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Judiciary incrosshairs ofpower play andcaste equations

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BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

{

Trump’s die-hard fan in TS dies of cardiac arrestPNS n HYDERABAD

Die-hard Donald Trump fanBussa Krishna, who used toworship him like a god, died ofcardiac arrest on Sunday afterbeing concerned about the USPresident's health conditionfollowing his Covid-19 infec-tion. The 38-year-old collapsedwhile having tea at his relative'sresidence at Toopran area inMedak district of Telangana.He was taken to hospital wheredoctors declared him dead.

His family members said hewas worried after coming to

know that Trump was infect-ed by Covid-19. He had report-edly not taken food properlyever since he learnt that Trumptested positive.

A resident of Konne villagein Jangaon district, Kirshnawas an ardent devotee ofTrump and had installed asix-feet statue of the USPresident at his house byspending Rs 1.30 lakh.

He used to offer dailyprayers to Trump and came tobe known as 'Trump Krishna'in his village.

Krishna, a small farmer,

had stated that he became a bigfan of Trump for his straight-forwardness on many issuesever since he became the USpresident. He said peoplelaughed at him for installing

the statue of Trump and wor-shipping it and had advisedhim to visit a psychiatrist. He,however, had defended hislove for Trump.

"Every Friday, I fast for

Trump's long life. I also carryhis picture and pray to himbefore commencing any work,"he had said.

Krishna's family memberssaid after learning that Trumpand his wife were found infect-ed by coronavirus, he waspraying to god for their recov-ery. He later released videospraying for the speedy recov-ery of the US President.

Though a school dropout,Krishna had a keen interest inglobal politics. He wished thatTrump would win the pollsagain and tackle China.

Transgender moves HC seeking4% reservation in govt jobsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Seeking four per cent reserva-tions in government jobs fortransgenders a writ petitionhas been filed in the HighCourt. The petitioner, MatamGangabhavani, a transgender,has prayed the High Court todirect the State government toimplement four per cent reser-vations for transgenders inthe government employmentwith immediate effect.

She moved the High Courtafter she was denied appoint-ment as a nurse, in respect ofwhich the government hadissued a notification in Junethis year. Gangabhavani arguedthat she was selected andshown in the final merit list.

Out of 95 posts available, 77posts were filled by staff nurs-es working in CommunityHealth Centres on a contractbasis. In all, 18 posts wereavailable for further recruit-ment. However, the petitionercontended that she was notrecruited against the availablevacancies on account of herbeing a transgender and in theabsence of any reservation for

transgenders. Her petitioninforms that Gangabhavanihad completed a Multi-Purpose Health Worker certi-fication course, a

B Sc through distance modeand a programme in GeneralNursing and Midwifery fromthe Directorate of MedicalEducation Board, Amaravati.

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SAIL to start commercial production of HH rails

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Brokers, middlemenspreading ‘lies’ onagri reforms, says Modi

Man murderedover witch-craft PNS n SRIKAKULAM

In a shocking incident, a 45-year-old man was brutallymurdered and his body was seton fire on Saturday night by 15people on suspicion of practis-ing sorcery at Pulaguda trib-al village in Kotturu mandal ofSrikakulam district. Thedeceased was identified as VNayakamma alias Nayak, afarmer by profession in the vil-lage. The Kotturu police saidthat villagers suspected thatNayakamma was practisingblack magic and he wasresponsible for the death of 30-year-old Ramesh Babu.

The police said that Rameshdied of illness and his wife alsoexpressed that no one wasresponsible for the death of herhusband. Ramesh died 20 days

ago in the village with symp-toms of fever and other ail-ments. However, relatives ofRamesh and some villagerswent to neighbouring Odisha,where they met one person,who used to perform someTantrik pujas. The man brain-washed them that someone inthe village was practisingwitch-craft.

Later, the locals accusedNayakamma of being a witchand worked spells on Rameshto make him sick and led todeath. In order to take revenge,a group of villagers decided toeliminate Nayakamma andthey dragged him out of hisresidence on Saturday night.

Nayakamma was brutallymurdered in front his familymembers.

Police department staffer murderedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

An employee of VijayawadaPolice Commissionerate GMahesh was shot dead byunidentified gunmen on theVijayawada bypass road nearNunna on the outskirts ofVijayawada city Saturday latenight Saturday. Mahesh wasresiding at Christurajupuramin Vijayawada city and went tothe bypass road, along with histwo friends Hari and Dinesh.Unidentified persons came

there and had an altercationwith the trio and shot atMahesh, who died on the spot.

The gun firing incident sentshocking waves among thepeople in the city. Mahesh's

friend Dinesh, who was pre-sent with Hari, said that theyleft their houses at 4 pm andlater went to the bypass roadat 10.30 pm.

ll The deceased wasidentified as VNayakamma aliasNayak, a farmer byprofession in thevillage.

Speeding Ferrarikills one in CityDURGAPRASAD SUNKUn HYDERABAD

A Ferrari GTC4Lusso, regis-tration number TS08FP9999,was involved in an accidentthat caused the death of onepedestrian and injured anoth-er on Sunday evening atMadhapur here. The car isregistered in the name ofMega Engineering and Infracompany in 2018.

The car driver, identified asNaveen Kumar Goud,29, wasreportedly driving the vehi-cle in a rash and negligentmanner when it ran overtwo pedestrians, leading todeath of one Yesubabu andinjuring the other personShaik Jameel. The driver wasreportedly on his way to pickup the car owner and indus-trialist P P Reddy.

TRP scam: Mumbai copsquestion Republic TV CEOPNS n MUMBAI

The Mumbai Police on Sundayquestioned Republic TV'sCEO Vikas Khanchandani andothers in connection with thealleged fake Television RatingPoints (TRP) mega-scam, offi-cials said here.

Besides, three other channelofficials, Hansa ResearchGroup CEO Praveen Nijharaand a staffer are also beingquizzed by the police.

In a related development,the police probe has found thatone of the persons arrestedhad received a huge deposit ofover Rs 1 crore into his bankaccount from four or five per-

sons, who are being investigat-ed.

Republic TV CFO Shiva S.Sundaram, who was sum-moned on Saturday, hadsought another date for hisquestioning by the police.

The developments camethree days after the MumbaiPolice unearthed the huge

scam allegedly involvingRepublic TV, Fakt Marathiand Box Cinema, and arrest-ed at least four persons,besides summoning top offi-cials of these channels for theprobe.

The police have set up a spe-cial team for conducting aforensic audit into the finan-cials of the three channels.

However, the Republic TVhas repeatedly denied anywrong-doings and accusedthe Maharashtra governmentand Mumbai Police ofindulging in a witch-hunt,besides threatening to suePolice Commissioner ParamBir Singh.

Bussa Krishna

CH PRADEEP KUMAR n VIJAYAWADA

In a first, new lawyers tookoath virtually. The oath-takingceremony was organised bythe Bar Council of AndhraPradesh online here onSunday. The second batch of220 new lawyers, who hadcompleted the LLB/BL tookthe oath through webinar. BarCouncil of Andhra Pradeshchairman Ganta Rama Rao,secretary B Padmalatha andother members participated inthe oath-taking ceremony.

Among the four pillars ofdemocracy, judiciary is themost important and powerfulamong them that ensure thelaw and order do not curtailthe citizens' fundamentalrights. The common law sys-tem is managed by the judicia-ry system. On January 26,1950, the Indian Constitutionwas written, which is theworld's largest Constitution.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Bar Council of AndhraPradesh secretary Padmalatha

said that the enrolment of220 new lawyers was heldonline for the first time for thesecond batch by the BarCouncil members.

Online oath taking went onsmoothly after verification ofthe applications, which weresubmitted well in advance forthe enrolment, under the guid-ance of Bar Council of APchairman G Rama Rao andcommittee members Ch AjayKumar and K Chidambaram,she said.

ICMR to probe ‘misclassified’reinfection: Harsh VardhanPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health Minister HarshVardhan on Sunday stated thatthe resurgence of reinfection ofthe Sars-CoV-2, which causesCOVID-19, is a misclassifica-tion and Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) iscommissioning a study to findthe veracity behind such inci-dents.

"It is very important to dif-ferentiate between mislabeledreinfection from actual reinfec-tion," he stated while hostinghis weekly webinar, SundaySamvaad, where he interactswith his social media audience.

"Even though there are spo-radic reports of reinfectionsurfacing in various states,careful analysis of the ICMRdatabase reveals that many ofthese cases have actually beenmisclassified as reinfection,"

the minister said. The clinicaldiagnosis of Sars-CoV-2 ismainly on RT-PCR which alsodetects dead-virus sheds forprolonging and varying periodof time. The dead virus issometimes sequestered in var-ious organs and is intermittent-ly shed for several weeks oreven months after recovery.However, such a patient isconsidered as recovered andnon-infectious," he explained.

Vardhan also reasoned thatthe hyper-sensitive character-

istic of RT-PCR test is also areason in which people testpositive for the virus despitebeing recovered. "Due to theinherent characteristics of RT-PCR test to detect dead virus,intermittent periods of positiv-ity after a negative test reportmay be documented.Therefore, any lab confirmedcase, if tested over a durationof several weeks, may haveintermittent positive, negativeand again positive results," headded. "Actual reinfectionwould mean a fully recoveredperson getting infected by afreshly introduced virus inhis/her body, belonging to thesame or different strain,"Vardhan concluded.

Besides, he also informedthat ICMR is commissioning astudy to understand the trueburden of re-infected cases."Results will be shared in a cou-

ple of weeks", Vardhan added.It had earlier reported thatSars-CoV-2 could live in thebody of the infected person formore than three months afterhis/her recovery. However, theinfectivity reduces to a pointwhere the person becomesnon-infectious.

"Even if the patient hasrecovered, the residual virussustains in the body and couldshow PCR positivity (a termused for cases detected positivevia RT-PCR tests) for threemonths," Dr Mahesh Langa,Infectious disease expert atColumbia Asia hospital, Pune,had informed.

"The virus gets isolated inthe throat of the patient. Sowhen a swab from the throat istaken for the test in RT-PCR,the result comes positive. Butit doesn't mean that it's re-infection," he added.

Bihar: BJP tickets to just 2women in second phase PNS n PATNA

The BJP issued a list of 46names for the second phase forthe Bihar Assembly polls onSunday. The saffron party hasgiven tickets to just two femalecandidates from Bettiah andDanapur. Four-time MLARenu Devi got the ticket fromBettiah in north Bihar. She isalso a Cabinet minister inNitish Kumar government.Asha Sinha bagged the ticketfrom Danapur constituency

in Patna district. Besides, sonof former Chief MinisterJaggannath Mishra managed tobag a ticket from Jhanjharpurconstituency in Madhubanidistrict. He has been electedfrom this seat three times.

The list was issued by BJPnational President JP Naddawho was in Patna and paidtribute to Jay Prakash Narayanat his house in Kadam Kuanbefore announcing the list.

l Young lawyer CPKumar expressed hisdelight forparticipating in theoath-taking ceremony.He said that the BarCouncil of APchairman G Rama Raogave an excellentmessage that inspiresall the youngadvocates

New lawyers take oath online

Revised schedulefor EAMCET EnggcounsellingPNS n HYDERABAD

Certain changes have beenmade to the TS EAMCET seatallottment procedure.Announcing the same,JNTUH released the newschedule for counselling onSunday. As per the revisedschedule, students will be ableto fill their basic informationfor online counselling andselect the fee payment optionsuntil October 19 in view oftwo-day extension of the peri-od. The certificate verificationwill take place betweenOctober 12 and 20. The stu-dents will be alloted provision-al seats on October 24. Theywill have to pay the fees to thealloted institute by October 28.2

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Trains running on identified routes at a speed of 130 kmph or above onthe railway network will have only air-conditioned coaches in the near

future as part of the Railways' plans to upgrade the network, an officialsaid on Sunday. Stressing that the ticket prices of such trains will beaffordable , railway ministry spokesperson D J Narain clarified that itshould not be misconstrued that all non-AC coaches will be made intoAC coaches. Currently on most routes,speeds of mail/express trains have aceiling of 110 kmph or lower. Premiumtrains like Rajdhanis, Shatabdis andDurontos are allowed to operate at 120kmph on significant parts of the GoldenQuadrilateral and Diagonals.

AC SLEEPER COACHES TO BEREPLACED BY AC COACHES

LOWER FARE LIMITS APPLICABLETO PREMIUM ECONOMY SEATS

Adepression in the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify further and crossthe north Andhra Pradesh coast on Monday and heavy rains have

been forecast in isolated places over coastal parts of the state,Telangana and North interior Karnataka. The well marked low pressurearea over east central and adjoiningsouth east Bay of Bengalconcentrated into a depressionover west central Bay and lay centredabout 370 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, abulletin from the IMD said on Sunday. "It isvery likely to intensify further into a deepdepression during the next 24 hours. It isvery likely to move west-northwestwardsand cross north AP coast during 12thOctober 2020 night," IMD said.

Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty’s lawyer warned on Sunday thatTV channels and individuals who spread rumours and “defamed” the

28-year-old partner of Sushant Singh Rajput would have to face thetruth. “We will start going after people who defamed and tried todestroy her life and morale for two minutes of glory on electronic mediacarrying fake news,” lawyer Satish Maneshinde said. Hesingled out a so-called Sushant fan, and Rhea’sneighbour, whose alleged remarks on television areoutrageously unbelievable. Maneshinde said, “One suchperson is Dimple Thawani, who claims she is a SSRfan, and believes she is his soulmate due to a pastlife connection. She claims that someone told herthat SSR dropped Rhea home on June 13.”

Lower fare limits decided by the government for economy class seatsof domestic flights on May 21 would now also be applicable to

premium economy class seats, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has said.However, the upper fare limits set by the government for economy classseats would not be applicable on the premium economy class seats,according to a ministry order dated October 5 which was accessed byPTI. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had on May 21 placed upperand lower limits on domestic airfares through seven bands, classifiedon the basis of flight duration, till August24. Later, it was extended till November24. Among the Indian domestic carriers,only Vistara has premium economy classseats in its flights.

DEPRESSION OVER BAY OF BENGALTO INTENSIFY, CROSS AP COAST

WILL GO AFTER MEDIA, FANSSPREADING RUMOURS: RHEA LAWYER

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020

Monday Mirchi Madam is mum, but hasmaximum following

Want to know who among IAS officers in theTelugu States commands the highest following onTwitter? One may be surprised to learn that it isTelangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao'ssecretary Smita Sabharwal, who has 1,11,000followers and the number is growing by the day.The low-profile officer is mentioned rarely inmainstream news because she always keeps herselfglued to work and has maintained 'safe' distance(right from the pre-pandemic days) from the media.In striking contrast, she is hyperactive on socialmedia platforms, mainly Twitter. She promptlyresponds to tweets, answers queries, and many atime tries to address properly the core issues raisedto the best of her ability. Since she is known to beamong the Chief Minister's trusted lieutenants andhas an unblemished track record, people do notmind taking her opinion as the last word. And shehas the gift of the gab as well as the skills to penher thoughts cogently. With her pro-active attitude,she has won many followers on Twitter. No wondershe tops the list of IAS officers with huge following.Thanks to Smita, as a side dish for consumers ofnews and views on Twitter, one gets to relish,visually and vicariously at least, mouth-wateringrecipes and culinary expertise that some womenIAS officers share on Twitter. Of course, it was thelockdown and the Covid pandemic-relatedrestrictions that gave all officials with a streak ofultra-modern mode of communication plenty ofspare time to preen their persona on socialnetworks. All told, none can beat Smita as of now.

‘Socially inactive' babuIn this digital era, one's work in administration

gets 'recognition' from peers by the manner inwhich the ultimate boss treats it. Others within theorganisation get to know about a man's work andpower by the manner in which he makes noise,throws tantrums, and flings files at inefficient orsimply helpless subordinates. That's 'leadership' bydecibels. Social media has changed the rules of thegame. With work itself moving to homes; it is allabout social media presence now -- be itindividuals, corporates, governments, charities orwhatever. It has become almost inevitable foreveryone to remain active on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram etc (kids know the full list). Forgovernments and bureaucrats, it has becomeessential to share information concerning peopleinitially as a curtain raiser on the social media. Whatif traditional media channels pick signals from thereand do follow-up stories? Aren't people using theirmobiles to post comments about overflowingdrains, open nalas, piling garbage bins and cuttingof newly laid road, this and that? Still, TelanganaChief Secretary Somesh Kumar does not seem tohave recognised the importance of social media.Seedha saadha Somesh, known for his no-nonsense approach to work, does not have apresence on Twitter, Facebook or any other social

media platform. His old-guard persona has notbelittled his work. Yet, it has become difficult forsenior babus in Chief Minister's Office and a fewministers like KTR, who are active on social media,to simply tag him on important social media posts.They need to follow it up in antediluvian ways inwhich the CS is comfortable.

When checks and balancesgo for a toss

It looks like a full-blown war has broken outbetween the judiciary and the executive in AndhraPradesh. In the last one month, Amaravati has seena lot of hectic activity, with legal luminaries' kinrushing to powers that be. They include son of aretired Supreme Court judge and son-in-law of asenior judge of the apex court. An official who isnow holding a senior position in the Industries andInvestment Department is said to have played keyrole in roping in the SC judge's son-in-law forservices which powers that be badly need now. Heis making sharp moves and, more importantly,maintaining utmost confidentiality. Another babuhas been entrusted with the task of finding out whois connected to whom in the judicial totem pole. Yetanother babu is working on businesses of kin oftargeted persons with a hope to detect somethingbig. Senior officers, after watching all this, aretrying to move out of key positions to foreclosechances of confrontation with the judiciary. Whilesome are planning to go for positions other thanthose in the key government departments (templeadministration or other such wings are fine), othersare looking wistfully at New Delhi.

Young blood and fighting spirit A government that is always in a fighting mood --be it to undermine the achievements of the previousdispensation or bring to public glare indiscretions injudicial circles -- naturally needs young blood.Youngsters, psyched to question the status quo,and that too with a guarantee of elevations on theircareer path, will remain loyal and alert, while itchingto fight. This explains why the AP government isplanning to strengthen the CMO by inducting someyoung officers. After Praveen Prakash took over theresponsibility of principal secretary in CMO,rumours are rife that he would inject young bloodinto the most important wing of the government.The names of Nagulapalli Srikanth, who is now inthe Energy Department, Kona Sashidhar,Commissioner of Civil Supplies, and MT KrishnaBabu, head of Transport Department, have almostbeen finalized. They are awaiting consent of theChief Minister to walk into the CMO. Though the CMwanted to have 'social justice' even in CMO, itseems shortage of efficient officers had forced thepowers that be to limit their finds to a few. A seniorIPS officer is also making his moves to get intoCMO. His name is being recommended by oneadvisor of the government.

—Yours truly

HC UPADHYAY nHYDERABAD

Following the gaffe committedby the Mumbai police, whichotherwise enjoys a high repu-tation as an efficient andupright police force in thecountry, in registering an FIRagainst the Republic TV, ofwhich senior journalist ArnabGoswami is a promoter, themedia world has been agog andawe-struck with several basicquestions, including the free-dom of expression guaranteedunder Article 19(1) of theConstitution of India and itsLine of Control called theLakshman Rekha in popularparlance.

The FIR in question namesthe Republic TV as an accused,while facts of the complaint, asrevealed by the Republic TV,claiming to have been quotedfrom the said FIR are totallyunrelated to the 'accused'Republic TV. On the otherhand, true or false notwith-standing, they relate to theIndia Today TV. The MumbaiPolice Commissioner, appar-ently unaware of this faux pas,

in a hurriedly-called mediaconference, came down heav-ily on the Republic TV. The topcop of Mumbai went to theextent of alleging that theRepublic TV had pur-chased and manipulatedhigher ratings from theBARC, a rating organi-sation. TheC om m i s s i on e radded that ArnabGoswami's sourcesof wealth alsowould be investi-gated. Enraged atthe allegations, theflamboyant journal-ist devoted a lot oftime on his channel to take theMumbai police and itsCommissioner Param BirSingh to task for attributing toRepublic TV criminal activitiespurported to have been com-mitted by another channel.

In fact, there is more thanwhat meets the eye in themessing up of the contents ofthe said FIR. It is simply not acase of 'printer's devil' or 'typo-graphical error' or 'slip of pen',as a result of which the

Republic TV has been namedas an accused, while the con-tents are totally pointing anaccusing finger towards theIndia Today TV. Going by the

ongoing vociferous cam-paign carried out by theRepublic TV against alleged-

ly politically motivatedMumbai police inrecent times, thebattle flags have

been unfurled. The acrimonious situ-

ation between the mediaand the police hasoccurred at a time whenthe Supreme Court hassounded a word of caution

about the freedom of expres-sion exercised by the print andelectronic media. Of course, theapex court has supported thefreedom guaranteed under theConstitution to a large extent.Following this, the Jammu andKashmir High Court toorecently dismissed a complaintfiled against a senior journal-ist of the Times of Indiaupholding the freedom ofexpression of the media. At thesame time, a self-regulatory

body of the media called theNews Broadcasting StandardsAuthority (NBSA) has finedheavily some popular televisionchannels for crossing theLakshman Rekha. Equally it istrue that bureaucracy withoutany exception too tends tobow before its political mastersquite often. It is not too longago that the apex court wasconstrained to describe theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) as 'a caged parrot',though subsequently the CBIalso got appreciation for goodwork from the same apex courtwhich wiped out the earlierblot. Perhaps, the Mumbaipolice are following in thefootsteps of the CBI before it

got a clean chit from the apexcourt. A mention of similarbehaviour by the TelanganaPolice supports this narrative.At the time of hearing of a caseof assault in a special court fortrial of cases against MPs andMLAs, in which the MP fromHyderabad Asaduddin Owaisiis an accused, the police fileda supplementary charge-sheetdeleting the MP's name fromthe list of accused. However,the law took its course andrefused to delete Owaisi's namefrom the charge-sheet.

Apart from the burningquestion of the freedom ofexpression, there is anotherangle to the whole issue. As hasbeen seen in the recent times,

the anti-nationals, jihadis, ter-rorists and other divisive forces,with the latent and patent sup-port of disgruntled political ele-ments, have been at their bestto ensure that media war breaksout and a chaotic situation ofdisinformation is created sothat not only the credibility ofthe lawfully elected govern-ment of the day comes undercloud, but also a big questionmark on the unity, integrity andsovereignty of the country isput so that in the comity ofnations, India loses its face.

SC's observation on Section164 of Cr PC

In an important observationon the right of an accused tocopies of any of the relevantdocuments, including state-ment under Sec. 164 of theCriminal Procedure Code, theSupreme Court observed that,as of right, an accused cannotclaim them before the court hastaken cognisance of it.

"The right to receive copiesof the relevant documents,including the statement record-ed under Sec. 164 of Cr.P.C, will

arise only after the cognizanceis taken and at the stage con-templated by Sec. 207 and 208of the Code and not before",said a three-judge bench head-ed by Justice Uday UmeshLalit. The above observation ofthe apex court came inCriminal Appeal No. 659/2020in the case of Ms.'A' v. State ofUttar Pradesh where a formerMinister is an accused in a rapecase.

Balance fund released towardsrelief for lawyers

The Telangana governmenthas released the balance ofRs.10 crore funds for the wel-fare of poor and needy advo-cates. Earlier, the governmenthad released Rs.15 crore whichwas disbursed through theHigh Court among 15,000advocates and their clerks at therate of Rs.10,000/- andRs.5,000/- each respectively.

Similarly, a batch of petitionsis pending adjudication by theSupreme Court in which thelegal fraternity has sought therelief of Rs.20 lakh interest-freeloan to each of the needy

lawyers in the present COVID-19 pandemic.

The government renderingfinancial assistance either byway of dole or loan to the legalfraternity is understandable,but the moot question here is:If the COVID-19 pandemic isthe ground for such financiallargesse, then it has engulfed allpeople, including the unem-ployed, under-employed andself-employed. Then, why leaveout engineers, architects, bar-bers, plumbers, washermenand cobblers etc; from suchconcessions or freebees?

Lawyer on dock for abuse of law

In a rare show of stubborn-ness, the Telangana High Courtdirected an advocate to appearbefore it and explain why hehad filed two separate cases inthe land-grabbing matter withthe similar pleas.

The first bench, comprisingChief Justice RaghavendraSingh Chauhan and B.VijaysenReddy, made it clear that thecourt will not tolerate anyattempts to abuse its process.

LEGAL

ROUNDUP

In an important observation on theright of an accused to copies of any ofthe relevant documents, includingstatement under Sec. 164 of theCriminal Procedure Code, the SCobserved that, as of right, an accusedcannot claim them before the courthas taken cognisance of it.

Faux pas by Mumbai cops: Arnab wants to know…

PNS n HYDERABAD

With the global geo-politi-cal situation remaining high-ly explosive due to the aggra-vation of tensions betweenhostile countries, expectedlyprecious metals surged aheadduring the week endedSaturday. Consequently, NewYork gold advanced furtherand finally closed at US $1,930.60 (per ounce) whilesilver closed at $ 25.72 (perounce). Platinum and palladi-um too appreciated and closedat $ 885 (per ounce) and $2,351 (per ounce) respective-ly. Other economic parame-ters remained divergent. Brentclosed at US$ 42.85 (per bar-rel), while Crude MCX oil wasquoted at Rs.2,960 (per barrel).While Gold MCX stood atRs.50,817 (per 10 gms), MCXSilver appreciated and closedat Rs.62,884 (per kg), CopperMCX closed at Rs.528.10 (per

kg). Sensex and Nifty 50 closedat 40,509.49 and 11,914.20points respectively.

Leading foreign currencies'exchange rates were: US$: Rs.72.96, BritishPound: Rs.95.20,Euro: Rs.86.32,Singapore $:Rs.53.78, SwissFranc: Rs.80.22,Australian $:Rs.52.83, SaudiR i y a l :Rs .19 .45 ,N e wZealand Dollar: Rs.48.61,Kuwaiti Dinar: Rs.238.42,Omani Rial: Rs.189.59 andUAE Dirham: Rs.19.86,Japanese Yen: Rs.0.69, HongKong Dollar: Rs.9.41.

In local markets, standardgold (24 carats) appreciated by

Rs.340 and closed at Rs.53,240(per 10 gms). Ornamentalgold too followed suit and wasquoted in the range of

Rs.48,710 - 48,810 on theclosing day. Silver (0.999)

also appreciated andclosed at Rs.62,900 (per

kg). With the relax-ation of lockdownconditions, the

upcoming festiveseason is likely to

brighten upthe faces oftraders.

COMMODITIESThe sentiment in principal

wholesale commodity mar-kets in twin cities turned mod-erate towards the week-enddue to parting rain showers ofthe current monsoon season.Rythu Bazars and the various

commodity markets located inBegum Bazar, Kishangunj,Mukthyargunj, RisalaAbdullah, Mir Alam Mandi,Dilsukhnagar, Kukatpally,Bowenpally and General Bazarrecorded moderate trading.

During the week, commonpulses such as tuar dal, masoordal, moong dal and urad daland commodities like chilliesand garlic remainedunchanged at their respectivelast week's closing levels, whilestaple food-grains and com-mon edible oil recorded anegligible decline. Despite dis-ruption due to the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, accord-ing to official sources, thetotal procurement of paddyacross all States increased by48 per cent from 17.7 LMT lastyear to 26.3 LMT this year as

on October 8. Further, withthe reports of IPFT developinga bio-pesticide formulationfor insect control in seed spicecrops as safe alternative tochemical pesticides, the farm-ing of those crops in future willbecome cost effective and cul-minate into reaping the har-vest of highly nutritious crops.

Common vegetables such ascabbage, cauliflower, ribbedgourd, snake gourd, lady's fin-ger, cucumber, potatoes,onions, tomatoes, Frenchbeans and leafy vegetablescontinued to rule at higher lev-els. The NECC wholesale priceof egg in Hyderabad declinedby Rs.11 and closed at Rs.515(per 100). The highest price ofRs.580 was recorded at Pune,while Hospet recorded thelowest of Rs.495.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

PNS n AMARAVATI

Senior TDP leader and formerminister DevineniUmamaheshwara Raodemanded that the govern-ment explain why people inAmaravati are being compelledto demonstrate in the streetsfor almost 300 days, due to thetrifurcation of the capital city.Rao said Amaravati agitation isa rare phenomenon all over thecountry where protesters aredemonstrating against all odds.

"It was laudable that thefarmers, workers and womenwere vowing to continue theiragitation till Amaravati wasdeclared as the one and onlycapital for Andhra Pradesh," hesaid. The TDP leader allegedthat attacks on all four estatesof the democracy are going onsince the time YSRCP came topower.

"The ruling party leaderswere making unhesitatingcomments and issuing threatsto the executive, judiciary, leg-islature and the press as well,"

he alleged. According to Rao,the common man in thesouthern state lost the basicsense of security and confi-

dence about the rights con-ferred to him by theConstitution.

Meanwhile, he alleged that

many land scams are occur-ring in Visakhapatnam, whichhas been declared as a capital."Land scams and settlementsgangs became the order of theday. The general public wasunable to defend and protecttheir properties in the portcity," he lamented.

He claimed that private set-tlement gangs descended onVisakhapatnam ever sinceYSRCP came to power. NakkaAnanda Babu, former minis-ter, said that Amaravati abutsDalit assembly constituencies."It was obvious that Jagan wasnot liking to retain the capitalcity in the Dalit and weakersections dominated area inthe city," he alleged. Babu saidReddy betrayed Amaravatipeople by making them believethat the capital would be con-tinued in Amavarati itselfwhen he built a home forhimself. "Now, Jagan started avicious game of three cards bymisusing his power to forceful-ly and unconstitutionally shiftthe capital," he alleged.

PNS n TIRUMALA

TTD Executive Officer KSJawahar Reddy, along withadditional executive officerAV Dharma Reddy and CVSOGopinath Jatti, inspected theongoing arrangements forNavaratri Brahmotsavams inTirumala on Sunday. As partof the inspection, he visited theVahana Mandapam fromwhere the procession ofVahana Sevas commences andalso galleries in four madastreets.

He has also seen the mark-ings of social distancing in gal-leries, entry and exit point ingalleries and made some sug-gestions over the arrange-ments in the galleries. CE

Ramesh Reddy, AdditionalCVSO Siva Kumar Reddy,temple deputy executive offi-cer Harindranath, additionalsuperintendent of policeMuniramaiah, EEJaganmohan Reddy, healthofficer Dr RR Reddy, VGOsManohar, Prabhakar, DSPPrabhakar and other officerswere also present.

"The ruling party leaderswere making unhesitating

comments and issuing threatsto the executive, judiciary,

legislature and the press aswell," TDP leader and former

minister DevineniUmamaheshwara Rao alleged

According to Rao,the common man inthe State lost the basicsense of security andconfidence about therights conferred tohim by theConstitution

TTD EO inspectsgalleries at Tirumala

Transgender movesHC seeking 4% ...Continued from Page 1

"However, all of these edu-cational qualifications are nothelpful to me when it comesto employment, as despiteNALSA judgment, which wasdelivered on 15.04.2014,directing for the introductionof reservations for transgen-ders, the State governmenthas not come forward with anyreservations for transgenderslike me", she has submitted.

As far as the nurse recruit-ment was concerned, the peti-tioner informs, "Results showthat reservation policy hasbeen followed for SC, ST andOBCs but no reservation was

applied in respect of transgen-ders and the Apex Court judg-ment in NALSA, has not beenconsidered and acknowledgedat all. I was unfairly and ille-gally deprived from selectionfor the post of staff nurse ona contract basis to earn mylivelihood."

She mentioned that Stategovernment reservations fortransgenders (4%) are alreadybeing implemented in TamilNadu after the Madras HighCourt directed for the State toconsider either post-based,or percentage-based reserva-tions for transgenders inSwapna Vs the ChiefSecretary.

Man murdered

over witch-craft ...Continued from Page 1

Later, they took the body toan isolated place in the villageand burnt the body to destroythe evidence. The police onSunday morning visited thecrime scene and came to aconclusion that around 15people murderedNayakamma and burnt thebody.

Police registered a caseagainst the accused and saidthat the accused managed toflee from the village and theyare raiding their hideouts.Police said some villagers inthe tribal pockets alongAndhra-Odisha Border stillbelieve in black magic. Thepolice said that they will naball the accused, who wereinvolved in the murder.

Police dept staffermurdered Continued from Page 1

He said that they were seat-ed in their car in front of adhaba and suddenly two peo-ple came there and had a heat-ed argument over a trivialissue. All of a sudden, one ofthe accused shot at Mahesh,which resulted in his death. Hesaid that the accused shot sixrounds and they narrowlyescaped. He said that Hari andhe pleaded with the culprits toleave them and the duodemanded to give their car,hence, they handed over thevehicle. They escaped fromthe spot in the car and left the

vehicle at Mustabad crossroads. The police led by PoliceCommissioner B Srinivasuluvisited the spot and inspectedthe surroundings where theincident took place. The policeare suspecting illegal relation-ship, or real estate disputes asthe cause of the murder.

Meanwhile, Mahesh's moth-er Vimala said that some high-ly influential people are behindthe killing of his son. She saidthat Mahesh got the job oncompassionate ground due tothe death of her husband. Shesaid Mahesh was not doing anyreal estate business and recent-ly his marriage was fixed.

Bihar: BJPtickets to just2 women in...Continued from Page 1

Besides list of candidates,BJP has also issued the list of30 star campaigners includingPrime Minister NarendraModi, Home Minister AmitShah, Rajnath Singh, Nadda,Manoj Tiwari, YogiAdityanath and others. Thename of Gorakhpur MP andactor Ravi Kishan was miss-ing in the list. He is one of themost successful Bhojpuriactors and is popular in Bihar.

Nikhil Anand, the chiefspokesperson of BJP Biharunit was also given a ticketfrom Maner constituency.Maner is his hometown locat-ed next to Danapur in Patnadistrict. Anand had a longcareer in journalism before hejoined the saffron party.

Rohit Mishra, the districtpresident of Bhagalpur hasalso bagged the ticket to con-test the election.

The Bihar election is to beheld in three phases, startingfrom October 28. The resultswill be announced onNovember 10.

New lawyerstake oathonlineContinued from Page 1

She further stated that dueto Covid pandemic, they con-ducted the oath-taking cere-mony to enable the advocatesto appear for the All India BarExamination, which is sched-uled to be held on November8, while the last date for appli-cation is October 17, said sec-retary Padmalatha. Younglawyer CP Kumar expressedhis delight for participating inthe oath-taking ceremony.

He said that the Bar Councilof AP chairman G Rama Raogave an excellent message thatinspires all the young advo-cates.

Precious metals surge ahead

Jagan started a game ofthree capitals, says TDP

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020

‘Conviction rate in POCSO cases low’CH PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

The conviction rate in POCSOcases in the country is onlyaround 16 to 17 per cent,according to a survey carriedout by an NGO. The low con-viction rate is mainly due tofaults in filing cases, or witness-es turning hostile due to localcompromises. With the fear ofsocial stigma, parents of a girl,who is sexually abused, are notcoming forward to fight in acourt of law for justice.

October 11 is beingobserved as International Dayof the Girl Child to recognisegirls' rights and the uniquechallenges girls face around theworld. Empowerment of girlchildren, health, education andsafety of the girl children arethe most important issues to beaddressed.

"Even after 73 years of inde-pendence, we still see harass-ment and abuse of girl children

as there are no strong Acts topunish the culprits. Thoughthere are strong Acts likePOCSO, we only lack the com-mitment to implement in truespirit."

BVS Kumar, formerChairman, Child WelfareCommittee, Krishna district,says that despite the POCSOAct providing compensationand rehabilitation to the vic-

tims, which is not reachingthem. The State governmentprovides immediate financialsupport to the victims from theWomen Development andChild Welfare department,which is not reaching the vic-tims. It is understood thatnearly 200 applications arepending with the departmentfor immediate financial sup-port. If these compensations,

rehabilitation funds reach thevictims, the local compromis-es can be reduced and the inci-dents of witnesses turning hos-tile in the court will also

reduce, thus the convictionrate will increase," he added.

Speaking to The pioneer, KSridevi, secretary of All IndiaDemocratic Women'sAssociation (AIDWA) Krishnadistrict says that women are onpar with men in all fields andopportunities should be givento them in all fields. To controlthe ongoing attacks on the girlchild and women of all ages,the State and the Central gov-ernments should take all mea-sures to bring behaviouralchange among the male fromthe youth to elderly.

She said that "beti bachaobeti padhao" by the Centralgovernment is not properlyimplemented and condemnedthe comments of a UnionMinister recently after theHathras incident that girlsshould be taught good man-ners and how to behave in soci-ety. She said that society shouldlearn how to treat women andbehave with them.

October 11 isbeing observedas InternationalDay of the GirlChild torecognise girls'rights and theuniquechallenges girlsface around theworld. Empow-erment of girlchildren, health,education andsafety of the girl

Bosta dubs Naidu’s Amaravati

protest call a damp squibPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Reiterating that Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy has aclear vision in developing allregions of the State equally,Minister for MunicipalAdministration BotsaSatyanarayana said peoplefrom 13 districts are welcom-ing the three-capital initiativewhile TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu's protestcall against it has turned out tobe a damp squib.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Sunday, the min-ister slammed Naidu for theprotests in the name ofAmaravati and the lack ofresponse shows that it is a flopshow. Naidu has usedAmaravati for Insider Gradingand is now using the sameAmaravati for protests with hispaid artistes to safeguard thewealth amassed by him and hiscoterie.

Fearing investigation, fol-lowed by arrests, TDP leaderswent to court to get the stay,which proves their involve-

ment in the Amaravati landscam. Decentralisation ofCapital has begun from the daythe Bill was passed in theAssembly, he said. The SITinvestigation into the Visakh-apatnam land scam would becompleted soon, he said andadded that the State govern-ment is ready to face any kindof inquiry.In the YSRCP gov-ernment, there is no scope forcorruption, it is all clean andtransparent governance, headded. On Mansas Trust, hesaid that it is a private issue ofthat family and the govern-ment has nothing to do with it.

He flayed Ashok GajapathiRaju over his false propagan-da against the government.

He stated that the govern-ment is constructing medicalcollege and super-specialtyhospitals in the region to pro-vide medical services to theinterior tribals but the TDPleader, who served as an Avia-tion Minister, had failed inestablishing BhogapuramAirp-ort by rejecting the ten-der of Airports Authority ofIndia. The government is foc-used on Visakhapatnam MetroProject and DPR is being pre-pared, he said.

n Fearing investigation,followed by arrests, TDPleaders went to court toget the stay, whichproves theirinvolvement in theAmaravati land scam,alleged Minister forMunicipalAdministration BotsaSatyanarayana

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Amaravati ParirakshanaSamithi Mahila JAC leadersvowed to fight for the protectionof Amaravati as a solo capitaland asserted to continue the agi-tation till cancellation of threecapitals decision by the YSRCPgovernment.

The pro Amaravati activists,including women, stagedAmaravati Walk on the BRTSRoad here on Sunday to mark299 days of Amaravati agitation.

Meanwhile, TDP MLC NaraLokesh will visit Amaravatiprotest camps on MondayOctober 12 to mark the 300 daysof Amaravati agitation. Hewould visit Penumaka,Yerrabalem, Krishnayapalem,Thullur, Dondapadu andAnanthavaram and will expresssolidarity with the protestingfarmers.

APSM JAC leaders SunkaraPadmasree, Gadde Anuradhaand others objecting to the

restrictions of police toAmaravati protests warned thatthey would call for Jail Bharoprotests if the government con-tinues to suppress the agitation.

Padmasree claimed that solocapital will help the developmentof the State. She said that major-ity structures were nearing com-pletion in Amaravati but ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddyunder vindictive politics stalled

Amaravati project to shift thecapital to Visakhapatnam. Sheobjected to the police restrictionsto protests and said that they willnot fear the police suppressionand are ready to go to jails underthe Jail Bharo programme.

CPM executive committeemember Ch Babu Rao allegedthat BJP has colluded with theYSRCP government towardstrifurcation of Amaravati and the

government was trying to createdifferences among people ofthree regions in the name ofthree capitals.

CAPITAL CONUNDRUM

Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Mahila JAC leaders taking out a rally in Vijayaw-ada on Sunday demanding the government to retain Amaravati as a solo capital

Lokesh will visitAmaravatiprotest campson Monday tomark the 300days ofAmaravatiagitation. Hewould visitPenumaka,Yerrabalem,Krishnayapalemand otherplaces toexpresssolidarity

Amaravati JAC leaders vow to fight against govtCricket bettingorganisers heldPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Krishna district Task Forcepolice arrested 18 persons fororganising online IPL cricketbetting here on Sunday. Thepolice recovered Rs 6.5 lakhfrom them and seized electron-ic gadgets used for online bet-ting.

Speaking to the media per-sons here on Sunday, SPRavindranath Babu warned ofstern action against thoseindulging in betting and cheat-ing innocent people.

He said that since the com-mencement of IPL 2020 theyhave been closely monitoring toput an end to betting activities.On a tip off, ASP Vakul Jindalalerted the Nuzvid police thatonline betting was being organ-ised in the town.

In turn, Nuzvid DSP BSrinivasulu and CIRamachandra Rao formed ateam and started surprise checksin Nuzvid town. They caught MVenkat Rao red-handed fororganising online betting of IPLmatches.

Venkat Rao revealed that heand others were sub-agents and

the key person was MVenkateswarulu from Prakasamdistrict and was organising bet-ting through Sunsex-365 link.

The police identified that thebetting was organised throughan application developed byone Rohan, the whole show wasbeing run by the admin of theapp M Venkateswarulu, whoissues username and passwordto the sub-agents to access theapp. The sub- agents trap theinnocent people and force themto play online betting.

In this connection, policearrested 18 persons from vari-ous places and recovered Rs 6.5lakh. The police also seized 17mobile phones a television andother electronic equipment usedfor online betting. The police areon the search to nab the key per-sons Rohit and Shiva.

The police produced all the 18accused in the online bettingbefore the media. A case undersection 310/2020/3/4 gamingAct 1974 was registered againstthe accused. The SP made itclear that no one will be spared,who indulges in such activities,and stern action will be taken asper law, he added.

Two die, fourinjured in mishapPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Two youngsters died on thespot and four others sufferedinjuries when a lorry wentout of control due to brakefailure and hit the vehicles atHanumanthuwaka TrafficJunction here on Sunday.The deceased were identifiedas P Ramu (29) ofVizianagaram district andRamakrishna Raju (28), anative West Godavari dis-trict.

The police said that theaccident took place around11 am on Sunday when thedriver of the plastic sheetsladen lorry, which was head-ing towards Vizag city fromKolkata of West Bengal, lostcontrol over the vehicle dueto brake failure when one ofthe tyres got burst. The lorryhit two bikes, two cars andone auto-rickshaw frombehind.

Two persons, who were onmotorcycles, died on thespot with severe injuries,four more in an auto-rick-shaw, including the driversuffered injuries. The acci-dent led to traffic jam forover 40 minutes on thebusiest junction of the NH-16 stretch in Vizag city.

Covid recoveries cross7 lakh mark in StatePNS n AMARAVATI

Covid-19 recoveries in theState reached 7,03,208 onSunday, health officials said.The State's recoveries havebeen consistently outnumber-ing infections for the pastseveral weeks already. Amongthe 13 districts, East Godavariwitnessed the highest numberof recoveries at 97,630.

On Sunday, the State regis-tered 5,210 more cases, raisingthe tally to 7.55 lakh. WestGodavari accounted for thehighest number of infections,786, followed by Chittoor(713), East Godavari (701),Krishna (462), Guntur (431),Kadapa (418) and Prakasam(362) among others.

With the new additions,Chittoor's tally crossed the70,000 mark while WestGodavari's reached 75,000.Meanwhile, 30 more patientssuccumbed to the virus, rais-ing the State-wide toll to 6,224.Chittoor accounts for thehighest number of deaths,705, followed by East Godavari(568), Guntur (560) andAnantapur (524) among oth-ers.

Of the 7.55 lakh cases, activecases currently stand at 46,295,even as the State has complet-ed 65.6 lakh Covid tests. OnSunday, AP tested 75,517 sam-ples for Covid even as theState's positivity rate current-ly stands at 11.56 per cent.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A trap was laid by DSP ACBKurnool district based on acomplaint lodged by JangamJyothi Sreenu against B Prahlad,Municipal Commissioner,Guduru in Kurnool district.The Commissioner was caughtred-handed while accepting thebribe of Rs 10,000 from JangamJyothi Sreenu to return four irontables and one gas cylinder,which were seized by the munic-ipal authorities.

When the complainantapproached the MunicipalCommissioner of Gudurumunicipality with a request tohandover the above articles tostart the hotel at a new place, theCommissioner demanded thebribe of Rs 10,000.

The ACB officials caught theAO red-handed while acceptingthe bribe amount of Rs 10,000near the church in Harijanavada

on Kurnool-Yemmiganur Roadin Guduru. The chemical testyielded positive results. The

bribe amount was recoveredfrom the A0 and the relevantrecords were seized.

Municipal Commissioner in ACB net

Waltair RlyDivision sellsscrap worthRs 7.43 cr PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Materials Managementdepartment of WaltairDivision initiated new waysto enhance the earningsthrough sale of unservice-able mater ials (scrap)released from various activ-ities of the railways duringthe harsh t imes ofCoronavirus pandemic.

The Division has soldscrap in auction worth Rs7.43 crore in a single day,which is the best everrecord in East CoastRailway to achieve this feat.Under the dynamic leader-ship and able guidance ofChetan Kumar Shrivastava,Divis ional R ai lwayManager, and KBTirupataiah, SeniorDivis ional Mater ia lsManager of WaltairDivision, the Division did alot of exercise to achievethis accomplishment.

The Mater ialsManagement departmentidentified all the scrap lyingalong the track lines andworkshops during the lock-down period. Within 15days after segregating thescrap, the auction was car-ried out.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The city police carried sur-prise raids on the pan andprovision stores at Appughar,KRM Colony, Arilova,Pendurthi, Kancharapalem,Urvasi Junction, and a fewother areas in Vizag city andseized the prohibited tobaccoproducts worth over Rs 3.4lakh.

DCP (Crime) V SureshBabu said that based on theconcrete information aboutthe storage and illegal sale ofthe Gutkha and Khaini(banned tobacco products),five police teams carried outsurprise raids on the shopsand stores in the city andseized over 17,000 packets ofthe banned tobacco products.Police also nabbed some per-sons for storing the bannedtobacco products.

Police are suspecting thatsome people have beenprocuring the banned tobac-co products from neighboringsouthern Odisha and are sell-ing the Gutkha and Khainipackets in parts of Vizag cityat high prices.

A senior police officer saidthat Gutkha is being pushed

into the Vizag region fromvarious parts of Odisha andTamil Nadu.

Though it looks like a smalltrade, it has involved crores ofbusiness in the region. Duringthe Covid-19 lockdown, theGutkha business increasedthe prices by over 90 percent, he added.

The DCP said that they willcontinue the raids to check theillegal trade in Vizag city andofficials of the Food SafetyDepartment will register casesagainst the culprits.

Police seize bannedtobacco products

During the Covid-19lockdown, Gutkhaprices increased byover 90 per cent, theDCP added

Heavy rains till Oct 13: CollectorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The meteorological depart-ment has warned of heavy tovery heavy rains in the State tillOctober 13 due to low pressurein the Bay of Bengal. KrishnaDistrict Collector A MDImtiaz directed the officials toalert the people of the low lyingvillages in all mandals of thedistrict to be vigilant in thisregard.

All the district officials ofvarious departments areinformed to be vigilant duringthe days to come. In view ofthe MeteorologicalDepartment warnings, theCollector issued directions tothe authorities and the revenue

department officials throughtele-conference on Sunday.Control Rooms have been setup in all divisional offices.People in the flood-hit areaswere asked to cooperate withthe revenue officials.

The Collector advised thepeople living in houses withmud walls might get damageddue to heavy rains, and told theauthorities to move to safer

areas. Fishermen were orderednot to venture into the sea forfishing. Vijayawada, Nuzvidsub-collectors, Machilipatnamand Gudivada RDOs havebeen directed to alert the tah-sildars of their respective areas.

The Collector released thephone numbers of ControlRooms in the district-- BandarCollectorate- 08672-252572;Collector Camp Office inVijayawada- 0866 – 2474805;Sub-Collector OfficeVijayawada- 0866-2574454;Sub-Collector Office Nuzvid08656- 232717; RevenueDivisional Office Bandar-08672-252486; and RevenueDivisional Office Gudiwada-08674 – 24369.

Unidentifiedpersons stab25-year-old man to deathPNS n HYDERABAD

A 25-year-old man wasstabbed to death by uniden-tified assailants in the cellarof an apartment in Ameerpeton Sunday morning.

The victim was identifiedas K Chandrashekhar Raju,25.According to the police,the victim along with hisparents was arrested by theJagadgirigutta Police in con-nection with the dowry deathof his wife U Sri Laxmi Gouria month ago.The court granted conditionalbail due to which they are stay-ing at Flat no 20 of PadmasriApartment, DharamkaramRoad, Ameerpet. "On Sunday morning,Chandrashekar Raju wasattacked in the apartment cel-lar by four unidentifiedassailants when he went out toa shop.

Palliative care centres to help live well till endNAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Telangana government hasbeen taking concrete measuresto provide palliative care ser-vices for the terminally ill andtheir families. Even duringpandemic, nearly 20,000patients are using palliativeservices in the state.

World Hospice and PalliativeCare Day was celebrated onSaturday with the theme 'MyCare, My Comfort'. It empha-sises the need for palliative careto be integrated into the main-stream of healthcare systems ofevery country to relieve thepain and suffering of patientsand their families.

Over the past 5 years, near-ly 8 palliative care centres arerunning in the state. The TRSgovernment has decentralised

these centres to districtsAdilabad, Khammam,Janagaon, Mahabubnagar,Chotuppal, Gajwel, Chevella,Yadadri Palliative care cen-ters.

Prior to this palliative carewas largely confined to NGOs.Considering the impact oflong-term diseases, Telanganagovernment decided to add

two more centres inHyderabad. Health MinisterEatala Rajender said, "Thepatients who cannot be curedlike those who suffered spinalcord injury, paralysis, chroniccancers, they can't be kept athome. Entire family will beaffected financially and emo-tionally due to long term suf-fering of their family member.

We are setting up palliative carecentres to treat those who areconfined to bed due to acci-dents and chronic diseasessuch as cancer. Already 8 cen-tres are running and havedecided to open two morecentres in Hyderabad. Thesecan reduce the burden of med-ical expenses on poor people".

Cabinet Sub-Committee

decided that the governmentshould support charities thatrun without expecting profitsand serve more through them.Eatala Rajender said, "St. Ann'shospital in Warangal, Sparshain Hyderabad are doing greatservice. Our department willrecognise and link with themand provide support to them.If needed we will supportunder CSR or directly toencourage them."

Apart from physical centres,there are nearly 40 mobile pal-liative care units decentralisedin all 33 districts under thetheme 'Aalana'. Even duringthe Covid, to enhance thequality of life at the end of lifestage to the patients sufferingfrom chronic ailments, HealthDepartment launched 17Aalana vehicles to offerPalliative Care Services.

Apart fromphysicalcentres, thereare nearly 40mobile palliativecare unitsdecentralised inall 33 districts

When the complainant approached theMunicipal Commissioner of Gudurumunicipality with a request tohandover the above articles to startthe hotel at a new place, theCommissioner demanded bribe

After Andhra PradeshChief MinisterJaganmohan Reddy's

missive to the Chief Justice ofIndia targeting a seniorSupreme Court judge, there isutter confusion all round.The public is trying to figureout what is it all about. Sincethe SC judge in question is thesecond senior most andwould be in line to be theChief Justice of India, thereare speculations about thereasons why the ChiefMinister of Andhra Pradeshdeemed it necessary to notjust write such a letter but alsomake it public.

To go to the very beginning,in 1930s and 1940s, when theCongress party was beingbuilt, what is now residualAndhra Pradesh was con-trolled by the Reddys. Beinga landed community, upon

education that came very eas-ily, they wanted politicalempowerment too and joinedthe Congress. They controlledthe Congress party and usedtheir clout to dominate thosebelonging to other castes inthe feudal Andhra Pradesh.After being in power for over40 years, the Reddy reignwas challenged successfully bythe Telugu Desam party(TDP). This party, founded byimmensely popular cine starN T Rama Rao (NTR), was aveiled outfit of the Kammas,who, after the GreenRevolution had become eco-nomically powerful. Theywanted their place under thesun and the TDP was theirchallenge to the Congress.So, it effectively became aReddy-Kamma politicalslugfest, although NTR him-self was thrown out of his seat

by his ambitious son- in-lawChandrababu Naidu in 1995.

The same Reddy-Kammaslugfest continues, with othercommunities joining the con-flict. The Kapus, anothermajor community, alsothought about their own polit-ical empowerment and in2009 formed their own party.This was the Praja Rajyam, ledby Kapu film star Chiranjeevi.But the party could not be

successful as then ChiefMinister Y S RajasekharReddy, through deft movesdampened the prospects ofPraja Rajyam. But Dalits andother minorities in AndhraPradesh remained with theCongress. The OBCs probablyplumped for the TeluguDesam Party.

After Rajasekhar Reddydied, his son Y S Jagan Reddybroke away from the Congress

and formed the YSRCongress. While the Congressparty was reduced to a rump,the major support base of theparty voted for the YSRCongress. With this support,Jagan Reddy's party swept

the 2019 Assembly electionswinning a record 151 of the175 seats in the Assembly. Bycomparison, the TDP couldwin only 23 Assembly seats.

As Chief Minister, Jagan'discovered' that the Naiduregime before him had mademerry. Naidu had ruled thestate between 2014 and 2019,after bifurcation of AndhraPradesh. He had located thecapital of the new state inAmaravati, noticeably aKamma stronghold area. Thisbecame an eyesore for Jagan,who has made light ofAmaravati and cancelledmany land allotments in thenew city.

Naidu, who had quit theNDA a year ago, was nurtur-ing ambitions of becoming thePrime Minister as the head ofan anti-BJP front. Naidu hadbeen a close aide of former

Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee when Modi was noteven Chief Minister ofGujarat. After the 2002Gujarat riots, Naidu had evencalled for Modi's ouster. Modihad become Prime Minister ofIndia, while Naidu remaineda chief minister. In this situ-ation, when some aides sug-gested that he make a beelinefor the Prime Ministershipwith support from theCongress, he was perked up.He left the NDA and snappedTDP's alliance with BJP backin 1998. This move, however,annoyed Modi deeply. For,BJP was a non- starter inAndhra Pradesh and theNDA depended on TDP toshore up its numbers in theLok Sabha. Now, with Jaganavailable, BJP has decided totake his support. But Jagan isasking for his pound of flesh.

Naidu is a power player parexcellence. When he wasChief Minister of undividedAP, he had appointed thenyoung N V Ramana as judgeof the AP High Court. In duecourse, Ramana was promot-ed - first as Chief Justice ofDelhi High Court and then asa judge of the Supreme Court.Now, he is due to become theChief Justice of India. JusticeRamana happens to belong tothe same caste as Naidu.Jagan therefore perceives thattheir interests are similar.This explains the apprehen-sions of Jagan that foundexpression in his missive. Hedoes not perceive thatRamana will not make the topgrade, but probably thinksthat he will be extremely care-ful as CJI. What will happennow? We will have to wait andsee.

After Rajasekhar Reddy died, hisson Y S Jagan Reddy broke awayfrom the Congress and formed theYSR Congress. While the Congressparty was reduced to a rump, themajor support base of the partyvoted for the YSR Congress

Judiciary in crosshairs of power play and caste equations

KINGSHUK NAG

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020 telangana 04

PNS n HYDERABAD

Siddipet MLA and FinanceMinister T Harish Rao onSunday said that the party'sstrength is increasing day byday in Dubbak with the join-ing of leaders from oppositionparties. "Leaders from otherpolitical parties are joining theruling TRS because the peo-ple of Dubbak are in favour ofthe TRS party. The leadersjoining TRS are stating thatthey will work along withpeople," Harish Rao said.

Several local leaders andcadre from other politicalparties from Dubbak con-stituency joined the TRS onSunday in presence ofFinance Minister Harish Rao.Speaking on the occasion,the Finance Minister saidthat several senior leaderslike Komatireddy VenkataNarsimha Reddy, ManoharRao, Bangaraiah have joinedthe party because they belive

in people's welfare. "Theysaid that they will do justiceto the people by joining TRS.Exodus from other politicalparties is an indication for thevictory of TRS candidate witha huge majority in Dubbakbye-elections," he said.

Later, the Finance Ministerhas called upon the NRI wing

of TRS to help the party can-didate, Solipeta Sujatha, winthe Dubbak by-election witha huge majority. Speaking ata virtual meeting with mem-bers of NRI-TRS, theMinister recalled the role ofNRIs during the secondphase of the Statehood move-ment.

Stating that NRIs had putthe Telangana issue on theglobal platform by organisingvarious programmes, HarishRao said that he had also par-t icipated in a few pro-grammes in the US and UK inthe past. Giving details aboutthe work taken up by the Stategovernment in DubbakAssembly constituency in thepast six years, the Ministersaid the government provid-

ed drinking water to theonce-parched Dubbak con-stituency under MissionBhagiratha scheme whenSolipeta Ramlinga Reddy wasMLA. Stating that Dubbakwas once known for farmers'suicides, Harish said the gov-ernment had made farmingprofitable by solving theirproblems permanently bybui lding check dams."Farmers will be able to cul-tivate three crops a year oncethe Kaleshwaram Lif tIrrigation Scheme is com-pleted," he said. NRI-TRS,founder, Anil Kurmachalam,NRI, TRS coordinatorMahesh Bigala, NRI-TRS UKPresident, Ashok Dusari,General Secretary, RathnakarKadudula, Naveen Reddy,Sikka Chandrashekar, NRI-TRS, New Zealand, founderPresident, Vijabhaskar ReddyKosna and several others from30 countries attended the vir-tual meeting.

TRS campaign gathers steam

Leaders from various political parties joining TRS in presence of Finance MinisterT Harish rao in Dubbak on Sunday

Harish Raocalled upon theNRI wing of TRSto help the partycandidate,SolipetaSujatha, win theby-election withhuge majority

PNS n HYDERABAD

The number of Covid-19recoveries again outnumberednew positive cases detected inTelangana during the last 24hours, officials said on Sunday.With 1,717 new cases, thecumulative tally rose to2,12,063. For a fourth consec-utive day the daily count wasbelow 2,000 mark. Five morepeople succumbed to theCovid-19, taking the cumula-tive death toll to 1,222.

The fatality rate stands at0.57 per cent against thenational average of 1.5 percent. Officials said the percent-age of deaths due to Covid-19was 44.96 while the remaining55.04 had co-morbidities. Last24 hours ending 8 p.m.Saturday saw more recoveriesthan the new cases. With 2,103more people recovering fromthe virus during the period, thetotal recoveries jumped to1,85,128. The state's recoveryrate climbed to 87.29 per centwhile the national average is85.9 per cent.

The state now has 25,713active cases, including 21,209who are in home/institutionalisolation. Both the state capitaland districts continued to show

declining trends in new cases.Greater Hyderabad reported276 cases. Rangareddy districtrecorded second highest num-ber of cases at 132 followed byMedchal Malkajgiri (131),Karimnagar (104), Nalgonda(101), Bhadradri Kothagudem(87), Siddipet (85), Khammam(82) and Sangareddy (59).During the last 24 hours,46,657 tests were conducted.With this the cumulative num-bers have gone up to 35,47,051.Seventeen government-runlaboratories, 44 private labora-tories and 1,076 Rapid Antigentest centres are conductingthe tests. According to a mediabulletin from the office of the

director of public health andfamily welfare, out of 46,657samples tested during the last24 hours, 43,442 were tested ingovernment-run laboratoriesand 3,215 in private. Of thetotal samples 29,529 were pri-mary and 5,598 were sec-ondary. Samples tested permillion population ratio rosefurther to 95,299.

The daily testing target forthe state is 5,600 per day as perthe WHO benchmark of 140per million per day. Out of2,12,063 total positive cases sofar, 70 per cent (1,48,444)were asymptomatic while theremaining 63,619 were symp-tomatic.

Covid recoveries outnumbernew cases in Telangana

Former MP K Kavitha offers prayers at Nampally Dargah. She visited the Dargah to seek blessings ahead of NizamabadLocal bodies MLC by- poll result. She offered Chaadar and performed special prayers at the Dargah

DIVINE TTIME

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Congress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddyon Sunday launched a scathingattack on TRS working presi-dent and MunicipalAdministration Minister KTRama Rao over corruption.While participating in a meet-ing organised by the TelanganaKisan Congress and PharmaCity Vyathireka PorataCommittee at Medipalli Villagein Yacharam mandal inRangareddy district, theCongress MP alleged that'Pharma City means a Scam'.

CLP leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka, former MLA MKondanda Reddy, Ch Vamshichand Reddy, MalredduRangareddy, Telangana KisanCongress president AnveshReddy, CPM district secre-tary Ramchander and othersalso participated. "KTR is say-ing that the government is giv-ing Rs 35 lakh per acre, how-ever, it is giving mere Rs 16lakh per acre to the farmerslosing their lands for PharmaCity. The Congress will stormto power in the upcomingelections. Soon after assuming

power, the Congress will abol-ish Pharma City GOs andabolish LRS and do free regu-larization," he said.

"The TRS government isplaying with the lives of thepeople by taking their lands.The TRS government alsodestroyed Nalgonda districtin the same manner. TRS lead-ers from Sarpanch to MLA areconcentrating on illegal earn-ings," he alleged. Stating that heis working for the welfare ofthe people, Komatireddywarned TRS leaders that hewill not keep quiet if theyindulge in such activities. "KTRdid not develop villages, how-ever, he has been constructing

burial grounds in the name ofPharma Cities. The TRS gov-ernment has brought LRS toloot Rs 3 lakh crore," he point-ed out. Bhatti Vikramarkaalleged that the TRS govern-ment is meting out injustice tothe farmers by taking theirlands and handing them overto private parties. He warnedthat the Congress party willnot keep quiet if the TRSgovernment plays with thelives of the people by settingup 20 Pharma Companies atone place. Vamshichand Reddyalleged that the real estate bro-kers, TRS leaders and cadre arein favour of Pharma City.

Pharma City a big scam,alleges Komatireddy

PNS n HYDERABAD

Maoists in Telangana's Mulugudistrict killed a worker of rul-ing TRS late on Saturday night,police said on Sunday.Members of the bannedCommunist Party of India-Maoist stabbed to deathMaduri Bheemeshwar (48) infront of his wife inBokkapuram village inVenkatapuram mandal of thedistrict borderingChhattisgarh.

According to police, at leastsix armed Maoists carried outthe attack around midnight.Bheemeshwar's wife told policethat the attackers barged intotheir house after talking to himthrough the window. The vic-tim knew one of the attackersand addressed him by hisname Lakshman. He askedthem to come the next morn-ing for money. She said two ofthe attackers pointed guns athim while one stood near herwith a stick, warning her not

to move. "I pleaded with themto spare my husband but theyshowed no mercy. They beathim with sticks and thenstabbed him," she said. Afterthe killing, the Maoists leftbehind a letter. They allegedthat Bheemeshwar, a pesticidetrader, was eliminated forexploiting the people by usingthe power of the ruling party.They also alleged that he wasusing police to target thosequestioning him.

The Maoists demanded thatthe TRS and the BJP leaders inVajedua area should immedi-ately quit their posts. They alsodemanded the Centre and thestate government to stop anti-

Maoist operations immediate-ly. The slain worker's body wasshifted to government hospi-tal at Venkatapuram for autop-sy. Following the incident,police launched combing oper-ations for the Maoists in theareas.

District Superintendent ofPolice Sangram Singh Patilsaid Maoists had demandedmoney from Bheemeshwar forparty funds and since he didnot meet their demands, theykilled him. The SP said Maoistswere killing ordinary peoplefor not giving them money oron the suspicion of beingpolice informers.

Mulugu is among the dis-tricts where the police steppedup the vigil in recent monthsto foil the attempts of Maoiststo regroup themselves. AsMaoists are trying to regroupthemselves in Telangana,police have heightened thevigil in the districts borderingChhattisgarh andMaharashtra.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar alleged that ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raois opposing Centre's farm actsonly to keep Telangana farmersin his grip. "It is shameful onthe part of KCR for opposingthe farm laws as the Centrebrought those acts for thebenefit of the farmers. KCRshould apologies to the farm-ers for opposing the Centre'smove," he said.

Speaking at an awarenessprogramme on the Centre'sfarm laws at Nangunuru vil-lage in Karimnagar rural man-dal, Bandi alleged that theChief Minister is misleadingthe people on farm laws. "Asper the new farm laws, the

farmers will get a chance to selltheir produce in the existingmarket yards or wherever theyget good price to their produce.KCR is indulging in low levelpolitics by spreading false infor-mation like the market yards will

be removed with the new acts.KCR is opposing farm acts withill motives that the farmersshould be in his grip," he alleged.Opposing Centre's farm acts isnothing but anti-farmer policy,he pointed out.

TRS worker stabbed todeath by Maoists

KCR misleading ryots on farmlaws, alleges Bandi Sanjay

PNS n HYDERABAD

TRS leaders on Sunday tookpotshots at BJP led Centralgovernment over farm laws.Speaking to the media, TRSMLA Kranthi Kiran andMLC Farooq Hussain allegedthat the Centre's move willpush farmers into deep trou-ble. hey said thatRaghunandan Rao has noright to ask votes in Dubbakby-elections as BJP-ledCentral government clearlystated that it will install elec-tric meters to agri-wells.They alleged that the BJP istrying to deceive the farmersin the name of funds to thestates. Terming the Telanganagovernment as pro-farmers,Kranthi and Farooq said thatthey have several proofs toprove that BJP is an anti-farmer government.

They questioned the Centreto reveal as to whom will takethe responsibility in case theelectricity department cutsthe power at the time of cropcutting. They questioned theBJP-led Central governmentto reveal who will protectthem if it introduced a slot sys-tem for power utility.

PNS n HYDERABAD

All those attending thetwo-day sess ion ofTelangana State Legislatureon Tuesday andWednesday will have toundergo Covid-19 diag-nostic test if they wereexperiencing any symp-toms of the virus. The testswill be carried out free ofcost at the Assembly andCouncil premises from 2pm on Monday. AssemblySpeaker Pocharam SrinivasReddy and C ounci lChairman GuthaSukhender Reddy directedAssembly S ecretar y VNarasimha charyulu totake all necessary steps forsmooth conduct of the ses-sion. It was advised that allthe MLAs, MLCs, staff ofboth the Houses, policepersonnel and media rep-resentatives undergo thetests to rule out Covidinfection before they attendthe session on Tuesday.

Central govtis anti-farmer,says TRS Covid test

must forMLAs, MLCs

Cong banks onlegal challengesto LRS

NizamabadMLC by-pollscounting todayPNS n HYDERABAD

All the arrangements for thecounting of NizamabadLocal Bodies’ constituencyby-elections to be held onMonday have been made atthe counting centre atNizamabad PolytechnicCollege, said the ElectionReturning Officer and thedistrict Collector NarayanaReddy. Starting at 8 am, thecounting will be held in tworounds and the results will beannounced within two hours,he said. In total, six tables havebeen arranged for the count-ing process with each tablehaving four polling staff. Thepolling for the MLC was heldon 9th October and out of the824 votes, 821 votes werepolled.

KTR said thatthe govt is givingRs 35 lakh peracre, however, itis giving mereRs 16 lakh peracre to farmerswho lost theirlands for PharmaCity, he said

PNS n HYDERABAD

In a bid to put an end tounauthorised layouts, theState government last monthissued notification for imple-mentation of Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) for onelast time in all urban andrural areas. However, themove evoked negativeresponse on social mediaplatforms. Thousands ofnetizens are tweeting againstthe state government's movein the name of '#TelanganaRejectsLRS'. AlreadyCongress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddy iswaging legal fight against LRSin the High Court. He urgedthe people not to pay LRS. Heexuded confidence that theywould win the case in theHigh Court. Komatireddy istaking the movement againstLRS further through socialmedia while waging legal fighton the other side.

nation 05VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020

An HIV-positive murderaccused allegedlyended his life by

hanging himself inside hiscell at Surat's Lajporecentral jail, where he hadbeen lodged as anundertrial since the lastthree years, police said onSunday. The jail staffersfound the body of the 38-year-old deceased late onSaturday night, an official said. "He had been in this jail since October2017 in a murder case. He ended his life by hanging himself fromthe ceiling of his cell last night," inspector Nitesh Desai of Sachinpolice station in the city said. "The jail officials found his hangingbody around 10.30 pm and informed the police. He was HIV positive.We are trying to ascertain the motive behind his extreme step," hesaid. He had allegedly murdered a man, for which a case had beenregistered against him at Chok Bazar police station in Surat, Desaisaid. "The undertrial had tested positive for HIV during his jail stay,"he added. One of his relatives said that he was depressed as hisfamily members were not taking any steps to bail him out despite hisrepeated requests. Police said his family was told about his deathearly on Sunday.

A16-year-old boy hasbeen det ained fromAmb arnath in

Maharas htra's Thanedistrict for allegedlystabbing his friend to deathfollowing an argument,police said on Sunday.The incident occurred onFriday night and the boywas detained on Saturday,they said.The victim was identified as Aman Shaikh (18), seniorinspector Manjit Bagga said. "Following a heated argument withShaikh over some issue, the accused stabbed him with a knife andfled from the scene. Their other friends rushed the victim to a nearbyhospital, where he was declared brought dead," he said. Theaccused was detaind hours later and a case was registered againsthim under IPC section 302 (murder) at Ambernath police station. Alocal court sent him to a remand home, the official said.

Maha: 16-year-old boydetained for killing friend

All the five formerCongress MLAs whojoined the BJP earlier

this year after resigni ng aslegislators have beenfielded by the saffron partyin Gujarat for bypolls intheir respective Assemblyseats. By-elections will beheld on November 3 ineight seats - Abdasa, Limdi, Morbi, Dhari, Gadhada (SC), Karjan,Dangs (ST) and Kaprada (ST) - of Gujarat as eight Congress MLAshad resigned before the Rajya Sabha elections in June. The BJP onSunday announced its candidates in seven out of these eightAssembly seats in the state. Pradyumnsinh Jadeja, Brijesh Merja, J VKakadiya, Akshay Patel, and Jitu Chaudhary -- the five who hadjoined the BJP in June this year after resigning from the Congress --have been fielded from their respective Assembly seats ofAbdasa, Morbi, Dhari, Karjan, and Kaprada.

BJP fields five ex-Cong MLAsin Gujarat bypolls

Kolkata Metro services onthe North-South line weredisru pted for 45 minutes

on Sunday after a womanattempted suicide by jumpingin front of a moving train atBelgachia station, a Metroofficial said. Metro serviceswere disrupted from 11.35 amto 12.20 pm, she said. This was the first suicide attempt in KolkataMetro since the resumption of services following suspension due tothe COVID-19 outbreak, the official said. The woman was admittedto a nearby hospital, she added.

Kolkata Metro servicesdisrupted for 45 minutes

INDIA CORNER

Guj: HIV positive murder accusedfound hanging inside jail

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday hit out at the oppo-sition, saying those whose pol-itics was powered by brokersand middlemen are spreading"lies" about his government'sreform measures and assertedthat the country will not waverfrom this path.

Farmers are not going withthose who have opposed "his-toric" reforms enacted by hisgovernment, he said. Speakingat a programme to launch thephysical distribution of proper-ty cards under the 'SVAMITVA'(ownership) scheme via videoconferencing, Modi said hisgovernment has done more forvillages and its residents in thelast six years than what was donein the six decades before that. Inthis context, he referred to anumber of projects, includingopening of bank accounts,building of toilets and houses,

cooking gas scheme and electri-fication. Rural India was left tofend for itself by those who ruledthe country earlier, Modi said ina swipe at the Congress.

Many people don't want vil-lages, poor, farmers and labour-er to be 'aatmanirbhar', theprime minister said and added

that his government's measuresto empower them, including bydirectly transferring to farmersand others, has hit them hard bycutting off their source of illegit-imate earning.

Without naming the opposi-tion, he said it is upset not forfarmers but for themselves as it

was for long strengthened by thepower of middlemen, brokersand commission agents.

People of the country havebegun destroying its web ofdeception, Modi said. TheCongress has been opposing thefarm laws enacted by the gov-ernment last month.

Parliament had passed TheFarmers Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Bill, 2020, TheFarmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement of PriceAssurance and Farm ServicesBill, 2020 and The EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Bill 2020 during the Monsoon

Session. The prime ministersaid his government is under-taking development withoutany discrimination and withfull transparency, and everyoneis getting the benefit ofschemes.

Keeping people in villagesdeprived has been the basis ofsome people's politics. Theywanted problems of villagesand people to continue so thattheir purpose was served, hesaid "Those who looted thecountry are being recognised bypeople. That is why they areindulging in opposition, bad-mouthing (government) andusing foul language,” PM said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday launchedthe physical distribution ofproperty cards under the'SVAMITVA' (ownership)scheme via video conferenc-ing, and asserted that it is a"historic move" that will trans-form rural India.

This will pave the way forvillagers to use property as afinancial asset for taking loansand other financial benefits,and end disputes among vil-lagers over land ownership, hesaid.

On the occasion, Modi alsointeracted with several bene-ficiaries of the Survey ofVillages and Mapping withImprovised Technology inVillage Areas (SVAMITVA)scheme and said it is big stepfor the country towardsbecoming 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant).

"Experts across the worldhave stressed that propertyownership rights play a bigrole in a country's develop-ment," he said to highlight the

significance of the measureand noted that only one-thirdpopulation globally has legalrecord of the properties theyown.

The youth living in villagesnow can avail of bank loansagainst their properties tostart out on their own, he said,asserting it is necessary for adeveloping country like Indiato have clear land ownershiprights. Property rights willgive the youth self-confidencethat can lead to their self-reliance, he said.

The beneficiaries are from763 villages across six states,including 346 from UttarPradesh, 221 from Haryana,100 from Maharashtra, 44from Madhya Pradesh, 50from Uttarakhand and twofrom Karnataka. Modi said

his government will try to giveevery household similar prop-erty cards over the next three-four years.

The Prime Minister's Office(PMO) has said the launchwill enable around one lakhproperty holders to down-load their property cardsthrough an SMS link sent ontheir mobile phones, and thiswould be followed by thephysical distribution of prop-erty cards by respective stategovernments.

The prime minister spokeagainst the backdrop of thepictures of socialist iconJayaprakash Narayan and RSSstalwart Nanaji Deshmukh,both of whom have their birthanniversary on Sunday, andrecalled their ideals of villageempowerment.

Noting that Deshmukh hadobserved that when villagersremain trapped in disputes,neither will they be able todevelop themselves nor thesociety, Modi said he believedthe ownership will become agreat medium to end manydisputes in villages.

He said an unprecedentedlevel of development has takenplace in villages over the lastsix years, which never hap-pened in the preceding sixdecades.

People have got benefitslike having bank account,electricity connection, accessto toilets, getting gas connec-tion, having a pucca house anda piped drinking water con-nection. He added that amajor campaign to connectevery village in the countrywith the optical fiber connec-tion is also going on at a fastpace.

The 'SVAMITVA' schemewill make village manage-ment easier for gram panchay-ats in a systematic way likemunicipalities and municipalcorporations, he said.

‘Property ownership rights need of the hour’

PNS n PATNA

Patna University historianshave joined a growing chorusfor preserving the Collectoratecomplex here, saying the cen-turies-old landmark is the"city's pride" and an "iconic liv-ing heritage" that should besaved and passed on to thecoming generations.

They also cautioned thatthe demolition of the PatnaCollectorate will be a "colossalloss" and "create a gap" in thecontinuity of long and layeredhistory of the city.

The current and formerheads of the history depart-ment, other scholars, the pre-sent vice chancellor of the103-year-old university andhis immediate predecessor,

have all appealed to the Bihargovernment to not demolishthis "city icon".

Surendra Kumar, the head ofHistory Department at theprestigious university, said,"Collectorate is our living her-

itage, our living history, andshould definitely be preserved.No two ways about it". "In fact,the buildings of Collectorateare living proof that Patna wasa thriving riverine port cityeven in the 17th century and a

preferred destination for theDutch, Danish and others,even before the British arrivedon Patna soil. And, Patna beingon the banks of Ganga stoodout as a riverine trade hub," hesaid. These buildings, thus,form part of the "glorious era"of the city when Patna wasalready an economically thriv-ing city where multi-nationalcompanies like the Dutch EastIndia Company invested andopened factories to trade insugar, cotton, silk, saltpetre,

opium, among other products,Kumar said. "So much beingspoken about the opium tradelink to the buildings now, withthe government adding a ratherpejorative connotation to it.The opium trade rather ampli-fies the historic value of thebuildings. Opium wars werefought and Patna opium wasexported to China and otherregions. It is part of history, onecan't negate it sitting conve-niently in the 21st century,” headded.

Chorus to protect Patna Collectorate grows

PNS n GAYA/PATNA

BJP chief JP Nadda said onSunday that the Nitish Kumargovernment took care of thepeople of Bihar amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, assert-ing that it is important thatthe leadership of the state issecured with him.

Addressing an electionrally at the historic GandhiMaidan in Gaya, Nadda list-ed the development worksdone by the NDA govern-ment at the Centre in the lastsix years in the state. "NitishKumar took care of the peo-ple during the COVID-19pandemic. Financial assis-tance was also provided byhis government to those out-side the state," he said.

Nadda: Secureleadership ofBihar with Nitish

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union minister JitendraSingh on Sunday said theVande Bharat train fromDelhi to Katra, home to MataVaishno Devi shrine, willresume its service fromOctober 15.

The move comes after hisrecent discussion withRailway Minister PiyushGoyal regarding resumptionof the train to Katra inJammu and Kashmir aheadof Navratri festival.

“As follow-up to discussionwith Railway Minister Sh@PiyushGoyal two days back,Ministry of Rly hasannounced resumption of#VandeBharatExpress trainfrom New Delhi to#KatraVaishnoDevi from15th October. A huge relief &exciting information for pil-grims on the eve of#Navratri,” Singh tweeted.Singh, the Minister of Statefor Personnel, is Lok Sabhamember from Jammu andKashmir's Udhampur con-stituency.

Delhi-KatraVande Bharatfrom Oct 15

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader RahulGandhi on Sunday attackedthe Yogi Adityanath dispensa-tion over the death of a Dalitwoman from Uttar Pradesh'sHathras after being allegedlygang-raped, saying the chiefminister and his police say noone was raped because forthem and many other Indians,she was "no one".

In a tweet, Gandhi said theshameful truth is manyIndians do not considerDalits, Muslims and tribals tobe human.

"The CM & his police sayno one was raped because forthem, and many otherIndians, she was NO ONE,"the former Congress chieftweeted.

He also tagged a mediareport which asked why policewas denying rape when thewoman repeatedly reportedrape. A 19-year-old Dalit

woman from Hathras wasallegedly raped and attackedby four upper-caste men. Shelater succumbed to injuries ata Delhi hospital.

The Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment is fighting severecriticism for its handling ofthe case, particularly after thelocal police burnt thewoman's body at night with-out the family's approval.However, officials said thecremation was done "as perthe wishes of the family".

The state government hassaid that some people weretrying to foment caste ten-sions in the aftermath of theincident. Quoting an FSL(forensic science laboratory)report, it has denied the rapecharge.

The Centre hasissued a notification for theCBI to take over probe intothe alleged gang-rape anddeath of the 19-year-oldwoman, officials said onSaturday.

‘Shameful truth, saysRahul on Hathras

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government must allowplaces of worship of all com-munities to open amid thecoronavirus- induced lock-down, especially mosques sothat Friday prayers can be held,an MNS minorities wing func-tionary said on Sunday.Maharashtra Navnir man Senasecretary Altaf Khan said theMVA government was open-ing bars and restaurants andother such establishments aspart of its "unlock" process, butwas ignoring places of worshipsince the functioning of theformer brought revenue tostate coffers.

Open placesof worship inMaha: MNS

PNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has taken over inves-tigation into the alleged gan-grape of a Dalit woman inHathras, Uttar Pradesh onSeptember 14, officials said.

The agency registered anFIR on Sunday morningunder Indian Penal Code(IPC) sections related to gan-grape and murder, they said.

The case was earlier regis-tered at Chandpa PoliceStation, in Hathras district ofUttar Pradesh, on a com-plaint by the victim's broth-er.

"The complainant had

alleged that on 14.09.2020, theaccused tried to strangulatehis sister in the millet field.The case has been registeredby CBI on the request ofUttar Pradesh Governmentand further Notification fromGovernment of India," CBISpokesperson RK Gaur said.

The agency has constituteda team to probe the case, hesaid.

The 19-year-old womandied of severe assault injuriesat Delhi's Safdarjung Hospitalon September 29. She wasallegedly gangraped onSeptember 14 by four uppercaste men.

PNS n GONDA

A temple priest was injuredafter he was shot at by somemiscreants early Sunday morn-ing over a land dispute in a vil-lage here, police said.

The priest of Ram JankiTemple, spread over 30 acres,and some villagers had a dis-pute over the land in TirreManorama village,Superintendent of Police (SP)Shailesh Kumar Pandey said.

Some miscreants fired shots

at Atul Baba alias Samrat Das,which hit his left shoulder.

Das was taken to the districthospital and then referred toKing George MedicalUniversity in Lucknow, wherehis condition is stable. A case ofattempt to murder has beenregistered against four peopleon the complaint lodged byMahant Sitaram Das and twopersons have been detained forinterrogation, Pandey said. Headded that teams have beenconstituted to nab the accused.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Sundayformed various panels for theupcoming Bihar assemblypolls with party general secre-tary Randeep Surjewalanamed chairman of the elec-tion management and coordi-nation committee.

Mohan Prakash was madethe convenor of the 14-mem-ber election management andcoordination committee. Thepanel includes senior leaderslike Meira Kumar, Tariq

Anwar, Shatrughan Sinha,Kirti Azad, Shakeel Ahmedand Sanjay Nirupam.Congress president SoniaGandhi also approved the set-

ting up of the publicity com-mittee, media coordinationcommittee, public meetingand logistics committee, legalcommittee and office manage-ment committee for the Biharelections, a party statementsaid.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera has been namedthe chairman of the mediacoordination committee forthe polls, while Prem ChandMishra will be the convenorand Rajesh Rathor co-con-venor of the panel.

CBI takes over probeinto Hathras case

Priest in UP shot atover land dispute

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health Minister HarshVardhan on Sunday said thegovernment has not yet takena view on granting emergencyauthorisation to COVID-19vaccines in India, as and whenthey become available.

The minister also said thatthe indigenously developed

Feluda paper strip test forSARS-CoV-2 diagnosis couldbe rolled out in the next fewweeks. Presently COVID-19vaccines are in various stages ofphases 1, 2 and 3 of humanclinical trials, the results ofwhich are awaited, Vardhansaid during an interaction withhis social media followers onthe fifth episode 'Sunday

Samvaad' platform. "Adequatesafety and efficacy data isrequired for emergency useauthorisation, vaccine approvalfor ensuring patient safety.Further course of action willdepend on the data generated,"he underlined. The ministerhad earlier said that a COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be avail-able by the first quarter of

2021. Categorically rejectingspeculation that the govern-ment is prioritizing young andworking-class for the COVID-19 vaccine for economic reasons,Vardhan said, “The prioritisa-tion of groups for COVID-19vaccine shall be based on twokey considerations -- occupa-tional hazard and risk of expo-sure to infection.

Roll-out of Feluda test soon: GovtPNS n DHANBAD

Senior JMM leader ShankarRawani and his wife werefound murdered at their resi-dence in Jharkhand's Dhanbaddistrict early on Sunday, policesaid. Prima facie it seems thatRawani (50) and Balika Deviwere shot and then stabbed to

death at their home in Bhowraarea, Dhanbad city

Superintendent of Police RamKumar said. An empty car-tridge of 9mm pistol and aknife were recovered from theroom, he said.

According to the SP, neigh-bours found out about themurder and informed the

police, following which he,along with

Sindri DSP SK Sinha andother officers, reached the spotand found the two bodieslying in a pool of blood.

Sniffer dogs have beendeployed at the scene of crime,and a hunt has been launchedto nab the killer, Kumar said.

JMM leader, wife found murdered

Congress forms committeesfor Bihar elections

Without naming the opposition, Modi saidit is upset not for farmers but forthemselves as it was for longstrengthened by the power of middlemen,brokers and commission agents

The ‘SVAMITVA' scheme will makevillage management easier for grampanchayats in a systematic way likemunicipalities and municipalcorporations, said PM Modi

Brokers, middlemen spreading‘lies’ on agri reforms, says Modi

They also cautioned that the demolitionof the Patna Collectorate will be a"colossal loss" and "create a gap" inthe continuity of long and layeredhistory of the city

Politics is the engine ofsociety. The best of car-riages, bogeys andsaloons would come tonaught if the engine was

not maintained well. India hashad satisfactory governments andpoor ministries but still littlethought has been given to the qual-ity of men and women who shouldgovern the country. Neither votersnor parties and their leaders or evenour political scientists have givenmuch thought to this subject. If thelatter have thought about it, they donot seem to have written or prop-agated any ideas about it.

Indian elections have experi-enced positive polling, negative vot-ing, voters choosing with their feetand polarised mandates, caste,class or community-wise. Peoplehave been heard saying that theyvoted to feel safe as a country afterIndira Gandhi’s assassination in1984. Never have I heard anyonesaying that he/she voted to try andensure good governance. Althoughafter the 2019 polling, I did hearsome Kolkata voters say that theyvoted for Narendra Modi for he wasthe fittest ruler among the choicebefore us at the Centre, althoughthey did not agree with his party’sideology.

That a successful democracyneeds an effective Opposition isuniversally agreed. To add, a cred-ible Opposition should also have aninner-party democracy. Out of the68 years of India’s democratic func-tioning, most of the time we haveeither not had an adequateOpposition or the main Oppositionparty lacking internal democracythat would have injected freshenergy and perspectives. Lately, wehave the doubtful benefit of hered-itary parties or family-led organi-sations. The flip side to this prob-lem is that most politicians in recentdecades belong to mainly three cat-egories — a family tradition, theunemployables and the freaks.Most others and their parents pre-fer secure careers or pursuits. Evenwell-to-do, financially secure fam-ilies do not encourage their off-spring to risk years in politics. Yetit is the same India which sent outtheir best youth, grown-ups andold, women and men to agitate forfreedom. Was this patriotism spon-taneous to the people or was itinspired by the leadership ofMahatma Gandhi? Before 1920,there was no tradition of such massparticipation in the country’s polit-

ical destiny, although India, cer-tainly large swathes of it, wasunder the heels of invaderssince the 12th century. And soonafter 1947, the patriotic enthu-siasm began to dry up.

Independence from theBritish did not mean that free-dom was guaranteed or evensecured forever. We experienceda shock in 1962 in Ladakh andArunachal Pradesh (then North-East Frontier Agency, NEFA) atthe hands of China to the extentthat the Prime Ministerappeared to weep on All IndiaRadio when he said, “my heartgoes out to the people of Assam”.Radio China was broadcastingin November 1962 that thebrave soldiers of People’sLiberation Army (PLA) werelooking forward to spendingChristmas at Calcutta. And theState Bank had unlocked its trea-sury at its branch in Tezpur andcurrency notes were beingblown by the breeze on thestreets.

Retaining freedom is moreimportant than winning it.Therefore, the best talent in thecountry should try going intopolitics. Everyone would notsucceed. As planned, I roundedup my commercial career andcame to Delhi nearly 40 yearsago en route Gujarat. In thoseyears caste mattered so muchthat even the most generouspolitical party could not allot anyseat (Lok Sabha). I, therefore,held back in Delhi and workedhere quietly for 16 years andthen got to the Rajya Sabha fora part term as a result of a byelec-

tion. I did my best and that wasmy satisfaction out of the serviceI performed. For example, I wasable to build 49 Sulabh shaucha-layas in Baroda city and in all 88bus stops in the district with theMembers of Parliament LocalArea Development Scheme(MPLADS) funds I was allotted.

In India, members of theelite and intelligentsia oftenconsole themselves that politicsis a dirty game and good peopleshould avoid it. This is not true.In my years, I found politics wascleaner than my earlier 25 yearsin business. Let me quote oneexample, most of the non-per-forming assets (NPAs) with thebanks are purely business fail-ures. There are much fewerscams in politics.

If I did not go farther in pol-itics, it was because of my pecu-liarities. I was an ethnic Gujarati,brought up in Bengal and hadspent 25 years in business withno experience in politics. Wemust remember that while busi-ness management is a game ofselection, politics is one of elim-ination and in business onegenerally succeeds without grab-bing anyone else’s money. In pol-itics, one wins by dispossessingsomeone else of his seat.Nevertheless, one’s attitudeshould be similar to the militarynational service. Whether onelikes soldiering or not, two yearsare to be devoted to training asa matter of duty. In Britain, manyOxbridge graduates join politicsas do a significant number ofpublic school boys and girls.True, in the US it has not been

quite the same. When my fatherwas at the University of Boston,between 1929 and 32, he oftensaid he would return to Indiaand join the Congress party.Gandhi was already anacclaimed leader and yet thereaction was often, “After suchexpensive studies, why go to pol-itics?” Yet the American stan-dards are reasonably good.

Our voters should be moredemanding and not so tolerantof standards as they often can be.Take the issue of dynasty. In May1981, when Rajiv Gandhi wascontesting his first byelectionsfrom Amethi, I spent a few daysmotoring through the con-stituency accompanied by a col-league. One afternoon westopped at a dhaba where anenthusiastic discussion wasgoing on. The general tenor washow well Rajiv spoke. Whatchaste Hindi he used and so on.After 15 minutes or so I inter-vened to ask, “What service hashe done for the country exceptfor flying aeroplanes for IndianAirlines?” One sleepy personpresent suddenly woke up toassert, “He is learning his moth-er’s vocation. Don’t doctorsbequeath their dispensaries totheir children? Don’t lawyerstrain their children how to beadvocates? At least Rajivji had tocome and get elected again andagain to get the people’sapproval.”

Coming to corruption, wecame across a lucid explanationon the outskirts of Malihabad inthe 1984 General Election.Again a dhaba discussion,

Anwar Ahmed, a Minister in theState Cabinet, was being praisedfor being such a good and hon-est man. One of the participantslost his patience and intervenedto ask, “Yes, Anwar Saheb is veryupright and honest, he has beena Minister for 10 years but hasnot been able to build a housefor his family. If a person cannotdo this least bit for his wife andchildren, what can he do to helpcommon people like you andme?”

What management is to acompany and its success, theGovernment is to a country. Yetmost of our people do not con-nect the country’s stake whenthey go to the ballot box. Thedebacle of 1962 caused byunpreparedness needs recollec-tion. The Indian Army did nothave mountain guns or how-itzers to fire in mountainousNEFA. The second batch oftroops that was sent up to 16,000feet had canvas shoes, no glovesand ordinary woollen pullovers.General Rob Lockhart, the inter-im Commander-in-Chief of theIndian Army afterIndependence, said that we area peace-loving nation. We do notreally need an Army. And thatthe police is sufficient for ourpurpose. After all this, the samepolitical party was re-elected inthe following election. And inthe 1990s, our Prime Ministertold in a reply to a journalist thatIndia is too large a country toworry about terrorism.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Viewsexpressed are personal)

It was a long time coming but in the end, the UnitedNation’s (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) wasawarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize 2020 for its

efforts to combat hunger, its “contribution to betteringconditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and foracting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use ofhunger as a weapon of war and conflict.” It is in a longtime that a cause has been prioritised over a face. TheWFP, which was set up in 1961 at the behest of thenUS President Dwight Eisenhower, combines humanitar-ian work along with ensuring peace in war-torn regionsbecause it firmly believes that without tackling war, hunger

cannot be eradicated. How much effort the WFP puts in and how much the world needsits help can be gauged by the fact that there are 690 million hungry people around theworld and around 60 per cent of them live in conflict-torn nations. In 2019, the WFP assist-ed 97 million people, the largest number since 2012, in 88 countries. It manages one ofthe world’s largest logistics chains as on any given day, it has 5,600 trucks, 30 ships andnearly 100 planes on the move. The Nobel Peace Prize to it couldn’t have come at a bet-ter time as the UN has been under a cloud with its health watchdog, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), mishandling the Coronavirus crisis. The honour is also a validationof the UN’s yeoman’s service to humanity and has silenced its detractors.

Like all other countries that have benefitted from the WFP, India, too, has a long asso-ciation with it. The aid organisation has been working with respective governments to erad-icate hunger since 1963, when India was a major food importer and was battling short-ages. Now the WFP is working to reform our notorious Public Distribution System (PDS)through its Annapurti initiative whereby automatic grain dispensers — or ATMs for rice— will be set up across States. It is also working on fortifying food distributed under themid-day meal scheme. Now, with the pandemic disrupting food security, it is setting upsupplementary nutrition production units in Uttar Pradesh. Its mobile storage units in Odishahave contained starvation deaths there. The Nobel Peace Prize, which has often been undera cloud of controversy due to the selection of people who are deemed “undeserving” or“unworthy” of it, will be heartily endorsed by the global community, which owes the WFPa lot. This year the selection committee has got it bang on.

When Kerala, the hub of Ayurveda with some ofthe best practitioners, arrested the spiral of thepandemic in the early stages, its Health

Minister KK Shailaja made a crucial observation. Thatonce the disease had set in, there was no alternative tothe clinically proven and medically tested protocols. Andthat traditional systems of medicine, like Ayurveda andhomoeopathy, were good for overall well-being and bodyresistance. So they could be used only as part of a pro-tective or convalescent routine. The deadly virus itselfhad to be treated with proven drug combinations. Thisdistinction is very important in a country growing up in

a culture of naturopathy and home remedies, and, therefore, prone to trusting convention-al wisdom. But this is a novel virus we are dealing with. There is no doubt that tradition-al systems of medicine in India have not only survived but flourished over the centuriesand there are virtues embedded in our huge herbal heritage that are good for disease pre-vention, improving immunity and overall health management. So far, the evidence of theircurative potential has largely been anecdotal than empirical. But overplaying our herbs aspart of a COVID-19 medicare protocol, when they are yet to cross the threshold of med-ical reason, comes with the attendant ills of misconception that they are just as effectiveas allopathic drugs. Particularly in a country where most cannot understand the fine linebetween preventive care and cure. This is the reason why the Indian Medical Association(IMA) has taken umbrage to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s upgradation of protocols onOctober 6 for managing and treating COVID patients with mild symptoms in AYUSH (Ayurveda,Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Sidda and Homoeopathy) hospitals and by AYUSH practi-tioners. It asked the Minister to authenticate efficacy claims made from studies done onasymptomatic COVID patients, make them public and available for scientific scrutiny orelse be responsible for “inflicting a fraud on the nation and gullible patients by calling place-bos as drugs.” In a sharp attack, the IMA asked how many of Vardhan’s ministerial col-leagues have so far made the informed choice of getting treated under these protocols. Itwondered if the proponents of this claim and his Ministry would subject themselves asvolunteers to an independent prospective double-blind control study in the prevention andtreatment of COVID. This is a pertinent question considering almost all of our Ministershave chosen private multi-speciality hospitals with advanced allopathic protocols to treatthemselves when they got infected. The IMA even asked what was stopping the Ministerfrom handing over COVID care and control to the AYUSH Ministry. The problem with theAYUSH protocol at hospitals is that it legitimises Ayurveda as a line of treatment when factis that there has not been a sustained trial and a consistent similarity of results to provethat it works in arresting the spread of the disease. Till then, AYUSH treatments can at bestbe prophylactic in nature and must be emphasised as such in officialese.

It is true that a few Ayurveda pharmaceutical companies have been working on sim-ulation studies where few plant molecules have shown the ability to halt the alarming mul-tiplication of the SARS CoV-2 virus in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) modelling. Researchersat IIT Delhi, in collaboration with Japanese scientists, have found that properties of theAyurvedic herb Ashwagandha have “therapeutic and preventive value” against COVID-19infection. But they are working on more conclusive proof that could allow for pharmaco-logical interventions. Let us not forget that callous official endorsement can lead to outra-geous claims like the recent one made by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev that he had found twonew medicines — Coronil and Swasari — that had shown a 100 per cent recovery ratein patients within just 14 days. He quoted clinical trials at the Jaipur-based National Instituteof Medical Sciences and Research (NIMS) which denied it subsequently. He applied fora licence duplicitously, claiming that his was a cold, cough, fever drug with immunity-boosting properties. And once the licence was got and the time for a rollout came, heclaimed it was a cure. Besides, Ramdev’s Patanjali group sidestepped the Drug ControllerGeneral of India, whose approval must be sought before a medicine is put out in the mar-ket. In our search for a cure among herbs, we are doing a disservice to what Ayurvedastands for. It is not just about COVID prevention but a holistic system of medicine involving herbs, diet, lifestyle and other measures that helps the body fight off all kinds ofpathogens and diseases. Ayurveda has never been in conflict with science and is actual-ly about scientific management of life. The IMA statement is all the more significant becauseit draws attention to the flawed pandemic management in India as we race to become theworst affected country. With the disease expected to see a painful peak by November, inno small part aided by the festive season and the opening up of every sphere of humanactivity, spare a thought for our overworked healthcare personnel. Most of them are bat-tling depression, exhaustion and pay cuts even as the stream of patients is constant. Hundredsof them have lost their lives while on frontline duty and the IMA has been demanding mar-tyr status for them as they went down fighting a new age battle. The infrastructure, evenin bigger cities, is still short of handling a bad winter surge should it happen as predict-ed. Rather than upgrading AYUSH protocols, we need to upgrade practical solutions.

Prevention vs cure

AIADMK’s woesSir — J Jayalalithaa, the late ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu andleader of the All India AnnaDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK), never entertainedany alliance with the BJP despiteits repeated requests. And wasadept at extracting favours thathelped her State. On the contrary,the present leaders of theAIADMK have started to playsecond fiddle to the saffronparty by adhering to all their dic-tates despite most of their plansbeing detrimental to the interestof the people of Tamil Nadu.Their subservient attitude is vis-ible and the electorate is angrywith the ruling dispensation forpawning the self-respect andrights of the State for the person-al interests of its leaders.

It is time the AIADMK realis-es its folly and drops the saffronparty from any plan it might haveon seat adjustments. This way itcan save its face by winning atleast a few seats in the forthcom-ing Assembly elections. The peo-ple of Tamil Nadu, who are fedup and angry with the function-ing of the AIADMKGovernment as well as the BJPat the Centre, are eagerly waitingto pack both off lock, stock and

barrel in the polls, paving the wayfor Dravida MunnetraKazhagam led by MK Stalin.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

Economic boostSir — When the pandemicmuted our growth completelyacross the globe, our immediateresponse should have been to

absorb the shock and embracethe new normal. But unfortu-nately, a conservative invest-ment approach holds the econ-omy, something that has nevertruly benefitted society at large.Also, business houses are con-serving cash across organisations,leading to a significant shrinkagein the market economy. Thus,big-spending decisions muststart from somewhere to support

the growth of credit demand.Fortune 500 companies shouldcome forward, lending a hand torebuild the ecosystem with theirhigh-risk appetite, like rolling outa capital expenditure outlay plan,without waiting for this pandem-ic to be over. However, the con-servative approach should not becompletely foregone. Yet thelimit needs relaxation up to a cer-tain extent. Without that finan-

cial flexibility, the recovery is notexpected to happen.

SK NagMumbai

Distasteful hate circusSir — The love for cricket inIndia is well known but nothingcan remotely justify the disturb-ing incident of Mahendra SinghDhoni’s five-year-old daughterreceiving rape threats from socialmedia trolls following ChennaiSuper Kings’ loss to KolkataKnight Riders (KKR) on October6. It was Dhoni’s wife, Sakshi,who received the threats on herInstagram account. It makes onewonder where the “New” Indiais heading?

While the Hathras rape-murder case questions the polit-ical will to bring justice to the 19-year-old Dalit gang-rape vic-tim, obnoxious comments beingmade towards a child on socialmedia highlight the mental stateof the country. Rape threatsshould be taken seriously and theculprits should be punished.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

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

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

op nionVIJAYAWADA| MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020

06

Leadership qualityPeople vote for a party depending on various factors but little or no importance is

given to the quality of the person chosen to lead it

If Beijing can heed Taiwan's voice,change the way it handles cross-straitrelations and jointly facilitate cross-strait reconciliation and peacefuldialogue, I believe that regional tension can surely be resolved.

Taiwanese President—Tsai Ing-wen

Reforms in post-retirement jobs for judges

There has been a long-standing debate on the issueof post-retirement jobs for judges. Generally, a rest-ing period is advocated for top civil servants and

judges before they take up a new post after retiring fromservice. Earlier jurists favoured a five year cooling offperiod for judges. But that's in a way too long, con-sidering the enactments of Parliament from time to timeproviding for the appointment of sitting or retired judgesto various commissions and authorities. However, it ispertinent to note that the present Government has ruledout a cooling off period for retired judges before theirappointment to tribunals or commissions.

Over the years, the trend of judges taking up post-retirement posts has drawn heavy criticism. Many ofthe 50 Supreme Court judges, who have retired overthe past decade, went on to take up other jobs all tooquickly. Of these, at least 26 accepted Government jobswhile 13 started practising law again.

In 2012, BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkarihad suggested that the clamour for post-retirement jobs

was affecting the court’s judgments. The reality is thatthe Government holds the power to offer a post-retire-ment position to judges and this leads us to questionthe independence of the judiciary and judicial bias.Reforms are urgently needed to uphold the sanctity ofthis august institution.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

The hunger project

Govt, IMA clash on Ayush COVID protocol; doctors say evidencemerely anecdotal and a placebo, not clinically proven

World Food Programme rightfully wins the Nobel Peace Prizeas it fights a global nutrition crisis caused by the virus and war

PRAFULL GORADIA

Credit to him (StefanosTsitsipas) for fightingback. He's a fighter. He'sone of the best players inthe world...There was alot at stake for him.

Tennis player—Novak Djokovic

In Haryana, around 1,500 to2,000 kg of millet is produced inone acre of land but the farmersare not getting more than `850per kg due to the BJP's anti-farmer policies.

Aam Aadmi Party leader—Sushil Gupta

The time has come toaccept that dialogue and agreements will not persuade or compel thePeople's Republic ofChina to change.

US Security Advisor—Robert O'Brien

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

S O U N D B I T E

Cancel culture decoded

I AM NOT GOING TO WASTE MY TIME

ON A VIRTUAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE. I

WANT A LIVE ONE.

—US PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP

HIS RECKLESS PERSONAL CONDUCT SINCE HIS

DIAGNOSIS, THE DESTABILISING EFFECT IT’S HAVING

ON OUR GOVERNMENT, IS UNCONSCIONABLE.

—FORMER US VICE-PRESIDENT

JOE BIDEN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

That an innocent sounding word, “cancel”, hascome to define contemporary culture inmodern democracies may sound rather baf-

fling to a lay person. The fact that it actually has, atleast in select spaces involving debate and dialogue,reveals the degeneration of those spaces, theoreti-cally given to welcoming diverse opinions. In every-day usage, cancel may mean withdrawal or scrap-ping of a contract, but the “cancel culture”, whichunfortunately has become the logic of an impatientgeneration, has many more layers of meaning thatare interlocking and complex. Regardless of its advo-cates from contrasting ideological umbrellas, “can-cel culture” implies that the country and its institu-tions have failed the people, prompting the militant-ly “conscientious” groups to take over. Needless tosay, such campaigns remain predominantly urbanand middle-class. Analysts have traced the preva-lence of this culture as definitive of our intellectu-al reality to the #MeToo campaign in the US. A pow-erful and perfectly legitimate movement slowlybecame the weapon of a generation glued to theinternet, though without any sincere commitmentto the cause that defined earlier generations of pro-testers, involving marches or picketing, which weredemanding in terms of time and energy. Before werealised its frequent occurrence and increasingmoralising tendency, it had become part of our cul-tural sphere and expressed itself through withdraw-al of support, challenging authority and advocatingsuspension of the offender. Thus, Starbucks was tar-getted for asking its employees not to wear “BlackLives Matter” badges, a gym club brand, Equinox,faced backlash after its owner was found collectingdonations for US President Donald Trump. Opinionwriter Bari Weiss resigned from her job when heremployer, The New York Times, failed to protect herfrom constant harassment by her colleagues for hold-ing on to different political values. JK Rowling was“cancelled” because of what was seen as her intol-erance of trans-women.

The war among liberals: In-built into “cancelculture” is an ethical imperative on the part of thepeople championing it, who see themselves as thedefenders of democratic ethos, prompting them toraise their voices against what they feel is unjust.What is ignored in this so-called ethical order is thereality of an anti-democratic force that betrays intol-erance of difference and disagreement. That explainswhy the same group of people demanding freedomend up cancelling conservative intellectuals. So “can-cel culture” remains anti-democratic and promotesa culture of purity where being different and adver-sarial are offensive. In spite of buzzwords such asdiversity and heterogeneity, such a culture stands forhomogeneity and singularity in thought and action.It always looks for new outrages almost as an obses-sive compulsive and pounces upon the politicallyincorrect to threaten him/her or the organisation soas to impose costs.

If it silences democracy in the name of democ-racy, tramples upon freedom in the name of free-dom, we must understand where this habit of speak-ing in a forked tongue is coming from. It is not dif-ficult to understand that it emanates from within lib-eral discourse and survives on its propensitytowards double-speak and obfuscation. Writing let-ters to put pressure on governments and organisa-tions for protecting rights, which the Left liberal intel-ligentsia excels in, is a technique whereby they legit-imise themselves. When JK Rowling joined hands

with Chomsky, Fukuyama, Rushdie,Atwood and so on, and called out this“cancel culture” as intolerance in an openletter published in Harper’s Magazine, shewas, to some extent, joining hands withthose who gave oxygen to such a culture.They wrote, “Censoriousness is spreadingmore widely in our culture: An intoleranceof opposing views, a vogue for publicshaming and ostracism, and the tenden-cy to dissolve complex policy issues in ablinding moral certainty.” What these peo-ple often forget is that writing such lettersis always more about protecting theirauthority over liberalism than the causeitself. If they suddenly realise the violenceof “cancel culture”, they should not lookbeyond themselves to find its provenance.“Cancel culture” is a product of their mus-cular approach to truth.

Even as “cancel culture” is a productof liberal discourse, it poses an existentialthreat to that discourse in its demand fora forced outcome rather than a process-oriented approach. It is equally protestantin nature in the sense that it has scantrespect for liberal idols and high priestswho symbolise entitlement. In fact, wemay discern inter-generational conflictwithin this liberalism or a kind of castra-tion anxiety (in Freudian terms). It marksthe coming of age of the next generationof relatively young champions, who seetheir ideological fathers as patriarchswho have always benefitted from peddlingliberal wares. When Pankaj Mishra trashedthe Harper’s Magazine letter, he showeda mirror to these ideologues and accusedthem of fighting for their own freedomrather than that of free speech. This com-petitive liberalism is not a fight betweenright and wrong, but the sign that asmooth transition is not taking place.

Unlike political parties or sports teams, the“liberal progressive” shop has the same setof owners who refuse to allow the newgeneration to replace them. Impatient,restless, combative and young, “cancel cul-ture” warriors cannot see themselveswaiting perpetually to be counted as intel-lectual adults. When Pankaj Mishra tookissue with Rushdie for being called “thevoice of the continent”, he was protestingagainst an intellectual culture that con-demns authors like him (Mishra) to thewaiting room of intellectual history.

The Indian story: In India, unlike theUS, this culture has traversed both Left-and Right-wing narratives as well as notso politically-conscious actors. In therecent Bloomsbury controversy relating toa book on Delhi riots, the first move camefrom the Left to cancel the book followedby backlash from the non-Left quarters,who took issue with Bloomsbury’s cancel-lation and then cancelled Bloomsbury asa publisher of their choice. The death ofactor Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) also cre-ated a polarising climate where the out-siders to Bollywood, such as SSR, were pit-ted against the privileged insiders, whotook their stardom for granted. This infu-riated and angry group collectively trashedSadak 2, a movie made by one who is seenas a promoter of nepotism.

However, it will be off the mark toproject this as the expression of Right-wingangst. On most occasions Bollywoodprima donnas of liberal hue have voicedtheir opinion against politicians, fellowactors and producers and whoever theyimagined is expressing anti-democraticvalues. The present polarisation ofBollywood and its adoption of “cancel cul-ture” implies the culture’s traction, cuttingacross ideological lines.

“Cancel culture” in India remainsderivative of American leads, as in the“Black Lives Matter” movement beingconverted into “Dalit Lives Matter.”However, the cultural Right is learningfrom its past mistakes and using the vocab-ulary of democracy and victimhood forits own purpose. Like its Left adversaries,its supporters are writing letters to the pub-lic or to the President to raise awareness.They are writing books and speaking frompublic fora and forcing the Left to dehu-manise itself by turning violent. Even asthe Right is learning from the Left, the lat-ter is getting into the slush of what itaccused the Right to be. The liberal Left,which claimed to have exclusive right overfree speech, now understands that liber-ty and free speech are no longer its exclu-sive domains. Leftists fear that liberty canbe effectively used by the Right and thismakes it suspect liberty as an impedimentto its ideals of democracy and justice.

Economic imperative: There is yetanother dimension of “cancel culture”,namely the economic imperative.Sometimes, acting on public outrage, asin sacking an employee for contrarianpolitical values or insensitive posts, organ-isations seek to arrest a backlash or cashin on public outrage or hold on to theirclientele. Given that the US intellectualsphere is totally dominated by the Left andthe so-called multi-culturalism complex,and common people do not care muchuntil election time, the media and publish-ing industry actually gain from this com-petitive outrage. In India however, due toits millennia old culture that has been evo-lutionary rather than revolutionary, suchdisruptive changes remain confined toselect, elite spaces.

(The writer is Professor, IIT, Madras)

In spite of buzzwords such as diversity and heterogeneity, such a culture stands for homogeneity and singularity in thought and action

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

Some hope ingrim times

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

In these difficult days, there is reason to believe that the tribe of progressive

social critiques is still heard

JYOTIRMAYA TRIPATHY

THE CULTURALRIGHT IS LEARNING

FROM ITS PASTMISTAKES AND

USING THEVOCABULARY OF

DEMOCRACY ANDVICTIMHOOD FOR

ITS OWN PURPOSE.LIKE ITS LEFT

ADVERSARIES, ITSSUPPORTERS AREWRITING LETTERSTO THE PUBLIC ORTO THE PRESIDENT

TO RAISEAWARENESS. THEY

ARE WRITINGBOOKS AND

SPEAKING FROMPUBLIC FORA ANDFORCING THE LEFT

TO DEHUMANISEITSELF BY TURNING

VIOLENT. EVEN ASTHE RIGHT IS

LEARNING FROMTHE LEFT, THE

LATTER IS GETTINGINTO THE SLUSH OF

WHAT IT ACCUSEDTHE RIGHT TO BE.

THE LIBERAL LEFT,WHICH CLAIMED TO

HAVE EXCLUSIVERIGHT OVER FREE

SPEECH, NOWUNDERSTANDS

THAT LIBERTY ANDFREE SPEECH ARE

NO LONGER ITSEXCLUSIVE

DOMAINS

The COVID experience has been unique in more ways thanwhat most of the webinars are talking about. For example,social media is not exactly known to elaborate concepts.

However, the online versions of printed news media platformsappear to have widened and deepened their reach and impactas compared to the pre-Coronavirus era. The galloping use ofsmartphones in the country has enabled the reach and availabil-ity of news through a large part of the day, beyond the morning.At times, the impact is even clearer. Thankfully, the print mediahas not fallen prey to that claim that resonates through the elec-tronic channel news daily: The phenomena called “breaking news.”

The concept of “breaking news” has undergone a sea changeover the years and it doesn’t even titillate like before. “Breakingnews” in years past used to be the equivalent of “Stop Press”,in the print media, when they used to stop the printing pressesbecause something of phenomenal importance just had to bereported in the next day’s newspaper. For instance a war, or thedeclaration of Emergency, or demonetisation or the assassina-tion of an important leader. Now, like many advertisements, “break-ing news” seems more like an attempt to grab attention ratherthan share any meaningful news story that is unfolding at thattime.

Then there is the claim of “impact-making” news. For instance,the gate of a VIP’s residence was plastered with a quarantine notice,which was found to be very embarrassing by the bureaucrat wholived there. Reportedly, the notice was torn away. One of the newschannels picked this story up and ran a campaign on “differen-tial treatment.” Soon after, the notice was restored by the author-ities that be. Subsequently the news channel claimed to have runan “impact-making” story. Maybe, it was because of the newscoverage of the channel that the notice was restored. Maybe itwas not. Maybe colleagues persuaded the bureaucrat to tone downthe reaction to the quarantine notice. Or maybe the bureaucrat’sgood sense prevailed in the end. However that may be, not longthereafter, the practice of pasting quarantine notices on the entranceof households with Coronavirus patients was reportedly discon-tinued by the Haryana Government.

The impact may not be monocausal. There may be manyclaimants to the impact and many perspectives. Be that as it may,one thing is obvious that the media does carry a clout, thoughone-to-one impact-change correlation is difficult to establish.However, when one notices a change after reading something innews columns, it does raise the possibility that the writing madean impact and caused the change.

In these columns on September 28, para three of the textsaid “…even today in a city that is the proverbial centre of power,pick up a phone and call a landline of the metropolitan telephoneservice, the ring is preceded by a recorded voice message which,when translated into English, goes something like this: ‘In the entirecountry the process of un-lockdown has begun. In such circum-stances, move out of the house only when it is totally necessary.’”What followed was a light-hearted banter on the intended impactof the message. Several days later that message was replacedby one from a well-known voice from Bollywood. Significantly,the text of the new message on the telephone service resonatesfar better than the preceding one. Now the person holding thetelephone is reminded that not only India but the whole world isgrappling with the impact of the Coronavirus.

The purpose of the above narrative is not to claim that theSeptember 28 write-up in this column triggered this modifica-tion. Far from it! However, it pleases one to note that somewhere,someone has contributed towards a change for the better. In thepast, too, I have flagged such correlations. It is possible that oth-ers have written on similar things, too. Others may have talkedor others may have noticed what I noticed too. The importantthing is we should be proud of having a responsive governancesystem at least in some kind of experiences and cases. Onceshould notice the brighter aspects of public life in an otherwisegrim scenario. It keeps hope alive. Hope need not come in largeparcels or in areas where someone feels fatigued. It is just theindicator of life. In these difficult times, there is reason to believethat the tribe of progressive social critiques is still heard. Whetherit is heard often or not often enough is a matter of perceptionand appetite for favourable response. For some it is still a mat-ter of joy that sometimes those who matter do hear and do respond.We are blessed!

(The writer is an internationally-acclaimed managementconsultant)

Ever wondered why stock mar-kets have huge upswings ordownswings? Most of the

times, they are like a domino effect,a chain reaction, caused by herdbehaviour. Herding is an inclinationof investors to follow the crowd, thusdestabilising stock prices. It is a verypowerful bias, and in the process ofmimicking each other, the impact onthe stock prices gets intensified,leading to bubbles when the demandis high and crashes when investorsdetect overpricing.

This is contrary to the classicalfinance theory, which believes thatinvestment decisions are taken byrational investors. But are investorsreally rational? A Boston-basedresearch group reported in 2007 that

an average stockholder earned 4.3per cent per annum returns wherethe returns of American S&P 500Index averaged at 11.8 per cent perannum. The reason for this variancewas the irrationality of investors ofbuying high and selling low.

A peek into the past can showthat players in the stock market havebeen irrational since the time thebourses have existed. One of the ear-liest instances of unreasonable herdbehaviour is the Dutch tulip bubbleof the 1630s, also known as “TulipMania.” When the tulip was intro-duced as a new variety of flower inthe Netherlands, the Dutch people,because of some strange reason,became excited about this new exot-ic flower and vied to invest in tulipbulbs.

Progressively, the investmentsgrew huge and at the pinnacle of thismania, a single bulb was sold at aprice that was more than ten timesthe annual income of a skilled work-er. But when people realised thatinvestments in tulip bulbs were waymore than their actual worth, theypanicked and started selling tulipstocks, leading to a sharp fall in the

stocks, resulting in huge losses. This and many other subse-

quent events after this, like thedot.com bubble and the more recentreal estate bubble, have led to thebelief that investors do not behaverationally and that their decisions aremostly driven by emotions likepanic, fear and greed. Theseinstances are in contradiction of thetraditional financial theories that arebased on efficient market hypothe-sis, that assume that all the informa-tion is reflected in the stock pricesefficiently and in a timely manner. Somuch so that the investors are unableto make any abnormal profits by buy-ing stocks. There are four pillars oftraditional finance: Rationalinvestors; efficient markets; tradition-al portfolio designs; and linearexpected returns-risk relationship.

However, stock markets in real-ity are largely inefficient, which is evi-dent due to various market anom-alies, speculative bubbles and over ormuted reaction to any new informa-tion about stocks. These prevalentconditions in the stock markets sug-gest that investors are more emotion-al than rational about their invest-

ment decisions, leading to creationof bubbles.

A bubble is created when thestock price is driven higher than itsfair value as people invest in thesestocks, neglecting the fundamentalvaluation. Such investmentsstrengthen the overpricing evenmore and put pressure on the stockprices to generate higher returns forinvestors, failing which, the sellingstarts and picks up momentumwhen investors follow one another,leading to the bursting of the bub-ble. Behavioural finance, as a disci-pline, emerged as an attempt toexplain the psychology of financialdecision-making and how thehuman angle affects the same.Several researchers believe that prin-ciples and morals of people influencetheir economic, social and financialdecision-making. Sentiments likepride, shame, insecurity and egoismalso play an important role in invest-ment decisions. By accepting the factthat investors are irrational and havebiased decision-making, behaviour-al finance entends the limitations oftraditional finance theories into pos-sible inefficiencies in the financial

markets and provides a realisticview.

Research has identified two typesof behavioural biases. The first one,a heuristic-driven bias, also knownas cognitive bias, acknowledges thatinvestors are investigative in natureand use rules of thumb to processdata for decision-making. For exam-ple, people predict future perfor-mance of stock market movementsthrough historical data. Emotionslike overconfidence, anchoring andadjustment, reinforcement learning,excessive optimism and pessimismform a part of this bias. The secondone, frame-dependent bias, is wherethe investors’ decision-makingprocess is affected by the way theyframe their options, like narrowframing, mental accounting and thedisposition effect.

It can be concluded that aware-ness about behavioural biases isindispensable since it is unequivocal-ly associated with human beings andits implications are far and wide.Ignoring such behaviour of the deci-sion-making process can prove to bequite expensive in the financial mar-kets as it can result in stock market

anomalies. Financial investmentmanagers and advisors can identifyinvestment mistakes if they have agood understanding of this behav-iour of retail investors and becomemore effective by understandingtheir clients’ psychology and needs.It helps them in creating a behav-iorally-adjusted portfolio, which bestsuits their clients’ requirements.Investment bankers can put thisknowledge to use by correctly tim-ing the IPOs and understanding thegeneral sentiment in the stock mar-kets. Behavioural finance also helpsfinancial analysts in forecastingfuture stock market movements andrecommending appropriate stocksfor investments. Finally, individualretail investors can use this expertiseto make wise, rational and effectivefinancial decisions.

Investors, financial advisors andfund managers are all humans andare subject to biases. Understandingthe psychology of financial decision-making can help in reducing thestock market movements and reduc-ing losses on the bourses.

(The writer is AssociateProfessor, Amity University, Noida)

Understand psychology for better decision-makingThis approach can help in reducing stock market movements and losses on the bourses

HIMA BINDU KOTA

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

The health of people-facing,service-sector organisationsmatters enormously to theiremployees. But it matters topeople too. By emptying outshops, cinemas, marketsquares, that people used toshare, and forcing them tospend more time at home,the pandemic has madethem less public and moreprivate. An end to this anti-social chapter andreclamation of the outsideworld of friends and funcannot come soon enough.

(The Guardian, editorial)

THE IMPORTANCE

OF LIVING LIFE

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020 money 08

Construction materialprodu cer Maithan SteelLtd remains steadfast in

expanding the capacityof its manufacturing plant inWest Bengal, despite theslowdown in the economydue to the COVID-19 crisis,an official said on Sunday.The company is also focusing on an advertisingcampaign to promote its TMT bars, he said."We are going to double our capacity to manufacturebillets and TMT bars. The lockdown has delayed completion ofthe project by about three months. Now, we expect to completeit by April 2021," Maithan Steel director Madhur Agarwallasaid.

MONEY MATTERS

Maithan Steel committed toexpand manufacturing capacity

Nine of the 10 mostvalued companies addeda whopping Rs

3,01,145.46 crore to theircombined market capitalisation last week, helped by abullish market trend and rallyin Tata Consultancy Services(TCS). During the last week,BSE Sensex advanced 1,812.44 points or 4.68 per cent. TCS was thebiggest gainer from the elite club with its valuation zooming by Rs1,09, 644.68 crore to Rs 10,56,277.53 crore. The marketcapitalisation (m-cap) of HDFC Bank jumped Rs 69,952.08 crore to Rs6,78,991.98 crore. Infosys added Rs 38,270.81 crore to its marketvaluation at Rs 4,71,751.13 crore. HDFC witnessed a gain of Rs30,052.75 crore in m-cap at Rs 3,51,483.41 crore.

Market cap of 9 of top-10 firmsskyrockets by Rs 3 lakh crore

Honda Motorcycle andScooter India (HMSI) isworking on an entry-

level motorcycle after havingalready established presencein the higher capacity bikesand scooters in the country, asenior company official hassaid..he company, which isthe second largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the country, is lookingto cater to rural areas and semi-urban areas with the entry-level modelwhich would sit below its CD 110 range."We are aware of this gap(entry-level bike) and this homework is already a work in progress,"HMSI Director Sales and Marketing Yadvinder Singh Guleria said.He added that it has made strides in other side of the spectrum andhas expanded product portfolio as well in the recent times.

Entry-level motorcycle a work in progress, says HMSI

Buoyed by a strong growth in itse-sports and early learningbusinesses in India and the US,

Nazara Technologies aims to clock arevenue of Rs 450-470 crore thisfiscal year, a top company executivesaid. Nazara Technologies CEOManish Agarwal said the companyhas been delivering on its stated strategy to grow and dominate in e-sports, virtual sports and early learning verticals. He added that thecompany has become India's largest non-real money gamingcompany with global distribution pipelines. "Nazara's initiatives ofdeveloping own gaming and e-sports IPs and the efforts to buildcapability and capacity to create highly engaging content IPs in last 2years are yielding positive results," he said.

Nazara sees strong growth in e-sports, early learning biz

Five out of 12 public sectorbanks are trading near the facevalue of their equity shares on

bourses regardless of a rally instock benchmark indices,according to an analysis. Shares ofstate-run Indian Overseas Bank areeven trading below the face valueof Rs 10 per share. The stock closed at Rs 9.27 on Friday at BSE whenthe benchmark index Sensex closed at 40,509. The Chennai-basedbank tapped the market first on September 2000 offloading part of thegovernment's stake at par or at the face value of Rs 10.

Five of 12 PSU bank stocks trade near face value

PNSn NEW DELHI

State-owned steel maker SAILplans to commence commer-cial production of head hard-ened (HH) rails in this fiscal,its chairman Anil KumarChaudhary said.

HH rails are special railsused in high-speed freight cor-ridors and metro rail projects.Such rails are manufacturedusing the head hardening tech-nology to bear about 50 percent higher pressure comparedto normal rails.

SAIL has set up facilities forproduction of HH rails at thenew Universal Rail Mill(URM) at its Bhilai Steel Plant(BSP) in Chhattisgarh, andthe cold trials for the same havealready been completed,Chaudhary said.

“Though the commissioningof the facility has got delayedon account of Covid-19 pan-demic, the company is plan-ning to commence commercialproduction of the Head

Hardened Rails during thecurrent financial year as per therequirement of IndianRailways,” he said whileresponding to a query relatedto production of HH rails.

Without elaborating further,he said the company meets therequirement as and when anyorder is received from theRailways. He said the Railwaysis moving towards higher

speed and axle load rails andrecently it required R 260grade rail for its use. SAIL-BSPsuccessfully rolled and suppliedthe R 260 grade vanadiumalloyed special grade primerails to the national trans-porter. In July 2020, the com-pany dispatched the first batchof special R 260 grade vanadi-um alloyed rails to meet therequirement of IndianRailways.

Chaudhary further said,"SAIL has a long relationshipwith the Railways and it is oneof the most trusted partners ofthe Railways. We have suppliedrailway tracks to IR which, ifmeasured, can circumnavigatethe earth more than twelvetimes."

SAIL has set up a new 1.2million tonne per annum uni-versal rail mill (URM) at a costof about Rs 1,200 crore, as partof its modernization pro-gramme for Bhilai Steel Plant,to produce different types ofrails.

SAIL to start commercialproduction of HH rails

HH rails are special rails used in high-speedfreight corridors and metro rail projects. Suchrails are manufactured using the headhardening technology to bear about 50 percent higher pressure compared to normal rails

PNSn NEW DELHI

Hit by the COVID-19 pan-demic, India's top 12 ports con-tinue to witness considerabledecline in cargo traffic register-ing a 14 per cent dip in the firsthalf of the current fiscal to298.55 million tonnes (MT),according to ports' apex bodyIPA.

Cargo volumes at these 12major ports under the controlof the Centre that had handled348.23 MT during April-September of the last fiscal hasdeclined for the sixth straightmonth in September 2020.

Shipping Minister MansukhMandaviya last month saidthe cargo traffic at 12 majorports declined considerablyMarch onwards, adversely

impacted by the COVID-19pandemic.

The 12 major ports handled298.55 MT of cargo betweenApril and September this fis-cal, according to the Indian

Ports Association (IPA) whichsaid that the "percentage vari-ation against previous yeartraffic during April toSeptember 2020 vis-a-vis Aprilto September 2019" has been

14.27 per cent.Impacted by disruptions

caused due to COVID-19, allports barring Mormugao sawa negative growth.

Cargo handling at KamrajarPort (Ennore) nosedived 31.63per cent during April-September, while ports likeChennai, Cochin and JNPTsaw their cargo volumes dropover 20 per cent during thesaid period.

Kolkata and Mumbai portssuffered a sharp decline of over15 per cent.

India has 12 major portsunder the control of the cen-tral government -- Deendayal(erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai,JNPT, Mormugao, NewMangalore, Cochin, Chennai,Kamarajar (earlier Ennore),V O Chidambarnar,Visakhapatnam, Paradip andKolkata (including Haldia).

While Kamarajar port saw31.63 per cent decline in cargohandling to 10.77 MT,Chennai port suffered a dropof 25.71 per cent to 18.38 MTin April-September, as perIPA data.

Cochin Port saw a dip of24.42 per cent to 12.58 MTduring the period.

Major ports' cargo traffic falls for 6th straight monthThe 12 major portshandled 298.55 MT ofcargo between Apriland September thisfiscal, said Indian PortsAssociation

PNSn MUMBAI

Concerted efforts by theReserve Bank to move to anon/less-cash economy bypushing digital payments havebegun to pay rich dividends asthe volume of such paymentshas jumped manifold in thepast five years, the latest datafrom the central bank showed.

Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, digital payments havegrown at a compounded annu-al growth rate of 55.1 per cent- from 593.61 crore in the yearto March 2016 to 3,434.56crore in the year to March2020. In absolute terms, valuehas grown from Rs 920.38lakh crore to Rs 1,623.05 lakhcrore during this period, clip-ping at an annual compound-ed rate of 15.2 per cent.

Giving a year-wise data, in2016-17 digital paymentsjumped to 969.12 crore from

593.61 crore in the previousyear in volume terms, while invalue the same rose to Rs1,120.99 lakh crore.

Similarly, the numbers con-tinued to scale new peaks withvolume growing to 1,459.01crore and value jumping to Rs1,369.86 lakh crore in 2017-18.

Come 2018-19, the numbersclipped at a faster pace withvolume jumping to 2,343.40

crore transactions while thevalue rose to Rs 1,638.52 lakhcrore. However, FY20 saw amassive spike in volumes overthe previous year to 3,434.56crore but in value slipped downto Rs 1,623.05 lakh crore,which can be attributed to thesteep fall in the overall econo-my and the massive job losses,forcing people to spend lessand preserve more cash.

Yet from a five-year growthperspective, the numbers shinewith an annual growth rate of55.1 per cent in terms of trans-action volumes and 15.2 percent in terms of value, show theRBI data.

Given the pandemic andthe lockdown restrictions, dig-ital payments volumes are setto jump manifold while thevalue could see a furtherplunge given the mammothcrisis that everyone faces fol-lowing the pandemic.

Digital payment push start-

ed almost a decade back withlimited access to NEFT, RTGSand ECS payments. Later withthe government push followingthe controversial note ban,digital payments rose sharply.

The development of UPI-based payments as well as app-based payments just pushedthe boundaries and has sincewitnessed blossoming of amyriad of payment systems,entry of non-bank players, anda gradual shift in the cus-tomer behaviour from cash todigital payments.

Digital payments soar manifold in five yearsBetween 2015-16 and 2019-20, digitalpayments have grown at a compoundedannual growth rate of 55.1 per cent - from593.61 crore in the year to March 2016 to3,434.56 crore in the year to March 2020

PNSn NEW DELHI

Leading drug maker SunPharma is recalling 747 bottlesof generic diabetes drug in theUS due to possibility of theaffected lot containing cancercausing nitrosodimethylamine(NDMA) above the acceptableintake limit, the US healthregulator has said.

As per the latest EnforcementReport of the US Food andDrug Administra tion(USFDA), Sun Pharma ceutical

Industries is recalling the bottlesof RIOMET ER (metforminhydrochloride for extended-release oral suspension) in the

American market. As per theUSFDA, the company is recall-ing the product due to deviationfrom the current good manufac-turing practices (CGMP) --

detection of N-nitrosodimethy-lamine (NDMA) impurity infinished drug product. Thecompany initiated the recall onSeptember 23, the USFDA said.The US health regulator hasclassified it as a Class-II recall,which is initiated in a "situationin which use of or exposure toa violative product may causetemporary or medicallyreversible adverse health conse-quences or where the probabil-ity of serious adverse health con-sequences is remote".

Sun Pharma recalls 747 bottles ofgeneric diabetes drug in US market

Sun PharmaceuticalIndustries is recallingthe bottles ofRIOMET ER in theAmerican market

PNSn NEW DELHI

After selling its stationerybusiness to France's BIC fiveyears ago, the Cello Group isre-entering the category andplans to launch products in thedomestic market.

In December 2015, sta-tionery major BIC Groupacquired Cello Pens, thelargest Indian manufacturer of

writing instruments, for Rs540 crore. "We have just start-ed stationery business with adifferent brand name(Unomax)... It has been fiveyears since we sold our sta-tionery business. There was anon-compete (agreement)...so we couldn't do same prod-ucts portfolio," Gaurav PRathod, managing director,Cello Group, said. Rathod

said the Cello Group is at pre-sent exporting a small portfo-lio of stationery products andthe company plans to makeinroads in the Indian market."We are going to launch sta-tionery products in thedomestic market. We willlaunch with a small portfolioof products and as businessgrows we will add more prod-ucts," he said.

Cello Group re-enters stationery biz

PNSn NEW DELHI

Revenues for mobile opera-tors are expected to improvesequentially in Septemberquarter, as factors likeincreased recharges, reversemigration, and easing of lock-down curbs helped overcomewhat is otherwise a seasonal-ly weak quarter, say sectoranalysts. In its note on earn-ings preview, Axis Capitalsaid revenue for wireless ser-vice providers is expected toimprove in the second quar-ter on increased recharges aslockdown restrictions eased.

"Subscriber additionexpected for RJio/BhartiAirtel (though at muted lev-els), while Vodafone Idea tocontinue losing subscribers,"it said adding that marginimprovement from revenueincrease is likely to be partial-ly offset by higher commis-sions, and sales and market-ing cost.The Axis report saidJio will benefit from highersubscriber addition thancompetitors, as well as peruser realisation improvementfrom addition of higherARPU Jio Fiber customers.

Mobileoperators'revenues toimprove in Q2

PNSn NEW DELHI

Power producers' total duesowed by distribution firmsrose over 37 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.33 lakh crore inAugust 2020, reflecting stressin the sector.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total of Rs96,963 crore to power gener-ation firms in August 2019,according to portal PRAAPTI(Payment Ratification AndAnalysis in Power procure-

ment for bringingTransparency in Invoicing ofgenerators).

The portal was launched inMay 2018 to bring in trans-parency in power purchasetransactions between the gen-erators and discoms.

In August 2020, the totaloverdue amount, which wasnot cleared even after 45 daysof grace period offered bygenerators, stood at Rs1,20,439 crore, as against Rs78,646 crore in the year-ago

period.According to the latest

data on the portal, total out-standing dues in Augustincreased on month-on-month basis as well. In July2020, total outstanding duesof discoms stood at Rs1,30,452 crore.The overdueamount in August 2020 hasincreased from Rs 1,17,637crore in July 2020. Power pro-ducers give 45 days to discomsfor paying bills for the supplyof electricity.

Discoms' outstanding dues topower gencos rise 37%

PNSn NEW DELHI

Digital healthcare in thecountry is going to witnessexponential growth in thenext five years and there isa long way to go for the sec-tor and companies in thisspace, Practo co-founderand CEO Shashank ND saidon Sunday. The healthcare

as an overall sector in Indiais close to USD 200 billionin size and just a singledigit of it is online today, headded.

"I expect that this singledigit will grow into 20-30per cent in the next 5-10years and that is going to bea real big jump for the sec-tor," Shashank said.

Boost for Digitalhealthcare: Practo

PNSn NEW DELHI

Stocks markets are expected tocontinue their winning run inthe short-term driven by hopesof more stimulus measures andstock-specific action whileinvestors would keep an eye onquarterly earnings by leading ITfirms and macroeconomic data,analysts said. Key stock market

indices jumped more than 4 percent last week in their longestwinning run in almost a year.The 30-share BSE barometer,Sensex, advanced 1,812.44points or 4.68 per cent whileNifty gained 497.25 points or4.35 per cent in the week.

A dovish RBI monetarypolicy and steps to boost liquid-ity in the banking sector to pro-

mote lending supported themarket rally for the seventh con-secutive day on Friday, whichwas the longest winning run inalmost a year. Equity marketswill now turn their focus on quar-terly earnings, with Wipro andInfosys scheduled to announcetheir results this week, also macro-economic data, global trendswould be eyed, analysts said.

Stock markets’ rally likely tocontinue in short-term: Analysts

PNSn MUMBAI

An Irdai committee has sug-gested reduction in entry-levelcapital requirement for stand-alone micro-insurance compa-nies to Rs 20 crore from thecurrent Rs 100 crore with aview to accelerate expansion ofthis segment of insurance mar-ket in the country.

The committee set up bythe Irdai to suggest steps topromote micro-insurance saidthat like other nations India toowill need to attract multipleplayers if it wants to substan-tially increase insurance pen-etration. "This is all the moreurgent in the current contextof the COVID-19 pandemicwhen millions of Indians,especially in the informalsector, have lost their liveli-hoods, are now leading moreinsecure lives and are fallingback into poverty," the reportof the committee said.

It noted that for low-income families, calamitiessuch as illnesses, accidents,death or the loss of assetsoften have very grave finan-cial consequences. Suchevents can push these fami-lies deeper into poverty astheir meagre resources getdepleted.

PNSn NEW DELHI

The government on Sundaysaid it has constructed 2,921km of highways under theBharatmala Pariyojna. Thegovernment envisages build-ing 34,800 km of highways ata cost of about Rs 5.35 lakhcrore under the ambitiousBharatmala Pariyojna. Ofthe 34,500 km of highwaysapproved under BharatmalaPariyojana, 10,000 km pertainto residual highway stretches.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Lower fare limits decided bythe government for economyclass seats of domestic flightson May 21 would now also beapplicable to premium econ-omy class seats, the Ministryof Civil Aviation has said.

However, the upper farelimits set by the governmentfor economy class seats wouldnot be applicable on the pre-mium economy class seats,according to a ministry order

dated October 5 which wasaccessed by PTI.

The Ministry of CivilAviation (MoCA) had onMay 21 placed upper andlower limits on domestic air-fares through seven bands,classified on the basis of flightduration, till August 24. Later,it was extended till November24.

Among the Indian domes-tic carriers, only Vistara haspremium economy class seatsin its flights.

‘2,921 km ofhighways underBharatmala’

Govt clears air on premium class seats

Irdai panel forlower entry-levelcapital

hen someoneplans to write abook, topics varyfrom person toperson. When itcomes to writing

about films, most focus onthe stars in showbiz, very fewwrite about the peoplebehind the lens.

Writing about the life of afilmmaker is something veryfew have attempted. Ateenager from the city,Charan Nowpada, an aspir-ing filmmaker, when hewanted to pen a book, decid-ed to write about the onesbehind the camera and whatgoes on in their personal lifeapart from direction.

Arjun Nowpada, a verysuccessful film director getshit by his past after coming

across his ex-girlfriend at aprivate party. What happensfurther and what happenedin his past forms the crux ofthe story. The commercialcinema is a book mixed withpolitics, madness towardscinema, love and hatred,betrayal, Muslim and Hinducommunity differences,friendship and moral valuesetched in an unputdownablegood paced fictional tale, isthe plot of his book.

Coming from a filmybackground, the events hewitnessed since childhoodinspired Charan to writesomething that revolvesaround the world of cinema.He tells us, “I’m a short film-maker. I was supposed tomake three short films, butbecause of the lockdown, I

couldn’t do it. Meanwhile, Ireceived a call from NotionPress asking me to writesomething for them withtheir motive to encouragenew talent. I asked my par-ents if that works, they said itwasn’t going to be easy.”

He continues, “When Idecided to write, I didn’tknow what to write. SinceI’m more into films, I decid-ed to write something aroundit, about the technical side ofthe industry. Since I want tobecome a director someday, I decided to write about afilmmaker, his life, struggles,ideas, etc.”

From being laughed at forpitching the idea to now pub-lishing the book that hasbeen widely promoted bymany T-Town celebs, Charan

has gained success that camewith its hardships, includingputting in money from hispocket to bring this bookout. He says, “My friendsmade fun stating that if I

have to write somethingabout a film director, it’ll bejust based on how he enteredinto the industry, his initialstruggling days, and the onefilm that gave him a break

and that’s it. I didn’t like theway they looked at a filmdirector’s life. I wanted toshow that a film director’s lifeis more than just makingfilms and going home, there’s

so much into their personallives as well, and so I took itas a challenge and pennedthis book, which has multiplesub-genres mixed into oneperson’s life.”

When asked about hisplans, the 12th grader says hewants to finish his educationbefore he gets into makingfilms as advised by his father.His father, who was not infavour of his stint as an authoror his decision to get intofilmmaking, has later show-ered his support on Charanlooking at his passion forfilms. “I want to get intorobotics engineering ormechatronics, have a jobrelated to that course for 3-4years, and then finally get intothe film industry. My ultimategoal is to become a film direc-tor. I want to pen down mysecond book after I completemy intermediate course,” the18-year-old concludes.

LOVE HAS BREAK UPS.CINEMAS DON’T.PUBLISHER: NOTIONPRESS.NUMBER OF PAGES: 272PagesGENRE: Subtle Romance

and Indian WritingPrice: Rs 260Available at: Amazon,Amazon Kindle, Flipkart,Notion Press, Kobo books,Apple iBooks, and GooglePlay store.

W

Writing about stars and their glitz and glamour isa recurring theme in several books on cinema,

but one about those behind the lens of a camerais a rarity. And for a 12th grader to want to weave

a story around a filmmaker's life is anotheruncommon idea. City lad Charan Nowpada, an

aspiring filmmaker, and author now, talks to K RAMYA SREE about his book, what

inspired him to write it, and more

FOR THE LOVE OF

CINEMA

I wanted to showthat a film director’slife is more than justmaking films andgoing home, there’sso much into theirpersonal lives aswell, and so I took itas a challenge andpenned this book,which has multiplesub-genres mixedinto one person’slife.

— CHARANNOWPADA

The unafraidrap by ‘Bhau'

ithout heatingit up too much,music labelnexus recordbrings youHindustani

Bhau-dished out rivetingbeats of rap in his latestenticing track ‘MumbaiMachaand’ directed byFaisal Miyan Photuwale.The teaser is just out, andfans are slain by the highoctane rhythm etched outby ‘Mumbai Ka Bhau’. Thelyricist has come up with awhip-smart-title that alsofeatures actress SnehaGupta and is going tosweep the audiences offtheir feet.

In this new track, thereare brilliant vocals that arepowerful and unique andit’s going to be a great lis-tening experience for thefans out there. On speak-ing to Hindustani Bhau

about his recently discov-ered unwavering talent, hetells us, “It’s not a diss.‘Bambai mein ka ba’ inBihari translates to what isthere in Mumbai? So I amjust showing what’s therein Mumbai. My new singleis going to speak on behalfof all the mumbaikars onhow spirited and welcom-ing we are. I respect theactor who worked on thevideo but this one’s for allthe people in India toknow Mumbai better. Idon’t mean to wage a warbut everyone loves theirstate as they love theircountry. So that’s how I seeit. If people want to call ita banter, fair enough. I amrapping for the first timein my life and also beingfeatured in a song. So Iwould need all the loveand wishes of everyone.”

Rap, at least in the

Indian context, is a greatenabler. It is the ultimatepersonal statement andallows everyone to telltheir own stories the waythey want to. There aremany factors fuelling upthe track — individualityperhaps being the greatestof all and this is going tobe Hindustani Bhau’s crit-ical acclaim.

Actor Manoj Bajpayeeis being praised forhis rapping skills in

his new single,‘Bambai Main Ka Ba'.

So how do youexpect the iconic

city's messiah VikasPhatak, popularly

known as ‘HindustaniBhau' to linger

behind? Also, don'twe like a bit of

banter? ThePioneer's SHIKHA

DUGGAL writesabout the growing

rap culture in India,the idea behind the

new single, and more

WIn this new track,there are brilliantvocals that arepowerful andunique and it’sgoing to be agreat listeningexperience for thefans out there.

Cheer with prideesigner duoShantanu &Nikhil are allset for the fes-tive seasonwith their

Seagram’s Blenders Pridecollection edition. It aimsto echo their impeccablecraft, bringing forth theirsignature styles and mak-ing a bold and uniquestyle statement that spellsout My Craft, My Pride.

The collectible featuresa classic design that is atrue representation of thetimes we live in. A reflec-tion of class and sophisti-cation, the limited-edi-tion pack reflects thedesigner duo’s signaturestyle of merging elementsfrom Indian culture withWestern silhouettes.Modern, chic and ele-gant, the drapes used inthe design make thedesigner duo’s craft comealive and create a stylestatement that is timeless.The rich, golden liquid is

perfectly wrapped in adrape of black andstreaks of gold that inter-twine to form a silhouettethat is elegant and bold atthe same time. A seam-less blend of fine crafts-manship, it is a renditionof Shantanu and Nikhil’scraft, which they call,their pride.

Bringing together thisprecision and the bold,rich character of thewhisky on the same can-vas, it is an exquisiteblend of great craftsman-

ship.Kartik Mohindra,

Chief Marketing Officer,Pernod Ricard India,said, “The Blenders’ Pridelimited-edition pack is acelebration of exquisitecraftsmanship, boththrough the legendaryfine whisky and our col-laboration with designerduo Shantanu & Nikhil.We take immense pridein our product qualityand heritage and contin-ue to celebrate the pridein craft through this col-

laboration. The pack is asophisticated statementthat combines exquisitetaste and design, which iswhat we stand for.”

Shantanu & Nikhilsaid, “We have had along-standing associationwith this event and today,it gives us immense plea-sure to announce our col-laboration which cele-brates this associationthrough a collectable lim-ited-edition pack. Thedesign is inspired by ouraesthetic and is a uniquereflection of heritage andworkmanship that cele-brates craft in all itsglory. The partnership isan extremely rewardingproject, giving us com-plete creative freedomand allowing us to pro-duce a design that we areproud to see all overIndia.”

The pack is availablefor discerning whiskyconnoisseurs in 28 mar-kets.

Designers Shantanu & Nikhil launch the new limited editionpack for whisky which reflects the duo’s signature style

D

A REFLECTION OF CLASS ANDSOPHISTICATION, THELIMITED-EDITION PACKREFLECTS THE DESIGNERDUO’S SIGNATURE STYLE OFMERGING ELEMENTS FROMINDIAN CULTURE WITHWESTERN SILHOUETTES.

MondayOctober 12, 2020

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Monday October 12 2020 what’s brewing?

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

BIP

AS

HA

BA

SU

stre

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on

sel

f lo

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IPA

SH

A B

AS

Ust

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elf

love

BIP

AS

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BA

SU

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sel

f lo

veB

IPA

SH

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AS

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BIP

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love ctress

BipashaBasu hasurgedeveryone tolove them-

selves fully in her lat-est post on socialmedia.

Bipasha took toInstagram, where sheposted a stunning pic-ture dressed in a whitecrop top and a whitelacy shorts.

“Love yourself fully,deeply, honestly ,faith-fully and gloriously#loveyourself #happy-sunday,” she captionedthe image.

Recently, Bipashashared photographsfrom her Durga Pujacelebrations of lastyear with husbandKaran Singh Grover,relatives and friends.

The actress posted apicture from the ritualof ‘sindoor khela’, apractice where on theday ofDashami/Dussehra,married womensmear vermilion oneach other's foreheadsand faces before theidol of Ma Durga,after which the idol isimmersed.

On the work front,Bipasha was recentlyseen in the web seriesDangerous, whichmarked her debut onthe digital platform.

A

GENELIAhopes to work

with Riteishagain soon

ctress Genelia Deshmukh wants to work with her husband,actor Riteish Deshmukh, and says there could be somethinginteresting in the anvil that might make it possible.

Genelia and Riteish met on the sets of their debutBollywood film, Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003), and co-starred in films like Masti (2004) and Tere Naal

Love Ho Gaya (2012).Asked what kind of script would bring them together,

Genelia told IANS, “It has been a long time. I hope wedo get a chance. In fact I am reading something inter-esting currently.”

To this, Riteish added, “Just say yes to it”.Genelia and Riteish tied the knot in 2012. They have

two sons, Rahyl and Riaan.Talking about raising the kids, Genelia said, “I think

it’s very important for the kids to experience bothrural and city life, given the fact that Riteish had cityand rural upbringing, while I have (been bred inthe) city.”

“Keeping the kids close tonature and animals isthe best,” addedGenelia, who alongwith her husbandRiteish is associ-ated with theongoing“Discovery PlusThe BigLearningFestival”.

A

lan Moore, the manbehind critically-acclaimed graphic nov-els The Watchmen andV For Vendetta, says it isinfuriating that most

people believe comics books andsuperhero movies are the samething. In an interview withDeadline for his film The Show,Moore said he hasn’t watched asuperhero movie for a long whilenow.

“I haven’t seen a superheromovie since the first Tim BurtonBatman film. They have blightedcinema, and also blighted culture toa degree. Several years ago I said Ithought it was a really worryingsign, that hundreds of thousands ofadults were queuing up to see char-acters that were created 50 yearsago to entertain 12-year-old boys.That seemed to speak to some kindof longing to escape from the com-plexities of the modern world, and

go back to a nostalgic, rememberedchildhood. That seemed dangerous,it was infantilising the population,”Moore said.

The 66-year-old writer alsobelieves that there is a parallelbetween the popularity of super-hero movies and current politicalevents happening all over theworld. “This may be entirely coin-cidence but in 2016 when theAmerican people elected a(President Donald Trump) and the

UK voted to leave the EuropeanUnion, six of the top 12 highestgrossing films were superheromovies. “Not to say that one causesthe other but I think they’re bothsymptoms of the same thing adenial of reality and an urge forsimplistic and sensational solu-tions,” Moore added.

The Show, directed by MitchJenkins, features The Souvenir starTom Burke in the lead. The film isexpected to release this year.

A

SUPERHERO MOVIES HAVE BLIGHTEDCINEMA, SAYS WRITER ALAN MOORE

KL Rahul 387 runs

Kagiso Rabada 15 wickets

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | OCTOBER 12, 2020

11

If we don't get a good start atthe top, we're falling into ahole. So we're looking forpositive solutions. What I'd likeis a little bit more intensitythrough the middle overs

I was trying to do too muchand putting too muchpressure on myself, takingfocus away from what I need to do - watch the balland bat.

I feel when it comes to ourbowling we have shown wecan restrict the opposition,(but) either we give toomany in the first six or thelast four.

Glad to be given this role, Iam very happy bowling in thepowerplay especially againsttwo great batsmen, that tooagainst a team like CSK, tobe able to perform well.

TODAY

STAR SSPORTS 11

Live from 7:30pm

VS

MOTION PICTURE

DUGOUT

POINTS TABLEP W L NRR PTS

1 MI 7 5 2 +1.327 10

2 DC 7 5 2 +1.038 10

3 KKR 6 4 2 +0.017 8

4 RCB 6 4 2 +0.820 8

5 SRH 7 3 4 +0.153 6

6 RR 7 3 4 -0.872 6

7 CSK 7 2 5 -0.588 4

8 KXIP 7 1 6 -0.381 2

NARINE REPORTED FOR ACTIONKolkata Knight Riders' West Indian spinner Sunil Narinehas been reported for a suspect action during his team'sIPL clash against Kings XI Punjab here and another suchinstance could lead him to being barred from bowling inthe league. "The report was made by the on-field umpiresaccording to the IPL's Suspected Illegal Bowling ActionPolicy. Mr Narine will be placed on the Warning List andis permitted to continue to bowl in the tournament," reada statement from the IPL. "Another report will result inMr. Narine being suspended from bowling in theDream11 IPL 2020 until cleared by the BCCI SuspectBowling Action Committee," it added.In 2015, Narineserved suspension from bowling in international cricketafter his action was declared illegal by the ICC.

MAXI SHATTERED AFTER NARROW LOSSGlenn Maxwell was 'shattered after he failed to take KingXI Punjab over the line during their IPL 2020 match.Kings XI needed 14 runs off the last over with Maxwell atthe crease on Saturday. The Australian batsman hit aboundary and got a couple on the first three balls of thefinal over bowled by Sunil Narine. "Shattered," Maxwellwrote on Twitter. The Australian ended not out on 10 offfive balls with two boundaries. A match-winning six couldhave helped Maxwell's case. He has been struggling toget going and has endured a string of low scores. Hishighest in seven innings of IPL 2020 is 13 not out that hescored against Rajasthan Royals.

CSK LOOK TO BOLSTER BATTINGWith mid-season transfer on after the double-header onSunday, Chennai Super Kings may look to bolster theirteams batting with an experienced batsman, possiblysomeone like Ajinkya Rahane, who is currently coolingheels in the Delhi Capitals camp without getting anopportunity to play.

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma wife Ritika Sajdeh andhis daughter Samaira Sharma along with others watch IPL gamebetween Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi onSunday MUMBAI IINDIANS/TWITTER

Rohit Sharma receives special jersey before his 150th IPL gamefor Mumbai Indians MUMBAI IINDIANS/TWITTER

PTI n SHARJAH

Kolkata Knight Riders will havea lot on their plate when they

take on a resurgent RoyalChallengers Bangalore in an IPLmatch here on Monday with theirlethal weapon Sunil Narine blunt-ed by a chucking complaint andfitness clouds hovering overenforcer Andre Russell.

Narine, who have had multi-ple complaints of suspect actionagainst him, is again in troubleafter on-field umpires’ report postKKR's thrilling two-run winagainst Kings XI Punjab in whichthe spinner played a massive role.

Not only KXIP, the matchagainst CSK also witnessedNarine’s entry after 10 overs, sti-fling Mahendra Singh Dhoni'smen. It seemed that the spinnerwas getting his mojo back andcould have been a handful forVirat Kohli's in-form men.

However, the first warning (asecond one would bar him frombowling) from the IPL authoritiesis certain to ring alarm bells in theKKR camp as he was supposed tobe Dinesh Karthik’s ‘go-to’ man inpressure situations.

It has been learnt that Narinehas a problem with a few deliver-ies, especially the one that breaksback into a right-hander wherethere is believed to be an elbowflex beyond permissible limit.

With his batting also notexactly clicking, how KKR fits himin the playing XI will be interest-

ing, knowing that another offencecould end his tournament as abowler.

The two sides have won fourof their six games with KKRahead of RCB on net run rate but

inconsistency in batting has beenan issue for both the teams.

KKR are placed third in thestandings and the two-time cham-pions will be going all out for a vic-tory at the Sharjah CricketStadium after registering twoback-to-back wins againstChennai Super Kings and KingsXI Punjab.

Andre Russell, who hurt hisknee when he accidentally divedinto the advertisement boardsafter missing a catch on Saturday,could also be a doubtful starter.

Skipper Dinesh Karthik didnot reveal the extent of the injuryafter the match against KXIP.

“Whenever Russell getsinjured, you know it is hard. Heis a very special player, he is a veryspecial person. We need to go andlook at him,” he said.

RCB, on the other hand, arecoming into the game followinga 37-run morale boosting victo-ry against CSK and will fancy theirchances.

The biggest positive for RCBis that captain Kohli is slowly hit-ting the peak with the tournamentreaching halfway stage. Hisunbeaten 90 off 52 balls agaistCSK with gold standard runningbetween wickets will be remem-bered for years to come.

Young Devdutt Padikkal hasbeen in good touch, but AB deVilliers, who played some exquis-ite knocks at the beginning of thetournament, has looked off colourin recent outings.

PTI n NEW DELHI

India’s white ball captainsHarmanpreet Kaur and Mithali

Raj along with their 'doubledeputy’ Smriti Mandhana havebeen named captains ofSupernovas, Trailblazers andVelocity squads respectively for theupcoming women’s T20 Challengescheduled from November 4 to 9in the UAE.

All the three senior players ledthe teams during last edition alsoand their appointments were onthe expected lines.

The most notable inclusionwas Thailand’s NatthakanChantham, who is the first fromher nation to get a maiden call-upin the mini-league.

Chantham scored her coun-try's first Women’s T20 WorldCup half-century in Australiaearlier this year.

The T20 Challenge,to be played during theIPL play-offs, willbegin with lastyear's finalistSupernovas tak-ing on Velocityin the openinggame.

“The bestof Indianwomen’s cricket willcombine with some ofthe leading stars fromEngland, South Africa,

Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladeshand New Zealand in a four-matchtournament,” BCCI secretary JayShah was quoted in a mediarelease.

Each team has four overseasplayers each. Amid the ragingCOVID-19 pandemic, there werequestion marks over the event withno selection committee in place till10 days back.

However BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly was always con-fident about holding the event andonce Neetu David led selectioncommittee was appointed, thedecks got cleared.

The other issue was the datesof the tournament clashed with

Women’s Big Bash League(WBBL), which startslater this month. Neitherthe top players fromAustralia nor the starattractions from

England and NewZealand are avail-able this timearound.

In fact, BCCI'smove to have the

T20 Challenge inOctober invited

criticism from starkeeper-openerAlyssa Healywho didn't hide

her disappoint-ment on socialmedia.

PTI n DUBAI

Rahul Tewatia’s uncan-ny ability to wintricky games rescued

Rajasthan Royals yet againas they eked out a five-wick-et victory against SunrisersHyderabad to snap theirfour-match losing streak inthe IPL, here on Sunday.

Tewatia, who became ahousehold name with fivesixes in an over againstKings XI Punjab, smashedan unbeaten 45 off 28 ballsas Royals overhauled the159-run target with a ball tospare.

Along with Riyan Parag(42 not out off 26 balls),Tewatia won the game in‘Royals’ style keeping SteveSmith’s men in the mixafter they were reduced to78 for 5 in 12 overs.

With two needed offtwo balls, Parag hit KhaleelAhmed for a six over extracover and broke into animpromptu ‘Bihu jig’. Theyadded 85 runs for the sixthwicket in eight overs whentheir illustrious interna-tional stars flattered todeceive.

Tewatia brought backmemories of the Sharjahnight but this time it wasRashid Khan who was atreceiving end in the 18thover as the left-handerstruck three consecutiveboundaries.

With 22 needed offtwo overs, Tewatia launchedinto T Natarajan, who losthis length trying to bowlyorkers, for a four and a sixover short fine leg that

swung the match in favourof Royals.

The bizarre decision tosend comeback man BenStokes (5) up the orderdidn't work too well as theslowness of the track didhim in. Left-arm pacerKhaleel got one to rear upoutside the off-stump butthe ball came late as Stokes,shaping for a pull, played itonto his stumps.

Steve Smith (5)chanced Vijay Shankar’sarm in the deep but failedin the process while JosButtler (16) got a delivery

from Khaleel that came inafter the fingers were rolledover. The inside edge wastaken by a diving JonnyBairstow as Royals werereduced to 26 for 3 insidePowerplay.

Earlier, Manish Pandeystruck an impressive half-century but RajasthanRoyals restricted SunrisersHyderabad to 158 for 4 instipulated overs. With thepitches getting slower by theday and stroke-makingbecoming increasingly dif-ficult, Pandey struggled ini-tially but finished with two

fours and three sixes in his54 off 44 balls.

He had a partnership of73 off 10 overs for the sec-ond wicket with skipperDavid Warner (48 off 38balls), who also lookedscratchy and struggled fortiming.

Kane Williamson (22not out off 12 balls) showedhis class briefly at the end,including a one-handedstraight six off Royals' bestbowler Jofra Archer (1/25 in4 overs) and ended withanother off the last deliveryof the penultimate over.

PTI n DUBAI

Shikhar Dhawan scored hisfirst half-century of the

season and shared a 85-runstand with skipper ShreyasIyer as Delhi capitals posteda competitive 162 for fouragainst Mumbai Indians in anIPL match, here on Sunday.

Dhawan gave himselfenough time to play sheetanchor’s role even as MIbowlers did a decent job inthe slog overs to not let thebatsmen play too many bigshots.

Dhawan’s unbeaten 69-run knock came off 52 ballswith six fours and a six, whileIyer’s 33-ball 42 had fiveshots to the fence.

After Prithvi Shaw (4)was snared early by TrentBoult and Ajinkya Rahanetoo following him back in thedug out soon, there were nofree runs for the Capitals inthe beginning after electing tobat.

Rahane, playing his firstgame of the season, wastrapped in front of the wick-et by Krunal Pandya, intro-

duced timely by MI skipperRohit Sharma, consideringthat the India Test vice-cap-tain struggles against left-arm spinners.

With in-form Iyer andDhawan at the crease, theboundaries came here andthere. It kept the scoreboardticking at a decent run-rate.

Iyer’s trademark alongthe ground-strokes, playedwith straight bat, were effec-tive and a treat to watch.Dhawan chugged along nice-ly as the two batsmen formeda substantial partnership.

Krunal broke the standby getting rid of Iyer, who washoled out to Boult at deepmid-wicket.

It brought Marcus Stonis(13) to the crease. TheAustralian hit two crackingboundaries but was run out ina mix up with Dhawan.

Rohit smartly used hisspinners in the middle oversand and kept Jasprit Bumrah’squota for the slog overs.

Spin duo of Krunal (2/26)and Rahul Chahar concededonly 53 runs in their eightovers.

AP n NÜRBURG

Lewis Hamiltonmatched Michael

Schumacher’s record of91 wins in Formula Onewith victory in the EifelGrand Prix on Sunday ashe took another stridetoward his seventh cham-pionship title.

Hamilton startedbehind his Mercedesteammate Valtteri Bottasbut took the lead whenthe Finn ran wide on lap13. Bottas retired with acar problem five lapslater. Hamilton comfort-ably held off MaxVerstappen in the Red

Bull after a safety carbunched up the pack latein the race. Hamiltontook the win by nearlyfive seconds fromVerstappen, with thirdfor Daniel Ricciardo inRenault's first podiumfinish since 2011.Another record fell asKimi Raikkonen startedhis 323rd race, beatingthe mark set by RubensBarrichello from 1993through 2011.

Raikkonen placed12th after he picked up atime penalty for collidingwith George Russell andsending the Williams dri-ver into a spin.

ROYAL TRIUMPHTewatia takes centre stage again in Rajasthan's win against Sunrisers

PTI n DUBAI

Rahul Tewatia alwayshad self belief that he

can take the game deepduring tough chases andwin it for his team,something he did forthe second time in thisedition of IndianPremier League.

“The wickets werefalling so I just wanted tohold one end up andwait for the boundaryballs. I knew if I keep myself-belief and take itdeep, I could pull itoff,”Tewati said at thepost-match presenta-tion.

“I told Riyan (Parag)that the wicket was play-ing slow and the deeperwe take it, the better ourchances, even if weneeded 50 off the last 4because we have theshots,” added Tewatiawho was adjudged manof the match.

Talking about thechat he had with RiyanParag, who alsoremained not out on 42,in the middle, Tewatiasaid, "Riyan asked mewhat to do. I told him torespect the good ballsand take singles, and Icould take on the attack.

“Against Rashid, Isaw the opportunity toplay the reverse sweepand took it.”

I knew I could takethe match deepand win it: Tewatia

MI reclaim top spot

Kohli challenge for KKRSmriti, Mithali, Harmanto lead teams

Hamilton equalsSchumacher’s record

Shikhar Dhawan hits a shot during ndian Premier League BCCI

Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag during Indian Premier League at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium BCCI

Virat Kohli celebrates the victory BCCI

AP n PARIS

Rafael Nadal tied RogerFederer with 20 Grand Slam

titles by producing a nearly per-fect performance against NovakDjokovic in the French Openfinal.

Nadal equalled long-timerival Federer for the most majorsingles tennis championshipswon by a man and added to hisown record at Roland Garroswith No 13 on the red clay, cour-testy of a surprisingly dominant6-0, 6-2, 7-5 victory over the No1-ranked Djokovic on Sunday.

When Nadal ended it withan ace, he dropped to his knees,smiled widely and pumped hisarms. He did not cede a set in hisfavorite tournament this year.

Nadal, No 2 in the rankings,improved to 100-2 at the French

Open, including a combined 26-0 in semifinals and finals, andpicked up his fourth consecutivetitle in Paris.

The 34-year-old left-handerfrom Spain previously put togeth-er streaks of four French Open

championships from 2005-08,then five in a row from 2010-14,to go alongside his four trophiesat the US Open, two atWimbledon and one at theAustralian Open.

Nadal is now even with

Federer for the first time sinceeach man had zero Slams to hisname in 2003. Federer’s firstarrived at Wimbledon that year;Nadal, naturally, earned his firstin France in 2005, by which pointhe trailed 4-0.

Djokovic’s loss left him at 17majors; had he won, the trio’sstandings would have read 20-19-18. Nadal is the oldest FrenchOpen champion since 1972 andthe more than 15 years betweenhis first and most recent GrandSlam titles is the longest suchspan for a man.

This was the 56th installmentof Nadal vs Djokovic, the mostmeetings between any pair ofmen in the professional era, andtheir ninth in a Grand Slam final,equalling Nadal vs Federer for themost. Djokovic had won 14 of thelast 18 matchups against Nadal,

and led 29-26 overall, includinga 6-3 6-2 6-3 win at the 2019Australian Open final.

Nadal allowed Djokovic onefewer game this time. Nadalmaintained his relentless push,going to a double break for 4-1as even the Serb’s usual defttouches on the drop shot desert-ed him.

Nadal wrapped up a two-setlead with his unforced errorcount at just six to Djokovic’s 30.

Nadal broke for the sixthtime for a 3-2 lead in the thirdbefore Djokovic suddenlyrestored his reputation as thesport's best returner by carvingout his first break of the afternoonfor 3-3.

However, there was to be nomiracle recovery as a double faulthanded Nadal a 6-5 lead and hetook the title with an ace.

Nadal 20/2020Nadal equals 20th Grand Slam title featof Federer, 13th French title

Nadal added to his own record atRoland Garros with No 13 on the red

clay, courtesty of a surprisinglydominant 6-0 6-2 7-5 victory over the

No 1-ranked Djokovic

or over a month,Sai Pallavi’s name has beenattached to the

remake of Vedalam, starringmegastar Chiranjeevi.While the makers haven’tissued any statement deny-ing the news, it has now

emerged that the actress,who cherry-picks her

projects, has likedwhat Meher hasdone with her

role, prompt-ing her to

come onboard.

According to reports, shewill be playing the megas-tar’s adoptive sister in thefilm. In the context of thenarrative, she holds moreimportance than that of theactress who will be pairedopposite Chiru.

Interestingly, reports fur-ther have it that Sunil willbe reprising the part thatwas essayed by Soori. Heforms the fun segment ofthe film. The remake too,like the original, is set inKolkatta. The city of joyholds a special place for themegastar, as his super hitChoodalani Vundi was shotthere.

Our inquiry to Rameshwent unanswered until thetime of going to press.

Vedalam remake, to goon floors after Chiru wrapsup Acharya, will narratethe tale of a gangster-

turned-cab driver, whosecretly avenges themurders of his swornsister’s parents. AnilSunkara is producing

it. Mahati Swara Sagarhas been roped in as the

composer.

ineteen monthsafter the release ofhis successfulTelugu directorialdebut 118, star-ring Kalyanram,

cinematographer-turned-director KV Guhan has com-menced his second film. It isbeing headlined by AdithArun who he introduced tothe film world with InidhuInidhu, the Tamil remake ofTelugu box-office smashHappy Days, a decade ago.

A source close to thedevelopment exclusively tellsus, “The film is a technothriller and is tentativelytitled Firewall. Guhan isdoubling up as the camera-man as well. Set inHyderabad, it is being shotfrom a point of view per-spective. For both the direc-tor and Adith, the film isdeparture from the contentthey've associated so far intheir careers.”

The source further addsGuhan is planning to dubthe film in Tamil. “It is thereason why a host of Tamilactors like Ramya NSK, whois the granddaughter of leg-endary Tamil actor NSK andRiyaz Khan have been roped

in. Satyam Rajesh, SandeepBharadwaj and Viva Harshaare playing other supportingroles. Mirchi Kiran has

penned the dialogues whileSimon K King is on board torender background score,”the source concludes.

12

Vijayawada Monday October 12 2020tollywood

A decade after introducing Adith Arun in theTamil remake of Telugu blockbuster Happy Days,

KV Guhan has picked the actor for his seconddirectorial in Telugu, reports NAGARAJ GOUD

N

Sai Pallavi to play Chiru's sister

ctress and former beauty queen UrvashiRautela is ecstatic that a lion cub hasbeen named after her.

“I’m so delighted that after JackieChan and Rihanna, one of the mostinspiring entrepreneurs Saif Ahmed

Belhasa named one of the baby lionesses after myname ‘Urvashi’, and it was a very lovely experiencevisiting the zoo in Dubai,” Urvashi said.

“When we got the invitation to visit the famepark, I and my team were delighted and happy asI'm passionate about animals. I played with a croco-dile, snakes, giraffe, lions, and leopards. It was a

very happy day out with animals,” she added.Urvashi will soon make her Telugu debutwith the film Black Rose. It is a heroine-cen-

tric thriller directed by Sampath Nandi.“#BlackRose is first Bilingual film inworld to start and finish shooting

during pandemic. Immensely grate-ful & it’s a teamwork,” she wroteon social media while talkingabout her film earlier this month.

URVASHI has a lioness cub

named after her

A

he filming of superstar MaheshBabu-starrer Sarkaru VaariPaata (SVP), which was sup-posed to begin next month inthe US, has been delayed by acouple of months. With

Parasuram and his team undertaking atour of US sometime back to finalise loca-tions, many expected the film to kick-offwith a 45-day schedule in November butwith visa formalities consuming a lot oftime, the production house decided againstthe plan now. Instead, the film will nowroll in January, with the US schedule.Hyderabad portions will be shot after theUS leg of filming.

While story details of SVP are underwraps, we’ve already informed you thatParasuram drew inspiration from bankdefaulters in the last five-six years andpenned a fictional social drama laced withaction. Obviously, his signature humourwill be in abundance. Then there will alsobe a dash of romance. Keerthy Suresh ispaired opposite Mahesh in the film, a jointproduction venture between Mythri MovieMakers, 14 Reels Plus and GMBEntertainment, while SS Thaman is themusic composer.

Sarkaru Vaari Paata

shoot delayedT

Sree Vishnu intalks with Johaardirector for his next

ree Vishnu, whohas a fetish forfresh talent is intalks with Johaardirector TejaMarni for his

next. A source tells us thatthe director has narrated astory to the actor before hisanthology drama, Johaar,dropped on aha andimpressed by it, the latterhas asked the former todevelop it further.

The source says, “It’s abuddy comedy about agroup of friends. Theentire story will unfold ina rural milieu. Vishnuliked the way Teja keptthe characters real andgrounded. The humouremanates from the situa-tions that the characterssee themselves in. The ideais to shoot in a village nearRamachandrapuram, EastGodavari. The director is

working on the second halfright now.”

The source adds,“Chances of this film goingto floors after Vishnu wrapsup Raja Raja Chora aremore. CinematographerJagadeesh Cheekati willmostly be the film’s camera-man.” — NG

S

GUHAN, ADITH TEAMUP FOR A THRILLER F