3 of 15 hottest places in the world are in Andhra Pradesh

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VIJAYAWADA, SUNDAY APRIL 4, 2021; PAGES 10+16 `5

MONEY 6MAMATA'S OBSTRUCTIONIST MINDSET

DEPRIVED BENGAL OF JOBS: MODI

ISRO espionage case:Probe panel submits

report to SC

2

CEO of Google's self-driving car unit steps

down from job

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OBTUSE ANGLE

VIJAYAWADAWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 4 , 2021 5:00 PM

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TODAY

Month & Paksham:

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any important work)

Rahukalam: 04:54 pm – 06:26 pm

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FFoorreeccaasstt:: SunnyTemp: 40/27Humidity: 50%Sunrise: 06:08 amSunset: 06:29 pm

NAVEENA GHANATEn HYDERABAD

Vijayawada was the 15th hottest cityin the world on Saturday, with amaximum temperature of 42.8 0C,according to the El Dorado weath-er website.

While Gannavaram was at 15thposition, Kavali and Ongole with43.3°C in Andhra Pradesh wereat No. 10 and 11 on the list of theworld 's hottest places onSaturday.

Of the four hottest places fromIndia on Saturday, three werefrom Andhra Pradesh. Vellorewas the hottest city at ninthposition.

Incidentally, IMD has issued aheatwave warning until April 7for Andhra Pradesh, meaning

that there will be no respite in thenear future.

As per its warning on Saturday,the IMD said, "Heat wave condi-tions very likely to prevail overmost places with severe heatwave conditions over many partsof Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore.Heat wave condition are verylikely to prevail over many placesin Krishna districts. Heat waveconditions are very likely to pre-vail over Isolated pockets ofChittoor district of Rayalaseema."

While the heatwave will con-tinue in Guntur and Krishnadistricts until Sunday, the heat-wave will persist over isolatedpockets in the districts of Nelloreand Prakasam until April 7.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The overall unemployment rate inAndhra Pradesh came down to 5.9percent while it dipped to 6.52 per-cent in the rest of the country inMarch, according to data from theCentre for Monitoring IndianEconomy (CMIE).

The data reflects an exodus oflabour from the labour markets inthe face of lack of jobs, said ananalysis by the think-tank.

Employment in rural areas isbetter than urban areas and indus-tries. Employment in the farm sec-tor in AP is a major relief for manyunemployed, the CMIE data said.

Unemployment rate in AP fol-lowing the Covid-19 induced lock-down had shot up to over 20 per-cent in April last year.

Unemployment in AP was lowerthan the national rate of 23.5 percent.

Nationwide, unemployment washighest in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand,and Bihar at 49.8 percent, 47.1 per-cent, and 46.6 percent respective-ly. It was lowest in Punjab,

Chhattisgarh, and Telangana at 2.9percent, 3.4 percent, and 6.2 per-cent respectively.

CMIE defines unemployed rateas the unemployed who are will-ing to work and are actively look-ing for a job expressed as a percentof the labour force.

SEC submitsaffidavit onParishad pollsin High CourtPNS n VIJAYAWADA

State Election CommissionerNilam Sawhney on Saturday sub-mitted a 45-page affidavit to theHigh Court, giving the reasonsbehind her decision to conductMandal Parishad TerritorialConstituencies (MPTCs) andZilla Parishad TerritorialConstituencies (ZPTCs) electionsin the State.

K KALYAN KRISHNA KUMARn VIJAYAWADA

The renaming of a new buildingin the premises of the AgricultureCollege, Bapatla in Guntur dis-trict has sparked off a controver-sy that appears to be gatheringsteam as the days roll by.

The decision to rename thebuilding, originally named the JCBose Building of Life Sciences to‘College Annexe Building’ byoff icials of the AgricultureUniversity is being met withstiff resistance from variousquarters.

Alumni of the AgricultureCollege, Bapatla were surprised

to see the ‘C ol lege AnnexBuilding’ during its inauguration.

The building was earlier namedafter the late Prof Jagdish

Chandra Bose, the renownedbiologist, physicist, botanist and

an early writer of science fictionof international repute.

The building, which now hasbeen in controversy, has a hoarypast.

Founded in 1945, theAgriculture College, Bapatla hadcelebrated its Platinum Jubilee ayear ago. A new spacious build-ing was planned when theCollege was inaugurated, but thefoundation was laid by the thenVice-Chancellor of AgriculturalUnivers ity, O Pul la Reddydecades later. The JC BoseBuilding of Life Sciences was putto use from around 1967.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

An alert driver saved the lives ofpassengers of an APSRTC busthat was on its way to Vijayawadafrom on Saturday. Smelling some-thing burning, the driver alertedthe passengers and alighted thembefore the fire engulfed the bus.

Soon as they received informa-tion, fire-fighting personnelrushed to the spot and doused theflames. Half of the bus was gut-ted and the entire surroundingscovered with smoke. TheAPSRTC personnel shifted thepassengers to another bus.

PNS n TIRUPATII

Declaring that he would not becowed down by rowdy elements,Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyanon Saturday said that a majority ofthe 151 YSRCP MLAs have beenbehaving like goons.

“If necessary, I would prefer tohave my head severed rather thanbowing down to such elements,”the actor-politician said.

He was addressing a public

public as part of the BJP-Jana Senaelectoral campaign in favour of thealliance nominee Ratna Prabha.

Launching a scathing attack onthe YSRCP government, he saidthat Pulivendula is now the ‘care-of ’ address for factionists, rowdiesand goons.

Pawan Kalyan noted that sever-al hundred years ago, there used tobe a library in Pulivendula calledSaraswati Nilayam.

PNS n RAIPUR

Five security personnel were killedand a few others injured onSaturday in an encounter withNaxals at a forest in Chhattisgarh'sBijapur district, a top police officersaid.

According to the police, someMaoists are also suspected to havebeen killed during the exchange offire.

"The gunbattle broke out inTarrem area (along Sukma andBijapur border) when a joint team

of security forces was out on ananti-Naxal operation,"Chhattisgarh Director General ofPolice DM Awasthi said.

The personnel belonging to theCRPF's elite Commando Battalion

for Resolute Action unit (CoBRA),the District Reserve Guard (DRG)and the Special Task Force (STF)were involved in the operation, hesaid.

"As per the preliminary informa-tion, five jawans were killed and afew others were injured in the gun-fight," Awasthi said, adding thatfurther details are awaited.

On March 23, five DRG person-nel were killed when Naxals blewup a bus carrying the security per-sonnel with an IED in Narayanpurdistrict.

Kavali, Ongole, Vijayawada figure among the top 15 hottest cities internationally

3 of 15 hottest places in theworld are in Andhra Pradesh

Unemployment ratein AP falls to 5.9 pc

Lockdown should beavoided: CMIEMahesh Vyas, CEO of CMIE,highlighted the potential impact onlivelihood if a second lockdown isimposed in Maharashtra to containthe surge in Covid-19 infections.“Unlike a year ago, there are severalvoices that suggest that a lockdownis not a solution. Science hasdelivered vaccines against the virus.Efficient administration ofinoculations along with sustaineddiscipline in maintaining physicaldistance is a better strategy than aDraconian lockdown," Vyas said.

Most YSRCP MLAsare rowdies: Pawan

Lucky escapefor passengersas APSRTC buscatches fire

5 jawans martyred during encounterwith Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur

Row erupts over AG college building name change

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Telugu Desam Party supremo NChandrababu Naidu's decision toboycott the coming elections to theMandal Parishad and Zilla ParishadTerritorial Constituencies inAndhra Pradesh seems to haveirked a section of the TDP rank andfile and some senior leaders havevoiced their protest.

In private, some party leaderslament that the boycott decisionwas by far the "biggest politicalblunder" committed by Naidu,sources close to them said.

Even at the TDP politburo meet-ing, where the boycott decision wastaken on Friday, veteran leaders like

Yanamala Ramakrishnudu weresaid to have advised against it as itwould leave the party cadre demor-alised.

Ultimately, though, Naidu

announced that the TDP was boy-cotting the April 8 elections to theMPTCs and ZPTCs as they became"totally undemocratic."

He said the TDP could notbecome a party to "undemocratic"acts and has hence taken a "toughdecision" under inevitable circum-stances to protest the State ElectionCommissioner's actions.

Protesting Naidu’s decision, sen-ior leader Jyothula Nehru resignedfrom the TDP vice-president'spost, saying he was pained over it,while former Union Minister PAshok Gajapathi Raju found faultwith the party chief 's decision.

Naidu’s poll boycott decisionangers TDP top leaders, cadre

Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan waves during a bike rally in Tirupati on Saturday.

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ROBOT ARTIST EYEING MUSIC CAREERAFTER SELLING ART FOR $688,888

Sophia is a robot of many talents she speaks, jokes, sings andeven makes art. In March, she caused a stir in the art worldwhen a digital work she created as part of a collaboration

was sold at an auction for USD 688,888 in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). The sale highlighted agrowing frenzy in the NFT market, wherepeople can buy ownership rights to digitalcontent. NFTs each have a unique digitalcode saved on blockchain ledgers thatallow anyone to verify the authenticity andownership of items. David Hanson, CEO ofHong Kong-based Hanson Robotics andSophia's creator, has been developingrobots for the past two and a half decades.

BSF HANDS OVER BOY TO PAK WHOCROSSED OVER ‘INADVERTENTLY'

The BSF on Saturday said it has handed over an eight-year-old boy to Pakistani rangers, after he inadvertently crossedthe international border and reached India's Barmer sector.

The incident took place at the border security fence nearborder out post of Somrar in Barmer ofRajasthan on Friday. "As a goodwill gesture,the BSF on Friday handed over a Pakistaniminor boy in a flag meeting with PakistanRangers," the BSF said in a statement."On April 2, Karim s/o Yamanu, agedabout eight years, had inadvertentlycrossed the IB, entered Indian territory.He was spotted by alert troops on duty,”the statement said.

EGYPT'S SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITYSAYS SHIPPING BACKLOG CLEARED

The maritime traffic jam on both ends of the Suez Canaleased further on Friday, four days after the dislodging of amassive containership that had blocked the waterway,

authorities said.On Monday, salvage teams freed theskyscraper-sized Ever Given, ending a crisisthat had clogged one of the world's mostvital waterways and halted billions ofdollars a day in maritime commerce. Atthe time, canal officials said that morethan 420 ships had been waiting for theship to be freed so they could make thecrossing.80 cargo ships carrying a totalload of 4.7 tons transited through thecanal on Friday.

‘KILL THE BILL' RALLIES ACROSS BRITAINAGAINST PROPOSED ANTI-PROTEST LAW

Hundreds of demonstrators joined marches and ralliesacross Britain on Saturday as part of a “nationalweekend of action” against a proposed new law that

would give police extra powers to curb protests.The Police,Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill wouldtoughen measures officers can take todisperse demonstrations, such asimposing time and noise limits,which campaigners and activistsfear would be used to curb dissent.Since the bill was brought beforeparliament last month, there havebeen sporadic protests, notably inBristol, southwest England.

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ABV cross-examines 21 policeofficers, poses 1,100 questions MARTHI SUBRAHMANYAM

n VIJAYAWADA

Former intelligence chief ABVenkateswara Rao has beenarguing his case before theSisodia Commission of Inquiryrequisitioning all documentsrequired to prove himself asinnocent of charges framedagainst him by theGovernment of AndhraPradesh.

He has been appearingbefore the Commission forthe past 12 days. According towell-placed sources, ABV hasbeen cross-examining the wit-nesses all by himself and has sofar posed 1,100 questions tothem.

So far, he cross-examined 21IPS officers and officers of therank of additional SPs. Thiswould help the Commission ofInquiry give its verdict in thecase as early as possible.

The officials cross-examinedso far include RP Thakur, MalaKondaiah and Sambasiva Raoas they were on the committeeformed to purchase equipment.

Besides these, DGP-rankofficial Tirumala Rao, SurendraBabu, additional director gen-eral Ravi Sankar Ayyannar,senior IPS officials Nalini

Prabhat, Mahesh Laddha,Bhaskar Bhushan, KumarViswajit, Sanjay, BattinaSrinivasulu, Senthil, official inthe DGP office Govindarajan,Untelligence official BhaskaraSarma, state trading corpora-tion official Spartacus havealso been cross-examined.

The sources said that ABVhas asked them whether he waspresent at the purchase com-mittee meetings or whetherfunds were released for pur-chase of equipment or whetherthe committee decided toaward a contract to the compa-ny owned by his son.

Sisodia, to a request fromABV, was reported as saying

that there was no use in askingCMCPRO Pudi Srihari toappear before the Commissionof Inquiry, ruling out any scopefor ABV to cross-examine him.

Two crucial files requisi-tioned by ABV from the DGPoffice and GAD have not beengiven to him yet, it is learnt.

ABV’s son Chetan was cross-examined by his legal counselSudhakar Rao.

The YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment had on February8 last year placed VenkateswaraRao, an IPS officer of the 1989batch, under suspension for"endangering national securi-ty through his acts of treason"when he was state intelligence

chief during the previousChandrababu Naidu regime.

The government alleged"serious misconduct" (on partof Venkateswara Rao) in theprocess of procurement ofsecurity equipment.

"Rao wilfully disclosed intel-ligence protocols and proce-dures of police to a foreigndefence manufacturing firm.This is a direct threat to nation-al security as Intelligence pro-tocols are standard throughoutthe Indian Police Force," thegovernment alleged.

"Based on facts uncoveredvia investigation, prima facieevidence is established on thegrave misconduct and irregu-larities, which were wilfullycommitted by the accused offi-cer resulting out of consciousand premeditated act of trea-son towards the state and thenation,” it said.

The government alsocharged ABV with colludingwith one RT Inflatables PrivateLimited, an Israeli defenceequipment manufacturer, toillegally award critical intelli-gence and surveillance con-tract to his son Chetan SaiKrishna, who was CEO ofAkasam Advanced SystemsPvt Ltd (primary bidder on

behalf of RT Inflatables Pvt.Ltd).

After Jagan became theChief Minister on May 30,2019, ABV was removed as theDirector General of Anti-Corruption Bureau and kepton waiting for several monthsbefore he was eventually sus-pended from service.

The Central AdministrativeTribunal upheld his suspen-sion but the AP High Courtstruck it down in May last year.The state government thenwent on appeal to the SupremeCourt.

On December 18 last, thegovernment framed chargesagainst the officer to avoid thecourts wrath.

On March 8, the governmenthurriedly appointed theCommissioner of Inquiries asthe Inquiring Authority, a daybefore the Supreme Court wasto hear the petition.

The Apex Court, on March 9,directed the state to complete theinquiry "expeditiously and notlater than the end of April,2021."

The court also directed thatthe inquiry is conducted on aday-to-day basis and a compli-ance report submitted before thenext date of hearing (May 3).

ISRO espionage case: Probepanel submits report to SCPNS n NEW DELHI

A high-level probe panelappointed by the SupremeCourt to take erring cops totask for causing "tremendousharassment" and "immeasur-able anguish" to ISRO scientistDr Nambi Narayanan in the1994 espionage case has sub-mitted its report to the apexcourt, sources said on Saturday.

The SC had on September14, 2018 appointed the three-member panel headed by itsformer judge D K Jain whiledirecting the Kerala govern-ment to cough up Rs 50 lakhcompensation for compellingNarayanan to undergo"immense humiliation".

The scientist was arrestedwhen the Congress was head-ing the government in Kerala.The panel, after investigation,submitted its report in a sealedcover to the apex court recent-ly.

The CBI, in its probe, hadheld that the then top policeofficials in Kerala were respon-sible for Narayanan's illegalarrest.

The case also had its politi-cal fallout, with a section in theCongress targeting the thenChief Minister late KKarunakaran over the issue,that eventually led to his res-ignation.

Over a period of almosttwo-and-a-half years, the panelheaded by Justice Jain exam-ined the circumstances leadingto the arrest.

The espionage case, whichhad hit the headlines in 1994,pertained to allegations oftransfer of certain confidentialdocuments on India's spaceprogramme to foreign coun-tries by two scientists and fourothers, including twoMaldivian women.

The 79-year-old former sci-entist, who was given a cleanchit by the CBI, maintainedthat the Kerala Police had"fabricated" the case and thetechnology he was accused tohave stolen and sold in the1994 case did not even exist atthat time.

Narayanan had approachedthe apex court against a KeralaHigh Court judgement thatsaid "no action needed to betaken" against former DGPSiby Mathews, who was thenheading the SIT probe team,two retired superintendentsof police, KK Joshua and SVijayan, and the then DeputyDirector, Intelligence Bureau,RB Shreekumar, who werelater held responsible by theCBI for the scientist's illegalarrest.

The apex court in its judge-ment had said, "We think thatthe obtaining factual scenariocalls for constitution of a com-mittee to find out ways andmeans to take appropriatesteps against the erring offi-cials."

"The criminal law was set inmotion without any basis. Itwas initiated, if one is allowedto say, on some kind of fancyor notion," a bench headed bythe then Chief Justice DipakMisra had said.

"We are of the view that theappellant was arrested and hehas suffered custody for almost50 days. His arrest has beenseriously criticised in the clo-sure report of the CBI. Fromthe aforesaid report, theharassment and mental torturefaced by the appellant is obvi-ous," the bench had added.

The judgement had said the"entire prosecution" initiatedby the state police was "mali-cious and it has causedtremendous harassment andimmeasurable anguish" toNarayanan. "It can be statedwith certitude" that the funda-

mental right of life and person-al liberty of Narayanan was"gravely affected".

The CBI, while giving aclean chit to the scientist, hadsaid that Siby Mathews had left"the entire investigation to IBsurrendering his duties" andordered indiscriminate arrestof the scientist and otherswithout adequate evidence.

The case had caught atten-tion in October 1994, whenMaldivian national Rasheedawas arrested inThiruvananthapuram forallegedly obtaining secretdrawings of ISRO rocketengines to sell to Pakistan.

Narayanan, the then direc-tor of the cryogenic project atISRO, was arrested along withthe then ISRO DeputyDirector D Sasikumaran, andFousiya Hasan, a Maldivianfriend of Rasheeda.

The apex court had termedthe police action against theex-scientist of the ISRO a "psy-cho-pathological treatment".

It had said that his "libertyand dignity", basic to hishuman rights, were jeopar-dised as he was taken into cus-tody and, eventually, despite allthe glory of the past, was com-pelled to face "cynical abhor-rence".

Awarding a compensation ofRs 50 lakh, which was to bepaid by the state government,the top court had said it wasbeing given to compensate forhis suffering, anxiety and thetreatment meted out to him.

The apex court had said the"reputation of an individual isan insegregable facet of hisright to life with dignity" andhad rejected the plea of theKerala government that due tothe lapse of time, no inquiry orsubsequent actions were need-ed to be taken against theerring officials.

It had accepted Narayanan'splea that the authorities, whowere responsible for causingsuch a "harrowing effect" onhis mind, should face "legalconsequences".

The findings of the reportare not yet known.

Most YSRCP MLAs are ...Continued from Page 1

“I feel ashamed that reputationof such a place has been dam-aged of late,” he said.

Referring to criticism overhis acting in films, the actor-politician took potshots atChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy and said that he did notown cement factories unlikethe CM and also did not ownany card clubs. “I earn crores ofrupees and I make sure thatthis money is passed on to thepeople of the state who deserveit,” he said.

Pawan Kalyan wondered atpoliticians offering induce-ments to voters at the rate of Rs2,000 per vote and sought toknow the source of theirincome.

He appealed to the voters ofTirupati Lok Sabha constituen-cy to give their mandate to the

BJP candidate. Ratna Prabha, appealing to

voters to cast their vote for her,said that the financial positionof the state government was atits worse. “The governmentwas not in a position to evenhold the budget session of theAssembly,” she said.

Calling Pawan Kalyan a“younger brother”, RatnaPrabha said that she was fortu-nate to have the support of sucha person. “Those who troll meare actually powerless,” shesaid, appealing to the voters toback her to enable her to devel-op Tirupati.

BJP in-charge SunilDeodhar, AP BJP unit presi-dent Somu Veerraju, generalsecretary VishnuvardhanReddy, former ministerAdinarayana Reddy, Jana Senaleader Nadendla Manoharspoke.

Earlier, Pawan Kalyan tookout a rally in the city from MRPalli Circle to the venue of thepublic meeting.

Pawan Kalyan’s fans surgedforward to catch a glimpse oftheir leader almost knockingdown Nadendla Manohar.

All along Ratna Prabha’sspeech, Pawan’s fans raisedslogans creating commotion atthe venue.

It was learnt that PawanKalyan asked the organisers ofthe event to place only threechairs on the dais.

Accordingly, Pawan, SomuVeerraju and Ratna Prabhaseated on the stage, ruling outany opportunity for MPs CMRamesh, TG Venkatesh toshare dais with Pawan. Feelinginsulted, they retired to theirhotel.

Afterwards, many morechairs were placed on the dais.

Continued from Page 1

However, after a few decades,the University managementdecided to build more spa-cious structure to accom-modate more departmentsby pulling down the oldbuilding.

On October 16, 2015, thedemolition of the buildingstarted and a new structurewas constructed with thefunding from NABARDunder RIDF XX. Very recent-ly, the building was inaugu-rated by the NABARD chair-man C. Govinda Rajulu, alsoan a lumnus of theAgriculture College, Bapatla.

BVS Kumar, an alumnusand former chairman ofChild Welfare Committee,Krishna district along withanother alumnus KS SaiBaba, a retired IFS officer andformer Additional PrincipalChief Conservator of Forests,Government of Karnatakahas taken a lead and interact-

ed with other alumni oversocial media groups and sub-mitted a representation to

Vice-Chancellor, ANGRAU,MLA Alla RamakrishnaReddy, requesting him to to

retain the original name. Speaking to The Pioneer,

BVS Kumar said that so far,nearly 13,000 students havestudied in this campus andmany are in good positionssocially and economically.

“All the alumni have greatmemories with that campusand in particular with JCBose Building,” he said.

BVS Kumarcontinued:“Wherever we are,we should not forget thegreat works of our past sci-entists, without whom ourcountry might have notachieved self sufficiency infood through the GreenRevolution.”

Alumnus KS Sai Baba saidthat the alumni of the cam-pus include noted politi-c ians , socia l workers ,bureaucrats and industrial-ists.

All are of unanimousopinion that the new build-ing should retain the originalname.

Row erupts over AG college building name...

n AG College was founded in1945 under the MadrasPresidency staten Celebrated its PlatinumJubilee a year ago and it wasaffiliated to Andhra Universityin early daysn The first batch of studentswas awarded Degrees byAndhra University in 1948

n In 1950, 358 acres wereacquired for the campus atBapatla.n On July 16, 1964 theCollege became a part of thenewly formed AP AgricultureUniversity. Presently, theUniversity is called the AcharyaNG Ranga AgriculturalUniversity.

Highlights

Naidu’s poll boycott decisionangers TDP top leaders...Continued from Page 1

"The high command’s decisionis not final. We will decide onwhether or not to contest thelocal bodies polls based on thelocal conditions," Gajapati Rajutold reporters in his nativeVizianagaram.

In neighbouringVisakhapatnam district, seniorleader Bandaru SatyanarayanaMurthy too was unhappy withthe boycott decision and saidthe party cadre was not readyto accept it.

He announced that theywould remain in the contestirrespective of the result.

TDP sources here said partyworkers in districts like Westand East Godavari and northcoastal Andhra were very keenon fighting the MPTC andZPTC elections.

In the four Rayalaseemadistricts of Anantapur,Chittoor, Kurnool and Kadapa,where the TDP failed miser-ably in the recent elections tothe gram panchayats andurban local bodies, the rankand file is said to be contentwith Naidu's decision to boy-cott the MPTC and ZPTCpolls.

Similar was the mood inPrakasam and SPS Nellore

districts as well while the lead-ership in Guntur and Krishnadistricts, considered the party'sstrongholds, maintained a stoicsilence.

The party's official standnotwithstanding, the TDP willstill technically remain in thecontest as its candidates namesare printed in the ballotsbecause the poll process gotstalled in March last year afterthe final list of contestants waspublished.

Interestingly, the TDP hasalready won 100 MPTC seatsunopposed last year, though ithad no such luck in theZPTCs.

Lucky escape for

passengers...

Continued from Page 1

A short circuit in the engine’swiring is suspected to be thereason behind the fire. The bus,an AC coach, known as Indra,had 15 people onboard, includ-ing the driver and the assistant,when the fire was noticed.

Ramanaiah, AssistantDistrict Fire Officer of EastGodavari said, “No casualtiesor injuries were reported in thefire. One glass pane had to bebroken to allow the trappedsmoke to escape. No othermajor damage in the fire acci-dent. All passengers, includingthe driver are safe.”

SEC submits affidavit onParishad polls in High CourtContinued from Page 1

The High Court had onFriday directed the Statepoll panel to file a counteraffidavit after hearing argu-ments on the Lunch Motionpetition moved by the BJP.

In its petition, the BJPhad requested the HighCourt to direct the SEC toissue fresh notification forParishad elections. The SECinformed the High Courtthat they are continuingthe parishad electionprocess from where it wasstopped and appealed thecourt to dismiss the peti-tion.

Sawhney had onThursday issued a notifica-tion to conduct the ZPTC &MPTC elections in the stateon April 8. To this effect anotification was issued bythe SEC for resumption ofthe adjourned electionprocess of.

The ZPTC and theMPTC polls will be con-ducted where ever neces-sary on April 8 while re-pollif any will be conducted onApril 9. Counting of voteswill be on April 10 at 8 amand the results will bedeclared soon after thecounting process is com-pleted.

Unemployment rate in AP...Continued from Page 1

However, the dip in the unem-ployment rate is not due to jobcreation but the major factorthat the unemployed juststopped looking for jobs.

The return of the unemploy-ment rate to pre-lockdowntimes is not worth celebratingbecause it is more a reflectionof a shrinking labour forcethan a decline in the count ofthe unemployed, explainedthe survey,

During July-February thisfiscal an unemployment rate of7.3 percent is a ratio of 31.2million unemployed out of amuch smaller labour force of426.3 million.

The small dip in the unem-ployed does not imply thatmore people got employment.It means that the unemployed

just stopped looking for jobs.It reflects an exodus of labourfrom the labour markets in theface of lack of jobs.

3 of 15 hottest...Continued from Page 1

Meanwhile, the IMD has issueda heatwave alert for 12districtsof Telangana with the maxi-mum temperature likely to bearound 40 0C to 43 0C untilSunday.

The temperatures will be 20C- 3 0C above normal onMonday for Telangana in isolat-ed pockets. On Saturday, heat-wave conditions prevailed inKhammam.

Bhadrachalam recorded42.3°C as per IMD. Heat waveconditions were predicted forMancherial, PeddapalliBhupalpally, Mulugu, BhadradriKothagudem, Khammam,Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahbub-nagar, Nagarkurnool Wanapa-rthy, Jogulamba Gadwal andNarayanpet of Telangana.

Naidu, Lokesh at odds overParishad polls, alleges AllaPNS n GUNTUR

Alla Ramakrishna Reddy,YSRCP MLA fromMangalagiri, on Saturday saidthat while former chief minis-ter N Chandrababu Naidu hascategorically said that the TDPwill boycott the MPTC andZPTC polls, Duggirala TDPleaders are unhappy with thedecision.

He wondered whetherNaidu and TDP national sec-retary Nara Lokesh consultedeach other over the decision.

He was responding toDuggirala mandal TDP pres-ident Guduru Venkat Raodeclaring that the TDP wouldbe contesting the MPTC,ZPTC polls in Mangalagiriconstituency.

He said that Venkat Rao’s isadopting a different line thanNaidu.

Duggirala constituency fallsin Mangalagiri Assembly con-

stituency, which was previous-ly represented by Nara Lokesh.Similarly, the TDP nationalparty is also headquartered atMangalagiri.

It appears that Naidu pro-poses, but Mangalagiri leadersof TDP do not dispose,Ramakrishna Reddy said.

He said that it appeared asif Naidu was imposing deci-sions on the party without tak-ing village leaders and activistsof the party into confidence.

The YSRCP MLA wonderedhow TDP leaders decide tocontest the polls without tak-ing orders from Lokesh.

However, he said, it is forLokesh to clear the air on theissue.

It appears that while theTDP in the state is going in onedirection, Duggirala TDP isgoing in another, the MLAsaid.

He wondered whether TDPcadres in Duggirala mandal

were taken into confidence ornot before TDP decidingagainst contesting the polls.

“If the TDP happened totake them into confidence,how can Lokesh oppose theparty high command’s deci-sion,” Ramakrishna Reddy said.

The Duggirala episodebrings to the fore differencesbetween Naidu and Lokesh, healleged. Ramakrishna Reddysaid that he was not the one tobe afraid if the TDP were tocontest the polls in Duggiralamandal.

Of the 18 panchayats in themandal, 14 were won byYSRCP supporters, while TDPsupporters won only two.

In Duggirala mandal, theturmeric traders belong to theKamma community.

Lokesh is perhaps of theview that dumping crores ofrupees in the mandal will helpthe TDP win the elections,Ramakrishna Reddy alleged.

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | APRIL 4, 2021vijayawada 03

C PRADEEP KUMAR

n VIJAYAWADA

The historical blunder made bythe main opposition party inAP, the Telugu Desam Party, byboycotting the elections toZPTCs and MPTCs may helpBJP and Jana Sena partiesstrengthen their bases in thestate.

The TDP made a self-goal byboycotting ZPTC and MPTCelections and the decision mayhave sever repercussions on thefuture prospects of the party.

The decision might providean opportunity for the BJP -JSPto take lead in the state and fillthe void that arises due toabsence of TDP in the poll fray.

The BJP has been trying tooccupy the place of the mainopposition party in the state forthe past two years, but the TDPnever gave any chance to thesaffron party.

Political analysts predict thatthe TDP took a wrong decisionby boycotting the polls as it hadsecured good vote share in the

2019 general elections, in therecent elections to gram pan-chayats and urban local bodies.

In General Elections-2019,YSRCP secured a vote share of49.95 per cent, TDP 39.99 percent, JSP 5.53 per cent, whilethe BJP was able to grab lessthan 1 per cent vote share.

However, in the recent localbody and urban local bodyelections, the TDP's perfor-mance was good and secureda good vote share also.

In the gram panchayat elec-tions, the ruling YSRCPsecured a vote share of 56 to 60

per cent, while the oppositionTDP secured 32 to 35 per cent.The JSP and others secured 6 to8 per cent vote share.

The YSRCP registered alandslide victory in municipalelections by securing a voteshare of 52.60 per cent, whileTDP secured 30.7 per cent voteshare. The JSP and BJP alliancecould manage to get a bettervote share when compared to2019 general elections.

Minister PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy said thatChandrababu Naidu knew thatTDP would not even get

deposit in the upcoming ZPTCand MPTC elections and start-ed a new dram of boycottingthe elections. With hardly fivedays left for the elections andafter the withdrawal of nomi-nations, Naidu is playing adrama by boycotting elections.

BJP state president SomuVeerraju has made it clear thatthe party will contest the ZPTCand MPTC elections. He saidthe BJP would play the role ofa genuine opposition party inthis election. He revealed thatthey will always be in the pub-lic service and will face ruling

YSRCPs atrocities in the pub-lic arena.

Veerraju said that peoplebelieve that BJP is the only realopposition party in the state.He said that if necessary, thecourts and the ElectionCommission would beapproached and will stand bythe party leaders and activists.

TDP senior leader and MLCBuddha Venkanna said that theBJP, Jana Sena have colluded tosplit TDP votes.

No one will believe thewords of BJP leader SomuVeerraju anymore as he speaksagainst TDP in favour of theruling YSRCP.

He said that Veerraju's inten-tion was to manipulate the vot-ing pattern and the people arenoticing his behaviour.

Veerraju has given wrongfeedback to the UnionMinisters against TDP chief.

"It is ridiculous for Veerrajuto say that Naidu will go to jail.The chances of JaganmohanReddy going to jail are bright,"he added.

TDP’s blunder may help BJP-JSPcombine gain ground in state PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Visakhapatnam Port Trust(VPT) recorded a decline of 4per cent in the cargo trafficduring the fiscal 2020-21 with69.84 million tonnes (MT)against the 72.72 MT of the lastfiscal 2019-20 due to low eco-nomic activity induced byCovid pandemic.

The cargo handling of 2020-21 was second highest in theannual cargo loading in thehistory of the port and main-tained third position amongthe major ports.

Addressing a press confer-ence in Visakhapatnam onSaturday, VPT chairman KRama Mohan Rao said that theport recorded an operatingsurplus of Rs 698 crore. Netsurplus before tax was Rs 306crore. A capital expenditure ofRs79 crore was incurred dur-ing 2020-21 for various devel-opment works, he said.

The port maintained thethird position among themajor ports for the secondconsecutive year. The chair-man said that the VPT couldrestrict the decline to 4 per cent

whereas it was 7 per cent in allother major ports. The highestcargo handled was iron ore andpellets with 31 per centincrease. But the port lost 45per cent in import of steamcoal and 27 per cent in cokingcoal. Decline in economicactivity led to less consumptionof steam coal by the power sec-tor and coking coal by the steelsector.

On the efficiency parame-ters, the chairman explained,average waiting time of a shipimproved to 1.15 hours during2020-21 as against 1.22 hoursrecorded during 2019-20.Number of ships handled dur-ing 2020-21 was 2,040 asagainst 2,099 during 2019-20.

Among the projects target-ed this year, he said that devel-opment of cruise terminal at anestimated cost of Rs103 croreis likely to be awarded inAugust 2021.

Similarly, development ofcovered storage of 16,000square metres at an estimatedcost of Rs 36 crore is scheduledto be awarded in June 2021.

Visakhapatnam Port Trustfinalised 27 MoUs worth Rs28,875 crore investments aspart of MIS 2021 with differ-ent business partners such asHPCL, Arcelor Mittal &Nippon Steel India Ltd.,Dredging Corporation of IndiaLtd., IPRCL, ITD CementationLtd and SAIL.

SUMIT ONKA

n VISAKHAPATNAM

Even as the chances for firemishaps remain high duringthe summer, about 60 per centof the hospitals and nursinghomes are yet to obtain theannual requisite no-objectioncertificate.

Out of around 400 hospitals,nursing homes and dental clin-ics in the city, only 140 have sofar obtained the requisite no-objection certificate (NOC),the mandatory clearance thatis needed to function, from thefire department of GreaterVisakhapatnam MunicipalCorporation in Vizag city.

Physical inspection of eachbuilding is turning out to be a

difficult task because of thepaucity of the staff at GVMCfire wing and AP fire depart-ment. And, the health units andother buildings were the firesafety compliance is requiredare taking the advantage.

"We have around 400 small,medium and few big hospitals,nursing homes, and dentalclinics in Vizag city. As ofnow, 120 hospitals and clinicshave obtained the mandatoryNOC. As so many hospitals

lack fire safety clearance is aserious issue and we havestarted serving legal notices tothe rest," said a GVMC staffmember working with the firewing.

Moreover, the hospitals whohave obtained NOC are alsofound to have been neglectingthe maintenance.

It was also observed that firesafety in some hospitals andcommercial establishments isrestricted to fire extinguishersonly. The employees of theestablishments are not trainedto handle eventualities like firemishaps. In case of a fire, theentire responsibility of the fire-fighting falls on guards fromoutsourced security agenciesonly.

60% of Vizag hospitals lack fire safety NOCPNS n VIJAYAWADA

A minor fire accident tookplace at 33KV feeder atGunadala in Vijayawada onSaturday. The extent ofdamage due to fire accidentwas minimised as the elec-tricity and fire officialsacted swiftly and broughtthe flames under control.

CMD of AP C entra lPower Dis tr ibut ionCorporat ion Limited, JPadma Janardhan Reddy,said that the incident tookplace due to bird fault.

The staff immediatelyinformed the fire officials.Fire tenders reached thespot immediately and con-trolled the fire due to whichthe extent of damage hasbeen minimised to just Rs30,000. The charred mater-ial (plastic covered meterboxes) has been removedfrom the place.

District Fire Officer M

Srinivas Reddy said that onreceiving the informationab out f i re acc ident atGunadala 33KV Vijayawadatown feeder, three fire ten-ders with about 15 fire fight-ers swung into action anddoused the fire in aboutone hour.

He said that empty meterboxes caught fire as a birdcame in to contact with livewire. There was more grassand combustible materialin the surroundings.

Fortunately, the trans-former's oil drums that wereadjacent to the plastic dumpdid not catch fire. Three firevehic les two f romVijayawada and one fromAutonagar were pressed intoservice to put off the fire.

The DFO further instruct-ed the electricity depart-ment officials to clear thecombustible material fromthe site to avoid recurrenceof similar fire accident.

Minor fire mishap atGunadala substation

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP leader KS Jawahar onSaturday challenged theruling YSRCP leaders toface the voters in a free andfair election by issuing afresh notification to theMPTC and ZPTC polls inthe State.

Jaw a h ar a dv i s e d t h eChief Minister and hisparty MLAs to stop makingfalse claims and emptypromises and added thatthe people were no longerre a dy t o b e l i e ve t h e i rword s . S t at e E l e c t i onC om m i s s i on e r Ni l amSawhney was known forh e r l oy a l t y t o C MJaganmohan Reddy and theruling YSRCP, he added.

In a statement here, theTDP leader demanded anexplanation from the rulingparty leaders as to whythey were afraid of issuinga fresh notification for elec-

t i ons t o M P TC s an dZPTCs.

"The SEC is taking wrongdecisions without givingrespect to the political par-ties ever since she tookcharge. The TDP had notrust in Nilam Sawhney'scapability to hold electionin a fair manner going byher readiness to do anysacrifice to satisfy the ChiefMinister," he said.

Jawahar strongly object-ed to the manner in whichthe Opposit ion part ies 'demand for a fresh notifi-

cation was set aside withouteven listening.

"In the elections held inMarch last year, massiveunanimous elections wereannounced in an unfair andillegal manner. It becamepossible only with the helpand connivance of somesections of the police andthe election officials. Thenew SEC did not take alook into all such con-tentious issues," he alleged.

The TDP leader deploredthat a new unhealthy trendhas crept into AndhraPradesh nowadays that theofficials were not caringfor rules, laws and eventheir jobs.

" T h e s e u ns c r upu l ou sofficials were even ready togo to jail and get involvedin court cases for obviousreasons. Nilam Sawhneywas openly turning theelection into a farce in theState.

‘YSRCP must face Parishadpolls after fresh notification’

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Krishna district collector MdImiaz has said that arrange-ments have been made for thepeaceful conduct of ZPTCand MPTC elections inKrishna district on April 8.

Addressing the media hereat his camp office on Saturday,the collector said that 2,409polling stations were set up tohelp 20,04,417 lakh voters toexercise franchise.

Of the total 20,04,417 lakhvoters, 9,91,054 are male vot-ers and 10,13,253 are femalevoters, while 110 are others.

He said the elections will beheld for 41 ZPTCs and 648MPTCs and the polling time isbetween 7 am and 5 pm. He saidcandidates for ther two ZPTCposts and 69 MPTC posts wereelected unanimously.

He said that 159 candidatesare in the fray for 159 ZPTCposts and 1,631 MPTCs posts.He added that the campaign forthe elections will end at 5 pmon April 6. Giving details of

polling staff, he said 46 return-ing officers, 46 assistant return-ing officers, 3,150 presidingofficers 3,152 assistant presid-ing officers and 8,335 havebeen appointed for elections.

He said that 11,883 ballotboxes are kept ready and train-ing classes for polling staff willbe completed on April 6.

Imtiaz said that the electionswill be held for only 41 man-dals out of the total 49 man-dals in Krishna district.

Elections in the mandals ofMachilipatnam, Penamaluruand Jaggaiahpet mandals werestalled due to the merger ofvillages. Candidates were elect-ed unopposed in Unguturuand mandavalli mandals.

Exhibitionbegins today PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The organisers ofVijayawada Trade Fairexhibition, P Krishna andP Subba Rao, on Saturdaysaid that the exhibition willbe inaugurated on April 4at Swarajya Maidan.

Speaking to the mediapersons, they said thatthey have been organis-ing exhibition during thesummer holidays for thepeople of Vijayawada andsuburban areas.

They said that theexhibition will be open tothe public from April 4from 5 pm to 9 pm tillMay 31 and that allCovid precautions havebeen taken in organisingthe exhibition.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for endowmentsVellampalli Srinivas Raostressed on the need to spreadawareness on Covid protocolamong school children to con-tain the spread of Coronavirusin educational institutions.

The minister on Saturdayinspected various governmentschools in Vijayawada city andchecked the implementation ofmid-day meals scheme inschools.

He assured that the govern-ment would continue develop-ment programmes and welfareschemes and refuted the alle-gations levelled by oppositionparties.

Laying foundation stone fordevelopment works worth Rs1.05 crore at the HousingBoard colony, the Ministersaid that Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy was keenon developing Vijayawada intoa model city.

He said that a new water

tank of 1,500 KL capacity wasconstructed at a cost of Rs 3crore to quench the thirst ofpeople. The mega water tankwould start functioning aftercompletion of electricityworks, he added.

When local people com-plained about frequent powercuts, damaged roads anddrainages, the Minister assuredthat he would resolve all theproblems soon.

During his visit to theGovernment High School, heinteracted with the students

and inquired about the mid-day meals.

Explaining precautions to betaken to avoid Covid to thestudents, the Minister instruct-ed the teachers to create aware-ness among students and par-ents on Covid-19 to containthe spread of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, village revenueofficers felicitated MinisterSrinivas Rao welcoming theissuance of GO 2 whichappointed VROs as Drawingand Disbursing Officers(DDOs) in secretariats.

Spread awareness on Covidnorms among students: Min

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP national general secretaryand MLC Nara Lokesh onSaturday extended warm greet-ings to the sarpanches and wardmembers on their swearing-inin panchayats across the State.

Lokesh lauded and remind-ed that the sarpanches wouldnot be at the mercy of anybodyas they have fought the elec-tions and got elected. By doingso, the sarpanches rejectedand fought against the fasciststyle of leadership of CMJaganmohan Reddy in thename of unanimous elections,he added.

In a statement here, theTDP MLC called upon thesarpanches to continue theirfight against the GO No. 2 thatwas brought illegally by theYSRCP regime in order to

deny their powers and respon-sibilities.

"Absolutely, there is no needto surrender to the rulingparty leaders. The 73rd and74th amendments to theConstitution have given a lot ofpowers to the sarpanches forthe betterment of the local

bodies," he said.Lokesh said that the

sarpanches were for villageslike the Chief Minister for thestate and Prime Minister forthe country.

"Newly-elected sarpanchesand ward members shouldkeep in mind how the Central

funds would come directly tothe panchayats without havingto depend on any intermedi-aries. With these funds, thesarpanches would be able tobring in a lot of developmentfor the well being of the localpeople," he said.

Condemning the GO 2,Lokesh said that it was hightime for the sarpanches toassert their rights, powers andresponsibilities.

The Constitution has guar-anteed these powers whichnobody would be able to takeaway from them. The ChiefMinister had brought in theGO 2 to diminish the role ofthe sarpanches in the villageadministration, he added.

Lokesh urged the sarpanch-es to utilise the funds for thegreater development of theirrespective villages.

Fight for rights: Lokesh to sarpanches

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The project titled "Catalystsfor CO2 Reduction to C2Product: Descriptor toDatabase" has been sanc-tioned to Prof Ranjit Thapa,Professor of Physics, SRMUniversity - AP by NationalSupercomputing Mission(NSM), supported byDepartment of Science andTechnology (DST) in collab-oration with the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnolog y (MeitY),Government of India.

The first-year grant of Rs28 lakh has been awarded forthe implementation of theproject. Prof Ranjit Thapa asthe project leader has start-ed the work to search for thebest catalyst to convert CO2into a useful product andhence solving the problem ofclimate change due to thelarge production of CO2through different sources.

CO2 is a known green-house gas and the key reason

for global warming and cli-mate change.

Prof Thapa believes thatmetal nanocatalyst on sup-port materials can solve theproblem and can increase theefficiency of CO2 reductionto C2 products, viz., ethylene(C2H4) and ethanol(C2H5OH).

Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva,Assistant Professor ofChemistry, SRM University -AP, received Rs19.92 lakh asthe first installment fromD S T - N a t i o n a lSupercomputing Mission(NSM).

The project aims at under-standing the critical factorsthat influence the perfor-mance of organic solar cells.Using the supercomputer,his research group will modelthe electronic process thatoccurs during solar cell oper-ation. The outcome of thisproject will guide experi-mentalists to develop organ-ic solar cells with higherefficiency.

PNS n GUNTUR

Undavalli MLA Sridevihas described ChiefMinister JaganmohanReddy as the saviour ofthe people as he wasinstrumental in gettingelected many people aspeople's representativesand making Covid vac-cine accessible to all.

Participating as chiefguest at the Firangipuramsarpanch oath-taking cer-emony on Saturday, sheexplained how theJaganmohan Reddyemerged as the third bestCM in the country. Sheappealed to the people tovote for YSRCP candi-dates in ZPTC and MPTCelections. She exuded con-fidence that JaganmohanReddy would serve as CMfor another 30 years withthe support of the people.

PNS n GUNTUR

A village volunteerallegedly sexually assault-ed a minor girl in Vemuruconstituency of Gunturdistrict, according todelayed reports reachinghere on Saturday. The inci-dent took place inMunnangivaripalem vil-lage of Chunduru mandal.

According to the police,Pavan, the village volunteer,repeatedly outraged themodesty of a 14-year-oldgirl on the pretext of lovingher. He duped her with hisglib tongue and perpetrat-ed the offence on her. Afternoticing the girl talking tosomeone on phone severaltimes, her mother demand-ed an explanation from herand the girl revealed every-thing to the mother.

Villagevolunteermolests minor

MLA callsCM saviourof people

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

All India NewspaperEmployees Federation(AINEF) has appealed toAndhra Pradesh govern-ment to extend financialassistance to senior jour-nalist S Ganapati Rao whocommitted suicide due tofinancial problems.

In a statement here onSaturday, AINEF vice-president Ch.Purnachandra Rao saidthat Ganapati Rao, whobelonged to Polavaram inWest Godavari district,committed suicide byjumping into the riverGodavari unable to bearthe financial problems.

AINEF seekssuccor forjournalistGanapatiRao’s family

Arrangements in placefor ZPTC, MPTC polls

Cargo traffic at Vizag Portdrops 4 % to 69.84 MT

SRM professors getNSM research grants

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | APRIL 4, 2021 vijayawada 04

G GOPI KRISHNA

n KADAPA

With the State ElectionCommission issuing notifi-cation for elections to theZilla and Mandal TerritorialConstituencies, a very uniquesituation has unfolded - pollswould be held for a smatter-ing of seats in Kadapa district,since a large number of terri-tories would see no voting atall. The SEC's notificationsays that the election processstalled last year will beresumed. This means that vic-tory of the around 80 percentof candidates put up by theruling YSRCP who weredeclared elected last year hasbeen validated by the SEC.Incidentally, the YSRCP alsosecured a clear majority in

Mandal Parishad posts in 24territories.

Election notification wasissued on March 7 last year forthe Zilla Parishad seats in allthe 50 mandals in Kadapa dis-trict. By the end of the with-drawal of nominations, allthe seats in the 24 mandalswere declared elected unani-mously and elections would beheld for the remaining 26mandals. In Pulivendula man-dal, all ZPTC and MPTC seatswere declared unanimous.

Election will be held foronly one MPTC seat inRayachoti while ZPTC elec-tions will be held in only 12seats in Badvelu,Jammalamadugu, RailwayKoduru and Rajampet con-stituencies.

In the remaining mandals,

all the ZPTC seats were unan-imous.

Also, of the 554 MPTC seatsin the district, 432 were unan-imous. Elections were put offin four seats - polling forSundupalli MandalSontamvaripalle MPTC seatwas stopped due to legal issues.

Hence, elections will beheld only for the remaining118 seats.

During the past one yearwhen the election process wason hold, three MPTC candi-dates have died and theprocess will begin afresh forthese seats.

Incidentally, the processwill start afresh for the MPTCseats of Murarichinthala inLingala Mandal and KothaMadhavaram in OntimittaMandals where the YSRCP

candidates who had beenelected unanimously passedaway. Also, a BJP candidatecontesting for NaganurupalleMPTC seat in ProddaturMandal also passed away.

Meanwhile, in the wake ofthe latest notification from theState Election Commission,the district administration hasstarted making preparationsfor the elections in earnest.Officials led by districtCollector Harikiran met onFriday to discuss the arrange-ments to be made.

It may be safe to say that theYSRCP looks all set to sweepthe polls, its supporters hav-ing won over 85 percent of theseats in the Gram Panchayatelections and its candidatessweeping the recent municipalelections.

Parishad polls presentpeculiar picture in Kadapa

PNS n GUNTUR

The coronavirus was onceagain spreading its tentacles inGuntur district as the numberof daily cases was increasing.The corona pandemic createdhavoc last year and a yearlater, the virus was once againspreading like a wildfire caus-ing great concern for the peo-ple of Guntur district.

The authorities soundedhigh alert and announcedpartial lockdown inBhattiprolu mandal in theVemur constituency. A circleinspector and two accusedpersons in Tadepalli Policestation were tested positivecausing tension among thepolice personnel. Three otheraccused persons, who werelodged in the police station,were also suffering from fever.They were yet to be sent forthe Corona test.

The coronavirus recordedits first case in Guntur districtin March 2019. Lockdownhad been imposed as the viruswas spreading fast from oneperson to person. Despite the

lockdown induced by theCorona pandemic, many peo-ple died in the hospitals.

After last year trauma, thedistrict was slowly recoveringfrom the coronavirus out-break. It became nor-mal with manyprecautions suchas social dis-tance, wear-ing masksand applyings a n i t i s e r s .Now the vac-cine waswithin thereach of thepublic and peoplehaving more than 45years were being vaccinated.

The coronavirus startedscaring people again. Coronapositive cases in Guntur dis-trict for the last few dayshave been alarminglyincreased throwing theauthorities on tenterhooks.The recent report of positivecases was quite disturbing. Atotal of 1450 cases were reg-istered just in a week. Thecases were increasing slowly as

127 cases were reported onMarch 26, 176 on March 27,145 on March 28, 152 onMarch 29,195 on March 30,352 on March 31 and 279 onApril 1.

The officials warnedpeople of using a

mask when theywere out oftheir homes asit was manda-tory in thewake of thesecond waveof the corona

outbreak. Thepolice conduct-

ed a special driveon those who were not

wearing masks. SPs,Ammireddy and Vishal Gunnihave directly jumped intoaction and monitoring thesituation on the roads.Counselling was also beingconducted apart from impos-ing fines on those who comeout without a mask. A redalert has been sounded in thedistrict to contain the virusand people were asked tomaintain self-restraint.

Second wave coronaspreading fast in Guntur

PNS n TIRUMALA

The traditional temple cleans-ing fete, Koil AlwarTirumanjanam would beobserved in Tirumala templeon April 6 in view of TeluguNew Year's Day Ugadi on April13.

This cleaning ritual wasobserved four times in a year,on Tuesday falling before thefestivities including VaikunthaEkadasi, AnnualBrahmotsavams, AnivaraAsthanam and Telugu Ugadi.

On Tuesday, the temple,sub-temples inside Tirumalatemple, puja utensils, roofs,walls, ceilings would becleansed with an aromaticmixture called 'Parimalam'which would be sprayed allover. This amalgamation actsas a disinfectant and this fetewould be observed between6am and 9am.

While the cleansing processis on, the Mula Murthi wouldbe covered with a white veil.After the cleaning process ofthe temple was completed, theveil would be removed and

remaining rituals and pujaswould be carried out to thepresiding deity by theArchakas.

The devotees would beallowed for darshan of Sri

Venkateswara Swamy after thespecial pujas on that day.

Meanwhile, the annualPushayagam in Sri KalyanaVenkateswara Swamy templeat Srinivasa Mangapuramwould be observed on April 6in Ekantam (isolation) in viewof Covid guidelines. In view ofthis ritual Kalyanotsavam wascancelled on that day.

No arjitha sevas: In view ofincreasing COVID cases acrossthe country, the TTD hasdecided to postpone resumingof Arjitha Sevas from April 14onwards.

Earlier, the TTD Board hasdecided during its board meet-ing held last month, to resumeArjitha Sevas in Tirumala tem-ple from April 14 onwards.However, as the Covid secondspell has started recently, theDevasthanam has decided topostpone the resuming ofArjitha Sevas in view of thehealth security of pilgrims.

After the situation turns tonormalcy, the devotees wouldbe informed prior about theresuming of Arjitha Sevas byTTD.

Ugadi Tirumanjanam inTirumala on April 6

PNS n TIRUPATI

The Government of Jammu &Kashmir has allotted 496 Kanal17 marla which is equal to 62acres of land in Majin village ofJammu district to TTD for theconstruction of Sri VenkateswaraSwamy temple and its alliedstructures. The allotted land toTTD would be for a lease periodof 40 years at a minimum priceof 10 rupees per kanal perannum without charge of anypremium. The lease should begoverned under J & K LandGrants Act of 1960.

J&K Govt allotsland to TTD forbuilding temple

Will fight atrocities againstwomen: Ongole Mayor ANNAVAJJHULA

CHANDRA SEKHAR

n ONGOLE

First woman Mayor of OngoleGangada Sujata has declaredthat she will draw plans fordevelopment of MunicipalCorporation of Ongole withthe help of Minister BalineniSrinivasa Rao.

Speaking to Pioneer corre-spondent over her plans todevelop Ongole on Saturday,she expressed her readiness tofight against atrocities onwomen and for womenempowerment and for theirprotection.

Her focus would be on tid-ing over drinking water crisisin the city, paying specialattention on sanitation in thecity and to check the mosqui-to menace. He said that she hasplans to improve greenery andsanitation in the city.

She said that she will strivehard to ensure that the fruitsof Disha Act, introduced byCM Jaganmohan Reddy, andwelfare schemes meant forthem launched by the stategovernment reach the targetgroups.

She said that she hailedfrom a middle class family inRayavaram village of EastGodavari district. She saidthat she and her brotherworked hard and secured gov-ernment jobs. Claiming tohave her husband's support toher entry in to politics, she saidthat she has had the support ofher husband and children forher to balance her politicalcareer and family life.

She claims to have taken upseveral service activities for thebenefit of the poor. Further, shesaid that she feels highly satis-fied to feed the family prepar-ing food all by herself.

Further, she said that shewould implement severalactivities to beautify theOngole city. Her other prior-ity areas would be self-employ-ment training for women,extending benefit of govern-ment schemes to them.

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odisha Assembly on Saturdaywitnessed an unpleasant scenewhen some opposition BJPmembers allegedly hurled slip-pers, earphones and paperstargeting the Speaker's podi-um.

The incident took placewhen the House hurriedlypassed the Odisha Lokayukta(Amendment) Bill withinminutes without any discus-sion. Speaker S N Patro hadearlier rejected a notice fromCongress to conduct a discus-sion on alleged corruption inmining activities.

Two senior BJP lawmakers- J N Mishra and B C Sethiwere seen standing at theirseats and hurling some mate-rials towards the Speaker'spodium as a mark of protest.

The objects hurled by themwere slippers, papers, pen,dustbin and earphone.However, the slippers andother materials did not reachthe podium.

While Sethi refused the

allegation of throwing slipperstowards the Speaker's podium,J N Mishra said: "I do notknow what exactly I havethrown, but he (speaker)deserves this kind of behav-iour. He does not function ina democratic manner".

Government Chief WhipPramila Mallick alleged thatBJP members J N Mishra, B CSethi hurled slippers and ear-phones while party whipMohan Majhi threw the ear-phone. "They (BJP members)are doing so just to remain inthe news", Mallick said.

The speaker said: "I amexamining the incident. Thelaw will take its own course."

Congress Legislature Partyleader Narasingha Mishracondemned the incident anddubbed it as "unfortunate". Hesaid the Congress had serveda notice for a discussion on themining activities, which hasbeen rejected by the Speakerwithout any reason. "It is alsounfortunate that bills arepassed in the House withoutdiscussion.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Home Ministry onSaturday termed as "distorted"and "misleading" media reportslinking its letter to the Punjabgovernment on the plight of 58bonded labourers rescued in thestate to the farmers' agitationand said no motive should beascribed to a routine communi-cation over law and order issues.

The ministry said a section ofmedia has erroneously report-ed that the ministry has writtenthe letter to Punjab levellinggrave charges against the farm-ers of the state.

These news reports are mis-leading and present a distorted

and highly editorialised opinionof a simple observation about asocioeconomic problem emerg-ing from four sensitive borderdistricts of Punjab over a peri-od of two years, which has beenbrought to the attention of thisministry by the concernedCentral Armed Police Force, thehome ministry said in a state-ment.

The home ministry said,Firstly, no motive can beascribed to a letter issued by thisministry to a particular state orstates as this is part of routinecommunication over law andorder issues .

The ministry said the letterhas also been forwarded to the

Secretary, Union Ministry ofLabour and Employment witha request to carry out a sensiti-sation exercise in all states tocheck the duping of vulnerablevictims at the hands of

unscrupulous elements.Secondly, some of the news

reports about the letter have jux-taposed in a totally unrelatedcontext to conclude that theMHA has framed 'grave charges'

against the farmers of Punjaband has also connected this withthe ongoing farmers' agitation,the statement said.

Farmers, mostly from Punjaband Haryana, have been protest-ing on the borders of Delhiagainst three central agri lawssince late November, with thedeadlock persisting even afterseveral rounds of talks. Thehome ministry said the letterclearly and only states thathuman trafficking syndicateshire such labourers and they areexploited, paid poorly andmeted out inhuman treatmentbesides luring them with drugsto extract more labour, affectingtheir physical and mental health.

Keeping in view the multi-dimensional and overwhelmingenormity of the problem, thisministry has only requestedthe state government(s) to takesuitable measures to address thisserious problem, the statementsaid.

In its communicat iondated March 17, the homeministry has conveyed to thePunjab government that 58mentally challenged peoplebelonging to Bihar and UPwere found to be working as"bonded labourers" in theborder districts of the stateand asked it to take appropri-ate action to deal with the"serious" problem.

‘Dont link Punjab bonded labour rescue and farmers’ stir’

PNS n CHENNAI/TIRUNELVELI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday attacked theDMK-Congress combine over"corruption and dynasty" andsaid only the AIADMK-BJPalliance can "protect" thosewho believe in the culture ofTamil Nadu.

Seeking votes for NDA can-didates with a promise of allround development of the state,Shah said its top leaders, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andTamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami, had grown fromhumble beginnings while thosein the DMK and Congress arefrom "dynasty."

"Only the AIADMK-BJPalliance can protect TamilNadu's fishermen, unemployedyouth, women and all thosehaving faith in Tamil Nadu'sculture," he told reporters inChennai.

Single phase polling to 234Assembly seats is scheduled onApril 6.

DMK President M K Stalinwas worried about making hisson Udhayanidhi chief minis-ter, Shah later alleged at an elec-tion rally in Tirunelveli.

"Stalin sir's anger and BP(blood pressure) goes up when-ever I make a mention ofUdhayanidhi and he ends upsaying something about some-

one," Shah said.Keeping up his attack of

family and dynasty politicsagainst the two, Shah saidCongress was "4G and DMK"3G", referring to the genera-tion of leaders from the respec-tive first families in politics.

While the leaders of NDA,Modi and Palaniswami, start-ed from humble beginnings,"on the other side is the DMKand Congress."

"Congress' fourth genera-tion is running--4g-- JawaharlalNehru, Indira Gandhi, RajivGandhi (all late leaders) andnow Rahul Gandhi," he said.

"The DMK party--its 3gparty--third generation-- MKarunanidhi, after him Stalinand now Stalin is risking theentire future of Tamil Nadu bytrying hard to makeUdhayanidhi chief minister,"Shah said.

The Maran family,Karunanidhi family andGandhi family "are dynasty,family parties whereas BJPand AIADMK are parties thatelevate grassroot workers to theposts of PM and CM," headded.

While Modi was worriedabout Tamil Nadu's farmers,unemployed youth and fish-ermen, Stalin was keen onmaking Udhayanidhi chiefminister.

Reject the ‘corrupt,dynastic' DMK-Congcombine, says Shah

PNS n KOLKATA

A purported video clip whereBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is seen sitting on awheelchair and moving herplastered leg back and forth hasgone viral on social media, giv-ing her rivals an opportunity toclaim that she was playing upher injuries to win sympathy.

The TMC, however, hascondemned the "manner inwhich the party supremo hasbeen insulted", and said therival BJP should learn how torespect women.

PTI could not independent-ly verify the authenticity of thevideo.

BJP spokesperson PronoyRoy, who shared the 30-secondclip on Facebook, said Banerjeeshould "stop putting up adrama over her injuries" to gar-ner public support in the midstof the assembly elections.

"This video grab which hassurfaced on networking web-sites has not been filmed byanybody from the BJP. It wasrecorded by some TMC partyworkers. We want her to getback to normal life soon, wealso pray for that... but she

must stop putting up thisdrama by moving around in awheelchair.

"If she was exercising her legby shaking it then I suggest thatshe start walking as that willhelp her recuperate faster."

Taking a jibe at the chiefminister, Rahul Sinha, a seniorleader of the saffron party, saidthe TMC supremo's bandagewill not buy her votes.

"The more she is losing con-fidence the bigger her bandagegets. People are not buying

this... She must have forgottenwhich leg is injured, and shookthe wrong foot. She has alreadylost the elections, the bandagewon't be able to save her fromimminent defeat," Sinha said.

Taking strong exception tothe remarks made by BJP lead-ers, state minister Shashi Panjasaid the saffron camp, by rais-ing suspicion over Banerjee'sinjuries, has not just insultedher but all the women ofBengal.

"We condemn the manner

the BJP is insulting our belovedCM. They are not just insult-ing our CM, but also the otherwomen of the state. We urgethem to show proper respect tothe women of this state," Panjasaid.

Echoing her, former BJPleader Yashwant Sinha, whojoined the TMC recently, saidif anybody was churning outlies, it was the BJP and not theTMC.

"Are they (BJP leaders) try-ing to say that a whole lot ofpeople involved (in treatingher) including eminent doctorsare lying? It's only the BJPwhich is capable of speakingsuch lies. I've no doubt in mymind that they are the onesbehind this (propaganda),"Sinha, who had served as thefinance minister in the AtalBihari Vajpayee cabinet, stated.

TMC spokesperson KunalGhosh also hit out at the BJPand said that the people ofBengal will give the BJP abefitting reply for its "dirty pol-itics".

"If they (BJP leaders) arespending so much time staringat Didi's feet, they might as wellfall on her feet.

Mamata shaking injured leg in videosparks row between TMC and BJP

PNS n SAGAR (MP)

A video of two policemenallegedly hitting a man withsticks at a police station inMadhya Pradesh's Sagar districtwent viral on social media,prompting the authorities tolaunch a probe into the incident,an official said on Saturday. Thevideo was allegedly shot inBajaria police station of Binatown in the district on Monday,it was stated. An inquiry intothe incident is underway anda report will be submitted nextweek, sub-divisional officer ofpolice (SDOP) Priya Singhtold PTI. Sagar's superinten-dent of police (SP) Atul Singhhad earlier told reporters thattwo groups of people hadcome to the police station tofile their complaints followinga dispute.

Probe orderedinto two copshitting maninside PS

Slippers, earphones &papers hurled targetingOdisha Speaker's podium

Cop dismissed forasking sexual favoursfrom rape survivorPNS n JAIPUR

Taking more harsh actionagainst Kailash Bohra, whowas given compulsory retire-ment from the Rajasthan PoliceService (RPS) for demandingsexual favours from a rape sur-vivor last month, the state gov-ernment ordered his dismissalon Friday.

The order was issued afterobtaining the approval from thegovernor. The state govern-ment had issued an order forBohra's compulsory retirementon March 20.

Bohra was arrested by theAnti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)for allegedly demanding sexu-al favours from a rape survivorin lieu of taking action in cases

lodged on the basis of her com-plaints.

He was posted as the assistantcommissioner of police (ACP)at the special investigation unitfor crimes against women in theDCP East office and was arrest-ed by the ACB team from hisoffice on March 14. Bohra hadfirst demanded money from thewoman, who had got threecases, including one of rape,lodged. Subsequently, he begandemanding sexual favours fromher for taking action in thecases.

The officer was investigatingthe cases. The oppositionBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)raised the issue in the Assemblyand expressed dissatisfactionover mere suspension.

VIJAYAWADA| SUNDAY | APRIL 4, 2021 nation 05

CITY LIGHTS

he Bulandshahr police on Saturdayarrested eight members of a gangallegedly involved in lifting cattle

and slaughtering them for selling beefand recovered several illegal arms fromthem.The arrests were made by a jointteam of Jahangirabad Police stationand the district Crime Branch fromRivada village in the Arnia policestation area after an early-hour gunbattle in which two members of thegang, including its leader Akbar, wasinjured. Akbar, involved in trampling a police constable to death in2010 under the wheels of his cattle-laden mini truck at a policebarricade on being asked to stop for checking, was arrested alongwith his accomplice Mehndi Hasan, Bulandshahr SP Santosh Singhsaid. The incident in which constable Mahendra Singh was trampledto death had taken place at Chola traffic intersection under Kotwalipolice station area, the SP recalled. Arrested after suffering gunshotwounds in the exchange of fire, the two were sent to a hospital fortreatment, said Singh, adding, six other members of the gang werearrested during subsequent raids at various places.

Congress leader Rajesh Sharmaon Saturday sought to knowwhy the Central University of

Himachal Pradesh was operatingfrom a temporary campus despitebeing allotted land by the stategovernment. He said the BJP-ruledstate government should clarify itsstand on the matter. If the BJPgovernment fails to clear the air on the matter, people will give it abefitting reply in the Dharamsala municipal polls on April 7, Sharmasaid in a statement. He added that activists of the ABVP, the BJP'syouth wing, have been protesting since the past seven weeks overthe absence of permanent campus of the varsity. Why is the varsitystill running from the building of other departments in Dharam-shala? The BJP should answer why its own outfit ABVP is agitatingagainst them. Why has the appointment of a regular vice chancellor,registrar and controller of examinations not been done in the CentralUniversity of HP (CUHP) for the past one year? Sharma said.

Congress demands permanentcampus for HP central varsity

Acourt here on Saturday extended the NIA custody ofsuspended police officer Sachin Waze till April 7 in the case ofan explosives-laden SUV found near industrialist Mukesh

Ambani's house and businessman Mansukh Hiran's death. Waze,arrested on March 13, was produced before the special NIA courthere after his earlier remand expired. The National InvestigationAgency sought his remand for another six days. Additional SolicitorGeneral Anil Singh, the NIA lawyer, said the agency had recoveredincriminating evidence such as digital video recording (DVR) ofCCTV footage and laptops and it needed to be examined. The courtafter hearing both the sides extended Waze's custody till April 7.Anexplosives-laden Scorpio was found near Ambani's residence hereon February 25. Mansukh Hiran, who had claimed that the vehiclehad been stolen from his possession a week earlier, was found deadin a creek in Thane on March 5.

NIA custody of Sachin Wazeextended till April 7

Mamata's obstructionist mindsetdeprived Bengal of jobs: ModiPNS n HARIPAL

Prime Minister NarendraModi Saturday alleged the"obstructionist mindset" ofChief Minister MamataBanerjee and her TMCdeprived West Bengal ofindustries and jobs.

He claimed the TMCsupremo hurt people's self-respect by claiming they areattending BJP rallies aftertaking money.

The prime minister alsomocked Banerjee for her fre-quent criticism of theElectronic Voting Machinesand the ElectionCommission.

"She keeps criticising EVM,the EC....If players keep crit-icising umpires, you shouldknow their "Khela Sesh"(game's over)," he told anelection rally here in Hooghlydistrict.

Referring to the Singurmovement of 2006-08 thatforced Tata Motors to moveout its proposed small carNano's production unit fromthere, Modi said the TMCused the place for political

purpose and then left thepeople to fend for them-selves.

"Didi and her party'sobstructionist mindsetblocked several industrial,infrastructure and connectiv-ity projects.

I have never seen a partywhich takes pride in stoppingindustries and development.

"We all know what hap-pened in neighbouring

Singur.They used it for furthering

their politics and then left thepeople in limbo. Today, it hasno industries and farmersare in distress," he said.

Seeking to punch a hole inthe TMC's poll plank ofBengali pride, Modi claimedBanerjee hurt people's self-respect by claiming theyattend BJP rallies after takingmoney.

"Didi has got jittery aftersensing defeat. That's whyshe is criticising everybodyand everything, from EC toEVMs.

She is abusing me. Butwhile abusing me, she hashurt the self-respect of thepeople of Bengal by sayingthey are taking money toattend our rallies.

"Do people of Bengal takemoney to attend rallies, Didi?

Who are you insulting whileabusing me? You are insultingthe people of the state," hesaid.

Modi said he sensed theoutcome of Bengal electionsthe day polling was held inNandigram.

"Didi you betrayed people,you accept defeat," Modi saidapparently referring toBanerjee's angry outburstsagainst central security forcesand Union Home MinisterAmit Shah while polling wason in Nandigram.

Banerjee is locked in akeen tussle in Nandigramwith her one-time loyalistSuvendu Adhikari who hasjoined the BJP.

Modi also claimed thatBanerjee, in order to satisfyher ego, blocked implementa-tion of various centralschemes.

Exuding confidence aboutforming the next governmentin Bengal, the prime ministersaid he will attend the oath-taking ceremony of the BJPgovernment and request it toimplement the PM KisanNidhi scheme as early as possible.

PNS n RAIDIGHI

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Saturdayaccused the BJP of engineeringcommunal strife in the state towin the assembly elections.

The TMC chief, whileaddressing an election rally inRaidighi in South 24 Parganasdistrict, also called uponMuslims not to "fall in the trapof a BJP-aided party fromHyderabad and its Bengal allythat are out to polarise votes."

Her jibe was apparentlyaimed at Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and AbbasSiddiqui's ISF. Both Owaisiand Siddiqui had earlier deniedthe TMC's insinuations. TheISF is fighting the elections inalliance with the CPI(M) andthe Congress.

The TMC supremo alsourged Hindus to be on theguard against the BJP'sattempts to "instigate com-munal clashes" and calledupon them to chase away out-siders sent to foment trouble intheir respective localities.

Affirming her Hindu iden-tity, in an apparent attempt tocounter the minority appease-ment charge against her,Banerjee said, "I am a devoutHindu who recites Chandimantra every day before leav-

ing home. But I believe in ourtradition of giving respect toevery religion."

Taking a dig at BJP leadershaving lunch at houses ofDalits, she said, "I am aBrahmin woman. But my all-time associate is a ScheduledCaste woman who takes careof all my needs. She also cooksfood for me."

"I need not advertise this asthose bringing five-star hotellunch to eat at the courtyard ofa Dalit home are anti- Dalit,anti-backward caste and anti-minority in nature," she said.

The TMC chief claimed thatif elected to power in WestBengal, the BJP will implementthe Citizenship (Amendment)Act and the National Register

of Citizens (NRC), forcing"many citizens to leave".

"They will divide WestBengal and its people.Remember how they deletedthe names of 14 lakh Bengalisand 2 lakh Biharis in theupdated NRC in Assam," shesaid.

Banerjee alleged that centralforces are terrorising people atevery home 48 hours beforepolling, asking them to vote forthe BJP.

"Don't be intimidated.Mothers and sisters challengethem. We have no problems ifthe forces act impartially toensure free and fair electionsbut if they act on behalf of aparticular political party, wewill protest," she said.

BJP engineering communal strifein Bengal to win polls: Mamata

PNS n HARIDWAR

A step into one of the nonde-script houses the pandas live inat Kushaghat near Har Ki Pairihere, one will be confronted byalmirahs fully stacked witharrays of yellowing pages inhuge volumes.

To the uninitiated, these"Bahi khatas " may seem noth-ing but scrap, but for the houseowner, these centuries-old"precious volumes" can give theInternet search engines a runfor their money when it comesto dredging up family histories.

As thousands of Hindu pil-

grims visit Haridwar to washaway their sins in the Ganga orto perform last rites of theirloved ones, their family priestshelp them record their lineageon these scrolls of paper.

Around 2,000 pandas resid-ing in Haridwar preserve thelineages of their clients in the'Bahi khatas', says KaushalSikhaula, a priest, as he turnsover the brittle pages of onesuch volume carefully so as notto damage them further.

The tradition started withthe invention of paper and hascontinued ever since. Beforepaper, the practice of scripting

and preserving family trees orlineages in 'Bahi khatas' wascarried out on 'Bhojpatra', butthose records are no longeravailable, Sikhaula, a reveredpriest of Haridwar, adds.

The pandas of Haridwar arethe original inhabitants of thepilgrimage town. Before thepractice of recording familydetails of clients visiting thebanks of the Ganga here start-ed, the pandas used to mem-orise the names, clans andplaces of origin, and pass downthe information orally to theirnext generations.

The clientele of a particular

panda is decided on the basisof the village, district and thestate they come from.

These 'Bahi khatas' and thefamily details provided by thepandas are considered evenlegally valid, Sikhaula claims.

Even land disputes originat-ing after the death of peoplewhose names figure in these"ancient" hand-written ledgershave been resolved on the basisof lineage information provid-ed by these documents, headds. Lineages of kings andemperors can be found in these'Bahi khatas', besides those ofcommon people, Sikhaula says.

‘Bahi khatas' of Haridwar pandasrelevant even in era of computers

PNS n SHIVAMOGGA

There is no question of B SYediyurappa resigning as theChief Minister of Karnataka,senior Minister K SEshwarappa said on Saturday,as he termed his letter to theGovernor as an administrativematter.

He said Congress leaderSiddaramaiah was demand-ing Yediyurappa's resignation,under the illusion of becomingthe CM. FollowingEshwarappa's recent complaintto the Governor againstYediyurappa, alleging directinterference in the affairs of hisdepartment, Siddaramaiah,who is the leader of oppositionin the state assembly, hasdemanded that the ChiefMinister step down from hispost.

He had also urged theGovernor to intervene andrecommend for the President'srule in the state.

"Siddaramaiah is in anurgency to become the ChiefMinister. People have rejectedhim, he was defeated inChamundeshwari (constituen-cy in 2018), he lost the ChiefMinister post.

He is now under the illusionthat if Yediyurappa resigns, hewill become the ChiefMinister," Eshwarappa said.

Speaking to reporters, hesaid there is no question ofYediyurappa resigning andSiddaramaiah should not beunder the illusion of becomingthe Chief Minister.

The former Chief Ministeris unable to digest our organ-

isational strength, also he does-n't have anything to criticiseModi-led government at theCentre or the government herewith as both are doing a goodjob, he said.

"That's the reason he(Siddaramaiah) is latching onthe letter to Governor and isdemanding for CM's resigna-tion.

Eshwarappa, who is RuralDevelopment Minister inYediyurappa's cabinet onWednesday had complained tothe Governor against the ChiefMinister alleging direct inter-ference in the affairs of hisdepartment.

He had met GovernorVajubhai Vala and submitted afive- page letter on seriouslapses and authoritarian way ofrunning the administrationby the Chief Minister, in whichhe pointed at three instanceswhere Yediyurappa sanctionedfunds without taking him intoconfidence.

No question of Yediyurapparesigning as CM: Eshwarappa

PNS n KOYILANDY

Attacking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for hisCongress MuktBharat'jibe,Rahul Gandhi on Fridaysaid the BJP leader seems tohave issues only with thegrand old party and not withthe CPI(M).

"Wherever the PrimeMinistergoes, he keeps sayingCongress Mukt Bharat(Congress Free India). Whenhe gets up in the morning, hesays Congress Mukt Bharatand when he goes to sleep hesays 'Congress Mukt Bharat'.

Why does the PM never say'CPI(M) Mukt Bharat'?" Modinever says that.

Somehow he does not havea problem with the Left frontand has a problem with theCongress," the Wayanad MP,who reached Kerala on thefinal phase of campaigning forthe April 6 assembly polls, saidat a meeting here.

While the Congress was aunifying force, the Left frontwas divisive, he said adding"whereverwe go, we unifyeverybody. We are a unifyingforce. Wherever we go weidentify everybody and unitethem and make them strong".

Taking on the RSS, he saidthey understand that the realthreat to them comes fromthose who unite everybody.

"And they understand verywell, just like them, the Leftfront is also a divider of soci-ety. The Left front is also anideology of violence and anger.Congressnever spreads angeror hatred and only unites," hesaid.

‘Why PM never says‘CPM-mukt’ Bharat?’

PNS n NEW DELHIA 24-year-old member of aMewat-based gang of ATMrobbers, who was carryinga reward of Rs 50,000 onhim, was arrested fromHaryana, Delhi Police saidon Saturday.

The accused Shorab, aresident of Nuh district inHaryana, was wanted in 20cases of breaking ATMs inDelhi and Haryana andlooting Rs 2 crore, they said."Police were informed thatShorab was hiding inRajasthan and would go toMewat through Silkho TollPlaza in Nuh district onFriday between 4 am and 5am. "A police team wasdeployed near the toll plaza.On seeing police, Shorabgot down from a taxi andtried to escape, but wasnabbed," DCP (SpecialCell) Pramod SinghKushwah said.

PNS n INDORE

Police here have registered acase of rape against the son ofa Congress MLA in MadhyaPradesh after a woman YouthCongress leader accused himof sexually assaulting her onthe pretext of marriage, an offi-cial said on Saturday.

While the legislator termedthe complaint against his sonas false, the state unit of theYouth Congress has formed acommittee to probe thewoman's allegations.

"The FIR against theCongress MLA's son was reg-istered on Friday evening aftera 28-year-old woman lodged acomplaint against him," anofficial of Women's PoliceStation in Indore said.

"The complainant, who isassociated with the Youth

Congress, alleged that theaccused raped her in Februarythis year on the pretext of mar-rying her," the official said.

The woman leader's allega-tions against the MLA's son arebeing investigated and a searchfor the accused is underway,the official added.

When contacted, the MLAsaid, "The woman leader has

filed a false case of rape againstmy son. She has been trying toextort money from him sincelong." "My son was alreadyapprehensive that the womanleader might file a false case ofrape against him. Therefore, hehad written to the office ofIndore DIG of Police on April1 (Thursday), expressing appre-hensions about it," he said.

Member ofATM robbersgang arrested

MP: Congress MLA's sonbooked for alleged rape

PNS n NEWDELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Saturday said it hasattached assets worth Rs 3crore of TMC spokespersonKunal Ghosh, its MP SatabdiRoy and Debjani Mukherjeein the Saradha chit fundmoney laundering case.

It said a provisional orderfor attachment of the movableand immovable propertieshas been issued under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

The central probe agencysaid in a statement that theassets belong to "KunalGhosh, ex-Rajya Sabha MPfrom Trinamool Congress(CEO of Media GroupSaradha), Satabdi Roy, LokSabha MP from TMC (brandambassador in Saradha), andDebjani Mukherjee who isdirector in Saradha Group ofcompanies in Saradha chitfund case."

Assets worth Rs 600 crorehave been attached in this casetill now.

ED attaches assetsof TMC leaders

PNS n KANNUR

Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan .on Saturday lashedout at the Congress and BJP,saying those who tried to sab-otage the state's survival andgrowth in the last fiveyearswere now delivering speecheson development, whichamounted to 'mocking' thepeople.

Speaking at a press meethere, he alleged that thenational leaders of theCongress and BJP, includingthe Prime Minister, wereattempting to create a distort-ed image of Kerala.

His remarks came a dayafter Modi said at a poll rallyin Thiruvanthapuram thatthere was a "total hartal ongovernance" in Kerala.

"Any move by the RSS for acommunal divide has not been

successful in Kerala, which isa stronghold of secularism.

Those who tried to sabotagethe survival and growth of thestate in the last fiveyears arenow delivering speeches ondevelopment.

This amounts to mockingthe people of Kerala," he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat just because the state wasnot 'surrendering to the com-munal agenda of the SanghParivar," they were trying toteach a lesson to Kerala andpunish them.

Vijayan lashes outat Congress, BJP

PNS n KOCHI

The EC on Saturdayinformed the Kerala HighCourt that threeAssembly constituenciesbordering Tamil Naduwill be sealed on the dayof the state assembly elec-tions on April 6. A submission in thisregard was made when thecourt considered the peti-tion filed by UDF candi-dates of these constituen-cies, seeking a direction tothe EC to seal the entrypoints of the constituen-cies through which vehi-cles enter through TNand deploy central forcesfor protection in the prob-lematic booths there.

Constituenciesbordering TNto be sealedon polling day

TMC candidate fromJorasanko assembly seat,Vivek Gupta, said on

Saturday that the constituencyis a mini version of India aspeople from all communitiesreside there peacefully.Speaking at a news conferencehere, Gupta, who is also the president of TMC Hindi Cell, said theJorasanko seat, which has around 2.5 lakh voters, boasts ofMarwaris, Muslims, Biharis, Christians, Sikhs, Bengalis and Jews asresidents. "Jorasanko truly represents mini-India. The dominantcommunities are Marwaris, Muslims, Biharis and Bengalis, and allof them co-exist peacefully," Gupta said after filing his nominationfrom the constituency, which is set to go to polls on April 29. TheTMC leader also said that he "intends to develop the area, whichhouses the ancestral home of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, into atourist destination".

Jorasanko in Bengal representsmini-India, says TMC candidate

Eight cattle slaughterers, beeftraders held after shootout

SARADHA CASE

VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | APRIL 4 , 2021money 06

MONEY MATTERS

Digital company Jio in partnershipwith an arm of mobile chip maker

company Qualcomm announcedhosting of online shooting game Callof Duty Mobile Aces EsportsChallenge on the JioGames Esportsplatform. Call of Duty game,published by US based ActivisionPublishing, is a competitor of PUBGthat is banned in India. Jio andQualcomm CDMA Technologies Asia

Pacific Pte (QCTAP) have started registration for the first e-contest of'Call of Duty' in India with a prize pool of Rs 25 lakh. The tournament"Call of Duty Mobile Aces Esports Challenge" will be open for both Jioand non-Jio users, according to the joint statement. Qualcomm Indiapresident and vice president Rajen Vagadia said mobile gaming is one ofthe fastest growing segments in India and almost 90 per cent of thegamers in India are using their mobile as their primary device forgaming. "We wanted to collaborate with a brand like Jio that deeplyunderstands the opportunity and matches our belief, not only in thesuperlative experiences our technology delivers, but also in thetremendous gaming capabilities of Indians in the hyper competitiveworld of mobile esports," Vagadia said. Both solo players and teamscan participate in the tournament. The registration for solos will close onApril 11 and 5v5 team plays will close on April 30 and there will be noregistration and participation fee for the tournament.

Jio starts Call of Duty MobileAces Esports Challenge

Industry body FICCI hasurged the government to

ramp up COVID testing acrossthe states and open up thevaccination for the age group18-45 years, while assuring itof the complete support of theindustry in fighting thepandemic. "We are currentlytesting about 11 lakh samplesa day, while we had reachedthe level of testing 15 lakh

samples a day in January. further, there is capacity of performingmuch more tests with 2,440 labs in the country operational for COVIDtesting, including more than 1,200 from the private sector," FICCIPresident Uday Shankar said in a letter to the Union Health & FamilyWelfare Minister Harsh Vardhan. The states may be advised to utilisethe facilities in the private sector to the maximum to achieve thedesired testing capacity, he added. Shankar also urged thegovernment to open up vaccination for the age group of 18-45 years,as this age group has been acting as the superspreaders of infectionin the country. "Given that there is no shortage of vaccines and thereis a huge scope of augmenting inoculation capacity through greaterinvolvement of private sector, we urge you to open up vaccination forthis age group to help subside the spread of infection as well asseverity of cases in the country," he added. Shankar also assured thegovernment of complete support and cooperation of the industry infighting this crisis .

FICCI urges govt to ramp uptesting for 18-45 age group

The executive who steered thetransformation of Google's

self-driving car project into aseparate company worth billionsof dollars is stepping down aftermore than five years on the job.John Krafcik announced hisdeparture as CEO of Waymo, acompany spun out from Google,in a Friday blog post that cited his

desire to enjoy life as the world emerges from the pandemic. “I'mlooking forward to a refresh period, reconnecting with old friends andfamily, and discovering new parts of the world," Krafcik, 59, wrote.Twoof Krafcik's top lieutenants will replace him as co-CEOs. Dmitri Dolgov,who has been working on self-driving cars since Waymo began withinGoogle in 2009, will focus on the technology for the autonomousvehicles. Tekedra Mawakana, a lawyer who had been Waymo's chiefoperating officer, will handle the business side of the operation. Krafcikwill remain an adviser to Waymo, a company that established itself asthe clear leader in autonomous driving since Google hired him in 2015.Not long after that, Google's self-driving division morphed into Waymo,a company owned by Alphabet, which is also Google's parent.

CEO of Google's self-drivingcar unit steps down from job

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's slow but sure econom-ic rebound faces rising inflationflared by high commodityprices as the next big hurdle toattain faster overall recovery.

In the last 3-6 months, accel-erated economic recoveryalong with global stimulusmeasures as well as ultra-lowinterest rates and commence-ment of vaccine drive havefuelled the surge in commod-ity prices.

Accordingly, prices of steel,cement, pharmaceuticals andeven cotton yarn have skyrock-eted.

Even food and fuel pricesremain at elevated levelsprompting producers and mar-keters to pass on the slightestcost escalation to end con-sumers.

According to economywatchers, this inflationarytrend without a commensuratewage increase will hampergrowth prospects in FY22.

Furthermore, rising priceswill restrict the RBI's ability tolower key lending rates andmaintain liquidity levels tosupport demand in the econ-omy.

At present, various predic-

tions have pegged FY22 GDPgrowth in the range of 7-11 percent.

However, the RBI is expect-ed to maintain an accom-modative stance and hold therepo rate at 4 per cent for thenext 6-9 months to support thegrowth recovery.

The decade-low lendingrates have cheapened financefor automobiles and homeloans.

"Rise in inflation due toacceleration in commodityprices is going to be a majorconcern for the country'sgrowth prospects in FY22,"India Ratings and Research's

Principal Economist SunilSinha told IANS.

"Unlike recent past produc-ers have now begun to pass onthe increase in input cost to theoutput prices because absorb-ing rise in input cost is hittingtheir EBITDA margin andprofitability."

In fact, high oil prices alongwith those of steel and cementmight adversely impact infra-structure creation as well.

The Centre is pinning hopesto revive growth in the econ-omy via infrastructure cre-ation.

"Rising prices certainly donot augur well, particularly

when this is from cost push fac-tors arising from higher oilprices," said Brickwork Ratings'Chief Economic Advisor M.Govinda Rao.

"Increase in fuel prices andthe taxes cascade into highertransportation costs whichadversely impacts competi-tiveness and exports."

Besides, the clamour for areduction in GST rates onsteel and cement from 28 percent to a lower level has begun.

Similarly, lowering of stateand central levies on petrole-um products have beendemanded.

"There is an upside risk toboth fuel and core inflation asglobal commodity prices haverisen sharply and producerscould pass on higher raw mate-rial prices amidst an anticipat-ed V-shaped recovery alongwith progress in vaccination inthe backdrop," said SumanChowdhury, Chief AnalyticalOfficer, Acuite Ratings &Research,

"The pricing pressures arealso due to an increase inglobal commodity prices par-ticularly oil and its impact onretail fuel prices."

Notably, automobile OEMshave hiked prices to off-set ris-

ing component and steel costs.This has risen the overall own-ership cost and could dentfuture sales.

"Increasing input costs, high-er commodity prices and sea-sonal upside in food prices andbetter pricing power remainskey risks to inflation. We seecore inflation outdoing head-line inflation through mostpart of FY22, averaging 5.2 percent same as FY21," saidMadhavi Arora, LeadEconomist, Emkay Global.

"While this could worry thepolicymakers, the policy stancewill likely remain accommoda-tive both on rates and liquidi-ty front in CY21."

Moreover, the country's CPIbased inflation rose to 5 percent YoY in February from 4.1per cent in January.

Likewise, food and beverageprice growth gained 4.3 percent from 2.7 per cent inJanuary. The core CPI exclud-ing food, fuel and light was up5.6 per cent in February, from5.3 per cent in January.

"If commodity prices contin-ue to rise to a level that couldchoke off demand, then it maypose a downside risk togrowth," said Aditi Nayar,Principal Economist, ICRA.

Rising prices emerge as the nextbig hurdle for economic rebound

HEALTHY RECOVERY

PNS n MUMBAI

Promising recovery trendshave been witnessed for India'shospital sector as large playershave gained market share, saidHDFC Securities in a report.

Accordingly, the report citedsecular growth, asset lightmodels, India's huge demand-supply gap, rising health insur-ance penetration, high out-of-pocket spends, increase inmedical tourism as compellinggrowth prospects for theindustry.

The report said that adop-tion of "asset-light" models ofexpansion, enhanced focus onretail formats - pharmacy,diagnostics and digital initia-tives - are expanding avenuesof growth while keeping thebalance sheet light.

"Post Covid, recoverytrends are promising withlarge players gaining shareafter a severe impact in1HFY21, the industry wit-nessed healthy recoverytrends in the past quarter."

"Large players have gainedmarket share as patients pre-ferred visiting corporatechains or quality healthcareproviders in the crisis time.We expect a gradual recoveryin mature or flagship units ofour covered companies as the

international patient segmentremains impacted."

Besides, the report said thatother hospitals or new units intier 1 or 2 locations have per-formed well and are expectedto further gain traction.

"Other businesses receivedfillip during the crisis andtheir EBITDA are expected togrow at 20-30 per cent CAGRover FY20-23e."

Furthermore, the reportpointed out that Capextrends are expected toremain moderated for thenext two years.

"With headroom to oper-ationalise beds at existingunits and average occupancyat 60-70 per cent, we expectCapex trends to remainmoderated for the next twoyears." In addition, it saidthat pandemic has drivengreater adoption of digitalplatforms but the customerbehavior is still evolving.

"We believe the integratedofferings of digital platformand physical network couldpresent meaningful syner-gies for players like Apollo(Apollo 24/7)."

The report said that adoption of ‘asset-light"models of expansion, enhanced focus on retailformats pharmacy, diagnostics and digitalinitiatives are expanding avenues of growthwhile keeping the balance sheet light.

Gas producers bleed as govt-dictated prices remain lowPNS n NEW DELHI

Natural gas productionremains a loss-making propo-sition for most fields for theIndian upstream producers asgovernment-dictated gas priceremains at its lowest level, rat-ing agency Icra has said.

The domestic gas price noti-fied at USD 1.79 per millionBritish thermal unit for the sixmonths beginning April 1remains the lowest since theinstitution of the modifiedRangarajan formula.

Additionally, the ceiling onprice for gas produced fromdeep water, ultra deepwater,high temperature and high-pressure fields has also beenannounced at USD 3.62 permmBtu for April-September2021-22 which is 10.8 per cent

lower than the price ceiling ofUSD 4.06 for October-March2020-21 which would dampenthe development of such pro-jects.

"While this is unfavourablefor domestic producers, it willbenefit gas consumers. Theconsumers will also benefit inthe long run from the expecta-tions of continued supply over-hang," Icra said commentingon the gas price notified by thegovernment earlier this week.

As per an Icra note, at suchlow gas prices, gas productionremains a loss-making propo-sition for most fields for theIndian upstream producersnotwithstanding some declinein oil field services/equipmentcosts.

However, the depreciation ofIndian Rupee against US dol-

lar, would aid the realisationsof the gas producers but onlyto an extent.

Sabyasachi Majumdar,Senior Vice-President & GroupHead, Corporate SectorRatings, Icra, said, "Going for-ward, the supply glut is expect-

ed to keep prices of domesticgas low in the near to mediumterm leading to poor returnseven as domestic gas produc-ers such as ONGC andReliance Industries Ltd (RIL)-BP ramp up gas productionsignificantly."

The absence of a floor andsustained low prices as hasbeen seen in the past few yearspost implementation of themodified Rangarajan formulamake exploration and produc-tion unviable even for benigngeologies, Icra noted.

"Accordingly, low naturalgas prices remain negative forthe upstream sector adverselyimpacting revenues, profitabil-ity and cash accruals and theincumbents have petitionedthe Government of India toprovide a floor price for gasprices."

Spot LNG prices hadbreached USD 30 per mmBtuin February 2021 due toincrease in oi l pr ices ,unplanned outages at exportfacilities in several countries,multiple cold waves, high

shipping rates and delays inthe Panama canal.

Though spot prices havecome down to USD 6-6.5 permmBtu levels, low inventorylevels as winter ends are setto support prices, as well asdemand, as North Asia andEurope look to refill gas stor-age.

Nevertheless, the supplyoverhang remains with about37.6 million tonnes perannum liquefaction capacityadded in 2019 and 27.8MTPA in 2020, besides whichcapacity additions till 2025would be in excess of incre-mental demand which willweigh on gas prices, Icrasaid.

From the consumers' per-spective, the low domestic gasprice is a positive.

PNS n BEIJING

The CEOs of a host of Indianbusinesses and industries inChina have expressed concernover the continuing COVID-19 related visa and travelrestrictions being pursued byBeijing which they say arehampering their activities.

They expressed their con-cern during their interactionwith the Indian Ambassador toChina, Vikram Misri.

Misri, who is on a visit toShanghai, inaugurated onFriday the Amrut Mahotsavfestival, marking the 75 yearsof India's independence.

“Inaugurated India@75#AmrutMahotsav in#Shanghai. A soulful renditionof #Upanishad & #Gita, melo-dious Sitar/Tabla performance,#Deshbhakti songs, films onmusical traditions of #Varanasi

& #VaccineMaitri marked theoccasion," Misri tweeted.

He also interacted with agroup of CEOs and represen-tatives of the Indian business-es based in and aroundShanghai, the business hub ofChina.

Over 30 officials represent-ing eight sectors such as tex-

tiles, pharma, electronics, man-ufacturing, chemicals and ITetc attended the meeting withMisri.

“Interacted with the Indianindustry representatives basedin Shanghai. Business leadersrepresenting various sectorsincluding #IT, #Pharma, #tex-tiles, #engineering,

Manufacturing, #foodprocess-ing, #banking etc participatedin discussions”, Misri said inanother tweet.

In their interaction withMisri, the CEOs stated theywere experiencing difficultiesin operations, mostly onaccount of travel and visarestrictions being maintainedby China as part of its COVID-19 measures, official sourceshere told PTI.

Misri assured them theIndian Embassy will continueto engage with the Chinesegovernment on the issues relat-ed to the travel restrictions, thesources said.

Travel between India andChina has been halted sinceBeijing imposed travel restric-tions in November last yearand suspended the visas andresident permits held by Indiancitizens.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Builder.ai, the leading AI-powered software develop-ment platform, todayannounced the launch of itsnew programme providing'digital starter kits' as a meansof helping distressed Indianbusinesses boost sales, keeptheir customers safe and forgea strong path to their COVID-19 recovery. The programmewill make it easy for Indiansmall businesses to sell onlinewith a free ecommerce 'shopin a box' and for restaurants tolaunch free queueing appsthrough Studio Store.

The programme is specifi-cally designed for:

• Retailers who want tooffer a digital customer expe-rience (website and/or nativeapp) to allow customers tomake online purchases forclick-and-collect or delivery

• Retailers who are inclinedto take orders via phone ortext/WhatsApp

• Restaurants, pubs andbars who want to allow cus-tomers to book tables througha rich queueing system, whichreduces wait times and deliv-ers an exceptional and safecustomer experience.

With a population of 1.3 bil-lion, India has been hit especial-ly hard by COVID-19 withmore than a third of small andmedium-sized businesses sur-veyed by the All IndiaManufacturers' Organisationsaying their businesses werebeyond hope of rescuing. Thisisn't surprising given the factthat consumer spending inIndia decreased by 12.6 percentin 2020. To make mattersworse, recent analysis by CreditSuisse found that COVID-19cost the Indian economy INR20 trillion. Now, 2021 lookspromising for Indian busi-nesses with household spend-ing in India expected to growby 7.9 percent year-over-year.During the last quarter of2020, e-commerce order vol-

ume grew by 36 percent inIndia, with the personal care,beauty and wellness segment(PCB&W) seeing the highestgrowth. According to a surveyby the Retailers Association ofIndia, Indian retailers acrossthe electronics, fashion andgrocery sectors are cautiouslyoptimistic about reboundingin 2021 and expect around 85percent of pre-pandemic busi-ness levels in the next sixmonths. While there's opti-mism for growth in 2021,financial experts predict thatrecovery in India will be slow-er than in most other coun-tries."India is in a somewhatunique position right now,with lockdowns already liftedfor months coupled with cau-tious optimism for businessgrowth in 2021," said SachinDev Duggal, Co-Founder andCEO of Builder.ai. But thereare also growing concernsthat India could be headed foranother lockdown in the nearfuture.

PNS n ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Imran Khandecided that Pakistan cannotgo ahead with any trade withIndia under the current cir-cumstances after holding con-sultations with key membersof his Cabinet on importingcotton and sugar from theneighbouring country, a mediareport said on Saturday.

The prime minister afterconsultations on Fridayinstructed the Ministry ofCommerce and his economicteam to immediately take stepsto facilitate the relevant sec-tors, value added, apparel andsugar, by finding alternativecheap sources of import of theneeded commodities, theDawn newspaper quotedsources as saying.

Various proposals have beenpresented to the EconomicCoordination Committee(ECC) which considers thesesuggestions from an econom-ic and commercial point ofview. After consideration bythe ECC, its decisions are pre-

sented to the Cabinet for rat-ification and final approval,the report said.

In the present case, a pro-posal was presented to theECC to allow the import ofcotton, cotton yarn and sugarfrom India keeping in viewdomestic requirements, it said.

With regards to the ECCdecision to allow import ofsugar, cotton and cotton yarnfrom India, Khan held consul-tations with key members ofhis Cabinet on Friday anddecided that Pakistan couldnot go ahead with any tradewith India under the currentcircumstances, it said.

No trade withIndia: Pak PM

AGC completesstake acquisitionin Z Services HQ DMCCPNS n NEW DELHI

AGC Networks on Saturdaysaid it has completed theacquisition of 76 per centstake in Z Services HQDMCC.

In March, AGC Networkshad said its subsidiary - BlackBox Holdings - will acquire amajority stake in Z ServicesHQ DMCC for about USD3.94 million (around Rs 28.6crore).

"...Black Box HoldingsLimited has completed theacquisition of ServicesHolding Ltd with the effectivedate being April 01, 2021,"AGC Networks said in a reg-ulatory filing on Saturday.

Black Box Holdings Ltd, anindirect wholly-owned sub-sidiary of AGC Networkshad entered into a share saleagreement with Z ServicesHolding Ltd, a BVI businesscompany incorporated in theBritish Virgin Islands onMarch 11, 2021.

India Inc in China concerned over travel norms US Labour Dept seeks public inputon determining H-1B wage levelsPNS n WASHINGTON

The US Department ofLabor has sought feedbackfrom the public in the next60 days on determining thewage levels for the employ-ment of various immigrantsand non-immigrants, includ-ing those on the H-1B visas,the most sought-after workvisa among Indian profes-sionals. The H-1B visa is anon-immigrant visa thatallows the US companies toemploy foreign workers inspeciality occupations thatrequire theoretical or techni-cal expertise. The technolo-gy companies depend on itto hire tens of thousands ofemployees each year fromcountries like India andChina.

In a federal notificationpublished on Friday, the USDepartment of Labor urgedthe public to respond to itsrequest in the next 60 days.

The request by the depart-ment's Employment andTraining Administration fol-lows a prior announcementby the department proposingan 18-month delay in theeffective date of a final rulechanging on calculating theprevailing wage levels forcertain immigrants and non-immigrant workers .Published in January 2021,the final rule affects employ-ers seeking to employ foreignworkers on a permanent ortemporary basis through cer-tain immigrant visas orthrough H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 non-immigrant visas.

Large hospital players gainingmarket share: HDFC Securities

Distressed small businesses getdigital boost to rebuild and thrive

sundaymagazine

spirituality 7VIJAYAWADA, April 4, 2021

FRIENDSHIP IS THE PUREST LOVE. ITIS THE HIGHEST FORM OF LOVE

WHERE NOTHING IS ASKED FOR, NOCONDITION, WHERE ONE SIMPLY

ENJOYS GIVING— OSHO

HIDDENSOULSPRAMOD PATHAK

Newspaper stories these days are depressing. Readingthem, we realise that humans are still where they werein the stone age days. Psychologists rightly conclude

that you can take the man out of Stone Age but you cannottake Stone Age out of man. Progress does not seem to bethe law of life as said by Robert Browning. How long willman take to become man? Why we, the humans, are still notgraduating into humans. While the stories of barbarism,aggression and violence of the present times are as distress-ing as of the past, our claims of being a civilised societyappears hollow. We need to ponder why despite so much ofknowledge and education, propositions of devilish naturestill remain attractive. The animal in man fails to change.The lessons that we were taught have hardly made any impactin those few thousand odd years we have been learning them.Lessons on morality and ethics just remain a subject for essaywriting as people seem to believe that honesty is not the bestpolicy. Lying is a sin, greed is the root cause of all evil andpride comes before a fall are all cliches that makes little sense.Everyday people see people dying yet they want to live tilleternity. And this desire is behind most problems as peopleindulge in all kinds of deeds and misdeeds to seek unrea-sonable security. Security that would make them survive evenif the whole world perishes. No one wants to believe that per-manence is an illusory goal in this transient world. In factthis question was rather very succinctly dealt with in thefamous Yaksha-Yudhishthira dialogue in the Vana Parva ofthe Mahabharata while the Pandavas were in exile. WhenDharmaraj posing as Yaksha asks Yudhishthira what is thegreatest surprise, the reply that the senior Pandava gaveexplains the greatest paradox of human life. Yudhishthira saysthat the greatest surprise in this world is that though humanbeings are mortal and see people dying everyday yet theythink they will not die. This desire is what perpetuates evilin this world. The main cause of this desire is the ego thatgives all sorts of false pretensions to human beings. It makesa millionaire crave to become a billionaire and a billionaireaspiring for becoming a trillionaire. Resorting to all kindsof dirty tricks to fulfil their dreams people ultimately catchup with their nemesis as providence spares none. Even theCorona pandemic failed to dampen the spirits of those peo-ple who fail to realise that the last journey has to be performedfree from all encumbrances as life is a zero balance account.This piece is not intended to paint a scary picture but to makerealise that in the end it is the goodness that prevails. Thereis need to find out an approach to help make this world abetter place to live for all. To create a new kind of movementto change mankind to become what he was destined tobecome — the most glorious of all the creations of nature.To become the man whom God created in his own image.Awakening the soul should be the idea behind the goodnessmovement. And this can be done by applying the same toolsthat marketers use to create a consumer movement. Manessentially wants to be good but he should understand whatgood being good is. This is what is required.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at [email protected]

As human beings, we are alwaysexpected to be dutiful. Thisstarts quite early. What are chil-

dren’s duties? These are mainly five.They must maintain their health byproper eating, adequate exercises/phys-ical activities, sufficient sleep and ofcourse the right entertainment /hobbies.They must inculcate good sanskars.After all, we are the topmost species.Surely, the elders of the family mustpractise them — a duty for them.Children must try to reach their poten-tial in studies as well as in their natur-al abilities. And they must learn house-keeping, which the pandemic has madeessential for everyone. Sounds great buthow do you motivate children to do allthese. What assurances can you givethem that doing these are what will bethe best for them?

The answer is to link their desireswith these duties. If they wish fulfillmentof their desires, then they must do allthese duties. This is the way it works.We have to help them to identify theirdesires, which in technical terms arecalled deep desires. The consequencesof such desires and decisions are ours,that is good and bad.

In adulthood, the duties are moreor less well defined. One must try tomaintain one’s health the best way pos-sible. Lord Krishna has guided in theverse # 6.17 of the Bhagavad Gita. Onemust be able to maintain self the bestway possible. Lord Krishna has spokenabout maintenance very specifically inthe Gita, because it is very important,as we know already. The right directionof life is next. Unless one is on the righttrack, one is not likely to end up in theright place. This knowledge comesfrom God, because only He knows thebig picture about all of us. The fourthduty is to become peaceful whatever ittakes. This will lead to happiness and

security. Here again, generous help fromGod is required. Just as we can assurechildren about fulfillment of theirdesires, we can do so for adults.

The elderly have well definedduties. The first duty is also regardinghealth, more so in old age, because thehuman body ages and does not havethe same flexibility or toleration as inthe younger age. Wise persons switchmostly to activities in the mode ofgoodness, especially in the matters ofeating and entertainment. If the healthis not good, the old age becomes quitepainful, literally so. The second dutyis to recheck the direction of life. Bynow it must have been clear whetherthe direction is proper or not. If it isnot, time has come to seriously resetit. God can help, therefore, a good con-nection with God must be established,sooner the better. Do as many spiri-tual activities as your nature permits,and slowly increase them. One needslot of help in old age, in which God

has the main role. As mentioned ear-lier, peace, happiness and security cancome from God only. Maintenance, ifnot already secured, should beensured. There is no bar in doing so,if it is a necessity. If a connection withGod is well established, He will giveall necessary guidance about duties,because He knows what is good for us.If one can do all of the above, he or sheis not only assured for the rest of thelife but can look forward to an excel-lent next birth also.

In conclusion, I can safely statethat the Cosmic Design is perfect. Ifone follows its rules, i.e. does all therelevant duties related to one’s desires,which must be according to “dharma”,then, one can be rest assured that onewill live a very fruitful life. Thereshouldn’t be any doubt about it,because God ensured it. After all, it isHis creation.Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached

at [email protected]

The 14-storey building ofthe Milky Way can also becalled the ‘lokas’. Each lokarepresents or reflects a par-ticular range of conscious-

ness, call it perceived reality. The 7 upper lokas are domains of

light extending from the spine to thecrown of the head, then from Earth toSun, Sun to the North Star or DhruvTara and from there beyond. Thelower lokas are called talas — domainsof limited light or partial darkness.

Gurudev once showed me, duringa state of dhyaan, a crimson fireburning inside me at and around mynavel, resembling that of a yagya. Thefire I saw could possibly be the sun illu-minating from my spine to head withthe subtle aura of light.

The Puranas describe these lokasto be pairs starting from both the headas well as the centre of the body in themicrocosm, differentiated by the sub-tleness of consciousness.

Each different loka represents adifferent set of gunas or qualities,reflecting the state of consciousness.One can, however, change those qual-ities to move to a different loka.

Let us step down from the seventhfloor of the 14-storey building of thisuniverse and see what the lower lokasor talas have to offer.

The Sixth Floor, ‘Atala’, of this 14-storeyed building — the universe, liesjust below Earth. A world of lesserqualifications than ours, it takes onedeeper into delusion and ignorance.Fear and lust are governing emotions.It is a corrective world like all the lower

planes and only those who overcomethese inferior emotions to develop self-confidence, self-discipline, self-controlcan be reborn on Earth. The averageguna mix here, has a predominance ofrajas.

Those who have qualities of nobil-ity and style are perfect inmates ofAtala. Intellectuals with selfish atti-tudes, senior ‘I, me and myself ’ cor-porate executives, shrewd business-men, people clever but not wise, cor-rupt doctors earning commissions bymaking patient’s bear unnecessaryexpenses. People with extra maritalaffairs, those indulging in sexual fan-tasising, make a good fit here, depend-ing on the intensity of their rajasicqualities combined with tamasic anda fair amount of sattvik ones too.

Vitalaloka is the 5th floor and thesecond level of lower lokas. The Gunamix, I conjecture, is about 20% Sattva,40% Rajas and 40% Tamas. The igno-rance levels are higher. Warriors,awarded marines, scientists all withnegative ambitions and qualities, dis-honest businessman, politically mind-ed corporate executives, self-centredbeings, violent people both physical-ly and mentally; in short, people withlower self-opinions belong here.

Depending on guna mix, thiscould include people with riches onearth, great social standing, well edu-cated with maybe degrees from evenHarvard or Stanford. People who docharity for social status, priests who arecorrupt, government officers whoinsist on bribes get visas to these lowerlokas very easily.

These lokas are not ugly places, butjust darker in light, in concept and inconsciousness.

Lokas like Sutala or Vitala alsocontain residents who may be piousand dogmatic including mean religiousleaders, yogis, priests, sportsman andwomen celebrities, presidents andchieftains with one common factor —lower self-opinions and perceivednegative samskars. The Guilty!

People in lokas at the level ofSutala though ignorant, more senseattracted, more tamasic still have thedesire for hopping on to the laddersand working towards self-improve-ment. They self-reflect on beingdemonic and less positive. Theybelieve that they have a lot to do toreverse their descent.

Talatala the 4th Floor or Mahatalathe 3rd floor are not necessarilyuncomfortable but darkness prevailsin greater measure. Pseudo agnostics,self-realised sinners, terrorists, Tinker,Tailor, soldier, sailor can all qualify ina manner of speaking.

After self-corrections andimprovement in their guna mix theycan get a chance to take rebirth onEarth as a corrective opportunity butlead a life of suffering, ill health, finan-cial problems, social dissatisfaction inan almost ‘Why me’ existence toclear out their karmic debt. It is a slowprogress involving multiple births toclimb the ladder to higher lokas.

Rasatala and Patala, the 2nd and1st floors respectively, are the lowestlokas of existence. Tamas of the neg-ative kind is the dominating Guna.

With delusion and ignorance at peak,self-reflection is not a concept in thisloka. Dissatisfaction and miseryabound. People believe that awretched existence is all there is toexpect.

Liberation is a far cry and bothbehaviour and perception are animal-istic. Qualities of refinement hardlyexist. Living in the pits is not a pun,it’s literal. It’s like living in the shad-ows with the power off. The Pluginsare hatred, jealousy, supreme guilt,envy, sorrow, basest emotions, worstattitudes and demonic nature. Greatconquerors like Hitler, Napoleon,terrorists who murder freely, profes-sional killers are allotted these realms.

There are two points to ponder:l Is the misery here eternal?l How does one escape from

these to better places?It is believed that it is only when

you have suffered enough and built aresolve to change, that you get anopportunity for rebirth on theBhuLoka or Earth. This is supposedto be true for most of the lokas andfor movement from one to the other,either upwards or downwards.

That is why people of this planeof existence reflect the gunas of var-ious different lokas. The conditioningand qualifications show and form thetrends of their thinking. However asthis is the Karma loka, there is oppor-tunity to go against your nature andqualify for the better. Divine beingsfrom higher lokas, take birth to servetheir lower loka entities. They manip-ulate a change in their gunas throughexample setting, motivation, coun-selling and sharing their gyan.

In our next article, let’s talk aboutwhat lies above!

The writer is the author of Hingori Sutrasseries of spiritual books

A goodnessmovement

Duties and assurancesIf we wish for fulfillment of our desires, then we must perform all ourduties and responsibilities well, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

As much we dread to beunproductive and frombeing inline continuing

the same, we most often findourselves in a pool of sweat,contemplating what conse-quences could our negativethoughts lead to, without reallyacting the other way around toavert it in any possible way.While there are certain innatelyconditioning aspects to this, theexternal environment also has adeep and long-lasting impact onthe conditioning of our mindsin such a manner.

Firstly, the uncertaintyinduced by the pandemic hasposed serious implications withthe work-life balance lines blur-ring. Unpredictable future, pos-sible unemployment, prospec-tive illness due to the virus, eco-nomic crisis and its impact onus individually, among manyother thoughts kept clouding onour minds while being caughtamid the pandemic.

While the external influencei.e. the pandemic has certainlyhalted our minds from thinkingconstructively; innately, procras-tination has rather been an age-old dampener inhibiting ourability to reach our goals intime. As both of external andinternal thoughts of failureskeep sprouting, we can certainlytake the reins in our handswhen it comes to conditioningour mind to remain more goal-oriented than a deep thinkingone with possibilities of failures.

We react prospectively anddeduce results basis what wevisualise as a possible outcomeand that is where we can bar

any misleading thoughts fromstemming within our minds inthe first place. The foremostthing to do to keep failures atbay, one can engage in wise visu-alisation techniques to feel com-mitted to the family, workplace,external society and mostimportant with their own self.

To remain goal-orienteddoesn’t mean to achieve thingsin a particular way in a set timeframe, but to explore many waysto achieve the goal efficientlywithin the time frame. Thisleads us to think constructively,looking at various avenues tohow to excel, be it a daily choreat home or a task at the work-place that you were facing trou-ble with to date.

The key to reprogrammingour memory structure is giving

up on the thought of the out-come. Be in the moment, do thebest you can for the activity thatyou are doing and let the actioncreate the outcome. This leavesno room for complacency. Ifone worries about what willhappen with the things they aredoing, they will never reach themaximum potential for whatthey could have possibly done.

Secondly, one needs to focuson creating a memory palace.This is a memorable building toone. It could be their homes orbuilding associated with thetopic. Imagine each room orarea in this place as the differenttopics they are working on.Compartmentalising ourthoughts in a particular wayhelps us to reach concrete solu-tions through a clear mindset

and not unnecessary thoughtsthat cloud our minds unneces-sarily. This gradually diminishesany emotional and mentalfatigue from within and makesus feel lighter and more prob-lem-solving rather than thinkingof how messy our life is.

Uncertainty stems from ourpast failures. Failures keep hap-pening all the time but there’salways a silver lining to the greyclouds. In the realest sense, fail-ures are always a learning in dis-guise. It is only up to us how wequantify our positive thoughtprocesses and start actingaround the same by taking theplunge rather than pummellingabout the possible failures. Theway of life!

The writer is the author ofbook, Past Dwellers

It is up to us how we quantify our positive thought processes and start

acting around the same by taking the plunge, says SAMRIDH SETH

CONDITION YOUR MIND

Universe is said to be comprised of 14 lokas, where each loka representsa particular range of consciousness, call it perceived reality, writes Hingori

IT IS BELIEVED THATIT IS ONLY WHEN

YOU HAVE SUFFEREDENOUGH AND BUILT

A RESOLVE TOCHANGE, THAT YOU

GET ANOPPORTUNITY FORREBIRTH ON THE

BHULOKA OR EARTH.THIS IS SUPPOSEDTO BE TRUE FOR

MOST OF THE LOKASAND FOR MOVEMENT

FROM ONE TO THEOTHER, EITHERUPWARDS ORDOWNWARDS

sundaymagazine

97What exists beneath Tea story dip by dip

VIJAYAWADA, April 4, 2021

SHALINI SAKSENA speaks with Assamese duo, UpamanyuBorkakoty and Anshuman Bharali, about how they cameup with the idea of the world’s first bagless teas

With the current COVID-19 pro-tocols in place worldwide andmost organisations opting forthe work-from-home or‘remote’ office set-ups — the

workplace dynamics have changed. From being100% in the office to 100% remote and everypossible combination within; organisationsacross verticals are looking for ways to not onlystay productive but also to unlock the value ofhuman capital in the current permutation orcombination that the organisation has outlinedfor its workforce.

Bound by ‘social distancing’ and ‘govern-ment mandated lockdowns’, it has becomeimperative for companies to recognise relevanttrends early to be able to effectively manageemployees remotely and incorporate them in theright manner into business operations.

While monitoring and evaluation tools focusmainly on activity tracking and outcome har-vesting, an effective enterprise operations man-agement platform can help organisations unlockthe true value of human capital. Organisationsuse different tools for everything from onlineand offline data collection, aggregation andanalysis to reporting. While this method worksand is effective in smaller organisations, howev-er, it can get cumbersome when running multi-ple projects across different locations. Here’s aquick checklist of the must-have features whenchoosing a platform to manage a newly remoteworkforce:

WORK TIME

With the employees working remotely, man-aging a distributed workforce has caught manyorganisations unaware. Employees are alsostruggling to live up to the expectations, improveor manage productivity levels while ensuringtime efficiency and maintaining work-life bal-ance.

l The tool that a company uses must pro-vide complete work pattern analysis acrossteams, processes and locations. It will not onlybring transparency into operations but, helpbusiness owners identify and bridge the gaps.

l Give insight into activities on and awayfrom the system. It will not only help you isolatetime leakages and gaps but will also give you anopportunity to groom your employees by pro-viding them with the best training, and the abili-ty to counsel them if they are facing any chal-lenges or issues.

l Don’t know who’s working on which pro-ject? Optimum resources utilisation is importantto maintain the projects in top shape and cashbells ringing. Effective Operations managementtools are useful in digging deeper into resourceutilization trends to ensure better resource level-ing and planning.

l Similarly, look for features and function-ality to take sneak-peek into employee produc-tivity, schedule compliance, break schedule, etc.

WORK OUTPUT

Being online 24x7 does not guarantee pro-ductivity. You need to have a mechanism inplace to drive productivity outcomes.

l Ask for a comprehensive analysis ofemployee effort vs. outcome.

l Intuitive dashboards are a great way toidentify, understand and resolve process andperformance gaps.

l Time and motion studies powered-bycomprehensive analysis on employee effort.

l A module that can easily categorise andsegment staff across different teams and multiplelocations according to the requirements.

l Ease of integration with any other third-party workflow management software/Service

desk/help desk/CRM or any such kind of toolthat has a transaction repository.

WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT

When teams are working remotely, itbecomes important than ever to channelise thework-flow of a project while directing the coursefrom A to Z. A robust workflow managementtool can help guide the flood of different projecttasks with different deadlines and requirementswhile improving throughput and AHT or aver-age handling time.

l Establishing workflow taking up toomuch of your time? Bringing in an operationsmanagement tool should have the essential capa-bilities to set up workflows according to the pro-ject requirements and allocate tasks by utilisinginbuilt adaptors.

l Managing the work effectively is yetanother challenge of remote working. Thus it isimportant to enable managers to capture real-time activity being carried out on each task, thushelping to remove any bottlenecks.

l Check out if the tool can record transac-tions based on predefined rules while identifyinghidden opportunities for desktop automationand process improvement.

l Ask for a management tool that empow-ers you through better planning and forecastingthe workload.

ADVANCED ANALYTICS

For any organisation, analytics is a vital partof managing workforce productivity while dri-ving business performance. With insightsderived from data analytics, important relation-ships and patterns can be established to plug inleakages due to low employee productivity, high-er overhead costs, and poor customer service.

l The tool should be able to provide real-time performance data to establish realistic andeffective organisational benchmarks and targets.

l Classification of incidental, value adding,and non-value adding activities within the orga-nization is another task that enterprise operationmanagement software should be able to do.

l Look out for features that help in keepinga track of utilisation of resources, operating sys-tems, and infrastructure available in order tostreamline operations.

These are the times calling for tapping thetrue potential of human capital and digitalinvestments

While it gets hard to understand employeebehavior when they work remotely, investingthem in the right way, and right direction can

help steer clear the challenges. Some points thatshould be kept in mind are:

l Promote self-improvement: Personalgrowth of the employees accelerates organisa-tional growth. Providing employees with self-improvement dashboards can be a great way foroverall growth. When the employees self-analysetheir weaknesses and strengths, work gaps geteasier to fill. The employees get a better anddeep understanding of where they lack. Self-analyzing is the key to self-growth.

l Focusing on work-time: Analysing workgaps, productivity levels and setting utilisationbenchmarks drives employee potential in theright direction. To increase employee productivi-ty, the organisations can measure schedule com-pliance, identify work gaps and time leakages.Deploying an enterprise grade operations man-agement tool that optimise overtime of theemployees brings transparency.

l Center work-output: Establishing aneffective mechanism in place to evaluate thework outputs help maintain the balance. A thor-ough analysis of work input and work outputdrives productivity betterment. An organisationcan improve profitability with accurate analysisof process and performance gaps. Software pro-viding end-to-end analysis of employee produc-tivity levels helps the organisation get an exten-sive view of their performance.

l Real-time visibility: Utilising intuitivetools provide an operational transparency in theorganisation that can manage the workflow.Accessing real-time visibility to manage employ-ees’ work performance accelerates their produc-tivity levels. The managers get to align the work-force with the work tasks suiting their capabili-ties with the help of a efficient software. Real-time visibility enables the managers to foreseethe challenges and prepare accordingly.

l Eliminate the waste tasks: With theadvanced analytics, an organisation can work onlean initiatives and asset optimisation. Utilisingthe software to identify the loopholes in cus-tomer service, employee productivity andexpected business cost can help review theworking process. A regular follow-up of thework-activities is imperative to streamline theresources and eliminate non-incidental activi-ties.

l Reduce operational cost: Accessing tan-gible insights on asset optimisation by softwarehelp the organisation to reduce capital andoperational cost. With an asset optimisationdashboard, the organisation is able to analysethe accurate utilisation of company assets. With

an operation management platform in theorganisation, pruning of unproductive and extrasystems gets easy. This minimises extra opera-tional cost and clears the space for productiveapplications.

l Promote extensive reporting: The work-force can filter the information that is providedto the managers. To avoid any work delays orpassing incomplete information, the organisa-tion should be actively responsive on employeeproductivity. Screen recording or screen captur-ing with the help of software help the managersto get real-time view of what is being done. Thisensures transparency in the organisation and letsmanagers understand employee capabilities first-hand. Getting in-depth analysis of whereemployee lacks, helps managers alter their train-ing process accordingly.

l Be attentive towards workload analysis:The managers should understand that overbur-dening an employee can deteriorate their workperformance. With the help of automated soft-ware, the manager can get virtual workload dis-tribution analytics. The operation managementplatform enables the organisation to understandutilisation levels of the employees and delegatethe workload accordingly.

l Classify employee output based on dif-ferent attributes: The organisation cannotexpect the same results from all their employees.With the help of softwares, the organisationneed classify employee outputs based on attrib-utes like location, work tenure, position andlevel of expectations. An employee on the exec-utive level cannot contribute the same as thesenior manager. Understanding the same canimprove satisfaction level of the managers.

l Equitable Load balancing: It is impor-tant working remotely doesn’t mean that thereare pockets of teams that are underutilised andpockets that are over worked. Balancing work-load appropriately and ensuring equitable distri-bution of work with visibility is a key focus areafor enterprises as they think about a postCOVID-19 operations model.

It is important to have a real time view ofhow teams are engaged, and to give insights intothe workload distribution across differentteams. Having a robust measurement platformthat provides insights across all levels of theenterprise is critical for future success in a dis-tributed workplace.

The writer is CEO, ProHance photo, an enterpriseoperations management platform that helps organ-

isations to unlock the value of human capital

WHEN TEAMS AREWORKING REMOTELY, IT

BECOMES IMPORTANT THANEVER TO CHANNELISE THE

WORK-FLOW OF A PROJECTWHILE DIRECTING THE

COURSE FROM A TO Z. AROBUST WORKFLOW

MANAGEMENT TOOL CANHELP GUIDE THE FLOOD OFDIFFERENT PROJECT TASKS

WITH DIFFERENTDEADLINES AND

REQUIREMENTS WHILEIMPROVING THROUGHPUT

AND AHT OR AVERAGEHANDLING TIME

Universe comprises of 14 lokas, whereeach loka represents a particular range of

consciousness, call it perceived reality

Augment yourworkforce with digital

technologies to unlockthe value of human

capital, writes ANKUR DHINGRA, as

he shares tips tosuccessfully manage

remote employees

THE NEW-AGEHUMAN REMOTE

Only the reallyyoung are fearless,have the optimism,the romanticism totake unimaginable

risks— Olivia Wilde

F R O M T H E I N S I D E

n Can you talk us through theprocess of shooting D Company?

The challenge was to match oldBombay. No matter how good a placewas or how much resemblance itshared with the city back in the 70s,there was something artificial in it.Hence, I sent across about 12 people

who can look around and canfigure out a place that

resembles the city 40

years back. Some parts were found inGoa, the others in Hyderabad and soon. The other challenge was to put themechanism in place. Dawood Ibrahimhas become a mythological characterin our head and it was a challenge tounderstand his mindset which he hadback then. There were a lot of psycho-logical aspects involved. However, hav-ing said that it was exciting. But, dueto the rise in COVID cases once again,the release date has been postponed fornow.

n You said there will be an eight-season series after the movie as

well. What made you discloseit all?

This movie is just a trail-er of what the series has tooffer. The D Company is notjust about Dawood Ibrahim,it’s much more complex anddeep than that. That is whatI have tried to show in this

movie. I have touched uponthe lives of other members of

the group, their mindset andwhat made them enter this world.

For the whole series, we have shot

about 80 hours, spread over 35 years ofthe underworld.

n Not many directors touch uponthis topic. Why are you so attractedto it?

I have always been fascinated bythe underworld since I entered the city.I wanted to understand what goes inthe mind of these people because, at theend, they are humans too. This mademe take up this subject and makemovies that in some way or the othertouch upon the lives of the membersof the underworld.

n When you make such movies, youare experiencing crime closely in away. Did it bother you?

Not at all. Like I said, this is some-thing that fascinates me. Not that wedon’t come across crimes in real life. Wedo and we just forget about it. I makemovies, it is my job and I take it thatway. I don’t let anything take over me.

n How do you manage to stay rele-vant?

The moment I stepped into thisindustry, my goal was clear — to make

movies that interests the audienceand, in some way or the other, resonatewith them. I look for real stories thatare not much talked about and I workon them. This is something that mayhave helped me in staying relevant.However, I have never thought aboutit. It was not as if I have some masterplan in place to stay relevant. It is justmy love for my work that helps.

n When one chases stories, he reach-es a level of frustration. Did it hap-pen with you?

Yes, of course. You face ups anddowns in everything you do. Therewere times when things didn’t go myway and I was frustrated, but then Iknew it will pass. I don’t know how togive up on things. Sooner or later,things definitely fall in place, I believe.

n 12 ‘O’ Clock and Disha Encounteris also in the pipeline. Can you talkabout that?

I will when the time comes. But, atthe moment I am focusing on therelease of D Company. Once we willmake the official announcements, wewill talk about it.

nWhat made you say yes to the concert?Saying yes was not a tough to make. They are an established

platform; I have been watching their work for some time now.In Delhi-NCR, they do various festivals. I am familiar with thekind of work they do; the kind of artists they have been brin-ing in to their fold — classical as well as contemporary. As anartist, on would really look forward to be part of it. When it cameto me, I was happy.nAre online performances going to be another option forartists in the future?

Everything has pros and cons. The same is true for per-forming online. It is up to us, (artists) how we use it to furtherthe cause of music and arts. When lockdown happened last year,none of us knew how to deal with the situation and there wasa learning curve — whether they were going online from theirliving home or using their mobiles to broadcast, within a fewmonths people realised that they needed to find to deal with it.That’s when organised festivals started to happen. In hindsight,it seems to have been the right thing to do. If one takes care ofthe audio quality, since we are talking about performing arts,technical aspect is important. However, much hard work has goneinto the preparation and in your riyaz, if you don’t present itwell, it doesn’t work for the audience. But the pros is that theycan watch it later and your reach is wider.nWas this the first time you performed for them?

Yes. I loved being on this platform. It is beautiful to be asso-ciated with them. As an audience, I have attended some of theirconcerts. What I like is that they present different kind of music.They have a great reach and this is just a important for all theartists. Dhrupad is oldest style but not the most popular. It needsthe kind of platform where it can reach to lakhs which this plat-form ensures.nHow strange was it to be online with no live audience?

Interestingly, the answer to this question has changed forme in the last 10-12 months. When the lockdown happened, Iwas also experimenting. Initially, one couldn’t even haveartists come over. I did a few concerts where I was all by myselfplaying the tanpura and broadcasting from my living room ormy mobile. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy it. After one or two, Istopped. If it was a lecture or a demonstration, I could do butnot a performance. But when we could have people over and Icould have other artists with me, musically I felt things were inplace. For me, music is something where I connect with myselfand not just the audience. When I perform, I was often in myown world and when I sing, my eyes are closed and can do alaapfor half-an-hour. It doesn’t bother me much whether the audi-ence was there or not. For live performance, one gets daad thenand there; online you get thumbs up.nYou left your corporate job to pursue music full-time. Howdid that happen?

It happened organically. I started my professional careersometime in 2007-08. I come from a musical family, so I learntmusic from both my grandfathers for more than 10-12 years andthen graduation and MBA. Later, I met my guru Pandit AbhayNarayan Mallick and realised that if I wanted to take up Dhrupadprofessionally, I would have to devote more time led me to makesome hard choices and took the plunge.

backpack 09VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | APRIL 4, 2021

Tea story dip by dipW

hat do two childhoodfriends do when they puttheir heads together and

think of a business idea that can besustainable and cost-effective? Theworld’s first bagless tea hits the mar-ket. One may want to do a doublecheck about the bagless tea and won-der how one can seep the tea leaveswith no bag but the truth is that onlydid the duo — Upamanyu Borkakotyand Anshuman Bharali — make theiridea work but also launched these bag-less teas on November 18, 2020.

Borkakoty, who looks after themarketing and product research, tellsyou that the idea to do business thatdealt with tea was two-fold.

“We had tried a few business ideasonce I went back to Assam withBharali. We live in a small place,Sivasagar. Back in 2015, Bharali andI were into lenses. But the sourcingand to get that to Assam was logisti-cally a nightmare not to mention thatit was not cost-effective. We wantedto do something that was availablelocally and what better product thantea. Of course, it took us time toresearch and that is how The Tea LeafTheory was born. The aim was to cre-ate tea masters and crafters from teagrowers who used to make a living byselling green leaves to large tea man-ufacturers,” Borkakoty says.

But the duo was clear about onething. They wanted to work with onlyorganic growers as such farmers werelosing out on the revenue due to lessproduce. “We wanted to support andpromote the marginalised tea farmersacross Assam and Darjeeling. Wewanted good produce and achievedspecialty. In the November of 2016, westarted with a global online store.While we got good feedback, wewere told they were not exceptional.We went to China and Taiwan toexplore the variety of teas. We foundthey were far more superior. The sam-ple we got with us was shown to thetea growers. They were blown awaywith the quality. That is when we start-ed to research more,” Bharali recounts.

The gap in the market that exist-ed needed to be filled. All the tea bou-tiques wanted to show what kind oftea this region could produce, main-

ly from Assam. However, the bou-tiques couldn’t reach out to the grow-ers. That is when Borkakoty andBharali stepped in. Instead of doingB2C business they changed it to B2B.

“We shut our online store in2017 and started focusing on B2Bmodel and became a sourcing for rareteas for the boutiques. Slowly, werealised that the Indian consumer waslosing out on these beautiful teas. Theconsumer only had to make a shift inbrewing technique — how to movefrom traditional way of drinking teato specialty teas? That is when wecame up with the idea of whole leaftea. This is like a gold standard for teaproduction since few gardens producetea from two leaves and the bud,”Bharali tells you, who looks after theoperations, finance and IT.

From here, was born the idea ofhow to present to the world how twoleaves and the bud tea tastes like to theIndian market. The challenge was toensure that the leaf retained thisshape on how it was plucked. Whatthe team did, the leaf lost its shape. Aslong as the leaf was in its raw form,the tea was delicious but the minuteit was packed, the taste changed.

“First, the leaves broke. Second,tea leaves are extremely hydrophobicin nature. As soon as they come incontact with air, they absorb moistureand flavour goes down. We decidedto pack it on our own. We took twoleaves and the bud, tied it with a string,compressed it with a machine into acylindrical shape so that the leavesdon’t break. We are working on theprocess of making the whole process

even more efficient. Given that we arenot using bags to put the leaves, we arereducing carbon foot printing. Wepack the leaves at the source. Thisretains the flavour. At present, thesachet has a thin layer of plastic torestrict the air from entering. But soonour packing will be 100 per centbiodegradable or eco-friendly,”Borkakoty says.

Not all is easy. The teas are hand-crafted at present. The duo is tryingto make their operation semi-auto-matic to ease the work of the employ-ees and to make the process morescalable.

“We are getting a good responsefrom the market and need to improveupon the process. We also want tomake it easier for the farmer whom weadopt a contract manufacturer so thattraining him becomes an easy process.The cost of one tea string rangesbetween `24 to `28. We sell our teain a box that has 16 sachets. The bestpart is that one can make three cupsof tea from one string,” Borkakotysays.

Of course, there is a way to havethese special teas. Just like one wouldbrew an orthodox tea, these baglessteas need to be brewed for five min-utes and the tea is ready. One isadvised not to add any milk or sugar.

“Even in orthodox teas, one does-n’t add milk or sugar. The sameholds true here as well. These teasneed to be enjoyed without milk orsugar. One can, if needed, add sugar,”Bharali explains.

The one thing that the team did-n’t have to tell people to buy these teas.The Insta influencers gave them a lotof support. These people started rec-ommending them. Another plus thatworked for them was word of mouthpublicity. So much so that they havebeen sold out on two flavours.

“The product itself is a treat forthe eyes. When you see the leavesunfurl when hot water is poured in aglass cup, it looks so beautiful andtempting. Then there are the flavours— green tea (Silky Green), green teawith tulsi (Dirty Detox), white tea(Silky White) and orthodox Assamblack tea with tulsi (Killer Immunity),”Borkakoty says.

‘Music is an inwardjourney for me’SUMEET ANAND PANDEY, who performedat the HCL’s Baithak, speaks with SHALINISAKSENA about how he left his corporatejob to become a professional Dhrupadiya

SHALINI SAKSENA speaks with Assamese duo, UPAMANYU BORKAKOTY and ANSHUMAN BHARALI,

about how they came up with the idea of the world’s first bagless teas

C L O U D K I T C H E N S A R E T H E F U T U R E

Shalini Saksena n NEW DELHI

There is a popular adageamongst chefs: You eatwith your eyes first.

However tasty a dish maybebut if it doesn’t look appetisingenough, no one is going to eatit. Hence, chefs the world overpay so much attention anddetails to how to present dish-es. Unfortunately, this sayingfalls flat when we order for adelivery. Most eating jointsthat deliver don’t spend a lot onhow they package the food. Afew plastic containers and foilto wrap the rotis is the standardpacking.

But, one take-out deliveryin the Capital ensures thatone definitely eats with one’seyes. The packet in which thefood is delivered is pretty andcolourful. Looking at the box,it gives a sneak peek into whatis to come in terms of taste.

Manav Deep Singh, co-founder, The Masala Story

tells you that the packaging hasbeen designed by a company inBengaluru. “We have a com-pany that works for us out ofBengaluru. We are an eco-friendly brand and use zeroplastic. We are using recycledpaper to pack our food,” Singh

says.Go for mutton biryani,

garlic naan, muttoon korma,and tandoori non-vegetarianplatter. The platter has fourmeat tikkas — fish, chickenmalai tikka, chicken tikka andmutton seekh kebab. Ordering

tandoori dishes home is a bittricky, it does get a bit cold tak-ing away the taste but given theway it is packed, it does man-age to retain the flavour. If oneis a mutton fan, mutton biryaniis worth a try. The muttoon istender; falling off the bonewith a perfect blend of spices.

There is a reason whySingh decided to go withNorth Indian cuisine. Hefound a gap between Indiancuisine delivery brands andwanted to fill it.

“It is the not first preferredcuisine when one is a teenag-er or a couple due to the

messiness that comes whileopening it. People know that itcomes in a plastic box and willhave oil around. There is a per-ception around Indian foodand that is why people preferto order pizzas, pastas and sal-ads — eat out of the boxfoods,” Singh says.

The aim, he tells you is tooffer food in a packet that canbe placed on to the table, openthe handis and serve from it.Also, every dish that one openswill have the name of the per-son who has ordered it. Forexample: If one ordered a but-ter paneer and a butter chick-en, it will read: Hi Shalini,enjoy your butter chicken.

The cloud kitchen, a con-cept of delivery only restaurantwith no physical space, nodine-in space or takeawaycounter, opened just before thelockdown in March 2020.

“It was because of thisconcept, packaging, the qual-ity of food and safety measures

(our staff undergoes tests reg-ularly) played in our favourduring the lockdown. Peoplewere and are ordering foodfrom reputed brands when itcomes to hygiene. So much sothat we went from unit one tounit six in this last year. Thelatest to join is the unit inNoida,” Singh tells you.

He says that cloud kitchensthat are organised and trustedbrands are the future. “Therewas time, pre-COVID-19times, when we were accessingsome nice restaurants. Cloudkitchens that opened becausetwo friends got together ortwo-three family memberspooled in funds because suchkitchens were doing well arenot going to survive this wind.Restaurants that are fromorganised branded and fol-lowing hygiene protocol are theones that will move forward,”Singh says.

To order, download TheMasala Story app.

There is a way to

have these special

teas. Just like one

would brew an

orthodox tea,

these bagless teas

need to be brewed

for five minutes

and the tea is

ready. One is

advised not to add

milk or sugar

Mutton biryani; non-veg platter

Anshuman Bharali and Upamanyu Borkakoty

The challenge

was to match old

Bombay. No

matter how good a

place was, there

was something

artificial in it.

Hence, I sent

across about 12

people who can

look around and

can figure out a

place that

resembles

the city

40 years back

‘D Company is a trailer of my upcoming series’

TalktimeRAM GOPAL VARMA

Known for making experimental

films like Shool, Sarkar and Satya,

Varma is considered one of the

pioneers of newage Indian cine-

ma.

Musba Hashmi speaks with

the director about D

Company, his fasci-

nation for the

scopekaleid backpage VIJAYAWADA | SUNDAY | APRIL 4, 2021

Dog grabs mike, boltsL

ive TV reporting canbe unpredictable. Yourwork could be inter-

rupted by bad weather,noisy birds or even loudcrowds. But this Russianjournalist had no clue thather weather report wasgoing to get a very specialguest -- the cutest LabradorRetriever ever.

In a video that is viral,Mir TV weather reporterNadezhda Serezhkina canbe seen beginning a seg-ment with the exciting newsthat spring was finally arriv-ing in Moscow, Daily Mailreported. Just as Serezhkinabegan by saying, "Spring hasarrived in Moscow, the tem-perature will be 8 degrees

Celsius, nine degreesCelsius...," a dog decided itwas time for some fun andjumped at her. Grabbing thehandheld microphone, thecheeky pooch made a quickgateway.

Serezhkina soon chasedafter the dog, shouting"Stop, stop, come here."Serezhkina's colleague in

the studio, ElinaDashkueva, was clearlytaken aback by whathappened but stifled asmile to quicklyexplain to the audi-ence that "givenall this" the con-nection waslost.

Chaos erupted at the Sangam Sharath theatre in AndhraPradesh's Visakhapatnam as a large number of fans gathered for

the launch of the trailer of actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan'smovie 'Vakeel Saab' on Monday. The trailer was released in only a fewtheatres in the Telugu states on March 29 around 4 pm. The superstar'sfans reached the theatre by 2 pm and offered puja and coconuts at hisphoto. In the commotion, the glass of the theatre was broken, but despitethat, the fans went inside to watch the trailer. The filmmakers had decided tolaunch the trailer on Holi and the superstar's fans decided to celebrate theoccasion. Pawan Kalyan is making a comeback after a two-year sabbatical withhis film Vakeel Saab, which is the Telugu remake of the Bollywood hitAmitabh Bachchan's Pink.

A15-strong team willremain in theirsubterranean Pyrenees

home for 40 days, withoutphones, watches or

natural light.

The volunteers will notknow what time it is duringtheir undergroundisolation. A research expedition isunder way which will see a

small group of volunteersspend six weeksunderground with no way oftelling the time to study theimpact on humans. The 15-strong team, led by the

French-Swiss explorerChristian Clot, entered thevast Lombrives cavecomplex in the Pyreneesmountains south ofToulouse on Sunday.

AGeorgia manhas accusedhis former

employer of a"childish" move -after he receivedhis final paymentof $915 (£666) inpennies. AndreasFlaten discoveredthe haul of 90,000coins - which werecovered in an oily,

greasy substance -at the bottom of hisdriveway. On top ofthe pile was hisfinal payslip...along with anexplicit partingmessage from thecar workshopwhere he worked.Flaten left his jobin November andclaims he had

encountereddifficulty receivingthe payment.He now spends hisnights graduallycleaning thepennies so he cancash them in - andit took him anhour-and-a-half tomake a fewhundred of thecoins usable.

If you have everwondered howthe world will

end, we know now --with a child playing

with a parent'sphone when they

are trying towork from

home.US Strategic

Command,which

controlsAmerica's

massivenuclear

arsenal, set redlights flashing

when it tweetedwhat many took to bea cryptic launch code

";l;;gmlxzssaw".With the Kremlin caught

between the fear ofimpending Armageddon andthe hope that someone had

mistakenly slipped them thecodes, Stratcom admitted they

had fallen victim to a toddler with atelephone. Forced to juggle work

and child-care, one of their officialshad let his precious work phone fall into

his child's hands.

The son of a French police chief has some explaining to do afterdriving his father's car with sirens blazing at three times the speedlimit around Clermont-Ferrand, flying over speed bumps in its

narrow streets at more than 120kph (75mph). When the 18-year-old --who did not have a licence -- was finally caught after a chase he tried totalk his way out by pretending to be his father by flashing his police ID.

Speeding ladputs dad on

the dock

TODDLER‘NUKES’WORLD

90,000 greasy pennies dumpedon Georgia man’s drive as final

payment after quitting his job

‘SMASH’-HIT Vakeel Saab trailer

TIMELESS CAVE LOCKDOWN EXAMINES IMPACT ON HUMAN GUINEA PIGS

US First Lady Jill Bidenpranked reporters andstaff flying back from a

trip with her on Thursday, dis-guising herself as a flight atten-dant to pass out ice cream barsfor April Fool's. Staff, SecretService and press were treated todessert by a woman with shortblack hair, a black face mask anda nametag that read "Jasmine,"who made her way through the

cabins as the first lady traveledhome to Washington after visit-ing California.

Five minutes later, "Jasmine"reappeared in the press section,wig removed, revealing herself tobe none other than Biden herself.

"April Fool's!" a tickled Bidentold reporters. The ice cream barincident is not the first timeBiden has tricked fellow travelersaboard her plane.

‘April Fool's’: Jill Biden pranks staff,disguised as flight attendant