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SEELAM AROZIE NAVEEN KUMAR n VIJAYAWADA

Former Speaker and six-timeTDP MLA Dr KodelaSivaprasada Rao committedsuicide at his residence inHyderabad on Monday. He issurvived by wife Sasikala,daughter Vijayalakshmi andson Sivaramakrishna.

Death of Kodela was con-firmed by the authorities of theBasavatarakam Hospital wherehe was shifted by his familymembers. Later OsmaniaHospital after conducting autop-sy confirmed the suicide ofKodela. The senior TDP leadercourted controversies and drewa lot of critricism from theYSRCP government during thelast six months. He faced a seriesof cases after YSRCP came topower in May. Cases filedagainst Kodela and his childrenare said to have distrubed theveteran leader who has taken theexterme step, succumbing topolitical turmoil. However, Rao'sfamily members alleged that hetook the extreme step followingthe numerous cases bookedagainst him and the harassmenthe suffered. They told the policethat he was under mental stress.Rao's body was shifted to gov-ernment-run Osmania GeneralHospital for autopsy.

Continued on Page 3

3 electrocutedwhile repairingborewellPNS n KAMAREDDY

Three persons got electrocut-ed while trying to take outdefunct borewell pipes atYelpugonda village ofMachareddy Mandal inKamareddy district onMonday. Aileni LakshmanRao (70), Aileni MuralidharRao (50) and ImmadiSatyanarayana (40) were try-ing to repair a borewell motorin the fields of MaragoniSwamy Goud. While trying toremove the pipes, one of themtouched a live electric wire. Allthree, probably standing veryclose by or sticking to eachother, got electrocuted anddied on the spot. Farm ownerSwamy Goud, who witnessedthe incident, suffered a heartattack out of shock.

Trump to join Modi atmega ‘Howdy, Modi!’ inHouston on Sept 22PNS n WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI

Donald Trump will joinNarendra Modi at themega "Howdy, Modi!"diaspora event inHouston onSunday to reaf-firm the Indo-USstrategic ties, theWhite House hasannounced, a deci-sion hailed by thePrime Minister as a "specialgesture" by the US President tounderscore the special bondbetween the two countries.

Emphasising the new bon-homie in the India-US tiesunder the Trump administra-

tion, this is for the first time inrecent history that the leadersof the two largest democracieswould be addressing a jointrally anywhere in the world.

More than 50,000Indian-Americansfrom across the UShave registered forthe September 22"Howdy, Modi!

Shared Dreams,Bright Futures" event to

be held at the sprawlingNRG Stadium in Houston,Texas. "Howdy", short for'How do you do?', is a friend-ly greeting commonly used insouthwestern United States.

Related report on Page 8

Many languagesare not India'sweakness: RahulPNS n NEW DELHI

Two days after Union HomeMinister Amit Shah pitchedfor 'one nation, one language',and asked people to maximizethe use of Hindi, formerCongress President RahulGandhi on Monday slammedthe move saying having manylanguages are not India's"weakness".

"Oriya, Marathi, Kannada,Hindi, Tamil, English,Gujarati, Bengali, Urdu,Punjabi, Konkani, Malayalam,Telugu, Assamese, Bodo,Dogri, Maithili, Nepali,Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi,Santhali, Manipuri... India'smany languages are not herweakness," Rahul Gandhitweeted. His remarks cameamid the furore across thecountry over Shah's remarks of'one nation, one language'.

EX-SPEAKER KODELACOMMITS SUICIDE

l Authorities of theBasavatarakam Hospital

confirmed the deathof Kodela, where he

was shifted by hisfamily members

l The senior TDPleader courted

controversies anddrew a lot of

critricism from YSRCPgovt during the last 6

months

l In a political career spanning over40 years, Sivaprasada Rao elected

to the Assembly fromNarasaraopet in 1983, 1985,1989, 1994 and 2004-MLA. Hewon the Sattenapalli seat in2014l He served Home Ministerduring 1987-88 and Irrigation

Minister during 1996-97. He lostthe election to YSRCP's Ambati

Rambabu in 2019 from SattenapalliAssembly constituency

Supporters of former Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao paying tributes to the late leader at NTR Trust Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment BotsaSatyanarayana has said that theTelangana government shouldorder a thorough inquiry into theuntimely death of former SpeakerKodela Sivaprasada Rao.

Speaking to the media,Botsa said, "A section of themedia initially publishedreports stating that Kodelahad died unable to bearrevenge politics and after sometime, they reported that he hadsuffered a heart stroke. Wehave doubts over Kodela'sdeath so we are requesting theTelangana government to con-duct a comprehensive inquiry."

He said if anything criticalhappens to a person inHyderabad, first he would beshifted to NIMS, CareHospital, KIMS or ApolloHospital. But, here Kodela wasadmitted to BasavatarakamHospital, which is a cancerclinic. "What is the reasonbehind it?" questioned Botsa.The minister further stated thatYSRCP never does filthy pol-itics against a late politician.v

Botsa urges TSgovt to probeKodela's death

CM warns of strict actionagainst erring officials

BOAT MISHAP

Chief Minister YS Jaganomhan Reddy addressing the media in Visakhapatnamon Monday. Telangana Minister Errabelli Dayakar is also seen

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has warned of stringentaction against the officials andagencies responsible for theboast tragedy on Sunday in EastGodavari. So far, in the boat cap-size, 12 are found dead, 33 aremissing and 27 survived inGodavari river waters. Amongthe 72 in the ill fated people, 62are tourists and the rest of 10crew members.

While reviewing the boastaccident that led to the majormishap at sub- collector's officehere on Monday, the ChiefMinister said the four-membercommittee has been formedcomprising Special ChiefSecretary (Irrigation), EastGodavari District Collector ,Chief Secretary (revenue) andPrincipal Secretary (tourism) asits members. The committee

will submit a report in threeweeks and action would beimitated within 45 days, theChief Minister stated. Earlier,the Chief Minister visited thegovernment hospital here wherethe survivors are undergoingtreatment. He assured them allpossible help. He alsoannounced Rs 10 lakh ex - gra-tia to those who lost their livesin the accident. So far, in theboat capsize, 12 are found dead,33 are missing and 27 survivedin Godavari river waters.Among the 72 in the ill fatedpeople, 62 are tourists and therest of 10 crew members

The Chief Minister said thefour-member committee hasbeen formed comprising SpecialChief Secretary (Irrigation),East Godavari DistrictCollector , Chief Secretary (rev-enue) and Principal Secretary(tourism) as its members.

PNS n GUNTUR

The police on Monday stoppedthe convoy of BJP StatePresident KannaLakshminarayana at theNandigama Cross Road inSattenapalli mandal of Gunturdistrict. The police took Kannainto custody and shifted himto Sattenapalle DSP's Office.

A large posse of securitypersonnel was deployed toprevent BJP workers fromgoing to Gurazala where theparty's public meeting wasscheduled to be held onMonday evening. Earlier, thepolice denied permission toBJP for holding the proposedpublic meeting citing law andorder problems followingrecent political developmentsin the State.

The police imposed Section144 and promulgated pro-hibitory orders under Section30 of the Indian Police Act toprevent people from attendingthe meeting.

Later, KannaLakshminarayana alleged inhis tweet that the YSRCP gov-ernment was resorting tooppression by throttling demo-cratic voices. He said the devel-opment had taken back seatduring the Jaganmohan

Reddy's government in theState.

"Is there democracy inAndhra Pradesh?" he said andwondered if there is no rightfor the people to question thegovernment.

The State government is

going ahead with vengefulactivities instead of focusingon development. Illegal arrestof people belonging toOpposition parties hasincreased after YSRCP cameto power in the State, healleged.

BJP state chief Kanna Lakshminarayana was arrested at Nandigama cross road inSattenapalli mandal of Guntur district on Monday

l A large posse ofsecurity personnel

was deployed toprevent BJP workers

from going toGurazala where the

party's publicmeeting was

scheduled to be heldon Monday evening

l Kanna Lakshminarayanaalleged in his tweet that theYSRCP government wasresorting to oppression bythrottling democraticvoicesl He said the developmenthad taken back seat duringJaganmohan Reddy'stenure in the State.

DD India willbe availableall over worldNEW DELHI: DoordarshanIndia will soon be availableal l over the world,Information andBroadcasting ministerPrakash Javadekar said onMonday, asserting that cred-ibility is the national broad-caster 's unique sell ingproposition. Javadekar madethe remarks at the celebra-tions marking the 60thFoundation Day of DD at the Doordarshan Bhawanhere.

The minister highlightedthe role played byDoordarshan in its journeyof the last 60 years, remi-niscing about the pro-grammes and highlightinghow the broadcaster hascontinued to enthral audi-ences over the decades.

Javadekar talked aboutthe modern technologicalchanges brought about byDoordarshan in adoptingdigital means and becomingavailable on phone througha mobile application.

Rajasthanmulls 75 %quota for locals

ED summonsChidambaram'sex-PSNEW DELHI: TheEnforcement Directorate (ED)has issued a fresh summonsfor appearance to a former pri-vate secretary of arrestedCongress leader PChidambaram in connectionwith the INX Media money-laundering case, officials saidon Monday. They said K V KPerumal was grilled twice bythe central agency in the recentpast. He was now summonedto appear before the investi-gating officer of the case onSeptember 18, they added.Perumal served as the privatesecretary to Chidambaramwhen the latter was the Unionfinance minister, the officialssaid. Some more informationhad been sought fromPerumal and he had beensummoned for the third timenow, the officials said.

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan gov-ernment is mulling the possi-bility of providing 75 per centreservation to local people inprivate jobs, an official saidhere on Monday. He said var-ious government departmentswould hold a brainstormingsession on it soon.

"The proposal is in the ini-tial stage. A brainstormingsession will be held with stake-holders in coming days," saidDr Samit Sharma, managingdirector, Rajasthan Skill andLivelihood DevelopmentCorporation (RSLDC).

He said the Andhra Pradeshgovernment had recentlypassed a bill in the assembly,giving reservation to locals inprivate jobs. Madhya PradeshChief Minister Kamal Nathtoo had said that their gov-ernment was mulling a law toensure 70 per cent jobs to the local youth in the privatesector.

Sharma said theConfederation of IndianIndustries (CII); Departmentof Factories and Boilers;Department of Industries;and the Department ofLabour besides the RSLDCwould give their views on theproposal in the brainstorm-ing session.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Amaravati, Sep 16 (PTI):Praveen Prakash, an IAS offi-cer of the 1994 batch, was onMonday appointed asPrincipal Secretar y toAndhra Pradesh ChiefMinister.

Chief Secretar y L VSubrahmanyam issued aGovernment Order to thiseffect. Praveen is currentlythe Resident Commissionerof Andhra Pradesh in NewDelhi. He has also been givenfull additional charge asPrincipal Secretary (Political)in the GeneralAdministration Department.

Ram Prakash Sisodia hasbeen transferred as PrincipalSecretary, Tribal Welfare.

V Vinod Kumar (2015)has been transferred as Sub-Collector of Vijayawada,according to the ChiefSecretary's order.

The state government alsoreplaced the Head of ForestForce Md Illiyas Rizvi, who isof the Principal ChiefConservator of Forests rank.

He has been posted asPrincipal Secretar y of

Minorities WelfareDepartment.

N Prateep Kumar, Vice-Chairman and ManagingDirector of AP ForestDevelopment Corporation,has been given additionalcharge as PCCF (Head ofForest Force).

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Wargaming Software 'ARNAV'jointly developed by theInstitute of Systems Studiesand Analyses (ISSA), a pre-mier organisation of theDRDO, and Maritime WarfareCentre (MWC),Visakhapatnam, under ENCwas formally inducted duringthe Diamond JubileeCelebrations of ISSA in NewDelhi on Monday.

Dr G Satheesh Reddy,Chairman DRDO andSecretary DoD R&D, was thechief guest. Vice-Admiral GAshok Kumar, Vice-Chief ofthe Naval Staff was the guestof honour for the event where'ARNAV' software was for-mally handed over toCommodore Sushant Dam,Director MWC ((V). Cdr PaulS Ranjan and Cdr SrijeetGhoshal of MWC(V) were

also awarded commendationby the DRDO Chairman dur-ing the event for their contri-bution in the development ofthe software.

ARNAV is an advancewargaming simulator meetsthe contemporary simulator-based wargaming requirementof the Indian Navy.

It is globally playable withmultiple forces and all domainwarfare such as surface war-fare, air warfare, sub-surfacewarfare.

ARNAV is playable over asecure naval network withother Maritime WarfareCentres and remote bases.The success of this project has

been achieved in record timeat minimum cost. It infusesvirtual equipment, environ-mental factors, merchant ship-ping and engagement resultsthat realise the prime need ofthe Indian Navy to 'TRAIN ASWE FIGHT'. ARNAV pro-vides a robust platform todevelop integrate the futureArtificial Intelligence andVirtual Reality modules forfuture warfare.

Wargaming Software ‘ARNAV' developed

Praveen has alsobeen given fulladditional charge asPrincipal Secretary(Political) in theGeneralAdministrationDepartment

Praveen Prakashappointed PrincipalSecretary to CM

Officials of Institute of Systems Studies and Analyses (ISSA), a premierorganisation of the DRDO, and Maritime Warfare Centre (MWC), Visakhapatnam,during the Diamond Jubilee fete of ISSA in New Delhi on Monday

ARNAV is playableover a secure navalnetwork with otherMaritime WarfareCentres and remotebases. The success of this project hasbeen achieved inrecord time atminimum cost

Five die ascar crashesinto auto VIJAYAWADA: In a majorroad accident, five membersof a family were killed whenan auto-rickshaw in whichthey were travelling collidedby a car at Hanuman Junctionin Krishna district onMonday. Two persons, whowere grievously injured in theincident, have been admittedto a hospital. The policeshifted the bodies to the hos-pital for post-mortem. A casewas registered. Investigationis going on.

Cops foil BJP state chiefKanna's bid to enter Gurazala

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated June 12, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Jyestha & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Ekadashi: 04:49 pm (Next Day)Nakshatram: Chitra: 10:55 amTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:53 pm – 03:31 pmYamagandam: 05:45 am – 07:22 am

Varjyam: 04:23 pm - 05:56 pm

Gulika: 09:00 am - 10:38 amGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 01:43 am – 03:17 amAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:50 am - 12:42 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Partly CloudyTemp: 43/32Humidity: 32%Sunrise: 05.41Sunset: 06.50

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 vijayawada 02

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Swachh Rail - SwachhBharat campaign got off to aflying start on South CentralRailway (SCR) - Vijayawadadivision with the commence-ment of the fortnight-long'Swachhata hi Seva - SwachhataPakhwara' on Monday.

P Srinivas, DivisionalRailway Manager, Vijayawada,administered the Swachhatapledge to officers, staff and alarge gathering of childrenfrom different schools. Afterthe pledge, a cleanliness aware-ness rally was taken out fromthe Vijayawada RailwayStadium to Vijayawada RailwayStation via RE Colony and OldGovernment Hospital.

Speaking on the occasion, PSrinivas, DRM, called upon thepeople to make India andIndian Railways clean andgreen. The DRM advised theofficers and staff to voluntari-ly pledge 100 hours every weekto clean station premises,offices and public spaces. Healso instructed the staff toimplement a ban on single-useplastic in letter and spirit. Heappreciated the students, teach-ers and family members of rail-waymen for gathering in largenumbers, as well as the house-keeping staff, who put effortsday and night to keep the sta-tions clean.

The Nukkad Nattak by stu-dents of SKCV School at theWaiting Hall on Platform 1 atthe station was met with over-whelming response from the

huge crowd. G Sumana,Additional DivisionalManager, Operations, appre-ciated the play enacted by thestudents and briefed the gath-ering about the ill-effects ofplastic and the need of aware-ness on it.

Dr V Satyanarana, ChiefMedical Superintendent,Vijayawada, organised a multi-purpose health check up campon Platform 1 for housekeep-

ing staff and distributed med-icines free of cost. Later, a mas-sive Shramdaan was taken upby railway officials on all plat-forms with the theme 'PlasticFree India.' Similarly, theSwachhata pledge was admin-istered, along with Shramdaanby respective station man-agers and supervisors at vari-ous stations all overVijayawada division.

MVS Ramaraju, ADRM

(Infrastructure, VSatyanarana, CMS, RamChandra Sahoo, Sr DEnHM,P Nehemiah, Sr DPO, SachinBhalode, Sr DSC, GajendraKumar, SrDEE/TRD, RameshGaikwad, DEnHM, KRajendra Prasad, DCM/In-charge PRO, CH Suresh,Station Director, VVenkateswarulu Naik, ADMO,other officers and staff partic-ipated in the rally andSwachhata campaign atVijayawada Railway Station.

The ensuing Swachhata HiSewa - Pakhwara will see a hostof activities, including Swachhawareness, cleanliness drivewith the public, clean trains,clean stations, community day,clean workplace, clean resi-dential premises, clean food,clean water, and clean toilets,among others.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Quikr launched its firstQuikrBazaar store here onMonday. QuikrBazaar bringsproducts such as furniture,electronics and appliancesstraight to the customers. Allproducts are checked for qual-ity and come with a full war-ranty and replacement guar-antee from Quikr. They areconvenient while also easy onthe pocket.

Talking about the develop-ment, Sarath ChandraGudlavalleti, VP atQuikrBazaar, said: "There is ahuge demand for quality test-ed, new, unboxed and refur-bished products across the

country and some customersstill prefer to 'touch and feel'the product before buying.With the launch ofQuikrBazaar stores, we will beable to reach markets wherecustomers don't have access tothese products and bridge thegap between aspiration andaffordability in Tier I, II and IIIcities."

The first few stores arealready operational in TamilNadu, Uttar Pradesh,Telangana and Karnataka. Bythe end of this year,QuikrBazaar plans to have50+ such stores across thecountry to provide addition-al channel and increasedaccessibility for its consumers.

QuikrBazaar storelaunched in city

TV anchor Rashmi at the launch of QuirkBazaar store in Vijayawada on Monday

PNS n AMARAVATI

VIT-AP University organiseda day-long TEDxVITAP onMonday in which studentsand faculty, including 158 per-sons from across the countrytook part. The primary goal ofthe event was to bring togeth-er bright minds to deliver lec-tures that are idea-focused ona wide range of subjects to fos-ter learning, inspiration andprovoke conversations thatmatter.

The theme of the event was"The Misfits, Rebels andGenius". Diana Pundole, pro-fessional race car driver,Priyatham, caricature artist,Vivian Ambrose, filmmaker &photographer, SrikanthSrinivasan, Senior Director ofNASSCOM, Bhumika Bhatia,portrait photographer,Abhishek Vasudev, profes-sional bike racer, Dr. ManjulaAnagani, Obstetrician &Gynaecologist, Sandeep Reddyand businessman Dr DSubhakar spoke.

Vice-chancellor of VIT-APsaid that the event is a well-deserved break from themonotony of the college regi-men and hopefully a much-needed reminder as to why

students need to hustle.Students are the millennialliving in the 21st century andwith all the technological andphilosophical advancementsin their lives. However, they arethe millennial, who live theirlives dealing with anxiety,afraid to face reality, afraid ofmissing out, afraid of notreaching the pinnacle of lives,and yet too afraid to begin

making a change.Dr CLV Siva Kumar,

Registrar, VIT-AP, said that theevent promoted thinking outof the box and broadens theperspective of the students.

Dr Sameer Gokarn,Coordinator, TEDxVITAPevent, thanked VIT-APUniversity Vice-PresidentSankar Viswanathan, speakers,students, faculty and enthusiasts.

Man commitssuicide at in-law’s housePNS n ANANTAPUR

A man allegedly committedsuicide at his in-laws house inChennekothapalle mandal ofAnantapur district on Sunday.According to police,Veeranjaneyulu (32) fromKudair village in Anantapurdistrict was married toThulasamma from NamalaVillage and had a daughter.

Veeranjaneyulu arrived atNamala a week ago to see hiswife and daughter, who were athis in-law's house. Relativesfound him hanging in a roomearly on Sunday morning andinformed the police. The policeregistered a case of deathunder suspicious circum-stances and started an inquiryinto the case.

Govt keen toaccord toppriority to eduPNS n KADAPA

Deputy Chief MinisterAmzadh Basha said thatChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy is keenon according top priority toeducation and medical sec-tors in order to promotingqualitative education in gov-ernment colleges. TheDeputy CM, who was inKadapa for participating inthe Freshers' Day programmeorganised in government girlscollege here on Monday, saidstudents should utilise theopportunity properly as thegovernment was allocatingfunds in a big way.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The World Ozone Day wasobsereved at the Sri DurgaMalleswara Siddhartha MahilaKalasala here on Monday.

Environmental ProtectionForum Convenor V Srinivas,who spoke on the occasion,said it is the responsibility ofall to save environment. Theenvironment has given every-thing to us.

But, we are depleting anddegrading it with our greed,”he said. He explained the illeffects of depletion of Ozonelayer on human beings.

It protects the human race byshielding them from the ultra-violet rays of the Sun, he added.College Director Dr T.Vijayalakshmi, Principal Dr. MNalini, Chemistry DepartmentHOD Dr. S. Kalpana and otherswere among those present.

World OzoneDay observed

Railway officials taking part in Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat campaign in Vijayawada on Monday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

General Motors (GM) andTata Consultancy Services(TCS) on Monday announceda new partnership under whichthe IT major would support theleading automaker in futurevehicle engineering projectsacross global markets.

The new association buildson the 16-year-long relation-ship between the two compa-nies, according to a joint state-ment by GM and TCS.

Under the agreement, TCSwill acquire certain assets at theGM Technical Centre India(GMTC-I) in Bengaluru andwill partner with GM, sup-porting its global vehicle pro-grammes with engineeringdesign services over the nextfive years.

Over 1,300 employees ofGMTC-I will transfer to TCS,including teams focused onpropulsion systems, vehicle

engineering, controls devel-opment, testing, creativedesign, and special projects, thestatement said.

"TCS has been an outstand-ing partner for 16 years. We arepleased to evolve our partner-ship even further, as we workto deliver on our commitmentto create a world with zerocrashes, zero emissions and

zero congestion," stated DanNicholson, GM Vice PresidentElectrification, Controls,Software & Electronics.

Regu Ayyaswamy, TCSGlobal Head, Engineering andIndustrial Services Practice,said that the company wel-comes GMTC-I's talented engi-neers into the TCS family, andencourage them to take advan-

tage of the vast learning andgrowth opportunities availableand realise their potential.

"Next generation automotiveR&D is a key focus area forTCS, given the criticality ofproduct innovation and con-nectedness in the Business 4.0world. This new partnershipwith General Motors is a tes-tament to our willingness toinvest in the relationship for thelonger term," said TCS GlobalHead, Manufacturing BusinessGroup Susheel Vasudevan.

The transaction and han-

dover are expected to be com-pleted by the end of September.

Established in 2004 inBengaluru, GMTC-I con-tributes to GM's global pro-grammes across propulsionsystems, vehicle engineering,controls development, testing,creative design and specialprojects.

It houses a design studio andan engineering center withstate-of-the-art, in-house elec-tronics hardware, as well assoftware testing and validationinfrastructure.

General Motors, TCS join hands for vehicle engineering

PNS n SYDNEY

Rather than laughing about itor feeling embarrassed, this isthe time to take flatulenceseriously as researchers havedeveloped a non-invasive, gas-capturing capsule that canmeasure what kind of gases youhave in your stomach and alertyou if there is any problem.

The capsule can detectgaseous biomarkers as it pass-es through the gut, all thewhile transmitting the cap-tured data wirelessly to theCloud for aggregation andanalysis. The purpose of theresearch is to lift the lid on thevarious gases of the gut andshow how vital they are forhuman health, said the teamfrom University of New SouthWale in Australia (UNSW).

"Interestingly, the gases in

most abundance throughoutthe digestive system -- nitro-gen, oxygen, carbon dioxide,hydrogen and even methane -are odourless," said lead authorand Professor KouroshKalantar-Zadeh. The study,published in Nature ReviewsGastroenterology &Hepatology, examined all avail-

able literature on gastroin-testinal gases, their interactionswith the microbiome of the gut,their associated disorders andthe way that they can be mea-sured and analysed.

The researchers examinedeach of the main gases that arefound in the gastrointestinalsystem.

With the exception of nitro-gen, the gases found in theintestines have also been linkedwith various gut diseasesincluding malabsorption offood, irritable bowel syndrome(IBS), inflammatory bowel dis-eases (IBD) and even coloncancer, especially when the gasprofiles deviate from the norm.

The research team is com-mercialising a revolutionarytool to analyse the gastroin-testinal gases in vivo (withinthe body) in the form of aningestible capsule loaded withgas-sensing technology.

Traditionally, testing andmeasuring of the various gaseshas ranged from the non-inva-sive in vitro-- in the laborato-ry -- gut simulators and indi-rect breath testing through tocolonic or small intestine tube-insertion, a much more inva-

sive method used to capturestool or gas samples.

The ingestible capsule cansimultaneously detect oxygenand hydrogen concentrationsas it moves through the gas-trointestinal gut and wireless-ly transmit the data to anexternal receiver.

"There is no other tool thatcan do what this capsule does,"said Kalantar-Zadeh.

"In our early trials, the capsulehas accurately shown the onset offood-related fermentation in thegut, which would be immenselyvaluable for clinical studies offood digestion and normal gutfunction," he added. According tothe researchers, a trial is currentlyunderway by Atmo Biosciencesto test the commercial version ofthe capsule, the results of whichwill be detailed in a futureresearch paper.

Capsule to analyse what gases you hide in your stomach

‘Swachhata hi Seva'off to a grand start

n P Srinivas, DivisionalRailway Manager,Vijayawada,administered theSwachhata pledge toofficers, staff and alarge gathering ofchildren from differentschools

n After the pledge, acleanliness awarenessrally was taken outfrom the VijayawadaRailway Stadium toVijayawada RailwayStation via RE Colonyand Old GovernmentHospital

TEDxVITAP ignites idea-focusedthinking among students

n Vice-chancellor of VIT-AP saidthat the event is a well-deserved break from themonotony of the collegeregimen and hopefully amuch-needed reminder as towhy students need to hustle

n Students are themillennial living in the21st century and withall the technologicaland philosophicaladvancements intheir lives

Under the agreement, TCS will acquirecertain assets at the GM Technical CentreIndia (GMTC-I) in Bengaluru and willpartner with GM, supporting its globalvehicle programmes with engineeringdesign services over the next five years

Pavitrotsavamspostersreleased

PNS n TIRUPATI

TTD Joint Executive Officer PBasant Kumar on Mondayreleased the wall posters ofannual Pavitrotsavams at SriPrasanna Venkateswara tem-ple of Appalayagunta begin-ning from September 25-27with Ankurarpanam onSeptember 24. The posterrelease event took place at hischambers in the TTD admin-istrative building in whichdeputy executive officer JhansiRani, Agama advisorSrinivasacharyulu, superin-tendent Gopalakrishna Reddyand others were present.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Ride-hailing giant Uber thatrecently fixed a hacking bugfound by Bengaluru-based cybersecurity researcher AnandPrakash paid him $ 6,500 (near-ly Rs 4.6 lakh) as a reward.

The bug allowed attackers totake over any user's Uberaccount, including those of

partners and Uber Eats users.As per media reports, the bugwas present in the API requestfunction of the app. Accordingto Uber, it was immediatelyfixed through the company'sBug Bounty programme. Theyalso said that they had paid over$ 2 million to more than 600researchers around the world,including those from India.

Prakash started his career as asecurity engineer in Flipkart in

2014. In 2016, he foundedAppSecure, a cyber security

start-up and has been featuredin the Forbes '30 under 30 Asia'list. He has worked with theBengaluru-based foodtechstart-up Freshmenu to maketheir platform secure. In 2015,Facebook awarded him $15,000 as bounty for logging inwithout an account. A gradu-ate in computer science fromVellore Institute of Technology,

Chennai, he also received $5,000 from Uber for booking afree ride and $ 4,700 fromTinder. He had earlier removeda bug that would let anyoneride for free for a lifetime inUber.

Prakash has also participat-ed in bug bounties for GitHub,Nokia, Soundcloud, Dropboxand PayPal in the past.

Indian techie discovers Uber bug, bags Rs 4.6 lakh rewardCyber security researcher Anand Prakashstarted his career as a security engineer inFlipkart in 2014. In 2016, he founded AppSecure,a cyber security start-up, and has been featuredin the Forbes ‘30 under 30 Asia' list

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VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

MaidenIN-RSN-RTNtrilateral exercisecommencesPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A maiden trilateral exer-cise involving theRepublic of SingaporeNavy (RSN), RoyalThailand Navy (RTN) andIndian Navy (IN) com-menced at Port Blair onMonday.

The five-day-long exer-cise is aimed at bolsteringthe maritime relationshipsbetween Singapore,Thailand and India, andcontribute significantly toenhancing the overallmaritime security in theregion.

It would also work tostrengthen the mutualconfidence amongst thethree navies in terms ofinteroperabi l ity anddevelopment of a com-mon understanding ofprocedures.

Under the ambit of thisexercise, formidable-classGuided Missile StealthFrigate RSN Tenacious and GuidedMissi le Fr igate HisMajesty's Thailand Ship(HTMS) Kraburi would be exercising withIndian Naval ShipsRanvir, a Guided MissileDestroyer, Kora, a MissileCorvette and Sukanya, anOffshore Patrol Vessel,along with a P8I LongR ange Marit imeReconnaissance aircraft.

During the harbourphase scheduled at PortBlair, professionalexchange, sports fixturesand cross deck familiari-sation visits would beorganised.

For the sea phasescheduled f romSeptember 18 to 20, ahost of surface and airoperat ions involvingGunner y, ForceProtection Measures andCommunication drillswould be conducted.

Besides fostering coop-eration, the maiden IN-RSN-RTN Trilateral exer-cise would provide anopportunity to the partic-ipating navies to cometogether in a spirit of col-laboration to nurturestronger ties.

A BJP worker in Lord Ganesha’s attire, along with a cop, creating awareness on helmet use at Satyam Junction inVisakhapatnam on Monday

AWARENESS DDRIVE OON HHELMET UUSE

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The State has witnessed thesecond largest number of boatmishaps after Tamil Nadu inSouth India. More than 600people have lost lives in boatmishaps across the State in thepast 20 years. Ironically, mostof the mishaps took place inEast Godavari, West Godavari,Krishna, Visakhapatnam andSrikakulam districts.

But despite the frequent boataccidents in the Godavari andKrishna rivers that haveclaimed several lives, no pre-cautionary measures have beentaken to prevent them.

The National Crime RecordsBureau (NCRB) suggests thatbetween 2001 and 2015, a totalof 8,775 incidents of boatmishaps were reported and10,600 people had died in thecountry. The data also says thatin the State alone, 490 peoplelost their lives in boat tragediesin the same period, and over100 people died between 2016and 2019.

Four States - Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Bihar andChhattisgarh together account-ed for more than 50 per cent ofthe deaths due to boat mishapsin the past one-and-a-halfdecade. Uttar Pradesh toppedwith 1,753 deaths followed by1,665 in Madhya Pradesh and1,216 in Bihar.

Tamil Nadu topped with 630deaths in South India followedby Andhra Pradesh with 493deaths, 447 in Karnataka, 386 in

Odisha and 360 in Kerala. Given the past major boat

capsizing incidents in the State,21 persons drowned in theKrishna on November 12, 2017when a boat carrying tourists to

Pavitra Sangamam nearIbrahimpatnam on the outskirtsof Vijayawada capsized. Sixteenpersons were rescued. Thirteenpersons drowned as a boat cap-sized in YT Cheruvu village tank

in Gooty mandal of Anantapurdistrict in 2017. Nineteen per-sons drowned when a boat over-turned in the Godavari nearManturu village in EastGodavari district in May, 2018.Seventeen persons survived.Seven people drowned when aboat carrying 31 people, most ofwhich were students, capsized inthe Godavari river near PasuvulaLanka village of East Godavaridistrict in July 2018.

A senior police officer saidthat the nexus between politi-cal leaders and boat operatorsin the State was the major rea-son for the majority of thedeaths as private boat operatorsdo not follow the rules pre-scribed by the IndianRegistration of Shipping andInland Vessels Act, 1917.

Boat mishaps in State claim600 lives in two decades

First Consulate bizmeet planned in city

n A senior police officersaid that the nexusbetween politicalleaders and boatoperators in the Statewas the major reasonfor the majority of thedeaths as private boatoperators do notfollow the rulesprescribed by theIndian Registration ofShipping and InlandVessels Act, 1917

n Four States - UttarPradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Bihar andChhattisgarh togetheraccounted for more than50 per cent of the deathsdue to boat mishaps inthe past one-and-a-halfdecade

n Uttar Pradesh toppedwith 1,753 deathsfollowed by 1,665 inMadhya Pradesh and1,216 in Bihar

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The AP Chambers in asso-ciation with Government ofAndhra Pradesh is set toorganise the first ConsulateBusiness Meet on in the cityon September 18.

The Event will be inaugu-rated by Minister for indus-tries M Goutam Reddy andMinister for TourismMuttamsetti Srinivas Raofollowed by an interactivebusiness meet.

This is a unique initiativeby the AP Chambers tobring together the Chambersof Commerce, businesshouses , exporters andimporters of selective coun-tries on a single platform topromote trade, business andinvestment among the par-ticipating countries.

The object ive is toenhance the two way invest-ment, trade and technologyflow from these countries toAndhra Pradesh in the iden-tified sectors. Around 100delegates f rom theChambers of Commerce,business and industry, and

the government are expect-ed to participate in the B2Bmeetings. The initiativefrom AP Chambers is insync with the spirit of 'DelhiDeclaration-2018' to takeforward the goals of the'Act West' policy of ASEANcountries and 'Look East'policy of the Government ofIndia.

In the current context ofglobal and 'global' businesses,now is the time for strength-ening the business bondingbetween the East and theWest. True to its global statusas the world's most dynamicState, Andhra Pradesh is thenew hub of a business event ofthis size, scale and suprema-cy. Foreign consulates frommore than 20 countries,including France, Italy,Australia, Netherlands,Thailand, Iran, Rwanda,Belgium Columbia, Thailand,Germany will participate inthis grand event, which willshowcase the true potential ofinvestment climate and pro-active initiatives of theGovernment of AndhraPradesh.

n The objective is to enhancethe two way investment,trade and technology flowfrom these countries toAndhra Pradesh in theidentified sectors

n Around 100 delegates fromthe Chambers of Commerce,business and industry, andthe government areexpected to participate inthe B2B meetings

n The initiative fromAP Chambers is insync with the spiritof 'DelhiDeclaration-2018'to take forward thegoals of the 'ActWest' policy ofASEAN countriesand 'Look East'policy of theGovernment ofIndia

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A delegation of Soft Bankmet Minister for Industriesand IT Mekapati GauthamReddy at a DiplomaticOutreach Programme held atLakeview Guest House inHyderabad and said that theyare ready to invest in electricvehicles industry. This will beconfirmed within 15 days.

Gautham Reddy explainedto the representatives aboutthe development activities and favourable con-ditions for investments inthe State.

He said Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy is givingimportance to welfare andindustrial growth in the State.

The government would comeup with a new industrial pol-icy to promote industrialgrowth by next year.

The IT Minister apprised

the delegation of the new ini-tiatives of the governmentlike 75% reservation to localsin industries and establishingskill development centres to

provide free training to theunemployed youth. He saidthat he would personally takethe proposals of the Japanesedelegation to the notice of theChief Minister.

Gautham Reddy attended aseries of meetings with var-ious organisations. A delega-tion of Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce andIndustry (FICCI) met theminister.

ETA Electra ElectronicVehicles CEO Biju Thomas,Vishnu Group Vice-Chairman Ravi Chandran,representative of DeloitteKaushal, Johnson & JohnsonVice-President and PRAgencies met the ministerduring the programme.

Soft Bank team ready to invest in Staten IT Minister Mekapati

Gautham Reddyapprised thedelegation of thenew initiatives of thegovernment like 75%reservation to localsin industries andestablishing skilldevelopment centresto provide freetraining to theunemployed youth

n He said that he wouldpersonally take theproposals of the Japanesedelegation to the notice ofthe Chief Minister

n ETA Electra ElectronicVehicles CEO Biju Thomas,Vishnu Group Vice-Chairman Ravi Chandran,representative of DeloitteKaushal, Johnson & JohnsonVice-President and PRAgencies met the minister

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

As per the directive of theMinistry of Railways, Waltairdivision is obser ving'Swachhta hi Seva Pakhwada'in the division fromSeptember 11 and that willcontinue till October 2.

Divisional RailwayManager of Waltair ChetanKumar Shrivastava offeredShramdaan in the city onMonday leading and giving amessage to the nation onremoval of plastic waste.

A massive awareness cam-paign with participation fromall stakeholders on plasticwaste collection was organisedon Monday after administeringthe pledge on Swachhta. Focuson plastic waste collection willcontinue throughout theSwachhta Pakhwada. Theawareness rally and campaign

was witnessed by staff, officers,stake holders, scouts andguides, RPF and passengers.ADRM (infra) Akshay Saxena,ADRM ( Operations) PRamachandra Rao , branchofficers, union representatives

also took part in the awarenessprogrammes.

Addressing a huge gather-ing, DRM Waltair urgedever yone to make thisPakhwada a grand successand to give special focus on

cleanliness at railway stationsand in trains throughout the'Pakhwada'.

Earlier this week, the divi-sion has also organised aware-ness campaign on ban on sin-gle use plastic at railway sta-tions and premises. In this con-nection, a street play (NukkadNatak) was stated by the divi-sional cultural association atVisakhapatnam railway sta-tion. Cleanliness and greenplantation programmes wereorganised in the division. Aseminar is also organised on illeffects of usage of plastic andhow to overcome the menaceat the divisional office.

Apart from the awarenesscampaigns, the division alsoplanned to conduct variousprogammes such asShramdan- Intensive cleanli-ness activities at railway sta-tions and railway localities.

Waltair division observes‘Swachhta hi Seva Pakhwada'

Continued from Page 1

The DCP West Zone ARSrinivas said the cause of deathwould be known after theautopsy report. The Hyderabadcity police has registered a caseunder Section 174 (suspiciousdeath) of CrPC and began aninvestigation.

Hyderabad police commis-sioner Anjani Kumar said,"Banjara Hills ACP K SrinivasaRao visited the residence alongwith a CLUES Team, and weare taking all precautions. Ascientific investigation will betaking place."

He had his college educationat AC College, Guntur andlater did his MBBS fromGuntur Medical College. Hecompleted his MS fromKurnool Medical College.After the death of his youngestson in a road accident a few

years ago, he had to face a bit-ter experience due to embar-rassment from his eldest sonand daughter and the partyleaders as well.

In a political career span-ning over 40 years, SivaprasadaRao elected to the Assemblyfrom Narasaraopet in 1983,1985, 1989, 1994 and 2004-MLA. He won the Sattenapalliseat in 2014. He served HomeMinister during 1987-88 andIrrigation Minister during 996-97. He lost the election toYSRCP's Ambati Rambabu in2019 from SattenapalliAssembly constituency.

Meanwhile, condolencesstarted pouring in for thedeparted TDP leader as thenews of his demise spreadacross the country. Vice-President M Venkaia Naidusaid the passing away of formerSpeaker Kodela Sivaprasada

Rao is unfortunate. He con-veyed his condolences to thebereaved family.

Governor Biswa BhusanHarichandan in a messageconveyed his grief over theuntimely demise of KodelaSivaprasada Rao. TheGovernor said his services asthe Speaker of the LegislativeAssembly will always beremembered.

The Governor conveyed hisdeepest sympathies and heart-felt condolences to members ofthe bereaved family. ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy expressing grief over thedeath of Sivaprasada Rao, con-veyed his condolences to thebereaved family members."Siva Prasada Rao had a longpolitical innings since 1983and was a popular doctor.May his soul rest in peace," hesaid.

Ex-Speaker Kodelacommits suicide

Waltair Division DRM Chetan Kumar Srivastava and staff taking out a rally fromVisakhapatnam Railway Station during the cleanliness fortnight in Visakhapatnamon Monday

Poster on ARCStudents’ ClubsreleasedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chairman of APSSDC ChallaMadhusudhan Reddy releaseda poster on ARC Student Clubsand Higher Education Cell,along with the Chairmen, frompartnering engineering collegesand ARC teams at APSSDChead office in Tadepalli onMonday. The club will providean opportunity to ARC studentsto participate in national andinternational robotics competi-tions through its Robotics Cellas well as avail higher educationopportunities in Europe. It willalso organise industrial talks byexperts working in world-renowned companies fromGermany. Dr Om Sri, COOIndo Euro Synchronisation,Abhishek Reddy, ExecutiveDirector Annamacharya Group,Srirama Engineering Collegeand various engineering collegemanagements attended the pro-gramme in the first phase ofAPSSDC- ARC training.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

NTPC Simhadri was conferredwith the Safety InnovationAward- 2019 by the Institute ofEngineers on Monday. Theaward was received by the CGM,Simhadri Station, V SudharshanBabu and AGM (Safety), LKishore Babu in New Delhi onMonday. The NTPC was award-ed for the innovative safety mea-sures that they had deployed atthe station with paramount pri-ority, achieving the 'zero accident'target. Techniques ranging fromeducational and managementcontrol like discussing ConcreteFilled Steel Tubular (CFST)observations, safety performancethrough lead and lag indicators,issuance of zone-wise safety cer-tificates, screening of safety filmsand songs and safety inductionwere followed through.

The award also took the 'SafetyPark' to other engineering andenforcement measures into con-sideration. These included the useof hydraulic platforms for heightworks, safety challans, safety clear-ance for contractor's bills, andCCTV network monitoringamong others. The finest practiceswere also implemented for over-hauling safety like setting up of

safety control room, monitoringof Permit System to height worksand grill openings, daily pep talksat the overhauling site as well asduring training programmes, pre-overhaul safety inspections, past-ing of emergency number stick-ers on safety helmets for clearemployee identification, andensuring healthiness of EOTcrane limit switches.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

An awareness programme onthe preservation of the ozonelayer was held during the WorldOzone Day programme at ASRaja Women's College at MVPColony on Monday. The pro-gramme was conducted underthe guidance of Dr S VijayaKumar, President ofParyavarana MargadarsiVaisakhi and JV Ratnam,founder of Green Climate Team.

"There is an urgent need toobserve the United Nations'International Day for thepreservation of the ozone layerevery year, commemoratingthe 1987 signing of theMontreal Protocol on sub-

stances that deplete the ozonelayer. Every individual has tobe aware of ozone layer protec-tion," said GV Narayana Rao,Principal of the college.

The ozone layer was discov-ered in 1913 by French physi-cists Charles Fabry and HenriBuisson. Ozone's propertieswere explored in detail byBritish meteorologist GMBDobson, who developed asimple spectrophotometer (theDobsonmeter) that could beused to measure stratospher-ic ozone from the ground.Between 1928 and 1958,Dobson established a world-wide network of ozone mon-itoring stations, which contin-ue to operate to this day.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The weekend trip turnedtragic for a group of young-sters, who went to Sariyawaterfalls in Jeenabadu ofAnathagiri mandal in VizagAgency on Saturday whenone of them feareddrowned.

According to delayedreports received here onMonday, the incident hap-pened when the youngsterslipped from a small rockwhile taking a selfie. Thepolice said that the missingyoungster was identified asDeepak Sai (25), a resident ofSivajipalem in Vizag city. Oneof his friends Manikanta, triedto rescue him, but in vain. Thebody is yet to be retrieved andsearch operations are on.

Locals say that Sariya water-falls turned a death trap for thevisitors as over 14 people died

at the spot in the past fouryears and most of them slippedfrom the rock into the waters,

while taking selfies only. In2015, two youngsters ASundara Rao and P Nani ofVizag, who went to the water-falls drowned and died, whilethey were taking selfies.

Sources said that thepolice installed warningboards and the localyouth have been alertingthe tourists about thedangerous zones at thespot. But, the visitorshave been ignoring the

warnings and losing theirlives for the selfie craze.

There was a proposal by thepolice and tourism depart-ment officials to notify 'NoSelfie Zones' to prevent theselfie related deaths. But, theproposal was shelved by theauthorities citing that lack oflegal support.

CGM of Simhadri Station V Sudharshan Babu and AGM (Safety) L Kishore Babureceivng the award in New Delhi on Monday

Nexus betweenofficials, boatowners allegedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The boat that capsized in theRiver Godavari on Sundayleaving 12 dead is said to havehad no clearance from the irri-gation department. Of the total72 people, who had been on theill fated boat, 62 were touristsand the rest were crew.

The fitness of the boat hadbeen cleared by Kakinada PortOfficer Captain Dharma Sastaon Saturday. According to reli-able sources, the boat was car-rying a load of 72 people fromGandipochamma temple areato Papikondalu. As per thespecifications, only 25 per centof the total occupants should bepermitted on the deck of theboat to maintain the weight bal-ance.

But in this specific case,more than 70 per cent of occu-pants were allowed on deck. Itis said that they were enjoyinga dance number by twodancers, who were part of thecrew engaged by the boat own-ers for entertaining the tourists.

When the boat was negoti-ating a dangerous curve enroute to its destination , it tilt-ed to one side due to high watervelocity. This sudden tilt is saidto have forced those on decktowards the same side in a spanof a few seconds. By the timethey noticed what was happen-ing, the boat tilted further andcapsized. The laxity and sheernegligence of officials con-cerned, as well as the corruptpractices of the boat owners issaid to be the reason for thistype of mishaps to happen ina span of one-and-a-half years.

NTPC Simhadri bags Safety Innovation Award AS Raja Women's Collegeobserves World Ozone Day

Selfie craze kills one

BJP Rajya Sabha Member Sujana Chowdary onMonday described death of former speaker

Kodela Sivaprasada Rao as painful and called himas Tiger of Palnadu. He held the state governmentindirectly responsible for the death of Kodela.Harassing political leaders was not justified.Recalling Kodela, he said that he used to always com-

plain against the government forharassment meted out to him.

The elders in the state gov-ernment should make

an introspection onhow far was it jus-

tified to file caseafter case

a g a i n s tKodela.

Sujana blames AP govt ‘An efficient leader’

PNS n HYDERABAD

Close confidantes of for-mer Assembly

Speaker KodelaSiva Prasada Rao

say that thef o r m e rSpeaker usedto take theminto confi-

dence and say,"In the name ofinvestigation ofcases foistedagainst him,

the YSRCP gov-ernment was

mentally tortur-ing him by practic-

ing the politics ofvictimization."

H e

was reported to haveremarked, "I never expectedthat the politics will becomeso mean."

"It was atrocious to subjectme to torture out of vendet-ta. This government's objec-tive appears to insult me andthen subject to mental torture.Politics does not mean tar-geting and harassing politicalrivals. The Pulivendula fac-tion tactics are being usedagainst me", they said quotingKodela as saying. “Their onlyobjective is to corner mefrom all sides and subject meto severe agony. Allegationsare being leveled against meto tarnish my image. This ispolitical victimization," theyfurther said quoting Kodela assaying.

n Kodela Siva Prasada Rao was one of thesenior-most leaders of opposition TDP in

Andhra Pradesh. n Kodela Siva Prasada Rao became the speak-er in 2014 after the bifurcation of AndhraPradesh n He served 5 years as the speaker of theAndhra Pradesh assembly. n Kodela is 6 time member of the AndhraPradesh Assembly. n He had served as Minister for Home (1987-1988), Minister for Major & MediumIrrigation (1996-1997) and Minister for

Panchayati Raj (1997-1999) in AndhraPradesh. n He won from Narsaraopet fivetimes and Sattenapalli in 2014n Kodela was a doctor and he

graduated from GunturMedical College n He joined theTDP in 1983.

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 region 04

08-06-2019 - ArvapalliPadmavati of Kesanapallicomplained againstKodela's daughter regardingland encroachment

01.08.2019 - Kodelaurged SP Jayalakshmi forgrant of station bailbecause of foisting falsecases against him as part ofvictimisation

19.6.2019 - Dr KalyanChakravarty filed a cheatingcase against the family forhaving defrauded him tothe tune of Rs 4 lakh

10.8.2019 - Kodelason's Honda showroomwas seized for default of taxdue to RTO.

20.8.2019 - Kodela writesto Assembly Secretaryoffering to return Assemblyfurniture . Case registeredagainst Kodela at Tullurustation

26.06.2019 - On acomplaint by Venkayammawith one town police ofNarasaraopeta town, a casewas registered againstKodela under varioussections

17.04.2019 - Case wasregistered against Kodela atthe behest of YSRCP inRajupalem PS charging himwith trying to boothcapture. He figured as A7

27.08.2019 - Attack oncotton trader ChallaRavindra Reddy atKhammam andSattupalli

Complaint against Sivaramfor threatening builderMallikarjuna Raodemanding him to paycommission

10.06.2019 - Complaintagainst Kodela's daughterby one Sekhar for collectingRs 7 lakh from himpromising him contract job.

29.08.2019 - Complaintagainst Sivaram on RuiaHospital Lab equipment

11.06.2019 - ViranchitaResorts owner VamsiKrishna lodges complaintagainst Sivaram forextorting Rs 2 crore in aland exchange deal

25.08.2019 - 30 laptopsof DRDA were missing.Case registered againstSivaram by DRDA projectdirectorYugandhar

n At 10 am on Monday, Kodela along with spouse hadhis breakfast. At 10.10 am he went into his room.After a while, his spouse followed him only to findthat the room door was locked from inside. Herrequests to open the door met with no responsewhatsoever. Therefore, she said that she had calledher gunman, who barged into the room and brokeopen the rear door only to find Kodela hanging to aceiling fan.

n He was rushed to Basava Tarakam Cancer Hospitalaround 10.40 am. Doctors at the hospital declaredhim brought dead at 10.50 am. The hospital inti-mated the death of Kodela to Banjara Hills police.Circle Inspector Kalinga Rao deputed SI RamiReddy to the cancer hospital.

n The police confirmed it to be a suicide andenquired with the family members to ascertainfacts. The police thoroughly examined his bedroom, but did not find any suicide note. The dogsquad, CLUEs team, Task force were deployed toprobe into the death.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED...

CASES AGAINST KODELA & KIN

REVENGE POLITICS BEHIND KODELA’S DEATH?PNS n HYDERABAD

Case filed against him fordiversion of costly furniture ofAssembly to his office could beone of the reasons that drovefirst Speaker of AndhraPradesh, Kodela Siva PrasadaRao, to commit suicide.Subsequently, an agonisedKodela, claimed not commit-ting a single mistake in hiscapacity as the Speaker whileaddressing media.

Stating that there is aninventory of Assembly articles,he alleged being targeted bythe ruling YSRCP with itsfalse propaganda accusing himof theft and misuse of officialpowers.

An anguished Kodela toldmedia conference that he wasbeing subjected to agony andharassment. In a clarification,Kodela said that he had writ-ten to YSRCP government

within a week of new govern-ment coming to powerinforming it that the Assemblyfurniture is with him andasked the government to comeand take possession of it. Inspite of issuing clarification,the ruling YSRCP was accusedof branding him as furniturethief.

This apart, cases registeredagainst his family memberscaused him agony, it was said.Cases were registered againsthim under Section 409 and411 accusing him of divertinggovernment furniture, his sonsshow-room's license was can-celled, 15cases were registeredagainst his daughter for hav-ing duped unemployedpromising them jobs and acase was registered againsthis son in disappearance oflaptops from NCP guesthouse. These cases took aheavy toll on him, it is alleged.

‘Govt tortured my father'Kodela Shiva Prasada’s daughter Vijayalakshmi (middle) at their residence in Hyderabad on Monday

Former Speaker ofAssembly KodelaSivaprasada Rao's daugh-

ter Vijayalakshmi said thather father was subjected toharassment ever since therewas a change of guards in thegovernment. He suffered

harassment for the past threemonths and was deprived ofsleep, she said. “Even me andmy brother Sivaram were notspared from the maliciouscampaign,” she said. Therewere many speculations aboutmy father's death, she said and

asked the people to spreadgood word about her father.Earlier, in a statement to thepolice, she said that her father'sbody was found hanging fromceiling in the first-floor of theirhouse. She further said thatthere was no suicide note.

Naidu blamesgovernmentPNS n AMARAVATI

Former Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu onMonday expressed shock atthe death of former speakerof Assembly KodelaSivaprasada Rao and main-tained that he was not abledigest the news.

Responding to a call givenby TDP founder NT RamaRao, Kodela, gave up hismedical profession andjoined politics to rededicatehimself to serve society. Hebecame very popular as doc-tor of the poor. He grew instature to become Minister.He served as Home Minister,Panchayat Raj Minister,Medical and Health Ministerand worked as the firstSpeaker of the Assembly inNavyandhra Pradesh, he saidrecalling Kodela's politicaljourney.

Chandrababu expressedconcern over the fire brandleader committing suicideunable to bear with harass-ment meted out to him. Atone time, he was fondlyaddressed as ‘Palanadu Puli’when he goes on a tour of theregion. He was a fearlessman. Because of the victim-ization measures by the gov-ernment, he took the extremestep out of agony. He appre-hended insult by the govern-ment and sniffed out his life.

"Unable to bear with theinsults heaped on him, Kodelaconsulted me," Chandrababusaid adding that he hadadvised him to be bold. Kodela’s death sparks

political slugfest

Theundisputed leader

‘Clashing withCM's familynever easy’PNS n KHAMMAM

Former Minister TummalaNageswara Rao on Mondayexpressed shock over the deathof former Speaker of AndhraPradesh Kodela Shiva PrasadRao. In a message, he said thathe was well aware of the factthat how difficult it was toclash with the family of theChief Minister. Kodela beganhis career as a person and grewto become a force to reckonwith.

Telangana TDP president L Ramana onMonday expressed his disbelief over

the death of former speaker of theAndhra Pradesh Assembly Kodela SivaPrasada Rao.

Learning about admitting Kodela toBasava Tarakam Cancer Hospital, he saidthat he rushed to the hospital. To his dis-may, the doctors at the hospital broke thenews of Kodela's death.

He could clearly notice that Kodela wassubjected to mental agony recent time. Hedescribed Kodela as an efficient leader inthe party. He conveyed his heart felt sym-pathies to bereaved family members. Hesaid he would pray to God that his soulwould rest in peace.

The doctor who was knownas ‘Tiger of Palnadu'PNS n HYDERABAD

Former AP Assembly SpeakerKodela Siva Prasada Raoshares a special bond with theBasavatarakam CancerHospital, who supervised be itsconstruction or its runningfrom the beginning. As thecancer hospital's trust chair-man, he played a pivotal rolein the hospital extending valu-able services to many cancerpatients. He left his indeliblemark on the hospital's func-tioning.

However busy schedule heused to have in politics, heused to devote time to his pro-fession of practicing medi-cine, which was his passion.Having completed PUC fromLoyola College, Vijayawada,Kodela completed MBBS frommedical colleges in Kurnooland Guntur. Later, he did hisMS course from Varanasi.Later, he started hospital inNarasaraopet and treated

patients free of cost and builtup reputation for himself in theprofession.

Recognising his services tothe poor as a doctor, formerChief Minister NT Rama Raoinvited him to join politics.NT Rama Rao entrustedresponsibilities of setting up ofBasavatarakam Indo-American Cancel Hospital andResearch Institute. The hos-pital was built completelyunder his supervision. He wasactive in the managing theaffairs of the hospital for sev-eral years. But, spreading of the

news about his death from thevery hospital left one and alldisturbed. His close confi-dantes, followers are finding ithard to swallow the news.Regarding him as Tiger ofPalnadu, they wonder at howthe fate could take him awayfrom their midst. As a politi-cal leader, Kodela is aggressive,but he was so soft in hisapproach while practicingmedicine, recall those whowere acquainted with him.When called up, he was alwaysaccessible to people in hisclinic.

The ex-Speakershare a specialbond withBasavatarakamCancer Hospital

Boat capsize: CM conducts aerial surveyPNS n AMARAVATI

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Monday conductedan aerial survey of Sunday'sboat accident site in GodavariRiver. The Chief Minister flewin a helicopter over Kuchuluruin East Godavari districtwhere the boat with over 60tourists capsized.

Accompanied by HomeMinister Sucharita, Reddytook off from Vijayawada andtook the aerial survey while onhis way to Rajahmundry.Officials said 27 people wererescued while the search wason for the missing. The ChiefMinister will hold a meetinglater in the day with officialsto review the rescue and reliefoperations.

The Chief Minister alsovisited the RajahmundryGovernment GeneralHospital. About 24 personssurvived from the tragedywere shifted to RajahmundryGovernment General Hospital

(GGH), East GodavariSuperintendent of PoliceAdnan Nayeem Asmi said.Telangana Minister ErraballiDayakar Rao too visited theGGH and enquired the health

condition of the victims.While bodies of eight pas-

sengers were recovered fromthe river till Sunday night,another four were retrieved atthe accident spot atKachhuluru in East Godavaridistrict on Monday morning.This included a six-monthold child, the SP said.One heli-

copter of the Indian Navyand another of the ONGChave been pressed into servicewhile eight boats were beingused by NDRF and SDRFpersonnel to search for the

people feareddrowned. Crest gatesof the Sir ArthurCotton Barrage atDowaleswaram havebeen shut to preventthe possibility of the

bodies from getting washedaway downstream. The boat'Royal Vasishta' was on its wayto the picturesquePapikondalu tourist spot in themiddle of the river when itmet with the accident, appar-ently on colliding with a largerock formation, atKachchuluru. As many as 27people survived the tragedyand were rescued by villagersof Tutugunta. The survivors

were taken to the area hospi-tal in Rampachodavaram andgovernment general hospitalin Rajamahendravaram fortreatment. Most of the touristswere from Hyderabad andWarangal in neighbouringTelangana and state CMannounced an ex-gratia of Rs5 lakh each to the bereavedfamilies from his State anddeputed Ministers to coordi-nate in the relief works.

CASES AGAINST THE FORMER SPEAKEROF AP AND HIS CHILDREN OVER ‘MISUSE'OF FURNITURE TOOK A TOLL ON KODELA

Rescue teams search for missing persons at the accident spot in East Godavari district on Monday

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Pak violates ceasefirein J&K's Poonch, 4soldiers injuredJAMMU:Four Army personnelsuffered minor splinter injuresin mortar shelling by thePakistan Army along the Lineof Control in Jammu andKashmir's Poonch district,officials said on Monday."Pakistan initiated unprovokedceasefire violation by firing ofsmall arms and intense shellingwith mortars in Balakote area ofMendhar sector around 2230hours on Sunday," Army publicrelations officer Lt ColDevender Anand said. "Indianarmy retaliated befittingly.""Indian troopers suffered minorinjuries in the Pakistani shellingand the injured have beenevacuated to hospital wherethey are under treatment," hesaid in a statement.Officials said an Army column

was on an ambush duty nearthe LoC when two mortarshells exploded near themaround 12.30 am, causinginjuries to at least four of them.

Dreaded dacoit, aidekilled in encounterwith police in MP

Maha: Noted surgeon,cabbie killed inaccident on ExpresswayPUNE: A prominent city-basedsurgeon and his cab driverwere killed and two otherdoctors injured when a bus hitthem on the Mumbai-PuneExpressway near here inMaharashtra, police said onMonday. The mishap tookplace near Somatane villagearound 10.30 pm on Sundaywhen Dr Ketan Khurjekar (44),a spine expert, and two otherorthopedic surgeons were onway to Pune from Mumbai in acab, Talegaon Dabhade policestation's inspector KishorMhasawade said.When the cab reachedSomatane village, the driverstopped the vehicle on aroadside to replace one of itspunctured tyre.After all of them came out of

the vehicle, Khurjekar went tohelp the driver. While the cabdriver was changing thedamaged tyre, a private buscoming on that side hit all ofthem from behind, the officialsaid.

SATNA: A 40-year-old dreadeddacoit, who was wanted inconnection with several killingsand robberies, and hisaccomplice were killed in anencounter with police inMadhya Pradesh's Satnadistrict, police said on Monday. The gun-battle took place inLedri forest late Sunday nightwhen the police got a tip-offabout their presence in thearea, located around 65 kmfrom here, they said. When thepolice closed-in on Babli Kol,who carried a reward of Rs 6.5lakh on his head, and his aideLovelace (32), who also carrieda bounty of Rs 1.8 lakh, andasked them to surrender, theystarted firing at the securitypersonnel. This led to anexchange of fire between thetwo sides, Inspector General ofPolice, Rewa, Chanchal Shekhartold reporters.When the gunsfell silent, the police foundbodies of Kol and his aide at thespot, he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onMonday asked the Centre andJammu and Kashmir adminis-tration to make all endeavoursto restore normalcy in KashmirValley as soon as possible butmade it clear that the restora-tion would be on a "selectivebasis" keeping in mind nation-al interest.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and com-prising justices S A Bobde andS A Nazeer, was told byAttorney General K KVenugopal about steps taken byauthorities to restore normal-cy in the state. The apex courtasked Venugopal to file anaffidavit indicating steps takenso far in the matter.

When the top court wastold about the alleged "shut-down" of mobile and Internetservices in Kashmir Valley, thebench said these issues couldbe dealt with by the Jammu andKashmir High Court.

"Is it the same situationtoday? We are saying that if itis some local issue then itwould be better if the highcourt dealt with it. It is simplerfor the high court to knowwhat is happening in the statein terms of the shutdown ofmobile and Internet services,"the bench said.

Advocate Vrinda Grover,appearing for petitioner andExecutive Editor of KashmirTimes Anuradha Bhasin, told thebench that mobile, Internet ser-vices and public transport are notworking in the Kashmir Valleyand it would be difficult for themto approach the high court.

While Bhasin has soughtremoval of restrictionsimposed on working of jour-nalists in the state after scrap-ping of provisions of Article370, some other petitioners

have raised the issue of shut-down of public transport andlack of medical facilities inKashmir.

Venugopal, however, saidthat issues raised by the peti-

tioner "do not appear to begenuine" as Kashmir-basednewspapers are being pub-lished and the government hasbeen offering all kinds of assis-tance to them.

SC agrees to entertain pleaagainst abrogation of Article 370PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onMonday agreed to entertain apetition filed by the Jammuand Kashmir People'sConference (JKPC) chal-lenging the President's Ruleimposed in the state andabrogation of provisions ofArticle 370, which gave spe-cial status to the state.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and jus-tices S A Bobde and S ANazeer tagged the petitionfiled by JKPC along with peti-

tions which have beenreferred to a five-judgeConstitution bench for exam-ining the legal validity of thePresidential order on abroga-tion of Article 370 from thestate.

However, the benchdeclined to entertain otherfresh petitions on the issue ofscrapping of Article 370.

The bench said it is notgoing to multiply the petitionson the issue of Article 370.

It said people who want toargue on theissue can fileimplead-m e n tappl i -cation.

SC notice to Centre,J&K on plea forproducing FarooqPTI n NEW DELHI

The Centre and the Jammu andKashmir administration have beenasked by the Supreme Court torespond to a plea seeking thatformer chief minister FarooqAbdullah, allegedly under detentionfollowing the scrapping of the state'sspecial status, beproduced beforethe court. Abench of ChiefJusticeRanjan Gogoiand justices SA Bobde andS A Nazeerissued notice tothe Centre and the state, and fixedRajya Sabha MP and MDMK leaderVaiko's plea for hearing onSeptember 30. Vaiko, who said hehas been a close friend of Abdullahfor the past four decades, hascontended that constitutional rightsconferred on the NationalConference leader had been deprivedof on account of "illegal detentionwithout any authority of law". In hisplea, Vaiko had said that authoritiesshould allow Abdullah to attend a"peaceful and democratic" annualconference, being organised inChennai on September 15, on theoccasion of birthday of former TamilNadu Chief Minister C N Annadurai."The actions of the respondents(Centre and Jammu and Kashmir)are completely illegal and arbitrary

and violative of the right toprotection of life and personalliberty, right to protection

from arrest and detention andalso against right to free

speech and expression whichis the cornerstone of ademocratic nation," the pleahas said.

However, the bench declined toentertain other fresh petitions on theissue of scrapping of Article 370

HM Shah reviewsJK situationPTI n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Monday reviewed thesecurity situation in Jammuand Kashmir amidst reports ofaround 230 terrorists waiting atterror launch pads in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir to enter thecountry, officials said.

During the two-hour longmeeting, also attended byNational Security Advisor AjitDoval and Cabinet SecretaryRajiv Gauba among others, thehome minister was given adetailed presentation on theprevailing security situation inJammu and Kashmir, particu-larly along the InternationalBorder and the Line ofControl.

The home minister tookstock of the situation and wasbriefed about the steps takento maintain peace along bor-der areas as well as in theValley, a security official said.

The meeting came amidstreport that around 230 ter-rorists were brought to terrorlaunch pads by Pakistan topush them into Jammu andKashmir.

Lieutenant General K J SDhillon, General OfficerCommanding, 15 Corps,which looks after the KashmirValley, had recently said therehave been infiltration attemptsfrom across the border.

"The launchpads in PoK

have been full — tanzeemsincluding LeT, JeM, Hizbuland Al Badr, frequently cometo Pakistani posts. Every day,there is firing. Attempts ofinfiltration are also made inPoonch, Rajouri and Jammusectors," he had said.

Normal life remained affect-ed in Kashmir Valley for the43nd consecutive day onMonday following abrogationof Article 370 on August 5.Most of the shops remainedshut and public transport wasoff the roads.

Internet services remainedsuspended across all plat-forms.

While landline across thevalley were functional, voicecalls on mobile devices wereworking only in Kupwara andHandwara police districts ofnorth Kashmir.

The homeminister tookstock of thesituation andwas briefedabout the stepstaken to maintainpeace alongborder areas aswell as in theValley, a securityofficial said

India spent nearly Rs 4Kcr on Swachh Bharat IANS n NEW DELHI

To make the Swachh BharatMission a success, Indiamobilised huge resources forinformation, education andcommunication (IEC) activi-ties, with a new report esti-mating that the cash expendi-ture by the government, privatesector, and the developmentcommunity to be between Rs3,500-4,000 crore in five yearssince the programme's launch.

Of this cash spend, around20 per cent was spent by theerstwhile Union Ministry ofDrinking Water and Sanitation,around 35 per cent by thestate sanitation departments,around 25 per cent by othergovernment ministries, andaround 20 per cent by the pri-vate sector and the develop-ment sector collectively, saidthe report by consultancy firmDalberg Advisors.

Under the Swachh BharatMission, the government hasshown remarkable ability toleverage resources across thepublic sector, private sector,media, and civil society, tomake sanitation a mass move-ment in India.

In fact, the study estimatesthat the Swachh Bharat

Mission mobilised a spendequivalent worth Rs 22,000-Rs26,000 crore in monetary andnon-monetary information,education and communica-tion activities.

The researchers reached thisfigure by identifying the keyactivities and costs by differentactors, modelling the number

of "exposures" created, andestimating the investmentrequired if the governmentwere to "buy" these exposuresin an efficient market.

An average person living inrural India was exposed tobetween 2,500-3,300 SBMrelated messages over the lastfive years, according to thestudy titled "An assessment ofthe reach and value of IECactivities under Swachh BharatMission (Grameen)".

A large majority of thesemessages were routed via newly

constructed toilets, massmedia, and the

Swachh Bharat logo. Othersignificant contributors includ-ed ambient media such as wallmurals and hoardings, andother conventional channelssuch as inter-personal com-munication (IPC), digitalmedia, and cinema.

Since the launch of theSwachh Bharat Mission onOctober 2, 2014, over 10 crorehouseholds toilets have beenbuilt in the country, leading toa significant improvement in

sanitation coverage and reduc-tion in open defecation.

Since 2014, engagementfrom the top political and gov-ernment leadership, especiallythe Prime Minister, inducedcatalytic participation acrosssegments, giving the cause ofsanitation consistent attentionand focus.

This translated into a mis-sion mode approach where arange of government min-istries, private sector organisa-tions, the philanthropic ecosys-tem, civil society, and themedia and entertainment sec-tor participated to bring sani-tation messaging and aware-ness to citizens at significantscale.

When Modi visits the USlater this month, the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation willhonour the success of SwachhBharat that has transformedlives around the country.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, thegovernment has shown remarkableability to leverage resources acrossthe public sector, private sector,media, and civil society, to makesanitation a mass movement in India

Chidambaram turns 74, mocks governmentIANS n NEW DELHI

Former Finance Minister andsenior Congress leader P.Chidambaram, who celebratedhis 74th birthday in Tihar jail,on Monday mocked at the Modigovernment's plan to achieve $5trillion economy mark by 2024saying no country has achievedthe GDP growth of 8 per centwithout exports growing at 20per cent a year.

Chidambaram, also said thatthe greetings from friends,party colleagues and well wish-ers remind him that he is 74-years young.

Chidambaram, who hasbeen lodged in Asia's highsecurity Tihar jail in connec-tion with the INX media case,

in a series of tweets said, "I haveasked my family to tweet on mybehalf the following: My fam-ily have brought me greetingsfrom friends, party colleaguesand well-wishers. I am remind-ed that I am 74-years-old.Indeed I am, but at heart I feel74-years young. Thank youall, my spirits have been liftedhigher."

Slamming the governmentover its target of achieving $5trillion economy by 2024, theformer Finance Minister said,"My thoughts today are aboutthe economy. Just one statistictells the story. Export growth inAugust was -- 6.05 per cent. Nocountry has achieved GDPgrowth of 8 per cent withoutexports growing at 20 per cent

a year.""May God bless this coun-

try," he tweeted. His remarkscame after India's exports dur-ing August fell nearly 6.1 percent to $ 26.13 billion, whileGDP growth during April-June period fell to 5 per centfrom 5.8 per cent in the pre-

ceding quarter.On September 5, while being

taken to Tihar jail, respondingto questions over his judicialcustody, Chidambaram said, "5per cent" taking a dig at thecountry's GDP rate.

Chidambaram has beenlodged in Tihar Jail since

September 5 after a Delhi courtsent him to 14-day judicial cus-tody in the INX media case.

Congress General SecretaryK. C. Venugopal also greetedthe senior party leader on hisbirthday saying he was surethat the vendetta politics of thegovernment cannot defeat him.

"Being challenged in life isinevitable, being defeated isoptional. I am sure that thevendetta politics can't defeatyou. Happy Birthday to PChidambaram," he tweeted.

The Congress has describedthe arrest of its party leaderslike Chidambaram, formerKarnataka Minister D.K.Shivakumar as political vendet-ta by the Narendra Modi gov-ernment.

CBI at WB secretariat, for RajeevPTI n NEW DELHI

CBI officials on Monday wentto the state secretariat anddelivered letters for the chiefsecretary and home secretary inconnection with former citypolice commissioner RajeevKumar not appearing before theagency for the ongoing probeinto the Saradha scam.

Two officers of the CBI reachedthe state secretariat around 10.40am and delivered the letters onefor Chief Secretary Malay De andanother for Home SecretaryAlapan Bandyopadhyay.

The CBI, in the letters,sought to know the where-abouts of the police officer andthe grounds on which hehad gone on a month-long leave, a seniorofficial at the statesecretariat told PTI.

The agency alsosought to knowwhen Kumar wouldbe joining duty, theofficial said.

The orders of the CalcuttaHigh Court withdrawing pro-tection against arrest to Kumarwere also attached with the let-

ters. The CBI had served afresh notice to Kumar onFriday asking him to appear

before it on the followingday. Kumar, who is now

the additional directorgeneral of police inthe CriminalI n v e s t i g a t i o nDepartment (CID),

failed to appearbefore the CBI sleuths

after that. Secretariatsources said that the CBI, inthe letters, has directed Kumarto appear before its officers by2 pm on Monday.

PMO defines workareas for PK Mishra,Doval and SinhaPTI n NEW DELHI

Days after P K Mishra and PK Sinha were appointed asPrime Minister NarendraModi's Principal Secretary andPrincipal Advisor respectively,the Prime Minister's Office hasdefined the work areas for thetwo officers, and also forNational Security Advisor AjitDoval. According to an orderissued by the PMO, PrincipalSecretary Mishra will lookinto policy issues and mattersrelating to ministries ofPersonnel, Law, AppointmentsCommittee of Cabinet andother appointments.

He will also look into issuesrelated to the CabinetSecretariat, listing of items for

the meeting of the UnionCabinet, anti-corruption unit,PMO's establishment and allimportant policy issues andmatters, according to the order.

NSA Doval will look into allmatters relating to nationalsecurity and policy matters --except appointments. He willalso oversee policy mattersrelating to ministries ofExternal Affairs, OverseasIndians Affairs, Defence,Space, Atomic Energy andthe country's external intelli-gence agency Research andAnalysis Wing. He will also bein charge of all policies andmatters relating to NationalSecurity Council Secretariatand the National Authority forChemical Weapons.

Curfew lifted afterJamaat leader laid torest in J&K's KishtwarPTI n JAMMU

Ghulam Nabi Gundana, aprominent leader of bannedoutfit Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI),was laid to rest on Mondayamid a curfew in his hometown in Jammu and Kashmir'sKishtwar, officials said.

However, the curfew waslifted within hours ofGundana's burial as the situ-ation remained peaceful withno untoward incident report-ed during the 70-year-old JeIleader's funeral, which wasattended by his relatives andneighbours, they added.

The curfew was imposed inKishtwar town and adjoiningareas late on Sunday as a pre-cautionary measure to main-tain law and order followingthe death of Gundana, aretired government teacher, ata hospital in Punjab'sLudhiana, where he was shift-ed recently for specialisedtreatment.

Gundana had undergone asurgery and was spared arrestduring a major crackdown onthe JeI leadership on March 2.He was also affiliated to theHurriyat Conference.

Gundana was placed underhouse arrest, while three of hisclose associates were arrestedduring the crackdown.

The Centre has banned theJeI for a period of five yearsunder anti-terror laws on theground that it was "in closetouch" with militant outfits

and was expected to "escalatethe secessionist movement"in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The situation in the curfew-bound areas remained peace-ful and there was no report ofany untoward incident duringthe funeral of the JeI leader.Hence, the curfew, which waspromulgated as a precautionarymeasure to maintain peace, waslifted," Deputy Commissioner,Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Ranatold PTI.

Officials said Gundana'sbody reached his home in thewee hours on Monday and his"Nimaz-e-Jinazah" (a prayerceremony before burial) washeld at the Jamia Masjid com-plex. The JeI leader was laid torest at his ancestral graveyardnear Choughan.

Gundana wasplaced underhouse arrest,while three ofhis closeassociates werearrested duringthe crackdown

Chidambaram, alsosaid that thegreetings fromfriends, partycolleagues andwell wishersremind him that heis 74-years young

Restore normalcy in Kashmir: SC asks Centre, J&K

Seventeen scientists, who consistent-ly advocated Genetically Modified(GM) crops in India, are anxiousto revive GMs despite the Centre’sgrowing emphasis on organic

farming and native cattle breeds to boostnutritional standards nationwide. TheParamparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana and theRashtriya Gokul Mission are gaining pop-ularity among farmers. Alarmed at the scaleof soil degradation in the country, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, in hisIndependence day address, urged thefarmers to reduce consumption of chem-ical fertilisers by at least 25 per cent.

Almost parallel to this plea, in CurrentScience (Vol 117, No 3, August 10, 2019),the scientists suggest that GM food crops,ie, Bt-Brinjal that was placed under a mora-torium by the then Union EnvironmentMinister Jairam Ramesh and GM-Mustardthat was almost cleared for field trials whenactivists scuttled the attempt, be cleared forcommercial cultivation. This activismseeks to reverse Dr MS Swaminathan’sadmission that green revolution tech-nologies had harmed the environment andthat Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) and Ht (her-bicide tolerant) crops are highly unsustain-able (Current Science, Vol 115, No 10,November 25, 2018). The article createdoutrage in pro-GM circles.

Claiming that Bt-cotton made India acotton exporting country, the proponentssay the virtual ban on Bt-brinjal and GM-mustard is hurting India’s food and nutri-tion security that is challenged by popu-lation growth, availability of land, water andhuman resources. They point out thatmajor Western science academies insistthere are no genotoxic effects in Bt and Htcrops. In 2016, the US National Academiesof Sciences, Engineering and Medicinepublished a 420-page report on GM cropsand observed, “Bt in maize and cotton from1996 to 2015 contributed to a reduction inthe gap between actual yield and potentialyield under circumstances in which target-ted pests caused substantial damage to non-GE varieties and synthetic chemicals couldnot provide practical control.”

This report, the GM champions assert,states that Bt crop actually increasedinsect biodiversity on farms compared tonon-Bt crop farms on which insecticidewas sprayed. The report said the emergenceof secondary pests and resistant pinkbollworm in India is due to the non-imple-mentation of the refuge strategy. A 2010report of the European Commission noted,“biotechnology, in particular GeneticallyModified Organisms (GMOs), are not perse more risky than conventional plantbreeding technologies.”

GM backers claim that 147 originalstudies based on primary data from farmsurveys anywhere in the world, reportingimpact of GM soybean, maize or cotton oncrop yields, pesticide use and farm profits

showed that on an average, GMtechnology reduced pesticideuse by 37 per cent, increasedcrop yields by 22 per cent andincreased farmer profits by 68per cent. Regarding livestock,data from publicly availablesources from 1997 to 2011, cov-ering over 100 billion animals,did not reflect negative trendsin livestock health and produc-tivity from GM crop-feeds.

Pro-GM scientists doubtthe finding of the World HealthOrganisation’s InternationalAgency for Research on Cancerthat glyphosate is linked to can-cer. The fact, however, is thatAustria has already bannedglyphosate and Germany hasdecided to ban it by the end of2023 as part of an insect (bees,butterflies) conservation pro-gramme. Nearly 20 Frenchmayors banned it from theirmunicipalities in August 2019in defiance of the nationalGovernment. Pro-GM scien-tists recommend GM technol-ogy in grains (golden rice)and vegetables, along with therisky gene editing technology.Ironically, they have beenblocking the release of Bt-cot-ton hybrids/varieties devel-oped by scientists of the IndianCouncil of AgriculturalResearch (which have safertoxic limits than Monsanto) in

the past three years and are try-ing to influence Governmentpolicy for Monsanto/Bayerprofits.

The scientists deliberatelyignore the fact that the depart-ment-related parliamentarystanding committee on Science& Technology, Environment &Forests (August 25, 2017) hadcategorically asserted that noGM crop should be introducedin India until the bio-safety andlong-term effects are evaluatedby an independent and trans-parent process. The standingcommittee discovered that nota single Government agencyhad ever conducted studies toassess the impact of Bt-Cottonon the environment, bio-diver-sity, bio-safety, ecosystem (soil),human and animal health.

A former Secretary of theDepartment of Biotechnologyadmitted that his departmenthad no independent researchon the impact of GM crops andmost research was from theseed and insecticide companies,which cannot be relied upon.The department of healthresearch also admitted that ithad not examined the impact ofGM crops on human health.

Environmentalist VandanaShiva points out that the greenrevolution, based on chemicalsand hybrid crops, devastated

India in myriad ways — fromloss of agro-biodiversity todegraded soils to water emer-gency. In 2002, theGovernment legalised the ille-gal planting of Bt-cotton.Despite energetic marketing,hard official data proves thatBt-cotton has failed, trappedfarmers in debt and is implicat-ed in farmer suicides. Worse,Monsanto’s HT RoundupCotton, which has been plant-ed illegally for over a decade,might be legalised.

Illegal planting of Bt-brin-jal in many States is extremelydangerous as India has theworld’s greatest genetic diver-sity in brinjal (over 2,500 vari-eties, including wild varieties),which could suffer irreversiblecontamination. The motive isto gain access to our incrediblegermplasm. Global agricultur-al corporations are keen to con-trol our agriculture with theirseeds, chemicals and monocul-ture farming and are spreadingthe myth that GMOs are need-ed to feed India.

At a seminar, BeyondCorporate Driven IndustrialAgriculture to ClimateResilient Agroecology(September 6, 2019), expertssaid India does not needgenetic engineering as tradi-tional plant breeding and

newer methods “outperformGE hands down.” The worldneeds agro-ecology to over-come climate change and thevicious cycles of hunger, farm-ing stress and poverty. Recentglobal scientif ic review(February 2019) warns that thesteep decline in insect popu-lations (40 per cent of insectscould become extinct in thenext few decades) could trig-ger the collapse of ecosys-tems worldwide. The mainculprit is industrial scale,intensive agriculture with pes-ticides and fertilisers. Onlyagro-ecological systems pre-serve forests and sequestercarbon by naturally removingcarbon dioxide from theatmosphere, locking it inplants and, thus, mitigate cli-mate change.

Way back in 1940, AlbertHoward (An AgriculturalTestament) noted that Indianpeasants led the world in agro-ecology. India must recover thisnative wisdom by preserving itsbiodiversity and seed sover-eignty so that future genera-tions are free of hunger and inharmony with humanity andnature.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressedare personal)

The shock of the drone and missile attackon the Abqaiq oil processing facilityshould worry everyone. Not only did it

take offline half of Saudi Arabian oil produc-tion, the development highlights how criticalinfrastructure facilities can be targetted bydrones from an “unknown” entity. Of course,now the spectre of another conflagration in thePersian Gulf looms large, especially after USPresident Donald Trump said his nation is“locked and loaded” and attributed the explo-sions to Iran’s nefarious designs on American

interests. If this escalates, oil prices might rise dramatically even though the cool-ing global economy will possibly temper that. Although Saudi firms have affirmedthat there would not be any shortage of supply, repairing reservoirs might taketime and India would have to look for an alternative then. Early estimates showthat around six per cent of global supplies could be hit. We have imported 19per cent crude and disruptions could impact our volatile economy.

There are major lessons that India should take from all this. The first relatesto protecting critical defence and infrastructural sites from drone attacks. As welearnt when the Gatwick Airport in London was shut down for almost a week,thanks to drones overflying the runways, precision strikes do not need to befiery and violent to damage the economy. Nations will need to figure out howthey will be able to combat drones which can do disproportionate economicdamage. Analysing the images from Saudi Arabia, repairs will cost millions ofdollars while the attack may have taken just a few thousand dollars to execute.It is also extremely puzzling why Saudi Arabia allowed one of its most criticalinfrastructure sites to be so poorly guarded and vulnerable. However, just as theSaudis will learn from this lapse, so should India. We must also be prepared forthe worst possible outcome in the Middle-East, a war. The clinical nature of theattack makes it impossible to have been conducted by a “non-state” actor (touse Pakistan’s favourite term). Any conflict in the region will send oil prices soar-ing, something the Indian economy, mismanaged to the point of disaster, doesnot need right now. However, citizens should be made aware of the consequencesof such a possibility. This attack should also speed up development of alterna-tive fuels and energy sources, which may not be a bad thing indeed. This is byfar the worst shock to global supplies than when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwaitin 1990 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.

Perhaps nobody could have articulated thedifference between a transactional lan-guage and the tongue you are born with

than the great Nelson Mandela himself, whowas as rooted as global. “If you talk to a manin a language he understands, that goes to hishead. If you talk to him in his mother languagethat goes to his heart,” he said. OurConstitutional fathers understood this anddespite their attempt at breaking the colonialshadow with a pan-India language — some-thing which could be argued better during a

pure nationalist surge after Independence — couldn’t make either Hindi or Sanskritthe preferred alternative. More than the political opposition that came from region-al leaders, our predecessors, in their infinite wisdom, understood that languagewas more about culture, identity and one of the many concrete embodimentsof “unity in diversity” than it was about a tool of communication. As a result,Hindi and all other languages were accorded official language status, a peerageof sorts. And may we say that this policy has neither affected inclusive devel-opment, nor changed the national narrative so far. So while English continued tobe a link language of economic mobility and global engagement, each State, asis the nature of federal polity, conducted business in it as well as their own famil-iar words. Besides, language wars or the North versus South debates are wellpast their expiry date as even the UN has certified that mother languages areintrinsic to human development. These help establish our personalities and rela-tionships with our families, society and the larger world outside, defining the waywe express ourselves and establish our confidence. So Home Minister Amit Shah’sbold claim that Hindi should be made the national unifier language and a voiceto the world is not only ludicrously revisionist but defeats the civilisational ideaof India, which functions as a beehive of plurality rather than as a smartcard mono-lith of “one India, one language.” Of course, in the current swell of jingoism, nobodywould want to listen to reason. Imagine if a Tamil-speaking farmer had to availa Government scheme in the back of the beyond and is expected to not onlyread Hindi but understand the fine print and sign off, then it is all about unfairimposition, cultural dwarfism and centrist exclusivity over an empathetic embrace.The poor farmer will have no option but to rely on interlocutors and unneces-sary bureaucratic inefficiencies. Similarly, howsoever much we may want to dis-own English, it has become our common connector, an asset for global empow-erment, a social aspiration and the reason that the offshore business process-ing industry was one of the first to take off in India. How would one talk the lan-guage of science without peppering it with English? How would one change aca-demic discipline in higher institutions where English is the accepted and entrenchedmedium of instruction? How would one score in the professional space of multi-national companies where English is common currency? And rarely have Hindi-speaking people not chosen to pursue English.

By the same logic, the government machinery would be bound to use a sin-gle language as a working medium and that privilege would automatically be dis-criminatory to those officers whose mother tongue isn’t Hindi. According to Article343 of the Constitution of India, “the official language of the Union shall be Hindiin Devanagari script and (2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a peri-od of 15 years from the commencement of this Constitution, the English lan-guage shall continue to be used for all official purposes of the Union for whichit was being used immediately before such commencement.” Schedule 8 allowsreviewing the progressive use of Hindi but doesn’t run down English or takesaway the State legislature’s right to opt for the language of use. Besides, it clar-ifies that all authoritative texts must be done in English as well. If anybody thinksthat enforcing a language code would foster national integration, then one justneeds to look back at how language riots in southern India have at one time threat-ened it instead. In the words of CN Annadurai, “if we had to accept the princi-ple of numerical superiority while selecting our national bird, the choice wouldhave fallen not on the peacock but on the common crow.” Bollywood, often citedas a mass catalyst of the Hindi-speaking market, has only 43 per cent of ourtotal box office revenue. The rest of the pie belongs to regional films. Let’s nottinker with the avoidable. Homogeneity isn’t always an asset.

Not Hindi hain hum

Statements that divide

Sir — I love Hindi but imposingit as a national language and cre-ating an unequal advantage fornaturalised Hindi speakers isgross discrimination and cannotbe a unifier. The Government,having no reform or developmentmeasures to boast of, is targettingpeople’s sentiments. But this time,it has scored a self-goal that maycost it electorally in the future.The Congress’ history in thisregard should be instructive.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Raking controversy

Sir — The idea of “one nation,one language” mooted by UnionHome Minister Amit Shah hasexpectedly been met with resis-tance, especially from the south-ern States. Parties from TamilNadu, Karnataka and AndhraPradesh have been more vocalagainst the proposal and haveaccused Shah of running a “divi-sive agenda” and foisting the“RSS agenda on the country.”

While a large number ofpeople in the south do not under-

stand Hindi, it is gradually pen-etrating this region due to anumber of factors like migration.Yet another reason for the spreadof Hindi culture is Bollywood,which is becoming far more pop-ular over there.

Even without any imposition,by far, Hindi as a language hasmade its presence far and wide.In 1971, 36.9 per cent of Indiansspoke Hindi as a first language. In2011, this increased to 43.6 percent. In the long run, Hindi may

occupy primacy if the Centredoes not force the language on thepeople. As of now, the Englishlanguage is more acceptable,especially in the south than Hindi.The status of English as a medi-um of communication to non-

Hindi States has remainedunchallenged until now. The ideaof imposing Hindi on non-Hindispeaking people must be burieduntil people come forward toaccept Hindi as the language ofcommunication in lieu of English.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

Diverting attention

Sir — At a time when the coun-try is faced with an economic cri-sis, it is unfortunate that UnionHome Minister Amit Shah hasraked up the issue of nationalis-ing the Hindi language. Maybethis is a tactic to deviate people’sattention from some of the mostpressing concerns pertaining tothe economy.

Undoubtedly, the call forunity is noble but to think that itcan come only out of uniformityis flawed. The BJP’s landslide vic-tory must not make it lose itshead and cause it to become arro-gant, autocratic and non-amenable to reasoning.

RaviVia email

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

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

op nionVIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

06

Perils of GM farming

SANDHYA JAIN

Global agricultural firms have been spreading the myth that GMOs are needed to feed Indiawhen actually, the country needs agro-ecological systems to preserve its biodiversity

Nationalist Muslims votefor BJP but those who arein favour of Pakistan andare traitors think twicebefore voting for the BJP.

Karnataka Minister—KS Eshwarappa

Everybody's always gonnacomment about whateverseems intriguing and he's(Bradley Cooper) one of mybest friends in the world.

Actor—Laura Dern

When two nuclear-armednations fight a conventional war,there is every possibility that itcould escalate into a nuclearwar and impact the world.

Pakistan Prime Minister—Imran Khan

S O U N D B I T E

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

Accommodation is the key, not imposition

What can be achieved through persuasion shouldnot be imposed through force. Hindi and southIndia have a peculiar relationship. It is a fact that

people in this part of the country are increasingly becom-ing conversant with this language through Bollywoodfilms and interactions with Hindi-speaking people.Nevertheless, most of us still suffer from the “typicalsouthern slang.” Early in June, the Modi Government wascaught in the middle of a language storm. The draftNational Education Policy had created a perception thatHindi was being made compulsory in all non-Hindi-speak-ing States. Such was the intensity of the backlash thatit was forced to tweak the draft to allay fears. This time,Union Home Minister Amit Shah has test-fired a “one-language” mission, projecting Hindi as the singular choicethat can unite the country. Shah should remember thatthe Constitution does not declare any single languageas “national.” Hindi is one of the 22 scheduled languagesin the country and one of its two official languages atthe national level, the other being English.

Many States are more comfortable with Englishas a link language. The Government should endeav-our to ensure that people get quality education andaccess to speaking skills instead of raising non-issues

like linking language to pride and culture. Using one’snative language is no greater marker of tradition or cul-ture, it is a choice. In this globalising world, Englishopens many doors to students and workers. In coun-tries in the region, there is a thriving industry impart-ing spoken English to those trying to secure jobsabroad. In India, people prefer a sub-standard Englishmedium school to a vernacular one.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

War cloudsWhy does a former J&K CM(GN Azad) need to seek permission from SC to travelto J&K? It shows that there is no normalcy in Kashmir.

AIMM leader—Asaduddin Owaisi

Amit Shah’s proposal to make Hindi the unifying languageis unworkable and threatens our federal plurality

A drone and missile attack on the Abqaiq oil processingfacility should send alarm bells ringing across the world

Recovery will take time

I WANT TO APPEAL TO PEOPLE TO PROMOTE THEIRNATIVE LANGUAGES BUT ALSO USE HINDI TO MAKE

THE DREAM OF BAPU AND PATEL COME TRUE.—UNION HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

IT'S PART OF THE SANGH PARIVAR'S PLAN TOLAUNCH A NEW BATTLEFIELD IN THE NAME OFLANGUAGE.—KERALA CHIEF MINISTERPINARAYI VIJAYAN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

There has been a lot of talk on the econom-ic slowdown ever since we saw the firstquarter growth results. The fact remains

that the Finance Ministry has been workinground-the-clock to address some of the criticalconcerns on the economic front both in the shortand the long-term.

However, as is the case, most such measuresare likely to have an impact only from the thirdquarter onwards. But the pace of reforms indi-cates that the Government has understood thedifferent contours of the problem — and thisshould be a positive sign for economic revival.

As far as the second quarter is concerned,now is the time to look at the high frequencyindicators and sit down to forecast economicgrowth. As with any forecasting exercise, it’simportant to keep in mind that most such exer-cises are subject to statistical errors and condi-tional on whatever information is made avail-able at the time of the forecast. In all likelihood,we will update our forecast in the first week ofOctober.

One of the authors had a forecast of 5.0-5.4per cent of growth for the first quarter whileanother predicted 5.2-5.6 for the second quar-ter. Since then we’ve seen further weakening ofconsumption data, combined with less thanencouraging automobile sales.

The automobiles industry makes up aroundseven per cent of the country’s Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) but it has been in the news forslowing down tremendously, leading to loss ofjobs and further impacting the slowdown in con-sumption. The data released by the Society ofIndian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) onsale of all vehicles in India shows that the growthin sales fell the most post-2018. The data on pri-vate vehicles shows the same trend.

However, the data on commercial vehiclesshows that growth was the slowest in 2016 andeven though it recovered in 2017, growing atabout 29 per cent, since then it has slowed down.The growth in sales of two-wheelers and three-wheelers has been falling since the first quarterof 2018. The fact that the automobiles sector isfacing a slowdown shouldn’t come as a surprise,given that it had a significantly higher growthin the preceding year. So, part of the slowdownis because of the high growth last year while therest is explained by the Non-Banking FinancialCompanies’ (NBFC) crisis, the shift to BS-VIemission norms and, of course, to the use ofOla/Ubers.

Consequently, there is a need to re-imaginethe automobile business and many leaders of theindustry have expressed this sentiment over thelast couple of weeks. Further, the low consump-tion growth is well reflected in the monthlyGoods and Services Tax (GST) collection num-bers which have only witnessed a modestgrowth on a year-over-year basis. Therefore, inall probability, growth in the second quarter islikely to be muted— but, from the third quar-ter onwards, we may see a swift recovery aidedby several measures by the Finance Ministry.

Our forecast for the second quarter has mod-ified since then as recent data show that growthin the second quarter may well continue to below. Consequently, given that the first quarter

figures were more towards the lowerbounds of the forecast, based on recentdata, our forecast stands at 4.9-5.3 percent of growth for the second quarter.

The silver lining is that the Indexof Industrial Production (IIP) hasshown a very healthy growth andwhile it covers only a very narrowscope of economic activity, it is a def-inite signal of revival. Consequently, itis very likely that the forecast isreversed upwards and growth may wellbe towards the upper limit of the fore-cast in contrast with the first quarter.What this essentially means is thatthere are early signs of economicrecovery, which are indeed encourag-ing, given that we had bottomed out atfive per cent.

For the third quarter, growth maywell be between 5.8 to 6.2, but this isjust a preliminary forecast as we waitto see the impact of the currentannouncements that have been madeby Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman.

Some of these announcementshave already been implemented andwill have a definite positive impact onthe economy. One of them relates toGST refunds for Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) whichhave been a concern since their intro-duction. The Government has recog-nised that there is a need to have a sys-tem for time-bound refunds and it hasordered that all existing ones be clearedwithin 30 days. Going forward, allrefunds should be cleared within 60

days. This will have an immediateimpact on addressing the working cap-ital constraints in the MSME spacewhich, in turn, will ensure that the sys-tem is infused with fresh liquidity. It islikely that this will have an impact asfar as growth in this and the next quar-ter is concerned.

Similarly, the Government hastried to address concerns of the auto-mobile industry by removing the banfrom replacing current vehicles, whichwill try to absorb some of the accumu-lated inventories over the last couple ofmonths. What is important is to alsoconsider that the Government hascommitted to the expenditure as stat-ed in the Union Budget and to theFiscal Responsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Act. This sug-gests that expenditure will continue asper plan and any revenue shortfall maybe met through increased disinvest-ments. Both are again a positive signfor the economy — although oneneeds to further evaluate whetherthere’s any difference between a 3.3-3.5per cent of deficit, especially during atime when growth has been slow.

Similarly, consolidation of banks,combined with several governancereforms and aggressive moves on therelaxation of external commercial bor-rowings for NBFCs and now even foraffordable housing projects, are bothprogressive decisions that reflect India’sdemand for foreign capital.

For the first time, there’s a pragmat-ic realisation that India is a capital-deficit country and the only way to

meet our need for investment would beto seek foreign capital. Luckily, low andnegative yields elsewhere make Indiaa no-brainer as far as movement of cap-ital is concerned. Harsh Gupta — ahedge fund manager and a financialcolumnist — has worked extensively onthis area as he’s documented the needto be progressive in our outlooktowards foreign finance.

It is important to have a progres-sive and pragmatic outlook towardsaddressing the current crisis. We needto simultaneously focus on revaluatingsome of our previous policy choicesand think hard on whether they’vehelped us meet our growth aspirations.The Finance Minister is doing the samewith a strong commitment towardsreviving economic growth and towardsdeep structural reforms. The threepress conferences have given us a sig-nal that Sitharaman means businessand this fact itself makes us extreme-ly optimistic about India’s economicprospects over the near term.

While growth may be low for thesecond quarter, economic recoverymay start from the third quarter andwe may be back on the seven per centplus growth track by the next financialyear. In fact, if we continue with thesame trajectory, then very soon we mayjust manage to push our potentialgrowth to 8.5 and sustain an eight plusgrowth rate for a prolonged period.

(Karan Bhasin is a New Delhi-basedpolicy researcher and Prachi Jhamb isa research associate with the ReserveBank of India)

The pace of economic reforms indicates that the FM has grasped the problem andwe should see a fiscal revival but it may have an impact only from the third quarter

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

The magic of 370 SUVs

SHOBHIT MAHAJAN

I wonder whether the tax department is takingnote of the huge amounts being spent by the

candidates for the Assembly polls

KARANBHASIN

PRACHIJHAMB

WHILE GROWTHMAY BE LOW FOR

THE SECONDQUARTER,

ECONOMICRECOVERY MAY

START FROM THETHIRD QUARTERAND WE MAY BE

BACK ON THESEVEN PER CENT

PLUS GROWTHTRACK BY THE

NEXT FINANCIALYEAR. IN FACT, IF

WE CONTINUEWITH THE SAME

TRAJECTORY,THEN VERY SOON

WE MAY JUSTMANAGE TO PUSH

OUR POTENTIALGROWTH TO 8.5

AND SUSTAIN ANEIGHT PLUS

GROWTH RATEFOR A

PROLONGEDPERIOD

The cavalcade seemed unending and 10 am on a Sunday morn-ing is an unusual time to be stuck in a traffic jam. The reason,it turns out, is the huge number of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs)

blocking the road. Each vehicle is adorned with big posters inform-ing us that this is a rally for one of the prospective candidates for theupcoming Legislative Assembly elections due by the end of the year.The rally is to go to Rohtak to impress the party leader who has hisown roadshow there. Young lumpens wearing saffron T-shirts withthe prospective candidate’s photograph on it are energetically hang-ing out of the SUVs, a la Bollywood heroes. Going by the chaos andnoise that is already being generated, I shudder to imagine what weare in for over the next few weeks.

I shouldn’t have been surprised though. For the last couple ofmonths, the whole of Delhi has been humming with election-relatedactivity. The number of ticket seekers for the ruling party’s nomina-tion, since that seems a no-brainer, has been growing every day. Andeach of these prospects is outdoing the other by showering the elec-torate with incentives as well as plastering the whole city with theirhoardings. T-shirts, clocks, badges, caps and saffron scarves are allthe rage it seems. Each of these items helpfully has the benevolentdonor’s photograph along with of course our leader’s picture — asif it was not enough to have his face ubiquitously staring at us frombillboards publicising the Ujala Scheme, Ayushman Bharat and othersundry welfare programmes. It is the same story with hoardings —there is hardly an electricity pole, or a tree or even a fence left whichdoes not carry multiple posters.

A novelty in this election is the use of the social media. Almostall of them have bought advertising space from Google and Facebook.Open a search page and there you have the smiling mug shot of oneor more of these candidates promising to turn the dusty and dirtycity into a paradise. Fortunately no one is promising to make the pot-holed roads as smooth as the cheeks of a baby as yet!

Incentives, hoardings and social media are not the only outletsbeing used to publicise and woo voters. Some candidates have foundinnovative methods of luring the electorate. Organising religious ser-mons and body-building contests seem passé—the latest one is reli-gious tourism. One candidate organised an all-expenses paid trip toVaishno Devi. Every day, for about a month, several air-conditionedVolvo busses would take people to the shrine. Their food, lodging and,of course, travel all taken care of. The buses carried huge bannerswith the suitably saffron-attired candidate’s photograph. It remainsto be seen whether those who earned some religious merit due tohis benevolence would reciprocate on election day.

Then there is another candidate who is going about all this witha precision which would make a management guru proud. This gen-tleman started his campaign early—hoardings with his mustachioedface, suitably air-brushed to soften the obviously macho image havebeen all over the city for more than two months. The gentleman inquestion is the scion of an immensely wealthy family—his father, whoincidentally has also unsuccessfully contested many elections, ownslarge swathes of property in and around the city.

The candidate has obviously hired an image consultant as wellas a political strategist to appeal to different segments. Thus, for instance,a musical evening is organised with a popular singer to attract teenagers,while a programme honouring ex-servicemen with several mustachioedgenerals is held to buttress his patriotic credentials. Since one of thelargest communities now in the city is from Poorvanchal, a gala extrav-aganza was organised recently with performances by all the leadinglights of Bhojpuri cinema. This event was meticulously planned withcamera cranes and mega sized projection screens to showcase thecandidate while the audience of migrant Poorvanchalis waited patient-ly for their favourite stars to make an appearance. These and otherevents are then also advertised through ads in leading English dailies.

Needless to say, all this costs a large amount of money. Of course,the elections have not been announced and so the model code ofconduct is not in force. But I wonder whether the sleuths of the taxdepartment are taking note of tens of crores which are being so obvi-ously spent by the candidates? The next time I get an Income Taxnotice to explain an income of a few thousand, I shall be recalling theubiquitous mustachioed face! I am pondering all this while sitting inthe traffic jam while the SUV cavalcade inches along. I notice that thecars are all numbered sequentially and there is another number tooon each of them-370. It turns out that the candidate was so enam-oured by the recent heroic acts of the present dispensation that hedecided to take a caravan of 370 SUVs to welcome the leader. I thankedour founding fathers for restricting the number of Articles in theConstitution to 448 only.

(The writer is a Professor, Department of Physics & Astrophysics,Delhi University)

For all the political discourse abouta “population explosion,” thetruth is that India is witnessing a

slowdown in its population growth andis expected to start reversing its num-bers over the next two to three decades.With the Total Fertility Rate (TFR)down to 2.3 per woman, we are inch-ing closer to achieving replacement lev-els of population growth. A slowingpopulation automatically implies ahigher number of the elderly as againstthe young. According to the EconomicSurvey 2019, the country as a whole willcontinue to enjoy the “demographicdividend” for a few more decades butsome States will start transitioning toan ageing society as early as the 2030s.

With declining fertility, reduction

in mortality and increasing sur-vival at older ages, the shift in agestructure from young to the oldis expected to give rise to a majorpublic healthcare burden.Unfortunately, we do not seemprepared to meet the require-ments of this shift with littleemphasis on improving ourelderly care structure, healthstructure or building a socialsupport system to address this.

The need is not limited toimproving healthcare infrastruc-ture and availability of caregiversfor the aged but also to createinnovative social solutions toenable the elderly population livebetter, happier and more pro-ductive lives. “Social prescribing” is astrategy that ageing countries are nowincorporating in their policy to addressthe physical and mental health needsof senior citizens and finding a way toaddress the problem of loneliness.

In 2018, the British Governmentinitiated a new strategy to address thegrowing problem of loneliness amongthe country’s elderly. As part of thisstrategy that is expected to be fully in

place by 2023, physicians will beallowed and encouraged to refer peo-ple to partake in social activities andsocial groups to combat loneliness. Thestrategy is aimed at reducing the bur-den on the British health service andimproving patients’ quality of life. Thisapproach will be supplemented byinvesting in community projects suchas creating cafes, art spaces or gardensthat can become the focal point of the

social prescriptions for the elder-ly.

This approach originatesfrom the realisation that addition-al and the medical needs of theelderly mean we give them agood quality of life, happiness andgreater social involvement.Currently, society treats the elder-ly with a peculiar redundancy.However, changing this approachcould help convert a large expe-rienced and wise population intovaluable social capital, ratherthan just a healthcare burden.

Promoting healthy ageingcan help delay the onset of diseaseand allow us to have a more pro-ductive population in its sunset

years. Healthy ageing is essentially aprocess through which the elderly areenabled to optimise their physical andmental health and are able to take anactive part in society. Communityreferrals are a mechanism to create andutilise social support structures for theelderly. For example, an elderly coupleliving alone in a city away from theirchildren can enjoy a much betterquality of life if they are a regular part

of a community exercise that allowsthem to pursue their passions and hob-bies. This community referral systemmust also become an intrinsic part ofthe healthcare structure so doctors areable to refer their elderly patients to thecommunities held suitable for them.

There is scientific evidence tobelieve that staying socially active andrelevant not only helps fight depressionbut also improves cognitive functionand helps slow down decline in health.Joining communities and interestgroups helps the elderly indulge in fruit-ful discussions, volunteer for socialwork and gives them hope and passionto live. Community groups can also beeffectively leveraged to educate peopleto adopt healthy lifestyles that canenable them stay healthier longer.

This strategy cannot be achievedsingularly by the Government. Rather,it needs active participation of innov-ative start-ups, social groups and vol-unteers to create a medical-social net-work requisite for social prescribing.Efforts are needed on multiple frontsto make this happen by creating com-munity groups and social supportnetworks to work in cohesion with doc-

tors and hospitals. Next come integrat-ed awareness and training pro-grammes, to prepare a workforce thatcan act as a vital link between doctorsand community groups and can playthe role of counselors for the elderly.Guidelines would have to be framed tohelp doctors recommend and referpatients to social networks apart fromlaying grounds for coordinated andcommunity-referral system at the lev-els of villages, towns and cities. Last butnot the least, we would need to engagethe local population, students andvolunteers to spread the activities ofcommunity groups. According to a2017 report by the United NationsPopulation Fund (UNFPA), around12.5 per cent of India’s population willbe 60 years and older by 2030; by 2050this will increase to one-fifth of the pop-ulation. Integrating social prescriptionwith the healthcare structure will notonly result in a healthier ageing pop-ulation but also have the potential toreduce the financial burden on health-care services.

(The writer is director and creativestrategist of an advertising and consult-ing agency)

Right to live happy in the sunset yearsWith a gradual slowdown in India’s population growth, it’s imperative to cultivate ‘social prescribing’ for the elderly to better

address their medical and emotional needs. Promoting healthy ageing can help reduce burden on healthcare services

KEWAL KAPOOR

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

By the standards ofeveryday life, ex-BritishPrime Minister DavidCameron seems anunremarkably decent man;by the standards of some ofhis colleagues, a kind and thoughtful one. But politicians shouldnot be judged by thestandards of everyday life.They should be held tohigher ones, because it isin their power to makemuch more damagingmistakes than most peoplecan.

(The Guardian editorial)

CAMERON COSTTHE NATION DEAR

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 money 08

PNS n NEW DELHI

National RestaurantAssociation of India onMonday said no significantprogress could be made onZomato Gold issue in themeeting held with the com-pany.

The discussions on eightcentral issues in the secondmeeting with key deliveryaggregators Zomato andSwiggy were, however, most-ly positive, it added.

"Follow up meetings withboth Swiggy and Zomato on

the eight core issues werelargely positive and talks haveprogressed well so far," NRAIPresident Anurag Katriar saidin a statement.

Both aggregators have pre-sented concrete roadmap andapprised NRAI of the progressmade thus far. It also took notethat since the desired changesare fairly large and significant,their total resolution may takesome time, he added.

The association had raisedcritical issues such as deep dis-counting, data masking, highand uneven commission

charges with the delieveryaggregators.

"However, no significantprogress was made on thesubject of Zomato Gold. NRAIremains steadfast in its beliefthat Zomato Gold in its cur-rent form is not acceptable ineither dine-in or delivery seg-ment," Katriar said.

The association also tooknote and appreciated thatZomato has put the con-tentious Infinity dining pro-gramme in abeyance till fur-ther notice, he added.

Commenting on the logout

movement in dining vertical,Katriar said: "NRAI has suc-cessfully concluded talks withDine out, Gourmet Passport,Nearbuy and Magicpin andthey are back in business andout of the purview of #Logout".

Talks with Eazydiner is also

fairly advanced and we expectan early resolution to that, headded.

"NRAI plays an importantrole in our continued efforts toenable restaurant partners togrow sustainably while bene-fitting from the latest tech-

nology interventions. Ourrecent discussions on the var-ious projects have been wellreceived and has brought usone step closer to achievingour combined goals," a Swiggyspokesperson said.

Stating that Zomato con-tinues to engage NRAI on allissues faced by the industry, aZomato Spokesparson said:"We continue to have discus-sions with NRAI on all issuesfaced by the industry and arefocused on providing solutionssustainable for all partici-plants".

No significant progress on Zomato Gold issue, says NRAIThe association had raised criticalissues such as deep discounting,data masking, high and unevencommission charges with the delivery aggregators

Saudi assures India of nooil supply shortage: Oil MinPTI n NEW DELHI

India, the world's third-largestoil consumer, will not be hit bya reduction in production at itsNo. 2 supplier Saudi Arabia,the Oil Ministry said onMonday.

"Yesterday (September 15),Saudi Aramco officialsinformed the Indian refinersthat there would be no shortageof supplies to them. Ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Gas isclosely monitoring the situationin consultation with Indianrefiners and Saudi Aramco," itsaid in a statement.

A massive drone strike onthe world's largest crude-pro-cessing facility operated bySaudi Arabia's Aramco hasdriven oil prices to their high-est level in nearly four months.

The attack has knocked outover half of Saudi Arabia'sproduction as it cut 5.7 millionbarrels per day or over 5 percent of the world's supply.

India imports 83 per cent ofits oil needs. Saudi Arabia is itssecond-biggest supplier afterIraq. It sold 40.33 milliontonnes of crude oil to India in2018-19 fiscal, when the coun-try had imported 207.3 milliontonnes of oil.

Oil prices surged the moston record on Monday, withBrent crude rising by as much

as 19.5 per cent to USD 71.95per barrel - the biggest gain indollar terms since futures start-ed trading in 1988.

US West Texas Intermediate(WTI) futures climbed 15.5 percent to USD 63.34, the biggestintra-day percentage gain sinceJune 1998.

Officials at state-owned oilrefiners said Saudi Aramcohas informed that there wouldnot be any major disruption,

but has sought flexibility forswitching to different gradesfor continuing supplies.

Wood Mackenzie VP forRefining, Chemicals an OilMarkets, Alan Gelder said,"This attack has material impli-cations for the oil market, as aloss of 5 million barrels per dayof supplies from Saudi Arabiacannot be met for long by exist-ing inventories and the limit-ed spare capacity of the other

OPEC+ group members. Ageopolitical risk premium willreturn to the oil price."

Commenting on the situa-tion, Kotak InstitutionalEquities said the largest-everdisruption of crude productionin Saudi Arabia may keep oilprices elevated in the near term.

"Global oil supplies may beadequately met through largeinventories and strategicreserves; however, moderationin oil prices will depend on fullrestoration of Saudi's produc-tion, which may at least take afew weeks," it said, addingthat any further escalation ofgeopolitical tensions in theMiddle East region may add tothe woes.

Spike in crude prices, even iftemporary, will be negative forIndian oil marketing companiesand positive for upstream PSUsand GAIL, it said.

"Any further escalation ofgeopolitical tensions in theMiddle East region, whichcannot be ruled out for now,may add to the woes of globaloil supplies for now given lackof buffer from Saudi's signifi-cant spare production capaci-ty," Kotak said.

Crude supplies from Iranand Venezuela have alreadybeen curtailed significantlyamid sanctions from the US, itadded.

A massive drone strike on the world'slargest crude-processing facilityoperated by Saudi Arabia's Aramcohas driven oil prices to their highestlevel in nearly four months

BHUSHAN POWER CASE

NCLAT to hear JSWSteel's plea on Oct 14PTI n NEW DELHI

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal will hearthe plea of JSW Steel, whichhas emerged as the highest bid-der for Bhushan Power & SteelLtd, seeking immunity fromthe ongoing cases of moneylaundering against the latter onOctober 14.

It also directed impleadingthe Ministry of CorporateAffairs, the CBI and theEnforcement Directorate asparty in the matter.

A three-member NCLATbench headed by ChairmanJustice S J Mukhopadhaya hasalso said it will decide over thepayment of Rs 19,350 crore byJSW Steel to the Committee ofCreditors (CoC) of BhushanPower & Steel (BPSL) on thenext date of hearing onOctober 14.

However, the benchdeclined to stay the order ofdepositing the amount withina month, which is October 5.

"We allow the appellant toimplead Union of Indiathrough Ministry of CorporateAffairs and EnforcementDirectorate as respondent No3 & 4. The UoI may addressthe matter on behalf of CBIand SFIO," said NCLAT.

"Let notice be issued," itadded.

During the proceedings, theCoC requested the appellatetribunal to direct for paymentof the money. However, thebench said it would look intothis issue on October 14 only.

Last week, Delhi-based prin-cipal bench of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) approved Rs 19,700crore bid of JSW Steel fordebt-ridden BPSL.

Although, in its 138-pageorder, the NCLT allowed pro-

tection to JSW Steel fromcriminal cases filed againstthe promoters, it was silentover the money launderingcases.

Under the insolvency pro-ceedings, JSW Steel hasemerged as the winning bidderfor BPSL.

According to the resolutionplan approved by the NCLT, Rs19,350 crore will be distributedamong financial creditors tosettle their Rs 47,158 crore ofadmitted claims. The remain-ing Rs 350 crore would be paidto operational creditors to set-tle less than half of their Rs733.76 crore admitted claims.

Banks will get 41.03 per centof their outstanding dues as

compared to a liquidationvalue of between Rs 9,320-9,707 crore, it said.

JSW Steel will make aninfusion of Rs 7,200 crore inBPSL for improving its oper-ations.

BPSL was dragged to insol-vency proceedings by lendersled by PNB after the companyfailed to pay loans within astipulated time-frame.

The NCLT said criminalproceedings against the formerfounders of BPSL on allegedsiphoning off of funds wouldnot impact takeover by JSW.

"The criminal proceedingsinitiated against the erstwhilemembers of the board of direc-tors and others shall not affectthe JSW - H1 (highest)Resolution Plan Applicant orthe implementation of the res-olution plan," it had said.

It, however, did not grantJSW certain relief sought fromstatutory authorities under theIncome Tax Act, and the RBI.

"We leave it open to themembers of the CoC to fileappropriate applications ifcriminal proceedings result inthe recovery of money whichhas been siphoned off or onaccount of tainted transac-tions or fabrication," the NCLTsaid on charges against formerpromoters.

Although, in its138-page order,the NCLTallowedprotection toJSW Steel fromcriminal casesfiled against thepromoters, it wassilent over themoneylaundering cases

US experts hail Trump's decision to join ‘Howdy, Modi!’ eventPTI n NEW DELHI

Top American experts on Indiahave hailed President DonaldTrump's decision on joiningPrime Minster Narendra Modifor the mega diaspora event"Howdy, Mody!" in Houston onSeptember 22 and jointlyaddress a record crowd of morethan 50,000 Indian-Americans.

On Monday, White Houseannounced that Trump willparticipate in the "Howdy,Modi! Shared Dreams, BrightFutures,” event with PrimeMinister Modi.

The message will undoubt-edly be one of strengtheningthe strategic partnership, aswell as supporting Modi per-sonally, the experts said.

"It will be a great opportunityto emphasise the strong tiesbetween the people of theUnited States and India, to reaf-firm the strategic partnership

between the world's oldest andlargest democracies, and todiscuss ways to deepen theirenergy and trade relationship,"White House Press SecretaryStephanie Grisham said.

"The decision by PresidentTrump to attend the event inHouston sends a strong mes-sage that the issue of Kashmiris a bilateral issue betweenIndia and Pakistan and Article370 is an internal issue forIndia. It also sends a messagethat the Trump administrationis not bothered by the noisecreated by Pakistan and itsPrime Minister Imran Khan,"Mukesh Aghi president of USIndia Strategic and PartnershipForum told PTI.

"It is a win-win for both theleaders: For Prime MinisterModi the fact that PresidentTrump has agreed to come andshow support to the PrimeMinister and to India that he

values this relationship. ForPresident Trump that he gets acaptive audience of Indian-Americans, a community thatcontributes significantly topolitical campaign," he said.

More than 50,000 Indian-

Americans from across the UShave already registered for themega diaspora event to beheld at the sprawling NRGStadium in Houston.

"It send a message globallythat India-US relationship is

important and critical and byPres Trump attending the eventshows the further strengtheningof the partnership," Aghi said.

"Prime Minister Modi's visitis an opportunity to take theUS-India relationship to newlevels. President Trump travel-ling to Texas, along with abipartisan Congressional dele-gation, signals the importancethat the United States places onour strategic partnership withIndia," said Nisha Desai Biswal,president of US India BusinessCouncil (USIBC).

"I do not have a sense ofwhether this is entirely without

precedent or not (the fact of aforeign head of governmentaddressing such a large crowdand the accompaniment of theUS president). It does suggest adesire on the president's part toput forward a show of supportfor Modi, coming on the heelsof a tough period on the tradefront, and tensions over Trump'sKashmir mediation offer," saidAlyssa Ayres from the Councilon Foreign Relations.

"President Trump's decisionto attend Modi's rally is a sig-nificant signal of the impor-tance that this administrationplaces on its relationship with

India," said Anish Goel fromNew America think-tank.

This signifies a furtherstrengthening of US-India tiesand comes at a critical time forboth countries in the realms oftrade and mutual security, saidM Rangaswami, an eminentIndian American from theSilicon Valley, a top venturecapitalist and philanthropist.

"It is frankly risky for anyworld leader to share a stagewith President Trump. ButModi may well be able to usethis event, and Trump's par-ticipation, to smooth the wayfor some modest substantiveagreement on trade, or to divertattention from the graduallyrising chorus of American con-cerns over India's policies inKashmir," noted Joshua White,a former White House nation-al security official under theprevious ObamaAdministration.

More than 50,000 Indian-Americansfrom across the US have alreadyregistered for the mega diasporaevent to be held at the sprawling NRGStadium in Houston

Punjab decides todisinvest PSIDCstake in PACLPTI n CHANDIGARH

The Punjab Cabinet onMonday decided to disinvestPSIDC's stake in PunjabAlkalies and ChemicalsLimited (PACL), a movewhich is expected to generatearound Rs 50 crore.

The amount realised fromthe move would be utilised topay debt of Punjab StateIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation (PSIDC), an offi-cial spokesperson said afterthe Cabinet meeting, heldunder the chairmanship ofChief Minister AmarinderSingh here. "In a move expect-ed to generate around Rs 50crore, the Punjab govern-ment has decided to disinvest90,90,000 shares of PSIDC inPACL," the spokesperson said.

The company, a majormanufacturer of caustic sodaand liquid chlorine, has beenincurring heavy losses since2009-10, with its net worthgoing in the red. The Boardfor Industrial and FinancialReconstruction (BIFR) regis-tered PACL's reference as sickindustrial company undersection 15 (1) of SickIndustrial Companies (SpecialProvisions) Act, 1985 (SICA),the spokesperson said.

PSIDC had invested a sumof Rs 30.45 crore into equitycapital of PACL by way of ini-tial public issue and rightsissue (subscribed on premium).

The equity share holding ofPSIDC in PACL was around 42per cent, which has nowreduced to around 33.49 percent due to restructuring ofdebt liabilities of financial insti-tutions and public sector banks.

Flipkart's 2GUD &Japanese brandMINISO announcepartnershipPTI n NEW DELHI

E-commerce marketplaceFlipkart on Mondayannounced a partnershipbetween its independent valueplatform 2GUD and Japanesedesigner consumer productsbrand MINISO India, ahead ofthe upcoming festive season.

The agreement offers2GUD online distributionrights for MINISO's productsin India effective from thismonth-end, and will enablethe brand to reach 2GUD'smillion-plus consumer baseacross the country, a Flipkartstatement said.

MINISO India plans tobring their merchandiseranging from household andconsumer goods and othernon-durables to the 2GUDplatform, with an initial strat-egy of going live with 60curated products and scalingup the selection over thenext few months.

"The partnership will allowMINISO to extend its reachbeyond its existing brick-and-mortar stores, into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities...," thestatement said.

AFP n DETROIT

The United Auto Workersunion began a nationwidestrike against General Motorson Monday, with some 46,000members walking off the jobafter contract talks hit animpasse.

The move to strike, whichthe Wall Street Journaldescribed as the first majorstoppage at GM in more thana decade, came after the man-ufacturer's four-year contractwith workers expired withoutan agreement on a replace-ment.

Local union leaders met inDetroit "and opted to strike atmidnight on Sunday," theUAW said on its Twitteraccount.

"This is our last resort," TerryDittes, the union's lead nego-tiator with GM, told a newsconference after the meeting."We are standing up for the fun-damental rights of workingpeople in this country."

UAW officials said the two

sides remained far apart in thecontract negotiations, withdisagreements on wages,health care benefits, the statusof temporary workers and jobsecurity.

"Our members have spoken;we have taken action; and thisis a decision we did not makelightly," Ted Krumm, chair ofthe UAW's national bargainingcommittee, said in a state-ment.

"We are standing up forwhat is right," Krumm said.

Hours before the strike

began, US President DonaldTrump tweeted: "Here we goagain with General Motorsand the United Auto Workers.Get together and make a deal!"GM's last major strike, accord-ing to the Journal, was in 2007when 73,000 workers at morethan 89 facilities walked off thejob for two days.

In a statement, GM said itwas "disappointing" that theUAW's leadership had decid-ed to call the strike, saying ithad presented a "strong offer"in contract negotiations.

46,000 General Motors autoworkers strike in US

CLE for increase in duty-free limit for leathergarments to 5 pcPTI n NEW DELHI

Hailing the measuresannounced by the govern-ment to bolster exports,Council for Leather Exports(CLE) on Monday demandedan increase in duty free limitfor leather garments to 5 percent to help boost shipmentsof the sector.

CLE Chairman PanarunaAqeel said India is the secondlargest global exporter ofleather garments and enhanc-ing the duty free limit will helpachieve the top position.

"We are requesting forenhancement of duty free limitfor leather garment exportersfrom 3 per cent to 5 per centof FOB (freight on board)value of exports as this willhelp revive exports from thissegment which has beenshowing decline of about 13per cent this year," Aqeel said.

Aqeel also said easy and

timely availability of creditwith affordable interest levelsis extremely important forleather and footwear sector asthis alone can help in tappingthe huge opportunities avail-able in global markets.

"In this context, the financeminister has announced majorsteps including measures toimprove trade credit flowsand transmission of interestrate cuts by banks, monitoringexport finance through aninter-ministerial group inDepartment Of Commerce,"he said in a statement.

AFP n NEW YORK

Purdue Pharma is to file forbankruptcy in a settlement agree-ment that it hopes will providemore than $10 billion to addressthe opioid crisis, the companysaid in a statement on Sunday.

The pharmaceutical giantwhose prescription painkillerOxyContin is blamed for muchof the US opioid addiction epi-demic, is facing thousands ofstate and federal lawsuits.

The settlement, which issubject to court approval, willcontribute Purdue's entire

value to a body established forthe benefit of the claimantsand the American people.

Purdue Chairman SteveMiller said the settlement will"provide billions of dollars andcritical resources to communi-ties across the country trying tocope with the opioid crisis."

Purdue files for bankruptcyin bid to settle opioid cases

amyaSubramanian,daughter of DrKV Subramanian,the ChiefEconomic Advisor

to the Government of India,performed her debut classicaldance (Arangetram) atRavindra Bharati auditoriumon Sunday. It was a mes-merising performance whichmoved the audience; a per-formance whose every ele-ment of Nrit, Nritta andNatana came together as per-fection. Dancing to the melo-dious voice of Smt. SwetaPrasad, Ramya did not justplay but lived the role of eachcharacter she performed.After the event, Ramya’s dot-ing father, Dr KVSubramanian, beamed withpride and joy as he addressed

the gathering. “I am glad thatmy daughter who I have seengrow up in front of my eyesis now on her way on theladder to artistic success,”said the proud father.

Ramya has been learningBharatanatyam for a decadenow and is the 40th studentof ShankaranandaKalakshetra which is run byrenowned classical dancer,choreographer, and PadmaSri recipient Dr AnandaShankar Jayant who is also asought after motivationalspeaker. Her TED talk hasbeen ranked as one amongthe 12 Incredible TED talks.Ananda has also conceptu-alised a Bharatanatyam appcalled Natyarambha whichwas launched in January2017.

“I’m glad Ramya has made

her ‘Ranga Pravesham’ intothe formal stage,” Anandasaid fondly about her stu-dent. The audience could feelthe special bond between herand Ramya as the guru guid-ed the shishya through thelatter’s debut performance inthe packed hall.

“The learning of any artform is extremely beneficialfor a student as it teachesthem how to approach anysubject even in the case ofacademics. Hence I urge SKJoshi, the Chief Secretary ofthe Telangana government,to take steps to integrate artinto education,” she said, ges-turing towards the official.

The chief secretary of theTelangana government wasthe chief guest at the event.He commended Ramya’s aes-thetically top-notch perfor-mance by comparing her to“sakshath Saraswati” (asSaraswati herself).Commending the selectionof various pieces for theArangetram and in referenceto her performance ‘padam’in Kali Ragam, he humor-ously quipped, “Ramya’sdance about Lord Krishnadancing on the hood ofKaliya in river Yamuna wasbrilliant, except that intoday’s age Kaliya might justbe the pollution in river.”

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman alsosent their messages of praiseand blessing to the youngdancer advising her to per-form well in all aspects of life

without sidelining her pas-sion.

Noted Bharatanatyamdancer Dr ChitraVisweswaran lauded Ramya’sdance whilst also detailingon how art helps oneunderstand one’s ownidentity. “She moveslike a feather onstage and she isgrounded in nature.These are the quali-ties we all mustimbibe in our ownlives as well,” she toldthe audience. Ramya’sdance to ‘BharatiVandana’, a song writ-ten by Rayaprolu SubbaRao, impressed DrChitra immensely and shecommented on how grace-fully it had depicted theIndian culture. “The piece onBharat Mata and Bharatiyasanskruti was well timed asRamya is about to embark onher journey to the USA soon.Her performance stands trueto the bond she has with hercountry,” she said. Ramya isleaving to US to join theUniversity of Chicago.

The 18-year-old Ramya, ina candid chat with the ThePioneer, spoke about how shedeveloped her passion fordance from a very young age.“I have been learning classi-cal dance since the age offour. I started training in theUS initially and then for 10years at the ShankaranandaKalakshetra where I learnt alot not just about the artform but important charac-

ter-istictraitssuch as disci-pline and the gurushishya parampara.” “Myfamily has given me a lot ofsupport and it was my moth-er who introduced me toclassical dance which eventu-ally it blossomed into myown passion,” she added.

When asked about howshe plans to balance her pas-sion with academics, shesaid, “I am planning to domy Majors in economics andmaths and eventually get aPhD. My motto in life hasalways been ‘go with theflow’. I learnt dance for 10

years and then took abreak to focus onClass 11 and 12 stud-ies after which Ireturned to performthe Arangetram. As faras this art form is con-cerned the number of peo-ple interested in learningand teaching are on therise. So if opportunitiesarise I might consider acareer in dance aswell.”

Ravindra Bharatiresounded with

applause forRamya

Subramanian,daughter of thechief economic

advisor to thegovernment of

India, for herArangetram

performance.The young

classical dancerspeaks on her

passion fordance and more,

reportsANUSHKAPRADEEP

R

rateful for thehonour he hasreceived for hiswork in themovieMahanati, the

National Award winningcostume designer,Gaurang Shah, saysthat there is a lot moreto be done for therevival of the hand-loom industry inthe country.

“I request thestate govern-

ment to set upa school for

weavers inTelangana

so thatthere

can bean

exchange ideas and localmaterials among artisansfrom across India,” saysGaurang Shah who hadinteracted with weaversand handloom lovers at afelicitation ceremonyorganised in his honour inthe city recently. The self-taught textile and fashiondesigner has been workingtowards reviving the tradi-tional textile design whilecontemporizing Indianhandlooms using the ver-satile Jamdani weavingtechnique in collaborationwith over 800 weavers inIndia. During the event,Shah was appreciated forhis efforts in bringinghandlooms into the mod-ern era without compro-mising on the legacy andquality.

In order to take theaudience back to the gold-

en era of South Indiancinema, Shah and his

team did a lot ofresearch during

pre-produc-

tion. The designer says hisfamiliarity with Savitri’smovies and the films dur-ing that era has helpedhim create costumes thatwon him so many acco-lades. “I am very happy forreceiving a National Awardfor my first movie. I dedi-cate this award to my fam-ily, friends, my designerteam and the weaverscommunity. This is a bigboost for me to create newthings,” says Shah.

Fifty-year-old GaurangShah added that he con-templated retirement fromthe field but the awardinspired him to work foranother 10 years. Heshares, “After the successof Mahanati, I have beengetting many movieoffers. I feel thatMahanati was madefor me and mywork. If I getoffers like this, Iwill definitelytake up thework.”

The government tooseconded Shah’s views.Jayesh Ranjan, ITSecretary, Government ofTelangana, says,“Handloom industryneeds to get moreattention. Thousandsof weavers dependon a designer andShah’s work ishelping manyweavers in thecountry.Handloom is a bigchainindus-try

and many people form thechain; from weavers tosuppliers. It is sad that notmany youngsters are tak-

ing up thisprofession.

We needto takeactiontoinspireyouth

towardshand-

looms.” With the supportextended by the Telanganagovernment for weavers inrecent years, the count ofweavers has been on therise, the IT Secretaryadded.

“Designs have to bechanged according to latesttrends to attract people. InMahanati, Gaurang pro-moted Gadwal sarees andreceived nationwide recog-nition. In the upcomingLakme Fashion Week weare planning to highlightthe Mahadevpur silk of the

Karimnagar district,”adds Jayesh Ranjan.Jayesh says for the150th birth anniver-sary of MahatmaGandhi on October 2,the central govern-ment plans to conducta year-long event topromote handloomsin the country.

T Chiranjevulu,Commissionerand

Inspector General forRegistration and Stamps,Government of Telanganasays, “When I was thecollector of Nalgonda in2014, I heard aboutGaurang Shah workthrough local weavers.In India, after agricul-ture, handloom indus-try is the biggest.Livelihood of morethan 60 lakh peopleis dependent onthis. We musthave proper rep-resentatives inthe handloomindustry tohelpweavers.”

G

Gaurang Shah,National Award winnerfor Best Costume Design forthe movie Mahanati, speaks toweavers and handloom loversabout his life after Mahanati, hisrequest to the state governmentto set up a school for weaversand others, reports V SATEESH REDDY

‘MAHANATI INSPIRED ME TOPOSTPONE RETIREMENT'

A classical debut to remember

Gaurang Shah

Ram

ya S

ubra

man

ian

TuesdaySeptember 17, 2019

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

irector Nitesh Tiwari, who isin the process of creating athree-part marathon featurefilm series on the Ramayanafter Chhichhore, is very clearthat in his treatment of the

sacrosanct epic, there will be no distor-tions, no embellishments and no inno-vation. Tiwari said it would be foolish tomake changes for the sake of creativeliberties or revisionist flourishes.

“Given the times we live in, it’d befoolish to make changes in a scripturethat is an integral part of every Hinduhousehold. It’s a flawless story. I’d be afool to tamper with it. I am going to becompletely faithful to the text. This willbe the Ramayan exactly the way weknow it,” said Tiwari.

The filmmaker’s assertion comes inthe wake of last week’s development,when a TV channel served a noticeby the Ministry Of Information

and Broadcasting for spreading distort-ed religious information in their show.

After Chhichhore, the Ramayan seriesis Tiwari’s most ambitious project.

Produced by Madhu Mantena,Ramayan is said to be the most expen-sive film project to have ever been madein India. Estimates suggest the budgetcould be over Rs 600 crore, and the pro-ject will take up the next two years ofTiwari’s life.

“I am consumed by the ideaof doing a large-screen ver-sion of this epic. TheRamayan is a part ofalmost everyHindu

household. I grew up with it as anessential part of my life, and for memaking it into a film is an honour I onlydreamt of. My prayers have beenanswered,” said the filmmaker.

“We are doing it in three sections, asone feature film will be too lengthy. Thethree feature films will be released afterthe other with short gaps.”

On casting Hrithik Roshan andDeepika Padukone as Ram and Sita, heobserved, “That’s the wishful casting ofdevotees of the Ramayan. I must say thecasting sounds perfect, and it shows

how keenly people are interested in theproject. But the actual casting

for me begins only whenI’ve finished writ-

ing.”

NITESH TIWARI: I'D BE FOOLISH TOTAMPER WITH ‘RAMAYAN'

onday morning seems toBollywood’s chosen time foryoga. While Shilpa Shetty focus-es on the Vrischikasana (scorpi-on pose), another Bollywoodhottie Malaika Arora has been

trying to grasp the Chamatkarasana.Malaika shared a picture of her perform-

ing the Chamatkarasana and wrote onInstagram: “We truly do believe in mira-cles. But miracles don’t happen overnight,they take time, they take effort and theyneed for us to be open, but they are notimpossible. Speaking of miracles, here is avariation of the Chamatkarasana, whichhelps us do just this!”

She also shared the benefits of theasana for yoga enthusiasts and wrote, “Ittruly is a miracle asana, which helps inboth physical and psychological benefits.r It meticulously combines the back bend

and single hand balance.r Physically, it

opens the chest, shoulders and throat.r Opens the hips and hip flexors.r Stretches and strengthens the back.r It cultivates feelings of universal love

and acceptance."She concluded with a gratitude message:

"May all beings everywhere be happy andfree, and may the thoughts, words, andactions of my own life contribute in someway to that happiness and to thatfreedom for all. HelloUniverse, Hello newweek!"

Malaika surely gives us fitnessgoals. At 45, her fitness and flexi-ble body can serve as aninspiration for many.Also, she constantlyreminds us that ageis just a num-ber!

D

M

Vijayawada Tuesday September 17, 2019

10

celeb talks

CHRISHEMSWORTHTO REMAINSTAR OFTHORFRANCHISE

hris Hemsworth will contin-ue to be the star of the Thorfranchise, assured directorTaika Waititi, who directsthe upcoming Thor: LoveAnd Thunder.

Actress Natalie Portman, who essaysrole of scientist Jane Foster in the fran-chise, will be back in the upcomingfourth part as female Thor, butHemsworth has nothing to worryabout.

“It’s Chris. It’s a Thor film. He isThor, it’s a Thor film. She’s (Portman) isin it,” Waititi told MTV News whenasked who will be the star of Thor:Love And Thunder.

Waititi’s also squashed reports thathe has completed the script.

“Oh that’s cool!! I never cease to sur-prise me! (the title page is complete),”he wrote on Twitter last month.

Thor: Love And Thunder, which alsofeatures Tessa Thompson, is expectedto release in 2021.

C

REYNOLDSSNEAKS

IN JAB ATJACKMAN INBEST-WISHES

POST

ctor Ryan Reynolds was full of praise for his friend

Hugh Jackman as he celebrated the star being hon-

oured with Australia’s Companion of the Order

title.Jackman was awarded the highest of the four

levels of the Order of Australia, and was joined by

his wife of 23 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, for the ceremony

by Governor General David Hurley in Australia’s capital

Canberra on September 13, reports aceshowbiz.com.

While The Wolverine star enjoyed the moment, Reynolds

praised his friend on social media.“Hugh is one of the finest, kindest, hardest working, gener-

ous and most talented people I’ve had the privilege to call my

friend, There’s nobody better,” he wrote.

The Deadpool star later re-posted a photograph of Jackman

after his win, joking in the caption: “None of this changes the

unfortunate fact he’s a complete b**tard.”

The actors are longtime friends, and were famously

involved in a friendly feud as Reynolds tried his best to con-

vince Jackman to reprise his role as the popular Marvel

Comics character one more time for a feature in a future

Deadpool movie — after Jackman announced 2017’s Logan

would be his last outing as Wolverine.

A

LAURA DERNDEBUNKSBRADLEYCOOPERROMANCERUMOURS

ctress Laura Dern has dismissed alldating rumours with actor BradleyCooper and says they are just friends.

The Big Little Lies star and A Star isBorn actor-director were seen diningtogether in New York City, weeks

after Cooper’s split from his longtime girlfriendIrina Shayk in June.

Dern says their relationship is strictly platonic.“We’re amazing friends. We’re so lucky. And

we’re family,” she told usmagazine.com.“I mean, everybody’s always gonna comment

about whatever seems intriguing, and he’s thegreatest human, and one of my best friends inthe world,” she adds. “So I don’t blame anyonefor having deep curiosity about his life cause he’sspectacular.”

Cooper and Shayk were in a relationship from2015 to 2019 and share daughter Lea, two.

Dern shares two children with musician BenHarper, to whom she was married from 2005 to

2013.

A

MALAIKA PERFORMS YOGA TO CULTIVATEUNIVERSAL LOVE, ACCEPTANCE

he critics may be a divided house on Gang Leader but theaam junta seems to have lapped up it up. Opening on adecent note last Friday, the film has gained momentum inthe weekend, witnessing 85-90 per cent footfalls across boththe Telugu states. The fact that it’s a clean entertainer meant

for families worked in its favour bigtime, opine trade observers. While itcollected a share of Rs 6.24 crore onFriday, the weekend too remained ona steady note. Overall, it has minted adistributor share of 16.09 crore in thefirst three days. In comparison, Jersey,Nani’s summer release, has collected ashare of Rs 15.75 crore worldwide in itsopening weekend. Trade notes that thefilm has managed to recover distribu-tors 50 per cent of their share in the firstthree days itself. With word of mouthbeing strong, they are likely to enter intothe profits zone as the week progresses.

Directed by Vikram K Kumar, the film tells the story of four womenand a child who approach a crime writer to seek vengeance on a mys-tery man who caused tragedy in their lives. While Nani played the gangleader, the four women and the child were played by Lakshmi, Saranya,Priyanka Arul Mohan, Shriya Reddy and baby Pranya. Mythri MovieMakers produced the film.

fter completing a Goa schedule of 15 days recent-ly, the unit of Ravi Teja-starrer Disco Raja has nowtravelled to Europe for the filming of an actionsequence. Thenew outing will

commence from todayin Iceland and will go onfor a week mostly. Fastand Furious 7 stunt mas-ters have been roped infor the action block,which will be shot on a

budget of somewherearound Rs 4-5 crore,the makers said in astatement on Monday. The sequence will last onlyfor four minutes in the film.

Produced by Ram Talluri under his SRTEntertainments, Disco Raja, a scientific thriller setin 1980, co-stars Payal Rajput and Nabha Natesh,Tanya Hope, Sunil, Bobby Simha, Vennela Kishoreand Satya. It will be opening in cinemas forChristmas.

Writer-director Harish Shankar speaks to NAGARAJGOUD about the reason to part ways with Dil Raju,difficulties that come with remakes and other thoughts

riter-director Harish Shankar has invested close to10 months on Daagudu Moothalu before hedecided to put it aside to remake Tamil filmmak-er Karthik Subbaraj’s most-acclaimed work till date,Jigarthanda. Daagudu Moothalu was supposed tobe a dual-hero project and Harish wasn’t keen on

compromising on the vision he had for it, a reason which drovehim to part ways mutually with Dil Raju, who was attachedto produce it. “Creative differences between a producer and adirector are common. Raju garu wanted stars to headlineDaagudu Moothalu while I was adamant on characters. Hisbelief was that since I was at the helm, he felt the need to makeit with stars. It’s just that a common ground couldn’t be reached,”Harish sighs.

In fact, the producer-director duo who in the past has teamedup for Ramayya Vastavayya, Subrahamanyam for Sale and DJ,also considered remaking Jigarthanda four years ago. Theremake, titled Valmiki, has now been produced by 14 Reels Plus,with Varun Tej leading the cast. The original tells the tale of anaspiring director (played by Siddharth) who targets a ruthlessgangster (Bobby Simha) because he wants to make a violentgangster film. His discreet attempts to research the gangster failmiserably. Finally, when he gets caught snooping, things takea worst turn. “Every time Raju garu and I spoke about the film,we ended up discussing who would play Siddharth role in Telugu.We mulled over it multiple times but we didn’t come close tomake it. Last year, when I saw it again, the role of Bobby Simhapiqued my interest. I wanted a star hero to play it and that’s howassociation with Varun began,” Harish shares.

Valmiki, mired in controversies over its title, has the direc-tor’s undivided attention right now as its days away from releas-ing in cinema halls. He is in the midst of locking running timenow. “It is poised to have the longest running time for any ofmy movies till now because I’m coming with more content.There are only four songs while it doesn’t boast off actionsequences. Action has been limited to mere punches and a mon-tage shot of a murder. That’s it! Stunt choreographer was notrequired for more than three days,” he avers.

For someone who has been in the industry for long, Harishknows how projects with big stars takeshape. “Big projects usually

commence with a hero and a producer combination.Later, the director enters the picture. If the directoris extremely successful, he will initiate the project insome cases. If you write a good script and then look-out for actors who are apt, the chances of the pro-ject going to sets are dim. Directors who take sucha path are less. It’s a healthy way to operate but thenthe industry doesn’t function that way. When theproducer asks you if you have a script in mind forthe actor he will be associating next, it inadvertent-ly hinders your creativity to a certain extent as youhave to cater to the image and the fan base the actorcuts across,” he reasons, citing the instance of hisown Daagudu Moothalu, the script of which hepenned first before taking across to actors. “I sim-ply couldn’t get the casting done.”

Valmiki is Harish’s second remake after GabbarSingh. He even contemplated making SpecialChabbis with Ravi Teja three years ago. Accordingto him, all films are remakes. He contends that ifa book or an eccentric personality inspires one tomake a film, why not one particular film inspiresother? “As a film lover, if I get an opportunity I’dlove to remake any film that I love,” he states, not-ing that while every film has its share of difficulties,coming to remakes, the pressure will be automati-cally high. “Making-wise it’s easy because you havea reference point (of the original) but the pressureto get it right for the writer will be high. It’s similarto that of appearing for an exam of which you havethe marks sheet already. You have to reach the markscome what may. On top of it, you have to battle thefeeling of ‘Oh, I unnecessarily touched the remake’.”

Upcoming, while he has a couple of ideas for hisnext directorial, he also has plans to produce films.Along with Krishna (Jawaan producer) and MaheshKoneru (118 producer) and a couple of others, Harishwants to associate with content-rich cinema. “As I’ma writer and director, I can’t devote time to productioncompletely, which is why I’ve joined hands with Krishnaand Mahesh. Work is in progress,” he signs off.

Vijayawada Tuesday September 17, 2019

w

11

tollywood

t’s time for some naughty T-Town revelations as VOOT,India’s second largest Advertising Video on Demand plat-form is bringing Bollywood’s leading chat show,Feet Up with the Stars in Telugu. Popular actress-

producer Lakshmi Manchu, who is quite a successful host,will host the chat show. Speaking about playing host andconfidante to celebs, Lakshmi Manchu, whose shows likePrematho Mee Lakshmi and Memu Saitham received goodacclaim, said, “I am really excited to host the Telugu edi-tion of Feet Up with the Stars. The show, its uber chic and

casual format is very unique and a perfect setting to getyour favorite celebs to get candid and share their secrets.

It is going to be a fun ride where I bring the fans clos-er to their favorite celebrities. A lot of them are my

friends and peers from the industry and I can’t waitto have a fun conversation with them.”

The Telugu version will start streaming from September

23.

I

t

GANG LEADERsets the cashregisters ringing

WHILE THE FILMCOLLECTED A SHAREOF RS 6.24 CRORE ON FRIDAY, THEWEEKEND TOOREMAINEDBUOYANT

HARISH SHANKAR

A REGULAR TOLLYTOWN DO

he pre-release event of Harish Shankar’sValmiki was a typical Tollywood affair, where-in the cast spoke about the film and workingwith the director. Victory Venkatesh attend-ed the do as the guest and it was mini reunion

of sorts for him as posed with his F2- Fun andFrustration co-star Varun Tej for the shutter-

bugs. Pooja Hedge made heads turns in acream coloured embroidered saree,

while another Miranalini Ravikept it simple.

t

aTHE NEW OUTINGWILL COMMENCETODAY IN ICELANDAND WILL GO ON FOR A WEEK OR SO

Remakes come witha lot of pressure:

LAKSHMI MANCHU

returns as host

DISCO RAJA gets aninternational touch

AFP n LONDON

Australia captain Tim Painesaid it was mission accom-plished even though his

team lost the fifth and final AshesTest against England to draw theseries 2-2.

The tourists came into thematch at the Oval seeking theirfirst series victory in Englandsince 2001 but came up short, los-ing by 135 runs on Sunday.

But Paine said Australia, whowon at Edgbaston and OldTrafford but lost agonisingly to aBen Stokes-inspired England atHeadingley, had achieved theirmain objective in retaining theurn.

“We’re taking the urn home sothat’s certainly what we came to

do," he said. "We're thrilled by that, a little dis-appointed by this game obvi-ously, puts a bit of a damp-ener on it.”

“We can be reallyproud of the way we’vecome over here, which isa challenging place forAustralians to come andplay and win,” he added.“To win two Test match-es pretty convincingly,should have won a third(at Headingley) — letthat slip no doubt.”

Paine said winningthe f irst Test atEdgbaston, whereAustralia triumphed by251 runs, had been cru-cial for his side’s confi-

dence.“There was so much talk

about that being a fortress andhow difficult a place it was goingto be for us to start the series,probably by design, so for us tocome over and win that first Test,and win it, in the end, quite con-vincingly gave us the belief that wecould do it,” he said.

And the skipper said he stillfelt he had a role to play in tak-ing the side forward.

“We’ve still got a way to go,”he said. “Obviously Steve (Smith)had an unbelievably good seriesand won us a couple of Tests byhimself so we’ve got some partsthat we need to improve.

“But if we click them into gearwhile we’ve got Steve at the heightof his powers and with the paceattack we've got, in the next fewyears we're going to be a very hardteam to beat.”

“There’s plenty of improve-ment in this side,” Paine added.

“I still feel I’ve got a little bitto give in that space and we’realways trying to develop moreleaders within our group as well.”

Smith, who scored 774 runs injust seven innings, said he wasexhausted after a long tour, whichalso included the World Cup.

The former captain, whoreturned to international crick-et in June after a ban for ball-tampering, received a standingovation from the crowd in southLondon when he was out.

“It was a nice reception as Iwalked off,” he said.

“It would have been nice if I’dhad a few more runs under mybelt in this game.

“I've given it my all since I’vebeen here for the last four-

and-a-half-months inevery Test matchthat we've playedand I didn't havemuch left to givetoday.

“I 'm prettycooked to behonest, mentallyand physically.I 'm lookingforward to anice couple ofweeks' restnow beforegetting intot h eAu s t r a l i a n

summer.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Kuldeep Yadav and YuzvendraChahal — the famed ‘KulCha’

of Indian cricket — may not be theflavour of the season anymore butexperts believe it is too early to writethem off in the shortest formatahead of the T20 World Cup nextyear.

Both Kuldeep and Chahal,who had cemented their place inthe two shorter formats withimpressive performances over thepast 24 months, have not beenpicked for two straight T20 series,including the ongoing home assign-ment against South Africa.

Ahead of the opening T20 inDharamsala, captain Virat Kohlisaid the team is trying out the likesof Rahul Chahar and WashingtonSundar as it is looking to bat deepand post 200 plus totals consistent-ly.

Former India opener AakashChopra feels the decision to excludeKuldeep and Chahal could be adouble-edged sword.

“The idea is if you have thatmuch depth in batting you bat acertain way. You can’t bat conser-

vatively if you have that kind ofdepth. That is what England did.They changed the template com-pletely. They focused on battingdeep as they wanted to score 400 (inODIs) and they achieved it manytimes," Chopra told PTI.

“It looks India is wanting totake the same aggressive approach

in T20s and there is nothing wrongin that. Now, they need to startshowing the intent of scoring 220consistently.

“Batting till 8, 9 and 10 is stillambitious (as you don’t need themat all in a 20 over game) but if youare trying to score 220 it is fine,” heexplained.

Chopra felt if the team decidesto compromise on its wicket-tak-ing ability, then it to score more.

However, he foresees Chahalmaking a T20 comeback very soon.Chahal, at the moment, is only partof the ODI team while Kuldeep ispart of both the 50-over and Testsquads though not a sure starter inthe eleven.

“Chahal will be back. RahulChahar is more or a bowler andWashington Sundar’s batting atnumber 8 may not be needed any-way,” Chopra added.

Kuldeep and Chahal's inclusionhas become a talking point just likefinger spinners RavichandranAshwin and Ravindra Jadeja, whowhere shown the door in the short-er formats following the 2017Champions Trophy. Jadeja made acomeback but Ashwin couldn’t.

Former India spinner SunilJoshi, who is now a well-knownspin coach, welcomed the move totry out youngsters before caution-

ing against the confusion the situ-ation might create in the mind ofthe spinners.

“I would suggest that Kuldeepand Chahal should go back todomestic cricket when they are noton national duty. Finger spinner orwrist spinner is not the questionhere. It is about having the tacticsto outclass the batsman besidestechnique and temperament,” Joshitold PTI.

“Let’s see how the young spin-ners do and ample opportunitiesshould be given to them but at thesame time if Chahal and Kuldeepare playing only one format itcould disturb their rhythm. Whiteball cricket is all about rhythm.

“The conditions will be differ-ent in Australia for the T20 WorldCup with the bigger grounds.Overspin will come in handy. Allthe spinners who are in the huntshould be told about their rolesclearly else it might cause confusionin their minds,” Joshi added.

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

LONDON n (AFP)

Steve Smith returned to internation-al cricket to a chorus of boos but

he walked off the pitch at the Oval toa standing ovation after a summer ofAshes redemption.

The former Australia captainenjoyed a remarkable series inEngland, scoring a total of 774 runsin just seven innings and played a piv-otal role in his side’s two victories inthe drawn series.

The catch by Ben Stokes that sentSmith on his way on Sunday ended anastonishing run of scores — 144 and142 at Edgbaston, 92 at Lords, 211 and82 at Old Trafford, and 80 and 23 atthe Oval.

The 30-year-old made his officialreturn to international cricket in Juneat the World Cup after serving a year-long ban for ball-tampering and wasbooed by the crowd in Bristol.

Smith had a decent campaign inthe 50-over showpiece but did not setthe world alight as Australia reachedthe semi-finals, where they were beat-en by eventual champions England.

But he changed gear when theAshes started, seemingly hungry tomake up for lost time as he dominat-ed the England attack, making twocenturies in Australia's comfortablewin in the first Test at Edgbaston.

Asked when he felt he was backto his best, an exhausted but "proud”Smith said it was after his first inningsat Edgbaston, when he rescued hisside, who had stumbled to 122-8.

“That gave me a lot of confi-

dence,” he said. “That was probablymy favourite innings of the wholeseries that I played.

“The first Test match, as weknow, is always incredibly importantin an Ashes series and to sort of pullthe team out of a bit of trouble at thetime and give me that confidencestraight up that I could slot back inand perform, that gave me a lot ofconfidence.

“It was a long 18 months out ofthe game and I’ve got a lot of peopleto thank, in particular my wife.”Smith’s series was interrupted after hewas felled by a Jofra Archer bouncerin the second Test at Lord's, forcinghim to miss three innings.

WINNING RETURN But he returned at Old Trafford

to make a monumental double cen-tury in another victory for Australia.

His 80 in the first innings in thefinal Test at the Oval was his 10th con-secutive fifty in Ashes Tests.

Australia were chasing 399 to winthe series in London but it wasalways a tall order and Smith wasunable to produce a miracle, fallingfor 23.

His run haul is fifth on the list ofhighest tallies in an Ashes series.

The man at the top of that list,inevitably, is his late compatriotDonald Bradman, who scored 974 inseven innings in 1930. But the factthat Smith is even in the same con-versation as the man widely regard-ed as the greatest batsman in historyis testament to his genius.

LONDON n (IANS)

Former Australia captainRicky Ponting believes Tim

Paine’s men were the betterside in the recently-conclud-ed Ashes series againstEngland which ended in a 2-2 stalemate.

Australia retained theAshes with a comprehensive185-run victory in the fourthTest but let slip a goldenchance to win their firstAshes series in England since2001 as they conceded a 135-run loss in the tour finale atThe Oval on Sunday.

“Australia will look at it asa series of missed opportuni-t ies ,” Ponting toldcricket.com.au.

“I think they’ve clearlybeen the better team. They’veclearly played better cricketthroughout the series. Theyshould have won atHeadingley.”

He also said that the 2-2result was not a clear reflec-tion of how the series was

played and how the visitorsperformed in the five-matchrubber.

Australia were knockedout of the World Cup in thesemi-finals by eventual cham-pions England and retainedthe urn in England for thefirst time in 18 years.

Ponting said the efforts ofPaine’s side should be con-gratulated even though theydidn't manage to win thecoveted series.

“We shouldn't undersellhow well Australia haveplayed, and on the back of apretty successful World Cupcampaign,” he said.

“The boys have been onthe road for five months.Making a World Cup semi-final and retaining the Ashes2-2, it's been a good fewmonths for Australian crick-et.”

Australia will next faceSri Lanka in the three-matchT20I series at home begin-ning October 27.

AFP n LONDON

Australia's cricket coach Justin Langersaid David Warner allowed England

paceman Stuart Broad to "get into hishead" during a miserable Ashes series forthe opener.

Warner ended with the unwantedrecord of the fewest runs scored by a Testopener across 10 innings of a series.

The 32-year-old, who registered acumulative total of just 95, was dismissedseven times by Broad during the drawncontest and encountered jeers fromhome crowds following his role in the2018 ball-tampering scandal.

Langer plans to persist with the expe-rienced batsman heading into theAustralian summer but expressed somedoubt that he would fully recover froma dismal Ashes display.

"I've learned over a long period younever write off champion players, it does-n't matter what sport, you never write offchampion players," said Langer, whoseside retained the urn following the 2-2draw.

"He had this series, it didn't go toplan, but he's seen how successful he's

PTI n DUBAI

India captain Virat Kohlihas managed to hold on to

his second position behindAustralia’s Steve Smith in theICC Test Rankings for bats-men released on Monday.

Kohli, with 903 ratingpoints, is 34 points behindSmith (937).

Besides former Australiacaptain Smith, compatriot PatCummins has also retainedhis one position in the ICCTest bowlers’ rankings.

Both Smith andCummins player key roles inhelping Australia retain TheAshes.

The Ashes culminatedwith a 135-run victory forEngland in the fifth and finalTest on Sunday. The seriesended in a 2-2 draw withAustralia retaining the Urn.

Smith’s scores of 80 and23 in the two innings in thefinal Test helped him remainat 937 rating points, anincredible effort since he

started the series in fourthposition with 857 pointsbefore his surge that camecourtesy 774 runs in fourTests.

Cummins too is well clearof other bowlers as he enjoysa lead of 57 points over sec-ond-placed Kagiso Rabadaafter finishing as the topwicket-taker with 29 scalps.India’s Jasprit Bumrah is inthird place.

Other players fromAustralia to make notablegains are Matthew Wade andMitchell Marsh.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan's captain Sarfaraz Ahmed isconfident that his team is ready to

make an impact in the ICC World TestChampionship after struggling for formin this format in the last two years.

"After in-and-out performances inthe last two years since the retirements

of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, Ithink we are now ready to challenge otherteams in the World Test Championship,"he said.

Pakistan's first challenge will be atour to Australia in November wherethey play two Tests followed by homeTest series against Sri Lanka andBangladesh. Pakistan is presentlyplaced 7th among 12 Test teams in theICC World Rankings and Sarfarazadmitted his team had neither beenconsistent nor convincing in the longerformat for a while now.

"We have struggled after losingMisbah and Younis and we are in arebuilding process. But now I think ourbatsmen are ready to fill the gaps andtake responsibility," he said.

"We have Shaan Masood, Imam-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, HarisSohail and Babar Azam who have nowgone through the grind and can dowell at the Test level. There is also lotof experience now behind Azhar andAsad."

Aussie’s mission accomplished

Australia's cricket team poses for photographers with the Ashes Urn AP

Steve Smith poses with Ashes trophy Twitter

Smith proud after summerof Ashes redemption

Broad got into Warner's head,says Justin Langer

been and the impact he can have onAustralian cricket teams winning, so I'mconfident he'll come good.

"Actually, I'm hopeful he comes good.Talking frankly, I thought he let StuartBroad get into his head and I think hethought way too much about it."

Langer feels Warner, who was the sec-ond-highest run scorer at the World Cup,will be pleased to be returning home.

"In this instance I don't think Davidsolved the puzzle, and he'll be the first toadmit that," said.

"He'll probably be very relieved (when)he gets on the Qantas flight knowing hedoesn't have to face Stuart Broad for awhile, I reckon.

Pat Cummins and Steve Smith Twitter

Smith, Cumminsretain top position

WE CAN BEREALLY PROUD OF

THE WAY WE'VECOME OVER HERE,

WHICH IS ACHALLENGING

PLACE FORAUSTRALIANS TOCOME AND PLAY

AND WINWE’RE TAKINGTHE URN HOME

Aus better teamin Ashes: Ponting

‘Too early to look beyond Kuldeep,Chahal’

Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal chats during practice session Twitter

Sarfaraz confident of good showingin World Test Championship

Pakistani batsmen walk into the ground Twitter

I’VE LEARNED OVER ALONG PERIOD YOU NEVER

WRITE OFF CHAMPIONPLAYERS, IT DOESN'T

MATTER WHAT SPORT, YOUNEVER WRITE OFF

CHAMPION PLAYERS