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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

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HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 4, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACMonth & Paksham:Bhadrapada & Shukla PakshaTithi : Saptami: 08:49 pmNakshatram: Anuradha: 04:09 am(Next Day) Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:46 pm – 03:19 pmYamagandam: 06:06 am – 07:38 amVarjyam: 08:08 am – 09:44 amGulika: 09:10 am - 10:42 amGood Time: (to start any

important work)Amritakalam: 05:45 pm – 07:21 pmAbhijit Muhurtham:

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TODAY

Tamilisai totake oath asGuv on Sept 8HYDERABAD: The new gov-ernor of Telangana, Tamilisaiand former union ministerBandaru Dattatreya, who wasappointed as the governor ofHimachal Pradesh, will taketheir oath on September 8 and11 respectively. TelanganaHigh Court chief justice RSChauhan will administer theoath of office to Tamilisai at 11am on Sep 8. Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, ministersof his cabinet and severalhigher officials will attend theoath-taking ceremony.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Aside from the ominous talk,the offshoots of current eco-nomic 'recession' have start-ed taking a have toll on theearnings of the TelanganaState government.

The government's earningshave witnessed steep dropacross all the sectors, barringthat of the Stamps andRegistration Department inthe current fiscal (2019-20).The earnings even from theStamps and RegistrationsDepartment reflected a 10 percent decline, when comparedto that of the first four monthsof the previous fiscal (April-July 2018-19).

The earnings through GSTcollections have shown adownward spiral.

The TS government set arecord in achieving highestgrowth rate of 17% in GSTcollections last year. That hasnow fallen to less than 5 percent this year.

The automobile sector,going through unprecedent-ed downturn across the coun-try, showed similar trend inTelangana. The automobilesales have come down by 20to 30 per cent across thecountry. Telangana has wit-nessed a 12 per cent drop invehicles sales over the pasttwo months.

Continued on Page 4

Telangana Governmentfeels pinch of ‘recession' Telangana Governmentfeels pinch of ‘recession'

l Earnings fall across allsectors, barring that of

Stamps & RegistrationsDepartment

l Auto sales worst hit,registers 12 per cent

decline

l GST collectionsdecline from a record

high of 17% to just5 per cent

l Impactunavoidable on

'full-fledged budget'

NGT breathes fireat State govtPNS n NEW DELHI

Aghast at the scale of illegalsand quarrying on river-beds,the National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Wednesday ques-tioned the Government ofTelangana how could it quar-ry 4.10 crore cubic meters ofsand without environmentalclearance. On Wednesday,NGT began hearing on theomissions and commissions ofthe Government of Telanganafrom the environmental pro-tection perspective.

Citing reports submitted bythe Pollution Control Board,the tribunal said that sand

quarrying was carried out ille-gally on the Godavari riverbed. Responding to the query,the Government of Telangananoted that it had excavatedsand as part of de-silting ofrivers. The green tribunal thensought to know from the gov-ernment how it became feasi-ble to de-silt Annaram andMedigedda irrigation projectswhich had been executed suc-cessfully.

The NGT breathed fire atTelangana Government fornot making any laws on sandquarrying in Telangana.

It posted the subsequenthearing to Sep 26.

SAND QUARRYING

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The implementation of new,stringent rules under theamended Motor Vehicles Acthas been kept on hold inTelangana as well as AndhraPradesh apparently because therulers want to derive politicalmileage and in any case do notwant to antagonize large sec-tions of voters ahead of polls tourban local bodies.

Telangana is going to short-ly witness municipal polls, whileAndhra Pradesh will face elec-tions to local bodies. Imposingheavy challans just ahead of thepolls could backfire on both thegovernments. The whoppingpenalties prescribed for variousviolations, if collected in letterand spirit, will put additionalburden on the common man.

Although implementing thenew rules would deter peoplefrom violating traffic rules andadd collections to the state trea-sury, politics in conjunctionwith polls rule the roost in theTelugu states. The increase infines would have significantimpact on urban voting trends.The ruling parties may not beable to replicate in the upcom-ing polls the scale of their vic-tories in the Assembly polls ifthe stiff rules, which can affect

every person, are brought intoforce. So, apparently the stategovernments are in a wait andwatch mode.

The new traffic rules came

into force on September 1, asper the Motor Vehicles(Amendment) Bill, 2019.

Continued on Page 4

Municipal polls reason for delayin execution of new MV rules?

While the amended MV act has left many baffled due to the heftyfines prescribed, netizens are blaming Telugu superstar Mahesh

Babu for this change. They have picked clips from the actor's 2018flick Bharat Ane Nenu over levying heavy challans to drive home theirpoint. They say that the new rules by the Central government wereinspired by his character in the movie. In the movie, Mahesh,mortified by the disturbing traffic in the city, imposes heavy fines onviolators after becoming the Chief Minister of the state.Non-Telugu speaking citizens also shared the clips in which the actoris seen giving a speech on why there should be steep fines forpeople who break laws. They pointed out that "traffic rules are nowmade by seeing south Indian films". Awareness camps of the trafficpolice apart, the movie clips are in a way helping public to be awareof the nature of amendments to MV Act

Mahesh Babu warned people of MV act

Funny memes,jokes on newtraffic rulesflood twitterPNS n NEW DELHI

After the new Motor VehiclesAct came into force fromSeptember 1, social mediaplatforms such as twitter areflooded with hilarious memes,jokes and reactions on thenew traffic rules.#NewTrafficRules is nowtrending on twitter. Netizenshave been coming up withreactions after the amendedMV Act that imposes heavypenalties for traffic violationsacross the country.

A person on twitter withthe username@imsandysin-ha, "People are enjoying the#NewTrafficRules, Salary 8k kior #traffic chalan 15k ka."

"Four wheelers: seatbeltcompulsory, two wheelers:helmet compulsory, Auto-rickshaw : three wheeler : sono seatbelt and no helmet. Atleast make them use the indi-cator #NewTrafficRules,"another tweet read. Anotherperson with a username@ i m C o m p u t e r G e e k ,uploaded a photo of a mandriving a van wearing a hel-met with the caption,"Whenyou can't afford breaking#NewTrafficRules because of#TrafficFine."

VIP darshanbookings atTirumala togo onlinePNS n TIRUPATI

The Tirumala TirupatiDevastanams (TTD) hastaken up cudgels againstunauthorised bookings fordarshan and sale of darshantickets in black.

In the backdrop of theHigh Court judgment on L1,L2 and L3 darshans, the TTDhas proposed an onlineprocess for VIP break dar-shans too.

TTD Special Officer A VDharma Reddy, who hastracked and busted the VIPbreak darshan tickets' scamby PROs of a few leaders, hasinitiated this software-basedprocess. Very soon, TTD willstart the online process forVIP break darshan tickets.

Continued on Page 4

19 die inPunjabfirecrackerfactory fire

Tribal teenstripped forelopingBHOPAL: Two crimes involv-ing teenaged tribal womenhave shaken Alirajpur districtin Madhya Pradesh's Jhabuaregion. While no case hasbeen registered in the incidentof a 19-year-old girl who wasstripped naked and paradedfor eloping with a boy ofanother tribe, another 19-year-old girl has been arrested forallegedly abducting a 17-year-old girl with whom she was ina same-sex relationship. Apurported video of Saturday'sincident involving strippingand parading of the woman byher community members wentviral on social media onTuesday. The woman wearinga petticoat and blouse is seenbeing beaten with sticks by per-sons chasing her while she wasscreaming and begging formercy in the local dialect.

CHANDIGARH: At least 19people were killed and 27injured in a blaze in a fire-cracker factory at Batala townin Gurdaspur district ofPunjab on Wednesday.

The exact reason for the fireis yet to be ascertained. ThePunjab government hasordered a magisterial inquiryinto it. An explosion tookplace around 4 p.m. in the fac-tory that was being run in athree-storey building in theresidential area. The impact ofthe blast was so powerful thata few nearby buildings andparked vehicles were alsodamaged. Teams of the NDRFand the SDRF have beendeployed.

Maruti announces ‘no-production days’

India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday announcedtwo "no production days" in its Haryana plants this month amid a

crippling auto sector slowdown. The passenger car manufacturingoperations at its Gurugram and Manesar plants will be shut for twodays, on Saturday and Monday, the carmaker said in a regulatoryfiling to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The "no productiondays" by Maruti Suzuki underscore a sharp, prolonged slump in salesand lakhs of job cuts in the country's auto sector. Maruti SuzukiIndia reported a 35.86 per cent decline in its total sales in thedomestic market last month. Maruti produces about one in two ofthe passenger vehicles sold in the country. Its total passenger vehiclesales in the domestic market fell 36.14 per cent to 93,173 vehicles inAugust. The country's auto industry is going through one of itsworst slowdowns in nearly a decade, with vehicle sales falling rapidlyand little sign of a revival anytime soon.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The first batch of 100 womensoldiers in the Army is likelyto be commissioned by March2021, Army sources said onWednesday. They said thecommissioning will take placeafter the first batch completesits training, which will com-mence in December this year.

The women soldiers will becommissioned into the Corpsof Military Police of the IndianArmy.

"The training period — of61 weeks — is similar to thatof male soldiers. Batches com-prising similar number of sol-diers will be trained and com-missioned every year," said asenior Army official.

India’s 1st batch ofwomen soldiers in 2021

PNS n CHENNAI

India's first moon landerVikram is all set to land on themoon on September 7 withIndian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) com-pleting the second and finalde-orbital operations success-fully on Wednesday.

According to the Indianspace agency ISRO, Vikaram'ssecond de-orbital operationsbegan at 3.42 a.m. using theon-board propulsion systemand was completed in nineseconds. The orbit of VikramLander is 35 km x 101 km.

With this operation therequired orbit for the Vikramto commence it descenttowards the surface of theMoon is achieved, ISRO said.

According to the Indianspace agency, Vikram is sched-uled to powered descentbetween 1 a.m. - 2 a.m. on

September 07. The touch-down on the Moon's southpolar region will be between1.30 a.m. - 2.30 a.m., ISROsaid. After the moon touchdown by Vikram, the roverPragyan will roll down fromthe former to carry out theresearch for which it was

designed. Meanwhile,Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter con-tinue to go around the Moonin an orbit of 96 km x 125km.Both the Orbiter andVikram are in good health,ISRO said. On Monday after-noon, the Vikram got sepa-rated from its mother space-

craft Chandrayaan-2.On July 22, the Rs 978

crore Chandrayaan-2 waslaunched into the space byIndia's heavy lift rocketGeosynchronous SatelliteLaunch Vehicle-Mark III(GSLV Mk III) in a text bookstyle.

India's Vikram all set to land on the MoonAccording to the Indianspace agency, Vikramis scheduled topowered descentbetween 1 a.m. - 2 a.m.on Sept 07. Thetouchdown on theMoon's south polarregion will be between1.30 a.m. - 2.30 a.m.,ISRO said

PNS nMUMBAI

Heavy overnight rain causedwater-logging in several partsof Mumbai, triggering trafficdisruptions and train delaystoday. The civic authoritieshave declared a holiday inschools in the city amid a heavyrain warning. A red alert - like-lihood of heavy to extremelyheavy rain - has been sound-ed by the weather office inMumbai for the next 24 hours.Out of the 150 weather stationsin the Mumbai MetropolitanRegion (MMR), around 100recorded over 200 mm rainfallin last 24 hours, the IndiaMeteorological Departmentsaid.

Mumbai onrain red alert,schools shut,trains delayed

NO PLACE FOR WORK!PNS n HYDERABAD

This is evident from mediareports that US Democraticpresidential candidate AndrewYang wants to give US $ 1,000in cash to every Americaneach month.

Yang, a tech entrepreneur,has anchored his long-shot bidwith a proposal to give USD1,000 in cash to everyAmerican, saying the pay-ments will shield workers fromthe pain of certain job lossescaused by automation.

Of course, the idea hashelped him win unexpectedsupport and even muscle outsome better-known candidatesfrom the debate stages. Still, itraises larger questions on whathappens to the economy ifrulers start incentivizing thosewho can elect not to work sim-ply because they are anywaygoing to get the promisedsum. Further, what happens tothose who have strong workethic and want to prosperthrough sheer hard work?

What is happening nearerhome presents a good exam-ple of bad economics if wedraw a parallel with the USreport.

Telugu States made a begin-ning of sorts in the country inoffering huge

'direct cash transfers' to thebank accounts of beneficiaries,

just before Assembly elections.In fact, it started in Telanganawith the TRS governmentoffering Rythu Bandhu,Kalyana Laxmi, ShadiMubarak, KCR Kits, Aasarapensions etc. schemes underwhich money totaling thou-sands of crores of rupees wastransferred directly into thebank accounts of lakhs of ben-eficiaries.

Then TDP government inAP followed suit by launchingAnnadaata Sukhibhava for

farmers, Pasupu Kumkumafor women SHGs, and credit-ed huge amounts into theirbank accounts just beforepolls.

The YSRCP competed withTDP and offered even morecash doles in the name of"Navaratnalu" schemes, theprime being Rythu Bharosa,Amma Vodi etc.

Not unexpectedly,Telangana's cash dole outmodel was adopted in otherstates as well such as Odisha,

Bihar, West Bengal etc.Back in the early eighties,

the NTR government in theundivided Andhra Pradeshoffering free power to farmers.

Today, both the Telugustates are feeling the pinch ofcompetitive populism andextravagance at the cost of theexchequer.

Coming back to theStockton report, Susie Garzahas never heard of Yang. Butsince February, she's been get-ting USD 500 a month from anonprofit in California. Garzacan spend the money howev-er she wants. She uses USD150 of it to pay for her cell-phone and another USD 100or so to pay off her dog's vet-erinarian bills. She spends therest on her two grandsons.

"I've never been able to dothat. I thought it was just thecoolest thing," said Garza,who is unemployed and pre-viously was addicted to drugs,though she said she has beensober for 18 years following astint in prison. "I like it becauseI feel more independent, likeI'm in charge. I really havesomething that's my own."

Garza is part of an experi-ment testing the impact of"universal basic income," anold idea getting new life,thanks to the 2020 presidentialrace.

Continued on Page 4

Free power, doles, subsidies, direct benefit transfers and the like are not specific to India where wilypoliticians, concerned with just their term in power, use taxpayer money to woo those sections which may notgive value in return. Even in an advanced country like the US, the trend is to look at various sections of people

as vote banks even if it means incentivizing those who can choose not to work

PNS n SHIMLA

Former Union ministerBandaru Dattatreya will takeoath as Himachal Pradeshgovernor at the Raj Bhawanhere on September 11, an offi-cial said. Dattatreya, 72, willsucceed Kalraj Mishra, whohas been appointed as thegovernor of Rajasthan.

Dattatreya was supposed totake oath on September 5 butthe programme changed as hewanted to attend Tamil NaduBJP president TamilisaiSoundararajan's oath takingceremony as TelanganaGovernor on September 9,Secretary to the GovernorRakesh Kanwar said.

Kanwar said that Dattatreyawould reach Shimla onTuesday and take oath in asimple function at the RajBhawan on Wednesday.

Dattatreya was a Unionminister in the Atal BihariVajpayee-led NDA govern-ment in 1998 and 1999.

Born on February 26, 1947in Hyderabad, Dattatreya waselected to the Lok Sabha in1991, 1998, 1999 and 2014, butlost in 2004 and 2009.

After his re-election to theLok Sabha in 2014 fromTelangana, he was inducted asminister of state for labour andemployment in the BJP gov-ernment headed by NarendraModi, but was later droppedfrom the Union cabinet.

He was denied a Lok Sabhaticket in this general electionfrom Secunderabad, a seat hehas won many times.

Outgoing HimachalGovernor Kalraj Mishra willleave for Jaipur on September7 and will take oath asRajasthan governor onSeptember 9, he added.

Former Union ministerMishra was sworn as Himachalgovernor on July 22.

Mishra, 78, had resignedfrom the Modi-led govern-ment as minister for micro,small and medium enterpris-es in 2017.

The Uttar Pradesh leaderdid not contest the Lok Sabhaelection this year.

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HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 hyderabad 02

State BJP spokesperson Raghunandan Rao addresses the media in the city on Wednesday. He said the TRS government TRSgovernment was foisting cases against BJP workers and resorting to undemocratic means against political rivals

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PNS n HYDERABAD

Ahead of the Municipal polls,Telangana Rashtra Samithihas decided to form 'socialmedia army' to reach urbanvoters through social mediaplatforms.

K T Rama Rao, the TRSworking president and son ofChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, held areview meeting with seniorleaders of the party and legis-lators from Hyderabad andRangareddy districts to chalkout the strategy for Municipalelections.

"He (KTR) instructed theleaders to form party com-mittees before September 6.Along with these committees,a booth level social mediacoordinator for everyAssembly constituency shouldbe appointed and the partyshould impart training to thissocial media coordinator," aTRS press release said onTuesday.

"These coordinators whowill work like 'digital mediaarmy' will disseminate infor-mation with regards to thegovernment welfare measuresand developmental schemes tothe people through socialmedia platforms," it added.

Rama Rao also said everyleader in the party shouldrecognise the fact that socialmedia's influence is growingelection after election.

The release saidChandrasekhar Rao is expect-ed to announce the party in-charges for the municipal elec-tions in a couple of days andthe MLAs and the in-chargesof constituencies were advisedto work in tandem, to ensureTRS' victory in the polls.

PNS n HYDERABAD

AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi on Wednesday con-demned the Uttar Pradeshgovernment's move to registera case against a journalist forposting a video of school chil-dren being served salt and rotias their mid-day meal.

Owaisi also wanted to knowwhy the media fraternity wasnot boycotting the YogiAdityanath government.

"What is the journalist fra-ternity doing about it (slappingcase against the journo), apartfrom issuing a statement," the AllIndia Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen (AIMIM) leadersaid when his attention wasdrawn towards the case againstthe UP scribe.

"Why doesn't the journalistfraternity boycott the UP gov-ernment for one day or if itsnot one day, at least for half anhour?" he added.

He further cautioned thejournalists that they can be

booked for any type of report-ing. "Please be careful. Whatkind of nonsense is this. In ademocracy, the press has to befree. I condemn it (incident).The UP government's step hasto be condemned and I amtotally with the journalist whohas shown the truth," headded.

Replying to Assam MinisterHimanta Biswa Sharma's tweetthat India shall forever remaina home for persecuted Hindus,Owaisi said the country's cit-izenship was not given on the

basis of a person's religion."I challenge the minister of

Assam or any Sangh Parivarperson to show me that wherethe mention of religion is there(in the Constitution).Citizenship is not given on thebasis of religion," he said.

Responding to a post byOwaisi on Twitter, Biswa hadearlier tweeted: "If India doesnot protect Hindus who willprotect them? Pakistan? Indiashall forever remain a home forpersecuted Hindus, irrespec-tive of your opposition Sir."

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

Salt-roti mid-day meal: Owaisislams UP govt for booking journo

Owaisi also wantedto know why themedia fraternity wasnot boycotting theYogi government. Hewarned journaliststhey could bebooked for any typeof reporting

Bandaru Dattatreya

Jayesh Ranjan

Drones arekey to TS’development

He was to take oathon Sept 5 but it waschanged as hewanted to attendTN BJP chiefTamilisai Sounda-rarajan's oath takingas TS Governor

Dattatreya to take oath asHP Guv on Sept 11

2 TDP leaders join BJP; party flexes musclePNS n NEW DELHI

Former TDP MLA RevuriPrakash Reddy and formerTRS MP Ravindra Naik joinedthe BJP on Wednesday in thepresence of party general sec-retary Muralidhar Rao andstate BJP president Dr KLaxman and later called on BJPworking president JP Nadda.

While Muralidhar Rao wel-comed them into the party, DrLaxman gave them their mem-bership receipt. They were pre-sented shawls as a token forjoining the party. Union min-ister of state for home G KishanReddy was also present.

"All roads are leading toBJP since the BJP is the onlyalternative to TRS inTelangana," Muralidhar Rao

remarked."The TRS government has

been foisting false cases againstBJP workers by instigatingpolice action against them, asthey are unable to stomach thegrowing popularity of the partyin the state," Dr Laxman alleged.

Describing the TRS admin-istration as corrupt, he saidleaders from various politicalparties are patronising the BJPto resist the family rule of theTRS, he pointed out.

"BJP MPs, MLAs andsarpanches are targets on TRS'

radar and the governmentrefuses to develop their areas,"Laxman said adding that therewas a plot to create artificialshortage of urea in inNizamabad, Adilabad andKarimnagar, to deliberatelysling mud on the Centre. Theseconstituencies are dominatedby the BJP.

"The TRS government hasbeen indulging in large-scalecorruption in the electricitydepartment and granite quar-ries too," Laxman lamented.

He further said that it is theresponsibility of the state gov-ernment to supply the list ofurea requirement to the Centre,adding that he and other BJPleaders would call on the min-ister for fertilisers to lend sup-port to farmers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC, on Wednesday, attrib-uted the prevailing econom-ic crisis to BJP government'sfailure in its first stint and tothe lopsided decisions takenby the party.

To cloud their lapses, BJPleaders have been slingingmud on first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru over Article370.

Demonetisation of highvalue currencies brought thebanking transactions to agrinding halt , TPCCspokesperson KomatireddyNarender Reddy alleged.

There was sluggish growthin real estate and automobile

sectors, he said. While Health Minister

Etala Rajender claims to ownthe TRS, another ministerYerrabelli Dayakar Rao owesallegiance to KCR, he saidcomparing them.

There was confusion overwho actually owned the TRS,he said.

The north TelanganaBhavan in Karimnagar wasregistered in the name ofKCR, he said.

As the municipal polls arearound the corner, KCR isannouncing sops like the payrevision committee andincreasing upper age limit forsuperannuation to 61 yearsand so on, he criticised.

TRS ownership imbrogliocreating confusion: TPCC

K T Rama Rao

PNS n HYDERABAD

KTR asserting confidence onTRS' win in elections blamedCentre for SecunderabadCantonment Board (SCB)woes. He said that the initia-tives taken up by the TRS inthis area couldn't gather pacebecause of the constraints setby the SCB and the Defensepersonnel. Despite repeatedrequests made by ministers andparliamentarians to executeTelangana government's ambi-tious project on skyways, therehas been no response from theCentre, he said adding, the traf-fic congestion in theCantonment area will bereduced if the Central govern-ment fast tracks the process ofapproval. He held a meetingwith Board members and MLASayanna at the TelanganaBhavan on Monday and helddiscussions related toCantonment elections andother long-standing issues. Theboard members brought toKTR's notice that theCantonment issues were pend-

ing due to a lack of centraldefense decisions. Board mem-bers expressed confidence thatthe development and welfareinitiatives under the TRS Partyrule would yield a great successin the upcoming board elec-tions. The board membersinformed KTR that the welfareprogrammes under TRS gov-ernment has not received prop-er assistance from theCantonment Board. In partic-ular, efforts to expand theDefense Hospital in

Cantonment into a 100-bedhospital and provide moremedical services to the poorare not progressing. Despitedeliberating with the board tohandover the hospital toTelangana government, theboard out rightly rejected theirrequest.

KTR said that he wouldsuggest the Health MinisterEtela Rajender to write a letterto board again requestinghanding over of the defensehospital to the state govern-

ment. KTR said that themunicipal department hasplanned two and a half crorediversion pipelines for the con-struction of diversion pipelineswithout dumping water intothe Ramanna kunta pond. Theleader and board membersexuded confidence that theparty is strong at field-level. Ifthe elections are held with thesymbol of the party, the major-ity will win.

Local MLA Sayanna sug-gested that it would be betterto write a letter to defence tocontest with the party symbol.KTR said that the panel woulddefinitely win even if therewere no party elections.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Jayesh Ranjan, principal sec-retary for IT in Telanganasaid that the new masterplan for the development ofthe temple complex atYadadri was done with thehelp of drones.

During a discussion on"Investments and EmergingTechnologies in Telangana"with All India Radio News,Jayesh explained that the useof drones is now a criticalcomponent in many initia-tives and that the technologyis being used in multiple sec-tors such as mining, law andorder and forest protection.

In a first-of-its-kind initia-tive, the Telangana govern-ment at the behest of theWorld Economic Forum, isgearing up to use drones forthe transport of blood andmedicines for emergencyhealth services in remote areas.A pilot project is going to belaunched soon, he informed.

Telangana is in the forefrontof technological innovation,using emerging technologiesto meet the challenges of agrowing digital world. Duringthe discussion, Ranjan spokeabout data security being theneed of the hour and thatthere is a need for an exclusivelaw to fortify the existingmechanisms of protection.He also spoke about Big DataAnonymisation intended toprotect data privacy guidelinesissued by the SC on Aadhaarbased data and establishmentof fool proof control mecha-nisms for databases.

1,342 drunkdriving casesin Cyberabad

Music dept to be openedin UoHPNS n HYDERABAD

University of Hyderabad isall set to inaugurate a newDepartment of Music at theZakir Hussain Lecture Hallcomplex on Thursday. Theinaugural will also includelecture-cum-discussion on'Music Education' byrenowned Hindustanisinger and National FilmAward winner ShubhaMudgal and one of India'sleading tabla players AnishPradhan.

The lecture will discuss indetail the trajectories ofmusic education in Indiawith special reference toHindustani music.

The Department ofMusic will be a part ofSarojini Naidu School ofArts and Communication,which currently runs theDepartment ofCommunication, Dance,Theatre Arts and Fine Arts.The University ofHyderabad hopes the newdepartment will contributeto the nurturing of musicscenario in India andbecome an important centrein the country for research.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad Traffic Policebooked 1,342 cases againstpeople found driving underthe influence of alcohol inAugust alone. A whopping Rs9.58 lakh was collected fromthe offenders in one monthalone and 413 individualsconvicted to undergo jailtime, police said.

As a part of the ongoingdrive by the police to dis-courage driving drunk,officials booked cases andfiled charge sheets againstv iolators under theCyberabad limits and pro-duced them before theKukatpa l ly, Medcha l ,R ajendranagar andShadnagar courts

The court awarded impris-onment to 413 persons, withjail time ranging from 1 to 20days, apart from the fineamount.

The highest number ofcases, 238, was registered onOuter Ring Road (ORR)falling under Rajendranagar,Shadnagar and Shamshabadlimits, police said.

The most number of casesbooked were underRajendranagar police stationlimits with 222 cases beingbooked and the highestamount of fine collected wasRs 2,72,000.

However, none of the vio-lators were awarded jail time.

The least number of casesbooked were underShadnagar police station lim-its with 71 cases. However achallan amount of Rs. 93,351was collected from the viola-tors.

KTR at a meeting held to discuss issues that need to be addressed in SCB

Many ambitiousprojects in Canttarea, including onskyways, are heldup owing toCentre’s lack ofresponse, he said

TRS MP Ravindra Naik MLA Revuri Prakash Reddy

JOINED BJP ONLY AFTERINFORMING TDP: REVURI NEW DELHI: RevuriPrakashReddy has made it clearthat he joined the BJP only afterinforming TDP president NChandrababu Naidu. Addressingthe media here on Wednesdaysoon after joining the party,Revuri said that the TRS came topower banking on Telanganasentiment but there seems to beno development in the state.Angry Revuri said, Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao hasadopted the formula of divideand rule and charged KCRgovernment with looting the

resources of Telangana state.The TRS pushed the stategovernment into debt trapdespite it having surplus budgetsince its inception. An economicemergency kind of a situationprevailed in the state, he said,adding that the people ofTelangana came to grips withTRS administration. With his glibtongue, KCR succeeded inbranding the TDP as the AndhraParty, he said. Speaking aboutCongress, Revuri said, theCongress is losing strength witheach passing day.

TRS to form ‘digital mediaarmy' for municipal polls

TRS workingpresident held ameeting withsenior partyleaders andlegislators to chalkout poll strategy

KTR blames Centre forlack of facilities at SCB

Rains tocontinue for3 more daysPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana will continue toreceive widespread rains forthe next 72 hours. With anactive southwest monsoon,rain occurred at many placesin the state.

The IMD attributed theoccurrence of widespreadrains to a low pressure areaover northwest Bay of Bengaland adjoining northOdisha-West Bengal coasts.An associated cyclonic cir-culation also persists alongwith the low pressure area. Asa result, several places in theState received light to mod-erate rains, with Bejjur inKumuram Bheem Asifabaddistrict receiving the highestrainfall of 6 cm. Bheemini inMancherial district,Dahegaon in KumuramBheem Asifabad district andVarni in Nizamabad districtreceived 5 cm rainfall each.

Similar conditions are like-ly till Friday. The rains will bewidespread and light to mod-erate in most places, butheavy rain is expected in thedistricts of Adilabad,Kumuram Bheem Asifabad,Nirmal, Mancherial,Nizamabad, Kamareddy,Medak, Siddipet,Karimnagar, Jagitial,Peddapally, Rajanna Sircilla,Bhadradri Kothagudem,Mulugu, Khammam,Warangal Urban, WarangalRural, Mahbubnagar,Nalgonda and Suryapet, Metofficials said.

Karuna toaddress forumin KoreaPNS n HYDERABAD

Karuna Gopal, President,Foundation for FuturisticCities and BJP leader, hasbeen invited to deliverPlenary Keynote Address at'Global Innovation Forum'that will be held in Republicof Korea, this October.

The invitation is extend-ed by Mr Her Tae-Jeong, Presidentof WorldTechnopolisAssociation(WTA) andMayor ofD a e j e o nMetropolitanCity Republic ofKorea, Co-Chair of GIF(Global Innovation Forum).GIF was jointly launched byUNESCO, WorldTechnopolis Association(WTA) and DaejeonMetropolitan city in 2014. Itsaim is to promote science andtechnology-based innovationcontributing to the sustain-able development.

Karuna said "I am partic-ularly excited for two reasons,the first is I will have theopportunity to share ourcountry's progress in usher-ing Industrial Innovation,Collaborative InternationalPartnerships and SustainableDevelopment Goals. The sec-ond reason is that theRepublic of Korea is an inno-vation-led, tech-drivenEconomy. It leads the worldin Internet penetration ratesand is in the race to be firstin the world to deploy 5GBroadband."

RIMEORNERC

Fire at Ganeshpandal, cars guttedHYDERABAD: A fire broke out ina Ganesh pandal built at thebasement of Mythri NivasApartment in Vishnupuri ofMalkajgiri here on Wednesdaymorning. No casualties werereported. According to officials,four cars and 10 bikes weregutted. Preliminary investigationrevealed that the fire was causedby lamps lit in the pandal. Thesecurity guard who noticed firealerted the residents and the firedepartment, said police, addingthat two fire engines were rushedto the spot to douse the fire.

Two killed in roadmishap at MedchalHYDERABAD: Two persons werekilled on the spot in a freakmishap when the bike they wereriding rammed into a road dividerand flung them under the wheelsof a speeding lorry at Medchal onWednesday. The deceasedpersons were identified as 42-year-old Jamal Pasha and 56-year-old Mandala Pandari Goud.Both were private employees andresidents of Chegunta in Medakdistrict. According to police, thetwo were travelling to Medchalfrom Chegunta when their bikehit the divider and they fell on theroad right in front of a tipper lorrythat was behind them. Thespeeding truck ran over them,killing them on the spot. Policeregistered a case and areinvestigating the incident.

Passenger muggedat RGIA by cabbieHYDERABAD: A passenger whobooked a cab from Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport to hisresidence in Dammaiguda wasallegedly assaulted and robbed bythe cab driver on Wednesday.According to sources, Praveen, aresident of Dammaiguda in thecity, arrived at Shamshabadairport from UK. He booked a cabfrom the airport, but after a fewminutes of travelling the driverdrove towards a deserted areaand robbed him of UK currencyworth Rs 2 lakh and gold. Theaccused then fled the spot.Praveen called up his parentsover the phone and shared hislocation following which hisfather approached Shamshabadpolice and lodged a complaint.The police registered a case andare looking for the accused.

BTech student ‘falls’off hostel building,criticalHYDERABAD: An engineeringstudent of a private college inIbrahimpatnam ‘fell’ from thethird floor of her hostel buildingon Wednesday. Her condition isstated to be critical, police said.The student, 20-year-oldSowmya, is doing her 3rd year inelectronics and communicationengineering (ECE) fromGurunanak Engineering Collegein Ibrahimpatnam. According tothe police, another student whonoticed Sowmya lying on thefloor, rushed her to a privatehospital with the help of collegeofficials. The hospital authoritiessaid that Sowmya sufferedserious injuries, including afracture in her leg,Ibrahimpatnam inspector PGuruva Reddy said.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 hyderabad 03

FOR SUBSCRIPTION, RENEWALS AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT DELAYED PAPER DELIVERY, PLEASE CONTACT 040-23322341-43

PNS n HYDERABAD

Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad and IIT-Jodhpurhave jointly developed a sensor,which can detect hydrogengas leaks with high sensitivity,by incorporating a semicon-ductor material. The device canbe used for industrial anddomestic purposes.

The sensor detects hydrogengas leaks, especially in indus-trial environments, which canlead to potentially major haz-ards. The importance of hydro-gen is growing as a primaryenergy source of clean energy.Nevertheless, there are twoproblems associated with thegas. "First, it is hard to produceand difficult to detect," said DrChandra Shekhar Sharma,associate professor of Creativeand Advanced Research Basedon Nanomaterials (CARBON)laboratory in the chemicalengineering Department at

IIT-Hyderabad. "With thedevelopment of this sensor, oneproblem is solved," he said.

Their paper on the hydrogensensor — co-authored byChandra Shekhar Sharma andMahesh Kumar and VijendraSingh Bhati, Akash Nathaniand Adarsh Nigam — wasrecently published in the'Sensors and Actuators' journal."Certain materials change theirelectrical resistance when theycome in contact with specificgases. For example, metal oxidesemiconductors such as zincoxide show changes in theirelectrical resistance when they

come in contact with hydro-gen," said Dr Mahesh Kumar,associate professor in electricalengineering department at IIT-Jodhpur.

"The sensitivity of zincoxide's response to hydrogengas depends upon its surfacearea - the larger the surfacearea, or the smaller the parti-cles, the better its sensitivity,"said Shekhar Sharma.

The team of researchers hasloaded zinc oxide nano-parti-cles on to nano-fibres of carbonand has shown that the processresults in a sensing response ofnearly 74 percent compared to

44.5 percent in pure ZnOnano-particles. Nano-fibres areextremely thin fibres that arebundled to look like cottoncandy.

Nano-particles of zinc oxide,in which the particle sizes are

a hundred thousand timessmaller than the width of a sin-gle human hair, have goodhydrogen sensing properties,but the research team hasimproved the sensitivity of thismaterial even further. Theteam attributes this improve-ment in performance to theeasy diffusion of hydrogen gasthrough the nano-pores of thecotton candy-like carbon nano-fibres, thus bringing them intointimate contact with the ZnOnano-particles that are deposit-ed on the nano-fibres.

"The presence of oxygen onthe surface of the carbon nano-fibres also contributes toimprovement in sensitivity",said Dr Kumar.

The project was first show-cased during 'NationalFrontiers of Science' meetingorganised by Indian NationalYoung Academy of Sciences(INYAS) at IIT-Hyderabad lastyear.

IIT-Hyd develops sensor to detect hydrogen leaksHydrogen leaks are usually hard to detect; new device to have industrial, domestic uses

Dr Chandra Shekhar Sharma, associateprofessor of the CARBON Lab in IITHyderabad, along with research scholarAkash Nathani

The sensitivity of zinc oxide'sresponse to hydrogen gas dependsupon its surface area - the larger thesurface area, or the smaller theparticles, the better its sensitivity

PNS n HYDERABAD

Jayesh Ranjan, PrincipalSecretary for IT, said that thenew master-plan for the devel-opment of the temple complexat Yadadri has been done withthe help of the drone technol-ogy.

During a discussion on'Investments & EmergingTechnologies in Telangana'with All India Radio News,Jayesh explained that use ofdrone technology is now a crit-ical component in many ini-tiatives of the government andthat the technology is beingused in multiple sectors such asmining, law and order and for-est protection.

In a first-of-its-kind initia-tive, the Telangana govern-ment, at the behest of theWorld Economic Forum, isgearing up to use drone tech-

nology in the transport of bloodand medicines for emergencyhealth services in remote areas.A pilot project will be launchedsoon, he said.

Telangana is at the forefront oftechnological innovation, using

emerging technologies to meetthe challenges of a growing dig-ital world. During the discussion,Jayesh Ranjan spoke about datasecurity as the need of the hourand that there is need for anexclusive law to fortify the exist-ing mechanisms of protection.He also spoke about Big DataAnonymisation intended to pro-tect data privacy, guidelinesissued by Supreme Court onAadhaar-based data and estab-lishment of foolproof controlmechanisms for databases.

Drone tech used to makeYadadri master-plan

PNS n HYDERABAD

In continued efforts towardsimproving public transporta-tion in the IT corridor, TSRTCon Wednesday started newservices between Metro sta-tions and IT district on theproposal of Cyberabad TrafficPolice.

TSRTC's Kukatpally andHCU depots will run eightnew shuttle services betweenHiTec City and Waverock.This would help thousands ofIT professionals commuting toFinancial District daily from

different corners of the city.Traffic police requested thepublic to utilise the new ser-vices to travel safely by avoid-ing over crowded cabs andautos.

The first bus from HiTecCity to Waverock will start at6 am, while the last bus will beat 8.21 pm. In total, buses willmake 80 trips on the route.The buses will run at a fre-quency of 10 minutes. On theopposite route from Waverockto HiTec City, the first bus willstart at 6.38 am and last bus at9 pm.

More RTC busesfor IT corridor

PNS n HYDERABAD

Following the hoax email abouta bomb at the RGI Airport, theofficials found that it was aman who wanted to cancel hisfriend's flight out of jealousy as,while by both applied forVISA, the friend got it and hedidn't.

The mail was sent from theID sairamkaleru@live.com tothe RGIA customer supportaddress with the content saying"I want to blast bomb in airporttomorrow". The accused, iden-tified as Katraju Shashikanth,24, a resident of Ameerpetand a native of Warangal, wasarrested on Wednesday afterthe threat mail was traced to hismobile phone.

Upon receiving the mail, a

protocol was followed andsecurity was tightened at theairport and a meeting was heldconsisting of officials of CISF,Telangana Police, RD/BCAS,GHIAL Management, Terminal

Manager etc. It was clear thatthe threat was a hoax, policesaid.

Investigation revealed thatSairam Kaleru's email ID wasused by Shashikanth to send

the email. Both men weregood friends and roommatesin hostel.

Recently, Sairam got aCanada visa for further studiesand Shashikanth could not getthrough. Bearing a grudge, hetried to cancel his friend's visaby sending a fake mail toCanada immigration, but invain. Shashikanth then tried tostop him at RGI Airport and onTuesday afternoon, he sent ahoax mail to the airport's offi-cial website through his cellphone via Sairam's mail ID,police said.

Following a complaint fromSujith VR, GM Security ofRGI Airport, the email wastraced by the technical teamand Shashikanth was placedunder arrest on Wednesday.

Youth sends bomb threatto stop pal's flight at RGIA

Jealous that he didn't get visa, accused tried to disrupt friend's immigration plan

Another fake email was sent toCanada immigration by the accused

PNS n HYDERABAD

Cyberabad Traffic Police incollaboration with Society forCyberabad Security Council(SCSC) organised a meetingwith IT honchos to discussways to promote public trans-port.

DCP Traffic, Vijay Kumar,told the gathering that thereare two major factors thatneed to be tackled. The firstis a radical increase in thenumber of vehicles, due towhich the road infrastructurehas taken a huge beating. Thesecond is the lack of adequatepublic transportation.

He said cars and two-wheelers occupy 60 per centof the road. When 60 peoplecan travel in public transport,only six people are able tocommute in private vehicles,which results in traffic con-gestion. To comprehend thetraffic flow and design solu-

tions for a smooth flow,SCSC has conducted anonline survey through itsportal. All members whoattended the meet wererequested to ask theiremployees to complete thesurvey so as to get valuableinformation and data.

Regional manager ofTSRTC, Yugandhar, presentedthe survey report regardingtransport use. Later, when thehall was open for suggestions,IT personnel suggested that amajority of buses do not arriveon time and when they do,they are overcrowded. Theyalso said that buses wererequired for short distance

and first and last-mile con-nectivity from Metro trains.L&T Metro manager ManojKumar responded by statingthat given an opportunity,L&T would like to work alongwith RTC by sharing the tech-nology of tracking buses forlast-mile connectivity.

Later, DCP Vijay Kumarsuggested that L&T Metroand RTC should start work-ing together to address theseissues for the benefit ofemployees in the IT corridor.

General secretary KrishnaYeduala said a tie up betweenL&T and RTC would helppeople reach their destina-tions comfortably and savesa lot of time and energy.Police Commissioner VCSajjanar suggested starting ofthree routes immediately ona trial basis and asked boththe parties to review theprogress weekly for a certainperiod.

Cars, bikes occupy 60% ofroads, public transport trails

HEALTH MINISTER SAYS GOOD SANITATION WILL KEEP SEASONAL DISEASES IN CHECKPNS n HYDERABAD

Health Minister Etela Rajenderhas instructed GHMC toensure cleanliness and hygien-ic conditions in the city duringmonsoon.

The minister said that inci-dence of dengue was negligiblein the current season comparedto 2017. He said that apartfrom seasonal diseases, there areno serious infectious diseasesspreading in the city, adding thatseasonal diseases occur everyrainy season. He wanted civicofficials to take steps so that res-idents do not have concerns onsanitation in their surroundings.

Etela held a meeting withGHMC officials at its office inTank Bund on Wednesday andenquired about steps taken bythe civic body in view of jumpin fever cases across the statein August. He wanted them tocontinue anti-larva and fog-ging measures to check themosquito menace, which isproving to be the root cause ofdifferent forms of fever beingseen at present.

Rajender instructed the offi-cials of GHMC, Municipalitiesand DMHOs of Medak, RangaReddy, Medchal and SangaReddy DM&HO to ensure reg-ular Fogging and Spraying atvulnerable places and to taketimely treatment of water andvector borne disease effectedpersons and to take specialdrive on sanitation in order tocontrol and spread of season-al diseases.

The Health Minister, HomeMinister Mohd. MahamoodAli, Minister for LabourCh.Malla Reddy, along withPrincipal Secretary HealthSanthi Kumari, reviewed on

seasonal diseases with thehealth officials of Medak,Ranga Reddy, Medchal andSanga Reddy, and measuresbeing taken to control andspread of diseases. And num-ber of Dengue cases reportedso far and update the dataGovernment and PrivateHospitals.

Rajender said that specialdrive should be taken to liftgarbage by engaging more manpower, machinery and vehicleson war footing and sprayingand fogging operations be con-ducted in all localities and inprivate and governmentschools. And required budget

will be sanctioned to tackle theproblems. It is also responsi-bility of the owners of openplots to keep clean wheregarbage and debris accumu-lated. Apart from taking pre-ventive measures for govern-ment side, only on participa-tion of citizens and theirinvolvement in these measuresgives desired results.

He appealed to the RWS,SHG and NGOs to createawareness in control of diseasesby implementing preventivemeasures. Minister said themedical officers should notapply for leaves for further oneand half month. Special coun-

ters were opened in OsmaniaGeneral Hospital, GandhiHospital apart from 95 UrbanHealth Centres to attend thepatients and 25 specialCounters are working inattending the patients.

Minister for Home said thatthere are festivals in Septemberand October and therefore move-ment of people will be higher inthe city, and so special careshould be taken in lifting ofgarbage, fogging, spraying onwater stagnation points be done.Health camps should be con-ducted in co-ordination with pri-vate hospitals in slums and wherethere are few hospitals, he said.

Mayor Bonthu Rammohansaid awareness campaignshould be taken by IEC, NCC,NSS, SHGs, NGOs to educatepeople in preventing the spreadof mosquitoes by adoptingFriday-Day Dry-Day etc.

GHMC CommissionerLokesh Kumar said the peopleshould feel assured that thecivic body is taking all remedialmeasures to control spread ofseasonal diseases.

GHMC told to ensure regular fogging, spraying

Meet held to discussways to promotepublic transport in ITcorridor

Rajender instructed the officials of GHMC,Municipalities and DMHOs of Medak, RangaReddy, Medchal and Sanga Reddy to ensureregular fogging and spraying at vulnerableplaces and timely treatment of water and vectorborne disease affected persons and to takespecial drive on sanitation in order to controlspread of seasonal diseases

PNS n HYDERABAD

The CCS Police arrested agang of three men for cheat-ing people on the pretext ofgetting them loans withoutinterest.

According to the police,Suraj Varma, 29, JitenderSingh, 27 and Sonu Sharma,28, all natives of Uttar Pradesh,duped a person of Rs 78,000 inAugust, Joint Commissionerof Police Avinash Mohantysaid.

The frauds contacted thevictim and promised him aloan of Rs 10 lakh. They col-lected Rs 78,000 from him cit-ing various expenses andduped him. Police registered acase and traced the gang to UP.A special team of the citypolice went to UP and nabbedthem.

The accused collected infor-mation of loan seekersthrough insurance agenciesand made calls to them. Theyoffered loans without interestand collected money throughbank accounts calling themvarious fees including regis-tration GST and so on. Aftercollecting money, they wouldswitch off their mobile phones.

They were brought to thecity on transit warrant andwere sent in judicial remand.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Immersion of Ganesh idols start-ed on the third day of the 10-dayGanesh festivities here onWednesday. From local waterbodies on the suburbs to themain immersion point ofHussain Sagar in the heart of thecity, devotees and some pandalorganizers carried idols forimmersion after offering prayers.

It was mostly households whopreferred to immerse the idols onthe third day, while most of thebig pandals plan to join the cen-tralised immersion procession onSeptember 12. Families wereseen carrying idols inn cars andbikes and chanting 'GanapathiBappa Moriya'. Some groups ofchildren too came to Necklace

Road carrying idols, dancingand chanting before immersingthe idols. Meanwhile, the civicadministration and city policehave made arrangements at allthe identified immersion pointsin the city and the suburbs.Cranes are being installed to facil-

itate the immersion of biggeridols and road stretches leadingto these water bodies are beingre-carpeted for smooth passageof vehicles. Arrangements alsoinclude illumination along thelake shores and facilities fordrinking water and others.

Immersion of Ganesh idols begins in city

PNS n HYDERABAD

Elections for Maulana AzadNational Urdu University(MANUU) Students Union(MSU) 2019-20 will be heldon September 19.

According to ProfessorMohammed Abdul Azeem,Chief Returning Officer, thestudents will elect president,vice president, secretary,joint secretary and treasur-er, executive committeemembers from campus andoff campus.

The last date for fillingnomination forms is by 5.30pm on September 9 .Nominations can be with-drawn by 4 pm onSeptember 11 and final list ofcontestants will be releasedby 5.30 pm the same day.Contestants will be allowed

canvassing from September11 to 17.

As per the schedule, theelections will be held from 9am to 1 pm on September 19and counting of votes willbegin from 2.30 pm fol-lowed by declaration ofresults on the same day. Theinvestiture ceremony forwinners will be conductedon September 24. For details,visit university websitewww.manuu.ac.in.

MANUU students unionelections on Sept 19

HOUSEHOLDS START RITUAL ON THIRD DAY OF FESTIVITIES

Three from UParrested for fraud

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 hyderabad 04

CAPSULE

CM to honour TS' 43 best teachersHYDERABAD: The stateeducation department hasshortlisted a total of 43government school teacherswho will be honoured at afunction at Ravindra Bharati onTeachers' Day on September 5.Chief Minister K ChandrashekarRao will give away medals andRs 10,000 to the teachers.Directorate of School Educationsaid in a circular that the eventwould be attended by about1,000 teachers and students.The 43 meritorious teachershave been selected on the basisof parameters like teachingmethods, and overalldevelopment of education andeducational institutes by their'extraordinary contribution'.Teachers were selected fromZilla Parishad High School(ZPHS) secondary and highersecondary schools from thestate.

3 seniors suspendedin ragging caseNIZAMABAD: Alleged ragging ofa girl student by senior studentsin the Nizamabad medicalcollege on Wednesday hasspread panic among the freshersof the college, sources said. Agirl student studying in first yearfiled a complaint with the policethat she was subjected toragging by the seniors. Thecomplaint was brought to thenotice of college administrationwhich said that it was unawareof the incident. First-yearstudents however said thatsome seniors had been raggingjuniors for the last few days, andharassing them in the name of'acquaintance'. The collegeadministration later suspendedthree seniors, and isinvestigating the incident.

Farmers stageprotest, clash with copsKARIMNAGAR: Tensionprevailed in Gumlapur villageunder Choppadandi mandal onWednesday when farmersclashed with the police after theywere prevented from staging ademonstration. The farmerswere demanding that KLIS waterbe released to the reservoir intheir village. The villagersgathered in large numbers sincemorning and blocked the roadtraffic and raised slogans againstthe government and theirrigation department over therelease of water. The farmersalleged that they were beingneglected by project officialsdespite water from KLIS passingthrough their area.

Poster released for Bathukamma fest in UKHYDERABAD: Telangana Jagrutichairperson Kalwakuntla Kavitareleased a poster onBathukamma celebrations in theUnited Kingdom at her residencehere on Wednesday. The Jagrutiwill celebrate Bathukammafestival at many places in UK asagainst just seven last year. UKpresident of the organisationSuman Balmuri said that thisyear's slogan for the occasion is'Padi Pallela Bathukamma PadiKaalalu Bathukamma'. Toencourage weaver, this year alsoNarayanapeta saris are going tobe distributed among womenwho take part in the festival.Telangana Jagruti state generalsecretary Navin Achari and otherleaders Koraboyina Vijay, RohitRao, Prashant Pusa, NitishVadrevu and others werepresent.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Endowments MinisterIndrakaran Reddy onWednesday launched onlineservices for four more impor-tant temples in the state -Anjaneya Swami temple atKondagattu, LordLakshminarasimhaswami tem-ple at Dharmapuri, Bhadrakalitemple at Warangal andPeddammatalli temple atJubilee Hills in Hyderabad -from his office inBoggulakunta area of the city,taking the total number oftemples to have the facility to11.

The Endowments depart-ment had earlier launchedonline services for temples atYadagirigutta, Vemulavada,Bhadrachalam, Basara,Mahankali, Balkampet andKarmanghat.

With the help of the mobileapplication T App Folio andthrough Mee Seva centres,services provided by templeslike Suprabhata, Archana andAbhishekam can be accessedonline, besides bookingaccommodation and darshan.Donations to these temples toocan be made online, he added.

The state government givespriority to provide amenities todevotees at pilgrimage centres,and making these availablefor booking online will save lotof time for devotees, he said.

Online services ensuretransparency and help devoteesavoid going through middle-men, Minister Indrakaran said.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has beennot only developing templesbut also pays attention to wel-

fare of employees and priests,the Endowments Minister said.The development works ofYadadri and Vemulavada tem-ples have been going on a war-footing, he said.

Talking of irrigation facili-ties, he said water fromKaleswaram project would bereleased into Gudi Cheruvu ofVemulavada through Mid-Maneru project on Thursday.

The prasaad of VemulavadaRajarajeswara Swamy temple

would be sent to deities direct-ly through courier service,the minister said, announcingthat the courier service willbegin on Thursday. As part ofthe recent comprehensivecleansing of land records, allendowment land records havebeen set straight, he saidadding that the encroachedtemple lands have beenbrought back to the depart-ment's control.

With the help of CCLA sup-port, the temple lands partic-ulars are being documentedonline and pattas will be issuedin the name of the deities con-cerned to rule out any scope forlitigation further.

A total of 856 sign boardsindicating that the lands belongto the endowments depart-ment with regard to 14,227acres. Similarly, passbooks havebeen issued earlier in respect of21,339 acres of temple lands.Very soon pattadar passbookswill be issued in the name ofrelevant deities in respect ofover 59,898 acres.

Online services for fourmore temples in state

Host of sevas and facilities made accessible fordevotees, measure aims to cut out middlemen

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working presidentMallu Bhatti Vikramarka hascharged Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao andHealth Minister Etala Rajendraof being insensitive to the fastspreading viral fevers in thestate.

Addressing media alongwith Manthani MLA DSridhar Babu here onWednesday, he accused thegovernment of indifference tothe sufferings of people due tofevers like dengue and malar-ia.

The condition of govern-ment hospitals is miserable,they said and complained thatthe hospitals have no diag-nostic equipment like MRImachine, CT scan machine,blood platelet separator, ECGand X-ray plants.

Because of shortage of beds,men and women patients are

being accommodated on asingle bed for treatment, hesaid calling the act "atrocious".

Hospitals are not equippedwith necessary equipment andmedicines, they claimed andfound fault with Etala Rajendergiving clean chit to hospitals.

Vikramarka said that whilehe didn't want to politicize thepublic health issue, he claimedthat the government would not

respond even if the prevailingsorry state of affairs is broughtto its notice. He demanded thegovernment to appoint ade-quate number of personnel inall hospitals.

The health minister is notpaying attention to the issueperhaps because he is preoc-cupied with the TRS partyownership issue, Vikramarkaremarked.

Endowments Minister launches online services for temples on Wednesday

INS n HYDERABAD

A slew of sops to fulfill his pollpromises, some controversialmoves like reserving 75 percent jobs for locals in indus-tries, and lack of clarity on thefate of the state capitalAmaravati, have markedAndhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy's 100 days in office.

Unfazed by the precariousfinancial position of the state,Jagan has gone on a freebieannouncement spree, but afew decisions of his have alsosparked apprehension amongthe industry and trade circles.

Jagan Reddy, who led theYSR Congress Party (YSRCP)to a massive victory in the stateto end the five-year rule ofTelugu Desam Party (TDP),has also faced allegations ofdoing vendetta politics by tar-geting his predecessor NChandrababu Naidu.

Alleging corruption inawarding contracts for variousprojects by the previous gov-ernment, Jagan decided toreview all of these projectssoon after taking over. It wasannounced that whereverirregularities were found, thegovernment would go forreverse-tendering, allow widerparticipation of bidders, ensuretransparency and save publicmoney.

The first contract to be ter-minated was the one awardedto Navayuga EngineeringCompany Ltd (NECL) whichhad bagged the Rs 3,000 crorePolavaram project.

Besides Polavaram, the con-struction of the state capitalAmaravati too has come to ahalt. The World Bank and theAsian Infrastructure

Investment Bank (AIIM) havepulled out of the $300 millionstate capital project.

Jagan's allegations of a landscandal in Amaravati duringthe TDP regime, as well as var-ious statements by Ministersand YSRCP leaders, have trig-gered speculation that the gov-ernment may not continuewith Amaravati as the capital.The uncertainty has hit the realestate sector and stoked fearsamong the farmers who havesurrendered 33,000 acres ofland for building the new cap-ital.

Past Power PurchaseAgreements (PPAs) have alsocome under the scrutiny of thenew Chief Minister. The agree-ments were signed with renew-able energy producers duringthe TDP government. JaganReddy argues that the PPAs tobuy power at a high rate willcause Rs 2,766 crore loss to the

state exchequer every year.The Centre, however, has cau-tioned the state governmentthat if contracts are not hon-oured it could affect the flowof investments.

In another major move, thestate government hasannounced the setting up of ajudicial commission to reviewall projects of the value of Rs100 crore and above, to checkcorruption and bring trans-parency in the tenderingprocess and awarding of con-tracts.

The government has alsoshut down Anna canteens,under which the poor and themiddle class were getting ameal for only Rs 5.

During his first 100 days ofgovernance, Jagan Reddy tooksteps to implement one of hismajor poll promises to imposeprohibition in a phased man-ner.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh Cabineton Wednesday demanded thatthe Centre retain the name ofAndhra Bank, in the wake ofthe move to merge it withUnion Bank of India andCorporation Bank.

The cabinet passed a reso-lution in this regard as minis-ters denounced the move toerase Andhra Banks namethrough the merger.

"We have passed a resolu-tion that Andhra Banks namebe retained even if the bank isamalgamated with otherbanks.

The chief minister is writingto the Prime Minister on this,"Information Minister PerniVenkata Ramaiah toldreporters after the Cabinetmeeting.

All parties in AndhraPradesh have decried theCentres plan to merge AndhraBank with other banks, sayingthe bank reflected the senti-ments of Telugu people.

While the ruling YSRCongress was the first todemand that Andhra Banksname be retained, theCongress and the Telugu

Desam Party joined the cho-rus.

The Left parties stagedprotests deploring mergermove.

They demanded thatAndhra Banks name beretained if the merger becameinevitable.

In the historic coastal townof Machilipatnam, whereAndhra Bank took birth onNovember 23, 1923, the bankstaff too joined the protestsagainst the merger.

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working presidentRevanth Reddy has allegedthat several key institutionshave lost their autonomy dur-ing the over five-and-half-yearrule of the TRS and maintainedthat the latest institution to jointhe list is Electricity RegulatoryCommission (ERC).

In a letter addressed to ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoon Wednesday, Revanth Reddypointed out that earlier theconstitutional bodies like LokAyukta and the Human RightsCommission lost their auton-omy. He doubted whether theERC is also going to join theranks of those organisations.

He alleged that the posts ofElectricity RegulatoryCommission chairman and itsmembers has remained vacantfor over eight months and theintensions of state governmentare very clear that it is unlike-

ly to fill these posts in nearfuture.

The power utilities like TSGenco and TS Transco werecaught in neck-deep debts andfiscal discipline became a casu-alty, he said apprehending col-lapse of one or other institutionat any time.

Claiming to have placedunambiguous proof of irregu-larities taking place in reachingthe PPAs and construction ofpower plants, he said that hedared the Government for adebate on the issue along withnecessary proof, in case he waswrong. But, the governmentchose to respond differently, helamented.

He suspected conspiracybehind the delay in constitu-tion of the ERC. The writingon the wall is clear that theState Government has been

deliberately delaying appoint-ing the ERC chairman and itsmembers apprehending thatthey would become a majorhurdle to perpetrating irreg-ularities in power purchasedeals. Therefore, he alleged,the government has beendeliberately delaying theappointment of theChairman and members ofthe ERC.

There could be no greaterreason for the lackadaisicalattitude of the government inconstitution of an autonomousbody like ERC.

It may be recalled that theTRS government appointed athree-member committee,headed by High Court retiredjudge V Bhaskara Rao onDecember 28 last year, toappoint Chairman and mem-bers of the ERC.

The committee is supposedto recommend two names for

appointment of chairman andtwo members to the ERC.What is the reason for delay inidentifying suitable personseven eight months after con-stitution of the three-membercommittee, he questioned thegovernment.

Four months prior to com-mencement of financial year,the power utilities should sub-mit their aggregate revenuerequirements to the ERC,which did not take place as perthe rules since 2014-15.

Because of this, the people'sparticipation in regulatingactivities of energy utilitiesand power tariff is totallyabsent, he said.

As regards 1920-21, thepower utilities should submittheir ARRs by November 2this year. Since the ERCremained paralysed, this yearalso the state government'sunilateral decision on ARRsseems to prevail, he couldgather from the prevailingcircumstances.

The decisions taken by theCM without the nod from theERC are completely in con-travention of the law, he saidadding that there was no roomfor people, mass organisa-tions, civil society organisa-tions, political parties to airtheir views on the tariff.Therefore, the CM is respon-sible for mounting financialburden on power utilities, healleged.

Govt ‘insensitive' topatients' pain: BhattiCong continues tirade over viral diseases

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka address the media in the city on Wednesday

Revanth Reddy

TPCC leader said power utilities like TSGenco and TS Transco were neck-deepin debts and fiscal discipline became acasualty. He also expressed hisapprehension that one or bothinstitutions might collapse any time

‘Electricity regulator's autonomy under threat'Revanth writes to CM, seeks filling of ERC chairman post

Contineed from Page 1

Yang's proposal isn't too faroff from one by US SenatorKamala Harris, one of the topcontenders for the Democraticnomination, who has a pro-posal to give up to USD 500 amonth to working families.

The Stockton EconomicEmpowerment Demonstrationis a pilot programme spear-headed by a new mayor andfinanced in part by the non-profit led by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

The city chose 125 peoplewho live in census tracts at orbelow the city's median house-hold income of USD 46,033.They get the money on a debitcard on the 15th of eachmonth.

"I think poverty is immoral,I think it is antiquated and Ithink it shouldn't exist," saidMichael Tubbs, the city's 29-year-old Democratic mayor.

Encouraging people not towork

Stockton residents, whohave elected Republican may-ors for 16 out of the last 22years, were skeptical, worriedabout encouraging people notto work. Tubbs said he calmedtheir fears by noting the moneycame from private donations,not taxpayer dollars.

"I would tell people all thattime that would be upset orwould call angry, I would say,well, I'm just as angry as youare, but I'm angry about theproblem. I'm not angry aboutpossible solutions," Tubbs said.

The money has made JovanBravo happier. The 31-year-oldStockton native and construc-tion worker is married and hasthree children, ages 13, 8 and4. He said he didn't see enoughof his children when heworked six days a week to paythe bills.

That changed when he start-ed getting USD 500 a month.Now he only works oneSaturday a month. He uses theother Saturdays to take his kidsto the amusement park andride bikes with them in thepark.

"It's made a huge difference,"he said.

"Just being able to spendmore time with the wife andkids, it brings us closer togeth-er."

No place for work!

Contineed from Page 1

The State's share in centraltaxes is also expected to comedown this year, given thatCentre's earnings have alsotaking a hit due to recession.

The State got a share of3.42 per cent in central taxes.

Last year, TS got Rs 18,500crore towards its share of thecentral taxes. This year, it isfeared, the figure could godown to about Rs 16,500crore.

The State governmenthopes to get an additional Rs1,000 crore towards centraltaxes this year. Accordingly,when it sought a vote-on-account in February thisyear, the central taxes wereestimated at Rs 19,500 crore.Now, the State governmenthas decided to revise its esti-mate downwards to Rs16,500 crore.

The State government'searnings through transport,excise, GST, IGST, VAT etccame down significantly.

The worst-affected are theearnings through sale ofpetrol and diesel, which wit-nessed a steep fall in the firstfour months of this fiscal(April-December 2019-20).

In 2018 April, May, June,July, the government earnedRs 344 crore, Rs 819 crore ,Rs 906 crore and Rs 917 crorerespectively through sale offuel. However, in 2019 April,May, June, July, barring April(Rs 670 crore), the earningsfell down to Rs Rs 611crore, Rs 691 crore and Rs890 crore respectively in theremaining three months.

The recession is expectedto also impact the full-fledged budget to be pre-sented to the Legislature onSeptember 9.

There are expectations thatthere will be huge cuts inallocations to various sectorsin the budget.

Sops, controversial decisionsmark Jagan's 100 days in officeAP CM Jagan has gone on a freebie announcement

spree despite the state’s precarious financial condition

TS Govt feelspinch of‘recession'

Retain name of AndhraBank: AP Cabinet

YS Jaganmohan Reddy

During his first few weeks in office,Jagan Reddy took steps toimplement one of his major pollpromises to impose prohibition in a phased manner

Contineed from Page 1

The Act imposes stricterpenalties in an attempt toimprove road safety. Under thenew law, people could be finedRs 10,000 for drunken driving,though the fine earlier was Rs2,000

However, the State has pow-ers to make amendments in thelaw as it is a state subject. Thegovernment is deliberating onthe penalties to be collected asper the provisions of Section200 of the MV Act. However,officials have been informed tocreate awareness among thepublic about the new Act.

A senior official fromHyderabad traffic wing said,"We would need order fromstate government to be able toimplement the new rules andpenalties under Section 200 ofMV act. Till then, we will beusing the old order andimpose fines for violationsaccordingly. Whenever thegovernment gives the order,we will enforce it and till thenwe are going to create aware-ness among people about thenew regulations." Traffic copsin Hyderabad have startedcreating awareness on the newincreased challans.

Municipalpolls delaynew MV rules?

Contineed from Page 1

The AP High Court has reject-ed a petition seeking cancel-lation of L1, L2 and L3 dar-shans in any format, sayingthat they are all as perConstitutional provisions.However, TTD BoardChairman YV Subba Reddytook the decision to cancel L1,L2 and L3 darshans before theHigh Court delivered its ver-dict. Only protocol darshanswould be allowed as per rules.

Apart from L1, L2, L3 andprotocol darshans, VIP breakdarshan is also a key provision.In the name of VIP break dar-shan, a few lobbyists used tomanipulate things. To controlthem, TTD is going to intro-duce an online process for VIPbreak darshans. Presently,almost every day, more than2,000 VIP break darshan tick-ets are been issued by the

authorities. Officials areexpecting the proposed onlineprocedure to bring down thenumber drastically. All VIPbreak darshan tickets aremanipulated by people who aredoing backdoor business in thename of PRO, PAs of people'srepresentatives. With perfectsoftware in place for onlinebooking, these manipulationscan be controlled well, accord-ing to TTD officials.

All VIP breakdarshan ticketshave beenmanipulated bythe people, who dobusiness in thename of PRO, PAsof electedrepresentatives

VIP break darshan bookingsat Tirumala to go online

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 nation 05

SHORT READS

Azhar, Saeed declaredterrorists under newanti-terror lawNEW DELHI: Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azharand Lashkar-e-Taiba founderHafiz Muhammad Saeed wereon Wednesday declaredindividual terrorists by thegovernment under a new anti-terror law. The decisions havebeen taken nearly a month afterParliament approved a crucialamendment to The UnlawfulActivities (Prevention)Amendment Act, 1967. "Andwhereas, the central governmentbelieves that Maulana MasoodAzhar is involved in terrorismand Maulana Masood Azhar is tobe notified as a terrorist underthe said Act... "And whereas, thecentral government believes thatHafiz Muhammad Saeed isinvolved in terrorism and HafizMuhammad Saeed is to benotified as a terrorist under thesaid Act..," a home ministrynotification said.

Saradha case: TMC MPreturns money to ED

Centre delayingpayments for rural jobscheme: MamataKOLKATA: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onWednesday accused the Centreof delaying payments for the100-day rural job scheme andrestricting works under theprogramme. She also claimedthe state was ranked on the topin work under the MahatmaGandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act(MNREGA), against all odds.Responding to a question inthe Assembly, Banerjee said theCentre was "restricting works"under the rural job scheme.There had been "delay forpayments by at least threemonths and that even extendsto six months, which is causingproblems", she said. Theflagship programme ofMGNREGA is a demand-drivenemployment scheme andprovides supplementary meansof livelihood to people in ruralareas, primarily during leanperiods. Banerjee also saidWest Bengal topped in buildinghouses and constructing roads. With active support from stateirrigation, panchayats, andfisheries departments, threelakh water bodies have beendug, she added.

KOLKATA: TMC MP ShatabdiRoy has returned to theEnforcement Directorate aroundRs 31 lakh she had receivedfrom the tainted Saradha groupfor being its brand ambassador,ED sources said on Wednesday.Roy had handed a bank draft ofthe amount to ED officials onMonday, the sources said adingit was delivered through amessenger. Roy had signed aRs 49 lakh contract with theSaradha group to work as itsbrand ambassador when theponzi scam was operating illegalcollective investment schemesand mobilising huge moneyfrom the innocent public withthe promise of high returns. TheMP, however, claimed that shehad received Rs 31 lakh of thecontract amount which shereturned. In April 2013, thegroup collapsed defraudingthousands of investors in theprocess. Several TMC leadersand Bengali film actors likePrasenjit Chatterjee, RituparnaSengupta, and Madan Mitra hadbeen interrogated by theinvestigating agency inconnection with the case.

PNS n MUMBAI

Legendary singer LataMangeshkar on Wednesdayopposed the proposed fellingof over 2,600 trees in theAarey suburban area to makeway for a Metro car shed andurged the government to savethe city's green belt.

She said invading thenatural habitat,which houses avareity of treesand plants,would be a"tragedy".

The TreeAuthority of theBrihanmumbaiM u n i c i p a lCorporation (BMC)recently gave its nod to cutover 2,600 trees for a Metro carshed in the Aarey Colonyadjoining suburban Goregaon,which is known as the majorgreen lung of the city.

Mangeshkar took to Twitterto oppose the move.

"To cut down2700 trees andinvade the nat-

ural habitat for somany species would

be a tragedy. I firmlyoppose this move and I

earnestly request the govern-ment to look into this matterand save the forest.#SaveAareyForest," she tweet-ed. Several Bollywood celebri-ties earlier voiced their concernover the decision. On Sunday,

as part of the protest, a humanchain was formed by people atthe Aarey forest area.

Bollywood actor ShraddhaKapoor had joined the protest,calling the BMC's decision as"ridiculous".

Other Bollywood celebrities,including Dia Mirza, RaveenaTandon, Randeep Hooda, EshaGupta, Kapil Sharma amongothers, also voiced their con-cern over the civic body's deci-sion.

Lata Mangeshkar urges Maha govt to save Aarey trees

PNS n NEW DELHI

India and Pakistan onWednesday agreed on visa-freetravel of Indian pilgrims toGurudwara Darbar Sahib inPakistan using the Kartarpurcorridor, officials said.

However during the meet-ing between the two sides atAttari in Amritsar, Pakistaninsisted on charging a servicefee for allowing pilgrims tovisit the Gurdwara, which wasnot agreeable to the Indianside.

Pakistan has also shown itsunwillingness to allow thepresence of Indian Consular orprotocol off icials at theGurdwara premises. Pakistanside was urged to reconsiderits position, officials said.

Officials said the two sidesagreed on visa-free travel ofIndian pilgrims to GurdwaraDarbar Sahib in Pakistan with-out any restrictions.

Persons of Indian originholding OCI (OverseasCitizenship of India) card toocan visit the Gurdwara using

the Kartarpur corridor, officialsources said. It was also decid-ed that 5,000 pilgrims canvisit the shrine everyday and

that additional pilgrims will beallowed on special occasions,subject to capacity expansionof facilities by Pakistan side,

the sources said. In November2018, India and Pakistan hadagreed to set up the bordercrossing linking GurdwaraDarbar Sahib in Kartarpur,the final resting place of Sikhfaith founder Guru Nanak, toDera Baba Nanak inGurdaspur district.

Kartarpur is located inPakistan's Narowal districtacross the Ravi river, aboutfour km from Dera BabaNanak. "Pakistan has con-veyed its solemn commitmentto increase this number to the

maximum possible," said asource. In the meeting, it wasalso decided that the corridorwill be operational throughoutthe year and seven days a weekand that pilgrims will have achoice to visit it as individualsor in groups.

Both sides agreed to buildbridge at Budhi Ravi channel.Pending the construction ofthe bridge on the Pakistanside, both sides agreed to thecrossing point coordinates ofthe temporary service road,sources said.

India, Pak agree on visa-free travel of Indian pilgrims to Kartarpur Gurudwara

PNS n AHMEDABAD

Union Home Minister andBJP president Amit Shah onWednesday underwent aminor surgery for removal of"lipoma on the back of hisneck" at a private hospital inAhmedabad, the party said.

He was later discharged,the BJP's central mediadepartment said in a state-ment. Earlier, local BJP lead-ers claimed Shah visited thehospital for some healthcheck up, but later the partysaid he underwent a "minorsurgery". "Shah was admittedto KD Hospital inAhmedabad around 9 am. Hewas successfully operated forlipoma at the back side ofneck under local anesthesia.After this minor surgery, hehas been discharged," theparty statement said.

PNS n SRINAGAR

Two Pakistani nationals asso-ciated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba were caught while tryingto enter Kashmir, top securi-ty officers said on Wednesday.

"Pakistan is desperate forterrorists to infiltrate... to dis-rupt peace in the valley,"General Officer Commanding(GoC) of the Army's 15 CorpsLt General K J S Dhillon saidat a joint briefing withAdditional Director General ofPolice, Kashmir, Munir Khan.

He said the two Pakistaninationals associated with theLeT were apprehended onAugust 21. Two videos wereplayed during the press brief-ing showing the apprehendedPakistanis confessing to infil-tration. "These two videosvery clearly show howPakistan, its Army and the cit-izens of Pakistan are beingpushed into Kashmir toundertake terrorist activities inthe valley to disrupt the peacethat is prevailing, speciallyafter August 5," Dhillon said.

Munir Khan said infiltra-tion attempts are being madecontinuously. "Many such(infiltration) attempts havebeen foiled by the IndianArmy so far," he said.

"As far as the law and orderis concerned, since August 5this year, one thing which wehave ensured and which wehave been very successful at isthat no civil casualty in any lawand order action has takenplace and the credit goes to allthe forces for operating on theground," Khan said. "Orders

and instructions have beenvery clear that we have toavoid any kind of civil casual-ty and we are adhering to it,"he said, adding that things areimproving gradually andhopefully they will fall intoplace and normalcy will returnsoon.

Dhillon said that in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, all thelaunch pads are full with theterrorists of various tanzims(terror groups). "Even thesetwo captured terrorists werehoused at the Pakistani for-ward posts of the Army andthen they were guided by thePakistani regular troops up tothe LoC," he said.

As the terrorists in theirstatements have said, all thelaunch pads across the LoC,not only opposite Kashmir

but also opposite Poonch,Rajouri and Jammu, are full ofterrorists of various groups,and every day infiltrations arebeing attempted, Dhillon said.

"As you are aware, a few ofthem were neutralised at theLoC, including an incidentwhere 5-7 Pakistani terroristswere lying dead at the LoC fornumber of days. A hotlinemessage was sent to theDGMO Pakistan to pick upthe bodies of Pakistani citizenswhich they refused to and it isnothing new.

"In Kargil, they refused totake back the bodies of theirsoldiers. In this incident theyrefused to take back the bod-ies of their citizens and nowwe have live terrorists who arePakistani citizens with us,"the Army officer said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A parliamentary delegationfrom India thwarted Pakistan'sattempt to raise the Kashmirissue at a UNICEF event in SriLanka, days after New Delhiscuttled another such bid at aregional meet in Maldives.

Pakistani delegates tried torake up rights issues inKashmir at the UNICEF SouthAsian ParliamentarianConference on Children RightsConvention in Colombo onTuesday, evoking a sharp reac-tion from the Indian side, withCongress MP Gaurav Gogoislamming the neighbouringcountry's record on rightsissues of minorities.

Gogoi reminded thePakistani delegation of theircountry's internal situationrelated to human rights, theplight of minorities and legis-lations such as the "blasphemylaw". Gogoi and BJP MP SanjayJaiswal, both part of the Indiandelegation, were seen in avideo footage of the eventasserting that Kashmir wasIndia's internal matter.

Later, in a video statement,Gogoi said it was "highlyunfortunate" that at a child

rights conference organisedby the UNICEF, the Pakistanidelegation tried to interna-tionalise the matter of Jammuand Kashmir. "We firmlyreminded them that Jammuand Kashmir was an integralpart of India and India is thelargest democracy in the worldand as stakeholders in theIndian democracy, an Indianvoice will be heard, not that ofa vested interest, not that of aforeign country, and not cer-tainly that of Pakistan," hesaid. This comes after theIndian and Pakistani delega-tions had a heated exchange

over Islamabad's attempt toraise Kashmir issue on Sundayat the South Asian Speakers'Summit in the Maldives. TheIndian delegation at the sum-mit said Pakistan should put anend to all state support to ter-rorism, which is the "biggestthreat" to humanity.

Pakistan's Deputy Speaker ofthe National Assembly QasimSuri tried to raise the Kashmirissue during the discussion on"Sustainable DevelopmentGoals". India immediatelyraised a point of order, afterwhich the presiding officerasked Suri to let the Indian rep-

resentative, Rajya SabhaDeputy Chairman Harivansh,to speak, but he did not pay anyheed, leading to a commotion.

In a strong response,Harivansh hit out at Pakistanfor raising an internal issue ofIndia and politicisation of theforum. A day later, in a snub toPakistan, the Male Declarationadopted by the leaders at theSouth Asian Speakers' Summitin the Maldives "unanimously"felt that Kashmir was an "inter-nal matter" of India and over-looked all assertions made byIslamabad on the issue.

PNS n ISLAMABAD

For the first time, a Hindu girlhas been inducted into SindhPolice after passing the provin-cial competitive examinations,a media report said onWednesday.

Pushpa Kolhi has beenposted as the Assistant SubInspector (ASI) in theprovince, Geo News reported.

The news was first sharedby Pakistani human rightsactivist Kapil Dev on hisTwitter handle on Tuesday.

"Pushpa Kolhi has becomethe first girl from #Hinducommunity who has qualifiedprovincial competitive exam-ination through Sindh PublicService Commission andbecome Assistant SubInspector (ASI) in SindhPolice. More power to her!"Dev tweeted.

In January, Suman PawanBodani, a Pakistani belongingto the Hindu community, wasappointed a judge to the civiland judicial magistrate.

Bodani who hails fromSindh's Shahdadkot area,stood 54th in the merit list forthe appointment of civil

judge/judicial magistrate.Speaking to BBC Urdu,

Bodani said she belongs to anunderdeveloped rural area ofSindh, where she has seen thepoor struggling to cope withvarious challenges.

She added that her family,including her father and sib-lings, had extended their fullsupport to her and this hadhelped her in achieving herdreams to become a judge.

Hindus form the biggestminority community inPakistan. According to officialestimates, 75 lakh Hindus livein Pakistan. However, accord-ing to the community, over 90lakh Hindus are living in thecountry.

Hindu girl becomesfirst police officer inPak's Sindh province

PM, 70 student to watch live soft-landing on Moon from ISRO centrePNS n BENGALURU

Around 70 students fromacross the country will bewatching live India's pro-posed soft landing on themoon in the early hours ofSaturday, along with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.Two top scoring students inISRO's online space quiz con-test from each State andUnion territory have beeninvited by the space agency towatch at its centre here thelanding of Chandrayaan-2's"Vikram" module on theMoon.

"...about 70 students intotal. They will be watchingthe landing live along withPrime Minister," a seniorISRO official said.

To increase awareness

about the space programme,an online quiz competitionwas conducted by Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO in coor-dination with MyGov.in fromAugust 10 to 25.

The criteria for selectingsuccessful winners was "max-imum correct answers in theshortest time."

The duration of the quizwas 10 minutes (600Seconds) during which amaximum of 20 questionscould be answered, ISRO hadsaid.

"Two top scoring Students(from class 8 - 10 only) fromeach State and UnionTerritory will be invited toISRO, Bengaluru Centre towatch the landing ofChandrayaan-2 on the Moon,l ive a long with the

Honourable Prime MinisterNarendra Modi," terms andconditions of the quiz on theMyGov.in read.

'Vikram' (with rover'Pragyan' housed inside) isexpected to touch down onthe surface of the moon onSeptember seven, between1.30 am and 2.30 am.

A successful landing willmake India the fourth coun-try after Russia, the US andChina to achieve a soft land-ing on the moon. But it willbe the first to launch a mis-sion to the unexplored southpole region of the Moon.

Pak delegates triedto rake up rightsissues in Kashmirat the UNICEFSouth AsianParliamentarianConference onChildren RightsConvention inColombo onTuesday, evoking asharp reaction fromthe Indian side

To increase awareness about thespace programme, an online quizcompetition was conducted byBengaluru-headquartered ISRO incoordination with MyGov.in fromAugust 10 to 25

India thwarts Pak attempt toraise J-K issue at UNICEF event

DoNER Ministryteam to visit J-K todayPNS n NEW DELHI

A high-level team of officersfrom the Ministry ofDevelopment of NorthEastern Region (DoNER) willvisit Jammu and Kashmir onThursday to look into newreforms and best practicesthat can be introduced there.

According to an officialstatement, the key focus areasof the visit will be to exchangenotes on ensuring sustainablelivelihood after giving dueemphasis on women empow-erment and community-basedbottom-up approach and eco-tourism. "The purpose of thevisit is to look into the newreforms and best practicesthat can be introduced inJammu and Kashmir," thestatement said. The delegationwill focus on exposure pro-grammes of the farmers andartisans of the northeast andJammu and Kashmir. It willalso see how to go about onpromotional showrooms forlocal products in Jammu andKashmir by the Ministry ofDoNER, community-basednatural resource management,training of artisans fromJammu and Kashmir, collab-oration programmes on skilldevelopment and culturalexposure and exchange pro-grammes, it said.

Amit Shahundergoesneck surgery,discharged

Penalty for traffic-related violationsto be kept low initially: GehlotPNS n JAIPUR

Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot here said the com-pounding fee (penalty) underthe Motor Vehicle Act will bekept low initially in the state andstress will be laid on making thegeneral public aware of roadsafety rules.

His comments came after ahigh-level meeting with regard

to the amended Motor VehicleAct on Tuesday night.

Under the amended provi-sions, the penalty for traffic-related violations have beenincreased manifold.

He said the state governmentwanted to reduce the number ofroad accidents by making thegeneral public aware about thetraffic rules. Nearly seven lakhyoungsters studying in schools

and taking training in RajasthanKnowledge Corporation andRajasthan State LivelihoodCorporation will be sensitised toroad safety and traffic rulesthrough short films, slides andbooks, Gehlot said in a state-ment.

Gehlot said about 10,000people, mostly youth, died everyyear in road accidents in thestate.

Two Pakistani infiltrators with LeT links caught in Kashmir

Many such (infiltration) attempts have been foiledby the Indian Army so far

— MUNIR KHAN

It was also decided that 5,000 pilgrims canvisit the shrine everyday and that additionalpilgrims will be allowed on special occasions,subject to capacity expansion of facilities byPakistan side. Kartarpur is located inPakistan's Narowal district across the Raviriver, about four km from Dera Baba Nanak

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 nation 06SHORT READS

High number ofpending cases uniqueto India, burden oncommon man: Fmr CJIALIGARH (UP): Expressingconcern over the "undue delay"in the existing justice deliverysystem, former Chief Justice ofIndia K G Balakrishnan said that"more than 67.5 per cent" of theprisoners in the country's jailsare under trials. Addressing atwo-day national seminar on'Towards a Just India' at theAligarh Muslim University onTuesday, the former chiefjustice made a fervent call for"speeding up" the justicedelivery system and "reducingthe large number of pendingcases" in different session andhigh courts in the country. Theissue of unusually high pendingcases in different courts isunique to India and a bigburden on the common man,he said. "Even civil cases take along time and this isdetrimental to the rights of thepeople and the fate of theirfamilies," he said.

Woman killed in UP formarrying outside caste

Two shot dead in UP'sKanpurKANPUR (UP): Two murderaccused were shot dead bybike-borne armed men at Girsivillage in Ghatampur area ofKanpur here on Wednesday,police said. The deceased hadbeen identified as BachchaSingh (50) and Kapoor Singh,alias Kallu (46), residents ofRaha and Jalala villages,respectively, said SHO RBSingh. Kapoor Singh had anaffiliation with the ruling BJP,the SHO added. GhatampurCircle Officer Ravi Kumar Singhsaid Bachcha and Kallu were ontheir way to Mati, KanpurDehat, where they were toappear before a court in amurder case. The attackersshot Bachcha and Kallurepeatedly in their head andchest, the circle officer said,adding that the assailantsmanaged to escape from thespot. The bodies have beensent for autopsy. Kanpur SPAnant Deo Tiwari said Bachchaand Kallu were accused in amurder case that took place in2011 and were out on bail.The SSP said six people hadbeen detained for interrogation.

RAEBARELI (UP): In asuspected case of honourkilling, a woman was killed byher cousin for marring a manof other caste eight years ago,police said on Wednesday. Theaccused Pankaj was arrestedand further probe was on, theysaid. The incident took place onMonday evening in IchhwapurGarhi village in Salon areawhen Anju (23) was going tofields with other women andher cousin Pankaj repeatedly hither with a cricket bat, killingher on the spot, police said.The incident was stated to befall out of Anju's love affair withSandeep of the same villagewith whom she had fled eightyears ago and married him. Thecouple had returned to thevillage a year back and it wasprobably not liked by theaccused, police said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Wednesdayslammed the BJP-led govern-ment over D K Shivakumar'sarrest, asserting that it will notbe intimidated by the "politicsof persecution" and continueto ask the "hard questions"from the dispensation.

The party also said the 96days of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)

government's second term arecharacterised by three words -- "tyranny, chaos and anarchy".

The EnforcementDirectorate on Tuesday arrest-ed Congress's troubleshooterfrom Karnataka, Shivakumar,here in connection with amoney laundering case fol-lowing repeated questioningover the past few days.

Hitting out at the govern-ment over the arrest of

Shivakumar, Congressspokesperson Manish Tewarisaid it was the latest in a seriesof continued "political vendet-ta".

"D K Shivakumar's onlycrime was that he providedprotection to those CongressMLAs in Gujarat who werebeing poached by the NDA-BJP during the Rajya Sabhaelections," Tewari said at apress conference.

PNS n TEOK

The Indian Medical Associationon Wednesday threatened tolaunch a countrywide indefinitecease work by doctors if theCentre immediately failed toenact a law to check violenceagainst health professionals,IMA president Dr Santanu Sensaid.

The IMA also demandedAssam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal to comeout with a statement within 24hours on the deadly assault ofa doctor at a tea garden, whohad succumbed to his injuriesat a hospital, after being assault-ed by relatives of a tea gardenworker.

The IMA president wasspeaking to reporters here aftervisiting the family of the doctor,Dr Deben Dutta, here onWednesday. He was also accom-panied by some IMA members.

"Doctors continue to beattacked...enough is enough.We have reached the end point,we are not going to let this go.If a Central act is not enactedand the chief minister's state-ment does not come within 24hours, then the governmentand the entire country have toremain prepared for the conse-quences", he said.

The IMA chief said that theassociation has written to theprime minister, the home min-ister, the health minister and thechief minister underlining the

urgent need to enact a Centrallaw to check violence againsthealth professionals.

"In Parliament, I had raisedthe demand for a Central act. Ifthe government does not takeany positive step, then doctorsof the entire country will go foran indefinite cease work and theCentral government will have toremain prepared for the conse-quences", the IMA chief said.

Mentioning that the stategovernment, the chief ministeror the health minister had notissued any statement after theincident, Sen said, "If the chiefminister does not come outwith a statement, all the doctorsin Assam will go for cease workindefinitely, including emer-gency service." The 24-hourstrike by the medical fraternityin Assam on Tuesday was "verysuccessful", he said.

Emergency services, howev-er, were kept out of the purview

of Tuesday's stir. The IMA chiefsaid, another demand of theIMA was that the culprits mustnot be released on bail.

"As seen on many occasions,such people are released on bailafter the situation calms down.None can be released and theybe given the severest punish-men," he said.

Jorhat Deputy CommissionerRoshni Aparanji Korati hadordered a magisterial inquiry byAdditional DeputyCommissioner Subhan Gowalainto the incident and had askedthe ADC to submit his reportwithin seven days.

Pointing out that doctorswould not be willing to work intea estates if they were notgiven adequate protection, hesaid, "If no doctor serves in teagarden areas, then the govern-ment has to think what has tobe done for the tea gardenlabourers."

LAW TO CHECK ASSAULT ON DOCTORS

Indian Medical Associationwarns of countrywide ceasework

Soft drink consumptionlinked to risk of earlydeath: StudyPNS n LONDON

Consumption of soft drinks -- whether sweetened withsugar or artificial sweeteners -- may be associated with anincreased risk of prematuredeath, according to a study.

The study, involving over450,000 participants from 10European countries, foundthat those who drank two ormore glasses of soft drinks,including sugar-sweetenedand artificially sweetened softdrinks, per day had a higherrisk of mortality from all caus-es than those who consumedless than one glass per month.

Specific associations werealso observed between artifi-cially sweetened soft drinksand deaths from circulatorydiseases and sugar-sweetenedsoft drinks with mortalityresulting from digestive dis-eases, researchers said.

The study, published in thejournal JAMA InternalMedicine, surveyed partici-pants on their food and drinkconsumption between 1992 to2000 and followed up an aver-age of 16 years later.

"This study adds to thegrowing body of evidence thatsuggests possible negativeassociations between softdrinks and common causes ofdeaths such as heart diseaseand stroke," said JonathanPearson-Stuttard fromImperial College London inthe UK.

While the study found anassociation between con-sumption of soft drinks andincreased mortality theresearchers stress that the linkis a complex one and cannotbe assumed to be causal.

"We found that comparedwith those reporting low con-sumption, participants whoreported high consumption ofsoft drinks were at greater riskof all-cause death in our studysample," said Neil Murphy, oneof the study's lead authors,based at International Agencyfor Research on Cancer(IARC) in France.

"This doesn't mean that softdrinks cause early death as inthese types of studies there areother factors which may bebehind the association weobserved," Murphy said.

PNS n VLADIVOSTOK

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday visited Zvezdashipbuilding complex alongwith Russian President VladimirPutin, who showed him the cut-ting edge technologies at theshipyard, where the two leadersinteracted with the managementand workers of the plant.

Modi, who arrived in Russiaon a two-day visit duringwhich he will hold summittalks with President Putin andattend the Eastern EconomicForum, is the first Indianprime minister to visit to theRussian Far East Region.

In a special gesture,President Putin accompaniedPrime Minister Modi to theZvezda shipyard. The two lead-ers hugged and shook handsbefore their departure for theshipyard.

"During our visit, PresidentPutin showed me cutting edgetechnologies at the shipyard. Myvisit opens up new pathways ofcooperation in this importantfield," Modi said after his visit tothe shipbuilding complex.

Modi said he was "deeplytouched" by President Putin'sgracious gesture to accompa-ny him to Zvezda shipyard,which is poised to make a hugecontribution to development ofArctic shipping.

"Strong winds propellingthe India-Russia relationship!

PM @narendramodi andRussian President Putin spend-ing quality time together onboard a ship on their way to'Zvezda' ShipbuildingComplex," Ministry of ExternalAffairs spokesperson RaveeshKumar tweeted.

At the shipyard, Modi inter-acted with the managementand workers of the plant.

"Newer areas of collabora-tion such as shipbuilding offeropportunities for diversifyingthe strong India-Russia eco-nomic ties," Kumar tweeted.

In the future, the ships builtat that shipyard "will be used todeliver Russian oil and lique-fied natural gas to world mar-kets, including India,"President Putin's aide YuriUshakov was quoted as sayingby Tass news agency.

The Zvezda shipyard is beingset up on the base of the FarEastern Shipbuilding and ShipRepair Center by a consortiumof Rosneft, Rosneftegaz andGazprombank. The shipyardwill produce heavy tonnageships, offshore platform ele-

ments, ice-class vessels, specialvessels, and other marine equip-ment, according to the Russiannews agency.

After their visit to the ship-yard, the two leader held the20th India-Russia AnnualSummit on the sidelines of theEastern Economic Forum,which Russia has hosted since2015 to boost partnershipswith Asian countries.

"India-Russia relationshipgoes beyond relations betweentwo capitals and are now at thecusp of expanding to newfrontiers," Kumar tweeted.

Earlier, Modi was warmlywelcomed at the Vladivostokairport on his third bilateralvisit to Russia. He received aguard of honour at the airport.

Ahead of his visit to Russia,Modi said he looked forwardto discussing regional andinternational issues of mutualinterest with President Putin.

"I look forward to discussingwith my friend President Putinthe entire gamut of our bilat-eral partnership as well asregional and internationalissues of mutual interest," hesaid in his departure statementin New Delhi.

"I also look forward to meet-ing other global leaders attend-ing the Eastern EconomicForum, and interacting withIndian Industry and businessrepresentatives participatingin it," Modi said.

Modi visits Zvezda shipbuildingcomplex along with Putin

PNS n JAMMU

A coordination committeeheaded by chief secretary wasconstituted in Jammu andKashmir on Wednesdayfor Census-2021, anorder issued by theG e n e r a lAdministrationD e p a r t m e n t(GAD) stated.

It said thechief secretarywill be the chair-man of the seven-member panel and thedirector of Census operationsits convenor.

"Sanction is hereby accord-ed to the constitution of StateLevel Census CoordinationCommittee for successful con-duct and timely completion ofDecennial Population Census-2021," read the order issued byDeputy Secretary to the

Government, GAD, GirdhariLal.

Principal secretary of hous-ing and urban developmentdepartment, principal secretary

of planning, developmentand monitoring

department, com-missioner secre-tary of schooleducation depart-ment, secretaryof department of

rural developmentand Panchayati Raj

and secretary of rev-enue department will be

the members of the committee,the order said.

According to the 2011 cen-sus, Jammu and Kashmir hasa population of 1,25,41,302 ofwhich 66,40,662 are male and59,00,640 female, while the sexratio is 889 for each 1,000male, which is below thenational average of 940.

J-K sets up coordinationpanel for 2021 Census

PNS n NEW DELHI

Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar, arrested by theEnforcement Directorate in amoney laundering case, wasproduced before a Delhi courton Wednesday.

Shivakumar, arrested onTuesday night, was producedbefore special judge AjayKumar Kuhar.

He was brought to the courtafter he underwent medicalcheck up at Ram ManoharLohia hospital here.

Senior advocates AbhishekManu Singhvi and Dayan Krishnan will represent Shivakumar, 57, inthe court.

The former cabinet ministerand sitting MLA fromKanakapura seat had appearedbefore the ED for questioningon Tuesday for the fourth timeat its headquarters here.

After a long session ofgrilling, Shivakumar wasplaced under arrest as per pro-visions of the Prevention of

Money Laundering Act(PMLA). The ED had inSeptember last year registeredthe money laundering caseagainst Shivakumar,Haumanthaiah, an employee atKarnataka Bhavan in NewDelhi, and others.

Shivakumar had to appearbefore the ED after KarnatakaHigh Court last week dis-missed his petition challengingthe summons issued to him bythe agency.

The ED had filed a PMLAcase against him and others

based on a charge sheet (pros-ecution complaint) filed bythe Income Tax Departmentagainst them last year before aspecial court in Bengaluru oncharges of alleged tax evasionand hawala transactions worthcrores.

The Income Tax depart-ment has accused Shivakumarand his alleged associate S KSharma of transporting hugeamount of unaccounted cashon a regular basis through'hawala' channels with the helpof three other accused.

Shivakumar produced in Delhi court by ED

CHINMAYANAND CASE

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Wednesdayordered transfer of theShahjahanpur law student, wholevelled harassment allegationsagainst former union ministerand BJP leader SwamiChinmayanand, and her broth-er to other law colleges affiliat-ed to Bareilly university saying,"for us their future is important".

A bench of justices RBanumathi and A S Bopannawas informed by the UttarPradesh government that incompliance with apex court'searlier order it has made allarrangements for transfer of thewoman and her brother to othercolleges with hostel facility.

The bench requested theBar Council of India (BCI) toincrease the seats of the collegesin which the woman and herbrother will be shifted for LLMand LLB courses respectively.

The top court disposed ofthe suo motu petition, of which

it had taken cognisance lastweek, and said that the womanand her parents are at liberty togo home in Shahjahanpuraccompanied by Delhi police.

The court said that if anyfurther direction is required,including that of security, thenit can be mentioned before theAllahabad High Court.

The court, which had earli-er interacted in-chamber withthe woman, had said that shetold the judges that she does-n't want to continue her studyin the college run by

Chinmayanand's ashram atShahjahanpur.

The top court had onMonday directed the UttarPradesh government to set upan SIT, headed by an IG-rankofficer, to investigate the chargeslevelled by the woman, as wellas the two related FIRs. It saidthat an Allahabad High Courtbench will monitor the probe.

After interacting in-chamberwith the woman and her par-ents, the court had issued aslew of directions, includingasking the state to provide

police protection to the fami-ly and explore the possibility ofadmitting the woman and herbrother in another college atBareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

The woman had gone miss-ing after levelling allegationsagainst Chinmayanand in avideo and was later found inRajasthan by UP police.

The apex court judges hadsaid the woman raised certaingrievances against the institutionwhere she studied and her par-ents had some apprehensionsabout the safety of their children.

Modi said he was "deeply touched" byPresident Putin's gracious gesture toaccompany him to Zvezda shipyard,which is poised to make a hugecontribution to development of Arcticshipping

D K Shivakumar

PNS n BENGALURU

As the Congress stagedprotests in several parts ofKarnataka on Wednesday fol-lowing the arrest of seniorparty leader D K Shivakumarby the EnforcementDirectorate in a money laun-dering case, state HomeMinister Basavaraj Bommaicalled for "peace". TheMinister has also instructedofficials to take all necessarysteps to maintain law andorder.

At several places in the stateprotests and incidences ofburning tires, stone peltingand torching of buses havebeen reported since last night,Bommai said adding officialsare on the job to maintainpeace. "They (Congress) canprotest peacefully. Maintaininglaw and order is the duty of thegovernment. Congress waspart of the government that justexited office, we expect them tomaintain peace," he said.

"It is the duty of Congressleaders to see to that the peaceis not disturbed and publicproperty is not destroyed. SoI request every one to main-tain peace and help in main-taining law and order. We haveto see to that public at large arenot affected, and there shouldbe no room for any violence,"he told reporters here.

Congress in Karnataka hasgiven a call to all its districtunits for staging protests onWednesday against the arrestof Shivakumar.

Bommai, who held meetingwith senior police officials, metChief Minister B S

Yediyurappa earlier in the dayand briefed him about the sit-uation. Demonstrations, shut-ting of shops and attempts toblock roads by burning tireswere reported fromRamanagara, Kanakapura,Chennapattana, Bidadi and afew neighboring towns, wherea bandh has been called byShivakumar's supporters.

Shivakumar's Kanakapuraassembly constituency fallsunder Ramanagara district,and also most part of the dis-trict come under BengaluruRural Lok Sabha constituencyrepresented by his brother DK Suresh.

As a precautionary measure,the district administration hasdeclared holiday to schoolsand colleges on Wednesday.

Quoting reports that hehas received, Bommai said fiveto six buses were pelted withstones and attempts made totorch one bus each inKanakapura and Bengaluru.

Shivakumar, a Congresstroubleshooter from the state,was arrested under the provi-sions of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) after he had appearedbefore the ED for questioningfor the fourth time on Tuesdayat its headquarters in Delhi.

HM calls for peace

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai

PNS n SHAHJAHANPUR (UP)

Former Union minister andBJP leader SwamiChinmayanand onWednesday expressed fullfaith in the judiciary, a dayafter the UP governmentconstituted a SpecialInvestigation Team to probecharges levelled by aShahjahanpur woman againsthim.

Appearing before themedia for the first time afteran FIR was lodged againsthim by a female law studenthere, he said, "The matter isin the Supreme Court. AnSIT has been constituted."

"I have full faith in the judi-ciary and I will say whatever

I have to say before the SIT,"he said.

At the press conference,Chinmayanand also askedelectronic media reportersto switch off their cameras

"I will not talk to the elec-tronic media. What will youdo?," he said.

The UP Police had visit-ed Haridwar to trace the BJPleader after

he was booked by theShahjahanpur police whenthe student went

missing following her alle-gation in a video clip that hehad been harassing her.

Acting on theSupreme Court's order, theUttar Pradesh government onTuesday constituted the SIT.

Chinmayanand appears beforemedia, says he trusts judiciary

Shivakumar had toappear before the EDafter Karnataka HighCourt last weekdismissed his petitionchallenging thesummons issued tohim by the agency

Not going to be intimidated:Cong on Shivakumar's arrest

SC orders transfer of student, brother to other law collegeA bench of justices R Banumathi and AS Bopanna was informed by the UttarPradesh government that incompliance with apex court's earlierorder it has made all arrangements fortransfer of the woman and her brotherto other colleges with hostel facility

world 07HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

AFP n HONG KONG

Hong Kong's leader onWednesday bowed to a

key demand of pro-democra-cy protesters following threemonths of unrest, announcingthe withdrawal of a loathedextradition bill, but activistsvowed to press on with theircampaign.

Millions of people havetaken to Hong Kong's streetssince June in the biggest chal-lenge to China's rule of semi-autonomous Hong Kong sinceits handover from the British in1997.

After refusing for monthsto permanently withdraw thebill, which aimed to allowextradition of criminal sus-pects to mainland China, chiefexecutive Carrie Lam finallyconceded as she called forcalm and an end to violentprotests.

"The government will for-mally withdraw the bill inorder to fully allay public con-cerns," she said.

Initial reports in the localmedia f lagging Lam'sannouncement raised hopesthat giving in to the extraditiondemand could help end the cri-

sis. Hong Kong's stock marketclimbed nearly four percent inafternoon trade after thereports emerged.

But those hopes werequickly tempered, with pro-democracy activists voicinganger and determination topress on with their broaderdemocracy campaign.

"Too little, too late," saidJoshua Wong, a prominentactivist who was arrested latelast week as part of a policeswoop on leading pro-democ-

racy figures."We urge the world too to

(be) alert (to) this tactic and notto be deceived by HK andBeijing Govt. They have con-ceded nothing in fact, and afull-scale clampdown is on theway."

The protests were sparkedby opposition to Lam's extra-dition legislation, which wasseen as another erosion of theliberties enjoyed in Hong Kongcompared with authoritarianmainland China.

Hong Kong withdrawsloathed extradition law

People pay their respects for protesters who were injured on Aug 31 outside PrinceEdward station in Hong Kong on Wednesday

AFP n LONDON

Prime Minister BorisJohnson headed into a fresh

Brexit showdown in parlia-ment on Wednesday after beingdealt a stinging defeat over hispromise to get Britain out of theEU at any cost next month.

The Conservative leadersaid he wanted an early gener-al election on October 15 iflawmakers vote against himagain on Wednesday and forcehim to seek a three-monthBrexit extension from Brusselswith a new law.

"I will never allow that,"Johnson said, calling the draftlaw a "surrender bill".

Johnson argues that histhreat to take Britain out of theEU with or without a divorcedeal on October 31 will even-tually force the bloc's 27 otherleaders to agree better terms.

His critics counter thatJohnson is playing with firebecause of the economic dam-age such a breakup could causeafter almost half a century ofclose ties with Britain's closestneighbours.

The EuropeanCommission also onWednesday said the risk of ano-deal Brexit had increased,warning that it saw no alter-native to the current with-drawal deal.

Boris faces newBrexit battle afterstinging defeat

AFP n NASSAU (BAHAMAS)

Weakening slightly but stillpacking a powerful

punch, Hurricane Dorianchurned along the southeasterncoast of the United States onTuesday as the storm's deathtoll in the Bahamas rose toseven.

Bahamas Prime MinisterHubert Minnis termed Dorian"one of the greatest nationalcrises in our country's history,"announcing the updated tolland saying that it would likelyrise further.

"We can expect moredeaths to be recorded— this isjust preliminary information,"Minnis told journalists.

As the storm moved awayfrom the Bahamas, moreaccounts of the suffering itinflicted began to emerge.

Water "came over the roof.I would imagine 21 feet (sixmeters) at least. We were doing

all right until the water keptcoming up and all the appli-ances were going around thehouse like a washing machine,"crab fisherman HowardArmstrong told CNN.

"My poor little wife gothypothermia and she wasstanding on top of the kitchencabinets until they disintegrat-ed... I kept with her and she justdrowned on me," saidArmstrong, who eventuallymade it to his boat.

Aerial footage of GreatAbaco Island in the Bahamasbroadcast by CNN showedscenes of catastrophic damage,with hundreds of homes miss-ing roofs, overturned cars,widespread flooding and debrisstrewn all over.

"Parts of Abaco are deci-mated. There's severe flooding,there's severe damage tohomes, businesses, other build-ings and infrastructure," saidMinnis.

Bahamas toll rises to7 as Hurricane Doriancrawls along US coast

AFP n TEHRAN

President HassanRouhani said

Wednesday that Iranwill announce a newstep in scaling back its

nuclear commit-ments withintwo days despitea diplomaticpush for relieffrom US sanc-tions.

"I don't think that... We willreach a deal so we'll take thethird step and we willannounce the details today ortomorrow," Rouhani was quot-ed as saying on the presidencywebsite.

Iran to declare new cut in nuke commitments: Rouhani

Pound extendsrecovery amidBrexit drama

AFP n LONDON

The pound rebounded fur-ther Wednesday, but

gains were capped by investoranxiety after Brexit turmoilsent the currency tumblingand set the stage for a poten-tial snap UK election nextmonth.

Global stocks rose, withHong Kong the star per-former on reports — whichwere subsequently confirmed— that city leader CarrieLam would shelve a loathedextradition bill that sparkedmonths of unrest.

AP n KABUL

Afghanistan's Government is expressing new

concerns about a deal that a USenvoy says has been reached "in principle" with the Talibanon ending America's longestwar.

A statement shared bypresidential spokesman SediqSeddiqi on Wednesday asks forclarifications about the agree-ment and its risks to avoid"unpleasant consequences."

The statement says theAfghan government shares theconcerns raised by several for-mer US ambassadors toAfghanistan.

On Tuesday, their joint statement warned that afull US troop withdrawal thatmoves too quickly and withoutrequiring the Taliban to meetconditions, such as reducingviolence, could lead to "totalcivil war."

Afghan Govtraises newconcerns aboutUS-Taliban deal

This year, on Teachers’ Day, every-one would be talking about theDraft National Education Policy(NEP), which is awaiting final-isation. People would also recall

the great Indian tradition of knowledgequest, its focus on the welfare of one andall and the unparalleled respect and honorthat was always bestowed on the guru, wholeads from ignorance to knowledge, fromknown to unknown. In Indian scriptures,the teacher has been accorded the highestplace; the guru is to be given the primacyeven before “Govind.” The teacher trans-forms a layperson into a personality.He/she leads human beings from “human-ity” to “divinity.” What more could be saidabout how his/her role has been widelyacknowledged all along.

Teachers’ Day is the occasion not onlyto recall the past but also to analyse the pre-sent-day position and then think on howthe “glorious tradition of past” couldindeed be reinterpreted in a modern-daycontext and envisioned on futuristic aspi-ration. While post-independence achieve-ments in educational access, participationand attainments have been significant, thereis no dearth of challenges and issues thatneed to be met and resolved. As the nationpays tribute to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnantoday, one also needs to recall his oft-quot-ed words: “Education is a universal rightand not a class privilege.” Our achievementsin education deserve to be judged on thisparameter.

No system of education, particularly ofschool education, can flourish without theactive and adequate presence of fully-equipped, professionally competent, moti-vated and inspired teachers, who are indi-vidually convinced that they are preparingnot only the future generations but also thefuture of the country. While analysing theissues in the context of teachers in the draftNEP, the K Kasturirangan Committee inits chapter on teachers lays down the objec-tive: “Ensure that all students at all levelsare taught by passionate, motivated, high-ly qualified, professionally trained and well-equipped teachers.” There could be manyinstances in the life of all those who werelucky to get education on how some of theteachers “expand their universe of affectionand love” far beyond the official realm ofduties and responsibilities laid down forthem in the official documents.

These repose faith in the better futureof India. Practically every teacher in amulti-religious class knows how importantit is to let every child know how precioushe/she is to him/her. Only the teacher can,particularly in the initial stages, sow theseeds of the beauty that emerges out of“unity in diversity.” Schools must becomecentres of social cohesion, religious amityand value nurturance. It is not a new expec-tation; it is part of the teaching-learning tra-dition all over the country. Unfortunately,

it is gradually getting diluted intimes of glare and glitz ofmaterialistic pursuit that hasrelegated certain sublimeaspects of education to thebackground.

Everyone acknowledgeshe/she owes it to the teachers.We all owe it to our teachers.None else could play a rolehigher than the teacher inshaping an individual’s life.On Teachers Day, it is also cus-tomary to recall one’s ownteachers, those who shapedthe future, inculcated and nur-tured values and showed thepath ahead. These days, every-one in India is talking aboutJammu & Kashmir.

I often recall one instancenarrated to me by a very senioreducationist. In a Srinagarschool, around 1947-48, youngSom Nath Saraf came to schoolafter about being absent for twoweeks. “Where were you, Som”,asked Maulavi Sahib. The fee-ble response from the youngchild was: “My mother expired”.This made Maulavi Sahib leavehis seat, walk towards dis-traught Som with stretchedhands and lift him in an affec-tionate embrace. With moisteyes and in a soft motherly tone,Maulavi Sahib said: “Nowonwards, I am your mother.”What he said became a mantra

for Som throughout his life. Ittransformed the life of SNSaraf, who rose to great heightsin education, retired as theChief of Education in thePlanning Commission, a much-respected Vice Chancellor andmade a significant contributionin “values in education”.

In times of growing stressamong students, this one act ofMaulavi Sahib reflects almostall the qualities that one couldexpect from a guru. It was thecontinuity of this great tradi-tion that maintained an empa-thetic and intense personalrelationship between theteacher and the taught. Thereis no dearth of such motivatingand inspiring instances thathave been documented fromscriptures and other historicaltexts. Acharya Chanakya picksup a boy simply after observ-ing his talents, cares little abouthis background and transformshim into a mighty EmperorChandragupta.

Yes, teachers can trans-form innocent individuals intogreat performers and achiev-ers. The arena of sports andgames presents inspiringexamples of coaches, exactlyon the line of narratives fromachievers in fields of higherlearning, dedicating theirachievements to their teachers.

The ustaads of musical gha-ranas also represent a traditionakin to the environment thatexisted in the Gurukula: Totaldevotion to learning anddevelopment of personality inall of its humane aspects.

The dictum, “No peoplecan rise above the level oftheir teachers” shall remainvalid, rather eternally. Further,the thought — YavadjeevaitAdhiyate Viprah — the wisecontinue to learn till the end oflife was never more valid andrelevant as of today and tomor-row. There shall be no place forthose “teachers” who are notattuned to new knowledge andskill that is raining incessantlyfrom all sides.

Teachers of tomorrow shallderive respect from their stu-dents only if they remain con-scious of the fact that their ini-tial education, training andskill acquisition shall not helpthem lifelong. As they say,only a lighted lamp can igniteothers. Future teachers willhave to be conscious of thechanges in subject content onthe one hand and the pedagogyon the other. In higher educa-tion, awareness of newadvances, researches and inno-vations will have to becomepart of the curriculum after duescrutiny and examination of

their relevance.One practice that needs to

become more frequent in edu-cation is the opportunity of newand young teacher interactingintensively with the more expe-rienced and enlightened.Training institutions mustinclude this in their activities forthe benefit of both pre-serviceand in-service education.Radhakrishnan said the aim ofeducation is to prepare would-be teachers “to apprehend theeternal values, to appreciatethe supreme human virtuesand the simple decencies of life.”

In the contemporary con-text, he expresses in strikinglytouching terms on what shouldbe happening in education:“We must develop the freshnessof feeling for nature, the sensi-tiveness of soul to human need.We must foster the freedom ofthe mind, the humanity of theheart, the integrity of the indi-vidual. Even from the nurseries,we must train human beings byunconscious influence andconscious effort to love truth,beauty and goodness.” And toachieve this, we need to trustour teachers as has been theIndian tradition.

(The writer is the IndianRepresentative on the ExecutiveBoard of UNESCO)

If the wise George Bernard Shaw is to bebelieved, there is no love sincerer than thelove of food. Indeed, for a country as rich

and diverse as India, one which is known forits regional and cultural diversity, food, too,comes with its own variants — spicy,steamed, bland, pickled, vegetarian and non-vegetarian — all culminating in the sweetnessof desserts. It is this diversity of food thatenvelopes all our five senses so wholesome-ly that we get our first lesson in tolerance —respect the cultural and religious sensitivities

surrounding it. The food republic is the most democratic there is and has stayedapolitical. Why then should food selection be governed by political interests? Orfor that matter, why should religion interfere with one’s choice of food? Unbelievableas it is, the Kerala Samajam Frankfurt, a Malayali cultural organisation in Germany,which showcased a speciality beef curry at a food festival in the meat-eatingcountry, was forced to drop it on the instructions of the Consulate-General ofIndia. The rationale for the ban was that “people with vested interests” had raisedobjections against the menu and “threatened a ruckus.” So it requested the organ-isation to “revise” its menu and ensure “the event could be held without any inci-dents.” Ironically, the absence of beef curry at the stall meant there were no tak-ers either for the crispy parotta, the “certified vegetarian bread” meant to be hadwith it. In the end, our stall had to be shut down. Shamefully, it took the Germanpolice to censure our troublemakers. They made it abundantly clear that Germanydid not forbid anyone from eating what they liked and such domestic concernsclearly didn’t merit any attention. What the Hindu far right must understand isthat we have enough international blots already and we could certainly do with-out one that challenges our brand of diversity and tolerance, shows us in a poorlight of revisionism and makes us look hypocritical as global citizens.

The incident not only reeks of political point-scoring but also militates againstthe idea of having food as a basic human right. As a matter of fact, the politici-sation of food has been gaining ground with some rightist advocates claimingthey were just ensuring animal rights. The act of eating or choosing what to eathas never been questioned the way it is being in “New India” or punished, rightfrom the killing of cattle farmers transporting animals on the suspicion of smug-gling to cow lynchings. What are we saying, India ought to be a vegetarian nation?We should be food diplomats instead and not let the chilli get to the brain.

In the end, it was hugplomacy which madethe headlines as Prime Minister NarendraModi called on “great friend” Vladimir Putin

and described the Indo-Russian relationshipas an unprecedented partnership. In fact, it wasthe informal talks at Sochi last year and thepersonal chemistry between Putin and Modithat have reset the Indo-Russian axis of coop-eration that, over time, was fraying at the edgesand taken for granted. Clearly, in the contextof changed geopolitics and multi-polar dynam-ics, there was a drift not too long ago as both

nations were guided by their nationalist and political imperatives. At one end, theties were tested by India’s proximity to the US and the dominating spectre of thatsuperpower on mutual trade and business, particularly defence. On the other wasRussia’s tilt towards China and even arms deals with Pakistan. Going by the chiefguest status accorded to Modi for the Eastern Economic Forum meeting atVladivostok, introducing India as a decisive economic player in the Russian-Pacificregion and holding the 20th bilateral summit there as an example of expandedcooperation, the relationship is not only on an even keel but is looking to spreadto newer areas and won’t just depend on traditional convergence. And with theheft of Russia’s position that it respected “India’s Constitutional space” on Kashmir,India did manage to swing international opinion. Both Modi and Putin have nowrealised that while global politics is fluid and could force the need to calibrateindividual responses, bilateral relations would be immune to any external influ-ence and work towards shoring each other up. In that sense, the personal under-standing between the two leaders has indeed reinvented the wheel. As Putin said,it would now prioritise “mutual benefit.”

Russia continues to be the biggest exporter of arms to India despite our buysfrom the US and after the S-400s, it will also help in making AK-203 rifles. So itis now looking beyond the dependence on defence contracts. The Vladivostoksummit is expected to promote stable mutual growth of trade turnovers, aimingto touch $30 billion by 2025. While ONGC Videsh has been an early player inthe region with the Sakhalin oil fields, joint development of oil and gas fields inboth Russia and India is in the pipeline. This will help reduce our dependenceon the Gulf. And since nuclear energy constitutes a fundamental building blockfor strategic partnership, Russia remains the only foreign country in India involvedin practical construction of nuclear reactors. In the process of building six powerunits of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, it will now promote joint projectswith India, too, in third countries, like it is doing at the Rooppur nuclear plant pro-ject in Bangladesh. The Russian far east is expected to allow new areas for Indianinvestment and the 25 agreements include mining mineral resources, harness-ing energy, pharmaceuticals and R&D, partnerships in education, agriculture, aqua-culture, tourism and skilled labour. Most importantly, the Vladivostok-Chennai searoute, which was once used by Russian cargo ships, will now be developed asa key transport and logistics corridor. On its part, the Russians will enhance indus-trial cooperation and contribute to infrastructure development through “Make inIndia.” For example, they will collaborate on the Nagpur-Secunderabad high-speedcorridor. And now that they will be training and selecting astronauts for Gaganyaan,there will be increased space cooperation, too. Of course, Russia will have toconsider the Indo-China anxieties within the RIC (Russia, India, China) club if itwants to be a pivot of the Asia-Pacific region. And there will be divergence onforeign policy with regard to the Pacific waters, the territoriality of which has beendefined by the US as “Indo-Pacific”, establishing our primacy in any policy therewhile Russia disapprovingly calls it “Asia-Pacific.” Of course, Moscow has soughtto deflect concern from its endorsement of China’s Belt and Road Initiative byseeking a more extensive Eurasian partnership involving India in the EurasianEconomic Union (EAEU). Russia insists that every country in the region has itsown vision and the idea should be not to exclude anybody from dialogue.Cooperation within G20, BRICS, SCO, RIC, EAS and other multi-lateral formatswill be Russia’s way to align India to mutual interests. Of course, finding con-vergence among divergence will be a tall order but at the moment the idea is tosoften the latter with the cushion, or rather bear hug, of the former.

New Indo-Russian map

Mounting problems

Sir — This refers to the report,“Market cold to reforms, banksmerger” (September 4). Thedecline in growth is at a six-yearlow at five per cent. The erosionin the economy is wide ranging— banks, business, exports andjob creation. The impact on everymajor investment, private andpublic, is inexorable.Unemployment rate is the high-est in six years and investmentand manufacturing indices havesteadily dipped.

The Government is strug-gling to manage the economyamid global uncertainty, be it intrade, politics or monetary sectors. Its big-ticket politicalinterventions in sensitive borderStates left the Cabinet with littletime for addressing a highlystrained economy.

The bank mergers will imposeadditional strain on effectivemonetary transmission. Even thebest bureaucratic set-up would behard put to cope without constantinter-ministerial coordination.But the Government keeps pilingup issues in quick succession.

R NarayananMumbai

Teachers' Day

Sir — The tradition of celebratingteacher’s day started in 1962 inhonour of SarvepalliRadhakrishnan, whose anniversaryfalls on the same day. This day isdedicated to all our teachers, men-tors and gurus, who guide us to belearned students and better humanbeings. This is also an occasion for

teachers to be proud of their pro-fession and to think of ways tomake it nobler. Radhakrishnan wasa philosopher, scholar, an exem-plary teacher and a politician,who dedicated his life towards edu-cation and shaping the youth of thecountry. For him, the issues of edu-cation and nationalism were inter-twined. He was of the firm beliefthat a good and complete educa-tion is essential not only for the

development of an individual butcan also lead to the creation ofIndian solidarity and clarity ofnational vision. He was awardedthe Bharat Ratna, the highest civil-ian honour in the country in 1954and was nominated 27 times forthe Nobel Prize; 16 times for theNobel Prize in literature, and 11times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

Gross injustice

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “BJP self-goal over NRC”(September 3). It is true that delayin the implementation of theAssam Accord, 1985, is respon-sible for the exclusion of lakhs ofpeople in the final NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) list.Had the Accord been imple-mented in letter and spirit whenit was signed, the process ofupdating of NRC would havebeen infallible as there was ade-quate time to select genuine cit-izens from the illegal immigrantsfrom Bangladesh.

Ever since the NRC list hasbeen out, there have beenrumours that some real citizenshave been excluded while otherillegal immigrants have beenincluded. The country cannotafford to deny even a single gen-uine citizen the right to livefreely in the country. Hopes arenow pinned on the foreigners tri-bunals who will have a tough jobas generations have blended.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

08

Create a base for trust

JS RAJPUT

Teachers’ Day is an occasion to not only recall the past but also to analyse present-daypositions and think about how tradition could be reinterpreted in modern contexts

As far as I am concerned, Ihave come up one step inpolitics. I had never evendreamt of becoming ChiefMinister. Still, (I have) got an opportunity.

Tamil Nadu CM—Edappadi K Palaniswami

Is Pluto a planet or aYouTube makeup guru? Oneminute you are a planet, thenyou are cancelled, then youare a planet again. Thedrama — oh, the drama.

Actor—Twinkle Khanna

Maybe India thinks that itshould take action against usthat would weaken us. Wewant to tell India that warsare not only fought withweapons but with patriotism.

Pak Army spokesperson —Asif Ghafoor

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

Mid-day meal mess

This refers to the editorial, “Shooting the messenger”(September 4). Mid-day meal scheme was launchedwith the twin objectives to enhance not only school

enrollment of students but also to provide a nutritiousdiet to them. This would encourage poor parents livingin villages to send their children to study in schools asthey would save on the cost of providing at least onemeal to their children. Undoubtedly, this initiative wasgood in intent but has been engulfed in controversiesever since it was rolled out in 1995.

Incidents of food poisoning, supply of sub-standardfood and unhygienic cooking conditions in almost allschools in the country have all brought bad name to thisscheme. In this backdrop, it is commendable that a jour-nalist from Uttar Pradesh tried to expose the anomalybut to his shock, he was charged with criminal conspir-acy. In doing so, the Yogi Adityanath Government hassent a wrong message to the people. On the one hand,it has vowed to fight corruption, on the other, its action

is in total contrast of the promise. The UP Governmentmust take such criticism in the right spirit and ensurethat an inquiry is initiated against the contractor whoserved rotis and salt to the children.

Bal GovindNoida

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Food democracyIt is true that we (Oppositionparties) are slowly losingthe battle of perceptionagainst BJP. They are creat-ing a narrative according totheir own political interests.

Congress leader—Adhir Chowdhury

PM Modi and Russian President Putin have redefinedtraditional boundaries for stronger strategic ties

Kerala forum pulls out beef curry from German food festival after protests by right-wingers

Much ado about surplus

THE CONGRESS IS NOT GOING TO BE INTIMIDATED.AS THE PREMIER POLITICAL PARTY OF THE COUNTRY,

WE WILL CONTINUE TO ASK HARD QUESTIONS.—CONGRESS MP

MANISH TEWARI

NEVER WAS DEMOCRACY IN DANGER... NOWCONGRESS LEADERS ARE UNDER SCRUTINY...DEMOCRACY GETS ADMITTED TO ICU....—BJP GENERAL SECRETARY BL SANTHOSH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

On the face of it, the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s (RBI) decision to transfer awhopping surplus of `176,000 crore

to the Government of India (GOI) for itsaccounting year July 2018-June 2019 givesthe impression that the latter has got abonanza.

While, some argue that the Centre has“stolen” a humungous amount from India’sapex bank, which manages the currency andpayment systems as also the borrowings ofthe Centre and States, others aver that thisis easy money which the Centre will use forbridging its fiscal deficit. The reactions areexaggerated.

Out of `176,000 crore, the UnionGovernment had already received ` 28,000crore as interim dividend (announced by theRBI is February, 2019) which was account-ed for in its financial year (FY) April 2018-March 2019. Minus this, the amount it willreceive during the current FY is `148,000crore. Further, in the Union Budget for2019-20, the Finance Minister had account-ed for `90,000 crore as receipt from the apexbank while projecting its total receipt andexpenditure and the resulting fiscal deficitfor the year. So, the net accretion, orbonanza as many prefer to call, is just about`58,000 crore.

This amount does not even fully coverthe `70,000 crore that Nirmala Sitharamanhas promised to give upfront during the cur-rent FY as yet another dose of recapitalisa-tion to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) toenable them to resume lending on theintended scale and help revive the saggingeconomy. Significantly, the promised`70,000 crore recapitalisation fund is on topof the `250,000 crore already given in thelast four years to PSBs under projectIndradhanush, to shore up their capital.

So forget about any help in making upfor the massive shortfall in tax revenue (con-sidering that growth during 2018-19 was amere six per cent and the current FY mayend with a deficit of `100,000 crore plus)or clearing deferred payments on major sub-sidies on food, fertilisers and fuel (about`140,000 crore) as is being speculated insome quarters.

Look at things from the RBI’s perspec-tive. The transfer of `176,000 crore is in twoparts. First, `123,000 crore is the surplusgenerated from its operations which saw ahuge increase during 2018-19 and is beingtransferred in totality. (Typically, the RBI’sincome comes from the returns it earns onits Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs) in theform of bonds and Treasury Bills of othercentral banks as also earnings from hold-ing of domestic bonds and securities.)

This transfer is in sync with the policyfollowed during the last five years when theRBI transferred 100 per cent of the surplus to the Centre and the transfers dur-ing 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, were `65,900crore, `40,600 crore and `58,000 crore,respectively.

In 2016-17, the amount dipped due tosteep increase in cost of printing notes cour-

tesy the November 2016 demonetisation andsome provision for transfer to contingencyreserve, a risk buffer to tackle contingen-cies.

The second part, about `53,000 crore,is the excess of the realised equity capital,which is the difference between the current6.8 per cent of the assets and minimumContingency Reserves needed to be kept asrisk buffer. This threshold is fixed at 5.5 percent being the lower end of the 5.5-6.5 percent range recommended by the Dr BimalJalan Committee on Economic CapitalFramework (ECF).

The committee was set up by the RBIlate last year in the wake of a raging con-troversy over the quantum of surplus trans-fer with the mandarins in the FinanceMinistry gunning for a major slice of itsreserves citing global benchmark (accord-ing to former Chief Economic Adviser,Arvind Subramanian, the quantum identi-fied as excess and hence transferable to theCentre could be a high of about `300,000crore) and the then RBI Governor Urjit Patelrefusing to yield. This was a major factorleading to the resignation of Patel.

Clearly, the transfer is not somethingwhich RBI was bulldozed into giving asalleged in some quarters. It is based on therecommendations of the Jalan Committeewhich considered all relevant factors —including potential threats from financialshocks, the need to ensure financial stabil-ity and provide confidence to the markets— before arriving at the threshold of 5.5-6.5 per cent. Some critics have objected to

using 5.5 per cent instead of the upper end6.5 per cent (if, the RBI had used 6.5 percent, the transferable amount would havebeen lower by about `42,000 crore, whichcorresponds to extra one per cent of theassets having to go to the ContingencyReserve).

This criticism does not hold water as thecalculation in no way violates the commit-tee’s prescribed range and the RBI is wellwithin its right to pick up any figure as longas it falls within it. Even so, a `53,000 croresurplus, computed at 5.5 per cent beingtransferred from out of existing reserves isone-sixth of the amount which the FinanceMinistry was looking for. More important-ly, the RBI now has an institutionalisedmechanism to prevent the Centre fromgrabbing as much as it wishes. For 2019-20,even if the threshold is retained at 5.5 percent, an increase in balance sheet size byitself will force the bank to set aside somefunds from the surplus generated during theyear to comply with the ContingencyReserve requirement.

In case, the RBI board decides to go forprovisioning at 6.5 per cent, then it mightas well use a bigger slice or the whole of thesurplus for Contingency Reserve compli-ance, leaving very little or nothing for trans-fer to the Centre.

The ECF will remain in force for fiveyears (any prior review could be done onlyunder extreme circumstances say, global tur-bulence or domestic financial crisis) whichimparts a degree of stability to the mecha-nism. Besides, other recommendations of

the committee, like doing away with thepractice of interim dividend and changingthe accounting year of the RBI to make itsynchronous with that of the Centre, willalso help in bringing better control and dis-cipline in the financial transactions betweenthe two.

To sum up, the protracted tusslebetween the RBI and the Centre over thesurplus transfer by the former has ended upclipping the latter’s wings.

Not only has the Government’s hope ofgarnering a big slice of the bank’s accumu-lated reserves been dashed, for the future,being bound to the ECF, the RBI will con-tinue to keep a tight leash on surplus trans-fer. That should end misconception, if any,in the mind of mandarins in the FinanceMinistry that they could use the apex bankas a milch cow to plug its ballooning fiscaldeficit.

The message is loud and clear. Insteadof banking on easy options such as surplusfunds from its undertakings (often extract-ed as special dividend, or divestment ofshares at huge premium), recourse toExtra-Budgetary Resources or deferment ofpayments etc, the Centre should concentrateon making credible efforts to manage its fis-cal health. It should carry out reforms incritical sectors such as food, fertilisers, fueland electricity to improve efficiencies,reduce cost and rein in diversion of funds.It also needs to implement tax reforms toplug leakages and boost collection.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst)

The tussle over surfeit transfer has clipped the Centre’s wings as in future, being boundto the Economic Capital Framework, RBI will continue to keep a tight leash on funds

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

The relevance of Sufism

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

While most Bangladeshis are secular, a large minority isinclined towards Islamic fundamentalism. Hence Sufism, a

doctrine of universal love at a time of hate, is important

UTTAM GUPTA

Shahriar Kabir’s new documentary, Mithat’s Dream: The Story of aYoung Dervish of Konya, comes when the world is facing a surgeof fanatical extremist ideologies driving increasingly violent move-

ments. While secular but retrograde ideas are also on the ascendant, reli-gion-based fanatical doctrines are at the forefront of the fundamentalistresurgence. The most conspicuous of these is Wahhabi-Salafist Islamicfundamentalism, with its medieval social, cultural and political agenda,which has spawned organisations like the Taliban and the Islamic Stateand unleashed savage violence in many parts of the world.

Bangladesh is one of the affected countries. Sheikh Hasina has suc-cessfully countered the terrorism and lawlessness associated with Islamicfundamentalist terrorism, underlined by the mass killing at the Holey ArtisanBakery in Dhaka on July 1, 2016. That, however, is one part of the responseneeded. The other is countering its ideological challenge, which contin-ues in Bangladesh where a number of organisations preach the Wahhabi-Salafist creed.

A significant section of Bangladesh’s population is receptive to theirpreaching. Two questions arise here. What kind of people want to leadfanatical mass movements? What kind of people join these? In The Fearof Freedom (aka Escape from Freedom), Erich Fromm attributes the phe-nomena to sadism and masochism. According to him, one is a part ofone’s mother’s world in early infancy and is wrapped in the cocoon ofsecurity it provides. As one grows out of it and faces the wider world onone’s own, physical, emotional and mental developments lead to the emer-gence of “an organised structure guided by the individual’s will and rea-son….one side of this growing process of individuation is the growth ofself-strength.” The other side is an increasing feeling of aloneness whichleads to a growing feeling of insecurity as one faces on one’s own theworld with “all its perilous and over-powering aspects.”

According to Fromm, the way to overcome this feeling of lonelinessand insecurity “is to relate spontaneously to the world in love and work,in the genuine expression of one’s emotional, sensuous and intellectualcapacities.” Not many are able to do this. They seek security in sadisticdomination and/or masochistic submission. According to Fromm, “All thedifferent forms of sadism go back to one simple impulse, namely, to havecomplete mastery over another person, to make him a helpless object ofour will, to become the absolute ruler over him, to become his God, todo with him as one pleases.” Fromm further writes, “the annihilation ofthe individual self and the attempt to overcome thereby the unbearablefeeling of powerlessness are only one side of masochistic strivings. Theother side is the attempt to become a part of a bigger and more power-ful whole outside of oneself, to submerge and participate in it. This powercan be a person or an institution, God, the nation, conscience or a psy-chic compulsion. By surrendering, one loses one’s strength and integri-ty as an individual and freedom but one gets a new security and new pridein the participation in the power in which one submerges.”

Fromm points out that both sadistic and masochistic tendencies can bepresent in the same person. Both facilitate the rise of fundamentalist and total-itarian mass movements—-the former by inclining people to dominate oth-ers and exercise total control over the movements and their followers andthe latter by inducing submission. Bangladesh is haunted by memories ofgenocide and mass rape unleashed by the Pakistan Army during the 1971liberation war, the repression unleashed by the military dictatorships and civil-ian regimes fronting for the Army that ruled between Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’sassassination in 1975 and Sheikh Hasina’s first innings in power (1996-2001),and the largescale fundamentalist violence witnessed when the coalition gov-ernment between Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-IslamiBangladesh, which Begum Khaleda Zia headed from 2001 to 2006, was inpower. The feeling of collective insecurity born of all this is compounded byother factors like poverty and vulnerability to natural disasters.

The military dictatorships and the BNP-led governments had suppressedall references to Sheikh Mujib’s and the Awami League’s role during theliberation war, amended the 1972 constitution, destroying its secular char-acter and actively promoted fundamentalist parties like the Jamaat. As aresult, while the majority in Bangladesh remain secular and tolerant, a largeminority is now inclined toward Islamic fundamentalism and the violenceand terror it spawns.

On the ideological plane, this trend has to be fought by projecting theidea of a secular Bangladesh and liberal and moderate face of Islam. Hencethe importance of Sufism with its message of universal love. Shahriar Kabir,along with executive producer Kasi Mukul, help to bring this message tothe fore through Mithat’s Dream: The Story of a Young Dervish of Konya,an audio-visual narrative that transcends the frontiers of an individual’slife and focusses on the ethos and doctrinal contours of the faith. Theireffort is particularly relevant in the case of Bangladesh which has a strongSufi tradition since the time of Hazrat Shah Jalal. A disciple of one of thegreatest exponents of Sufism, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-2073), hetravelled to what is now Bangladesh in 1303 and settled down in Sylhet.The film needs to be widely viewed.

(The writer is Consultant Editor, The Pioneer, and an author)

India has immense intellectualcapital. This has been proveninnumerable times given the

tremendous amount of research putin by our brilliant scientists. Theglobal forum is replete with Indianscholars and research scientists whohave always given their best andensured that the world is madeaware of interesting discoveries inalmost every arena.

Not surprisingly, the world acad-emia as well as intellectual stalwartshave always respected and wel-comed Indian minds at globalresearch platforms. The quality ofIndian exploration work has madelives easier in more ways than we canfathom. However, the environment

is still one area which remainsneglected and needs urgent attentionof scientists.

The environment, climatechange and deterioration of ecolog-ical habitats are major areas of con-cern for the global citizen. No mat-ter what country you belong to andwhere you reside, climate change istouching your life in some way or theother. For instance, every countrynow has to bear the economicimpact unleashed by climate changeas agricultural incomes fall victim tothe vagaries of the weather.Additionally, the rapid rise inextreme weather events has playedspoilsport for businesses across theworld, causing millions of dollarsworth of damages.

These developments once con-sidered an aberration are now, rou-tine. The collective efforts of globalpowers are unable to slow climatechange or make much of a differenceto degradation of the environment.This is where experimentation canplay a pivotal role.

The eminence of advance studyin environmental conservation was

also recognised at the opening dayof the United Nations Convention toCombat Desertification (UNCCD)14th Conference of Parties (COP 14)on September 2, 2019. The UNCCDagreed that research could hold thekey for global land restoration pro-vided there’s a concerted effort andcollaboration among scientists, gov-ernments and farming communitiesof the world. This collaboration, ifensured, can change the face ofhumanity’s battle with climatechange.

The experts at UNCCD cited theexample of Africa, where addinganalysis to farmer-led initiativeshave contributed to adoptable inno-vations in Ethiopia’s Amhara region.According to a statement byInternational Crops ResearchInstitute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT), these innovations aidedin the development of physical andbiological barriers, which controlledextreme events upstream and run-offs downstream. The structuresalso opened new avenues for farm-ing and restored degraded lands inthe region.

These innovations were put touse on a trial basis at various levelswith assistance and collaborationwith local and nomadic communi-ties. For the first time, these commu-nities were producing food crops andfodder. A long-standing problem wasnot only managed but also takenadvantage of.

In India, development and man-agement of watersheds helpedreclaim degraded lands. The Parasai-Sindh watershed in Uttar Pradesh(UP) developed by ICRISAT andpartners from the Indian Council ofAgricultural Research (ICAR),reportedly helped increase areaunder cultivation, crop and milkyields and triple farm householdincomes in Jhansi.

Integrated watershed develop-ment, involving agro-forestry alsohelped to control erosion and enablefarmers to achieve food and econom-ic security. It is important in the con-text of increasing dependence ofIndian agriculture on groundwater.For all these efforts and subjects,analysis plays an important andcritical role. Additionally, in order to

achieve the UN-mandatedSustainable Development Goals(SDG 15.3) of restoring degradedland and soil by 2030, there is a needfor synergy between scientists, farm-ing communities and their institu-tions that are land users and man-agers. Research can help restorationinitiatives to scale up globally butonly if farmers, their livelihoods andcommunities are at the heart of suchinitiatives. This is what India mustbecome an expert at. If India canaccomplish the art of collaboration,it can become a global coordinatorof talent and expertise. This in turnwill help shed light on donor prior-ity for land restoration, land manage-ment strategies in the backdrop ofLand Degradation Neutrality (LDN)framework, the role of policy andgovernance in land regenerationand role of nations in a region’s landrestoration agenda.

India is currently facing thespectre of desertification and landdegradation that are major threats toagricultural productivity. Accordingto the State of India’s Environment2017 In Figures, a book by the

Centre for Science and Environment,desertification plagues 90 per cent ofIndian States.

Out of the total 328.72 millionhectares (MHA) of India’s geograph-ical area, 96.4 MHA is threatened bydesertification. In the last 10 years,26 of 29 Indian States have report-ed an increase in the area undergo-ing desertification. Around 40 to 70per cent of the land has undergonedesertification in Rajasthan, Delhi,Goa, Maharashtra, Jharkhand,Nagaland, Tripura and HimachalPradesh.

With such high stakes, India can-not afford to lose more to environ-mental degradation and climatechange. This downward spiral mustbe arrested with research. Given therich pool of excellent talent thecountry has, India must set up aglobal club of researchers, who canhelp the global community bringabout the much-required differencein the battle against climate change.This in turn will also make India theepicenter for environmental research.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

Crying need for environmental researchThe collective efforts of global powers are unable to slow down climate change or make much of a difference to

degradation of the environment. This is where experimentation can play a pivotal role in battling these issues

KOTA SRIRAJ

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Fresh from his bungledattempt to expandAmerica’s frontiers bybuying Greenland, USPresident Donald Trump isnow suggesting the US hasa right to colonise outerspace, treating it as a free-fire zone for unlimitedsuperpower competition in“the next war-fightingdomain.” Trump haswatched too many repeatsof Independence Day.The universe does notbelong to America.(The Guardian Editorial)

TRUMP WANTS TOCOLONISE SPACE!

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

IndiGo launches 2nd ifly facility inBengaluruBENGALURU: Private airline,IndiGo on Wednesdayannounced the extension of itslearning academy, ifly toBengaluru. The first ifly facility islocated at Gurugram. ifly hasbeen instrumental in extendingtraining to IndiGo employees, itsaid in a statement. iflyspecialises in facilitating specifictraining throughout the yearwhich include customerservices, ramp and marshallingtraining, communication andleadership training, departurecontrol system, safety andemergency procedures, and e-learning, the airline said.Wolfgang Prock-Schauer,President and Chief OperatingOfficer and Raj Raghavan,Senior Vice President - HumanResources, IndiGo, said, "In thelast one year, we have had 114batches of cabin crew (2,400cabin attendants) and 27batches of JFO's (500 pilots)graduate." "In addition, we havehad 300 engineering, 1,330Airport operations and Customerservices (AOCS) and 1,500security colleagues graduate outof various programmes at ifly,"they added in the statement.

Sebi invites bids toprovide outsourcedstaff for Chandigarh NEW DELHI: Capital marketregulator Sebi plans to rope inan independent agency toprovide contract staff, includingreceptionist and supervisor, forits office in Chandigarh. Toprovide these services,Securities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) has issued anotice inviting applicationsfrom the interested parties. Theagencies should be responsiblefor overall maintenance of theoffice premises and forproviding the services of theoutsourced staff such asreceptionist, data entryoperator, office assistant andhouse keeper. According to theregulator, the agency who hadprovided similar outsourcedstaff in PSUs and financialinstitutions would be preferred.Among other requirements, theagency should have at leastcarried out one similar job forvalue of Rs 6.4 lakh perannum.

NSE to conductmock tradingsessionsNEW DELHI: National StockExchange (NSE) has said it willconduct mock trading sessionsfor various segments onSeptember 7. The mock trading(contingency) has beenscheduled for capital marketsegment, securities lending andborrowing market, commodityderivatives, currencyderivatives and futures andoptions segments, NSE said inseparate circulars on Tuesday.Normal working hours forcapital market segment andfutures and options will bebetween 1015 hours and 1530hours. For the securitieslending and borrowing market,timing for continuous tradingwill be from 1015 hours to1215 hours. The normalsession for currency derivativesis scheduled to open at 1000hours, while commodityderivatives will open at 1100hours; and will close at 1530hours for both the segments.Mock trading sessions aregenerally conducted by stockexchanges to test their systemperformance as part of theirefforts to provide a robustplatform to members in orderto enable flawless trading.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Opening up a new window forpromoters looking to retaincontrol of their companiesfacing bankruptcy proceed-ings, the National CompanyLaw Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) has held that share-holders and owners can reacha settlement with the creditorswhen their entity is under liq-uidation and an official liq-uidator has been appointed bythe insolvency court.

In the liquidation case per-taining to Sterling Biotech, theNCLAT has set aside a bank-ruptcy court order to liquidatea debt-ridden company whileallowing its promoters to takeback control of the firm aftermaking full payment to thelenders.

The ruling may set a prece-dent that will have ramifica-tions for companies willing toclear dues after they are admit-ted for insolvency resolution.In one such case, promoters ofinsolvent Essar Steel haveexpressed their willingness totake back its company aftersettling in full all debt.

However, the matter is stillpending in the bankruptcycourt after a prolonged legalbattle and ArcelorMittal's suc-cessful resolution proposal forEssar Steel is awaiting thefinal order.

IANS had reported in Aprilthat promoters who are barredfrom the resolution process ofinsolvent companies may geta chance to regain controlafter settling dues at the liq-uidation stage. The Insolvencyand Bankruptsy Code (IBC)also provides for taking a

company out of the resolutionprocess after admission if 90per cent of the creditors agreeto it.

In a Sterling Biotech oralorder given last week, a three-member NCLAT bench com-prising justices S.J.Mukhopadhyay and A.I.S.Cheema and member (tech-nical) Kanti Narahari set asidethe May 8 order of theNational Company LawTribunal's (NCLT) Mumbaibench and allowed the with-drawal of a petition filedunder Section 7 of theInsolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC).

In its order, the appellate tri-bunal said that settlementwould have to be done by thepromoters under a one timesettlement (OTS) and notthrough the corporate debtoror its properties. The appoint-ed liquidator can continue tillthe entire payment is made tothe lenders.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)has directed the ResolutionProfessional of Jet Airways tocooperate with the DutchCourt Administrator, which isalso conducting insolvencyproceedings against the debt-ridden carrier.

A three-member NCLATbench headed by ChairmanJustice S J Mukhopadhyay hasasked the Interim ResolutionProfessional (IRP) to placebefore it a draft agreement withterms of condition betweenhim and the Dutch CourtAdministrator in next twoweeks.

During the proceedings, theCommittee of Creditors (CoC)informed NCLAT that it wasready to cooperate with theDutch Court Administrator.

"IRP has to collate the claimsof the all financial creditorsand operational creditors,domestic or internationally,"said NCLAT.

It also said," IRP is bound totake control of assets."

NCLAT also said IRP mayconsult the CoC before final-ising the draft. It listed the nexthearing for September 20.

On August 21, NCLAT hadasked the CoC of Jet Airwayswhether it would cooperatewith the Dutch CourtAdministrator. It had then list-ed next hearing for September4.

The appellate tribunal'sdirection came while hearinga petition filed by the DutchCourt Administrator againstthe order of the Mumbai benchof the National Company LawTribunal (NCLT), which haddeclared overseas bankruptcy

proceedings null and void inthe Jet Airways insolvencycase.

On July 12, NCLAT hadstayed the orders of NCLT onthe plea filed by the DutchCourt Administrator andagreed to hear it.

The appellate tribunal hadsaid that it will clarify the lawon action to be taken whenthere are two insolvency peti-tions filed against the samecompany in two differentcountries. The Dutch CourtAdministrator has also agreedbefore NCLAT not to sell theconfiscated assets of debt-rid-den Jet Airways.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The American Chamber ofCommerce in Hong Kong,which is currently leading adelegation of US brands eye-ing investment opportunitiesin India, has pitched for a free-trade pact between India andthe United States.

Tara Joseph, President of theAmerican Chamber ofCommerce (AMCHAM) inHong Kong, said a free-tradeagreement would be a "gamechanger" in terms of boostingbilateral trade and investmentopportunities.

She is part of the delegationthat is currently on a three-dayvisit to India comprising firmssuch as Ralph Lauren AsiaPacific, PVH Far East (PVHGroup owns iconic brandssuch as Calvin Klein, TommyHilfiger, Van Heusen, Arrow &Izod), Carter's GlobalSourcing Ltd (Carter's Inc isthe largest branded marketerof baby and children's clothingin US), and VF Asia Sourcing.

The delegation held meet-ings with Union TextilesMinister Smriti Irani, TextilesSecretary Ravi Capoor andNiti Aayog Chief ExecutiveOfficer Amitabh Kant onTuesday.

The delegation is eyeingmillions of dollars worth ofinvestments in India for ramp-ing up sourcing in the textiles

and apparel sector."One thing that is sure

about the American brandsthat are thinking of coming in:this is not a few million dol-lars of investment for a fewyears. If larger brands come in,they are making substantialinvestments beyond USD 100million and that is for a longperiod of time," Joseph saidwhile addressing a press con-ference here on Tuesday.

The US was the second-largest trading partner forIndia in goods in 2018, and thesingle-largest export destina-tion for Indian exporters.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The national capital hasdropped by six places to rank118th on a list of the world'smost liveable cities due toincrease in cases of pettycrimes and poor air quality, anannual survey by theEconomist Intelligence Unitshowed on Wednesday.

While New Delhi registeredthe biggest decline in Asia,Mumbai also fell two placessince last year to rank 119th onthe list topped by Vienna(Austria) for the second con-secutive year.

The EIU also flagged "anescalation in abuses againstjournalists in recent years" inIndia, citing a decline in thecountry's ranking in ReportersWithout Borders' PressFreedom Index where Indianow sits in the bottom quartileof countries.

The study said that Asiancities overall have scored slight-ly below the global average

while three Asian cities -- PortMoresby in Papua New Guinea(135th), Pakistan's Karachi(136th) and Bangladesh'sDhaka (138th) -- are amongthe ten least liveable globally.

The EIU said decline inMumbai's rank was mainlydue to a downgrade in its cul-ture score, while New Delhi hasfallen in the index because ofdowngrades to its culture andenvironment score as well asfall in the stability score owing

to rising crime rates."This year we also note the

demonstrable impact of theeffects of climate change onliveability. Several cities, suchas New Delhi in India andCairo in Egypt received sub-stantial downgrades on theirscores owing to problemslinked to climate change, suchas poor air quality, undesirableaverage temperatures andinadequate water provision,"the report said.

The EIU said its ranking of140 cities is based on theirscores in five broad categories-- stability, healthcare, cultureand environment, education,and infrastructure. Each factorin a city is rated as acceptable,tolerable, uncomfortable,undesirable or intolerable.

"We expect problems relat-ing to climate change to putincreasing pressure on live-ability scores in the comingyears and for the number ofcities affected to grow.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Jaipur Watch Company, theluxury horology brand thatleverages the best of India's tra-ditional craftsmanship tohandcraft unusual watches, ismarking its presence in India'svibrant retail landscape with anew store-in-store at SelectCITYWALK.

The store offers watch afi-cionados and fashion enthusi-asts a peek into a glitteringrange of their bespoke and pretcollections. The store is locat-ed within Anyque – TheGifting Co, which also hostsSpanish decorative luxurybrand Lladró and a few others.

Gaurav Mehta, Founder onthe opening said, “The retailoutpost is an important step forJaipur Watch Company in ourbid to become more accessibleto our customers, particularlywith our bespoke range of

gold watches. Clients will beable to experience the finishingand watchmaking capabilitiesof the brand at the store andeven buy both our pret and ourbespoke collections.” Throughthe store, which will bemanned by a trained fashionprofessional, the customerswill be able to reach out to JWCif they want tweaks to theexisting bespoke range or order

a completely customizedwatch.

Design with a differenceThe design team of Jaipur

Watch Company has maxi-mized the space by using a fewcritical vintage-style furniturepieces that are made to order.The vintage-style leather watchtrunk, studded with metal riv-ets, is made-to-order for Jaipur

Watch Company and holdswithin its red suede quiltedinteriors a host of Jaipur WatchCompany watches. The suedetrays can be pulled out toshowcase the timepieces. Thetrunk's cavernous interiors canhold at least 50 of our horo-logical innovations, besides ahost of brochures and otherparaphernalia linked to thebrand. On the door of thetrunk is a constantly runningfilm about the brand; it iscompletely mobile and can beshifted to the atrium of SelectCITYWALK for any events.

The watches rangeAn entire range of Jaipur

Watch Company watches ison display and sale at thestore – both pret and bespokegold watches. The brand hasalso introduced four uniquenew designs, which willshowcase its design andwatchmaking innovations.Among them, a limited edi-t ion watches with KingGeorge VI postal stamps inthree paisa denominations,which Mehta had bought atan exhibition of antique coinsand stamps in Mumbai.

Jaipur Watch Co opens its first retail store

PNS n NEW DELHI

Mobile phone maker Infinixon Wednesday said it is con-fident of clocking strong salesin the upcoming festive sea-son, and is strengthening itsportfolio to cash in on thedemand.

The company, whichunveiled its latest smartphone,plans to bring out two moredevices as well as earbudsahead of Diwali.

"We haven't seen a slow-down. Phones are a daily useitem and not a big ticket itemwhere people will delay pur-chase. Data consumption isgrowing and we are pretty con-fident of achieving our targetof 50-60 per cent growth insales this year," Infinix MobileCEO Anish Kapur told PTI.

He added that "growth ratesmay not be as high as previousquarters but the market isstill growing". Kapur saidInfinix is ensuring its lineup ofproducts remains strong andthe company - which focuss-es on the sub Rs 10,000 seg-ment - remains "positive"about the Indian market.

Reports suggest that growthin smartphone sales couldslow down in the second halfof the year despite the festiveseason that accounts for asignificant share of the sales.

Smartphone shipment inIndia registered 9.9 per centyear-on-year growth to 36.9million units in the June 2019quarter, as per research firmIDC. Xiaomi led the tally with28.3 per cent market share, fol-lowed by Samsung (25.3 percent), vivo (15.1 per cent),Oppo (9.7 per cent) andRealme (7.7 per cent), it hadsaid.

Infinix, part of China'sTranssion Holdings, competesagainst players like Xiaomi,Samsung and vivo in theIndian market.

According to IDC,Transsion Holdings - whichalso offers brands like itel andTECNO in India - had 4.5 percent share of the total smart-phone shipment in 2018 with6.4 million units.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid a deepening slowdownin the economy, power demandhas stood out, growing almost7 per cent on the back of theworld's largest new consumeraddition programme that hastaken electricity to almostevery doorstep.

In an interview with PTI,Power Minister R K Singh onWednesday said, "Now, we areat a stage where there is uni-versal access to electricity inIndia. We have left some hous-es in Chhattisgarh and somehamlets in Rajasthan and UttarPradesh. That has led to thisgrowth in electrical industrysector (manufacturing ofequipment)."

He also added that thosemaking things such as trans-

formers and conductors gotthe fillip and are growing at 6.9per cent. "Our power demandhas also grown at 6.7 per centin the last quarter (April-June) compared to previousquarter."

The minister was hopefulthat the power demand growthwould further rise as the gov-ernment is in the process of

taking steps to boost demand,which include bringing newtariff policy and second versionof UDAY scheme for revival ofdebt-laden power distributioncompany.

The minister also said,"(Under the Saubhagyascheme), there is a hugeexpansion of access in thepower sector. In the past 17-

18 months, we undertook thelargest-ever expansion ofaccess in the world. TheInternational Energy Agencyis saying this. We added 26.4million new electricity con-sumers in one go."

India's economic growthdipped to over six-year low of5 per cent in the April-Junequarter.

However, the electricity sec-tor showed robust growth.According to the latest datafrom the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP), electricityoutput grew 8.2 per cent inJune compared. The powergeneration growth was 7.2 percent in the April-June period inthe same period a year ago.

According to the IIP data,the overall industrial produc-tion growth was just two percent in June, while it was 3.6per cent in April-June. Besides,other sectors such as manu-facturing and mining grew ata meagre rate of 3.1 and 3 percent in the first quarter of thisfiscal. The minister stressedthat '24X7 Power for All' is pos-sible as the government isworking in that direction andtaking necessary steps.

The EIU said itsranking of 140cities is based ontheir scores in fivebroad categories --stability,healthcare, cultureand environment,education, andinfrastructure

NCLAT allowspromoters to regaincontrol of firms

The ruling may seta precedent thatwill haveramifications forcompanies willingto clear dues afterthey are admittedfor insolvencyresolution

The delegationheld meetingswith UnionTextiles MinisterSmriti Irani,Textiles SecretaryRavi Capoor andNiti Aayog ChiefExecutive OfficerAmitabh Kant onTuesday

Truecallercrosses150-m daily active usersPNS n NEW DELHI

Phone directory appTruecaller on Wednesday saidit has crossed 500 milliondownloads and surpassed 150million daily active users(DAUs) globally. The devel-opment comes close on theheels of the company - whichhas a significant number ofusers in India - attaining overone million paying subscribersto its premium services.

"This is a significantachievement for Truecaller,which is emerging as a one-stop communication plat-form with a wide array of ser-vices like Instant Messaging,VoIP, and Payments," a state-ment said. Alan Mamedi,CEO and co-founder ofTruecaller said, by differen-tiating itself from the stan-dard stock dialer and mes-saging apps, and solvingsome fundamental commu-nication problems for users,the company "has been ableto capitalise and excel thecompetition".

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Board of Trade (BoT) willseek views of various stake-holders such as governmentdepartments, states, exportersand industry members onSeptember 12 on ways to boostexports of goods and services,an official said.

The high-level board, a topadvisory body on externaltrade, is chaired by Commerceand Industry Minister PiyushGoyal. Issues about free tradeagreements and ways to con-tain non-essential imports toowould figure in the meeting,the official said.

The government has mergedthe Council of TradeDevelopment and Promotionwith the Board of Trade tobring greater coherence in the

consultation process with allstakeholders for promotingexports and imports.

The new board provides aplatform to states and unionterritories for articulating theirperspectives on trade policyand help states to develop andpursue export strategies inline with the national foreigntrade policy.

Besides, the forum advises

the government on policymeasures for preparation andimplementation of short andlong term plans.

It would also review exportperformances of various sec-tors, identify constraints andsuggest industry-specific mea-sures to optimise export earn-ings and to examine existinginstitutional framework forimports and exports.

NCLAT asks Jet Airways IRP tocooperate with Dutch Court

Infinix bankson strongfestive sales

Through the store, which will bemanned by a trained fashionprofessional, the customers will be ableto reach out to JWC if they want tweaksto the existing bespoke range or order acompletely customized watch

Board of Trade meet onSep 12 to boost exports

AMCHAM bats forfree-trade pactbetween India & US

R K Singh

The minister was hopeful that thepower demand growth wouldfurther rise as the government is inthe process of taking steps to boostdemand, which include bringingnew tariff policy and second versionof UDAY scheme for revival of debt-laden power distribution company

SLOWDOWN HAS NO BEARING ONPOWER SECTOR, GROWING AT 7%

New Delhi slips six notches inworld's most liveable cities

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ThursdaySeptember 5, 2019

B-Town’s Games of Thrones: VARUN DHAWAN & TIGER SHROFF:

WAITING IN THE WINGS

hat sets apart these twospirited youngsters froma host of others of theirgeneration is that, lookingat their overall filmogra-phy, you realise that both

are agreed upon the fact that in com-mercial cinema, it is the hysteria thatultimately counts. When it comes toaudience expectation, both theseyoung actors raise expectation of thegood old “paisa vasool” entertainer.What''s more, although both actorshave delivered a fair amount of box-office hits, they are still to be seriouscontenders to the throne yet.

At a time when many say the daysof superstars are over — that thenumbers game is all but gone —Varun and Tiger seek to defy thatcontention with a good dose of old-school glamour.

VARUN DHAWAN:SALMAN+GOVINDA+GEN-NOW SPUNK

Perhaps it has to do with the factthat he is the son of the phenomenalDavid Dhawan, but VarunDhawan’son-screen image in his mainstreamentertainers has always constantlyreminded of a mix of Salman Khan’shappy-go-lucky charmer andGovinda’s funnyman prankster.

Varun has consciously lent that mixhis own originality, with ample new-generation spunk.

Yet, Varun has managed to impresswith a couple of performances ofdepth, too — in Badlapur andOctober. These roles are perhaps anannouncement to rivals, fans andcritics alike: In an era when contentis fast dominating every other aspectof mainstream Bollywood cinema,Varun Dhawan is ready for the com-plex scripts, too. For everything else,being the old-school entertainer ofJudwaa 2 works just fine for him fornow. He needn’t experiment withmisplaced ambitions as Kalank, andhe will be on cruise mode.

TIGER SHROFF: FIGHT,DANCE; BE MACHO

He is a dream as long as he dancesand fights on the screen. The trou-ble starts the moment he utters hislines and tried to emote. TigerShroff ’s career is over five-years-oldnow. He has become a better dancerand a more invincible fighter. Thetrouble is there seems not muchmovement in the emoting aspect.

Look at the bright side. Despiterevealing limited histrionic talent,Tiger’s fan base has only grown withevery new release. Clearly, the young

audience likes him – which shouldbe enough for now.

Many industry watchers see a lotof AkshayKumar’s early years inTiger, owing to his dancing and stuntskills.

In his early years, Akshay, too, wasoften written off because of his dia-logue delivery and awkwardness

before the camera. Today, Akshay has scaled the

heights, as a superstar survivor whois counted among the industry’s mostrestrained actors. There’s a lessonover there for Tiger, if he mustemerge beyond being a traditionalcommercial star and survive a rapid-ly changing Bollywood. — IANS

Varun Dhawan and Tiger Shroff are twobudding stars, one of a kind. Together,

they could be the last of the industrykids whose primary ambition is

superstardom.

W

AT A TIME WHEN MANY SAY THE DAYS OFSUPERSTARS ARE OVER — THAT THE NUMBERSGAME IS ALL BUT GONE —VARUN AND TIGER SEEKTO DEFY THAT CONTENTION WITH A GOOD DOSE OFOLD-SCHOOL GLAMOUR

or over 38 years,Dastkar — theHyderabad NatureBazaar has exten-sively gathered themost authentic

handicrafts of the country inorder to expose visitors to a spe-cially curated collection of crafts.This year, the crafts of over 60people from all over the coun-try are on display at KammaSangham, Ameerpet.

Laila Tyabji, chairperson ofDastkar said, “It is an NGOestablished in 1981 that workstowards supporting traditionalIndian craftsmen and womenwith an objective of helpingthem regain their place econom-ically. Dastkar impacts the livesof over 1 lakh artisans every yearand is currently working withover 600 crafts groups acrossIndia. We strongly believe that

craft acts as a catalytic tool forsocial and economic empower-ment.” She added that Dastkar’srole is to help these craftsmenfind the opportunity, confi-dence and resources to becomeself-sufficient. Holding exhibi-tions and bazaars provide themwith much needed exposurewith regards to urban customersand enabling them to gaugetrends and customer demandsby themselves.

The products they sell everyyear are — meenakari jewellery,chanderi, khadi, kota and tussarweaves, ajrakh, dabu and indi-go block prints, golden grass andjute weaving, lacquer, wood,leather and glass work, lambaniand kantha embroidery, mad-hubani, phad and pichwai paint-ing, mangalgiri and kalamkari,ikat weaves, recycled products,appliqué, blue pottery and hand

painted ceramics, bandhani,organic cotton and many more.

She shares, “We have alwaysbrought together handicraftsfrom different places to ourbazaars. For Hyderabad, wehave a mix of about 60 differentcrafts from over 20 states.Dastkar bazaars are not only aplatform for craftsmen to selltheir products, but also a placefor them to interact directly withurban consumers and under-stand first-hand the preferences,taste and trends.” Dastkar organ-ises a special puppet show everyyear for their craftsmen on alldays of the bazaar.”

Vinod Bhatt, a puppeteerfrom Rajasthan narrates varioustales and performances using hispuppets while also making themavailable for everyone to pur-chase. When asked about howDastkar assists craftsmen, Laila

said, “Dastkar assists peoplethrough support service activi-ties such as capacity buildingworkshops, skills training, col-laborative design innovationand product development, help-ing them transform traditionalskills into products; therebyproviding craft communitieswith a source of permanentemployment and sustainedearning.”

Dastkar provides marketingplatforms to the craftsmen,thereby empowering the com-munity to bypass exploitativemiddlemen and directly operatein the markets. With theirefforts, artisans find the oppor-tunity, confidence and resourcesto become self-sufficient.

She informed that fromTelugu states, products likeChitrakari leather puppets, man-galgiri fabrics, sarees, dupattas

and kalamkari block printed fab-ric are on display. TheHyderabad Nature Bazaar is ontill September 8 at KammaSangam, Ameerpet between11am and 8 pm.Artisans and craftsmen are

generally not given as muchimportance as their products

and are often left in the lurch.Enter Dastkar, an NGO, alsoknown as Hyderabad Nature

Bazaar, are helping suchcraftsmen to regain their place

in the economic mainstream,finds V SATEEESH REDDY

F

BRINGING VALUE TO ARTISANS’ LIVES

We have always brought togetherhandicrafts from different places to ourbazaars. For Hyderabad, we have a mixof about 60 different crafts from over 20states. Dastkar bazaars are not only aplatform for craftsmen to sell theirproducts, but also a place for them tointeract directly with urban consumersand understand first-hand thepreferences, taste and trends

LAILA TYABJI, CHAIRPERSON OF DASTKAR

TIGE

R SH

ROFF

VARUN DHAWAN

PARTY

12

STUDENTS’DAY OUTIt was a moment to

cherish for studentsand guests who

attended the GraduationDay and Fresher’s Daycelebrations of RootsCollege recently. Studentsactively participated in theMr and Miss Freshercompetitions along withsome danceperformances. Some ofthe elite personalitieswere also spotted at the

event.

Hyderabad Thursday September 5, 2019

GADHA KAHINIl The play Gadha Kahini- The story of a Donkey,opens with fivestorytellers trying togather an audience fornarrating their stories andfinally agress upon tellingthe Story of a Donkey, together. September 15, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan

NATURE BAZAARl The eventoffer a widerange ofspeciallycuratedcollection of artsandcraftspeople.The event alsoenables aconversation between the visitors and theartistes.August 30 to September 8, 11 am to 8 pm,Kamma Sangham, Yella Reddy Guda.

l BP Padala and Siddhartha

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

FUN TIME

RUCKUS NIGHT 3.0lA three-hour non-stop comedy trip where weassure you all would be tripping because of laughter.Sightsavers' wishes to host a charity event whichthe entire funds raised shall be used in setting upvision centers across the nation equipped withquality eye care equipment made freely accessible toeveryone who needs it.September 7, 6 pm, Shilpakala Vedika, Madhapur.

THEATRESRIRAM - A STYLISED DANCE DRAMA

CITY GUIDE

MAIDANAM

CARNATIC 2.0lAfter the amazingresponse to Carnatic 2.0,we present to you a

reimagined version withnew exciting elementsand musical pieces.

Carnatic 2.0 Reloaded is the complete ElectroClassical Fusion experience, this time featuring VijayBaskar, Eva Rawat and Irfan Sheriff along withMahesh Raghvan, Shravan Sridhar, SharanyaSrinivas and Akshay Anantapadmanabhan.September 8, 8 pm, Moonshine Project

MUSIC

EXHIBITION

EMERGING PALETTES lA group art exhibition, aplatform for emergingartists to display their work.This is the 11th edition ofthe exhibition organised incollaboration with Goethe-Zentrum. From September 7to October 6 at Shrishti ArtGallery, Jubilee Hills.

COMEDY

SUNDEEP SHARMA LIVElSundeep Sharma is the"Brahman bro" of comedy.This Bareilly guy has atypical North Indianaccent and performsjokes with a desi flair. Heis a storyteller andincorporates social,political and generalissues in his comedy. Hismimicry of famousnational and international personalities only adds tohis hilariousness.September 14, 7 pm, Oakwood Residence Kapil,Gachibowli.

l One of the mostfamous and mostcontroversial ofChalam's novels, itdramatises his ideason marriage,freedom and themoral issuesinvolved in them.Rajeswari, is a young, frustrated housewife. It allstarts with her thorough disillusionment with hertradition-bound, unfeeling, emotionally sterilelawyer-husband who is given to treating her as apiece of property, as one who fulfills his sexualand social needs.September 7, 7.30 pm, Phoenix Arena, HITEC City.

lShriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra's magnumopus is based on the Indian epic Ramayana. Itwas first produced in 1957 as Ramlila. It hasbeen staged for the last 65 years and hastravelled to many countries. The troupecomprises of 20 artistes.September 14, 7 pm, Shilpakala Vedika

ARTS AAND CCRAFTS

what’s brewing?

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

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enior actress Jayasudha will be felicitat-ed with the title Abinaya Mayuri by TSRLalithakala Parishath at an event inVisakhapatnam on September 17.Announcing this at a recent media meet,TSR Lalithakala Parishath chairman T

Subbarami Reddy said, Jayasudha is a wonderfulactress whose career spanned 46 years. “Artists like

Jamuna, Vanisree, Sarada, Jayaprada, Krishnam Rajuand Mohan Babu among others will be gracing the event,”

he said. He lamented the fact that NTR and ANR would col-lect whatever awards they were chosen for unlike the currentgeneration, which simply doesn’t turn up.

Jayasudha said awards are a reflection of one’s work andsome awards make her happy. “Both the Telugu states havesidelined Nandi awards. How can they forget artistes? Weattend the social events that the governments convene. Ibelieve the governments should recognise and give usawards, which will help the new generation to realise itsvalue. However, irrespective of who gives us awards,Subbarami Reddy garu for the past two decades is reward-ing us. It’s a great thing for him to do,” the actress said.

ensing a delay in VFX delivery to

him, filmmaker SS Rajamouli has

decided to complete major action

sequences that his RRR, starring

Jr NTR and Ram Charan, boasts

off to begin with. It is the reason

why he started the shoot with an action

block last year and filmed some more till

now in specially erected sets in Hyderabad.

In fact, in the Bulgaria schedule which is on

now, he is shooting a massive action block

on NTR. These action sequences need a lot

of VFX incorporated into them. Rajamouli

has given precedence to them so that he can

send the sequences to the VFX companies

who need at least five to six months to

deliver quality output.

That way there won’t be any hindrance

with the release date of July 30, 2020. He

has employed a similar strategy with

Baahubali: The Conclusion. In fact, after the

Bulgaria schedule, another action piece will

be shot in Hyderabad with all the lead cast

participating. The director is planning to

complete all the action scenes by October-

end or November and dispatch the edited

footage to VFX companies,” said a source.

Being made on a budget of Rs 400 crore

by producer DVV Danayya, RRR, set in

early 1920s, is a fictional story based on two

real-life heroes and freedom fighters —

Alluri Seetharama Raju and Komaram

Bheem. Tarak is playing the younger

Bheem, while Charan will be seen as

younger Ramaraju. The likes of Ajay Devgn,

Alia Bhatt and P Samuthirankani will be

seen in significant roles.

S

Action first onRajamouli'sitinerary first

Hyderabad Thursday September 5, 2019

13

tollywood

As Ravi Teja failed to allocate his dates despite waiting for three months, the directorhas decided to no longer take the film to sets with him, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

h e nRX 100director AjayBhupathi post-ed the cryptictweet ‘Cheap

Star’ on his Twitter pagerecently, speculations were

rife that it was directedtowards Ravi Teja. The actorhad agreed to spearheadthe director’s second film

Mahasamudram, a love storyset in the backdrop of smug-gling, but failed to allocate hisdates. A little digging told us thedirector had enough of hangingaround for the actor and decid-ed to no longer take the film tosets with him.

A source privy to the develop-ment told us, “It was in April that

Ajay pitched the story ofMahasamudram to Ravi Teja,

who was blown away by itand asked the former to

start it from June-end.Nonetheless, Junebecame August and

August becameSeptember. The wait

went on and onmuch to the dis-appointment ofA j a y .Me a nw h i l e ,

Ravi asked the director to proceed with thecasting of other actors, which Ajay did by

roping in the likes of Siddarth and Aditi RaoHydari, while he failed to reveal what he willcharge. Simultaneously, he was in discussionsfor other projects. He met Ajay close to 50times in the past five months and even praisedthe director’s clarity towards his craft. But veryrecently, he asked Ajay to narrate the film’sstory to a writer of comedy show Jabardasthand his make-up man. The director was vis-ibly upset over this. When he asked why, theactor told that he has some doubts over script.When Ajay pressed further what he was doingin the past five months, he had no answer. Heliterally resorted to drama. No star after agree-ing to a project will express creative concernsover it days before it goes in front of the cam-eras. Which is why, Ajay labeled him as acheap star.”

The source continued, “Ravi is a star whoshould ideally have a big heart and see thatnewcomers are encouraged. Ajay’s valuabletime has been wasted by him. In fact, it wasRavi who sent the co-director to Ajay forscheduling the film. The director zeroed inon the locations and everything was set forthe shoot but the actor wouldn’t give his datesor talk about his payment. He did the samewith Kandireega director Santosh Srinivas,who after waiting for more than a year forthe actor’s dates, finally takes a film to floors.Turns out, after 10 days of shoot, the actordevelops cold feet about the project anddecides to shelve it. Imagine the trauma thatSantosh must’ve gone through? Disco Raja

too had to go through its share of woes beforegoing to sets. In fact, Gopichand Malineni,who will be teaming up with Ravi again, hasbeen told to cast other actors, while Ravi isyet to discuss his pay structure. The actorbelieves that if he talks about his remuner-ation days before the project, the produceris left with no other option but to meet hisdemands-even if it’s a couple of crores morethan what he usually charges, because theshoot is around the corner. This attitude ofRavi is highly deplorable and doesn’t befit theimage of a star who commands a sizeable fanfollowing and is also a role model of sorts foryoung aspirants who want to make it on theirown in the industry. He simply just can’t playwith the lives of other people while he hap-pily shoots for other films and earns incrores.”

What irked Ajay the most, according to thesource, was that Ravi was leaking news thathe opted out of the project after Ajay failedto make some corrections to the script thathe proposed, when it was the other wayaround. “Nobody questioned Ravi’s ways tillnow but Ajay is not the one to back off aslong as he believes he is morally and ethical-ly on the right side. The director believes withthis episode spiraling out of control, the actoris bound to mend his ways,” noted the source.

The director, without getting into details,told us when we reached out to him, “I’vedecided not to direct Mahasamudram withRavi Teja some 10 days ago. I will be mak-ing it with someone else. Gemini Kiran willstill be producing it.”

W

AJAY BHUPATHI CALLSOFF MAHASAMUDRAM

WITH RAVI TEJA

ith the allocations of flats at ChitrapuriColony seeing multiple irregularities,Janasena founder Pawan Kalyan has assuredthat he will stand by the 24 crafts workers ofthe film industry who failed to get houses.Speaking to Chitrapuri Sadhana Samithi

members who are fighting for what rightfully belongsto them in the colony on Wednesday at his party office

in Hyderabad, Pawan said he will be speaking to NShankar, Thammareddy Bharadwaj and P VenkateshwaraRao in this matter. “The dream of owning a house shouldbe met by the workers of the 24 unions at any cost. I amassuring you that I will support you,” the actor-turned-politician said addressing the group. He also appoint-ed Shankar Goud and Mahendar Reddy to be availablefor the Sadhana Samithi.

Pawan supports ChitrapuriSADHANA SAMITHI

W

S

DEARCOMRADEspecial screening

in Mumbaimerican internet video on demand service,Amazon Prime Video, has hosted a specialscreening of Dear Comrade movie inMumbai recently.

Vijay Deverakonda and RashmikaMandanna have attended the screening

along with a few other Bollywood celebrities and crit-ics.

Dear Comrade is an emotional love story whereVijay was seen playing the role of a student whileRashmika was seen as a budding cricketer.

The film was directed by Bharat Kamma and pro-duced by Mythri Movie Makers and Big Ben Cinemasbanners.

A

Jayasudha tobe felicitated

by TSR

SRIDEVI'SWAX STATUE UNVEILED

AT MADAME TUSSAUDS

f sources in the Salman

Khan camp are to be

believed, the superstar

is now seriously think-

ing of postponing his

home production

Dabangg 3 to Eid 2020. The film is

all set for a December 20, 2019

release as of now.

With Kick 2 producer-director

Sajid Nadiadwala openly denying

reports that his film will be ready

for release on Eid next year, choic-

es have gradually narrowed down

for Salman when it comes to

delivering fans the cinematic Eid

treat he recently promised in a

tweet.“It is a serious thought, and one

which Dabangg 3 director

Prabhudheva has been asked to

consider,” said the source.

For those who came in late,

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Inshallah,

starring Salman with Alia Bhatt,

was originally being lined up for

Eid 2020. After the film was

shelved, Salman sent out a cryptic

tweet, “Itna mat sochna mere

baare mein, Dil mein aata hoon..

aur Eid pe bhi (Don’t worry about

me, I reside in your hearts.. and

arrive on Eid, too) (sic).”

The line took off from a dia-

logue in Salman’s dialogue in his

2014 Eid blockbuster, Kick, which

went, “Mere baare mein itna mat

sochna, dil mein aata hoon, samajh

mein nahi (Don’t worry about me,

I reside in your hearts but you

can’t figure me out).”

This led to speculations that

Salman would release Kick 2 on

Eid 2020, following Inshallah

being shleved.

Having committed himself to

being in theatres on Eid next

year, Salman finds himself in a

quandary. After all, Bhai ke izzat

ka sawaal hai. And didn’t he

mouth those prophetic lines in

Prabhudheva’s Wanted all those

years ago? “Ek baar jo maine

commitment kar di, toh phir

main khudki bhi nahi sunta.”

ate actress Sridevi’s wax statue was unveiled at

Madame Tussauds here on Wednesday.

The ceremony was attended by the late

actress’s husband Boney Kapoor and their

daughters, Janhvi and Khushi. The statue is a

replica of Sridevi’s iconic look in the popular

Hindi song Hawa hawai... from the 1987 superhit, Mr

India.A video shared by a fan going by the handle @allthatis-

shals shows Boney giving a short speech on the occasion. At

one point, he nearly breaks down while talking of Sridevi.

Sridevi and Boney were married for over two decades.

Days before the unveiling, Boney had tweeted, “Sridevi lives

forever in not just our hearts but also in the hearts of millions of

her fans. Eagerly waiting to watch the unveiling of her figure at

Madam Tussauds, Singapore on September 4, 2019.

#SrideviLivesForever (sic).”

Superstar Sridevi reigned the Bollywood box-office in the eighties.

She passed away on February 24, 2018, by accidentally drowning in a

bathtub at a Dubai hotel.

appers T.I. andChance theRapper havetrolled Grammy-winning musicianCardi B over her

driving skills.Chance was the first to

troll Cardi, quote-retweetinga post that made fun of herdriving skills after a teaser forher upcoming show “Rhythm+ Flow” made its way online.

“(Chance the Rapper) isholding on for his life,” wrotea user along with a photo-graph of the “Bodak Yellow”rapper driving a golf cart,while Chance and T.I. sat onthe passenger seats.

Commenting on the post,the Chance the Rapper wrote,“She can’t drive,” adding acouple of face with head-ban-dage emojis.

Cardi replied: “But did youdie?”

Finding the whole conver-sation funny, T.I. shared ascreenshot of it on hisInstagram account and cap-tioned it, “My face says it all!”

Cardi has been open abouther inability to drive in sever-al interviews.

Late last year,when sheappeared onCarpoolKaraoke,

she was asked about herpoint of having numerouscars when she couldn’t drive.She answered, “To take pic-tures with.”

This made Corden teachher the basics of the road, butit turned chaotic instead.

During the lesson, she hitone of the multiple camerasset up around the parking lotand seemingly mistook thegas pedal for the break.

Following the episode, alocal driving school named

Driven2Drive posted abillboard that read,

“We’ll help you drive,B... Okurrr!?”

ctor Priyanka Chopra will becollaborating with actorRajkummar Rao for the firsttime on Netflix’s upcoming filmThe White Tiger.

Adapted from AravindAdiga’s prize-winning novel by the samename, The White Tiger, will also featuredebutante Adarsh Gourav. Thefilm to be helmed by RaminBahrani, will begin shootingin India later this year.Priyanka andRajkummar will beseen in pivotal roles.

“I’m so excited towork with RaminBahrani and Netflix tobring Aravind Adiga’spoignant story to cine-matic life. When I readthe book, I was fascinatedwith the perspective of thenarrative,” Priyanka said.

“The story’s portrayal ofraw ambition and theextent one will go toachieve one’s goals is riv-eting. I look forward tofilming this in India thisfall, and also workingalong with Rajkummarfor the first time and thewonderful cast Ramin isputting together,” theactress further said.

To this, Rajkummaradded, “It’s an excitingtime for actors todayand I’m thrilled to be apart of such a world-class project. I’ve beenan admirer of Ramin’swork and am excitedto see The White Tigercome to life.”

Netflix is produc-ing The White Tiger inassociation with MukulDeora. Bahrani is alsowriting the screenplay.Priyanka will serve as theexecutive producer.

The White Tiger follows the extraordinary journey of a self-made man fromtea-shop worker in a vil-lage to successful entre-preneur in a big city.

“I have wanted tomake a film of AravindAdiga’s brilliant novelThe White Tigerforover a decade. I amgrateful to have theopportunity to workwith Mukul Deora,Netflix and such anincredible cast on this project,” saidBahrani.

R

A

Hyderabad Thursday September 5, 2019

14

celeb talks

ARIANA GRANDESUES FOREVER 21

he singer filed a

suit against both

the clothing com-

pany and spinoff

beauty brand

Riley Rose,

alleging they “stole” the

singer’s “name, likeness and

other intellectual property

to promote their brands for

free.”In the suit, obtained by

CNN, Grande’s legal team

alleges the clothing compa-

ny sought out an endorse-

ment deal with Grande in

late 2018 and early 2019, but

the request was “explicitly

declined due to Forever 21's

unwillingness to pay the fair

market value for a celebrity

of Ms Grande’s stature.”

The documents allege

Forever 21 and Riley Rose

published at least 30 unau-

thorised images and videos

“misappropriating Ms

Grande's name, image, like-

ness and music in order to

create the false perception

of her endorsement.”

The suit includes screen-

shots from Forever 21’s

Instagram that show stills

from Grande’s work being

used to promote the Forever

21 brand, as well as adver-

tisements featuring what the

suit calls a “look-alike

model,” who has a hairstyle

and clothes similar to those

seen in Grande’s music

video for her song 7 Rings.

Some captions also fea-

tured lyrics from Grande’s

song, the suit says.

The images showcased in

the lawsuit no longer appear

to be on Forever 21’s

Instagram, Twitter or

Facebook pages.

The suit claims Forever

21 left some of the unautho-

rized posts up until at least

April 17, 2019, despite

requests beginning in

February that all of them be

removed.Grande is seeking $10

million in damages for

copyright infringement,

common law trademark

infringement and other

alleged offenses.

In an email to CNN,

Forever 21 said, “Forever 21

does not comment on

pending litigation as per

company policy. That said,

while we dispute the allega-

tions, we are huge support-

ers of Ariana Grande and

have worked with her

licensing company over the

past two years. We are

hopeful that we will find a

mutually agreeable resolu-

tion and can continue to

work together in the

future.”

T

JAMES GUNN'S THE SUICIDE SQUAD

ROPES IN PETER CAPALDIt appears that James Gunn’s

The Suicide Squad has

become the new Denis

Villeneuve’s Dune, which

itself was the new Quentin

Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in

Hollywood, a.k.a. the massively

stacked project that pops out a new

casting announcement every day

that ends with a Y. Today, Gunn

pulled a new actor from the cos-

mos, as former Doctor Who star

Peter Capaldi joins the project in an

undisclosed role. Deadline also

reports that Saturday Night Live

breakout and alleged large-dong-

haver Pete Davidson is in talks for a

cameo role, that he’ll most likely

shoot “between breaks on Saturday

Night Live.”The Suicide Squad is set to be

Gunn’s not-quite-a-sequel, not-

quite-a-reboot successor to David

Ayer’s 2016 film Suicide Squad, one

of the largest critical failures of

Warner Bros. initial DCEU era. Not

much is known about the film’s

plot, but Gunn is tackling the pro-

ject right now before he heads to

the other side of the comic book

fence to film Guardians of the

Galaxy Vol. 3.

Confirmed to return are Margot

Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola

Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel

Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, and Jai

Courtney as Captain Boomerang.

Joining the cast are Steve Agee as

King Shark, David Dastmalchian as

Poka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as

Ratcatcher, and Idris Elba, Flula

Borg, Nathan Fillion, and Taika

Waititi in undisclosed roles.

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to

hit theaters across the world on

August 6, 2021.

I

T.I., CHANCE THE RAPPERTROLL CARDI B OVER DRIVING

PRIYANKA CHOPRA,

RAJKUMMAR RAO TO STAR IN NETFLIX

ADAPTATION OF ‘THE WHITE TIGER'

L

I

WILL SALMAN PUSH

DABANGG 3 TO EID 2020?

PTI n BENGALURU

Naveen Kumar dished out asuperlative performance as

Dabang Delhi beat Jaipur PinkPanthers 46-44 in a Pro KabaddiLeague match at the SreeKanteevaraStadium here on Wednesday.

The raider picked up 16 points,including a record-setting 10th consec-utive Super 10, as the Delhi sideovercame a stiff challenge from JaipurPink Panthers to consolidate theirposition on top of the points table.

The first half of the match sawboth teams trade major blows. TheDelhi unit had a dream start to thematch when their raider Chandran

Ranjit pulled off a 5-point raid in thesecond minute of the match to severe-ly reduce the Jaipur men on the mat.

The Pink Panthers, who wentinto the game on the back of a three-match losing streak, looked clueless asa dominant Delhi side inflicted the firstAll-Out of the match in the fourthminute.

Jaipur didn't take the All-Outlightly though and captain DeepakNiwas Hooda initiated a comebackwith some strong raids.

Nitin Rawal picked up a five-pointraid in the 12th minute to clean up theDelhi players and force an All-Out onthe table toppers. The closely-foughtfirst half ended with Dabang Delhileading by two points (21-19).

The second half, much like thefirst, started with the Delhi side on thefront foot. But Sachin Narwal pro-duced an important two-point raidthat saved the Pink Panthers from anAll-Out and handed the momentumto the Season one winners.

Elavarasan produced two mightySuper Tackles as the Pink Panthersstarted moving into a lead and theJaipur team inflicted another All-Outon Delhi in the 12th minute of the sec-ond half to make the scores 35-29 intheir favour.

The incredible Naveen Kumar,however, kept the Delhi side in thegame, clinching his 10th consecutiveSuper 10 with five minutes remaining.

A three-point raid by Delhi's Vijayin the dying minutes made it a closeaffair. And not surprisingly it was thetable-toppers who held their nerves topick a final minute All-out that pushedthem to a 2-point lead which provedenough for a win.

sport 15HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

AFP n PARIS

Euro 2020 qualifyingresumes today with sever-

al of the biggest teams such asworld champions Francesporting a changed look forthe new season, in some casesnot by choice.

Less than a month into thenew European season, Francehave been particularly hard hitby injuries ahead of homematches against Albania onSaturday and Andorra nextTuesday in Group H.

They will be without fourmembers of their 2018 WorldCup-winning squad — PaulPogba, N’Golo Kante, KylianMbappe and OusmaneDembele — as well as emerg-ing stars Aymeric Laporte andTanguy Ndombele.

Coach Didier Deschampsblamed football’s “crazy sched-ules”, saying he always expectsto lose players, but this wasexceptional.

“At one time it is one ofthem, at another time it isanother,” Deschamps said,before adding: “Now I’m nothiding from you that I have alot of them at the same timeand I could have done withoutthat.”

While Group H is one of

the tightest, with France,Turkey and Iceland level at thetop in the pursuit of one of twoqualifying berths, Deschampsfaces Albania and thenAndorra at home. The real testwill come in October whenFrance travel to Iceland andthen host Turkey, who beat LesBleus 2-0 in Konya in June.

The heavyweight clash inthis batch of games pitsGermany against theNetherlands in Hamburg onFriday in Group C.

It will be the third meet-ing of the old rivals in lessthan a year.

The Dutch thrashed the

Germans 3-0 in the NationsLeague in Amsterdam lastOctober, with Virgil van Dijkscoring once. In Schalke inNovember, the Liverpooldefender’s 90th minuteequaliser put the Dutchthrough to the finals of thatcompetition in Portugal.

Back in Amsterdam inMarch, Germany won a Euroqualifying match 3-2, with a90th minute goal.

This time Germany willbe without Leroy Sane, whoscored in the last two encoun-ters.

Victor y would putGermany, who have won all

three of their games, ninepoints clear of the Dutch. Butthere is another perfect teamin the group. SurprisingNorthern Ireland, who havewon all four of their games,host Germany in Belfast onMonday.

Most teams will pass thehalfway point in their sched-ules over the next week.Poland, Belgium, Italy andSpain, all in six-nation groups,are also perfect after fourmatches. England, in a five-team group, have won the twogames they have played.

For Spain, the change is atcoach, with Roberto Moreno,a career assistant, confirmedas head coach. He took overon an interim basis whenLuis Enrique quit in Marchbecause his daughter Xanawas ill. She died, aged nine,last week.

Spain, another team tohave won all four games, takeon Romania in Bucharest inGroup F today. Moreno saidhe os worried his players“might think we think we aresuperior.”

England also have a per-fect record after four gamesand are at home to Bulgaria onSaturday and minnowsKosovo on Tuesday withcoach Gareth Southgatefocused on building squaddepth.

“We have got a depth oftalent now because we haveapproached it slightly differ-ently to look at younger play-ers,” said Southgate, afteradding youngsters JamesMaddison, Mason Mount andAaron Wan-Bissaka to hissquad.

“We can’t stand still andthere are young players com-ing through,” Southgate said.“We need to start integratingthem.” Southgate’s plans hit aninjury bump on Tuesday whenManchester United defenderWan-Bissaka had to drop out.

PTI n NEW DELHI

PV Sindhu’s demolition ofJapan’s Nozomi Okuhara in

the World Championship finalwas “perfect execution” of astrategy which included puttinga halt to the Indian ace’s tenden-cy to be repetitive, says thecountry’s foreign badmintoncoach Kim Ji Hyun.

Kim, a former South Koreainternational and coach, sat bythe courtside as Sindhu thrashed2017 champion Okuhara 21-7,21-7 in one of the most lop-sidedfinals in the history of the tour-nament to lift her maiden WorldChampionships title in a thirdstraight attempt.

“Perfect execution! I was sohappy (with) how she played!”Kim, who joined the Indiancoaching set-up in March thisyear, was quoted as saying byBadminton World Federation(BWF).

“I mean, yeah! That’s theway I play when I play againsther. I feel over the moon becausewe did it!”

Kim, who changed hername to Ji Hyun Marr, but is bet-ter known worldwide by hermaiden name, was handed theresponsibility to sharpen theskills of former world No 2Sindhu with the WorldChampionships and Olympicsin mind.

“I got the job offer and Idecided to go. Five months later,we’ve got a world champion inSindhu!,” said Kim, who wasamong the coaches sacked lastSeptember by the BadmintonKorea Association for thenational team’s failure to winmedals at the Jakarta AsianGames.

“She had more individualtraining. We worked on her netskills and deception for hours.Everyone knows she’s a great

player but she was doing thesame things over and over inmatches,” said Kim, who is in the20th year of her coaching career.

“To change your ways, youhave to see them. I video-tapedher and then I stopped the rallyand asked her which shot she’sgoing to hit,” explained Kim,adding that they also worked onher “anticipation and beingready for the follow-up shot”.

Sindhu, who had undergonerigorous training under Kimahead of the WorldChampionships, heaped praiseon her Korean coach.

“It has been good. I amhappy with my performance.With Kim, I have a good com-munication,” Sindhu said.

“She pointed out a few mis-takes that I was doing at the net,and overall, so I had to improveon that aspect. Her mindset andthinking is different and shemotivates me a lot.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Indian men’s hockey team will openits campaign in the FIH Pro League

against the Netherlands at home in Januarynext year.

According to the schedule of the FIHPro League season 2 released onWednesday, India, who pulled out of theinaugural edition of the tournament, willplay the Dutch side on January 18 and 19next year.

India will then host world championsBelgium on February 8 and 9 followed bytwo more home fixtures against Australiaon February 22 and 23.

The Indian team will then leave for theaway games in Germany (April 25 and 26)and Great Britain (May 2 and 3).

India will return to play on home soilon May 23 and 24 against New Zealandbefore travelling to Argentina to play onJune 5 and 6.

India will play the last leg of the ProLeague round-robin matches in Spain on

June 13 and 14.India will play a total of eight home

games with six matches in January andFebruary and two games in May.

Indian men’s hockey team captainManpreet Singh expressed his team’s excite-ment following the announcement of theschedule.

“We are really excited to begin our firstFIH Pro League campaign on home soil inJanuary. The league provides a great oppor-tunity to play against top teams in the worldand we expect all the matches to be chal-lenging,” he said.

“I am sure playing continuous top-levelmatches will be beneficial in the all-impor-tant Olympic year and this could also meangood match exposure for all players in thecore group,” added Manpreet.

India’s chief coach Graham Reidemphasised on the importance of regularexposures against top teams ahead of theTokyo Olympics.

“We are very excited about theprospects of playing in the Pro League nextyear. Having experienced it first-hand, Iknow how important it is to have regularcompetition.

“To play against the best teams in theworld and test the depth of this talentedyoung squad will be ideal preparation forthe Tokyo Olympics should we qualify inNovember,” he said.

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Shikhar Dhawan’s fluencystood out before rain

pushed the fourth unofficialODI between India ‘A’ andSouth Africa ‘A’ to Thursday.

With nine wickets inhand, the hosts will look toknock off the 137 runsrequired in 17.2 overs fortheir fourth successive win.

India ‘A’ were 56 for 1 in7.4 overs with Dhawan (34)and Prashant Chopra (6) atthe crease when the skiesopened up.

The India opener strucksix boundaries during his 21-ball unbeaten knock.

After a stuttering start,Dhawan found his touch andhit some superb shots throughthe off-side.

Earlier, sent in to bat bythe home team captainShreyas Iyer, South Africa ‘A’made 137 for one in 25 oversin a rain-affected game.

After play started late,heavy showers forced theplayers indoors with the vis-itors at 108 for one in 22overs.

The game was thenreduced to a 25 overs-a-sideaffair and SA ‘A’ added 29more runs. The revised targetfor India A was 193 in 25overs.

Heinrich Klaasen’s (21)late assault and ReezaHendricks (60) helped thevisiting team to finish with aflourish.Brief scores: South Africa ‘A’137 for 1 in 25 overs (ReezaHendricks 60, MatthewBreetzke 25, Heinrich Klaasen21 not out, Rahul Chahar1/18) vs India ‘A’ 56 for 1 in7.4 overs (S Dhawan 34 bat-ting).

The seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League has beenfantastic for the Haryana Steelers. The team has gelled

well during the course of the tournament and the resultsare there to be seen. We didn't get off to a great start, butit has been very heartening to see the way we have bouncedback. We never got bogged down with our situation in thestandings and continued to improve on our game after everymatch.

The youngsters such as Vinay and Sunil have been amajor powerhouse for us. The young players bought byHaryana Steelers this season have been incredible. There aremany young stars who are rising in the Pro Kabaddi League.We strategized well during the auctions and the players haveresponded during the league. Vinay has carried out somestupendous raids and Sunil has been the best defender forHaryana along with our captain Dharmaraj Cheralathan.Sunil has scored 23 points in 9 matches while Dharmarajhas notched 23 points in 11 matches.

All the youngsters have played their part according tothe role for which our team acquired the players. They haveadhered to their responsibilities. All the pressure of the teamis taken by the senior players so that the youngsters can playwith a free mind and pick up crucial points for the side. Theyhave executed each plan made for them brilliantly. We canmake plans, but the execution is the key for any team. Andthe youngsters have stepped up to the plate on most occa-sions throughout the season.

All the Haryana players are tackling each and every sit-uation like a family. Whenever the young guns want toimprove on something, they go and ask the senior playersfor help. They are getting a chance to learn new techniquesfrom the senior players and they are also motivated to per-form each time they step on the mat.

The Pro Kabaddi League is a great platform for allyoungsters. They have got recognition due to the compe-tition. If they ustilise the opportunities at the right age, thenthey set a good platform for their careers in kabaddi. Goingforward, they can have achieve their goals for their PKL teamand brings laurels to the country as well.

I have improved a lot throughout the season. With eachmatch, I have worked on a certain areas after analyzing mymistakes. It's been great to play with an experienced play-er like Dharmaraj Cheralathan. He has played from the firstseason of PKL and the experience he has shared with us hasbeen very valuable. It's good for the team that we have aleader like Dharmaraj, who motivates us and helps usimmensely while working out strategies.

The team has been playing well this season, but we haveto perform even better. I have had a great time being partof this team. The side's atmosphere is fantastic and we hopeto keep improving on our game as the season progresses.

(The writer plays as defender, right cover for HaryanaSteelers in Pro Kabaddi League season 7)

AFP n OLD TRAFFORD (MANCHESTER)

Steve Smith marked his Testreturn after suffering con-cussion by helping

Australia recover from the earlyloss of their openers on the firstday of the fourth Ashes Test atOld Trafford on Wednesday.

Australia were 98-2 off 26overs at lunch after StuartBroad’s double strike, whichincluded David Warner’s exitfor a duck, reduced them to 28-2.

Marnus Labuschagne was49 not out and on the verge ofhis fourth successive Test fiftysince coming in as Smith’s con-cussion substitute.

Smith, felled by a 92 miles-per-hour (148 kph) JofraArcher bouncer in the drawnsecond Test at Lord’s, was 28not out after adding an unbro-ken 70 for the third wicket withLabuschagne.

Ashes-holders Australiawere looking to bounce backfrom a stunning one-wicketdefeat in the third Test atHeadingley where Ben Stokes’s135 not out saw England squarethe five-match series at 1-1.

Australia captain Tim Painetook the bold decision to batfirst after winning the toss, eventhough both top orders havestruggled this Ashes.

But just four balls into theinnings Broad, again leadingEngland’s attack in the ongoingabsence of regular new-ballpartner James Anderson, hadWarner caught behind fornought as he tried to withdrawhis bat — a carbon copy of oneof the left-hander’s dismissalsearlier this series.

It was the fifth time Broadhad snared Warner this series.

Marcus Harris had kepthis place alongside Warner at

the top of the order afterAustralia dropped the strug-gling Usman Khawaja.

But the left-hander fell for13 when Broad trapped himlbw from around the wicketwith a ball that nipped back.

Kumar Dharmasena even-tually responded to Broad’sprolonged appeal by raisinghis finger, with his decision

upheld on umpire’s call afterHarris’s review, leavingAustralia in trouble at 28-2.

Harris’s exit brought Smithto the crease for his first Testinnings since Lord’s, a matchwhere he made 92 despite beingstruck by Archer.

Smith, who had scored 144and 142 in Australia’s 251-runwin in the series opener at

Edgbaston — his first Testsince a 12-month ball-tamper-ing ban — left his first ball,from Archer.

But Smith, top of the worldTest batting rankings, got offthe mark fifth ball by expertlydriving Archer through extra-cover for four.

All-rounder Stokes did cutone back sharply to

Labuschagne but England’sreview of Marais Erasmus’s notout lbw decision foundered onumpire’s call.

Smith was soon back in theold routine, pulling Stokes forfour, with Labuschagne square-driving fast bowler CraigOverton, the only change toEngland’s side, for his eighthboundary.

Haryana Steelers players’ attempt to successfully catch opposition raiderduring Pro Kabaddi League season 7 match

Heartening to seeyoungsters makemajor contributions

Aus recover after double joltSmith, Labuschagne add 116 runs for 3rd wicket to lead visitors fightback

Dhawanshines forIndia A

Australia's Marnus Labuschagne, left, and Steve Smith take a run during day one of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford in Manchester AP

Kim hails Sindhu’s perfect performance

India to face Dutch in Pro League opener

Euros resume with reshuffled cast

The Pink Panthers,who went into the

game on the back of athree-match losing

streak, looked cluelessas a dominant Delhi

side inflicted the firstAll-Out of the match in

the fourth minute

Delhi maintains lead on top in PKL

PTI n GUWAHATI

India will again look up to the talisman-ic Sunil Chhetri when they open their

2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers againstOman here today in coach Igor Stimac’sbiggest test so far.

A member of the Croatian team thatreached the semifinals of the 1998 WorldCup, Stimac is undoubtedly one of themost high-profile names to have man-aged India, but the start hasn’t beenimpressive.

A third-place finish in the King’s Cupin Thailand was followed by an uninspir-ing outing in the Intercontinental Cup athome where Stimac experimented.

The task is only going to get tougherin the coming months and the Croat isaware of the challenges facing his cur-rently 103-ranked side.

He has acknowledged that Oman,along with Qatar, are the two strongfavourites in the group.

“Realistically, Qatar and Oman arethe favourites in our group. We havenever won an official (World Cup qual-ifying) match against either of them. So

it’s not going to be easy at all. InGuwahati we are going to give everythingon the pitch, aiming to win it,” Stimacsaid.

Being clubbed with 2022 WorldCup hosts in the Asian qualifiers secondround helps as a second-place finishbehind Qatar will see India in the thirdqualifying round.

That is why the two home and awaymatches against the 87-ranked side,starting with the one at the IndiraGandhi Athletic Stadium, assume signif-icance.

The hosts were dealt a blow daysbefore the opening match with youngmid-fielder Amarjit Singh Kiyam beingruled out due to an injury.

The 18-year-old, who captainedIndia in the U-17 World Cup at hometwo years ago, was the only player whofeatured in all five matches since Stimac’sappointment.

His absence in front of the defence,where Sandesh Jhingan is looking for astrong ally, will be missed.

Jhingan is set to have Rahul Bhekeas partner with Pritam Kotal on the rightand Subhasish Bose on the left.

The ever-dependable Udanta Singh

will man the mid-field alongside theyoung Sahal Abdul Samad, AnirudhThapa and Lallianzuala Chhangte.

With Stimac preferring a 4-2-3-1 for-mation instead of his predecessorStephen Constantine’s 4-4-2, the 35-year-old Chhetri is set to be the lone man

upfront with Ashique Kuruniyan playingbehind one of international football’sleading scorers.

Like India, Oman also have a newmanager in Dutchman Erwin Koeman,who took his players to Germany for athree-week conditioning camp whileplaying local sides.

The 34-year-old mid-fielder AhmedKano will be a vital cog in the team thatreached the Round of 16 in the AsianCup earlier this year.

Koeman has also called up youngstriker Arshad Al Alawi, who was one ofthe standout stars of the 2016 AFCUnder-16 Championships.

The visitors’ mid-field will be mar-shalled by Ahmed Mubarak and IbrahimSaleh, with Mohammed Al-Ghassiniplaying upfront.

India lost both their matches againstOman at the same stage during the qual-ification for the 2018 World Cup.

sport 16HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

AFP n NEW YORK

Grigor Dimitrov ralliedfor a shocking upset of20-time Grand Slam

champion Roger Federer at theUS Open on Tuesday, the low-est-ranked New York semi-finalist in 28 years advancing toface Daniil Medvedev.

The 78th-ranked Bulgarian,who had dropped all sevenprior meetings with Federer,made a dramatic fightback todefeat the Swiss third seed 3-6,6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 at Arthur AsheStadium and will face Russianfifth seed Medvedev in Friday’ssemis.

“I’m just happy,” Dimitrovsaid. “The only thing I wastelling myself was to stay in thematch. Physically I was feelingpretty good. I was hitting someshots against him that werehard to hit.”

Dimitrov reached his firstUS Open semi-final to matchthe deepest Slam runs of hiscareer from Wimbledon in 2014and the 2017 Australian Open.

Not since 174th-rankedJimmy Connors reached the1991 quarter-finals had NewYork seen so lowly a figure onthe ATP ratings list reach the lastfour.

Dimitrov is also the lowest-ranked Slam semi-finalist since94th-rated Rainer Schuettler ofGermany at Wimbledon in2008.

Federer, a five-time USOpen champion has not won atFlushing Meadows since 2008.

He went off the court for aprivate medical timeout to treathis upper back near his neck.

“This is Grigor’s moment,not my body’s moment,” Federersaid.

Dimitrov broke Federertwice on the way to a 4-0 leadin the final set and the 38-year-old Swiss star had no effectivereply, foiled by 61 unforcederrors in falling after threehours and 12 minutes.

“It’s OK. It’s how it goes,”Federer said. “I tried my best. Ifought with what I had and that’sit.”

Federer would have becomethe oldest Slam semi-finalistsince Jimmy Connors at age 39at the 1991 US Open.

Medvedev defeated three-time Grand Slam champion

Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to reach his first majorsemi-final, shaking off a sore leftquadriceps that made him con-template quitting the match.Now he gets two days of rest.

“That’s huge advantageregarding what happened tomy leg,” Medvedev said. “Itshould be OK.”

Medvedev took a medicaltimeout, had the area taped andtook a painkiller.

“In the fourth set, I startedfeeling the painkiller and start-ed moving better,” he said. “Forsure I hope to be ready for thesemis.”

He has maintained momen-tum from a sizzling August inwhich he reached three ATPfinals, winning a title atCincinnati and finishing run-ner-up in Montreal andWashington.

Medvedev, 23, is theyoungest US Open semi-final-ist since Novak Djokovic in2010 and Russia’s first Slam

semi-finalist since MikhailYouzhny at the 2010 US Open.

Dimitrov and Medvedevhave split two prior matches,Dimitrov winning at Queen’s in2017 and Medvedev avengingthe loss a few weeks later inWashington.

“He has been having atremendous summer," Dimitrovsaid of Medvedev. “I know hisgame. I’m just going to try andrecover and reassess the matchfirst and prepare from then onfor Daniil. He’s a tough player.He’s tricky.”

Wawrinka, foiled in a bidfor his second US Open title infour seasons, said he did notthink Medvedev would be hold-ing the trophy on Sunday.

“He can, but I don’t thinkhe will. I think it’s going to bereally difficult,” Wawrinka said.“Because he looks to start to betired, and he has to beat somemore tougher player in thesemi-final and then in thefinal.”

AFP n NEW YORK

Serena Williams earned her100th win at the US Open

on Tuesday with a brutal 44-minute demolition of WangQiang, firing an ominouswarning to rivals in her pur-suit of a record-tying 24thGrand Slam title.

Six-time US Open cham-pion Williams dismantledChinese 18th seed Wang 6-1,6-0 in a complete mismatchthat was the quickest at thisyear’s tournament to set up asemi-final clash withUkrainian trailblazer ElinaSvitolina.

Williams brought up acentury of US Open wins tomove to within one of the all-time leader Chris Evert.

“It’s really unbelievable,literally. From when I firststarted here, I think I was 16,I didn’t think I would ever getto 100. I didn’t think I wouldstill be out here,” Williams said.

The 37-year-old Americanis seeking a 24th major title tomatch Margaret Court’s long-

standing record, andsmacked 25 winnersagainst first-time Slamquarter-finalist Wang,who failed to hit a sin-gle one.

The 27-year-oldWang had not lost aset during her best

Slam run that included a defeatof reigning French Openchampion Ashleigh Barty inthe last 16, but she was pow-erless to stop a Williamsonslaught at Arthur AsheStadium.

“When I play someonewho is playing really well, Iknow I have to either step it upor go home and I wasn’t readyto go home. I had to come outhere and play really well,” saidWilliams, suffering no illeffects from the ankle sherolled in her previous match.

“Physically I’m feelinggreat. More than anything I’mjust having fun every time Icome out here.”

Wang, trying to becomejust the fourth Chinese play-er to reach the last four of aSlam, won just four points inthe second set and 15 in total.

“It’s not easy to playagainst her,” Wang said. “Thepower, like, I cannot handle it.Just too much for me.”

Williams captured her lastSlam title at the 2017Australian Open while preg-

nant and hasn’t won the USOpen since 2014.

SVITOLINA HOLDS KONTAFifth seed Svitolina defeat-

ed Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-4 to become the firstUkrainian to reach the USOpen semi-finals, matchingher run to the last four atWimbledon in July.

“It feels amazing. It was avery, very tough match. Wewere both striking the ball well.It was quite even,” Svitolinasaid. “I’m very, very happy theway I handled the pressure.”

She had already knockedout two-time former champi-on Venus Williams and 2017runner-up Madison Keys andis in a class of her own as theonly Ukrainian woman toreach this stage at a major.

She will attempt to emu-

late Andrei Medvedev as justthe second Ukrainian to playin a Grand Slam final.Medvedev lost the men’s 1999Roland Garros final in five setsto Andre Agassi.

“Serena is an amazingchampion. Probably it’s goingto be really tough against her,”Svitolina said.

Williams, the lone formerGrand Slam championremaining in the draw, hasdefeated Svitolina in four offive previous meetings,although the latter won theirmost recent encounter at the2016 Rio Olympics.

The US Open is guaran-teed a first-time major finalistand there will be four differ-ent Grand Slam winners in aseason in the Open era for anunprecedented third year in arow.

AFP n LAHORE

Pakistan on Wednesdayappointed former captain

Misbah-ul-Haq as head coachand chief selector in a bid to liftthe national team’s perfor-mance.

The Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) said Misbah willbe head coach for three years.

“Former captain Misbah isconfirmed as Pakistan men’snational team head coach in allthree formats on a three-yearcontract,” said a statement.

“In line with the PCB’scommitment to ensure trans-parency, accountability androle clarity at all levels, Misbahwas also named as the chair-man of selectors with headcoaches of the six first-classcricket association sides as hisfellow selectors.”

Misbah will be Pakistan’s30th head coach — but it is thefirst time that the head coachwill also be the chief selector,along the lines of the system inNew Zealand.

Another former captain,legendary paceman WaqarYounis, was named as bowlingcoach for three years. He hadtwo previous stints as headcoach.

A five-man PCB commit-tee also interviewed formerAustralian batsman Dean Jonesand former Pakistan coach

Mohsin Khan before decidingunanimously in Misbah’sfavour.

Misbah and Younis willstart with a three one-dayinternationals and threeTwenty20s at home against SriLanka from September 27 toOctober 9. Pakistan travel toAustralia in November for

Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide.Misbah is Pakistan’s most

successful Test captain with 26wins in 56 Tests and 11 draws.He played 75 Tests, 162 ODIsand 39 T20Is matches forPakistan in a career whichended in 2017.

Misbah described the roleas challenging.

“I know expectations arehigh, but I am absolutely readyand up for the task otherwiseI would not have thrown myname in the hat for one of themost challenging and covetedroles in Pakistan cricket,” hesaid in a press release.

“We have some of themost talented and excitingcricketers, and I will like to helpthem train and prepare in sucha way that they can play intel-ligently, smartly and fearlessly.

“I am aware this willrequire a change in the dress-ing room culture but if we haveto compete consistently at thehighest level, we have toembrace these modern dayrequirements.”

KXIP set to release AshwinNew Delhi: Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to joinDelhi Capitals for the next edition of IPL after KingsXI Punjab decided to release their skipper of lasttwo seasons. KXIP releasing Ashwin was onexpected lines after the franchise finished seventhin 2018 and sixth in 2019 under his leadership."Ashwin's release approval is already with the BCCIand an announcement is likely soon. Delhi Capitalsshowed interested in him and KXIP, after thinking itthrough, felt they needed a younger spinner in thesquad," a source close to the development said.

Masakadza to retire from cricketHarare: Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadzawill be retiring from all forms of internationalcricket at the end of the upcoming T20 tri-series inBangladesh. The 36-year-old Masakadza hasplayed 38 Tests, 209 ODIs and 62 T20Internationals, scoring 9410 international runs. Hehad five centuries each in Tests and ODIs. “After agreat deal of consideration, I have decided toannounce my retirement from all formats ofinternational cricket at the end of the upcomingtriangular series in Bangladesh,” Masakadza said ata press conference on Tuesday. “It has been anenormous privilege to have played for andcaptained my country, and this is one of the hardestdecisions I've had to make.”

Prajnesh, Myneni-Jeevan win Jinan: Top seed Prajnesh Gunneswaranprogressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the JinanOpen with a straight-set win over Japanese qualifierRenta Tokuda on Wednesday. Playing his firsttournament after losing the US Open first round,the left-handed Indian raced to a 6-2, 6-2 win in thesecond round of the $ 162480 hard court ATPChallenger tournament. In the doubles, fourth-seeded Indian pair of Saketh Myneni and JeevanNedunchezhiyan overcame Japan's Shintaro Imaiand Toshihide Matsui 6-4, 6-3 in their openinground. It would have been an all-Indian quarterfinalbut Hiroki Moriya and Goncalo Oliveira knocked outN Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan 3-6, 7-6(2),10-7 in the other first round match.

unadkat puts India Red in controlBengaluru: Experienced pacer Jaydev Unadkatreturned with a four-wicket haul as India Redreduced India Green to 147 for 8 at stumps on theopening day of the rain-hit Duleep Trophy final hereon Wednesday. Left-arm pacer Unadkat and theother India Red bowlers kept things tight andpicked up wickets at regular intervals after IndiaGreen captain Faiz Fazal opted to bat after winningthe toss at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. With IndiaGreen batsmen struggling, No 8 Mayank Markandeemerged as the top-scorer with an unbeaten 32runs off 51 balls which comprised two fours. Also,medium-pacers Sandeep Warrier, Aditya Sarwateand Avesh Khan took a wicket each. AGENCIES

SINGLES

AFP n CHITTAGONG

Afghanistan’s spin prodigy RashidKhan faces a tough challenge as he

captains his side for the first timeagainst Bangladesh in only his war-torncountry’s third Test starting today.

The leg-spinner was named skipperfor all three formats after their direWorld Cup campaign when they lost allnine matches and were dogged by sev-eral controversies.

The Indian Premier League (IPL)star will become the youngest ever Testcaptain at the age of 20 years 350days when he steps out in the Testmatch at the Zahur AhmedChowdhur y Stadium inChittagong.

He wil l overtakeZimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu,who made his debut asTest captain just eightdays older than Rashidagainst Sri Lanka atHarare in 2004.

“(I am) pretty excited. Itis a new role to be a captain of the teamand will try my best to be positive andenjoy the game,” Rashid told reportersafter the arrival of his team in

Chittagong.Two Test old Afghans will be up

against a side who have won five of theirlast 10 Tests at home, including one each

against England andAustralia.

Bangladesh areexpected to field aspin-heavy attackagainst the visitorsfor the one-off Test.

100 & countingSerena completes century of wins at US Open in Wang romp

Serena Williams reacts after winning a point during her match against QiangWang in the US Open quarterfinals on Wednesday morning (IST) AP

Grigor’s momentDimitrov stuns Federer to reach semi against Medvedev

Grigor Dimitrov reacts after defeating Roger Federer during the quarterfinals of the US Open tournament. Dimitrov won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 AP

Roger Federer thanks the crowd after a loss to Grigor Dimitrov AP

India face Oman in WC qualifiers

Indian players’ chat during team’s practice session ahead of FIFA World Cup qualifier against Oman IFT/Twitter

Misbah joins Pak as head coach, chief selector

Newly appointed Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq & bowling coach WaqarYounis during practice session ICC/Twitter

Rashid excited to lead Afghans