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HYDERABAD 11CLIMATE CRISIS:

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ANALYSIS 9UNIVERSITYFOR COPS

SPORTS 16BUMRAH OUT OF SA TESTS

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

}NOW I AM‘GODARAMMA’

FOR EVERYONE:POOJA HEGDE

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 352*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 24, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACMonth & Paksham:Bhadrapada & Krishna PakshaTithi : Ekadashi: 02:08 pmNakshatram: Pushya: 08:53 am Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:07 pm – 01:37 pmYamagandam: 07:38 am – 09:08 amVarjyam: 08:30 pm – 09:58 pmGulika: 10:38 am - 12:07 pmGood Time: (to start any

important work)Amritakalam: 05:13 am – 06:40 amAbhijit Muhurtham: Nil

Forecast: RainTemp: 30/23Humidity: 96%Sunrise: 06.05Sunset: 06.10

TODAY

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Railways is mullingthe idea of handing over oper-ations of more trains to privateplayers in the coming days onseveral important routes withimproved services and amenitiesfor passengers.

The decision comes under the100-day agenda of the nationaltransporter to hand over oper-ations of the trains to privateplayers on key routes.

Earlier, the Indian Railwayshad announced to grant opera-tions of two of its luxurious TejasExpress trains to Indian RailCatering and TourismCorporation (IRCTC) betweenLucknow-New Delhi andMumbai-Ahmedabad.

According to a railway min-istry official, the national trans-porter has called a meeting ofsenior railway officials onSeptember 27 under the chair-manship of Member, Traffic ofthe Railway Board to decide theoperational issues relating to pri-vate operation of passengertrains. In a letter to all thePrincipal Chief OperationsManagers of the Central,Northern, North Central, SouthEastern, South Central andSouthern Railway datedSeptember 23, PrincipalExecutive Director of Coachingof the Railway Board, A.Madhusudan Reddy said, "Aspart of the 100-day action plan,

the ministry has proposed thatprivate operation of passengertrains be introduced to provideworld class services."

He said, "Under the railwaysproposal, private operatorswould be identified through aparticipative bid process to runprivate passenger day orovernight trains connectingimportant cities."

"It is contemplated that theprivate operators shall inductmodern passenger trains and

operate them on paths allocat-ed to them on payment ofhaulage charges," Reddy said.

"Thus in order to prepare theRFQ (Request for quote) andconcession documents, it is nec-essary to identify the routesand the number of services thatcan be run," he said.

According to the railway min-istry plans, besides the Lucknow-New Delhi and Mumbai-Ahmedabad being given to theIRCTC for operations, the

national transporter is mullingto give trains to private operatorson inter-city services on 14routes, while 10 on overnightand long distance services andfour suburban services.

The railways has proposedgiving trains to private operatorson long distance or overnightjourney trains on the routes ofDelhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Lucknow,Delhi-Jammu/Katra, Delhi-Howrah, Secunderabad-Hyderabad, Secunderabad-Delhi, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Chennai, Howrah-Chennai andHowrah-Mumbai.

It has proposed to invite theprivate players for the intercityexpress on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Pune,Mumbai-Aurangabad, Mumbai-Madgaon, Delhi-Chandigarh/Amritsar, Delhi-Jaipur/Ajmer, Howrah-Puri,Howrah-Tata, Howrah-Patna,Secunderabad-Vijaywada,Chennai-Bengaluru, Chennai-Coimbatore, Chennai-Maduraiand Ernakulam-Trivandrumroutes. The railways has also pro-posed the operation of suburbantrains in Mumbai, Kolkata,Chennai and Secunderabad byprivate players. The railwayshad earlier clearly said thatbefore engaging private opera-tors to run the trains, the nation-al transporter will consult thetrade unions and other stake-holders.

Continued on Page 2

PNS n HYDERABAD

Coal production in Telangana'sSingareni Collieries CompanyLimited (SCCL) was affected onTuesday as the miners went ona day-long strike called by var-ious unions to protest againstthe Centre's decision to allow100 per cent Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) in coal min-ing. The coal production inalmost all the mines spreadacross six districts of Telanganawas hit as majority of the over50,000 employees joined thestrike.

The production in all under-ground mines in BhadradriKothagudem district also cameto a halt while operations inopen cast mines were partiallyaffected.

Production was also hit inalmost all the mines in

Ramagundam, Mandamarriand other areas. The strikemight result in production lossof nearly two lakh tonnes. Thecompany is estimated to suffera loss of over Rs 50 crore.

All major employees' unions,GLBKS, SGLBKS, TSUS, SGKSand TSKS, affiliated to fivenational trade unions joined thestrike. Holding their unionflags, the employees took outrallies, demanding the Centreto withdraw its decision.

Recognised union TGBKSaffiliated to the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) has also extended its sup-port to the strike. This is thefirst time after the formation ofTelangana state in 2014 that theSCCL is witnessing a strike withmaximum participation by theemployees.

Continued on Page 2

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court (SC) onTuesday asked the Centre toform a policy on the use ofsocial media, in a plea seekingto link Aadhaar with socialmedia accounts. The apex courtalso added that the misuse ofthe medium has become 'verydangerous'.

The Supreme Court hasasked the Centre to file an affi-davit within three weeks detail-ing statutory guidelines to bal-ance online privacy, state sov-ereignty and the reputation ofan individual.

A Bench, headed by JusticeDeepak Gupta, told the Centrethat the case involved issues ofprivacy, sovereignty, crime pre-vention and being a matter ofpolicy, the decision ought tocome from the governmentand not the court.

While the social media com-panies welcomed this decisionfrom Court, Centre claimedthat IT Rules provide that social

media intermediaries arebound to share this informa-tion. The Attorney GeneralKK Venugopal said that if thecompanies do not fall in linethey may as well shut shop andget out of the country.

The bench too shared theirexperience of how internetoffers Dark Web in which onecan be induced to commitcrime. But the Court said thatsince messages on WhatsAppand Apple system are end toend encrypted, there needs tobe a legal regime by which thesecompanies could be madeanswerable.

NEW DELHI: Mild tremorswere felt in Delhi and itsneighbouring areas after a 6.3magnitude earthquake strucknorth-west of Lahore thisafternoon. The tremors,which lasted a few seconds,were felt at around 4:35 pm,many in Delhi reported.

The tremors were also feltin parts of north India,including Kashmir, Punjab'sChandigarh andU t t a r a k h a n d ' sDehradun.There are alsoreports of tremors in somecities in Pakistan includingIslamabad, Peshawar,Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Press Trust of India, quot-ing local Pakistan media,reported that 50 people,including women and chil-dren, were shifted to a hos-pital in Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after abuilding collapsed followingthe earthquake.

Tremors inDelhi, parts ofnorth India

Indian mangothief in Dubaito be deported

Rs 230 cr‘benami' assetsof Maya's aideattached

DUBAI: A United ArabEmirates (UAE) court hasordered the deportation of anIndian airport worker whowas held for stealing twomangoes from the baggage ofa passenger last year, a mediareport said. The Court of FirstInstance on Monday orderedthe 27-year-old Indian work-er's deportation after payinga 5,000 dirham fine, for steal-ing the mangoes worth about6 dirham on August 11, 2017,the Khaleej Times reported.

During interrogation andprosecution investigation, theaccused recounted that hehad been working atTerminal 3 of the Dubai air-port. His duties includedloading travellers' luggageonto the conveyer belt fromthe container and vice versa.

NEW DELHI: The incometax department has attached"benami" assets worth Rs 230crore of retired IAS officerNet Ram who also served assecretary to former UttarPradesh chief ministerMayawati, official sourcessaid on Tuesday.

They said a total of 19immovable properties spreadacross Delhi, Noida, Kolkataand Mumbai have beenattached by the department.

A provisional order of theattachment against Net Ramhas been issued by the Delhiinvestigation unit of thedepartment under section24(3) of the Prohibition ofBenami PropertyTransactions Act, 1988, theysaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Expressing concern over thesoaring onion prices, Food andConsumer Affairs MinisterRam Vilas Paswan on Tuesdayissued a stern warning tohoarders and black marketersagainst stocking onions.Paswan said that the supply ofonion has been affected due torecent floods in Maharasthraand Karnataka - the two mainonion growing states.

"I want to inform hoardersthat we have a buffer stock of50,000 tonne. Affected statescan boost their supply throughagencies like Nafed andNational CooperativeConsumers," Paswan said,stressing that the governmentis taking measures to keep sit-uation under control.

The prices of onion haveincreased around 300% in thelast one month due to the dis-ruption in supply fromMaharashtra and Karnataka.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The calibrated 'leaks' late onMonday night from PragathiBhavan, official residence ofTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, followinghis meeting with his AP coun-terpart YS Jaganmohan Reddy,have raised political heat notonly in the Telugu States but alsoat the central level.

The Telangana ChiefMinister's Office (CMO) issuedan official press release after themeeting stating merely thatKCR and Jagan discussedGodavari-Krishna linkage pro-posals and certain pendingbifurcation-related issuesbetween AP and TS. However,the juicier parts of their meet-ing emerged through 'leaks'channelized after the four-hour-long meeting, as it turned outthat the Telugu CMs discussedmore of 'politics' than any of theitems on their agenda.Central to

their discussion was the ways ofthe NDA government at theCentre and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as well as the

prompt strategies required tocontain the perceived rise of BJPin the Telugu States.

Continued on Page 2

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Courton Tuesday dismissed aPublic Interest Litigation(PIL) filed seeking CBI probeinto the circumstances thatled to the death of formerspeaker of AP AssemblyKodela Sivaprasada Rao.

A division bench of the HCdismissed the petition on theground that the petitionerBorrugadda Anil Kumar, anative of Guntur district, wasneither a family member nora close relative of thedeceased. It also said that itcould not intervene in thecase as the state police wasstill investigating it.

In his petition, Anil Kumarhad alleged that the stategovernment and BanjaraHills police did not conductan impartial Investigationinto the circumstances thatled to Kodela Rao's death.The counsel for the stategovernment told the HC thatthe investigation in the caseis underway, and that theyhad not yet recorded thestatements of Rao's familymembers.

HC dimisses PILfor CBI probe onKodela suicide

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

A triangular contest is on thecards in the Huzurnagar by-elec-tions, with Congress andBharatiya Janata Party announc-ing the names of their candi-dates on Tuesday. Even TTDPhas decided to field its candidatein the constituency to protect theparty's interests in Telangana.

The Telangana Rashtra Samitiannounced S Saidi Reddy'sname on the day the ElectionCommission released the elec-tion schedule for theHuzurnagar bye-election.

Interestingly, all three majorpolitical parties-TRS, Congress

and BJP -- named Reddy can-didates as their choice. TheTTDP is contemplating to fieldits candidate in the by-polls, butis yet to pick its candidate.

As expected, the All IndiaCongress Committeeannounced former MLA andTPCC chief N Uttam Kumar

Reddy's wife Padmavathi's nameas the party's candidate for theHuzurnagar by-elections. AICCgeneral secretary in-chargeCongress Election Committee(CEC) Mukula Wasnik said:"The Congress president SoniaGandhi has approved the can-didature of Padmavathi Reddy

as Congress candidate for theensuing by-election to theLegislative Assembly ofTelangana from 89-HuzurnagarConstituency".

Padmavathi was an MLAfrom Kodada during 2014 to2018; however, she lost the 2018elections. Telangana BJP

announced Srikala Reddy'sname for the Huzurnagar by-elections. BJP fielded SrikalaReddy as it wants to prove itsstrength in Huzurnagar. SrikalaReddy's father Jithender Reddywas former MLA from Kodadaconstituency.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n PEDDAPALLI

Two farmers were electrocutedin Nittur of Peddapalli mandalon Tuesday. Kodipalli Odeluand Alaboju Vaikuntam diedon the spot after coming intocontact with a live electric wire

while working in their agricul-tural fields. Sources said an 11KV electric wire fell on farm-ers in the fields. Passersby alert-ed villagers after spotting bod-ies lying in the fields. Police latershifted the bodies for a post-mortem examination.

KCR-Jagan meeting ‘leaks'raises political heat

Coal miners’ strikehits production in Singareni

Frame guidelines againstmisuse of social media: SC

Huzurnagar to see triangular fight among Reddy candidatesl Cong announces

Padmavathi Reddy'sname

l BJP declaresSrikala Reddy's

name

l TTDP iscontemplating to fieldits candidate l Suryapet dist. Policeto implement PoliceAct 30 till the elections

Paswan warnshoarders, blackmarketers ononion prices PNS n MUMBAI

In a massive jolt to the Pawarfamily ahead of theMaharashtra Assembly elec-tions, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on Tuesdayregistered a money launder-ing case against NationalistCongress Party (NCP) chiefShahrad Pawar, his nephewAjit Pawar and 75 others in acase involving theMaharashtra State Co-oper-ative Bank (MSCB) scam,the probe agency said.

ED's move against thepolitical big wigs from theNCP comes after the BombayHigh Court in its last month'sorder asked the EconomicOffences Wing of theMumbai Police to file FIRagainst Sharad Pawar, AjitPawar and 75 others in thealleged scam. The ED filed itscase based on the FIR of theMumbai Police, which lodgeda case in connection with thescam last month.

ED booksSharad Pawarin MSCB scam

Private players to run trainson key routes: Railways

The Indian Railways had announced to grantoperations of two of its luxurious Tejas Express trainsto Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporationbetween Lucknow-New Delhi and Mumbai-Ahmedabad

2 farmers electrocutedin Peddapalli

PNS n NEW DELHI

Megastar Amitabh Bachchanwas on Tuesday named thisyear’s Dadasaheb Phalke win-ner, Indian cinema’s highesthonour for an artiste.

Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar confirmed the newsin a Twitter post. “The legendAmitabh Bachchan who enter-tained and inspired for 2 gen-erations has been selectedunanimously for#DadasahebPhalke award. Theentire country and interna-

tional community is happy.My heartiest Congratulationsto him.

The 76-year-old screen icon,who rose to stardom with his‘Angry Young Man’ personacapturing the anger of theyoung generation in the 1970swith films such as “Zanjeer”,“Deewar” and “Sholay”, con-tinues to be a force to reckonwith the Indian cinema.

In a career spanning fivedecades, Bachchan has givenmemorable performances filmafter film and is a four-timeNational Film Award winner.

Dadasaheb Phalkeaward for Amitabh

l Differing reactions to talk ofTelugu CMs being 'upset' at Modi,

Centre and partnering to containrise of BJP in Telugu states

l AP CMOcondemnsleaks, TSCMO mum

File photo

FATALITY FALLOUT

CMRS inspects Ameerpet Metro stationl Engineering tests to done with help from IIT-Hyd: Metro officials

PNS n HYDERABAD

The death of a youngwoman, Mounika, atAmeerpet Metro station onSunday have raised ques-

tions about the quality ofworks of Hyderabad MetroRail, leading to a statutoryinvestigation into the mishapand its causes. On Tuesday,Commissioner of Metro Rail

Safety (CMRS), JK Garg,under the Union Ministry ofCivil Aviation reached theaccident spot Ameerpet sta-tion for an inspection.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n WARANGAL

In a bid to spring a major sur-prise in the Huzurnagar by-elections, the BJP is makingevery possible effort to repeatthe fate of north Telangana bydeploying forces from thenorth Telangana districts.

The party high command atthe state-level is keen on adopt-ing a major offensive in thefashion of TRS and it is iden-tifying cadre to oversee theelection process during thecampaign schedule.

As of now the BJP was notregarded as a strong force inthe segment but the recentdevelopments at the state-levelhave made the party a formi-dable preposition and the cadreof that party seems rejuvenat-ed with their activities in the

segments. Victories inKarimnagar, Adilabad andNizamabad Lok SabhaConstituences have boost-ed the morale of the partycadre and it made the partya force to reckon with.

Following this, the partyleadership is trying to take acue from this result to

strengthen itself inthe southTelangana too.Since theHuzurnagar is

regarded a chal-lenging task by the

ruling TRS andCongress, the BJPis also not losingany chance toprove its mettle.

The BJP hasannounced Srikala

Reddy as its candi-date and theircadres from vari-ous parts of the

state are expressingtheir desire to join

the bandwagon of elec-tion in the coming fortnightperiod.

The leaders in north

Telangana districts say the stu-dent activists of the party arekeen on adopting villages inthe Mandals spread across thesegment to intensify the cam-paign and they feel the cam-paign process would enable theparty to show its presence inalmost all the parts of theconstituency.

The TRS and Congress tooare not taking BJP as a weakopponent in the present elec-tions and though the BJP couldnot surpass the four digit votesin the previous elections theparty is likely to emerge astrong force at the presenthustings. The BJP's plan ofaction was monitored by theNizamabad MP AravindDharmapuri team which hasinflicted a severe jolt to the TRSin the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP's planof action inHuzurnagar by-election isbeing monitoredby theNizamabadMP AravindDharmapuri

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 hyderabad 02

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CAPSULE

Subsidy seedsdistributedMAHABUBNAGAR:Devarakadra MLA AlaVenkateshwar Reddy along withthe Wanaparthy ZP chairmanLoknath on Tuesday distributedthe subsidy seeds to thefarmers in the Madhanapurammarket yard limits. The farmerswere provided the groundnutseeds at subsidy rates andbags were allocated to thefarmers. This season, the areaunder cultivation of groundnutcrop is likely to spread into thenew zones following thebountiful rains, which havebeen lashing the state sincepast few days.

RPF organises blooddonation campKHAMMAM: A blood donationcamp was organised at RailwayProtection Force (RPF) office atKhammam railway station onTuesday for the benefit ofchildren suffering fromThalassemia disease. The campwas organised as a part of the35th RPF Raising DayCelebrations, according to RPFInspector K Madhusudan.District Collector RV Karnanlaunched the camp andpresented fruits to the donors.Around 60 volunteers,including RPF/GRP officers andstaff, railway employees, parceland licenced porters, auto andtaxi drivers, students andfaculty of SR&BGNRGovernment College, andChildline-1098 team members,donated blood under the aegisof Sankalpa VoluntaryOrganisation.

Pocharam to visit Uganda HYDERABAD: Telangana StateAssembly Speaker PocharamSrinivas Reddy will leave forUganda on September 25 totake part in the 64thCommonwealth nationsspeakers' conference to be heldin Kampala. He will leave forKampala in the early hours ofWednesday and will return tocity on October 6. After theSpeakers' conference, he isscheduled to tour Europe.Telangana state legislativeaffairs secretary DrNarasimhacharyulu willaccompany the SpeakerPocharam Srinivas Reddy.

Continued from Page 1

It became clear that both theChief Ministers were highlyperturbed at the brazen 'dis-crimination' shown by theCentre towards Telugu Stateswith regard to allotment offunds and the need for puttingup a joint fight against theCentre to secure the two states'legitimate demands.

In particular, the CMs discussedthe implications of the Centreappointing 'hardcore BJP leaders' asGovernors of AP and TS, and thattoo, without consulting them evenfor the sake of formality.

The foregoing 'inside informa-tion' constituted part of the 'leaks'that appeared prominently in a sec-tion of the vernacular media onTuesday.

The Andhra Pradesh CMO was

quick to react. It strongly con-demned the 'leaks', saying nopolitical discussions took placebetween KCR and Jagan and thattheir meeting was confined toGodavari-Krishna linkage as wellas pending bifurcation issuesbetween TS and AP. The APCMO termed the leaks as 'fabricat-ed' by 'yellow media' with mala fideintention.

Normally ministers in TS cab-inet or senior TRS leaders briefmedia persons on issues concern-ing KCR or TRS government byholding press conferences atTelangana Bhavan.

Had KCR elected not to reacton 'leaks' considering them as partof 'fabricated' information, hewould have asked his ministers orother senior party leaders to con-demn the reports and put therecord straight. In this case, nei-

ther KCR nor TS CMO; or, forthat matter, ministers or TRS lead-ers reacted.Noticeably, TRS' seniorleader and government whip in TSLegislative Council KarnePrabhakar, who addressed a pressconference on Tuesday to lash outat BJP's Union ministers for crit-icizing KCR and TRS government,too chose to ignore the 'leaks' onKCR and Jagan's meeting held onMonday.

All this have added grist to themill of those who believe that theremight be 'some truth' in the leaks.This explains why TS CMO orTRS leaders did not condemn thereports.Rumour mills are abuzzthat Jagan was compelled to con-demn the 'leaks' in view of his pub-licly assumed position that he doesnot want any 'confrontation' withBJP or NDA government. KCR ison a different wicket.

KCR-Jagan meeting ‘leaks'...

PNS n HYDERABAD

To cater to passenger rushduring Dasara festival season,the Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation(TSRTC) has decided to run4,933 special buses. As Dasarais an important festival for bothTelangana and AndhraPradesh people, TSRTC willrun the special buses to desti-nations across two Telugustates. The special buses will beoperated from September 7 toOctober 7.

"Dasara is an important fes-tival for Telugu people. It is animportant season for evenTSRTC as we experience peakpassenger rush. To cater to thepassenger rush during Dasarafestival, we are planning to runspecial buses for 11 days fromSeptember 27 to October 7.

While last year we operatedabout 4,900 special buses, thisyear will operate 4,933 specialbuses. Depending upon thedemand, we will also pushmore buses into service ifneeded," said TSRTCRangareddy region RMVaraprasad, speaking to mediaon Tuesday.

TSRTC senior official alsosaid that there would not beany hike in fare for the specialbuses. By running special

buses, the loss making TSRTCaims to earn some revenue,besides saving passengers fromthe fleecing private travels,who charge exorbitant amounton tickets, to cash in on festi-val rush.

TSRTC has planned specialbuses in both long distance andshort distance routes. The spe-cial bus services will be oper-ated in Hyderabad-Vijayawada,H y d e r a b a d - K u r n o o l ,Hyderabad-Kar imnagar,

Hyderabad-Warangal, andother intrastate routes. TSRTCcarries on an average close toone lakh passengers daily andduring the festival season thepassengers increase at leastthree fold, creating huge

demand for bus services.Dasara is being celebrated onOctober 8 this year.

Paying peo-ple back in

their own coinhas always been

trendy inp o l i t i c s .

Harassing politicalopponents has

become the in thing in pre-sent-day politics. Former APSpeaker Kodela SivaprasadRao's recent unnatural deathis of a piece with this inveter-ate trend in the political firma-ment.

Everyone who is capable ofattaining political power withconcentrated efforts wouldnaturally harass his/her oppo-nents with increased will andvigour upon coming to power.In any state where nationalparties have been reduced tononentities, and where there isstrong influence of regional

forces, such political situationis all the more common. TamilNadu is a classic example ofthis type of politics of vendet-ta, with people accepting suchthings. Andhra Pradesh hasthe dubious distinction of see-ing routine scenes of politicalvendetta, with or without peo-ple's acceptance.

Political uncertainty hascomplicated this unseemlysituation, following the infa-mous bifurcation of erstwhileAndhra Pradesh. During theAssembly elections in AP,YSRCP's political opponentswere subject to harassment bythe Telangana government.Dozens of acres of valuableland belonging to TDP lead-ers in Hyderabad faced thesword of forceful land acqui-sition.

After the elections, harass-

ment of political opponentstook a turn for the worse.Former AP Speaker KodelaSivaprasad Rao's unnaturaldeath is the culmination ofpolitics based on vendetta.What is poignant about thesad episode is the reaction ofKodela's family members, whodid not want a state funeral to

be accorded to the departedleader by the YCP governmentheaded by YS JaganmohanReddy.

Jagan had vehementlyopposed the attitude of Kodelaas Speaker. Kodela, asSpeaker, did not disqualify the23 YCP MLAs who had thendefected to the TDP and was

accused of diluting the spiritof the anti-defection law.

Given its landslide win inthe Assembly polls, YCP lead-ership has declared that therewould be no need for it toencourage defections fromother parties. But nobody

knows when such need wouldarise.

What beats everyone aboutKodela is that he had all alongbeen a courageous leader. Ashome minister in NTR's cab-inet, he had to step downowing moral responsibilityfor the 1988 killing of thenCongress MLA fromVijayawada (East) VangaveetiMohana Rangarao.

Eleven years after that inci-dent, another one pushedKodela into deep trouble. Itwas the one in which four per-sons were killed in bombexplosions in his own house.He could manage thingsunder the leadership ofChandrababu and even returnto the cabinet thereafter.Corrupt activities of familymembers brought great disre-spect to him and he went

down psychologically afterbeing manhandled by iratevoters in a polling booth in hisconstituency for gainingwrongful entry.

Bench of HC

The alleged move to shiftHigh Court from Amaravatito Kurnool has sparked criti-cism in the legal fraternity ofcoastal Andhra Pradesh.Lawyers across coastal Andhraare observing boycott of courtproceedings at all levels. Thetalk is that the High Courtmust be shifted fromAmaravati to Kurnool, whichwas capital of erstwhileAndhra state during 1953-56.

The YCP governmentappears to be keen on honour-ing the sentiments of people at

the time of the undividedState's formation 66 years agoregarding sharing of Capitaland High Court between thetwo regions. The AP govern-ment is believed to have sentfeelers into the public. Thelawyers' boycott must havegiven the government somefeedback about the mood ofthe people on the issue. In1953, when Andhra state wasnewly formed, Kurnool inRayalaseema was selected asthe capital of Andhra andHigh Court was set up inGuntur.

Now, the Government ofAP is thinking on the samelines of sharing Capital andHC between two regions ofthe State! Perhaps it can put afull stop to the core issue bysetting up High Court Benchin Rayalaseema.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

Former AP Speaker Kodela SivaprasadRao's unnatural death is theculmination of politics based onvendetta. What is poignant about theepisode is the reaction of Kodela'sfamily members, who did not want astate funeral to be accorded to thedeparted leader by the YCP governmentheaded by YS Jaganmohan Reddy

PINPOINT

The undying trend of harassing political opponents

Last year weoperated about4,900 specialbuses. Dependingupon the demand,we will also pushmore buses intoservice if needed,says TSRTC official

PNS n SANGAREDDY

The Lok Sabha member fromZaheerabad, BB Patil onTuesday distributed electrictricycles to physically chal-lenged persons at severalplaces in the Parliamentaryconstituency. Patil was accom-panied by Zaheerabad MLA KManik Rao and 59 tricycleswere handed over to the ben-eficiaries in Zaheerbad town.Later, Patil, along with AndoleMLA Chanti Kranthi Kirandistributed the 46 electric tri-cycles to disabled persons inJogipet town.

Speaking on the occasions,the MP has said that he has

spent funds from MP Ladsand also funds available withDepartment of Empowermentof Persons with Disabilities.Later, the MP and AndoleMLA have also participated inPoshan Abhiyan programme.

MP BB Patil distributes a tricycle to a physically challenged person on Tuesday

Bhatti demands‘reverse tendering'Asks TS government to take cue from AP govtPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka has said that theCongress is welcoming theChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao's act ofcomplimenting AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy's reversetendering policy.

He demanded the ChiefMinister to bring the same pol-icy in Telangana too byappointing judiciary commit-tee to monitor the tenderingprocess. He said that MeghaCompany filed tenders forPolavaram project with 12.5per cent less. He asked KCR tobring reverse tendering policyif he had sincerity.

On Tuesday at AssemblyCommittee Hall, Bhatti allegedthat the TRS government hadspent Rs 1 lakh crore on irri-gation projects and it wouldspend Rs 1.25 lakh crore onirrigation projects. Contractors

would have filed tenders with12 per cent less if the TRS gov-ernment resorted to reversetendering in irrigation projects,Bhatti said.

He said that 28,000 crorewould have saved if reversetendering would have takenplace in Telangana in irrigationprojects. Stating that theMission Bhagiratha estimatedexpenditure is Rs 50,000 crore,Bhatti said that the govern-ment would have saved Rs6000 crore if implementedreverse tender policy.

He said Rs 34,000 crorewould have been saved withreverse tendering in irriga-tion projects and MissionBhagiratha. Saying that con-tractor margin would go up toRs 74,000 crore if added lesstender amounts in irrigationprojects, Bhatti demandedthe state government to orderinquiry into the tender processin irrigation projects. He saidthat the Congress will seek CBIinquiry into tender process inirrigation projects after collect-ing the information.

BJP leaves no stone unturned for by-poll

PNS n NALGONDA

Inspector General of Police(Women's Safety) Swati Lakraon Tuesday said Bharosa, asupport Center for Womenand Children affected by vio-lence and crimes,would be set-up atNalgonda soon.After visiting abuilding wherethe centre is like-ly to be set up, shesaid that the facil-ity will be opera-tional in a year.

The Bharosa centre wouldcomprise a The Protection ofChildren from SexualOffences (POCSO) court anda counselling centre. The mainobjective to Bharosa centreswas to ensure speedy justice tothe victims of sexual harass-

ments. Two such centres werealready functioning inHyderabad and Vikarabad,she said. As per SupremeCourt directions, these centresare to be located near courts.A Sakhi centre would also be

constructed besideBharosa centre, she

added.She said that a

woman police offi-cer, a psychologistand a legal adviser

would be appointedto each Bharosa centre

to file cases and counselthe victims. Later, she hasalso inspected women policestation at Nalgonda.Superintendent of Police A VRanganath, Additional SPPadnabha Reddy and DeputySuperintendent of PoliceGangaram were also present.

Bharosa centre inNalgonda soon

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka

TSRTC to run 4,933 spl buses for Dasara

Continued from Page 1

Police made elaboratesecurity arrangements at themines as the managementpromised to protect those nottaking part in the strike.

The Indian National TradeUnion Congress (INTUC)leader Janak Prasad said itwas only the token strike andif the Centre fails to meettheir demands, leaders of alltrade unions will meet by themonth-end to chalk out afuture course of action.

SCCL is the largest publicsector company in Telangana.It is owned by the state gov-ernment and the Centre on a51:49 equity basis.

It registered a record pro-duction of 64.41 milliontonnes in 2018-19. The com-pany earned a net profit of Rs1,765 crore.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Amrutha, wife of Pranay,who was brutally murderedby a hired killed inHyderabad last year, hasalleged that efforts were on towater down the murder case.

Addressing media here onTuesday, she alleged conspir-acy by some to get the casequashed on technicalgrounds stating that Pranay'sparents are not SCs, butChristians. She contendedthat her husband's familybelongs to SC community ascertified by the governmentofficials. She questioned thebasis for her opponents clas-sifying them as Christians.

Amrutha said that sheand Pranay got married inArya Samaj. Puja was per-formed to wedding invita-tion in Hanuman temple.She along with her slainhusband visited various tem-ples. As her battle is fullylegal, she cautioned her rivalsagainst contemplating get-ting the case would fizzleout. Further, she said thecharge sheet has beenframed taking everythinginto account and leavingnothing for chance. Comewhat may, the witnesses arenot going to backtrack, shesaid.

Amruta allegesconspiracy inPranay’s case

Continued from Page 1

The IRCTC has started thebooking of tickets for theTejas Express betweenLucknow-New Delhi fromOctober 5 onward journey.The IRCTC's Tejas Expresswill be flagged off fromLucknow on October 4.

The minimum fare for theLucknow-Delhi Tejas Expresshas been kept at Rs 1,125 forthe AC chair car, while the farefor Delhi-Lucknow TejasExpress AC chair car will be Rs1,280. On the other hand, theticket price for Lucknow-DelhiTejas Express Executive chair carhas been kept at Rs 2,310 and theDelhi-Lucknow fare for ExecutiveChair Car will be Rs 2,450.

The passengers travelling onTejas Express from Lucknowto Kanpur in AC chair car willhave to shell out Rs 320 and Rs630 for the Executive Chair car(ECC). For Lucknow toGhaziabad travel, the passen-ger needs to pay Rs 1,125 forthe AC chair car, while Rs2,310 for the ECC. On thereturn journey, the fare is Rs1,155 for AC Chair car fromDelhi to Kanpur while for theECC it is Rs 2,155.

All these fares are subject tothe application of dynamicfare, just like airlines, theIRCTC has said.

Privateplayers to runtrains...

Coal miners’strike hitsproduction...

The CLP leadermeanwhilewelcomedKCR’s act ofcomplimentingAP Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy's reversetendering policy

n Zaheerabad MP BB Patilwas accompanied by MLAK Manik Rao and 59tricycles were handedover to the beneficiaries

n He said that he has spentthe funds from Membersof Parliament Local AreaDevelopment Scheme

MP distributes electrictricycles to disabled

PNS n HYDERABAD

A 23-year-old businessperson,Rajeev Kumar, was drivinghis scooter with a flat rear tyreon the wrong side of the roadunder Masab Tank Flyover.The tyre on his vehicle had gotpunctured for the fifth time ina week due to the sharp bumpson the road.

"I have no option but to takethe risk," Rajeev said, "I havespent about Rs 800 on punc-ture repair in one week. Butthis time the tyre just burstafter hitting a pothole nearNMDC office. I will have toreplace it altogether."

"Tyre bursts suddenly createa dangerous situation. A scoot-er or bike can skid badly,which can even cause a fatalaccident," said Rasheed Sadik,a puncture repairman.

Just a day ago on Monday, aTSRTC bus rammed into aMetro pillar near Ameerpet asone of its tyres burst. The buswent out of control and fourpassengers ended up withinjuries.

It's becoming clear potholedroads of Hyderabad not justmake driving difficult, theydamage vehicles and can alsobe a safety hazard for the dri-ver and pedestrians.

‘Patch up and cover'no good

The government's plan tospend big on 'do-it-now' roadinfrastructure never saw light of

day, and is not likely to happenin the near future. At themoment the GHMC is suffer-ing from funds crunch. And sofor years now it has taken theeasy way out by patching uppotholes without re-carpetingthe entire broken stretch. InAugust, Mayor BonthuRammohan had asked for sanc-tion of Rs 50 crore to fill up over5,000 potholes using what theycalled 'high-quality bitumen'and advanced technologies likeVacuum Dewatered CementConcrete (VDCC) machines.But after all the talk, roads inthe city remain cratered.

More rain, worse roadsThe IMD warned of rain in

all districts of Telanganaincluding Hyderabad tillSeptember 25. With more rainforecast, more potholes arelikely to emerge in the city,while the repair work would beat halted till the rain stops.City-based civil engineerNiranjan says potholes oftenbegin as imperceptible, barelyrecognisable cracks on theroad, which after beingexposed to the sun and rain,widen the cracks. The wear andtear caused by vehicles loosensthe surface to form potholes.

RIMEORNERC

Techie jumps off building terrace, diesHYDERABAD: A 28-year-oldsoftware employee jumped todeath from the fifth floor of amulti-storied building atMadinaguda in Miyapur onTuesday afternoon. According tothe police, the woman wasidentified as Mahathi, who wasworking in a software firm inGachibowli. She was stayingwith her family in an apartmentin Madinaguda area. Sourcessaid Mahathi had left for work inthe morning but returned homecomplaining of stomach pain."She then went to the terrace onthe building and jumped offfrom there, succumbing to theinjuries on the spot. There wasno suicide note found. Thefamily has not raised anysuspicion, police said, addingthat a case was booked and thebody was shifted forpostmortem examination.

Two arrested for theftsHYDERABAD: The Malkajgiripolice arrested two propertyoffenders and seized stolengoods worth Rs 12.5 lakh onTuesday. The arrested wereidentified as Hyder Ali Razvi, 29,and Shaik Chand Pasha, 27, saidthe police. Police said Razvi hasa criminal record since 2004.Previously, he was involved in42 house burglary offences andone murder case. Pasha is ahabitual offender who is alsoinvolved in bodily offences. Hehas a criminal record since 2011and was involved in eightproperty and bodily offences.During investigation, officialsverified CCTV footages near theplace of offence and verified thefingerprints with experts, whoidentified Pasha. On Tuesday,police apprehended Razvi andPasha and recovered the stolenproperty.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 hyderabad 03

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

Continued from Page 1

Telangana TDP too wants tofield its candidate in theHuzurnagar by-elections. Theparty's leaders held a meetingin Nalgonda town in this con-nection. Party leader NannuriNarsi Reddy exuded confi-dence that the party would'show its strength' inHuzurnagar since it has goodcadre in the constituency.

The Huzurnagar Assemblyconstituency fell vacant in

view of the resignation of NUttam Kumar Reddy upon hiselection as Nalgonda MP.Polling to the Huzurnagarseat will be held on October21. Counting will be held onOctober 24. Candidates canfile their nominations fromSeptember 23 to September30. Scrutiny of the nomina-tions will be held on October1. October 3rd is the last datefor withdrawal of nomina-tions.

Suryapet SP R

Venkateshwarlu said that theywould implement Police Act30 until completion of theHuzurnagar by-elections. Thismeans rallies, dharnas, rastarokos, public meetings andother programmes cannot beorganized without prior policepermission. Severe actionwould be taken against per-sons violating the orders, theSP declared. The police wouldensure that there would be nolaw and order problems, heasserted.

Huzurnagar to see triangularfight among Reddy candidates

Unmarried woman givesbirth to stillborn; bookedPNS n HYDERABAD

An unmarried woman, whohad tried to abort her preg-nancy earlier, gave birth to astillborn child in a bathroomafter taking homeopathicmedicines, at Rasoolpura areaof Begumpet.

According to sources, theyoung woman had avoidedmedical termination of thepregnancy in the hospital.She went to a homeopathydoctor in Rasoolpura whoprescribed her medicine, after

taking which she experiencedpain in the stomach.

A source close to the fam-ily said the she was unable tobear the pain and so request-ed the owner of a house nextto the clinic to use the bath-room. She happened to deliv-er a baby inside. The pan-icked owner called the doc-tor, but by that time the new-born was already dead. Theowner called the police whoregistered a case. The womanwas taken to Gandhi hospi-tal for treatment.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rain started pouring down intorrents in the afternoon andcontinued till late in theevening on Tuesday, leavingseveral key roads and areas,particularly in HiTec City,severely inundated.

Motorists were stuck in traf-fic jams across the city. Theheaviest rainfall in the city of6.5 cm was recorded atTirumalgiri, followed byMalkajgiri at 5.3 cm.

The IMD has forecast inter-mittent rain and shower, with'very heavy rainfall' at isolat-ed places across the stateincluding the city tillSeptember 26.

According to Hyderabadtraffic police, traffic movementgot slowed down until late inthe evening due to heavy

showers and water-logging atvarious spots.

Traffic snarls were reportedat NIMS Hospital nearPanjagutta Junction, SrinagarColony, Sagar Society, NTRBhavan Junction, Masab Tank,Lakdi-ka-Pul, Khairatabad,Tarbund, Old and NewBowenpally, Ramanthapur,Amberpet, Golnaka,Nampally, Asifnagar, PrakashNagar, Rasoolpura, Madhapur,Jubilee Hills, Hitech-city,Shaikpet and Gachibowli.

With major roads jammed,some commuters looked foralternative routes on GoogleMaps. The site said it takes anhour and 40 minutes for a 10-km journey starting fromMindspace in HiTec City toreach Tolichowki. IT workerssuffered as shuttle serviceswere halted.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A 20-year-old girl was foundhanging at her home inGolconda under mysteriouscircumstances on Sunday night.

According to the police, TAarathi, a resident ofIbrahimbagh in Golconda, livedwith her parents and was pur-suing graduation. On Sundayaround 10.30 pm, her motherKaruna, who had gone out,called her over the phone andwhen Aarathi did not respond,she got anxious and rushed

home. She reached there andfound that the door was lockedfrom inside. As she was tryingto get into the room through adoor in the backyard, she foundanother youngster also trying toenter the room, said Golcondapolice inspector KChandrasekhar. The young-ster, identified as Bharath,informed her that he wasAarathi's friend and said shehad sent him a WhatsAppvideo saying she was going toend her life, following which herushed to her house.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Robbers, who tried to breakinto a jewelry store, attempt-ed to run over a police sub-inspector in Dundigal whentheir patrol van noticed sus-picious activity. After a highspeed chase, police foundthe vehicle used by the rob-bers abandoned near a forestarea in Pet Basheerabad.

Three teams were formedby Cyberabad police to nabthe absconding offenders.

Shekhar Reddy, who isposted at Dundigal police sta-tion, was on night patrolduty along with three staffwhen the incident occurred.As the team finishedpatrolling in residentialcolonies and other placesacross three police stations ataround 2.15 am and reachedKompally, they saw a mini-van parked in front of GaneshJewellers. There were threepeople inside, wearing mon-key caps to cover their faces.

"We found their move-ments suspicious. Our driverwas asked to stop the car,"said Shekhar Reddy. Just as hetook a few steps, the min-vandriver suddenly started thevehicle and sped off, almostrunning over the SI.

The SI and his team gavethe van a chase, staying ontheir trail for over two km.The robbers drove into theDulapally forest area wherethey crashed into a tree, andescaped into darkness afterabandoning the vehicle.Officials recovered a gas cut-ter, iron road, stones andother material from theseized van. Inquiry revealedthat the van was stolen by thegang. The Petbasheerabadpolice registered a case andare investigating.

MAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Heritage Trustlaunched a crowd-fundedclean-up drive and cleanedFateh Darwaza at GolcondaFort on Sunday.

Fateh Darwaza had beenreduced to a garbage dumpwith even Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) workers disposinglarge amounts of refuse nearthe moat wall next to FatehDarwaza.

"This pathway providesaccess to the fort had remainedinaccessible because of refusedumping and growth of wildvegetation," said a volunteer of

Hyderabad Heritage Trust,Mohammed Shujaath Aly. "Byclearing this, we will pave wayfor visitors to access the south-ern side of Fateh Darwaza andenable them to walk closelyalongside the wall."

The initiative started last

week when volunteers con-ducted a clean-up drive atHillfort Palace in NaubhatPahad. "It was successful, andso this time we are teamed upwith GHMC, a co-operationthat will help take the heritageclean-up campaign further,"said Shujaath.

"Emperor Aurangazeb couldnot penetrate the fort for eightmonths even with his massivearmy, and so he eventuallybribed his way with the help ofa commander; this happenedvia this gate, which is why it iscalled Fateh Darwaza or the'Victory Gate'. This gate will bepreserved because of its his-torical significance," saidanother volunteer.

Clean-up drive re-opens access to Fateh Darwaza The historic gate at Golconda Fort was cleared of wild vegetation and dumped waste

PNS n HYDERABAD

Five persons who posed aspolicemen and robbed vendorson national highways andother state roads were arrest-ed on Tuesday. Police recov-ered valuables worth Rs 22.08lakh, including gold orna-ments, foreign currency andother items from them.

Rachakonda PoliceCommissioner MaheshBhagwat said police has beenkeeping an eye on all illegalmanufacturing, transporting,and storage of gutkha.

The accused were identifiedas Ananthula Veeranna, 38,Mogulla Naresh, 31,Gangadevi Prabhakar, 28, SyedAmer, 22, and MohammedFareed, 25, said police, addingthat one more suspect,Rajnikanth, is absconding.

Veeranna and Naresh hadonce been arrested while trans-porting gutkha. After release,they formed a gang, started

posing as police personneland looting other persons whowere transporting gutkha to

Hyderabad, police said. On September 19, posing as

police personnel, they lootedtwo cars. Police said theyrobbed one group of Rs.1.5lakh and took them to ATMsfrom where they forced thevictims to withdraw moremoney. They also took US$1800 that one of the victimshad, apart from gold orna-ments and the gutkha con-signment.

Heavy rain pummels city, throws traffic haywireSEASON'S RECORD DOWNPOUR LASTS HOURS, LEAVES ROADS INUNDATED, COMMUTERS STRANDED

Hyd roads, a driver's nightmareRains ruin the roads, but quick-fix repairs leavethe surface bumpy and uneven

The path leading to the gate now sports a clean look

‘By clearing this,we have paved wayfor visitors toaccess thesouthern side ofFateh Darwaza andenable them towalk along the wall’

Accused robbed caroccupants of Rs 1.5lakh, took them toATMs and forcedthem to withdrawmore money

MRO Lavanya, husbandproduced in ACB courtSearches reveal disproportionate assets of Rs 1.3 crPNS n HYDERABAD

Tahsildar and MRO VLavanya, who was under sus-pension following a briberycase, was arrested and pro-duced in court by ACB inHyderabad on Tuesday. Herhusband, N VenkateswaraNaik, is in judicial custody fordemanding and acceptingbribes for providing jobs topeople on outsourcing basis.

The disproportionate assetscase was registered againstNunavath VenkateshwaraNaik, superintendent ofRDMA (Regional DirectorMunicipal Administration),Hyderabad and his wifeLavanya at Keshampet mandalin Rangareddy district onSeptember 19.

On Tuesday, further search-es were conducted at the hous-es of benamis, B Nagamani atHayathnagar and V Hussain

Naik in Suryapet district.Searches revealed that Naikand Lavanya had amassedassets disproportionate to theirknown sources of income tothe tune of Rs1,33,35,012, ACBofficials said.

In August, ACB tookLavanya, MRO of Keshampetmandal, into custody andrecovered Rs 93.5 lakh in cashand 420 gm gold from her res-

idence at Hayathnagar inHyderabad. Naik was arrestedafter he demanded and accept-ed a bribe of Rs 2.50 lakh fromcomplainant Vangala Randheerto appoint him in the office ofRDMA in Hyderabad. Naikdemanded a further Rs 40,000bribe from him continue hisjob with regular pay with ESIand EPF facilities by influenc-ing superior officers.

V Lavanya N Venkateswara Naik

PNS n HYDERABAD

A study conducted byresearchers from IndianInstitute of TechnologyHyderabad (IIT-H) andUniversidad de Santiago deCompostela, Santiago deCompostela, Spain, showed that"Indian university teachers hadhigher levels of intention tomentor than Spanish teachersand also, teachers from Indiavalued position-based powermore than Spanish universityteachers."

The survey-based researchwas conducted among 88Indian and 105 Spanish uni-versity teachers. Results of thestudy showed Indian teachers

had higher levels of intention tomentoring than Spanish teach-ers. But at the same time, teach-ers from India valued position-based power more than Spanishteachers. In both the groups,self-leadership qualitiesimproved the teachers' sense ofcontrol over their work andenvironment and this lead toincreased intention to mentor-ing others in the workplace.

"Teachers with high self-effi-cacy are inclined toward men-toring; their intention becomesstronger when they are driven

by a feeling of empathy gener-ated from the sense of equalityhorizontal individualism or bya sense of moral obligation togive back to their professionalcommunity that is vertical col-lectivism," said associate pro-fessor MP Ganesh from depart-ment of liberal arts at IIT-Hyderabad. The recently pub-lished work in the 'Journal ofCross-Cultural and StrategicManagement, Emerald Insight'helps understand the influenceof self-leadership on the inten-tion to mentor among Indianand Spanish university teachers,considering the mediating roleof self-efficacy and the moder-ating role of individualism-col-lectivism dimensions.

Men posing as cops, robbingpeople on highways, nabbed

The five accused in police custody

Robbery bidfoiled, copschase accused

TRIMULGHERRY 66.1 CCMKEESARA 55.9 CCMBALAJINAGAR 55.5 CCMMALKAJGIRI 55.3 CCMASIFNAGAR 55.2 CCMYOUSUFGUDA 55.1 CCMJUBILEE HHILLS 55.1 CCMMAREDPALLY 44.5 CCMMUSHEERABAD 44.5 CCMUPPAL 44 CCMKHAIRATABAD 33.9 CCMHIMAYATHNAGAR 3.9 CCM

GIRL INFORMS PAL BYVIDEO, HANGS SELF

1

2

31. Commuters were

caught unawaresan heavy showersstarted in the cityin the afternoon

2. Many out on thestreets on wayback from workbraved the rain tomake it home

3. Many roads sawtraffic jams asrains continuedthrough theevening and wellinto the night

Continued from Page 1

The CMRS official carriedout a preliminary inspection,accompanied by HyderabadMetro Rail Limited (HMRL)managing director NVSReddy, Deputy CMRS RamMeher, engineers of HMRLand L&T Metro RailHyderabad (L&TMRH) at theaccident site at Ameerpet sta-tion. An HMRL official said,"Further inspections will becarried out in due courseand the required engineeringtests will be got done underthe expertise and supervisionof IIT-Hyderabad.

Officials said that CMRSwill hold a public hearingover the issue at Metro RailBhavan on October 3.

CMRS inspectsAmeerpet...

Indian univ teachers moreinclined on mentoring: Study

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 hyderabad 04

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Minorities WelfareKoppula Eshwar has said thatthe state government is incur-ring an expenditure of Rs 1.20lakh on each student belong-ing to minority communitiesand noted that measures toappoint teachers on permanentbasis to minorities education-al institutions and pucca build-ings are underway.

On Tuesday, he inspectedthe Telangana SateGovernment's minority resi-dential educational institutionfor boys at Sanatnagar and forgirls at Khairatabad. He saidthat the demand for seats in theresidential educational insti-tutions for minorities is veryhigh since they offer educationin English medium with allcorporate amenities.

He went round the school,visited the classrooms andenquired about accommoda-tion for students. He asked the

students to keep their class-rooms and school premisestidy. He enquired the princi-pals about the menu and

asked them to provide nutri-tious food especially to girls.

He asked the teachers toinfuse confidence among thestudents and ensure that theyreach dizzy heights in theircareer. He suggested to themto hold special classes forthose lagging behind.

He told the school author-ities that the government setup these schools with loftyideals and asked them tostrive to achieve the govern-ment's objective. The princi-pals told the Minister that theschools are equipped withdigital class rooms and thestudents receive sports dress.There is a teacher for every 20students and each class isdivided into two sections.Advisor to government AKKhan accompanied the min-ister.

‘RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLSLEADING BY EXAMPLE'n DEMAND FOR SEATS IN SCHOOLS ON THE RISE, SAYS MINISTER KOPPULA ESHWAR

Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav distributes Bathukamma sarees in Hyderabad on Tuesday

Bathukamma festival going global: Talasani

Women delighted at variety on offerPNS n DEVARUPALA

For the women of the Devaruppalatown in the Jangaon district,Bathukamma came well inadvance. Women in the town,who received the Bathukammasarees were elated with the newmodels that are supplied by thegovernment during the currentseason.

"Unlike previous year, this timethe government is distributingsarees with more varities. Last time

there was confusion as Dasara andBathukamma came during a pre-election season and the govern-ment was compelled to adhere tothe restrictions of the ElectionCommission. But this time, thesarees are supplied well in advanceand we are glad that the sarees arestandard and colourful," said,Renuka, a woman activist of a selfhelp group in the PeddaThandamalla of the Devaruppalamandal in Jangaon district.

The festive moods prevailed inall the districts across ruralTelangana and the sarees modelstoo were attractive to the core, saidone Padmaja, an activist of the TRSwomen wing in the Warangalrural district.

The saree distribution processis on full swing in all the districtsacross the state. Interestingly, theprogramme was undertaken withthe support and guidance ofMLAs, MLCs, Ministers and localbody representatives in all theparts of the districts. The festiveatmosphere in all the regions hasassumed colours as the sarees dis-tributed in advance by the admin-istration are reaching all nooksand corners of the rural parts.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Bathukamma festival,unique to Telangana has goneinternational ever since theTRS regime gave it the statusof state festival, said Ministerfor Animal HusbandryTalasani Srinivas Yadav.

Distributing Bathukammafestival sarees among womenat various places in the twincities on Tuesday, the Ministersaid that the TRS governmentis distributing the sarees toensure women celebrate thefestival with joy.

He said that the governmentwould distribute 15.40 lakhBathukamma sarees underthe limits of theGHMC through900 distribu-tion centersa n d1 , 3 0 0fair-

price outlets. He appreciatedthe saree designs and dwelt atlength on governmentsschemes for the poor likeShaadi Mubarak, KalyanaLakshmi, Rytu Bandhu and soon.

He distributed the sareesamong beneficiaries atBansilalpet, Amirpet,Amberpet, Goshamahal divi-sions. The GHMC UrbanCommunity DevelopmentProject Director SnigdhaPatnaik, Zonal commissionerMusharaf Ali, Sankaraiah,Deputy commissioners GitaRadhika, Krishnaiah and oth-ers were present on the occa-

sion.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Greater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation will distribute a total of15,38, 742 sarees in the GreaterHyderabad limits, said the civic bodyon Tuesday. The State Governmenthad started distributingBathukamma sarees from Monday.

The corporation has madepreparatory arrangements such as

formation of ward-level commit-tees, circle level committees and

nodal officers to ensure properreceipt for distribution and return ofthe undisbursed stock in each zone.

The senior officers have beenpositioned at various levels to con-duct the entire programme in asmooth manner. So far, 7,01,200sarees have been received from theTelangana State Handloom Weavers'Cooperative Society LimitedWeavers' and the balance stock willreach the circle level godowns byWednesday evening.

Over 15 lakhsarees to be

distributed in Hyderabad

‘Bathukamma Samburalu' poster releasedPNS n HYDERABAD

Former MP and TelanganaJagruthi president KalvakuntlaKavitha on Tuesday launchedposters and brochures of the'Bathukamma Samburalu'.Addressing the TelanganaJagruthi district convenors, she

said, "Bathukamma has beenpromoting values and hasadded spiritual significance tothe daily lives of people. Ourorganisation has spread acrossthe globe in a very short peri-od. Like every year, we will cel-ebrate the Bathukamma festivalin Mumbai, and also in coun-

tries like USA, Australia, UK,Europe, Qatar, Oman, UnitedArab Emirates and in manyother Middle East countries."This year, Telangana Jagruthiwill celebrate 'BathukammaSambaralu' across the state ofTelangana from 28 Septemberto 6 October.

n FORMER MP K KAVITHA UNVEILS THE POSTERBathukamma has been promotingvalues and has added spiritualsignificance to the daily lives ofpeople. Our organisation has spreadacross the globe in a very shortperiod, said K Kavitha

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Animal hus-bandry Talasani SrinivasYadav on Tuesday said thatthe Bathukamma festival willcommence on a grand notewith the participation of10,000 at Bhadrakali templein Warangal on September28. The festival will be cele-brated across the state,including Raj Bhavan andState Legislative Assembly,till October 6, when it willconclude. The governmenthas been making elaboratearrangements for celebrationof the festival on a grandscale, irrespective of theexpenditure.

Reviewing arrangementsfor the festival at TourismPlaza in Begumpet here, hesaid that the state governmentwould extend necessary sup-port to other states celebrat-ing the festival. He said thatthe festival is being celebrat-ed officialy for the past fiveyears with the state govern-ment declaring it as an offi-cial festival of the state. It iscelebrated in governmentoffices and the governmentgives special holidays forwomen to celebrate the event.

He accused the successivegovernment that ruledAndhra Pradesh neglectingthe festival. The festival, a partof Telangana culture origi-nated from worshippingnature, under the leadership ofTelangana Jagruti president KKavita has gone internation-al. He urged AP too celebratethe event, which is being cel-ebratedin Maharashtra andKarnataka too. Further, thefestival will be celebrated ona large scale in Delhi too. Thefestival will conclude withtaking out a huge rally fromLB stadium to Tank Bund.

Grand plans in place forBathukammafestival

MASS FILING OF NOMINATIONS

Will Nizamabad episoderepeat in Huzurnagar?n ‘MALLANNA TEAM’ PLANNING TO FLOOD THE

CONSTITUENCY WITH OVER 200 CANDIDATES K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

This year, over 200 farmershave filed nominations inNizamabad Lok Sabha con-stituency in Telangana toprotest the failure of the stateand Central governments toensure better remunerativeprocess for their produce.

And the situation is likely tobe repeated in Huzurnagarby-election, which will be heldon October 21, as the'Theenmar Mallanna' team isplanning to field 200 candi-dates opposing the mainstreampolitical parties for fieldingonly Reddy community can-didates.

Over 200 farmers filed theirnominations in Nizamabadelections and succeeded indefeating ruling party candi-date K Kavitha. Here the aimof Mallanna team may be dif-ferent but the team wants to

prove their mettle inHuzurnagar by-elections withdifferent social justice anglestrategy.

According to Mallanna teammember Ravikanth, they aregoing to field candidates fromall castes to prove that the by-election is not for a single com-munity.

Interestingly, the team willcollect the nomination feefrom the people. The team isalso asking the interested can-didates to contest the electionsand asking them to send theirdetails to their team members.

Ravikanth further said thatthey would announce theirteam strategy within couple ofdays. It may be recalled thatthe TRS announcedSanampudi Saidi Reddy,Congress announcedPadmavathi Reddy and BJPannounced Srikala Reddy astheir candidates, all fromReddy community.

It may be recalled that over200 farmers have filed nomi-nations in Nizamabad LokSabha constituency inTelangana last year. However,184 candidates stayed in thefray, which ensured the victo-ry of BJP candidateDharmapuri Arvind.

The ruling TRS party can-didate K Kavitha lost the elec-tions with huge margin. Afterthe elections, TRS party lead-ers have alleged that the farm-ers changed the fate of theircandidates in Nizamabad LokSabha constituency.

All three mainstream polit-ical parties - TRS, Congressand BJP are considering theseby-elections as prestigious elec-tions to prove their metlle. Atthis juncture, Mallanna team isplanning to filed 200 candi-dates. One has to wait and seeas to how these 200 candidatesare going to show their impactin these elections.

Rajeshwar TRSin-charge forHuzurnagarby-pollPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister and TRS pres-ident K Chandrashekar Raoon Tuesday appointed party'sgeneral secretary and Whipin the State legislative CouncilPalla Rajeshwar Reddy asthe in-charge of HuzurnagarAssembly bypoll. KCRinstructed Rajeshwar Reddyto coordinate with Ministers,MPs, MLAs, and MLCs fromthe district and stay atHuzurnagar to coordinateand implement the party'spoll strategy. KCR alsoinstructed all the leaders to bein their districts and getready for the polls.

Volkswagen case: Botsaappears in CBI courtPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment BotsaSatyanarayana on Tuesdayappeared in a special CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)court as a witness in the 14-year-old Volkswagen case.

The Minister appeared inresponse to the summonsissued in August.Satyanarayana is likely torecord his statement as the60th witness in the case.

He was Industries Ministerin the YS Rajasekhara Reddygovernment in undividedAndhra Pradesh in 2005 whenthe scandal had surfaced. TheState government had alleged-ly paid Rs 11.67 crore toVashishta Wahan PrivateLimited floated for setting upof a Volkswagen manufactur-ing unit in Visakhapatnam.

Vashishta Wahan, however,turned out to be a fictitiousentity. The scam came to lightin 2005 when Volkswagensacked its then head of Indian

operations Helmut Schuster oncharges of corruption in someother dealings. Schuster wasnegotiating on behalf ofVolkswagen with the AndhraPradesh government for set-ting up of the car plant.

Following allegations by theopposition that Satyanarayanaand some others had paid themoney to Vashistha Wahan

through "dubious" means, theState government ordered theprobe by the CBI.

The CBI in 2010 filed achargesheet against sixaccused, including Schuster.They were charged with crim-inal conspiracy and cheating.However, Satyanarayana wasincluded as a witness in thecase.

The former CEO of TV 9V Ravi Prakash received

a blow in Telangana HighCourt on Tuesday in casesfiled against him by the statepolice. The court dismissedthe petition filed by RaviPrakash urging it to relax theconditions imposed on himwhile granting the bail.

In his petition, RaviPrakash urged the court towaive the condition ofappearing before the policeat regular intervals andreturn his passport in order

to allow him to visit foreigncountries.

A single judge benchheaded by Justice G Sridevipassed the orders after hear-ing the petition. The crimi-nal cases by the state werefiled against Ravi Prakashfollowing a complaint byone Kaushik Rao, the direc-tor of Alanda Media andentertainment private limit-ed. The court

had granted conditionalbail in all the three cases filedagainst him.

Setback for Ravi Prakash in HC

Centre copying TS’schemes: Karne PNS n HYDERABAD

TRS MLS Karne Prabhakar onTuesday objected to conductof Union Ministers on a visitto the State and accused themof adopting double standards.His grouse against them wasthat leveling allegations againstthe government forgettingtheir stature.

Addressing media at theTRSLP office, the MLC saidthat the Union Ministers tak-ing part in government pro-grammes praise the govern-ment schemes, but change thetack while taking part in thesaffron party programmes.He felt that it does not augurwell for them.

He dared Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan is itpossible for the Center toimplement welfare pro-grammes of Telangana in BJPruled states. "As a CentralMinister you are not able toimplement the Center'sschemes in your own state ofOdisha," he said.

He objected to the UnionMinisters shooting theirmouth against KCR as theyliked in spite of the fact that heenjoys the popular support ofthe people. He confrontedwith them by seeking to knowwhether any of the BJP-ruledstates is implementing bettergovernment schemes thanthose being implemented inTelangana. He advised themto highlight the wonderfulschemes being implementedby the Center before criticis-ing Telangana.

KCR interfering inHCA polls: VivekPNS n HYDERABAD

Senior BJP leader G VivekVenkatswamy slammed ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao alleging that latter hasbeen interfering in HyderabadCricket Association (HCA)elections to gain control overthe cricket body.

Vivek came down heavilyon the Chief Minister sayinglatter has obstructed him fromcontesting in HCA elections.“CM KCR wants to control all

sports. He has been interferingin Hyderabad CricketAssociation elections to gaincontrol over the high profilecricket body. KCR obstructedme from contesting in theHCA elections. IT MinisterKTR has been openly can-vassing for Azharuddin andrequesting members to votefor Azhar. It will be a greatblow for HCA, if KCR has hisway in HCA polls. Interferenceof KCR will only derailHyderabad cricket,” he said.

Student unions, youth to protest ‘freeze’ on govt jobsPNS/Hyderabad

Student unions and unem-ployed youth organisations areplanning to launch a joint agi-tation against the government,as one Osmania Universityalumni Navin KumarMyadari's suicide, apparentlyfrustrated with not getting agovernment job, once againhighlighted the pathetic situa-tion of students and unem-ployed youth aspiring for gov-ernment jobs in Telangana.

Telangana Nirudyogula JAC,SFI, PDSU, NSUI and other

student unions and unem-ployed youth organisationshave vowed to launch a freshagitation against the govern-ment seeking release of jobnotifications, as a pall of gloomdescended over OU campus,Ashoknagar and other areas,where mostly youth preparingfor government jobs reside,after Navin's suicide newsspread.

"TRS government has com-pletely betrayed students andunemployed youth. OU stu-dent Navin's suicide has onceagain highlighted the grave-

ness of the situation. At least20 to 25 lakh youth are seri-ously preparing for govern-ment jobs and eagerly waitingfor job notifications. Withthe government not issuingnotifications, these youth arein severe pressure, which iseventually leading to extremestep like suicide. In spite ofnumerous representations andprotests, government is notrecognising the helpless situ-ation of unemployed youth.We are planning to launch ajoint agitation to step up pres-sure on the government.

Already PDSU, SFI and oth-ers have expressed readinessto join hands and we will evenapproach ABVP," said KoturiManavatha Roy, founder ofTelangana Nirudyoga JAC,speaking to The Pioneer.

Navin Kumar who hadcompleted his PG inJournalism in 2015 has beenstaying near OU campus andpreparing for competitiveexaminations. Miffed withnot getting a government jobeven after preparing for fouryears, he had committed sui-cide.

TelanganaNirudyogulaJAC, SFI, PDSU,NSUI and otherstudent unionshave vowed to intensifyagitationseekingrelease of jobnotifications

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

OSD to chief engineer held on graft chargesJAMMU: An officer on specialduty (OSD) to the chiefengineer of the public worksdepartment has been arrestedby the Anti Corruption Bureau(ACB) for allegedly acceptingbribe, an official said onTuesday. Suresh Kumar said inhis complaint that he hadcompleted counterfort wallwork at Reasi Anji Road for61.42 lakh for which anamount of Rs 32 lakhs waspending with the Roads andBuilding Department. Thecomplainant was constantlyharassed by OSD Nazir Ahmadand bribe was demanded forrelease of payment, officialssaid. After receiving thecomplaint, the Anti CorruptionBureau registered an FIR andthe ACB laid a trap. ACB teamscaught Ahmad along with hisassociate Raju Singh, driver inthe PWD department, whileallegedly accepting a bribe ofRs 70,000.

Goa cops track downperson behind nudeparty poster

Mayawati dissolvesRajasthan BSPexecutiveJAIPU: Bahujan Samaj Partychief Mayawati has dissolvedthe party's executive inRajasthan, days after its all sixlegislators joined the Congressand the brawl among activistsat its office. National convenerRamji Gautam and formerRajya Sabha member MunkadAli have been given theresponsibility of the BSP inRajasthan, said BhagwanSingh, the party's Rajasthanincharge. The entire executiveof the BSP has been dissolvedin the state, Singh said, addingthat the decision had beentaken on the instructions ofMayawati. The move comesafter all the six BSP MLAs inthe state joined the rulingCongress on September 16.Following the switch, workersclashed at the state-levelmeeting of the party held heretwo days ago.

Chouhan to launchcivil disobediencecampaign against MPBHOPAL: Former MadhyaPradesh chief minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan on Tuesdaysaid he will launch a 'savinayavagya' (civil disobedience)campaign against the rulingCongress over "non-fulfillment"of its promises made to peopleof the state. The senior BJPleader made the announcementduring the conclusion of histwo-day 'Janata ki Adalat'(people's court) held atNasrullaganj tehsil in Sehoredistrict, which falls in hisconstituency Budhni. A largenumber of people turned up atthe people's court to highlighttheir various problems,including inflated electricitybills, non-waiver of farm loansand issues pertaining towomen self-help groups. InChouhan's presence, somepeople also set afire their'inflated' power bills and saidthey will not pay them till theCongress-led state governmentdoes not fulfil its promise ofreducing their electricity usagecosts from Rs 200 per monthto Rs 100 per month. "Farmersare getting highly inflatedelectricity bills running intothousands of rupees, which istotally unjustified," Chouhansaid addressing the gathering.

Bhagwatinteracts withforeign mediaPNS n NEW DELHI

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat onTuesday interacted with for-eign journalists from 30countries and shared thevision of the organisation."This interaction was part ofthe continuous process wherethe 'Sarsanghchalak' (chief)engages in constructive dia-logue with people from dif-ferent walks of the society,"the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh said in a statement.The interaction lasted foraround two-and-a-half hours.It started with brief intro-duction given by Bhagwat,followed by a question-and-answer session covering awide range of issues acrossthe spectrum, according tothe statement.

PANAJI: Goa Police have"tracked down" the personbelieved to be behindadvertising hosting of a "nudeparty", Chief Minister PramodSawant said on Tuesday after aposter surfaced on socialmedia announcing the event innorth Goa. Police on Mondaylaunched investigation into thesource of the poster titled'Private Goa Party'. Itmentioned the venue asMorjim-Ashwem road,Gawdewada Road, in Pernemtown. The poster informed that"10-15 foreigners" and "morethan 10 Indian girls" will takepart in the event. "Police haveinvestigated about that poster.They have been able to trackdown one person. He will bearrested soon," the chiefminister said, adding that thestate will not allow such anevent to happen. He refused todivulge the location of theperson. Tourism MinisterManohar Ajgaonkar also saidthat any nude party will not beallowed in Goa. "If you come toknow anything about suchevent then please inform us.We will take strict action," theminister said.

PNS nTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Indian badminton icon andworld champion P V Sindhuwill be part of a centuries-oldfolk ritual art form in a sleepyvillage of Kerala later thisweek, but not through herphysical presence.

A ceremonial 'kolam' (effi-gy) of Sindhu, holding bad-minton racket, will be madeand put on display onSeptember 27 at the finale ofthe famed 'NeelamperoorPadayani,' a 16-day-long annu-al ritual art to be held at PalliBhagavathy temple in the state.

"Padayani' is a ritual per-formed at the 'bhagavathy'(goddess) temples in centralKerala.

One of the oldest suchshrines dedicated toVanadurga (goddess) in thestate, the history of PallyBhagavathy temple atNeelamperoor located in theKottayam-Alappuzha border,can be traced back to 1700years, local people said.

Along with the conven-tional effigies of divine andsemi-divine impersonations,'padayani' artists of the villagehave decided to make the'kolam' of Sindhu as a sym-bolic representation of womenempowerment and her epicvictory in the recent worldchampionship. The six-feet-high effigy of Sindhu will bemade completely using natur-al ingredients like stem ofarecanut tree, stem sheath ofbanana plantain, bamboo and

lotus leaves and colour extractsof 'ixora' (chethi in local par-lance) flower.

"The work is progressingand the effigy of P V Sindhuis nearing completion. It willbe in the form of the girl hold-ing badminton racket in herhand," Sreekumar, a villager,who in among those oversee-ing the preparations of theNeelamperoor Padayani, toldPTI. Unlike the other varietiesof 'padayanies', theNeelamperoor Padayani givesfreedom in the making ofeffigies, he said.

"The traditional effigies likeswan will be maintained asmuch. But, youngsters in thevillage are particular aboutbringing some novelty in thesub-effigies. Last year, wemade one of iconic Argentinefootballer Lionel Messi," hesaid.

PNS n KOLKATA

Former Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajeev Kumaron Tuesday moved the CalcuttaHigh Court seeking anticipa-tory bail in the multi-croreSaradha chitfund case andclaimed that the CBI was"hounding" him.

Kumar, who is currentlyadditional director general inthe West Bengal CID, said hisleave will end on Wednesdayand his plea for pre-arrest bailbe taken up for hearing urgent-ly.

Moving the anticipatory bailpetition, his counsel DebasishRoy submitted before a divisionbench presided by Justice SMunshi, that "the CBI ishounding me (Kumar) likeanything."

At this, the other judge of thebench Justice S Dasgupta said,"Go and surrender."

The division bench thenfixed Kumar's anticipatory bailplea, which was filed onMonday, for hearing on

Wednesday.Kumar's lawyer earlier sub-

mitted that the petition waslisted at 'serial number 271'before the bench and prayedfor an urgent hearing of thematter.

The court asked him toexplain why it needed to betaken up for urgent hearing.

CBI sleuths have gone toseveral places, includingKumar's official residence atPark Street here, in search ofthe elusive officer.

Kumar's pre-arrest bail plea

was rejected by the AliporeDistrict and Sessions Court onSeptember 21.

The agency has given mul-tiple notices to him to appearbefore it for questioning as awitness in the Saradha scamcase.

He, however, did not appearbefore the CBI and has soughtmore time on every occasion.

The Saradha group of com-panies allegedly duped lakhs ofpeople to the tune of Rs 2,500crore, promising higher rates ofreturn on their investments.

During the hearing beforethe Alipore Sessions Court, the

CBI had claimed that Kumar isnot cooperating with it in theprobe, and has been evadingappearance before its investi-gation team on frivolousgrounds.

Countering the assertion,the senior IPS officer's counselsaid Kumar is not a fugitive andis on leave from September 1to 25.

On September 19, theagency had moved the court ofAdditional Chief JudicialMagistrate (ACJM) at Alipore,seeking an arrest warrantagainst Kumar.

The court had, however,said the CBI does not need itswarrant, as the Supreme Courtand the Calcutta High Courthad already lifted bar on hisarrest in the chitfund case.

Prior to that, Kumar hadapproached the Barasat districtcourt for pre-arrest bail, but itdisposed of his application onthe ground that it did nothave jurisdiction in the matter,as the case was registered atAlipore court.

The Calcutta High Courthad on September 13 vacatedits interim order granting himprotection from arrest. It hadalso rejected his plea for quash-ing the CBI notice that soughthis appearance for interroga-tion in the case.

Earlier on May 23, the apexcourt had vacated an interimprotection to Kumar fromarrest by the CBI.

The agency had summonedKumar on May 27 for ques-tioning in connection with theponzi scam, challenging whichhe had moved the high court,seeking quashing of the notice.

Kumar was part of a SpecialInvestigation Team set up bythe West Bengal government toinvestigate the scam, before theSupreme Court handed overthe case to the CBI in 2014,along with other chitfundcases.

The chitfund scam wasunearthed in 2013 duringKumar's tenure as theBidhannagar PoliceCommissioner.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Commission ofSafai Karamcharis (NCSK) onTuesday said 64 people havedied while cleaning sewers inDelhi since 1993 with 38 suchdeaths taking place in the lasttwo years.

NCSK chairman ManharValjibhai Zala claimed that theDelhi government has notbeen implementing theProhibition of Employment asManual Scavengers and theirRehabilitation Act, 2013 and issending out a wrong messageto the rest of the country.

Delhi's Social WelfareMinister Rajendra PalGautam, however, said theDelhi government has ensuredeffective implementation ofthe Act and the deaths whichhave taken place occurred inseptic tanks of malls and highrises where sewer cleaningmachines of Delhi Jal Boardcannot reach.

The minister said his gov-ernment has put an end tomanual scavenging andexploring alternatives forcleaning septic tanks in mallsand buildings.

He said, "The issue shouldnot be politicised and every-

one should join hands to putan end to the abominablepractice. We have developed'mangalyaan', we should alsoexplore new technologies forsewer cleaning."

After a review meeting withthe officials of the Delhi gov-ernment, Zala said 38 sewerdeaths have taken place inDelhi alone in the last twoyears and 64 deaths have takenplace in the city since 1993.

Of the 64 people who diedwhile cleaning sewers, thestate government has givencompensation of Rs 10 lakhsto 46 families.

The commission asked theDelhi administration to pro-vide compensation to rest ofthe families within a week.

PNS n NEW DELHI

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat onTuesday said the fear of losingland and jobs among people ofJammu and Kashmir afterabrogation of Article 370 pro-visions should be allayed andasserted that putting an end tothe region's special status willhelp integrate Kashmiris withrest of the country.

According to sources, whileinteracting with journalistsrepresenting foreign media,he claimed that Kashmiriswere earlier "alienated" butthe repeal of the provisions ofArticle 370 will remove thebarriers that existed betweenthem and the rest of the nation.

The Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS), in a statement,said, "This interaction waspart of the continuous processwhere the 'Sarsanghchalak'(chief) engages in constructivedialogue with people fromdifferent walks of the society."

About apprehensions ofKashmiris that the move onArticle 370 will lead to "out-siders" buying their land,Bhagwat is learnt to have said,

"Whatever fears they haveabout losing land and jobsshould be allayed."

On the issue of NationalRegister of Citizens in Assam,he said it's not about expellingpeople but about identifyingthe citizens.

"There is no place forHindus in the world exceptIndia," sources said quotinghim.

Asked about homosexuali-ty, an issue on which the viewof the Hindutva organisationhas evolved over time,Bhagwat said it's a "variation"and not an "abnormality".

"They should be treated asequal human beings and inte-

grated into society," the RSSchief said.

About incidents of moblynching, Bhagwat said theRSS condemns all forms ofviolence and its volunteersshould try to stop such inci-dents.

"If a swayamsevak is foundguilty, we will disown him andlaw should follow its owncourse," he said.

Bhagwat, under whose stew-ardship the RSS has opened upcomparatively, also told foreignjournalists that his organisa-tion will never be a politicalbody and "the Hindutva itespouses is about unity indiversity".

PNS n NEW DELHI

Robert Vadra has opposed inthe Delhi High Court theEnforcement Directorate's pleachallenging his anticipatorybail in a money launderingcase. Vadra, son-in-law ofCongress chief Sonia Gandhi,said in his reply that there wasno single instance of his non-cooperation with the investi-gation and there was no risk ofhim tampering with any evi-dence as the ED has alreadyseized from him every docu-ment pertaining to the case.

ED was conducting a fish-ing and roving enquiry andhas no material to support theallegations made against him,he claimed.

The matter is scheduled tocome up for hearing in thecourt on September 26.

ED had sought in the highcourt cancellation of Vadra's

anticipatory bail on theground that it required his cus-tody as he was not cooperat-ing in the investigation.

Regarding the allegation offlight risk, Vadra said in hisreply, "The conduct of therespondent (Vadra) in return-ing to India from abroad vol-untarily upon reading pressreports that ED was investi-gating him made it abun-dantly clear that Vadra had nointention of whatsoever offleeing the country and wasdetermined to stay in Indiaand clear the name."

PNS n NEW DELHI

A new leadership group, to beled by India and Sweden, wasannounced at the UnitedNations Climate ActionSummit to help guide theworld's heaviest greenhousegas emitting industries towardslow-carbon economy, an offi-cial of the Union Ministry ofEnvironment said on Tuesday.

Besides India and Sweden,the other countries which arethe part of the initiative includeArgentina, Finland, France,Germany, Ireland,Luxembourg, the Netherlands,South Korea and the UK, hesaid, adding several companies

are also an active part of thegroup.

The new leadership groupwill drive transformation inhard-to-decarbonise and ener-gy-intensive sectors.

"This global initiative will besupported by the WorldEconomic Forum, the EnergyTransitions Commission,Mission Innovation,Stockholm Environment

Institute, and the EuropeanClimate Foundation amongmany others in an ambitious,public-private effort, to ensureheavy industries and mobilitycompanies can find a workablepathway to deliver on the ParisAgreement," the ministry offi-cial said.

Addressing a press confer-ence in New York, UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar said, "The last twodays have seen major take-aways, including the decisionthat heavy industries who aredoing their bit on their own,without any external help, havedecided to have a low carbonpath."

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Tuesday asked oper-ators of private security agen-cies to undertake welfare ini-tiatives like health insurance,health check up and pensionfor private guards by takingadvantage of government-sponsored schemes.

Shah also asked privatesecurity agencies to hire NCCtrained guards so that thoseemployed have some basictraining on security.

Launching a private securi-ty agency licensing portal ini-tiated by the Ministry ofHome Affairs, he said agenciesmust ensure that each andevery private security guardhas a 'Jan Dhan' bank accountfor salary disbursement andthere should be no cash trans-

actions with them.The home minister said

there are around 90 lakh pri-vate security guards in thecountry while the total num-ber of police and paramilitaryforces is around 30 lakh. Thatmeans, there are 24 per centpolice and 76 per cent privatesecurity guards, he said.

"You should undertakesome welfare schemes likeregular health check up of pri-

vate security guards. Youshould enrol them under thegovernment-sponsored Rs 2lakh insurance scheme(Pradhan Mantri SurakshaBima Yojana) and pay theyearly premium of Rs 22 foreach guard. The governmentwill pay rest of the amount ofRs 350.

"Similarly, arrangementsshould be made so that eachprivate guard comes under the

cover of Atal Pension Yojana(a government back scheme),"he said.

The home minister askedprivate security agencies toemploy NCC trained youths assecurity guards to ensure thatthey get people with basicdiscipline.

"We should enhance thecredibility of the wholeprocess. People would knowthat with NCC certificate,

they will get a job in securityagencies easily. This criteriashould be popularised gradu-ally. You will also get peoplehaving discipline and patriot-ic values trained by the gov-ernment. There is also a SkillIndia certificate," he said.

Shah said the police verifi-cation of private securityguards has become easier nowas 90 per cent police stationsin the country are now linkedwith a dedicated only system(CCTNS).

"The record of any securi-ty guard in those 90 per centpolice stations will be easilyavailable. This is also veryconvenient for you to checkwith the police the criminalrecord of a person... you canalso do the police verificationof existing security guards," hesaid.

Shah wants welfare schemes for pvt guards

Rajeev Kumar

CBI sleuths havegone to severalplaces, includingKumar's officialresidence at ParkStreet here, insearch of theelusive officer.

P V Sindhu

Padayani' is aritual performed atthe ‘bhagavathy'(goddess) templesin central Kerala

Sindhu in Kerala’sancient ritual art form

Amit Shah

The Home Minister said there arearound 90 lakh private securityguards in the country while thetotal number of police andparamilitary forces is around 30lakh. That means, there are 24per cent police and 76 per centprivate security guards, he said.

Mohan Bhagwat

On the issue ofNational Registerof Citizens inAssam, he said it'snot aboutexpelling peoplebut aboutidentifying thecitizens

‘Kashmiris' fear about losingland, jobs misplaced’

The minister saidhis governmenthas put an end tomanualscavenging andexploringalternatives forcleaning septictanks in malls andbuildings

Robert Vadra

Robert Vadraopposes ED in HC

New group led by India, Sweden at helmUN CLIMATE SUMMIT

64 sewersdied inDelhi while cleaning

Saradha scam: Rajeev Kumarclaims CBI ‘hounding' him

Onion prices tostabilise in nextfew days: TomarPNS n NEW DELHI

Onion prices, which are rulingas high as Rs 70-80 per kg insome parts of the country, willcalm down in the next fewdays with supply being boost-ed through agencies likeNafed, Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar said onTuesday.

Onion prices have gradual-ly increased in the last onemonth due to supply disrup-tion from flood-hit onion-growing states likeMaharashtra. Last week's rain-fall has further affected thesupply, due to which onionprices have surged up to Rs 70-80 per kg in the national cap-ital and other parts of thecountry, as per trade sources.

"Onion situation willimprove in the next few days.Cooperative Nafed is releasingstock from the central bufferat a lower price. We haveenough stock of onions,"Tomar told reporters after thelaunch of two mobile apps forfarmers.

The government is aware ofthe onion situation and takingmeasures to balance in theinterest of both farmers andconsumers, he said.

"At times, consumers haveto pay high price for farmitems; and at times, farmers getless price for their produce.Our role is to balance this. Weare aware of it and are takingseveral measures," Tomaradded.

Right now, stored onions aresold in most parts of thecountry, as fresh Kharif(summer) crop will hit themarket from Novemberonwards, traders said.

Traders further said thatthere is enough supply ofstored onion of the previousyear's crop in the country, butits transportation has beenaffected because of heavyrains.

The centre has taken sever-al measures to arrest the pricesof onion in Delhi and otherparts of the country.

Narendra Singh Tomar

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 nation 06SHORT READS

BJP govt in UP has nocontrol over crime:Priyanka

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

NEW DELHI: Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onTuesday attacked the BJPgovernment in Uttar Pradesh,saying there had been a rise incriminal incidents and the YogiAdityanath dispensation wasunable to rein in crime. TheCongress general secretaryalso posted a media report onTwitter which claimed that inthe last 22 days there havebeen 12 shooting incidents andfour killings in Uttar Pradeshcapital Lucknow. "You try tomatch the claims and reality ofthe Uttar Pradesh BJPgovernment. Every day the BJPgovernment is going aroundbeating drums about makingthe state crime-free, whereasthe truth is 12 shootings, 4killings in 22 days. Atrocities onwomen," Priyanka Gandhi saidin a tweet. The stategovernment has no controlover crime, she said.

Part of 5-storeybuilding collapses inMumbai; no casualty

Tharoor in spot over‘Howdy Modi' tweet pixNEW DELHI: Setting out to takea swipe at the 'Howdy Modi'event, Congress leader ShashiTharoor found himself in a spotof Twitter trouble instead whenhe posted a picture ofJawaharlal Nehru and IndiraGandhi in what he claimed wasthe US only to clarify later thatit was probably from their visitto the USSR. Tharoor, whotweeted the photograph of thefirst prime minister and hisdaughter in an open vehiclewaving to large crowds ofpeople, was also trolled formisspelling Indira Gandhi'sname as "India Gandhi". "Nehruand India Gandhi in the US in1954. Look at the hugelyenthusiastic spontaneousturnout of the American public,without any special PRcampaign, NRI crowdmanagement or hyped-upmedia publicity," Tharoor saidon Monday night tagging thephoto and taking a dig at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sdiaspora event in Houston. Itwas a gaffe, several netizenstold Tharoor, who has amassive following of 7.1 millionon Twitter.

MUMBAI: A portion of a five-storey building collapsed insuburban Khar on Tuesdayafternoon, but no casualty wasreported, a fire brigade officialsaid. The incident took placearound 2.20 pm when part of astaircase of the residentialbuilding, located near KharGymkhana, came crashingdown, he said. "No casualty hasbeen reported so far and effortsare underway to clear thedebris," he said. A rescue teamwas trying to ascertain if anyonewas trapped under the rubble,he said. Four fire engines alongwith rescue vans, anambulance, local civic officials,National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) and policepersonnel rushed to the spot, headded.

PNS n PANAJI

Goa Chief Minister PramodSawant on Tuesday said thestate will be spending aroundRs 450 crore on infrastructurefor the 36th edition of theNational Games, which it willhost in October 2020.

Sawant chaired a high-levelmeeting of officials atSecretariat near here to reviewthe preparations for the eventin presence of sports ministerManohar Ajgaonkar. The CMsaid that he would seek addi-tional funds from the Centreto host the games. "We willseek 50 percent of the organ-ising cost, which is pegged atRs 250 crore, from the Centre,"he said. Sawant said that theNational Games would beheld between October 20 toNovember 4, 2020 at differentvenues across the state.

"We have given differentdeadlines to various depart-ments to set up the infra-structure required to host theNational Games. I will also beholding periodical reviews," headded.

PNS n NEW DELHI

President Ram Nath Kovindon Tuesday emphasised theneed to reduce water footprintand said farmers, corporateleaders and government bod-ies need to actively consider it.

Water footprint is theamount of water consumed toproduce goods and servicesand cultivation of crops.

Inaugurating the 6th IndiaWater Week, Kovind said therehas been negligence in pre-serving water and steps mustbe taken to ensure that futuregenerations get clean drinkingwater.

"We often talk of reducingour carbon footprint. It is timewe talk about reducing ourwater footprint. Our farmers,corporate leaders and govern-ment bodies need to activelyconsider the water footprint of

different crops and industries.We need to encourage agri-cultural and industrial practisethat has least water footprint,"the President said.

Kovind said the NamamiGange project entails numer-ous projects to ensure the con-tinuous and unpolluted flow ofthe Ganga.

He stressed that makingGanga and other rivers cleancannot be a mission of the gov-

ernment alone and has to be acollective endeavour.

In this context, he saididols of deities immersed inrivers should be made fromenvironment-friendly materi-als to keep water bodies cleanand ensure the safety ofmarine life.

Water issues are too multi-faceted and complex to besolved by only the governmentor just one nation, Kovind said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

It is imperative for the CBI toapply "judicious rationale"before seeking exemption fromthe RTI Act in responding topetitions seeking records ofgraft cases probed by its anti-corruption units, the CIC hasheld.

The Section 24 of the RTIAct exempts security and intel-ligence agencies including theCBI from the ambit of thetransparency law but if theapplicant seeks any material inany form held by the agencypertaining to "allegations ofcorruption", the exemptiondoes not apply.

The cases handled by theCBI primarily deal with theallegations of corruption andthe RTI applications seekinginformation about them shouldbe answered in accordancewith the provisions of thetransparency law but the offi-cials of the agency commonlycite Section 24 exemption todeny the request.

Such denials often end at thedoors of the highest adjudicat-ing authority in RTI matters -- the Central InformationCommission (CIC) but by thetime a decision comes, itsalready three to four yearsfrom the day of filing theapplication, activists said.

The CIC had in a number oforders made it clear that alle-gations of corruption do notenjoy exemption but there is nochange in the position of theofficers handling the RTI

requests in the CBI. The Delhi High Court has

also made it clear that allega-tions of corruption--be it isagainst the officials of theagency or records held by it

about third party -- do notcome under exemption givento it or agencies listed in sec-ond schedule of the Section 24.

One such applicant hadsought an information in 2017about two corruption casesagainst him registered by theCBI. He was denied informa-

tion citing exemption given tothe agency under the Section24. When he approached theCommission, InformationCommissioner Divya PrakashSinha noted that it was ade-quately established that alle-gation of corruption subsistingin the matter in connection

with case. "CPIO's (CBI offi-cer) contention does notnegate the fact that there wereallegations of corruptionwhich were investigated into.Besides, the fact that Appellanteventually served imprison-ment for a period of fouryears further evinces the alle-gation of corruption," Sinhaobserved.

He said the aspect of largerpublic interest or the conclu-siveness of the preliminaryenquiry does not have anybearing on the applicability ofthe proviso to Section 24(1) ofRTI Act as no such contingen-cies are inserted in the said pro-vision.

PNS n RAIPUR

Three people were killed whenNaxals blew up an oil tankerwith an improvised explosivedevice (IED) in Chhattisgarh'sdistrict on Tuesday, policesaid.

The incident took placearound 10 am betweenKosronda and Tumapal vil-lages when the diesel-ladentanker was engaged in railtrack laying work in Rowghatarea, Inspector General ofPolice (Bastar range)Vivekanand Sinha told PTI.

The tanker had left fromTumapal camp of the SashtraSeema Bal (SSB), to providefuel to the construction vehi-cles engaged in Dallirajhra-Rowghat railway project work.

When it reached nearPatkalbeda village, locatedaround 200 km from the statecapital Raipur, Maoists denot-ed a powerful IED and blew upthe vehicle, killing its threeoccupants on the spot, anoth-er police official said.

The deceased were identi-fied as drivers Rakesh Kodopi(24), native of neighbouringKondagaon district, and

Duneshwar Singh (24) (fromMadhya Pradesh), and helperAjay Kumar Salaam (23) (hail-ing from Rowghat in Kanker),he said.

The tanker belonged to aprivate firm - K RInfrastructure ConstructionCompany - which is engagedin the rail track laying work, hesaid.

On getting informationabout the incident, KankerSuperintendent of Police K LDhruv along with other secu-rity personnel rushed to thespot.

Besides, teams of the SSBfrom Tumapal and Kosrondacamps also launched searchoperations in the area to tracethe culprits, the official said.

Naxals blow up oil tankerin Chhattisgarh; 3 killed

PNS n BENGALURU

A political slugfest has erupt-ed between former ChiefMinisters Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy with the twoleaders blaming each other forthe collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government inKarnataka.

The unease that existedbetween the former alliancepartners ever since the fall ofthe alliance government inJuly has now come out in theopen with the announcementof bypolls for the 15 Assemblyconstituencies, in which bothparties will go it alone.

"Kumaraswamy does notspeak with sense. G TDevegowda who is JD(S) MLAand was minister in his cabinethas recently said thatKumaraswamy had asked himto get votes transferred to BJPcandidates in Mysuru andChamarajanagra (during LokSabha polls)," Siddaramaiah

told reporters in Hubballi."Now he (Kumaraswamy)

is playing drama... becausebyelections have come he isinto theatrics," he added.

The Congress leader wasreacting to Kumaraswamy'scomments blaming localCongress underSiddaramaiah's leadership forthe defeat of his father H DDeve Gowda in Tumakuru, son

Nikhil Kumaraswamy inMandya and for the defeat ofCongress' own candidate K HMuniyappa in Kolar.

Referring to a popularKannada song in which aparrot nurtured by its ownergoes on to betray and inflictpain on him, Siddaramaiah ina tweet chided Kumaraswamyand said,"... it is my mistake.Despite having four decades

of political association andexperience, we believed eagleas parrot and allied with it.Will it not inflict pain? Whatis bigger lesson than experi-ence?"

Seeking to turn the tables,Kumaraswamy squarelyblamed Siddaramaiah for thecollapse of the governmentalleging that the CLP leaderwas unable to fathom the factthat the JD(S) leader hadbecome the Chief Minister ofthe coalition government.

"I did not become ChiefMinister because ofSiddaramaiah, Congress high

command took the decision.But Siddaramaiah could nottolerate their decision, or elsethis government would nothave gone," Kumaraswamy saidin Chennapatna.

"He had told his party MLAsthat he will not allow the coali-tion government to continueeven for a second after the LokSabha polls," he added.

He also hit back atSiddaramaiah for his tweetand said that the seniorCongress leaders along withothers had betrayed DeveGowda who "nurtured thempolitically".

Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy in war of words

PNS n MUMBAI

Congress leader Milind Deoraon Tuesday described as"unfounded" speculation of hisfuture political path, after theexchange of tweets betweenhim and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on the latter'sUS visit.

Deora had triggered specu-lations about his future politicalrole after he praised Modi'saddress in Texas as a momen-tous first for India's soft powerdiplomacy. Modi had respond-ed to his tweet and recalled hislate friend and Milind's fatherMurli Deora's commitment tostrong ties with USA.

State Congress spokesper-son Sachin Sawant toldreporters here that the AICCwill respond to Deora's remarks.In a statement, Deora said hehas inherited the legacy of theIndo-United States relationshipfrom hisfather Murli Deora.

"My father first visited the USin 1968 as an exchange student,and after meeting Robert FKennedy, decided to enter pub-lic life and build stronger tiesbetween both democracies. Myfamilys relationships with insti-tutions, political parties andleaders were built keeping Indias

interests in mind," he said.Deora said his father's efforts

and relationships helpedstrengthen Indias national inter-est. "My late father workedclosely with Indian PrimeMinisters and US Presidentscutting across party lines in thespirit of bipartisanship.Murlibhai deserves respectbecause he put his countrybefore party. Fortunately, poli-tics at the time was not as con-frontational and ungracious as

it is today," he said."I express regret on the insin-

uations and unwarranted criti-cism in sections of media andsocial media.For those whohave already imagined andchartered my forward path, Iwish to give you one unam-biguous answer: I will serve mycountry to the best of my abil-ity and I will remain bipartisanwhen it comes to issues ofnational interest and foreignpolicy," he said.

Giriraj says political careermay end with Modi govt 2.0PNS n MUZAFFARPUR (BIHAR)

BJP's rabble-rouser Unionminister Giriraj Singh onTuesday hinted he may hangup his boots at the end of thecurrent Modi government'stenure, and virtually ruledhimself out of contention forchief ministership after theassembly polls next year.

He was responding to ques-tions at a press conferencewhere he was asked to com-ment on the growing demandin a section of the BJP aboutreconsidering JD(U)'s NitishKumar as the NDA's chiefministerial face during thenext assembly elections.

"I think I am nearing the endof my political career. I amamong those who had enteredpublic life not with the ambi-tion of becoming a legislator,an MP, or acquiring any posi-tion of power. I was fired by thenationalistic dream of inte-gration of Kashmir for whichour ideologue Syama PrasadMookerjee gave up his life,"Singh said, evading a direct

reply to the query.Singh indicated since Prime

Minister Narendra Modi hadfulfilled that dream, he mayretire from politics.

"We are fortunate to have aprime minister like NarendraModi who, finally, showed theresolve to fulfil the pledge. I feela sense of accomplishment.Nothing more needs to beachieved. I think my politicalcareer will come to an end withthe ongoing tenure of Modi,"Singh, a staunch Modi loyalistsince his days as the Gujarat

chief minister, said.A Minister of State with

independent charge in the firstModi government, Singh waselevated to the cabinet rankafter the Lok Sabha polls thisyear. He retained the Begusaraiseat for his party after trounc-ing CPIs Kanhaiya Kumar bya staggering over four lakhvotes.

Known to share cold vibeswith Chief Minister NitishKumar since his days as amember of the state cabinet,Singh was in news recently

after he alleged his con-stituency was

getting "step motherly" treat-ment by the state government,which was "generous" towardsNalanda, the CM's native dis-trict.

Earlier this month, someBJP leaders had favoured a BJPchief minister in Bihar after thesaffron party outshoneKumar's JD(U) in the LokSabha polls.

The JD(U), which was hith-erto considered the seniorpartner in the coalition inBihar, and the BJP had con-tested 17 seats each of the 40in the state. The BJP won allseats it contested, while theJD(U) lost one.

However, a section of thestate unit of the BJP feels thecoalition's sterling perfor-mance was on account of aModi wave that swept Biharand many other states, andmaintains that the saffronparty, having played a secondfiddle to the JD(U) for years,has a rightful claim to chiefministership.

Giriraj Singh

Milind Deora Narendra Modi

Speculation unfounded: Deoraafter tweet exchange with Modi

"My father first visited the US in 1968 as anexchange student, and after meetingRobert F Kennedy, decided to enter publiclife and build stronger ties between bothdemocracies. My familys relationships withinstitutions, political parties and leaderswere built keeping Indias interests inmind," he said

PNS n MUMBAI

The final seat-shar-ing deal betweenthe BJP and theShiv Sena for theassembly polls inMaharashtra will beannounced by ChiefMinister DevendraFadnavis andUddhav Thackeraywho are discussingits contours withBJP chief AmitShah, senior BJPleader ChandrakantPatil said on Tuesday.

The state BJP president alsosaid he would not make anycomment on the seat-sharingissue in future.

Patil's statement comesagainst the backdrop of intensedeliberations going onbetween top leaders of the BJPand the Sena to arrive at amutually-agreeable seat-shar-ing formula for the October 21electoral contest.

"The alliance talks are in thefinal stage. Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavisand UddhavThackeray are final-ising the talks. Theyare also discussingit with BJP nation-

al president AmitShah. I have thus

decided not to makeany further com-

ments over theissue," Patil toldreporters at thestate BJP headquar-

ters here.Patil, however,

refused to answer ques-tions on apparent miscom-

munication between the BJPand the Sena that led to can-cellation of the previouslyannounced press conference ofFadnavis and Thackeray onthe possible alliance onTuesday.

On Monday late afternoon,BJP leaders informed mediapersons about the scheduledannouncement of the allianceon Tuesday. However, later innight it emerged that no suchannouncement is scheduled.

PNS n AGARTALA

President of the TripuraPradesh Congress Committee,Pradyot Kishore ManikyaDebbarman, has resignedfrom all party posts over hisplea for implementation ofNRC in the state and refusingto "compromise" with otherCongress leaders.

Debbarman said the centralleadership had requested himnot to make his resignationpublic before the by-electionsto Badharghat constituency,which was held on Monday.

"I have resigned from allposts of the Congress a fewdays ago. The party high com-mand had asked me to com-promise with a section of stateleaders but I told them it wasnot possible.

"Then they asked me towithdraw the litigation that Ihave filed for the introductionof NRC (National Register ofCitizens) in Tripura, but I didnot agree to it, too,"Debbarman told PTI over thephone from Delhi.

"Though I have resignedfrom all the posts of theCongress, I am still with theparty at heart," he said.

Pradyot quitsTripura Congposts

Goa govt tospend Rs 450 cron infrastructure

Ram Nath Kovind

Kovind said theNamami Gangeproject entailsnumerousprojects toensure thecontinuous andunpolluted flowof the Ganga

The unease that existed between theformer alliance partners ever since thefall of the alliance government in Julyhas now come out in the open with theannouncement of bypolls for the 15Assembly constituencies, in which bothparties will go it alone

Fadnavis to announceseat-sharing details

The tanker had left from Tumapal campof the Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB), toprovide fuel to the constructionvehicles engaged in Dallirajhra-Rowghat railway project work

The Delhi High Court has also made itclear that allegations of corruption--be itis against the officials of the agency orrecords held by it about third party -- donot come under exemption given to it oragencies listed in second schedule ofthe Section 24

CBI must apply judicious rationale in seeking exemption from RTI: CICCORRUPTION CASES

I am amongthose who hadentered publiclife not with theambition ofbecoming alegislator, anMP, or acquiringany position ofpower

Prez for reducing water footprint;sensitising farmers and industry

world 07HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

WORLD FACES ‘GREATFRACTURE’: UN CHIEFUnited Nations: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres iswarning global leaders of thelooming risk of the worldsplitting in two with the twolargest economies, the UnitedStates and China, creating rivalinternets, currencies, financialrules “and their own zero sumgeopolitical and militarystrategies.”The UN chief said in his “stateof the world address” Tuesdayto the General Assembly’sannual gathering of heads ofstate and government that therisk “may not yet be large, but itis real.”

DEATH TOLL RISES TO32 IN PAPUA PROTESTSJakarta: The death toll fromviolent protests in Indonesia’srestive Papua province hasrisen to 32 after several bodieswere found under burnedbuildings, officials said Tuesday.

MACRON HOPES FORPROGRESS ON IRAN ‘United Nations: FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronsaid he hoped for progress onIran “in the coming hours”Tuesday after a lengthy meetingwith his counterpart HassanRouhani.“I’m hoping that we can makeprogress in the coming hours,”Macron told reporters as hetries to organize a summitbetween US and Iranian leadersat the United Nations.

PTI n LONDON

In a major setback for PrimeMinister Boris Johnson,

Britain’s Supreme Court onTuesday ruled in a historicverdict that his decision tosuspend Parliament in the run-up to Brexit was “unlawful”.

Commenting on the rul-ing, Johnson said his govern-ment would respect eventhough he “strongly disagrees”with it.

Johnson suspended, orprorogued, Parliament for fiveweeks earlier this month, say-ing it was to allow for a Queen’sSpeech to outline policies of hisnew government.

However, Opposition MPsand many members of his ownConservative Party hadaccused him of trying to escapeparliamentary scrutiny duringa crunch phase ahead of theOctober 31 Brexit deadline.

Indian-origin anti-Brexitcampaigner Gina Miller hadchallenged his decision in theUK High Court, which hadreferred it to the highest courtof the country.

“The effect on the funda-mentals of our democracy wasextreme,” Supreme CourtPresident Lady Brenda Hale said,as she handed down the verdict.

“The decision to advise Her

Majesty to prorogue Parliamentwas unlawful because it had theeffect of frustrating or prevent-ing the ability of Parliament tocarry out its constitutional func-tions without reasonable justi-fication,” she said.

She said the unanimousdecision of the 11 justicesmeant that Parliament had notbeen prorogued - the decisionwas null and of no effect - andit was for the Speakers of theCommons and Lords to decidewhat to do next.

The ruling marks a majorsetback for Johnson, who iscurrently in the US for theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly session. He hadinsisted that courts should notintervene in such political mat-ters. “I don’t think this was theright decision. The prerogativeof prorogation has been usedfor centuries without this kindof challenge,” said Johnson, ashe branded Tuesday’s ruling“unusual”.

“There are a lot of peoplewho basically want to stop thiscountry from coming out of theEU and we have a Parliamentthat is unable to be proroguedand doesn’t want to have anelection. I think it is time wetook things forward,” he said.

Admitting that getting aBrexit deal was “not made

much easier with these sort ofthings in Parliament or thecourts”, he insisted the UKwould still leave on October 31- a pledge he had enteredDowning Street with.

Miller had made history afew years ago by forcingJohnson’s predecessor TheresaMay to seek Parliament’sapproval before invokingArticle 50 which set the clockticking on Britain’s exit fromthe European Union (EU) inMarch 2017.

In reference to her latestlegal win, she said: “Today isnot a win for any individual orcause. It is a win forParliamentary sovereignty, theseparation of powers and inde-pendence of our British courts.

“Crucially, today’s rulingconfirms that we are a nationgoverned by the rule of law –laws that everyone, even thePrime Minister, are subject to.”

She stressed that the his-toric judgment meantParliament is open and wasnever prorogued.

Johnson being found tohave acted unlawfully andstopped Parliament from doingits job without any legal justi-fication marks an extraordinarylegal intervention, which isexpected to have a far-reachingimpact on British politics.

PTI n ISLAMABAD

Apowerful 5.8-magnitudeearthquake jolted Pakistan-

occupied Kashmir and severalcities in the north-eastern partsof the country on Tuesday,killing at least 20 people andwounding over 300 others.

According to USGeological Survey, the epicen-tre of the quake was near NewMirpur in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK), which wasseverely affected by the quake.The depth of the quake, whichoccurred at 4.02 pm (localtime), was at 10 kilometres.

PoK Information MinisterMushtaq Minhas told themedia that 20 people werekilled and over 300 injured inMirpur and surrounding areasdue to the powerful quake.

Pakistan MeteorologicalDepartment’s earthquake cen-tre said the 5.8-magnitudeearthquake was located nearthe mountainous city of Jehlumin Punjab province. However,Minister for Science FawadChaudhry said that the inten-sity of the quake was 7.1.

Some houses collapsed inMirpur following the earth-quake, Deputy CommissionerRaja Qaiser said. Parts of amosque also collapsed in thearea. Emergency has been

declared in hospitals across PoK.TV channels showed the

footage of heavily damagedroads in Mirpur, with manyvehicles overturned. Severalcars fell into the deep cracks onthe roads. The building of thestate-run Broadcasting Housein Mirpur was badly damaged.

The quake was powerfuland created panic as people ranout of building, eyewitnessessaid. Several cities includingPeshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore,Skardu, Kohat, Charsadda,Kasur, Faisalabad, Gujrat,Sialkot, Abbottabad, Mansehra,Chitral, Malakand, Multan,Shangla, Okara, Nowshera,Attock and Jhang felt the tremor.

Prime Minister Imran Khan,who is in New York to attend theUN General Assembly session,expressed grief over the loss ofhuman life. He directed all theconcerned departments to pro-vide immediate assistance tothe quake-hit areas. PresidentArif Alvi also expressed deep sor-row over the loss of lives.

Pakistan Army chiefGeneral Qamar Javed Bajwadirected “immediate rescueoperation in aid of civil admin-istration” for the victims inPoK. Army troops with aviationand medical support teamshave been dispatched, the mediawing of the army tweeted.

AFP n TEHRAN

Iran’s armed forces chief ofstaff on Tuesday vowed to

destroy any enemy thatattacked the country, a newsagency reported.

“The result of any aggres-sion will be destruction” and“captivity”, the Fars newsagency reported MohammadBagheri as telling parliament.

Iran has “no animositytowards the countries of theregion”, Bagheri said, accordingto the agency close to thecountry’s ultra-conservatives.

But he alleged Saudi Arabiaand its ally the United ArabEmirates had “lost their way” andwere “at the source of plotsagainst Iran”. Tensions havesoared in the Gulf since aSeptember 14 attack on Saudi oilfacilities that Washington andRiyadh have blamed on Iran,which denies involvement. In thewake of the attack that slashedSaudi oil output by half, theUnited States said it had orderedreinforcements to the region.

US President DonaldTrump and his Iranian coun-terpart Hassan Rouhani areboth to address the UNGeneral Assembly in New Yorkthis week. But no encounter hasso far been planned betweenthe two leaders, Trump said lateMonday.

AFP n JERUSALEM

Negotiators for Israel PrimeMinister Benjamin

Netanyahu and his mainopponent Benny Gantz metTuesday to discuss possibilitiesfor a unity government thatboth men say they shouldlead after last week’s dead-locked election.

The chief negotiators forNetanyahu’s right-wing Likudand Gantz’s centrist Blue andWhite gathered to follow upon a meeting between theirtwo leaders and Israel’s presi-dent late on Monday.

That encounter was theirfirst formal meeting since theSeptember 17 election endedwith Gantz winning the mostseats, but with neither havinga clear path to a majoritycoalition.

The two men are due tomeet again with PresidentReuven Rivlin on Wednesday.

The negotiators’ meetingconcluded after two hours,with a joint statement sayingit was “topical and carried outin good spirits.”

The Likud negotiator,Tourism Minister Yariv Levin,noted he was representing “all55 members of the right-wingbloc.”

Netanyahu and the headsof the right-wing and ultra-

Orthodox parties signed adocument on Thursday com-mitting to conduct joint nego-tiations and enter a govern-ment together.

The two negotiators saidthey would update their boss-es on the meeting “and thendecide on further talks andadditional steps.”

Rivlin, who must choosewho will form the next gov-ernment, has leaned heavily onthe two parties to work out aunity coalition between them,and on Monday night urgedthem to find a path to do so.

Both Gantz andNetanyahu say they want aunity government but are atodds over who will lead it, notto mention further details onthe make-up of such a coali-tion.

A rotation arrangementhas been floated, but the ques-tion of who would be premierfirst remains a major stum-bling block.

The timing is especiallyimportant for Netanyahu, whois facing possible corruptioncharges in the weeks ahead,pending a hearing set for earlyOctober.

A prime minister doesnot have to step down ifindicted — only if convictedwith all appeals exhausted —while other ministers can beforced to do so when charged.

Gantz notes that his partyis the largest and he should bein the lead.

“The public has chosenchange and we have no inten-tion of relinquishing our lead,our principles or our naturalpartners in this path,” Gantzsaid in a statement lateMonday.

Netanyahu has highlight-ed the fact that he has moresupport from smaller partiesin parliament and pledgednot to abandon them in acoalition deal.

AFP n WASHINGTON

Donald Trump orderedalmost $400m in aid to

Ukraine to be frozen daysbefore he allegedly asked itspresident to investigate the sonof Joe Biden, US media saidlate Monday, quoting admin-istration officials.

The reports in theWashington Post and NewYork Times add to a burgeon-ing crisis around Trump’s Julyphone call with VolodymyrZelensky and a possibleattempt to coerce him intodigging up information aboutBiden’s son’s business deal-ings in Ukraine.

Members of the Trumpadministration were instruct-ed to tell lawmakers the freezewas due to an “interagencyprocess”, but to provide noadditional information, thePost said, citing senior admin-istration officials with knowl-edge of the matter.

Democrats have fumed asTrump’s administration hasblocked Congress fromobtaining a whistleblower’ssecret complaint allegedlydetailing the president’sactions, and they have rampedup their demands for the doc-ument that sparked the latestcrisis.

AFP n MONACO

Amajor report detailing thedire impact of global

warming on oceans and Earth’sfrozen zones was approved bythe UN’s 195-nation climatescience body Tuesday after anall-night standoff with SaudiArabia over wording.

“Gavelled! The IPCCSpecial Report on the #Oceanand #Cryosphere is approved!”,Jean-Pierre Gattuso, a Frenchscientist and one of the reportmany authors, tweeted at theend of the five-day talks.

The IntergovernmentalPanel for Climate Change (IPCC)confirmed with a tweet of its ownand will unveil an executivesummary on Wednesday.

Oil giant Saudi Arabia heldup adoption of the Summaryfor Policy Makers — 30-oddpages, vetted line-by-line — bychallenging another landmarkUN assessment that highlightsthe need to slash carbon emis-

sions caused by burning fossilfuels, multiple sources toldAFP. At issue is what mighthave been a routine referenceto the October 2018 IPCCreport on the feasibility of cap-ping global warming at 1.5degrees Celsius.

That assessment detailedthe stark consequences forhumanity of piercing thatthreshold, and the need torapidly draw down the use offossil fuels. Saudi Arabia, theworld’s largest oil exporter, hasconsistently raised similarobjections to IPCC reports inthe past. “It really seems likeSaudi Arabia only came to thismeeting to block any languageon 1.5C,” a participant in theMonaco meeting told AFP.

Global warming and pollu-tion caused by humanity’s car-bon-heavy footprint are ravagingEarth’s oceans and icy regions inways that could unleash miseryon a global scale, the IPCCreport is set to conclude.

Moscow: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will meetVladimir Putin in Moscow for talks on Wednesday, the Kremlinsaid, as the embattled South American leader seeks to shore upsupport from allies.

“All aspects of bilateral cooperation will be discussed,” theRussian President’s press spokesman Dmitry Peskov told jour-nalists Tuesday.

The focus of the talks would be on “direct meddling in LatinAmerican affairs by third parties”.

Washington has imposed an oil embargo on Caracas toundermine Maduro’s regime and has repeatedly called on Moscowto withdraw support for the Venezuelan leader.

Russia has rejected the request, accusing the US of wantingto lead a coup in defiance of international law.

The Venezuelan leader last visited Moscow for talks withPutin in December. AFP

Cairo: In the wake of protestscalling for President Abdel Fattahal-Sisi’s ouster, Egypt came underfire Tuesday for arrests of jour-nalists and was accused of block-ing news websites.

A New York-based presswatchdog, the Committee toProtect Journalists (CPJ), saidthree Egyptian journalists werearrested for covering protestswhich followed a footballmatch in Cairo on Friday night.

The group also said that

several websites were disrupt-ed, including those of newsoutlets BBC and the US-Government funded Al-Hurratelevision. Safaa Faisal, Egypt’sBBC bureau chief, confirmedto AFP that the news site wasinaccessible on Monday with-out any specific explanationfrom authorities. Many usershave also reported difficultieswith accessing popular appFacebook Messenger, accordingto CPJ. AFP

PM’s suspension of Parl‘unlawful’: UK top court

Iran vowsto ‘destroy’any attacker

20 killed, over 300 hurtin POK after earthquakejolts north-eastern Pak

Trump ordersaid freezebefore Ukrainecall: Reports

Venezuela’s Maduro to meetPutin in Moscow today: Kremlin

Israeli negotiators seek to breakNetanyahu-Gantz deadlock

Oceans, climate reportapproved after all-nightstandoff: Delegates

Egypt arrests journalists,blocks websites after protests

The space for presidential con-tenders in Sri Lanka’s election onNovember 16 is crowding. Thehopefuls are from the Sri LankaPodujana Peramuna (SLPP), the

breakaway faction of the Sri Lanka FreedomParty (SLFP), Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, JanathaVimukthi Peramuna (JVP)’s Anura KumaraDissanayaka and United National Party(UNP)’s leaders — Ranil Wickremesinghe;deputy leader, Sajith Premadasa; Speaker ofParliament Karu Jayasuriya — and evenDemocratic Party leader Field MarshalSarath Fonseka, who fought and lost toMahinda Rajapaksa in 2009. Tomorrow’ssecret ballot will determine the UNP candi-date. The bets are on the youthful Premadasato give a fight to Gota, former Army Coloneland Defence Secretary under his brotherMahinda Rajapaksa, who was the key archi-tect of victory over the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE). His image as a do-er/disciplinarian under the shadow of 21/4Easter Sunday bombings makes him elec-table. The most striking headline of a pos-sible outcome of an election is Rajapaksaredux and democracy in peril.

At present, national security tops the elec-tion agenda, which includes the fragileeconomy, abolition of the executive presiden-cy and arresting and rolling back the angeragainst Muslims. Like in previous elections,the vote of the minorities — Christians,Muslims and Tamils — will be the clincher.In the last elections, a unity candidate of theSLFP and UNP, incumbent PresidentMaithripala Sirisena defeated MahindaRajapaksa. This time around, a grand allianceis unlikely. Its signal achievement was theopening up of the democratic space, the pas-sage of 19 and 20 Amendments and tinker-ing with Constitutional reform. TheRajapaksas swept the local polls in 2018,marking its rise due to the collective failureof the National Unity Government — fail-ure to mend the economy and press aspromised corruption charges against theRajapaksas.

Gota, a former American citizen, has anedge at present as he commands the sup-port of a majority Sinhalese (76 per cent)in urban areas and among civil and militarybureaucracies. He is feared as much as heis admired as a tested war leader; his aurathough tainted with “white van” disappear-ances, allegations of human rights violationsand a litany of corruption charges that hesays are being “managed.” Gota’s choice asPresident has, according to the grapevine,introduced a rift in the ambitious Rajapaksaclan. While presenting Gota as a presiden-tial suitor, Mahinda promptly proposed hisown name as the future Prime Minister. Inan interview to a Tamil newspaper, he saidthe real power, thanks to the 19thAmendment, will be with the PrimeMinister. He is Gota’s shadow in his electionrallies and closed-door meetings with SLPPyouth wing and other Muslim and Tamil

minorities. Gota is explainingthat discipline and military ruleare not the same thing.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe cohabitationfailed miserably. In the UNP, theperennial question of youngerleadership has been blocked byWickremesinghe, who has twicebefore lost presidential electionsand will be no match for Gota athird time. He lacks charisma.Fifty-nine-year-old Premadasa,the Minister for Housing andReconstruction, has like hisfather, former PresidentRanasinghe Premadasa, donegreat work in rural areas, build-ing homes and caring for theunderprivileged. Fonseka, a for-mer Army Commander duringthe Eelam war, has said that ifnational security is the lead issue,he is the right man for the job. Butonly Premadasa can give a fightto Gota. JVP’s Dissanayake willeat into around five to six lakhSinhalese votes. This campaignwill be about Gota securingminority support and SajithPremadasa winning additionalSinhalese votes. The Rajapaksashave never won over the minori-ties though this time they areworking overtime.

The ruling combine hasmade some progress in reconcil-iation and transitional justice inthe north by returning 75 per

cent of the land occupied by theArmy and establishing the Officeof Missing Persons. But noprogress was recorded in theinvestigation of 65,000 com-plaints of “the missing.” Sirisenavisited Jaffna on August 30 andreiterated his promise to theTamils. They are disillusionedwith Mahinda Rajapaksa, whofirst replaced devolution withdevelopment but later, at India’sinsistence, pledged the imple-mentation of 13A plus, the plusbeing an upper house. TheTamils are divided. A number ofnew parties has sprouted like theTrans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)and the Social Democratic Partyof Tamils (SDPT). The mainstay,Tamil National Alliance (TNA),remains aligned with UNP whilethe Eelam People’s DemocraticParty (EPDP) plus some small-er parties will support theRajapaksas. Rizakh Badruddin ofACPC party is a Muslim. SomeMuslims have been returning tothe north in Mannar — after theywere hounded out of the northby the LTTE. The TNA is thekingmaker in Government for-mation and has invariablyshunned the Rajapaksas.

The most pragmaticMuslims are united and betterorganised in the east. InBatticaloa and Ampara districts,Muslims constitute 22 per cent

of the population (populationdivision in the east, includingTrincomalee district, is roughlyone-third each of Sinhalese,Tamils and Muslims). The ever-green Rauff Hakeem of the SriLanka Muslim Congress(SLMC) has kept his flocktogether as for his party there areno untouchables. After the 21/4bombings, Muslims have self-moderated and 10 of itsMinisters resigned from theGovernment so that investiga-tions against them could beheld freely and fairly. Anti-Muslim sentiment across thecountry is high but dormant,especially among Sinhalese andTamils in the east.

Gota hopes to receive 47 percent of the Muslim votes thoughhis association with the BoduBala Sena in the riots inAmparai, Kandy and Kalmunaihas not been forgotten. InBeruwala last month, accompa-nied by Mahinda, he attended acivic reception by 10,000Muslims at a mosque. Christianstraditionally vote for the UNP. Sothe battle for the minority vote,crucial for Gota, is in full swingthough UNP is the usual bene-ficiary (the minority vote is evenmore critical during the parlia-mentary elections due on August2020). Together, the north andthe east make up 29 seats in the

225-member Parliament. Themuch-promised electoralreforms are critical for stability.

The shock of the Colombobombings by local internallyradicalised Muslims inspired bythe Islamic State (IS) has shat-tered the confidence Sri Lankansachieved after subduing the dead-ly LTTE following a three-decade-long war. The risk ofgrowing polarisation in societyhas to be contained and rolledback. This makes internal secu-rity the main concern of the peo-ple and Gota, therefore, the fron-trunner with attendant dangersof over-securitisation. If UNP andits candidate can switch the elec-toral agenda to economy, liveli-hood and democracy while keep-ing national security in place, canbe a close race — too close to call.The return of the Rajapaksas willcause some anxiety for NewDelhi. Three retired Sri Lankanprofessors along with Colombo’sLakshman Kadirgamar Institutecarried out an election survey inAugust. It showed Gota ahead.But six weeks is a long time inelections, especially if it is Gotavs Sajith.

(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff, cur-rently the revamped IntegratedDefence Staff)

Seems the eastern State of Jharkhand,which accounted for 17 of the 44 lynch-ing deaths in the country between May

2015 and December 2018, is unlikely to getrid of the tag of being a “hotbed” of cow vig-ilantism anytime soon. If anything, it demon-strates how an artificially created fear psychosisand the vicarious thrills it generates are beingused to create an ambient temperature and votepolarisation before the Assembly elections.Most worrisome is the fact that attacks onminorities seem to be an easy tool as the per-

petrators are pretty sure that they can avoid the law. Just three months ago, 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari was killed on the alleged suspicion that he and two of hisfriends were guilty of theft. Despite viral videos on what should have been anopen and shut case, the accused were let off at first and booked only after apublic outcry and a detailed medical inquiry. This time three Christian tribals —Kalantus Barla, Philip Horo and Kachhap — were attacked in Khunti district inthe belief, arising from a chain of whatsapp messages, that they were carvingout meat from the carcass of an animal. Overlooking the lessons from the Ansariincident, self-styled vigilante groups took it upon themselves to deliver justice tothe three without even confirming the truth behind the messages. An agitatedmob beat one to death while the other two are battling for life in the hospital. Ofcourse, the police, unlike the Ansari case, has taken swift action in this case.As soon as the matter was reported, it lost no time to rescue the victims and isnow probing all angles that led to the heinous act.

It is deeply distressing that lynching incidents, mostly manifestations of big-otry, caste or communal, and accelerated by social media platforms, continueto remain a recurring theme not just in Jharkhand but also other States. Thisdespite the Supreme Court berating politicians for their failure to deal with suchoffences. It had asked the Parliament to formulate an anti-lynching law and pro-vide adequate punishment for such incidents while also asking respective Statesto “take specific preventive, punitive and remedial measures.” Two high-level com-mittees were set up to guide the Government in the formulation of a law but noth-ing much has yet been achieved. Forget the drafting of a law, even the guide-lines to prevent misuse of social media platforms for hate campaigns haven’ttaken shape. Which is why on Monday, the top court had to step in once againto haul up the Government, asking it to submit details of the progress made inholding social media firms accountable for their failure to trace the origin of onlinecontent within three weeks. While lynching-specific laws may not be there atpresent, there are others that can effectively tackle the menace. Only the politi-cal will seems to be lacking. This has only created an environment that has allowedwrong-doers to overcome all sorts of inhibitions and kill people legitimately in agroup to make a point. The Raghubar Das Government, which is seeking anoth-er mandate, has to order a thorough investigation into the matter and ensure thatthe perpetrators are brought to book unlike in the Ansari case which continuesto linger, marred as it is with several twists and turns. More than anything else,instilling a sense of fear of law among vigilante groups is essential.

The collapse of Thomas Cook in the UKhas little or no direct bearing on India otherthan the fact that this winter, there might

be fewer holiday-makers from Britain in Goaand Kerala, the two destinations popular amongthose who book package holidays back home.Thomas Cook India, which was once a sub-sidiary, was spun off a few years ago and iscurrently majorly owned by a Canadianinvestor. Thomas Cook was the original pack-age tour operator wherein people paid a com-pany to take care of all arrangements of trav-

el, stay and food. But a history of bad decisions coupled with management greedled the company to its demise. These have clearly been compounded by con-cerns about Brexit and the way the travel industry has undergone a sea-changein recent times. The rise of an online market, with consumers choosing theirown travel plans through aggregated players and with Airbnb and OYO servicesnow being available in almost every city round the world, travel agencies arebecoming all but redundant while their commissions have dwindled drastically.Consequently, it is either corporate business travellers or those who do not wantthe baggage on their heads to plan a trip who rely on them. A sudden shutdownof the traditional service has meant that it is not just those planning holidays who’vebeen hit. Imagine the plight of the 180,000 holiday-makers, who are currentlyout on their vacations and have suddenly discovered that not only has their hol-iday been curtailed, they have no way of getting back home.

For years, the British have had something called the Air Travel Organisers’Licence (ATOL), wherein a small fee from every package holiday went to theUK’s Civil Aviation Administrator so that in case of a business failure, the fundscould be used to help repatriate stranded tourists home. The rationale behindthis plan was developed after several operators went under in the 1970s with amultitude of citizens stranded abroad. For many in those days, holidays wereonce-in-a-lifetime experiences for which they would save money for years. Manyvacationers did not have the funds to pay for an emergency ticket back home,let alone pay for such tickets for entire families. Over time, the planning and exe-cution to rescue stranded tourists across the world — from the Asia-Pacific tothe US — has become a remarkable operation and is extremely impressive, espe-cially since it is being conducted during peacetime. Most other dramatic repa-triation operations have often had the clouds of war in the background, includ-ing India’s dramatic airlift of citizens before the 1991 Gulf War. While this pro-vision only covers those with package holidays, there have been industry callsfor protecting the traveller from failed airlines. India, too, must look at such aproposal. In the past decade, two large airlines and several smaller ones havegone into insolvency, leaving thousands of travellers high and dry. While those,who paid with credit cards, were entitled to some sort of compensation fromtheir card-issuing companies, others found themselves without any recourse.Those who were abroad, or even foreign flyers in India, found themselves strand-ed. As air travel and package tours become more popular, several companies,airlines and travel operators will face financial difficulties in India and could facea heartbreak or two in the coming years. The Government should add a smallfee, even under a hundred rupees, to every air ticket to take care of such aneventuality. While travellers should be aware of the financial health of their touroperators and the airlines, that is not always possible and with many holidaysbooked months in advance, it is impossible to predict a business failure.

Safe travel plans

Unconventional move

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Convenient truths”(September 24). Despite manycriticisms by the media, the factremains that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi did steal theshow during his speech at theworld’s only super power, wherepublic speaking is as celebratedas the presidency itself. Andthis, in the company of theworld’s most powerful politi-cian, who quite incredibly — andgoing against his grain — wascontent playing the second fiddle.

But wading into the domes-tic politics of a host nation cancast a long shadow on future rela-tions. Whether an Indian PrimeMinister should have so openlyweighed in an upcoming electoralbattle in a foreign country wouldnot have passed the test of con-ventional diplomacy. But nei-ther Trump nor Modi is a con-ventional politician.

By speaking of India’sdemocracy and its diversity,Prime Minister Narendra Modishowcased the common valueswith the US. By defending hismoves in Kashmir, linking it toterrorism and espousing a part-

nership with Trump on counterterrorism, he sought to neu-tralise Pakistan.

Pakistan, already feeling frus-trated due to the lack of globalsupport after the abrogation ofArticle 370, has all the reason tofeel very angry and helpless.

JS Acharya Hyderabad

Mutual benefit

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Convenient truths”(September 24). The joint appear-ance of Prime Minister NarendraModi and US President DonaldTrump at Houston underscoresthe growing significance of the

Indo-US ties. For the latter, it wasa chance to court Indian-Americans for the 2020 presiden-tial election, where Texas couldemerge as an important politicalentity while deciding the result.For Modi, it was a PR triumph,and the picture with Trump mayhelp him shrug off the criticismover his recent strong-arm poli-

cies at home. It was a win-winevent for both.

That said, why does themedia always keeps harpingabout the current situation inKashmir? I wonder, did it everbother about the plight of theKashmiri Pandits when they weredriven out of Kashmir? Of theapproximately 300,000 to 600,000Hindus living in the KashmirValley in 1990, only 2,000 to 3,000reside there today. Any tears forthem?

KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru

Courting controversy

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Convenient truths”(September 24). What purposedid the Prime Minister’s Houstonvisit serve at a time when thenation is burning with issuessuch as economic slowdown,falling GDP, increasing unem-ployment, farmer suicides? Itwas nothing but indulgence in achoreographed extravaganza.

SumitVia email

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

08

Lanka’s electoral test

ASHOK K MEHTA

With presidential polls in Sri Lanka scheduled later this year, internal security isone domain that is going to be on the minds of citizens

There is no sign of freedom of speech inJammu and Kashmir.The situation in theValley is very bad.

Senior Congress leader—Ghulam Nabi Azad

The world's getting smaller and we are a hugeindustry. We all are goingto be out there at somepoint or the other.

Director—Zoya Akhtar

PM Imran Khan met British ForeignMinister Boris Johnson this morning. Sorry for the typo in previous tweet. PM Imran Khan met British PM this morning (sic).

Pakistan's UN envoy—Maleeha Lodhi

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

The pomp and show at Houston

This refers to the editorial, “Convenient truths”(September 24). In its appearance, the “Howdy,Modi” event in Houston was a big success. It made

for a magnificent spectacle and a visual treat. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi was in his element and hisaddress delivered to the rapturous applause of the audi-ence was an exercise in grand-standing. However, onlyby looking at India through rose-coloured spectaclescan we agree with the Prime Minister’s assertion that“everything is fine in India.” Seeing impoverishment,joblessness, farmer distress, mob lynchings, jailing ofdissenters and the like and speaking about them arenowadays left to “anti-nationals” and “urban Naxals.”

One thing that US President Donald Trump andPrime Minister Modi — leaders of predominantlyChristian and Hindu nations — share and what makesthem look similar is their conscious dissociation fromIslam. Their allusion to “extremist Islamist groups” asthe common enemy and threats from them was notlost on anyone. Modi opined that Article 370 “bene-fitted separatists and terrorists.” But he did not explain

as to why its dilution by a two-thirds majority in theParliament was followed by repressive measures andrestrictions in the Valley. We couldn’t agree more withthe Prime Minister when he said, “Diversity is thestrength of our democracy.” To add to what he said,it is the defining feature of our democracy.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Another lynching

Friendship was the bedrock ofmy father’s politics. I will notcompromise on my corebeliefs even though politicscontinues to become partisan.

Former Congress MP—Milind Deora

The collapse of Thomas Cook has led to an incredible rescueoperation. Should India look at such protection for travellers?

The vigilante attack on Jharkhand tribals is not just anincident, it is symptomatic of a system that condones it

University for cops

SHOULD I COMMIT SUICIDE? WHAT AM I EXPECTEDTO DO IF NOT RAISE THE ISSUES OF MY

CONSTITUENCY AS AN ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE?—UNION MINISTER

GIRIRAJ SINGH

GIRIRAJ OFTEN SEEKS TO GIVE THE IMPRESSIONTHAT HE IS BRAVE. BUT HIS TALK OF SUICIDE GIVES THE IMPRESSION THAT HE IS A COWARD.—JD(U) SPOKESMANNIKHIL MANDAL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

With the crime graph soaring and crim-inals becoming more technology-savvy each day, smart policing is the

need of the hour. But for this, India needs tooverhaul the training of the force, teach skills todeal with new policing challenges such ascyber crime, improve the mechanisms in placeto maintain law and order, encourage researchand development and improve investigation abil-ities.

The idea of setting up a central police uni-versity for overhauling the way the policeworks and deals with law and order has beenaround since 2006. In keeping with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s vision of “SmartPolicing,” the idea of a central university was partof the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) commitmentin the Lok Sabha elections.

On the 49th Foundation Day of the Bureauof Police Research and Development, the UnionHome Minister, Amit Shah, announced the set-ting up of a national police university and foren-sic science university, with affiliated colleges inevery State. According to the Centre’s plan, thisuniversity, for which the Government has givenin-principle approval and a 100-acre plot hasbeen identified in Greater Noida, will have affil-iated colleges in every State, which will offerundergraduate courses in policing. Touted as anunprecedented development in India’s policingand crime-reduction landscape, this proposalaims to serve three main purposes, which areto improve the knowledge, skills and training ofpolice personnel; increase the use of research inpolicing policy and practice and allow candidateswho have cleared their class XII examinationsto gain specific skills of police work, with spe-cial weightage in recruitment to the police andparamilitary forces.

Such institutions are already operational inthe three States of Gujarat, Rajasthan andJharkhand, each of them having one police uni-versity. These universities, while relativelyyoung, are offering professional courses on crim-inal justice, which include criminology, policescience and forensic science, with an intentionto provide skilled, trained and efficient manpow-er for the police forces. Of the three, RakshaShakti University, the brainchild of Modi, is theonly police-oriented university which has keptthe promise of bolstering local police efforts tocombat crime and changing their perspective ontackling law and order situations.

So, is it worth making a huge investment insetting up an institute for imparting police edu-cation, when only one such university hasclaimed to have made substantial progress in itsavowed purpose of modernising policing, thusfar? The answer to that question is a resound-ing “Yes.” That’s because policing educationstresses not only on physical fitness, persever-ance and teaching handy skills like firearms andself-defence but also on developing a specialistknowledge-base for all policing roles whichreflects its current and future challenges. Of themany subjects taught under police studies, theone that is central to policing in many ways iscriminology. The etiology and distribution ofcrime offers a foundation from which policeagencies can develop a proactive approach andget smarter about crime control.

In the West, for example, police scholars andprofessionals use criminologically-driven con-cepts — such as victim-offender relationship,geographic concentration of crime, early iden-tification of high-rate offenders, differentialinvolvement in crime by age and gender andlinkages between disorder, signs of incivility, lackof guardianship and crime—to create an effec-tive and humane response to crime problems.

Remarkably, this practice is grounded in thebelief that crime is a social phenomenon, tack-ling which requires the police to understand its

causal factors — much like a doctorwho first diagnoses the problem andthen prescribes medical treatment forcuring the ailment.

Hence, the vision that the nation-al police university will serve as athink-tank can only be realised when“intellectualism” is brought into thepolice discipline. This means teachingpolicing not only with an emphasis oneffective practices but also with theintention to conduct deeper analysesabout its role, functions and legitima-cy. For this to happen, criminologymust be institutionalised and for-malised in the curriculum.

Challenges for Police Education:There are three major challenges toteaching modules.

First, at present, there are only afew courses in India and they too teachrudimentary skills. That’s becausethese courses are mostly taught byretired or serving police officers, whoutilise their experience of handling“tough situations” largely throughtheir “great vision” and larger-than-lifepersona. The success of policing work,however, has to be based on verifiabledata and evidence-based strategieswhich are not dependent on larger-than-life projections. A pedagogicalapproach, which is dependent on indi-vidual bravado and not empirical evi-dence, may be detrimental to develop-ing effective strategies.

Second, since police educationcurriculum is directly driven by pro-fessional competencies as defined bypolice officers and approved on thebasis of existing delivery models, ittends to deal more with what is visi-ble on the surface and of immediateconcern; policy issues which haveserious implications for the future aregenerally ignored. This form of cur-riculum development often neglectsthe important role of social sciences in

advancing crime analysis and in eval-uating and assessing traditional prac-tices and new innovations in strategies.It also allows experts to deliver theirlectures based on field experiences andcondemn theoretical insights as some-thing constructed in “ivory towers.”There’s no denying that practitioners’experience is important, but being dis-missive about theories whose originslie in hard data analysis and researchis really worrisome.

For instance, Newman’s concept of“Defensible Space” allowed city plan-ners to create physical layouts thatdecrease crime levels by affecting thebehaviour of both residents and poten-tial offenders in urban neighborhoods.Newman was a professor of architec-ture and that helped him make use ofspaces for public surveillance. Similarly,the concept of “EnvironmentalCriminology,” introduced by C RayJeffery in 1971, is concerned with crim-inal events and the importance of thecharacteristics of the places wherecrime happens. Several practicalapproaches to Crime PreventionThrough Environmental Design(CPTED) were developed later on byPaul and Patricia Brantingham andothers. There is a need to blend in theseconcepts with practitioners’ experiencewhile teaching for policing.

Third, the non-upgradation ofpolice education curricula might leadto skills and knowledge deficiency inpolice personnel. The police studiessyllabus, as followed by the presentpolice universities, has not kept pacewith the latest developments in policesciences the world over, and indeed,within India itself. The curriculumdrafting committees must take steps toincorporate new topics of crime con-trol such as hotspots policing, problem-oriented policing, crime analysisthrough Computer Statistics and

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)Crime Mapping.

By doing this, future personnel willbe better equipped with the use of evi-dence-based strategies to improveresponses to complex crime and lawmaintenance problems.

Professional opportunities inpolice departments: The idea of anational police university will gain theimportance it deserves when graduatesof police science are provided with pro-fessional opportunities to practisetheir skills and knowledge. This maybe done in several ways. One of this isintroducing “Criminology and PoliceScience” as an optional subject in theCivil Services Exam. This will ensurean equal footing for this important sub-ject, which is already an establishedfield in most Western countries.Creating a special quota for the recruit-ment of criminology and police sciencegraduates at the lower levels of policedepartments would lead to an influx ofsubject area expertise in police ranks,which in turn, could assist senior offi-cers in framing and administeringsmart policies for crime reduction.

Police academia partnerships:The proposed universities would alsodo well to aggressively partner withacademia on conducting research intovarious policing practices and othercrime-reduction strategies. Through ananalysis of what works in policing andwhat does not, policy-makers can begiven evidence-based choices on alter-native courses of action. Over a peri-od, policing will gain as a result of thor-ough review and examination of itspractices.

(Chandra is a Criminologist andDirector of the Centre for Criminologyand Public Policy and Hanif Qureshi, isInspector General of Police, Haryanaand Chair, Evidence-Based PolicingNetwork of the same institute)

A central police university that will overhaul training and help the force fight new-agecrime better is the need of the hour, say Rochin Chandra and Hanif Qureshi

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

Get on the start-up bus

HIMA BINDU KOTA

The initial investments may be high but thewindfall gains on the success of a company

would also be humongous

THROUGH ANANALYSIS OF

WHAT WORKSAND WHAT DOES NOT,

POLICY-MAKERSCAN BE GIVEN

EVIDENCE-BASEDCHOICES ON

ALTERNATIVECOURSES OF

ACTION. OVER APERIOD,

POLICING WILLGAIN AS A

RESULT OFTHOROUGH

REVIEW ANDEXAMINATION OF

ITS PRACTICES

They say to get rich you have to make money while you’re asleep,which certainly requires a new approach to investments andout-of-the-box thinking. According to the risk-return trade-off,

the higher the risk an investor takes, the potential returns are alsohigher. Therefore, although fixed income investments are safer, thereturns are limited. For risk tolerant investors, investing in some ofthe upcoming start-ups can be one of the options. According tothe Government, India is the second-largest start up ecosystem inthe world growing at the rate of 10-12 per cent year-on-year. Thenumber of innovative new firms in India has grown to 50,000 from7,000 in a decade, according to a KPMG report released in February.

What is a start-up anyway? Any business that can bring abouta disruption in the existing industry and give convenience like neverbefore through an app or usage of technology can be defined as astart-up. Order groceries, without leaving your house, by usingBigBasket or Grofers. Need cab at midnight? Call Ola or Uber. Theseare some of the examples of noteworthy start-ups. Most entrepre-neurs begin small while developing their initial idea and then as theybuild their businesses, go for additional funding from angel investorsor venture capitalists. And if they are successful, along with them,all the lucky investors who believed either in the product, serviceor the entrepreneur and took a risk by investing in the fledgling com-pany, are able to cash in big.

So, how can we, as investors, be a part of this growth storyand hope to make big gains? We can do that by investing and buy-ing a piece of the firm in exchange of equity, which essentially meansbuying a portion of the ownership which gives us the right to futurepotential profits. However, a word of caution here — if the com-pany fails, you lose your investment. Suppose for a growing com-pany all the profits are reinvested, then how do you make profits?If we believe that the start-up we chose grew quickly, then we asinvestors make a profit from their investments when we sell partor all of our portion of ownership in the company during a liquidi-ty event, such as an Initial Public Offering (IPO) or acquisition. Duringa successful IPO, there is a considerable rise in the share price ascompared to the initial investment, increasing the value of investors’holdings and giving shareholders the opportunity to trade their stockon the public market if they want to liquidate or cash in their shares.That was the good news! Now the bad news is that 90 per cent ofthe start-ups fail. It is also difficult to sell off their equity before itsIPO. However, having said that, this increased risk is coupled withthe potential for a very large return if the company succeeds andcan be a good investment option for risk- tolerant investors

Having understood the pitfalls and the risks involved in invest-ing in start-ups, there may be some investors who would want tobet on the future of some such firm. Such investors can start byjoining an angel network preferably with the nation-wide coverageto be able to give access to start-ups throughout India. With thislarger opportunity set, one should focus on the promoters, their visionand mission and their capabilities to take the venture forward. Theadvantage of these networks is that the preliminary due diligencelike discovery of the company, initial project evaluation, documen-tation and constant monitoring post -investment is being handledby them and the investor has to simply take the decision to investby taking advantage of their expertise. Often, it can get very over-whelming sometimes, particularly if you are starting new. So, aninvestor should observe what experienced angel investors are doing,build his own understanding of the start-up ecosystem, find out thesunshine sector and then invest. Some of the websites that an investorcan visit are LetsVenture, AngelList or OurCrowd. Retail participa-tion in start-ups is facilitated through an angel fund, which is a SpecialPurpose Vehicle (SPV) fund, registered under the SEBI. Indianinvestors can also participate in syndicates, which are private invest-ment vehicles led by experienced technology investors and financedby institutional investors and sophisticated angels, created to makea single investment. The advantage of syndicates is that the investorscan participate with lower minimums and can get access to someof the top deals, which are typically hard to procure for someonewho is not experienced in building deal flows. Personalised dealsare available for investors with higher fund availability, where he canpersonally scrutinize different ventures and invest in them after duediligence for price discovery and some smart negotiations. The ini-tial investments may be high but the windfall gains on the successof the company would also be humongous.

Although risky, start-up investing is an alternate investmentavenue for investors who are willing to be a part of the vibrant com-munity by investing in them for potentially higher gains. So, get onthe start-up bus and add a new leaf to your investment portfolio.

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Amity University)

The Election Commission ofIndia has sounded theAssembly poll bugle for the

two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States, Maharashtra andHaryana, which will go for electionson October 21. The BJP is not onlyeyeing a comeback but also a muchbigger margin. The saffron party ispoised to win both the States main-ly because of the disarray in theOpposition ranks.

The elections in these twoStates will be a test for PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, as they willbe the first Assembly polls after his2019 impressive Lok Sabha win. Itwill also be an evaluation of theCentre’s crucial decisions like the

revocation of Article 370 in Jammuand Kashmir (J&K), the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) and theban on Triple Talaq.

The Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis’ leadership isalso at stake although the BJP isdepending on Modi’s charisma towork its magic again. Above all, theresults will show whether the slid-ing economy is going to be a factorfor voters or not. Given the fact thatMumbai is the financial capital of thecountry, the economic slowdown isa big issue in these polls, though theModi Government has announceda slew of fiscal measures to give aboost to the financial system in thelast one month.

However, the BJP has to guardagainst trouble regarding the defec-tors from the Congress Party and theNationalist Congress Party (NCP)and also over ticket distribution.

The BJP is looking for an oppor-tunity to emerge as an umbrellaparty like the Congress used to beearlier. The saffron party has beenon an accelerated path of growth

since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Inthe 2014 Assembly elections, afterthe four-way contest, the BJPemerged as the single-largest party,followed by the Shiv Sena (63), theCongress (42) and the NCP (41).

The BJP’s ally Shiv Sena is stillhaggling over seat sharing and alsobargaining for the post of DeputyChief Minister for Aditya Thackeray,son of Uddhav Thackeray. The Senahas also welcomed with open arms,defectors from the Congress and theNCP. The Sena finds that it has toguard against the BJP’s onslaught asthe saffron party has overtaken it inthe last 24 years. While the Sena hasregistered a modest 3.09 per centincrease, the BJP grew by 16.3 percent.

As for the Congress, this will bethe party’s first Assembly electionafter the return of Sonia Gandhi asthe Congress president.

The Congress and its alliancepartner NCP are the main chal-lengers to the BJP-Sena combine.However, the Congress is in a dis-array both at the local and national

level, its morale is at the lowest pointand it is facing not only a leadershipcrisis but also factionalism andindiscipline. The more importantworry for the grand old party is themass erosion in its ranks as severalleaders, including the Leader ofOpposition Radhakrishna VikhePatil and former MinisterHarshvardhan Patil, have left theCongress and joined the BJP whileAbdul Sattar joined the Shiv Sena.

Sonia Gandhi has been trying torestore some order but it is too lit-tle and too late to make a major dif-ference.

The BJP and the Sena havemade inroads in the WesternMaharashtra, Vidarbha andMarathwada. A win in Maharashtra,where the Congress had remaineddominant for decades, would go along way in boosting the morale ofthe party.

The Congress Party’s alliancepartner, the NCP, too, is not in goodhealth.

The two parties, which joinedhands in 1999 after Sharad Pawar

launched his new outfit, ruledMaharashtra together for 15 yearsbut had also, contested the 2014Assembly elections separately. Butlike the saffron parties, the Congressand the NCP also reunited for the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Pawar is fighting a lonely battlewith some of his long-time associ-ates and staunch supporters likeVijaysinh Mohite Patil, PadmasinhPatil and Madhukar Pichad, leavinghim to join the BJP. The ageingSharad Pawar is not in good healthand has lost his grip on the rank andfile. The NCP, too, is facing faction-alism and indiscipline. So the twoailing parties will find it difficult tochallenge the combined might of theBJP-Shiv Sena combine.

Though the Congress-NCPcombine is the major challenger, theVanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA),led by Prakash Ambedkar, has beentrying to emerge as the third frontin Maharashtra’s largely bipolar pol-itics. The VBA will only cut into thevotes of the combine.

The Opposition has identified

key points like the economic slow-down, rural distress and unem-ployment as major poll issues whilethe BJP wants to showcase theachievements of the ModiGovernment at the Centre and theMaharashtra Government. It alsowants to invoke nationalism and itsstrong leadership.

Maharashtra, a major State, issignificant in multiple ways and sothe BJP wants to consolidate itsstrength while the Sena is trying toguard its turf.

For the NCP, it is all about sur-vival while for the Congress Party itis keeping up its relevance in thecountry and Prakash Ambedkar isexpecting a big break. Many predictthe fight may be one- sided as theBJP has an edge in Maharashtra withthe momentum gained from the LokSabah verdict coupled with thegrowing stature of DevendraFadnavis. It will not be a big surpriseif the two saffron parties win thepolls not just effortlessly, but alsowith a bigger margin this time.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

A test of tough decisions made by ModiThe October Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana will be an evaluation of the Centre’s crucial steps

like the revocation of Article 370 in J&K, the NRC and the ban on Triple Talaq

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

The whole miserableThomas Cook episode alsoserves as a reminder of theperils that await. Theweakness of sterlingcombined with Brexituncertainty, as well as otherfactors outside ministers'control, place companies atrisk. As political instability looks set tocontinue, the governmentmust come up with clearcriteria against which futurebids for state help fromcollapsing businesses canbe judged.

(The Guardian editorial)

SHOCKING NEWSON THOMAS COOK

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

DGTR centre for fullutilisation of traderemedial measuresNEW DELHI: The DGTR, anarm of the commerce ministry,has set up a help desk andfacilitation centre to ensureoptimal utilisation of availabletrade remedial measures aimedat curbing unfair trade. TheDirectorate General of TradeRemedies (DGTR) is aninvestigation arm of theministry which deals with anti-dumping duty, safeguard duty,and countervailing duty. Theseduties are trade remedymeasures, provided under anagreement of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) to itsmember countries. They areused to provide a level playingfield to domestic industry incase of dumping of goods,significant increase in imports,and subsidised imports. "TheHelp Desk and FacilitationCentre is an institutionalarrangement to facilitateoptimal utilisation by differentstake holders of available traderemedial measures aimed atcurbing unfair trade," the DGTRsaid in a notice.

UP govt to give 5% discount onkhadi productsLUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradeshgovernment on Tuesdaydecided to provide 5 per centadditional discount on khadiproducts. The decision to thiseffect was taken at a cabinetmeeting chaired by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath. "It hasbeen decided to provide 5 percent discount on khadiproducts. It will be in additionto the existing 20 per cent(discount) provided by thekhadi department. Thus, thecustomer will be getting 25 percent discount," UP minister andgovernment spokespersonShrikant Sharma told reporterswhile briefing about cabinetdecisions. The 5 per centdiscount will be available fromGandhi Jayanti (Oct 2) to Mar31, he added.

EU court: Dutch taxdeal with Starbucksis not state aidTHE HAGUE: A European Unioncourt has overturned a rulingby the European Commissionthat a tax deal between theDutch government andStarbucks amounted to illegalstate support for the coffeegiant. In 2015, the Commissionruled that the Netherlands gavetax advantages to Starbucks.That led to Dutch authoritiesrecovering 25.7 million eurosfrom the coffee giant. Both theNetherlands and Starbucksappealed the decision. In aruling Tuesday, the GeneralCourt of the European Unionsays the EU's executivecommission "was unable todemonstrate the existence of anadvantage in favour ofStarbucks". The Commissioncan appeal against Tuesday'sjudgment.

SEBI BETS BIGON TECHNOLOGYl Shortlists Infy, Wipro, others for data solutionPNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hasshortlisted as many as sevencompanies, including Infosys,Wipro and AccentureSolutions, for providing a datasolution that can handle vastamount of data from multiplesources. Over the past fewyears, the regulator has beenbetting big on technology toaddress and handle challengesarising out of technologicaladvancements in the markets.

To provide 'data lake' solu-tion, the markets regulatorhad issued a notice in May,inviting expression of interest(EoI) from the interested par-ties. The selected company willbe responsible for designing,implementing and supportinga big data solution with ana-lytical capabilities.

The data lake will containlarge amount of structured(order, trade data among oth-ers), unstructured (annualreports and Sebi orders) andsemi-structured data (XML -- a markup language designedto store and transport data. Itencodes documents in a man-ner that is both human andmachine-readable) .

"As the trading volumes aregrowing at an astronomicalrate, a need is felt to build a

data lake which can handlestructured, semi-structuredand unstructured data frommultiple sources," the regula-tor had said.

Accordingly, the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India(Sebi) invited bids from com-panies to provide such ser-vices.

After evaluating theresponses, the regulator said ina notice, it has shortlistedseven firms — AccentureSolutions, CapgeminiTechnology Services India,Hewlett Packard Enterprises(India), EIT Services India,Infosys, Wipro and Larsen &

Toubro Infotech — "for fur-ther process". Data lake is asystem that stores vast amountof data in its native form at anyscale. Besides, the regulator, inits annual report for 2018-19,said that it intends to deploydata analytics and new gener-ation technologies to deal withvarious challenges in the mar-ket. "Sebi would encourageadoption and usage of finan-cial technology to furtherdevelop and maintain an effi-cient, fair and transparentsecurities market ecosystemwhich also promotes innova-tion in the securities market,"Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagisaid in his statement in theannual report.

As per the report, the reg-ulator would continue tostrengthen market supervi-sion through steps such astechnology solutions beingbuilt to achieve the objectiveof identifying non-compli-ance and assisting in investi-gations.

Accordingly, the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)invited bids from companies toprovide such services

RIL's earnings growthstarting to de-riskl Tax liability to fall by 4% pts: Morgan StanleyPNS n NEW DELHI

Reliance Industries' earningsgrowth is starting to be de-risked, amid improving earn-ings growth clarity, betterrefining margins, lower taxrate, and cheaper gas feedstockcosts, global brokerage MorganStanley said noting that com-pany's tax liability will reduceby 4 percentage points follow-ing cut in the corporate taxrate.

The shares of RelianceIndustries surged as much asfive per cent after MorganStanley said lower taxes andcheaper gas feed costs shouldde-risk outlook and boostearnings.

The stock was trading at Rs1,285.55, up nearly 4 per centover the previous close, on theBSE at 1245 hrs after scaling apeak of Rs 1298.55.

"Rising clarity on 2020growth; top pick in south Asia:RIL's earnings growth is start-ing to be de-risked as head-winds of 1H19 turn andbecome key tailwinds in 2020,"it said.

The brokerage went on tolist the reasons for its assess-ment -- rise in refining mar-gins with improved demandand slower capacity growth;cheaper gas costs andimproved margins from aslowdown in petrochemicalcapacity growth in 2020, inparticular for polyethylene,

supporting the rise in chemi-cal margins; and telecom sub-scriber adds remain steady.

"There is increased evidenceof these factors playing out,which should raise investorconfidence on the 17 per centEPS growth we expectover F2019-21,"Morgan Stanleysaid.

As one of themost complexrefiners, RILshould be thebiggest bene-ficiary in Asiaf r o mInte r nat i ona lM a r i t i m eOrganization (IMO)regulations that fromJanuary 2020 bar use of fuelwith more than 0.5 per centsulphur in ships. This willlead to a rise in diesel demand.

On the impact of last week'sannouncement of a reductionin the corporate tax rate,

Morgan Stanley said: "We esti-mate a 400 basis point reduc-tion in the consolidated taxrate RIL's businesses paid inF2019 of 29-35 per cent, muchhigher than the new corporatetax rate of 25.2 per cent.

"RIL also has deferredtax liabilities of USD

6.5 billion as ofF2019, which

could reducewith a lowertax rate."

The com-pany's retailand telecom

business cur-rently pay an

effective tax of34.9 per cent and its

consolidated effective taxrate comes to 27.9 per cent.

The brokerage said the com-pany's target of zero net debtby FY2021 will help lowerinvestor concerns about debt,which had increased steadilyover the past seven years.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Describing the government'smove to slash corporate taxrate as a bold measure, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das onTuesday said it has made Indiaa very attractive destination forforeign investment.

In the biggest reduction in28 years, the government onFriday cut corporate tax rate byalmost 10 percentage points asit looked to pull the economyout of a six-year low growthand a 45-year high unemploy-ment rate by reviving privateinvestments with a Rs 1.45-lakh crore tax break.

Base corporate tax for exist-ing companies has beenreduced to 22 per cent fromthe current 30 per cent; and fornew manufacturing firms,incorporated after October 1,2019 and starting operationsbefore March 31, 2023, it wasslashed to 15 per cent from thecurrent 25 per cent.

"It is a very bold measure,and it is a highly positive step.India's corporate tax nowbecomes very competitivecompared to other emergingmarket economies in ASEANand other parts of Asia. So far

as international investors areconcerned, so far as FDI isconcerned, I think India standsdefinitely in a very competitiveposition, and would be able toattract higher investments,"Das said. With regard todomestic investors, he said,they now have more cash so

they'll be able to undertakemore capital expenditure.

They can invest more andsome of them can deleveragetheir liabilities which will addstrength to their balancesheets, he said after meetingFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman here.

Tax cut makes India attractiveinvestment destination: Das

Infosys, TCS, HDFCamong Forbes’ 17 Indianfirms best ‘regarded' cos

‘Retailers using advancedtech to target nicheconsumer segments’

It is a very bold measure, and it is a highly positive step.India's corporate tax now becomes very competitivecompared to other emerging market economies in

ASEAN and other parts of Asia. So far as international investorsare concerned, so far as FDI is concerned, I think India standsdefinitely in a very competitive position, and would be able toattract higher investments

— SHAKTIKANTA DAS, RBI Governor

‘Blocks to be identified for auctioning commercial coal mines’PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Minister Pralhad Joshion Tuesday said the governmentis in the process of identifyingblocks to be put up for auctionfor commercial mining of coalto Indian as well as overseasminers. Besides, the processfor auction of 42 mines todomestic public sector under-taking (PSUs) is also on to scaleup output, Coal and MinesMinister Pralhad Joshi saidadding that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wants a curb onimports barring 135 milliontonnes which is unavoidable.

"Our policy is clear (to inviteglobal players for roll out ofcommercial coal mining). Wewill decide on the numbers andidentify blocks at a proper

time," Joshi said onthe sidelines of IndiaEnergy Forum organised byMining Geological andMetallurgical Institute of India.

The maiden move aimed at

cutting coal imports isset to end the monopoly of

domestic giant Coal India thataccounts for over 80 per cent ofthe India's dry-fuel output.

"Prime Minister has directed

me and my Ministry to doublethe production of coal. PrimeMinister has said that he canunderstand we are importingcrude oil, petroleum productsbut he doesn't understand whyare we importing coal which isunacceptable," he said addingPM has directed to curbimports barring 135 milliontonnes that is unavoidable forplants.

Addressing the event "Indian

Coal: Potential andDiversification", he saidalthough domestic coal pro-duction has grown substantial-ly by 165 million tonnes (MT)in last 5 years, still a lot of it hasto be imported to bridge thedemand-supply gap and there isurgent requirement of rampingup the domestic coal produc-tion. "Coal India, SCCL andother miners are geared up forenhancing coal production

from the current level of 730MT to 1149 MT by FY 2023thereby totally eliminating thecoal import except the un-sub-stitutable import of 135 MT," theMinister said adding land acqui-sition was also one of the rea-sons behind delays in opera-tionalising mines. He said thecoal PSUs have planned toincrease coal production fromthe present level of 676 MT to965 MT by opening of newmines, capacity expansion ofexisting mines and creation ofnew evacuation infrastructure.

CIL alone is poised to com-mission 11 new coking coalwasheries in a phased mannerto meet the total demand ofwashed domestic coking coal ofsteel sector expected to be 10MT in FY 2022.

The maiden move aimed at cuttingcoal imports is set to end themonopoly of domestic giant CoalIndia that accounts for over 80 percent of the India's dry-fuel output

PNS n NEW DELHI

Retailers are adoptingadvanced technologies such asartificial intelligence and socialmedia analytics to understandconsumers' shopping behav-iour and preferences with aview to target niche segments,according to a Deloitte Indiareport. Retail firms are usinga strategy - Tribetailing - toidentify andcater to aniche setof con-sumers.

As con-s u m e r s 'p r e f e r -ences arechangingat adynamic pacewith an evolving retail envi-ronment, tribetailing helpsretailers connect with buyersand understand them better,the report titled 'KNOW yourconsumer – What you see iswhat you get' said.

"Riding on the digital wave,retailers are using advancedtechnologies such as artificial

intelligence, machine learning,and social media analytics toget information about con-sumers' shopping history,behaviour, preferences, andonline activities," it said.

This information, it said, ishelping retailers to group con-sumers in different categoriesand come up with bespokesolutions, and devise person-alised marketing and promo-

tional pro-g r a m m e ssuch asm e m b e r -ship andloyalty pro-g r a m m e sand dis-counts totarget nichec o n s u m e r

segments.With the emergence of a

more informed and tech-savvyconsumer base, retailers areincreasingly replacing the tra-ditional mass market approachwith targeted strategies formedusing insights driven fromconsumer data, said the report,which was unveiled in associ-ation with Mapic India.

Global postalunion meetsunder threatof US pull-outPNS n GENEVA

Diplomats opened an emer-gency meeting of the UNagency that sets internationalpostal rates on Tuesday, withthe US threatening to quit theglobal body as early as nextmonth. President DonaldTrump's administrationannounced last October that itplanned to withdraw fromthe Universal Postal Union,charging that the current sys-tem sets postal rates thatunfairly penalise the UnitedStates while benefiting carriersin countries like China.Washington, which made itsannouncement as trade ten-sions soared with China, saidit would leave the UPU in ayear unless the agency under-went dramatic reform.

But the State Departmenthad stressed that "if negotia-tions are successful, theAdministration is prepared torescind the notice of with-drawal and remain in theUPU". This week's three-daymeeting marks only the thirdextraordinary congress to beheld in the UPU's 145-year-history.

BlackRock trims Escorts stake; sellsshares worth Rs 22.7 crPNS n NEW DELHI

BlackRock has trimmed itsstake in engineering and farmequipment maker Escorts byselling 4.41 lakh shares wortharound Rs 22.7 crore througha market transaction.

As per a regulatory filing,BlackRock Inc, which had3.20 per cent stake earlier,brought down its sharehold-ing in the company to 2.84per cent by selling shares onSeptember 19, 2019.

Based on the weightedaverage price of Escorts' stockat Rs 514.50 apiece on

September 19, 2019, thetransaction is estimated at Rs22.7 crore.

Shares of Escorts weretrading 4.51 per cent lower atRs 606 apiece on the BSE.

PNS n NEW DELHI

As many as 17 Indian compa-nies, including Infosys, TCS andHDFC, have been named in thelist of World's Best RegardedCompanies compiled byForbes.

IT major Infosys hasbeen ranked third in thelist of World's BestRegarded Companies,along with global paymentstechnology company Visaand Italian car-makerFerrari on the first andsecond position, respec-tively.

Infosys jumped to thethird spot from 31st posi-tion in 2018. "Infosys'leading position head-lined an Asian invasion inthe rankings," Forbes said.The other top ten companiesin the list for 2019 are Netflixat the 4th position, followed byPayPal (5), Microsoft (6), WaltDisney (7), Toyota Motor (8),Mastercard (9), CostcoWholesale (10).

Indian companies TataConsultancy Services (22ndposition) and Tata Motors (31)

featured among the top 50 inthe coveted list.

Other Indian companies inthe list include Tata Steel (105),Larsen & Toubro (115),Mahindra & Mahindra (117),

HDFC (135), Bajaj Finserv(143), Piramal

Enterprises (149), SteelAuthority of India(153), HCLTechnologies (155),

Hindalco Industries(157), Wipro (168),HDFC Bank (204), SunPharma Industries(217), General

Insurance CorporationOf India (224), ITC (231)

and Asian Paints (248).The US dominated

the list as it is home to59 of the 250 companies

in the list. The next threemost-represented countries

are Japan, China and India.Japan, China and India togeth-er house 82 companies on thelist, up from 63 last year. "In all,nearly half of the 250 best-regarded companies are basedin Asia, making it the mostdominant continent," Forbessaid.

PNS n LONDON

Britain has repatriated ten percent of nationals who werestranded abroad after the col-lapse of travel firm ThomasCook, authorities said Tuesday,as anger erupted over excessivemanagement pay.

The Civil Aviation Authorityregulator, which is managing theUK's biggest repatriation sinceWorld War II after ThomasCook's dramatic bankruptcy,said in a statement that it flewback 14,700 of the 150,000

stranded Britons on Monday.The CAA added that it hoped

to bring back another 16,500people on Tuesday. The dra-matic collapse of Thomas Cookleft 600,000 customers of all

nationalities stranded in popu-lar tourist destinations dottedaround the globe, includingCancun, Kos, Las Vegas andLanzarote. "Following the verysad news ... that Thomas Cookhad stopped trading and its air-craft were grounded, welaunched at the government'srequest our operation to returnmore than 150,000 people to theUK," said CAA Chief ExecutiveRichard Moriarty.

Moriarty added: "A repatria-tion of this scale and nature isunprecedented and unfortu-

nately there will be some incon-venience and disruption forcustomers. "We will do every-thing we can to minimise this asthe operation continues.

"We want people to continueto enjoy their holiday, so we willbring them back to the UK ontheir original departure day, orvery soon thereafter."

Meanwhile, criticism ismounting over the pay ofThomas Cook's management,who steered the 178-year-oldcompany into the rocks withvast debts.

10% of Thomas Cook's UK clients repatriated

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Information Technology toolswill be used extensively in datacollection and compilationworks for the Annual Survey ofUnincorporated SectorEnterprises 2019, according toVijay Kumar, Director General,National Statistical Office, NewDelhi.

This would help in main-taining the quality of data and

early release of survey results inpublic domain, Kumar said onMonday in his address at the

regional training conferencefor Central and State govern-ment officials here who havebeen assigned the field work ofAnnual Survey ofUnincorporated SectorEnterprises.

NSO is in the process oflaunching new surveys apartfrom its regular surveys meet-ing the requirements of gov-ernment, data users, plannersand researchers.

IT to be used extensively in datacollection works: DG

chools have beenmushrooming atevery street cornerat a rate that isunheard of 20years ago. Even

though this will help provideeducation to more students,it comes at the cost of qualityeducation especially in physi-cal activities. To fill in thegap many private organisa-tions have taken the mantleto help children participate insporting events. One suchevent was the Netplay SportsTelangana State Squash

Closed Championship 2019that concluded on Tuesday atGamepoint, a multi sportscenter in Madhapur. Thistournament was conductedunder the aegis of TelanganaSquash Rackets Associationand Squash RacketsFederation of India (SRFI).

Tushar Kothari won theMen’s category by beatingRavi Pandey in the finalwhile Aishwaria Payyanemerged as the victor in theWomen’s category. Prof K.Ranga Rao, President,Olympic Association of

Telangana was the chief guestof the event who distributedthe prizes to the winners.

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THIS TOURNAMENTWAS HELD UNDERTHE AEGIS OF TSSQUASH RACKETSASSOCIATION ANDSQUASH RACKETSFEDERATION OFINDIA (SRFI)

WednesdaySeptember 25, 2019

Everyone is affected

by climate change.

While a few regions

experience extreme

heat, others experience

unseasonal floods. But

as Greta Thunberg

says, “No one seems to

care.”It is time for

countries to take stock

of what is happening

and reduce emissions.

Climate protests are

taking place all over

the world to bring

people's attention

towards global

warming, reports

V SATEESH REDDY

Global climate protestsare being held all overthe world by people fromall walks of life to savethe next generation fromthe harmful effects of cli-

mate change. Speaking at theClimate Action Summit - 2019 atthe United Nations GeneralAssembly on Monday, GretaThunberg, a 16-year-old Swedishclimate activist who spearheadedthe movement said, “We are in the

initial stages of a mass extinctionand all you can talk about is money

and fairy tales of eternal economic

growth. How dare you!”World leaders, including Indian

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will

be coming together this week for the

annual United Nations GeneralAssembly, where so far many world

leaders, at the beginning of the UN

event, have spoken about theresponsibility of governmentsaround the world to find ways tomitigate the oncoming climate cri-

sis. But many activists remain disap-

pointed with the lack of action from

the nations, especially the developed

ones, despite the Paris climateaccord that they signed in 2015, to

lower carbon emissions, among oth-

ers. “This largely disappointing set

of outcomes from the ClimateAction Summit raises the stakeseven higher for the upcoming[United Nations climate conferences

in December 2019 and 2020], where

leaders have another chance to take

action,” said Oxfam Internationalexecutive director, WinnieByanyima, as reported in an article

by The Verge.Angry with the world govern-

ments for not taking any actionagainst the man-made effects on the

environment, the young climateactivist says, “For over 30 years cli-

mate change has been crystal clear.

But how dare you continue to look

away and come here and say thatyou are doing enough when the pol-

itics and the solutions needed arestill nowhere in sight. You say youhear us and that you understand the

urgency but I do not want to believe

that because if you really under-stood the situation and still keepfailing to act then you would beevil.”

Since August 2018, Greta has been

raising awareness globally on therisks posed by climate change, and

has been holding politiciansaccountable for their lack of action.

Following Greta’s footsteps, hundreds of kids and parents

gathered in the city recently and raised their voice over the

dangers of climate change. The protest was part of the ‘Fridays

For Future’ movement that has gathered speed in several

nations. The participants shouted slogans and performed

short skits to explain the risks of climate change, and urged

people to come forward.Kaajal Maheshwari, one of the participants in the demon-

stration, said that climate change is a global issue and we must

do something to save our environment.

Ravindra, a class X student, said that India has to take

immediate action as five cities are in the list of most polluted

cities in the world. Sanjay Kumar, a techie shares, “The pollu-

tion levels are very high in Hyderabad and I don’t know what

actions are being taken by the Pollution Control Board (PCB)

and GHMC but with the radiation of cell towers, many birds

are dying and no one cares.”

HYDERABADIS FIGHT

FOR A HEALTHY FUTURE The South Asian People’s Action on Climate Crisis (SAPACC) was formed in May 2019 to provide a

platform for people to discuss and act on environmental issues. They recently organised a four-day confer-

ence on people’s action on climate change in the city titled, “Keep the Climate, Change the Economy”.

Sudhershan Rao Sarde, Convener of SAPACC said, “No country is working towards making the possibil-

ity of the Paris Agreement a reality. This is

seen in the rising global averagetemperature. This wouldsubstantially increasethe risks andeffects of cli-matechange.”

KEEP THE CLIMATE, CHANGE THE ECONOMY

CLIMATE CRISIS:IS IT ALREADY TOO LATE?

G You’ve stolen my dreams

and my childhood withyour empty words. Weare in the beginning of a

mass extinction and all

you can talk about ismoney and fairy tales of

eternal economicgrowth - how dare you!

GRETA THUNBERGCLIMATE ACTIVIST

CLIMATE CRISIS:IS IT ALREADY TOO LATE?

DEBATE OVER FITNESS

THROUGH SQUASH

S

12

Hyderabad Wednesday September 25, 2019

BAAGHl Baagh, a play written byBadal Sircar and directedby Malyaban Lahiri hasfriendship andrelationships at its core.The play revolves aroundrepressed pain,relationships, and structures that we adhere to.October 2 at 8 pm, Phoenix Arena

MAHABHARATA - THE EPIC TALEl All historyand mythologyis based oncause andeffect.Mahabharata -The Epic Tale...in-depth dealswith theprimaryemotional andpsychologicalcauses that were the genesis of this destructivewar. The planet has witnessed destruction basedon the whims of a few people. Till October 6, multiple venues

lThis is a show wherecomedian AnubhavSingh Bassi will tell youan honest story abouthis career choices andlifestyle. ‘Bas Kar Bassi’is what he said tohimself when he wasfired from his last job.The show will be heldtill October 16 atKulapati MunshiSadan, King Koti,Basheer Bagh.

THEATREHONEYMOON (A HINDI PLAY)

CITY GUIDE

PAKITMAAR RANGMANDAL

INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVALlThe fifth edition ofthe IndianPhotography Festivalwill be held tillOctober 20 at variouslocations inHyderabad. IPF is aninternationalphotography festivalwhich showcasesvarious events, inclu-ding talks, discus-sions and more.

EXHIBITION

ART AAND CCULTURE

EMERGING PALETTES lA group art exhibition, aplatform for emergingartists to display their work,has organised its 11thedition in collaboration withGoethe-Zentrum. The eventwill be held till October 6 atShrishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills.

COMEDY

l PakitmaarRangmandal is aHindi play writtenby AsgharWajahat. The storyis about apickpocket namedBhagwan who ispassionate abouttheatre. Afterwatching a Parsi play he decides to do a theatreshow himself and leave pickpocketing. The playis about the troubles he faces organising theshow due to the label of a thief that the societyhas put on him. The play will be on September28 at 7.30 pm at Lamakaan.

lManch Theatre is going to organise a comedyplay in Hindi about two friends. The playrevolves around one friend, on a honeymoon, isforced to find a way to help his other friend introuble. The play will be organised onSeptember 29 at 7.30 pm at Phoenix Arena.

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

BAS KAR BASSI

FUNNY BUZZNESSlFunny Buzznessis a well knowncomedy gig seriesby Buzz KyaEntertainment andhas beeninstrumental inbringing up artistslike — AmitTandon, SorabhPant, SumukhiSuresh andNaveen Richards.October 20 at 6pm HICC.

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

what’s brewing?PARTY

LIFESTYLEEXPO

SUTRAA, an iconic designerexhibitions, hosted a curtain raiserevent at Hotel Taj Krishna. Several

affluent members from across the citygathered to attend the magnificentcurtain raiser of the exhibition whichshall bring together fashion, lifestyle,

creative and boutiquebrands under oneroof.The exhibition is

scheduled forSeptember 28 and29 at Hotel TajKrishna, BanjaraHills.

Phot

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aresh’s son, Naveen Vijay, whomade a decent debut withNandini Nursing Home is com-ing up with yet another film,tit led, Oorantha

Anukuntunnaru.Touted as a clean family entertain-

er, this film is directed by Balaji Sanala.Meanwhile, the latest news is that thisfilm will be hitting the screens duringDussera season on October 5. The filmalso stars Kota Srinivas Rao, Jayasudhaand Srininav Avasarala in prominentroles. Megha Chaudhry is the femalelead in Oorantha Anukuntunnaru.

Srihari Mangalampalli, RamyaGogula, and PLN Reddy producedthe film, jointly.

ooja Hedge, who hasplayed a small role inGaddalakonda Ganesh, ison cloud nine with theresponse she has beenreceiving for her dance

performance for the new version ofYelluvachi Godaramma YellakilaPaddadammo... song in the movie.“I’ve seen people dancing and enjoy-ing themselves to the song in the the-atres. They’ve been sharing thosevideos on my social media pages. Ithas been such a high. It was difficultshooting for the song in the middleof the river at Yanam. It was hot andtiring. I’ve even had sunburns. Also,I was nervous to match to Sri Madam’sscreen space. But at the end of day,with the kind of response the song hasgenerated, it all feels worth it. Evenwhen I saw the song, I wanted to stopthe movie and rewind the song threetimes,” she said flashing a smile. Shewas speaking at the success meet of thefilm in Hyderabad on Mondayevening.

Pooja thanked film’s director HarishShankar for giving her another block-buster song after Seetimaar... fromDuvvada Jagannadham. Lauding theefforts of film’s composer Mickey J.Meyer, she added, “It’s scary to remixan old classic without ruining theessence of it but Mickey was spot onwith his work. I’ve always been knownas Gopikamma (her famous song inMukunda) in villages till now but theyare now calling me as Godaramma,” shechortled and extended her thanks tochoreographer Sekhar master as well fornailing the choreography.

Varun, on his part, extended histhanks to his elder brother Charan andJr NTR for helping him with releaseblues. “As everyone knows the film's titlewas changed in the last minuteand as unit got into ahuddle to oversee thetitle change, I rangCharan anna,explaining what Iwas going through.He asked me to cometo his home. I foundJr NTR garu at hishome, having a coffee.As experienced actorswho have seen manyups and downs, theyhelped me relievethe stress,”V a r u nsaid.

he US leg filming of ShivaKandukuri’s next withdebutante VaidehiChandrasekhar, who assist-ed Ram Gopal Varma in the

past, has been deferred to November.The shooting for the romantic emo-tional entertainer, co-starringManjima Mohan and Hippi girlDigangana Suryavanshi, was to beginon October 5 in the US for 35 daysbut with the actor’s maiden filmChoosi Choodangaane scheduled torelease mid-October, the plan hasbeen rescheduled.

“Vaidehi will first shoot in Indiawhich has been planned for only10 days. The director will shootwith Shiva from October 4 toOctober 14, post which Shivawill dive headlong into thepromotions of ChoosiChoodangaane. He has allottedthe whole of November to forVaidehi’s film,” said RajKandukuri, who has producedChoosi Choodangaane.

The producer has also clarified thathe is looking to slot his productionon October 18. Vijay Deverakonda’sproduction Meeku MaathrameCheptha too is eyeing a similar datethough nothing has been official yet.“Vijay is our boy. I don’t want to clashwith his movie. I can come onOctober 25 as well but Suresh Babu,with whom I have a meeting onWednesday, will take the final call,”he said. — NG

RAHULVIJAY to

playstudentleader

urrently awaiting the release of his Telugu-Tamilbilingual College Kumar, a remake of Kannadahit with the same name, Rahul Vijay of Ee MayaPeremito and Suryakantham fame has signed ona new film,

The Pioneer has exclu-sively learnt.

A source close to thedevelopment says,“Gangadhar, formerassociate of writer-pro-ducer Kona Venkat ismaking his debut as adirector with this flick.It’s an action collegedrama set in the back-drop of student politics.It’s inspired by events that happened in Siddharth ArtsCollege, Vijayawada, in 2003. In fact, Gangadhar was astudent of the college. He has penned an interestingscreenplay around the incidents and Rahul will play thestudent leader. There’s also a love story that has beenwoven into the narrative. The director is planning to shootin Vijayawada and most likely the film will be a perioddrama.”

Signing on to this new movie also comes close to Rahulagreeing to spearhead debutant Krishna Kishore’s lovestory, also co-starring Satyadev. This yet-to-be-titled filmis about the love stories of the actors and how one par-ticular character affects the life of the other. It has a poet-ic feel to it that is both contemporary and fresh. — NG

Hyderabad Wednesday September 25, 2019

It’s scary to remix an old classic without ruining the essence of it but Mickey was spot

on with his work. I’ve always been known as Gopikamma (her famous song in

Mukunda) in villages but they are now calling me as Godaramma

THE FILM ALSOSTARS KOTASRINIVAS RAO,JAYASUDHA ANDSRININAVAVASARALA INPROMINENT ROLES.MEGHA CHAUDHRY ISTHE FEMALE LEAD INTHE FILM

THE MOVIE ISINSPIRED BY EVENTSTHAT TOOK PLACE ATA COLLEGE INVIJAYAWADA IN 2003

p

13

tollywood

fter completing almost 70 percent of the shoot in 2017, writerSreedhar Seepana had to put hismaiden directorial, Brundavan-amadi Andaridi, on hold over

financial reasons. But producers V. Srinivasand Prabhakar Reddy have said that theyare finally ready to fund the project.Seepana is now planning to reshoot the left-over portions of the romantic comedy, fea-turing Harshvardhan Rane, Richa Panai,Pridhvi and a couple of other new faces.

“We are back on track withBrundavanamadi Andaridi. The last sched-ule will commence next month. We will beshooting in Mysore, Chikmagalur andHyderabad for 15 days. The film is a thor-ough entertainer that will attract all typesof audience. It revolves around three char-acters who think money is everything.They come across a character, played byMano Bala, in a palace. He gives them tasksto accomplish and the follow-up events are

narrated in a funny way. The story is thereal hero and I’m confident of winning thebox-office,” says Seepana, who had pennedscripts for films like Poola Rangadu,Bhimavaram Bullodu and Loukyam amonga slew of other comic entertainers.

He added that senior TDP leader andformer MP N. Sivaprasad, who died dueto renal failure last Saturday, had played akey role in the film. “His role in my filmis one of his last gigs as an actor. It’s alsohis biggest role in the last five years. He willbe seen as a middle-class father,” addsSeepana.

The writer/director is confident thatMani Sharma’s music will do the trick forhim on the publicity front. The ace com-poser is back in the spotlight after his recentsoundtrack for iSmart Shankar topped thecharts. “He has composed extraordinarytunes for Brundavanamadi Andaridi andthe songs should help generating buzzaround the project,” says Seepana. — NG

A

SREEDHAR SEEPANA SAID THAT SENIOR TELUGU DESAMLEADER AND FORMER MP N. SIVAPRASAD, WHO DIED DUE

TO RENAL FAILURE LAST SATURDAY, HAD PLAYED A KEYROLE IN THE FILM

Seepana's BrundavanamadiAndaridi back on track

c

t

KANDUKURI's filmshoot in US rescheduled

Now I am ‘Godaramma’ foreveryone: POOJA HEGDE

n

It was difficult shooting for the song in the middle of the river at Yanam. I’ve even hadsunburns, recalls Pooja while speaking at the success meet, reports NAGARAJ GOUD

Naveen Vijay's OoranthaAnukuntunnaru to

release on October 5

ollywood actor-singer Ayushmann Khurranarecently posted an Instagram message on theevergreen Lata Mangeshkar hit, Saawan ke jhoolepade... from the 1979 Amitabh Bachchan- starrerJurmana.

Picking the RD Burman as a personal favourite,Ayushmaan posted the original soundtrack album-cover of

Jurmana and a heart icon with the lilting number.“From her incredible repertoire of songs I think Saawan ke

jhoole pade... is one of her finest,” opined Ayushmann.Incidentally, Mangeshkar has no recollection of this exquisite

number but she is appreciative of Ayushmann’s praise.Opening up on Ayushmann, Mangeshkar told us on Monday, “I

know he is a very good actor and an equally good singer, so hisappreciation comes from a genuine understanding of music. I wishhim well. He must pursue singing as ardently as acting. It willenhance his performances,” said the playback legend.

When the Nightingale of India showers praise on you, it isindeed a rare honour, which must thrill Ayushmann no end.

inger KelseaBallerini says shewants to write aweird song for hernext album.

In an interviewwith the latest issue of MusicWeek magazine, Kelsea shareddetails about her new songs andwhat audience can expect newfrom her, reportsfemalefirst.co.uk.

“Ten songs. The first 10songs are the ones that are sin-

gles or that feel mainstream andgood for radio. I want to getthose all mixed and masteredand then be like, OK, I want todo a weird song and a song thatis going to crush live but willnever be a radio single. I canplay with the rest of it,” addedthe “Miss me” hitmaker.

effrey Wright is in negotia-tions to play CommissionerGordon in upcomingBatman movie, while JonahHill will be seen as one of theCaped Crusader’s signature

adversaries in the Matt Reeves directori-al. Robert Pattinson is toplining the castas the popular DC Comics superhero.

Jim Gordon, role famously played byGary Oldman and JK Simmons in thepast, is the police commissioner/detec-tive at the Gotham City PoliceDepartment and a reluctant allyto Batman. A source told TheHollywood Reporter, talks withHill are at an early stage as thetwo sides are yet to reach con-sensus on the character hewill play.

The choice is betweentwo antagonists — Penguinand the Riddler. The filmis being billed as agrounded take on theDark Knight and will fea-ture many of Batman vil-lains.

In a new interview withVariety, Pattinson talkedabout playing Batman andsaid he had grown up watch-ing the Tim Burton’s Batmanmovies and also had his ownBatman costume. “When I was akid, it was the only outfit that I had,”he said.

ctress Amy Jackson and her fiance GeorgePanayiotou recently became parents to ason. Announcing the arrival of the babyboy, Amy on Monday took to Instagramand wrote: “Our Angel, welcome to theworld Andreas.”

She even posted a video of Andreas on Instagramstory in which the little one is seen sleeping. “HiWorld,” she captioned the video. Amy announced herchild’s gender in August and said she will be welcom-ing a baby boy.

elgium's DJ duo Dimitri Vegas andLike Mike will perform in multiplecities of India in November.

They will hit the stage inBengaluru on November 7, thenHyderabad on November 8, fol-

lowed by New Delhi on November 9, andfinally culminate their musical tour inMumbai on November 10 for their IndiaTake Over 2019 Tour with Sunburn Arena.

"It's been a while since we came to India,for us always one of our favourite countriesto visit, as we get such incredible love fromthe fans. We cannot wait to come back thisNovember for what will be one of our biggesttours ever," Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike saidin a joint statement.

Karan Singh, COO, Percept Live, added: "Weare so excited to bring Dimitri Vegas and LikeMike back to India after a long gap. They have amassive fan base in India who has been waiting eager-ly for their return. This promises to be their biggestSunburn Arena India tour ever."

Sunburn Arena is a sub-variant brand format created underthe brand umbrella Sunburn, an Intellectual Property of PerceptLive, with the aim to cater to dance music enthusiasts across variouscities pan India and around the world.

ctress Surveen Chawla has openedup on casting couch. She saidthere was a time when directorwanted to see how her cleavagelooked, and another one wasinterested in her thighs.

The actress started her showbiz journey

with the TV show Kahiin to Hoga and went

on to act in more small screen projects. She

also featured in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil

films apart from Bollywood movies.The Hate Story 2 actress had to face the

casting couch five times — thrice in South

filmdom and twice in Bollywood.“A director wanted to see how my cleavage

looked. Another director wanted to see how

my thighs looked,” Surveen said in an inter-

view with Pinkvilla.She also revealed that there was a time

when she was called overweight. “I went to

give this audition and the person told me,

‘You are overweight’. I was just 56 kilos and I

thought the person needed glasses,” shequipped.

Her experience in TV didn’t make it easy

for her.“Yes, there was a time when people told me

you are overexposed because of television.

For sometime, I tried to hide it from produc-

ers and tell them I did TV only for a year, but

I realised later that ‘Why am I doing this?’

Isn’t it going to be easier for a team to get

someone who already knows how to do their

lines?,” she said.

A

B

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Hyderabad Wednesday September 25, 2019

14

celeb talks

DIRECTORS

WANTED TO SEE MY

CLEAVAGE, THIGHS:

SURVEEN CHAWLA

KELSEABALLERINI

WANTS TO PEN

‘‘WEIRD''SONG

DIMITRI VEGAS, LIKEMIKE TO PERFORM IN INDIA

AMY JACKSONSHARES A

GLIMPSE OFHER NEWBORN

JONAH HILL TO PLAYTHE RIDDLERAGAINST ROBERTPATTINSON'S BATMAN

AYUSHMANNPICK HIS

‘‘FINEST'' LATASONG

S

AFP n MILAN

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Men’sPlayer of the Year award as beatenrival Cristiano Ronaldo stayed away

from the star-studded ceremony in Milan’siconic La Scala Opera House on Monday.

Barcelona striker Messi’s victory wasa surprise as he edged out Virgil Van Dijk,who won the UEFA player’s award lastmonth after helping Liverpool to theChampions League last season.

Juventus forward Ronaldo had alsobeen shortlisted for the award, but did notattend the ceremony as he was named inFIFA’s World 11 best team along withMessi.

Both Messi, 32, and Van Dijk, 28, arenow in the running for the covetedBallon d’Or which will be announced onDecember 2.

“I want to thank those who decidedto give me this recognition,” said Messi.

“The most important thing for me isthe collective awards, but today is also avery special night for me.”

It is the first time that Messi has wonthe FIFA Best Award which was createdin 2016. Ronaldo won for 2016 and 2017,with Croatian Luka Modric beating bothlast year.

Messi was top scorer in theChampions League last season with 12goals before Barcelona were dumped outby Liverpool in the semi-finals.

The Argentine also won the EuropeanGolden Shoe after scoring 36 goals, the LaLiga title with Barcelona and helpedArgentina to bronze at 2019 CopaAmerica.

Van Dijk had been bidding to becomea rare defender to win a FIFA playeraward, since Italian Fabio Cannavaro wonthe World Player of the Year, and he Ballond’Or in 2006.

The Netherlands captain also missedout on completing a treble for Liverpoolwith manager Jurgen Klopp winning themen’s coach of the year award and AlissonBecker the goalkeeper prize.

RAPINOE ’LOST FOR WORDS’Megan Rapinoe beat fellow World

Cup winner Alex Morgan and England’sLucy Bronze to the women’s prize, withher USA coach Jill Ellis lifting the women’scoaching award.

Rapinoe, 34, was joint top scorer withsix goals at the women’s World Cup andwon the Golden Boot, also gaining theGolden Ball for the best player andbecoming the face of the tournament forher outspoken views on US presidentDonald Trump and campaigning forLGBT rights.

“I’m a little bit at a loss for words, ifyou can believe it, it rarely happens to me,”said Rapinoe who went on to make a pleaagainst racism and for women’s rights.

“We have such an incredible oppor-tunity being professional football players.

“We have incredible platforms, theunique opportunity to use this to actual-ly change the world for the better.”

Klopp won the men’s coaching awardahead of two other Premier Leaguecoaches — Tottenham’s MauricioPochettino, who the German beat in June’sChampions League final, and ManchesterCity’s Pep Guardiola.

“It is great, nobody expected this 20,10, five, four years ago that I would bestanding here,” said the 52-year-oldGerman who joined Liverpool in 2015.

“I have to say thank you to my out-standing club Liverpool FC. Those whodon’t love it don't have a heart.

“As a coach you can only be as goodas your team. I’m really proud of beingcoach of such an incredible bunch of play-ers.”

Two-time women’s World Cup-win-ning coach Ellis, beat Dutch coach SarinaWiegman, runner-up in France 2019, andEngland’s Phil Neville for the award.

“The World Cup really was a show-case, the world fell even more in love withthe game,” said 53-year-old Ellis, who willstep down from the team in October.

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsawon the fair play award after he ordered

his team to allow Aston Villa to score anequaliser during their 1-1 draw in theirChampionship match in April.

Bielsa’s side had gone ahead contro-versially when a player was injured beforethe Argentine intervened.

Romanian-born Hungarian forwardDaniel Zsori won the Fifa Puskas Awardfor the best goal, beating strikes fromMessi and Juan Fernando Quintero.

The 18-year-old forward, on hisdebut, scored a spectacular overheadkick to win the game for his side Debrecenagainst Ferencvaros in stoppage time.

sport 15HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

AFP n WUHAN

Simona Halep said that winning her firstWimbledon title this year meant

“everything”, but she is determined to havea better Asian swing than in past yearsafter an emphatic start to her Wuhan cam-paign on Tuesday.

Halep suffered opening-round exits inthree of her previous five appearances atthe Chinese event — including the last twoseasons — but was dominant in a 6-3, 6-

2 triumph over Wimbledon semi-finalistBarbora Strycova to reach the last 16.

A solid contender for clinching oneof the six remaining spots in the WTAFinals in Shenzhen, sixth-ranked Halepalso has a shot at finishing the year asworld number one for a third consecu-tive time with a strong finish to the sea-son in Asia.

“Very, very tough goals honestlyAfter winning Wimbledon, I was a littlebit let’s say more relaxed in results, mak-ing big results.

But I’m still motivated. I’m workinghard,” said the fourth seed, who next facesKazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina for a placein the quarter-finals.

“For this period I just want to be bet-ter because every year I promised myselfthat I will do the best I can, and I could-n’t for different reasons.

“Now I feel healthy, I feel motivated,I feel fresh. I just want to go there and winevery match I play.”

Halep recently announced she will bereuniting with coach Darren Cahill fromthe start of 2020 and the Romanian isconvinced they can pick up where theyleft off last year when the Australianhelped her win a maiden Grand Slam titleat the 2018 French Open.

“I’m really happy and I feel confidentthat next year I can do some good thingsagain,” she said.

Halep skipped past Strycova in just 85minutes on Tuesday, benefiting from heropponent’s 30 unforced errors.

PTI n NEW DELHI

South Korean Kim Ji Hyun, who playeda pivotal role in PV Sindhu’s march to

the world title recently, has resigned asIndia’s women’s singles coach citing per-sonal reasons but the national federationsaid it hasn’t received any official commu-nication from her.

The 45-year-old from Busan hasrushed to New Zealand to care for herhusband Ritchie Marr, who suffered astroke a few days ago.

Kim, who was roped in by theBadminton Association of India (BAI)early this year, was with Sindhu duringher World Championship Gold-winningcampaign last month at Basel,Switzerland.

“It is true, Kim has resigned as herhusband is pretty unwell. He suffered akind of neuro stroke sometime during theWorld Championship. So she rushedback. She needs to take care of him as itwill take around 4 to 6 months for himto recover,” India’s chief national coachPullela Gopichand said.

However, the Badminton Associationof India (BAI) General Secretary Ajay KSinghania said that neither the governingbody nor the Sports Authority of India(SAI) have received any resignation fromKim.

“We know that Kim’s husband isunwell and she has gone to attend to himbut we haven’t received any official res-ignation from her. In fact, the SportAuthority of India also hasn’t received anyletter in this regard,” Singhania said.

“The Olympics is still 10 months away

and we are trying to talk to her, get anupdate and see if it is possible for her tocontinue in her position.

“It was under her guidance thatSindhu won the Gold medal at WorldChampionships and her role is importantfor India’s success at the Olympics.”

The departure of Kim Ji Hyun will be

a big setback for Sindhu with less than ayear to go for the Tokyo Olympics. TheOlympic Silver-medallist, however, saidthe unforeseen situation doesn’t leave herwith any option but to go on without Kim.

“It is unfortunate that Kim had toleave at this stage...And I wish her hus-band a quick recovery,” Sindhu said.

“I had a good rapport with her and Iknow it will be a fresh start for me but itis something which is part of a sportsper-son’s life. I will have to work harder andI am sure Gopi sir and the BAI will takecare of everything,” she added.

Her father P V Ramana said Sindhuwill be seeking assistance from men’s sin-gles coach Part Tae Sang as and whenrequired.

“Kim had given special individualattention to Sindhu during the last fewmonths. She worked on her skills inmorning and evening sessions,” he said.

“So now that she has had to leave, wewill have to see if someone is hired toreplace her. There is also the men’s sin-gles coach Park Tae Sang, who can trainher now,” he added.

Interestingly, Kim was India’s thirdforeign coach to resign without complet-ing the tenure.

Renowned Indonesian coach MulyoHandoyo, who had guided the men’s sin-gles shuttlers, had resigned abruptly in late2017 citing personal reasons. He laterjoined the Singapore squad.

Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her had alsostepped down as India’s doubles coachearly this year, 18 months before histenure was to end at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Badminton Association of India(BAI) will now have to quickly find areplacement for Kim, given that theOlympics qualification is currently on andthe Tokyo Games are just 10 months away.

“We are trying to get someone to fillin her boots. But it will be again a stop-gap arrangement. We need to find a per-manent solution,” Gopichand said.

AFP nMADRID

Zinedine Zidaneclaims he has not

even thought about thecriticism aimed at himin recent weeks as RealMadrid look to build onSunday’s morale-boost-ing win away at Sevilla.

Madrid eased thegrowing pressure on their coach with a deter-mined performance at the Ramon SanchezPizjuan after they had been beaten 3-0 by ParisSaint-Germain in the Champions League fourdays before.

That loss was Madrid’s worst duringZidane’s two spells as coach and prompted ques-tions about the Frenchman’s future, with JoseMourinho among those linked with takingcharge.

Madrid play newly-promoted Osasunatoday and could go top of La Liga with a vic-tory.

“It’s always the same, there has always beencriticism and there always will be,” Zidane saidin a press conference on Tuesday.

“I don’t even think about it. It is what it is,it happens. When we lose, I’m going to getsacked and when we win, I’m the best. You justhave to keep working.

“I feel strong but I feel the same as I did amonth ago. The important thing is to give 100per cent and to give my best. I remember play-ing badly for this team as well but the impor-tant thing is to give your best.”

Madrid have won three of their six gamesin all competitions so far this season and, afterOsasuna, play Atletico Madrid at the WandaMetropolitano on Saturday.

“We played a good game in Sevilla but mostof all we played as a team from the first minuteuntil the last,” Zidane said.

“Playing as a team, fighting for each other,that’s what we have to do against Osasuna andwe have to keep playing like that.”

Madrid will be without Ferland Mendy onWednesday after the defender injured hishamstring against Sevilla.

It is the second muscle injury Mendy hassuffered since joining Madrid from Lyon for 50million euros in July and leaves Zidane shortat left-back, with Marcelo also recoveringfrom a back problem.

Zidane said Marcelo is close to a return,along with Luka Modric and Isco, who havebeen out with thigh injuries.

“I want to thank those who decided togive me this recognition. Themost important thing for meis the collective awards, buttoday is also a veryspecial night for me.”

—LIONEL MESSI

“It is great, nobody expected this 20,10, five, four years ago that I wouldbe standing here. I have to say thankyou to my outstanding club LiverpoolFC. Those who don’t love it don’t

have a heart. As a coach youcan only be as good asyour team. I’m reallyproud of being coach ofsuch an incredible bunchof players.”

—JURGEN KLOPP

THE BESTMessi, Rapinoe win FIFA Player of the Yearaward; Klopp selected as best coach

Clockwise from top left: FIFA award winners Jill EEllis (Women’s best coach), Jurgen KKlopp (Men’s best coach), Alisson BBecker (Men’s best goalkeeper), Lionel MMessi(Men’s best player), Megan RRapinoe (Women’s best player), Sari vvan VVeenendaal (Women’s best goalkeeper) and Daniel ZZsori (Puskas Award for the best goal winner)

Real Madrid’s manager Zinedine Zidane reacts during UCLgame against Paris Saint-Germain in Paris AP

Real lookto continuerecovery

Kim resigns citing personal reasons

Indian badminton player PV Sindhu along with national coach Pullela Gopichand and Kim Ji Hyun (extremeleft) pose with World Championship Gold medal PV Sindhu/Instagram

Simona Halep targetsstrong finish in Asia

Simona Halep leaves court after her opening roundwin in Wuhan Open Simona Halep/Twitter

AFP n MILAN

FIFA president Gianni Infantino hasmade a plea to “kick racism out” of

Italian football, during the FIFA BestFootball Awards ceremony in Milan.

“Tonight is a night to celebrate, butwe should reflect a little bit,” the Swiss-Italian football chief told a star-studdedgathering at La Scala Opera House.

“I would like to say that here in Italyin my country, yesterday (Sunday) wewitnessed again in the Italian champi-onship an episode of racism.

“This is not acceptable any more,we have to say no to racism in society.We have to kick racism out of footballand society once and for all.”

Sunday’s Italian league matchbetween Atalanta and Fiorentina washalted for several minutes after racistabuse was aimed at the Tuscan side’sBrazilian player Dalbert in a gameplayed in Parma.

The problem is a recurring onethroughout the peninsula.

Kick racism outFIFA chief says racism ‘notacceptable’ in Italian football

AFP n LONDON

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hasrevealed that the emotional high of

his side’s UEFA Champions Leaguetriumph against Tottenham on June 1at Wanda Metropolitano inspired himto join the Common Goal charity.

Klopp will join a host of star namesfrom the world of football, includingManchester United’s Juan Mata andFIFA women’s player of the year MeganRapinoe, by donating one percent of hissalary to aid the work of charities acrossthe world.

The 52-year-old, who was crownedFIFA men’s coach of the year onMonday, told the Players Tribune of dif-ficult times he suffered early in hiscareer as an amateur footballer, work-ing in a warehouse while trying to sup-port his young family.

And while he now faces the pres-sure of trying to deliver Liverpool’s firstPremier League title in 30 years, Kloppinsisted he and his players have the lux-ury of no longer living in the ‘realworld’.

“We should not forget what it waslike when we had real problems,” saidKlopp.

“This bubble we live in is not thereal world. I am sorry, but anything thathappens on a football pitch is not a realproblem. There should be a bigger pur-pose to this game than revenue and tro-phies, no? “Just think what we couldaccomplish if we all came together andgave one percent of what we earn tomake a positive difference in the world.Maybe I am naive. Maybe I am a crazyold dreamer.

“But who is this game for? We allknow damn well that this game is for

dreamers.”After a stunning comeback from

losing the first leg of their ChampionsLeague semi-final 3-0 to Barcelona tobeat the Spanish champions 4-0 atAnfield in May, Liverpool lifted theirsixth European Cup by beatingTottenham 2-0 in Madrid.

On their return to Liverpool, anopen-top bus parade took the teampassed hundreds of thousands of cele-brating fans on the city’s streets.

“If you could’ve put all the emo-tions, all the excitement, all the love inthe air that day and bottled it up, theworld would be a better place,” addedKlopp.

“I have not been able to get theemotion of that day out of my head.Football has given me everything in mylife. But I really want to do more to giveback to the world.”

Klopp inspired to make charity pledge

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp poses with the FIFABest Coach trophy Liverpool/Instagram

PTI n NEW DELHI

India’s top wrestler Bajrang Punia onTuesday said not even an Olympic

medal will heal the pain of his contro-versial semifinal loss at the just-con-cluded World Championships.

The 25-year-old from Haryana,who had claimed Bronze and Silver inthe last two editions, lost to localfavourite Daulet Niyazbekov in the 65kg semifinal following some debatabledecisions by the judges in Kazakhstan.

The two were tied 9-9 after thebout but the Kazakh was declaredwinners by points, robbing Bajrang achance to fight for the Gold medal.The Indian had to be contend with aBronze.

“It is very demoralising when youlose due to bias or someone wins bycheating because I didn’t do anythingwrong. I didn’t lose out the Goldbecause of my mistakes,” Bajrangsaid.

“I know I have to forget this pain.I have to put this aside to do well in

sport 16HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

PTI n NEW DELHI

In a major setback to India,pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrahwas on Tuesday ruled out of

the upcoming Test series againstSouth Africa due to a stress frac-ture in his lower back, whichmight also force him out of nextmonth’s assignment againstBangladesh.

Fellow paceman UmeshYadav replaced him in the Indiansquad for the three matchesagainst the Proteas, beginning inVisakhapatnam from October 2.

“The injury was detected dur-ing a routine radiological screen-ing. He will now undergo rehabil-itation at NCA and will be mon-itored by the BCCI Medical Team.The All-India Senior SelectionCommittee has named UmeshYadav as Bumrah’s replacement,”

the BCCI said in a release.A BCCI official, however,

said Bumrah could also miss thehome series against Bangladesh.That series comprises three T20Internationals and two Tests,which are part of the the WorldTest Championship. It will be heldfrom November 3 to 26.

“Jasprit is out for a period ofseven to eight weeks minimum.This effectively rules him out ofthe World Championship gamesagainst Bangladesh also. He is outtill the end of November. That’show his medical bulletin is at themoment,” the official said.

“The good thing is that thedetection happened at the prelim-inary stage and that’s why it won’ttake more than two months toheal. Otherwise, a stress fracturetakes pretty long to heal,” headded.

Bumrah had been rested fromthe recently-concluded Twenty20series against South Africa, whichended in a 1-1 draw.

The paceman, with a slingaction, is feared for his immacu-late line and length, particularlythe perfectly-placed yorkers.

In the Test series against theWest Indies, which was his lastassignment, Bumrah emerged asthe wrecker-in-chief for Indiawith 13 wickets in two Tests.

The 25-year-old became thefastest Indian pacer to take 50wickets in Tests during the courseof that assignment last month. Heachieved the feat during the sec-ond Test against the Caribbeanside.

Bumrah reached the mile-stone in 11 matches, going pastVenkatesh Prasad andMohammed Shami, who took 13

matches each to touch the mark.Yadav last played a Test for

India in December 2018, duringthe tour of Australia.

The 31-year-old Yadav, onthe other hand, was part of theIndia A squad that toured theWest Indies last month butcouldn’t make much of animpact.

In the 41 Tests that he hasplayed so far for India, Yadav has119 wickets at an average of33.47.Revised squad: Virat Kohli(Captain), Mayank Agarwal,Rohit Sharma, CheteshwarPujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc),Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant,Wriddhiman Saha, RavichandranAshwin, Ravindra Jadeja,Kuldeep Yadav, MohammedShami, Umesh Yadav, IshantSharma and Shubman Gill.

IANS n NEW DELHI

India’s limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma’stactical acumen is no secret. The man who

has won four Indian Premier League titlesas Mumbai Indians skipper is often consid-ered as one of the best when it comes to mak-ing on spot decisions. His record as Indiacaptain is also enviable and in MS Dhoni’sabsence, captain Virat Kohli and head coachRavi Shastri have asked him to be more vocalon the field when it comes to guiding theyoungsters.

In the just concluded T20I series againstSouth Africa, Rohit was seen time and againwalking up to the bowlers and speaking tothem. It was a great sign to see the deputyconstantly speak to the youngsters even asskipper Kohli manned the boundary. Andthis practice isn’t a one-off.

Speaking about it, sources in the teammanagement said that with Dhoni notthere to guide the bowlers from behind thewicket — the captain and coach felt that itwould be great to have Rohit share histhoughts with the bowlers as the T20 formatcalls for quick thinking and on-spot changein plans.

“See, you don’t want too many cooks tospoil the broth. There is always the need tohave a fine balance and not confuse theyoungsters in the middle of a match. So,when MS was there behind the wicket, it wasKohli and MS who would do the guiding. InDhoni’s absence, it was felt that it would begreat to have Rohit sharing his thoughts withthe youngsters and being vocal on the field.

“Rohit has been a part of the leadershipgroup for a while now and it is not like thisis the first time that he is sharing his ideaswith the players. The captain and coach trusthis instincts and it is great when a seniormember walks up to a bowler and suggestsways to trump the opposition batsman,” thesource pointed.

A youngster who has also played underRohit’s leadership in the Indian team saidthat the opener like Rohit backs the boys andjust shares his thought process and what hefeels will work in a particular situation.

“You might feel a lot of things about yourown capabilities. But the backing of theseniors is what helps. Be it Kohli bhai orRohit bhai, they give you freedom to go andexpress yourself. They don’t impose them-selves on us. Even when Rohit bhai is lead-ing or explaining a situation on the field, heonly gives you his suggestions and what hefeels could work. After that, it is on you totake the call,” the player said.

AFP n ZHUHAI

Andy Murray ground outhis most significant victo-

ry since major hip surgerywith a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1 winover Tennys Sandgren onTuesday at the ZhuhaiChampionships.

This was the former num-ber one’s first triumph in a sin-gles match on the ATP Toursince the 32-year-old had acareer-saving operation inJanuary.

A three-time Grand Slamwinner but now ranked 413 inthe world, the Briton hascompeted mostly in doublessince and recently played sin-

gles on the lower-levelChallenger Tour.

He faces seventh seedAlex de Minaur of Australia inthe second round in southernChina after coming through aphysically demanding test last-ing more than two and a halfhours.

Murray looked exhaustedat the end, slumping in hischair and puffing out hischeeks.

There were glimpses ofMurray at his best as he sealedthe first set in 41 minutes afterthe 69th-ranked Sandgrenplanted a backhand wide.

Murray squanderedmatch point in the second-set

tie break as Sandgren forced adeciding set.

But the American foldedin the third, seemingly affect-ed by a foot injury whichrequired extensive strappingwith him 3-0 down in thedecider.

Victory was a small mea-sure of revenge for Murray,who lost to the 28-year-old lastmonth in his second singlestournament since his return.

After Zhuhai, the ChinaOpen in Beijing and theShanghai Masters, Murraywill return to Europe to com-pete in Antwerp, making it atesting next month on the longroad to rehabilitation.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan Cricket Board CEOWasim Khan on Tuesday

said playing their home match-es in the United Arab Emiratesis “not an option anymore”,aiming to cut down on costs inlight of the “improved securi-ty” situation in the country.

The UAE has remainedPakistan’s home venue for along time with no Test nationvisiting the country since the2009 terrorist attack on the SriLankan team bus.

“It costs us a lot of moneyhosting there,” the chief exec-utive officer said.

“Frankly speaking thesecurity situation hasimproved in Pakistan andsecurity experts have also

assessed that we are in a posi-tion to manage security riskswhile hosting teams in thecountry,” Khan added.

He said his board has notpaid any money to Cricket SriLanka for its tour to Karachiand Lahore to play a series of

One-day internationals andT20 matches.

Khan told the media herethat since the PCB now wantsto see Pakistan playing alltheir home Test and limitedover series in Pakistan, it wastrying to convince otherboards to start sending theirteams to the country.

Since 2010, a year aftermilitants attacked the SriLankan team in Lahore,Pakistan have played all theirmajor international homeseries in the UAE.

The PCB succeeded inbringing a World XI side toLahore in 2017 for a short T20series and then convinced SriLanka to play a lone T20 in thesame city.

Last year they also hosted

a depleted West Indies teamfor three T20 matches inKarachi, which came at thecost of extra money to theplayers and the concernedWICB by the PCB.

However, Khan said not asingle penny has been paid toSri Lanka for the current tour,as it was part of a reciprocalagreement.

He said that Pakistan alsowanted Sri Lanka andBangladesh to come and playPakistan’s home Tests of theICC Championship in thecountry in December andJanuary.

The PCB official also saidPakistan wanted to resumebilateral ties with India but thatdepended on their govern-ment.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former India cricketerYuvraj Singh on

Tuesday called for anend to the constant crit-icism of Rishabh Pant,saying the youngstumper-batsman des-perately needs guidancefrom captain Virat Kohlior anyone who canunderstand his psyche.

Yuvraj said Pantdoesn’t deserve the crit-icism coming his wayand needs the support ofKohli and head coachRavi Shastri to overcomethe slump. Pant has beendrawing flak for failing tograb his chances and get-ting out to rash shotsdespite being given along rope by the Indianteam management.

“I really don’t knowwhat is happening withhim (Rishabh). He is fac-ing a lot of criticismwhich is not needed.Somebody needs to getthe best out of him,”Yuvraj said on the side-lines of 'The SportsMovement' summit.

Pant struggled dur-ing the away seriesagainst the West Indieslast month before failingto ake an impact in therecent home T20International seriesagainst South Africa.

“The people moni-toring him, the coach(Ravi Shastri), the cap-tain (Kohli) have toguide him,” the formerleft-handed batsmanadded.

The former al l-rounder, who retiredfrom international crick-et earlier this year, saidPant needs to be givenconfidence to overcome

the drop in form after aspectacular start whichfetched him Test hun-dreds in England andAustralia in his maidenyear at the top level.

“At the moment thething is in IPL, the youngguys are getting a lot ofmoney. So somebodyneeds to tell them how togo about their businessand tell them what istheir priority. Somebodyreally needs to talk tothem,” Yuvraj said.

“That guy has gottwo away Test hundreds.He has a lot of potential.He is an outstanding tal-ent. Someone shouldknow how to read him,how to encourage him,point him what he needsto focus on,” he added.

Pant is seen as anheir apparent to the icon-ic Mahendra SinghDhoni, who led India totwo world titles.

“If you feel he is themost talented wicket-keeper batsman we havethen stick with him, givehim more chances. Goand tell him to playdomestic cricket. Youneed to give him confi-dence, by criticising youwon’t get anything out ofhim,” he said.

Yuvraj said the 21-year-old should belooked after psychologi-cally.

“How you get thebest out of him is com-pletely based on his char-acter. You need to under-stand his character, youneed to understand hispsychology and workaccording to that.

“If you are going tosuppress him, you arenot going to get the bestout of him,” he added.

IANS n NEW DELHI

After a poor time with theTest team last summer,

Australia’s ODI and T20 skip-per Aaron Finch wants to giveit another try and play thelongest format of the game forhis country. With suspensionshanded to Cameron Bancroft,David Warner and StevenSmith following the ball-tam-pering scandal in South Africalast year, Finch was included inthe Australia Test team for theUAE series against Pakistan inOctober 2018.

The 32-year-old has playedfive Tests, two against Pakistanaway and three against India athome, averaging 27.80.

“For me personally, it’sabout probably having onereally good crack at trying toget back to the Test team again,”Finch was quoted as saying bySEN radio station.

“The young guys who camein and did well throughout theback half of last summer did areally good job. I still think thatI’ve got one really good crack atit left in me,” he added.

There are four SheffieldShield games before Australia’sfirst Test against Pakistan andFinch is eyeing to use it as aplatform for making his pres-ence felt. “Obviously [I’ll] justtry and get some runs, getsome big runs there. That’s myplan,” Finch said.

“I think the young kidswho have come in have takentheir opportunities, KurtisPatterson and Travis Head,these guys have come in anddone reasonably well whenthey’ve played.”

“Kurtis got a hundred inthe last Test that he played. WillPucovski and that whole cropof young batters who are com-ing through are so talented, soI think I’ve got one more pushin it for myself. If it doesn’t hap-pen then it doesn’t happen. I’mcomfortable with that. It will benice to play a few Shield gamesin a row to be fair. It’s been awhile since I’ve played morethan one in a row,” heexpressed.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Both the union ministry of sports and Bengal ChessAssociation have taken serious note of the corrup-

tion charges leveled by Arjuna Awardee andGrandmaster Dibyendu Barua against Bengal ChessAssociation secretary Atanu Lahiri, who is also a mem-ber of the trainer's committee of the all India ChessFederation (AICF).

While the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs andSports has directed the AICF through a letter datedSeptember 18 to take immediate action against Lahirion Barua’s charges, the BCA has sacked Lahiri from thepost of secretary and ended his membership of the asso-ciation.

The BCA has also received an ad interim Order ofinjunction issued from the Court of the 3rd AdditionalCivil Judge (Junior Division) against Atanu Lahiri’s titlesuit 1434 of 2019.

The Court has further restrained AICF and ANReddy, Chairman of the AICF Enquiry Committee, bothfrom issuing any direction on BCA relating to Elections.The Court has also restrained Atanu Lahiri from tak-ing part or act as Secretary of BCA.

The decision is also a big blow to AICF presidentPR Venketram Raja, who had formed a three-membercommittee on receiving Barua’s complaint againstLahiri. The committee issued a directive to Lahiri to con-duct the election of state chess association in October,but it remained silent on any action against Lahiri.

The Court has granted ex parte ad interim injunc-tion inter alia directing both BCA and Atanu Lahiri tomaintain status quo in respect of election activities ofthe Association till November 20.

Since the Disciplinary Committee of the BCA didnot receive any written submission or explanation to theshow cause issued to Atanu Lahiri on Barua’s charges,the the three member BCA Ad-hoc Committee onMonday decided to remove Atanu Lahiri from the postof Hony Secretary and also to terminate his member-ship with BCA with immediate effect.

BCA Ad Hoc Committee had earlier communicat-ed to hold an EOGM on the September 30 to discussfurther course of action.

Virat Kohli congratulates Rishabh Pant after he scored his fifty BCCI

Pant needs guidancefrom captain: Yuvraj

Jasprit Bumrah prepares to bowl during nets at NCA in Bengaluru PTI

Indian pacer to miss Freedom series due tostress fracture in lower back

Bumrah out of SA Tests

Rohit gets more vocalrole in MS absence

Rohit Sharma chats with bowling coach Bharat Arun andhead coach Ravi Shastri during training session PTI

Ministry, BCA acton Barua's charges

Olympic medal won’t even heal World C'ship loss: Bajrang

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in a group photograph with the World Wrestling Championships medal winning wrestlersRavi Dahiya, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Deepak Punia at SAI Head Office in New Delhi on Tuesday PTI

Finch eyes return to Test team

Murray ramps up comeback with 1st ATP Tour win

Andy Murray takes selfie with fans after his win in the singles match ATP/Twitter

Pak not to play home matches in UAE anymore

the future tournaments but it isdifficult to get over it.”

Will an Olympic medal easethe pain, Bajrang didn’t think soat this point of time.

“World Championship andOlympics are different tourna-ments. I am preparing forOlympic and I had put a lot ofeffort for World Championshipalso, so I don’t think I can for-get it. Whenever somethingsimilar will happen, I willremember this incident,” hesaid.

Bajrang, who has claimedGold medals at 2018 AsianGames, 2018 CommonwealthGames and 2017 AsianChampionship, said it wasn’t thefirst time he had to face bias.

“I have been at the receiving

end of such discrimination in allthe three World Championships.Last year also it happened in thefinal,” he said.

“Our president has object-ed to it this time and told themwhy it is happening to Indianwrestlers time and again andthey assured it won’t happenagain,” he said.

Asked if he is satisfied withhis performance at the WorldChampionships, Bajrang said: “Iam just happy that I could wina third medal for my country atthe tournament. But it wasn’t mybest. If I could have got a chanceto win the Gold, then I couldhave showed.

“In the first bout, I won eas-ily and I did work on my legdefence ahead of the tourna-

ment and I gave very less chancein that area this time. So now Iwill work on it further so that Idon’t give any chance to myopponents to get hold of my leg,”he said.

“I need to work on all areas.Overall, whether it is leg defence,attack or counter attack, I needto keep improving in all aspectsgoing ahead.”

Deepak Punia had claimedhis maiden Silver at the WorldChampionships in the 86kgbefore he was forced to pull outof the final due to an ankleinjury.

“I had suffered this injury inthe first round itself but I keptcompeting and so it got aggra-vated. If I would have played inthe finals, I might have needed

a surgery so we decided to skipit,” he said.

“The physio said it will takeanother 15-20 days to recovercompletely,” added Deepak.

Last month, he become thefirst Indian to win the WorldJunior C’ship in 18 years and theyoungster said it gave him theconfidence to do wellWorlds.

“I had won the junior WorldC’ship last month and it gave methe confidence ahead of thesenior World C’ships. It isextremely tough competitionas all top wrestlers come into thisevent with full preparation.

“I have to work on mytechnique now. I lacked experi-ence as it was my first worldchampionships, so as I grow inconfidence it will help.”