5

Pavan Varmafree to leaveJDU when hewants: Nitish

4

Indian economypoised to takeoff, says Goyal

8

Municipalelections: All setfor polling inKarimnagartoday

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HYDERABAD, FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

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Month &Paksham:Paush & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Amavasya: 03:11 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Uttara Ashadha: 02:46 am (Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 11:04 am – 12:28 pmYamagandam: 03:15 pm – 04:39 pm

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PNS n HYDERABAD

In an attempt to conserve theendangered Kolar leaf-nosedbat, researchers from theOsmania University inHyderabad and the UK'sUniversity of Bristol have col-laborated to initiate long-termconservation actions.

The Kolar leaf-nosed bathas been found only in oneplace in India namedHanumanhalli, located in theMulbagal taluk of Kolar dis-trict, Karnataka. The leaf-nosed bat, classified as 'critical-ly endangered', is one of the

rarest bat species in India.According to zoologists, the

leaf-nosed bat is one of the

species that was discoveredby accident, when bats werecollected for virus research in

1994. It was re-discovered in2012 by zoologists fromOsmania University. Sincethen, studies have been con-ducted to better understandthe species. This led to the dec-laration of Hanumanhalli as aConservation Reserve inJanuary 2019.

Dr Chelmala Srinivasulu,an OU professor who headedthe research, said, "After re-discovering the leaf-nosed batin the year 2012, we havebeen working on understand-ing the species' ecology andbiology.

Continued on Page 3

AP Govt indicates it may abolishUpper House of Legislature

MANUU students write toKCR against CAA, NRCPNS n HYDERABAD

Students of the Maulana AzadNational Urdu University(MANUU) here on Thursdaywrote a letter to Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao, urginghim to ensure that the state'sLegislative Assembly passes aresolution against the Centre'scontroversial CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) andthe National Register ofCitizens (NRC).

The students mentioned

that CAA is against the spiritof the Constitution, whichdefines and protects the rightsof citizenship of Indians andguarantees equality before lawwithout prejudice to religion,race, caste, sex, or place ofbirth. According to the

MANUU Students' Union, thenewly-designed NationalPopulation Register (NPR)could be considered the firststep towards NRC. It is "cre-ating distress and anxietyamong the common people."

Continued on Page 4

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

After it suffered a humilia-tion by not getting two cru-cial bills on its plan of hav-ing three capitals passed bythe Andhra PradeshLegislative Council, the Y SJagan Mohan Reddy gov-ernment on Thursday indi-cated it may abolish theUpper House of theLegislature.

"We need to seriouslythink whether we need to

have such a House whichappears to be functioningwith only political motives.

It is not mandatory tohave the Council, which isour own creation, and it isonly for our convenience.

So let us discuss the issuefurther on Monday and takea decision on whether or notto continue the Council,"the Chief Minister told theAssembly on Thursdayevening.

Continued on Page 4

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

In a terrible repeat of Disha-likeincident in broad daylight, ateenaged minor student wasallegedly kidnapped and rapedby three youngsters atAmeenpur in Sangareddy dis-trict on the outskirts here onThursday.

The incident comes despitesupposed tightening of policevigil and enhanced surveil-lance systems following thesensational brutal gang-rapeand murder of a 26-year-oldveterinarian at Shadnagar inNovember 2019.

According to sources, theAmeenpur victim, aged about16, had migrated to the place 15days ago along with her parentsfor livelihood. Both her parentsare working - father as watch-

man and mother as domestichelp in an apartment. The girlis studying in a college. OnThursday afternoon, the girlhad gone to a nearby shop andwas returning home on foot.

"When she was close to herhome, a passing car pulled upby her side. Three drunk menwho were inside dragged herinto the vehicle and sped awaybefore passers-by could realizewhat was happening," sourcessaid.

Continued on Page 4

Minor girl gang rapedon city outskirtsDue to 'power holiday'no CCTV footageevidence to trace culprits, says SP

KTR gets rare honour in DavosOver Rs1,000 cr sweetenedmunicipal elections!

MUNICIPAL POLLS

TRS set for a landslide victoryGround reports indicate ruling party set to bag all the 9 municipal

corporations and 100-plus municipalities TRS comfortably placed in 121out of 129 ULBs Opposition failed to stop pink party juggernaut yet againPNS n HYDERABAD

The ruling Telangana RashtraSamiti (TRS) is set to registeryet another landslide victory,this time in the elections tourban local bodies inTelangana.

Going by ground reportsobtained from all the munici-palities and corporations on thevoting pattern in urban localbodies where polling was heldon Wednesday, TRS wouldmake a clean sweep by baggingall the nine municipal corpora-tions as well as 100-plusmunicipalities out of the 120that went to polls. In contrast,the opposition parties, all puttogether, would be confined toa single-digit tally of victories.

The Congress is expected towin just two municipalities(Vaddepally, Nandikonda),AIMIM is expected to wintwo municipalities (Jalpally,Bhainsa) and BJP is expected towin just a single municipality(Tukkuguda). Field reports sug-gest that no opposition party inTelangana can come anywherenear TRS.

Out of 129 urban local bod-ies (ULBs), comprising 120

municipalities and 9 municipalcorporations, TRS is expectedto win 121 comfortably. Thepink party is expected to winanother five municipalities withthe support of its MPs, MLAsand MLCs, who are ex-officiomembers and have votingrights in the election of mayorsand chairpersons. With this,TRS is bound to win 125 out oftotal 129 ULBs.

The counting of votes will be

taken up on January 25(Saturday).

Enthused by the groundreports, TRS party sources saidno party or leader could matchthe stature of TRS and KCR.Hence, the municipal electionshave turned out to be a 'one-sided war'.

They said Telangana peoplecontinue to repose utmost faithin TRS and KCR as their 'homeparty' and 'home leader' respec-tively, and would never consid-er any others as their replace-ment. The slew of welfare anddevelopmental programmesbeing implemented by the TRSgovernment for the past fiveyears played a key role in thevoting pattern yet again, it waspointed out.

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Call it inducement, bribe, facil-itation sum or whatever, like themoney given under the table tosweeten business deals, morethan Rs 1,000 crore changedhands during the just-conclud-ed elections to urban localbodies in Telangana. Besides,gold and silver ornaments,flight tickets, and truck loads ofliquor found their way incon-spicuously to voters' homesacross the state. Those whowere caught in the act, so tospeak, were unfortunate spec-imens; others simply laughedtheir way to polling booths.

Mind you, all of this hap-pened despite elaborate sys-

tems in place to check the flowof money and liquor in elec-tions as well as expenditurelimits laid down by the electionauthorities.

The individual amountsmay vary, but candidatesbelonging to all political par-

ties and independents spenthuge amounts in cash andkind in these elections. In all,about 12,900 candidates con-tested the municipal electionsfrom 2,647 wards and 382divisions.

Continued on Page 4

Invited to a coveted gathering of world leaders PNS n HYDERABAD

In a rare gesture, the organiz-ers of World Economic Forumhave invited Telangana MinisterK T Rama Rao to 'InformalGathering of World EconomicLeaders (IGWEL): KeepingPace - Technology Governanceat a Crossroads' in Davos.

Noticeably, KTR is the onlystate-level (provincial)Minister to be invited to thiscoveted gathering. At WEF,KTR has been granted a spe-cial badge, which gives entry tothe hyper exclusive Davos-within-Davos known asIGWEL meetings. This badgeis given only to senior govern-ment policymakers and headsof the state.

Continued on Page 2

Cheating case booked against AzharDenies charges, threatens to file defamation case

PNS n HYDERABAD

A case of cheating has beenregistered against formerIndian cricket captain andincumbent president ofHyderabad CricketAssociation MohammadAzharuddin and two others atAurangabad district ofMaharashtra Police Station forallegedly duping a travel agentto the tune of Rs 20.09 lakh.

Shahab, owner of DanishTours and Travels agency,

located in Maharashtra'sAurangabad alleged that onthe request of Azharuddin'spersonal assistant Mujib Khan,his firm had booked interna-tional flight tickets, amountingto Rs 20.96 lakh. Azharuddinand his associates were totravel on these tickets.

Mujib Khan told Shahabthat the amount would betransferred online after thebooking. But, the personalassistant failed to do.

Continued on Page 4

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad police onThursday rejected permis-sion for a poetry and protestmeeting against the CAA,NPR and NRC at the historicCharminar on the night ofJanuary 25 after BJP lodgedits protest with the PoliceCommissioner.

The poetry and protestalong with hoisting of the

national flag at Charminar,the symbol of Hyderabad,was planned by the United

Muslim Action Committee, ofwhich All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) is a part.

However, hours after a del-egation of Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) leaders called onHyderabad PoliceCommissioner Anjani Kumar,the organizers announcedthat the venue has been shift-ed to the Khilwat Ground.

Continued on Page 4

TRS MLA's son booked for assaultPNS n HYDERABAD

Criminal cases were bookedagainst TRS MLA fromPatancheru Gudem MahipalReddy's son for assaulting ageneral store owner followingan altercation between himand a wine shop merchant.

According to the policeinspector of Patancheru, PNaresh, the MLA's son,Vishnuvardhan Reddy, gothimself involved in differ-ences between the wine shopowner and Kiran Goud, whorecently set up a general storeclose to the wine shop.

"The wine shop manage-ment has given the contractto sell chips and other ediblesto consume with alcohol.

Continued on Page 4TS Minister K T Rama Rao with Coca Cola CEO James Quincey at Davos on Thursday

n Took money from all thecandidates with the idea of notto disappoint any one

n Voters divided within thehouse and cast their vote todifferent parties to do equal justice

n Winners to be jubilant….losershave to face defeat andloss of money Indicative file photo

n This time voters adopted uniquetechnique to suite the techniquesof candidates

AIMIM denied permission foranti-CAA protest at Charminar

OU & UK researchers to conserve‘critically endangered’ Kolar leaf-nosed bat

NURSE WORKING IN SAUDI 1ST INDIANINFECTED WITH CORONAVIRUSA nurse working at a hospital in Saudi Arabia is the first Indian to beinfected by the deadly Coronavirus that originated in China and haskilled 17 so far. V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for ExternalAffairs, said about 100 Indian nurses, mostly from Kerala have beentested and none except one nurse was found infected by Coronavirus.The minister said the Indian nurses hadbeen quarantined due to the Coronavirusthreat. "Affected nurse is being treated atAseer National Hospital and is recoveringwell," he tweeted.

PAK CONDUCTS TEST LAUNCH OFBALLISTIC MISSILE GHAZNAVIPakistan on Thursday conducted a successful test launch of surface to

surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi, the Inter-Services Public Relations(ISPR) said. "Ghaznavi missile is capable of delivering multiple types ofwarheads up to a range of 290 kilometres," the ISPR said, adding thatthe training launch was part of a Field Training Exercise of ArmyStrategic Forces Command aimed at rehea-rsing operational readiness proceduresduring day and night. The training launchwas witnessed by Lieutenant GeneralNadeem ZakiManj.

AFTER UDDHAV AND ADITYA, ANOTHER‘SON-RISE' IN THACKERAY CLANSetting political circles aflutter, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday

formally launched his 27-year-old son Amit Thackeray into politics atthe party's first mega-convention here. Amit Thackeray's namewas announced by a senior leader BalaNandgaonkar andgreeted with a standing ovation by the 20,000 plus gatheringat the NSE Ground, Goregaon. Humbly acknowledging the'abhishek' honour, Amit Thackeray folded his hands -- andtaking a leaf out of his uncle Uddhav Thackeray's book-- stepped forward on the stage, bowed andprostrated, and expressed gratitude to party workers.

Snakes may be the original source of the newly discovered novelcoronavirus (2019-nCoV) that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly

infectious respiratory illness in China, according to a new study. Thefinding, published in the Journal of Medical Virology, provides importantinsights on the potential origins of the most recentoutbreak of viral pneumonia in China, which is nowspreading to Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, andJapan. "Results from our analysis suggest for the firsttime that snake is the most probable wildlife animalreservoir for the 2019-nCoV," said researchers.

SNAKES MAY BE THE SOURCE OFCORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK IN CHINA

Urge him to pass resolution in Assembly

Enthused by theground reports, TRSparty sources said noparty or leader couldmatch the stature ofTRS and KCR

PNS n HYDERABAD

A meeting is a meeting andgoing to it without prepara-tion means asking for trouble.Telangana Director of SchoolEducation T Vijay Kumarlearnt it the hard way onThursday.

The CS had convened apre-budget meeting with allthe officials concerned. VijayKumar reportedly attendedthe meeting without anypreparation due to which theChief Secretary became furi-ous. In a fit of rage, he trans-ferred Vijay Kumar.

Late on Thursday evening,an official note was issuedstating that Janardhan Reddy,Secretary, has been appoint-ed as the in-charge official inplace of Vijay Kumar. Thenote said: Vijay Kumar is"transferred with immediateeffect" and directed to reportto General AdministrationDepartment.

Lesson from CS:Education directortransferred

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HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020 hyderabad 02

Rajya Sabha MP Joginapally Santosh Kumar congratulated the Indian Oil Corporation, which had come forward to plantsaplings in Miyawaki method at Gachibowli in partnership with GHMC, as part of Corporate Social Responsibility. The MP,welcoming the initiative, asked other petroleum products marketers to get inspiration from Indian Oil Company, and urgedthem to join the bandwagon

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PNS n HYDERABAD

City-based National Institute ofRural Development andPanchayati Raj (NIRDPR) onThursday said it has joinedhands with UNICEF to estab-lish a 'CommunicationResource Unit' (CRU) to act asan institutional mechanismfor providing strategic commu-nication support to nationalflagship programmes.

It provides Social andBehavioural ChangeCommunications (SBCC) tostate governments as well as tocentral government schemessuch as POSHAN Abhiyaan,

National Health Mission andSwachh Bharath Missionamong others, a release fromNIRDPR said. It is currentlyoperating in Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and Karnataka andhas demonstrated manage-ment of strategic communica-tions, the release said.

It aims to cater to strategiccommunication needs of dif-ferent government departmentthrough consultations, techni-cal support and, capacity build-ing. CRU is equipped with askilled team to support SBCCstrategies development, rolloutplans, capacity building and

developing IEC material,among others. According tothe release, CRU has beenrecognised as unique model tooperate out of NIRDPR andserve government departmentswith various communicationneeds. The unit is servingdepartments such as WomenDevelopment and ChildWelfare, Health, RuralDevelopment and Educationthrough various SBCC strate-gies, IEC material, capacitybuilding of line functionariesand also with translation andadaptation of National Materialon POSHAN and AnaemiaMukth Bharath, it added.

NIRDPR joins hands with UNICEF

NIRDPR Director General Dr WR Reddy and others at a programme in the city on Thursday

TRS GOVT RESTORED PASTGLORY OF RYOTS: HARISHPNS n HYDERABAD

Finance Minister T HarishRao has said that the state gov-ernment is spending 30 percent of the budgeted funds onagriculture, which is unprece-dented in the country, andrecalled how the TRS-Ied gov-ernment borrowed Rs 1,056crore from NABARD to buildgodowns and Rs 874 crorefrom it to develop micro-irri-gation facilities.

Participating as chief guestin the State Credit Seminar-2020 at Radison Blue Hotel inBanjara Hills here on Thursday,he called for strengtheningsectors ancillary to agriculturelike agriculture processing,storage, marketing and export.Telangana is the only state inthe country to have extendedvarious subsidies to agriculturesector.

He said the agriculture hadlost its sheen during regimes ofsuccessive governments inundivided Andhra Pradeshleading to farmer deprived ofhis due honour.

K Chandrashekhar Rao,during his first regime as theChief Minister focused onresolving farmers' problemsand with the assistance ofNABARD, the governmentbuilt a chain of godowns anddeveloped micro irrigation.Besides allocating a majorchunk of budgeted funds tofarm sector, the state govern-ment is extending an input

subsidy of Rs 12,000 per acreto farmers per annum, he said.

Also, Rs 5 lakh insurancecover facility is being extend-ed to the bereaved farmers'families, which is unprece-dented in the country. The stategovernment is paying Rs 1,136crore per annum as premiumto the insurance company, hesaid.

The State government dur-

ing its first regime implement-ed the crop loan waiver schemeand has earmarked to spend Rs6,000 crore per annum underthe scheme during its secondregime. Besides energisingagricultural pump sets andwells free of cost, the state gov-ernment has been supplyingpower free of cost to major liftirrigation schemes -Kalemswaram, Nettempadu

and Bima projects - incurringan annual expenditure of Rs8,000 crore under the head offree power to farm sector.

He put the annual budget ofirrigation department at Rs34,000 crore, which includes Rs25,000 crore borrowed frombanks. Prior to advent of theTelangana state, dailies werefull of news about farmers' sui-cides, but the trend was on thedecline because of the earnestefforts made by the govern-ment of Telangana to developagriculture sector, he observed.

The TRS government devel-oped agricultural sector fromthe stand point of a wastefulvocation to a profitable activ-ity, he said reiterating that noother state has been spendingso much on agriculture andfree power to the farm sectorcompared to Telangana.

Calling Telangana as theseed bowl of India, he said theshare of country's exports ofseeds to Africa and Asiaincreased, he said. The stategovernment solved the prob-lems of revenue records in atransparent way, he said addingthat four per cent of the cleans-ing of revenue records is lockedin litigation.

He called for extendingcredit to sectors ancillary toagriculture like poultry devel-opment, sheep units as theseare beneficial to farmers. TheGovernment grounded 3.75lakh sheep units to benefitshephered communities.

Chief Minister KChandrashekharRao, during hisfirst regime asthe CM focusedon resolvingfarmers'problems andwith theassistance ofNABARD, theTRSgovernmenthad built a chainof godowns inthe state

HARISH RAOFinance Minister

Avoid middlemen inmarketyards: NiranjanPNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy on Thursdaysaid farmers are central tostate's development and thestate progresses only if thefarmer is happy. Speaking at aprogramme held at TNGOagricultural market employees'central union diary and calen-dar release function held here,he said the government suc-ceeded in bringing crop pro-duction, marketing, processingand single window mecha-nism under one umbrella.

There were an estimated 60lakh farmers in the state.Excellent results can beachieved by unifying the farm-ers and with the functioning of

the farmers' coordination com-mittees with greater coordina-tion, he said.

Prior to statehood move-ment, agricultural marketyards wore deserted look, hesaid adding now farmers areseen selling their produceeverywhere as paddy purchasecentres have been set up inalmost all villages. Integratedagricultural markets would beset up across the state in futureon the lines of the ones atGajwel and Siddipet increasingemployment prospects formany.

He exhorted the marketingdepartment employees to benot to be worried as the gov-ernment would solve all oftheir problems. He asked the

government employees toeliminate the intervention ofmiddlemen in the marketyards.

The Centre would purchaseonly 30 per cent of the cropproduced at the MSP while thegovernment of Telanganawould purchase the remainderof the crop at the MSP, he said.It would put an annual burdenof Rs 1,000 crore per annum.There were instances of farm-ers of neighbouring states areselling their produce in themarket yards in Telangana forwant of the MSP for their pro-duce in their states. He want-ed the market yard employeesto resist the practice and pre-vent drain of governmentfunds.

Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy releasing TNGO agricultural market employees' central union’s calender on Thursday

SURVEY IN VILLAGES

Training for panchayatofficials soonPNS n HYDERABAD

Training programme forDistrict-level PanchayatOfficers will be conductedwithin a week as a precursorto conducting ease of livingsurvey in villages to assess thestandard of living of villagers.An officer of the Panchayat RajDepartment, who wished toremain anonymous, said thatthe whole survey would beconducted with the help of amobile application.

As part of the survey eachand every household would becovered in villages and the

image of their habitats wouldbe geo-tagged. Arrangementsare being made to get access tothe whole information onlinewith just one click.

The authorities will findout whether the habitat is atin-sheet roofed house, tiledhouse, are a two-storeyedstructure and whether thehouse as power connectionand road access. The officialsverify whether the house hastap connection and individualsanitary toilet. The officialsassess whether a habitat is aresidential building or com-mercial building.

PNS n JOGULAMBA GADWAL

Three persons died on thespot when the car they weretravelling in, rammed a sta-tionary tractor late onWednesday night nearDayyala Vagu of Itikyalamandal. There were four per-sons in the car when the acci-dent happened. The passen-gers of the car, all residents ofGadwal town, were headingtowards Erravalli fromGadwal town at around 12.30am on Thursday, when theircar collided with a tractorcarrying sugarcane, whichwas parked on the roadside.Three passengers travelling inthe Swift car died on the spot.Driver was admitted to hos-pital with serious injuries.

3 killed inroad accident

PNS n HYDERABAD

The TSRTC earned Rs139.34 crore, as against Rs121.30 crore earned lastyear during the correspond-ing period, by operating5,052 special bus servicesfor about 10 days during theSankranti festival to variousdestinations in Telangana,Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka.

The daily income of theRTC was increased to Rs12.66 crore as against thedaily earning of Rs 11 crore.On Monday (Jan 20), theRTC earned the highestrevenue of Rs 16.57 crore.Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumardescribed the earnings asthe highest in the history ofTSRTC. He said that theearnings of the RTC are intune with the management’spredictions and exudedconfidence that the trans-port undertaking will mul-tiply its income by runningspecial buses to Medaramtribal festival.

RTC specialservices netRs 139.34 cr

KTR gets rare honour...Continued from Page 1

IGWEL is a gathering whichbrings world leaders onto asingle platform and encour-ages them to talk more freely.

The organizers of the WorldEconomic Forum invitedworld leaders, including thePrime Ministers of variouscountries and NationalMinisters from various statesand provinces.

The list of Prime Ministerswho attended the gatheringincludes Ana Brnabi?, PrimeMinister of Serbia, MateuszMorawiecki, Prime Minister ofPoland, and Jüri Ratas, PrimeMinister of Estonia.

A line of prominentNational Ministers invited tothe gathering include CarlosAlexandre Da Costa, DeputyMinister for Productivity,

Employment andCompetitiveness, Brazil; PauloGuedes, Minister of Economy,Brazil; S Iswaran, Minister forCommunications andInformation; Minister-in-Charge of Trade, Singapore(MCI); Park Young-sun,Minister of Small andMedium-sized Enterprises andStart-ups, Republic of Korea;Johnny Gerard Plate, Ministerof Communication andInformation Technology,Indonesia; Peggy Onkutlwile,Serame Minister ofInvestment, Trade, andIndustry, Botswana; Ali binMasoud Al Sunaidy, Ministerof Commerce and Industryand Deputy Chairman of theSupreme Council forPlanning, Oman; EyobTekalign, Tolina State Ministerof Finance, Ethiopia.

HMDA keento acquiremore landsPNS n HYDERABAD

The HMDA is likely toissue notification for landacquisition inDandumalkapuram inChoutuppal mandal ofYadadri-Bhongiri districtand in Bhogaram village ofKeesara mandal ofMedchal-Malkajgiri dis-trict following fruitful dis-cussions with farmers ofthe two villages at gramasabhas. The HMDA hasplans to augment its rev-enue by development oflands acquired from farm-ers in villages on the cityoutskirts. Following thesuccess of such initiatives inmany outskirts, the HMDAis keen to issue notificationto acquire lands in the twovillages. The HMDA offi-cials said that the farmersof the two villages cameforward to give up theirlands. Currently, TSIIC hasset up an industrial park inDandu Malkapuram.

Warangal tohave new fruitmarket soonPNS n WARANGAL RURAL

A new fruit market with allmodern facilities will comeup soon on outskirts of thecity. Parkal MLA ChallaDharma Reddy said that theState government had alreadysanctioned Rs 6.50 crore forsetting up the market for thebenefit of the traders as wellas the consumers.

He added that they werescouting for the suitable landfor the proposed market. Asa part of it, MLA along withGeesugonda TahsildarKanakaiah and others hasinspected the governmentland in the third division ofthe Greater WarangalMunicipal Corporation (onthe outskirts of Gorrekunta)on Thursday. He directedthe revenue officials to surveythe land and demarcate theboundaries. Official sourcessaid that there is an extent ofmore than nine acres of thegovernment land available.However, there are some legaldisputes over the land. Butthe officials made it clear thatthey would sort out the legalissues and see that the landwould be allocated for thefruit market.

Home Minister to visit Janpahad dargah todayPNS n HYDERABAD

Home MinisterMohammed MahmoodAli will visit Urs-E-Shareef,Dargah Hazrath SyedMohiuddin Shah at JanpakShaheed in Janpahad vil-lage of Suryapet district onFriday. On the occasion,the Minister would offerchadar, flowers, garlands atthe holy dargah and prayfor the wellbeing of peopleand overall developmentof Telangana.

He said, he would offerspecial prayers to seekblessings for the recordvictory of TRS in therecently concluded munic-ipal elections and goodhealth and long life ofChief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Ex-servicemenrally on Feb 1PNS n NIZAMABAD

An ex-servicemen rally willbe organised on February1 by Artillery CentreHyderabad under the aegisof Dakshin Bharat Areaand Telangana & AndhraSub Area at Sri RamaGardens Hall, MarutiNagar, Nizamabad. Therally is aimed at reachingout to veterans and widowsof Army, Navy, Air Force ofNizamabad, Kamareddy,Adilabad and Nirmal dis-tricts. Senior military andcivil administration offi-cials will interact with theparticipants and veer narisand differently-abled sol-diers will be felicitated onthe occasion.

Officials told to make fool-proofarrangements for MedaramPNS n HYDERABAD

Woman and Child WelfareMinister Satyavati Rathod hasdirected the officials concernedto ensure foolproof arrange-ments are made at theMedaram Jatara site, which isall set to commence fromFebruary 5.

Reviewing the arrangementsfor the event with officialshere on Thursday atDamodaram SanjivaiahSamkshema Bahvan, she askedthe officials to make good useof Rs 75 crore, granted byChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao to makearrangements for the festival

and provide all amenities to themilling devotees. She inspect-ed an invitation card designedfor the event as if to brand thetribal festival and to invite theCM and other important lead-ers and tribal leaders. Theinvitation card was designed bythe Tribal Welfare Departmentreflecting the tribal culture. Sheasked the officials to monitorthe residue of works on a dailybasis to ensure their comple-tion on time and asked them totake all precautions to ensurethat no inconvenience is causedto the devotees visiting the fes-tival. She asked the officials toappoint all those officials whowere involved in the past in

the conduct of the festival ondeputation basis. She wantedthat a plastic free Medaramshould be the objective of theofficials. Coconuts should besold in cloth bags in shopsacross the venue of the festi-val. She appealed to the devo-tees to not to use plastic.

She wanted the officials togive enough publicity to theevent across the state, inHyderabad and in undividedWarangal district. She alsoasked the officials to pay atten-tion to the forthcoming SSCpublic exams so that the stu-dents of tribal welfare residen-tial schools post good resultscompared to the last year.

NIRDPR UNICEF will establish aCommunication Resource Unit to act asan institutional mechanism for providingstrategic communication support tonational flagship programmes

Minister Sathyavathi Rathod at a review meeting with officials in Hyderabad on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Narayana EducationalInstitutions have once againdominated B Arch division ofJEE Main results 2020announced on Thursdayevening by securing 100 per-centile for their student HardikRajpal.

Dr Sindhura Narayana,Managing Director and Sharani,director of Narayana Groupinformed media persons thatRajpal is one of the two studentsin the entire country to havesecured 100 percentile in JEEMain (B.Arch.) resultsannounce by NTA and he is alsothe lone student from both

Telugu states to achieve this dis-tinction. Sindhura said thatNarayana's unparalleled suc-cess rate is a result of theGroup's well researched and

definitive curriculum devel-oped by experts, which givesstrong emphasis on mastery offundamentals and thoroughconceptual understanding.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Women and ChildWelfare Satyavathi Rathod onThursday released the posterfor the National Girl Child Dayto be observed on Friday andcalled upon one and all tostrive to protect the girl child.

The poster was brought outby the Child Rights ProtectionForum of the MV Foundation.

The KCR government gavepriority to welfare of thewomen and to their protectionand constituted SHE teams,brought out Kalyana Lakshmischeme to wean girls awayfrom child marriages.Implementing ArogyaLakshmi scheme to providenutritious food to expectantmothers, the government givesRs 12,000 to each pregnantwoman since she was 24 weekspregnant till her baby become

three-months-old for a periodof six months at the rate of Rs2,000 a month. Also, the gov-ernment gives Rs 1,000 addi-tionally to the mother if thenew born was a female.

She appealed to citizens toconduct themselves responsi-bly towards the girl child andstop practicing sex discrimina-tion and encourage the girl

child to pursue education. She wanted women to take

active part in the Each OneTeach One programme anderadicate illiteracy.

MLCs Farooq Hussain,Child Rights' ProtectionForum chairman SubashChandra Bose, Dalit BahujanFront leader T Sankar and oth-ers took part in the event.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad is priority centerfor YouTube, declared the CEOof YouTube Susan Wojcickiduring an interaction withMinister KT Rama Rao atDavos.

KTR had a brief conversa-tion with CEO and wasdelighted to learn about thepriorities of YouTube. He alsomet CocaCola CEO JamesQuincey and discussed theirbusiness growth plans andopportunities in Telangana.On day three, KTR promotedTelangana as an investmentdestination at WEF. He heldseries of discussions withBusiness leaders and politicalleaders.

KTR met the Minister ofSMEs and Startups of Republicof Korea Park Young-Sun whoemphasised the need for dereg-ulation with respect to innov-ative enterprises. SaudiCommunications MinisterAbdullah Alswaha interactedwith Minister KTR at a busi-ness gathering in Davos.Minister invited the SaudiMinister to visit Hyderabad toexplore potential collabora-tion opportunities

Chris Johnson, EVP & CEOAsia, Oceania, Nestle metKTR. Minister also held dis-cussions with Deep Nishar,senior managing partner SoftBank Investment Advisers andAmazon Web services VP,Global Public Policy MichaelPunke. Mahindra GroupChairman Anand Mahindraalso met Minister KTR atDavos.

Hyderabad's robust life sci-ences and pharma ecosystem,emerging trends in DigitalDrug discovery and use of AI,

ML in the pharma industry,emerging trends in vaccinemanufacturing were among ahost of issues discussed in themeeting.

KTR discussed possible col-laboration with RICH andBioAsia with Camilla Sylvest,EVP, commercial strategy andcorporate affairs Novo Nordisk- Danish multinational phar-maceutical company. DavidLoew, executive vice presidentand head of Sanofi Pasteur metMinister at the TelanganaPavilion in Davos.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020 hyderabad 03

Saraswathi Swamiji, Sarada Peetham, Visakhapatnam called on Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan inHyderabad on Thursday

COURTESY CCALL

RIMEORNERC

Rs 7 lakh nettedfrom 70 fined fordrunk drivingKHYDERABAD: A local court atNampally has imposed a fine ofRs 7 lakh to 70 people onWednesday who were caughtdriving under the influence ofalcohol. All the persons whowere challaned were caught bypolice during drunken drivingchecks conducted last week.The Hyderabad Police havestarted conducting drunken-drive checks across the city.After hearing over the case, thecourt has imposed a fine of Rs10,500 to 59 people and Rs500 to six people, along withfive days imprisonment, Rs16,500 fine was imposed onfour people and a person wasasked to pay Rs 16,500 andone-day imprisonment.

Man gets lifeterm in prison for raping minorHYDERABAD: A local court atNampally that deals withPOCSO cases has sentenced aman to rigorous lifeimprisonment on Wednesdayfor raping a 15-year-old girl. The accused has beenidentified as 23-year-oldMukesh Kumar Yadav, apainter by profession, he is aresident of Golnaka inKacheguda and a native ofUttar Pradesh. He was arrestedby the Kacheguda police forsexually assaulting a girl in2011. According to the police,the victim on May 1, 2011visited the place of the accusedwho was her neighbour. Thetwo sisters of the girl were outplaying at that time. While thevictim was watching TV at hishouse, the accused forciblyraped her. When her mother,who is a contract labourer inRTC depot, returned home, theminor victim informed thesame to her. On May 2, 2011the victim's mother registereda case with Kachiguda police. Acase was booked against Muk-esh Kumar at the Kachigudapolice station under Section376(2)(f) of IPC. The courtsentenced the man to rigorousimprisonment for life.

Office space consumption to surge residential realty NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

While Hyderabad overtookBengaluru office space absorp-tion, this is likely to impetusresidential reality. According toConfederation of Real EstateDevelopers Association ofIndia (CREDAI), the increasein office space consumption to12 million square feet willhave a ballpark increase by 4times on residential realty.

According to V RajasekharReddy, General Secretary,CREDAI Hyderabad"Decentralisation of officespace is happening in the cityand price appreciation is muchbeyond anything. Lot ofabsorption of office space is inwest. Office space consump-tion in Hyderabad is givingimpetus to market which isfocusing in better way. In longrun, there will be small rentalcorrections. We need toaddress absorption for residen-tial projects which is runningin parallel. It is better to investin space which minimises trav-el time. Gachibowli, Kokapet,Shamshabad additionallyPatancheru, Kolluru, Miyapurand Chandanagar will witness

more new projects"However, realtors believe

that there is huge scope for fur-thering office space consump-tion in the city. N JaideepReddy, vice president ofCREDAI said, "Actually 12million square feet office spaceconsumption is very low forHyderabad. The reason we arestuck at 12 million and notgoing to 15 million is becausethere no space available. Ourinfrastructure is good which isbetter than IT hub inBengaluru. There are manychances to shift new projects toHyderabad which are plannedin Bengaluru."

Jaideep Reddy added,

"Moreover, the low rental rateswill add to it. We are doingaround Rs 55-Rs 65 in Raidurgarea. The same place inBengaluru is about Rs 100, weare about 30 per cent cheaperthan Bengaluru. This is trans-lating to 60 million squarefeet of residential realty".

P Rama Krishna Rao,CREDAI President announcedthe 9th edition of HyderabadProperty Show from 31stJanuary to 2nd February 2020at Hitex, Madhapur. The showwill display over 15,000 unitsfrom CREDAI Hyderabadmember developers, differentstakeholders from the financialand manufacturing sectors,

displayed in 80 stalls. Speaking on the occassion,

Rama Krishna Rao said, "Thereal estate sector in Hyderabadis on an upswing. This 9th edi-tion of CREDAI HyderabadProperty Show is to help thebuyers identify the best pro-jects in the city under one roofand decide to make their 'win-vestment' before the city wit-nesses a rapid price hike in thereal estate."

Meanwhile, CREDAI wel-comed the TS-Bpass move andtermed it as big administrativereform that is going to happenin Telangana.

IT Minister KT Rama Rao meets YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki at Davos

According toCREDAI, theincrease inoffice spaceconsumption to12 millionsquare feet willhave a ballparkincrease by 4times onresidentialrealty

Hyderabad is a priority centrefor YouTube: Susan tells KTRl KTR meets CEOs of YouTube, CocoCola at Davos

PNS n HYDERABAD

A major fire broke out in twowarehouses at Sai Baba Nagarin Mailardevpally on the cityoutskirts on Thursday morn-ing. No casualties were report-ed as the warehouse wasclosed. The fire initially start-ed in a tyre godown and soonspread to the nearby plasticgodown. The flames from thetwo godowns formed a thicksmoke which caused suffoca-tion to the people residing inthe area. Officials suspect ashort circuit could have led tothe fire.

The tyre godown is ownedby Syed Mosin, a resident ofDanama Jopidi. He used thewarehouse to dump old

unused tyres. The plastic ware-house belongs to Syed Amir, aresident of Kings colony. Policesaid that the godowns were setup without permission.

Residents noticed fire andalerted the fire departmentand police officials. The ware-house was full of plastic scrapmaterial, due to which thicksmoke engulfed the surround-ing areas, triggering panicamong the residents. Peoplestaying in houses and hutsnear the warehouse were evac-uated as a preventive measure.Due to the thick smoke andflames, more fire engines werecalled in. "Five fire engines to-ok six hours to control the bla-ze,” said Ravinder Naik, SIMailardevpally Police.

Massive fire breaks outin plastic, tyre godowns

2 cricket betting bookies nabbedHYDERABAD: Officials of theSouth Zone Task Force teamapprehended two cricketbetting bookies and seized Rs55,000 cash and three cellphones at Shahinayat Gunj onThursday. The accusedidentified as ShailenderAgarwal, 34, is a resident ofSitaram Bagh, Mallepally andSandeep Agarwal, 35, is aresident of Doodbowli.

Teacher bookedfor thrashingstudentHYDERABAD: The LB NagarPolice booked a teacher at aprivate school for allegedlythrashing a Class IV student onThursday. The police officialsreceived a complaint from theboy's grandfather, who saidthat the 9-year-old boy hadfainted due to a blow he hadreceived on the head when theteacher beat him. The boy, astudent of Pallavi AwareInternational School, at LBNagar had reportedly torn adrawing paper. The drawingteacher was enraged at thisand punched the boy on hishead. The boy then fainted. Theboy's grandfather then went tothe school to ask about theissue. Based on the complaint,the LB Nagar Police registereda case and began aninvestigation into the incident.

Satyavathi: Encourage girlchild to pursue educationl Minister releases poster for National Girl Child Day

Hyd US Consulate number 2 in issuance of H1BPNS n HYDERABAD

US Consul General, Hydera-bad Joel Reifman on Thursdaysaid that US consulate inHyderabad stands at secondposition in the world for theissuance of H1B visas.

Commending erstwhileAndhra Pradesh governmentfor facilitating setting up of theConsulate in Hyderabad, Joelsaid, "It stands in top ten in theworld for issuance of studentvisas. We issued more than 2million visas in 11 years. Ournew consulate will have 54 visawindows and more capacity toexpand that relationship".

He added that Telugu is fast-est growing language in US. Hewas speaking at HYSEA firstever business summit - BIZ

Summit 2020-ExpandingGrowth Horizons' at AvasaHotels in Hyderabad.

While stating that the best isyet to come, Joel said, "Whilewe are very encouraged byIndia's reform in GST, bank-ruptcy and consultancy code,

there are other areas we can ce-rtainly work on together to im-prove - some of them are - datalocalisation, price control mea-sures, protecting the integrityof intellectual properties andsigning new contracts. Thisopenness is essential to ensure

that the trade is truly free andequitable".

The business summit focusedon outstanding business lead-ers providing trade insights andeffective strategies for expand-ing growth horizons. He said,"For instance the United stateshas one of the lowest appliedaverage tariff rate in the worldat 3.4 per cent. India's appliedaverage traffic rate is 13.4 per

cent. Almost one half of ourtariff items imported intoUnited States from India isduty free whereas less than 3per cent of goods coming fromUnited States into India qual-ify for duty free status. So weare looking to equalise thatplaying field for serving ournation for further growth.”

Murali Bollu, President,HYSEA said, "Our objective isto help IT companies inHyderabad to grow by bring-ing in new business. This sum-mit will benefit companiesgain insight about the newtechnologies and geographies,changing client expectations,emerging new business mod-els and knowledge about newmodels in marketing and salesdomains."

Officials told to make elaborate arrangementsPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for EducationSabita Indra Reddy onThursday asked officials toconduct the Intermediate pub-lic exams in a fool proof man-ner taking into considerationthe last year's experiences.

The practical exams will beheld from February 1 to 20 andthe main exams from March 4to 23. The Minister said thatover 9,65,840 are appearing forthe exam in 1,334 examinationcenters. Referring to privatecolleges harassing students bynot giving the hall-tickets, theMinister said that the studentscan download the hall ticketsfrom the relevant website.

The Center for GoodGovernance has been appoint-ed to extend technical supportto the government in the con-duct of exams, the Ministersaid asking the authorities to

constitute technical experts tomonitor the activities of theCGG. Sabita Indra Reddy toldthe officials to arrange meet-ings of the High-Power Com-

mittees in districts to ensuresmooth conduct of exams. Theofficials were also asked to setup a help desk in the office ofthe Board of Intermediate

Education to answer queries ofstudents. Board secretaryOmar Jaleel, controller ofexams Abdul Khaliq and oth-ers were also present.

INTER EXAMS

OU professorinvited forleadershipat HarvardPNS n HYDERABAD

Prof Jagadeeshwar RaoVeeraneni, EMRC, OsmaniaUniversity, was invited for theleadership of 21st Centuryprogramme at the presti-gious Harvard University,Boston, USA for two weeksfrom Febru-ary 2, 2020.As manyas nintyparticip-ants fromd i f f e re ntcountries aregoing to participate in theprogramme. Leadership forthe 21st Century pushes par-ticipants to reflect on deep-est assumptions and moststrongly held values andencourages to consider howvalues and beliefs may havelimited in the past. The lead-ership for the 21st Centuryprogramme is intended forsenior executives in govern-ment, corporate, NGOs andacademicians who wish tobetter understand the person-al and political aspects ofleadership and improve theircapabilities to lead.

Voc Inter passouts can avail apprenticeship HYDERABAD: Those completing vocational Intermediate courses in Telangana will now be able to availapprenticeship from this academic year. The students from various trades will be engaged in differentindustries after passing their Intermediate examinations that will be held in April and May 2020. Theapprentices will receive a stipend of Rs 7,000 per month. The Commissioner of Intermediate Educationhas begun approaching various business segments, urging them to provide apprenticeship to thevocational intermediates. The government will reimburse 25 per cent of the stipend to such units.The Department of Intermediate Education in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of SkillDevelopment and Entrepreneurship (RDSDE) held a workshop on Wednesday to raise awareness of'apprenticeship' with managements of hospitals and nursing homes, at the Commissionerate ofIntermediate Education, Nampally in Hyderabad. The director of RDSDE also requested the hospitalmanagements to register themselves with the directorate to provide apprenticeship to the vocationalstudents. He said that apprenticeship to students has been restored from the academic year 2020.Syed Omer Jaleel, the Commissioner of Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education, said that adatabase of passed students will be displayed on the board's website for the convenience of hospitalslooking to take in apprentices. Nearly 10,000 female students training to become Multi-Purpose HealthWorkers and 9,000 male students of Medical Lab Technician can avail apprenticeship through CentralizedApprenticeship Selection Melas, said Jaleel.

Narayana student secures 100 percentile in B Arch JEE MAIN

OU & UKresearchers...Continued from Page 1

After the area was declaredas a Conservation Reserve,almost 95% of disturbance tothe bat has come under con-trol. But more research needsto be done to know how farthey go, where they go, whatthey eat so that they can beconserved in the right man-ner." The researcher added,"The Kolar leaf-nosed bat isunique because it has onlyone pair of leaflets as opposedto the other bats." The leafletsrefer to the bat's nose-leaves,which they use while calling.

Bat conservation has alwa-ys taken a back-seat since theWildlife Protection Act clas-sifies bats as 'vermin' with theexception of two species.

The Indo-UK team of biol-ogists has brought forth adraft plan for a holistic studyon the Kolar leaf-nosed bat.The UK team was led by ProfGareth Jones, along with DrMatt Zeale and Dr LiaGilmour, while the Indianteam included Dr BhargaviSrinivasulu and others.

The summit focusedon outstandingbusiness leadersproviding tradeinsights andeffective strategiesfor expandinggrowth horizons

Hardik Rajpal with Sindhura Narayana, MD and Sharani, director of Narayana group

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020 hyderabad 04

PV KONDAL RAOn KARIMNAGAR

Elaborate arrangements havebeen made for conduct ofKarimnagar MunicipalCorporation polls scheduled tobe held on Friday. Though theelection for 120 municipalitiesand nine municipal corpora-tions across the State was heldon Wednesday, the polling ofKarimnagar Corporation wasposted to January 24 followingthe court cases.

The Municipal Corporationhas a total of 60 divisions, outof which, the ruling TRS can-didates were elected unani-mously from two divisions,while in the remaining 58 divi-sions, a total of 2,69,000 votersare likely to exercise their fran-chise to elect the urban localbody representatives. A total of369 candidates are in the frayin this election, and the admin-istration has deployed over2,000 poll personnel for con-ducting the elections.

A total of 2,000 polling staffincluding 20 each of route offi-cers, nodal officers, sectorofficers, returning officers,assistant returning officers andpolling officers, assistantpolling officers, webcastingstaff and others are engaged toconduct election. One each ofPO and APO and three OPOswere allocated for everypolling booth. 82 polling sta-tions have been identified ashyper sensitive centers where-in tight security arrangementsare made by the police depart-ment. Besides recording thepolling process in all centers,

officials have decided to mon-itor election in 14 centersthrough web casting.

Police took up intensepatrolling in the sensitive areasof the city. Meanwhile, the rul-ing TRS is taking the electionprestigiously as it suffered astunning defeat at the hands ofthe BJP and Bandi Sanjay atthe Lok Sabha polls. Thiscould be one of the prime rea-sons why the KMC wasregarded the prestigious urbanlocal body in the state.

Karimnagar city has got thedistinction of sending about 10Majlis Corporators to the urbanlocal body and this time too, theMajlis is taking the election seri-ously and they are giving stiffcompetition to the prime con-tenders - TRS and BJP.Meanwhile, the Congress is ina most precarious conditionand their leaders and cadre areplaced in worst ever conditionin this city.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana BJP has lodgeda complaint with theHyderabad CP Anjani Kumaralleging that the police are notgiving 'minimum respect' tothe Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddy.They alleged that the policehad denied permission to theprogrammes, in which KishanReddy was supposed to partic-ipate.

BJP state president Dr KLaxman, in the complaintmentioned that the police arenot giving permission to theprogrammes of BJP whereasthe same police are givingpermissions to the pro-grammes of the AIMIM.Demanding the PoliceCommissioner not to give per-mission to the AIMIM pro-posed rally at Charminar onJanuary 25, BJP alleged that thepolice are not reacting on theprovocative speeches deliv-ered by AIMIM ChiefAsaduddin Owaisi.

Dr K Laxman, MLC NRamchander Rao, formerMLC B Mohan Reddy andothers met the City PoliceCommissioner on Thursday.Later speaking to the media,Laxman said that MIM is try-ing to create communal riotsin the state in the name of rallyagainst CAA. He said thatthere is a scope that the MIM

may provoke communal differ-ences across the state with theproposed rally at Charminarwhere Bhagyalaxmi templeand several religious organiza-tions were there.

MIM is trying to spread itsparty across the state by provok-ing communal differences, hesaid alleging that MIM leaderswere hatching conspiracies toprovoke communal violencelike Bhainsa in Hyderabad citytoo. It was unfortunate that theTRS government is too extend-ing its support to the MIM, he

lamented. He urged the CityPolice Commissioner not togive permission to the pro-grammes, which will disturbcommunal harmony, by carry-ing national flags. MIM is try-ing to become strong under theguise of friendship with TRS, healleged.

Laxman found fault withthe police for giving permissionto the protest programmes andrallies taken up by the MIMwhereas the same police are notgiving permission to the pro-grammes taken up by the BJP.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyvisited Ganderball town andManigam Block of GanderballDistrict on first two days of histhree-day tour to Jammu &Kashmir under the Centralgovernment's outreach pro-gramme. During his visit, helaid foundation stones for pro-jects worth over Rs 50 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, hesaid that the Centre has devel-opment of the Union territoryas top of its agenda. He stressedon the fact that this potentialwill now be unleashed with theright policy interventions andhonest intentions. He unequiv-ocally asserted that develop-ment of Jammu & Kashmiralong with renewed growth

prospects for the residents willbe on top of the agenda and allnecessary steps will be takentowards this end.

Kishan Reddy held informalinteractions with the Jawans atthe CRPF camp. He reiterated

the fact that the CRPF has beenformidable force protectingthe nation and thanked themfor their supreme sacrifice. Hesaid that their and their fami-lies' welfare is one of the fore-most priorities of the govern-

ment. He discussed about sev-eral welfare schemes and sev-eral measures taken for devel-oping infrastructure and basicfacilities for the Jawans.

Kishan Reddy also distrib-uted pension books to seniorcitizens ensuring monthlyfinancial support of upto Rs1,000/- per month. Interactingwith people, he said ensuringinclusive social and financialdevelopment has been the

founding principal of theCentral Government.

Interacting with the peopleat Manigam, Kishan Reddyhighlighted the fact that thefirst step towards building agrowth story for Kashmir hasbeen removing all policy bot-tlenecks, address corruption.He said that it was unfortunatethat many essential projectssuch as drinking water, powergeneration etc. had been lan-guishing for years and someeven for decades.

As part of his three-daytour to Kashmir, Kishan Reddyvisited Ganderball district andinteracted with different dele-gations, local people and offi-cial stakeholders. He alsoassessed the progress underseveral schemes of the Centralgovernment.

‘Development in UTs Centre's priority’

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy distributing pension bookto an elderly woman in Manigam Block of Ganderball District in J&K on Thursday

As part of his 3-daytour to Kashmir,Kishan visitedGanderball districtand interactedwith differentdelegations

Police denying nod for ourevents, claims Laxman

AIMIM denied permission for...Continued from Page 1

AIMIM President andHyderabad MP AsaduddinOwaisi tweeted that the policerejected permission for theprotest meeting and insteadadvised them to move it tonearby Khilwat Grounds.

He announced that the'Mushaira' and protest meetingagainst CAA, NPR and NRCwill now be held at KhilwatGrounds. The national flagwould be hoisted at midnightto usher in the Republic Day.

BJP's Telangana unit chief K.Laxman had threatened that ifAIMIM was permitted to holdthe protest rally at Charminar,his party would hold a meet-ing at another place.

Laxman alleged that thepolice were denying permis-

sion to BJP for rallies andmeetings but were allowingAIMIM to organise its pro-grammes. He said AIMIM,through its programme at theCharminar, would spreadcommunal disharmony.

It was earlier this month thatOwaisi had announced theprotest programme at

Charminar. His party onThursday stated that the pro-gramme will see participationby country's leading Urdupoets.

"There is a long-standingtradition in Hyderabad to usepoetry and satire to challengetyranny and oppression, this'Festival of Democracy' is partof this tradition. The goal ofthe event is to not only cele-brate the Republic of India andits Constitution, but to alsoemphasise on the dangers to itfrom CAA, NPR and NRC,"the AIMIM said.

The event will see participa-tion by well-known poetsRahat Indori, Sampat Saraland Lata Haya along withyoung voices such as NabiyaKhan, Aamir Aziz and HusainHaidry.

MANUU students write toKCR against CAA, NRCContinued from Page 1

"CAA, NRC and NPR areagainst the IndianConstitution and a threat tothe secular ethos of thiscountry. Our country needsto register unemployed youthand uneducated children, notNRC and NPR," the lettersaid.

Pointing out that the stategovernments of Kerala andPunjab had passed resolu-tions in their respectiveAssemblies against CAA, theletter to KCR said, "Werequest you to please take afirm decision to stop CAA,NRC and NPR and defeat the

divisive agenda of the com-munal forces in the largerinterests of the nation."

The students' union wroteletters to nine states headedby non-BJP Chief Ministers,requesting all of them topass Assembly resolutionsagainst CAA and NRC.

Although the TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS) hadvoted against CAA inParliament, KCR has sincemaintained cryptic silenceon the issue.

However, KCR's close aideand state Home MinisterMahmood Ali has said thatNRC would not be imple-mented the state.

Continued from Page 1

The trio took the girl to an iso-lated place in the PatancheruIndustrial Development Area(IDA) and raped her by takingturns. They then abandonedher at the spot and fled away.With the help of passers-by, thegirl reached home andinformed her parents.

"Area locals heard herscream and shout for help andcame to her rescue. She toldthem about what happenedand with their help, cops werecalled via dial 100. The policeused the GPS location of thecaller to reach the place andstarted investigation by takinga statement from the victim,"said a local source.

Ravi, the owner of the housewhere her parents work, toldmedia persons that she was inshock and not able to answer

any questions. "I was takenforcibly in a car by three menwho took me to an aban-doned, isolated area, and rapedme. They were drunk. I canidentify them if I see themagain," the victim reportedlytold him. The police arrived atthe spot with clues team andfound alcohol bottles, amongother incriminating pieces ofevidence from the place ofoffence.

Superintendent of PoliceChandrasekhar Reddy laterreportedly said that due to"power holiday" in Ameenpur,there was no CC TV footagethat could help trace the cul-prits.d

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC)Treasurer Gudur NarayanaReddy has alleged that theBJP Government at theCentre was trying to give cor-porate sector a backdooraccess to savings of smalldepositors by introducingFinancial SectorDevelopment and Regulation(FSDR) Bill. Narayana Reddy,in a statement on Thursday,alleged that the BJPGovernment was trying toprivatise the Public SectorBanks through FSDR Bill soas to benefit a few corporatesby granting them access tothe hard earned money ofcommon depositors.

Originally, the BJPGovernment had introducedFinancial Resolution andDeposit Insurance Bill, 2017which was later dropped due toa controversial 'bail-in' clause.However, now the same Bill isbeing introduced with somemodifications which are moredangerous than the originalFRDI Bill. He said the Bill pro-vides for constitution of a newRC which will monitor thehealth of financial firms likebanks, insurance companies,mutual funds, non-bankingfinance companies, etc. In caseof failure of any of these firms,the RC will have the mandateto take measures to resolve thecrisis without involving RBIand other financial regulatoryauthorities. Narayana Reddysaid out that the FSDR wouldmake the existence of RBItotally irrelevant in handlingbanking crisis.

Anxiety grips TS Congress leaders CHANGE OF TPCC CHIEF

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

The All India CongressCommittee (AICC) has inten-sified the process to appointnew chief for the TPCC.Especially after the grand oldparty's disastrous per-formance in theAssembly and LokSabha elections,the Congress partyhigh command hasreportedly decidedto appoint a new chieffor its Telangana unit.Also, the leaders of theTelangana Congress wereeagerly waiting for the changeof the TPCC chief position.

According to sources, partysenior leader V Hanumantha

Rao received a call from AICCControl Room to meet partyhigh command in AICC WarRoom on January 27. Theparty senior leaders held asurprise meeting on the day ofpolling for municipal elections(Wednesday) and had written

a letter to the party highcommand urging it to

consider appointing aparty loyalist for thepost of TPCC chief.

The party high com-mand is also changing the

PCCs of the states one afterthe other across the nation.The high command had alreadyappointed new PCC chief toAndhra Pradesh. According tosources, AICC is busy finalisingthe chief of Karnataka PCC.Besides, the AICC had already

removed the leaders from theirPCC positions except its chief inPunjab. Sonia Gandhi is deter-mined to appoint new chiefs torejuvenate the party in thestates.

In case of Telangana, presentTPCC president Uttam himselfalready announced inHuzurnagar that he will stepdown after the municipal elec-

tions. One of the leaders on con-dition of anonymity questionedsaying that how the municipalelections would decide theTPCC chief position. No leaderroamed across the state to provetheir skills in these electionsinfluencing the voters, he said.The high command may thinkin all aspects and appoint a newPCC chief.

According to AICC leaders,the high command will give firstpriority to loyalty and secondpriority would be given to pop-ularity of the leader and influ-ence and last priority would beof leader's economical resources.One of the AICC secretariesfrom the state stated that the firstone i.e. loyalty to the party ismust besides the remainingqualities for the position.

Following disastrousperformance in theAssembly and LSpolls, the party highcommand hasreportedly decided toappoint a new chieffor its Telangana unit

TRS MLA's son booked...Continued from Page 1

However, Goud has set up hisshop in the same area andwas selling similar productsas the contract shop, causingtrouble in their business.This lead to an argument andescalated to an extent whereVishnuvardhan Reddy, alongwith other men, approachedGoud and beat him up. Theyalso assaulted his wife Shailajaat his home," said the police.

Based on a complaint,cases were booked againstVishnuvardhan Reddy,Mallesh, Gandhi and Sreenuunder Sections 447 (criminaltrespass), 323 (voluntarilycausing hurt), 506 (criminalintimidation) and 509 (word,gesture or act intended toinsult the modesty of awoman) of the IPC andinvestigation was launched.

Cheating case...Continued from Page 1

Further, when Shahabasked for payment, Mujib'semployee Sudesh Awakkalreplied through an e-mail,informing them that Rs 10.6lakh was transferred to hisbank account. However, thepayment did not reflect intheir account, Shahab said.

'Later in November, they(referring to Azharuddin'spersonal assistant) sent mepictures of a cheque overWhatsApp informing thatthe cheque was dispatched.But we did not receive thecheque; he added.

As there was no responsedespite repeated requests,Shahab approached the CityChowk Police Station inAurangabad and file a com-plaint. The Maharashtrapolice booked a case undercharges of 420 (cheating),406 (criminal breach of trust)against Azharuddin.

Continued from Page 1

In the municipalities thereare about 40,36,346 voters andin corporations there are13,13,909 voters; totaling 53lakh voters in the state.Specifically 11,179 candi-dates in municipalities plus1,747 candidates in corpora-tions, irrespective of theirpolitical affiliations, went over-board to woo voters.

The candidates from majorparties viz. TRS, Congress,BJP and MIM tried to woo vot-ers with multiple forms ofinducements. About 50 per-cent of the candidates distrib-uted cash to voters. Somemore 'resourceful' candidatesalso distributed liquor, chick-en and mutton. There werealso those who distributedgifts like gold coins and utili-ty and electronic items for useat home.

Accordingto conservative

estimates of observers, candi-dates from all political partiesspent more than Rs.1,000 crorein cash for these municipalelections. The candidatesreportedly offered amountsranging from Rs.1000 toRs.3000 to each voter. The vot-ers had no qualms in accept-ing money from all andsundry.

Interestingly, some of thevoters who had taken moneyfrom all candidates adopt theirown method of justice. Forexample, if there were three

voters in a house and they hadtaken money from all politicalparties; one vote went to TRS,

another to Congressand the remaining

one to BJP. If there wasa fourth person, his or

her vote went to the party thathad paid the biggest amount.Bonus!

The president of one of thecolonies in Boduppal munic-ipality, who does not want tobe named, shares: "I hadadvised residents to acceptmoney from the candidates ifoffered. If you don't takemoney from one of the contes-tants, then he could havedoubts on you. They will tar-get you if unfortunately thesame candidate loses the elec-tions." Of course, the winnerswill enjoy once the results areout. The losers will have toadditionally bear the burden of'unproductive' expenditure.

AP Govt indicates it may abolishUpper House of LegislatureContinued from Page 1

The Chief Minister waswinding up an impromptudebate in the Assembly onwhat happened in the Councilon Wednesday, where theChairman exercised his "dis-cretionary power" under Rule154 and referred the APDecentralisation and InclusiveDevelopment of All RegionsBill, 2020 and the APCRDA(Repeal) Bill to a select com-mittee for deeper examination.

With the principal opposi-tion Telegu Desam Party mem-bers staying away from theAssembly proceedings, the rul-

ing YSR Congress MLAs camedown heavily on CouncilChairman M A Sharrif andLeader of the Opposition inthe Council YanamalaRamakrishnudu over the man-ner in which the proceedingswere conducted and the two

vital bills referred to a selectcommittee, allegedly in trans-gression of rules.

"The Chairman's decisionwas against the rule book andthe procedure he adopted wasvery unfortunate," the ChiefMinister pointed out.

He maintained that theCouncil, as the House ofElders, was there "only to givesuggestions" to the govern-ment.

"What will be the meaningof governance if the House ofElders does not allow gooddecisions to be taken in theinterest of people and blockenactment of laws?

Officials reviewing the arrangements at a polling booth in Karimnagar on Thursday

Repolling in 3 wards today PNS n HYDERABAD

The SEC issued notificationfor re-polling in ward num-ber 41 of Mahabubnagar andKamareddy and ward num-ber 32 of Bodhan. In all thethree wards, bogus voteswere reportedly cast byMuslim community womenwho came in the lastmoment wearing burkha.

The SEC said: “Despiteappeal to unveil burkha, theyargued and refused to do so,stating that it is against theirreligious custom. Due to thenumber of voters in waitingin the line in the last minute,they were allowed to casttheir vote merely based onthe documents presented insupport of their identifica-

tion. Subsequently when realvoters presented themselvesfor voting, the polling offi-cials have issued them ten-dered votes.” Fresh poll willbe conducted in pollingbooth 198 of ward 41 inMahabubnagar on 24January. On same day,polling will be conducted inpolling station 101 in ward41 of Kamareddy. Ink markwill be applied on middle fin-ger of the voter’s left hand.Meanwhile, the ECannounced the schedule forelection of Chairperson, ViceChairperson of MunicipalCouncil and Mayor andDeputy Mayor of Municipalcorporations. The notice toconvene special meeting willbe given on 25 January.

FSDR Bill willlead toprivatisationof PSBs: Cong

Asaduddin Owaisi

MIM is trying to create communal riotsin the state in the name of rally againstCAA. It is trying to spread its partyacross the state by provokingcommunal differences, said K Laxman

Over Rs1,000 cr sweetenedmunicipal elections!

ALL SET FOR POLLING INKARIMNAGAR TODAY

BJP State unit president K Laxman and others at the CP office in Hyderabad

Minor girl gang-rapedon city outskirts

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Shah pays tributes,says Bal Thackeraynever compromisedNEW DELHI: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onThursday paid homage to ShivSena founder Bal Thackeray onhis birth anniversary anddescribed him as a brilliantintellect of his time who nevercompromised with his ideals.The Shiv Sena in Novemberbroke its decades old alliancewith the BJP and formed agovernment in Maharashtrawith the support of the NCPand the Congress.“Remembering BalasahebThackeray Ji on his Jayanti.Balasaheb Ji was a brilliantintellect of his time, alwaysmesmerised the masses withhis oratory skills. He alwaysstood firm and nevercompromised with his ideals,Balasaheb Ji's life and hisvalues will continue to inspireus," Shah tweeted. Thackeraywas born in 1926 in Pune andpassed away in 2012 inMumbai.

UGC warns varsitiesagainst awarding‘unspecified' degrees

Netaji opposed HinduMahasabha's divisivepolitics: MamataDARJEELING (WB): WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee said on Thursday thatNetaji Subhas Chandra Boseopposed the HinduMahasabha's "divisive politics"and fought for a secular andunited India. Demanding thathis birth anniversary bedeclared a national holiday,Banerjee said Bose through hisstruggle has sent the messageof respecting all faiths and thebest tribute to him would be tofight for a united India. "Netajihad opposed the HinduMahasabha's divisive politics.He had fought for a secularIndia. Now efforts are on tooust those who followsecularism," Banerjee said at anevent here to celebrate Bose'sbirth anniversary. She alsoslammed the Centre for "notbeing serious" aboutunravelling the mysteryshrouding Bose'sdisappearance. "They had onlydeclassified a few files and nottaken any step to find out whatactually happened. It is a matterof shame that even after morethan 70 years, we don't knowwhat happened to him,"Banerjee said.

NEW DELHI: The UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) haswarned universities andeducational institutions againstawarding "unspecified" degrees."It has been observed that someuniversities and institutions areawarding unspecified degreesleading to litigations anddifferent problems for thestudents conferred with suchdegrees."The universities should abideby the provisions of the UGCAct and award only thosedegrees which have beenspecified by the UGC," thecommission said in a letter tovice chancellors of alluniversities. The UGC has askeduniversities to stick to theconsolidated list provided by itfor the approved nomenclatureof degrees. "If a universitywishes to award a degree otherthan the ones specified by theUGC, it shall approach thecommission for its approval sixmonths prior to starting thedegree programme with fulljustification on the course to bestarted," the letter said.

PNS n PATNA

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Thursday tookumbrage at his senior partyleader Pavan Varma for goingpublic with reservations aboutthe JD(U)s support toCitizenship (Amendment) Actand tie-up with BJP for Delhiassembly polls, and made itclear that the "scholarly" diplo-mat-turned-politician was "freeto go wherever he likes".

Kumars blunt remarks cametwo days after Varma, a formerRajya Sabha member, sent hima two-page letter on the issueand shared screenshots of thesame on his official twitter han-dle and facebook profile de-spite it containing details of co-nversations the two were clai-med to have had "in private".

Varma, who had sought"ideological clarity" fromKumar the JD(U)’s nationalpresident had arrived in thecity later in the day on a privatevisit during which he could notmeet the chief minister butdemanded from him "a fullstatement" on CAA-NPR-NRCin view of the country-widemovement against the same.

Kumar made the commentwhen mediapersons approach-ed him at the historic GandhiMaidan here, where he hadcome to attend a function

organized on the occasion ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bosesbirth anniversary. "He (Varma)

is a scholarly person for whomI have enormous, personalrespect. But the types of state-

ments he has been giving.. ithas left me flabbergasted," hesaid.

"There should be no confu-sion on the stand taken by theJanata Dal (United) on issues.Our stand is always very clear.

"But if he had any reserva-tions, he could have expressedthe same in a party forum. Andthe reference to conversationsmade in private! Would I evergo public with what he has saidto me in private", Kumar saidwith obvious displeasure.

"Nonetheless, I have lots ofrespect for him. He can gowherever he likes", Kumar saidwith smile on his lips, conceal-ing the bitterness caused by therecent development.

This is the first time thatKumar has chosen to speakabout voices of dissent emerg-ing from his party in the wakeof the JD(U)s decision to sup-port the CAB in Parliament.

Pavan Varma free to leaveJDU when he wants: Nitish

Dalit man set ablaze in MP dies,Cong, BJP engage in war of words

But if he had anyreservations, he couldhave expressed the

same in a party forum. Andthe reference to conversationsmade in private! Would I evergo public with what he hassaid to me in private

— NITISH KUMARBihar Chief Minister

PNS n BHOPAL

A 24-year old Dalit man, whowas set on fire in MadhyaPradesh's Sagar city last week,died at a hospital in NewDelhi on Thursday morning,police said.

The ruling Congress and theopposition BJP hit out at eachother following the incident.

While the BJP said policedid not act upon the victim'scomplaints made before theincident because of the stategovernment's "appeasementpolicy", the Congress accusedthe saffron party of trying tovitiate the atmosphere byspeaking "lies".

Dhanprasad Ahirwar, a res-ident of Motinagar area inSagar, was set ablaze onJanuary 14 by four of hisneighbours who were forcinghim to take back a policecomplaint that he filed after adispute with them, police said.

Ahirwar, who sustainedaround 70 per cent burns, wasinitially treated in Sagar andthen shifted to a hospital in thestate capital Bhopal.

He was later taken in an airambulance to a hospital inDelhi where he died onThursday, police said.

All the accused, Chhuttu,Ajju Pathan, Kallu and Irfan,have been arrested, Sagar'sSuperintendent of Police AmitSanghi said.

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nathexpressed grief over the deathof Ahirwar and assured allassistance to his family.

"Received the news ofdemise of DhanprasadAhirwar, a resident of Sagar,

during treatment in Delhi. Mycondolences to the family....Instructions have been issuedfor all possible help to the fam-ily," Nath tweeted.

However, Leader ofOpposition in the stateAssembly Gopal Bhargavaaccused the Sagar districtadministration of negligenceand said Ahirwar could havebeen saved if police had acted"in time".

Dhanprasad Ahirwar, a resident ofMotinagar area in Sagar, was setablaze on January 14 by four of hisneighbours who were forcing him totake back a police complaint that hefiled after a dispute with them

PNS n NEW DELHI

The East Coast Railway hascommissioned the govern-ment's first waste-to-energyplant which will turn ewasteand plastic into light diesel oilin 24 hours, officials said onThursday.

A patented technologycalled "Polycrack" will be usedin this waste-to-energy plant,which is first of itskind inIndian Railways and only thefourth in India.

"It is the world's first patent-ed heterogenous catalyticprocess which converts multi-ple feed stocks into hydrocar-bon liquid fuels, gas, carbonand water. Earlier, lots of non-ferrous scrap generated fromthe Carriage Repair Workshophad no efficient method of dis-posal. As a result, these ele-ments were being disposed bylandfills, which had environ-mentally hazardous impact,"said East Coast Railwayspokesperson JP Mishra.

He said in this process, pre-segregation of waste is notrequired to reform the wastewhich can be directly fed intothe machine to be convertedinto diesel.

"It has high tolerance tomoisture hence drying of wasteis not required. Waste isprocessed and reformed with-

in 24 hours. It is an enclosedunit hence the working envi-ronment is dust free. Biologicaldecomposition is not allowedas the waste is treated as it isreceived, the officer said.

The foot print of the plant issmall hence the area requiredfor installing it is less whencompared with conventionalmethod of processing. All con-stituents are converted intovaluable energy thereby mak-ing it zero discharge process ,he explained. Gas generated inthe process is re-used to pro-

vide energy to the systemthereby making it self reliant ofits energy requirement andalso bring down the operatingcost, the officer said.

He also said that there is noatmospheric emission duringthe process unlike other con-ventional methods except forcombustion gases which havepollutants less than prescribednorms the world over.

The plant operates at around450 degrees, making it a low te-mperature process when com-pared with other options.

Rly commissions govt's first waste-to-energy plant l To turn e waste, plastic into light diesel oil

The plant is the world's first patentedheterogenous catalytic process whichconverts multiple feed stocks intohydrocarbon liquid fuels, gas, carbonand water

R-Day parade dress rehearsal leads to traffic snarls in DelhiPNS n NEW DELHI

Thousands of commuters faceddifficulties in reaching theirdestinations as several roadswere closed in view of full dressrehearsal of the Republic Dayparade, leading to traffic snarlsin the Lutyens' Delhi onThursday. There was heavy traf-fic congestion at Dhaula Kuan,Bhikaji Cama Place, ITO andPragati Maidan.

The rehearsal parade began at9.50 am from Vijay Chowk andproceeded towards the RedFort via Rajpath, C-Hexagon,Tilak Marg, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg and Netaji Subhash Marg,according to the Delhi Police.

Traffic on Rajpath - from

Vijay Chowk to India Gate - wasrestricted during the rehearsalon Thursday, the police said.

Metro services were availablefor commuters but entry andexit gates at Udyog Bhawan andCentral Secretariat stations were

closed. No heavy transport vehi-cles were allowed to enter thenational capital from bordersfrom 10 pm on Wednesday tillthe rehearsal concluded in theafternoon on Thursday. Theywere allowed to ply between

ISBT Sarai Kale Khan and ISBTKashmiri Gate on Ring Roadfrom 7.30 am to 1.30 pm onThursday. Traffic on Tilak Marg,Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg andSubhash Marg was restricted onboth directions.

For the Republic Day too, notraffic will be allowed onRajpath from Vijay Chowk to

India Gate from 6 pm onSaturday till the parade gets overon Sunday.

No cross traffic on Rajpathfrom 11 pm on Saturday at RafiMarg, Janpath, Man Singh Roadtill the parade gets over.

C-Hexagon-India Gate willbe closed for traffic from 2 amon Sunday till the parade cross-

es Tilak Marg, a traffic adviso-ry said.

From 5 am on Sunday, thetraffic on Tilak Marg, BahadurShah Zafar Marg and SubhashMarg will not be allowed onboth directions. Cross traffic willonly be allowed dependingupon the movement of theparade.

Jammu & Kashmir will par-ticipate in the parade for the firsttime as a Union Territory.

Out of the total 22 tableaux,16 will be of various states andUTs and six of ministries,departments and the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF). They were unveiled atan event held at the DelhiCantonment on Wednesday.

In this year's parade, the Walled Cityof Jaipur and Gujarat's iconicstepwell in Patan, both UNESCOworld heritage, and the 550th annive-rsary of Guru Nanak Dev will be them-atically showcased in the tableaux.

Gun used to kill TN policeofficer recovered from drainPNS n KOCHI

A gun allegedly used to kill aTamil Nadu police officer earlythis month was recoveredfrom a drainage near theKSRTC bus stand here by the'Q' branch team probing thecase, police said here onThursday.

The gun, reportedly madein Italy, was recovered in thepresence of the arrested sus-pects — Abdul Shameem andTaufeeq--while they were-brought here as part of gath-ering evidence in connectionwith the case, they said.

Police suspect that the gunallegedly used by the assailantswas meant only for Armysupply.

Personnel of the TamilNadu 'Q' branch, which han-dles matters related to extrem-ists and involving nationalsecurity, had taken the duointo custody last week.

Two unidentified men hadshot Special Sub InspectorWilson with a pistol andstabbed him when he was onduty at Kaliyakavilai check-point in Kanyakumari on theborder with Kerala around9.30 PM on January 8.

PNS n BENGALURU

Over two years after it waspassed by the Karnataka legis-lature, the B S Yediyurappa-ledBJP government has finallynotified the much-hyped anti-superstition law that aims toprevent and eradicate "inhu-man evil practices".

Interestingly, the BJP,whichwas then in the opposition, hadexpressed strong reservationsabout the bill, piloted by theSiddaramaiah led Congressgovernment and passed by thestate legislature in November16 2017.

The Karnataka Preventionand Eradication of InhumanEvil Practices and Black MagicAct RPT Act, 2017, thatintends to protect the commonpeople against "evil" and "sin-ister" practices, shall come intoforce with effect from January4 2020, the government noti-fication issued earlier thismonth said.

The Act seeks to combat anderadicate other such inhumanpractices propagated and per-formed in the name of "blackmagic" by conmen with thesinister motive of exploiting thecommon people,therebydestroying the social fabric insociety.

Further, it aims to bringsocial awakening and aware-

ness in the society and createhealthy and safe social environ-ment.

Leader of the Opposition inthe Assembly Siddaramaiahcongratulated BJP for enforc-ing the Act by rectifying itsmistake of "condemning,hounding and maligning" hisgovernment when they tried toimplement the Act with anintention to stop it .

He also hoped that thingswhich are beliefs now "don'tturn into superstition underpressure,"

Considered similar to theone in Maharashtra, the Acthas 'savings' and 'schedule'categories, which classify prac-tices that could be toleratedand those that need to be con-trolled or prohibited.

The notification said noth-

ing in the act shall apply withrespect to the forms of wor-shipmentioned under theheading 'savings'

These include practices like'pradakshina', yatras, 'parikra-mas' performed at religiousplaces, among other normalpractices.

It also includes the advicewith regard to 'Vastushastra',advice by 'jyothishya' and otherastrologers

Practices included underthe 'schedule' for prohibitionare -- performing any inhu-man, evil act and black magicin search of precious things,bounty and hidden treasures

Other practices listed under16 points for prohibition arefacilitating any person to rollover leaves of leftover food byother people in public or reli-gious places or similar prac-tices that violate human digni-ty; subjecting women to inhu-man and humiliating prac-tices like parading them nakedin the name of worship or oth-erwise, such as "betthale seve".

Also, forcing any person tocarry out evil practices such askilling of an animal by bitingits neck and coercing any per-son or persons to perform'fire walk' at the time of 'jatras'(temple/village fest) and reli-gious festivals have also beenincluded, it added.

Karnataka notifies anti-superstition law

Interestingly, the BJP, which was then in the opposition, had expressed strongreservations about the Bill, piloted by theSiddaramaiah-led Congress governmentand passed by the state Legislature onNovember 16, 2017

‘WILL DECIDE NEXT COURSE OF ACTIONDEPENDING ON NITISH KUMAR'S REPLY’New Delhi: JD(U) general secretary Pavan Varma on Thursday said he will decide his next course of action depending on the replyfrom party president Nitish Kumar to his letter and asserted that hewill continue to speak "what he believes is for the good of thecountry and the party". Varma's comments came after Kumar, whois the chief minister of Bihar, snubbed him saying he is free to gowherever he wants and slammed him for raising his concerns overthe party's stand on a host of citizenship measures of the Modigovernment. "I have not received a reply. Depending on the reply orits absence I will decide on my course of action. I will continue tospeak what I believe is right, what is for the good of the country andthe party," the former Rajya Sabha member said. The former dipl-omat has drifted from the JD(U) over its support to CAA and NRC.

PNS n RANCHI

Jharkhand Chief MinisterHemant Soren will expand hisfour-member cabinet onFriday. Earlier on Thursday,Soren called on GovernorDroupadi Murmu at the RajBhavan. "The cabinet will beexpanded tomorrow at 1 pm atBirsa Mandap in the RajBhavan," an official said.

JMM general secretarySuprio Bhattacharya con-firmed the cabinet expansion.

As per the constitutionalprovision, Jharkhand can havea maximum of 12 ministers,

including the chief minister.The previous Raghubar Dasgovernment had left one berthvacant throughout its term.

Soren took oath as the 11thchief minister of Jharkhand onDecember 29 at the Morahbadiground with a galaxy of lead-ers, including West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee and Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, in attendance.

Along with Soren, threeministers — two from theCongress and one from theRJD — also took oath that day.

Hemant Soren to expandJharkhand Cabinet today

Reciting preamble everySaturday mandatory inMP government schoolsPNS n BHOPAL

Students in government-runschools in Madhya Pradeshwill have to compulsorily readout the Preamble to theConstitution during theirassemblies on every Saturdaystarting this week, an officialsaid on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Mah-arashtra government also ma-de it compulsory for studentsin schools across the state toread out the Preamble to theConstitution during theirmorning assemblies everydayfrom January 26.

A Public Relations Depart-ment official in Madhya Pra-desh said, "Preamble to theConstitution will be recited bystudents in every governmentschool every Saturday."

The state School Education

Department on Wednesdayissued an order to this effect,the official said, adding that itwill be implemented immedi-ately.

"As per the order, studentswill recite the Preamble to theConstitution every Saturdayunder the guidance of theschool headmaster or teacherafter the prayers in primaryand middle schools," the offi-cial said.

"Similarly, students of highschools and higher secondaryschools will recite the pream-ble under the guidance of theprincipal during the 'balsabha', which is held everySaturday," he said.

The move to make studentsread out the Preamble comesat a time when large-scaleprotests are being held againstthe CAAand NRC.

Traditionally, the US administra-tion has benefitted from the mil-itary experience that resides inthe “White House.” Prior totheir political ascendancy,

around 29 of the 45 US Presidents haveheld military experience. However, theincumbent President Donald Trump hasbeen an exception. He has had a contro-versial past of medical deferment that pur-portedly kept him out of military enroll-ment during the Vietnam War. Post theWorld War II, in the midst of the cold warera, nine successive US Presidents were for-mer combatants till the tenures of BillClinton, Barack Obama and now Trump.Even the US Congress and Senate have hada substantial presence of veterans (they rep-resented more than half of Congress formuch of the late 20th century), who havedebated and drafted security policies inpursuance of national objectives.

Given that the post World War II peri-od entailed bloody American militaryinvolvement in places like Korea, Vietnam,the Middle East, Somalia and Afghanistan aswell as other covert wars and operations, thereassuring presence and understanding of theaccompanying security sensitivities added thenecessary nuance, steel and perspective ongovernance. But the last 12 years have seena gradual reduction in the representation ofveterans (till very recently) in both Houses.Trump though has displayed himself withmisplaced enthusiasm for military trappings,bravado and parades to posit his own sur-rogate muscularity in pursuit of politics.

Most of his interventions, allusions andinvocation with military imperatives havebeen high on instinctive showmanship andtheatrics but have been low on efficacy. Hestarted his tenure by appointing the iconicMarine Corps General James Mattis as theSecretary of Defence. The latter was foundto be too rational, grounded and a well-readprofessional for Trump’s boorish and ficklepreferences. The US President authorised theusage of the “mother of all bombs” (GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, the mostpowerful non-nuclear explosive) inAfghanistan. Today, he is negotiating “peacetalks” with the Taliban, which has alreadyaccounted for well over 2,000 US casualties.He got the US military to rashly rain 59Tomahawk cruise missiles (each costingapproximately a million and a half dollars)on a dilapidated airbase and then anotherhundred on an industrial site in Syria, amongother military commitments. Today, mostSyrian lands have been lost to his bête noire,Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Government.

Units of the US Special Forces, in con-junction with allies — Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates — conducted oper-ations along with supporting militias in theYemen theatre. As a result, a ragtag Armyof Iran-supported Houthi rebels have beencocking a snook at the much larger, afflu-ent and better armed forces of the US and

its allies. While he did get to“take out” a past his prime AbuBakr al-Baghdadi and morerecently the IranianCommander of Quds Force,Major General QassemSoleimani, the essentialAmerican foothold in theMiddle East remains shaky andis desperately in need of a “pull-out” to limit further damage.

Taking militaristic decisionsis inevitable for a superpowerthat is mired in protecting itshegemonic interests across theglobe. However, recent deci-sions and the fate of the Trump-led US military’s involvementacross the globe warrant seriousintrospection. It’s not that “team”Trump did not have competen-cy but his impatience with rea-son and restraint has ensuredthat the likes of Mattis have left,got fired, joined his “echo cham-ber” or, as mentioned in thefamously anonymous Op-ed inThe New York Times, are part ofthe silent “resistance workingwithin the Trump administra-tion.” The Op-ed, authored by asenior person in the Trumpadministration, evocativelynoted his leadership style to be“impetuous, adversarial, pettyand ineffective.” Further, it wentto express the conundrum of thehapless staff, who would “pri-vately admit their daily disbeliefat the commander-in-chief ’scomments and actions.”

A thoroughbred profession-al, Mattis became a typical suf-

ferer of Trump’s foolhardinesswhen he refused to carry outkilling orders of Syrian leaderBashar al-Assad, to make warplans to attack Iranian facilitiesand opposed the decision of theUS’ troop withdrawal fromSyria. On Mattis’ resignation, theformer combatant was hailed asthe “last adult” in the Trumpadministration. Questions nowabound if Soleimani would havebeen “taken out” today if Mattiswas still around.

The decision to up the antewith Iran did have the backingof some veterans like four-stargeneral Jack Keane and formerDirector of the CentralIntelligence Agency DavidPetraeus among others. But asCongressman Adam Smith said,“Trump has no idea what he’sdoing but isn’t afraid to do it.”This unheeding trait has led tomultiple forms of militaryadventurism with little to showon the ground at a time whenTrump is in the last leg of his firsttenure.

The usual phenomenon ofspectacular military actions,resulting in a bipartisan “rally-ing around the flag” and, there-by, bumping up the crucial pres-idential approval ratings, is anold hat (in all democracies).After the Gulf War, former USPresident George HW Bush’sapproval ratings went up from58 per cent to 89 per cent. Hisson, George W Bush’s invasionof Iraq got a similar spike from

58 per cent to 71 per cent.Barack Obama’s elimination ofOsama bin Laden took his rat-ings from 44 per cent to 51 percent. But Trump’s Soleimaniaction did not result in anynoticeable jump. He continues tolanguish in the mid-40 approvalpercentages. Clearly, Trump haspolitically abused the “militarycard” too often and it no longerresonates. On the contrary, hisembarrassing description of“beautiful weapons” in the seri-ous business of deploying the“last resort” responsibly dimin-ishes the statesmanship andrestraint required of his position.

What deliberately polarisingpoliticians like Trump alsoachieve is that they dangerous-ly “divide” perceptions withinthe veteran community, whichis usually bipartisan on securi-ty matters and goes by military“facts.” This sort of brazen pol-itics has alienated the likes ofTrump’s fellow Republican andformer combatant Senator JohnMcCain, whose professionalintegrity as a soldier was affront-ed by usurpers like him.

Matters of military need tobe spared from political appro-priations. Else, the requiredinstitutional ethos and percep-tions are weakened. Followingthis, the overall national securi-ty preparedness, too, wouldstand diminished.

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

So what if we have to wait awhile to sendan Indian woman into space, we havea half-humanoid robot in the shape of

one doing so. And she will test-pilot drills forour first manned mission as part of theGaganyaan project. The Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO) will be send-ing Vyommitra to mimic humanistic functionsin the spacecraft, even converse with intend-ed astronauts and respond to their queries.This preparatory drill is being done to ensurethat Indian astronauts can complete their his-

toric manoeuvre without a glitch. India though is not the first nation to send arobot into space to ensure safety of manned flights. NASA had sent Robonaut2 to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011 and Japan’s Kirobo had land-ed there in 2014. Advanced versions are being developed to do a recce for humansettlements. Post the failed lunar mission last year, ISRO seems to have learntits lessons well and is proceeding with extreme caution with AI-aided dry runs.

While the nation would rather not talk about Chandrayaan 2 simply becauseits rover failed to land on the dark side of the moon, it has had its own suc-cess. Forget the lost rover, at the end of the day, it is indigenously developedand manufactured and is testimony to not only R&D and innovation but the abil-ity of home-grown companies to expand capabilities. The Gaganyaan is a log-ical follow-through of this mission. India has already set a benchmark in PSLVand GSLV launches. It recently launched the high-power communication satel-lite GSAT-30. This is expected to provide improved coverage and will enableIndian broadcasters to air content in the Middle East, Australia and other partsof Asia, widening the arc of our soft diplomacy. The commercial satellite launchmarket is estimated to be $30 billion by 2025 and ISRO is certain to be a topplayer in it. With Vyommitra, ISRO hopes to expand its ability to analyse dataand ensure trajectory and payload optimisation for bigger missions. NASA isusing AI for its next rover mission to Mars, too. But then a word of caution here.Robots aren’t heroes. As much they promise a new era in space exploration,they must ascend the curve with utmost care.

As the world’s largest democracy, no mat-ter how grudging an admission thismight be by assessors of the Western

world, we should at least be held up as tol-erable and accommodative if not the best. SoIndia dropping by 10 places to 51st on TheEconomist’s Democracy Index 2019, is acause for worry rather than an easy exampleof Western bias. Simply because the publica-tion has earned global respect and acceptabil-ity as least biased and careful about facts. Andas a member of the Fourth Estate, it fulfils its

responsibility of upholding what global regimes are flawed at, in political, eco-nomic and social liberalism. So it is considered credible enough. Also, it hasnever rated India so harshly or lowly ever since it began the index 12 years ago.So what is alarming? India’s decline in its overall score from 7.23 in 2018 to6.9 last year and its classification as a “flawed democracy,” just two steps awayfrom being called an authoritarian regime. Given our much-claimed vibrancy, weshould have scored at least eight or thereabouts on all counts. The index termedthe erosion of civil liberties as the primary cause of our democratic regression.Which means that even by the Modi regime’s own standing since 2014, the lastsix months have severely damaged perception. Except for pluralism and elec-toral processes, where we scored 8.67, there has been a drastic slide in theperception of governance, political culture and civil liberties. In short, it is thefunctionality and leadership of the Government that has clearly been put underthe scanner. Before we dismiss these observations as part of a worldwide con-spiracy hatched by a minuscule group of “urban Naxals”, “funded academics”or give in to the compulsive urge to generate counter-propaganda, we must stopto think that the idea of democracy suffering in India has never been a talkingpoint. This is simply because it has always been seen as a descendant of itscivilisational moorings, its liberal ethos and, therefore, incapable of forced humanconstructs of oppression and supremacy. This is the reason why the world sup-ported the abrogation of Article 370 only because the Government argued it asan issue within our constitutional space and never thought that it would be fol-lowed by authoritarian clampdowns or adventurism. That acceptance was fol-lowed by a significant review of citizenship laws and a renewed impetus on re-establishing majoritarian Hindu pride through the Ram temple. Considering theirupending tectonics and the monolithic aggression that went against our grainof consensus politics, dissent was but natural. But the Government, instead ofsizing up its destructive potential and neutralising it through a process of dia-logue, went about hammering it with mindless brutality. Contentious politics can-not be force-fed in a democracy and for a Government that rests on a valid peo-ple’s verdict, undermining it would only backflush on its true intentions.

The countrywide internet shutdowns on dissenting voices and protests havegiven us the dubious distinction of authorising over 67 per cent of the world’sinternet shutdowns. Holding up the information highway has become the latesttool for authoritarian governments around the world to control the political nar-rative on their terms and carpet-bomb any opinion or emotion against it. We areguilty of it while claiming to be a democracy. The otherisation and ghettoisationof politics, perpetuated through citizenship laws and a census based on profil-ing, are clearly divisive in intent and end up playing a nation’s people againsteach other. The crackdown on students and civil society protests have been theproverbial last straw. The restrictive and biased media has relegated itself to beingthe Government’s official propagandist than a conscience-keeper. The discoursein the country has been polarised to such an extent that we fail to realise thatevery argument is justified on its axis and needs to be heard, judged and thendecided on its merit or demerit. That is the democratic process, which is nowbeing dumped as a liability than an asset. And if free speech is under threat,then obviously the estimation of India as a democracy will be called into ques-tion. Going by the study, almost one-half (48.4 per cent) of the world’s popu-lation lives in a democracy of some sort although only 5.7 per cent reside in a“full democracy.” As the world’s largest democracy, imagine the diplomatic sweepIndia can harness for the future. Critics might draw some solace from the factthat the US had also been demoted from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democ-racy” in 2016. But then the number of “full democracies” increased to 22 in2019, with Chile, France and Portugal joining the top-ranked countries. EvenThailand, for long considered running a faux model, had the biggest improve-ment in score. Should we still be defending ourselves?

A really bad year

Change of guard

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “BJP’s new chief” (January 21).With the advent of JP Nadda asthe BJP president, the party maysee a change from the diktat-styleof the earlier dispensation to oneof consultation, if not consensus.

Voices of the BJP cadre fromthe State as well as district levelsmay yet get a chance to be heard.And that should prove useful aftera string of recent poll reverses,equally attributable to a failingeconomy, consolidation of theOpposition, protests against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and amorphous ideologiesclouding local issues.

That said, the policy approachthat ran the party till now is get-ting transplanted to Home Affairsin the national canvas. Federalismis losing currency and an unfamil-iar brand of nationalism is beingsought to be implemented. Asunease of the States and the com-mon man gets palpable by the day,the future does not augur well.Nadda will have an important rolein deciding what the party mustfocus on next.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

Silent killer

Sir — In a shocking tragedy, eightIndian tourists from Kerala,including four children, died thisweek due to a possible gas leakfrom a room heater at a resort inDaman in Makwanpur district ofNepal. They were part of a 17-member tourist group who hadchecked into Everest Panorama

resort at Daman, a popular touristdestination in Nepal.

According to the SP of DistrictPolice Office, Makwanpur, thetourists turned on the gas heaterin the room and later suffocateddue to some defect in the device,leading to carbon monoxide leakresulting in death.

The group — travelling toPokhara from Kerala — werereturning home. On the way,

they had stopped at EverestPanorama Resort in Daman. Gasheaters that are not installed cor-rectly or have become faulty overtime can cause a carbon monox-ide leak. As carbon monoxide isa colourless, odourless and taste-less gas, it becomes difficult todetect it. To prevent such hazards,hotels should inspect and rectifysuch appliances regularly. Thetourism Ministry in Nepal, too,

should have mechanisms to avoidsuch mishaps. Also, tourists stay-ing in hotels in cold places shouldbe aware of such silent dangers.

M PradyuKannur

No, thank you

Sir — At a time when he isembroiled in impeachment pro-ceedings, US President DonaldTrump has once again expressedhis desire to “help” India andPakistan resolve their dispute.With elections round the corner,it is all but common for politiciansto intensively work towardsimproving their image.

However, New Delhi must becomplimented for beating offanother unwanted diplomaticadvance by making it clear thatthere is no scope for mediation byanybody. Now, the rulingGovernment must refrain fromgaining unwanted attention onthe Kashmir issue. It must strikea conversation with all stakehold-ers and leaders in the Valley.

AditiVia email

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020

06

Illogic and the showman

BHOPINDER SINGH

The US under the Trump administration typifies the reckless decision-making of military imperatives without prior experience, counsel or professional advice

They (Government) are asking those who have beenliving here for four genera-tions to prove that they areIndians. This is sad. I thinkeveryone should speak up.

Actor—Nandita Das

When I was playing cricket,India was seven timesour size but we regularlyquashed them. In hockeyand so many other gamesalso. We were great.

Pakistan Prime Minister—Imran Khan

S O U N D B I T E

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

CAA: Flawed on several counts

Nobody expected the Supreme Court to stay theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA). And it did not, onthe presumption that the law passed by Parliament

is constitutionally valid until it hears both the petitionerschallenging its constitutionality and the Central Government— “presumption” being the operative word. Hence, thereis no cause for the Government to celebrate premature-ly. Before going ahead with the implementation of the CAA,the Government will do well to remember the apex court’sobservation that “nothing is irreversible.” When theSabarimala case was referred to a larger Constitution Bench,the original ruling, allowing entry of women of all ages intothe temple, was held in abeyance or at least its implemen-tation was not favoured by the BJP even in the absenceof any stay on the ruling. Similarly, the Government canput on hold the implementation of the CAA till the top court’sfinal ruling.

Home Minister Amit Shah has refused to make agesture towards the opinion of the anti-CAA protesters

and ruled out a repeal of the law. Critics of CAA pleadthe case for the inclusion of Muslims as the seventh reli-gious group to make the law “religion-neutral.” SecularIndia cannot and should not discriminate between a Hindufrom Pakistan, a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar anda Sri Lanka refugee of any faith on granting citizenship.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

IT’S NOT THATTEAM TRUMP DID

NOT HAVECOMPETENCY BUT

HIS IMPATIENCEWITH REASON AND

RESTRAINT HASENSURED THAT

THE LIKES OFMATTIS HAVE LEFT,GOT FIRED, JOINED

HIS ECHOCHAMBER OR, AS

MENTIONED IN ANOP-ED IN THE NEW

YORK TIMES,ARE PART OF

THE SILENTRESISTANCE

WORKING WITHINTHE TRUMP

ADMINISTRATION

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

An astronaut’s friend Netaji had opposed theHindu Mahasabha’s divisivepolitics. He had fought for asecular India. Now effortsare on to oust those whofollow secularism.

West Bengal CM—Mamata Banerjee

India slips on the global democracy index from 2018 even asThailand goes up. We are losing the war of perception

ISRO is using a half-humanoid robot to smoothenout creases for Gaganyaan, our manned mission

The Congress leadership is suf-fering from manasik diwaliya-pan (mental bankruptcy).Statements issued by it in thepast months reflect that theseare intended to help Pakistan.

BJP chief—JP Nadda

List of expectations

I’M HERE TO TELL ALL OF YOU. MAMATA BANERJEE,RAHUL GANDHI, COME AND DEBATE CAA WITH ME. I

HAD PILOTED THE BILL IN THE PARLIAMENT.—UNION HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

YOU SHOULD DEBATE WITH ME. WHY DEBATE WITHTHEM? THE DEBATE SHOULD BE WITH A BEARDED MAN.I CAN DEBATE WITH BJP ON CAA, NPR AND NRC.—AIMIM CHIEF ASADUDDIN OWAISI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

India is one of the fastest-growingeconomies in the world and the dri-vers of this growth can be credited

to the burgeoning millennial popula-tion, growing middle-income house-holds and an increasing representationof women in the workforce. All thesefactors contribute to economic growthby boosting retail consumption, there-by providing a highly positive outlookfor businesses in the country.Meanwhile, as far as the market poten-

tial is concerned, the retail industry provides a robust platform formultiple stakeholders, including the consumers, distributors, man-ufacturers and additional sectors like transportation, logistics andso on. In fact, according to the Retailers Association of India (RAI),around 43 million people in the country are employed in the retailsector and the industries that support those businesses. In fact, thesector is generating employment at a fast pace, taking the secondposition after agriculture in terms of creating direct as well as indi-rect employment opportunities.

Despite the retail industry’s positive contribution towards thecountry’s economy, 2019 witnessed many players struggling to sus-tain the growth chart. Even though they are expecting growth torebound in 2020, it will all depend on factors like the recovery inthe manufacturing and other sectors, availability of finances in thehands of consumers to make easy retail consumption decisions andof course, the forthcoming Union Budget 2020 that will be present-ed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. This willbe her second Union Budget and the retailers have many expecta-tions from the Modi Government in its second term.

Accelerating the process of national retail policy: It is a harshreality that India to date has been unable to develop a robust man-ufacturing sector despite two decades of economic and trade liber-alisation. Structural issues like scarcity of resources in the form ofraw materials and trained labour force, lack of capital and credit facil-ities and inadequate infrastructure are causing major hindrances inthe operations of small retail traders. This is also affecting the export-competitiveness of a large number of Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs). So, in this year’s Union Budget, these play-ers want the Government to speed up the formulation and imple-mentation of the National Retail Policy, as this would provide a sig-nificant boost to the development of 65 million small traders in thecountry’s retail sector and expedite/promote the ease of doing busi-ness in the country.

Promotion of digital and modern retail: The Indian retail indus-try is currently dominated by e-commerce and it is expected to growto $200 billion by 2026 driven by rising smartphone penetration, thelaunch of 4G networks and increasing disposable incomes. That said,the competition is only increasing day by day. Bearing in mind thenew-age consumers’ speedy adoption of technology, offline retail play-ers must also modify their strategies to keep their brands relevant,the brand experience even and their products and services accessi-ble across multiple channels. They are expecting the Governmentto modernise its retail by upgrading the use of Point of Sale Machinesthat would help retailers to access the customers’ information andefficiently manage their inventory, thereby improving their revenue-generation and profitability.

Boosting the consumption story: Due to the deceleration inthe economy, retailers both small and premium ones, are bearingthe brunt of a consumer class that has become careful in its purchas-ing decisions. This slowdown in consumption has dampened thedemand in the retail segment. Retail players are hoping that the UnionBudget will be pro-consumption and will come out with a slew ofmeasures that will make small-ticket credit and additional cash acces-sible in the hands of the middle class. This will positively impact theretail industry by increasing demand and also provide a much-need-ed boost to the economy.

GST on clothes: Clothes are subject to five per cent GST if thetaxable value of the goods is less than ̀ 1,000 per piece, whereas, thesale value of clothing that exceeds `1,000 is subject to 12 per centGST. Retailers expect the Budget to focus on increasing the thresh-old for the five per cent slab to `2,000 from the `1,000 that is leviedat present to give a fillip to the sector.

(The writer is Founding Director of a chain of value retail stores)

The Union Budget announced in2019 was in many ways a land-mark one for pushing e-mobili-

ty. Not only was the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) on electric vehicles slashedto five per cent, the Budget alsooffered major incentives for buyers ofelectric vehicles (EVs) in the form ofincome tax rebates on loan. These mea-sures were designed to push the sale ofEVs, which have been on the top of theGovernment’s priority list in recent

years. These incentives were additional to the major commitmentannounced under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybridand Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme to boost EV infrastructure.However, the sale of EVs remained lukewarm with an analysis sug-gesting that just 1,309 units of e-cars were sold between April andNovember 2019. With the economic slowdown and falling demandhitting the auto sector hard, the industry needs a slew of measuresthat will address concerns on both the demand and supply sides. Withthe Union Budget round the corner, there are hopes that the FinanceMinister (FM) will announce measures to revive consumption, putmore disposable income into the hands of the people as well as moresops for EVs. Importantly, the FM must give a policy push to e-bicy-cles which have the potential to be at the forefront of an e-mobilityrevolution.

Revive demand: In its annual review, the International MonetaryFund (IMF) said that the declining consumption and investment,accompanied by falling tax revenue have arrested India’s GDP growth.The IMF also called for “urgent” policy actions to reverse this slow-down. Falling demand has been at the centre of the current slow-down and the country needs measures that can put more incomesinto the hands of people and revive consumption. Cutting incometax rates and readjusting income tax slabs might be a tough call at atime when the Government’s revenues are shrinking but it might alsobe the bitter pill the economy needs. An income tax exemption onincome up to `5 lakh can positively impact salaried taxpayers andboost consumption. It can also spur buying among people who havedeferred automobile purchases in view of the deceleration. However,just monetary measures will not be sufficient. The economy also needsa major fiscal policy push to increase employment and income. TheGovernment must announce broad measures to infuse expenditurein strategic sectors like manufacturing and infrastructure and cre-ate income-generating avenues in the rural economy. This also includesrevisions in GST slabs to create a low tax economy.

Institute a supportive scrapping policy: Earlier this year, theFM announced a scrap page policy aimed at shunting out old vehi-cles and increasing production. The policy is aimed at serving thetwin objectives of reducing emissions and boosting consumer demand.The Government must ensure a quick rollout of the scrap page pol-icy to encourage the replacement of older vehicles and must also laydown positive incentives for customers to push the disposal of oldervehicles. The incentives may include exemption on road taxes for con-sumers and low interest loan schemes for purchase of new commer-cial vehicles. According to the Society of Indian AutomobileManufacturers (SIAM), the commercial vehicle industry suffered adecline of 22 per cent in sales between April and November 2019.We hope a supportive scrapping policy can help revive some of thislost demand.

Extend FAME II benefits to E-bicycles: E-bicycles have recent-ly been categorised under EVs to get tax benefits. However, they donot get the benefits designated under the FAME-II scheme. We hopethe Government recognises the need to promote e-bicycles as muchas the need to promote e-cars. While e-cars address the concern ofpollution, they do not solve the problem of traffic congestion. E-bicy-cles are both eco-friendly, space-friendly and also offer a viable solu-tion to the anxiety that comes with lack of charging infrastructureas they can be easily pedalled back in case of battery loss.

Policy measures to reduce viability gap of EVs: More measuresmight be needed to reduce the viability gap of EVs. The Governmentmust support the sector in different ways to make EVs more afford-able and viable. These measures can include exemption on road tax,lower power tariffs for charging EVs, exemption of parking fees forEV users and exemption of permit costs among other measures.

(The writer is Chairman and MD of a leading motor company)

At a time when the economy ofIndia is experiencing a slow-down, the country is hoping for

a balanced Union Budget by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman onFebruary 1. The middle-class is antici-pating relief in income tax and Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) are looking for incentives. Itis also crucial for the FM to formulatepolicies which ascertain 6.5 per cent realGDP growth for the fiscal year 2020-21.

Time to revamp MSMEs: While the economy is still facing aliquidity issue and MSMEs are bearing the brunt of the deceleration,achieving 6.5 per cent growth is a challenge but not impossible. Ifthe Government could save Non-Banking Financial Companies(NBFCs) and MSMEs, the scenario would turn favourable within afew months. Recently, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry(PHDCCI) requested the Government to change the definition ofMSMEs in response to alterations in the economic environment ofthe country in the last couple of years. MSMEs are the backbone ofthe Indian economy and the country cannot compromise with theirhealth. Hence, a changed definition will help the sector enhance itscontribution to employment-generation, poverty-alleviation andresource improvisation. A large number of MSMEs are strugglingwith financial challenges and without subsidies their sustenance isdifficult. It is shocking that out of the 6.33 crore MSMEs in the coun-try, only 0.05 lakh are medium enterprises. They are usually deprivedof the Public Procurement Policy which mandates 25 per cent pro-curement from the micro and small enterprises. They are also barredfrom availing delayed payment reliefs through facilitation councils.

Need for sector-specific measures: Besides considering the prob-lems of MSMEs, Sitharaman must also address the issues of under-performing sectors such as real estate, energy and telecom. There isan urgent need to reinforce sectors which strengthen the infrastruc-ture of the country but are reeling under the impact of the down-trend. Last year, Sitharaman relieved large businesses by cutting cor-porate tax to 22 per cent, but businesses cannot flourish until MSMEsbecome secure and stable. The Government should also lower thetax burden on MSMEs by slashing the Goods and Services Tax inkey sectors. The real estate sector, which is one of the growth pro-pellers of the economy, has been struggling for almost a decade. Toinfuse life into this sector, the Government must consider its long-pending demands such as getting industry status, a single-windowclearance mechanism, dropping the circle rate section from the IncomeTax Act, elimination of taxes on vacant property, reduced land acqui-sition cost and tax rationalisation on Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Telecom, yet another crucial sector is hopeful that theGovernment will take measures to resolve the burgeoning debt issuesin the Budget. Telecom companies are also demanding reduction inlicence fee, Spectrum Usage Charges and relief in levies.

No compromise with liquidity: The next big challenge beforeSitharaman is increasing liquidity in the market because it is direct-ly proportional to the growth of MSMEs, especially start-ups. TheIL&FS and DHFL fiascos had drastic repercussions on the financialmarkets, and one of the main reasons for the huge impact is the lackof availability of alternative options to bank funding. Now, Public SectorBanks have decided to cut their Marginal Cost of Funds-based LendingRates (MCLRs) which will be beneficial for the economy as it willimprove liquidity in the market. Lower MCLRs will mean that NBFCscan borrow from banks at lower rates and the NBFCs that operatein SME lending and housing will benefit the most. It will strength-en the capitalisation structures of HFCs and help revive the real estatesector. Also, to bring back positive sentiments in the market and tocounter the decelerating growth, better liquidity is needed and a lowerMCLR would help meet this to a great extent. Industry pundits believethat stability in the sector will be regained by the first quarter of 2020.They are optimistic about increased demand for credit because urban-isation is taking place at a fast pace. Plus, there is a thriving start-upculture in the country and retail and e-commerce sectors have highpenetration even in semi-urban areas. The Government should alsokeep inflation under control and it must not go beyond six per centfor at least three quarters. If all these issues are addressed, makingIndia a $5 trillion economy will be a realistic goal.

(The writer is founder, CEO, of an investment management firm)

Formulate retailpolicy soon

Give IT sops toboost EV sales

MSMEs need more incentives

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gears up to present the Union Budget on February 1, India Inc shares its hopes and concerns

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

Aim for greenindustrial growth

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

Centre, States must create a sustainable businessenvironment and impactful economy while

integrating with global benchmarks and practices

RACHIT CHAWLA PANKAJ MUNJAL RAVINDER SINGH

The world is moving towards sustainable businesses to tackle thechallenges of climate change, empowerment of communities, health,education and other social causes to ensure the survival of life on

the planet. From Davos, where the world’s most powerful people gath-er, to a humble policy document emerging from a bureaucrat’s desk,the theme is sustainability. In the midst of the clamour for making theblue planet a safer, healthier zone, lies the underlining theme of slowingthe world order and tightening cross-border flows of goods, servicesand people. India, with its goal of a $5 trillion economy by 2024 in themiddle of ominous forecasts of slow GDP growth, is facing a doublechallenge of sustainable growth vs a steroid shot of booster measuresto put the economy on the fast track. While the full Union Budget 2020will deliver parts of the promise and create hopes for more, the door isajar for two important policies under consideration by the Government— the industrial policy and the e-commerce policy.

The proposed industrial policy (third after 1956 and 1991) oughtto be a North Star for making India a global innovation, R&D and man-ufacturing hub, thereby achieving the $5-10 trillion target in the next decade.However, it must be kept in mind by lawmakers that this policy is com-ing at a time when the world has shifted towards Industry 4.0 and theglobal economy determinants are increasingly sinking into computingprowess of latest chips and bots while facing tremendous ecologicalchallenges. This policy has a sated objective to develop and sustain glob-al competitiveness for India; increase technology depth of the industry;increase employment avenues; increase share in global merchandiseexports and reduce the environmental footprint. The stated vision is aone trillion gross value addition in manufacturing by 2025, (even thoughwith right policy measures this target can be moved up.) The Governmentat this stage is in focussed stakeholder consultations to devise the rightstrategy for pushing India up in the world economic order.

The key questions being asked under the stated targets are how tobring the cost of capital expenditure in large-scale manufacturing in valueterms for land, electricity and money at par with the globe benchmarks?How to reduce regulations and promote ease of doing business? Howto develop India as a research, design and innovation hub by removinghurdles which are fully-integrated with the new asks from a connecteddigital economy? How to promote skills and workforce education as wellas upskilling of the existing workforce to be able to function in the newindustrial arena? How to focus on quality checks, testing and standardspractices while recognising that we need to align with global benchmarks?Also, how to increase India’s global share in exports with a focus onour policy? Assist and put all industries on technology-aided platformsto enjoy the true benefits of a connected global economy? Achieve astable, predictable, industry, consumer and economy-friendly policy frame-work to foster higher growth? Increase foreign direct investments? Promotesustainability as the core objective of all businesses in the country?

All these are commendable strategy directions which ask the rightquestions for an increasingly coagulating global order where technolo-gy innovations are diminishing physical barriers in fractions of secondswhile protective Governments are putting iron fences around theireconomies and reducing global agreements to pieces of paper.

It is in this context that the new industrial policy seeks to achievesignificance, as it comes at a time when every citizen is feeling the impactof the crumbling economy, job losses and more important, climate change.From extreme weather conditions being reported around the globe, torising costs of providing basics to humans, not to forget, extinction ofspecies, are a real danger today.

India needs to walk the tightrope of creating a sustainable businessenvironment and impactful economy while getting more integrated withglobal benchmarks and practices. The new industrial policy needs a seriesof deliberations and clause by clause analysis of the vision, objectivesbefore being drafted.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade hasformulated a working group to finalise the policy which includes a cou-ple of key State Governments. Nobody can deny the role States are like-ly to play in shaping the next economic growth for India. State Governmentsin the past have organised successful roadshows or “invest inwards”summits, promising big ticket businesses free land, cheap electricity andfast Government clearances for new projects. However, now they needto align with the Central Government and put in their key demands, chal-lenges and proposed solutions towards developing their States whichare sustainable, long-term and more importantly can survive changingregimes. It is a long shot but in the spirit of federalism, States need toget their records straight on power subsidies, clamp down on existingbusinesses using local administration and similar regulatory challenges.The deliberations so far have been behind closed doors. For a global“outward”-looking industrial policy, there should be an open consulta-tion process, especially at the State Government level.

(The writer is Country Manager, India, ITI Council)

The term “financial weapons ofmass destruction”, coined bybillionaire Warren Buffett for

derivatives, is not without reason.They can be used both for hedgingand speculation and their marketsworldwide have grown to a humon-gous level, reaching about $1.2quadrillion, almost 10 times that ofthe world GDP.

However, the use of derivativeshas also brought giant corporationsto their knees during past globalfinancial meltdowns. One cannot for-get the bankruptcy of corporationslike Enron and Barings Banks due towrong speculative moves involving

derivatives. Since they are a double-edged sword, one has to be extra cau-tious while using them.

What are derivatives anyway?These are instruments that derivetheir value from any underlyingasset, which could be either a stockor a commodity.

Any investor or corporation canput money in any one of the popu-lar derivatives for hedging or specu-lative purposes. Corporations usethem for hedging if they want toreduce an existing risk or protectthemselves from any volatility in theprice of an underlying asset by tak-ing an offsetting position, whereasspeculation is trying to make profitdue to any price changes.

Several analysts believe that theIndian stock markets are set to risefurther in 2020 and may end higherby at least 13 per cent. It is being pre-dicted that Nifty might end above the13,000 mark. Similarly, the expecta-tion for the BSE Sensex is that it willgo above the 46,000 level. So, if weconsider a bullish market for this year,what are the derivative strategies that

an investor can use in this type ofmarket where the prices of underly-ing assets are set to rise? Although thegeneral belief is that stock marketswill be bullish, there will certainly bevariations as is natural.

In case the markets are extreme-ly bullish, investors should go aheadwith a long-call strategy. This is oneof the simplest approaches and canbe used by beginners in the deriva-tives market. There is only one trans-action involved, i.e., buying calloptions. It helps investors use thepower of leverage and make poten-tially unlimited profits and at thesame time cap their losses. In theworst case scenario, when the mar-kets do not behave as anticipated, lossis limited to the price of buying thecall options.

A reverse call ratio spread is alsoan extremely bullish strategy wherean investor can sell an option at alower price, usually in-the-money orat-the-money and buy more optionsat the higher strike price, which isout-of-the-money, of the same under-lying asset. So if an investor sells one

option and buys two options with ahigher strike price, a reverse calloption strategy is created.

When the market outlook ismoderately bullish and the investoris expecting some upward movementin the underlying asset, a long-callladder strategy could be initiated.This strategy has the potential ofearning from time decay if it expiresin the range of the strike price. Thisstrategy is created by buying one in-the-money call, selling one at-the-money call and selling one out-of-themoney call of the same underlyingasset with the same expiry.Experiments can also be made withdifferent strike prices.

Another income-generatingstrategy that can be initiated in amoderately bullish market is a cov-ered call option which can be creat-ed by using a stock and an option.This strategy is created by purchas-ing a stock and simultaneously sell-ing a call option, which is out-of-the-money, usually on the higher side.

When the markets are becomingmore neutral, buying a long-call

would not be the best strategy to use.In a moderately bullish market,investors could take a short putoption strategy, wherein they goshort on a put position, i.e., they areobliged to buy the underlying assetin future at a predetermined price ifthe buyer wishes to exercise hisoption. This strategy will be helpfulfor investors if the price of theunderlying asset increases moderate-ly or even remains at the same level.In a flat market, this strategy will bebeneficial as it gives investors achance to earn some upfront moneyin the form of premium which can beadjusted against some margins.

Another strategy for a moreneutral or flat market with a bullishview is bull put spread option, whichinvolves two put options, both shortand long. It is created by one short putwith a higher strike price and onelong put with a lower strike price. Buthere the expiration date remains thesame. This strategy has a higherpotential of being profitable as it isbeneficial in situations when theprices are steady or are rising.

In case an investor has sufferedany losses due to price fall, a stockrepair strategy is there and can helpthe investor recover their losses evenif the prices of the underlying assetshow slight improvement.

This strategy is created by buy-ing one at-the-money call and at thesame time selling two out-of-themoney call, of the same underlyingasset with the same expiration. Thetrick here, though, is that the strikeprice of the sale should be very closeto the buying price.

As one can see, there are differ-ent derivative strategies for differentmarket outlooks. However, taking abet with derivatives can be verydangerous as by paying a small pre-mium, investors can end up initiat-ing very large transactions and if themarkets do not move the way theinvestors anticipated, the losses canbe huge. These transactions shouldonly be undertaken by an expert withknowledge about stock markets andin particular, derivatives.

(The writer is Associate Professor,Amity University, Noida)

Derivatives are a double-edged swordUsed both for hedging and speculation, the derivatives markets worldwide have grown to a humongous level, reaching about $1.2

quadrillion. However, their use has also brought giant corporations to their knees, hence investors must exercise caution

HIMA BINDU KOTA

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

The world turned a blind eyeto Saudi Arabia's behaviourbecause it suited it. Now thecosts are clearer as aninvestigation found billionaireJeff Bezos had his mobilephone hacked after receivinga WhatsApp messageapparently sent from theaccount of the Saudi crownprince. A year after journalistKhashoggi's death, many ofthose who had pulled out ofthe 2018 investment summitwere present. Yet many ofthem are doubtless in urgenttalks with their digitalsecurity consultants.

(The Guardian editorial)

WITH FRIENDSLIKE THESE...

PNS n DAVOS

Asserting that the Indianeconomy is well-poised totake off, Union ministerPiyush Goyal on Thursdaysaid there is a lot of enthusi-asm for making investments inthe country.

Speaking at a session at theWorld Economic Forum(WEF) annual summit here,the Commerce and IndustryMinister also said the govern-ment will hold discussionswith Britain and EuropeanUnion on free trade agree-ments.

Britain is set to leave theEuropean Union by end ofJanuary.

"... things have once againstarted showing an uptrend...economy is well poised totake off from here," Goyal said.

According to him, theenthusiasm to make invest-ments in India is infectious.

At least four or five compa-nies have said that more than50 per cent of their total work-force would operate out ofIndia in the coming years.

Some of them are big names,he noted.

On RCEP, Goyal said it wasan "unbalanced trade agree-ment, which was really not ful-filling the guiding principleson which RCEP started abouteight years ago, therefore Indiachose not to participate in it".

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Canara Bank's netprofit rises 3.8 pc toRs 330 cr in Q3MUMBAI: State-owned CanaraBank on Thursday reported a3.8 per cent rise in its netprofit to Rs 329.62 crore inthe third quarter of the currentfinancial year, mainly due to adecline in proportion of badloans. The bank's profit wasRs 317.52 crore during theDecember 2018 quarter. Itstotal income stood at Rs14,001.63 crore during thequarter ended December2019, up from Rs 13,513.35crore in the year-ago period,Canara Bank said in a stockexchange filing. The net non-performing assets (NPAs) as apercentage of total assetsstood at 5.05 per cent, downfrom 6.37 per cent a year ago.Similarly, the percentage ofgross NPAs also narrowed to8.36 per cent from 10.25 percent. In absolute terms, thenet NPAs stood at Rs21,337.74 crore, down from26,591.07 crore.

Power ministryappoints Ashish asgovt nomineeNEW DELHI: State-ownedpower giant NTPC onThursday said the powerministry has appointed AshishUpadhyaya as a governmentnominee director on its board.The ministry has appointedUpadhyaya, additionalsecretary and financial advisorin the ministry, as agovernment nominee directoron the board of NTPC till thedate of superannuation or tillfurther orders, whichever isearlier, according to a BSEfiling. Upadhyaya joined as apart-time official director onthe board of NTPC onWednesday. He is a 1989-batch IAS officer of MadhyaPradesh cadre. Upadhyaya hasbeen working as additionalsecretary and financial advisorin the power ministry sinceNovember 14, 2019.

OBC Q3 profitjumps 39.11 pc toRs 201.66 cr

DB Corp posts 7.9pc rise in Q3 profitat Rs 81.63 crNEW DELHI: Media house DBCorp on Thursday reported 7.9per cent increase inconsolidated net profit at Rs81.63 crore in the third quarterended December 2019. Thecompany had posted aconsolidated net profit of Rs75.63 crore in the samequarter a year ago, DB Corpsaid in a regulatory filing.Revenue from operationsduring the quarter underconsideration stood at Rs598.75 crore as against Rs659.7 crore in the samequarter previous fiscal, itadded. The company said itsboard of directors at itsmeeting held on Thursdaydeclared second interimdividend of Rs 3.5 per equityshare of face value Rs 10each.

MUMBAI: State-ownedOriental Bank of Commerce(OBC) on Thursday reported a39.11 per cent jump in netprofit at Rs 201.66 crore forthe quarter ended December2019, mainly due to reductionin bad loans. The bank, whichis going to be merged withanother state-run lenderPunjab National Bank, hadreported a profit of Rs 144.96crore in October-Decemberquarter a year ago. The bank'stotal income during Decemberquarter stood at Rs 5,642.61crore as compared with Rs5,127.98 crore a year ago, itsaid in a regulatory filing.Income from interest stood atRs 4,659.93 crore as againstRs 4,561.12 crore duringOctober-December quarter ofprevious fiscal.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Power Minister R K Singh onThursday urged Brazilianinvestors to invest in the Indianenergy sector, saying it is thefastest growing energy marketand its consumption will treblein coming days.

Singh also assured investorsthat India will provide stablepolicy and regulatory regime tofacilitate them.

"Meeting our aspirationsrequire us to go on higher ener-gy consumption pedestal.. withour low base (per capita) ener-gy consumption, our energyconsumption is going to dou-ble or treble in short while.

"We want more and morecompanies to come here andinvest here. We can promise ofstable policy regime. We canpromise a regulatory regimewhich is fair and decides and

totally at arms length from thegovernment. All of you are wel-come to invest here," Singh saidwhile addressing a seminar --India-Brazil Opportunities inEnergy and Mining -- here.

As far as energy is con-cerned, no other country willgrow as fast as India, the min-ister added.

"We have to treble our ener-gy consumption to catch withthe world...I will hold yourhand and see that you dont faceany difficulty," he said.

The minister also elaborat-ed on the scope of investmentin power distribution as well asrenewable energy segmentwhere the nation is seeing

huge expansion and entry ofnew players.

"You will see many large dis-tribution companies emerg-ing in India," he noted.

India has set a target ofadding 175 GW of renewablepower in the energy mix by2022. It has already added 86GW. Besides, around 36 GW isunder installation and about 35GW is under bidding stage.

The minister exuded confi-dence that India will havearound 50 per cent renewablesin its energy mix by 2030.

India has established powergeneration capacity of about360 GW, which is expected tobe trebled by 2030.

Singh also drew attentiontoward India's efforts for shift-ing to electricity based mobil-ity and cooking which wouldalso push power demand up.

He also said India's hydropower companies will be bid-ding for projects in Brazilwhenever auction would beannounced.

"We have huge companies inenergy sector. We have com-

panies in all segment like trans-mission, generation.. (like)Sterlite, Power Grid," the min-ister said.

Brazilian Minister of Minesand Energy BentoAlbuquerque said, "Indiaimports about 80 per cent of itsneeds of (crude oil) whileBrazil became the net oilexporter. Currently, exportsof oil represent the majorshare in our bilateral trade. Ibelieve that there is room formuch more".

The Brazilian minister alsosuggested that the two nationsshould join efforts and forcesto make ethanol a global com-modity.

He also said that Brazil isexpanding its power generationcapacity and transmission lines,and the highest share of directinvestment from India in Brazilis in electricity.

Power Min seeks Brazilian investment in energy sector

PNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hasbarred Equicom FinancialResearch and its two directorsfrom acting as an investmentadvisors for luring innocentinvestors by making assuredprofit commitment and pre-senting misleading informationto clients.

Besides, they have beenbarred from capital markets,the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) said in anorder.

After receiving severalinvestors' complaints, Sebi con-ducted an examination in rela-tion to the affairs of Equicom.

This is registered as anInvestment Adviser (IA) witheffect from April 25, 2014 and,Amit Kukda and AkhileshRaghuvanshi are the two direc-

tors of Equicom throughwhom the company functions.

The probe found thatEquicom was involved in lur-ing the innocent investors bymaking assured profit com-mitments; extracted more andmore money from the clientsby offering more and more ser-vices; presented misleadinginformation to clients to influ-

ence their decision to invest,took advance payments forservices and made false com-mitment of profits to theirclient for extracting more pay-ments from the clients amongothers.

"The adoption of such prac-tices are nothing but con-trivance/device/deceit formanipulatively forcing the

clients to deal with the IA.Thus, Equicom has prima facieviolated ...the PFUTP(Prohibition of Fraudulent andUnfair Trade Practices)Regulations," the regulator saidin an order passed on Tuesday.

Besides, Sebi noted thatEquicom has failed to abide bythe code of conduct while car-rying out its activities as aninvestment adviser and there-fore violated InvestmentAdvisers Regulations.

The regulator said Kukdaand Raghuvanshi being thedirectors of Equicom are primafacie responsible for the viola-tions committed by the com-pany.

Consequently, Sebi hasdirected Equicom and its twodirectors to "cease and desist"from acting as an investmentadvisor including the activity ofacting and representingthrough any media (physical ordigital) as an investment advi-sor, directly or indirectly untilfurther orders.

In addition, they have asked"not to access the securitiesmarket and buy, sell or other-wise deal in securities in anymanner whatsoever, directly orindirectly, until further orders".Further, they have beenrestrained from diverting anyfunds raised from investors.

After receivingseveral investors'complaints, Sebiconducted anexamination inrelation to theaffairs of Equicom

India has set a target of adding 175 GWof renewable power in the energy mixby 2022. It has already added 86 GW.Besides, around 36 GW is underinstallation and about 35 GW is underbidding stage

SPOTTING MARKET MANIPULATION

Sebi to tap AI,ML and Big Data PNS n MUMBAI

Sebi is acquiring capabilities tomonitor and analyse socialmedia posts to keep a tab onpossible market manipula-tions, its Chairman Ajay Tyagisaid on Thursday.

He said the capabilities willinvolve use of artificial intel-ligence, machine learning , bigdata analytics and natural lan-guage processing tools to spotmarket manipulation.

The new plan involves cre-ating a "data lake" project toaugment analytical capabili-ties, he said while speaking atthe Speaking at the NationalInstitute of Securities Marketsat Patalganga near here.

In efforts to curb possiblemanipulations in the securitiesmarket, Sebi has been keepinga watch on social media andthere have been cases wheresocial media posts have helpedin acting against manipulativeactivities.

"Catching malpractices inthe market using the standardtools that analyse only struc-tured data of price and volumeis increasingly getting diffi-cult," Tyagi said.

"We want to acquire tech-nology and unstructure dataanalysis because the struc-tured data analysis is not help-ing much, manipulators use allsort of things," he noted.

A tender has also beenfloated for acquiring the tech-nology.

Even in the absence of sucha focused tool, Tyagi said Sebialready has capabilities, where-in it screens social mediaposts after corporateannouncements and thechanges in price and volumesof a scrip.

The Sebi chief said applica-tion of AI (ArtificialIntelligence) and ML(Machine Learning) tools hasthe potential to bring a para-

digm shift in the securitiesmarket landscape, adding thatblockchain can be used inclearing and settlement activ-ities.

AI/ML tools are beingincreasingly deployed in fundmanagement, trading, super-vision and surveillance func-tions in the capital markets, headded.

Further, Tyagi said there isa need for the technologists toinvest time in research inthese tools for applications inthe capital markets.

Systemic risks are becomingimportant objectives for finan-cial regulators, Tyagi said,explaining that this requiresidentification and monitor-ing of important financialinstitutions, leverage, inter-connectedness, risk concen-trations and market senti-ment.

PNS n DAVOS

As the government works ondivesting debt-laden Air India,Union Minister Piyush Goyalon Thursday said if he was nota minister, he would be bid-ding for the airline.

Air India has been in the redfor long and the government isnow in the process of finalis-ing the contours for its disin-vestment.

Responding to a queryabout proposed disinvestmentof Air India, BPCL and othercompanies, Goyal said in thefirst term, the governmenthad inherited an economywhich was in pretty terribleshape.

Steps were taken to put theeconomy back in shape and ifthe government had looked at

divesting these jewels, it wouldnot have got a great value.

He was talking at a sessionon 'Strategic Outlook: India' atthe WEF 2020 here.

"If I weren't a minister today,I would be bidding for AirIndia. It has some of the bestbilaterals the world over... awell managed and efficientAir India with lot more goodaircraft put in using thesebilaterals is nothing short of agold mine to my mind," Goyalsaid.

Bilaterals refers to an agree-ment between two countriesthat allows each other's airlinesto operate services with a spe-cific number of seats.

Goyal holds the portfolios ofRailways as well as Commerceand Industry.

"India today is a land whereyou have equal opportunity,you can work with integrity...,"the minister said, adding thathe thinks a good job has beendone in cleaning up the banksand strengthening them.

Indian economy poisedto take off, says Goyal

According to him,the enthusiasm tomake investmentsin India isinfectious

GE T&D India bags Rs 173-cr order from JKPDDPNS n NEW DELHI

GE T&D India Ltd onThursday said it has bagged aRs 173-crore order fromJammu & Kashmir PowerDevelopment Department(JKPDD).

GE T&D India Ltd wasawarded a supervisory controland data acquisition (SCADA)and advanced distributionmanagement solution (ADMS)project by JKPDD for the dis-tribution operations in Jammuand Srinagar, according to astatement by the company.

The order worth about Rs173 crore, won through a com-petitive bidding process,includes a five-year mainte-nance services contract and the

supply and integration of a hostof solutions in the overall dis-tribution network in the twocities, said the statement.

Pitambar Shivnani, chiefexecutive officer of GE T&DIndia Ltd, said, "The commit-ment towards the implemen-tation of this technology is amajor step towards realisingthe vision of 24x7 power sup-ply to all consumers in the

cities of Jammu and Srinagar."The technology solution

being executed for this projectis used mainly for 24x7 powersupply, reduction of powerlosses and real-time data mon-itoring and control of distrib-ution network from a cen-tralised place.

This will determine the set-ting up of reliable and "no man-ual touch" systems for system

control or data collection andadoption of information tech-nology in energy accounting.

The SCADA technologyreduces aggregate technicaland commercial losses andenables real-time monitoringand control of the electric dis-tribution network, handlingof loads during load sheddingand restoration and plugging ofpilferage points.

The technology solution being executedfor this project is used mainly for 24x7power supply, reduction of power lossesand real-time data monitoring andcontrol of distribution network from acentralised place

HCL, Citichiefs join US-IBC boardPNS n NEW DELHI

HCL CEO C Vijayakumarand Citi India CEO AshuKhullar have joined theGlobal Board of Directors ofUS-India Business Council,the top advocacy group saidon Thursday.

Other high-powered addi-tions to the board includeProcter & Gamble President,Asia Pacific, Middle East andAfrica Magesvaran Suranjan;TransUnion President forInternational David Neenan;and Bharat Forge DeputyMD Amit Kalyani.

PNS n CHENNAI

India's largest realty firm DLFon Thursday announced aninvestment of Rs 5,000 crore todevelop large commercial pro-ject here as part of its strategyto expand portfolio of rentyielding properties.

Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterThiru Edappadi Palaniswamilaid the foundation stone of'DLF Downtown' at Taramaniin Chennai.

The 27 acre project will bedeveloped by DLF's joint ven-ture firm with GIC named DLFCyber City Developers Ltd

(DCCDL). The total commer-cial area, largely office spacesto be constructed under thenew project, is 6.8 million sq ft

in various phases."Tamil Nadu has always

been a destination of choice forcorporates and MNCs due toits talent pool and favourablebusiness environment. We areinvesting Rs 5,000 crore inphases for developing ourfourth project DLF Downtown,Taramani in Chennai," DLF

CEO Mohit Gujral said.DLF would commence con-

struction of 2.5 million sq ftarea in the first phase.

The project, to be complet-ed in the next 5-6 years, wouldhelp additional 70,000 directand 6,000 ancillary employ-ment opportunities once oper-ational.

PNS n MUMBAI

Market benchmark Sensexrose by 271 points onThursday on the back of gainsin index heavyweights Infosys,L&T, ICICI Bank and SBI,despite massive a selloff inglobal equities.

After gyrating over 300points in a volatile session, the30-share BSE index settled271.02 points, or 0.66 percent, higher at 41,386.40. It hitan intra-day high of 41,413.96and a low of 41,098.91.

Likewise, the broader NSENifty closed 73.45 points, or0.61 per cent, down at12,180.35.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T)was the top gainer in theSensex pack, rising by 2.98 percent, after the companyreported a 15 per cent rise inits consolidated net profit at Rs2,560.32 crore for quarter toDecember 2019.

Other gainers includedM&M, SBI, Titan, Infosys,Bharti Airtel and UltratechCement.

Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid,TCS, Bajaj Auto, RelianceIndustries and Maruti endedin the red.

According to experts,despite carnage in other Asianequities amid fears of conta-gion after a deadly new virusemerged from China, stock-specific action kept domesticbenchmarks buoyed.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seouldeclined up to 2.75 per cent.European markets were alsotrading on a negative note intheir early sessions.

Brent crude oil futures fell1.22 per cent to USD 62.44 perbarrel.

Sebi bars Equicom Financial, directorsfrom providing investment advisory

Ajay Tyagi

The Sebi chiefsaid application ofAI (ArtificialIntelligence) andML (MachineLearning) toolshas the potentialto bring aparadigm shift inthe securitiesmarket landscape

PNS n NEW DELHI

French energy utility firmENGIE has announced astrategic partnership withEdelweiss InfrastructureYield Plus (EIYP) for solarassets in India in order topare debt of around EUR 400million (around Rs 3,159crore).

"In line with both ENGIE'sand EIYP's strategies, ENGIEhas agreed to sell (once thetransaction has closed inaccordance with its terms) a74 per cent stake in 12 solarassets aggregating 813 MWpof operating capacity collec-tively to EIYP and SekuraEnergy, a portfolio companyof EIYP," the utility firm saidin a statement.

EIYP is an infrastructurefocused fund managed byEdelweiss Alternative AssetAdvisors and part of diversi-fied Indian financial servicesconglomerate EdelweissGroup.

According to statement,the completion of this trans-action (subject to the usualconditions associated withthis type of operation) isexpected to occur during thefirst half of 2020 and willallow ENGIE to reduce its netdebt by more than EUR 400million.

The project, to be completed in the next5-6 years, would help additional 70,000direct and 6,000 ancillary employmentopportunities once operational.

French firmENGIE inkspact with EIYP

Sensex rises 271pts on value buying

DLF to invest Rs 5,000 cr in new project

Piyush Goyal

‘If I were not a Ministertoday, I would be bidding’

ontent creatorsand influencers inthe Telugu statesnow have anopportunity toshowcase their tal-

ent. Instagram launched the‘Born on Instagram’ pro-

gramme in Hyderabad, todiscover, showcase andgrow the most creativecontent creators in

Andhra Pradesh andTelangana. Theprogramme aimsto give creatorsthe knowledge to

best leverageInstagram andhone their story-

telling capabili-ties.

The pro-gramme will have

the creators partici-pate in a series of

15 events,including one

inHyderabad,and subse-quentlyprovide a

bouquet ofbenefits over

the rest of theyear including

one-on-one part-ner management,

sessions on best prac-tices of the platform,

video storytelling tech-niques, mentorship by cel-ebrated creators, create-

together opportunities andother useful resources.

“‘Born on Instagram’ is aprogramme that recognisesthe creativity in content thatwe’re witnessing all acrossIndia — in big and smallcities. Hyderabad is a greatexample because it representsthe myriad passions that arepursued on our platform —food, fashion and technol-ogy. While we build onour strength of visualstorytelling and launchinnovative features forenhancing safe self-expression, pro-grammes like these willhelp us in further iden-tifying and mentoringthe next big digitalcontent creators ofIndia,” said ManishChopra, Head ofPartnerships,Facebook India.

A highlight ofthe event wasMahathalli akaJahnavi Dasetty,a popular creatorwith 648k follow-ers, whosharedherinsightsonleverag-ing theplatform.She said, “Ilove enter-taining con-

tent and that’s the genre Ifocus on. While I play differ-ent characters in differentsketch videos I make,Instagram allows me to showmy real and authentic self. It’sa place where you see all mypassions, which include fash-ion, travel and entertainment.I’m hoping this new pro-gramme discovers and devel-

ops more talentedInstagrammersfrom Hyderabad,and I’m happy toplay a part in it.”

— PNS

ishwaja Reddy, astudent of theUniversity ofHyderabad study-ing MBA, says, “Inthe midst of my

external lab examination,while I was studying engi-neering, I got my periods. Icouldn’t go out and bring apad. I somehow managed toget one with help from myjunior. Then it struck me thatsomething must be done sothat pads can be made avail-able during emergencies likethese.”

“During research on thistopic, I came to know aboutsanitary napkin vendingmachines and incinerators.Being a mechanical engineerit was easy for me to under-stand how the machineworks. The prototype I madewas with cardboard and alsotied up with a fabric compa-ny to procure the pad mater-ial,” she adds.

This led Vishwaja Reddy tothe creation of sanitary padvending and disposablemachine.

When asked about howthe machine works, Vishwaja

shares, “The manual sanitarynapkin vending machinegives out pads in exchangefor coins. All one needs to dois drop a Rs 5 coin and pullthe lever to get the pad. Weupgraded it to an automaticmetal machine that runs onpower. Recently, we havemodified the machine toscan an RFI code, similar tothe ones used at Metro sta-tions. The code can be incor-porated into ID cards of stu-dents and employees so itcan be easily scanned.”

About incinerators, sheadds, “A safer, quicker andhygienic method for disposalof napkins is the incinerator.The used pads are burned at

a relatively low temperatureso as to have the leastamount of emissions. Thereis an external thermal pro-tection that automaticallycuts power when required.An incinerator can burn upto 200 pads a day dependingon its capacity. Burning 10pads produces only onetablespoon of ash.”

She said that thesemachines are very useful toevery girl who is menstruat-ing and can easily obtain apad and it is not just for girlsbut also for women/sweepers(men) who clean washrooms.

She says, “Generally, everyfemale face such crises butthey don’t know what to do

and sometimes even if theyhave any plan they may notcome forward to discuss itwith anyone. If you faceproblems express it out loud.Even if you may not get asolution right away, you mayfind a way to get out of iteventually.”

Vishwaja was awarded theIntinta Innovation award2019 by the IT department ofTelangana. IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao also lauded herfor her efforts.

Vishwaja says that theyhad installed the machines in23 schools and colleges inHyderabad and are planningto set up the same in ruralareas of Telangana.

“It took a year for me tomake the machine. Eachmachine costs Rs 10,000 toRs 18,000. Being a student, Ihad to collect the funds bygoing from school to collegeto convince them to buy thesanitary pad vendingmachine. That is how I man-aged to make thesemachines,” shares Vishwaja.

On a concluding note, shesays, “We are working on toget a patent for the machine.We want to make more anddistribute them throughoutthe state so that no girl orwoman would have to facethe worry of not having apad when needed.”

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

A HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENTWAS MAHATHALLI AKA JAHNAVIDASETTY, A POPULAR CREATORWITH 648K FOLLOWERS, WHO

SHARED HER INSIGHTS ONLEVERAGING THE PLATFORM.

V

FridayJanuary 24, 2020

Karimnagar-based Vishwaja

Reddy builtdisposable

sanitary padvending

machines tomake sure that

no girl orwoman wouldhave to worry

about nothaving a pad

when needed,finds

V SATEESHREDDY

Making a way through

EMERGENCIES

Generally, every female face these problems but they don’t know whatto do and sometimes even if they have any plan they may not comeforward to discuss it. If you face problems, express it. Even if youmay not get a solution, you may find a way to get out of it

VISHWAJA REDDY, INNOVATOR

Animal Planet comes to city zoohy do dogs wagtheir tails? How docats always landon their feet?What makes somepeople magnets

for mosquitoes? Do elephantsreally never forget? How doelectric eels not electrocutethemselves? Why don’t pen-guins’ feet freeze on ice?Animals are extraordinary,and they do seeminglyimpossible things that leavehumans in absolute awe.Children especially are full ofcuriosity and want to knowmore about the wild animalsnot found in urban areas.

These questions and othermysteries will be explored asthe channel Animal Planetpresents the natural world upclose, with rare footage ofanimals captured in new andsurprising ways with a specialpreview of How do AnimalsDo That as a part of special

tie-up with Nehru ZoologicalPark Biological Park.

As a part of the tie-up,Animal Planet will screenhugely popular series HowDo Animals Do That in theauditorium of HyderabadZoo starting January 23,2020.

The entry to the theatrewill be free. The zoo will host

show according to visitor’sinterest. The tie-up withHyderabad Zoo is in linewith Animal Planet’s missionto keep the childhood joyand wonder of animals aliveby bringing people up closein every way, said, MeghaTata, Managing Director,South Asia, Discovery.

“We are delighted to part-

ner Animal Planet in thisnovel initiative. I am confi-dent that children will enjoyand learn a lot from thisentertaining series. We willcontinue in our endeavor tooffer world class content todiscerning visitors to ourzoo,” said N. Kshitija, I.F.SCurator Nehru ZoologicalPark, Hyderabad.

WC

Chance for influencers,Instagrammers to shine

10

Hyderabad Friday January 24, 2020

EXOTIC DISPLAY

Gaja, an exhibitioncurated by BolgumNagesh Goud, was held

at Bangur House, Jubilee Hillsrecently. The exhibition had put upbeautifully painted fibreglasselephant sculptures, the work of 25renowned artists, on display.Several prominent personalitiesincluding actress Lakshmi Manchugraced the event.

l Manisha

l Priyanka l Nagesh Goud and Sheetal l Annapurna l Swapna

l Sweta l Amal Preeti

CITY GUIDE

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, send your details alongwith a poster and contact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

COMEDY

lBanyan Tree's Splendor of Masters aims atshowcasing a bouquet of maestros from theworld of Indian music in combinations that arenot only rare but also aesthetic and enriching.Every year this festival has received anoverwhelming response from music lovers invarious cities. The event will be organised atShilpakala Vedika tomorrow at 6 pm.

SPLENDOR OF MASTERS

l Draupadi is a dance drama in Kuchipudi format,with Sravya Manasa playing the lead role asDraupadi. It deals with the less familiar phases ofDraupadi's life along with her inclination towardsKarna. The play shall be held at Pheonix Arena onFebruary 1 at 7 pm.

DRAUPADI - A DANCE DRAMA

l Crowd favourite Rahul Dua starts his countrytour again, this time travelling solo with hisbrand new stand up special ‘Oh Hello!’ He willbe touring multiple venues in the city tilltomorrow.

l “SPEAK UP” is an intensive weekend workshopon effective Communication and Public Speakingskills. With theatre-based exercises, group activitiesand stage time, this programme helps you breakout with confidence and discover your own voice.The focus here is on verbal, non-verbal and writtencommunication. The workshop will be conductedtomorrow from 11 am to 5 pm.

SPEAK UP

THE ACT OF KILLING

PALM LEAF CRAFT

lCinephiles Film Club is screening a film The Act ofKilling on January 29 at Lamakaan from 7.30 pm. Filmmakers expose horrifying mass executions ofaccused communists in Indonesia and those whoare celebrated in their country for perpetrating thecrime.

.

lFor all craft lovers Lamakaan Cultural spacebrings you Palm Leaf Craft, which is the third ina series of workshops named Leela Ten Months,Ten Crafts. This is an initiative to sustaintraditional crafts that are on the verge ofextinction. The workshop will be held at January26 at 11 am.

OH HELLO!

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

what’s brewing?PARTY

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esai

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uperstar Akkineni Nagarjuna will be releas-ing the Telugu dubbed version of the much-anticipated Hindi film, ’83, directed by KabirKhan, under his Annapurna Studios banner.Touted as the biggest sports film of the coun-try, the film chronicles Indian cricket team’s

historic 1983 World Cup triumph against the WestIndies. Reliance Entertainment and Global Cinemas willpartner with Annapurna Studios to release the film inTelugu on April 10.

Happy to present the Telugu version,Nagarjuna, who is shooting for Wild Dogpresently, said, “The film is all about the greaticonic win in 1983 that has made cricket areligion in India. It is a story that needs to betold and I am proud to present one of themost awaited films in India and the rest of thecricketing world.”

Excited to have Nag on board for the Teluguversion, Kabir said, “As a filmmaker, I havealways admired Nagarjuna for the enormity ofgreatness he has and having such a Superstar’sassociation is a sheer privilege. With his support,the Telugu version of ’83 is surelygoing to be a hit with the localaudience.”

Ranveer Singh hasstepped into the shoes ofKapil Dev for the film,which also features TahirRaj Bhasin, Jiiva, SaqibSaleem, Jatin Sarna,Chirag Patil, DinkerSharma, Nishant Dahiya,Harrdy Sandhu, SahilKhattar, Ammy Virk,Addinath Kothare, DhairyaKarwa, R. Badree andPankaj Tripathi. DeepikaPadukone will be seen play-ing Romi, Kapil Dev’s wife.

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

NAG topresentTeluguversionof ’83

he trailer ofSavaari,featuringNandu andnewbiePriyanka in

the lead, waslaunched inHyderabad onWednesday evening.Carrying a good deal

of buzz around it, thefilm marks the director-

ial debut of SaahithMothkuri whose 2017 short

film Bandham Regad receivedwidespread critical acclaim.Actors Sudheer Babu and SreeVishnu graced the trailer launchas guests and were thoroughlyimpressed by the trailer.

Vishnu said he came to theevent uninvited after falling inlove with the film’s song NeeKannulu Naa Dillulo. “I’ve heardthe song on a loop for 10 to 15days continuously. The othersongs are equally good and theywill help generate buzz aroundthe film. The trailer is differentand the film’s team looks gen-

uine. I hope from here onNandu will not associate withfilms for money and attempts tocreate a different path of cine-ma. I will be watching Savaarion its first day (February 7),” hesaid.

Sudheer said he understoodNandu’s range as an actor afterworking with him inSammohanam. “The great quali-ty about him is that he neverrelents. His passion for cinemahasn’t diminished a bit from theday he started his career. Hedeserves stardom and a goodfan base,” Sudheer said. OnSaahith he said, “I wasimpressed with his BandhamRegad and later I’ve heard thisstory from him. I liked it but Iwas looking at some other genreat that time. For someone wholistens to a story a day, I am stillable to recall Saahith’s story withclarity and that tells how muchof an impact it had on me. Andnow after watching Savaari’spromotional material, I can saythat he will be one of the bigdirectors in the future.”

ven before he takeshis third film withNani to sets, direc-tor RahulSankrityan haslined up another

project. The Pioneer hasexclusively learnt that he gotan in-principle nod from SaiTej for a time-travel adven-ture drama. The actor is rid-ing a high, post the success ofPandaga Chesko. The projectwill be a joint productionventure between GA2Pictures and UV Creations,which produced Rahul’s sec-ond film Taxiwaala, and willroll after he wraps up Nani’sfilm.

A highly-placed sourceclose to the development tellsus, “Geetha Arts got a windof Rahul’s time-travel storylast year and immediatelyasked him to narrate it toBunny Vas, chief of GA2Pictures. He endorsed it andlater asked Rahul to narrate itto Sai Tej. The actor liked itstraightaway. He was bowledover by the content and styleespecially. Vas was instru-mental in making Vamsi ofUV Creations listen to thestory, and got his nod too.Vamsi too felt that thewhacky nature of the contentwill be a refreshing change

for audience from regularcommercial cinema.Business-wise as well the filmwill be a hot commodity inthe market as it marks thecombination of Sai Tej team-ing up with GA2 Picturesand UV Creations after thebox-office smash PandagaChesko. Time-travel conceptaside, the film’s story is lay-ered which will be its defini-tive style.”

The source adds that thefilm will be a mounted on a

budget of Rs 20 croreto Rs 25 crore andwill boast of a goodnumber of computergraphics shots.

Right now, Rahulis busy polishing thescript of his next withNani, while Sai Tej isshooting for SoloBrathuke So Better inVisakhapatnam. In alllikelihood, the duo’scoming together willtranspire next year.

Hyderabad Friday January 24, 2020

E

11

tollywood

Sci-fi bug iscatching on.

Now directorRahul

Sankrityanhas lined upa time travel

movie for SaiTej who is

riding a highafter the

success ofPandagaChesko,

writesNAGARAJ

GOUD

EVEN BUSINESS-WISETHE FILM WILL BE AHOT COMMODITY INTHE MARKET AS ITMARKS SAI TEJTEAMING UP WITHGA2 PICTURES ANDUV CREATIONS AFTERTHE BOX-OFFICESMASH PANDAGACHESKO. THE FILM’SSTORY IS LAYEREDWHICH WILL BE ITSDEFINITIVE STYLE

ore thanthree monthsafter itslaunch,Varun Tej’sas-yet-unti-

tled boxing drama withdebutant director KiranKorrapati will finally goin front of the camerasfrom February 15 inVisakhapatnam. Alittle birdie tellsus that Varunis in theprocess ofcreating acertainlook forthe film.“He ispreparingfor hispart inMumbai.The makershave hiredthe services ofnational-levelboxer NeerajGoyat, who is the firstIndian boxer to havemade it to WBC worldrankings (ranked 20), totrain him in boxing aswell as in attaining theboxer’s look,” informsthe source.

The source furtherexclusively confirms thatexcept for the leadactress casting,other cast mem-bers are in place.The makershaveapproachedSaieeManjrekar,daughterof film-maker-actor

Mahesh Manjrekar, to bethe lead heroine. She hasmade her Bollywooddebut alongside SalmanKhan in Dabangg 3 lastyear. “Niddhi Agerwalis also on the director’swish list. In another twoto

threedays, clarityto this endwillemerge,”statedthe

source.The first schedule in

Visakhapatnam will befollowed by outings inHyderabad and in sur-rounding areas of NewDelhi, calling it a wrap.On the supporting front,the source informed thatNadiya and Jagapathi

Babu will be seen inpivotal roles, while

the likes ofVennela

Kishore andSatya willtake care ofcomedy.

A jointproduc-tion ven-turebetweenSidhu

Mudda andAllu

Venkatesh,the film will be

shot by cine-matographer

George C.Williams,while S.S.Thaman isthe tune-smith.

— NG

Saiee Manjrekar,Niddhi Agerwal incasting race

M

S

T

SREE VISHNU,SUDHEER

support Savaari

ctor Sunil, who was recentlyseen in a comedy role inTrivikram’s AlaVaikunthapuramlo, has beenadmitted to a private hospital inHyderabad, after he complained

of uneasiness on Wednesday evening.According to reports, the actor has beenon antibiotics for the past week. The sideeffects from the antibiotics took a toll onhim leading to throat infection and

sinus. He was not in a position to speakproperly till Thursday noon and his situ-ation improved as the day progressed.Doctors treating him told his family thatthere’s nothing to worry about.

The sudden hospitalisation means thatSunil won’t be able to promote his Fridayrelease, Disco Raja.

He has projects like Colour Photo andAnand Deverakonda’s next withDamodar Attada in his kitty.

Sunil down with infection

A

evealing a new still, themakers of Uppena, whichmarks the acting debut ofMegastar Chiranjeevi’snephew Vaisshnav Tej, onThursday announced that

the film, a rustic love story, will beopening in cinemas on April 2.Directed by debutant Buchi Babu Sana,the film, a Devi Sri Prasad musical, is ajoint production venture betweenMythri Movie Makers and SukumarWritings. Vijay Sethupathi, KrithiShetty, Sai Chand and Brahmaji will beseen in pivotal roles.

FIRSTLOOK

R

SAI TEJ boardsSANKRITYAN'S

time-travel adventure

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | JANUARY 24, 2020 sport 12

PTI n AUCKLAND

Preparations for the World Cup ontop of their agenda, India will takeon an injury-hit New Zealand in a

rare five-match T20 International seriesstarting today during which seam-friend-ly wickets would be a major challenge forthe visitors.

Unlike most overseastours, this will be a quick startfor the Indian team. The teamarrived in Auckland onTuesday and Thursday was when they hitthe nets ahead of the tour-openinggame.

On the plus side, this hectic sched-ule helps the team management maintainconsistency in team selection as they con-tinue experimenting across the availablesquad in a World Cup year.

Despite injury issues to key white-ballpersonnel like Shikhar Dhawan, HardikPandya, Deepak Chahar andBhuvneshwar Kumar this past homeseason, the bench strength has comeacross adequate and raring to go for chal-lenges ahead.

It begins at the top where KL Rahulhas stepped up as a key part of India’swhite-ball plans.

Skipper Virat Kohli dropped hintsthat Rahul’s newfound confidence in hisdual role as batsman-keeper has givenvital options to the team.

According to Kohli, Rahul will con-tinue to keep wickets in both ODIs andT20Is, but will open in the shortest for-mat while returning to the middle-orderin the 50-over format.

It could mean that Prithvi Shaw isbeing primed for an ODI debut and apotential pairing with Rohit when thethree-match series begins on February 5.

The skipper also indicated a changein middle order plans. With Rahul keep-

ing wickets, the fit-again Rishabh Pantcould lose his spot in the playing eleven.

Manish Pandey is expected to play asthe fifth specialist batsman and ShreyasIyer will regain his spot at number four.

Pandey, Iyer and Pant batted togeth-er in the nets on Thursday, while SanjuSamson hung around, only to pad uplater on. The Kerala batsman didn’tseem to be in contention for the firstT20I.

Pant and Pandey could both fit intothe playing eleven should India opt forfive bowlers and leave out the sixthoption in Shivam Dube. WashingtonSundar and Ravindra Jadeja are theother two all-round options.

The Yuzvendra Chahal-KuldeepYadav combination is yet to play a gametogether since the 2019 ODI World Cup,and it remains to be seen if things willchange in this aspect.

In the pace department, MohammedShami and Jasprit Bumrah are assured

starters, while the toss-up will be betweenShardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini.

New Zealand had beaten India 2-1 inthe T20I series last year. The Black Capsalso won 2-1 in the T20I series duringtheir Sri Lankan tour, and then drew 2-2 at home against England in a five-matchseries.

Despite the recent good record in theshortest format, there is a downbeat moodin the hosts’ dressing room thanks to the3-0 shellacking received in Australia overthe past month.

It hasn’t helped matters that the dis-appointing loss to their trans-Tasman rivalshas raised questions about KaneWilliamson’s future as captain.

For the moment, New Zealand’s lead-ing batsman is happy to lead the side acrossall formats, but his position is up for reviewafter the shattering defeat to Australia.

As always, they have a dearth of all-rounders to choose from but need to bal-ance with pickings in the pace department,

which is missing the services of TrentBoult, Matt Henry and Lockie Fergusonowing to injuries.

It remains to be seen if the Black Capsopt for two spinners in Ish Sodhi andMitchell Santner given the really shortboundaries at Eden Park, venue for the firsttwo T20Is.

TEAMSIndia: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, KLRahul (wk), Manish Pandey, RishabhPant, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, ShivamDube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav,Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami,Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, NavdeepSaini, Washington Sundar.New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt),Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, ScottKuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Colin deGrandhomme, Tom Bruce, Daryl Mitchell,Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), HamishBennett, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, BlairTickner.

JOHANNESBURG: England captainJoe Root on Thursday was lookingforward to the prospect of two of theworld’s fastest bowlers operating ona pace-friendly pitch in the fourthand final Test against South Africa,starting at the Wanderers today.

Root said Jofra Archer hadbowled with “good pace” in practiceon Wednesday after recovering froman elbow injury which kept him outof the second and third Tests — bothof which England won.

He said that if Archer had nolingering signs of injury or soreness,England would have a “really good

selection headache”.Mark Wood startled several of

the South African batsmen in thethird Test in Port Elizabeth, bowl-ing bouncers at around 150kmh.

Archer is also among the world’ssmall club of 150kmh bowlers.

“It would be nice to see howthey go together,” said Root. “I thinkthey would be a relentless barrageof pace which is exciting, especial-ly on a surface such as you typical-ly get here at the Wanderers.”

He also said that it would be “avery big achievement” if Englandcould complete a series win.

Meanwhile, SouthAfrican skipper Faf duPlessis said his sideneeded to dig deep tosalvage a series draw.

“How strong are we mentally inthis last hurdle? We know where wehave been a little bit poor in ourgame plans,” he said.

Du Plessis said Temba Bavumawould replace Zubayr Hamza in theXI, but there would also be achange in the batting order, withRassie van der Dussen moving upto number three, the position filledby Hamza in the first three Tests.

He is also hoping that VernonPhilander, who will retire frominternational cricket after the match,would finish his Test career “withthe storybook ending he deserves”on a pitch where he has done wellin the past. AFP

PTI n LAHORE

Pakistan’s T20 skipperBabar Azam has defend-

ed the decision to recall vet-erans Shoaib Malik andMohammad Hafeez, sayingthe experienced duo’s pres-ence will help the team in itspursuit of retaining thenumber one spot in theshortest format.

Desperate to hold on toits numero uno status inT20 rankings, Pakistan hasrecalled Malik and Hafeezin the team for the three-match series againstBangladesh.

“I felt that we neededthese two (Malik, Hafeez)seniors. They were part ofthe number one team lastyear,” he said.

“I gave my opinion tothe selectors and they heardme. Their presence will helpme and the team. I will learnfrom them on captaincy aswell,” Babar added.

The 25-year-old bats-

man also said Pakistan isunder no pressure in theseries against Bangladesh,especially after the thrash-ing in last T20 series againstSri Lanka at home.

“No there is no pressurefor us because what is doneis done but we will not tryto repeat the same mistakeswe did against the Lankans,”Babar said.

He made it clear thatthey were not takingBangladesh lightly.

“Bangladesh have agood combination ofyoungsters and seniors andit will be a good competitiveseries. Their players havethe advantage of havingcome here fresh out of theBPL (Bangladesh PremierLeague),” he said.

PTI n MUMBAI

The Indian women’s cricket captainHarmanpreet Kaur in her pre-

departure press conference for T20World Cup on Thursday saidhandling pressure would be cru-cial in the upcoming ICCWomen’s tournament in Australia,something that her side couldn’tdo in the last two global show-pieces.

India made a semi-final exit fromthe last T20 World Cup and in the pre-vious ODI World Cup, they had fin-ished as runners-up.

“We were quite close in the last twoWorld Cups, the only thing is we haveto keep in mind how to handle pressurein the tournaments, last two WorldCups we lacked in handling pressure,”Harmanpreet said.

“This time we want to enjoy ratherthan taking more pressure on ourselves,thinking that it is a big tournament. Wehave to avoid thinking like that andfocus on giving our best,” she added.

The 30-year-old batswoman, whohas played 104 T20s, said the teamneeds focus on enhancing skills insteadof thinking about the pressure of beingat a big stage.

“Last few World Cups, we put our-selves under too much pressure of play-ing in a big tournament. This time

rather thinking that we are going for abig tournament, we just want to focuson our skills, how we should play andhow to make the team win,” she said.

“That will be very important for usand when we focus on these things, we(will) produce better results,” she added.

She counted spin bowling as one of

the strengths of her team.“...They always give us break-

throughs. So I am looking forward tohow our spinners perform there (inAustralia) and see what they do for theteam,” said the skipper.

India will, in all likelihood, openwith the experienced Smriti Mandhanaand young Shafali Verma and accord-ing to Harmanpreet, the duo will havea crucial role to play.

“They both (Smriti and Shafali) arevery important for the team and theyalways give their best...The first six oversare going to be important for us.

“Good start is important for theteam and whenever they get a goodstart, we never look back. They bothhave very big role to play,” she said.

Asked what will be her message fornew players like Shafali and the 16-year-old Richa Ghosh, Harmanpreet said theywould be encouraged to play their nat-ural game.

“...Don’t take any pressure becauseif we play freely without any pressure,you will give your 100 per cent,” she said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former India leg-spinner LaxmanSivaramakrishnan has applied for a

position in the national selection panelalong with former off-spinner RajeshChauhan and left-handed batsmanAmay Khurasiya.

All the three former India interna-tionals have confirmed that they areoffering their candidature for a placein the selection committee. The lastdate for applying is today, January 24.

The other two confirmed appli-cants are former junior selector PritamGandhe and current junior selectioncommittee member Gyanendra Pandeybut both have completed their four-year tenure in one committee and areunlikely to be considered as per Lodhanorms.

It is understood that among appli-cants, the “senior most Test cap” willbecome the chairman and ifSivaramkrishnan gets the nod, he willbe the senior-most having made hisTest debut in 1983 (vs West Indies inAntigua) as a 17-year-old.

The BCCI will be replacing MSKPrasad (South Zone) and Gagan Khoda(Central Zone) from the current com-mittee.

Former junior chairman of selec-tors Venkatesh Prasad and formerIndia batting coach Sanjay Bangarcould also throw their hat in the ring,which will make it an interestingthree-way battle for the chairman’sposition. It is learnt that both playersare undecided. Also there is no clari-ty whether former India speedsterAjit Agarkar will apply or not.

AUCKLAND: Christchurch’s Hagley Oval willhost the summit clash of next year’sWomen’s Cricket ODI World Cup, it wasannounced on Thursday.

The 50-over tournament which will runfrom February 6 to March 7 will be playedacross six cities.

Auckland will host a bumper openingweekend at Eden Park, before the focusshifts to matches in Wellington, Hamilton,Tauranga, Dunedin and Christchurch.

The tournament, featuring 31 matchesbetween February 6 and March 7, will becapped by a final in Christchurch underlights at the Hagley Oval, one of NewZealand’s main Test venues.

BFI OOFFERED TTO HHOST OOLYMPIC QQUALIFIERSNew Delhi: The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) hasoffered to host next month's Olympic QualifyingTournament, which has been cancelled in the Chinesecity of Wuhan following the outbreak of coronavirus.The qualifiers are scheduled from February 3 to 15 butthe schedule has now become uncertain following thehealth crisis in Wuhan, which has so far claimed 17lives and infected over 550 people. “...Due to anyreason, if the event is to be shifted to a different country,BFI would be willing to host this Asian and OceaniaQualification Event 2020,” BFI President stated in a letterto the Chairman of the IOC's Task Force (Boxing).

SHIVA, SSONIA LLATHER EENTER SSTRANDJA SS/FNew Delhi: Former world medallists Shiva Thapa(63kg) and Sonia Lather (57kg) assured themselves ofmedals at the 71st Strandja Memorial BoxingTournament by advancing to the semifinals. Joiningthem was Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg). Heoutpunched Ireland's Kurt Walker 5-0 to make themedal rounds. Former world Silver-winner Lather(57kg) clinched a 3-2 triumph over Michaela Walsh ina hard-fought contest to enter the last-four stage. Thapagot the better of George Bates in his quarterfinal clash.

WORLD AARCHERY LLIFTS SSUSPENSION OON IINDIAKolkata: In a big boost to Indian archers' preparationsfor the Tokyo Olympics, the world body on Thursdayconditionally lifted the suspension on India, less than aweek after the embattled national federation held itselections. While lifting the ban, World Archeryinstructed AAI to make changes in its constitutionregarding athlete membership, resolve governanceissues and develop a strategic plan. It also asked AAI tofurnish a quarterly progress report on these issues.After lifting of the ban, the Indian archers are now freeto compete under the Indian flag. India currently hasthree men's and one women's quota place at 2020Tokyo Olympics.

RFI LLIFTS BBHOKANAL'S BBANNew Delhi: Rower Dattu Bhokanal's two-yearsuspension on charges of tanking a race during the2018 Asian Games was lifted by the national federation(RFI) after the intervention of the IOA Narinder Batra.Bhokanal was a member of the Indian quartet that wona Gold in the men's quadruple sculls event in the AsianGames but later left the single sculls race midway. Hewas banned by the RFI in March last year. In hisexplanation, Bhokanal had said that he fell off the boatas it overturned and he was also not well on that day.But after Batra asked the RFI to review its decision, theyinformed Bhokanal's suspension has been lifted.

CASSELL JJOINS RRR AAS FFAST BBOWLING CCOACHMumbai: Rajasthan Royals on Thursday appointedformer Australian first class cricketer Rob Cassell astheir new fast bowling coach for the upcoming IndianPremier League. Cassell has had success of workingwith, and developing fast bowlers during his previouscoaching and development roles at South Australia andIreland men's cricket team. The Australian representedhis country at the 2002 U-19 World Cup in New Zealandbut never played for the senior team.

STAFANIE TTAYLOR TTO LLEAD WWEST IINDIES WWOMENBarbados: Stafanie Taylor will lead West Indieswomen in the upcoming T20 World Cup slated to beplayed in Australia from February 21- March 8. Theteam, led by Taylor, sees the return of Deandra Dottin tointernational cricket after eight months out of the squadfollowing corrective surgery and rehabilitation. “TheWorld Cup squad continues to show a blend ofexperience and young emerging players. It is boostedby the return of captain Stafanie Taylor, who was out ofthe T20 series against India through injury,” chiefselector Ann Browne-John said. AGENCIES

SINGLES

HARARE: Suranga Lakmal took four for 27 toset up Sri Lanka for a 10-wicket win overZimbabwe in the first Test on Thursday.

Resuming on 30 without loss and need-ing 157 to make Sri Lanka bat again,Zimbabwe recovered from the loss of threeearly wickets to Lakmal to reach lunch at 120for three.

The tall pace bowler struck again imme-diately after, removing Brendan Taylor for 38,and Zimbabwe slumped to 170 all out, los-ing their last seven wickets for 50.

Sri Lanka needed just 14 to win and theopeners Oshada Fernando and Dimuth

Karunaratne knocked off the runs in threeovers. Angelo Mathews was named man ofthe match for his 200 not out in Sri Lanka’sfirst innings of 515 for nine declared. AFP

Upbeat India take on injury-struck Kiwis as build-up toT20 World Cup continues

Black& Blue

Indian captain Virat Kohli and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson pose with the T20 trophy on the eve of 1st game at Eden Park in Auckland Black Caps/Twitter

India vs NZ (1st T20)Live from 11:30am ISTSTAR SPORTS 1 NETWORK

India U-19 sidelook for hat-trickPTI n BLOEMFONTEIN

Already through tothe quarterfinals after

two resounding wins on thetrot, defending championsIndia will be keen to main-tain their unbeaten runwhen they face NewZealand in the final Group A tie of the ICCU-19 World Cup here today.

India, who are atop their group withfour points, had cruised to a 90-run vic-tory over Sri Lanka in their openingencounter before outclassing debutantsJapan by 10 wickets withe disciplined bowl-ing effort. The Priyam Garg-led side willstart as favourites against New Zealand.

New Zealand, on the other hand, wereunlucky to share a point with Japan aftertheir match was washed out inPotchefstroom last week. However, theymanaged to clinch a late winner againstSri Lanka and book a place in the lasteight.

New Zealand, who had finished eighthon home soil in 2018, will be looking tofollow a similar trajectory as their seniorcounterparts, who reached the finals of themen’s World Cup last year, in this editionof the U-19 showpiece.

Having won the warm up matchesagainst Zimbabwe and Afghanistan andthe quadrangular series, the Indian teamwould not want to lose the rhythm at anycost.

In their previous outing, India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (4/5) took four wick-ets while pacers Kartik Tyagi (3/10) andAkash Singh (2/11) shared five scalpsamong themselves to help the four-timechampions bundle out Japan for 41.

Also on the batting front, Jaiswal (59),Garg (56) and wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel(52 not out) impressed with half centuriesagainst Sri Lanka while Tilak Varma (46)and Siddhesh Veer (44 not out) also pro-vided useful contributions.

However, the Indian team is yet to betested against a strong opposition.

India vs NZ (U-19 WC)Live from 1:15pm ISTSTAR SPORTS 2 NETWORK

PTI n AUCKLAND

The loss still rankles him but ViratKohli on Thursday said he can’t real-

ly bring himself to think of revenge whenIndia take on New Zealand for the firsttime after the Kiwis sent his side pack-ing from the ODI World Cup last year.

The Black Caps defeated pre-tour-nament favourites India by 18 runs in thesemifinals of the showpiece in Englandand today’s tour-opening T20I is the firstclash between the two sides since then.Kohli has spoken repeatedly about howdevastating the loss was for him person-ally.

“Even if you want to think ofrevenge, these guys are so nice you can-not get into that zone,” said Kohli at thepre-match press conference.

“We get along really well with theseguys and it’s all about being competitiveon the field. As I said in England, theyare probably one side that has set theexample for teams to play internation-al cricket,” he reasoned.

Williamson and his men had drawneffusive praise for their grace in the after-math of a heartbreaking World Cup finalloss to England, a game that was decid-ed on boundary count after scores weretied.

“It is not about any kind of revenge— it is two quality sides playing goodcricket. It is a challenge to beat NewZealand here and we are totally up forit,” Kohli said.

No revenge in mindagainst ‘nice guys’

Virat Kohli during India’s nets session PTI

Christchurch will host2021 WWC final

Handling pressure will be key in T20 WC: Harmanpreet

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and coach WV Raman answer to media queries PTI

Root facing ‘goodselection headache’

Joe Root in action during third Test AP

SA vs Eng (4th Test, Day 1)Live from 1:30pm IST

SONY ESPN NETWORK

Sivaramakrishnan in frayfor National selector’s postPak need Malik & Hafeez’s experience

Shoaib Malik in practice session AP

Indian U-19 players celebrate after win CWC/Twitter

Lakmal sets up Sri Lanka win

India ODI skipper Mithali Raj along side NZ players ICC