ˇ - the pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. the court has issued...

12
The 'regulated farming pol- icy', being strongly advocated for implementation across the state, is significant because none other than Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao himself toiled day and night for the past five months to give it proper shape, accord- ing to government sources. Although an official indica- tion from the Chief Minister's Office on the implementa- tion of regulated farming in TS came out first on May 9, the Chief Minister had initiated the process of framing rules for the policy as early as in January this year. The Chief Minister has since held over hundred meetings a t Pragathi Bhavan with agricul- tural scientists, agri- culture experts, experts from seeds and fertilizer companies, soil scientists, agriculture universi- ty professors, agriculture mar- keting experts, food processing experts to craft the policy. Although KCR conceived the idea of introducing regu- lated farming soon after assuming power in 2014, the policy started taking shape since January this year. "Farmers should decide the price of their produce like any other manufacturing compa- ny which decides the price of its product," is said to be the guiding principle of KCR's regulated farming policy. Taking suo motu notice of cer- tain disparaging comments made against the judiciary, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday served notices on 49 people, includ- ing YSRCP Baptla MP Nandigam Suresh and former YSRCP Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan. The High Court also took serious view of the comments made against the court and the judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for the respon- dents to reply to the notices. The court posted the next hearing on the case to June 16. The High Court issued notices to Baptla YSRCP MP Nandigam Suresh for his recent controversial remarks against the court. At a press briefing, the Baptla MP attributed motives to the court stating that TDP president and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was managing even courts. "Chandrababu Naidu seems to know the High Court verdict 10 minutes in advance. Chandrababu's call list should be examined to verify if he is involved in the judgement process." These are not just highly objectionable remarks, but amount to contempt of court. The High Court also served notice on former Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan for making remarks that are in the nature of contempt court. He had found fault with the High Court's directive to the CBI to probe the police highhanded- ness against Dr Sudhakar Rao. The civil surgeon of Narsipatnam Government Hospital was suspended for raising his voice against short- age of medical equipment like masks, gloves and PPEs. As the Government of Andhra Pradesh has hiked prices of liquor by nearly 75%, smug- gling of cartons and cartons of liquor, sourced at relatively cheaper rates from villages bordering Telangana, into the state is rampant, with smug- glers making a killing. Interestingly, this new-found lucrative activity is going on unchecked from Nalgonda and Suryapeta districts. Due to the wide differences in the prices of liquor sold in the two states, smugglers are in a position to pocket Rs 8,400 per carton. For, the smuggling of liquor takes place through cost-effec- tive channels like auto-rick- shaws, motorcycles and rafts across river Krishna. According to reports, there is large-scale traffic involving people of AP origin from Jaggaiahpet mandal on autorickshaws and motorcy- cles, with many purchasing liquor in villages of Kodada mandal in Suryapet district, which is close to villages in Krishna district of AP. On an average, 100 persons visit Dondapadu in Chintalapalem mandal daily. The Telangana High Court on Tuesday expressed its dis- pleasure over the number of Coronavirus tests conducted in the state. It also set aside the proceed- ings issued by the director of directorate of public health (DPH) on April 24 directing health officials not to collect blood samples from dead bod- ies for conduct of COVID-19 tests. A division bench of the High Court, comprising the Chief Justice of the state Justice RS Chauhan and Justice B.Vijaysen Reddy, directed the state government to file a detailed report before it with regard to number of tests done in Telangana between May 1 and May 25, 2020, including the detection tests conducted on the migrant workers, asymptomatic patients and confirmed cases before June 4,2020. The division bench passed these orders while dealing with a batch Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitions filed concerned citizens of the state, including the vice president of the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Convenor of the Telangana Democratic Forum Prof. PL Vishveshwar Rao. The court later adjourned the matter till June 4, 2020. TS Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is consid- ering extension of the lock- down, though the next spell - -Lockdown 5.0 - may be enforced only in GHMC lim- its, which has now become the focal point of most of the fresh Covid-19 cases being reported daily from across the state. KCR is scheduled to chair a high-level meeting on Wednesday to take a decision on Lockdown 5.0. Lockdown 4.0, imposed in Telangana from May 17, is scheduled to end on May 31, with economic activity being revived in all the districts, except for containment zones. Night curfew too is continuing in state from 7 pm to 7 am. In view of the increasing corona positive cases and deaths in GHMC limits, KCR prefers extending the lockdown. The Health Department has report- edly urged KCR to extend lock- down in GHMC limits beyond May 31 keeping in view the upcoming rainy season. The prolonged lockdown may have left excited newlyweds stranded at various exotic loca- tions in extended honeymoons, with their blessed togetherness serving as a kind of providen- tial bonus. Still, with continu- ing extensions of the lock- down, the law of diminishing returns seems to be working even on this blissful holiday as many couples are already beginning to feel jaded. Being stuck on a tropical island with your newly-wedded spouse sounds good only on paper, but in reality, things are not all that good, say many couples who are stuck due to lockdown in what others believe is a kind of lucky break for them with seemingly never- ending honeymoon. Forced to extend their hon- eymoon beyond March 25, Rishabh and Geetika, a young couple waited through the first lockdown in Turkey. "When Lockdown 2.0 was about to end, my father-in-law was hos- pitalised with a lung issue and he passed away on May 1. We requested the Indian Embassy to arrange some means of transport, even charter flight, to reach Delhi, but there was no support," Rishabh said, adding that his wife went into depres- sion thereafter. "The embassy gave me some money after I told them that I have no money left. We were a small group of 200 people who can fit into one plane, and we are ready to land and quarantine in any city," added the man. Narrating another such ordeal, a couple, Pooja Tanwar and Ravi Singh, talk about how they managed to get back to India from Maldives just days before lockdown, amid the fear of infection. Posthumous Covid-19 tests: HC sets aside TS govt orders Liquor smuggling rampant on border dts AP High Court issues notices to YSRCP MP, ex MLA, 49 others Six doctors responsible for death of mother, newborn KCR toiled for 5 months to devise farmer-friendly policy Corona traps couples in never-ending honeymoon 71 cases in a day Alleged violation of lockdown rules by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu while return- ing from Hyderabad after more than two months, sparked a row with the leaders of ruling YSR Congress Party demanding that he be sent to quarantine. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, who was 'stranded' in Hyderabad since the lockdown began in March, reached his residence in Amaravati by road on Monday to a warm welcome by the party leaders and workers. Earlier at Vijayawada, the leader of the opposi- tion stopped his convoy to wave at a large number of party activists and followers who jostled to greet him.

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Page 1: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

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The 'regulated farming pol-icy', being strongly advocatedfor implementation across thestate, is significant becausenone other than ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao himself toiled day andnight for the past five monthsto give it proper shape, accord-ing to government sources.

Although an official indica-tion from the Chief Minister'sOffice on the implementa-tion of regulated farming in TScame out first on May 9, theChief Minister had initiatedthe process of framing rulesfor the policy as early as inJanuary this year.

The ChiefM i n i s t e rhas sinceheld overhundredmeetingsa tPragathiB h a v a nwith agricul-tural scientists, agri-culture experts,experts from seeds andfertilizer companies, soil

scientists, agriculture universi-ty professors, agriculture mar-keting experts, food processingexperts to craft the policy.

Although KCR conceivedthe idea of introducing regu-lated farming soon afterassuming power in 2014, thepolicy started taking shapesince January this year.

"Farmers should decide theprice of their produce like anyother manufacturing compa-ny which decides the price ofits product," is said to be theguiding principle of KCR'sregulated farming policy.

����� ��������

Taking suo motu notice of cer-tain disparaging commentsmade against the judiciary,the Andhra Pradesh HighCourt on Tuesday servednotices on 49 people, includ-ing YSRCP Baptla MPNandigam Suresh and formerYSRCP Chirala MLAAmanchi Krishna Mohan.

The High Court also tookserious view of the commentsmade against the court and thejudges in various social mediaplatforms and websites.

The court has issued noticesalso to various social mediaplatforms. The court gave threeweeks' time for the respon-dents to reply to the notices.The court posted the nexthearing on the case to June 16.

The High Court issuednotices to Baptla YSRCP MPNandigam Suresh for his recentcontroversial remarks againstthe court. At a press briefing,the Baptla MP attributedmotives to the court stating thatTDP president and formerchief minister ChandrababuNaidu was managing even

courts. "Chandrababu Naiduseems to know the High Courtverdict 10 minutes in advance.Chandrababu's call list shouldbe examined to verify if he isinvolved in the judgementprocess." These are not justhighly objectionable remarks,but amount to contempt ofcourt.

The High Court also servednotice on former Chirala MLAAmanchi Krishna Mohan for

making remarks that are in thenature of contempt court. Hehad found fault with the HighCourt's directive to the CBI toprobe the police highhanded-ness against Dr Sudhakar Rao.

The civil surgeon ofNarsipatnam GovernmentHospital was suspended forraising his voice against short-age of medical equipment likemasks, gloves and PPEs.

������������ ���������

As the Government of AndhraPradesh has hiked prices ofliquor by nearly 75%, smug-gling of cartons and cartons ofliquor, sourced at relativelycheaper rates from villagesbordering Telangana, into thestate is rampant, with smug-glers making a killing.Interestingly, this new-foundlucrative activity is going onunchecked from Nalgonda andSuryapeta districts.

Due to the wide differencesin the prices of liquor sold inthe two states, smugglers are ina position to pocket Rs 8,400

per carton. For, the smuggling of liquor

takes place through cost-effec-tive channels like auto-rick-

shaws, motorcycles and raftsacross river Krishna.

According to reports, thereis large-scale traffic involvingpeople of AP origin fromJaggaiahpet mandal onautorickshaws and motorcy-cles, with many purchasingliquor in villages of Kodadamandal in Suryapet district,which is close to villages inKrishna district of AP.

On an average, 100 personsvisit Dondapadu inChintalapalem mandal daily.

��������������� ���������

The Telangana High Courton Tuesday expressed its dis-pleasure over the number ofCoronavirus tests conducted inthe state.

It also set aside the proceed-ings issued by the director ofdirectorate of public health(DPH) on April 24 directinghealth officials not to collectblood samples from dead bod-ies for conduct of COVID-19tests.

A division bench of theHigh Court, comprising theChief Justice of the state JusticeRS Chauhan and JusticeB.Vijaysen Reddy, directed thestate government to file adetailed report before it withregard to number of tests donein Telangana between May 1and May 25, 2020, includingthe detection tests conductedon the migrant workers,asymptomatic patients andconfirmed cases before June4,2020.

The division bench passedthese orders while dealingwith a batch Public InterestLitigation (PIL) petitions filedconcerned citizens of the state,including the vice president of

the Telangana Jana Samithi(TJS) and Convenor of theTelangana Democratic Forum

Prof. PL Vishveshwar Rao. The court later adjourned

the matter till June 4, 2020.

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TS Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is consid-ering extension of the lock-down, though the next spell --Lockdown 5.0 - may beenforced only in GHMC lim-its, which has now become thefocal point of most of the freshCovid-19 cases being reporteddaily from across the state.

KCR is scheduled to chair ahigh-level meeting onWednesday to take a decisionon Lockdown 5.0.

Lockdown 4.0, imposed inTelangana from May 17, isscheduled to end on May 31,with economic activity beingrevived in all the districts,except for containment zones.Night curfew too is continuingin state from 7 pm to 7 am.

In view of the increasingcorona positive cases and deathsin GHMC limits, KCR prefersextending the lockdown. TheHealth Department has report-edly urged KCR to extend lock-down in GHMC limits beyondMay 31 keeping in view theupcoming rainy season.

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The prolonged lockdown mayhave left excited newlywedsstranded at various exotic loca-tions in extended honeymoons,with their blessed togethernessserving as a kind of providen-tial bonus. Still, with continu-ing extensions of the lock-down, the law of diminishingreturns seems to be workingeven on this blissful holiday asmany couples are alreadybeginning to feel jaded.

Being stuck on a tropicalisland with your newly-weddedspouse sounds good only onpaper, but in reality, things arenot all that good, say many

couples who are stuck due tolockdown in what othersbelieve is a kind of lucky break

for them with seemingly never-ending honeymoon.

Forced to extend their hon-

eymoon beyond March 25,Rishabh and Geetika, a youngcouple waited through the firstlockdown in Turkey. "WhenLockdown 2.0 was about toend, my father-in-law was hos-pitalised with a lung issue andhe passed away on May 1. Werequested the Indian Embassyto arrange some means oftransport, even charter flight, toreach Delhi, but there was nosupport," Rishabh said, addingthat his wife went into depres-sion thereafter. "The embassy

gave me some money after Itold them that I have no moneyleft. We were a small group of200 people who can fit into oneplane, and we are ready to landand quarantine in any city,"added the man.

Narrating another suchordeal, a couple, Pooja Tanwarand Ravi Singh, talk abouthow they managed to get backto India from Maldives justdays before lockdown, amidthe fear of infection.

Posthumous Covid-19 tests:HC sets aside TS govt orders

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AP High Court issues notices toYSRCP MP, ex MLA, 49 others

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Six doctors responsible fordeath of mother, newborn� ������/�"���"���.��.��-4��.6�.��-.�"��/0�1��-�0����"������� -��������������0�0�.�����0�/���0-��-�/���/�-./�����-������0�����-����.�����-�!�02���0�/�������.0�����.�2�-�.���1��.������7�"2-�-������0-��-�/������-6�+�����.�����0�/������-/�����&�-.����-6������.���8��+����.��1��-/�������.0�����-������������-6�!�.0����-/�����7���"��/������-4��.6�.����/-��-�0����� �����������0��.������0

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KCR toiled for 5 months to devisefarmer-friendly policy

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Corona traps couples in never-ending honeymoon

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Alleged violation of lockdownrules by former AndhraPradesh chief ministerN. ChandrababuNaidu while return-ing from Hyderabadafter more than twomonths, sparked arow with the leaders ofruling YSR Congress Partydemanding that he be sent toquarantine.

The Telugu Desam Party

(TDP) president, who was'stranded' in Hyderabad sincethe lockdown began in March,

reached his residence inAmaravati by road onMonday to a warmwelcome by the partyleaders and workers.

Earlier at Vijayawada,the leader of the opposi-

tion stopped his convoy towave at a large number ofparty activists and followerswho jostled to greet him.

Page 2: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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After a rather lengthyh i b e r n a t i o n ,enforced by the

Coronavirus inducedlockdown, TDP supremoN Chandrababu Naidufinally set foot in AndhraPradesh, immediatelyheating up the politicalatmosphere in the state thatwas already simmering due tothee heatwaves.

Naidu’s reentry has set theproverbial cats among thepigeons, and has also gal-vanised the TDP cadre thathad been forced on the backfoot due to the ruling YSRCP’sincessant swipes that the for-mer Chief Minister was “hid-ing” in Hyderabad as he wasunable to face the people of AP.

The sight of TDP cadreswarming to greet their leaderas he set foot in the state isenough to convey the messagethat the YSRCP’s onslaughthad worked and the main

opposition partyhad been on the backfoot.

On his part, Naiduhad made multiple

attempts to returnto AP from Hyderabad, but

the travel restrictions inplace due to the lockdownmade it impossible.

When he finally got permis-sion to travel toVisakhapatnam to meet thekin of the victims of Styrenegas leak in the LG Polymersplant on the first day ofresumption of domestic airservices, he was forced to puthis plans on hold due to non-availability of flight services.

The TDP lost no time inblaming the YSRCP leadershipfor the delay, accusing theruling party of influencingthe Central government todelay Naidu’s outreach bid.

YSRCP countered by pre-tending that Naidu’s meeting

the gas leak victim wouldn’tmatter much and said that itdoes not need to influence theCentral government.

However, the fact remainsthat the ruling party has beentactically making moves tocounter any possible attemptby the TDP to score politicalbrownie points through thegas leak tragedy that claimedthe lives of 12 innocent people.

Ever since the tragedystruck, everyone expected it tobe politicised and the opposi-tion to try and corner the gov-ernment by charging it with

“negligence”.TDP has already taken up

the issue by questioning thegovernment on what basis didit give permission to LGPolymers to reopen the plantas it does not come under thecategory of “essential services”.

Till the moment Naidureturned to AP, leader afterleader of the YSRCP ridiculedhim for making political state-ments while sitting in a differ-ent state. The TDP could notrebuff these barbs as it wasNaidu who chose to let go ofhaving Hyderabad as joint

capital till 2024 as per the AP'sReorganisation Act 2014approved by Parliament.

Had Hyderabad continuedto remain the joint capital,Naidu wouldn’t have beenforced to suffer the ignominyof YSRCP barbs. But when hefinally set foot in AP, the overenthusiasm of the TDP cadre

in welcoming their partysupremo left Naidu red-faced.

Video footage showed thatthe TDP cadre jostled witheach other to welcome theirleader, giving scant regard tosocial distancing that is crucialfor containing the deadlyCovid-19.

The YSRCP has lost nottime in seizing the momentlike a national party did andheld the TDP responsible forthe spread of the Coronavirus.

The ruling party’s reactionis predictable, as it feared thatNaidu’s visit to Visakhapatnamto meet the victims of gastragedy may give the TDP theupper hand, politically.

By returning, Naidu hasdiluted the criticism that hewas a “leader-in-exile” andout of sync with reality.

Of all the things YSRCP saidabout him ever since the lock-down began, the most humil-iating was the demand that

Naidu be quarantined themoment he entered AP inview of outbreak. Buoyed byNaidu’s return, the TDP cadrehave started pointing out thatJagan, soon after landing inVisakhapatnam after thetragedy, first visited the LGPolymers plant and later meet-ing the victims in the KGH.

The TDP added one moreblow by accusing the YSRCPof conniving with the Centralgovernment to ensure the nonresumption of flights in AP onthe day Naidu stepped into thestate just to stop him fromgoing to Vizag.

If Naidu’s efforts had indeedborne fruit, there may be nochance of deliberately stoppingthe resumption of flight ser-vices in AP, whatever be thepressure from YSRCP.

In the early 1980s, TDPfounder-president NT RamaRao was to address a publicmeeting in Vijayawada. When

he was about to leave forBegumpet airport inHyderabad, news came thatthe particular flight in whichNTR was to travel toVijayawada was cancelled.

The incident assumed polit-ical significance when NTRdecided to take on the thenruling Congress. He reachedVijayawada by road andaddressed the rally, way pastthe original schedule. “Can aflight stop me or come in theway of my reachingVijayawada?” NTR thundered.The crowd at the PWDGrounds, now known asSwaraj Maidan, went wild.NTR had arrived, if he need-ed to arrive in the first place.

Though that incident can'tbe compared with the presentone, it might have ignited thedesire in the minds of TDPcadre of gaining politicalmileage by following NTR 'sstyle of functioning.

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Increased urbanisation is pos-sibly causing heavy rainfallevents in cities of Tamil Nadu,Telangana and Kerala over thepast few years, according to astudy by city-based Universityof Hyderabad (UoH).

Several heavy rainfallevents have been reported incities of South India includingthe extreme rainfall that cre-ated havoc in Chennai andnearby areas in Tamil Nadu inDecember 2015, the heavyrain over Hyderabad andadjoining regions inTelangana in September 2016,and the extreme rainfall eventin Kerala in August 2018, arelease from UoH said onTuesday. These three statesdiffer in their geographicallocations, and also the seasonin which they receive rainfall.

A team led by ProfKarumuri Ashok from theCentre for Earth, Ocean andAtmospheric Sciences of theUniversity of Hyderabad,examined whether a com-mon factor, the changing landuse land cover (LULC) inthese states, has any implica-tions for the heavy rainfallevents. Their study showed

that the precipitation duringheavy rainfall events in thesestates has significantlyincreased from 2000 to 2017.

Their findings were report-ed in the 'Quarterly Journal ofRoyal Meteorological Society'on May 18. Using the land useland cover data from ISRO,and by conducting 2 km res-olution simulation experi-ments of twelve heavy rainfallevents over the states, theresearchers found distinctLULC changes in these threestates, which led to higher sur-face temperatures and a deep-er and moist boundary layer,

it said.These in turn caused a rel-

atively higher convectiveavailable potential energy and,consequently, heavier rain-fall, according to the study. Itfurther stated that increasingurbanisation in Telanganaand Tamil Nadu is likely toenhance the rainfall duringthe heavy rainfall events by 20per cent to 25 per cent. ProfAshok felt that improving thedensity of observational rain-fall and other weather para-meters may help in forecast-ing extreme rainfalls at citylevel.

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In a bizzare incident, a 24-year old was electrocutedwhen he tried to catch fishusing an electrified wire forfun at an irrigation tank atKorvichelma village inDandepalli mandal.

Dandepalli Sub-InspectorT Srikanth said that thedeceased was DeviLachanna, an unmarriednative of Korvichelma vil-lage. Lachanna was anemployee in a private com-pany of Hyderabad. He waswith his parents followingthe announcement lock-down.

6�7����"�!!���!888Continued from page 1

Some women of the villagehave complained to the excisepolice over this liquor trafficas it is worsening their prob-lems. Liquor cartons arebeing illegally transportedfrom Adavidevulapalli man-dal in Telangana across theKrishna river to several des-tinations in AP. Because ofheavy demand for liquor inAP, the liquor shops in bor-ders areas of Telanganaexhaust stocks quite early.Sometimes they have to closeshops for a day or two, pend-ing arrival of fresh stocks. Onan average, the profit on eachfull bottle works out to Rs 700and the total takings on a car-ton of liquor smuggled fromTelangana works out to Rs8,400.The turnover of wineshops on AP-Telangana bor-der runs into several crores ofrupees for a fortnight.

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Khammam District CollectorRV Karnan on Tuesdayadvised the farmers in the dis-trict to adopt to alternativecropping and inter-croppingsystem for high yield andprofitability. He addressedfarmers at awareness meetingon regulated farming atMandrajupalli vil lageNelakondapalli in the dis-trict on Tuesday. He said thefarmers have to follow thenew farming system intro-duced by the State govern-ment and that Rythu BandhuScheme would be applicableto all.

Karnan explained thatalternative crops and inter-cropping would lead to sus-tainable agriculture. Havingmultiple crops as per themarket and public needswould help farmers gain goodincome, besides better weedsmanagement, diseases andinsect control. Alternatefarming system also protectthe soils from degradation.

Farmers in Khammam couldgo for red-gram as inter-cropwith cotton. The governmentwould procure red-gram byoffering minimum supportprice in this season, he said.

The Collector noted thatthere were sugar factories, oilfactories and about 37 coldstorages to store mirchi.

The government wantsfarmers to follow better agri-culture practices and wouldtake all measures required forselling the farm produce. Inyasangi season about 3.75lakh metric tonnes of grainswere procured by the govern-ment, Karnan said.

He inspected sugarcanecrop being cultivated byMadhucon Industries atRajeshwarapuram and figsbeing grown by a farmer AKrishna Murthy atKoratlagudem.

Zilla Parishad Vice-Chairperson Dhanalakshmi,District Agriculture OfficerJhansi Lakshmi Kumari,Horticulture Officer Anasuyaand others were present.

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As many as 40 children weretaken ill after eating pani puriin Adilabad town on Mondaynight, officials said on Tuesday.The children, aged 5-10, areundergoing treatment at RajivGandhi Institute of MedicalSciences (RIMS) in the town.

RIMS Director BalramBanoth said condition of twochildren was serious, but undercontrol. "The children are outof danger. But it will take 24hours for total improvement,"he said. According to thepolice, the children in Khurshid

Nagar and Sundarayya Nagarareas had pani puri from apushcart vendor. After sometime they started vomiting andsuffered diarrhea.

They were rushed to the hos-pital. By 11 pm, the number ofill children increased to 40.Two-three elders, who hadalso consumed pani puri, com-plained of stomach pain. Thevendor was selling pani puri(fried puff-pastry balls filledwith spiced mashed potato,spiced water and tamarindjuice) in violation of the lock-down restrictions, said munic-ipal officials.

Corona traps couples to never-ending...Continued from page 1

The couple got married onFebruary 25 and left forMaldives via Sri Lanka on 7thMarch. "Our honeymoon wasplanned till 12th March, theperiod when coronavirus justentered India. We were in adilemma about whether weshould go or avoid traveling.But as everything was bookedand it's a natural feeling to beexcited about the honeymoon.Plus, nowhere in our dreamscould we imagine the currentsituation so we decided totake the risk with full measuresand precautions by carryingsanitisers and masks. Once inMaldives, it was mandatory tohave sanitisation at stationsand we were maintainingsocial distancing from others.We skipped all the activities

and spent time on the beach-es and just explored placesnearby the hotel. It was apleasant experience, but alsovery scary because Islandsstarted shutting down due tocases found in their areas.We're were afraid of gettingstuck; so, we're just hoping tocome back and started count-ing time, even the last two dayswe locked ourselves in thehotel room and were evenscared to go in hotel dining tohave lunch and dinner" shesaid.

"The whole flight experiencewas nothing short of a scenefrom a zombie movie. Panicwas felt in the air and peoplehad a fear-struck expressionthroughout. Somehow, wemanaged to reach home and afew days later the first lock-down happened. We were not

sure if we were healthy and safeand didn't get infected as thevirus takes 14 days to show itssymptoms. So, we kept our-selves in quarantine for 14-20days and by God's grace wecame out healthy," she added.

Rahul Malik, a techie whoworks for an MNC, said that heand his wife were to fly back onMarch 20 from Maldives. "Bythe time we realized therewould be no flights after 12noon on March 19, it was toolate, and we could not advanceour return. I did not bring mywork laptop and cannot domuch from here. My employ-er has been very supportivethrough this. I don't know howlong we will have to stay hereand hope we can get backsoon. Our families too are aworried lot, he added.

KCR toiled for 5 months...Continued from page 1

Power Minister G JagadishReddy, who was part of sever-al such meetings convened byKCR told The Pioneer that theChief Minister was very upsetafter he noticed that farmershad been suffering losses inTelangana even though thestate government has beenspending thousands of croresof rupees to give free water,24x7 free electricity, seeds atsubsidized rates, RythuBandhu and Rythu Bima tofarmers, unlike in any otherstate of the country.

"This prompted KCR to devisea revolutionary farming policy tomake agriculture profitable. He

felt that the present agriculturepolicy itself is defective. There isno scientific approach to farm-ing. All farmers opt for samecrops every season resulting inglut in the market and crash inprices. With this, farmers are leftto the mercy of traders who areexploiting them by purchasingagri produce for lower prices.Farmers too are left with nooption but to accept whatevertraders give due to abundantavailability of same agricultureproduce in the market," JagadishReddy said. "Every manufactur-ing company decides the priceof its product. Consumers sim-ply pay that price and purchasethem. But in the case of farm-ers, the traders decide the price

and farmers accept whateverthey offer. Why this anamolywas the focal point during dis-cussions. Finally, it was con-cluded that because all farmerswere producing same crops,especially rice and maize, itbecame a problem of plentywhich was exploited by traders.KCR felt that to check thismenace, asking farmers todiversify crops and sowingshould be need-based and mar-ket-driven, which forms thebasis of KCR's new regulatedfarming policy, he said. "KCRhas given clear directions to offi-cials not to exclude any farmerfrom Rythu Bandhu beneficia-ries' list. The benefit will beextended as it is.”

AP High Court issues notices...Continued from page 1

On the pretext of drunk dri-ving, the police dragged himon the streets, with his shirtremoved and his both handstied behind with a rope, whilea constable repeatedly deliv-ered blows with his lathi. Thevideos of the same went viral.

Taking suo motu cognizanceof the way Dr Sudhakar Raowas harassed, the High Courthad directed the CBI to thor-oughly probe the incident.

Reacting to this, Amanchi

Krishna Mohan said it waspetty case, one that does notwarrant a CBI investigation."It's a petty case. For everypetty case, a CBI investigationshould not be ordered. TheHigh Court ordering CBIprobe has surprised everyonein the state," he said. He did-n't stop there. Fuming at theHC directive, the YSRCPleader further said peoplewill lose faith in the courtswith such directives. "It is notcorrect to comment on courtverdicts, but it is not correct

on the part of the court toorder a CBI probe," he com-mented. The YSRCP leadersaid that he would havelaunched an agitation againstthe court directive but for thelockdown. "If every petty caseis handed over to the CBI,then the central governmentshould set up a CBI officeattached to all the police sta-tions in the state," he said.

He also demanded thatNandigam Suresh's Lok Sabhamembership be suspended.

40 kids fall ill afterhaving pani puri

30 ICU patients awaitnod for Plasma therapy����� ���������

With the number of patientsbeing admitted in ICU increas-ing, Telangana government isactively pursuing approvals forplasma therapy to treat thesepatients. About 30 patients arecurrently admitted in ICU andthe Health Department haswritten to ICMR to approveplasma therapy on each of thepatient.

Sources in the HealthDepartment stated thatICMR takes time to approveplasma therapy for eachpatient and request for the 30patients has already beenplaced. Telangana has alreadystarted infusing plasma topatients. Sources alleged thatplasma was infused in one ofthe coronavirus patient, butshe succumbed to the virusand did not respond to the

treatment. The details ofwhether the persons died ofplasma therapy or co-mor-bidities is yet to be known.Sources pointed that theICMR is going to revise theguidelines again, so the ther-apy will be taken up based onthe results.

Meanwhi le , MinisterEatala Rajender took stock ofthe Covid patients who needcritical care. Dr RajaraoGandhi Superintended toldthe Minister that there arecurrently 30 patients in theICU. Minister enquireddetails of every patient andtheir details. Eatala urgeddoctors to try to save everypatient with special focus onICU patients. He asked hos-pital authorities to informtheir family members fromtime to time on the patients’medical condition.

Continued from page 1

They point out that rainyseason makes people vulnera-ble to cold, flu, viral fevers andother so-called seasonal dis-eases. Hence, KCR has decid-ed not to take any chances.

Lockdown 5.0 may last tillJune 15. A decision in thisregard will be taken at themeeting on Wednesday.

The GHMC limits and cityoutskirts falling in RangaReddy district have been wit-nessing constant rise in coro-na positive cases and deaths,

more so after relaxations weregiven under Lockdown 4.0. Ofthe 66 cases detected on May25 in TS, 32 cases were report-ed from these areas. On May24, 41 cases were detected inTS, of which GHMC account-ed for 23 and Ranga Reddy 1.On May 23, 52 cases weredetected in TS, of whichGHMC accounted for 33. OnMay 22, 62 cases were detect-ed in TS, of which GHMCaccounted for 42 and RangaReddy 1. On May 21, 38 caseswere detected in TS, of whichGHMC accounted for 26 and

Ranga Reddy 2. On May 20, 21cases were detected in TS, ofwhich GHMC accounted for15. On May 19, 42 cases weredetected in TS, of whichGHMC accounted for 34.

Taking these alarming statis-tics into consideration, KCR islearnt to have approved therequest of the health depart-ment to continue lockdown inGHMC limits beyond May31. However, the CM is expect-ed to relax lockdown normsfurther in all the other districts,barring GHMC limits, fromJune 1.

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YSRCP leaders alleged thatNaidu violated the lockdownnorms as social distancing wasnot maintained and the peoplewho greeted him were not evenwearing masks. Some went tothe extent of demanding that hebe sent to quarantine for 14days. "Since he came from a redzone area and crossed overfrom another state, he should bequarantined," said YSRCPleader G. Srikant Reddy. AYSRCP leader from Kadapasought action against Naidu fordeliberately violating Covid-19lockdown rules and alsoEpidemic Diseases Act andCommunicable Diseases,

Prevention and Control Act,1988. In a letter to DirectorGeneral of Police GautamSawang, the ruling party leadersaid Naidu's followers gatheredaround his convoy withoutmaintaining physical distanceand without wearing masks.

The leaders of the rulingparty and the main oppositionhave been indulging in politicalslugfest over Naidu's stay inHyderabad. YSRCP leaders hadtaunted him for maintaining'social distancing' by staying 300km away from the state. Theyalso slammed him for what theycall playing politics over the pan-demic by addressing press con-ferences over zoom app from hisresidence in Hyderabad.

Page 3: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

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Everything in this pandemiclockdown seens to be doomed.But for the people graduatingthis year, it must be doubly so.

No farewell parties, no grad-uation ceremony, no last daygroup photographs in college.In fact, there is a protractedwait for the final exams too.

Celebration of convocationto award degrees to studentsthis year seems to be a far cryon account of the Covid-19threat, pending discovery of avaccine for the virus.

Podile Appa Rao, vice-chan-cellor of Hyderabad CentralUniversity, went on recordstating that the universitywould not celebrate the convo-cation this year because of thethreat. Annually, the universi-ty celebrates convocation at theBrahma Kumaris' Auditorium

in Gachchibowli in October. The JNTU-H in January

this year issued a notification

declaring that the convocationof the University for 2018-19would be held in May this year.

But, the university officialsare skeptical about goingahead with the schedulebecause of the prevailing situ-ation in the state.

The Osmania Universtyheld its 80th convocation lastyear, after a gap of six years.The university officials rule outany scope for celebration ofconvocation this year.

Besides engineering, phar-macy and business schools,some degree colleges havebeen celebrating graduationday for several years to grantdegrees to qualified students.

The college representativesrule out holding such eventsthis year.

Almost all the graduatingstudents want to live the 'throwthe cap in the air' moment.Most of it might not happenfor many college-goers thisyear.

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Telangana has been proactivein expanding infrastructureaimed at providing healthcare services to coronaviruspositive patients. As a result,in the last few months, theState government has creat-ed infrastructure that cansupport at least 1 lakh Covid-19 positive patients, HealthMinister, Etela Rajender said.

In a review meeting withSuperintendent of the GandhiHospital, Dr Raja Rao, theMinister directed officials toensure quality services areaccessible to Covid patients.The meeting focused on waysto improve health care facil-ities for critical cases atGandhi Hospital.

The Minister said that thestate government requestedCenter to provide 1,000 ven-tilators to the state to treatcritical patients. On Tuesday,AIF delivered 100 ventilatorsto hospitals providing care toCovid-19 patients.

Authorities will utilise the80 ventilators that weredonated to Gandhi Hospitalfor critically ill Covid-19patients, Osmania Hospitalwill use 10 and GovernmentChest & General Hospitalwill use 10 respectively.

As part of the efforts tosupport health infrastructureneeds in Telangana, 5,000PPE kits, comprising of N-95Masks, coveral l gowns,

gloves, shoe covers, goggles,face shield and disposablebags, have also been given tothe hospitals to help protectand enable medical staff carryout services to those in need.

He said, "Micron Founda-tion presented hundred ven-tilators to the TS. On occa-sions Covid patients collapsedue to lack of ventilator andthese will benefit patientsgetting the right treatment.

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South Central Railway, one ofthe major freight loading zoneson Indian Railways added twomore goods terminals by com-mencing operations at Green-field Private Freight Terminals(PFT) during the month ofMay, 2020, though the entireNation is under unprecedent-ed lockdown due to outbreakof pandemic Covid-19.

The two PFTs,Lakshminarasimha Infra PvtLtd at Nagireddypalli RailwayStation of Yadadri Bhongirwas commissioned on May 8and Sri LakshmiVenkateshwara Warehousing& PFT Pvt. Ltd at KaukuntlaRailway Station ofMahbubnagar started its oper-ation on May 25.

During the current lock-down period, Indian Railwaysis uninterruptedly operatingfreight and parcel services toensure supply of essential com-modities across the Nation. Tofulfil this endeavour, SCR iscontinuously running bothfreight and parcel trains with

particular focus on essentialcommodities and other perish-able items by introducinginnovative concepts likeDhood Duronto specials andJai Kisan freight trains.

Lakshmi Narasimha InfraPvt despatched the first freighttrain loaded with boiled rice of2,400 tonnes to Arakkonamjunction in Tamil Nadu. Thetraffic offered for transportingfrom these goods PFT was ear-lier moved by road from var-ious warehouses located insurrounding areas. This PFTwill serve the customers hail-

ing from Yadadri Bhongir,Jangaon and Nalgonda districtsfor transportation of foodgrains by rail. Sri LakshmiVenkateshwara Warehousing& PFT Pvt. Ltd loaded the firstfreight train with boiled rice of2400 tonnes and dispatchedfrom this terminal to Erodestation in Tamil Nadu. ThisPFT will serve as nearest Railhead for the districts ofMahbubnagar, Wanaparthy,Jogulamba Gadwal, NagarKurnool for transportation offood grains and other essentialcommodities by rail.

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An Air Asia flight, flying fromJaipur to Hyderabad, made anemergency landing at the RajivGandhi International Airport(RGIA) in Shamshabad follow-ing a fuel leakage on Tuesdayafternoon. According tosources, the flight i51543, had76 passengers aboard. Theplane landed safely at theHyderabad airport at 1.25pm.

"After noticing afuel leakage, thepilots shut down one of theengines as a precautionarymeasure and the Airbus A320jet made the landing with oneengine," sources said.

A full emergency wasdeclared at the Hyderabad air-

port once the pilot of theJaipur-Hyderabad f lightinformed of the issue. All oper-ations were shut down andemergency services were kepton standby till the flight madea safe landing. The passengerswere later accommodated on a

Chandigarh-

B e n g a l u r uflight.

Releasing a statement onthe incident, Air Asia said,"AirAsia India aircraft VT-IXC operating as i51543 fromJaipur to Hyderabad on May 26

2020, encountered a technicalissue and carried out a precau-tionary engine shut down."

"Handling the situationcalmly in a professional man-ner the crew landed atShamshabad, ass c h e d -

u l e d .We arecarry-

ing out ad e t a i l e d

inspection ofthe aircraft, having informedDGCA we are assisting in theinvestigation to establish thecause," an Air Aisa representa-tive said.

"AirAsia India would like toreiterate that 'Safety First' is a

core value and the safety of ourguests and crew is the singlemost important criteria inevery aspect of our operationsand our pilots and crew areexperienced and well trained tomanage these situations. Weapologise for the delay on thesubsequent flight and confirmthat our guests have been re-accommodated," the represen-tative added.

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Four police constables fromthe Hyderabad city policewere tested positive forCoronavirus in the last 24hours. A police constableworking with the HyderabadCentral Zone Task Force andthree more constables fromKamatipura, Shah Ali Bandaand Bahadurpura police sta-tions were tested positive forCovid-19. Speaking about theTask Force constable's infec-tion, police said that he wasdown with fever and hadexhibited typical symptoms ofCovid-19.

"With fever persisting, theconstable went back to thehospital on Sunday and gottested for coronavirus. With

the result turning out to bepositive, he was immediatelyshifted to Gandhi Hospital

and his family members inChatrinaka were home quar-antined," police said.

Meanwhile, authorities saidthat all the close contactswith whom the constableshad worked had been advisedto take up home quarantineand those with symptomswould be tested for coron-avirus.

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Greater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) hasextended the property taxrebate period till May 31 dueto the lockdown.

Commissioner of GHMC,Lokesh Kumar said, "Only 5days have been left to get 5 percent rebate under early birdscheme for the current year2020-2021 and appealed thecitizens to utilise the opportu-nity given by the governmentand pay property tax by May31.

Earlier the early birdscheme was only for residen-tial properties with ceilingwhich is Rs 30,000. On therepresentatives received fromvarious sections, the govern-ment extended the benefit tothe commercials and semi-commercial properties also.

The citizens can pay prop-erty tax through online, e-sevacenters, citizens' service cen-

ters and also to bill collectors.Further, Lokesh Kumar

appealed to the IT companies,multi level malls, star hotelsand big business establish-ments to utilise the opportuni-ty and get rebate on propertytax by paying before May 31.

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The Telangana High Courton Tuesday considered therequest made by the 121 PGmedical seat aspirants, whohave filed a writ petitionbefore it seeking a directionto the state government to setaside GO MS No. 20 issuedby the state government onApril 14, 2020 increasing thefee of the PG medical cours-es, to modify the orderspassed by it in the case ear-lier.

A division bench compris-ing of the chief justice of thestate Justice RS Chauhan andJustice Dr. Shameem Aktharmodified the orders andasked the PG medical col-leges to collect only 50 percent of the total fee men-tioned in the GO No. 20 forcategory-A seats under con-vener quota and 60 per centfor category-B seats undermanagement quota.

The division, in its interimorders passed earlier, askedthe aspirants, who fall under

category A to pay 50 per centof the enhanced fee in addi-tion to the fee prescribed bythe state government in GOMS No. 20 issued on May 2,2016 and 60 per cent fee tocategory B, which is the man-agement quota sub category1, students in addition to thefee prescribed in the GO. Italso asked them to execute abond for the payment of theremaining fee.

However, the counsel forthe petitioners told the HCthat it would be difficult forthe students to pay such hugeamount of fee and urged it tomodify the orders.

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Rain threat to the SecondarySchool Certificate (SSC) pub-lic exams slated to be held fromJune 8 to July 5 looms largesince the monsoon seasonusually begins in the first weekof June.

Director of GovernmentExaminations (DGE)Satyanarayana Reddy hasdirected DEOs to inspect allexamination centres and sub-mit a report to him.

The DEOs should inspectwhether there is power supplyto the exam halls, whether allthe lights in rooms are in aworking condition. He askedthe officials to ensure that thelight emanating from tubelights is sufficient for the exam-inees to take the exam, in casedarkness envelopes the examhalls. If there are no lights inany room, the rooms should befitted with tube lights, hedirected the officials.

Headmasters from severalschools said that lighting isinadequate in 15 per cent ofexamination halls.

The number of examinationcentres have been increasedthis year.

The vacant rooms in theprevious examination centresand some primary schoolshave been identified for use as

exam centres. The authoritiesdecided to provide furniture inthe centres which does nothave furniture in them.

Satyanarayana Reddy saidrains posed many issues toconduct of DSC examinationsearlier. Going by the past expe-riences, he said that all steps torule out such incidents wouldbe taken.

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Extending a helping hand tothe artistes and techniciansfrom film and televisionindustr ies , AnimalHusbandr y andCinematography MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadavdecided to distribute essentialcommodities along with facemasks and sanitisers to themamid Covid-19 pandemic.

The Minister will distribut-ing these special kits to about14,000 poor artistes, techni-cians and workers who arestruggling due to lack ofwork following the Covid-19lockdown. The date andvenue will be announcedsoon.

The Minister, who isspending funds from his per-sonal income for the novelgesture, inspected prepara-tion and packing of the kitsat the multipurpose func-tion hall in West Marredpally

on Tuesday. Each kit willcontain eight essential com-modities including rice, dal,sugar and other commoditiesbesides masks and sanitisers.

Speaking on the occasion,Srinivas Yadav said he wasmaking a small effort to helpthe workers from film andtelevision industry afterlearning about their plight

due to lack of work duringthe lockdown for last twomonths.

He felt that they will soonstart eking out livelihood forthemselves as Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Raoresponded positively to therequests of the film industryrepresentatives and promisedto relax the restrictions onfilm and television shoot-ings in a phased manner.

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A 25-year-old woman dentalstudent allegedly committedsuicide by jumping off a res-idential complex on Tuesdayapparently depressed for notgetting an MBBS seat, policesaid.

The fourth year BDS stu-dent at a dental college hereleapt from the 14th floor ofthe complex and she died onthe spot, the police said basedon a complaint filed by herfather.

According to the com-plainant, his daughter was notinterested in the BDS courseand wanted to study MBBS,but did not secure a seat.

On Monday, the studenttold her parents about herinterests and was depressed.That drove her to the extremestep, the police said.

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The IIIT-H is offering asemester-long course on flex-ible electronics. This course,according to the Institute, isone-of-its-kind in the coun-try.

The flexible electronics,the first full-fledged four-credit course, will be offeredas a level two elective toElectronics and Communi-cations engineering students.Students studying BTech III,and IV year, V year dual degr-ee, masters and PhD are eli-gible. The course requires nopre-requisites apart fromexposure to the 10+2 level ofphysic and chemistry fromthe prospective students.

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Page 4: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

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AWhatsApp messagefrom my 74-year-oldrelative-friend, and a

brilliant non-practicing attor-ney, TVS Rao, quoting'Glorious India', revealed inter-esting and astonishing factsabout India in the field of edu-cation. This kindled my inter-est and I went deeper intothose harsh realitiesand con-nected facts. The result isknowing about the book'Beautiful tree' written byDharampal.

The WhatsApp messagementioned that the thenGovernor of MadrasPresidency, Thomas Munro, inMarch 1826 submitted a reportto the British Government inIndia about the existence ofone primary school for everythousand population in India.The report also mentionedthat, only 24 per cent of stu-dents in these schools com-prised Brahmins, Kshatriyasand Vaishyas,whereas the so-called Shudras accounted for65 per cent.

Later, the Britishers con-

ducted a nation-wide surveyand were left wondering whenthey found that traditionallyevery village temple has beensponsoring a school, gurukulor mutt. On an average, 35 percent of the revenue-free landin a village belonged to thetemple. The temple rituals,festivals, and fee for the teach-ers were paid out of thisincome from the land.The vil-lage temples served as nucleiof important social, econom-ic, artistic and intellectualfunctions. They were thelibrary for not only scriptures,Vedas and Upanishads, butalso local literature inscribedon palm leaves. Every familyused to send a boy for at leastthree years till he learnt toread, write and do basic calcu-lation. Subsequently, he wouldlearn the trade of his familytradition. Girls were normal-ly taught at homes.

Then came ThomasMacaulay who destroyed theage-old Indian educationsys-tem. Britishers introduced thesystem of English education inhigh schools. The fee was highand only a few well to do fam-ilies could afford it. The liter-acy rate of India droppedbe-yond expectations.

'Beautiful Tree'was a bookwritten by Dharampal on thissubject. He had taken up a jobin the British Library just tounearth the survey report ofBritishers. When he finally

found the hidden report, hewrote the book.Essentially,Britishers found the educationsystem of India to be a 'beau-tiful tree'. So, they found outthe roots of this tree anduprooted it.

Dharampal,who livedbetween 1922 and 2006, was agreat Gandhian thinker, histo-rian and philosopher fromIndia. His major work entitled'The Beautiful Tree'--Theindigenous Indian educationin the eighteenth century, pub-lished in 1983, provides evi-

dence from extensive earlyBritish administrators' reportsof the widespread prevalenceof educational institutions inmany parts of India like theBengal and MadrasPresidencies as well as in thePunjab.

In the introduction to The

Beautiful Tree,it is men-tioned: The situation in Indiain 1800 is certainly not infe-rior to what obtained inEngland then; and in manyrespects Indian schoolingseems to have been muchmore extensive. The contentof studies was better thanwhat was then studied inEngland. The duration ofstudy was more prolonged.School attendance, especial-ly in the districts of theMadras Presidency, even inthe decayed state of the peri-od 1822-25, was proportion-ately far higher than the num-bers in all variety of schoolsin England in 1800. The con-ditions under which teachingtook place in the Indianschools were less dingy andmore natural. The teachers inthe Indian schools were gen-erally more dedicated andsober than in the English

versions. The only aspect,and certainly a very impor-tant one, where Indian insti-tutional education seems tohave lagged behind was withregard to the education ofgirls.

Some decades afterDharampal's work was pub-lished, James Tooley a Britisheducationist was given a copyof The Beautiful Tree by anold book vendor in the OldCity of Hyderabad. Whileresearching private schools inIndia for the World Bank,Tooley went round the slumsof Hyderabad's Old City.Shocked to find it overflow-ing with tiny, parent-fundedschools filled with energizedstudents, he set out to discov-er if schools like these couldhelp achieve universal educa-tion.The result was his booktitled "The beautiful tree: apersonal journey into how

the world's poorest people areeducating themselves" pub-lished in 2009.

In his preface to the book,Dharampal mentioned that amajor part of the documentsreproduced in the book per-tain to the Madras PresidencyIndigenous EducationSurvey.The Beautiful Tree,according to him, mirroredthe reality of the India of thisperiod: its society, its infra-structure, its manners andinstitutions, their strengthsand weaknesses.

According to the authorDharampal, the title of thisbook has been taken from thespeech which MahatmaGandhi had made atChatham House, London, on20 October, 1931. He hadsaid: "the British administra-tors, when they came toIndia, instead of taking holdof things as they were, beganto root them out. Theyscratched the soil and beganto look at the root, and leftthe root like that, and the,'beautiful tree' perished.

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With Heatwave conditions arelikely to prevail over Telanganatill end of May, Global HealthHeat information Network(GHHIN) said that Covid-19has amplified the risks of hotweather for many at-riskgroups who are vulnerable toboth the virus and heat stress.Due to job losses and extend-ed stay-at-home orders, peopleconsidered at risk for heat ill-ness may be in more precari-ous socio-economic condi-tions.

According to press releaseby GHHIN, “While environ-mental conditions are likely toplay a limited role in deter-mining where and whenCovid-19 occurs, hot weathercan compound impacts andworsen outcomes for Covid-19patients. It could increasetransmission rates as peoplecongregate outdoors and inpublic spaces and the addi-tional caseload of heat stress

patients can place strain onhealthcare and other criticalsystems at a time when manyare already at the breakingpoint. In areas affected byhigh number of Covid-19cases, a severe heat eventcould result in mass casualtiesand significant healthimpacts”.

Hyderabad recorded 42.3oCwhile highest was recorded inAdilabad in 46.3oC. Accordingto Naga Ratna of IMD, “Thehot winds blowing from Northare prevailing over the state.The winds entering the statefrom east, there will be slightdrizzle in some places. In nextthree days, in North, North-east and eastern districts, heat-wave will be there”.

With heatwave conditionand Covid pandemic, peoplemay not want to visit hospitalsincreasing their chances ofvulnerability. GHHIN added“Public fear of seeking health-care during Covid-19 maydelay seeking health care for

non-Covid-19 related issueseven when critically needed.This perception and behaviorcould result in preventabledeaths of vulnerable personswho are sheltering in placewithout adequate cooling andnot leaving for cooler condi-tions or health care.”

Meanwhile, erstwhileAdilabad district continued toboil under horrid temperatureson Tuesday. Several parts of thedistrict registered maximumtemperature by 46 degrees.Adilabad’s Jainath mandalrecorded 46 degreesCentigrade of maximum tem-perature, while Mamada andLaxmanachanda mandal ofNirmal district saw mercurylevel of 45.9 degreesCentigrade. Jannaram mandalin Mancherial district 45.9degrees Ce. Many other partsof the composite Adilabadwitnessed around 45 degreesC. Following the swelteringheat wave conditions, peoplehad tough day.

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Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) presidentN Uttam Kumar Reddy onTuesday directed party lead-ers and workers in the State tojoin the nationwide onlinecampaign being organised byCongress party on May 28 tohighlight the sufferings ofmigrant workers, MSMEs andother sectors who are in gravedistressed.

Addressing the party leadersthrough a video-conference,which was also broadcast liveon social media platformFacebook, on Tuesday, Uttaminformed that the CongressHigh command has decided toorganise a nationwide cam-paign on May 28 from 11 amto 2 pm to raise the issues ofthe people in distress andappeal to the Union govern-ment to listen and consider thedemands made by theCongress Party to address thepressing concerns of them.

He also read out a letter sentby AICC General Secretary KCVenugopal which said, "Asyou know, lakhs of migrantworkers, farmers, workers inthe Un-organised sectors,MSMEs, small scale business-es, fishermen and daily wageearners are in grave distress.They are struggling, without

money, food, job and otheressentials items. For over twomonths now, since the nation-

wide lockdown began, ournation's soul has been painedby the pictures and videos of

lakhs of our migrant men,women and children desper-ately trying to get back to thesafety of their hometowns andvillages. From walking hun-dreds of kilometres on ourhighways, to packing intotrucks, trailers and every formof transport available, many ofthem have died on their longjourney."

"The Congress Party hasbeen undertaking relief effortsto provide them all possiblesupport. Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi have been giving sug-gestions to the CentralGovernment to alleviate thesufferings of our migrantworkers, farmers and dailywage earners. But instead ofproviding support, the Centralgovernment continues toignore the plight of them andhas failed to take any meaning-ful measures," he said whilequoting from the letter.

Uttam said that it was theduty of the Congress leadersand workers to be the voice ofthe farmers, migrant workers,daily wage earners, MSMEs,small scale businesses and un-organised workers. He saidmore than 10,000 party lead-ers and workers from eachParliamentary constituency inTelangana should participate inthe campaign.

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The Congress in Telanganaon Tuesday said 40 migrantworkers stranded here due tothe COVID-19 lockdownhave been sent to Lucknow ina bus arranged by it. StateCongress president and LokSabha member N UttamKumar Reddy flagged off thebus on Tuesday at GandhiBhavan, the party's head-quarters in Telangana.

The Congress hadarranged two buses last weekfor 80 migrant workers toreach their native places inUttar Pradesh and Odisha.

The buses were made avail-able in line with the directiveof the party central leadershipto help such workers who arekeen on going back to theirnative places during theongoing COVID-19 nation-al lockdown, state leadershad said.

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Ahead of Mahanadu meet-ings to be held virtually onMay 27 and 28, formerHome Minister and TDPsenior leader NimmakayalaChinarajappa briefed aboutthe arrangements made forthe Mahanadu. He wasspeaking to the media hereon Tuesday. The TDP leaderreiterated that the meetingwould be held virtuallythrough zoom app with25,000 party leaders andcadre.

He said that elaboratearrangements have beenmade for the meeting. Hesaid that nine resolutionswould be passed five forAndhra Pradesh and fourfor Telangana. He advisedthe cadre to download thezoom app to participate inthe meeting from home.The former home ministerhas expressed his happinessover the return of NChandrababu Naidu to theState. He exuded confidencethat the meeting would besuccessful.

During the conclave, theTDP would pass resolutionson political and economicsituation in the country,more specifically in theState.

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Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC)Treasurer Gudur NarayanaReddy tookpotshots atthe stateg o v e r n -ment fora l l e g e d l yconductingless number ofCovid-19 tests, a charge dis-missed by the ruling party.

"Our stated opposition toChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao vis-à-vis his administration's laid-back approach towards con-taining Covid-19, despitecoronavirus positive casesacross

Telangana being higherthan the national average,stands vindicated. It is ratherunbecoming of him (KCR)that as against the 14 lakh RT-PCR (real-time polymerasechain reaction) tests con-ducted all over the countrytill May 7, the state ranks waydown with a pitiable 1.5 percent. Apparently, KCR hasnot learnt his lessons as thefigures in the subsequentfortnight ending on May 21are equally dismal," he said.

The Congress leaderalleged that the ChiefMinister has been taking uni-lateral decisions and causingheartburn to the alreadyanguished families in theState.

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Over 42 migrant workerstravelling in a private buswere injured when the vehi-cle overturned near Baligamarea under Mandasa mandalin Srikakulam district onTuesday morning. The dri-ver allegedly lost controlover the vehicle due to over-speeding while overtakinganother vehicle on the road.

The 42 migrant workersfrom West Bengal wereheading to their home fromKarnataka after completing14-day quarantine there.

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Transport Minister PuvvadaAjay Kumar on Tuesday direct-ed the RTC officials not toentertain passengers in PalleVelugu buses, rural buses ofRTC beyond the capacity ofthe buses and wanted the dri-vers to adhere to the guidelinesof the Centre issued to keepCoronavirus at bay.

In case the number of com-muters is high, the RTC offi-cials have been told to makealternative arrangements. Heissued orders in this regard tothe authorities. He made itclear that he would not showany lenience towards anyone iffound compromising onimplementation of the Centre'sguidelines.

It may be recalled that theRTC has been running itsbuses from last Tuesdayonwards. It runs at least 3,000services per day, but the occu-pancy ratio is very less. It ruled

out allowing commuters onboard the RTC buses withoutwearing masks. If any travellerwas found travelling withoutwearing masks in surpriseraids, the concerned employ-ees would have to be heldresponsible.

Meanwhile, the RTCManaging Director SunilSharma issued orders to sen-sitise the passengers at board-ing points my announcingthrough public address system

that the passengers shouldwash their hands either withsoaps or with sanitisers priorto boarding the buses.

Due to the recent RTCstrike, at least 800 services inHyderabad Zone haveremained off the road. Also, ithired private buses. Therefore,the RTC has surplus driversand conductors. The officialshave decided to use their ser-vices as attenders in variousoffices and divisions.

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Civil Supplies MinisterGangula Kamalakar said thatthe state government has plansto procure red gram fromfarmers from the rabi seasononwards. According to theMinister, Adilabad,Narayanapet, Sangareddy, Rangareddy, Vikarabad andother districts produce redgram. The area under thecrop is put at 7.22 lakh acres.

Since there is ample irriga-tion facility available in thestate, the government encour-ages crop rotation system.This time, the governmentwants to increase the areaunder red gram to 12.51 lakhacres. The government hasplans to market Made inTelangana brand productslike rice, red gram, turmericand so on.

Further, the governmenthas been contemplating to setup food processing zones tohave rice mills, dal mills and

so on in them. Hitherto, theNAFED has been procuringthe red gram produced in thestate.

It procured 25 per cent ofthe red gram crop earlier. Butit has increased procurementup to 60 per cent of the redgram produced in the state asthe government mountedpressure on it.

The Government ofTelangana has decided to pro-cure red grams with a strate-gy to market red grams. Onthe lines of paddy, the govern-ment wants to go for custommilling of red gram.

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Minister for Panchayat RajErrabelli Dayakar Rao onTuesday inspected the NREGSworks going on in Tukya than-da on the outskirts of DaulatNagar in Parvatagiri mandal ofWarangal Rural District andenquired from the workersabout the progress and natureof the works being executed.

He distributed masksamong the NREGS workersand advised them to executeworks only after wearing themasks. He asked the villagersto be wary of spreading ofCorona virus through migrantworkers. Also, he told them toobserve personal hygiene.

Considering the marketdemand for the fine varietiesof the paddy, cotton and red-gram, the farmers should gofor these crops in thisVanakalam season, theMinister He was addressingthe members of the RythuBandhu Samithi, officials andpeople's representatives at ameeting on 'regulated crop-ping pattern' in Mahbubabad.

"While paddy will be takenup in 10 lakh acres morecomparing to the lastVanakalam, cotton will besown in 65 lakh acres and itis estimated that there wouldbe rise in redgram cultivationby 76.83 percent," he saidthat added that Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao wassuggesting the farmers based

on the suggestions made bythe agriculture scientists."Farmers should cultivatepaddy varieties like TelanganaSona and cotton that wouldproduce long staples," headded. Rythu Bandhu SamithiState president PallaRajeshwar Reddy said thatcotton was cultivated in 52.56lakh acres in the last year,while the same crop is expect-ed to be cultivated in 65 lakhs."Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao is advis-ing the farmers to go for thegovernment prescribed cropsfor the benefit of the farmersonly," he added. DistrictCollector VP Gautham, agri-culture officials and othersattended the meeting.

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Domestic flights resumed fromVisakhapatnam andVijayawada airports onTuesday, a day after Indianskies opened up for domesticpassenger services after a gapof two months due toCoronavirus-induced lock-down. IndiGo flight fromBengaluru was the first to landat the Visakhapatnam airport at6.55 am with 146 passengers. Asper the guidelines issued by thegovernment, passengers, whoarrived by this flight, were takento the quarantine centre for col-lecting swab samples fromwhere they will be sent to home

quarantine for 14 days. Officialssay if the swab comes positivethey will be put in Covid CareCentre or continue in homequarantine or sent to hospital fortreatment as the case may be.

The flight departed forBengaluru at 7.35 am. The air-

port reopened for domesticoperations with new arrange-ments in view of the Covid-19situation. These include contact-less operations, thermal scan-ning of passengers, social dis-tancing and sanitisation of lug-gage. Besides two flights from

and to Bengaluru,Visakhapatnam airport will alsohandle flights from and to Delhiand Hyderabad. The airportauthorities have requested pas-sengers to reach the airport atleast two-and-half hours prior tothe scheduled departures.

Passengers leaving forBengaluru said they had to doweb check-in. They were alsoasked to fill a self declarationform, giving details of theirhealth status.

The passengers were givengloves and hand sanitizers andwere asked to maintain socialdistancing. A woman passengersaid she had booked the flightfor Monday but it was cancelled.

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Page 5: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

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At least 10 districts in UttarPradesh that border MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan havebeen put on alert after swarmsof locusts attacked crops in thetwo states, an official said onTuesday.

The locusts initially enteredRajasthan from Pakistan. FromRajasthan, locust swarms alsoentered Madhya Pradesh overthe past few days.

"In view of the threat oflocust attack in areas borderingMadhya Pradesh andRajasthan, local officials havebeen put on alert and asked toremain prepared with chemi-cals in tractor mountedsprayers, power sprayers andfire brigades, and undertakeheavy spraying during thenight," a governmentspokesman here said.

Besides, local villagers havebeen asked to make noise bybeating 'thalis' and burstingcrackers to drive away a locustswarm.

These measures will help incontrolling or eliminating

locusts at their resting place,the spokesman said, addingthat officials have been askedto be in constant coordinationwith technical teams of theLocust Warning Organisationand farmers.

He said a swarm of locustswas seen in the jungles ofJhansi on Sunday and 40 percent of it was destroyed after

chemicals were sprayed bystate and central governmentteams.

Due to the wind direction,there was a threat from thisswarm in Mahoba district,which was put on high alert, hesaid.

There are reports of partialdamage to vegetables in 25hectares of area and a detailed

inspection of the extent of lossis being done, the spokesmansaid.

Another swarm was active inKarauli in Rajasthan, followingwhich an alert was issued forJhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun andAuraiya and their adjoiningdistricts like Hamirpur,Kannauj ,Etawah and KanpurDehat, he said.

Deputy Director AgricultureKamal Katiyar said, "Theswarm of locusts is moving andis small in size. We have gotnews that nearly 2.5 km to 3km long swarm of locusts hasentered the country. A teamhas come from Kota(Rajasthan) to tackle thelocusts."

He said at present, the locustswarm is at Bangra Magarpur."Spraying of insecticides will bedone in the night," Katiyar said.

The Mathura district admin-istration has started earlypreparations in view of thegrowing locust threat andformed a task force.

Mathura Distr ictMagistrate Sarvagya RamMishra said 200 litres ofchloropyriphos has been keptas reserve and its sellers in thearea have been advised not tosupply the chemical outsidethe district.

The Jhansi administrationhas also directed the firedepartment to keep its vehicleready with chemicals to tack-le a sudden movement bylocust swarms.

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Wearing masks and followingsocial distancing norms, over13 lakh students in Kerala onTuesday are appearing for theSSLC, Higher Secondary andVocational Higher SecondarySchool examinations.

The board exams werepost-poneddue to the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.

Over 4,78 lakh studentsappeared for the SSLC exami-nation while 56,345 wrote theVHSSE papers, The highersecondary exams would com-mence from Wednesday.

The examinations, post-poned since March, are beingheld by following strict healthsafety standards and wouldcontinue till May 30.

Fire force had disinfected the2945 centres across the state.

The students have beenasked to maintain social dis-tancing, ensure hand hygieneand wear masks.

They underwent thermalscreening at entry point andcannot exchange pens andother instruments with others.

Those with mild flu-likesymptoms would be seated inseparate room and a sanitisedcorridor has been prepared atexamination centres for stu-dents coming from hotspotsand those placed under quar-antine.

The invigilators wore triple-layer masks and gloves and ateam of health officials werepresent at each centre.

"The pending SSLC examsare being conducted from May26, 27 and 28. The HSE will befrom May 27 to 30 and theVHSE will be conducted fromMay 26 to 30," director ofGeneral Education K JeevanBabu said.

The education departmenthas provided masks for the stu-dents who reach the examcentres.

There would be less inter-

action between the studentsand the teachers and after theexams, the classrooms and fur-niture wouldbe disinfected, hesaid.

"Once the students reachthe exam centre, they must notmingle as was the usual prac-tice but maintain social dis-tancing. Special arrangementshave been made for students

from other states and thosecoming from containmentzones," he said.

The exams are also beingconducted at 20 hotspots inKerala.

"Due to practicaldifficulties,the exam centres were notshifted as the number ofhotspots change each day, itwould be practically difficult to

change the centres as per thedynamic changes of contain-ment zones in the state," asenior official of the educationdepartment said.

Some of the students saidthis was a "new experience" forthem.

"Appearing for the exams inmasks, using sanitisers are oura new experience for us.Normally, we sit together andrevise portions. We are seeingour classmates after a longtime. But we are strictly follow-ing the social distancingnorms," a student said.

The Kerala State RoadTransport Corporation(KSRTC) would ply addition-

al 343 services for students."The students from

Karnataka will be providedbus service from Kerala border.They will have to register withthe web portal and will betaken to Kerala with or with-out the pass," the official said.

A total of 297 students,appearing for the examina-tions, are from Karnataka and33 of them wrote the examsnear the border areas.

"Accommodation has alsobeen arranged for the studentsfrom Karnataka as they willhave to undergo mandatory a14-day quarantine when theyreach Kerala for exams," edu-cation department said.

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The death of a worker postedat Mumbai's KEM hospitaltriggered a protest by employ-ees on Tuesday alleging apathyby the city civic body towardstheir working conditionsamidst the COVID-19 crisis.

A staff union official allegedthat the worker was not sanc-tioned a sick leave despitehim complaining about bodypains.

"The worker had com-plained of body ache andweakness over the last twodays but he was not sanctionedleave," he said.

The official claimed that theworker hardly received anytreatment and was not eventested for coronavirus.

"His death shows the apathyof the BMC administrationtowards us. If we are not given(any basic protection like)gloves and face shields, our lifecould be in danger," he said.

The official demanded con-crete steps from the BMC.

Like other healthcare facil-ities, the KEM Hospital, run bythe Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation, has beenstretched to the limit becauseof rising virus cases and inad-equate staff.

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The Supreme Court Tuesdayasked the Centre to "treatwith urgency" the issue raisedin the pleas challenging homeministry's March 29 notifica-tion asking private establish-ments to pay full wages toworkers during the COVID-19 lockdown, saying lot ofpeople are affected by it.

A bench headed by JusticeAshok Bhushan, conduct-ing hearing through video-conferencing, asked the gov-ernment to file its responseon the petitions and postedthe matter for hearing nextweek.

Attorney General K KVenugopal told the bench,also comprising Justices S KKaul and M R Shah, that theCentre has issued a new noti-fication on May 17 whichsupersedes the March 29Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) order.

"Treat this with urgency.Lot of people are affected,"the bench told SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, whowas also appearing in thematter.

The apex court had onMay 15 observed that theMarch 29 notification, direct-ing companies to make pay-ment of full wages to work-ers even while not being inoperation during the lock-down period, was anomnibus order and there wasa larger question involvedwhich needs to be answered.

It said there may be smallindustries which are affecteddue to the lockdown and ifthey cannot earn, how arethey going to pay wages totheir workers.

It had also observed thatif government does not helpthese small companies, then

they might not be able to paytheir workers.

The counsel appearing forone of the petitioners hadargued that firms are goingout of work as they do nothave orders for production ofgoods and they are beingprosecuted due to the gov-ernment circular.

An association of Micro,Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs) hassaid in its plea before the apexcourt that the MHA orderwas passed without due careand deliberation on thefinancial implications foremployers.

The small industrial unitshave said that making fullpayments would lead to theirclosure, which, in turn, wouldcause permanent unemploy-ment and adversely affectthe economy.

The association has fur-ther contended that duringthis unprecedented situation,various governments acrossthe globe have taken mea-sures for the benefit of work-ers/ employees, but theCentre without taking anysuch step has put the entireburden on the employers/owners to pay full wages.

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Terming as "unconstitutional"Uttar Pradesh government'sdecision that other statesshould seek its permission toemploy its natives, KarnatakaCongress on Tuesday said suchactions lack common senseand would only make peopleof the state to suffer more.

Karnataka CongressPresident D K Shivakumar ina series of tweets hit out at thenorthern state's Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath for the moveand said, UP was not the pri-vate property of his govern-ment.

"UP CM Yogi Adityanath'smove to restrict hiring peopleof UP is unconstitutional &goes against the right to free-dom of movement. Mr Yogi,please note that UP is not theprivate property of your govt.

The people of UP don'tneed your govt's permission towork anywhere in India,"

Shivakumar tweeted."Mr Yogi doesn't under-

stand the basic rules of gover-nance in a democracy.

Such actions lack commonsense and will only make thepeople of UP suffer more..When it's convenient for BJP,it's One Nation, when it's not,it's different states & differentpeople Heights of hypocrisy!"he said in another tweet.

The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment on Monday had said

that other states should seekits permission to employ itsnatives.

Upset that migrant labour-ers were "not properly takencare of " by various states in thewake of the coronavirus lock-down, Adityanath had said,"These workers are our biggestresource and we will give thememployment in Uttar Pradeshas state government was goingto set up a panel for theiremployment.

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Cracks started to appear with-in the National Conference(NC) as its chief spokespersonAga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi dis-tanced himself from the party'sstand of maintaining silenceover the situation in Jammuand Kashmir after August 5and removed his party desig-nation from his Twitter handleon Tuesday.

Mehdi, a former cabinetminister and an influentialShia leader from Budgam,removed his designation as NCparty chief spokesperson fromhis Twitter handle bio onTuesday, setting off speculationof a rift within the party.

The three-time legislatorfrom Budgam assembly con-stituency of central Kashmir,who was instrumental in party

president Farooq Abdullah'sLok Sabha and vice-presidentOmar Abdullah's assemblypoll wins in 2019 and 2014respectively, changed his bioon the social media site a dayafter a hard-hitting commen-tary on the present situation inKashmir where he criticised

party leader Tanvir Sadiq overhis article in a local daily.

Reacting to the article,Mehdi in a series of tweets saidholding assembly elections inthe Union territory shouldnot be the only goal of main-stream politicians as part of apolitical process, as even beingarrested was a part of it.

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The Pune international airportin Maharashtra has handledthe arrival and departure of 14flights by Tuesday afternoonon the second day of theresumption of the air ser-vices, an official said.

While seven flights carrying338 passengers landed at theairport, a total of 781 passen-gers departed in seven outsta-tion flights, he said.

On the first day of resump-tion of air services on Monday,the airport had handled atotal of 17 flights.

" A total of 14 flights wereoperated by the airportauthorities on Tuesday includ-ing seven arrivals and as manydepartures. A total of 338passengers have arrived and781 others have taken off," hesaid.

Domestic flight operations,which had been suspended for

two months due to the coro-navirus-induced lockdown,resumed on Monday.

On Monday, 672 passengerslanded at the airport in nineflights and 985 others took offin eight flights.

He said details like theplaces of the origin of theflights and the destinationcities will be made availablelater.

With services of app-basedcab aggregators not availableas Pune falls in the COVIDred zone, the passengers havebeen instructed to travel toand from the airport either intheir own vehicles or use diala rickshaw facility, he said.

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The Delhi Police on Tuesdayfiled 20 charge sheets in theSaket court here against 82 for-eign nationals of 20 differentcountries in connection withthe Tablighi Jamaat case.

Duty MetropolitanMagistrate Saema Jamil is slat-ed to take cognisance of thecharge sheets on June 12.

The case pertains to a con-gregation at Banglewali Masjidin Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddinon March 13, in which a largenumber of foreign nationalshad participated.

"These foreign nationals hadentered India on tourist visasand participated in the Markazillegally. In addition to violat-ing the provisions of visas,these foreign nationals alsoled to a situation where ahighly infectious disease suchas Covid-19 infection spreadand threatened the lives of the

inmates and the general pub-lic at large," the Crime Branchsaid.

The case in this regard wasregistered on March 31. Morethan 900 foreign nationals whoare accused in this case belongto 34 different countries.

The 82 foreign nationalsagainst whom the charge sheetshave been filed belong toAfghanistan, Brazil, China, theUS, Ukraine, Australia, Egypt,Russia, Algeria, Belgium, SaudiArabia, Jordan, France,Morocco, Kazakhstan, Tunisia,

UK, Fiji, Sudan and thePhilippines.

The charge sheets havebeen filed under the IndianPenal Code's Sections 188(disobedience of order bypublic servant), 269 (negli-gent act likely to spread infec-tion of disease), 270 (malig-nant act likely to spread infec-tion of disease) and 271 (dis-obedience to quarantinerules).

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Page 6: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

Reassurances of trust,confidence and powerare naturally vested inthe “sword arm” of thenation ie, the armed

forces as part of a societal con-sciousness. This is especially truein a participative democracy likeIndia, where the mandated“restraint” and “dignity” of the“uniform” is underpinned by itsapolitical, external-facing, non-interfering and patriotic service,which is Constitutionally subor-dinate to the will of the people asmanifested in a civilianGovernment. Odd aberrationsand derelictions that are attribut-able to individuals or at worst agroup of individuals aside, the“institution” retains its sheen as ashining and working example ofthe “idea of India.”

The inherent composition ofthe armed forces seamlesslyweaves soldiers and regimentaldenominations of India’s myriadethnicities and diversities. Theycould theoretically have anInfantry Brigade in the swelteringdeserts of western India, which isrepresented by a Naga battalion(from the North-east), Madrasbattalion (“Thambis” from South)and a Jammu and Kashmir LightInfantry battalion (soldiers almostequally divided from the KashmirValley and Jammu plains).

They operationally combineand defend India’s sovereigntyfrom any hostile intent fromacross the border. The culture,training and ethos of this institu-tion are such that societal“divides,” that sweep just across theiron-clad cantonments, usuallyhave no echo, tolerance or accep-tance within the barracks.Therefore, in every opinion pollafter poll, the “Indian soldier”emerges as the most “revered” inthe imagination of the citizenry.

But this idyll comes underthreat whenever the fundamentalcoordinates of the armed forcesstray from the course. Whenincreasingly internally committed,it is being accused of politicalleanings. It even gets involved inmatters beyond its traditionalroles, rectitude and traditions.Such optics and the accompany-ing murmurs weaken its institu-tional steel, which has survivedvarious dissonances and uprisingslike the Dravidian movement,North-eastern insurgencies oreven the Jammu and Kashmirimbroglio.

Metaphorically defying theworst instincts of our societalregressions, distortions andperceptions, a 26-year-old sol-dier, Sepoy Aurangzeb from theKashmir Valley, was abductedand killed by Pakistan-sup-ported terrorists. Poignantly,his father ensured that hisbrothers, too, would don the“uniform” of the Indian Army.Inadvertently, he slapped thewasted, misplaced and ignobleenergies of conversations out-side garrison towns.

Like all Government insti-tutions, the armed forces, too,have their own concerns thatprimarily involve two realms.First, the annual budgetaryallocation and second, the non-financial and incalculablerealm of izzat (honour) thatencapsulates the soul of soldier-ing. Despite the uber-muscularpolitical posturing of the dis-pensation that naturally positsthe “Indian soldier” in an emo-tive context, cold statistics ofthe annual budgetary allocationtowards the defence forces tella different story and lay barepower preferences.

It is true that salaries andpensions consume a sizeablecomponent of the Budget.However, this is a matter ofrequirement in terms of boots-on-ground, given the fracturedrelationships across the border.Importantly, neither are the

salaries, pensions, work-lifebalance or other materialwherewithal for the soldiersbetter than those of otherGovernmental colleagues (thedishonoured spirit of incom-plete OROP as promisedhaunts till date). The point onmodernisation need not bebelaboured as it routinely facesdelays or downsizing (take theexample of Rafael) with brazenimpunity.

Much was made of thestructural changes like theatrecommands, two-front capabil-ity and jointmanship amongothers. But so far, the onlynotional change has been theappointment of the Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS). This ispotentially a game-changer asit can bring the much-neededsecurity gravitas to the policytables, raise institutional con-cerns and address the recklessinvocation and requisitioningof the armed forces in internalstrife. In parallel, it could alsosensitise the armed forces togovernmental constraints andrequirements.

So far, only the flow of uni-lateral governmental con-straints and requirements (tothe discomfiture of traditionalmoorings) is visible. The morecritical flow of the reverse, ieaddressing defence concerns, iseither invisible or inaudible.The so-called “reforms” also

pertain to the domain of cost-cutting by way of experimentslike a three-year short-commis-sion or lateral intake fromCentral Armed Police Forces(CAPF) for a seven-year tenure.

While this may statistical-ly fill the shortages in the staffand even expose many in thecivil and CAPF to the “militaryexperience,” it does not addspecialisation, quality or seri-ousness in the officer as thisintake comes with limitedtenure. To use the armed forcesas a “training school” may be amatter of pride for theirunmatched standards to thosewho gain “limited” exposurebut it adds limitedly to theinstitution itself.

The calling of soldiering inthe Indian armed forces hashad its own élan, righteousnessand flavour. It survived theNehruvian neglect and thesubsequent political penchantfor postured frugality, region-al passions and social unrest asthe cantonments brook noaffliction.

Today, literally, the canton-ment gates have been openedand the risk of societal andpolitical passions infecting theable-bodied is a grim reality.Indeed, the slide in the institu-tional narrative ensued imme-diately after independence butthe bare-all societal virus todaythreatens to infect the psycho-

logical character of this institu-tion. Its “voiceless” nature isnecessary but ironically, itsundoing as the silent ramrodposture, irrespective of thechallenges faced by it, is beingtaken for granted.

It clearly seems to be par-taking and venturing into a lotof unmandated and undesir-able directions that seek to milkits historical equity and profes-sionalism. This without a senseof reciprocal duty to addressthe institution’s own concerns.Any political appropriation orleaning of the “uniform” willnail its fate akin to the policingforces. The national and insti-tutional leadership needs to vis-ibly maintain its preferred “dis-tance” and “concern” in thesame enthusiasm as it invokesrequisitions and explains gov-ernmental constraints.

The proverbial “glint inthe bayonet” has been retainedfor decades as the necessary“spit and polish.” Decorumand motivation have beenensured with no unnecessarydrama or distractions. If thecritically-required modernisa-tion, parities and promisedguarantees are not possible,then condescending politicalshenanigans or creative misuseare even worse substitutes.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

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Sir — It is with great sadnessthat we heard the news aboutthe demise of one of India’s leg-endary hockey players, BalbirSingh Sr. A three-time gold win-ner and the country’s mostaccomplished sportsman, hisachievements, especially duringthe post-independent era, havebeen well documented.

He was part of the teamwhich brought great glory toIndia. He played a key role inclinching gold medals at the1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics,which led to his massive popu-larity. Singh was the firstsportsperson to be awarded thePadma Shree in 1957. Even as heexcelled in his craft when Indiaruled the world of hockey, henever complained about thestate of affairs of this sporttoday. He never questioned play-ers’ efforts even though it’s been40 years since India last won theOlympic gold. The best tributeto him would be for the hockeyplayers to bring back the gloryof the game by winning gold atthe Tokyo Olympics.

Ramesh G Jethwani Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “RBI move means little”(May 25). Undoubtedly, reporate cuts by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) provide enough

buffer to the banks to startlending but they choose to bemore aggressive in the market.We need to understand that evenwithout these flurry of rate cuts,banks were already flush withfunds as they were hardly lend-ing during pre-COVID days.

Recent rate cuts have creat-ed space for the banks. Coupledwith this, the �20 lakh crorepackage announced by theGovernment focusses mainlyon providing easy credit toMSMEs. Among all these devel-opments what is really missing

is the need to create demand foreconomic revival.

With companies undertak-ing lay-offs and salary cuts, it isa general tendency for the peo-ple to become over-conserva-tive. The ball is now in thelender’s court to revive theeconomy. With credit risk beingcovered under Governmentguarantee, banks cannot affordto be conservative any more.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “RBI move means little”(May 25). Unless the banks startlending, the stimulus package orrepo cuts mean little. The RBImust consider putting a cap onthe funds placed by banks withtraders and retailers underreverse repo. The Governmentmust come up with a one-timeimmunity for bank employeesfrom accountability for all loanssanctioned under guarantee.

Ritesh AgrawalVia email

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Every once in a while we have a Black Swanevent that changes our world forever. InDecember 2019, we all witnessed something

of a similar magnitude, which at that time seemedto be just another disease outbreak. Since then, wehave spent upwards of five months with the diseaseglobally, experienced thousands of deaths and wit-nessed the collapse of economies due to extendedlockdowns.

Now, governments around the world are keenon firing up the economic engines but they alsounderstand the need to do that while respecting thelimitations imposed by COVID-19. The rules of thegame have to be rewritten, factoring in social dis-tancing, hand hygiene, meeting and greeting eti-quette and all other measures under the Reich, whilewe are still finding a cure.

While a lot of these changes will happen overthe medium to long-term, some sectors need to rein-vent their operations immediately and the one indus-try which is in the eye of the storm is the health-care industry. Hospitals are both, a complex multi-stakeholder system catering to a plethora of differ-ent health conditions and the centerpiece of epidem-ic disease clinical response.

However, when all who need care rush to hos-pitals for treatment, the infection density in thesebuildings can alternatively amplify disease transmis-sion if not managed properly. Currently, the focusof all healthcare activities has been Corona-man-agement, not just because there is a spike in casesbut also because patients suffering from other dis-eases are not visiting hospitals either due to the lock-down or due to the fear of contracting the virus.

Consequently, many clinicians are also report-ing that patients who have missed follow-ups forchronic lifestyle diseases are coming with advancedsymptoms due to discontinuity of care. But with thelockdown measures slowly being tapered down, wehave to work towards thinking of managing allpatients in all healthcare set-ups. Let us imagine aworld where Corona and non-Corona patients aretreated in the same hospital. We will use the processflow of a patient’s journey within the hospital sys-tem to see how each element needs to be adaptedto the virus. A patient enters the hospital systemeither through the Emergency Room (ER) or out-patient department (OPD). Going forward it willbecome extremely important to redesign ER oper-ations. In the light of hospital-acquired infections(HAIs), the presence of a highly-contagious viruscan severely expose all other patients coming withnon-Corona emergencies. So, to prevent the ERfrom becoming a seeding point for the virus, it willbe essential to separate ERs for Corona and non-Corona cases and triage and preferably establish aperson’s non-COVID status before allocating an ER.

Not only does this seem a daunting task, alsoconsider the fact that all ER doctors will have to treatany symptomatic patient as a potential Coronapatient and pre-emptively wear PPEs at all times.In the absence of extra room for separate ERs, fre-quent disinfection would be required for theshared set-up to prevent disease transmission.

Once the patient is stabilised, transport to thedesignated wards needs to be segregated as well.Separate lobbies, elevators and preferably separatewings of the hospital would require to be earmarkedfor COVID patients. Within the wards, to maintainadequate distancing between patients, the generalwards that we now have, would see a reduction inthe number of beds.

If the severity of symptoms increases, the patientwould be transferred to the Intensive Care Unit(ICU), which is the most sensitive unit and needsutmost infection-control care. ICUs need to be sep-arately allocated for COVID patients. Like in ERs,

other patients in the ICU already havemultiple severe conditions they are strug-gling with and almost always have a cock-tail of lifestyle diseases, all of whichincrease the chances of fatality if infect-ed with the virus. Thus, not only will ICUsneed to be separate, equipment like ven-tilators, in an ideal situation should not betransferable between COVID and non-COVID ICUs, given the high chances ofinfection portability.

For all these locations, OPDs, ERs,wards, elevators, ICUs, Operating Rooms(ORs) and so on, all the staff serving theCOVID patients would require PPEs at alltimes. Additionally, all such environ-ment that has come in contact withCOVID workflows will have to be sani-tised frequently. All such operationswould have an impact on the cost of care.

Hospital visits will also get impacted.Visiting hours might be reduced or com-pletely done away with and a movetowards virtual visits might be encouraged.The role of the family member as an infor-mal caregiver to help the patient with taskslike feeding, going to the washroom,brushing, walking and so on, will be com-pletely lost and such tasks might requiresupport from the nursing staff. This addsto the workload of the already thinstaffing line due to the rostering of staffdedicated to COVID care.

The second entry point for patientsinto hospitals is the OPD. This is the trick-iest part since confirmation of Corona sta-tus is post-testing. Thus, any patientwith symptoms of influenza-like illnesscan be COVID or non-COVID.Additionally, many Corona-positivepatients are asymptomatic at the time oftesting and thus if they are attending theOPD for a separate health event, theymight still be in a position to spread thedisease.

Then there are hospital activitiesthat are not patient-facing, yet needfocus, like training of staff on Corona-spe-cific management and ramping up super-vision of adherence to protocol, since thefallout of non-compliance under these cir-cumstances, is fatal. While there is nodenying the importance of all these mea-

sures, the main concern for any manag-er at this point is how much these mea-sures will affect the bottomline and whatproportion of the same will be passed onto the patient?

Add to this the current drying up ofrevenues since the lockdown began onMarch 25. The OPD footfall has beenreduced to a trickle. Consequently, bare-ly any admissions have happened and hos-pitals, especially the smaller ones, arestruggling to keep their doors open. OneErnst & Young-FICCI study reports a 70-80 per cent drop in footfall and about 50-70 per cent drop in revenue in lateMarch.

Additionally, a large number of bighospital chains also relied on internation-al patient traffic for their profits as med-ical tourists accounted for anywherebetween 10-25 per cent of their total rev-enue. In a situation of complete uncertain-ty of when international travel will beginagain, that revenue stream will remain inlimbo.

There is an indubitable increase incosts anticipated for hospitals to simply beable to open shop under regulatory con-ditions for Corona and manage bothCOVID and non-COVID patients in thesame facility. There is also an undeniableneed to move to a higher commitment tothe standards of infection prevention andcontrol for the virus in the industry andthe nation as a whole. This is a much-needed transition for the industry, whichhas been plagued by HAIs, anti-microbialresistance and other issues arising frompoor infection control in hospital settings.While the global HAI is pegged at sevenper cent for developed and 10 per cent fordeveloping countries, for India differentstudies under different settings of ICUs,ERs, OPDs and so on have seen numberstouch anywhere between 20-30 per cent.These are completely avoidable hospitalstays and potential causes for death,which can be mitigated by proper disin-fection and sanitisation practices of facil-ities and devices.

For too long we have neglected theseissues with a false sense of security andpatchy actions and policies to cover small

breaches whenever they happened. Thepandemic brings with it an opportunityto reflect upon these choices and use thisas a time to rethink the way we managehospitals wherein infection control shouldbe a top priority for the ergonomics ofsuch institutions. While the industry is onthe brink of a shift in operations becauseof the pandemic, it needs time to readjustits bearings for the same.

As we wait for social mobility toresume after May 31, the clock is tickingfor hospital managers to figure out howto keep their doctors from getting infect-ed, treat their patients and ensure thatprofits are maintained. At the moment,patients have been denied services bysmaller nursing homes under suspicion ofCOVID. There is a trickling crowd visit-ing hospitals. But once we ease the lock-down, social mobility will come back tonear pre-COVID times. That is when thefear of hospitals bursting at the seamsbecomes real. Patients rushing to clinics,weighing their burden of other diseaseswith the chance of contractingCoronavirus. We do expect the virus toreach the ranks of other infectious diseaseswherein the treatment can be managed atthe ICUs at worst and prevented by vac-cinations at best. But that time is yet tocome and till then, hospitals would haveto work on a hybrid model to manageCOVID and other diseases at the sametime.

There will be more deliberationsand fine-tuning of industry practices.Some old practices will be jettisoned andnew ones adopted for a new world. Till wereach that time, the healthcare industrywill see some rapid, step ladder shifts inoperations. The Government will have tohand-hold this transition so that the indus-try does not crumble under pressure whilehealth access and equity is maintained andtechnology catalyses this change. How thishappens is yet to be seen but the windowof time available for planning is fast clos-ing.

(The writer is a health economist andengagement manager for health projects atthe International Innovation Corps, aUniversity of Chicago programme in Delhi)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modiwill be completing the first yearof his second term in office on

May 30. While critics are discussingthe Modi Government’s report card,it makes one think about theOpposition’s performance in the lastone year. Has it played its role as thewatchdog of democracy effectively?The answer is a resounding “no.” Itsperformance has been lacklustre byand large, though to its credit somenon-BJP parties did form the

Government in Odisha, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra,Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh andJharkhand in the last one year.

Even the main Opposition party,the Congress, has been ineffective inchallenging the Modi Governmentbecause the grand old party itself isgoing through a leadership crisis. It isstill groping in the dark for an effec-tive political narrative and is facing anacute dearth of ideas. The Congressis in the process of rediscovering itsidentity and political relevance in thecountry.

There are various reasons for theOpposition’s ineffectiveness right now.The first is that the people gave Modia huge mandate in 2019, even biggerthan the one in 2014, when he cameto power, ending 30 years of coalitionpolitics in the country. But thatshould not be an excuse because theOpposition managed to bring down

the Rajiv Gandhi Government in1989 due to the Bofors imbroglio. Infact, Rajiv had come to power on amuch more massive mandate — awhopping 415 seats out of 542 in 1984while Modi’s BJP got only 303 seats in2019. But there were many Oppositionstalwarts like Indrajit Gupta, SomnathChatterjee, AB Vajpayee, LK Advaniand a few others who were able to holdthe House to ransom on the Boforsissue and brought down the RajivGovernment. So the number gamedoesn’t apply to the present crisis inthe Opposition. The issues and oppor-tunities to hit the Modi Governmentwere abundant in the last one year but

the attacks by the Opposition wereweak. For instance, many controver-sial laws like the CitizenshipAmendment Act and the repeal ofArticle 370 and so on were pushedthrough by the Government despiteOpposition protests inside Parliamentand out of it. To make things easier forthe Government, the Coronavirusoutbreak pushed all other importantissues, including the plight of theIndian economy, to the background.For the last five months nothingother than the pandemic is being dis-cussed in the nation. Unfortunately,without the Parliament, theOpposition has lost the opportunityto effectively highlight the plight ofstranded migrant labourers in thecountry, though each party had raisedthe issue individually.

However, the most importantfactor weakening the Opposition is thelack of unity among the various par-

ties. They failed to unite even onimportant issues like the CAA thoughsome parties took to the streets. Ashrewd politician like Modi was ableto use this division successfully to getthe controversial laws passed even inthe House of Elders where theGovernment is still in a minority.Despite all these setbacks, theOpposition is not able to sustain itsefforts at unity. Nearly 22 Oppositionparties attended the virtual meetingcalled by Congress president SoniaGandhi last week. There were manysuch meetings in the past, too, but allefforts to unite the divided Oppositionhave failed so far because regionalsatraps have big egos and they areunwilling to set them aside.

Hence, the Opposition is dividedand leaderless as the Congress, despitebeing the major national party, has notbeen able to take the lead. They are notable to agree on one leader with the

stature to lead the Opposition.Stalwarts like Deve Gowda, MulayamSingh Yadav and Lalu Prasad havetaken a back seat now and thoughmany senior regional leaders areamenable to attending meetings calledby Sonia, they are reluctant to acceptGandhi’s leadership. Most impor-tantly, the new generation ofOpposition leaders has little or noconnection with the people as thefamily fiefdom concept works only atthe regional level. Plus, the Oppositiondoes not have a single leader who canmatch the oratorical and persuasiveskills of Modi, who continues to bepopular because he has no opponent.

The bottomline is that while theBJP has chalked out its agenda, theOpposition is still stumbling about. Itis high time it develops an effectivestrategy to challenge the Government.This is good for democracy.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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India's fourth recession sinceindependence, the first since lib-eralisation and perhaps theworst to date, is here, CRISILsaid on Tuesday as it predictedthe economy to shrink by 5 percent in the current fiscal becauseof coronavirus lockdown.

"The first quarter (April toJune 2020) will suffer a stagger-ing 25 per cent contraction," itsaid in its assessment of India'sGDP.

"About 10% of gross domes-tic product (GDP) in real termscould be permanently lost. Sogoing back to the growth ratesseen before the pandemic isunlikely in the next three fiscals."In the past 69 years, India hasseen a recession only thrice asper available data in fiscals1958, 1966 and 1980. The rea-son was the same each time amonsoon shock that hit agricul-ture, then a sizeable part of theeconomy.

Crisil said the recession in thecurrent fiscal (April 2020 toMarch 2021) is different asagriculture could soften the

blow this time by growing nearits trend rate, assuming a nor-mal monsoon. The coronaviruslockdown, first imposed onMarch 25 and extended thricetill May 31, has curtailed eco-nomic activity severely.

"The first quarter of this fis-cal will be the worst affected," it

said. "Not only will the firstquarter be a washout for thenon-agricultural economy, ser-vices such as education, andtravel and tourism among oth-ers could continue to see a bighit in the quarters to come. Jobsand incomes will see extendedlosses as these sectors are large

employers." It also saw econom-ic activity in states with highCOVID-19 cases suffering pro-longed disruption as restrictionscould continue longer.

Stating that the economiccosts now beginning to show upin the hard numbers are farworse than initial expectations,it said industrial productionfor March fell by over 16 percent, exports contracted 60.3 percent in April, and new telecomsubscribers declined 35 percent, while railway freight move-ment plunged 35 per cent on-year.

"Indeed, given one of themost stringent lockdowns in theworld, April could well be theworst-performing month forIndia this fiscal," it said.

Counting lockdown 4.0,Indians have had 68 days of con-finement. S&P Global estimatesthat one month of lockdownshaves 3 per cent off annualGDP on average across Asia-Pacific, it said adding sinceIndia's lockdown has been themost stringent in Asia, theimpact on economic growth willbe correspondingly larger.

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Leading stock exchange BSEon Tuesday launched eKYCservices on its mutual fundplatform, a move that willprovide seamless experience ofonboarding to a new investor.

Besides, the exchange isplanning to provide eKYC ser-vices to stock brokers andother approved intermediariesin the near future, BSE said ina statement.

To provide this facility tobrokers, the bourse will issueApplication ProgrammingInterface (APIs) for such bro-kers and other intermediariesto connect their IT systems toBSE's eKYC system.

BSE StAR MF launched BSEeKYC services -- which isAadhaar and video KYC basedinvestors onboarding solution-- with effect from Tuesday.

Spelling out key features ofthe eKYC solution, theexchange said it is a userfriendly web and mobile inter-face for different participants

of mutual fund industry. Itallows digital verification ofKYC documents and is inte-grated with KRA (KYC regis-tration agency) systems.

Investors will experiencereal-time approval in case ofsuccessful verification of allIDs and documents.

“BSE StAR MF is the firstMF platform to enable eKYC,which will go a long way inimproving the experience ofonboarding investors in aseamless manner. It will sim-plify the KYC process andimprove the TAT (turn aroundtime) for completing it,” saidGanesh Ram, Business Head –

Mutual Funds at BSE.“With the superior systems,

it will bring in more opera-tional efficiency by reducingerror prone and time-con-suming human efforts.Consequently, reduce theinvestor acquisition cost,” headded.

BSE StAR MF contributedRs 56,038 crore as net equityinflows in 2019-20, which is66 per cent of the mutualfund industry's net equityinflow of Rs 83,781 crore.

The platform achieved 5.75crore transactions in 2019-2020.

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Billionaire Anil Agarwal-con-trolled Vedanta Ltd onTuesday began the process ofseeking shareholders nod fordelisting the company.

The firm through a postalballot sought shareholdersnod to delist after Agarwal'sVedanta Resources Ltd offeredto buyout about 49.9 per centof public shareholding at aprice of Rs 87.5 per share, itsaid in a regulatory filing.

The proposal needs to beapproved by at least 66.7 percent of minority shareholders.

Post shareholder approval,the company will file for a

reverse book-building processwith the stock exchanges. Inreverse book-building, share-holders bid at which price theywould be willing to sell theirshares. At the end of thereverse book-building process,all the quotes are aggregatedand a final price, also knownas the 'discovered price' is

announced.The company board will

have to accept or reject the dis-covered price within 5 work-ing days from the closure ofthe book-building exercise.

If the discovered price is notacceptable to theboard/acquirer, it canannounce a counter-offer,which will be higher than theprice offered initially.

For the delisting process tobe successful, the promoter'sstake in the company willhave to go up to 90 per cent.If the promoter fails toincrease his stake to 90 percent, the company cannotdelist.

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The rupee appreciated by 29paise to close at 75.66 againstthe US dollar on Tuesdaytracking weakness in theAmerican currency as easingof COVID-19 lockdown mea-sures fuelled growth optimism.

Forex traders said weak-ness in the US dollar againstmajor world currencies over-seas and easing of lockdownrestrictions across the worldboosted investor sentimentand supported the local unit.

At the interbank foreignexchange, the rupee openedhigher at 75.69 and moved ina range of 75.62 to 75.74 in daytrade.

The rupee finally ended at75.66, registering a rise of 29paise over its previous close.On Friday, rupee had settled at75.95 against the US dollar.The forex market was closedon Monday for Id-Ul-Fitr.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback'sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, was trading 0.44per cent down at 99.42.

Meanwhile, foreign institu-tional investors were net sell-

ers in the capital market, asthey sold equity shares worthRs 1,353.90 crore on Friday,according to provisionalexchange data.

"Rupee led gains amongemerging market currencies asinvestors factor in prospects ofeconomies moving towardreopening," said DevarshVakil, Head Advisory, HDFCsecurities.

The dollar index was unableto sustain 100 mark and lost

0.45 per cent to 99.42 as manyeconomies ease restrictions,with Japan lifting its state ofemergency and selectEuropean countries allowingmore sectors to reopen forbusiness, Vakil said.

"The weakness in broaddollar index supported therupee in today's trade.However, the gains will be lim-ited due to month-end dollardemand from oil importers,"he added.

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Earnings of BSE Sensex com-panies will contract by up to 8per cent in 2020-21 on thebroader economic worries, andhopes of gains in equitiesshould be pinned on a decreasein infections or a fiscal stimu-lus, an analyst said on Tuesday.

Majority of the countriesworld over like Singapore andthe US have given large fiscalstimulus packages which Indiais yet to announce, Bank ofAmerica Securities' India equi-ty strategist Amish Shah said.

The GDP growth in India isset to contract by up to 5 per-centage points in FY2021,according to various analystsand the RBI has also acknowl-edged that the economy will beshrinking this year. However,experts also feel that the equi-ty markets do not reflect thereal economic challenges.

"We are expecting a 7-8 percent contraction in companiesthis fiscal and it will go up to17 per cent in FY22," Shah toldreporters. Markets need a

trigger and a growth in earn-ings is unlikely to be it.

They will look for how theCOVID-19 infection curvegoes, and if it goes down, andalso a fiscal package which cangenerate demand, he said.

In a scenario where neitherof it happens, that is, the infec-tions continue to rise or a stim-ulus package does not come,investors will keep betting onthe defensive sectors like infor-mation technology, pharma,fast-moving consumer goods

and even telecom, Shah said.At present, Indian indices

are under-performing as com-pared to others and a packagefrom the government can helpcover the ground, he said.

It can be noted that the gov-ernment has announced anearly Rs 21 lakh crore reliefpackage for the country tohelp minimise the impact onthe economy which many ana-lysts say will not result in fis-cal spend of over 2 per cent ofthe GDP.

Shah said life will not be asnormal as it used to be andthere will be structural changesas a result of the pandemicfrom the medium to long termperspective.

The changes may include asecond wave of consolidationwhere entrenched companiesacross sectors expand theirmarket shares as it happened inthe aftermath of demonetisa-tion and GST introduction(the first wave) and also disin-termediation of the supplychains where online mediumsbecome more successful large-ly at the cost of the wholesalersor middlemen.

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Sensex surrenders early gains, ends 63 pts lower����� +$+��

Equity benchmark Sensex gaveup all the day's gains to end 63points lower on Tuesday asspiking number of COVID-19cases in the country created anuncertainty about lockdownmeasures going ahead.

After rallying 414.11 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareindex declined 63.29 points or0.21 per cent to 30,609.30.

Similarly, NSE Nifty ended10.20 points or 0.11 per centdown at 9,029.05.

Bharti Airtel was the toploser in the Sensex pack,plunging around 6 per cent,followed by TCS, BajajFinance, Sun Pharma, TechMhindra, Infosys and HeroMotoCorp.

On the other hand, Titan,Ultratech Cement, IndusIndBank, Nestle India and ITCwere among the gainers.

"After opening up by more

than 1 per cent, benchmarkindices pared gains to close flat,with a negative bias. However,global market cues were pos-itive, on the back of addition-al stimulus measures and slowreopening of economies glob-ally," Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices, said.

The unabated rise of infec-tions continues in India, whichthrows up further uncertaintieswith regards to extension oflockdown measures, he added.

The number of coronaviruscases in India climbed to1,45,380 and the death tolltouched 4,167, as per health

ministry data.Globally, the number of

cases linked to the disease hascrossed 54.95 lakh.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul endedsignificantly higher. Stockexchanges in Europe too ral-lied up to 1.76 per cent in earlydeals. International oil bench-mark Brent crude futures weretrading 1.58 per cent higher atUSD 36.09 per barrel.

On the currency front, therupee appreciated 29 paise toclose at 75.66 against the USdollar.

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The country's largest carmak-er Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Tuesday said it has joinedhands with ICICI Bank tooffer retail financing schemesto its customers. As part of thetie up, ICICI Bank is offeringflexi EMI scheme whichenables customers to pay lowEMI initially, in order to helpthem overcome the liquiditystress due to the COVID-19pandemic, the automajor saidin a statement. The EMIamount starts from Rs 899 ona loan of Rs 1 lakh for firstthree months. The bank is alsooffering similar other EMI

plans for MSI customers. WithMaruti Suzuki's over 3,000outlets and ICICI Bank'sextensive network of over5,380 branches across India,the offer will definitely bene-fit the customers of all profileswho are willing to buy a car, itsaid. "While fighting the pre-vailing COVID-19 crisis, wealso need to help customerswith attractive auto retailfinancial solutions," MSIExecutive Director (M&S)Shashank Srivastava said. Lowdown payment, low EMIproducts will definitely helpaspiring customers to havetheir own personal mobilitysolution, he added.

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Indian-origin pharmacist andRepublican Senate hopefulRik Mehta haslaunched a plan toforce drug compa-nies to reveal theirproducts' country oforigin, saying it istime to stop China'scontrol over medicinesupply in the US.

Mehta, who is runningagainst Democratic PartySenator from New Jersey CoryBooker, said that Americanshave a right to know wheretheir medicine comes from

especially when nearly all otherproducts are labeled with thecountry it was made in as he

recently launched the bringback made in America

medicine campaign.“I can look at prod-

ucts on my body, likemy shirt and shoesand know exactly

where it was made, butthe same doesn't hold true

for things that go in our body,like our prescription drugs.That makes no sense,” thebiotech entrepreneur andhealthcare policy expert wasquoted as saying by the NewJersey Globe newspaper.

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A Delhi-based essential ser-vices provider has launcheda platform listing verifiedhome utility technicians inview of the coronavirus lock-down.

Managing Director ofIndieTap Manjot Purewalsaid the company's app workson an uberised platform toinstantly connect people withservice technicians whostrictly adhere to theStandard OperatingProcedures prescribed by thegovernment.

He said all the techniciansare verified and maintain thehighest level of sanitisationthrough the stringent SOPs.

Naveen Jha, the chief tech-nology officer at IndieTap,said the company offers ser-vices of plumbers, electriciansand other utility serviceproviders.

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With COVID-19 pandemichaving forced individuals,organisations and the globaleconomy to become morereliant on the internet anddigital ways of doing busi-ness, an urgent action plan isrequired to deal with possi-ble cyber attacks and datafrauds, a WEF study said.

"COVID-19 is confrontingevery organisation with lim-its of its ability to learn andchange in an environmentwhere speed is everythingand where delaying key deci-sions can have a dramaticimpact on business opera-tions," the WEF said. TheWorld Economic Forum saidCOVID-19 has acceleratedthe global transition to anew reality of unprecedenteddigital dependency.

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Consumer loan financierHome Credit India (HCIN)on Tuesday said it hasdonated 30,000 KN95 respi-rators and 1,80,000 surgicalmasks to the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare.

HCIN said the companyis supporting the fightagainst the COVID-19 pan-demic by supporting otheractivities.

It has already providedration to 20,000 people inGurugram, Haryana.

Also, it said the companyis among the firsts to intro-duce a special COVID-19hospitalisation insurancecover of Rs 5 lakh peremployee. HCIN is a localarm of the internationalconsumer finance providerwith operations spanningover Europe and Asia.

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The mutual fund industry hasadded nearly seven lakhinvestor accounts in April,taking the total foliotally to 9.04 crore,amid volatility inbroader markets.

This is 71st con-secutive month wit-nessing a rise in thenumbers of folios,according to data from theAssociation of Mutual Fundsin India.

Folios are numbers desig-nated to individual investoraccounts. An investor canhave multiple folios.According

to data, the number of folioswith 44 fund houses rose to9,04,28,589 at the end of April,from 8,97,46,051 in the end of

March, registering a gain of6,82,538 folios.

This comes follow-ing an addition ofover 9 lakh investoraccounts in March.

In February, theindustry added 3 lakh

folios, 14 lakh folios inJanuary and in December, thenumber was over 6 lakh. Theaddition in folios comes at atime when broader marketwitnessed volatility amid con-cerns over the impact of thecoronavirus pandemic.

Page 9: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

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WednesdayMay 27, 2020

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�%(44� ��������rom being seen onhuge billboardsacross the city, fea-turing in TVC adver-tisements, debutingin a digital web series

to working for television, andmaking a splash in the fashionindustry, Krutika has addedseveral feathers to her cap.Being a ramp-lover during hercollege days made her set ontothe journey of becoming a fash-ion model. Soon after, shebagged her role in the first-everrom-com aired on Maa TVcalled Ok Jaanu that gave herprodigious success.

Best in her own way, thispsychology graduate doesn’tlike to copy anyone. ‘Createyour own style, be confident,and never lose hope’ has beenher mantra to victory. “Mydebut into the television worldopened the door to bag severalhunky projects in life. It helpedme keep my parents’ life full ofexcitement and surprises,”Krutika chuckles. On beingasked about her insights intothe entertainment industry, shestates that there can be timeswhen making trustworthyfriends can be difficult. “It’s atiny world of its own, filledwith relentless competition.You have to fight your own battles,” she adds.

Her debut in the OTT plat-form with her upcoming digitalseries Mad House has made herrealise the flexibility it has tooffer. “We can consume webcontent anytime, anywhere. It’ssuperseding television current-ly. With affordable mobile dataprices, digital media is racingahead. I believe digital showsknow how to strike the rightchords with the youth andthat’s why it’s trending. Ilove both the platformsthough,” shares this 25-year-old.

With the suddenoutbreak of

Coronavirus, Krutika Singhtells us how difficult it’s gettingfor the artists to survive on adaily basis. An actor’s job isn’tsecure, work from home cannotbe the new normal for themand many depend on freelancework, which has now come to ahalt. “Not everyone is privi-leged, some are the onlybreadwinner of theirfamilies. It’s alsoleading to stress, asthere’s no othersource of incomefor many andthey have noidea whenshooting mightresume. Thistime, enter-tainment iscoming at ahuge costfor us,”Krutikaasserts.

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ith fifteen years ofexperience in theculinary industryalong with exper-tise at a London-based restaurant,

Chef Gaurav feels this isthe right time to focus

on our health and well-being as there’s no busyschedule currently. It’s agifted time to effectivelyfocus on our bodies andlives inside out. He asksus to jumpstart our rou-tine with these five easi-ly home-prepped detox

drinks.

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Page 10: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

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Yesterday’s solution

ollywood actor-turned-pro-ducer Anushka Sharma is

facing fresh trouble over herweb series Paatal Lok.

Uttar Pradesh BJP MLANand Kishore Gurjar has

filed a complaint against AnushkaSharma for using his photo in the show

without his permission.The image in question was taken in

March, 2018 and is a real image featuringnot just Gurjar but also UP Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath.It was clicked at the inauguration of a

six-lane elevated highway project inGhaziabad. Yogi Adityanath had even

tweeted the images.A morphed version of the image was

used in Paatal Lok in which the image ofthe fictional and dirty politician

Balkrishna Bajpayee has superimposedon that of Adityanath. The faces of the

remaining persons in the photo such asGurjar were left unedited.

In his complaint against AnushkaSharma, Gurjar has sought that the web

series shows Gurjar in a bad light andpromotes communal disharmony. He hasasked for the National Security Act to beinvoked against Anushka Sharma and a

ban on the show.The MLA has said in his complaint

that the show is trying to malign theimage of the BJP and is also ‘anti-India’.

Anushka Sharma’s Paatal Lok isalready facing legal trouble with the

Gorkha community for allegedly hurtingNepali sentiments.

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mitabh Bachchan’snew post is allabout his confu-sion. The veteranactor took to

Instagram, where heshared a video of himselfin slow motion. He thenasked a funny question tofans and followers in thecaption.

“I don’t know why ithurts when we bite ourtongue mistakenly. But itdidn’t hurt when we bite itintentionally. And I stilldon’t understand why youare biting your tonguenow,” he captioned thevideo. On the film front,the veteran actor will beseen sharing screen space

with AyushmannKhurrana in ShoojitSircar’s Gulabo Sitabo,which will release onAmazon Prime Video onJune 12. The film was slat-ed for a theatrical releaseearlier this year before theCOVID-19 pandemic ledto a complete lockdown ofthe nation.

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aran Johar hasrevealed onTwitter that twomembers of hisdomestic staff

have been diagnosedwith Covid-19. Heinformed his fans andwell-wishers that he andhis family — motherHiroo and children Yashand Roohi — as well asthe rest of the staff is ‘allsafe and display nosymptoms’.

“I’d like to inform you

that 2 members of ourhousehold staff have test-ed positive for Covid-19.As soon as the symptomswere detected, they wereput under quarantine ina section of our building.The BMC was informedimmediately, and thebuilding has been fumi-gated and sterilised bythem as per the norms,”he wrote.

Karan and his familyhave tested negative forCovid-19. “The rest of us

in the family and thestaff are all safe and dis-play no symptoms. Wehave all taken the swabtest this morning andhave tested negative, butwill remain in self isola-tion for the next 14 daysfor the safety of everyonearound us. We stand byour commitment to safe-guard everyone and haveensured that all measuresprescribed by the author-ities have been strictlyadhered to,” he wrote.

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uperstar Salman Khan’s popularfilm franchise, Dabangg is all set

to get a run as an animated series.The series will chronicle the

life and capers of supercopChulbul Pandey (played by

Salman Khan in the films), and will alsofeature the animated avatars of all popular

characters of the franchise includingChhedi Singh (played by Sonu Sood inthe films), Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) and

Prajapatiji (played by the late VinodKhanna).

“Dabangg’s biggest USP is that it is acomplete family entertainer and, thus,

the next logical step to further growthe franchise was to enter the anima-

tion space. The medium offersunparalleled creative freedom with

storytelling, and we can focus onshorter standalone stories in lieu of

longer, linear narratives. Chulbul’spersona is larger than life and inanimation his adventures will beshowcased as never seen before,”

said Salman’s brother Arbaaz Khan,producer of the original Dabangg

series.The animation studio Cosmos -

Maya have been given the rights to pro-duce the upcoming animated project.

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Page 11: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

opular cinematographer R Madhi,who has to his credit big films likeSrimanthudu, Saaho and TheGhazi Attack among others, hasbeen signed on to be the directorof cinematography for Hushaaru

director Sree Harsha’s second film.Tentatively titled Rowdy Boys, the film intro-duces leading producer Dil Raju’s nephewAshish Reddy as a lead actor, while anotherproducer Lagadapati Sridhar’s son VikramSahadev will be playing a key role.

Madhi is not just the only top technicianto have hopped on to the project. We’ve alsolearnt that Raju has got the nod of notedproduction designer Rajeevan to give thefilm a lively look. “Raju is taking the projecton a prestigious note as it introduces anactor from his family for the first time,”says a source.

The Sri Venkateswara Creations project,which has been kept under tight wraps,went to floors before lockdown, with thedirector shooting for a good two weeks. AHyderabad-set drama, it is a feel-good youthentertainer. Anupama Parameswaran is theleading lady.

hen newsabout RaviTeja agree-ing to starin writerVakkan-

tham Vamsi’s seconddirectorial was selec-tively leaked to themedia more than acouple of months ago,the project didn’thave a producer. Wenow can establish thatthe duo have got aproducer on board.Fresh off the massivesuccess of SarileruNeekevvaru, AnilSunkara will be pool-ing in resources forthe untitled actionentertainer, whichwill show RaviTeja in a com-plete new light.Although theactor has other

producers waiting inqueue, he feltSunkara, who hasturned extremely cau-tious after his recenthit, will do justice tothe script with hisexperience.Vakkantham too wasokay with it. The pro-ducer too jumped onboard after listeningto the whacky script.This would be thefirst time that Raviand Sunkara will beworking together fora film, which will

mostly rollnext

year.

ftermakinga com-mend-abledebut

with the who-dunit Hit earlierthis year, film-maker SaileshKolanu hascompleted pen-ning the sequel.

While his initialplan was to travelto Sydney andfinish the writingprocess, the

nationwide lock-down meant that he

wraps up his work inhome town Hyderabad.“With the story alreadyin place I needed towork on the dialogue

version and screenplayand it took two months forme to complete the writing.I will kick-start the pre-production in a couple ofweek’s time. Right now, I’vebeen giving narrations.The sequel will have a dif-ferent premise and differ-ent conflicts. It will beequally engaging if notmore engaging that the

first part. I’ve saved thebest for the second part.Vishwak Sen will beginshooting for the film afterhe wraps up Pagal,” Saileshtells us.

With producer Dil Rajuplanning to remake Hit inHindi, buzz that Sailesh willdirect the Hindi version isswirling around. “Even Iheard about it but officiallyno one has approached meyet,” he laughs, adding thathe is ready to take theHindi offer if it does comehis way. “For any filmmakerthe biggest greed is not themoney but the number ofpeople who will get to seehis work. If I go toHindi, obvi-ously thestory willreach alargenumberof people,right? Idon’t haveanyBollywoodaspirations as

such but I believe Hit is apan-India film and it canresonate with viewersacross the country. As abusiness model as well, itcan land the producers ingreat profits if it is dealt inthe same way.”

After Hit 2 though, thedirector is keen on explor-ing other genres. “Hit isdefinitely going to be afranchise but I can’t tellwhether Hit 3 will happenor not. I want to try myhands at other genres afterHit 2. May be down theline after three or fouryears, if I feel like makingHit 3, I will give it a shot. Ihave to come across a goodstory as well,” he states.

Sailesh has been travel-ling with Nani for the pastfour years and admits thathe is aware of the actor’staste, so is the actor of his.So, can we expect the duoto join forces? “We are onthe same page creativelywhich I feel is of primaryimportance should anyactor and director cometogether. Stories and all, wewill find them. I’ve narrat-ed him four stories, includ-ing Hit 2. I know how hethinks and what kind ofstories he wants to do as anactor. If I find a right story,I will definitely approachhim. Our collaboration

will definitely happen.I always keep telling

him, ‘Bro, I will notleave you until Idirect you’. We havea good laugh aboutit every now and

then,” he con-cludes.

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Hyderabad Wednesday May 27 2020

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nteracting witheminent faces ofthe film industryat MegastarChiranjeevi’s resi-dence last week,

Cinematography MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadavassured that he will come

to the aid of 14,000employees of the industryfrom his own pocket. Thelivelihoods of the dailywage employees havebeen hit because of thelockdown. Honouring hiswords, the minister willbe distributing food

essentials to them begin-ning Thursday. An actionplan has been strategizedwith the help of bigwigsfrom the industry andTalasani wants to contin-ue with the initiative untilall of 14,000 employeesreceive his largesse.

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he Butta Bommasong from Allu

Arjun’s AlaVaikuntha-

purramlo, whichalso stars Pooja

Hegde, after having crossed awhopping 190 million views on

YouTube in just three months, now stands atnumber 15 in the global top 100 music videos

this week.The Stylish star is still riding high on the

success of his Sankranthi release, which wasdirected by Trivikram Srinivas. While the, story,

screenplay, and the performances of the cast werelauded by audiences, the film’s songs composedby SS Thaman have gone on to become massive

hits among the audiences not only in the twoTelugu states but across the country and the

globe.Crooned by Armaan Malik, the song’s new

milestone on YouTube has fans going crazy. Themassive feat is an unprecedented achievement by

any Telugu movie song ever. The song recently hadAustralia’s opening batsman David Warner and his

wife dance to its tunes on a video sharing app. Everysong from the movie Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo has

become a chartbuster and garnered millions of viewson social media.

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Page 12: ˇ - The Pioneer...judges in various social media platforms and websites. The court has issued notices also to various social media platforms. The court gave three weeks' time for

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India’s highly successful pacequartet will be on top of itsgame in Tests for “at least two

more years” even as coaches andselectors collectively zero in on thenext batch of potent match-win-ners, feels national bowling coachBharat Arun.

Ishant Sharma (297 wicketsfrom 97 Tests), Mohammed Shami(180 wickets from 49 Tests),Umesh Yadav (144 wickets from 46Tests) and Jasprit Bumrah (68wickets from 14 Tests) were excep-tional in home and away Testmatches during 2018 and 2019 sea-sons.

The next nine Tests (four vsAustralia Down Under and fiveagainst England) could well be thelast hurrah for this quartet as apace unit in red-ball cricket withonly Bumrah (26 years) being inthe early days of his career,

“The present attack has doneexceptionally well and I don’t seeany problem in them continuingas a group for at least two moreyears. If they remain fit and strong,they can well continue after that asa group but yes certainly twoyears at least,” Arun said.

Arun, who has overseen thegolden era of Indian fast bowling,believes that a lot of exciting fastbowlers are coming through theranks and coaches, along withselectors, should be identifying thenext batch in earnest.

“Yes, an exciting crop of fastbowlers is coming through and itwill require a joint effort of the

selectors and coaches to identifythe next batch so that there is ahealthy bench strength,” Arun,himself a former India mediumpacer, said.

The need to identify the benchstrength is necessary to have a solidrotational policy which increases

longevity of speed merchants.“...Also we can use fast bowlers

as per rotation policy dependingon their respective workloads.This is required as you want yourprime fast bowlers to be ready forthe best occasions.”

That is precisely the reason

why Arun wants that when thecamp is held after the lockdown,even the domestic and India A per-formers should get a chance totrain with all the contracted fastbowlers.

“I would like all the contract-ed fast bowlers to be in the camp,

also some of the promising bowlers(fast and spin) who have done wellin domestic cricket as well as forIndia A to be included in thecamp,” he said.

The camp will also be anopportunity for the players to tryand inculcate the habit of not usingsaliva on the cricket ball, whichwould require some conditioning.

“Use of saliva is a very difficulthabit to get over. We will make aconscious effort to get over thishabit during our practice sessions,”he said.

As given in ICC guidelines,Arun also feels that for white ballcricket, a minimum six to eightweeks will be required for fastbowlers and more time for Testmatch fitness.

“Getting ready for Test match-es means more number of oversunder their belt, whereas it will bea little quicker for T20 games. Youneed to go through a process andit will take 6 to 8 weeks,” he said.

Coming back from a forcedlay-off without a chance to do fullfledged skill-based training forthree months could lead to injuriesbut Arun feels that work ethic ofthis current group is such that itwon’t be a cause of concern.

“Honestly, I won’t say I amworried about anything as bowlershave worked really hard to getstronger and that augurs extreme-ly well for our boys.

“Skillwise we just need tosharpen ourselves, the biggestchallenge is how quickly you canget the bowlers match ready,” heconcluded.

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Cricket runs the risk of becoming“pretty boring” if balance is not struck

between bat and ball in the wake of thecoronavirus-linked ban on using salivato shine the ball, Australia’s premier pacerMitchell Starc warned on Tuesday.

This will also discourage aspiringyoungsters to take up fast bowling infuture, he reckoned.

“We don’t want to lose that or makeit less even, so there needs to be some-thing in place to keep that ball swinging,”Starc told reporters during an online pressconference.

“Otherwise people aren’t going to bewatching it and kids aren’t goingto want to bebowlers. InAustralia inthe last cou-ple of yearswe’ve had some pretty flatwickets, and if that ball’sgoing straight it’s a prettyboring contest,” he added.

Starc feels bowlersshould be allowed to shinethe ball in other ways for thetime being.

“It’s an unusualtime for theworld and ifthey’re goingto removesaliva shin-ing for aportion oftime theyneed to

think of something else for that portionof time as well,” he said.

One of the leading wicket takers withthe pink ball, Starc said he is looking for-ward to playing a day-night Test in thehome series against India.

“I think absolutely a pink-ball Test inthe series against India is a great thing.The fans love it, I think it creates a dif-ferent aspect to the contest, bat and ballare closer together in that contest,” Starcsaid.

While Australia featured in the firstever day-night Test against New Zealandback in 2015 and have played sevengames since then, India played their onlypink ball match last November againstBangladesh.

“India played a pink-ball game inIndia so they’re not completely for-

eign to it. In terms of an advantage,if you like, we do have a goodrecord at home with the pink ball,”Starc said.

But the 30-year-old playeddown the “advantage”, saying, “That

might come into a home-groundadvantage and it’s no different to us

going to India and they’ve got theadvantage there.

“It’d be great tohave a pink-ball

contest in thatseries and fromthe little bits I’veseen and heard,India are verymuch open tothat as well sothat’s fantastic,”he added.

�����-��/ Former fast-bowling star BrettLee has picked Steve Smith over Virat Kohlias the world’s best batsman at the momentbecause of the Australian’s incredible turn-around after the ball-tampering scandal.

Since his return after infamous ball-tam-pering scandal in the Cape Town Test in 2018,Smith amassed runs and regained his statusas one of the modern greats of the game.

“At the moment, I would pick Smith overKohli because of what he has been throughand what he has to overcome,” Lee said dur-ing an Instagram Live session with formerZimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa.

“Steve Smith has been through a lot inthe last couple of years, he has seen a rise withthe way he played in the last 12 months, heis so fidgety, sometimes you are like just relaxmate,” he added.

“I might go with Kohli tomorrow as itdepends on the mood. They are two greatplayers and hard to split.”

Considering the former captain’s num-bers, Lee compared Smith with the legendaryDon Bradman. “I think Smith can be as goodas Don Bradman, there have been talks of himbecoming just like Bradman looking at thenumber.”

Lee reasoned that he chose Smith overKohli as he has come back strongly.

“Look, it is so hard to pick, there are somany qualities in both that I enjoy, from thebowling of point I am trying to look are thereany flaws in both batsmen, both of these bats-men are genuine,” he said.

“Kohli is technically sound, he hitsthrough the V, he used to nick off earlier inhis career, but it is hard to do that now, he isa great leader of his side, I think he would loveto win the IPL.” PTI

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The Sports Authority of India(SAI) on Tuesday started

activities in two out of its five sta-diums in the national capitalafter the central Governmentgreen lighted resumption ofoutdoor sports in a phasedmanner.

According to a SAI state-ment, sporting activities haveresumed at the Jawaharlal NehruStadium, Major Dhyan ChandNational Stadium from Tuesdayafternoon in slots of one hourwhich needs to be pre-bookedonline.

However, activities in IndiraGandhi Stadium and KarniSingh Shooting Range areexpected to start in a week’s timeas logistics are being worked out.

Shyama Prasad MukherjeeSwimming Complex will remainshut as use of swimming poolscontinue to remain barred in the

fourth edition of the coron-avirus-forced nationwide lock-down which ends on May 31.

While archery, table tennis,badminton and lawn tennishave started in Jawaharlal NehruStadium initially, activities at theMajor Dhyan Chand NationalStadium will depend on avail-able facilities.

“Initially, sporting activi-ties are being started in those

disciplines where no contact isrequired among players andminimal sharing of equipmentis needed,” the SAI said.

"In keeping with the guide-lines of the government onsocial distancing and hygiene, ithas been decided a maximum ofonly 50 per cent of sports facil-ities in various stadia will bemade operational to ensuresocial distancing.

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Gearing up for a pro-posed tour of England in

July, some members of theWest Indies Test team, led byskipper Jason Holder, havereturned to training in smallgroups following a coron-avirus-forced hiatus.

Away from nets for along period due to the lock-down, the players includingKraigg Brathwaite, ShaiHope, Kemar Roach, ShaneDowrich, Shamarh Brooksand Raymon Reifer trainedat the Kensington Ovalbehind closed doors onMonday.

“The initiative to getback to training has beengiven local Governmentapproval, with strict proto-cols of social distancing,observing the guidelines asset out by the authorities andCWI’s Medical AdvisoryCommittee and was con-ducted behind closed doors,”

the country’s cricket boardsaid in a release.

The players trainedunder the watchful eyes ofWest Indies assistant coachRoddy Estwick, as well asother coaches from theBarbados Cricket Association.

“It’s great news that theplayers are now able to begintheir cricket training, havingbeen restricted to fitness andconditioning work at homefor the past few weeks, as we

begin to prepare for defend-ing the Wisden Trophy,” saidJohnny Grave, CEO ofCricket West Indies.

CWI is holding regulardiscussions with the England

and Wales Cricket Board(ECB) regarding the tourcomprising three Tests andremains “increasingly confi-dent” about it going ahead asplanned.

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Shubman Gill might be 20but India’s limited-overs

deputy Rohit Sharma hasalready tagged him the “future”.In fact, even skipper ViratKohli felt he wasn’t 10 per centof what Gill is when he saw himat the nets as a 19-year-old.These are big names in worldcricket and when they havesuch compliments to give, itcan add to the pressure ofexpectations. But not for Gill.

Replying to Gill on hisbirthday message, Rohit recent-ly wrote “Thanks Future.” Sodoes that add to the pressure?Considering that punditsalready feel that Gill has it inhim to take world cricket bystorm. The Punjab batsmansays for him, he just feels goodto be complimented.

“Yes, it always feels goodwhen someone like RohitSharma says that. I don’t feelany added pressure becausethat’s how I am. I don’t feel anypressure when one compli-ments me or if someone is crit-ical,” he said.

Gill is young and likes toexpress himself on the field andluckily for him, he has a cap-tain in Kohli who wants hisboys to go out and be their nat-ural selves. The youngsterbelieves it is indeed an advan-

tage to have a leader who let’splayers express themselvesfreely.

“Yes, it’s definitely anadvantage when your captainwants you to go all in and thereis no pressure. You won’t feelthat there is one per cent ofyour game that would be leftwhen you are on the field so it’salways good for the youngplayers when the captain backsyou,” he smiled.

Asked if he has taken theopportunity to discuss battingwith the run-machine, Gillsaid: “I have interacted withhim a couple of times. He justtells me to keep doing stuff thatI am already doing and tohave consistency on the field.

Consistency is an importantfactor.”

From on the field to off it,the cricketing world has cometo a standstill due to the pan-demic. So is Gill looking for-ward to getting back on theground in the IPL? The KolkataKnight Riders batsman says hecannot wait.

“Yes, that’s one more rea-son I am looking forward toplaying the IPL (lockdown andsuspension of cricketingaction). But I think this time allthe players would be moremotivated than ever because itwas a long break and comingback from the break everyonewould want to make an impres-sion.

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ICC Cricket Committee chairmanAnil Kumble says the inexperience

of local umpires, who are expected toofficiate in Test matches once actionresumes post the Covid-19 pan-demic, is the reason behind recom-mending an extra review, whichaccording to him will give a levelplaying field to both the teams.

Reasoning the ICC CricketCommittee’s recommendations, theformer India captain said the sugges-tion to use of local umpires was madebecause of travel restrictions aroundthe world in the wake of the pandem-ic.

“I think the need of hour was tostart cricket. We also felt that becauseof travel restrictions, there could be

quarantine measures. You don’t havetoo many elite umpires in the panel.So, we felt that for cricket to kickstart,its best to use local umpires,” Kumblesaid on Star Sports show CricketConnected.

“Most countries don’t have theexperience, the local umpires don’thave the experience of a Test Matchor being part of a Test match. The rea-son that we started neutral umpiring20 years ago was because there wasthe perception of a bias.

“The recommendation for anextra review for both teams is not toroot that out but we felt that therecould be potential inexperience beingin a Test match situation, which iswhy the advantage of the additionalreview would probably benefit boththe teams,” he added.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic haspicked up a calf injury and

not ruptured his Achilles tendonas feared, AC Milan confirmedon Tuesday.

“Ibrahimovic has sustainedan injury to his right soleusmuscle during yesterday’s(Monday) training session,” theSerie A team said in a statement.

“The Achilles tendon isperfectly intact. The player willundergo a scan in 10 daystime.”

Milan did not say for howlong the 38-year-old would beout of action, although Italianmedia reports say he could befacing four weeks on the side-lines, as Serie A eyes a potentialrestart next month.

��������������J��/� RB Leipzig forwardYussuf Poulsen could be out forthe rest of the season after theBundesliga club said onTuesday he had damaged liga-ments in his right ankle.

Leipzig said an MRI scan

on Monday showed theDenmark international “suf-fered ligament damage to hisright ankle in yesterday’s(Sunday) win at Mainz and willbe out for the foreseeablefuture”.

In his absence, CzechRepublic striker Patrik Schick,on loan from Roma, is set topartner Timo Werner up frontagainst Hertha Berlin onWednesday.

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Bournemouth goal-keeper Aaron

Ramsdale describedfinding out he had test-ed positive for coron-avirus as “scary andworrying”, despite dis-playing no symptoms.

The Englandunder-21 internationalwas one of two positivecases from the secondround of testing carriedout by Premier Leagueclubs as they gear up fora return to action nextmonth.

“It’s definitely ashock — I’ve not beenin contact with any-body and I’ve now gotit,” Ramsdale told TheSun.

“I’m showingno symptoms sothe fact that ahealthy youngperson couldpotentially have itis definitely scary andworrying.”

Ramsdale testednegative in the first

round of testingand believes hemust have con-tracted the viruswhile shopping.

“This lastweek, I’ve done theusual things like goingto the supermarket andgoing to the petrol sta-

tion to fill my car.“Once you’ve con-

tracted the virus, itshows in your blood.

“That was obvious-ly not the case (after thefirst test) and it’s beenthe three days betweenthe two tests when I’vecontracted the virus.

“I’ve been just ascareful as before onlockdown and it seemsto be a shopping tripwhere I’ve caught it.”

A total of eightcases of coronavirusamong players and staffhave been detectedfrom 1,744 tests in thePremier League.

Results from athird round of testingwill be revealed onWednesday.

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Brazil and Juventus forwardDouglas Costa said that he

had considered retiring due tohis frequent injury troublesand has hired a mental coachto help him deal withthe side-effects of hisfitness issues.

“There are timeswhen I think: ‘Can Istill play?’” he toldThe Players’ Tribune.

“[That’s] becauseI go out on the pitch andget injured again. Then,when I watch it on TV,

I remember this is my passionand that I can still play at a high

level.“This is what keeps me

alive, I know footballcomes easy to me. It has

nothing to do with moneyor being famous.

“The point is todo what you enjoyand have fundoing it. That’s myobjective. I jokewith Alex Sandrothat I’ve had more

scans than I’veplayed games.”

Costa, who turns

30 in September, was among theforemost wingers in the worldduring his time at BayernMunich but injuries have stunt-ed his development at Juventussince he completed his perma-nent move to the Italian cham-pions in 2018.

He has missed 17 games inthree spells for the Serie A lead-ers this season alone, and hasparticularly struggled with ham-string and calf issues during hiscareer.

The injury problems havealso led to him making just over30 appearances for Brazil.

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�������/ Starved of Livesporting action for weeksowing to the Covid-19pandemic, fans will havehigh expectations whensport resumes behindclosed doors, feels WestIndies head coach PhilSimmons. “I think a lot ofsport, for a while, is goingto go ahead in front closeddoors, and I think theexpectancy here is highbecause I think peoplewant some kind of sport togo on,” England-basedSimmons said.

“Sport is a part of life

in England and even in thePremiership, there’s a lot oftalk about if it’s going tostart back soon or not. Butpeople are looking for-ward to sport coming backbecause the one thing thatyou’re missing here on theTV everyday is (Livesport). “There’s a lot of oldgames being shown andpeople are enjoying that,but they’re looking for-ward to Live sport; sothere’s a lot of hope ithappens, but that dependson how things are puttogether.” PTI

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Considered retiring due to injury issues: Douglas Costa

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