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MONEY 8INDIA'S TAX PIE GETS ALTERED BECAUSE OF

VIRUS; SHARE OF DIRECT TAXES DROPS

ANALYSIS 7A TAXING PROBLEM

SPORTS 12WE’LL HAVE PLANS FOR

WORLD-CLASS ROHIT: LYON

}IT'S MY WISH TODO A FILM WITHPAWAN KALYAN:

SANTOSH SRINIVAS

Page 11{

HYDERABAD

WEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated January 4 , 2021 5:00 PM

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TODAY

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Anand: 2021 will be

year of reinvention

and regeneration

8

HC allows termination of 25-week pregnancy

5

‘NO PLAN TO ENTER CORPORATE FARMING’:RELIANCE GOES TO COURT ON VANDALISM

WIFE KILLS SPOUSE, PUTS IT ONFACEBOOK, ATTEMPTS SUICIDE

OXFORD VACCINE AT RS 1,000 IF CENTREALLOWS US TO SELL: ADAR POONAWALLA

STALIN CAN NEVER BECOME CHIEFMINISTER, SAYS BROTHER ALAGARI

Reliance Industries approached the Punjaband Haryana High Court today pleading that

the government safeguard its assets andservices in the two states against "miscreants"who had damaged several of its telecomtowers some days ago. The installations werevandalised allegedly by farmers angry over thecompany's perceived role in framing threeagricultural laws recently passed by Parliament.They vented their anger by snapping powersupply, cutting cables of telecom towers, anddamaging Reliance Jio's infrastructure. Theculprits apparently viewed the Mukesh Ambani-owned firm as one of themajor beneficiaries of the farm laws passed in September.

A36-year-old woman stabbed her husband todeath, posted the information on her social

media account and then attempted to take herown life inside their rented apartment in southDelhi's Chhatarpur area on Saturday. The DelhiPolice confirmed the information on Monday,saying the matter came to light after they brokethe apartment door open on getting calls from analert neighbour and the landlord. While theneighbour flagged the woman's Facebook post intheir call to the police control room, the landlordcalled seeking assistance as his tenants were notopening the door. "The door was locked from the inside. Blood was smearedon the floor and walls of the apartment," a police statement said.

The Serum Institute of India's Covishield vaccine,which has got approval from the country's drug

regulator, will be commercially available at ` 1,000per dose if the government allows sale in retail,company chief Adar Poonawalla has said. For thegovernment, "We are giving it in a very specialprice of ` 200 for the first hundred million doses.Then there will be tendering and then differentprices will be available," said Poonawalla. "But letme just say -- whatever we give to the government,they are going to provide it free to the people ofIndia and when we subsequently sell it in theprivate market, the MRP is going to be ` 1,000 per shot," he said. The vaccineneeds a booster dose, so the total cost will be ` 2,000.

Expelled DMK leader MK Alagiri on Sundayheld discussions with his close assoiciates

and supporters in Madurai over his next courseof political action and said he might make anannouncement soon. Asking his supporters tobe prepared for any kind of move from him, MrAlagiri said he might either come up with a"good decision" or not, seven years after hewas expelled from the DMK for alleged anti-party activities in the wake of sibling rivalrywith his brother and incumbent party chief M KStalin. With Assembly elections in Tamil Nadulikely to be held in April-May, the former Union Minister's role is beingspeculated, from joining the BJP to floating his own outfit.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The seventh round of talksbetween protesting unions andthree central ministers endedinconclusively on Monday as thefarmer leaders insisted on therepeal of the three contentiousfarm laws right from the begin-ning, even as the governmentlisted various benefits from theActs.

The next meeting will takeplace on January 8, farmer lead-ers said.

The two sides took a longbreak after just about one hourof discussions, during whichrepresentatives of protestingfarmers had their own food,arranged from langar (com-munity kitchen), as they havebeen doing for the last few times.

However, unlike the lastround of talks on December 30,

the ministers did not join theunion leaders for the langar foodand were seen having their owndiscussion separately duringthe break, which lasted foralmost two hours.

The two sides got together

again to resume their discus-sions at around 5.15 pm, but noheadway could be made as thetalks remained focussed on thefarmers' demand for the repealof the Acts.

Farmer leaders said the gov-

ernment said it needs to consultinternally and thereafter itwould come back to the unions.

The union leaders will alsohave their own meeting onTuesday to decide their nextcourse of action.

In Monday's talks, the twosides did not even discussanother key demand of farmersfor a legal guarantee to the MSPprocurement system.

Thousands of farmers, main-ly from Punjab, Haryana andwestern Uttar Pradesh, areprotesting at various Delhi bor-ders for over a month againstthe three laws. They have stayedput despite heavy rains andwaterlogging at protest sitesover the last couple of days,besides severe cold weatherconditions prevailing in andaround the national capital.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Amid questions raised byindustry experts and opposi-tion parties on the emergencyapproval to its coronavirusvaccine Covaxin without pub-lication of efficacy data, BharatBiotech's chairman onMonday hit out at critics say-ing his firm had carried out"200 per cent honest clinicaltrials".

Speaking to reporters at avirtual press conference,Krishna Ella said his firm hasa track record of producingsafe and efficacious vaccinesand was transparent with alldata.

"We are not just conductingclinical trials in India. Wehave done clinical trials inmore than 12 countriesincluding the UK," he said."Many people are just gossip-ing everything in a differentdirection to just backlash onIndian companies, that is notright for us. We don't deservethat."

Covaxin addresses anunmet medical need and hasgenerated excellent safety datawith robust immune responseto multiple viral proteins thatpersist, he said.

Ella said his company hadcarried out "200 per cent hon-est clinical trials". "Give meone week's time, I will give youconfirmed data," he said.

Bharat Biotech has manu-

factured 16 vaccines, he point-ed out.

"We are not just an Indiancompany, we are truly a glob-al company. People shouldnot accuse us that we don'tknow clinical research...," hesaid.

Without naming SerumInstitute CEO AdarPoonawalla, who had termedvaccines other than that ofPfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca as "just likewater", Ella said, "We do 200per cent honest clinical trialsand yet we receive backlash. IfI am wrong, tell me. Somecompanies have branded melike water."

He also said the BharatBiotech vaccine is not inferi-or to that developed by Pfizer.

No new ‘UK strain’infections in AP, TSPNS n HYDERABAD

As many as nine morepeople who had tested posi-tive for Coronavirus in thecountry were found to beinfected with the new mutat-ed strain on Monday. Withthis, the number of peopleinfected with the new strain,first detected in the UK,reached 38 in India. However,none of the new cases detect-ed by the CCMB, Hyderabadon Monday were from theTelugu States. Of these 38cases, three have been detect-ed by CCMB, Hyderabad.

Choose between Gita and Bible: Bandi SanjayBJP leader goads Tirupati voters to choose their leaders on the basis of faith

PNS n HYDERABAD

As expected, Telangana BJPchief Bandi Sanjay Kumar onMonday turned his attentiontowards the forthcoming by-election for the Tirupati LokSabha seat with an all-outattack on the Andhra PradeshGovernment in general and theruling YSRCP in particular.

Alleging that ‘only one reli-gion’ is dictating terms in AP,the BJP MP called upon thepeople of Tirupati to decide inthe coming by-poll whetherthey want leaders who take upcampaigns carrying a Bible or

Bhagavad Gita.Predicting that the results of

the Dubbak by-poll andGHMC elections will be repli-

cated in Tirupati, Bandi Sanjayasked the voters to converttheir faith in Hinduism tovotes and ensure the victory of

the BJP candidate “to protectHindu Dharma” in the state.

The BJP TS chief was speak-ing after welcoming Congress

leader Daruvu Yellanna intothe party fold at the BJP stateoffice in Hyderabad where hecondemned the attacks onHindu temples in AndhraPradesh.

“YSRCP is chanting two slo-gans while BJP idealism is‘Yedu Kondalavada GovindaGovinda… Not only thenation, but the entire world iswaiting for the Tirupati by-pollresult. The BJP would chaseaway the YSRCP government,”he said, adding that there is aneed for cleaning up of the APEndowments Department.

File

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NEW YEAR BONANZA

Promotions for staff, jobs for youthPNS n HYDERABAD

The New Year has brought anunforeseen bonanza forTelangana Governmentemployees at all levels who areset to get promoted this month.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has issueddirections to promote allGovernment staff by January31.

This is for the first time afterthe formation of Telanganastate in 2014 that such a mas-sive exercise of promoting staffat all levels is being undertak-en by the State Government.

Though KCR’s decision is asweet surprise for theGovernment staff, it is notsurprising, considering that amajority of the employees inTelangana have been workingat the same level, in most casesat same places, without promo-tion or transfer for the past six

years.Vacancies arising at lower

level following the promotionsto existing staff will be filledthrough direct recruitment byconducting recruitment exams.

The state government plansto fill 50,000 vacancies in var-ious departments by conduct-ing recruitment exams in

February/ March.Following the CM's direc-

tions, Chief Secretary SomeshKumar on Monday held amarathon meeting with secre-taries and HoDs (heads ofdepartments) of all govern-ment wings to finalise themodalities of giving promo-tions.

The CS directed all the sec-retaries and HoDs to completethe process at the StateSecretariat and district levelwithout delay and not laterthan January 31.

Somesh Kumar addressedthe meeting with Special ChiefSecretaries, Director General ofPolice, Principal Secretaries

and Secretaries at BRKRBhavan where he asked themto also complete appointmentson compassionate groundswithout delay.

Consequential vacanciesarising due to promotionsshould also be included indirect recruitment notifica-tions, the CS said.

Somesh Kumar said thatweekly meetings would be heldevery Wednesday (January 6,13, 20 and 27) to review pro-motions, compassionateappointments and directrecruitment vacancies. All theSecretaries and HoDs assuredthat they would take up theseissues on priority as per theCM’s directions.

Over 20,000 governmentteachers have been awaitingpromotions since the forma-tion of Telangana state in 2014.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Stating that the Sangameshwaraproject is not a new one, theAndhra Pradesh governmenton Monday told the KrishnaRiver Management Board(KRMB) that there was no needto submit any DPR of the project.

AP Irrigation Departmentengineer-in-chief C NarayanaReddy said that the State gov-ernment has submitted detailedproject information (DPI)

instead of DPR to the KRMB.“AP is not yielding water to irri-gate even a single new acre

through Sangameshwara pro-ject.

Sangameshwara project nota new one, AP tells KRMB

File photo

Jeevan is new PCCchief, Revanth to headcampaign committee?PNS n HYDERABAD

Senior Congress leader andMember of Legislative Councilfrom Karimnagar T JeevanReddy is likely to be appoint-ed the new president ofTelangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC).

The Congress high com-mand is expected to formallyannounce the name of JeevanReddy as the next TPCC chiefon Tuesday, entrusting himwith the responsibility of lead-ing the party in Telangana andtaking on the ruling TRS inthe 2023 Assembly polls.

Malkajgiri Lok Sabha mem-ber A Revanth Reddy, whowas tipped to be the nextTPCC president, is likely tohead the TPCC CampaignCommittee.

Jeevan will succeed TPCCchief in the place of NalgondaMP N Uttam Kumar Reddy,who tendered his resignationowing responsibility for thedismal performance of theCongress in GHMC electionsin December 2021, where theparty won just 2 seats of the150 seats.

Official sources in Congressrevealed that the party highcommand has succeeded inpersuading party senior lead-ers in Telangana to backJeevan.

As the senior leaders inTelangana Congress have beenstrongly resisting Revanth'sappointment as the TPCCchief on the grounds of himbeing a 'newcomer' in theparty since he joined Congress

only in October 2017, defect-ing from Telugu Desam Party,while he was MLA fromKodangal constituency, theparty is likely to name him ashead of the CampaignCommittee.

Some other Congressseniors point to his RSS back-ground. Revanth’s tryst withthe RSS was during the initialdays of his political career andhe later switched to TRS andthen to TDP before landing inthe Congress.

n Promotions given forfirst time sinceformation of state in June 2014

n Promotions to createvacancies at lower level

n Govt plans to fill 50kvacancies through directrecruitment; examsplanned in Feb/ March

Sanjay asked thevoters to converttheir faith inHinduism to votesand ensure thevictory of the BJPcandidate ‘to protectHindu Dharma’ in TS

Modi has led India out

of the darkness of pan-

demic into New Year

2

2

2 2

22

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File photo

Govt-farmers talks inconclusiveCarried out‘200% honest'trials: Bharat Bio

PNS n NEW DELHI

The absolute number of peopleinfected with COVID-19 inIndia may never be known butmuch of the scientific commu-nity agrees the downward tra-jectory of the disease is real andcan likely be attributed tolocalised' herd immunity and ayounger population.

As scientists attempt tounderstand India's sliding

COVID count, the country onMonday recorded 16,504 newCOVID-19 cases, more thansix times lower than the high-est daily spike of 97,894 onSeptember 16.

While there is a glimmer ofhope and India's Covid num-bers are on a definite decline fora combination of reasons, avaccination programme con-tinues to be important.

Localised herd immunity,young population behinddip in India’s Covid count?

Continued from Page 1

He also hit out at SamajwadiParty president AkhileshYadav, who had dubbed thevaccines as "BJP's vaccines",but mainly targeted theCongress for speaking "lies"and spreading confusion overthe issue.

Nothing can be morepainful than the politics beingdone on the issue, Patra said.

Noting that foreign mediahas referred to the row overIndia's indigenous vaccine,he asked rhetorically who willbenefit from it.

Patra then said, "This willbenefit foreign forces. Thiswill benefit outsiders. Whowill it harm? It will harm ourcountry, the strength of ourscientists and their self-confi-dence. Why do the Congressand these opposition partieswant to break our scientists'strength and self-confidence?"

The BJP spokespersonclaimed that whenever Indiais happy the Congress isunhappy and referred to its

alleged criticism of institu-tions like the ElectionCommission and the SupremeCourt to say that the opposi-tion party has no trusts inanybody but the Gandhi fam-ily.

Referring to the statementsof Congress leaders like ShashiTharoor and Jairam Ramesh,both of whom had questionedthe verification process forBharat Biotech's vaccineCovaxin, Patra attacked RahulGandhi, alleging that he isabroad on "vacation" andprompting his party leaders toengage in rumour mongeringabout the vaccines.

The Congress has saidGandhi has gone abroad to seea sick relative.

Mocking the Congress overits process to elect a newparty president, Patra saidthe coronavirus will be soongone, water will be discoveredon Mars someday and peoplewill start living on Moon buta Congress president will stillnot be elected.

To a question about IncomeTax officials recording thestatement of interim Congress

president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in con-nection with its probe againsthim under the benami assetslaw, Patra said he has commit-ted "corruption".

On Sunday, Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala lauded scientistsand researchers of BharatBiotech for the indigenousvaccine but the party's seniorleaders like Anand Sharma,Jairam Ramesh and ShashiTharoor raised concern overthe grant of approval to itsvaccine without the phase 3trials, saying it is "premature"and can prove dangerous.

Their remarks triggered asharp reaction from the BJPwith its president J P Naddaalleging that the oppositionparty is in the habit of under-mining India's achievements.

On Sunday, India's drugsregulator approved OxfordCOVID-19 vaccineCovishield, manufactured bythe Serum Institute, andindigenously developedCovaxin of Bharat Biotechfor restricted emergency usein the country.

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(IN HYDERABAD)

HYDERABAD| TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021 hyderabad 02

The New Year hasbrought good news tothe people of the coun-

try regarding the Covid-19vaccine, all due to the seriesof measures undertaken byPrime Minister NarendraModi over the past severalmonths.

Modi has been encourag-ing Indian scientists andpharma companies to devel-op the vaccine and personal-ly supervised their progressat every step. He was instru-mental in formulation of afoolproof plan to distributethe vaccine. Far-sightedModi constituted a high-level taskforce in April itselffor the development of thevaccine.

He held a series of discus-sions with the taskforce,headed by science and tech-nology advisor K VijayaRaghavan, comprising NitiAayog member VK Paul andscientists from ICMR,biotechnology department,

Ayush ministry, DRDO,Drug-Controller General,Director-General health ser-vices.

The department ofbiotechnology was entrustedwith the task of monitoringthe global efforts on develop-ment of the vaccine and tocoordinate the efforts of theindigenous vaccine trials.

Modi gave directions tothe states from time to timeto rein in Coronavirus andalso gave suggestions to CMsregarding the vaccine.

Because of the stringentmeasures initiated by theModi government, casual-ties due to the pandemic arevery less compared to the restof the globe.

A major programme toadminister the vaccine toover a population of 135crore in the country in phas-es is ready. There is no doubtthat the credit for this goes toModi.

The world is eagerly wait-

ing to see how the vaccinewill be administered in Indiaat a time many countries areimposing lockdown andnight curfew. Results ofModi’s Atma Nirbhar pro-gramme would be there foreveryone to see in the formof production of the vaccineand its distribution.

India’s economy received afillip with the packagesannounced by Modi underthe Atma Nirbhar and GaribKalyan programmes. There isno doubt that socioeconom-ic activities too will resume

after the vaccine is rolled outand normalcy will return tothe country.

It would be safe to say thatthe country, under the lead-ership of Modi, wouldachieve many more victoriesand stand in the comity ofsuperpowers.

However, Opposition par-ties are unable to stomachthese developments. Theyhave been trying to createunrest among the people byspreading rumours about theCovid-19 vaccine.

At a time the entire world

is praising Indian scientists,the Congress claims that theCentre has been hasty ingiving permission for therollout of the vaccine.

The Opposition, havingprovoked minorities andfarmers to meet its selfishgoals, is now insulting ourscientists and playing havocwith public health to derive

political advantage.The philosophy of the BJP

is Indianism andthere is no con-t r a d i c t i o nbetween thisp h i l o s o p h yand the coun-tr y’s economicdevelopment.

Indian companiesdeveloping the vaccine with-in a year of the virus surfac-ing and Modi saving thecountr y with his AtmaNirbhar package are testimo-ny to the priority that he hasgiven to the country's devel-opment and nurturing thescientific perspective.

Modi took a series of mea-sures to strengthen India’sinfrastructure. He allocatedRs 15,000 crore in June 2020for development of animalhusbandry. He dedicated thebiggest solar power project inRewa of MP to the nation. Heallocated Rs 1 lakh-crore inAugust to agriculture infra-

structural development fund.In September, he launched

national highway andpetroleum develop-

ment projects worthRs 14,000 crore andalso inaugurated the

historic Maha Setubuilt across Kosi River.

In September, he launchedthe Pradhan Mantri MatsyaSampada Yojana with an out-lay of Rs 20,000 crore.

In October, he dedicatedthe Atal tunnel, the largesttunnel in the world built at aheight of 10,000 feet from sealevel in Manali to the nation.In the same month, helaunched the Swamitvascheme and distributed prop-erty cards among the peopleof the country.

In November, he inaugu-rated the new residentialquarters built for MPs inDelhi. In December, he laidthe foundation stone for thenew Parliament as part of theCentral Vista Project, which

is being described as thepride of the countr y.Similarly, he also inaugurat-ed the New Bhaupur-NewKhurja dedicated eastern railfreight corridor.

In December, he also inau-gurated state of the art light-house projects in six statesand also IIT in Sambalpurand AIIMS in Rajkot.

Even at the height of thepandemic in the country,Modi conceived developmentprojects worth lakhs of croresof rupees.

Modi, who laid the foun-dation stone for Ram templeat Ayodhya honouring thesentiments of the people,initiated agricultural reformsthat are likely to change thecontours of Indian economy.

Modi’s resolve is to rebuildthe country socioeconomi-cally for the good of thepeople. There is no doubtthat he will implement thisresolve with renewed zeal inthe New Year.

Y SATYA KUMAR

BJP National Secretary

TRULY

SPEAKING

India’s economy received a fillip with thepackages announced by Modi under theAtma Nirbhar and Garib Kalyanprogrammes. There is no doubt thatsocioeconomic activities too will resumeafter the vaccine is rolled out andnormalcy will return to the country

Modi has led India out of the darkness of pandemic into New Year

PROCUREMENT CENTRES

Anger brewing among farmersPNS n HYDERABAD

At a time when thousands offarmers are protesting on theDelhi borders against threenew central farm laws, anger isbrewing among the farmingcommunity in Telangana aswell against the state's move notto purchase agricultural pro-duce in their villages.

Farmers' groups and oppo-sition parties are gearing up forstatewide protests against theTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) government's decisionnot to set up procurementcentres in villages to purchasevarious crops.

Interestingly, the govern-ment cited new farm lawswhile announcing the movelast week, prompting farmerorganisations and non-BJPopposition to slam it for its "U-turn on farm legislations".

The government, which hadopened procurement centres invillages to purchase crops dur-ing Covid-19 lockdown,declared that it was not possi-ble to go in for similar procure-ment again.

"The new farm laws allowfarmers to sell their crops any-

where. Hence, the state govern-ment need not set up purchasecentres in villages," the ChiefMinister's Office stated afterChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao held areview meeting with Ministersand top officials.

"Due to the coronaviruspandemic, the government hadset up purchase centres in vil-lages and bouhght crops onhumanitarian grounds so thatfarmers don't suffer losses. It isnot possible to do it every time.

The government is not a busi-ness organisation or trader. Itis not a rice miller or a dalmiller. Sale and purchase is notthe responsibility of the gov-ernment," the CMO quotedparticipants in the meeting assaying.

The TRS government alsocited heavy losses incurreddue to purchase of crops dur-ing the last six years for thedecision. It incurred Rs 7,500crore loss due to purchase ofpaddy, sorghum, maize, red

gram, Bengal gram and sun-flower. Though the govern-ment had purchased agricul-tural produce by paying theMinimum Support Price(MSP), it had to sell the sameat lower prices in the market,as there was no demand forthese crops.

The decision evoked sharpreaction from farmer groupsand opposition parties. Theywere baffled over the U-turn byTRS, which had not onlyopposed the new farm laws in

Parliament but also joined thenationwide shutdown called byfarmer groups on December 8.

In September, the TRS chiefhad conveyed strict instructionto his party MPs to vote againstthe farm laws in Parliament. Healleged that the new legislationswould harm the interests of thefarmers and enable corporatelobbies to exploit them.

The issue of procurementcentres was raised by All IndiaKisan Sangharsh CoordinationCommittee (AIKSCC) during'chalo Hyderabad' organised byit last week to intensify the agi-tation against farm laws.

The AIKSCC leaders won-dered how the Chief Ministerchanged his stance on the farmlaws. "Has Rao made a dealwith Prime Minister NarendraModi in Delhi to support theActs?" they asked.

Rao's 'U-turn' came a weekafter he visited Delhi and calledon Modi and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah.

The visit came after theGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation elections, where-in the BJP did remarkably wellto emerge as the second largestparty.

Continued from Page 1

In fact, there have been no pro-motions in the ExciseDepartment for the last tenyears.

Chief Advisor to theGovernment Rajiv Sharma,Advisors Anurag Sharma, DrKV Ramana Chary, AK Khanand SK Joshi, DGP MahenderReddy, Purnachander Rao, GopiKrishna, Special ChiefSecretaries Rani Kumudini,Suresh Chanda, Adhar Sinha,Principal Secretaries RajatKumar, Arvind Kumar,Ramakrishna Rao, SunilSharma, Jayesh Ranjan, RaviGupta, Harpreet Singh,Secretaries and Collectors of alldistricts attended the meeting.

Employees working in vari-ous government departments atthe same level and at the sameplace for years together are

deeply upset at the govern-ment blocking their careergrowth without any reason.

The anger amongst theemployees against the govern-ment reflected in the recentDubbak Assembly bypoll andGHMC elections, where TRSdid not poll votes in the postalballot exercised by employees onelection duty while BJP,Congress bagged majority ofthese votes.

Similarly, students and unem-ployed who are seeking govern-ment jobs are also very upset atthe TRS government for failingto take up recruitment drivesover the past six years.

The upcoming promotions tostaff will result in vacancies atthe lower level, which the gov-ernment wants to fill by con-ducting recruitment exams topacify students and the unem-ployed.

Promotions forstaff, jobs for youth

Govt-farmers talks inconclusive...Continued from Page 1

Enacted in September 2020, thegovernment has presented theselaws as major farm reforms andaimed at increasing farmers'income.

During the meeting, the gov-ernment listed various benefitsfrom the three laws, enacted afew months ago, but farmerskept insisting that the legislationmust be withdrawn to addresstheir apprehensions that thenew Acts would weaken theMinimum Support Price (MSP)and mandi systems and leavethem at the mercy of big corpo-rates.

The government has main-tained that these apprehensionsare misplaced and has ruled outrepealing the laws.

Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar,Railways, Commerce and FoodMinister Piyush Goyal andMinister of State for CommerceSom Parkash, who is an MPfrom Punjab, are holding thetalks with the representatives of41 farmer unions at the VigyanBhawan.

The meeting began with pay-ing respects to the farmers wholost their lives during the ongo-ing protest, sources said.

On December 30, the sixthround of talks was held betweenthe government and the farmerunions, where some commonground was reached on twodemands -- decriminalisation ofstubble-burning and continua-tion of power subsidies.

However, no breakthrough

could be reached on the twomain demands of the protestingfarmers -- a repeal of the threerecent farm laws and a legalguarantee to the MSP procure-ment system.

On Sunday, Tomar metDefence Minister Rajnath Singhand discussed the governmentstrategy to resolve the currentcrisis at the earliest, sources said.

Tomar discussed with Singhall possible options to find a"middle path" to resolve the cri-sis, they added.

While several opposition par-ties and people from otherwalks of life have come out insupport of the farmers, somefarmer groups have also met theagriculture minister over the lastfew weeks to extend their sup-port to the three laws.

Row over indigenous vaccinehelping ‘foreign forces’: BJP

Continued from Page 1

“The Andhra PradeshEndowments Department hasbeen diverting the Hindusgifts to benefit followers ofother faiths,” Bandi Sanjaysaid.

He warned the AP govern-ment not to casually take the“patience of the BJP activists”.“Jagan will pay a heavy pricefor attacks on temples. AP BJPis getting ready for a move-ment. AP BJP activists arestronger than Telangana BJPactivists,” Bandi Sanjay said.

He said that the TelanganaChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and Jaganwere trying to win the elec-tions with deceit as they wereunable to take the BJP onpolitically. “In Telangana, KCRis extending support to theleaders of one religion and inAP, Jagan is openly supportinga particular community,” theBJP leader alleged.

He went on to accuse KCRof “insulting” genuineTelangana protagonists andmaking Telangana betrayersministers. “The genuine pro-tagonists are facing a lot of

problems in Telangana andthey are even unable to feedthemselves. KCR succeeded inmaking the real Telanganaitesdisappear from the scene,” heclaimed.

Meanwhile, BJP OBCMorcha national president KLaxman called upon the peo-ple of Tirupati to elect BJP-Jana Sena candidate in thecoming by-poll to get fundsfrom the Centre. He said thatit was not proper on the partof Jagan to trivialise the attackson temples.

He demanded the APGovernment to initiate severeaction against the attackers,whoever they may be.

Laxman said that the attackson temples are taking placeagain and again as there is noserious action to stop the per-petrators. “It is better to handover the temples to Hindusocieties for their upkeep,”Laxman suggested.

Finding fault with the CPIsenior leader Dr K Narayanafor alleging the BJP’s handbehind the attacks on temples,Laxman alleged that the veter-an leader was losing his men-tal acumen.

Choose betweenGita and Bible:Bandi Sanjay

Continued from Page 1

On December 29, 2020, twopersons had tested positivefor the new strain in TeluguStates for the first time.

Of them, one was fromTelangana and another wasfrom Andhra Pradesh. OnJanuary 1, one more personwas tested positive for thenew strain in Telangana. Ofthese 38 cases of the mutat-ed strain of Covid-19 detect-ed in India so far, 10 havebeen detected at NIMHANSin Bengaluru, eight in NCDCDelhi, five in NIV, Pune,three in CCMB Hyderabad,11 in Institute of Genomicsand Integrative Biology(IGIB) New Delhi, and one atNIBMG Kalyani.

No new ‘UK...

Continued from Page 1

The project is not a new oneas it has no storage system,”Narayana Reddy reasoned.

The ENC met with KRMBofficials at the Jala Soudha atErrum Manzil along withKurnool SE Muralinath Reddy.

Later, briefing the media,Narayana Reddy said that theyhave stopped doing work atSangameshwara following thedirections of National GreenTribunal (NGT). “However,we are conducting some testsneeded for the project. As perAP Reorganisation Act,KRMB office should be locat-ed in AP and hence werequested the KRMB to shiftit to Vizag, he said.

Sangameshwaraproject not...

Jeevan is newPCC chief...Continued from Page 1

Earlier it was reported that theprime contenders for TPCCchief post were Bhongir MPKomati Reddy Venkat Reddyand Revanth, with a majoritypreferring the latter. However,the High Command seems tohave changed the decision inthe last minute and favouredJeevan Reddy.

Meanwhile, the party highcommand is believed to havedecided to pacify senior lead-ers by accommodating themin various positions in theparty both at the nationallevel and the state level.

Sources revealed thatKomatireddy will be accom-modated in the CongressWorking Committee (CWC)as a permanent invitee.Similarly, Uttam Kumar Reddy,Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka andD Sridhar Babu too will begiven priority in the partywith good positions.

Carried out...Continued from Page 1

"You look at Pfizer. Theyhave five publications (ofvaccine data). Bharat Biotech(has) five publications. We areno way inferior to Pfizer interms of publication (ofdata)," Ella said.

Ella said it was wrong tosay Bharat Biotech was nottransparent with data andwent on to cite the number ofpublications by the companyin comparison with industrypeers.

"I think we are the onlycompany I can categoricallysay (which) has got extensiveresearch experience andextensive publication (in)peer reviewed journals. Manypeople say that I am nottransparent in my data. Ithink people should have thepatience to read (on) internetand look at what our articlesare," he said.

Localised herd immunity...Continued from Page 1

It's not the absolute numbers,but the trajectory that is impor-tant, said Shahid Jameel, direc-tor, Trivedi School ofBiosciences, Ashoka University,looking at India's COVIDgraph.

Noting that it is impossibleand impractical to have truenumbers during a pandemic,or even after that, unless every-one is tested, the virologist saidCOVID-19 cases in the coun-try have gone down steadilysince the peak in mid-September.

Reflecting the national trend,Delhi's graph has also been ona downward slide with 384fresh COVID-19 cases record-ed on Monday, the lowest inover seven months, raisinghopes that herd immunity mayhave set in.

Herd immunity is a form ofindirect protection from infec-

tious disease that sets in whena sufficient percentage of a pop-ulation has become immune toan infection.

Nothing has changed dras-tically in testing or behavioursince mid-September. So rela-tively speaking, it's a downwardtrajectory, Jameel told PTI.The country's average, he said,hides many localised spikes andthat would continue.

While the actual numbersmay well be underestimated,the trend of lower numbersappears to be real and the rateof spread of the infection is like-ly to have reduced, said immu-nologist Satyajit Rath.

A possible explanation forthis may be that crowded urbanlocalities and neighbourhoodswhere spread was very rapidearlier might be largely saturat-ed, a form of hyperlocal 'herdimmunity', Rath, from NewDelhi's National Institute ofImmunology (NII), told PTI.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021hyderabad 03

IIT Hyderabad-incubated startupPURE EV has developed anArtificial Intelligence-driven

hardware that automatesidentification and repair of defects inlithium-ion batteries of electricvehicles. This next-generation technology completely does awaywith the requirement for customers to visit service centers toaddress battery defects. PURE EV researchers have designedArtificial Neural Network (ANN)-based algorithms for the systemcalled 'BaTRics Faraday,' which identify the defects in various seriesin the battery and also auto heals them to the best of the electro-chemistry potential of the cells. Elaborating about this system, DrNishanthDongari, Founder of PURE EV said, "Lithium batteries arethe most critical component of electric vehicles. They containmultiple lithium cells welded together in series and parallelarrangements to meet the desired voltage and ampere-hour (Ah)capacity. In case of any defects coming to batteries in any of the cellseries, it leads to significant downtime to the EV owners.Additionally, the usage behavior pattern and Indian environmentalconditions put more load on the batteries. It is, indeed, a verydifficult task for battery OEM to get the defects rectified throughdiagnosis and replacement of defective series of cells."

IIT Hyd's Pure EV develops AI to resolve defects in EVs

CITY LIGHTS

Telangana IT Association (TITA) islooking at training more students inArtificial Intelligence (AI) to meet

the future demands in this area. It hasurged students, faculty and individuals,to learn new skills in AI area to grabopportunities in this field. TITA'sDigithon initiative was appreciated by the Telangana government inits report on 2020 Year of AI. As part of the initiative, prior to theCovid-19, TITA took up various AI events like industry tours tocompanies working on AI and Digithon wherein it imparted codingskills to students from government schools. Students were trainedin Scratch, Python-based coding and are now equipped with skillswith which they can develop games, quizzes and other featuresbased on AI on their own. Later, TITA in collaboration with theUniversity of Texas at Dallas (UTD) designed a special curriculum inAI and imparted skills to youth and students. As many as 523individuals benefited from the programme and received certificatesin AI. Speaking on the occasion, TITA Global President SundeepKumar Makthala expressed happiness that the Association hastrained over 3,000 people in AI and coding.

Commotion prevailed for sometime atPunjagutta junction on Monday morningwhen man, reportedly mentally disturbed,attempted to kill himself after jumping from atraffic post. The man, identified as Raju of RCPuram, was undergoing treatment for mentalhealth disorders and his family memberswere taking him to Institute of Mental Healthat Punjagutta for treatment, police said. "Herushed towards the traffic post and climbedon it. When his family members tried topacify him, he took a cloth and attempted tostrangulate himself," the Punjagutta police said. Later the policesought help of a Telangana State Road Transport Corporation(TSRTC) bus passing by the road and reached the man. He wasbrought down and handed back to his family members.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Traders and shop owners in thecity accuse the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) officialsof imposing hefty fines takingadvantage of the new rulespassed on April, 2020 when thewhole country was goingthrough Covid induced lock-down.

The GO indicates that thehoardings in the front area ofthe shops or commercial estab-lishments should not exceed 15per cent of the front area.Moreover, they should notobstruct natural ventilation.

The traders allege that theofficials have been imposingfines without even sensitisingthem about the governmentorder. Without giving sufficienttime, the civic body officialshave been collecting fines inthousands and lakhs of rupeesfrom shops and establishmentsblaming them for violation ofrules.

However, the shop owners,aghast at the new rule, say thatthe hoardings were there sinceseveral years and the fineslevied by the officials are rathernew. They are pleading the offi-cials to give them time claim-ing that they have no ideaabout the new rule.

Turning a deaf ear to theirpleadings, the officials are act-

ing tough against the com-plaints and are compelled toimpose fines.

The traders' circles areincensed over this. The GHMCshould have informed us atleast asking the traders tochange their shop hoardings inthe light of new rules passed,they feel. They wonder at offi-cials imposing fines withoutfirst alerting them about thechange of rules. The penaltyhas come as a bolt from theblue at a time their businessesare running under losses due tothe pandemic.

Depending on the nature ofthe shops and establishments,the fines range between Rs5,000 and Rs 5 lakh. In somecases, the penalty also exceedsRS 10 lakh, the traders said.

The officials say that theshop hoardings exceeded 15per cent of the front area of theshops and hence they are levy-ing fines. Till recently, therewere no any such rules thatlimit the size of the shophoardings. Therefore, the shopsand establishments took liber-ty with the sizes of the hoard-ings. In some buildings, there

would be up to 10 to 20 shops.Each store would have its ownhoarding designed accordingto its style. Only then the cus-tomers would be able to findout where the shop is.

The new rule was intro-duced in April as the hoardingshave been defacing the beautyof the city and also one of thereasons for the road accidents,the GHMC officials defendbringing out the new rule bythe government.

One of the shop keepers inChandanagar contended thatthe officials, upon receiving a

complaint, are not giving timeto change the board as per thespecifications of the new rulesand are levying fines.

The GHMC's DirectorateOf Enforcement Vigilance &Disaster Management(EVDM) wing, on the basis ofcomplaints received throughTwitter and other social mediaplatforms, has been levying thefines on shops and establish-ments including tiffin centers,hotels, hospitals and othercommercial establishments onthe grounds that their hoard-ings exceeded 15 per cent of thefront areas of the respectiveshops. Several small tradershave been expressing concernover this.

The EVDM wing, whichdid not bother to act on com-plaints at the time of theGHMC polls, is now actingwith alacrity as soon as itreceived complaints on socialmedia platforms and levyinghefty fines. The GHMC per-sonnel warn of severe reper-cussions if the shops fail to paythe fines. A trader belonging toAmeerpet area laments, "Howcan we run the business in suchcut throat competition withoutadvertising about the shopsand businesses prominently?"

"It is not fair on the part ofthe GHMC to levy fines with-out sensitising traders on theserules," he added.

Traders irked over heavy fines onillegal hoardings in front of shops

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana has added 238 freshCovid cases, taking the state'scumulative tally to 2.87 lakh,even as 518 more patientshave recovered from the virusto outnumber the infections,health officials said onMonday.

Hyderabad accounted forthe highest number of infec-tions in the past 24 hours, 60,followed by Rangareddy dis-trict (26), Warangal Urban(20), Karimnagar and MedchalMalkajgiri (15 each).

Among other places,Mancherial (8), Sangareddy(7), Nalgonda (6), Nizamabad,Peddapalli and Jayashankar

Bhupalapally (5 each), Bhad-radri Kothagudem, JogulambaGadwal, Khammam, Mahb-ubnagar, Medak, Nagarku-rnool, Nirmal, Suryapet andWarangal Rural (4 each).

Meanwhile, two morepatients succumbed to thevirus in the past 24 hours,pushing the toll to 1,551.

Telangana's Covid fatalityrate stood at 0.53 per cent ascompared to the national aver-age of 1.4 per cent.

Active Covid cases cur-rently stand at 5,106, even asthe state recorded a higherrecovery rate of 97.68 percent as compared to thenational average of 96.2 percent.

TS virus tally touches 2.87L with 238 cases

PNS n HYDERABAD

There are no good muhuratsfor the next 115 days to cele-brate weddings after the firstweek of January. Therefore,there would be no celebrationof marriages for about fourmonths. There is no auspiciousperiod till May 14, after the lastMuhurat on January 7.

Dasami, which falls onJanuary 8, is considered notgood for celebrations. FromJanuary 15 to February 12, theperiod is considered not goodfor weddings on account of'soonyamasam'. From February14 to May 4 the period is called'Sukra Maud-hyami', also notfit for celebra-tions. There areno good muhurats till May 14.

The inauspicious month ofAshadham will begin fromJuly 4 and continue up to

August 11. Earlier, the peopledid not invite guests for wed-dings celebrated during

Coronavirus pandemic period.Most of them postponed theirweddings due to such situation.But, in 2021 there seems to bea paucity of good muhurat.Even if there is a let up inCovid situation, after January7, till May 14 there are no goodmuhurats.

Therefore, the prospectivecouples are tying the knotinstead of waiting for fourmonths. Noted priest andscholar Shravan Kumar Sarmaattribute the long muhuratholiday to 'Guru' and 'SukraMaudhyami'.

The Sringeri math priestBachampalli Santosh KumaraSastry describes the two inaus-picious periods coming togeth-er is a rare phenomenon.

No wedding bells in next four months

Ministers KT Rama Rao and SabithaIndra Reddy inaugurated the Telangana

School Innovation Challenge 2020grand finale event, organised by

Telangana State Innovation Cell incollaboration with UNICEF and StateEducation Department at MCR HRD

Institute in Hyderabad. Student teamsfrom top 25 government schools from23 districts of the state exhibited their

innovations at the grand finale.Ministers visited the stalls and

presented cash awards to the studentteams who came up with the best

innovative ideas.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan on Monday saidthat vaccine approval was amoment of pride for our coun-try. "The World HealthOrganisation's applaud for thecountry's initiative in the devel-opment of vaccine and itsapproval is the testimony toour scientists' capability," sheadded.

The Governor was virtuallyinaugurating the 7-day-long SriRamachandra PathologyAnnual Rapid Review Course(SPARRC-2021), organised by

the Sri Ramachandra MedicalCollege, Chennai.

Speaking on the occasion,the Governor stated that thedevelopment and approval forthe Indian vaccine to preventthe Covid effectively shattered

the criticism about the coun-try's poor research and devel-opment capability.

The Governor stated thatPrime Minister NarendraModi's visionary leadershipand support to the researchinstitutions and boosting themorale of the scientists' frater-nity helped our country incoming up with the Made inIndia vaccine.

Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajansaid that many developingcountries were looking at Indiafor the vaccine supply andadded that our country was ris-ing to the occasion.

Referring to the pathologyrapid review course beingorganised by the SriRamachandra Medical College,she said that the field of pathol-ogy was crucial in diagnosingand in facilitating the righttreatment.

"The discipline of pathologyis witnessing the use ofadvanced digital technologiesand the use of ArtificialIntelligence. Going for thetreatment without pathologyreports is like going to the warwithout arms. Pathologyreports play vital role in anytreatment process," she added.

‘Vax approval is proud moment for country’

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Cyber CrimePolice arrested anotheraccused in connection withthe instant loan apps onMonday. With this the num-ber of arrested personsincreased to 17 personsincluding two Chinesenationals.The arrestedaccused has been identified asKirti, HR manager at AnnuiTechnologies.Based on thecomplaint from a victim,Hyderabad Cyber CrimePolice are investigating thecase with regard to harass-ment from executives of loanapps.

Recently a 36-year-oldman from Petbasheerabadcommitted suicide due toharassment increasing thetotal number of persons com-mitted suicide tofive.Preliminary investiga-tion suggests that the fraudworth nearly Rs 21,000 croreshave taken place so far.Several transactions havetaken place over last sixmonths. A large number ofinternational transactionshave also happened throughbit coins.

Another accusedheld in instantloan apps case

PNS n HYDERABAD

A local court in city onMonday has sentenced lifeimprisonment to an offenderfor sexually assaulting a 16-year-old minor girl in Vizag.

The accused identified asChithari Sailu, 25, was a neigh-bor to the victim residing in anapartment at Kukatpally. Theaccused befriended her andlured her to come to Vizag andlater promised to marry her.

Subsequently, the accusedtook her to Vizag and kept herin a rented room. Later, theaccused sexually assaulted her.

The KPHB police register-ed a POCSO case and arrest-ed the accused.

Further, they filed a chargesheet with all the evidences.During the trail on Monday,LB Nagar Court has deliveredverdict and sentenced him tolife imprisonment andimposed a fine of Rs 10,000.

TITA trains more students in AI to meet future demands

YOUNG INNOVATIONS

PNS n HYDERABAD

Very soon, employees workingin different companies atRaheja Mindspace can gettheir work place directly fromthe Metro station.

The construction works of1.2 km skywalk from RaidurgMetro Station into the com-mercial and industrial park,where over 1.10 lakh employ-ees work in different buildings,have been going on at a briskpace.

The 1.2 km-long sky walk,described as the iconic projectfor the city, is going to becomeoperational in a few months.The project will solve the trav-el blues of the IT employees.

As part of the project, cir-cular pathways are going to belocated at the main entry of theMind Space building and near

the Westin hotel. There will beenough lighting facility tofacilitate the IT employeestake the route even in the deadof the night. The IT employeeswith the help of the exits pro-vided near the relevant ITtowers can approach their tow-ers without any difficulty.

The project, being taken upat a cost of Rs 100 crore aimsto introduce more pedestrian-friendly amenities. Works arebeing taken up at brisk paceand will be completed in threemonths, said Shrawan KumarGone, Director - Operations(Telangana State and AndhraPradesh), K Raheja CorporateServices Private Limited.

There are 22 buildings in theindustrial park. The skywalkwill connect the concourselevel of the station with 15buildings in the first phase and

the rest will be connectedlater, he said. Circular pathwayis being constructed at inter-changes for crossovers andthen straightens along theroad. The straight portion ofthe skywalk connects with theMetro station. Eight escalatorsand five elevators are beingconstructed for drop offs at thebuildings, he informed.

The then APIIC has allotted110 acres to the famed RahejaGroup in Madhapur in 2004.The group, as its maiden pro-ject, executed Mind Space andIndustrial Park. The park wasawarded the first and largestgreen campus gold rating bythe Indian Green BuildingCouncil.

The park has rain waterharvesting system, seweragetreatment plant, solar panelsand others.

Skywalk project works at RahejaMindspace going on at fast pace

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Rachakonda Cyber CrimePolice on Monday arrested afraudster for duped a victim tothe tune of Rs 3.63 lakh underthe pretext of providing deal-ership of IOCL.

The fraudster has beenidentified as Sundeep Singh, a38-year-old businessman hail-ing from Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The accused colluded withhis brother-in-law BannalalBawaria and started defraud-ing gullible citizens. “As pertheir plan, the accused con-tacted the victim throughphone and convinced him

that he will provide dealershipof IOCL. During the course,the accused asked the victimto deposit the amount, onwhich the victim transferredRs 3.63 lakh into the accountsprovided by the accused," saidpolice. After realising that hewas cheated, the victimapproached the police.

Investigation revealed thatthe accused Sundeep providesSIM cards with fake address-es to Bannalal, who opens fakebank accounts and make theinnocent victims deposit theamounts into those accounts.The accused shares 10 per centcommission to Bannalal.

Man arrested for dealership fraud

25-year-old man gets life for sexual assault

Man attempts to kill self at busy Punjagutta Junction

Fire breaks out in engine of Blr-bound Rajdhani Express

Afire broke out in the engine of a Bengaluru-bound RajdhaniExpress train near Vikarabad district of Telangana on Sundaynight, an official of SCR said. All the passengers of the train

are safe, he said. The incident occurred around 9 pm when theNew Delhi to Bengaluru Rajdhani Express was passing Nawandgirailway station. The loco pilot noticed smoke from the locomotiveand as a precautionary measure stopped the train. As minor flameserupted and it was confined to a small portion of the engine, whichwas detached from the coaches, he said. A fire tender was pressedinto service and the flames were put off.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021 hyderabad 04

PNS n HYDERABAD

The medical and health depart-ment has said that the Covid-19 vaccine will be administeredin a week to 10 days and theprocess in this regard in allprobability is likely to begin inthe second week of Januaryacross the State, given the factthat the Centre has been act-ing with alacrity on the issue.

However, a clear picture isyet to emerge on the exact dateof administering the vaccine.But, the district administrationhas made all arrangements forthe administration of the vac-cine within 24 hours of thegovernment giving the greensignal.

The Centre gave only emer-gency use of the Covaxin withstrings attached to its use.There are two vaccines avail-able. They are Covishield andCovaxin. Both the drugs arecleared for emergency use.There is a lot of interest amongthe people, which vaccine isgoing to be administered.

However, officials say thatthe Centre is likely to allotCovaxin being produced local-ly by Bharat Biotech to avoiddelay in transportation of thevaccine. The Centre will

decide, which vaccine shouldgo to which State. Even if theState wants allotment ofCovaxin, the Centre wouldtake the final call, officials ofthe medical and health depart-ment said.

Meanwhile, the medical andhealth department has madeelaborate arrangements for theadministration of the vaccineamong the people. It is draw-ing up plans to administer thevaccine in Hyderabad in viewof the city’s expansion in alldirections and over 60,288have been employed in 970 pri-vate hospitals in the city.

In fact, all should go to the

vaccine administration centreset up by the government. Butin view of the large workforceemployed in private hospitals,the health and other personnelwork in them are going toreceive the vaccine at thedoorstep of their workplace.

Some corporate hospitalshave asked the government togive them the vaccine so thatthey would administer thevaccine to their employees.But, the medical and healthdepartment is of the view thatcomplying with the requestwould mean misuse of thevaccine. Therefore, govern-ment personnel would admin-

ister the vaccine to them.The medical and health

department is going to hold ameeting of the district medicaland health officials on Mondayas the vaccine is going to arrivein the State sooner, or later.Public Health director Dr GSrinivasa Rao has made it clearthat a micro planning scheduleis being prepared to adminis-ter the vaccine, which would beadministered to over 80 lakhpersonnel in four phases.

Public Health

director Dr G

Srinivasa Rao has

made it clear that

micro-planning

the schedule is

being prepared to

administer the

vaccine, which

would be

administered to

over 80 lakh

personnel in four

phases

Telangana govt gears upfor Corona vaccine rollout

P ANAND KUMAR

n NARSAPUR

Students of BV Raju Institute ofTechnology and Engineering(BVRIT), Medak, invented auto-mated dung cleaner and devel-oped a prototype that would bebeneficial to farmers and dairyindustry entrepreneurs and oth-ers.

The cleaner, if time is set, willclear the cattle shed of dung andclean the shed within the stipu-lated time. It is hailed as verycost-effective. The machine wonacclaim from many at the exper-imental stage itself. It is highlyuseful at a time when the farm-ers are facing a shortage ofworkers. The prototype wonthe praise of Telangana StateInnovation Cell officials.

The machine clears the dungfrom the cattle shed with itsrobotic hands and fills a contain-

er with the dung and later trans-ports it to the nearest compostpit. The machine has sensorsfixed in it and they identify thedung working with the help ofmethane gas. The real-time clock

in it helps the user to set time toclear the dung within a particu-lar time frame. The robot gets itspower by charging it electrical-ly. It can clear a cattle shed witha total of 100-150 animals with-

in four hours. Assistant profes-sor of the Institute and projectmentor Anirudh Reddy said thatefforts are being made to makethe dung cleaner available to theneedy soon. Some engineeringstudents got the idea two yearsago. The project is under thepost-prototype developmentphase currently, he said. Effortsare underway to finalise thedesign and making it available

commercially to all, he added.An engineering student predict-ed that the cost of the robotclearing dung would be less thanRs 1 lakh. He said that themachine would find favour withthe farmers. The farmers havebeen sustaining a lot of expen-diture to get the cattle shedscleaned.

Jayanti Sai Kiran, the ECE stu-dent of the Institute, said that the

working of the prototype wastested practically and changes inthe working are being made onthe basis of feedback obtainedfrom dairy farm owners, dairyfarmers and others. Another stu-dent, Srinivas Dilip, said that themachine would help save theexpenditure of farmers.

Medak engg students develop automated dung cleaner

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC chief N Uttam KumarReddy sang paeans to formerPrime Minister PV NarasimhaRao and termed the landreforms introduced by him asgreat. PV gave lands to thelandless poor, he reminded.The Congress strived for socialjustice and uplift of Dalits andthe poor. He said that theCongress is still strong in12,000 villages across the State.He exuded confidence thatthe Congress would come topower in the next general elec-tions.

Participating in a seminaron ‘PV’s land reforms’ atGandhi Bhavan here onMonday, he said that he is veryfortunate that he had associat-ed with PV. Congress seniorleader Dr J Geetha Reddy saidthat PV’s decisions were veryaccurate and he was the pio-neer in introducing the eco-nomic reforms and added thatnation would never forget PVfor his vision.

Senior journalist KRamachandramurthy said thatsociety now needs a leader like

PV. He had distributed 3.5 lakhacres to 2.5 lakh and distrib-uted tickets to 70 per cent SCs,STs and BCs in 1972 elections,she reminded. Another seniorjournalist K Srinivas statedthat some may like PV’s eco-nomic reforms, but not hisland reforms. PV used to takedaring steps, he pointed out.

He said that PV ran a

minority government for fiveyears, however, the same PVhad failed to run the State asthe Chief Minister as the localforces were strong then. Hesaid that the TRS has no rightto speak about PV as it is try-ing to own him. VHanumantha Rao said thatPV had strived for the devel-opment of the poor though hebelongs to the upper caste. PVhad accorded top priority toBCs, SCs and STs. MLAs TJagga Reddy, D Sridhar Babu,former PCC chief PonnalaLaxmaiah, former MP MalluRavi, Mahesh Kumar Goudand others were present.

Uttam lauds PV for land reforms

n Congress senior leader DrJ Geetha Reddy said thatPV’s decisions wereaccurate and he was thepioneer in introducing theeconomic reforms

PNS n HYDERABAD

A mini-textile park will be estab-lished at Kodakandla inWarangal district, disclosed ITand Industries Minister KTRama Rao. The mini- textile parkwill create livelihood to 20,000weaving families in theKodakandla area.

At a review meeting here onMonday, he said thousands ofskilled weavers from Kodakandlamigrated to other States to ekeout their livelihood, but werekeen to return to their home-town after witnessing the supportbeing extended by the State gov-ernment for the textile sector.

“People especially weaversfrom Kodakandla have beenwanting the mini-textile park,which will improve their liveli-hood opportunities in theirhometown. We will continue toextend further support to them,”he said.

The minister, who reviewedthe progress of various pro-grammes being implementedfor the handloom and textile sec-tors, assured that all the welfareprogrammes being implement-ed for weavers will continuewithout any compromise. Hesaid the State government wouldcontinue the ambitiousBathukamma sarees manufactur-ing programme, which is being

carried out on a large scale everyyear, especially to support powerloom workers in the State.

He said that the NethannakuCheyutha scheme came as amajor relief for weavers duringthe Covid and. With the govern-ment giving an exemption andallowing the weavers to withdrawtheir savings, along with the gov-ernment contribution before theprescribed period, about 25,000weavers’ families received Rs 95crore.

He assured to take into con-sideration the requests fromweavers to continue the pro-gramme and take up the issue atthe Cabinet meeting for neces-sary action in this regard. Hesought a detailed report from thetextile department officials topitch for budget allocations to thetextile and handloom sectors inthe upcoming budget for 2021-22.Panchayat Raj and Rural

Development Minister ErrabelliDayakar Rao thanked the min-ister for his prompt response onthe occasion. Handlooms andTextiles Commissioner ShailajaRamaiyyer and other officialswere present.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Congress young Turksare eagerly waiting for theannouncement of the newpresident for the TelanganaYouth Congress. Electionswere held two months agoand the party hasannounced the votespolled for the first threecontestants, who are inthe race for theTelangana YouthCongress chief ’s post.

The three contestants--Shivasena Reddy secured59,997 votes, Rajiv Reddy52,000 and Sai Naik 22,000.The national Youth Congresspresident also conductedinterviews with these three inDelhi. According to the voteshare, Shivasena Reddy willget the Telangana YouthCongress president’s post.But, the party reportedly keptthe announcement of the

Youth Congress presidentpost on hold as the party isplanning to give a chance toSai Naik in case Reddybecomes the new TPCC chief.

Shivsena Reddy wouldbecome the Telangana YouthCongress president in case

non-Reddy becomes newTPCC chief. Accordingto sources, the partyhigh command iscontinuing its sus-pense on the selection

of a new TPCC chief.However, the Youth

Congress leaders are sore overthe high command for linkingthe Telangana Youth Congresspresident announcement tonew TPCC chief.

One of the Youth Congressleaders said that there is nologic in keeping the TelanganaYouth Congress presidentannouncement pending asthe election process is overalmost two months ago.

Mini-textile park will comeup in Kodakandla, says KTR

YC leaders soreover delay in chief’sannouncement

PNS n HYDERABAD

The railway department on onehand introduced all reservationbogies on the limited number ofspecial trains being run for theSankranti festival and on theother hand, it is selling tickets tothose who wish to be listed in thewaiting list knowing pretty wellthat all those figured in the wait-ing list should have to canceltheir tickets. Thus the railwaydepartment earns Rs 60 by wayof cancellation charges.

Many travellers, with hopingto get a reservation at least in thelast minute are buying ticketsknowing well that there is a longwaiting list. They are buying tick-ets as the Sankranti festival is stilltwo weeks away and someonewill cancel their tickets.

Since the festival is celebratedon Jan 14, there is heavy demandfor tickets on the dates betweenJanuary 9 and 13.Many travellersintend to travel to Khammam,Vijayawada, Rajamahendravaram, Kakinada,Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam,Vizianagaram, Nellore,Rayalaseema districts and also toMancherial and Kagaznagarfrom Hyderabad.

In the prevailing Covid-19 thesituation, the department of rail-

ways has introduced the limitednumber of special trains inplaces of regular trains to meetthe festival rush. But the num-ber of trains is wholly inadequate.

On Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam Visakha Express,there is no room for reservationon the train bound forVisakhapatnam on Jan

12. Yet the railway authoritiesissued tickets to have a long listof the waiting list. In fact, 966persons featured on the waitinglist. At least 808 persons were fea-tured on the waiting list for thejourney on Jan 9, 952 on Jan 10,788 on Jan 11 and 808 on Jan 13.

The Secunderabad-Howrahexpress displayed a ‘regret’ signas the waiting list for it has beenclosed. The waiting list on alltrains bound forVisakhapatnam between Jan 9-13 runs into several hundred.

All tickets listed under thewaiting list would be automat-ically cancelled. The waiting listticket holders are not allowed totravel on any train. Accordingto a conservative estimate, 500to 900 tickets would be can-celled on all trains, leading torailways burning a hole in peo-ple’s pockets to the tune of Rs 60per ticket towards cancellationcharges.

Waiting list ticketscancellation irkstrain commuters

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andMalkajigiri MP A RevanthReddy on Monday attendedthe Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB) court in connectionwith the cash-for-vote casehere on Monday. Uday SimhaReddy and Sebastian alsoattended the court, alongwith the former. The courthas heard the petition filed byRevanth Reddy that cash-for-vote case will not come underthe ACB limits.

Revanth Reddy’s counselSupreme Court lawyerSiddhartha Luthra arguedsaying that the issue belongsto MLC elections, hence, theElection Tribunal has to takeup the case. While SpecialPublic Prosecutor SurenderRao argued on behalf of theACB. The arguments willcontinue in the ACB court onTuesday also.

Revanth attendsACB court incash-for-vote case

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is keen tosupport entrepreneurshipamong SC, ST youth and cre-ation of employment in theState, said Somesh Kumar,Chief Secretary. A delegationof DICCI (Dalit IndianChamber of Commerce andIndustry) met the ChiefSecretary at BRKR Bhavan andextended New Year greetings.

On the occasion, the ChiefSecretary has given assurancethat the government willextend the necessary support

for the benefit of SC, ST andweaker section entrepreneursto achieve success in differentsectors.

The government will assist tothe activities taken up byDICCI in promoting entrepre-

neurship in the State.The ChiefSecretary appreciated theDICCI members for their newinnovative works in differentindustries and hoped that theSC and ST entrepreneurs willbecome a role model at thenational level. He alsoinformed that the governmentis providing training to STyouth under CM’s STEntrepreneurs Innovation pro-gramme. He said that theindustrial sector under theleadership of KT Rama Rao isgoing places. He urged themembers to take up innovativeideas in entrepreneurship.

PNS n HYDERABAD

As per the directive of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao, Chief Secretary SomeshKumar directed the Secretariesand HoDs to complete all pro-motions to the employees atSecretariat and district levelwithout any delay on or beforeJanuary 31.

The Chief Secretary con-vened a meeting with all theSpecial Chief Secretaries, DGP,Principal Secretaries andSecretaries at BRKR Bhavanhere on Monday. He asked theSecretaries to complete com-passionate appointments with-out delay. Consequentialvacancies arising due to promo-tions should also be included

for the direct recruitment noti-fications. The Chief Secretaryinformed that weekly meetingson every Wednesday i.e; onJanuary 6, 20 and 27 will beheld to review promotions,compassionate appointmentsand direct recruitment vacan-cies. All the Secretaries andHoDs assured to take up theseissues on top priority in accor-dance with the vision of theChief Minister.

Chief Advisor toGovernment Rajiv Sharma,IAS(retired), Advisors toGovernment Anurag Sharma,IPS (retired), Dr KV RamanaChary, IAS (retired), AK Khan,IPS(retired), SK Joshi,IAS,(retired) attended themeeting.

Govt will extend support to SC,ST entrepreneurs, assures CS

CS’s fiat on promotions

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP MP Soyam Bapu Rao hasaccused the government ofreleasing 14 to 15 tigers inforests to drive away tribalsfrom their habitats in theforests. Levelling the allegationat a media conference here onMonday, the MP said thatefforts were under way to getrid of tribals from forests,hence, the State governmenthas been releasing tigers in theforest. He alleged that it was alla part of the conspiracy hatchedby the government and want-ed it to realise the ground real-ities at least now.

‘Govt releasingtigers in tribal hamlets’

TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy and J Geeta Reddy pay floral tributes toformer Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao at a seminar in Hyderabad on Monday

Horticulture department chiefscientist AV Rao, IndianCouncil of Agricultural

Research member J RangaRao, Cow-based Agriculture

Centre chairmanSubramanyaraju inspect the

Miyawaki forestation atKarimnagar Police Training

Centre on Monday

GREENERY AMIDSTCONCRETE

JUNGLE

Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao addresses a review meeting inHyderabad on Monday

“People especially

weavers from

Kodakandla have

been wanting the

mini-textile park,

which will improve

their livelihood

opportunities in

their hometown,’’

said IT and

Industries Minister

KT Rama Rao

n The cleaner, if time is set,will clear the cattle shed ofdung and clean the shedwithin the stipulated time.It is hailed as very cost-effective. The machine wonacclaim from many at theexperimental stage itself

n It is highly useful at atime when the farmersare facing a shortage ofworkers. The prototypewon the Telangana StateInnovation Cell officials

R Anirudh Reddy, assistantprofessor, ECE Department,

BVRIT, Narsapur

Sai Kiran Jayanthi,ECEstudent, BVRIT

Narsapur

Srinivasa Dileep, ECEstudent, BVRIT,

Narsapur

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021 nation 05

Maharashtra Legislative Councildeputy chairperson NeelamGorhe has written to state

ministers Anil Deshmukh and HasanMushrif asking them to look into acase where a woman was "banished"by three gram panchayats in Beeddistrict for filing a rape complaint.The letter, written on January 3 tostate home minister Deshmukh andrural development minister Mushrif, said the woman, from Gevraitehsil in Beed, had been acted against by the gram panchayats ofPachegaon, Vasantnagar Tanda and Jayram Naik Tanda after shecomplained of rape against four people. The people of these villageshad even taken a delegation to the local superintendent of policedemanding that the woman's complaint be ignored. In the letter,Gorhe has sought that an administrator be appointed for these grampanchayats and an inquiry be set up to find out why the districtauthorities failed to take action when such a banishment resolutionwas passed in breach of laws. The senior Shiv Sena leader alsodemanded that the aggrieved woman be given protection.

INDIA CORNER

Sena's Gorhe bats for woman‘banished' for rape complaint

The Income Tax departmenton Monday visited thepremises of Robert Vadra,

son-in-law of CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi, torecord his statement inconnection with its probe againsthim under the benami assetslaw, official sources said. Theysaid Vadra was asked to join theinvestigation at the tax authority's office but as he cited COVID-19restrictions, a team of officials visited his premises in Delhi'sSukhdev Vihar area. A department team has gone to record Vadra'sstatement under the provisions of the Prohibition of BenamiProperty Transactions Act, they said. The department has beenprobing Vadra, the husband of Congress leader Priyanka GandhiVadra, on charges of alleged possession of some undisclosedassets in the UK. The Enforcement Directorate too is investigatingthese charges, under the anti-money laundering law, against thebusinessman. Vadra had denied any wrongdoing in the past even asthe Congress party had called the action political vendetta.

Benami assets case: I-T deptvisits Robert Vadra's premises

Ahand grenade found in alake in Latur inMaharashtra, some 265

kilometres from here, wasdestroyed by a bomb detectionand disposal team and itsremains have been sent forexamination to Nanded, policesaid on Monday.It was found on Saturday inShirur Tajband lake inAhmedpur tehsil and destroyed on Sunday, an official said."An examination found that the object was a grenade.It was destroyed after a pit was dug and a safety perimetercreated around it. The remains have been sent for examinationto Nanded," the Ahmedpur police station official said.

Maha: Hand grenade destroyed in Latur, remains sent for probe

The bodies of a couple wereon Monday found hangingfrom a tree at Alaulpur

village in Bilhaur area here,police said. The deceased havebeen identified as Vikas Singh(22) and Aarti (19).The exact cause of their death isnot known yet, Superintendentof Police (Rural) BrajeshSrivastava said, adding that they did not leave behind any suicidenote.Initial probe revealed that the duo had fallen in love a few yearsago, he said.The incident is being investigated, the SP added.

Couple found hanging from tree in UP

PNS n NEW DELHI

The apprehension that farm-ers may lose their land underthe Centre's farm laws isbaseless, BJP leader and UttarPradesh Vyapaari KalyanBoard Chairman Ravi KantGarg said on Monday.

The former state ministerclaimed that the agriculturereforms introduced by theCentre will safeguard farmers'land. The transfer, sale andmortgaging of farmers' landduring the process of signingany agreement has beenstrictly prohibited, he said.

‘Farmers won'tlose land undernew farm laws’

PNS n NEW DELHI

The seventh round of talksbetween protesting farmerunions and three central min-isters got underway here onMonday afternoon to break theover-a-month-long deadlockon recent farm laws.

Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar,Railways, Commerce and FoodMinister Piyush Goyal andMinister of State forCommerce Som Parkash, whois an MP from Punjab, areholding the talks with the rep-resentatives of 40 farmerunions at the Vigyan Bhawan.

The meeting began withpaying respects to the farmerswho lost their lives during theongoing protest, sources said.

On December 30, the sixthround of talks was heldbetween the government andthe farmer unions, where somecommon ground was reachedon two demands -- decriminal-isation of stubble-burning andcontinuation of power subsi-dies.

However, no breakthroughhas been reached so far on thetwo main demands of theprotesting farmers -- a repealof the three recent farm laws

and a legal guarantee to theMSP procurement system.

On Sunday, Tomar metDefence Minister RajnathSingh and discussed the gov-ernment strategy to resolve thecurrent crisis at the earliest,sources said.

Tomar discussed with Singh"all possible options" to find a"middle path" to resolve thecrisis, they added.

Thousands of farmers,mainly from Punjab, Haryanaand western Uttar Pradesh, areprotesting at various Delhiborders for over a monthagainst the three laws. Theyhave stayed put despite heavy

rains and waterlogging atprotest sites over the last cou-ple of days, besides severe coldweather conditions prevailingin and around the national cap-ital.

Enacted in September 2020,the government has presentedthese laws as major farmreforms and aimed at increas-ing farmers' income, but theprotesting farmers have raisedconcerns that these legisla-tions would weaken the MSPand "mandi" (wholesale mar-ket) systems and leave them atthe mercy of big corporations.

The government has main-tained that these apprehensions

are misplaced and has ruledout repealing the laws.

While several oppositionparties and people from otherwalks of life have come out insupport of the farmers, somefarmer groups have also metthe agriculture minister overthe last few weeks to extendtheir support to the three laws.

Last month, the govern-ment had sent a draft propos-al to the protesting farmerunions, suggesting seven-eightamendments to the new lawsand a written assurance on theMSP procurement system. Thegovernment has ruled out arepeal of the three agri laws.

Union ministers meet farmergroups to break deadlock PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High CourtMonday granted permission toa woman for medical termina-tion of her 25-week pregnan-cy as survival of the foetus, suf-fering from serious abnor-malities, is unlikely.

The high court allowed thepetition by the 25-year-oldpregnant woman who wasseeking permission to abortthe foetus on the ground thatit was suffering from BilateralAgenesis and Anlyaramni,considering the report ofAIIMS that the condition ispoor and “survival of foetus isunlikely”.

“I see no reason to deny per-mission for medical termina-tion of pregnancy. The petitionis therefore allowed,” JusticeNavin Chawla said.

The court's permission wasrequired as Section 3 of theMedical Termination ofPregnancy Act does not per-mit termination of pregnancyin case the period of gestationis more than 20 weeks.

The high court had earlierdirected the MedicalSuperintendent (MS) of AIIMSto forthwith constitute a boardto examine the condition of thewoman whose foetus was suffer-ing from serious abnormali-

ties.It had asked the MS of All

India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) to submitthe report regarding the med-ical condition of the foetus andthe possibility of the foetus notsurviving the term of the preg-nancy.

Advocate Sneha Mukherjee,representing the woman, sub-mitted that the foetus wouldnot survive till child birth asboth the kidneys have notdeveloped as yet and addedthat in the circumstances itwould be futile to compel thepetitioner to undergo the fullterms of pregnancy.

The plea said during anultra-sonography, conductedon the woman at the gestation-

al age of 25 weeks, it was dis-covered that the fetus suf-fered from Bilateral RenalAgenesis (both kidneysabsent) thereby making itincompatible with life.

However, the woman hadcrossed the 20 weeks mark andmedical termination of preg-nancy is restricted thereafter.

In January this year, theunion cabinet had approvedthe Medical TerminationPregnancy (Amendment)Bill, 2020, which providesfor enhancing the upper ges-tation limit from 20 to 24weeks for special categories ofwomen including survivors ofrape, victim of incest andother vulnerable women, likedifferently abled and minors.

HC allows termination of 25-week pregnancy

PNS n NEW DELHI

Ahead of the next round oftalks between the Centre andthe agitating farmers, theCongress Monday said it wouldbe a "true test of nationalism”,and warned no governmentcan face the wrath of farmers"who believe they are beingdeceived".

The government will holdthe seventh round of talkswith the agitating farmers andtheir leaders at Vigyan Bhawanlater in the day. Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala said on Twitter,"Today is the true test of

‘Nationalism'. Will ModiGovernment act in ‘NationalInterest' or ‘Crony CorporateInterest'." The Congress hasbeen demanding the repeal ofthe three farm laws whoseenactment has triggered a mas-sive protest by farmers.

Congress leader RahulGandhi said those sitting underthe dripping tents in the win-ter rains "are our own fearlessfarmers and not strangers".

There is nothing more left tobe seen as far as the govern-ment's "brutality" on farmers is

concerned, he alleged, as heshared some pictures of agitat-ing farmers braving the winterchill while protesting at Delhi'sborders.

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra said around 60farmers have lost their lives inthe course of the agitation dueto the "government's arro-gance". Sharing a video of thetear gas shells being hurled atthem, she asked how the farm-ers can trust this government.

'On one hand, the govern-ment is calling farmers fortalks and on the other it is hurl-ing tar gas shells at them in thischilling winter cold. Around 60

farmers have lost their lives dueto this arrogant and cruelbehaviour of the government.How can farmers trust thiscruel government?" She askedin a tweet in Hindi.

Congress leader PChidambaram cited the wordsof noted poet SaintTiruvalluvar who, the Congressleader noted, wrote about 2,000years ago that "if farmers foldtheir hands, even a personwho has renounced life cannotsurvive". "How true it is today.No government can face thewrath of farmers who believethey are being deceived," hesaid on Twitter.

True test of ‘nationalism' today: Congress

PNS n NEW DELHI

How to prevent the next pan-demic? As 2021 begins withCOVID-19 continuing its glob-al spread, scientists have spot-lighted three approaches to atleast reduce the risk of pan-demic potential diseases –screening animals, reducingland-use change and improvinghealth infrastructure.

There can be no one answerto the question at the centre ofan anxious debate across aworld coping with COVID-19and wondering what will hap-pen if another one comes, butthe global scientific communi-ty has been working on multi-ple tracks to ensure thathumankind is better prepared.

Following several multidis-ciplinary studies in 2020, sci-entists now firmly believe a“perfect storm” for an out-break with pandemic potentialis created by the combinedforces of land-use change, high

population density and thepresence of interfaces betweenwildlife and domestic animals.

“We are only as strong asour weakest 'link' given ourglobally connected society,"Krutika Kuppalli, an expert inemerging infectious diseasesaffiliated with the StanfordUniversity School of Medicinein the US, told PTI.

Manuel Ruiz, wildlife veteri-

narian at Montana StateUniversity in the US, addedthat one of the best ways to pre-vent the next pandemic is to"sample animals across theworld to characterise potentialpathogens”.

Instead of spending moneyto curb outbreaks once theyoccurred, “we could invest inreforestation and in trying tochange the way we interact

with wildlife, and alter our levelof land-use change", Ruiz said.

Earlier in the pandemic, itbecame clear that efforts apply-ing scientific approaches toprevent the next big outbreakcould cost countries way lessthan the expenditures theyhave meted out to controlCOVID-19.

A study published in July inthe journal Science estimatedthat COVID-19 may likely costthe global economy betweenUSD 8.1 and 15.8 trillion. Itadded that preventing majoroutbreaks could be 500 timescheaper than the expenditures

meted out to curb the ongoingpandemic

According to Ruiz, detectingor classifying every singlepathogen in the world's wildlifewould be close to impossible,but new methods usingmachine learning algorithmscan be used to generate a cat-alogue of pathogens fromwhich the animal host andplace where the next outbreakmay happen could be predict-ed.

One such international col-laborative project that cameinto the spotlight in 2020 wasUSAID's PREDICT, which

aimed to strengthen globalcapacity for the detection ofnew viruses with pandemicpotential.

Working with over 30 coun-tries and screening more than1,64,000 animals and people,the project has detected near-ly 100 novel viruses globally,including the Bombaliebolavirus and the deadlyMarburg virus.

“The PREDICT project bythe US has created this bigdataset of viruses circulating inbats and other wildlife. Andeven now we know only a smallproportion of the potentialpathogens circulating outthere,” Ruiz, who studies thetransmission of diseases frombats to humans, told PTI.

As several studies in thepast have highlighted, batshave unique 'super immunesystems', enabling them tocarry viruses such as the Nipahvirus and SARS-CoV-2 with-out being infected.

Scientists identify ways of preventing next pandemicEarlier in the pandemic, it becameclear that efforts applying scientificapproaches to prevent the next bigoutbreak could cost countries wayless than the expenditures they havemeted out to control Covid

PNS n GUWAHATI

The Assam government willgive scooters and financialincentives to girl students toensure that they attend class-es regularly, Education minis-ter Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The state government wascurrently distributing 22,000two-wheelers to Class 12 girlstudents who passed in thefirst division from the stateboard under the PragyanBharti Scheme, he said atSivasagar on Sunday.

The state government willincur an expenditure of Rs144.30 crore for the purpose.

The state government willprovide scooters to all girl stu-dents who passed in the firstdivision from the state boardeven if the number crosses alakh, he said.

Scooters will also be provid-ed to all girl students who

passed Class 12 examinationin the first division in 2018 and2019.

Financial incentives willalso be provided to all girl stu-dents from school to post-graduate level and the schemewould be launched by theend of this month.

He said that girl school stu-dents would be given Rs 100daily for each day so that theyattend school while an amountof Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 willbe given to undergraduateand postgraduate studentsrespectively.

The minster is on a visit todistribute scooters also partic-ipated in a cycle rally onMonday. Meanwhile, atten-dance in schools, whichreopened on January one afterbeing closed for nearly 10months due to COVID-19,was much higher on Mondaythan the first two days.

Assam to give scooters,incentives to girl students

PNS n BHOPAL

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan on Monday said hewill take the COVID-19 vac-cine shot after priority groupsget vaccinated.

Addressing commissioners,district collectors and superin-tendents of police in the statethrough video-conferencing,Chouhan said all districts ofMadhya Pradesh are ready forthe COVID-19 vaccination.

"All types of arrangementshave been made. I have decid-ed not to get vaccinatedfornow. First, we will ensure thatthe priority groups get vacci-nated and later I will go forvaccination," the CM tweetedwhile sharing details of hisaddress during the meeting.

India's drugs regulator onSunday approved OxfordCOVID-19 vaccine Covishield,

manufactured by the SerumInstitute, and indigenouslydeveloped Covaxin of BharatBiotech for restricted emer-gency use in the country,paving the way for a massiveinoculation drive.

On Saturday, nearly 75health workers underwentdummy vaccination in theMadhya Pradesh capitalBhopal as part of the first dryrun of COVID-19 vaccine

programme in the state, anofficial earlier said.

He said as per the plan,20,000 to 25,000 coronaviruswarriors would first receive thevaccine when the inoculationprocess begins in the state.

The state governmentrecently ordered closure of allCOVID care centres in thestate, except those in Bhopal,from January 1 in view of thelow occupancy of beds.

When asked about the exactnumber of the COVID carecentres which are now closed,state additional director(health) Veena Sinha told PTIon Sunday that these centreswere opened as per need andthere was no fixed number.

Currently, no patient or sus-pected COVID-19 caseremained admitted at thesecentres, following which the

decision was taken to shutthem, she said.

Will take vaccine after prioritygroups are inoculated: MP CM

PNS n GAJRAULA (UP)

A cattle-laden truck over-turned after suffering a tyreburst on the Delhi-Moradabad highway onMonday, leaving six peopledead and 10 others seriouslyinjured, officials said.

The truck was going toSambal from Jaipur whenthe accident took place nearMohamdabad village, theysaid.The deceased are yet toidentified. The bodies havebeen sent for postmortem.

Truck turnsturtle on Delhi-MoradabadHW, six killed

Accept alldemands offarmers, saysKejriwal

AGRI LAWS

Foetus unlikely to survive with abnormalities

WILDLIFE, LAND-USE CHANGE AND HEALTH INFRA

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Chief Minister andAAP convener ArvindKejri-wal on Mondayappealed to the Centre toaccept all the demands ofthe protesting farmers andrepeal the three farm laws.

In a tweet ahead of theprotesting farmer unions' meet-ing with the Centre, Kejriwallauded their resolve in contin-uing their agitation. "Salute tothe resolve of the farmersstaying firm on the roadsdespite rains and cold. Iappeal to the Centre to acceptall the demands of the farm-ers and repeal the threeblack farm laws in today'smeeting," Kejriwal tweeted.

Farmers from Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andsome other states are camp-ing at several entry points ofthe national capital blockingthe highways, demandingthat the Centre repeal thefarm laws and give legalguarantee of minimum sup-port price (MSP) for crops.Farmers who have beencamping at Delhi bordersfor the last 39 days bravingcold and now rains havethreatened to intensify theirprotest if their two majordemands are not acceptedby the government in theJanuary 4 meeting.

The recent judgment of theAllahabad High Courtupholding the freedom ofexpression guaranteed

under Article 19(1)(a) and chidingthe State of Uttar Pradesh (UP) formalicious prosecution of a personwho had criticised the ChiefMinister for “poor handling of lawand order in his State”, shouldhopefully have a salutary effect onthe State Governments which havebeen recklessly using penal provi-sions in our laws against those whoexpress dissent.

The case pertained to a FirstInformation Report (FIR) lodged inAugust 2020 against YashwantSingh, who put out a tweet criticis-ing the Chief Minister for trans-forming the State “into a jungle rajin which no law and order prevails”.The tweet also made reference tovarious incidents of abduction,demand of ransom and murders.He was accused of violating twoprovisions in the law — Section 500of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) per-taining to defamation and Section66D of the Information Technology(IT) Act, 2008, which pertains topersonation, or what is commonlyunderstood as impersonation.Yashwant Singh petitioned theHigh Court and sought the quash-ing of the FIR.

The petitioner’s counsel con-tended that the right to commenton the affairs of the State was wellwithin Yashwant Singh’s constitu-tional right envisaged under Article19 of the Constitution of India andthat “mere dissent does not amountto criminality”. Hence, the FIR reg-istered against him was mala fide“and was meant only to coerce himto stop expressing his dissent againstthe State Government”. He also con-tended that no offence had beenmade out and that the FIR shouldbe quashed.

A Division Bench, comprisingJustices Pankaj Naqvi and VivekAgarwal of the Allahabad HighCourt, has made a succinct but sig-nificant observation while quashingthe FIR and other proceedingsagainst the petitioner. Referring tothe charge of “defamation” underSection 500 of the IPC, the judgessaid that no case had been made out“as the alleged tweet cannot be saidto fall within the mischief ofdefamation”. The judges struck ablow for democracy when they saidthat “expressing dissent on the lawand order situation in the State is ahallmark of a constitutional liberaldemocracy like ours, constitution-ally protected under Article 19 of theConstitution”.

The second charge against the

petitioner pertained to violationof Section 66D of the IT Act,2008, which states: “Whoever, bymeans of any communicationdevice or computer resource,cheats by personation, shall bepunished with imprisonment ofeither description for a termwhich may extend to three yearsand shall also be liable to a finewhich may extend to `1 lakh.”The judges analysed these provi-sions vis-à-vis the allegationmade in the FIR and said thatthey did not find “even remote-ly” a commission of offenceunder Section 66D, as the saidprovision relates to cheating bypersonation and it is not the caseof prosecution that while com-mitting the overt act, the petition-er tweeted using somebody else’stwitter handle nor was there anyallegation of cheating. Hence, thecourt concluded that no offencehad been made out under thisSection as well.

As far as the State is con-cerned, this is indeed a damningindictment of the Governmentand the police. To prosecute a cit-izen for criminal defamation —which can entail a fine or a jailterm which can extend up to twoyears — because he is disappoint-ed with the Chief Minister’s han-dling of the law and order situa-tion is something unheard of inthis country, and the judges haverightly ticked off the State fordoing so.

But this scenario is not con-fined to UP only. Several otherChief Ministers and StateGovernments have begun chal-lenging the basic freedoms givento all citizens by the Constitution.The State of West Bengal would

head this list, not only for thesheer number of such cases butalso for starting this trend of jail-ing its critics. It all started with theMamata Banerjee Governmentarresting Prof AmbikeshMahapatra of JadavpurUniversity and his friend in 2012and charging them with offencesunder the IT Act for circulatingcartoons lampooning the ChiefMinister. Following his arrest,

Prof Mahapatra moved the StateHuman Rights Commission,which criticised their arrest anddirected the State Government topay each of them a compensationof `50,000. The State did notcomply with the directions of thecommission, compelling theProfessor to move the CalcuttaHigh Court. The court upheldthe rights commission’s order andenhanced the amount of com-pensation payable to ProfMahapatra and his friend to`75,000 each.

Even more absurd was thesedition charge slapped on a folksinger in Tamil Nadu in 2015 forcriticising the then Chief MinisterJ Jayalalithaa’s policy on the issueof prohibition.

The Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist)-led KeralaGovernment was unhappy withthe State Lalithakala Akademi’sdecision to select a cartoon,which mocked a Bishop accusedof rape, for its annual awards.Several Christian outfits and theState Government wanted theautonomous body to re-consid-er its decision. The Akademi,however, did not relent.

Those of us who are seniorcitizens, have lived and thrived ina healthy democratic environ-ment in this country in which wehave said much harsher thingsagainst the persons in power. Atthe height of the controversy overthe kickbacks paid by Bofors, theSwedish arms manufacturer, toIndian politicians and others, theIndian Express ran RamJethmalani’s famous 10 ques-tions to Prime Minister RajivGandhi every day. Reading thosequestions, Rajiv must have

squirmed every morning but hehad to grin and bear it!

In fact, many of these ChiefMinisters must look at howPrime Minister Narendra Modideals with those who abuse himon the social media. The Modi-baiters constantly upload car-toons and memes seeking toridicule him on Twitter andFacebook. They often generatehashtags like “#WorstPrime-Minister” or some such andbegin a trend along with theircamp followers. On his last birth-day, they created a hashtag,“#NationalUnemploymentDay”,and kept it going the whole day.He is probably the most trolledIndian. Often, his political ene-mies cross the limits of decency.As Modi himself said at a publicmeeting during the last LokSabha elections, a Congressleader called him “gandi naali kakeeda” (a gutter insect) whileanother said that he was a “maddog”. Can there be anythingmore defamatory and abusivethan this? If the Prime Minister’sOffice were to prosecute all thesepeople, Modi would need to cre-ate a full-fledged department tohandle these prosecutions.

In fact, this is one of the pro-fessional hazards of being inpublic life in a democracy and,over the years, and especially inthe age of social media, thepoliticians across democraticcountries — including India —have learnt to develop a thickhide. Some of our Chief Ministersmust follow suit.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies. The views expressed arepersonal.)

On the face of it, what some Indian cricketers inAustralia did by stepping out for a meal was nota big deal. After adhering to Australia’s quar-

antine norms, they were fully within their rights to stepout for a spread. The question is whether an overen-thusiastic Indian fan breached their “bubble” by hug-ging one of the players, as he claimed on the socialmedia. Of course, since that breach we have seen clar-ifications and what not and the “supposed” breachof the bubble has become part of the “mind games”that are a feature of any Australian tour. And, of course,there are those in India who are more upset about whatthe cricketers were eating rather than anything else.However, this incident also highlights something else

altogether and that is more worrying than what these sportsmen ate or did not eat.The problem with any top-level athletes is that they are superstars. Indian Test playersare no exception and, given that the Indian diaspora loves their cricketers, they will bemobbed, hugged or kissed wherever they go. Until the Coronavirus upended our livesand particularly that of global athletes, that was not a problem. Now, however, all sportsper-sons — particularly superstars like Indian cricketers — will have to lead very asceticlives, much like Lewis Hamilton did during the 2020 Formula 1 season.

That is not going to be an easy task for anyone, particularly for a top-level sportstar. But this is a decision that they have to take for themselves, even if they have theability to go out like the quartet of Indian cricketers in Australia: How much do they wantto push the limits and, more importantly, can they push the limits at a time when every-body and their uncle has a smartphone? It is almost certain that in the coming months,a top-level athlete will get caught in a scandal, where they breached the bubble by spend-ing the night with someone or the other. While that was par for the course before every-thing went down, it is not the right thing today. It is not easy staying isolated with onlyyour team and support staff for company, particularly in a strange land. Modern com-munication technologies do make things easier but, make no mistake, staying for daysin a strange hotel room is not a great life, no matter how good the monetary compen-sation. Sports authorities — and in the case of India, a quick aside where we wish SouravGanguly a quick recovery from his cardiac issues — have to dedicate time and effortto soothe the mental health issues that isolation will bring on.

India’s planned vaccination drive against theCoronavirus has understandably generated a lot ofcuriosity, controversy, questions and anxieties. And

at this stage of the pandemic, where the nation is beingchallenged by wave attacks of the mutant virus andwhen our healthcare systems are being worn out tocontain the spiral, the deadliest threat comes not somuch from the disease itself but from misinforma-tion. It is of utmost importance, therefore, that we fol-low science and transparency, go for an exact enu-meration of facts as they are rather than claiming ahuman achievement and send out the right kind of

public service message. Certainly, we can do away without politicising the vaccineprocess, be it by the Government, which needs to curb its over-ambitiousness, orthe Opposition, which is questioning every move just for the sake of doing so. Whileclearing two vaccines for emergency use — Serum Institute’s Covishield and BharatBiotech’s Covaxin — the Government is obviously acting on the notion that thoughtheir efficacy and immunogenicity are still not fully proven as they are still in the trialstage, they are safe enough to be administered and good enough to trigger fightbackresponses in a major part of the population, break the chain of transmission and buildup herd immunity. Every nation is betting on this and our evaluators are still seekingdata for those vaccines even cleared in the West. The drug regulator has built in checksand balances, making their emergency use approval conditional on the developerssubmitting details of both the progress and side-effects to it every fortnight. Besides,each person receiving the dose will be monitored and their responses updated as ifthey are in the “clinical trial mode”. As for the use of Covaxin, which is still awaitingdata from its ongoing clinical trials, the Government and the Indian Council for MedicalResearch (ICMR) are repeatedly clarifying that it is a back-up vaccine and the firstseries to be rolled out will be that of the Serum Institute, which has advanced in tri-als and results. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has himself said while vaccines approvedglobally based on gene encoding spike proteins have protective efficacy of over 90per cent, Covaxin — which is based on the whole inactivated virus — has other anti-genic epitopes in addition to spike protein. So it’s likely to have similar protective effi-cacy, even for the new strain that has surfaced in the US. But the fact of the matteris that suppositions are not good enough and the Government should immediatelyprioritise an information dissemination system comprising experts, and not bureau-crats, to maintain transparency. Suppression of information could be risky given thatthe vaccine’s effectiveness could vary among different people and gene pools as wouldits side-effects. The fact that the Government did not take questions while approvingthe vaccine use, therefore, backfired somewhat and exposed it to the Opposition’scharges of opacity on a sensitive issue, much like in Russia and China. It is good toclarify that the proposed dosage regime is a work in progress and could be amend-ed depending on shifting data interpretation.

There should be a systematic myth-busting and detailed protocols for adversereactions to eliminate fears and doubts. People must be made fully aware of whatcould go wrong, too, and how that could be taken care of easily as well. Withoutthis interactivity, there will continue to be a trust deficit. The Government’s chal-lenge is to treat a complex issue with sensitivity, maturity and certain simplicity, allat the same time. Of course, equal responsibility is expected of the Opposition. Wecertainly could have done without the kind of response that came from SamajwadiParty (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who said he wouldn’t opt for the inoculation sim-ply because he didn’t believe in a “BJP vaccine”. Or the Congress casting doubtson the indigenously-developed Covaxin, running down an effort that is being pio-neered by the nation’s best minds. The vaccine has already been used on childrenabove 12 in the previous round and has been declared safe. Its third-level trials areon with the biggest sample size and it could actually turn out to be our aatmanirb-har asset. The questions that the Opposition indeed needs to ask are about howwhat looks like a Central plan, using a general election-like apparatus, will be imple-mented neutrally in States, particularly the non-BJP ones. Kerala has already arguedthat given its highest peak since the outbreak and with a large part of its popula-tion suffering co-morbidities, it be given priority for vaccine allocation. How muchof the costs will be divided between the Centre and the States? Who will ensurequality, demarcate the population slabs and who will command this new data ofpublic health? In the end, public health issues become political, and this is the tough-est challenge we need to overcome.

Politics of vaccineP A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021

06

Bubble breach

The Govt needs to be upfront about the inoculation drivebut the Opp, too, needs to act with equal responsibility

Very few meals that Indian athletes have had have ever set off such an intensive discussion

A thick hide is a mustAs a growing number of CMs takes umbrage at being criticised, they'dbetter understand that getting flak is a professional hazard in public life

A SURYA PRAKASH

SEVERAL CHIEFMINISTERS AND

STATEGOVERNMENTSHAVE STARTED

CHALLENGING THEBASIC FREEDOMS

GIVEN TO ALLCITIZENS BY THE

CONSTITUTION

Roof collapse tragedySir — The roof of a shelter at acrematorium in UP'sMuradnagar collapsed onSunday, claiming at least 24 livesand injuring many others. Theroof collapsed at a time whenseveral people had taken shelterunder the structure during aheavy downpour.

It is a serious case of negli-gence on the part of the admin-istration which failed to improvethe condition of the dilapidatedstructure. Those injured areundergoing treatment at differ-ent hospitals. Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath had on Sundayannounced `2 lakh as financialrelief for the families of each ofthe deceased. The victims’ kinblocked the Delhi-MeerutHighway demanding highercompensastion.

On Monday three municipalofficials were arrested by theGhaziabad police over the roofcollapse incident.

The State Governmentshould ensure better manage-ment at such places and takesteps to make sure that over-crowding is avoided at thefunerals during the COVID-19.

MR JayanthiGhaziabad

Speedy recovery Sir — BCCI president and for-mer India captain SouravGanguly, who has undergoneangioplasty after a mild heartattack, is now stable and hishealth parameters are beingclosely monitored.

The 48-year-old sufferedchest discomfort on Saturdaywhile exercising at his home gym

and was admitted to a hospital inKolkata.

We, the cricket fans, pray forhis speedy recovery. Since evenactive cricketers suffer such mildattacks, it is time to routinelyundergo medical tests annuallyto avoid a major setback.

The incident should also betaken as a warning by the gen-eral public. We should learn

from it and the health authori-ties should strive to take aware-ness, education and training tothe citizens to increase thechances of saving more lives asthe immediate minutes followinga heart attack are critical and atrained person can mean the dif-ference between life and death.

CKR NathanKolkata

Vaccine supply chain Sir — After the expert commit-tee’s approval for both SerumInstitute of India’s Covishield andBharat Biotech’s Covaxin, the ballis in the Government’s court toensure seamless administrationof these vaccines to the citizens.

The supply chain infrastruc-ture and management would betested to the core during thisexercise. Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan has alreadyannounced that the vaccinationwill be free across the nation and,in the first phase of COVID-19inoculation, it shall be providedto one crore healthcare and twocrore frontline workers.

The Government cannot belax in its approach towards com-bating the deadly virus.Comprehensive supply chainmechanisms need to be preparedand shared with people so thattotal transparency is maintainedto gain people's trust. All COVIDprotocols, like social distancingand wearing masks, must be seri-ously followed till all the citizensget vaccinated.

Bal GovindNoida

Govt, farmers should engage Nobel laureates

The Union Government and the agitating farmers mustengage Nobel laureates like Amartya Sen and AbhijitBanerjee in the ongoing parleys to find an amica-

ble solution to their stalemate. The protesting farmersand the Centre are yet to reach an agreement over therecently introduced farm laws that have emerged as abone of contention between the growers and theGovernment.

Sen and Banerjee can suggest ways of ending theimbroglio and emerging from the crisis. Sen has madeimmense contributions to welfare economics andsocial justice. Banerjee is currently the Ford FoundationInternational Professor of Economics at MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (MIT). They both have in-depthknowledge and understanding of the agriculture scenarioand the challenges it faces.

Indian agriculture is prone to a plethora of prob-lems, including abuse of land, extremity of weather, lackof infrastructure, stockpiling of grains, the chain of mid-dlemen and several other factors that make life miser-able for the farmers.

The seventh round of talks between the farmers’

representatives and the Government began on Mondayas the agitation entered the 40th day, with the farmersstill not ready to settle for anything less than the repealof the three farm laws and a legal guarantee on theMinimum Support Price (MSP). The farmers’ leadershave announced a fortnight-long campaign, rallies anddharna between January 6 and January 12. The agitat-ing farmers have already announced a tractor rally onJanuary 26 towards Delhi to press for their demands.

Madhu P VSecunderabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Opening batsman DavidWarner brings the X-factor toAustralia and the team wouldlove to have him play the thirdTest against India even if he isnot 100 per cent fit. Australian cricketer

Nathan Lyon

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

S O U N D B I T EDeepika Padukone has done areally good job in making allof us feel comfortable on theset. There are no intimidatingvibes. We did workshopstogether, too. She is a verycaring person.ActorAnanya Panday

Party's State leaders andcadres should strive toensure our victory in theensuing by-elections tothe Belagavi Lok Sabhaseat and two Assemblyseats.Karnataka CMBS Yediyurappa

The countries, includingRussia and China, which votedagainst a resolution recentlyadopted by the 75th UNGA onthe human rights situation ofthe Rohingya refugees, couldplay a better role.Bangladesh Foreign MinisterAK Abdul Momen

A taxing problem

THE HOUSES THAT I BUILT ARE BEING DEMOLISHED

BY THE CONGRESS. I WISH I WAS AS SMART AS YOU

AND WOULD'VE KEPT THE CONGRESS HAPPY.

—ACTOR

KANGANA RANAUT

I HAVE PROOF THAT I BOUGHT MY OFFICE WITH MY

HARD-EARNED MONEY. I BOUGHT MY FLAT MUCH

BEFORE I ENTERED POLITICS.

—ACTOR-POLITICIAN

URMILA MATONDKAR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tri-bunal in The Hague has rejected the back taxdemands of Indian tax authorities in both, the

Cairn and Vodafone cases. These back taxes relateto capital gains made on transactions in 2006-2007.According to the PCA, the demands have beenrejected on two counts. First, they violate India’sobligations under Bilateral Investment Treaties.Second, they are based on a retrospective amend-ment to a tax law passed in 2012. Both the argumentsare untenable. As regards the first, tax is levied onthe earnings of the companies from their operationsin India. The Government has done nothing to puttheir investment at risk. As for the second, the 2012amendment was only in the nature of a “clarifica-tion” to remove ambiguity and bring out the realintent of the law i.e. levy tax on income generatedfrom an underlying asset in India. This is irrespec-tive of how the transaction was given effect. Evenwhen it involves indirect transfer of shares, it can’tbe construed as a change in the law itself. TheNarendra Modi Government has challenged, right-ly so, the tribunal’s order in the Vodafone case andis expected to follow suit in the Cairn case, too.

The capital gains made by the firms on sale oftheir ownership in Indian companies run into tensof thousands of crores. But on September 25, 2020,the PCA rejected the I-T Department’s demand for`22,100 crore in back taxes (`7,990 crore plus inter-est and penalty) relating to Vodafone Group Plc (theBritish telecom giant) $11 billion acquisition of 67per cent stake in the Hutchison Essar Ltd (HEL) —an Indian company running a mobile phone busi-ness — owned by Hutchison Whampoa (HW) inFebruary 2007.

The tribunal held that the Indian Government’sdemand from Vodafone using retrospective legis-lation was in “breach of the guarantee of fair andequitable treatment” assured under the bilateralinvestment protection pact between India and theNetherlands. It also asked the Centre to reimburseVodafone 60 per cent of its legal costs (about `85crore) and half of the Euro 6,000 cost borne byVodafone for appointing an arbitrator on the panel.

Second, on December 23, 2020, a three-mem-ber tribunal at the PCA invalidated India’s March2015 tax claim of around `24,000 crore (`10,247crore in tax plus interest and penalty) on the Britishbehemoth Cairn Energy on capital gains made byit on the “internal reorganisation of its India busi-ness” run by Cairn India in 2006-07 (then, CairnUK transferred shares of its subsidiary Cairn IndiaHoldings to Cairn India).

It also ordered the Indian I-T Department toreturn up to $1.2 billion to Cairn Energy in fundswithheld by the former including the (i) value of thelatter’s 10 per cent shares in Cairn India attached andsold (during 2011, even as Cairn Energy had soldmajority of its holding in Cairn India to Vedanta,the department did not allow it to sell 10 per cent);(ii) seizure of dividends that the company paid toits parent and (iii) tax refunds withheld to recoverthe tax demand. Add $200 million of interest on theseamounts and $20 million of arbitration cost, the totalcomes to $1.4 billion. Cairn can use the arbitrationaward to approach courts in countries such as theUK to seize any property owned by India overseasto recover the money, if the award is not honoured.

There is widespread consternation over the deci-sion of the Indian Government to raise the demandsin the very first place and thereafter pursue thesein the court. Critics argue that raising the demandusing a retrospective amendment in tax laws (this

was enacted in 2012 to negate a judgmentof the Supreme Court in the Vodafone casethat had declared untenable a tax demandearlier raised on the February 2007 trans-action; armed with this amendment, it res-urrected that demand in 2013 besides rais-ing demand on Cairn Energy using thesame law) affects long-term stability of thefiscal environment and underminesinvestor confidence.

Prima facie, retrospective amendmentin tax laws may look bad. Investors canargue that they take decisions on the basisof prevailing laws of the land and if lawsare changed midstream, this is unfair asit undermines the very basis of the busi-ness decision. The million-dollar questionis: Did the then Government fundamen-tally alter the law? To get to the bottomof the truth, we need to closely look at thegenesis behind the 2012 amendment.

The cardinal principle of taxation isthat tax is levied on income generatedfrom an asset. In the Vodafone case, theunderlying asset was the mobile phonebusiness then run by HEL. HW having67 per cent shareholding in HEL throughits fully owned Cayman Island-based sub-sidiary, viz; CGP Investments sold theentire 67 per cent to Vodafone’sNetherland-based subsidiary VodafoneInternational Holding. From the sale ofthese shares, HW made major capitalgains. This was made possible due toincrease in valuation of the Indian asset,viz; HEL — rechristened Vodafone IndiaLimited (VIL) after acquisition of major-ity shares by Vodafone. Hence, the IndianGovernment is fully entitled to collect taxon this income. Yet, the firms exploited anambiguity in the extant law by citing thatthe transaction took place between twoforeign entities CGP Investments andVodafone International Holding Ltd (thebuyer), thus, camouflaging it as an “indi-rect transfer” of Indian assets.

To stop abuse and plug the loopholeof such indirect transfer of Indian assets,in 2012, the Government amended the lawto make such transfers (albeit indirect) tax-able in India. As per an amendment toSection 9 of the Income-Tax Act in 2012,if any share or interest in a foreign entityderives its value substantially from theassets located in India, then such share orinterest is deemed to be situated in Indiaand any income arising from transfer ofsuch a share or interest is deemed to arisein India.

The amendment was merely in thenature of a “clarification” to the subsist-ing law aimed at making the intention ofthe law explicit. Quite clearly, the realintent was to ensure that the income gen-erated from an “underlying asset” in Indiairrespective of how this transaction wasgiven effect — even when it involves indi-rect transfer of shares — is taxed by theIndian Government.

Enacted after the aforementionedtransactions had happened, while this maygive it the colour of being retrospective,the fact remains that the amendment wasonly in the nature of a “clarification.” It can’tbe construed as a change in the law itself.Assuming for the sake of argument thatthe Centre can’t collect tax then, are we toinfer that the capital gains made from saleof Indian assets will go untaxed? Does itnot violate the basic tenet of taxation?

The demand raised by the I-TDepartment is pursuant to a law passedby a sovereign Parliament. There isabsolutely nothing illegal about it. Had itbeen so, the top court would have declaredit invalid. The ruling of the internation-al arbitration tribunal in the two cases citesthe tax demand as being violation of India’sobligation under Bilateral InvestmentTreaty with the countries concerned. Theargument does not hold water as theIndian Government has only levied tax on

the earnings of the companies. There isnothing to suggest that it has put at riskthe latter’s investment in India. Even so,taxation is not covered under investmentprotection treaties and the law on taxationis a sovereign right of the country.

In the Cairns Energy case, the tribunalhas referred to a statement by the thenFinance Minister, Arun Jaitley, onNovember 7, 2014, that his Governmenthad taken a “policy decision that as far asthis Government is concerned, eventhough there is a sovereign power of ret-rospective taxation, we are not going toexercise that power.” The demand raisedby the I-T Department is in no way incon-gruous with Jaitley’s assertion as it is mere-ly the result of removing an ambiguity inthe extant law and certainly does not fallin the category of retrospective tax.

To conclude, India’s sovereign taxationrights can’t be held hostage to its bilater-al investment treaties with other countries.Keeping this overarching consideration inmind and opinion of the Solicitor Generalthat an “arbitral tribunal can’t render a lawpassed by a sovereign Parliament ineffec-tive,” the Government has decided to chal-lenge the tribunal’s order. In the Vodafonecase, on December 24, 2020, it filed a peti-tion in the Singapore court well within thethree-month deadline from the date oforder. In the Cairn Energy case too, itshould challenge the tribunal’s order.

Undoubtedly, India needs foreigninvestment in its march towards acceler-ated growth. But this can’t be taken tomean that the Government will forgo itslegitimate tax dues on the gains made byforeign investors from their operationshere. It should pursue all available legaloptions to make Vodafone and Cairn payup.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst. The views expressed

are personal.)

India’s sovereign taxation rights on capital gains cannot be held hostageto its bilateral investment treaties with other countries

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

What lies aheadfor Sasikala?

KALYANI SHANKAR

Soon to be released from prison, the lateJayalalithaa’s companion is keeping her cards

close to her chest. But 2021 is not 2017

UTTAM GUPTA

UNDOUBTEDLY,INDIA NEEDS

FOREIGNINVESTMENT IN

ITS MARCHTOWARDS

ACCELERATEDGROWTH. BUTTHIS CAN’T BE

TAKEN TO MEANTHAT THE

GOVERNMENTWILL FORGO ITSLEGITIMATE TAX

DUES ON THEGAINS MADE BY

FOREIGNINVESTORS

FROM THEIROPERATIONS

HERE. IT SHOULDPURSUE ALL

AVAILABLE LEGALOPTIONS TO MAKE

VODAFONE ANDCAIRN PAY UP

VK Sasikala, a close aide and companion of former Tamil NaduChief Minister J Jayalalithaa, will be released from prison soon.Post-Jayalalithaa’s demise in December 2016, there was mas-

sive political turmoil and a major power struggle within the rulingAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) until Sasikalawas sent to jail in February 2017 for four years. She is expectedto walk out of the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru in January-end after completing her prison term in a disproportionate assetscase. The big question is, will she become a factor in Tamil Nadupolitics ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled to be held inApril-May? Some believe that Sasikala can play a role and otherssay that she might bide her time for now but there is no way toknow what her plans for the future are.

For Sasikala, it was the proverbial slip between the cup and thelip in 2017. She was about to become the Chief Minister of TamilNadu soon after Jayalalithaa’s death but destiny took her to prison.People close to her say her ambition is intact though the politics ofthe State has changed in the last four years. Since, according tothe law, Sasikala cannot contest elections for the next six years,she can only wield power from behind the throne.

In the absence of “Amma”, what impact will “Chinna Amma”have in politics of the State? Sasikala’s evolution into a politicianafter emerging from Jayalalithaa’s shadow was cut short abrupt-ly and she should realise that the power she had as Amma’s com-panion was entirely on the seasoned politician’s terms. As of now,the options before her are not many. Much has happened in theState in the four years in which she was incarcerated. Chief MinisterE Palaniswami has not only consolidated his hold in theGovernment and the party, he is also on friendly terms with the BJP.His biggest achievement is keeping the party united so far.

There is speculation that she might try to regain her lost posi-tion in the AIADMK and grab power back from Palaniswami as shestill has many loyalists in the party. Her re-entry into the AIADMKwould further complicate the political environment in the State. Herone-time loyalists, Palaniswami and the Deputy Chief Minister ofthe State O Panneerselvam, will resist this. However, the Ministersreiterating the party line notwithstanding, some second-rung partyleaders striking a “working relationship” with the Sasikala-TTVDhinakaran camp would only be beneficial for the AIADMK in thelong run. Initially, the Coronavirus crisis had helped the AIADMK toimprove its standing in the State. However, the growing number ofinfections eventually led to a dip in the popularity of Palaniswami.Above all, the party has also announced an alliance with the BJPfor the forthcoming Assembly polls. The saffron party seems tobe promoting the concept of a coalition Government in Tamil Nadu,an idea that the AIADMK is opposing strongly. The party has nevershared power and all indications are that it does not intend to startnow. The sudden raid on Sasikala’s property and the Income-TaxDepartment’s recent decision to attach a new palatial bungalow underconstruction for her, opposite Jayalalithaa’s house in the posh PoesGarden area, are an indication of this.

The next best option for Sasikala is to head her nephewDhinakaran’s party, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).Even this can pose a serious challenge to the incumbent AIADMKin the forthcoming polls. He had floated the party with Sasikala’sapproval in 2017 and the AMMK has already taken away five percent of the AIADMK’s votes. It must be remembered that Tamil Naduhas chosen either the DMK or the AIADMK since 1967. It is theturn of the DMK now. Sasikala has plenty of money and also polit-ical insight, given her long association with Amma. It is said thatshe and her nephew have some influence in South Tamil Nadu. Thismight cut into the AIADMK’s votes even further. Dhinakaran’s silenceis an indication that there could be some deal in the works. Thereis also talk of a merger of the AIADMK and the AMMK but it is unclearas to what role Sasikala will play if this happens. The third optionbefore Chinna Amma is to take a back seat, silently support theAIADMK and wait for 2026. However, an ambitious woman likeSasikala might not opt for this and try to run the show from behindthe scenes.

“There will be no change in the party’s stand on matters con-cerning Sasikala,” the Chief Minister said recently. The statementassumes significance as it’s the first time that he has made a pub-lic statement on Sasikala’s impending release and her future in theAIADMK. The AMMK, meanwhile, claimed her release would havean impact on State politics. “We are eagerly awaiting Chinna Amma’srelease,” said AMMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi. But for the jailterm, Sasikala might have played a much bigger role in the AIADMKand Tamil Nadu politics. She is keeping her cards close to her chestbut 2021 is not 2017. She will play her role directly or indirectly,however small it might be.

(The writer is a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal.)

Even as the new decade begins,the world continues to reelunder the impact of the

Coronavirus pandemic. To date, thereare over 85,554,736 confirmed casesof COVID-19 while 1,851,952 peoplehave succumbed to the deadly infec-tion globally. In the midst of a glob-al race to inoculate people against thevirus, the pandemic continues tomutate and resurge in several parts ofthe world.

If we take into account frontlineworkers, including healthcare profes-sionals, their families and friends, bil-lions would have direct exposure tothe infection and would experience

severe fear, anxiety due to the lock-down and isolation necessitated by thepandemic. A major part of the world’spopulation will carry emotional scarsleft by the outbreak.

The need of the hour is to bementally resilient and focus on heal-ing our emotional scars so that we canregain physical and psychologicalfitness. Emotional resilience is theability of people to bounce backfrom adversities and difficulties. Life,as we all know, is full of ups anddowns. A resilient person not onlybounces back from a setback butachieves a higher threshold of emo-tional well-being. Emotional resilienceis a skill that can be learnt by anyoneby following these simple steps.

Acceptance: The first steptowards gaining emotional resilienceis the acceptance of reality. Many ofus tend to avoid adverse situations butthis doesn’t help solve the problem.Avoidance only makes the situationworse. We have to learn to perceivereality in an honest and pragmaticmanner. We should neither be toopessimistic nor should we be over-

optimistic about life. We also have toassess the causes of our difficulties ina clear and rational way. It is only afterthorough introspection that we canbegin the journey to overcome adver-sities and bounce back.

Adaptation and innovation: Thesecond step is to adapt to the new sit-uation. Remaining firmly wedded tothe past does not really help the causebecause what had worked beforewill rarely work in a changed scenario.Continuously pondering over pastsuccesses and regretting mistakesstops us from moving forward. Weshould not only adapt ourselves to thenew realities of life but must findinnovative ways to thrive in them. Inthe current scenario, humanity needsto change its behaviour, attitude,thoughts, emotions and learn newskills to overcome adverse circum-stances. For our progress and growth,we must adapt continuously, else wewill become extinct.

Manage negative emotions:When faced with adversities, weoften experience negative emotionslike anger, frustration, hopelessness

and despair. Many people ask, “Whyme?” None of these negative emotionshelp. Such thoughts not only act asbarriers to our revival but also tendto make us physically and emotion-ally weak. The key is to remain opti-mistic and focus on the future insteadof the past.

Opportunity in adversity:Napolean Hill, the self-help guru,famously said: “In every adversity liesan opportunity.” The trick is to focusour energies and abilities not only tospot the opportunity but to exploit itfor our growth. As we navigatethrough the darkness, we need to con-tinuously strive to find the light. OurVedic mantra “Tamaso maa jyotirga-maya (lead me from darkness to thelight)” has never been as relevant asit is these days.

Control what you can: StevenCovey, the famous management guru,developed a simple but highly effec-tive model of commanding the con-trollable. Many people worry a lotabout situations, factors and circum-stances that are beyond their jurisdic-tion. Emotionally resilient people

focus on what they can control whileignoring everything they can neitherinfluence nor control. Worryingabout the uncontrollable is a futileexercise leading to frustration, stressand anxiety.

Resetting: We have to reset ourgoals and dreams in the backdrop ofthe new situation. Many of our futureplans like buying a new house, gettingmarried, going for a holiday, studyingabroad, promotions and so on mayhave to be deferred or even cancelled.We must not regret that our originaltargets can no longer be fulfilled. Butwe must define a new set of goals anddreams that are achievable in thechanged circumstances.

Rebalance: We have alreadystarted to rebalance our lives and theconcept of Work From Home (WFH)has been the biggest driver of this. Inthe new normal, we have to restorefocus on work, self, families, friendsand society.

Renewal and regrowth: Timeand again nature has proved that afterevery cataclysmic disaster, life comesback to normal as the natural regen-

eration process begins. Our rejuvena-tion should begin with a positivedesire to grow and with the optimisticview that the future is bright. Historyhas taught us that we have alwaysmoved towards a brighter future andhave emerged stronger after every dis-aster. People can cope with stress andanxiety by taking care of themselves.On every flight, we are told to put onthe oxygen mask before helping oth-ers. Taking care of oneself is not self-ishness but is indeed the best way tohelp others. “Me time” and hobbiesare absolutely essential now. Sleep,rest, breaks from screen time andexercise are essential.

Organise yourself: In the begin-ning, we all thought that WFH wastemporary. Now it seems that WFHor a hybrid variant of remote work-ing will be the norm of the future.People have to organise themselves,their homes, time and energy, giventhat the working environment andmethods have changed forever.

Set clear boundaries: Thechanged work situation has led to dif-ferent types of expectations from boss-

es, colleagues, family and friends.Now, everybody feels that they caninterrupt any time but these intrusionsand expectations cause frustration andrelationship rifts. People have to setclear boundaries and agree on a newset of behavioural rules even with theirchildren.

Stay positive: Bad or negativetimes require an extra dose of posi-tivity and optimism. Don’t brood,don’t think of the worst, don’t beobsessed about the vaccine. Instead,laugh, play, look at the sky, hear a birdsing, tell your children a story, enjoythe warmth of your partner’s embrace.The world has a lot more light thandarkness in it. Further, don’t be shy orafraid of seeking professional advicefrom a counsellor or a psychologist.They are trained to heal people emo-tionally and to guide them on theirjourney of resilience, renewal andregrowth. And these three positivesare what the world needs the mostright now.

(The writer is chief psychologistat Emotionally.in. The views

expressed are personal.)

The pandemic calls for more emotional resilience History has taught us that humanity has always moved towards a brighter future and emerged stronger after every disaster

ROMA KUMAR

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021

www.dailypioneer.com analysis

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

PTC India Financial services (PFS)on Monday said it has approved

the resolution of one of its stressedloan accounts in the thermal-basedsegment -- IL&FS Tamil NaduPower Company Limited. This 2 x600 MW imported Coal-basedThermal Power Project is based atCuddalore, in Tamil Nadu, PFS, a

subsidiary of PTC India, said in a statement. As per RBI circulardated June 7, 2019 and directives of National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT), following resolution has been approvedby PFS in line with lead lender Punjab National Bank (PNB), thecompany said. "Post approval of the said resolution plan fromNCLT/NCLAT, the loan account shall be classified under 'Green'category from 'Amber' category," it said.

Public sector CochinShipyard on Monday

declared an interim dividendof Rs 9 per share. In aregulatory filing, CochinShipyard said the board ofdirectors of the companyhas declared an interimdividend of Rs 9 per equityshare of Rs 10 each for thefinancial year 2020-21 and

has fixed Thursday, January 14, 2021, as the record date for theaforesaid interim dividend. The dividend shall be paid to the eligibleshareholders on or before February 2, 2021, the company added.Shares of Cochin Shipyard were trading 1.51 per cent higher at Rs380.90 apiece on BSE.

Social e-commerce platform forfresh produce Otipy on Monday

said it is planning to raise USD 10million this year to expand itspresence in the country. Toempower more resellers andfurther build its business across

India, Otipy is in active discussions to raise USD 10 million in 2021,the company said in a statement. Otipy has already raised USD 2million in 2020 from Inflection Point (IP) Ventures and the SmileGroup. "We have a history and deep understanding of fresh producethat we have leveraged to build a social commerce model that createsearning opportunities for women and stores, helps farmers, andprovides fresher, more nutritious produce to consumers at a lesserprice," Otipy Founder Varun Khurana said. Khurana further noted that"in the last 8-9 months, we have built a robust platform in the freshproduce category supporting over 2,500 women and stores asresellers and are witnessing a phenomenal response from customersin Delhi NCR. We now plan to further expand this market in othercities as well." These community leaders/resellers earn a commissionof up to 10 per cent for all group sales, the highest across all socialcommerce brands in India, the company claimed.

Fresh produce e-platform Otipyto raise USD 10 mn in 2021

PFS approves resolution of IL&FSTamil Nadu Power Company

For 2022, it revised the forecast toRs 77 to a US dollar, from Rs 79

previously, to account for a stronger2021 forecast. "We expect the rupeeto trade only slightly weaker over thenear term from current levels," itsaid in a note. It saw depreciatorypressure on the rupee due toworsening terms of trade from rising

oil prices, further monetary easing, and bouts of risk-off sentimentbeing partially offset by the US dollar weakness and central bankforeign exchange intervention to combat imported inflation. "Over thelonger term, the overvaluation of the rupee in real terms and higherinflation in India vis-à-vis the US should exert weakening pressurefor the rupee," it said. The Indian rupee averaged Rs 74.10 to a USdollar in 2020. "We expect the rupee to only trade marginally weakerin 2021, and have revised our average forecast to Rs 75.50 to a USdollar, from Rs 77.00/USD to account for the effect of extended USdollar weakness," Fitch said.

Cochin Shipyard declares aninterim dividend of `̀9 per share

Fitch Sol revises forecast for Rsto average At Rs 75.50/$ for 2021

PNS n MUMBAI

Rising for the ninth straightsession, the BSE Sensex closedabove the 48,000-mark for thefirst time on Monday asinvestor sentiment got a boostafter India approved two coro-navirus vaccines over theweekend.

A strengthening rupee, pos-itive global cues and encourag-ing macroeconomic data gavefurther impetus to riskappetite, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 307.82 points or 0.64per cent higher at 48,176.80. Ittouched a record intra-daypeak of 48,220.47.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty jumped 114.40 points or0.82 per cent to its fresh life-time high of 14,132.90. Itscaled an all-time high of14,147.95 during the session.

ONGC was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, spurting 4.02per cent, followed by TCS,HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra,Infosys, M&M, HUL, SunPharma and L&T.

On the other hand, KotakBank, Bajaj Finance, AsianPaints, HDFC Bank,PowerGrid and Titan were

among the laggards, sheddingup to 1.43 per cent.

India's drugs regulator onSunday approved Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vac-cine Covishield and indige-nously-developed Covaxin ofBharat Biotech for restrictedemergency use in the country.

Experts said the approvalsand likely commencement ofinoculation process soon bodewell for the markets and econ-omy.

"Emboldened by the likelyrollout of the vaccines thismonth, bulls went berserk,bolstered by IT and metal

stocks with able support frompharma stocks. PMI data andrenewed buying in select finan-cials provided buoyancy acrossthe broader markets," said SRanganathan, Head ofResearch at LKP Securities.

India's manufacturing sectoractivity strengthened inDecember, with manufacturersstepping up production andinput buying amid efforts torebuild their inventories fol-lowing business closures ear-lier in the year, PMI datashowed.

The seasonally adjusted IHSMarkit India ManufacturingPurchasing Managers' Index(PMI) was at 56.4 inDecember, a tick higher thanNovember's 56.3 and above thecritical 50 threshold for thefifth straight month.

Sector-wise, BSE metal, IT,teck, oil and gas, auto, indus-trials and telecom indices ral-lied up to 5.34 per cent, whilebankex and consumer durablesslipped.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to1.42 per cent. Global equitiessurged as vaccine rollout inmultiple countries enthusedinvestors.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's tax pie seems to haveundergone a subtle changewith a sharp drop in direct taxcollections resulting from a dis-proportionate impact of theCOVID-19 carnage onincomes.

The share of indirect taxes,which mainly comprise of levyon goods and services as wellas import duty, has risen whilethat of direct taxes - made upof corporate and personalincome tax - has gone down in2020. In an interview, FinanceSecretary Ajay BhushanPandey said in a pandemic likethis where the economy hasbeen impacted, any large scalechanges impact direct taxesmore severely, whereas indirecttax collection is mostly propor-tional to business turnoverand compliance.

"In a situation like this wherethe economy has been impact-ed and we are on the recoverypath, the direct taxes areimpacted more severelybecause the profitability of acompany is not directly pro-portional to the turnoveralways. If your turnoverreduces below a certain bench-mark then the profit will notmerely reduce, but it may getinto a negative zone and there-

fore the company may not payany income tax as it will be intoa loss.

"Similarly, when we are in arecovery phase, the companieswill take a longer time to comeinto the profitable zone to payincome tax. In the case ofindirect tax, it is more or lessproportional to the businessvolume and turnover and com-pliance," he said.

While the government hasofficially not released directand indirect tax collections,industry sources said the shareof indirect taxes in overall taxcollections rose to about 56 percent, the highest in over adecade for the period. This fol-

lows a sharp 26-27 per centdecline in direct tax collections.

Direct taxes are a direct out-come of income levels whileindirect taxes are mostly drivenby consumption as demand forsome goods is inelastic eitherbecause of they being essentialin nature or not substitutablelike petrol and diesel.

Excise collections rose in2020 after the governmentraised the tax on petrol anddiesel by Rs 13 and Rs 10 perlitre, respectively. Customs col-lections, which reflect dutypaid on goods imported, grewsubstantially in November andDecember. While the revenuein December was up 94 per

cent to Rs 16,157 crore, inNovember it was up 43 per centto Rs 11,598 crore.

Pandey said this buoyancy inCustoms collection would bedue to many factors, includingthe introduction of facelessassessment.

"We are doing the analysis asto what kinds of goods are get-ting imported and customsduty on those items," he said."We have also brought inCAROTAR rules wherein theimport from FTA countries arealso being subjected to greaterscrutiny and we are ensuringthat goods which have under-gone requisite value addition inexporting countries only they

are given the benefit of FTA. Sothese measures, along with anuptick in the economy, areyielding results."

The havoc wrecked by thepandemic on tax collections -that is a reflection of the eco-nomic well-being of a nation -led to the first major show-down between the Centre andthe states since the implemen-tation of the GST regime threeyears ago.

Sharply split on politicallines, states demanded Centreto compensate them - throughborrowing or from its own cof-fers - for the loss of revenue ina year that saw 69-days of com-plete lockdown and gradualeasing thereafter.

The sharp decline in GSTcollections has led to Rs 1.80lakh crore shortfall in GST rev-enues on states. This includesRs 1.10 lakh crore revenueloss on account of GST imple-mentation and Rs 70,000 croreon account of the pandemic.

The Centre initially opposedthe demand made by non-BJPruled states, insisting that statesshould borrow against futureaccruals of GST. For days andweeks, it gave all kinds of rea-sons why states should borrowbut one fine day it agreed toborrow and pass on the loansto states.

India's tax pie gets altered becauseof virus; share of direct taxes drops

Pandey said this buoyancy in Customscollection would be due to manyfactors,including theintroduction of facelessassessment

PNS n NEW DELHI

Mahindra group has emergedstronger from the COVID-19crisis and the 'strange & sin-ister year' 2020 will be trans-formed into a year of 'reinven-tion & regeneration' in 2021,according to the chairman ofthe conglomerate, AnandMahindra.

In his New Year address tothe 2.56 lakh employees of thegroup across 100 countries,Mahindra said in spite of allthe problems brought about bythe pandemic last year, "someunexpectedly great things hademerged from what seemedlike an impossibly bad situa-tion".

Drawing parallels to thedevelopment of COVID-19vaccines, in which researchersand regulators have fast-tracked the vaccine develop-ment process to 10 monthswhich otherwise takes 10years, he said there are lessonsfor the group to learn from itin terms of following purpose-driven business, rebooting andre-evaluating.

"I think the first impor-tant learning from that storyis that the day of the purpose-driven business has arrived,"he said adding manufacturingthe vaccine is a true purpose-

driven business, which is gain-ing currency today but thegroup has been at it since 1997.

An even more importantlesson is the power of a quickreboot as demonstrated byhow quickly medical scienceabandoned its conventionalapproach and rebooted totackle the new problem ofCOVID-19 by restructuringtheir processes, applying thelatest technology, cut out theunnecessary loops and hoopsthat researchers used to jumpthrough, and just went fullsteam ahead to develop avaccine, he added. "Just think,until this year, do you knowthe average time it took todevelop a vaccine – 10 years.Yes 10 years. And yet, thanksto this crisis, we have todaydeveloped not one but threeeffective vaccines, within 10months!" Mahindra added.

Anand: 2021 will beyear of reinventionand regeneration

Sensex closes above 48k forfirst time; IT stocks sparkle

PNS n HYDERABAD

GMR Hyderabad InternationalAirport Limited and GMRHyderabad Air Cargo havesigned a MoU with DubaiAirportsfor building an exclu-sive Vaccine Air FreightCorridor Productc a l l e d ' H Y D X B -VAXCOR(Hyderabad toDubai global VaccineCorridor), the infra major saidon Monday.

The MoU was signed in thebackdrop of the city becominga hub for COVID-19 vaccineand other antidotes with sev-eral vaccine manufacturershaving their bases here, a pressrelease from the infra majorsaid.

The MoU was signedbyPradeep Panicker, CEO-GMRHIA, Saurabh Kumar,

CEO-GMRHAC and EugeneBarry, EVP-Commercial,Dubai Airports Corporation ina virtual ceremony organisedlast week, it said.

As per the MoU, RajivGandhi International Airporthere and Dubai Airports will beaccording priority to the tem-perature sensitive vaccine ship-ments moving between boththe airports for further connec-tions to various continents aspart of the "HYDXB-VAX-COR" and build this serviceoffering as a key differentiatorand value proposition for thevaccine customers and logisticsstakeholders, it said.

This agreement will lead tothe rollout of customised andsimplified processes and infra-structural support to stream-line the journey of Covid-19vaccine right from the manu-

facturing unit to the airportand hub logistics to delivery toend-customers, the release said.

The partnership also entailstechnology collaboration,under which the entities willexplore and work together onan integrated IT solution thatwill provide end-to-end visibil-

ity including shipment temper-ature and status tracking for thecustomers while cargo is intransit between Hyderabad andDubai and during its onwardsjourney to various global des-tinations.

Pradeep Panicker said inthe current global context,

there is a need for meticulousplanning and collaborationsto ensure safe and efficient airtransportation of Covid-19vaccines and accordingly,"HYDXB-VAXCOR" is beingoffered for global distributionof COVID-19 vaccines.

"We are also significantly

upgrading our handling capac-ities for Covid-19 Vaccine ship-ments requiring Cold to ultra-cold temperature ranges andbecoming Indias largest AirCargo centre both forExport/Imports and Domesticdistribution of the Vaccine,"Panicker said.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of DubaiAirports, said a major surge indemand for the efficient, safeand reliable global distributionof high volumes of Covid-19vaccines is expected in thecoming months.

"As the world's preeminenthub of choice, we wanted to beready to respond to andaccommodate that demand.Our partnership with GMR-Hyderabad is timed perfectlyjust as the global race to devel-op the vaccines enters the finalstage,” he said.

Hyd, Dubai airports ties up for vaccine's seamless movementThe partnershipalso entails techcollaboration,under which theentities willexplore andwork togetheron an integratedIT solution

PNS n NEW DELHI

Cred on Monday said it hasraised USD 81 million (aboutRs 591.2 crore) in funding,valuing the fintech firm at apost-money valuation of USD806 million (about Rs 5,883crore).

Existing investor, DSTGlobal led the series C roundalong with Sequoia Capital,Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global,and General Catalyst, a state-ment said. In addition, Sofina,Coatue and Satyan Gajwani ofTimes Internet also invested inthis round, it added.

As part of the process, exist-ing and former employeeshave liquidated their employ-ee stock ownership plans(Esops), collectively worthUSD 1.2 million (Rs 9 crore),it said.

The company has raisedUSD a total of USD 228 mil-lion in four rounds till date.This includes USD 1 million inseed capital by founder KunalShah (QED Innovations), USD25 million in series A and USD120 million in series B round.

Cred rewards credit cardusers for making timely billpayments and offers variousbenefits to them. It has over 5.9million users on its platformcurrently, up from 3 million in

March last year. Admission toCred is based on a user's cred-it score, and anyone with ascore over 750 can be part ofthe community.

"The funds raised will beused to create additional valuefor our members throughproducts, services and experi-ences that enable them to leada good life. These offerings willbe introduced in partnershipwith merchants and institu-tions that are part of Cred,"Cred founder Kunal Shah toldPTI.

The focus is on launchingadditional products for mem-bers in collaboration withexisting and new partners thisyear, he added.

"We want to create moreopportunities for merchants toengage customers and forfinancial institutions to cross-

sell. Most importantly, we areat 20 per cent of credit card billpayments in India and wouldlike to gain more share in thatarea," Shah said.

The Esop buyback, whichwas completed on January 1, isthe first Esop liquidity pro-gram initiated by Cred.Employees who hold vestedstocks were eligible to sell upto 50 per cent of their vestedEsop shares in the company.Cred has over 300 employees.

"As we raise funds to sup-port our next phase of growth,it's important to acknowledgethe role that employees haveplayed in our success. We arecommitted to enabling wealth-creation opportunities forthem and have allocated 10 percent of our captable allocatedfor Esops even at the Series Cstage," Shah said.

Cred raises $81 m funding

The 30-shareBSE Sensexended 307.82points or 0.64per cent higherat 48,176.80. It touched arecord intra-daypeak of48,220.47

Ambuja Neotiain a 72-acredevelopmentdeal withSatyaa HomesPNS n KOLKATA

City-based real estate andhospitality major, AmbujaNeotia group had sealed amajor development deal for72 acres at Rajarhat withSatyaa Homes, a North Indiarealty company and totalretail sales value is estimatedat Rs 3000-4000 crore, a com-pany official said on Monday.

Anarock PropertyConsultants Land Servicesannounced the successfulclosure of a joint develop-ment deal.

This is a significant town-ship deal to be struck in thepandemic period and willresult in the large plotted/villadevelopment township to belaunched in Rajarhat.Ambuja Neotia Group is thedevelopment managementpartner, it said.

The land which is in closeproximity of Asia's largestmass housing projectSukhobrihti had been financedby the HDFC Capital Advisors,sources said. HDFC CapitalAdvisors is a specialised realestate private equity investmentmanager. The project entails tooffer land plots in the gatedcommunity and where devel-opment of houses remainsoptional with the owner.

PNS n NEW DELHI

FMCG major Marico onMonday said it has witnessedfaster than expected recoveryin consumer sentiment inIndia and a strong perfor-mance in the third quarterthis fiscal, after being impact-ed by COVID-19 pandemic.

The company said it hasobserved strong performanceacross its portfolio with gen-eral trade continuing to growfirmly and rural markets stay-ing ahead of urban.

"The quarter was charac-

terised by a faster than expect-ed recovery in consumer sen-timent in India, aided by thefestival season and a decliningCOVID-19 graph.

"India business delivered astrong performance with dou-ble-digit volume growth.Revenue growth was in tan-dem with volume growth.Parachute Coconut Oil deliv-ered ahead of its medium-term aspiration. Saffola EdibleOils continued its growthmomentum, delivering dou-ble-digit volume growth,"Marico said in its quarterly

update for December 2020.The value-added hair oils

also exhibited strength with abroad-based sharp recoveryacross sub-segments, leadingto overall double-digit growthfor the category. The foodportfolio continued to witnessexponential growth in linewith the near-term aspiration,backed by strong performancein both the base foods and thenew product launches, thecompany said.

It noted that there was asteady revival in discretionarycategories with the premium

personal care portfolios wit-nessing improving trendssequentially, however, still

posting a modest decline ona year-on-year basis.

Marico said the interna-tional business had a resilientquarter with high-single-digitconstant currency growth, ledby double-digit constant cur-rency growth in Bangladeshand recovery in a few othermarkets.

"The quarter was also char-acterised by inflationary pres-sure in key raw materialsnecessitating cutting back ofsome promotions and takingeffective price increases acrossboth Parachute and Saffola

edible oil portfolios," the com-pany said.

Marico maintains an opti-mistic outlook for the rest ofthe year provided the COVIDand economic situation con-tinues to improve.

The company said itremains steadfast in its medi-um-term aspiration of deliv-ering sustainable and prof-itable volume led growth,building on strong brandequity across core franchiseesand progressively driving andscaling up new engines ofgrowth.

Marico witnesses faster recovery in consumer sentiment

ate actorsOm PuriandJagdeepJaffrey’slast

Omprakash Zindabadwas released recently

as a tribute to the leg-endaries for the contri-

bution they have givento Hindi cinema under

the banner of ParanomaStudios. Meanwhile, mak-

ers say that Rajkummar Raowas finalised to play the lead

part of Rambhajjan (which hasbeen essayed by actor Abhay

Joshi), but due to his date issues,he couldn’t be a part of this ven-

ture.The producer of the film Khalid

Kidwai shares, “Initially we had signedRajkummar Rao for Rambhajjan’s char-

acter. He did workshops with Om Purifor fifteen days, however, after doing the

workshops, his shooting dates didn’t matchwith the senior actor’s and was clashing with

some other projects. Hence, unfortunately, thedirector had to take the call to replaceRajkummar Rao with Abhay Joshi. Rajkummarwas in touch with me for a very long time, but

we aren’t the same now, as he has become a bigstar and entered a big-budget project. I guessthat’s what success fever is. We carry goodintentions for him and my best wishes for fur-ther success in life. Hoping to work with him inthe future, soon.”

The film deals with the VictimCompensation Act under section 357A where arape victim gets monetary compensation forhaving suffered loss or injury as a result of thecrime but when it comes to a man, he doesn’treceive any help. The film also starsKulbhushan Kharbanda, Ishtiyak Khan, ZakirHussain, Seema Azmi, Shweta Bhardwaj, RamSethi and Rajkumar Kanaujia, among others.

‘Rajkummar's abig star now'

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

TuesdayJanuary 5, 2021

or years, entrepre-neurs have grum-bled that consumersdon’t intend to buysustainable prod-ucts from stores or

online carts, however, thingshave changed now! The con-ventional wisdom of busi-nessmen has made theirproducts so sustainable asmillennials are increasinglysaying they would love toinvest in such products toembrace their sole purpose.

SustainKart, the brainchildof famous fashion designerand entrepreneur ShilpaReddy, and budding hustlerof town Kanthi Dutt, is doingthe rounds across the city forthe only excellent reason —that it’s India’s first-ever e-marketplace for sustainableproducts. The need for sus-tainable products hasincreased even more duringthe extensive lockdown asdenizens have begun torealise its significance.Consumers are showing apositive attitude towardssuch eco-friendly,

they’re also inspired when theysee their neighbours installingsolar panels or separating drywaste from wet and more, hencemany of them are looking for-ward to sustainability goals.

Having celebs in the spotlightusing their platform for goodinspires us to do our part tohelp the planet too. From cos-metics to clothing, these celebshaved helped pave the way tolive a more full and sustainablelifestyle!

Whether it’s Dia Mirza who isemerging as an environmentallyconscious celebrity or Alia Bhattgoing local for vocal with hernewly launched sustainableclothing line called Ed-a-Mamma or Hyderabad’s veryown socialite Shilpa Reddyturning an eco-warrior — whatmatters is all of them are con-tributing towards a cause andare genuinely passionate about itall.

“An extension to theSustainable Living WithShilpa ReddyShow,

Sustainkart curates a surplus ofproducts for a conscious living,all under one roof, and is a pro-ject that’s really close to myheart. With an aim to revampIndian lifestyle with mindfulalternatives pledging to build asustainable outlook for the com-ing generations, sustainable liv-ing is going to be the new nor-mal,” informs Shilpa Reddy.

“Like many others, we as aduo, understood the weight ofconserving the ecosystem, soour new collaboration for thebusiness enterprise ‘Sustainkart’has simple suggestions aboutwhat you can choose from aplethora of products rang-ing from fashion, décor,gifts, furniture, pet-care, nutritionand wellness,etc,” sharesKanthi,the

co-founder. A moreinteresting facet about ournew project is that thoughthe whole undertaking isabout going green, theirdeliveries will be carried outin plastic bags due to variousreasons including it minimisesdamage from water, weatheretc. “But,” Kanthi adds, “ourconsumers can collect all theplastic bags and at an assignedtime, one of our workers willvisit them and weigh and takeaway the amount of plastic theyhave collected and in turn, thecustomer will be rewarded inthe form of credit points. Isn’t itmotivating? While it might bedifficult at first to go all sust-bringsle, the new lifestyle bringyou a stronger purpose in life.Also, for the people who won-der that trends like ‘going sus-tainable’ or ‘vegan’ are onlyfor the rich and the elite,Sustainkart is here to dimin-ish those perceptions as itholds products of all costs.A person from any sphereof life can avail them.”

The Pioneer hopes themovement is notreduced to just a trend,but people will actual-ly adopt a sustainablelifestyle, be moreaware and envi-ronment-friendly,aware and con-scious aboutthe depletingnaturalresourcesaroundthem.

Going green,setting andliving up to

sustainabilitygoals have

always beenconsidered

things of therich. But

SustainKart, ane-commerce

brand byfashion

designer andentrepreneur

Shilpa Reddy,and Kanthi Dutt,is here to breakthat idea, writes

The Pioneer'sSHIKHA

DUGGAL. Thesite sellsproducts

ranging fromRs.100 to

Rs.8,000, sothere’s no

complaining!

BRINGINGSUSTAINABILITY TOYOUR DOORSTEP!

F

L

magine this:The wrappersyou forgot youthrow away,actually winyou an award!

Well, that’s almost half-true for Dr. GeetanjaliReddy, who had thehabit of collectingchocolate wrappers sinceher childhood. Little didshe know this out-of-the-box, unique hobby ofhers would lead to hermention in the WonderBook of RecordsInternational!

The woman from thecity presented her collec-tion of 222 chocolatewrappers from the year2013 to 2020 and waspresented the new recordcertificate and medal byBingi Narender Goud, allIndia coordinator, LionM.Vijyalaxmi, SouthIndia coordinator, andLion Dr. B Vijyaranga,Telanagana StateCoordinator at theWonder Book of RecordsInternational office,Hyderabad on Sunday.An overjoyed Geetanjalistated that she was happyabout this award andwould try for the LimcaBook of Records andGuinness of WorldRecords too.

Wrapper collection wins Hyd woman a mention inWonder Book of Records

t has never beenmore important toprepare pets for apost-pandemic life.

In 2021, probablyfor many, morethan a year after

pandemic restrictions, mostworkers and students willreturn to campuses, offices andother workplaces. Left behindwill be pets who have becomeaccustomed to humans stayinghome with them.

A Purdue University profes-sor has studied and taughtabout animal behaviour forsome two decades and consult-ed with many veterinariansand others who work withhousehold animals. Here aresome tips on how to preparethem and signs of distress towatch for.

Begin from now

” Start practicing to give thema routine and sense of pre-dictability, taking small stepsincrementally.” Provide them with toys andtreats to focus on while youwork in a different room.” Take walks without them;don’t take them on every carride.” Even if the weather isn’tgood for driving, pull your

car out of the garage and sitfor a while.” If you don’t drive, findanother venue to createspace.” If you feel your pets will findit hard to adjust, consultyour veterinarian to make aplan.” Signs for concern afterreturning to workplace:

Changes in eating ordrinking habits.

” For cats, common signs ofdistress are inappropriateurination or defecation out-side the litter box.” For dogs, excessive whiningand barking, leaving treatsuntouched, changes in toilet-ing habits.

Destructive behaviour.”Acting abnormally franticwhen you return home.Here’s what to do if the petsare able to adjust””Call your veterinarian beforethings get worse.”Use baby-type monitors tocheck on your pets remotely.”Have a friend or paid dog-walker stop by.”Have soft music playing orTV talk shows (not the kindwhere they yell at eachother).

II

Left behind

10

PARTY

Photos by SV Chary

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Hyderabad Tuesday January 5 2021what’s brewing?

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

FUN

KEEPINGIT REAL

Tollywood beauty Anjali of SeethammaVakitlo Sirimalle Chettu fame, graced the

grand opening of Fortune 99 Homes inKothapet, Hyderabad on Sunday. The highlyreputed entity in the cosmic real estate ofmetro cities, hosted an exciting opening

event for their new estate. Many realestate big-names were spotted at

the celebration.

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FIT AND FAB

Tollywood heartthrob and avid fitness enthusiast Vijay Deverakondawas seen at 360 Degree Fitness to launch Fitness guru KuldepSethi’s website and his 30-day ultimate weight-loss challenge.

Kuldep Sethi has trained many celebrities like Vijay Devarakondahimself, Anushka Shetty, Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Kartekiyan, RaashiKhanna, and Sandeep Kishan to name a few.

GLITTERING AND GOLDEN

In a sparkling, glamorous event, The Diamond Store byChandubhai unveiled their new Bridal Collection. Intricatelydesigned works of art in the form of jewellery were presented

for sale under the bright store lights. Customers went throughmany forms of cut diamonds, rubies and other precious gems.

fter it wasannounced lastNovember,IndragantiMohanaKrishna’s next

with Sudheer Babu andUppena fame KrithiShetty was launched inHyderabad on Monday.The untitled project, aromantic drama, marksthe debut of famous T-town managersMahendra and KiranBallapalli as producers.Together, they’ve floateda banner, BenchmarkStudios, to shepherd themovie. While the formeris a manager ofSamantha, VennelaKishore, Adivi Sesh andRaashi Khanna amongothers, the latter looksafter the dates ofRashmika Mandanna,

Indraganti, Krithi andVenky Kudumula.

For the muhurthamshot, VV Vinayaksounded the clapboard,while Y Ravi Shankar ofMythri Movie Makersswitched on the camera.Dil Raju, who producedIndraganti’s last venture,V, directed it.

The film will roll inMarch-immediatelyafter Sudheer wraps uphis present film, SrideviSoda Centre. “It’s my14the film but I am asexcited as my 1st. It’s ahat-trick with#Indraganti sir,” theactor posted on Twitter.Indraganti’s regulars —Avasarala Srinivas andVennela Kishore — areplaying supporting rolesin the film, a VivekSagar musical.

The director speaks to NAGARAJ GOUDon landing Alludu Adhurs after his multiple

attempts to remake Tamil monster hit Therifailed, designing a new character for Sreenivas and

why the film will help the actor on his Hindi debutwith Chatrapathi remake

t has been more than four yearssince cinematographer-turned-director Santosh Srinivas had arelease. After Hyper, he devotedtime to the script of Theriremake for Pawan Kalyan, withMythri Movie Makers attachedto produce. The work went onfor months but Pawan’s full-fledged dive into politics

after Agnyaathavaasi meantthat he had to skip headlin-

ing it. Santosh tailored thesame script to suit Ravi Tejaand got the actor’s approval aswell. But two days after thefilming, the shoot was can-celled. The director doesn’twant to discuss what tran-spired, while the industrygrapevine, back then, wasabuzz with the news that

Mythri Movie Makersshelved it after Amar AkbarAnthony, which they pro-

duced with Ravi,has gone downthe chute at theticket counters.“The producersare the bestpeople toanswer it,” thedirectorbegins.

Santosh,however, has-n’t lost hopeon directingPawan Kalyan.“It is my wishto do a film

with him. You

never know… I might get an offer.I want to do a good entertainerwith him,” he reveals.

As he was waiting to make hisnext directorial, Santosh got a callfrom his Kandireega producerBellamkonda Suresh, enquiringfor a good script. “I had an enter-tainment-filled script ready bythen and I told I’ll give an intro-duction of 10 minutes about itbut the narration went on for onehour 30 minutes and Suresh garuwas sold. He said it was excellentand that he was looking for such astory for Sreenivas after a thrillerlike Rakshasudu. That’s how ourjourney started again,” he recallsfondly, adding that they kick-start-ed filming in October 2019 andeven announced April 30, 2020 asa release date. “Three days after weofficially announced the title asAlludu Adhurs, coronavirus startedto scare us. We shot for 10 daysafter it hit us but stopped shootingaltogether after March 20. Whenwe resumed last September, wetook all precautions to ensure asmooth shoot. We shot for 40 daysand luckily no one from the setstested positive. Sankranti is a festi-val which celebrates sons-in-lawand Alludu Adhurs is just the rightfilm for the festival. It’s a well-packaged entertainer with familyemotions, romance, humour andaction.”

Santosh insists that he hasdesigned a unique characterisationfor Sreenivas. “The story tookshape out of his characterisation.The audience will see a lot of ener

gyin hisperformanceand as he was shooting our film,he landed his maiden Hindi film.His looks and energy levels in ourfilm will help him on hisBollywood debut,” he points out,revealing that leading lady NabhaNatesh will be seen as a livewirewho speaks in Telangana dialect,while Anu Emmanuel plays ademure girl.

While most directors used thelockdown period to come up withnew scripts, Santosh’s mind wasoccupied only with Alludu Adhurs.“I’ve used the time to enhance thescript of the film further. I canonly concentrate on one film at a time. I can’t work on twoscripts simultaneously. Until Ideliver the present film that I’mmaking, to my producer, I will not think of my next assign-ment,” he informs.

11

Hyderabad Tuesday January 5, 2021

Summer start for Indraganti'snext with Sudheer

fter winningthe praise ofmegastarChiranjeevilast Augustfollowing

their dance gig toInduvadana numberfrom the film,Challenge, Sudhakarand his wife HarikaSandepogu met themegastar at his resi-dence in Hyderabad

recently and extendedtheir New Year greet-ings. Chiru expressedhis happiness on theduo’s efforts in makingInduvadana go viraland wished Sudhakarfor his future endeav-ors and extended hissupport. The couple,on their part,described the day astheir most memorabletill date.

It's my wish to do a film with Pawan Kalyan:

Santosh Srinivas

t seems likeNandamuriKalyanram isthe latest actorto have joined

the bandwagon ofremaking Malayalamhits, according toreports doing therounds. After rightsto Malayalam hits likeLucifer, AyyappanumKoshiyum, Joseph andKappela wereacquired by multipleTelugu makers in therecent past, AnjaamPathiraa (2020), aninvestigative thrillerseems to have caughtthe interest of lens-man-turned-directorKV Guhan, who it issaid, has even con-vinced Kalyanram to

headline it. The actor-director’s earlier col-laboration, 118, was ahit and endedKalyanram’s poor runof form, and theywant to reteam upwith another thriller,reports have it. Guhanwill tweak the originalscript to suit Telugunativity.

Directed byMidhun ManuelThomas, the original’splot followed a squadof police sleuthsassisted by a consul-tant criminologist,Anwar Hussain, asthey attempt to unveilthe identity of a face-less killer whoemploys brutal tacticsto slay his victims.

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Sudhakarand wifemeet Chiru

Kalyanram, Guhan to remake a Malayalam hit?

itled Sammathame, the filmmarks the directorial debut ofGopinath Reddy who has beentravelling with Kiran for the pastfour years. It will go in front ofthe cameras from Saturday in

HyderabadKiran Abbavaram, who is filming for

Sebastian P.C. 524, which is in the last leg,will be teaming up with ChandiniChowdary for debutant Gopinath Reddy’sfilm Sammathame, the muhurat of whichwill be held this Friday in Hyderabad. Thedirector tells us that the project, a produc-tion venture of K Praveena under UGProductions, is a family entertainer with alove story. “It’s a perfect story for Kiranwith whom I’ve been travelling for the pastfour years. While writing it I knew how hewas going to perform and that made thejob both easy and tough. The story point isbased on ‘acceptance’ as the title indicates,and I’ve almost spent two years writing it.I’m pretty confident about the audienceembracing it,” Gopinath, who has directed

multiple short films, insists.Sharing about the storyline, he adds,

“Kiran will be seen as a software guy at astart-up; he is also the share holder.Chandini Chowdary is playing a typicalsoftware employee who is born and bred inHyderabad and comes from a middle-classhousehold. They first meet at a matchmak-ing event. She is a completely differentwoman to the one Kiran pictures as his lifepartner. Their journey makes the story.”

Gopinath is planning to wrap up thefilm in a start-to-end schedule after it goesin front of the cameras this Saturday. “Theidea is to complete the entire shoot byMarch first week. The album consists ofsix songs and composer Sekhar Chandrahas already given us five tunes, while lyricsare completed for a couple of numbers.Every song carries the narrative forward.The supporting cast comprises Appaji,Rupa Lakshmi who play Chandini’s par-ents, while Goparaju Ramana will be essay-ing the role of Kiran’s father,” the directorconcludes. — NG

t

Kiran and Chandini teamup for a family entertainer

tollywood

AFP n TURIN

Cristiano Ronaldo scoredtwice as champions Juventus

bounced back from their firstSerie A defeat of the season bybeating Udinese 4-1 onSunday to move up tofifth place.

The Milan clubsare top of the Italianleague with Juventus10 points adrift of thesummit having playeda game less.

Leaders AC Milan stayedone point ahead of Inter with a2-0 win over midtableBenevento despite playing anhour a man down.

City rivals Inter extendedtheir winning streak to eightleague games with a dominant6-2 victory over lowly Crotone

with Lautaro Martinez bag-ging a hat-trick. ButMilan restored theiradvantage thanks to aFranck Kessie penaltyon 15 minutes andRafael Leao’s terrificcurling strike from atight angle shortly afterhalf-time.

Sandro Tonali’s sendingoff after 33 minutes for ahigh tackle on Artur Ionita

did not holdback StefanoP i o l i ’ sside.GianluigiDonnarummawas solid inthe Milan goalw h i l eG i a n l u c a

Caprari dragged apenalty wide on thehour.

“We don’t let our-selves be put underpressure by the resultsof the opponents,”said Pioli whose sideare unbeaten in 27

league games going back toMarch.

“We’re ambitious, we’re nothiding it and we aim to win thenext match as well againstJuventus (on Wednesday).”Ronaldo once again proved deci-sive for Juventus scoring a goalin each half to bring his league-

leading tally to 14 this cam-paign and teeing up FedericoChiesa after the break.

Paulo Dybala added thefourth deep into injury timeas Andrea Pirlo’s side movedon from their first defeat ofthe season to Fiorentinalast time out. “It wasn’t thebest Juventus because wewere coming off a baddefeat, we were a bitfearful at the begin-ning,” said Pirlo.

“Slowly we grewand in the secondhalf we did better.It’s a delicatemoment but we

have to have confidence in whatwe can achieve and the determi-nation to get there.”

AFP n CHRISTCHURCH

Aclassic century by Kane Williamsonin an unbroken 215-run stand with

Henry Nicholls hauled New Zealand intoa strong position at 286/3 at stumps onday two of the second Test againstPakistan on Monday.

New Zealand, having recovered from71/3 in Christchurch, ended the day trail-ing Pakistan’s first innings 297 by just 11runs with seven wickets inhand.

Williamson, newlyinstalled as the world’s No 1Test batsman, was unbeatenon 112, his 24th century, withNicholls on 89.

Even when New Zealandwere in trouble there was a sensein the side that Williamson wouldsave them. It was Williamson's thirdcentury in as many Tests in the pastmonth, although fortune was on hisside.

Late in the day, he was droppedtwice and survived a run out whenthe bail had only partially dis-lodged in the split second it tookto get his bat across the crease.

Pakistan, without a win in 10away Tests since 2018, wouldhave felt their luck was changingwhen New Zealand slumped

from 52 without loss to 71/3 when RossTaylor departed in the fifth over afterlunch.

It could have been 74/4 whenNicholls was given out early,caught behind for three, onlyfor the dismissal to bereversed by the TV umpirewho detected ShaheenAfridi's delivery was a no

ball.With New Zealand

in trouble, Williamsonwas all patience as he took70 deliveries to reach 20,

but he then put his foot down.The next 30 runs came off 35

balls to reach 50 and he took just35 balls to race from 50 to 100.

“It’s very difficult to get hiswicket,” said Pakistan quick bowlerMohammad Abbas. “We had someplans against him but he’s a world-class player. He took his time andwhen he settled at the crease he gotsome runs. We bowled well earlybut after tea some catches weredropped and that’s why we’re strug-gling.”

AFP n JOHANNESBURG

Sri Lanka captain DimuthKarunaratne ensured his

team would avoid an inningsdefeat but the tourists were ina precarious position at theend of the second day of thesecond and final Test againstSouth Africa at theWanderers Stadium onMonday.

The tourists were 150/4 atthe close in Johannesburg, alead of five runs with sixwickets remaining.

Karunaratne, one of fiveleft-handers in the Sri Lankantop six, made 91 not out off116 balls with 17 fours.

But there was only onepartnership of note, 85 for thesecond wicket with LahiruThirimanne, who scored 31.They came together afterKusal Perera had been bowledwith only one run scored.

Fast bowler Lungi Ngiditook the first three wickets tofinish the day with 3/26, hav-ing Thirimanne and KusalMendis caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Quinton

de Kock off successive deliv-eries. It was the third succes-sive nought by Mendis.

Karunaratne's inningscontinued a fightback whichstarted with the team'sbowlers, who restricted SouthAfrica's first innings lead to145. Vishwa Fernando took5/101, his first five-wickethaul in Tests, as South Africawere bowled out for 302, los-

ing their last nine wickets for84 runs.

South Africa's collapseseemed unlikely when DeanElgar (127) and Rassie vander Dussen (67) scored 68runs off 14 overs in the firsthour of the day. Their second-wicket stand was worth 184before the mid-morningdrinks break brought achange in fortunes, with both

batsmen dismissed in thefirst two overs after drinks.

Elgar, who made 95 inSouth Africa's innings win inthe first Test at Centurion,completed his 13th Test cen-tury after starting the day on92. He hit 22 fours in a 163-ball innings.

Perera, who made 64 and60 in his previous twoinnings, was bowled for oneby a ball from Ngidi whichswung in from around thewicket. But Karunatne andThirimanne both batted withassurance before Ngidi struckagain.

Debutant MinodBhanuka played a rash pullagainst the pace of AnrichNortje and was out for one,with Keshav Maharaj takinga superb catch at midwicket,running several metres beforediving full length. NiroshanDickwella made 18 not out tosurvive with Karunaratneuntil the close.

sport 12HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | JANUARY 5, 2021

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PNS n NEW DELHI

The impasse in the Indianchess finally came to an end

on Monday as incumbentSecretary Bharat Singh Chauhanand his team scored a huge vic-tory over the camp headed bysitting President P R V Raja inan online election conducted asper the directives of the TamilNadu High Court.

Chauhan, who got re-electedto the Secretary post, is seen as aplayer friendly administrator.

The outcome comes as ahuge blow to the Raja, one of thebiggest industrialists of TamilNadu, who lost by a marginal33-31 votes to Dr Sanjay Kapoorof Uttar Pradesh.

Chauhan won 35-29 againsthis rival M Dongre of Maharashtra.

In the other key post NareshSharma from Haryana toppledincumbent Kishor Bandekar by34-30 votes.

Team Bharat Singh won 11of the total 15 posts comprising

President, Secretary, Treasurer,five Vice Presidents, and threeJoint Secretaries.

The rival camp won oneVice President and three JointSecretaries posts.

“We are going to work as ateam, I have been fighting thisfor almost 1.5 years now, just forjustice and the good sense hasfinally prevailed. The justice isdelivered and the Indian Chessis in good hands is all I canpromise for now. All our electionpromises will be delivered”, saidBharat Singh Chauhan.

The AICF has split into twofactions, one led by Raja and theother by Chauhan. The two havebeen at loggerheads for sometime over various issues, includ-ing the conduct of the elections.

Several legal battles werefought in the past one and a halfyear and there were instanceswhen the president and the sec-retary suspended each other atdifferent times.

After a long-drawn battle, a

court-appointed observerJustice (retired) K Kannanpresided over the electionprocess held online because ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.

It was the first time since2005 that the AICF electionssaw a contest as the candidateswere chosen unanimously in thelast 15 years.

Apart from the president,secretary and treasurer, six vice-presidents and six joint secre-taries were also elected.

TEAM AICFPresident(1): Dr Sanjay KapoorVice Presidents (6) : AnanthaDP, Bhavesh Patel, VipneshBhardwaj, Ajay Ajmera, PCLallianthanga & Er NiapungKonia.Secretary: Bharat SinghChauhan.Joint Secretaries: Rajesh R,Mahendra Dhakal, Atul Kumar,Mughaho Awomi, DiljeetKhanna & Atanu Lahiri.Treasurer: Naresh Sharma.

GANGULY MAY UNDERGO ANOTHER ANGIOPLASTYKolkata: Cricket Board president and former Indiacaptain Sourav Ganguly will have to undergo anotherangioplasty in a “few days or weeks” but can for now bedischarged from hospital as his condition is “stable”, theCEO of the medical facility said on Monday. A nine-member board of senior doctors discussed Ganguly'scondition and reached a consensus that thoughnecessary, angioplasty can be deferred to a later date ashe is stable, Woodlands Hospital MD and CEO Dr RupaliBasu said. “The angioplasty will take place for sure in afew days or weeks. He will be discharged most probablythe day after tomorrow,” she said.

SHAKIB IN B’DESH’S PRELIMINARY SQUAD Dhaka: Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Mondaynamed Shakib Al Hasan in the preliminary squad for theTest and T20I series against the West Indies, marking thestar all-rounder's return to national reckoning afterserving a ban for not reporting corrupt approaches. Thesouthpaw was banned for two years, one year of it wassuspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches byan alleged Indian bookie during the IPL. Former skipperMashrafe Mortaza, who is the country's highest wicket-taker in the 50 over format and also the longest-servingcaptain, was left out of the 24-member ODI squad.

BARCA BEAT HUESCA 1-00 IN LA LIGA Huesca: Barcelona won 1-0 at bottom side Huesca onSunday as Lionel Messi became the first non-Spaniardto make 500 appearances in the La Liga. Messi returnedfor Barca after missing the final game of 2020 with anankle knock and swung in a cross for Frenkie de Jong todivert home for the only goal on 27 minutes. AlthoughRonald Koeman's side began a potentially season-defining run of four consecutive away matches with acomfortable win, they remain a distant 10 points behindAtletico in fifth having played a game more.

FLETCHER JOINS MAN UTD COACHING STAFFManchester: Former Manchester United midfielderDarren Fletcher joined the team's coaching staff onMonday after a short spell in charge of the under-16s.Fletcher spent 20 years as a player with United, makingmore than 340 appearances for the senior team from2003-15 after coming through the academy.

BINDRA HOPEFUL OF INDIA'S BEST-EEVER SHOW New Delhi: India's only individual Olympic Goldmedallist Abhinav Bindra is hopeful of the countryrecording its best-ever medal haul in the upcomingedition of the mega-event in Tokyo, saying each of theathlete can be counted as a “realistic” prospect. India'sbest showing at the Games remains the six medals itwon in London in 2012. “Tokyo Olympics could end upwith our best ever medal haul even though the times arechallenging due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Bindra saidon Monday. “Sport is not scripted but I do hope that wecome back with our best medal haul and that means wewill come back with 5-6 medals and better the Londonhaul, which, remains our best.”

RIJIJU OPTIMIST ABOUT NATIONAL GAMESShillong: Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju onMonday expressed optimism that the National Games,the calendar of which was affected by Covid-19pandemic, will be held this year in Goa and in Meghalayanext year. He assured full help and support from hisministry. The Union Sports Minister admitted that thecalendar for the games was in jeopardy due to Covid-19and that the infrastructure was also affected. “Dates arebecoming a problem. Goa missed the chance last yearbecause of Covid-19. Hopefully this year Goa could hostthe games”, Rijiju told PTI. AGENCIES

SINGLES

PTI n MELBOURNE

Australia will have planschalked out for thereturning Rohit Sharma,

seasoned off-spinner NathanLyon said on Monday, describ-ing the swashbuckling Indiaopener as one of the best play-ers in world cricket.

Having missed the limitedovers leg of the tour and theTests in Adelaide andMelbourne due to an injury,Rohit has joined an upbeatIndian team for the last twomatches and Lyon is aware ofthe threat the batsman can posewith his wide range of strokes.

“Obviously, Rohit Sharmais one of the best players in theworld going around, so it isgoing to be a big challenge forus bowlers, but we are going toshow our way from it, we lovechallenging ourself,” Lyon saidat a virtual press conference.

“He (Rohit) is a big inputfor Indian side, so it is going tobe interesting to see who theyleave out.

“But we will have our plansready for Rohit, and hopeful-ly, we can get on top of himnice and early, but respectinghow good a cricketer Rohit is,”added Lyon, who is on theverge of playing his 100th Test.

Rohit has been namedIndia’s vice-captain for theremaining two Tests after hemissed the first two as he wasrecovering from an injury sus-tained during the IPL.

Lyon said one of Indiaskipper Ajinkya Rahane’sstrengths is that he does notindulge in sledging or conver-sations with the oppositionbowlers while he is in the mid-dle.

“He (Rahane) is obviouslya world-class batter, whichobviously helps with every-thing. I think the patience thathe shows at the crease, hedoesn’t seem to get (frustrated)much.

“He (Rahane) doesn’t buyinto any sledging or any con-servation out there in the mid-dle, he is pretty calm and col-lective batter (of the) opposi-tion, so it is few differentthings that he offers.

“... But he is obviouslyleader of India at the momentas Virat (Kohli) is not here, sohe is standing up at themoment and I know we willhave our plans ready to hope-fully combat him come theSCG Test,” he said.

Lyon also had words ofpraise for his Indian counter-part Ravichandran Ashwin andsaid the Tamil Nadu off-spin-ner has bowled quite straighterto the Australian batsman andthey had no answer to that.

“Yeah, Ashwin is bowlingvery well. He is a world-classspinner and I have said thatthroughout my whole career.He has bowled quite a straightline to our batters, which theyhaven’t had come up with aplan as yet.

“I think they will come upwith one of them and counterAshwin’s plan in Sydney,” saidLyon, who has 394 wicketsfrom 94 Tests.

“But he (Ashwin) is aworld-class bowler and whatyou expect, he has got a decentrecord around the world, sohats off to him,” the Australianadded.

Lyon also stated that he hasdevised “a couple of differentplans” for Rahane, who hit adogged match-winning 112 inthe Melbourne Test.

“I think (Ajinkya) Rahaneplayed me extremely well inMelbourne, so I know I amgoing to come up with a cou-ple of different plans for himand a few different guys, so Iam looking forward to putting

them in place.“But, to be honest with you,

we have been pretty accuratewith our bowling, as a squad totake 20 wickets quite quickly inAdelaide but then challengedlittle bit in Melbourne.

“But to stay there and keepcreating chances, that was apositive. So, we are very confi-dent as a bowling group and Iknow personally I have got afew different plans to put inplace.”

According to the 33-year-old Lyon, Indian batters havealways tried to be attackingagainst him.

“I think they (Indian bats-men) have played me prettysimilar. Every series I come upagainst India, they try to bequite attacking,” he said.

We’ll have plans for world-class Rohit: Lyon

Indian Test vice-captain Rohit Sharma reacts during Team India’s practice session cricket.com.au/Twitter

PATTINSON OUT Australian pacer James Pattinson was on

Monday ruled out of the third Test againstIndia due to bruised ribs, the home team’scricket board said in a statement.

“Fast bowler James Pattinson has beenruled out of our Australian squad for the third

#AUSvIND Vodafone Test with bruised ribs,”said Cricket Australia (CA).

A replacement has not been named forPattinson, who got injured after a fall at home.

“He will not be replaced in the squad andwill be assessed further ahead of the BrisbaneTest match,” CA added.

PTI n SYDNEY

The crowd limit for the third Testbetween India and Australia,

beginning here from Thursday, hasbeen reduced to 25 per cent of theSCG’s seating capacity on advice ofthe New South Wales Governmentafter fresh Covid-19 cases wererecorded in the city.

Approximately 9500 peoplewould be allowed to watch thegame with the series currentlylocked at 1-1. The SCG has a seat-ing capacity of about 38,000.

“Reducing the capacity of thevenue is crucial in achieving socialdistancing requirements, and wesincerely thank ticket-holders fortheir patience, as we processrefunds today, reconfigure theSCG seating plan to deliver thesesocial distancing measures and goback on sale,” Cricket AustraliaCEO Nick Hockley said in a state-ment.

SCG crowd capacity limited to 25%

CA reject reports of India seekingchange of venue for Brisbane TestPTI n SYDNEY

Cricket Australia chief executive NickHockley on Monday dismissed

reports that the Indian team is reluctantto play the fourth Test in Brisbanebecause of stricter quarantine rulesthere.

Hockley said the Indian cricketboard is “fully across (and) supportive”of quarantine requirements inQueensland.

“We speak to our counterparts at theBCCI daily,” he told reporters here.

“We’ve had nothing formal from theBCCI to suggest anything other thanthey’re supportive. Both teams havewanted to play the schedule as we’ve setout,” he asserted.

The fourth game is due from January15 at the Gabba.

The Australian media has claimedthat the Brisbane Test is in jeopardybecause of the tourists’ reluctance to trav-el there in view of harder quarantine

rules, having already served one uponentering Australia in November.

The reports, citing unnamedsources, claimed that the Indian teamwanted the fourth Test to be also held inSydney.

Earlier in the day, Australia’s leadingspinner Nathan Lyon had called on play-ers from both teams to “get out there andplay the game” instead of worrying overthings that are beyond their control.

“I am not really worried aboutwhat’s being reported, it is for us to worryabout what we can control and the infor-mation that we are receiving from thepeople at Cricket Australia and the med-ical people,” Lyon had said.

“It is just about us making sure thatwe are very well prepared for the SydneyTest, everyone keeps talking about theGabba Test.

“But there is a massive Test matchin just couple of days at the SCG and thatis where our focus is 100 per cent at themoment,” the veteran off-spinner added.

PTI n MELBOURNE

The Indian cricket team and its support staffhave returned negative in the latest Covid-

19 tests conducted here ahead of the third Testagainst Australia in Sydney, the BCCI said onMonday.

The game is due to start on January 7 andThe Indian team landed in Sydney on Mondayas scheduled.

“Playing members of the Indian CricketTeam and support staff underwent an RT-PCRTest for Covid-19 on January 3, 2021. All testshave returned negative results,” the BCCI saidin a short statement.

The statement came a couple of days afterfive Indian players — vice-captain Rohit Sharma,opener Shubman Gill, stumper Rishabh Pant,pacer Navdeep Saini and batsman Prithvi Shaw— were placed in isolation when a video of themat an indoor restaurant was posted by a fan onTwitter.

The five were, however, allowed to train andtravel with the team for the match in Sydney.According to sources in the Indian contingent,they have been cleared to play in the third Testat the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Team India, support staff -ve in latest Covid-19 tests

Kane’s 112 puts NZ in control

Sanjay Kapoor elected AICF President,Chauhan retains secretary's post

Karunaratne takes SL into lead

Cristiano moves pastPele’s domestic goal

tally with his 758thstrike in Juve’s 4-1 win

‘Ronaldo surpasses Pele’s scoring record