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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 325*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Sports Minister Srinivas Goud welcomes PV Sindhu on her arrival at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Thenewly crowned World champion earlier in the day met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The Union SportsMinistry announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for Sindhu Report in Page 16

WORLD CHAMPION COMES HOME

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated August 27, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Shravana & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Trayodashi: 11:28 pmNakshatram: Pushya 10:55 pm Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:17 pm – 01:50 pmYamagandam: 07:38 am – 09:11 am

Varjyam: 08:27 am - 09:54 am

Gulika: 10:44 am - 12:17 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 05:08 pm - 06:35 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

Forecast: Partly CloudyTemp: 32/22Humidity: 69%Sunrise: 06.01Sunset: 06.33

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

In what looks like a coordi-nated action, the UnionMinistry of Corporate Affairson Tuesday initiated windingup proceedings against VihaanDirect Selling Pvt Ltd, a QNetsub-franchisee alleged to berunning ponzi schemes here,while the Cyberabad Policeannounced the arrest of 70persons so far in 38 cases reg-istered against the company,issue of notices to seven filmpersonalities as well as thefreezing of Rs 2.7 croredeposits related to the pro-moters. The cases, registeredunder various police stations ofCyberabad Commissionerate,pertain to alleged multi-levelmarketing schemes involvingQNet.

Police Commissioner ofCyberabad, VC Sajjanar, saidthat notices had been served toactors Anil Kapoor, Shah RukhKhan, Boman Irani, JackieShroff, Vivek Oberoi, PoojaHegde and Allu Sirish for par-ticipating in the company'sprogrammes. While AnilKapoor, Shah Ruk Khan andBoman Irani responded to thenotices through their advo-cates, replies from the othercelebrities are awaited. "Theresponses of the three celebri-ties are being studied," Sajjanarsaid.

Notices have also beenserved on top 500 people push-

ing the Ponzi schemes. Theirreplies are awaited. Lookoutcirculars have been issuedagainst 12 people associatedwith the company as directorsand promoters.

This follows claims made by

the Financial Frauds VictimsWelfare Association that thecompany, in the garb of directselling and e-commerce, hadsent over Rs 20,000 crore outof India.

Continued on Page 4

CM's ‘recession' talk castsshadow on new Secretariatl Welfare schemes and infra projects to bear the bruntl TS's financial position already tightL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's pointedreferences to 'economic reces-sion', particularly during hismeeting on Monday with offi-cials on shaping the full-fledged Budget for 2019-20 tobe presented in September,cast a shadow on the State gov-ernment's ambitious plans forbuilding new complexes forthe Secretariat and theLegislature as well as theimplementation of welfareschemes costing nearly Rs50,000 per annum.

The Chief Minister's sug-gestion that officials shouldconsider the ground realitybecome drafting budget-relat-ed proposals has dashed thehopes of various governmentdepartments which had read-ied papers seeking higher allo-cations to meet their increas-ing financial needs. It alsodampened the spirit of stategovernment employees whowere expecting the govern-ment to implement the newPay Revision Commission'srecommendations and effect asteep hike in their salaries.

The Chief Minister's assess-

ment that the state's financialcondition will be adverselyaffected this year due to reces-sionary trends, resulting indecline of government earn-ings and reduction in centralgrants, has given room forconcerns in various circles.

Against this background,KCR held a meeting withsenior officials of finance andother departments at PragathiBhavan on Tuesday for the sec-ond consecutive day to takestock of the emerging situa-tion.

Official sources said theChief Minister asked officialsto keep in mind the possibili-

ties of state's reduced earningsand slashed central grantsduring the budget-makingexercise. He talked about 'aus-terity measures' to bring downgovernment spending.

Official sources said thatissues concerning building ofnew complexes for theSecretariat and Legislaturecame up for discussion. It wasfelt that building the newcomplexes by spending over Rs500 crore in the context ofrecessionary trends and 'aus-terity measures' would not godown well; hence, it would bebetter to keep these proposalson hold while making bud-

getary allocations for now andto consider them for the 2020-21 budget, which, in any case,will be just five months awayonce the full-fledged Budgetfor 2019-20 is passed by theLegislature by September-end.

Although KCR has gone onrecord that it would requireabout Rs 500 crore to build thenew Secretariat and Legislaturecomplexes, officials estimatedthat the amount could evendouble once the constructionis over, considering the newfurniture, ACs, computers,LED TVs required for all theoffices in the new structures.

Continued on Page 2

70 held in QNet scam, says Cyberabad police

PNS n HYDERABAD

TSTransco and TSGencoCMD Devulapalli PrabhakarRao said the repeated allega-tions made by BJP president KLaxman on power purchaseagreements (PPAs) is demor-alising electricity utilitiesemployees in Telangana.

"I have clearly explained thatthere were no irregularities inpower purchase agreements inTelangana, as all PPAs weredone in a transparent manner,according to the prescribed

rules. In spite of our explanation,BJP president K Laxman hasbeen making allegations againstus, which is painful.

Continued on Page 4

‘BJP's allegationsdemoralising power staff’

BAKKA TENNYSON n KHAMMAM

In a spine-chilling incident, ayouth killed the girl he lovedby stifling her neck with ahandkerchief in Penuballimandal of Khammam dis-trict. The murder, which cameto light late on Monday, tookplace on Sunday night.

According to village resi-dents, Nithin, an engineeringstudent, took Kavita Tejaswini(20), a polytechnic studentwith whom he had a relation-ship, for a ride on his bike onSunday evening. The girl,however, did not return hometill late in the night, afterwhich her parents filed a'missing person' complaintwith the police. Soon, thepolice collected Tejaswini'scall data records and came toknow that she was last con-tacted by Nithin. Followingthis, police also traced Nithin'scall records and located hiswhereabouts. He was pickedup from a hostel.

Police interrogated Nithinwho revealed that he had killedTejaswini by strangulating herby tying a handkerchief aroundher neck. Based on the infor-mation, the police recovered thegirl's body. Police are yet toascertain the motive of thecrime. Police said Tejaswini andNithin studied in SaispurthiEngineering College.

Youth kills girl he loved,motive unknown

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Cyberabad Police hadserved notices to several film personalities, including Anil

Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, VivekOberoi, Pooja Hegde, Allu Sirish and Yuvraj Singh for participatingin the company's shady schemes. Although Anil Kapoor, ShahRukh Khan and Boman Irani have responded to the noticesthrough their advocates, replies are awaited from the othercelebrities. Notices were given also to top 500 promoters of thescheme. The police have approached the Reserve Bank of India toknow if the firm has permission to operate its investment schemesas they involve collecting funds from the public. The police havealso written to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO),Registrar of Companies (RoC) and GST wings. The CyberabadPolice have also written to various investing agencies seekingassistance in the investigation.

Continued on Page 4

NOTICES SERVED TO CELEBS

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The Telangana Rashtra Samitiseems to be making calculat-ed moves to repay now its'debt' to people for giving it ahuge mandate in the 2016GHMC polls. The pink partyhas begun shifting its focustowards development ofHyderabad, while racingagainst time to secure victoryin the 2021 GHMC polls.

TRS working president KTRama Rao's proclamation,"Hyderabad will be developedlike never before in the histo-ry" and the sudden appoint-ment of new GHMCCommissioner are of part ofthe pink party's plan.

On Tuesday, KTR said atKotla Vijayabhaskar Reddystadium, "It may seem that CMis talking a lot aboutKaleshwaram and PalamuruLift Irrigation Scheme andyou may think what aboutHyderabad? For the mandatethat Hyderabad has given toTRS, we will ensure that theschemes are done to the levelof satisfaction".

The present term of theGHMC general body willexpire in February 2021. In 18months, accomplishing thetargets could be challenging forthe party to be able to sustainthe mandate given in the pre-

vious elections. Most of theprojects, especially KTR'smuch-touted SRDP and 2BHKhousing scheme, have beenmoving at snail's pace. Against1.1lakh proposed 2BHK hous-es, the corporation managed tocomplete a mere 395 houses inIDH colony, Bhoiguda and176 houses in Singam CheruvuThanda in Nacharam.

Apart from the perennialproblem of land acquisition, the

corporation failed to raise fundsrequired for SRDP. Out of 52junctions, works are in progressonly at 3 junctions, includingKamineni and Bio-Diversityjunctions. Recently GHMCraised Rs 100 crore throughmunicipal bonds, which canhelp the civic body partiallyclear pending land acquisitionbills. The corporation requiresanother Rs 200 crore, which itis likely to raise in a month.

As a way to clean up themessy financial situation, theman at the helm has just beenreplaced. The newCommissioner, D S LokeshKumar, declared on Tuesdaythat execution of SRDP projectand 2BHK housing schemewould be his priority.

Continued on Page 4

TRS to repay with developmentfor GHMC mandate: KTR

TRS working president KT Rama Rao greets party cadre at the Kotla VijayabhaskarReddy Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday

Police officials display the seized hawala money on Tuesday

Hawala racket busted,Rs 5 crore cash seizedPNS n HYDERABAD

The HyderabadCommissioner's Task Force onMonday arrested seven personswho were operating a hawalaracket in the city. Officialsseized Rs 5 crore, two cars anda two-wheeler from them. Thearrested persons — 39-year-old

Vipul Kumar, 49-year-oldShaileshbhai, 29-year-old VipulPatel, 28-year-old ArjunLabhuji, 31-year-old RajeshRameshbai, 55-year-oldUpendra Kumar Patel and 39-year-old Patel Chetan Kumar —currently live in Hyderabadbut are natives of Gujarat.

Continued on Page 2

Woman pushes2-yr daughterin front of amoving busHYDERABAD: In a shockingincident, a woman in an ine-briated condition allegedlytried to kill her two-year-olddaughter by throwing her infront of a running RTC bus atKukatpally on Tuesday.

According to eye-witnessaccounts, the woman, who waswalking on the road, saw thebus approaching and pushedher two-year-old daughter infront of the vehicle in anattempt to kill her. However,the alert driver of the busslammed the brakes in thenick of the moment and avoid-ed running over the toddler.The baby, however, sufferedminor injuries in the ordeal.

Continued on Page 4

Pak to closeAir space toIndia: Minister

Will live to be110 years:Dalai LamaD H A R A M S H A L A :Brushing aside concernsabout his health, the DalaiLama, 84, has assured his fol-lowers, especially Tibetans,that he is in the best of healthand will live to be 110 yearsold. A video of his address tomembers of the MinnesotaTibetan Association at theVon Ngari Monastery onAugust 18 has been widelycirculated on social mediaand was received with joy andrelief by his followers aroundthe world.

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterImran Khan was considering acomplete closure of airspace toIndia, a Pakistan ministertweeted on Tuesday, addingthat closing Indian trade routeto Afghanistan passing throughthe country was also discussedat a cabinet meeting. Theremark comes amid tensionbetween India and Pakistanover the scrapping of specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmirand the state's bifurcation.

"PM is considering a com-plete closure of Air Space toIndia, a complete ban on useof Pakistan Land routes forIndian trade to Afghanistanwas also suggested in cabinetmeeting, legal formalities forthese decisions are under con-sideration...Modi has startedwe'll finish," Pakistan's Scienceand Technology MinisterFawad Hussain tweeted.

For the mandate thatHyderabad has given to

TRS, we will ensure that theschemes are done to the level of satisfaction

— KT RAMA RAOTRS working president

Dates proposedfor budgetsession

SEPT 4,9 AND 14

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Legislature Secretary hasproposed three dates to beginthe budget session of TelanganaLegislature in September. Thedates proposed are September4, 9 and 14. The governmentwill finalise one of the datesafter taking into considerationthe availability of police force,government programmes, pub-lic holidays.

Continued on Page 4

Stealing from RBI won't work: Rahul attacks CentrePNS n NEW DELHI

Congress MP Rahul Gandhitoday made lacerating com-ments against the governmentafter the Reserve Bank of Indiaapproved a record Rs. 1.76 lakhcrore payout to it, a move thathe alleged was the same as"stealing from the RBI".

"PM & FM are clueless abouthow to solve their self createdeconomic disaster. Stealingfrom RBI won't work - it's likestealing a Band-Aid from thedispensary & sticking it on agunshot wound," Mr Gandhitweeted.

The record payout by the RBIcomes at a time when there aresigns of severe stress in severalsectors, from housing to man-ufacturing. The total payout ofRs. 1.76 lakh crore includes Rs.1.23 lakh crore as dividend and

Rs. 52,640 crore surplus capital,the RBI said in a statement. Thedividend payment includes Rs.28,000 crore already transferredto the government in February,before the national election.

"Rs. 1.76 lakh cr given to thegovt by RBI is almost the exactsame amount missing fromBudget 2019 announcement.Where was that money spent?

Why was it missing from theBudget? Looting the RBI likethis only devastates our econo-my further & reduces credit rat-ing of the bank," the Congressparty tweeted.

During the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) rulein 2009 or 10 years ago, the RBItransferred Rs. 25,000 crore tothe centre.

In comparison, the amount oftransfer this year is more thandouble the Rs. 68,000 crore thatthe RBI provided to the Modigovernment last year. It exceedsthe centre's budget estimate ofRs. 90,000 crore as dividendfrom the RBI this year.

The centre last week said itwill infuse Rs. 70,000 crore topublic sector banks to boost eco-nomic growth from a five-yearlow. Analysts say this amountmay come from the RBI payout.

NIRMALA DISMISSESCRITICISM OF RBI PAYOUTTackling criticism of the Reserve Bank of India's

decision to transfer a record Rs. 1.76 lakh crorefrom its surplus and reserves to the government,Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesdaydescribed as "outlandish" any questions raised onthe credibility of the committee that recommendedit. "This committee (Bimal Jalan Committee) isappointed by RBI, it had eminent experts in it, they gave aformula based on which the amount was arrived at, now anysuggestions about credibility of RBI, therefore, for me seems a bitoutlandish, considering the committee was appointed by the ReserveBank themselves," Sitharaman told reporters in Pune. She wasresponding to a question on whether RBI's international credibility AAArating could be affected as it has reduced its surplus by transferring theamount to the government. The transfer, including a surplus of Rs. 1.23lakh crore for 2018-19, will boost the government's finances at a time itstrives to tackle a nearly five-year low economic growth with lakhs ofestimated job cuts across sectors, and defend its ambitious target ofcontaining fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of the GDP.

The Chief Minister'sassessment that thestate's financialcondition will beadversely affected thisyear due to recessionarytrends, resulting indecline of governmentearnings and reductionin central grants

Police Commissioner of Cyberabad VC Sajjanar addresses the media on Tuesday

It was cer-tainly notthe sort of

homecomingt h a t

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy

hoped for when hereturned from his tour of theUnited States. Truthfullyspeaking, it was double wham-my, and something that henever imagined would befallhim.

It has been to such extremesthat he has to get into a fast-paced damage-control modeand do a thorough job of it.

The setbacks came in quicksuccession. The AndhraPradesh High Court's obser-vation with regard to reversetendering of Polavaram irriga-tion project and constructionwork of hydel project must havecome as a major blow to Jagan.By finding fault with the deci-sion of the State Government ofdoing away with the originalcontracting firm has put him

on a sticky wicket. He isbelieved to be clueless on thepossible recourse to stem therot, despite taking stock of thesituation with the AdvocateGeneral.

If that were not enough tocause heartburn, he has beenpushed to the brink by asenior Cabinet colleague on anissue that is particularly senti-mental to the Chief Minister.The Minister has opened aPandora's Box with his adversecomments on continuance ofAmravati as the capital city, inthe wake of the inundationcaused by the River Krishnafloods at the proposed dreamcapital.

Out of all the develop-ments that irked the govern-ment, High Court's observa-tion on reverse tendering hasput the Chief Minister in aspot of bother. Another aspectis that by going to a DivisionBench of the High Court onthe decision of the singlejudge regarding reverse ten-dering could possibly gener-

ate more heat in the daysahead. He will be in a dilem-ma even if wiser counsel tellshim to wait for some moretime and see the develop-ments and decide to movefurther. But it would certain-ly be detrimental to the inter-ests of the State as it may beviewed by both outsiders andpeople of the State in a simi-lar manner with neither beingpro-government. Moreover,none from his immediateadvisers can dare to open

their minds in an attempt tojudge whether things done sofar were good or bad!

Given the precarious cir-cumstances, the Chief Ministerchose to observe whether the'setbacks' would become tools inthe hands of his detractors andthe political fallout, thereof.

In the meantime, the thingon his mind must be in devis-ing ways and means to tacklethe confrontation-like situa-tion with BJP leadership, giventhat his trusted aide V

Vijayasai Reddy claimed thatthe State Government waskeeping the Union govern-ment posted of every devel-opment pertaining toPolavaram project, whileresponding to a UnionMinister's comments on the

reverse tendering move. It canbe viewed as a serious issue asVijaysai's words did not cor-roborate with that of theUnion Minister's!

The Centre has specificallysaid that it should be informedof every development regard-ing the construction ofPolavaram as it pays everyrupee after it attained the sta-tus of a national project. In thisbackdrop, there is a com-pelling need for Jagan toassuage the BJP leadershipand clear all such misnomers.

It may be noted that BJP isalso making an issue of thenon-Hindu religious 'cam-paign' on RTC bus tickets atTirupati. That 'friendly' partyof YSRCP is vigorously mak-ing it a platform for itself topenetrate into the religiousvote bank. There definitely

will be a problem for theState's ruling party politically,if the issue emerges as a majortalking point.

The negative propagandaover the continuance ofAmravati has irked Jagan asthe needle of suspicion willautomatically point at him,irrespective who has started it.Initially, Jagan expressed dis-pleasure over the pace ofprogress and accused theChandrababu Naidu regime ofnot laying foundation stoneeven for one permanent build-ing in the seed capital.

However, Jagan is surelynot contemplating action onthe lines of his Telangana Statecounterpart to possibly sackhis Cabinet colleague for'breach of trust' in the form ofbringing confidential policymatters to public domain.

It is a different matter alto-gether that Jagan himself hasbeen reluctant on the presentsite of Amravati. But he has tobear the brunt if the govern-ment plans to shift the capital

elsewhere. That explains hisguarded approach in thisregard.

On the other side, Jana Senaparty chief Pawan Kalyan hascategorically stated thatAmravati would be there at thepresent site and he went to theextent of reassuring the sameto farmers, who collectivelyhanded over 33,000 acres tothe government under land-pooling system for the con-struction of the capital city.

Jagan, who aspires to con-tinue the same surge of hightide in YSRCP favour, is keenthat no scope is given to theprincipal opposition party toregain lost ground.

But then, policy-makingshould be entirely differentfrom that of a vendetta-drivenpolitical attitude, irrespectiveof one's clout, political one-upmanship and reverence!Only then can one avoid thefate of Captain Joseph BruceIsmay, who steered the ill-fatedTitanic into Atlantic on April14, 1912!

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

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The setbacks came in quick succession. The Andhra Pradesh High Court's observationwith regard to reverse tendering of Polavaramirrigation project and construction work ofhydel project must have come as a majorblow to Jagan

A tight-rope walk for JaganPIN

POINT

‘Govt hospitals gasp for breath’PNS n HYDERABAD

The TRS government hasdestroyed the public healthsector in the state, alleged CLPleader Mallu BhattiVikramarka. He accused theChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao of adopt-ing a negligent attitude towardsgovernment hospitals andhealth schemes like Aarogyasri,introduced by the previousgovernments. The ChiefMinister and Health MinisterEtela Rajender are not in aposition to conduct a reviewmeeting on the prevailingpathetic conditions in the gov-ernment hospitals across thestate, he said.

On Tuesday, Mallu BhattiVikramarka visited Mancherialgovernment hospital alongwith Manthani MLA D SridharBabu, TPCC vice-presidentMallu Ravi, MancherialDistrict Congress Committee(DCC) president KokkiralaSurekha Premsagar Rao,Peddapalli District CongressCommittee president EerlaKomuraiah and other Congressleaders.

He examined the hospitaland spoke to the patients onthe facilities they are availing inthe hospital. Bhatti alleged that

the Mancherial governmenthospital has transformed as asynonym to the hell.

"There are no doctors andnurses to treat patients. Two tothree patients are sharing asingle bed and there are noblankets to the patients. Theoperation theatre is in apathetic condition. The venti-lator is not working in the hos-pital," he said and questionedthe Chief Minister to tell

whether his family memberswould take treatment here inthis hospital at this prevailingconditions.

He alleged that the atten-dants of the patients are return-ing to their residences with ill-ness after coming here. Thereis no running water in the hos-pital including bathrooms.There is no drinking waterfacility in the hospital. Hequestioned the state govern-

ment to tell whether a 100-bedhospital looks in this patheticmanner. The hospital needs1,000-bed sheets but it hasonly 250-bed sheets, he lament-ed. The people in the erstwhileAdilabad district are sufferingfrom poisonous fevers butthere are no adequate doctorsin the hospital.

Sadly, there is no specialistgynecologist in the hospital, hebemoaned. The hospital has

only 20-25 doctors instead of66. There are only 24 nursesinstead of 74, he said. There areno ventilators in the hospital asit needs minimum of four ven-tilators, he alleged. The gov-ernment lacks care even onchildren's health, he said.

Manthani MLA D SridharBabu alleged that the stategovernment is not spendinghundreds of crores of fundsmeant to hospitals underDMFT. He demanded HealthMinister to release a whitepaper on the status of hospitalsin the state. He warned thestate government that Congresswill take up movement againstthe government in case it failedto strengthen the Healthdepartment to provide effectivetreatment to the people.

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka addresses the media at Mancherial on Tuesday

Minister Niranjan Reddy felicitates IRRI Deputy Director General Dr Jacquelin Hughes in Hyderabad on Tuesday

There are no doctorsand nurses to treatpatients. Two to three

patients are sharing a singlebed and there are no blanketsas well. The operation theatreis in pathetic condition. Theventilator is also not workingin the hospital—MALLU BHATTI VIKRAMARKA

CLP leader

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Government of Telanganais striving to increase theincome of the farmers byadopting best agriculturalpractices and utilise best tech-nologies available across theglobe, said AgricultureMinister S Niranjan Reddyhere on Tuesday.

He was speaking at an inter-action meeting with a team ofscientists of International RiceResearch Institute (IRRI),Philliphines on project pro-posal at the Robing hall inProfessor JayashankarTelangana State AgriculturalUniversity(PJTSAU) campus,at Rajendranagar.

While addressing the meet-ing, S Niranjan Reddy hasstressed the need to implementthe water saving, and time sav-ing technologies in the ricecrop are very much requiredfor the Telangana state, hesaid. He further said that thegovernment of India has setthe goal to double the farmersincome by 2022, to achieve this

goal states also should have theits own strategies for improvethe farmers income he added.The government of Telanganaunder the leadership of ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao, newly formed Telanganastate is spending more than Rs20,000 crore on the agriculturesector to ensure that farmingis profitable for in the state.

The proposed project pre-pared by the IRRI will defi-nitely help the farmers and alsoimprove the water saving andtime saving technologies in thepaddy crop. He expressed theconfidant that the project pro-posal will definitely agreed bythe chief minister for extend-ing new technologies to thefarmers.

Earlier, the Deputy Director

General, Research, IRRI DrJacquelin Hughes gave a powerpoint presentation on"Improving Farmers Incomeand Nutrition security in Rice- Based Agri - food system inTelangana". According to DDGIRRI, the proposed projectwould ensure the doubling offarmer's income, sustainablewater management in agricul-ture, developing of stress tol-erant rice varieties for sus-tainable farming and develop-ing of low glycemic indexvarieties etc.

Further, she said that, theproject will also provide mech-anisation and post harvestbusiness models, capacitydevelopment and knowledgeexchange to the scholars, staff,and farmers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

It was a black day on August27, 1948 when 127 personswere slain by the erstwhileruler of Hyderabad StateNizam's Razaakars atBairanpally, described as theJallianwala Bagh of Telangana.

The bloodbath turned 71 onTuesday. The incident at lastliberated the Telangana, whichlanguished in Nizam's dra-conian rule for over 13 monthseven after the country becom-ing independent, and helped itjoin the national mainstream.

After the British rulers leftthe soil of the country, Nizamdeclared the Hyderabad Stateas an independent country.He constituted the Razaakarforce, headed by the bloodthirsty Qasim Rizvi, to create

a reign of terror among thepeople. To resist the atrocitiesof the Razaakars, Bairanpallyyouth, led by Immadi RajiReddy, constituted teams to

protect the village giving noleverage to the cruel Razaakars.In fact, the Razaakars foundthem to be a thorn in the flesh.

In a raid on the village,

Razaakar leader Awwal Saab'sson met with death at thehands of the villagers, provok-ing the Razaakars to avenge theinsult. In retaliation, theRazaakars raided on the villageat least five times, but of noavail. The alert village protec-tion squads were successful inrepulsing their attacks. Theattacks lead to death of nineRazaakaars. This has sent

them fly out of the handle. With the help of Nizam's

army, Razaakars launched amajor offensive on the villageon August 27, 1948. Pittedagainst a strong force of over1200, the villagers foughtpitched battles. Ultimately, theNizam's forces gained theupper hand.

In all, 96 villagers wereordered to be executed by fir-ing squad. Piling up the bod-ies in one heap, the raiders per-petrated atrocities on womenand disrobed them. They madewomen play Bathukammagoing round the heap. InKootigal, the Razaakars exe-cuted 31 villagers. The vil-lagers appeal to the state gov-ernment to provide freedomfighters' pension to all thosewho fought against the Nizamand his Razaakars.

The revolt,described asTelangana’sJallianwala Bagh,claimed over 127lives on August 27, 1948

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rangareddy district Congresshas condemned the arrests ofits district leaders, who tried totake up 'Padayatra' demandingGodavari waters to the districton Tuesday. They demandedthe state government to releasethem immediately. The policefoiled Rangareddy districtCongress' proposed 4-day'Padayatra' by arresting leadersearly in the morning beforethey came out from their res-idences.

On Tuesday, the former MP,Konda Vishweshwar Reddy,AICC Secretary ChVamshichand Reddy, formerMinister G Prasada Kumar,TPCC official spokespersonSiddeshwar said that the arrestsof Rangareddy leaders ispainful. “Please forgive us if wehad hurt with our criticism in

the past but provide water toRangareddy district. The gov-ernment is providing water inthis area by spending Rs 1 lakhper acre. We are also inTelangana. Provide irrigationwater immediately,” saidKonda. It may be recalled thatRangareddy district Congressleaders had planned a four-day'Padayatra' from Shankarpallyto Shadnagar demanding

Godavari waters toRangareddy district andprotesting the abolition ofPranahitha-Chevella projectby the TRS government. Theleaders proposed 'Padayatra'that on first day (August 27),the padayatra will go throughShankarpally Dobipur toChevella. On August 28, thePadayatra will go up toManneguda. On third day

August 29, the Padayatra willreach to Parigi. On fourth dayon August 30, the Padayatrawill reach Shadnagar and con-clude there. The Congressleaders planned to walk 88 kmin four days from Shankarpallyto Shadnagar.

Konda said that the ChiefMinister has assured that hewill construct Laxmidevi Pallireservoir, with the capacity ofstoring 10 TMC. "There is noaddress for it", he said. Kondaasked the Chief Minister, whosaid that he will transformRayalaseem as Rathnalaseemaby providing water, to tell as towhy he was forgetting the peo-ple of Rangareddy district.

He demanded the state gov-ernment to develop the medi-um and small irrigationschemes in the Rangareddydistrict, which is facing waterscarcity.

Cops foil Cong ‘Padayatra'; leaders arrested

Ex-MP Konda Vishweshwar addresses the media in Hyderabad on Tuesday

New facility forstate policePNS n HYDERABAD

A conference hall facility ofTelangana State PoliceHousing Corporation Ltd hasbeen inaugurated in its headquarters with the State-of-the-art facilities at a cost of Rs10 lakhs. The ChairmanKoleti Damoder here inau-gurated the facility onTuesday, in the presence ofthe Managing Director BMalla Reddy, IPS.

Telangana state is spending more than Rs 20,000 crore on the agriculturesector to ensure that farming becomes more profitable, saysAgriculture Minister

Municipalpolls: Congfiles PIL pleasPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress party MPs RevanthReddy and KomatireddyVenkat Reddy and BJP MPfrom Karimnagar BandiSanjay Kumar filed thirdparty affidavits in PILs alleg-ing irregularities in the pre-poll process for conduct ofmunicipal elections in thestate. In their affidavits, thethree Lok Sabha MPs told theHigh Court that they did notreceive any notice form theconcerned officials of differ-ent local bodies falling undertheir Parliamentary con-stituencies limits with regardto the draft proposals todivide wards. The matter willcome up for hearing onWednesday.

Continued from Page 1

Officials cited that pendingbills have already touchednearly Rs 30,000 crore, includ-ing Rs 10,000 crore pertainingto the Irrigation Department,mainly due to paucity of funds.

All the welfare schemescould be impacted due to thecash crunch. Already some ofthem have been implementedonly partially, while keeping amajor chunk of the beneficia-ries waiting.

For instance, the RythuBandhu amount is yet to beextended to 10 lakh farmers, outof over 50 lakh beneficiaries.Under the KCR Kit programme,

only kits are being given, withthe related amount of Rs 13,000,meant to be credited into thebank accounts of beneficiaries,kept on hold. Thousands ofKalyana Laxmi/ Shadi Mubarakapplications are pending due tolack of funds.

Nearly five lakh applicationssubmitted by the unemployedunder bank-linkage self-employment schemes havenot been cleared for a yearnow.

This being the state of affairsmuch before the State gets tofeel the pinch of 'recession',officials say the situationwould only worsen in themonths ahead.

CM's ‘recession' talk castsshadow on new Secretariat...

Continued from Page 1

Speaking to the press,Commissioner Anjani Kumarsaid officials had received a tip-off about a vehicle headedtowards Jubilee Hills checkpost whose occupants werecarrying cash of Rs 5 crore, andthat they did not have docu-ments validating the possessionof the money. Police reachedthe spot and arrested seven per-sons and seize the cash.

Interrogation revealed thatthey were in the business of ille-

gally transferring money for acommission of 0.6 per cent. Theaccused worked for a firmcalled 'P Umesh Chandra andCompany' which has offices inAhmedabad, Surat andMumbai. The firm is run byHarshad Patel and Umesh, bothfrom Ahmedabad, police said.Investigations are on in the case.

7 arrested fromJubilee Hills checkpost following tip-off

Hawala racket busted, Rs 5 crore cash seized

Firm on doubling farmers’income: Niranjan Reddy

The unsung heroes of Bairanpally revolt

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A woman gave birth to ababy girl on the nationalhighway near Gannavaramon Monday night. Sandhyafrom Koyyagurapadu ofUnguturu mandal hadarrived at Gannavaram byan auto-rickshaw. As shewas alighting from thevechicle, she developedlabour pains and tried towalk towards theGannavaram GovernmentHospital.

As the pains increased,she sat on the side of theroad and gave birth to ababy girl on the highway ataround 9.30pm. Localsimmediately informed 108and the ambulance staffshifted her to a hospital.

In another incident,another pregnant womanwith the same name-Sandhya - delivered a babyboy at her residence due tothe unavailability of 108ambulance. The incidenthappened at Kesarapalli vil-lage in Gannavaram mandal.

According to reports, theparents called the 108 toll-

free number, while theirdaughter developed severelabour pains. As the 108teams expressed the non-availability of the ambu-lance, Sandhya's parentswent out for a taxi.Meanwhile, she delivered ababy boy. After reachingthe GannavaramGovernment HospitalSandhya, parents faced apiquant situation as therewas no doctor, or nurse toattend to their daughter.

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The GHMC is saving on street-light electricity bills. Not quiteby installing the power-savingLED bulbs in place of power-hungry tungsten bulbs. It'ssaving money because thebulbs just don't light up - yes,scores of streetlights on cityroads are simply lie dysfunc-tional.

The civic body has said oftenin the past that it has been ableto save power by switching tothe use of LEDs for streetlighting, but neither GHMCofficials nor the EnergyEfficiency Services Limited(EESL) has an accurate countof how many LED streetlightsare working and how many are'out' on any given day.

The GHMC claimed that ithad replaced bulbs at more4,00,000 streetlights with effi-cient LEDs, which helped itreduce power bills. However,the ground situation reflects

that many streetlights in seriesat many places remain shutduring night, and so they don'tconsume power at all.

As for conserving electrici-ty consumption, a series ofLED lights were glowing in theday on Tuesday at a stone'sthrow distance from GHMCheadquarters. At places likeHimayathnagar, Asifnagar,KPHB, Hafeezpet bridge,Warasiguda, Saidabad,Habsifuda, Khairtabad,Filmnagar, Izzathnagar,Gudimalkapur, Musheerabad,

among others, streetlights areoften seen glowing in the daybut off in the night.

Outsourcing street-lightingto EESL has not been of help -lanes and by-lanes in the city,including several VIP areas, arenot serviced well. While resi-dents have complained aboutmalfunctioning of streetlights,the core issue is not beingaddressed. Street lights at a lot ofplaces are either non-function-al or are on during day time. Themandatory 98% glow rate of thelights has never been achieved

since installation. Officials claimthat there is more than 95 percent accuracy, though theground reality is different.Officials also blame residents forstreetlight tampering.

A senior official of GHMC'selectricity wing said, "Therecould be some 3-4 per cent oflights malfunctioning, but thattoo is more or less stabilisednow. There are as many as25,000 CCMS, so there can bemanual tampering in some ofthem. People tampering withstreetlights; they know how to

switch on but not switch off.Till the time officials go andaddress the issue, the lights maykeep glowing. Sometimes, wekeep lights on to take up main-tenance activity during day."

Officials GHMC also passthe blame on EESL instead ofsolving issues. Officials fromCCMS sometimes insist thatlights are functioning wellwhen really they are malfunc-tioning. Sources say that theauthorities themselves couldwell be getting cheated on thisgiven that technology existswhich can tamper the perfor-mance results.

According to activist HarishDaga, "GHMC is not meetingexpectations of illuminationeven in a single ward in thecity. The number of out-of-order lights is increasing, andGHMC is not taking actiondespite being aware. The dash-board needs to be quantified asit gives completely wrong infor-mation. There is no audit onnumber of streetlights installed

as none of them are geo-tagged.The glow rate is just about 65-70 per cent. This is not the fig-ure agreed upon, the minimumassured illumination is 98 percent. Clearly, there is sometampering of software goingon, which is fooling the public."

Lack of proper illuminationon roads poses a threat topeople's safety, apart from pro-viding ideal conditions foranti-social elements. CCTVcameras installed on streetsalso need a basic amount oflight to perform well. As perGO No 76 issued on October28, 2016, the civic body was toreplace the high-pressure sodi-um vapour (HPSV) street-lights across the city.

Harish said streetlights arenon-functional even at the res-idences of the Governor, MPKishan Reddy, BJP leader KLaxman, ex-MP KalvakuntlaKavitha, Vice PresidentVenkaiah Naidu among other,to point out that the state ofstreet lighting is truly shabby.

RIMEORNERC

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019 hyderabad 03

FOR SUBSCRIPTION, RENEWALS AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT DELAYED PAPER DELIVERY, PLEASE CONTACT 040-23322341-43

PNS n HYDERABAD

The venue for the 10th editionof Hyderabad Literary Festival(HLF) has been shifted fromHyderabad Public School(HPS) in Begumpet to anoth-er heritage building, theVidyaranya school premises atKhairtabad for date availabil-ity issues.

Principal of HPS, SkandBali, said the school is con-ducting some other event inthe same period -- January 24and 26 --, which is why theprestigious public school won'tbe able to host the literary fes-tival this year.

The management staff ofHLF said they are not affect-ed by the change in venue, andthe festival would be held onschedule but at another venuewhich is also a heritage struc-

ture, a palace belonging to JRameshwar Rao ofWanaparthy Samasthanam.

The event was being hostedat one of the city's oldestschools for the last nine years,although rain played spoil-sport last year. The school wasformerly a 'Jagirdars' College',established in the 1920s dur-ing the reign of Mir Osman AliKhan, then Nizam ofHyderabad State.

The festival managementsaid the prime guest nation forHLF this year is Australia andthe language in focus will beMalayalam.

Hyd LitFest at VidyaranyaSchool this year

Tomato pricesease as importresumesPNS n HYDERABAD

Tomato prices whichremained high for a longtime have eases in local com-modity markets. Traders saidtomato prices have stabilizedand it now sells for about Rs10 a kg in the wholesalemarket, while retailers sell itat Rs 15 a kg.

Heavy import of tomatoesis reported from main citymarkets like Gudimalkapur,LB Nagar, Bowenpally,Monda Market inSecunderabad and the 11Rythu Bazaars in the city.

Prices of the vegetablesoared to Rs 50-60 a kg whenimport from states ofKarnataka and Maharashtrawas low, down to 40-50 lor-ries a day. With import pick-ing up recently and over 100lorries arriving at city mar-kets, prices of tomato havedropped.

Streetlights don’t work, GHMC saves power!GHMC say replacingbulbs helped reducepower bills, butground situationreflects streetlights atmany places justdon’t glow at night,and so they don'tconsume power at all

PNS n HYDERABAD

The All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) atBibinagar in YadadriBhuvanagiri district startedits first MBBS batch onTuesday with 50 freshmen.

The first batch of studentsat the Bibinagar institute tookpart in an orientation pro-gramme on the first day.AIIMS-Bhopal directorSharman Singh, local MLAShekar Reddy, MLC KrishnaReddy, Bhongir ex-MP BhooraNarsaiah Goud were present atthe event.

AIIMS-Bhopal has beengiven the in-charge responsi-bility of the institute atBibinagar for the initial peri-

od. It is also following mod-ifications suggested by AIIMSBhopal. Construction work isstill on at the campus, thoughdepartments such as anatomy,biochemistry, physiology andsome others are completeand fully functional.

Earlier, the Bhopal AIIMShad decided to start theBibinagar institute by the firstweek of August, but it gotdelayed due to the infra-structure works currently onthere.

"AIIMS-Bibinagar inTelangana will mark a newbeginning in the area of med-ical sciences in Telangana,"tweeted Union Minister ofState for Home Affairs GKishan Reddy.

AIIMS-Bibinagar openswith MBBS' first batch

PNS n HYDERABAD

PVR multiplex in Panjaguttareportedly does not have atrade license. GHMC issuednotices to the multiplex onMonday and sought aresponse within two days.Faluire in replying to thenotices were may lead to

closing of the the-atres.

Khairatabadzonal commis-s i o n e rM u s h a r r a f

Farooqi, deputyc o m m i s s i o n e r

Geeta Radhika, town plan-ning wing's CP Bhavanistumbled upon the fact thatthe multiplex did not havecommercial licenses duringroutine verification of retailestablishments.

PVR multiplexgets noticeover licence

Man held forRs 20-croreGST fraudPNS n HYDERABAD

Enforcement officers of theTelangana commercial taxesdepartment arrestedKaushik Shakthi Baburam ofGhaziabad for evading GSTto the tune of Rs 20.08 crore.

Baburam fraudulentlyutilised input tax credit andwas not paying taxes on hisoutward supplies, followingwhich a detailed investiga-tion was launched to lookfor any other frauds com-mitted and get to the mas-termind in the case, state taxcommissioner V AnilKumar said. Baburam hadfloated 21 firms all overIndia, including four inTelangana. He was remand-ed to judicial custody tillSeptember 5.

Chain snatchedfrom elderlywomanPNS n HYDERABAD

Chain snatchers struck again inthe city, this time targeting anelderly woman atVenkataramana Colony inAlwal on Monday. The robbersnatched a gold chain weigh-ing 4 tola from the womanbefore making good his escape.

According to the police,60-year-old Venkatamma wasstanding in front of her housein the afternoon when a bike-borne younth approached herto ask for directions. Suddenly,he snatched the gold chainfrom her neck and sped away,said police. Special teams wereformed to nab the accused andverify CCTV footage from thearea.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Tension prevailed at RajivGandhi International Airport(RGIA) in the city after smokewas detected mid-air in thecockpit of an IndiGo flight onits way to the city on Tuesdayevening. About 150 passengerson the flight spent anxiousminutes before being evacu-ated.

Flight 6E-6679 had taken offfrom Delhi airport around3.20 pm, but crew detectedsmoke in the cockpit beforethe flight reached Hyderabad.They immediately contactedthe Air Traffic Control (ATC)at RGIA, requesting for anemergency landing.

Officials at RGIA activatedall emergency services andalerted fire service personnel.An ambulance was also kepton standby to help the pas-

sengers in case of emergency.However, the flight landed

safely around 5.15 pm, bring-ing relief to passengers andofficials at RGIA. The passen-gers were helped off the air-craft using an evacuation slide,after which they were escort-ed to the airport. "There wassome panic after the flightmade an emergency landing.But once the passengers start-ed getting down normally, it allended well relief," said oneofficial at the airport.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad PoliceCommissioner Anjani Kumarsaid that elaborate securityarrangements are being madefor Ganesh festival, and inaddition to the available force,five Companies of CRPF arebeing inducted as a precaution.Responsible officers have beendrafted to coordinate with theGanesh Utsav Committeemembers, he said.

Anjani Kumar appealed theorganisers to register GaneshPandals online and obtain QRcodes to enable police to pro-vide proper security. A meet-ing was held on Tuesday withGanesh Utsav Committees onthe arrangements being made.GHMC CommissionerLokesh Kumar, who chaired

the meeting, said that thecivic body would make nec-essary arrangements likedeploying 500 sanitation staffto clean up after processions atTank Bund, daily sanitation

around Ganesh Pandals,spraying and fogging, removalof debris on procession routes,providing 254 cranes, rectify-ing of low-lying electricitywires etc.

Civic measures, security inplace for Ganesh festival

Newly-appointed GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar takes charge on Tuesday

Representational picture

Crew detected smokein the cockpit beforethe Delhi flightreached Hyderabad.ATC was alerted andasked for emergencylanding permission

Smoke spews from flightmid-air, spreads panic

Bike rider dies inhit-and-run mishapHYDERABAD: A 22-year-oldcollege student died after anunidentified vehicle hit hisbike and sped away atBalamrai junction in the weehours of Tuesday. Thedeceased was identified as VNitish, a resident ofBowenpally. Police said Nitishwas not wearing a helmet atthe time of the accident. Hewas travelling on a motorcyclefrom Secunderabad toBowenpally when a vehicle hithis bike at Balamrai junction.Nitish fell on the road head-first and suffered grievousinjuries and died on the spot,Bowenpally inspector PChandra Shekar said. Policeregistered a hit-and-run caseand were trying to identify theoffender's vehicle fromfootage of CCTV camerasinstalled in the area.

Woman, paramourarrested forhusband's murderHYDERABAD: The Shamirpetpolice on Monday arrested awoman and her paramour forthe murder of her husband.The deceased was identifiedas Nakka Ramarao, 42, andhis wife Nakka Sridevi, 35,and her paramour asDamandala Shiva, 34.Ramarao married Sridevi in2009 and the couple has twochildren. Shiva used to visithis house in Thumkunta anddeveloped a friendship withSridevi, which led to an illegalaffair between them.Ramarao warned the two afterhe came to know of the affair,but in vain. He sometimeseven beat up Sridevi to gether to stop her affair. She thenconspired with Shiva to killhim. On August 14, Ramaraowas invited to a party whenShiva got him drunk and thensmashed alcohol bottles onhis head, killing him on thespot, Shamirpet policeinspector Naveen Reddy said.Shiva fled on Thumkunta forthree days. He was arrestedwhile on his way back to thecity on Monday.

Man foundmurdered inPatancheruHYDERABAD: A 39-year-oldman was found murdered atPedda Kanjerla village ofPatancheru on Tuesdayafternoon. The assailants hadused a heavy blunt object tosmash his head and kill him.The deceased was identifiedas Begari Divakar, a native ofMudimanikyam. According topolice, Divakar left for hisnative place Mudimanikyamon Monday evening with anunidentified person and was toreturn home the same night.However, locals found hisbody at Pedda Kanjerla villagebleeding from injuries to thehead. Locals informed thepolice, Patancheru inspector PNaresh said. Police registereda case on the basis of acomplaint filed by Divakar'selder brother.

RAILWAYS TO ENQUIRE INTO VISAKHA EXP DETACHMENTPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The South Central Railway(SCR) has issued a clarifica-tion over the incident wherethe engine of Visakha Expressgot detached from its coach-es between Narsipatnam andGullipadu railway stations onthe Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada section on August20. The train operatesbetween Bhubaneshwar andSecunderabad, The clarifica-tion was made after mediareports claimed that that theengine travelled at least 10 kmwithout the bogies.

However, the Railwaysclaimed that the loco-pilot,after noticing the suddendrop of brake pressure andloco getting uncoupled with

the bogies, acted diligently tobring the loco to a halt at adistance of about 300 metres,and not 10 kms as reported inthe news items. The locopilot took the step after ensur-ing that the train formationcame to a total halt to avoid

collision. Enquiry is being conduct-

ed on the matter to assess thereasons for the uncoupling ofthe locomotive and the for-mation to initiate furtheraction on the matter, accord-ing to SCR authorities.

On discovering the trainwithout an engine, the pas-sengers informed railwayauthorities and a team oftechnicians were deployed toconnect the engine with thebogies. The train resumed itsjourney after a short delay.

Cops hunt for TDP leader for abusing govt officerPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Former government whip KunaRavi Kumar has landed himself introuble after he was booked formisbehaving with DevelopmentOfficer A Damodara Rao ofSarubujjili mandal parishad dur-ing the Spandana grievance pro-gramme on Monday.

Tension prevailed inAmadalavalasa Assembly con-stituency on Tuesday whenSarubujjili police registered vari-ous cases, including Prevention ofDamage to Public Property Act,1984. On charges of disturbing thegovernment programme and pre-venting a government officerfrom discharging his duty, thelocal cops registered cases against

Kuna Ravi Kumar and his 11coteries.

Srikakulam Superintendent ofPolice RN Ammi Reddy con-firmed that they registered a caseagainst Ravi Kumar on Tuesdaybased on a complaint from theofficer on Monday night. Thepolice team went to Amadalavasato take Ravi Kumar into custody,but he had not been available. Thepolice then launched a look-out toarrest Ravi Kumar.

The Sarubujjili police said thatKuna Ravi Kumar misbehavedwith the Group-1 lever officer overthe grievances received at theSpandana programme. Heallegedly abused the officer usingindecent words, the police said,quoting the complainant's version.

The train operatesbetween Bhubaneshwarand Secunderabad, Theclarification was madeafter media reportsclaimed that that theengine travelled at least10 km without thebogies

A woman sufferingfrom labour painsdelivered a baby girlon the nationalhighway nearGannavaram due tounavailability ofambulance

A tale of twoSandhyas

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019 hyderabad 04

Gadwal MLA Krishna Mohan Reddy ploughs a field in Aragidda village of Gattu Mandal in Mahabubnagar district on Tuesday

HANDS OON

CAPSULE

Missing TS student inUK remains untracedHYDERABAD: A 23-year-oldstudent from Telangana, whowent missing in Britain lastweek, remained untraced, hisfamily members said onTuesday. Ujwal Sriharsha, whohails from the state's Khammamdistrict and was pursuing MS atQueen Mary University ofLondon, went missing onAugust 22. His father UdayPratap, who is President ofBJP's Khammam district unit, isplanning to leave for London.

Landlord evicts 95-year-old womanfrom houseJAGITYAL: In an incident thatwill put the humanity to shame,a house owner, fearing death ofa 95-year-old indisposed womanin his house, got her forciblyvacated, according to report.The nonagenarian woman hasbeen severely indisposed andapparently it seems her days arenumbered. Suspecting herdeath, the house owner madeher vacate the house. Unable todo anything, as circumstanceswould have it, her family wasrelocated to burial grounds.

PNS n WARANGAL

The Vijaya Dairy inHanmakonda is in a deep cri-sis and on the verge of losingcredulity among dairy farmersas series of irregularities havetaken place in the facility. Torestore the past glory of thedairy, the state level officialshave to intervene.

The dairy is afflicted withnose-diving milk procurement,growing chasm between thedairy and the dairy farmersand their inclination towardsprivate dairies which offerhigher procurement rate. It isalleged that irregularities havebeen taking place in the dairyfor the past 5-6 years. Morerecently, funds to the tune of Rs46 lakh have been embezzled.Two of the dairy officials havebeen placed under suspendedfor the embezzlement. Caseshave been filed against them.

Accounts of the dairy havebeen audited from 2015 toMarch this year. A special offi-cer has been appointed toprobe into the embezzlement.Total misappropriation offunds in the dairy since 2015

is put at Rs 2 crore. The auditofficials seems to have noticedthat there were no transactionsrecorded or records mighthave been destroyed in respectof many transactions.

As against the normal pro-curement of 30,000 litres perday till March this year, the

dairy has been procuring only10,000 litres a day. Last year,3,000 dairy animals have beengiven to the farmers to increasemilk procurement, but thedairy farmers are not sellingtheir milk to the Vijaya Dairysince the dairy failed to paythem on time. Moreover, the

incentive announced by thegovernment was not paid sine15 months. Every two years,the procurement price increas-es by Rs 2 per litre.But the priceremained constant for the pastfive years. Therefore, the dairyfarmers are inclined to sell milkto private dairies. The govern-ment owned Vijaya Dairy iscaught in a crisis followingdecrease in milk procurement.

On Monday, the TelanganaState Dairy DevelopmentCorporation ManagingDirector G Srinivasa Rao paida surprise visit to the dairy andinspected milk procurementrecords. He enquired from thedairy officials the causes fordecrease in milk procurement.

Later, he went to the dairiesmilk sachets making unit andinspected the quality of themilk and capacity of the unitand so on. He asked the staffmembers to adhere to maintainthe milk quality standards.Later, he planted saplings onthe premises of the facility.Later, he inspected the milkchilling centers at Sangem andNarsampet in Warangal ruraldistrict.

Vijaya Dairy losing its sheenSeries of irregularities making the dairy lose its credibility among farmers

PNS n AMARAVATI

The YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment in AndhraPradesh will not go aheadwith the proposed 'iconic'bridge across the Krishna river,throwing another indicationthat its plans for the new cap-ital Amaravati will not be asostentatious as envisaged byformer Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu.

The 3.2-km long six-lanebridge that is intended to con-nect Amaravati withVi j ay aw a d a - Hy d e r a b a dNational Highway will be sim-ple and not iconic, and maycost around Rs 400 crore,down from the earlier pro-posed cost of Rs 1,387 crore.The National HighwayAuthority of India (NHAI) isexpected to soon complete aDetailed Project Report (DPR)

for the bridge, which is expect-ed to reduce the distance fromAmaravati to Hyderabad andAmaravati to Jagdalpur inChhattisgarh by 40 kms.

Chandrababu Naidu had onJanuary 12 laid the foundationstone for the 'Kuchipudi icon-ic bridge'. With a 170-metre-tall pylon, it was one of themany 'iconic' structuresplanned by Naidu, who want-ed to develop Amaravati as aworld-class city. Officials of theAmaravati DevelopmentCorporation Ltd (ADCL) hadthen said that the bridge wouldbe completed in two years.

However, the Centre didnot show much interest in theproject due to the high costinvolved. It wanted the state tobear the additional expenditurefor the project following whichthe new government told theNHAI that it prefers a simple

bridge which would meet peo-ple's needs. Official sources saya simple bridge may costaround Rs 400 crore. The deci-sion to dump 'iconic' bridgeplans comes amid confusionover future of Amaravati afterUrban Development MinisterBotsa Satyanarayana recentlyremarked that the city wasflood-prone. The remark trig-gered speculation that the statecapital may be shifted to someother place.

BJP MP T G Venkatesh'sclaim that Jagan Mohan Reddyis planning four regional cap-itals further added to the con-fusion. But leaders of theYSRCP (Jagan's Party) main-tained that only the previousgovernment's plan for iconicstructures had been shelved,and there was no proposal toshift the capital fromAmaravati.

AP drops ‘iconic' bridgeplan across Krishna river

It is alleged that irregularities havebeen taking place in the dairy for thepast 5-6 years. More recently, funds tothe tune of Rs 46 lakh have beenembezzled. Two of the dairy officials have been suspended for the alleged swindle

This traffic copleads by examplePNS n HYDERABAD

Some police officers are strictdisciplinarians, some areencounter specialists andsome more highly adminis-trative. But, here is a policeofficer who wins hearts of thepeople with his benevolentand charitable but quintes-sential service to the poor andneedy.

He is none other thanpolice inspector Nagamallu.LB Nagar Traffic CINagamallu, who sensitiespeople with his songs, butalso brings sheen in the livesof the poor and needy. Inspite of not having moneywith him, he feels highlyelated when his beneficiarieseyes radiate happiness.

Eight months ago, hepledged his gold ornaments,borrowed money and built ahome to the poor and hand-icapped person taking care ofhis nonagenarian parents.Even as his loan is stillremaining outstanding, hewent one step ahead andborrowed Rs 1 lakh from abank and built a house for avisually challenged woman.

In Suryapet district, anaged woman, PantamLakshmamma (70) ofChilsakunta has three daugh-ters. Her husband Ramaswamy grazes cattle andearns little money which ishardly sufficient to take careof his family needs. However,she managed to run thehome and married off hertwo daughters. A decade ago,her husband passed away.She managed to performmarriage of her daughter

Padma (22) with great diffi-culty. Padma has a three-year-old daughter. She liveswith her mother as she livesseparately from her husbanddue to marital discord. Thewoman lives in a thatchedhut. As Lakshmamma grewold, her vision has beenaffected. The family lives onthe earnings of the daughter.When her daughter goes outfor work, she along with hergranddaughter lives in thehome risking their lives.There is no protection fromstray dogs, scorpions andoccasional reptiles likesnakes.

During the recent rains,her hut was damaged par-tially. The family is exposedto cold. The plight ofLakshmamma came to hisnotice. Therefore, he decidedto build a home for the fam-ily. In spite of the previousgold loan that he availedfrom a private firm, he raisedRs 1 lakh from a bank andbuilt a two-room asbestoessheeted house and got it builtin a month. He gave themnew clothes and encouragedthem to celebrate house-warming. He forgot all of histensions the moment hecould see the old woman'sreflect happiness.

Nagamallu iswinning heartsby extendingquintessentialservice to thepoor and needy

Koneru Krishnagets bailPNS n ADILABAD

The High Court on Tuesdaygranted bail to the youngerbrother of TRS MLA KoneruKonappa and ZP Vice chair-man Koneru Krishna in thecase of attack and assault onForest range officer Anitha.

The accused in the casewas lodged in Adilabad dis-trict jail and he along withsome others were arrested bythe police on June 30. Theincident happened in theKoththasarasala village ofKaghaznagar mandal whenthe forest officials went toprevent the illegal ploughingactivity in the region.

TRS to repay withdevelopment...

Continued from Page 1

After assuming charge asGHMC Commissioner, hetold reporters that he wouldtake appropriate steps toaddress the government's pri-ority issues. KTR on Tuesdayrecounted the dismal situa-tion prior to the formation ofstate when Hyderabad facedpower cuts, water crisis andlaw & order situations.Striking a personal note, hesaid that during his child-hood, there used to be curfewin Hyderabad during Ganeshfestival. However, under TRSregime things have changedfor the better.

PNS n NIZAMABAD

In a shocking incident inNizamabad district ofTelangana, a statue ofMahatma Gandhi has beendesecrated by painting it blackand garlanding it with a paperwritten with slogans denounc-ing India and hailing Pakistanon Sunday by some unidenti-fied persons.

The police officials are onhigh alert following the inci-dent. The police suspect that itcould be the handiwork of theextremists.

The local youth, noticing it,went near the statue only tofind a garland of chits aroundthe Gandhi statue. These chits

featured slogans like 'IndiaDown Down', 'Jihad', 'Pakistanzindabad', 'release shadullah'

and 'Kashmir belongs toPakistan' and so on.

The incident escalated ten-sions in the village. The policesuspected the hand of anti-social elements behind theincident. Meanwhile, the intel-ligence department has iden-tified that venom is beingspewed by some vested inter-ests in the name of a voluntaryorganization.

The intelligence departmentwhich has detected the move-ments of the ultras, alerted thePolice Department about theincidents. As a result, thepolice have kept have kept ahawk eye on the activities ofanti-social elements for sometime now.

Gandhi statue in Nizamabaddefaced; culprits not identified

Collectorsto visitKaleshwaramtodayPNS n WARANGAL

Collectors of all the 33 dis-tricts in the State have arrivedhere at Warangal on Tuesday.They will visit the State gov-ernment's ambitious project,Kaleshwaram, on Wednesday.A meeting was held in thisregard with the Special ChiefSecretary of the RevenueDepartment Somesh Kumarand an aura of subjects werediscussed.

The Collectors would stayin Hanamkonda Harithahotel on Tuesday night andwould proceed to offerprayers to KaleshwaraMuktheeshwaraswami beforevisiting the Kaleshwaramproject on Wednesday. Laterthey would visit Kannepallipumphouse, Medigadda, andAnnaram barrages. After thevisit, they will return to theirrespective districts.

Continued from Page 1

Quick on the uptake, QNeton Tuesday denied the allega-tions. In a statement, it said thepublic notice by the Ministryof Consumer Affairs waspremised on the purportedreport of the RoC. Terming thereport "fallacious, withoutmerit and prepared withoutbasis and understanding ofthe business", QNet said ithad challenged the report atthe appropriate judicial forum.

However, according to theCyberabad Commissionerate,cases were also lodged againstthe firm and its promoters indifferent states in India.

Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt.Ltd was a sub-franchisee of QIGroup in India, marketingvarious schemes under thebrand name of Q Net. Sleuthsof Cyberabad Police crackeddown on the units of the firmin various parts of Telangana,Andhra Pradesh, Bengaluruand Delhi, said the PoliceCommissioner. Eight of the 38cases registered against QNetCompany in Cyberabad wereunder investigation with CIDof TS, he mentioned.

Referring to seizures in thecase, the Police Commissionersaid that the godown of VihaanDirect Selling Pvt. Ltd. atBangalore and the office ofTransview Enterprises (A mar-keting agency for QNet prod-ucts) were seized. An amount

of Rs. 2.7 crore was frozen inthe bank account of VihaanDirect Selling Pvt. Ltd.

QNet, the main subsidiary ofthe QI Group, was founded byVijay Eswaran and JosephBismark in Hong Kong in 1998.Trevor Kuna, who joined QNetin 2008, was the ChiefMarketing Officer. He is said tohave been appointed as CEO ofQNet. The company operates ina number of countries likeIndia, the Philippines,Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia,Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia andetc. In India, QNet appointedVihaan Direct Selling Pvt. Ltd.as its sub-franchisee. DiliprajPokkella and Md. Imthiyaz aresaid to be its directors.

Explaining their modusoperandi, the PoliceCommissioner said that ini-

tially the promoters approachnewcomers claiming that thereare various business projectssuch as cost optimization busi-ness, health and wellness prod-ucts, watches and jewelry, per-sonal care and beauty, tourpackages, education packages(SMC MBA Certification) etc.Later, the gullible ones aretrapped by sweet talk, whichincludes building castles inthe air and stating that theywould be a part of the "QNetKingdom" where they canbuild their own future. Theyalso promise a refund within amonth should they want toback out, but invariably dragthe time period with trainingsessions etc. Once the new-comer joins through a refer-er/promoter, he becomesIndependent Representative

(IR). After paying the money,the newcomer gets some prod-ucts and the promoter getscommission. The promoterthen asks IR to enroll two othermembers for commission. Asthe number of persons increas-es down the line the uplinersget more and more money ascommissions.

70 held in QNet scam, says Cyberabad police

PNS n GUNTUR

BJP leader and Rajya SabhaMember Sujana Chowdary onTuesday dared Minister BotsaSatyanarayana to show evi-dence of him owning at leastone cent of land in the capitalterritory of Amaravati. Hewas responding to BotsaSatyanarayana's statement onMonday at Visakhapatnam.

Sujana termed leveling alle-gations in politics is natural,but the Minister's commentsare misleading. Therefore,accepting the challenge, heasked the Minister to showevidence of him owning atleast one cent of land inAmaravati. Speaking to media,he said that changing capitalcities is not as easy as chang-ing shirts. The previous TDPregime started building thecapital city with the approvalof the National GreenTribunal.

Amaravati will be floodedonly if Vijayawada comesunder water, he said describ-ing it as far from feasible. TheBJP would launch its actionplan on Amaravati only afterCM Jagan making theGovernment's stand clear onthe state capital issue.

Because of the government'svacillation, the temple con-

struction came to a standstilland apprehended that it doesnot augur well and could leadto destruction. Later speakingto a section of the media,Sujana Chowdary alleged thatthe YSRCP government failedin all sectors of activity andhence trying to create confu-sion on Amaravati lands.

Commenting on the lan-guage of the minister, he saidthat the company named byBotsa Satyanarayana did notfigure among 120 odd com-panies he owned. He advisedthe minister to speak truth sothat the people would believehim. He quipped that theminister did not the differencebetween the seed capital andjurisdiction of the CapitalRegion DevelopmentAuthority.

The government has beenalleging that he owned landsin Veerulampadu mandal, thevillage of his maternal grand-mother. He demanded thegovernment to make publicwhen it purchased the landsfor him. The YSRCP hasbeen leveling allegationsagainst him only to cover upfor their lapses, he said.

Instead of slinging mud onhim, he demanded Botsa toshow evidence for his allega-tions against him.

Show evidence,Sujana dares Botsa

n Notices issued to seven noted film personalities

n Police freeze promoters' deposits totaling Rs 2.7 crore

n Look-out circular issued against 12 promoters/directors,500 others

Notices servedto celebs

Continued from Page 1

The EnforcementDirectorate has been request-ed to probe the money laun-dering and tax evasion byQNet. The Income TaxDepartment has been request-ed to share details on the fil-ings of returns by the firm. InFebruary, the company haddenied any association withcelebrities, actors and crick-eters who had promoted theirbrand. The multinationalcompany is accused of duping20 lakh investors by runningan illegal money circulationscheme and laundering Rs20,000 crore. Vihaan claims tohave approximately 6 lakhregistered Indian customers inits database with audited rev-enues for 2017-2018 at Rs 624crore. QNet said neither it norVihaan was banned by anycourt of law in India.

Woman pushes2-yr daughterin front of amoving bus

Continued from Page 1

Some passers-by rushedto the spot and rescued thebaby. They then handed overthe woman, who has onlybeen identified as a residentof Bhagyanagar Colony inKukatpally, to the police. Thedriver of the bus was appre-ciated for his presence ofmind due to which the tod-dler escaped with minorinjuries.

Kukatpally Inspector ofPolice, B Laxmi NarayanReddy, said that the womanwas drunk and hence lostcontrol over the baby. Thepolice have registered a case.

‘BJP's allegationsdemoralising power staff’

Continued from Page 1

Employees of Transco andGenco are working hard toensure uninterrupted powersupply for the people in thestate. It was because of ourefforts that Telangana wasable to get quality power in thepast five years. But BJP leader'sallegations are demoralisingelectricity utilities employeesin the state," said DevulapalliPrabhakar Rao, speaking at apress conference in Hyderabadon Tuesday.

"BJP leader Laxman evensaid Prabhakar Rao is speak-ing like a TRS leader. Beingemployees of state govern-ment our motive is to work forpeople and have no interest insupporting any political party.We have worked under TDP-led government and Congressgovernments in the past.

Similarly, we are workingunder TRS government.Naturally, we will workaccording to the government'spolicy and instruction, butwill not bow to its pressures.Our motive is to ensure qual-ity power supply and are notconcerned about politicalequations," he said.

“After the formation ofTelangana, we have investedabout Rs 23,000 crore onsprucing up transmission anddistribution networks in thestate. This is capital expendi-ture we which we raisedthrough debts. We have raiseddebt of Rs 35,000 crore forstarting new power projectslike Kothagudem andPulichintala. We are spendingabout Rs 7,000 crore permonth for debt servicingalone. Also, coal prices haveincreased,” said Prabhakar.

Dates proposed forbudget session

Continued from Page 1

The issue came up for dis-cussion during a meetingconducted by Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao atPragathi Bhavan on Tuesdayas part of pre-budget exercise.

KCR asked all departmentsto maintain financial disci-pline in the wake of severeeconomic recession in thecountry.

He asked official to takemeasures for effective uti-lization of available funds.

KCR has decided toexplain the present financialcondition of state govern-ment to ministers and secre-taries of all departmentsbefore the commencement ofAssembly session and themeasures to be taken for thejudicious use of funds.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Over 40 injured as busfalls into gorge inUdhampurUDHAMPUR (J-K): Over 40passengers were injured onTuesday when an overloadedmini bus rolled down into agorge in Udhampur district ofJammu and Kashmir, policesaid. The accident took placeshortly after the vehicle leftChunanta village for Udhampuraround 7.30 am, a policeofficial said. He said the driverof the vehicle lost control overthe vehicle while negotiating acurve in Ramnagar area as aresult of which the vehicleoverturned before rolling downinto a 70-feet gorge. A rescueoperation was launched and 41injured persons were shifted tohospital. "The vehicle wasoverloaded and some of thepassengers were sitting on itsrooftop when the accidentoccurred," one of the injuredpassengers, undergoingtreatment at district hospitalUdhampur, said. Police haveregistered a case.

Chartered planecrashes in Aligarh, sixon board safeALIGARH : A chartered planefrom Delhi crashed whilelanding near the Dhanipurairstrip of the air training centrehere on Tuesday, with all sixpersons on board escapingunhurt, a senior official said.The chartered plane wasbringing a technician and someequipment for repair of anaircraft at the air training centrefrom Delhi when it crashed.Additional District MagistrateRanjit Singh said all the sixpersons on board, including thepilot, were safe. According to apreliminary inquiry, the planetouched a high tension wireand crashed. Fire tenders wererushed to the spot to douse theflames, the ADM added. Seniorofficials of the State ElectricityDepartment, who rushed to theincident site, said an error ofjudgement on the part of thepilot may have led to the crash.Senior engineer in the stateelectricity departmentDharmendra Saraswat toldreporters at the accident spotthat "according to preliminaryreports, the pilot tried to land ata strip of the runway which isstill not operational." He saidthe existing runway atDhanipur is being expandedand work of shifting the 33KVA high tension cable is still"not complete". Instead oflanding at the regular run way,the pilot tried to land on the"non commissioned airstrip,"he said. Work on shifting theexisting cable "would takeanother week before it isshifted underground,"Saraswat added.

PNS n LUCKNOW

They may not have touchedthe moon but they will wit-ness the historic landing ofChandrayaan-2 on the moonalong with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi at ISRO con-trol room in Bengaluru nextmonth.

Two students from gov-ernment schools in UttarPradesh would be chosen towitness the historic landing ofChandrayaan-2.

Centre's Principal ScientificAdviser K. Vijay Raghavanhas written to the UttarPradesh Chief SecretaryAnoop Pandey, to conduct aquiz for the students. Thewinners of the quiz will wit-ness Chandrayaan-2 landingin early September.

Principal Secretar y,Secondar y Education,Aradhana Shukla, hasinstructed officials to circulatethe information on WhatsApp

groups at schools in the state.Shukla said: "Children from

class 8-12 are eligible to par-

ticipate. It will be a momentof a lifetime. The success ofChandrayaan-2 has been a

proud moment for us and ournation. We will shortlist stu-dents after they take part inthe quiz." Shukla has alsoasked the District Inspector ofSchools (DIOS) to immedi-ately hold a meeting withprincipals and apprise them ofthe competition and alsoshare the link with them.School principals would bemade nodal officers and edu-cation officials have also beentold to seek help from otherdepartments to ensure greaterparticipation in the quiz.

In the rural areas, develop-mental officers, block educa-tion officers and PanchayatiRaj officers have been ropedin to spread awareness aboutthe quiz.

District Inspector ofSchools, Lucknow, MukeshSingh said: "Students areexcited to witness the eventwith the Prime Minister andare preparing for the quiz thatwill focus on science."

Two UP students to witnessChandrayaan 2 landing with PM

PNS n AIZAWL

To further tighten vigil along thefrontiers, the border guards ofIndia and Bangladesh will con-duct joint patrolling and set upmore Border Out Posts (BOPs)along the unfenced borders inMizoram, a BSF official said onTuesday.

The decision was taken at ameeting of the DistrictMagistrates and DeputyCommisioners of Mizoram andRangamati and Bandarban hilldistricts of south-eastBangladesh and senior officialsof Border Security Force (BSF)and Border Guards Bangladesh(BGB) last week in Aizawl.

The meeting was also attend-ed by officials from the min-istries of Home, External Affairs,Commerce and Industries, andLand Record of both the coun-tries.

Mizoram has an unfencedinternational border of 404 kmwith Myanmar and 318 km withBangladesh. While the BSFguards the Bangladesh border,

the border with Myanmar issecured by the Assam Rifles.

"More BOPs would be set upand the telecommunication net-works would be improved inthese BOPs and bordering areasto check all types of cross-bor-der crimes, smuggling andtrans-border movements of mil-itants and unauthorised people,"said a BSF official.

He said that border tradesand setting up of "Border Haats"

(markets) between India andBangladesh were also discussedin the meeting.

Several terrorist outfits fromnortheast India had earlier setup their hideouts and trainingcamps in the Chittagong HillTracts, comprising Rangamati,Bandarban and Khagracharidistricts of southeastBangladesh.

The official said that bothsides also discussed and for-

mulated strategies to preventtrafficking of women and chil-dren, smuggling of narcoticsubstances and forest productsto Bangladesh and illegal cross-border trade.

"In the day-long meeting,the officials also discussed estab-lishment of deportation centrefor illegal migrants and crimi-nals and joint border survey ofland along the border area," theofficial added.

India, B’desh to tighten vigil along the border

PNS n GANGTOK/KOLKATA

The Sikkim government hasurged the Centre to withdraw itsnotification which opened up 24peaks of the state to moun-taineers, a top official said. TheCentre has recently allowedmountaineering and trekking in137 peaks across the country,including 24 peaks in Sikkim, ina bid to boost tourism. The stategovernment has sent a letter tothe Centre stating that the open-

ing up of the peaks in Sikkim tomountaineers is a "matter ofgrave concern" for the state andsought immediate withdrawal of

the notification, Chief SecretaryAlok Kumar Shrivastava said onMonday. During a meeting withEcclesiastical DepartmentMinister Sonam Lama and homeand tourism secretaries, ChiefMinister Prem Singh Tamangsaid he, along with Lama, will fol-low up the matter with theUnion Home Minister in view ofsensitivity of locals towards themountains, an Information andPublic Relations Departmentrelease said.

Sikkim urges Centre to withdrawnotification opening up peaks

PNS n BENGALURU

Karnataka Chief Minister BSYediyurappa, who got a cabi-net three weeks after he tookover, will have three deputiesand one of them has alreadycaused a stir. A BJP MLA hasquestioned the choice ofLaxman Savadi, who wascaught watching porn in thestate assembly.

Laxman Savadi, along withGovind Karjol and AshwathNarayan will all be DeputyChief Ministers in the newcabinet. He will be in charge ofthe transport ministry.

BJP MLA MPRenukacharya, a close aide ofMr Yediyurappa, has protest-ed Laxman Savadi's inclusion."What was the necessity orurgency to induct him(Laxman Savadi) as a ministereven though he lost the elec-tion?" he asked on Friday.

Mr Savadi lost in last year'sstate election to Congress'sMahesh Kumattalli, who iscurrently among the MLAs

disqualified from the assemblyafter they quit the Congress-Janata Dal Secular coalitiongovernment, causing its col-lapse.

"National and state leadersmade me Deputy ChiefMinister, they have shownfaith in me. I will make theparty stronger and bring goodname to the government. I didnot ask for this post, seniorleaders gave it to me, I accept-ed it," Mr Savadi told newsagency ANI in Bengalurutoday.

In 2012, Mr Savadi and twoothers were caught watchinga pornographic video clip inthe assembly, to the BJP'sembarrassment. He latersought to clarify that theywere watching it for "educa-tional purposes, to knowmore about the rave parties,"as the assembly was about todiscuss a rave party scandal inMangaluru.

All three, Mr Savadi, CCPatil and Krishna Palemarresigned as Karnataka minis-ters at the time. Mr Patil is alsoback in the government.

Mr Savadi has apparentlybeen rewarded for his part indestabilising the Congress-JDS coalition. He is a closefriend of disqualified MLARamesh Jarakiholi, a Congressrebel, and is believed to havepersuaded at least half-a-dozenmembers to cross over.

Though he lost his lastelection, Mr Savadi is seen tobe a very powerful Lingayatleader known for his organi-zational skills.

BJP leader caught watching porn

among Karnataka's 3 Dy CMs

PNS n NEW DELHI

With an eye on upliftingtourism in the Valley, a Centraldelegation will visit the newly-formed Union Territories ofJammu and Kashmir, andLadakh in September thisyear. A team from the Ministryof Tourism will earmark placeswhere tourism can be fast-tracked.

To increase travellers foot-falls, the Home and DefenceMinistries have alreadyapproved 137 mountain peaks,including in the KashmirValley. The Centre will alsoprovide high-level training tothe tourist guides in the stateand ensure proper facilities forthe visitors.

Tourism Minister PrahladPatel, who is scheduled tojoin the delegation inSeptember, will first visit Lehand then travel to the Valley.

The ministry will alsoexplore opportunities aroundmountain sports, training ofporters for trekking purposesand finding alternatives to

hotels that will benefit the localpopulation. It hopes to projectthe entire Ladakh region as atourist hub to experienceBuddhism and its teachings,reported news agency IANS.

The state is all set to host thefirst-ever global summit herewith a three-day event plannedfor investors starting fromOctober 12 to showcase thepotential that the newly-formed union territory has.

After the Centre abrogatedArticle 370 and 35A whichgave special status to the erst-while state of Jammu andKashmir, several developmentmeasures are being pushed togenerate opportunities.

The passed the J&KReorganisation Bill, bifurcat-ing the state into two unionterritories: Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh. ThePrime Minister, in a 45-minutetelevised address to the nationlater, said that the decision"will give impetus to the over-all prosperity of the region andensure better developmentalfacilities."

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian Air Force (IAF) WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman will be flying theMiG-21 jet during the induc-tion ceremony of Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian AttackHelicopters on September 3 atthe Pathankot Air Base. WingCommnader AbhinandanVarthaman, who was capturedafter his MiG-21 was broughtdown during the February 27dogfight with Pakistani AirForce F-16s one of which heshot down, was conferred withVir Chakra on the 73rdIndependence Day.

The first batch of the BoeingAH-64E Apache GuardianAttack Helicopters, which isworld's most lethal attack heli-copter, arrived in India in Julyat the IAF Hindon Airbase inGhaziabad. After a series ofuser trails, the Apache heli-copters were sent to thePathankot Air Base for a finalinduction into service.

Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman washonoured for displayingexemplary bravery during theaerial conflict that occurred

after India carried out anairstrike on Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps inPakistan's Balakot to avengethe Februar y 14, 2019,Pulwama suicide bombing.He was in Pakistani custodyfor almost 60 hours and wasreleased after India appliedpressure on its western neigh-

bour. New agency ANI hadearlier reported that the heli-copters will replace the Mi-35choppers stationed inPathankot. It also added thatGroup Captain M Shaylu willcommand the squadron.

The AH-64 Apache is used bythe US Army and a number ofdefence forces of other coun-

tries. The helicopter is equippedwith a 30-mm machinegun, which can fire upto 1,200 rounds at atime. Apart fromthis, it is alsoequipped with theanti-tank Hellfiremissile, which isbelieved to be capa-ble of destroying atank. As an additionalweapon, a Hydra UnguidedRocket, capable of perfect exe-cution of any target on land, isalso installed. The helicopter canfly at a speed of 150 nauticalmiles per hour, which helps it toreach the enemy at a tremen-dous speed in the air.

The helicopter has the capa-bility to carry out precision

attacks at standoffranges and operate in

hostile airspace withthreats from theground. The abili-ty of these heli-copters, to trans-

mit and receive thebattlefield picture, to

and from the weaponsystems through data net-

working makes it a lethal acqui-sition. These attack helicopterswill provide a significant edge inany future joint operations in sup-port of land forces and also helpIndia in fortifying its borderwith Pakistan.

Wing Commander Abhinandan to fly MiG-21 AH-64E APACHE GUARDIAN INDUCTION CEREMONY

Shukla said: "Children from class 8-12 areeligible to participate. It will be a momentof a lifetime. The success ofChandrayaan-2 has been a proud momentfor us and our nation. We will shortliststudents after they take part in the quiz"

The first batch of the Boeing AH-64E ApacheGuardian Attack Helicopters, which is world's mostlethal attack helicopter, arrived in India in July at theIAF Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad. After a series ofuser trails, the Apache helicopters were sent to thePathankot Air Base for a final induction into service

Centre fast-trackstourism developmentin Kashmir Valley

More BOPs would be setup and thetelecommunicationnetworks would beimproved in these BOPsand bordering areas tocheck all types of cross-border crimes, smugglingand trans-bordermovements of militants andunauthorised people"

PNS n KOLKATA

The Mamata Banerjee govern-ment in West Bengal is plan-ning to introduce a bill in theAssembly to check incidents ofmob assault and lynching,sources said. The West Bengal(Prevention of Lynching) Bill,2019 is likely to be tabled in theHouse on August 30, they said.

"The bill aims to protect theconstitutional rights of vul-nerable persons and preventincidents of lynching. It alsoproposes action against thoseinvolved in perpetrating thecrime," a senior TMC ministersaid on Tuesday. The legislationwill pitch for a jail term, whichmay vary from three years tolife, for those involved inassaulting and injuring a victim.

In case of death, thoseresponsible for the incidentwould be punished with rigor-ous life imprisonment and fineup to Rs 5 lakh, he said.

WB govt to tablebill against mobassault, lynching

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Tuesdayextended, by one more day, itsprotection to former FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram fromarrest by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) in INX Mediacase. Extending the protection tothe Congress leader, now inCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) custody in the case after hisarrest last week, the courtobserved that the arguments onthe matter will continue onWednesday. Hearing the matteron Monday, the court hadextended Chidambaram's pro-tection till Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Chidambaram'slawyers, seeking pre-arrest bail forthe senior Congress leader,argued that the anti-money laun-

dering act was being imple-mented retrospectively.

Senior advocate AbhishekManu Singhvi, representingChidambaram, told the courtthat the offence allegedly datedback to 2007 but the Preventionof Money-Laundering Act(PMLA) provisions came intoeffect in 2009. Despite this, theED had invoked these provisions

against Chidambaram, he said.Singhvi contended that the

main provisions of law againstChidambaram became sched-uled offences under the PMLAonly in 2009, after a year whenthe alleged FIPB approval wasgiven in 2007-08. "You are tryingto paint a person as kingpin. Andit is on the basis of offences thatdid not exist at that point in time,"he submitted.

Arguing about the line of

questioning adopted by the inves-tigating agencies, Singhvi said itappeared they were attempting toextract a confession fromChidambaram.

He also told the court thatinvestigating agencies were paint-ing a wrong picture thatChidambaram was evasive.

During questioning, the offi-cers expect the person to give theanswer they want or continue toface questions till the time they

get a favourable answer, Singhviargued.

Meanwhile, senior advocateKapil Sibal, also representingChidambaram, filed an applica-tion for the production of thetranscripts of custodial interro-gation of Chidambaram, who isin CBI custody.

Chidamabaram on Tuesdayfiled a rejoinder to theEnforcement Directorate affi-davit, which details the list coun-tries where he and "his co-con-spirators" allegedly held bankaccounts and properties.

Sibal told the top court that heopposes ED's request to submitrecords in sealed cover in thecourt, saying that the ED cannotplace documents behind hisclient's back and then seek arrestand interrogation.

SC protection to Chidambaram from ED arrest till WednesdayKarti hits out at media, says he has no undeclared assetsPNS n NEW DELHI

Karti Chidambaram, son offormer Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, on Tuesdaylashed out at the media forreporting about his allegedundeclared assets which he saiddid not exist. "I have said this adnauseam. My assets are all dulyaccounted for and disclosed inall statutory filings. I have con-tested two elections, one suc-cessfully. I am obligated to pub-licly declare my assets and I havedone so," Karti Chidambaramsaid in a statement.

"If the agencies, including theIT Department, had proof of

'undeclared assets' or 'undis-closed sources of income', theycould have easily proceededagainst me under the relevantprovisions of law. "Let meremind you that I am liable fordisqualification from Parliamentif I have misstated my assets," he

said. Sarcastically, he called him-self a "Politically ExposedPerson".

"The level of scrutiny that Ihave to go through to open bankaccounts and transact business isonerous. There is absolutely noway that I could hold assets with-out provenance of source offunds. "So, I ask TV anchors tobe a bit more tempered in theircoverage of 'stories' about my'global wealth'. Meanwhile, hisadvocate Arshdeep SinghKhurana has expressed shockover alleged leaks that have ledto speculation in sections of themedia about the Chidambarams'undeclared wealth.

Singhvi contended that the main provisionsof law against Chidambaram becamescheduled offences under the PMLA only in2009, after a year when the alleged FIPBapproval was given in 2007-08

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019 nation 06SHORT READS

Army jawan commitssuicide after killingseniorCHENNAI: An army jawancommitted suicide aftershooting his senior inside themilitary camp at Pallavaramhere on Tuesday morning,according to the police.ChennaiPolice said the jawan, Jagsheer,and the havildar, PraveenKumar Joshi, used to havefrequent arguments over theformer reporting late forduty.On Monday night, the twoagain had a heated argumentafter which Joshi went to bed.Jagsheer entered Joshi's roomand shot him in the early hoursof Tuesday. The gunshots wokeup others who rushed to thespot. In the meantime,Jagsheer shot himself with thesame rifle used to kill hissuperior. Both were taken to theMilitary Hospital here wherethey were declared broughtdead.

ITI Nagpur students tolearn to assembleRafale jets

Jailed gangstermarries air hostess atJodhpur templeJAIPUR: It was an unusualwedding, which took placeunder tight police security inRajasthan. Jailed gangsterVikramjeet Singh exchangedwedding vows with his long-term girlfriend Gurjeet Kaur atthe Pabupura Arya Samajtemple in Jodhpur amid heavypolice deployment.Singh is a member of thenotorious Laurence Vishnoigang and an accused in severalcases of extortion andshootings in Haryana. He iscurrently lodged in the JodhpurCentral Jail. Kaur is an airhostess based in Haryana. Theytied the knot on Sundayafternoon, after seeking specialcourt permission.After completing the rituals, thecouple got their marriagecertificate. At 5 p.m., Singh wastaken back to the prison, whilehis wife left with her relatives.

NAGPUR: Students oftheIndustrial Training Institute (ITI)here in Maharashtra are all setto get a chance to learn how toassemble and fit body parts ofthe Rafale and Falcon aircraft,an official said on Tuesday. TheFrance-based Dassault Aviation,manufacturer of Rafale fighterjets, signed an agreement withthe government- run ITINagpur last month for startingan 'Aeronautical Structure andEquipment Fitter' course at theinstitute. "The students will gettraining in the assembly ofaerostructure, cockpit fitting,wings fitting and body structurefitting of Falcon and Rafaleaircraft at the DRAL unit here,"ITI's principal Hemant Aawaretold PTI. The DassaultReliance Aerospace Limited(DRAL), a joint venturebetween Dassault Aviation andReliance Group, has a facilityin MIHAN (Multi-modalInternational Cargo Hub andAirport at Nagpur) for theassembling of Falcon 2000passenger planes and parts ofRafale jet. Aaware said beforethis new programme, the ITIdid not have any aviation-related course. "During anindustry-academic interaction,we requested DRAL to start anaviation-related course at ITI,"he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court has summonedfive doctors for their alleged neg-ligence which led to the death ofa 10-month-old baby here in2012.

The court noted that theMedical Council of India (MCI)has also ordered removal oftheir names from its register forthree months.

Additional Chief MetropolitanMagistrate Anuj Agrawal sum-moned four doctors of two dif-ferent private hospitals and themedical superintendent of one ofthe hospitals under Section 304(culpable homicide) of the IndianPenal Code.

The court issued summonsbased on a complaint filed by thetoddler's mother Renu Tyagi,who had alleged that her childdied due to the negligence of thedoctors.

She claimed that the doctorscharged her a hefty amount forthe treatment but did not per-form their duties diligently.

Based on its findings, theMCI ethics committee had heldguilty doctors Om Prakash andRakesh Tyagi of Jain CharitableTrust Hospital in Gandhi Nagarand the medical superintendent

of Taneja Hospital in Preet Vihar.Though the committee was

silent on the conduct of doctorsRakesh Kumar Jain and ShefaliChauhan of Taneja hospital, ithad directed removal of theirnames from MCI register, whichalluded to the fact that their pro-fessional conduct was not appro-

priate as per medical protocol,the court said in its order.

It also pulled up police officialsprobing the case for not takinginto consideration the ethicscommittee report, which hadclearly directed that names of theguilty doctors be removed fromits register for a period of three

months.The magistrate said he was

"pained" by the attitude of policeofficials for remaining in a stateof "slumber".

"I am at pain to observe thatdespite loss of a precious humanlife, the then concerned officerremained in a state of inertia forthe reasons best known to himand chose to sit over the saidreport of the ethics committee,"he said.

The court also directed thatthe matter be brought to thenotice of the deputy commis-sioner of police, east district, ask-ing him fix responsibility of theerring officials and taking appro-priate remedial action.

According to the complaintfiled by the toddler's mother, herchild was admitted to JainCharitable Hospital onNovember 28, 2012. However,the hospital administration laterasked her to shift his son toTaneja Hospital as it could notgive him proper treatment.

The baby was admitted toTaneja Hospital the next day,where during the course of treat-ment, the child's health starteddeteriorating, the complainantsaid, adding that the hospitalcharged her Rs 3.5 lakh.

Five doctors summoned byDelhi court for negligence

DEATH OF A 10-MONTH-OLD BABY IN 2012

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Bhojpuri music industryhas always been receptive tochanges in the political cli-mate and this time is no dif-ferent. The abrogation ofArticle 370 in Kashmir hasled the Bhojpuri music indus-try to rapaciously take tosongs on the subject.

The social media is flood-ed with such songs that arelaced with humour and patri-otic fervour. Some of thesesongs have attracted over100,000 views.

One such song by popularBhojpuri artiste O. P. Rajimagines a scene where aKashmiri bride is brought toUttar Pradesh in a palanquinand says, "Kashmir se bhau-ji layenge"(will get sister-in-law from kashmir) whileanother goes as, "Kashmirmein leb do katta

zameen"(now buy land inKashmir).

O. P. Raj said: "People wantto listen to these songs. Weare not commenting onKashmiri women, nor talkingabout land-grabbing. Theidea is to build a relationshipbetween two states."

Awadesh Premi, a Bhojpurisinger, said: "After the abro-gation of Article 370, people

are talkingabout pur-chasing landin Kashmir.This is thepopular senti-ment and the songsreflect this."

He further explained,"Earlier, Kashmir was differ-ent f rom other states .Marriage is the beginning of

a new relat ionship andstrengthens bonds. After theCentral government's deci-sion, a friend said relationswith Kashmiris wi l l bestreamlined when we marryin each other's land. This was

the idea that we con-verted in to a song."

S a l m a nSiddiqui, who

is popular asS a l l uKhesari-2 int h eB h o j p u r im u s i cworld, said:

"After Article370 was abro-

gated, the firstthing that spread on

social media was the ideaof marrying Kashmiri girlsand purchasing land inKashmir. This was the ideabehind my song."

His song is about a manwho says his name will figurein the Guinness Book ofWorld Records when hismarriage procession goes toKashmir.

There are several patrioticsongs, hailing the Modi gov-ernment and cautioningPakistan on the Kashmirissue too.

Earlier, Vikram SinghSaini, Bharatiya Janata PartyMLA from Khataul i inMuzaf farnagar distr ic t ,courted controversy when hesaid that the party workerswere happy because theywould now be able to marryfair Kashmiri girls".

The Modi government hadstripped Jammu and Kashmirof its special status by nulli-fy ing Article 370 andannounced the decision tosplit the state into two UnionTerritories on August 5.

‘Drug addiction spreading in Rajasthan’PNS n JAIPUR

Youths in Rajasthan are becom-ing drug addicts at an alarmingrate and the recent seizure ofaround 832 kgs of marijuanafrom Jaipur and Dholpur provesthis, senior police officers toldIANS on Tuesday.

Last week, the CID-CB wingof Rajasthan Police seized 832 kgsof marijuana which was beingtransported from Odisha toRajasthan. In the first raid at ahouse in Jaipur, over 650 kgs of'ganja' was seized while in anoth-er raid, a truck carrying 182 kgof marijuana was impoundedwhich contained concentratedmarijuana packed in the mostfine manner. This was one of thebiggest drug seizures in Jaipur.

While in the first case, thedrug was to be supplied to shop-keepers nears schools and col-leges, in colonies and local lanesto turn youths into drug addicts,in the second raid too, the ganjawas supposed to be supplied inJaipur, said ADG Crime B.L.Soni.

Soni said that the entire net-work shall be exposed soon aspolice have already started a cam-paign against drug mafias.

He did not rule out the pos-

sibility that the contraband seizedin Jaipur was to be supplied toschool and college students viasmall packets being sold at smallshops situated near educationalinstitutes. "The contraband drugis also used in hookah bars toturn youths into addicts," headded.

Meanwhile, another officersaid that 10 per cent of schooland university students havebecome regular consumers ofthese drugs. "Those who are lowqualified are selling this drug topeople due to poverty whilerich people are consuming itunder stress and societal pres-sure," he said adding that as mar-ijuana is cheap and does notsmell, it has become a favourite

of students, auto drivers as wellas foreign tourists. There is a highdemand for this product fromIsraeli tourists too and hence itssale is rampant in Pushkar, hesaid. In fact, last month too,around 30 kgs of marijuana wasseized from Shivdaspura inRajasthan, he added.

The drug in such a hugequantity is never meant to be sup-plied to customers directly, hesaid adding "What we have fig-ured out is that there is a propermarketing chain in place wherethe wholesalers are supplying thisdrug to retailers and retailers toagents. The agents are smallshopkeepers who have startedstoring this banned drug in theirshops due to enormous demand."

PNS n NEW DELHI

The central government now"usurps a huge windfall" fromthe Reserve Bank of India,Congress leader JairamRamesh said after the centralbank approved a record pay-out of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore tothe government from its sur-plus and reserves.

"Urjit Patel and ViralAcharya held the fort. Theywere forced to leave. The fortwas breached. The Govt ofIndia now usurps a hugewindfall from the RBI goingcontrary to what the centralbank's own think tankCAFRAL had said. Fiscalbreathing space but at whatand whose cost?" Mr Rameshtweeted.

His tweet comes a dayafter an expert committeechaired by former GovernorBimal Jalan made its recom-mendations to the centralbank.

The record payout by theRBI comes at a time whenthere are signs of severe stressin several sectors, from hous-ing to manufacturing. Thetotal payout of Rs. 1.76 lakhcrore includes Rs. 1.23 lakhcrore as dividend and Rs.52,640 crore surplus capital,the RBI said in a statement.

Govt usurpshuge windfallfrom RBI:Jairam Ramesh

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi visited the family mem-bers of former Union ministerArun Jaitley at his residencehere on Tuesday and offeredfloral tributes to a portrait ofthe departed leader.

Jaitley (66) passed away atthe All Institute of medicalSciences (AIIMS) here onSaturday.

Union Home Minister AmitShah arrived at Jaitley's resi-dence earlier and received theprime minister along withRohan Jaitley, the formerUnion finance minister's son.

Other family members werealso present when Modiwalked in and spoke to Jaitley'swife and children. The primeminister spent about 20-25minutes at Jaitley's residence.

Modi was on a three-nationtour when the senior leader of

the ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) passed away. Hehad spoken with Jaitley's wifeSangeeta and son Rohan onSaturday.

Addressing a gathering inBahrain, the prime ministerhad said: "I cannot imaginethat I am here in Bahrain,while my dear friend ArunJaitley is no more.

PM Modi visitsJaitley's family

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi and DistrictCricket Association (DDCA)on Tuesday decided torechristen Feroz Shah KotlaStadium as Arun JaitleyStadium in the memory ofits former president whopassed away on Saturday.

The renaming will takeplace on September 12 at afunction where a stand at theKotla will be named afterIndia captain Virat Kohli asannounced earlier.

Speaking on this initiative,DDCA president RajatSharma said: "It was ArunJaitley's support and encour-

agement that players likeVirat Kohli, VirenderSehwag, Gautam Gambhir,Ashish Nehra, Rishabh Pantand many others could makeIndia proud."

Jaitley, during his tenure atDDCA, is credited with ren-ovating the stadium into amodern facility, increasingits capacity to accommo-date more fans besides con-structing world class dress-ing rooms.

The function, to be held atthe Jawaharlal NehruStadium, will be graced bythe presence of HomeMinister Amit Shah andSports Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Kotla to be renamed asArun Jaitley Stadium

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Tuesdaywaived off waterarrears of about 13lakh people withfunctional watermeters. "Some ofthese arrears are dueto consumers but someare also due to incorrectbilling," Kejriwal told the media.

While the waiver will be forthose having domestic watermeters, those installing themeters by November 30 can gettheir late payment surcharge

waived off. "This is an openinvite to the people of Delhi tojoin the mainstream and install

water meters. Only thoseconsumers who have

installed meters beforeNovember 30 will getthe benefit of thisscheme."

He said the gov-ernment was fixing the

root cause of compound-ing arrears that lie in the DJB'sinefficiency and faulty billing."This could therefore be the lastsuch scheme. This is a big dif-ference between this and previ-ous schemes."

Kejriwal announceswaiver of water duesPNS n PATNA

Six people were detained onTuesday in connection with ashocking case in which a minorgirl was gangraped and later ton-sured and paraded through hervillage as punishment by the pan-chayat in Gaya district of Bihar,police said. According to thepolice, the girl was kidnapped ina vehicle by a group of men onAugust 14 evening, when she wasout to relieve herself. She wasforcibly taken to the roof of thelocal Panchayat building, whereshe was repeatedly raped till shelost her consciousness. A villagerspotted her the next day andinformed the family, whichbrought her home.

However, the villagePanchayat, which is allegedlyunder the influence of the pow-erful relatives of the accused,instead of helping the victimordered a punishment for her.She was tonsured and thenparaded through the village.

An FIR was registered at thewomen police station on Monday,11 days after the incident took

place in Masaundha village ofMohanpur block in Gaya. Thepolice acted only after the victimand her mother met top districtpolice officials on Saturday. "Sixpeople have been detained so far,"said Niranjana Kumari, WomenPolice Station Officer Incharge."All the five Panchayat members,who held the meeting andordered the punishment, have

been named as accused in the caseunder the POSCO Act and havebeen detained. Besides, DevlalYadav, who was identified by thevictim as one of the six accusedof the gangrape, has also beendetained. The victim has so far notbeen able to identify the rest of theaccused in the gangrape case," saidRavibhusan, Officer-Incharge,Mohanpur police station.

Minor gang-raped, tonsured, paraded in Bihar; 6 held

PNS n JAIPUR

Rajasthan Police has asked allits personnel to maintain theiruniform's dignity after after apre-wedding video shoot show-ing a police officer on dutybeing 'bribed' by his bride-to-be went viral on Youtube, leav-ing senior officers embarrassed.

The video, which hasBollywood songs playing in thebackground, shows police offi-cer Dhanpat stopping andpenalising Kiran (now his wife)for riding a two-wheeler with-out wearing a helmet. She isthen seen putting money in hisuniform pocket and ridingaway. Later, Dhanpat realiseshis wallet has been taken byKiran. He goes on to track herbut the two fall in love andeventually marry. As this videois drawing many eyeballs,Inspector General of Police,Law and Order, Hawa SinghGhomariya, has issued adviso-ry to all Inspectors Generals ofPolice, asking them to ensureall personnel maintain theirdignity and follow the code ofconduct.

‘Bribery' viral videoembarrassesRajasthan police

One such song by popular Bhojpuriartiste O. P. Raj imagines a scenewhere a Kashmiri bride is brought toUttar Pradesh in a palanquin andsays, "Kashmir se bhaujilayenge"(will get sister-in-lawfrom Kashmir) while anothergoes as, "Kashmir mein lebdo katta zameen"

PNS n KOLKATA

A day after his arrest fromBihar's Gaya district, topIndian functionary ofBangladesh-based terror out-fit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen(JMB) Ejaz Ahmad wasbrought to Kolkata by the citypolice on Tuesday.

The Special Task Force(STF) of Kolkata Police onMonday arrested Ahmad fromPathantoli village in Gaya'sBuniyadpur. He is also knownto be the terror outfit's mainrecruiter in the country.

"Ahmad was brought toKolkata on a transit remandfrom a Gaya court," an STFofficer said.

On Tuesday, he was pro-duced before a Kolkata court,

which sent him to 14 dayspolice custody till September10.

Ahmad, a native of WestBengal's Birbhum district,reportedly joined JMB back in2008 and had been in constantcontact with SalauddinSalahein, another JMB opera-

tive, and Kausar, one of the keyaccused in the 2014Khagragarh blast in Bengal'sBurdwan district.

Kausar, alias Boma Mizan,was arrested earlier this monthfrom Bengaluru by theNational Investigating Agency(NIA).

JMB India head brought to Kolkata,sent to 14 days’ police custody

Racket operating onWhatsApp bustedPNS n JAIPUR

Mumbai Police's anti-narcoticscell has busted a drug racketbeing operated through mobilemessaging applicationWhatsApp and arrested oneperson, an official said onTuesday. As part of the racket,peddlers used to take drugorders from college studentsthrough WhatsApp, he said. Theanti-narcotics cell got the infor-mation sometime back thatsome drug peddlers hadswitched over from their con-ventional mode of communi-cation to app-based services."During the probe, it found thatdrug peddlers were using socialmessaging platforms to sellmarijuana to college students,"he said. Acting on a tip-off, thepolice laid a trap on Mondayevening and nabbed SunilRajdev Das (29) nearNavinchand Popatlal KapadiyaVidya Mandir in Vile Parle andseized 9 kg of marijuana worthRs 1.8 lakh from him, DCPShivdeep Lande said.

9 booked underMCOCA fordacoity, assaultPNS n THANE

Nine accused in nearly 35cases of dacoity and assaulthave been booked under thestringent MaharashtraControl of Organised CrimeAct (MCOCA) by Thanepolice, an official said. Theywere wanted by police inMaharashtra's Thane,Jalgaon, Aurangabad,Ahmednagar, Akola,Washim, Nagpur and Gondiadistricts, and Bijapur inKarnataka, DeputyCommissioner of PoliceVivek Pansare told reporterson Monday evening.

Bhojpuri songs on Kashmir now a rage

The village Panchayat, which is allegedlyunder the influence of the powerful relatives ofthe accused, instead of helping the victimordered a punishment for her. She wastonsured and then paraded through the village

Based on its findings, the MCI ethicscommittee had held guilty doctors OmPrakash and Rakesh Tyagi of JainCharitable Trust Hospital in GandhiNagar and the medical superintendentof Taneja Hospital in Preet Vihar

Other familymembers were alsopresent when Modiwalked in and spoketo Jaitley's wife andchildren. The PrimeMinister spent about20-25 minutes atJaitley's residence

world 07HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019

AFP n BEIJING

Beijing on Tuesday voiced"strong dissatisfaction" with

a joint statement issued by theG7 leaders, who backed HongKong's autonomy and called forcalm after months of civilunrest.

G7 leaders meeting inFrance on Monday backedHong Kong's autonomy as laidout in a 1984 agreementbetween Britain and China,and called for calm in theprotest-hit city.

But Beijing has accusedforeign governments of inter-fering over Hong Kong, and for-eign ministry spokesman GengShuang said the G7 was "med-dling" and "harbouring evilintentions".

"We express our strong dis-satisfaction and resolute oppo-sition to the statement made bythe leaders of the G7 Summit onHong Kong affairs," Geng saidat a press briefing in Beijing.

"We have repeatedlystressed that Hong Kong's affairsare purely China's internal

affairs and that no foreign gov-ernment, organisation or indi-vidual has the right to inter-vene."

Hong Kong has beenwracked by more than twomonths of protests over anattempt by its Beijing-backedgovernment to pass an extradi-tion bill which opponents sawas a huge dent in the city'sautonomy.

It has since morphed into awider call for greater democra-tic freedoms. In the G7 state-ment, the leaders of Britain,Canada, France, Germany, Italy,Japan and the United Statescalled for calm.

Beijing has previously

accused former colonial powerBritain of interfering in thesemi-autonomous Chinese ter-ritory, which was handed overto China in 1997.

"The rule of law, socialorder, economic livelihood andinternational image of HongKong has been severely affect-ed," Geng said.

"No one cares more aboutthe prosperity and stability ofHong Kong than the Chinesepeople, including the people ofHong Kong."

The financial hub facedmore violence over the week-end, with police saying Mondaythat they were forced to firewater cannon and a warningshot to fend off "extremely vio-lent" demonstrators, markingsome of the worst violence inthe last 12 weeks of politicalunrest in the city.

So far Beijing has not inter-vened over unrest in the semi-autonomous city, despite ramp-ing up the rhetoric againstdemonstrators and mountingfears that they may act militar-ily to quell the violence.

China objects to G7 call for HK autonomy

AP n HONG KONG

Hong Kong leader CarrieLam said Tuesday that she

has met with a group of youngpeople about ongoing pro-democracy protests, butshe showed no sign of budgingon any of the protesters'demands.

Lam said she explainedthe government's position onthe five demands of the protestmovement at the Mondaymeeting, which was closed-door and unannounced.

She disputed criticism thather government is ignoringthe protesters, whose demandsinclude democratic elections,the dropping of charges againstarrested protesters and an inde-pendent inquiry into what theybelieve is excessive use of forceby police to quell the demon-strations.

"It is not a question of notresponding," she said. "It is aquestion of not accepting thosedemands."

Hong Kong, a semiau-tonomous Chinese territory,has seen more than twomonths of youth-led proteststhat have often ended in clash-es with police.

More than 80 people werearrested this past weekend afterprotesters occupied city streets.They built barriers across theroads and threw bricks andgasoline bombs to try to blockthe police advance.

Lam announced last weekthat she is creating a platformfor dialogue and said Tuesdaythat it would include protesters.Opposition lawmakers havequestioned the sincerity of herinitiative, calling it a delay tac-tic.

The education and home affairs ministers alsotook part in Monday's meeting.The South China MorningPost newspaper, citing an unnamed source, said about20 people took part and thatthey were mostly in their 20sand 30s.

HK leader open todialogue but won'tbudge on demands

AP n BEIJING

For 15 years, Yalqun Roziskillfully navigated state

bureaucracies to publish text-books that taught classic poemsand folk tales to millions of hisfellow minority Uighurs inChina's far western region ofXinjiang.

That all changed threeyears ago when the rulingCommunist Party launchedwhat it says is a campaignagainst ethnic separatism andreligious extremism inXinjiang. Suddenly evenrespected public figures likeRozi were being arrested,caught up in a crackdown thatcritics have said amounts tocultural genocide.

An estimated 1 millionUighurs have since beendetained in internment campsand prisons across the region,and advocacy groups say thatincludes more than 400 promi-nent academics, writers, per-formers and artists.

Critics say the Governmentis targeting intellectuals as away to dilute, or even erase, theUighur culture, language andidentity.

After being taken away bypolice in 2016, Rozi, 54, wassentenced to more than adecade in prison on charges ofincitement to subvert statepower.

As one of the first promi-nent people to be detained,Rozi's story illustrates howeven Uighurs who toed theparty line and were accepted bythe government have beenrebranded enemies of the stateamid the widening campaign ofsurveillance and detentionunderway in Xinjiang.

"He had many friendsamong government officials. He was able to use hisconnections to sell his books,"said Abduweli Ayup, a linguistwho knew Rozi through aUighur bookstore Ayup onceran. "Those books sold verywell."

China's 11 million Uighursare culturally, linguistically andreligiously distinct from thecountry's overwhelmingly eth-nic Han majority, who haveincreasingly migrated to theresource-rich region and occu-py most of the well-paid jobsand powerful government posi-tions. Uighurs speak a Turkic

language and many are prac-ticing Muslims.

For decades, Uighur intel-lectuals maneuvered carefully,working to advance their cul-ture while avoiding beingtarred as separatists or extrem-ists. They thrived even as thegovernment periodicallyrelaxed and tightened its gripon the region.

Rozi's friends, family, andformer classmates describe himas sharp, disciplined and verycareful, standing out for hispolitical and business savvy. Asa college student in the 1980s,he stayed away from the pro-democracy movements thatwere roiling China and avoid-ed socializing with knownactivists.

He shot to fame amongUighurs after tangling withfamous writers, winning peo-ple over during heated debateson television. He cultivatedties with state officials thatallowed him to write on sensi-tive topics like Islam andUighur identity.

Rozi urged his people tobecome educated to counterstereotypes of Uighurs as back-ward, exotic or extremist.

China ban on some textbooksseen aimed at Uighur culture

PTI n MELBOURNE/BEIJING

Ch i n e s e - A u s t r a l i a n writer and political

commentator Yang Hengjun,who was detained by China in January, has been formally arrested on suspicionof spying, Beijing confirmed onTuesday.

The 54-year-old Yang hadbeen under investigation for"harming" China's nationalsecurity and was arrested onAugust 23 on suspicion ofcommitting crimes of espi-onage.

Australian Foreign AffairsMinister Marise Payne saidthe government efforts to gainadditional information hadbeen difficult.

AP n BIARRITZ

No, first lady Melania Trumphasn't had any secret meet-

ings with North Korean leaderKim Jong Un.

The White House is clarify-ing comments made by PresidentDonald Trump during a newsconference in France. He had said"the first lady has gotten toknow" Kim and likely agrees he's"a man with a country that hastremendous potential." Press sec-retary Stephanie Grisham says ina statement from aboard AirForce One that the president"confides in his wife on manyissues including the detailed ele-ments of his strong relationshipwith Chairman Kim — andwhile the First Lady hasn't methim, the President feels like she'sgotten to know him too."

Trump has said he'll likelymeet with Kim again to discussPyongyang's nuclear pro-gramme.

WH says nosecret firstlady-Kim JongUn meeting

Tehran: President HassanRouhani on Tuesday told the USto "take the first step" by liftingall sanctions against Iran, a dayafter US President DonaldTrump said he was open to

meet. "The step is to retreat fromsanctions. You must retreat fromall illegal, unjust and wrongsanctions against the nation ofIran," Rouhani said in a speechaired live on state television.

Iran's Rouhani tells US to take‘first step' by lifting sanctions

AFP n LONDON

Labour leader Jeremy Corbynwill on Tuesday attempt to

bridge deep divisions with otherOpposition parties on how toavoid Britain crashing out of theEU on October 31.

Corbyn said he would "doeverything necessary" to stop ano-deal Brexit, following leakedofficial warnings that this couldlead to food, fuel and medicineshortages.

The Labour leader has saidhe plans to call a no-confi-dence vote in Prime MinisterBoris Johnson next week and ifhe wins it would be ready to leada caretaker government.

But other opposition MPsfavour passing a law that wouldforce the government to ask theEU to delay Brexit.

Ahead of the talks, Corbynwrote in the Independent thatJohnson was "cosying up to" USPresident Donald Trump in thehope of securing a free trade dealafter Brexit.

"A No Deal Brexit is reallya Trump Deal Brexit," he said.

"It won't return sovereignty,it will put us at the mercy ofTrump and the big US corpo-rations," Corbyn wrote.

"I hope we can come to agood working arrangement andbring on board others acrossparliament who see the dangerof a No Deal crash out," he said.

Speaking to BBC radio,Liberal Democrat leader JoSwinson said she would be will-ing to discuss all possible options"because we do not have a lot oftime".

Britain's parliament is notdue to resume until next week.But anti-Brexit politicians havebeen discussing plans ever sinceJohnson came to power lastmonth vowing to take Britainout of the EU on October 31with or without a divorce dealwith Brussels.

Johnson has said he is hop-ing for a deal with EU leaders,describing the chances as "mar-ginally" higher following G7

talks over the weekend.But Johnson has not ruled

out suspending parliament inorder to allow a no-deal Brexitif he fails to come to an agree-ment with the EU in the nextweeks.

Labour's Brexit spokesmanKeir Starmer has said suspend-ing parliament — known as"proroguing" — would be"unlawful" and "completelyunacceptable". The politicalimpasse has raised the chancesof a general election and politi-cians of all stripes are preparing.

The Brexit Party, whichcame first in European electionsearlier this year and which advo-cates a no-deal Brexit, is pre-senting its candidates at a launchevent on Tuesday.

Britain voted to leave the European Union in a 2016referendum but has alreadybeen forced to delay its exit twice after parliament opposeda deal struck with Brusselsunder Johnson's predecessorTheresa May.

UK Opposition seek waysto stop no-deal Brexit

PTI n LAHORE

APakistani court on Tuesdaysummoned an official of

the Counter TerrorismDepartment (CTD) of Punjabpolice on a petition filed byMumbai attack mastermindand JuD chief Hafiz Saeed chal-lenging his arrest in the terrorfinancing cases.

The Lahore High Courtheld the hearing after Saeed and67 other leaders of Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-i-

Insaniat (FIF) filed a fresh peti-tion removing the objection ofthe Registrar office.

The LHC Registrar officeearlier had raised an objectionon the petition of Saeed andothers that they attached pic-tures of mosques with it (peti-tion) which were built on theoccupied land in order to giveit a "religious colour".

"A two-member LHCbench comprising JusticeMazahir Ali Naqvi and JusticeMushtaq Ahmed on Tuesday

issued the notice to the CTD tofile a reply on Saeed and others'petition within two week. Thecourt also summoned a CTDofficial concerned after twoweeks to explain about thearrest of Saeed and others interror financing," a court offi-cial told PTI after the hearing.

The petitioners' counselAdvocate A K Dogar gave argu-ments in the court. Dogar saidSaeed has no link with Al-Qaeda or any other terroristorganisation.

Pak court summons counter-terrorofficial on Hafiz Saeed's petition

China confirmsarrest of Australianwriter, facesspying charges

The Indian Army has held Jammu& Kashmir (J&K) together sinceOctober 27, 1947, when troopswere airlifted into Kashmir Valley,hours after the Instrument of

Accession was signed by Maharaja Hari Singhthe day before. October 27 is celebrated asInfantry Day; ‘Infantry’ being the queen of thebattlefield. Infantry and the Army havebecome synonymous. The latter has since notceased fighting, defending and protectingJ&K. Every Infantry soldier has spent the bestpart of his youth on the Cease-Fire line (CFL)and after the 1971 war, Line of Control (LoC).Nearly one-third of the Infantry is deployedon the LoC along with sizeable other support-ing units of the Army. Previously, they weredeployed only on CFL/LoC but now, they arein the rear areas, too, protecting the lifelineto forward posts. The Army is twin tasked:Defending the LoC and fighting insurgencybehind LoC, thus maintaining the sovereign-ty and integrity of J&K. Intermittently, a debatestarts on whether the Army could have re-taken one-third of Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK) still held by Pakistan. Giventhe geopolitics of Partition, balance of mili-tary forces and historical evidence, this wasnot feasible. It is wrong to blame JawaharlalNehru and indulge in wishful thinking.

My own tryst with J&K began days aftermy commissioning on December 15, 1957,when I arrived in Srinagar on my way to join2/5 Gorkha Rifles (FF), winner of threeVictoria Crosses. The battalion was deployednear Uri in a blissfully serene environment.Roads and tracks near villages and townswere lined with rosy-cheeked kids offeringapples, flowers and smiles to the troops.Soldiers would visit Srinagar on weekendsto exult in the magic of the Dal Lake andShalimar Gardens. Kashmiris were friend-ly and inquisitive. Those days, some officersdid not even own a watch and when theyasked for local time, it was indicated butaccompanied with the wry question: “Butwhat is the time in India?” Ten years afteraccession, for Kashmiris, across the Banihalwas another country.

The 1965 war triggered off by Pakistan’s‘Operation Gibraltar’ started in Rajouri sec-tor, south of Pir Panjal. The battalion was inthe thick of it. Because of local Kashmiri sup-port, Operation Gibraltar failed. The kids wereback with apples and smiles. I returned a third(and a fourth) time to J&K with my Gorkhasto Kargil-Leh after fighting the 1971 war inthe east and west. Pakistani troops were ontheir best behaviour, thanks to the SimlaAgreement which had put a lid on violence.The insurgency, which started only in 1987after the rigged elections in J&K, has waxedand waned since recording high points in the1990s, 2008, 2010 and 2016. The big change:Flowers and fruit offerings changed to stones,abuses and cries of azadi. My visits to J&Kcontinued in the 1990s and a decade later atthe peak of insurgency. I joined a People’sGroup concerned about the difficulties faced

by Kashmiris and Jammuites, invillages divided by the fencing onLoC. After investing most of myArmy time understanding theinternal factor in J&K, uponretirement, I joined the seminarcircuit to understand the jugularvein of J&K in the Pakistancard.

In 2003, following the attackon Parliament by Lashkar andJaish terrorists from Pakistan, Iwas appointed convenor of theIndia-Pakistan Track II initiative,which survived uninterrupted tilllast year when even Germansponsors thought the invest-ment risked its own good offices— so deep was the India anti-Pakistan sentiment following Uriand Pulwama.

The Kashmiris have bornethe brunt of both the predomi-nantly Pakistan-instigated insur-gency and cross-border terror-ism. The Army is entrapped bythese two evils. It is true that dur-ing 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999wars, the people of J&K stoodshoulder to shoulder with Indiaand the Army. Kashmiri shep-herds were the ones who gaveearly warning about Pakistaniintrusions in 1965 and 1999conflicts. The Army has held theState together despite politicalinstability, corruption and mis-governance of both State andCentre through most of the 72years. Its several Sadbhavanaprogrammes, rescue and reliefmissions during floods and earth-quakes and people-friendly pro-

jects, which captured hearts andminds, were marred only byrare fake encounters.

Without meaningful politi-cal initiatives, parts of Kashmirhave turned into hot-beds ofinsurgency and terrorism. TheArmy’s Operation All Out hascertainly put it and other securi-ty forces on top, confining terror-ism to few of 10 districts of theValley but without addressing theexponentially growing alienationand radicalisation.

The 250-odd militants in theValley are mostly locals, poorlytrained but highly motivated,especially in the post-BurhanWani period. But motivation, nosubstitute for lack of terrorismskills, has restricted the life cycleof militants to a few weeks andmonths, not years as in the past.The Army has forfeited its pop-ular local support as civilians nowglorify martyred militants andactively disturb its military oper-ations. Yesterday’s apple givershave turned stone-pelters.

The Army is in aid to civilauthority since the late 1980s inJ&K where the Disturbed AreasAct, Armed Forces (SpecialPowers) Act and Public SafetyAct are promulgated. Its missionin internal conflict situations is tocreate an environment conduciveto conflict resolution, which it hason several occasions, without thepolitical class displaying requisitewill to engage with internal andexternal stakeholders. Now, afterthe momentous decision of de-

operationalising Articles 370 and35A, a new and unknown terrainlies ahead for the Army — thisfollowing the loss of identity byKashmiris and the unprecedent-ed step of demoting the State intoa Union Territory. These per-ceived punitive actions ratherthan ending terrorism, as envis-aged, will spike insurgency andextend its life for another 30 years,according to the ObserverResearch Foundation’s Kashmiriresearcher, Khalid Shah.

The enduring image ofKashmir in lockdown will con-front the Army as it comes togrips with escalating resentmentand radicalisation and remainsstuck for a few more decades.Despite our denials, the interna-tionalisation of Kashmir hasalready begun, thanks to MessrsXi Jinping and Donald Trump.Two futures are envisioned. Oneby New Delhi, of Kashmir turn-ing into a land of milk and honey;and the other by the silent few:Of more and worse of the same.Only the Supreme Court canreverse the triumphalist action ofthe State — involuntary integra-tion of J&K with the rest of India.Either way, for most Kashmiris,across the Banihal will remainanother country. For Army’ssake, one hopes it is otherwise.

(The writer is a retired MajorGeneral of the Indian Army andfounder member of the DefencePlanning Staff, currently therevamped Integrated DefenceStaff)

The problem with discussions around cli-mate change is that they often veeraround the imminence of a cataclysm

when fact remains that it has not only becomea real-time crisis but is also impacting our dailylives. If a report by the Wildlife Institute of India(WII) is to be believed, around 150 fish speciesin the Himalayan region, including the territo-ries of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh,Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh,are facing extinction. Admittedly, climatechange and resultant warming have meant an

altered temperature of waters that host schools of fish and most importantly theirfood chain. This has further meant new predatory species are breeding and gain-ing ground in warmer waters. Then there are changes in river flow patterns dueto ill-planned constructions and dams. Even now fisheries experts are rarely con-sulted before riverine projects are cleared. But the trigger this time seems to behuman activity which is relentless about ignoring the environment for econom-ics. The numbers of the much-vaunted golden mahseer, for example, have declinedin much of its distribution range and are now considered threatened due to pol-lution and waste overload in the rivers, habitat loss and over-fishing. Mahseeris an extremely sensitive species that can hardly tolerate a modified water envi-ronment and has decreased in size over the last century. Why this is alarmingis because India is home to 15 of the 47 mahseer species in the world. Freshwaterfish species globally are under grave threat, according to the International Unionfor Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List. Over half of Japan’s endemic fresh-water fishes and more than a third of freshwater fishes in Mexico are threatenedwith extinction, the report said. Even India’s fish population is dipping. Combinethis with a decline in resources due to overfishing and a weakened output betweenspawning cycles. One cannot forget how hilsa, Bengal’s most favourite fish, hasseen a sharp fall in recent times. This forced the State Government to ban fish-ing for a while. Consequently, the delicacy had to be imported from Bangladesh.Yet unlimited demand has led to illegal fishing. One cannot really blame the des-olate fishermen, who have been battling dwindling catches and returns.

The fishery crisis is growing bigger by the day considering marine fish pop-ulations are rapidly vanishing too. With our seas and oceans now a dumpingground for waste and plastics, there are reports of schools of fish being washedup ashore. In May, a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platformon Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services presented an alarming picture of theglobal health of marine ecosystems. It said that one million species around theworld are on the brink of extinction and called for the need to put fisheries reformsin place so as to encourage sustainable seafood production and resilient ecosys-tems. It further said that a third of fisheries are presently overfished and that morethan 33 per cent of marine mammal species are threatened with extinction. Backhome, the internet was flooded with pictures of “blue waves” along Marina beach,an indicator of luminescent planktons which are detrimental for fish populations.Reversing this trend is of utmost importance whereby we need a “Project Tiger”like status for our fish wealth, be it in the rivers or sea. There must be a stan-dardised fishing code that binds bonafide permits limiting catch amounts andtime slots, pacing catch cycles according to seasons, encouraging safe breed-ing waters, issuing species-specific advisories and awareness pamphlets andmost importantly bringing in a law on ensuring fish diversity (it is not includedin the Wildlife Protection Act). Otherwise, we could look at a bigger collapse ofour riverine and coastal economies.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has beenquietly stashing away funds for a rainyday, and despite the costs of printing new

notes and the headaches of demonetisation,they are not a problem for it. So why is so muchnoise being made about the fact that the RBIis paying the government a special dividendof `1.76 lakh crore? Maybe it is because ofthe sum itself, which sounds familiar being thesame number that the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) alleged had been lost in the 2Gscam. Or as the opposition Congress point-

ed out, the figure is almost the exact same amount missing from the Budget 2019announcement. But the big affront, according to some economists and experts,is that this presents a clear and present danger to the autonomy of the RBI, whichseems to be kowtowing to the government after the exits of two high profileGovernors, Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel, over such lendings. Would this seta wrongful precedent, even dent the bank’s credit ratings?

A few things have to be made clear now. First, the RBI, while independent,has always been in lockstep with the government of the day. More importantly,the money being stashed away by it in case of a sudden foreign-exchange orrelated crisis, is unlikely to happen now. But there is a criticality in public sectorbanks and they desperately need to be recapitalised, a stimulus of sorts has tobe given to the industry, certain public sector units have to be eased out of adebt crisis before being privatised and social sector programmes need to be fund-ed. Usually such schemes occur from your taxes but with individuals cribbingabout high income tax and GST rates hitting consumption, there is little or noscope of generating additional revenues from them. In such circumstances, theRBI’s rainy day fund is not just a piggy bank being raided, it is being used forexactly the purpose it was designed for, helping the government cope with aneconomic crisis. Of course, a logical question that follows when a governmentis flush with funds is whether an income tax cut might follow. Logically, one shouldfollow, but with spending priorities such as bank capitalisation and even a par-tial bailout of Air India ahead of income tax relief, that is unlikely. However thecurrent infusion will allow the government to clear its debts and pay the refundsit owes. That will be a big boost to the economy and increased funds might meanthat some industries could have GST rates cut, helping spur demand and allow-ing money to enter the economy, albeit indirectly. In addition to the announce-ments made by the Finance Minister, this could be the boost that the Indian econ-omy needs ahead of the festive season. Many of the problems with the econo-my right now stem from the cycle of negativity that is driving sentiment lowerand lower. That seems to have been broken but it might still take a few monthsfor the effects to come through. Global rating agency S&P predicts that someIndian companies with high leverage and persistent negative free cash flows wouldbe susceptible to funding and liquidity challenges over the next 12-18 months.So we need the big push than a heave. Simultaneously, we must build on fun-damentals, reform structures and not depend on such bailouts going forward.

Funding the economy

Man of many shades

Sir — In Arun Jaitley’s death, thecountry has lost a gentle politicalgiant who had admirers across thepolitical spectrum. He wasrespected even by the Oppositionfor his calm temperament andconsensus-building approach. Forall his contempt for “Lutyens’Delhi”, Prime Minister NarendraModi’s love for one of its elite,Arun Jaitley, was well-knownalthough it may have been bornout of necessity. Modi and the BJPwill miss Arunji, as Jaitley wasaddressed in party circles, formany reasons. When the “out-sider” Modi was gearing up torule the country from Lutyens’Delhi in 2014, he picked Jaitley asthe only “insider” he could bankon to negotiate the capital’slabyrinthine power circuit.

Though not from the originalRSS stock, Arun Jaitley was seenas the only “credible talent” in asea of mediocrity, the most soughtafter “bright star” in times ofcrises and not just political ones.He was possibly the only BJPleader seen as an entrenchedrepresentative of Delhi’s powerelite and as someone who couldarticulate Modi’s line in both

English and Hindi. He regularlywrote interesting articles andblogs, explaining the rationale ofthe Modi Government’s deci-sions and was particularly pivotalto the party’s outreach to the intel-ligentsia.

KS JayatheerthaaBengaluru

Sky is the limit

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Global star” (August 27).Becoming the first Indian to winthe Badminton WorldChampionships, PV Sindhu haswritten history. Her win speaks

volumes about what hard workand determination can do.

With this, Sindhu will be partof a formidable badminton ecosys-tem that has risen in the last fewyears. Several badminton players,including Pullela Gopichand andPrakash Padukone, have per-formed exceedingly well at inter-

national forums. At the Olympicsin 2016, Sindhu had came close towinning the gold but had to set-tled for silver. But this, too, wasIndian badminton’s first-ever. Thesobriquet of ‘World Champion’title will only go on to add brandvalue to her name.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

Legendary composer

Sir — It is unfortunate thatMohammed Zahur Khayyam, the“musical magician” behind someof Bollywood’s most celebratedsoundtracks, has passed away. Hiscontributions to the music indus-try are immense. Unlike present-day composers, he couldexpertly fuse Hindustani classicalmusic with “filmy” styles.Khayyam’s compositions oftenoutshone those of his contempo-raries. The melodies of KabhiKabhie, Umrao Jaan and Noorie areamong classics. Lata Mangeshkarhad rightly said that his demise sig-nals the “end of an era.”

M PradyuKannur

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019

08

Soldiers battle two fronts

ASHOK K MEHTA

The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A has put the Army in a new and unknown terraineven as it comes to grips with escalating resentment and radicalisation in the Valley

We will not spare anybody,irrespective of whether heis a TMC worker or apoliceman, beat him up. Ishall take care of the rest.

BJP leader—Dilip Ghosh

I feel people get scared tomake big musicals becauseright now the situation issuch that it's said, ‘Don't dothis’, critics will cut it.

Filmmaker—Farah Khan

The first lady has gotten toknow Kim Jong Un and Ithink she’d agree with me, heis a man with a country thathas tremendous potential.

US President—Donald Trump

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

The Amazon must be protected

The fires in vast stretches of the Amazon rainforestsin northern Brazil (the world’s largest, covering anarea of some 5.5 million sq km) are causing an

immeasurable damage to the ecosystem. Evidently, thefires deplete the carbon storing capacity of the forestsand, thus, accelerate the pace of global warming. Calledthe earth’s green lungs, the Amazon forests are in thecollective consciousness of humanity. They are also richin wildlife and home to one-tenth of all species of floraand fauna. The importance of protecting the Amazonforests cannot be overemphasised. Most of the wildfiresdo not occur naturally but are caused by humans.

Local populations — farmers, cattle ranchers andloggers in the forefront — are organising “fire days” inthe dry season (called queimada in the local parlance)to clear the land. Conservationists and climate activistsblame the new Right-wing Brazilian Government for beingsupportive of them on the pretext of “access to natur-al resources to improve the economy.” Fires are ragingat a record speed and an area of roughly the size of afootball pitch is now being lost every single minute. Ifno timely action is taken to put out the raging fires and

prevent them from spreading, the Amazon forests willbe reduced to a treeless plain, a sort of savannah, dis-rupting the delicate balance of nature. If we are to sur-vive and preserve the planet for posterity, we must adopta development model that is sustainable and does notgo against conservation. Amazon forests are a naturaltreasure and a life-supporting system. Their protectionis of utmost importance for the planet’s health, withoutwhich man and other life forms cannot survive.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

IT IS TRUE THATDURING 1947,

1965, 1971 AND1999 WARS, THEPEOPLE OF J&K

STOOD SHOULDERTO SHOULDER

WITH INDIA ANDTHE ARMY.KASHMIRI

SHEPHERDSWERE THE ONES

WHO GAVE EARLYWARNING ABOUT

PAKISTANIINTRUSIONS IN1965 AND 1999

CONFLICTS

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

No big fish

PM and FM are cluelessabout how to solve theirself-created economic disaster. Stealing from RBIwon't work.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

The critics of the Government are screaming murder at theRBI’s special dividend. They shouldn't in such a crisis

With dwindling sizes and numbers reported for Himalayanspecies, we are staring at a crisis in our economy and ecology

Free the caged parrot

THE OPPOSITION IS USING MARAK SHAKTI TO HARMTHE BJP LEADERS. EVIL POWER IS BEHIND THE

RECENT DEATHS OF FORMER UNION MINISTERS.—BJP MP

PRAGYA SINGH THAKUR

THE BJP MUST INTROSPECT FOR GIVING CHANCE TOSUCH A PERSON BECAUSE UPHOLDING STANDARDSOF POLITICS HAS BECOME A DAUNTING TASK.—SENIOR CONGRESS LEADERJYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

India’s education sector has expanded rapid-ly in the last decade but the quality of learn-ing remains pathetic on account of unimag-

inative and misguided policies. In an increasing-ly knowledge-based global economy, quality edu-cation is more important than ever. The purposeof education has to be, to inspire and developchildren to think creatively, reason systematical-ly and release their potential to shape their ownfuture. The call for higher investments in edu-cation has been made since Independence; yeteven after more than seven decades, an indepen-dent India continues to grapple with the issuesplaguing its education policy. The skewed pri-orities of the government in this vital sector man-ifest in low learning levels. The UN’s SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) include a commit-ment to provide every child with access to freeprimary and secondary education by 2030.While we are on the right course, our obsessionwith universal coverage of education has com-promised the quality of learning. It is time thatIndia moves beyond a singular focus on enrol-ment numbers and grapples with the problem ofpoor quality of education.

More Indian children are in school todaythan before but the quality of public schools hassunk abysmally as Government schools havebecome the reserve of children at the very bot-tom of India’s social ladder. The present-day edu-cation reformers believe that market solutionsand technology can remedy the situation. Theyblame the proponents of status quo of failing toleverage the benefits that technology has broughtto other sectors such as health, travel, financialservices and communications. Many of themadvocate disruptive innovations, primarilythrough online learning. There is a strongbelief that real breakthroughs can come onlythrough the transformative power of technolo-gy or the invisible hand of the market. However,experience tells us that teachers are the key piecein the educational ecosystem. Without commit-ted and devoted teachers, the other levers can-not work.

However, findings suggest that this strategyhas not lived up to its hype and with valid rea-son. We need to be wary of the idea that tech-nology on its own can revolutionise education.Teachers are and always will remain the mostimportant factor in a pupil’s success. Studentsneed to believe that they have a stake in thefuture, a goal worth struggling for if they aregoing to make it in school. Education shouldcombine just the right amount of physicaladventure and intellectual stimulation. Themost effective approaches are those that fosterbonds of care between teachers and students. Theprocess of teaching and learning is an intimateact that neither computers nor markets can repli-cate.

The usually parroted reasons for the poorstandard of education are teacher absenteeism,poor student attendance, bad infrastructure,inadequate teacher preparation programmes androte learning practices. The most commonrefrain is, “The ones who understand educationare not empowered, while the ones empoweredhave no idea about education”. While these issuesare valid, they do not fully explain the learningcrisis apparent in our classrooms.

India’s emphasis on rote learningand its rigid examination system do notencourage creative thinking. The roteteaching methodology has demon-strated shortcomings. Surveys indicatethat students at the primary and sec-ondary school level have regressed inmathematics, science and reading abil-ity. Not only is the rote method detri-mental, it has long-term implications asit has become an institutionalised prac-tice.

Einstein was a sworn enemy of rotelearning and he found sheer beauty andcreative joy in science and equations.If we could convey that in the way weteach science and mathematics, maybewe could nurture an Einstein. WhatEinstein was able to do was to thinkvisually. When he looked at Maxwell’sequations as a 16-year-old boy, he visu-alised what it would be like to ridealongside a light wave and try to catchup. He realised those equationsdescribed something wondrous in real-ity. Einstein believed in intuition andinspiration. Science has always beenconsidered more about what you cansee, experiment or prove with formu-las and expressions. Imagination is onlyas limited as you want it to be. It isshaped by the books you read, the peo-ple you hang out with, your parents,society, culture and the places you trav-el. All these mould your perspective andview of life. The less you experience, theless you explore and the more likely youare to narrow your scope.

A society that restricts imaginationis unlikely to produce many geniuses -no matter how many educated peopleit has. And a society that doesn’t stim-ulate imagination when it comes toScience and Mathematics won’t either.

Formal teaching needs to be supple-mented by in-school pull-out pro-grammes, after-school tutoring andsummer camps supervised by voluntaryorganisations, with emphasis on non-conventional innovative pedagogies.Much of the malaise in the realm ofpublic education has less to do withsalaries and more to do with lack ofaccountability and corruption inrecruitments and transfers of teachers.The stark reality is that India is not get-ting even a modest return on its invest-ment in the education sector.

India must reorient its educationpolicy which is very result-oriented, sys-tem oriented, policy-oriented but notvery child-oriented. It risks squander-ing the future of millions of children,as well as the entire country’s econom-ic prospects. There has to be a directteacher-development pipeline and eval-uating systems for monitoring andupgrading teaching skills. There is adearth of ideas for reforms to addressfundamental flaws in the system.

The fourth Industrial Revolution isgoing to be a major test for the educa-tion system focussed on reciting factsand performing formulaic calculations,precisely the areas where humans can-not compete with intelligent machines.With all of our technological develop-ments, human ingenuity and creativi-ty remain unmatched. We should cap-italise on it and give our young peoplethe opportunity to use their innateadvantages as effectively as possible.

It is in this context that soft skillsassume great significance. When taughtwell, these skills can enable students toadapt to change more easily, gain agreater understanding of the worldaround them and ultimately progress

further in their chosen field. Technical,practical and more easily quantifiableknowledge and skills are important andmay help a student secure a job, but softskills will help them disrupt it, creatingchange for the better and achieving awider impact in their career. Soft skillssuch as possessing insights into otherpoints of view, being good at interper-sonal relationships, critical thinking andproblem solving, and being able tomake connections across complex ideasare those fundamentally human, emo-tional and social skills which need tobe nurtured and developed as the keyto future success and prosperity.

Education needs more championsthan health and environmental advo-cates because it is one rising tide thatcan lift all the boats. Since, educationhas more room for innovation than anyother development sector; there is aunique opportunity for social entrepre-neurs. We need to transform curricu-lum and teaching practices to focus lesson rote learning or straightforward cal-culation and more on relevant skills, likecommunication, reasoning ability,problem-solving and critical and inde-pendent thinking.

We are under an illusion that ourchildren are digital technology savvy,but more often their knowledge is onlyscreen-deep. If young people are to beempowered citizens, they will need tounderstand how technology affectsevery aspect of our life. Greater techliteracy will be essential to ensure thatthe human implications of the ongo-ing fourth Industrial Revolution are positive.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on FinancialLiteracy and Inclusion for Women)

The education system fails to inspire and encourage children to think creatively,reason systematically and release their potential to shape their own future

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Analyse mutualfunds smartly

HIMA KOTA

A knack for understanding mutual fundperformance can help investors make better

decisions and get returns

MOIN QAZI

FORMALTEACHING NEEDS

TO BESUPPLEMENTED

BY IN-SCHOOLPULL-OUT

PROGRAMMES,AFTER-SCHOOLTUTORING AND

SUMMER CAMPSSUPERVISED BY

VOLUNTARYORGANISATIONSWITH EMPHASIS

ON NON-CONVENTIONAL

INNOVATIVEPEDAGOGIES.MUCH OF THE

MALAISE IN THEREALM OF PUBLIC

EDUCATION HASLESS TO DO WITH

SALARIES ANDMORE TO DO

WITH LACK OFACCOUNTABILITY

AND CORRUPTIONIN

RECRUITMENTSAND TRANSFERS

OF TEACHERS.THE STARK

REALITY IS THATINDIA IS NOT

GETTING EVEN AMODEST RETURN

ON ITSINVESTMENT INTHE EDUCATION

SECTOR

Even though the past performance of a mutual fund may notbe a guarantee of future results, but a knack for understand-ing mutual fund performance can help investors make bet-

ter decisions if they are able to pick and avoid funds based onobservation and smart analysis. Here are some measures thatthey must keep in mind in order to make informed decisions.

Use a benchmark to compare fund performance: Anyreturn or result doesn’t have a value unless it is compared toa benchmark. A score of 75 for a school student has no rel-evance if it is not compared with the highest scorer. Similarly,any mutual fund performance has to be compared with abenchmark. However, comparison should be done using a fairand appropriate benchmark. Using the wrong yardstick willonly give misleading data. For example, the performance ofany small-cap mutual fund cannot be compared with a broad-based index like Nifty 500. Instead the benchmark, in this case,should be the small-cap index, like S&P BSE Small Cap TRI.If the fund has delivered higher returns consistently, then it’sa good fund to invest in.

Analyse fund history: The longer the history of the fund,the better it is as a history of five to ten years would have bornethe brunt of market vagaries. It would be a better candidate forcomparing performance across different time intervals and busi-ness cycles. The real mettle of a fund can be observed in amarket downturn and if it gives even an average performanceit should be added to the portfolio.

Understand the expenses: According to the Securities andExchange Board of India (SEBI) guidelines, expense ratio shouldnot be more than 2.5 per cent of the fund’s average asset undermanagement (AUM). So, understanding the expense ratio beforeinvesting in a mutual fund is absolutely important. Since, expenseratios are charged out of fund returns, higher the expense ratio,lower the returns. Always look for a fund which offers similarreturns at a relatively lower expense ratio. The same mutual fundis available as a direct plan and a regular plan. Direct plans ofmutual funds come at a lower expense ratio; which translatesinto higher returns. Also, investing in direct plans can save youloads on commissions as against investment in a regular plan.

Returns must be compared to the risk taken: Returns shouldnever be taken singularly. They must always be adjusted for risktaken by the mutual fund to generate that return. The risk is mea-sured with the help of standard deviation. Using Sharpe ratio helpsto ascertain whether the fund is giving higher returns on everyadditional unit of risk taken. A fund with a Sharpe ratio higherthan the category average shows that the fund manager deliv-ered higher returns for the extra risk taken.

Give weightage to fund performance: Common time peri-ods for mutual fund performance available to investors includeone-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year returns. An investorcan create an evaluation system based upon percentage weights.If weightage of 40 per cent is given to the five-year period, 30per cent to the ten-year period, 20 per cent to the three-year peri-od and 10 per cent to the one-year period, then one can multi-ply the percentage weights by each corresponding return for thegiven time periods and average the totals. This can then be usedto compare funds to each other.

Don’t forget the Alphas and the Betas: Alpha measuresexcess returns generated by the fund when compared to thebenchmark. On the other hand, Beta measures the riskinessof a fund. If the Beta value is more than one, it shows thatthe fund gains more than the benchmark on an upturn andloses more than the benchmark in case of a downturn. A Betavalue of one indicates that the mutual fund’s returns movethe same as the benchmark. If the Beta is less than one, thenthe fund gains less than the benchmark during a rally andloses less than the benchmark on a downward spiral.

Keep in mind the Portfolio Turnover Ratio: The PortfolioTurnover Ratio (PTR) tells you how often the fund managerbuys/sells securities in the portfolio. In case of equity funds, itshows the level of trading taking place in the fund, which in turnattracts transaction charges like the brokerage. Frequent trad-ing could ultimately increase the expenses and is reflected asa higher expense ratio, thereby reducing the returns of the fund.Therefore, while choosing a fund, look for one with a lower PTR.

Although these are not foolproof guidelines, they are impor-tant factors that can help any investor make smart decisionsabout buying the best mutual funds for his/her portfolio depend-ing upon the risk appetite.

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Amity University)

Congress president SoniaGandhi’s comeback as the chiefrecently might have silenced

the Young Turks as well as the oldguard in the party about who shouldreplace Rahul Gandhi, but she has hertask cut out.

However, it’s not as if Sonia does-n’t know the problems that beset theparty and the challenges that lieahead, as she was the Congress pres-ident for almost two decades beforeshe relinquished the post and Rahulwas elected president in 2017.

Sonia took charge of the Congressin 1998 when it was at its lowest ebb,with many leaders leaving the GrandOld Party, but she was able to stop theexodus. She even brought the party

back to power in 2004 and then againin 2009.

Now again, an ailing but deter-mined Sonia has taken the reins at atime when the party is totally demor-alised after its humiliating defeat in therecent Lok Sabha polls and conse-quent desertions by party workers andleaders. But 2019 is not 1998.

The Gandhis have deftly resolvedthe leadership issue albeit temporar-ily. The old guard propping up somesenior leader and the younger lead-ers suggesting names like SachinPilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia werequickly silenced after Sonia cameback, stifling the debate about Rahul’ssuccessor. Her return provided themwith relief even as it scuttled chancesof any non-Gandhi becoming partypresident.

The other challenge for Sonia isthe growing erosion and indisciplinein the party. On August 18, formerHaryana chief minister BS Hoodagave an ultimatum that unless he wasmade the chief of the party unit in theState, he would explore other options.The impressive rally at Rohtak was ashow of strength. Though the

Congress leadership has not reacted,it may send a wrong signal if Hoodaleaves the party now. As it is, thechances of the faction-riddenCongress in the State are bleak. IfHooda departs now, he may not ben-efit but the party will get zero seats inthe ensuing Assembly polls. There isnot much time left for damage con-trol as three states, Maharashtra,Haryana and Jharkhand, will go topolls later this year and Delhi will fol-low suit early next year.

In a trend that is bound to worrySonia, ten Congress legislators recent-ly shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in Goa. In Telangana, 12 of the

18 MLAs went over to the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)and Maharashtra too saw defections.The party saw its strength reduced inthe Rajya Sabha, too, as senior lead-ers Sanjay Sinh and BhubaneswarKalita resigned their membershipand joined the BJP. All these do notaugur well.

The third urgent matter onSonia’s plate is the need to contain thediscordant voices emerging fromCongress leaders on various issues.There’s a division in Congress rankson the party’s response to key issuessuch as the Triple Talaq Bill, abroga-tion of Article 370 and bifurcation of

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Moreover, leaders like Jairam

Ramesh, Abhishek Manu Singhviand Shashi Tharoor suggesting thatthe Congress stop demonisingNarendra Modi was embarrassing tothe Congress leadership, which hasbeen making personal attacks on thePrime Minister. Do they perhapsmean that there’s a need for change ofstrategy or are they emboldenedbecause of a weak leadership?

Fourth, more than anything,Sonia has to think of organising abrainstorming session to thrash outseveral issues, including the reasonsfor the 2019 poll defeat and come upwith a new strategy to take on the BJP.The party leaders should be given achance to speak their mind in the ses-sion. This might stop them from voic-ing their views in public.

If the party could win even oneof the three poll-bound states, it wouldgo a long way to revive the party thatreceived yet another body blow withthe recent arrest of senior Congressleader P Chidambaram in the INXMedia case.

Fifth, the Congress should be

clear about what it stands for. The ear-lier planks of unity and diversity pop-ularised by Indira Gandhi havebecome an old concept. Secularismversus communalism also has lost itsappeal as seen in the last two LokSabha polls. The Congress only endedup with being perceived as a pro-Muslim party, which ignores themajority community. Therefore thereis every need to come up with a catchyslogan like the Aam Aadmi as it didin 2004, to lure the voters. In fact, theCongress leadership should offer a‘new Congress’ to the voters to attractthem like the Labour party in the UKcame up with a ‘New Labour.’

Above all, with so much waterunder the bridge, is the Congressready for a course correction? Is itready to look back and introspectwhat has gone wrong? If not, it cangive up hope of a revival as things havechanged, voters have changed, aspi-rations have changed and leadershipis in transition.

The defeat should be viewed as anopportunity and a new Congressshould emerge out of a party conclave.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Can Sonia save a sinking Congress ship?A determined matriarch has taken the reins at a time when the party is totally demoralised. The Congress leadership

should offer a ‘new Congress’ to the voters to attract them like the Labour Party in the UK came up with a New Labour

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Preserving rainforests is aneconomical way to meetclimate change targets. TheG7 aid package to helpAmazon countries fightwildfires is a start. Buttargets and protections areonly effective when they arestrictly applied. Europeansneed to change their dietsto reduce demand forcarbon-intensive foodstuffs.They must also restrictmarket access unlessconservation policies arereintroduced along withlaws that can be enforced.(The Guardian editorial)

EUROPE NEEDS TOINTROSPECT

PNS n MUMBAI

The subdued demand condi-tions that led to weak perfor-mance by Indian automakersin the first quarter of 2019-20,will likely persist, adding to thechallenges from the imple-mentation of stricter emissionnorms under BS6 from April2020, Fitch Ratings said onMonday.

However, Fitch Ratingspointed out that government'sfocus on improving liquidityand recent measures to reviveauto sales will stabilise vol-umes in the coming quarters.

The research note assumessignificance as it comes daysafter Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman gave amajor boost to the automobileindustry by announcing a slewof measures to reverse slow-down denting the sector.

"We expect overall domes-tic auto sales volume to declinein FY20, although volumesmay stabilise in the comingquarters due to government'sfocus on improving liquidity atlenders and recent measures torevive auto demand," FitchRatings said.

"The improved likelihood of

adequate rainfall and recentcut in interest rates should alsohelp demand in 2HFY20.However, the lower volumeswill weigh on automakers'profitability in FY20 and couldoffset the benefits from lowercommodity prices."

Last Friday, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamangave a major economic boostto diverse sectors such asNBFCs, auto, housing,MSMEs, equity markets andbanking via a slew of measureson tax surcharge, GST refunds,easier loans and demand gen-eration.

In terms of auto sector,Sitharaman allowed govern-ment departments to pur-chase new vehicles to replaceold ones.

She further announced thatall vehicles purchased tillMarch 31, 2020 shall avail ofthe benefit of additional depre-ciation of 15 per cent. It shallincrease the higher deprecia-tion on all vehicles to 30 percent.

The minister said that BS IVvehicles purchased till March31, 2020 shall remain opera-tional for the entire period oftheir registration.

PNS n BENGALURU

Global e-tailer Amazon'sIndian arm has launched amilitary veterans' employmentprogramme to offer jobs to ex-servicemen and their spousesat its fulfilment, sort and deliv-ery centres across the country.

"The programme will beimplemented in partnershipwith the Director-General ofResettlement and the ArmyWelfare PlacementOrganisation," Amazon Indiasaid in a statement here onMonday.

The e-commerce giant hasabout 50 fulfilment and 200delivery centres in cities andtowns across the country.

The company did not, how-ever, disclose how many sortcentres it has at its fulfilmentand delivery centres.

A company spokespersonsaid that as a policy, it does notdisclose how many people arecumulatively employed at therespective centres in the Indiansub-continent.

"The employment at thecentres, most of them on con-tract basis, varies as more arehired at peak sales seasonaround festivals and otheroccasions when special salesare held with discounts andcompliments," the spokesper-son told IANS.

"The novel programme cre-ates continued job opportuni-

ty for military families, whichrespect principles and workethics," said the statement.

In defence of employing ex-servicemen, the company saidthat it was committed todiverse and inclusive hiring,creating opportunities fordiverse individuals to realisetheir potentials.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

Amit Nayyar to leadfinancial servicesbusiness at PaytmNEW DELHI: Digital paymentscompany Paytm has appointedex-Goldman executive AmitNayyar as President, financialservices business. Reportingto Vijay Shekhar Sharma,Founder and CEO of Paytm,Nayyar will lead thecompany's efforts to furtherits footprint in lending,insurance, wealthmanagement and brokingbusinesses, the company saidin a statement. "As we focuson expanding our offerings infinancial services, we areexcited to welcome Amit to thePaytm team. His experienceand track record in the BFSIsector will help us accelerateour vision of bringing new-ageFinancial Services to Indians,"said Sharma.

5% duty hikemooted on refinedMalaysia palm oil NEW DELHI: The DirectorateGeneral of Trade Remedieshas recommended to raisecustom duty by 5 per cent onthe import of "RefinedBleached Deodorised Palm Oil"and "Refined BleachedDeodorised Palmolein" fromMalaysia. Accordingly, theDGTR's Bilateral SafeguardInvestigation notification"recommended an increase inrate of customs duty onimports of subject goodsoriginating in Malaysia by 5per cent, for a period of 180days which is consideredappropriate to safeguard theinterest of domestic industry".The product also known asRBD palm oil and RBDPalmolein is refined, bleachedand deodorised form of palmoil which is extracted aftercrushing palm fruit.

Meghalaya to gethelp for developingtextile sector: IraniNONGPOH (MEGHALAYA):Textiles Minister Smriti ZubinIrani here on Monday said thecentral government wascommitted to supplement allthe endeavours of theMeghalaya government in thedevelopment of the textilesector. Irani was speakingafter laying the foundationstone for the IntegratedTextiles Tourism Complexhere, the headquarters of theRi Bhoi district, in presence ofChief Minister ConradSangma. Stating that 30,000people from Meghalaya will beeligible for skill developmentprogrammes under theSamarth scheme of theMinistry of Textiles, She saidRs 8 crore has already beensanctioned for skilldevelopment of 7,200Meghalaya people, in thetextile sector.

Cashify launches e-store forrefurbished gadgetsNEW DELHI: After recentlycompleting six years in the re-commerce business, Cashifyon Tuesday launched an onlineportal to sell refurbishedsmartphones, laptops andmobile accessories in India."As a re-commerce brand, weare hopeful of making a bigimpact in the refurbishedgadget market, starting offwith smartphones and laptopsas our star categories. We willbe adding new productsegments in the future," saidMandeep Manocha, Co-Founder and CEO - Cashify.To start with, Cashify is sellingselect smartphone modelsfrom brands like Xiaomi,Apple, OnePlus, Samsung,Vivo, Oppo and laptops frombrands like HP, Lenovo, andDell, the company said in astatement.

PNS n UDAIPUR

South Korean auto majorHyundai plans to start rollingout upgraded BS6 compliantmodels, including diesel trims,on a regular basis by early nextyear, a top company official said.

The company, which is pre-sent in the country through awholly-owned subsidiary, alsoplans to simultaneously keepselling BS4 vehicles till end ofMarch next year in order tooffer lower priced units toprospective customers.

"I estimate that by the end ofthis year or early next year, theintroduction of BS6 vehicleswill happen," Hyundai MotorIndia MD and CEO SS Kimsaid in an interview.

In terms of technology, thecompany is ready with most ofthe work from research anddevelopment perspective, headded.

Kim, however, clarified thatthe ramp up of BS6 models isgoing to happen in a gradualmanner.

Hyundai currently has justone product, the recentlylaunched Grand i10 Nios, thatis BS6 compliant. The model'spetrol trim is BS6 compliantwhile the diesel variants are stillconform to BS4 regulations.

In comparison, MarutiSuzuki has seven petrol mod-els that are now BS6 emissionnorms compliant.

When asked if the company'sentire current product portfo-

lio would see an upgrade to BS6levels, Kim said, "As per ourplan, all products, includingdiesel variants, will be upgrad-ed to BS6 level."

He said the company willcontinue the production andsales of BS4 vehicles until theend of next year.

"With BS6, the prices of carsis expected to go up so if thecustomer wants to buy someeconomical product, it is ourresponsibility to provide andsupply that," he added.

When asked if the companyexpects decent pre-buying ofBS4 vehicles taking place before

April 1, 2020, Kim said thatHyundai's global experienceshowed that whenever normsgot changed, there were signif-icant sales as people wanted tobuy cars at a reasonable price.

With government clearingair on BS4 registrations, thereare no uncertain factors leftanymore regarding the tech-nology, he added.

The Finance Minister hadlast week clarified that BS4vehicles would remain opera-tional till the entire duration ofthe registration timeframe.

When asked if the companyplans to get into new seg-

ments, including launching amulti-purpose vehicles, Kimsaid, "There are no immediateplans right now, but at the sametime lot of studies are beingconducted."

If the market demands thatHyundai to have a strong pres-ence in the MPV segment, thecompany would think serious-ly about it, he added.

Kim said the company mayalso look at various optionsincluding changing some SUVbody style into other styles tocater to customer requirements.

"It is kind of smart engi-neering. I think that it will bea better solution in terms of costas well as pricing," he added.

When asked if new productlaunches would impact thesales of its popular SUV Creta,Kim said the model has largecustomer pool and has estab-lished itself over the years interms of quality.

‘GST shortfall may force RBI to usesurplus for meeting fiscal deficit'PNS n MUMBAI

The transfer of Reserve Bankof India (RBI) surplus willonly give marginal relief, whilerisk to the fiscal remains onaccount of the expected short-fall in Goods and Services Tax(GST) revenues, Kotak Equitiessaid on Tuesday.

Another analyst firm, IDFCAMC, is of the view that anytemptation to use this amounttowards a "fiscal stimulus" risksregenerating worries aroundthe quality and effectiveness ofmeeting fiscal deficit targets.

"Based on the JalanCommittee's recommendation,the RBI will transfer Rs 52,600crore as per the revised ECF(Economic CapitalFramework). This is in addi-tion to the surplus transfer ofRs 1.23 trillion (including Rs28,000 crore of interim divi-dend for FY2019) in FY2020,"said a Kotak Equities report.

"The government will gainaround Rs 58,000 crore fromthe RBI compared to FY2020budget estimates. This willhelp to some extent in bridg-ing an estimated Rs 1.5 trillion

of shortfall in GST revenueseven as the fiscal continues tobe strained due to weak taxrevenues".

The Kotak report said the2019-20 Budget had assumedan RBI dividend of Rs 90,000crore and ARBI has trans-ferred Rs 1.23 lakh crore,including Rs 28,000 crore ofinterim dividend in 2018-19.The government will receive Rs95,400 crore as dividend for thecurrent fiscal, assuming nointerim dividend is announced.

According to Kotak, opti-cally, the excess provisiontransfer of Rs 52,300 crore, aswell as the Rs 54,000 crore ofhigher dividend, will seempositive for bonds.

"The market, however, wasexpecting a transfer of aroundRs 1.5-2 trillion though wehave firmly believed that alarge transfer would be unlike-ly," Kotak said.

"Fiscal slippage risks remaingiven our estimated shortfall ofaround Rs 1.5 trillion in GSTrevenues and around Rs 95,000crore in net tax revenues. Ifdirect taxes disappoint too,fiscal pressures will intensify(amidst slowing growth).While the initial reading couldbe positive for GSec, fiscalslippage risks will continue toweigh on yields," it added.

IDFC AMC Head (FixedIncome) Suyash Choudharysaid that from a budget stand-

point, the extra "windfall"owing to the Jalan committeeis Rs 58,000 crore.

"Given the expected rev-enue shortfalls in a slowingeconomy and especially vis-a-vis the aggressive assumptionsin the budget, it would beprudent to keep this amount inorder to meet the budget num-bers more credibly,"Choudhary said.

"So far, any hope of meetingthe budget targets rests on asimilar expenditure compres-sion as that undertaken lastyear including via movingsome items of spending 'belowthe line'. Any temptation to usethis amount towards a 'fiscalstimulus' risks regenerating

worries around the quality andeffectiveness towards meetingthe deficit targets," he said.

"Overall the identified'excess' transferrable capital bythe Jalan committee is only justabove Rs 50,000 crore, farbelow the hopeful bountiesbeing talked about. Not justthat, future pay-outs are nowformula driven and subject tosome constraints with respectto the maintenance of a mini-mum CRB (contingent riskbuffer)."

Some foreign broking hous-es have said that the RBI wind-fall would be used in achievingthe fiscal deficit target.

Nomura said: "RBI's highnet income in 2018-19 easethe fiscal pressures and divi-dend transfer will help thegovernment achieve 3.3 percent fisc deficit target. BimalJalan committee suggests aconser vative EconomicCapital Framework."

Morgan Stanley was of theview that the "governmentcould intend to use theenhanced transfer to help meetthe fiscal deficit. Enhancedtransfer to aid fiscal flexibility."

"I estimate that by the end of this yearor early next year, the introduction ofBS6 vehicles will happen," HyundaiMotor India MD and CEO SS Kim said inan interview

PNS n MUMBAI

Domestic equity benchmarkBSE Sensex opened over 150points higher on Tuesday ledby gains in index heavyweightsL&T, ICICI Bank, SBI andHDFC Bank amid positivedomestic and global cues.

The 30-share index wastrading 123.95 points, or 0.33per cent, up at 37,618.07 at0930 hours, while the broaderNifty rose 43.45 points, or0.39 per cent, to 11,101.30 inearly trade.

In the previous session, theBSE barometer closed 792.96points, or 2.16 per cent, high-er at 37,494.12; and the Niftyreclaimed the 11,000-level,advancing 228.50 points, or2.11 per cent, to 11,057.85.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack in early trade on Tuesdayincluded Tata Motors, SBI,Tata Steel, L&T, Axis Bank,Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bankand NTPC, rising up to 2 percent.

On the other hand, Infosyswas the biggest loser on the

index, shedding over 2 percent, after the IT major hasbought back 11.05 crore of itsshares under its Rs 8,260-crorebuyback offer that began inMarch this year.

HCL Tech, TCS, TechM,Kotak Bank and Asian Paintstoo fell up to 2 per cent.

Domestic equities followedglobal stocks, that rallied afterUS President Donald TrumpDonald Trump said China-UStrade talks would resume soon,traders said.

Investor sentiment wasrevived by the government

move to withdraw additionalsurcharge on foreign investorsand initiate measures to revivethe economy.

According to Vinod Nair,Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services, thestrongest message to the mar-ket is that government is con-cerned about the slowing econ-omy and intends to support thesituation with corrective mea-sures.

"The initial set of actions,though small, has enhancedmarket's sentiment and confi-dence," he said adding that the

market will trade in a positivebias awaiting further develop-ment regarding additionalmeasures and US China tradetalk.

Meanwhile, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) onMonday approved the transferof record Rs 1.76 lakh croredividend and surplus reservesto the government, boostingPrime Minister NarendraModi-led regime's prospect tostimulate the slowing economywithout widening fiscal deficit.

Foreign portfolio investorssold shares worth a net of Rs752.90 crore on Monday, whiledomestic institutional investorspurchased shares worth Rs1,272.29 crore, provisional datashowed.

The rupee, meanwhile,appreciated 22 paise against itsprevious close to trade at 71.80in early session.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Hong Kong, Korea,Shanghai and Japan were trad-ing significantly higher in theirrespective late morning ses-sions.

Ex-servicemen, spouses toget jobs at Amazon India

Hyundai plans to start rolling out upgraded BS6s

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee appreciated by 32paise to 71.70 against the USdollar in early trade on Tuesdayamid revival of US-China tradetalk hopes and gains in domes-tic equity market.

The rupee on Monday haddeclined by 36 paise to closebelow the 72 level against theUS currency for the first timein nine months, hit by a 'flashcrash' in global currencies dueto uncertainty over the tradefront.

At the interbank foreignexchange on Tuesday, therupee opened at 71.70, regis-tering a rise of 32 paise over itsprevious close of 72.02.

The domestic unit paredsome gains and was trading at71.85 against the dollar at1001 hrs.

Forex traders said higheropening in domestic equitiesand the latest remark by USPresident Donald Trump ontrade talk with China enthusedinvestors.

Trump said his trade nego-tiators had received two "verygood calls" from China and itwas a sign that China is seriousabout reaching a deal and thattalks would begin soon.

"I think we're going to havea deal, because now we'redealing on proper terms. Theyunderstand and we under-stand," Trump said.

Market participants, howev-

er, said rising crude oil pricesand foreign fund outflowsweighed on local currency.Foreign institutional investors(FIIs) remained net sellers inthe capital market, pulling outRs 752.90 crore on Monday,according to provisionalexchange data.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell 0.08 per cent to 98.00.

Domestic bourses openedon a positive note on Tuesdaywith benchmark indices Sensextrading 83.20 points higher at37,577.32 and Nifty up 45.80points at 11,103.65.

The 10-year governmentbond yield was at 6.44 per centin morning trade.

At the interbankforeign exchangeon Tuesday, therupee opened at71.70, registeringa rise of 32 paiseover its previousclose of 72.02.

Domestic equitiesfollowed globalstocks, that ralliedafter US PresidentDonald TrumpDonald Trump saidChina-US tradetalks would resumesoon, traders said

Rupee opens 32 paise higher at 71.70 against dollar

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a race to be the top state inIndia, IEEFA has modelled theeconomic powerhouse Gujaratadding a staggering 46gigawatts (GW) of new renew-able energy capacity by 2029-30, a new report said onTuesday.

The report, "Gujarat's elec-tricity sector transformation -A role-model of India's elec-tricity transition", identifiesGujarat as one of the fiveleading states for renewableenergy in terms of both exist-ing generation capacity as wellas future potential.

Tim Buckley, co-author ofthe report and director ofenergy finance studies with theInstitute for EnergyEconomics and FinancialAnalysis (IEEFA), said theIndian government has right-ly identified the need to reduceits exposure to imported fos-sil fuels, including oil, coal andgas, setting the stage for a mas-sive transformation across thecountry.

"The government knows anover-reliance on importedfuels adversely affects India'strade account deficit and putsthe country's energy securityat risk," Buckley told IANS ina statement.

"Setting an ambitious newrenewable energy target of523 gigawatts by 2030 is a clearindication by the central gov-ernment of the direction thestates must pull towards," hesaid.

"Although Gujarat hasincurred the cost of the recentbailout of its unviable import-ed thermal coal capacity atMundra, refocusing efforts oncontinuing its already promis-ing renewable capacity addi-

tions would see the state comeout on top as the country'srenewable leader."

While Gujarat lifted itsrenewable energy target to30GW from 17GW in July, thestate could be more ambitious,with the Ministry of New andRenewable Energy estimatingGujarat's renewable energypotential to be 72.7 GW, equal-ly balanced between solar andwind energy potential.

IEEFA models renewablesadditions of 4-5 GW annual-ly to ensure all of Gujarat'sincremental demand goingforward is supplied by renew-ables.

This would be a dramaticshift in Gujarat's electricitysector composition, withrenewables forming 70 percent of its capacity and 48 percent of generation by 2029-30.

Gujarat can leadrenewables race inIndia: IEEFA

"The governmentknows an over-reliance onimported fuelsadversely affectsIndia's tradeaccount deficitand puts thecountry's energysecurity at risk,"Buckley said

Truecaller has1 mn payingsubscribersPNS n BENGALURU

Swedish caller identificationapp Truecaller on Tuesdayannounced that it has crossedone million paying subscribersglobally and has added a seriesof new features to its paid sub-scription service, TruecallerPremium. "We are happy to seethis growth and it makes usproud that users value thebenefits of our Premium fea-tures. We are also excited toannounce these new upgradesthat would help us add evenmore value to our growingPremium users and help themmake their communicationmore safe and efficient," saidCo-founder and CEO AlanMamedi. Rolled out globally,the premium subscription ser-vice would now incorporateseveral advanced and morepowerful spam blocking fea-tures that include automaticallyupdating and blocking topspammers in your region.

"The novelprogrammecreates continuedjob opportunity formilitary families,which respectprinciples andwork ethics," saidthe statement.

The government will gainaround Rs 58,000 crorefrom the RBI compared to

FY2020 budget estimates. This willhelp to some extent in bridging anestimated Rs 1.5 trillion of shortfall inGST revenues even as the fiscalcontinues to be strained due to weaktax revenues.

Sensex jumps over 150 points

‘Auto sector'sdemand conditionslikely to persist'

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

WednesdayAugust 28, 2019

Going green and going organicare terms that are used

interchangeably although theyare two completely different

aspects. Hyderabad-basedGoodSeeds tries to help people

figure out the difference byhelping farmers get a goodprice for their produce and

inspiring people to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle, finds

V SATEESH REDDY

oodSeeds, a com-munity-based mar-keting platformwith presence bothonline and offlineis promoting farm-

ers to produce crops in anorganic manner keeping sus-tainability in mind. It alsoencourages consumers totread the eco-friendly path.Every year, over 5,000 farmersacross the country benefitthrough GoodSeeds.

Narayan Murthy and hisfriends started GoodSeeds inAugust 2014 to help peopleinculcate eco-friendly habitsin their life.

Narayan Murthy says, “Weorganise monthly organicmarkets called Organic EarthMela in Hyderabad to pro-mote producers of sustainableproducts like handloom,khadi, terracotta, organic veg-etables and fruits and season-al items such as clayGaneshas/Holi colours etc.We also have an online portalcalled goodseeds.in throughwhich we distribute productsdirectly to customers.”

Murthy said that their mainobjective is to promote holis-

tic health through traditionalwisdom — health of families,environmental health andsocietal health through locallivelihoods.

When asked what spurredhim into starting Goodseeds,Murthy said, “My friends andI always wanted to keep ourfamilies healthy, by not compromising the environ-ment for future generations.When we tried understandingmore about food and thefarmers, we realised that ourfocus should be on the entireecosystem, which meant thatpeople around us should alsobe in line with our goals. Tounderstand organic farming,we visited Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Karnataka and AndhraPradesh in the South andHimalayan regions such asHimachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Kashmir inthe North. We interacted withfarmers, self-help groups andNGOs and learned a great dealabout our traditional way ofliving and how it helps theenvironment and local liveli-hood.”

“Over 5,000 farmers areassociated with us,” said

Murthy adding, “These farmers get a fair price fortheir product as we promoteit’s uniqueness, usage andhealth benefits to customers,which in turn helps fetch better rates. We have looselytied up with many farmsacross the country and havesuppliers all over India.Timbaktu cooperative andNavadarshanam have beenour longest supply partners.”

Murthy adds, “We havestrong beliefs about ourimpact on health andenvironment andthat is the rea-son why weregularlyconductt a l k sa n dd i s -c u s -

sions.W ea l s op r o -m o t eour phi-l o s o p h yt h r o u g hevents.”

Murthy further said thatthey are the first and old-est ones in Hyderabadto organise organicmelas. He shares,“We want toexpand ouronline offeringsand launch ourown experiencestore and planto expand toother cities inthe South verysoon.”

PAINTINGMARKETSGREEN

G

We organise monthly markets called Organic Earth Mela inHyderabad to promote producers of sustainable products likehandloom, khadi, terracotta, vegetables and fruits and seasonal itemssuch as clay Ganeshas/Holi colours etc. We also have an online portalcalled goodseeds.in through which we distribute products directly to customers

— NARAYAN MURTHY

‘7 RAYS’ OF HOPEHyderabad-based M Saratha is

helping underprivilegedstudents to get basic amenities

and pursue their education

hile education is af u n d a m e n t a lright, it is, howev-er, not a possibil-ity for many chil-dren in India.

Regardless of governmentschools and other facilities,many underprivileged stu-dents find it difficult to stayin school and continue theireducation because of pover-ty or lack of resources. Whilepoverty is a systemic issue,lack of resources can be dealtwith, at least to a limit. Thatis exactly what Seven Rays, anNGO, is trying to do.

“Through our educationalsupport for school-going chil-dren, we provide underpriv-ileged children in Hyderabadwith books, bags and sta-tionery, while also financial-ly helping their families.These children come fromdifficult situations, and mostof their parents cannot bearthe educational fees of theirchildren,” said M Saratha,founder of the Seven Raysorganisation, which is work-ing towards the betterment ofthe society through variousactivities.

Through Seven Rays,Saratha has helped more than30,000 students in the city andhas covered more than 30government schools. Saratha,who quit her job at T Hub tostart the organisation, says,“Once I was invited as a guestto a government school andI witnessed that there were nobasic facilities for the students.Most of us think that govern-ment schools get funds andface no difficulties, but thereality is very different. Afterwitnessing the situation of theschool, I decided to do some-thing for them and started mySeven Rays in 2016.”

Along with helping stu-dents, Saratha also distributesfood and clothes to orphan-ages. She regularly conductsactivities for orphan childrento encourage their passion forgames.

“We regularly conducthealth camps in the city andprovide them with three-months worth medicines. Inour research, we found thatmost of class VIII and IX stu-dents of government schoolssuffer from vitamin deficien-cy and we are helping them to

overcome that problem,” sheadds.

Saratha, along with herteam, also conducts aware-ness activities about theimportance of having a girlchild and hygiene issues. Theydistribute pads for girls ingovernment schools whileexplaining to them the impor-tance of hygiene. They arealso planning to give a healthkit to every governmentschool in the city.

Saratha is not in this ven-ture for the monetary bene-fits, in fact, she urges peopleto donate materials instead ofmoney.

“I usually post about myactivities on Facebook andasks people for their support.I don’t believe in collectingmoney and so my advice forpeople is to donate materialsand/or come along with us toparticipate in the activities.”She has won many awards forher social services.

Saratha has also adopted agovernment school in OldSafilguda in Moula Ali. Sheinforms, “The school hasmore than 220 students, butthey don’t have any proper

facilities. Due to this, manyare not regularly attendingschool. We make sure tocover all the basic amenitiesfor students. We are also pro-viding snacks for students ingovt schools to encouragethem to attend special class-es.”

Apart from providing theamenities, the group has alsotaken it among themselves topaint the surroundings toattract them towards theschool.

Now, they are planning toset up a library for them andrequested school authoritiesto arrange a library periodevery day.

After witnessing Saratha’sefforts, many from rural areasof Telangana are requestingthe organisation to do thesame for their kids. She hasinformed that they will soonextend their activities to therural areas.

— VSR

w

I was once invited as a guestto a government school andI witnessed that there wereno basic facilities for thestudents. Most of us thinkthat government schools getfunds and face nodifficulties, but the reality isdifferent. After witnessing thesituation of the school, Idecided to do something forthem and started my SevenRays in 2016. I don’t believein collecting money and somy advice for people is todonate materials and/orcome along with us toparticipate in the activities

— M SARATHAFOUNDER OF SEVEN RAYS

PART

Y

what’s brewing?12

CURTAIN RAISERMany socialites were spotted at the grand curtain raiser of Hi-life —

fashion and lifestyle exhibition — at a star hotel in the city. Thethree-day lifestyle expo’s logo was unveiled by actress Saloni

Misra at the event, which was followed by a fashion show featuring thevarious trends that will be highlighted at the exhibition

BRAND LAUNCHMany Hyderabadis trooped to the launch of Dhaaga Trends — a ladieswear brand

that focuses on Indo-Western wear and fusion wear — at Manjeera Mall inKukatpally. The event was attended by youngsters as well as homemakers

Hyderabad Wednesday August 28, 2019

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

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.

FUN TIME

CITY GUIDE

LIKE THE AIR I BREATHElArtist Bakula Nayak exhibits her paintingsinspired by the beautiful epic love poemRitusamharam and vintage ephemeras.Ongoing, until September 2, 6.30 pm, KalakritiArt Gallery, Banjara Hills.

THEATRE

EXHIBITION

SUNDEEP SHARMA LIVE

RUCKUS NIGHT 3.0lA three-hour non-stop comedy trip where weassure you all would be tripping because oflaughter. Sightsavers' wishes to host a charityevent which the entire funds raised shall be usedin setting up vision centers across the nationequipped with quality eye care equipment madefreely accessible to everyone who needs it.September 7, 6 pm, Shilpakala Vedika, Madhapur.

COMEDY

MAIDANAMl One of the mostfamous and mostcontroversial ofChalam's novels, itdramatises hisideas on marriage,freedom and themoral issuesinvolved in them. Rajeswari, is a young, frustratedhousewife. It all starts with her thoroughdisillusionment with her tradition-bound,unfeeling, emotionally sterile lawyer-husband whois given to treating her as a piece of property, asone who fulfills his sexual and social needs.September 7, 7.30 pm, Phoenix Arena, HITECCity.

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed,please send your details along with a poster andcontact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

PARKlA comedy play about three men in a parkfighting for their place; there are three benchesbut not enough. The play touches upon that thingwhich is at a premium these days — space —literally and metaphorically. What starts off aslight-hearted banter evolves into a serious conflictabout space, territory, and ownership. Thesebecome the main issues. August 31, 7 pm and 8.30 pm, TSIIC Park, HITECCity.

lSundeep Sharma is the"Brahman bro" of comedy.This Bareilly guy has a typicalNorth Indian accent andperforms jokes with a desiflair. He is a storyteller andincorporates social, politicaland general issues in hiscomedy. His mimicry offamous national andinternational personalities only adds to hishilariousness.September 14, 7 pm, Oakwood Residence Kapil,Gachibowli.

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l Yashul Shreemaya

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lNa

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ilmmaker Sekhar Kammula believes the Centre’s deci-sion to allow uranium mining in the Nallamala for-est would inevitably damage the delicate ecology ofthe region, and claimed that Chenchu tribes of thearea would be immediately affected.

In a lengthy post on Twitter, he posted, “The uranium min-ing in the Nallamala forest would seriously affect the ecosys-tem in Telangana and Andhra regions. We will lose three lakhacres of forestland and its wildlife habitat. It will destroy thesecond largest tiger reserve in India. The Chenchus, the mostprimitive tribal group who live in the Nallamala will be extinct.It would deplete springs and rivulets, and contaminate RiverKrishna with truly frightening implications. The radon emis-sion resulting from the mining is proven to be cancerous. Itwould be catastrophic to go on with the mining. TheGovernment should react and see to it that we save Krishna,the Chenchus and the Nallamala forest (sic).”

Sekhar is the first noted face from Tollywood to have react-ed on this issue. Environmentalists, social activists and manyother people, cutting across regions, have raised their con-cerns over the Centre’s plan. Nallamala forest is spread acrossfive districts in Andhra Pradesh and two erstwhile districtsin Telangana — Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda. The forest maysoon face what is being dubbed as an environmental catastro-phe by activists.

aunched earlier this April with an intention ofgoing to f loors in June or September,Venkatapuram director Madikanti Venu’s secondproject, Visakhapatnam (tentatively titled) withNaveen Chandra has been called off, The Pioneer

has reliably learnt. A crime thriller set in a political back-drop, the film, with Kota Sreenivas Rao, Naseer, Brahmaji,Rao Ramesh and Avasarala Sreenivas in supporting roles,was to see Naveen in a role he hasn’t played thus far. “Itran into some production issues and Naveen decided thatit’s better not to associate with it at this stage of his career.He, however, assured Venu that he would be doing a pro-ject with him for sure. He rates the director very high andwas impressed with the content of Visakhapatnam,” con-firmed our sources.

Meanwhile, Naveen, who is basking in the accolades heis continuing to receive for his psycho turn in Evaru, isjuggling between the sets of the next films of Dhanush,Manchu Vishnu and Keerthy Suresh, playing key support-ing roles. — NG

NAVEEN's projectwith Venkatapuramdirector shelvedThe project ran into some production issuesand the actor decided that it's better not toassociate with it at this stage of his career

art of promotions of DearComrade, which saw herteaming up with VijayDeverakonda for the secondtime after the blockbuster

Geetha Govindam , RashmikaMandanna had declared that she does-n’t have time to date and is very much

single now. The actress reiterated thesame while recently interacting

with her fans on her Instagrampage. When an Insta user,praising her pairing with

Deverakonda asked why

they both couldn’t date, she replied,“Sorry to disappoint you my love, butwe have a lot more work to do than justsit and date each other. We show loveand respect through work. Also, I haveirritated him enough that he doesn’twant to sign any more films with mefor the next two years at least (sic).”

Rashmika is presently busy withBheeshma alongside Nithiin. She hasrecently participated in a schedule ofMahesh Babu-starrer SarileruNeekevvaru. She will be also seen inAllu Arjun’s next with Sukumar.

For at least next 2 years,VIJAY will not sign a filmwith me, says RASHMIKA

Hyderabad Wednesday August 28, 2019

13

he Pioneer was the first toreport that Adith Arun,Saptagiri and Madhunandanare coming together for acrime-comedy (on June 29),

which marks the directorial debut ofSrinath, who has written NaveenChandra and Nivetha Thomas-starrerJuliet — Lover of Romeo. To this end,the latest we hear is the film has beentitled Thagithe Thandana, with a cap-tion ‘drink and think’.

A Hyderabad-set drama, the storyis about how three guys are frustrat-ed with their boss and the followingsequence of events. “It’s a madcapcomedy interspersed with somethriller elements as well. It has a cer-tain Hangover flavour to it, as one

error leads to another, and so on.Seventy per cent of the film has beenshot and the remaining shoot will bewrapped in the next two months in an11-day schedule,” chips in a source.

Anil, an entrepreneur, is producingthe f i lm under Right TurnProductions, while model-dancerSimran Gupta, who sizzled in a songin Vijay-starrer Sarkar, is making herTelugu debut with the project.

— NG

IT'S LIKE LIVING A DREAM:Prabhas on life post BaahubaliThe actor speaks to NAGARAJ GOUD about being grounded despite the successof Baahubali, doing action scenes for Saaho, and its making

or the past month or so,Prabhas has been jug-gling between multiplecities across the coun-try to promote hisaction extravaganza

Saaho, which will storm into cin-ema halls this Friday. Yet, heretains the same zeal when talkingabout the film, hardly breaking asweat. For someone who rarelyenjoyed giving interviews beforeBaahubali made him a nation-widephenomenon, he seems to beenjoying this new side of his. “I’vegot a very warm welcome fromwherever I’ve been to, promotingthe film. It, in turn, is making mepromote it more,” he begins.

With attention all around, hebelieves in staying grounded. Hisfamily and friends such as SSRajamouli and VV Vinayak keephim on his toes. “Rajamouli, espe-cially, has seen more success thanme, yet he’s so humble. Chiranjeevigaru and Rajinikanth garu are stillthe same people,” he shares, admit-

ting that life has changed afterBaahubali. “It’s like I’m in a dream.Rajamouli has weaved somemagic.”

Following Baahubali withanother action film was not on hisitinerary. He wanted to do an out-and-out love story but couldn’t getone. It was when Sujeeth narratedhim Saaho. “Initially, I thought wecould make it on a scale of `100crore, but the director started todevelop it further. After Baahubali,the design became bigger.However, I still wanted it to bearound ̀ 150 crore but my produc-er friends Vamsi and Pramoddon’t believe in compromising onthe quality. They spent ̀ 9 crore onRun Raja Run alone. We ended upspending ̀ 350 crore for Saaho and

every time the budget shot up, Ihad sleepless nights,” he points out,adding that setting up the actionpart alone required them to spenda bomb as they were new to suchaction pieces and had to under-stand a few technicalities beforeproceeding with the shoot. “Wehad to create a factory in AbuDhabi and some cars which wereremotely operated. Stunt masterKenny Bates possesses a black carwith a camera inserted in it, spe-cially designed by him. We had toship it from his place in Prague.Many more such props wereshipped from different parts of theworld. The Transformers editor cutthe action part.”

While his prep for the actionpart was more on the technical

lines, he admits he is no longer tak-ing the risks that he took earlier.“Safety was given utmost impor-tance on Saaho’s sets. In fact,there were three teams takingcare of safety alone. Five years ago,I might’ve not used a body doublebut I feel the need now and weeven used one for Saaho. Guess,I’ve had my share of hardcoreaction in the past,” he quips,adding that if Saaho clicks at theticket counters, he doesn’t rule outthe chance for a franchise. “Thecontent’s thread allows for asequel.”

Uncle Krishnam Raju, heinforms, is naturally happy with hissuccess. “His chest swells withpride when someone keeps men-tioning me in a positive light. Heis the head of the family and for hisage, he is very modern, which iswhy he is investing in my next film,a love story. When he agreed toproduce a treatment-based filmlike Billa, long back, I understoodhow much he is in tune with the

current generation,” he main-tains.

While he is doing all theheavy lifting, promotion-wise,and taking in all the pressure,one wonders when he would geta life partner who will take thepressure off him. “I don’t knowwhether I’ll get someone whorelieves my pressure or adds to it,”he concludes, flashing a widesmile.

fSafety was givenutmost

importance onSaaho’s sets. In fact, therewere three teams takingcare of safety alone. Fiveyears ago, I might’ve notused a body double but Ifeel the need now and weeven used one for Saaho

PRABHAS

tollywood

FOLLOWING BAAHUBALI WITH ANOTHER ACTIONERWAS NOT ON HIS ITINERARY. HE WANTED TO DO ANOUT-AND-OUT LOVE STORY BUT COULDN’T GET ONE

Seventy per centshooting of theHyderabad-set

drama has beencompleted andthe remaining

will be wrappedup in the next

two months

t p

fl

ADITH ARUN's madcap comedytitled THAGITHE THANDANA

The actress wasreplying to her

fans on Instagram

KAMMULAraises concern

over uraniummining in Nallamala

Adith

Aru

n

Actress Amy Jackson shared that she is expecting a son at hergender reveal party. The actress took to Twitter on Monday

to share a video from the gender reveal party. In the clip, anecstatic Amy shouts, “It's a boy.” The 27-year-old had earlier shared

on Instagram that she is in her 35th week of pregnancy. She isexpecting her first child with fiance and businessman George

Panayiotou. She made her actingdebut with the 2010 Tamil

movie Madrasapattinam andhas featured in several

Telugu, Hindi and Kannadafilms apart from Tamil

films.Her last big release was

the Rajinikanth-starrer2.0 in 2018, which

released in Tamil, Hindiand Telugu versions.

Her notable Bollywoodfilms include Ekk

Deewana Tha,Singh Is

Bliing andFreaky

Ali.

Actress Eva Longoria will direct Flamin Hot, a biopic about the man who created the spicyFlamin Hot Cheetos. It was first reported in February 2018 that Searchlight and DeVon Franklinwere set to produce the film Flamin Hot, which will tell the true story of Richard Montanez,

who rose from humble beginnings to being a wildly successful businessman when he created afood phenomenon — Flamin Hot Cheetos. The film will follow Montanez, the son of an immigrant,who grew up as a migrant farm worker picking grapesin the fields of Southern California beforebecoming a janitor at Frito-Lay, reportsvariety.com. While working at the company,Montanez came up with the idea to createFlamin Hot Cheetos, transforming the brandinto a pop culture phenomenon andcreating a wildly popular category ofcrunchy snacks. Longoria will direct froma script by Charlie St. Cloud and OctoberSky writer Lewis Colick. Longoria is alsoattached to direct and produce 24/7, inwhich she stars with KerryWashington. She is also producingMy Daughter's Quinceañera and

stars in Dora the Explorer.

EVA LONGORIA TURNS DIRECTOR FOR‘FLAMIN HOT' CHEETOS MAKER

AMY JACKSONHAVING A BOY

Hyderabad Wednesday August 28, 2019

14

celeb talks

WHEN A TAMIL PRODUCER

MADE VIDYA BALAN FEEL UGLY

Vidya Balan is one of the most sought-after

actresses in Bollywood, but she had faced a lot of

rejections in the south film industry. She says

there was a time when a Tamil producer made

her feel ugly. “There were a lot of rejections down

South. There were a lot of Malayalam films, but I was

replaced in each of them. There was a Tamil film I was

doing and I was thrown out of the film... I remember my

parents had come with me because they were so worried

about me... I had really begun to fade,” she said in an

interview to an entertainment portal.

“We went to the producer's office. The producer

showed us the clippings from the film and he said, ‘Just

look at her, does she look like a heroine’. He said ‘I was

not in favour of taking her at all, it was the director who

insisted'.”The Dirty Picture actress added, “They had already

replaced me and my father after knowing that, called up

the producer asking if they can meet because he wanted

to know what was going wrong. They wanted to know

what was the problem.”

Vidya said she had a difficult time dealing with the

rejection. “I felt ugly... I felt like sh*t for months and I

don'’t think I looked at myself in the mirror... I didn't like

what I saw because I thought I was ugly... For the longest

time, I did not forgive that man, but today, thanks to that,

I realised that I have to love and accept myself the way I

am.”Talking about another experience in Tamil filmdom,

she said, “There was another Tamil film that was locked

on the phone and it was not organised in the way that

they are today... I didn't know any better so I was like

okay and committed to doing the film. I landed in

Chennai and I shot with him for a day and really felt

uncomfortable with the kind of humour that was in the

film. I left the film and then they sent me a legal notice.”

The life story of former Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee is set to unfold on the big screen.Vajpayee, a senior BJP leader and one of the

founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh(BJS), died on August 16 in 2018, after aprolonged illness.

Shiva Sharma and Zeeshan Ahmad, owners ofAmaash Films, have acquired the official rights ofthe book, The Untold Vajpayee, written byUllekh NP, and has decided to unveil the severalaspects of Vajpayee's life from his childhood,college life, him turning into a politician.

“The Untold Vajpayee is one of my mostambitious projects and it gives me a feeling ofimmense honour and joy to be able to put upthis unsung hero onto the big

screen. Also, I believe not everyone knows the realside of Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji. While reading this

book, I also discovered quite a lot about hispersonality traits, the work done by him

during his tenure as a Prime Ministerfor our country,” said Sharma.

“These unseen and untold traitsof his personality inspired me to puthis story out to the world andinspire other people as well.”

Ahmad shared that the scriptingof the movie has already started.“Once the scripting is completed,we shall finalise the director and the

actors for the film. The tentative titleof the movie is The Untold

Vajpayee,” he added.

VIOLA DAVIS TO PLAY MICHELLE OBAMAIN SHOWTIME'S ‘FIRST LADIES’

The Oscar-winning actress will portray MichelleObama in First Ladies — a Showtime serieslooking at several US presidents' wives

throughout history.Michelle, Eleanor Roosevelt and Betty Ford will be

the focus of the first series, written by novelist AaronCooley.

First Ladies will aim to provide insight into both thepersonal and political lives of presidents' spouses.

It will also show how many major political decisionswere made in the White House's east wing, where theFirst Lady and her staff are based. The Obamas spenteight years in the White House from 2008 to 2016.

Michelle Obama has met the actress on severaloccasions. In 2017, Davis posted a tribute to Obamaon Facebook, uploading a picture of the pair togetherand writing, “May you continue to shine your light andimpact future generations to come.”

Davis won her Oscar for best supporting actress in2017 for Fences, and has also previously starred inThe Help, Widows and Suicide Squad.

AYUSHMANNKHURRANA FEELSTHE ‘GOODPRESSURE'National Award-winning actor Ayushmann Khurrana

says it''s great to know that the audience expects himto do good cinema and considers it a “good

pressure” to have.With back-to-back hits — Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho and

Article 15 — in recent times, the audience's expectationfrom the actor has gone up, and he is loving it.

With his upcoming Dream Girl, Ayushmann continuesto deliver quality content that is hugely entertaining. He hasproven that he is the go-to star for the best scripts in town.

“I do feel that audiences expect me to disrupt contentwith every single film and I'm loving this expectation. It'sgreat to know that they expect me to do good cinema. It'sgood pressure to have and always motivates me todiscover and endorse some of the best scripts that arebeing written in our industry. I'm truly fortunate thataudiences are placing their trust in me to be thetorchbearer of good cinema in India,” Ayushmann said.

In his upcoming film, Dream Girl, he will be seenplaying the role of a man who can speak in a woman'svoice.

“Dream girl, in its own way, is about gender fluidity insociety. We have always spoken about a woman in a man'sworld and this film reverses that equation on its head andputs a man in a woman's world as a social experiment,” hesaid.

“In the film, my character is absolutely okay doing whatis traditionally looked at as a girl's job and doesn't feelawkward about doing it,” he added.

He believes in the need for society to champion equalityamong genders. “Even a girl in today's world should feelabsolutely okay to chase her dreams and take up a job ofher choice without thinking of societal stereotypes orconsequences. That's the kind of society I would like to livein, celebrate and champion.

“The power to create equality iswith us and we need toensure that genderdoesn't come at play atany cost. Women areequal to men andthat's what weshould always striveto achieve in every-day life to seeeffective change,” hesaid.

ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE'S LIFE STORY TO HIT BIG SCREEN

AFP n LEEDS

Jack Leach put his cult hero statusdown to looking like a "village

cricketer" after his key supportingrole enabled Ben Stokes to steerEngland to a staggering victory inthe third Ashes Test.

England were 286-9, still need-ing 73 more runs to reach a victo-ry target of 359 when last manLeach walked out to bat atHeadingley on Sunday.

Already something of a crowdfavourite, the bespectacled andbalding Leach held firm as all-rounder Stokes, who was 61 not outwhen joined in the middle by theleft-arm spinner, blazed his way toan astounding unbeaten 135 thatsaw England to a one-wicket winthat levelled the five-match series at1-1.

But just as Ian Botham's 149 notout in England's celebrated 1981

Test win over Australia atHeadingley after following-onneeded the support of GrahamDilley, and Kevin Pietersen's Ashes-clinching 158 at the Oval in 2005would not have been possible with-out Ashley Gile at the other end, sotoo did Stokes need Leach to staywith him during what became aremarkable last-wicket stand of 76.

Even though Stokes farmedthe strike superbly, Leach — whosecareer average of 11 matches hisposition in the batting order — stillhad to face 17 balls for an invalu-able one not out.

But having made 92 as night-watchman in a Test against Irelandat Lord's last month, Leach hung infor an hour.

His only real scare came when,with two needed to win, he near-ly ran himself out only for NathanLyon to fail to gather a return whenLeach was yards short of hisground.

Leach, however, tied the scoresbefore Stokes struck the winningboundary off fast bowler PatCummins.

The sight of Leach carefullypolishing his glasses as Englandclosed on their record fourth-innings winning total alsoendeared him to the crowd.

"It's nice to have that, it's prob-ably because I look like a villagecricketer out there, in my glassesand with the bald head," saidLeach.

"Maybe people think 'thatcould be me' because all the oth-ers look pretty professional."

Leach, whose tailend resis-tance has seen him offered freeglasses for life by series sponsorsSpecsavers in a response to a sug-gestion on Twitter from Stokes,added: "I'm just enjoying playingfor England."

The 28-year-old said his care-ful cleaning routine was simplyabout removing condensation as hefaced up to an Australia attack ledby fast bowler Josh Hazlewood.

"I just had to make sure theywere clean every time I was facingup," said Leach.

"I would really regret it if theyhad been smudged and I'd got out,

then the cameras zoom in on theglasses and they say 'he didn't cleanhis glasses'. I just had to stay calmand do the job at hand."

When Leach came into bat, itseemed England's chances of a winhad evaporated.

But having seen, albeit as a fanwatching television, Stokes star inEngland's World Cup final triumphagainst New Zealand with 84 notout at Lord's six weeks earlier,Leach had faith even when allseemed lost.

"I was watching the WorldCup final as a fan and that showedthat anything is possible," he said.

"Ben Stokes was at the centreof that as well. Maybe Ben Stokeshas to be at the centre of all things

that are possible. He was justunbelievable."

Leach would have likely beenwatching the Headingley match ontelevision too had not rival spin-ner Moeen Ali been dropped aftera woeful display in the seriesopener at Edgbaston.

With World Cup-winning leg-spinner Adil Rashid injured, Leachsuddenly found himself unexpect-edly thrust back into the Test side.

"I probably thought I'd bewatching the Ashes at home," headmitted.

"But I wanted to be ready toplay and not presume anything.Now my opportunity has comeabout so I'm trying to make themost of it."

sport 15HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019

PTI n KOLKATA

One of India’s greatest wicket-keepers, Syed Kirmani, feels thatBengal veteran Wriddhiman

Saha deserves to play the second Testagainst the West Indies instead ofRishabh Pant, who still has a “lot to learn”.

Pant's short career has been incon-sistent at best especially his indiscreetshot selection during World Cup and theongoing West Indies tour that has lefteveryone disappointed.

Kirmani, who played 88 Tests forIndia, feels that Saha was injured and hedeserves equal opportunity just like theburly Delhi keeper.

“Yeh abhi jhule main hai (He is stillin his infancy). But he is God gifted butneeds to learn a lot," Kirmani said.

“It’s the most difficult position on thefield. Not everyone can do keeping byjust wearing a pair of gloves,” said themember of the 1983 World Cup winningside. Kirmani, a former chairman ofselectors wants Saha to play the next Testin Jamaica.

“Saha unfortunately had some injuryproblems. He has to be given equalopportunity. What’s the point of keepinghim in the side, if you do not give himchance,” Kirmani questioned.

“We have to judge on pure perfor-mance. Saha came to Indian side follow-ing his consistency at domestic level. Butwhen you’re out of picture, somebody elsetakes over your place, so the likes ofKarthik and Pant came into the picture.

“Now we have to see who’s more con-sistent on the field — be it in batting,wicketkeeping or in terms of all-roundabilities,” Kirmani said.

The 69-year-old also seemed a trifleirritated with constant speculation overMahendra Singh Dhoni’s future.

“Leave him alone. There will be a

LONDON: The accolades keep comingfor Ben Stokes after his astonishingmatch-winning innings in the thirdAshes Test against Australia with iconIan Botham anointing him Englishcricket’s ‘Special One’.

Until Stokes lit up Headingley onSunday with his series-saving 135,Botham’s titanic 149 not out in the sec-ond innings of the 1981 Test against theAustralians had been the benchmark.

A full 38 years later, Stokes’ unbeat-en knock secured England an unlike-ly one-wicket win in the third Test andin the process kept the Ashes alive bylevelling the series at 1-1.

Botham, who is chairman ofDurham where Stokes plays his coun-ty cricket, told the Daily TelegraphStokes’s bold performance against theodds had earned him the specialsobriquet.

“He is the ‘Special One’ and Iintend to call him that for the rest ofhis career,” said Botham. “He wants tobe the best. He wants to be in the oven.“He wants to be in the hottest place inthe kitchen and he wants to take themall on. That is his character.”

Botham’s innings in 1981 afterEngland had to follow on transformedthe outcome of the match and trans-formed the rest of the legendary all-rounder’s life.

“It changed my life overnight,” saidBotham. “I think Ben’s life will be the

same. He will have no private life. Hehas to get used to that and so do thefamily.

“He is public property but it is agreat place to be in for the long term.It will set him up for life.

“He will reap the rewards which herichly deserves and he is now a world,box-office attraction.”

Botham — who also contributedsix wickets in the Australians firstinnings in the 1981 Test and a half-cen-tury in England’s terrible first innings— would not compare his and Stokes’performances.

“I don’t compare the two innings,”said Botham.

“There were different circum-stances, different conditions and a dif-ferent pitch. “I was just delighted tohave witnessed one of the greatestevents in cricketing history.” AFP

PTI n DUBAI

India captain Virat Kohlimaintained his slender

six-point lead over SteveSmith while speedsterJasprit Bumrah made hismaiden entry into thetop-10 of the latest ICCTest rankings released onTuesday.

The biggest gainer,however, was all-rounderBen Stokes following hisstupendous effort in thethird Test againstAustralia at Headingley. It

has helped him reachcareer-best positionsamong batsmen and all-rounders. He is now 13thamong batsmen and sec-ond among all-rounders.

The top-rankedKohli has 910 pointswhile Smith, with 904, isplaced second. KaneWilliamson andCheteshwar Pujara aredistant third and fourthrespectively.

Indian Test vice-cap-tain Ajinkya Rahane, withscores of 81 and 102 in thefirst Test against the WestIndies, jumped 10 placesto be 11th in the list.

Bumrah, the fastestIndian pacer to 50 wick-ets, is now seventh in thebowlers’ list after a leap ofnine places owing to hisfive-wicket haul againstthe West Indies.

PTI n NEW DELHI

India veteran Mithali Raj on Tuesdaymade herself available for the

upcoming T20 home series againstSouth Africa but with the focus onyoungsters ahead of next year’s WorldCup, the selectors may not pick her.

The five-match series begins onSeptember 24, while the T20 WorldCup is scheduled in Australia inFebruary-March.

The 36-year-old, who is the ODIcaptain and remains committed toplay the 50-over World Cup in 2021,is not an automatic pick in the T20eleven.

“I am definitely available for theT20 series next month but, at themoment, haven’t really thought aboutthe T20 World Cup. I usually take itseries by series,” the Indian women’scricket great said when asked abouthis plans for the shortest format.

The selectors are scheduled tomeet in Mumbai on September 5 topick the squad for the first three T20Internationals . The series in Surat willbe followed by three ODIs in Baroda.

“Mithali has been a great of the

game but she needs to decide soon onher T20 career. The T20 World Cupis six months away and the selectorsneed to try out a few players. And forthat, they also need to know whatMithali’s plans are. She is also not anautomatic pick in the eleven,” a BCCIofficial said.

It has been learnt that the selec-tors will speak to Mithali about herplans ahead of the team selection.

While India are doing okay inODIs, they need a lot of improvementin T20s, having lost their previous sixgames.

The team doesn’t have much timeleft to sort out its combinations.After the South Africa series, Indiatravel to the West Indies before play-ing a tri series in Australia ahead ofthe T20 World Cup.

Mithali acknowledged the issuesfacing the team in T20 cricket.

“As a team, we still have a lot tocatch up on the T20 format but we do

have youngsters coming in and withthe exposure of T20 leagues aroundthe world they will get more experi-ence and mature faster,” she said.

The shortest format is a lot aboutpower-hitting and that is one of theareas India need to improve signifi-cantly.

“Genetically we can’t be like otherteams but we can be more smart inour planning and shot selection. Weworked very hard on our fitness in therecent camp in Bangalore and you cansee the girls are much fitter on theground and that reflects in theirdrills,” added Mithali.

Speculation has been rife overMithali’s future in T20s ever since shewas controversially left out out of theplaying eleven for the World T20semifinals against England last year.

There were reports that she wouldretire after the home series againstEngland in March but ended upplaying all three games.

AFP n LEEDS

Australia will hope star batsman Steve Smith can inspirean Ashes revival after their stunning one-wicket loss

to England in the third Test at Headingley.Ashes-holders Australia were on the brink of retain-

ing the urn only for Ben Stokes’s astonishing 135 not outto see England snatch victory from the jaws of defeat asthey levelled the series at 1-1 with two to play.

Smith missed the match with concussion sufferedwhen hit by a 92mph Jofra Archer bouncer in the drawnsecond Test at Lord’s.

He is expected to play in this week’s tour game againstDerbyshire, with a view to returning for the fourth Testat Old Trafford on September 4.

NOT BATTING WELL ENOUGHStand-in Marnus Labuschagne has made three suc-

cessive fifties in Smith’s absence but his 80 in Australia’ssecond-innings 246 at Leeds was the only score above 33.

“One thing I do know is that we’re not batting wellenough at the moment,” said Australia coach Justin Langer.

“I said at the start of the series that the team who batsbest will win the Ashes.”

Langer, a former Australia opener, added: “We’ve gotsome real questions to ask for the practice game and forthe fourth Test match.”

There has been speculation Smith’s return could beat the expense of Usman Khawaja, whose top score in sixinnings is 40.

“Uzzy’s played a lot of cricket and averages over 40in Test match cricket, he got a Test hundred seven inningsago, so we know he’s a very good player,” said Langer.

Something else Australia will look to improve is theiruse of the Decision Review System.

For all Stokes’s brilliance, he was reprieved when, withEngland still needing two to win, off-spinner Nathan Lyonappealed for lbw only for umpire Joel Wilson to ruled inthe batsman’s favour.

Replays suggested Stokes would have been out, butAustralia had no reviews left after wasting one on a spec-ulative Pat Cummins shout in the previous over.

Langer, who refused to criticise Wilson, said: “We’vebeen really poor at it this whole series. We’ve talked a lotabout getting better at our reviews. Certainly we have con-trol of that.”

Australia must ensure there are no lingering scarsfrom this shattering loss if they are to win their first Ashesseries in England for 18 years.

Langer, however, insisted: “It’s 1-1 in the series andwe’ve been so close — one more wicket and we’re 2-0 upand feeling pretty good about ourselves but that’s sportand we'll pick ourselves up.

“We’re all feeling it. My gosh, you’ve got no idea howmuch that hurts losing, you have no idea.

“But whether you’re the captain, coach or a seniorplayer, you’ve got to get up.”

POWAR IS IND A NEW BOWLING COACHMumbai: Former off-spinner and women's teamcoach Ramesh Powar has been named India Abowling coach for the upcoming series againstSouth Africa A. "He has been appointed only forthe South Africa A series," a BCCI official said onTuesday. Powar, who played two Tests and 31ODIs for India, was embroiled in a controversylate last year after he fell out with senior women'steam player Mithali Raj when he was the headcoach. India A will be playing two four day gamesand a five match unofficial 'ODI' series againstSouth Africa A. The one-day series will be playedin Thiruvananthapuram beginning from Thursday.

MURRAY SECURES 1ST SINGLES WINMadrid: Three-time Grand Slam winner AndyMurray cruised to an important win on Monday,not at the US Open but at a second-tier ChallengerEvent against a teenager with just $150 in careerearnings. Double Olympic champion Murray ($61million in earnings), shunned the New Yorkspotlights as he chased his first singles win sincehip surgery in January. And the move paid off ashe swept past French 17-year-old Imran Sibille 6-0, 6-1 who only squeezed into the draw as analternate on his professional debut. Murray,whose ATP ranking has slipped to 328, next facesworld number 115 Norbert Gombos of Slovakia inthe second round on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD FC REPLACES PUNE CITY New Delhi: The sixth Indian Super League willhave a new team with Hyderabad FC, a city with astoried past in football, replacing FC Pune City, aclub that has been plagued by financial problemsin recent years. Vijay Madduri and VarunTripuraneni are the owners of the new team,which will play its match at the GachibowliStadium. An official word on the home venue isstill awaited. Pune City struggled to pay salaries toplayers and support staff during the fifth edition ofthe Indian Super League. "Hyderabad, a city thatboasts of a strong football culture, will soon seeits own team making its debut in the upcomingHero Indian Super League season," the ISL said ina release. It is understood that the WadhawanGroup, owners of Pune City, are winding up theteam due to financial issues. Agencies

SINGLES

Aus look to Smithfor Ashes revival

Saha should play 2nd Testinstead of Pant: Kirmani

Rahane try not to getaffected by criticismPTI n NORTH SOUND

India’s Test vice-captain AjinkyaRahane, who withstood intense pres-

sure to score match-winning knocks inthe first Test against the West Indies, saidhe made a conscious effort to ignorecriticism directed at him for not reach-ing three figures in the last two years.

Coming into the Test series,Rahane’s form was a subject of wide-spread debate but he silenced his crit-ics with scores of 81 and 102 in India’s318-run win over the West Indies hereon Sunday.

“I try not to get affected by criticismas it is unwanted and I can't control it.You are always happy when you make

a hundred,” Rahane told fellowMumbaikar Rohit Sharma in a chataired on ‘bcci.Tv’.

“It was satisfying as I had to grinda lot. Needed to put the team in a goodposition before getting to the hundred,”he added.

Despite the dip in his performance,the Indian team management persist-ed with Rahane and it paid off.

Skipper Virat Kohli has also backedhim to do well for the team and persis-tently defended the batsman’s creden-tials in the face of questions over hisform.

The second and final Test betweenthe two sides begins in Jamaica onFriday.

time when he will retire, but we must stoptalking about his retirement now.”

Kirmani however wants Dhoni togroom the youngsters in the side beforecalling it quits.

The 69-year-old like most of theexperts agreed that Virat Kohli’s consis-tency is second to none.

“The kind of consistency I have seenin Virat Kohli, I’ve neither seen in anycricketer of my era nor the current era.He has a got a great phenomenal consis-tency. He is a game-changer. He could bebreaking the existing records ofTendulkar if he continues his consisten-cy,” he said about Kohli who slammed his42nd ODI century in West Indies, sevenshort of equalling Tendulkar’s feat of 49.

PANT'S SHORT CAREERHAS BEEN

INCONSISTENT AT BESTESPECIALLY HIS

INDISCREET SHOTSELECTION DURING

WORLD CUP AND THEONGOING WEST INDIESTOUR THAT HAS LEFT

EVERYONEDISAPPOINTED

Stokes is ‘Special One’ for England cricket

Mithali available for SA T20s

Leach can't believe he's an Ashes hero

Bumrah enters top 10

sport 16HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28, 2019

PTI n NEW YORK

The improbable did not hap-pen but India’s Sumit Nagalexited the US Open fighting,

stretching and even earning therespect of his opponent, the incom-parable Roger Federer.

In another first-round matchfeaturing an Indian, PrajneshGunneswaran got a taste of high-level tennis, losing to world num-ber five Daniil Medvedev in straightsets at the Flushing Meadows onMonday night. With their losses,India’s singles challenge drew to aclose on the opening day itself.

After taking a set off Federer,Nagal lost 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 4-6 in amatch that lasted two hours and 50minutes here on Monday night tobow out after making his maidenGrand Slam main draw.

“I think he knows what he canbring. That’s why I think he’s goingto have a very solid career,” saidFederer after the match.

The debut, at least in the open-ing set, was impressive as hestretched the “rusty” Federer, a five-time champion here with a careertally of 20 Slams.

But the gulf between Prajneshand his fancied Russian opponent,who recently vanquished multipleGrand Slam winner NovakDjokovic, was wide and apparentas he lost 4-6, 1-6, 2-6.

Nagal was more competi-tive. The 24-year-old troubledFederer quite a bit during themuch-anticipated match andthe Swiss legend’s problemswere also compounded by hisown unforced errors.

One of the game’s all-timegreatest players, Federer had aword of praise for his opponentfrom India.

“...Of course it’s not thegame that comes out withthe biggest surprises. It’sreally consistent. I thinkhe did it very welltonight,” Federer saidafter the match.

Asked what hethought was the stand-out feature of Nagal,Swiss legend Federersaid, “I guess maybe howhe handled the moment.”

“I think his game isbased on being really con-sistent, moving well, mov-

ing the ball around well. Sort ofvery much a clay-courter.

Nagal became only the fourthIndian to win a set in the maindraw of a Grand Slam inthe last 20 years.What made itspe-

cialwasthati t

came against Federer, a colossal fig-ure across all sports globally.

Only Somdev Devvarman,Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Mynenihave managed to win a set in aGrand Slam main draw beforeNagal, in the last two decades.

Nagal, who made the maindraw through qualifying, returnsfrom the US Open not onlyricher by $58,000 but alsowith the experience of what ittakes to compete at thebiggest stage.

“It was a tough first setfor me. He played prettystrong so credit to him. Iwas missing a lot of ballsso I was trying to cutdown the unforced errors.

Hopefully it will get bet-ter,” said Federer.

The Swiss let out afirm “No” when askedif he felt for a second

that it was ‘Nadal’and not ‘Nagal’if the name ofhis rival on thes c o r e b o a r dhad a ‘D’

instead of a ‘G’.“For you guys

and social media, itis,” he quipped.

“I was rusty, Iwill shake it off,”

said Federer.

AFP n NEW YORK

Serena Williams overwhelmedMaria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 on

Monday to reach the second roundof the US Open in search of her 24thGrand Slam title.

Six-time US Open championWilliams crushed the five-timemajor winner from Russia in only 59minutes, beating Sharapova for the19th consecutive time and improv-ing to 20-2 in their all-time rivalry.

“Whenever I play her I bring outsome of my best tennis,” Williamssaid. “When you play her you haveto be super focused.”

Williams, who next plays 121st-ranked US wildcard Caty McNally,blasted five aces and 16 winnerswhile Sharapova made 20 unforcederrors.

“She served really well. Foundher spots really well,” Sharapova said.“I think that’s where she hurt me alot.”

The 2006 US Open winner whodefeated Williams in the 2004Wimbledon final, upset SimonaHalep in the first round two yearsago but could not revive that magic.

DJOKOVIC CRUISESTop-ranked defending champi-

on Novak Djokovic cruised into thesecond round while French Openchampion Ashleigh Barty and thirdseed Karolina Pliskova struggledbut advanced.

Serbian star Djokovic, who haswon four of the past five Grand Slam

singles titles, dispatched Spain’s76th-ranked Roberto CarballesBaena 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

“Getting out of the blocks, ittakes time for you to feel comfort-able on the court,” Djokovic said.“I’m quite pleased with my perfor-mance and looking forward to thenext one.”

Djokovic, trying to become thefirst back-to-back US Open winnersince Federer won from 2004-2008,will next face Argentina’s 56th-ranked Juan Ignacio Londero.

Pliskova, a 2016 US Open run-ner-up, edged 138th-ranked Czechcompatriot Tereza Martincova 7-6(8/6), 7-6 (7/3) after exchanging ser-vice breaks over the first six games.

“Not my best performance,”Pliskova said. “Not happy that I lostthree breaks of serve in a row.”

Japanese seventh seed KeiNishikori, the 2014 US Open run-ner-up, won 6-1, 4-1, whenArgentine qualifier Marco Trungellitiretired with a back injury.

“I’m happy with the way Iplayed,” said Nishikori, who getsAmerican Bradley Klahn next.

AFP n MILAN

Belgian forward RomeluLukaku scored on his Inter

Milan debut as new coachAntonio Conte’s reign got offto a perfect start with a 4-0win over promoted Lecce onMonday.

“There was a spark, butnow we must become dyna-mite,” said Conte as he beginshis campaign to topple eight-time holders Juventus.

Lukaku — a 65 millioneuros ($73 million) summersigning from ManchesterUnited — scored the thirdgoal on the hour mark at theSan Siro.

A blunder by Lecce goal-keeper Gabriel parried the ballinto the path of LautaroMartinez allowing Lukaku tofinish off.

The 26-year-old turnedand took a bow in front of thejubilant Inter fans among the65,000 crowd.

“Lukaku entered theworld of Inter in the best way,with great humility,” saidConte.

“He’s a gentle giant, agiant with a smile. He is readyto work for the team. But notonly Romelu, Lautaro alsoplayed very well.”

Croatian MarceloBrozovic had opened the scor-ing after 21 minutes with apowerful strike for his 15thgoal in his sixth season withInter.

But another new signingStefano Sensi, a summer loan

from Sassuolo, alsofound a way throughthree minutes later.

Lecce played thelast quarter of anhour a man downafter Brazilian DiegoFarias saw red in hisfirst game for a studs

on tackle on his formerCagliari teammate NicoloBarella.

Antonio Candreva blast-ed in the fourth goal on 84minutes, allowing Inter to

match champions Juventusand runners-up Napoli whoboth won their openingleague matches at the week-end.

Juventus beat Parma 1-0,with Napoli edging a seven-goal thriller at Fiorentina 4-3.

“We started off well withthe right intensity and desire,respecting the idea of what Iwanted,” said Conte.

“Then at 2-0 I didn’t likewhat I saw from the lads. Toorelaxed, losing intensity underpressure.

“We need to improveboth mentally and physical-ly but I am very happy andsatisfied, I like working withthese guys who have alwaysshown great commitment.

“Let’s celebrate until mid-night, from tomorrow wethink of Cagliari, it will be adifficult trip,” he added ofnext weekend’s game inSardinia.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The feeling has not yet sunk in,said India’s first badminton

world champion Pusarla Venkata(PV) Sindhu on Tuesday after shewas given an exuberant welcomeon her return to the countrywhich included a meeting withPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 2016 Olympic Silver-medallist, who out-played Japan’sNozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in aone-sided final of the big event inBasel on Sunday, was mobbed atthe airport after she toucheddown with national coach PullelaGopichand by her side onMonday night here.

“I am really happy, I am veryproud of my country. It’s a much-awaited win and I am very happyabout it,” she said in response toa barrage of questions that werethrown at her once she came outof the airport.

Within a few hours of that, the24-year-old had breakfast withsports minister Kiren Rijjiju fol-

lowed by a meeting with Modi.The Prime Minister posted

pictures of the meeting on his per-sonal Twitter page and describedthe affable player as “India’s pride”.Rijiju, on the other hand, felicitat-ed her with a cash award of ` 10lakh.

“It hasn’t yet sunk in and wedidn’t get much time to celebratebecause I had to come back earlyafter the match and then next daytake a flight back to India,” shesaid.

The Hyderabadi, who hashad little time to reflect since herhistoric achievement, headed toher hometown in the afternoon.

“I will work more hard andwin many more medals,” shepromised when asked about herplans from now given that theOlympics is less than a year awayand she is faced with expectationsto finish on the podium for a sec-ond successive edition.

Sindhu was also asked aboutthe moment she got emotionalafter the medal distribution cer-

emony in Basel.The five-time world medallist

had tears in her eyes when thenational anthem played. She hadclaimed Silvers in the past two edi-tions, besides a couple of Bronzemedals earlier.

“I had tears and there were alot of emotions, it was a greatmoment for me. Thanks to all myfans for your blessings, your bless-ings have brought me here,” shesaid.

“I can’t express how it felt onthe podium. It gave me a lot ofconfidence to improve and winmany more tournaments.

“I would like to thank mycoaches Gopi sir and Kim (JiHyun). They have put in a lot ofeffort and done a few changes inmy game,” she added.

Kim Ji Hyun, a former inter-national from South Korea, joinedthe coaching staff earlier this yearon Gopichand’s recommenda-tion.

Gopichand said Sindhu’s Goldwas special but her past medals atthe big event should also never beforgotten.

“It is phenomenal. This waitwas definitely long but everymedal that she has won is special,”he said.

“We won Bronze and Silver(in the earlier editions). The ques-tion-mark was over Gold. Goinginto the Olympics with this win isphenomenal. They way she did itwas such a pleasure,” he addedreferring to her dominant perfor-mance in the final.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Delhi and DistrictCricket Association

(DDCA) on Tuesday decided torechristen Feroz Shah KotlaStadium as Arun Jait leyStadium in the memory of itsformer president who passedaway on Saturday.

The renaming will takeplace on September 12 at afunction where a stand at theKotla will be named after Indiacaptain Virat Kohli asannounced earlier.

Speaking on this initiative,DDCA president Rajat Sharmasaid: “It was Arun Jaitley’s sup-

port and encouragement thatplayers l ike Virat Kohli,Virender Sehwag, GautamGambhir, Ashish Nehra,Rishabh Pant and many otherscould make India proud.”

Jaitley, during his tenure atDDCA, is credited with reno-vating the stadium into a mod-ern facility, increasing its capac-ity to accommodate more fansbesides constructing world classdressing rooms.

The function, to be held atthe Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,will be graced by the presenceof Home Minister Amit Shahand Sports Minister KirenRijiju.

AFP n KARACHI

Former captain Misbah-ul-Haq on Tuesday

emerged as the favourite totake over as Pakistan’scricket coach after MickeyArthur was axed followinga disappointing World Cup.

Misbah, Pakistan’s mostsuccessful Test captain, hasstepped down from thePakistan Cricket Board’sexecutive committee toclear the way for his appli-cation.

“I have resigned fromthe cricket committee andhave applied for the post ofPakistan's head coach,” saidthe former batsman,describing the position as a“dream”.

The four-memberexecutive committeedeclined to renew Arthur’scontract after Pakistanfailed to reach the semi-final of the World Cup inEngland and Wales.

The PCB did not revealwhether anyone else hadapplied for the post.However, Pakistani mediasaid former Australian

batsman Dean Jones andex-West Indies pacemanCourtney Walsh wereamong the applicants.

Misbah said competi-tion for the job would betough.

“It is interesting to seemy name emerging in themedia even before I hadapplied... I envisage therewill be a few more verycompetent and highly qual-

ified people applying forone of the most challengingjobs in the game,” he added.

Misbah totalled 26wins in 56 Tests as captain,with 19 losses and 11draws. He retired in 2017.

Pakistan are likely toannounce their new headcoach ahead of the limited-overs series against SriLanka starting in Karachifrom September 27.

Nagal stretches great Federer

Sumit Nagal returns to Roger Federer during the first round of the US Open tournament in New York on Monday (Tuesday morning IST) AP

“I think he (Nagal) knowswhat he can bring. That’swhy I think he’s going tohave a very solid career.

—Roger Federer

“He (Nagal) showedincredible composureagainst the greatest playerin the world and held hisown. I think both he andhis coaching team shouldbe very proud of theimprovements they havemade this year,”

—Mahesh Bhupati

Serena Williams, left, shakes hands with Maria Sharapova after their first-round match AP

“You can write me off. There are manypeople that can write me off,especially after going down 6-1, 6-1 inthe first round of the US Open. Aslong as it’s not the person that’s insideof you, you’ll be OK. Bottom line is Ibelieve in my ability."

—Maria Sharapova

Twisted ankle didn’t allowme to be aggressive: PrajneshPTI n NEW YORK

Prajnesh says he “didhit” world number five

Daniil Medvedev with hisgame in the US Open firstround but a twisted ankle did notallow him to be consistently aggres-sive.

The Indian left-hander beganaggressively but could not maintainintensity after losing a well-foughtfirst set at the Louis ArmstrongStadium.

“He is very consistent. He doesnot make many errors. But I did feelI was able to hit him with my game.I needed to do it consistently and forthat I needed to move well, but Itwisted my ankle and it made it a bitdifficult,” Prajnesh said, reflecting onhis defeat.

“He is very good on the back-hand corner. Even if he goes on therun, he was good with his crosscourt, so that was one of the shotshe used to neutralise my forehandeven when I hit it well. But, over-all, a good experience,” added the 29-year-old from Chennai.

Unforced errors from Prajneshwhen Medvedev served for the

opening set made the job easy for theworld number five.

“I was very excited to play onStadium court, the atmosphere.Someone, who is on top of his game,the world number five, I wanted toplay him to see where I stand asopposed to his level,” he said.

So what’s his assessment then?“I am playing well, I do need to

improve things here and there.That’s always going to be the case.Probably I need to be little more con-sistent when I am aggressive. Not theway I did in the second and thirdsets. “That was because I twisted myankle. But in general I need to be lit-tle more consistent,” he said.

FEELING YET TOSINK IN: SINDHU

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju meets World Champion PV Sindhu at his residence in NewDelhi. Sindhu became the first Indian to win the Gold at World’s on Sunday PTI

PV Sindhu poses with World C’ship Goldafter her arrival in Delhi on Monday night

Conte’s Inter starts in style

Inter Milan's head coach Antonio Conte hugs Romelu Lukaku after he scores AP

Kotla to be renamed asArun Jaitley Stadium

Misbah front-runner for Pak coach

Serena routs Sharapova