Delhi polls:Cong promisesunemploymentallowance

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MONEY 8NEW DEBT-BASED ETF WITHIN THIS QUARTER

ANALYSIS 7LONG ON VISION, SHORT ON MEANS

SPORTS 110-5 SERIES WHITEWASH

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VIJAYAWADA, MONDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 93*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

Twenty five per cent of AAP candidates and 20 per cent of BJPcontestants in the fray for the February 8 Delhi Assembly polls have

declared serious criminal cases against them in their affidavits,according to the Association of Democratic Reforms. Fifteen per cent ofCongress candidates also declared serious criminal cases against them,the ADR said. In the Delhi assembly polls, 672 candidates are in thefray, one less than in 2015. The top three richestcandidates are from the AAP. They are DharampalLakra from Mundka (Rs 292 crore), Parmila Tokasfrom RK Puram (Rs 80 crore) and Ram Singh Netajifrom Badarpur (Rs 80 crore).

25% OF AAP NOMINEES, 20% OFBJP DECLARED CRIMINAL CASES

UP UNIT CHIEF OF ANTARRASHTRIYAHINDU MAHASABHA SHOT DEAD Uttar Pradesh unit chief of Antarrashtriya Hindu Mahasabha Ranjeet

Bachchan was shot dead here on Sunday by unidentified assailantswhen he was out on a morning walk, police said. Joint Commissioner ofPolice Naveen Arora said Bachchan's cousin, AdityaSrivastava, was also injured in the incident and theirmobile phones were snatched by the attackers, oneof whom fired on them. The officer said while the40-year-old Bachchan died on the spot after beinghit by a bullet, Srivastava has received bulletinjuries on his left hand.

INDIAN-AMERICANS ORGANISE ‘SIT-IN SATYAGRAHA' IN USAgroup of Indian-Americans organised a 'sit-in Satyagraha' in front of

the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the Indian Embassy here,highlighting the need for pluralism in an ancient and heterogeneoussociety like India. The sit-in-Satyagraha, two days afterthe 72nd death anniversary of Gandhi, was organisedby ‘Young India', a policy advocacy group.Speeches from community members were alsomade in the memory of the Mahatma. Thespeakers highlighted the need for pluralism inan ancient and heterogeneous society like India.

Noted yesteryear actor Waheeda Rehman will be conferred theMadhya Pradesh government's National Kishore Kumar Samman

on Tuesday, a state official said in Bhopal. The award, forthe year 2018, will be given to Waheeda at her Bandraresidence in Mumbai by Madhya Pradesh CultureMinister Vijaylaxmi Sadho, the MP Public RelationsDepartment official said. Rehman, one of Hindi filmindustry's most successful leading ladies with a stringof box office hits and several awards, will turn 82on Monday.

WAHEEDA TO BE CONFERREDKISHORE KUMAR SAMMAN

AP capital shifting does notaugur well: Kishan ReddyPNS n NEW DELHI

Home G Kishan Reddy hasmade it clear that there is noinformation to the Centre onthe three State capitals pro-posed by the Government ofAndhra Pradesh.

Amaravati Farmers' JointAction Committee leaderscalled on Kishan Reddy andapprised him of how farmers ofthe Amaravati Capital Regionwould suffer on account of theState government's decision.

In this backdrop, addressingthe media here on Sunday, hesaid that the governmentwould speak with the AndhraPradesh government only afterreceipt of information in writ-ing from the government ofAndhra Pradesh.

Furthermore, he remarkedthat the Centre would conductitself within the framework ofthe Constitution. Though the

ball is in the State government'scourt, the Centre would makesuggestions to the State govern-ment asking it to keep in mindwelfare of farmers before tak-ing a decision.

He welcomed the decen-tralised development butopined that relocating the cap-itals elsewhere from Amaravati

does not augur well for theState.

He reminded how the BJPadvised the State governmentagainst proceeding with thethree capitals' formula.

Earlier, alleging insider trad-ing in lands pooled forAmaravati, Jaganmohan Reddyannounced government's deci-

sion to relocate the State cap-itals in three places quoting therecommendations from theexpert committees.

Not cherishing the idea,farmers of the CapitalDevelopment Region hit streetswith protests.

Continued on Page 3

CS’ ORDER ON VIGILANCE OFFICE RELOCATION

Contempt plea to be filed in HC todayPNS n VIJAYAWADA

A group of advocates andthose who have legally chal-lenged the proposed shiftingof government offices will filea writ petition in the HighCourt on Monday against theChief Secretary for 'contemptof court' as she has issueda Government Orderin violation of thecourt's previousorder. On January31st the ChiefSecretary NeelamShawney issued theimpugned GO on reloca-tion of the offices of VigilanceCommissioner and Chairmanof Commissionerate ofInquiries to Kurnool fromVelagapudi on administrativegrounds.

However, it is not immedi-ately clear whether the GO wasissued with the concurrence of

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddyor on his oralorders; and,whether she wasunder pressure to

issue the GO. Though the High

Court has previously told theCS specifically not to issue anyGOs concerning relocation"until further orders" of thecourt, irrespective of the deci-sion of the State government;the GO was issued, causinganxiety to a section of govern-ment employees.

As the shifting of vigilanceoffices has reportedly begun, amessage has gone to allemployees that the process ofrelocation of governmentoffices has commenced.

Noticeably, the GO did notcontain the words "on theorders of the CM". In theabstract, the reason was givenas "administrative grounds".

Though Kurnool has beendesignated as the 'judicial cap-ital' of AP, these two officeshave nothing to do with judi-ciary. The two offices are nor-mally housed at the Secretariat.The normal practice is toaccommodate the VigilanceCommission's office in theRoads & BuildingsDepartment. Therefore, it ispresently located just besidethe R & B Department inVelagapudi. Reasons for imme-diate shifting of the two officesto Kurnool remain a mystery.

Polavaram works will be completedin time: Irrigation MinisterPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Asserting that the Polavaramproject works will be complet-ed by 2021, Minister forIrrigation Anil Kumar Yadavhas said that Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy has beenreviewing the progress of theworks from time to time toexpedite the project.

Addressing a press confer-ence after inspecting thePolavaram project works onSunday, he said he had orderedofficials to complete the pro-ject by June 2021.

He said the Chief Ministerwould fulfil the dreams of hislate father and former ChiefMinister YS RajasekharaReddy.

The previous TDP govern-ment had failed to implementthe relief and rehabilitationpackage for Polavaram oustees,he alleged and disclosed thatdiscussions were held on con-

struction of 15,000 to 18,000houses for the displaced. AnilKumar Yadav said the Centralteam that inspected thePolavaram project hadexpressed its satisfaction over

the ongoing works. The teammentioned in its report that itwas confident that the Stategovernment would completethe project within the stipulat-ed time.

Minister for Irrigation Anil Kumar Yadav inspects Polavaram projects works on Sunday

PNS n BEIJING

India on Sunday temporarilysuspended e-visa facility forChinese travellers and for-eigners residing in China inview of the virulent coron-avirus that has killed morethan 300 people, infected14,562 others and spread to 25countries, including India, theUS and the UK.

Due to certain current devel-opments, travel to India on e-visas stands temporarily sus-pended with immediate effect,"the Indian Embassyannounced here.

This applies to holders ofChinese passports and appli-cants of other nationalitiesresiding in the People's

Republic of China. Holders ofalready issued e-visas may notethat these are no longer valid,"the announcement said.

India suspends e-visa facility for ChineseCORONAVIRUS

India reports second case ofcoronavirus from KeralaKERALA: The second caseof novel coronavirus hasbeen reported from Keralaand the patient testing posi-tive has been kept in isola-tion, officials said on Sunday.

"The patient has testedpositive for novel coron-avirus and is in isolation ina hospital," the health min-istry said.

The patient is stable and isbeing closely monitored, itsaid. However, the Keralagovernment said the statewas awaiting the results fromthe National Institute ofVirology (NIV) at Pune. "Wehave been informed tele-phonically by NIV Pune thatthere is a possibility of anoth-er positive case,” she said.

NEW NRI TAX

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Sundayclarified that the proposedtax on NRIs will not apply onbonafide Indians working intax-free foreign countries andis intended to tax only thoseseeking to escape tax byexploiting their non-residentstatus.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in her Budget for2020-21 had proposed to taxNon-resident Indians (NRIs),who do not pay taxes in anyforeign country.

This provision raised anxi-ety in the minds of thoseworking in the Gulf regionwhere countries don't taxincome earned by individuals.

First Sitharaman clarifiedthat only Indian income ofNRIs is proposed to be taxedunder the new provision, andlater the tax department issueda statement to say that "the

new provision is not intendedto include in tax net thoseIndian citizens who arebonafide workers in othercountries".

"What we are doing now isthat the income of an NRIgenerated in India will betaxed here. If he's earningsomething in a jurisdictionwhere there is no tax, why willI include that into mine thathas been generated there,"Sitharaman told reporters inDelhi on Sunday.

Minister for Endowments Vellampalli Srinivas addressing a press conference inVijayawada on Sunday

Govt committed toprotecting temple lands

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for EndowmentsVellampalli Srinivas has clar-ified that the government isviewing the temple lands assacred and safeguard them atany cost. Addressing a pressconference at the YSRCP cen-tral office in Tadepalli onSunday, he said the media sup-portive of TDP was carryingbaseless reports on Bhimilitemple lands. He asked themedia to verify the facts beforepublishing news reports.

The Jaganmohan Reddygovernment was committed toprotecting the Endowmentlands, Vellampalli said andadvised the media to verify thefacts at the time of publishingreports.

Stating that the disposal oftemple lands requires HighCourt's permission,Vellampalli said, the YSRCPgovernment was protectingthe endowments lands unlikethe previous TDP govern-ment.

Continued on Page 3

Benz Circleflyover to beopened todayPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Traffic snarls at the BenzCircle may become a thing ofthe past soon as Minister forRoad Transport, Highwaysand Shipping Nitin Gadkariwill inaugurate the flyover.According to sources, trialrun will be conducted fromFebruary 3, under the super-vision of Collector Md Imtiazand Police Commissioner ChDwaraka Tirumala Rao andother officials.

National HighwayAuthority director Vijyasagar,Traffic DCP Nagarajuinspected the flyover onSunday and observed techni-cal aspects of the flyover toconduct the trial run.

NIRBHAYA CASE

Delhi HCreserves orderPNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court onSunday reserved its judg-ment on the Centre's pleachallenging the stay on theexecution of four death-rowconvicts in the 2012 Nirbhayagangrape and murder case.

Justice Suresh Kait said itwill pass an order after all theparties concluded their argu-ments.

Solicitor General TusharMehta on Sunday told theDelhi High Court that thereis "deliberate, calculated andwell thought of design" byNirbhaya gang-rape andmurder case convicts to "frus-trate" mandate of law by get-ting their execution delayed.

Mehta told Justice SureshKait that convict PawanGupta's move of not filingcurative or mercy petition isdeliberate, calculated inac-tion.

Contaminated meat claims one lifePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In Vizag Agency area, con-sumption of contaminatedmeat, along with toddy andhooch, has claimed one life,while five others are undergo-ing treatment at King GeorgeHospital on Sunday. The inci-dent occurred at Nogeli villageunder Gasabha Panchayat of

Dumbriguda Mandal in VizagAgency on Sunday.

The deceased was identifiedas a 42-year-old tribal, PangiSintro, was a small farmer in a

remote village. For a family get-together on Sunday, Sintroand his family members hadprepared non-vegetarian foodand arranged desi liquor too.

However, soon after eating thefood at the party, Sintro andfive others fell sick in the after-noon and Sintro died in the vil-lage.

The five others, includingthree men and two women,were admitted to PrimaryHealth Centre (PHC) at ArakuValley for first aid.

Continued on Page 3

6 liaison officersat AP BhavanAMARAVATI: Six liaisonofficers have been appointedto work at AP Bhavan in NewDelhi for a period of twoyears on a contract basis. Thenewly-appointed liaison offi-cers are Rajender KumarArora, Ajay Kumar Sawhney,Tarun Kochhar, Jagjit Singh,Lal Singh and Shiv ShankerMishra.

The incident occurred at Nogeli village underGasabha Panchayat of Dumbriguda Mandal inVizag Agency on Sunday

n As the government turned ablind eye to the spate of protestsby the farmers, a delegation ofthe JAC called on Kishan Reddy inDelhi to take their problem to hisnotice.

n While the TDP is spearheadingthe campaign, the recent allianceof the BJP State unit with that ofthe Jana Sena will give furtherfillip to the agitation as leadersof both the parties vowed tosupport the farmers of thecapital region.

Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy works more and seeks lesspublicity. He will complete all the irrigation projects in the

State in the next five years— ANIL KUMAR YADAV, Minister for Irrigation

A contempt of courtpetition against thegovernment is going tobe filed for the issue ofa GO by Chief SecretaryNeelam Shawney

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated February 02, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC TODAY

Month & Paksham:Magha & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Navami: 09:18 pmNakshatram: Kritika: 01:52 am (Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 08:16 am- 09:40 amYamagandam: 11:05 am – 12:29 pm

Varjyam: 12:01 pm - 01:44 pm

Gulika: 01:54 pm - 03:19 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 10:18 pm - 12:01 am Abhijit Muhurtham: 12:00 pm - 12:52 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERFFoorreeccaasstt:: Clear Temp: 32/20Humidity: 82%Sunrise: 06.47Sunset: 06.12

Not taxing whatyou earn in Dubai,says Nirmala

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CAPSULE

Habitual offendernabbedVIJAYAWADA: The Task Forcesleuths nabbed habitual offenderand recovered Rs 30 lakh worthproperty from his possession.Police laid a trap to nab theoffender as per the directive ofDCP (crime) D Koteswara Raoand CCS ACP K Srinivas Rao.The Task Force police said thatthe modus operandi of theaccused was to identify thelocked houses during the daytime and target them in the night.Police said the accused wasidentified as Dasari Hariteja aliasTeja (27) belonging toRamavarapadu and recovered703 grams of gold, 464 grams ofsilver, Rs 2.2 lakh cash, all worthRs 30 lakh. He will be producedin the court, said the DCP.

APNGOA officebearers electedVIJAYAWADA: The AndhraPradesh Non-Gazetted Officers'Association (APNGOA)members unanimously electedN Chandrasekhar Reddy as thepresident, Bandi Srinivasa Raoas the secretary andPurshotham Naidu as vice-president of the association inthe elections held here onSunday. A 20-memberexecutive body was alsoelected. On the occasion, arally was taken out bymembers from Tagore LibraryMG Road here. Addressingmedia persons, the newly-elected president and secretarythanked all the members forkeeping faith in them andelecting them unanimously.They said that by electingthem, their responsibility hadincreased and would stand bythe commitment to thesatisfaction of members in allaspects. Leaders said theywould bring various pendingissues to the notice of thegovernment and would try tosolve them.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 vijayawada 02

HC UPADHYAY n HYDERABAD

Although discerning citizenscould read between the linesfrom day one when thetamasha over CAA-NRC start-ed soon after the passing of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA), after gory incidents ofJamia Millia Islamia andJawaharlal Nehru University, ithas become crystal clear thatthese jihadi-tukde tukde gangsare bent upon unleashing a trailof violence in the otherwisepeaceful country.

Anti-national forces, withthe overt and covert support ofCongress, Left and communalparties like AIMIM, have beenindulging in the planned hatecampaign. They openly chal-lenge the Hindu might and vowto indulge in bloodbath. True,such extremist elements arefew, but with the modern-dayreach of technology, the venomspreads beyond the limits ofimagination.

The net result of such unbri-dled statements by the tamashamanagers would be, to say theleast, disastrous. Obviously ina country of 80 per centHindus, it would be too much

to expect that everyone will beas tolerant as we, a handful ofself-restrained people are. Thefiring incident on January 30 inJamia Millia Islamia Universityby a juvenile Hindu speaks vol-umes for this.

Not that the tamasha organ-isers are not aware about thepossible fall-out of theirPakistan-sponsored events, butunfortunately that is pre-cisely what they want.True, the governmentwill leave no stoneunturned to put anend to this nui-sance; still, it willtake further fiveto ten decades toassuage the hurtfeelings ofHindus who, for nofault of theirs, areinsulated, humiliat-ed, abused, chal-lenged and provoked.

Therefore, it is high timethat these fringe communalelements mended their waysin right earnest; otherwise, theHindus who are driven to thewall may be constrained topay them back in the samecoin. And, that would not bein the interest of large peace-

loving Muslim community.For, if Hindus do not declarethis country as a Hindu

Rashtra, it is not due totheir weakness or inca-

pacity, but it isbecause of theirgenuine commit-

ment to the noble idealsof peaceful coexistence

and tolerance. By provoking Hindus,

some would certainlyeschew these noble princi-ples of peaceful coexistence

and tolerance and some ofthem may even retaliate, there-by consequently throwing thecountry in a turmoil. Hope,wise counsel will prevail overthe tamasha managers andthey would wind up the uglyshow of so-called peacefulprotests in different parts of thecountry at once.

Reprieve for Nirbhaya convicts for now

The much-hyped Nirbhayacase is winding up to its logicalend. Earlier, February 1 wasfixed for the hanging of all fourcondemned convicts, but onJanuary 31, the Patiyala HouseCourt in New Delhi stayed itsearlier order, citing the penden-cy of mercy petition by a convictbefore the President of India.

The court rightly observedthat a convict has every right toexhaust all available legal reme-dies, irrespective of the serious-ness of his crime. Thoughthere has been a great publicresentment over the long delayin punishing the perpetratorsof heinous crimes of gang-rapeand murder, the legal processas it exists today has to be fol-lowed. Hope, the proposedreforms in criminal laws would

address this point too, becausejustice delayed is justice denied.

Counsel, thou shall not crosslimits: SC

How long should the rope be?What should be the limit of dis-cretion that a lawyer could exer-cise on behalf of his client? Whencould he by his conduct in thecourt bind his client? These werethe questions dealt with by athree-judge bench of the SupremeCourt in Omprakash vs.SureshKumar. The bench headed byJustice A.M Khanwilkar, in itsjudgment dated 30th January,held that the unequivocal state-ment made by a counsel in theCourt on behalf of his client canbe relied upon and the client willbe bound by it.

However, the court, relyingon the verdict in the HimalayanCooperative Group HousingSociety & Others vs. BalwantSingh & Others observed thatan advocate is merely a linkbetween his client and thecourt, and therefore, it is desir-able to take instructions fromhis client before making anycommitment to the court, moreparticularly in the matter wherethe basic object of the litigation

is likely to be affected.

Justice delayed, but not deniedContrary to the adage:

Justice delayed is justice denied,here is a case where the peti-tioner (though posthumously)has got justice after 42 yearswith the Bombay High Courtallowing the plea for therestoration of the case.

The case relates to Smt.Kamala A. Bharani vs. MohanD. Chulani. The petitioner hadfiled the case for eviction oftenant on the ground of bona-fide requirement and re-pos-session of the premises in 1978.After filing of the examination-in-chief, the matter got delayedconsiderably. Finally, when itwas listed for hearing on June26, 1998, there was no repre-sentation from both the sides.Hence, the case was dismissedfor non-prosecution.

On the same day, after reach-ing the court, the counsel forthe plaintiff filed the restorationpetition wherein he stated thaton the day of hearing thoughher client had accompaniedhim against the medical advicefor the court at 9 am, on theway, her health worsened andtherefore, had to go back.

However, this plea was reject-ed by the trial court and thus,the matter stood dismissed.

Aggrieved petitioner filed awrit petition in Mumbai HighCourt, which observed that thelong pendency of the case wasperhaps in the mind of the lowercourt and therefore, the restora-tion petition was dismissed.

The High Court added thatthe petitioner has fullyexplained the circumstances inwhich she could not attend thecourt. Further, the petitioner'scounsel too has shown diligencein filing the petition for restora-tion on the same day. The HighCourt, therefore, allowed thewrit petition and directed thetrial court to complete trialwithin a period of one year.

Now online certified copiesThe Jabalpur district court

has earned the distinction ofbeing the first district court inthe country to have introducedthe system of providing certi-fied copies of its orders online.

Earlier, Indore bench of theMadhya Pradesh High Courtearned the distinction beingthe first high court in thecountry to provide certifiedcopies of its orders online.

LEGAL ROUNDUP

Provoking Hindus not in the interest of MuslimsAnti-national forces, with the overtand covert support of Congress,Left and communal parties likeAIMIM, have been indulging in theplanned hate campaign. Theyopenly challenge the Hindu mightand vow to indulge in bloodbath

Coronavirus pushesinvestors towards goldPNS n HYDERABAD

The declaration of medicalemergency by the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)over novel coronavirus (nCoV)has led the investors towardsgold, which is considered asthe safe mode in such situa-tions.

Following this panicky situ-ation, gold moved up to closeat US dollars 1,591.48 (per oz).Silver also moved up and closedat dollars 18.12. Platinum andpalladium followed suit andclosed at dollars 961.30and2,290.50 respectively.

Immediate reaction of theUnion Budget on share marketand jewellery market has beencertainly negative, though indue course, as people begin tocomprehend its finer points,the trend is expected toreverse.

In the foreign exchangemarket, rupee weakened fur-ther during the week. USdollar was exchangedfor Rs. 71.50, while Euroand British Poundappreciated andclosed at Rs.79.32and Rs.94.41respectively.Other leadingcurrencies alsoappreciatedand closed as follows: AustralianDollar Rs. 47.85, CanadianDollar Rs. 54.01, UAE DirhamRs. 19.47, Kuwaiti DinarRs.235.31, Saudi Riyal Rs.19.06,Omani Riyal Rs.185.72,Singapore Dollar Rs.52.39 andSwiss Franc Rs.74.21.

At home, gold declined evenbefore the announcement of theBudget proposals after the offi-cial announcement reducingthe monetary limit of Rs.2 lakhto Rs.1 lakh for the purchase ofgold for which PAN is manda-

tory. The traders were demand-ing lowering of import duty ongold from 12.5 per cent, but thathas not come through.

Sensex and Nifty 50 closedat the lower levels of 39,649.54and 11,642.20 points respec-tively.

Gold MCX closed atRs.32,657 (per 10 gms), whilesilver closed at Rs.47,114 (perkg). Copper closed at Rs.426.40

(per kg). The local jew-ellery trade also expresseddissatisfaction over the

new directive and feltthat it would adverse-

ly affect buyingduring the cur-

rent marriages e a s o n .

Standard gold(24 carats)appreciated byRs.700 and

closed at Rs.40,810 (per 10gms). Ornamental gold movedup in tandem and was quotedin the range of Rs.38,740-38,840. Silver (0.999) declinedby Rs. 100 and closed at Rs.46,900 (per kg).

The sentiment in preciousmetals is likely to firm up fur-ther in view of the prevailingvolatility in markets.COMMODITIES

The sentiment in the prin-cipal wholesale commodity

markets in the Osman gunj,Maharaj gunj, Kishan gunj,Risala Abdullah, Begum Bazar,Mir Alarm Mandi,Dilsukhnagar, General Bazar,Monda Market, Kukatpally,Rythu Bazar, Bowenpally andAlwal was from moderate tostrong.

The announcement of var-ious farmer-friendly schemesin the Budget has cheered upthe agriculture sector.

Vegetables and eggs ruledeasy with the common vegeta-bles and NECC eggs remain-ing at affordable prices.

In Hyderabad, the wholesaleegg price dropped by Rs.5 andclosed at Rs.355 (per 100).Surat recorded the highestprice of Rs.435, while at Rs.330Ajmer recorded the lowest.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

The local jewellerytrade alsoexpresseddissatisfaction overthe new directiveand felt that itwould adverselyaffect buyingduring the currentmarriage seaso

SUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

While Union Budget-2020-21proposed 100 more airports onSaturday under the RegionalConnectivity Scheme (RCS),known as UDAN or Ude DeshKa Aam Naagrik, the routesannounced in the first phase ofthe scheme in 2017 are yet totake off.

While the new airports builtare ready for service, the CivilAviation Ministry is unable toget service providers on manyroutes.

For instance, flight servicesto nearby Tier-II and Tier-IIIcities from Vizag airport underUDAN is not available nowthough the city airport wasincluded in the regional con-nectivity scheme in the firstround itself.

In the Round 1, the AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) hadselected Air Odisha for oper-ation in the Visakhapatnam-

Jagdalpur-Raipur route in 2017.Among others, Air Odisha willconnect towns like Kadapa,Raipur, Bhubaneswar,Jagdalpur, Raigarh, Jharsuguda,

Utkela, Ranchi, Gwalior,Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi,Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhavnagar,Salem, Puducherry and Neyvelias per the routes allowed to it.

Air Odisha was given thepermission to run the flightservices from Vizag to nearbyplaces. However, the serviceprovider started operation for

a few days from Vizag toRaipur and then scrapped itsservices. It did not even refundthe ticket fare to the passengers,who had booked tickets inadvance.

The Civil Aviation Ministryhas been looking for new air-lines for the route under thescheme. However, it has failedto do so despite the airportsgetting readied for the flightservices.

City-based industrialists areof the view that Raipur,Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh andJeypore in Odisha, being indus-trial and commercial hubs, airconnectivity of the cities withVizag carry a huge potential.

According to sources, inthe first round of UDANwhere fares are capped at Rs2,500 for an hour of flying ina plane for a specified num-ber of Regional ConnectivityScheme (RCS) seats on eachflight, 128 routes were award-ed in March 2017.

VIZAG AIRPORT WAS INCLUDED IN THE FIRST PHASE ITSELF

UDAN fails to take off in Vizag

No special allocations for AP in Union BudgetPNS n AMARAVATI

The Union Budget 2020-21 hasonce again disappointed thepeople of Andhra Pradesh withno special allocations beingmade to the State. People arefuming and fretting over no spe-cial allocations being made tothe State. There is no mentionof funds for fulfilment of any ofthe provisions made in the APReorganisation Act. Nor hasthere been any allocation for thePolavaram project or for theunderdeveloped regions ofnorth Andhra and Rayalaseema.

It is noteworthy that theUnion Budget has created adéjà vu effect among people ofthe State and their representa-tives in Parliament. It has beenthe experience of the State inthe past six years not to find

any special allocations to it eversince it was bifurcated in 2014.

The Centre is yet to honourits financial commitments to

the tune of Rs 45,918crore. The revenuedeficit of Rs 18,969crore, special funds for devel-opment of north Andhra andRayalaseema regions to thetune of Rs 23,000 crore, NitiAayog's promise to sanction Rs666 crore and release of Rs3,283 crore for Polavaram pro-ject are still pending.

Both ruling and Oppositionparties are totally cut up with

the Centre's attitude in makingno special allocations to theState towards fulfilment ofbifurcation promises.

YSRCP MP V Vijaya SaiReddy expressed his displea-sure with the Centre for notmaking a mention of theSpecial Category Status (SCS)for the State. He said theUnion Budget promised to

raise the income levels of farm-ers but did not mention howthis would be achieved.

The people of AndhraPradesh waited for some sopsto be announced by NarendraModi before the elections.With no special announce-ments coming for the State inthe last two Union budgets,people are once again disap-pointed with the Centre's atti-tude, Vijaya Sai Reddy said.

Budget evokes mixed response from denizens in VijayawadaADDL ALLOCATION TO BHARAT NET

Will enhance onlinelearning, says ALC prof

The Union Budget presented by Minister forFinance Nirmala Sitaraman received a mixedresponse from people in Vijayawada. "The

vision of making education accessible to the farthestcorner of the country will greatly benefit students.Allocation of funds to hone the skill sets of teachersand educationists will positively impact quality learn-ing and thereby provide a boost to the education sec-tor," said Dr Sahaya Bhaskaran HoD, Physics, AndhraLoyola College. He said additional allocation of bud-get to Bharat Net will also have a impact on skillingrural India as it has the potential to open up onlinelearning to students from villages. With faster Internetconnectivity, a qualified teacher located in a metro citycan impart live online classes to students in small-towns,where there's a dearth of quality education. Technologywill soon disrupt the entire concept of the classroomand make it an extremely personalised, one to oneteaching-learning experience tailored for each mind.

Budget may be a game changerfor industries: Engg student

MPrashanth, an engineering student, says thatthe Union Budget is definitely a steptowards boosting country's economic

growth. The very first theme of the budget,'Aspirational India', promises better livelihoodfor all, access to healthcare and greaterjob opportunities through educa-tion and skill development. Boostto entrepreneurship, startupsand skill development in theinfrastructure sector is a wel-come move that will help cre-ate jobs directly. Rs 3,000crore has been allocated forskill development, which showsthe government's commitmenttowards encouraging employmentgrowth rate and boosting the skill sec-tor. The budget looks quite promising and couldbe a game changer for various industries like man-ufacturing, real estate, healthcare to name a few.

Budget disappointsjobless: DYFI State chiefThe budget disappointed the unemployed

youth in the State, said G Ramanna, DYFIState president. The allocation of funds to var-

ious sectors in the budget would increase employ-ment further. To bring down unemployment, the

budget should encourage small and mediumand large scale industries, which

would create jobs to the joblessyouth. He said that the Urban

Employment GuaranteeScheme should be introducedin line with RuralEmployment Guaranteescheme. He alleged that the

ruling YSRCP and theOpposition TDP and Jana Sena

were supporting the bankruptcypolicies of the BJP. He said that at

present juncture no political party isspeaking about Special Status to the State,

which would help in all-round development of theState, he added.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

BC JAC State presidentBuddha Nageswara Rao onSunday said that the Uniongovernment in its budget haddisappointed five crore peopleof Andhra Pradesh withoutannouncing any funds for theState's development.Nageswara Rao pointed outthat the State was eagerly wait-ing for the Centre to announcefunds for the ongoingPolavaram project to com-plete as per the scheduledtime, however, nothing wassanctioned.

Rao said that the people of13 districts are unhappy asthere was no mention of spe-cial announcements to theState in the Union budget.Andhra Pradesh is an agricul-ture-based State and peoplehad more expectations on the

budget. He recalled that therewas no mention on theVisakhapatnam Railway Zoneand said that there was noannouncement on the imple-mentation of bifurcationspromises.

The BC leader said that taxshare to the State governmentwas reduced and appealed tothe Union government to con-sider the State on specialgrounds. He reminded that theBJP government, which has asoft corner on small Statesshould announce booster doseto the State.

He appealed to the Centralgovernment to release fundsfor capital development andannounce airports to the Statebesides announcing new portsas AP has a huge coastline. Healleged that the previous TDPgovernment has diluted theSpecial Category Status issue.

The Centre is yet to honourits financial commitments tothe tune of Rs 45,918crore. The revenue deficitof Rs 18,969 crore, specialfunds for development ofnorth Andhra andRayalaseema regions tothe tune of Rs 23,000crore, Niti Aayog's promiseto sanction Rs 666 croreand release of Rs 3,283crore for Polavaram projectare still pending

Sports meet forkindergartenstudentsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as 200 kindergartenstudents of Birla Open MindPre-School took part in the4th Sports Meet organisedhere on Sunday. Studentsbelow six years participatedin 15 sports events.

Students took part in run-ning race, pick the object, ballbalancing, book balancing,lemon and spoon, the glassgame and many more. Afterthe competition, prizes weredistributed to winners.

School chairman and cor-respondent Sunkara Neelimasaid the event was being heldfor the past three years and itwas the fourth year.

In all, 200 students fromtwo branches atCurrencynagar andMogulrajapuram participat-ed in the sports meet.

‘Raw deal to APin Union Budget'

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 vijayawada 03

AMARAVATI: Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy will leavefor Visakhapatnam on Monday.He is scheduled to arrive atChinna Mushidivada in Pendurtimandal at 10.40 am where hewill take part in the annualcelebrations of SaradaPeetham. He will return toTadepalli by 2.10 pm, accordingto a press release by thegovernment on Sunday.

CM for Vizag today

Free homeo medicinesfor coronavirusVISAKHAPATNAM: Membersof Umar Alisha DevelopmentTrust distributed 20,000Arsenic Al 30, coronoaviruspreventive medicine packets toresidents of Tagarapuvalasaand Bhimili on Sunday, saidconvener of the trust DrAnanda Kumar Pingali. DrPingali said apart fromdistributing preventivemedicines, volunteers of thetrust created awareness on thevirus to people in rural andurban areas of Bhimili. He saidArsenic Alb 30 was the onlyavailable antidote to the fastspreading coronavirus in theworld. The medicine createsresistance power to fight thevirus. It has no side effects andcan be used by children andpregnant women. Dr Pingalialso appealed to people to keeptheir living place neat and cleanand should immediatelycontact the expert medicalprofessionals if they haveblowing nose, throat irritation,headache and difficulty inbreathing, the primarysymptoms of infection.He said this preventivemedicine would be distributedto more areas in the State andthe volunteers would continueto create awareness among thepeople all over.

Fisheries Dept JS atDurga templeVIJAYAWADA: JujjavarapuBalaji, Joint Secretary(Fisheries), paid a visit to SriDurga Malleswara SwamivarlaDevastanam atop Indrakeeladrion Sunday. He, along withfamily members, offeredprayers to GoddessKanakadurga. Temple ExecutiveOfficer MV Suresh Babuaccorded them a warmwelcome with temple honours.Later, temple Vedic priestsblessed them, while templeexecutive officer gave them aportrait of GoddessKanakadurga and prasadam.

CAPSULE

The Medaram Jatara is knownnot just for its antiquity, butalso the seamless way in

which it has preserved most of itspristine elements up to the present.Countless lensmen have capturedits evolution over the decades,leaving for posterity freeze framesof the sublimity of the festival andthe spiritual solace it provides tomillions of devotees. However,today shutterbugs are facing com-petition, with understandable trep-idation; not from their humanpeers, but drones that have invad-ed the Jatara space. Representingvarious media houses in cut-throatcompetition, these shutterbugs,while clicking the high points of theJatara festivities every two years,continue to introduce novelty incapturing the installation ofSammakka and Saralamma on theconsecrated platform (gadde). Thecustoms and traditions of Adivasisand Jatara organisers are highlight-ed in line with the technicaladvances in their cameras. The

trendy drones, however, have takensome of these up-to-date shutter-bugs by surprise. These lensmenlanded at the venue at least a weekin advance to ensure that they getthe most vantage points to click pic-tures or record video. The four-dayfair throws up endless possibilities.The difference this time is the entryof drones, which are keyed to per-fection when it comes to reachingthe spots that are off-limits toshutterbugs. Besides, drones canmove overhead, regardless of themultitude. Shutterbugs can't affordto go deep into the crowds andcome out unscathed. When they heeded the public

For once, denizens of smartcities, including Vizag, felt likekings. Administrators of civicbodies rarely reach out to the pub-lic when it comes to addressingcivic issues. However, from January4 to 31, Swachh Survekshan 2020was conducted and the thrust of itwas citizen engagement, whether in

the form of feedback or participa-tion. Hence, GVMC in Vizag triedmany attractive means to engagepeople. Many people were happythat their opinions had been givenimportance. Volunteers were cam-paigning door to door at primelocations urging citizens to givetheir feedback. The annual clean-liness survey has become a fiercebattle among the cities to grab thetop rank.Scribes await CM's green light toenter ad hoc Secretariat

Scribes on the Secretariat beatare still facing 'no entry' board atBRKR Bhavan -- the temporarySecretariat. Last time when theyapproached Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, he assuredthem that the issue would beresolved soon. Scribes are stillwondering how far still is 'soon'.The scribes who used to movefreely inside the old Secretariatcomplex are feeling handicappeddue to curbs even at the ad hoc

Secretariat. The security personnelat BRKR Bhavan are strict and theydo not allow scribes inside thebuilding. Surprisingly, all areallowed, except media men. Scribesare not allowed to have even a cupof tea in BRKR Bhavan. They needto wait outside the BRKR Bhavangate for news. It is a different mat-ter that some scribes manage toenter BRKR Bhavan as part of com-mon people, without flashing theirrespective identity cards. That is,BRKR Bhavan is one spot wherecurrently 'press' card does notwork as entry pass. Hope thingswill improve in the near future.South silent

While people from the entire

north Telangana and its adjacentparts such as Chhattisgarh,Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh andOdisha are keen on offering prayersand participating in the MedaramSammakka Saralamma Jatara atWarangal, those in south Telanganain general and Mahabubnagar inparticular are laidback in theirattitude towards the Jatara festivi-ties. The Chenchu tribals inMahabubnagar and its constituentparts as well as the Adivasis trib-als elsewhere have never connect-ed to the Jatara. This time too theyare keeping aloof from the Jatara.Only urban non-tribals are keen onoffering prayers to the tribal deities.This season too they are participat-ing in large numbers. Not only trib-als from Mahabubnagar,Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthi,Gadwal and Narayanpet, eventhose from Nalgonda tribes arestaying away from the Jatara.Industry goes overboard

When praising the government,

industry experts often go over-board. This was witnessed atCREDAI Hyderabad Expo where-in every speaker was praising thechief guest and IT Minister K TRama Rao. Even reporters werewondering whether the industrywanted the encomiums paid tomatch the manner in which heroesare praised at audio functions ofmovie release. Evidently this did-n't go unnoticed, with KTR him-self observing "This show doesn'tlook like CREDAI event, but like afelicitation event for me as if I havedone my job and retiring". He infact added that in the very firstevent of CREDAI after formationof Telangana, their woes wereheard and immediately addressedby the Chief Minister himself. So,there was nothing much for him todo, KTR conceded. "CM has doneeverything that needs to be done…Stable government and able lead-ership is what Telangana has."Ramulo Ramula by KCR and KTR

If there is anyone who is gettingquick fame, apart from the songRamulo Ramula - it is Ramulu andhis brother, who is working in theGulf. Ramulu is Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao's cook whohails from Siricilla, KTR's con-stituency. Ramulu's brother worksin the Gulf. Recently during a pressconference, KCR said that Ramulu'sbrother was earning just about Rs10,000-15,000 working in the Gulf;but construction labourers inHyderabad were earning better inthe State. Reference to Ramulu wasmade again by KTR at CREDAIproperty show. Sources said thatRamulu's example was not fiction-al. The sources did not vouch forthe amount Ramulu's brotherearns. For, what he sends homemay not fully reflect what he maybe earning.

(Contributed by P V Kondal Rao, Sumit Onka,

Kolishetty Venkateshwarlu,Avinash Deepak Puli and

Naveena Ghanate)

REPORTERS’

D ARY

Competition for shutterbugs as drones invade Jatara space

PNS n AMARAVATI

Minister for Consumer AffairsKodali Venkateswara Rao(Nani) has said that while thepresent YSRCP government isextending pensions to 55 lakhbeneficiaries, while the previousTDP government had providedpensions only to 39 lakh people.Addressing a press conferenceat the YSRCP central office inTadepalli on Sunday, he saidChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy was helping 82 lakhchildren to go to school throughthe 'Amma Vodi' programme.

In order to ensure that pen-sioners were not subjected toinconvenience, the ChiefMinister had taken the admin-istration to their doorstep bydelivering financial assistance attheir doorstep, he said.

Refuting the charge made byOpposition leader NChandrababu Naidu that thenumber of pension had beendecreased, Kodali Nani saidChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy had been extending pen-sions to about one crore peopleof the State. He said Naidu wasusing Twitter to spread liesagainst Jaganmohan Reddy.

The minister alleged that theTDP chief was planning to lootthe State by unseatingJaganmohan Reddy frompower. "While coronavirus is

wreaking havoc in China, inAndhra Pradesh it is the 'yellow'virus that is doing harm to thepeople. If Naidu, Ramoji Raoand Radhakrishna do not getpension, does it mean that noone is getting pensions?" heasked.

He wanted to know if theTDP and its supporters wereblind to the pension beingdelivered at the doorstep of ben-eficiaries. Alleging that duringthe Naidu government onlyTDP workers were getting thepensions, he said JaganmohanReddy had extended pensionsto all eligible.

Nani said TDP leader JCDiwakar Reddy should keep histongue under control, he allegedthat the former was operatingbuses without following therules. "Diwakar Reddy has nostature to criticise CM

Jaganmohan Reddy," he com-mented.

Stating that the people of theState had welcomed the decen-tralisation bill, Nani said therewas opposition to it only fromsome people in the 29 villagesin the Amaravati region.

Taking a dig at former min-ister Yanamala Ramakrishnudufor criticising the YSRCP gov-ernment, he sought to knowfrom him why the TDP hadfailed to get funds from theCentre.

YSRCP MPs would fight inthe Parliament for the funds thatwere due to the State, he saidand informed that they wouldmeet the Union ministers tobreing pressure on the govern-ment. He further said the APgovernment would explain tothe Centre the injustice ren-dered to the State in the UnionBudget.

‘Yellow virus' doing harm topeople a la coronavirus: Minister Forest dept braces up

to counter forest firesMARCH HAPPENS TO BE THE MONTH WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF FIRE INCIDENTS

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Man-made incidents coupledwith long dry spells, wind havenotched up the risk of forestfires over the years in AndhraPradesh. And, March happensto be the month with highestnumber of fire incidents.

As many as 10,638 fire inci-dents were recorded from2004, of which highest firesbroke out with 4,540 incidentsduring the month of March,according to the data collect-ed by the State forest depart-ment through remote sensingsatellite method.

Andhra Pradesh has mostlydry deciduous forests and treesstart drying up from January-February. The most severelyforest-fire affected areas in theState are Visakhapatnam andRajamahendravaram circlesand parts of Srisailam ProjectTiger area, says the departmentanalysis.

According to forest officials,elaborate arrangements were inplace to combat forest fires asfire casualties occurred most in

March. "We are mobilising vil-lage communities, VSS mem-bers and farmer associationsfor this cause. We are also con-ducting awareness pro-grammes on forest fires for theignorant and unaware tribalyouths," he said adding that fireline cutting measures havebeen taken up in fire proneareas of forests, though in lim-

ited area.He further informed that

monitoring the advent of lat-est satellite technology(MODIS) with higher spatialand radiometric capabilities isgiving them better fire predic-tions. "The fire detection atinaccessible areas was a bigchallenge. However, the satel-lite technology has resolved

that issue," he added. During summer, when there

is no rain for months, forestsbecome littered with dry senes-cent leaves and twigs, whichwould burst into flames ignit-ed by the slightest spark. It isobserved that 3,022 compart-ments in AP get forest fire outof a total of 9,553 compart-ments.

n Government extendingpensions to 55 lakhbenefiaciareis in the State:Minister for ConsumerAffairs

n He alleged that JC DiwakarReddy was operating buseswithout following the rules."He has no stature tocriticise the Chief Minsiter,"he commented

AP CHAMBERS HAILS UNION BUDGET TERMS IT AS A GOOD STEP IN DIRECTION TO BECOME $5 TRILLION DOLLAR ECONOMY

‘Technologies createbusiness leaders'PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

"Every technology is meantfor some or the other businessparticularly technologic sens-es to collaborate, create and it'san opportunity to become abusiness leader," said ITAssociation of AndhraPradesh President RLNarayana at GITAM Deemedto be University.

While inaugurating the'ETHEREAL 2.0' technicalsymposium organised byComputer Society of India(CSI) GITAM student ChapterITSAAP President said thattechnology and businessshould have a strong link forthe success of any organisation.While learning the technology,one should follow social, ethi-cal and business aspects to leavehis mark in the billion-dollarmarket out there, he added.

GITAM Computer ScienceEngineering DepartmentHead Prof K Thammi Reddyinformed that over 1,200 stu-dents from his CSE depart-ment got placed in around 38companies. He briefed aboutthe technological advance-ments in the IT world likeComputer Vision, MobileFirst, Quantum Computing,AI, Voice as UI, Block Chain.He announced that GITAMUniversity is planning toestablish the new VirtualReality lab with one crore totrain the students on latesttechnologies.

NIMAI Soft Systems PrivateLimited Managing DirectorSreedhar Kosaraju deliveredthe key note lecture onMachine Learning. He sharedhis experiences in DataScience in the corporate com-panies.

The budget is ambitiousand due emphasis hasbeen given to infra-

structure building andimprove connectivity.Fiscal push to trans-portation sector ishighly appreciativeand it will definite-ly have a positiveimpact on thenation's logisticsboth from a busi-ness and connectiv-ity perspective.

By leveragingcrucial infrastruc-ture linkages forspeeding industrialdevelopment and cre-ative productive employmentby way of roping young man-agement graduates and engi-neers for infra projects underproject preparing facility ishighly commendable.

The adoption of Public-

Private Partnership (PPP)model in infrastructure fund-ing for setting up of smartcities, building airports, run-

ning trains and redevelop-ment of railway stations is awelcome move, which willlead to capacity addition,improve product delivery byemploying new technology,which in turn can boost eco-

nomic competitiveness. This approach can deliver

the desired results only if thebudgetary announcements are

backed by swift policyreforms needed toaddress the problemsbesetting private pro-jects and PPPs.Another muchexpected move is theremoval of DividendDistribution Tax willbring in relief to theinvestors' communi-ty and boost marketsentiment and makeIndian equities moreattractive. Make in

India initiative for med-ical devices industry has beengiven a big boost. Imposing ofhealth cess on import of med-ical devices will help domes-tic manufacturing companies.

— G SAMBASIVA RAO,PPaasstt PPrreessiiddeenntt ooff AAPP CChhaammbbeerrss

Much expectedmove is theremoval of

Dividend DistributionTax that will enable thecompany to have morefunds and shareholderwill feel happier. At thesame time, it will boostmarket sentiments andmake Indian equitiesmore attractive. Also,income tax rates havebeen slashed on one handand while exemptionswere removed.

— PYDAH KRISHNA PRASAD,PPrreessiiddeenntt - EElleecctt ooff AAPP CChhaammbbeerrss

Budget made a lot more thrust on infrastructuredevelopment, rural facilities for farming in addi-tion to that slashing of corporate tax on power

industry to 15 per cent is a welcome move.— SUDHIR MULAGADA,

CChhaaiirrmmaann ooff AAPP CChhaammbbeerrss,, VViissaakkhhaappaattnnaamm ZZoonnee

Allocation for Rs22,000 croreout lay for

power, renewal energywill lead to farmersbecome less dependenton diesel and keroseneand linked them tosolar energ y. Thescheme also enablesfarmers to set up solarpower generat ioncapacity and sell it tothe grid.

— KRB PRAKASH,VViiccee-CChhaaiirrmmaann ooff AAPP

CChhaammbbeerrss,, VViissaakkhhaappaattnnaamm zzoonnee

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A large number of secondrung leaders of TDP and CPMjoined YSRCP in the presenceof Endowments MinisterVellampalli Srinivas at his res-idence in the city on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion,Vellampalli said the newentrants to the party wereattracted by the welfareschemes being implementedby Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy in theState.

He said that JaganmohanReddy was marching aheadwith decentralization ofadministration and develop-ment. Vijayawada-East con-stituency in-charge of YSRCP

Devineni Avinash andVellampalli wrapped the lead-ers with shawls and invitedthem into the party.

Prominent among thosewho joined the YSRCP wereformer corpoporator Manti

Koteswara Rao, KrishnaKishore and Abdul Rafi.YSRCP leaders MailavarapuDurga Rao, Appaji, ChalapatiRao, Ganga Bhagavan Dasand Eluru Venkanna werepresent.

Contaminated meatclaims one life

Continued from Page 1

Inspector of Araku ValleyPolice Station P Pydayyasaid that they visited the vil-lage and collected some sam-ples to send RegionalForensic Science Laboratory."We destroyed the meat(chicken, mutton dishes andothers) and also the liquor asa precautionary measure," headded.

The police ruled out thesuspected conspiracy in theincident saying that therewas no rivalry between theSintro's family and otherfamilies, who took part in theparty. Pangi Damodhar,Pangi Ghasi, BViswanatham, Korra Kalima

and Korra Polamma, whofell sick due to food poison-ing have been provided firstaid in Araku Valley, wereshifted to KG Hospital inVizag for better medical care.Police said that the conditionof two of the five persons issaid to be critical.

Police registered a caseunder Section 174 of CrPC(suspicious death) and inves-tigation is on to ascertainwhat has led to the death ofSintro. "The combination ofthe meat and country-madeliquor is dangerous to health.We are appealing police andexcise personnel to root outthe manufacturing of thehooch in the remote areas,"said K Surendra of CPM.

AP capitalshifting doesnot augur well:Kishan Reddy

Continued from Page 1

Women are also joinedhands with them in theprotests the relocation of thecapital for over the past 43days. While the TDP isspearheading the campaign,the recent alliance of the BJPState unit with that of the JanaSena will give further fillip tothe agitation as leaders ofboth the parties vowed tosupport the farmers of thecapital region. As the govern-ment turned a blind eye tothe spate of protests by thefarmers, a delegation of theJAC called on Kishan Reddyin Delhi to take their problemto his notice.

Governmentcommitted toprotectingtemple lands

Continued from Page 1

Brahmin CorporationChairman Malladi Vishnu said asection of the media supportingthe TDP was spreading lies onthe welfare funds meant forpriests. These funds should bespent only as per the guidelinesof the Supreme Court. "Withoutknowing this, some newspaperssupporting the TDP are publish-ing lies," he added. Alleging thatthe TDP leaders had swindledthe pensions, he said and addedthat had no right to criticise TTDChairman YS Subba Reddy. Hesaid the government hadarranged the door delivery ofpension to beneficiaries

Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivas welcoming the leaders from TDP andCPM into the YSRCP fold in Vijayawada on Sunday

TDP, CPM second rungleaders join YSRCP

Bus tour insupport ofagitating ryotsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former Minister VaddeSobhanadreeswara Rao saidthat they would organise a bustour to support the capitalfarmers' protest against thegovernment for the past 40days to ensure that Amaravatibe declared the only capitalfor the State. Addressing themedia here on Sunday, VaddeSobhanadreeswara Rao saidthat one capital is enough fora State, however, the admin-istration can be decentralised.He demanded that the gov-ernment withdraw the deci-sion on shifting of adminis-trative capital to Vizag andquestioned how the govern-ment could make a decisionon three capitals.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Drug peddler arrestedin JammuJAMMU: A drug peddler, facingeight cases under the NarcoticDrugs and PsychotropicSubstances (NDPS) Act, wasarrested here, a police said onSunday. Surinder Singh alias'Shantu was arrested and 10.5grams of heroin was seizedfrom him possession during araid at Chatha area on theoutskirts of the city late onSaturday, the official said.Singh, a resident of lowerGadigarh, is facing four casesat Satwari police station, two atGandhi Nagar police stationand one case each in Channiand Janipur police station. Afresh case has been lodgedagainst Singh under the NDPSAct at the Satwari policestation, the official said.Meanwhile, two more drugpeddlers — Rakesh Kumar andVinod Singh — were arrestedduring a checking drive atDandyal and Circular road inUdhampur district, the officialsaid. He said while 12 grams ofheroin was seized fromKumar's possession, six gramsof heroin was recovered fromSingh. Both the accusedseparately booked under theNDPS Act, the official said.

Constable commitssuicide in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur

4 killed, 3 injured inaccident in UP'sBadaunBADAUN: Four persons,including a couple and their 14-year-old son, died while threeothers sustained injuries aftertheir car rammed into anothervehicle in Uttar Pradesh'sBadaun district, police said onSunday. According to SeniorSuperintendent of Police AshokKumar Tripathi, the accidenttook place late on Saturdaynight, when the victims werereturning from a pilgrimagespot in Badaun's Dataganj area."The deceased have beenidentified as Baleshwar Singh(55), his wife Nirmala Devi(50), their son Sher Singh aliasGolu and a relative AshokKumar (40). "The accident tookplace, when an unknownvehicle hit their car near apetrol pump in Bhatauli village.Local villagers informed thepolice and also assisted inretrieving the bodies from themangled vehicles," Tripathi said.The bodies of the deceasedhave been sent for post-mortem examination, policeadded.

MUZAFFARPUR: A policeconstable committed suicide byshooting himself allegedly withhis AK-47 rifle in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur district on Sunday.The deceased has beenidentified as Pawan KumarSingh (36), who was posted asbody guard of DeputySuperintendent of Police (East),Muzaffarpur, Amitesh Kumar, apolice officer said. Theconstable, a resident of Arwaldistrict, died at Muzaffarpurpolice lines, SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Jayant Kant, said. The SSP saidthe reason behind the incidentwill be ascertained following aninvestigation into it. The bodyhas been sent to Sri KrishnaMedical College and Hospital(SKMCH) for post-mortemexamination.

Citizens' group paints speedbreakers, earns Gadkari's praisePNS n PANAJI

In a move aimed at reducingroad accidents, a citizens'group in Goa has so far paint-ed over 130 speed breakers inthe state in white colour toincrease their visibility, whichhas earned praise from Unionminister Nitin Gadkari.

The group has been carryingout this activity under the#RostoGoa campaign.

Activist Cecille Rodrigues,who is leading the campaign,said, "The speed breakers hadturned blind spots, causingroad accidents. The RostoGoainitiative began from my ownTaleigao constituency andspread to other areas, includ-

ing Calangute, Baga which areprominent tourist spots."

"Initially, a small group oflike-minded people beganpainting the speed breakers,

but later many others joined asthe initiative through socialmedia," she added.

Rodrigues said she had ear-lier met with an accident due

to a speed breaker.Road Transport and

Highways Minister NitinGadkari recently tweeted aboutthe initiative and appreciatedthe group for its efforts.

"Cecille Rodrigues, SeemaChimulkar and Prakash Malanihave developed unique roadstamp 'Rosto' which cautionsdrivers of blind spots, thusreducing accidents on theroad," he had said in the tweet.

Goa Forward Party (GFP)chief Vijai Sardesai on Sundaysaid that his party would movea 'congratulatory motion' forthe group over its initiative dur-ing the upcoming LegislativeAssembly session to be heldbetween February 3 and 7.

Odia poet RabiSingh diesPNS n BHUBANESWAR

Eminent Odia poet RabiSingh died on Sunday follow-ing a prolonged illness, hisfamily sources said.

He was 89. Singh, who wassuffering from old-age relat-ed ailments, breathed his lastat his residence in Khapuriain Cuttack in the morning,they said. Popularly known as"Biplabi Kabi" (revolutionarypoet) for his patriotic writ-ings, Singh had raised hisvoice through his creationsagainst degenerating values inthe society.

His writings highlightedthe significance of socialismand egalitarianism in thesociety. Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik con-doled the demise of Singh,describing him as a "very tal-ented poet, prolific writerand true patriot", an officialin CMO said. The chief min-ister declared state funeral.

"His death has created agreat void in modern Odialiterature. His poems wereremarkable in carrying thevalues of socialism, humanrights and equality of classes,"Patnaik said in a message.

State information and pub-lic relations ministerRaghunandan Das alsoexpressed deep grief over thedemise of Singh.

Recipient of a number ofhonours, Singh was con-ferred with Odisha SahityaAkademi award in 1961.

The renowned poet wasalso honoured with the"Atibadi Jagannath DasSamman 2017" for his illustra-tive contribution to Odia lit-erature. His writings include'Patha Prantara Kabita', 'LalPagoda Ra Preta O AnyaKabita', 'Bhrukuti', 'Bidirna','Paschima Parba', 'PurbaParba', 'Kebala Sangram'among others.

Ahead of TN Assembly polls next year...

Expelled AIADMKMP Sasikala Pushpajoins BJP PNS n NEW DELHI

Rajya Sabha MP from TamilNadu Sasikala Pushpa, whowas expelled from theAIADMK in 2016, joined theruling BJP on Sunday in thepresence of the party's nation-al secretary, P MuralidharRao, and former Union min-ister Pon Radhakrishnan.

Inducting Sasikala into theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ata press conference here, Rao,who is the party's in-charge forthe southern state, describedher as a "very aggressive, vocalleader in Tamil Nadu".

"Sasikala is a Rajya Sabhamember and she has been avery aggressive, vocal leader inTamil Nadu. Coming fromsouth Tamil Nadu, she has alsobeen a mayor of Thoothukudi,a port town, and has workedas the chief of the AIADMK'swomen's wing for the state," hesaid.

Sasikala's tenure in the

Upper House of Parliamentwill come to an end in a fewmonths.

She was involved in analtercation with a DMK MP in2016 and was accused of slap-ping him. Subsequently, thethen AIADMK supremo andformer Tamil Nadu chief min-ister J Jayalalithaa had expelledher from the party.

At the press conference atthe BJP office here, Rao madethe announcement of Pushpa'sjoining, saying it would beadvantageous for the saffronparty in Tamil Nadu.

"With the joining ofSasikala, the party's capacity tofight the coming Assemblyelection will definitely gainfurther advantage," he said.

Goa Budget session from Feb3; Oppn to raise CAA, NRCPNS n PANAJI

The Opposition is set to raiseburning issues like the new cit-izenship law, proposed country-wide NRC and "diversion" of theMahadayi river water byKarnataka in the Budget sessionof the Goa Legislative Assemblybeginning Monday.

Chief Minister PramodSawant will table the state bud-get on February 6.

The Opposition parties com-prising the Congress hadannounced that they would raiseissues like the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA),National Register of Citizens(NRC) and diversion of theMahadayi river water by neigh-

bouring Karnataka during thefive-day-long session.

In the House of 40, the rulingBJP has 27 MLAs of its own. Theparty-led government enjoyssupport of two IndependentMLAs and an NCP legislator.

Among the rest 10 MLAs, fiveare from the Congress, threefrom the Goa Forward Party(GFP), one from the

Maharashtrawadi GomantakParty (MGP) and anIndependent. Meanwhile, thechief minister said that hisfirstever Budget would be on thelines of the Union Budget tabledby Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturday.

Various industrial bodies,including the Goa Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(GCCI), have suggested variousmeasures to boost the saggingrevenue, which has taken hit dueto suspended mining opera-tions. GCCI president ManojCaculo identified agricultureand revival of sick industries asthe key thrust areas for the gov-ernment to bring the economyback on track.

PNS n ALIGARH

The one-man judicial panelconstituted by the AligarhMuslim University to probeinto violent incidents thatrocked the campus inDecember 2019 has asked stu-dents and staffers at the AMUto submit their written state-ments by February 7, accord-ing to an official notification.

The probe is being con-ducted by retired chief justiceof the Himachal Pradesh HighCourt V K Gupta.

As per the notification issuedon Saturday, students andstaffers at the AMU should sub-mit their written statements tothe probe panel by February 7.

Similarly, a seven-membercommittee of senior facultymembers instituted by AMUVice Chancellor Tariq Mansoorto review all the FIRs registeredby police against students inconnection with anti-CAAprotests is also expected to startfunctioning shortly, AMU

spokesman Omar Peerzadasaid.

The committee is headed byProfessor Najam Khalique ofthe Department of CommunityMedicine, Peerzada said.

He said the purpose of thiscommittee is to help out thestudents who have beenbooked under "false charges".

"This committee wouldexplore all legal and adminis-

trative steps for preventingundue harassment of all inno-cent students," he said.

Meanwhile, AMU officialssaid that there was a "markedimprovement" in attendance inall faculties on Friday.

The university was closedearly for winter vacations fromDecember 16 last year, a dayafter students clashed withpolice during a protest against

the contentious Citizenship(Amendment) Act on campus.

The university was to reopenon January 6 but the vacationwas extended owing to persist-ing tension over the changes inthe citizenship law.

Students have been boy-cotting classes seeking thewithdrawal of "false cases"against those who took part inprotests against the CAA on

December 15.AMU Vice Chancellor

Mansoor has sanctioned agrant of Rs 1,50,000 each totwo students who were serious-ly injured in police action onDecember 15 last year, theAMU spokesman said.

The decision was taken onthe recommendation of a com-mittee which had been consti-tuted to decide compensationfor the injured students, hesaid.

A senior university officialsaid one of the demands of theprotesting students was to givea permanent employment inthe teaching staff to a studentwho had lost his hand in theDecember 15 violence.

"We have already decided togive an ad-hoc appointment.There is a procedure for mak-ing permanent appointmentsand we have paved the way forthis appointment which wouldbe done under the category ofphysically handicapped appli-cants," he said.

Day after confusion,‘Mumbai Bagh' protestcontinues on day 8PNS n MUMBAI

A day after attempts were madeby some groups to call off theanti-CAA protest at Nagpadahere, the stir, which has nowcome to be known as "MumbaiBagh", entered its eighth day onSunday.

Confusion and high dramahad prevailed on Saturday at thesit-in demonstration being heldby women against the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA) onMorland Road in Nagpada aftera section of the protesters decid-ed to call off the protest as thepolice told the volunteers tovacate the area saying they didnot have permission for it.

However, soon after theannouncement was made thatthe protest was being called off,a huge crowd came to the siteand started raising slogans.Following this, the plan wasgiven up and the protest contin-ued. Talking to PTI on Sunday,

Feroze Mithiborwala, organiserof the protest, said, "Despite theattempts to sabotage the'Mumbai Bagh' protest by certaininside elements as well as by thepolice, the protest continues.We are now stronger and moreresolute than before."

"The all-women protest,which began on the night ofJanuary 26, entered the eighthday on Sunday. We request to theMumbai Police to cooperatewith the organisers of this peace-ful protest," he said.

PNS n MALKANGIRI (ODISHA)

The Odisha government hasdecided to make MalkangiriMaoist-free, police said onSaturday, urging left-wingextremists (LWE) to join themainstream. The appeal by thestate police comes a week aftervillagers killed a Maoist mem-ber and injured another.

During his maiden visit tothe LWE-hit area, Odisha DGPAbhay said, "The state govern-ment has already decided tomake the area as Maoist freeand therefore making elaboratedevelopment plan for it."

"Therefore, I appeal toMaoists to shun violence andjoin mainstream,” he toldreporters at the Malkangiridistrict headquarters townafter the visit.

On January 25 night, resi-dents of Janturai village stoneda Maoist member to death and

left another critically injured asthe ultras were opposing roadconstruction and other devel-opmental activities in theirvillage.

Malkangiri SP RD Khilarisaid that the people, who sup-ported Maoists out of fear, nowfeel liberated due to heavydeployment of police force aswell as ongoing developmen-tal activities.

The DGP said that state gov-ernment has decided to furtherexpedite the developmentalactivities in the Maoist den anddeploy more forces to boostmorale of the local residents.

He suggested the personnelof the central armed forces aswell as the state police tobehave friendly with the localpeople in order to win confi-dence of the villagers.

Odisha police urges Maoiststo return to mainstream

Two youths wanting to joinmilitancy restored to familiesPNS n SRINAGAR

Two youths who had made a bidto cross over to Pakistan to joina militant outfit were arrestedand handed over to their fami-lies after counselling, the Armysaid on Saturday. "It has been theconstant endeavour of securityforces that the misguided youthbe brought back to mainstreamand be prevented from joiningmilitancy. In one such endeav-our, two youths intending tocross the LoC have been broughtback and reunited with theirfamilies today," an Armyspokesman said.

He said the youths -- both 16years of age and hailing fromsouth Kashmir -- were influ-enced by the false narrative andthe rhetoric created by anti-national elements to lure themto join a militant outfit.

After the security forces learntabout their intention to cross the

LoC, they launched synergisedand concerted efforts to appre-hend them, the spokesman said.

"Their movements weretracked closely and all our teamswere instructed to apprehendthem alive so that they can bebrought back to mainstream," hesaid. The spokesman said theArmy received an input of theirpresence in Uri, near PoliceVehicle Check Post (PVCP),and their plan to cross over to the

other side.The youths sensing tight secu-

rity at Uri were returning toBaramulla to exploit other routesto cross over, he said. Based onthe input, security personnelwas deployed at GanthmullaColony on the Baramulla-Kupwara national highway andwere instructed to exerciseabsolute restraint so as to appre-hend the youths without anyharm, the spokesman said.

Rs 75 L hawalamoney seized1 held in UP

JK adminreleases fourfrom preventivedetention

PNS n MUZAFFARNAGAR

A man was arrested here for hisalleged involvement in a hawalatransaction amounting to Rs 75lakh, police said on Sunday.Nazim was arrested after policerecovered Rs 75 lakh cashfrom his car during checkingon Monday, SSP AbhishekYadav said.

He was coming from Delhiand was on his way to Chartha-wal town in Muzaffarnagardistrict, the SSP said. Police sus-pect that the money had comethrough a hawala channel fromSaudi Arabia, he said. Thecase was handed over to theIncome Tax Department forfurther inquiry, he added.

AMU panel probing campus violenceseeks students’ statements by Feb 7

Ex-BJP minister calls womantehsildar ‘heroine', sparks rowPNS n AURANGABAD

BJP leader and formerMaharashtra minister BabanraoLonikar has landed in a spot afteran audio clip surfaced on socialmedia in which he purportedlycalled a woman tehsildar a "hero-ine" during his speech, althoughhe did not take anybody's name.

During his speech at a func-tion in Karhala village of Parturtehsil in Maharashtra's Jalnadistrict on Saturday, he also saidthat a "heroine can be roped in"for a planned farmers' rally.

The comments by Lonikarinvited ruling NCP's ire, with theparty saying that his "unaccept-able" remarks amount to outrag-ing the modesty of a woman.

However, Lonikar defendedthe use of the word saying that'heroine' was not an abusiveterm and he only wanted to con-vey through it "leader who doesgood work".

In the audio clip of his speech,Lonikar can be heard saying, "Iffarmers want aid of Rs 25,000from government, then we can

plan the biggest rally inMarathwada here in Partur. Wecan involve 25,000 to 50,000 peo-ple in it. If Zilla Parisad andPanchayat Samiti membersdecide then we can have thebiggest march in the state inPartur."

"We can call (former chiefminister) Devendra Fadnavis,(former ministers) ChandrakantPatil and Sudhir Mungantiwar.You tell who should becalled...We can call a heroine forit. If not, then we have our tehsil-dar madam as heroine," he said.

When contacted on Sunday,

Lonikar said that through theword 'heroine', he meant to say"leader who does good work".

"I have not insulted our tehsil-dar through my statement. Theword heroine or hero is used fora leader who does good work.You can check the dictionary.This is not an abusive word andit does not have a negativemeaning," he said.

"We planned to take out a rallyover the issue of aid to farmers,"he added.

BJP spokesperson ShirishBoralkar said that Lonikar wasspeaking about development offarmers. "His statement was pre-sented in a twisted manner bythe media," he added.

Senior NCP leader and MLCVidya Chavan criticised Lonikarfor his remarks. "Lonikar's com-ments against the woman tehsil-dar are completely unacceptableand it reflects the BJP's mental-ity. Instead of respecting theworking women, the BJP leaderis bringing shame to them bymaking comments on theirlooks," she alleged.

PNS n SRINAGAR

The Jammu and Kashmiradminstration on Sundayreleased four politicians frompreventive custody in theMLA hostel, which has beentemporarily converted into asubsidiary jail, officials saidhere. The three of the releasedpoliticians belong to theNational Conference and oneis from the PDP, they said.

The four have been sent totheir homes and asked toremain confined within theirresidence for the time being,they said.

The leaders released are:Abdul Majeed Bhat Larni,Ghulam Nabi Bhat and DrMohammed Shafi (allNational Conference) andMohammed Yusuf Bhat ofthe PDP. They were detainedalong with several other politi-cians, leaders, activists andtraders after the abrogation ofthe Article 370 of the consti-tution on August 5 last year.

The universitywas closed earlyfor wintervacations fromDecember 16 lastyear, a day afterstudents clashedwith police duringa protest againstthe contentiousCAA on campus

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Karnataka cabinetexpansion onFebruary 6: CMBENGALURU: Karnataka ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa onSunday said that the cabinetexpansion would take place onFebruary 6, with 13 MLAstaking oath of office. "Thecabinet expansion will takeplace on February 6 with theoath-taking ceremony at theRaj Bhavan at 10.30 AM," hetold reporters here. ThirteenMLAs, including 10 who hadjoined BJP from parties,including Congress and theJD(S), will take oath, he said.The cabinet expansion is on thecards for nearly two monthsever since the BJP won themaximum number of seats inthe December 5 2019 bypollsand got a majority in theKarnataka assembly.

MIA bomb case:Suspect remanded to 14days’ judicial custody

AAP demandscampaign ban onAdityanath in DelhiNEW DELHI: The Aam AadmiParty on Sunday demanded theElection Commission to banUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath fromcampaigning in the nationalcapital over his allegedprovocative speeches. AAPleader Sanjay Singh alsodemanded an FIR against himfor his remarks. Singh told apress conference here that ithas been 48 hours since theAAP asked the ElectionCommission time to meet thembut it has not been granted. "Ifthe EC does not give us time,we will stage a sit-in in front ofthe ECI office on Monday,"Singh said.

India sends aid tocyclone-hitMadagascarNEW DELHI: India has sentrelief supplies to cyclone-hitMadagascar using its navalship INS Airavat, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarsaid on Sunday. In a tweet,Jaishankar said India was anearly responder to the naturaldisaster that hit the islandnation. "INS Airavat deliversrelief supplies to cyclone-hit#Madagascar. #SAGAR Policyat work - India as an earlyresponder," he said in a tweet.Madagascar has been hit by acyclone and there has beenheavy flooding and landslidessince last month, causing lossof lives and displacement of anumber of people. According toreports, more than 92,000people have been affected.

2 CRPF jawans, 7civilians injured ingrenade attackSRINAGAR: Two security forcejawans and seven civilians wereinjured in a grenade attack bymilitants on CRPF personnel inLal Chowk area of the city onSunday, police said. Themilitants hurled a grenade onthe CRPF personnel posted onduty near Pratap Park in busyLal Chowk area of the city, apolice official said. The nineinjured persons were shifted toa hospital, he said. The loudexplosion caused panic amongthe people, especially thosewho had come to the weeklyflea market, also known asSunday market, the official said.Security forces have cordonedoff the area, he added.

MANGALURU: A local court onSaturday remanded AdityaRao,the suspect in theMangaluru International Airport(MIA) bomb case, to two weeksjudicial custody. Rao wasproduced before the SixthJudicial First Class MagistrateCourt after the 10-day policecustody expired. Rao has beenin police custody since January22 after he surrendered beforethe police in Bengaluru onJanuary 21 and was laterbrought here. He had allegedlyplanted an Improvised ExplosiveDevice (IED) at the airport onJanuary 20 triggering panic andlater made a hoax call to theairport terminal that a bomb hadbeen planted in an IndiGo flight.During the last ten days, policetook the accused to severalplaces in the city and Udupiwhere he had frequented in therecent past.

PNS n KOTA

Researchers are working ontwo electric vehicle solutions,including a technology thatwould allow sharing of storedbattery power with another EVand even sell excess energy tomake a fast buck, for makingthe clean vehicles more eco-nomical, a professor at BITSPilani said.

Along with the power shar-ing tool vehicle-to-everything(V2X), researchers are alsoexamining the feasibility ofbattery swapping stationswhere an EV owner wouldsimply replace the batterieslike refilling of gas cylinders,Hitesh Datt Mathur, associateprofessor at the Birla Instituteof Technology and Science(BITS), Pilani, said.

The two solutions can makeEVs economical as customers

would not need to buy expen-sive heavy batteries whichaccount for around 25-30 percent of the total cost of an EVcurrently.

The research projects aresponsored by the Departmentof Science and Technologyand the Ministry of HumanResource Development.

Mathur, who has designedan EV with V2X technology,

said the model is capable ofsharing stored power withanother EV, a grid, hotels,malls etc.

"The incentive could be seenby an example where a cus-tomer is charging EV withV2X feature at home at Rs 8per unit and discharging somepart of stored power at anycommercial place at Rs 15 ascommercial rates are higher

than domestic rates of electric-ity," he suggested.

When the EV is not in use,some part of stored energymay be sold to others includ-ing the grid, another EV cus-tomer, even to some offices orhomes.

If a customer sells 20 unitsequivalent of power duringthis discharge, he will have Rs140 earned. The power grid, atlarge, during peak hour, canalso be supplemented by order-ly managed owners of EVs withV2X feature.

"One can imagine a parkinglot of a mall where, hundreds

of V2X electric cars are parkedfor more than 6-7 hours in aday which is equivalent to amid-sized power plant of 5 to10 megawatt range since eachelectric car has battery powerof 20-25 kilowatts. Even if 30-40 per cent customers decide tosell power to grid, it would begood enough for that mallitself. All this would be execut-ed through a mobile app," hesaid.

"The project will develop acyber physical network usingartificial intelligence andmachine learning algorithms,"Mathur said.

Researcher work on battery power sharingThe research projects are sponsored bythe Department of Science andTechnology and the Ministry of HumanResource Development

PNS n SRINAGAR

The National InvestigationAgency on Sunday morningcarried out searches in connec-tion with a case in which asenior Jammu and Kashmirpolice officer was arrestedwhile ferrying terrorists out-side the valley, officials saidhere.

Multiple NIA teams fannedin various parts of southKashmir and carried out thesearches at some private officesand residences, they said.

The NIA had taken over thecase in which Jammu andKashmir's DeputySuperintendent of PoliceDavinder Singh, who has sincebeen suspended, was caught insouth Kashmir while ferryingtwo terrorists out of the valleyon January 11.

The searches come daysafter NIA officers interrogatedall the accused arrested in thecase.

Besides Singh, the othersarrested were: Syed NaveedMushtaq Ahmed alias Naveed

Babu, who is a self-styled com-mander of Hizbul Mujahideen,Rafi Ahmed Rather and IrfanShafi Mir, who claims to be anadvocate.

They were arrested fromthe Srinagar-Jammu NationalHighway near Qazigund inSouth Kashmir.

Later, Naveed's brother, SyedIrfan Ahmed, was also arrest-ed on January 23 after he wasbrought from Punjab.

He was in constant touchwith his brother and had asked

him to look for an accommo-dation in Chandigarh wherethey could escape the harshwinters months of Kashmir.

Mir, who was driving thevehicle when they were caughtby the police from a nationalhighway in Kulgam district,may become a prize catch forthe NIA as it is alleged he wasacting on the orders of hismasters in Pakistan.

He had visited the neigh-bouring country five times onan Indian passport.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Sundaypromised to implement unem-ployment allowance of Rs5,000-7,500 per month, cash-back schemes for water andpower consumers and chal-lenge the contentious CAA inthe Supreme Court if voted topower in Delhi.

The manifesto presented byDelhi Congress chief SubhashChopra also committed tospend 25 per cent budget eachyear on fighting pollution andimproving transport facilities.

The party has promised toprovide free electricity up to300 units per month.

He said the Congress willopen 100 Indira Canteens inthe city to give subsidisedmeals at Rs 15, Chopra said.

An unemploymentallowance of Rs 5,000 for grad-uates and Rs 7,500 for postgraduates will be providedmonthly under the Yuva

Swabhiman Yojna, he said.The announcements come

in the backdrop of promisesand initiatives by its rivalsAAP and BJP.

The Congress will challengethe Citizenship (Amendment)Act in the Supreme Court anddemand the Centre to with-draw the law. The party willalso not implement the pro-posed National Register ofCitizens (NRC) and the exist-

ing form of the NationalPopulation Register (NPR), ifvoted to power in Delhi.

The manifesto, titled 'AisiHogi Hamari Delhi', wasreleased at the Delhi Congressoffice in presence of seniorleaders Anand Sharma, man-ifesto committee chairmanAjay Maken, Rajiv Gowda,Sharmishtha Mukherjeeamong others.

"We will get a strong Lokpal

in first six months," Choprasaid. The Congress will launchflagship cashback schemes forpower and water supply tobenefit consumers saving theseresources.

If voted to power, theCongress will launch SheilaPension Yojna under which Rs5,000 per month will be pro-vided to senior citizens, per-sons with disabilities and trans-gender.

JK DSP case: NIA raids multipleplaces in south Kashmir

PNS n JAMMU/SRINAGAR

Sameer Dar, the cousin of theFebruary 2019 Pulwama sui-cide bomber Adil Dar, hastold interrogators that he haddropped a batch of terroriststo the Valley in December lastyear, officials said here onSunday, two days after the for-mer was arrested whileattempting to ferry Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists toKashmir.

Sameer was nabbed bypolice when he was trying toescape from Nagrota onFriday after Jaish terroristsopened fire on security forces.

Hailing from Kakpora areaof Pulwama district in SouthKashmir, Sameer confessed hehad been successful in ferry-ing JeM terrorists to theKashmir Valley last year anddropped them to Pulwama,the officials said.

Sameer claimed he was notaware about their where-abouts since but told theinterrogators that they werecarrying large ammunitionincluding 'steel core bullets' -- which can pierce through a

normal bullet-proof vehicle.This has triggered an alarm

bell within the security estab-lishment especially BorderSecurity Force (BSF), whichguards the InternationalBorder with Pakistan, as theforce has been maintaining inits inter-departmental meet-ings that there has been noinfiltration from the border.

On February 14 last year,Sameer's cousin Adil blewhimself in an explosive-ladencar next to a CRPF bus killing40 personnel.

Sameer told his interroga-

tors that infiltration fromacross the border has beencontinuing and the militantswere fanning in various partsof the South Kashmir espe-cially in Pulwama and Tralareas, the officials said.

Sameer also told them thatthe militants were dropped atKareemabad in SouthKashmir. He also gave thedetails of the arms andammunition being carried bythe terrorists, indicating thatthe group also had M-4 car-bine and ammunition of steelcore bullets.

Vinod bags 1st Mathrubhumi Book of the Year awardPNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Noted Hindi poet-novelist andSahitya Akademi honoureeVinod Kumar Shukla hasbagged the inauguralMathrubhumi Book of theYear award for his translatedbook "Blue Is Like Blue".

The stories in "Blue Is LikeBlue", translated into Englishby Arvind Krishna Mehrotraand Sara Rai, deal with com-mon people and their dailystruggles. The 83-year-oldShukla, who is regarded thefinest living writer in Hindi,has been quietly forging hisown idiosyncratic path awayfrom the public gaze in Raipurin Chhattisgarh.

His book, published underHarperCollins India's transla-tions imprint Harper

Perennial, beat “Ib's EndlessSearch for Satisfaction”(Roshan Ali); “The City andthe Sea” (Raj Kamal Jha); “ASecret History of Compassion”(Paul Zachariah); “The FarField” (Madhuri Vijay); “TheScent of God” (SaikatMajumdar) and “There isGunpowder in the Air”

(Manoranjan Byapari). Theaward, given to the best fiction-al work released in the previ-ous year, carries a cash prize ofRs 5 lakh, a plaque designed byRiyas Komu and a certificate.This year's jury comprisedShashi Tharoor,Chandrashekhara Kambaraand Sumana Roy.

The award was presented atthe MathrubhumiInternational Festival of Letters2020 which concluded here on

Sunday. This is the secondaward for this book, the previ-ous being the Atta GalattaBangalore Literature FestivalBook Prize 2019 for best fiction.

The characters in these sto-ries live in rented accommoda-tion, often in single rooms,where one electric bulb doesfor light. When the light dimsbecause of low voltage, it is likeair escaping from a puncturedbicycle tube. There's a nail tohang clothes from and a wall-to-wall string for the washing.

When the clothes are dry,the character places the care-fully folded shirt under a pil-low and lies down to sleep.Money is a concern, but thebazaar is the place to go andspend time in, especially if thecharacter has nothing to buy.

Arrested militant ferried Jaish terroristsin December 2019 too: Officials

This year's jurycomprised ShashiTharoor,ChandrashekharaKambara andSumana Roy

PNS n SRINAGAR

Amid ongoing anti-CAAprotests, local poll officialsand police authorities held ameeting to take stock of thesituation in Shaheen Baghahead of the elections, officialssaid on Sunday.

"A meeting was called forSaturday evening at theShaheen Bagh Police Station.But due to a firing incidentnear the protest site, some ofthe officers could not join. So,we sat and discussed the situ-ation afterwards," a senior pollofficial in Okhla constituencysaid. A man fired two roundsin the air at Shaheen Baghbefore being taken into cus-tody on Saturday. ShaheenBagh has been the epicentre ofprotests against the country'snew citizenship law and the

incident had created panicamong people.

Asked if the environment isconductive to hold elections,another senior officer said,"Yes, nothing to worry, author-ities are extra vigilant".

"The situation is beingassessed across the city on adaily basis," he added.

Saturday's firing incidentcame two days after a youthfired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters near the Jamiauniversity in which a studentwas wounded.

Amid the ongoing protests,Delhi CEO Ranbir Singh hadon Friday visited the area toassess the situation and pre-paredness ahead of the assem-bly elections, and said therewas no obstruction in areaswhere poll activities will beconducted.

Poll officials, police meetto discuss situation inShaheen Bagh

Coronavirus: 3persons withsymptoms inhospital

Pinarayi slamscommunalelementsPNS n MUMBAI

Hitting out at the Centre overthe Citizenship (Amendment)Act (CAA), Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan onSunday said the "communalelements" today were using theBritish colonisers' strategy ofdisrupting people's unity bydividing them on communallines.

He also said that whileIndia's freedom struggle wasagainst the colonisers, the cur-rent movement is against thosewho stood with the colonisers.

Vijayan was speaking at the'Mumbai Collective' here onthe topic of 'National struggleagainst communalism'.

"In the past, our movementwas against the colonisers,but presently our struggleagainst communalism is amovement against those whostood with the colonisers," hesaid.

PNS n JAIPUR

Three persons suspected tohave symptoms of coron-avirus were admitted to SMSGovernment Hospital here,an official said on Sunday.

“They were admitted to thehospital on Saturday. Theirblood samples have been col-lected and the report isexpected to come by Sundayevening,” Dr D S Meena,Superintendent of SMS hos-pital said.

He added that the patientshave been kept in isolation.

Meanwhile, arrangementshave been made in ESICMedical College of Alwar forkeeping nearly 300 Indiansairlifted from Wuhan city ofChina where the interna-tional virus outbreak began.

The batch of passengers arelikely to reach Alwar onSunday evening for quaran-tine.

Ravi Sharma, a state healthdepartment official coordi-nating with the Centre, said300 beds have been preparedin two hostels and adequatestaff has been deployed.

Deputy CMHO, Alwar, DrChhabil Kumar said the pas-sengers will be quarantinedand kept under observationfor 28 days.

Elderlywoman diesafter fallingill at KolkataPNS n KOLKATA

An elderly woman, who waspart of the ongoing demon-stration by women againstthe CAA and the proposednationwide NRC at the ParkCircus Maidan here, died onSunday after falling ill, policesaid. The 57-year-old womanfell unconscious at the protestsite around 2 am and wastaken to a nearby hospital,they said. Samida Khatun, aresident of Entally area, diedat the hospital after some-time, police said.

Around 60 women havebeen staging protests againstthe Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) and the proposedNational Register of Citizens(NRC) at Park CircusMaidan, on the lines of theShaheen Bagh agigation inDelhi.

The woman's last rites willbe performed later in the dayafter her son arrives fromIran, a fellow protestor said.

‘Nirbhaya convicts trying tofrustrate mandate of law’PNS n NEW DELHI

Solicitor General TusharMehta on Sunday told theDelhi High Court that there isdeliberate, calculated and wellthought of design by Nirbhayagangrape and murder caseconvicts to "frustrate mandateof law" by getting their execu-tion delayed.

Mehta told Justice SureshKait that convict PawanGupta's move of not filingcurative or mercy petition isdeliberate, calculated inac-tion.

"There is deliberate, calcu-lated and well thought ofdesign to frustrate mandate oflaw," Mehta told HC.

The high court is hearingCentre's plea challenging stayon the execution of four deathrow convicts in the Nirbhaya

gangrape and murder case.The proceedings are cur-

rently underway.

Centre againststay of executionNEW DELHI: The DelhiHigh Court on Sundaycommenced hearing onCentre's plea challengingstay on the execution offour death row convicts inthe Nirbhaya gangrape andmurder case.

The proceedings arecurrently underway beforeJustice Suresh Kait.Solicitor General TusharMehta is advancing argu-ments for the Centre.

Govt pegs UIDAI'sallocation at Rs 985 crPNS n NEW DELHI

The government has raisedfund allocation for the UniqueIdentification Authority ofIndia (UIDAI) - which issuesbiometric ID to residents - by17 per cent to Rs 985 crore forthe next fiscal starting April 1.

In the current fiscal, theUIDAI was originally allo-cated Rs 1,227 crore when theModi-2.0 government pre-sented the Union Budget onJuly 5 last year. But the amountwas revised downwards to Rs836.7 crore, according toBudget 2020-21 documents.

The document did not pro-vide reasons for the downwardrevision but it could bebecause of non-utilisation ofall the funds allocated to theUIDAI. The UIDAI is thenodal body for Aadhaar, anidentity infrastructure fordelivery of various social wel-fare programs and effectivetargeting of these services.

In December last year, theUIDAI had said that 125 croreresidents of India haveAadhaar, the 12-digit uniqueidentity number.

"The achievement comesalong with the rapidly increas-ing use of Aadhaar as the pri-mary identity document bythe Aadhaar holders. This isevident from the fact thatAadhaar-based authenticationservices have been used closeto 37,000 crore times sinceinception," it had then said.

The UIDAI receives about3 crore authentication requestsevery day. Also, it receivesabout 3-4 lakh Aadhaarupdate requests daily.

DELHI POLLS: CONG PROMISESUNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE

Vinod Kumar Shukla

This budget was meant to increase con-sumption, encourage spends amongthe middle class, stimulate growth

and primarily put the economy back on theroad to recovery. Yet the reality is that farfrom being memorable, it is a damp squibwithout any sense of urgency to mean busi-ness. The story can be summed up easily.The GDP growth is the lowest in 11 years.The government estimates nominal GDPfor 2020-21 at 10 per cent. It is lower thanthe 12 per cent that was projected in 2019-20, which turned out to be only 7.5 per cent.Private consumption is at its lowest in sevenyears. Investment growth is at its slowest in17 years. Manufacturing is the lowest in 15years. Tax growth is the lowest in 20 years.Food inflation is the highest in six years.

The government has done very little torevitalise the economy, stimulate growthrate, promote private investment, increaseefficiency, create jobs or boost the rapidlyshrinking exports. In a nutshell, this bud-get has nothing to address the problems thecountry faces. I am totally confused withthe multiple themes, segments and pro-grammes. Ongoing programmes havefailed but still this government is throwingmore (and in some cases less) money intothem. Will that change anything? There isno clear vision or articulated plan for mar-ket economy, competition or higher tradeintensity. This government is in completedenial that the economy faces a gravemacro-economic challenge and the growthrate has declined in six successive quarters.Show me one thing in this Budget that willrevive growth in 2020-21. The claim of 6to 6.5. per cent growth next year is shock-ing.

It seems to me that the government’smain source of revenue will be through thedisinvestment of PSUs. The remaining gov-ernment stake in IDBI Bank will be sold off.Also, a part of the government’s stake in LICwill be sold through an IPO. This explainsthe doubling of the disinvestment targetfrom the current fiscal to the next one —from `1 lakh crore in FY20 to ` 2.1 lakhcrore in FY21. Even the disinvestment tar-get for the current fiscal has not been met— with only `65,000 crore raised.

The Finance Minister (FM) stated thatthe government debt came down to 48.9 percent from 52.2 per cent. This may be in partdue to the unprecedented transfer of sur-plus from the RBI to the CentralGovernment, to the tune of ̀ 1, 76, 051 crore(0.8 per cent of GDP), in August 2019. This“quasi fiscal deficit” practice is against thebasic principles of prudent fiscal manage-ment.

The FM claimed that “Inflation is wellcontained.” Yet inflation was 7.4 per cent inDecember 2019, a record high since July2014. It is higher than the upper limit of thetarget inflation rate set by the RBI. (Targetof four per cent, with upper tolerance levelof six per cent, for the period between June2016-March 2021).

The Minister claimed that the

Government’s policy of Make inIndia has yielded “great divi-dends.” The scheme has notyielded its target dividends. Itsfirst target was to increase themanufacturing sector’s growthrate to 12-14 per cent perannum, but the sector has onlygrown, on an average, at half ofthe targeted growth rate. InFY20, the manufacturing sectorgrowth plummeted to a paltrytwo per cent. The second goalof increasing the share of man-ufacturing in GDP to 25 percent by 2020 has also not beenmet since this figure hasremained only around 15 percent. The government is alsoclearly unable to meet its thirdtarget of creating 100 millionadditional jobs by 2022 in themanufacturing sector, given itsrefusal to provide numbers onhow many jobs were actuallycreated as a result of the schemeand the devastating figuresprovided by the NSSO, estimat-ing the unemployment rate in2017-18 at a 45-year high of 6.1percent.

The Budget emphasises theimportance of building a statis-tical system that has strongcredibility and supplies data inreal time. Yet, this Governmenthas triggered the dismantling ofstatistical institutions in India— from mass resignations bystatisticians, to leaked reports

which the government refusesto acknowledge.

Five newer smart cities willbe created. This is a meagreincrement from the 100 desig-nated already. Further, theSmart Cities Mission has beenproceeding at a slow rate. Atpresent, only 25 per cent pro-jects proposed have been com-pleted (1296 out of 5151) anda corresponding 11 per cent offunds have been spent on thesecompleted projects out of thetotal proposed investment inthe Mission.

And for all the blusterabout development in Kashmir,the Minister made just a tokenreference to it, reciting linesfrom a poem by PanditDinanath Kaul. This is a mock-ery of the people of Jammu andKashmir, who cannot even hearthe FM because of the commu-nications blockade still pre-sent in many parts of the region.Of course, she convenientlyomitted his full name, which isPandit Dinanath Kaul ‘Nadim.’Clearly, the honorific waspolitically inconvenient.

With the Budget’s focus onwealth creation and a “caringsociety” and “Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas,”the question remains forwhom? According to lastmonth’s Oxfam report, the topone per cent richest people in

India owns 42 per cent of thewealth of the nation, which ismore than four times the wealthof the bottom 70 per cent. Therhetoric of compassion andcaring has no real world impli-cations as the BJP has launcheda campaign of vitriol againstpeaceful anti-CAA protestors,often provoking violenceagainst them.

The Indian economy isdemand-constrained andinvestment-starved. The FMhas not acknowledged thesetwo challenges. Consequently,she has proposed no measuresor solutions to those two chal-lenges. If the twin obstaclesremain, the economy will notturn around and there will beno relief to the millions ofpoor and the middle class. Thisgovernment has done nothingto get us out of the financial cri-sis we are in. Our past trackrecord with this governmentshows it failed miserably onattaining any key targets —nominal GDP growth, fiscaldeficit, net tax revenue collec-tion, disinvestment revenue ortotal expenditure. What is theassurance that it will meet thetargets set for 2020-21? It lookslike the FM has outright reject-ed every reform idea containedin the Economic Survey.

(The author is nationalspokesman, Congress)

Just as we are left confused as to whetherthe Budget is a vision document meantfor a conclave or indeed about fund allo-

cations for sectoral growth, many would findthe announcements and the length devoted onthe social sector encouraging. But just as weare finding the god of deliverance in the smallthings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanoffered some to both the health and educa-tion sectors, albeit in the nature of a summa-ry dole than pondering on the practicalities ofimplementation. She announced an outlay of

`69,000 crore for healthcare, up from `62,398 crore last year and still short ofthe 2.5 per cent of the GDP promised by the Government. This is way off the`1,50,000 crore that health industry bigwigs had sought to drive the sector for-ward. And way lesser than what other emerging economies, BRICS and evenAfghanistan and Nepal are spending. For a nation that has an increasing diseaseburden and a rapidly ageing population, a fact we disregard as we obsess overour young productive age group, there is no major policy overhaul that is indi-cated. That probably has got to do with the fact the Ayushman Bharat Yojna,which provides a cover of up to `5 lakh per poor family, has yet to overcomehurdles of execution. Private hospitals are yet to rationalise their packages withthe subsidised costs and at the micro-level are turning away applicants who donot understand the fine print of medical conditions and what makes them eligi-ble for entitlement and what not. There’s a question hovering over the numberof marginalised people it has managed to shield. So the Government has playedsafe by just apportioning a part of the total allocation, ̀ 6,400 crore, for the scheme.Instead, it would have been far more prudent for the Government to route somefunds to smaller hospitals in Tier II and III cities and net them in as providers ofAyushman Bharat. Of course, the Government has been responsive in address-ing the gaps in the public health delivery system by provisioning for local med-ical colleges to be attached to district district hospitals in the private-public part-nership (PPP) mode, with some exemptions on land to be acquired for this pur-pose. The FM also announced a special bridge course for medicare profession-als. India’s doctor to patient ratio is 1:1,445, against the WHO benchmark of1:1,000. Duties on imports and special incentives for using medical devices “MadeIn India” may sound good but what really needs to be addressed are their qual-ity and standardisation. Neither is there any mention of insurance, which expertshave been suggesting should be tiered, for employees, the self-employed andelders, and backing them up with increased tax deductions.

The FM has allocated ` 99,300 crore to the education sector, `3,000 crorefor skill development and even proposed FDIs. Clearly responding to criticismthat our teaching modules fall way behind employability indices, she has announcedapprenticeships at 150 higher education institutions and urban local bodies. Thedegree-level online education programmes to be offered by 100 top institutionswould work only in terms of outreach at best. But what our education sectorreally needs is standardisation, quality and dynamic evolution of teaching sys-tems. Some reports say that 63 per cent of school students will be unemploy-able when the fourth industrial revolution takes place and our universities, exceptIITs, do not even make it to the global top 100 list. Without a result-oriented revamp,the social sector allocations end up being plain vacuous.

The Bombay Stock Exchange droppednearly 1000 points a couple of hours afterFinance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman

finished delivering her Budget speech. As faras percentage drops go, there have been worsesingle-day collapses in the Indian capital mar-kets but this time even corporate titans andfinancial experts were far from divided on theBudget. There was a universal feeling that ithad missed the opportunity for big bang struc-tural reforms that could have given a senseof direction and purpose to the economy. Of

particular irritation was the sense that the Government did not acknowledge thatIndia is in the midst of an economic crisis and it was telling to hear even talkingheads sympathetic to the government feeling a bit down after the speech. Andwhat a speech it was; even with the standard deduction for couplets by classi-cal poets, it was just short of three hours. Possibly that was the biggest disap-pointment with the Budget, a lot of talk but not all that much action. The head-line that almost everyone will concentrate on is the rejig in personal income taxes,a slight reduction in income tax slabs which will help those Indians who earnless than `15 lakh a year. But there is a massive rider there, the old income taxregime remains because the new tax slabs allow for fewer exemptions. So effec-tively, older taxpayers who make tax-linked investments will most likely not shiftaway from the existing tax regime. In fact, while the FM spoke about “simplifi-cation” of the income tax system, it is likely that most taxpayers, other than thosein the lower slabs, will have to sit down with professionals and work out howbest to structure their taxes. The Government has long spoken about the needto rationalise income taxes and reduce exemptions and that is an achievable ideal.If that needed to be done, a more radical change in tax slabs would have beenin order than having a confusing and parallel income tax system in place. Removingexemptions, including most under Section 80, medical insurance and house rentallowance among others, will almost ensure that few, if any, Indian tax payerswill move to the new regime. That said, the abolishing of dividend distributiontax is a net positive for investors, albeit resident Indian promoters and high net-worth individuals might be desperately unhappy as their dividends will now betaxed at their regular tax rates. Then there is the fiscal deficit, with several eco-nomic experts openly questioning the Government’s maths. It is very possiblethat it can mop up funds from divesting its share in several public sector units.The FM said that the Government would divest a portion of its holding in LifeInsurance Company of India (LIC) but given that the overall disinvestment processhas been haphazard under the Narendra Modi government, there are open ques-tions about how this will be done.

While negativity will take us nowhere, this is the first budget in several yearswhere Indian industry has been so highly critical of the Government. Of course,several industrialists and bankers realise that Sitharaman has to walk a tightropebetween maintaining fiscal prudence and the profligacy of overspending. The lat-ter has been relatively constrained. There are some interesting new spends suchas investment in clean air, which are welcome. However, as we close the chap-ter on yet another budget, there is this overwhelming sense that this could havebeen so much more. This is not just a bad budget, it is a disappointing one.

A road to nowhere

Create opportunities

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Indians at the fore” (February1). There is no dearth of corpo-rate professionals who bring lau-rels to India by getting the mostcoveted positions in their respec-tive organisations. Microsoft,Google and IBM are the top-notch IT organisations of theworld and heading them is adream and honour for any pro-fessional. Arvind Krishnadeserves all the credit for reach-ing this position. But, as rightlymentioned in your editorial, thereis a flip side to this issue as well.Because we have been talkingabout brain drain for long. As acountry, we have not been able tocreate a necessary ecosystem forIndian companies to transform toanother level so that they competewith global counterparts and cre-ate an environment for youngprofessionals to flourish andprogress in India rather thanthinking about going to the USAor the UK.

Nothing but the pathetic edu-cation system of the country is tobe blamed for this. Apart from afew IITs, which still manage toappear in the ranks of top glob-

al institutions, we have nothingworthwhile to offer to our youthin terms of world-class educationthat fosters innovation, criticalthinking and leadership qualities.

Every now and then IndiaInc. complains about the poor

standard of graduates coming outof our universities and theirunemployability.

However, no one seems to lis-ten to their voice and address thiscore issue. The need of the houris regular and close interaction

between global organisations andall top 100 colleges in the coun-try so that the quality of educa-tion can be improved manifold.

Bal GovindNoida

Motormouth Thakur

Sir — This refers to the ElectionCommission (EC) barring BJPMinister Anurag Thakur fromaddressing any election rally forthree days after he delivered a hatespeech recently.

First, is this enough? We havea procedure laid down by the lawunder which he should be put ontrial. But we are still waiting for thatto happen. Expecting some boldsteps from the current EC wouldbe a waste of time. None in thatdepartment deserve to be a succes-sor of the late TN Seshan. The pre-sent dispensation has got a lot ofmotormouths who spew venomwhenever they get a chance.Worryingly, Thakur is also a partof the Sikh Regiment of theTerritorial Army and serves in thecapacity of a Lieutenant. Hatespeeches are a recipe for mutinyand they aren’t good for the integri-ty of the forces. Stripping Thakurof his rank would be the apt pun-ishment and shall send the rightsignals across all quarters.

DS Thukral Ambala

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

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

op nionVIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020

06

No growth in this story

GOURAV VALLABH

The Indian economy is demand-constrained and investment-starved. The FM has not acknowledged these two challenges

The Government is ready totalk to protesters ofShaheen Bagh but it shouldbe in a structured form. Toclear their doubts on CAA.

Union Minister—Ravi Shankar Prasad

When I decide to wear an outfit, I’m not really nervousbecause when I walk out ofthe door, I’m secure. I don’tlike wardrobe malfunction!

Actor—Priyanka Chopra Jonas

If you ask if I would have beenable to make Haider today,then I would be lying. All thatis happening in the country issad and pains Indians.

Film director—Vishal Bhardwaj

S O U N D B I T E

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

BJP must dissuade its followers from violence

The chilling words “kisko chahiye aazadi, mai doongaaazadi (who wants freedom, I shall give freedom)”shouted by the assailant, moments before shooting at

the peaceful anti-CAA march in Delhi, and “Shaheen Baghkhel khatam (The game is over for Shaheen Bagh)” post-ed on his Facebook page, revealed the teenager’s identity,indoctrination and intention. The appalling incident appearedto be a corollary of the chant of “desh ke gaddaron ko, golimaaro sa***n ko (shoot the traitors)” at a BJP rally andan inspired attack to intimidate the anti-CAA protesters tocall off the stir. We quite understand the adversarial natureof two opposing forces representing Hindutva and secular-ism in the political arena. But we are perturbed at the callto violence and its actualisation as witnessed with frighten-ing vividness in Delhi. The Hindu Mahasabha has hailed theattacker as a “national hero” and expressed its wish to “hon-our” him. Perhaps the Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawatwould like to put the attacker in a de-radicalisation camp.

The subtext is that the current national crisis stems fromHindu revivalism, with religious profiling as a tool to targeta section of the population, becoming the order of the day.The crux of the matter is that the BJP categorises peopleas “us-and-them” on the basis of religion. It is their sec-ond nature to do so. Zealots are consumed with hatred, afailure of imagination and do not accept compatriots as such,

irrespective of religion. Religious hatred is calamitous andmust be an anathema to our great nation.

The ruling elite arrogate to themselves the right to define“treason” and “patriotism” and decide “who is a traitor” and“who is a patriot.” The Jamia shooting should be a wake-up call for the BJP to dissuade its supporters from violence.No nation divided against itself can realise its full potential.We are all obliged to be truly secular and altruistic so thatwe, who make up the mass of humanity in this beautifulcountry, can live in peace and prosper. Our prayer and hopeis that the youth will save the country from going the Syrianor Rwanda way.

David Milton Maruthancode

THE BUDGET HASCONFUSED

EVERYBODY WITH MULTIPLE

THEMES,SEGMENTS ANDPROGRAMMES.

ONGOINGPROGRAMMES

HAVE FAILED BUTSTILL THIS

GOVERNMENT ISTHROWING MORE

(AND IN SOMECASES LESS)MONEY INTO

THEM. WILL THATCHANGE

ANYTHING?

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Social message

I have served in variouscapacities for India and mostimportantly I am stillinvolved with the game. Wewill look to do an honest job.

Former cricketer—Madan Lal

Some lower rate income taxpayers might be happy but whatelse exactly did this budget achieve? Nothing really

Without a result-oriented revamp, the social sectorallocations end up being plain vacuous

Long on vision, short on means

THE UNION BUDGET GIVES THE OUTLINE OF A NEWAND CONFIDENT INDIA; IT WILL MAKE COUNTRY

HEALTHY AND WEALTHY IN COMING YEARS.—DEFENCE MINISTER

RAJNATH SINGH

IT (THE BUDGET) DESCRIBES THE GOVERNMENTWELL, LOT OF REPETITION, RAMBLING. ALL TALKBUT NOTHING HAPPENING FOR CITIZENS.—CONGRESS LEADERRAHUL GANDHI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The Union Budget for 2020-21 presented to theParliament by Finance Minister (FM) NirmalaSitharaman on February 1 confirms apprehen-

sions that the actual fiscal deficit (FD) for 2019-20would exceed the Budget Estimate (BE) by a signif-icant margin. Sitharaman puts it at 3.8 per cent ofthe GDP against the target of 3.3 per cent. However,she has justified this deviation in terms of the rec-ommendation of the NK Singh Committee onreview of the Fiscal Responsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Act, 2003 which permitsbreach of the target in case of “far-reaching struc-tural reforms with unanticipated fiscal implications.”

For 2020-21, the FM has provided for a FD of3.5 per cent as against 3.0 per cent as stipulated underthe FRBM Act. Here also, she has justified the devi-ation of five per cent in terms of the “unanticipat-ed fiscal implications”. One wonders whether thiscould be a credible justification considering that thereis no major announcement in the Budget whichcould qualify in the category of structural reforms.

However, she has candidly acknowledged theexistence of so-called off-budget liabilities and extra-budgetary resources (EBRs) — a euphemism for bor-rowings by agencies and PSUs made on behalf ofthe Government — and mentioned these in anannexure. She has also stated that it is the respon-sibility of the Government to service these liabili-ties. Having done so, logically these should have beenbrought on to the balance sheet and accordingly,revised the FD upward. In essence, the projectedhealth of the Budget continues to be misleading.

The credibility of the fiscal consolidation glidepath has been dented, which is also reflected in theSensex declining by over 1,000 points or 2.5 per cent.Going through an unusually lengthy speech, one failsto come across any major reform measure that wouldeither have the effect of bringing about drastic reduc-tion in any of the major subsidies viz. food, fertilis-ers, fuel, electricity and so on or indicative of anymajor dilution in Government intervention or boostto market forces (as alluded to in the EconomicSurvey: 2019-20).

Even as the Budget is replete with welfareschemes being implemented under the DirectBenefit Transfer (DBT) mode to prevent pilferage,there is no mention of implementing DBT in theabove-mentioned areas wherein subsidies guzzleover `300,000 crore every year. The recommenda-tion of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) forattempting some reduction in food subsidy by lim-iting coverage (over 800 million people are coveredunder the National Food Security Act (NFSA)) andincrease in the issue price — currently `1/2/3 perkg for coarse cereals, wheat and rice — remainsunheeded.

In electricity, the proposal for smart meters, pre-paid meters and giving choice to consumers tochoose their suppliers as a way forward to addressthe issues facing power distribution companies(PDCs) does nothing to deal with fundamental ail-ments afflicting the sector. These arise due to sup-ply of electricity to a certain category of consumersviz. poor households and farmers either at a frac-tion of the cost of purchase and distribution or evenfree; large-scale theft (very often abetted by politi-cal brass) and inflated tariff allowed to generatorsunder power purchase agreements (PPAs). Onewonders whether these would be addressed underNew Tariff Policy (NTP).

In this backdrop, the proposal to allow a lower

corporate tax rate of 15 per cent to exist-ing power generation companies on parwith that applicable to new enterprises(this was announced under the packageof steep reduction in the corporate tax lastyear) will be of no consequence. A con-cession in tax rate helps only when thegenerator makes profit. But in a situationwherein it does not even get paid for itssupplies (courtesy, mess in discoms), thiswon’t be of any use.

Meanwhile, the FM has revealed theGovernment’s decision to accept theinterim recommendations of the 15thFinance Commission (FC) for 2020-21.This may not be good news for the Statesalready facing stress on their balance sheets(due to shortfall in their own revenue andpending dues from the Centre under theGST) as the FC has recommended a sig-nificant cut in devolution of Central taxeseven while proposing greater help throughgrant-in-aid. The Budget talks about giv-ing a big boost to the agriculture and ruralsector and reiterates the Government’soverarching commitment to doublingfarmers’ income by 2022.

A number of innovative steps are sug-gested under a 16-point agenda — com-prehensively covering almost every areathat has an impact on farmers’ ability toincrease income. These cover inter aliaadoption of flexible laws in sync with themodel legislations passed by the Centre,creation of warehousing and cold storagefacilities in the supply chain (including atthe village level), setting up of solarpower units on barren land, plan for useof proper manure (reducing dependenceon chemical fertilisers) and minimisinguse of water, strengthening and expand-ing scope of Farmers ProducersOrganisations (FPOs) to include fisheries,increase in credit availability, increase inpiped water supply to all households andso on. Agriculture being a Concurrentsubject under the Constitution, all of theabove is sought to be achieved by givingincentives to the States plus involvement

of agencies like the Central WarehousingCorporation (CWC), Food Corporationof India (FCI), viability gap funding plusfinancial support from organisations likeNABARD (National Bank for Agricultureand Rural Development) and so on.

When viewed in the backdrop ofStates continuing with archaic laws suchas Agriculture Produce Market Committee(APMC) under which millions of farm-ers and even FPOs are held hostage topolitically-backed intermediaries/tradersat the mandis, these would remain as piousdeclarations as always in the past. Even so,the allocation for agriculture and alliedsectors and rural development at ̀ 283,000crore for 2020-21 is just about `23,000crore higher than the allocation for 2019-20 which is “modest” for the intendedgigantic transformation. Curiously, theprovision includes `60,000 crore for PM- KISAN which is essentially consumptionoriented; it can’t be deemed as augment-ing the income-raising ability of farmers.

The lack of demand and investmentare identified as two major constraints togrowth. Continuing with a spate of stim-ulants provided during August/September2019, this Budget has attempted to leaveextra money in the pockets of salary earn-ers by creating a highly differentiated slabstructure. Under the new scheme ofthings, the highest tax rate of 30 per centkicks in at an income of `15 lakh againstthe current threshold of `10 lakh. So, aperson earning `15 lakh will save about`75,000 (as per the FM’s calculation).

For the corporates, the dividend dis-tribution tax (DDT) has been abolished,sparing them the double whammy of tax-ing profit first at the distribution stage andthen in the recipient’s hand. The Budgetcontains a spate of concessions forMSMEs, start-ups, exporters and the realestate sector, given their importance fromthe perspective of employment generation.A number of innovative steps are envis-aged for MSMEs to help with the timelypayment of their dues from large enter-

prises and increase in financing (especial-ly through “invoice financing” by NBFCs).

The Budget reiterates theGovernment’s commitment to continuewith consolidation of public sector banks(PSBs), giving tax incentives under theirmergers and amalgamations, effectiveuse of the Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC) for recovery of NPAs, recap-italisation for adequate provisioning andcredit growth, improvement in the qual-ity of lending and so on.

There will also be greater focus oncontinuous monitoring of loans and cre-ation of a data bank to detect early signsof delinquency. The building of infrastruc-ture commensurate with making India a$5 trillion economy has received muchattention. A comprehensive roadmap forprojects to be taken up under the NationalInfrastructure Project (NIP) scheme is laidout. This is welcome but there remains abig question mark over funding it whichentails a mammoth investment of `100lakh crore over the next five years.

The Budget seeks to give a boost to“Make in India” with emphasis on consol-idating its lead in the digital revolution andpropping up industries involving labour-intensive technologies. However, from theway the FM has made changes in customsduties, it would appear that the ModiGovernment could be in for “over-protec-tionism.” This won’t be in the long-terminterest of India wanting to derive a goodslice of its growth potential from increas-ing participation in global trade.

The FM has attempted a detailedblueprint of what all needs to be done topursue the three themes viz. “AspirationalIndia”, “Economic Development”, “CaringSociety.” But, in the absence of credibleplans for arranging resources (withoutdestabilising the fiscal applecart) and gar-nering necessary political will for execu-tion, it is doubtful whether the results willmatch the intent.

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

The credibility of the fiscal consolidation glide path has been dented which is also reflectedin the Sensex falling by over 1,000 points after the Budget announcements

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

Marketing newperspectives

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

The overarching dominance of the PlanningCommission and then the NITI Aayog haveblurred the focus on regional development

UTTAM GUPTA

THE FM HASATTEMPTED A DETAILED

BLUEPRINT OFWHAT ALL NEEDS

TO BE DONE TOPURSUE THE

THREE THEMES VIZ.

‘ASPIRATIONALINDIA’,

‘ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT’

AND, ‘CARINGSOCIETY.’ BUT, INTHE ABSENCE OFCREDIBLE PLANSFOR ARRANGING

RESOURCES(WITHOUT

DESTABILISINGTHE FISCAL

APPLECART) ANDGARNERINGNECESSARY

POLITICAL WILLFOR EXECUTION,IT IS DOUBTFUL

WHETHER THERESULTS WILL

MATCH THEINTENT

The change in nature of markets has created several universes with-in its fold, so as to almost require an interpreter to talk from onesegment to another. Yet in a country like India, all marketing instru-

mentalities, from hawking to internet communication, seem relevant. Theirpertinence in the social segment in which they operate determines therobustness of that economy. Each segment has its own significance andit determines to a large extent the prosperity of the region where it oper-ates. This economic growth is central to the community’s welfare becauselivelihoods depend on that. However, there remains a catch-22 situationas each marketing method in a socio-economic segment can and doesevolve. Leaving it frozen at a given level is unwise for the overall well-being of that division. Nature, being what it is, will induce change andits own evolution does not need a policy decision. But this progressionmay be slow and may be excluding migrant segments of that given eco-nomic division from returning to it for their livelihood and with a level ofcomfort. Thus it is that remaining migrant groups are reluctant to go backto where they originated from and settle down where they have movedto. Thereby they almost delink themselves from the base communityfrom which they emerged. Marketing methods are a major determinantof this process.

Just as it is difficult to visualise a so-called avant-garde marketingmethod in a remote village cluster which does not even have proper ameni-ties for food and shelter, so also the marketing methods have to be atpeace with lifestyles and communities. The catch-22 referred to above,can be worked out by resolving this dilemma. Instruments of changehave to carry out the upgradation of the affected communities withoutdisrupting their livelihoods. This requires thought and proactive designsof intervention. Unfortunately this is a perspective which many socialinterventionists seem to miss altogether. The crescendo of modernisa-tion does not help the case of graduated and gradual change. Peopleoften mistake the toolkit for substance. In the course of participation inmany planning processes, it becomes evident that the interventionist par-adigm of the leader, especially if he is a powerful one, gets smootherendorsement with the powers that actually control that segment. Theresult is many square pegs in round holes. In view of the competitive-ness, India is often seen to adopt a method which appears prima-facieacceptable but undoable with immediate effect in many contexts in whichit is attempted.

India is not the only country where periodically such interventionshave been attempted in different pockets. Turkey, under Kemal Ataturk,attempted mediations which were not confined to economics and liveli-hood but also covered social engineering, where the national leader attempt-ed to catapult the country into European social norms from the moreconventional Middle Eastern ones. In many cases these intrusions didnot take root and created a self-defeating environment where social prac-tices lapsed into the original mould from where the political interventionhad sought to leverage the community. In-built levels and echelons ofhierarchy which were going to be affected by the changes, fought hardagainst them. It would be useful to remind ourselves that in a countryas large as ours, it is possible and even desirable to have a certain degreeof economic modeling, common at a pan-India level. At the same time,the economic diversities are so large that regional models of develop-ment will have to be crafted, evolved and practiced. Work in that direc-tion is yet to begin in earnest. The overarching dominance of the PlanningCommission and subsequently the NITI Aayog, coupled with the pen-chant of continuously highlighting emotive issues like caste, religion andlanguage, have blurred the focus on regional development. It is difficultto conceive how a river valley culture of say West Bengal could be thereceptacle of the same kind of economic philosophy which would workin the woodlands of Mizoram. The limited ability of economists to visu-alise a sociogram good enough for our agro-climatic realities and thewealth of soil and land, had high prices to pay. It is true that there areliterally millions of people below the poverty line but the definition of pover-ty line alone reflects an overarching emphasis on the monetised versionof economic development. There are substantial parts of India whereforest produces are the primary resource of livelihood and where themoney economy has still to make its entry in a significant enough man-ner to affect and create social interventions which result in positive change.

A window on the whole process can be created by extensive field-work in trying to understand what it is that moves livelihoods in a givenagro-climatic zone. The first step towards the initial documentation ofthe ground realities is to smoothen and strengthen the conventional processin a manner in which wastage is reduced, longevity of the products isincreased and the awareness of its availability is universalised in a rel-evant social segment where it can be bought. Socio-economic engineer-ing based on the fulcrum of the local productivity process can move theworld quicker. The lever has to be the intention and the will to give thisalternate economics, rooted in local conditions, a chance to prove itself.

(The writer is a well-known management consultant)

The biggest problem with thelongest Budget speech is therewas no comparative on alloca-

tions to any scheme with that of theprevious year. The Budget, which iscalled “Book of Accounts”, has nomeaning without numbers. Let’s try todecode the Budget on some hits andmostly misses.

The Government proposed newtax slabs for individuals. Old slabs andtax rates were as follows — ̀ 2.50 lakhat NIL, `2.50-5 lakh at five per cent,`5-10 lakh at 20 per cent above `10lakh at 30 per cent. But if you hadincome up to ̀ five lakh, then the taxwas zero through a rebate. The newslabs and rates proposed are as follows`2.50 lakh at NIL, ̀ 2.50-5 lakh at five

per cent, `5-7.5 lakh at 10 per cent,`7.5-10 lakh at15 per cent, ̀ 10-12.50lakh at 20 per cent, `12.50-15 lakh at25 per cent, above `15 lakh at 30 percent. But in the new regime, there areno exemptions and deductions. Thecommon man has an option of goingwith the old regime or switching overto the new one. Thus, every person hasto calculate his income in bothregimes and then choose one thatworks for him best. Thus, when theGovernment talks about simplificationof income tax laws and return filingmechanisms, such a tax regime justties us down to deeper complications.

In order to boost the manufactur-ing sector, new provisions were intro-duced in September 2019, offering aconcessional corporate tax rate of 15per cent to the newly-incorporateddomestic companies in the manufac-turing sector, which intend to roll outby March 31, 2023. This concession-al tax rate benefit of 15 per cent hasnow been extended to new domesticcompanies engaged in the generationof electricity. But is the power infra-structure ready?

This Budget allocates `22,000

crore for power, renewable energy sec-tor, discom reforms. Gas grid is pro-posed to be extended to 27,000 km(which is 16,000 km now) and gasprice discovery will also be reformed.The Budget also intends to promotesmart metering with all the State andUnion Territories to replace conven-tional electricity meters by pre-paidsmart meters in next three years. Pre-paid meters are against the vision ofthe Government. Taking electricity toevery household has been a majorpromise but now they are movingtowards pre-paid meters and privati-sation of electricity. In a country wheremany people are still below the pover-ty line pre-paid electricity meterswill make electricity a luxury itemwhereas it is a basic necessity.

The FM has proposed to sell thebalance Government holding in IDBIbank to private, retail and institution-al investors through the stockexchange. Certain specified categoriesof Government securities would beopened fully for non-residentinvestors, apart from being availableto domestic investors as well. TheGovernment now proposes to sell a

part of its holding in LIC by way ofInitial Public Offer (IPO), ostensiblyto keep it transparent. Sale of stake inLIC is a one-off event and it is impor-tant to note that on an ex-LIC basis,the fiscal deficit may be well above fourper cent next year. As LIC has stakesin almost every company in Indiawhether private or PSU, selling itsstake can also be termed against“national interest.” Already there ishuge stress on the economy and byselling stakes in LIC, one thing is clear.That the company that till now bailedout many PSUs will bail out theGovernment itself.

Any tax system requires trustbetween taxpayers and the adminis-tration. To improve trust between thetaxation department and the assessee,the Government will amend the pro-visions of the Income Tax Act to man-date the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) to adopt a Taxpayers’ Charter.This is a welcome step towardsenhancing investor confidence andtrust.

The zero-Budget natural farming,which was mentioned in the July 2019Budget, was explained further in this

Budget. Integrated farming systems inrain-fed areas will be expanded.Multi-tier cropping, bee-keeping,solar pumps, solar energy productionin non-cropping season will be added.The portal on “jaivikkheti” — onlinenational organic products market —will also be upgraded. The PM-KUSUM scheme to provide loans tofarmers for setting up stand-alonesolar pumps, will be expanded.Further it is also proposed to helpanother 15 lakh farmers solarise theirgrid-connected pump sets. In addi-tion, a scheme to enable farmers to setup solar power generation capacity ontheir fallow/barren lands and to sell itto the grid would be operationalised.

For the sector comprising agricul-ture and allied activities, irrigation andrural development, an allocation ofabout `2.83 lakh crore has beenmade for the year 2020-21. The prob-lem with such an approach is thatmost of it is just repackaging andrewording of existing schemes.

To connect farm with markets itis proposed that railways will intro-duce a Kisan Express and Ministry ofCivil Aviation will launch Krishi

Udaan to help farmers transport per-ishable goods quickly. The Kisan Railwill be set up through PPP arrange-ment to transport perishable goodsacross the country at a faster pace.Further the Railways will also buildcold supply chain for milk, meat andfish by setting up train services for thepurpose. However, an amount for thesame has not been allocated and theGovernment has simply expressed itsintent to move in this direction butdone nothing concrete.

To achieve the twin objectives ofgiving impetus to the domestic indus-try and also to generate resource forhealth services, the Budget imposes anominal health cess, by way of a dutyof customs, on imports of medicalequipment, keeping in view that thesegoods are now being made significant-ly in India. Further it is proposed thatthe proceeds from this cess shall beused for creating infrastructure forhealth services in the aspirational dis-tricts. Given the fact that the genericdrugs are yet to take off and patienttrust is hard-earned, there is no men-tion of how India-made equipmentcan be pushed in terms of quality and

volumes. To achieve higher export credit

disbursement, a new scheme,NIRVIK, is being launched, whichprovides for higher insurance cover-age, reduction in premium for smallexporters and simplified procedure forclaim settlements.

The best thing about this schemeis that it proposes to digitally refundto exporters, duties and taxes leviedat the Central, State and local levels,such as electricity duties and VAT onfuel used for transportation, which arenot getting exempted or refundedunder any other existing mechanism.Electricity Duty and VAT onPetroleum goods constitutes substan-tial part of costs.

This Budget is full of promiseswith dreams for the future. But howthese dreams will be achieved has notbeen explained. Also, allocations andnumbers don’t synchronise with theprojections. This Government keepson talking of long-term solutions forevery problem but should we allstarve and wait in the short-term?

(The writer is an author and GSTand economics specialist)

No statement of accounts from the FMAllocations and numbers don’t synchronise with the projections. This Government keeps on talking of long-term solutions

for every problem but should we all starve and wait in the short-term?

ABHISHEK RAJA

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Hyundai to unveilall new Creta,Tuscon at Auto ExpoNEW DELHI: Hyundai MotorIndia plans to showcase arange of products and futuretechnologies, including the allnew Creta and updatedversion of Tuscon, at theupcoming Auto Expo. The2020 Tuscon will be unveiledon February 5, while the newgeneration Creta will debut aday later on February 6,Hyundai Motor India Ltd(HMIL) said in a statement.The company will showcase13 exciting cars and futureready technologies andconcepts under the theme'Freedom in Future Mobility', itsaid. "Hyundai as a customercentric organisation willshowcase the technologyprowess...and unveil theupcoming trendsetter SUV'sfor the Indian market," HMILMD and CEO S S Kim said.The company has also plansto showcase Kona Electricalong with NEXO FCEV at thebiennial event, which will beheld from February 5 toFebruary 12 at Greater Noida.

Urus to drive future growth ofLamborghini in IndiaNEW DELHI: Italian supersports car maker Lamborghiniexpects its premium luxurySUV Urus to drive futuregrowth in India with themodel accounting for 50 percent of its sales in thecountry, a senior companyofficial said. The company,which delivered its 50th Urusin India last year, has aneight-month waiting period onthe model at present. "Urus isplaying a big role and iscontributing 50 per cent ofour business. Order bank isstill very healthy for the car,"Lamborghini India HeadSharad Agarwal told PTI.He further said, "Our future

growth in India will also belargely driven by Urus whilesportscar will remain at thecore of our operations."

ONGC, IOC, otheroil PSUs to investRs 98,521 crNEW DELHI: ONGC, IOC andother oil PSUs will invest overRs 98,521 crore in thecoming fiscal starting April 1in exploring for oil and gas,refineries, petrochemicals andlaying pipelines to meetneeds of the world's fastest-growing energy consumingnation.The investment proposed in2020-21 is almost 4 per centhigher than Rs 94,974 crorespending by the state-ownedoil firms in the current fiscalyear that ends on March 31,according to Budget 2020-21documents. Oil and NaturalGas Corp (ONGC) leads thepack with a 19 per cent rise inits capital spending at Rs32,501 crore. The company isinvesting in finding newreserves of oil and gas andbringing to productiondiscoveries it has alreadymade. It is developingdiscoveries on both east andwest coast of the country.

New debt-based ETFwithin this quarterPNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sunday saidsecond tranche of debt-basedexchange traded fund (ETF) islikely in the current quarter.

Sitharaman in her secondbudget on Saturday proposedto deepen the bond market andannounced floating of a newdebt ETF comprising primar-ily of government securities.

The first bond ETF launchedrecently was a great success.

"Debt-based exchange trad-ed fund (ETF) recently put outby the government was a bigsuccess. Government propos-es to extend this by floating anew debt ETF consisting pri-marily of government securi-ties. This will give retail

investor access to governmentsecurity as much as giving anattractive investment for pen-sion funds and long-terminvestors," she had said onSaturday.

On Sunday, she said the sec-ond tranche of Bond ETF is like-

ly within the current quarter.The Cabinet gave the

approval to launch BharatBond Exchange Traded Fundor Bharat Bond ETF inDecember 2019. It was the firstcorporate bond ETF launchedin India.

‘LIC IPO may come in 2nd half of FY21’PNS n NEW DELHI

Listing of insurance behemothLife Insurance Corporation(LIC) may be done in the sec-ond half of the next financialyear, Finance Secretary RajivKumar said on Sunday.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman while presentingthe Budget 2020-21 onSaturday announced stake salein LIC through an initial pub-lic offer in the next fiscal.

There are a number ofprocesses which have to be fol-lowed for the listing and somelegislative changes would alsobe required for the listing ofLIC, Kumar said.

"We will follow the extantprocedure for listing and forother things including the leg-islative changes it requires inconsultation with the Ministryof Law and that process wealready started ... listing in thesecond half of FY21 seems log-ical," he said.

Listing of LIC will bring ingreater transparency, publicparticipation and also deepenthe equity market, he told PTIin an interaction.

Asked about the quan-tum of dilution,Kumar said, it couldbe 10 per cent butno decision hasbeen taken so far.

The governmentaims to garner Rs90,000 crore from thelisting of LIC and stakedilution in IDBI Bank in thenext fiscal out of total disin-vestment target of Rs 2.10lakh crore.

The government currentlyowns 100 per cent in LIC,

while it holds around a 46.5per cent stake in IDBI Bank.

"Listing of companieson stock exchanges

discipline a compa-ny and providesaccess to financialmarkets andunlocks its value. It

also gives opportu-nity for retail

investors to participatein the wealth so created. Thegovernment now proposes tosell a part of its holding in LICby way of Initial Public Offer(IPO)," the Finance Ministerhad said in her Budget speech.

Market participants arequite bullish about LIC andsaid it could be "IPO of thedecade" akin to the SaudiAramco listing.

The 60-year-old state-owned firm, LIC, is the coun-try's largest insurer, controllingmore than 70 per cent of themarket share. The insurer hasa market share of 76.28 percent in number of policiesand 71 per cent in first-yearpremiums.

LIC has many subsidiariesincluding IDBI Bank. Itacquired controlling stake inIDBI Bank last year.

There are a number of processeswhich have to be followed for thelisting and some legislative changeswould also be required for the listingof LIC, Kumar said

India's coalimport rises8% to 186 MTin Apr-DecPNS n NEW DELHI

India's coal import increasedby 7.6 per cent to 185.88 mil-lion tonnes (MT) in theApril-December period ofthe current fiscal.

Coal imports in Decemberrose by 13.3 per cent to 20.52MT compared to 18.10 MTin the year-ago month,according to provisional databy mjunction services.

Non-coking coal importswere at 14.21 MT inDecember 2019 against 12.5MT in December 2018.Coking coal imports were at4.47 MT against 3.76 MTimported in December 2018.

"There was slight uptick inimport activities during themonth, thanks to the recov-ery in steel prices and steadydemand from sectors likecement and sponge iron,"mjunction MD and CEOVinaya Varma said.

Going forward, importdemand may subside a littledue to current volatility innon-coking coal prices andincreased supply of coal fromdomestic sources, he said.

mjunction -- a joint ven-ture between Tata Steel andSAIL -- is a B2B e-com-merce company and alsopublishes research reportson coal and steel verticals.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Medical TechnologyAssociation of India (MTaI),that represents mainlyresearch-based medical tech-nology companies, has saidthe cess imposed by the gov-ernment on medical deviceswill lead to increase in cost ofimported products and reduceaffordability of healthcare.

This is against the basicethos of Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana (PMJAY)wherein government wants toprovide affordable healthcarefor all, MTaI said.

"A 5 per cent cess on customduties for import has beenimposed on medical devices inthe budget which will increase

the cost of the imported med-ical devices. Ultimately patientswill bear this cost and afford-ability will decrease," MTaIDirector Sanjay Bhutani said ina statement.

This is a retrograde measureand goes against global com-panies which provide morethan 80 per cent of critical caremedical devices as well as thepatient who gets exposed to thedanger of smuggling of theselow bulk and high valuedevices, without service & legalguarantees from neighbour-ing countries where the tariffsare already lower, he added.

"The domestic self-suffi-ciency argument of the gov-ernment also needs to be takenwith a grain of salt. We do hope

the government has not lookedat the classes of products, onwhich it plans to impose thiscess, monolithically. As manysub categories of these classeswould not be manufactured in

India at all," Bhutani said.Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman on Saturday pro-posed to impose a nominalhealth cess on import of med-ical equipment to boost domes-

tic medical devices sector andgenerate resources for healthservices.

"To achieve the twin objec-tives of giving impetus to thedomestic industry and also togenerate resource for healthservices, I propose to impose anominal health cess, by way ofa duty of customs, on theimports of medical equipmentkeeping in view that these goodsare now being made significantlyin India," Sitharaman said.

The Association of IndianMedical Device Industry(AiMeD) also expressed dis-appointment and anguish overthe Union Budget giving coldshoulder again to Indian med-ical device industry.

"This year FM announcestaxation will drive publichealthcare funding but the fineprint states it as cess so if dutyon a device was 5 per cent itbecomes 5.25 per cent effec-tively. Only a meagre increase

of 0.25 per cent to protectdomestic manufacturing andmotivate traders to becomemanufacturers," AiMeD ForumCoordinator Rajiv Nath said.

AiMeD was expecting thegovernment to move forwardon promised reforms andanticipated conducive mea-sures to boost domestic man-ufacturing of medical devices,he added.

"It is frustrating that againstour expectations, the govern-ment has not included anymeasures to help end the 80-90per cent import dependenceforced upon us and an everincreasing import bill of overRs 38,837 crore and promotinggrowth of Indian medicaldevice industry," Nath said.

This is against the basic ethos of PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)wherein government wants to provideaffordable healthcare for all, MTaI said

Green certificatesales down 29pc to 5.7 lakhPNS n NEW DELHI

Sales of renewable energycertificates declined by 29 percent to 5.7 lakh units inJanuary compared to 8.05lakh in the same month ayear ago due to lower supply,according to official data.

A total of 3.63 lakh RECswere traded on Indian EnergyExchange (IEX) in Januarycompared to 6.44 lakh in thesame month last year.

Power Exchange of India(PXIL) recorded sale of 2.07lakh RECs in the month against1.61 lakh in January 2019.

‘Direct tax collection target scaled down in budget’PNS n NEW DELHI

The direct tax collection targethas been downward revised toRs 11.80 lakh crore in theUnion Budget after making a"realistic assessment" of variouseconomic factors, a top gov-ernment official said.

The set target for revenuecollection (personal incometax, corporate tax and others)was Rs 13.35 lakh crore for the2019-20 financial year thatends on March 31.

"Those (earlier) estimateshave been revised in the bud-get and our new target wouldbe about Rs 11.80 lakh crorewhich I am pretty confidentthat we will achieve it," CBDTChairman P C Mody told PTIin a post-budget interview.

Asked about the reasons for

the recalibration of the target,Mody said, "It was just a real-istic assessment of what isachievable and also it has to betaken into account that wehave had a lot of revenue for-gone."

The revenue foregone isessentially on two accounts -huge refunds issued and cut incorporate tax. "It is a realisticassessment of the whole system."

The Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) is the policy-making body for the Income

Tax Department that collectsrevenue for the governmentunder the direct taxes category.

Mody said the I-TDepartment has mopped upabout Rs 7.40 lakh tax in thegovernment kitty so far.

"We are very very hopeful (ofachieving the revised target)because past experienceshows that the last quarter(January-March) is theperiod when the max-imum revenue comesin."

New I-T slabsTalking about the new per-

sonal income tax regime andslabs proposed by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman inher budget speech on Saturday,the CBDT chairman said the aimof the government is to "give ben-

efit of lower taxes to bothcorporates and indi-viduals".

This starts frombasic government

policy to phase out deductionsand exemptions, he said.

"First this was attemptedwhen we tried to lower the cor-porate rate tax (last year). Thistime (personal income tax), ithas been provided that you canavail the new tax structure rateonly if you forego deductionsor exemptions." Mody said itwas thought that when themoney is in the hands of tax-payers, they will be better judgeas to what tax saving instrumentwould they like to put theirmoney in rather than "inducedsaving" which may not fetchthem the required rate of return.

So, we are not trying to putany kind of direction in theinvestment behaviour of tax-payer, we just want our taxstructure to be straight andeasy to comply with, he said.

It was just a realistic assessment ofwhat is achievable and also it hasto be taken into account that we

have had a lot of revenue forgoneP C MODY, CBDT Chairman

PNS n NEW DELHI

Foreign investors have pumpedin more than Rs 12,000 crorein stock markets in January,remaining net buyers of Indianequities for the fifth consecu-tive month helped by easingconcerns pertaining to geopo-litical tension between the USand Iran coupled with US-China trade war.

In the equities segment,FPIs invested Rs 7,547.8 crorein September, Rs 12,367.9crore in October, Rs 25,230.6crore in November and Rs7,338.4 crore in December.

According to depositoriesdata, a net sum of Rs 12,122crore was pumped into equi-ties last month by foreignportfolio investors (FPIs).

However, a net amount ofRs 11,119 crore was with-drawn from the debt segmentduring the same period. Thistranslated into a net invest-ment of Rs 1,003 crore.

"Starting off on a ratherplacid note on account of brew-ing geopolitical tension betweenthe US and Iran and fast chang-ing trend with regards to theUS-China trade war, FPIsregained their risk appetite asthese concerns started to wane,"said Himanshu Srivastava,senior analyst manager researchat Morningstar InvestmentAdviser India.

MSME Ministryallocated Rs 7,572 cr inBudgetPNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Budget 2020-21 hasearmarked an all-time highallocation of Rs 7,572.20 crorefor the Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterpriseswhile announcing a string ofinitiatives for the sector includ-ing raising the turnover thresh-old for audit of their accountsto Rs 5 crore and a scheme toprovide subordinate debt toMSME entrepreneurs.

The flagship employmentgeneration scheme of the min-istry, PM EmploymentGeneration Programme, has gotan all-time high allocation of Rs2,500 crore for generating self-employment opportunitiesthrough establishment of micro-enterprises in non-farm sector byhelping traditional artisans andrural/urban unemployed youth.

"Currently, only business-es having a turnover of morethan Rs 1 crore are requiredto get their books of accountsaudited by an accountant. Inorder to reduce complianceburden on small retailers,traders, shopkeepers whocomprise the MSME sector, Ipropose to raise by five timesthe turnover threshold foraudit from the existing Rs 1crore to 5 crore," FinanceMinister said while present-ing the Budget in Parliamenton Saturday.

FPIs remain net buyersin Jan; invest Rs 12,000 cr in equities

In the equitiessegment, FPIsinvested Rs7,547.8 crore inSeptember, Rs12,367.9 crore inOctober, Rs25,230.6 crore inNovember and Rs7,338.4 crore inDecember

Seven of top 10 firms suffercombined loss of Rs 1.89L crPNS n NEW DELHI

Seven of the 10 most valuedcompanies suffered a com-bined loss of Rs 1.89 lakh crorein market valuation last week,led by Reliance Industrieswhich alone took a hit of Rs87,732.8 crore.

The 30-share BSE Sensexplummeted by 1,877.66 pointsto close below the key 40,000-mark at 39,735.53 last week.

RIL's valuation tumbled Rs87,732.8 crore to reach Rs8,76,906.57 crore. The marketcapitalisation (m-cap) of HDFCplummeted Rs 31,148.4 crore toRs 3,92,618.14 crore and that ofHDFC Bank by Rs 24,736 croreto Rs 6,56,888.50 crore.

The m-cap of ICICI Bank

dropped Rs 19,044.7 crore toRs 3,26,410.37 crore and thatof SBI cracked Rs 18,652.4crore to Rs 2,70,549.60 crore.

The valuation of TataConsultancy Services (TCS)declined Rs 7,317.15 crore toRs 8,12,428.81 crore and thatof Infosys dipped Rs 1,149.83crore to Rs 3,32,280.10 crore.

In contrast, Bharti Airtelwhich made its entry into thetop-10 list, added Rs 2,392.15crore to Rs 2,71,332.15 crorein its valuation.

Kotak Mahindra Bank's val-uation rose by Rs 1,182.02crore to Rs 3,15,346.61 croreand that of HindustanUnilever Limited (HUL)gained Rs 119.07 crore to Rs4,48,895.43 crore.

Amazon, Flipkart may approach govt for clarityBUDGET PROPOSAL

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amazon India and Flipkart arestudying the Budget proposalon levy of one per cent TDS,and may reach out to the gov-ernment for clarifications.

"We are studying the details,and will reach out to the gov-ernment for clarifications. Wehope the tax regime is simpleand uniform so that millions ofsmall and medium businessescan go online, digitise theiroperations and continue tocontribute to growing theeconomy," an Amazon Indiaspokesperson said in responseto an e-mailed query.

Flipkart also said it wasgoing through the proposal.

"We are studying the details,

particularly how it impactsthe MSMEs and Sellers onour marketplace platform. Wewill discuss further with ourseller partners, and engagewith government and otherstakeholders in due course,"Flipkart said in its response.

The government onSaturday proposed a new levy

of 1 per cent TDS (tax deduct-ed at source) on e-commercetransactions, a move that couldincrease burden on sellers onsuch platforms.

"In order to widen and deep-en the tax net by bringing par-ticipants of e-commerce (sell-ers) within tax net, it is pro-posed to insert a new section

194-O in the Act so as to pro-vide for a new levy of TDS atthe rate of one per cent,"according to Budget 2020-21documents.

The amendments will takeeffect from April 1, 2020.

The documents said the e-commerce operator -- an enti-ty owning, operating or man-aging the digital platform --will have to deduct 1 per centTDS on the gross amount ofsales or service or both. Thisprovision will not apply incases where the seller's grossamount of sales during the pre-vious year through e-com-merce operator is less than Rs5 lakh and the seller has fur-nished his PAN or Aadhaarnumber.

We will discussfurther with ourseller partners, and

engage with governmentand other stakeholders indue course

—FLIPKART

Government proposesto extend this byfloating a new debt ETF

consisting primarily of governmentsecurities. This will give retailinvestor access to governmentsecurity as much as giving anattractive investment for pensionfunds and long-term investors

—NIRMALA SITHARAMANFinance Minister

‘Cess on imported medical devices will lead to cost escalation for patients

The celebrated BlendersPride Fashion Tour wentbeyond the conventionalramp walk to celebrate itsmilestone 15th edition andunveiled a breathtaking face

of fashion. The tour travelled to Hyd-erabad with acclaimed designer ManishMalhotra showcasing a distinctive‘identity’ through magnificent designs.To top it all, Kareena Kapoor Khan wasthe showstopper of the evening.

With pride as a meaningful expres-sion of success and individuality takingthe center-stage, this year was all aboutIndia and its indigenous craft, a blendof diverse influences, and a distinctiveidentity that was the canvas of expres-sion.

The tour included segments such asthe Collection Gallery, The Showcaseand Style Forum, each of which cele-brated a whole new facet of fashion. Anartistic display of 58 iconic pieces, TheCollection Gallery was spread over threezones — Craft, Blend and Identity —which included over 45 famed design-ers such as Abraham & Thakore, J.J.Valaya, Shantanu & Nikhil, GauravGupta, Wendell Rodricks and so on.

It was busy day at the HyderabadInternational Convention Centre onSaturday with eminent designers andcelebrities gracing the event and walk-ing the ramp.

A tour of the closet would take onethrough the luxurious wardrobedesigned by Manish Malhotra thatwere filled with soothing and aesthet-ic off-white clothing which had intri-

cate details with a modern and tradi-tional touch.

The event began with a tour of thestatic exhibition that showcased thework of the 45 designers followed by afashion show by newbie Sushant Abrol.His collection was called ‘Beyond theClouds’, which was inspired by the Ind-ian Army and dedicated to his brotherwho lost his life serving the country. Helikes to play with classic silhouettes withminimal technique in predominantlynatural textiles — linen, blends of cot-

ton and silk, and khadi cottons. A discussion by six panelists followed

the show and they spoke about theimportance of brand consistency andhow being relevant in the industry playsan important role. After a small meetand greet, came the big show — ManishMalhotra’s ‘My Identity My Pride’ -where models walked the ramp show-casing his latest wedding collection.Manish has gone for a subtle yet elegantlook with his collection this timearound. The event concluded with

showstoppers Kareena Kapoor Khanand Karthik Aryan taking to the ramp.It surely was an image etched in mem-ory as Kareena walked the ramp for thefirst time in Hyderabad and looked ele-gant in the MM label.

Ram Pothineni, Manchu Lakshmi,Lavanya Tripathi and Nidhi Agerwalwere among those present at the show.The fashion extravaganza will culminatein a larger-than-life finale, ‘The Prideof India’, in collaboration with FDCI, inMumbai with 15 eminent designers.

Q) Tell us about your new look forthis year?

A) It’s has been an iconic year sofar, as my collection and theBlender’s Pride Fashion Tour com-plete 15 years in the industry. This isthe spring summer destination wed-ding collection. The most interestingthing about this collection is thatthere are a lot of new designs inembroidery, from Kashmiri threadwork to other details.

Can you explain to us the themebehind your collection?

I think today’s bride is far moreexperimental, fearless and I think thebig trend in fashion this year is goingto be individuality. Women no longerfear wearing sneakers under theirlehenga or changing their dress with-in hours of the engagement. Every-one wants to try different things anddiscover themselves. That is what thecollection stands for. I am inspiredby architecture and the entire set forthe show is structural. We had twoyears of monochromatic visuals soyou’ll see a mix of various things.The sorbet colours too, in both theset and clothing, are celebral.

What is the significance of thetheme ‘My Identity, My Pride’?

I strongly believe in individualityand for people who make their ownpath. Coming into movies 30 yearsago and seeing the change in fashionin Indian movies was tough. I’mworking with a fourth generation ofactors now and writing a bookwhich will come out later this year.The last 30 years literally flew and Idon’t even remember what all I haddesigned. When I started with filmsI thought it was all about the moviesuntil I started a boutique. I lookback and feel that taking a chance,working hard not fearing failure istruly my identity and my pride. It’sabout the journey as a whole andhence it is the theme.

What was your thought behindyour make-up brand?

We launched our make-up branda year ago and it was a runaway suc-cess. In fact, I feel that I started thebrand quite late. I should’ve done itearlier. When I got into movies, Iwas the first person who startedquestioning the make-up that will gowith the dress. At that time no cos-

tume designer would bother withthe make-up. I remember tellingSridevi once about her hair; In onescene it was short and in the next itwas long. You need to have consis-tent hair, I had told her. Duringthe shooting of Gumra I took herto a stylist and got her wig cut toget that consistent look. Giving anidentity to the character is impor-tant. I’m very fond of make-up andstill feel it can make or break a look.

Can you share about yourHyderabad connect?

When I first came to the filmindustry in 1990, I used to come toHyderabad often as a lot ofBollywood films were being madehere. I love the city and still remem-ber going to a ‘Black Caddle café’and Banjara hotel. I metVijayashanti ji, Balakrishna garuand Chiranjeevi garu and I’mhappy that I was able to workwith them.

I remember while doing asong for Manisha Koirala, Iwould catch an early morningflight to Hyderabad fromBombay, go to Padmalayastudios, finish work andtake a flight back. I did thatfor four consecutive days.My association withHyderabad is almost 30-years-old.

From your 15 years ofMM label, is thereany collection youwould want torevive?

We did a lot ofFDCI shows inDelhi whereinthe entire collec-tion was onPhulkari. Thatcollection waspicked up by aPhiladelphiamuseum andwe recreated. Ido a lot of work inKashmir and thereis a skirt in today’scollection, whichis made out of allthe leftovers.

b

Today's bride is fearless,experimental: Manish

LUXURY, ELEGANCE AND BEAUTY

Q) Can you tell us about your associationwith Blenders Pride?

A) It is an absolute honour to be walk-ing the ramp here for the first time forBlenders Pride that too for their 15th

edition. I am very excited as it is thecombination of Manish and BP and with

also Manish being a dear friend of mine.We have worked together many times, beit fashion or films. I look forward for thiscollaboration.

What design elements of Manish canyou relate to with your per-sonal style?

Well, Manish is onefashion designer whounderstands thefashion dynamicsand the moviebusiness. It’s veryrare to f indsomeone whou n d e r s t a n d sboth movies andfashion. I thinkhe takes it to thenext level and that’s

where even his collec-tion is a mix and matchbetween contemporary andtradition. He is a master at this andI love all his work. He is somebody Ialways adore and someone who I takegreat pride in walking the ramp withhis work. He makes a woman lookvery ethereal and beautiful.

How do you see your fashionjourney in these 20 years?

Well, at least my hair is not goldanymore (laughs). If I look back

I will never do it anymore.

Speaking of fashion journey, I guess it’s aboutevolution and reinvention both in terms offashion and performance. Whether it’s myclothes, films or performance, I always makesure there is a relatability factor between theaudience and me. That’s how I choose myfilms too.

Can you take us through your look for theshow?

Its Manish, so I’m definitely going to lookfashionable (laughs). He is one of the most

glamorous Indian designers out there.Every look is nothing short of the

best.

How do you keep yourfitness and charm?

Fitness comes in whenyou want to feel good. Ifeel when you eat rightyou automatically feelgood from within.That’s one thing I do ona regular basis.

What do you like themost about Hyderabad? Is

there anything you wouldwant to take back?

I love the food here. The idlis,dosas and appams. I have been coming

here even before I became an actress as I usedto come here with Karishma during hershoots. I feel this a very clean city. In fact, Iwas observing the state of the roads on myway to the hotel from the airport and was veryimpressed. This is a spotless city and I feelvery comfortable here.

What is the difference you see between thecurrent generation actors and those of yourgeneration?

The current generation have it a lot easierthan us. Everybody is a celebrity in this gen-

eration. You just take one click andupload it on social media after adding

some filters and you become famouswithin no time. In today’s digital age,

everything is so fast. As far asactors are concerned, they areall supremely talented. They

are pretty fearless as actors now.

What is your go-to fashion style?I think I’m very casual. A t-shirt,

jeans and boots are something youwill always spot me in and I always live

in them.

What you thinkabout the theme ‘MyIdentity, My Pride’?

I feel great being associatedwith it. I think my pride is my

identity. The fact that my identity is that I am a workingmother and an independentwoman is something I take

great pride in.

Beckoning a new vision, Blenders Pride Fashion Tour 2019-20 arrives in Hyderabad, whereacclaimed designer Manish Malhotra showcases ‘My Identity, My Pride’ with Kareena KapoorKhan at her stylish best. K RAMYA SREE takes you through this milestone fashion show

In a quick interview with The Pioneer, Kareena and Manish shared tidbits about the BP fashion tour with K Ramya Sree

‘I take pride in being amodern working mother'

MondayFebruary 3, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Monday February 3, 2020 what’s brewing?

Jay-Z, KevinHart honourKobe Bryant

elebrities like Jay-Z and Kevin Hartpaid tribute to latebasketball starKobe Bryant at theFanatics Super

Bowl Party. On Saturday, several stars

attended the party here aheadof the 2020 Super Bowl.

While people seemed toenjoy the annual celebration,many took a moment to hon-our the Bryant, who waskilled in a helicopter crash onJanuary 26 inCalifornia. Heand his 13-year-old daughter,GiannaMaria-OnoreBryant, wereamong ninepeople whopassedaway thatmorning.

At theFanaticseventstars

like Jay-Z, KevinHart,

PostMalone,Meek Mill,

Jasmine

Sanders and others allsported Lakers jerseys withthe NBA legend’s famousnumber, 24, reports eon-line.com.

The tributes won’t stopanytime soon. SingersJennifer Lopez and Shakirarecently announced theywould honour him in a spe-

cial way during the halftimeshow.

“I think we will all beremembering Kobe onSunday,” Shakira said at the

Super Bowl press confer-ence on Thursday. “We’ll becelebrating life, and cele-brating diversity in thiscountry.”

—IANS

cTHE TRIBUTES WON’T STOP ANYTIME SOON.SINGERS JENNIFER LOPEZ AND SHAKIRARECENTLY ANNOUNCED THEY WOULD

HONOUR HIM IN A SPECIAL WAYDURING THE HALFTIME SHOW

Big B locks release date of Brahmastra: Part One

Pamela Anderson,JON PETERS splitafter 12-day wedding

ctress PamelaAnderson and produc-er Jon Peters decided topart ways just 12 daysafter saying “I do” inMalibu.

A source said the pairhadn’t yet filed the legalpaperwork for a mar-riage certificate fol-lowing their January20 wedding ceremo-ny that was attendedby Anderson’s twosons and Peters’ threedaughters and ex-wifeChristine Forsyth-Peters.

“I have been moved by thewarm reception to Jon and myunion,” Anderson said in a state-ment to The Hollywood Reporter.

“We would be very grateful foryour support as we take sometime apart to re-evaluate what wewant from life and from one

another. Life is a journey and loveis a process. With that universaltruth in mind, we have mutuallydecided to put off the formalisa-tion of our marriage certificateand put our faith in the process.

Thank you for respecting ourprivacy.” The split was

abrupt, with Andersontaking a flight to hernative Canada onSaturday morning, justdays after posting a lov-ing shot of her and Peters

on her Instagram stories.Peters has now joined a

list of Anderson’s exes thatincludes rock star Tommy Lee,with whom she has two sons; KidRock; and Rick Salomon. Peterswas previously married to actressLesley Ann Warren, but he report-edly left her for actress BarbraStreisand.

—IANS

a

he release date ofAyan Mukerji directo-rial Brahmastra: PartOne has been changedquite a few times.Now, megastar

Amitabh Bachchan has “locked”its release date.

Amitabh tweeted on Sunday:“BRAHMASTRA.. coming tocinemas on 4/12/20 & Ayan isNOT allowed to change itnow! #Brahmastra#RanbirKapoor.”

Actress Alia Bhatt, who alsostars in the film, also posted avideo, recorded by her. Thevideo features Amitabh, RanbirKapoor and Ayan.

The video begins with Ranbirtalking about the film’s delay.Ayan said, “I do have a date inmind”. Then Big B asks “kya?(what).” The director shares thedate. After which Amitabh says: “Dec 4, 2020. I am going to lock it.”

Another highlight of the videois the time when the directorrefers to Alia as Ranbir’s girl-friend. “Tell your girlfriend to

stop recording. She is alwaysrecording something,” Ayan saidlooking at Alia.

Brahmastra: Part One is set torelease in five languages includ-ing Hindi, Tamil, Telugu,Kannada and Malayalam.

Produced by DharmaProductions and Fox StarStudios, the film also starsNagarjuna and Mouni Roy.

—IANS

tACTRESS ALIA BHATT, WHO ALSO STARS IN THE FILM,ALSO POSTED A VIDEO, RECORDED BY HER. THE VIDEOFEATURES AMITABH, RANBIR KAPOOR AND AYAN. THEMOVIE IS SET TO RELEASE ON DECEMBER 4, 2020

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

PTI n MOUNT MAUNGANUI

India choked New Zealand yetagain to turn it around for aseven-run win in the fifth T20

International, giving them a rare5-0 series whitewash in the short-est format here on Sunday.

The Indian pacers, led byever-reliable Jasprit Bumrah,shared seven wickets amongthem for 25 runs in match-changing 7.2 overs to restrict theKiwis to 156 for nine whiledefending 163 for three.

Bumrah conceded just 12runs in his four overs and got ridof three batsmen, bowling block-hole deliveries during deathovers.

India’s total was built aroundstand-in skipper Rohit Sharma'60-run knock after they electedto bat.

Tim Seifert (50) and RossTaylor (53) kept the Black Capsin hunt for a consolation win butthe hosts again fell near the fin-ish line.

This is only third time thatIndia have whitewashed oppo-nents in away T20 series and firsttime in a five-match rubber.

India had blanked the WestIndies 3-0 in 2019 and beatAustralia 3-0 in 2016.

New Zealand got off to apoor start and were quicklyreduced to 17 for three in thefourth over. Bumrah had MartinGuptill (2) lbw, and Sundarbowled Colin Munro (15). TomBruce’s run-out didn’t help the sit-

uation either.Taylor and Seifert came

together at that juncture, puttingon 99 runs for the fourth wick-et, raising vision of an improba-ble win.

Seifert reached his half-cen-tury off 29 balls, including fivefours and three sixes. WhileTaylor got to his half-century in

42 balls. He hit five fours and twosixes.

They took 34 runs off ShivamDube in the 10th over, afterwhich KL Rahul, who led inabsence of inured Rohit Sharma,had to take corrective measures.He brought back his frontlinepacers and they both etched outwickets.

Navdeep Saini (2-23) dis-missed Seifert and then Bumrahbowled Daryl Mitchell (2) with asearing yorker.

New Zealand’s chase was allbut over when Mitchell Santner(6) holed out of Shardul Thakur(2-38) and Manish Pandey helda fine running catch at long on.

Ish Sodhi smacked 16 off 10balls to provide some fireworksat the end but it was not enough.

Earlier, Rohit, batting atnumber three, was retired hurtafter injuring his left calf whilsthitting a six and walked off thefield in discomfort. He faced 41balls and hit three fours as wellas three sixes.

Virat Kohli was expectedlyrested, with Rohit coming in, andit was the only change for Indiafrom Wellington. Rishabh Pant

was ignored once again.For New Zealand, Kane

Williamson didn’t recover ontime and Tim Southee led the sideonce again.

Despite Rohit’s return, SanjuSamson (2) continued to open theinnings and it didn't work again.Yet another opportunity wentabegging as he hit straight to extracover and was out for two runs.

KL Rahul (45) and Rohitadded 88 runs for the secondwicket, providing vital momen-tum to the Indian innings.

The in-form duo dominatedthe Black Caps’ attack and put on50 off just 35 balls. Rahul hit fourfours and two sixes in his 33-ballstay.

He fell in the 12th overagainst the run of play and fin-ished with 224 runs in the series,the most for an Indian batsmanin any bilateral T20I series.

Sharma scored his 25th T20Ihalf-century off 35 balls. Helooked to accelerate but theninjured himself in the 17th overand retired.

The loss of both Rahul andSharma impacted the Indianinnings, and they lost all momen-

tum on a slowing wicket.Shreyas Iyer smacked 33 off

31 balls, including a four and twosixes, but couldn’t push the scorepast the 170-mark.

Manish Pandey scored 11not out off four balls, with a fourand a six.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 3, 2020 sport 11

PTI n CHRISTCHURCH

Shubman Gill is expectedto retain his place in

India’s Test squad after scor-ing an unbeaten 204 for theA team in the drawn four-day game against NewZealand A here on Friday.

Resuming the day four at127 for two, India A went onto make 448 for three in theirsecond innings with Gillscoring his second doublecentury on an away tour(the first one came in WestIndies last year).

Gill and Test regularHanuma Vihari (100 off 113)shared an unbeaten 222-runstand for the fourth wicket tosave the game for India A.Another valuable contribu-tion came from PriyankPanchal (115 off 164).

Gill’s 279-ball effort com-prised 22 boundaries andfour sixes. Vihari’s quickfirecentury comprised 11 foursand three sixes.

It was a much improvedbatting effort from India A asthe pitch eased out at theHagley Oval. The team, cap-tained by Vihari, made 216 in

the first innings in which Gillwas the top-scorer with 83.

In response, NewZealand A had amassed 562for seven before declaring theinnings.

Mayank Agarwal, whowill open alongside RohitSharma in the two-Test seriesagainst New Zealand laterthis month, had a forgettable

outing in the game as he gotout for a duck in both theinnings.

After a fine double cen-tury, Gill is certain to retainhis place in the Test squad.The 20-year-old was alsopart of the squad in thehome series against SouthAfrica and Bangladesh butdid not get a game.

PTI n CANBERRA

Indian women suffered a four-wicketloss against the mighty Australia after

a disappointing batting performance intheir second match of the T20 tri-serieshere on Sunday.

India struggled to 103 for nine in 20overs after being asked to bat. The vis-iting team’s bowlers did well to stretchthe game till the penultimate over butthere were not enough runs on theboard.

Elysse Perry was the undisputed starof the game, picking up three wickets inone before before making 49 off 47 ballsin Australia’s chase.

India had beaten England in thetournament opener while Australia hadlost to England in a Super Over finishon Saturday, leaving all three teams witha win each.

“Our lower order definitely needs tobat a lot better, especially when the top-order doesn't get runs. However, reallyappreciate the performance of thebowlers,” said India skipperHarmanpreet Kaur at the post-matchpresentation.

India next play against England atthe Junction Oval in Melbourne .

Barring opener Smriti Mandhana(35) and Harmanpreet (28), Indianbatters showed complete lack of appli-cation on a pitch offering extra bounce.

India lost their last six wickets for

21 runs with pacer Perry (4/13 in 4overs) picking three of them in 14th overover, removing Harmanpreet, TaniyaBhatia and Deepti Sharma.

Sixteen-year-old Shafali Verma,touted as the next big thing in women’scricket, lasted only three balls whileJemimah Rodrigues crawled to 1 off 11balls, leaving their team at 16 for two inthree overs.

The experienced Mandhana andHarmanpreet stitched a 40-run standbefore the latter’s dismissal triggered acollapse.

The spin-heavy Indian bowlingattack did all they could with left-armspinner Rajeshwari taking two wicketsfor 18 runs in four overs. Offie Deepti,who opened the bowling, too kept thingstight taking one wicket for 18 runs infour overs.

PTI nMOUNT MAUNGANUI

India captain Virat Kohli onSunday said he wants his

players to be the “best versionof themselves” in order todominate world cricket in thecoming years.

India notched up a rare5-0 whitewash over NewZealand with a seven-runwin in the fifth and final T20International here.

“We need everyone to bethe best versions of them-selves. It is all about laying thevision in front of the boys, theway you think, prepare. Theguys are taking notice of itand they realise that the teamneeds 120 percent from themevery time,” Kohli said.

“Because only then youwill find ways to win. Thathas been a massive change forus in the last two-three years.We have seen the results; weobviously won't win every-thing and these victories givea lot more pleasure than theone-sided victories.”

With Kohli resting him-self from the inconsequentialfinal game, Rohit Sharma wasthe stand-in skipper, but theopener suffered a calf injurywhile batting and had toretire hurt.

In his absence, K L Rahulled the side to victory.

Heaping praise on theteam at the presentation cer-emony, Kohli said: “All of usare really proud of how weplayed. It's about findingways to win. Today, all theseyoung guys were on the fieldafter Rohit’s unfortunateinjury and them comingtogether and handling thepressure.

“That gives me a lot ofpleasure watching from theoutside and they will take thismomentum going forwardfor many years.”

Kohli also backed under-fire New Zealand skipperKane Williamson, saying heis the right man to lead theBlack Caps despite the 0-5drubbing.

“Kane and me have sim-ilar mindsets, similarphilosophies. It is amazingthat despite being from dif-ferent parts of the world, wehave similar thinkings and

we speak the same lan-guage,” he said.

“Despite what the score-line suggests, I feel thatNew Zealand cricket is inthe best hands and he is theright guy to lead this team.He is the perfect, perfectman to lead them. I wishhim the best of luck andpower to lead this side in thefuture. They are a sideeveryone loves to watch andplay against.”

It was the first time thatNew Zealand lost three ormore matches in a bilateralT20I series at home. Thehosts had gone down 0-2 toEngland back in February2008.

New Zealand stand-inskipper Tim Southee saidthere wasn’t much differencebetween the two sides.

“It’s another close one,unfortunately on the wrongside again. If you give thema sniff, they take it with bothhands. I don't think it is amassive gap, the scorelinedoes suggest that, but weonly need to do the smallerthings better,” he said.

The two teams will nextplay a three-match ODIseries beginning onFebruary 5 and Southeehoped that the hosts will putup a better show with newplayers coming into the side.

“The ODIs are a differ-ent format, new personnelcome in and it is a formatwhere we have done well,”he said.

India pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah, who wasadjudged the Man of theMatch for his three-wicketshaul, said he always had thebelief that a couple of goodovers can change the com-plexion of the game.

“Feeling very good. Thematch got close at one pointbut we had belief that if wecan squeeze in one or twogood overs, the match canget close,” he said.

“It was windy, I wastrying to use the wind andthe longer side of theboundary. Very happy withthe learnings, differentground dimensions, firsttime in New Zealand, greatresult.”

MOUNT MAUNGANUI: Chief architect of India’s rare 5-0 clean sweep over New Zealand, India opener KLRahul on Sunday said he is not yet thinking aboutthe T20 World Cup but wants to carry his sparklingform into the big event.

The 27-year-old from Karnataka was named thePlayer of the Tournament for scoring 224 runs in thefive-match series at an average of 56.

“I am batting really well now and I am happy todo the roles I am doing for my side. Not thinkingtoo much about the T20 World Cup at the moment,but hopefully I can continue batting this way,” he said.

India notched up a rare 5-0 whitewash over NewZealand with a seven-run win in the fifth and finalT20 International and Rahul said the team’s abili-ty to find answers in difficult situations was the keyto its success.

“I am pleased. It is great to be standing here win-ning 5-0. Very happy that my performances couldresult in victories for India. We were happy to comeinto this series with confidence and to keep execut-ing our skills every game. We came up with answersfrom every situation and it is a great result for meand the side,” he said.

“I think it is a winning habit that we have cul-tivated wherein we want to win every time we steponto the ground. As a team we keep believing ineach other. Leading up to the World Cup, there werea few strategies that we wanted to try out. It justkeeps giving us more and more confidence to keepgoing around.” India will next play three ODIsagainst New Zealand beginning on February 5 andRahul said they will follow the same process toachieve success in the 50-over format.

“We’ll relax a little bit over the next couple ofdays and enjoy the victory. But once we start withthe next series, the process will remain the same,”he said. PTI

PTI n MOUNT MAUNGANUI

Senior New Zealand batsmanRoss Taylor on Sunday admit-

ted that the 0-5 whitewash byIndia has hurt his side badly andthe whole T20I series has beena disappointment for them.

Taylor, however, said hisside played better cricket thanthe results suggest though theyknew from the beginning that itwas going to a be tough taskagainst a strong Indian team.

“The whole series has beena disappointment, the way weput ourselves in good positionsand just were not able to capital-ize. When you are up against aworld-class side like India, wehave played a lot worse and gotbetter results than this,” Taylorsaid after New Zealand lost thefifth and final match by sevenruns to hand India a rare series

whitewash.“Even though it’s a different

format (than ODI and Test), itstill does hurt. Winning is a habitand losing those tight games. Butwe are going into a format thatis one of our strengths. In ODIcricket, hopefully Kane’s shoul-der is all right, new personneland some world-class playerscoming back and we are lookingforward,” he said of the three-match ODI series from February5-12.

He said New Zealand havegiven a strong Indian side roomto take advantage out of it andthey had suffered from that.

“You can’t give this Indianside an inch, we gave them a lotmore than that and they tookadvantage. You got to learn a lotquicker than we are now withboth bat and ball. Until then, wewill get similar results,” he said,

referring to the instances whenNew Zealand lost two matches inSuper Over.

Taylor, however, hailed theIndian team for being able to winseries away from home.

“More often than not it istough to win away from homebut to come over here with acouple of their star players miss-ing that would add a differentbalance to their side. I am sureit is very good for Indian crick-et.

“I probably say this, we werecompletely outplayed in theseries last year and we came backand won that semi-final in theWorld Cup. Whenever we playIndia in a T20I game, we knowit will be an uphill task but weknow we can still beat themwhen it counts hopefully,” headded.

Taylor, who hit 53 on

Sunday, said the target of 164 wasachievable but the Kiwis came upshort in a tight chase and couldnot recover from a poor start.

“I thought we were underpressure when I came out there.The way Tim Seifert came outand batted, we got ourselves towhat once again would nor-mally be a comfortable scenariowith 66 off 60 balls. You win,maybe 95 times (from there),”said the 35-year-old right-hand-ed batsman.

“When you got a world-classbowler like Bumrah, you havegot to skin the cat slightly differ-ently and he is able to be their X-factor for them. The way(Navdeep) Saini and othersbowled put us under some pres-sure and wickets fell at differenttimes,” he said, explaining howNew Zealand batsmen lost theirplot.

India players pose for a group photo as they celebrate a 5-0 series win during the Twenty/20 cricket international between India and New Zealand AP

Not thinking aboutT20WC at themoment: Rahul

HAPPY WITHTHE LEARNINGSIN NZ: BUMRAH

We need everyone to be the bestversion of themselves: Kohli

0-5 series whitewash hurts: Taylor

Ross Taylor raises his bat AP

Eves lose to Aussiesin T20 tri-series

Ellyse Perry in action Cricket.com.au

Shubman Gill in action PTI

Gill smashes double century asIndia A save first unofficial Test

NDIA’S OVERSEAS SERIES WINS IN T-20IYEAR VENUE OPPONENT RESULT2020 New Zealand New Zealand 5-0 2016 Australia Australia 3-02016 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe 2-12018 South Africa South Africa 2-12018 England England 2-1

FAISEL FEATURES

HIGH 5Bumrah led pacers share seven wicketsto help India win final T20 by 7 runs

IANS n MOUNT MAUNGANUI

India pace spearhead JaspritBumrah said he as learnt a lot

from his first tour of NewZealand after returning magi-cal figures of 3/12 in the fifthand final T20I here on Sunday.

India swept the series 5-0with Bumrah playing a key rolein the final encounter as thetourists defended 164-run tar-get.

“Feeling very good. Thematch got close at one point butwe had belief that if we cansqueeze in one or two goodovers, the match can get close,”he said after the match.

“It was windy, I was tryingto use the wind and the longerside of the boundary. Veryhappy with the learnings, dif-ferent ground dimensions, firsttime in New Zealand; greatresult,” he added.

n the making for over a year, filmmaker Jayanth C. Paranji’sNarendra got a new addition. The film’s makers on Sundayannounced the casting of Payal Rajput in a key role. TheRX100 actress career isn’t going great as her recent releas-es RDX, Venky Mama and Disco Raja hardly helped her

bag plum projects. In Narendra, Payal will be seen as a fighter pilot who helps the

titular character (played by Nilesh Eti) to reach India from a prisonin Pakistan. Former WWE wrestler The Great Khali will be seenas an Afghan prisoner, who sacrifices himself in his attempt torescue the Indian prisoners, while Izabelle Leite plays a humanrights activist who supports their fight for freedom.

The film, a Ram Sampath musical, tells the story of a cham-pion ex-boxer (played by newcomer Nitesh) who won gold medalsfor the country, but is abandoned by the government. The sequenceof events that unfolds, including on how he lands in Pakistan, aretold in a thrilling way. Jayanth who has delivered super hits likePremichukundam Raa, Bavagaru Bagunnara and Premante Iderain the past is hoping to stage a successful comeback with Narendra,which is being produced by Eshaan Entertainments.

ctor Nani too was of theopinion that Dil Rajushouldn’t be remaking ’96 in Telugu. At thetrailer launch of Jaanulast week in Hyderabad,

the producer had said that manypeople felt that he has gone mad toremake ’96 in Telugu.

“Just to seek my opinion, Rajugaru arranged a special screening of’96 for me in Chennai. Immediate-ly after watching it, I told him, ‘It’sa beautiful film. Don’t remake it’.Even as the news of Telugu remakewas making rounds, I told peoplethat the original shouldn’t betouched. But when the makers an-nounced that it would be fronted bySharwa and Samantha in Telugu, Iwas upbeat about it. After watchingthe recently released trailer, thememory of watching the original

faded away and I could only see Sh-arwa and Sam as Ram and Jaanu,”Nani said. He was speaking at thepre-release event of the film inHyderabad over the weekend.

Speaking about Sharwa, he saidthat the actor is one of his oldestfriends in the industry. “Jaanu storytranspires because of a reunionand I hope he meets his old friendsoccasionally,” he said cheekily, allud-ing to Sharwa not being in touchwith him off late.

On Samantha, Nani said that ifthey had done Yeto VellipoindhiManasu now, its success would’vebeen on another level altogether.“I’m proud of her and her choices.If a year has 10 good films, she isthere in three of them,” he added.

Sharwa said that he was on histoes while shooting for Jaanu. “Withactors like Nithya Menen, Sai Pallaviand Samantha, you have to be alertbecause they set the screen on firewith their performances. Sam still

works as if it’s her day one on sets.I occasionally relax but she constant-ly keeps a tab of each shot, check-ing the monitor. It is the reason whyshe is a superstar,” he said andpromised that the film has con-tent to connect audience rang-ing from teens to 90-year-olds. “First love is always spe-cial and this film is about that,”he added. Shedding lightabout his bond with Nani, hesaid that he has been friendswith him since 2008.“Although we couldn’t catchup in the recent past becauseof our schedules, there was atime when me, him andAllari Naresh had gone ontrips together,” he shared.

Samantha said she would speakmore about the film post its releaseon February 7.

I can only see Sharwa andSam as Ram and Jaanu: Nani

Nani, who has made a name for himself for being able to choose the right scripts, speaks about Dil Raju remaking the

Tamil hit '96 into Telugu, his friendship with Sharwa and more

Vijayawada Monday February 3, 2020

12

tollywood

ANANI SAID THAT IF HE AND SAMANTHA HAD DONEYETO VELLIPOINDHI MANASU NOW, ITS SUCCESSWOULD’VE BEEN BIGGER AND BETTER. HE SAIDTHAT HE IS PROUD OF SAMANTHA’S CHOICE OFMOVIES AND HER SUCCESS

iara Advani’s name has been attached to mu-ltiple projects since the middle of last year.Prominent among them includes AkhilAkkineni’s next with Bommarillu Bhasker,Varun Tej’s next with Kiran Korrapati andVijay Deverakonda’s next with Puri

Jagannadh. The actress couldn’t commit to any of thembecause of her Hindi assignments. But if the latest buzzin tinsel town is anything to go by, she seems to haveexpressed interest to feature in superstar Mahesh Babu’snext with Vamshi Paidipally. The untitled film will goto floors mostly in April-May.

Apparently it was Namrata, Mahesh’s wife, who rangKiara and spoke about her role in Paidipally’s next.Namrata, it is said, was keen on a pan-India face likeKiara for the project. The actor’s diary wasn’t a prob-lem as she was asked to allot 40 days, spread over threephases, starting from summer. Besides the Mahesh fac-tor, the fact that her role carries considerable weightmeant that Kiara gave her in-principle nod. MaheshBabu and Kiara Advani had previously starred in BharatAne Nenu.

In the film, a Dil Raju production, Mahesh will beseen as a gangster, a role he hitherto played in his career.The gangster portions will form the flashback episodeof the film, which will be shot in Visakhapatnam.Currently, Paidipally is contemplating showing Maheshas a lecturer or a professor. S.S. Thaman is on boardto compose tunes. The film is being considered for a2021 Sankranti release. — NG

k

PAYAL RAJPUTas a fighter pilot

fter filmmaker PuriJagannadh unveiled the firstglimpse of film 22, a crime-thriller, sometime back, itwas the turn of Superstar

Nagarjuna to unveil the film’s teaserin Hyderabad on Sunday. The filmmarks the directorial debut of ShivaKumar, who is the son of producerB.A. Raju and late filmmaker B.A. Jay.The film features new faces RupeshKumar Choudhary and Saloni Misrain lead roles. Rupesh himself is pro-ducing it under Maa Aai Productions.

Speaking later, Nag said that heclose to Jaya and that he is happy tosee her son follow his mother’s foot-steps. “Shiva should live up to repu-tation of his mother as a filmmaker.I welcome Rupesh to the industry. Hehas seen enormous success as a busi-nessman and has entered the indus-try out of sheer passion for acting.The teaser looks interesting,” the actorsaid before extending his best wish-es to the unit for a successful theatri-cal run.

Shiva said the unit was a happybunch with Nagarjuna launchingthe teaser. “As someone who has beenat the forefront when it comes toencouraging newcomers, we consid-er ourselves lucky for Nag sir to havereleased the teaser. He was veryimpressed with it,” the director noted.

At a separate press meet on Sunday,director Maruthi unveiled the film’scalendar. “Shiva worked under me asan assistant director and handled thecomplete post-production of a filmof mine. He works hard as a filmmak-er. Generally first-time filmmakerschoose a love story but Shiva pre-ferred a crime-thriller, which showshis maturity. I’ve already seen a webseries of his and was floored by thetechnical standards he maintained init,” the director mentioned.

Wrapped up in 35 days flat, 22 alsosees Vikramjeet Virk, Devi Prasad,Jaya Prakash, Ravi Varma, PoojaRamachandran, Krishna Chaitanyaand Rajashri Nair among others insupporting roles.

bnhe shoot ofNit h i in-s t ar rerBheeshma waswrapped up on Sat-urday, with the film-

ing of the last song on thelead pair under the supervi-sion of choreographerSekhar at the Ramoji FilmCity.

Nithiin, who hasn’t had arelease last year, was left withmixed feelings after the com-pletion. The actor, taking toTwitter, wrote, “Last day ofshoot for #bheeshma :( Itsbeen awhile since I;ve feltthis way, makes me really sad but at the same time so proud tobe a part of such a fun film. But this is not the last you guys- Youwill see us all very soon reuniting in a much bigger way! (sic)”

Showering praise on director Venky Kudumula and his lead-ing lady Rashmika Mandanna, the actor, who is to get engagedto doctor Shalini later this month, went on to tweet,“@VenkyKudumula i love you man. Words are too little to expressmyself but for starters - thankyou for #bheeshma. @iamRashmikayou’re my fav. Thankyou for all your hard-work and support. Cantwait to work with you again. Soon! (sic)” Replying to his co-star’scomment, the actress wrote, “I can’t believe it’s the end man. Soglad to have done this film with you. You’ve been my best friend.can’t express well sorry about that but you know what I mean(sic).” A romantic action-entertainer with humour, Bheeshma willhit screens February 21.

NIKHILgets engagedin Goa

Nikhil Siddhartha, who spilledthe beans of dating a doctor ona chat show with LakshmiManchu last year, has now gotengaged to her in Goa on

Saturday. The girl’s name is PallaviVarma and she hails fromBhimavaram. Interestingly, the actorchose Goa as the engagement venue asit was the same place he proposed toPallavi last year. The ceremony was asimple affair, with families and friendsof the actor and the doctor attendingit. The wedding is scheduled to be heldon April 16 this year. The venue hasn’tbeen decided yet. In fact, actor Nithiintoo will tie the knot on the same datebut in Dubai. On the work front,Nikhil, who bounced back with ArjunSuravaram last year, has Karthikeya 2,films with new director Hanuman andVi Anand for this year.

nt

NITHIIN's mixed emotions

AI

Now, Nag and Maruthi back BA Raju's son

KIARA likely to pair upwith MAHESH again