VIJAYAWADA, TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2021; PAGES 12 `3 www.dailypioneer.com RNI No.APENG/2018/764698 Established 1864 Published From VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUN HYDERABAD *LATE CITY VOL. 3 ISSUE 238 *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer Follow us on: MONEY 8 MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY TO BE FASTEST GROWING GLOBALLY ANALYSIS 7 TACKLING THE FISCAL SLIPPAGES: ANY TAKERS? SPORTS 11 INDIAN WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM HAS BECOME MENTALLY TOUGH UNDER MARIJNE: HAWGOOD } AGENT SHOOT BEGINS Page 12 { VIJAYAWADA WEATHER Current Weather Conditions Updated JULY 12, 2021 5:00 PM Forecast: Thunderstorm Temp: 31/25 Humidity: 80% Sunrise: 5:49 am Sunset: 06:54 pm ALMANAC TODAY Month & Paksham: Ashadha & Shukla Paksha Panchangam Tithi : Tritiya 08:23 Nakshatram : Magha 27:41 Time to Avoid : Time to Avoid (Bad time to start any important work) Rahukalam : 3:36 pm - 5:13 pm Yamagandam : 9:07 am - 10:44 am Varjyam : 3:27 pm - 5:05 pm Gulika : 12:21 pm - 1:59 pm Good Time : (to start any important work) Amritakalam : 1:14 am - 2:52 am Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:55 am - 12:47 pm HC suspends GO No. 2, returns power to VROs NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD Even after making a recovery, adults as young as 35 are suffering from cardiac arrest, ostensibly due to post-Covid-19 complications. A survey by AIG Hospitals revealed that 40 percent of Covid recovered patients said that they still have symptoms, mostly weak- ness / fatigue. These results were unveiled by Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, AIG Hospitals soon after the inau- guration of India's first dedicated post-Covid care clinic by Narsing Rao, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. Many patients also reported previously unreported symptoms like insomnia, neuropsychiatric issues among others. If the survey is any indication to go by, then there could be around one crore people in India with post-Covid symptoms. Dr Nageshwar Reddy said that this number of 40 percent is very high. "If we go by the estimated number of infections, the number of people suffering from post- Covid symptoms could be any- where between 1 to 10 crore peo- ple. This would be a huge econom- ic burden for the country and hos- pitals," he said. Both hospitalised and non-hos- pitalised patients suffer from post- Covid symptoms - as many as 48 percent of the hospitalised patients and 37.6 percent of the non-hos- pitalised patients reported post- Covid-19 symptoms. This indicates the severity of the infection is relat- ed to higher incidence of post- Covid complications, he said. Post Covid symptoms include neu- rological issues, cardiac issues, lung problems, digestive issues, liver injuries, renal problems, ENT prob- lems and joint problems. Many other manifestations includ- ing eye issues, psychological issues, gynaecological issues, etc. About 53 percent of those who received steroids and 36.41 percent of those who did not receive steroids developed post- Covid-19 symptoms. Furthermore, the injudicious use of steroids led to a significant increase in the risk of post-Covid-19 symptoms. Dr Reddy said, "We also asked in our survey about the usage of steroids in these patients during their Covid-19 treatment and found out that 74 percent hospi- talised patients received steroids but 34 percent required oxygen. We believe there is some correla- tion between irrational use of steroids and post Covid complications because as per the guidelines, we are supposed to give steroids to only those Covid patients who required oxygen. Further research will be required to ascertain the data." PNS n VIJAYAWADA Looking to bring an end to the impasse over the Krishna waters dispute between the two Telugu states, the Andhra Pradesh gov- ernment has decided to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court. Well placed sources in the gov- ernment said that the State Water Resources Department has already started the exercise of preparing the writ petition that they would file in the Supreme Court. The State government is expected to file the writ as early as Tuesday. Earlier, the AP government had sought the Centre’s interven- tion into the water sharing dis- pute, with Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy writing twice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the space of one week. In his letters, the Chief Minister sought their intervention to resolve the dispute between the two States and also to rein in Telangana, accusing it of acting against the interests of farmers in AP and against the provisions of AP Reorganisation Act. With little movement on that count, the AP government is said to be now preparing a ‘water tight’ write’, including all the details of how Telangana was going ahead with power generation from the projects constructed on River Krishna despite objections raised by statutory bodies like the KRMB and acting against the provisions of AP Reorganisation Act. AP Water Resources Depart- ment senior officials are said to be engaged in preparing the notes for the arguments that are to be pre- sented on behalf of Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court. The AP government is expect- ed to appeal to the Supreme Court to direct the Telangana gov- ernment to suspend the GO issued regarding full-fledged power generation from the three projects constructed on river Krishna and also a direction to the Centre to notify the jurisdiction of KRMB. AP is also likely to plead in the writ to recognise all the interstate reservoirs and other water projects across the country as national assets and hand over the mainte- nance and security to Central forces as per the provisions of the Constitution. PNS n VIJAYAWADA The 10 pm to 6 am Covid cur- few will continue for some more time in Andhra Pradesh. Even in the two Godavari dis- tricts, East and West, where the infection positivity rate is still over five percent, the curfew timings have been relaxed fur- ther, in uniformity with the remaining 11 districts. Accordingly, shops and busi- ness establishments in all dis- tricts could be opened for busi- ness from 6 am to 9 pm daily and the prohibitory orders will come into force from 10 pm. The government has decid- ed to enforce prohibitory orders, during curfew relax- ation hours, under Section 144 CrPC stringently. PNS n NEW DELHI Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday said that he would have to follow procedure to take a deci- sion on the petition seeking dis- qualification of an MP. As per the procedure, he would have to discuss the issue with both sides before taking a decision, Birla said. The Speaker was responding to YSRCP Parliamentary Party leader V Vijayasai Reddy's allega- tion that he had been deliberate- ly delaying a decision on the dis- qualification of the YSRCP rebel MP K Raghurama Krishnam Raju. "After scrutiny, the petition would be referred to the Privileges Committee. SNCN ACHARYULU n HYDERABAD After the exit of L Ramana from the Telangana unit of the party, the Telugu Desam Party is finding it tough to zero in on his successor. TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday held meetings with Telangana TDP leaders to take their opinion in appointing new president for the Telangana unit. According to sources, senior leaders did not express too much interest to take over the responsi- bilities. In fact, some even raised the question of funds. Since bifurcation of the State, the TDP has not been in power in Telangana state and the party has almost from the State. In the past, the party used to give Rs 2 lakh per month to some sen- ior leaders to take up party activi- ties. However, since the past few months, the TDP leadership has stopped releasing these funds. Also, no TDP leader is visiting the party office in Hyderabad, the NTR Bhavan, and it is wearing a deserted look. During Monday's meeting, the senior leaders told the TDP leadership that the main problem in taking up party responsibilities in Telangana was lack of funds. When Naidu asked one senior leader in the meeting to accept the Telangana TDP president post, he politely refused by suggesting that a young leader should be handed the responsibility. When the TDP was in power in residuary Andhra Pradesh, the party leadership did not concentrate on strengthening its base in Telangana. Due to this, several senior leaders left the party and at present, the situation is such that it is almost without an address in Telangana. Every leader knows that if he accepts the responsibility of leading the TDP in Telangana, he would have to spend money like water from his own pocket to even make a mark. In private, TDP leaders say that they are ready to take the responsibility of the party if the leadership bears the expenditure. After the meeting with Telangana TDP leaders, Naidu left for Vijayawada on Monday. Sources said that the TDP lead- ership would announce a new Telangana TD president in a day or two. PNS n HYDERABAD After remaining weak for days, the monsoon is in revival mode in Telangana and has been active over the state. As per Skymet, an extensive wet spell for many parts of the country, particularly for Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and 12 other states, is in the offing between July 13 and 20,. Heavy to very heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places in Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Suryapet, Warangal (Rural),Warangal (Urban), Jangaon, Yadadri Bhavanagiri, Vikarabad, Sangareddy, Medak and Kamareddy districts on Tuesday to Thursday. As per Skymet weather, mete- orologically, there are two signif- icant systems controlling weath- er activity over most parts of the country. Firstly, a low-pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal, off Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast, and a cyclonic cir- culation over Northeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Gujarat coast. Secondly, a shear line is con- necting these two features and controlling the weather activity from Andhra Pradesh to Gujarat, across Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. Night curfew to continue in all AP districts 1 cr people suffer from post-Covid syndrome Due process to be followed for Raju disqualification, says LS Speaker Om Birla AP to knock on SC’s door to end impasse Extensive wet spell forecast for TS, AP from July 13-20 Telangana TDP leaders baulk at heading cash-strapped party PNS n NEW DELHI India's top doctors' body, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) today appealed to the Central and state governments to not let the guard down on the Covid front warning that a third wave was just around the cor- ner. It expressed pain over complacency shown by authorities and the public in various parts of India at this crucial juncture. It warned that India had only recently walked out of the dis- astrous second wave, thanks to considerable efforts of the modern medical fraternity and political leadership. "With the global evidence avail- able and the history of any pan- demics, the third wave is inevitable and imminent...However, it is painful to note...in many parts of the country both the government and public are complacent and engaged in mass gatherings with- out following Covid protocols," an IMA press release said today. "Tourist bonanza, pilgrimage travel, religious fervour are all needed but can wait for a few more months. Opening up these rituals and enabling people with- out vaccination to go scot-free in these mass gatherings are potential super spread- ers for the Covid third wave," it said. The consequences of treating a Covid patient and its impact on the economy will be much better than the economic loss suffered by avoiding such mass gatherings, it said. Going by the experience of the past year-and-a-half, the impact of the third wave can be mitigated by ensuring universal vaccination and following Covid-appropriate behaviour, according to IMA. Dip in average daily vax since June 21, reveals Central govt data PNS n NEW DELHI A decline in average daily vaccina- tion against the coronavirus has been seen since June 21, when the new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination com- menced, government data showed. According to data available on the CoWIN platform, an average of 61.14 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered daily in the week from June 21-27 which dropped to 41.92 lakh doses daily in the subsequent week from June 28-July 4. C PRADEEP KUMAR n VIJAYAWADA In a major setback for the State gov- ernment, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday questioned the point of setting up village secretari- ats parallel to panchayats and sarpanchs and suspended GO No 2, issued on March 25, thereby handing over their powers to VROs. The court said that it was upholding the powers of granted by the Constitution to sarpanches and village secretaries. The High Court was hearing a petition filed by one Krishna Mohan, sarpanch of Tokalavanipalem in Guntur dis- trict. Narra Srinivas, counsel for the petitioner, in his argument said that GO No 2 infringed upon the rights of panchayat secretaries. He argued before the court that the GO was against the amendment to Article 73 of the Constitution of India and the AP Panchayati Raj Act. Counsel for the State govern- ment responded by saying that the village secretariat system was set up to bring welfare schemes closer to the people. However, the court questioned why government schemes cannot be taken to the people through village panchayats. “Like the Chief Minister is the head of the government, the sarpanch heads the panchayat system,” the court said. The court, after considering the arguments of both the parties, decided to suspend the GO and adjourned hearing in the case for four weeks. Meanwhile, TDP leader and AP Employment Guarantee Council former member Veeranki Gurumurthy welcomed the High Court’s decision to suspend GO No 2 and uphold the powers of the sarpanches and village secretaries in accordance with the Constitution. “It’s now clear that the Jaganmohan Reddy regime would not be able to move forward even an inch with its orders that were in violation of the democratic norms and laws of the country. With the latest HC order, the YSRCP lead- ers' plans to sabotage the 'grama swaraj' in AP village came to an end,” he said. No ‘All Pass’; Grades for Class 10 students PNS n VIJAYAWADA The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to give grades to Class 10 students instead of announcing an ‘All Pass’ result. The grades will be given based on the formative and sum- mative marks. This would not have any issue for the stu- dents in the future in pursuing their education or get- ting a job. The government has formed a com- mittee to assess the marks of Class 10 stu- dents in the state which decided that the results will be released based on the internal marks and to give grades based on internal marks. Based on the one summative and two formative exam marks of the students, the grades will be announced. The grade point will be given from 10 to 3, while the grades range from A1 to E. The result of Class 10 will be tentatively released by July-end. Subject marks range of all other subjects other than languages between 92- 100 grade is A1 grade points are 10, for marks 83-91 grade is A2 and grade points 9, for marks 75-82 grade is B1 and grade points 8, for marks 67-74 grade is B2 grade points 7, for marks 59-66 grade is C1 and grade points is 6, for marks 51-58 grade is C2 and grade points is 5, for marks 43-50 grade is D1 and grade points is 4, for marks 35-42 grade is D2 and grade points is 3, and below34 grade is E. Third wave is sure: IMA 2 2 2 2 3 2 WATER SHARING DISPUTE RAJINIKANTH SHUTS THE DOORS ON POLITICS, DISSOLVES HIS OUTFIT NEPAL TS ORDERS APPOINTMENT OF SHER BAHADUR DEUBA AS PM EX-BUREAUCRATS WRITE OPEN LETTER, SAY BREAKDOWN OF GOVERNANCE IN UP MEDICAL ENTRANCE EXAM NEET POSTPONED TO SEP 12 FROM AUG 1 I n a landmark verdict, Nepal's Supreme Court on Monday directed President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister by Tuesday and reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in five months. A five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana issued the verdict stating that President Bidya Devi Bhandari's decision to dissolve the lower house upon a recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli was an unconstitutional act, delivering a major blow to the veteran Communist leader who was preparing for snap polls. A group of 74 former bureaucrats and police officers have written an open letter alleging a "complete breakdown of governance" and "blatant violation of rule of law" in Uttar Pradesh. The letter has been endorsed by over 200 eminent citizens. In the four-page letter, the IAS, IPS, IFS officials alleged arbitrary detentions and torture of and police attacks on peaceful protesters, demanded an end to extra-judicial killings, targeting of Muslim men with the law against "love jihad", alleged misuse of the National Security Act in the name of cow slaughter and against dissenters. The letter also sought that the Covid crisis in the state be properly handled, pointing to the uncounted deaths and the collapse of the healthcare system. M edical entrance exam NEET, which was earlier scheduled for August 1, will now be conducted on September 12, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced Monday. "The NEET-UG 2021, will be held on 12th September across the country following COVID-19 protocols. The application process will begin from 5 pm tomorrow through the NTA website," Pradhan said in a series of tweets. "To ensure adherence to COVID-19 protocols, face mask will be provided to all candidates at the centre. Staggered time slots during entry and exit, contactless registration, proper sanitisation, seating with social distancing etc. will also be ensured," he said. M onths after opting out of politics citing health worries, superstar Rajinikanth today stressed that he did not plan to change his mind and dissolved his outfit Rajini Makkal Mandram, effectively closing that chapter. "I have no plans of entering politics in future," said Rajinikanth, 70, after meeting with members of his forum one last time. The Rajini Makkal Mandram or people's forum, launched in 2018, will be dissolved and will morph into "Rajinikanth Rasigar Narpani Mandram" or the Rajinikanth Fans Welfare Forum. The star known to legions of fans as the "Thalaivar", will be a full-time actor.
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VIJAYAWADA, TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2021; PAGES 12 `3
www.dailypioneer.com
RNI No.APENG/2018/764698
Established 1864Published From
VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH
BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD
*LATE CITY VOL. 3 ISSUE 238*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable
@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:
MONEY 8MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRYTO BE FASTEST GROWING GLOBALLY
ANALYSIS 7TACKLING THE FISCAL
SLIPPAGES: ANY TAKERS?
SPORTS 11INDIAN WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM HAS BECOMEMENTALLY TOUGH UNDER MARIJNE: HAWGOOD
}AGENTSHOOTBEGINS
Page 12{
VVIIJJAAYYAAWWAADDAAWWEEAATTHHEERR
Current Weather ConditionsUpdated JULY 12, 2021 5:00 PM
FFoorreeccaasstt:: ThunderstormTTeemmpp:: 31/25HHuummiiddiittyy:: 80%SSuunnrriissee:: 5:49 amSSuunnsseett:: 06:54 pm
AALLMMAANNAACC
TTOODDAAYY
Month & Paksham:
Ashadha & Shukla Paksha
Panchangam
Tithi : Tritiya 08:23
Nakshatram : Magha 27:41
Time to Avoid : Time to Avoid (Bad
time to start any important work)
Rahukalam : 3:36 pm - 5:13 pm
Yamagandam : 9:07 am - 10:44 am
Varjyam : 3:27 pm - 5:05 pm
Gulika : 12:21 pm - 1:59 pm
Good Time : (to start any important work)
Amritakalam : 1:14 am - 2:52 am
Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:55 am - 12:47 pm
HC suspends GO No. 2,returns power to VROs
NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD
Even after making a recovery,adults as young as 35 are sufferingfrom cardiac arrest, ostensibly dueto post-Covid-19 complications.
A survey by AIG Hospitalsrevealed that 40 percent of Covidrecovered patients said that theystill have symptoms, mostly weak-ness / fatigue.
These results were unveiled byDr D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman,AIG Hospitals soon after the inau-guration of India's first dedicatedpost-Covid care clinic by NarsingRao, Principal Secretary to theChief Minister.
Many patients also reportedpreviously unreported symptomslike insomnia, neuropsychiatricissues among others. If the surveyis any indication to go by, thenthere could be around one crorepeople in India with post-Covidsymptoms.
Dr Nageshwar Reddy said that
this number of 40 percent is veryhigh. "If we go by the estimatednumber of infections, the numberof people suffering from post-Covid symptoms could be any-where between 1 to 10 crore peo-ple. This would be a huge econom-ic burden for the country and hos-pitals," he said.
Both hospitalised and non-hos-pitalised patients suffer from post-
Covid symptoms - as many as 48percent of the hospitalised patientsand 37.6 percent of the non-hos-pitalised patients reported post-Covid-19 symptoms. This indicatesthe severity of the infection is relat-ed to higher incidence of post-Covid complications, he said.
Post Covid symptoms include neu-rological issues, cardiac issues, lungproblems, digestive issues, liver
injuries, renal problems, ENT prob-lems and joint problems.
Many other manifestations includ-ing eye issues, psychological issues,gynaecological issues, etc. About 53percent of those who received steroidsand 36.41 percent of those who didnot receive steroids developed post-Covid-19 symptoms. Furthermore,the injudicious use of steroids led toa significant increase in the risk ofpost-Covid-19 symptoms.
Dr Reddy said, "We also askedin our survey about the usage ofsteroids in these patients duringtheir Covid-19 treatment andfound out that 74 percent hospi-talised patients received steroidsbut 34 percent required oxygen.
We believe there is some correla-tion between irrational use of steroidsand post Covid complicationsbecause as per the guidelines, we aresupposed to give steroids to onlythose Covid patients who requiredoxygen. Further research will berequired to ascertain the data."
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
Looking to bring an end to theimpasse over the Krishna watersdispute between the two Telugustates, the Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment has decided to knock onthe doors of the Supreme Court.
Well placed sources in the gov-ernment said that the State WaterResources Department has alreadystarted the exercise of preparingthe writ petition that they wouldfile in the Supreme Court. TheState government is expected tofile the writ as early as Tuesday.
Earlier, the AP governmenthad sought the Centre’s interven-tion into the water sharing dis-pute, with Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy writing twiceto Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Union Jal Shakti MinisterGajendra Singh Shekhawat in thespace of one week.
In his letters, the Chief Ministersought their intervention toresolve the dispute between thetwo States and also to rein inTelangana, accusing it of actingagainst the interests of farmers inAP and against the provisions ofAP Reorganisation Act.
With little movement on that
count, the AP government is saidto be now preparing a ‘water tight’write’, including all the details ofhow Telangana was going aheadwith power generation from theprojects constructed on RiverKrishna despite objections raisedby statutory bodies like the KRMBand acting against the provisionsof AP Reorganisation Act.
AP Water Resources Depart-ment senior officials are said to beengaged in preparing the notes forthe arguments that are to be pre-sented on behalf of AndhraPradesh in the Supreme Court.
The AP government is expect-ed to appeal to the SupremeCourt to direct the Telangana gov-ernment to suspend the GOissued regarding full-fledgedpower generation from the threeprojects constructed on riverKrishna and also a direction to theCentre to notify the jurisdictionof KRMB.
AP is also likely to plead in thewrit to recognise all the interstatereservoirs and other water projectsacross the country as nationalassets and hand over the mainte-nance and security to Centralforces as per the provisions of theConstitution.
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
The 10 pm to 6 am Covid cur-few will continue for somemore time in Andhra Pradesh.Even in the two Godavari dis-tricts, East and West, where theinfection positivity rate is stillover five percent, the curfewtimings have been relaxed fur-ther, in uniformity with theremaining 11 districts.
Accordingly, shops and busi-ness establishments in all dis-tricts could be opened for busi-ness from 6 am to 9 pm dailyand the prohibitory orders willcome into force from 10 pm.
The government has decid-ed to enforce prohibitoryorders, during curfew relax-ation hours, under Section 144CrPC stringently.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla onMonday said that he would haveto follow procedure to take a deci-sion on the petition seeking dis-qualification of an MP.
As per the procedure, he wouldhave to discuss the issue with bothsides before taking a decision,Birla said.
The Speaker was responding toYSRCP Parliamentary Partyleader V Vijayasai Reddy's allega-tion that he had been deliberate-ly delaying a decision on the dis-qualification of the YSRCP rebelMP K Raghurama KrishnamRaju. "After scrutiny, the petitionwould be referred to the PrivilegesCommittee.
SNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD
After the exit of L Ramana from theTelangana unit of the party, theTelugu Desam Party is finding ittough to zero in on his successor.
TDP national president NChandrababu Naidu on Mondayheld meetings with Telangana TDPleaders to take their opinion inappointing new president for theTelangana unit.
According to sources, seniorleaders did not express too muchinterest to take over the responsi-bilities. In fact, some even raised thequestion of funds.
Since bifurcation of the State, theTDP has not been in power inTelangana state and the party hasalmost from the State.
In the past, the party used to giveRs 2 lakh per month to some sen-ior leaders to take up party activi-
ties. However, since the past fewmonths, the TDP leadership hasstopped releasing these funds. Also,no TDP leader is visiting theparty office in Hyderabad,the NTR Bhavan, and it iswearing a deserted look.
During Monday'smeeting, the seniorleaders told the TDPleadership that the mainproblem in taking upparty responsibilities inTelangana was lack of funds.
When Naidu asked one seniorleader in the meeting to accept theTelangana TDP president post, hepolitely refused by suggesting thata young leader should be handedthe responsibility.
When the TDP was in power inresiduary Andhra Pradesh, theparty leadership did not concentrateon strengthening its base inTelangana. Due to this, several
senior leaders left the party and atpresent, the situation is such that itis almost without an address in
Telangana.Every leader knowsthat if he accepts the
responsibility ofleading the TDP inTelangana, hewould have tospend money like
water from his ownpocket to even make
a mark.In private, TDP leaders
say that they are ready to take theresponsibility of the party if theleadership bears the expenditure.
After the meeting withTelangana TDP leaders, Naidu leftfor Vijayawada on Monday.
Sources said that the TDP lead-ership would announce a newTelangana TD president in a dayor two.
PNS n HYDERABAD
After remaining weak for days,the monsoon is in revival modein Telangana and has been activeover the state. As per Skymet, anextensive wet spell for many partsof the country, particularly forAndhra Pradesh, Telangana and12 other states, is in the offingbetween July 13 and 20,.
Heavy to very heavy rain is verylikely to occur at isolated placesin Adilabad, Nirmal, Nizamabad,Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Suryapet,Warangal (Rural),Warangal(Urban), Jangaon, YadadriBhavanagiri, Vikarabad,Sangareddy, Medak andKamareddy districts on Tuesdayto Thursday.
As per Skymet weather, mete-orologically, there are two signif-icant systems controlling weath-er activity over most parts of thecountry. Firstly, a low-pressurearea over northwest Bay ofBengal, off Andhra Pradesh andOdisha coast, and a cyclonic cir-culation over Northeast ArabianSea and adjoining Gujarat coast.
Secondly, a shear line is con-necting these two features andcontrolling the weather activityfrom Andhra Pradesh to Gujarat,across Chhattisgarh, Telangana,and Maharashtra.
Night curfew tocontinue in allAP districts
1 cr people suffer from post-Covid syndrome
Due process to befollowed for Rajudisqualification, saysLS Speaker Om Birla
AP to knock on SC’sdoor to end impasse
Extensive wet spellforecast for TS, APfrom July 13-20
Telangana TDP leaders baulk atheading cash-strapped partyPNS n NEW DELHI
India's top doctors' body, the IndianMedical Association (IMA) todayappealed to the Central and stategovernments to not let the guarddown on the Covid frontwarning that a third wavewas just around the cor-ner. It expressed painover complacency shownby authorities and thepublic in various parts ofIndia at this crucial juncture.
It warned that India hadonly recently walked out of the dis-astrous second wave, thanks toconsiderable efforts of the modernmedical fraternity and politicalleadership.
"With the global evidence avail-able and the history of any pan-demics, the third wave is inevitableand imminent...However, it ispainful to note...in many parts ofthe country both the governmentand public are complacent and
engaged in mass gatherings with-out following Covid protocols," anIMA press release said today.
"Tourist bonanza, pilgrimagetravel, religious fervour are all
needed but can wait for a fewmore months. Opening
up these rituals andenabling people with-out vaccination to goscot-free in thesemass gatherings are
potential super spread-ers for the Covid third
wave," it said.The consequences of treating a
Covid patient and its impact on theeconomy will be much better thanthe economic loss suffered byavoiding such mass gatherings, itsaid.
Going by the experience of thepast year-and-a-half, the impact ofthe third wave can be mitigated byensuring universal vaccination andfollowing Covid-appropriatebehaviour, according to IMA.
Dip in averagedaily vax sinceJune 21, revealsCentral govt data PNS n NEW DELHI
A decline in average daily vaccina-tion against the coronavirus hasbeen seen since June 21, when thenew phase of universalisation ofCOVID-19 vaccination com-menced, government data showed.
According to data available onthe CoWIN platform, an averageof 61.14 lakh doses of COVID-19vaccine were administered daily inthe week from June 21-27 whichdropped to 41.92 lakh doses dailyin the subsequent week from June28-July 4.
C PRADEEP KUMARn VIJAYAWADA
In a major setback for the State gov-ernment, the Andhra Pradesh HighCourt on Monday questioned thepoint of setting up village secretari-ats parallel to panchayats andsarpanchs and suspended GO No2, issued on March 25, therebyhanding over their powers toVROs.
The court said that it wasupholding the powers of granted bythe Constitution to sarpanchesand village secretaries.
The High Court was hearing apetition filed by one KrishnaMohan, sarpanch ofTokalavanipalem in Guntur dis-trict.
Narra Srinivas, counsel for thepetitioner, in his argument said thatGO No 2 infringed upon the rightsof panchayat secretaries. He arguedbefore the court that the GO wasagainst the amendment to Article73 of the Constitution of India andthe AP Panchayati Raj Act.
Counsel for the State govern-ment responded by saying that thevillage secretariat system was set upto bring welfare schemes closer tothe people. However, the court
questioned why governmentschemes cannot be taken to thepeople through village panchayats.“Like the Chief Minister is the headof the government, the sarpanchheads the panchayat system,” thecourt said.
The court, after considering thearguments of both the parties,decided to suspend the GO andadjourned hearing in the case forfour weeks.
Meanwhile, TDP leader and APEmployment Guarantee Councilformer member VeerankiGurumurthy welcomed the High
Court’s decision to suspend GO No2 and uphold the powers of thesarpanches and village secretariesin accordance with theConstitution.
“It’s now clear that theJaganmohan Reddy regime wouldnot be able to move forward evenan inch with its orders that were inviolation of the democratic normsand laws of the country. With thelatest HC order, the YSRCP lead-ers' plans to sabotage the 'gramaswaraj' in AP village came to anend,” he said.
No ‘All Pass’; Gradesfor Class 10 students PNS n VIJAYAWADA
The Andhra Pradesh governmenthas decided to give grades toClass 10 students instead ofannouncing an ‘All Pass’ result.
The grades will be given basedon the formative and sum-mative marks. Thiswould not have anyissue for the stu-dents in the futurein pursuing theireducation or get-ting a job.
The governmenthas formed a com-mittee to assess themarks of Class 10 stu-dents in the state whichdecided that the results will bereleased based on the internalmarks and to give grades based oninternal marks.
Based on the one summative
and two formative exam marks ofthe students, the grades will beannounced. The grade point willbe given from 10 to 3, while thegrades range from A1 to E.
The result of Class 10 will betentatively released by July-end.
Subject marks range of allother subjects other than
languages between 92-100 grade is A1 gradepoints are 10, for marks83-91 grade is A2 andgrade points 9, formarks 75-82 grade isB1 and grade points 8,
for marks 67-74 grade isB2 grade points 7, for
marks 59-66 grade is C1 andgrade points is 6, for marks 51-58grade is C2 and grade points is 5,for marks 43-50 grade is D1 andgrade points is 4, for marks 35-42grade is D2 and grade points is 3,and below34 grade is E.
Third wave is sure: IMA
2
2
223
2
WATER SHARING DISPUTE
RAJINIKANTH SHUTS THE DOORS ONPOLITICS, DISSOLVES HIS OUTFIT
NEPAL TS ORDERS APPOINTMENT OF SHER BAHADUR DEUBA AS PM
EX-BUREAUCRATS WRITE OPEN LETTER,SAY BREAKDOWN OF GOVERNANCE IN UP
MEDICAL ENTRANCE EXAM NEETPOSTPONED TO SEP 12 FROM AUG 1
In a landmark verdict, Nepal's Supreme Court on Monday directedPresident Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Nepali Congress chiefSher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister by Tuesday and reinstated
the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in fivemonths. A five-member ConstitutionalBench of the Supreme Court led by ChiefJustice Cholendra Shumsher Rana issuedthe verdict stating that President Bidya DeviBhandari's decision to dissolve the lowerhouse upon a recommendation of PrimeMinister K P Sharma Oli was anunconstitutional act, delivering a major blowto the veteran Communist leader who waspreparing for snap polls.
Agroup of 74 former bureaucrats and police officers have written anopen letter alleging a "complete breakdown of governance" and "blatantviolation of rule of law" in Uttar Pradesh. The letter has been endorsed
by over 200 eminent citizens. In the four-page letter, the IAS, IPS, IFSofficials alleged arbitrary detentions and tortureof and police attacks on peaceful protesters,demanded an end to extra-judicial killings,targeting of Muslim men with the law against"love jihad", alleged misuse of the NationalSecurity Act in the name of cow slaughter andagainst dissenters. The letter also sought that theCovid crisis in the state be properly handled,pointing to the uncounted deaths and thecollapse of the healthcare system.
Medical entrance exam NEET, which was earlier scheduled forAugust 1, will now be conducted on September 12, UnionEducation Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced Monday.
"The NEET-UG 2021, will be held on 12th September across thecountry following COVID-19 protocols. Theapplication process will begin from 5 pmtomorrow through the NTA website,"Pradhan said in a series of tweets. "Toensure adherence to COVID-19 protocols,face mask will be provided to all candidatesat the centre. Staggered time slots duringentry and exit, contactless registration,proper sanitisation, seating with socialdistancing etc. will also be ensured," he said.
Months after opting out of politics citing health worries,superstar Rajinikanth today stressed that he did not planto change his mind and dissolved his outfit Rajini
Makkal Mandram, effectively closing that chapter. "I have noplans of entering politics in future," saidRajinikanth, 70, after meeting withmembers of his forum one last time. TheRajini Makkal Mandram or people'sforum, launched in 2018, will bedissolved and will morph into"Rajinikanth Rasigar Narpani Mandram"or the Rajinikanth Fans Welfare Forum.The star known to legions of fans as the"Thalaivar", will be a full-time actor.
Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.
vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021
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When Atal BehariVajpayee appointedM Venkaiah Naidu
as Cabinet Minister in 2000,the latter sprang a surprisesaying that the PM had cur-tailed his status.
When Vajpayee asked thereason for his thinking,Venkaiah said that he wasreduced as a mere Ministerfrom the post of Maha Manti(BJP general secretary is calledMaha Mantri).
His wit made Vajpayeelaugh heartily.
Venkaiah’s political lifestands testimony to howappointments are made inthe BJP, which is built on thefoundation of ideology.
Venkaiah rose to promi-nence due to his allegiance tothe party ideology, hard workand oratory skills and is nowthe Vice-President of thecountry. The same was thecase with Arun Jaitley.
Modi stripping Ravi SankarPrasad and Prakash Javadekar
of their portfolios surprisedmany, but not those familiarwith the BJP’s antecedentsand traditions.
In the BJP, people are notimportant. The party alwaysstrives to accommodate thehardworking and the talented.
The BJP has 375 MPs inboth Houses. It’s natural formany to opine that it is notproper to continue with theold horses in Ministerial postswithout giving a chance to thetalented.
There is no scope for ignor-ing the services of partyseniors and many who haveworked hard for the BJP.
In Vajpayee’s tenure as PM,Bhairon Singh Shekawat waselected Vice-President inrecognition of his services forthe BJP in Rajasthan.Similarly, Kailashpati Misraand Madanlal Khurana wereappointed Governors.
Modi is following tradi-tion. Those who worked asparty presidents and seniors
have been appointedGovernors in recognition oftheir services.
B i s w a b h u s h a nHarichandan, TamilisaiSoundararajan, BandaruDattatreya, Rajendra Arlekarand others worked as BJPpresidents in their respectivestates before being madeGovernors. K Haribabuworked for several years asBJP president in AndhraPradesh.
As per the party traditions,leaders who held crucialposts like Kalyan Singh,Kalraj Misra, VajhuBhaiwala, Bhagat Singh
Koshiyari, Anandiben Patiland others were elevated tothe gubernatorial post .Thawar Chand Gehlot fol-lowed suit.
The recent reconstitutionof the Cabinet took place intune with Modi's objective ofhonouring the party seniorsappropriately, giving chanceto new faces in tune withsocial changes, maintainingbalance of various groups.
To reshuffle the Cabinet,Modi held discussions forwell over two months andreviewed the functioning ofthe Ministers scientifically.He spoke to each and every
Minister. He spoke to MPsand assessed their capabili-ties. BJP national presidentJP Nadda, Home MinisterAmit Shah, party generalsecretaries and other seniorswere taken into confidence.
He studied various reportsto inject new leaders in theCabinet who can work withspeed, breaking the inertiacaused in the country follow-ing the outbreak of Covid-19.
After a marathon review,he reshuffled theCabinet tomeet the pre-sent dayneeds of gov-ernance.
In fact, there arevery few instancesof reshuffling the Cabinet, inindependent India, in a sci-entific and democratic way.In the previous regimes,Cabinet reshuffles were oftendescribed as old wine innew bottles. But Modi’sCabinet reshuffle is novel.
He gave priority to youthkeeping in mind the chang-ing needs of society. Henever ignored the hard workof those who served theparty and seniors.
Four members of the ModiCabinet are former ChiefMinisters. Did anyonebelieve that Kishan Reddyand Anurag Thakur wouldbe elevated?
In fact, 60 percent of the
reshuffled Cabinet workedtheir way up while 14
members of the newCabinet are aged lessthan 50.
The Cabinet haseminent persons like
Aswini Vaishnaw, who isa product of IIT-Kanpur andWharton University, USA.Rajiv Chandrasekhar is aproduct of Harvard, IllinoisUniversity. There are sever-al engineers, MBA degreeholders, doctors, advocates,former IAS officers andyouth handing crucial port-folios.
In fact, 68 members of theCabinet are graduates.
The BJP was once calledthe "Brahmin-Bania party".Can anyone dare to passsuch remarks against theBJP on seeing Modi’sCabinet?
There are 27 OBCs in theCabinet. Of them, five weregiven Cabinet rank. Thereare 12 SCs, including two
Cabinet ministers. Of theeight ST Ministers, three areof Cabinet rank.
Several persons fromdowntrodden sections likeMadigas, Gonds, Santhals,Mundas who belong toAdivasi community are partof the Modi Cabinet.
There are 11 women in thelatest Cabinet, unprecedent-ed in Independent India. Ofthe 11, four are of theCabinet rank.
Modi wants his govern-ment to be above red-tapismand above dirty and narrowpolitics.
Because of his lofty ideals,many infrastructure develop-ment projects worth lakhs ofcrores are being completedahead of schedule.
It is clear that Modireshuffled the Cabinet toinject speed in the works.There is no doubt thatModi's latest team wouldwork actively for buildingmodern India.
Y SATYA KUMAR
BJP National Secretary
TRULY
SPEAKING
The recent reconstitution of the Cabinet tookplace in tune with Modi's objective ofhonouring the party seniors appropriately,giving chance to new faces in tune withsocial changes, maintaining balance ofvarious groups.
New Cabinet reflects Modi’s aspirations for India
An incredible, life-changingexperience, says Sirisha BandlaPNS n HOUSTON
Indian-American astronautSirisha Bandla says it was an"incredible" and a "life-chang-ing" experience to see theEarth from space during hermaiden trip on VirginGalactic's first fully-crewedsuborbital test flight and hopesthe price tag for space travelwill come down in future.
Bandla, a 34-year-old aero-nautical engineer on Sundayjoined British billionaireRichard Branson and four oth-ers on board Virgin Galactic'sSpaceShipTwo Unity to makea journey to the edge of spacefrom the US state of NewMexico.
They reached an altitude ofabout 88 km over the NewMexico desert - enough to seethe curvature of the Earth. Thecrew experienced a few min-utes of weightlessness beforemaking a gliding descent backto Earth.
"I am kind of still up therebut it's so glad to be here. I wastrying to think about a betterword than incredible but thatis the only word that can cometo my mind... Seeing the viewof Earth is so life-changing butalso the boost the rocket motorkicking in. The whole trip tospace and back is just amazing,Bandla told the NBC News inan interview.
Bandla described themoment as emotional and said,"I have been dreaming of goingto space since I was young and
literally it's a dream cometrue," she said.
"I have wanted to be anastronaut but I wasn't able to goin the traditional NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) roleand I took a very unconven-tional way to go to space andI do believe that a lot of peo-ple are going to be able to expe-rience this and that's why weare here," she said.
Bandla's poor eyesight couldnot meet the requirements tobecome a pilot or an astronautfor NASA. On being asked ifthis was just a joyride for richpeople, she said "As VirginGalactic builds up...this is VSSUnity's ride to space today butwe have got two more space-ships in the manufacture andwe hope the cost would comedown."
Bandla, who was born inGuntur district in AndhraPradesh and brought up inHouston, was astronaut No
004 and her flight role wasResearcher Experience. Theother crew members were twopilots and three other crew-mates, including billionaireBranson, who turns 71 in aweek.
She became the thirdIndian-origin woman to flyinto space after KalpanaChawla and Sunita Williams.Wing Commander RakeshSharma is the only Indian cit-izen to travel in space. The for-mer Indian Air Force pilot flewaboard Soyuz T-11 on April 3,1984, part of the SovietInterkosmos programme.
Bandla moved to the USwhen she was 4-year-old andgraduated with a Bachelor ofScience degree from the Schoolof Aeronautics andAstronautics, PurdueUniversity in 2011. She finishedher Master of BusinessAdministration degree fromGeorge Washington Universityin 2015.
Virgin Galactic - the busi-ness Branson started in 2004 -aims to fly private citizens tothe edge of space. The trips are
designed to permit passengersto experience three to fourminutes of weightlessness andobserve the curvature of Earth.
Sirisha always dreamed ofsoaring high, says grandfather GUNTUR: For Indian-Americanastronaut Sirisa Bandla, the skywas not the limit as her dreamsalways remained soaring intothe galaxy.Bandla, a 34-year-oldaeronautical engineer on Sundayjoined British billionaire RichardBranson and four others onboard Virgin Galactic'sSpaceShipTwo Unity to make ajourney to the edge of spacefrom the US state of NewMexico."As a child, her gaze was alwaysperched on the sky, the stars,the aeroplanes and space. Suchwas her fascination that itultimately led her into space andit is a great achievement for her,"her paternal grandfather BandlaRagaiah said.As a toddler, she was underRagaiah's care in Hyderabad (inthen undivided AP) as herparents settled in the US. Forsome time, she was also withher maternal grandparents atChirala in Andhra Pradesh."We are very delighted that shefulfilled her dream and a long-felt desire. It's a greatachievement and we are proudof her," Ragaiah told PTI over
phone on Monday.Sirisha, the first woman ofTelugu origin to venture intospace, left for the US at the ageof four, along with her eldersister Pratyusha to join theirparents.Her father Muralidhar is anagricultural scientist, like hisfather, and is now placed in theUS Embassy in New Delhi. "Weare very happy that the VirginGalactic flight into space wassuccessful. What more can Isay," he remarked.Meanwhile, Andhra PradeshGovernor BiswabhusanHarichandan and Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddycongratulated Bandla on heraccomplishment."It was a historic journey by thefirst Telugu girl Sirisha and thirdIndian-origin woman to head tospace," (after the late KalpanaChawla and Sunita Williams),the Governor said in a message.The Chief Minister, in astatement, said it was a proudmoment for the state as theGuntur-born Bandla flew on thespaceflight. The trajectory of the34-year-old aeronautical engin-eer has been amazing, he said.
ML MELLY MAITREYI
n HYDERABAD
The Telangana State govern-ment has filed a contempt ofcourt petition in NationalGreen Tribunal against theRayalaseema Lift IrrigationProject being constructed byAndhra Pradesh government,allegedly in violation of theTribunal's orders.
Earlier, a hearing on a peti-tion filed by G Srinivasagainst the project was sched-
uled for Monday. However,since it did not come up forhearing, the Telangana gov-ernment also filed the con-tempt of court petition,Additional Advocate GeneralRamachandra Rao told theTribunal.
As per the earlier instruc-tions of NGT, Krishna RiverManagement Board and offi-cials of the Union Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change officialsshould have visited the
Rayalaseema LI project andsubmitted the report tothe Tribunal onMonday.
The AAGinformed theTribunal thatas the KRMBand Centralteams werep r e v e n t e dfrom carryingout the inspectionat the project site,they could not submit their
reports.The Telangana
g o v e r n m e n turged that
the NGTs h o u l dd i r e c t l yi n s p e c tthe pro-ject. The
A A Gappealed to
the Tribunal totake up the peti-
tions by Srinivas and
Telangana governmenttogether for the hearing.
The NGT posted the hear-ing on Rayalaseema LI projectto July 23.
It may be mentioned herethat Telangana has beenopposing the RayalaseemaLift Irrigation project whichlifts water for Pothireddypaducanal, on the grounds that isbeing illegally constructed onKrishna river without anyenvironment clearances andwithout water allocation.
TS files contempt petition in NGT against RLIP
1,578 fresh Covid cases, 22deaths recorded in StatePNS n VIJAYAWADA
Andhra Pradesh reported1,578 fresh cases of coron-avirus, 3,041 recoveries and 22deaths in 24 hours ending 9 amon Monday.
After 2.30 crore tests, thecumulative Covid-19 positivesin the state climbed to19,24,421 with a positivity rateof 8.35 percent. The recoveryrate went up to 97.83 percentas 18,84,202 coronavirus-infected people got cured sofar.
The overall mortality raterose marginally from 0.67 to0.68 percent after a total of13,024 deaths, governmentdata showed. The state now has27,195 active cases, a healthdepartment bulletin said.
In the past 24 hours, EastGodavari reported 305,Chittoor 257, SPS Nellore 179,Prakasam 173, West Godavari152 and Kadapa 117 freshcases.
The remaining seven dis-tricts added less than 100 newcases each, with Srikakulamlogging the lowest 31. Chittoor,East Godavari, Guntur,
Krishna, SPS Nellore andPrakasam reported threeCovid-19 fatalities each in aday.
Srikakulam had two deathsand Kurnool andVisakhapatnam one each. Fourdistricts did not report anyfresh toll.
Vizianagaram district didnot report any coronavirusdeath in the last three days, thefirst time in more than threemonths during the secondwave.
The government datashowed that Visakhapatnamnow has about 700 active
Covid-19 cases, the highestanywhere in the state.Rajahmundry has 384,Chittoor 340 and Vijayawada310 active cases in the urbanlocal bodies. In the rural man-dals, 21 now have more than100 active cases each, downfrom 33 mandals last week.
While 90 of the 676 totalmandals across the state have0-4 active cases, 141 have 25-49, 61 have 50-74 and 27 have75-100 active cases each. Ofthe 111 ULBs, 87 have less than50 active cases each and anoth-er 12 have between 50 and 100each.
Dip in averagedaily vaccination...Continued from Page 1
In the week from July 5 to July11, the daily average vaccinedoses number further dippedto 34.32 lakh doses.
Among states, however, amixed trend has emerged.
States such as Haryana,Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Gujarat and Chhattisgarhshowed a decline in averagedaily vaccinations since theweek from June 21-27 while amixed trend in administrationof daily doses of COVID-19was seen in states and UTs likeKerala, Andaman andNicobar Islands, Dadra andNagar Haveli, Jammu andKashmir, according toCoWIN data.
In the states of Assam andTripura which recently report-ed a rise in fresh COVID-19cases, a declining trend inadministration of average dailyvaccine doses can be seen.
Even then the daily averagevaccination remained higherthan the previous phase ofCOVID-19 vaccination.
In the week from June 14-20, just 33.97 lakh doses ofCovid-19 vaccine wereadministered daily on an aver-
age.On Monday, the Health
Ministry said over 1.54 crorebalance and unutilisedCOVID-19 vaccine doses arestill available with the states,UTs and private hospitals tobe administered.
The cumulative vaccinedoses administered so far hasreached 37.73 crore under theNationwide Vaccination Drive.
Some states likeMaharashtra, which recordedthe highest number of COVID-19 cases on Monday, raised theneed for more vaccine doses.
Maharashtra HealthMinister Rajesh Tope said thestate needs a minimum ofthree crore vaccine doses permonth to inoculate the entireeligible population againstcoronavirus at the earliest.
Gujarat, on the other hand,said it has so far received an"adequate" number of vaccinedoses from the Centre toinoculate people againstCOVID-19 and the state stillhas a stock of around sevenlakh doses.
According to official esti-mates, Gujarat requires a totalof 9.6 crore doses to fully vac-cinate its eligible population.
1 cr people suffer
from post-Covid...Continued from Page 1
The online survey was con-ducted with 2,391 respon-dents. A majority of peoplewho responded had beenaffected during the secondwave.
Nearly 40 percent of therespondents said that theywere not satisfied with howtheir post-Covid symptomsare being addressed. Thismeans close to 40 lakh Covidpatients are suffering fromcomplications post-recoveryand they are not beingaddressed.
Looking at the urgent needto address this pertinent issueof post-Covid complications,AIG Hospitals on Mondayannounced the launch ofIndia's first dedicated post-Covid care clinic.
Narsing Rao said, "It is agrowing challenge and needs tobe addressed immediatelyfrom all relevant stakeholders.We are keeping a close eye onthis situation as it unfolds. It iscommendable on part of AIGHospitals to come up with suchan initiative, a first-of-its-kinddedicated post-Covid care clin-ic so early and showing the wayahead in managing these post-Covid cases. It will be impor-tant to see what newer proto-cols will be required for thesepatients and it is our cumula-tive responsibility to help inthis regard."
The clinic will comprise amultidisciplinary team withexperts from internal medi-cine, cardiology, gastroenterol-ogy, neurology, nephrology,rheumatology, psychiatry,orthopaedics among others,providing comprehensive care.The objective is to evaluate andmanage these patients from aholistic point of view.
HC suspends GO...Continued from Page 1
Gurumurhty said that GONo 2 issued by the PanchayatRaj Department was unconsti-tutional and it was aimed attrampling upon the powersand duties of the panchayats,which were the basic units ofadministration in the system.“Apparently, the JaganmohanReddy regime aimed at perpe-trating its undisputed author-ity in villages by ruling themthrough the 'volunteers raj',”he stated.
The TDP leader said that in2000 itself, the then chiefminister N Chandrababu
Naidu brought in a strong sys-tem to empower sarpanchesand panchayats. “Thesarpanches were given enoughpowers to take up on theirown developmental activitiesfor education, health, drink-ing water, roads and con-struction of toilets. All neces-sary safeguards were provid-ed to avoid any political inter-ference in their functions,” hesaid.
“The YSRCP government istrying every trick in the bookto reduce sarpanches to merepuppets in the hands of theruling party leaders,”Gurumurthy alleged.
Due process to befollowed for Raju...Continued from Page 1
Any MP has the right to protestin the Lok Sabha," Birla said.
Birla said that with the mon-soon session of Parliament tocommence from July 19, it hasbeen decided to implementCovid protocol strictly. Anyonewho has not been fully vacci-nated would have to undergoRT-PCR test to enter thepremises of Parliament House,he said.
Because of Covid, three ses-sions of Parliament have beencut short and the WinterSession was cancelled alto-gether.
Night curfew to...Continued from Page 1
Wearing of face masks, partic-ularly in business establish-ments and markets, will bevigorously enforced, the gov-ernment said.
At a high-level review meet-ing on Covid-19 here, ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Re-ddy directed officials to ensurethe Covid control measureswere scrupulously implement-ed.
"As there is a decline inCovid positive cases across thestate, the state governmenthas decided to strictly enforcethe Covid control measures,"
the Chief Minister said."Everyone in shops and
business establishments, be itthe staff or customers, shouldnecessarily wear facial masks.Impose heavy fines on shop-keepers where this is violated.If required, order closure ofsuch shops for 2-3 days," theChief Minister said.
A release from the CMOsaid a special WhatsApp num-ber would be allotted for peo-ple to complain about maskviolations.
Besides the curfew timings,it was also decided to imposea fine of Rs 100 on those whodo not wear masks.
vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
TDP state general secretaryBuddha Venkanna on Mondayaccused YSRCP Legislators ofbeing involved in a fraud worthRs Rs 4,500 crore in the'Jagananna colonies' housingprogramme. He said that thefraud is a major blow to poorbeneficiaries across the State.
Venkanna said that at thetime of elections, ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy had promised to handover houses to those eligiblefree of cost. “This has nowturned into a scheme to lootpublic money. Over Rs 6,500crore was spent in the name ofacquiring lands, levelling themand allotments. But now, afterjust a spell of rain, these
Jagananna colonies turned intofish ponds where human habi-tation would be impossible,”Venkanna alleged.
Addressing a press confer-ence here, the TDP leader
deplored that the poor peopleare being seen as “some sort ofjoke” by the Chief Minister andhis Cabinet colleagues. “Theyare not hesitating to make fakepromises and openly betray the
poor beneficiaries. If theTIDCO houses built during theTDP regime were given to thebeneficiaries, the poor familieswould have been in their com-fortable houses in this rainyseason,” Venkanna said.
He stated that over 90 per-cent of the TIDCO houseswere completed during theTDP rule but the JaganmohanReddy regime was not com-pleting the remaining 10 per-cent. “The Chief Ministershould immediately orderhanding over of these housesto the intended beneficiaries.Jaganmohan Reddy promisedto give free houses but now hisGovernment was not givinghouses even though the poorpeople are making paymentsfor the same,” he claimed.
PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM
Visakha Sri Sharada Peethamseer SwatmanandendraSarawati on Monday met newUnion Culture and TourismMinister G. Kishan Reddy andexplained how the rules andregulations of the ArchaeologyDepartment authorities aredeterring the restoration andrenovation of many temples inthe Telugu states.
"Archaeology rules havebecome a hindrance for sever-al temples in the Telugu states,"said Saraswati about the diffi-culties being faced for theirrestoration and renovation.
"Due to these deterrents, the1,000 pillar temple inTelangana and PancharamaKshetras in AP are unable tosee development," he rued.
The seer met Kishan Reddyat his Delhi home and request-ed him to work towards safe-guarding folk arts in the Telugustates and explained thePeetham's plans to conduct
Chaturmasya deeksha fromJuly 24. Gifting Reddy and hiswife an image of AdiShankaracharya, Saraswatiblessed the Minister and hiswife.
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Monday instructedofficials to conduct Covid testsin a well planned mannerthereby making optimal use ofresources.
Chairing a review meetingon Covid here, the ChiefMinister asked officials to con-duct tests on only those whohave fever or display othersymptoms and if they test pos-itive, they should be providedproper medical care.
Similarly, with regards tooxygen supply, the ChiefMinister directed the officialsto complete the establishmentof oxygen generation plants.The authorities explained thework in progress at 134 oxygengeneration plants at 97 loca-tions and assured that thesewould be completed by the endof August.
Further, the Chief Ministerinstructed the officials to focuson vaccination of teachers andcomplete the process before thereopening of schools. Hedirected the officials to vacci-nate teachers of both govern-
ment and private schools andbased on the availability of thevaccine, to consider vaccinat-ing degree students by organ-ising vaccination camps in col-leges.
Besides, the Chief Ministerdirected the officials to be vig-ilant towards non-Covid dis-eases and be prepared to thatextent in the wake of the onsetof the monsoon season. Hesaid that there was a possibil-ity of an increase in the num-ber of snakebites, a phenome-non prevalent in Machilipa-tnam and Avanigadda regions.“Equip all PHCs with required
anti-venom drugs,” he said. Also, as diseases like dengue
are likely to spread in Agencyareas during the monsoon sea-son, the Chief Ministerreminded, and instructed theauthorities to arrange all therequired medicines at PHClevel and ensure that thesedrugs meet WHO and GMPstandards.
He also ordered to focus onthe Nadu-Nedu initiative andcomplete the pending works.
Further, he directed the offi-cials to brace up for a possibleCovid third wave, since stud-ies are showing that children
would be affected in the thirdwave, officials were instructedto be prepared with a goodaction plan, especially for treat-ment of children.
The officials informed theChief Minister that there were28,680 active cases at presentand 5,695 patients are beingtreated in hospitals and 4,976people are being treated inCovid care centres.
The officials added that therecovery rate has risen to 97.83percent and positivity rate hasdecreased to 2.91 percent. Theysaid the positivity rate was lessthan three percent in seven dis-tricts and almost 92.91 percentof patients in Network hospi-tals are being treated underAarogyasri scheme.
The authorities stated that3,876 Black fungus cases wereregistered till date, claiming thelives of 324 people while 2,500patients have been discharged.
With regards to vaccina-tion, so far 1,31,43,873 peoplehave been vaccinated, of which96,83,544 have got their firstdose and 34,60,329 have com-pleted the two-dose regime, theofficials said.
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
As many as 3,000 workers ofthe Visakha Steel ParirakshanaPorata Committee plan to la-unch a two-day protest ‘ChaloParliament’ on August 2 and3, in protest against the pro-posed privatisation of VSP.
Members of Visakha SteelParirakshana Porata Committeeon Monday released an actionplan, revealing their intent totake the fight to save the VSP toDelhi. As part of the plan, theCommittee decided to stage adharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Ever since the UnionGovernment proposed 100per cent strategic sale of theVisakhapatnam Steel Plant(VSP), employees, membersof various trade unions, andpolitical parties have stoodagainst the decision andlaunched an agitation.
One significant develop-ment during the period wasthat the State governmentpassed a resolution duringthe Budget session of theAssembly opposing theCentre’s decision and askingit to think of alternative solu-tions to revive the steel plant.
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
Water Resources Minister AnilKumar Yadav on Mondaycame down heavily on TDPsupremo N ChandrababuNaidu, accusing him of tryingto create a rift among regionsand people for petty politicalgains.
Speaking to media at YSRCPcentral office here on Monday,Yadav said TDP leaders ofPrakasam district have writtena letter seeking to drop the pro-posal to increase the capacityof the Rayalaseema LiftIrrigation Scheme (RLIS) atSrisailam from 44,000 cusecsto 80,000 cusecs, only to cre-ate a rift among the people ofdifferent regions.
The Minister said theAndhra Pradesh government,under the leadership of ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy, has completed the workon Veligonda Tunnel-1 on warfooting and work on Tunnel -2 will be completed by 2023when water will be released toPrakasam district.
He demanded to know whatNaidu had done for the devel-opment of the region duringhis tenure.
Terming TDP as Telangana
Desam Party, the Minister saidTDP leaders were echoing theversion of Telangana leadersand Naidu was following hisfamed ‘dual policy’ on Krishnariver water issue. He saidTelangana has constructed ille-gal irrigation projects duringNaidu's rule and he didn'tobject then as he was keen towriggle free from the ‘cash forvote’ case.
Yadav listed out the irriga-tion infrastructure developedby former chief minister YSRajashekara Reddy in undivid-ed Andhra Pradesh and saidthat Jagan has gone one step
ahead completing the irriga-tion projects across the state.
He said while all the politi-cal parties in Telangana cameunder one roof on Krishnawater issue, Naidu in AndhraPradesh has been playingcheap politics.
The Minister also slammedthe TDP for propagating falseinformation on laterite miningand asserted that it was lateriteand not bauxite mining. Hesaid bauxite mining took placeduring the TDP governmentand the YSRCP governmenthas not allowed bauxite min-ing.
PNS n VIJAYAWADA
Endowments MinisterVelampalli Srinivas Rao onMonday said that YSRCP gov-ernment will not spare anyoneinvolved in corruptionand irregularities.
“We will exposethe corruption dur-ing the five-yearsof TDP rule,” Vela-mpalli promised,accusing the previ-ous TDP governm-ent of limiting devel-opment only to papers.“YSRCP government is doingdevelopment and welfare inthe true sense,” he said.
He was touring division 44in Vijayawada city duringwhich he interacted with thepublic to know the problemsthey face.
The Minister said the pre-vious TDP government didnot put any effort towards thedevelopment of Vijayawada
despite being in control of theVijayawada MunicipalCorporation and in State.
He alleged that the TDPgovernment laid only founda-tion stones but those develop-
ment works never mate-rialised in its five-
year tenure. The Minister
responded to req-uests of residentsof Bhavanipuramfor construction of
a municipal stadi-um and said that he
would set the process inmotion in the coming days. Heassured rehabilitation to thedisplaced families in the LDColony area.
Responding to the slowpace of laying of water pipelineand underground drainage,Velampalli directed officials tospeed up the work to avoidinconvenience and turn Vija-yawada into a clean and greencity.
SNV SUDHIR
n VIJAYAWADA
The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment will be promoting the"healthiest form of chicken" inthe State.
The State Cabinet recentlygave its nod to establish a hatch-ery for the 'Kadaknath' breed ofbirds at the State poultry farm inUtukuru of YSR Kadapa district.The decision is aimed at promot-ing the 'desi' chicken breedthrough indigenous poultryfarming.
The 'Kadaknath' chickshatched at the State-run poultryfarm will be distributed at a fixedprice. The Kadaknath breed isnative to Madhya Pradesh. Thename is derived from "kala mas"meaning black f lesh. TheKadaknath breed is famous forthe blackish meat which is
unique in its quality, texture andflavour and has health benefits.
The breed has been rearedby Bhil and Bhilala communi-ties, tribes indigenous toMadhya Pradesh, for centuries.
The specialty of the breed isthe wings, flesh and internalorgans of this chicken areblackish in colour hence it iscalled Black Meat Chicken(BMC). It is also to be noted
that it is the only black meatchicken breed in India.
The popularity of Kadknathhas spread across the countryover a period of time and itsdemand has soared especiallyin both the Telugu states. A kgof Kadaknath chicken meatfetches as much as Rs 800 to Rs1,000 and an egg fetches any-where between Rs 30 to Rs 50.
Of late, a few entrepreneurshave also taken up Kadaknathfarming. The breed is knownfor nutritional qualities as thepercentage of fat and choles-terol in its meat is significant-ly lower than other chicken.The quantity of protein in themeat of this breed is also rela-tively higher.
Kadaknath birds are alsodisease resistant with low fatpercentage, low cholesterol,high protein content and wide
adaptability.Kadaknath has high pro-
tein value - more than 25 per-cent - which is highest amongall chicken breeds and low fat0.73 percent to 1.05 percent.
These black birds also con-tain vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12,C and E, niacin, protein, fat,calcium, phosphorus, iron,nicotinic acid etc., high levelsof 18 essential amino acids aswell as hormones that arerequired by the human body.
The Central Food andResearch Institute, Mysore,studied its medicinal qualitiesand found it suitable for cardiacpatients as it increases bloodsupply to the heart.
"There is an existing statepoultry farm at Utukuru, YSRKadapa district having workingpersonnel and equipment forhatching. The farm needs some
renovation and addition ofsome infrastructure to make itfunctional. Day old chicks ofKadaknath birds will behatched and distributed atfixed price. A unit size of20,000 eggs will be hatched anddistributed for rural poor.Hence it is proposed to estab-lish a Kadaknath birds hatch-ing unit at an estimated cost ofRs 2 crore at the state poultryfarm," said a senior govern-ment official.
Recently the State Cabinetapproved to sanction therequired funds, duly permittingfor inviting Expression ofInterest (EOI) to identify a pri-vate agency for operation andmaintenance of rearing andhatching unit and farm man-agement under the supervisionof already working depart-mental staff.
AP hatches healthy plan - State to promote Kadaknath chicken
CM stresses on optimal useof resources to defeat Covid
VSP workerscall ‘ChaloParliament’ onAugust 2, 3
Naidu in two boats overKrishna waters issue: Minister
Archaeology rules deterring templesdevelopment in both Telugu states
It’s time to loot for YSRCP: Venkanna
Velampalli vows toexpose TDP graft
Three arrestedfor sellingLSD, ganja
PNS n HYDERABAD
Fire broke out in a MarutiSwift car on PVNRExpressway at Attapur onMonday morning. Nocasualties were reportedin the incident.
According to thepolice, a woman wasdriving the car when shenoticed flames emanat-ing from the engine.Motorists who were trav-elling on the PVNRExpressway rushed toher rescue and helpedher get out of the car.Before the fire tenderscould reach, the firespread and the car wasgutted.
Car catches fire on Expressway
PNS n HYDERABAD
Three people, including anemployee of an e-commercefirm,were arrested here onMonday by Excise Depart-ment officials on charge ofillegal possession, trans-portation and sale of drugs.
The officials, acting on atip off, raided an area inSecunderabad and seized 1.1kg of dry ganja, 20 grams ofHashish oil, two grams ofmethylenedioxy- metham-phetamine, 10 lysergic aciddiethylamide blots and fivegrams of charas from them,Assistant Excise (Enforce-ment) Superintendent N An-jireddy said in a press release.
During questioning thethree revealed that they weredrug addicts and startedselling them to customers toget more money, he said
The main drug suppliershave been identified, the SPsaid.
PR Mohan was backbone of TDP, says Naidu PNS n VIJAYAWADA
Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu onMonday visited Srikalahasti inChittoor district and paid trib-utes to the mortal remains ofthe party leader and SAAP ex-chairman PR Mohan.
The TDP chief expresseddeep shock and anguish overthe sudden death of Mohandue to a heart attack at his res-idence in Srikalahasti. He con-veyed his heartfelt condolencesto members of the bereavedfamily and recalled howMohan had an inseparablebond with the TDP since its
inception. Mohan shared arelationship with NTR thatwould be indescribable inwords, he said.
Naidu said thatMohan was such asincere activistthat he took partin each andevery pro-gramme takenup by the TDPwhether inpower or ino p p o s i t i o n .Mohan worked asSAAP chairman,Srikalahasti temple chairmanand such nominated posts.
There was never even a hint ofcontroversy or allegation ofcorruption against him during
his decades in public,the TDP chief said.
Naidu said thatMohan dis-played a rarecommitmentand loyaltythat he visitedevery villagealong with
NTR after theTDP was found-
ed. Even during the'Vastunna Meekosam'
padayatra, he was there allalong from the beginning to
the end of the journey. “Everyday, he used to make sure thatthe padayatra went well with-out any hindrances. It wasindeed a shock to the TDP thatMohan died suddenly as hewas known for his disciplineand good health,” Naidu said.
In a separate statement, TDPnational general secretary NaraLokesh conveyed his condo-lences to the bereaved familyand recalled how Mohan hasworked with dedication andcommitment for the TDP. Theparty would forever rememberthe services rendered by theformer chairman of SAAP,Lokesh said.
Hyd airportcommissionssecond solarpower plantPNS n HYDERABAD
GMR HyderabadInternational Airport Ltd(GHIAL) on Mondayannounced commissioningof its second phase 5 MWsolar power plant.
GHIAL's total solar powercapacity has now increased to10 MW. In 2015, it had com-missioned a 5 MW solarpower plant for its captiveconsumption.
Spread over an area of 45acres, more than 30,000 solarpanels have been installed toproduce 10 MW power. Boththe solar plants haveadvanced ABB central invert-ers and poly crystalline PVpanels, which are far moreefficient than mono crys-talline solar PV panels. Withthe commissioning of thisadditional capacity, GHIALwill be able to reduce thedependency for power fromthe Telangana State ElectricityBoard by 12 million units peryear, thereby saving aroundRs. 90 lakh per month.
Gold Merchants formAssociation in Hyd
Man held for cheatingfinance firmPNS n HYDERABAD
The Detective Departmentsleuths of the Hyderabad policeon Monday arrested DeepakKindo, MD and CEO ofSambandh Finserve PrivateLimted from Odisha, oncharges of cheating a financecompany of Rs 2 crore afterobtaining loans fraudulently.
The man had obtained aloan of Rs 5 crore fromNabsamruddhi FinanceLimited in 2019 claiming hewould use it for microfinanceactivities in Odisha andChhattisgarh.
However, he diverted themoney into his own bankaccounts and cheated thefinance company, police said.
PNS n HYDERABAD
Deputy Speaker Katti PadmaRao on Sunday launched thePot Market Gold Merchants'Association in Secunderabadand said that the market isrenowned for gold business inthe city.
The Deputy Speaker said thatfrom a minor gold article tojewellery for weddings and allfunctions are made here.
Association presidentAshok Jain, general secretaryParasmal Jain, other traderswere present at the launchevent.
Extensive wetspell forecast forTS, AP from July...Continued from Page 1
Monsoon trough has shiftedfar to the south, increasingthe span of easterly windsacross Bihar, Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan,and Haryana. Such condi-tions are not conducive forintense and widespread rainsover North India includingDelhi, Skymet said.
On Monday, heavy tovery heavy rain occurred inNizamabad, Kamareddy,
Mahbubabad, Warangal(Rural),Warangal (Urban),Janagaon, JayashankarBhupalpally, Mulugu,Rajanna Sircilla, Jagtial andBhadradri Kothagudem dis-tricts.
The State average rainfallon July 12 was 19.3 mmagainst the normal of 9.3mm. Highest rainfall in thestate was 139.0 mm atNarnoor, Adilabad district.In GHMC limits, 15.8 mmwas recorded at Ameerpet.
vijayawada 04VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021
PNS n KAKINADA
In a callous act, a newbornbaby was placed in a cartonand left in a cemetery byunidentified persons atRajahmundry on Saturdaymidnight. However, the inci-dent came to light only onMonday.
According to sources,hearing the baby boy cry outof suffocation, caretaker ofthe cemetery Siva handedhim over to a local manVenkatesh and his wife,whoadmitted the boy to a specialchild care centre inRajahmundry.
The 108 neonatal ambu-lance was informed that thebaby was in critical condition.
Ambulance staffer ShantaKumar and pilot Bulli Rajurushed the boy to a local hos-pital from where he was shift-ed to the Neonatal IntensiveCare Unit (NICU) inKakinada for emergencytreatment. The baby is cur-rently being treated at theKakinada GovernmentHospital.
But the condition of thenewborn is still critical and heweighed about 750 grams,said ICDS Project DirectorGV Satyavani.
PNS n KAKINADA
With their repeated appeals forproper drainage system andadequate water supply to irri-gation canals falling on deafears, the farmers of Ainapuramvillage under Mummidivarammandal in East Godavari dis-trict have threatened to declarea ‘crop holiday’ fearing lossesif they go ahead with sowingoperations this Kharif season.
Local farmers complainedseveral times in the past thatthe irrigation canals were notsupplying adequate water forfarming. They also submittedmemorandums to irrigationofficials stating that thedrainage system had not beenworking properly due to accu-mulation of silt. Owing to this,the farm fields are getting sub-merged whenever there isheavy rainfall. Yet, no govern-ment has cared for them,prompting the farmers tothreaten to declare a ‘crop hol-iday’ with the apprehensionthat they would not be able toeven salvage the amountinvested on crops in such a sce-nario during the current mon-soon season.
With this, AgricultureMinister Kurasala Kannababuhas assured the farmers thatsteps would be taken to providebetter facilities for farming. Hehas already organised a meet-ing with agricultural officials tofind a solution to the problemsfaced by the farmers in the dis-trict.
Close on the heels ofKannababu’s efforts to con-vince the farmers to go aheadwith Kharif operations, SocialWelfare Minister PinipeViswarup visited the area onMonday. Attempts were madeto reassure the farmers.
Minister Viswarup, alongwith Mummidivaram MLAPonnada Venkata SatishKumar, Irrigation Chief
Engineer N Pulla Rao, DistrictJoint Collector Dr G LakshmiShah, local officials and pub-lic representatives, held a meet-ing with the farmers ofAinapuram as per the direc-tions of Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy.
On the occasion, Viswarupassured the farmers that stepswould be taken up immediate-ly to ensure that their farm
fields would not be floodedduring the current Kharif sea-son. He informed the farmersthat the Chief Minister hadagreed to allocate funds toundertake works on a tempo-rary basis with Rs 24 crore andon a permanent basis with Rs300 crore.
Later, the minister, otherpublic representatives and topofficials inspected the drainagesystem in Ainapuram and dis-cussed with the farmers thesteps to be taken to facilitatehassle-free farming in the area
They also inspected theNakkalakaluva, VadaparruChannel, UppalaguptamChannel, Amalapuram majoroutflow sluice and other areas.
Trainee Collector GitanjaliSarma, Irrigation SE Rambabu,RDO NSVB Vasantharayuduand other officials were pre-sent.
Ryots threaten to declare ‘cropholiday’; minister allays fears
Now, Kakinada police find a sure-fire way to collect finesPNS n KAKINADA
The Kakinada police, who wereuntil Sunday giving roses tovehicle riders appealing to themto wear masks, suddenly sur-prised the violators of Covidnorms on Monday by issuingchallans to them. Due to the sub-stantial dip in revenue, the gov-ernment has put the Policedepartment under pressure tocollect dues.
The government is under-stood to have directed the Policedepartment to collect fines as perthe daily targets. As a result,Kakinada 1 Town, 2 Town, 3Town and Port Police as well asKakinada 1st and 2nd TrafficPolice are not only imposingheavy fines but also collectingthem strictly through a novelmethod.
In addition to the 30,000auto rickshaws and 50,000 two-wheelers in the city, there are60,000 cars, trucks and othertransportation vehicles withinthe limits of these police stations,according to the Transportdepartment. An estimated 10percent of challan arrears are yetto be collected.
In the past, either the policewould take a photo of the vehi-cle number on their cell phoneand send the challan to the vehi-cle owner’s cell phone. However,not many people would pay thefines. Thus, the arrears of e-chal-lans imposed by the KakinadaTraffic as well as Law and OrderPolice have accumulated to Rs 3crore.
The police stop the vehicleson the roads for a while to col-lect the dues. However, the vehi-
cle riders, observing the policefrom a distance, are taking a dif-ferent direction. With this, thepolice have found a new way tocollect fines. They are applyingautomatic locks to wheels ofvehicles parked on the wrongroute or in the middle of theroad or if the vehicle owner isknown to be in arrears. Nomatter how hard you try, theselocks will not open.
At some points, the trafficpolice are identifying the ownerof the vehicle and see if there areold e-challan arrears. If there areno arrears, then they check if itis parked in the designatedplaces or not. Until then, one hasto wait for the police constablewho has locked the vehicle.Behind the police is a manfrom Mee Seva centre.
The vehicle will be keptlocked until the vehicle ownerpays the dues in full, includingthe entire penalty fee, either incash or through debit or creditcard on the spot. Alternatively,the vehicles will be taken in aspecial trolley to the traffic lot inKakinada Cinema Street.
Traffic SI Garaga Rao said thatthis has been yielding goodresults.
Curfew relaxedin East, WestGodavari distsPNS n KAKINADA
In a relief to the people ofEast and West Godavaridistricts, the government hasfurther relaxed the curfewtimings imposed on accountof Covid-19 pandemic. Sofar, public movement hasbeen allowed in the twinGodavari districts only from6 a.m to 6 p.m. But onMonday, Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy held ameeting with the heads ofthe Medical and Healthdepartment and those ofother departments, andissued directions to them tofollow a uniform policyacross the State. With this,curfew will be enforced from10 p.m to 6 a.m in East andWest Godavari districts aswell. Currently, business andcommercial activities wereconducted in these districtsonly from 6 a.m to 5 p.m.
Newborn baby found in cemetery
PNS n ELURU
The State government haslaunched the JaganannaColonies with much fanfareto provide houses to the poor,but the works are moving ata snail's pace due to activemonsoon and the skyrocket-ing prices of constructionmaterial.
Ministers and MLAs havegone on a spree of foundationlaying and ‘Bhoomi Puja’ cer-emonies in all constituenciesin the State. A whopping 32lakh houses were allocated tothe poor across the State,with 2,25,862 in WestGodavari district alone. Theauthorities have decided tobuild one lakh houses in thefirst phase of the housingprogramme and as part it
16,000 will be built in Eluruthough 32,000 were allottedto the city.
The government has decid-ed to complete the construc-tion of the houses by Ugadinext year. Accordingly, thefoundation was laid by thebeneficiaries. Some of themallegedly laid foundationstones under pressure fromward volunteers.
As there is no let-up inheavy rains, the constructionof houses is progressing in atardy manner. Besides, theprices of cement, iron, bricks,and the labour charges toohave gone up.
Even minor showers sub-merged some layouts in thelow-lying areas.
Beneficiaries have allegedthat the government had
promised to construct theirhouses and now they areforced to build them on their
own. They say that the govern-
ment had earlier promised a
financial support of Rs 1.8lakh to each beneficiary afterallocating the site, but now itis insisting that they spendtheir own money on con-struction of the houses.
They recalled that the gov-ernment had promised thatthe amount would be releasedin three to five instalmentsduring the process of con-struction of the houses.
Moreover, the Volunteersand the housing work inspec-
tors have been forcing themto begin the constructionwork immediately. They saythat they are unable to meetthe conditions set by the gov-ernment as they are alreadydebt-ridden due to loss oflivelihood during the Covid-19 pandemic. They alsoalleged that the governmenthad warned that their siteswould be taken back if theyfailed to build houses in them.Therefore, many beneficiariesare going ahead with the con-struction of houses with debtsraised from private money-lenders.
Meanwhile, some politicalleaders are of the view that ifthe government providesloans worth Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2lakh, that will be a great helpfor the beneficiaries.
Jagananna colony works going on at snail’s pace
PNS n ELURU
BJP State president SomuVeerraju has demanded thatthe government provide qual-ity houses and permanent jobsto the people displaced by thePolavaram project.
Veerraju inspected thePolavaram project in WestGodavari district along with ateam of BJP leaders on Monday.His day-long tour assumes sig-nificance as it came two daysahead of Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy’s visit tothe Polavaram project sitescheduled for July 14.
Speaking on the occasion,the State BJP chief said that theremaining works of the projectshould be completed only afterthe problems of the displacedpeople were settled.
Veerraju demanded that thegovernment take care of theevacuation of displaced per-sons. Facilities should be pro-vided to expedite the con-struction of houses for all thedisplaced in the colonies builtfor the displaced as part of theRelief and Rehabilitation pro-gramme. He said the Centrehad already released Rs 11,000
crore for the project. Of this, Rs4,000 crore was spent on reset-tlement and Rs 7,000 crore onconstruction of the project, hesaid.
The State BJP chief demand-ed that two houses be taken asa unit for construction ofhouses for the displaced.
He observed the ongoingPolavaram works from hill-point and asked the authoritiesfor details of the project.
Meanwhile, tribals fromKondrukota and other villages
explained their problems toVeerraju. Residents of the reha-bilitation colony at L&D Petasaid they had shifted there lastyear due to the construction ofcofferdam while some otherswere still in their native vil-lages. They said that houseswere being built only for thevillagers of Kondrukota andMadhapur and that the peopleof some villages were beingevacuated and that middlemenwere causing problems forthem.
Provide quality houses, jobsto Polavaram oustees: Somu
PNS n ONGOLE
The public complaintsresponse programme'Spandana' was held at theSpandana Conference Hall atPrakasam Bhavan in Ongoleon Monday.
Prakasam District. DistrictCollector Praveen Kumarpresided over the programmewhich was attended by district
officials and the complainants.Victims from all over the
district submitted writtencomplaints to the DistrictCollector to resolve theirissues. The Collector directedthe officials of the departmentsconcerned to look into someof them and conduct inquiriesinto others, while he immedi-ately resolved those under hispurview..
‘Spandana’ programme conducted in Ongole
PNS n GUNTUR
Advisor to the StateGovernment SajjalaRamakrishna Reddy State gen-eral secretary of the YSRCongress Party (YSRCP) hassaid that he has been associat-ed with Lella Appi Reddy, whowas appointed as the MLC,even before the party wasformed, and that Appi Reddyhas always been at the forefrontof solving public problems andworking for the success of theparty programmes withoutseeking positions.
He was addressing the gath-ering as the chief guest of afunction organised to felicitateAppi Reddy, the newly-appointed MLC. Marketyardchairman ChandragiriYesuratnam presided.
Later, MLC Appi Reddy saidthat the first memorable step in
his political career was hisappointment in the GunturAgricultural Market Yard by hisgod CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Rajya Sabha membersMopidevi Venkataramana,Narasaraopet MP Lavu
Krishnadevarayalu, BapatlaMP Nandigam Suresh, partywhip, Macherla MLA PinnelliRamakrishna Reddy, GunturEast MLA Mustafa, GunturWest MLA Maddali Giri,Vemuru MLA Dr Merugu
Nagarjuna, Narasaraopet MLADr Gopireddy Srinivasareddy,Vinukonda MLA BollaBrahmanaidu, MLC DokkaManikyavaraprasad, GunturCity Mayor Manohar Naiduand others also spoke.
Appi Reddy is people’s man: Sajjala
PNS n AMARAVATI
Is Krishnapatnam Anandaiah,who has made a name for him-self across the country withherbal medicine as an antidote tothe coronavirus, stepping into theState Legislative Council soon?Looks like the conditions arefavourable to him due to thegrowing demand for his induc-tion as MLC from Nellore districtin the Governor’s quota.
Sunkara Naresh, vice-chair-man of the Vennela Foundationand a High Court lawyer,demanded that Anandaiah beappointed as an MLC in theGovernor's quota. He wrote a let-ter to Andhra Pradesh GovernorBiswabhusan Harichandan tothis effect.
According to sources, inresponse to Naresh's letter, APGovernor's Secretary wrote a let-
ter to Chief Secretary AdityanathDas. It was suggested that the pos-sibility of appointing Anandaiahas an MLC should be consideredunder Articles 171 (3) (e) and 171(5) of the Constitution. Nareshexpressed his gratitude to theSecretary to the Governor forresponding to his letter and writ-ing a letter to the Chief Secretary.He expressed the hope that theState government would grant hisrequest and appoint Anandaiahas an MLC.
Will Anandaiah be made MLC?
Advisor to the State Government, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, has commended the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) forsetting up the YSR Food Banks to satisfy the hunger of the poor. He inaugurated the Food Banks set up at five locations inthe city on Monday.
SUCCOUR TTO TTHE HHUNGRY ‘Salakatla’ fete in Tirumala on July 16PNS n TIRUPATI
The ‘Salakatla AnivaraAsthanam’ will be performedwith religious fervour in the hillshrine of Lord Venkateswara onJuly 16 in Tirumala.
This festival is one among the450 important festivals beingperformed in Srivari templeevery year.
The uniqueness about thisfestival is that the previousyear’s accounts of the office arepresented before the deity bythe principal officers and aretaken back to signify that theLord finds the officers fitenough to hold their respectiveoffices.
Bodies of fourdrowned youthsfished out of pitPNS n GUNTUR
The bodies of four youths,who drowned in theBoyapalem quarry pit, nearPrattipadu, in Guntur districton Sunday, were found onMonday by the NDRF searchteam.
It may be recalled that sixyouths - Billa Sai Prakash,Siddhansetti Venkatesh,Lambu Vamsi, IguturiShankar, Yashwant andHemant – all belonging toPrathipadu went behindDIET College in Boyapalemto have fun. After playing fora while, four people went intothe quarry pit to wash theirhands and feet. Yashwantand Hemant sat on the shore.
Revenue and police offi-cials rushed to the spot afterlearning of the incident.
NDRF teams were imme-diately pressed into service tosearch for the missing youths.They fished out the bodiesfrom the pit overnight. Thebodies were shifted to GGHat Guntur for a post-mortemexamination.
Home Minister MekathotiSucharitha condoled thedeath of the youths.
nation 05VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021
NEP to be implemented fromthis year in govt institutions
The National Education Policy will beimplemented from this academic
year in institutions of the departmentof higher education in Karnataka andcome into force in the state by 2030,Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N AshwathNarayan said on Monday. This willbe done by making use of LearningManagement System (LMS) andUnified University College ManagementSystem (UUCMS), he said at a meetingwith educationists at KarnatakaUniversity on the new NEP-2020.
Narayan urged private colleges with good infrastructure to come forward to implement NEPfrom the current year itself. He suggested that other institutions should also get ready toimplement it in a gradual manner. The DCM said the NEP aims to integrate variouscapabilities of the human intellect.
Home Minister Amit Shah assures HPCM of all help following heavy rains
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke toHimachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram
Thakur on Monday to take stock of the situationarising due to the floods in several districts of thestate and assured him all possible help from theCentre. He also conveyed to the chief minister thatteams of the National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) are reaching the affected areas for rescueand relief work. "I have spoken to the ChiefMinister Shri @jairamthakurbjp ji regarding thenatural calamity caused by heavy rains in HimachalPradesh. NDRF teams are reaching there soon forrelief work. The Ministry of Home Affairs iscontinuously monitoring the situation. Himachal
Pradesh will be given all possible help from the Centre," Shah tweeted in Hindi. According toreports, heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh crippled the normal life and triggered a flood-likesituation in several districts.
RJD leader meets Chirag, says anti-BJP alliance needed
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shyam Rajakhas met Lok Janshakti Party's Chirag
Paswan and called for a united allianceagainst the BJP-led NDA in Bihar as the Dalitleader looks for his political options afterbeing snubbed by the saffron party. Paswanhas also spoken to RJD supremo LaluPrasad, Rajak told PTI. Rajak, once a closeaide of JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar and now in the RJD, said hisvisit to Paswan's house was "personal" innature but added that political talks take
place when politicians meet. There is a need for building an anti-BJP alliance over the issues ofthe interests of Dalit and backward castes, the RJD leader said. With Prime Minister NarendraModi inducting Paswan's uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who has joined hands with four otherMPs of his party against the son of late Dalit stalwart Ram Vilas Paswan, as a Cabinet ministerin his government, political options for the young LJP leader seems limited.
INDIA
CORNER
PNS n BENGALURU
Scientists at the IndianInstitute of Science (IISc) haveexperimentally shown the exis-tence of two species of few elec-tron bubbles (FEBs) in super-fluid helium for the first time.
These FEBs can serve as auseful model to study how theenergy states of electrons andinteractions between them in amaterial influence its proper-ties, the Bengaluru-based IIScsaid in a statement.
The team included NehaYadav, a former PhD student atthe Department of Physics,Prosenjit Sen, AssociateProfessor at the Centre forNano Science and Engineering(CeNSE) and AmbarishGhosh, Professor at CeNSE.
The study was publishedin'Science Advances. An elec-tron injected into a superfluidform of helium creates a singleelectron bubble (SEB) a cavi-ty that is free of helium atomsand contains only the electron.
The shape of the bubbledepends on the energy state ofthe electron.
For instance, the bubble isspherical when the electron isin the ground state (1S).
There are also MEBs mul-tiple electron bubbles that con-tain thousands of electrons.
FEBs, on the other hand, arenanometre-sized cavities inliquid helium containing just ahandful of free electrons.
The number, state and inter-actions between free electronsdictate the physical and chem-
ical properties of materials.Studying FEBs, therefore,
could help scientists betterunderstand how some of theseproperties emerge when a fewelectrons present in a materialinteract with each other, IIScsaid.
According to the authors,understanding how FEBs areformed can also provideinsights intothe self-assemblyof soft materials, which can beimportant for developing next-generation quantum materials.
However, scientists have onlytheoretically predicted the exis-tence of FEBs so far.
"We have now experimental-ly observed FEBs for the firsttime and understood how theyare created," Yadav said.
"These are nice new objectswithgreat implications if we cancreate and trap them."
Yadav and colleagues werestudying the stability of MEBs
at nanometre sizes when theyserendipitously observed FEBs.
Initially, they were both elat-ed and sceptical.
"It took a large number ofexperiments before we becamesure that these objects wereindeed FEBs. Then it was cer-tainly a tremendously excitingmoment," said Ghosh.
The researchers first applieda voltage pulse to a tungsten tipon the surface of liquid helium.
Then they generated a pres-sure wave on the charged sur-face using an ultrasonic trans-ducer.
This allowed them to create8EBs and 6EBs, two species ofFEBs containing eight and sixelectrons respectively.
These FEBs were found to bestable for at least 15 millisec-
onds (quantum changes typi-cally happen at much shortertime scales) which wouldenable researchers to trap andstudy them.
"FEBs form an interestingsystem that has both electron-electron interaction and elec-tron-surface interaction," Yadavexplained.
There are several phenome-na that FEBs can help scientistsdecipher, such as turbulentflows in superfluids and viscousfluids, or the flow of heat insuperfluid helium, the state-ment said.
Just like how current flowswithout resistance in supercon-ducting materials at very lowtemperatures, superfluid heli-um also conducts heat effi-ciently at very low tempera-
tures.But defects in the system,
called vortices, can lower itsthermal conductivity.
Since FEBs are present at thecore of such vortices as theauthors have found in thisstudythey can help in studyinghow the vortices interact witheach other as well as heat flow-ing through the superfluidhelium, the statement said.
"In the immediate future, wewould like to know if there areany other species of FEBs, andunderstand the mechanismsby which some are more stablethan the others," Ghosh said.
"In the long term, we wouldlike to use these FEBs as quan-tum simulators, for which oneneeds to develop new types ofmeasurement schemes."
Scientists discover 2 species of electron bubbles in superfluid helium
Delivery of decisions rid countryof policy paralysis, says NaqviPNS n NEW DELHI
The "delivery of decisions" underPrime Minister Narendra Modi'sgovernment has rid the countryof the "disease of policy paralysis",Union minister Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi said on Monday, hailing theCentre's performance in the lastseven years.
The Minority Affairs Ministersaid the Centre's transparent andresult-oriented system hasensured the "blockade of power-brokers" and the "lock-out of theloot lobby from the corridors ofpower".
While attending the oath-tak-ing ceremony of newly-electedRampur Zila PanchayatChairman Khyali Ram Lodhi inRampur, Naqvi said during thelast seven years, the Modi govern-ment has focussed on develop-ment with dignity of the poor andweaker sections.
Prime Minister Modi has con-verted 'Rajniti (politics)' into'Rashtraniti (national policy)' and
'Shasan (governance)' into'Sushasan (good governance)'through his farsighted leader-ship and strong willpower, Naqviwas quoted as saying by a state-ment from his office.
The government has takenseveral major steps in the lastseven years to ensure prosperityin the life of the poor and weak-er sections, he said.
Listing a slew of welfare mea-sures taken by the Centre, Naqvisaid the government has provid-
ed 2.3 crore houses to the poor;Kisan Samman Nidhi to 11.23crore farmers; free gas cylindersto more than eight crore needywomen under 'Ujjwala Yojana';Mudra Yojana has benefittedmore than 30 crore people, whilethousands of villages deprived ofelectricity have been providedelectricity; among other welfaremeasures.
Every welfare scheme of theModi government has been com-mitted to "development with dig-nity" and "empowerment withoutappeasement', ensuring benefits toall needy, Naqvi said.
The government has madeevery section an equal partner ofprogress with the commitment to"reform, perform and transform",he said. Naqvi said there werenegligible COVID-19 treatmentfacilities in India at the time of thecoronavirus outbreak, but nowafter one year of the pandemic,the Centre has worked effective-ly to ensure facilities and resourcesto tackle the challenge.
The minister said the Modigovernment at the Centre and theYogi government in Uttar Pradeshhave worked with commitment to'Jaan Hai To Jahaan Hai'.
Every welfare scheme of the Modi government has beencommitted to “development withdignity” and “empowerment without appeasement”, ensuringbenefits to all needy, Naqvi said.
New farm laws to boost competition,farmers can sell to corporates: CEAPNS n MUMBAI
New farm laws will ultimatelyhelp farmers get better returns asthe legislations provide for com-petition by allowing them to selltheir produce to even corporateslike Reliance and ITC for goodprices, Chief Economic AdvisorK Subramanian said on Monday.
The farm laws were cleared byParliament last year but theSupreme Court, in January 2021,suspended their implementationamid protests by farmers. Thefarm laws is a step towardsimproving the incomes of smalland marginal farmers,Subramanian said. Critics of thelaws have been questioning themanner in which the bills werepassed and alleged that the reformwill help big businesses by corpo-ratising farm activities.
Subramanian said the insis-tence on selling goods only atAgricultural Produce MarketingCommittee (APMC) marketsdented farmers' realisationsbecause the buyer who acted as anintermediary had an upper handin the trade due to factors like it
being a perishable commodity orthe costs involved in coming tothe market again.
“The farm bill provides forcompetition so that the smalland marginal farmer can go to theintermediary and say if you are notgoing to provide a good price, Ican go and sell it to someone else.That someone else could be ITC,Reliance or Farm Fresh,” he added.
Speaking at an event to cele-brate the foundation event ofNabard, he said these entities willcompete for farmers' produce,which will ensure that a farmer,especially a small and marginal
farmer, will get the adequatevalue of the produce.
The presence of the APMCActs, which the farm laws seek todo away with, can be traced backto the needs of 13th-century con-queror Alauddin Khilji to feed hisbig army, Subramanian said,adding that a farmer gets only upto 15 per cent of the value of acommodity with the intermedi-ary making the most.
Subramanian, an academic-turned-policy advisor, added thatcompetition has always helped thefinal consumers and producers,pointing to sectors like banking,
mutual funds, telecom and air-ports as success stories.
He also said the rich farmers donot face the same troubles as smalland marginal farmers when itcomes to selling goods because oftheir ability to invest in storageinfrastructure apart from beingbetter networked.
Apart from the APMC laws,the farm reforms also do awaywith the provisions of theEssential Commodities Act,which do not distinguish betweenlegitimate storage and hoarding ofan agri commodity, he added.
Subramanian said the provi-sions were being used for perverseoutcomes, which is visible throughthe fact that there were over80,000 raids with only under 2 percent of them being prosecuted,and its core motive of stabilisingprices was not achieved at all.
“The small and marginalfarmer has been losing out andhis state has not improved signif-icantly despite over 75 years ofindependence,” he said, claimingthat the laws along with the agri-cultural infrastructure fund willbe of help.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Lok Sabha Speaker Om BirlaMonday said all Covid-relat-ed protocols will be followedduring the Monsoon Sessionof parliament scheduled tobegin from July 19.
He said those who havenot been vaccinated againstcoronavirus will be request-ed to undergo an RT-PCRtest before entering the par-liament premises during thesession.
Addressing a press confer-ence in the parliament com-plex, Birla said 323 MPshave been fully vaccinatedagainst the virus, while 23have not been able to taketheir first jab due to somemedical reasons.
Birla said both the Houseswill sit simultaneously andproceedings will start from 11am.
The Monsoon Session ofparliament will begin fromJuly 19 and conclude onAugust 13.
Since the pandemic began,three sessions of Parliamentwere curtailed while the win-ter session last year had to becancelled.
The Monsoon Session,which usually starts in July,had begun in September lastyear owing to the pandemicsituation.
323 MPs fullyvaccinated,says Birla aheadof Parl session
Imposter heldfor dupingprospectivebridesPNS n BENGALURU
A 33-year-old man, posing as arelative of a royal family work-ing for Microsoft, has beenarrested here for allegedly cheat-ing prospective brides of hugesums of money, police said onMonday.
According to the police,Siddharth K, a school dropout,belonging to Mysuru, wouldspeak fluently in AmericanEnglish and Spanish to thewomen seeking alliancesthrough matrimonial websites.
He would approach thewomen by introducing himselfas Siddharth Urs, a kin of theMysuru royal family working fora Microsoft company, the policesaid.
After winning their confi-dence, he would extract moneyfrom the women under somepretext or the other, they said.Following complaints from afew of them, he was arrested andremanded in police custodyHigh-end mobile phones,iphones and six debit cardswere seized from him, the policesaid.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court Mondayasked a petitioner to peruse newIT rules and said it may hearnext week his plea seeking aprobe either by CBI or NIAagainst Twitter and its users forallegedly posting “Islamophobicposts” after Tablighi Jamaatcongregation at Nizamuddinlast year which was purported-ly dubbed as one of the reasonsfor spread of COVID-19.
A bench of Chief Justice N VRamana and justice A S
Bopanna, at the outset, askedlawyer Khaja Aijazuddin, whohas filed the plea in his person-al capacity, to approach theCentral government with thepetition in which he has alsosought a direction for framingguidelines under theInformation Technology Actagainst spreading of “hate mes-sages against any religious com-munity including Islamophobicposts on various Social Mediaplatforms”.
“Have you read the latest ITRules,” the bench asked the
lawyer during the hearing con-ducted through video confer-encing here.
As Aijazuddin started readingthe new IT Rules, the bench saidit is posting the matter after aweek and in the meantime, thepetitioner may peruse the rulesand come back prepared.
An appeal was filed byAijazuddin against an order ofApril 22 of the Telangana HighCourt asking him to approachthe apex court for relief of seek-ing directions to the Centre torestrain all online social media
networks in India and not tocarry out any Islamophobicposts.
The plea also said withrespect to the prayer for issuingdirections to the Centre to reg-ister criminal complaint againstTwitter and its users for alleged-ly spreading “hatred”, the HighCourt merely directed theCentral government to consid-er the petition.
“However, no clear directionregarding the same (registrationof FIR) was given by the HighCourt,” the plea alleged.
SC to hear plea next week for probeinto ‘Islamophobic posts’ on Twitter
PNS n RISHIKESH
A conman who recently got hisbook released by UttarakhandChief Minister Pushkar SinghDhami has been arrested forallegedly duping a jeweller's wifeof cash and jewellery worth Rs1.75 crore, officials said onMonday.
Mahendra Rode alias YogiPriyavrat Animesh, who mas-querading as a sadhu duped thewoman, was arrested fromCottage no 21 of Nature Villa inLal Tappar area late on Sundaynight, Rishikesh DSP Dinesh
Chandra Dhaundiyal said.Gold and silver jewellery
worth nearly Rs 10 lakh were alsorecovered from his possession, hesaid.
The conman had got his booktitled 'Manas Moti', on spiritualand moral values, released byUttarakhand Chief MinisterDhami at the Bijapur guest housein Dehradun on July 9, accord-ing to an official release.
A release from the ChiefMinister's Office had also sharedwith the media a photograph ofDhami holding a copy of thebook. Dhami could be seen
flanked by Animesh in the pic-ture.
The conman was arrested fol-lowing a case registered againsthim based on a complaint fromwell known jeweller of Rishikesh,Hitendra Panwar, who accusedAnimesh of duping his wife ofcash and jewellery worth approx-imately Rs 1.75 crore, the DSPsaid.
According to the complaint,the jeweller's wife was mentallyunstable and fell into theimposter's trap as she neededtreatment.
The high-profile cheat was in
the habit of getting himself pho-tographed with influential peo-ple including politicians andposting the pictures on Facebookto flaunt his contacts. Movingaround in the garb of a sadhu heused to look for soft targets andcheat them of their money, policesaid.
The conman is being interro-gated after being taken on a 14-day judicial remand, they said.
Several cases are lodgedagainst Animesh at Karnal inHaryana. He was sent to jail twicein the past in connection withdifferent cases, the DSP said.
Conman gets book released by CM,dupes jeweller's wife of Rs 1.75 crore
ASI to undertake laserscanning in ShreeJagannath TemplePNS n BHUBANESWAR
The Archaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) will undertake laserscanning of some importantparts of Shree Jagannath Templein Puri during the 9-day RathaJatra festival when the deitieswill not be in the temple.
This was revealed by ShreeJagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA) chiefadministrator Krishan Kumaron Sunday.
Kumar said the ASI, whichlooks after the conservationand preservation of the 12th-century shrine in Puri, hadrequested the temple adminis-tration for a laser scanning ofthe temple.
"After discussing with stake-holders, it was decided to allowthe ASI to conduct laser scan-ning at Nata Mandap,Jagamohan and other parts ofthe temple, except the GarbaGruha (sanctum sanctorum)",he said.
Replying to a question,Kumar said the decision inregard to Garbha Gruha will betaken after analysing the ben-efits of the laser scanning. Hesaid a committee of servitorshas been formed in presence ofwhom the laser scanning at thetemple will be done.
On silver-plating of the tem-ple doors, Kumar said the work
will be done at eight dwaras(doors) with help of a donor.The temple administration isnot in a hurry to finish the workas no time limit has been fixedfor the same.
The sliver required for the sil-ver-plating of the temple doorswere donated by a Mumbai-based devotee of LordJagannatha. The silver packetsreached the SJTA office onFriday, sources said.
A team of ASI had earlier vis-ited the shrine and observedthat laser scanning is requiredto ascertain the condition ofstructures in the ancient temple.
"As other people are notallowed entry into certain partsof the temple in normal days,we want to complete the laserscanning when the deities areout of the temple for nine-dayRatha Jatra," ASI'sSuperintendent ArchaeologistArun Mallick said.
“As other people are notallowed entry into certainparts of the temple innormal days, we want tocomplete the laserscanning when the deitiesare out of the temple fornine-day Ratha Jatra”
remaining period in May2020. However, Oli disagreed,and a major political upheavalhad struck Nepal. The inter-party feuds continued untilthe Supreme called the merg-er illegal and parted the twoparties into their older forms.
Simultaneously, Oli wasalso involved in a verbal spatwith India over the Kalapaniborder dispute. Asserting onhis recently sought face, Olidistorted historical facts on thecultural front with India andaccused the latter of borderencroachment. He went on toissue a new political map ofNepal, showing Kalapani aspart of Nepal. Thus, a new“Oli-garchy” was born.
However, if anyone has tobe held responsible for thecurrent state of political insta-bility and the severe impact ofCOVID-19 in the country, itis KP Oli. When the countryneeded a mature and robustleadership, Oli thought singu-larly about himself and soughtto protect his position. He hadeven challenged the judicialsystem, adding that the courtscannot appoint the PrimeMinister. However, the apexcourt has proved otherwise.
Meanwhile, the newPrime Minister, Sher BahadurDeuba, has several challenges
to address. First, there are voic-es against Deuba to step downas the President of the NepaliCongress Party. Therefore,putting his party in orderbefore everything will be amore arduous task. There aredemands for a younger lead-ership in the Nepali CongressParty. A party, which has sur-vived the Panchayat Era from1960-1990, partial democracyin 1990, besides MaoistInsurgency from 1996 to 2006.
Second, there are big bar-gains from parties supportingthe Nepali Congress, andone single dispute may jeop-ardise Deuba’s position.Maoists are unpredictable asthey had supported theNepali Congress in 2016; yetjoined KP Oli in 2017 despitebeing in Government. Third,the foreign policy of Nepal isclearly in a shambles with noclarity on friends andencroachers. KP Oli has beena blue-eyed boy for Chinawho has released venomagainst India in the last threeyears.
Therefore, Deuba willhave the challenge to winback India’s trust, consideringthat the latter has been hold-ing a longstanding silence onNepal. It will be difficult forDeuba to balance with
Maoists as Prachanda’s bon-homie with China is wideopen. Only last week,Prachanda was seen payinghis heartfelt tributaries to theCommunist Party of China(CPC) and President XiJinping during the CPC andWorld Political PartiesSummit on July 6 on theoccasion of CPC centenarycelebrations.
The judiciary in Nepalhas proved its worth by notsuccumbing to political pres-sure. The power of the judi-ciary is a good sign of demo-cratic values that were won in2006 after a decade-long fightagainst 200-year-old feudalmonarchy. However, to date,the democratic forces havebeen fighting within to claimpower and political allianceshave failed to provide politi-cal stability.
Therefore, Deuba’sappointment does not guar-antee long-term hopes.Meanwhile, the people ofNepal are still left to choosebetween the worst and worse.
(The author is an ICSSRDoctoral Fellow at the JNUand Visiting Fellow at theAsian Institute of Diplomacyand International Affairs,Kathmandu. The viewsexpressed are personal.)
DID AMERICA FAIL AFGHANISTAN?Sir — Afghanistan must be crying on itsplight and this situation will get worsein the coming days; it is believed to becertain in a way that is why many othercountries of the world including Indiahave closed their consulates and theiremployees are being taken back safely,but a question must be coming to every-one’s mind today as to who is responsi-ble for the current condition ofAfghanistan. Even after spending billionsof dollars of America, the situationremains the same and ultimately thepower seems to be going to the hands ofthe Taliban, against whom the US hadstarted the fight.
Should it be assumed that the US hastaken all the profit that was to be takenfrom Afghanistan and by destabilising itpolitically and again joining hands withthe radical Taliban, this country is at thecrossroads? Education and develop-ment will now be dominated by extrem-ism and the Taliban law. America nevertook strict action against Pakistan, rathergave it aid. After 20 years in Afghanistan,the situation is the same, so it is imper-ative to question American policies.
Devanand Ray | New Delhi
A MEMORABLE MIDNIGHT MATCHSir — The Euro 2020 Final at Wembleygave us 120 minutes of football at its best,with superb passes and headers and 10penalty shots with five of them yieldinggoals, to boot. We were rewarded for for-going our sleep to watch the match. Itwas worthy of a World Cup semifinal, ifnot the final. It was a real cliffhangerbefore Italy lifted the cup.
Not that England played for worse onthe home soil or Italy played better; it wassheer luck that smiled on Italy that madeit being crowned the European champi-ons. England suffered the heartbreak oflosing the final after controlling the gamefor long periods and coming tantalising-ly close to a win. It could not eventual-ly outsmart a team with incredibledefensive power.
When the referee blew the whistle
after 90 minutes of play, there was nowinner. The extra time too failed to pro-duce a winner. Even those of us who hadno favourites were overwhelmed byhigh anticipation and tension in thecourse of the shootouts. England missedthree of its penalty kicks. Withinmoments, goalkeeper GianluigiDonnarumma became Italy’s nationalhero. Later we learnt that there was racistonline abuse aimed at England’s blackplayers who could not convert theirpenalty kicks. As football fans and as firmbelievers in racial equality, we deploreand condemn it as an absolute disgrace.
G David Milton | Kanyakumari
SAMIR BANERJEE AT THE WIMBLEDONSir — Kudos to Indian-American tennisplayer Samir Banerjee, 17, who defeat-ed Victor Lilov of the US 7-5, 6-3 to winthe Wimbledon boys’ singles title in the
final. With this victory, Samir came at parwith Yuki Bhambri (2009 AustralianOpen). Before Bhambri, Leander Paes(Wimbledon 1990, US Open 1991),Ramesh Krishnan (French Open andWimbledon 1979) and RamanathanKrishnan (Wimbledon 1954) had wonjunior singles Majors.
As per media, Samir Banerjee is bril-liant in academics and this is his secondappearance (in the first at the juniorFrench Open, Banerjee, ranked 19 in theworld, had crashed out in the firstround) at a junior Grand Slam. Banerjeereally deserved to win this year'sWimbledon junior. He had a toughmatch today but kept his cool in thetoughest final. Well done, Samir.
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad
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The Supreme Court of Nepal has set the house in order, going against the diktats
of the President and appointing Sher Bahadur Deuba as the new Prime Minister
WHEN THECOUNTRY NEEDED
A MATURE ANDROBUST
LEADERSHIP, OLI THOUGHT
SINGULARLY ABOUTHIMSELF AND
SOUGHT TOPROTECT HIS
POSITION. HE HADEVEN CHALLENGED
THE JUDICIALSYSTEM, CLAIMINGTHAT THE COURTSCANNOT APPOINT
THE PRIMEMINISTER
LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR
RISHI GUPTA
In any State and the market, cooperatives play
a vital role in the country’s development but
are seldom the focus of policy planning. The
creation of a new Union Ministry to oversee
the cooperatives sector will redeem it from neg-
ligence, according to the Government. Critics
fear that this Ministry is purposed to concen-
trate even more powers in the hands of the
Centre. Cooperatives are dominant in agricul-
ture, credit and marketing, but not limited to
those. Some are big. IFFCO has around a third
of the market’s share in fertilisers. In milk, cot-
ton, handlooms, housing, edible oils, sugar and
fisheries, it is quite formidable. As market con-
ditions are evolving, cooperatives in States have
got into complex operations: running IT parks
and medical colleges. More avenues for
expansion, such as insurance, remain untapped
and the regulatory regime must evolve in step.
The move will turn disastrous if the attempt
is to appropriate the political capital of the sec-
tor, which is significant.
Cooperatives are not meant to operate by
the market logic of maximising profits but to
share the benefits to all stakeholders equitably.
Though not uniform across India, cooperatives
have made significant contributions in pover-
ty alleviation, food security, management of
natural resources and the environment. The
sector has become an instrument of patron-
age and pilferage. Mismanagement and cor-
ruption destroyed the sector in some States.
The premise of a cooperative is that decisions
are made by those affected by them. The case
for transparency and efficiency in the sector
is strong; that goal must be pursued not by
scaring the very soul of the sector but by
advancing the cooperative spirit. The new
Ministry could indeed be a catalyst, but it must
not fashion itself as a command authority.
Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai
Time for a new beginning
Power of judiciary in Nepal’s politics
The ongoing political bat-tle in Nepal seems tohave taken a new turn.For the third time in a
row, the Supreme Court ofNepal has come to the rescue ofthe Nepalese Constitution andquashed the orders issued byPresident Bidya Devi Bhandariin support of Prime Minister KPOli to dissolve Parliament onMay 21 and appoint Oli as theinterim Prime Minister althoughhe has already lost the vote ofconfidence on May 10.
While listening to the argu-ments on 30 writ petitions filedby various independent individ-uals, human rights activists andpolitical parties, the courtordered the President to appointNepali Congress Party presidentSher Bahadur Deuba as thenew Prime Minister by July 13,subject to him proving majori-ty in Parliament with 30 days ofhis appointment as per Article76 (5) of the NepaleseConstitution. Deuba enjoys sup-port from the Pushpa KamalDahal ‘Prachanda’-led Maoistparty, Upendra Yadav andBaburam Bhattarai faction of theSamajbadi Party Madhav-Nepalfaction of UML party.
The verdict on July 12 comesweeks after the court hadquashed the appointment of 20new Ministers in the Oli Cabineton June 20. The acting PrimeMinister, Oli, had appointedthese Ministers, including twoDeputy Prime Ministers, onJune 4 and June 10 after he man-aged to crack a deal with a fac-tion of the Janata SamajbadiParty led by Mahanta Thakurand Rajendra Mahto to supporthis minority Government.However, these Ministers wereappointed when Parliamentstood dissolved; thus, cancelledby the court.
In recent years, Oli rose tofame for his ultra-nationalisticoutlook and an authoritarianworking style. Oli was seen as asignificant gainer after success-fully managing his archrivalPrachanda to ally during the2017 parliamentary elections.He even merged the two partiesto form the largest NepalCommunist Party, which endedthe strong opposition against Oli.After two years of the merger,Prachanda reminded Oli to hon-our the understanding and handover the premiership for the
SOUNDBITEPeople have beenbadly affected bythe hike in theprices of petrol,diesel, LPG andthe edible oils.
Congress general secretary— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
Where the numbers are, it is not likely, infact, almostimpossible, forus to get out
of lockdown on Friday.
New South Wales Premier
— Gladys Berejiklian
It’s never toolate... to love!!!Finally a year ofplanning later...we embark on ourwish of givingArchana one more chance to show her love for Manav!
Producer— Ekta Kapoor
We used a JCBmachine to removethe waterline outside Jain's resi-dence. We will cutthe water connec-tion to Kejriwal's residence, too.
Delhi BJP media head— Navin Kumar
I think there is alot of quality in
the Indian men’steam, and they
have a goodchance of finishing on the
podium at Tokyo.
Former Indian defender— Dilip Tirkey
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement regarding the popu-lation policy 2021-2030 is a timely step in the right direction. No doubt that it wouldlead to a bit of political turmoil, as all radical policy decisions tend to, but then
there are times when it does become necessary to take the bull ruggedly by the horns.Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous State, already has a population of around 220 mil-
lion. The new policy sets the target to bring the birthrate to 2.1 per thousand population by 2026 and to 1.9by 2030. The State’s total fertility rate currently standsat 2.7 per cent. The policy proposes to make effortsto increase the accessibility of contraceptive measuresand provide a proper system for safe abortion. It alsostrives to promote a two-child policy, the violation ofwhich would mean that the parents would be debarredfrom contesting local body elections, applying forGovernment jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy. Ina sense of incentivising those who follow the policy,the State Government will give promotions, increments,
concessions in housing schemes and others perks to its employees who adhere to pop-ulation control norms, and have two or fewer children.
Public servants who adopt the two-child norm will get two additional increments dur-ing the entire service, maternity or, as the case may be, paternity leave of 12 months,with full salary and allowances and three per cent increase in the employer’s contribu-tion fund under the National Pension Scheme. Those who aren’t the Government’s employ-ees and still adhere to the two-child policy will get benefits in rebates in taxes on water,housing, home loans, and so on. The Chief Minister also sought to pre-empt any alle-gations that the population was meant to target any particular community by saying thatthe State Government was implementing this policy keeping in mind “all sections of thesociety”. Yogi Adityanath added: “The countries and States that have made efforts inthis direction have seen positive results.” He has a point. Established in 1979, Chinahas had the infamous “one child per family” law to try and get its population growth incheck. The country officially ended its one-child policy on January 1, 2016, with thesigning into law of a bill allowing all married couples to have a second child as it attempt-ed to cope with an ageing population and shrinking workforce.
China’s reaction to the growing instability in Afghanistan is the sharpest among theAsian countries that are watching the tactics of the Taliban to take control of thecountry even as the United States gradually withdraws itself from there. China blames
the United States for the unfolding situation in Afghanistan, saying its withdrawal is “hasty”and is leaving behind a “mess and turmoil” for the people of that country. The ChineseForeign Ministry is also accusing the United States of “disregarding” its responsibilitiesand obligations. As of date, the Taliban are said to be closing in around provincial townsof that country, claiming to have already taken control over the far-flung and border regions.The latest reports suggest the Taliban are in the process of surrounding the town of Ghazni.It is situated on the main road between the capital Kabul and Kandahar city. The Afghanforces have so far managed to ensure that none of the big towns falls to the Taliban,
but time is running out. China appears clearly agitat-ed over the happenings inside Afghanistan. Its mainworry is of the instability and radicalisation growingfurther and spilling into China once the American with-drawal is complete. The Chinese criticism of the UnitedStates brings out an irony — China did not like theAmerican invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 for reasonsof deployment of American troops closer to its bor-der and also accused it of destabilising the region.
Today, it is critical of Americans as they prepareto leave the country permanently. What it never artic-ulates is the fact that the American presence in
Afghanistan for two decades helped erase Chinese concerns about the 9/11 attacks andsubsequent fighting in Afghanistan radicalising Muslims and eventually influencing unrestin China’s north-west Xinjiang Autonomous Region, home to the Uighur Muslims. Whilethe United States invested heavily in Afghanistan, China used that time to strengthenitself, and secondly, by extending nominal support to the Americans’ war on terror, Chinafound a justification for its State policy on Uighur Muslims after playing up terror threatsfrom them. Looking forward, China sees an opportunity to play a role in Afghanistaneither through a multilateral approach involving the United Nations or through increasedinvolvement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The SCO has as its membersnearly all the regional stakeholders and that can offer legitimacy to any intervention inAfghanistan. While such efforts will enhance China’s image in the stabilisation efforts,it would allow Beijing time to hedge its bets between Kabul and the Taliban. China wouldneed protection for its projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, like the pro-posed railway line to Kandahar. China would also want to ensure that Uighur Muslimsdo not get safe havens in Afghanistan. The Taliban have recently said they see China asa “friend” and would not entertain the Uighurs. Such assurances would encourage agreater Chinese presence in the region in the absence of the Americans.
Self-interest
Limiting numbersThe UP Chief Minister’s new population policy aims to bring down the birth rate to 1.9 per cent
PICTALK
Devotees perform rituals during the annual Rath Yatra in Puri PTI
China blames the US for the unfolding situation in Afghanistan, calling its troops withdrawal ‘hasty’
Tackling the fiscalslippages: Any takers?
THE MODI GOVERNMENT RUNS ON TAX EXTORTION. SINCE JANUARY, THE GOVERNMENT
HAS INCREASED PETROL PRICES 69 TIMES.— CONGRESS LEADER
RAHUL GANDHI
WHO USES PETROL AND DIESEL? DON’T WE GO TOTHE VEGETABLE MARKET BY CYCLE? IT WILL KEEP US HEALTHY AND END POLLUTION.— MADHYA PRADESH ENERGY MINISTERPRADHUMAN SINGH TOMAR
For several years, the NarendraModi government has faced ahigh fiscal deficit. The unusuallyhigh FD of 9.5 per cent of Gross
Domestic Product during 2020-21 as perthe revised estimate is attributed to thedevastating effect of the Coronaviruspandemic on economic activity. However,even when there was no aberration, likein 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20, the fis-cal deficit was in the 5.5 tosix per centrange- significantly higher than the tar-gets set for those years.
This is because, in respect of bothexpenditure and revenue,the govern-ment of the day never lived up to whatit promised. Let us look at a few exam-ples. In 1991-92, the then Narasimha Raogovernment declared its commitment tothe elimination of fertilizer subsidy (amajor item of expenditure) within threeyears. Yet, this subsidy continued toincrease even after 1993-94.
In 2000, the Expenditure ReformsCommission (ERC) had recommendedimplementation of a phased plan begin-ning 2001-02 for the removal of fertiliz-er subsidy in five years, i.e., by 2005-06,when it would be given (albeit directly)only to small and marginal farmers. Yet,forget removal, the payments continuedto gallop and crossed even the `100,000crore mark in 2008-09.
In 2014, the then Finance Minister,the late Arun Jaitley, had promisedreduction of three major subsidies —food, fertilizers, and fuel — to two percent of GDP during 2014-15, 1.7 percentin 2015-16 and 1.6 per cent in2016-17. Yet, these subsidies have bal-looned to unconscionably high levels.
During 2020-21, the Centre spent amammoth `674,000 crore on these sub-sidies(food: `500,000 crore; fertilizers:`134,000 crore; fuel: `40,000 crore).This translates to about 3.5 per cent ofGDP which is more than twice the tar-get set by Jaitley for 2016-17. A big sliceof these payments included (i) subsidiesgiven to millions of non-deserving; (ii)diversion of subsidized food and fertil-izers; (iii) inflated payments to agenciessuch as the Food Corporation of Indiatowards reimbursement of handling anddistribution expenses.
Coming to revenue, an overwhelm-ing source is taxes. During 2020-21, thetotal direct tax collection (net of refunds)by the Union Government was around`930,000 crore — corporate income tax(CIT), `457,000 crore, and personalincome tax (PIT), `471,000 crore. Thiscomes to a mere 4.7 per cent of the GDPat current prices (`19500,000 crore)with both taxes accounting for about 2.35per cent each.
In the PIT segment, over 60 per centof the declared income is by the ‘salariedclass’; it is abundantly clear that a largechunk of the income generated by earn-ers - mostly in the unorganized sector -- goes untracked. The return of cash pay-ments after a brief lull post-demonetiza-
The way the Govt executes its revenue plans with scant regard for accountability, it isunlikely that it will correct the imbalance between revenue receipts and expenditure
IF THEMANDARINS IN
THE FINANCEMINISTRY FEELTHAT REVENUE
FROM FUEL TAXESIS HELPING
THE GOVERNMENTFUND THE
DEVELOPMENT OFINFRASTRUCTURE
AND A HOST OF WELFARE
SCHEMES, THEYALSO NEED TO
LOOK AT THERISING SUBSIDY
PAYMENTS ON FOOD,
FERTILISERS AND FUELS TO
UNSUSTAINABLELEVELS
Astudy by the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) has recent-ly established beyond doubt the complicity of anthropogenic inter-vention in the environment and its adverse consequences. The
research team not only analyzed global climate data from 1982-2015but also used artificial neural networks, a type of machine learning, tofind patterns of extreme precipitation in weather records. The findingsare published in the July 2021 edition of Nature Communications. Humanactivities such as greenhouse gas emissions, change of land use, andother polluting and climate-altering excesses have necessitated in-depthresearch into the role and extent of human involvement in triggeringextreme climate precipitation events. The UCLA researchers were ableto take advantage of the multiple lines of evidence supporting the detec-tion of anthropogenic signals in global extreme precipitation. The researchstudy has also been able to take advantage of the selected observa-tional data sets as they provide full global land coverage and data forat least three decades. In 2014, a report by the Inter-governmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) also highlighted the human role in warmingup of the atmosphere and oceans, changes in the global water cycles,and melting of snow and ice. Global warming due to man-made rea-sons has also caused the outbreak of many wildfires around the world.The yearly occurrence of the Amazon forest fire is an unfortunate exam-ple. In 2020, the Amazon fires consumed 43,000 sq.km of forests whichwas an increase of 28 per cent over 2019. In 2021, the Amazon for-est fire spectre returned to haunt the environment as nearly 1,157 sq.kmof verdant forests succumbed to the relentless fires within months. Thechange of land use by the local population, encroachments by the lum-ber lobby, and ambivalent authorities who look the other way have result-ed in the annual shrinking of the much-fabled Amazon rain forests.
Closer home in India, various parts of the country have been at thereceiving end of unpredictable precipitation events that have turnedextreme with no warning whatsoever. The rapid change in the weatherbehaviour has made it difficult for the authorities to anticipate disastersand for the hapless population to be prepared. The year 2020 is most-ly known for the havoc created by the Coronavirus pandemic. However,it was also notorious for extreme precipitation-led weather events. Forinstance, the Amphan cyclone in this period accounted for nearly fourmillion displaced lives and caused 128 deaths. The 2020 monsoon sea-son with its abnormal rainfall and precipitation quotient caused 2000deaths across the nation and resulted in a loss of $10 billion. Hyderabadserved as a stark reminder to the new reality: The city had to endure30 cm of rainfall in just 24 hours, bringing the civic infrastructure andmedical facilities to its knees. There is an urgent need to spread aware-ness on how environmentally degrading human activities contribute toincreasing the unpredictability of the weather, in particular, and climate,in general. The disparity is evident with extreme droughts in one partof the country and heavier than usual rainfall and precipitation in otherparts of the nation. As these weather anomalies increase each year, theability of the government and the people to endure these extreme eventsis coming down. The government must rein in greenhouse gas emis-sions, speed of deforestation, and change of land use to curb extremeprecipitation events. Since the government efforts will not get instantresults, it is critical to start the initiatives as early as possible so thatat least the next decade and eventually the next generation can thankus for taking the right measures in the nick of time.
(The writer is an environmental journalist. The views expressed are personal.)
Abooster dose of about`6.28 lakh crore stim-ulus to push credit is
supposedly the official recipeto rev up the economy but themarket response looks muted.
The banks are expected tolend about ̀ 2.67 lakh crore tofund the COVID-19 hit busi-nesses. The lending does nothelp when moods are down.The actual infusion is `1.5lakh crore. A key element ofinjecting cash in the systemthat helps the poor remainselusive. India must demolishthe digital Berlin Wall that theIMF suggested in 2019. Eightlakh Jan-dhan accounts arebeneficiaries of PM Kisanfunds of `6000 each, totalling`480 crore.
The share market contin-ued with a bear hug for fourdays before closing with a rise
of 166 points on Friday, July2, 2021— not a big deal butlike most Fridays, it breaksthe monotony into a visiblesurge for record's sake. Theconcern is that institutionalparticipation in the stockmarket has declined to a 15-year-low.
Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman’s largesse is a dif-ficult move by a governmentwith a severe financial crunchshadowed by galloping infla-tion. The FM should haverectified the fuel prices aswell. Her advisers are notunaware that the central andstate governments are thebiggest fuel guzzlers and thehighest taxpayer to their ownkitty. It merely window-dress-es the coffers. The outgoes inreality are more.
Another set of advisors
harp about road tolls, feesuser charges, and high railand transport fares must ripthe roof for speedy develop-ment forgetting that it iseroding the very base of theeconomy - the people’s pur-chasing power. By June, eightlakh people got their jobsrestored but most of them areon lower wages which doesnot help augment purchasingpower. The incomes of 97 per
cent of households havedeclined since March 24,2020. The government's freefood dole sustains people.
The CPI index couldplummet many points ifpetrol and other fuel pricesare cut to around `40, vehi-cles are not scrapped in thename of pseudo-pollutionconcerns, transportationcharges get reduced, andhigh-handed police dealingswith the people for enforcingCOVID-19 protocols aredone away with. The policedeals have hurt the shops,vendors, many offices, Thegovernment need not be awelfare nation but at least itcould be humane.
The banks are also shak-ing the confidence of thepeople. Would more privati-zation mean more outgo from
the government and moremiseries? Despite the govern-ment's credit-driven stimulusto help tide over the impactof COVID-19, bank creditgrowth hit a new low for thesecond year in a row in FY21.It is lower than the financialyear 2020 when it grew by6.14 per cent.
The CMIE says year-on-year growth numbers lookimpressive for the privatesector on a low base effect.The cost of continuing uncer-tainties is said to be heavy onactual investment. Newinvestment announcementscontinue to be at low levels.The government itself is waryof investments because ofstrained finances. It has ledHSBC to moderate GDPgrowth to eight per cent,lower than RBI estimates of
9.5 per centThe industry fears that as
the government largessewould depend on highercredit from the market, lend-ing for them would be cost-lier. The RBI itself has indi-cated of a rate rise by the nextquarter or so and is pes-simistic about growth. Thesilver lining is that theNomura India Businessresumption index hints atrecovery from a sharp col-lapse on May 23 at 60.3.
The market concern isreflected over the drop in theflows from foreign and port-folio investors to the stockmarket due to elevated sharevaluations. In other words,there are apprehensions aboutactual equity prices. In June,their market share dropped to30 per cent against retail
investors of 70 per cent. Theaverage portfolio investmentwas around `25,200 crore aday at NSE and BSE, anextreme low.
Meanwhile, the bankswith a piled-up debt of `2lakh crore and a quarter of thecountry’s non-performingassets may not resuscitatethe economy. So the stimulustheoretically pushes expendi-ture to about `36.6 lakh crore.It may not exactly materialize.The net push may be far lessand may result in lesser flowsto the purchasers though itmight push the official deficitto 7.5 per cent whereas inactuality it may be a fewnotches higher. Many compa-nies and units are closingdown and even the govern-ment is downsizing as costsgo up with inflation.
Despite the Govt’s credit-driven stimulus to help tide over the impact of COVID-19, bank credit growth hit a new low for the second year in a row
VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021
07
www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/
FIRSTCOLUMNHUMANS TO BLAME
FOR EXTREME EVENTSThe Govt must rein in greenhouse gas emissions,
speed of deforestation and change of land use
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
(The writer is a policyanalyst. The views
expressed are personal.)
Cut in administered prices is a booster, not stimulus
SHIVAJI SARKAR
(The writer is a senior journalist. The views expressed
are personal. )
KOTA SRIRAJ
tion (in November 2016) withvengeance has only aggravatedsuch evasion.
Besides, even for those whodeclare their income, manyexemptions help them pay very lit-tle or no tax at all. In the corpo-rate sector also, a plethora ofexemptions and deductions ham-per CIT collection; several com-panies have managed to reducetheir effective tax incidence to aslow as 20 per centagainst the pre-vailing rate of 34.9 per cent (basicrate 30 per cent plus surcharge andeducation cess).The governmenthas also taken a big hit on accountof the steep reduction in the taxrate it offered to ‘new entities’ inthe manufacturing sector from theexisting 25 per cent to 15 per cent.The cut (announced on September20, 2019) entails a loss of about`150,000 crore annually.
As for indirect taxes, during2020-21, the Union collected`1064,000 crore from this sourcewhich works out to about 5.5 percent of the GDP. Higher collectionfrom indirect taxes is not a goodthing as these affect all sections ofthe society ‘uniformly’, includingmajority of the poor (unlike directtax which is levied on the incomeof a person and is ‘progressive’implying that someone earningmore pays more tax). Even worse,a big slice of the revenue underthis head comes from the levy ofCentral Excise Duty (CED) onpetrol and diesel.
During 2020-21, Centre's col-lection from CED, including Roadand Infrastructure Cess (RaIC), onthese two fuels alone was ̀ 390,000crore or 37 per cent of its totalindirect tax revenue. Being anintegral part of daily use/con-
sumption of every individual,high tax on these fuels (CED plusVAT account for more than 50 percent of the retail price of petrolwhich is currently over `100 a litrein several states) not only make adeep hole in their pockets but alsoincrease the cost of administeringwelfare schemes such as subsi-dized food or free ration for thepoor. This is a typical case of “giv-ing with one hand, taking with theother’.
If the mandarins in the financeministry feel that revenue fromfuel taxes is helping the govern-ment fund development of infra-structure and a host of welfareschemes, they also need to look atthe rising subsidy payments onfood, fertilizers, and fuels tounsustainable levels (`674,000crore during 2020-21) — a goodportion of this being due to noneother than high fuel taxes.
As for the Goods and ServicesTax (GST), - after an initial peri-od to allow the system to stabilize- collections under this head wereexpected to show buoyancy pri-marily on the strength of (i) trig-gering accelerated growth, and (ii)capturing and taxing millions oftransactions which were going un-captured and untaxed under thedispensation before July 1, 2017.However, they have languished.During 2020-21, the next tax col-lection of the Centre (Central GSTplus Integrated GST plusCompensation Cess) was `548,000crore whereas before the pandem-ic, in 2019-20,the collection was`599,000 crore.
A lot of potential under cap-turing untaxed transactions is yetto be realized notwithstandingseveral measures such as genera-
tion of e-way bills, electronicinvoices, and use of RadioFrequency Identification (RFID)Tags undertaken by the govern-ment to plug the leakages.
Moreover, the decision of theGST Council to exempt business-es with an annual turnover of lessthan `40 lakh from payment oftax, allowing trader/manufactur-er with a turnover less than `1.5crore to opt for ‘compositionscheme’(CS) and pay tax at oneper cent and service providerswith turnover of less than `50 lakhpay tax at 6 per cent under CS hasseriously compromised revenue.Interestingly, nearly 75 per cent ofregistered entities having turnoverof less than `1 crore contribute aminuscule 6.5 per cent of the totaltax revenue.
Given the way the governmentexecutes its spending and revenueplans with scant regard for effi-ciency and accountability, it isunlikely that it will ever succeedin getting out of the current situ-ation of persisting imbalancebetween revenue receipts andexpenditure. It could return to thefiscal consolidation road map ifonly it (a) carries out long-pend-ing reform of major subsidies; (b)reforms the direct tax regimewith emphasis on doing awaywith exemptions/deductions andplug leakages; and (c) increase effi-ciency of GST administration andbring petrol, diesel, crude oil andnatural gas under its purview.
Action on the above three hasto be concurrent, especially keep-ing in mind the huge loss of rev-enue from fuel levies under GSTwhich need to be more than off-set by increasing tax buoyancy andtrimming subsidy payments.
UTTAM GUPTA
VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021 Money 08
MONEY MATTERS
The rupee pared some of its initialgains and settled 6 paise higher at74.58 against the US dollar on
Monday, ahead of the release of keyinflation data. At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee opened at 74.49,and hit an intra-day high of 74.40 anda low of 74.59. It finally finished at74.58, higher by 6 paise over its lastclose. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 74.64 against the USdollar. "Indian rupee remained under pressure as traders remainedvigilant ahead of macroeconomic data. India CPI data is likely toshow that inflation accelerated in June 2021 compared to precedingmonth and remained above the RBI's target range of 2-6 per cent forthe second consecutive month," said Saif Mukadam, ResearchAnalyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas. Further, market participants fearthat surge in COVID-19 cases in many parts of world may hurtglobal economic recovery, he added. Brent crude futures, the globaloil benchmark, fell 1.48 per cent to USD 74.43 per barrel.Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six currencies, rose 0.16 per cent to 92.28.
Nepal has signed a USD 1.3billion deal with India's hydropower major Satluj Jal Vidyut
Nigam (SJVN) to develop a 679-megawatt hydropower project ineastern Nepal, the second megaventure undertaken by India in theneighbouring Himalayan nation.The single largest foreign
investment project, based on the2017 cost estimates, is located between Sankhuwasabha andBhojpur districts in eastern Nepal, according to a press releaseissued by the Investment Board Nepal. The 679-megawatt LowerArun Hydropower project is the second mega project undertaken byIndia after the USD 1.04 billion 900-MW Arun-3 hydroelectricproject. A memorandum of understanding for the project wassigned by the Investment Board of Nepal Chief Executive OfficerSushil Bhatta and SJVN Chairman and Managing Director Nand LalSharma in Kathmandu on Sunday, according to the InvestmentBoard Nepal.
Nepal signs $1.3 bn megadeal with India's SJVN
JK Tyre has further expanded itsretail presence with the onboardingof digital automotive aftermarket
platform Ki Mobility Solutions. Themove is expected to help the tyremaker shore up its market shareacross two-wheelers, passenger carsand commercial vehicle segments, arelease said on Monday. A part ofMyTVS facility, Ki Mobility Solutions Private Ltd (KMS) has over 1,000outlets. "This strategic partnership with Ki Mobility Solutions will notjust help us in providing 24 hours assistance to the customer but actas a catalyst to strengthen our service portfolio range across thecountry," said Dinesh Dasani, VP-Replacement Sales, JK Tyre &Industries Ltd. With this tie-up, the company is confident of evelopinga large service network to drive the next phase of growth and deliverbest practices in the aftermarket tyre service business, he said. Thevalue-added sharing of services through this alignment will enhanceproduct value through processes like total wheel alignment, automatictyre changing, nitrogen inflation, radial tyre repairs, etc., resulting inbetter customer service, the company said.
The World Gold Council and Gemsand Jewellery Export PromotionCouncil (GJEPC) have signed an
agreement to promote gold jewelleryin India this year, according to astatement. Under the terms of theagreement, both the partners willjointly fund a multi-media marketingcampaign that would aim to increase awareness, relevance andadoption of gold jewellery among Indian consumers, especiallymillennials and the new generation, GJEPC said in the statement onMonday. Citing a report, it said although young women are active goldjewellery consumers, their future purchase intent could be higher. Thisis especially true in the urban areas and could be achieved if the goldjewellery trade could tap into consumers' desire for self-expressionand prestige, the council said. "This finding presents an opportunity forthe gold industry to work collectively to make gold jewellery morerelevant and contemporary, leading to a consequential shift. This jointpartnership will work to make gold jewellery more relevant anddesirable through an evocative multi-media campaign," it added.
World Gold Council, GJEPC inkpact to promote gold jewellery
Rupee settles 6 paise higherat 74.58 against US dollar
PNS n MUMBAI
Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty closed on a flat noteafter a volatile session onMonday, following a mixedtrend in global equities.
The 30-share BSE Sensexended 13.50 points or 0.03per cent lower at 52,372.69,while the broader NSE Niftyinched 2.80 points or 0.02 percent higher at 15,692.60.
Bharti Airtel was the toploser in the Sensex pack,slipping around 1 per cent,followed by Tata Steel, HDFCBank, Infosys, HDFC, BajajAuto and PowerGrid.
On the other hand,Ultratech Cement, ICICIBank, SBI, Axis Bank, KotakBank and IndusInd Bankwere among the gainers.
Elsewhere in Asia, bours-es in Hong Kong, Shanghai,Seoul and Tokyo ended withsignificant gains.
Stock exchanges in Europewere trading with losses inmid-session deals.Meanwhile, the rupee appre-ciated by 6 paise to close at74.58 against the US dollar.
Sensex, Niftyend flat
PNS n KOCHI
Dubbing the Kerala Industriesdepartment as a 'frog in thewell', unaware of the investorfriendly atmosphere in otherstates, Kitex Group ChairmanSabu Jacob on Monday saidTelangana has offered manyincentives for his venture andassured no 'inspections' wouldbe carried out.
The Telangana governmenthas offered cheap land, waterand electricity for investors,which was unlike the attitudeof the Kerala IndustriesDepartment, he told reportershere.
"They are like a frog in thewell and unaware of the
investor-friendly atmospherein other states," he said.
On apprehensions of inspec-tions, like 11 carried out in hisunits in Kerala in 30 days, hesaid the Telangana govern-ment assured him that noofficial would troubleany industry in thatregard.
They informedhim that inspec-tions would beheld once in twoor three years andthat too with theknowledge of thePrincipal secretary orthe minister concerned.
"Even that will be informedwell in advance after getting
our permission and as per ourconvenience only," Jacob said.
He was told that even if anylapses were found during theinspection, steps would betaken to rectify it at the govern-
mental level and notpublish it to
"defame and letthe businessrun into loss-es". Jacob termed his dis-cussions withT e l a n g a n a
Industries min-ister K T R Rama
Rao as "like a talkwith the CEO of the
state".He said Kerala's claim of a
"single-window" clearance forinvestors was an "outdatedsystem" as other states hadimplemented it around 25years ago.
"Kerala says we have single-window clearance. It's an out-dated one. We are still dis-cussing this method whichwas implemented by otherstates at least 25 years ago.
Neither the Kerala govern-ment nor its officials know howwell other states or countriesare treating investors thereand are only claiming that thestate is investment friendly."
The Kitex group head alsosaid that the main allegationagainst his business was that itwas a polluting industry.
‘Kerala Industries dept like frog in the well’
Flipkart raises $3.6 b from GIC, others
JK Tyre ties up with KMS toenhance retail presence
PNS n NEW DELHI
The country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki Indiaon Monday said it has hikedprices of hatchback Swift andCNG variants of other mod-els by up to Rs 15,000.
The price change for Swiftand all CNG variants is owingto an increase in variousinput costs, Maruti SuzukiIndia said in a regulatory fil-ing.
"Increase in ex-showroomprices (Delhi) is up to Rs15,000 on the above models.The new prices are effectivefrom today i.e. July 12, 2021,"it added.
Maruti Suzukihikes prices ofCNG variants
PNS n NEW DELHI
Leading digital brokerage PaytmMoney on Monday announcedthe launch of an innovative fea-ture which allows users to applyfor initial share-sales before theactual IPO opening in the mar-kets. The move is expected tosignificantly increase the partic-ipation of retail users in initialpublic offer (IPO) through theprocess.
Zomato is the first IPO onPaytm Money launched withthis feature, and thousands ofapplicants on the platform havealready placed their orders overthe last two days, the digital bro-kerage said in a statement.
The conventional applicationprocess for IPOs was designedaround timings, and till date,users are able to apply for an IPOonly during select market hoursover a window of three days.
A large proportion of theinvesting community does nottrade actively, and is likely to bebusy during market hours, miss-ing out on some of these IPOs.This is particularly true in caseof millennials and younginvestors.
The “Pre-IPO Open applica-tion” feature was specificallydesigned to make the lives ofsuch users better.
A user can now place an IPOorder 24x7 on days when the“pre-Open IPO Application”feature is enabled.
The order is recorded onPaytm Money's system, andsent to the exchange for process-ing whenever the IPO opens.The user is notified of herapplication status throughoutthe journey, to ensure a seam-less experience.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Healthcare major Abbott onMonday said it has launchedCOVID-19 home test kit inIndia for the detection of theSARS-CoV-2 virus in adultsand children with or withoutsymptoms at a price of Rs 325for a single test kit pack.
The company will delivermillions of Panbio COVID-19rapid antigen tests, availablefor self-use, to ease the burdenon healthcare systems in urbanand rural India, Abbott said in
a statement.In alignment with the cur-
rent ICMR advisory on self-use, these tests will be madeavailable to ramp up testing ofsymptomatic and asympto-matic individuals and contactsof confirmed coronaviruscases, it added.
"Scaling access to easy, accu-rate, and fast testing can speedup the country's prepared-ness and curb communitycontagion," ICMR formerDirector-General NirmalKumar Ganguly said.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The West Bengal government'sdecision to reduce stamp dutyby 2 per cent and cut circlerates will boost housingdemand in the state andencourage investment, accord-ing to property developersand consultants.
In its budget, the WestBengal government has pro-posed to reduce stamp duty bytwo per cent for registration ofdeeds, while the circle rate wasslashed by ten per cent.
Welcoming the decision,realtors body CREDAI-WestBengal President Sushil Mohta
said: "It is heartening to seethat the West Bengal govern-ment has considered a long-standing demand for the realestate sector in West Bengal."
He said it will help boostdemand in the sector in thispandemic situation. "Thereduction in the rate of stampduty should help the end-usersand this should boost sales. Wehope that the overall collectionof revenues of stamp duty willalso go up," Mohta said. Thiswould encourage real estate sec-tors to launch new projects andinfuse fresh investments in thesector, said Mohta, who is theChairman of Merlin Group.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Pharma firm FDC Ltd onMonday said it has launchedoral suspension ofFavipiravir to treat mild tomoderate cases of COVID-19 in the country.
This prescription-onlyFavenza oral suspension iscurrently available at allretail medical outlets andhospital pharmacies acrossIndia, FDC said in a state-ment. Convenient loadingdosage of the oral suspen-sion helps reduce dosagefrequency, it added. "Withpositive cases on the riseagain, now is the time toprovide healthcare warriorsin our country with viableoptions in this continuousbattle against this disease.
PNS n NEW DELHI
India has terminated aprobe into an allegedincrease in imports of a cer-tain type of PVC resin fromJapan following a requestfrom the domestic industry.
The PVC resin is used inbuilding and construction,automotive, and medicalindustries.
The Directorate General
of Trade Remedies (DGTR),under the commerce min-istry, in September 2020initiated a bilateral safe-guard investigation intoimports of 'PVC (PolyvinylChloride) SuspensionGrade Resin' from Japan.
DCW, DCM Shriram andChemplast CuddaloreVinyls had filed an applica-tion for initiation of theinvestigation.
Abbott launches Covidhome test kit in India
Paytm Money allows users toapply for IPOs before opening
FDC launchesFavipiravir oralsuspension totreat Covid
India terminates probe against Japanon certain type of PVC resin imports
Housing demand to improve on reduction in stamp duty
PNS n MUMBAI
The country's media and enter-tainment (ME) sector will bethe fastest growing globally interms of both consumer andadvertising spends, and will bean over-Rs 4-lakh-crore indus-try by 2025, a consultancysaid on Monday.
The sector is estimated toclock a compound annualgrowth rate (CAGR) of 10.75per cent in the next four yearsto be a Rs 4,12,656-crore indus-try by 2025, PwC said in areport.
"Despite the pandemic, theIndian entertainment andmedia sector has shownremarkable resilience," the con-sultancy's partner Rajib Basusaid adding that India will bethe fastest-growing entertain-ment and media market glob-ally in terms of consumer andadvertising revenue.
Technological advancementand deepening of internet
access will continue to influ-ence the way Indians con-sume content, he said addingthat there will be more appetitefor localised content, andnewer business models willalso evolve.
TV advertising grew to Rs35,015 crore in 2020 despite thepandemic and will expand atthe rate of 7.6 per cent to con-tribute over Rs 50,000 crore to
the overall pie, it said.Advertising on the internet
is expected to grow at a fasterclip of 18.8 per cent per annumduring 2020-2025 to over Rs30,000 crore by the end of thecycle, it said.
The report added that therevenue from mobile internetadvertising in India was Rs7,331 crore in 2020, and willrise to Rs 22,350 crore by
2025, showing a 25.4 per centincrease.
The newspaper and con-sumer magazine industry is,however, estimated to grow ata much lower clip of 1.82 percent to Rs 26.299 crore by 2025,it said adding that print adver-tising revenues fell 12 per centand print circulation revenuewas down by 4 per cent in 2020due to the pandemic in 2020.
Box-office revenue is expect-ed to recover and grow at aCAGR of 39.3 per cent to Rs13,857 crore by the end of2025, it said.
PwC added that the cinemaindustry which has beendeeply hit by the pandemic willbe back to pre-pandemic lev-els by mid-2023.
India's total music, radioand podcasts market revenuesdropped in 2020 to Rs 4,626crore, as the pandemic strippedalmost Rs 522 crore from thecountry's live music sector, itsaid.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Petrol price moves up further,diesel rate cut for 1st time in3 monthsNew Delhi: Globalcues pushed fuel prices toincrease again across the coun-try on Monday adding moremisery to the common manalready grappling with risingfood prices amid shrinkingincome.
However, unlike uniformprice movement earlier, oilmarketing companies onMonday continued with theirpractice adopted more thantwo months ago to increase theprice of petrol but reduced theprimp price of diesel for thefirst time in close to threemonths.
Accordingly, while the priceof petrol increased by 28 paiseto Rs 101.19 a litre in Delhi, itreduced by 16 paise per litre toRs 89.72 a litre in Delhi.
Across the country as well,petrol prices increased in therange of 25-35 paise per litre,diesel prices reduced by 15-20paise per litre.
Before Monday, the retailprices of petrol and diesel roseby a sharp 35 paise and 26 paiseper litre on Saturday while itremained unchanged onSunday. In the city of Mumbai,where petrol prices crossed Rs100-mark for the first timeever on May 29, the fuel pricereached a new high of Rs107.20 per litre on Monday.Diesel price in the city is also atRs 97.29, the highest amongmetros. Petrol prices in allmetros have now crossed theRs 100 per litre-mark andOMC officials said that if inter-national oil prices continued tofirm up, prices may rise further.
With Monday's price hike,fuel prices have now increasedon 39 days and remainedunchanged on 34 days sinceMay 1. The 39 increases hastaken up petrol prices by Rs10.79 per litre in Delhi.
Consumers can now onlyexpect that any further raise infuel price is checked as OMCsstart cutting the retail price ofpetrol and diesel over the nextfew days to provide relief. Butwith crude once again crossingthe $75 a barrel mark in wakeof the falling US inventoriesand rising demand, the nextaction of OMCs would beawaited.
Petrol price moves up, dieselrate cut 1st time in 3 months
Media, entertainment industryto be fastest growing globally
PNS n MUMBAI
Even though the second waveof the pandemic and subse-quent lockdowns affected theeconomic growth, the overalljob postings have improvedsequentially four per centacross various sectors, accord-ing to a report.
Despite the second wave ofthe pandemic and subsequentlockdowns, the past six monthsreflect growth in job postingsacross various sectors, accord-ing to the MonsterEmployment Index, a report byMonster.com, a Quess compa-ny. According to the Index,there was a notable overallmonthly growth of four percent in June compared to May2021.
Overall job postings havealso improved by seven percent year-on-year in June ascompared with the samemonth in 2020, indicating anoptimistic outlook for the com-
ing months, the report noted.The Monster Employment
Index is a comprehensiveanalysis of online job postingactivity conducted by MonsterIndia. The report showed that
with the ease of lockdownrestrictions, all 27 industriesmonitored by the Index wit-nessed positive month-on-month growth in June.
The industries such asimport-export (25 per cent);production and manufacturing(14 per cent); shipping andmarine (11 per cent); andhealthcare, biotechnology andlife sciences, pharmaceuticals(10 per cent) have shown thehighest growth month-on-month in June.
Other industries performingwell compared to the previousmonth include BFSI (banking,financial services & insurance),telecom, real estate, and media& entertainment.
The travel and tourismindustry (three per cent)
showed a positive uptick com-pared to previous months,implying an optimisticprospect to recovery.
Further, agro-based indus-tries, FMCG (fast-moving con-sumer goods), food and pack-aged food, and printing &packaging industries showedone per cent growth in hiringin June, compared with May.
Meanwhile, when it came tocities, job postings in Baroda (9per cent), Chandigarh (6 percent), Pune (6 per cent) andCoimbatore (6 per cent) indi-cated the highest month-on-month uptick compared toMay, it stated. Bengaluru (2 percent), Kochi (1 per cent) andHyderabad (1 per cent) showedmuted growth as of June com-pared to the previous month.
Overall job postings improve across all sectors
PNS n NEW DELHI
Flipkart Group on Mondaysaid it has raised USD 3.6 bil-lion in funding led bySingapore's sovereign wealthfund GIC, CPP Investments,SoftBank Vision Fund 2 andWalmart, valuing the e-com-merce giant at USD 37.6 billion.
The company, which com-petes with Amazon, RelianceIndustries' JioMart and othersin the burgeoning Indian e-
commerce market, said it willcontinue to make deeperinvestments across people,technology, supply chain andinfrastructure to address therequirements of a rapidlygrowing consumer base in thecountry. While details aboutthe investment made by theseentities individually were notdisclosed, sources said CanadaPension Plan InvestmentBoard infused about USD 750-800 million, while SoftBank
has pumped about USD 500million. The current fundinground has also seen participa-tion from sovereign fundsDisruptAD, Qatar InvestmentAuthority, Khazanah NasionalBerhad as well as marqueeinvestors Tencent, WilloughbyCapital, Antara Capital,Franklin Templeton and TigerGlobal, Flipkart said in a state-ment. The funding round val-ues Flipkart Group at USD 37.6billion post-money, it added.
With this deal, SoftBank isre-entering Flipkart's cap table.SoftBank had sold its approx-imately 20 per cent share whenWalmart bought a 77 per centstake in Flipkart for USD 16billion in 2018. In July last year,Flipkart had announced a USD1.2 billion fundraising led by itsmajority shareholder Walmartthat had valued the Bengaluru-based company at USD 24.9billion (about Rs 1.87 lakhcrore).
he modificationsthat the pandem-ic has producedenable a personto wear masksand go through
stress-generating experi-ences.
Although hair fall hasnothing to do with Covidsymptoms, the physicaland emotional stress thataccompanies a case ofCovid-19 could be anexplanation. TelogenEffluvium (TE) is areversible condition causedby stress that occurs after afew months of an initialtrigger of stress. Thesetriggers include emotionaldistress, major surgery,high fever, an acute illness(like Covid-19), or evenstress-related to quaranti-ning.
When a person’s body isunder emotional or physi-cal stress, it goes into sur-vival mode. The body onlyfocuses on the essentialparts needed for survival.Hair, being a non-essentialpart of the body, doesn'tget as much nutrition, andthis leads to hair loss. Thebest treatment for thisstate is the correction ofthe underlying cause,focusing on managingstress and leading ahealthy lifestyle.
If one is a smoker, con-sidering quitting the ciga-rette is a great step towardsa healthy way of life. Whena person experiences hairloss that: comes on sud-denly, causes hair to fallout in clumps, leads tobald patches, and isaccompanied by scalp itch-ing or pain; they mustconsult a dermatologistand get the reason for theirhair fall diagnosed.
Maskne is a commonoccurrence with Covid andit stays put after. Acnecaused or multiplied bywearing masks comesunder Maskne. There arevarious types of Maskne,the most common onesthat appear are ‘acnemechanica’, caused by thefriction and precipitationtrapped underneath themask, leading to pore clog-ging and bacterial growthresulting in pimples.Regular acne treatmentshelp in this; however, acnecreams dry out the skinand one must use a mois-turiser to keep the skinbarrier intact.
Rosacea is a skin issuethat could flare-up withmasks usage. Wearing a
cotton mask underneaththe regular mask is alwaysadvised to avoid unneces-sary friction. Fragrance-free moisturisers and sun-screen are recommendedto avoid irritation due tothe presence of alcohol.For people with sensitiveskin, the material of themask is important, allergytowards the material canlead to dermatitis. Whiledermatologists prescribe asteroid cream to calm theinflammation, the cottonmask underneath the regu-lar mask could be useful.In the case of Folliculitiswhere the mask disturbsfacial hair follicles, antibi-otic creams work well.
When taking care ofthese issues, the faceshould be washed thrice aday with lukewarm waterafter which the skin mustbe dried by patting theface. A non-comedogenicmoisturizer should beselected to avoid pore-clogging. An oil-free andwater-based, gel moisturis-er should be used by indi-viduals with oily to combi-
nation skin. Those withdry skin should use acream moisturisser withingredients such asceramides.
People with normal skincan use a lotion-basedmoisturiser. Wearing sun-screen is the final step tocomplete morning skin-care. It’s necessary tochoose sunscreens’ careful-ly as masks provide onlySPF 7 while Indian skinneeds at least an SPF 30 inthe daytime. Those withoily to combination skincould use a matte finishsunscreen that includes gelor silicone-based. Alotion-based sunscreen fornormal skin works well,and for those with dryskin, moisturising sun-screens that are againlotion or cream-based areadvised.
Makeup products thatare non-comedogenic andhypoallergenic must bepreferred if avoidingmakeup is not probable. Itis significant to wash themask with a gentle deter-gent or toss it if disposable
after each use. Wearing aface mask that fits com-fortably, but isn’t too tightand has three layers of fab-ric is necessary; if themask is not correct, touch-ing the face more often tofix the mask leads toincreased chances of cont-amination.
Masks made of syntheticfabrics, such as nylon orrayon should be avoided asthese materials can irritatethe skin. For those withsensitive skin, masks madeof natural, soft fabric (likecotton) should be wornunder a regular mask.
The American Academyof DermatologyAssociation reports thatafter every four hours ofnon-stop wearing a mask,a 15-minute break for theskin while maintainingsocial distancing helps.Although it's imperative towash hands before taking amask break. A person can’tavoid social contact entire-ly due to innumerable rea-sons, even though quaran-tine is the best way out ofsuch a situation, heremasks and sanitisers play avery crucial role to helpflatten the curve and tostay protected. The bestway to protect oneself andthose around from Covid-19 is by keeping the mouthand nose covered.
If stress causes hairfalland skin issues, which inturn causes more stress,visit the dermatologistwho could solve all theproblems.
9
Vijayawada Tuesday July 13, 2021health
T
Rules
ARCHIE
GARFIELD
SUDOKU
REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD
GINGER MEGGS
NANCY
l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.
l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.
Yesterday’s solution
CALVIN AND HOBBES
FUN
SPEED BUMP
terine fibroids arenoncancerous orbenign tumoursthat grow in or onthe uterus ofwomen of child-
bearing age, primarilybetween 30 to 50 years.Medically, they are known asleiomyomas or myomas.Although many women havefibroids with no symptoms,others can experience painfulmenstruation or heavy bleed-ing during periods or both,says an expert.
Pushpa Soni, ConsultantObstetrician &Gynaecologist, ColumbiaAsia Hospital, Pune, says:“Studies have found that37.65 per cent women inrural India and 24 per centwomen in urban India haveuterine fibroid. Therefore,women must pay attention tothe signs and symptoms thatmay point at the presence ofa uterine fibroid, and thewarning signs that requiremedical attention.”
She adds: “Uterine fibroidsmay vary in size and shape,and may impact the symp-toms. They can be as small asthe seed of an apple or as bigas a grape. A grape-sizedfibroid may cause pelvicpressure, making the womanlook pregnant due to abdom-inal growth. Very largefibroids are unusual, but can-not be ruled out completely.They can cause medical con-ditions such as infertility andanaemia, and may affect anongoing pregnancy.” Sonipoints: “Large fibroids mayprevent the foetus from get-ting the correct foetal posi-tion, and increase the moth-er’s risk of a breech birth(when a baby is born bottomfirst instead of head first) ormal-presentation of the foetalhead. It may also increase thechances of a pre-term or a C-section delivery.”
Risk factors and symp-toms of uterine fibroids:
Several factors may influ-
ence the formation offibroids although it is unclearwhy they develop. However,estrogen and progesterone,the two hormones producedby ovaries, cause the uterinelining to regenerate duringeach menstrual cycle andmay stimulate the growth offibroids. Fibroids may devel-op and grow rapidly duringpregnancy, they may swellwhen estrogen levels arehigh, she says.
Following are a few riskfactors that may impactthe chances of develop-ing these muscle-and-tissue growths:
” Obesity” Family history of fibroids” Women who are nulli-parous (do not have chil-dren)” Getting period at a youngage” Late menopause
Common symptoms ofuterine fibroids mayinclude:
” Heavy menstrual bleeding” Anaemia due to blood loss
that may cause insomnia,fatigue, hair loss, and pal-pitations” Bleeding between periods” Painful intercourse” Increased urination” Pain in pelvis or lowerback” Swelling or enlargement ofthe abdomen” Constipation” Leg pain
However, a womanmust immediately con-sult a doctor if she hasone or more of the fol-lowing:
” Pelvic pain that does notget better” Extremely heavy, pro-longed or painful menstru-al bleeding” Spotting between periodsor menstrual cycles” Difficulty while urinating” Unexplained low RedBlood Cell (RBC) count,indicating anaemia
Treatment of uterinefibroids:
The expert states thatdepending on the size and
location of the fibroids, theage, symptoms, and repro-ductive choices of thewoman, uterine fibroids canbe treated through medica-tion or surgeries.
Medications mayinclude:
” Birth control pills” Oral hormonal medica-tions” Hormonal injections” Iron supplements
Surgical interventionsmay include:
” Hormonal intrauterinedevice (IUD)” Hysterectomy (removal ofuterus)” Myomectomy (removal offibroids)” Minimally invasive proce-dures such as uterineartery embolisation,radiofrequency ablation,and laparoscopic myomec-tomy
It is advisable to always con-sult the right treatmentmethod with your gynaecolo-gist and avoid self-medica-tion.
U Post Covid skin issues: Allyour questions answered
UTERINE FIBROIDS: WHEN SHOULD YOU VISIT A GYNAECOLOGIST?
SHIKHA DUGGAL
ontrary to whatmany havebelieved, Covid-19 has hit us backwith renewedvigour, infecting
more people and testing thehealthcare infrastructuremore than ever before. Thesilver-lining that appearedwith the news of vaccines isunder duress as Indiacrossed the 3 lakh new casesevery day earlier. Thenational capital decided toextend the lockdown byanother week while manyother states had implement-ed partial restrictions orlockdowns earlier.Lockdowns were very strictmeasures that left a deepdent in the health of theeconomy. Noted researcherand columnist HarshMander called it ‘a calami-tous shrinkage of the econo-my’. Tejal Kanitkar, associateprofessor at the NationalInstitute of AdvancedStudies, estimated that thetotal loss of output due tolockdown would be betweenforty lakh crore and sixty-six lakh crore, equivalent toabout 20 to 32 per cent ofIndia’s Gross DomesticProduct.
“All sectors such as manu-facturing, mining and quar-rying, construction and realestate, trade, electricity, gasand water supply, transportand communication, hotels,finance and insurance, busi-ness services, community,and social services, wentinto the red in the last fiscalyear, except for agriculture.While agricultural inputmaterials for the Kharif sea-
son were and are out of theambit of lockdown, harvest-
ing season last year sawsome difficulty in theform of labour shortageand market closure asmost of the migrantworkforce chose to leavefor their hometowns.With the second wave,spiraling cases, andimminent lockdowns,
this year too, agricul-ture remains as
the onlybright spot
in theIndian
econo-my,”
shares Mr. RajeshAggarwal, ManagingDirector, Insecticides(India) Limited.
In the last fiscal, the agri-culture sector grew by 3.4per cent when all other sec-tors and businesses wereincurring heavy losses. Thisprovided hope to 58 percentof Indians who are depen-dent on agriculture and itsallied areas. “However, thehindrances faced duringlockdown were also used asan opportunity to addresssome of the long-standingproblems of Indian agricul-ture, such as availability ofgroundwater and fertileland for farming, andlabour migration. The lock-down prompted people tocome back to their ruralhomes, which in turn, madea large number of resourcesavailable for the sowing andharvest season. At the sametime, owing to the need tomaintain physical distanc-ing, the Indian agriculturesector opted for digital plat-forms, especially for supplychain management,” headded. Industry estimatesshow that the number ofagri-tech startups in Indiaincreased from 43 start-upsin 2013 to over 1000 in2020. The Indian Agri techmarket is further projectedto cross USD 24.1 billion by2025. This shift to digitisa-tion helped in procuringmaterials, monitoring andimplementing measures foradequate production, mar-keting the harvest, and dis-tribution to the end con-sumers, all of which needphysical interaction andcould have been the casual-ty of nationwide lockdown.The integrated supply chain
further increased the effi-cient use of time, trans-parency, and availability ofproducts to consumers. Onecan hope that the digitisa-tion of Indian agriculturewill lead to sustainablegrowth, especially by easingthe linkage of farmers to themarket with the increasingawareness of the sameamong the farming commu-nity.
The lockdown proved tobe good for the productsthat constitute India’s exportbasket. According toreports, the other productswhich posted significantgrowth include non-Basmatirice, soy meal, sugar, spices,raw cotton, fresh andprocessed vegetables, andalcohol. With the Covidclasping its grip, Indianagriculture must remain asresilient as it was last time.“The days to imagine farm-ers as diminutive, rural peo-ple living in poverty areprobably no longer univer-sally valid. Agriculture isthe only bright spot in theIndian economy that is reel-ing under the effect ofCovid-19 pandemic at themoment. This brings goodnews, not only for the morethan 150 million farmers ofIndia but to industries thatare dependent on good har-vest for their survival. Itpoints at an opportunemoment to fan the ambitionof owning a business andrealise the entrepreneurialdreams. It is always good tostart from the basics, havinga sound understanding ofvarious aspects of agricul-ture, right from soil scienceand agricultural chemistryto seed technology. There isa wide variety of options tochoose from. One can optfor shorter-term certificatecourses to increase theirknowledge gradually or optfor an undergraduate-leveldiploma or degree in agri-culture or agricultural engi-neering,” the managingdirector tells us.
In recent times, with theemergence of novel con-cepts such as precision agri-culture, farm to fork, andfarming as a service, tech-nology seems to be playinga decisive role in makingthe fortunes of agriculturebetter. However, studyingagriculture or a nichedomain within it will helpthe entrepreneur achieve acompetitive edge faster –being a part of the Agrivalue chain can bringimmense benefit to the
farmers, enabling them bet-ter access to quality seeds,diverse irrigation systems,fertilisers, farm tools, andequipment, to mention afew. The Agri market inIndia already has manyplayers and their numbersare rising — a NASSCOMstudy shows that the coun-try has more than 450 star-tups in the agriculture sec-tor that, until June 2019,raised nearly USD 248 mil-lion in funds. Therefore,knowing the nitty-gritty ofthe sector will not only helpthe entrepreneur design abusiness model that is bothfeasible and suits theirinterest, but will also helpthem negotiate with fundmanagers with insights andscientific knowledge, allwithout relying on anyoneelse.
Even agriculture powerdemand has witnessed asteep 62% jump in the pastfew years in Telangana,especially after the govern-ment began providing unin-terrupted power supply tothe agriculture sector. Also,the use of drones for plantprotection is gaining popu-larity among the farmingcommunity. It has theadvantage of precisiondelivery of chemicals to theright place at the right timewithout exposing the sprayoperator to harmful chemi-cals apart from saving timeand labour. “In summer,just how we like to stayaway from oily and greasyfood, even plants have acertain preference for whatthey like to consume insummer months.Technology helps us under-stand all this and more,”says Sachin Darbarwar,founder of simply fresh.
He adds, “We call ourfarms as ‘precision’ farms aswe have combined hydro-ponics with AI Technologyfor food safety, traceability,and sustainable farming.Factors like crop profiling,analysing seeds for bettergermination, measuringnutrient requirement ofplants along automated AI-controlled greenhouses formaintaining an ideal envi-ronment for plants are alldone using AI technology.Our greenhouses are digi-tally controlled by an AIplatform called ‘Farm in ABox’ which determines anddetects climate conditionsand requirements for theplants and alters the envi-ronment to suit theirneeds.”
arlier, when I thoughtof actor ShwetaTripathi, I imaginedsomeone with highspirits, effusive andvivacious, contrary to
her on-screen characters; likeGajgamini Gupta aka Golu inMirzapur Season 2 or Amara inThe Gone Game. And now, when Igot a chance for a candid conver-sation with her, my assumptiondid not seem to be at all off themark. She is somebody whoappears confident, gives off a pos-itive attitude, and exudes anattractive charisma. Excerpts:
You have been living andshooting in a bio-bubble forThe Gone Game Season 2.How would you describethe experience? Is it diffi-cult to shoot amid the pan-demic?
I would just say that you haveto be as careful as possible. Andyou have to be responsible notjust for yourself but also for thepeople around you. We have com-pleted the first schedule of thesecond season. Now, it dependson the guidelines if we’ll beshooting again in a bio-bubble ornot. As actors, our process is veryinternal, either you are in front ofthe camera or you are preppingyourself for the shoot. Otherworks like production, art depart-ment, and more are usually donebefore we come on set.
If there are many peopleinvolved, imagine the pre-pan-demic world, there’s a lot of workdelegation that happens. Andwhen less number of people areworking on one thing, which ishappening currently, you have tobe responsible for your stuff. Soin a way people get more efficient.
Also, I feel there are pros andcons to everything. I wouldn’t sayit’s difficult to shoot amid thepandemic, but it’s just that thesense of responsibility has grown.The basic level of hygiene hasgone up among everyone, whichis a good thing. I believe that youcan learn good things even from acatastrophe like a pandemic.When we win the fight withCovid, it doesn’t mean we shouldforget all the good lessons thatcame along with it. It’s veryimportant to enhance yourself asa human being, and even as asociety.
From death, suffering, warto destruction and rapiddegeneration of the envi-ronment, there’s so muchgoing on in the world cur-rently that cannot beignored. How are you keep-ing yourself motivatedthese days?
Since this new decade started,things have been getting worseday by day — the string of wild-fires, airplane crashes, CAA andNRC protests in the country, thedeath of basketball legend KobeBryant, social unrest over thekilling of George Floyd, variousnatural disasters, and we stilldon’t stop here; the list goes onand on — all while we are underthe pandemic. Not to forget thesecond wave of Covid-19 in thecountry...
I used to get affected by allthese things very much. But onething that I have learned is that ifyou get affected by something,you get emotionally involved. Itmakes you weaker. It made meso... because I felt very helplessand hopeless. I saw no light. Iused to think — what is thisworld that we are living in, wehumans have done this to our-
selves. So it was a downward spi-ral. I realised that if I let myselfgo down this road, I won’t be in aposition to help out anybody elsebecause I will need help. So if youwant to make a difference, youhave to be strong. You have toguard and shield yourself becauseonly when you are strong, can youhelp the people and the worldaround you.
I want to be in a position wherepeople respect me, maybe,because of my work, my ideolo-gies, or what I believe in; onlythen, maybe, I can change theirminds about certain things... Ormaybe, then, there can at least bea healthy discussion. So if youwant to bring about change, youhave to be smart about doing so.Do you get it? Also, it’s basic loveand respect that every humanstrives for. So when these issues— of race, caste, gender, religion— enter the conversation, every-thing starts getting troublesome. Ifeel, we should all be above thesethings and create a world wherethere is love and peace, wherethere is more support for eachother.
Do you see hope and lightat the end of the tunnel?Do you think we’ll emergestronger from these situa-tions?
It is the survival of the fittest.As humans, we are responsiblefor several wrongdoings, but Ithink there’s always scope forimprovement. Sab ko Greta(Thunberg) banne ki zarurat nahihai, but even if we start takingjust our responsibility to do theright thing, the world will be sucha better place.
Wherever I go, I always carrymy metal water bottle. I do notuse or buy plastic bottles. I havebeen doing this for years.Similarly, you need to find yourunique ways to contributetowards the betterment of society.We have to be responsible for thisplanet, after all, it’s our home. Youdon’t litter your own house, doyou? It’s as basic as that. We canand will emerge from this Covidsituation, but these wastes, espe-cially masks, that people throweverywhere, are going to comeand bite you in your backside.Education is more than what’s inthe books. It’s more aboutlifestyles, morals, and disciplinesthat you create.
You have three projectslined up for release — YehKaali Kaali Ankhein, TheGone Game Season 2, andEscaype Live...
We started shooting forEscaype Live for two days butthen we had to stop because theproducer said human lives aremore important than anythingelse. And that was the right deci-sion to make. So we were shoot-ing in Benaras, we came backfrom there.
Now the shoot will resume onceI am done with The Gone Game’ssecond schedule of the shooting. Ithink that’ll be done by the end ofthis month. Then in August, I’llstart with Escaype Live.Hopefully, more things will comeup by that time.
You have come quite farfrom where you started.How would you describeyour transition?
The transition has been quitegreat. When I look back at myjourney, ‘wow’ is the word that Iutter. I have transformed as hasmy acting. Now, I just immersemyself in the process of acting. Itry to feel what the emotion israther than portraying it. Whathas helped me is being a studentall these years. I believe you cannever stop learning. I want tolearn as much as possible. As Isaid earlier, it’s very important tokeep upgrading yourself. Aapmehnat karoge toh voh zarurdikhegi, haan time beshak lagsakta hai. But then, that is theprocess right? You learn as yougrow.
Have the characters thatyou essayed helped youevolve as an actor and aperson as well?
I think my characters make mea better person because of thesituations that they have beenin. Like Golu from Mirzapur,she has lost her sister, she’slost somebody who sheloved so much.Fortunately, Ihaven’tgone
through thatand I don’t want
to go through that.That’s why I like all thedrama to be on screen. TakeGone Kesh, for instance, Ihad no idea that alopecia is acondition. When I got to knowabout it, I realised the importanceof hair. And I realised that noproblem is big or small, jiskesaath beet raha hota hai uske liyethat is bigger than everythingelse. It’s all about perspective. Ifeel so grateful that I understandbeauty is not external at all. Theperson that you are on the insideis the most important thing. Thatis what I learned through GoneKesh. When I was playing DrShreya (Pathare) in Laakhon MeinEk, I had no idea about the med-ical world. As a doctor, you havepeople’s lives in your hands. Theresponsibility that you have is justbeyond expression. So I learnedso much patience. My empathyhas really gone up. I learned fromplaying my characters that it’s thesituation and circumstances thatmake the people. It’s not alwaystheir choice.
‘TO HELP SOMEONE, YOUNEED TO BE STRONG’
ShwetaTripathi tellsThe Pioneerthat thepandemic hasbeen a learningexperience foreveryone andhopes it canbring about atransformationin people.
C
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AGRI-TECH TO AGRI-BUSINESSES' RESCUE
TuesdayJuly 13, 2021
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AFP n LONDON
Italy inflicted more penalty heartache onEngland to win Sunday’s Euro 2020 final3-2 in a shoot-out, Bukayo Saka miss-ing the decisive kick to deny the hosts
after the game at Wembley had ended in adraining 1-1 draw through extra time.
Saka’s kick was repelled by GianluigiDonnarumma to give Italy the HenriDelaunay trophy for the second time at theend of a shoot-out in which Englandscored their first two penalties but then sawMarcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho also fail.
Jorginho could have won it for Italy onlyfor his penalty to be saved by JordanPickford, giving renewed hope to theEngland support who had earlier created afebrile atmosphere with their team lookingset to run away with this final.
The nerve-shredding climax seemedunlikely given the way the match began, withLuke Shaw scoring for Gareth Southgate’sEngland after just one minute and 57 sec-onds, the fastest goal ever in a EuropeanChampionship final stunning a team whoarrived here on a record 33-match unbeaten run.
Italy, though, had most ofthe possession after fallingbehind and ultimatelydeserved their equaliser whenit came midway through thesecond half through LeonardoBonucci.
With no further scoring, this was thefirst European Championship final to bedecided on penalties since 1976.
It is more penalty agony for England,whose list of previous shoot-out exitsincluded losing to Italy at Euro 2012 as wellas in the Euro 96 semi-finals againstGermany when Southgate missed the cru-
cial kick.While their 55-year wait to win anoth-
er major international title goes on, Italy’sown particular half-century of hurt is over.
They have won four World Cups buttheir sole European Championship triumphbefore this dated back to 1968.
They had lost two EuropeanChampionship finals in little over twodecades, with the agony of losing to Francevia a golden goal in Rotterdam in 2000 andthen being torn apart by Spain in 2012, goingdown 4-0 in Kiev.
Italy had been arguably the team of thetournament heading into the final, sweep-ing through the group stage with a perfectrecord before knocking out Austria, top-ranked Belgium and Spain to reach the final.
Revitalised since Mancini took over aftertheir failure to qualify for the 2018 WorldCup, the Azzurri were on a remarkable 33-match unbeaten run before the final.
Southgate has revolutionised Englishfootball since taking charge in 2016, lead-ing his team to the semi-finals of the 2018World Cup, where they were beaten byCroatia but they fell just short at Wembley.
sport 11VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | JULY 13, 2021
shortpassesCOUNTY GAME ABANDONEDLONDON: The County Championship matchbetween Derbyshire and Essex on Mondaywas abandoned ahead of the second day'splay after an unnamed player in theDerbyshire playing squad tested +ve forCovid-19.
THAKUR REVIEWS INDIA’S PREP NEW DELHI: Sports Minister Anurag Thakuron Monday chaired the first review meetingafter taking charge of his ministry as hetook stock of India's preparation for theupcoming Tokyo Olympics.
PALAK TO PLAY IN THREE EVENTS NEW DELHI: Para-badminton player PalakKohli will compete in singles, doubles andmixed doubles events of the upcomingTokyo Paralympics, a first for an Indianpara-shuttler.
DAVIES TORE ANKLE LIGAMENTMUNICH: Bayern Munich on Monday saidthe injury which forced Canadian full-backAlphonso Davies out of the CONCACAFGold Cup last week was a torn ankleligament but that he won't need surgery.
ASHWIN PICKS JUST 1 WICKETLONDON: R Ashwin's outing with Surreyturned out to be unimpressive as thepremier Indian spinner could bag just onewicket in 43 overs he bowled againstSomerset in a County Championship match.
HURKACZ JUMPS SEVEN SPOTS LONDON: Poland's Hubert Hurkacz jumpedto a career high of 11th on the ATP list afterhis maiden run to a Grand Slam semifinal atWimbledon. The 24-year-old rose sevenplaces in the latest rankings.
STOKES IMPRESSED BY SAQIB LONDON: Ben Stokes says SaqibMahmood's dynamic impact with the ballfor England against Pakistan will make theteam's established stars fear for their placeswhen they return from coronavirusisolation. The 24-year-old took four for 42and two for 21 in the first two matches,dismissing Babar Azam on both occasions.
IND FINED FOR SLOW OVER RATE HOVE: The Indian women's cricket teamwas on Monday fined 20 per cent of itsmatch fee for maintaining a slow over-rateagainst England in the second T20I.Harmanpreet Kaur's side was ruled to beone over short of the target after timeallowances were taken into consideration.
‘SHOOTERS CAN WIN 4 MEDALS’ NEW DELHI: Indian para shooters have thetemperament to pull off some good resultsat the Tokyo Games, says chief nationalcoach JP Nautiyal, who is expecting a haulof at least four medals at the Paralympics.
PUMA SIGN 18 INDIAN ATHLETES NEW DELHI: Puma India has signed 15Olympic-bound Indian athletes and threepara athletes for the upcoming national andinternational tournaments. Agencies
AFP n LONDON
Novak Djokovicsaid that he
considers himselfthe “best play-er” after win-ning a record-equalling 20thGrand Slam titlebut refuses to anointhimself as the “great-est of all time”.
The 34-year-old went to 20
majors alongside RogerFederer and Rafael Nadal
courtesy of a sixthWimbledon t it le
secured by a 6-7 (4/7),6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory
over MatteoBerrettini.
If he wins afourth US Openin September, hewill become the
first man since RodLaver in 1969 to
complete the cal-endar GrandSlam and justthe third in his-tory.
“I considermyself best and Ibelieve that I amthe best, other-wise I wouldn’tbe talking confi-dently about win-ning Slams andmaking history,”said Djokovic.
“But whetherI’m the greatest of
all time or not, Ileave thatdebate to
other people.“I said before that it’s
very difficult to comparethe eras of tennis. We havedifferent racquets, technol-ogy, balls, courts. It’s justcompletely different condi-tions that we’re playing in, soit’s very hard to comparefrom 50 years ago to today.
“However, I amextremely honoured to def-initely be part of the conver-sation.” Despite his caution,Djokovic knows he has timeand momentum on his side.
At 34, he is a yearyounger than Nadal and hasthe best part of six years on
Federer who turns 40 infour weeks’ time.
Nadal skippedWimbledon after losing toDjokovic in the FrenchOpen semi-f inals lastmonth.
Federer made a quarter-final exit at the All EnglandClub.
Eight of Djokovic’s 20Slams have been won sincehe turned 30.
He has also won seven ofthe last eight Grand Slamfinals he has contested, withhis only defeat in that timecoming against Nadal at theFrench Open last year.
PTI n COLOMBO
Six uncapped players in thesquad might make it seem
that India have come with aninexperienced group for thewhite-ball series against SriLanka but tour vice-captainBhuvneshwar Kumar says it isnot the case as the entire lothas the requisite confi-dence thanks to IPL.
The Indian team forSri Lanka series led byShikhar Dhawan featureshalf a dozen uncappedplayers.
Many of themimpressed in the sus-pended IPL andhave beenrewarded withtheir maidenIndia call-up.They includeD e v d u t tP a d i k k a l ,pacer ChetanS a k a r i a ,Nitish Rana,Krishnappa
Gowtham, Ruturaj Gaikwadand Varun Chakravarthy.
“We have good players,they are young but they haveexperience of IPL, playingT20 for so many years andthey have done well for theirteams,” Bhuvneshwar said onthe Star Sports show Follow theBlues.
“So, it will be benefi-cial for the team thatthey will carry the con-fidence of IPL and theyare young and talent-ed, there is a good mixwith the experiencedplayers and this will be
a good tour.“Young play-
ers who havecome for theirf irst tourcame afterdoing well in
IPL, so if theydo well here
then it will begreat for theirconf idence,” he
added.
IPL experience will help youngplayers in SL series: Bhuvi
London: Novak Djokoviccooled on his commitmentto the Tokyo Olympics onSunday saying it was “50/50”if he would participate.
“I’ll have to think aboutit. As I said, my plan wasalways to go to the OlympicGames.
“But right now I’m a lit-
tle bit divided. It’s kind of50/50 because of what Iheard in the last couple ofdays,” said Djokovic.
The Serb had alwaysinsisted he would thinktwice if the Covid-19 proto-cols in Japan became toostrict and if fans werebanned. AFP
Djoker unsure of playing Olympics
PTI n HOVE
Architect of India’s eight-run win over Englandin the second women T20I, talented all-
rounder Deepti Sharma says she has got better inreading and handling difficult match situations andenjoys playing under pressure.
England were cruising withopener Tammy Beaumont (59)and skipper Heather Knight (30)in the middle but Deepti dis-missed both the batters off suc-cessive balls in the 14th over tobring India back into the match.
“I like playing in a pressure sit-uations, whether it is in any positionin the team — batting, bowling, or fielding.As an all-rounder, I just want to contributeto my department and take theteam forward,” Deepti said dur-ing the post-match confer-ence.
“I like leading from thefront, like in domestic tour-naments when I play as asenior player and winmatches for my team, thatgives different confi-dence.
“When you bring thatconfidence here, of coursethis platform is not easy but itdepends on how you handle it.
I now know how to read and handle situations,so I find it easy to play because I know I can han-dle things easily now,” she added. In the 14th over,Deepti first trapped Beaumont in front of the wick-et, before running out Knight to leave England toscore 43 off the last 36 balls.
“It was a crucial over and crucial wick-et. Earlier also we had taken a DRS but
we were unlucky. Next, when Ibowled, it was umpire’s call and it washitting the stumps, it gave us a lot ofconfidence.
“We bounced back after that andthen the run-out helped us to pull
out the match.”The 23-year-old from Uttar Pradesh
also contributed with the bat, scoring 24 off 27balls as India posted 148 for four.
“When I was batting, I was look-ing forward to building a partner-
ship and also score 6 to 7 runsper over. That was the mind-set but we couldn’t score asmuch as we wanted,” shesaid. “We had got a goodstart, we thought we canscore 160 but the 140 totalwasn’t bad because weknew as a bowling unit,we bowl in partnershipand we were supportingeach other and we could
defend the total.”
Deepti enjoys playing under pressurePNS n NEW DELHI
England spinner Sophie Ecclestone edged out India’steen batting sensation Shafali Verma and all-rounder
Sneh Rana to become the ICC Player of the Month forJune, while New Zealand opener Devon Conwaybagged the honour in the men’s category.
Left-arm spinner Ecclestone thus became the sec-ond English female to win the award after TammyBeaumont, who was crowned in February.
Ecclestone, a winner of the annual ICC EmergingPlayer of the Year award in 2018, was the most success-ful bowler in the one-off Test against India in Bristol,where she finished with an eight-wicket haul. She alsograbbed three wickets each in the two ODIs which fol-lowed.
In men’s section, Conway became the maiden NewZealand player to win the award after an astoundingfirst month in Test cricket.
The left-hander had cracked a solid double cen-tury on debut against England at Lord’s, following itup with two half-centuries in his next two games,including in the World Test Championship finalagainst India.
Conway won the award ahead of team-mate KyleJamieson, who was the Player of the Match in the WTCfinal, with South Africa’s Quinton de Kock the othernominee for his fine performances on their tour of theWest Indies.
“I’m truly honoured to win this award. That I havereceived it for my performances in Test cricket makesit extra special,” Conway said.
Sophie, Conway win ICCPlayer of Month award
PNS n NEW DELHI
Former chief coach NeilHawgood believes the cur-
rent Indian women’s hockeyteam has become a mentallytough unit under incumbentSjoerd Marijne which augurswell for its upcoming TokyoOlympics campaign.
“Sjoerd (Marijne) has donean amazing job in elevating theteam’s level. The current team ismentally tougher than previousyears,” the Australian was quot-ed as saying in the latest episodeof Hockey Te Charcha, a podcastseries initiated by Hockey Indiaahead of the Tokyo Games.
“Earlier, if the team conced-ed an early goal then it createda worrying situation whichcould lead to a heavy defeat. Ina similar situation now, theteam is calm and confidentknowing that they can comeback into any game. I amdelighted to see that the team haskicked on and reached anotherlevel since my time.”
Under Hawgood, who was
in charge of the women’s teamin two separate stints, Indiaqualified for the 2016 RioOlympics after 36 years.
Hawgood feels lack ofmatches leading up to theOlympics due to the Covid-19pandemic might be a cause ofconcern for teams like India,Australia and Argentina unliketheir European counterparts.
“It’s going to be tough on theteams from the southern hemi-sphere like Australia, India and
Argentina because they haven’tplayed much hockey recently.
“The European teams haveall been playing regular testgames amongst each other sothey have that match practice.On the other hand, they willhave the surprise factor in theirfavour since no one will knowwhat tactics these teams havebeen up to,” he said.
“Anything is possible in thefirst two games and any teamcan come out with a win.”
Indian women’s hockey team has becomementally tough under Marijne: Hawgood
“We did well. We conceded a goalstraight away and struggled, but then wedominated the game. The lads werewonderful, I don’t know what more tosay. It’s important for all the people andall the fans.”
—Roberto Mancini(Italy coach)
“Penalties is the worst feeling in theworld when you lose. Anyone canmiss a penalty. We went through aprocess. The boys did everything theycould, it just wasn’t our night.”
—Harry Kane(England captain)
“It’s an incredible night. If I am the bestplayer of the tournament it is alsothanks to (Leonardo) Bonucci andChiellini. We were extraordinary, we arevery happy.”
—Gianluigi Donnarumma(Italy goalkeeper)
AFP n LONDON
Gareth Southgate urged England to usethe pain of their Euro 2020 final defeat
against Italy to fuel success in the future asthe Three Lions boss accepted the blame fortheir heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat.
England failed to win the Euros asMarcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and BukayoSaka all missed penalties on Sunday.
Southgate gambled by sending on latesubstitutes Rashford and Sancho specifical-ly for their prowess from the spot.
The move backfired as England sufferedthe latest in a long line of bitter shoot-outdefeats at major tournaments.
“That is my responsibility. I chose theguys to take the kicks. I told the players thatnobody is on their own in that situation,”Southgate said.
“It is my decision to give Saka that penal-ty. That is totally my responsibility. It is not
him or Marcus or Jadon.“Marcus and Jadon have been by far the
best in the lead-in. It was a gamble (to bringthem on), but if we gamble earlier we maybelose the game in extra time.”
England had actually won their last twopenalty shoot-outs against Colombia at the2018 World Cup and against Switzerland inthe 2019 Nations League.
But even those successes weren’t enoughto keep Southgate’s players from losing theirnerve when the stakes were highest.
Jordan Pickford did his part with twosaves and Southgate insisted he had noregrets about his picks for the penalty tak-ers. “We’ve tracked them, what they’ve donewith their clubs over a long period of timeand what they’ve shown in training as well,”Southgate said.
“That’s the process that worked for usin Russia and in the Nations League.Tonight it didn't quite work.”
Southgate takes blame for penalty gamble
AFP n LONDON
England’s Football Association said itwas ‘appalled’ and ‘disgusted’ after
racist trolls targeted Marcus Rashford,Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka followingSunday’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
All three players missed from the spotas Italy clinched the penalty shoot-out 3-2 after extra time.
“We’re disgusted that some of oursquad —who have given everything forthe shirt this summer — have been sub-jected to discriminatory abuse onlineafter tonight’s game,” the England FAtweeted.
“We stand with our players.”A separate statement said: “The FA
strongly condemns all forms of dis-crimination and is appalled by the onlineracism that has been aimed at some ofour England players on social media.
“We could not be clearer that anyonebehind such disgusting behaviour is notwelcome in following the team.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said itwas investigating the ‘offensive andracist’ posts.
"We are aware of a number of offen-sive and racist social media commentsbeing directed towards footballers follow-ing the #Euro2020 final,” it said in a tweet.
“This abuse is totally unacceptable,it will not be tolerated and it will be inves-tigated."
Rashford, Sanchoand Saka hit byracist abuse
England's manager Gareth Southgate, right, hugsBukayo Saka after the penalty shootout AP
Italy's team celebrates with the trophy on the podium after winning the Euro 2020 championship final between England and Italy at Wembley stadium in London on Sunday AP
I believe I’m the best: Novak
Donnarumma savestwo penalties in
shoot-out to helpAzzurri win Euro title
IT’SCOMING
ROME
IT’SCOMING
ROME
ctor KiranAbbavaram ofRaju Garu RaniVaaru fame’supcoming projectSR
Kalyanamandapam is set torelease in theatres soon.
The makers of the filmreleased a statement to sharenews about the same. Themakers also revealed therelease date of the film. Thetweet read: “Unveiling themandapam worldwide onAugust 6th,#SRKalyanamandapam is allready to entertain you.Experience it only in the-atres!!! #SRK.”
The film has actressPriyanka Jawalkar ofGamanam fame, playing the
female lead. ActorsSai Kumar and AnilGeela are said to beplaying key roles inthe film. The plotof the film revolvesaround love storiesthat are set in thebackdrop ofRayalaseemaregion.
The music direc-tor of SRKalyanamandapamis ChaitanBharadwaj. Twosongs from the filmChoosale Kallaraa, sung bySid Sriram, and ChukkalaChunni sung by AnuragKulkarni, have already goneviral, making fans eagerlyawait the film’s release.
12
Vijayawada Tuesday July 13, 2021 tollywood
Ravi Teja set to playa mass-y officer
avi Teja hasteamed up withdebutant directorSarth Mandavafor his next, amassy film.
The actor was awestruckby the content and couldn’tsay no to the project.
After much anticipation,the team has unveiled thetitle and also the first lookposter of the film which isbeing produced bySudhakar Cherukuri onSLV Cinemas LLP and RTTeamworks.
The film’s productionhouse SLV Cinemas took toTwitter to share the firstlook. “Meet the MASSiestofficer RAMA RAO. #RT68titled as#RamaRaoOnDuty,” thetweet read.
In the first look poster ofRamarao On Duty, RaviTeja is seen in an angry yetstylish avatar. He is at amagistrate’s office, takingoath as a government offi-
cer. Reportedly, the actorplays a Mandal RevenueOfficer in the movie.
It is being said that RaviTeja lost some weight forthe role, as he looks fit anddashing in the poster.
In the background, onecan see a government vehi-cle which is allotted to RaviTeja who has taken chargeas an officer at an executivemagistrate office.
It’s a first-of-its-kindcharacter for Ravi Teja whowill be seen in a two shadedrole. The other look of theactor in the film will berevealed soon.
Tipped to be a uniquethriller laced with all thecommercial elements, thefilm’s story is based on trueincidents.
Sam CS has composedthe music of the film thatalso stars DivyanshaKaushik, of Majili fame, asthe female lead.
The shooting is currentlyunderway in Hyderabad.
ctors Suriya andAparnaBalamurali’sblockbuster filmSoorarai Pottru(Aakaasam Nee
Haddura in Telugu), will beremade in Hindi. Suriyamade the announcement onTwitter on Monday. TheHindi version will be direct-ed by the original directorSudha Kongara and will beproduced by AbundantiaEntertainment of Sherni,Shakuntala Devi and Airliftfame. Actor Suriya said,“Excited to announce our
association with@Abundantia_Ent lead by@vikramix for#SooraraiPottru in Hindi,Directed by #SudhaKongara.(sic)”
The cast and crew for theBollywood remake are yet tobe announced. The film ispartially based on Simply Fly,the biography of Captain GRGopinath, who is thefounder of Air Deccan. TheTamil film was produced byactor Suriya’s home banner2D Entertainment and co-produced by Guneet Monga’sSikhya Entertainment.
Currently, Sudha Kongarais working on the Hindiscript. “I was instantly drawnto the story of SooraraiPottru, the story of CaptainGopinath, an adventurousmaverick and an inspiringentrepreneur who epito-mised the New India of the90s. I’m grateful for all thelove we have received so farand look forward to tellingthis unique and amazingstory in Hindi,” the directorsaid in a statement.
The original moviereceived acclaim fromboth critics and audi-
ences and went on to becomeone of the biggest hits inactor Suriya’s career.However, owing to theCovid-19 pandemic, the film
had to
be released on an OTT plat-form last year. The film,amongst 366 Indian films ina contest, was selected to besent for the Best Picture cate-gory at the Academy Awards.However, the film did not getthe nomination. The moviewas also screened at the 24thShanghai International FilmFestival. Soorarai Pottru was
released on Amazon PrimeVideo on November 12.
The spotlight had turnedonto the film recently, after itreceived a rating of 9.1 inIMDB, an online databasethat collects and providesinformation related to films,television shows, videogames, and other streamingcontent.
Suriya's AakaasamNee Haddura to be
remade in HindiFCEntertainments,one of the lead-ing distributorsin Telugu filmindustry, which
has distributed hit movieslike Arjun Reddy, andAgent Sai SrinivasaAthreya, among others, isall set to bankroll its firstconcept-based periodmovie titled Skylab starringSatyadev and NithyaMenen.
The makers of Skylabtook to Twitter to release aposter.
Touted to be a comicperiod drama, it will haveSatyadev Kancharana,Nithya Menen, and RahulRamakrishna in the leadroles. Sources close to themakers revealed that thestory is set in the year
1979, with its main back-drop being Skylab, the firstUnited States space stationthat was launched byNASA in 1970s.
This Satyadev andNithya Menen-starrer isbeing helmed by VishvakKhanderao, who has alsowritten the screenplay anddialogues. Aditya Javvadi ishandling the cinematogra-phy, Raviteja Girijala is tak-ing care of editing,Prashant R Vihari is scor-ing the music andNagarjuna Thallapalli andDhanush Nayanar are han-dling the sound designdepartment.
On the other side,Nithya Menen is also partof a Malayalam film titledAaram Thirukalpana,which is directed by AjayDevaloka.
ctor Sudheer Babuwho is riding high onthe success of OTTrelease V, hasannounced his new
film on Monday. The film will bedirected by actor and writerHarsha Vardhan.
Announcing the same,Sudheer Babu wrote onInstagram, “#Sudheer15 &@SVCLLP #ProdNo5 is in talent-ed hands of #HarshaVardhan ...This is going to be a challengingjourney for me and the team ...Safe to say that, it’s something
that I haven’t tried yet#NarayanDasNarang#PuskurRamMohanRoa.” Detailsrelated to the film are still underwraps.
Talking about his other works,the actor's upcoming filmincludes Sridevi Soda Centre,directed by Karuna Kumar. Thefilm also stars actress Anandhi.
Last year, Sudheer was seen inthe Nani-starrer, V, which wasreleased globally on an OTT.Sudheer had an action avatar asa rugged cop in the film, whichreceived mixed response.
Agent shoot beginskhil Akkineni isleaving no stoneunturned to showhis power at thebox office.Currently, he is
starring in two differentgenre entertainers, a roman-tic entertainer called theMost Eligible Bachelor, inwhich he is paired oppositeactress Pooja Hegde underthe direction of BommarilluBhaskar, and a spy thrillerAgent under the direction ofSurender Reddy.
Akhil’s Agent is gaining allthe attention for the actor’sstunning makeover. OnMonday the makers havebegun shooting the film.Akhil flaunted his eight-pack
abs and sharing the snap,producer Anil Sunkararevealed Akhil’s promise todirector Surender Reddy whochallenged him. Akhil postedon Twitter: “365 days back, Iwas challenged byDirSurender to transformmyself mentally and physi-cally. Sir, the fire you haveignited in me will burn furi-ously throughout this film. Ipromise you that.”
Sakshi Vaidya is the femalelead in the film which fea-tures Malayalm starsMammootty and FahadFaasil in key roles. AnilSunkara is producing thefilm on AK Entertainmentsand the story is provided byVakkantam Vamsi.
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Nithya Menen-Satyadev's Skylabposter wows fans
Sudheer Babu's nextwith Harsha Vardhan
SR Kalyanamandapam setto release on August 6
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