@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8RATES FOR EXPORTERS' DUTY REFUND

SCHEME TO BE NOTIFIED SOON

ANALYSIS 7MUCH ADO

ABOUT NPAS

SPORTS 11ROHIT TO REPLACE

MAYANK IN XI

VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 6, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

}I WANT TO BE THE

FEMALE VIJAYSETHUPATHI:

NIVETHA PETHURAJ

Page 12

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 3 Issue 56*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

{

WB denies that BJP

leader’s death was

‘political murder’

5

Will Jagan go againsthis own decisions in2021?

2

VIJAYAWADAWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated January 5 , 2021 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Margashirsha & Krishna Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Ashtami: 02:05 am (Next Day)

Nakshatram: Hasta: 05:09 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 12:22 pm – 01:44 pm

Yamagandam: 08:14 am – 09:36 am

Varjyam: 12:41 am – 02:12 am

Gulika: 10:59 am - 12:22 pm

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 11:27 am – 12:58 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham: NIL

FFoorreeccaasstt:: SunnyTemp: 31/21Humidity: 66%Sunrise: 06:47 amSunset: 05:56 pm

PM's energy roadmap:More than double natur-al gas share, diversifyenergy sources

8

CENTRAL VISTA PROJECT GETS SUPREMECOURT’S GO-AHEAD IN 2:1 VERDICT

BORIS JOHNSON CANCELS REPUBLIC DAYVISIT TO INDIA OVER COVID CRISIS IN UK

VIETNAM PURCHASED INDIAN RICE FORFIRST TIME IN DECADES, SAY OFFICIALS

INDIA'S S-400 MISSILE DEAL WITHRUSSIA MAY TRIGGER US SANCTIONS

The construction of the new parliamentcomplex near Delhi's India Gate can go

ahead, the Supreme Court said today inresponse to petitions that challenged theCentral Vista project in terms of permissionsand clearances. "We hold that there are noinfirmities in clearances given, change inland use," a three-judge bench of the courtsaid in a majority verdict. The newparliament building is the centerpiece of the? 20,000-crore Central Vista project, whichaims to build and refurbish the governmentbuildings on part of the 4-km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan toIndia Gate, located at the heart of the national capital.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnsoncancelled his visit to India, sources said,

hours after he announced a fresh lockdownin the United Kingdom over the new strain ofcoronavirus that has affected thousands ofpeople in the UK. Mr Johnson was to be thechief guest at this year's Republic Day paradein New Delhi, which was also to be his firstbilateral visit after the UK's departure fromthe European Union in December. He hadaccepted the invitation last month. "The primeminister spoke to Prime Minister Modi thismorning, to express his regret that he will be unable to visit India laterthis month as planned," Downing Street said.

Vietnam, the world's third biggest exporter ofrice, has started buying the grain from rival

India for the first time in decades after local pricesjumped to their highest in nine years amid limiteddomestic supplies, four industry officials toldReuters. The purchases highlight tighteningsupplies in Asia, which could lift rice prices in 2021and even force traditional buyers of rice fromThailand and Vietnam to switch to India - theworld's biggest exporter of the grain. Indian tradershave been contracted to export 70,000 tonnes of100 per cent broken rice for January and Februaryshipments at around $310 per tonne on a free-on-board basis, the industryofficials say."For the first time, we are exporting to Vietnam," an official said.

India's multi-billion dollar deal to purchase theRussia-made S-400 air defence system may

trigger US sanctions on New Delhi, a USCongressional report has warned. TheCongressional Research Service (CRS) - anindependent and bipartisan research wing of USCongress - in its latest report, said India is "eagerfor more technology-sharing and co-productioninitiatives, while the US urges more reforms inIndia's defence offsets policy and highe rFDIcaps in its defence sector." Prepared formembers of the Congress to take informeddecisions, the report says: "India's multi-billion dollar deal to purchase theRussia-made S-400 air defence system may trigger US sanctions on India."

PNS n AMARAVATI

Former Intelligence chiefAB Venkateswara Rao onTuesday wrote to the IPSOfficers’ Association accusingthe State Government ofhatching a conspiracy andfoisting criminal cases againsthim.

Alleging that theGovernment wants to placehim under suspension bysending him to judicialremand by framing him infalse criminal cases, the IPSofficer claimed to have proofin support of his statement.

He charged the governmentwith not allowing him to workfor months together and deny-ing him his pay to harass

him. ABV urged the Association

to convene a meeting of thegeneral body so that he gets achance to explain everything.

He demanded an impartialinquiry into the alleged omis-sions and commissions of theState Government.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Tension prevailed in northAndhra on Tuesday asthe BJP and Jana Senasought to corner the Stategovernment with their‘Chalo RamatheerthamRally’ taken out from Viz-ag city to Ramatheerthamof Vizianagaram districtdefying the police banorder.

Shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’slogans, BJP AP presi-dent Somu Veerraju ledleaders and activists ofhis party and also theJana Sena. The partici-pants in the rally weretaken into custody as theytried to climb theRamatheertham hill asthe police had deniedthem permission. Manyleaders of the two partieshad been kept underhouse arrest even beforethey could join the rally inVizag and other places.

Veerraju condemnedpolice curbs all alongVizag-Vizianagaram-Ramateertham route,where BJP and JSPplanned the rally todeplore the inordinatedelay in identifying theculprits involved in thedesecration of the idol.

Despite the sizable pres-ence of police personneland restrictions, Veerrajualong with some othersreached RamatheerthamJunction on Tuesday mor-ning but could not get pe-rmission to climb the hill.

After heated argumentsand jostling with policepersonnel atRamatheertham junction,they were arrested.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Desecration of temples is anact by people of extreme ide-ology who want to gain polit-ically by creating such unrest,opined Government Advisor(Public Affairs) SajjalaRamakrishna Reddy onTuesday.

Addressing a press confer-

ence here, Sajjala said thattemples were being van-dalised as per a plan withclear political interests.“Neither Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy nor theYSRCP would gain anythingfrom such incidents and theydo no good to the govern-ment but will make mattersworse,” he said.

Sajjala said that in such ascenario, it was obviousas to who stands togain from such actsof vandalism.“Either it has to beleaders of theopposition TDP,who are desperate-ly trying to find theirposition in the State, or

the BJP, which has religion onits political agenda,” he

said and appealed todistance politics fromreligion.

YSRCP, even whilein Opposition, hasnever made any irre-

sponsible allegationson religion or held any

such protests that could dis-

turb sensitive issues like faith,the Government Advisorsaid. “Faith is purely a person-al matter and everyoneshould have respect towardsother religions. The govern-ment has the responsibility torespect and protect all reli-gious shrines,” he said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Government of UnitedStates of America is keen onsetting up American Hub inVisakhapatnam, the secondsuch hub in the country. Thiswas conveyed to ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy by a delegation led byUS Consul-General JoelReifman on Tuesday.

The delegation met theChief Minister at his campoffice here. During the inter-action, Reifman said they hadvisited Visakhapatnam andwere very satisfied with thefacilities there.

He said Ahmedabad is sofar the only other city in thecountry to have an Americanhub. Since the distance is so faraway, a second hubVisakhapatnam, and the first

in South India, would beadvisable.

Welcoming the proposal,the Chief Minister requestedthe Consul General to set upan incubation centre inVisakhapatnam, similar to theone in Delhi. The latterresponded positively to thesuggestion.

The Chief Minister assuredall facilities required to set upthe incubation centre inVisakhapatnam would be pro-vided.

The Chief Minister saidthat the Consul Generalshould take the initiative tofurther enhance mutual coop-eration between the US andAndhra Pradesh and theywould also work together inthat direction.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Tuesday said itwas ready to roll out the vac-cine within a period of ten daysfrom the time the regulatorgranted emergency authorisa-tion to Covishield and COV-AXIN.

That translates to a poten-tial rollout within the nexteight days since the EUA wasgranted on January 3, and tendays from then would cometo January 13.

“We are ready to roll outthe vaccines within ten daysof grant of EUA which wasrecommended on January 2and granted on January 3.

The exact date of rolloutwill be decided by the gov-ernment,” Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan said today.

He said the pilot dry runin four states followed by a

national trial went off suc-cessfully with no major oper-ational challenges for Co-WIN, the digital platform thegovernment will use for vac-cine delivery with one vacci-nation team consisting of

five people trained to admin-ister the jab and addressadverse events followingimmunisation.

The government also saidthere was no export ban onthe approved vaccines withboth Serum Institute andBharat Biotech, the produc-ers of Covishield and COV-AXIN today using a joint

statement saying vaccinesare global public goods andthey would stand by theircommitment to supply vac-cines globally.

The government said 30crore priority health groupswould be vaccinated by Julyand of them one crore healthworkers and two crore front-line workers would not need

to self register on Co-WINas their bulk data is availableand uploaded already.

So far as the 27 crore pri-ority groups consisting of 50plus and those under 50with co morbid conditionsgoes, a government commit-tee is working on criteriaaround which co morbidi-ties to be included to deter-mine beneficiary criteria.

The committee report isexpected in two days.

The gover nment wi l ladminister free vaccines tohealth and frontline work-ers.

Asked when the vaccineswould be available for gen-eral populations, chairmanof vaccine task force VKPaul said “right now thepublic health objective is tovaccinate the most vulnera-ble and prevent deaths”.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

DGP Gautam D Sawang onTuesday signed MoUs withthe Andhra Pradesh StateSkill DevelopmentCorporation and the IndianInstitute of DesignTechnology-Tirupati on thesidelines of the first StatePolice Duty Meet held at theAR Grounds in Tirupati.

Sawang termed it a historicmoment for the policedepartment to have signedback-to-back MoUs withCentres of Excellence such asthe IIT-Tirupati, IISER, IIDT-Tirupati and the APSSDC.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Government on Tuesdayaccorded permission to theAP State Civil SuppliesCorporation to raise loans tothe tune of Rs 5,000 crore inaddition to the already sanc-tioned limits of Rs 27,000crore to procure paddy.

APSCSC was accordedpermission to avail loan loan/ cash credit limits fromcommercial banks and finan-cial institutions for Rs 5,000crore to meet paddy pay-ments to the farmers.

Cops block rally, arrest BJP menJoint protest over desecration of Lord Rama idol escalates into standoff with police

BJP AP president Somu Veerraju argues with policemen after being stopped from proceeding ahead with the ‘ChaloRamatheertham Rally’ on Tuesday

Chinna Jeeyarto visit 17vandalisedtemplesVIJAYAWADA: TheChinna Jeeyar will takeout a yatra from January17 to the temples thathave been vandalisedand damaged in therecent past. Revealing details of histour to the media onTuesday, the seer saidthat the spree of attackson temple properties arecontinuing and over 50shrines have beenattacked in the past fewmonths.

Detention ofparty workersirks ManoharAmaravati: Jana SenaPAC chairmanNadendla Manohar onTuesday condemnedthe house arrest ofparty activists,describing it as‘undemocratic’. Condemning theobstruction of theRamateertha DharmaYatra, Manoharobjected to the dete-ntion of the womenleaders and membersof the Veera Mahilawing of the party.

Jagan directs stern actionon desecration of templesVijayawada: ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Tuesday direct-ed officials to be extra vig-ilant in countering the“political guerrilla warfare”in the State and take strictaction against thoseinvolved in vandalism withthe aim of disturbing reli-gious harmony.

The Chief Minister, dur-ing the Spandana videoconference held here,instructed the officials notto spare anyone that tries todisturb religious harmonyin the State. He directedthem to conduct an in-depth investigation intothe incidents of desecrationof idols and reveal thedetails of such a probe to

the public.Jagan said that some

people under politicalinfluence were intentional-ly desecrating temples asthey lacked fear or devotionto God even as a section ofthe media was constantlypublicising and propagat-ing these misdeeds onsocial media.

“Unable to directly facethe government which isgaining popularity due toits welfare activities, someelements out of sheer jeal-ousy are resorting to suchattacks to defame us,” theChief Minister said andinstructed the police tocarefully assess the situa-tion.

Cops movequickly toquashrumoursV I J A Y A W A D A :Refuting rumoursdoing rounds that thehands of idols ofVaraha LakshmiNarasimha Swamy hadbeen damaged byunidentified miscre-ants late on Monday,the police on Tuesdaymoved quickly toquash such talk by say-ing that the damagewas done long ago dueto normal wear andtear.

Political motives behind vandalisation of temples: Sajjala

US Govt proposesAmerican Hub in Vizag

US Consul-General Joel Reifman meets Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy athis camp office at Tadepalli on Tuesday.

DGP inks pactswith CsOE fortech-savvy cops

Civil suppliesgets nod toborrowRs 5,000 cr

ABV accuses Govtof bid to frame him

First Covid vax shots likely on Jan 13: Centre

22 2 2

2

2

2

22

2

So far as the 27 crorepriority groups consistingof 50 plus and thoseunder 50 with co morbidconditions goes, a govtcommittee is working oncriteria around which comorbidities to beincluded

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any

damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before

responding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

EGG RATES

` 52, 360 (10 gm)

` 760

GOLD

` 74, 100 (1kg)

` 2100

VIJAYAWADA 526

HYDERABAD 516

VISAKHAPATNAM 505

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀55.. 2266

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`̀//110000

CHICKEN RATES

Dressed/With Skin `158

Without Skin `180

Broiler at Farm `109

`̀//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD)

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021vijayawada 02

It would indeed be a bigembarrassment for apopular leader who

had won a massive man-date (86% seats in theAssembly or 151 out of175) to go against hisown decisions. Whatwould happen to his imageas a Chief Minister who wouldnever go back on his word? YSJaganmohan Reddy, ChiefMinister of Andhra Pradeshfaces this dilemma, havingrecently completed yet anoth-er calendar year in the five-year term as CM he got 19months ago.

Two firm decisions taken byhim appear set for 'inevitablereversal': Complete change inthe composition of the cabinetand scrapping of the APLegislative Council. This isbecause Jagan simply cannotafford to follow his decisions,which were taken with an emo-tional touch in the beginning.

Jagan stormed to power in

Andhra Pradesh afterstruggling for eight yearsin his individual politicalcareer. Earlier, he waselected to the Lok Sabha

from the Kadapaconstituency, which has

been the family’s bastion fordecades. Following the suddendeath of his father and then chiefminister Dr.YS RajasekharaReddy, Jagan faced much 'suffo-cation' in the Congress at thebehest of party's leadership fordefying its diktats. He came outof the Congress and floated theYuvajana Sramika Rythu Partyand got approval from people ofthe state by attracting Congresscadre. It was strange to see thatthe party which had takenutmost care of YSR to make himchief minister despite internalopposition had to lose his sonJaganmohan Reddy who hadshown some promising signs.Jagan outrightly rejected theproposal placed before him bythe Congress high command

that he would be made CM aftersubsequent election and that heshould work meanwhile as amember in the Union council ofministers besides accepting PCCleadership. He insisted onimmediate 'coronation' as CM,considering that the then rulingCongress unit was thrivingbecause of the hard work doneby his father. Although Congressaccepted YSR's labours in bring-ing the Congress to power, it dis-approved of Jagan's demandfor immediate chief minister-

ship. Jagan, having emerged as an

unmatched leader in the statewith 151 legislators in APAssembly, delivered an emotion-al speech in the first-ever meetof his party's legislature wing. Heannounced that all the twodozen ministers will be changedupon completion of half oftheir five-year tenure. Thatgrand occasion will approachhim by the end of this year.

Now, what would be the pri-ority for Jagan for implementa-

tion his own agenda? Wouldremoval of the entire cabinet befeasible? It is unlikely. Such arare political development tookplace in the unified state ofAndhra Pradesh exactly 31years ago during the regime ofTDP founder president N. T.Rama Rao. At the fag end of hissecond stint, he got his entirecabinet of 31 members to resign

owing moral responsibility forleakage of annual budget pro-posals. This political sensationwas witnessed on 8 February,1989. Following political distur-bances NTR faced in the wakeof murder of Congress' MLA V.M. Ranga Rao (Vijayawada-East), he was believably told byhis astrologers to go for subse-quent elections with complete-ly new faces in cabinet. This ele-ment had worked like a guidingforce for NTR to seek theremoval of all of his 31 col-leagues in the cabinet. Onlythree days later he came out withanother 31 new faces in his newteam.

If Jagan wants to keep his ownword of replacing his entire teamafter completion of half periodof his tenure, he will have to fol-low in the footsteps of NTR!Tense moments have alreadybegun for some ministers, neg-atively impacting administra-tion.

Another crucial issue is brin-

ing the curtains down on the APLegislative Council, for whichthe AP Assembly has unani-mously resolved and sent theresolution to the Union govern-ment for follow-up action.Providing anyone an opportu-nity in the council is nothing buta way of quenching the flamesof dissidence for leadership.Cabinet aspirants, potential tick-et seekers and important func-tionaries in the party would gen-erally find place in the UpperHouse of Legislature at thebehest of leadership. Jagan gotannoyed and became furiouswith the Council coming in wayof getting his ambitious three-capital project approved.Principal opposition partyTelugu Desam is having amajority in council, which shat-tered his dreams.

Following this bitter experi-ence, the Jagan governmentdecided not to have upper housein state's legislature. The stategovernment put the responsibil-

ity on the shoulders of uniongovernment to see the end of thecouncil. But interestingly it hascome to the notice of rulingparty that it would get majori-ty in upper house by 2021. Ifonly the ruling party could waitpatiently for some more time, itcould have the last laugh in get-ting the bills approved inCouncil too! So, if Jagan goes forscrapping of council, it will begoing against the ideology of hisfather late YSR who got thecouncil revived after strenuousefforts and lobbying at Centre.

Jagan could not digest theopposition's majority in thecouncil. He decided to followNTR who had seen the end ofcouncil for the same reasons in1985. Political benefits thatcould follow continuation of thecouncil may influence Jagan inthis regard as dissidence too caneffectively be tackled.

One has to wait and seewhether Jagan acts with wisdomor yields emotional feelings!

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

Jagan, having emerged as an

unmatched leader with 151 legislators

in AP Assembly, delivered an

emotional speech in the first-ever

meet of his party's legislature wing.

He announced that all the ministers

will be changed upon completion of

half of their five-year tenure

PIN POINT

Will Jagan go against his own decisions in 2021?

AP faces Rs 2.42 bn lossto juvenile fish by-catchSNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

Nearly 59.8 percent of the bio-mass brought in by trawlersalong AP’s 974 km long coast-line is forgone every year as thecatch is still juvenile.

These juvenile fish bringlittle revenue to the fishers andare caught in the nets uninten-tionally. The juvenile fish getcaught due to the unsustainablefishing methods adopted bythe fishermen who are using 25mm diamond shaped fishnets.

Recently clashes erupted inPrakasam and Vizag districtsamong groups of fishermenwho are divided over using 40mm square shaped trawl netsthat prevent juvenile fish catchwhile regular fishing is unhin-dered.

If the juveniles are not givenan opportunity to grow toadulthood and to breed, it willhave a huge impact on thefuture population of the speciesas well as on the interdepen-dent ecosystem and also eco-nomic loss. This unintendedmass by-catch is a colossalwaste.

The foregoing of biomass which stifles breeding creates

a future loss. As per a study by the Centre

for Economics and SocialStudies (CESS) done underIndo-German BiodiversityProgramme, the estimates ofthe social cost of by-catch andjuvenile species loss is Rs 2.42billion (US$ 40m) per year.

With little commercial value,by-catch is sold at just Rs 1 perkg to fishmeal and poultry feedindustries. As per the study"Economic Value ofBiodiversity Loss: A Study ofBy-Catch from MarineFisheries in Andhra Pradesh,"the present value lost due tofishing effort plus future loss-es amount to Rs 22.72 billion(US$ 378m) per year.

The harvesting of juvenilesthrough extra efforts and non-compliance with mesh sizeregulations can also put afuture cost on the society interms of biomass loss.

The CESS team led by thestudy's principal investigator,

Dr Jyothis Sathyapalan, hadsurveyed a total of 3,630 fish-ing units across the nine coastaldistricts of Andhra Pradesh.

A fishing unit is defined asa combination of craft and gear.

The direct impact of by-catch is a serious concern.Wastage of marine resourcesfrom by-catch can adverselyaffect the regeneration of fishstock, the present and futurehuman consumption of fish,and the maintenance of its eco-logical role and functions

"Harmful fishing techniquesmay result in the loss of marinebiodiversity. A large number ofunintended by-catch and juve-nile fish has been observed inthe fishery off the Andhracoast. This is largely due to theincreasing number of trawlers.The economic and ecologicalvalue of future biodiversityloss due to by-catch is likely tobe much higher than the costof regulating fishing tech-niques," said Dr Sathyapalan.

1.63 lakhdepend onmarine fishingin AndhraVijayawada: A large section ofthe fishermen around 1.63 lakhmarine fishermen families witha total population of 6.05 lakhsdirectly depend on the marinefishery sector for livelihood inAndhra Pradesh. A majority of them are engagedin small-scale fisheries usingboth traditional fishing craftsand motorised fishing craft.Two primary data sets collectedhave been used for estimatingthe proportion and value oftarget catch and by-catch. Databy CESS teams was collectedusing a structured surveyschedule containing questionsrelated to species wise output,landing price, input costs (fixedand variable), question ondisposal of fish, by-catch andsocio economic status of boatowners.

n Andhra Pradesh is known for its rich biological diversitydistributed across 9 agro climatic regionsn State has 185 families of flora and 108 species of mammalsn The State has a coastal line of 974 km with a relatively narrowcontinental shelf of 33,227 km2

Cops block rally, arrest BJP menContinued from page 1

Expressing his ire over thepolice curbs, restrictions anddetention of BJP leaders andactivists, Veerraju said thatTDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu and YSRCP leader VVijayasai Reddy and Ministershad visited the temple, but theywere blocked from visiting theshrine. The police first issuedpermission and later withdrewit, he pointed out.

“The State government hasbeen adopting double stan-dards. We demand the imme-diate resignation ofEndowments MinisterVellampalli Srinivas Rao forfailing to protect the temples inthe state,” Veerraju thundered.

He said that sentiments ofHindus were deeply hurt as thehead of the Lord Rama idol atthe historic Ramatheerthamtemple was broken but noconcrete steps have so far beentowards apprehending the cul-prits.

A woman leader, Yasaswini,was allegedly manhandled bythe police following which shecollapsed.

Former state BJP presidentKanna Lakshminarayana andformer party MLA PVishnukumar Raju were placedunder house arrest, party lead-ers claimed. In several otherplaces too, the BJP and the JanaSena leaders were preventedfrom proceeding toRamatheertham in

Vizianagaram district.In Visakhapatnam, Rajya

Sabha member CM Rameshand former minister KamineniSrinivas were not allowed toleave the city BJP office by thepolice in a bid to prevent themfrom going to Ramatheertham.

Vizianagaram police saidthat in view of the prevailingsensitive situation atRamatheertham, Section 30of the Police Act was imposedto curb the public meetingsand protests in and aroundRamatheertham.

BJP leader P Vishnu KumarRaju, who was placed underhouse arrest in Vizag city, saidthat AP government can’tobstruct their ChaloRamatheertham Rally and

their party will organise therally some other day.

The police in Vizag city alsodidn’t allow the BJP leaders andactivists from their homes andthwart their efforts to join inthe rally.

BJP MP G V L NarasimhaRao condemned the arrest ofVeerraju and other leaders.

Such highhanded actionsagainst peaceful protests, overthe beheading of centuries-oldLord Rama’s idol, only exposedthe ineptness of theJaganmohan Reddy govern-ment, he said in a statement.

BJP state general secretary SVishnuvardhan Reddy saidthey would complain to theCentre against "the policeexcesses" in the state.

Chinna Jeeyar to ...Continued from page 1

“One cannot remain silent whenthere is a threat to the veryexistence of temples. An effectivecommittee should be set up withthe Intelligence Department toinvestigate, identify the culpritsand punish them,” the seer said.He added that if there is an attackon a church or a mosque, therewould be a worldwide response.Even the government did notrespond immediately andannounce steps to prevent arecurrence, the seer said, addingthat it was not proper for politicalparties to get involved in religiousmatters. “We have nothing to dowith politics and we do not wantto put the blame on anyone. Thegovernment and society mustrespond. It should be

remembered that there are only19 private temples and the restare under the EndowmentsDepartment,” said the seer.He recalled that an idol of SriLakshmi Narasimha Swamy wasdamaged in a temple atSingarayakonda. The seer saidthat the authorities should firstensure that such attacks ontemples are stopped and thenfocus on nabbing the vandals. He said that as part of this visit tothe temples, he would meet localsand talk to the elders beforedeciding on the next step. “Despite orders to install CCTVcameras, they are not being setup in all the temples. By now, theauthorities are aware of theweaknesses and they shouldaccordingly take steps to enhancesecurity,” Chinna Jeeyar said.

Cops movequickly toquash ...Continued from page 1

Following the spread ofrumours of damage to thehands of idols made ofcement and iron on the archof the Sri Varaha LakshmiNarasimha Swamy temple,the local Circle Inspectorand Sub-Inspector visited thespot at the oldSingarayakonda.

After interacting with thelocals and temple officials, CIVenkateswara Rao confirmedthat the idols were damagedlong ago. He rubbishingrumours that some miscre-ants damaged the statues onMonday night.

He said that the iron rodsput in support to the handswere damaged long ago. TheInspector said that the dam-ages to the idols and anoth-er idol on the arch wasalready brought to the noticeof the temple officials andthey had submitted propos-als for their repair.

Prakasam district addi-tional SP B Ravichandra saidthat the damage was due tocorrosion of the iron rods. Hesaid that the arch was con-structed about 20 years agoand repairs to it are carriedout during Brahmotsavamevery year.

“Due to the lockdown lastyear, the repairs were notdone and the damage wasmore glaring,” the police offi-cer said.

He warned that the policedepartment will take actionon people trying to disturbcommunal harmony in thedistrict.

Jagan directsstern action ...Continued from page 1

Jagan made it clear thatover 36,000 CC cameraswere installed in temples, butstill, the incidents were tak-ing place in the remote areasat late hours when no onewas around, especially inprivate temples owned bypolitical leaders. “In fact,there has never been a situ-ation like this before. Inthese circumstances, thepolice have to take sternaction, get into the detailswithout sparing anyone,”said the Chief Ministerstressing to ensure that noone would dare to repeatthese incidents in future.

Political motivesbehind vandalisation...Continued from page 1

“ TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu had nosuch respect towards God orreligion and thus never tookoff his shoes while offeringprayers,” Sajjala reminded.He said that Naidu wasresponsible for the death of29 people during GodavariPushkaralu and had evendemolished temples inVijayawada city, while theEndowments Minister wasassociated with the BJP ear-lier.

Naidu tried to hand overSadavarti lands to his closeassociates and never showed

any respect for God in his 14years of rule, Sajjala said.

“Would the Chief Ministerlike to get publicity on anoble cause of distributing 31lakh house sites to the pooror get notoriety by encourag-ing desecration of temples?”

he asked and assured thatthe culprits behind theseattacks would be severelypunished as the State gov-ernment has been takingenough measures to controlthese incidents and nab theguilty.

He requested seers tocooperate with the govern-ment and give workable sug-gestions.

Detention of party...Continued from page 1

Addressing a media conferencehere on Tuesday, Manohar saidpolitical parties are entitled toprotest in a democracy. Hecriticised the state governmentfor choosing not to respond tothe incidents of violence onHindu temples. The Jana Senaleader also accused thegovernment of trying to divertthe issue by shifting the blameon the Opposition.

Sanjay sets the narrative for bypollPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP Telangana president BandiSanjay has set an agenda of'aggressive Hindutva' as the by-poll for the Tirupati Lok Sabhaseat in neighbouring AndhraPradesh looms.

Thanks to Bandi Sanjay, theentire by-poll is now centredaround the acts of desecrationof temples in AP. The TS BJPchief had on Monday urgedvoters to choose between theBhagavad Gita and the Bible,effectively calling the rulingYSRCP a 'Christian party' andthe BJP as a 'Hindu party'.

Sanjay's aggressive Hindutvaagenda during the recentGHMC polls centred aroundthe Bhagyalaxmi temple. Themove certainly benefited theBJP electorally. While it

remains to be seen whetherthis repeats in Tirupati, the BJPis hoping that the predomi-nantly Hindu voters in thetemple town would sit up andtake notice.

For the record, Sanjay'saggression helped the BJPupend the calculation of theTRS and help the saffron partywin 48 seats. Sanjay's aggressivecampaigning harped on the'friendly' ties between the TRSand AIMIM and succeeded inpolarising Hindu votes in BJP'sfavour.

The BJP in Andhra Pradesh,which has been struggling toprove its existence in the statedue to its inconsistent stand onYSRCP, has got the much-needed booster dose withSanjay's remarks.

Hitherto, the party had been

in a state of indecisiveness oncontesting the by-election toTirupati Lok Sabha seat, neces-sitated by the death of sittingYSRCP MP Balli Durga PrasadRao. It has so far not come toan understanding with itsalliance partner Jana Sena onwho should contest the by-poll.

Before Sanjay's 'war cry', thegeneral feeling was that the BJPmight not put up a strong fightin Tirupati because the party'sstate president Somu Veerraju'sfriendly attitude towards theYSRCP.

BJP watchers feel that unlessthe party goes all out againstJagan, it cannot expect to fightthe elections, let alone win. TillSunday, the feeling was that theBJP's soft stand might benefitthe Telugu Desam Party.

However, Sanjay going all

out against the YSRCP andJagan by raising religious pas-sions in the temple town hasbrought in a change.

"Will you vote for the peo-ple holding a Bible or will youvote for the people holding theGita," Sanjay asked the peopleof Tirupati.

He also questioned themwhether they wanted to votefor the party which allegedlydescribes the presiding deity ofTirumala as 'rendu kon-davalavada govinda' (God oftwo hills) or they will vote forthe BJP which is for 'yedu kon-dalavada Venkataramanagovinda' (God of seven hills).

"You have to give a slap inthe face of pseudo-secular peo-ple," claimed the MP about thevoting power of the Telugupeople.

US Govt proposes...Continued from page 1

Recognising the importanceof English language, it wasdecided to implement Englishas medium of instruction in allgovernment schools, he said.

The Chief Minister affirmedthat Andhra Pradesh was themost favourable state forinvestment as it has a vastcoastal area. He also said thatthere will be great economicdevelopment with the con-struction of ports and thegovernment is laying specialattention on manufacturingelectronic goods.

Reifman should take theinitiative to invest in the stateand the government will pro-vide full assistance, Jagan said.He explained that there aregood opportunities for invest-ment in the field of infrastruc-ture and electronic products.

Earlier, the Consul Generalappreciated the various pro-

grammes and welfare schemesbeing implemented by theState Government anddescribed them as 'revolu-tionary'.

He particularly lauded thevillage and ward secretariatsystem, taking governance tothe village level and doordelivery of governmentschemes through volunteers.

He appreciated the fact thatthe benefits of all schemeswere credited to the beneficia-ries' accounts through directbenefit transfer (DBT) withoutany scope for corruptionwhich reflects the integrity ofthe government, by taking upsocial audit. He praised thestate government's perfor-mance during the Covid pan-demic and in controlling thevirus spread.

The delegation which metthe Chief Minister comprisedConsulate officials DavidMoyer and Sean Ruthe.

DGP inks pacts ...Continued from page 1

The DGP felt that partner-ships with such premier insti-tutions will help enhance thetechnical capabilities of thepolice personnel in the digi-tal era where change is con-stant. "Unlike in the past thepolice personnel have to con-stantly learn and strive toequip themselves with the lat-est technological advance-ments to effectively tacklecyber crime which has beenon the rise globally,” said theDGP.

Pointing out that theAndhra Pradesh PoliceDepartment has won 108awards and has been a fron-trunner in the state for con-stantly adopting the latesttechnologies in effectivelytackling crime, the DGPcalled upon the state policeforce to endeavour towardsprofessionalism by buildingtheir competency levels.

Civil supplies gets nod to borrow Rs 5,000 crContinued from page 1

This is in addition to theexisting sanctioned limits of Rs27,000 crore at reasonableinterest rates, subject to certainconditions and to pay interestcharges for the entire loanamount of Rs 32,000 crore.

The government guaranteewill be valid for a period of oneyear from date of issue of theGO. The Guarantee will coveronly the principal part for theentire tenure of the loan.

The Corporation has to paythe cuarantee commission atthe rate of 2 percent on guar-

anteed amount of Rs 5,000crores as a one time measure.The debt repayment and futureprocurement operations wouldhave to be managed by dispos-ing the additional stocks avail-able with APSCSCL and real-ising the dues receivable fromthe Government of India.

Continued from page 1

ABV’s letter, addressed toAssociation secretaryDwaraka Tirumala Rao, cre-ated a sensation among IPScircles, since the officerexpressed apprehension ofhis possible arrest anytime bythe weekend, since Saturdayand Sunday are holidays forthe court.

The government plans tosuspend him again, citingthe arrest as a pretext, ABVwrote.

He also sent a copy of theletter to the All-India IPSOfficers Association.

In the letter, ABV pointedout to Dwaraka TirumalaRao how the latter and theAssociation responded to theaction taken on IntelligenceADG Rajendranath Reddy.

ABV accuse..

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy said the tenders forroad repairs with a cost of Rs560 crore will be finalised byJanuary 10 and the secondround of Amma Vodi schemewill be implemented onJanuary 11.

The Chief Minister, duringthe Spandana video conferenceheld here on Tuesday, saidthat the government wouldfocus on repairing roadsthroughout this year as theywere badly damaged due toheavy rains.

Repair works should becompleted on a war footingwithin 45 days from January10, he said. Stating that the stategovernment was focusing onrepairing roads with Rs 2,000crore, he said that the govern-ment was taking steps to getloans in this regard.

He said Amma Vodi date hasbeen changed to January 11 asit's a bank holiday on January9. The beneficiaries list hasbeen displayed in every villageand ward secretariat fromDecember 21 and they will beavailable at Village and WardSecretariats till January 7. TheSchedule of schools reopening,taking Central Governmentguidelines into consideration,will also be announced on thesame day.

The Chief Minister saidworks of Village Secretariats,RBKs, Bulk Milk CoolingCentres, Anganwadi Centres,and Village Clinics should begiven priority under RuralEmployment GuaranteeScheme. Only one work shouldbe assigned to one man or oneagency because assignment ofmultiple buildings is leading todelay in the completion ofwork and immediate changesshould be made accordingly, headded.

The Chief Minister instruct-ed the officials to complete thescheduled works by March 31.These works should be giventop priority and an action planshould be prepared at villagelevel to make full use of thefunds.

He said the construction ofVillage secretariats should beexpedited and the progress ofthe work should be reviewedconsidering a mandal as aunit. He suggested them tomake full use of VillageEngineering Assistants in theworks.

The Chief Minister saidNadu-Nedu works in schoolsshould be completed byFebruary and focus should belaid on each building consid-ering it as a single unit.Collectors and Joint Collectorsshould pay attention and reg-ularly monitor the progress of

the works. Procurement shouldbe done in coordination withAndhra Pradesh Education,Welfare and InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation(APEWIDC).

He added quality rice will bedistributed at the door step ofthe beneficiaries from February

1 across the state and Specialvehicles for home delivery ofessential commodities will belaunched on January 20. Hesaid special vehicles for distri-bution of essential commodi-ties are allocated to BC, SC, ST,EBC, Muslim and Christianminorities.

Govt to take up road repairs on war-footing

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy said the distribution ofhouse site pattas andconstruction of housesprogrammes have beenextended till January 20. About39 per cent of house site pattashave been distributed so faracross the state, he added.Addressing a review meeting ondistribution of house site pattasand construction of housesduring Spandana videoconference held here onTuesday, he said distribution ofhouse site patta has beencompleted in 9,668 YSRJagananna Colonies out ofnearly 17,000 colonies in thestate. He directed the districtcollectors to ensure that thepending cases related to housesites distribution are resolvedas soon as possible and saidthe cases which were bookedwith malicious intention shouldbe resolved expeditiously. He said that governance was atits peak in the state as the State

Government had promised toallot house sites within 90 daysto eligible beneficiaries whoapply afresh. He reminded theofficials that the Governmenthad promised to resolve theapplications seeking ration cardand pension in 10 days,Aarogyasri cards in 20 days andhousing applications in 90 days. He asked the collectors toensure that the formalities arecompleted in stipulatedtimeframe. Every eligiblebeneficiary should receive

house site, he said adding thatthe applications should beexamined carefully and pattasshould be distributed in fixedtimeline.The Chief Minister said theconstruction of houses in thelayouts is one aspect whiledeveloping infrastructure inthose layouts is another. Basicinfrastructure facilities such asroads, electricity, and drinkingwater should be provided. Othersocial infrastructure facilitiessuch as schools, anganwadis,

parks, village, ward secretariats,and village clinics should comeup depending on the area of thelayouts, he said and directed theofficials to prepare SOPregarding the same. He said options should be takenfrom beneficiaries onconstruction of houses and itshould be completed byJanuary 20. He said he hasalready made some suggestionson designs, and collectorsshould take it as a challengeand prove their efficiency.

Distribution of pattas till January 20Out of nearly17,000 YSRJaganannaColonies in thestate, house site pattadistribution hasbeen completedin 9,668 colonies

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh saw a dip ininstances of crime in 2020 butthe state police faced embar-rassment when the DGP wassummoned by the High Courtmore than once and the allegedhigh-handedness of some menin khaki bringing the depart-ment under close scrutiny.

Keeping Maoist activitiesunder check and a 15 per centdrop in "cognizable crime"amidst a Covid-19 inducedlockdown may have broughtsome relief to the force but inci-dents like the death of a Dalityouth at the hands of the policeand the tonsuring of the headof another member of thecommunity dented its image.

The AP police never seemedto have had it so bad like in theyear 2020.

DGP Damodar GautamSawang was summoned to theHigh Court three times, an

unprecedented event.Incidentally, in one of those

hearings he was even made toread out a relevant portion oflaw in the open court, in a caserelated to the alleged illegaldetention of Leader ofOpposition N ChandrababuNaidu in Visakhapatnam air-port.

The court strongly rebukedthe DGP in another instanceand remarked that he shouldresign if he could not controlhis force.

The High Court observed onmore than one occasion thatthe "rule of law" was not beingimplemented in the state,which had also been the oppo-sition parties' refrain.

"We had summoned theDGP to the court (for person-al appearance) many times inthe past but there appears to beno change," the court hadcommented on one occasion,in a case related to illegal

detention of some people in acivil dispute.

"Police system in the stateseems to be going off track. He(the DGP) should resign if hecan't control the police," adivision bench of the HighCourt had said.

Alleged police high-handed-ness in the state during 2020saw at least ten inspectors andsub-inspectors being suspend-

ed and in some instances evenarrested.

Be it the tonsuring of a Dalityouth in a police station inRajahmundry, the death of afellow community member inPrakasam district allegedly atthe hands of the police or thegory suicide of a Muslim fam-ily of four in Kurnool districtin another case of allegedpolice excess, the force cameunder lot of criticism.

A 33-year old person, whocame to the bazaar to buymedicines for his father inSattenapalli town died afterpolice allegedly beat him up forviolating the lockdown.

In the Guntur police rangealone, comprising three dis-tricts, 10 inspectors and sub-inspectors were issued "chargememos" on allegations of high-handedness on the public whileenforcing the lockdown.

"There are some aberrationsand we feel sorry about it. We

are sensitising and counsellingour personnel to be politetowards people," an InspectorGeneral of Police had said inresponse to the controversies.

The police crackdown onfarmers, particularly women, inAmaravati protesting againstthe government's move to relo-cate the state capital onlyearned the High Court's wrath.

In a case related to abusivesocial media posts and politi-cal comments against the judi-ciary, the High Court castigat-ed the Crime InvestigationDepartment for failing to inves-tigate the case in a fair manner.

However, the DGP hadrecently said "big people speakwhatever. You don't expectpolice to react and respond toevery such comment. And,there are many instances wherewe have found that such com-ments and remarks there is noaccountability associated withthat," and that it was some kind

of a "perception" about thepolice.

On the crime front, thepolice claimed an overall 15 percent reduction in cognizablecrimes, 13 per cent decrease inwhite-collar offences, 12 percent dip in property offencesand 7.5 per cent in crimeagainst women as compared to2019.

Police data revealed thatcases of kidnapping fell by 21per cent, attempt to murder by22 per cent, murders by sevenper cent and grievous hurtcases by 29 per cent.

Dacoities saw a 33 per centdrop, robberies were down by29 per cent and murder forgain cases were 39 per cent lessthan the previous year.

Rape cases were just one percent less in 2020 than in 2019,as also "rape by cheating",while cases of outraging themodesty of a woman shot upby 10 per cent.

2020: Crime down, cops’ high-handedness draws HC attentionPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP national spokesmanKommareddy Pattabhi onTuesday advised YSRCP MP VVijayasai Reddy to introspectabout his own pitiable situa-tion before making unwar-ranted comments against for-mer Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu in thewake of the Ramatheerthamincident in North Andhra.

Pattabhi said that the MP wasvery close to Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy and knewall his secrets. "Vijayasai Reddywill be facing a life threat justlike CM's uncle VivekanandaReddy. He will also meet sim-ilar fate," he warned.

Addressing a press confer-ence, the TDP leader askedhow the MP could slapattempt to murder charges onthe TDP leaders.

"Vijayasai came toRamatheertham only to dis-turb the programme ofChandrababu Naidu. Theardent devotees of Lord SriRama grew furious and hurledstones at him. The same wouldhappen to the Chief Ministeralso if he continued to dis-criminate the Hindus," healleged.

He alleged that EndowmentsMinister Vellampalli Srinivashad sold TTD Sri Vari sevatickets for the sake of derivingpersonal gains in his benamichit fund company.

There were reports that theMinister fixed high value chitsfor granting different sevas -Swamiravi Vastra Seva for Rs50 lakh chit, abhishekam forRs 20 lakh chit, tomala sevafor Rs 10 lakh and VIP dar-shan for Rs 5 lakh chit, hederided.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The annual Bhavani Deeksharelinquishment has started atKanaka Durga temple atopIndrakeeladri with devotion onTuesday amid Covid-19 proto-col. The devotees can relin-quish their deekshas for fivedays from January 5 to 9.

The temple administrationhas made elaborate arrange-ments for the relinquishmentof Deeksha.

Devotees in large numbersfrom various parts of the stateusually throng the KanakaDurga temple to relinquishtheir Bhavani Deekshas

However, the devotee rush isexpected to be low this yearowing to Coronavirus impact.It is estimated that nearly twolakh devotees may visit thetemple this year.

Temple executive officerMV Suresh Babu, temple trustboard chairman P Somi Naidu,head priest V Siva PrasadaSarma and others performedAgni Pratishtapana at 6.50 amto mark the beginning of theDeeksha Viramana.

After performing the Agni

Pratishtapana, the officials,priests and the Trust Boardmembers participated inChandi Yagam.

The temple administrationhas arranged queues fromVinayaka temple on CanalRoad for the convenience ofthe devotees visiting the tem-ple.

The temple administrationhas also distributed food pack-ets for devotes coming from faroff places. Keeping in view theCovid guidelines, the templeadministration decided to dis-tribute food packets instead of

organising Annadanam to thedevotees.

Tight security has beendeployed at the temple to pre-vent any untoward incident.

Earlier, the devotees startedarriving at the temple from5.30 am onwards on Tuesday.

From Wednesday, the devo-tees will be allowed from 4 amonwards, said the TempleExecutive Officer MV SureshBabu.

The five-day DeekshaVirmana will conclude withMaha Purnahuti at 11 am onJanuary 9.

Bhavani Deeksha Viramanabegins at Durga temple

SUMIT ONKA

n VISAKHAPATNAM

In India, cervical cancer is thesecond most common cancerin women after breast cancer.Every year about 97,000women are being diagnosedwith this cancer. Among these,around 60,000 women losetheir life within a year due toadvanced disease. However,more patients of cervical can-cer die - one in every 8 min-utes - than from any other can-cer in India.

To sensitise women aboutthe prevention of cervical can-cer, oncologists in Vizag arespreading awareness throughdifferent platforms. The firstmonth of the new year has setthe ball rolling for womenwith Cervical CancerPrevention Week beingobserved to raise awarenessabout how women can protectthemselves from HPV(Human Papillomavirus) thatcauses cervical cancer.

Dr. Leela Digumarti ,Gynaecological Oncologist,said: "Cervical cancer takesthe life of a woman by affect-ing cells in the cervix - theentrance to the womb fromthe vagina, which start to

grow abnormally and eventu-ally affects other tissues andorgans in the body too. About80 per cent to 90 per cent ofwomen clear this infection bytheir 30th birthday. Thebody's immunity plays a veryimportant role in clearingthis infection. Those whocannot clear this infection areat risk of developing cancer."

Dr. Leela added that cervi-cal cancer is a preventabledisease if diagnosed earlier ata long pre-malignant phasethrough regular screening.Unfortunately in India, there isa lack of awareness about thescreening coupled with limit-ed access to effective treatmentprogrammes.

Explaining a clear urban-rural divide for cervical cancerprevalence in India, Dr. Leelasaid, the situation is morealarming in the rural areas

where the majority of womenare illiterate and ignorant aboutthe hazards of cervical cancer.

Calling for coordinatedaction to eliminate this high-ly preventable cancer by imple-menting proven measures, Dr.Leela said: "Our goal is toachieve 85 per cent of cervicalcancer screening between theage group of 35-45 and 90 percent of vaccination amongadolescent girls and bringdown the growing number ofcases of cervical cancer by2030."

Complete screening of allwomen and vaccination of allgirls against HumanPapillomavirus (HPV) is theneed of the hour, she said.

The vaccine works bestwhen given at the age of 11 or12. Currently, routine vaccina-tion for girls and boys shouldstart at age 11 but can be givenas early as age 9.

The vaccination is given inthree parts over a series ofmonths and is recommendedfor all males age 13-21 and allfemales from age 13-26. Thebest prevention is early detec-tion and routine screeningswith your primary care doc-tor should begin as early aspossible.

Cervical cancer alarming inrural areas, say oncologists

Oncologists arespreading awarenessthrough differentplatforms to sensitisewomen on preventingcervical cancer

TDP condemns Vijayasai’scomments against Naidu

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The swearing-in ceremony ofnewly-appointed AP HighCourt Chief Justice Justice ArupKumar Goswami is scheduledto be held at TummalapalliKalakshetram on January 6, 10am. AP Governor BiswabhusanHarichandan will administeroath of office to him.

AP Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy, High Courtjudges, former judges, highcourt registrar and others willattend the swearing-in ceremo-ny.

The High Court registrarRamakrishna, joint registrarMurthy, district collector A MDImtiaz, City Police

Commissioner B Srinivasulu,joint collector Dr KMadhavilatha DGP Vikrant Patiland others visited TummalapalliKalakshetram and inspectedthe arrangements.

Born in1961, JusticeGoswami graduated fromCotton College in 1981. Afterobtaining LLB degree fromGovernment Law College,Guwahati, in 1985, he enrolledas an advocate with the BarCouncil of Assam, Nagaland,Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripuraand Mizoram. He was designat-ed as a senior advocate in 2004and was the standing counsel ofGawahati High Court in 2004.

Justice Goswami was elevat-ed as Judge of the High Court

in 2011 and on October 15,2019, he was promoted to thepost of Chief Justice of theSikkim High Court.

Prior to that, he was promot-ed as senior advocate ofGuwahati High Court onDecember 21, 2004. Later from2011 to 2013, he served as theExecutive Chairman of theNagaland State Legal Service.He has twice served as theinterim Chief Justice of theGuwahati High Court since2018.

Justice Arup KumarGoswami, along with family,visited Sri Durga MalleswaraSwamivarla Devastanam atopIndrakeeladri and offeredprayers to the Goddess.

C PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

In a major development, a newmunicipality municipality andfive new nagar panchayats havebeen formed in the state.Moreover, as many as 95 grampanchayats have been mergedwith two corporations and 13municipalities, in the state,through the ordinance 17 of2020. The new municipality,nagar panchayats and expandedcorporations and municipalitiesofficially came into force withAndhra Pradesh GovernorBiswbhusan Harichandan issuing

a Gazette Notification through anordinance.

As per the gazette, the newly-formed first grade YSRTadigadapa municipality com-prises villages - Kanuru, Poranki,Yanamalkuduru and Tadigadapaand has 38 wards. As many as 17panchayats surroundingRajahmundry and Srikakulamhave been merged withRajahmundry and Srikakulammunicipal corporations. Sevennew panchayats - Peddapadu,Patrunivalasa, Khajipeta,Chaparam, Killipalem,Thotapalem and Kushalapuramhave been merged with Srikakulam

Municipal Corporation. Similarly,ten panchayats surroundingRajahmundry - Satellite City,Katheru, Huk-umpeta, Bommuru,Dowlais-waram, Pidimgoyi,Rajolu, Torredu, Venkatanagaramand Vemagari) panchayats havebeen merged with Rajahmun-dry municipal corporation.Meanwhile, gram panchayatsand villages have been mergedwith Palakollu, Tadepalligudem,Tanuku, Bhimavaram,Thadepalli, Mangalagiri,Bapatla, Ponnur, Kandukur,Gudur (Nellore district),Srikalahasti and Gudivadamunicipalities.

One new municipality , five nagarpanchayats formed in Andhra

Goswami to take oath as CJ on Jan 6

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP rebel MP fromNarasapuram RaghuramKrishnaraju found fault withthe government for handingover the probe into theRamatheertham incident toCB-CID officer Sunil Kumarand demanded that probemust be conducted in a trans-parent manner

"Handing over the investi-gation to Sunil Kumar, whois acting in favour of the gov-ernment, would not bringjustice in the case," he said.

Recalling that Sunil Kumarwas reprimanded by the HighCourt for acting in favour ofthe government in the past,he asked how the governmentcould hand over the investi-gation to him.

He reminded that CM YSJaganmohan Reddy, HomeMinister M Sucharita, DGPGoutam D Sawang and CB-CID investigating OfficerSunil Kumar all wereChristians. He demanded thata good officer be appointedfor the special inquiry if theinvestigation was to be con-ducted impartially.

5-yr integratedPG, 4-yr B.Edcourses designed

YSRCP rebel MPdemands fairprobe intoattacks on temple

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Five-year integrated postgraduate programmes for pro-fessional and non-profession-al courses and four-year B.Edcourse from graduation havealready been designed, saidAndhra Pradesh EducationMinister, Adimulapu Sureshon Tuesday. APSCHE hasdesigned the curriculum forcourses. "Students can com-plete the B.Tech and M.Techin five years instead of sixyears. And, this is the samewith post graduation in Arts,Science and Commerce.Instead of five years, onecan complete it in four yearsif the integrated course isopted," he said adding thatAPSCHE and NASSCOMhave jointly designed theintegrated technical courses.

In a bid to improve thequality of higher education,show-cause notices wereserved to 247 degree collegesand action was taken against48 of them for failing tomeet the instructions. "It isnot that we are simply issu-ing show-cause and forget-ting it. We are taking strictaction against the collegesviolating the rules providingpoor education to the stu-dents," he added.

The governmentis focusing onrepairing roadsat a cost of Rs 2,000 croreand trying toraise loans toexpedite the works, says CM

Justice Arup Kumar Goswami, along with family, offer prayers at Sri Durga Malleswara Swamivarla Devastanam atopIndrakeeladri in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021 nation 04

SHORT TAKES

Thailand ups restrictions amid virus outbreak

A20-year-old maleelephant died of

electrocution aftercoming into contact withan illegal electric fenceerected around a paddyfield at a village on thecity outskirts earlyTuesday, forest officials

said. Residents of Semmedu village alerted forest departmentofficials about the elephant in the area falling under BoluvampattiForest range, they said. Electricity board officials who also arrived atthe scene found high voltage electricity was illegally connected to thefence erected around the field of Durai alias Aruchamy, who isabsconding after the incident, the officials said. A Wild Life OffenceReport has been registered against the farmer, they added. Severalsuch incidents had been reported in the forest fringe areas in theregion in the past.

Sabarmati Ashram reopensfor visitors after 9 months

The historic Sabarmati Ashramhere has reopened its doors for

visitors, after remaining closed forover nine months due to thecoronavirus outbreak, an ashramofficial said on Tuesday. Withsocial distancing and other

COVID-19 protocols in place, the premises has been opened forthe public from Monday, the ashram's director, Atul Pandya, toldPTI. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the ashram, a former homeof Mahatma Gandhi and a historic centre linked to India'sIndependence movement, used to receive a large number ofvisitors every day. It is managed by the Sabarmati AshramPreservation and Memorial Trust. "The ashram was shut forvisitors since March 20 last year following the coronavirusoutbreak. From Monday, we have once again opened the premisesfor visitors," Pandya said. "People can visit the ashram between 10am and 5 pm. We have deployed our staff to guide them tomaintain social distancing," he said. Sanitiser dispensers havebeen placed at 18 different places in the premises for the visitors,the official said.

Elephant electrocuted inforest fringe TN village

Thailand's government saysit is tightening restrictions

aimed at stopping the spreadof the coronavirus as thecountry logged another 527new cases. Officials said onTuesday that foreign migrantworkers accounted for 439 ofthe new infections, while 82

were Thais infected locally and another six were new arrivals fromabroad who tested positive in quarantine centres. Thailand onMonday reported 745 infections, the most since the pandemicbegan. After almost no locally transmitted infections for almost halfa year, Thailand in recent weeks has seen a viral resurgence firstspotted in communities of foreign factory and market workers justoutside Bangkok. The government has responded by putting inplace fresh antivirus measures across large parts of the country,including closing schools and limiting restaurant hours.

PNS n MUMBAI

Union Minister for MinorityAffairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvion Tuesday said some frustrat-ed political players are doubt-ing the efficacy of coronavirusvaccines made in India.

Naqvi's remarks came aftersome Congress leaders raiseddoubts on the restricted useapproval granted to BharatBiotechs vaccine while its thirdphase trial is still underway.

Speaking after chairing ameeting of Haj Committee ofIndia officials and Haj Grouporganisers at Haj House insouth Mumbai, Naqvi said these"failed and frustrated politicalplayers" had earlier questionedthe relief measures taken by theModi government during thecoronavirus pandemic.

The Modi government hastirelessly and effectivelyworked to provide relief toevery needy person duringthe pandemic, he said, adding

Modi has led the fight againstthe pandemic.

Modi turned a crisis into anopportunity to make Indiaaatmanirbhar (self-reliant),Naqvi said.

In an unprecedented mea-sure, the Modi governmentprovided free ration to over 80crore people, and free gascylinders to over 8 crore fam-

ilies, a statement from Naqvi'soffice said.

"Rs 1500 were depositedinto bank accounts of 20 crorewomen and Rs 19,000 crorewas given under the PM KisanSamman Nidhi to over 10crore farmers," it said.

Aatmanirbhar Bharat pack-age worth Rs 20 lakh crore wasgiven to various sectors includ-

ing Rs one lakh crore to agri-culture sector, Naqvi said.

Over 60 lakh migrantlabourers reached back to theirhome states during the pan-demic through ShramikSpecial trains and Rs 17,000crore were given to statesunder the State Disaster ReliefFund for providing assistanceto migrant labourers, he added.

Naqvi said the vaccines havebeen developed by hard-work-ing scientists of India and it isa matter of pride for everyIndian that the two vaccinesapproved for emergency useare made in India.

‘Cong leaders doubt Indianvaccines out of frustation’

Prime Minister hasturned a crisis into anopportunity to makeIndia aatmanirbhar(self-reliant), saysMukhtar Abbas Naqvi

PNS n LUCKNOW

Taking a serious view of thecrematorium roof collapseincident in Muradnagar thatclaimed 24 lives, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Tuesday directed that theNational Security Act beslapped against the accused.

Twenty-four people, most ofthem attending a funeral, werekilled and 17 others injuredwhen the roof of a shelter at thecremation ground inMuradnagar collapsed onSunday.

In a statement issued here,the UP Government said,"Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has directed thatthe National Security Act beslapped against the accusedpersons. He also directed thatloss of public money duringthe construction work berecovered from the contractorand engineers."

He also announced that afinancial assistance of Rs 10lakh be provided to each of thekin of the deceased, and home-

less affected families be provid-ed a home. The contractorwanted in connection withincident was arrested from avillage near the border ofMeerut and Muzaffarnagardistricts of Uttar Pradesh,police said on Tuesday.

Contractor Ajay Tyagi, whowent into hiding after news ofthe collapse spread, wasnabbed near the Ganga canalbridge of Sathedi village by a

joint team of Muradnagar andNiwari police.

The Ghaziabad Police hadon Monday arrestedMuradnagar Nagar PalikaExecutive Officer NiharikaSingh, Junior EngineerChandra Pal and SupervisorAshish as they were involvedin the tendering process forbuilding the structure. Theywere sent to judicial custodyfor 14 days.

Roof collapse at graveyard: NSAto be invoked against accused

PNS n LONDON

The UK entered a tough newstay-at-home lockdown onTuesday after Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said it has been“both frustrating and alarm-ing” to see the speed withwhich the new variant of thecoronavirus is spreading anddeclared that hospitals in thecountry are under more pres-sure from the deadly virusthan at any time in the pan-demic.

While Scotland's new rules,which involve school and busi-ness closures become legalfrom Tuesday, England's rules-- akin to the stringent mea-sures of the first wave of thepandemic in March 2020 --become law in the early hoursof Wednesday. However,Johnson has urged the publicto begin following the strictwork from home rules rightaway.

The new rules are expectedto stay in place until mid-

February with a reviewplanned based on vaccine roll-out data and infection rates.

“Our scientists have con-firmed this new variant isbetween 50 and 70 per centmore transmissible -- thatmeans you are much, muchmore likely to catch the virusand to pass it on,” Johnson saidin his televised address to thenation on Monday night.

“We must therefore go intoa national lockdown which istough enough to contain thisvariant. That means the gov-ernment is once again instruct-ing you to stay at home. Youmay only leave home for lim-ited reasons permitted in law,such as to shop for essentials,to work if you absolutely can-not work from home, to exer-cise, to seek medical assis-tance such as getting a COVIDtest, or to escape domesticabuse,” he said.

The devolved regions ofWales and Northern Irelandwere already under strict lock-

down measures since the mid-dle of last month.

According to the latest data,in England alone, the numberof COVID-19 patients in hos-pitals has increased by nearly athird in the last week, to almost

27,000. That number is 40 percent higher than the first peakof the pandemic in April. OnDecember 29, more than80,000 people tested positivefor COVID across the UK – anew record – and the number

of deaths is up by 20 per centover the last week.

“Of course, there is one hugedifference compared to lastyear. We are now rolling out thebiggest vaccination programmein our history. So far, we in theUK have vaccinated more peo-ple than the rest of Europecombined,” noted Johnson, ashe said that the rollout of theOxford/AstraZeneca vaccinefrom this week means the paceof vaccination is acceleratingalongside the Pfizer/BioNTechvaccine already being admin-istered.

The closure of schools,which the UK prime ministersaid could act as “vectors fortransmission, causing the virusto spread between households”,means remote learning at leastuntil the end of February andstudents due to sit for theirboard level exams would besubject to different methods ofassessment for the year.

“The weeks ahead will be thehardest yet but I really do

believe that we are entering thelast phase of the struggle.Because with every jab thatgoes into our arms, we are tilt-ing the odds against COVIDand in favour of the Britishpeople,” said Johnson.

The move followed theadvice from the chief medicalofficers of all four devolvednations of the United Kingdomthat the country's coronavirusalert level should move fromLevel 4 to Level 5, the veryhighest level of alert indicatingthat the National HealthService is in danger of beingoverwhelmed by patients.

“Cases are rising almosteverywhere, in much of thecountry driven by the newmore transmissible variant. Weare not confident that the NHScan handle a further sustainedrise in cases and without fur-ther action there is a materialrisk of the NHS in several areasbeing overwhelmed over thenext 21 days,” the CMOs saidin a statement.

UK in tough new lockdown to tackle surging new Covid variant

New rules are expected to stay inplace until mid-February with a review planned based on vaccinerollout data and infection rates.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vishwa Hindu Parishad andBajrang Dal members weredetained by police during aprotest on Tuesday over thedemolition of a Hanumantemple at Chandni Chowk inDelhi.

The temple was demol-ished on Sunday by the NorthDelhi Municipal Corporationin accordance with courtorders as part of the ongoingChandni Chowk beautifica-tion plan. The protesters,carrying saffron flags andraising slogans, took out amarch from the GauriShankar Mandir to the sitewhere the temple existed.They were stopped by policeat a barricade. According toVHP spokesperson Mahend-ra Rawat, around 15-20workers and leaders, includ-ing Delhi unit president KapilKhanna, vice presidentSurendra Gupta, secretaryRaviji and Bajrang Dal stateconvener Bharar Batra weredetained during the protest.

VHP, BajrangDal workersdetained

PNS n CHENNAI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami on Tuesday saidhe has ordered public holidayfor 'Thai Poosam,' a festivaldedicated to worship of LordMuruga.

Palaniswami said during histour of several districts, peoplemade representations, urginghim to declare Thai Poosam apublic holiday and they said inSri Lanka and Mauritius theday was a holiday.

"Considering their repre-sentations, I have ordered dec-laration of Thai Poosam festi-val on January 28 (in 2021) apublic holiday and for includ-ing it in the list of public hol-idays for the years to come," hesaid in an official release.

It may be recalled that devo-tees had for a long timerequested the government to

declare 'Thai Poosam' a publicholiday.

Among the festivals in TamilNadu dedicated for the wor-ship of 'Tamil God LordMuruga,' Thai Poosam is veryimportant, the Chief Ministersaid.

Besides Tamil Nadu, ThaiPoosam is celebrated in neigh-bouring Kerala and in foreigncountries like Srilanka,

Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritiusand Indonesia, he said in anofficial release.

Singapore, Malaysia andMauritius is home to a bigchunk of Tamil speaking peo-ple.

Thai Poosam is celebrated inTamil month of 'Thai' (betweenJan 14 and Feb 12) when thestar 'Poosam' falls on full moonday.

According to Shaivite tradi-tion, Thai Poosam festivalcommemorates the presenta-tion of a spear, 'Vel' (in Tamil)to Lord Muruga by his moth-er Godess Parvathi with whichhe destroyed evil forces and thefestival symbolised victory ofgood over evil.

The festival, considered aus-picious is important in theTamil, Shaivite calendar.Devotees celebrate the festivalalso to offer thanksgiving andlike Tamil Nadu, it is hugelypopular among the Tamil dias-pora.

The declaration follows out-rage among devotees over den-igration of 'Kanda SashtiKavacham' in praise of LordMuruga by a group last yearand a 'Vel' Yatra by the BJP,which claimed its campaignwas to 'expose' those behindbelittling the Kavacham.

TN govt declares Thaipoosam a public holiday

PNS n NEW DELHI

The following is the chronol-ogy of events in which theSupreme Court Tuesdaycleared the decks for con-struction of the government'sambitious Central VistaProject which covers 3-kmstretch from RashtrapatiBhavan to India Gate inLutyens' Delhi.

n Sep, 2019: Central Vistarevamp announced; envis-ages a new triangularParliament with a seatingcapacity for 900 to 1,200MPs and several govern-ment buildings. To be con-structed by August, 2022when India celebrates 75thIndependence Day.

n Feb 11, 2020: Delhi HighCourt asks DDA toapproach the court beforenotifying any change in theMaster Plan before goingahead with the project.

n Feb 28: Division bench of

Delhi High Court staysthe single judge benchorder on an appeal byDDA, Centre.

n July 17: Supreme Courtstarts hearing a batch ofpleas raising variousissues, including environ-mental clearance and landuse, related to the project.

n Nov 5: SC reserves verdicton the petitions challeng-ing the project.

n Dec 7: SC allows Centreto proceed with founda-tion stone-laying ceremo-ny for the Central Vistaproject but restrains itfrom starting construc-tion.

n Dec 10: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi lays thefoundation stone for theproject.

n Jan 5, 2021: SC clearsdecks for construction ofthe ambitious project.

Chronology of CentralVista project

PNS n AURANGABAD

In view of the ongoing rowover renaming ofAurangabad in Maharashtra,the Railway Police Force hasstepped up security at thecity's railway station to pre-vent any untoward incident,an official said on Tuesday.

The issue of renamingAurangabad toSambhajinagar has come tothe forefront of state politicsover the last few days.

Personnel from theRailway Police Force (RPF)and Government RailwayPolice (GRP) have beendeployed for constantpatrolling, inspector ArvindKumar Sharma of the RPFsaid.

"We are only allowing peo-ple with valid tickets to waiton platforms," the officialin-charge of the security onthe station premises said.

There is only a single-point entry to the station andRFP personnel are deployedat both ends of platforms thathave signboards bearing thestation name, he said.

The measures are beingtaken, as in 2019, a video wentviral on social media of someyouths trying to vandalisethe station signboards, bypainting over them and past-ing the name Sambhajinagar,the official said.

The Shiv Sena had firstmade the demand to renameAurangabad asSambhajinagar over twodecades ago, and a proposalwas passed in theAurangabad MuniciaplCorporation in June 1995,which was challenged by aCongress corporator in thehigh court and later in theSupreme Court.

The Congress last weekreiterated its opposition torenaming Aurangabad evenas the Sena said the namechange would happen soon,but the issue would not rockthe coalition govt in the state.

Security uppedat Aurangabadstation amidrenaming row

Relieve me of Bihar charge: Gohilurges Congress high commandPNS n PATNA

Senior Congress leaderShaktisinh Gohil, the AICC incharge for Bihar for close tothree years, has sought to berelieved from the cumbersomeassignment at the earliest.

Gohil, who is also one of thepartys national spokespersonsand a Rajya Sabha memberfrom Gujarat, made the disclo-sure on his official twitterhandle.

"Due to personal reasons, Ihave requested our party HighCommand to allocate melighter work for next fewmonths and to relieve meASAP as “Bihar in charge”,Gohil tweeted, tagging hisparty, its units in Bihar, Gujaratand Delhi besides a number ofcolleagues.

Party sources claimed thatGohil, who tested positive forCOVID-19 in November last,is yet to fully recover and hisdesire to be relieved of one ofhis many responsibilities isbecause of "health reasons".

Nonetheless, the rulingNDA latched on the opportu-nity to train its guns on theparty which has been accusedby its own allies of being the

weak link in the oppositionGrand Alliance.

"Shaktisinh Gohils avermentis an admission of the poorshape in which his party findsitself across the country, morenotably so in states like Bihar.The Bihar Congress is faction-ridden and appears unlikely tolook up in near future.

"Gohil must be wary ofbeing made the scapegoat",JD(U) spokesman Rajiv RanjanPrasad said in a statement.

BJP spokesman NikhilAnand mocked at the leadercoming out with the request onthe micro-blogging network.

"It indicates that the partyhas ceased to exist on theground. It is left with no work-ers. Its presence is now con-fined to Facebook and Twitter",said Anand.

Pandemic emptiesblue-hued Moroccan tourist townPNS n CHEFCHAOUEN

When COVID-19 hitMorocco, the mountainoustown of Chefchaouen wasone of the few that registeredno cases.

The picturesque town, itsfacades painted in distinctivehues of blue, shut its smallpopulation off from theworld, and kept the virus outfor months.

Now, as the North Africannation cautiously reopensand tries to resuscitate itsstruggling economy,Chefchaouen stands sub-dued, deserted by the touriststhat have long been itslifeblood.

In the narrow streets, idleyouth light cannabis jointsand chat, pausing to offer tosell some to passers-by.Fishermen bring their catchof the day from nearby rivers,selling sardines on streetcorners, as cats linger, wait-ing to be rewarded with theleftovers. Kids carry trays ofpastries made by their fam-ilies to sell.

Rishi Sunak unveils one-off grantfor UK's lockdown-hit sectorsPNS n LONDON

UK Chancellor of theExchequer Rishi Sunak onTuesday announced that busi-nesses in the lockdown-hit sec-tors such as retail, hospitalityand leisure are to receive a one-off grant worth up to 9,000pounds.

As the UK entered its toughnew stay-at-home lockdowndue to a surge in infections froma highly-transmissible new vari-ant of coronavirus, the Indian-origin finance minister said hewas putting in place the extrameasures worth 4 billionpounds in total to help thesebusinesses that would now haveto be shut until mid-February.

"The new strain of the viruspresents us all with a huge chal-lenge – and whilst the vaccineis being rolled out, we haveneeded to tighten restrictionsfurther," said Sunak.

"Throughout the pandemicwe've taken swift action to pro-tect lives and livelihoods andtoday we're announcing a fur-ther cash injection to support

businesses and jobs until theSpring. This will help business-es to get through the monthsahead – and crucially it will helpsustain jobs, so workers can beready to return when they areable to reopen," he said.

The extra cash is provided ona per-property basis to supportbusinesses through the latestrestrictions, and is expected tobenefit over 600,000 businessproperties.

The one-off top-ups will begranted to closed businesses onthe basis of 4,000 pounds forbusinesses with a rateable valueof 15,000 pounds or under;6,000 pounds for businesseswith a rateable value between15,000 pounds and 51,000pounds; and 9,000 pounds forbusinesses with a rateable valueof over 51,000 pounds. Thenew one-off grants come inaddition to billions of existingbusiness support, includinggrants worth up to 3,000pounds for closed businesses,and up to 2,100 pounds permonth for impacted business-es once they reopen.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021 nation 05

BJP nominee Dayashankar Tiwariwas on Tuesday elected as themayorof the Nagpur Municipal

Corporation, a civic official said. Theelection was held after the previousmayor,Sandip Joshi, resigned fromthe post last month and announcedthe name of senior BJP corporatorTiwari as his successor for theremaining tenure of 13 months.Earlier, after Nanda Jichkar completed her two-and-a-half-year termas mayor, the BJP had split the remaining tenure of 26 monthsbetween Joshi and Tiwari. Joshi took charge as mayor on November19, 2019. The BJP is currently ruling the Nagpur MunicipalCorporation (NMC) with 107 seats in the 151-member house. Tiwaribagged 107 votes in the election, a civic official said. The electionwas held through video-conferencing during a special general bodymeeting on Tuesday.

INDIA CORNER

Agunfight broke out between thesecurity forces and Naxals inChhattisgarh's insurgency-hit

Bijapur district on Tuesday,following which a firearm, bowsand arrows and some Maoist-related materials wererecovered,police said. No casualtieswere reported in the skirmish thattookplace around 6.30 am inGangaloor police station area, inspector general of police (Bastarrange) Sundarraj P said.A joint team of the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion forResolute Action) and the district force was out on an anti-Naxaloperation in the area, the official said. While the patrolling team wascordoning off Hirmagunda village forests, a group of armed rebelsopened fire, prompting the security forces to retaliate, he said.Maoists soon escaped into deep forests when the security personnelstarted zeroing in on them, he said. A single-barrel muzzle loading(SBML) gun, a couple of bows and arrows and a cache of materialsof daily use were recovered from the encounter site, the IG said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunal-appointed Yamuna MonitoringCommittee has asked theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) to identify pointsources of pollution leading tohigh levels of ammonia in theriver in Delhi and submit areport by January 10.

The directions from the two-member green panel cameafter the Delhi Jal Board (DJB)alleged that Haryana has notyet stopped discharging indus-trial pollutants in the riverdespite repeated reminders,and urged the CPCB to takeimmediate remedial measures.

The committee cited a mediareport that said ammonia lev-els in the Yamuna at Wazirabadrose to 7 parts per million(ppm) against the permissiblelimits of 0.8 ppm.

“It has also been reportedthat the reason primarily is theindustrial effluent/untreateddomestic sewage entering riverYamuna through Drains no. 6and 8 and through the Rohtakregulator,” the panel, compris-

ing former Delhi ChiefSecretary Shailaja Chandra andretired NGT expert memberB S Sajwan, said.

The incidence of highammoniacal nitrogen concen-tration is sporadic in natureand is generally reported dur-ing the winter months ofDecember-February almostevery year, the committee said.

“Considering the recurringnature of the problem, it isincumbent upon the CPCBand Haryana State PollutionControl Board (HSPCB) toput in place a robust surveil-lance system, particularly dur-ing the critical winter months,for monitoring the activities ofthe industries and the func-tioning of STPs and also take

coercive action against thedefaulting units,” it said.

The panel asked the CPCBto associate with HSPCB anddepute a team to identify pointsources of pollution leading tohigh levels of ammoniacalnitrogen in the Yamuna andsubmit a report by January 10.

The YMC has also taken upthe matter with the Chief

Secretary of Haryana, request-ing him to direct authorities totake immediate action to pre-vent flow of untreated sewageand industrial effluent fromHaryana into river Yamuna.

The DJB had recently said itwill consider moving courtagainst the "apathetic" Haryanagovernment as it is yet to stopthe discharge of pollutants inthe Yamuna which affectsdrinking water supply in thenational capital.

The utility said it will soonstart work to install ozonationunits at the Chandrawal andWazirabad plants to treat highlevels of ammonia. High levelsof ammonia in the Yamunahave prompted the DJB toreduce or stop water produc-tion at its plants at least fivetimes this year. According toofficials, the DJB's water treat-ment plants can treat up to 0.9parts per million ammoniaconcentration in the riverwater. If the ammonia contentis higher than this, the rawwater is diluted with freshwater from the Upper GangaCanal or the Munak Canal.

NGT panel tells CPCB to identifysources of pollution in Yamuna PNS n NEW DELHI NEW DE

West Bengal government hasdenied in the Supreme Courtthe allegations that death ofBJP leader Debendra NathRoy, who was found hangingin July last year, was a “politi-cal murder” and said thatprompt and efficacious inves-tigation has been conducted inthe matter by the state CID.

In its reply affidavit filed inthe apex court, which is hear-ing a plea seeking transfer ofinvestigation in the case to theCBI, the state has said thatWest Bengal criminal investi-gation department (CID) hasinvestigated all aspects of thecomplaints as well as possiblecauses of death and has alreadyfiled a charge sheet in the com-petent court.

It claimed that the petition-ers, while raising “unfoundedallegations” against state policeauthorities, have relied on thetweets by high-ranking publicofficials to wrongly assumethat the incident was pre-planned or that state machin-ery was involved.

“It is denied that the deathof Debendra Nath Roy was a

political murder or that thestate machinery was used orwas an accomplice or involvedin any manner in causing suchdeath and it is denied this wasa shame on society and violat-ed the right to life guaranteedto the citizens of this nationunder Article 21 of theConstitution,” said the replyaffidavit filed by Dy.SP CID,Malda zone.

Roy was found hanging nearhis home in Hemtabad area ofNorth Dinajpur district onJuly 13 last year. He was elect-ed as an MLA in West Bengalfrom CPI (M) in 2016 and hadlater joined the BJP in 2019.

The plea came up for hear-ing on Tuesday before a benchcomprising Justices AshokBhushan, R S Reddy and M RShah.

The petitioners, ShashankShekher Jha and SavioRodrigues, sought time torespond to the affidavit filed bythe state.

The bench posted the mat-ter for hearing after two weeks.

In its reply affidavit, the statehas sought dismissal of the pleaand said that “allegations andspeculations” by the petition-ers that Roy was first killed andthen hanged is false and with-out any basis.

WB denies that BJP leader’sdeath was ‘political murder’

Maharashtra: Dayashankar Tiwarielected Mayor of Nagpur

Security forces engage in gunfightwith Naxals in Chhattisgarh

Vishwa Hindu Parishadand Bajrang Dalmembers were detained

by police during a protest onTuesday over the demolitionof a Hanuman temple atChandni Chowk in Delhi.The temple was demolishedon Sunday by the North DelhiMunicipal Corporation in accordance with court orders as part of theongoing Chandni Chowk beautification plan. The protesters, carryingsaffron flags and raising slogans, took out a march from the GauriShankar Mandir to the site where the temple existed. They werestopped by police at a barricade. According to VHP spokespersonMahendra Rawat, around 15-20 workers and leaders, including itsDelhi unit president Kapil Khanna, vice president Surendra Gupta,secretary Ravi and Bajrang Dal state convener Bharar Batra weredetained during the protest. A senior police official said 27protesters who gathered near the Gauri Shankar temple on Tuesdaywere detained owing to COVID-19 guidelines. They were taken to anearby police station and released later. These protesters belongedto Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal outfits, the official said.

VHP, Bajrang Dal workersdetained during protest

Atotal of 389 cadets,including 19 cadets fromfriendly foreign countries,

enrolled in the 144th course ofthe National Defence Academy(NDA) in 2020, a top officialsaid on Tuesday.This clarification came from LtGen Asit Mistry, Commandant,NDA, after a few fake socialmedia posts quoted himsaying that the intake at the premier institution had come down."A total of 370 Indian cadets and 19 foreign cadets, that is, total 389cadets have joined the last course i.e. 144th NDA course,” Lt GenAsit Mistry said. "Unverified social media posts quoting me on poorintake in NDA are fake and malicious," he added.

389 cadets enrolled in 144th NDAcourse in 2020: Commandant

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi government hasdirected all schools in thenational capital to sensitiseparents against driving of vehi-cles by underage students andabout its legal consequences.

Schools have also been askedto ensure that no student whois underage be allowed to com-mute to and from school dri-ving any vehicle.

"Incidents of offences byjuveniles while driving vehiclesare on the rise. In this context,attention of all parents andheads of schools of Delhi isbrought to the Section 199 A (1and 2) and 199 B of 'TheMotor Vehicles (Amendment)

Act, 2019'...," the Directorate ofEducation (DoE) said in a let-ter to school principals.

The law states that if an

offence has been committed bya juvenile, "the guardian of orthe owner of the motor vehi-cle shall be deemed to be guilty

of the contravention and shallbe liable to be proceededagainst and punished accord-ingly", it said.

"Students and their parentsshould be made aware of theabove provisions of the law and

penalties and consequences oftheir violations through class-room instructions, schoolassembly (whenever schools re-open), online instructionalmediums used by the teachers,parent teacher meetings, schoolnotice board," the DoE said.

Help of school managementcommittee members can alsobe taken to spread awareness inthis regard, it said.

Schools have been directedto sensitise parents to ensurethat no student who is under-age and does not hold a validdriving license be permitted todrive any vehicle or commuteto and from school driving anyvehicle, according to the DoEletter.

‘Sensitise parents against driving of vehicles by minors’ Schools have beendirected to sensitiseparents to ensure thatno student who isunderage and doesnot hold a valid drivinglicence be permitted todrive any vehicle

PNS n CHENNAI

Heavy rains lashed Chennaiand its suburbs since earlyTuesday, prompting authori-ties to gear up for releasingsurplus water from theChembarambakkam Reservoir here and alert people liv-ing on the banks of Adyar riverto be on the vigil.

The incessant rains, whichreturned to the city after abreak of several weeks, led towater logging in several roadsand motorists and others faceda tough time reaching theirdestinations. The Met officehere issued an alert for heavyrain (7 cm to 11 cm) at isolat-ed places over Villupuram,Chengal pattu, Chennai,Kancheep uram, Cuddalore,

Nagapatti nam and Tiruvannamalai districts in Tamil Naduand Puducherry on Tuesday.

Officials said about 500cusecs of surplus water wouldbe released from Chem-barambakkam Reservoir, oneof the major sources of themetropolis' water require-ments, into Adyar River.

"In the first phase, 500cusecs of surplus water will bereleased from Chembaramb-akkam reservoir," an officialrelease here said.

Authorities advised peopleliving close to the banks ofAdyar River and other chan-nels that carry the surpluswater from the reservoir to notget close to the river or otherwater bodies and stay at safeplaces.

Heavy rains lashChennai, suburbs

PNS n HATHRAS (UP)

Four people, including twochildren, have died and fivewere injured when a truckcollided with their car andoverturned on it in UttarPradesh's Hathras district,police said on Tuesday.

Nine people from Alwar inRajasthan were headingtowards Kasganj to take a dipin the Ganga. The accidentoccurred on the Mathura-Bareilly road on Mondaynight, Sikandra Rao policestation incharge PraveenKumar said.

A crane was used toremove the truck that hadfallen on the SUV. Thedeceased have been identifiedas car driver Ram NiwasMeena (26), Ram Bakshi(35), Juliebai (10) and AnandMeena (5), Kumar said.

The bodies of the deceasedhave been sent for post-mortem, the officer said.

Four die in car-truckcollision

PNS n MUMBAI

The Maharashtra governmentwill seek some clarificationsfrom the Centre on the twoCOVID-19 vaccines approvedfor the restricted emergencyuse before launching a massinoculation drive in the state,Health Minister Rajesh Topesaid on Tuesday.

Addressing reporters, Topealso said a dry run will be con-ducted across Maharashtra onJanuary 8 to check the pre-paredness of the mechanismrolled out for the vaccinationexercise.

On the availability ofCOVID-19 vaccine, Tope saidthe Centre might inform thestate government in the next 10days about the largescale avail-ability of the dosages.

He said cold storage facilitiesand supply chains are being set

up in Maharashtra, which hesaid is ready to launch the massvaccination.

"There are some clarifica-tions we are seeking from theCentre about the approvedvaccines, as they have beencleared for use citing the emer-gency situation. Maharashtrawill raise its concerns about thevaccines during national videoconference with Union healthminister scheduled on January7," Tope said.

A dry run to assess thereadiness of the mechanismlaid out for the COVID-19immunisation drive, which isexpected to begin soon, wasconducted in four districts ofMaharashtra on Saturday.

"Maharashtra will join thenationwide dry run on January8 which will be conducted inevery district of the state. Themock drill will be helpful for

the state to see whether the sys-tem developed for mass vacci-nation is working properly onnot," Tope said.

On Sunday, the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) approved OxfordCOVID-19 vaccine Covishield,manufactured by the SerumInstitute, and indigenouslydeveloped Covaxin of BharatBiotech for restricted emer-gency use in the country,paving the way for a massiveinoculation drive.

Commenting on the cost ofa vaccine, Tope said that theCentre should provide a vac-cine free to those living underbelow the poverty line.

"Two doses (of a vaccine)will cost Rs 500 as every per-son needs to take two doses.However, I am of the opinion

that the Centre should bearthe cost of purchasing vaccines

and supplying them toMaharashtra".

He said that poor people canstill find it difficult to pay Rs500 for a vaccine.

"As the Centre has alreadystopped the supply of masks,ventilators and RT-PCR kits,the Maharashtra government isprocuring these items byspending from the state exche-quer.

The state cannot ignore itsduty when the help from theCentre is shrinking," Tope said.

The state health ministeralso expressed his concernsover the possibility of resump-tion of flights between Indiaand the UK, where a newstrain of coronavirus hasemerged.

India had suspended all pas-senger flights connecting thetwo countries from December23 to January 7.

‘Maha wants clarifications from Centre’

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's COVID-19 active case-load, which has been fallingsteadily, stands at 2,31,036 andaccounts for a "paltry" 2.23 percent of the total infectionsreported so far, the UnionHealth Ministry said onTuesday.

This has been made possi-ble as daily recoveries are out-numbering new infections for39 days in a row, the ministrystated.

"Against 29,091 people whorecovered in a 24-hour win-dow, India reported only16,375 new cases, maintaininga steady level of testing.

"A net decline of 12,917

cases has been recorded in thetotal active cases in a day," theministry said.

India's cumulative recover-ies are inching closer to the 1-crore mark. The tally of recov-

ered cases stands at 99,75,958as of now.

The ministry said 82.62 percent of the 29,091 new recov-eries were contributed by 10states and union territories.

PNS n KOLKATA

BCCI chief and former TeamIndia captain Sourav Ganguly,who underwent angioplastyfollowing a mild heart attack,is now stable with no com-plaint of chest pain or breath-ing issues, noted cardiologistDr Devi Shetty said onTuesday, after monitoring thecricket icon's health.The former Indian skipperwill be discharged from hos-pital on Wednesday, he said.

Ganguly was diagnosedwith three blocked coronary

arteries on Saturday, fol-lowing which a stent wasinserted in one to remove theblockage.

Dr Shetty, who flew downto the city in the morning tocheck on the BCCI president,said the 48-year-old is an"asset" to the nation, and themild heart attack that heexperienced did not causeany damage to his health.

The cardiac surgeon, fol-lowing his meeting with ateam of 13 doctors atWoodlands Hospital here,also said that the battinggreat can return to normal, as"his heart is as strong as itused to be when he was 20years old".

Coronavirus: India's activecaseload down to 2.31 lakh

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Minister of Statefor Youth Services and SportsLaxmi Ratan Shukla resignedfrom his post on Tuesday,sources in the state secretari-at said.

Shukla sent his resigna-tion letter to Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee and a copyof it to Governor JagdeepDhankhar, they said.

The former cricketer's res-ignation came almost a fort-night after state transportminister Suvendu Adhikarihad left the party and joinedBJP. Repeated calls to Shukla'smobile went unanswered.

WB Minister Ratan Shukla resigns

‘Mild heart attacknot to have impacton Ganguly's well-being’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Top MP government officialson Tuesday apprised the ECon the action initiated againstthree IPS officers and otherswhose alleged role in the useof black money during the2019 Lok Sabha polls came tothe fore after the I-TDepartment raided formerchief minister Kamal Nath'sclose aides.

State Chief Secretary IqbalSingh Bains informed thatthe state Economic OffenceWing has registered PE (pre-liminary enquiry) in the mat-ter. He also sought twoweeks' time to apprise theElection Commission (EC)of further action in the mat-ter, a commission spokesper-son said.

State Additional ChiefSecretary (Home) RajeshKumar Rajora was also pre-sent at the meeting.

MP officialsapprise EC ofaction against 3 IPS officers

APPROVED COVID VACCINES

Apprehensions have beenexpressed that the BJP’sideology will get mixedup, if not downright viti-

ated, by the entry of politiciansbrought up in alien thought process-es. The probability of such confu-sion is very low for the simple rea-son that most of the new membersjoining the BJP happen to beHindus. There would, therefore, beno contradiction between theirown private lives and what shouldbe projected in their public life andpolitical expression. In contrast, ifa person like me were to join, say,the Revolutionary Socialist Party(RSP) at the age of 50, for a year ortwo, I would not know whether Iam coming or going; it would besomewhat traumatic.

I have been brought up in thebelief of karma and, in the RSP, Iwould need to switch over and starthaving faith in a PermanentRevolution as preached by LeonTrotsky, Vladimir Lenin’s favouritenumber two until he lived. Thisfavourite leader wanted to go onwith the revolution until he hadconverted the whole world to com-munism. If I read the Das Kapital,the Bible of Marxism, I would comeacross the foundational tenet: Fromeach according to his ability, to eachaccording to his need. These wordsare simple but the message behindthem could take an average politi-cian some exercise in mental diges-tion.

A similar challenge had facedBR Ambedkar who had resolvedthat he would not like to die aHindu. In that case, the questionarose, which religion should he andhis many followers convert to?Babasaheb adopted the thinkingmethod of reductio ad absurdum.First, he took up Christianity andrejected it because it was of a for-eign origin; it would, therefore, havea denationalising effect on his fol-lowers. Moreover, by having moreChristians, Ambedkar felt that theywould add to supporters of theBritish rulers. Islam also had a for-eign origin; more Muslims couldmean greater support to the creationof Pakistan. Thus reasoning, hiseventual choice fell on Buddhism.

For politicians, joining the BJPis like coming home; what theyshould have politically believed in,and are now believing in. If they arecommitted to secularism, they cancontinue down that path. The ques-tion of Church and State being sep-arate or otherwise does not arise inthe case of the Temple. Virtuallyevery temple can follow its own rit-ual of worship; how can it theninfluence the Government? In any

case, Hinduism has never had ahabit or tradition of dabbling inpolitics. State governance was theexclusive function of the ruler.But the fact is that since the earlysun rose in the mists of time, theIndic ethos has been Hindu (orcall it Sanatan or Vedic). Thatcame through in the reasoning ofAmbedkar as discussed above.

Traditionally, in the West,especially in America, the com-mon folk identified all Indians asHindus and then enquiredwhether one was a HinduMuslim or Hindu Christian orHindu Hindu! To them, thesound of the word “India” firstrang the bell of the American RedIndian. Some Nehruvians mighthave been embarrassed but, mostof the time, the identity of Indiahas been Hindu. The birth ofPakistan intensified this trend.

The Hindu Mahasabha wasfounded in 1915, incidentallyafter the Muslim League was created by Lord Curzon in Dacca(now Dhaka) in 1906 after induc-ing Nawab Salimullah of Daccawith a loan of £1,00,000. TheBharatiya Jana Sangh came intobeing under the leadership ofSyama Prasad Mookerjee in1951. The RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS)helped him with some full-timeworkers. In 1977, to fight the gen-eral elections immediately afterthe end of the Emergency, theJana Sangh — like several otherparties — merged with a newcombine called the Janata Party.In 1980, the Jana Sanghis left this party to form the BharatiyaJana Sangh; to start with, its manifesto was based aroundGandhian Socialism.

The centre point of theparty’s ideology is “nation aboveall else”. It is the anti-thesis of the

supranationalist communism.The Islamic supremacy of theummah above the nation is sim-ilarly disapproved. Care as muchas possible but even socialism isnot favoured as it contradicts thefaith in karma as the decisiveinfluence in life. The Hinduview of life sees a contradictionbetween liberty and equality;the latter causes levelling downof liberty to achieve it. How can

one control anyone’s betterkarma? Welfare for all, yes, butforced equality, no.

Imperialism and theexploitation of other countries arewrong. It is equivalent to robbery.Collective unity of one’s own peo-ple in order to dominate othersis wrong. Instead, the Hindublessings are with those whostrive to actualise themselvesand, thus, bring out the best inthemselves. Killing of animalsand birds is not desirable and theJains, in particular, are sensitiveto the destruction of even vege-tation that is grown below theground. The worship of thepeepal tree is symbolic of theHindu respect for ecology. Mostof the ills that one sees are theresult of centuries of rule by oth-ers over Hindustan.

There is not a great deal ofpolitical or ideological literature.Nevertheless, Veer Savarkar firstdefined Hindutva or Hindunessin a single volume. It is valuablefor those who wish to study thetheoretical aspects of the ideol-ogy. After that, there is a volumecalled The Saffron Book and, it isreported, a book called TheGrammar of Hindudom is underpublication. It is noteworthy thatit is the only ideology which isAsia’s own, unlike all other polit-ical theories which are foreign orrather European.

Ideology is essentially aWestern phenomenon, just aspolitical science is a Europeanpreoccupation. In sharp contrast,we in India have so far to ourcredit only two theses on this sub-ject: One, the famousArthashastra written more than2,500 years ago; and the second,published only two years ago,titled Krishna Rajya. Hindu Indiahad only one history book,

Rajatarangini, by Kashmiri schol-ar Kalhana, which again wasmany centuries ago.

On the other hand, theEuropean political parties areguided by their ideologies, whichare many; beginning with com-munism on the extreme Left, towhat is understood as fascism onthe extreme Right. Take Britain,for example; only recently, JeremyCorbyn was an extreme socialist.Earlier, there was Aneurin Bevan,who incidentally designed andimplemented Britain’s famousNational Health Service. HaroldWilson, who was the PrimeMinister, had the reputation ofbeing a Leftist. Comparatively,Clement Attlee was a middle-of-the-road politician while hiscontemporary Hugh Gaitskellwas looked upon as a liberal. Yet,all these men belonged to theLabour Party.

On the Conservative Partyside, Sir Anthony Eden was aRightist and went to war againstEgypt in 1956 over the SuezCanal. Yet earlier, there wasEnoch Powell who declared that“rivers of blood will flow in England as a result of immi-gration”. Later, Margaret Thatcherwas a Right-winger and anti-socialist. Even fascism, consid-ered Right extremism, did notspare British politics. Sir OswaldMosley, a son-in-law of LordCurzon, openly admitted tobeing a fascist. Despite all thesedifferences in ideology, leaders —even eminent ones — occasion-ally did change their parties.Winston Churchill, who waslooked upon as a dire conserva-tive, had for a few years crossedover to the Liberal Party.

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

There are exactly two weeks to go before JosephBiden is sworn in as the 46th President of theUnited States (US) on the steps of the US

Capitol in Washington DC. His predecessor DonaldTrump is, however, not giving up and recent reve-lations about a phone call that he made to theSecretary of State in the US State of Georgia is asbizarre as it is frightening. In a recording made avail-able to the US media outlets, Trump is heard ask-ing the Georgia officials to “find” 11,780 votes sothat he can overturn Biden’s narrow win in that State.American constitutional and legal experts believe thatTrump’s phone call was inherently illegal and couldland him in trouble once his presidency ends. The

45th President of the US, ironically the man who is trying to thwart democracy itself,sounds increasingly desperate when he proclaims that he would “fight like hell” tohold on to the presidency; the fact that all the 10 living former Defence Secretariesrecently wrote in an Op-Ed that “the time for questioning the results has passed”,notwithstanding. But as if matters were not bad enough, a whole host of US law-makers and the Congress and Senate — many of whom owe their political careersto Trump — have said that they will try to delay the certification of the results. Thisdespite the fact that Biden not only won enough US States to win the convolutedElectoral College, he also won a plurality of votes.

The 2020 US Election had the highest turnout in history and while Trump is rightin claiming that he polled more votes than any incumbent US President in history, itwas more a function of the higher turnout and an increased population. Biden wonthe popular vote by over seven million, having a margin of 4.4 per cent over Trump.Trump’s attempts to overturn this election are a little different from the protesters’who cried “Not My President” when Trump won in 2016. Sowing the seeds of doubton the electoral process, just like sore losers do in India when they blame the elec-tronic voting machines, is the worst possible thing to do to build confidence in democ-racy. The US elections prove that it is a deeply divided country and Biden and hisVice-President Kamala Harris have a tough task uniting a country that talks in termsof ‘Blue’ States and ‘Red’ States. If the world is to look up to the US and not China,the 46th President has to be less divisive and become the Uniter-In-Chief.

Finally, India@75, the hashtag and sloganthat’s being touted as the Narendra ModiGovernment’s crowning glory in perpetuating

a new idea of nationhood, is a reality. For, its sym-bolic representation — a new Parliament buildingand a redone Central Vista — has received theSupreme Court’s nod. Of course, the top court, whileclearing the redevelopment initiative and settlingquestions regarding changed land use and environ-ment compliance raised in a clutch of pleas, has putin several riders to avoid any runaway ambitions orcreativity. It has clarified that the Government will

need the clearance of the Heritage Committee before beginning the project. But thefact that a dissenting judge in the three-member Bench expressed concerns aboutthe Government’s lack of public consultation doesn’t quite assuage anxieties overthe tampering with what is considered Delhi’s cultural landmark and iconic identi-ty. The Bench has even made smog towers mandatory as part of the constructionprocess to keep pollution in check. And the Central Vista revamp is massive as itenvisages a new triangular Parliament building with a seating capacity for 900 to1,200 MPs and synergised administrative blocks, to be completed by August 2022.On its part, the Government has been arguing for a makeover of this part of Lutyens’Delhi for its functionality and efficiency, claiming that it would create spaces for amore streamlined operation of Ministry offices and free up more citizen-friendly spaces.But the purpose is entirely political, an attempt at rewriting history and concretis-ing a political legacy. It is the Modi regime’s attempt to overwrite our Colonial pastand redesign an institution as wholly Indian, as representative of its people and epoch-making simply because no Government had thought of this before. Proponents ofthis line of thought cite examples of democracies overturning Colonial legacies, beit the Capitol building in the US or Australia’s current Parliament building in Canberra,which opened in 1988 and became a source of Australian pride. They argue thatas the world’s most populous democracy, there needs to be a new sense of own-ership about our institutions. Does that mean that we are doing away with all Colonial-era markers and rituals, or simply making a point to show the transformative intentof a naya Bharat? In short, it is a power statement that overlays the Modi regimeas a change-making moment in history which is, in fact, an expensive indulgenceof political egoism than the Spartan commitment to our Constitution.

Yet, tradition has been sitting easily with modernity in Delhi, where each suc-cessive ruler lives through relics and monuments that have never overshadowedeach other. Delhiites themselves have never denied heritage its place — Rajput,Islamic, European or Colonial — and made it a part of their living history, one whereLutyens’ Delhi is a key chapter. There is no question of outdoing the elegance andclassicism of design — the green pavilions, perches, cupolas and the islands arethe only democratic spaces where citizens can move and roam around freely, catch-ing the afternoon sun in the middle of winter and the gentle breeze of a summerevening. The cluster of offices would undoubtedly change the skyline as we knowit and their ramped-up security would rob us of an indulgent spread in the heartof the city. Shouldn’t the Government be wiser to leave a legacy of policy and gov-ernance instead of seeking a place-based identity? And shouldn’t the Governmentbe more concerned about upholding the dignity and respect for as well as inde-pendence of institutions in its pursuit of legacy? Prime Minister Narendra Modi does-n’t quite like the “Lutyens’ world” and the power structures and codes embeddedin it. “I am a representative of the non-elite world. For me, everything is about thepeople of India,” he had said earlier. But in the name of breaking elitism, one can-not justify point-scoring as a historical imperative. Or even the political economyit will generate — the project is expected to run into multi-crore tenders. There arefruits of preservation; they serve as reminders of what was and, as a referencepoint, help us learn lessons. There are no gains of demolition, forcibly reconstruct-ing the past to suit our narrow ends. Given the secrecy around the makeover pro-ject, one hopes that the least the Government can do is to keep it transparent, con-sultative, reasonable and synchronise its character with the aspiration of Delhiitesto be the citizens of a world heritage city. The city’s application, which was sub-mitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2013,lists Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone along with Shahjahanabad (old Delhi) as the ratio-nale for seeking the tag. That sure will have a longer legacy than proving a pointfor the BJP’s election manifesto in 2024.

SC nod to makeoverP A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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

op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

06

Finding democracy

Top court greenlights Govt’s Central Vista project with caveats but will it be another symbolic ritual?

The United States will find it hard to sell democracy if its leaders can't fix their own

Jumping shipPoliticians of other hues joining the BJP begs the question if its ideologywill be obscured. But, as history shows, there's no reason for such doubt

PRAFULL GORADIA

IDEOLOGY ISESSENTIALLY A

WESTERNPHENOMENON,

JUST AS POLITICALSCIENCE IS A

EUROPEANPREOCCUPATION.

INDIA IS IN SHARP CONTRAST

Jab safety concernsSir — The approval for emer-gency use of COVID-19 vaccineshas been given only on the basisof safety data which have not yetbeen made public. Any doubtsregarding the safety and effica-cy of the vaccines will adverselyaffect the proposed large-scalevaccination programme.

Such doubts regarding thelack of transparency and reason-ing in the approval process haveraised many eyebrows. Theminutes of the meeting of theSubject Expert Committee arealso not in the public domain.In such a situation, people areapprehensive because of thehurry and opacity in rolling outthe vaccine when data from thephase III trials are perhaps nomore than a few weeks away.

In other countries, toppolitical leaders, including theUS President-elect and the VicePresident-elect, have taken thejab in public to inspire confi-dence among people. Similarly,our Prime Minister should alsoinstill confidence among thepeople by taking the dose of theCovaxin in its approved trialmode.

Shovanlal Chakraborty Kolkata

Need to be cautious Sir — It is heartening to knowthat all the players involved inthe restaurant episode havetested negative for COVID-19.The Indian cricket team hasbeen under scrutiny of theAustralian media ever since avideo surfaced of five Indianplayers dining inside aMelbourne restaurant on Friday.

Team India is already facingmany problems with injuries toits bowlers like MohammedShami and Umesh Yadav, whohave been declared unfit toplay the rest of the Test series.

Virat Kohli, who was onpaternity leave after theMelbourne Test, is also notavailable for the remainder of theseries. There is already a lot of

hue and cry regarding the fourthTest and quarantine rules havebeen imposed in Brisbane.Already, much of the sportingactivity has been lost to the pan-demic. Hence, it is the respon-sibility of all the players to actmore responsibly and not breachthe bio-secure bubble.

V Nagendra Kumar Hyderabad

Let the birds liveSir — It is really heart-wrench-ing to see the pictures andvideos of hundreds of birdslying dead on the roads andpavements of Rome, Italy. Thedeaths occurred due to fireworkdisplays on New Year’s eve.

Animal rights groups havecalled it a massacre. Many are ofthe opinion that the birds diedafter getting knocked against oneanother or they hit the electriclines and windows out of fear.

Not only in Rome but evenin India and elsewhere, we seeanimals and birds panickingand running haphazardly dur-ing such displays of firework.

The birds are an integralpart of the food chain and foodweb and their mass destructionwill disrupt the balance ofnature. Once disturbed, thisbalance is hard to restore.

Animal rights organisationsand Governments across theglobe must take urgent measuresto prevent such incidents infuture and should create moreawareness among citizens.

M PradyuKannur

It’s time to abolish Legislative Councils

The State Legislative Councils or Vidhan Parishadsshould be abolished as they are just white elephantsand nothing more than a rehabilitation centre for

politicians and their favourites. The Vidhan Parishads(Upper Houses) have turned out to be a huge burdenon the exchequer and become a refuge for the politi-cians who lose in the elections.

The practice of horse-trading is common in theStates having bicameral legislature. The VidhanParishads were gradually abolished by many States afterIndependence. The existence of a State LegislativeCouncil has proved to be politically controversial and anumber of States, that have had their Upper House dis-solved, have subsequently requested for its re-estab-lishment. As of now, only six out of 28 States have aState Legislative Council. There is rampant misuse ofthe Vidhan Parishads for political and personal favoursin States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka.Moreover, the State Legislative Council plays no role inthe passage of the money Bills.

Similar demands have also been raised in Britainfor abolishing the House of Lords; yet the Upper House

of Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, must be retainedas it still serves some fruitful purpose. However, strin-gent rules regarding the attendance of members, theirmedical fitness and against the misuse of money andpower should be enforced. Our democracy cannot letthe Rajya Sabha become a club of billionaires and celebri-ties. Those who have lost elections to the Lok Sabhaor Assemblies must not be allowed to become mem-bers of the Rajya Sabha for the next six years.

Madhu AgarwalDelhi

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

India...their greatest strengthover the last couple of series hasbeen their (bowling's) discipline;they have been so disciplined.Ashwin is bowling very well.

Australia coach

Justin Langer

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

Reality shows can be a greatstarting point. It was a greatexperience for me as well. Havingsaid that, I did have to establishmy solo career on my own. Ithink it's a great stepping stone.

SingerNeha Bhasin

We will have to adopt the BJPmodel but with slight change.We need to accommodateHindutva philosophy also. We will form 10-member committees at all booths.

JD(S) leaderHD Kumaraswamy

It is the triumph of justice. I commend England's actionbecause WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange is a journalistand he deserves a chance.We will give him protection.

Mexican PresidentAndres Manuel Lopez Obrador

S O U N D B I T E

Much ado about NPAs

THESE JUMBO COMMITTEES SERVE NO PURPOSE. 32

VPS, 57 GS, 104 SECRETARIES. NONE WILL HAVE ANY

AUTHORITY WHICH MEANS NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

—CONGRESS MP

KARTI CHIDAMBARAM

MANY HARD-WORKING PEOPLE HAVE MADE IT TO

THE COMMITTEE. THOSE (WHO) BECAME MPS

BECAUSE OF THEIR FATHER DON'T UNDERSTAND.

—CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY IN TN

K MAHENDRAN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

As we step into the new decade, the woes ofthe last decade seem to have spilled overinto the new one, especially where the

beleaguered banking sector is concerned.According to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s)estimates, the Gross Non-Performing Assets(GNPAs) of banks may increase from 8.5 per centin March 2020 to 12.5 per cent by March this year.For public sector banks (PSBs), the deteriorationis estimated to be more problematic and theGNPAs could be anywhere between 11.3 to 15.2per cent under the “baseline scenario.” SomeCassandras warn that the situation could be worse.Their relentless scaremongering could potential-ly hurt economic revival that requires a majorincrease in bank lending.

In December 2020, scheduled commercialbanks had total outstanding deposits of`145,91,773 crore while their outstanding loansand advances added up to only ̀ 105,04,536 crore.A bank’s primary function is to lend againstdeposits and earn enough to make profits afterservicing deposits. Data show that banks haveenough money to lend more and they must behelped to give more loans. However, a lot of goodborrowers are out of the banking net. Banks nodoubt face certain risks especially in the prevail-ing situation due to the pandemic but there is noneed to panic. But first, we need to answer thequestion, what is an NPA? For a bank, an NPAis the amount of loan or an advance for whichrepayment of any due instalment of principal ordue amount of interest is not cleared within 90days of the “due date.” Interestingly, for agricul-tural loans it is “within two crop seasons for shortduration crops” or within “one crop season forlong duration crops.”

If default of payment continues beyond oneyear of the due date, the NPA is called“Substandard Assets.” If a NPA default continuesbeyond two years of the due date the NPA is called“Doubtful Assets.” If auditors find that the NPAis due to an incurable default, they classify it as“Loss Assets.” Does anyone expect a business toalways make a profit? The answer is an emphat-ic “no.” Because this is an unrealistic expectationand every business will face a loss or just aboutbreak even, many times in its years of existence.This is because how a company makes its moneydepends a lot on external factors. Likewise, lend-ing is also a business and a bank always runs therisk of a loan or a part of it or the interest not com-ing in. A bank hoping to lend money only to safeborrowers will not run for long because 100 percent safe borrowers generally don’t need to takeloans or are disinclined to do so.

Past efforts for resolution of Stressed Assetsseemed to be showing results because, after reach-ing a peak of 11.5 per cent at the end of March2018, the GNPAs of scheduled commercialbanks came down to 8.5 per cent by the end ofMarch 2020. So the first thing to note beforeresorting to scaremongering is that more than 90per cent of bank loans and advances are being ser-viced with a delay of 90 days at the most. It doesnot mean that the remaining bank loans wheredebt servicing is delayed beyond 90 days are adead loss for banks because they have enoughsecurities to cover most of these balance loans suf-fering from problems in debt servicing.

As a pandemic relief measure, all borrowerswhose loan accounts were classified as standardas on February 29, 2020, were allowed a mora-

torium till August 31. This was done toensure that this period was not count-ed in the 90 days’ default period and wasnot classified as an NPA account.

The Supreme Court had inSeptember 2020 directed that no bankaccount should be declared an NPAuntil the disposal of pleas seeking anextension of the moratorium period.The final verdict on this is expectedsoon.

What perhaps escapes attention isthat the concerns regarding NPAs or badloans in popular parlance are exagger-ated due to the conservative approachof the RBI. Banks are told to classifyloans as performing or non-performingonly on the basis of timely repaymentsof loans and interest, even when thereis no erosion in the availability and valueof the security or net worth of the bor-rower/guarantor.

The 90 days’ default rule to tag aloan account as an NPA is a rough andready, easy to implement, blunt regula-tory tool. It indicates an income impair-ment of the borrower or liquidity riskbut certainly not solvency risk. The“income impaired” borrower may ormay not be “asset impaired.” Therefore,if we create a new subclass of NPAsbased on the 90-day rule, with an assess-ment of solvency risk, then it should bepossible to refine capital adequacynorms and evolve a differential capitaladequacy requirement for NPAs whereunderlying securities are not material-ly impaired. Betting on the banking sec-tor’s NPA level once the loan morato-rium is lifted amounts to betting on theextent of the pandemic’s impact on eco-nomic growth and on the incomes ofborrowers. Such betting is not econom-ics or mathematics but politics.

If the banks have enough securitybehind the loan they have given out(house, vehicle, gold, shares, bonds and

so on) and the borrowers are not allcrooks, the loans will be serviced.There might be some delay, some re-scheduling or loan restructuringrequired, but eventually the bank willget its money back, with interest. Thereis no need to press the panic button.Heavens will not fall merely becausesome loans, interest or equated month-ly instalments (EMIs) are not paid with-in 90 days of the due date.

The Government and the RBI haveto take some steps to see that the loansand advances of good borrowers areproperly restructured and the debtrecovery process becomes efficient interms of time and value recovered.Banks need to raise additional capitalto meet regulatory requirements,depending upon what kind of NPAsemerge. Banks also need liquidity sup-port to service the deposits during theperiod the borrowers face liquidityproblems but have sufficient assets tocover their loan liability.

Every code and every rule book hasenabling clauses to deal with exception-al situations. Rules of normal times don’tapply in abnormal times. The pandem-ic is the time to invoke these exception-al powers to fine-tune the regulatorypolicy on recognition of a bad loan andthe level of additional capital needed bybanks to cover definite loss fromirrecoverable loans due to the lack anderosion of underlying securities.

The impact of the contagion on theeconomy is temporary and low inflationhas softened what would have otherwisebeen a harder blow. Assessments andperceptions about population segment-wise distribution of pain may varyaccording to commentators but it isabundantly clear that at an aggregatelevel, the nation will recover from thecrisis fast enough. A high recovery andlow fatality rate, fast resumption of eco-

nomic activity in several sectors, bothformal and informal, as evidenced byseveral high frequency indicators, arevery good signs. Hence, loan servicingwill happen albeit with some delay.

By and large, Indian banks are pret-ty conservative and most of the loans areheavily secured, backed by good valu-able securities. The problem comes inenforcing the security because the legalsystem does not allow it so easily. Whatwe need is a system of vigilance and dili-gence on the assets mortgaged for theloans and advances. The genuinenessand continued existence of assets mustbe watched and digital tools can bedeployed for this.

There is no harm in giving borrow-ers providing adequate security anextended moratorium. But what weneed is a system that will protect thebanks’ securities during the moratori-um period so that these are not dilut-ed or alienated or encumbered further.We require a robust system of oversighton these securities. This is particularlyso for small borrowers below `2 crorewho have been helped by theGovernment based on the RajivMehrishi Committee report.

In India, the credit-to-GDP ratio isjust 50 per cent. Many good borrowerslike households and businesses dependon informal channels of finance. Indianbanks are not lending enough and theyare being far too risk-averse. Banks needto use modern digital tools to improveloan surveillance and lend more byusing digital technologies to improvecredit product design, pre-sanctionappraisal and post-sanction oversight onend use. This will help boost the econ-omy of the country in the long run.

(The writer is former SpecialSecretary, Ministry of Commerce and

Industry. The views expressed are personal.)

There might be a delay, some re-scheduling or loan restructuring may be required buteventually the bank will get its money back with interest. There is no need to panic

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

Stock markets infor a rough ride

HIMA BINDU KOTA

The new year is full of hope. Investors expect thissentiment to be mirrored on the bourses but they

might end up being disappointed

SUBHASH PANDEY

INDIAN BANKSARE NOT LENDING

ENOUGH ANDTHEY ARE BEING

FAR TOO RISK-AVERSE.

BANKS NEED TO USE

MODERN DIGITALTOOLS TOIMPROVE

LOANSURVEILLANCE

AND LEND MORE BY USING

DIGITALTECHNOLOGIES

TO IMPROVECREDIT PRODUCT

DESIGN, PRE-SANCTION

APPRAISAL ANDPOST-SANCTIONOVERSIGHT ON

END USE

The year 2020 was one of lost lives, livelihoods, businessesand shattered economies. However, the new year has broughtthe hope that the march of the virus would be contained through

mass inoculation and result in the global economy recovering fromthe onslaught of the contagion. Usually, fiscal recovery is led by arevival in the stock markets and the bourses show improvementmuch before the actual economic upturn. This is because stockprices are forward-looking and investors buy scrip based on theirexpectations of the future and not on past data or present informa-tion. So what do the bourses have in store for us this year?

Both the benchmark indices, Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex, start-ed the year with a bang, ending on record highs with Nifty 50 end-ing above the 14,000 mark and the BSE Sensex above the 48,800levels. The sentiment was boosted by the expectation of econom-ic revival. So, will the markets continue to rise further? Since thepandemic broke out in India at the end of March 2020, the Nifty50 rose to double its level from 7,500 to above 14,000 as on January1. In the US, the NASDAQ Composite index, too, rose from the 7,000range in March 2020 to almost touch the 13,000 mark on the lastday of the year. Nikkei 225, the benchmark index of Japan too,showed the same trend and gained 66 per cent to reach the 27,444mark at the end of the year. This worldwide phenomenon of con-tinuous stock market rise during the most difficult times in livingmemory shows that the bourses have already incorporated and pricedin the news of positive results of the COVID-19 vaccination and earn-ings revival.

A trendline typically confirms the direction of the market by con-necting the troughs and the peaks. An upward trend connects allthe troughs and creates a support line. The strength of this upwardtrend and the support line is tested by the numerous times it is ableto stop a price breach. Historically, looking at the last 10 years, therehas been an overall primary uptrend in the Nifty 50 from the levelof 2,700 in 2009 to 12,000 in January 2020, with minor secondarydownturns in 2010-2011 and 2015-2016. After a steep drop in March2020, Nifty 50 started another uptrend which lasted the entire year.At the current levels of above 14,000, the sentiment still remainsbullish and there is a strong possibility of the markets moving past14,500 in the near future. However, the upward trend during thelast year shows that all the positive news about economic revivalhave already been reflected in the prices. On the downturn, Niftymay find support levels in the range of 11,000-13,000.

Options are considered information channels for the markets,which eventually result in stock price changes. As options marketsare the preferred trading markets for informed investors, volumeand open interest play an important role as predictive tools to fore-cast the movement of the underlying stocks as they can developan early earning mechanism for any market crisis. They also rep-resent the strength and potential of price change of the underlyingasset. Therefore, an important indicator to consider is the put-calloptions volume ratio.

This contrarian-sentiment investment measure is one of themost important tools to predict the market’s direction by trackingthe daily and weekly volume of puts and calls in the stock marketand gauging the sentiments of the investors. Puts are generally boughtas an insurance against a market decline, whereas calls are boughtas a directional bet for bullish markets. So when put volume increas-es, expectation of the market decline increases and when call vol-ume increases, expectation of market uptrend increases. The put-call ratio for the options in Nifty with various expiry dates from Januaryto February this year is increasing steadily, from 1.17 for Nifty optionsexpiring on January 7 to two for Nifty options expiring on February4. This shows that the put options volume is steadily increasing,showing a possibility of a short-term downtrend.

The new year is full of expectation of positivity and hope. Investorsexpect this sentiment to be reflected in the stock markets but theyhave to understand that bourses are leading indicators and last year’srally has already incorporated the economic revival. The uptrendmay continue till the 14,000-15,000 levels. However, these levelshave a psychological barrier and we may see a market correctionsoon. Support levels can come in the range of 11,000-13,000. Thenew year may not see just an uptrend but would also witness someprofit booking. Any downtrend due to profit booking could be anopportunity for people to invest for the long-term. This year couldalso see increased earnings as most of the companies were ableto reduce their operating costs last year during the pandemic. Thismay help them to increase their earnings this year. A revival of earn-ings would go a long way in improving stock market returns. Overall,there is hope for economic revival this year. However, since the infor-mation has already been reflected in the stocks last year, this yearthe markets may see a bumpy ride.

(The writer is Associate Professor, Amity University, Noida.The views expressed are personal.)

The Uttar Pradesh (UP)Government’s decision toinclude a khadi fashion show in

UP Day celebrations is recognition ofthe sector’s role in inclusive develop-ment and its employment potential.Khadi and handloom fabrics are asintegral to our cultural heritage as zariis to a trousseau. The Rigveda, theMahabharata and the Ramayanaexpound upon the art of spinning andweaving. Woven cloth, bone needlesand spindles were found in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Block-printedfabrics, mainly of Gujarati origin, dis-covered in Egyptian tombs, exhibit thedemand of Indian cotton textilesabroad and their export since the 19th

century B.C. This tradition of excel-lence has been preserved by genera-tions of skilled artisans and weavers.Today, the khadi-handloom sectoremploys over four million weavers andallied production workers. The textilesector is the second-largest employerafter agriculture in India. However, the2010 Handloom Census revealed thatthe number of weavers was decliningat a rate of seven per cent per annum,the count of handlooms was dwindlingand a weaver earned a meagre `3,400per month as against the all India aver-age of ̀ 4,500 per month for any otherworker. With the next generationbeing sceptical and disinterested in thecraft, the Indian handloom industryis on the verge of becoming extinct.

The need of the hour is to segre-gate the sector into subsectors andwork on the strengths of each. Indiaoccupies an enviable place in the worldas 85 per cent of the global handloomproduction occurs in the country.Other handloom producing nationslike Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh,Cambodia and Indonesia manufacturea very limited range of products,

which is mainly for domestic use. Indiahas the capability to meet the demandfor handmade products across theglobe due to its demographic advan-tage and cultural heritage. We need toalign our rich legacy with the demandsof the modern era by incorporating lat-est designs. A Benarasi or Chanderiweaver can earn more if s/he contem-porises the sari and diversifies intoexportable accessories like stoles,scarves, ties, belts, bags and so on. Thisproduct development calls for a strongcollaboration between weavers anddesigners. Another crucial dimensionin the value chain is marketing, thatneeds to be understood, appreciatedand exploited. Premium handloomproducts like the Patan Patola,Baluchari, Jamdani, Ikat and Kanineed to be projected as niche products.With their unique designs and distinctweaving techniques, they should betargeted only at the affluent so thatweavers get high returns.

However, this strategy is intend-ed only for highly skilled weavers withwhom designers associate. They con-stitute only 20 per cent of the hand-

loom weavers who produce 80 per centof the high-value items. The remain-ing 80 per cent of the weavers wouldneed to be dealt with differently.

Handloom textiles face a seriousthreat in the marketplace when pow-erloom cloth is clandestinely sold ashandloom. As a layman cannot distin-guish a powerloom product fromhandloom, the Handloom Mark is aguarantee to the buyer that the prod-uct is genuinely handwoven. However,there is a need to generate awarenessamong the people about theHandloom Mark. Something as sim-ple as a one-line commercial duringthe daily soaps on television could beinstrumental in enlightening the tar-get group. Plus, only products carry-ing the Handloom Mark should beexhibited at Government-sponsoredexhibitions in India and abroad. Apartfrom raising awareness, this would alsoensure that only genuine handloomweavers derive benefit from the salesat such expos and Governmentschemes.

However, we must not lose sightof the fact that the sector provides

direct and indirect employment to overfour million people, all of whom can-not be trained immediately to makeintricate, high-end products. They arethe durrie makers, the gamchha andtowel manufacturers. They needGovernment support of a differentkind. Apart from reservation of arti-cles for production only on hand-looms, they need subsidised yarn andcredit. Credit is available to the sectorat six per cent interest rate. If imple-mented in earnest, this can provide themuch-needed working capital to spin-ners and weavers, apart from helpingthem in putting up facilities for dye-ing, processing and finishing of hand-spun and handwoven fabric. TheHank Yarn Obligation makes itmandatory for spinning mills to pro-duce certain percentage of their yarnin the hank form required for hand-looms. The need is to strengthen theimplementation machinery and ensureeffective enforcement in the field sothat every producer who manufacturesyarn for powerloom or mill consump-tion, packs at least 30 per cent of thatin hank form.

If small units in the sector have totake up spinning and weaving on acommercial scale, this would requiremodification of the workstations.They should be ergonomicallydesigned to produce more and betterquality threads and fabrics at a fasterpace. They should be modular, easy toassemble and transport. A solar pow-ered spinning wheel is the need of thehour. A semi-automatic loom could bea good solution wherein the motivepower is provided by the weavermanually and various other motionsare synchronised to obtain betterspeed and productivity. These couldalso be coupled with an automatictake-up and let-off mechanism.Technological innovations can createnew possibilities for design develop-ment and the production process.There is a strong need for focusedincentive schemes towards khadi andhandloom research.

For both couture and mass pro-ducers, there is a need to generate asense of pride with the occupation.Hand spinning as well as weavingneeds to be treated as a modern pro-

fession. As a first step, professionalinstitutes like Industrial TrainingInstitutes, polytechnics, the NationalInstitute of Fashion Technology(NIFT) and the National Institute ofDesign (NID) can start impartingtraining in khadi and handloom clus-ters. A NIFT or NID certificate willinstill a sense of pride apart fromupgrading skills of weavers and spin-ners. Acquiring these standardised,employable and marketable skills willearn them due recognition in the jobmarket and society. In a world increas-ingly inclined towards standardisationand mass production, khadi and hand-loom provide a refreshing changebecause of their uniqueness, flexibil-ity and versatility. The sector representsthe country’s traditional craft that hasbeen patronised and promoted sincetimes immemorial. We must never for-get that the sector has been sustainedby transferring skills from one gener-ation to another and it is crucial to keepGen Next in the profession.

(The writer is Additional ChiefSecretary, UP Government. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Time to give a modern touch to an ancient skillAs a first step, professional institutes like the ITIs, polytechnics, NIFT and NID can start imparting training in khadi and handloom clusters

MONIKA S GARG

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

www.dailypioneer.com analysis

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

UltraTech Cement on Tuesdaysaid it has raised Rs 1,000 crore

through allotment of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) onprivate placement basis. OnDecember 26, the company said itis considering a proposal to raise

funds by issuance of 10,000 rated, listed, non-convertible,redeemable, unsecured NCDs of Rs 10,00,000 each aggregating toRs 1,000 crore on private placement basis on or after December 30,2020. “The company has approved the allotment of unsecuredredeemable non-convertible debentures amounting to Rs 1,000 croreon private placement basis," UltraTech said in a regulatory filing.These NCDs have a coupon rate of 4.57 per cent per annum and willbe listed on National Stock Exchange of India. Tenure of the NCDs istwo years 358 days, the company added.

Infrastructure developer DilipBuildcon on Tuesday said it has

incorporated a special purposevehicle (SPV) for road projectworth Rs 882 crore in Gujarat. "The company has incorporated aspecial purpose vehicle (SPV) for anew HAM (hybrid annuity mode)

project named as Dhrol Bhadra Highways as a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of Dilip Buildcon," the company said in a regulatory filing.The product is for four laning of Dhrol-Bhadra Patiya section of NH-151A and Bhadra Patiya-Pipaliya Section of NH151A in Gujaratthrough public private partnership on design, build, operate andtransfer (the DBOT annuity or hybrid annuity) basis. In November2019, the government approved the HAM for building NationalHighways to speed up the construction of roads in the country.

CMS Info Systems will set up3,000 ATMs by March for State

Bank of India (SBI) as thecountry's largest lender looks toexpand the outsourced model. Theoutsourced model or Brown LevelATM (BLA) is managed by the

service provider on behalf of bank. Most of these ATMs are offsiteATMs. "CMS has received mandate from SBI for a deployment of3,000 ATMs. As a part of the term sheet, CMS will select the site,deploy ATMs, provide cash management services, regularmaintenance, and upkeep of ATMs," CMS Info Systems PresidentManjunath Rao told PTI. With this, he said, total number of BLAsunder CMS Info Systems would increase to 5,000.

CMS Info Systems to set up3,000 ATMs for SBI by March

UltraTech Cement raises Rs 1,000 crore via NCDs

The New York Stock Exchangesays it is withdrawing plans to

remove shares of three Chinesestate-owned phone carriers underan order by President DonaldTrump. The exchange cited “furtherconsultation” with U.S. regulatorsbut gave no other details of itsdecision in a notice issued lateMonday. The NYSE earlier

announced plans to remove China Telecom Corp. Ltd., China MobileLtd. and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. after Trump's order inNovember barring Americans from investing in securities issued bycompanies deemed to be linked to the Chinese military. Hong Kong-traded shares in the three companies surged Tuesday. China Telecomrose 5.7 per cent, China Mobile jumped 5.5 per cent and ChinaUnicom surged 6.7 per cent. Shares in all three have fallen recently.The Chinese government has accused Washington of misusingnational security as an excuse to hamper competition and haswarned that Trump's order would hurt U.S. and other investorsworldwide. Political analysts expect little change in policy underPresident-elect Joe Biden due to widespread frustration with China'strade and human rights records and accusations of spying andtechnology theft. US officials have complained that China's rulingCommunist Party takes advantage of access to American technologyand investment to expand its military, already one of the world'sbiggest and most heavily armed.

Dilip Buildcon incorporates SPVfor road project worth Rs 882 cr

NYSE withdraws plans to delist three Chinese phone carriers

PNS n NEW DELHI

A committee set up under thechairmanship of former unionsecretary G K Pillai to fixceiling rates under a dutyrefund scheme - RoDTEP - forexporters is expected to sub-mit the complete report in thenext few weeks, a top govern-ment official said.

Finance Secretary AjayBhushan Pandey said thatimmediately after getting thereport, the RoDTEP(Remission of Duties andTaxes on Exported Products)rates would be notified.

"The G K Pillai committeehas given a part report. Nowthe remaining report is expect-ed within the next few weeksand as soon as the reportcomes, we will be able to noti-fy RoDTEP rates. But thoserates will be effective fromJanuary 1, 2021," he said.

The scheme would refundto exporters the embeddedcentral, state and local dutiesand taxes that were so far notbeing rebated or refunded andwere, therefore, placing India''sexports at a disadvantage.

The refund would be cred-ited in an exporter's ledgeraccount with customs and

used to pay basic customsduty on imported goods. Thecredits can also be transferredto other importers.

An exporter desirous ofavailing the benefit of theRoDTEP scheme would have

to declare his/her intention foreach export item in the ship-ping bill or bill of export.

Availability of benefitsunder tax refund scheme -RoDTEP - for exporters wouldbe subject to the conditions,

restriction, ineligibility andfulfilment of proceduralrequirements as notified by thegovernment. The new schemeis replacing the MEIS(Merchandise Export fromIndia Scheme). In March, thegovernment had approved theRoDTEP scheme for reim-bursement of taxes and dutiesto exporters, with a view togive a boost to the country'sdwindling outbound ship-ments. The country's exportsdeclined by about 16 per centto about USD 200 billion dur-ing April-December this fiscal.

Rates for exporters' duty refundscheme to be notified soon

Availability ofbenefits forexporters wouldbe subject tothe conditions,restriction,ineligibility andfulfilment ofproceduralrequirements asnotified by thegovernment

PNS n TOKYO

Asian shares were mixed onTuesday as Japanese sharesechoed pullbacks on Wall Streetwhile other regional indexesrecouped earlier losses amidcontinuing worries about surg-ing coronavirus cases.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei225 shed 0.4% to 27,159.27 asthe government was preparingto declare a state of emergencyin Tokyo and several surround-ing areas.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200inched down less than 0.1% to6,681.90. South Korea's Kospigained 1.0% to 2,975.05, whileHong Kong's Hang Seng added0.4% to 27,577.74. The ShanghaiComposite climbed 0.5% to3,521.75.

Japan's prime minister hassaid the government is consid-ering declaring a state of emer-gency to help curb the spread ofinfections. The move is expect-ed this week. Tokyo GovernorYuriko Koike and the governorsof Saitama, Chiba and

Kanagawa asked the nationalgovernment over the weekendto declare the emergency afterthe capital saw a daily record of1,337 cases on New Year's Eve.

US stocks pulled back fromtheir recent record highs, as bigswings return to Wall Street atthe onset of a year where thedominant expectation is for apowerful economic rebound tosweep the world.

“With the seven-day averagenew cases still hanging in the600 K zone globally, few are like-ly expecting the market to bespared the resurgence ofCOVID-19 fears,” said JingyiPan, senior market strategist atIG in Singapore.

“Certainly, with the amalga-mation of factors ranging fromthe UK's third nationwide lock-down announcement, US hos-pitalisations surging to a recordand Tokyo mulling a state ofemergency, these had all beenevidence of the still raging pan-demic inducing the risk-offmood to start the year for USindices," Pan said.

The S&P 500, which ended2020 at an all-time high, slid1.5% after earlier dropping asmuch as 2.5%. It was the bench-mark index's biggest decline

since late October. Technologycompanies accounted for a bigshare of the sell-off, along withindustrial, communication ser-vices, health care and other

stocks. Only the S&P 500'senergy sector managed to ekedout a gain.

The selling comes as coron-avirus cases keep climbing atfrightening rates around theworld, threatening to bringmore lockdown orders thatwould punish the economy.

The worsening numbers alsoraise the possibility that WallStreet has been overly optimisticabout the big economic recov-ery it sees coming because ofCOVID-19 vaccines. Tuesday'supcoming runoff elections todetermine which party controlsthe Senate may also be con-tributing to the volatility.

“We've got a wobbly start tothe year here,” said Lindsey Bell,chief investment strategist atAlly Invest. “Investors are look-ing for a reason to lock in prof-its. The selling is probably a bitoverdone.”

The S&P 500 fell 55.42points to 3,700.65. The DowJones Industrial Average also fellfrom its record set last week,shedding 1.3%, to 30,223.89. At

one point, it was down 724points. The tech-heavy Nasdaqcomposite lost 1.5%, to12,698.45.

Small company stocks, whichhave been notching solid gainsin recent weeks, also fell. TheRussell 2000 index of smallercompanies dropped 1.5%, to1,945.91. Investors have beenhoping that vaccines will allowdaily life around the world toslowly return to normal. That'shelped spark a recent recoveryfor stocks of travel-related busi-nesses, smaller companies andother industries left behind formuch of the pandemic.

In the United States, regula-tors have already approvedtwo other vaccines. China lastweek gave the greenlight for itsfirst domestically developedvaccine. Others are also beingtested.

In energy trading, bench-mark US crude lost 20 cents to$47.42 a barrel in electronictrading on the New YorkMercantile Exchange. It shed 92cents to $47.62 on Monday.

Asian stocks mixed after Wall St retreat as virus cases rise

US stocks pulled back from theirrecent record highs, as big swingsreturn to Wall Street at the onset of ayear where the dominant expectationis for a powerful economic rebound tosweep the world

PNS n NEW DELHI

Enunciating his energyroadmap, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdaysaid the share of natural gas inIndia's energy basket will bemore than doubled, energysources diversified and thenation will be connected withone gas pipeline grid to helpbring affordable fuel to peopleand industry.

Inaugurating a 450-km nat-ural gas pipeline betweenKochi in Kerala to Mangaluruin Karnataka, he said Indiaunder his government is see-ing unprecedented work onhighways, railway, metro, air,water, digital and gas connec-tivity which will aid econom-ic development.

The government has an"integrated approach to ener-gy planning. Our energy agen-da is all-inclusive," he said.

While on the one hand, thenatural gas pipeline network isbeing doubled to about 32,000km in 5-6 years, on the other,work on the world's biggesthybrid renewable plant com-bining wind and solar powerhas started in Gujarat.

Also, the emphasis is beinglaid on manufacturing biofuelsas well as electric mobility, hesaid.

These measures will helpIndia move away from beinghighly dependent on pollutingcoal and liquid fuels for meet-ing its energy needs.

As much as 58 per cent of allenergy consumed in the coun-try currently comes from coalwhile petroleum and otherliquids make up for 26 per centof the energy basket. Share ofnatural gas is just 6 per centwhile that of renewables is lessthan 2 per cent.

Modi said the share of nat-ural gas, which is cleaner andcan be transported throughpipelines thereby cutting vehic-ular movements needed forother fuels, is targeted to beraised to 15 per cent by 2030.

By the same time, petrol willbe doped with as much as 20per cent of ethanol extractedfrom sugarcane and other agro

products, he said.This would help cut reliance

on imports for meeting oilneeds as well as reduce carbonemissions.

Also, the focus on renewableenergy by using abundantenergy from the sun and windto generate electricity and pro-moting the use of battery-operated electric vehicles willhelp India meet its COP-21commitments for cutting car-bon emissions.

The Prime Minister said thegovernment is working with avision to connect the entirenation with one-pipeline gridthat will help improve cleanenergy access as well as also aidin the development of city gasprojects.

The new pipeline inaugurat-ed on Tuesday is part of thatplan, he said.

This new line will help takethe fuel to industries such aspetrochemical plants and fer-tiliser units as well as providefuel for city gas projects forsupply of CNG to automobilesand piped cooking gas tohouseholds in cities along theroute, he said.

It will also help a 5 milliontonnes a year liquefied natur-al gas (LNG) import terminalat Kochi to achieve full capac-ity. The terminal has beenoperating at less than 10 percent of the capacity for last fewyears as there was no pipelineto take the gas to users.

Outlining the work done byhis government in the energysector, Modi said 900 CNG sta-tions were set up till 2014 fromthe advent of CNG as fuel forautomobiles in the countryaround 1992.

PM's energy roadmap: More than doublenatural gas share, diversify energy sources

As much as 58 per cent of all energyconsumed in the country currentlycomes from coal while petroleum andother liquids make up for 26 per centof the energy basket. Share of naturalgas is just 6 per cent while that ofrenewables is less than 2 per cent

n The scheme would refund to exporters the embeddedcentral, state and local duties and taxes that were so farnot being rebated or refunded and were, therefore,placing India''s exports at a disadvantage

n The refund would be credited in an exporter's ledgeraccount with customs and used to pay basic customsduty on imported goods. The credits can also betransferred to other importers

PNS n MUMBAI

The Exim Bank has started thenew year on a high note rais-ing USD 1 billion through adollar-bond sale to interna-tional investors, offering just2.25 per cent for the ten-yearmoney, setting a new low inpricing.

The issue was oversub-scribed four times or worthUSD 4 billion as against USD1 billion on offer, managingdirector David Rasquinha said,adding that in Asia the issuewas oversold within threehours of the launch with theorder book hitting USD 1.75billion Monday morning.

"At 2.25 per cent (US trea-sury+145 bps), the coupon isa record low for any 10-yearbond issuance out of the coun-try," he said.

The issue has many a firsts,Rasquinha said, pointing tothe lowest coupon (2.25 percent per annum) ever for alarge USD bond offering by adomestic issuer, and is also thefirst investment-grade dollarbond sale from Asia ex-Japanin 2021 and also the largestfrom Asia ex-Japan in theyear.

Again, this is the first EMBIeligible 144a/RegS bond fromAsia ex-Japan in 2021.

Regulation S/144a bondsare issued by foreign issuers inthe US debt market and aredenominated in US dollars.

I-bankers are expectinghigher debt money to come todomestic shores this year giventhe record low interest rates.Companies will also be raisingmoney to meet the likely capexneed or repayment demandsas the economy returns to nor-malcy after the year-long pan-demic.

In January 2020, the Exim

Bank had raised USD 1 billionin 10-year dollar money offer-ing US Treasury plus 1.70bps. Normally, the bank issues5, 7 and 10-year debt to meetits project export needs.

For Exim Bank, the currentissue saw the largest orderbook and over-subscription(four times) for a RegSissuance.

The Exim Bank, with a sub-stantially dollarised balancesheet, is one of the largestdomestic issuers of long-termdebt in international debt cap-ital markets and its paper istreated as quasi-sovereign asthe bank is fully owned by thegovernment.

The funds from the sale willbe used to support projectexports, overseas investmentby way of long-term credit andits export lines of credit port-folio, the bank said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gaming firm Nazara Techn-ologies Ltd on Tuesday saidPlutus Wealth ManagementLLP and its associates haveacquired shares worth overRs 500 crore of the companyfrom WestBridge.

Plutus Wealth Managem-ent LLP & its associates haveacquired shares worth overRs 500 crore in Nazara fromWestBridge Ventures IIInvestment Holdings, a fundmanaged by WestBridgeCapital in a secondary trans-action between the parties, astatement said.

"This transaction marksthe complete exit fromNazara by WestBridgeVentures, which had been anearly investor in Nazara since2005," it added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Public procurement portalGeM is using high-end tech-nologies such as ArtificialIntelligence and blockchain tomake the portal more dynam-ic and help both buyers andsellers for smooth transac-tions, a senior official said.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal waslaunched in August 2016 foronline purchases of goods andservices by all the central gov-ernment ministries and depart-ments.

GeM CEO Talleen Kumaralso said the number of star-tups registered with the portalhas more than doubled to7,900 in 2020 on account ofsteps being taken by the plat-form to attract budding entre-

preneurs."As on December 31, 2020,

there are 7,900 startups nowwith cumulative transactionvalue of Rs 2,256 crore com-pared to 3,849 startups with acumulative order value of Rs938 crore a year ago," he said.

He added that overall, thereare over 49,000 buyers, 9.36lakh sellers and over 20 lakhproducts at the platform.

About use of modern tech-nology tools, he said in theprocurement of drugs or med-icines by government organi-

sations, GeM has identifiedblockchain as the go-to tech-nology to introduce a safe, dis-tributed infrastructure for sup-ply chain.

Procurement of drugs ormedicines in bulk is currentlynot available on GeM as trace-ability and authenticity in thesupply chain for drugs areparamount in the procure-ment by government organisa-tions.

“A blockchain project forProof of Concept for showcas-ing product supply chain visi-bility and traceability in pro-curement of medicines in bulkin two districts of UttarPradesh...and by establish-ments under the DirectorGeneral, Armed ForcedMedical Services (DGAFMS)is currently underway," he said.

Exim Bank sells bondsworth $1 bn to globalinvestors at dirt low rate

GeM using AI, blockchain tech: Kumar

Plutus Wealth,associates buyNazara sharesworth `500 cr

Impose special duty on retailers:Traders’ body urges governmentPNS n KOLKATA

Owners of small businesseshave demanded imposition ofa special tax of five per cent ononline retailers and lowering ofincome tax rate to 22 per centon partnership and LLP firmsin the next Union budget tohelp them survive, a traders'body said on Tuesday.

Traders and retailers, whohave been going through atough time in the wake of theCOVID-19 pandemic, con-tribute about 22 per cent to thecountry's GDP and providesemployment to lakhs of people,Federation of All India VyaparMandal (FAIVM) claimed inits budget proposal to theUnion Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

"The traders' community ofIndia has been in a miserablecondition after the demoneti-

sation and the complex GSTsystem were implemented. Thegrowing e-commerce businesshas further raised the questionof survival of nation's brick andmortar trade. So it is veryimportant to impose a specialtax of five per cent on the totalbusiness of online retailers,"FAIVM general secretary V KBansal said.

The traders' body alsoclaimed that the online retail-ers have experienced a surge in

their revenue and reportedsales of USD 4.1 billion in aweek of October 2020 duringthe festive season.

"An income tax on partner-ship firms and limited liabili-ty partnership entities shouldbe levied at 22 per cent, insteadof 30 per cent at present. Thiswill bring it at par with incometax applicable to corporate," hesaid.

The FAIVM has alsorequested the government tooffer an interest subventionscheme for loans being provid-ed to traders so that they cancontinue their businessesunder the present circum-stances.

Service sector retail busi-nesses should also be given allbenefits which are beingextended to MSMEs, includingthe issuance of UdhyogAdhaar.

Service sector retailbusinesses should begiven all benefits whichare being extended toMSMEs, including theissuance of UdhyogAdhaar

The funds from thesale will be used tosupport projectexports, overseasinvestment by wayof long-term creditand its export linesof credit portfolio

Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey

9

Vijayawada Wednesday January 6 2021what’s brewing?

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

FUN

ollywood actressJahnvi Kapoor hadreportedly boughtan expensive housein Mumbai’s JuhuVile Parle Scheme

area for a whopping Rs. 39crore. Janhvi, daughter of lateactress Sridevi and filmmakerBoney Kapoor has been livingwith her dad and sister KhushiKapoor in Mumbai’sLokhandwala neighbourhood.According to the report, theGunjan Saxena: The KargilGirl actress’ swanky apartmentis spread across three floors(14th, 15th and 16th) in abuilding named Araya. Theactress reportedly finalised thedeal on December 7 and regis-tered the apartment with theDepartment of Registrationand Stamps three days later,on December 10. Astamp duty of Rs. 78lakhs was paid by theactress, sources stat-ed.

If the report is tobe believed, theDhadak girl will

have neighbours likesuperstar AmitabhBachchan, Ajay Devgn,her uncle Anil Kapoor,Hrithik Roshan amongothers.

Janhvi Kapoor has,on her Instagramfeed, gave usglimpses ofLokhandwalahouse a fewtimes. Fanshope to havea sneakpeek intoher newhometoo.

Janhvi buys a swankyRs.39 cr home in Juhu

ational beauty pageant DiademMiss India and Mrs IndiaLegacy focussed on womenempowerment and spreadingawareness about menstrualhygiene with the launch of its

campaign #Masiksatya.“Diadem comes with a social message

and this year also we wanted to highlightimportance of menstrual hygiene. Notonly this, with the help of our social wel-fare partner Signature Global, we hadorganised medical camps for 1,000 work-ers before the show. It is an overwhelming

feeling to know that girls across Indiabelieve in social development and want tojoin hands with us in this social cause,”says its founder and Director AmishaChoudhary.

Nikita Jagdev was crowned DiademMiss India 2020 while Priyanka Junejawon the title of Mrs. India Legacy 2020title at the grand finale recently held inDelhi NCR. The event was choreo-graphed by Mumbai-based choreographerKhizar Hussain. The jury includedFilmmaker and Music Producer BadraanSingh, International film producer Dr

Mike Berry, Rita Gangwani, groomingexpert and pageant coach who trainedMiss World Manushi Chillar and MissDeaf World, Vidisha Baliyan, among oth-ers.

Choudhary added: “I am delighted toshare that we have successfully completedour third season of Diadem Miss and MrsIndia Legacy 2020. All the contestantshave been absolutely amazing andempowering and each year. I congratulateall the winners and I am sure we will allbe able to bring a good change towardsthe society together.”

Beauty pageant spreads awarenessabout menstrual hygiene

ctor Priyanka Chopra took toTwitter to announce that herrecent Netflix film We Can BeHeroes, is getting a sequel. Shesaid that the work on the

sequel was in development.Sharing the news, she wrote: “Heroics

Headquarters projection: 44 MILLIONFAMILIES will have suited up for WE

CAN BE HEROES in its first 4weeks!! And….BREAKING

NEWS: The Heroics arecoming back for round

two. Sequel is in devel-opment with@rodriguez and@Netflix !#WeCanBeHeroes.”

We Can Be Heroesstars Priyanka in anegative role. Thefilm was a Christmasrelease and opened tomixed reviews.

Writing about it,the Hindustan Timesreview said:“Priyanka Choprahams it up as Ms

Granada, who is essentially a power-suit-wearing manifestation of corporateAmerica. She’s the evil CEO of Heroics, ateam of superheroes who’re kidnapped bytentacled aliens in the film’s opening scenes.With the planet under attack and their par-ents in peril, it falls upon their children, ledby Missy Moreno (YaYa Gosselin) to rescuethem from the aliens and save the world.”

Rodriguez, also known for directingfilms like Mexico trilogy — El Mariachi,Desparado, Once Upon a Time in Mexicoand Alita: Battle Angel, has produced thefilm.

At the time of sharing the trailer of thefilm, Priyanka had written: “Power comesin all sizes and it arrives on Christmas Day!These amazing kids have a secret weapon— Teamwork. It brought a different energyon set and is the life of this film. So whileyou wait for Santa, it’s time to sit back andlet these incredible kids show you how tobe a HERO! Are you in? We Can Be Heroes,directed by Robert Rodriguez is now com-ing to Netflix globally this Christmas.”

The actor has been stationed in Londonfor the shoot of her upcoming film, Text forYou. Her husband, singer Nick Jonas is alsowith her.

Priyanka Chopra announcesWe Can Be Heroes sequel

ower can be evil orunjust at times, and aftera powerful teaser that leftcustomers intrigued andimpressed, let’s welcomethe New Year by unveil-

ing the highly anticipated originalseries of Amazon Tandav!

Produced by Himanshu KishanMehra and Ali Abbas Zafar, Tandavmarks the digital directorial debut ofthe latter! The 9-episode engrossingpolitical drama is written by GauravSolanki and features a stellar ensem-ble cast including Saif Ali Khan,Dimple Kapadia, Sunil Grover, DinoMorea, Gauahar Khan, AmyraDastur, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub , andKritika Kamra among others. Alongwith the director, Tandav also marksthe digital debut of actresses DimpleKapadia and Kritika Kamra and pre-sents actors Saif Ali Khan, ZeeshanAyyub and Sunil Grover in never-seen-before avatars.

The trailer took its viewers behindthe closed and chaotic corridors ofpower and politics. Set in the capitalof the world’s largest democracy, theseries is a gripping, fictional dramathat showcases the lengths to whichpeople go in the pursuit of power!Talking about his character inTandav, Saif Ali Khan said, “Theentertainment industry in India isgoing through a renaissance and sto-

ries like Tandav are at the forefrontof this change. As an actor, for me agood piece of dramatic writing and acompelling creation featuring greycharacters is always exciting. As Iread about the complexities of mycharacter Samar and dove deeperinto the world of Tandav, I knewthat I had to play this character.”

The star power is shining in theseries and watching a senior actresslike Dimple Kapadia wearing theproper cape of politics is marvellous!The show will have Saif Ali Khan,Dimple Kapadia and Zeeshan Ayubbattling the war of politics, desper-ately wanting to be one of the

prominent leaders of the nation.With a parallel story playing out —the idealistic campus activistZeeshan Ayub who becomes anovernight youth icon as he shines ata political event — everyone ispower hungry in the series.

“Tandav is a political thrillerdrama,” said actress DimpleKapadia. “It is a fiction that perhapsgives you a vivid insight into back-room politicking and what goes onin the country’s power corridors.Anuradha is the kind of characterthat I have never played before and Iam glad to be making my digitaldebut into digital streaming with ashow that is backed by a crediblecast and crew. With multiple layersand so many characters, I hope thisseries intrigues and engages theaudience.”

B

P

A

N

Ab hoga ‘Tandav’

ven though it has been achallenging year for varioussectors, including the tattooindustry, we have seen a fairshare of tattoo trends thistime. As minimalistic trends

were on the rise, we could see themicro pieces of ink popped up every-where. Right from the neck tattoos tomatching pieces shared amongfriends, there were plenty of optionsto take inspiration from. Just like tat-toos, we also saw some piercingtrends. While some people choosemakeup or outfit as a means ofexpressing their style, some prefer todo this through various accessories —and ear piercings are one of the mostvisible ways to do so.

The year 2021 is upon us, and thereare various emerging tattoo and pierc-ing trends to try this year. Here’s a listto choose from:

Realistic

These tattoos are characterised bymaximising the life-like quality ofanything we see in the world — mon-uments, animals, flowers etc. It canalso be categorised as a “3D” tattoowith accurate representations of real-life imagery.

It is important to note that a real-ism tattoo done by an inexperiencedartist or someone who isn’t trained inthat particular style can be a disaster.But if done right, it will surely makeyou stand out. Tattoo expert, LokeshVerma, founder of Devil’z Tattooz, isknown for his coloured realism andportraits style of tattooing that is mas-tered by only a few people across theworld.

Sternum

Also known as chest tattoo, thesetattoos are considered among one ofthe best chest tattoos for womenbecause it looks great aesthetically andgives a feminine feel.

“People are crazy over these charm-ing sternum tattoos; it is done over anintimate place which means it’s not foreveryone to see all the time. Theunder breast area is a sensitive spot,closer to your bones so you can defi-nitely expect this one to hurt. Theamount of pain will also depend onthe kind of design and style you havechosen and the kind of artist you arewith. So, go for a rather simple designif you are a first timer,” says celebritytattoo artist, Vikas Malani, co-founder, BodyCanvas Tattoos.

Soundwave/TalkingA new, revolutionary way to

immortalise voices or your favouritetune through body art is the futuristic,latest invention in the world of tattoo-ing. “Soundwave tattoos are a newtechnology and it’s really cool. Youcan have the messages or sound ofyour special one and hear it anytimeyou want. This is more like a codedmessage which no one else can know,but whenever you feel like hearingtheir sound you can just scan the tat-too and playback,” says Lokesh Verma,who is known for pioneering sound-wave audible tattoos in India.

Here is how it works: Record anaudio clip between five to 30 secondsof your loved ones and send it to yourtattoo studio. They will create asoundwave of that audio clip and inkit on your skin permanently which

you can playback by scanning it withyour mobile phone whenever youwant to hear their precious voice.

So, if you want to tattoo the sound-wave of your baby’s first words, a mes-sage from your partner or the voicemessage in memory of your lategrandparent/loved one, then go forthis tattoo.

Armband

These are for people who want boldtattoos. While they are mostly popularamong men, it has also gained a lot offemale attention nowadays. Armbandsare usually like a bracelet usually doneon arms as the name itself suggests.They can be of different types - solidblack or with a theme like tribal, man-dala, polynesian, nature-related orspace-related. These tattoos can lookvery cool and aesthetically pleasingwithout taking up too much space onthe forearm or bicep.

Portrait

These are mostly rendered in a real-istic style that portrays head shot of aperson. Portrait tattoos are usually fortattoo lovers who want to memorialisean important figure or person. Theytypically represent something orsomeone extremely meaningful -could be of a loved one who recentlypassed away, a newly born baby, a petor your favourite musician.

Minimal

“Less is more” is the word on thestreet. Too much makeup, too manyaccessories, loud clothing, etc. is nomore in trend and might lose anyone’sattention. People simply don’t haveany clue where to look first. The sameapplies to tattoos. Often, it’s the daintytattoos that have a huge influence onyour style. Want to convey across apowerful message in a subtle way?Then small tattoos characterised withclean lines are the way to go.

Miniscule tattoos are one kind oftattoos that are super discreet, incredi-bly detailed, pretty and aren’t likely todate. That is why the millennials,especially women still haven’t growntired of the tiny trend.

Smiley && iindustrial ppiercing

A piercing through the upper lipfrenulum is sometimes called a “smi-ley,” because it is usually only visiblewhen smiling. Similarly, the lower lipfrenulum piercing is sometimesreferred to as a “frowny.” Originallycalled an “Upper Lip FrenulumPiercing,” people soon began calling ita “scrumpur.”

Vikas says, “Since ages, piercingshave always been in trend but thestyle changes over the period of time.Smiley piercings have managed tobecome one of the hottest piercingtrends of the year. Due to its increasein popularity and demand, youngstersin the city have been very open to get-ting a smiley piercing; mostly becauseof its location.”

An industrial piercing, also calledas scaffold piercing or constructionpiercing, is any two pierced holes con-nected with a single straight piece ofjewellery or a bar. However, it typical-ly refers to a double perforation of theupper ear cartilage specifically andlooks like a connecting bridge. This isone of the unique ear piercings andthe most trending too.

Ink yourstyle

South biggies' road to Bollywood

As we enter the new year, aline-up of big names fromthe Telugu and Tamil filmindustries are gearing up tomake their debut inBollywood. And no, theseare no ordinary debuts —they're all big stars downSouth, most of themknown outside theirdomain. So check out thislist of stars whose actingprowess and glamouraudience all over India willsoon experience

VIJAY DEVERAKONDA

The Telugu superstar is already knownto pan-Indian audiences as the titularhero of Arjun Reddy the original of theBollywood hit Kabir Singh. Vijay, whomade his name with his Rowdy brand ofacting in Telugu hits like Taxiwala, NOTAand Geetha Govindam, is all set for hisdebut Bollywood project. The PuriJagannath directorial will co-star AnanyaPandey, and be bankrolled by KaranJohar.

PRIYAMANI

Audiences across the countryhave already seen her in the web-space on season one of The FamilyMan, as well as prop roles inRaavan (2010) and Rakht Charitra 2(2010), besides the hit dance num-ber 1 2 3 4 Get On The Dance Floorin Chennai Express (2013). Thisyear the talented actress makes herdebut as a bona fide Bollywoodheroine in Amit Sharma’s Maidan,alongside Ajay Devgn.

RASHMIKA

MANDANA

ThisKannadiga girl,dubbed the“national crushof India” is tak-ing a big leapthis year, as sheentersBollywoodwith a bang.Rashmika,whose brandhas alwaysbeen that of thegirl next doorgirl, has givenhits such asGeethaGovindam,Dear Comradeand more. SheentersBollywood asSidharthMalhotra’s co-star in MissionMajnu, a spythriller.

SAMANTHA AKKINENI

She is one of the most sought-after femalestars not only in Tollywood but Kollywood too.Her work down South includes back to back hitslike Oh! Baby, Rangasthalam, Mahanati, andTheri. This year, Samantha will be seen in herfirst Hindi project, The Family Man 2. The sec-ond season of Raj and DK’s web series is keepingthe audience waiting with bated breath for both,the curiosity of what happens next and her debut!While the details of her role have been kept underwraps, fans and critics await this show

he year 2020saw everythingwe love, shutdown — the-atres, pools,gymnasium,

and yes, theme parks too.As all of these seem to beopening at snail’s pace,Hyderabad’s most lovedamusement parkWonderla is set to reopenin Hyderabad fromJanuary 9, 2021 onwards!But that’s not the bestnews yet. Before openingthe park to the public,Wonderla decided tothank COVID-19 front-line workers for all theirefforts during the pan-demic through the CovidWarriors days. A sweetgesture, isn’t it?

Wonderla is invitingover 5,000 Covid-19frontline workers from

the state with their fami-lies to the HyderabadPark for a fun-filled day.The park will exclusivelybe open to them onJanuary 8 and 9, 2021.The frontline workersalong with their familieswill get free entry to thepark with access to all thedry/land rides and freelunch, tea, and snacks.The selected invitees willinclude doctors and nurs-es, attendees, ambulancedrivers, police, bankers,delivery executives,teachers, journalists, etc.

Speaking more aboutthe gesture, ArunChittilapilly, ManagingDirector, WonderlaHolidays Ltd, said, “Wewill kick start our opera-tions here by thankingour frontline heroesthrough COVID

Warriors days. As weenter into the New Year,we look forward to offer-ing COVID-19 warriorsand the general public anopportunity to unwindand relax the Wonderlaway, with the necessaryprecautions and safetymeasures in place.”Visitors of all age groupscan enjoy the park at Rs.699 inclusive of GST,with access to all waterand dry/landrides. Thetheme park will be openevery day during festiveperiod from January 9 to17 from 11am onwards.The amusement parkencourages visitors tobook their entry ticketsonline frombookings.wonderla.comin accordance with theguidelines and best prac-tices.

VIJAY SETHUPATHI

The Tamil superstar is knownfor his acting chops, and garneredacclaim beyond his home turfwith the OTT-released film SuperDeluxe last year. He started theyear with a bang, announcing hisBollywood debut. The actor willstar in Santosh Sivan’sMumbaikar, a Hindi remake ofthe 2017 Tamil super hit,Maanagaram.

New Year ignites in us the passion to usherin some sort of change. It could be adifferent daily routine, for some, their

hairstyle or colour, and for others, a tattoo. The Pioneer brings to you a few tattoo and

piercing styles that are likely to emerge in2021. Take a look!

E

t

Wonderla to dedicatefirst two days tofrontline workers

WednesdayJanuary 6, 2021

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 6, 2021

PTI n SYDNEY

The Indian team manage-ment is weighing itsoptions for the third

pacer's slot with ShardulThakur and Navdeep Saini incontention but Rohit Sharma iscertain to replace MayankAgarwal at the top of the orderagainst Australia in the thirdTest starting here on Thursday.

While Agarwal's axing wasonly a matter of time afterseven failures in last eight Testinnings, the choice for thethird pacer's slot has got a bittricky with divergent opinionsemerging on who could fit therole best in absence of aninjured Umesh Yadav.

A few days back, Mumbaiseamer and useful lower-orderbatsman Shardul Thakur wasconsidered a favourite but it islearnt that there are somesenior players, who feel thatSaini, India's fastest bowler bya distance, could be used tounsettle the wobbly Australianbatting line-up with his rawpace.

The Indian team had a netsession at the overcast SydneyCricket Ground on the day andall eyes were on Rohit Sharma,who looked pretty comfortableagainst both pace and spin.

The decision on the thirdpacer has been primarilydelayed because on Tuesday,the SCG centre strip was cov-ered due to overcast conditions.

On Wednesday, a look atthe strip and the conditions willprobably help them make adecisive choice.

If the conditions are over-cast and there is bit moremoisture on the strip, thenThakur is expected to be pre-ferred.

If the track is on the flatterside, Saini, with his pace andability to reverse the old ball,could prove to be a handfulagainst a batting order that isstruggling to put up even 200runs on the board.

If Saini plays, it will be hisdebut in the longest formatwhile for Thakur, it would belike a debut as he couldn't even

finish his first over when it wasofficially his debut two yearsback.

There is a third angle tothe pacer's debate and that isThangarasu Natarajan, whohas had a meteoric rise in thepast four months and is readyto be handed the red cherry inwhites as his tweet afterMonday's photo-shoot sug-gested.

Natarajan has 20 first-classgames to his credit and his lastlonger format appearance wasin January, 2020 againstRailways on a rank-turner atthe Chepauk where Railwayswere all-out for 76 and 90largely due to the exploits ofspinners Ravichandran Ashwinand R Sai Kishore.

Natarajan bowled a total of11 overs in that game withthree wickets. WhetherNatarajan is ready for thearduous bump and grind ofTest cricket is the biggest ques-tion.

India Expected Squad

(from 12 in batting order):Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill,Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya

Rahane (captain), HanumaVihari, Rishabh Pant (wk),Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran

Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj,Jasprit Bumrah, ShardulThakur/Navdeep Saini.

VVS EXPECTS CENTURY FROM ROThe Australian wickets suit

Rohit Sharma’s batting style andif he can see off the pacers withthe new ball, the Indian vice-captain can conjure a big centu-ry in the Sydney Test, reckonsformer India batsman VVSLaxman.

An injury during the IPLforced Rohit to miss a major partof the Australia tour, whereIndia lost the ODI series, wonthe T20 assignment and the Testseries is locked at 1-1.

“The Indian cricket teamwill be very pleased to haveRohit Sharma back, especiallywhen Virat is not there. Youwant more experience in theIndian dressing room, becausenow is the perfect opportunityfor us to go 2-1 in Sydney andthen probably win 3-1," Laxmansaid on Star Sports' show CricketConnected.

"Rohit Sharma himselfwould like to showcase his talent,because I always feel that his styleof batting and talent is very suit-ed for the Australian wicket.

"So, if he gets his eye in, ifhe sees through the new ball, I'msure that a big hundred is on thecards as far as Rohit's batting isconcerned," he added.

PTI n SYDNEY

A'warrior' that he is, DavidWarner has done every-

thing to be ready and is likely tocompete in the third Test againstIndia, Australia head coachJustin Langer said on Tuesdayand assured that lack of four-daycricket for the opener in the lastfew months is not a concern.

Langer also announced thatyoung batsman Will Pucovskiwill make his Test debut onThursday.

Both Warner and Pukovski,who was primed for Test debutin Adelaide, missed the first twoTests of the series due to a groininjury and concussion-relatedissues respectively.

"Very hopeful that Davidwill be ready to go (for the thirdTest), he is a bit of a warrior, isn'the? I have said this since day onethat he is doing everything pos-sible to be ready," Langer said ata virtual media conference.

"He is moving pretty well.He is very determined to play.He loves the competition and heloves playing Test cricket. Wewill get some final eyes on himat training this afternoon and wewill make a discussion on that.But I would say, he (Warner) islooking very likely to play theTest match," he added.

Langer also announced that22-year-old Pucovski, who washit on the head during thewarm up game against India A,has been cleared to play.

"He has been cleared by allthe medicos. He has beencleared and that will be veryheartening for him and for hisfamily and everyone involved init," Langer said.

Langer sought to allay con-cerns that Warner hasn't playedfour-day cricket for about 12months, saying the immenseexperience that is behind theopener will help him jump intotraditional format without anyfuss.

"He has played a lot ofwhite-ball cricket recently, a bitlike Steve Smith. Davey hasn'tplayed any four-day cricket forabout 12 months but he is a mas-ter of the game. He has playeda lot of cricket, his experience

will help him, no doubt aboutthat," said Langer.

The coach said they willkeep Warner in the slips to helphim save energy though he mayfeel some discomfort while field-ing.

"He is going to play withpain though and it is not somuch in the muscle but in thetendon area. Like (a) lot ofcricketers, who play through dif-ferent levels of pain, he is will-ing to take that on and hopeful-ly won't hamper him too much,"he added.

Warner had himself lastSaturday said he was "highlydoubtful" about attaining full fit-ness ahead of the third Test,though he would possibly dorespond to a desperate selectionand team management's call.

However, Langer assuredthat if the Australians felt thatthere was any risk of re-injuringWarner, then they would havecertainly not rushed his return.

"He has had a good rehab,as I said he might be littlerestricted in the field, he mightget that area little-bit fatigued,because he hasn't played Testcricket for a while but we would-n't take that risk if we thoughthe would re-injure himself,"said Langer.

New Delhi: Former India pacerAshish Nehra believes that NavdeepSaini should be the “first choice” forthe third fast bowler’s slot in theupcoming third Test against Australiabecause of his extra pace and abilityto extract disconcerting bounce.

While Shardul Thakur and TNatarajan are also in contention, theformer left-arm pacer feels the selec-tion of Saini for the Sydney Test, start-ing Thursday, is a no-brainer if onegoes by pure cricketing logic.

“If you look at squad composi-tion, Saini was first choice andShardul and Natarajan both came inas replacements for MohammedShami and Umesh Yadav,” Nehra saidon Tuesday.

“So if Saini was ahead of themduring initial Test squad selection, Idon’t see any reason why he would slipdown in the pecking order. Youselected him first, so obviously youbelieved he was better than other two.Isn’t it,” Nehra, known for his plainspeaking, said.

He gave his points as to why Sainiwould be better suited for Sydney.

“Navdeep’s biggest asset are

bounce and extra pace. This is a Testmatch. How does Natarajan normal-ly gets his wickets? When people aretrying to hit him. Also, you haven’ttested Natarajan by playing him forIndia A like you did with Siraj, whohas risen through the ranks,” saidNehra.

“Similarly, Navdeep has also comeup the ranks having been on multi-ple red ball tours of India A. In Test

matches, batsmen normally don’t getout. You have to get them out. That’sthe difference.”

The white-ball games that wereheld in Sydney indicated that the deckwas a flat one and express pacecomes in handy on such surfaces.

“On Sydney pitch, you willrequire a bit more pace and Navdeephas that. There shouldn’t be anydebate as such. Sydney pitches whatI saw during white ball games, it wasvery flat.

“So when kookaburra seam willflatten out after some time, you will,require that extra pace that Navdeephas and also he can get a bit of reverseswing,” said one of his India’s finestexponents of swing bowling.

The other factor is the currentAustralian team's inability to playshort-pitched bowling.

“Also this Australian team is sus-ceptible to short-pitched bowling.Navdeep can be used better as hebowls a mean bouncer compared toa Natarajan or Shardul.” “His averagespeed is around 140 but out of thethree, Navdeep is best suited to playthe Sydney Test match.” PTI

AFP n CHRISTCHURCH

Kane Williamsonunderscored his

ranking as the world's premier batsman with a mas-terful double century on a landmark on Tuesdayas New Zealand took control of the second Testagainst Pakistan.

In between the showers at Hagley Oval inChristchurch, Williamson was in classic form, bat-ting for nine hours 33 minutes for his 238 and lead-ing New Zealand to an imposing 659/6 declaredto lead Pakistan by 362.

At stumps, the tourists were already in trou-ble at one down for eight, with Kyle Jamiesonadding to his five-wicket haul in the first inningsby removing Shan Masood for a duck.

Should New Zealand win the Test it will con-firm their ranking as the number one side in theworld for the first time - to go with Williamson'spromotion as the number one batsman - and keepalive their chance of making the World TestChampionship final.

It was a relentless performance fromWilliamson who became only the second NewZealander after Brendon McCullum to score fourdouble centuries.

He should have been out for 177 on the firstball after the first of two rain stoppages, but as hashappened several times in the Test the chance wasput down - this time by Azhar Ali, who earlier inthe day had dropped Henry Nicholls short of hiscentury.

Williamson and Nicholls had rebuilt theinnings after New Zealand were reduced to 71/3on Monday's second day.

By the time Nicholls was dismissed early in theafternoon session for 157, the pair had put on 369,the third-best all-time partnership for NewZealand and a record for the fourth wicket.

Along the way his record inningsWilliamson followed Ross Taylor andStephen Fleming to become only thethird New Zealander to pass 7,000runs. The end came for Williamsonthree overs before tea when he skieda short ball from Faheem Ashraf andwas caught in the deep by Masood. Infour innings from three Tests in thepast month Williamson hasscored 251, 129, 21 and 238.

Nicholls, dropped on92 and 133, was hamperedby a calf strain which lefthim hobbling between thewickets.

But he was still able toattack, with boundaries pro-ducing 48 of his 68 runs onday three, before he top-edged a short ball fromMohammad Abbas and wascaught at deep fine leg.

Daryl Mitchell clobbered102 off 112 balls withWilliamson delaying thedeclaration until the all-rounder posted his first cen-tury.

AFP n JOHANNESBURG

Dimuth Karunaratne’s centu-ry could not prevent South

Africa from completing a 2-0series win on the third day of thesecond Test against Sri Lanka atthe Wanderers Stadium inJohannesburg on Tuesday.

South Africa won by 10wickets after Sri Lanka werebowled out for 211 in their sec-ond innings. Set to make 67runs to win, the hosts sealedtheir victory half an hour afterlunch.

Karunaratne, the SriLankan captain, made 103 afterstarting the day on 91. His dis-missal started a collapse inwhich Sri Lanka lost their lastsix wickets for 35 runs. LungiNgidi took 4/44 and fellow fastbowler Lutho Sipamla rippedthrough the tail to take 3/40.

Karunaratne and NiroshanDickwella started brightly afterSri Lanka resumed on 150/4.Karunatne went to a 123-ballcentury with two successiveoff-side boundaries off AnrichNortje but an attempted pull offthe same bowler looped off a top

edge to backward square leg.Ngidi followed up with the

wicket of Dickwella in the nextover when a leading edge car-ried to mid-off and there wasminimal resistance from the restof the batting.

Aiden Markram battedaggressively at the start of thefinal innings but escaped whenhe edged a loose drive againstVishwa Fernando with his scoreon 14 in the last over beforelunch. Kusal Mendis dived for-ward from second slip andappeared to take a good catch

but a television review showedhe had taken the ball on thebounce.

Markram finished on 36not out while Dean Elgar fol-lowed up his 127 in the firstinnings with 31 not out. Playerof the Series Elgar made 253runs in the series and was onlydismissed twice.

It was South Africa’s firstTest series win since they defeat-ed Pakistan 3-0 in South Africain 2018/19. A surprise 2-0 homedefeat against Sri Lanka in thesame series started a sequenceof three successive series losses.

Sri Lanka were hit hard byinjuries in South Africa. Fourplayers were injured during thefirst Test and could not play inJohannesburg, while leadingfast bowler Suranga Lakmaland opening batsman OshadaFernando were unable to play ineither match because of injuries.

Captain Quinton de Kockhailed South Africa’s first serieswin in almost two years andpraised a young bowling line-upwho kept Sri Lanka under pressure for most of the twomatches.

AFP n SOUTHAMPTON

Jurgen Klopp admittedLiverpool are suffering a “rusty

moment” after a 1-0 defeat atSouthampton extended thedefending champions’ winlessrun in the Premier League tothree games. Danny Ings’s stun-ning second-minute goal earnedthree points which movedSouthampton into sixth and ledto Saints manager RalphHasenhuttl breaking into tears ofjoy on the final whistle.

Liverpool remain top of thetable on goal difference overManchester United, but havenow played a game more thanthe Red Devils, who they face intheir next league game at Anfieldon January 17.

“That’s a rusty moment wehave to admit it,” said Klopp,whose side last failed to win inthree straight Premier Leaguegames back in May 2018.

A first league defeat in threemonths may hasten Liverpool’ssearch for a centre-back in theJanuary transfer window.

Without the injured Virgilvan Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel

Matip, Klopp started two of hisfirst-choice midfielders fromtheir title-winning campaign,Fabinho and Jordan Henderson,together at the heart of hisdefence.

Southampton had notscored in their last three gamesto temper their hopes of a pushfor European football, but tookjust two minutes to break thedeadlock in style through formerLiverpool striker Ings.

Trent Alexander-Arnold didnot deal with James Ward-Prowse’s angled free-kick intothe box and Ings perfectlyhooked his shot over Alisson

Becker into the far corner.Southampton had key

absentees themselves with goal-keeper Alex McCarthy missingdue to a positive test for coron-avirus, while Oriol Romeu,Jannik Vestergaard and CheAdams were out injured.

Fraser Forster was makinghis first Saints appearance sinceMay 2019, but the formerEngland international was rarelytested to earn his clean sheet.

The visitors could easilyhave found themselves 2-0 downbefore the break whenSouthampton substitute NathanTella was inches away from his

first senior goal.If Klopp’s men were too pas-

sive in the first-half, they start-ed the second-half with theintensity they have made theirtrademark in recent seasons asSouthampton were pinnedinside their own half.

Sadio Mane was the visitors’biggest threat on his return to StMary’s as Jack Stephens made alast-ditch challenge to block hisroute to goal before Kyle Walker-Peters was lucky to escape with-out conceding a penalty forobstructing another burst fromthe Senegalese into the box.

Thiago Alcantara was mak-ing just his second Liverpoolstart since a much-anticipatedmove from Bayern Munich, buteven the Spaniard’s range ofpassing could not cut throughSouthampton’s determineddefence. “I started believing wecan do it in the 92nd minute, notearlier,” said Hasenhuttl. “Theyare so strong in front you alwaysbelieve something can happen.We had to have a perfect game-plan today and luck. Withoutluck against such a team youcannot win.”

PTI n BANGKOK

India's Saina Nehwal on Tuesdaylashed out at Badminton World

Federation for denying the athletes,among other things, access to trainersand physios ahead of the upcoming tour-naments in Thailand and urged BWF toaddress the issues at the earliest.

In a series of tweets, OlympicBronze-medallist Saina expressed herdispleasure at the restrictions imposed

by BWF as part of its Covid-19 proto-cols for the bio-security bubble.

“The physios and trainerscannot meet us during theentire tour after all (al) of ushave tested negative? @bwfme-dia @bwf_ac. 4 weeks of thishow is it possible to maintainourselves. We want to play thetournament in good condi-tion. Please sort this @bwf-media,” Saina tweeted.

With March being thecut-off date for Tokyo

Olympics qualification, Saina isworried that the lack of propertraining might have an impact onher performance. The formerworld number one said she tried

contacting the BWF, but to no avail.“Practice only for an hour

everyday for the entire team? Gym tim-ings the same ... Considering Marchbeing the important Olympic qualifica-tion period this is not good enough tobe in good shape.” An Indian contingentis currently in the Thai capital to takepart in the BWF World Tour Finals andtwo Super 1000 events.

In another tweet, Saina wrote, “NoTime for warm ups / taping / cool downs/ stretches..We are talking about the bestplayers in the world competing isn’t it?

“We’ve spent a lot of money gettingthe physios and trainers along with us.If they can’t help us then why was thisnot told before?”

Rohit to replace Mayank in XI

Rahul out with sprained left wristPTI n SYDNEY

India batsman K L Rahul wason Tuesday ruled out of the

remaining two Tests againstAustralia after sustaining awrist injury during training inMelbourne, the BCCI said.

Rahul had not played anymatch of the ongoing series inwhich the third Test starts onThursday.

"KL Rahul sprained his leftwrist while batting in the netsat the MCG during TeamIndia's practice session onSaturday," the BCCI said in astatement.

"The wicketkeeper-bats-man will not be available forthe remaining two Tests of theBorder-Gavaskar Trophy as

he will need about three weekstime to recover completelyand regain full strength," it

added.It has been learnt that the

stylish right-hander suffered a

sprain while facing one of thethree throwdown specialists atthe nets and had to call off histraining session.

For the time being, hewill not be able to add to his36 Test matches although ViratKohli, before the start of theTest series, had stated that theywere looking at Rahul as amiddle-order batsman.

Rahul had accompaniedthe squad to Sydney and onTuesday left for India.

He will head to theNational Cricket Academy inBengaluru for rehabilitation.

The injury also puts himin doubt for the four-matchhome Test series againstEngland, which beginsFebruary 5.

Warner, Pucovski will

play in Sydney: Langer

2nd Test. Day 4Live from 3:30am IST

FANCODE APP

Williamson's 238gives NZ big lead

Saini's extra pace makes himbetter choice at SCG: Nehra

Proteas complete series sweep

Dean Elgar with Man of the match andMan of the series trophy AP

Ings' stunner down LiverpoolSaina unhappy with BWF curbs

I debuted in Tamil andwithout giving muchthought into scripts, Isigned eight films. Iregretted that. Iunderstood the reachof a good role after myturns in MentalMadhilo andChitralahari. I'mchoosier now. InChandoo Mondeti'sweb film, I will be seenin a full-length role.

12

Vijayawada Wednesday January 6, 2021 tollywoodDirector Pawan has got his own style of making: Rahul

Rahul Vijay speaks to NAGARAJ GOUD onmaking his digital debut with Pawan

Kumar's Kudi Yedamaithe for Telugustreamer aha, how he landed the project

and working style of Pawan

is first threefeature filmsmight havetorpedoedat the turn-stile but

Rahul Vijay’s talent wasvisible for everyone tonotice. And it is thisspark that helped himbag Lucia and U-Turndirector Pawan Kumar’sweb series, KudiYedamaithe, starringAmala Paul, for aha.Rahul is playing themale lead in the series,which has completed aschedule of 20 days.“When Pawan was onthe lookout for a malelead, my name was sug-gested to him my mul-tiple people, informinghim that I was talentedactor who is yet to get abreakthrough. Hisexecutive producerLakshmi rang me laterand wanted to knowwhether I was interest-ed to work with Pawan.I said yes pronto. Soonafter I met Pawan atBengaluru and our con-versation went on foran hour. He saw someclips of mine from myprevious films and so,didn’t propose the needof auditioning me,”Rahul reminisces in aconversation with ThePioneer.

Rahul admits that hewas skeptical of a digi-tal debut before Marchlast year but with peo-

ple consuming a lot ofOTT content duringthe lockdown; he feltthe digital plunge willbe a “nice step in hiscareer”. “Multiplexaudiences are the oneswho watch a lot of con-tent on OTT platforms.So, I thought if I cancrack the OTT space, itwill help my featurefilms to register goodopenings. I was alsosure that KudiYedamaithe was theperfect project to makemy foray into OTTspace and if I say no toit, I’d be a fool,” henotes.

Rahul doesn’t want todivulge any detail aboutthe storyline or hischaracter as of now,saying that the projectis a fantasy thriller andprimarily revolvesaround the parts playedby him and AmalaPaul. “It will consist ofeight episodes witheach episode running

into 30-40 minutes.The next schedule willcommence inHyderabad afterSankranti and we arelooking to wrap up theentire shoot byFebruary-end,” heinforms.

Admittedly, Rahul isin awe of Pawan’s work-ing style as a director.“He is amazing and has his own style ofmaking. Last month,we shot five scenes atone location from 7 am to 2 am. To myshock he took almost160 shots. For regularTelugu films involvingA-list actors, a director generally takes 25-30shots for a scene in aday. That way, Pawan isvery fast and is clearabout what he wants.Also, it is a difficultscript to handle as adirector but he isgoing about his jobwith precision,” the actor ends.

H

I want to be the female VijaySethupathi: Nivetha Pethuraj

or NivethaPethuraj, releaseof Red forSankranti is a“big deal”, espe-cially after Ala

Vaikunthapuramlo, whichgraced cinema halls lastSankranti, took the box-office by storm. “At first,the makers informed thatthey were planning torelease Red on December21 but when they later saidit will debut duringSankranti I couldn’t behappier,” the actressinforms, beaming.

The actress plays a copin Red, which is the officialremake of Tamil hitThadam. An investigativethriller peppered with fam-ily emotions and romance,the film narrates the con-fusion that arises among afew cops when they findout that the one accused inthe murder of a youngsterhas a look-alike. All it tookfor her to have boarded theproject was a call fromdirector Kishore Tirumalawith whom she collaborat-ed for Chitralahari earlier.“I didn’t watch the original,

keen on my perfor-mance not get-

ting influ-enced.

Kishoresir

transformed me into therole. He would explain methe expressions andnuances he was lookingfrom me. I’ve just wentwith his vision. He hasextremely clarity aboutwhat he wants, so it’s easyto work with him,” sheinforms, admitting that,along with Kishore, VivekAthreya is another directorwhose films she wouldsign without even listeningto the script because of hertrust in them.

While there are twoother female characters inthe film, Nivetha says shewas keen on playing thecop because of the impactit has on the overall narra-tive. “She is fierce outsidebut innocent inside. I willenter the story in the 31stminute and will be presenttill it ends. I want to playsuch roles. To put it simply,I want to be the femaleversion of VijaySethupathi. He essays theprotagonist, heroine’sfather role, villain andwhat not. Why can’t anactress be like him? It alsohelps the actress to have along run in the industry,”she notes.

This is the first time thatNivetha has teamed upwith Ram. Reflecting onher experience of workingwith him, she says he isextremely professional andhas a weird sense ofhumour. “As everyoneknows he plays dual rolesin the film. He would takeonly five minutes tochange his clothes for theother role and slip into theemotional aspect of itstraightaway. He is very

normal on sets and hetold me that playingsuch roles give him ahigh. Guess it is thereason why he iswaiting to sign aproper project upnext. Also, it doesn’ttake much time forhim to come out ofthe character he isplaying,” she points

out.The actress admits

that her thought-process to sign a filmhas changed over timethanks to experience. “Idebuted in Tamil andwithout giving muchthought into scripts, Isigned eight films. Iregretted that. I under-stood the reach of a goodrole after my turns inMental Madhilo andChitralahari. I’m choosiernow. In ChandooMondeti’s web film, I willbe seen in a full-lengthrole,” says the actress, whowill complete Mondeti’sfilm in another five work-ing days. She admits thatKarthikeya 2 makers haveapproached for the femalelead part, while revealingthat she has also green-lit

a Tamil film. — NG

hile a new still of Prabhasfrom his next, RadheShyam, was released onJanuary 1st, it seems theactor’s fans want more.With pressure from the

legion of the actor’s fans increasingday by day for a teaser, film’s directorRadha Krishna Kumar took to Twitteron Tuesday to advise them to bepatient as an update is on the way.Radha Krishna posted, “Teaser updateis on the way guys!! Very very soon,till then just be patient!!! I promiseyour wait be worth a million smiles.#radheshyam (sic).”

However, this isn’t the first timethat Prabhas’ fans have expressedtheir disappointment in productionhouse UV Creations not offering

enough updates about the film. LastApril, they trended #BanUVCreationsafter the production house failed tohonour their promise of unveilingPrabhas’ first look from the film ontime.

A romantic drama set in Europe,Radhe Shyam, progressing presentlyin Hyderabad, is being shot in Teluguand Hindi simultaneously, while itwill be dubbed into Tamil andMalayalam. The film also marks vet-eran actor and Prabhas’ uncle UVKrishnam Raju’s daughter Praseedamaking her debut as a producer. Sheis jointly producing it along with UVCreations’ Vamsi and Pramod. She isrepresenting her dad’s banner GopiKrishna Movies, the productionhouse of which is presenting the film.

Radhe... teaser waitwill be worth a millionsmiles: Radha Krishna

ctress RakulPreet Singhshared herNew YearResolutionwith fans on

Instagram, along with amonochrome picturerecently. In the image,Rakul sports a shortbob.

“You can’t go backand change the begin-ning but you can startwhere you are tochange the ending.#NEWYEAR#NEWYOU#NEWRESOLU-TIONS,” Rakul wrotealongside the image.

The 30-year-old hasresumed shooting forMay Day after being inquarantine for a weekfollowing testing posi-tive for COVID-19.The film also starsAmitabh Bachchan,Ajay Devgn and AngiraDhar, and it marksAjay’s return to direc-tion after Shivaay andU Me Aur Hum. Herupcoming Telugureleases include Krish’sKondapolam (tentativetitle), where she plays avillage belle, andChandrasekhar Yeleti’sCheck, where she willbe seen as a lawyer.

A

W Rakul sharesher New Year

resolution

ith Tamil Nadugovernment onMonday givingconsent to the-atres and multi-

plexes to operate at 100 per-cent occupancy, Telugu FilmProducers Council too shotoff a letter to the govern-ments of Telangana andAndhra Pradesh, requestingthem to increase the seatingcapacity to 100 percent fromthe existing 50 percent. Theletter, signed by Hon.Secretaries T PrasannaKumar and MohanVadlapatla, mentionedabout the losses thetheatre man-agements

are incurring due to operat-ing at 50 percent whileadhering to StandardOperating Procedure.Interestingly, C Kalyan,president of the Council,didn’t sign it.

On the other hand, starslike Ravi Teja and Ram whohave releases lined up forSankranti haven’t spokenabout favoring 100 per-cent occupancy either.

W

F

Producer's Councilrequests 100

percent occupancy