven lakh peoplewere shifted to safe areas andthousands of houses damaged.

BJP governments at both theCentre and the state have beenfacing criticism from the oppo-sition Congress and JDSregarding the 'delay' in grant ofcentral funds despite HomeMinister Amit Shah, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitaramanand inter-ministerial centralteam visiting the affectedregion.

The Opposition parties haveaccused Modi government ofshowing its 'apathy' towardsKarnataka, despite state send-ing 25 BJP MPs.

Even BJP MLABasanagouda Patil Yatnal and

MP Srinivas Prasad, also somestaunch RSS and BJP sup-porters, have expressed strongreservations about delay inthe release of central funds.

Rubbishing criticism aboutlack of cooperation from theCentre, Kateel said, as soon thecalamity happened NDRF andSDRF teams swung into actionand did an excellent work inrescue and relief.

Union Ministers visited theflood-hit regions and did andaerial survey, and PrimeMinister was in direct contactwith the Chief Minister.

Chief Minister and PrimeMinister had proper coordi-nation, and due procedureshave been followed in releas-ing Rs 1,200 crore. I thank thePrime Minister, HomeMinister, Finance Minister,Union Ministers from the stateand the Chief Minister, hesaid.

Reacting to the show-causenotice being issued to partyMLA Yatnal by the party, theBJP state president said, "Theparty functions under disci-pline and rules, every onehave to conduct themselvesaccordingly. If not, explana-tions are sought."

PNS n AROOR(KER)

A Kerala minister has kickedup a row by describingCongress led UDF candidateShanimol Usman, who is try-ing her luck from the Aroorassembly constituency in theOctober 21 bypoll as "Puthana"(demoness).

According to Hindumythology "Puthana", whoassumed the disguise of abeautiful young woman, hadtried to breastfeed Krishnawith poison when she waskilled by the infant god.

While the Congress led UDFhas demanded that a case be

registered against PWD min-ister G Sudhakaran for "insult-ing womanhood" with his

remarks, Usman and UDFworkers observed a fast protestin Aroor on Saturday.

The Mahila Morcha hassought an apology from theminister.

Reacting to the comments,Shanimol said she was "deeply

hurt".Lashing out at the ruling

CPI(M)-led LDF, SeniorCongress leader V MSudheeran said in the name ofwomen's empowerment, theLDF government had usedpublic money to raise a"woman's wall" through thelength and breadth of the stateduring the height of the sabari-mala agitation last year.

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Rolling out its election mani-festo for the October 21Haryana polls, the Swaraj Indiaon Saturday promised to cre-ate 20 lakh employmentopportunities at an outlay of Rs20,000 crore in the state.

The party, which has wadedinto electoral waters for thefirst time, promised to gener-ate employment opportuni-ties in several verticals includ-ing education, health, industry.

Naming its poll manifesto as'Imaan Patra', the party pro-posed to raise money byimposing tax on vacant plots inurban areas, additional housetax and by checking “corrup-tion” in mining business.

Party chief Yogendra Yadavtold reporters here that theunemployment is the biggestproblem in the state, but nopolitical party has come outwith any blueprint or roadmapto address this issue.

He said as per a Centre forMonitoring Indian Economy(CMIE) report, at least 20lakh people are unemployed in

Haryana.“We are bringing seven mis-

sions in our manifesto toaddress the problem of unem-ployment,” said Yadav here.

The psephologist-turned-politician said a sum of at leastRs 20,000 crore is needed tocreate job opportunities for 20lakh people in the state.

Underscoring the need forimproving education system,the party proposed to hiremore nursery teachers to teachstudents aged three to six yearsin villages.

“This step will generateemployment opportunities to73,000 people,” he said.

The party also proposed toexpand health facilities andhire more doctors and othersupporting staff to strengthenmedical services.

The Swaraj India also pro-posed to raise support pricesfor major crops includingwheat, paddy, 'bajra' etc, assert-ing that farming sector need-ed to be supported by remu-nerative prices to growers fortheir crops.

He also proposed to intro-duce separate budget for thefarming sector.

The party also sought tolaunch a major afforestationcampaign and a drive to reju-venate village ponds to createmore employment opportuni-ties.

PNS n NEW DELHI

President Ram Nath Kovind onSaturday said company secre-taries must ensure that stake-holders understand the differ-ence between profit and profi-teering, while fostering respon-sible business and balance eco-nomic objectives with largersocio-economic goals.

Addressing the 51stFoundation Day of the Instituteof Company Secretaries of India(ICSI), he said, "we have seenhow some business enterpriseshave broken the trust of thepeople. Companies have eitherfaltered or have come to astandstill. In the process, com-mon people have had to suffer."

Kovind said company secre-

taries play the role of a gover-nance professional and an inter-nal business partner and theymust foster "responsible busi-ness and balance economicobjectives" with larger socio-economic goals.

"And they must deliberate onissues where we need toimprove, so that mistakes or

limitations of the past are ade-quately addressed," he said.

The president further saidthat the concept of corporategovernance is complex, but theprinciples on which it is basedare clear and well marked.Transparency, accountability,integrity and fairness are its fourpillars.

He stressed that companysecretaries should responsiblydetermine how these principlesare put into practice.

India has drawn a blueprintto enhance its brand value as adestination for internationalbusiness and investment, hesaid, and that in this effort, howthey implement company lawsin a transparent manner has acritical bearing.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Union Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar on Saturdaybacked felling of trees atAarey Colony in northMumbai, saying as per theHigh Court ruling it is "not aforest area".

"The greens (environmen-talists) have failed," theBombay High Court said onFriday while refusing todeclare Aarey colony a forestand also declining to quash theBMC tree authority's deci-sion allowing felling of over2,600 trees in the green zoneto set up a metro carshed.

"The High Court has ruledyesterday that it is not a forest.You can't fell anything that isforest," he said at a press con-ference here, stating that peo-ple had also protested fellingof trees for Delhi Metro.

"There was a need to fell 20to 25 trees for setting up thefirst metro station in Delhi andthen also people had similar-ly opposed it. But for each treethat was cut five saplings wereplanted," he said.

Javadekar said the forestcover in the national capitalhas increased since then andpublic transport system hasalso improved.

"This is the mantra of 'vikasbhi, paryavaran ki surakshabhi' (development with envi-ronment protection)," the BJPleader said.

The minister was askedabout Mumbai Metro RailCorporation Ltd hacking treeslate Friday night to make wayfor a car shed, hours after the

high court dismissed fourpetitions filed by NGOs andactivists challenging the deci-sion to allow felling of trees.

On Saturday, policeimposed section 144 of theCriminal Procedure Code inAarey Colony and surround-ing areas, banning unlawfulassembly, following strongprotests by activists against thefelling of trees in the greenzone for a Metro car shed.

Former Haryana Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder SinghHooda greets his supporters during a rally before filing his nomination papers forthe forthcoming Assembly polls, in Rohtak, Friday

There are a fewother seats toowhere leaders ofthe two partiesmay not haveentered thecontest but areexpressingresentmentagainst thecandidates whohave beenallocated tickets

As many as 103taluks in 22districts wereaffected due tofloods in August,in which over 80people were killed

Nalin Kumar Kateel

"There was a needto fell 20 to 25trees for settingup the first metrostation in Delhiand then alsopeople hadsimilarly opposedit. But for eachtree that was cutfive saplings wereplanted," he said

According to Hindu mythology"Puthana", who assumed the disguiseof a beautiful young woman, had triedto breastfeed Krishna with poison whenshe was killed by the infant god

Prakash Javadekar

Uddhav Thackeray

Like other parties, the Sena too isfacing wrath of ticket aspirants in manyconstituencies where they were deniednomination for the October 21 polls

Cop among 14hurt in grenadeattack

AAREY PROTESTS

Several trees werefelled for Delhi Metrotoo, says Javadekar

Shanimol Usman

Ram Nath Kovind

President Kovind calls forresponsible business

PNS n GUWAHATI

The Bharatiya GorkhaParisangha (BGP) and itsyouth organisation, theBharatiya Gorkha YuvaParisangha (BhaGoYuP), onSaturday jointly appealed tothe tea garden owners inWest Bengal's DarjeelingHills to release 20 per centbonus to two lakh tea gardenworkers in the region.

Workers of all the 87 teagarden estates in Darjeelingobserved a 12-hour strikeon Friday demanding higherbonus payout. This was thefirst shutdown of theDarjeeling Hills since the104-day-long strike in 2017.

Trade unions in the regionare demanding a higherbonus payout at 20 per centagainst 12 per cent which hasbeen offered by the manage-ment. Expressing solidaritywith the agitating workers,the BGP and the BhaGoYuPsaid in a statement, "We standby the tea fraternity of ourGorkha community and allthe workers."

"It won't be a happy'Dassain' (a festival beginningSaturday) without our sisters,mothers and brothers in thetea gardens being paid fullbonus as agreed upon," thestatement said.

Asserting that tourism,timber and tea are thestrengths of Darjeeling'seconomy, the organisationsurged the management totake care of the basic needs ofthe workers.

Gorkha bodywants 20%bonus for teaworkers

WORRY FOR BJP, CONG AS REBELS ENTER FRAY

The psephologist-turned-politician saida sum of at least Rs

20,000 crore is needed tocreate job opportunities for 20lakh people in the state.

YOGENDRA YADAV Party chief

Swaraj India promises to create20 lakh jobs at Rs 20k cr

Row over minister’s ‘Puthana' remarks

K'taka BJP chief says state,Centre did good relief work

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019 nation 05

SHORT READS

Security forcesrecover IED in C'garhSUKMA: Security forces inChhattisgarh on Saturdaythwarted a possible naxal attackwhen they recovered apowerful improvised explosivedevice (IED) planted along amain road in Sukma district,police said. A team of CRPF's150th battalion and local policewas out on a search operationwhen it unearthed the IED,weighing 5 kg, packed in asteel tiffin box, a senior officialsaid. The IED was buried closeto a tree on the side of the roadnear Penta village in theErrabor police station area. Thisroute that goes through denseforests connects Sukma townto Hyderabad (Telangana). Theexplosive was immediatelydefused by the bomb disposalsquad, he said. Maoists plantexplosives close to trees andwells to target securitypersonnel, as they often takeshelter under trees and use thewater resources during theirlong search operations injungles, the official explained.

BSF seizes two Pakfishing boatsabandoned near Kutch

Modi heading a fascistregime, allegesSiddaramaiah

Congress leader Siddaramaiah

MANGALURU: FormerKarnataka Chief Minister andsenior Congress leaderSiddaramaiah on Saturdayalleged that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was running a'fascist' government at theCentre. "Modis administration issimilar to that of Adolf Hitler.Nobody dares to speak againsthim," he said, talking toreporters at the internationalairport here. Siddaramaiah washere on his way to Kalasa inChikkamagaluru where hewould meet the family of afarmer who committed suiciderecently. He was also scheduledto address a public meetingthere. He lambasted the Centrefor ignoring the states demandfor a relief of Rs 5,000 crore tohelp those affected by floods.The Centre has now sanctioneda meagre Rs 1,200 crore after athree-month-long wait, he said.He alleged that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has littleknowledge of the statesfinancial condition. He nowsays there was not enoughmoney to spend for reliefmeasures.

BHUJ: The Border SecurityForce (BSF) seized twoPakistani fishing boatsabandoned in Sir Creek areanear Kutch district in Gujarat onSaturday morning, an officialsaid. A team of BSF jawans,patrolling the area, found theboats at Lakshman Point in SirCreek, an estuary along theIndo-Pak border, around 8.25am, the official said. The boatswere carrying fishingequipment, but nobody wasfound on board, the officialadded. Following the seizure,the BSF launched a searchoperation along the borderarea, he said, adding thatnothing suspicious was foundso far. In a release, the BSFsaid, "A thorough searchoperation of the area has beenlaunched. It is still underway,but so far nothing suspicioushas been recovered from thearea." Security agencies havereported several cases ofPakistani fishing boats lyingabandoned in the area in thelast couple of months.

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a blow to Congress ahead ofHaryana Assembly polls, its for-mer state unit chief AshokTanwar resigned from the pri-mary membership of the partyon Saturday. Tanwarannounced his resignation onTwitter and posted a four-pageresignation letter addressed toCongress president SoniaGandhi in which he said"Congress is going throughexistential crises, not because ofits political opponents butbecause of serious internal con-tradiction. "I after severalmonths of consideration tendermy resignation from the pri-mary membership of theCongress party, which I nur-tured from my sweat and blood.My fight is not personal butagainst the system which isdestroying the grand old party,"the letter said.

The reasons of his resigna-tion are well known to allCongressmen, Tanwar said,adding that he has taken thedecision after having long delib-erations with party workers.

Tanwar has revolted againstthe party leadership allegingirregularities and corruption inticket distribution for October21 Haryana Assembly pollsand had openly protested out-side the Congress chief 's 10Janpath residence here onWednesday.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Central Public WorksDepartment has set up dedi-cated planning and designcentres across the country, anofficial said on Saturday.

The move intends to cater tothe need of design require-ments of the regional units ofthe Centre's prime construc-tion agency, the CPWD officialsaid. "Planning and designscentres have been set up as partof restructuring CPWD whichhas around 8,000 engineers,"the official said.

He said the regional plan-ning and design centres havebeen set up under Chief

Architect, (Planning andDesign) - I.

"These centres will lookafter the design work of notonly a particular projectregion, but also of the areasunder the jurisdictions of con-cerned regional AdditionalDirector Generals (ADGs),"the official said.

CPWD is the central gov-ernment's largest constructionagency which carries out sev-eral development projects.

Besides erecting fences onthe country's internationalborders, the agency also carriesout projects in foreign coun-tries which have "friendshipprogrammes" with India.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Broadbasing their ties, Indiaand Bangladesh on Saturdayinked seven pacts andlaunched three projects afterPrime Minister NarendraModi held wide-ranging talkswith his Bangladeshi counter-part Sheikh Hasina.

One of the projects includ-ed import of LPG (LiquefiedPetroleum Gas) fromBangladesh for distribution inthe North Eastern states.

The pacts signed after Modi-Hasina talks provided fordeeper cooperation betweenthe two countries in areas ofwater resources, youth affairs,culture, education and coastalsurveillance. In a brief mediastatement, Modi said Indiaaccords priority to its ties withBangladesh and increasingcooperation between the twoneighbouring countries shouldbe model for the entire world.

"I am happy that today'stalks will further energise ourbilateral ties," he said in pres-ence of Hasina.

Modi said in the last oneyear, the two sides launched atotal of 12 projects, includingthree inaugurated on Saturday,which reflected the intensity inties between the two sides.

In her remarks, Hasina saidties between the two countrieshave been on an upswing inthe last few years including inareas of maritime security,civil nuclear energy and trade.

Earlier, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar called onHasina.

"EAM @DrSJaishankar hada warm conversation withBangladesh PM#SheikhHasina. ReaffirmedIndia's highest priority to herrelations with Bangladesh,"External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumartweeted.

PNS n MUMBAI

Former managing director ofPunjab and MaharashtraCooperative (PMC) Bank, JoyThomas, arrested in connec-tion with the alleged Rs 4,355crore scam at the bank, was onSaturday remanded in policecustody till October 17.

The Economic OffencesWing (EOW) of MumbaiPolice, which had arrestedThomas on Friday, producedhim before Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate S GShaikh.

The police told the courtthat they need his custody tointerrogate him as he was partof the conspiracy.

However, Thomas's lawyerargued that he is being madea "scapegoat".

On Thursday, the EOW hadarrested directors of the bank-

rupt Housing Developmentand Infrastructure (HDIL)Rakesh Wadhawan and hisson Sarang in connection withthe case. They are in policecustody till October 9.

The EOW had registered anFIR on Monday against seniorofficials of HDIL and PMCBank for allegedly causinglosses to the tune of Rs4,355.43 crore to the bank.

The FIR named formerPMC Bank chairman WaryamSingh, Thomas and othersenior officials, besides theWadhawan duo.

The EnforcementDirectorate had conductedraids at six locations in andaround Mumbai on Fridayafter taking cognisance of theFIR registered by the EOW.

According to police, theHDIL promoters allegedly col-luded with the bank manage-ment to take loans from itsBhandup branch in Mumbai.

PNS n AIZAWL

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday said the BJP-led government at the Centrehas doubled the allocation offunds for developmental pro-jects in Mizoram than what theUPA government had done.

Shah was speaking at theinauguration of the North EastHandloom and HandicraftExhibition, organised by theNorth East Council, in theMizoram capital.

"While the UPA governmenthad allocated over Rs 19,900crore to Mizoram through the13th Finance Commission, theModi government has alreadyallocated Rs 42,970 crore to thestate through the 14th FinanceCommission," Shah, who isvisiting the state for the firsttime after assuming the chargeof Home minister, said.

Shah, also the NEC chair-man, assured Chief MinisterZoramthanga of workingtowards the development of thestate.

If Mizoram, the most dis-

turbed state in the countrycould become the most peace-ful state, it can also become themost developed state in thecountry, he said.

The state had witnessed atwo decade-long insurgencysince 1966, which ended withsigning of a peace accordbetween the Mizo NationalFront and the Government ofIndia in 1986.

The Union home ministeralso promised the chief minis-ter that he would do "every-thing possible to make thebeautiful state develop, prosper

and become more beautiful".The state has great potential

in bamboo cultivation and itsresidents can become self-suf-ficient through the manufac-ture and sale of handicraftitems.

"The massive wealth of bam-boo in the state can be utilisedfor development of handicraftitems. Self-sufficiency couldbe achieved through manufac-ture and sale of bamboo prod-ucts," he said.

Zoramthanga expressedhope that with assistance fromthe Centre, Mizoram, that has

a high potential for growth, willhave the highest Gross StateDomestic Product (GSDP) inthe country.

Though the powerful NGOCoordination Committee, anumbrella organisation of majorcivil society organisations andstudent bodies, had withdrawnits decision to organise a protestby wearing black shawls duringShah's visit, some groups stageda protest by carrying placards.

The groups, which includedMizoram People's Conference(MPC) and People's Right toIdentity and Status of Mizoram(PRISM) gathered in front ofVanapa Hall, were opposing theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill(CAB).

A few people wearing blackshawls near the GovernmentHigh School Playground, the

venue of the North EastHandloom and HandicraftExhibition were, however, dis-persed by the police.

The CAB had been passed bythe Lok Sabha on January 8,2019, but could not be placedin the Rajya Sabha.

The legislation seeks toaccord Indian citizenship toHindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,Christians, and Parsis fromPakistan, Afghanistan, andBangladesh after seven years ofresidence in India instead of 12years, which is the norm cur-rently, even if they do not pos-sess any document.

After inaugurating the exhi-bition, Shah is scheduled tomeet Zoramthanga and thenspeak with leaders of the NGOCoordination Committee onthe CAB.

PNS n MUMBAI

Several Bollywood actors,including Farhan Akhtar, DiaMirza and Swara Bhasker, onSaturday condemned thefelling of trees in Aarey Colony,being carried out to make wayfor a Metro carshed.

Hours after the BombayHigh Court on Friday dis-missed four petitions by NGOsagainst the felling of over 2,600trees, the Mumbai Metro RailCorporation Ltd (MMRCL)swung into action and startedhacking trees for the project.

"Cutting trees at night is apathetic attempt at trying to getaway with something eventhose doing it know is wrong.#Aarey #GreenIsGold#Mumbai," Akhtar said in atweet.

In a series of tweets, Mirzasaid that this "massacre" needsto be stopped.

"400 trees have been cut inthe dead of the night. As citi-zens sang and joined hands inunity pleading to STOP thismassacre. Can't you see theyare UNITED by love!?! Lovefor nature. Love for our chil-dren and our future. #Aarey

#ClimateAction #ActNow#ChangeIsComing," she said.

In another tweet, the actorsaid that there is supposed tobe a 15-day waiting period afterthe permission is granted andnotice has been uploaded onthe official website.

"But there is no waitinghere. Our trees are being cut ascitizens desperately plead to

STOP this! @moefcc@PrakashJavdekar #Aarey."

Sharing a video of the fellingof trees on Twitter, actor RichaChadda wrote, "If you're a par-ent and not seriously angeredabout this shady tree felling inthe night, lemme know howyou feel about looking yourkids in their eyes."

In another tweet, Chaddaexpressed heranger saying, "Allthis for a carshed - which isbasically like a parking lot for

the Metro. Stealing oxygenfrom the lungs of citizens.

"And it's begun!#AareyForest #AareyColonybeing destroyed," Swara said.

Actor Urmila Matondkar,who had unsuccessfully con-tested the Lok Sabha electionas a Congress candidate fromMumbai North before quit-ting the party last month,said what was happening atAarey was "truly incompre-hensible".

Bollywood stars express ire over tree felling

NDA govt doubled funding forprojects in Mizoram: Shah

Amit Shah

The state had witnessed a two decade-long insurgency since 1966, whichended with signing of a peace accordbetween the Mizo National Front andthe Government of India in 1986

PNS n NEW DELHI

Asserting that there was nevera "big brother" in the BJP-ShivSena alliance, senior BJPleader Prakash Javadekarexuded confidence that thetwo parties together will winmore than 200 seats in the288-member MaharashtraAssembly in the upcomingpolls.

The BJP is a party whichworks 24/7 and the moment2019 elections ended, it start-ed preparing for the next elec-tion, the Union minister saidin an interaction with PTIjournalists at the news agency'sheadquarters here.

"The Congress party couldnot find a replacement of itspresident for two months.Within those two months wehad new working president inplace, we launched our newmassive membership driveand added eight crore mem-bers, making it a 19 crore-member party. It is huge," hesaid.

"So, we are working on theground and our forte is booth.We remain among the people24/7 for which people rewardus," he asserted.

Asked about opposition'sclaim that the BJP is raising theabrogation of Article 370 pro-visions is state polls to divertattention from local issues,Javadekar said it is the peoplewho are talking about theissue as it caught their imagi-nation.

He also said the media cre-ated the jargon of "big broth-er" in the BJP-Sena combineand asserted that no one in thealliance declared so.

Javadekar also expressedconfidence that the two parties

together will comfortably geta majority in the MaharashtraAssembly polls.

"We are fighting as analliance and the alliance willget more than 200 seats. Weare very confident," he said.

Of the 288 assembly seats,the Shiv Sena will contest 124,smaller NDA allies such as RPIand RSP will contest 14, andremaining seats (150) will befought by the BJP.

The Sena is also expected toget two berths in theLegislative Council from theBJP quota.

The Sena and BJP had con-tested the state polls separate-ly in 2014.

Assembly elections inMaharashtra besides Haryanawill be held on October 21.Counting will take place onOctober 24.

Prakash Javadekar

"So, we areworking on theground and ourforte is booth. Weremain among thepeople 24/7 forwhich peoplereward us," heasserted

Hours after the Bombay High Court onFriday dismissed four petitions by NGOsagainst the felling of over 2,600 trees,the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd(MMRCL) swung into action and startedhacking trees for the project.

The reasons of hisresignation arewell known to allCongressmen,Tanwar said,adding that he hastaken the decisionafter having longdeliberations withparty workers

India, Bangladesh sign sevenpacts after Modi-Hasina talks

Ashok Tanwarresigns from Cong

PNS n LUCKNOW

Uttar Pradesh bureaucrats andofficers going on official tripsabroad will now have to give apresentation of the skills theygained there and their benefitsfor the state, said an seniorstate official. While sending onforeign study trips, priority willgiven to officers who haveprior knowledge and experi-ence of the subject of the tripand who can help the state gainfrom their tour.

"Every year, senior officialsand bureaucrats go abroad onstudy trips or to participate inevents on behalf of the state.The Chief Minister's permis-sion is sought for these trips,but the Chief Minister's Officedoes not get to know about thewhat the officers learnt onthese trips. So it has beendecided that all senior officialsgoing abroad for a study trip oran event will make a presen-tation on their return," said anofficial.

UP OFFICERS ON STUDY TRIPSABROAD ACCOUNTABLE NOW

The EOW hadregistered an FIRon Monday againstsenior officials ofHDIL and PMCBank for allegedlycausing losses tothe tune of Rs4,355.43 crore tothe bank

CPWD sets up planning anddesign centres across country

PNS n JAMMU

Over 3,000 people attended amega medical camp organisedby the Army on Saturday in aremote village in Reasi districtof Jammu and Kashmir, adefence spokesman said.

General OfficerCommanding (GOC), CounterInsurgency Force (Uniform),Maj Gen Dhiraj Seth inaugu-rated the camp at Ransoo vil-lage, the spokesman said.

Leading super-specialist doc-tors drawn from various Armyhospitals were pooled in for theday-long camp, he said.

The spokesman said com-munity physicians, invited fromRed Cross Society, Shri MataVaishno Devi Shrine CharitableTrust, provided their servicesduring the medical camp.Medicines were also distributedto the patients including

women, children and elderlyduring the medical camp, headded.

Patients were examined fordiabetes, hypertension,bronchial asthma, anemia,nutritional deficiencies, hearingproblems, cataract, gynecolog-ical problems and dental dis-eases besides carrying outpathology and radiology inves-tigations, the spokesman said.

For conduct of this MegaMedical Camp, he said coordi-nation and liaison with civil

institutions such as ViklangSahayata Kendra, Ludhiana andBhagwan Mahavir ViklangSahayata Samiti, Kota were alsoundertaken. The institutionsassisted in providing 65 hearingaids, 28 artificial limbs, 47crutches, 61 wheel-chairs andfour walking sticks to the needypatients, the spokesman said.

A blood donation camp wasalso organised by GMC Rajouriand GMC Jammu in which 51Army personnel and 47 civiliansparticipated, he said.

Leading super-specialist doctorsdrawn from variousArmy hospitalswere pooled in forthe day-long camp,he said

Goa dependenton neighbouringstates, rues CMPNS n PANAJI

Goa Chief Minister PramodSawant on Saturdayexpressed concern over thestate's "dependence" on theneighbouring states for itsbasic needs.

He also exhorted the peo-ple of Goa to start smallbusinesses at the local level sothat the state does not loseout its money to the neigh-bouring states.

Sawant was speaking dur-ing the customer outreachprogramme of banks andfinancial institutions held atSankhalim village, 40 kmsaway from here.

He said that although sixmillion tourists and equalnumber of migrants visit Goaannually, the state has failedto reap its benefit.

Army organises megamedical camp in J-K's Reasi

Ex-MD of PMC Bank sentto police custody till Oct 17

Ashok Tanwar

‘BJP-Shiv Senaalliance will getover 200 seats’

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019 nation 06

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019 world 07

AFP n WASHINGTON

Democratic lawmakers onFriday demanded that the

White House turn over docu-ments related to allegationsthat President Donald Trumppressured Ukraine for politicalfavors, as the explosiveimpeachment investigationagainst the US leader intensified.

The congressional com-mittees leading the probecranked up the heat on theWhite House as evidencemounted that Trump illicitlyused his office to enlist UkrainePresident VolodymyrZelensky’s help to damage 2020Democratic rival Joe Biden, inexchange for military aid.

“The White House hasrefused to engage with — oreven respond to — multiplerequests for documents,” theDemocratic chairmen of the

House oversight, intelli-gence and foreign affairs com-mittees said.

“After nearly a month ofstonewalling, it appears clearthat the President has chosenthe path of defiance, obstruc-tion, and cover-up.

“His actions have left uswith no choice but to issue thissubpoena.” In their letter to act-

ing White House Chief of StaffMick Mulvaney, the commit-tees demanded that he turnover the requested files byOctober 18.

The subpoena followed ademand earlier Friday for doc-uments from Vice PresidentMike Pence.

The investigators pointedto Pence’s knowledge ofTrump’s calls to Zelensky andhis own meeting on September1 with the Ukraine leader, aswell as discussions he mayhave had with Trump and USdiplomats about Ukraine andobtaining political dirt onBiden.

A series of text messagesbetween US diplomats dealingwith Ukraine, made public bythe congressional investiga-tors, supported Democraticaccusations that Trump hadillegally sought foreign help forhis reelection effort.

And the Wall Street Journalreported that, in an interview,Republican Senator RonJohnson said he had learnedthat a quid pro quo had been

proposed to Zelensky’s gov-ernment by Trump’s emissaries,tying military aid to a Ukrainecorruption investigation intoBiden.

Trump pushed back hard,saying there was no quid proquo and, in an effort to recastthe entire saga, insisted it washis responsibility to investigate“corruption.” “I don’t care aboutBiden’s campaign but I careabout corruption,” he toldreporters.

“I don’t care about politics,”he said. “I believe there wastremendous corruption withBiden.” The former US vicepresident responded by callingTrump “the most corrupt pres-ident we’ve had in modern his-tory.”

“I am not going to stand forit,” Biden said at a campaignevent in Los Angeles, deemingTrump “unhinged.” “He hasindicted himself by his ownstatements,” Biden added, oneday after Trump openly calledfor both Beijing and Kiev toinvestigate the Democrat forcorruption.

Democrats subpoena WHas Prez probe intensifies

Baghdad: A curfew was liftedin Baghdad on Saturday fol-lowing days of protests whichhave left nearly 100 dead, buttensions remained after firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr demanded theGovernment quit.

The largely spontaneousprotests over chronic unem-ployment and poor public ser-vices that erupted in the capi-tal on Tuesday have escalatedinto a broader movementdemanding an end to officialcorruption and a change ofgovernment.

At least 93 people havebeen killed and nearly 4,000wounded, as protests spread tocities across the south, the par-

liamentary human rights com-mission said.

Sadr threw his weightbehind the demonstrations onFriday with a call for the res-ignation of Prime MinisterAdel Abdel Mahdi.

His movement has thepower and organisation tobring large numbers of sup-porters onto the streets, but atthe risk of alienating many ofthose who have taken to thestreets in recent days to expresstheir rejection of all of Iraq’sfeuding political factions.

Speaker Mohammad al-Halbusi was due to convene asession of parliament sessionlater Saturday to discuss jobcreation and social welfare

schemes, after he too extend-ed a hand to the protesters, say-ing: “Your voice is being heard.”In Baghdad on Saturday,municipal workers were outand about cleaning up the rub-bish burned by protesters inrecent days.

Shoppers trickled backonto the streets to buy vegeta-bles and other perishable goodsthe price of which has morethan doubled since the deadlyprotests started.

With the daytime curfew inplace since Thursday lifted,demonstrators began gatheringnear the emblematic TahrirSquare in the morningalthough many main thor-oughfares remained shut and

an internet blackout was still inforce.

The mainly young, maleprotesters have insisted theirmovement is not linked to anyparty or religious establish-ment and have scoffed at recentovertures by politicians.

“These men don’t representus. We don’t want parties any-more. We don’t want anyone tospeak in our name,” said oneprotester late Friday. Abu Salah,a 70-year-old resident ofBaghdad with wispy white hairand a matching beard, said thestreets would be full until Iraqissaw real change. “If living con-ditions don’t improve, theprotests will come back evenworse,” he told AFP.

Beirut: Nine jihadists werekilled on Saturday in Russianairstrikes on Syria’s war-tornprovince of Idlib, a monitoringgroup said.

“Russian strikes this morn-ing targeted the Hurras al-Deen group and Ansar al-Tahwid in eastern Idlib...Killing nine jihadists,” said theBritain-based SyrianObservatory for HumanRights, adding eight otherswere wounded.

Six of the dead were mem-bers of the Al-Qaeda linkedHurras al-Deen, a group whichis also targeted by the US-ledcoalition.

Moscow is a key ally ofSyria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s civil war,and despite an Idlib ceasefiredeal reached on August 31, theprovince has continued to betargeted by Russian air attacks.

Russia-backed regimefighters have for weeks beenchipping away at the edges ofthe province bordering Turkeythat is the last jihadist strong-hold outside of Assad’s control.

AFP

AFP n HONG KONG

Pro-democracy protestersmarched through Hong

Kong in defiance of a ban onface masks as much of the cityground to a halt on Saturdaywith the subway suspendedand swathes of shops and mallsshuttered following anothernight of violence.

Hundreds of protesters,almost all masked, staged anunsanctioned march throughthe popular shopping district ofCauseway Bay, a day after thecity’s leader outlawed face cov-erings at protests invokingcolonial-era emergency powersnot used for half a century.

The latest act of resistancecame after a night of wide-spread night of chaos as hard-core protesters trashed dozensof subway stations vandalisedshops with mainland Chinaties, built fires and blockedroads.

As the crowds were march-ing on Saturday, city leaderCarrie Lam released a stony-faced video statement in whichshe condemned protesters for

“a very dark night”.“We cannot allow rioters

any more to destroy our trea-sured Hong Kong,” Lam said asshe called on citizens to dis-tance themselves form themore hardcore protesters.

But the march in CausewayBay, which came despite thecity-wide subway closure,showed protesters were stillwilling to defy the mask ban asthey chanted “No rioters, onlytyranny” and other popularslogans.

Hong Kong has been bat-tered by four months ofincreasingly violent pro-democracy protests.

The rallies were ignited bya now-scrapped plan to allowextraditions to the mainland,which fuelled fears of an ero-sion of liberties promisedunder the “one country, twosystems” model China uses forthe finance hub.

After Beijing and localleaders took a hard line, thedemonstrations snowballedinto a wider movement callingfor more democratic freedomsand police accountability.

Lam has refused any majorconcessions but struggled tocome up with any politicalsolution that might end thechaos, leaving police anddemonstrators to fight increas-ingly violent battles as the citytips into recession.

Baghdad: The death tollfrom mass protests inBaghdad and cities acrosssouthern Iraq rose to 93 onSaturday as the unrestentered its fifth day, parlia-ment’s human rights com-mission said.

Nearly 4,000 peoplehave also been injured sincethe protests against chron-ic unemployment, poorpublic services and wide-spread corruption eruptedin the capital on Tuesday,the commission said.

It was not immediatelyclear whether the latestdeaths were from Friday’shuge protests or freshdemonstrations onSaturday.

The authorities haveimposed a virtual blackoutof the internet and confir-mation of protest casualtiesin the provinces has trickledin slowly. AFP

Baghdad curfew lifted but Iraq on alert for new protestsIraq protestdeath tollnears 100:rights panel

AFP n TOKIO

In the grounds of the ravagedFukushima Daiichi nuclear

plant sits a million-tonneheadache for the plant's operatorsand Japan's government: tankafter tank of water contaminat-ed with radioactive elements.

What to do with the enor-mous amount of water, whichgrows by around 150 tonnes aday, is a thorny question, withcontroversy surrounding a long-standing proposal to discharge itinto the sea, after extensivedecontamination.

The water comes from sev-eral different sources: some isused for cooling at the plant,which suffered a meltdown after

it was hit by a tsunami triggeredby a massive earthquake inMarch 2011. Groundwater thatseeps into the plant daily, alongwith rainwater, add to the prob-lem.

A thousand, towering tankshave now replaced many of thecherry trees that once dotted theplant's ground.

Each can hold 1,200 tonnes,and most of them are already full.

"We will build more on thesite until the end of 2020, and wethink all the tanks will be full byaround the summer of 2022," saidJunichi Matsumoto, an officialwith the unit of plant operatorTEPCO in charge of dismantlingthe site.

TEPCO has been struggling

with the problem for years, tak-ing various measures to limit theamount of groundwater enteringthe site. There is also an exten-sive pumping and filtration sys-tem, that each day brings uptonnes of newly contaminatedwater and filters out as many ofthe radioactive elements as pos-sible.

The hangar where thedecontamination system runs isdesignated "Zone Y" -- a dangerzone requiring special protec-tions.

All those entering must wearelaborate protection: a full bodysuit, three layers of socks, threelayers of gloves, a double captopped by a helmet, a vest witha pocket carrying a dosimeter, a

full-face respirator mask andspecial shoes. Most of the outfithas to burned after use.

"The machinery filters con-tain radionuclides, so you have tobe very protected here, just likewith the buildings where thereactors are," explained TEPCOrisk communicator KatsutoshiOyama. TEPCO has been filter-ing newly contaminated water foryears, but much of it needs to gothrough the process againbecause early versions of the fil-tration process did not fullyremove some dangerous radioac-tive elements, including stron-tium 90.

HK protesters defy maskban as city grinds to halt

AFP n KUALA LUMPUR

UN human rights chiefMichelle Bachelet said

on Saturday she was “trou-bled” by Hong Kong’s increas-ingly violent pro-democracyprotests, and stressed that anymeasures to quell the unrestmust be grounded in law.

The city endured anothernight of chaos Friday, afterleader Carrie Lam bannedface masks at demonstrations,invoking colonial-era emer-gency powers not used for halfa century.

Hardcore protesters

trashed dozens of subway sta-tions, vandalised shops withmainland China ties, builtfires and blocked fires.

“We are troubled by thehigh levels of violence associ-ated with some demonstra-tions that have been takingplace in the past days,”Bachelet said during a visit toMalaysia.

She said she was“alarmed” by injuries to police,protesters and journalists cov-ering the demonstrations.

“I strongly condemn allacts of violence from all sides,”she added.

Kabul: The Taliban met USpeace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad inthe Pakistan capital for the firsttime since President DonaldTrump declared a seeminglyimminent peace deal to endAfghanistan’s 18-year war ‘dead’a month ago, a Taliban officialsaid on early Saturday.

He offered few details ofFriday’s meeting betweenKhalilzad and the Taliban dele-gation led by Mullah AbdulGhani Baradar, a co-founder ofthe movement that was ousted in2001 by the US-led coalition.

The official spoke on con-dition of anonymity because hewas not authorised to speak tothe media.

US officials however havebeen keen to say there is noresumption of peace talks, at leastnot now in Islamabad.

Still, the meeting is signifi-cant as the US seeks an exit fromAfghanistan’s 18-year war.

Khalilzad has been inIslamabad for much of the weekmeeting with senior govern-ment officials in what the USState Department described asfollow-up meetings he held inNew York during last month’sUN General Assembly session.At the time he met PakistaniPrime Minister Imran Khan,who has been calling for aresumption of peace talks.

The Taliban delegation led

by Mullah Baradar - one of itsmore powerful members -arrived separately in thePakistani capital for meetingswith government officials theysaid were being held to discussa wide range of political issuesrelating to the more than 1.5 mil-lion Afghans still living asrefugees in Pakistan.

Baradar was arrested inPakistan in 2010 in a jointPakistani-CIA operation after hesecretly opened peace talks withthe then-Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai, attempting tosideline Pakistan and againstthe US strategy at the time,which did not support talkswith the Taliban. AP

AFP n WASHINGTON

The US will block the entryof immigrants without

health insurance or the abili-ty to pay for medical bills,President Donald Trumprevealed Friday.

Consular officers will onlybe allowed to issue visas toprospective immigrants whocan prove they “will notimpose a substantial burden”on the US health care system,according to a proclamationauthored by Trump.

“Lawful immigrants areabout three times more likelythan United States citizens to

lack health insurance,” Trumpsaid in the proclamation.

“Immigrants who enterthis country should not fur-ther saddle our healthcaresystem, and subsequently

American taxpayers, withhigher costs.” The measurewill go into effect onNovember 3.

Trump made crackingdown on immigration a keypart of his 2016 presidentialcampaign platform.

He has pushed wide-rang-ing immigration law reforms,while tasking authorities withcarrying out mass deporta-tions of people in the US ille-gally. Last week Washingtonalso announced plans to dra-matically lower its ceiling ona decades-old refugee resettlement program by 40 per cent.

Athens: US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo on Saturdayaccused members ofCongress of harassing hisdepartment to obtain docu-ments linked to an impeach-ment investigation againstPresident Donald Trump.

“There have been con-gressional inquiries that haveharassed and abused StateDepartment employees bycontacting them directly andseeking to have them providedocuments... That belong tothe State Department, that areofficial US governmentrecords” he said during avisit in Greece.

“That’s harassment. AndI’m never going to let that

happen to my team.” The US congressional

committees leading theimpeachment probe crankedup the heat on the WhiteHouse this week amidmounting evidence thatTrump may have illicitly usedhis office to enlist UkrainePresident VolodymyrZelensky’s help to damage thebid of 2020 Democratic rivalJoe Biden in exchange formilitary aid.

After dodging questionsfor days, Pompeo finally con-firmed Wednesday that hehad been on the telephonecall when Trump pressedUkraine for damaging infor-mation on Biden. AFP

Trump to block immigrantsunable to pay for healthcare

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

EIGHT KILLED, 18 WOUNDEDIN RWANDA ATTACKKigali (Rwanda): Unidentified gunmenkilled eight people and injured 18during an overnight attack in northernRwanda near the border with DRCongo, police said on Saturday.

CHINESE PEOPLE SEEKMODERN TREATMENTLondon: While the western world looksat embracing alternative forms oftreatment, activists in China areprotesting the use of ancient andtraditional medicine, which hospitalsare obliged to offer to patients on anequal footing with modern medicalcare.

AFRICA’S OLDEST’ TORTOISEDIES IN NIGERIA: PALACELagos: A tortoise whose royal ownersclaimed was 344 years old years oldhas died in the palace of the traditionalruler of Ogbomosho, southwestNigeria, a spokesman said on Saturday.

DRONE STRIKE HITSAIRPORT IN LIBYA’S MISRATATripoli: A drone strike on Saturdaytargeting an airport in western Libyawounded one person, forces loyal tothe country’s unity Government said,while also reportedly causing flights tobe suspended.

16 KILLED IN JIHADISTATTACKS IN NIGERIAKano (Nigeria): At least 16 people,including 11 soldiers, have been killedin jihadist attacks in Nigeria’snortheastern Borno, military sourcessaid on Saturday. Rival factions of BokoHaram launched the attacks on militaryand civilian targets between Thursdayand Saturday, they said.

Stockholm: North Korean andUS officials on Saturday gatheredfor new nuclear talks inStockholm after months of dead-lock and Pyongyang’s defiant testof a sea-launched ballistic mis-sile this week.

North Korea’s Kim MyongGil and Stephen Biegun, the spe-cial envoy of US PresidentDonald Trump, are part of theteams at the talks.

The two were to meet at aheavily guarded venue on anisland off Stockholm, severalhundred metres from the NorthKorean embassy, an AFP corre-spondent said. The first cars withtinted windows started arrivingjust after 9:00 am (0700 GMT).

“I am encouraged that USand (North Korean) workinglevel delegations are currently inSweden to hold talks,” SwedishForeign Minister tweeted.

“Dialogue needed to reachdenuclearization and peacefulsolution.” Similar-level talks onNorth Korea’s nuclear disarma-ment were held in Stockholm inMarch 2018 and then in Januarythis year.

North Korea frequently cou-ples diplomatic overtures withmilitary moves as a way ofmaintaining pressure on negoti-ating partners, analysts say, andmany believe this weapons sys-tem gives it added leverage.

Pyongyang tested what itcalled a “super-large” rocket onWednesday just hours after itsaid it was willing to resumeworking-level talks withWashington. AP

Protesters walk next to a banner with the words “May Glory be to Hong Kong” in Hong Kong on Saturday AP

Washington: NASA is current-ly designing and developing anew spacesuit system, called theExploration ExtravehicularMobility Unit or xEMU, for thefirst woman and next man whowill put foot on the Moon in 2024.But the US space agency is seek-ing feedback from industry onlunar spacesuits as it plans to askUS companies to manage pro-duction for 2025 and beyond.

NASA on Friday said that itis seeking industry feedback tohelp refine and mature the acqui-sition strategy for productionand services for lunar spacesuitsto enable a steady cadence ofArtemis missions over the nextdecade and beyond.

The agency is prepared tobuild and certify the initial space-suits to support a demonstrationin a spaceflight environment on

the International Space Station in2023 and the first trip to the lunarsurface in 2024, as part of theArtemis III mission.

After Artemis III, NASAplans to transition responsibilityfor production, assembly, testing,sustaining and maintenance of afleet of flight and training space-suits and associated hardware tothe US industry.

IANS

Nine jihadistskilled in Russiastrikes on Idlib:Monitor

UN rights chief saystroubled by HK violence

Pompeo blasts ‘harassment’ byCongress over impeachment probe

N Korean, USofficials at Ntalks after latestmissile test

NASA seeks industryinputs on lunar spacesuit

RADIOACTIVE WATER

At Fukushima plant, a million-tonne headacheTaliban meet US peace envoyfor first time since ‘dead’ deal

special 08HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019

As one walks down the cobbledpath with open drains on eitherside and pucca houses withhuge iron gates one wonderswhat happened to the image that

one has of the villages. As the cities havegrown rapidly so have the villages and withthem the villagers. This can’t be truer for twowomen from Johri village, Baraut district inUttar Pradesh. These octogenarians have notonly changed the course of their lives, theirfamilies but the entire district as well. MeetChandro Tomar, today 87 and PrakashiTomar, today 85 who have not just won over250 medals and trophies between them buthave also changed the mindset of the peo-ple living there — that girls have the rightto education and play a sport. The womenaka Shooter Dadis as they are popularlyreferred to have shown the world that awoman can multitask and when she makesup her mind to pursue something she willexcel in it.

Prakashi Tomas’s daughter, SeemaTomar, an Indian Trap shooter and the onlyIndian woman to win shotgun Silver Medalat the International Shooting SportFederation World Cup, tells you that theachievement of her taiji and mother haschanged the mindset of the villagers. “Therehas been a sea change. To begin with, evenI was not allowed to play the sport. My fam-ily was not keen to let me enter into a sportlike shooting which is male dominated. Butwhat my mother has done meant that I wasable to assert myself. This meant that theother girls from the area were also able tobe a part of this sport. Today, 40-45 girls playat the international level. This is such anachievement,” Seema says.

“Taiji and my mother have proved suchan inspiration for me. It was Chandro taijiwho first started going to the shooting range.After seeing my taiji, we told our mother thatshe too needs to go and play the sport. I toogot interested and wanted to go with her.That is how it all began,” Seema tells you,

She gives you an archaic picture of whatthe life of a woman in a village was like. “Onehas to understand that in villages it is thewomen who do all the work, they work inthe fields, they tend to the cattle and lookafter the home. The men generally sitaround. When a girl is born, the family’sobject is to save money for her marriage.Once the girl is 17-18, the family marriedher off. Everyone was leading this life. Thewomen didn’t know and have any life out-side of their homes. Today, things havechanged. After my taiji and mother’sachievements, girls are actually allowed toplay this sport. Not only this, parents sendthem to an academy for professional train-ing,” Seema says. She started training withher mother in 1998 and professionally tooktook up the game in 2002.

In 2003, she had won her first nation-al medal. But it was only in 2004-05 that shetook up the sport professionally. She tells youthat since then a lot has changed. “Shootingwas a royal game. Nobody in the village evenknew that such a sport existed. Now, thisgame has become popular in rural India aswell. The earlier aim, to save money for mar-riage, has given way to save money so thattheir daughter can go to the academy andtrain and bring accolades to the family,”Seema tells you who entered the sport at thesenior level when she was 21.

She opines that this change has a lot todo with the feat of the Shooter Dadis. Therewere instances where the young girls want-ing to learn the sport would cite theachievements of the dadis.

“They would tell their parents that thedadis were also going for training. The par-ents would give their consent. It was not justthe other village girls who needed the sup-port. Even I needed the support. Even

though my family got me admission into theacademy, it was later cancelled. But mymother was adamant that I play the sport.My brother Ram Vir Singh was a pillar ofstrength as well. My mother convinced himthat with proper training I could win. Mymother would save every penny so that Icould enter the next competition. Mybrother would pitch in too. This sport isexpensive. Even though I am now playingprofessionally, it doesn’t mean that it hasopened doors to good sponsors,” Seema says.She tells you that the Government is doingsome great work when it comes to provid-ing training.

“The training academy in Bhopal is acase in point. I wish that the other Stateswould also make such academy. If each Statehas such good academies across India andthe training is provided once the child is 13,there is no arson why we can’t win plentyof medals for the country,” Seema says. Sheis now preparing for the nationals to be heldin November. She will then train and try toqualify for the Olympics to be held in thesummer of 2020 in Tokyo.

Prakashi Tomar tells you that it was herchildren who encouraged her to take up thesport after Chandro started playing the sport.“My son Ram Vir encouraged me. He toldme that if his taiji could do it, why not me.That gave me the confidence. However, theelders in the family were not happy whenthey came to know what we were doing. Itwas not as if we were neglecting our house-hold duties to play the sport. We would fin-ish our work and then sneak off,” Prakashirecounts.

Ram Vir, who works with the UPRoadways tells you that his mother’s andtaiji’s feat has changed the dynamics of thevillage where most of the families are farm-ers. Vast expanse of sugarcane fields for milestogether tell you that the people in the regiondepend on agriculture to eke out a living.

“We are a landed class. We were alsothe first family in the region to own two-three brick kilns. There was no questionof our women stepping out of homes letalone compete in the sport with men. Allthat has changed for the better. my sisterSeema competes, Ruby and Preeti, mynieces are international shooters as well asis Shefali who has achieved internationalshooter status and has taken part in inter-national competitions in Hungary andGermany. There was a time when therewere 3-40 of us living together. Back then,our neighbours would think that there wasa wedding in the family. Chores were divid-ed. It was the task of the youngest bahu tocook. The rest of the work would be divid-ed among the other women. Now, fami-lies have grown. Everybody needs theirspace. We have gone our separate ways. Buttaiji still lives in the same home, Ram Virtells you.

A typical day for Prakashi and Chandrowould begin at 4 am. After getting ready,they would tackle the chores — milk the cow,cook food, work in the fields and everythingin between. “I was 15 when I was married.But the gauna was done three years later. Atthat time, if somebody would have told methat at 65 I would take up shooting and winI would have laughed on their face. But lifetakes you where it has to. The next 40 yearsor so were spent in raising a family and look-ing after the home,” Chandro recalls. She hasrecently undergone a surgery. She fell whilesupervising work at her under constructionshooting range and broke her right femur.She may have broken a bone but her spiritis intact.

She tells you how at age 65 she accom-panied her granddaughter who to learn howshoot. “My granddaughter, Shefali, who hasachieved international shooter status and hastaken part in international competitions in

Hungary and Germany was apprehensive.She didn’t want to go alone. I told her thatI would accompany her. For the next twodays I sat and observed that was happening.I saw that all one had to do was take therevolver, put the bullets, take a stand andshoot at the target. On day three, I pickedup a revolver loaded it and gave the revolverto her. I too wanted to know what it was liketo take aim and shoot. That is what I did. I

loaded the air gun and took aim — bulls-eye. The club coach at the academy thoughtthat it was a coincidence. He asked me todo it again. It hit the black ring on the shoor-ing target again. That is when he told me thathe would love to train me. The elders in thefamily were not happy. But I didn’t want togive it up. I was hooked. I would finish allthe household chores and sneak off to train,”Chandro says.

She tells you how she would fill a jug fullof water and hold her hand out and ensurethat it was steady. ‘This was all part of thetraining. At the academy, I also understoodhow to take a stand with feet firmly on theground and hand at the waist. When I wouldhold the jug of water in one hand, I wouldalways take this stand. Years of doingchores meant that my hands were steady andwe had the muscles to go with them. Thencame a competition. I took part and won.The story appeared in a local newspaperwith the photograph. I don’t know how toread or write. But I did recognise my photo.I was not sure of the reaction at home so Itore the clipping and kept it with me. Butthe news spread. They asked me to showthem the clipping. They were thrilled to readabout it in the newspapers. There has beenno turning back since then,” Chandro says.

Now, a movie is being made on thedadis. The film titled Saand Ki Aankh starsTaapsee Pannu who plays Prakashi Tomarand Bhumi Pednekar plays Chandro Tomar.Prakashi tells you how much fun they hadwhen the entire crew was in the village toshoot the film.

“Taapsee was so down to earth. She hasno airs. She stayed with us the whole time.She would want us to make her favouritefood. She was just like a family member forus. Bhumi too was so good. During theirentire stay, not once did we feel they werebig movie stars, Prakashi says.

She tells you that Chandro and she nevertook up the sport with the aim to win. “Itwas for the love of the sport. We also want-ed to prove that age is just a number. It wasto let the others know that if one wants tofollow one’s passion, one can always taketime out for it however busy one might be.It was another matter that we hit the targetbang on every time and it won usmedals,”Prakashi says with a grin.

She recalls how and why they arereferred to as Shooter Dadis. “When westarted off we were already dadis. Then wetook up shooting as a sport. That is how wegot this name,” Prakashi says and recountsan incidence where a DIG refused to be pho-tographed with her.

The story goes that Prakashi was atTughlakabad Shooting range for a compe-tition where she was handed a 32 bore, a gunthat she had never fired from. But she tookit in her stride, took her stand and fired. Shewon a gold. The DIG was second. When itwas time for the photograph he didn’t wantto be in the same frame. He didn’t like thefact that he was slighted by a woman thattoo one who had never fired a 32 bore. Thereis a photo in her home which shows that thesaid cop is standing a little away from therest of the people in the frame.

It has been three years that the dadishave stopped competing. But that doesn’tmean that they are removed from the sport.The two plan teach the young the nuancesof the sport. “Keep the hand steady. Feetfirmly on the ground. Hand at the waist.Look at the target, Raise the revolver andaim. Don’t be in a hurry. Slowly pull the trig-ger. There is no way that one can miss thetarget,” Chandro shares.

The secret of how she and Prakashimanaged to win so many medals over a peri-od spanning around two decades is becausethey have a mantra: Tann buddha hota hain,mann buddha nahin hota.

At age 65 when most people are expected to spend the rest of their lives in meditating or taking Bhagwan ka naam, twowomen decided that age is just a number and that one can teach an old dog new tricks. The women aka Shooter Dadispicked up the revolver and went on to win over 250 State and national medals and trophies. SHALINI SAKSENA catches upwith the octogenarians who say that it is the body and not the mind that ages

THAT PERFECT SHOT

nHow and who came up with thisname for the movie?

It was Jagdip Sidhu, the dialoguewriter. When he suggested the namethere was a bit of a no-no. AnuragKashyap (producer) was a bit appre-hensive to begin with. The name isa take off from bullseye. But over aperiod of time we liked the sound toit. Also, the name has several con-notations. It denotes the feat that thedadis achieved at age 65. It signifiesthat we have got everything right. Wewere clear where we wanted to gowith this movie and title of themovie. We thought it was catchy.

nHow did the idea for the biopiccome up?

It was after I saw the programmeSatymev Jayate S 1 by Aamir Khan,that had done a feature on old ageand profiled the dadis and their jour-ney. I was at that time already look-ing for a story. While watching theshow, I started crying, I hadn’t evenrealised that I was crying. That iswhen I knew I had my subject. It tookme five years to put it out. My filmis about woman empowerment. My

wife came on-board as a producerand quit her job.

nWhy did it take five years?It took me one-and-a-half years

to write. When we met the dadis I

realised that my story was a bit dark.But the dadis were so lively, they hadso much enthusiasm and fun. Theywas so much excitement in them.They at age 65 had celebrated theirlive. I wanted to make a film on cel-

ebrating the women. Through them,their family also celebrates life. Wetook our time to write our story. Thenext three years were spent to get thecast in place. Everyone in my teamhas stood by me.

nWhat are the challenges in mak-ing a biopic?

There are three things that areimportant. First, to keep the familyand person on whom you are mak-ing the film on happy. Second, theproducers. To make them proud andmake them money as well. Third, theactors who are playing the character.That they get some recognition andget applauded for it. The trailer wasreleased last week. I was so happy tosee the dadis’ reaction. They blessedme and hugged me. This made myday. After all this, comes the fact thatthe movie needs to entertain. Thebiopic should be able to tell the truestory and yet entertain.

nIn this sense, how tough was thisproject since it is your directorialdebut?

Filmmaking is tough. Anyone

who says it is easy, he is lying. Thereis no film that is easy to make. Theonly thing is how fast these five yearshave gone by. I have enjoyed everybit of it. There were some days offrustration. Some days when thingsdidn’t go our way and didn’t knowwere we were going. But the journeyhas been great. I hope when the peo-ple see the film, they appreciate theeffort gone into it.

nWhy Taapsee Pannu and BhumiPednekar?

Every media person I havebeen interviewed with has askedthis question. I have this answer patdown. I have a memory button thatI am going to activate. I went toeveryone but these girls were theonly ones who had the courage toaccept the role. I didn’t choosethem, they chose me. The film startsnot from age 65 but from the timewhen they were young. It is thisjourney that I wanted to show.While shooting, one needs a keeneye. I needed young girls since thereis a catch line — tann buddha hotahain, mann buddha nahin. I have

paid homepage to Mother India inmy film. Nargis played the role ofa mother when she was young. I amnot saying that we have MotherIndia. People should applaud thesegirls.

nHow true to life is the film?It is as true to life as it can be. The

movie has to entertain. So some char-acters are fictional. Some scenes arefictional as well. Some scenes like thecompetition and the time when theyshot at the bullseyes — all that is true.

nYou shot the film in the village.Were there any challenges?

Not at all. We shot near the dadis’house for 30 days. The actors had tomeet the dadis. I wanted to meet thefamily. The crew was so happy tointeract with the family and thedadis. They were so helpful. If thishelp had not been extended, I wouldnot have been able to make this film.Some scenes even have the villagersand the family in it. I wanted toshowcase that India is not poor aswell. The village is so beautiful, thisis what I wanted to show.

SHALINISAKSENA

speaks withdirector

TUSHARHIRANANDANI

about thechallenges faced

while making abiopic and howthey arrived at

the name for thefilm

Saand Ki Aankh

‘I didn’t choose Taapsee & Bhumi, they chose me’

SHOOTING WAS A ROYAL GAME. NOBODY IN THE VILLAGE EVEN KNEWTHAT SUCH A SPORT EXISTED. NOW, THIS GAME HAS BECOME

POPULAR IN RURAL INDIA AS WELL. THE EARLIER AIM, TO SAVE MONEYFOR MARRIAGE, HAS GIVEN WAY TO SAVE MONEY SO THAT THEIR

DAUGHTER CAN GO TO THE SHOOTING ACADEMY AND TRAIN— SEEMA TOMAR

Taapsee Pannu, Tushar Hiranandaniand Bhumi Pednekar at the trailerlaunch of the movie

Chandro Tomar and Prakashi Tomar at their home in Johrivillage, UP Photo: Ranjan Dimri

Father is my trueinspiration…

hail from a poor family. Myfather, KV Raghava Chary, wasan archaka who later became ateacher. Coincidentally, whenhe became a lecturer, I becamea lecturer at Saifabad Science

College. My father has been my trueinspiration. He taught me ethics like howto maintain relations, how to run a fam-ily, and so on. I became an IAS officeronly because of the education I got as achild. He was a simple man who hadknowledge of the Vedas and was aSanskrit scholar. He knew six languagesand was a wonderful motivator.

Story behind my name…My mom was smarter than my father

and inspired him to learn additional lan-guages. He became what he was onlybecause of her. I was born in 1952 inMedak and that is when he got a govern-ment job. He visited Tirumala then.Because of that sentiment, he named meVenkata Ramana. I learnt Sanskrit as akid and have been a topper throughout.Thanks to my parents, I am fluent in fivelanguages. When I topped my Class XIIexaminations in 1966, I wanted tobecome a doctor. But I completed myClass XII at the age of 14; so, I couldn'tget into MBBS and therefore joined B Scin Siddipet Govt Degree College. At theage of 56, I did my doctorate and addedDr in front of my name.

There is a perception that a personshould be rich or born into a family ofbureaucrats to become an IAS officer. Iam a living example that even a poor boywith no background can become an IASofficer.

Was jailed for 2 months….In 1969, during the Telangana agitation

led by Dr Channa Reddy and others, Ibecame a leader at the age of 16. InOctober 1968, I took part in an intra-col-lege debate in the university and wasawarded by the then Vice President ofIndia. After returning to college, I wasmade its leader. During the agitation,the college felt I should lead theagitation and I ended up get-ting arrested and was lodgedin Sangareddy District Jailfor two months.

A person who is arrest-ed cannot get into anygovernment service. Inmy case, it was differ-ent. After the agitation,Dr Channa Reddy,then Chief Ministerof united AP,scraped all casesagainst students.After that I did myM Sc from OsmaniaUniversity andtopped the exami-nation. The thenHoD of Chemistry,Prof Subbarao,asked me to join asa professor in theuniversity at the age

of 19.

Students' favourite lecturer…I have been students' favourite, thanks

to my bilingual skills. I used to teach inTelugu as well and really enjoyed my jobas lecturer for five years. I got married atan early age. As my mother was suffer-ing from cancer, she married me off to mysister-in-law at the age of 21.

Children feel I'm very strict…I am very affectionate, but they (my

children) feel I'm strict. I wanted them tofollow certain rules and ethics. So, I kepta balance between being affectionateand instilling discipline. My first daugh-ter, Veena, is married to Srinivas, deputygeneral manager of Telco, and my seconddaughter, Praveena, is working withWells Fargo in California. My son, Kiran,works for ICICI bank.

Acted in three films...During my college days, I have done a

lot of drama and theatre. I even went toMadras for a screen test, but theydemanded money so I had to return. Atthe age of 60, my dream was fulfilled asI acted in Devasthanam, along with SPBalasubramaiam and K Vishwanath, afterI took my voluntary retirement. Themovie was directed by my dear friendJanardhan Maharshi. I have done twoother movies, and, if given an opportu-nity, would like to act in many more

Passion for movies…I watched Maharshi recently. I love

going to movie halls and enjoy sittingamong the

crowd. That gives me immense joy. OnceI became an IAS officer, I left drama as Ifelt it's not good to do it after becomingan officer.

Arrogant behaviour of clerkspurred Civils decision…

I was a faculty member for two yearsin Arts and Science College, Warangal. Ihappened to go to the Collector's officeto get my ration card and there the clerkwas very impatient and rude. I wasshocked. I fought with him and came backwithout finishing my work. When Ishared this experience with fellow facul-ty members, it emerged that I had it inme to become a good collector. Theybelieved that I could easily crack Civils.One of my friends who used to travel toHyderabad from Warangal every day evengot me the application form for deputycollector's post. Veena was born while I

was preparing for my exams and mymother was also bed-ridden. We had win-ter holidays then and I took advantage ofit and studied for 18 hours a day to crackCivils.

Was transferred twice in amonth due to politics…

I cleared the exam in 1971 and wastrained in West Godavari for a year. RDORangareddy was my first posting and Iwas transferred within a month due topolitics and the previous officer cameback to charge. The same thing happenedin Mahbubnagar too. I was then trans-ferred to Narayanpet, where I worked fortwo years.

A lesson …If you are good in society and want to

do something good for people, they willadore and love you. When I was trans-ferred from Narayanpet due to someMLAs' influence, bandhs, rasta rokho etcwere held for me. People fought againstthe MLAs for my sake. I learnt a lessonwith tears of joy. If you love people, theywill do anything for you. In view of theprotests, I was not transferred immedi-ately, but I was moved to Nagarkurnoolwithin three months.

Love from the Old City…I then worked as PA to the minister for

law and became the administrator of theQuli Qutb Shah Development Authorityin the Old City. I was feeling a little indif-ferent and reluctant to be posted in theOld City as BJP, MIM and TDP workersused to quarrel frequently. But to my sur-prise, I served there for 10 years, exceptfor one year when I was posted toKadapa district collector. It's a record foran IAS officer to be posted at a place for10 years, especially in a place like the OldCity.

In 1990, I was appointed as the EO ofTTD and was happy as my name also hada connection to Lord Venkateshwara.Surprisingly, people from all political par-ties were against my transfer from the OldCity and requested the then ChiefMinister to retain me. As many peoplefrom the Old City were seeking my ser-vices, the Chief Minister wanted to meetme. I was then made PRO to ChiefMinister in 1990. I have always gotten jobsthat are close to my heart. Although Iworked with TTD, as a PRO, director ofculture and sports, people of the Old Citywanted me on the Quli Qutb ShahDevelopment Board and I was made the

additional in-charge.

YS Rajasekharapologised

for mytransfer…

In 1993-94, I was the collec-tor of Kadapa. Then MP YSRajasekhar Reddy had invited thePrime Minister to Kadapa, but the

State government was against it.So, they asked the district collector

to give a letter not inviting the PM.I told them I cannot do it as it would

be a matter of pride for all of us ifthe PM comes to our district. Withrevenge in mind, they threw slippers onthe stage when the Prime Minister came.I was targeted and transferred, saying Icouldn't maintain law and order. Then YSRajashekhar Reddy had apologised to mefor my transfer.

Privileged to becomeInformation Commissionerthrice….

I first became the InformationCommissioner in 1995 during NT RamaRao's rule. On Jan 13, 1999, I was re-appointed as the information secretary byN Chandrababu Naidu. During the elec-tions, every Chief Minister used to inviteme to become the InformationCommissioner. In 2004, when Rajasekhar

Reddy became the ChiefMinister, he asked me tobecome the InformationCommissioner once again. Ihave had the privilege ofbecoming the InformationCommissioner thrice.

Supporter of earlyretirement…

I am a person whobelieves that people shouldretire when they want to. Idon't believe in extensionas there are several youngminds willing to work for

society. Two people can bepaid salaries, instead of payingone senior officer.

Would choose TTD EO postover President of India…

Of all the posts I have held, if given achance I would like to become the EO ofTTD once again. I would prefer this anyday over becoming the President ofIndia. I took voluntary retirement in 2012.After coming out of TTD, service felt aliento me. Rajasekhar Reddy and Rosaiah hadcancelled my retirement.

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dailypioneer

SundayOctober 6, 2019

From being jailed tobecoming an IAS

officer and then theadvisor of AP and

later Telangana, thejourney of

Dr K VenkataRamana Chary has

been nothing short ofdramatic. Frombeing a faculty

member to crackingthe civils in his first

attempt, Ramanahas broken all

barriers and becamethe favourite of

many. Ramana,known for his socialwork, always lies in

people's heart. In aninterview with

K RAMYA SREE,Ramana tells us

about his life,signifance of his

name, his love foracting in movies and

much more

i

RAPID FIREFavourite holiday destinationHome is my holiday spot. I hardly get time tospend with my family. So, if I get time I like tostay at home with my family. Although I havetravelled to several countries, home is alwaysmy favourite holiday destination.

Favourite person in the familyMy wife Latha. Had my wife kept restrictionsabout my work, I wouldn't have become whatI am today. I became a family man at the ageof 21. She has been very supportive allthrough and has taken care of the family.

Other hobbiesI love reading books at night. For the last 46years, I have been associated with AIR. I wantto author a book, but do not have time to doit. I might publish a book soon.

People who inspire you the mostWhile my father has always been my trueinspiration, I also admire Swamy Vivekanandaand APJ Abdul Kalam. I like the simplicity andhonesty in Kalam.

Spending free timeI don't have any free time as I will be doing

something or the other. I run an old agehome and a bala sadanam

for destitute andorphans. I have also

adopted a villagethat got the

President'saward.

L-R (Ramana Chary withwife Latha, Granddaughter Kyathi,Daughter-in-law Shravani,Son Kiran Anand

Ramana Chary with hismother late Padmavathi

(L-R) - Ramana Chary with elder daughter Veena and her husband Srinivas

With ESL Narasimhan

With SP Balasubramniam on his movie sets

With Latha Mangeshkar

Dr KV RAMANA CHARYTWO MONTHS IN JAIL

(R-LL) RRamana CCharywith hhis ffather llateRaghava CChary &&brother MManohara CChary

FOR TELANGANA

CAPSULE

Gold bond pricefixed at Rs3,788/gramNEW DELHI: To cash in on thefestival mood, the governmenthas decided to come out withthe next tranche of sovereigngold bond on October 7.The Sovereign Gold BondScheme 2019-20 - Series Vwill be opened for subscriptionfrom October 7 to 11, at issueprice of Rs 3,788 per gram.Further, the government hasdecided to offer a discount ofRs 50 per gram for investorsapplying online and makingpayment for the purchase ofthe bond through digitalmode, a Finance Ministrystatement said. "For suchinvestors, the issue price ofgold bond will be Rs 3,738 pergram of gold," it said.The sovereign gold bondscheme was launched inNovember 2015 with anobjective of reducing demandfor physical gold and shifting apart of domestic savings, usedfor purchase of the yellowmetal, into financial savings.

USFDA issueswarning letter toGlenmark HP unitNEW DELHI: Drug firmGlenmark Pharmaceuticals onSaturday said it has received awarning letter from the UShealth regulator for its Baddifacility in Himachal Pradesh.The United States Food andDrug Administration (USFDA)had inspected the facilitybetween April 15 and April 20and earlier classified theinspection as an official actionindicated, Glenmark said in afiling to the BSE. The warningletter issued is regarding thesame inspection, it added. "Thecompany is committed to workalong with the USFDA toimplement all the necessarycorrective actions required toaddress the concerns raised inthe letter and is in the processof preparing a detailed responseto the USFDA within 15 workingdays," Glenmark said.

Kone to set up newtechnology centre NEW DELHI: Elevators andescalators manufacturer Koneon Saturday has set up a newtechnology centre in Pune at acost of around Rs 10 crore. Thecompany has taken 20,000 sqft office space on lease in Puneto set up this centre. About 120people will work from thisfacility. The operations in Punewill focus on enterprisemonitoring, servicemanagement for IT Solutionsand digital developmentcompetencies for smart peopleflow solutions. With strongerresearch, technologicaldevelopment and engineeringcollaboration in India, KoneIndia MD Amit Gossain said thecompany could serve thegrowing Indian market witheven more innovative solutions.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019 money 10

Bankers see rates falling by25-40 bps more before MarPNS n MUMBAI

Welcoming the 25 basis pointsrate cut-fifth in a row and to adecadal low of 5.15 percent onFriday--bankers are expecting25-40 bps more reductionthrough the course of the fis-cal, given the Reserve Bank'sfocus on growth that has beensagging for months now.

HDFC Bank's chief econo-mist and executive vice- pres-ident Abheek Barua saidthough the latest rate cut wason expected lines, market wasdisappointed as they wereexpecting a larger cut.

Of the six-member rate-set-ting monetary policy commit-tee, five members voted for a 25bps cut while one by 40 bps, theRBI said.

"The 25 bps rate cut coupledwith an explicit policyacknowledgement of furtherrate cuts would ensure that fis-cal and monetary policy workin tandem in arresting growthconcerns," SBI chairmanRajnish Kumar said.

Barua said while markets aresomewhat disappointed, asthey were expecting a largercut, the latest cut needs to beseen cumulatively with the110 bps reduction so far thisyear-taking the cumulative cut

to 135 bps since February.Recognising the weak

growth outlook, the RBIsharply lowered its GDP esti-mate to 6.1 percent in FY20from 6.9 percent previously.

The RBI clearly signalled itscontinued focus to revivegrowth, implying that morerate cuts are in the offing.

"We expect 25-40 bps morecuts in this fiscal," Barua said,adding RBI is also likely to keepliquidity conditions in surplusin the remaining part of theyear.

StanChart chief executiveZarin Daruwala said the RBI

reaffirmed its strong commit-ment to growth with the latestreduction and continuing withits accommodative stance.

"The cumulative reductionof 135 bps so far in 2019, alongwith the recent cut in corporatetax should help revive growthin the coming months," shesaid.

The newly-appointed man-aging director of PunjabNational Bank MallikarjunaRao said the RBI has continuedwith an accommodative stance,suggesting possibility of furtherrate reductions.

"This rate cut will perfectly

complement the fiscal mea-sures announced by the gov-ernment to help strengthen pri-vate consumption and spurinvestment activity going for-ward," Rao said.

Indian Bank managingdirector Padmaja Chundurusaid with inflation being with-in the target, the forward guid-ance remains accommodativeto revive growth.

"We believe that the trans-mission will be faster now thatbanks have already introducedrepo-linked retail and MSEproducts and the rate cuts willbe passed on to these borrow-ers," she said.

With the busy and festiveseason having started, this ratecut will boost market senti-ments.

"We expect the demand toimprove and the main chal-lenge now is to revive con-sumption-led recovery andspur private investments posttax corporate rate cuts," sheadded.

Kotak Mahindra Bank'spresident for consumerbanking ShantiEkambaram said theongoing festive sea-son is criticalfrom ac o n s u m p t i o nrevival and fur-

ther monetary policy actionwill depend on the impact ofthe twin benefits of fiscal andmonetary policies on demandand growth.

Syndicate Bank managingdirector MrutyunjayMahapatra said combined withfiscal stimulus like tax rate cutsand investment incentivisa-tion, the sentiments and over-all economic outlook is expect-ed to be much better.

The 25 bps rate cutcoupled with anexplicit policy

acknowledgement of furtherrate cuts would ensure thatfiscal and monetary policy

work in tandemin arrestinggrowthconcerns

—RAJNISHKUMAR,

SBI chairman

Further policyeasing expected inDecember: DBSPNS n SINGAPORE

Doors remain open in Indiafor further policy easing inDecember and likelihood ofmore into 2020, possibility ofwhich was flagged recently,according to Singapore-basedDBS Bank.

Besides the repo rate cuts,more is required to ensureefficient policy transmission inIndia, such as surplus liquidi-ty conditions, market-drivenlending rates and a stable finan-cial system to allow all sectorsto benefit from lower borrow-ing costs, the bank said in com-mentary on the Reserve Bankof India's (RBI) Friday rate cut.

The proposed liquiditymanagement framework hasstuck to status quo but, DBSsaid, it suspects that the cur-rent environment will be per-ceived as one which requiresliquidity support because ofsticky borrowing costs fornon-banks and higher premiafor certain credit-deficientsegments.

To jump-start transmissionthrough the banking channels,the RBI has mandated banksto peg new floating, personalloans to external benchmarksstarting October 1 as againstthe earlier practice of linkingthe loans with marginal cost offunds-based lending rates(MCLRs).

Most public sector bankshave opted for the RBI's reporate as a reference rate, plus aspread fixed by each of themand a mark-up for opera-tional costs, noted DBS.

Finally, financial stabilitywill be a priority. After under-going a challenging period inthe past five years, the coun-try's banking sector's non-performing asset ratio haseased to 10.3 per cent inMarch 2019 as against a peakof 11.2 per cent, said DBS.

While the worst is likely

behind, there are fresh con-cerns on the horizon, it said.

These are the fallout of fur-ther rating downgrades instressed sectors (real estate,construction and telecom,among others), which willcarry ramifications on thebanks' books.

These also include man-ageable but rising exposure tonon-bank institutions whilenews of balance sheet troublesin non-banks have reverber-ated through the credit andequity markets.

It pointed out that withnon-banks preoccupied withdeleveraging and sorting outtheir asset-liability mismatch,incremental credit growth islikely to slow.

The bank expects refinanc-ing and delinquency risks tosurface on a case-by-case basis.

The RBI's Monetary PolicyCommittee cut benchmarkrates by 25 basis points (bps)on Friday, taking the repo rateto 5.15 per cent.

The cut was as crucial as theforward guidance, both ofwhich reinforced the MPC'sdovish stance, said RadhikaRao, senior vice-president andeconomist at DBS Bank ofSingapore.

The RBI had made the reporate cut unanimously withone of the members voting fora bigger 40 bps cut.

Most publicsector bankshave opted forthe RBI's reporate as areference rate,plus a spreadfixed by each ofthem and a mark-up for operationalcosts, noted DBS

MRPL operations back to normal, says officialPNS n HYDERABAD

The problems faced byMangalore Refinery andPetrochemicals Limited(MRPL) by way of ground soilerosion following heavy rainsin August this year have beenresolved and all operationswere now smooth, companymanaging director MVenkatesh said on Saturday.

Addressing reporters here, hesaid the MRPL refinery complexhad faced the soil erosion due tothe intense rainfall during thefirst and second week of August,affecting the foundation of oneof the pipe racks in phase 3.

An immediate shutdown ofthe entire phase 3 complex wasdone as safety measure duringthe third week of August.

All emergency measureswere taken on warfooting toarrest any significant damage topipe racks.

After ensuring the safety ofthe pipe rack through rectifi-cation work, the phase 3 refin-ery complex was commis-sioned again during the secondweek of September.

He said the entire refinerycomplex was runningnormal-ly at peak capacities since then.

The crude oil supplies toMRPL were not affected due torecent attack on Saudi oil facil-ities and the operations weresustained normally.

Venkatesh said MRPL hasbeen contributing to the socialdevelopment of the regionthrough its unstinting efforts

under its corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Our maximum focus istowards Dakshina Kannadaand Udupi district. OurCSR spending isover Rs 50 crore for2019-20," he said.

MRPL hascontributed to Rs5 crore to the chiefministers calamityrelief fund for floodvictims.

The company is also con-tributing Rs 1 crore to districtadministration for flood reliefprogrammes.

The company has undertak-en Swacchatha Hi Seva pro-grammes successfully by hold-ing various awareness pro-

grammes and cleanlinessdrives.A sea water desali-

nation project with acapacity of 70 MLD(Million Litres per Day)is on track and its

mechanical completionwould be met by the end

of August 2020.However, for the summer

period from March 2020 toJune 2020, MRPL wouldattempt hiring containeriseddesalination units, he said.

Venkatesh said MRPL has beencontributing to the socialdevelopment of the region through itsunstined efforts under its corporatesocial responsibility initiatives

Kerala tops list of startup destinations in country: ReportPNS n KOCHI

Kerala has emerged as one oftop start-up destinations inthe country, according to areport compiled by digitalmedia platform Inc 42 in asso-ciation with TiE Kerala.

The state has made animpressive compound annualgrowth of 17 per cent since2012, taking the total numberof ventures based out of thestate to 2,200 and displayinghigh competence in nettingfunds, said the report.

In a single year since 2018alone, the number of startupsmarked a steep increase of 35per cent, said the reportunveiled at the valedictoryfunction of the TiECon Kerala2019 in Kochi on Saturday.

Subramanian Swamy, MP,released the report titled KeralaStartup Ecosystem 2019' in

the presence of CEO of KeralaStartup Mission (KSUM) SajiGopinath, organisers ofTiECoN said in a press releasehere.

Kerala-based startups keptup their competence in gettingfunds by raising USD 89 mil-lion till date, and compared to2018, till September this yearstartups clocked an 18 per

cent uptick in securing funds.In 2019, startups netted USD

44 million funding spreadacross 13 deals.

As many as 47 startups haveraised funds from outside and13 startups received funds in2019.

KSUM has designed andexecuted a set of programmesand schemes as per the revised

Kerala Startup Policy(Technology Innovation andEntrepreneurship Policy) toidentify and support technol-ogy startups in the state. In thelast six months alone, KSUMincubated and funded over200 startups, said secretary,Electronics and IT, govern-ment of Kerala, M Sivasankar.

Many of the key policy inter-ventions formulated by theKerala government to supportstartups and measures toensure inclusivity in innovationwere now being adopted byother state governments as

well, Sivasankar said.To ensure investment oppor-

tunities, KSUM has come outwith an innovative fundscheme to invest in alternativeinvestment funds (AIFs). Acombined corpus in excess ofRs 1,000 crore of investmentcapital has been made availablefor startups through thisscheme by committing lessthan 10 per cent of this amountinto various AIFs, said theCEO of KSUM.

Investments worth morethan double the deployedamount have already happened

in Kerala-based startups in thelast one year. It is heartening tonote that this early stage fundhas enabled some startups togrow substantially during thelast one year, he said.

Of the 2,200 startups basedin Kerala, as much as 13 percent were registered in thefirst three quarters of 2019, thereport said.

Ernakulam andThiruvananthapuram were topchoices for startups in settingup their headquarters as about59 per cent of startups werelocated in the two cities.

Kochi accounts for 36 percent of them, followed byThiruvananthapuram with 23per cent.

"In 2019, the Indian startupecosystem recorded 553 fund-ing deals, which togethercrossed the $9-billion fundingmark.

PNS n NEW DELHI

E-commerce giantsAmazon.in and Walmart-owned Flipkart on Friday saidthey have seen record growthin the first phase of their fes-tive sales, on the back of newcustomers from 'Bharat' log-ging onto these platforms.

Amazon attributed its stel-lar performance to "availabil-ity of selection, convenienceand affordability" on the plat-form, while Flipkart said itsefforts around affordabilityconstructs and engagementvia video and Hindi languagecontent had helped drive 50per cent more new customerscompared to its last year's BigBillion Days (BBD) sale.

Both e-commerce market-places started their festive saleon September 29 and is sched-uled to end on Friday.

"There was almost 50 percent growth in the number ofnew customers as compared toBBD 2018. On the seller front,over 40 per cent of transactingsellers during BBD were fromtier II and beyond towns. Therewas a 50 per cent growth in thenumber of sellers participatingin the sale this year comparedto last year," Flipkart GroupCEO Kalyan Krishnamurthytold PTI. He added that there

has been strong growth acrosscategories like fashion, mobilephones, large appliances, fur-niture and groceries.

Amazon cited a report byresearch agency Nielsen tostate that it had the "highestshare of transacting customersand purchases across all onlineshopping platforms in the firstfive days" of its Great IndianFestival period. "The first waveof the Great Indian Festivalwas our biggest celebrationever with Amazon.in -- wit-nessing highest share of trans-acting customers and pur-chases across all marketplacesin India. We received ordersfrom 99.4 per cent pincodesand over 65,000 sellers fromover 500 cities received ordersin the five days," AmazonIndia Senior Vice Presidentand Country Head AmitAgarwal said.

Both e-commercemarketplacesstarted theirfestive sale onSeptember 29and is scheduledto it end onFriday

In talks with investors for equityinfusion: Reliance Home FinPNS n HYDERABAD

Reliance Home Finance Ltd(RHFL) on Friday said it is indiscussion with severalinvestors for equity infusion,amid tight financial condi-tions plaguing the industry forthe past few months.

Since the IL&FS episode, allcategories of lenders in India,including banks, mutual fundshave put an almost completefreeze on additional lending tohome finance companies(HFCs) and non-banking finan-cial companies (NBFCs), andhave instead only been insistingupon reduction of existing bor-rowings, it said in a release.

Over this entire period,lenders have been willing toonly securitise existing assetpolls of HFCs and NBFCs to

provide resources for meetingdebt servicing obligations, itsaid.

These unprecedentedactions lasting for more than 6months have severely impact-ed the financial flexibility ofalmost all HFCs and NBFCs inthe country including RHFL.

The company has beenaffected by a timing mismatchwith regard to the ongoing fur-ther securitisation or moneti-sation proposals with banks,and the same has resulted in

minor delay on principalrepayments aggregating toonly Rs 542 crore to around 5-6 banks and limited to only itsbank borrowings, it said.

"Given the current chal-lenging and non-supportiveenvironment for the sector,RHFL has decided upon thestrategy for the future and hascommended discussions withseveral strategic/PE partnersfor equity infusion into thebusiness, accompanied withacquisition of complete man-agement control," it said.

The company said its spon-sor, Reliance Capital, will con-tinue as a minority financialinvestors as it sees future long-term upside in the sector,upon restoration and a moresupportive and conduciveenvironment.

PNS n MUMBAI

The foreign exchange reservestouched a record high of USD434.6 billion as on October 1.

While announcing fourthbi-monthly monetary policy,the RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas said as of October 1 theforex kitty peaked to therecord high. Between Apriland October 1, the country'sforex reserves had increasedby USD 21.7 billion.

According to the latestweekly data, the reservessurged by massive USD 5.022billion to USD 433.594 billionfor the week to September 27.

In the previous week, thereserves had declined by USD388 million to USD 428.572billion. The increase in

reserves in the reporting weekon account of foreign curren-cy assets (FCA), a major com-ponent of the overall reserves.

FCA increased by USD4.944 billion to USD 401.615billion in the week endedSeptember 27, the RBI said.

Expressed in US dollarterms, the foreign currencyassets include the effect ofappreciation or depreciation ofnon-US units like the euro,pound and the yen held in theforeign exchange reserves.

Forex reserves scalerecord high of $434.6 bnIn a single year since 2018 alone, the

number of startups marked a steepincrease of 35 per cent, said the reportunveiled at the valedictory function of theTiECon Kerala 2019 in Kochi on Saturday

Amazon, Flipkart see record growth in festive sales

Time and again, the policymakers have expressed theneed to move away fromplastic, especially single useplastic (a variety of this ubiq-

uitous material designed to be used onlyonce, such as plastic bags at a supermar-

ket, plastic cutleryfrom a deliverycompany, straws ata cafe etc.). Again,from time to time,by implementingthe announce-ments the policymakers have beenattempting to tran-

sition India away from a method ofconsumption and production thataffects all areas of society, from the mostimpoverished individuals to the largestcompanies. As we move along the pathto sustainability, there is a need tounderstand the complexities that drivethe plastic economy.

THE WASTE PICKERSIt has been estimated that there are

“1.5 to 4 million waste pickers in India,who pick up, clean, sort and segregaterecyclable waste and sell it further upthe value chain”. These manual workersevaluate the products that they collectaround the streets of towns and citiesthroughout India. Their understandingof value in the case of plastic and otherrecyclable material is pivotal to the cur-rent levels of waste, this is to say thatwithout them the country could be in amuch worse state.

COMPLEXITIES OF PLASTICThe waste pickers’ expertise in sort-

ing and segregation is seen profoundlywhen detailing the varieties of plastic. Inbrief, the main categories are:Polyethylene Terephthalate, High-Density Polyethylene and PolyvinylChloride, which are often recyclable butthat depends on the facilities available;the Low Density Polyethylene, that areeven more dependent on the quality andresources of the recycling centres; andunrecyclable plastics, such asPolypropylene, Polystyrene or Styrofoamand Miscellaneous Plastics (polycarbon-ate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrilebutadiene, styrene, fiberglass, and nylon)that exist in this array of polymers.

For a material that has become anintrinsic part of the day to day function-ality of almost every person on theglobe in a tremendously simple way, it is

inherently complicated in terms of thetype and recyclability. Waste pickersassist in managing this within India, butjust like a single announcement aboutthe need to reduce plastic use, theymust be one part of the whole in orderto improve current levels and move thecountry toward a more environmentallyconscious, sustainable position. Anychanges that policy makers implementto the current system must include indi-viduals at the lowest socio-economiclevels. Not only because it is thehumane thing to do, but also becausetheir skills and knowledge are an assetthat an improved system requires.

SYSTEMS THINKINGIn order for nationwide policies to

be successful, there must be an under-standing of how current systems func-tion and what alternatives hold value forthe country. The current system is, pre-dominantly, a linear economy, which“traditionally follows the ‘take-make-dispose’ step-by-step plan. This meansthat raw materials are collected, thentransformed into products that are useduntil they are finally discarded as waste.A sustainable version of the system isone that values the items and stakehold-ers within it, not as waste but as aresource. The suggested system toreplace a linear system is a circular onebecause “sustainability is sought inincreasing the eco-effectiveness of thesystem. This means that not only theecological impact is minimised, but theecological, economic and social impactis even positive”. A large part of this isvaluing all stakeholders and processesinvolved.

POTENTIAL ROADMAPSIn addressing the issues of plastic

waste, there are numerous examplesworldwide that can be assessed to see ifit can provide examples moving for-ward. France, for instance, has had aplastic ban since 2016, within the lawthere are clauses that specify that “thereplacements of these items will need tobe made from biologically sourcedmaterials that can be composted”. On alarger scale that parallels India’s popula-tion, “China made it illegal for stores(small or big vendors) to give out plasticbags (in 2008) and allowed them tokeep any profit they made for them-selves. End result, after two years of thelaw implementation, usage of plasticbags dropped by a whopping 50 percent”. Both are designed for their own

situation, just as India must design theirown to transition away from plastic andjust as large Fast Moving ConsumerGoods (FMCG) companies can usetemplates made by smaller companiesbut design it for their scale and reach.

GIANTS WHO USE PLASTICThe FMCG sector is the “4th largest

sector in the Indian economy withhousehold and personal care accountingfor 50 per cent of FMCG sales in India”.The increase in popularity has notablybeen “led by a combination of increas-ing incomes and higher aspirational lev-els (with an) increased demand forbranded products”. In addition, researchhas found that the unorganised FMCGmarket share is also falling, replacedwith organised sector growth due tobrand consciousness, in part promotedby growth in retail chains promoting aless diversified range of brands.

SMALL SCALE MOVES AWAY FROM PLASTIC

There are businesses and individualsin India who are making products thatdo not follow the trend of large FMCGproducers. In Bangalore, for example,Bare Necessities Zero Waste India uses“the best ingredients that are zero wasteand ethically sourced”. They also“believe that if an ingredient is too hardto pronounce or if it sounds like itbelongs in a chemistry lab, it can’t begood for you to put in or on your body”.Amazingly, which shows a true trendaway from methods from big FMCGcompanies, they state openly that their“products are designed not to last”, butnot in the way of single use items fromFMCG companies. Instead, they notethat “since all our products are hand-made fresh, have no chemical preserva-tives, and come in small quantities, theywon’t last years on end”, which meansthat they do not contain chemicals thatwould be detrimental to your body orwaterways. The small, women run busi-ness, also employ and upskill womenfrom lower socio-economic classes inIndian society. They help to hand makeitems fresh to order, using natural ingre-dients from India, of special note is theirlove of coconut oil and other natural oilsthat are sourced from South India.

BENEFITS OF A TRANSITION WITHCLEAR TIMELINES

An immediate shift for large com-panies to the methods employed bysmall organisations is difficult. However

by placing clear timelines in, with setgoals and objectives as well as simplify-ing processes and materials, they havethe opportunity to help transition thecountry towards a more sustainablefuture at a tremendous scale.

IT’S NOT JUST SINGLE USE PLASTICWithout a systems approach to

addressing the issue of plastic reliancein the country that is so intrinsicallyingrained in modern day life, and pro-duces in excess of $1.3 billion economicimpact (according to the Asia PacificEconomic Cooperation, an estimate ofimpact on marine plastics to tourism,fishing and shipping industries in theregion) annually, change is unlikely tooccur. A transition away from single useplastics is a positive step, yet the prob-lem is far more complex. It relates to allthe varieties of plastic spoken aboutabove and how the material is used.

According to the Central PollutionControl Board, “Approximately 70 percent of plastic packaging products areconverted into plastic waste in a shortspan”. Research has also highlighted thatwithin India, the composition of wastehas changed significantly in the lastcouple of decades because of consumerhabits and demands for ease, efficiencyand simplicity that plastics can offer.This is provided the consumer is notlooking at the environmental impactthat the product has after use. In addi-tion the United Nations has noted that“about 47 per cent of the plastic wastegenerated globally, came from multi-layered packaging waste. Nearly halfcame from Asia”, thus waste pickersmanaging waste, and, policy makersannouncing new initiatives must workwith all other stakeholders within thesystem in designing new methods ofoperation and promoting innovation inpackaging and manufacturing amongother areas.

CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISMTruly this is a universal issue. It

affects waste pickers as much as it willimpact FMCG companies and all theconsumers in India. Announcementsabout reducing plastic are important butno more than individual choice, withthe first important choice being to takeresponsibility for one’s actions.Consumers changing their habits can

help to move the current system from alinear methodology to a circular one. Itcan provide a voice for those in lowersocio-economic groups in society andcan encourage large businesses to tran-sition from the use of plastic and otherharmful materials.

Consumers can ensure that aware-ness and education, that starts fromlarge public announcements by policymakers, reaches the hearts and ears andpockets of other consumers within Indiaby actively involving themselves in atransition. There are blueprints out therefor consumers to know and understandwhat it means to live a zero waste life.Consumer choice can make a differenceand lead a transition away from the useof this ubiquitous material. Importantlythough, this needs all stakeholders to beinvolved and knowledgeable.

TRANSITION AWAY FROM PLASTICAnnouncements on the need to

move away from plastic are importantsteps forward but as can be seen by thecomplexities of the material and thetypes of stakeholders involved, it needsto be one step of many. There must beclear goals and objectives for India thatare monitored and evaluated movingforward. All stakeholders must beinvolved to keep each other accountableand responsible to these ambitions thatwill require clear timelines and a trans-parent process in order for a permanenttransition to more sustainable practicesto occur.

The writer is a SustainabilityConsultant and Education Officer

sundaymagazine

14

Hyderabad, October 6, 2019

12Life of Chandra ShekharA well-researched biography thatbrings out the ideals, values and

vision of Chandra Shekhar

The concept of Durga, with all theattributes assigned to the saidimagery, carries great meaning for us

TIM DE RIDDER

Announcements on the need to move away from plasticare important steps forward; but, as can be seen by thecomplexities of the material and the types of stakeholdersinvolved, it needs to be one of many steps. There mustbe clear goals and objectives for India that aremonitored and evaluated moving forward

T H E U N I V E R S A L N AT U R E O F

n Use a bamboo toothbrushinstead of plastic.

n Use sustainable straws suchas steel, bamboo and leaf

n Use a menstrual cup insteadof single use items

n Use beeswax wraps insteadof cling film or aluminum foil

n Use reusable bags instead ofsingle use plastic bags

MAKE ADIFFERENCE

CONSUMERS CANENSURE THAT

AWARENESS ANDEDUCATION, THAT

STARTS FROM LARGEPUBLIC

ANNOUNCEMENTS BYPOLICY MAKERS,

REACHES THE HEARTSAND EARS AND

POCKETS OF OTHERCONSUMERS WITHIN

INDIA, BY ACTIVELYINVOLVING

THEMSELVES IN ATRANSITION. THERE

ARE BLUEPRINTS OUTTHERE FOR

CONSUMERS TOKNOW AND

UNDERSTAND WHATIT MEANS TO LIVE A

ZERO WASTE LIFE.CONSUMER CHOICE

CAN MAKE ADIFFERENCE

Durga and the energy withinF R O M T H E I N S I D E

When I am wrong, I willlearn the lesson and move

on to face other challenges.For me, that's what creatingyour own life is. Doing yourbest work while being your

best self— Jennifer Lopez

sundaymagazine

books 12BEFORE ARGENTINIAN AUTHOR

JORGE LUIS BORGES WASCELEBRATED FOR HIS FICTION, HE

EARNED A LIVING BY WRITINGADVERTISEMENTS FOR YOGURT! Hyderabad, October 6, 2019

When Elizabeth Keane returnsto Ireland after her mother’sdeath, she’s focused only onsaying goodbye to that dark anddismal part of her life. Her childhood home ispacked solid with useless junk, her mother’spresence already fading. But within this mess,she discovers a small stash of letters—andultimately, the truth. Forty years earlier, ayoung woman stumbles from a remote stonehouse, the night quiet except for the constantwind that encircles her as she hurries deeperinto the darkness away from the cliffs and thesea. She has no sense of where she is going,only that she must keep on.

A KEEPERGraham NortonHachette, `499

NEWARRIVALS

A group of young Indianbusiness school graduates areattracted to jobs in a highpaying trading company. This

batch of hardworking, intelligent andambitious friends is focused on success inthe fast paced, hyper competitive world ofstockbroking where greed, use of cunningand wealth are the stepping stones tosurvival and success. The survivors are thewinners...

DALAL’S STREETAnurag TripathiNiyogi Books, `350

Arjun dedicates his life to thecountry and carries out life-threatening missions. But onedeadly terrorist attack forces Arjun toquestion all that he has learned and loved.Disillusioned by the actions of his fellowcountrymen, Arjun decides to leave hishomeland. Before he can say goodbye, anairplane carrying over 200 passengers ishijacked. And he is the only one who cansave them. But can an embittered Arjunbring himself to risk his own and team’s life?

THE INDIAN SOLDIERSushant Saini

Leadstart, `249

At a time when there is a dis-cernable churning in Indianpolity and society, the biogra-phy of Chandra Shekharwritten by Harivansh and

Ravi Dutt Bajpayi reflects its transforma-tional and aspirational aspects. The post-Independent politics of India has beenpredominantly dominated by elitism andthis predominance is largely reflected inthe political narrative woven and writtenby the ruling class, marginalising thecontributions of political leaders likeChandra Shekhar and few other suchstalwarts. The book under review chroni-cles not only the life and times of theindomitable Chandra Shekhar, hailed as‘young Turk’; but also sheds light on thecontemporary politics of more recenttime which is witnessing a churningbreaking the shibboleth of vested inter-ests perpetuated from generation to gen-eration. This churning is characterised bythe emergence and crystallisation of non-Congress regime and ideology having adistinctive identity and political flavour.

Chandra Shekhar occupied the exalt-ed position of the Prime Minister of thecountry for a brief period of time at avery critical juncture of India’s history.He, however, embraced the challengewith great fortitude and political sagacityand ingenuity. It was not so much thethirst for power and position as for thelarger interest of the country, which isalthough understood by the politicalclass and the intelligentsia, but not appre-ciated and applauded. Reconstructing thetumultuous political circumstances inwhich Chandra Shekhar became thePrime Minster of the country, theauthor(s) writes, Chandra Shekharbecame the leader of the splinter groupwith the support of fifty-two members ofParliament from Janata Dal. The BJP hadalready withdrawn support from V.P.Singh’s government, leaving Singh withno option but to seek a vote of confi-dence in the Lok Sabha. V.P. Singh lostthe vote of confidence on November 7,1990 and the Congress party decided tosupport Chandra Shekhar’s bid for theposition of the prime minister. He wassworn in on November 10, 1990.

While the political condition of thecountry was very volatile, added andabated by the aftermath of the demoli-tion of Babri Masjid and turbulence inJammu & Kashmir and Punjab, the eco-nomic condition was precarious almoston the threshold of a major crisis. InMarch 1991, the prospect of a default onsovereign repayments was alarming. Itwas feared that reneging on repayment

of loans would lead India to loss of cred-ibility and financial insolvency interna-tionally. It was in this backdrop that cab-inet secretary Naresh Chandra briefedPrime Minister Chandra Shekhar aboutthe option of using gold as collateral toraise foreign exchange The PrimeMinister had some reservation to takesuch a drastic action. Chandra Shekharmulled over the proposal in the contextthat he was heading a care taker govern-ment and that election had already beenannounced. Finally, however, he agreedto the proposal. It was indeed a bold andcourageous decision fraught withunforeseen consequences. The authorquotes the then chief economic adviserDeepak Nayar that Prime Minister

Chandra Shekhar decided to ‘ship 20tonnes of gold, confiscated from smug-glers to raise $200 million from theUnion Bank of Switzerland through asale-with-a-repurchase option’.Applauding the bold and courageousdecision of the Prime Minister, theauthor writes Chandra Shekhar relied onhis rustic wisdom to rationalise thepledging of gold to recover the land,then earn from the land to retrieve thegold back. The bureaucrats involved inthe physical shipment of the goldremembered how terrified they wereuntil the precious consignment safelyreached London. The economic crisiswas not of his making, rather the crisiswas bequeathed to him by inept han-

dling of the economy by the previousregimes. Yet another major decision thatChandra Shekhar took during the Gulfwar was to permit the US air force torefuel on Indian soil. In hindsight, it cansafely be said that he was the harbingerof strategic shift of India’s foreign policywhich led to strategic partnershipbetween the two countries in later years.

At a time when the nature of Indianpolity and political parties have under-gone a transformation under the impactof technology and huge resources, theauthor recounts how Chandra Shekharbuilt his political party brick by brickand was rooted to the ground and con-nected with the electorate. He was not aleader who was parachuted from above,

rather he grew from the grassroots andinternalised the suffering and the toil ofthe common people. The author writesthat his own suffering and suffering ofhis own family like the death of hismother due to the lack of medical assis-tance inspired him to struggle for thecreation of a social order that would setpeople free from miseries and his visionof an equitable society was not gleanedfrom books or imbibed from politicalphilosophies but was attained throughhis livid experiences. Could one imaginethat as the joint secretary of the SocialistParty he washed the utensils at the partyoffice in Lucknow after waking up earlyin the morning. Similarly, the authormentions how he once had to sit on the

floor of the train, between two toilets,while on a journey to Delhi. Such wasthe simplicity of a mass leader who sub-sequently became the Prime Minister ofthe country. He was a leader of deeppolitical conviction, and pragmatic andopen mind, receptive to new ideas andalternative perspectives without compro-mising his core values of nationalismand commitment to public service.

The first author, who is currently thedeputy chairman of Rajya Sabha and adistinguished editor, had a long associa-tion with Chandra Shekhar and had theprivilege of knowing him personally andvery intimately. Earlier he had writtenextensively on Chandra Shekhar inHindi. The present book synthesises andupdates his earlier writings. The book iswell-researched and well-written bring-ing out the ideas, ideals, principles, val-ues and vision of Chandra Shekhar in avery lucid and eloquent manner.

The reviewer is a senior fellow ofIndian Council of Social Science Research

(ICSSR) affiliated to Indian Institute ofPublic Administration, New Delhi

This biography is a well-researched and well-written account, bringing out the ideas, ideals, principles,values and vision of Chandra Shekhar in a very lucid and eloquent manner, writes RUP NARAYAN DAS

CHANDRA SHEKHAR:THE LAST ICON OF

IDEOLOGICAL POLITICSHarivansh and Ravi Dutt

Bajpayi; Rupa, `595

The life and times of Chandra Shekhar

Irecall a sunny day inDecember, 1944. Thewriter, then a spirited boyin his teens, opted to follow

a dusty track on a bicycle, It wasfrom Wardha to Sevagram andhelped one avoid a ride in a bul-lock cart, the only public trans-port available then.

I moved in hurry to be backin time to catch the night train.I was filled with rare enthusiasmto see the revolutionary saintwho occupied the centre stagein India’s struggle for Indepen-dence. His heartbeat epitomisedthe rise and fall of nation’s pulse.

Indeed, it was Mahatma’smagic spell that Abdul GhaffarKhan (Frontier Gandhi) becamea follower of non-violence. Also,amazingly under the Pathanleadership, the fierce tribals,whose credo was ‘Blood forBlood’, abjured violence and redshirts bore batons and lathicharge of British India Policewithout any retaliation. Gandhiwas a tower of strength for theunarmed teeming millions ofhis country. He stood againstthe barbarism let loose inJallianwala Bagh.

With all these thoughts inmy my head, at midday Ireached Sevagram. Crossing alone telephone box post and aseries of huts, I reached a mud-covered platform with tworaised walls. Here, Pyarelaljiwith his team of assistant secre-taries were at work. My requestfor an audience was regretfullyturned down by him becauseMahatma Gandhi was observing‘maun vrat’ on that day. My sec-ond request to have Darshan ofthe Mahatma Ji was unheard,unanswered. Soon, an under-standing Mr Sinha, who was theAssistant Private Secretary,made me sit beside him on themat at the mud platform andwhispered in my ear “ApproachRajaji (C Rajagopalachari)”.Rajaji emerged from MahatmaGandhi’s hut. As I advancedtowards him, I found he hadalready stretched out his hand.

The moment our hands met, heasked, “Who are you?”Apologising for my lapse, Iintroduced myself, “Sir, I am astudent touring the princelystates. I have just come backfrom Hyderabad. Quickly, Iprayed for Mahatma Gandhi’sdarshan. Rajaji consented. Myrequest having been accepted, Isaid, “I want to tell him…” ButRajaji promptly said, “No tellingplease”. My encounter with theforceful personality of Rajaji leftme a bit shook up. Hardly did Ithen realise that I was face toface with the would-be firstGovernor General of Free India.

Granting my first request,he said, “Go through the sidedoor leading to an enclosedopen space. On your left, therewill be another open door andyou will find Mahatma Gandhisitting there. Have his darshanand come back through thesame side door”.

A fleeting moment gave meglimpse of Gandhi Ji, sitting onthe floor mat in a hut with mudwalls barely two feet high and ahay roof top. His face wasresplendent as a radiant sun. Istood respectfully with foldedhands. He responded with fold-ed hands and a smile on his gra-cious face. Not content, I movedahead a few paces, and soonretraced my steps and offered arespectful namaskar for the sec-ond time. Likewise, he respond-

ed the second time. The kindgesture of the noble soul gaveme immense joy. My missionwas achieved.

On my way back, I wasthinking of Bapu’s favouritesong:

Vaishnava Jana To, TeneKahiye Je, Peed Paraayi Jaane Re

(A good soul is one thatfeels the pain of others)

This vibrated in many coun-tries. Gandhi Ji and

Rabindranath Tagore despitedifferences had great regard foreach other. He called GandhiMahatma and Gandhi regardedhim Gurudev. In a letter toRabindranath Tagore, Gandhi, agreat music lover, suggested togive both Hindustani as well asWestern music and Bengalimusic due place inShantiniketan. Both MahatmaGandhi and GurudevRabindranath Tagore weregreatly influenced by Leo

Tolstoy, a celebrated Russianwriter whose novel War andPeace is still widely read. Toearn a meal, Tolstoy worked inhis farm for eight hours every-day. Likewise, Mahatma Gandhiengaged in physical activity anddid his own chores. Once, a rep-resentative of The WashingtonPost came to interview him.Gandhi Ji made him wait as hisgoat was thirsty and that was“more important” Self-help wasto be practised by all inmates ofthe Ashram. One has to manageone’s own waste, big or small.

Precious Memories, written by Madan Lall Manchanda is published

by Blue Rose Publishers

Remembering MahatmaMADAN LALL MANCHANDA’S book gives us a glimpse of the past, a rare insight into the timesgone by. It’s his take on some great people and events in history, such as, Gandhi... Excerpts:

PRECIOUS MEMORIESMadan LallManchanda

Blue Rose, `201

Sevagram Ashram, Wardha

Hyderabad Sunday October 6, 2019

13

food

NAVRATRI FEAST

avratri is a time to rejoice and revel. For many, it is also the time for theyearly holy fast. For the city foodies, it spells the annual feast at KhandaniRajdhani with its Vrat Thali — a celebration of India’s culinary legacy

that everyone loves whether they’re fasting or not!

Khandani Rajdhani will serve its legendaryVrat Thali that reinvents the usual fast fare tillOctober 7. The special thali includes Farsan, Sabji, Dal, One Kadhi, Breads, Rice, Sweets, Fruitsand Accompaniments. Maharaj JodharamChoudhary, with his rich experience, createsmagic with special fast preparations such asSabudanaVada, Farali Pattice, Kattu Ke Pakode,Sabudana Khichdi, Samo Rice, Sabudana Papad,Green Chutney, Sweet Lassi, Sabudana Kheer andSweet Potato Halwa.

WHETHER YOU'RE FASTING OR NOT, THESERECIPES ARE A TREAT FOR EVERY FOODIE

Foodies always enjoyNavratri special food acrossthe country by tryingvarious recipes at home.The Vrat Thali atKhandani Rajdhani isproviding delicious recipesfor Hyderabadis

N

INGREDIENTS (MEASURING CUPUSED, 1 CUP = 250 ML)

r Sabudana - ½ cup for a denser kheer, r Milk - 4 cupsr Organic unrefined cane sugar - 4 to 5 tbsp

or as requiredr 4-5 green cardamoms, husked and

crushed in a mortar-pestle to a semi finepowder

r Chopped cashews - 2 tbspr Raisins - ½ tbspr Saffron strands/kesar (optional) - 3-4

METHOD:r Rinse the sabudana pearls till the water

runs clear of the starch.r Take a thick bottomed pan or sauce pan

in which you will be making the kheer.r Add the rinsed sabudana pearls and water

in the pan.r Cover and let the pearls get soaked in the

water for 15-20 minutes.r Later keep this pan on the stove top and

begin to cook the pearls.r Meanwhile heat or warm the milk too. No

need to boil the milk.r After 4-5 minutes, add the milk to the

pan and continue to cook.r Add sugar and cardamom powder and

simmer till the pearls have cooked wellfor about 20-25 minutes on a low tomedium flame.

r Keep on stirring occasionally.r Switch off the fire and add cashews and

raisins.r Garnish the sabudana kheer with saffron

strands.r Serve sabudana kheer hot/warm/cold.

INGREDIENTS

r Sabudana- 1 and a 1/2 cupsr Peanuts -1/4 cupr Green chillies - 4-5 chopped finelyr Potato - 1 mediumr Ghee - 3 tbspr Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigsr Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoonr Rock salt to taster Lemon juice - 1 tspr Coconut scraped - 2 tbspr Coriander leaves a few sprigs chopped

METHOD:

r Wash sabudana and then soak in one-cup water for three to four hours.Sabudana grains should be separateand moist. Roast peanuts on a hotgriddle, peel off the skin and thengrind coarsely. Peel and wash thepotato and cut into cubes. Heat gheein a pan, add curry leaves, cuminseeds and chopped green chillies.When cumin seeds crackle add thepotato cubes. Cook till the potatoesare done. Add sabudana, scrapedcoconut and ground peanuts, sauté forfour to five minutes, stirring well.Sprinkle a little water, add salt andlime juice. Mix well. Sprinkle choppedcoriander leaves. Serve hot.

INGREDIENTS:

r Potatoes boiled, peeled and grated - 3-4r Fresh coconut scraped - 1/4 cupr Cashewnuts chopped - 1 tbspr Peanuts roasted and crushed - 1 tbspr Raisins - 1/2 tbspr Rock salt (sendha namak) to taster Sugar - 1/4 tspr Lemon juice - 1/2 tspr Ginger-green chilli paste - 1/2 tspr Fresh coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbspr Arrowroot powder - 1 tbsp + for coatingr Oil for greasing and deep-frying

INGREDIENTS:

r Hung Curd - 1 cupr Sugar - ½ cupr Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

r Gulab Jal - 1 tspr Charoli - 1 tspr Chopped dry fruits -

Almonds, Pista- 1 tbsp

METHOD:

r Place a thin muslin clothon a strainer and pourthe curd over it andloosely cover it with theedges of the cloth.Refrigerate this and letthe curd sit in the

strainer for a minimumof 4-5 hours.

r Add sugar and mix well.r Pour the mixture in

sieve to yield smoothShrikhand

r Elaichi, Gulab Jal,Charoli, dry fruits andmix r Serve chilled

INGREDIENTS:

r Kuttu ka atta - 240 gmsr Potatoes (peeled and

mashed smooth), boiled- 125 gms

r Sendha namak (rocksalt) - 1 tsp

r Water to knead r Ghee for deep frying r Dry flour for dusting

METHOD:

r Mix atta, potatoes andsalt together and kneadinto stiff dough. Coverand leave to rest for atleast 30 minutes.

r Break the dough into10-12 pieces, and shapeeach into round, smoothballs, smearing yourhands with some ghee, ifit sticks.

r Take a ball, and with arolling pin, roll into athin round. Roll all theballs, and keep ready for

frying.r Heat the ghee in a frying

pan and put the rolledpuri into the ghee onceheated.

r Press gently with a slot-ted spoon in the centre,so that it puffs up. Turnit over and fry till itturns golden brown onboth sides.

r Remove from the fanwith the slotted spoon,drain and place on anabsorbent paper, beforetransferring on to aserving dish.

METHOD:

r For stuffing: Combinecoconut, cashew nuts,peanuts, raisins, rocksalt, sugar, lemon juice,ginger-green chillipaste and choppedcoriander in a bowl andmix well.

r Heat sufficient oil in akadai.

r Combine potatoes,arrowroot powder androck salt in anotherbowl and mix well.

r Grease your palms withsome oil. Spread somearrowroot powder on aplate.

r Divide the potato mix-ture into equal por-tions, make a dent inthe centre and fill itwith a portion of thestuffing. Coat it witharrowroot powder.

r Deep-fry pattice in hotoil till golden and crisp.Drain on absorbentpaper.

r Serve hot.

Sabudana Kheer

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Sabudana Khichdi

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ONE CAN SATIATE THEIR HUNGER BY TASTING LIP-SMACKING ITEMSLIKE FARALI PATTICE, RAJGIRI PURI, FRUIT SHRIKAND, SABUDANAKHICHDI AND SABUDANA KHEER DURING THIS NAVRATRI DAYS

NAVR

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Your health will be very good. You will feelexceptionally well and upbeat about your future. Youneed to consider ways on how to maintain your goodhealth. You will enjoy peace, joy, and prosperity aroundthis time and be filled with positive energy. Those whohave recovered from a serious ailment must follow theroutine consultation. On the career front, you need tokeep a close eye out for any cheating. Make sure youare doing things the right way. Then you’ll have nothingto worry about, even if someone is out to get you. Inthe matters of heart, you are not very vocal about yourfeelings. If you love someone, express it. Your introvertand individual personality will not help you get closer tosomeone you love. Trust your instincts.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Tuesday

ARIES March 21-April 19

This week you are likely to enjoy happiness, good healthand worldly pleasures. You tend to be enthusiastic. Youmust carefully weigh and consider what others ask you.You might find yourself thinking about a long holiday.You may travel abroad or just remain at home to have abreak in order to rejuvenate yourself. Connecting toYoga, meditation, cosmic healing, learning new interestsis on the cards. Professionally, things are going verywell. Don’t take your initial success for granted. Enjoy thesuccess and have fun. Business is also going well at thistime. On the relationship front, you need to analysewhether you are being realistic with regards to love.Don’t spend too much time in self-pity or wishing yourlife away. Put your anger in check.

Lucky number 15Lucky colour Sky BlueLucky day Thursday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

Those of you thinking of self-improvement, this is thetime to do so. Plan something creative to get yourselfbusy and avoid stress. Take adequate rest and a gooddiet to stay healthy. Tensions from the recent pastwould ease. Listen to your body and work accordingly.The spiritual journey would prove healing. Career-wise,this is a good time to start planning long term. Workmethodically. You are likely to get an intriguingbusiness opportunity this week. The investments youmade are likely to bring in returns with interest. On thelove front, you will face confusion. Think calmly andcarefully about what your deal-breakers are in arelationship. Be honest with yourself first, and then withyour beloved.

Lucky number 8Lucky colour MagentaLucky day Friday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

Your physical strength is beyond comparison thisweek. Some of you may embark on an overseas trip orget an opportunity to work, study, or live overseas foran extended period of time. Wherever you go, you willencounter new experiences and welcoming hosts whowill embrace you and invite you into their world.Overall, this is a good week. On the career front, youwill gain success. An enhanced status, promotion ordesignation is on the cards. Your abundant energy andself-confidence will give you a boost to move ahead.On personal grounds, you may meet a romanticperson. A good news, particularly in the matters of theheart, is headed your way. Be open to exploring yourfeelings.

Lucky number 13Lucky colour BrownLucky day Saturday

CANCER June 21-July 22

This is a great time to consider what you are doing toincrease your health and vitality. Plan your routine.Attend to your spiritual side in solitude and reach out toothers. On the career front, good news is on the cards.You will reap the benefits of the choices that you make.An opportunity may surprise you. Your company mightsend you on a foreign assignment. This is a good timefor those in the export and import business. You have thepotential to crack the most difficult competitive exam andface the interview with confidence. In love, those who arecommitted may find their workload or that of theirpartner to be interfering with the relationship. Make timeand space for the relationship regardless of your jobs,otherwise, things will suffer.

Lucky number 20Lucky colour MauveLucky day Monday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

You can resolve all your health problems with yourwisdom. With your experience and maturity, you can be incontrol of your life. Instead of being innovative, adapt tothe existing set of beliefs and systems. A new theory orfashionable trends will not work for you this week. On thecareer front, a foreign assignment is on the cards. There’sa very good chance that you are working far too hard forrecognition and money. This is the time to remind yourselfof your real value. In terms of your relationship, messagesof love and affection will come your way. You feelpampered and seek to rejuvenate yourself. Those who aresingle, a new suitor with whom you have a lot in common,and who is also very adventurous, may enter your life.There is a lot to look forward to.

Lucky number 18Lucky colour SilverLucky day Wednesday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

An rise in your health and vitality is foreseen this week.Those who are dealing with a serious illness, may find ahealer. Think positively and expect the best. It’s importantto share your spiritual understandings with others. Yourlife will deepen immeasurably if you reach out. Career-wise, learn to delegate responsibilities, especially whenoverloaded with work. You may face a dilemma at yourworkplace which demands action or decision. Analyse allavailable information before making a decision. On thelove front, you are likely to question whether you andyour long-term partner should stay together. some of youmay choose to go your separate ways. Singles, this is atime when commitment may be coming your way veryshortly.

Lucky number 17Lucky colour GreyLucky day Saturday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

You should not run away from the reality it does notsuit your personality. If you are dealing with a healthproblem, you need to look for another health carepractitioner. Plan a vacation in nature to rejuvenateyourself. Avoid stress. On the career front, share yourresponsibilities as you may be overstressed. Shareyour thoughts with your friends. Looking at the pastwill help you set the stage for the next phase. You havereviewed your past experiences and have learned fromthem. All the pieces of the puzzle of your life are finallycoming together. On the personal front, true love,balanced partnership, commitment, and all of the goodthings that most of us hope for in love and relationshipwould be available to you.

Lucky number 14Lucky colour GreenLucky day Thursday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

Bring positive changes in your lifestyle, and make effortsto improve your health. You need supervised exercise andnutritional care. Outdoor games, swimming, gym willdraw your attention. On the professional front, you willreceive admiration from superiors and colleagues. Thework environment will be friendly and this would increaseyour efficiency. You will be able to win the support of yourseniors. Promotion/hike in salary is on the cards. You willbenefit by improving your knowledge and skills. On thepersonal level, you are strong, courageous and willestablish yourself as a confident person. At home, yourdomineering attitude could irritate others, and you mayfind yourself alone. This is the time to tame your tongueand bring compassion and concern for the loved ones.

Lucky number 6Lucky colour PurpleLucky day Friday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

You are a quiet and keen observer this week. Yourperception about life will change, seeing the positivityaround. You feel healthier than ever. Avoid anyobsession/passion this week. On the career front, youwill want your time and space and may spend some timein isolation. Those who are feeling exhausted and tired,now is the time to take a break. Perhaps the trauma oflosing your job, financial and health worries, stress andconflict with your colleagues are overpowering you. Thisis not the time to make decisions, particularly when youare at your most vulnerable. On the love front, beginningof love, happiness and compassion is on the cards. Thestart of a new relationship, be it a friendship or aromance will bring a smile to your face.

Lucky number 2Lucky colour PinkLucky day Sunday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

You need time and a quiet environment to connect withyour soul and the energies around. Health, vitality andinner vibrancy will fill you with positive energy andinspiration. Creative ideas will occupy your mind. Career-wise, you may be required to bring about some changes.Some of you who are not satisfied with your current job,would find yourself looking out. Switching to a new role islikely. The good news is that the job you land will bebetter than the previous one. Transfer to a desired placemay require you to travel. On the personal front, you maycome across an analytical mind. Ensure you do notengage in silly debates. Don’t ignore your loved ones.Take some time out and show your concern. Let the heartspeak louder than the mind.

Lucky number 11Lucky colour BeigeLucky day Sunday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

This week you need to let go of the past and any wrongsthat you perceive were done to you. Especially if you aredealing with chronic medical issues. Letting go will helpyou feel better. Think positively. You may find yourselfexploring ideas and spiritual directions that you neverthought would appeal to you. Career-wise, you may beinspired to start a new creative project, take up an artclass, or even dance. You see potential in allowing yourcreativity to flow. Those looking for a job, a suitable joboffer matching with your profile may come your way.Those who are in a committed relationship, stick tohandling situations the traditional way. If you’resuspicious of your partner for some reason, make a pointto talk it out, even if you find doing so difficult.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour PeachLucky day Tuesday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YOURWEEK

AHEADMADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 14TAROT HELPS US LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES TOUNDERSTAND OUR EMOTIONS, THE REASONINGBEHIND OUR WORDS AND CONDUCT, AND THE

SOURCE OF OUR CONFLICTS— BENEBELL WEN Hyderabad, October 6, 2019

At the outset, let me greet the valuedreaders on the solemn occasion ofShardeya Navaratra, dedicated to

Mother Goddess Durga, the epitome ofShakti. While I was scripting this piece,an admirer of this column landed up,who confronted me with vexing ques-tions that deserves an answer. “Sir, isthere any scope for some form God inexistence in the higher realms, who mayselectively respond to our individualisticprayer and grant us boons? With a scien-tific bent of mind, how could youendorse such a mythical concept?”

Well, myths have been in circulationall through the run of civilisation acrossthe globe, serving great purpose inhuman life. Especially in Indian tradition,our ancient seers beautifully used the lan-guage of mythical symbolism to impartlessons vital to our qualitative existence.For, imageries find an immediate appealoverriding all barriers of lingua francaand intellectual levels. Some mythicalimageries help bring down even subtlerealities of life operative at unseen levelwithin the scope of human comprehen-sion. Many others throw light on ‘conductrules of life’ as would ensure a smoothrun of life, individually and collectively.

Remember, life is just not mechani-cal, bound by pre-mandated design para-meters. In fact, human dynamism is quitecomplex, covering emotions, mind andpsyche, and even physiological wellbeing.All these aspects of life remain subject tolot of unpredictable twists and turns,often turning our lives chaotic. Whatmakes life even more complicated is thatwe remain an inseparable part of a largeliving order, in which every being is bornunique, carrying varying desire and mindtrends. That makes the world a naturalbreeding ground for conflict of interest.As a result, we have no choice than to goabout in life with an assorted group ofpeople — some may prove congenial andmany more may stand in way of ourdesired destination. Amidst all these, howto go about in life with ease and comfort,is the challenge before all of us.

Out of many mythical deities inIndian circulation, the concept of Durga,with all the attributes assigned to the saidimagery, carries great meaning for us. It isnot important whether there exists aform God as such in the higher realms tobless us. But, if by focusing attention onDurga’s imagery, we could gather up allour internal resources to put in our whole

towards the desired destination, successbecomes more probable. Reflecting onthe attributes identified with MotherGoddess during the process, if we couldimbibe them, life may turn rewardingand fulfilling. Hence, the relevance of thisfestivity to have become a part of ourannual calendar.

Bear in mind; energy streams sourcedto nature hold the key to our existence andall its functionalities. But energy is a dou-ble-edged weapon as the probability of itsuse and misuse remains equal, accordingas individualistic minds are inherently ori-ented. A look into the imagery of MotherGoddess will reveal that if offers lesson inhow to productively use energy.

As the mythical story runs, when allGods, including Brahma, Vishnu, andShiva pooled in their teja (shakti), hugefire broke, out of which emerged Durga.The message loud and clear is that collec-tively all odds could be overcome. Thatmakes it incumbent upon us for remain-ing conscious about our collective obliga-tion together with our aspirational urges.

Remember, Shakti is purposely iden-tified with a motherly form. For, a moth-er selflessly pools in all her resources andthen takes all the pain to produce andnurse a child, meaning a productiveapplication. She is mounted on a tiger.

Intelligently, a tiger approaches its prey,which when within reach, it invokes allher energy and pounce upon it. But itwon’t go for the next kill till it doesn’tbecome hungry again. So, the killing isneed based, not greed born. Demonsappearing in different modes symboliseall mental vagaries that Durga slays withher numerous weapons provided by dif-ferent Gods. Evidently, one would need tobe on full mental alert to identify theright weapon for the right occasion. Lotusflower around her signifies a sense ofdetachment. It though grows in the mudunderneath a waterbody, neither earthmatter nor water can stick to its leaves.

Ordinarily, going through the usualmills of life, often one forgets the basics,as if they would have outgrown their lim-its. But fundamentals never change. We,therefore, need to be reminded at regularperiodic interval which is why such fes-tivities occupy such an important place inour life.

The writer is an astrologer, vastu consultant

and spiritual counsellor. Write to him at

G-102, Bharat Nagar, New Friends Colony,

New Delhi-110 025

Tel: 91-11-49848475/9818037273

Email: bharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

Website: www.bharatastro.com

ASTROTURFBHARAT BHUSHAN PADMADEO

Madhu Kotiya is a tarot card reader, spiritual healer, and Founder, MShezaim Institute of Tarot and Divination. Contact details: madhu@indiatarot.com, www.indiatarot.com, M: 9873283331

Durga guides us on how to use energy

TEAM AGENDA DESK > NAVNEET MENDIRATTA, CONSULTING EDITOR | H LAYOUT AND DESIGN > SATISH CHANDRA JAKHMOLA, SENIOR EDITOR (CREATIVE)

Now yyou ccan wwrite tto uus aat agendapioneer@gmail.com

backpack 15HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019

nWhat was your first day on the sets like?It was great. On day one, I was like a lost puppy but I was not

nervous. However, when I realised what it takes to give a shot, thenervousness crept in. Sunny (Deol) sir is a hard task master. TheManila bit was super taxing as we had to trek every single day insub-zero temperatures. But overall, it was a great fun and learn-ing experience.nHow did this project come to you?

When I first came to Mumbai, I didn’t know what to do, I wastrying my luck here and there by auditioning. Then a casting direc-tor told me about an audition that was happening and I could try.I did a few rounds. In the last round Sunny sir was there himself.I was given a monologue from the script which I had to performon. The whole process took a month-and-a-half. In February 2017that was finalised.nWas it easy to work with the fact that Karan Deol was also mak-ing his debut?

I would like to believe so. Karan and I were a team and werethere for each other. We understood what the other person wasgoing through. We did our workshops together, work out and gofor walks.nWhat was the atmosphere like on and off the sets?

There was not even an F of fun. It was a very disciplined set.We had to get everything right, time was crucial, we couldn’t affordto waste time due to the weather conditions.nHow nervous were you doing rappling and crossing the river?

Extremely nervous. Before we would do the scene it had to berehearsed and the stunt master would show us how to do it. Therewas one time, when due to the strong current, he was almost sweptaway. Water was extremely cold. There were sub-zero conditionsalso windy and cloudy conditions as well.nWas acting on the cards?

Yes, even though I was not from the industry. I just had thisbelief that I would make acting my career. There was never a PlanB for me. I came to Mumbai with the sole purpose of pursuing myacting.nTell us about yourself?

I belong to a very conservative Punjabi family from Simla. Idid my schooling from there. I loved dancing and learnt Kathakbut the city didn’t have many professional schools there. I went toa boarding school for my Class XI and XII. I was even more pro-tected as the atmosphere was very disciplined but I learnt how totime manage. Then I came to Mumbai for my college and it wasvery liberating. But I didn’t get college accommodation so had toput up at a hostel. I didn’t have any family here. That was my strug-gle. Then the Fresh Face shoot happened.nHow was it to work with Sunny Deol? Was it like the angryman that we are used to seeing in the movies?

No, not at all. Even at the audition, he made me feel comfort-able. The good apes was that before we started shooting, the entireteam was in Manila for three months for workshops. There was acertain comfort level. He was a father figure and I never hesitatedin going up to him with any problem that I had.nIt has been just over two weeks since the movie released. Is theresult on the expected lines?

I don’t look at the project as a hit or a flop. I spent over twoyears with the team, they have become like my family. What is moreimportant is the experience I gained. But when you work so hardyou do want the film to work. However, the memories and the peo-ple that I met far outweigh the result of the film.nWhat next?

At present, I am taking in everything and not given thoughton what to do next. I am definitely looking for scripts but noth-ing concrete yet.

SAHHER BAMBBA who debutedwith Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas speakswith SHALINI SAKSENA on howshe got this project, working withKaran Deol and the experience onthe first day of shoot

‘Sunny sir ran avery tight ship’

nWhat is your role in Laal Kaptan?It was a character that came to me

through auditions. Unfortunately, Ican’t reveal too much about this filmand my role. All I can say is that it isan important role.nWhat is Taish about?

It is a family drama. It is direct-ed by Bejoy Nambiar and I got

this project due toManmarziyaan. The

way my characterhas been writ-

ten has comeout well. nYou willbe seen inHousefull4. What isthe reasonfor thepopularity

of theseries?

Obviouslythe comedy.

People want to beentertained. The sto-

ryline is relatable and onecan watch these movies

with the family.nHow do you time manage?

I am working with people withwhom I have had a long association.They are just as passionate aboutteaching, acting and theatre. I don’tbelieve in flying solo. I delegate a lot ofwork and believe in team work. If youwork with people, you can grow more.If you go solo you go fast but I want togo far. This, also frees a lot of my timeto do other things. nWhat made you say yes to SacredGames?

I came out of my den. I had beenworking with Barry sir for the last 15years. I had also started my actingschool. But then Mukesh Chhabraasked me to audition for this and I gotselected. I have had a long associationwith Anurag Kashyap, the director. Tobegin with was offered another role. Inthe end, a lot of this role was cut. Themakers were struggling which charac-ter to give me. And this is how I got Isa’scharacter. The role worked for me.nWhat makes this series so popular?What do you like the best?

The story and the way it has beendirected. Then there is freedom for the

actor — to show his potential; the writ-ers who can write a long script withoutthe fear of the same being cut like in amovie; for the director to create hisvision and the audience who have thefreedom to feel what unfolds. The levelof maturity the makers have entrustedthe viewers is another thing. I too amdoing my thing here. Anurag has givenme all the freedom that I need.nYou are a star-maker. How did youget this tag?

No, never. I was just lucky to haveworked with Barry John for so long.During this period a number of kidsfrom the industry came like VarunDhawan and Arjun Kapoor. Also, a fewnew people entered the industry likeRicha Chadha, Sushant Singh andHarshvardhan Rane. I was taking theclass with them since I was a senior fac-ulty. Now, I attach my name with themand vice-versa. It is just a coincidence. nYou have been teaching for 15 yearshow prepared are the students oftoday?

More than the students, it is theparents who do their homework. Theyare the ones who push their ward.When I had started off, my parents were

not ready. The same was the case withother students in my class. Back then,their was not enough potential, therewas not enough work.

Today, the medium has become big,there is more money and work oppor-tunities. The casting directors in theindustry have given respectability to thisprofession. Even the level of crafts-manship has improved as there isaccess to better cinema and one can dif-ferentiate between good and bad cin-ema.nHas your teaching methodologychanged?

Definitely. I have taken a leaf out ofwhat I was doing at Barry John’s insti-tute. I am now added more educationmethods into the teaching at ActingTruth. We also do more physical andvoice work. We have introduced a classon how to relax the body as well.nWhat do you to relax?

When I am in class, I am veryrelaxed. I love Nature and like to readas well whatever takes my fancy. I usu-ally reach out to read new stuff. It givesme an understanding of what is hap-pening around me and this makes memore creative.

‘Being a star-maker is a coincidence’

There was a time whenDelhiites looked forwardto watching the plays

that were staged since therewere limited options for enter-tainment. Then there was a lull.That has changed in the lastfive-six years and the theatrescene is once again changingand growing albeit with a dif-ference. People today are look-ing for entertainment options.This means that those in thetheatre business are bringingon stage some great work withestablished actors that arepulling in a crowd like neverbefore.

It is therefore not surpris-ing that in the last six monthsthat Capital has seen five playsbeing staged with the latest tojoin the list Patte Khul Gaye —directed by Rakesh Bedi andpresented by Felicity Theatre.

The actor who shot tofame as Raja in Yeh Jo HaiZindagi that aired on DD backin the mid-80s and writtenplays like Jab We Separated andMera Woh Matlab Nahi Thatells you that the play is aboutthe hypocrisy that exists in themiddle class.

“It is about a family (DrManoj Rai played by AnantMahadevan, his wife, Manjuplayed by Roopali Gangulyand their two children). Theplay opens with a scene whereManju is busy cooking for aparty. She is annoyed thatnobody is lending her a handas everyone in her family isbusy on their mobiles. Even theguests who have been invitedare shown talking on theirmobiles. Then there is an invit-ed guest. What unfolds whenall these people tun up, sets thetone of the play,” Bedi says.

He tells you that the title isapt once the interval is over andeveryone is exposed like thehusband who suddenly sees atotally new side of his wife, aside that he never knew shehad.

“Very comically each per-son stands exposed hence thename. The play also showcas-es the conflict between theupper and the middle class thatcomes with satire. However, Ilove comedy and despite thefact that the play tackles aserious issue, I have ahumourous take on it. I don’twrite anything that isn’t funny.A message without humourdoesn’t sit well with people,”Bedi says.

He denies that the play isan adaptation though he tookan idea from an English play.“One needs a thought and thatis what I have done. The char-acters have been woven byme. It is not an adaptation,” heemphasises.

He tells you that it tookhim only a couple of months towrite it since he was very clearwhere he wanted the play to go.“Usually, it takes me a coupleof years to write a play. Withthis one, I had a lot of clarity,”Bedi says who also plays a poethere.

But he tells you that therewas no conflict between thedirector and actor in him. Thisis because he had defined hischaracters to the minutestdetail. “Each dialogue, turnand move was written down indetail. It takes around 40 daysto direct a play, this one took12 days,” Bedi says.

His choice of cast depend-ed on many factors.“Mahadevan has a no-non-

sense face and is a straight for-ward actor. Though I had neverworked with Ganguly, I hadseen her work. Kishwer has thephysique that I was looking for.I wanted someone who is tall,a good figure and can carrythe role of a rich man’s wifeto a T,” Bedi tellsyou.

He opinesthat theatre hasundergone a seachange, espe-cially in Delhi.

“If some-one inM u m b a iwants to seea play, he hasto buy theticket. Even ifmy familywants to see aplay directed by me,it can’t be a free ticket.Someone has to buy it.While there was a timewhen Delhiites werelooking for a free tick-et, this has changed.This is good for the-

atre,” Bedi says and laments thefact that if one can spend over`1,000 on a film why not the-atre.

The actor has also pennedanother two-actor play whichwill probably star Neena Gupta.“As far as Bollywood is con-cerned, Bedi has just finishedshooting for Sab KushalMangal and is all set to head forLucknow to shoot for Indu KiJawani,” Bedi says.

Merchant who playsShireen tells you that it wastough to play this role. “In reallife, I am a tomboy. To play acharacter that is rich and classytook me a little time. It wasgreat to work with Rakesh(Bedi). I love him as an actor;I love him even more as a co-actor. He is such a selflessactor. He is always giving. Hewill help you out with every-thing. As a director, he is won-derful. The way he explainedthe play, he has done a fabulousjob,” Merchant says.

She loves the Delhi crowd.“I have been here for WrongNumber, Selfie, Hello Zindagiand now Patte Khul Gaye. Ihave had repeat audiences forall the plays. It feels so good asan actor when you get thisinstant feedback,” Merchantsays.

She tells you that she tookto the theatre

because sheused tohave stagefright and

wanted toget rid of it.

“The whole pointof doing theatre — to

get applause, peoplelaughing at your one-liners and instantresponse gives mesuch a high. I loveperforming in front ofa live audience,”Merchant says.

Mahadevan tellsyou that he plays a cos-

metic surgeon in the play.“The man is in a situation

where everyone wants to playa game where they want to findout what is there on their

phone. This drives him up thewall and then skeletons tumbleout. You don’t know whether heis clean or he too has a secret.There is an emotional angel tothis character. It is an interest-ing role,” Mahadevan says.

He tells you that the partwas breezy, it was not a verydramatic one. “It was a rolewhere I could walk in andenjoy playing since it was nota role were I had to get into theskin of the character unlikesome of the other plays that Ihave done like That’s My Girlwhere my role is that of a com-plex father. This role was abreak from that,” Mahadevantells you.

He opines that when oneplays easy roles, one can bemore realistic, be yourself andspontaneous.

“Unlike in a complex char-acter, one doesn’t have to get ina dramatic decibel. It is adrama. One has to ensure thatthe people at the back can hearyou. One ends up playing it abit unnatural so that the the-atrics is there. In Patte KhulGaye one need not play to thegallery,” Mahadevan says.

Despite being a writer-director himself, he enjoyed theprocess of just acting.

“When you are directing,you have to be responsibleand multitask. The stress lev-els are high. When a role likethis comes up especially in the-atre, it is a vacation. All I haveto do is play my part, do it welland be there. I enjoy the actingpart. This I realised after I start-ed directing,” Mahadevan says.

Patte Khul Gaye will be staged onOctober 12, 2019 at KamaniAuditorium at 4 pm & 7 pm

I DON’T BELIEVE INFLYING SOLO. I

DELEGATE A LOT OFWORK AND BELIEVE INTEAM WORK. IF YOUWORK WITH PEOPLE,

YOU CAN GROW MORE.IF YOU GO SOLO YOUGO FAST BUT I WANT

TO GO FAR. ALSO, THISFREES A LOT OF MYTIME TO DO OTHER

THINGS

DEEPIKA MAKES TIME FOR FANS

Deepika Padukone is one actress who is known to have a troop of loyalfollowers who not only follow the actress's work but genuinely admire her

for her simplicity and generosity. Recently, afew fans of the actress dropped by on her setsto surprise her and the kindhearted lady thatshe is, Deepika not only warmly welcomedthem but actually took some time off to spendwith them.

The young girls who came to meet her hadcarried a journal that they had specially made forthe actress. The actress read the journal withthem and thanked them for all the love theyshower on her. Making their experience all themore special the actress made sure to personallybid them goodbye.

On the work front, the actress will be nextseen in Meghna Gulzar’s Chhapaak, a film based on the life of acid attack survivorLaxmi Agarwal. She will also feature in Kabir Khan’s 83 where Deepika will beessaying the role of Kapil Dev’s wife Romi Dev in the film.

The year 2020 will be special as both her upcoming films are releasing in thesame year and interestingly, both the characters Laxmi Agarwal and Romi Dev arereal-life characters with the essence-rich background behind them, making it ayear of promising portrayals by the actress and this creative time of exploration issurely getting us all more excited.

AISHWARYA’S GLAM LOOK

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan owned the runway at the Le Défilé showat Paris Fashion Week as she walked in her pleated cape dress

by Giambattista Valli.She wore the L’Oréal Paris

Infallible Pro-Matte Foundationkeeping the base light. Heraccentuated eye makeup createdwith the L’Oréal Paris Berry MuchLove Eyeshadow Palette and theVoluminous Lash ParadiseMascara, stole the show.Aishwarya looked ethereal in hercoral lip look achieved with theRouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipstick Shade 130 that spelled glam.She sported the floral ensemble with utmost elegance and ownedthe runway like a queen with her exceptional confidence.

Also the brand ambassadors Camila Cabello and Amber Heardmade their first-ever appearances at Le Défilé L’Oréal Paris. In acelebration of motherhood, Eva Longoria walked the runwaycarrying her baby son, Santiago, in the grand finale. Proving beautyhas no age, Helen Mirren and Andie McDowell made their return tothe Paris runway while the lineup also saw star turns from MarieBochet, Liya Kebede, Aja Naomi King, Doutzen Kroes, Soo JooPark, Luma Grothe and Duckie Thot.

AMOL BAGS MOST PROMISING ACTOR AWARD

Amol Parashar has been seeing rising fame and recognition with theyouth since his advent in web series. One of the most followed and

loved actors in the digital space, Amolis best known for his performance asChitvan Sharma in TVF Tripling.

Recently, Amol was awarded theBest Actor (Comedy) trophy for hisperformance in Season 2 of Tripling.The honour was conferred to him byNews18.com’s iReel Awards, whichhonours the best in the world of webshows. Only a week later, the star hasbagged another award. Amol has beenawarded the Iconic Achiever award forMost Promising Actor Of The Year byWBR group which awards achievers invarious fields of life.

Talking about the achievement, the actor says: “I would like to thankthe WBR group for awarding me with the Iconic Achiever-Most PromisingActor Of The Year award. The digital space is an exciting medium and I amglad that all the hard work and honesty that I have put into my work as anactor is being recognised. This is highly encouraging and gives meconfidence and inspiration to keep moving forward and achieve moreheights.”

TalktimeSAURABH SACHDEVA

He plays Sulaiman Isa in SacredGames. Now, this actor-training coachwill be seen in movies like Housefull

4, Taish and Laal Kaptan. Hespeaks with

Shalini Saksena abouthis

MAHADEVAN HAS ANO-NONSENSE FACEAND IS A STRAIGHTFORWARD ACTOR.

THOUGH I HAD NEVERWORKED WITH

GANGULY, I HAD SEENHER WORK. KISHWERHAS THE PHYSIQUE

THAT I WAS LOOKINGFOR

— RAKESH BEDI

Anant Mahadevan, who plays Dr Manoj Rai; Rakesh Bedi who plays Akela; below; Kishwer Merchant who plays Shireen

SHALINI SAKSENA speaks with the starcastof Patte Khul Gaye, a play that exposes themiddle class and the beliefs that exist

GAMESPEOPLE

W E E K L Y N A T T E R

PLAY

PTI n VISAKHAPATNAM

Rohit Sharma smashed anoth-er hundred and a plethora ofrecords as India set an

improbable 395-run target forSouth Africa in the first Testwhich is headed for an excitingfinal day.

Revelling in his new role,Rohit effortlessly walked his wayinto the record books as he scored127 off 149 balls, following his176, to become the first everbatsman in the history of Test

cricket to score two hundreds in

his opening ‘debut’.In a debatable decision, India batted late

into the final session on day four before declar-ing their second innings at 323 for four in 67overs, giving themselves 45 minutes on dayfour and the whole of day five to bowl outSouth Africa.

In the end only 30 minutes of play waspossible due to bad light after South Africacame out to bat.

At stumps, South Africa were 11 for onewith Ravindra Jadeja trapping first inningscenturion Dean Elgar in front of the stumps.The visitors need another 384 runs for victo-ry.

The pitch remains slow but is offering turnwith the odd ball rearing up from the spotscreated. Ravichandran Ashwin, who tookseven wickets in the first innings along with

Jadeja, hold the key on the final day.With the stodgy Elgar removed, the

only other factor could be Quinton deKock, who has often proved to be a thornin India’s flesh.

Considering their spirited effort withthe bat in the first innings, South Africa

would be backing themselves to bat out the90 odd overs on the final day.

The day once again belonged to Rohit,who played yet another sublime knock at abrisk pace after the hosts bowled out SouthAfrica for 431 almost one hour into morningsession, earning a 71-run lead.

Rohit also broke the record of most sixesin a game with 13 maximums, surpassingPakistan great Wasim Akram who smashed12 in a match against Zimbabwe in 1996.

Rohit smashed six sixes in first inningsand seven in the second, including a hat-trickof sixes off spinner Dane Piedt in the 56th overwhen India were looking for quick runs.

His 169-run stand for the second wicketwith Cheteswar Pujara (81 off 148) set the tonefor India’s second innings before RavindraJadeja (40 off 32), Virat Kohli (31 not out off25) and Ajinkya Rahane (27 not out off 17)played their part. Considering the scenario,Jadeja had come out to bat ahead of Kohli.

With 175 for one at tea, India hadextended their lead to 246 runs, scoring runs140 runs in the session in 34 overs.

While stylish right-hander played in hisusual fashion and kept the scoreboard tick-ing, Pujara found the going tough in the ini-tial part of his innings which he scored eightruns off the first 62 balls faced.

sport 16

PTI n NEW DELHI

India all-rounder HardikPandya on Saturday under-

went a successful surgery for anacute lower-back injury, whichis expected to keep him out ofaction for at least four months.

As per information received,Hardik is likely to be out ofaction for a minimum period of12-16 weeks (3-4 months) andis expected to be match-fitbefore the Indian PremierLeague.

“Hardik Pandya complainedof lower back pain after India’sfinal T20I against South Africain Bengaluru on 22ndSeptember. The BCCI MedicalTeam consulted a panel of spinespecialists in England and theyrecommended surgery for along-term solution of this issue,”BCCI issued a medical bulletinon Saturday.

“The all-rounder travelledto London on 2nd Octoberwith Team India physiotherapistMr Yogesh Parmar. On Friday,a successful surgery was con-ducted. Hardik will soon com-

mence his rehabilitationprocess.”

The all-rounder on his partposted a message on hisInstagram account.

“Surgery done successfully.Extremely grateful to everyonefor your wishes. Will be back inno time! Till then miss me,”Hardik posted a message with apicture on his Instagram accounton Saturday.

Hardik first sustained theinjury during the Asia Cup inUAE last September. He recov-ered in time to play in the IPLand the World Cup before theinjury resurfaced.

AFP n LONDON

Tottenham's calamitousweek went from bad to

worse as Mauricio Pochettino'smen were outclassed in a 3-0defeat at Brighton on Saturday.

Nineteen-year-old AaronConnolly scored twice for theSeagulls on his first PremierLeague start after Neal Maupayhad headed Brighton into anearly lead.

Four days on from a 7-2thrashing at the hands ofBayern Munich in theChampions League, Pochettinowas looking for a reaction.

Instead, Spurs looked likea side devoid of confidenceafter getting off to the worstpossible start when Hugo Llorisgifted Brighton the opener andinjured himself in the process.

The France captaindropped a simple cross into thebox and as he fell backwardsand landed awkwardly, Maupaystooped to head into an emptynet.

Lloris was stretchered offwith what looked like an elbow

injury and replaced by PaoloGazzaniga.

Connolly took advantageof more generous Spursdefending and goalkeeping todouble Brighton's lead beforehalf-time and curled in his sec-ond of the day in style 25 min-utes from time.

Last season's ChampionsLeague finalists have now wonjust three of their opening 11games of the campaign and fiveof their last 19 dating back towhen these sides last met in

April.And while Pochettino

could justifiably claim Bayern'sruthlessness in midweek meantthe scoreline was not a truereflection of his side's perfor-mance, there was no excuse forbeing thoroughly outplayed bya Brighton side that had notwon in six league games.

The visitors' were on theback foot from the off wheninjury was added to insult forLloris.

The Spurs skipper wasgiven oxygen and morphinebefore being taken to hospitaland now seems certain to missFrance's upcoming Euro 2020qualifiers against Iceland andTurkey.

After a lengthy delay forLloris to be stretchered off,Brighton pushed on ratherthan trying to protect their leadand were rewarded just afterthe half hour mark.

Connolly was twice thequickest to react as he turnedDan Burn's cross goalwardsand, after Gazzaniga spilled hisfirst effort, the Irishman fol-

lowed up for his first PremierLeague goal.

Tottenham have made abad habit of letting leads slip inrecent weeks against Arsenal,Olympiakos, Leicester andBayern, but when forced tomount a fightback themselveswere found wanting.

Pochettino sacrificed clubrecord signing TanguyNdombele at half-time forHarry Winks and changed sys-tem to a 3-5-2.

However, rather than turn-ing the tide, it was Brightonwho got the third goal to killthe game off.

Connolly jinked insideonto his right foot and curledbrilliantly into the far corner toround off an afternoon that heand the Seagulls will longremember.

Son Heung-min and HarryKane then missed huge chancesto pull a goal back thatsummed up Spurs' dire weekand leaves Pochettino withplenty to ponder over theupcoming two-week interna-tional break.

SUPEROHIT SHOWHITMAN’S HITS

Spurs fall in Community

Hardik undergoesback surgery

AFP n BEIJING

Naomi Osaka said that shehad just two hours’ sleep

before crushing title-holderCaroline Wozniacki to sweepinto the China Open final onSaturday.

The 21-year-old Japanesewill play world number oneAshleigh Barty of Australia intoday’s championship matchin Beijing — and will hope tohave had a bit more rest.

The Australian Openchampion said that she was sohyped up after defeatingBianca Andreescu in threethrilling sets on Fridaynight that she barelyslept.

“I went to sleepat 4:00am, I woke upat 6:00am, so solidtwo hours, Ican’t real lysleep aftermy match-es,” saidOsaka.

“I justfeel l ikemy adren-

aline’s up more during thetougher matches so it makesit harder to sleep.”

“It’s definitely been a bitcrazy time-wise,” she added,having returned to the courtto face Wozniacki less than 24hours after defeatingAndreescu. But if the two-time Grand Slam championwas exhausted, it did not showin a 6-4, 6-2 victory in 84 min-utes against the Dane. TheJapanese insisted that she wasthe underdog against Barty.

They have played eachother three times before withthe 23-year-old Australianwinning twice.

Barty said that she has“never been happier” on andoff the court after she savedmatch point against Kiki

Bertens of theNetherlands in theirsemi-final.

The FrenchOpen champion com-mitted 52 unforcederrors but still justabout emerged victo-

rious in a nail-biting 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) triumph.

Barty to faceOsaka in final

Sharma scores 2nd consecutive hundred as first Test heads for exciting finish

SA batsmen can emulate 1st innings effort: PhilanderPTI n VISAKHAPATNAM

South Africa’s most experienced pacer VernonPhilander on Saturday said his team is still “with-

in a shot” of winning the first Test against India andbacked his batsmen to emulate their first inningseffort on day five.

In response to India’s 502/7, South Africaexceeded expectations by scoring 431 in their firstinnings. At stumps on day four, they were 11 forone, needing another 384 runs for an improbablyvictory.

“I still think we are in with a shot. They playedreally well, myself, KG (Rabada) all started well.Taking 70 runs lead we would have taken it as theyscored 500 runs. Hopefully we come ready tomor-row, bat well and take it real close,” said Philander,referring to the 71-run lead they conceded to India.

First innings centurion Dean Elgar was the onlySouth African to get out towards the end of finalsession. Philander expects others in the team to riseto the occasion.

Vernon Philander, without cap, celebrates withcaptain Faf du Plessis after dismissingCheteshwar Pujara AP

Pujara defendstiming of declaration

Indian players wait for review decision AP

PTI n VISAKHAPATNAM

Senior batsman Cheteshwar Pujara onSaturday said that Indian team timed their

second innings declaration in such a man-ner that they didn’t have to start with a softsemi new-ball on the fifth day of their firstTest.

Asked if the timing of declaration wasright, Pujara said,”It was. We did not wantto bowl too many overs because we wantedto keep the ball hard for start of day five. Youdon’t want to end up bowling too many oversand once the ball gets soft, it gets slightly eas-ier to bat.”

“We picked up a crucial wicket (DeanElgar). So as a team, we are happy with theway things went today,” said Pujara, whoscored a crucial 81 and shared an 169-runstand with twin centurion Rohit Sharma.

Pujara also felt that it won’t be easy forbatting on a fifth day track.

“Hopefully, on day five, this pitch would-n’t be easy to bat on and there will be a lit-tle more assistance for spinners. We havealready seen that the pitch offers variablebounce, so the fast bowlers will also come intoplay. I think so there is enough rough forspinners and the cracks will open up bit moreon day five,” India’s ever-dependable No 3said.

IANS n VISAKHAPATNAM

* The Mumbai batsman became the firstcricketer to slam twin tons in his maidenTest as an opener.* Rohit also joined an elite list of Indianbatsmen who have scored centuries in bothinnings of a single Test. The others whoachieved the feat include Vijay Hazare (1),Sunil Gavaskar (3), Rahul Dravid (2), ViratKohli (1) and Ajinkya Rahane (1).* With India looking to score quickly onDay 4 in order to force a result, Rohit wason the offensive, hitting some trademarksixes. He hit seven maximums in the sec-ond innings to take his match tally to 13 —the most by anyone in a Test match — goingpast former Pakistan captain Wasim Akramwho struck 12 sixes against Zimbabwe in1996.* Navjot Singh Sidhu previously held theIndian record for most sixes in a Test, hit-ting eight against Sri Lanka in 1994. Rohit

now holds the record for most sixes in amatch for India in all the three formats ofthe game.* India’s overall tally of sixes in thismatch is 27, which is the most by any teamin a single macth in the history of Test crick-et. The previous record was held by NewZealand, who smashed 22 sixes againstPakistan in 2014 while the previous best forIndia was 15 sixes against Sri Lanka inMumbai in 2009.* Rohit also surpassed Rahul Dravid formost consecutive fifty-plus scores by anIndian batsman at home. Dravid hadslammed six fifty-plus scores between 1997and 1998 while this was the seventh timethat Rohit went past that mark. His lastseven Test scores in India read 127, 176, 50*,65, 102*, 51* and 82.* Rohit also became the first Indian to getout stumped in both innings of a Test.Interestingly, he never got out stumped in hisentire first class career before this match.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2019