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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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AALLMMAANNAACC

TTOODDAAYY

Month & Paksham:

Ashwin & Krishna Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Navami 14:42

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Time to Avoid : Time to Avoid (Bad

time to start any important work)

Rahukalam : 9:08 am - 10:34 am

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PNS n BENGALURU

Kannada cinema's reigning star and celebritytelevision host Puneeth Rajkumar, known forfilms such as Appu, "Veera Kannadiga" andMaurya", died here on Friday following amassive heart attack, hospital said. Hewas 46.

Puneeth, who was known to be afitness enthusiast, was rushed toVikram Hospital after he complainedof chest pain following a two-hourworkout in the gym, doctors treatinghim said. He died shortly after.

He is survived by his wife AshwiniRevanth and two daughters Dhriti andVanditha.

Restless crowds of stunned fans milledaround the hospital complex as newscame in of the sudden death of the actor,the son of much loved matinee idolRajkumar who fast outgrew his father'sshadow to carve a place all his own in theKannada showbiz industry.

Puneeth's body will be keptat the KanteeravaStadium to enable thepublic to pay theirlast respects, stateminister RAshoka toldreporters.

The 46-year oldSandalwood star was

rushed to thehospital after he

complained ofchest pain.

PM mournsactor

PuneethRajkumar:

‘Cruel twist offate, was no

age to go’

The eyes ofKannada actorPuneethRajkumar, whopassed away onFriday, wasdonated to adonation centre,named after hisfather lateRajkumar, locatedat NarayanaNethralaya.

A cardiologist’s view onPuneet Rajkumar’s deathPointing out that Puneet Rajkumar is the latest in

the list of celebrities maintaining great levels ofphysical fitness, and yet suffered a massive heartattack, Dr Sai Sudhakar, Chief InterventionalCardiologist Gleneagles Global Hospital, said thatthose who does great physical workout mustremember to balance their stress levels with otheractivities that soothe their mind and body.

Date set for resumption of work from officeNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

IT companies are alerting employ-ees to return to the office fromJanuary 2.

The bigger ones, including Del-oitte, TCS, Infosys and Wells Fargo,have asked employees to return.This was confirmed by severaltechies, who said that emails are be-ing sent and announcements madeon resuming work from offices.

L Kiranmayi from Deloitte said,"In a meeting recently it wasannounced that work from officewill resume from January 2. It ishybrid model. Not everyone will

return to working from the officeon the same day, but it would be aphased return. Like, certain mem-bers will be working from office a

few days in a week while theremaining will work from home."

TCS has asked its employees toreturn to office by 2021-end.

Reportedly, around 5 percent of itsworkforce has already returned.

Another techie with Wells Fargosaid, “Our company is following aphased approach and so workfrom the office is resuming forsome from November 15 itself.First, the operations team will startoff from November 15, then basedon how it works out, the technol-ogy team will start from January 15.Initially, only half of the employeeswill return and then others willresume working from the office.”

A techie said that Infosys wouldalso apply the hybrid model. Nearly70 percent of TCS and 86 percentof Infosys staff are fully vaccinated.

NGT stays Palamur-RRLift Irrigation schemeo Get forest, environmental clearances first, Tribunal tells TSML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

In a set back to the Telangana Stategovernment which is keen to expe-dite the Palamur-Ranga Reddy LiftIrrigation project, the NationalGreen Tribunal on Friday issued astay on the ongoing works of LiftIrrigation scheme.

The Chennai Bench of the NGTinstructed that the works should notbe taken up without Forest andEnvironmental clearances.

In its orders, the Tribunal notedthat full scale approvals for thePalamur-RR Lift Irrigation schemehave not been furnished beforethem and it felt the objectionsraised by Andhra Pradesh govern-ment were fair. It also said theresponse given by Telangana State tothe objections raised by the AP werenot satisfactory.

The NGT made it clear that it wo-uld allow work to progress only afterthe process for seeking approvalsfrom the Ministry of Environmentand Forests was completed.

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment had raised its objections to theLift Irrigation scheme taken up byTelangana, saying that there was noallocation of water for Palamur-RRunder the KWDT-I and KWDT-IIand it was not included in theSchedule 11 of the AP StateReorganisation Act, 2014. It filed twoaffidavits that the construction of

Palamur-RR scheme would have anenvironmental impact on both theTelugu States.

It argued that as per the Schedule11, except Kalwakurthy andNettempadu, the remaining projectswere new and the Telangana govern-ment issued a GO on June 10, 2015to divert 90 tmc ft from Srisailamreservoir for the new ayacut underthe lift irrigation scheme. It repre-sented to the Tribunal that in thename of the drinking water project,it was constructing an irrigationproject.

The AP government alleged thatthe TS government dubiously andartificially divided the PalamurRanga Reddy LIS into two phases-

irrigation (83.9 tmc ft) and drinkingwater with evaporation losses(6.1tmc) to avoid legal scrutiny.

The water availability would haveto be determined by taking intoaccount allocations made underTribunal – II and projects under Sc-hedule 11 and it would not be prop-er to go ahead with the Palamur-RRproject without clarity on the wateravailability, AP said in its affidavit.

Earlier in September, the NGT’sjoint committee inspected the proj-ect works and submitted a report toNGT in October first week thatTelangana had taken up irrigationworks in PRLIS instead of the per-mitted drinking water componentworks.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao inspects the ongoing works ofPalamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme. (File photo)

Actor Puneet Rajkumarsuccumbs to ‘workout’Heart attacks toofrequent in RajKumar’s familyH

eart attacks have beendogging legendary

Kannada movie star RajKumar’s family, if the death ofhis son Puneeth Rajkumar atthe age of 46 is any indication.In fact, the well-built, tallPuneeth Rajkumar used toradiate a picture of health.Kannadigas have beenmourning Puneeth’s untimelydeath with shock and disbelief.Legendary Kannada movieactor and national awardwinner for singing, Raj Kumar,died of a heart attack at theage of 77. Recently, one ofPuneeth’s brothers, SivarajKumar, suffered a heart attackwhile working out in the gymand almost died, butprovidentially managed tosurvive. Doctors said thatSivaraj Kumar suffered a heartattack due to his heavyworkout at the gym.

KTR lures French firms with industrial cluster offerPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State government iswilling to develop a dedicated indus-trial cluster for French companies,particularly SMEs, said IndustriesMinister KT Rama Rao on Friday.

Delivering his keynote address atthe Ambition-India Business Forumin Paris, the Minister said: “Whilenational policies are indeed the pre-rogative of the Union government.,in our federal structure, the Statesalso enjoy considerable autonomy inmultiple operational issues like allot-ment of land, providing approval andpermissions, helping the companiesget trained manpower, preferentialprocurement policies, etc.”

The topic of the prestigious con-ference was: ‘Growth: Drafting the

future of Indo-French relations in apost-Covid era’.

KTR highlighted the welfareschemes and development takingplace in Telangana in the past sevenyears under the leadership of ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

He outlined the way Telangana ismarching ahead under the leader-ship of KCR by mentioning theinvestor-friendly policies introducedby the State government and theindustrial ecosystem prevailing. Heinvited the French businessmen toexplore the investment opportunitiesin Telangana.

KTR stated that the Telanganagovernment was willing to developa dedicated industrial cluster forFrench companies, particularlySMEs.

Talking about TSiPASS, theMinister said, “We (Telangana) arethe most progressive State in thecountry. Our policy allows for self-certification and also promises 15-day clearances by statute. And if wedon't deliver within the 15-day win-

dow, on the 16th day, it is deemedapproved.”

Telangana has a large land bankof about 2,00,000 acres with theTSIIC. “All these lands are verystrategically located and have the bestof high-quality infrastructure likepower, water, waste disposal, connec-tivity etc.,” KTR said.

He highlighted the TelanganaAcademy for Skill and Knowledge(TASK) and stated that theGovernment would train people at itsown cost, transforming them intoquality human resources and also pro-vide major employment opportuni-ties to the locals. The Minister statedthat companies that intended toinvest in India can mention what otherStates are offering and Telangana willmeet, if not beat, their offer.

Petition in HCagainst SiddipetCollector overpaddy cultivationPNS n HYDERABAD

A petition has been filed in theTelangana High Court challeng-ing the orders of the SiddipetCollector not to sell seeds.

Batula Narayana, the petition-er named the Telangana State gov-ernment, Siddipet Collector,District Agriculture Officer andMandal Agriculture Officers asrespondents.

He said in the petition that theorders issued not to sell rice seedswere illegal and sought actionagainst Collector VenkatramiReddy for threatening farmersnot to sow paddy and sell seeds inYasangi.

PNS n HYDERABAD

After witnessing a high-decibelcampaign by the opposition BJPand ruling TRS that lasted aboutfive months, Huzurabad voters willexercise their right to choose theirnext representative in the StateAssembly in the by-election to beheld on Saturday.

Amidst unprecedented bando-bust arrangements and deploy-ment of Central as well as Stateforces, Chief Electoral OfficerShashank Goel said on Fridaythat all arrangements are in placefor the by-election necessitated dueto the resignation of sitting MLAand former minister EatalaRajender after he fell out with the

TRS. Eatala later joined the BJPand was named the saffron party’scandidate.

The constituency has over 2.36lakh voters who would be able tocast their vote between 7 am and7 pm in 306 polling stations.

Ex-CAG Vinod Rai mustapologise for conspiringagainst UPA govt: CongPNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress accused formerCAG Vinod Rai on Friday ofbeing a conspirator todestabilise theManmohan Singh-ledUPA government anddemanded that heapologise to thenation for doing so.

It said Rai stood"exposed" after he ten-dered an unconditionalapology to former CongressMP Sanjay Nirupam for "wrong-ly mentioning" him as one of theMPs who had pressured him notto name former prime ministerManmohan Singh in the CAG

report on 2G spectrum allocation.Congress spokesperson Pawan

Khera told reporters here that Raiadmitted on Thursday that he

had lied in 2014 toNirupam and apolo-

gised to him."Imagine a man

who can lie to sell abook, what all can hedo to push his ownagenda and the agen-

da of his masters," hesaid."We demand that Rai

apologise to the entire nation inthe same manner in which heunconditionally apologised toNirupam," Khera said.

From childstar to ‘Power

Star’ therewill never

be anotherlike him

Jagan jail-bound, KCRdreaming of becomingAP CM, says RevanthK VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

TPCC president A Revanth Reddyon Friday said that Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao mightbe dreaming of becom-ing the ChiefMinister of undi-vided AndhraPradesh as hisAndhra Pradeshcounterpart YSJ a g a n m o h a nReddy will besent to jail by theCBI court.

To validate his alle-gation, Revanth Reddy saidthat the silence of the TRS leaderson the comments of AndhraPradesh Minister PerniVenkatramaiah (Nani) spoke vol-umes. “Silence means the TRS is

accepting Perni Nani’s statements,”he said.

The TPCC chief, who also rep-resents the Malkajgiri seat in theLok Sabha, said that YSRTP chiefYS Sharmila’s padayatra and Perni

Nani’s comments on reunit-ing the two Telugu States

are not unexpecteddevelopments.

“A conspiracy isbeing hatched to unitethe two Telugu Statesby ramping up thedispute over sharing of

waters,” he said.Revanth Reddy said

that he doesn't know whereKCR would contest from –

Bhimavaram or Bobbili – in thenext elections since both KCR andJagan are behaving like ‘twins’.

All eyes on Huzurabad

- Page: 2

Long-range bomb flight successfully tested PNS n NEW DELHI

The Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) and the Indian AirForce (IAF) jointly conducted

a successful flight test of along-range bomb (LRB) inOdisha on Friday, the DefenceMinistry said.

Major reshuffleof MunicipalCommissionersin Telangana

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Are peddlers trying to grow ganja plants in the city?G RAVI KIRANn HYDERABAD

With smuggling drugs into thecity becoming almost impos-sible due to heightened policevigil, it seems the mafia hasstarted raising ganja plants inHyderabad itself.

A ganja plant was found onthe Musi river bank by localsand the police were informed.Some years back it was foundthat a peddler had plantedganja in garden pots kept at hisflat.

It is impossible to generalise

that ganja plantations exist inthe city, but it is definitelyalarming.

On Friday, some localsfound a ganja plant on theMusi river bank nearChaderghat. After confirmingthat it was a ganja plant, theyinformed the police. Thepolice too confirmed it. Butthey found only a single iso-lated ganja plant and con-firmed that there were noother plants.

Kacheduga InspectorMohammad HabeebullahKhan said, “It is true that we

found a small ganja plant.There are no other ganja plantsin that area. We don’t thinkthat anybody planted it, itmay have grown naturally.”

Ganja or cannabis plantscan be planted only throughseeds. The locals assume thatsomebody planted a seed thereon a trial basis. If nobody hadfound the plant, they mighthave increased the number ofplants, the locals believe.

Generally, ganja plants willflower after four months andsome may take up to eightmonths. Now, it is possible toplant ganja indoors using newfarming techniques and theplant will grow to maturity injust eight weeks.

In 2017, the police found

that a peddler had grownganja plants in pots and anoth-er one did the same in the ter-race garden of his house. Afterthat no ganja plants werefound in the city.

In the last 10 days, thepolice have clamped down onganja distribution and trans-port in a big way. Generally,the city gets ganja from thetribal agency area ofVisakhapatnam. The peddlersare using roads to bring theganja to Hyderabad. Now, thepolice are not allowing ganjatransport.

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

With the world's second largestincubator, T-Hub2, all set totake off, Telangana IT MinisterKT Rama Rao toured StationF, the world's largest incubatorcampus located in Paris.

He interacted with theStation F team and discussedpotential collaboration withTelangana's innovation ecosys-tem organisations like THub,WeHub and TWorks.

Station F is a unique campusand community in the heart ofParis, with 1,000 start-ups.Originally a railway depot,this facility has been remod-elled and transformed into anincubator.

The Telangana delegationheaded by KTR met head hon-chos of several French businesshouses on Day-two of their tour.

KTR held a meeting withGeraldine Lemle, DeputyCEO, Movement of theEnterprises of France

(MEDEF) in Paris. During themeeting, the Minister statedthat Telangana offers excellentcollaboration opportunities for

French SMEs.MEDEF is the largest

employer federation in France.It is the leading network ofentrepreneurs in France withover 95 percent of the busi-nesses belonging to theMEDEF being SMEs.

KTR highlightedTelangana's recent successes infood grains, meat, milk andfish production. "This hasopened up several opportuni-ties for food processing com-panies," he said.

During the day, the delegationheld a meeting with ADPChairman and CEO Augustinde Romanet in Paris. ADP hasrecently invested in Hyderabadairport.

During the meeting, theMinister stated that the avia-tion sector in India is in a rapidgrowth phase and the industryis poised to scale new heights

as the pandemic-relatedrestrictions are eased.

He added that Hyderabad ishome to several major globalaerospace companies andstressed the need to train andsupply quality manpower forthe aerospace sector.

In another meeting, theMinister, who also holds theIndustries portfolio, metSanofi's Head of InternationalOperations Fabrice Baschieraand Head of Global VaccinesPublic Affairs IsabelleDeschamps in Paris.

Sanofi would soon belaunching production of itsSix-in-One vaccine from itsHyderabad facility.

Principal Secretary JayeshRanjan, Aerospace andDefence Director Praveen andDigital Media Director DileepKonatham were present in themeetings.

Ahead of T-Hub2 inaugural, KTR takesa tour of largest incubator in the world

Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao visits ‘Station F’, the world's largest incubatorcampus located in Paris, along with members of his team on Friday.

From child star to ‘Power Star’there will never be another like himPNS n NEW DELHI

He was matinee iconRajkumar's son, of course, butPuneeth Rajkumar was alsothe "Power Star" who movedout of his father's long shadowsto glitter in the arclights asKannada cinema's most bank-able, highly paid actor. PuneethRajkumar was only 46 when hedied after a massive heartattack following a two-hourworkout in the gym, stunninghis legions of fans, colleaguesand political leaders left won-dering just how a young manso seemingly fit and healthycould have gone so soon, sosuddenly.

The talented, affable actor,who leaves behind his wife andtwo daughters, was popularlyknown as Powerstar for hisstrong performance in a num-ber of commercially-successfulKannada films. He was not justa star of films such as Appu butalso a celebrity television hostand the occasional singer too.The actor grew up under thetutelage of the late DrRajkumar, the legendaryKannada personality icon,beginning his career as a childartist.

Puneeth, the fifth and theyoungest child of the superstar,made his mark early in lifewith an extraordinary perfor-mance in Bhakta Prahaladawhere he worked with hisfather. He was also praised forhis performance in VasanthaGeeta and Bhagyavantha.

But it was Bettada Hoovu,where he played the role of ayoung boy Ramu who assists aresearcher to find a rare flower,that won Puneeth a nationalaward as the best child actor.A fitness enthusiast, Puneethwas a good badminton playerand was a regular at the gym.

On Friday also, he went tothe gym, according to doctors.After completing two hours ofwork-out, he developed severe

chest pain. He was rushed tothe hospital following the car-diac arrest but he could not besaved. As a leading man,Puneeth made his entry intoKannada film industry withthe 2002 feature Appu, themovie that brought him enor-mous success and fan follow-

ing, so much so that his follow-ers started calling him Appu.

His notable films includedAbhi, Veera Kannadiga,Mourya, Chakravyuha,Doddmane Hudga, Akash,Arasu, Milana, Jackie,Raajakumara and AnjaniPutra.

‘Great loss for Karnataka’Tributes pour in

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and several otherpoliticians paid tributes to the popular actor. Bommai said that

he was deeply saddened and that the death of Rajkumar was ahuge personal loss. "Shocked and deeply saddened as Karnataka'smost loved superstar #PuneetRajkumar is no longer with us. Ahuge personal loss and one that's difficult to come to terms with.Praying the Almighty gives the Rajkumar family and fans thestrength to bear this loss," he posted on Twitter. Former Karnatakachief minister Siddaramaiah said that Rajkumar had won the heartsof Kannadigas through his acting skills and that it was a great lossfor Karnataka. Son of matinee idol Rajkumar, Puneeth was fondlycalled ''Appu'' by his fans. He started his career as a child artistewith his father in the early 1980s. ‘Raam’, “Hudugaru’ and ‘AnjaniPutra’ are some of his memorable movies. He was last seen in“Yuvarathnaa’, which was released early this year.

To be crematedwith State honoursK

annada actor PuneethRajkumar, who died at the

age of 46 at Bengaluru'sVikram Hospital on Friday,will be cremated with statehonours on Saturday,Manjunatha Prasad, thePrincipal Secretary toKarnataka Chief Ministerannounced on Friday. Hiscremation will take place atthe Kanteerava Stadium inBengaluru. ANI shared atweet: "The last rites of actor#PuneethRajkumar to beperformed with Statehonours at KanteeravaStudios in Bengaluru:Manjunatha Prasad, PrincipalSecretary to Karnataka ChiefMinister."

Telugu film fraternitycondoles PuneethRajkumar's demiseHYDERABAD: Telugu filmpersonalities includingsuperstar Chiranjeeviexpressed anguish over thedeath of Kannada actorPuneeth Rajkumar followinga massive heart attack onFriday. Expressing shock overthe actor's death, Chiranjeeviin a tweet said, "Shocking,devastating & heartbreaking!#PuneethRajkumar gone toosoon. Rest in Peace! Mydeepest sympathies andtearful condolences to thefamily. A huge loss to theKannada/ Indian filmfraternity as a whole.Strength to all to cope withthis tragic loss!."

BJP, TRS trade barbs overpaddy on Huzurabad by-poll eveML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

While Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy’s dare to StateBJP president Bandi Sanjayand Union Minister G KishanReddy on Thursday to getclarity from the Centre whenit would begin to procurepaddy went in vain, BJP lead-ers Premender Reddy and oth-ers joined the issue on the eveof voting for the HuzurabadAssembly by-election.

“The Centre only said itwould not purchase boiled rice,”the BJP leaders said in anattempt to turn the tables on theState government, adding thatthe Union government wouldprocure any amount of raw rice.

They went on level freshallegations that the State gov-ernment was functioning likea middleman to benefit millersand alleged that this was thereason behind its insistencethat the Centre should procureboiled rice. There were alsoposts in social media that theRythu Bandhu scheme mightnot be continued in future.

Paddy procurement hasbecome a major election issuewith the State BJP and rulingTRS leaders indulging inblame game and pointing fin-gers at each other for the

uncertainty pertaining topaddy procurement in thecoming Yasangi season and thefarmers turning restive in somedistricts.

While the State governmenthas been advocating since lastyear for diversification of cropswhich enjoy market demandinstead of concentrating onlyon paddy, the State BJP, sens-ing the reluctance of farmers toshift from paddy, targeted theState for dictating terms tofarmers.

Condemning the allega-tions, Niranjan Reddy said onFriday that the BJP leaders notonly failed to accept his chal-lenge to get a letter fromCentre on paddy purchase butstooped to another low, level-ling ridiculous allegations.“Would they also say that thegovernments of 19 BJP-ruledStates are functioning likemiddlemen? Would they sayNarendra Modi as three-timeGujarat Chief Minister tooplayed the role of middle-man,” he sought to know.

Assuring the farming com-munity that paddy purchasecentres were being set up asharvesting of Kharif paddystarted from last week , he saidthe government was gearingup for the Yasangi season.

Reminding the BJP leaders

it was constitutional obligationon the part of the Centre as perArticle 246 and ConcurrentList to procure food grains andall crops cultivated by farmersfor food security by announc-ing minimum support price,Niranjan Reddy said theresponsibility was given toCentre as majority of peopledepended on agriculture for aliving in the country.

“Yet the State has to repeat-edly beg the Centre to pur-chase paddy and so far they didnot indicate how much paddythey would procure in Kharifthough crop was coming to themarket. The Centre wouldpurchase paddy in Punjab buthas a different rule forTelangana,” he said.

“The Centre has forgottenits responsibility but makesirrational allegations againstthe State for political mileage,”Niranjan Reddy said.

He said that the Telanganagovernment procured not onlypaddy but every crop – puls-es, maize and even jowar – tohelp farmers during Covid asCentre failed to do its duty, theState Agriculture Minister said.“If the BJP MPs in Telanganaare sincere, they should prevailon the Centre to purchase allcrops for which MSP was notbeing paid,” he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The government on Fridayordered the transfers and post-ings of certain Municipal Co-mmissioners across the State.

Accordingly, almost all themunicipalities surroundingthe GHMC like Nizampet,Manikonda, Adibatla, Gundl-apochampally, Peerzadiguda,Ibrahimpatnam, Jawaharnagarmunicipalities will get newCommissioners.

J. Shankariah who was wo-rking as Additional Commiss-ioner, GHMC was transferredand posted as Commissioner,Nizampet Municipal Corpor-ation in the existing vacancy.

Ch. Nageshwar, working asAdditional Commissioner,GWMC was transferred andposted as Commissioner, Me-erpet Municipal Corporation.

Dr Ramakrishna Rao,Deputy Director (Veterinary),GHMC, was posted as Co-mmissioner, PeerzadigudaMunicipal Corporation ondeputation basis.

P. Ravinder Sagar, JointCommissioner, GHMC, wastransferred as Commissioner,Miryalaguda Municipality.

B. Satyanarayana Reddy,Commissioner, Medchal Mu-nicipality ws posted asMunicipal Commissioner,Nirmal Municipality.

SV Janaki Ram Sagar,

Superintendent, office of theC&DMA was transferred andposted as Commissioner,Gadwal Municipality.

K. Jayanth Kumar ReddyCommissioner, Ibrahimpa-tnam Municipality was post-ed as Commissioner, Shadn-agar Municipality.

K. Amarender Reddy work-ing as Municipal Commissi-oner, Guncilapochampally wasposted as Commissioner,Adibatla Municipality. D.Lavanya was posted asCommissioner, Gundlapoc-hampally Municipality.

MNR Jyothi, Assistant Di-rector, TUFIDC, was posted asCommissioner, TurkayamjalMunicipality. K. PhalgunKumar, working as JointDirector, office of C&DMAwas posted as Commissioner,Manikonda Municipality.

S. lnayanth, Special GradeMunicipal Commissioner isposted as Joint Director, officeof C&DMA. Mohd. Yousuf,working as Joint Commissi-oner, GHMC, was posted asMunicipal Commissioner,Ibrahimpatnam Municipality.

Ahmed Safiullah, AssistantDirector (waiting for post-ing) was posted as Commi-ssioner, Medchal Municipality.

A. Jyothi Reddy, DLPO,PR&RD, was posted asCommissioner, JawaharnagarMunicipal Corporation.

Major reshuffle of MunicipalCommissioners in Telangana

Continued from page 1

He said that in the past therespondents had claimedthat projects were being builtonly for paddy but werenow describing paddy culti-vation as ‘suicide’. The peti-tioner explained to the courtthat the Collector hadreportedly claimed that hewould ignore even SupremeCourt and the High Courtorders as well.

Petition in...

Continued from page 1

He said the formerComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) needs to issuean unconditional apology tothe country as he owes one "formaking a fool of everyone".Khera said the time has cometo undo the wrong done toSingh's government, to theCongress and to the country.

Ex-CAG Vinod...Continued from page 1

"The LRB, after release fromthe IAF fighter aircraft, guid-ed to a land-based target at along range with accuracy with-in specified limits," the min-istry said in a statement. All themission objectives were suc-cessfully met, it mentioned.

"The flight of the bomb andthe performance were moni-tored by a number of rangesensors, including electrooptical tracking system(EOTS), telemetry and radar,"it noted.

Long-range bomb...

Nirmala SitharamanCondolences on the passing away of#PuneethRajkumar. A bright star. He had a longpromising career ahead. My condolences to hisfamily, his innumerable fans and followers.

Chiranjeevi KonidelaShocking, devastating & heartbreaking!#PuneethRajkumar gone too soon. Rest in Peace!My deepest sympathies and tearful condolencesto the family. A huge loss to the Kannada / Indianfilm fraternity as a whole. Strength to all to copewith this tragic loss!

Pawan KalyanWith a heavy heart ‘my dear brother ‘Puneeth’ Ipray to Almighty to take care of you in your finaljourney. My heartfelt condolences to Sri Shiva RajKumar, & Sri Puneeth’s family members.

"Shocked and deeply saddened as Karnataka'smost loved superstar #PuneetRajkumar is nolonger with us. A huge personal loss and onethat's difficult to come to terms with. Praying theAlmighty gives the Rajkumar family and fans thestrength to bear this loss!

MammoottyShocking and Heart breaking to know thatPuneeth is no more. It is a huge loss for the filmfraternity. My deepest condolences to Puneeth'sfamily and loved ones. RIP #PuneethRajkumar

Virender SehwagSaddened to hear about the passing away of#PuneethRajkumar . Warm and humble, his

passing away is a great blow to Indian cinema.May his soul attain sadgati. Om Shanti.

Radikaa Sarath KumarSometimes we don’t value the moment, till its gone#Appu #Puneethrajkumar #kannadafilmindustrycannot comprehend this at all.

Jagapathi BabuShocked and deeply saddened by the passingaway of one of the most loved actors in the IndianCinema, #PuneethRajkumar. Condolences to hisfamily, friends and countless fans.#RIPPuneethRajkumar

HansikaI just can’t process this!! Such a passionate,warm and humble human being !! this is sotragic . Deepest condolence to his family .may hissoul rest in peace #PuneethRajkumar

Dulquer SalmaanOne of the kindest and warmest Actors/gentlemen.Praying to the Almighty to give Puneeth Sirsfamily, friends and his ocean of fans the strengthto cope with this irreplaceable loss. #RIP#PuneethRajKumar #Gentleman #actor #loss#cannotunderstand #soyoung

Devi Sri PrasadHeartbroken He was such a Simple Down to earthMan frm a great Family! Always used 2 tell me abthow much he loved my Music His Mother &Family was so sweet n affectionate. Why suchthings happen to such good people!? Strength 2his Family R.I.P sir #PuneethRajkumar

Heart attacks...Continued from page 1After that, Sivaraj Kumar stoppedexercising heavily. Sivaraj Kumarwas 54 when he suffered theheart attack. He was rushed toVittal Mallya hospital and wasprovided timely treatment and hesurvived. On Friday, Puneethsuffered a severe heart attackwhile working out heavily in thegym. He was trying to mould hisbody to present the character ofa bodybuilder in a movie inwhich he was going to act.

Actor Puneet...Continued from page 1

According to governmentsources, the last rite will beperformed on Sunday, as thefamily awaits the arrival ofPuneeth's daughter, who isstaying abroad.

According to the hospital,the actor was brought to thehospital with a family doctordiagnosing that he had had aheart attack. "At the time ofarrival to the emergency, thepatient was nonresponsiveand was in cardiac asystole.Hence, immediate advancedcardiac life support measureswere initiated forresuscitation... "The panel ofmedical experts extended allefforts to save him. He wasdeclared dead at 2.30 pm on29.10.2021," read the

statement by Dr RanganathNayak, a cardiologist atVikram Hospital.

Condolences at the deathof the actor, who began hiscareer as a child artistappearing in movies such as"Thayige Thakka Maga" and"Bhagyavantha", poured infrom political leaders,including Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, colleaguesin the southern film industryas well as those in Bollywood-- their messages echoing hislegions of fans grieving thehero who had gone too soon.

Sharing a picture with theactor and his family, thePrime Minister said, "A crueltwist of fate has snatchedaway from us a prolific andtalented actor, Puneeth Rajk-umar. This was no age to go.”

A cardiologist’sview on Puneet...Continued from page 1

“Especially celebrities workunder extremely demandingcircumstances, and they mustensure their body is restedproperly to ensure it recuper-ates well,” the doctor said.

He said that recovery is asimportant as exertion. “Unlessthis balance is maintained,body tissues break down fasterthan expected causing moreharm than good. Those doingheavy physical workout mustundergo regular checkups forhormonal changes, becauseeven that could have a nega-tive impact and lead to prob-lems like heart attack or a brainstroke,” Dr Sudhakar said.

He said that skipping mealsis the new fad for thosefocussing on losing weight ordoing workout to stay in prop-er shape. But, when you skipmeals, the body doesn't getenergy from food and it looksfor new sources of energy.

KCR dreaming of becoming...Continued from page 1

Asking the people of Telanganato ‘smash’ the conspirators, hewarned that such conspiracieswould never find acceptance.

The TPCC chief said theNational Green Tribunal(NGT) had stayed the construc-tion of the Palamuru-RangaReddy project on Friday statingthat it has no environmentalclearance. He said that southTelangana will face severe loss

due to the NGT stay.He said the then Congress

government had issued GONo. 72 for the survey of thePalamuru-Ranga Reddy projectin August 2013. “However,KCR changed the project'sdesign and location from Juralato Srisailam as he was moreinterested in commissions,”Revanth Reddy alleged.

“The Palamuru-RangaReddy project has not beencompleted even after six years

although KCR had laid itsfoundation in June 2015 sayingthat it would be completedwithin three years,” the TPCCchief reminded.

Revanth Reddy said the statehad lost the case in NGT as thegovernment had failed toappoint an efficient counselresulting in a stay on thePalamuru-Rangareddy project.He described the stay as adeath sentence for southTelangana.

All eyes on HuzurabadContinued from page 1

Though there are 30 candi-dates in the fray, it is expect-ed to be a straight contestbetween TRS candidate GelluSrinivas handpicked by ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao and BJP’s Eatala. Hopingto upstage them is Congresscandidate B. Venkat and the

rest.In 47 of the 306 polling sta-

tions, there are more than1,000 registered voters. Thepolling personnel have start-ed reaching their designatedpolling stations in five man-dals of the constituency fromFriday afternoon. Counting ofvotes will be taken up onNovember 2.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2021 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

Pointing out that the Internethas revolutionised communi-cation dramatically, OsmaniaUniversity Vice-ChancellorProf. D Ravinder said thatPublic Relations needs tokeep up with the changes if itwants to retain its role as acommunicator betweenorganisations and the public.

Prof Ravinder was address-ing a function to mark 'WorldCommunicators Day-2021'organised by the PublicRelations Council of India-Hyderabad Chapter at thePress Club, Somajiguda onThursday. Stating that com-

munication is key to develop-ment of society, ProfRavinder cited the example of

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao. “TheChief Minister is a very good

communicator; he effective-ly communicates to all sec-tions of people, both literateand illiterate. He is wellversed in communicating hisideas, views effectively to thetargeted group,” the Vice-Chancellor said.

PRCI initiated WorldCommunicators’ Day to becelebrated on October 28 –the day the world’s first pressrelease was sent out by IvyLee in the US on October 28,1906, following aPennsylvania Railroad trainaccident tragically killing 50people.

On this occasion‘Samvahana” awards were pre-

sented to the distinguishedcommunicators in variousfields to honour them. B. AnilKumar, Senior PublicRelations officer, SCR, PradeepMenon of On stageEntertainers, BR Abraham,President of League organisa-tion of Rural Development,Anumula Babu Rao,Chairman ABR Cafe andBakers Pvt. Ltd., MujtabaAskari of helping Hand foun-dation, Executive Editor TNews Suresh, GhouseMoinuddin, Chairman, StPaul’s & St Joseph’s group ofColleges, N. Hasvanth ReddyTIE Young Entrepreneurs werepresented Samvahana Awards

with certificates and souvenirs.Guest of Honour Ch.

Rakesh CPRO, SCR, SrNational Vice President PRCIK. Ravindran Joint SecretaryPRCI TVS Narayan, DirectorsNational Executive FRMichael, C Elbert, GhisulalJain and D. Aparna were pre-sent.

World Communicators Daywas organised by PRCIHyderabad Chapter under theleadership of its ChairmanShakeel Ahmed, Vice-Chairperson G. Aneeja,Secretary Philip Joshua, JointSecretary Jacob RossBhoompag and Treasurer NoelRobinson.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana PradeshCongress Committee hastermed famous political strate-gist Prashanth Kishore (PK) asa ‘rented mic' and ‘politicalbroker’ and that he has no ide-ology and will work for anyoneif sufficient money is given.

Lashing out at Prashanth forcriticising the Congress, theTPCC stated that he spokeagainst the Congress forgettinghis status.

Speaking to the media onFriday at the Gandhi Bhavan,TPCC senior vice-president DrMallu Ravi warned PrashanthKishore that he would have topay a heavy price if he fails tostop criticising the Congress.

He said that the Indian peo-ple have secularism in theirDNA. The Congress works intune with the people’s DNA, hesaid.

Dr Mallu said the Const-itutional Draft Committee hadaccepted the issues mentionedin the Constitution written byDr B R Ambedkar.

He said that all Constitut-ional Draft Committee mem-bers were from the Congressand hence the IndianConstitution is the manifesto

of the Congress.Dr Mallu Ravi said that

their leader Rahul Gandhi hasbeen working for the Congressideals of secularism, socialism,social justice, liberalism andfreedom.

The BJP has been selling allpublic sector units after itcame to power. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is trying tohand over the nation’s assets toa few people, Dr Mallu said.The prices of essentials are sky-rocketing under Modi, headded.

The former MP said that itis shameful that people werestaging dharnas alleging thatthey didn’t get money for theirvotes in Huzurabad.

Dr Mallu said the peoplehad asked the police to explainwhy they did not arrest personsdistributing money.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar on Fridayissued a Preventive Detentionorder against Guvvala PavanKumar (29), a notorious rowdysheeter of Jubilee Hills.

The Police Commissinoersaid that Pavan Kumar hasbeen habitually committingoffenses along with his asso-ciates in an organised man-ner to make easy money andassert his dominance in thearea.

PNS n HYDERABAD

GHMC could collect propertytax on only about 52 percent ofthe properties in its limits.

As per GHMC records, thereare 17,34,411 commercial, res-idential and mixed buildingsand houses under its limits.Demand notices were issued toall of them and only 9,06,486of the property owners paidproperty tax. In all, the amountcollected was Rs 887 crore.

As per a press release fromthe Corporation, 340 surveyteams inspected buildings oneither side of the main roadwithin the GHMC limits toidentify details of buildings,and to bring those propertiesunder the property tax netunder present usage as some of

the residential buildings arebeing used for commercialpurposes and upper floorshave been constructed without

permission.The teams explained to the

owners of the buildings toupdate the usage and un-

assessed / under-assessed prop-erties and apply for revision ofproperty tax voluntarily. As aresult 49,439 owners voluntar-ily came forward for revision ofproperty tax and their applica-tions are under scrutiny, theGHMC said.

The cash starved corpora-tion issued notice to citizens topay property tax on time, orthey would have to pay anadditional penalty of 2 percentper month.

GHMC issues tax assess-ments twice for a financial yearand issues demand notices tohouseholds. Recipients ofdemand notices are required topay tax on the notices senteither as SMS to their mobileor email ids.

Property tax is payable with

a total penalty of 6 percent atthe rate of 2 percent per monthfor 3 months in a half year.

Notice of demand will alsobe issued for the second halfyear.

For the first six months ofApril, May, June, July, Augustand September, there is nopenalty for the first threemonths, April, May and June.Similarly, demand notices willbe issued in October for theremaining six months. Eventhen there is no penalty for themonths of October, Novemberand December. The other threemonths are January, Februaryand March with a penalty of 2percent per month.

Those who do not pay prop-erty tax for a year will have topay a 24 percent penalty.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Rachakonda police will bere-launching ‘naya savera’, adrug de-addiction programmeto save students from drugabuse and show them the rightpath, Police CommissionerMahesh Bhagwat said onFriday.

‘Naya savera’ is aimed atkeeping children, youth andstudents away from drugabuse. It was earlier launchedin 2017 in collaboration withAmritha Foundation Society.“It has helped many childrenand students get awarenessabout the problems with theusage of illegal drugs. This pro-gramme successfully conduct-ed awareness sessions inschools, colleges and hotspots,”said Bhagwat, adding thatmany students were coun-selled.

“Usage of illegal drugs coulddamage health and consump-tion is a crime. Under theNDPS Act for repeatedoffences under Section 31A,punishment includes the deathpenalty. The public is to bewarned against involving in thesupply chain of drugs or theywill face dire consequencesfrom the judiciary,” he said.

“PD Act will be used againsttraffickers and suspect sheetsto keep watch will be opened.Property earned through drugselling will be legally seized fol-lowing NDPS Act procedure,”the official warned.

Bhagwat said that as a partof the re-launch of ‘naya sav-era’, the Rachakonda PoliceCommissionerate was going toconduct awareness pro-grammes in select schools,colleges and hotspots off-lineand online in association withDevika Rani of AmrithaFoundation Society. Duringthe sessions, students will begiven counselling to safeguardthemselves from drug abuse.

He also said that de-addic-tion programs will also beconducted once a week onTuesday. Anyone having infor-mation on drugs shouldinform at 9490617111.

Just over half of 17,34,411 ownersin GHMC limits paid property tax

‘Naya Savera’ re-launchedto protect kids from drugs

Rachakonda Police seizeweed worth Rs 18.50 lakhPNS n HYDERABAD

Continuing the drive againstdrugs, the Rachakonda Policeseized 110 kg marijuanaalong with a transport vehi-cle and mobiles worth Rs18.50 lakh from two inter-state drug peddlers on Friday.

In the morning hours ofFriday, acting on specificinformation, the sleuths ofSOT LB Nagar Zone, alongwith Abdullapurmet Police,apprehended two drug ped-dlers, identified asLumbaram Solanki, 24, andKishna Ram, both fromRajasthan and seized theganja, along with a transportvehicle and mobile phonesand cash from them.

Their associates, MasadaPedda Balanna, 32, the sup-plier from Visakhapatnam,and Rasheed, 31, their receiv-er from Uttar Pradesh, areabsconding.

Solanki migrated toHyderabad about 15 yearsago in search of livelihoodand Kishna about 9 years ago.They had worked in the cityas daily wage labourers in dif-ferent shops in Shabad areaby staying in rented rooms.

About 5 years ago, Solankipurchased a mini transportvehicle, in which he trans-ported gutka from Karnatakato Hyderabad and later soldhis vehicle to a known per-

son, Mangilal of Rajasthan,who used to work in a privatecompany at Kukatpally area,Hyderabad. “However,Mangilal did not pay him theentire sale consideration andSolanki also did not transferthe registration of the vehicleon Mangilal’s name.Meanwhile, Mangilal, a habit-ual transporter of ganja fromAP state to Rajasthan and UP,was caught by theNarsinghpur Police ofMadhya Pradesh. Uponknowing about the arrest,Solanki met Mangilal in amulakat while he was inNarsinghpur district jail andlearnt the process of illicittransportation of ganja fromNarsipatnam agency area toUP State and retrieved themobile numbers of both thesuppliers,” explained thepolice.

On Friday morning, as thetwo accused reached nearORR in Abdullapurmet, thejoint team of SOT LB NagarZone and Abdullapurmetpolice caught them.

Cyberabad Police apprehended

six, book five under NDPS ActPNS n HYDERABAD

Cyberabad police officials onThursday registered five casesunder the NDPS act andapprehended six offenders.Officials said that two kgmarijuana was seized fromthe accused, 29 E-petty caseswere registered against con-sumers of gutkha and personsfound smoking in publicplaces. In a similar arrest,Dundigal police apprehend-ed two persons who werefound in possession of hash

oil on Friday. The accusedpersons – Kota Jaya Satya Sai,22 and Mohammed RayeesAli, 21 – are residents ofDundigal. The Police arrest-

ed the duo based on a tip offand seized 110 ml of hash oilfrom their possession. Theduo was produced before acourt for custody.

World Communicators Day celebrated

PD Act slappedon rowdy sheeterof Jubilee Hills

PNS n HYDERABAD

The BJP MP from Nizamabad,Dharmapuri Arvind, has react-ed on the paddy issue askingChief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao to make itclear why the governmentwants farmers not to cultivatepaddy even though the CMhad assured that the TRS gov-ernment will procure two croretonnes of paddy.

He made it clear that theCentre has stated in the letterthat it will not purchase par-boiled rice but not paddy. Hesaid that the Centre nowheresaid that it will not purchasepaddy, but had only said thatit will not purchase parboiledrice.

Arvind alleged that the stategovernment was behaving dic-tatorially on paddy cultivation.

Criticising ministers forblaming the Centre by show-ing a letter regarding paddyprocurement, Arvind said thathe is ready for an open debateon the Centre’s letter to theState.

He asked the ChiefMinister to explain howmuch paddy the TRS govern-ment had exported in the last

seven years.He said that the Centre had

asked the state to establish foodprocessing units as it is gives 80per cent subsidy for it. TheCentre had also asked thestate to set up rice bran oilunits in the State, he said.

Criticising the state gov-ernment for forcing paddyseed dealers not to sell seeds,Arvind asked the ChiefMinister to explain whetherpaddy seed dealers have to sellganja seeds instead of paddyseeds.

He alleged that the TRSgovernment was troublingfarmers severely regarding theprocurement of paddy.

He made it clear that thestate government has noauthority to decide what farm-ers should cultivate.

He said there were noadvanced mills in the State,however, the Centre had askedthe State to modernise oldmills in places like Karimnagar.But the Chief Minister is col-lecting 20 per cent commis-sion, he alleged.

Arvind asked officials not tolive like slaves but do some-thing good. He asked KCR,who is suggesting that farmersshould not cultivate paddy, toexplain why KCR had con-structed the Kaleshwaram pro-ject.

45 tolas of gold stolenfrom home in Jubilee Hills

KCR must explain why he wantsfarmers to give up paddy: Arvind

PK is a political broker,rented mike, says TPCC

PNS n HYDERABAD

The KPHB police nabbedthree persons following a raidat a brothel in KPHB Colonyon Friday. The arrested per-sons were identified as B Raju,52, Noor Pasha Khasimbi, 50and B Krishna Reddy, 35.

According to the police,based on a tip-off, a raid wasconducted at a house on roadnumber 4 in KPHB Colony,where four persons, includingtwo women, were found.During interrogation, the offi-cials learned that Raju hadtaken the flat on rent to run abrothel along with Noor PashaKhasimbi. They also arrested

Krishna Reddy, a softwareengineer, who confessed to vis-iting the place as a customer.

The KPHB police arrestedthem, who were remanded injudicial custody. A case hasbeen registered and the inves-tigation is on. A victim wasrescued from the house and isbeing counselled, said thepolice.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A person, identified as MohdArshad Khan, 22, arrested oncharges of robbery and was inthe custody of the Shankarp-ally police escaped on Friday.He was a resident of Shank-arpally and native of UttarPradesh.

According to the police,Khan was arrested along withfive others by the Shankar-pally police for robbing a per-son of Rs 27,500 and hismobile phone after waylayinghis car and attacking him.The gang was involved inseven cases registered inShankarpally, Vikarabad,Bhanoor, Kondapur andMominpet police station lim-its, said the police.

The police said that Khanescaped right before he wasbeing shifted to the CentralPrison in Cherlapally.

Khan had asked the policeto let him use the bathroom.He removed the window grilland escaped. Officials thenshifted the rest of his gang tothe Central Prison and launc-hed a manhunt to nab Khan.

Man accused ofrobbery escapespolice custody

3, including techie, heldduring raid on brothel

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

Some BJP Kisan Morchaactivists were injured on Fridaywhen the police tried to pre-vent them from laying siege tothe Agriculture Commission-er’s office protesting againstChief Minister K. Chandrasek-har Rao’s alleged statementasking farmers not to cultivatepaddy during Yasangi season.

The argument betweenKisan Morcha activists and thepolice resulted in some push-ing and jostling.

In the melee, BJP KisanMorcha Hyderabad Centralpresident Mohan Reddy suf-fered a severe injury on his leg.Kisan Morcha Ranga Reddydistrict urban presidentMahesh Yadav was also injuredseriously. Many others suf-fered minor injuries.

The police shifted the KisanMorcha activists to various

police stations. Kisan Morchaactivists shifted Mohan Reddyto KIMS Hospital and MaheshYadav to Aditya Hospital atAbids.

Kisan Morcha State presi-dent Kondapalli Sridhar Reddyalleged that there was a con-spiracy behind the govern-ment statement not to cultivatepaddy in the Yasangi season.He said the State had been pur-chasing paddy for the lastseven years with Central gov-ernment support.

Sridhar alleged the Stategovernment was trying toavoid providing free power tofarmers, and hence it is askingfarmers not to cultivate paddyin the Yasangi season.

He lashed out at KCR forsuddenly asking farmers not tocultivate paddy without show-ing them alternatives.

“Moreover, the TRSGovernment has been statingthat ‘Vari Vesthe Uri’ (sowpaddy, be hanged),” Sridharsaid, adding that the “policeattack” on Kisan Morchaactivists was unforgivable.

Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay visited KIMS Hospitalin the evening where MohanReddy was undergoing treat-ment. Sanjay also visitedAditya Hospital where MaheshYadav is being treated.

Mahesh complained toBandi Sanjay that the policewere exerting pressure on doc-tors to discharge him.

Satyavathi callsall-party meeton Podu landsML MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

Tribal Welfare Minister Saty-avathi Rathod will convenean all-party meeting towardsfinding a solution to the lon-gstanding problems of Podufarmers of Mulugu and Bhu-palpally districts on Saturday.

Apart from leaders of allparties, officials of TribalWelfare, Revenue, Forest andother Departments will beattending the meeting. ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao had constituted aCabinet Subcommittee sometime back headed bySatyavathi Rathod andMinisters Indrakaran Reddy,Jagadeesh Reddy andPuvvada Ajay Kumar asmembers.

The committee met threetimes and submitted itsreport to the Chief Minister.

Following the suggestion ofKCR, the Committee hasdecided to hold meetingswith leaders of all politicalparties in the districts to ironout differences on the solu-tion to the issue.

BJP Kisan Morcha leadersinjured as cops foil siege bid· KCR asking farmers to give up paddy to avoidsupplying free power, say protesters

PNS n HYDERABAD

Burglars struck at a residence ofa contractor on Road No. 78 inJubilee Hills late and decampedwith 45 tolas of gold worth overRs 20 lakh. The owner of thehouse, identified as Rajasekhar,had gone out of station with hisfamily about a fortnight agoafter locking the house.

After returning from the trip,Rajasekhar and his family mem-bers found that the lock wasbroken and the gold ornamentswere missing. They lodged acomplaint with the Jubilee Hills

police. Investigation OfficerHarishwar Reddy said, “Theyleft the house for 15 days with-out adequate security measures,not even a watchman.

We are suspecting that a gangof burglars expert in breakinglocks is responsible for the bur-glary.”

04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2021

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALAPALLY

Quarry owners here are mint-ing money through unac-counted extra loads of sandmounted on trucks, makinghuge sums, ranging from Rs75,000 to Rs 1, 00,000 extraper day, by pocketing revenuespayable to the government,reportedly with the blessingsof top officials of theTelangana State MineralDevelopment Corporation(TSMDC) and other authori-ties.

Quarry owners are allowedto mount 16 tons of sand oneach truck, but they manage tofill each truck with an extrathree tons and collect an addi-tional Rs 2,000 illegally pertruck. Daily at least 50 truckstransport sand from quarries,enabling quarry owners toearn an additional Rs 1 lakhper day. The illegal businessis thriving because corruptauthorities look the other way.The loss to the state govern-

ment per day due to the addi-tional unaccounted sand filledin trucks has been put at Rs 10lakh to Rs 20 lakh per day.

Thousands of trucks trans-port sand from the quarries inthe Mahadevpur area of thedistrict. Weighbridge author-ities have fed the computer insuch a manner that they helpprint out bills for 43 tonseven if the weight of the truckis more than 50 tons. Some ofthe weighbridges are main-

tained by the quarry ownersthemselves.

Legal metrology officials,who are supposed to inspectweighbridges, are not doingtheir duty, according to vil-lagers residing near the quar-ries. Officials check the weigh-bridges once in two or threemonths, collect their bribes,and do their formalities in aperfunctory manner.

Overloading of trucks isusually blamed for the exten-

sive damage caused to roads.Overloaded trucks often causeaccidents on NH-353C.Hundreds of people have diedover a period of time.

Lured by easy money, manypeople, including those fromHyderabad, Warangal,Karimnagar and AndhraPradesh, engage in this type ofsand business. They are able torecover their investments insix months and start earningcrores thereafter.

Each investor earns at leastRs 70,000 to Rs 1,00,000 perday for transporting sand ille-gally to places like Warangaland Hyderabad. Sometimes,the sand is sent to places likeWarangal and Karimnagarwithout obtaining way bills.

There are allegations thatthis illegal business has theblessings of top officials ofTSMDC and other depart-ments. Even if complaints arelodged against this illegal busi-ness, vested interests laugh itoff as a joke. No action is beingtaken against them, since the

operators of this shady busi-ness y have the blessings ofsome bureaucrats and manypoliticos.

When former collectorAbdul Azeem was in charge,he had constituted a commit-tee to check these irregulari-ties. There was a let-up in theirregularities for about twomonths. Once the official wastransferred, things are back toabnormal.

There are at least 24 quar-ries in the catchment areas ofthe Godavari River. At least 20of these quarries are function-ing. Daily each quarry receivesat least 50 to 100 trucks totransport sand to Warangaland Hyderabad. The govern-ment is losing several crores ofrupees every month due to theillegal transportation of sand.

People wonder why the stategovernment has not botheredto check the irregularities.Attempts to reach TSMDCproject officer Ravi Kumarproved futile as he refused tocomment.

Unscrupulous quarry owners mintmoney at cost of the governmentPocket up to Rs 1 lakh per day from unaccounted extra loads of sand mounted on trucks,

while corrupt authorities look the other way

PNS n MEDCHAL MALKAJGIRI

The Air Veterans Association hasdecided to felicitate 'War heroesof the Indo Pak 1971 War' andAir Veteran Achievers onSunday at Rabindra Bharati here.

Sgt T Bhogeshwar Rao,General Secretary of AVA, saidin a press release that approx-imately 200 Air veterans fromTripura, Assam, West Bengal,Delhi, Chandigarh, Chennai,Bangalore, Pune and otherplaces would be assembling inHyderabad for the felicitations.Out of these participants,approximately 50 are the 1971

Indo Pak war heroes, whoactually participated by bomb-ing, shelling and smashingPakistani Army to give anillustrious victory in the saidWar. Besides, approximately50 Air Veteran achievers, occu-pying key positions in civil lifepost retirement from the moth-er service in Indian Air Force,are being felicitated.

The chief guest of the meet-ing will be Governor ofHaryana Bandaru Dattatreya .He will be presenting memen-tos to the most illustrious andvictorious heroes of the Indo-Pak War 1971.

A souvenir to mark theoccasion and three books writ-ten by retired Air Veteranswould be released on Sundayby the chief guest.

The association said that ithad undertaken the gigantictask of honouring all the 1971Indo-Pak War heroes on com-pletion of 50 years of Indo-PakWar to remind the youngergeneration of the sacrificesand with a holistic intention tocreate an awareness about thehistoric deeds of our 1971 Warheroes and to inspire youngergenerations to join the armedforces.

G RAVI KIRAN

n HYDERABAD

Hasini, who was adjudgedMiss Telangana in 2018, hasmade another suicide att-empt. On Friday, she jumpedinto the Munneru river at Na-ndigama reportedly with theintention of ending her life.However, she was rescued bya group of youngsters.

It was on Wednesday thatshe made an attempt to com-mit suicide by hanging her-self after going live on socialmedia. The police were alert-ed by her friends and theyreached her home in timeand rescued her. She wasadmitted to the hospital andthe parents were informedabout the incident.

Hasini had told theNarayanaguda police that thereason for her suicide attemptwas financial problems.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The DEO fined NarayanaConcept School, Narayan-guda, for not submitting theirstatement of account to theDEO’s office as needed underthe law. The move comesthree years after a complaintwas filed by an anti-corruptionactivist against the schoolregarding its fee structure.

Vijay Gopal, the founder ofthe Forum Against Corrup-tion, filed a petition before the

National Child RightsCommission in 2018, in whichthe proceedings by NCPCRare still going on.

The petition was regardingthe high capitation fee theschool was demanding andcollecting from parents.

Despite repeated summonsfrom the DEO and NCPCR,the school management gaveunsatisfactory answers andreplies that did not matchtheir records, said the office ofthe DEO.

PNS n NALGONDA

Responding to the demandof project oustees, AcharyaTalloju, member of theNational Backward ClassesCommission, held a meetingwith Additional Collector V.Chandra Shekhar as well asofficials of the Revenue andIrrigation Departments at G.Yedavalli village in Kangalmandal on Friday to discusswith farmers seeking to cul-tivate lands acquired by theIrrigation Department.

Later, he arranged anoth-er meeting with DistrictCollector Prashant JeevanPatil, Additional CollectorV. Chandra Shekhar, SurveyLand Department ADSrinivas, Devarakonda RDOGopiram and Irrigation offi-cials at the District Collector'soffice.

PNS n MEDAK

Over 300 students of BVRaju Engineering Collegedonated blood here on Fridayin connection with 100thbirth anniversary of the insti-tution's founder.

Earlier, inaugurating thecamp, noted doctor Ramak-rishna Reddy said that blooddonation meant saving thelives of many people. Heappreciated the collegeauthorities for arrangingblood-donation camp.

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

District Collector S VenkataRao has said that the Dharaniportal has successfully com-pleted transactions relating toover 22,546 sales, 5,946 gifts,894 successions, and 7,560mutations; and resolved over7,129 land-related complaints,1,711 complaints pertaining toprohibited lands, and 1,762complaints pertaining to courtcases. The Dharani portal hadhelped the government netrevenues totalling Rs 40 crorefrom the district, he said.

Speaking to media personshere on Friday in connectionwith the portal successfullycompleting one year in oper-ation overcoming hiccups, hecalled the Dharani land regis-tration programme "a revolu-tionary programme in thecountry" and termed its imple-

mentation in the district asefficient.

Venkata Rao congratulatedthe additional collectors,Tahsildars and collectorateemployees for their role in effi-ciently implementing the ser-vices. He appreciated theTahsildar office personnel forworking 10-15 hours a day tosuccessfully implement theportal's services. The number

of modules had increased to 21from the earlier three, he said.

The Collector thanked theChief Minister for benefitingfarmers and officials throughthe portal. The portal hadbrought about revolutionarychanges in maintenance ofland records. More and moreapplications would be intro-duced in the portal to helpresolve problems.

Till date, four wrong trans-actions had taken place in theportal, leading to the police reg-istering case against the personsinvolved. Later, they returnedto the Tahsildar office and rec-tified the mistakes, he said.

The pattadar passbookscontained 14 security features,he said. Local bodies' addi-tional collector Tejas NandlalPawar, additional collector rev-enue Sitarama Rao and othersspoke.

PNS n NIZAMABAD

Minister for Roads andBuildings Vemula PrasantReddy on Friday laid the foun-dation stone for constructionof two warehouses at Lakkoravillage and Secundrapur vil-lages with a total storage capac-ity of over 20,000 tons at a costof Rs 14 crore and took partin a string of developmentworks in Balkonda Assemblyconstituency of the district.

He also inaugurated addi-tional classrooms built atGovernment School inSecundrapur at a cost of Rs 24lakh and a SC communityhall in Yergatla village and acommunity hall for NayeeBrahmins in the same villageat a cost of Rs 5 lakh.

Addressing media in thisconnection, he said that theCM bent on building ware-houses to store the harvested

paddy in view of the five-foldincrease of the yield during thepast seven years due to seriesof pro-farmer measures of theCM K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The area under variouscrops has increased enormous-ly in the state. Ground waterlevel has increased on accountof the execution ofKaleswaram and SRSP project.Cultivation is going on success-fully under bore wells too, he

said adding that not a singleacre of land remained parchedin Balkonda constituency.

Earlier, Kisan Nagar in theconstituency had a 5000-tonstorage capacity warehouse inthe constituency. The TRSgovernment built 11 ware-houses, nine of which havealready been completed, hesaid. Now, he said that he laidthe foundation stone for twowarehouses.

PNS n NIZAMABAD

R&B Minister Vemula PrasantReddy on Friday laid the foun-dation stone for the construc-tion of two warehouses atLakkora and Secundra-pur villages. The twowarehouses will havetotal storage capacity ofover 20,000 tons andare being built at a costof Rs 14 crore.

He took part in a string ofdevelopmental works in theBalkonda Assembly con-stituency of the district.

The Minister inaugurated

additional classrooms built ata cost of Rs 24 lakh at the Stateschool in Secundrapur and aSC Community Hall inYergatla and a community hall

for Nayee Brahmins ata cost of Rs 5 lakh.

The Ministersaid that the ChiefMinister waskeen on building

warehouses to sto-re harvested paddy

in view of the five-foldincrease of the yield during thepast seven years due to a seriesof pro-farmer measures intro-duced by the TS government.

PNS n SURYAPET

District Collector T. VinayKrishna Reddy told that,Suryapeta district is in theforefront in resolvingDharani applications in thedistrict.

He speaking to mediapersons at the Collectorateon Friday. Speaking on theoccasion, the Collectorexplained Suryapeta was apioneer in resolving landissues in 32 districts exceptHyderabad.

PNS n SURYAPET

A Police Martyrs' MemorialRally was held at the districtheadquarters here on Friday,as part of the PoliceCommemoration Week.

The districtSuperintendent of Police,who was earlier on duty at theThirumalagiri Police Station,went to the residence of BadeSaheb, who had lost his life toNaxal bullets while maintain-ing peace, and laid a wreath

at his portrait in the presenceof Bade Saheb's family mem-bers. He assured them thatthe police would be vigilantin all possible ways to preventproblems.

A peace rally was thenheld from the New Bus standin the town.

Earlier, the SP said: "Wehave been organizing com-memoration programmesacross the district to mark thePolice Commemoration Dayon October 21st. As part of

this, we are organising amemorial, inspiration andpeace rally today. We willwork with the spirit of policemartyrs. We will work tire-lessly and make sacrificeswhile ensuring peace andsecurity".

The Police Departmentwas committed to eradicatingthe use and sale of 'most dan-gerous' cannabis, he said.Efforts would be made tomake Suryapet a 'cannabis-free district', he asserted.

SP keen to make Suryapetdistrict fully ‘cannabis-free'

PNS n HYDERABAD

Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmihas said that Telangana, India'snewest state, has incorporateda provision for "Green budget"in the state laws, ThePanchayat Raj and theTelangana Municipality Acts,to institutionalise the raising ofplantations in all local bodies.Both the Acts provide 10% ofthe Annual Budget to meet therequirements of plantations,nurseries and other pro-grammes intended to extendgreen cover. In Hyderabad,the state capital, an annualbudget of 3,766 million rupeeshad been allocated under thegreen budget for the year 2021-22, she told participants at the3rd Asia Pacific UrbanForestry meeting on Friday.

"During the last five years, asagainst the target of 571 lakhs,we have achieved 497 lakhsplantation under differentcomponents and homesteadplants distribution to thehouseholds," she observed.Ninety per cent of the target inGHMC, which includes distri-bution of 31 lakh saplings, hadbeen achieved, she said.

The Mayor pointed out thatHyderabad, capital City ofTelangana, was recognized as"Tree City of the World" by theArbor Day Foundation and the

FAO of the United Nation in2020. Hyderabad was alsodeclared as one of the most"livable cities of the world" asper Mercer's Quality of Living(India) rankings -2019.

"You are all aware that urbanforests and trees fulfill impor-tant ecological and social func-tions. Beside aesthetical asp-ects, urban green spaces helpto guarantee the quality of life.Trees can reduce emissions,absorb noise and help to coolon hot days. Trees and woodyplants in urban areas enhancebiodiversity, reduce air pollu-tion, and help mitigate the heatisland effect", she observed.

Telangana was the youngeststate in the country with a for-est cover of 28.05%. In fact,when Telangana was formed in2014, the state had forest coverof 24%. "We intend to raise itto 33%, as envisaged in thenational Forest Policy of India.

A two-fold strategy is adoptedin this regard," she said.Telangana was credited fortaking up a massive afforesta-tion programme, namely'Haritha Haram' (green gar-land), which was flagged off byTS Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao, an ardentlover of trees, she said. The programme was one of itskind in the world and the 3rdlargest human effort, after theones in China and Brazil, theMayor stated.

Under the guidance of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao a "Green Fund" was alsocreated to develop a sense ofinvolvement among the pub-lic. Hyderabad city was blessedwith 188 forest blocks aroundit, covering an area of over 65thousand hectares, which werebeing protected and rejuvenat-ed to provide green lung spacefor the city.

Minister lays stonefor two warehouses

Stone laid for two warehouses withstorage capacity of 20,000 tonnes

‘Suryapet toresolve allland disputes’

‘Medak to be free of landproblems in four months'

Narayana Concept Schoolfined Rs 25K by DEO

300 studentsdonate blood

Dharani portal yields Rs 40crore revenue

1971 Indo-Pak war heroes to be felicitated

PNS n MEDAK

District Collector Harish onFriday said the district wouldbe free of land problems infour months, thanks to theDharani portal. The servicesoffered though the portal,which completed one year ofoperation on Friday, were suc-cessful and people of the dis-trict were making good use ofit, he said. Now lands werebeing registered in 21 Tahsildaroffices in the district. Earlier,the lands were registered bythree sub-registrar offices.

Through the portal, e dis-

trict conducted 26,640 salestransactions, 6,442 gift deedstransactions, 3,798 successiontransactions, while 6,678pending mutations had beencleared. In all 2,102 problemsin the prohibited list lands hadbeen resolved. Also, 708 courtcases had been resolved, hesaid. Currently, the collector'sgrievances cell received only40 applications as against 500earlier, he said.

To safeguard endowmentsand wakf board lands, to pre-vent illegal construction activ-ity, a task force had been con-stituted, he said.

Mayor highlights TS' green initiativesAsia Pacific Urban Forestry meet

Irate villagers block highway traffic for two hours PNS n MEDAK

Irked by official apathy to theirwoes, residents of ChinnaChintakunta and Peddachint-akunta have stepped up theirprotests.

On Friday, they staged rastaroko on the Hyderabad-MedakNH-765D demanding the gov-

ernment to take steps to stopDasa Pharma company fromgoing ahead with its construc-tion works in green fields of thevillage.

The villagers have been agi-tating for the past 15 days de-manding that the pharma com-pany stop construction of itsunit near Chinna Chintakunta.

They took the matter to the no-tice of officials and local MLAMadan Reddy, but in vain.

The angry villagers thenresorted to a sit-in on thenational highway, disruptingmovement of vehicles for abouttwo hours.

As no official visited thedharna site, villagers slept

across the national highway.Leaders of various parties havesupported their protests.

The demonstrators raisedslogans "Officials DownDown" and "GangulaKamalakar Down Down."

Learning about it, NarsapurCI Lingeswara Rao, SIGangarajulu, along with

policemen, reached the spotand tried to disperse the pro-testers. The protesters thenraised "Police Go Back" slogan.As a result, the protesters andthe police clashed for some-time elbowing each other.

As the protesters refused tobudge, revenue officials spoketo the RDO.

Former Miss

Telangana attempts

suicide again

BC panel meetson demand of villagers

nation 05HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2021

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R HC refuses to quash ED summonsissued to Anil Deshmukh

The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected the plea by filed by former MaharashtraHome Minister Anil Deshmukh, seeking quashing of summons issued to him by theEnforcement Directorate (ED), asking him to appear before it in connection with a

case of alleged money laundering and corruption. The high court said that Deshmukhhad failed to make a case for quashing of such summons. It further said that the formerminister's plea did not merit an order tothe ED and the CBI, restraining themfrom taking any coercive action againsthim. The court, however, said thatDeshmukh, like any other commonlitigant had a right to approach theappropriate court seeking relief if heapprehended his arrest in the case.Thecourt also directed the ED to permitDeshmukh's lawyer to remain presentwithin "visible distance but not audibledistance" at the central agency's officeduring Deshmukh's questioning.

HC directs Aryan Khan to executepersonal bond of Rs one lakh for bail

The Bombay High Court on Friday said Aryan Khan, son of superstar Shah RukhKhan, shall be released on a personal bond of Rs one lakh with one or twosureties of the same amount. A copy of the five-page operative order was signed

by Justice N W Sambre on Friday afternoon. This would help Aryan Khan'sadvocates to secure his release from the Arthur Road prison in central Mumbai,where he is lodged, by evening.Aryan Khan's advocates will nowtake the certified copy of the HCorder to the special court that ishearing the cases related to theNarcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances (NDPS) Act, along withthe requisite documents andsureties. After verification, thespecial court will issue the releasepapers which would be handed overto the Arthur Road prison to secureAryan Khan's release.

Priyanka Gandhi offers prayers atPeetambara Peeth in MP's Datia

Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,arrived at Datia in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, where she offered prayers atShri Peetambara Peeth, a party leader said. Shri Peetambara Peeth is a

complex of Hindu temples and a famous 'shakti peeth' in the country. "PriyankaGandhi Vadra arrived here in aspecial plane to offer prayers at thefamous temple," Congress MLAfrom Sevdha constituency in MP,Ghanshyam Singh told PTI.Elaborate security arrangementswere put in place in view of her visitand devotees were barred fromentering the premises. The Congressleader is likely to leave for Lucknowfrom Datia later in the day, the partysources said. Legislative Assemblyelections in Uttar Pradesh will beheld early next year.

We stand vindicated, say farmunions as barricades are removedPNS n NEW DELHI

With the Delhi Police begin-ning to remove barricades attwo farmer protest sites -- Tikriand Ghazipur -- farm unionleaders on Friday said the movevindicates their stand that theynever blocked roads at the cityborder points.

Farmer leaders said any deci-sion to entirely clear both thecarriageways at the protest siteswill be taken by the SamyuktaKisan Morcha (SKM), anumbrella body of over 40farmer unions protestingagainst the Centre's farm laws.

They, however, said way willbe made for traffic to move inthe coming days.

The Delhi Police's decisioncomes days after a SupremeCourt hearing that saw farmerunions arguing that the policewere responsible for the block-ade at the city's borders.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU)office-bearers said police andnot farmers had blocked roads,adding that they are being"reopened on the directions ofthe Supreme Court".

In light of the removal of bar-ricades at Ghazipur borderprotest site, BKU leader RakeshTikait said, “The future courseof the ongoing farmers' protestwould be decided by theSamyukta Kisan Morcha,which is leading the movementagainst the three farm laws.”

Senior farmer leader andSKM member Darshan Palsaid false allegations were beinglevelled against farmers thatthey have blocked roads, whichhave been rejected by us sinceday one.

Pal said at Singhu border,farmers have occupied the por-tion of road which is alreadyclosed for traffic due to con-struction of a flyover.

“Now, the exercise ofremoval of barricades by the

police clearly proves our pointthat it was the police that haveblocked roads and not thefarmers. We never created anyproblem. Any bottleneck fromour side will also be cleared fortraffic movement,” Pal told

PTI.Any decision to entirely clear

both carriageways of roads ormarch towards Delhi will betaken by the SKM, he added.

“So far, there is no call to goto Delhi. Any future course ofaction will be decided in ameeting of the Samyukt KisanMorcha,” Pal said.

Thousands of farmers havebeen camping at the three bor-ders points -- Tikri, Singhu andGhazipur -- protesting theCentre's three farm laws sinceNovember 26, 2020.

While the protesting farmershave been claiming that thethree laws enacted last year areagainst their interest, the Centrehas been saying these legisla-tions are pro-farmer.

The Delhi Police onThursday evening startedremoving the barricades andconcertina wires it had put inplace at the anti-farm lawsprotest site at Tikri Border onDelhi-Rohtak highway. Similaraction was initiated atGhazipur on the Delhi-UttarPradesh border on Fridaymorning.

Farmer leader and a repre-sentative of Rastriya KisanMajdoor Sabha, AbhimanyuKohar said the decision toremove barricades has vindicat-ed the farmers' stand and willease traffic movement at theborders.

“For the last 11 months, wehave been saying that farmersnever blocked roads as we aresimply protesting against farmlaws. Today we are provedright. It is good that traffic willnow be able to move at bor-ders,” Kohar said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

After the Delhi Police started removing barricades at the farmers'protest site in Ghazipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Fridaysaid the three "anti-agriculture" farm laws would also be withdrawnsoon. "Only artificial barricades have been removed so far, soon thethree anti-agriculture laws will also be withdrawn. Hail AnnadataSatyagraha," he said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag'FarmersProtest'. The Delhi Police on Friday started removing thebarricades and concertina wires it had put in place at the anti-farmlaws protest site at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.Multiple layers of iron and cement barricades, and at least five layersof concertina wires were put up last year, and further strengthenedafter the January 26 violence this year during the farmers' protestagainst the three contentious farm laws. Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (east) Priyanka Kashyap said Friday, "The process ofremoving barricades on NH-9 has been started. The temporarybarricading is being removed to ease out vehicular movement.

Three farm laws will also be withdrawn soon: Rahul

PNS n NEW DELHI

India believes that for commonprosperity and security in theIndo-Pacific region there is aneed to evolve through dialoguea common rules-based orderthat respects sovereignty, terri-torial integrity and equality of allnations, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar has said.

His remarks come amidgrowing global concern overChina's military muscle-flexingin the region.

Addressing the 4th Indo-Pacific Business Forum on

Thursday, Jaishankar said theIndo-Pacific reflects the realityof globalisation, the emergenceof multipolarity and the bene-fits of rebalancing.

"It underlines both our inter-

dependence and interpenetra-tion. As we speak of commongood and common efforts, it isnatural that this is addressedamongst other means, througha business forum," he said.

India sees the Indo-Pacific asa free, open and inclusive regionwhich embraces all in a com-mon pursuit of progress andprosperity, Jaishankar said.

It includes all nations in thisgeography and also draws oth-ers beyond who have a stake init, he said.

"India believes that our com-mon prosperity and security

requires us to evolve throughdialogue a common rules-basedorder for the region. Such anorder must respect sovereigntyand territorial integrity, interna-tional law as well as equality ofall nations," Jaishankar said.

"It envisages that countriesshould have access to the use ofcommon spaces on sea and inthe air that would require free-dom of navigation and over-flights, unimpeded commerceand peaceful settlement of dis-putes in accordance with inter-national law," he said.

Need rules-based order that respectssovereignty, territorial integrity: EAM

BEST driverinjured inaccident dies

Mamata parries question on herbeing in race for PM post in 2024PNS n PANAJI

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Fridaydeflected questions aboutwhether she will be in the racefor the prime minister's post inthe next general elections.

"If I tell you everything rightnow what I will tell later?" shetold reporters while respond-ing to a question if she is run-ning for the country's top postin 2024.

Speculation is rife that afterher party TrinamoolCongress's resounding victoryin the West Bengal Assemblypolls earlier this year, Banerjeeeyes to take up a larger role innational politics prior to the2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The TMC supremo is on a

three-day visit to Goa fromThursday evening as her partyhas announced its decision tocontest the Goa Assembly elec-tions slated early next year.

When asked whether themotive behind her party TMC

contesting the upcoming Goapolls was part of larger plan ofthe next Lok Sabha elections,Banerjee said, "We will contestthe elections in 2024."

"We are transparent. Wedon't play hide and seek. Weare a transparent party," sheasserted.

When another journalistasked the same question,Banerjee said in a lighter vein,"Why don't you contest theelection for PM's post. You aremedia, you can also contest."

TMC's poll strategist forGoa elections, Prashant Kishor,had recently said the BJP willremain at the centre of Indianpolitics for the next severaldecades and the party will notgo anywhere irrespective ofwhether it wins or loses.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Fridayrefused to entertain a plea chal-lenging the Karnataka govern-ment's decision to restrict entryfrom Kerala at borders ofKasaragod and Mangalore only tothose having a negative RT-PCRreport saying there was no viola-tion of the fundamental rights ofpersons.

A bench of Justices LNageswara Rao and B R Gavaiobserved that COVID has not yetended and the conditions

imposed are not unreasonableand issued in the larger publicinterest.

The apex court said otherwisethere is no restriction on themovement of citizens from Keralato Karnataka.

The bench said the earlierrestrictions have been relaxed byKarnataka by issuing a revised cir-cular dated July 31, 2021, whichhad relaxed the requirement forRT-PCR test taken within 15 daysfrom the date of travel.

This was done in the interestof students, business profession-

als, and others, it said."The rights of movement of

individuals from the State ofKerala to the State of Karnatakais not restricted. There is no vio-lation of any fundamentalrights of persons inKasargod district to trav-el to Mangalore or otherparts of Karnataka.

Circulars issued by the State ofKarnataka cannot be interferedwith by this court in the interestof larger public health. Thereforewe see no reason to interfere," the

bench said. The apex courtgranted liberty to the peti-tioner to make a represen-

tation to the Karnatakagovernment on the

issue.Advocate Haris Beeran,

appearing for a Kerala MLA, sub-mitted that the people inKasargod depend on Mangalorecity for education, medicare, andother needs.

It was also his contention thattheir travel to Mangalore daily hasbeen inhibited by the circularsissued by Karnataka.

Beeran referred to the guide-lines issued by the Centre to thestates and Union Territories (UTs)which asked not to place anyrestrictions on the intra-state

movement of persons and goodsby air, water, or road.

The apex court was hearing anappeal filed by Manjeshwar con-stituency MLA A K M Ashrafchallenging the September 28order of the Kerala High Courtwhich had dismissed two pleaschallenging the Karnataka gov-ernment's decision to restrictentry from Kerala at borders ofKasaragod and Mangalore only tothose having a negative RT-PCRreport, saying the neighbouringstate was well within its powersto issue such directions.

Nationwideexpansion of PCV launched

PNS n CHANDIGARH

AAP national convenor ArvindKejriwal on Friday said if votedto power in Punjab in next year'sAssembly polls, his party will putan end to the "Inspector Raj",create a congenial atmospherefor industries to flourish andmake traders a partner in thestate's growth.

He also promised to clear thepending VAT refunds of tradersand businessmen in three-fourmonths and provide round-the-clock electricity to the indus-tries in the state if the AamAadmi Party (AAP) is voted topower.

Addressing a gathering oftraders and businessmen inBathinda on the concludingday of his two-day Punjab visit,the Delhi chief minister said,"Our goal is to create a prosper-ous Punjab and lead it towardsprogress. We will provide acrime-free and corruption-free

government."On the first day of his visit,

Kejriwal had met farmers inMansa. He had held a meetingwith the industry representativesin Ludhiana last month.

AAP's Punjab affairs in-charge Raghav Chadha, Leaderof Opposition in the PunjabAssembly Harpal Cheema, stateAAP president and MPBhagwant Mann and MLAAman Arora were present at theevent in Bathinda.

Kejriwal said the AAP workswith a clear intent.

"We will give you an honest

government in Punjab like inDelhi. We ended the InspectorRaj and the Raid Raj in Delhi,"he said.

Kejriwal said Punjab ChiefMinister Charanjit SinghChanni has also said he willmake traders a partner in thestate's growth and end the"Inspector Raj". "Why doesn't hedo it now? Because they do nothave the intent, their intentionis bad," he alleged.

"When we did so many thingsduring our 49-day stint in Delhi(AAP's first term in the nation-al capital), why can't Channi?This is why I say to copy theAam Aadmi Party is easy, butthe implementation is difficult,"Kejriwal said.

Responding to the concernsof some traders about thealleged "goonda tax", he saidafter coming to power, theAAP will ensure that traderscan run their businesses with-out any fear.

PNS n NAGPUR

The police on Friday detainedtribal leaders and sent back peo-ple who were staging a sit-inprotest against a mining projectat Surjagarh in Etapalli tehsil ofMaharashtra's Gadchiroli dis-trict.

Since the last five days, localsin the area have been staging adharna against the iron oremining project in Surjagarh,demanding cancellation of thelease granted to a private com-pany. According to the police,the locals were given permis-sion to hold a morcha and nota sit-in agitation.

Local tribals along with ZillaParishad member Sainu Gotaand member of ShetkariKamgar Paksh Ramdas Jaratehad launched an indefinite sit-in protest under the aegis of

'Surjagarh Paramparik IlakaGotul Samiti' on Monday.

Speaking to PTI, Gadchirolisuperintendent of police AnkitGoyal said some leaders at thedharna were detained and peo-ple were requested to leaveand they left.

"They were given permissionfor a morcha and not a dharna.However, they had been stag-ing a dharna for the last four tofive days. The police and districtcollector visited the spot andrequested protestors to with-draw the agitation," the officialsaid.

Maha: Tribal leadersdetained; peopleasked to withdraw

‘Will end Inspector Raj, maketraders partner in Punjab'

29 J&K childrenjoin Army Schoolunder OperationSadbhavana

PNS n PITHORAGARH (UKD)

Twenty nine students fromJammu and Kashmir wereenrolled for Classes VIII andIX at Gen BC Joshi ArmyPublic School here underOperation Sadbhavana onFriday.

As many as 26 boys andthree girls, who hail fromremote regions of Jammuand Kashmir, will pursuetheir studies at the school freeof cost under this initiative,Capt Kuldeep of the IndianArmy said.

The entire cost of theireducation will be met by theIndian Army, he said.

Operation Sadbhavana is agoodwill initiative undertak-en by the Indian Army tohelp the people of Kashmirjoin the mainstream of thesociety.

TIKRI AND GHAZIPUR PROTEST SITES INDO-PACIFIC REGION

REDUCING CHILD MORTALITY

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health MinisterMansukh Mandaviya onFriday launched the nation-wide expansion of thePneumococcal ConjugateVaccine (PCV), and said itwill help reduce childhoodmortality by around 60 percent.

The Unionminister alsoreleased com-m u n i c a t i o nand awarenesspackages onthe vaccinewhich will beshared with allstates andunion territo-ries.

Speaking onthe occasion,he said it is forthe first time in the countrythat the PCV will be availablefor universal use.

Noting that pneumonia isa leading cause of deathamong children under theage of five globally and inIndia, he said, “Pneumoniacaused by pneumococcus isthe most common cause ofsevere pneumonia in chil-dren. In India, around 16 percent of deaths in childrenoccur due to pneumonia.The nationwide roll out ofPCV will reduce child mor-tality by around 60 per cent”.

Highlighting the impor-tance of healthy children in

any country's growth, pro-ductivity and development,Mandaviya said, “Childrenare the future of our countryand it is our responsibility toprovide them a healthy life.

"Mission Indradhanush,which was launched by theprime minister, is one suchendeavour in this regard.The vision of 'Sabko vac-cine, muft vaccine' by the

prime ministerguiding theCOVID-19 vac-cination pro-gramme hasensured that theeligible popula-tion gets accessto COVID-19vaccines acrossthe country,” hesaid.

The launch ofPCV will furtherensure healthy

growth and development ofour children, apart fromreducing child mortality, hesaid while congratulating allthe immunisation staff,health care workers and theofficials for their efforts in theroll out of this life-saving vac-cine.

While releasing the com-munication package for thevaccine, Mandaviya exhortedthat creating awarenessregarding the vaccine is avital component.

The objective of the vac-cine is to save the lives of ourchildren and this would bepossible if we run a success-

PNS n MUMBAI

A driver for theBrihanmumbai ElectricSupply and Transport (BEST)bus, who was injured in anaccident with a dumpertruck, died here on Friday, acivic official said.

Eight persons wereinjured, five of them serious-ly, on Wednesday when aBEST bus rammed into adumper truck in Khodadadarea of Dadar in centralMumbai.

Bus driver Rajendra Kale(52) died while undergoingtreatment at the civic-runSion Hospital in the morn-ing, while three injured per-sons, including bus conduc-tor, are in a critical condition,the official said.

SC refuses to entertain plea against Ktk govt's moveCURBS ON ENTRY OF CITIZENS FROM KERALA

main contenders were the fac-tion identified with MullahAbdul Ghani Baradar, domi-nant in Kandahar, and the oneheaded by the Haqqani fami-ly active in the Paktia, Paktikaand Khost provinces in easternAfghanistan close the Pakistan,as well as northwesternPakistan.

Media reportage as well asthe train of events are reveal-ing. Tolo News, a 24-hours-seven-days-a-week Afghannews channel, reported onSeptember 3, 2021, thatTaliban co-founder MullahAbdul Ghani Baradar (whoheaded the Islamist militia’spolitical office in Doha) wouldlead the Government-to-be inAfghanistan. It also said thatMullah Mohammad Yaqoob,Taliban co-founder MullahMohammad Omar’s son, andSher Mohammad AbbasStanekzai would hold seniorpositions in the Government.

As it turned out, it was notMullah Abdul Ghani Baradarbut Mullah MohammadHassan Akhund who was tohead the “caretaker”Government announced bythe Taliban on September 7,2021. Mullah Baradar wasnamed his deputy along withMoulavi Abdul Salam Hanafi,a prominent Uzbek member ofthe negotiating team. MullahMohammad Yaqoob got theDefence portfolio. Stanekzai

was marginalised and madeDeputy Foreign Minister, withAmir Khan Muttaqi, a nego-tiator at the Afghan-AmericanDoha peace talks, as ForeignMinister.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, son ofJalaluddin Haqqani, thefounder of the Haqqani net-work, got the key InteriorMinistry while MullahHidayatullah Badri receivedFinance, and Sheikh MoulaviNoorullah Munir and MullahKhairullah Khairkhwa,Education and Informationand Broadcasting respectively.All of them had “acting” pre-fixed to their designations as itwas a caretaker Government.Sheikh Haibatullah Akhaund-zada, it was said, would remainthe supreme leader, the ultimateauthority over the group’s polit-ical, religious and military affairs,that he has held since 2016.

The expansion announcedon October 19, which increasedthe Cabinet’s strength to 50,further reflected a balancing actbetween the Baradar andHaqqani factions, with thepossibility that the appointmentof Mullah MohammadIbrahim as Deputy Minister forInternal Security was a placa-tory gesture to the Baradar fac-tion, to which he belongs, asSirajuddin Haqqani has beenmade Interior Minister.

There have been, ofcourse, more visible signs of

factional conflict. MullahBaradar was reportedly hurton September 3, 2021, whenhis supporters clashed withthose of the Haqqanis inKabul and Khalil-ul-RahmanHaqqani reportedly punchedhim. Baradar disappearedafter the incident, triggeringspeculation that he had diedin the clash, but issued astatement on September 13dispelling the conjecture. Hereturned to Kabul in earlyOctober but the report that hehas refused to accept officialsecurity, and has brought hisown security staff fromKandahar, shows the depth ofmistrust and antipathy thatcontinues between his and theHaqqani factions.

The mistrust and antipa-thy are going to increase as theBaradar faction wants theAfghan Government to beinclusive and adopt a moder-ate stance on issues likehuman rights, particularly inrespect of women, while theHaqqani faction retains ahard-line approach. Mutualaccusations will fly if the econ-omy remains prostrate. Therewill also be violent challengesfrom terrorist outfits like theIslamic State of KhorasanProvince. The Taliban have abumpy road ahead.

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

IT’S TOUGH TERRAIN FOR THE CONGRESSSir — The Congress being the primeOpposition party, with the vast experi-ence of ruling the country for over fivedecades, is now naturally entrusted withthe responsibility to voice its due concernand draw the Government’s attention tothe latter’s Achilles heels in dealing withthe problems people face in various sec-tors, besides suggesting some pragmat-ic remedies as well. But for this to hap-pen, the party needs to keep its ownhouse in order in the first place.

The recent CWC meeting presided bythe interim president Sonia Gandhiactually came across as a damage controlexercise in this regard and which con-cluded sans any brouhaha against theexpectations harboured by the party’spolitical rivals as Sonia Gandhi succeed-ed in prevailing upon the sidelined G23leaders to fall in line with the party’s con-stitution by acceding to their longstand-ing demand for conducting the organi-sational elections including that of a full-time party president after the upcomingAssembly elections in the six States areover. Moreover, the interim presidentcalled a meeting of the party general sec-retaries and State-incharges along withUP Congress presidents on October 26,wherein she discussed the ‘Jan JagranAbhiyan’ with a view to strengthening theCongress's base.

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUESir — In the forthcoming Conference ofParties (COP), the assistance that devel-oping countries such as India need formitigating carbon emissions, adapting toa warming world and insisting on a firm,transparent framework that lays outhow this can be met, will be the pointsof discussion. Thus, adopting the standthat a national deadline for net zero car-bon dioxide emissions is uncalled for,given its moral claim to a far greater shareof the remaining global carbon budget.

The budget, which represents the esti-mated volume of future emissions thatwill allow global average temperature riseto be kept within safe limits — well below

2°C or 1.5°C under the Paris Agreement— must be “shared by all countries.”India, it points out, will again rely on itshistorical energy poverty, underdevelop-ment and low per capita emissions toconvince the world that a net zero targetis incongruous with the present reality.

Krishnan Ramani | Calicut

AN EMERGING HUB OF INVESTMENTSSir — Having lived in Uttar Pradesh since1978, I found the recent development inthe State monumental and outstanding.With the Delhi Metro almost touchingGhaziabad in UP, we can see Noida,Vaishali are just at a stone’s distance fromthe Capital. Uttar Pradesh has achievedvarious milestones of development in thelast four-and-a-half years. Making itsmark as a frontrunner in sustainable,equitable and inclusive growth, the StateGovernment not only successfully han-dled the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also converted the dis-

aster into an opportunity by pursuing thegoal with greater force and fast growthmomentum.

The Government’s model of COVIDmanagement has been acknowledged notonly in the country but also globally. UPwas a backward State and it was a crimecenter but with the BJP taking over, thesituation has changed drastically. And,now the State is moving towards a mile-stone of achievements and that changedthe entire State drastically. With vastdevelopment and a harmonious law andorder situation, more and more foreigninvestments are coming into the Statebecause of the amenable condition here.As we would like to see, the current teamis going to continue for a further period.We can witness a backward State becom-ing a booming State.

MR Jayanthi | Coimbatore

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

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06

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Will a bitterly divided Taliban be able to deliver an orderly Government,especially in the wake of the factional feuds intensifying since Aug-Sept?

THE MISTRUST AND ANTIPATHY

ARE GOING TOINCREASE AS THE

BARADAR FACTIONWANTS THE

GOVERNMENT TOBE INCLUSIVE AND ADOPT A

MODERATE STANCEON ISSUES LIKEHUMAN RIGHTS

WHILE THEHAQQANI FACTIONRETAINS A HARD-

LINE APPROACH

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

Puneeth Rajkumar (1975 – 2021) was anIndian actor known for his versatile act-ing in Kannada films. His jubilant face

and kind nature were well known in both hisreel and real life. His sudden death at a veryearly age of 43 years is shocking and heart-breaking. It leaves his family, friends, fansand well-wishers in grief. Rajkumar made anearly debut in the film industry. It would befair to say that he grew up on sets as hemade his debut in films as a six-month-old

infant — a cameo appearance in PremadaKanike (1976). Most of his earlier films hadhis father Rajkumar, play his on-screen fatheras well. He ended his childhood appearanceswith the action film Parashuram.

Fondly known as ‘Power Star’ and‘Appu’, Puneeth's first lead role cameopposite Rakshita in Appu (2002). He actedin about 29 movies and won many awards,including State awards and Filmfare awards,among others. Many people in the Indianfilm industry are passing away at a veryyoung age. This shows that the Indian filmindustry urgently needs to imbibe practicesthat help the artistes manage stress andother issues that become the cause of pre-mature death. A good lifestyle, among otherpositive habits, should be incorporated notonly by the actors but everybody. It is truethat death is inevitable, but that does notmean one should indulge in practices thatmake us leave behind our loved ones wayearlier than we should.

Madhu PV | Secunderabad

Gone too early, Power Star

Bumpy road aheadfor Afghan Govt

Will the Taliban beable to provide sta-bility and peace toAfghanistan? The

deep fault lines within, that arenow apparent, warrant the ques-tion. Time was when the Ameer-ul-Momineen (Commander ofthe Faithful) Mullah MohammadOmar’s word was law for theTaliban. Nevertheless, there werefactions within the Islamist mili-tia, which emerged in 2015 whenit came to be known that MullahOmar had died on April 13, 2013,but the fact was kept a secret andMullah Akhtar Mansour wasrunning the organisation in hisname. Mansour, who becamethe successor in July 2015, waskilled by a US drone strike onMay 21, 2016, following whichSheikh Haibatullah Akhaundzadabecame Ameer-ul-Momineen.

The continuing factional tus-sles intensified sharply duringthe exercise in Government for-mation that followed the Taliban’stakeover of Afghanistan, withcapital Kabul falling to it onAugust 15, 2021. The first indica-tion of this was the fact thatZabiullah Mujahid, Taliban’s chiefspokesman, announced a caretak-er Government with 33 Ministersas late as September 7, 2021. Theneed to reconcile conflictingclaims for shares of ministerialberths clearly made for the delay,which was over three weeks. Theargument that the Taliban werenot ready with a list of minister-ial nominees because they couldnot anticipate their lightning vic-tory, will not wash. Their peacetreaty with the US, signed onFebruary 29, 2021, which came inthe midst of their violently extend-ing their sway over progressivelywider chunks of Afghan territory,was widely regarded as paving theway, wittingly or unwittingly, fortheir not-so-distant accession topower in Afghanistan. This andthe fact that they themselves wereconfident about victory, shouldcertainly have prompted them tohave the blueprint for aGovernment and a list of poten-tial Ministers ready — particular-ly when Pakistan was regularlyproviding them with guidance.

It is now clear that the Talibanhad neither such a list nor a blue-print for governance ready. Hencethe factional struggle in which the

SOUNDBITEAfter April 1, 2022,no farmers or farmlabourers in Punjabwill die by suicidedue to crop failure.This is my promise.

Delhi Chief Minister— Arvind Kejriwal

Today we are seen as a socialmedia company.But in our DNA, we are a company

that builds technology to connect people.

Facebook CEO— Mark Zuckerberg

Instead of savingmoney for yourdaughter's weddingday, save it for hereducation and pre-pare her for herself.

Actor— Samantha

I reiterate that theAryan Khan drugcase is completelybogus. The kidswere deliberatelyframed in this case.

NCP leader — Nawab Malik

Shutting the criticsdown? No, never.That's the world ofsport. When youride the highs,

you've got to ride the lows.

Australia batsman

— David Warner

The Congress party was in the driver’s seat in Punjab’s politics when CharanjitSingh Channi, the party’s Dalit face, was appointed the Chief Minister just lastmonth. Apparently, the picture has changed over the last few weeks and the

grand old party’s Punjab prospects might need a booster shot to get back on course.The two main reasons causing worry to the grand old party are former Punjab ChiefMinister Captain Amarinder Singh and AAP national convener and Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, and the latter seems ready to harvest all the electoral benefits aris-ing out of the prevailing political atmosphere. While the BJP’s significance in theState is pretty limited — its vote share declined from 8.21 per cent in 2007 to 5.4

per cent in 2017 — the Captain, who has met UnionHome Minister Amit Shah thrice since tendering hisresignation, can render heavy damage to theCongress prospects as he is said to enjoy consid-erable influence over Jat farmers. Punjab’s poli-tics has lately been driven by personal prospects;earlier Navjot Singh Sidhu was acting like an“unguided missile” and now the Captain hasbecome a wounded lion who’d give it all to makethe Congress pay for “humiliating” him. Further,Kejriwal, who’s on a two-day visit to Punjab, hissecond visit to the State this month in the run-up

to the Assembly elections early next year, has already fortified his party’s positionafter it emerged the second-largest party in the 2017 Assembly elections.

Clearly, it’s all against the Congress in Punjab and how its leaders attempt to pro-tect one of the only three party-ruled States is the synopsis of Indian politics. Justlike Ayodhya is the launchpad of Uttar Pradesh’s political spectrum, farmers have becomethe epicentre of Punjab politics and Kejriwal is playing just the right strings. His cur-rent Punjab visit too has freebies, this time only calculated ones. Making a bold promise,he said on Thursday: “After April 1, 2022, the farmers and labourers in Punjab willnot be forced to commit suicide due to crop failure. This is my promise and Kejriwaldoes what he says.” He also promised to make agriculture profitable, of course ifvoted to power. With the Congress in a confused state and the farmers’ agitation head-ing into its first anniversary, the AAP’s electoral prospects in Punjab have increased.But whether it translates into storming the fort remains to be seen.

Apushback is discernible from the judiciary against the inappropriate use of the dra-conian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. The State banking on UAPA toarrest and charge anyone with terrorism is facing a sustained legal challenge. On

Thursday, the Supreme Court granted bail to a Kerala youth held under UAPA since 2019for Maoist links, saying mere association with or support to a terror organisation, theCPI-ML (Maoist) in this case, is “not sufficient” to prove the offence. The “intention offurthering the activities of a terrorist organisation” is missing, the court pointed out. TheNIA court, which originally gave bail to the accused, did not prima facie find any evi-dence in the charge sheet showing this “intention”. The Kerala High Court, which setaside the bail order, did not record this prima facie finding, the Supreme Court observed.Giving bail in UAPA cases is a cumbersome affair as the court has to satisfy itself that

there are reasonable grounds to believe that the chargeof terrorism against the accused is prima facie nottrue. In this case, both the NIA court and the apexcourt came to that conclusion. It is not often that sucha conclusion comes about. A prima facie analysis teststhe judge’s perspicacity to weigh evidence filed bythe prosecution and defence. That is possible morein civil cases than UAPA cases because the evidencein the former is mostly documentary. Moreover, aSupreme Court judgment in 2019 said that a courtcannot go into the merits of a case or scrutinise theadmissibility of evidence when deciding on bail.

As a result, in most cases, bail is ruled out. In the case of Stan Swamy, who wasold, not in good health, hardly a flight risk and where the court had the power to placeenough restrictions on him, bail was still not granted. One can only hope the courtfound a prima facie case against him. The pushback began in a startling case of judi-cial activism this June when the Delhi High Court gave bail to three student activistson the ground that protests, like inflammatory speeches and roadblocks, were notterrorist acts under UAPA. The court rejected the prosecution case built around WhatsAppmessages and statements of witnesses who later turned “approvers” and said thattough penal laws could not be applied to ordinary protests which should be dealt withunder ordinary criminal laws. The Supreme Court did not intervene in the High Courtbail order while not treating it as a precedent. The court rightly felt the issue had “pan-India ramifications” and it had to “decide” on the “many questions involved” for the“good of the entire country”. The judiciary has so far been restrained in ensuring thatdraconian provisions, arbitrarily used, do not come in the way of granting bail to theaccused. That is changing. It is time to hold the State to higher standards and disal-low it to get away with questionable prosecutions.

Fair play

Farming for votesThe situation has turned against the Congress in Punjab and the AAP looks to take advantage

PICTALK

People shop for Diwali items in a fair at the Blind Relief Association, in New Delhi Ranjan DDimri || TThe PPioneer

The State’s tendency to charge anyone under the UAPA is facing sustained legal challenge

100 crore jabs: Govtsystem can deliver

I WILL NOT FORGIVE ANY OFFICIAL OF THE

DISTRICT, POLICE OR THE PWD WHO IGNORES

WHAT MY PEOPLE SAY.

—UTTAR PRADESH DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

KESHAV PRASAD MAURYA

A GOVERNMENT OFFICER IS SUPPOSED TO WORK AS

PER RULES AND REGULATIONS, NOT ACCORDING

TO THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE BJP.

—SAMAJWADI PARTY SPOKESPERSON

ABDUL HAFIZ GANDHI

The record must not lull us into a sense of complacency. The warlike effort must continueso that there is no possibility of the pandemic striking back in the form of a third wave

The world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7°C of heating,”said UN Secretary General António Guterres. “There is a highrisk of failure of COP26.” That’s the global climate summit that

meets every five years to plot a course away from climate disas-ter. And it really isn’t looking good. COP26 starts on October30 inGlasgow but much that should already have happened has not hap-pened. The draft texts are only half-done due to the pandemic. NeitherChina’s President Xi Jinping nor President Vladimir Putin of Russiais even showing up. This meeting is the last chance to keep aver-age global temperature below +1.5°C. That target was adopted atthe last summit in Paris in 2015. Reaching that Paris goal, how-ever, would require a 45 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emis-sions by 2030. That’s not unthinkable if we treated this as an exis-tential emergency but the grim fact is that we have never yet man-aged to cut global emissions at all. “We are not going to get to a45 per cent reduction,” admitted a UN official, “but there must besome level of contributions on the table to show the downward trendof emissions.” Why would a conference full of highly educated, wellinformed and mostly well-intentioned people behave like this? They’renot wicked people, and almost all of them do know the truth. Theyjust cannot afford to get too far ahead of the people they lead. A

majority of citizens in almost every country worry about global heat-ing, but dramatic change isn’t possible because it hasn’t reachedtheir ‘pain threshold’ yet. That phrase acquired its political mean-ing during the American war in Vietnam.

The idea was that a gradually escalating US bombing campaignwould make the North Vietnamese government stop trying to reunitethe country by force when the damage to North Vietnam reached its‘threshold of pain’. ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ lasted three years,but it never did find the Hanoi regime’s pain threshold. Similarly, theaccumulating damage to people and property done by various sortsof wild weather has not yet reached the population’s pain thresholdanywhere except for a few low-lying island countries that are alreadyclose to going underwater. On our current track, we will irrevocablycommit to +1.5°C by 2029 or 2030, but the time lag with CO2 meansthat the immediate effects of even that abject failure might not besevere enough to shock a critical mass of people into action. So,what can usefully be done while we wait for the heating to reach ourcollective pain threshold? The best hope at the moment is the GlobalMethane Pledge, whose supporters promise to cut their methane emis-sions by 30 per cent by 2030.Methane has accounted for at least athird of the warming so far, but it allows for a quick partial fix fortwo reasons. It stays in the atmosphere a far shorter time than CO2- eight years instead of 200 - so emission cuts show quick results.And one source of methane in particular is cheap, low-hanging fruit:the fossil-fuel industry. Just stop flaring unwanted gas and fix all theleaks in almost 3 million km. of gas pipelines, and the 30 per centcut is a done deal. Not only that, it will practically pay for itself, sinceyou can burn the saved methane. It will produce carbon dioxide, ofcourse, but that’s a 200-year problem and we need results now. Almostforty countries have already made the methane pledge. We could evendelay +1.5°C down into the 2030s, and something else might turnup by then. Grasping at straws, perhaps, but what’s the better option?

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘The Shortest History of War’.The views expressed are personal.)

The biggest beneficiary inthe festive season,Dussehra to Diwali par-

ticularly in north India, is themarketer. A significant numberof them especially the sweetsand garment dealers earn asmuch in a few days as in theentire year. The colourfullydecorated, well-lit markets andmakeshift shops attract buyerswith special offers, discountsand incentives stimulating thecustomers’ shopping urge. Thechoicest items in the shoppinglist are apparels, upholstery,linens, kitchenware. Manybook a new vehicle or home. Areflexively parsimonious per-son also buys something tan-gible on these ‘auspicious’ days.The buoyant spending goes ontill the New Year, and beyond.

The tendency of indis-criminate buying leads to accu-

mulation of unwanted goods,machinery and equipment inan already diminishing resi-dential, commercial, govern-ment and industrial spaces.“Thrift was never more neces-sary in the world’s history thanit is today,” said the noted USbanker Francis H. Sisson. Ourage and times warrant exercis-ing utmost thrift in any addi-tional purchases for multiplereasons.

Thrift or frugality is not aderogatory term;being frugaldoesn't mean going by the low-est price or compromising onquality; it doesn't mean depriv-ing oneself of pleasures of lifeeither. Thrift is the habit ofprocuring goods and servicesonly when necessary, and in arestrained manner, avoidingwastage and extravagance.Frugality empowers one to

devote resources to a cause thatis worthwhile and meaningful.By observing frugality, youbring your money under yourcontrol.

Kitchen items like mixer-grinder, coffee maker, doughkneaders; medical equipmentlike blood pressure or sugarlevel devices, etc. often pro-cured on an impulse remainidle for years and are eventu-ally discarded or handed overfor repair, never to be dulybrought back.

Purchases are at timesmade as status symbol irrespec-tive of utility. There are exam-ples of government officesprocuring scientific equipmentat enormous cost that werehardly or never used, for anyreason, thus entailing colossalwastage apart from blockingprecious space. A 2016 CAGreport on National HealthMission deplored that life-sav-ing equipment like blood stor-age units, ultrasound and X-raymachines worth crores ofrupees remained unutilisedsince skilled manpower to runthe advanced machines wasnot in place. In fact, the dispos-al of the unwanted materialsitself turns out to be a formi-dable problem. Apart fromoccupying precious spaces,such junk creates negative,counter-productive vibes. The

message is loud and clear:before you buy something,consider whether you actual-ly need it.

In an era when many old-sters hardly have childrenaround, they can bank ontheir savings to meet theirnecessary needs of productsand services. Here is a take foryoungsters: espouse frugalityfrom early years. Concretesavings provide not only acushion to meet unforeseenfinancial needs but also feelingof security, a dire need of theaged. To promote a savinghabit in a planned way as inbanks (rather than under themattresses) among people atlarge, World Savings BankInstitute (WSBI) has beensponsoring World Savings (orThrift) Day annually onOctober 31 since 1925 (in

India it is celebrated onOctober 30). Through formalsavings not only the younggenerations find themselvesin a ‘socially and economical-ly safe environment’ but suchfunds do contribute to devel-opment agenda of the nations.

On the flip side, emphasison savings can create imbal-ances. Mark the massive foodgrains being dropped into theocean or elsewhere because theprocurement was far in excessof storage facilities, or cookedfood items stored in refrigera-tors being thrown out as theycould not be consumed intime. Apropos also of manygrandparents who grew up inpoverty and whose savingsaccounts usually remainedunknown to their kith and kineven posthumously and ulti-mately their hard-earned

deposits were appropriated bybankers in absence ofclaimants.

On the other extreme isthe younger generationunmindful of BenjaminFranklin’s precept, “beware oflittle expenses; a small leak willsink a great ship”. They prefera lifestyle of spending to theextent their wallets or creditcards permit, an addiction ofsorts. After making every onea debtor in developed coun-tries, the plastic money king-pins now have eyes set on highsalaried Indian youth. Forevery 100 persons at a work-place in metro cities there are150 credit cards - not a goodsign. It is time for us to takestock of how much do we actu-ally need in our life time vis-à-vis our resources, and howmuch to store for the future.

Thrift is the habit of procuring goods and services only when necessary and in a restrained manner, avoiding wastage and extravagance

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2021

07

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FIRSTCOLUMNWHY THE COP26 ISN’T

LIKELY TO DELIVER

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

How much to spend, and how much we must save

HARISH BARTHWAL

The writer is a blogger andwrites on social and healthissues. The views expressed

are personal.)

GWYNNE DYER

ALOK RANJAN

Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin arenot even showing up for the conference

October 21, 2021 was a momen-tous day when India achievedthe remarkable figure of 100crore (onebillion) vaccinations.

Next to China this is the highest in theworld and it has been made possible byuntiring coordinated efforts over the last10 months. The whole exercise of vacci-nation has been done in a campaignmode. The credit for this must, undoubt-edly, go to the political will from the topat the Center and the States and the effortput in by the entire Government systemwith its civil service and health careadministration providing the leadershipand the healthcare workers taking care ofthe last mile delivery.

We got off to a slow start in Januaryand there was also the debatable issue ofvaccine--maitri whereby around six croredoses were exported to other countries.However, the drastic second wave ofCoronavirus sent the entire country intoa state of shock bringing forth the real-ization that the only way out was to vac-cinate the eligible population with bothdoses at the earliest possible to preventfurther disaster through the third wave.

Accordingly, the Prime Minister gavea clarion call for vaccinating the entireadult population by December 31.Initially, the progress was slow and therewas a lot of cynicism about India’s abili-ty to achieve this ambitious goal. Therewas the policy issue of vaccine being pro-cured by the States which led to a lot ofproblems and the policy was revised tohave the procurement done byGovernment of India. This was indeed avery positive policy amendment withoutwhich this 100-crore figure would neverhave been realized.

There were a lot of people whodoubted the capacity of the governmentsystem to deliver. Concerns were raisedabout the availability of vaccines, thetransportation of vaccines to the remotestareas, the existence of a cold chain, theavailability of trained vaccinators, theactual conduct of the vaccination, therecord keeping, the wastage of vaccinesand many other similar issues. No doubt,delivering vaccine to every part of thecountry was by no means an easy task andrequired high level coordination, teamspirit, motivation, inspiration, decisionmaking, communication and leadershipat all levels.

The vaccine manufacturers had to begiven the demand well in time so that theycould augment their facilities and sched-ule their production accordingly. Theyhad to be given necessary financial assis-tance from the Government and a mech-anism developed where payment forvaccine bought could be made on time sothat there is no disruption in the flow.Thereafter the existing cold chain andother infrastructure used for the massivechild immunization programmeshad tobe made ready to receive and handle theCovid vaccines.

Vaccination centers had to be setup

SUCH A VAST AND COMPLEXGOVERNANCE

EXERCISEINVOLVING

COORDINATION ATVARIOUS LEVELSIS A HUGE TASK

AND DUE CREDITMUST BE GIVENTO THE ENTIRETEAM TO HAVE

ACHIEVED IT. THEPRIME MINISTER

HAD RIGHTLY SAIDTHAT VACCINATION

WOULD HAVE TO BE CARRIED

OUT IN THEELECTION MODE

at thousands of points so that thecitizen does not have to travel farto get vaccinated. Then the hugearmy of vaccinators had to betrained in such a short time. Thereafter duties were assigned toemployees and officers to runthese centers and ensure hassle freevaccination.The problem was farmore acute in the rural areaswhere the basic infrastructure isnot of the same level as the cities.The entire exercise was managedthrough a Cowin portal developedby the national health authoritythrough which you could fix yourappointment for vaccination andalso get the certificates. Therewas some debate about the useful-ness of Cowin for those not hav-ing access to internet facility butthe issues were ironed out and theresult is that 100 crore vaccinationshas been reached.

Such a vast and complex gov-ernance exercise involving coordi-nation at various levels is a hugetask and due credit must be givento the entire team to have achievedit. In my 38 years of experience asa civil servant the only exercise thatcanbe a parallel to this is the con-duct of nationwide elections. ThePrime Minister had rightly saidthat vaccination would have to bedone in the election mode. Just likeelections all arms of the govern-ment had to work together to makethis vaccination possible. Itrequired a lot of daily coordinationbetween Government of Indiaand the State Government.Thereafter the leadership had to be

given by the political executive atthe state level and prompt decisionmaking by the policy planners likethe Secretary and Director. Finally,it was the district where actiontook place under the leadership ofthe District Magistrate and theChief medical officer.

The last-mile delivery wasmade possible by the health work-ers including Asha and Anganwadiworkers. In rural areas vaccinationhad to be taken to the door step ofthe people. I could witness atremendous sense of enthusiasmamongst all concerned with thevaccination process. My personalexperience of vaccination was alsovery good as I found that the vac-cination centers were being man-aged very efficiently with full cour-tesy and protocol. There was vac-cine hesitancy in quite a few peo-ple and a lot of communication wasrequired to convince the citizens tocome forward for the vaccination.The point I want to make is thatvery often people have a negativeperception about government offi-cers and employees.

This vaccination drive hasshown the entire government sys-tem in positive colors. The entiresystem has risen to the occasion inresponse to the challenge of thepandemic in a most professionaland effective manner. To a largeextent the government must takethe blame for not being able toanticipate the coming of the secondwave and then not being able torespond adequately to it. There wasa definite failure to provide oxygen,

ICU beds and medicines during theheight of the second wave.However, with the success of thevaccination so far, the govern-ment system has been able toredeem itself to a large extent.

The battle is not over and themomentum has to be continued tomeet the target of vaccinating theentire adult population byDecember 31. We must celebrateattaining the 100 crore figure butit must not lull us into a sense ofcomplacency. The war-like effortmust continue so that there is nopossibility of the Pandemic strik-ing back in the form of a thirdwave. There are lessons to bedrawn from the success story ofvaccination for the future overhaulof the public health system whichis in urgent need of being modern-ized and upgraded.

The Center as well as the Stateswill have to focus on spending alarger portion of their expenditureon health care. More Doctors,nurses and paramedics are requirednecessitating the opening of moreeducational institutions to cater tothis demand. District hospitalsneed to be converted into centersof excellence and primary healthcare centers made operational.The pandemic has exposed thepoor State of health infrastructurein the rural areas which needs tobe addressed on priority. The suc-cess of the vaccination drive hasshown that this is possible and thesame leadership, team spirit andmotivation are required to trans-form the public health sector.

(The writer is formerChief Secretary,

Government of UttarPradesh. The views

expressed are personal.)

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2021 Money 08

PNS n ROME

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Friday met President of theEuropean Council CharlesMichel and President of theEuropean Commission Ursulavon der Leyen here and held anextensive discussion coveringtrade and investment ties, cli-mate change, COVID-19, glob-al and regional developments.This was Prime Minister Modi'sfirst official engagement after hearrived here to participate in theG20 Summit where he willjoin other leaders in discussionson global economic and healthrecovery from COVID-19, sus-tainable development and cli-mate change.

“Official engagements inRome begin with a productiveinteraction with @eucopresi-dent Charles Michel and@vonderleyen, President ofthe @EU_Commission. Theleaders discussed ways toenhance economic as well aspeople-to-people linkagesaimed at creating a better plan-et,” Prime Minister's Officesaid in a tweet.

After their meeting,

Ministry of external Affairs(MEA) spokesperson ArindamBagchi said that they held“extensive discussion” on anumber of key issues.

“Deepening ties betweenIndia and EU! PM @naren-dramodi met EuropeanCouncil President CharlesMichel @eucopresident &European CommissionPresident @vonderleyen. Anextensive discussion coveringtrade & investment ties, climatechange, COVID-19, global &

regional developments,” Bagchisaid on Twitter.

After the meeting, EuropeanCommission President Leyensaid it was “good to meet”Prime Minister Modi.

“Good to meet @naren-dramodi. Our strategic agendais on the right track. We agreedthat our trade negotiators willstart to work.

We‘ll deepen our coopera-tion on climate including oninnovation & technologyLooking forward to cooperat-

ing in the Indo-Pacific#EUGlobalGateway,” she saidon twitter. The 15th India-EUsummit, held in virtual modein July 2020, was attended byPrime Minister Modi,European Council PresidentMichel and EuropeanCommission President Leyen.

In 2020, India was the EU's10th largest trading partneraccounting for 1.8 per cent ofEU's total bilateral trade ingoods. India-EU bilateral tradein goods in 2020 was valued atEuro 65.30 billion.

India-EU bilateral relationsdate back to the early 1960swith India being amongst thefirst countries to establishdiplomatic relations with theEuropean EconomicCommunity in 1962.

The first India-EU Summittook place on 28 June 2000 inLisbon. The relationship wasupgraded to a ‘StrategicPartnership' during the 5thIndia-EU Summit held in 2004in The Hague.

The 27-member EU is apolitical and economic bloccomprising 27 member stateslocated primarily in Europe.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India and other countries,which are big emitters ofgreenhouse gases, should reachthe net-zero carbon emissionstarget by 2050 together, formerdeputy chairman of erstwhilePlanning Commission MontekSingh Ahluwalia said onFriday.

Addressing a virtual eventorganised by economic thinktank ICRIER, Montek furthersaid each country should putforward its reduction in carbonemission trajectory consistentwith development objectives.

"India and all other bigemitters should reach net-zerocarbon emission by 2050together," he said.

Net-zero emissions meanthat the world is not addingnew emissions to the atmos-phere.

He also said technologicaldevelopments now make itpossible for India to offer a net-zero trajectory, including peakemissions in the next decadeand then reduce them to net-zero over time.

"Adopt approach, which is

trajectory-based, and acceptthe fact that developed coun-tries should reach net-zeroearly while developing coun-tries can reach net-zero later,"Montek said.

Also, speaking at the event,Ajay Shah, research professorof business, Jindal GlobalBusiness School, said, "Tofinance climate actions, weneed a decentralised modelwhere resource flows go tostate and local governmentsrather than to just the centralgovernment".

Manjeev Singh Puri, distin-guished Fellow and on theadvisory board of TERI, saidIndia will be taking some of the

world's largest climate actionsin the years to come.

Recently, India had under-lined that the target of achiev-ing net-zero emissions by 2050should be based on the prin-ciple of equity, with develop-ing countries peaking later,given their respective sustain-able development paths, whiledeveloped countries shoulddo a Net-Minus.

Recently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hadstressed that emissions mustfall by half by 2030 and reachnet-zero emissions no laterthan 2050 to reach the 1.5Celsius goal of the ParisAgreement.

PNS n RANCHI

Dalmia Cement will set-up a2 million tonne plant atJharkhand's Bokaro at anestimated cost of Rs 577crore, Jharkhand governmentsaid on Friday.

The Jharkhand govern-ment has ensured allotmentof land for the cement plant,a statement from the stategovernment said.

The cement maker hadexpressed commitment inthis regard during theJharkhand Industrial andInvestment Promotion Policy(JIIPP) 2021 in New Delhi onAugust 28, launched by ChiefMinister Hemant Soren.

"The Jharkhand govern-ment has made available 16acres land for the project tothe company at Balidih inBokaro as per theMemorandum ofUnderstanding within thetimeframe and lease deedhas been executed.

Dalmia Cement toset up Rs 577 croreplant in Bokaro

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has approved8.5 per cent rate of interest onemployees' provident fund forthe 2020-21 fiscal, a sourcesaid.

Just ahead of Diwali, this isa good news for over five croresubscribers of the EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation(EPFO). The 8.5 per cent rateof interest on provident funddeposits for the last financialyear was decided by the EPFO'sapex decision making body

Central Board of Trustees(CBT) headed by Labour

Minister in March this year.A source said on Friday,

"The rate of interest on EPFfor 2020-21 has been ratifiedby the Ministry of Financeand now it would be credit-ed into the accounts of overfive crore subscribers."

In March last year, theEPFO had lowered interestrate on provident funddeposits to a seven-year lowof 8.5 per cent for 2019-20,from 8.65 per cent in 2018-19.

The EPF (EmployeesProvident Fund) interest rateprovided for 2019-20 was thelowest since 2012-13, when it

was brought down to 8.5 percent.

The EPFO had provided8.65 per cent interest rate toits subscribers in 2016-17and 8.55 per cent in 2017-18.The rate of interest was slight-ly higher at 8.8 per cent in2015-16.

It had given 8.75 per centrate of interest in 2013-14 aswell as in 2014-15, higherthan 8.5 per cent for 2012-13.The rate of interest was 8.25per cent on provident fund in2011-12.

Govt approves 8.5 pc interest rate on EPF for FY'21

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensextanked 678 points on Friday,tracking losses in index majorsReliance Industries, Infosysand HDFC Bank amid a weaktrend in global markets.

The 30-share index plunged677.77 points or 1.13 per centto end at 59,306.93. Similarly,the NSE Nifty fell 185.60points or 1.04 per cent to17,671.65.

Tech Mahindra was the toploser in the Sensex pack, shed-ding over 3 per cent, fol-lowed by NTPC, IndusIndBank, Kotak Bank andReliance Industries.

On the other hand,UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel,Maruti, Titan and Dr Reddy'swere among the gainers.

"The domestic market con-

tinued to witness selling asenergy and private bankstocks remained under pres-sure following dull global sen-timents," said Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.

European markets opened

weak even as the ECB decid-ed to keep policy ratesunchanged despite the infla-tionary pressure. US futureswere trading in red followingslow GDP growth and disap-pointing earnings from techgiants, he noted.

Sensex slumps 678 pts;Nifty ends below 17,700

PNS n NEW DELHI

Trader's body CAIT on Friday said it esti-mates Chinese exporters to suffer businesslosses worth Rs 50,000 crore this Diwali sea-son due to its boycott call. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) alsoexpects that consumers may spend about Rs2 lakh crore during the Diwali festival saleperiod. "Like previous year, this year tooCAIT has given a call of 'boycott Chinesegoods' and it is certain that China is goingto suffer a business loss of about Rs 50,000crore in terms of stoppage of import of chi-nese goods by Indian traders," CAIT stated.

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwalsaid a recent survey conducted by the body'sresearch arm in 20 'distribution cities' showed thatso far no orders for Diwali goods, firecrackersor other items have been placed with Chineseexporters by Indian traders or importers.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Unfazed by the challengesposed by the COVID-19 pan-demic, Swedish companiesintend to double their invest-ment in the next two years inIndia, according to the 13thBusiness Climate Survey (BCS).The BCS, titled 'TowardsSustainable Growth', is con-ducted annually since 2008 bythe Swedish Chamber ofCommerce India (SCCI), alongwith the Embassy of Sweden inIndia, the Consulate General of

Sweden in Mumbai andBusiness Sweden.

It attempts to understand the"confidence of Swedish compa-nies in India, to identify theobstacles and how they can bereduced".

"In the past five years (2015-20), companies report that theyhave invested in total USD 2billion in India. In the comingtwo years (2021 and 2022),Swedish companies report thatthey will invest close to USD 1billion in India," according tothe survey report, underscoring

Swedish companies' intent todouble the investments over thenext two years. This year, thequestionnaire was sent to 210Swedish companies establishedin India. Out of these, 190responded, rendering aresponse rate of 90 per cent.

According to the survey'sfindings, in the coming year,"80 per cent of the companiesproject their revenues toincrease significantly (34 percent) or slightly (46 per cent)".

"This has starkly changedwhen compared with our inter-

im survey in May 2020, whereonly 28 per cent of respondentsprojected their revenues wouldincrease over the coming 12months," it noted.

Besides assessing the level ofgreen transition and innova-tion ecosystem in the country,the survey also takes intoaccount the increase in jobopportunities and representa-tion of women in the workforcein India as one of the "key fac-tors" influencing business deal-ings between the two nations.

"Sweden and India'sbilateral cooperation has growneven stronger despite the pan-demic, and Swedish companieshave repeatedly shown thatthey have a long-term commit-ment to India.

"I am therefore par-ticularly proud that the 2021-22 Business Climate Survey(BCS) has received such a highresponse rate and that it high-lights important areas such asgreen transition and women inthe workforce," said AnnaHallberg, Swedish Minister for

PNS n NEW DELHI

Kolkata-based FMCG majorEmami Ltd on Friday report-ed a 56 per cent jump in con-solidated profit after tax at Rs185.25 crore in the secondquarter ended September onthe back of higher revenueand cost optimisation mea-sures.

The company had posted aconsolidated profit after tax ofRs 118.45 crore in the secondquarter last fiscal, Emamisaid in a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue fromoperations during the second

quarter stood at Rs 788.84crore as against Rs 734.82crore in the year-ago quarter,it added.

Emami said its board ofdirectors in a meeting held onFriday has declared paymentof 400 per cent interim divi-

dend at Rs 4 per equity shareof Re 1 each fully paid-up forthe financial year 2021-22.

During the latestSeptember quarter, the com-pany said,"Demand trendsremained steady for most ofour brands despite a high basein the previous year."

Modern trade grew by 31per cent, while e-commercecontinued its robust rungrowing by 2.2 times, Emamisaid adding in Q2 FY22, e-commerce business increasedits contribution "by 210 basispoints to 4 per cent of thedomestic revenues."

PNS n CHENNAI

The board of steel wheelsmanufacturer Wheels Indiahas cleared a further capitalexpenditure of Rs 37 crore toenable serve the globaldemand in the constructionequipment and wind mill seg-ments, a top official of thecompany said on Friday.

The fresh capex is in addi-tion to the Rs 99 crore whichthe city-headquartered com-pany had already planned atthe beginning of the year,

according to its ManagingDirector, Srivats Ram. "Wehave cleared a further capex ofRs 37 crore to enable serviceglobal demand in the con-struction equipment and windmill segments. At the begin-ning of the year, the companyhad planned a capex of Rs 99crore this is in addition tothat...", he told reporters.

The increase in the capitalexpenditure was driven bydemand which has been inexcess of what expected, hesaid.

PNS n MUMBAI

The Central Board ofDirectors of the RBI onFriday reviewed the currentdomestic and global eco-nomic situation and chal-lenges. The board also delib-erated upon possible mea-sures for addressing theemerging challenges, theReserve Bank of India (RBI)said in a release.

The 591st meeting of theboard was held under theChairmanship of GovernorShaktikanta Das. His tenureas the Governor has beenextended by three years up toDecember 2024.

"The board also congratu-lated the Governor on hisreappointment," the centralbank said. According to therelease, the board also dis-cussed the working of sub-committees of the centralboard and activities of a fewCentral Office Departments,including the nationwide sur-vey among bank customers

PNS n NEW DELHI

Purplle, an e-commerce plat-form for beauty products, onFriday said it has raisedaround Rs 555 crore (USD 75million) in a funding roundled by private equity fundKedaara at an enterprise val-uation of Rs 4,662 crore (USD630 million).

The company will use thefund to grow six to eighttimes in the next five yearsthrough both organic andinorganic business develop-ments, Purplle.com co-founder and CEO ManishTaneja told PTI.

Existing investors SequoiaCapital and Blume Ventures

also participated in the fund-ing round.

"We are at a GMV (grossmerchandise value) run rate ofRs 1,200 crore. We want tokeep growing at close to 70-80per cent year-on-year in thenext foreseeable future. Wewill invest in the growth.

"We will invest in the peo-ple and at the same time buildprocesses and systems andtry to build Purplle as aninstitution and not anothercompany. We will invest intechnology," Taneja said.

He said the company willinvest in inorganic growth byinvesting in brands. "We havebeen acquisitive at small lev-els in the past four years.

PNS n NEW DELHI

GAIL (India) Ltd, the nation'slargest natural gas utility, on Fridayreported more than doubling of itsnet profit in the September quar-ter after it again started makingmoney on gas marketing.

Net profit of Rs 2,862.95 crore,or Rs 6.45 per share, in July-September, was 131 per cent high-er than Rs 1,239.67 crore, or Rs2.75 a share, in the same periodlast fiscal, according to the com-pany's stock exchange filing.

RBI boardreviewseconomicsituation

Wheels India clears additionalcapex of Rs 37 cr: MD

Swedish firms to double India investment

CAIT pegs Rs 50,000 cr lossesto Chinese exporters this Diwali Emami reports 56 pc rise in

Q2 profit at Rs 185 crore

Purplle closes Rs 555-crfunding round led by Kedaara

GAIL net profitdoubles in Q2

Modi holds talks with EU ontrade, COVID & global issues

India, other countries shouldreach net-zero target by 2050

CARBON EMISSIONS

PNS n NEW DELHI

Transport Corporation of India(TCI), the country's leading inte-grate supply chain and logisticssolutions provider, has reported atwo-fold rise in consolidated netprofit at Rs 76.16 crore for the quarter ended September. Thecompany had posted consolidated net profit from ordinary activ-ities after tax of Rs 37.27 crore in the year-ago period, TCI hassaid in a filing to BSE. The consolidated income of the com-pany during July-September period increased to Rs 828.06 croreover Rs 703.45 crore in the year-ago period. "The demand forour coastal and rail multi-modal end-to-end solutions witnessedmomentum enabling customers to save on their carbon foot-print. We see an upward swing for 3PL and warehousing ser-vices as customers push for efficiencies and integrated single-window solutions across the value chain," Vineet Agarwal,Managing Director, TCI said. "Moving ahead, as corporateinvestment cycle kick starts, government investments increaseand higher consumption growth; TCI will be able to leverageits network to its advantage," he said.

TCI Q2 net profit risestwo-fold to Rs 76 cr

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SaturdayOctober 30, 2021

he right kind offood, exercise, andsleep is all taken forhealthy living. Notonly do we live afitter physical life, it

goes a long way in keeping ourmental health in check too.Emphasising the same wasCelebrity Nutritionist and Nourish

Genie Pooja Makhija, who high-lighted the “5 hacks of keeping ourbody fit and healthy includingDiet, Exercise, Water, Sleep andEating smart.”

“One should follow a particulardiet based on their lifestyle. Toremove disease from the root, oneshould control their diet. We can

change how we feel with just a fewhealthy changes in our eatinghabits. Eat what suits your body inproper portions. Portion control isthe key to a good diet. Indian dietis one of the best in the world.Indian thalis are best in nutritionand taste,” said Makhija about theneed for good food habits and a

healthy diet in life. The nutritionist also added that

exercise is not only about hittingthe gym. “Exercise means anyphysical activity — walking withyour friend or walking your dog.Exercise is not only for weight loss,it also helps in getting good skin,mental fitness, and rejuvenating

your body. Do any exercise youenjoy,” said she.

She also explained the impor-tance of water in our life, saying,“Water is life. Drinking adequatewater, that is, at least two to threelitres a day, is extremely importantto detox your body. It flushes outbacteria and aids in digestion too.

A correct 7-8-hour sleep perday is a must for the properfunctioning of one’s body. Ithelps reboot our physique andprepares us for the next day.”

Makhija spoke to members ofthe Young Ficci LadiesOrganisation via a virtual meetthat was moderated YFLOchairperson Deepthi Reddy.

here has been arise in thedemand forsuperfoods mar-ket globally. Withthe impact of thepandemic on

immunity and health con-sciousness, people areincreasingly investing intheir health, providing vari-ous growth opportunities.Superfoods refer to nutrient-rich food items that are ben-eficial for maintaining goodhealth and wellbeing. Theycontain high amount ofminerals, vitamins, fibers,antioxidants, fatty acids, etc.These food items help inmaintaining good hearthealth, boosting immunity,enhancing metabolism,improving energy levels, andreducing the effects of agingand come with many otherproperties.

With the festive seasoncoming up, there is anexpected increased demandfor the adoption of super-foods, especially since thereis a greater number of peo-ple who are conscious abouttheir health and the foodthey eat.

Keeping this in mind, wehave Supreem Pharma acompany that achieved aturnover of Rs. 68 crore lastfinancial year. Their growthtoo has seen over 20%turnover and profitabilityover the last five years, fol-lowing which they launchedtheir consumer productrange ‘Supreem SuperFoods’. Their core productsinclude healthy appetisersand supplements made ofnatural ingredients and canbe used as an alternative tonutrition supplements. TheirSuper Food products are allhomegrown, medicallybacked with expertise fromSupreem pharmaceuticals,and made of natural ingredi-ents which are free from anyside effects. S.N. Rao,Founder, and Chairman,Supreem Super Foods, talksto us about the rise in super-foods, their benefits, andmore.

What made you investin superfoods?

Food loaded withVitamins, minerals, fibers,and antioxidants is consid-

ered a superfood. They arebeneficial for health andwell-being.

In our B2B business,which is already known farand wide, we make thesevitamins, minerals, fibres,and antioxidants. Ourindustry runs for the well-

being of people.Taking into consideration

the above, Supreem enteringthe Superfoods market wasan obvious choice.

Did you see a lot ofpotential in this areaof nutrition?

Yes, we do see a lot ofpotential, mainly because ofpeople's changing lifestyle,more incidents of lifestyle-related diseases, and becausepeople from all walks of lifeare becoming health con-scious.

Furthermore, a lot ofawareness is being createdby the manufacturers.

Simultaneously the nutri-tional value of food is com-ing down on account of sev-eral factors, including envi-ronmental changes. So peo-

ple are looking for a healthi-er alternative.

How are superfoodshealthier than vitaminsupplements?

Nutrient-rich food is con-sidered to be especially ben-eficial for one's overall

health. Superfoods areloaded with vitamins, min-erals, fibres, antioxidants,because of exceptionalnutrient density in certainitems available in nature.Whereas, vitamins are onlya subset.

Normally, vitamins areavailable in our country astablets, capsules, syrups, etc.It makes the person takingthem feel like a patient.

This is a reactive behav-iour after a deficiency isdetected. Consuming super-foods is a proactive behav-iour, taken in a form that isconvenient and enjoyablelike snacks, gummies,drinks, sachets, etc.,

How are superfoodsdeveloped at Supreempharma?

Ingredients for superfoodswere always available atSupreem. We studied theproducts of our customers,polished the idea, added fur-ther value by carrying outvarious studies, studiedinternational trends/brands,discussed with scientistsboth domestically and inter-nationally, worked withother companies to knowtheir best products, collabo-rated and the result wasSupreem Superfoods.

Are superfoods morepopular today thanbefore the pandemic?

The pandemic clearlyrevealed that good immuni-ty helps ward off the disease.Immunity also helps youremain healthy.

This awareness was thefocal point of several discus-sions in the media andsocial media. Pre-Covid, theimmunity market grew from15 to 20%, and post-pan-demic, it is expected to grow30%.

How is the generalresponse to super-foods? Which agegroups seem to preferthem more?

The nutrition industry (ofwhich superfoods are acomponent), is growing 9%annually internationally, and17% in India. It's a 4 billionUSD market in India andwould touch 12 billion USDby 2027. So the potential ishuge.

The response from allquarters has been excellent.The day our website wentlive, we were flooded withorders. Supreem has super-foods for all age categoriesbut the primary audiencegroup is 30-55 years and thesecondary target audience is15-29 & 56-70 years, forboth men and women.

Superfoods that ensure a

super healthylifeT

S.N. Rao, Founder, and Chairman, Supreem Super Foods

SHREYA SRIKONDA SHIKHA DUGGAL

n a career span-ning over 25 yearsin the IndianNavy,Commander

Sudarshan Chakrapani hascommissioned twosubmarines (INSSindhuvir andSindhuvijay) in thethen Soviet Unionand commanded amissile corvette. Analumnus of TheNational DefenceAcademy andDefence ServicesStaff College, hehas held importantstaff appointmentsin Port Blair (Andaman &Nicobar Islands), Mumbai,and New Delhi that gave hima ringside seat to observe thegeopolitical and strategicchanges happening in Indiaand its neighbourhood.

He is a postgraduate inDefence Studies fromMadras University and hasdeveloped expertise in strate-

gic affairs and geopolitics,especially on China andPakistan and Maritimeissues, is known for hisvideos on Geopolitics on hisYouTube channel#ChaxSimplifies. Now a manof such stature, who’s livedon the edge all his life, choseto retire and relax in theNizamian city of Hyderabad.

Everybody grows updreaming of that one

place or city to happi-ly retire in, afterdecades of hard work.

The man from Agra built hiscomfy nest in Hyderabadand he tells us why.

He begins by telling usabout the various places hegrew up, studied, and workedin: “I have a very close asso-ciation with all four of thesouthern states. I was born inAgra, did my schooling inVijayawada, and continued

my schooling in Bellary, andthen finished it in Dharwad,which are cities inKarnataka. I went on toNDA after that, joined thenavy, was posted inVisakhapatnam for 9 years,and also lived in Cochin for2-3 years. I lived in Chennaifor a while,and for thepast 14years, I’velivedin

Hyderabad! There’s nosouthern state I don’t have abond with.”

The commander says hefeels a strong connectionwith Hyderabad.

“In any city, you can feellike an outsider if you don’tspeak the language or par-take in the customs. But inHyderabad, you are never anoutsider. The city makes youfeel at home, all the time,and you really don’t need

to get worked up if you’dget along with the peo-ple. They’re so warm!”

He states this as thereason why he settled in

Hyderabad. He speaks of the main,

striking difference he noticedin Agra and Hyderabad, say-ing, “People in Hyderabadare not very aggressive.They’re more acceptingand willing to forgive anyyou do - this does nothappen in Agra. Peoplefrom Agra are moreaggressive and particu-lar about how thingsought to be done.

We’re possibly not as forgiv-ing.”

The commander has livedin the city of Destiny, Vizag,for almost a decade, shareswith us some of his fondestmemorie: Little sections ofhis memories of looking atVisakhapatnam from the air,while going on a hang gliderand spending the night on abeach.

“There’s a stretch of whitesand off the side of RKPuram beach, lined withcasuarina trees. It’s a beauti-ful, clean spot- I’d go thereoften with friends, or withmy wife. One time, wepitched a tent and stayed thenight! These are my fondestmemories from the city,” herecalls.

Speaking of things thatremind him of Hyderabad,he says, “Two or three things— Ajith, the legendary villainfrom Hindi movies.Secondly, the Charminar.Thirdly, this is probably theonly city that has such ablend of the old city and thenew city. Hyderabad hascome full circle. The cityoriginates from Golconda,and then it moved and cameto Charminar. Then it movedagain, and got toSecunderabad. After inde-pendence, it came to thePunjagutta, King Koti- nowit has moved further andgone back to Gachibowli-closer to Golconda! The cityhas seen development on allfour sides, and now it’s backto where it started.”

After retirement, the com-mander went on to work in awhole new workplace! “Fromthe Navy, I started in Satyamcomputers. I was managingpeople in the Navy, and Iwent on to manage people inSatyam Computers. I had tomake the coders make thembetter at their job. Satyambecame Tech Mahindra, andsince I retired, I’ve thorough-ly been enjoying myself. I domotivational speeches, andhelp people understand howthey can do their jobs better.I also coach Btech and MBAstudents.” He noticed duringthis period that Telugu peo-ple have brilliant minds, butthey’re not so good at puttingtheir point across. They end

up messing it up in inter-views because they’re unableto present themselves in amanner that would get themrecommended or selected.He says, “I try to fill this gap.I could make a difference inpeople’s lives, and that makesme very happy.” Speakingabout what he really dislikes,he says that he hates howHyderabadis drive! “I don’tknow what happens to the‘Telugu bidda’ on the road.He becomes a different per-son altogether! But there’s noroad rage, fortunately. If youhit someone or he hits you,he will just look at you andsay ‘light lelo ji’”, he laughs.“A house has 4 walls, but

home is where I amhappy. Where I belong.Despite whatever goeson in my life, I can

enter my home andall my troubles justvanish. Hyderabad

is that home tome,” he con-

cludes on awarm note.

ANCHORED IN

Hyderabad

I

T

5 mantras to a healthier body

10

what’s brewing?Hyderabad Saturday October 30, 2021

RAMP READY

Tejaswini Monagna — Miss Earth-India-2019, actresses SaiKamakshi Bhaskarla, Drishika

Chander, and Harshada Patil, amongmany others were seen sashaying onthe ramp in exquisite bridal wear andjewellery at the fashion showcasefeaturing bridal couture at HICC-Novotel, Hitech City.

Photos by SV Chary

PARTY

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

11

tollywoodHyderabad Saturday October 30, 2021

SHIKHA DUGGAL

f you’ve seen the recentlyreleased Telugufilm Most EligibleBachelor starringPooja Hegde andAkhil Akkineni,you would havenoticed the very

charming KamakshiBhaskarla. Though a smallrole, Kamakshi, who is aformer doctor, was one ofthe catalysts in the Telugufilm’s plotline. Says Dr.Kamakshi, “Winning thetitle of Miss Telangana atfirst and representing thiscity at the same time, was aproud feeling. It was myparent’s desire that I pursuea medical profession andbecome a doctor. Butthroughout, I longed to bepart of the cinema industrysomeday.” Refuting thenotions of how a small-town girl cannot be a partof the entertainment frater-nity without any references,she went on to do somecredible roles in many ofthe famous blockbusterTelugu movies like Ma OoriPolimera, Rowdy Boys, andto her surprise, at themoment, she has manyOTT projects lined up.Qubool Hai on aha videoand an untitled projectcoming up on Disney+Hotstar are some ofthem.

The doctor-turned-actresssays she wasraised in avery humbleand con-servativemid-dle-

class home. Albeit being a‘well-settled woman’ in theeyes of society, she wantedto aim higher than whatsocietal norms dictated toher. “After finishing myMBBS in 2017, I started ona journey that would chal-lenge me and make me thewinner of the Femina MissIndia Telangana 2018 title,and one of the finalists atFemina Miss India 2018.My hard work, patience,and healthy respect towardsrisk were my biggest aids;now, I want to make mymark on the silver screen. IfI were to describe myself, Iwould say I’m someonewho shows perseverance inevery hardship. Many times,this was my only savinggrace in the stereotypicalenvironment I was raisedin. I identify as a secularhumanist. I strongly believein empowering othersbecause I think the ultimatemeasure of success will bethe ability to touch andtransform other people’slives. We rise by lifting oth-ers. Storytelling is one ofthe huge plat-forms toinfluencepeopleand

it’s one of the biggest rea-sons why I chose this field,”she adds.

When we asked abouther deep inclinationtowards Telugu cinema, shementions, “Initially, Ithought of exploring anysouth-Indian cinema, butlater I decided upon Teluguonly, since it is my mothertongue. I had no godfatherin this industry, so I startedwith my theatre course. Ihave recently done a trilin-gual movie namedPriyuralu and I really likedthe way how the directorturns any controversial top-ics into a quality narrative.In these waking times, it isso important to addresssocial themes through cine-ma. The interesting turn inthe movie was the story fol-lowing a young girl who, asa child is avictimof an

extramarital relationship,and unknowingly getsinvolved with a marriedma. The film is all abouther journey in finding asolution to the rut she findsherself in.”

The former MissTelangana firmly feels it isimportant to bring theemotions and desires ofwomen to the forefrontthrough cinema, to showthe double standards of thissociety. She also dreams ofbeing an accomplishedactor with a varied andwide spectrum of roles toher name. She alwaysadored yesteryear actressesSoundarya, Suhasini, andShobana and loved them forthe wider roles they por-trayed. All her work, fromthe beginning, has been toserve this dream of hers!Continuing further, shesays, “Whatever roles Ichoose, I'm least botheredabout the trolling that fol-lows. Most Eligible Bacheloropened my doors to bigproduction houses. It was a

part of good visibility forme as an actress, to

show my mettle.Even though I

wasn’t playingthe lead, Istillabsorbedthe char-acter well.

Peopledid

notice me. Still, I wantnobody to presume that Iam ‘only’ open to support-ing roles because I ammuch more than just a sup-porting actress in a big-ticket cinema.”

While filming all thesebig-budget movies, theactress further reveals oneof her fondest memoriesfrom the sets: “We wereshooting at midnight in theoutskirts of the city forRowdy Boys and it was bit-ing cold. I was supposed towear denim shorts, but thedirector was so consideratethat the moment I finishedmy shot, he would enurethat the gigantic lights wereswitched on so I would feelwarm. Instead of runningfor consecutive takes, SreeHarsha Konuganti prioritis-es an actor’s comfort.”

When Kamakshi stoodup for a cause, because ofwhich she was beaten up bysome miscreants in the city,she never knew she’d comethis long. The title-holderof a prestigious beautypageant had to be deter-mined this way and she fur-ther voices her opinion onhow a French beautypageant was sued by anactivist for discriminatorycriteria.

“It may sound hypocriti-cal, but when I won thepageant and finished mymodeling, it felt this isn’tmy cup of tea. This was themajor reason for me towithdraw my name fromTime’s Talent. Yes, there arecertain standards for abeauty pageant, however, Ifeel it should be focusedmore on the internal beautyof an individual. To see itspragmatic side, when therewas a time, women werenot even allowed to comeout of their homes andtoday are voicing theiropinions out from suchplatforms. It gives them anidentity.” All geared up forher role in Aha’s upcomingshow Qubool Hai, you willsee the actress performingall the action sequences onher own! “It is a story aboutchild marriages that are

happening in the oldcity of Hyderabad, I

will be playing therole of an inves-

tigative journal-ist who is on

a mission tostall these

mar-riages,”shesignsoff.

KAMAKSHI BHASKARLA'S

I

uperstarRajinikanth onFriday success-fully underwenta procedurecalled Carotid

ArteryRevascularisation, torestore blood sup-ply to the brainand he is recov-ering well, a hos-pital that is treat-ing him inChennai said.The actor is recov-ering well and islikely to be dischargedin a few days, said a topofficial of the KauveryHospital.

The top Tamilstar was admit-ted onOctober 28,“followingan episode ofgiddiness”.

“He wasthoroughlyevaluatedby theexpertpanel ofdoctors

and was advised to undergoCarotid ArteryRevascularisation,” said DrAravindan Selvaraj, co-founder and ExecutiveDirector, in a statement.

“The procedurewas performed

successfullytoday (October29) and he isrecoveringwell. He islikely to bedischargedfrom the hos-

pital after a few days,” DrSelvaraj added.

Rajinikanth, who wasawarded the DadasahebPhalke Award on Thursday,had tweeted that he hadwatched his yet-to-be-released movie 'Annatthe'with his grandson onWednesday.

Last year, Rajinikanthdecided against taking amuch-awaited politicalplunge citing his healthcondition.

At that time, Rajinikanthsaid the doctors had

advised him that fluctu-ating blood pressure

would affect histransplanted kid-

ney.

e know thatNandamuriBalakrishna is set tohost a talk show foran OTT platform,and fans have been

eagerly awaiting the show’spremeire. Titled Unstoppable,the talk show will premiere onNovember 4 on Aha Video.

While it was earlier reportedthat megastar Chiranjeevi andRam Charan would grace theshow for its maiden episode,the two have not shot for theshow yet.

Instead, Balakrishna willbegin the first episode withManchu Mohan Babu. Thesenior actor and his all family

members including ManchuVishnu have shot for the pro-gram. Balakrishna will extractsome unknown facets and factsfrom his guests.

As we know, Balakrishnalent his support to Vishnu inthe recently held MAA elec-tions, where Vishnu won as thepresident.

outh starSuriya, who isgearing upfor the releaseof his upcom-ing court-

room drama Jai Bhim,has been working foralmost 24 years, andsays he has seen hisshare of highs and lows.

The actor credits hisfans and audiencesfor standing by himand putting theirtrust in him.

While talk-ing abouthow JaiBhimwasoneofthe

most challenging filmsof his career, Suriya said,“It’s been close to 24years that I have beenworking in the industry.We have seen a lot ofhighs and lows, but myfans and movie lovershave always stood byme.”

He added: “They’vereally had a lot of

trust and theyhave put in a lotof belief in me.This trust that

they have placedupon me has built

a beautiful rela-tionship between me

and them.I only want to give

back this love by doinggood films.”

Adding further tothe experience ofworking in Jai Bhimand his role as advo-cate Chandru, Suriyaadded: “This film isnot in my comfort

zone. It does notfall into the lay-out or pattern or

sketch thatany of my

previous films were. Thewhole pattern, story-telling, or the actorsinvolved, the emotionsin it, will be a littleintense. It’s not justentertainment, but itwill definitely move andimpact you.”

“The recall factorafter watching this film,I’m sure, will be remem-bered for a long time. Itis definitely a hugeresponsibility but a goodone to take on. I justwant to deliver betterfilms for my audience.”

Jai Bhim is a thought-provoking story basedon true events that hap-pened in the 1990s inTamil Nadu. It is writtenand directed by Tha. Se.Gnanavel and featuresSuriya in the lead alongwith Prakash Raj, RaoRamesh, RajishaVijayan, Manikandan,and Lijo Mol Jose in piv-otal roles.

Jai Bhim has beenproduced by Jyotika andSuriya under the bannerof 2D Entertainment.

Co-produced byRajsekarKarpoorasundarapandian, it has music by SeanRolden.

Jai Bhim will be avail-able on Prime Video onNovember 2.

Suriya: Have seen a lot ofhighs and lows in my career

ne of Indian cine-ma’s most successfulfilmmakers — SSRajamouli and thecountry’s largest cin-ema exhibitor PVRhave entered into a

first of its kind association of alltime for the highly-anticipatedaction drama RRR featuringRam Charan, NTR Jr, AjayDevgn and Alia Bhatt, sched-uled to release on January 7,2022, world over.

For the first time in the histo-ry of world cinema, the largestmultiplex chain operator —PVR has decided to alter itsbrand identity and logo to themovie name RRR. Starting

today, PVR will now be referredto as ‘PVRRR’. Announcing thesame, filmmaker SS Rajamouliand Ajay Bijli – Chairman andManaging Director PVR Ltdhave unveiled the new ‘PVRRR’logo in front of the gatheredmedia and spoke about thisunique and never-heard-beforemovie association.

Post the logo unveil, the PVRteam launched the special‘PVRRR promo’ which will beplayed in all PVR multiplexchains across the country.Media personnel were taken infor a huge surprise, as they wit-nessed a special teaser of India’sbiggest action-drama ‘RRR’.Needless to say, the impressive

teaser was highly appreciated bythe media fraternity with whis-tles, cheer, and uproar.

Commenting on the initia-tive, Ajay Bijli, Chairman andManaging Director, PVR Ltd,said, “‘RRR is one of the biggest,most expensive, and greatlyanticipated movies of 2022. Weare proud to be associated withthis larger-than-life spectacle,

helmed by SS Rajamouli andconsidered to be yet anothergame-changer in the moviebusiness. I am sure this initia-tive will be able to generategood buzz for RRR and buildhuge anticipation among themovie buffs.”

Echoing the same sentiment,Mr. SS Rajamouli added, “I amreally happy that theatres are

reopening, as I believe themagic of cinema is trulyenjoyed in theatres. We arehappy that RRR will be releas-ing in cinemas in January nextyear and to announce the samewhat better way to associatewith PVR which is nowPVRRR.” Set in pre-indepen-dence India, the film is a fic-tional take on the younger daysof celebrated freedom fighters,Komaram Bheem and AlluriSeetharamaraju. The biggestmulti-starrer of India features,Ram Charan, NTR Jr alongwith Ajay Devgn, and AliaBhatt. The project is helmed bySS Rajamouli, who was also themastermind behind the record-breaking Baahubali series.

PEN Studios bagged the the-atrical distribution rights acrossNorth India and has alsobought worldwide electronicrights for all languages.

S

Mohan Babu, Vishnu firstguests on Balakrishna's show

Rajini undergoes surgery,to be discharged soon

SW

O

PVR is now PVRRR!

HER BRAINBEAUTY DEFINED BY

Scoreboard

TTeeaamm MMaattcchheess NNRRRR PPooiinnttss

EEnnggllaanndd 2 +3.614 4

AAuussttrraalliiaa 2 +0.727 4

SSoouutthh AAffrriiccaa 2 +0.179 2

SSrrii LLaannkkaa 22 -00..441166 22

WWeesstt IInnddiieess 33 -11..559988 22

BBaannggllaaddeesshh 3 -1.069 0

Group A

TTeeaamm MMaattcchheess NNRRRR PPooiinnttss

PPaakkiissttaann 2 +0.738 4

AAffgghhaanniissttaann 1 +6.500 2

NNaammiibbiiaa 1 +0.550 2

NNeeww ZZeeaallaanndd 1 -0.532 0

IInnddiiaa 1 -0.973 0

SSccoottllaanndd 1 -3.562 0

Group B

Scoreboard

pointstable

WEST INDIES (BATTING) BANGLADESH (BOWLING)

Nicholas Pooran (40) Shoriful Islam 4 (20, 2wkt)

Roston Chase (39) Mahedi Hasan 4 (27, 2wkt)

Jason Holder (15) Mustafizur Rahman 4 (43, 2wkt)

Total 142 (7 wickets, 20 overs)

BANGLADESH (BATTING) WEST INDIES (BOWLING)

Liton Das (44) Jason Holder 4 (22, 1wkt)

Mahmudullah (31) Akeal Hosein 4 (24, 1wkt)

Soumya Sarkar (17) Ravi Rampaul 4 (25, 1wkt)

Total 139 (5 wickets, 20 overs)

AFGHANISTAN (BATTING) PAKISTAN (BOWLING)

M. Nabi (35) I. Wasim 4 (25, 2wkt)

G. Naib (35) S. Khan 4 (22, 1wkt)

N. Zadran (22) S. Afridi 4 (22, 1wkt)

Total 147 (6 wickets, 20 overs)

PAKISTAN (BATTING) AFGHANISTAN (BOWLING)

In progress..

Total

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2021

WWHHEENN PPEEOOPPLLEE TTAAKKEE PPAACCEE OOFFFF TTHHEE BBAALLLL,, YYOOUU’’VVEE GGOOTT TTOO WWAAIITT FFOORR TTHHEE BBAALLLL.. WWHHEENN TTHHEERREE’’SS PPAACCEE OONN IITT,, TTHHEENN YYOOUU CCAANN SSIITT OONN IITT —— DDAVID WWARNER

PTI n NEW DELHI

Rohan Jaitley defeated senioradvocate Vikas Singh by a

massive margin to be re-elect-ed as president of the Delhi andDistricts Cricket Association(DDCA) while former state

Chief Minister late SahibSingh Verma’s youngest sonand first-class player SiddharthVerma claimed the secretary’spost.

Siddharth defeated the cor-ruption-tainted Vinod Tiharafor the position. The countingconcluded well after Thursdaymidnight.

Gautam Gambhir’s mater-nal uncle Pawan Ghulati will bethe new treasurer of DDCA.

Former BCCI acting pres-ident CK Khanna’s wife ShashiKhanna retained her vice-pres-ident’s post.

For the president’s post,

Jaitley got 1658 votes whileSingh could only get 662.

It was the second time thatSingh encountered a humiliat-ing defeat for the president’spost. Last time, Singh had lostto senior journalist RajatSharma.

However, the biggest upsetwas Verma, who fought as anindependent candidate andupstaged the notorious Tiharaby 618 votes.

PTI n DUBAI

Australia opener DavidWarner has highlighted

the importance of having a“stable base” while batting onthe slow wickets of the UAEafter roaring back to form witha belligerent half-century.

The 35-year-old was backto his explosive best with a siz-zling 42-ball 65 in the seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka inthe T20 World Cup onThursday.

Warner had dismissed thetalk over his form as “quitefunny” as he felt he had notplayed enough cricket afterbeing sidelined by SunrisersHyderabad in the IPL.

He reiterated the same on

Thursday and revealed whatworked for him and AaronFinch against Sri Lanka.

“I think people who criti-cize me know exactly what I’mabout. For us it was reallyimportant to have a nice stablebase, and seeing Finchy plays t r a i g h tdown theground andthat niceback cut, that’snice and still. Itmeans you’rewatching the ball. Itmeans your weightis going throughthe ball.

“It’s the sameprocess withmyself. You’ve got

to have a nice stable base onthese wickets. When peopletake pace off the ball, you’ve gotto wait for the ball. Whenthere’s pace on it, then you cansit on it,” said the southpaw.

Warner had also practisedon synthetic wickets going intothe game.

“The curators havedone an unbeliev-able job to havethem up for 12weeks now, but youneed to sometimes

go back to a little bitof basics and gettingbat on ball and just

doing your normaldrills and get

your feetdancing.

PTI n PARIS

India’s double Olympicmedallist P V Sindhu cruised

into the quarterfinals of theFrench Open badminton tour-nament with a straight-gamewin over Line Christophersenof Denmark in the women’ssingles second round here.

Sindhu, seeded third, pre-vailed 21-19 21-9 overChristophersen, ranked 24th inthe world, in 37 minutes lateThursday night.

The reigning world cham-pion will face eighth seedBusanan Ongbamrungphan ofThailand in the quarterfinalson Friday.

Sindhu had beatenBusanan at Denmark Openlast week.

Men’s doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty, seeded fifth,also beat MR Arjun and DhruvKapila 15-21 21-10 21-19 in anall-Indian clash to reach thequarterfinals.

The duo will meet fourthseeded Malaysian pair of AaronChia and Soh Wooi Yik next.

Men’s singles playerSourabh Verma, however,bowed out of the competitionafter losing 12-21 9-21 toJapan’s Kenta Nishimoto in thesecond round.

On Thursday, youngLakshya Sen had sailed intothird round of the Super 750event with a comfortable winover Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew.

PTI n DUBAI

New Zealand pacer AdamMilne, who was drafted

into the squad in place of injuredLockie Ferguson, is eager tomake the most of his rich veinof form in the ongoing T20World Cup, including in theSuper 12 match against Indiahere on Sunday.

Initially named as a travel-ling reserve, Milne was draftedinto the squad after Fergusonwas ruled out of the showpieceowing to a calf tear and wasexpected to play in the team’stournament opener againstPakistan on Tuesday.

However, on reaching theground, he was told to sit outbecause the team was still wait-ing for the ICC to approve himas an injury replacement.

“Yeah, I definitely feel likethis has been the best period ofconsistent cricket I’ve had in along, long time,” Milne, who hasbeen in splendid form playing inthe Big Bash League, VitalityBlast and the Hundred, toldreporters. “I’d love to make the

most of it and continue to usethis period to develop and per-form really well at a high level.I’m excited to hopefully make adifference with the ball in thesegames here and really prove thisperiod has been influential forme,” he added.

The 29-year-old, whoplayed for Mumbai Indians inthe recently concluded IPL, feelshe could have added to NewZealand’s performance in thefive-wicket loss against Pakistan.

“I think if you’d looked at theway the pitch played throughoutthe course of the IPL, the fasterguys that had been able to hit thewicket hard and create someuneven bounce had causedsome problems for the batters,”he said.

PTI n BELGRADE

Asian champion Sanjeet(92kg) defeated Russia’s

Andrei Stotskii in a thorough-ly entertaining contest to enterthe pre-quarterfinals, while Akash Kumar (54kg) gota walkover into that stage on agood day for Indians at theAIBA Men’s World BoxingChampionships here on Friday.

Akash advanced after hisGerman opponent Omar SalahIbrahim fell ill and gave hima walkover here on Friday. Hewill face Puerto Rico’s PaganCaleb Tirado in the last-16stage.

“His opponent did notshow up for the weigh-in thismorning as he was sick.Something like what happenedto us in Varinder Singh’s case. Inthat case, we suffered, today wegained,” India HighPerformance Director SantiagoNieva told PTI.

Varinder had to pull out ofhis 60kg category bout due tohigh fever but he tested negativefor COVID-19.

Sanjeet put up quite a showin the 4-1 win over Stotskii, whowas not a pushover by anymeasure.

The Indian, however, wasthe more attacking of the two,at least in the first two rounds.

Sanjeet displayed someflamboyance to go with hisskills, dropping his guard com-

pletely to taunt Stotskii on morethan one occasion.

The two exchanged blowsbut also smiled frequently ateach other, fighting at a languidbut engaging pace.

Late last night, AkashSangwan (67kg) recorded aconfident 4-1 victory againstGerman pugilist Daniel Krotterto also enter the pre-quarterfi-nals. The 21-year-old will squareoff against Cuban boxer KevinBrown.

In a late night bout, NishantDev (71kg) will square offagainst Mauritian Merven Clair,also looking to secure a pre-quarterfinal berth.

On Saturday, five-timeAsian medallist Shiva Thapa(63.5kg) will be in action along-side three other Indians. Thapawill fight Sierra Leone’s JohnBrown in the round of 32.

Sumit (75kg) will take onTajikistan’s Abdumalik Boltaev,while Sachin (80kg) will openagainst American RobbyGonzales. Both these bouts arealso round of 32 contests.

Govind Sahani (48kg) willcompete in the pre-quarterfinalsagainst Georgia’s SakhilAlakhverdovi.

The gold winners at theshowpiece will walk away witha prize money of USD 100,000.

The silver medallists are tobe given USD 50,000, and bothbronze-medallists will be award-ed USD 25,000 each.

PTI n SHARJAH

Defending championsWest Indies kept alivetheir slender hopes of

making the semifinals whilevirtually knocking Bangladeshout of the T20 World Cupwith a narrow three-run winhere on Friday.

Asked to set a target forthe third consecutive time inthe tournament, West Indiesposted 142 for seven with

Nicholas Pooran’s 40 off 22balls being the highlight oftheir innings.

The wicketkeeper batterhit four sixes and one four.

Roston Chase (39), mak-ing his T20 internationaldebut, was the other chief con-tributor with the bat.

In reply, Bangladesh couldmanage 139 for five in 20overs as all West indiesbowlers picked one wicketeach.

With no points from threematches, Bangladesh are outof the tournament, while WestIndies can still sneak into thesemifinals, provided they wintheir remaining matches andother results go in their favour.

Bangladesh began thechase on a poor note, losingopeners Mohammad Naim(17) and Shakib Al Hasan(9), who was limping, in thefirst six overs. But graduallypicked up the momentum

with wicketkeeper batter LitonDas (44 off 43) taking the ini-tiative.

West Indies, l ikeBangladesh, were sloppy inthe field and the two-timechampions were also guilty ofmissing as many as three runout opportunities.

With 50 need off the lastsix overs with six wickets inhand, skipper Mahmudullah(31 not out) and Das lookedto be in control, converting

ones into twos while also hit-ting boundaries regularly.

Dwayne Bravo (1/36) pro-duced a conducive 17th over,giving away just three runs. Inthe first ball of the penultimateover, he was hit for a six byMahmudullah but the veteranall-rounder proved his mettleby getting rid of danger-manDas in his final ball.

Needing 13 of the lastover, Mahmudullah failed toclear the boundary even oncedespite being dropped by sub-stitute Andre Fletcher in thefourth ball to bring down theequation to four off the lastball.

But Andre Russell (1/29)bowled a gem of a final deliv-ery full outside the off stump,denying Mahmudullah anychance to free his arms to seala close win for West Indies.

Earlier, Pooran hit foursixes and one four while Chase(39) was the other chief con-tributor with the bat.

Aware of West Indiesstruggle against spin,Bangladesh skipperMahmudullah handed the ballto off-spinner Mahedi Hasan(2/27) to open the innings,putting pressure on theCaribbean team.

After a few overs of pace,bringing back spin in the fifthover paid immediate divi-dends with Hasan getting thebig wicket of Chris

Gayle (4) as Bangladeshgave away just 29 runs whilepicking two wickets in thePowerplay.

In his next over, right afterhe put down Chase of hisbowling, Hasan snaredShimron Hetmyer’s (9) wick-et.

Kieron Pollard (14 notout) and Chase tried to repairthe innings before the skipperretired ill in the 13th over.

The reasons for his walk-ing out at that stage were notclear but he came back in thefinal over to hit a last ball sixafter seven batter of his sidewere packed off.

In the very next ball,Andre Russell (0) was run outwithout facing a ball as thingswent from bad to worse for theWest Indies.

Then on West Indies gotsome rub of the green whenChase was dropped once againby Hasan at deep mid-wicketbefore Bangladesh missed astumping opportunity againstPooran.

The momentum slightlychanged in the West Indiesfavour as Chase and Pooranplundered 14 runs off the15th over.

Pooran continued theassault as he hammered ShakibAl Hasan for back-to-backsixes. 2Jason Holder toopitched in with an unbeatenfive-ball 15.

PTI n DUBAI

Skipper Mohammad Nabiand Gulbadin Naib’s unbeat-

en knocks in a splendid rear-guard action steeredAfghanistan to a competitive147 for six against Pakistan ina Super 12 Group 2 match ofthe T20 World Cup, here onFriday.

Afghanistan were gaspingat 76 for six in the 13th over asPakistan’s expansive attackdominated the proceedings butNabi (35) and Naib (35) seizedthe momentum with their big-hearted effort under pressureand prevented it from becom-ing a one-sided contest.

They added 71 runs in 7.1overs with 43 coming in the lastthree overs.

It all started when theycreamed 21 runs from the 17thover bowled by Hasan Ali.Together they hit 10 bound-aries.

However, initially ShaheenAfridi’s probing yorkers, HarisRauf ’s variation and the controlof Imad Wasim and Shadab

Khan tested the batters ofAfghanistan, who opted to bat.

Pacer Afiridi created pres-sure on Afghan batters straight-away with his toe-targetingfiery first over and left-armspinner Wasim followed thatup with another tight overupfront.

The dot-ball pressure gotthe better of Hazratullah Zazai(0), who went after Wasimand ended up giving a catch toHaris Rauf.

Mohammad Shahzad (8)lifted Afridi’s overpitched ballin the cover region to get thefirst boundary of the team butcould not clear the mid-on oneball later to start his walk backto the dug out.

Realising that it will be dif-ficult to score off Afridi, formerskipper Asghar Afghan (10)and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (10)targeted Wasim and collected17 runs from his next over,both hitting him for a six each.

However, Afghan’s stay wascut short by Rauf while Gurbazwas sent back by Hasan Ali.

Really important to have stable base on these wickets: Warner

O T H E R S P O R T S

Warner does a Ronaldo, jokinglyremoves coca cola bottlesPTI n DUBAI

Star Australian opener DavidWarner did a Cristiano

Ronaldo during the ongoingT20 World Cup here as heremoved Coca Cola bottlesplaced in front of him duringa press conference for a briefwhile.

Just before the start of thepress conference after he guid-ed Australia to a seven-wick-et win over Sri Lanka here on

Thursday, Warner grabbed thetwo soft drink bottles lying infront of him and said with asmile, “Can I remove these?Though I have to put it there.”

“If it’s good enough forCristiano, it’s good enoughfor me. That’s right,” he addedwhile putting the two bottlesback.

Ronaldo’s act of removingthe soft drink during aEuropean Championshipspress conference reportedly

cost the global beverage gianta whopping USD 4 billion.

The footage of Warnerremoving the bottles attractedconsiderable social mediaattention but any financialfallout is not known yet.

A well-known fitnessenthusiast, Ronaldo set asidetwo Coca-Cola glass bottleswhich lay in front of him dur-ing a press conference ahead ofPortugal’’s opening Euro matchagainst Hungary.

Milne hopeful of makinga difference for his teamagainst India

Sindhu enters quarterfinals Boxing World C’ships: Sanjeet, Akash Kumar Rohan Jaitley to retainDDCA presidency

AF SCORE 147 AGAINST PAKISTAN

WEST INDIES VIRTUALLY KNOCK OUT B’DESH BY 3 RUNS...Stay alive in World Cup