PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Two students of DamodaramSanjivayya National LawUniversity (DSNLU),Visakhapatnam, have filed awrit petition in the HighCourt over the varsities charg-ing fees even for the lockdownperiod when the institutionswere closed.

The students from DSNLUother universities in the State,who had come from under-privi leged backgrounds,minority communities, trou-bled households, economi-cally weaker sections, remotevillage areas and such studentsmay be suffering from men-tal health issue. This petitionis to consider the economic orsocial or mental impact ofCovid-19 on students.

Anurag Tiwary and KeshavBaheti have moved the High

Court pleading it to issue awrit to waive off the fees andnot increase it in the varsities.

The students of such uni-versities in the State are beingforced to pay the fees even forthe period during the lock-down in the name of availingthe benefits of services that

have not even been availed bystudents such as library fees,hostel fees, mess charges, elec-tricity charges and Internetfees once the lockdown wasannounced, the petitionersargued.

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MONEY 8CONSUMERS FOOTFALL INCREASE,AVERAGE BASKET VALUE GOES UP

ANALYSIS 7THE WRATH OF GOD

OR NATURAL SCIENCE?

SPORTS 11WILL PROBABLY START WITH

COACHING GOING FORWARD: YUVRAJ

VIJAYAWADA, MONDAY MAY 18, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 195*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated May 17, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Paush & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Ekadashi: 03:07 pmNakshatram: Uttara Bhadrapada:

04:58 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 07:23 am – 08:59 amYamagandam: 10:36 am – 12:12 pmVarjyam: NILGulika: 01:49 pm - 03:25 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 11:34 am – 01:22 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:46 am – 12:38 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Mostly cloudyTemp: 41/29Humidity: 43%Sunrise: 05:43 amSunset: 06:42 pm

5

CIL begins processof developing Rs 2,474 cr CBM projects

8

Lead kindly light Modiji

4

‘Punjab staring atRs 50,000 cr lossthis year, mullingtax options’

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Expressing his concern overagony of migrant workers,Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy orderedofficials to take care ofmigrant workers, who areembarking on foot, to reachtheir destinations. Heexpressed concern overpathetic condition of migrantworkers and asked officials toarrange food and free trans-portation in order to reachtheir native places.

He gave a fiat to officials toarrange buses on the highwayto pick them up and take tothe nearest relief centres. Allthe police check posts wereprovided with staff from therevenue department to coun-sel the migrant workers tocome to relief centres with apromise to send them inShramik trains.

About 79 food counterswere set up along the NationalHighway near to checkposts toprovide them food and water.Similarly, Collectors wereasked to put banners on high-ways in Oriya and Hindiexplaining the arrangementsbeing made for the migrantworkers going on foot. Oncethey reach the relief centres,instructions were given toofficials that people belongingto Andhra Pradesh have to be

sent to their native districts byAPSRTC buses free of cost.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The government should takethe responsibility of bringingmigrant workers back home,said Jana Sena Party chiefPawan Kalyan. Amid lock-down migrant workers aredying on their way to theirdestinations in accidents, heexpressed concern.

In a statement here onSunday, he recalled accidentsthat took place in UttarPradesh and Madhya Pradesh,and opined that the respectiveState governments should takethe responsibility for themishaps. The migrant work-ers should be treated withhumanity and their problemswill not be solved if the gov-ernment does not take theirresponsibility, he opined.

Pawan said that thousandsof migrant workers from

Chhattisgarh, Odisha andAssam are working at thePolavarm project site whileworkers from Odisha areworking in granite mines inPrakasam district. Manymigrant workers wereinvolved in construction andindustrial activity across theState.

Police did not target suspended doctor: CPPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Commissioner of Police RKMeena refuted the allegationsthat the police targeted sus-pended Narsipatnam AreaHospital medical officer Dr KSudhakar because he had com-plained against the govern-ment for not providing ade-quate Covid-19 kits.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Sunday, theCommissioner said the citypolice responded to a call on100 at 3.45 pm on Saturdaywhen public complained abouttraffic hurdle and nuisance by

the doctor. The police, whowent there did not also know,

who he was. TheCommissioner showed thevideo clips, which were takenby the police during the time ofincident. The doctor was seenusing derogatory words againstChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy and the police depart-ment.

“When our policemen weretrying to stop him, he abused

our men by using filthy lan-guage. He removed his shirt,threw food items on road fromhis car and started to smokepublicly. The doctor provokedpolice to beat him by breakingconstable’s mobile phone,’’ hesaid and added that the person-nel had to physically resist himbecause he was drunk andmight hurt himself or others.

The CP also said that thedoctor was shifted to KingGeorge Hospital where hisblood samples were taken andsent to FSL. Police also bookeda case under Section 353 ofIPC, he said. He also added thatbased on the video evidencethey placed a constable undersuspension.

KGH doctors have referredthe doctor to the GovernmentHospital for Mental Care wherethere would be further assess-ment. Meena said that policeare yet to receive any reportfrom doctors about his mentalcondition.

TDP MLC arrestedfor gamblingPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Police caught TDPMLC DevagudiSivanath Reddy red-handed while gam-bling on Sunday forviolating the lock-down norms.

According topolice, they carried outraids based on a tip-off thatpeople were playing cardsdefying the lockdown rules

near Devagudi village inJammalamadugu mandal.

Nine people werearrested in the raidsand police recov-ered Rs 15,700from their posses-sion.

Among the ninearrested, police con-

firmed the name ofTDP MLC Sivanath Reddy.

Six new casesreported inSrikakulam distPNS n VIJAYAWADA

For the first time in weeks,the State has registered itslowest single daytally of 25cases in the24 hoursending 10am onS u n d a y .Releasing thedetails, the nodalofficer reported that 9,880samples were tested duringthis period. For the secondconsecutive day, there wereno districts that reporteddouble digit tallies.

On Sunday, the State’scumulative tally of Covid-19cases climbed to 2,230.However, with a rise in thenumber of people dischargedfrom hospital after beingcured, the tally of active casescurrently stands at an alltime low of 747.

Jagan ensures free food, transportto migrant workers

Police cane protestingmigrant workersWest Bengal workers staged

a protest in Patamatademanding that thegovernment arrange trains togo back to their State. Nearly,1,500 migrant Bengali workersare staying in Patamata andeking out their livelihood bydoing petty works.On Sunday, they staged aprotest alleging that the Stategovernment is not takinginitiative to send them back totheir State. On receivinginformation, police rushed toPatamata area and convincedthem to stop the protests.

KGH doctors have referred the doctor to theGovernment Hospital for Mental Care where therewould be further assessment. Meena said thatpolice are yet to receive any report from doctors

Govt should supportmigrant workers,says Pawan Kalyan

Govt willprivatisenon-strategicPSUs: FM PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Sundayannounced plans to privatisePSUs in non-strategic sectorsand suspend loan default-trig-gered bankruptcy filings forone year in the fifth and finaltranche of its economic stim-ulus package that togetherwith RBI's liquidity measurestotalled to about Rs 21 lakhcrore but entailed less than 10per cent cash outgo from gov-ernment coffers.

WHY VARSITIES CHARGING FEES FOR LOCKDOWN PERIOD?

DSNLU students file writpetition in High Court

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UK MEDIA WATCHDOG FINES ZAKIR NAIK'SPEACE TV £ 3 LAKH FOR ‘HATE SPEECH'

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday accused India of attemptingto create an opportunity to conduct a false-flag operation against his country

by alleging that Islamabad was supporting terrorism in Kashmir. Khan onceagain took to Twitter to allege that the Indian government was trying to deprivethe Kashmiris of their right of self-determination by "illegalannexation of their territory." In a series of tweets, Khanalleged that India was trying to show Kashmiris' right tostruggle for self-determination guaranteed in UN SecurityCouncil Resolutions as terrorism being abetted by Pakistan -to create opportunity for a false flag operation against Pakistanwhile detracting world attention away from" Kashmir.

SC GRANTS BAIL TO UNDER-TRIAL MANAFTER HE TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19The Supreme Court has granted bail for two months to an under-trial man

who has tested positive for COVID-19 in Jaipur jail to get treatment. Thecourt said the man, facing trial in an abetment to suicide case, and theauthorities would have to follow all conditions imposed by doctors with respectto COVID-19 patients. Justices M M Shantanagoudar and R S Reddy wereinformed by the man's counsel that his client has tested positive forCOVID-19 and is undergoing treatment for it. "We desire torelease the petitioner on bail only on the aforementionedground for a temporary period of two months so as to enablethe petitioner to take treatment properly." the bench said in itsMay 15 order after hearing the case through a video link.

Railways on Sunday said only Shramik Specials, other special trains, and parceland freight services will operate during the fourth phase of lockdown,

beginning on May 18. The national transporter, which hascancelled all its regular passenger services till June 30, saidthe guidelines issued during Lockdown 3.0 will be in force asfar as rail operations are concerned. While parcel and freighttrains were in operation through all the lockdown periods whichbegan on May 25, the Railways began running ShramikSpecial trains to ferry migrants from May 1 and 15 pairs ofspecial trains on the Rajdhani route for the general publicunder certain restrictions.

RLY SAYS ONLY SPECIAL, PARCEL AND FREIGHTSERVICES TO RUN DURING LOCKDOWN 4.0

IMRAN KHAN ACCUSES INDIA OF CREATINGOPPORTUNITY FOR ‘FALSE-FLAG OPERATION'

UK's media watchdog Ofcom has fined controversial Islamic preacher ZakirNaik's Peace TV network 300,000 pounds for broadcasting "hate speech" and

"highly offensive" content in the country. The London-based regulatorfor the communications services in the UK has fined licence holdersof Peace TV Urdu 200,000 pounds and Peace TV 100,000 poundsfor breaking its broadcasting rules. Our investigations found thatprogrammes broadcast on Peace TV Urdu and Peace TV containedhate speech and highly offensive content, which in one instancewas likely to incite crime," it said. "We concluded that the contentrepresented serious failures of compliance with our broadcastingrules, which warranted fines." Ofcom said in a statement.

n The Centre hasalso retainedcurfew at night --from 7 pm to 7 am,movement ofpeople will beallowed during thedaytime.

n Within the Red and Orange Zones, ContainmentZones and Buffer Zones will be demarcated by theDistrict authorities, after taking into considerationthe guidelines of the health ministry

n Buses and other publictransport will be allowed to run --both intra and inter-state, butsubject to the approval of the states

n Economicactivities willnot beallowedwithin thecontainmentzones, whichhave a highincidence ofcoronaviruscases

n Thegovernmentalso retainedthe ban onsocial,political, sports,entertainment,academic,cultural, religiousfunctions, othergatherings andlargecongregations.

n Sports complexesand stadiam can

open, however,spectators will not

be allowed,

Nationwide lockdownextended till May 31PNS n NEW DELHI

The ongoing countrywide lock-down has been extended tillMay 31, the National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) announced onSunday.

In an order, the NDMA saidlockdown measures need to beimplemented for a further peri-od of 14 days in the country tocontain the spread of COVID-19. The death toll due toCOVID-19 rose to 2,872 andthe number of total positivecases climbed to 90,927 Sundaymorning, according to theUnion Health Ministry.

The NDMA, in exercise ofpowers under Section 6 (2) (i)of the Disaster ManagementAct, 2005, hereby directs theministries and departments ofthe Government of India, stategovernments and state author-ities to continue the lockdownmeasures up to May 31,NDMA member secretary G VV Sarma said.

The authority further directsthe National ExecutiveCommittee, headed by theUnion Home Secretary, to issuemodifications in the guide-lines as necessary, keeping in

view the need to open up eco-nomic activities while con-taining the spread of COVID-19, the order said.

The lockdown was firstannounced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on March 24for 21 days with effect fromMarch 25. It was then extend-ed till May 3 and again till May17.

Prohibition on all publicgatherings, closure of schools,malls and restaurants, and sus-pension of flight and Metro ser-vices will remain in force tillMay 31 as the government onSunday extended the ongoingcountrywide lockdown to com-bat the COVID-19 spread.

The Union home ministryissued a nine-page guidelineslisting the dos and don'ts dur-ing the lockdown 4.0 that hasbeen clamped in the country tocut the chain of coronavirusinfection. The guidelines camesoon after the National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) extended the nation-al lockdown beyond Sunday tillMay-end.

It said all domestic, interna-tional air travel of passengers,except domestic air ambulance,will remain prohibited.

1-4950-99100-400500-9991000-49995000-999910000+

n The government has also not allowedareas which draw a large number of people —shopping malls and multiplexes,gymnasiums, swimming pools,entertainment parks, theatres, bars andauditoriums, assembly halls and similarplaces. Local authorities should ensure thatshops and markets open with staggeredtimings, so as to ensure social distancing

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Rail Land DevelopmentAuthority (RLDA) has pro-posed to develop Tirupatiand Nellore railway stations inthe State as multi-modal tran-sit hub at a cost of Rs 660 crore.

In the online pre-bid meet-ing, GMR, Oberoi, Ambience,Adani Group, Godre proper-ties, Reliance Infra, SobhaDevelopers, Brigade andEmbassy group representa-tives took part.

The RLDA will finalise ten-ders in the second week ofJune. The builders would haveto complete developmentwithin three years of awardingthe bids. The developed rail-way stations would be givenon a lease for 60 years.

As part of the developmentof the railway stations, shop-ping malls, cinema halls, hos-pitality complexes, foodcourts, cloak rooms, guesthouses, executive lounges of

international standards wouldbe made available to com-muters. The proposal is todevelop Tirupati railwayStation with Rs 530 crore andNellore railway station with Rs130 crore. The development ofrailway stations would be onthe basis of design, build,finance, operate and transfersystem and would be on thebasis of public-private partic-ipation.

The railway land available

in Tirupati and Nellore wouldbe useful in commercialdevelopment thereby nettingrevenue to the railways.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP MLA TJR SudhakarBabu alleged that Leader ofthe Opposition NChandrababu Naidu politi-cised Dr Sudhakar’s incidentthat happened inVisakhapatnam with an ulte-rior motive. TJR SudhakarBabu and MP NandhigamSuresh slammed Naidu forplaying a Dalit card to gainpolitical mileage out of it.

Speaking to the media hereon Sunday, MP Suresh said DrSudhakar expected a TDPticket from Payakaraopeta andhe has been a hardcore TDPsupporter. Using the doctor,the TDP had played cheappolitics and blaming the gov-ernment for ill-treating him.

“Firstly, he is mentally

unstable and even in the past,there were a few such inci-dents involving Dr Sudhakar.Before raising allegationsagainst the government, hehas to understand the realmotive of Naidu in using himas a coy. This single incidentproved that Naidu can stoopto any level for his selfish gainsand at least from now on, hehas to better stop using Dalits,

as they are not going to fall forhis words anymore.”

MLA Sudhakar Babu saidthat Naidu has deceivedDalits, and now, he is actinglike he has concern for Dalits’welfare. It is nothing new forNaidu to play politics in thename of Dalits. Even DrSudhakar’s incident is also aresult of Naidu’s politicaldrama, who has written the

script for this. It is pathetic tosee a former Chief Ministersupporting this act when adoctor uses unparliamentarylanguage against the ChiefMinister.

“If there is any governmentthat truly worked for the upliftof Dalits then it was YSRajasekhar Reddy and now YSJaganmohan Reddy. Even dur-ing these emergency situationalso, our Chief Minister isworking relentlessly for thewelfare of people but Naidu isleast bothered to be in theState. He is only concernedabout his political gains anddoesn’t bother for the welfareof downtrodden. Hence, he isapproaching court over everysingle welfare activity andcreating hurdles in the path ofdevelopment.” he added.

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

HC UPADHYAY n HYDERABAD

Amidst all-out efforts by the'lovers' of Covid-19, the nationhas been by and large success-ful in containing the coronaviruspandemic from playing havoc.In fact, the anti-national forceswhose well-orchestrated tiradeswere so far limited to JamiaMilia, Shaheen Bagh and othersmaller pockets, suddenly foundan opportunity in the declara-tion of world-wide medicalemergency on account of theoutbreak of Covid-19 pandem-ic. They lost no time to press into'service' the fanatics of TablighiJamat who were brought to thenational capital from far andnear mainly for the violent agi-tation under the pretext ofCAA-CRR. With the blessings oftheir God-fathers sitting inPakistan and the Gulf countries,they hatched a very ambitiousplan for creating chaos and civilwar-like situation in India.Under this new plan, thesefanatics were dispatched to allparts of the country to ensurethat the pandemic spreads andspreads rapidly. To achieve thissinister goal they indulged in allsorts of beasty behaviour rightfrom verbal abuse to spitting onhealth workers, police and civicbody staffers and indulging inpelting stones, attacking themwith weapons etc.

Added to this, the Opposition-ruled states, instead of cooper-ating with the central govern-ment by taking appropriate stepsto prevent their inhabitants,local and migrant, from comingout of their homes or shelters,encouraged the migrants tocome out and in total breach of'social distancing' norms assem-ble at bus and rail terminals andstate borders. This was a delib-erate, pre-meditated act of sab-otage designed and executed bythe anti-national, fanatic, sepa-ratist and extremist elementsaimed at supplementing the sin-ful acts of Tablighi Jamatis. Theresult was as expected. Hugecrowds of migrant labourers inwhich 'volunteers' of anti-nation-al forces also joined in largenumbers, wantonly and deliber-ately defied the government's fiatand caused the speedy spread ofthe pandemic. By now, the crim-inal nexus between the jihadi,terrorist and extremist groupsand the opposition political par-ties ruling some states has beenestablished beyond reasonabledoubts and all of them puttogether need to be prosecutednot only for the criminal offencesof conspiring, designing and

executing the mass-murders ofthe innocent countrymen, butalso for sedition. Further, it istime to enforce vigorously theprovisions of the recently pro-mulgated The Epidemic Diseases(Amendment) Ordinance, 2020that provides for stringent pun-ishment for the insult of andassault on the healthcare servicepersonnel etc. The authoritiesshould periodically reveal thestatistics of the cases bookedunder the Ordinance to boostthe morale of not only thehealth workers and othergovernment employ-ees, but also to height-en the spirits of countrymen and deterother potential offenders.

It is noteworthy tosee that despite all theodds, the central govern-ment has not alloweditself to be cowed downand has been actively engaged inthe programmes of the well-being of people, particularlythose without regular incomeand those living in abject pover-ty. The response of the restlesscrest-fallen opposition partiesand their hands and legs has

been not surprising. Right fromMamata Banerjee's pooh-pooh reaction to the Rs.20lakh crore as "big zero" tothe playing of different

tunes by theC o n g r e s s ,Communist

and single- or dou-ble-digit parties in par-

liament have come outin full throat criticisingone of the biggest reliefmeasures in the worldfor partisan reasons.

But the people, anoverwhelming population of thecountry, have by now learnt toread between the lines. In the lasttwo general elections they havegiven their unequivocal verdictagainst all those who stand byseparatist, terrorist, jihadi andextremist forces convincingly, as

a result of which such forces havebeen reduced to a minisculeminority. The roller-coaster hasalready gained momentum andhappily the people, true to thespirit of unity and integrityenshrined in our Constitution,are enjoying the ride.

Therefore, let the divisiveforces, by whatever names theyare called, be warned that whenthe invisible and invincibleenemy, called Covid-19 bethreatened by the SwadeshiTiger, they who are on the sur-face and whose presence andwhereabouts are quite known,cannot escape the pounce of theTiger who is alive and verymuch on prowl. Plain talk by former CJI

In a hard-hitting rejoinder tothe questions of his critics, for-

mer Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi, now a Member of theRajya Sabha, said that therewere some "activist judges" whostart raising questions on judicia-ry immediately after their retire-ment, but keep quiet while in office.

Addressing a webinar organ-ised by the Confederation ofAlumni for National LawUniversities, Justice Gogoi saidthat there is another category ofjudges, who get friendly withlawyers during their work, andone would notice commercialarbitration works flowing to aselect few judges after theirretirement. He added that thethird category of retired judgeswas those who accept otherkinds of assignments. Then,why raise questions to the thirdcategory of judges while keepingmum about the other two, he asked.

Citing a report by the VidhiCentre for Legal Policy releasedin 2016 that underlined that 70of 100 retired justices of the con-stitutional courts, got one or theother assignment, Justice Gogoiopined that if a judge is true tohis functions, post-retirementwork is okay.

TS-HC: Massive testing not viable

The Telangana High Court onMay 14 declined to direct thestate government to conductCovid-19 tests on a massive scaleas it would be a huge financialburden on the exchequer andadded that forcing people toundergo tests without their con-sent would be a direct infringe-ment of their rights.Alternatively, the bench, com-prising Justice M.SRamachandra Rao and Justice K.Lakshman, suggested that thosewilling to get themselveschecked could be allowed to doso by getting the test done in pri-vate hospitals at their own costs.

The reasons of financial con-straints and insufficient supplyof testing kits for blanket denialof massive testing for Covid-19appear to be reasonable.However, one wonders when theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897 isin force how a citizen can refusethe Covid-19 test taking spa-cious plea of fundamental rights,particularly when theConstitution of India itself putsa ceiling on the extent to whichthe fundamental rights could beexercised.

BCI on black and white The Bar Council of India

(BCI) has issued an administra-tive order dated May 13 whichsays that considering the med-ical advice and also the circularof even date issued by the apexcourt, all advocates may present-ly wear plain white shirt/whitesalwar kameez/white saree withplain white neck band untilfurther orders.

According to the order nocoats or gowns/robes arerequired to be worn whileappearing before "all the highcourts and all other courts, tri-bunals, commissions and allother forums."SC stays verdict onGujarat law minister

The Supreme Court stayedthe Gujarat High Court judge-ment nullifying the 2017 electionof BJP leader BhupendrasinhChudasama to the Gujarat StateLegislative Assembly, while issu-ing the notice in the matter.

Justice Paresh Upadhyay ofthe High Court had set asideChudasama's December, 2017election as void on the groundof manipulation and malpractices.

LEGALROUNDUP

Beware, Covid-19! In India, ‘Tiger' abhi zinda hai!The Telangana HC on May 14 declined todirect the govt to conduct Covid-19 tests ona massive scale as it would be a hugefinancial burden on the exchequer andadded that forcing people to undergo testswithout their consent would be a directinfringement of their rights.

PNSn HYDERABAD

Amidst rapidly changing geo-political scenario involvingmajor defence powers like theUS, China, Russia and others,the most burning issue ofCovid-19 has been given littleimportance. Consequently,volatility persisted in globalmarkets. The yellow metalsurged ahead during the weekended Saturday and closed atUS dollars 1,741 (per oz).Silver too, moved in tandemand closed at dollars 16.62.

At home, due to the exten-sion of lockdown up to May 29notwithstanding some morerelaxations, the economicactivities almost remainedstandstill. MCX gold and sil-ver moved in narrow brackets.The yellow and white metalssurged ahead due to the insti-tutional demand. Whilegold recorded an appre-ciation and closed atRs. 47,379 (per 10gms) silver closedat Rs.46,721 (perkg) respectively.In foreignexchangem a r k e t ,Indian rupee was volatile withthe exchange parity vis-a-visUS dollar at Rs.75.57. Similarly,British pound and euro com-manded the exchange valuesof Rs.91.81 and Rs.82.22respectively. Other foreignexchange rates (in Rs.) are:Australian dollar 48.67, UAEdirham 20.66, Kuwaiti dinar245.46, Saudi riyal 20.20,Omani Riyal 197.14,Hongkong dollar 9.79,Canadian dollar 53.89,Singapore dollar 53.78 andSwiss franc 78.08.

Brent and Crude oil, amidsthigh volatility, appreciatedconsiderably before closing atdollars 32.74 and Rs.2,394(per barrel) respectively. MCXcopper remained unchanged

and closed at Rs. 401.30 (perkg). Sensex, Nifty 50 and NyMex closed at 31,097.73,9,236.85 and 29.65 pointsrespectively.

COMMODITIESThe fresh arrivals of turmer-

ic from Nizamabad belt hasdriven the price spiral down-ward. Further, due to post-ponement of marriages andother functions on account ofpandemic restrictions, theoverall demand for food grainsand other grocery items hasrecorded a sharp decline.

Amidst Covid-19 crisis,here comes some good newsfrom the export side. With thebumper harvest and piled upstock, the authorities wereconcerned about the storage ofrice. Now comes the news thatthe Philippines, which hadordered a total of 6.60 lakhtons of rice from India and had

already lifted some 2.10 lakhtons, has now agreed to lift

the remaining 4.50 lakhtons also. The execution

of this export orderwill solve ourproblem of stor-age.

The vegetables command-ed fairly high prices. Theongoing Ramzan festival, haslent some price support to ven-dors as in the given situation,many a devout Muslims havereportedly switched over tovegetarian food. Due to sum-mer and prolonged nation-wide lockdown, which hasforced the eateries to remainclosed, the consumption ofeggs has declined considerably.However, the festival ofRamzan has generated extrademand for this all-weatherfood. Consequently, theNECC wholesale egg price inHyderabad recorded an appre-ciation of Rs.25 during the week at Rs.325 (per 100)closing.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

Naidu plays Dalit card to gainpolitical mileage : YSRCP

Dr Sudhakar is mentally unstable andeven in the past, there were a fewsuch incidents involving him. Before

raising allegations against the government,he has to understand the real motive ofNaidu in using him as a coy. This singleincident proved that Naid

— NANDHIGAM SURESH, MP

Tirupati, Nellore to be transit hub

l The RLDA will finalisetenders in the second weekof June. The builders wouldhave to completedevelopment within threeyears of awarding the bids.The developed railwaystations would be given on alease for 60 years.

l The proposal is todevelop Tirupatirailway Station with Rs530 crore and Nellorerailway station with Rs130 crore. Thedevelopment of railwaystations would be onthe basis of design,build, finance, operateand transfer systemand would be on thebasis of public-privateparticipation.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Brahmin CorporationChairman and YSRCPCentral MLAMalladi Vishnuflagged off sixbusses carrying150 migrantworkers, whowere stranded inVijayawada due tothe lockdown, totheir native places. Allthe migrant workers are hailing

from West Bengal. Speaking onthe occasion, Vishnu lauded theinitiative of YSRCP leader A

Subba Rao for arranging bussesto send the stranded

migrants to their nativeareas. He said that thegovernment was takingmeasures to send themigrant labourers to

their native places as perthe instructions of Chief

Minister YS JaganmohanReddy. Furthermore, migrantworkers, who were returning to

their native states by walk, arebeing provided with food andother facilities on the highways

by the government. He saidthat a relief camp was set up atBenz Circle in the city and from

there they are being taken awayin buses to railway stations and bus stations to reach theirhome towns.

Subba Rao said that there are4,000 migrant workers fromWest Bengal in Vijayawada cityand out of them, 150 are work-ing as goldsmiths in shops atBesant Road in the city, and theywere sent to their State in sixbusses. YSRCP leaders ChallaSudhakar, O Vikky, S Murali,Siva Reddy, D Malli Ch Panduand others were present.

INS Jalashwa arrives with 588Indians from MaldivesPNS n KOCHI

Indian Navy's INS Jalashwa,which left Male port inMaldives on Saturday, arrivedhere on Sunday with 588Indian citizens on board. Theyinclude 497 male, 70 femaleand 21 children. Among thewomen six of them are pregnant.

Among the returnees include568 from Kerala and the restfrom Tamil Nadu, Telanganaand Lakshadweep. This is thesecond trip of INS Jalashwa,which had earlier come with698 people on May 12.

This is part of the Operation

Samudra Setu, which is repa-triation of Indian nationalsfrom foreign shores by sea.Indian nationals are returninghome as they were strandeddue to the lockdown enforcedby the government to containthe spread of Coronavirus.

Those who arrived werescreened by health officialsand those having any symp-toms will be moved to Covidhospitals, while others willhave to be in quarantine attheir homes for two weeks.Those hailing from other dis-tricts will be sent to theirhome districts in state trans-port buses.

YELLOW METALSURGES AHEAD

‘India should build futureworkforce for world’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Pro Vice-Chancellor of SRMUniversity-AP Prof DNarayana Rao said, "Covid-19,which has disrupted the worldis also giving an opportunity inbuilding new India, whichwould emerge as an alternativesource to countries like the US,Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.India needs to utilise thisopportunity by building taskforce, infrastructure and ded-icated industrial fast trackclearances. India should devel-op future workforce for theWorld."

He was addressing a webinarwith eminent personalities todiscuss the ‘Post-Covid 19:Resurgence of IndianIndustries and R&D' organisedby SRM-AP here on Sunday.

Dr V K Saraswat, member ofNITI AAYOG, presided overthe webinar, while Prof DNarayana Rao, Pro V-C ofSRM-AP was the moderator,Dr G Satheesh Reddy,Chairman of DRDO, ProfAshok Jhunjhunwalaa of IIT-M, Dr K Varaprasad Reddy ofShanta Biotech, Prof PrasantMohapatra from the USA, ProfDamodar Acharya, former-director, IIT Kharagpur, Prof

VS Rao of NIIT University, ProfB S Murty, Director of IITHyderabad, Dr Akhilesh Guptaof DST, Prof Rakesh K Khandalof India Glycols participated.

Dr VK Saraswat spoke aboutthe capability of scientific com-munity in mitigating epidemi-ological studies and stimulationthrough gene concepts. Healso said, "India should becompetitive in terms of quali-

ty, quantity and cost effective bystandardising the products andsettling for larger value addi-tion." Dr G Satheesh Reddysaid, "PPEs, masks, and venti-lator production has increasedexponentially. The onus is toproduce 60,000 ventilators inthe coming days." Prof PrasantMohapatra, Dr AkhileshGupta, Prof B S Murty. RakeshKhandal also spoke.

Covid-19, which has disrupted the world is also giving anopportunity in building new India, which would emerge as analternative source to countries like the US, Japan, Singapore

and Taiwan. India needs to utilise this opportunity by buildingtask force, infrastructure and dedicated industrial fast track clearances.India should develop future workforce for the World

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020 vijayawada 02

Fervour marksHanuman Jayanti

Groundnut seedshortage hitsfarmers in Atp distPNS n ANANTAPUR

“We are unable to get ade-quate quantities of seeds, asthe government has failed toprocure the seeds in sufficientquantities,” alleged farmers.The government is givingthree bags of groundnut seedsto every Pattadar passbookholder. Each bag weighs 30 kgand three bags weigh 90 kgs.For one acre of land 75 kgs ofseed is needed, which meansthe government supply of 90kgs is enough for one andquarter acre. A farmer withthree acres or five acres hasto purchase seed from othersources.

Farmers in Anantapur dis-trict require 3.34 lakh quin-tals of ground nut but thegovernment has procuredonly 1.25 lakh quintals andAP Seeds has to supplyremaining 2.20 quintals.

Dr M Suresh Babu, statepresident of Praja ScienceVedika, said that kharif is themain crop season but thegovernment has not takenadequate measures to procureseeds. There is an acute short-age of seeds. Farmersincurred losses in rabi seasondue to reduction in yieldand poor transportation facil-ities, he alleged.

PNS n TIRUMALA

Hanuman Jayanti was cele-brated here on Sunday withreligious fervour and gaiety.The day was started withmelodious AnnamayyaSankeertans rendered byrenowned AnnamacharyaProject artist B Raghunathand team in praise of LordHanuman.

He rendered two top notes,‘Periginadu Choodaro PeddaHanumantudu’ at the begin-ning of ‘Yoga VasishtyaDhanwantari MantraPathanam’ and concludedwith another specimen‘Okkade Ekanta Veerudu’,which enhanced the spiritualfervour of the live programme.

Later, special abhishekamwas performed to BediAnjaneya Swamy in front ofTirumala temple. Later, addi-tional executive officer AVDharma Reddy presented silkclothes to Anjaneya Swamy onbehalf of TTD located atJapali Theertham. In theevening, special puja was per-formed to the giant statue ofAnjaneya Swamy located atseventh mile in First GhatRoad.

Six buses carrying 150 migrants flagged off

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020 vijayawada 03

In the initial days of Covid-19 outbreak, people wereunderstandably afraid of

eating chicken. So, to be onthe safe side amid the delugeof fake as well as authenticvirus-related news on socialmedia and elsewhere, theychickened out of yielding totheir temptation. Poultryfarmers sold the birds atthrowaway prices and someliterally threw away their pro-duce. Some conducted melaswith 'Chicken 65' and'Chicken tikkas'. Still, peoplecould not bring themselves toeat chicken out of fear ofcontracting the virus.

The poultry sector experi-enced devastating losses, somuch so that industry leadersstaged shows to drive homethe point that eating chickenis safe and even got ITMinister K T Rama Rao,Animal Husbandry Minister

Talasani Srinivas Yadav, poul-try farmer and HealthMinister Etela Rajender,Chevella MP G Ranjith Reddyand others to eat chicken onstage as a kind of indirect pro-motion. Though not exactlybecause of the promotion,people slowly resumed eatingchicken. In no time, chickenprices started increasing.From a low of Rs 50 per kg,the prices went up to RsRs.150 before Ramzan andwent up further beyond Rs200 thereafter. Prices are con-tinuing to rise, with the ratesgoing past Rs 300 in neigh-bouring Andhra Pradesh.People who are again chicken-ing out of consumption due torising prices are now asking

whether those who demon-strated eating the bird onstage would do something tobring down chicken price to areasonable level.Coal-fired fears

The Centre's decision toallow private players in coalmining has triggered fearsthat the Covid-19-batteredeconomy in the state wouldnow see RTC being cut to sizein the coming days. The pan-demic has not spared any sec-tor. Going by the statementsand announcements of gov-ernments, and their interpre-tations by various associationleaders, some say one shouldnot be surprised if RTC goesthe coal sector way in terms of

the private players' entry thatemployees fear most.

Is it a diversion?Irrigation projects, person-

al aggrandisement and house-warming ceremonies underdouble bed room schemesseem to have dislodged Covid-19 pandemic from publicmemory at least in the ruralparts of Telangana. Althoughyouths representing various

opposition political partiesand some independent groupsstill feel that coronavirus con-tinues to have a seriousimpact, the government seemsto be diverting attention fromthe burning issue. They opinethat in just 10 days more thesecond phase lockdownrestrictions could have helpedthe government contain coro-navirus to a large extent andTelangana could have become'Covid-free state'. "That aspectwas not taken into considera-tion and the government isnow trying to divert atten-tion… Even the matter per-taining to the Corona superspecialty hospital atGachchibowli is no longer infocus now," the youths chorus.

Fears despite flattening curve

Although the closely-watched curve is flattening,indicating a decline in thenumber of Corona positivecases in rural areas ofTelangana, fears are rifeamong the locals in urban aswell as rural parts. The returnof migrant workers to theirnative places from differentparts of the country has beencausing concern, though peo-ple in general do not want togo to the extent of preventingmigrants' entry into their vil-lages. "If there is recrudes-cence subsequent to thearrival of migrants, it wouldcertainly become suicidal aswe started the lockdown when

there was hardly any regis-tered case in the entire state",villagers in Karimnagar say.They cite the example ofIndonesian pilgrims as carri-ers of the virus. So, they wantthe migrants to be handledwith extreme care. Reaching out to migrants

Migrant labourers areundoubtedly Covid-19 pan-demic's worst-hit section ofpopulation. To support them,the AP government has beentaking various initiatives. Thisincludes providing themessential items and sendingthem back to their nativeplaces. The government hasset up shelters at various

places across the state and isproviding them food andensuring health checks.Thousands of migrants havebeen sent back to their home-towns by trains and busesarranged by the state govern-ment. Still, many migrants areheading for their native placeson foot. So, the state govern-ment has come forward toarrange open shelters anddhabas on highways so thatfood and water would not bea problem for the marchingmigrants.

(Contributed by K Venkateshwarlu,

Ramakrishna Perala,Avinash Deepak Puli, P VKondal Rao, Ch Pradeep)

REPORTERS

D ARY

People still chickening out: Virus then, prices now

Jagan turned State into‘jungle raj’: YanamalaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP MLC YanamalaRamakrishnudu alleged thatChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy was transforming theState into a ‘jungle raj’ withinone year after coming to power.He condemned the policehighhanded behaviour towardsDalit doctor in Visakhapatnamand migrant workers.

The government was resort-ing to all sorts of atrocities andirregularities from closingleather parks to diverting thefunds of municipal corpora-tions, he pointed out.

He recalled that DrSudhakar has been deliveringvaluable services to people formany decades but now the rul-ing party has dragged him onto the streets. He lamented thata senior Dalit doctor was treat-ed inhumanly and injustice wasmeted out to Dalit familieswhose members were killed inthe tractor accident in

Prakasam district. He claimedthat this incident has shownclearly what line of thinkingChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has adopted towards thewelfare of Dalits.

He found fault with the gov-ernment on the lathichargeincident on migrant workers inthe vicinity of CM’s residence.He said that those workerswere walking hundreds of kilo-metres to reach their destina-

tions but police mercilesslycaned them.

He termed the removal of7,600 outsourcing employeesin APSRTC as unjust andflayed for dragging their fam-ilies on to the road during theCorona crisis. He pointed outthat people living near Krishnariver were facing drinkingwater problems but in a strangemanner 0.07 tmc feet wasallotted to a company associ-

ated with Jagan on a temporarybasis and fresh orders wereissued giving permanent allo-cation of this water.

n TDP MLC YanamalaRamakrishnudu termedthe removal of 7,600outsourcing employeesin APSRTC as unjust andflayed for dragging theirfamilies on to the roadduring the Corona crisis

n People living nearKrishna river were facingdrinking water problemsbut in a strange manner0.07 tmc feet wasallotted to a companyassociated with Jagan ona temporary basis andfresh orders were issuedgiving permanentallocation of this water,the TDP MLC disclosed

APCC president throwsgauntlet at govt on migrantsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

APCC President SakeSailajanath said that the gov-ernment should allow themigrant workers to return totheir homes with the permis-sion of the Central govern-ment. He pointed out that noaction was being taken by thegovernment to support themigrant workers, especiallypregnant women and childrenwalking in the scorching sun.

Sailajanath appealed to thegovernment to talk to theCentral government and takeappropriate measures andensure that the migrant work-ers reach their home townssafely. He said that if the gov-ernment fails to send themigrants back safely, the APCongress party is ready totake up the challenge to helpthe migrants by bearing theexpenses on its own and toldthe government to arrangebuses and trains.

He criticised the Centralgovernment and said instead ofdepositing money in the

accounts of the poor, theywould facilitate to get loansand demanded that the Centredeposit Rs 7,500 in theaccounts of migrant workers.

He recalled that theydemanded the governmentannounce ex-gratia of Rs 1crore to agriculture workers,who died in road accident inPrakasam district, however,the government announcedRs 10 lakh showing discrimi-nation. He further stated thatthe YSRCP government wasresponsible for the present

condition of Dr Sudhakar fromNarsipatnam and condemnedthe incident that happenedon Saturday and expressed theparty solidarity with DrSudhakar.

APCC PresidentSake Sailajanathsaid that if thegovernment failsto send themigrants backsafely, the APCongress partyis ready to takeup the challengeto help themigrants bybearing theexpenses on itsown and told thegovernment toarrange busesand trains

Trader celebratesbaby shower ofChhattisgarhmigrant workerPNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a rare incident, a pregnantmigrant worker, who is onher way to Chhattisgarh onfoot, is in for a pleasant sur-prise on Sunday when aVissannapeta trader per-formed baby shower and pre-sented her with gifts.

Police are strictly followingdirections of Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy, whoasked them to show human-ity towards migrant workers.

The Vissannapeta policespotted the pregnant womanwalking braving hot sun,along with her family mem-bers to Chhattisgarh.

Police took them to theVissannapeta police stationand offered them food andmade arrangements to sendthem to their State at theexpense of the government.Meanwhile, local traderSrinivas extended brotherlycourtesies towards the woman.He performed baby showerand blessed her by presentingher with a sari and blouse.

Jagan ensures free food...Continued from Page 1

Similarly, people belongingto other States will be sent inShramik trains duly transport-ing them to the embarkationpoints free of cost.

The whole activity will becoordinated by HarshavardhanDirector, SW, who is coordinat-ing with all District NodalOfficers of relief centres. Inturn, he will coordinate withKanna Babu, Commissioner,Disaster Management, and ArjaSrikant, Special Secretary to theGovernment, to ensure that themigrant workers are sent totheir native places in Shramiktrains.

During the past three days,around 4,661 migrant workersare going on foot were stoppedat various check posts and sentto 62 relief centres.

Chief Secretary NeelamSawhney had a detailed discus-sion with Chief Secretary ofOdisha and the latter agreed to

receive the migrant workers ofOdisha in Ganjam with priorintimation.

On Saturday night, 902migrant workers were sent toOdisha from Prakasam (470),Krishna (410) and Srikakulam(22). On Sunday, 450 peoplewill be sent to Ganjam inOdisha in APSRTC buses fromGuntur.

In all, 31 Shramik trainshave been arranged for trans-porting 39,000 people to vari-ous destinations till date thatinclude about nine trains toBihar, five to Odisha, four toUttar Pradesh, four toJharkhand, four to Rajasthan,three to Maharashtra and oneeach for Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh.

Five trains are being arrangedto transport 7,500 on Sundayand another 22 Shramik trainsare being planned during thisweek to transport 33,000 andNoCs from the receiving Statesis being pursued.

Police caneprotesting by...

Continued from Page 1

When they continued theirprotests, police resorted tolathicharge. One migrant workersustained injury on the head. Onlearning about the incident, CPMState secretary P Madhu, CPMState Secretariat member Ch BabuRao and other leaders rushed to thespot and condemned the policeaction. They demanded that thegovernment arrange a special trainto send the migrant workers toWest Bengal. CPM State SecretaryChigurupati Babu Rao condemnedthe inaction of the State govern-ment. He alleged that the govern-ment had failed to resolve the pro-blems of migrant Bengali workers.He alleged the leaders are givingfalse assurances and not takingmeasures to resolve their problems.

Nationwidelockdownextendedtill May 31

Continued from Page 1

Metro rail services,schools, colleges will remainclosed till May end, theguidelines issued by theMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA) said.

Hotels, restaurants, cinemahalls, malls, swimming pools,gyms will also remain shuteven as all social, political,religious functions, andplaces of worship will beclosed till May 31, it said.

The MHA said inter-statemovement of passenger vehi-cles, buses will be allowedwith mutual consent of statesinvolved during the COVID-19 lockdown 4.0.

States and UnionTerritories have been giventhe powers for delineation ofRed, Green and OrangeZones as per COVID-19 sit-uation, the MHA said.

All shops, except those incontainment zones and malls,will be allowed to open fromMonday with staggered tim-ings during lockdown 4.0, itsaid.

Continued from Page 1

“Such universities haveturned into profit-making cor-porations wherein they chargea mandatory increment in thetuition fee of their studentsevery year. Such increment inthe academic year 2020-2021during such times whenCovid-19 has crippled theeconomy and increased joblosses and unemployment,will severely prejudice theinterest of the students andwill make them worse offthan their privileged counter-parts,” they contended.

The universities have acomplimentary role in ensur-ing the mental health of stu-dents during the lockdown. Itis unfortunate that the lock-down has increased mentalhealth issues amongst theyoungsters and students. It hasmade them afraid of the future

that lies ahead and has putthem in a state of anxiety anddepression.

In such overwhelmingly try-ing and extraordinary circum-stances, it is the responsibilityof these universities that stu-dents are not put into any kindof burden. But, the academicminds in such universities havestarted conducting internalevaluations and putting suchstudents into a state of discom-fort where they now have to gothrough added pressure andmeet deadlines. Final year stu-dents of every course forinstance will be forced toappear for their examinationsat a time when they could havebeen already working in themarket. Such a situation hasalready left them in a state ofutter disregard for the futurethat lies ahead and they mustnot be burdened by the admin-istration in any manner.

Why varsities chargingfees for lockdown period?

Six cases reported in Srikakulam distContinued from Page 1

So far, 1,433 persons havebeen cured with 103 personsdischarged in the preceding 24hours alone.

Srikakulam district report-ed seven cases, emerging as thedistrict with the highest single-day tally in Andhra Pradesh.The top hotspot district ofKurnool reported 3 cases, ofwhich, one person had a trav-el history to the Koyambedumarket in Chennai. All thethree cases detected in Nelloredistrict were reported to havea travel history to the market,while one of the four cases

detected in Chittoor districtwas also found to have aKoyambedu connection.Guntur district reported fourcases while Visakhapatnamdistrict reported three cases.

Kurnool district's overalltally touched 611 cases onSunday, even as the active casetally dipped to 187 from theprevious day's active count of199. Guntur's tally grew mar-ginally, by three, to 417 cases,while Krishna district's cumu-lative tally remained at 367cases.

Of the 13 districts, six dis-tricts did not report a singlecase on Sunday. With one

death reported during the past24 hours, the state's death tollhas touched 50. Of 23 personsdischarged over the last 24hours are people who returnedto the State from Gujarat.With this, the number of activecases of people returning fromother States stands at 127cases. The returnees are fromMaharashtra, Gujarat, Odishaand Karnataka. The majority(101) are from Maharashtra,while three persons havereturned from Gujarat, 11 per-sons from Rajasthan, 10 per-sons from Odisha, and 1 per-son each from Karnataka, andWest Bengal.

Govt to privatise non-strategic PSUs,suspend new bankruptcy filings

Continued from Page 1

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, whose previousfour parts of the stimulus pack-age involved credit line tosmall businesses and new fundcreations to be shouldered bybanks and financial institutionswith very little extra budgetspending, announced a Rs40,000 crore hike in allocationfor the rural employment guar-antee scheme to provide jobs tomigrant workers.

She also raised the thresholdof insolvency proceedings tohelp the industry deal withCOVID-19 pains.

The government alsoannounced a new policy forcompanies under state control,saying PSUs in non-strategicsectors will be privatised whilethose in the identified strategic

sector would be capped atfour, with the rest to be mergedor sold.

Sitharaman said the five-partstimulus together with theMarch 26 announcement offree foodgrain and cookinggas to poor and some cash tovulnerable sections for threemonths and RBI's Rs 8.01 lakhcrore worth of liquidity mea-sures swell the size of theCOVID-19 economic packageto Rs 20.97 lakh crore.

While she refused to saywhat would be the extra spend-ing by the government, analystspegged it at no more than Rs2.10 lakh crore after consider-ing the March 26 announce-ment, free foodgrains tomigrant workers, increasedallocation for MGNREGS, taxrelief to certain sections and Rs15,000 crore allocated to the

healthcare sector to deal withthe pandemic.

Prime Minister NarendraModi's pledge of total spendingof Rs 20 lakh crore (USD 265billion) to weather the falloutof the coronavirus pandemicunder 'Atma-nirbhar BharatAbhiyan' is about 10 per centof India's GDP in 2019-20 andranks behind stimulus pro-vided by Japan, the US,Sweden, Australia andGermany.

With global lockdownsimposed to check the spread ofCOVID-19 causing economicturmoil that is touted to be worstsince the 1930s, nations haveannounced what came to beknown as 'coronavirus stimuluspackages'. The US has commit-ted to the largest rescue packageby any country in pure dollarterms at USD 2.7 trillion.

TDP MLC held for gambling

Continued from Page 1

Police said that raids were carriedout in two more places. Five peoplewere arrested at one place and sevenothers at another place, they said.Police recovered Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,000from the raids. It may be noted thatwith the lockdown in place due to theCovid-19 pandemic, guidelines issuedby the government clearly states thatthere should be no gatherings in oneplace and social distancing is a must.

Govt should ensure supportto migrant workers: Pawan

Continued from Page 1

The State governmentshould consider it as theirresponsibility to relocatemigrant workers and theirfamilies in these difficulttimes, he said.

He recalled that theCentral government hasarranged Shramik trainsand the State governmentshould coordinate in

moving the migrantworkers to their nativeStates safely. The govern-ment should use publictransport to shift themigrants to their nativeplaces instead of leavingthem to their fate at theborders. He found fault instopping the AP workersreturning from TamilNadu at Tada and con-ducting health check up.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Floral tributes were paid to themortal remains of Sapper/OPEM Sapala Shanmukha Raoon arrival in Visakhapatnam atINS Dega by AN32 Aircraft ofIndian Air Force.

Sapper/OPEM ShanmukhaRao of 3 Engineer Regimentwhile on a patrolling-cum-snow clearance party cameunder an avalanche in northSikkim and was trapped underice and lost his life despite thebest efforts of the rescue teamand local formation.

Wreath laying ceremonywith Military Honours was

conducted at INS Dega with aCeremonial Guard of the Navy

in attendance. CommandingOfficer INS Dega placed awreath on behalf of the FlagOfficer Commanding-in-Chief, ENC. Wreaths were alsoplaced by officials from StationHQs (Army), district adminis-tration and the city police as amark of respect to the deceasedin Visakhapatnam.

The funeral of ShanmukhaRao was held at his native placeat Rottavalasa, Sarubujjili inSrikakulam District withMilitary Honours and a Guardof Honour from the PoliceDepartment.

Tributes paid to Army Jawan from Srikakulam

34 foreign returnees land in VjaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

In all, 34 AP Non-ResidentTelugus (APNRT) from Chicagoreturned to Vijayawada and werewelcomed by Collector MDImtiaz, Joint Collector KMadhavilatha and Sub-CollectorHM Dhyan Chand at Beramparkon Sunday. Earlier, 34 people fromChicago reached the ShamshabadAirport in Hyderabad and thedistrict authorities arranged a spe-cial bus for them to reach Vijaya-wada. Speaking on the occasion,the Collector said that 34

APNRTs reached Vijayawada byspecial bus this afternoon, amongthe 34, seven are from Krishnadistrict, one person each fromYSR Kadapa, Anantapur andGuntur, three each from Chittoorand West Godavari, five fromVisakhapatnam, four each fromKurnool and Prakasam, twofrom SPS Nellore district.

He said that on their arrival,food and other facilities werearranged besides health check-upwas conducted and were sent topaid quarantine centres. After 14days quarantine and health check

up, they would be sent to theirnative places, the Collector saidand appreciated officials for mak-ing arrangements for their arrival.He informed the foreignreturnees to cooperate with thequarantine staff and undergo 14days quarantine. Meanwhile, theCollector informed that a specialtrain was arranged to Manipal at8 pm on Sunday and 1,500 peo-ple from Manipal will be sentback to their native places in thatspecial train, which is the firsttrain going towards North Eastfrom the district.

CP denieslathichargeon migrantsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Commissioner of PoliceDwaraka Tirumala Rao hasdenied police caning themigrant workers belonging toWest Bengal in Patamataregion of the city. Brushingaside rumours of lathichargeon them at a media confer-ence here on Sunday, he saidthat police have stoppedusing the lathis.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020 nation 04

SHORT READS

‘Will send migrantshome until the lastone reunites with kin’MUMBAI: Actor Sonu Soodsays he is pained by the plightof migrant workers who areunable to go back home amidthe nationwide lockdown and hewill do everything he can toarrange for transport for them.On Saturday, Sonu arrangedmore buses for the migrantsafter obtaining specialpermissions from thegovernment of UP. The actorhad earlier organised multiplebus services for many suchworkers heading to Gulbarga,Karnataka from Maharastra. "Ithas been an extremelyemotional journey for me as myheart pains to see thesemigrants staying away fromtheir homes walking on streets."I will continue sending migrantshome until the last migrantreunites with his family andloved ones. This is somethingreally close to my heart and Iwill give it my all," Sood, 46,said in a statement. As perarrangements, multiple busesleft from Wadala and variousparts of UP, including Lucknow,Hardoi, Pratapgarh andSiddharthnagar, as well as tostates like Jharkhand and Bihar.

Opposition paying lipservice to migrantlabourers issue: Min

‘20L migrants, bulkfrom WB and Bihar,register with Maha'MUMBAI: A total of 20 lakhmigrants, bulk of them fromBihar and West Bengal, haveregistered themselves with theMaharashtra government fortravelling back to their nativestates, state Home Minister AnilDeshmukh said on Sunday.Deshmukh said his office hasreceived an enrolment of 20lakh people who wish to returnto their home states. "TheHome department has receivedan enrolment of some 20 lakhpeople, most of them to Biharand West Bengal, who haveexpressed their wish to returnto their home states. "Theproblem is that states like WestBengal and Bihar are notissuing required clearance forrunning the trains," Deshmukhtold reporters.

MATHURA (UP): Uttar Pradeshminister Shrikant Sharma onSunday accused the oppositionof merely paying lip service tothe issue of migrant labourers.“Instead of coming forward tohelp the migrant labourers,opposition parties are simplydoing lip service,” the statepower minister told reporters.He also underlined the variousinitiatives taken by the Centre tomitigate the hardships of themigrant labourers who havebeen forced to move to theirnative villages in the wake ofcoronavirus-induced nationwidelockdown. Sharma said thecentral government under thedynamic leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is doingits best for the welfare of peopleduring such times. He said freeLPG cylinders have been givento 8.5 crore families with facilityof free ration, withoutdiscriminating between a rationcard holder and others.

Economic package will makeIndia self-reliant: Amit ShahPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday said theannouncement of the fifthand final tranche of an eco-nomic package by the Modigovernment will go a long wayin realising the idea of a self-reliant India.

In a series of tweets, Shahsaid the additional allocation ofRs 40,000 crore under MGN-REGS will help in generatingemployment for the poor andmigrant workers and createdurable livelihood assets,which will greatly boost thecountry's rural economy andinfrastructure.

"Today's announcements byModi govt will go a long wayin realising the idea ofAtmaNirbhar Bharat.

"These steps will prove to bea game changer for health, edu-cation and business sectors,which will provide employ-ment to crores of poor. I thankPM @narendramodi & FM@nsitharaman," he said.

Shah said while PrimeMinister Modi's leadership inhandling COVID-19 has out-

shined several developednations, he has resolved to pre-pare India for any such pan-demic in the future, bystrengthening and revampingIndia's health sector.

The home minister said theModi government has decidedto increase India's healthexpenditure to create infectiousdiseases hospital blocks inevery district, strengtheninglaboratories network and sur-veillance and encouragingresearch. "I am sure this fore-sight will take India way aheadin the medical sector," he said.

Shah said the central govern-ment has decided to increase

borrowing limit of states,which will give them an extraresource of Rs 4.28 lakh crore.

He said the Centre had pre-viously given Rs 46,038 crorethrough devolution of taxes inApril, revenue deficit grants ofRs 12,390 crore and StateDisaster Response Funds to thetune of Rs 11,000 crore.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sundayannounced plans to privatisePSUs in non-strategic sectorsand suspend loan default-trig-gered bankruptcy filings forone year.

Sitharaman announced a Rs40,000-crore hike in allocation

for the rural employment guar-antee scheme to provide jobs tomigrant workers.

She raised the threshold ofinsolvency proceedings to helpthe industry deal with COVID-19 pains. The finance ministeralso announced a new policyfor companies under state con-trol, saying PSUs in non-strate-gic sectors will be privatisedwhile those in the identifiedstrategic sector would becapped at four with the rest tobe merged or sold.

Covid-19: 3,000 inmatesreleased from WB jailsPNS n KOLKATA

The West Bengal governmenthas released around 3,000inmates on bail or parole todecongest correctional homessince the last week March inthe wake of the COVID-19outbreak, an official said onSunday.

The department of correc-tional services has also takenseveral measures to checkcoronavirus infection insidethe jails of the state.

The official said there arearound 60 correctional homesin West Bengal, housing near-ly 25,000 inmates and of them,close to 7,000 are convictswhile others are undertrials.

"So far, more than 3,000inmates have been grantedbail or parole. Out of whom,around 2,000 are under trialprisoners and the remainingare convicts. We have takenother measures such as ensur-ing that the inmates use pro-tective gears and maintainsocial distancing norms incorrectional homes," the seniorjail official said.

Earlier, the department alsodisallowed prison visits byfamily members.

"This decision of not allow-ing family members to meetthe inmates has helped a lot incontaining the situation.Initially, the prisoners hadprotested against this deci-sion, but later they accepted it,"Correctional Services MinisterUjjal Biswas said.

The decision had even led toclashes between inmates andguards at a jail in Kolkata inMarch, where prisoners peltedstones and set prison proper-ties on fire.

The Calcutta High Court onMarch 24 formed a three-member panel to examine thesituation in all correctionalhomes of West Bengal and pre-pare a report on the number of

inmates who could be grantedbail or parole to avoid crowd-ing in jails, in view of theCovid-19 outbreak.

The department then pre-pared a list of inmates eligiblefor parole and bail and for-warded it to the court.

Inmates were released fol-lowing the guideline laiddown by the court, the officialsaid.

The high court took up theissue suo motu following aSupreme Court direction, ask-ing all state governments andUnion territories to set uphigh-level committees todetermine the class of prison-ers who could be released onparole for four to six weeks.

PNS n KARGIL (LADAKH)

The last batch of 310 Ladakhipilgrims, who were left strand-ed in Iran over the past twomonths amid the coronaviruslockdown, landed at Leh air-port on Sunday, chairman andChief Executive Councillor ofLadakh Autonomous HillDevelopment Council(LAHDC)-Kargil, FerozAhmad Khan said.

The pilgrims were earlierflown to New Delhi fromTehran on a special flight of theMahan Airways and were latertaken to Leh onboard two spe-cial aircrafts of Air India, Khantold reporters here.

Terming the homecoming ofthe last batch of pilgrims as ahuge relief to the administra-tion and their families alike,Khan extended his thankful-ness to all the concerned min-istries, government and privateagencies as well as individualsfor their active role in theprocess. He said 290 of theevacuated pilgrims belong to

Kargil and are on their way totheir hometown. “The Iranreturnees will go for institution-al quarantine at the quarantinefacilities set up by the admin-istration in various hotels andresorts in the district," he added.“Due medicare and other req-uisite facilities would be givento the pilgrims during quaran-tine besides their COVID-19tests would also be conductedas a precautionary measure”, thesenior official said. Khan saidthe booking of tickets for all 310pilgrims was done well in

advance for which funds werearranged on loan from theDistrict Red Cross Fund, Kargil.

He expressed gratitude tothe Ministry of ExternalAffairs, Civil Aviation, MahanAirways, Lieutenant Governorof Ladakh R K Mathur andLadakh DivisionalCommissioner Saugat Biswasfor facilitating the evacuation.

“The evacuation of the pil-grims completed the process ofthe return of Ladakhi pilgrimsfrom Iran. Earlier, about 600pilgrims were evacuated from

Iran and subsequently flown toLeh and Kargil,” he said.

Around 3,000 passengershave been brought home fromSrinagar in 107 buses whilepermission for private vehiclesis under process for the rest ofthe stranded Ladakh residents,he said. Evacuation of passen-gers from Jammu and Srinagarto Zanskar has also been com-pleted by providing 32 buseswhile stranded Zanskar resi-dents from Himachal Pradeshwill be brought home soon,Khan pointed out.

Last batch of 310 stranded pilgrimsevacuated from Iran, return to Ladakh

The predicament broughtabout by Covid-19 is athrowback to the dismal

setting in which English the-ologian and poet John HenryNewman penned the first stan-za of the poem 'The Pillar ofthe Cloud'in 1833. He wrote:"Lead, kindly light, amid theencircling gloom, I do not askto see the distant scene, onestep enough for me".

Prime MinisterNarendraModi's appeal in his firstaddress to the nation after thecorona outbreak, giving a callfor 'Janata curfew' and the sub-sequent call for clappinghands, clanging plates, ringingbells etc.were scrupulously fol-lowed by one and all.His sub-sequent call for lockdown ofthe entire nation for 21 daysstarting 24th March has alsobeen a total success. With noexit plan and no strategy forpeople to live with coron-avirus, the lockdown has beenextended thrice. Still, trains arebeing run, flights are on, liquor

shops are open, unscientificzonal system is observed andthere are many exceptions.

The strategy of states on thelockdown depends on theCentre'sstance and guidelines.Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao laterurged the Prime Ministernotto resume passenger train ser-vices. He said that the impactof coronavirus is predomi-nant in metro cities like Delhi,Mumbai, Chennai andHyderabad and if there ismovement from these places,it would be very difficult tocontain the spread.

The Prime Ministeraddressed the nation once againon May 12. He envisaged a self-reliant India which will stand onfive pillars viz. Economy,Infrastructure, System, Vibrant

Demographyand Demand. Heannounceda special economicpackage to achieve an'Atmanirbhar Bharat' or 'self-reliant India', to the tune of Rs20 lakh crore, which is equiva-lent to almost 10% of India'sGDP.

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman laterunveiled measures to helpbusinesses, including micro,small and medium enterpris-

es, recover from the econom-ic impact of the coronaviruspandemic. She announced aRs 3.16 lakh crore package offree food grains for migrantworkers, concessional credit tofarmers and working capitalloan for street vendors.Measures to strengthen agri-culture infrastructure logistics,capacity building, governanceand administrative reformsfor agriculture, fisheries and

food processing sectors werealso announced.Then camestructural reforms in coal,minerals, defence, civil avia-tion, power distribution, socialinfrastructure, space andatomic energy. Finally, the

Centre focused on seven stepsviz. MGNREGS, health, edu-cation, business and Covid-19,decriminalization ofCompanies Act, ease of doingbusiness, public sector enter-prises and support to state gov-ernments.

The Finance Minister, withsome riders, raised hopes ofstates by increasing borrowinglimits. She announced thattheCentre has decided to accede tothe request of states andincrease the borrowing limits ofstates from 3% to 5% for 2020-21 only, enabling states to getextra resources of Rs 4.28 lakhcrore. However, the rider is that,part of the borrowing by stateswill be linked to specificreforms. From 3-3.5%, the0.5% will be an unconditionalincrease. Next 1% to be released

in 4 tranches of 0.25%, witheach tranche linked to clearlyspecified, measurable and fea-sible reform actions. Further0.5% will be given if milestonesare achieved in at least three outof the four reform areas.

Revenue-surplus states likeGujarat and Telangana arealready having an extendedunconditional FRBM of up to3.5% of GSDP. The currentincrease of up to 3.5% forTelangana is no additionalbenefit. Further, the condition-al increase of FRBM from 3.5to 4.5 % loan limit offered toStates is against the federalspirit. This is more of eyewashas only o.5% is unconditionaland the rest is conditional ona state achieving certain mea-sures in a critical year like this.

There is hardly anything

new in the announcements ifone sees them in the context ofthe FM's budget speeches. Theeconomic activities and thelives of common people havevirtually come to a standstillacross India; yet, there is noth-ing in the stimulus package.

The Government of Indiatried to make up the total toover Rs 20 lakhs crore. Muchof this money will f lowthrough the banks in the formof loans to MSMEs, agricul-ture, industries etc. The sup-port in a critical sector likehealth is very minimal.

There is no provision fordirect financial support tostates. The amount allocated tostates is just a little over Rs.4,000 crores! The spirit ofcooperative federalism hasbeen given the go-by.

Confidence building hingeson sound leadership. Peopleexpect guidance and comfortin times of deep trouble. Thisis where the words in 'Leadkindly light'ring true.

VANAM JWALA NARASIMHA RAOCPRO to Chief Minister

Prime Minister’s appeal in his first addressto the nation after the corona outbreak,giving a call for 'Janata curfew' and thesubsequent call for clapping hands,clanging plates, ringing bells etc.werescrupulously followed by one and all

Lead kindly light Modiji

PNS n NEW DELHI

At a time when the trauma ofmigrant workers are coming tothe fore amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Unionminister Nitin Gadkari hassaid "decentralisation of cities"and development of far-flungareas are solutions to addressthe crisis faced by them.

Migrants' tragedy is "toounfortunate", Gadkari said andemphasised that it was hightime that employment avenuesthrough development is creat-ed in villages, rural, backwardand far-flung areas shorn ofdevelopment.

With the coronavirus pan-demic and the subsequentlockdown, economic activi-ties have been disrupted. Afterbeing rendered jobless, thou-

sands of migrant workers havegone back or are making allefforts to go back to theirnative places. Adding to thewoes, scores of migrant work-ers, including those going byfoot, have been killed in roadaccidents during the lock-down, which began on March25. "We will have to learn theart of living with coronavirus.

Nobody comes to big citieswillingly... it is acute povertyand lack of avenues at nativeplaces which force migrants tocome to cities...

"Pain and fear forced themto walk back...We have madearrangements for their food etcat toll plazas but we will haveto instil positivity in them,"Gadkari said. In a telephonicinterview from his Nagpurresidence, Gadkari said, "fearhas resulted in this serious sit-uation". Noting that decentral-isation of the industry is theneed of the hour, the ministersaid, "whoever comes, comes toGurgaon, Delhi, Noida,Ludhiana, Chennai, Bengaluru,Hyderabad, Mumbai or Pune.We have to develop socially,economically and educational-ly backward areas".

‘Decentralisation of cities can helpaddress migrant workers' woes’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Left parties on Sundaydescribed the government'seconomic package as "mislead-ing" and a "jugglery of num-bers", hours after FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced the fifth and finaltranche of the economic stim-ulus package.

The Finance Minister raisedallocation for MGNREGS byRs 40,000 crore over and abovethe Rs 61,000 crore budgetedearlier for the employmentguarantee scheme, to provideemployment to migrant work-ers moving back to their states.This, she said, will help gen-erate nearly 300 crore person-days in total.

CPI(M) general secretary

Sitaram Yechury in a series oftweets said the FM who raisedthe states' borrowing limitsfrom 3 to 5 per cent has"mocked states" by saying theyhave so far used only 14 percent of their borrowing enti-tlement.

‘Economic package ajugglery of numbers’

PNS n PUDUCHERRY

Puducherry Chief Minister VNarayanasamy on Sundayoffered bouquets and brickbatsto the Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman over theeconomic package.

He said, "My complimentsto the Finance Minister for herannouncing the fifth and finaltranche of measures that therewill be an additional allocationof Rs 40,000 crore to carry outactivities under MGNREGA(Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeAct)." The senior Congressleader said the allocationwould provide jobs to ruralworkersthereby boosting theeconomy. The Chief Ministerlauded the Finance Ministerfor raise the borrowing limit

for the states from presentthree per cent to five per centduring 2021. "I have beeninsisting on the Prime Ministerto hike the borrowing limit,particularly during the currentsituation to take on COVID-19. This gesture on the part ofthe Finance Minister will be abig relief to states and theunion territory," he said.

Pondy CM offers bouquets,brickbats to Finance Minister

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress General SecretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onSunday urged Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath to allow the partyferry migrant labourers backhome in buses arranged by itand kept ready at the stateborder. She made the appealin a video message posted onTwitter, a day after 24 migrantworkers were killed and 36injured when a trailerrammed into a stationarytruck, both carrying passen-gers, on a highway nearAuraiya. "Respected chiefminister, I am requestingyou, this is not the time forpolitics. Our buses are stand-ing at the border. Thousandsof labourers and migrants arewalking towards their homeswithout food or water andafter fighting all troubles. Letus help them. Give permis-sion to our buses," she said.

Priyanka urgesUP CM toallow Congferry migrants

‘Allocation of additionalfunds exposes BJPclaim about MGNREGA’PNS n LUCKNOW

With the Centre sanctioningadditional funds for job cre-ation under the MGNREGA,the UP Congress on Sundaysaid the BJP has been exposedabout its claim regarding thescheme, once dubbed as a 'liv-ing monument' ofpoverty by PMNarendra Modi.

If the schemewas an ‘epitome ofcorruption', thenwhy is it beingimplemented nowand additional fundsallocated, UP Congressspokesperson Ashok Singhasked referring to a PM's state-ment about the scheme inParliament in 2015.

"Who was telling lies, andwho was misleading the coun-try? It is the schemes envisagedby the Congress on which thecountry is functioning today,"Singh said, claiming that the

Congress has always beencontributing to nation build-ing.

The BJP has been "effective-ly exposed", he said.

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman Centreon Sunday allocated addition-al Rs 40,000 crore under the

Mahatma GandhiNational Rural

E m p l o y m e n tGuarantee Schemeas part of the 20lakh crore eco-nomic stimulus in

the wake of theCOVID-19 pandem-

ic. In March 2015,Prime Minister Narendra

Modi had taken potshots atthe Congress in the Lok Sabhawhile referring to corruptionin the scheme and coal blockallocations. The prime minis-ter had said, "Do you think, Iwill put an end to the scheme.My political wisdom does notallow me to do it.

The Home Ministersaid the Modigovernment hasdecided to increaseIndia's healthexpenditure to createinfectious diseaseshospital blocks inevery district,strengtheninglaboratories networkand surveillance andencouraging research

“Due medicare andother requisitefacilities would begiven to the pilgrimsduring quarantinebesides their COVID-19 tests would alsobe conducted as aprecautionarymeasure”, the seniorofficial said

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

BJP govt ‘hawa-hawaisarkar', says Akhilesh Yadav LUCKNOW: Terming the BJPgovernments in the Centre andUttar Pradesh as “hawa-hawaisarkar,” Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Sundayasked why are the poor not“vandaniye” (respectable) in‘Vande Bharat'. "Uttar Pradesh,which gave the country itspresident and the ‘pradhan jee'(prime minister), has sealed itsborders for the poor. How willthe migrant labourers be able toreach Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand,Bengal and the North-Eastwithout road?” Akhilesh Yadavasked in a tweet in Hindi. "Theorder of the BJP government isthat migrant labourers willneither be allowed to enter UPnor walk on roads or rail tracks,or travel in trucks or two-wheelers,” he said in anothertweet. “Let this hawa-hawaisarkar' (aerial government) itselfsuggest some aerial route formigrating workers,” said the SPpresident. “Why are the poornot 'vandaniye' (respectable) inVande Bharat?” Yadav askedfurther, making dig at themission, launched by the Centreto fly back Indians stuck abroadamid the COVID lockdown.

143 Afghan nationalsflown back from Punein special flight

Gujarat: Migrantsattack cops, damagevehicles near RajkotAHMEDABAD: Demandingimmediate travel arrangements,migrant workers on Sundayhurled stones at the police anddamaged vehicles on a nationalhighway near Rajkot in Gujarat,police said. Some policepersonnel and a local journalistwere injured in the incident thatoccurred in Shapar area nearRajkot, about 215 kms awayfrom Ahmedabad. Rajkot (Rural)superintendent of police BalramMeena said 25 migrants werearrested, including a purportedinstigator, after identifying themthrough video footage of theincident. "A group of agitatedmigrants resorted to vandalismby damaging vehicles on anational highway demandingarrangement from localauthorities for return to theirnative states," a police officialsaid. Meena said an FIR wasregistered under varioussections of the Indian PenalCode for rioting, voluntarilycausing hurt and for attempt tocommit culpable homicide.

PUNE: Over 140 Afghannationals, stranded in Pune duethe lockdown, were flown backto Kabul in a special flight onSunday, an official said. Theflight took off from the Puneairport in the afternoon, theofficial said. "A special flight ofKAM Airlines arrivedwith nineIndian citizens at the Lohegaon-based airport on Sundayafternoon andleft for Kabul with143 Afghan nationals," a seniorairport official said. Accordingto the district administration,none of the outgoingpassengers showed symptomsof COVID-19. "The nine Indianpassengers, who arrived in thespecial flight, were quarantinedafter being screened at theairport," the official said.

Stop politicising plight ofmigrant workers: FM to CongPNS n NEW DELHI

Hitting back at the Congress,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sunday said itsleader Rahul Gandhi is doingdrama and asked the politicalparties to refrain from politi-cising the plight of migrantworkers and behave responsi-bly on the issue.

Sitharaman after announc-ing the Rs 20-lakh crore eco-nomic package said the gov-ernment would seek coopera-tion from all parties includingthe Congress to resolve theissue.

The Centre has alreadyinformed all states that about1,500 trains are available tocarry migrant workers to theirdestination based on therequest from the respectivestates, she said when asked tocomment on the Congress'criticism about economicpackage and the handling ofmigrant workers.

She wondered as to why theCongress or their alliance-

ruled states is not requestingfor more trains and help theirown migrant labours reachtheir home.

"Rather they are adding tomisery of migrant labours,who is walking on their foot totheir home, by stopping themand talking. It would be muchbetter, if they could walk alongwith with them and also carrytheir yoke or their children,"she said while referring toRahul Gandhi's interactionwith a group migrant workersfleeing to their home state on

Saturday. "They are calling usdramabaaz. What happenedyesterday by stopping migrantsand interacting with them onthe road and wasting theirtime? Aren't they dramabaaz?,"she quipped. Earlier this week,the Congress had said the gov-ernment's economic packagehas so far fallen way short ofwhat the prime minister hadpromised the nation anddubbed it as a "jumla package"."I request Congress presidentSonia Gandhi that let us speakresponsibly and let us deal with

our migrant workers moreresponsibly," she said.

She also dared the Congressto declare that migrants work-ers are in very comfortablestate in states ruled by theirparty."Many states are cooper-ating but others claim to becooperating with the centre onthe issue of movement ofmigrant labours," she added.

Former Union MinisterJairam Ramesh has said intweet: "80 per cent of thebogus Rs 20 lakh crore pack-age announced.

Cyclone ‘Amphan': 12 coastaldistricts of Odisha put on alertPNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha government hasasked the administration of its12 coastal districts to remainin a state of preparedness todeal with any eventuality in thewake of cyclone 'Amphan', asenior official said on Sunday.

On Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik's direction, the districtcollectors of Ganjam, Gajapti,Puri, Jagatsinghpur,Kendrapara, Bhadrak,Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur,Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarhhave been asked to remainalert.

"This apart, we are keepinga close watch on the fourcoastal districts ofJagatsinghpur, Kendrapara,Bhadrak and Balasore," SpecialRelief Commissioner (SRC), PK Jena said.

Stating that the state govern-ment is closely monitoringthe movement of the cyclonicstorm, he said any decision onundertaking evacuation ofpeople living in the low-lyingareas and in thatched andmud houses will be taken withassessment of the situation

after 'Amphan' recurves.While arrangements have

been made to shift around 11lakh people from vulnerableareas to safe places, the num-ber of people to be evacuatedand places where such opera-tion is required will be decid-ed at the right time, Jena said.

He said of the 809 cycloneshelters in the 12 coastal dis-tricts, 242 are now being usedas temporary medical campsfor the returnees from differ-ent states amid the COVID-19lockdown.

"We have 567 cyclone andflood shelters available tohouse the people in case evac-

uation is required. In addition,we have arranged 7,092 build-ings to keep people ifrequired," Jena said.

Patnaik has put a target ofzero casualty before theadministration, saying, "Savinglives is our priority and weshould put our best efforts tosave every precious humanlife". "Odisha Disaster RapidAction Force (ODRAF),NDRF and fire service person-nel have already been sent tothe districts. We are also inconstant touch with the IndianCoast Guard, IMD and NDRFfor any requirement," Jenasaid.

Man arrested for trading in oilextracted from dolphin carcassPNS n KOLKATA

One person has been arrested fortrading in oil extracted from adolphin's carcass in West BengalsMurshidabad district, a seniorwildlife department official saidon Sunday. The wildlife depart-ment is also working in synergywith NGOs and other govern-ment agencies to unearth apoaching racket, the official said.

While the department on itsown cannot keep a tab on theentire Hooghly river systemwhich is looked after by fisheriesand navigation departments, itkeeps watch on any trading ofwildlife through its own network,apart from being tipped off byNGOs, the senior wildlife officialsaid.

"We were alerted about illegaltrading of oil extracted from theblubber (fat) of a gangetic dol-

phin by our sources and arrest-ed one man along with the oil inMurshidabad district two daysback," the official said.

The arrested person was beinginterrogated to know who else isinvolved in the racket in tradingof body parts of the endangeredspecies, he said.

"If those involved in this ille-gal trade are caught, we can also

trace those behind poaching ofthe endangered aquatic animalactive in Malda-Murshidabadbelt and trace the racket," he said.

The wildlife crime controlbureau has been informed aboutthe trade.

The wildlife division andpolice are working to prepare afull proof case against the arrest-ed man, he said.

The wildlife official said thedepartment has got a report fromHuman and EnvironmentAlliance League (HEAL), anNGO, about killings of dolphinsalong the banks of Hooghly inMalda and Murshidabad districtsin November-December 2019.

COVID-19: Remand prisonersto be in only if they test negativePNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

In a bid to prevent spread ofCOVID-19 in prisons inKerala, the state governmentwill admit remand prisonersonly if they test negative for thevirus, while it has alreadygranted remission and paroleto several other inmates.

The swabs of remand pris-oners will be taken and testedfor the deadly virus and till theresults arrive, they will beeither lodged at hospitals orquarantine facilities arrangedby the district administration,a senior prison official said.

"In the fourth phase of lock-down,we have decided thatonly COVID-19-free prisonerswill be admitted to all jails inthe state.

If someone is arrested, hisswab test will be done andascertained whether they are

positive or negative.Otherwise, the 6,250 prisonersand over 1,600 staff in all thejails will be in trouble.

This is the most importantphase," DIG of Prisons andCorrectional Services,Santhosh Kumar, said.

Currently 6,250 prisonersare lodged in around 54 jailsacross the state, he said.

Kumar said the plan was to

decongest the jails and hencethose eligible had been givenparole and interim bail.

At least 85 prisoners whohave undergone two third oftheir term have been givenremission, he said, addingthese steps were taken toreduce the number of inmatesin prisons.

He said the decongestionplan was facing a major chal-lenge as over 1,200 accused inAbkari cases have been jailedduring the lockdown periond.

"As part of reducing thepopulation in jails in view ofthe COVID-19 situation, wehave been giving bail andparole to many.

But since liquor shops areclosed due to the lockdown,there is a spike in number ofAbkari cases and over 1,200have been arrested and lodgedin jails," he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court will hearall cases via video and audiolinks between May 18 andJune 19, and has scaled up its'1881' helpline to assist advo-cates and litigants in e-filingand virtual hearing, accordingto a standard operating proce-dure (SoP) released on Sundayamid the coronavirus-triggeredlockdown.

The fresh SoP assumed sig-nificance as the apex court,which has been hearing onlyurgent cases through video-conferencing during the lock-down, decided on May 15 topostpone its summer vacationby five weeks and declared that

it would remain functionalfrom May 18 to June 19.

Issuing the fresh SoP, theapex court said for the firsttime in the Registry, '1881'helpline number will remainfunctional from 10 AM to 5

PM under supervision ofsenior officers to provideinstant solutions to query ofadvocate and litigants about e-filing and other issues relatingto judicial functions.

"In order to contain the

spread of coronavirus(COVID-19), considering theprevailing situation, and takinginto account the suggestionsreceived from various quartersand the guidelines issued bythe Government of India andGovernment of NCT of Delhifrom time to time, the ChiefJustice of India has beenpleased to direct the constitu-tion of the bench(es) to hearmatters in the coming weekssince the Virtual Courts will befunctioning from May 18, 2020to June 19, 2020 (both daysinclusive), that is, during theearlier notified summer vaca-tions through video conferenc-ing/ tele-conferencing modeonly,” the top court said.

Auraiya road accident: Two moremigrant workers die, toll rises to 26PNS n AURAIYA (UP)

Two more migrant workersdied on Sunday followinginjuries sustained in the roadaccident a day earlier atAuraiya in Uttar Pradesh, rais-ing the death toll in the inci-dent to 26, said local police.

Twenty-four migrant work-ers had died and 36 injured onSaturday early morning whena trailer truck carrying sacks oflime along with 43 peoplerammed into the back of a sta-tionary truck with many othermigrant workers sitting in itnear a roadside eatery on thenational highway in Auraiya.

In a statement issued here,the Auraiya police said the

accident took place near ShivjiDhaba in Tikauli villageinvolving a trailer truck and amini-truck with both the vehi-cles falling into a ditch by theroadside.

"In the accident, 26 migrantlabourers died, while 34 otherssustained injuries," the state-ment said while updating the

casualty figures.A case has been registered

against the drivers, ownersand transporters of both thevehicles under various sec-tions of the Indian Penal Code,the Epidemic Diseases Actand the Motor Vehicles Act atKotwali police station inAuraiya.

Investigations are going onin this regard, police said,adding that efforts are beingmade to arrest the drivers,owners and transporters ofboth the vehicles.

Meanwhile, as many as 32injured migrant labourers wereadmitted to the Uttar PradeshUniversity of Medical Sciencesat Saifai in Etawah district.

‘Punjab staring at Rs 50,000 croreloss this year, mulling tax options’PNS n NEW DELHI

Punjab is staring at a "mini-mum loss" of Rs 50,000 crorethis year due to the ongoingCOVID -19 lockdown, andChief Minister AmarinderSingh has hinted at some"tough decisions" on taxationfor revenue generation.

In an interview to PTI,Singh said initial estimatessuggest job losses in the rangeof 10 lakh in the state, whichwas losing Rs 3,000 crore everymonth on the economic front.

The CM said with someexperts predicting a peak incoronavirus pandemic in Julyand August, Punjab waspreparing itself "for the worst",with the massive influx ofmigrants and Indian returneesfrom abroad emerging as thetop disease management chal-lenge. "In April alone, we lost88 per cent of our estimatedrevenue due to the lockdown.As per quick estimates, we arelosing Rs 3,000 crore a month,and are looking at Rs 50,000crore minimum in losses forthe full year," the CM told PTI.

Noting that the financial

situation is "extremely critical",Singh said he has already askedall the 'non-essential' depart-ments to cut down on expens-es and manage their costsjudiciously.

"But, that is obviously notenough, so we will have to takesome tough decisions," he saidreferring to fresh taxationmeasures. He said discussionsare in progress and the state ismulling various options andwill take a decision in the nextcouple of days.

Singh called for an urgenteconomic package for thestates, saying with no GST,

excise duty or VAT comingfrom transportation, allresources have dried up.

Punjab is seeing the situa-tion worsening going forward,unless the Centre steps in, thechief minister said.

"I don't know why they havenot announced a relief packageor revenue grant for states sofar. We need funds to managenot just our routine expensesbut the huge challenge ofCOVID from medical andhumanitarian point of view.We need money immediatelybut it has not been forthcom-ing so far," he said.

Arunachal seeks Rs 1.6 crpackage from Centre forculling AFS-infected pigsPNS n ITANAGAR

The Arunachal Pradesh gov-ernment has requested theCentre for a financial packageof Rs 1.6 crore in the firstphase to cull 4,500 pigs infect-ed with African Swine Fever(AFS) in East Siang andPapum Pare districts of thestate, a senior minister said onSunday.

The ASF outbreak in thestate in April has claimed thelives of a few thousand pigsand wild boars, AnimalHusbandry and DairyDevelopment Minister TageTaki said.

"I had placed the demandfor financial assistance duringa video conference of UnionAnimal Husbandry, Dairy andFisheries Minister GirirajSingh with all the state minis-ters on May 14," Taki told PTI.

More assistance will besought in subsequent phases,he said.

Animal Husbandry andDairy Development Joint

Director Dr Techi Taku put thedeath toll of pigs in the statedue to ASF at 2,253 so far.

"The toll is likely to increaseas reports of more deaths ofpigs and wild boars are pour-ing in from various districtsand authorities are compilingthe data," Dr Taku, also thestate nodal officer for animalhealth, said.

The minister said he hadalso urged the Centre toapprove a Rs 200-crore stategovernment project to devel-op grazing lands for bovineanimals like Mithun and yaks,which are "backbone of therural economy of the state".

Maha Cong leaderblames news channelfor fall in tomato pricesPNS n MUMBAI

Senior Congress leader andformer Maharashtra chiefminister Prithviraj Chavan onSunday said a Hindi newschannel was behind the crashin tomato prices amid thecoronavirus outbreak andsought a ban on it for a peri-od of one month.

He said the channel hadtelecast a news item about thepresence of "tiranga virus" intomatoes in May 13, afterwhich prices started plummet-ing immediately, leading toheavy losses to farmers.

"A report about#Tiranga_virus in tomatoes inMaharashtra was broadcastedby a Hindi News Channel on13 May. Prices crashed imme-diately and tomato farmershave suffered huge losses.Such irresponsible reportingmust be punished. Govt mustcompensate farmers." hetweeted.

Tagging the Union min-

istry of information andbroadcasting, Chavan saidlegal action should be takenagainst the news channel.

"The State Govt must takelegal action against the chan-nel and also ask the@MIB_India to take downthe Channel for a month. TheCentre must issue an SOP anda Code for reportage. Any#CORONA related sensitivenews must be put out onlywith prior approval fromICMR or Central Govt,"Chavan said.

Lockdown travel:Maha studentsaccuse Rlys ofmismanagementPNS n MUMBAI

Some 1,000 students fromMaharashtra preparing forcivil services exams in Delhialleged on Sunday that therailways' mismanagementhad inconvenienced them.

In a video message sharedby several students, theyclaimed the railways hadoperated a train from Delhito Mumbai but the lack ofcommunication and cleanli-ness brought about hard-ships.

"Though it was a specialtrain, we were asked to sit inthe general coaches whichwere not properly cleaned. Wewere asked to arrive at 10 inthe morning on Saturday, butthe train left in the evening,"said Snehal Chavan, a UPSCaspirant in New Delhi.

SC comes up with new guidelines forhearing matters from May 18 to June 19

"We were alertedabout illegal tradingof oil extractedfrom the blubber(fat) of a gangeticdolphin by our sour-ces and arrestedone man along withthe oil in Murshida-bad district twodays back," theofficial said

"They are calling usdramabaaz. Whathappened yester-day by stoppingmigrants and inter-acting with them onthe road andwasting their time?Aren't they drama-baaz?," she quipped

In Mahabharata, when Ashwatthamalearnt that Duryodhana was strickendown against all laws of chivalry, hisanger swelled like the sea. He took anoath of vengeance against the Pandavas,

whom he blamed for foul conduct. He killedthe sons of the Pandavas by setting their tentablaze at night. The grieving Pandavas,along with Shri Krishna, started searching forhim. Ultimately, they found him hiding inSage Vyasa’s ashram. Cornered thus,Ashwatthama quietly took up a blade of grassto convert it into a deadly weapon. He chargedit with the mantra of “destruction” and aimedthe Brahmastra towards the Pandavas. Inretaliation, Arjun used his Brahmastra.Meanwhile, Rishi Vyasa was asked by ShriKrishna to stop this collision as he was awareof the apocalyptic capacities of these weaponsfor humanity. He ordered both to bring backtheir armoury. Arjun obeyed. Not knowinghow to “bring back” the weapon to its source,Ashwatthama expressed his inability to con-trol it. Swayed by vengeance, he decided todestroy the race of the Pandavas by divert-ing his Brahmastra to the womb of Uttara,who was pregnant with the son ofAbhimanyu. This later brought him the curseof Shri Krishna, who hollowed his foreheadand cursed him with immortality.

Technology and its dilemmas aren’t newto India. The aforementioned instance is onesuch which explains the strong philosophi-cal synergies between technology and its user.Technology in the hand of a user lacking wis-dom and moral perseverance has resulted inthe destruction of humanity. In India, it hasalways been imagined as a tool for the bet-terment of humankind. China’s attempt tocontain the novel Coronavirus through an appwas lauded whereas a group of neo-Ludditescast aspersions when India developed theAarogya Setu app for the same purpose.Ironically, many cast aspersions on the mostvulnerable platforms such as Zoom andFacebook, conveniently forgetting aboutFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s publicapology and, of course, algorithm manipu-lations done by Cambridge Analytica.

While both China and India developedan app, the fundamental philosophy of bothnations was different. One cannot, however,ignore the syncretism between technologyand philosophy. Whether man or algo-rithm, it all condenses to the “philosophicalchoices,” especially in times of crisis. In a post-COVID society, we will not only witness anever-increasing authority of algorithms butalso a rising confrontation between man andmachine, all based on philosophical dilem-mas. Last month, The Guardian reported areport titled, “Hertfordshire hospital forcedto consider who should be refused oxygen.”The decision taken by healthcare profession-als must have been based on the philosoph-ical discourse of that nation. A few years fromnow, with the ever-increasing scope ofArtificial Intelligence (AI) and machinelearning, imagine a robot designed by tech-nocrats. How will it be programmed? Whowould it refuse to provide oxygen to? Whatwill be the moral grounding of technology?

Can this decision be taken with-out thoughtful deliberations onmorals, ethics, philosophy of anation? Consider the followingcases on how the moral philos-ophy of a nation can have a directbearing on technology.

When the Titanic sank, thepoignant moment illustrated the“choice” made between the eliteand the destitute. It was decidedto save the lifeboats for the for-mer and leave the latter to theirfate. More recently, the “choice”made by Italy and Iran withregard to who should be provid-ed with a ventilator was based onphilosophical groundings of thatnation. Whereas the US madethe “choice” to delay the lock-down due to Coronavirus, India,despite being more vulnerable tosocio-economic and politicalshocks, decided to make a“choice” in favour of society.The choice made by Mao’s Chinaduring the infamous experimentin social engineering, the GreatLeap Forward, came at theexpense of millions of lives. Onthe other hand, India’s “choice” tosave even separatist leaders dur-ing flood relief operations inKashmir illustrates its philosophy,which ranks all lives as equal. All“choices” are based on the strongphilosophical underpinnings ofthe nation. While both Arjun andAshwatthama held equally pow-erful technology, what madeShri Krishna curse Ashwatthamawas the “choice” he made.

Nevertheless, debates around“morality” and “technology”aren’t new. There have been twoschools of thought. The instru-mental vision of technologyresulting from the neutralitythesis focusses on the ill-effects

and can be attributed to its users,not technology per se. Thinkerssuch as Heidegger and criticalsociologist Habermas wentahead, claiming that the functionof any technology to a greatcapacity depends on how andwhy it has been conceptualised.Later, this theory embraced tech-nology from the broader con-struct of political, social, econom-ic and cultural realms. In the early1980s, American novelistThomas Pynchon said, “It’s okaynot to be a Luddite.” Today, hewould have wondered, “Is iteven possible to be one?” A post-pandemic society will be enter-ing a new age of disruption.Whether in healthcare, social-cultural, academia or the eco-nomic sector, unimaginablefacets of technology will have tobe routinised. Such a develop-ment will pave space for nationsto reconsider their technologicaldevelopment map.

One cannot also ignore thedominance of private corpora-tions in the current technologi-cal race. Such domination canalso be put as “lack of involve-ment of society or state” in thetechnological race. But why doesit become imperative to counter-balance market monopoly overtechnology by augmenting tech-nological capacities of both soci-ety and State? A simple answerto this would be the philosophythat each follows. While marketsusually couch their decisionsbased on utilitarian benefits, notalways resulting in favour ofhumanity, social institutions pri-marily focus on social cohesionand development.

Consider the famousGrimshaw vs Ford Motor Co

case (1981). People were killeddue to explosions in a FordPinto car, the reason for whichwas attributed to a defective cardesign. What was shocking wasthat Ford had prior knowledgeabout the defect but remainedinert as the cost of recalling andrepairing the car would havebeen much more than theamount likely to be spent by it inlawsuits and accidents. The“choice” made by Ford convert-ed a human life as a mere statis-tical tool. The “choice” was basedon the cost-benefit analysisgrounded on the famous “utili-tarian” philosophy given byJeremy Bentham. This bringsforth three questions. First,despite the altruistic use of tech-nology by many private corpo-rations, isn’t there a need tocounter-balance institutions thatuse “technology for society?”Second, for how long can tech-nology and philosophy be placedin watertight compartments?Third, if we attempt to createsuch synergies, will we again apethe West for insights on techno-logical dilemmas or reflect onindigenous schools of thought toresolve conflicts?

Amid the COVID pandem-ic, when the entire world hasembraced Indian philosophicalconstructs, we can lead inthoughtful technologicaladvancements. While philoso-phers, sages, ascetics in ourcountry deliberated on suchdilemmas for centuries, the engi-neers, technocrats and tech giantsare looking for immediateanswers. Thus, philosophy fortechnology has become moreimportant than ever. Yet, the edu-cation system today is slow to

augment technical educationwith philosophical reflections. Infact, the easy imitation of theWest has usurped the space forphilosophical discussions, whichonce were intrinsic to the indige-nous educational system in India.Post-colonial interventions, theIndian education system, whichinitially was run by society, wasusurped by the market as anextension. The result of suchannexation has defined tech-nology as a product of marketsand not society.

The world is undergoingthe biggest social experimentright now. Unaware of the con-trolled variables, we are trying tograph patterns amid chaos. Yearsof technological artefacts arelying almost dormant. Onlywithin a span of 15 days, coun-tries, which used to take pride incutting-edge healthcare tech-nologies, gasped out of exasper-ation. It just took 15 days of amicrobe-ridden pandemic tohammer our egos. Modern manmay boast about his admirablesuccess in communication tech-nologies and brag about Tesla’scyber trucks or the plans tocolonise Mars but it will just takea radioactive leak with a subse-quent power outage to makeeven our Neanderthal brotherslaugh at us.

While primitive technologiessuch as wheel, needle or scissorswere based on belief and philos-ophy of human progress, mod-ern technological advancementslack social validation. What rea-sons can be contributed to suchtechnological redundancy?Somewhere from primitive tomodern man, our philosophicalunderpinnings have changed;the dissonance between technol-ogy, man, society and nature hasbecome cacophonous.

Social institutions are work-ing in vacuum and silos, leadingto technological advancementwithout philosophical moorings.IITs, NITs and IIMs have risen tothe occasion during the pandem-ic but these elite institutes justcomprise a mere three per centof our students. Therefore, post-COVID-19 questions, such ashow the application of technol-ogy will influence social justiceand equality, should come to thefore. Technical education con-fronts “the real acid test” of howknowledge can handle techno-logical disruptions, social issuesand other problems. Technocratsshould consider asking: Cantechnology help achieve socialjustice? Can it help a tribal fam-ily get its ration? Can it help for-est dwellers conserve the forestsbetter? Can it ensure the securi-ty of a Scheduled Caste girl liv-ing at a remote location? This canbe done by formalising interlink-ages between technology andphilosophy.

(The writer is a researchscholar, Malaviya NationalInstitute of Technology)

That the Coronavirus has had a major neg-ative impact on world economies is anundisputed fact. Now, the next assault on

economies will be the wall of protectionismthat will come up across the globe as leadersstruggle to provide jobs to their citizens andthe world wakes up to the economic dangersof being a global village with inextricably inter-linked manufacturing and supply chains col-lapsing. The last has been partly because ofprolonged disruptions caused by COVID-enforced lockdowns and partly due to a trust

deficit in value chains originating in China. Japan has already announced that itis pulling out its manufacturing activities from China and the US is doing the same.And we are already seeing the first glimpse of protectionism with the US Presidentlaying down the law for companies like Apple. Donald Trump, in his usual blus-tering and aggressive style, has bluntly declared that he could levy new taxeson American companies that move their manufacturing bases from China to anycountry other than the US. He has never made any bones about his protection-ist agenda and has time and again asked American firms to shift their manufac-turing to the US to help create more jobs, a move that resonates with his agen-da of ‘Make America Great Again.’ Particularly in an election year.

This protectionist attitude is going to deal a body blow to India’s plans towoo firms away from China and emerge as the next manufacturing hub as manyfirms mull expanding their manufacturing bases to more than one country to avoida repeat of the present disruptions. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talkedabout making India a strong part of the global supply chain and the Governmentis developing a land pool double the size of Luxembourg to lure businesses mov-ing out of China. New Delhi has even asked missions abroad to look for firmsscouting for options to invest outside China. State Governments, too, are busyevolving their own programmes for bringing in FDI. If all nations begin to followthe path shown by Trump, it will be a hard and long toil for India where econom-ic healing is concerned as it might witness a U-shaped recovery instead of theV-shaped one that we are hoping to see. If that happens, India will have no wayout but to respond with protectionism of its own. So the world will be in a lock-down in more ways than one.

It is by now clear that a post-COVID worldis bound to undergo drastic changes andlife will never be the same as before. It will

have to be more need-based, mindful,resource-conscious and, therefore, balanced.And in the absence of a vaccine or cure, abehavioural and hygiene discipline like neverbefore is the only preventive. With nationsacross the world contemplating the best waysto outline a safe exit plan, India’s challenge forlockdown 4 with easing of protocols is evenbigger. For despite one of the world’s sever-

est containment drills, the density of our population and our clustered existencehave meant that cases have been spiking with a wildfire rapidity and we mayend up being one of the worst virus-hit nations. Yet given our size, our econo-my is gasping because of the lockdown and the reverse migration of labour backto the villages has meant that a human tragedy has taken over public health exi-gencies. So India’s exit plan has to balance both crises besides grading and scal-ing both the outbreak and the economy. This is where the Delhi Governmenthas taken the lead by emphasising the need for a safe resumption of the pub-lic transport system among other things as it is the lifeblood of an economy;people need to move to their place of work. But it is also a fact that modes ofmass transport in India till now have been mostly overloaded and unhygienicgiven general public habits. Closed spaces inside metros and buses would meanlimited ventilation and could pose a risk to passengers and even frontline work-ers — drivers, cleaning staff and security personnel. As a matter of fact, buses,local trains and metros were all designed to operate at high densities. BeforeCOVID-19, the Delhi Metro alone used to ferry 1.5 million passengers and theDelhi Transport Corporation (DTC) about 20-25 lakh commuters per day. So imag-ine the extent of livelihoods affected in the absence of such systems. The DelhiGovernment proposes to limit the number of passengers on buses to 20 andrun cluster fleet buses during peak hours. Metros, too, would run with at leastone-third capacity with social distancing norms in place. Cleaning and sanitisa-tion of the Metros and buses after they complete one full trip is to be made manda-tory. All this means a digitally robust passenger information system and a 24X7control room so that people know at what time and what ride they can avail,instead of queuing up and waiting in despair. Once this is proven safe enough,one could consider the next level. But the new measures would also push upinput costs. For example, most operators would not be able to disinfect theirvehicles, say, even three times a day. Cleaning habits, too, need to be inculcat-ed as a work ethic rather than an unfair imposition. To do this, the authoritiescould organise “rapid response” cleaners at terminals. Besides, traffic on theroads could push up pollution again and necessitate the odd-even formula. Butnow that the odd-even drill is spilling over into shops and malls, Delhiites mustget used to rotational living standards. Transport may not be the only sector,mall visits and park outings would now have to be planned.

The need to maintain physical distancing, masked and gloved, while travel-ling would be of utmost importance to minimise the risk of the virus. Some lessonscan be learnt from China, which has mostly passed the serious phase of theinfection. Initially, it resumed bus services with 30 per cent capacity and sur-veillance cameras to monitor compliance. Post this experiment, bus capacity insome places has been increased to provide more options to decrease rider den-sity at specific times. It is encouraging its prevailing culture of walking and cycling.In severely-hit cities like Milan and New York, ambitious plans have been announcedto reconfigure roads in such a way as to make more space for cyclists and pedes-trians. In the UK, the Government has asked people to avoid public transportand walk, cycle or drive instead. At the same time, with people preferring cyclingas a safer and free option, on-demand taxis have taken a hit. With the lack ofdesignated pathways for pedestrians and cyclists, this won’t be a practical optionhere. In Hong Kong, the rail operator MTR is using robots to disinfect trains andstations. In Europe, many public transport agencies have closed the front doorto reduce infection risk among drivers. Passengers now use the rear door (all-door boarding has been common practice). In Istanbul, there is a rotational lock-down on certain days of the week to control the traffic volume in public spaces.The human species also has a huge capacity to adapt and we need to deviseclever workarounds to carry on with the business of living and sidestep the virus.

Moving out of lockdown

To grow, think small

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Swadeshi vs Make In India”(May 15). In our premise of ahigh potential for domestic con-sumption by a large middle class,Indian exports receive attentiononly in bursts.

Competitive exports alonegive the impetus for quality, costreduction and innovation toembellish brand India. China’spredominance in exports wasentirely due to a dedicated andholistic policy — be it finance,skill development, worker hous-ing or welfare.

While MSMEs account forover 50 per cent of all transac-tions, we have failed to addresstheir primary concern over fundflows. Financial infrastructuresupport continues to be conser-vative. We tend to tailor ourstimulus to the big industrieswithout ensuring a trickle-downeffect to the last in the chain, theMSMEs.

Deviating from its faultless“big leap” and by thinking small,China focussed on industrialgrowth. It adopted an industry-led module that suited polynomi-al growth for the small and medi-

um enterprise. Such foresightplayed a critical role in China’sastonishing leap in industrialdevelopment within two decades.We must be pragmatic, too.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

Clear roadblocks

Sir — The Government’s propos-al for a “One nation, one ration”card is a well-conceived idea thatis worth implementation. But the

scope of this idea has to be expand-ed beyond just the migrant work-ers and even for the period beyondthe COVID crisis. One of the crit-ical factors that would impact thecountrywide rollout of this initia-tive is studying, recording and reg-

ularly updating labour migrationpatterns. As contemplated, allother States/Union Territories mustintegrate to ensure inter-Stateportability. Further, the rationcard must be trilingual and notbilingual because all those whoknow Hindi may not be knowingEnglish and vice versa. The prob-lem may also arise with a gap indemand and supply. This needs tobe addressed. A suitable mecha-nism must be devised to ensuresupply does not fall short ofdemand.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

Huge dilemma

Sir — It is heartbreaking thatpatients with serious illnessesother than COVID-19 are havinga tough time getting treated dur-ing the pandemic. How do weensure that everyone gets atten-tion? This is one of the key con-cerns that the Centre and the StateGovernments must addresstogether.

Sritoma MukherjeeVia email

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020

06

Ethics of technology

PURVA BHATT

India, which has always believed in the philosophy of Antyodaya and Sarvodaya, should lookinto its own schools of thought to initiate philosophy-led technological advancements

As a citizen, my disappoint-ment is the (`20 lakh crore)package should not be ofloans but for giving money intheir hands. The Governmentshould not be a sahukar.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

I am a human being and I dofeel bad. But after feelingbad, I bounce back. I feelthese people who are writingbad (things) about me arenothing but jealous people.

Singer—Neha Kakkar

I can say China is buying a lotof our products. But the tradedeal — the ink was barely dry— when this (Coronavirus)came in from China. So, it’snot like we’re thrilled.

US President—Donald Trump

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

Shun experiments that could backfire

The Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat andMadhya Pradesh would have us believe that the ordi-nance to freeze labour laws and, thus, free capital,

is intended to attract more “investments” in a post-COVIDera. For example, the “Uttar Pradesh TemporaryExemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020”proposes to exempt all establishments, factories andbusinesses from the purview of labour laws for a peri-od of three years. It seeks to deactivate 35 of the 38 cru-cial laws. From now, capital would be all-powerful andlabour its obedient chattel. Perhaps, the next target wouldbe the other primary factor of production, land. It would-n’t be surprising if the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, too,is laid on the chopping block. Land grabbing in the guiseof land acquisition for new projects will be the new norm.

Businesses can easily achieve targets and earn prof-its with minimum workforce and heavy workload.Industries, which used to operate in three shifts earli-er, can still meet their production targets by working twoshifts of 12 hours each. Thankfully, the courts have pre-vented such a move. Managements might be temptedto issue pink slips to the surplus one-third of their work-force in the course of time. In short, this ordinance nul-lifies everything — rights, dignity and security — of the

workers. Truth be told, these changes in the law are meantto guard the capital already deployed as also the wealthof a few. Moreover, it is a little naive to imagine that aState with a large discontented workforce would be anideal destination for investment. It is too optimistic aswell to expect investments to flow into a State whereliteracy is not a subject seriously discussed, where thecaste-divide runs deeper and where engineered religiousbigotry pits humans against humans. All of this with theinvisible pathogen, Corona, visibly active everywhere.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Walls will go upPM Modi’s idea of self-reliantIndia does not mean that wewill seek self-centered or iso-lationist arrangements. Rather,a self-reliant India will be amore internationalist India.

Foreign Secretary—Harsh V Shringla

Delhi Govt proposes a doable and safe resumption of publictransport, adapting from templates in virus-hit nations

If the US goes rabidly protectionist, and others follow, thenour Make in India project could suffer a body blow

Adopt structural reforms

I HOPE FOR THE SAKE OF BENGALI WORKERS INDIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY THAT WEST BENGAL

WILL ACCEPT THEM BACK WITH OPEN ARMS.—UNION RAILWAY MINISTER

PIYUSH GOYAL

SALUTING THE TOIL FACED BY OUR BRETHREN, THESTATE WILL BEAR THE ENTIRE COST OF MOVEMENT OFOUR MIGRANT WORKERS BY SPECIAL TRAINS.—WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER MAMATA BANERJEE

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The world is now in the grip of the COVID-19pandemic. The last most dangerous outbreakthat occurred was the 1918-1919 influenza

pandemic, almost 100 years ago, that reportedly orig-inated in the US and which coincided with WorldWar-I. According to a report prepared by America’sNational Academies of Sciences, Engineering, andMedicine, entitled Global Health and the Future Roleof the United States, the influenza outbreak took placein three waves. It infected one-third of the global pop-ulation and claimed 50-70 million lives. The situa-tion at that time was unmanageable partly becauseof the devastation caused by World War-I. However,this time, the contagion did not precede, coincidewith or follow any war. Even so, the world has lost3,09,047 lives and the numbers are expected to growin times to come. However, the panic and econom-ic devastation caused by the pandemic are unprece-dented and the very legitimacy of the State has beenput to test. In one line, the world is forced to facean uncertain future.

What is evident in all of this is that the crisiscould not be thwarted due to structural deficienciesin the health governance systems and overall pub-lic management. And, as it appears, no seriousthought was given by policymakers around theworld, including India, to deal with pandemics, evenas in the beginning of the 21st century itself, just inthe last 20 years, the world has seen the occurrenceof many outbreaks, such as SARS, H1N1, Ebola andthe Zika virus. They claimed lives at an unprecedent-ed scale and led to enormous economic losses.

Urbanisation, pandemics and risk society:Pandemics or “crowd diseases” are likely to grow innumber and impact, with more urbanisation,choked urban slum settlements, narrow streets androads, loss in biodiversity and heedless exploitationof natural resources, especially water. In his bookGuns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond argues thata small population size does not help epidemic dis-eases evolve of their own. He stresses, “In contrast,the crowd diseases…could have arisen only with thebuild-up of large, dense human populations. Thatbuild-up began with the rise of agriculture, startingabout 10,000 years ago and then accelerated with therise of cities starting several thousand years ago.”With the increase in urbanisation and populations,more cities will be added to the existing ones, open-ing up the possibility of more pandemic outbreaks.The United Nations’ revised World UrbanisationProspects, 2018 report, projects that by 2050, a whop-ping 68 per cent of the world’s population would livein urban areas. By 2030 alone, the world is project-ed to have 43 megacities, most of them in develop-ing regions. These projections show that the urban-isation juggernaut is unstoppable and in turn is like-ly to act as a catalyst in the spread of pandemics.

With the future prospects of pandemics andhealth risks being high, we have no option but toreorganise ourselves and learn to deal with theunfolding “risk society”, a natural offshoot of the so-called modernity-propelled development and pro-duction processes. The renowned German sociol-ogist Ulrich Beck has called this phenomenon“reflexive modernisation.”

In his book, Risk Society: Towards a NewModernity, Beck writes, “In the overlap and com-petition between the problems of class, industrial andmarket society on one side and those of the risk soci-ety on the other, the logic of wealth production

always wins…and for that very reason therisk society is ultimately victorious.” Hefurther adds, “The race between percep-tible wealth and imperceptible risks can-not be won by the latter. The visible can-not compete with the invisible. Paradoxdecrees that for that very reason the invis-ible risks win the race.”

The emergence of risk society isinescapable, thanks to reflexive moderni-sation. To face it, there has to be a shift inpolicy focus from a wealth distributionsociety to a risk society. Beck apprises us,“We do not yet live in a risk society, butwe also no longer live only within the dis-tribution conflicts of scarcity societies. Tothe extent that this transition occurs, therewill be a real transformation of societywhich will lead us out of the previousmodes of thought and action.”

Poverty and pandemics: Shift in pol-icy focus from a wealth distribution soci-ety to a risk society is not that easy in India,a former British colony, which retains itscolonial legacy to a large extent. The typ-ical syndrome that most of the formerEuropean colonies still suffer from.German sociologist Robert Michels hastermed this syndrome “iron law of oli-garchy.” In their book, Why Nations Fail,Daron Acemoglu and James Robinsonsummarise the iron law of oligarchy say-ing that in essence “new leaders over-throwing old ones with promises of rad-ical changes bring nothing but more of thesame.”

Another syndrome that India suffersfrom is the new absolutism — that is, com-munism. In its post-Independence avatar,India tilted towards the communist Sovietsystem, thus allowing structural space tothe communist ideals in the governancesystem. The authors of Why Nations Failhave rightly pointed out, “It is impossibleto understand many of the poorest regions

of the world at the end of the 20th cen-tury without understanding the newabsolutism of the 20th century:Communism…Beyond the human suffer-ing and carnage, the communist regimesall set up various types of extractive insti-tutions…”

The syndromes of the iron law of oli-garchy and new absolutism tend to cre-ate extractive institutions begetting thevicious circle of poverty and provecounter-productive to the efforts to pushthe policy focus towards risk society. Foreconomic justice and poverty reductionby redistribution of the nation’s wealth takecentrestage in policy priorities. This is notto suggest that there exists a binaryopposition between the wealth redistrib-ution society and risk society. What isintended here is that the process of tran-sition from a wealth redistribution soci-ety to a risk society needs to be expedit-ed by eliminating poverty and makingsociety just and egalitarian.

Thus, the challenge before the newleadership in India is to do away with thenew absolutism thought process and theprevalence of the iron law of oligarchyingrained in our political and economicsystem. The extractive institutions needto be weeded out.

Universal Basic Income: Povertyreduction still remains a Herculean taskfor policymakers in India. Althoughsince Independence, a slew of policy mea-sures has been undertaken by variousGovernments to reform the economy andenhance its outcome with an aim to takemore people out of the poverty trap, it isstill miles to go. So what do we do in sucha scenario? What are the choices we areleft with? Though there cannot be a sub-stitute for a poverty-free society inabsolute terms, increase in social securi-ty net and implementation of Universal

Basic Income (UBI) can provide a kind ofa defensive wall in the fight against pan-demics, natural hazards and any otherunwarranted risks.

A whole chapter was dedicated onUBI in the Economic Survey, 2016-17which states, “…UBI is a powerful ideawhose time even if not ripe for implemen-tation is ripe for serious discussion.” Butsince this was given a miss in the UnionBudget that followed the EconomicSurvey, the idea failed to generate “seri-ous” discussion on its utility and practi-cality. Clearly, the UBI at least ensures aminimum income guarantee for benefi-ciaries. The implementation of UBI willplace extra burden on the exchequer butthere are definitely ways to implement itin a limited manner just to begin with.Given the tight fiscal space that India has,it may not be prudent to commit the UBIto everyone, just to prove its universality.In his article, Out of my mind: Income foreveryone, economist Meghnad Desai sug-gested: “The allowance (UBI) should bepaid to women only. They constitutealmost half the population. Many cannotearn as they have to look after their fam-ilies. When they work for wages, they areunderpaid. The criterion cannot begamed. It would revolutionise Indian soci-ety.”

If we have UBI, the need for womenand children to migrate in search of workwill get reduced. In the wake of pandemics,people, especially migrant labourers andwithin that bracket, women and children,will not have to march, hungry, thirsty andbarefoot, hundreds of kilometres towardstheir home States, as happened recentlysoon after the lockdown was announcedby the Government. They will have a fight-ing chance at a life of dignity and inde-pendence.

(The writer is a policy commentator)

The present crisis could not be thwarted because of structural deficiencies inhealth governance systems and overall public management

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

Go vocal for local

LALIT KUMAR

The pandemic has shown that in crisis, we haveto take care of ourselves with no help coming.

It is time to build a new, self-reliant India

IF WE HAVE UBI, THE NEED FOR

WOMEN ANDCHILDREN TO

MIGRATE IN SEARCH OF WORK

WILL GET REDUCED.IN THE WAKE OF

PANDEMICS,PEOPLE,

ESPECIALLYMIGRANT

LABOURERS ANDWITHIN THAT

BRACKET, WOMENAND CHILDREN,

WILL NOT HAVE TOMARCH, HUNGRY,

THIRSTY ANDBAREFOOT,

HUNDREDS OFKILOMETRES

TOWARDS THEIRHOME STATES, AS

HAPPENEDRECENTLY SOON

AFTER THELOCKDOWN WAS

ANNOUNCED BY THEGOVERNMENT.

THEY WILL HAVE AFIGHTING CHANCE

AT A LIFE OFDIGNITY AND

INDEPENDENCE

One of the earliest proponents of the Swadeshi movement in mod-ern India was Bhartendu Harishchandra. In his widely-celebrat-ed 1884 speech “Bharatvarsh ki unnati kaise ho sakti hai (how

can India make progress)”, Bhartendu rebuked his countrymen for theirdependence on foreign-made products. “As the thousand streams ofthe Ganga flow into the ocean, so, the wealth produced in our countryflows in a thousand ways to England, France, Germany and America,”he pointed out. Under the colonial rule, Indians couldn’t manufactureeven a small item like a matchbox. They had to import combs fromFrance, ready-made clothes from England and lamps from Germany.An eminent social reformer, playwright and the father of modern Hindiliterature, Bhartendu reckoned that the key to the country’s prosperitylay in promoting Indian products and languages.

The economic exploitation of India owing to the drain of wealth andemphasis on the production of goods locally were recurring tropes inBhartendu’s works and in those of Dadabhai Naoroji and RC Dutt, too.Naoroji had discussed this in his paper England’s Debt to India in 1867before the East India Association in London. Naoroji in his book Povertyand un-British Rule in India (1901) and Dutt in The Economic Historyof India (1902) argued that the unchecked transfer of Indian resourcesto Britain was a major cause of poverty in India. What Bhartendu, Naorojiand Dutt were concerned about continues to haunt us even afterIndependence. It has persisted despite the espousal of swadeshi byMahatma Gandhi and several other luminaries and the presentGovernment’s initiative of ‘Make in India.’

The ongoing economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandem-ic has raised the spectre of economic mayhem in the country as thefiscal situation was in the doldrums even before it got a broadside hitby the lockdowns. In a bid to raise demand and subsequently the econ-omy, we need to manufacture and consume locally. It impelled PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to appeal to all citizens to go “vocal for local”and buy and endorse products made in the country. In his speech, Modiunderlined the significance of local traders, craftsmen and brands. Closeon the heels of Modi’s call for self-reliance, the Home Ministry announcedthat only ‘Made in India’ products would be sold in all Central ArmedPolice Forces canteens from June 1. But the question arises, do wealways need the external threats of colonialism, war, famine, fiscal deficit,empty exchequer and now a pandemic, to renew our resolve of strength-ening and adopting swadeshi as a way of life? It is understandable thatin modern times no country can afford to remain completely self-reliant.With the onset of the deadly virus, even the developed nations beganto scramble for foreign-made ventilators, masks and kits. However, whenwe see horrors of a dystopian film coming alive in mask-clad peopleand PPE-clad healthcare workers, we know that the old rules won’t applyanymore. When we notice China supplying faulty PPE and test kits toseveral countries, including India, we reckon that in the times of a glob-al crisis we are left to fend for ourselves. As we observe millions ofjobless workers struggling to return to their villages in States like Biharand Uttar Pradesh, the painful realisation dawns upon us that the citycannot sustain them in trying times. But unfortunately, the health infra-structure in villages and the small towns they have returned to is alreadyin shambles. There is an acute shortage of basic health facilities let aloneventilators and kits. For instance, years of misrule and mismanagementhave made Bihar one of the worst performers on the health index. Whilethe national average of number of beds available in Government hos-pitals is 0.55 per 1,000 population, Bihar is the worst off, with just 0.11beds. The Chief Minister of Bihar had 15 years to turn the fortunes ofan ailing State around. But, except for imposing prohibition and improv-ing law and order, and the quality of roads, the performance of the BiharGovernment in sectors such as health, education and employment hasbeen dismal. It has wasted a golden chance to tap its vast humanresources, strengthen the agrarian sector and establish agriculture-basedindustries in rural areas on a massive scale. This could have at leastgiven employment and much-needed dignity to millions of labourersand small farmers who are forced to migrate to cities.

Calamities provide an opportunity to reflect, retrospect and addressthe existing lacunae. We still don’t have an adequate answer to our overde-pendence on China for procuring Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients tomake medicines. We must learn from our past mistakes and revisit theearliest proponents of swadeshi, including Bhartendu and MahatmaGandhi to build a new, self-reliant India. There is a strong cultural andeconomic similarity between their vision and that of the ruling politicaldispensation. Bhartendu advised young students to become self-reliant,to focus on education and skill development instead of running afterscholarships and jobs. His vision of economic nationalism is interlinkedwith socio-religious harmony and moral regeneration of a decadent andcomplacent society under colonial misrule. The Mahatma, too, was aproponent of the values of dignity of labour and organic economic growth.Let us delve deep into our roots and make India a manufacturing hub.Let us be Indian, buy Indian.

(The writer teaches English at the University of Delhi)

Last month, Tariq Jamil, a promi-nent evangelist, was roundly crit-icised for insinuating that the

deadly COVID-19 pandemic wasbecause of the misdeeds of “immod-est women.” Over the years, Jamil hasgathered a significant following amongsegments of the country’s urban mid-dle classes and also Pakistan’s sportingand showbiz circles. He had been invit-ed by Prime Minister Imran Khan tospeak during a telethon raising moneyto address the economic challengesposed by the pandemic in Pakistan.The event was broadcast live by a pri-vate TV channel.

Many of Jamil’s middle-class fansfind his soft-spoken demeanour

endearing, even though, of and on,some of his statements do raise a feweyebrows. Nevertheless, as a commen-tator on Twitter said, “It was only amatter of time when this likeablepreacher would end up sounding likeany other self-appointed scion ofmorality.” What I understand from thisis that the nearer one gets to certainpoints of power, the more likely it isfor him/her to lose their bearings in abid to please patrons. Especially if thesepoints of power include a Governmentthat seemingly measures loyalty withvaried degrees of sycophancy exhib-ited by its patrons or a fickle media thatis as quick to kick one off the pedestalas it is to put them there.

Jamil himself understands wellwhere his traction lies. It is in the wayhe has positioned himself: As some-one who does not unsettle middle-classsensibilities and ideas of morality,unlike preachers such as KhadimHussain Rizvi. That’s why, withindays of making his controversial state-ment, Jamil offered an apology. Manyof his fans belonging to the entertain-ment industry and some TV anchorsalmost immediately launched an attack

on those who criticised him. EvenShireen Mazari, the current FederalMinister of Human Rights wasn’tspared; she had denounced Jamil forblaming female immodesty for the out-break of the Coronavirus. The irony isthat Mazari belongs to the sameGovernment whose PM not onlyinvited Jamil to his telethon, butremained silent during his tirade.

Another interesting bit to comeout of the debate was a sudden reali-sation of a somewhat not-so-suddenphenomenon: There is an increasingnumber of show business personalitiesfrom India and Pakistan who are oftenquick to defend decisions or statementswhich — in another little ironic twist— do not bode well for their profes-sions.

In this is a terrific opportunity foranthropologists or even psychologiststo study a phenomenon which somebelieve is pregnant with conceptssuch as the “cult mindset” and the so-called Stockholm Syndrome.Nevertheless, Jamil is wise enough torealise that many of his less excitable,or less knee-jerk, middle-class admir-ers were taken aback by what he said;

they thought he was “different”.Therefore, an apology became neces-sary and, no matter what the motivebehind it, it should be commended.

So what is a preacher to say intimes of natural calamities and pan-demics? The best they can do is leada collective prayer and ask theAlmighty to give relief to those whoare suffering. It is a comforting exer-cise that is entirely spiritual in nature.

But as often happens, a majorityof preachers make it their job toexplain the reasons behind naturalcalamities. Be it an earthquake, a floodor a pandemic, the reasons providedare always centred around obscenity,immodesty and so on. And womenremain a constant.

According to a report in a July1967 edition of Dawn, a group ofpreachers was quoted as saying that thedamaging monsoon rains in Karachithat year were due to the Ayub Khanregime’s “secular policies” and “ram-pant sale of alcoholic beverages in thecity.” From then on, until 1977, whennewspapers again carried similarquotes during that year’s devastatingmonsoon rains in the city, the fact is,

such “explanations” got very little col-umn space.

The practice of inviting clerics onTV and asking them to explain thecause of a natural calamity was firstintroduced in the 1980s during the Ziadictatorship. This practice then con-tinued unabated. After the 2005 earth-quake in the country’s northernregions, private TV channels wereflooded with preachers blaming theearthquake on “the culture of obscen-ity that Pervez Musharraf ’sGovernment had been promoting”.

Preachers who are asked why anatural calamity took place often feelpressured to say something that is pop-ulist in tone. Just praying for safety andrelief, they believe, will not get themany traction. However, there is a less-er-known concept in Islamic theolo-gy through which they can still standout, without sounding misogynistic,reactionary or ill-informed.

Islamic scholar Javed AhmadGhamidi used this concept recentlywhen he was asked to comment onJamil’s statement. Ghamidi, a respect-ed theologian who, interestingly, hasa following within the same socio-eco-

nomic class that Jamil derives hisadmirers from, said that it was silly toattribute social causes to naturalcalamities. He then added that floods,earthquakes and pandemics were allnatural occurrences of a system thatGod has engineered. Scientists, too,understand these calamities as natur-al events due to the manner in whichthe universe operates.

By saying this, Ghamidi was rein-vigorating an idea that was first con-ceptualised by the great 19th-centuryMuslim scholar Sir Syed AhmadKhan, who is often appreciated asbeing the pioneer of “Muslim mod-ernism” in South Asia. Like his con-temporaries in Egypt, Turkey and Iran,Khan produced scholarship whichattempted to find a place for Islam inthe context of modernity and sciencethat was sweeping the world at thetime. He was of the view that, sinceIslam was inherently progressive andrational, it was highly compatiblewith science. One way he tried todemonstrate this was through a con-cept he called “naicari.” He coined thisUrdu term from the English wordnature. In an essay for the 2019

Cambridge anthology on Sir SyedAhmed Khan, Professor of HistoryDavid Lelyveld writes that, “To Khan,the universe and our world were runby an ingenious system constructed byGod and that natural phenomenon,both benign or otherwise, is part ofGod’s creation.”

To Khan, biology, physics andchemistry were the best ways tounderstand how nature works and,thus, fully appreciate the genius ofGod’s creation. In one of his essays onNaicari, Khan writes that anythingwhich contradicts the laws of naturecannot be part of Islam’s sacred texts,because these laws were designed byGod. Therefore, according to him, thecause and explanation of a natural phe-nomenon need to be compatible withthe laws of nature set in motion byGod.

So what Ghamidi did was indi-rectly suggest that pandemics andother calamities were part and parcelof how nature works, and nature iswhat God created. Therefore, anexplanation that is outside this contextshould be taken with a pinch of salt.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

The wrath of God or natural science?Muslim scholars have a host of explanations for their followers about the causes of natural catastrophes like the present pandemic

NADEEM PARACHA

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

SANDEEP KUMAR DUBEY

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

General Atlanticpics 1.34 pc stakein Jio platforms NEW DELHI: Followingfootsteps of Facebook, GeneralAtlantic has picked up 1.34per cent stake in the digitalunit of Reliance Industries forRs 6,598.38 crore, theMukesh Ambani firm said onSunday. The investment in JioPlatforms will be GA's largestinvestment in Asia. JioPlatforms has raised Rs67,194.75 crore from leadingtechnology investors,including Facebook, SilverLake Partners, Vista EquityPartners and General Atlantic,in less than four weeks. Thisinvestment continues toreaffirm Jio as a nextgeneration software productand platform company, thecompany said in a statement.

Availability ofworkforce biggestchallenge for FMCGNEW DELHI: Workforceshortage continues to be thebiggest challenge for FMCGfirms and if it is not solvedwithin two-to-three months,maintaining normal supply willbe difficult going forward, atop official of GodrejConsumer Products Ltd(GCPL) said. He said thatbringing migrant labour backto the cities is a criticalchallenge and they need to beprovided with incentives andsafe transportation mode.“The government can runpublic awareness campaignsto communicate to migrantworkers that they are doing anational duty by returning totheir jobs,” said GCPL MDand CEO Vivek Gambhir said.

GST compensationto states pendingfor Dec-March FY20NEW DELHI: Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onSunday said GSTcompensation is due to all thestates for the four-monthperiod of December-March."We are periodically talkingabout it. GST dues are veryclearly explained in the GSTCouncil. It is not for selectivestates... All states' GST dueswhich we recognise forDecember, January, February,March have not been paid,"Sitharaman told reportershere. Under GST law, statesare guaranteed to be paid forany loss of revenue in the firstfive years of the GSTimplementation from July 1,2017. The shortfall iscalculated assuming a 14 percent annual growth in GSTcollections by states over thebase year of 2015-16. Under the GST structure, taxesare levied under 5, 12, 18 and28 per cent slabs. On top ofthe highest tax slab, a cess islevied on luxury, sin anddemerit goods and theproceeds from the same areused to compensate states forany revenue loss.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State finances were understress even prior to theCOVID-19 crisis and thepandemic has resulted in afurther hit to their revenueearnings, a worrying aspect asthey need to top up theirhealth and social welfarespending amid COVID-19crisis, according to a workingpaper.

The working paper on statefinances by the researchgroup AccountabilityInitiative further said that thisis worrying as states arerequired to significantly hikehealth and social securityexpenditure of "vulnerable"sections.

"The finances of states wereunder stress. A variety of fac-tors are responsible, includ-ing structural changes to thefiscal architecture that deter-mines transfer of funds fromthe Union to states," it said.

It added that in the com-ing months, states will deep-en their pandemic response.

"Adequate financingoptions that meet their needswill be key to how theyrespond, and the impact thiswill have on their ability tosafeguard India's most vul-nerable citizens," it said.

Noting that the taxes are animportant source of revenuesfor states, the paper said yet,their proportion in total rev-enue receipts of states fellfrom nearly 30 per cent in2018-19 to 24 per cent inRevised Estimates of 2019-20.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian equity market'smovement this week will hingeon coronavirus-related devel-opments such as lockdown4.0 specifics and new infec-tions trend, besides quarterlyearnings, analysts said.

In addition, experts said,domestic bourses will takecues from global peers whichhave been reeling from fears ofa second wave of COVID-19 insome countries.

The market will also assessthe effectiveness of the govern-ment's mega Rs 20-lakh crorestimulus package that, analystsbelieve, would be critical forthe revival of the economy.

The first of the five tranch-es of the mega stimulus,unveiled by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman lastWednesday, had failed toenthuse the market onThursday. "Government hasmade it clear that it will intro-duce the measures in tranch-es, but execution is key andthat will be followed by themarkets. Markets will also bedriven by the rate of infections,lockdown 4.0 norms and anystock specific earnings com-

mentary in the ongoing resultsseason," said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking Ltd, said, "Itseems like markets are await-ing further details (of stimuluspackage) before making anyreaction and we may see thepossible response on Mondayi.e. May 18." The governmentin its first four tranches of thestimulus package focussed oncredit line to small businessesand new fund creations to beshouldered by banks andfinancial institutions with verylittle extra budget spending.

In the last set of measures,the finance minister on Sundayannounced plans to privatise

PSUs in non-strategic sectorsand suspend loan default-trig-gered bankruptcy filings forone year, and also gave a Rs40,000 crore hike in allocationfor the rural employment guar-antee scheme to provide jobsto migrant workers.

"Now the market wouldagain focus on global cuesand may continue to remainunder pressure. There is alsofear of a second wave of pan-demic spread and extendedperiod of economic slowdown.Further, the earnings season sofar suggest more volatility anddisruption," SiddharthaKhemka, Head - RetailResearch, Motilal OswalFinancial Services Ltd, said.

Consumers footfall increase,average basket value goes upPNS n NEW DELHI

Leading retailers have wit-nessed an increase in numberof footfalls along with a “signif-icant” jump in average pur-chase value in the third phaseof the lockdown.

According to industry play-ers such as Metro Cash &Carry, Lots WholesaleSolutions, Future Group andV-Mart Retail, as restrictionswere eased more stores couldopen thereby increasing cus-tomer walk-ins, availability ofpopular FMCG products andhigh-value items.

Some of the items that sawincreased demand in the thirdphase of lockdown include dryfruits, frozen non-vegetarianproducts, personal care prod-ucts - grooming, cold bever-ages and premium products.Supply of these products wasdisrupted in the previous twophases of the lockdownimposed from March 25 tocontrol the spread of coron-avirus pandemic.

"The footfalls have gone up

by a third over the previouslockdown as restrictions aregetting eased especially inKarnataka, Delhi andTelangana," Metro Cash &Carry India MD & CEOArvind Mediratta told PTI.

He said there are several fac-tors which impact store walk-ins, operational timings of thestore along-with other factors

in that particular city that playa role in store footfalls.

Expressing similar views,Lots Wholesale SolutionsManaging Director TanitChearavanont said as restric-tions on movement are beingeased, the number of footfallsis increasing in stores alongwith average purchase value.

"With every passing day and

government providing someease in movement, we havewitnessed increased footfall atour stores largely from localkiranas and retailers during thelockdown and overall the aver-age purchase value per cus-tomer has gone up," he said.

Value fashion and lifestyleproducts retailer V-Mart Retailsaid the number of its opera-

tional stores pan-India hasgone up, so also the number ofcustomers. "Earlier, one storehas an average visit of around40-50 customers which nowhas gone up to 130 to 150 perday. The basket size has alsoincreased as people still havesome tendency to hoard," saidV-Mart Retail Chairman andMD Lalit Agarwal.

According to him, in Mayand June, some marriages werescheduled. As restrictions wereeased, low profile marriagehappened in limited smallgroups and people have donesome shoppings, which hasturned the situation favourable.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Sunday raisedthe borrowing limit of statesfrom 3 per cent of gross statedomestic product (GSDP) to5 per cent in 2020-21, whichwill make available an addi-tional Rs 4.28 lakh crore.

However, part of theincreased borrowing limitwould be linked to specificreforms -- universalisation ofOne Nation-One Ration Card,ease of doing business, powerdistribution and urban localbody revenues, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamantold reporters while announc-ing the fifth and final trancheof the economic stimuluspackage.

She said that currently,states have a net borrowingceiling of Rs 6.41 lakh crorebased on 3 per cent ofGSDP and variousstate chief min-isters had writ-ten to PrimeM i n i s t e rNarendra Modito increase theb o r r o w i n glimit toenhance theirresources dur-ing the COVID-

19 crisis."Because this is an unprece-

dented situation, we haveacceded to the demand of thestates and increased their bor-rowing ceiling to 5 per cent.This will give an extra Rs 4.28lakh crore to the states," shesaid.

Giving detail of how thestates would be allowed to bor-row, the minister said thatfrom 3-3.5 per cent, the 0.5 percent increase would be uncon-ditional. The next 1 per cent,which is up to 4.5 per cent, willbe released in 4 tranches of0.25 per cent and each of thetranches will be linked to aclearly specified, measurableand feasible reform. The last0.5 per cent will be givenonce the milestones areachieved in at least three of the

four reform con-ditions.

Centre raises borrowinglimit of states to 5 pc

PNS n NEW DELHI

Apex sectoral body Federationof Associations in IndianTourism and Hospitality(FAITH) on Sunday said theIndian tourism industry isdeeply taken aback as none ofits concerns have beenaddressed by the governmentin its economic stimulus pack-age.

"Indian tourism industryhas gone into a state of disbe-lief and shock. It was lookingforward to deep set of survivalmeasures for tourism from theRs 20 lakh crore packageannounced over 5 days, whichhowever were not addressed,"FAITH said in a statement.

The Indian tourism, travel

and hospitality industry isbelieved to impact almost 10per cent of GDP directly and

indirectly. It has already seenover a quarter of accumulat-ed losses that began from

February onwards, the state-ment added.

"The Indian tourism, trav-el and hospitality industry isdeeply taken aback at notbeing addressed in the stim-ulus package, which raised theimmediate question of sur-vival of each entity," FAITHConsulting CEO Aashish

Gupta said.There is no cash inflow

expected for many quarters in2020-21 as the key segmentsof the Indian tourism econo-my will be down, the state-ment said.

"The international inboundtourists, inbound and VFRand the outbound travel willremain mostly non-perform-ing due to international flightrestrictions and tragic impactin most key markets tourismmarkets of India," it added.

Domestic travel and corpo-rate travel within the countrymay slightly ease up post lockdown but will behighly restricted due to fear oftravel among elders and children.

Indian tourism industry in a state of shock

PNS n MUMBAI

Gems and jewellery exports inMarch declined 38.81 per centto Rs 13,744.60 crore com-pared due to weak demand inimporting countries follow-ing economic slowdown andthe COVID-19 pandemic.

The overall exports stood atRs 22,463.17 crore duringMarch 2019, according to datafrom the Gem and JewelleryExport Promotion Council(GJEPC).

The total gems and jewelleryexports during 2019-20, wit-nessed 8.91 per cent at Rs2,51,096.30 crore comparedto Rs 2,75,671.80 crore in2018-19. "The performancenumbers reflect the weakdemand for gems and jewelleryacross the globe and theCOVID-19 pandemic has castfurther gloom," GJEPC Vice-Chairman Colin Shah toldPTI here. Given the potential,the industry needs urgent gov-ernment attention and a spe-cial package to handhold

exporters in these difficulttimes besides reviving senti-ments, he added.

Meanwhile, the exports ofcut and polished diamonds(CPD) in March dipped by 45per cent in March to Rs7,100.75 crore compared toRs 12,910.44 crore in the cor-responding month of 2019.

The CPD exports from April2019 to March 2020 showed adecline of 20.75 per cent to Rs1,31,980.87 crore from Rs1,66,532.07 crore registeredduring 2018-19. Gold jew-ellery exports in March alsoslipped by 40.07 per cent to Rs

4,152.39 crore from Rs 6,929.11crore in March 2019.

However, during 2019-20,the gold jewellery exportsshowed a growth of 3.57 percent to Rs 84,747.08 crorefrom Rs 81,824.57 crore in2018-19. Silver jewelleryexports during April 2019 toMarch 2020 also witnessed105.60 per cent growth to Rs12,018.09 crore from Rs5,845.37 crore during 2018-19.

The coloured gemstoneexports during 2019-20declined by 18.18 per cent to Rs2,272.44 crore from Rs 2,777.24crore during last financial year.

CIL begins process of developing Rs 2,474 cr CBM projectsPNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned CIL has initiatedthe process of development ofcoal bed methane projects withan estimated investment of Rs2,474 crore, and has inviteddomestic as well as globalfirms for exploration of theblocks in West Bengal andJharkhand.

The PSU will develop bothprojects on revenue sharingbasis.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) armBharat Coking Coal Limited(BCCL), "announces the offerof Jharia CBM Block-I forexploration, development andmarketing of CBM throughCoalbed Methane Developer(CBMD) (the contractor)," themaharatna firm said.

Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL)has offered Raniganj CBM

Block for exploration, it added.Companies are invited to bid

for exploration, development,production, marketing of theblocks, the company said.

While the investment for

Jharia (Jharkhand) CBM pro-ject is estimated at Rs 1,879crore, Raniganj (West Bengal)project estimated at Rs 595crore.

Both the projects have an

estimated CBM reserves of27.42 billion cubic metre.

CBM is a form of natural gastrapped in coal seams under-ground, which can be extract-ed by drilling into the seam.

CIL arm CMPDI has beenbeen appointed as a principalimplementing agency (PIA)for BCCL and ECL to facilitatethe development and extrac-tion of coal bed methane(CBM). The development ofboth the projects will be underthree phases. The phase onewill be that of exploration.

Under second phase pilotassessment and market surveywill happen. The third phasepertains to development andproduction. The Centre hastaken various initiatives toenhance extraction of CBMwith an objective to optimiseclean energy resource.

‘Financingoptions key to how statesrespond’

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre on Sundayannounced plans to privatisePSUs in non-strategic sectorsand suspend loan default-triggered bankruptcy filingsfor one year in the fifth andfinal tranche of its econom-ic stimulus package thattogether with RBI's liquiditymeasures totalled to about Rs21 lakh crore but entailed lessthan 10 per cent cash outgofrom government coffers.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, whose previ-ous four parts of the stimu-lus package involved creditline to small businesses andnew fund creations to beshouldered by banks andfinancial institutions withvery little extra budgetspending, announced a Rs40,000 crore hike in alloca-tion for the rural employ-ment guarantee scheme toprovide jobs to migrantworkers.

Govt toprivatisenon-strategicPSUs

Retailers' associationmiffed at eco packagePNS n NEW DELHI

The Retailers' Association ofIndia (RAI) on Sundayexpressed disappointmentwith the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'economic stimulus sayingemergent issues facing retail-ers have not been addressed.

The retail industry bodyalso said that with "no incomeand zero support from thegovernment", retailers are star-ing at closure of businessesthat would jeopardise liveli-hoods and jobs of 46 milliondirect employees, out of which20 million work in non-essen-tial retail.

"The steps taken under theAtmanirbhar Bharat econom-

ic stimulus will help the coun-try in the long term but theemergent issues facing theretail industry have not beenaddressed," RAI ChiefExecutive Officer KumarRajagopnoalan said in a state-ment.

The retail industry, whichcontributes around 40 percent to India's consumptionand 10 per cent to India's grossdomestic product, is severelystressed, he added.

"What retailers needed waswage support; moratorium forpayment of principal andinterests and support in theform of working capital. Thisis critical for retail to survive,"Rajagopalan said.

PNS n MUMBAI

New stimulus measuresunveiled by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onSunday will cost Rs 40,000crore, taking the actual fiscalimpact of all the stepsannounced over the past fewdays to Rs 1.50 lakh crore or0.75 per cent of the GDP, areport said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had announced a reliefpackage of Rs 20 lakh crore.However, many of the mea-sures unveiled have been inthe form of moves like loanguarantees which do not entail

an immediate fiscal cost.Earlier on Sunday,

Sitharaman announced thefifth and final tranche of thegovernment's stimulus pack-age to revive the coronavirus-hit economy. She said thestimulus package includes theRs 8.01 lakh crore of liquidi-ty being made available by theRBI. "We estimate that theactual fiscal impact on thebudget will be only Rs 1.5 lakhcrore (0.75 per cent of GDP),based on our calculations andassumptions made during theseries of announcements,"Barclays' Chief IndiaEconomist Rahul Bajoria said.

Gems, jewellery exports falls 38.8pc in Mar; down 8.9 pc in FY20

Overall exportsstood at Rs22,463.17 croreduring March2019, accordingto data fromGem, JewelleryExportPromotion

The Indian tourism,travel andhospitality industryis believed toimpact almost 10per cent of GDPdirectly andindirectly

‘Fiscal impact of packageto be Rs 1.50 L crore’

Some of the itemsthat saw increaseddemand in thethird phase oflockdown includedry fruits, frozennon-vegetarianproducts

LOCKDOWN 3.0

‘Lockdown 4.0 details, Q4earnings to decide maket course’

MondayMay 18, 2020

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RAMP TALKWITH VARUNCHAKKILAM

From starting his famous clothing line toengaging in the prestigious Lakme Fashion

Show, Hyd-based Varun Chakkilam has made amark for himself. In an exclusive chat with The

Pioneer's SHIKHA DUGGAL, he talks fashion,what's in store amid COVID-19 crisis, and more

yderabad’s veryown VarunChakkilam provedat every turningpoint, that being abusinessman and a

celebrity fashion designer,counts for a huge success inthe fashion industry. Whohasn’t he associated with, inthe Bollywood andTollywood industry? Cosmicnames like Malaika AroraKhan, Lakshmi Manchu,

Daisy Shah, RohitKhandelwal, Sania Mirza,Seerat Kapoor, SundeepKishan, and the list goes on.Here’s more insight into his

life...

When did you first real-ize you wanted to pur-sue the career of fash-ion designing?

Hailing from the city ofHyderabad, when I just hitmy teens, I was connected toa theatre group as a costumedesigner which made merealize my sentimentstowards the textile and vogueindustry. National Institute ofFashions Technology (NIFT)paved way for me and assist-ed me in brushing up myunfurnished expertise. Myprofessional career began as amulti-designer in a mediumenterprising store whichhelped me build a concretefoundation in e-commerce tobeing a designer for aHyderabad fashion house.Soon after I launched myown label, and here I amtoday.

What's fashion for youin its simplest sense?

A lifestyle brand that canexpand into customer’s livesfulfilling their desire for fash-ionable clothing is my defini-tion of fashion.

Tell us somethingabout the launch ofyour own label.

Everyone wants a biggerfootprint in life, so did I.With one outfitter, working

in a compact room of 4×4there was the dawn of ‘VarunChakkilam-Label’. Initially,my client coverage was justrestricted to my close peersbut with the help of socialmedia, the magnitude of mybusiness grew. Social mediahas become an industry ofitself. Exhibitions across thecity in multifaceted hotelsalso gave a lending hand inthe promotion of my label.

Who was your first evercelebrity muse and howwas the experience?

Arjun Reddy-fame VijayDeverakonda was the firstcelebrity who walked for meat Falaknuma Palace for afundraiser event. At the time,I was more into women’swear, but that particularevent with Vijay gave me thecourage to expand my busi-ness line into menswear too.

What is VarunChakkilam's labelknown for?

Our fashion label is mainlyengaged in design, manufac-turing, and distribution ofcouture with a unique senseof style and elegance. The useof opulent ethnic craftsman-ship with a terrific blend ofvibrant colours adds to theunmatched glamour of sil-houettes. My label primarilywants to blend ancient her-itage with a modern twist,

each garment is a long andrigorous quest that gives anultimate elegance whensomebody adorns it.

What was it like to par-ticipate in the LakmeFashion Show?

Since I decided to be adesigner, I dreamt of walkingthe Lakme Fashion Show as alead designer with renownedcelebrities holding my hand. Ifeel blessed to be a part of

India's biggest fashion plat-form which chooses hand-picked designers to walk theirramp. From giving me theright exposure to walkingwith superstar Malaika AroraKhan, it was a life-changingride for me.

How do you think neti-zens are consumingfashion now-a-dayswhen the fashion indus-try is in a crisis due tothe COVID-19 outbreak?

This virus has made it dif-ficult for us. I wonder what'sgoing to happen post thelockdown. Shopping malls orcouture stores won't open anytime soon. Citizens will hesi-tate to buy their desirableclothing line, they wouldrather invest in reusable out-fits. Splurging on sustainablegarments, online shoppingwill spike definitely.

How has the market

changed since the timeyou stepped into it?

Currently, millennials areon the rise. Companies arereorganising and re-prioritiz-ing around generation Y!Market preferences havemoved towards more sustain-ability, affordability, flexibili-ty, advanced technology,innovations, and customerengagement.

How can one be a successful fashion

designer?Regularly create and rein-

vent what your brandrequires, your greatest col-lection need not be your bestselling collection. Get goodpress coverage and go allout.

Varun’s upcomingcollection called ‘TheUtopian Dream’ willhave your eyeballs

gaze at it con-stantly. The col-lection is espe-cially for thegirls wholook for-ward to afairy-talewedding,endingwith ahappi-ly-ever-after.

h

My label primarily wants to blend ancientheritage with a modern twist, each garment is along and rigorous quest that gives an ultimateelegance when somebody adorns it. Ourfashion label is mainly engaged in design,manufacturing, and distribution of couturewith a unique sense of style and elegance

‘Queen is one of myfavourite roles to date'

ife has turnedupside down formany people inthe last twomonths due tothe ongoing lock-

down to curb the spread ofCoronavirus. With no cine-ma halls running and nooutdoor places to hang out,people have been binge-watching web series andTelevision shows and so on.OTT platforms are makingthe most of this lockdownperiod and so is the audi-ence. The television indus-try is not far in grabbing theattention of its viewers dur-ing the pandemic. The latestto do that is popularTelevision channel ZeeTelugu. The dubbed versionof actress Ramya Krishnan’sweb series Queen, jointlydirected by GauthamVasudev Menon andPrasath Murugesan, will goon air on its channel fromtoday.

The web series is basedon a book of the same nameby Anitha Sivakumara. Ittells a riveting tale of awoman who is met withstruggles at every step of theway and how she overcomeseverything with her fightingspirit.

Speaking to this newspa-per correspondent, RamyaKrishnan reveals aboutfuture projects, working for

web series, playing ShakthiSeshadri in Queen, andmore...

How was it workingfor a web platform?

Except that it was for aweb series, the workingconditions, and the shoot,everything was just like Iwas shooting for a film.

Can you tell us aboutQueen and the charac-ter you play in it?

Shakthi Seshadri inQueen is one of my mostfavourite roles I have playedso far. More for the strengthshe has, how she copes withit, and how she comes outstronger after every hurdlein her life. Her strength, hercourage, and the woman sheis has inspired me to playthe character.

One of the fondestmemories you have inthe industry so far?

I have been in the indus-try for a really long timeand I have many fond mem-ories. Too little time toshare too many.

Is it a conscious deci-sion to play women-centric roles or didthey just come yourway?

All those roles came myway. I choose from whatever

comes my way. Luckily, I’mable to get such roles anddirectors/producers too, arewilling to come up withsuch roles. I love to playcharacters that I fall for,something that motivatesme to perform better.

Can you share someinsights about yourfuture projects?

My next will beRangamarthanda directedby Krishna Vamsi, then PuriJagannadh’s Fighter withVijay Deverakonda. I have acouple of other projectslined up but it all dependson when the lockdown endsbefore I disclose any details.

How is OTT differentfrom cinema?

You have to love the audi-ence and watch the reactionin theatres. For OTT, youwatch at your home, so thefeedback comes a little later,unlike theatre.

Having been in theentertainment industryfor over threedecades, have youever felt like calling itquits?

Sometimes one might feellike quitting when there is amonotony and boredomsets in. But it never hap-pened to me, because I amconstantly getting work.

With RamyaKrishnan's

Queen set forTelevision

release, theactress speaks

to K RAMYASREE about

her futureprojects,

working forweb series,

playingShakthi

Seshadri inQueen and

more

l

I CHOOSE THE ROLES FROM WHATEVERCOMES MY WAY. I LOVE TO PLAYCHARACTERS THAT I FALL FOR,SOMETHING THAT MOTIVATES ME TOPERFORM BETTER.

ith the COVID 19pandemic affect-ing the lives ofeveryone acrossthe world, every-one’s focus has

completely shifted to findinga vaccine for this dreadeddisease. Here are some waysto take care of your childrenduring these times.

CARE OF BABIES DUR-ING THE PANDEMIC

The pandemic is a difficulttime for everyone but moreso for parents of newbornbabies who have given birthduring the lockdown.Breastfeeding is extremelyimportant. That is going tohelp build your child’simmunity besidesgiving completenutrition. Donot stopbreastfeedingif you have afever/ cough/cold. Consultyour pediatri-cian if required.For children withmild illnesses, it isbetter to go for online con-sultation with your pediatri-cian. But for newborn babyvisits, it is important to checkthe baby for jaundice, weightgain, and feeding issueswhich are not possible overonline consultation. Becauseof fear of COVID 19, don’tmiss these visits as diseases inthe newborn period can havelong term consequences.

DELAY OF VACCINATIONDUE TO LOCKDOWN

Many parents due to lock-down are not able to accesshealthcare facilities wherevaccines are being given. Inthat case, please do not panic,a delay of 2-3 weeks is totallyacceptable in the given cir-cumstances.

PRECAUTIONS TO BETAKEN FOR VACCINA-TION

In hospitals, the vaccina-tion area should not allowchildren with fever, cough,and cold. The child should begiven a bath after going homefrom the hospital. Do not gofor vaccination if either youor the child has a fever or

cold or cough.

IMPORTANTCASES THAT

CANNOTBEDELAYED

Flu vac-cines andpneumococ-

cal vaccinesalso should be

given as perschedule. Children

with underlying diseaseslike asthma, heart diseaseshould especially not missthese doses. Elderly and high-risk adults (chronic lung dis-ease, asthma, heart disease,etc.) also should not delaythese shots.

(The author, Dr. PreetiSharma, is a consultant

Pediatrician at KIMSCuddles, a gynecology and

maternity hospital inHyderabad)

VIJAYDEVERAKONDA WASTHE FIRSTCELEBRITY WHOWALKED FOR ME ATFALAKNUMAPALACE FOR AFUNDRAISER EVENT.THAT EVENT GAVEME THE COURAGETO EXPAND MYBUSINESS LINE INTOMENSWEAR TOO

wIMMUNISATION INTIMES OF COVID-19

10

Vijayawada Monday May 18, 2020 what’s brewing?

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

layback iconAsha Bhosledoesn’t thinktwice whenyou ask herto pick her

favourite among thenumerous actresses shehas sung for in her illus-trious career. “Helen!She was so pretty thatthe moment she wouldenter the room, I wouldstop singing and look ather. In fact, I wouldrequest her not to comewhen I was recording!Do you know thatfamous story when Itold Helen that I wouldhave eloped with her if Iwere a man! That istrue,” she laughed.

The legendary singermade her digital debutwith her officialYouTube channel onWednesday. Fromrecording in a studiowith live rehearsal tosending an audiorecording via Internet,the veteran has observeda huge transformationover an ongoing careersince 1943. Now, at 86,she is gearing up toshare many stories fromher life, apart from hermusic, in the digitalspace.

Talking about her newventure, the NationalAward-winning singertold IANS, “I have sungso many songscomposedand writ-ten

by veterans like O PNayyar, Khayyam saab,Shankar-Jaikishan, andthey are all celebrated.That is great. But I alsowant young and goodlyricists, composers andmusic directors to comeforward and grab theopportunity to createmusic. I would like toencourage them. So, onmy channel I will talk ofand share my experienceon how we struggled tofind space here. I amsure they will also feelinspired by knowingthem. There are severalunreleased songs thatwere composed by RD(Burman) and I havethem all. I will slowlyrelease them, sing themon my channel. I want toshare them with ourfans.”

She continued, “I amold now. I have seen asea of transformationinside the recording stu-dio. When I startedsinging in the studio, wehad the culture of

singers,

composers, writers, filmdirectors and even actorssitting together andsharing their inputs andfeedback on the songbeing recorded. All of usused to feel that we aredoing teamwork. Aaj kalsab badal gaya, but mainapne yaadon ki pitaralekar ayungi (thingshave changed now, but Iwill arrive with my troveof memories).”

Bhosel launched herYouTube channel onMay 13 and sung thesong Main hoon. In thevideo, we can see howshe recorded the song inthe studio, dressed in abeautiful saree.

Sharing what her dri-ving force is, Bhoslementioned, “I have a dif-ferent personality onstage when I dress up. Iinteract with fans, taketheir request — that isdifferent. But there is amoment that happenswhen I stand in front ofthe mic and sing thesong. That is pure —rather, the purest —moment that I live as asinger. That’s the timecreation happens. In allthese years, that is theonly thing that has notchanged. I cannotexplain that moment butI know when I amsinging, it happens. I live

for that moment andwill be living forev-

er.”

P

Asha Bhosle: I wouldhave eloped withHelen if I were a man!

ctress NushratBharucha, whoturned a year olderon Sunday, feelsblessed to be withher family amid the

coronavirus pandemic.“At this point I am com-

pletely blessed and grateful tobe with my family. I have fam-ily in Gujarat, in the US tooand they are all safe. Thisphase has allowed me sometime for self-reflection abouthow we were living our life’s

worth, whatever ways andmeans we had and believed tohave it forever. No one everimagined or prepared for asituation like this. But now Ifeel this is a new normal. I feelextremely happy, grateful, andcontent with whatever I haveat this very moment,” Nushratsaid.

Sharing a glimpse of her“house birthday party”,Nushrat posted avideo on InstaStory in

which she is seen groovingalong with her mother toMadhuri Dixit Nene’s songDum Duma Dum.

On the work front, Nushratwill be seen oppositeRajKummar Rao inChhalaang.

A

MODERNFAMILY

actor FredWillard no

more

red Willard, actorand comedianknown for hisappearances inModern Family and

Everybody Loves Raymond,has died. He was 86.

Willard died on Fridaynight at his home in LosAngeles of natural causes.Willard’s daughter, HopeMulbarger, said the actordied “very peacefully”,

reports variety.com.“It is with a heavy heart

that I share the news myfather passed away verypeacefully last night at thefantastic age of 86 years old.He kept moving, workingand making us happy untilthe very end. We loved himso very much! We will misshim forever,” his daughtersaid.

Willard has a role in the

upcoming Netflix comedyseries Space Force oppositeSteve Carell.

Willard was married for 50years to Mary Willard. Shedied in 2018 at the age of 71.

After getting his start insketch comedy, Willard wenton to appear in many moviesand television series fordecades, almost always insmall but memorable roles.

Willard was nominated

four times for Emmy Awards,three of them for his role ofHank on “Everybody LovesRaymond” and the fourth in2010 for his recurring role asFrank Dunphy, the father ofTy Burrell’s Phil Dunphy, onModern Family. Earlier thisyear, Willard's character got aloving sendoff in the finalseason of Modern Familywith an episode that revealedhis death.

F

NUSHRAT: BLESSEDTO BE WITH FAMILYAMID PANDEMIC

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | MAY 18, 2020

IANS n KARACHI

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan feelsBabar Azam cannot be compared to Virat

Kohli just yet as he still has a long way to go.Babar, 25, was recently appointed as PakistanODI captain. He was already the T20 skipperof the side.

While 31-year-old Kohli iswidely regarded asthe current bestbatsmen in theworld across for-mats, Babar hasbeen hailed bycommentatorsand experts as thenext big thing inbatting.

“You see,Kohli - who is now31 and at the peakof his career - hasbeen in interna-tional cricket for over a decade and has provedhimself in all conditions. The 70 internation-al centuries that he has scored is a testimonyto his class and abilities,” Younis was quoted assaying by Gulf News.

“Babar, on the other hand, made his inter-national debut barely five years back. He alreadyhas 16 centuries under his belt and shows verygood averages in both Tests and ODIs, but itwill be unfair to start comparing the two rightnow. If you have to, compare Babar five years(from now) with the dominance that Kohli isshowing in his game today,” he added.

Younis further said Babar's eagerness tolearn will take him far.

“Babar made his debut during the last twoto three years of my career and I was reallyimpressed by his humility. I have always felt thatthe more humble you are, you can achieve big-ger goals in your life,” he said.

“It’s a young team that he has to lead,though there could be a few players senior inage to him. He has to be protective about theteam and take it forward,” he advised.

PTI n WELLINGTON

With cricket’s finances tak-ing a hit due to the

COVID-19 pandemic, NewZealand all-rounder JimmyNeesham says they will have to“adapt” to playing before emptystadiums to save the sport fromfinancial ruin.

Cricket boards of Englandand Australia, which drive thesport's economy along withIndia, are fearing they could facea severe financial crisis due topostponement of events leading

to slashing of revenues.Elite-level cricketing action

looks unlikely to resume any-time soon and the T20 WorldCup, scheduled for Octoberand November, is under a cloudof uncertainty.

“If the situation is that theonly way to play cricket isbehind closed doors then Ithink it is something that wehave to adapt to as players,”Neesham told ESPNcricinfo.

Both Cricket Australia andEngland & Wales Cricket Boardhave felt the strain after the pan-

demic brought all cricket activ-ities to a grinding halt.

Considering the extraordi-nary situation, the 29-year-oldNeesahm said, “The reality isthat it is a huge financial chal-lenge for a lot of cricket boardsto still run without any revenuecoming in from games.

“So obviously we want to tryand keep the sport in as good astate as it can be in. If that meansplaying games behind closeddoors, the guys just need to suckit up and get it done.”

The New Zealander, howev-

er, added nothing can beat play-ing in front of fans.

“Certainly all things consid-ered you would rather havefans in the ground. It adds a lotto the game and to the specta-cle. But you want to adapt to thesituation that is given to you,” hesaid.

The pandemic, which orig-inated in the Chinese city ofWuhan in Hubei province, hasled to either cancellation orpostponement of all sportingevents worldwide, including theTokyo Olympics.

PTI n MUMBAI

Mike Hesson, RoyalChallengers Banglore’s

director of cricket operations,is still hopeful of the IPL tak-ing place this year despite theCOVID-19 pandemic, and saidhis franchise will be readywhen it happens.

The IPL, which was orig-inally scheduled to be heldfrom March 29 to May 24, wasindefinitely postponed by theBCCI due to the outbreak ofthe novel coronavirus in Indiaand subsequent lockdownannounced by the govern-ment.

“We’re still really hopefulthat things will evolve andthere will be an IPL this year

and if it happens, then I canassure you that RCB will beready,” an optimistic Hessonsaid on Star Sports show‘Cricket Connected’.

Hesson, who has former-ly coached New Zealand, saidthat things were rightly put onhold in view of the unprece-dented health crisis.

“We were obviously a weekaway from coming into camp,like everybody else, feelingwell advanced in terms of ourplanning.

“Quite rightfully, every-thing has been put on hold andeverybody is going about theirwork. There are obviouslyother priorities at the momentthat people are focussing on,”added the 45-year-old.

PTI nMELBOURNE

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor feelseventually this year’s ICC T20 World Cup

would be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, opening the doors for BCCIto host lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL)in that time slot.

The ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled tobe held in Australia from October 18 toNovember 15, is shrouded in uncertaintyeven as some sporting action has begun withstrict guidelines in place. Taylor said if post-poned IPL is held, the travel will be a play-er’s individual responsibility and not hisnational Board’s.

“I think that’s the most likely scenario(postponement of T20 World Cup) because15 teams planning to come to Australiabetween October and November, 45 match-es over a proposed seven venues, nationaltravel is going to extremely difficult in theworld we are living in,” Taylor said.

“14 days isolation before that makes iteven harder. More than likely that event isnot going ahead. So if the ICC decides topostpone the event that will open the doorfor the BCCI to say that we will have our IPLis India which actually puts the onus back onindividuals then rather than nations movingwhole teams over to a certain country.”

The 55-year-old former opener said if theIPL is favoured over T20 World Cup, it opensup serious negotiation opportunities forCricket Australia with BCCI for the already-planned series Down Under.

“So that is certainly a possibility or prob-ability. Cricket Australia will obviously wantthe T20 World Cup but at the same time willbe working hard with India that if their play-ers go there for IPL, they will want India tocome to Australia for our summer of crick-et next year,” Taylor said.

“Cricket in a way is fortunate with thetiming. They have now got some time to dosome planning. I have no doubt that CA willnow be thinking about IPL and not T20World Cup. They want India in this coun-try. That’s what they want and they are alreadytalking about Adelaide Oval as a hub.”

Asked if it’s feasible to host the entireseries in one venue, he said: “I think it is, ifyou have to pick one state you probably pickAdelaide. They have got a hotel attached tothe ground.”

The Indian cricket team is scheduled totour Australia from October 2020 to January2021 for a full series that includes four Testmatches as part of the World Test C’shipsbesides three ODIs and as many T20Is.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Asian Games medal winners Ankita Raina andDivij Sharan are set to be nominated for the

Arjuna award by the national tennis federation,which plans to send former Davis Cup coachNandan Bal’s name for the Dhyan Chand honour.

The 27-year-old Ankita had won a women’ssingles Bronze medal at the 2018 edition of theAsian Games and also dished out a strong perfor-mance in the Fed Cup, where she played a key rolein India’s qualification to the World Group play-offs for the first time.

Delhi-lad Sharan had won gold medal in themen’s doubles event in Jakarta along with compa-triot Rohan Bopanna. He also became India’s topdoubles player in October 2019 before Bopannatook back the position.

The 34-year-old also won two ATP titles in the2019 season — Tata Open Maharashtra in Punewith Bopanna and at St. Petersburg with IgorZelenay.

“They are eligible and most deserving this yearfor the Arjuna honour. We will recommend theirnomination,” All India Tennis Association (AITA)Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee told PTI.

Ankita grabbed the spotlight with her grittyperformance during the 2018 Fed Cup where sheremained unbeaten in singles.

Since then she has become India’s best singlesplayer on the WTA and ITF circuit, winning sixUSD 25k level titles and also achieved a career-bestsingles rank of 160 in March this year.

At this year’s Fed Cup, Ankita played eightmatches in five days, winning two singles and threecrucial doubles games with the seasoned SaniaMirza to help India qualify for the play-offs for thefirst time.

Bopanna was the last tennis player to get theArjuna award in 2018.

The AITA is still deliberating whether Bal'sapplication be sent for Dronacharya award orDhyan Chand award, which is meant to honourlifetime contributions.

“We are contemplating which category is bet-ter-suited for Nandan,” said Chatterjee.

However, reliable sources in the All IndiaTennis Association (AITA) told PTI that Bal’sapplication will be sent for the Dhyan Chand hon-our.

PTI n KARACHI

The Pakistan Cricket Board has agreedto a Test and T20 tour of the coro-

navirus-ravaged England in July but willnot force players to agree for the assign-ment should they have reservationsowing to the pandemic.

PCB chief executive Wasim Khantold a news channel that Pakistan hasagreed “in principle” to the tour compris-ing three Tests and three T20Internationals.

“We had a very detailed and com-prehensive discussion with the ECB onFriday regarding the tour and PCB hasnow agreed in principle to send ourcricket team to England in July,” Wasimsaid.

During the discussions with theEnglish board held via video link onFriday, it was agreed that Pakistanwould play the matches behind closeddoors at grounds which have hotelsinside the ground. But players won't bemade to go against their wishes.

“If a player doesn’t want to go, we

will accept their decision and take no dis-ciplinary action,” Khan said, adding,however, that based on his information,

every player wants to join the tour.Khan said 25 players will travel to

England on four chartered flights in the

first week of July and the players will beput in quarantine.

"Manchester and Southampton willbe the likely venues for the Test seriesand the ECB will announce a third venuesoon," Khan said.

"Bio-secure arrangements will bemade by the host country and medicalstaff will remain with our team through-out the tour. We will test all our playersand regular temperature checks will beensured. It's very important that crick-et is revived during these challengingtimes," he added.

Khan said he will brief Test captainAzhar Ali and ODI and T20 captainBabar Azam on the tour next week,adding that all players will be briefedfully on England's preparations for thetour.

He also said clearance would besought from the government beforegoing on tour.

The England and Wales CricketBoard is struggling to overcome a finan-cial crisis with the cricket season on holddue to the coronavirus pandemic.

IANS n MUMBAI

Ace former India batsman YuvrajSingh on Sunday expressed his

desire to coach, saying he can workon players’ mindset especially in lim-ited-overs cricket which he hasbossed for close to decades.

“I will probably start with that(coaching). I am more keen oncoaching than doing commentary,”Yuvraj told former England batsmanKevin Pietersen during an InstagramLive chat.

“I have more insight in limited-overs cricket and I can share myknowledge with players coming tobat at No.4, 5, 6 as to what sort ofmindset they should have,” said the38-year old who has helped Indiawin the 2007 T20 and 2011 ODIWorld Cups with stellar perfor-mances.

Yuvraj called time on his illus-trious career last year. The dashingleft-hander had previously said thecurrent Indian team needs a psy-chologist who can take care of themental side of players.

“I will probably start by being a

mentor and then if it goes wellmaybe full time coaching,” saidYuvraj.

Pietersen, who is now into com-mentary, asked Yuvraj to join him.

“I thought I will take a break fora year. Play certain tournamentswhich makes sense. I will join youguys and learn commentary first.Not sure how I will do as a commen-

tator. So I will learn from you guys,”said Yuvraj, smiling.

He said he is happily spendingtime with family at the moment andhopefully will become a father soon.

“I am now spending time withfamily. I spent a lot of time on thepark. Hopefully become a father andthen come back on the park (coach-ing or commentary).”

AGENCIES n FRANKFURT

Bo r u s s i aMonchengladbachresumed their

Bundesliga campaign inimpressive fashion, AlassanePlea and Marcus Thuraminspiring a 3-1 win atEintracht Frankfurt that liftsthem above RB Leipzig.

Earlier on theBundesliga’s first day backfollowing the coronavirus-enforced hiatus, JulianNagelsmann’s Leipzig wereheld to a 1-1 draw byFreiburg - and Gladbachtook full advantage, lookingevery bit Champions Leaguehopefuls.

The hosts failed to evenkeep Gladbach at bay for afull minute as Plea put thevisitors in front, whileThuram - a key playerbefore the suspension inproceedings - knocked inhis seventh in the league thisseason soon after.

Substitute Andre Silvapulled one back for thehosts late one, but RamyBensebaini had alreadyeffectively secured a com-fortable win for MarcoRose's side with a penalty.

Frankfurt had sufferedthree successive Bundesligadefeats prior to the break,and within 34 seconds of

kick-off that run lookeddestined to continue - Pleafinding the bottom-left cor-ner despite being unbal-anced after a one-two withJonas Hofmann.

It was 2-0 just six min-utes later as Bensebainiturned cleverly in the boxand squeezed the ball acrossthe face of goal for Thuramto tap in.

Filip Kostic appearedthe Frankfurt player mostlikely to instigate a revival,but his wicked 24th-minutefree-kick was pushed awayby Yann Sommer, whoseonly other first-half savekept out Almamy Toure'stame effort from a tightangle just before the interval.

Adi Hutter introducedSilva for the ineffectiveDjibril Sow at half-timeand Frankfurt had a littlemore presence in attack asa result, though not to theextent that Gladbach's leadever looked under threat.

The visitors added athird through the livelyBensebaini, who convertedfrom the spot after BreelEmbolo was barged over byEvan Ndicka.

Silva grabbed a well-taken consolation with nineminutes to go, though itfailed to inspire a come-back.

GLAD TO BE BACKPlea, Thuram take Borussia Monchengladbachto third in Bundesliga table

SUBSTITUTEANDRE SILVA

PULLED ONE BACKFOR THE HOSTSLATE ONE, BUT

RAMY BENSEBAINIHAD ALREADYEFFECTIVELYSECURED A

COMFORTABLE WINFOR MARCO

ROSE'S SIDE WITHA PENALTY

RCB will be ready wheneverIPL happens : Hesson

T20 WC delaywill open doorfor IPL

Adapt, play in empty stadiums: Neesham

Pak agrees to tour Eng in July

I will probably start withcoaching going forward: Yuvraj

Ankita, Sharan nominated for Arjuna award

Too early to compareAzam & Kohli: Khan

dmitting thatshe is missingwork badly,RashmikaMandannarevealed that

the lockdown period hashelped her spend qualitytime with her family. “It’shard to not be working.But I got to spend somuch time at home.That’s a good thing. Youwon’t believe but — Thisis the longest I’ve beenhome MY ENTIRE LIFE!(Sic),” replied the actressto a fan who asked her onone thing which made herhappy because of the cur-rent times. She was partic-ipating in a#UntoldRashmika sessionon Twitter over the week-end.

So what has she beenup to? “What not. -Read abook -did yoga -medita-tion -danced -playedgames-lis-

tened to music I can goon and on (sic),” shenoted. To another follow-er who wanted to knowthe shows that kept heroccupied all this time, sherevealed, “Money heistDark Cheer Friends Crashlanding on youSomething in the rain Ican go on (sic).”

When a follower askedher to share a piece ofadvice to single boys, shewrote, “Keep dreamingand working on yourdream. And don’t makeyour dream -someone.Make your dream -some-thing. Because - otherpeople you can’t control-your life you can (sic).”

Shedding light abouther life goals, she shared,“The expectations ofmyself in every aspect oflife is quite high rightnow. So for me to be con-tent with myself- I have along long way to go. But Ican feel that I am taking

the right steps- And Iknow I will get there.

(Sic).”The actress also

admitted tryingher hands at cook-ing. “Yaaaaaassss.A lot. You canorder yourbirthday cakefrom me (sic),”she postedcheekily to afan who want-ed to knowwhether shetried cook-ing of late.

or someone whois picky when itcomes to selectingher assignments,Pellichoopulu girlRitu Varma points

out that she trusts herinstincts after the directorgives her a narration. “I fol-low my instincts” was theHyderabad girl’s reply when afollower asked her how shechooses her scripts in a#AskRitu session on Saturdayevening. She informedanother follower that she has“four films lined-up” inTelugu. Officially though,only two of her projects, onewith Naga Shaurya and onewith Nani, have beendeclared. It remains to beseen what are the slim beau-ty’s other two projects.

The actress, who surprisedthe audience with her conwoman turn in KanuluKanulu Dochayante recently,wants to swear by versatility.“I want to explore comedy.. Iwould also love to do anaction role! (Sic)” Ritu, whoadmits to be a foodie, wrotewhen a fan wanted to under-stand the type of roles thatdesires.

To a question as to what isthe biggest lesson that life hastaught you, she replied, “Thatthings don’t always go asplanned and sometimes itsurprises you with the mostunexpected! (Sic).”

On her daily routine dur-ing the lockdown, shenoted, “Reading, cooking,working out, watchingseries/movies.. and I’ve

been sketching quite a lot!(Sic). She admits to havecompleted watchingshows like Ozark,Elite and Dead toMe, with plansto watch Darkup next.

According to sources, the actress has given herconsent to be the leading lady of HanuRaghavapudi's next with Swapna Cinemastarring Dulquer Salmaan. The film is a periodromantic drama, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

Vijayawada Monday May 18, 2020

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tollywood

ne of the most sought after actresses’ in Telugu cine-ma right now, Pooja Hegde, has hit the jackpot again.Seen recently in the Sankranti box-office smash AlaVaikunthapuramlo, the actress, sources have told us,has given her consent to be the female leadinglady of Hanu Raghavapudi’s next with Swapna

Cinema. Contrary to some reports, the untitledfilm is not a female-centric drama; it is a periodromantic drama and will be headlined byMalayalam heartthrob Dulquer Salmaan.

A source close to the development tells us,“Hanu was on the lookout for someone who hasthe looks and is a performer as well. He consid-ered some other names before giving a narra-tion to Pooja earlier this year. She was highlyimpressed with the narration and the rolethat was offered to her. She felt it has equalscope to that of the male protagonist andwith Hanu on board as a director, she wassure that her performance would be spo-ken across once the film opens. Shebelieves it will be the next big role ofher career after Most Eligible Bachelor(MEB), starring Akhil Akkineni.”

The source, however, is quick toclarify that the actress couldn’t sign onthe dotted line as she had to jet off toGeorgia to shoot for Prabhas’ film afterthe narration. Swapna Cinema was hop-ing to sign her after she returned but withthe lockdown, the formality is still pend-ing. Pooja is right now under home quar-antine in Mumbai. “The actress now hasto shuffle her dates to accommodate filmof Hanu as schedules of her other twoTelugu projects have gone into a disarray.She has a good one month left to film forMEB while Prabhas’ next is still a longway to touch the finish line. But sheis hoping to balance her call sheetsin a way that Hanu film too getsthe priority,” the source con-cludes.

OHanu was on thelookout for someonewho has the looksand is a performer aswell. He consideredsome other namesbefore giving anarration to Poojaearlier this year. Shewas highly impressedwith the narration andthe role that wasoffered to her. She feltit has equal scope tothat of the maleprotagonist.

A SOURCE

fter arranging busesto transport strand-ed migrant labour-ers to their homesin Karnataka, actorSonu Sood took

permission from the UttarPradesh Government to sendworkers back to homes there.

On Saturday, multiple busesleft from Wadala, Mumbai tovarious parts of Uttar Pradeshincluding Lucknow, Hardoi,Pratapgarh andSiddharthnagar as well as tostates like Jharkhand andBihar .

Not only this, the Arundathiactor provided meal kits to theworkers too.

“I can’t express in wordshow it feels to see the peoplein distress, finally set out ontheir journey home comfort-ably. I had been reading a loton how the migrants werewalking hundreds of kilome-tres along with their familiessans food or water. It reallydisturbed me and I could nolonger just sit and sulk about

it. I decided to do my bit as afellow countryman and as ahuman, of course, by takinggovernment permission too.”

“The visuals of migrants,especially babies and theelderly walking a deadly dis-tance with bruises on theirfeet, really made me feel verysad. It becomes necessary tospring into action at timesrather than just cribbing andsimply feeling bad for them. Iam extremely happy that Icould help the migrants in myown way and I shall continueto help as much as I can,”Sonu said.

Sonu shared that this is “theleast we can do for our trueheroes who work day andnight for us and the better-ment of our state and city”.

“Basic transport is all thatthey are asking so that theycan return home, to theirloved ones at a crucial time.Also, I would really like tothank my good friend NeetiGoel for being a part of thisinitiative,” he added.

A

SONU SOOD ARRANGES BUSES FOR MIGRANTWORKERS TO SEND HOME IN UTTAR PRADESH

Ritu wants to explore comedy and action

A

Make your dream — somethingnot someone:Rashmika’s adviceto single boys

ahesh Babu is onecelebrity who ismaking the mostof the lockdown.A family man tothe core, the actor

last weekend wrote on hissocial media pages that he is“building memories” withhis family.

In a cute picture that heshared across, Mahesh wasseen playfully blocking hisdaughter Sithara on thestaircase.

“Building memories onestep at a time...#StayHomeStaySafe#QuarantineHome #lock-down @sitaraghattamaneni,”he captioned the image.Before that, he shared a pho-tograph of himself with hisson Gautam and posted,“Live a little...Love a little...Laugh a little... everymoment, every day!#WorldLaughterDay#stay-homestaysafe.”

Over the weekend, hiswife Namrata shared a pic-ture of his family retiring tonight on her Instagrampage. “My clan is retiring forthe night. Goodnight peo-ple. lockdownlife #staysafe,”

she wrote. The picture wentviral within no time as thesuperstar’s fans couldn’t helpbut drool over his handsomelooks. Even Brahmaji, whoshared screen space with thesuperstar in films likeDookudu, Businessman andBharat Ane Nenu, had aword of praise. “Baaga mag-gina banginapalli la ..rojuroju ki merisi pothunnadumaa Krishna gari Abbayi …(sic),” he wrote. The transla-tion of his tweet goes likethis: “Like a ripenedBanginapalli mango, ourKrishna garu’s son is glow-ing day by day.”

Mahesh will benext seen inParasuram’snext, officialannounce-ment ofwhich islikely to bemade onKrishna’sbirthday onMay 31. Hewill be seen in aromanticavatar in thefilm.

M

Pooja castOPPOSITEDULQUER

Mahesh's quarantinelook is a super hit