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VIJAYAWADA, MONDAYSEPTEMBER 14, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 313*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Belying fears of an adverseeffect on the economy due toCoronavirus-prompted lock-down, Andhra Pradesh sawover Rs 4,000 crore spike in itstax revenue in the first fourmonths of the current financialyear compared to the corre-sponding period last year.

Accounted figures ofAndhra Pradesh released bythe CAG (Comptroller andAuditor General) showed thatthe government has earned atax revenue of Rs 19,114.73crore from April to July in2020-21 compared to Rs15,017.77 crore during thesame period a year ago.

Citing possible fall in rev-enues due to the Covid-19lockdown, the State govern-

ment has enhanced varioustaxes, including on liquor andpetrol and diesel, to mop up anadditional annual revenue ofover Rs 15,300 crore. On topof these, the government hasmobilised Rs 39,946 crorethrough borrowing from var-ious sources in the first fourmonths of the fiscal, the CAGdata said.

The State also received Rs10,554.21 crore as grants-in-aid and other contributionsfrom the Central government

till July as against just Rs 5,164crore in the correspondingperiod last year. The non-taxrevenue was, however, slight-ly lower at Rs 787.14 crore dur-ing April-July this year com-pared to Rs 971.75 crore lastyear, the CAG data showed.

While the State borrowed Rs13,994.90 crore during April-July in 2019-20, the figuretouched Rs 39,946.30 crore thisyear. The State actually set atarget of Rs 48,295.58 crore forborrowing during 2020-21 butit has exhausted 82.71 percent of the limit in the first fourmonths itself.

The borrowed money wasspent on various freebieschemes being implementedby the state government, offi-cial sources said.

Continued on Page 3

Criminal cases against 50 YSRCP MLAs, 9 ministers: KalaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP State president K KalaVenkat Rao on Sunday assert-ed that the ruling YSRCP lead-ers are scared of the latestSupreme Court's drive to getinformation on the criminalantecedents of MLAs and MPsfrom all the States in the coun-try.

He said that Chief Minister

YS Jaganmohan Reddy andhis party MP V VijayasaiReddy were being shaken afterthe apex court has asked theHigh Court of Andhra Pradeshfor providing details of law-makers having pending crim-inal cases.

Venkat Rao disclosed thatover 50 MLAs of the YSRCPwere accused in serious crim-inal cases and about nine min-

isters were also involved incriminal offences. He claimedthat cases of atrocities werepending against seven MPs ofthe ruling party in the State. Hesaid as a result, all these peo-ple's representatives werespending sleepless nights at thethought of the next orders ofthe Supreme Court.

Continued on Page 3

TS, AP headed for financial crisis?L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Telugu States seem headed fordebt trap, going by details in thelatest bulletin for the month ofSeptember released by theReserve Bank of India (RBI).

The central bank'sSeptember 12 bulletin hasbrought to light the gravefinancial crisis presently beingfaced by the Telugu States dueto overdrafts, full utilisation ofWays and Means advance, hugeamounts being spent on DBTin the name of welfare schemesand other reasons.

According to the bulletin,

Telangana State took Rs 286crore overdraft for 10 days inJuly, while Andhra Pradeshtook Rs 233 crore overdraft fortwo days. Similarly, Telanganahad availed RBI's 'ways andmeans' advance to raise Rs1,278 crore for 29 days, whileAP raised Rs 1,359 crore for 26days.

Telugu States are now placedalongside Nagaland andJammu & Kashmir --consid-ered 'least developed states' --when it comes to utilisingRBI's instruments of overdraft,Ways and Means Advance andspecial drawing facility to raisefunds.

Jammu & Kashmir availedways and means option for 29days and Nagaland for 27 days.

Both TS and AP utilised'special drawing facility' forcomplete 31 days in July. TSraised Rs 1,344 crore and AP Rs1,163 crore.

States take loans under 'spe-cial drawing facility' by mort-gaging their securities withRBI. After this option isexhausted, they go for Waysand Means Advance option.

Financial experts determinethe financial health of Statesbased on how they utilisedWays and Means option. ThatTS, AP utilsed this option for

almost a month in July showsthat the fiscal situation in boththe states is grave.

No of the states considered'developed' has availed OD or

ways and means or specialdrawing facility like the TeluguStates, indicating how TS andAP are managing to fund theirslew of 'direct cash transfer'

schemes, amidst criticism thatthe ruling TRS and YSRCP inthe respective states are build-ing their own 'vote bank' byspending public money at thecost of state exchequer.

Both TS and AP top thecountry in spending over Rs60,000 crore per year through'direct cash transfer' schemes inthe name of welfare pro-grammes. These welfareschemes are taking a toll on thefinancial health of both theStates, going by the RBI bul-letin. No other big state in thecountry is facing as muchurgency and compulsion asthe Telugu States to arrange

cash for 'direct cash transferschemes.

Going for OD in itself is anti-thetical to sound economics.Normally, any organisation,individual or governments goesfor OD after their bank balanceturns 'zero' or if it doesn't haveadequate balance to meet theirimmediate financial commit-ments. An overdraft facility isa credit agreement made witha bank that allows an accountholder to use or withdrawmore money than what theyhave in their account up to theapproved limit.

Continued on Page 3

Covid-19 vaccine likely byMarch 2021: Union MinisterPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Minister for HealthHarsh Vardhan said thatwhile there has been no datefixed on the availability of apotential Covid-19 vaccine,chances are it may be readyby the first quarter of 2021.

He assured the vaccine willbe first made available to thosewho need it the most, irrespec-tive of their paying capacity. Hefurther stated that the govern-ment is taking precautions inconducting the human trials ofthe vaccine and officials are isdrawing up a detailed strategyon how to immunise majorityof the population.

"Issues like vaccine securi-ty, cost, equity, cold-chain

requirements, productiontimelines etc., are also beendiscussed intensely," he stated.

On the availability of thevaccine and its authorisation,he informed that Centre isconsidering emergency autho-risation of Covid-19 vaccina-tion especially in the case ofsenior citizens and peopleworking in high-risk settings.

"This shall be done after a con-sensus has been reached", hesaid, according to an officialstatement.

To allay fears regarding thesafety aspect of the vaccines, hesaid, "I shall be the first to offermyself for receiving Covidvaccine, if people have a trustdeficit."

He also noted that a safe andeffective vaccine will help inestablishing immunity toCovid-19 at much faster paceas compared to the naturalinfection. It is hoped that aconsensus will emerge in nextfew months over the desiredlevel of protective herd immu-nity in any community, he stat-ed.

Continued on Page 3

‘Conspiracy tomalignMaharashtra’PNS n MUMBAI

Facing flak from detractorson both political and coron-avirus front, Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray onSunday said a conspiracy isafoot to malign Maharashtra.

"Whatever political stormscome, I will face... I will fightcoronavirus too," Thackeraysaid in a televised publicaddress. Continued on Page 3

5 LS MPs testCoronaviruspositive PNS n NEW DELHI

Ahead of the Parliament ses-sion which is scheduled tobegin on Monday, as many asfive members of the LokSabha have tested positive forthe coronavirus infection.The coronavirus tests of otherministers are still underway.

It has been made manda-tory for all members of boththe Houses to undergo aCOVID-19 test beforeattending the Parliamentarysession.

The members have beenasked to get their test donewithin 72 hours before thestart of the Parliamentarysession at any hospital/labo-ratory authorised by the gov-ernment or

Continued on Page 3STAND-OFF OVER INTER-STATE BUS SERVICES

AP, Telangana officialsto meet tomorrow PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Heads of the State RoadTransport Corporations ofAndhra Pradesh andTelangana will meet inHyderabad onTuesday tothrash out con-tentious issuesthat have beenhindering theresumption ofinter-state busservices despitethe lifting ofCovid-19 lock-down restric-tions.

Andhra Pradesh has alreadyexpressed willingness to cutdown its services while askingTelangana to increase its oper-ations so as to bring parity.

In the first phase, AP said itwould operate only 72,000route kilometres and request-ed Telangana also do the same

so that people have access topublic transportation.

However, Telangana is saidto be insisting on signing aninter-state agreement firstbefore resuming the services.

Telangana alsowrote a letterto theAPSRTC say-ing it had noplans to eitherto purchasenew buses, orrun additionalservices (toAP). As such,it only insistedthat AP reduce

its own services to curtail theroute kilometres.

"The main demand fromTelangana is that buses beoperated on route-wise, kilo-metre-wise parity basis. "Weare accepting (to bring in) par-ity but there is

Continued on Page 3

Sajjala slams Lokesh forspreading false news on LPGPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Government Advisor (PublicAffairs) Sajjala RamakrishnaReddy slammed TDP leader NLokesh for spreading falsenews on the hike of LPG rate,in order to create panic amongpeople, and stated that latter isvery much ignorant and does-

n't even know that LPG fallsunder the jurisdiction ofCentral government.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Sunday, he saidthat the opposition leaders areintentionally trying to defamethe government and createconfusion among the public byspreading fabricated news

through the TDP friendlymedia. He clarified that theGO 265 mentions only aboutthe 10 per cent VAT hike onnatural gas but not LPG, as itis under the purview of theUnion government.

The government has takenthe decision to increase

Continued on Page 3

COVID-19 tally in India breaches47 lakh mark PNS n NEW DELHI

India's COVID-19 tally ofcases sprinted past 47 lakhwith 94,372 new infectionsbeing reported in a day, while37,02,595 people have recu-perated taking the nationalrecovery rate to 77.88 percent on Sunday, according

Continued on Page 3

Tension prevails over removalof NTR, Paritla Ravindra statues PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The TDP staged a protestobjecting to the removal ofNTR and Paritala Ravindrastatues at Vinukonda onSunday. The two statues were

removed according to thecourt orders at VishnukundiNagar, however, the TDP cadreled by former MLA and TDPGuntur district president GVAanjaneyulu launchedDeeksha demanding reinstal-

lation of statues. Tension prevailed in

Vinukonda due to TDP'sprotest against removal of stat-ues. Meanwhile, police putAanjaneyulu under

Continued on Page 3

SC'S DRIVE ON CRIMINAL ANTECEDENTS

lTDP State president Kala VenkatRao alleged that for over eightyears, illegal asset cases werepending against Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy and hisco-accused Vijayasai Reddy andsaid that the Chief Minister andthe MP owed an explanation tothe people on this count

YSRCP rebel MP accuses CM of encouraging other faiths PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP rebel MP RaghuramaKrishnamraju has fired a freshsalvo against Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy accus-ing him of neglecting theHindu festivals and encourag-ing other faiths giving moneyfor celebration of festivals ofother faiths.

In a statement here onSunday, he lamented that freedarshan in shrines of Tirupati,Srisailam and other pilgrimagecentres have been decreased.He demanded that establish-ment of Dharmika Parishad atleast now. Salaries and otherallowances payable to priestsshould be brought under

Continued on Page 3

LOW PRESSURE TO TURN INTO DEPRESSION

Heavy rainfall warning in coastal AndhraPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The low pressure area overWest-central Bay of Bengal offnorth Andhra Pradesh coast islikely to get more markedcausing increased intensityand distribution of rains incoastal Andhra.

The monsoon system, thirdin quick succession, will be

consolidating over the coastalregion for the next 24 hoursbefore the swathing coast andeastern parts of the country.IMD, Amaravati, has issued awarning for the next five daysin the coastal region. Isolatedheavy rainfall is likely, alongwith thunderstorms, light-ning, in East and

Continued on Page 3

AP sees spike in tax revenueduring Covid, says CAG data

NO ALL-PARTY MEET BEFOREPARLIAMENT SESSION

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said it was unfortunate thatthe BJP is backing Kangana Ranaut despite the actress likening

Mumbai to Pak-occupied Kashmir, and addedthis was done with an eye on Bihar polls. In hisweekly column Rokhthok in Sena mouthpiece''Saamana'', Sanjay Raut also claimed there is asystematic effort to reduce the importance ofMumbai, and constantly defaming the city ispart of that conspiracy. "This is a difficult periodwhen all Marathi people in Maharashtra shouldunite," Sanjay Raut said.

RAGHUVANSH, WHO QUIT LALUYADAV'S PARTY DAYS AGO, DEAD

Veteran Bihar politician and ex-RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh - hisJune resignation letter to Lalu Prasad Yadav emerged Friday - died Sunday

morning at AIIMS in Delhi. He was 74 years old. Less than an hour later ashocked Lalu Prasad tweeted: "Dear Raghuvansh babu!What did you do?" Mr Singh tested positive for COVID-19in June, after which he was admitted AIIMS in Patna. Hewas re-admitted to AIIMS in Delhi, where he was beingtreated for post-Covid complications. His conditiondeteriorated rapidly over the past two days and he wasplaced on a ventilator. He died at 11 am after complainingof breathlessness, according to news agency.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was admitted to Delhi's AIIMSlast night, nearly two weeks after he was discharged from the

hospital. He was earlier admitted to the tophospital for post Covid-care. In an officialstatement, the AIIMS said: "Amit Shah,Home Minister was discharged from AIIMS,New Delhi, after post Covid care on August30. As per advise given at discharge, he hasnow been admitted for complete medicalcheckup before parliament session for 1-2days."

HOME MINISTER AMIT SHAHADMITTED TO DELHI'S AIIMS AGAIN

BJP BACKING KANGANA RANAUTIS UNFORTUNATE: SANJAY RAUT

The traditional all-party meet before a parliament session has been scrapped forthe monsoon session, which begins tomorrow. The departure from convention

- probably a first in two decades -- is seen as indication ofthe growing differences between the opposition and LokSabha speaker Om Birla. The Speaker has called ameeting of the Business Advisory Committee, whichbegan at 11 am today, to discuss the agenda for thesession that concludes on October 1. Among thoseattending the meeting are Union Minister Pralhad Joshi,BJP's Arjun Ram Meghwal, Congress's Adhir RanjanChoudhury, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi.

5

Retail inflation willcome down: CEA

8

Telangana landlaw is a structuralreform

4

Modi pats Nitish Kumar forsushashan

VIJAYAWADAWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 13, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Bhadrapada & Krishna Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Ekadashi: 03:15 am

Nakshatram: Punarvasu: 04:33 pm

(Next Day)

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 04:45 pm – 06:16 pm

Yamagandam: 12:11 pm – 01:42 pm

Varjyam: 12:20 am – 01:53 am

Gulika: 03:13 pm - 04:45 pm

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 02:08 pm – 03:45 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:47 am – 12:36 pm

FFoorreeccaasstt:: drizzleTemp: 30/24Humidity: 91%Sunrise: 06.03 amSunset: 06.19 pm

RRBBII BBUULLLLEETTIINN EEXXPPOOSSEESS GGRRAAVVEE FFIINNAANNCCIIAALL SSIITTUUAATTIIOONN

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vijayawada 02

PNS n HYDERABAD

Moderate to strong sentimentprevailed in the global marketsas the hostilities between Chinaand Taiwan increased promptingthe US to dispatch its seventhfleet in aid of Taiwan. On theother hand, following the agree-ment between the ForeignMinisters of India and China fora phased peace accord, tensionsbetween these two countrieseased. Consequently, New Yorkgold has seen a slight increaseand finally closed at US $1,940.10 (per ounce), while sil-ver closed at $ 26.70 (per ounce).Platinum increased and closed at$ 912 (per ounce) and Palladiumappreciated and closed at $ 2,199(per ounce). Other economic parameters

remained moderate. Brent closedat US$ 39.83 (per barrel), whileCrude MCX oil was quoted atRs.2,743 (per barrel). GoldMCX stood at Rs.51,319 (per10 gms), while MCXSilver appreciated andclosed at Rs.67,928(per kg). CopperMCX closed atRs.524.10 (per kg).Sensex andNifty 50closed at38854.55 and 11464.45 points.Leading foreign currencies'exchange rates were: US$:Rs.73.48, British Pound: Rs.94.01,Euro: Rs.87.05, Singapore $:

Rs.53.71, Swiss Franc: Rs.80.84,Australian $: Rs.53.52, Saudi

Riyal: Rs.19.59, New ZealandDollar: Rs.49.06, KuwaitiDinar: Rs.240.10, Omani

Rial: Rs.190.87 andUAE Dirham:

Rs.20.01, JapaneseYen: Rs.0.69, Hong

Kong Dollar:Rs.9.48.

In localmarkets,standard

gold (24 carats) appreciated byRs.140 and closed at Rs.53,440(per 10 gms). Ornamental goldtoo, followed suit and was quot-ed in the range of Rs.48,880 -

48,980 on the closing day. Silver(0.999) too appreciated by Rs.850and closed at Rs.67,900 (per kg). COMMODITIESThe sentiment in principalwholesale commodity markets inthe twin cities continued toremain strong. Rythu Bazarsand the various commoditymarkets located in Begum Bazar,Kishangunj, Mukthyargunj,Risala Abdullah, Mir AlamMandi, Dilsukhnagar,Kukatpally, Bowenpally andGeneral Bazar continued to wit-ness brisk activity.During the week, common puls-es such as tuar dal, masoor dal,moong dal and urad dal and

commodities like chillies andgarlic firmed up marginally,while staple food grains andcommon edible oils remainedunchanged.Common vegetables such ascabbage, cauliflower, ribbedgourd, snake gourd, lady's finger,cucumber, potatoes, onions,tomatoes and French beans andleafy vegetables flared up furtherin the range of 10% to 18%.The NECC wholesale price ofegg in Hyderabad appreciated byRs.83 and closed at Rs.501 (per100). The highest price of Rs.560was recorded at Pune, whileLudhiana recorded the lowest ofRs.472.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

Monday Mirchi All in awe of 'AI'

Anew name, nay just initials, is makingrounds in the top administration of AP,

though nobody knows where exactly he fits inwhen it comes to the pecking order or powerstructure, be it real or just public facing. All theyknow is that he, like James Bond, is a smoothoperator oozing charm that is simply irresistible.The name is Avinash Iragavarapu, to put it ala Bond. Hangers-on at CMO know that he isnot one of those powermongers who, gnash-ing their teeth, bark orders and expect total, self-effacing surrender, not just obedience. Avinashis a rather cool dude whose reputation as anelection campaign strategist arrived before him.Never the one who blows his own trumpet,Avinash is naturally less known, even in thehigher echelons of babudom. Not many knowthat he, apart from being an ace election strate-gist, is close to American President DonaldTrump and has worked as the executive direc-tor of the Arizona Republican Party. He wasassociated with Kamal Haasan’s political partyMakkal Needhi Maiam for some time.

Nicknamed 'AI' (his smart initials, not theIT variant) in the corridors of power, he hasbeen scanning political developments in thecountry and providing strategic inputs for help-ing YSRCP adopt advance as well as counterstrategies. Avinash has been privy to mostimportant meetings held by Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy, including highly confiden-tial intelligence briefings. Given his unassum-ing personality and rare trait to keep anextremely low profile, it is not a co-incidencethat the media has missed his otherwise com-manding presence during closed-door confab-ulations. Scribes with bull-dog tenacity can anddo ferret out such concealed power centers.What if they are, or choose to be, fully insulat-ed from media and public glare?

Chicken or egg?

Which came first, the chicken or egg?Nobody can say anything on that. Same

is the administrative dilemma about the districtcollectors against whom State ElectionCommissioner N Ramesh Kumar had raisedobjections, asking the state government to tra-nsfer them. For, the government now does notwant to transfer them and would prefer to holdthe local bodies' elections while retainingthem as heads of respective districts. At the sametim e, Ramesh, who was prematurely dislodgedfrom his position and got it back only after mov-ing heaven and earth, is bent upon having thoseofficers transferred, come what may. Peoplehave seen his obstinacy while going greatlengths to have his way. Not unexpectedly, heappears disinclined to his give nod for conduct-ing the local bodies' elections unless the babuson his move list are given their transfer orders.So, who will blink first? This is a million-dol-lar question now. For those who came late, theintelligence wing of the state government hasalready submitted a report on all collectors andtheir activities in the backdrop of someadverse media report on couple of collectors.

Partha is new RathaSaradhi of poll body

Although Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao is known for making calculated and

personally calibrated moves when it comes tocrucial appointments, for a change may be, thistime Assembly Speaker Pocharam SrinivasaReddy played a key role in making retired IASofficer Partha Sarathi the State ElectionCommissioner. A surprise decision, it was wel-comed by sons of the soil. Although TelanganaState was formed six years back, babus hailingfrom the state have nursed a grudge that all sig-nificant positions are held by officers fromnorthern states, noticeably those belonging tohigher castes.

Several BC and SC officers from Telanganahave made noises about this, without knowingthe reach of their voices. Few officers even rep-resented previous chief secretaries on this. Allthese days they were sore that nothing is hap-pening. Luckily, Partha not joined that groupwhich saved the day for him.

Now, some of them have the audacity of hopeto whisper among themselves that Partha canjolly well be the Ratha Saradhi of Telangana Ras-htra Samiti in the upcoming polls to GHMCand GWMC as well as Khammam and Siddipetmunicipalities.

It is a different matter that Partha caughtPocharam's eye as both hail from Niz- amabaddistrict. And, luckily for the pink party, hebelongs to a BC community. Now, other offi-cers who retired recently are also hoping thatgood days are ahead for Telangana biddalu.

Tons of theory, an ounce of practice

In AP, Covid-19 cases are scaling new heights,with the state now occupying the second

place in the country on the caseload front, nextonly to Maharashtra. To overcome this crisis-like situation, the Health Department hasembarked on a massive ‘capacity-building’ exer-cise. None other than Health CommissionerKatamaneni Bhasker is holding regular videoconferences between 8 am and 11 am, givinghis suggestions, call it wholesale, wholesomeor whatever.

Next comes advice-laden directive from thedistrict collectors who independently hold videoconferences with doctors between 1 pm and 3pm. After the doctors on the learning curve havea quick tea break, Special Chief SecretaryJawahar Reddy will take over, hearing problemsand suggesting remedies between 3 pm and 5pm.

After all these VCs, Chief Secretary NeelamSawhney will review the situation in yetanother video conference, most probablybetween 7 pm and 9 pm. To cap it all, ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddy interactswith the doctors once a week to improve thesituation. After watching all this, one seniorofficer, gritting his pearly whites, muttered:“What happens to patients if everyone is invideo conferences”.

Sentiment strong in global markets

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

HC UPADHYAY nHYDERABAD

The Constitution of India'spreamble begins with thewords: "We, the people of

India ..." and thereafter goes on todescribe lofty ideals such as, liber-ty, unity, integrity, fraternity, sec-ularism, socialism etc. Then, theConstitution elaborately deals withthe mechanism to translate theseideals in the subsequent pages.

But not much has been done toensure that the Constitutionalrequirements are followed sincere-ly, honestly and vigorously not onlyby those who are made to swearby it but also the well-meaning cit-izens of our great country. In thepast seventy years, we have beenwaiting for the 'true spirit' of theConstitution to win over all stake-holders.

It is, indeed, regrettable that oflate vested interests, with the opensupport of terrorists, extremists,jihadis and anti-nationals, havedeclared a full-fledged war on thecountry, thereby making a mock-ery of the ideals enshrined in theConstitution. These elements areleaving no stone unturned tohumiliate the government, law-

enforcing agencies, houses of peo-ple's representatives like Parliamentand Assemblies and even defenceand security agencies.

Our Constitution may not be aperfectly ideal law book, but trulyspeaking, it is nearer to be so. Whatthe Constitution as well as allthe laws made under it lackare stringent penal provi-sions to deal with afore-mentioned divisive andviolent elements. TheConstitution, in abid to grant muchaspired freedom tothe people of thisgreat country, whichhad suffered oppres-sion and slavery forseveral centuries at thehands of foreign rulers, did not focus on the darker sideof such a magnanimous gift. Theresult is now before us.

Today, an average citizen findshimself threatened by goons mas-querading as political workers. Thebattles of political supremacy are

fought not in the houses of elect-ed peoples' representatives, but onthe streets. In the melee, they don'tspare even the Judiciary. Scores ofcases are filed in courts, includingthe high courts and the SupremeCourt, just to settle scores with

political opponents. And, when-ever they lose, these rowdy ele-ments do not spare even thejudges of courts, including

those of the apex court.They brand themas corrupt, biasedand dishonest.

Such outbursts are madedesignedly to tarnish the

image of the country withinand out of India. Yet, thepowers that be, instead ofcoming down heavily onsuch elements with fissi-

parous tendencies, give them kid-glove treatment that only buoys uptheir resolve to indulge in moredestructive activities. In such apiquant situation, an ordinarycitizen is left high and dry!

And, considering the action-

reaction principle, by any measur-ing rod, the reaction from the rul-ing class has always been minimal,if not negligible. One can under-stand the reasons for such a lack-adaisical approach of the UPI gov-ernments. However, since 2014,when the NDA governmentassumed power at the Centreand in most of the States, whatconstraints were there which pre-vented the NDA government to gohammer and tongs againstKashmiri, Assamese and Moplajihadis, false protestors againstCAA and NRC, killers of sadhusand sanyasis in Palghar and else-where, foul-mouthed communal

pigmies who challenged themajority community on their per-ceived strength of 20 croreMuslims; State governments whicheither indulged in misusing thepolice force against top leaders ofthe ruling NDA dispensation ortheir supporters and vandalizedshamelessly? There are umpteenexamples of such incidents wherethe ruling combine has miserablyfailed to show its guts and deal withthe fragmented opposition lot forindulgence in violence.

Hence, let all political partiesand their political gurus take it seri-ously that they have committed agreat blunder by taking the peo-

ple of this great country for grant-ed. Today, the people are watch-ing the turn of events with awe andfear, but they have not given up thehope. They are just waiting for achance to teach such unworthypoliticians a fitting lesson at anappropriate time because todaythey may be finding themselveshelpless but they are certainly notdeaf or dumb or incapable to playtheir inning.

Karnataka HC on Muslim law In a remarkable judgment on

the second marriage of a Muslimman, the Karnataka High Courthas observed that even thoughcontracting a second marriage bya Muslim husband is lawful, itoften causes "enormous cruelty" tothe first wife, justifying her claimfor divorce.

A division bench comprisingJustice Krishna S. Dixit and JusticeP. Krishna Bhat observed : "Merelybecause an act is lawful, it does notper se become justifiable in mar-ried life; for example, of course sub-ject to all just exceptions, smoking

and drinking are not lawful; snor-ing too, is not; but still in certaincircumstances they may amountto cruelty to a sensitive spouse; onthe same analogy though contract-ing a second marriage by a Muslimmay be lawful, but it more oftenthan not, causes enormous cruel-ty to the first wife, justifying herclaim for divorce."

Hearing the appeal from theFamily Court in Yusuf Patel vs.Ramjanbi, the bench also chastisedthe appellant husband for havingfailed to protect his wife from theharassment by his parents. TS ASSEMBLY PASSES NEWREVENUE BILLS

The Telangana State LegislativeAssembly on September 11 passedthe Records of Rights in Land andPattadar Passbooks Bill, 2020 andthe Abolition of Village RevenueOfficers' (VROs) Bill.

The new law aims at renderingthe land owners the much-await-ed ease of owning, using and alien-ating their lands. The corruptionin the revenue department has

been rampart and the new lawaims at doing away with this men-ace. Till the new law is in place, thegovernment has declared holidaysfor the registration work.

BAI BETS FOR THE NEEDYLAWYERS

The Bar Association of India(BAI), at its virtual meeting of theGeneral Council held onSeptember12, adopted aResolution seeking appropriaterelief to the needy lawyersthroughout the country who havesuffered loss of practice due to thecurrent Covid-19 pandemic.

At the meeting, PrashantKumar, former president ofLAWASIA, was elected as thePresident, while Dr. AnanditaPujari got second term of two yearsas the General Secretary. Besides,six Joint General Secretaries andtwelve Vice Presidents too wereelected as office bearers. Standingovation was given to the outgoingPresident Dr.Lalit Bhasin.

LEGAL

ROUNDUP

Our Constitution may not be a perfectly ideallaw book, but truly speaking, it is nearer tobe so. What the Constitution as well as allthe laws made under it lack are stringentpenal provisions to deal with aforementioneddivisive and violent elements

‘WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA' … ARE NEITHER DEAF NOT DUMB!

Not to get carriedaway by middlemen:

PNS n TIRUMALA

In spite of repeated appealsby TTD not get cheated bymiddlemen, or fake websitesfor darshan or job recruitment,some devotees are still fallingprey to such dubious activities.The TTD vigilance depart-ment once again appealed andcautioned the devotees not tobe carried away and cheatedby the middlemen on offers ofbegetting prestigious Seva tick-ets of Srivari Vastram,Udayasthamana andAbhisekam Sevas.

In a statement here onSunday, the TTD vigilancedepartment officials clarifiedthat in view of Covid-19

restrictions, tickets for suchSevas are not issued to anyone.

With regard to all ArjitaSeva tickets every devotee isadvised that they could be pro-cured only through officialTTD website www.tirupatibal-aji.ap.gov.in. Such prestigiousArjita Seva tickets will beavailable after the resump-tion of these services and thattoo through lucky dip plat-form after purchasing the tick-ets.

TTD, again and again,appealing to devotees not totrust the middlemen, whomake such offers and thatTTD will take stringent actionagainst such elements, whomislead the devotees.

YSR Aasara, the game-changer C PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has taken up many ini-tiatives within 15 months aftercoming to power. As part of hiscommitment to welfare andeconomic empowerment ofwomen, several schemes havebeen launched. Latest in theseries is YSR Aasara, whichaims at the reimbursement ofloans availed by self-helpgroups (SHGs) from variouscommercial and cooperativebanks.

An estimated 87 lakhwomen would benefit from thescheme and the first instalmentof Rs 6,792 crore has beenreleased by the government asthe scheme was launched onSeptember 11. The objective ofthe government was to pro-mote welfare, self-reliance and

economic empowerment ofwomen by providing liveli-hood, thereby transformingthem into lakhpatis as per thepromise made in the mani-festo.

Speaking to The Pioneer, KMeenakshi, president ofSubhodaya Pattana MahilaSamakya, expressed her happi-ness and gratitude to the ChiefMinister on behalf of theirgroup members for imple-

menting YSR Aasara scheme,which would benefit lakhs ofSHG groups across the State.

She said that there are about6,920 women in their MahilaSamakya. During the Coronalockdown, the members havebeen facing severe financialproblems and the Aasaraamount would definitely be ofsome good use during thepresent crisis to everyone.

B Ramya, a member of

Mahila Samakya (tailor),expressed her delight on thelaunch of YSR Aasara scheme.During the lockdown period,they were in financial crisis asher husband, who is a schoolbus driver, had no income dueto closure of schools and edu-cational institutes. With thelaunch of Aasara, the amountcan be used for essential needsimmediately and later to pay

NEET held in APamid CoronaprotocolPNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as 61,892 candidatesacross the State appeared inthe National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET-UG)that began at 2 pm onSunday. The three-hour testis a gateway for admissionsinto undergraduate medicaland dental courses.

Amid the pandemic, stu-dents are allowed to wearmasks, gloves, take handsanitisers and water bottlesinto the examination halls.Students were instructed toarrive at the examinationcentre in batches at 11 am, 12pm and 1 pm due to the pan-demic restrictions. Thearrival times were specifiedon the hall tickets of candi-dates. Similarly, each exami-

l K Meenakshi, presidentof Subhodaya PattanaMahila Samakya,expressed her happinessand gratitude to the ChiefMinister on behalf oftheir group members forimplementing YSR Aasarascheme, which wouldbenefit lakhs of SHGgroups across the State.

l With regard to all Arjita Seva tickets every devotee isadvised that they could be procured only through officialTTD website www.tirupatibalaji.ap.gov.in

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

DGP Gautam D Sawang onSunday said that steps shall beinitiated to set up geo-taggingat temples in two days.Addressing a video confer-ence with police personnel, hestressed the need of setting upof CCTV cameras in the vicin-ity of temples and gave instruc-tions on the establishment oftight security.

He directed officials to iden-tify people, who have a crim-inal record in the past and keepan eye on them. Measuresshall be taken that the templecommittee members are avail-able, he said.

The DGP further informedpolice to deal sensitively on the

religious issues and alsoappealed to people to be vigi-lant about the news on socialmedia. Fire safety measuresshall also be made available, hesaid.

Earlier, the DGP said thatthe patrolling should bestrengthened and social mediarumours should be monitoredin the matters pertaining toreligious issues and ensure allsteps should be taken that

people do not believe inrumours and cooperate withpolice to maintain law andorder.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Collector A MD Imtiaz onSunday cancelled the licence ofLiberty Hospital in Vijayawadato treat Covid patients after thethree-member committee hassubmitted its report that thehospital management was col-lecting excess charges frompatients. .

It is a known fact that manyprivate hospitals that hadobtained permission to treatCovid positive patients arecharging lakhs of rupees andmessing with the lives ofpatients in the name of treat-ment. No matter how manymeasures the government has

been taking, private hospitalsstill are fleecing the patients'kin.

A woman fromRajahmundry complainedagainst the Liberty Hospitalmanagement that her hus-band lost his life even afterpaying lakhs of rupees to thehospital for treatment. In thisregard, the Collector appoint-ed a three-member committeeto look into the complaint.

The committee report saysthat Liberty Hospital is report-edly charging higher fees thanwhat was prescribed by thegovernment, the Collectorissued orders that theCoronavirus treatment at

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Two youth died after theirbike hit a car allegedly due toover speed at Dondaparthyarea under IV Town policestation limits, in the weehours of Sunday. The youthwere identified as MKoteswara Rao (18) and SSarath (18), both belong toMalkapuram area of the city.

According to reports, theincident allegedly occurred ataround 3 am after the twofriends were returning tohome after attending a birth-day party at the Beach Road.The duo was heading to NH-16 to reach home andallegedly hit a car, which wascoming from flyover.

Police said that the riderwas not wearing helmet.After receiving severeinjuries, the duo was shiftedto a hospital. At around 5 am,the youth were declared dead.Police are yet to ascertainwhether the youth were dri-ving in an inebriated condi-tion after the post-mortemreport. Body has been sent to

Tight security will beprovided at temples: DGP

" The DGPsaid that thepatrolling shouldbe strengthenedand socialmedia rumoursshould bemonitored in thematterspertaining toreligious issues

Two youngstersdie in roadmishap

Liberty Hospitallicence cancelled

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

Energy-efficient appliances for poorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Indo-Swiss Building EnergyEfficiency Project (BEEP), a jointorganisation of Switzerland andIndia governments, has comeforward to provide EnergyEfficient and ThermallyComfortable (EETC) technolo-gy to the State government, nowthe Energy Efficiency ServicesLtd (EESL-GoI) is showing inter-est to install energy efficientappliances in all 30 lakh houses,which could be a major develop-ment in the weaker section hous-ing programme.

The housing department isholding discussions with nation-al and international agenciesonly after clear directions fromChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy, who said that the govern-ment is determined to uplift thepoor in society, who are deprivedof basic amenities.

EESL chairman Rajeev Sarma,along with vice-chairman/EESL,Saurabh Kumar, met PrincipalSecretary for HousingDepartment Ajay Jain to discussabout the proposed project. TheState may become a role modelto the country if the two projects(BEEP and EESL) are imple-mented successfully.

Rajeev Sharma further statedthat Andhra Pradesh is the oneand only State in the country,which is taking steps to provide

modern housing to the poor withworld's latest energy efficienttechnologies keeping in view ofthe climatic conditions in theState and to provide a safe,decent and best living environ-ment to beneficiaries. Besides, forthe first time in the country, theEnergy Conservation BuildingCode for Residential Buildings(ECBC-R) is being implement-ed in AP's housing programme,which is also one of the uniquefeatures in the

programme.Executive Vice-Chairman Saurabh Kumar saidthat the EESL is holding discus-sions with the State governmenton supply of energy efficientappliances to 30 lakh houses.

He said that EESL has intro-duced the super efficient fansbased on the latest technologies,which are highly qualitative, reli-able and saves substantial ener-gy compared to conventionalfans which will help to enhancethe quality of life. The EESL is

implementing energy efficiencyprogrammes across the countryin various sectors such as LEDstreet lighting, e-mobility, build-ing energy and renewable ener-gy. He also said that a final reporton impact of usage of highlyqualitative BEE Star rated appli-ances, including super efficientfans, will be submitted to theHousing and Energy depart-ment soon.

Ajay Jain, who has presenteda comprehensive report onNavaratnalu-Pedalandariki Illuprogramme to EESL, said thatbuilding an eco-friendly andenergy-efficient houses were theutmost priority for the Stategovernment. Keeping in view ofhot temperatures in the State irre-spective of seasonal changes it isproposed to design the houses ina manner to reduce the temper-ature and energy consumptionby proper utilisation of day light.

Ongole police bust nationwidefake certificate racketPNS n ONGOLE

Prakasam district police bust-ed a two-year old fake certifi-cate racket and arrested sevenpeople for issuing certificatesfor up to 500 courses under'JNTC' name, mimicking areputed technical university,on Saturday.

"We busted a nationwideoperation, which was beingconducted through a frontcalled Jawaharlal NehruTechnical Centre (JNTC),obviously made with an intentto confuse it with JawaharlalNehru Technical University(JNTU)," said Prakasam dis-trict Superintendent of Police(SP) Siddarth Kaushal.

The arrested have beenidentif ied as JampaniVenkateshwarlu, 49, SilarapuBala Srinivasa Rao, 53,Silarapu Sujatha, 47, SiddiSrinivas Reddy, 25, KoduriPradeep Kumar, 32,Anaparthi Christopher, 47and Batta PotulaVenkatshwarlu, 48. Policearrested them for cheating,forgery, using forged docu-ments, falling under IPCSections 420, 468, 471 andothers. Using JNTC as a front,the accused were operating in

11 States across the country."They were issuing fake

certificates in almost everyfield of study and on theground there is nothing. Wecatalogued almost 500 kindsof certificates they were issu-ing. From three-month cours-es to three-year degrees," saidKaushal. Certificates wereissued in disciplines such asmanagement, hospitality,even critical sectors likehealthcare, aviation, fire andsafety and others.Until now,police were able to establishthe paper trail for almost2,400 odd certificates issuedacross 11 States, which islikely to rise.

Meanwhile, police present-ed the case to the public atlarge as soon as possible toalert them of the people, whomay have used these fakedegrees. "We made the detailsof this investigation publicimmediately in the publicinterest because we suspectthat many of these certificateshave been used to gain illegalemployment with the govern-ment, or the private sector insensitive places as well,"observed Kaushal.

The SP hoped that employ-ers and employees will get

alerted on suspicious candi-dates. Explaining the modusoperandi, the IPS officer saidthat the racket had 155 con-duits in Andhra Pradeshalone, operating under theguise of a computer traininginstitute, or a similar setup,which serves as a front to giveany kind of certificate.

"For example in Ongolethere may be a SrinivasaComputer Training Institute,which offers any certificatejust on payment of money,such as a diploma for a labtechnician, diploma in agri-culture or whatever," he said.In Andhra Pradesh, the gangissued 1,900 fake certificates.

To further trace each andeveryone involved in theracket, police have listed outall the certificates and JNTCbranches and alerted therespective district police."You can expect a lot ofcriminal cases and cheatingcases in other districts aswell. I am also sending thesedetails to other states," saidKaushal.

Though the racket is bust-ed, Kushal fears that manypeople would have alreadymisused these fake certifi-cates to benefit.

l EESL chairman Rajeev Sarma, alongwith vice-chairman/EESL, SaurabhKumar, met Principal Secretary forHousing Department Ajay Jain todiscuss about the proposed project.The State may become a role modelto the country if the two projects(BEEP and EESL) are implementedsuccessfully

Prakasam district Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal addresses the media in Ongole

Vizag Electric Loco Shedmodifies passenger train PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Electric Loco Shed,Visakhapatnam, has imple-mented an innovative conceptwith advanced technologiesfor maximising the benefitswith available resources. Ithas paired two electrical locos,WAP-4-Model locos, by per-forming key modificationsand made them ready forgoods train operations.

The Electric Loco Shed hassuccessfully modified twoWAP-4 model locos, which arebeing operated for passengertrains, to work in multiple unitoperation for hauling goodstrain operations. As thesecoaching train locos utilisationreduced due to Covid-19 pan-demic, the Team ELS took ini-tiative to use these locos foreffective utilisation by per-forming key modifications.

These class locos are origi-nally designed to work in sin-gle unit operation for hauling

coaching rake. The mainobjective of this project is toincrease the productivity withavailable resources for opera-tion of goods trains & increas-ing the reliability on WAP-4electric locos in freight trans-portation.

The electric loco shed staffsuccessfully completed neces-sary modifications to the locoslike cabling and fabricationworks by attaching couplers toboth leading and trailingengines through series ofmulti-unit cables in order tosynchronise these engineselectrically and mechanically.Under the guidance ofDivisional Railway ManagerChetan Kumar Shrivastava,the project was led by P SivaNaresh Sr. Divisional ElectricalEngineer (ELS), P MohanaRao, Sr. Section Engineer/ E-5, KVP Kumar Sr. SectionEngineer (Mech) and team,who completed the project in10 days.

Govt must stop misinfo campaignon Amaravati farmers: TDPPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Farmers, who gave 33,000acres to Amaravati capital city,are upset at the manner inwhich the government hasbeen relentlessly trying to'undermine' their dream cap-ital, the TDP alleged onSunday.

The opposition contendedthat farmers are questioningthe locus standi of the govern-ment to appoint a Cabinet Sub-Committee on the lands theyhave given for the noble pur-pose of constructing a world-class capital for all the fivecrore people of the State. In theface of growing concerns,farmers made a strong plea tothe YSRCP government tostop its misinformation cam-paign in the name of Sub-Committee, Insider Tradingand such allegations.

They accused the govern-

ment of diverting the attentionof people with its countless liesand with an ulterior plan to killthe Amaravati capital. Initially,a bad propaganda waslaunched to brand Amaravaticapital project as solely bene-ficial to one particular commu-nity. This was proved wrongwith statistics showing pres-ence of people of differentsocial groups among the farm-ers who gave lands. Later,some other baseless allega-tions were made that mostlands belonged to one commu-nity and that Amaravati was a

flood-p r o n earea with foun-dation of buildings being verycostly. One question beingraised by farmers was aboutthe credibility of the CabinetSub-Committee, whichinquired into the Amaravatilands. All the members of thisCommittee were sworn oppo-nents of Amaravati project. Allthe ministers, includingFinance Minister BugganaRajendranath Reddy, were benton crushing the project.

l The opposition contended that farmers are questioningthe locus standi of the government toappoint a Cabinet Sub-Committeeon the lands they have given forthe noble purpose ofconstructing a world-classcapital for all the five crorepeople of the State

5 LS MPs testCoronaviruspositive

Continued from Page 1

at Parliament HouseComplex.

Earlier, the all-party meet-ing which was to be held thisyear prior to the monsoonsession of the Parliament wascancelled due to coronavirus,the government said. TheParliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi wasscheduled to hold the all-party meeting.

Continued from Page 1

Following corona-inducedfinancial crisis since mid-March, the RBI had relaxednorms for state governmentsfacing short-term mismatch-es by extending the durationof overdraft facility availableuntil 30 September.

The RBI extended the num-ber of days for which a state orUnion territory (UT) can availof overdraft facility to 21working days from the previ-ous14 days. Similarly, thenumber of days for which aState/UT can be in overdraft ina quarter has been eased to 50working days from 36.

The central bank has alsoincreased the Ways and Means

Advances or WMA limit by30% for all states and Unionterritories to enable them totide over the crisis caused bythe Covid-19 outbreak. WMAis a temporary liquidityarrangement with the centralbank, which enables theCentre and states to borrowmoney up to 90 days from RBIto tide over their liquiditymismatches. Typically, thegovernment can avail theimmediate cash from RBI atthe existing repo rate underthe WMA facility. But it has toreturn it within 90 days. If theWMA exceeds 90 days, ifwould be treated as overdraft.RBI has now extended thisoverdraft facility by 7 days.

TS,AP headed for...

Covid-19 vaccinelikely by March...

Continued from Page 1

Elaborating on the vaccinecandidates and their develop-ment in India, Vardhan addedthat Department of BioTechnology (DBT) as well asIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) have beenpro-active in responding to

the emerging situation to sup-port advancement of vaccinecandidates. India is activelypartnering with Coalition forEpidemic PreparednessInnovations (CEPI) and trialsat different phases are ongoingwith respect to several vaccinesin Indian laboratories (privateor public) and hospitals.

‘Conspiracy tomalign...

Continued from Page 1

A day after COVID-19cases in Maharashtra crossedthe 10-lakh mark, Thackeraysaid his government has doneeffective work to tackle thepandemic. Speaking in thebackdrop of political criticismover demolition of actressKangana Ranaut's bungalowin Mumbai and the way hisgovernment handled theSushant Singh Rajpit deathcase, Thackeray assured peo-ple that he would fight thepolitical crisis too. "I willhave to remove the mask ofChief Minister to respondtopolitics. I don't speak does-n't mean I don't haveanswers," Thackeray said.

AP, Telangana officialsto meet tomorrow

a demand from the public(for bus services). Hence, weasked them to increase theirservices while offering toreduce our services to bringparity," Principal Secretary(Transport) MT KrishnaBabu, who also holds addi-tional charge as ManagingDirector of APSRTC, said onSunday.

He pointed out that anyinter-state agreement for run-ning bus services would be ona parity basis only.

AP has no objection even ifTelangana operates three lakhroute kilometres. "We, too,

will run the same. But if theyare not ready to increase theservices and also want us tocut ours, it is the people whosuffer. Private operators willtake advantage," the PrincipalSecretary pointed out.

"So far we had two roundsof talks at the ExecutiveDirectors level and onTuesday we, the MDs, will bemeeting. We will try to reachan amicable solution accept-able to both. We will do ourbest," Krishna Babu said.

He noted that there waspublic demand and a hugerequirement for bus services.

Sajjala slams Lokesh...Continued from Page 1

VAT due to the large impactof Covid-19 on the State rev-enue, which has dipped to agreat extent. He recalled thatN Chandrababu Naidu left adebt of Rs 3.60 lakh crore andstated that Naidu could havelooted even more in the nameof Covid-19 pandemic.

On the Antarvedi templeincident, Ramakrishna Reddysaid that Naidu is a litigant,who always thrives for publicattention and thus politicisesminor issues to get politicalmileage. He clarified thatthere was no need for theYSRCP to create such inci-dents and said that theTDP leaders have an inten-tion to distract the publicfrom the government ini-tiatives and also have a

history of setting train onfire at Tuni, burning downthe banana plantations atAmaravati and the like.While Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy isimplementing welfareschemes to benefit weakersections of society, Naiduschemes were aimed atdiverting funds to benefithis benamis. The State gov-ernment had credited Rs67,000 crore directly intothe accounts of the benefi-ciaries of various welfareschemes without leavingany scope for corruption.He asserted that the Stategovernment didn't renegeon the welfare initiativesduring the pandemic,instead provided the assis-tance much earlier thanthe actual deadline.

Tension prevails over removalof NTR, Paritla Ravindra statues

Continued from Page 1

house arrest to maintainlaw and order in the town.Aanjaneyulu with other lead-ers staged a protest in hishouse and demanded rein-stallation of statues.

Vinukonda urban circleinspector D Chinna Mallaiahsaid that one D Yedukondalafiled a petition in the HighCourt against unauthorisedestablishment of NTR andParitala Ravindra statues adja-cent to the canal atVishnukundi Nagar ofVinukonda and the HC issuedorders more than two yearsago to remove the statues

within 14 days. But the munic-ipal and revenue departmentsdid not remove the statues,therefore, he filed a contemptpetition in the High Court,which once again directedofficials to implement itsorders immediately withoutfail.

Vinukonda tahsildarVenkateswaralu and municipalcommissioner Srinivasulu sub-mitted a report on the issue toCollector I Samuel AnandKumar and in turn, he direct-ed officials to remove the stat-ues immediately. Accordingly,officials removed the statueswith the support of policeamidst TDP's protest.

Narasaraopet DSP M VeeraReddy deployed additionalforce to control law and orderand two statues were shifted totahsildar office premises toavoid tension in the town.

TDP district presidentAanjaneyulu alleged that theYSRCP leaders exerted pres-sure on officials to remove thestatues. He demandedremoval of all statues, includ-ing YS Rajasekhara Reddy'sstatue, which is obstructingtraffic in Vinukonda immedi-ately. He warned that they willintensify agitation if theydon't remove the statues,which are obstructing trafficin the town.

AP sees spike in tax revenueduring Covid, says CAG data

Continued from Page 1

The interest payment billitself was Rs 5,608.59 crore thisyear as against Rs 263.14 crorelast year.

The State FinanceDepartment officials, howev-er, disputed the CAGs figureon borrowing. We borrowedheavily, yes, but Rs 40,000crore is not correct. The figureis something around Rs 30,000crore this year, according to abureaucrat in the FinanceDepartment.

Apart from loans, the Stategovernment is banking onenhanced taxes and so far has

increased various taxes andrates that could fetch an addi-tional revenue of Rs 15,361crore.

On May 4 and 5, the Stateenhanced prices of liquor by 25per cent and 50 per cent inquick succession to net a sumof Rs 13,500 crore during theyear.

In July, the tax structure onpetrol and diesel was revisedfor garnering Rs 600 croremore in revenue. Last month,the land values in urban areashave been hiked by 10 to 30per cent to realise an addition-al Rs 800 crore.

The profession tax wasincreased for an additionalincome of Rs 161 crore and onSeptember 12, the tax on nat-ural gas was enhanced by 10per cent to net Rs 300 croremore in revenue.

Now, Chief Minister Y SJaganmohan Reddy has givenhis nod for increasing thetransport tax rates and usercharges on various municipalservices in urban local bodies,both of which are expected torake in additional Rs 2,400crore per annum. Formalorders on this are expected ina few days, official sources said.

COVID-19 tally in India...

Continued from Page 1

to the Union Health Ministrydata. The total coronaviruscases mounted to 47,54,356,while the death toll climbedto 78,586 with 1,114 peoplesuccumbing to the infectionin a span of 24 hours, the dataupdated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatal-ity rate due to the coronavirusinfection has further droppedto 1.65 per cent.

There are 9,73,175 activecases of COVID-19 in thecountry which comprises20.47 per cent of the totalcaseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tallyhad crossed the 20-lakh markon August 7, 30 lakh onAugust 23 and it went past 40lakh on September 5.

YSRCP rebel MP accuses CM of encouraging other faiths

Continued from Page 1

the limits of DharmikaParishad.

Temples in the State arebeing used to collect money,he said describing it as atro-cious. An attempt is beingmade to alienate God from thecommon man, he alleged.

At the cost of Hindu reli-gion, other faiths are beingencouraged, he lamented. Thegovernment got 40 personsarrested in church glass break-ing case but surprisingly took

no action against those whotorched the chariot atAntarvedi temple.

“To safeguard theHinduism, Sanatana SwadeshiSamstha has been founded aslooting of Hindu temples isgoing on,” he said.

He dared the Chief Ministerand his spouse to take part inBrahmotsavams of Tirumalatemple and present silk clothesto deities. Since the times ofthe British, the government’sauthority over temple is goingon, he alleged.

Heavy rainfall warning in coastal Andhra

Continued from Page 1

West Godavari districts andYanam.

Furthermore, the IMD hasissued a yellow watch over theState on Friday and Saturday,with the advisory urging res-idents to ‘be aware’ of the localweather situation. AndhraPradesh has received 20%excess rainfall in the monsoonseason this year receiving556mm rainfall against thenormal of 464mm.

Ironically, the Rayalaseemaregion has recorded excess

rains. While deficient rainfallis seen in Srikakulam andViziangaram districts so far.The monsoon trough (line oflow pressure) lies south of itsnormal position (Ganganagarto Bay of Bengal). The easternend of the monsoon trough islikely to shift further south-wards due to formation of alow-pressure area over westcentral Bay of Bengal offAndhra Pradesh coast byMonday. Associated cycloniccirculation extends up to mid-tropospheric levels tiltingsouth westwards with height.

BJP State unit new officebearers appointedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State unit of BJP has got anew set of office-bearers as thenew president reconstituted theState committee with 26 mem-bers on Sunday.

Somu Veerraju, the MLC,who recently took over as theState BJP president, appointed 10vice-presidents, five general sec-retaries and 10 secretaries,besides a treasurer, maintaininga balance between the threeregions of Andhra Pradesh.

MLC PVN Madhav has been

appointed as general secretary,while S Vishnuvardhan Reddygot elevated to the post. FormerMLAs P Vishnu Kumar Raju, CAdinarayana Reddy, RavelaKishore Babu and NimmakaJayaraju have been made Statevice-presidents of the party.

N Ramesh Naidu, who washeading the party's youth wing,has now been made the State BJPsecretary. Former chairman ofGuntur Zilla Parishad PathuriNagabhushanam was alsoappointed as a secretary.

V Satya Murthy will be the

treasurer and in-charge of theState party headquarters, a BJPpress release said.Simultaneously, Veerraju alsoappointed new chiefs to thevarious wings of the State BJP.

Surendra Mohan ofVisakhapatnam has been madethe president of Bharatiya JanataYuva Morcha, the youth wing,while Nirmala Kishore of Eluruhas been appointed president ofMahila Morcha, the women'swing. Veerraju also appointedsix leaders as the new spokesper-sons of the State BJP.

Criminal cases against50 YSRCP ...

Continued from Page 1

Venkat Rao alleged that forover eight years, illegal assetcases were pending againstChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy and his co-accusedVijayasai Reddy and said thatthe Chief Minister and the MPowed an explanation to the

people on this count. He askedcan Jagan write to the SupremeCourt asking for a speedy dis-posal of his corruption cases?

He deplored that gangstersand criminals have pushedthe State into a deep crisis andlawlessness while the ChiefMinister has turned he Stateinto a 'Police State'.

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 hyderabad 04

The Telangana Rights inLand and PattadarPassbook Act, 2020

brings about a paradigm shiftin the way land is adminis-tered. It is an acknowledgmentof the fact that land revenueis no longer a major source ofrevenue for a majority of StateGovernments, and processreform coupled with use ofinformation and communica-tion technologies has thepotential to completely trans-form title registration.

In a large number of states,registration is separated frommutation in land records.Often, registration is doneand the buyers/sellers areunwilling to spend time andmoney for mutation, unless itis required for other purpos-es. Moreover, in rural areas theland records continue toremain the main documentfor obtaining crop loans, etc.

The Telangana Law hascorrectly identified this as

the major pain area and draft-ed a simple law to address thisneed.

The new Law combinesregistration and mutation intoone. All rights are acquiredonce the property is trans-ferred. The division betweenthe registered document andpattadar passbook has beenremoved. Admittedly, muta-tion may require some otherdocuments (e.g. sub-division).

In addition to making thetwo processes into one, theLaw also removes all discre-tion given to registrars to usetheir powers to delay or notregister properties. As sever-al studies have shown, givingdiscretion to front-lineadministrators is the singlebiggest cause of delays andleakages. In the case of prop-

erty registration, the option ofkeeping aside documents forpersonal inspection by gov-ernment functionaries hasbeen taken away.

Another noteworthy featureis the use of information tech-nology in the most contextu-al-appropriate way. As inonline examinations (e.g.GRE) and cinema bookings,buyers/sellers would have tobook a slot to present the doc-uments to the tahsildar/regis-

trar for verification and reg-istration of the property.Another noteworthy feature isthat buyers/sellers would beable to book a convenient dateand time to register their doc-uments.

Finally, the pattadar pass-book would be a single doc-ument in electronic form forall common purposes. Forexample, the pattadar pass-book would be the title deedfor creating mortgages, as

well as the single documentfor granting of loan by banksand other agencies. An addedadvantage is that this wouldalso be available in e-form sothat the need for paper landrevenue record would gradu-

ally be cut down. What is the way forward?First, the law standardises

the registration process andthe next step would be toadapt the faceless assessmentscheme of income tax. At thetime of slot booking, the buy-ers/sellers could be allocatedany of the tahsildars/registra-tion officers in an area (e.g.district or municipality).

Second, the Law providesfor generation of digitalrecords. It would be worth-while to examine if theserecords could be made public,or at least some part of thesecould be placed in the publicdomain. Digitising landrecords is expected to reducecertain risks associated withpaper-based systems, leadingto an increase in reliability and

transparency in propertytransactions. However, thechallenge of reducing frauds,errors and prevention of alter-ation of records still remains.

The third point of action isto plan for integratingblockchain technology in thefuture. Simply put, blockchaintechnology in land registra-tion systems would provideevidence as to what time atransaction happened, andguarantee the identity of theinvolved parties. The proper-ty owner’s details would bestored in several, shared data-bases (also called distributeddigital ledgers), leading togreater traceability of proper-ty owners, as well as makingthis repository of informationunalterable and incorrupt-

ible. The role of the registrarsand tahsildars would be towork as oracles, and vet andvalidate the registration afterit is done (post-facto).

All in all, the TelanganaLand Law is a trailblazer inland administration.

It is simple and addresses akey need of buyers and sellers.It uses digital technology tobring about partial disinter-mediation of governmentfunctionaries as well as opensup possibilities for use ofstate-of-art technologies, suchas blockchain. Rapid rollout ispossible and the chances ofsuccess are huge. The Lawcould well become a light-house for other states to emu-late.

(Author has a PhD fromUSA and a DLitt from

Kanchi University. The arti-cle is based on his researchand practice and views are

personal)

SAMEER SHARMA, IAS

Telangana land law is a structural reformThe new Law combines registration and mutationinto one. All rights are acquired once the property istransferred. The division between the registereddocument and pattadar passbook has beenremoved. Admittedly, mutation may require someother documents (e.g. sub-division)

Telangana, Andhra presentcontrasting Covid picturePNS n HYDERABAD/ AMARA-VATHI

Telugu states of Telangana andAndhra Pradesh present a con-trasting picture of Covid-19 sit-uation. While one state withcontinuous surge has climbedon to the second position in thecountry in terms of number ofcases, the other has succeededin controlling the pandemic. Atleast this is what the statisticssuggest. Both the states claimto be handling the situationwell. Andhra Pradesh attribut-es the high number of cases tomassive testing while dismiss-ing the criticism for fewertests and allegations of hidingdeaths and underreportingcases, Telangana claims that itsstrategy helped in containingthe virus.

As of September 12, AndhraPradesh with over 5.57 lakhcases stood second on the listof states with most cases, nextonly to Maharashtra, which so

far saw 10.15 lakh cases.Andhra Pradesh has beenadding 10,000 cases and report-ing 70-80 deaths every day forthe last few weeks. With 4,846deaths, it also has the fourthhighest death toll in the coun-try. On the other handTelangana's tally of Covid casesas of September 12 stood atnearly 1.55 lakh. The averagedaily jump in cases has stabi-lized around 2,400-2,600 whiledaily fatalities mostly remainedin single digit. Though one ofthe first states to report Covid

cases in early March, Telanganais at ninth place in the list ofstates with highest number ofinfections. With 950 deaths, itis also at ninth spot in terms offatalities. Though Telanganaramped up testing over the lastone-and-half month, it stilllags behind with 20 lakh tests,which is not even 50 per centof the tests conducted by itsneighbour. One of the firststates to ramp up testing,Andhra Pradesh has so fartested over 45.27 lakh tests, nextonly to Tamil Nadu and

Maharashtra. However, itstands at the top in tests permillion ratio among nine statesof its size (Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka,Telangana, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh) with a figureof 84,786. The national averageratio is 39,790.

Andhra Pradesh also has thesecond highest positivity rate at12.32, next only to Maharashtra(20.02). The state also has oneof the highest number of activecases at 95,733. The Andhrahealth officials, however, pointout that the state has one of thebest recovery rates at 81.96 percent. The number of dailyrecoveries stands around10,000. Telangana has one of thesecond-lowest testing numbersamong nine states. Its positivi-ty rate is 7.57 per cent. Theexperts point out that this is oneof the highest among the stateswho have conducted 20-30lakh tests.

Allot land for TS liberationmartyrs' memorial: KishanPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister G KishanReddy on Sunday urged ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao to allot land to build amemorial to commemoratethe Telangana liberation strug-gle that led to merger of erst-while princely state ofHyderabad with the IndianUnion in 1948.

Recalling the history of thestruggle, the Minister of Statefor Home said in a letter toKCR that present and futuregenerations should knowabout the struggle and takeinspiration. Noting that peopleof Telangana wish to see a spe-cial memorial centre, high-lighting the history of thestate's freedom fighters, setup, Reddy said he recently dis-cussed the matter with theUnion Tourism Minister, whoagreed to provide funds for it.The Centre is ready to estab-lish a grand memorial centre,which would be an inspirationto future generations, if land is

allocated in Hyderabad, hesaid in the letter.

"Chief Minister knows verywell that Telangana state did-n't get freedom on August 15,1947 though the entire nationcelebrated freedom of thenation. Telangana was underthe clutches of Nizam tillSeptember 17, 1948. Therewere many leaders like-Komuram Bheem, PVNarasimha Rao, RamanandaTheertha, Marri ChennaReddy, VendematharamRamachandra Rao,Narayanarao Pawar, DoddiKomuraiah, Chakali Ilammaand thousands of Telangana

people who lost their liveswhile facing the atrocities ofRazakars to set Telangana freefrom Nizam rule. Telanganaachieved freedom onSeptember 17, 1948 due to theaction of Sardar VallabhaiPatel," he said.

"There is a need for peopleto know the history ofTelangana LiberationMovement,” the UnionMinister said.

Works onvillas at YadadrinearingcompletionPNS n HYDERABAD

Construction of presidentialsuits and villas at the famouspilgrimage centre of Yadadri isnearing completion. It may berecalled that 14 villas and apresidential suit are being builtin over 13.26 acres. All build-ings, barring a village, havebeen executed completely.

First ghat roads were laidatop a small hillock, which isjust 2 km away from thetemple. A presidential suitwith a plinth area of about15,000 sft is being built atopthe hills. At the foot hills, 14villages have been built. Theplinth area of each villa is saidto be of 7,500 sft. The villaswere built as two-storeyedstructures. The total projectcost is put at Rs 104 crore. Thestructures are being built withdonations contributed byphilanthropic public. So far Rs60 crore has been spent forconstruction of the presiden-tial suit and the villas.

Aerial view of Sriramsagar Flood Flow Canal. With the pumping of waters from Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project into theSRSP flood flow canal, there is abundant water all along 160-km flood flow canal

SIGHT TTO BBEHOLD

PNS n YADADRI

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao's com-passionate side came to thefore when he spotted a groupof monkeys during his visit toYadadri Sri Narasimha Swamytemple on Sunday. Whilereturning to continue withhis inspection of the templetown development works aftercompleting lunch at HarithaGuest House on the hill shrine,

the Chief Minister noticed agroup of monkeys sitting neara ghat road curve, a few metresaway from the guest house. Heinstructed his security officialsto stop the vehicle and steppedout. KCR asked his securitypersonnel to bring out thebananas that were in his vehi-cle and personally fed themonkeys. Surprisingly, themonkeys, about 15 in number,took turns to take a bananafrom the Chief Minister's handin a disciplined manner.

CM KCR feedsmonkeys at Yadadri

Present andfuturegenerationsshould knowabout thestruggle andtake inspiration,said the UnionMinister in aletter to ChiefMinister KCR

Peddapalli MP refutes Kishan Reddy's claims PNS n HYDERABAD

Peddapalli MP N Venkatesh onSunday slammed the UnionMinisters and BJP leaders forallegedly misleading the peo-ple of Telangana. He allegedthat Union Ministers MansukhLaxmanbhai Mandoviya andKishan Reddy, who reviewedthe progress of works on theRamagundam Fertilizers andChemicals Limited (RFCL),didn't follow protocol duringtheir visit.

"As a local MP, I didn't getany invitation for the reviewmeeting. It is ridiculous thatnot only Telangana BJP MPsbut also Union Ministers arespeaking lies. The Centre did-n't provide 1.17 million tonnesof urea, however, theTelangana BJP leaders are say-ing that the Centre allocated6.25 lakh metric tonnes out of13 lakh metric tonnes urea tobe given to Telangana," he

alleged, addressing the mediaat Telangana Bhavan alongwith MLC Bhanu Prasad andMP Manne Srinivas Reddy.

Venkatesh questioned theTelangana BJP leaders to revealas to how many jobs did thepeople of Telangana securedout of 800 additional jobs inRamagundam factory. He saidthat the jobs were given to thepeople of other states. "I con-demn Union Minister Kishan

Reddy's statements. State has11 per cent share inRamagundam factory. He hasto tell as to why he failed togive information to me as I ama local MP. I didn't get any invi-tation as per protocol," hesaid. Venkatesh said that thepeople of two villages, who facepollution problems due toRamagundam factory, stagedprotests on behalf of the peo-ple.

Peddapalli MP N Venkatesh addressing the media at Pragathi Bhavan

‘Renovate Srisailam powerhouse completely'PNS n HYDERABAD

TSGenco senior engineershave been suggesting completerenovation of the SrisailamHydel Power Station replacingthe old equipment with newone. The senior engineerspoint out that the power housewas build two decades ago. Itwould require at least Rs 200-300 crore to modernise thepower house. In the recentfire accident, two units of thepower house were complete-ly damaged. Equipment likegenerators used in the unitsshould be imported from

Japan. In those days, the govern-

ment used the Japanese tech-nology to build the powerhouse. As and when repairs

are needed, experts are requi-sitioned from Japan. Now themodern equipment is availablein India. Therefore, usingindigenous equipment would

reduce dependency on foreigncountries.

Moreover, centre is advisingusing only indigenous tech-nology and wanted the equip-ment imported from others tobe tested before use in select-ed laboratories. Repair worksare going on at hectic speed inthe power house, which hassix units each having 150 mwcapacity. This year, the powergeneration is feasible only inunits one and two.

The TS Genco is keen tostart them by this month-end. If the fire accident didnot take place in the hydel

power unit, daily at least 900mw of power could have beenproduced.

Engineers suggest moderni-sation of the plant and makethe hydel power station readyto tap the flood water in Julyand August next year. WhenTS Genco CMD DevulapalliPrabhakar Rao was contactedon the issue, he said that adecision was yet to be taken onthe issue. Currently, repairworks are being attended to ona war-footing. The fire acci-dent did not cause major dam-age to the power station, hesaid.

Miscreantsattack ChadaVenkatReddy’s car PNS n HYDERABAD

Some miscreants on Sundayevening allegedly destroyedthe car of CPI state secretaryChada Venkat Reddy atMaqdhoom Bhavan. ChadaVenkat Reddy filed a com-plaint with the NarayanagudaPolice after the incident. Thepolice reached the spot andexamined the car. CPInational secretary Dr KNarayana reached the spotimmediately and enquiredabout the incident. "There isa political motive behind theincident. Two persons cameon a two-wheeler anddestroyed my car. This sort ofact will be done by BJP orRSS or communal basedpolitical parties. CPI is theonly party fighting against theCentral government and BJP.There is a need to conduct athorough inquiry into theincident,” he said.

Revenue dept may recruitover 2,000 jr staff soon PNS n HYDERABAD

The state government is like-ly to recruit young blood in theRevenue Department in thelight of the Assembly adoptingthe new Revenue Act.

The new Act increasedthe services being renderedby the office of the Tahsildar.All land records are going tobe digitised with the launch-ing of the Dharani portal.

Therefore, additional staff

members are required totake care of these activities.The VRO system is dis-pensed with. At least fourjunior assistants and juniorRIs are required for eachmandal. The governmenthas plans to appoint themeither on contract basis orthrough TSPSC notification.The officials have been con-templating to appoint at least2,000 new staff in the depart-ment.

Cong slamsKCR overunemploymentPNS n HYDERABAD

CLP Leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka on Sunday tookpotshots at Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao over thedeath of Nagulu, whoattempted suicide atTelangana Assembly onThursday. Nagulu dousedpetrol and burnt himself onThursday. Police men presentat the spot, immediatelyrushed him to hospital. Buthe died while undergoingtreatment.

"The Chief Ministershould reveal as to whatchange took place in thestate after the formation ofTelangana state. It's onlyKCR's family which enjoyedthe fruits of formation of sep-arate Telangana state.Nagulu's suicide pained mea lot," he said. “The ChiefMinister should come to therescue of Nagulu's family," hesaid.

Gear up forMLC polls,TRS cadre toldPNS n JANGAON

Minister for Panchayat Rajand Rural DevelopmentErrabelli Dayakar Rao onSunday called upon the partyworkers to work hard for thevictory of the TRS candidatein the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda graduate MLCconstituency elections byenrolling more graduates asvoters.

The Minister, who partici-pated in several electionpreparatory meetings in thedistrict, said the new RevenueAct would resolve all disputesas the government was alsogoing to conduct a comprehen-sive land survey of the entireState and protect the govern-ment lands. He also calledupon the people to extend sup-port to the coronavirus victimson humanitarian grounds andhelp the needy financially andmentally.

Reach out to needy, Guv tells NGOsPNS n HYDERABAD

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Sundayexhorted the NGOs to inten-sify their efforts to help theneedy in these pandemictimes. She said the NGOs andother service organizationslike Rotary Club have been

offering valuable services indifferent sectors and were sup-plementing the governments’efforts.

She was participating as thechief guest at the virtual RotarySabha, a cultural conclave of theRotary District 3232, Chennai,from the Raj Bhavan here onSunday evening. She said that

the Rotary’s motto of ‘Serviceabove Self ’ is driving millionsof Rotarians all over the globeto offer their noble services. TheGovernor pointed out that theRotary’s efforts in ensuringPolio eradication in the coun-try and its services towardsmaking avoidable blindness-free India were commendable.

Chief Minister feeding monkeys during his visit to Yadadri on Sunday

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 nation 05

PNS n NOIDA

Six members of agang involved instealing vehiclesacross Delhi NCRfor almost a decadewere arrested in UttarPradesh's Noida onSunday, police said.

The gang's role is suspect-ed in more than 100 vehiclethefts in the region and theNoida police had been work-ing on this case for a month,leading to the arrest, a seniorofficer said.

"The police have recoveredover a dozen vehicles six ofwhich have been traced totheft cases in Delhi," DeputyCommissioner of Police,

Noida, Rajesh S said.The arrested have

been identified asManoj Nehra, aresident ofMuzaffarnagar,Afzal Ahmed, a

native of Meerut,and their aides

Firoz, Lavpreet, Rahatand Subhash Saini, he said.

"Two more persons, whobought stolen vehicles fromthem, have been identified asAadil, a native of Kashmir, andAyub from Meerut. Searchesare on to nab them," the DCPsaid.

Following a tip-off by offi-cials from the local Sector 58police station, the six accusedwere held near Sector 62.

SHORT READS

Cong, other partiesgear up for Parliament sessionNew Delhi: The Congress andother opposition parties willoppose four of the 11legislations the governmentproposes to bring in themonsoon session of Parliamentin place of ordinances issuedearlier and expect PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toreply to their concerns.Party leader Jairam Ramesh onSunday said the Congress is intouch with other like-mindedparties and has decided tostrongly oppose the threeagriculture-related legislationsand the amendment to theBanking Regulation Act in bothhouses of Parliament.The monsoon session ofParliament starts on Mondayamid unprecedented measuresin the wake of the COVID-19pandemic. Like-mindedopposition parties have decidedto evolve a joint strategy to takeon the government on keyissues before the country.

Bengal farmers,fishermen to getadvance pension

Amid high demand,tempo with oxygencylinders stolenPune: A tempo carrying sevenoxygen cylinders meant forhospitals amid the coronavirusoutbreak was stolen in Pune'sChakan area, police said onSunday.The complainant has abusiness of transporting suchcylinders and he had parked histempo outside his house onThursday night from where itwent missing a few hours later,Inspector Balaji Sontake ofMhalunge post said."We have registered a theft caseand efforts are on to trace thetempo and nab the accusedwho stole it," said the official.There is high demand foroxygen in hospitals due to thecoronavirus outbreak and thedistrict administration here haseven formed dedicated teamsto oversee and coordinatesupply between oxygenmanufacturing units andmedical facilities.Adequate oxygen support,along with anti-coagulants andother medicines, is themainstay of COVID-19 therapyand medical oxygen is listed asan Essential Public HealthCommodity by the government.

Kolkata:The West Bengalgovernment will pay Rs 2,000as advance pension for twomonths to the farmers andfishermen in the state ahead ofthe Durga Puja, a senior officialsaid on Sunday. The decisionwas taken to help them copewith the economic crisis duringthe festival season, he said.For paying the advance pensionfor October and November thestate will bear expenses ofaround Rs 22 crore, he added.In the first week of October,87,911 farmers and around20,000 fishermen who areabove the age of 60 will begetting the pension directly intheir bank accounts, he said.

PNS n PATNA

Ahead of the assembly elec-tions in Bihar, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaygave Chief Minister NitishKumar a pat on his back forushering in sushasan (goodgovernance) and expressedconfidence that the good workwill continue under the lead-ership of the JD(U) chief.

Modi dedicated to thenation three petroleum sectorprojects worth about Rs 900crore via video conferencing.

Without naming the oppo-sition RJD or its leader LaluPrasad, and the party's ally theCongress, Modi blamed thestates backwardness on amindset which made themsneer at economic progress

and thought lip-service wasenough when it came to thebetterment of the poor.

Bihar has for long beenplagued by a peculiar mindset.Road projects were frownedupon and people used to askwhat do these have to offerthose who walk on foot and donot have vehicles, Modi said in

a veiled reference to Prasad,who used to project himself asa luddite in what was viewed asa wily attempt to endear him-self to the masses.

Such indifference to progressalso took its toll on higher edu-cation. But the last 15 yearshave been of sushasan.Infrastructure has improved.

New medical and engineeringcolleges, law institutes andpolytechnics have come up.Nitish Kumar has a veryimportant role to play in ensur-ing that the process continues,he said.

The BJP has declared it willcontest the assembly polls inBihar with Kumar as the coali-tion's chief ministerial face.

Referring to the coronaviruspandemic and the large- scalereturn of migrants that tookplace during lockdown,

Bihar accounting for a largepart of them, Modi said, Thiscrisis has also presented uswith opportunities. We canthink of new employment gen-eration avenues by setting inmotion rapid economic activ-ity.

Modi pats Nitish Kumar forsushasan, takes dig at Lalu

NEET begins amid strictprecautions across countryPNS n NEW DELHI

Medical entrance exam NEETbegan on Sunday amid strictprecautions in view of theCOVID-19 pandemic at over3,800 centres across the coun-try with students queuing upas per their designated timeslots, adhering to social dis-tancing norms

The National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET) began at2 pm, but entry to centresstarted at 11 am. Studentswere allotted different slots forentry to ensure there is stag-gered movement and socialdistancing is maintained.

Over 15 lakh candidateshave registered for NEET,which was earlier postponedtwice in view of the pandem-ic.

Union Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'wished luck to the candidatesappearing for the exam andassured that arrangements arein place for their safety.

"I wish luck to candidates

appearing for NEET today. Iam confident that studentswill appear for the exam withconfidence and follow allguidelines. All states havemade required arrangementsto ensure hygiene and safety ofstudents as per guidelines," hetweeted.

Mohammad Ovais, whocame from Moradabad to hisexam centre in Dilshad Gardenhere, said his entry slot was at11 am.

"I left from Moradabad at 5am. It is not that risky if every-body follows all precautions,the problem arises when peo-ple take it casually. There wasno crowding at the centres aseverybody had designatedslots," he said.

Vanhika Chaurasia, a resi-dent of Rohini said, "Onlineexam would have been a bet-ter option than a pen andpaper-based test but we haveno option. Raghuvansh's death left

deep political void, says PMPNS n PATNA

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday paid a mov-ing tribute to former Unionminister Raghuvansh PrasadSingh, saying his deathhas left a deep void inBihar and national poli-tics.

Modi described Singh,who died at AIIMS, NewDelhi, after prolonged ill-ness, as a grassroots leaderwith deep understandingof poverty and problems ofthe poor.

He also obliquely referred to"churning" that the departedleader faced in his last days,hinting at his disenchantmentwith his party the RJD and itsleader Lalu Prasad.

"An inner 'manthan' (churn-ing) was going on in him dur-

ing his last days. He remainedtrue to the ideology he believedin..In the recent past, he hadbeen in news.

"He was obviously in a state

of inner turmoil since it had nolonger remained possible forhim to be by the side of his oldassociates. Finally, he gaveexpression to his feelingsthrough the letters he wrotefrom the hospital bed, theprime minister said.

Modi made the remarksbefore dedicating to the nationthree petroleum projects viavideo conferencing in Bihar.

The prime minister recalledhis interactions with Singh

when the RJD leader was aUnion minister and he thechief minister of Gujarat.

I had occasions to inter-act with Raghuvansh babumany times. We used totake part in TV debates longback, putting forth ourrespective points of view. Heused to represent his party

while I used to represent theBJP as an office-bearer of theorganisation, said the primeminister. "I was worried abouthis health and often inquiredabout him," Modi said.

The prime minister spokewith admiration about Singh'sconcern for Bihar.

Nepali nationalcarrying 6.1 kgof charasarrested PNS n MAHRAJGANJ

A Nepalese national wasarrested from Indo-Nepalborder in Maharjganj districtof Uttar Pradesh after he wasfound in possession of 6.1 kgcharas with a market value ofRs 2.17 crore, police said onSunday.

The arrest was made inShyamkot area of bordertown Sonauli on Sundaymorning, said Sonauli policestation in-charge AshutoshSingh. Accused Som BahadurNepali was on his way toDelhi from Nepal when hewas arrested during a routinechecking of the bus, he said.

Police have decided to takehelp of their Nepalese coun-terpart to trace his links withother smugglers in Nepaland India, Singh added.

He has been booked underthe Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act,he added.

Army jawandetained atSrinagarairport PNS n SRINAGAR

An Army personnel who wasdetained at the airport herealong with a woman and aminor girl while on way toDelhi was let off after prelim-inary questioning as thewomen said they were trav-elling with him of their ownfree will, officials said onSunday.

The soldier, posted inBandipora district in northKashmir, was on Saturdaydetained at the Srinagar air-port when he was travellingwith two women, one ofwhom is a minor, to Delhi,they said.

The minor girl is a niece ofthe woman, the officialsadded.

The woman, believed to bein her early twenties, told thepolice that she and her minorniece were travelling withthe soldier of their own freewill, they said.

The officials said the triowas let off after preliminaryquestioning.

The woman and her niecehave been handed over totheir families, they added.

An Army official saidaction will be taken againstthe soldier as per the rules ashe was found in violation ofthe standard operating proce-dure.

In May 2018, Army MajorLeetul Gogoi was detained bypolice along with a localwoman at a hotel here. TheMajor was punished with areduction in seniority andexit from the Kashmir Valley.

Shah condolesdemise ofRaghuvanshPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday condoled thedeath of former Union min-ister Raghuvansh PrasadSingh and said his dedicationtowards the welfare of thepoor and deprived classes willbe remembered forever.Singh died at AIIMS in Delhion Sunday. "I am deeply sad-dened by the death of seniorBihar politician RaghuvanshBabu. His entire life wasdevoted to the ideas of Lohiaji and Karpoori Thakur ji.

"His dedication to thewelfare of the poor anddeprived class will always beremembered. I express mycondolences to his family.Om Shanti," Shah said.

NEET: Rahul Gandhi wishesstudents appearing for examPNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leaderRahul Gandhiwished studentsappearing for themedical entranceexam NEET onSunday, whileexpressing hissympathies withthose who could nottake it due to the COVID-19pandemic and floods.

He also criticised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, say-ing he wished the PM wasconcerned about the JEE-NEET aspirants.

"My best wishes to the stu-dents appearing for NEETexam and my sympathies tothose who couldn't take itdue to the Covid pandemicand floods. "Wish Modi jiwas as concerned about JEE-NEET aspirants and students

as he is about his crony capi-talist friends," he said on

Twitter.Gandhi and his

Congress partyhave beendemanding post-ponement ofNEET and JEE

exams, saying thesituation is not con-

ducive for holding theseexams due to the pandemic.He has also said holding theexams at such a time is endan-gering their lives. Over 15 lakhcandidates are likely to appearin NEET on Sunday which willbe conducted amid strict pre-cautions in view of theCOVID1-9 pandemic.

The exam was originallyscheduled for May 3, but waspushed to July 26, and then toSeptember 13. A total of 15.97lakh candidates have regis-tered for the exam.

Raghuvansh’s lossirreparable, says CongPNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Sunday paid rich tributes toformer union ministerRaghuvansh Prasad Singh,saying with his demise astrong voice of the village andfarmers has been lost.

The Congress also termedhim as the "beloved son ofBihar" who will be remem-bered for being the advocate ofmoral values in politics, andsaid his demise heralds the endof a chapter in the history ofrevolution.

"With the demise of Shri

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh ji, astrong voice of the village andfarmers has been lost forever.His service and dedicationfor the upliftment of villagesand farmers and his strugglefor social justice will always beremembered. My heartfelttributes to him," Rahul Gandhisaid in a tweet in Hindi.

Rahul has since left for theUS along with his motherSonia Gandhi for her medicalcheck-up. Priyanka GandhiVadra said his demise is anirreparable loss to Indian pol-itics and he will be remem-bered for his contribution.

Acceptance of multipolarity key tosettled Sino-India ties: JaishankarPNS n NEW DELHI

The key to a more settledSino-Indian relationship is agreater acceptance by bothcountries of multipolarity andmutuality, building on a larg-er foundation of global rebal-ancing, says External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar.

In his recently-releasedbook "The India Way :Strategies for an UncertainWorld", he also says that Indiais not the only country

focused on coming to termswith China as the entire worldis doing so, each nationrefashioning its terms ofengagement in its own way.The external affairs minister,

however, had written thisbook before the militarystandoff in eastern Ladakhbegan in early May.

"If there is a commonapproach, it is of them simul-taneously strengtheningcapacities internally, assessingthe external landscape andseeking understandings withChina. In this overall exercise,India will occupy a specialplace by virtue of its size, loca-tion, potential, history andculture," Jaishankar writes.

PNS n MUMBAI

Facing flak from detractors onboth political and coronavirusfronts, Chief Minister UddhavThackeray on Sunday said aconspiracy is afoot to malignMaharashtra. "Whatever polit-ical storms come, I will face...I will fight coronavirus too,"Thackeray said in a televisedpublic address.

A day after COVID-19 casesin Maharashtra crossed the 10-lakh mark, Thackeray said hisgovernment has done effective

work to tackle the pandemic.Speaking in the backdrop of

political criticism over demoli-tion of actress Kangana Ranaut'sbungalow in Mumbai and theway his government handled the

Sushant Singh Rajput deathcase, Thackeray assured peoplethat he would fight the politicalcrisis too. "I will have to removethe mask of Chief Minister torespond topolitics. I don't speakdoesn't mean I don't haveanswers," Thackeray said.

Speaking on "Mission BeginAgain" campaign during thepandemic, Thackeray said hisadministration effectively tack-led the COVID-19 situation,cyclones and floods andwillalso deal withthe politicalstormwith people's support.

Conspiracy to malign Maharashtra,says Uddhav Thackeray

Veteran RSS pracharaksuccumbs to Covid-19PNS n CHENNAI

Veteran RSS 'pracharak' MVeerabahu, who broughtdevotees together and suc-cessfully led them in installingthe Shivalinga inside theJalakandeshwara temple inVellore fort decades ago, hasdied of COVID-19.

The 71-year-old seniorfunctionary, who tested pos-itive two weeks ago, suc-cumbed to the virus onSeptember12 at a govern-ment hospital here and hisbody was cremated at a bur-

ial ground inVillivakkam,theRSS said.

Veerabahu is noted for hisfield work in mobilising devo-tees and the local people,leading to the installation ofthe Shivalinga in theJalakandeshwara templeinside the Vellore fort in1981, according to RSS func-tionaries. Noted archaeologistS Rajavelu said the temple, anArchaeological Survey ofIndia protected monument,became a "living temple,"after the installation of theShivalinga.

Army adopting ‘Contacttracing', says Lt Gen RajuPNS n SRINAGAR

"Contact tracing" isthe new strategybeing adopted bythe Army in mili-tancy-hit KashmirValley and under it, friendsand relatives of local terroristrecruits or those killed inencounters are located andcounselled not to take up thegun in a rush of blood, a topArmy official said here.

In addition to this, effortsare made to contact the fami-lies of youths identified asvulnerable to radicalisation so

that they too arecounselled toguide their wards.Lt Gen B S Raju,who heads thestrategic XV-Corps in Kashmir,

feels that correct guidance atthe right time or vulnerablestage can help prevent mis-guided youths from takingthe wrong step. During histenure as the head of the'Victor Force', which compris-es many Army units and looksafter the four strife-torn dis-tricts of South Kashmir, suchefforts paid off rich dividends.

Coronavirus takes a toll on Delhi slum-dwellersPNS n NEW DELHI

The COVID-19 pandemic tookaway her family's livelihoodand now 48-year-oldVeeramma fears she will loseher roof in the wake of theSupreme Court ordering theremoval of 48,000 slumdwellings along railway tracksin Delhi. "My husband wasborn here. My son was bornhere. My in-laws breathed theirlast in this house. This is all wehave," said Veeramma as she saton crushed stones outside herhome at a slum cluster along-side a railway track near JalVihar in Lajpat Nagar.

The 48-year-old, who worksas a domestic help, said her

employers haven't called herback to work yet.

"My husband cannot move.My son is a daily wager, hedoesn't have much work, too.We don't have enough ration tofeed the family for anotherweek," said Veeramma lookingat her two-year-old grand-daughter, a third generation tobe born in the slum cluster.

"We don't have the moneyfor my granddaughter's milk.Even if we beg, we won't getanything. The times were neverso bad," she said. The SupremeCourt had on August 31ordered the removal of 48,000slum dwellings along railwaytracks in Delhi within threemonths. As per rough esti-

mates, there are around2,40,000 people living in slumsin Naraina Vihar, Azadpur,Vihar, Shakur Basti, Mayapuri,Sriniwaspuri, Anand Parbatand Okhla among others.

The Northern Railways had

submitted a report to the apexcourt which said that mush-rooming of slums along railwaytracks is acting as hindrancetowards keeping them clean.

Panchavarna, 55, said herfamily had moved to Delhi

from Chennai."We know the land belongs

to the government, but wherewill we go? Who will take ourresponsibility?" she asked.

Elumalai, 35, reminded thegovernment's promise of "jahanjhuggi wahin makan" madebefore the elections.

"We do not say we won'taccept the court's order. Thisland belongs to the railwaysand they will take it one day,but where will we go? No onecares for us," Elumalai, whosefather came to Delhi fromChennai in 1978, said.

Interestingly, each house-hold in the slum has got elec-tricity connection, Aadhaarcard, voter id, and ration card.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government had builtcommunity toilets for the slumdwellers last year, so that noone defecates in the open or onthe tracks, said 45-year-oldShankar Sarangam, a driverwho did not get a salary forthree months during theCOVID-19-induced lockdown.

"The salary has been reducedby half. I have a family to feed.We were thankful to god thatwe have a roof over our head,"he said. "Now the jhuggi will begone, too. The railways shouldhave at least considered thetiming of the move. The impactof the pandemic will linger onfor another three years,"Sarangam said.

Six held in Noida for carthefts in Delhi NCR

The Committee of Expertson Non-Personal DataGovernance Frameworkwas formed last year to

advise the Government on variousaspects of non-personal data. Itreleased its draft report in July andis currently accepting public feed-back. Among other things, it rec-ommended that a new legislationbe drafted and a new regulator beset up to operationalise the frame-work.

The committee defines non-personal data as anything that isnot defined in the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, and thatdoes not contain personally iden-tifiable information. This wouldcover a wide array of information,including, for example,anonymised datasets that compa-nies collect from their users orcustomers, traffic pattern andweather data, agricultural data anddatasets containing informationthat is not directly linked to anindividual. Given that datasets arean important aspect of manybusinesses today, any non-person-al data regulation would affectmost companies and entrepre-neurs. They would also have sig-nificant implications for provid-ing benefits and enabling individ-uals and communities to exercisetheir civil liberties, due to theinferences that can be drawneven from data that isanonymised.

This is especially the casebecause most datasets in use are“mixed,” containing a combinationof personal and non-personaldata. For example, datasets collect-ed by banks could contain clientand transaction details as well asaggregated information on over-all demographics and transac-tions. It is important to note in thiscontext that the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, which is setto regulate personal data, is cur-rently being deliberated by a JointParliamentary Committee. Thefinalised legislation and the DataProtection Authority, which isthe proposed regulator under thePDP Bill, are empowered to reg-ulate personal data. While thecommittee recognises that manydatasets are mixed, it neverthelessincludes anonymised personaldata within the ambit of the non-personal data framework.

This is problematic becauseanonymising personal data, asthe committee recognises, is not

irreversible and the risk of re-identification of individuals isa real concern. Moreover, evenseemingly benign data on com-munities can lead to collectiveharm, such as if data on aver-age income is used to decideinterest rates for those living ina certain area, or demograph-ic census data is used to targetcommunities based on social orreligious lines.

It is also clear that algo-rithms can exacerbate existingbiases unless there are sufficienttechnical and human-basedsafeguards. Using such analy-sis to make public service deliv-ery decisions, for example, canalso perpetuate discriminatorypractices. Importantly, theframework suggested by thecommittee also allows theGovernment wide-rangingaccess to datasets. When com-bined with data that it alreadyhas access to, this carries signif-icant surveillance risks whichcan endanger civil liberties.

Given the potential forsuch harms, it is essential thata key focus of any regulatoryframework is on institutingsafeguards, with clear account-ability and redressal mecha-nisms. The primary goals ofnon-personal data regulationare to unlock the economicvalue of data, create a level play-ing field for digital businessesand protect the interests ofthose providing the relevantdata. Unfortunately, there are afew significant issues with theframework proposed to achievethese aims.

First, crucial parts of theframework are vague. Forexample, one of the key con-cepts discussed by the commit-

tee is that of a “community.”This is relevant both from theview of protecting collectiveprivacy and for assigning rightsand obligations accruing on thebasis of data generated by com-munities. The draft reportdefines a community as a col-lection of people bound togeth-er by a common purpose,objective, or geography, whichmeans that an individual canpotentially be a part of hun-dreds of communities. While itis meant to empower commu-nities as providers of data, thereport is silent on what wouldhappen if individuals are partof multiple communities withdivergent interests, and if mem-bers of a community do notagree on what would be in theirbest interest. What this meansis that it is going to be extreme-ly difficult for communities toactually benefit from the frame-work, given that key aspects arenot clarified.

Second, the mandate ofthe new regulator, the Non-Personal Data Authority, isextremely broad and overlapswith multiple sectoral regula-tors. For instance, it would bepractically difficult for compa-nies to separate the non-per-sonal data from personal in thedatasets they use or create.The authority is also taskedwith setting standards ofanonymisation, even thoughpenalties for re-identificationare prescribed under the PDPBill.

Similarly, regulating com-petition concerns to “level theplaying field” falls squarelywithin the purview of the com-petition law framework and theCompetition Commission of

India. The mandatory datasharing mechanisms outlinedin the draft report do notengage with proprietary rightsthat datasets are subject to andare likely to conflict with intel-lectual property laws. Suchregulatory overlaps are likely tolead to conflict, litigation on theboundaries of each regulator’smandate and higher compli-ance costs for companies.

Third, although the com-mittee recognises the potentialfor harm and the need for safe-guards in a non-personal dataframework, it does not accountfor these in its report. Forinstance, when exploring theconcept of collective privacy, itrecognises that non-personaldata can provide insights thatallow for collective harm suchas discrimination and statesthat safeguards are necessary.Unfortunately, the committeedoes not explore any specifics.Even though it proposes that anew regulator is set up, there isa marked lack of engagementwith regulatory design bestprinciples to ensure account-ability, transparency and inde-pendence of the regulator, andeffective grievance redressal.Given the overlaps in ambit, itis also not clear that a separateregulator is even required tospecifically regulate non-per-sonal data. New regulatoryframeworks will also have torecognise that given the rangeof activities that are movingonline, regulating issues in the“digital” space cannot be donein silos and will require coop-eration and collaboration.Experience in India and othercountries, where such collabo-ration occurs, indicates thatthere must be robust, bindingprocesses that are built into reg-ulatory frameworks themselves.

The committee would havedone well to explore some ofthese aspects and other bestpractices in regulatory design,and more deeply consider thebest ways to achieve its statedaims. For instance, instead ofmandating data sharing, itcould focus on leveraging theintellectual property law frame-work to incentivise data-shar-ing without contradicting exist-ing copyright laws. More gen-erally, the committee mustspecifically address the areas ofoverlap with other regulatoryframeworks and clarify theambit of the proposed non-per-sonal data framework. It mustcarefully think through emerg-ing concepts like collective pri-vacy before seeking to regulateon that basis, and fundamen-tally reassess the need for a newregulator, specifically for non-personal data.

(The author is Fellow atEsya Centre)

Silicon Valley, home of many of the world’s mostvaluable companies, including Apple, Facebook andGoogle, woke up to some truly apocalyptic scenes.

The blue sky had been replaced by an orange haze aswildfires burnt down some of the oldest temperate forestsin the world and the US state of California reeled fromthe worst of such disasters in its history. The fires areso intense that they have now covered the length of thestate and are spreading into the north as well, makingthis late summer the worst blaze season ever record-ed. California is not unique. Earlier this year, the south-east Australian seaboard, where three-quarters of that

nation’s population resides, literally went up in flames. Thus, two of the most famous bridgesin the world, the Golden Gate in San Francisco and the eponymous Sydney Harbour Bridge,were both photographed with an orange background just a few months apart, highlight-ing how man-made disasters are taking a toll on the planet.

Make no mistake, while wildfires are a seasonal occurrence and many happen thanksto natural events like lightning strikes, the severity this time was caused by human activ-ity. The irony of the California fires being started after fireworks went awry at a baby “gen-der reveal party” should not be lost upon the parents. The fires, the destruction of wildlifeand the associated dumping of carbon into the atmosphere mean that those parents havemade the planet a much worse place for their children. No matter what your opinion ison Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, the fact is that the girl does have a point. We aredamaging the planet and despite efforts lasting several years, we are still damaging theplanet, albeit slower than before but not by enough. Global climate change is real. Thereis less polar ice than ever before. The Himalayan glaciers that feed a tenth of all human-ity are receding fast. The seasons are changing and extreme weather events are devas-tating parts of the world not just in terms of human lives but through livelihood loss. Yes,resolving the global Coronavirus pandemic should be humanity’s top priority today asshould be preventing the next such pandemic from occurring. But we should not forgetthe clear and present danger that climate change continues to be for humankind. Ourefforts towards lower emissions through renewables and less conspicuous consump-tion have to be made stronger. Else the next house being burnt down in a wildfire or drownedin a Biblical flood could well be yours.

Given the deliberative nature of democracy, the “sani-tised” monsoon session of Parliament is expect-ed to rob all the colour and fire of debate and most-

ly go about the tepid business of pushing necessary leg-islation. Yet it is an experiment in the new normal withboth Houses conducting sessions at different time slotsand shifts and sharing their chambers and galleries forpurposes of social distancing. The Parliament will be goingpaperless with members given login IDs to access therelevant portals of documents, there will be audio-visu-al exchanges between them given the spread out natureof proceedings and they will be partitioned by fibreglass

barriers. Of course, e-participation was once considered to ensure vibrancy but turns outthe Government’s video-conferencing platform can only accommodate 600 people at onetime. Besides, senior parliamentarians, who literally command the floor with their speech-es, will be absent as most of them have preferred to stay away for health reasons. Thelimitations of a truncated timeline and the shadow of the pandemic would undoubtedlyhelp the Government wiggle past the discomfort of facing questions on its crisis manage-ment, the economic slump, GST compensation, the migrants’ exodus and the border stand-off in Ladakh. As it is, it has structured a schedule favouring itself. Apparently, it wants toavoid a larger discussion on the Ladakh incursion, preferring to keep the negotiations withChina backdoor, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh making just a statement. Althoughthe Government had suspended Question Hour initially, it buckled to Opposition pressureand has now allowed 30 minutes of it for only unstarred questions, thereby escaping thelive grilling and the verbal duels that starred questions demand. Unstarred questions seemrather anodyne as the MPs need to submit them digitally to the presiding officer, who getsthe written response from Ministers. This then would become a bland handout affair ascross-questions and counter-arguments actually show up the strength of logic of both theruling party and the Opposition and help the citizenry judge for themselves. Apart fromunstarred questions, up to 10 special mentions would also be taken up to bring mattersof importance to the Government’s notice. The Government, lest it be accused of push-ing through its agenda in a rush and in an autocratic manner, has provisioned for short-duration discussions and calling attention notices but without the latitude and depth of time,these too would be chaperoned exercises, more in the nature of convention followed thanactually letting others to hold it to account. It’s not that a live Question Hour was impos-sible. It anyway has a structured format, with MPs required to submit a questionnaire 15days in advance. So there could have been a staggered roster of Ministers and their offi-cials to answer them. Besides, even the nature and tenor of questions are regulated byseveral rules before they are cleared and scheduled. The Trinamool Congress had arguedthat considering the Parliament’s overall working hours would remain the same and noprivate members’ Bill would be moved, a regular Question Hour was not difficult to fac-tor in. The Question Hour is the only time that allows the Opposition equal standing andallows it to keep a check and balance on the executive. A legislator asks questions onbehalf of the constituents who elect him and any democratically-elected Government is,therefore, duty-bound to respond. Without a healthy Question Hour, there will be no account-ability. And if the pandemic continues its run till 2022, as experts are suggesting, then thisdemocratic convention could become a casualty. Of course, safety is important but can’tlive televised debates be possible in a digital India?

Of course, there’s the urgency of clearing legislation. Around 40 Bills are awaiting delib-eration and passage by one or both Houses. Five of these are still being processed beforeparliamentary committees. And some of these are of sensitive nature, including the oneson DNA technology, social security and personal data protection. Of basic rights concerns,the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2020, ForeignContribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2020, Assisted Reproductive Technology(Regulation) Bill 2020, Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and theirRehabilitation (Amendment) Bill and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)Amendment Bill need attention. The 11 ordinances that the Government promulgated dur-ing the lockdown, related to agricultural markets, insolvency proceedings and economicpolicy, are likely to be used as ammunition by the Opposition. It has already moved statu-tory resolutions against these. Farmers are unhappy about the corporatisation model impliedin farm reforms and could set off a new pan-India stir and allied politics. In fact, the Opposition,which had in the past disrupted the Question Hour repeatedly, is now committed to mak-ing use of the limited time and is avidly working on a joint floor strategy to nail the Government.Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who recast her party on the eve of the session to workup a sense of urgency, has asked senior leaders to contact UPA allies and like-mindedparties to put up a united fight against the Government, both inside and outside Parliament.Will the post-pandemic session be an adhesive for the Opposition that it desperately needs?Or will the Government sail past by heaving down with its executive powers?

Sanitised session

Travesty of justice

Sir — “Something is rotten in thestate of Denmark.” The words ofa guard in Hamlet appear to be rel-evant to India in the context of theaftermath of actor Sushant SinghRajput’s (SSR’s) death. The trail ofevents that followed the tragedybrought out and demonstrated theworst in our society and left a bloton it. SSR’s story took precedenceover the Coronavirus pandemic,contraction of the economy andthe India-China border face-off.It is generally believed that theactor had mental health issues andwas driven by clinical depressionto take the extreme step. But thenhis politically-connected familyscreamed murder and all hellbroke loose. So everything otherthan his death is being discussed.

The CBI, ED and NCB werepressed into service to probe intothe circumstances surroundingthe actor’s death. Some TVanchors got their claws into theactor’s girlfriend RheaChakraborty, declaring her guiltyof abetting suicide. And since theBJP has a point to prove about theShiv Sena Government’s mishan-dling of the probe, she was impli-cated in a drugs case on flimsygrounds that in no way was relat-

ed to SSR’s death. She was moresinned against than sinning; shewas hounded, humiliated andhurt to propitiate the bloodthirstymob. Still few people openlyexpressed empathy for her situa-tion. Politically, the BJP and

JD(U) have tried hard to make theissue a slam dunk for them.“Justice for Sushant” is now anelection slogan in Bihar.

Actor Kangana Ranautwaded in with her unpleasantaccusations. She compared

Mumbai to Pakistan OccupiedKashmir, the Shiv Sena-ledAghadi Government to theTaliban, her office to the Ramtemple and the BMC to Babur’sarmy and ended up having Y+security. The actress validated

the perception that she was act-ing as a proxy for the BJP. In anycase, the SSR case was warped byprejudice to boast any semblanceof fairness. May justice prevail.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Elect Deputy SpeakerSir — It is worrying that the con-stitutional post of the DeputySpeaker of the Lok Sabha hasn’tbeen filled despite 15 months hav-ing passed since the first sitting ofthe 17th Lok Sabha. With themonsoon session of theParliament commencing, itshould be one of the top priori-ties of the Union Government.

Given the raging pandemic,it would be difficult to run theHouse if Speaker Om Birla has tokeep himself away from the pro-ceedings for some time. TheSpeaker is placed on the samerank as the Chief Justice of Indiain the Indian “Order ofPrecedence.” His key positionought to be safeguarded by elect-ing a Deputy Speaker to presideover the House in his absence.

Shivanshu SrivastavaLucknow

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

06

Regulate non-personal dataEven seemingly benign data on communities can lead to collective harm. Demographic

census data can be used to target communities based on social or religious lines

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

India must perfect art of defence purchases

At the induction ceremony of the first batch of fiveRafale fighter jets held recently, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh described the French-made aircraft as

a big and stern message for the entire world, “especial-ly to those eyeing our sovereignty.” But the depletingstrength of such jets remains a huge challenge for theIndian Air Force (IAF).

It is difficult to understand that if the security of thecountry was paramount for the Government, then whydid it buy just five jets? Everyone knows that for one fight-er jet to be in the air, there have to be four on the groundas a backup. That's the global military ratio. So why bringhome only five planes when the Government knew thatIndia had a very real and challenging threat from our neigh-bours like China and Pakistan? Why did the ModiGovernment reduce the number from 126 Rafale Jetsasked for by the IAF and subsequently ordered by the UPAto just 36 jets? In the end, the Government had to paythe price of 126 jets to France, so what did we achieve?

Agreed, that to cover up the shortage of 42squadrons, the Prime Minister recently approved the pur-chase of 21 Russian MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi Su-30 MKIfighter aircraft as replacements, even allowing the IAF tohave 29 squadrons in 2023. French Defence MinisterFlorence Parly said, “The India-France friendship is rocksolid and is time-tested. It is based on commonality and

trust.” She said that “Make in India” had been a realityfor French industries over several years, particularly fordefence equipment. Truly, it took more than 10 years toget just five Rafale fighter jets, which lend India a world-class capability and the IAF an incredible sovereign tool.Even in this joyous moment, it is clear how pathetic theIndian defence modernisation and procurement processis. In 10 years, India should have had well over 126 Rafalesor other sophisticated aircraft, some actually ‘Made in India'if Indians knew how to negotiate better. When is India goingto learn how to negotiate defence deals quickly and in abetter way?

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Apocalypse now

In the rush to clear pending Bills, the Govt has shrunk debate spacebut the Opp is working on a joint strategy to make itself count

In the midst of the pandemic, let us not forget about adisaster called human-driven climate change

AISHWARYA GIRDHAR

THE MANDATORY

DATA SHARING

MECHANISMS

OUTLINED IN THE

DRAFT REPORT DO

NOT ENGAGE WITH

PROPRIETARY

RIGHTS THAT

DATASETS ARE

SUBJECT TO AND

ARE LIKELY TO

CONFLICT WITH

INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY LAWS

The LJP is not going anywhere. Despite the LJPhaving some differences with the JD-U, it will fight asa coalition partner under theumbrella of the NDA.

BJP leader—Devendra Fadnavis

Earlier, we would do whatthe coach said without questioning. But this haschanged. Now there is a two-waycommunication and players areequally involved.

Indian hockey striker—SV Sunil

Corona is over! Didi is uselessly imposing a lock-down so that BJP cannothold meetings and rallies.Didi’s brothers are feelingunwell seeing the crowd here.

Bengal BJP chief—Dilip Ghosh

Thank you for all your love. I would love to do a tour in India sometime. Always wanted to do that. Hoping for next year or after that, I hope.

Singer —Ellie Goulding

S O U N D B I T E

ICT unshackling subalterns

I WANTED TO ALWAYS PLAY IT (THE VIRUS) DOWN.

I STILL LIKE PLAYING IT DOWN BECAUSE I DON'T

WANT TO CREATE A PANIC.

—US PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP BOTCHED

UP HIS RHETORICAL HANDLING

OF THE CORONAVIRUS

—JOURNALIST

BEN SHAPIRO

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs) are providing an enormous platform tore-arrange societal contours, by abandoning the

primitive, time and space-driven edifices of epis-temology to develop some new sets of normativestandards, for citizens in the information age.Citizenship assumes geography, which is laterunderlined as a nation-State. This understanding,however, becomes inept in times of a new digitalcitizenship under the sovereign ruling of ICT. Thishas paved the way for the subaltern’s voice. Forages, socially-acceptable and prestigiousspaces/institutions were devoid of subordinatevoices. Digital social media platforms via the inter-net have considerably enabled them to mature afirst-hand collective consciousness to authorise adistinctive, shared philosophy (through Facebook,WhatApps, Twitter and so on) deeply interwovenin democratic traditions.

Digital windows have arguably helped diverseonline communities to materialise their life-world experiences and advance a fresh alternativeand corresponding model of living. Informationsociety theorist Manuel Castells recognises the lib-erating outcomes of ICT. Subalterns are takingepistemic responsibilities in socio-technicalprocesses of the information society, conditionedon epistemic justification to rectify injustice doneto them.

ICT and empowerment: Subalterns haveutilised digital platforms more suitably to revealtheir experiences, ideas, concerns and aspirationsand explore unsung heroes, weave stories and pre-serve oral traditions. These include their life expe-riences, cultures, traditions, beliefs, languages andethics, despite the anxieties from the existing dom-inating political entities. Information technologyenabled subalterns with the required information,without much obstruction, to get closer to the pur-suit of truth and justice. Information/knowledgesystems of a large section of the Indian popula-tion possibly would have been isolated by themainstream content drivers to sustain dominantconceptual accounts and discourses/narratives.Meanwhile, cyberspace is offering sizeable avenuesto freely communicate with local and globalisedcommunities.

The rise of multiple online news outlets, indi-vidual content providers and senior journalistsdevoted to maintaining the integrity of their pro-fession, and their incessantly digitally-wideningaudience, attests to the fact that subalterns andordinary citizens receive more reliable informa-tion from them than from mainstream news out-lets. In the present scenario, formal education isless required to produce creative content. On thecontrary, industrial society is engrossed in own-ership of talent. The information age does not needa bulky investment of academicians for informa-tion; rather it independently cultivates a new dig-ital forum. It is also not purely social-capital castedriven. In this way, the creator of information willenhance balance in society. The embryonic sub-altern epistemology adheres to different ideas andfigures, which might be in stark contrast to somewidely-considered knowledge structures. This willactually induce those, who remained at the helmof social and political affairs/narratives, to incor-porate burgeoning criticism and demands of sub-ordinates to enable the substantial democratisa-tion of ICT.

Subaltern news outlets: Subalternpresence is notable in online news por-tals, though not adequately enough.Some channels like Dalit Dastak,National Dastak, Bahujan TV, NationalIndia News, The Shudra and DalitCamera: Through UnTouchable Eyeshave started generating content. Theyhave subscribers/viewers in millionsfrom various social groups. Notably, sub-alterns have utilised digital media to con-structively choose relevant, valuableand meaningful information, more thanever to educate themselves.

ICT and subaltern causes: With col-lective struggle, subalterns are reachingat the centre of democratic knowledgeproduction and content generation,challenging the discriminatory andhegemonic patterns of the State. TheApril 2, 2018 mobilisation of Dalits andAdivasis across the country, against thedilution of the provisions of the SCs/STs(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, is aunique testament to a better and pur-poseful utilisation of internet technolo-gy by subalterns in India to assert theirrights. Leaders became irrelevant and,despite that, it could become the largestunprecedented movement of this scale,in recent years, by subalterns.

Why is information society moreliberating to subalterns? In agricultur-al societies, they could not acquire theland. On the contrary, in the informa-tion society, they could secure key posi-tions from content generators to contentmanagers and owners. However, the lackof financial resources limits them fromprojecting their accounts as generalmainstream opinions. At the epistemo-logical front, they have had considerableaccomplishments by acquiring digitalspace but do not possess materialistic

resources to take the ownership of bigmainstream media. The informationsociety, further, has been convertedinto a revered room that furnishes moresubstance of respect and dignity to anordinary subaltern. Fundamentally, theinformation society is based on ideals ofinclusivity, mutual collaboration, openand free access to reliable data. The sub-altern people’s reliance is diminishing onmainstream news channels. This will fur-ther translate into the development ofcommunity-owned and driven onlinemedia outlets, leading to active involve-ment and participation of outcasts andsubordinates. More so to democratise themedia space in the information society.

Subaltern hyper self: In an informa-tion society, people use the new socialchannels (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter,Instagram, YouTube and so on) to self-broadcast (uploading pictures and loca-tions), reveal preferences (likes and dis-likes), and share personal information(relationship status). This way they aredeveloping informational selves, cover-ing various aspects of human life.

Anonymous social identities and theidea of self could be reformulated on adigital platform to generate meaning andaccomplish freedom of speech in soci-ety. Thai philosopher SorajHongladarom in his seminal work, TheOnline Self, maintains “viewing the selfas made up of information makes it eas-ier to account for the self in the onlineworld.” The online self allows thisunique opportunity, to conceal andchange your identity to put your messageacross. The physical self, which is social-ly neglected, might form a new onlineidentity (or social self) to legitimise itselfsocially, without revealing the originalidentity. The new online structure

changes the forms of earlier social struc-tures.

Futurist Jason Ohler argues, “Ourability to hide our real life identities byusing obscure user presences — fromchat room names to avatars who looknothing like us — allows us to literallyreconceptualise ourselves.” It testifies thedeparture from the earlier mode of exis-tential self to the digital self, which isattributing more meaning to a digitalsubaltern self.

Indian and Western digital self:Culturally, individuality is not sup-pressed largely in the West due to anindividualistic understanding of theself, rooted in the Cartesian self. In India,desires, fantasies and aspirations arepeculiarly anchored by external factorsother than an individual. People will,therefore, often go and create digitalselves and put fake/distorted/misinfor-mation about their identities to cherishwhat they always wanted to be withoutrevealing much about themselves. It hasgiven them more freedom to express,which has resulted in the online socialselves dominating the real ones.Sometimes, the social self overpowers thereal existential self. In general terms,humans are living in a world of “doublesocial self.” The former springs fromphysical social space, the latter is causedby ICT and made compulsory due toeconomic and political compulsions.Novel digital subaltern metaphysics hasyet to be thoroughly comprehended inIndia. It could empirically be conclud-ed that the information society sells a jus-tifiable hope of liberation and empow-erment to subalterns in India.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Department of Philosophy, IndraprasthaCollege for Women, University of Delhi)

Is the information society selling a justifiable hope for liberation and empowerment to the marginalised in post-truth India?

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

Managing Covidthe Indian way

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

The desi variant of regulation has many uniquecharacteristics, namely observing the format

even if the content sounds silly

MOHAMMAD IRSHAD

WITH COLLECTIVESTRUGGLE,

SUBALTERNS AREREACHING AT THE

CENTRE OFDEMOCRATICKNOWLEDGE

PRODUCTION ANDCONTENT

GENERATION,CHALLENGING THEDISCRIMINATORYAND HEGEMONIC

PATTERNS OF THESTATE. THE APRIL 2,2018 MOBILISATION

OF DALITS ANDADIVASIS ACROSS

THE COUNTRY,AGAINST THE

DILUTION OF THEPROVISIONS OF THE

SCS/STS(PREVENTION OF

ATROCITIES) ACT, ISA UNIQUE

TESTAMENT TO ABETTER AND

PURPOSEFULUTILISATION OF

INTERNETTECHNOLOGY BYSUBALTERNS IN

INDIA TO ASSERTTHEIR RIGHTS.

LEADERS BECAMEIRRELEVANT

The last six months have seen exponential growth in the useof internet-enabled platforms for communication purposes.More webinars have been, perhaps, held per week than were

seminars held per month, in each of the preceding years, withany month being taken as an example. This is understandablebecause after the initial severity of the lockdown began wearingoff and the overenthusiasm of regulations without back-ups cre-ated its own long-term damages, gradually a greater sense of real-ism became a part of the scene. Dealing with a pandemic where— at the best — mitigation was the only strategy (and inexorablepersonal disaster a real possibility), there was little option but toallow life to begin limping towards the so-called “new normal.”If in the process infection multiplied and unmanageable risks erupt-ed, it was a price which could not be avoided.

The eateries started opening up and public transport was backon the wheels. Those who could not do without air travel wentback to flying. The standards were more of a lip-service, thanbeing implemented seriously. Reports had it that two twin airports,called “sister airports” and managed by identical agencies, man-power and serviced by identical airlines, at least on September10, offered two diametrically opposite scenes. Long queues atJammu airport, more organised systems at the Srinagar airport.At the Jammu airport, people were reconciled to standing shoul-der to shoulder. If in the process they contracted or passed onthe virus, how could it be helped? The system wanted to knowpersonal details, including the mobile number. How could one knowwhether this was a genuine mobile number?

The Indian variant of regulation has many unique character-istics, namely the form must be observed even if the contentsounds silly. This is truly an understandable approach becausethe circumstances demanded that procedures be shown to beobserved. Once in a while somebody talks of increasing med-ical literacy in the extension mode and somebody else notchesup a point by talking of public healthcare systems. Once in a while,somebody even talks of some modifications in the medical edu-cation curriculum. Truly speaking, nothing much seems to havebeen seriously attempted. At the time of writing this column, guide-lines were being issued for re-opening of higher educational insti-tutions: “Staggering of classroom activities to be done with sep-arate time slots to allow for adequate physical distancing and dis-infection of classroom premises…and so on.” It has been direct-ed that a distance of six feet would be observed between desks.It is mandated that academic scheduling should have an inter-mix of regular classroom teaching and online teaching and assess-ments. What has been missing is a back-up calculation to assesshow many square metres of space does an average education-al institution have? The smugness of powers that be is touch-ing. It is duly leavened by people willing to sing praises to it inthe hope of some compensating privileges coming their way. Theguideline document is a delight to read: “Institutions conductingskill or entrepreneurship training, higher educational institutionsconducting doctoral courses and postgraduate studies shall specif-ically ensure online and distance learning….’’ The document evengoes on to suggest the “utilisation of any outdoor space by relo-cating equipment outside like in veranda, courtyard, shed and soon.” This kind of wisdom eludes comment.

The truth of the situation is, in the absence of any standardsof prevention, in a verifiable sense, one cannot sense what thefuture would look like. The efforts seem to measure up only toa format. It is little wonder then that on September 9, India hadthe highest number of cases in a single day of any country onthis planet. The official response was swift, pointing to “the lowpercentages of fatalities.” This debate should not even have begun.In reality, no real teaching has begun in many places. There ismuch drumming up of the “hybrid approach” but the contentsof the curriculum have not even been touched.

Education as a domain is not a fallow field where anyone canwalk all over with command and confidence. It is managementof an expert system and the identification of genuine experts insufficient numbers to plan, develop and execute is an importantpre-requisite. The powers that be claim that the education poli-cy had comments from over two lakh individuals. This is fabu-lous. Who were the core group of people — with what expertise— to screen their reactions? Nevertheless a good aspirationaldocument has emerged. What is now required is its conversionto an operational level. A rebirth is possible provided the envi-sioning is clear and process issues clarified.

(The writer is an internationally-acclaimed managementconsultant)

Karachi is Pakistan’s largest andthe world’s sixth-largest city. Itis the provincial capital of Sindh

province. Known as Pakistan’s econom-ic hub, it generates up to 65 per centof the national revenue. It is alsoPakistan’s major port city. It is a fact thatonly during disasters, such as therecent urban flooding, do mostKarachiites realise that there is not onepolitical or administrative authority inKarachi but many. The cityGovernment, the Sindh Government,the federal Government and variouslocal administrative bodies. Theadministrative structure of this mam-moth metropolis is thus complex andmulti-layered, with some absurd over-laps. Karachi is also Pakistan’s most eth-nically diverse city. Even though thisdiversity continues to sustain the city’s

metropolitan status, and its rather prag-matically formulated pluralistic culture,it can also make the city’s many polit-ical and administrative stakeholderspull their individual weights in oppo-site directions. This makes it almostimpossible for them to strike anyworkable consensus.

This is reflective of the city’s seg-regated ethnic construct. Ever since the1980s, various ethnic communitieshave ghettoised themselves in theirareas of numerical influence. Duringtimes of ethnic tussles over the city’sresources, ethnic groups prefer toremain in their areas. However, sinceeconomic survival demands venturingout and interacting with other groups,bridges do emerge and communitiesreturn to interact with each other. Nomatter how pragmatic the nature of thisinteraction, it often results in the cre-ation of an overarching culture of inter-action and inclusiveness, only to recedeonce again during ethnic commotions.

Common economic interests arewhat drive this interaction, until onecommunity begins to suspect themotives of the other. The suspectedmotive is usually about usurping morethan one’s unsaid share of economic

resources. But there are no suchbridges between those who adminis-ter this city. Communication gapsremain and in case of emergencies,these cause uncoordinated, chaoticresponses and futile finger-pointing.The city’s ethnic diversity works in acurious manner, generating an always-squabbling pluralism.

Most large cities, even in devel-oped countries, face a plethora ofadministrative and infrastructuralproblems. But lessons and data fromtheir historical evolution aid them toadjust and resolve these problems. Butunlike most cities, Karachi did notevolve as a city, as such, but it implod-ed into existence. Twice.

The region that became Karachihas an obscure history till the 18th cen-tury. According to ancient Greek texts,the Greek commander Nearchus, whoaccompanied Alexander during hisinvasion of India in 326 BC, called theregion “Krokola”, a place by the seainhabited by a tiny community of“primitive people.” However, 16th cen-tury Turks and Arabs called it“Kaurashi.” But it does not appear onany map until Sindh’s Kalhora dynastyannexed it in 1759. It was “gifted” to

Balochistan’s Khan of Kalat in 1767before being annexed by Sindh’s Talpurdynasty in 1794. By all accounts, it wasstill a small fishing town with less than10,000 inhabitants, mostly Sindhi andBaloch, who called it “Kolachi.”

The British invaded and occupiedKarachi in the early 1840s and thenannexed the rest of Sindh. They madeKarachi and Sindh parts of the BombayPresidency. The British rapidly devel-oped Karachi’s port and infrastructure.This led to migrations from the rest ofIndia. From a population of less than15,000 during the time of the Britishtakeover, it witnessed a manifoldincrease. By 1856, the population hadjumped to 57,000.

Suddenly, within a matter of a fewdecades, the rugged fishing town of15,000 people became a rapidly-emerg-ing port city. By the 1930s, the Britishwere calling Karachi the “Queen of theEast” and praising its enterprising, tol-erant and diverse character. The city’ssudden urban emergence and swiftincrease in population did create issuesbut the British introduced an effectivemodel of city governance that contin-ued to upgrade Karachi’s infrastructure.The city governance system eschewed

politics based on religion or ethnicityand succeeded in managing the city’sresources in such a manner that majorand minor stakeholders felt included.In 1936, Sindh was restored as aprovince and Karachi was made its cap-ital. According to the 1941 censusreport, Karachi’s population then was435,887. Over 50 per cent were Hindus,40 per cent were Muslims, while therest comprised Buddhists,Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews.Over 65 per cent spoke Sindhi.

In 1947, the city imploded intoanother form of existence, this time asa capital of Pakistan. Karachi’s demo-graphics witnessed a dramatic shiftwhen millions of Urdu-speakingMuslims (Mohajir) migrated to it.There was a 161 per cent increase inKarachi’s population. The infrastruc-ture left behind by the British could notaccommodate the massive increase,and began to crumble.

In 1958, the Ayub KhanGovernment chalked out a resettlementplan which was to be accommodatedby an ambitious industrialisation pro-ject. New low-income housing schemesemerged but factories and businesseswere slow to reach these areas and there

was lack of transport. Pashtun andPunjabi migrants also began to arrivein droves. Slums began to sprout.Failure to effectively adjust the city’sinfrastructure to accommodate thesechanges led to ad hoc arrangements. In1965, Karachi witnessed its first ethnicriot. In 1970, it once again became thecapital of Sindh. In 1972, it witnessedanother round of ethnic riots. Unableto check the influx of more inner-Pakistan migrations to Karachi, andstall the mushrooming of slums, the ZABhutto Government, in 1975, deviseda “Karachi Master Plan” to upgrade thecity’s failing infrastructure. It plannedto build new road networks and hous-ing; construct transport terminals,warehousing, mass transit and so on.But the plan was not implemented afterthe 1977 coup of Zia-ul-Haq. Thisresulted in the growth of the informalsector and mafia that emerged toserve a growing population of a failingcity. Across the 1980s and 1990s,Karachi witnessed brutal ethnic andsectarian violence. Ethnic communi-ties and mafia fought running battlesto gain access to the city’s dwindlingresources. In 2000, the Musharraf dic-tatorship launched a Karachi

Development Programme. But thisplan departed from the “social demo-cratic” tenor of the previous (unimple-mented) plans and adopted “neo-lib-eral” ideas. This meant putting moremoney in extravagant buildingschemes and less on the city’s degrad-ing infrastructure. For example, accord-ing to Hasan, whereas in the past slumsbecame the source of clogging drainswith sewage, in the last two decades,the same is being done by high incomeareas.

Construction of residential areas,both high and low income, on natur-al drainage routes also continues. Dueto clogged drains, these natural routesnow go through residential areas androads, flooding them over and again.Rain run-offs have used these routesfor thousands of years but builders failto take this into account by building onthem without any adequate drainagefacilities. Ancient Greek texts quoteNearchus as saying “a great storm wasraging” when his army reachedKrokola, and the storm waters wereemptying into the sea. Of course, at thetime, there was nothing coming in theway of these waters.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

Karachi: A metropolis in a watery messIts problems of infrastructure can be traced back to its sudden transformation into a major city and to the lack of attention paid to its planning

NADEEM PARACHA

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

www.dailypioneer.comanalysis

VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 money 08

PNS n NEW DELHI

The finance ministry onSunday said banks have sanc-tioned loans worth over Rs 1.63lakh crore to more than 42 lakhbusiness units under the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency CreditLine Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS) for the MSME sector.

On the disbursement front,however, over Rs 1.18 lakhcrore doled out to 25 lakhMSME units, till September 10,which were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lock-downs.

The scheme is the biggestfiscal component of the Rs 20-lakh crore AatmanirbharBharat Abhiyan packageannounced by Finance Minis-ter Nirmala Sitharaman inMay to mitigate the distress byproviding credit to differentsectors, especially micro, smalland medium enterprises

(MSMEs).As of September 10,

as reported by public sectorbanks (PSBs) and top 23 pri-vate sector banks, "additionalcredit amounting to Rs1,63,226.49 crore has beensanc tioned to 42,01,576 bor-rowers", the ministry said in astatement.

"Amount of Rs 1,18,138.64crore has been disbursed to25,01,999 borrowers," it saidwhile sharing the progress ofimplementation of various

schemes under theAatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyanpackage.

Sharing details of otherschemes being implemented bythe finance ministry, the state-ment said banks have approvedpurchase of portfolio of Rs25,055.5 crore under Rs45,000-crore Partial CreditGuarantee Scheme 2.0 forNBFCs, HFCs and MFIs to dofresh lending to MSMEs andindividuals scheme as onAugust 28.

Lenders are currently in theprocess of approval/negotia-tions for additional Rs 4,367crore, it said. Talking aboutincome tax refunds, it said thedepartment has issued Rs1,01,308 crore to more than27.55 lakh taxpayers betweenApril 1, 2020 and September 8,2020.

"Income tax refunds of Rs30,768 crore have been issuedin 25,83,507 cases and corpo-rate tax refunds of Rs 70,540crore have been issued in1,71,155 cases. In fact, all cor-porate tax refunds up to Rs 50crore have been issued in allcases, wherever due. Otherrefunds are under process," itsaid. With regard to Rs 30,000crore Special Liquidity Schemefor the stressed non-bankingfinancial companies(NBFCs)/housing financecompanies (HFCs)/microfinance institutions (MFIs).

Banks sanction Rs 1.63lakh cr to 42 lakh MSMEs

Discoms' outstanding duesrise 36% to Rs 1.29 lakh crPNS n NEW DELHI

Power producers' total out-standing dues owed by distri-bution firms rose over 36 percent year-on-year to Rs 1.29lakh crore in July 2020, reflect-ing stress in the sector.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total of Rs94,704 crore to power gener-ation firms in July 2019,according to portal PRAAPTI(Payment Ratification AndAnalysis in Power procure-ment for bringingTransparency in Invoicing ofgenerators).

The portal was launched inMay 2018 to bring in trans-parency in power purchasetransactions between the gen-erators and discoms.

In July 2020, the total over-due amount, which was notcleared even after 60 days ofgrace period offered by gener-ators, stood at Rs 1,16,817crore, as against Rs 75,411

crore in the year-ago period.According to the latest data

on the portal, total outstand-ing dues in July has decreasedover the previous month. InJune 2020, total outstandingdues of discoms stood at Rs1,30,118 crore. However, theoverdue amount in July 2020has increased from Rs 1,15,623crore in June 2020.Power pro-ducers give 60 days to discomsfor paying bills for the supplyof electricity. After that, out-standing dues become overdueand generators charge penalinterest on that in most cases.

In order to give relief topower generation companies(gencos), the Centre enforceda payment security mecha-nism from August 1, 2019.Under this mechanism, dis-coms are required to open let-ters of credit for getting powersupply. The central governmenthad also given some breathersto discoms for paying dues topower generating companies(gencos) in view of COVID-19-induced lockdown. Thegovernment had also waivedthe penal charges for late pay-ment of dues in the directive.

Three-prongedstrategy to drivegrowth: ZydusPNS n NEW DELHI

Consumer wellness firmZydus Wellness has said itwill take a three-prongedstrategy to drive growth goingforward.

As a part of the strategy,the company would acceler-ate growth of core brandswith innovations to focus onportfolio diversification andexpansion with an aim torecruit new customers.Besides, it is planning differ-entiated propositions for theproducts supported by strong'Go To Market', ZydusWellness said in an investors'presentation. The second pil-lar of the strategy is buildingscale in international businessby focusing on South AsianAssociation for RegionalC oop erat ion (SAARC)countries, the Middle Eastand Africa region andSoutheast Asia region, itadded.

Odisha's agri push to boostentrepreneurship among youthPNS n BHUBANESHWAR

As agriculture plays a vital rolein the economy and liveli-hood of the majority of peo-ple,the Odisha government isaccording priority to the farmand allied sector to provideopportunities to young entre-preneurs,a senior official said.

Adequate measures shouldbe taken to encourage youn-gentrepreneurs to make use ofthe opportunities of theschemesof the Centre and thestate government for agricul-tural growthof the state, andinvestment in the sector, saidAgricultureSecretary SaurabhGarg.Schemes like AgricultureInfrastructure DevelopmentFunds, Mission for IntegratedDevelopment of HorticultureandMukhyamantri KrushiUdyoga Yojana will strength-en the states economy whileensuring its agricultural

growth, Garg saidaddressing awebinar.The webinar titled'Agri-Business: Scopes andOpportunities' was organisedon Saturday by OdishaCorporateFoundation (OCF),a non-profit organisation.

Noting that Rs 1lakh crore loans will be provid-ed tothe farmers in the coun-try by banks and other institu-tionsunder the AgriculturalInfrastructure Fund, he saidOdishafarmers can avail loans

of Rs 2,500 crore under thisfund.

Farmers as well as thosekeen to invest in agriculture

and allied fields should reapthe benefits, he added.Director,Agriculture and FoodProduction, M Muthukumarsaid the use of new technolo-gies and the availability ofproper agri infrastructure willhelp the younger generation totake a plunge into the sector.

PNS n NEW DELHI

IT peripheral firm BenQexpects around 15-20 per centgrowth in India business thisyear on pick up in salesdemand from home segmentfor monitors and high-defin-ition projectors, according toa top official of the company.

According to BenQ IndiaManaging Director RajeevSingh, the company's institu-tional sales for flat screen walland projectors have suffereddue to the COVID-19 pan-demic, but its impact has beencompensated with increase insales of monitor and projectorsby retail customers.

"In terms of percentage, weare definitely looking at a 15to 20 per cent increase. We areexpecting at least three timesgrowth in our monitor busi-ness during this year as com-pared to last year, and we workon a calendar year basis,"

Singh told PTI. He saidbecause of work from home,learning and entertainmentat home, the demand for com-pany's business to consumer(B2C) products has increased,specifically for monitors.

Before COVID-19, two-thirds of BenQ's business camefrom sales of projectors andinteractive flat panels andone-third of business wasbeing contributed by moni-tors. According to IDC, thecompany recorded 163 percent year-on-year surge insales of monitors during April-June quarter in 2020.

BenQ expects bizto grow 15-20%

ICAI seeksextension of GSTannual returnfiling deadline

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI)has written to the GSTCouncil seeking deferment of2018-19 GST annual returnfiling deadline by 3 monthstill December 31.The lastdate for filing annual returnfor 2018-19 fiscal for Goodsand Services Tax (GST) reg-istered taxpayer is September30. In its representation to theGST Council, the ICAI saidmajority of the offices areworking only partially due tothe COVID-19 pandemic.

"We request... to provideappropriate relaxation to theregistered persons and extenddue dates of filing GST annu-al return and GST audit forthe year 2018–19 by 3 monthstill December 31, 2020.”

Credit guaranteefor startups soonPNS n NEW DELHI

The Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) isworking on two schemes --credit guarantee and seedfunds -- to support startups inthe country, a top governmentofficial has said.

DPIIT Secretary GuruprasadMohapatra said that an inter-ministerial consultationprocess is on to work out thecontours of the two schemes.

We are working on a creditguarantee scheme and a seedfund scheme. Both are underinter-ministerial consulta-tions," the secretary told PTI.

He said there would be acorpus in the credit guaranteescheme which would be givento banks and they will leveragethat to lend to startups. Thisscheme would give banks a

comfort to lend, he said addingthat it is for credit not for ven-ture capital.

"This is for capex credit,"Mohapatra added.On the seedfund scheme, Mohapatra saidthat most startups actuallyface problems in raisingfinance or funds in the ideationto the proof of concept stage.Some states like Gujarat andKerala already have schemeslike seed funds, but they aresmall, he said. "The centralgovernment ministries alsohave, but we want to put a panIndia scheme," the secretarysaid. Both the schemes wouldrequire approval of the financeministry and then the DPIITwould seek nod of the UnionCabinet for these two schemes.The department is encourag-ing states to develop theirstartup policy to promote bud-ding entrepreneurs.

India's coalimport drops35% in AugPNS n NEW DELHI

India's coal import declinedby 34.9 per cent to 12.46 mil-lion tonnes (MT) in Auguston account of subdueddemand for the dry fuel fromconsuming sectors like powerand cement.

The country imported19.14 MT of coal in Augustlast year, according to provi-sional compilation by mjunc-tion, based on monitoring ofvessels' positions and datareceived from shipping com-panies.mjunction, a joint ven-ture between Tata Steel andSAIL, is a B2B e-commercecompany that also publishesresearch reports on coal andsteel verticals. Also, the firstfive months of the current fis-cal saw 32.51 per cent declinein coal import at 73.08 MT,over 108.29 MT during theyear-ago period, it said. CoalIndia (CIL), which accountsfor over 80 per cent of domes-tic coal output, has beenmandated by the govern-ment to replace at least 100million tonnes of importswith domestically-producedcoal in the ongoing fiscal.

Tourism industry pins hope on festive seasonPNS nKOLKATA

The tourism sector, crippled bythe COVID-19 pandemic,hopes to see some businesses inthe upcoming Durga puja andDiwali seasons with queriesfrom interested travellers com-ing in, officials of the industry-bodies said on Sunday.

In the domestic and short-haul segments, people areshowing interest, Travel Agents'Federation of India (TAFI)east-ern region head Anil Punjabisaid.

"There is interest andqueries are coming in aboudestinations and safety mea-sures, but these are yet to betranslated into bookings," hesaid, adding that people havechanged their priorities amidthe COVID-19 crisis.

"There will be businesses inthe Durga Puja and Diwali sea-sons with interest growingamong people, though it is like-ly to be much less than what itused to be in the previousyears," Punjabi told PTI. Withpeople starting to learn to live

with the pandemic, at leastsome of them are likely to starttravelling with requisite safetymeasures, he said.

The TAFI eastern regionhead said the tour operators areproviding people with all kindof information regarding

tourists' destinations and thesafety of the places.

A lot depends on how theCOVID-19 situation emergesin the next few days as peoplewould not want any cancella-tion. "Bengal is a value-for-money destination and is safealso," he said, expressing hopethat domestic tourists wouldtravel during the holiday sea-son.

The reopening of Darjeelinghills to outsiders has led totourists making queries aboutbookings in different destina-tions there for the Puja season,according to Raj Basu, con-venor of the Association forConservation of Tourism.

"Many destinations inDarjeeling hills and Dooarsforest in North Bengal are invillage areas, which have

around 70 per cent share oftourist footfalls," Basu toldPTI.

Since these places are spreadacross villages and are not likehotels or resorts in urban cen-tres, operators of tourism clus-ters are being informed aboutsafe practices.

"Each cluster com-prises around 12 to 15 villages.At the meetings in each clus-ter, sensitisation is being doneso that the tourists, the opera-tors as also the villagers staysafe while livelihood is alsoearned," Basu said.

He said safe practices andhow to deal with any kind ofemergency situation are beingdescribed through workshopsto the village tourism operatorsin Darjeeling, Kalimpong andDooars areas.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Attributing the rise in inflationto supply-side frictions, ChiefEconomic Adviser K V Subramanian has exuded confi-dence that retail inflation willcome down in the days aheadwith the easing of lockdowns.According to the governmentdata, retail inflation rose to6.93 per cent in July, mainlydriven by rising prices of fooditems like vegetables, pulses,meat and fish.

However, wholesale price-based inflation declined 0.58per cent in July, even as fooditems turned costlier.

"If you look at inflation...it'sprimarily because of thosesupply-side frictions, but aslocal lockdowns are actuallybeing reduced, these frictionsshould basically go down," hetold PTI. "Overall, the differ-ence between wholesale andretail inflation is primarilydue to supply-side factorswhich should decrease andtherefore going forward eventhe retail inflation shouldease," Subramanian said.

There are fears that retailinflation would remain at anelevated level during the rest

of the year limiting the scopefor the RBI to further ease thebenchmark interest rate.

The six-member MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC)headed by the RBI Governorhas been given the mandate tomaintain annual retail infla-tion at 4 per cent until March31, 2021, with an upper toler-ance of 6 per cent and a lowertolerance of 2 per cent.

Retail inflation so far hasbeen in the tolerance range ofMPC except for breach inJuly. In June, retail inflationwas 6.09 per cent.

At the same time, WPIinflation in June was at (-) 1.81per cent, while for the monthof May and April it was (-) 3.37per cent and (-) 1.57 per centrespectively. anufacturingshrank 39.3 per cent, construc-tion contracted 50.3 per cent,mining output fell 23.3 percent, and electricity and gassegment dropped 7 per cent.

Retail inflation willcome down: CEA

PNS n NEW DELHI

SBI Card is in the process ofenrolling "delinquent" cus-tomers, who did not repay afterthe end of moratorium, in theRBI restructuring scheme or itsown repayment plan to pro-vide them more time for repay-ments, a top company officialsaid.Due to the moratorium, anumber of customers had notbeen paying for the first threemonths and the companytreated them as standardaccounts in line with the entireindustry. However, since then,as the first moratorium ended,SBI Card made it a customer-led enrolment in the secondmoratorium in which a lot ofcustomers did not enrol, SBICard Managing Director &CEO Ashwini Kumar Tewarisaid.

"Therefore, we had a largechunk of customers who cameout of the moratorium. A lot ofthem paid up but many ofthem did not pay also. Andthese became what we call asmore delinquent customers.

"So with these delinquentcustomers, we are now work-ing to enrol them either into

the RBI restructuring schemeor our own repayment plans sothat they get more time andbetter interest rate to pay theirdues," Tewari, who took chargeover a month ago, told PTI inan interview.

According to the company,it had Rs 7,083 crore undermoratorium in May whichcame down to Rs 1,500 crorein June. Those who would beavailing the company's restruc-turing plan will have a benefitover the RBI restructuringplan as SBI Card will notreport such cases to the cred-it scoring agency CIBIL.

In March, the RBI hadallowed the first three-monthmoratorium on payment of allterm loans due between March1, 2020 and May 31, 2020.

Later on, it was extended foranother three months tillAugust 2020.

The process of restructuringis going on currently, Tewarisaid, adding a large number ofaccounts are to be enrolled andthe company needs to make a10 per cent provisioning onthese accounts as per the RBIguidelines.

Besides, there are someaccounts that surely havebecome NPA (non-perform-ing) due to the pandemic andtherefore additional provisionsneed to be created for that, hesaid. "However, we will bevery cautious, even if we get tothat number (provisioning), wewould still like to providemore because the future is stilluncertain," he added.

SBI Card to enrol ‘delinquent'customers in restructuring plans

UCO Bank yet to takeup asset quality studyPNS nKOLKATA

State-owned UCO Bank hasnot been able to make an ana-lytical study of its asset qual-ity even after the end of theloan repayment moratoriumperiod on August 31, heedinga Supreme Court directivethat no accounts shall bedowngraded for now, an offi-cial said. On September 3, ina relief to stressed borrowerswho are facing hardship dueto adverse impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic, thetop court had said thataccounts which were notdeclared as non-performingassets till August 31 this year,shall not be declared NPA tillfurther orders.

The apex court had alsoearlier expressed its reserva-tion over the idea of 'charginginterest on interest' fromthose borrowers who werewilling to avail of the loanrepayment moratorium, afacility extended by theReserve Bank of India duringthe pandemic times. UCOBank MD and CEO A KGoel had earlier said thelender would like to ascertainits asset quality, once the-

moratorium period ceases onAugust 31.

"We are not able to carryout that exercise as the apexcourt has directed that noaccounts will be downgradedtill further orders", Goel toldPTI. With the RBI guidelines,the lender has started anexercise of making a list of eli-gible borrowers whoseaccounts could be restruc-tured with the rider that theyshould not have any overduefor 30 days as on March 1,2020. He said the bank hasalready obtained the boardapproval for this. Goel saidthe lender has already pre-pared a standard operatingprocedure to identifyaccounts which are reallyaffected by the COVID-19crisis. "If borrowers are real-ly affected by job loss orsalary cut, then the bankwill go all out to lend thema helping hand," he said.According to him, the bankwould ask for salary slipsofFebruary 2020 and also thatof August.

Asked about the credit off-take growth, Goel said it wasalmost "negligible" in the firstquarter of the current fiscal.

Covid treatment accounts for 11%of health insurance claims: StudyPNS n NEW DELHI

Treatment for COVID-19accounted for as much as 11per cent of the total healthinsurance claims paid by insur-ance companies during thefirst five months of the currentfinancial year, says a researchconducted by Policybazaar.com.The research furtherrevealed that 89 per cent ofhealth insurance claims duringApril 1, 2020 and August 31,2020 were for other major ill-nesses, including cancer, heartproblems, kidney and treat-ment.

Policybazaar.com, which acc

ounts for about 10 per cent ofIndia's retail health insurancemarket, said the data pertainsto April 1 to August 31.

The insurtech brand furthersaid the increasing incidence ofcoronavirus cases and the ris-ing cost of treatment havebeen promoting more andmore people to opt for healthinsurance in these uncertaintimes.

"As per Policybazaar data,COVID claims are only 11 percent out of overall claims. Therest 89 per cent are of othermajor illnesses...," it said.

The COVID-19 scare, itsaid, "has triggered everyone to

prioritise health insurance likenever before not only for pro-tection against a pandemicbut also against any biggerevents or illnesses like lifestyledisease which will stay hereforever."

As regards the cost of treat-ment, the insurance aggrega-tor said COVID-19 treatmentmay cost more than Rs 10 lakhin case of prolonged hospital-isation.

A comprehensive healthinsurance policy with Rs 10lakh sum insured for a 32-year-old individual costs anywherebetween Rs 7,000–9,000 annu-ally, it said.

From Miss Asia Universeto a Fitness Enthusiast

The Pioneer's SHIKHA DUGGAL speaks to formerMiss Asia Universe and fitness enthusiast — Sonal Singh.The co-founder of an online fitness platform providinghealth education to people, 1-on-1 guidance, andcommunity support named ‘Fittr', Sonal's motto in life isto help inspire people to overcome their challenges sothat they can pursue professional and personal growth byleading healthier lives. This Pune-based fitness start-uphas also managed to raise two million in pre-series ‘Afunding from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge', anaccelerator programme for early-stage startups in Indiaand Southeast Asia. The startup is now backed by actorSuniel Shetty and has been selected for the US-basedaccelerator, Y Combinator’s batch of 2020. Here are someexcerpts from the chat with the illustrious fitness expert

rom a corpo-rate profes-sional to afitnessexpert, shedsome light on

this beautiful journeyfor our readers toknow how SonalSingh entered intoone of the largest fit-ness communities inthe world?

I was working at Deloitteas a strategy consultant for4 years in London when Iquit my job and moved toIndia. When I moved here,I worked as a freelanceconsultant, helping brandsbuild their businessesonline. When I took sometime off and entered theMs Asia Universe competi-tion, I met JatindraChouksey from Fittr whotrained me and I won thetitle. We came togetherbecause we were strongly

aligned with the cause ofhelping people. My corpo-rate experience helpedtremendously as I headstrategic initiatives andspearheaded the fundraiserto help raise two million infunds from Sequoia’s Surgeprogram. I also successfullyonboarded key clients suchas Philips India, Reliance,and Tata onto the platform.

You are standing on asuccessful pedestaltoday, so how do youdifferentiate betweenself-esteem and atti-tude?

Your outlook towardsthings and attitude deter-mine your self-esteem —no one else. I stronglybelieve that our mostimportant sale is to sellour‘self ’ to ourselves everyday and unleash the powerwithin you. My internalconfidence and externalachievements helped me

maintain my success. Wecan accomplish anything ifwe believe in ourselvesapart from accepting our-selves for who we are,which is an important fac-tor for success. Our self-esteem is an assessment ofour self-worth!

Who/what do you con-sider to be the causeof your success?

The determination to getbetter and, pushing myselfout of my comfort zone ona daily basis! I’m alsoextremely grateful for avery supportive and lovingfamily. My education, hardwork, sacrifice, and dedica-tion to my family haveallowed me to breakthrough the glass ceilingand earn my place in Fittr.They often tell me howproud they are of myaccomplishments and howmuch they value me forusing my abilities to make

their lives better. I wasnever instilled with a pangof certain guilt for mydevotion towards mycareer as if that somehowmeans I am less devoted tomy family. Instead, theyidealise the true definitionof womanhood in me!

COVID has indeedshattered many sec-tors across thenation, one of thembeing the fitnessindustry. Do you thinktechnological innova-tions practiced byrenowned gyms havemade it possible forthe fitness enthusi-asts to engage bet-ter? Was it a success-ful move?

I think COVID hashelped us value the funda-mentals more than ever.You don’t need extensiveequipment or an expensivegym membership to get fit.

You can do it from thecomfort of your home witha coach training through anapp or by following anexercise session online. Theawareness related to healthand fitness has increasedduring the lockdown andits easier to train and exer-cise safely at home amidthese unprecedented times.The fact that the fitnessindustry has shifted to digi-tal platforms to survive thischallenging period is whatmay become the future ofthis industry as well.

Have you acceptedwork from home asthe new normal? Doyou embrace it or doyou feel it's causingyou trouble?

It was definitely anadjustment at first as Itravel a lot for work. I wakeup every day and practice aquick gratitude exercise sothat I’m emotionally fit to

manage the challenges ofthe day. When your per-spective shifts from one ofthe expectations to begrateful, you explore thebest version of yourself.When you approach lifefrom this mindset, magichappens!

At present, what'sSonal Singh's purposein life?

When I quit my job inLondon and moved toIndia, everyone questionedmy decision and told me Ihad made a huge mistake.Rather than let this determe I continued to carve myown path because I had astrong belief that my pur-pose would be fulfilledhere. My personal missionis to help people unlocktheir potential and pursuetheir passion by becomingfitter versions of them-selves both, physically andmentally.

f

Serving the Covid-hit with aplombt a time when amajority of profes-sional sports per-sons rest contentafter making con-tributions when

natural calamities destructthe nation and wreak havocall over or during the currentCovid-19 terror, only a hand-ful of celebrities are physicallyaround consoling the people,who have been subject totraumatic times. Tinsel townpersonalities also prefer tocontribute to the cost but stayaway from actually being onthe ground.

To the select few, who gothe extra mile to personallyhandover succour to the vic-tims, belongs the tennis pro-fessional from Suryapet,Rekha Boyalapalli, who iscurrently based inHyderabad.

A top 50 player on theAITA circuit, who has alsomade a name for herself inITF World Tour with herexploits, her obsession is fortennis but her passion is else-where-helping the needy andthe accursed have-nots. It isto reach out to a larger sec-tion of such anguished fami-lies that she floated RekhaCharitable Foundation, whichhas been in the forefront ofhelping people in dire straits.

Besides distribution of pro-tein-enriched food to preg-nant women and postnatalmothers, she frequently visitsorphanages, slums and homesfor the aged.

“I was moved seeing themisery caused by Covid-19.There were heart-rendingscenes all over and not every-

one in distress was receivingsuccour. I thought theFoundation had to attend tothese people, first and fore-most. Apart from the daily-wage earners and slum-dwellers, we also distributedvegetables and essential com-modities in the presence ofsenior officials of GreaterHyderabad Municipal

Corporation (GHMC) insome localities of Hyderabad,”explains the Chairperson ofRekha CharitableFoundation, who incidentallyholds a diploma inSwadharma Yoga.

Adding further, she says“one of the worst impactedwas the migrant labour class.They had come to the State

to earn a livelihood. Withreal estate activity, like every-thing else, having come to agrinding halt due to lock-down and Covid protocol,they had nothing to eat andno place to live. Noticingtheir desperation to head totheir native villages, wedecided to make transporta-tion arrangements when

lockdown relaxations wereannounced. Our volunteersdid a great job.”

Charity and doing some-thing for others has beeningrained in her from child-hood, for which she remainsindebted to her elders.Although into tennis as acareer option, Rekha initiat-ed rural sports developmentactivities in various disci-plines, including kabaddi,cricket, track and field, vol-leyball at Adivemula villagein Nalgonda district.

“Our priority in the pre-sent testing times will be tobring relief to the Covid-hitfamilies,” she avers.

Laugh out loud, this time, in Tamilfter 2 successfulHindi seasons ofthe popular stand-up comedy com-petition, AmazonPrime Video

enters into the regional com-edy space with its Tamilspinoff. Aspiring comedianscompete to become thefuture of comedy in theTamil stand-up comedyscene. The contestants willbe mentored and judged bywidely renowned Tamilcomedians: Karthik Kumar,Praveen Kumar, andRajmohan Arumugam.

While comedy as a genreis not new to the Tamil audi-ences, the format of the showis fresh and engaging. It’s thefirst time that a ‘competition’is being introduced, in agenre like Stand-up comedyfor the audiences to engagewith. ‘Comicstaan SemmaComedy Pa’ is expected tobring forth the local flavour— borrowing from theunique nuances of Tamil cul-ture, with exclusive sets per-

formed by each of the partic-ipants.

With one unable to ventureoutdoor in any recreationalactivities, events and live per-formances have taken a hugehit so to say. But in the age ofdigitisation, OTT platformsand other platforms on theweb are paving the way forthese artists to connect to alarge number of audiencesmore than ever before. Be itlive streams, online comedyshows or entertaining contentlike Comicstaan SemmaComedy Pa, each one of themis proving to be a boon forstand-up comics and more sofor us who are craving for adose of laughter.

On OTT platforms being aboon for artists much likehim, comedian, and morerecently a mentor on thepopular Tamil spin-offComicstan Semma ComedyPa, Karthik Kumar quipped,“I think the valuable thingthat OTT platform likeAmazon Prime Video doesis, that it amplifies our craft

of stand-up comedy acrossgenres and regions. It givesus access to a wider set ofaudience that opens up wideravenues for the industry andits comics to explore in thefuture. Had we taken the reg-ular route, it would have eas-ily taken us years to sensitizeour audience to the concept.Through Comicstaan SemmaComedy Pa, we are able toachieve that in one year.Comicstaan is also helpingtowards educating the audi-ence and encouraging themto try it themselves too.People should not thinkcomedy is done just bycomedians. When someonewatches a comedy film, theyintrospect, question it, andrelate to it, making it a partof pop-culture. And that'swhat Comicstaan hasachieved. More than justputting stand-up showsonline, the show educatedpeople to another level anddid it so powerfully. It’s like avitamin pill for this develop-ment.”

a

a

A top 50 player on the AITA circuit, who has also madea name for herself in ITF World Tour with her exploits,her obsession is for tennis but her passion is else-where-helping the needy and the accursed have-nots.It is to reach out to a larger section of such anguishedfamilies that she floated Rekha Charitable Foundation

MondaySeptember 14, 2020

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@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Monday September 14 2020 what’s brewing?

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

HEALTH BENEFITS OFRED RICE NOODLES

We have all grown up eating noodles either as aSunday brunch, in birthday parties or an occasionalsurprise treat. It could be the much loved instant 2

minutes noodles or the Indo-Chinese version of hakkanoodles. It still is a comfort food for many of us since it

brings about some very happy childhood memories.Although kids absolutely love it as a meal but as adults,

we feel guilty since we know what goes into makingnoodles. Both instant as well as hakka noodles,

available in the market, are made with maida/refinedflour whose nutritional value is literally zero. It causes

digestive issues as well as wreaks havoc to the bloodsugar and cholesterol levels in the body. Most noodles

also contain MSG and other artificial flavour enhancerswhich have been time and again proven to be very

harmful to our health. Does it mean that we shouldkeep our kids away from noodles? Not necessarily, says

Priya Prakash, Co-Founder, Naturally Yours. Red ricenoodles is an ideal healthy alternative to regular

noodles. It is completely devoid of maida and is madeusing only red rice and whole-wheat flour. This makesit a very good source of dietary fibers and antioxidants.It is easy to make and takes barely 10 minutes to cook,thus making it a great choice for individuals who want

to eat healthy but are hard-pressed for time. It is alsoideal for moms, who can get their kids to consume

wholegrains without a fuss, since it is in the form oftheir favourite meal, she suggests.

PRAKASH SHARES TOP 10 HEALTH

BENEFITS OF RED RICE NOODLES.oo Easy to digest: Red rice noodles have

high fiber content due to thepresence of wholegrains. This helpsto support healthy digestion.

oo Provides all the benefits ofnutritious red rice in kid friendlyformat: It provides you with thegoodness of red rice, which has 10times more antioxidants than brownrice and is also very rich in essentialnutrients, iron, vitamin, phosphorusand fiber.

oo Tastemaker is MSG free: Thetastemaker is free of MSG, artificialadditives, taste enhancers, colour,preservatives etc. It is made usingnatural spices like turmeric, gingerand pepper which also support ahealthy digestion. Thus making itideal for kids.

oo Time Saver: The most important

benefit is that these noodles are easyto make in under 10 minutes.

The noodles tastes very similar to regularnoodles and can be used in differentrecipes like Ramen, schezwan, chopseuyetc.oo Kid friendly meal: Super easy way to

introduce wholegrains in children'sdiet since they absolutely lovenoodles.

oo Rich in antioxidants: Red rice has 10times more antioxidants than brownrice. The antioxidant calledAnthocyanin is the pigment whichgives red rice its reddish-purple color.These are powerful anti-inflammatoryagents and also help to promote skinand eye health.

oo Only Natural spices: The tastemakeris made using only natural spices liketurmeric, ginger, pepper etc whichhelp to support a healthy digestion.There are no artificial sweeteners orunfamiliar ingredients.

oo Ideal for individuals followingweight management diets: Since itis made using wholegrains, the fibercontent in these noodles helps toslow down digestion and makes youfeel fuller for a longer period of time.This in turn prevents you fromovereating or reaching out forunhealthy junk food in between yourmeals, thus supporting healthyweight management.

HERE'S A SIMPLE RECIPE FORYOU TO TRY AT HOME.

oo Take about 2L of water in a large panand boil on high heat. Add a tsp ofsalt in it.

oo Once the water has come to a rollingboil, add Red Rice Noodles.

oo Stir once to make sure that thenoodles are not sticking together orto the bottom of the pan.

oo Continue to boil on high heat, stirring

occasionally, until the water returns toa rolling boil (about 2 minutes)

oo Once the water begins to bubble andfoam, you may wish to turn down thetemperature a bit to keep it fromboiling over

oo Boil for another 5 to 7 minutes.oo Test a piece of noodles to see

whether it is the texture you'relooking for (cooked but still a bitfirm)

oo Drain the water and keep the noodlesaside. Rinse it and then toss it with abit of oil to make sure that thenoodles don't stick to itself.

oo Saute the vegetables of your choice(like onion, carrot, capsicum,cabbage, beans etc) in 1 tsp of oil.

oo Add the seasonings from theseasonings pack and mix well. Incase it becomes too dry, add a tsp ofoil to it.

oo Toss it with the cooked Red Ricenoodles and serve hot.

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

AP n NEW YORK

After one errant forehand inthe first set of the US Openfinal, Naomi Osaka looked at

her coach in the mostly emptyArthur Ashe Stadium stands withpalms up, as if to say, “What theheck is happening?”

In response to another waywardforehand against Victoria Azarenkaseconds later, Osaka chucked herracket. It spun a bit and rattledagainst the court.

Surprisingly off-kilter in theearly going Saturday, Osaka keptmissing shots and digging herself adeficit. Until, suddenly, she lifted hergame, and Azarenka couldn't sustainher start. By the end, Osaka pulledaway to a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory for hersecond US Open championship andthird Grand Slam title overall.

“For me, I just thought,” saidOsaka, who trailed by a set and abreak, “it would be very embarrass-ing to lose this in an under an hour.”

This, then, is what she told her-self with a white towel draped overher head at a changeover whenthings looked bleakest: “I just haveto try as hard as I can and stop hav-ing a really bad attitude.”

It worked. A quarter-centuryhad passed since a woman who lostthe first set of a US Open finalwound up winning: In 1994,Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did itagainst Steffi Graf.

“I wasn’t really thinking aboutwinning. I was just thinking aboutcompeting,” Osaka said.

“Somehow, I ended up with thetrophy.”

Osaka is a 22-year-old who wasborn in Japan to a Japanese moth-er and Haitian father; the familymoved to the US when she was 3.

Osaka, now based in California,arrived for the US Open intent onclaiming the championship, to be

sure, but with another goal in mind,as well: continuing to be a voice forchange by calling attention to racialinjustice.

She showed up for Saturday'smatch wearing a mask with thename of Tamir Rice, a Black 12-year-old boy killed by police in Ohio in2014. That was the seventh maskshe'd used during the tournament,after honoring other Black victims ofviolence: Breonna Taylor, ElijahMcClain, Trayvon Martin, AhmaudArbery, George Floyd and PhilandoCastile.

“The point,” Osaka explained, “isto make people start talking.”

Last month, Osaka refused tocompete after the police shooting ofa Black man, Jacob Blake, inWisconsin - she said she would with-draw from her semifinal at theWestern & Southern Open, althoughdecided to play after the tournamenttook a full day off in solidarity.

Osaka and her coach, WimFissette - who used to work withAzarenka - have said they think theoff-court activism has helped herenergy and mindset in matches.

“I wanted,” Osaka said, “morepeople to (see) more names.”

So perhaps it was no coincidencethat this win over Azarenka, a 31-year-old from Belarus also seekinga third Grand Slam title but first in7½ years, made Osaka 11-0 sincetennis resumed after its hiatusbecause of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Osaka added to her triumphs atthe 2018 US Open - earned with abrilliant performance in a memo-rably chaotic and controversial finalagainst Serena Williams - and 2019Australian Open.

Azarenka carried an 11-matchwinning streak of her own intoSaturday, including a stirring three-set victory over Williams in thesemifinals, stopping the American'sbid for a 24th Grand Slam title.

Azarenka won the2012 and 2013Au s t r a l i a nOpens andlost toWilliamsin the USOpen finalseach of thoseyears.

“I thoughtthe third timewas the charm,”Azarenka said,“but I guess I'll haveto try again.”

Even after Osakasurged ahead 4-1 in the thirdset, the outcome was unclear.Azarenka drew to 4-3, thenstood and stretched duringthe ensuing changeover.

“Had a little bit of aenergy dip,” Azarenka said.

Osaka regained con-trol, then laid down onthe court when the finalwas over.

The 23,000-plusseats in the mainarena at F lushingMeadows were notentirely unclaimed, justmostly so - while fanswere not allowed toattend because of thecoronavirus pandemic,dozens of people whoworked at the tourna-ment attended - and thecavernous place was notentirely silent, just most-ly so. One of the luckyfew in the house: Osaka'sboyfriend, rapper YBNCordae.

“I’m very grateful forthe opportunity to play infront of millions of peoplewatching on TV,”Azarenka said.

AP n WEST BROMWICH

Timothy Castagne scored onhis Leicester debut before

Jamie Vardy netted two penaltiesin a season-opening 3-0 victoryover newcomer West BromwichAlbion in the Premier League onSunday.

Castagne, a defensive sign-ing from Atalanta, made animpact at the other end by head-ing in a cross from fellow BelgianDennis Praet in the 56th minute.

Vardy doubled the lead fromthe penalty spot in the 74th afterbeing pulled back by KyleBartley.

Vardy was on target 10 min-utes later - again from the spot- after James Justin was broughtdown by Dara O'Shea.

Vardy was the league's topscorer last season which endedin empty stadiums. Fans arealso still shut out at the start ofthe new campaign due to coro-navirus restrictions.

AP n MANCHESTER

England's decision to bat firstappeared to backfire with the

world champions limited to 231-9 in the second one-day cricketinternational against Australia onSunday.

Australia is looking to wrapup a series victory after beatingEngland in the first ODI onFriday, also in Manchester.

No England batsman reached50 at Old Trafford on Sundaywith ODI captain Eoin Morgan(42 runs off 52 balls) and test cap-tain Joe Root (39 off 73) the top-scorers. Both men were dis-missed by leg spinner AdamZampa who finished with 3-36off 10 overs.

Morgan was out leg beforewicket after Australia captainAaron Finch opted to review theoriginal not out decision, leavingEngland on 117-5 in the 29thover.

No. 9 Tom Curran (37 off 39)and No. 10 Adil Rashid, who hitan undefeated 35 off 26 deliver-

ies, came to England's rescue atthe end, sharing 76 for the ninthwicket.

England's explosive opener

Jason Roy (21) was run outwhile attempting a quick singlefrom the non-batting end afterimpressive fielding from Marcus

Stoinis.England is in danger of its

first ODI home series defeatsince 2015.

WARNE TO MENTORRR YOUNGSTERSDubai: Legendary spinner Shane Warne hasbeen appointed mentor of Rajasthan Royalsahead of the 2020 IPL besides his existing roleas the team's brand ambassador. Warne hasbeen associated with IPL since its inception in2008 and led the team to its only title triumphin that inaugural year. As a 'Team Mentor',Warne will work alongside head coach AndrewMcDonald. They both were teammates inVictoria from 2003-07. "On my dual role, it'salways a great feeling to be back with Royals,my team, my family. It's exciting to be workingacross all elements of this franchise that Ilove," Warne was quoted as saying in a pressrelease.

SIMEONE TESTS CORONA POSITIVEMadrid: Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeonehas the coronavirus. The Argentine wasn'tshowing any symptoms and was in isolation,the club said on Saturday. Simeone and the restof the team were tested on Friday. The club didnot say if anyone else was infected. The Spanishleague stopped play from March until Junebecause of the pandemic. The top flightmanaged to finish the season in July withoutany major infections.

SINGLES

Naomi comes from set down against

Azarenka in Flushing Meadows final

to win her 2nd US title

HAMILTONRUNS SUPREME

Fantastic FoxesVardy twice converts from spot in 3-0 away win against WBA

Tail takes Eng to 231

OSAKA ADDED TOHER TRIUMPHSAT THE 2018 USOPEN - EARNED

WITH A BRILLIANTPERFORMANCE IN

A MEMORABLYCHAOTIC AND

CONTROVERSIALFINAL AGAINST

SERENAWILLIAMS - AND

2019 AUSTRALIANOPEN

QUEEN OSAKA AP n MUGELLO

Lewis Hamilton won a hec-tic Tuscan Grand Prix on

Sunday to clinch his 90thFormula One win and moveone behind MichaelSchumacher's record.

The first F1 race on aMugello track with super-fastcorners usually used byMotoGP riders was incident-packed throughout. Twocrashes on the first seven lapssaw six drivers go out, and ared flag suspended the racefor the first time after the sec-ond one.

A second red flag late onfollowing Lance Stroll's heavycrash meant another gridrestart - on Lap 46 of 59 - andgave Valtteri Bottas anotherchance to beat race leaderHamilton if he made a strongstart from second.

Hamilton held firm andRenault's Daniel Ricciardoovertook Bottas, who passedhim back to finish second butlose more ground toHamilton in the title race.

Bottas pushed hard andgot to within 1.1 seconds ofHamilton on the penulti-mate lap but the British dri-ver clocked a fastest lap onthe last one to take a bonuspoint.

Red Bull driver AlexanderAlbon drove well to finishthird and clinch a firsr careerpodium that will boost hischances of keeping his seatalongside team star MaxVerstappen next year.

Hamilton can equalSchumacher's record for winsat the Russian GP in twoweeks and take a step closer tomatching Schumacher’s recordof seven world titles.

With millionsaround the worldstuck at home dueto the pandemic,"plane cafes" inThailand areoffering customersthe chance topretend they are inthe sky -- and theidea seems to have taken off. On board a retired commercialairplane in the coastal city of Pattaya, coffee drinkers makethemselves comfy on first-class-style seats and pose for photos bythe overhead lockers. Boarding passes in hand, some "passengers"even opt for a tour of the cockpit. "With this cafe I can sit in firstclass and also mess around in the cockpit pretending to be thecaptain of the plane," 26-year-old Thipsuda Faksaithong said. "It's alot of fun." Chalisa Chuensranoi, 25, said her visit was as good asany trip she had taken before the pandemic, which shutteredThailand's borders in March. "Sitting right here in the first-classsection... really gives me the feeling of actually being on a plane,cruising through the air," she said. In another cafe at theheadquarters of national carrier Thai Airways in Bangkok, hungrydiners appear even to have missed plane food as they gobble upspaghetti carbonara and Thai-style beef served on plastic trays bycabin crew. But for Intrawut Simapichet, 38, who came to the cafewith his wife and baby, the experience is about more than a meal.

NASA Astronaut shares 9/11image as captured from space

With travel limited, planecafes take off in Thailand

Pictures of hairless catwith no eyeballs go viralA hairless cat with no eyeballs has become an internet sensation,having amassed an army of fans on Instagram, TikTok andFacebook. Jasper the cat was adopted by his owner Kelli at theage of two, when he was 'seemingly healthy'. However, a coupleof years later he was diagnosed with FHV (feline herpes virus),and later developed a corneal ulcer in his right eye - whichbecame so bad that he had to have it removed. According to hisFacebook page, which has more than 11,000 likes, he 'went onbeing a happy, healthy, now one eyes kitty', but in September2018 he got a corneal ulcer in his remaining eye. Once again,removal was Jasper's only option, meaning he would becompletely blind. Thankfully, the moggy managed to adapt 'superwell' - although a mild stroke in April 2019 meant he wasn't out ofthe woods just yet.

September 11 or 9/11 is marked as one of the mostunfortunate days in the history of mankind when the WorldTrade Center was destroyed in a well-planned terrorist attack.The unfortunate event demolished the Twin Towers in the USAon September 9, 2001, claiming 2,977 fatalities while leavingover 25,000 injured. As people observed 19th anniversary ofthe unfortunate day, they remembered the ones who lost theirlives due to the terrorist activities. NASA scientist andastronaut Jonny Kim also paid his tribute to the dead. Themessage was accompanied by a picture of the USA on themorning of 9/11 in the year 2001. The picture was capturedfrom the International Space Station by NASA scientist FrankCulbertson. Kim wrote, "Never forgotten. We honor andremember the nearly 3,000 lives lost and the heroes that gaveeverything in service. This picture was taken on the morning ofthe attacks on 9.11.2001 by Frank Culbertson of @nasa fromthe @Space_Station." The tweet received more than 1thousand likes. Auser wrote, "Watchedin stunned silencefrom across the bayin NJ. Shocking day,never to beforgotten. Worsewhen it's close tohome.

Couple spends £2,000 to‘create' guests cardboard cutout

NEW

S

MostRead

Amid the ongoingcoronavirus pandemic, acouple in the UK spent£2000 (nearly 2 lakh) oncardboard cutoutsdesigned as look-alikes oftheir real family membersand friends. In a Facebookpost shared by thewedding photographer'spage, Hawaiian ShirtPhotography, a largenumber of cardboard cutout guests that almost seem realistic, canbe seen attending the wedding of Romanee and Sam Rondeau-Smith, from Bramley, Guildford. The duo had to postpone theirwedding earlier in July due to the coronavirus outbreak, then laterscheduled it for August 14. However, as the cases surged in theUK, the couple decided to use designed cutouts for guests instead.According to a local UK broadcaster, Mirror, the wedding plannerwas left in stitches after he witnessed the guests at the wedding.The couple said that they were pushed to take the step as only 30people were permitted in the UK to attend a marriage functionwhile the couple had almost 100 people on the guest list. Also, thesocial distancing protocol would have created the issue with thecouple so they reorganized their full wedding reception withcutouts instead. So it was ultimately a total of 50 fake guests thatattended the couple's big day.

ersatile actor Prakash Raj is popular for calling aspade a spade. He is one of the actors of the filmindustry who never shies away from speaking hismind. He is popular for sharing his views aboutvarious political and social causes. This time theactor took a dig at Bollywood actress Kangana

Ranaut. In the wake of Bombay’s Municipal authoritiesdemolishing the Manikarnika actress’ office for violat-ing the law, Prakash Raj took to Twitter to commenton the event.

He tweeted a picture that read, “If one film makesKangana Ranaut think she is Rani Lakshmi Bai ofJhansi, then Deepika Padukone is Padmavati,Hrithik Roshan is Akbar, Ajay Devgn is BhagatSingh, Vivek Oberoi is Narendra Modi ji and AmirKhan is Mangal Pandey.”

The post comes at a time when netizens havebeen identifying Kangana Ranaut with her role asRani Laxmi Bai in the film Queen of Jhansi,Manikarnika after she spoke about “Bollywoodmafias” and Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray.

While the tweet did not go down well with fansof the actress, as is evident from the replies to thetweet, several other fans of Prakash Raj have beenretweeting the picture.

12

Vijayawada Monday September 14 2020tollywood

Nani: We are slowly

forgetting about the

HERO OR VILLAINower Star Pawan Kalyan is all set to

resume the shoot of his upcoming much-

hyped courtroom drama, Vakeel Saab,

from October. Makers of the film are

planning to release it on the eve of

Sankranthi 2021. Apart from Vakeel Saab,

which is a remake of Hindi film Pink that starred

Amitabh Bachchan, Pawan Kalyan is also work-

ing with Kanche and Gauthamiputra Satakarni

fame Krish for a film.

Touted to be a period drama set in pre-inde-

pendence India, the film will feature actors from

multiple industries, including Bollywood. Since

Krish is popular in the Hindi film industry, he is

said to have convinced the Gabbar Singh star and

the producer with the idea of making the movie

in multiple languages including Hindi. Krish’s

directorial venture has enough scope for VFX

work and he is planning to bring Hollywood

technicians for Pawan Kalyan’s film.

Sources close to Krish

revealed that the technician

team who worked for

Hollywood films like

Aquaman, WarCraft,

and others will han-

dle the graphics for

PK’s next film

which is going to be

produced by AM

Rathnam and has

MM Keeravani on

board to score the

music.

P

HOLLYWOOD

TECHNICIAN

ROPED IN FOR

PK'S NEXT?

Prakash Rajtakes a dig at Kangana

V

n some latestnews aboutTollywood starVijayDevarakonda,few production

houses have been falselyadvertising that a filmwith the actor in the leadrole is going to hit thefloors soon and that audi-tions for the cast are beingcast.

Apparently, these pro-duction companies putout false information thatDevarakonda is lookingfor fresh faces to be cast inthe film and called forauditions for actress andactors. As soon as thiscame to the notice of theactor, his team put out anotice saying theserumors are false and that

if there is any projectrelated to VijayDevarakonda, it will beofficially announced byVijay and his producers.

“We have taken actionagainst the criminals whoare cheating by mention-ing Vijay’s name. Everyoneshould be vigilant againstsuch fraudsters. Werequest that you double-check the information youreceive. Official confirma-tion can also be verifiedon the actor’s officialsocial media handles,”read the notice.

The actor’s next film,tentatively titled Fighteropposite Bollywoodactress Ananya Pandeyand directed by PuriJagannath, is to resumeshooting soon.

I

Vijay's namefalsely used tocall for auditions

ctress RaveenaTandon looksforward to herupcoming role inK.G.F Chapter 2,with as much

enthusiasm as she looksback at her career of 29years, saying everyday inher life is a new lesson.

“It’s been a long and agreat journey, for sure. Ithas taught me a lot. Iremember I was so youngwhen I started. It was noteasy but I didn’t quit andalways worked hard to makea respectable place formyself. There’s so much Ihave learned in all theseyears. Life is the best

teacher. Everyday comeswith a new lesson,” she said.

Raveena was 16 whenmade her Bollywood debutopposite Salman Khan in1991 with Patthar Ke Phool,and since then her careerhas only been on the rise.

Speaking about hercareer, Raveena also sharedthat she doesn’t have anyregrets in life.

“I don’t have any regretsin life. I never regret any-thing. I might have anincomplete dream but Inever regret anything I have done. I believe destinyhas a path to follow. I lovemy life. It could not be bet-

ter than this. There is noth-ing that I would like tochange about my life. I havemade mistakes like otherhuman beings. I havelearned from them. So, noregrets. I thank God for giving me whatever I wanted in life,” she added.

Raveena’s upcoming filmK.G.F: Chapter 2 hasKannada superstar Yash inthe central role along withSrinidhi, and castsBollywood actor SanjayDutt as antagonist. The fol-low-up to the 2018 block-buster K.G.F Chapter 1 isdirected by Prashanth Neel,and is slated for an October23 release.

Raveena Tandon: There isnothing I'd change about my life

A

Pavan Sadineni todirect Kalyan Ram

fter delivering a slew of films thatdid not do well, commercially,Nandamuri Kalyan Ram tastedsuccess with the investigativethriller drama 118, though hislast film Entha

Manchivaadavuraa failed miserably failed at the Box office.

This time, the Nandamuri hero is hopingto deliver a hit movie, soon.

According to the latest buzz in the filmindustry, Kalyan Ram is going to collaboratewith the young director Pavan Sadineni ofPrema Ishq Kaadhal fame for an interestingproject. However, there has been no officialupdate regarding the film yet. Althoughdetails regarding the genre of this upcominguntitled film are under wraps, sources saythat the movie will go on floors next sum-mer. The sources added that the script doesn’t require Nandamuri Kalyan Ram toundergo any major makeover. DirectorPavan Sadineni is said to be currently work-

ing on the script and an officialannouncement regarding this projectwill be out very soon.

Kalyan Ram will also be next seenin the upcoming film Ravan, inwhich he will be seen essaying the

role of Ravanasura. Touted to be abig-budget drama, the director is

currently busy finalising thescript for the film.

A

elugu star Nani, who has

played an antagonist for the

first time in his 25th film V,

says that it is not anymore

about just the hero or the

villain as there is a slow

shift towards grey roles.

Talking about actors now playing

characters with shades on screen, Nani

said that the change is very clear and

evident.“Now, we are slowly forgetting about

the hero or villain. We are slowly shift-

ing towards greyer roles. It used to be

black and white before. There used to

be a bad and a good guy. Now it’s not

like that,” Nani told IANS.

“I think now even a hero will have

flaws and even a villain will have some

good qualities in him. So, I don’t think

we can tag them like that anymore.

The change is very clear and evident,”

he added.

Nani says that actors are now much

more open to grey characters.

“I think the thought process is

changing a little bit and we are much

more open to the grey roles than

before,” he said.

The Telugu action thriller V was

recently released on Amazon Prime

Video.V is also Nani’s third collaboration

with the director Mohana Krishna

Indraganti. Nani’s debut film Ashta

Chamma was also directed by

Mohana.

T