12 July, 2022|Tuesday | Volume No:10| Issue No:125 Pages: 8+8 www.indianchronicle.com Published from : Ranga Reddy (Telangana State) 3 INDIAN CHRONICLE Goddess Kalis blessings are with country: PM Modi GNS News Agency, July 11 Virtually addressing the centenary celebrations of Swami Atmasthananda, organised by Ramakrishna Mis- sion here, the prime minister said Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa had a vision of Goddess Kali and believed that everything was pervaded by her consciousness.Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa was one such saint who had a vision of Maa Kali, who had surrendered his whole being at the feet of Maa Kali.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said blessings of God- dess Kali are always with the country, which is moving ahead with spiritual energy for the welfare of the world.Virtually addressing the centenary celebrations of Swami Atmasthananda, organized by Ramakrishna Mis- sion here, the prime minister said Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa had a vision of Goddess Kali and believed that everything was pervaded by her consciousness.''Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa was one such saint who had a vision of Maa Kali, who had surrendered his whole being at the feet of Maa Kali. He used to say this whole world, everything is pervaded by the consciousness of the Goddess. This consciousness is visible in the Kali Puja of Bengal. This consciousness is visible in the faith of Bengal and the country,'' Modi said.The PM's speech came in the backdrop of a recent controversy that was created when TMC MP Mahua Moitra, at a conclave, recently said that she had every right as an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting deity, as each person had his or her unique way of offering prayers.She was responding to a question in connection with the outrage over a film poster, which shows a woman dressed as the deity smoking a cigarette and holding a pride flag.Modi, dur- ing his address, also said, ''Whenever I had the opportu- nity, I visited Belur Math and the (Dakhineshwar) Kali temple (across the river); it is natural to feel a connec- tion. When your faith and beliefs are pure, the power (Goddess) herself shows you the way. The limitless blessings of Maa Kali are always with India. The country is moving ahead with this spiritual energy for the world's welfare.'' Lauding the Ramakrishna Mission for its ser- vice to humanity, Modi said its saints are known as mes- sengers of national unity in the country and are repre- sentatives of Indian culture abroad.''Our sages have shown us that when our thoughts are broad, we are never alone in our endeavors. You will see that many such saints of India have fulfilled resolutions with zero re- sources. The success of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is an example that the country had fulfilled resolutions as the convictions were firm. Lot of people didn't believe that it could be a success,'' he said.He also pointed out that the country had administered around 200 crore vaccine doses in the last one-and-a-half years, which proves that "if convictions are pure, nothing is unachievable".''Two years ago, several people had calculated how long it would take to vaccinate the country's people. But in the last one-and-a-half years, we have reached near the 200 crore milestone. It proves nothing is unachievable. Even when there are roadblocks, you can still find a way,'' he said. Supreme Court awards four months prison to Vijaya Mallya in contempt case Sri Lanka parties scramble to form all party govt. 2 gates each of Osmansagar, Himayatsagar lifted by one foot Hyderabad: Following the heavy rain lashing the city, two gates each of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar were lifted by one feet on Sunday evening.The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) after monitoring the water levels at the two reservoirs, lifted the gates in anticipation of heavy inflows due to rain. HMWS&SB Managing Director Dana Kishore said, "people in downstream areas of the twin reservoirs should be alert and the line departments, including the police, Revenue, GHMC, should take necessary measures, as water will be released into Musi River," he said. JNTU-H, OU tell colleges to put off exams Hyderabad: The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad intimated all its constituent and affiliated colleges to postpone the B Tech/B Pharm IV Year II semester regular and supplementary examinations of the university scheduled on July 11 and B Tech/B Pharm IV year I semester supplementary examinations on July 12, in view of three-day holidays for educational institutions announced by the State government, following heavy rain. The JNTU-H said the rescheduled dates will be intimated by the university soon. However, the remaining university examinations scheduled from July 16 will be conducted as per the schedule already given. Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy praises PM Modis services to the nation GNS News Agency, July 11 The apex court said Vijay Mallya deserves impris- onment as he has neither shown remorse nor tendered an apologyThe Supreme Court on July 11 sentenced fu- gitive businessman Vijay Mallya to four months' impris- onment and ?2,000 fine almost five years after he was found guilty of contempt of court.The apex court had found Mallya guilty of contempt on May 9, 2017, for willful dis- obedience of its order to come clean about his assets. He had not disclosed $40 million received from British liquor major Diageo Plc following his resignation as Chairman of United Spirits Limited in February 2016.Mallya had disbursed the transaction amount to beneficiaries, including his immediate family members.A Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit noted that Mallya showed neither remorse nor tendered an apology for his conduct over the years for his actions."Considering the fact that the contemnor [Mallya] did not show any remorse nor tender any apology for his conduct, we impose sentence of four months and fine of ?2000," Justice Lalit read out from the judgment.The court ordered that the fine amount should be deposited by Mallya with the Supreme Court registry in four weeks. If not, he would be sentenced to a further imprisonment of two months.The transaction with Diageo, referred to in the May 2017 judgment has been declared "void and inoperative"."We direct that the trans- action referred to in the judgment of May 9, 2017, in terms of which the amount of $40 million was disbursed to the beneficiaries is void and inoperative," the court pronounced.The court directed that Mallya and his ben- eficiaries are bound to deposit the amount received by them, along with 8% interest per annum, with the recov- ery officer concerned within four weeks.If the amount is not deposited within the stipulated period, the recovery officer would take appropriate proceedings for the recov- ery of the money. The Government of India and its agen- cies should provide assistance and complete coopera- tion to the recovery exercise.Justifying the "adequate" punishment of Mallya and directions to recover the amount, the court said these steps were necessary to "maintain the majesty of law" and also to "set nought the advantages secured by him and anyone claiming under him".The court said its directions were meant to ensure that the "amounts in question are available in the execu- tion of decrees passed in the recovery proceedings concerned".While reserving the case for judgment in March, the Supreme Court had said it had been "dead- KTR alerts district administration in the wake of heavy rain forecast t GNS News Agency, July 11 Rajanna-Sircilla: Municipal Administration and Ur- ban Development Minister, KT Rama Rao asked the dis- trict administration officials to be alert and be available in the district headquarters in the wake of heavy rain forecast.Rama Rao on Monday spoke to the Collector Anurag Jayanthi and Superintendent of Police Rahul Hegde over phone and enquired about the rain situation in the district and precautionary measures taken to avert untoward incidents.The minister wanted the officials to take all precautionary measures to avert any untoward incidents at Mid Manair, Upper Manair, Ananthagiri projects and Manair river.Precautionary measures should also be taken at streams, rivulets, ponds and check dams. Roads and Buildings department officials should be more alert about road bridges, culverts, and bridges.Revenu, Panchayatraj, Irrigation, Electricity, Po- lice, and Health department officials should work with coordination at ground level. Ground level Electricity de- partment staff should alert the people about chopped off current wires, tilted poles and transformers.Since holi- days were declared for schools, there was a possibility for more number of devotees to visit vemulawada temple. So, officials should take all precautionary steps to avert any untoward incidents in the shrine.Stating that there was no chance for children to come out from houses since holidays were declared for schools, Rama Rao appealed the people not to come out from houses and be alert. walled" about the proceedings going on in the United Kingdom against Mallya, who was behaving like a "free person" in that country."We have said there are some proceedings going on in the U.K. We don't know the de- tails of those proceedings, what is its nature or the relief sought for in those proceedings, what is even the num- ber of those proceedings... Nothing. We have been sim- ply told that something is pending. What is the foresee- able future by which time it will be concluded, even in which court it is pending... We don't know... Nothing. It is like a dead wall. So how long can we go on..." Justice Lalit, heading a three-judge Bench, had observed.The court's amicus curiae and senior advocate Jaideep Gupta had said Mallya should not only be punished but the top court should also sequester his assets.The amicus said the court had given ample opportunity to Mallya to at least present his defence through a counsel. The businessman has not done so.On August 30, 2020, the apex court had dismissed Mallya's review pe- tition against the 2017 verdict of contempt.Mallya had informed the court that he had no control over the $40 million as he had already disbursed it among his three adult children, who were U.S. citizens.The consortium of banks to which Mallya owed money had sought contempt action against him had argued that the disbursal of the $40 million among his three children was in direct viola- tion of a standing Karnataka High Court order that none of his assets should be “alienated, disposed of or be subjected to the creation of third party rights”. GNS News Agency, July 11 Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader and Tamil Nadu State co-incharge Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy on Friday lashed out at the State TRS and Congress leaders for playing match-fixing games hand-in-glove with the AIMIM to run venomous propaganda against the Centre and the BJP.Addressing the media here, he said the strength of the BJP was growing day by day in Telangana. "The Op- position parties are not able to bear the response people had given to the public meeting of PM Narendra Modi, on the concluding day of the recently held the National Ex- ecutive meeting.He said that Modi during his speech had only mentioned what the Centre had done and what it wished to do for development of Telangana. "However, the TRS ministers and the CM have been making base- less allegations. "The Congress is daydreaming of com- ing to power; it is engaged in false propaganda to mis- lead people", he asserted.Reddy said people are fed up with the false promises made by KCR and his vote-bank politics joining hands with the MIM, and the Congress in the name of 'golden Telangana'.He said people of the State are waiting for elections to defeat the TRS and to teach it a lesson.Ponguleti took strong objection to alle- gations of TRS and Congress that the Centre has scrapped LPG subsidy. He asked Ministers KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao to explain why the government had hiked electricity tariff, RTC fares and registration charges.He said Harish Rao too was engaged in false propaganda and asked whether starting Ramagundam Fertilizer factory in Telangana amounts to the Centre ne- glecting the State.He said the Centre had only asked States to give their view on a proposal to install meters to agriculture electricity connections. But, some TRS min- isters are spreading false propaganda claiming that the Centre is insisting to fix electric meters to the agriculture connections.Dubbing the Congress, a sinking boat, he said the TPCC chief, who once called Congress presi- dent Sonia Gandhi a 'Balidevatha', was daydream of com- ing to power in Telangana."Farmers in Telangana are facing a tough time with the onset of monsoon and start- ing of agriculture season. However, the CM chair the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) meeting. There is no planning for the agriculture season. But, the TRS chief and ministers have all the time to play politics from morn- ing to night throwing the administration to winds, he criticised.Reddy demanded an answer from the State government and Ministers KTR and Harish Rao on the Commissioner of Tenders raising a red flag on 100 per cent overestimated tenders the contractors submitted for executing the 'Mana Vuru-Mana Badi' works. GNS News Agency, July 11 Political parties in Sri Lanka are scrambling to form an all-party government, a day after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged to resign in the wake of historic citizens’ protest.Sri Lankans are living through a harrowing eco- nomic collapse, with accessing essentials such as fuel, food, and medicines becoming an everyday battleIn a culmination of people's agitations spanning months, massive crowds on Saturday thronged Colombo’s sea- front, where anti-government protests persisted for three months over the government’s failure to arrest or ad- dress the long-simmering crisis.Demonstrators stormed the Presidential palace, the Secretariat, and the official residence of the Prime Minister, and occu- pied the country’s seats of power, in a rare display of public fury. Arsonists torched Mr. Wickremesinghe’s private residence. The escalation of citizens’ anger pushed the top two leaders to agree to step down, though neither has formally handed in his resignation. Mr. Gotabaya has informed the Speaker that he will step down on July 13. Five Cabinet Ministers have an- nounced their resignation since. Party leaders met on Saturday in a discussion convened by the Speaker. They sought the immediate resignation of the President and the Prime Minister, agreed that Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena be made Acting President as per the Constitution, after which Parliament be convened to elect a President from among its members, to pave way for an interim, all- party government. A flurry of political meetings followed on Sunday. With the Rajapaksas still holding a parliamentary majority, it is not a straightforward choice for the main Opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Power), which has nearly 50 seats in the 225-member House. Two women dead in Cloudburst tragedy at Amarnath GNS News Agency, July 11 In an unfortunate incident, two Telugu women lost their lives in the cloudburst tragedy of Amarnath Yatra. The officials have confirmed that women named Sudha and Parvati from Rajahmundry in East Godavari district died in the flash flood that occurred at Amarnath on the 8th of this month. Sudha's body was found by husband Vijay Kiran. Dwarka Expressway to be operational in 2023: Gadkari GNS News Agency, July 11 The Dwarka Expressway, also known as the North- ern Peripheral Road, will be operational in 2023 and will ease traffic congestion on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.Taking to Twitter, Gadkari said Dwarka Expressway, which is be- ing developed as the first elevated urban expressway in India, will reduce pressure on the Delhi-Gurugram Ex- pressway and arterial roads that experience heavy traf- fic, primarily from the commuters of West Delhi.Delhi- Gurugram Expressway is a part of the Delhi-Jaipur- Ahmedabad-Mumbai arm of the Golden Quadrilateral.The road transport and highways minister said 50-60 percent of the traffic on National Highway-8 will be diverted onto the new expressway, thereby im- proving traffic movement towards Sohna Road and Golf Course Road.Once operational in 2023, it shall im- mensely help reduce air pollution in Delhi-NCR as well, he added. The minister said the expressway is a 16-lane ac- cess-controlled highway with the provision of a minimum 3-lane service road on both sides.Gadkari said the 29- km expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana is being developed at a total cost of Rs 9,000 crore. About 19 km of the expressway stretch falls in Haryana while the remaining 10 km is in Delhi.Gadkari said Dwarka Ex- pressway will have 4 multi-level inter- changes (tunnel/un- derpasses, at-grade road, elevated flyover, and flyover above flyover) at major junctions in- cluding the con- struction of the long- est (3.6 km) and widest (8-lane) ur- ban road tunnel in India.The express- way begins from Shiv-Murti on NH-8 (Delhi.
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12 July, 2022|Tuesday | Volume No:10| Issue No:125 Pages: 8+8 www.indianchronicle.com Published from : Ranga Reddy (Telangana State) 3
INDIAN CHRONICLE
Goddess Kalis blessings are with country: PM Modi
GNS News Agency, July 11Virtually addressing the centenary celebrations of
Swami Atmasthananda, organised by Ramakrishna Mis-sion here, the prime minister said Swami RamakrishnaParamahansa had a vision of Goddess Kali and believedthat everything was pervaded by herconsciousness.Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa wasone such saint who had a vision of Maa Kali, who hadsurrendered his whole being at the feet of Maa Kali.PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on Sunday said blessings of God-
dess Kali are always with the country, which is movingahead with spiritual energy for the welfare of theworld.Virtually addressing the centenary celebrations ofSwami Atmasthananda, organized by Ramakrishna Mis-sion here, the prime minister said Swami RamakrishnaParamahansa had a vision of Goddess Kali and believedthat everything was pervaded by herconsciousness.''Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa wasone such saint who had a vision of Maa Kali, who hadsurrendered his whole being at the feet of Maa Kali. Heused to say this whole world, everything is pervaded bythe consciousness of the Goddess. This consciousnessis visible in the Kali Puja of Bengal. This consciousnessis visible in the faith of Bengal and the country,'' Modisaid.The PM's speech came in the backdrop of a recentcontroversy that was created when TMC MP Mahua Moitra,at a conclave, recently said that she had every right as anindividual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eatingand alcohol-accepting deity, as each person had his orher unique way of offering prayers.She was respondingto a question in connection with the outrage over a filmposter, which shows a woman dressed as the deitysmoking a cigarette and holding a pride flag.Modi, dur-ing his address, also said, ''Whenever I had the opportu-nity, I visited Belur Math and the (Dakhineshwar) Kali
temple (across the river); it is natural to feel a connec-tion. When your faith and beliefs are pure, the power(Goddess) herself shows you the way. The limitlessblessings of Maa Kali are always with India. The countryis moving ahead with this spiritual energy for the world'swelfare.'' Lauding the Ramakrishna Mission for its ser-vice to humanity, Modi said its saints are known as mes-sengers of national unity in the country and are repre-sentatives of Indian culture abroad.''Our sages haveshown us that when our thoughts are broad, we are neveralone in our endeavors. You will see that many suchsaints of India have fulfilled resolutions with zero re-sources. The success of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is anexample that the country had fulfilled resolutions as theconvictions were firm. Lot of people didn't believe that itcould be a success,'' he said.He also pointed out thatthe country had administered around 200 crore vaccinedoses in the last one-and-a-half years, which proves that"if convictions are pure, nothing is unachievable".''Twoyears ago, several people had calculated how long itwould take to vaccinate the country's people. But in thelast one-and-a-half years, we have reached near the 200crore milestone. It proves nothing is unachievable. Evenwhen there are roadblocks, you can still find a way,'' hesaid.
Supreme Court awards four monthsprison to Vijaya Mallya in contempt case
Sri Lanka parties scrambleto form all party govt.
2 gates each of Osmansagar,Himayatsagar lifted by one foot
Hyderabad: Following the heavy rain lashing the city, two gates each of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar werelifted by one feet on Sunday evening.The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB)after monitoring the water levels at the two reservoirs, lifted the gates in anticipation of heavy inflows due to rain.HMWS&SB Managing Director Dana Kishore said, "people in downstream areas of the twin reservoirs should bealert and the line departments, including the police, Revenue, GHMC, should take necessary measures, as waterwill be released into Musi River," he said.
JNTU-H, OU tell colleges to put off examsHyderabad: The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad intimated all its constituent and
affiliated colleges to postpone the B Tech/B Pharm IV Year II semester regular and supplementary examinationsof the university scheduled on July 11 and B Tech/B Pharm IV year I semester supplementary examinations onJuly 12, in view of three-day holidays for educational institutions announced by the State government, followingheavy rain.
The JNTU-H said the rescheduled dates will be intimated by the university soon. However, the remaininguniversity examinations scheduled from July 16 will be conducted as per the schedule already given.
Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddypraises PM Modis services
to the nation GNS News Agency, July 11The apex court said Vijay Mallya deserves impris-
onment as he has neither shown remorse nor tenderedan apologyThe Supreme Court on July 11 sentenced fu-gitive businessman Vijay Mallya to four months' impris-onment and ?2,000 fine almost five years after he wasfound guilty of contempt of court.The apex court had foundMallya guilty of contempt on May 9, 2017, for willful dis-obedience of its order to come clean about his assets.He had not disclosed $40 million received from Britishliquor major Diageo Plc following his resignation asChairman of United Spirits Limited in February2016.Mallya had disbursed the transaction amount tobeneficiaries, including his immediate family members.ABench led by Justice U.U. Lalit noted that Mallya showedneither remorse nor tendered an apology for his conductover the years for his actions."Considering the fact thatthe contemnor [Mallya] did not show any remorse nortender any apology for his conduct, we impose sentenceof four months and fine of ?2000," Justice Lalit read outfrom the judgment.The court ordered that the fine amountshould be deposited by Mallya with the Supreme Courtregistry in four weeks. If not, he would be sentenced to afurther imprisonment of two months.The transaction withDiageo, referred to in the May 2017 judgment has beendeclared "void and inoperative"."We direct that the trans-action referred to in the judgment of May 9, 2017, in termsof which the amount of $40 million was disbursed to thebeneficiaries is void and inoperative," the courtpronounced.The court directed that Mallya and his ben-eficiaries are bound to deposit the amount received bythem, along with 8% interest per annum, with the recov-ery officer concerned within four weeks.If the amount isnot deposited within the stipulated period, the recoveryofficer would take appropriate proceedings for the recov-ery of the money. The Government of India and its agen-cies should provide assistance and complete coopera-tion to the recovery exercise.Justifying the "adequate"punishment of Mallya and directions to recover theamount, the court said these steps were necessary to"maintain the majesty of law" and also to "set nought theadvantages secured by him and anyone claiming underhim".The court said its directions were meant to ensurethat the "amounts in question are available in the execu-tion of decrees passed in the recovery proceedingsconcerned".While reserving the case for judgment inMarch, the Supreme Court had said it had been "dead-
KTR alerts districtadministration in the wake of
heavy rain forecastt GNS News Agency, July 11Rajanna-Sircilla: Municipal Administration and Ur-
ban Development Minister, KT Rama Rao asked the dis-trict administration officials to be alert and be available inthe district headquarters in the wake of heavy rainforecast.Rama Rao on Monday spoke to the CollectorAnurag Jayanthi and Superintendent of Police Rahul
Hegde over phone and enquired about the rain situationin the district and precautionary measures taken to avertuntoward incidents.The minister wanted the officials totake all precautionary measures to avert any untowardincidents at Mid Manair, Upper Manair, Ananthagiri projectsand Manair river.Precautionary measures should alsobe taken at streams, rivulets, ponds and check dams.Roads and Buildings department officials should bemore alert about road bridges, culverts, andbridges.Revenu, Panchayatraj, Irrigation, Electricity, Po-lice, and Health department officials should work withcoordination at ground level. Ground level Electricity de-partment staff should alert the people about chopped offcurrent wires, tilted poles and transformers.Since holi-days were declared for schools, there was a possibilityfor more number of devotees to visit vemulawada temple.So, officials should take all precautionary steps to avertany untoward incidents in the shrine.Stating that therewas no chance for children to come out from housessince holidays were declared for schools, Rama Raoappealed the people not to come out from houses andbe alert.
walled" about the proceedings going on in the UnitedKingdom against Mallya, who was behaving like a "freeperson" in that country."We have said there are someproceedings going on in the U.K. We don't know the de-tails of those proceedings, what is its nature or the reliefsought for in those proceedings, what is even the num-ber of those proceedings... Nothing. We have been sim-ply told that something is pending. What is the foresee-able future by which time it will be concluded, even inwhich court it is pending... We don't know... Nothing. It islike a dead wall. So how long can we go on..." JusticeLalit, heading a three-judge Bench, had observed.Thecourt's amicus curiae and senior advocate Jaideep Guptahad said Mallya should not only be punished but the topcourt should also sequester his assets.The amicus saidthe court had given ample opportunity to Mallya to at leastpresent his defence through a counsel.
The businessman has not done so.On August 30,2020, the apex court had dismissed Mallya's review pe-tition against the 2017 verdict of contempt.Mallya hadinformed the court that he had no control over the $40million as he had already disbursed it among his threeadult children, who were U.S. citizens.The consortium ofbanks to which Mallya owed money had sought contemptaction against him had argued that the disbursal of the$40 million among his three children was in direct viola-tion of a standing Karnataka High Court order that noneof his assets should be “alienated, disposed of or besubjected to the creation of third party rights”.
GNS News Agency, July 11Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader and Tamil Nadu State
co-incharge Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy on Friday lashedout at the State TRS and Congress leaders for playingmatch-fixing games hand-in-glove with the AIMIM to runvenomous propaganda against the Centre and theBJP.Addressing the media here, he said the strength ofthe BJP was growing day by day in Telangana. "The Op-position parties are not able to bear the response peoplehad given to the public meeting of PM Narendra Modi, onthe concluding day of the recently held the National Ex-ecutive meeting.He said that Modi during his speech hadonly mentioned what the Centre had done and what itwished to do for development of Telangana. "However,the TRS ministers and the CM have been making base-less allegations. "The Congress is daydreaming of com-ing to power; it is engaged in false propaganda to mis-lead people", he asserted.Reddy said people are fed upwith the false promises made by KCR and his vote-bankpolitics joining hands with the MIM, and the Congress inthe name of 'golden Telangana'.He said people of theState are waiting for elections to defeat the TRS and toteach it a lesson.Ponguleti took strong objection to alle-gations of TRS and Congress that the Centre hasscrapped LPG subsidy. He asked Ministers KT RamaRao and T Harish Rao to explain why the governmenthad hiked electricity tariff, RTC fares and registrationcharges.He said Harish Rao too was engaged in falsepropaganda and asked whether starting RamagundamFertilizer factory in Telangana amounts to the Centre ne-glecting the State.He said the Centre had only askedStates to give their view on a proposal to install meters toagriculture electricity connections. But, some TRS min-isters are spreading false propaganda claiming that theCentre is insisting to fix electric meters to the agricultureconnections.Dubbing the Congress, a sinking boat, hesaid the TPCC chief, who once called Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi a 'Balidevatha', was daydream of com-ing to power in Telangana."Farmers in Telangana arefacing a tough time with the onset of monsoon and start-ing of agriculture season. However, the CM chair the StateLevel Bankers' Committee (SLBC) meeting. There is noplanning for the agriculture season. But, the TRS chiefand ministers have all the time to play politics from morn-ing to night throwing the administration to winds, hecriticised.Reddy demanded an answer from the Stategovernment and Ministers KTR and Harish Rao on theCommissioner of Tenders raising a red flag on 100 percent overestimated tenders the contractors submittedfor executing the 'Mana Vuru-Mana Badi' works.
GNS News Agency, July 11Political parties in Sri Lanka are scrambling to form
an all-party government, a day after President GotabayaRajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghepledged to resign in the wake of historic citizens’protest.Sri Lankans are living through a harrowing eco-nomic collapse, with accessing essentials such as fuel,food, and medicines becoming an everyday battleIn aculmination of people's agitations spanning months,massive crowds on Saturday thronged Colombo’s sea-front, where anti-government protests persisted for three
months over the government’s failure to arrest or ad-dress the long-simmering crisis.Demonstratorsstormed the Presidential palace, the Secretariat, andthe official residence of the Prime Minister, and occu-pied the country’s seats of power, in a rare display ofpublic fury. Arsonists torched Mr. Wickremesinghe’sprivate residence. The escalation of citizens’ angerpushed the top two leaders to agree to step down,though neither has formally handed in his resignation.Mr. Gotabaya has informed the Speaker that he will stepdown on July 13. Five Cabinet Ministers have an-nounced their resignation since.
Party leaders met on Saturday in a discussionconvened by the Speaker. They sought the immediateresignation of the President and the Prime Minister,agreed that Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena bemade Acting President as per the Constitution, afterwhich Parliament be convened to elect a President fromamong its members, to pave way for an interim, all-party government. A flurry of political meetings followedon Sunday.
With the Rajapaksas still holding a parliamentarymajority, it is not a straightforward choice for the mainOpposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB orUnited People’s Power), which has nearly 50 seats inthe 225-member House.
Two women dead in Cloudbursttragedy at Amarnath
GNS News Agency, July 11In an unfortunate incident, two Telugu women lost
their lives in the cloudburst tragedy of Amarnath Yatra.The officials have confirmed that women named Sudhaand Parvati from Rajahmundry in East Godavari districtdied in the flash flood that occurred at Amarnath on the8th of this month. Sudha's body was found by husbandVijay Kiran.
Dwarka Expressway to beoperational in 2023: Gadkari GNS News Agency, July 11The Dwarka Expressway, also known as the North-
ern Peripheral Road, will be operational in 2023 and willease traffic congestion on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway,Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.Taking toTwitter, Gadkari said Dwarka Expressway, which is be-ing developed as the first elevated urban expressway inIndia, will reduce pressure on the Delhi-Gurugram Ex-pressway and arterial roads that experience heavy traf-fic, primarily from the commuters of West Delhi.Delhi-Gurugram Expressway is a part of the Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai arm of the GoldenQuadrilateral.The road transport and highways ministersaid 50-60 percent of the traffic on National Highway-8
will be diverted onto the new expressway, thereby im-proving traffic movement towards Sohna Road and GolfCourse Road.Once operational in 2023, it shall im-mensely help reduce air pollution in Delhi-NCR as well,he added.
The minister said the expressway is a 16-lane ac-cess-controlled highway with the provision of a minimum3-lane service road on both sides.Gadkari said the 29-km expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugramin Haryana is being developed at a total cost of Rs 9,000crore. About 19 km of the expressway stretch falls inHaryana while the remaining 10 km is in Delhi.Gadkarisaid Dwarka Ex-pressway will have 4multi-level inter-changes (tunnel/un-derpasses, at-graderoad, elevatedflyover, and flyoverabove flyover) atmajor junctions in-cluding the con-struction of the long-est (3.6 km) andwidest (8-lane) ur-ban road tunnel inIndia.The express-way begins fromShiv-Murti on NH-8(Delhi.
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Indian ChronicleEnglish Daily
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Life has been a battle, but itfailed to deter this single mother
GNS News Agency, July 11Sheela, 36, a woman conductor at Carmel convent,
was on her way to the school auditorium, when she sawthe tree fall. Hearing the cries of the children, she ran torescue them. She was helping out the trapped girls whena huge branch fell on her. Today her two children arealone as she struggles for every breath at the ICU.Sheelais a single mother to two teenagers, 15-year-oldTarandeep Singh and 18-year-old Jashanpreet Kaur. Thetwo were inconsolable when they learned about the mis-hap. Sheela is all they have in this world.A colleague andold friend of their mother sits with them and tells them to
pray.Sheela has been working at the school for the last10 years.“As her husband, who is jobless, would thrashher, and frequently come home drunk, she left him andwas raising her children alone,” says a colleague, whohas known Sheela for the last 20 years.“Despite beingthe sole bread-winner with a salary of Rs 8,000, of whichshe paid Rs 5,000 as rent, and so many other tensionson the family front, she would always remain in happyspirits,” says her colleague.When her daughter couldn’tclear Class X exams, she encouraged her to study athome and take the exam.“She would have deposited thefees of her children yesterday had the tree not come crash-ing down.”Sheela didn’t have an easy life but she wasdetermined to make the most of her life and that of herchildren. She would rise before the sun at 4 am so thatshe could complete her household work and board theschool bus at 6 am. Her work included helping childrenboard and disembark, besides any other work assignedto her. She would finally reach home around 4 pm. thewoman conductors-cum-attendants were heading to theirbuses to have their lunch when they were asked to ar-range chairs in the auditorium for an“She made the mostdelicious ‘karela ki sabji’ and she had told us she hadgot them for us along with five ‘chapattis’,” recounts an-other fellow attendant.The Covid years were particularlyhard on Sheela. “There were days when she had justone meal a day. And now that it was life as usual, shewas making plans for her kids.”
New public speaking programme for DelhiGovt school students to begin this month
GNS News Agency, July 11A new programme to enhance the ability of students
to express themselves will be implemented in all Delhigovernment schools from this month, according to the
Directorate of Education (DoE).The DoE says the aim ofProject Voices is “creating a safe space for studentswhere they can practice sharing their thoughts withouthesitation or inhibition at a common platform at schoollevel and beyond. It is an endeavour to encourage stu-dents to develop a skill-set in fearlessly articulating theiropinions in front of others.”Students will also be encour-aged to participate in inter-school competitions such asModel United Nations.The primary public speaking ac-tivities under this programme will be debating, extem-pore speech, and a spelling bee. By dividing studentsinto three grade groups—3 to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 to 12—theproject will have three phases of competitions in thesethree activities. The competitions will be in both Englishand Hindi.Phase 1 will be intra-school competitions andphase 2 will be zonal competitions with the first-rankholders in each activity and age category from eachschool. Phase 3 will be a state-level competition with thefirst-rank holders from each zone.
MCD to give inert soil at landfillsites to public free of cost
GNS News Agency, July 11A senior official of the civic body said that there are
three landfill sites in the city where the MCD is working ina time-bound manner to process the mounds of gar-bage lying. (Express Photo/File)The Municipal Corpora-tion of Delhi (MCD) has decided to give free of cost theinert soil produced at its three landfill sites to the publicso that it can be used for filling low-lying areas.A seniorofficial of the civic body said that there are three landfillsites in the city where the MCD is working in a time-bound manner to process the mounds of garbagelying.“The MCD has deployed trommel machines at land-fill sites which are processing legacy waste by biomining.After the processing of waste through biomining, a lot ofinert soil is obtained. Inert is soil-like material which canbe used for the filling of low-lying areas,” he said andadded that people or agencies would have to deploy theirown means to lift the soil.“The MCD hopes that agenciesand the public at large will take full benefit of this scheme.It will be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. Whileit will help the corporation in disposing of a huge quantity
of inert soil lying at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfillsites and free up more space for the deployment oftrommel machines, it will also benefit the constructioncompanies and private individuals in filling up low-lyingareas before starting construction for no extra cost,” hesaid.Citizens and agencies may contact executive engi-neers Anurag Saxena (Okhla landfill site) -9717787873,Mula Singh (Ghazipur landfill site) – 9717787761 andSunil Dawar (Bhalswa landfill site) – 9717788415 forany queries on the matter.
19 Indian Navy officers complete Naval Technical
Staff Course GNS News Agency, July 11Navy, Pune, Indian NavyThe MILIT is a premier tri-
services technology training institute of the armed forces.The NTSC is an ab-initio course for the Naval ArmamentInspection Cadre (NAIC) officers.Nineteen officers of theIndian Navy graduated from the portals of Military Insti-tute of Technology (MILIT) after the successful comple-tion of the Naval Technical Staff Course (NTSC) in a gradu-ation ceremony held at Girinagar in Pune .The MILIT is apremier tri-services technology training institute of thearmed forces. The NTSC is an ab-initio course for theNaval Armament Inspection Cadre (NAIC) officers.ViceAdmiral Ajay Kochhar, Commandant, National DefenceAcademy (NDA), was the chief guest on the occasion. AirCommodore Shashi Kant, Deputy Commandant andchief instructor of MILIT, and senior faculty members fromthe three services were also present.Vice Admiral
Kochhar felicitated all the graduating officers and pre-sented awards to the meritorious student officers. Firstand second in overall order of merit were awarded toLieutenant Komal and Lieutenant Saurav respectively.The best allrounder was awarded to Lt Komal and thebest dissertation work for the course was awarded to LtAjay Nandal.In his valedictory address, Vice AdmiralKochhar stressed the requirement of absorbing, imbib-ing and applying the cutting-edge technologies in thenaval armament and comprehending the future trendsfor realising their applications in the modern-day battle-fields. He motivated the young officers to continually en-hance their technical knowledge and be abreast with theniche technologies to facilitate appropriate induction andproduction of armament and weapons in the Indian Navy,especially under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.At theend of the proceedings, Vice Admiral Kochhar praisedthe initiatives of the MILIT training team in continuouslystriving to enhance the course content and make it morerelevant in the present scenario. He advised all graduat-ing officers to gainfully utilise
PT assistant in Pune school arrestedfor ‘molesting’ 14 girl students
GNS News Agency, July 11According to the police, the accused has been ac-
cused of inappropriately touching the girl students dur-ing training sessions, passing inappropriate commentsand also threatening them. (File)Pune city police havearrested an 18-year-old physical training (PT) assistantat a local school for allegedly molesting as many as 14girls from classes 8 to 10 during PT sessions held onthe school premises between June 29 and July 6, offic-ers said.The PT assistant, who was hired on a tempo-rary basis by the school management, was placed un-der arrest by the police after a first information report(FIR) was registered on Friday. The police said they haveinvoked sections pertaining to molestation, among oth-ers, and provisions of the Protection of Children fromSexual Offences Act (Pocso) against the PTassistant.According to the police, the accused has beenaccused of inappropriately touching the girl studentsduring training sessions, passing inappropriate com-ments and also threatening them. The inspector incharge of the police station said, “The girls initially toldthe school principal. The school authorities then informedus. Multiple incidents of inappropriate behaviour have
taken place between June 29 and July 6, as reported bythe girl students of classes 8 to 10. Immediately after theFIR was registered, the PT assistant was placed underarrest and has been remanded in police custody. Fur-ther probe is on.”Police officers said they will be speak-ing to students to find out if the accused victimised anyother girl. “We are in touch with the school authoritieswho are helping us in conducting the probe in a sensi-tive manner. We are talking to them about taking effortson sensitising students on this issue,” an officer said.
Man arrested for allegedly rapingdaughter in Rajasthan
GNS News Agency, July 11The accused was detained and arrested on Thurs-
day after interrogation and was sent to judicial custodyby a local court . A man was arrested for allegedly rapinghis minor daughter in the Hanumangarh district ofRajasthan.The teenage victim alleged in an FIR regis-tered on July 4 that her father had been raping her for oneand a half years.“When her mother died, she was around
13 years old. As per theFIR, the accused fatherhad been raping herfor one and a halfyears. When she re-sisted and threatenedto tell this to grand-mother and maternaluncle, the accused
threatened to kill her,” SP Hanumangarh Ajay Singhsaid.Recently, her uncle took her to his home and thereshe narrated her ordeal to him. The girl along with heruncle reached Pallu police station and filed a complaint.
Building collapses in Shimla,orange alert issued for 8 dists
GNS News Agency, July 11Shimla floodThe weather department had earlier
issued orange alert for specific districts anticipating heavyrainfall and thunderstorms. Four days ago, four peoplewere washed away in Manikarna and a person died dueto a landslide in Shimla due to heavy rains.A three-storeybuilding in Chopal market in Shimla district collapsedaround 12.30 pm on Saturday afternoon after it devel-oped cracks, a senior state disaster management offi-cial said.However, no loss of life was reported as thebuilding was vacated before it collapsed, said an officialfrom Chopal police station. “There were nearly sevenpeople inside the building when the windows startedcracking. The building was immediately vacated and thepeople in the vicinity were also alerted. The exact causeof the collapse will be determined by the engineers. Nocomplaint has been received so far,” the official added.Invideos of the incident, the building can be seen entirelygiving way towards the valley. A huge mound of debrisand a cloud of dust could be seen at the spot where thebuilding stood. The building collapsed within a span 2-3seconds. However, officials suspect that the building’s
foundation weakened which possibly resulted in thecollapse.A private bank branch, a dhaba and anothercommercial establishment operated from the building.Due to weekend holiday, the bank was closed which pre-vented a large gathering of people and averted a biggertragedy, residents said. The weather department hadearlier issued orange alert for specific districts anticipat-ing heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. Four days ago, fourpeople were washed away in Manikarna and a persondied due to a landslide in Shimla due to heavy rains.
Three from Rajasthan among pilgrimskilled in Amarnath flash flood
GNS News Agency, July 11At least three pilgrims from Rajasthan were among
those killed and five others injured in a flash flood nearthe Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas,an official said The state government has announcedfinancial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to the depen-dents of the deceased.The deceased have been identi-fied as Mohanlal, Sunita Wadhwa and Sushil Khatri, allfrom the Sri Ganganagar district, a Disaster Manage-ment and Relief Department official said.He said out of
five injured, two have minor injuries while three othersare undergoing treatment.“Paying homage to the devo-tees who lost their lives in the natural calamity during theAmarnath Yatra. The families of Rajasthani pilgrims wholost their lives in this calamity will be given Rs 5 lakheach from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund,” Chief Minis-ter Ashok Gehlot tweeted.At least 16 people have died inthe flash flood triggered by a cloudburst near the Amarnathcave shrine on Friday.Twenty-five injured people wererushed to hospitals and many are feared trapped underthe debris, according to officials.The Disaster Manage-ment and Relief Department official said some of thebodies are yet to be identified. Local officials are in touchwith the Jammu and Kashmir administration, and com-plete information is being collected.Searches for themissing people continued near the Amarnath cave shrinewithout a break on Saturday after tents and communitykitchens were swept away by the flash flood and land-slides.
National conference onCountering Disinformation held at OU
GNS News Agency, July 11Hyderabad: National conference on Countering
Disinformation held at OUHyderabad: US ConsulateGeneral Hyderabad, Public Affairs Officer, David Moyerhas called upon journalists to strive to disseminate un-contaminated information because the responsible citi-zenry forms opinions based on the information suppliedby the media.Delivering the keynote address at a na-tional conference on Countering Disinformation, jointlyorganised by the Department of Journalism and MassCommunication, Osmania University (OU) and the USConsulate General Hyderabad, here on Saturday, Moyersaid “Misinformation poses the greatest threat to democ-racies. Journalists help responsible citizens to form anopinion on contemporary issues,” hemaintained.“Unfortunately, sometimes thedisinformation comes from legitimate media outlets. Notout of malice, but because we are swimming in a sea ofinformation – some of which is true and some of whichis false,” he observed.
Techie’s honour killing: Threearrested by KPHB police
GNS News Agency, July 11Hyderabad: The KPHB police on Saturday arrested
three persons in the suspected honour killing case ofsoftware engineer S.Venkata Narayan Reddy reportedtwo weeks ago.The arrested persons were G SrinivasReddy (20) from Saroornagar, K Sai Rao (20), an electri-cian from Prakasam of Andhra Pradesh and Shaik Aashiq(20), a student from Kukatpally. The absconding personswere K Venkateswar Reddy, Chandra Shekar Reddy andSrinu, all three from Prakasam.
Madhapur DCP K Shilpavalli said Narayan Reddyand Ravali, both from the same village, were in love andmarried against the wish of the latter’s family membersa year ago. However, Ravali returned to her parents claim-ing Narayan Reddy was not a suitable husband to
her.“They looked down upon the victim as he was eco-nomically weak and not equal to them in status. Thisangered the victim, who started sending their private pic-tures and videos to his wife, in-laws and her relatives asRavali’s parents were planning to get her married to an-other person,” she said.Venkateswar Reddy then decidedto kill Venkat and struck a contract killing deal of Rs.4.5lakh with Srinivas Reddy. The DCP said the suspectshad attempted to die by suicide by consuming poisonfearing arrest. They were admitted to hospital and takeninto custody after they recovered on Saturday.On the nightof June 27, they took Venkat from his room in a car toRaidurgam, where they got him drunk and strangulatedhim with a towel and charging cable in a moving car.They later burned the body in a forest area in Jinnaram inSangareddy district.
On hot summers and hotter monsoons
The steady rise in the planet’s temperature as aconsequence of humanity’s unfettered use of fossilfuel forms the backdrop to altered weather patternseverywhere. India too has been registering instancesof anomalous weather with alarming frequency withan erratic monsoon and coastal erosion. However,some recent changes are seemingly paradoxical. Ananalysis of public weather data over the last half acentury by the Centre for Science and Environment(CSE), suggests that the all-India average tempera-ture during the monsoon months (June-September) ishigher than the summer months (March-May). Mon-soon temperatures are 0.3°C higher than averagesummer temperatures when compared from 1951-80.In 2012-2021, this anomaly rose to 0.4°C. The IndiaMeteorological Department has said that India’s aver-age temperature has risen 0.62°C from 1901-2020but the CSE analysis says — supporting similar stud-ies on these lines — that this has not meant a uniformrise in temperatures across seasons. It is the winter(January and February) and post-monsoon (October-December) average all-India temperatures that haverisen faster than even the monsoon and summer tem-peratures. Average daily maximum temperature fornorth-western States in March was 30.7°C, whereasthe all-India average was 33.1°C or 2.4°C hotter. Theaverage daily minimum temperature showed an evenlarger (4.9°C) difference. Central India’s normal maxi-mum was 2°-7°C higher, while south peninsular India’snormal minimum was 4°-10°C higher.
Ranga Reddy INDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLE TUESDAY 12 JULY 20223
In Telangana, these rooftop gardeners areshowing the way to sustainable urban farming
Death at Carmel Convent: Accountability is human, not divine
GNS News Agency, July 11For Hyderabad-based entrepreneur Kota Elizabeth,
lockdown months and lack of activities reignited her in-terest in plants. The result: a terrace spread over around1200 square feet is now a plentiful garden of leafy veg-etables, brinjal, okra and bottle gourd, and fruits rangingfrom guava, mulberry, fig, passion fruit, miracle fruit,lemon, orange, pineapple, grapes, and even five differ-ent varieties of mangoes.She had moved into the homeonly in February 2020, a month before the lockdown wasimposed, and this lush green space became ‘Eli’sworld’—also the name of a YouTube channel the 47-year-old started a year ago. With about 6,200 subscrib-ers now and constant engagement with her viewers, shebelieves people’s interest in rooftop gardens is on therise.“With a zero budget, you can grow anything on yourterrace. Through my channel, I share my knowledge andexperience in growing vegetables and fruits. Since I ampassionate about cooking, I do videos on a variety ofdishes that can be cooked post the harvest,” says theB.Com graduate who lives with her family on the out-skirts of Secunderabad.A fortnightly gathering of men andwomen in Hyderabad, both young and old, who are curi-ous about growing chemical-free vegetables and fruitson the balconies, kitchens, and rooftops of their urbanhomes, is proof enough to indicate the rising demandfor urban farming practices. This growing interest amongpeople has also resulted in the emergence of a bunch ofYouTubers, and even authors and resource persons, who
through their passion projects spread the message ofsustainable urban farming far and wide.A Latha is an-other successful YouTuber, who has a tasteful terracegarden spread over 1800 sq. ft which she has been nur-turing since 2013. On her terrace, she has eight varietiesof mangoes, six types of custard apples, 14 types ofguava, egg fruit, miracle fruit, strawberry, pineapple, andseveral others including five varieties of bananas. ‘Latha’sterrace garden’, a YouTube channel she started a yearago has over 11,000 subscribers today. During the pan-demic months, she was flooded with phone calls andWhatsApp messages from people interested in emulat-ing her garden. It was difficult to answer every query, saysthe homemaker from Beeramguda, explaining the storybehind her channel.“Now that one’s focus is on wellnessand immunity, people understand the importance ofchemical-free fruits and vegetables in their diet. And manypeople like me have demonstrated how to grow on aterrace even fruits that are not suitable for our climate,”she adds.
M Hanumantha Rao, an ex-serviceman fromKushaiguda, also has a similar story. What kept himengaged after he retired—a passion for growing his veg-etables and fruits—took a giant leap for him in 2019 whenhe started his YouTube channel‘ManikondaHanumathaRaoTerraceGarden’. The chan-nel is Rao’s medium to communicate with his 34,000subscribers as he responds to their queries and evensends them his home-grown seeds by post, free of cost.“Earlier, too, people were interested in knowing but nowthey are interested and also follow up with action. Once aperson sees his/her plants grow, they will be hooked onto them for life,” says the 62-year-old, who has been pro-moting kitchen compost as a key component for terracegardening.Latha, agreeing with Rao, says several soft-ware employees have approached her for guidance. “Gar-dening is also good for mental health even though itrequires only an hour in the morning as well as in theevening,” she adds.A proponent of terrace gardening insmaller spaces for nearly three decades, ShaikNoorjahan, 52, started a YouTube channel ‘Noorjahan
terrace garden’ in 2019. With over 700 videos, she hasover 53,000 subscribers to date. Like Rao, she is alsosomeone who believes no kitchen waste should go outof one’s home. “It takes only 20 days to prepare compostfrom kitchen waste. With some soil and dung, healthyplants can be grown anywhere. Especially post-Covid, Iam getting a lot of enquiries from smaller towns wherepeople prefer naturally grown vegetables over what’savailable in the market,” adds Noorjahan, who has veg-etables and fruits growing all over her balconies andterrace.A trainer and resource person, Nagunuri Rakesh,29, admits that interest in terrace gardening has grownimmensely in smaller towns after the pandemic. Hiscompany has of late started receiving enquiries and workassignments to set up terrace gardens in Warangal,Karimnagar, Adilabad, and Nizamabad districts, apartfrom Hyderabad.“Vegetables in the market are expen-sive as well as contaminated. While it was primarilyhomemakers and retirees who took to terrace farmingfor healthy food before the pandemic, now people of allage groups are showing interest. From a new hobby tofamily activity and to inculcate the value of food to the nextgeneration, people have multiple reasons now apart fromjust being health-conscious,” says Rakesh, who has heldover 200 workshops in the last two years, in associationwith the state’s horticulture department.According to BManga, the horticulture officer in charge of training, thedepartment has since 2013 trained 17,769 peoplethrough day-long sessions every second Saturday andfourth Sunday of a month. “At least 100 people join usduring every session. Most are first-timers and keen en-thusiasts. Apart from imparting basics and sharing rel-evant contacts of suppliers, we are available for guid-ance throughout. Through 20 WhatsApp groups for now,where we are connected to about 2,700 people. It is acommunity where they share their concerns, learnings,knowledge and experience,” says the officer, who feelsWhatsApp groups and YouTube channels arerevolutionising the concepts of urbanfarming.Government data shows an approximate areaof 16.05 lakh sq mt of terrace area (about 401.25 acres)is covered by urban farming in Greater Hyderabad.
GNS News Agency, July 11chandigarh school accident, chandigarh school
news, chandigarh newsOfficials inspecting the site wherethe tree fell. Chandigarh Trees Preservation Order, 1952,mandates that except with the permission of chief ad-ministrator, no tree shall be cut down, lopped or de-stroyed. The ‘protected trees’ are numbered, and listedin a register and the notice by the chief administratorwarns of action against offenders violating the order.Zoning plan of every sector in Chandigarh marks pro-tected trees under the order. Trees that are 100 years oldare given heritage status by the administration. Replant-ing directives contain protective measures and mainte-
nance of fencing, which may be necessary for protectionof trees. Accordingly, the administration proudly proclaims31 heritage trees within Chandigarh.The question of re-sponsibility of loss of life caused by the tragic fall of heri-tage trees needs answers. Does the responsibilitychange when such trees grow in government schools,Sukhna Lake, PGIMER or in private schools? Can theChandigarh administration shift the blame for mainte-nance, safety, liability and compensation, if located inprivate buildings? The 250-year-old trees are babies ofthe UT administration. Private building owners cannotown or possess heritage/protected trees. With the own-ership, liability also travels. The administrators cannotshift gears to disown obligations of neglect on loss ofprecious human lives.
Torts as civil wrongs for actionable claims are notcodified under the Indian law. The Supreme Court in 1996held that ‘precautionary principle’ and ‘polluter pays prin-ciple’ are essential features of sustainable development.In two cases of Nilabati Behera vs State of Orissa andMehmood Nayyar vs State Of Chattisgarh, the SupremeCourt held that superior courts being protectors of civilliberties of citizens, have power, jurisdiction besides anobligation to grant relief in exercise of their extra-ordinaryjurisdiction under the Indian Constitution. Award of com-
pensation in writ jurisdiction for contravention of humanrights and fundamental freedoms dealing with life andpersonal liberty is innovated by the Supreme Court torepair damage and provide monetary aid, notwithstand-ing the rights of the citizen to enforce conventional civil orcriminal proceedings for relief.Justice Rajiv Raina ofPunjab and Haryana High Court awarded Rs 60 lakh fora four-year-old boy who suffered triple amputation of hislimbs from an electrocution from wires passing over hishome in Haryana. Relying upon the dictum for mouldingrelief in writ jurisdiction for compensation for damagesfor making “monetary amends” under public law forwrong done for breach of public duty, High Court uphold-ing the principle of ‘strict liability’and consequential neg-ligence in awarding compensation, awarded ‘exemplarydamages’ to this child upon whom fate had inflicted acruel malady. The court concluded that failure to providestatutory safeguards and protective devices against highvoltage electricity of dangerous dimensions and not re-moving live overhead lines passing over roofs of houses,attract the principles of strict liability to “invade the battleground in fighting for the protection of life and liberty ofour people under Article 21 of the Constitution”. The HighCourt in its verdict issued salutary directions in quantifi-cation of monetary compensation, damages and otherancillary matters to secure the ends of justice.Equally,
rule of “strict liability,” must find application for loss of lifedue to falling of heritage trees. These are not naturalcalamities, act of God or sovereign functions. Account-ability is human, not divine. Man and not God, is answer-able. Culpability for disregard and negligence must befixed on Department of Forest and Wildlife, ChandigarhAdministration, who proudly display their title to suchheritage trees. Owners of private buildings cannot eventouch these trees. Detection of termites, damages byheavy rain, providing protective structures are measuresnecessitated out of self-responsibility of the ChandigarhAdministration, not to be triggered by complaints of by-standers. Dying trees cannot shout for help. Registered,numbered heritage trees in private or public land cannotbe treated differently.
Heritage trees are so, and will remain so. Destruc-tion, loss of life and tragedies, cannot be shifted by loca-tion of such trees to register FIRs against unknown per-sons. It is time liability is owned and not disowned by theUT administration. Perpetrators must pay. Heads mustroll. Examples must be set to define public boundaries.Repudiation by public disclaimers of blame games mustbe set right. Suo moto notice is attracted for the ball to rollin right directions to pinpoint answerability. Wrongdoersmust be brought to the book. History must not repeatitself.
Amritsar man who helped in supplying weaponsfor Moosewala’s murder attacked in jail
GNS News Agency, July 11A group of inmates allegedly attacked Amritsar resi-
dent Satbir Singh, who was arrested by Ludhiana policefor allegedly supplying weapons, inside Ludhiana Cen-tral Jail.Ludhiana police had arrested Satbir Singh onJune 30 for allegedly supplying illegal weapons and saidthat it was suspected that the weapons supplied by Satbirwere used in the murder of Punjabi singer ShubhdeepSingh alias Sidhu Moosewala.
Additional superintendent of Ludhiana Central JailSatnam Singh said that Satbir, who belongs to TalwandiRai Dadu village of Ajnala in Amritsar, was brought toLudhiana jail on July 8 after court sent him to judicialcustody. “He was attacked by some unidentified inmatesand in his statement he said that he is unable to identifythem. He has suffered minor injuries on his head andlegs. We have started investigation to identify the attack-ers. However, it might be a case of outrage asMoosewala’s murder is an emotive issue for many eveninside the jail,” said the officer.Ludhiana police commis-sioner Kaustubh Sharma said that Satbir was taken toCivil hospital for check-up. “We will register an FIR asper the statement received from the jail staff. Since theattackers are yet to be identified, we cannot concludethat it was a case of inter-gang rivalry,” he said.On June30, the Ludhiana police had arrested Satbir Singh in analleged illegal weapons supply registered against himin Ludhiana which was registered a day before on June29 under sections 25/54/59 of Arms Act at Salem Tabripolice station.Police had claimed that Satbir also “usedhis vehicle to supply a set of weapons for the murder ofSidhu Moosewala who was shot dead at Mansa on May29.”Police said that Satbir along with his three accom-plices had travelled to a petrol pump on Dabwali road ofBathinda where some weapons were handed over to‘shooters’ for Moosewala’s murder. A white-colouredToyota Fortuner vehicle which was used for supplyingweapons, a 315 bore pistol and two live cartridges wererecovered from him, said police.
Satbir’s three accomplices who allegedly accom-panied him for supplying weapons were identified asMandeep Singh alias Toofan of Pooran da Kotha, Batala,Manpreet Singh alias Mani of Amritsar and one unidenti-fied person — all of them were booked too and areabsconding.During interrogation, Satbir said that afterMoosewala’s murder, one Sandeep Singh Kahlon aliasSona of Fatehgarh Churian had supplied a countrymadepistol and cartridges to him (which have been recovered)and told him that “we have got Moosewala killed. Keepthis weapon and cartridges with you to protect yourselffrom Moosewala’s supporters. We will give you morearms and ammunition in coming days”.Police said thatSatbir owns a stud farm and owns 22-23 horses and hecame in touch with Kahlon as he also owns a stud farm.
Kahlon is posted as panchayat secretary in SriHargobindpur of Gurdaspur district and is the nephew ofSAD leader Nirmal Singh Kahlon, with alleged links togangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria.hours before the attack on Satbir in jail, Ludhiana policealso arrested Sandeep Singh Kahlon from near Barewalcanal bridge in the illegal weapons case registeredagainst Satbir Singh.Inspector Beant Juneja, inchargeCIA staff-2, Ludhiana police said that Satbir Singh doesnot belong to any gang. “He just came in touch withSandeep Kahlon because they both own stud farms andstarted interacting often. Kahlon, who had links with gang-ster Bhagwanpuria, used Satbir for supplying weapons.
Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mannto presidential candidates: what’syour opinion on release of Sikh
prisoners, SGPC elections GNS News Agency, July 11Newly appointed Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann
of SAD (Amritsar) has sent a set of questions to the twopresidential candidates — Droupadi Murmu andYashwant Sinha.In his letter, Mann wrote, “As an electedMP from Sangrur, I wish to know your opinion before Icast my vote.”Bringing the issue of Sikh prisoners in fo-cus, Mann said, “You will have the power to grant pardon,reprieve, respite or omissions of punishment or to sus-pend, remit, or commute the sentence of any personconvicted in a number of offences. Our party wishes toask if you will use your power in the case of Sikh prison-ers, who fought against a state that committed genocideof Sikhs in 1984 as admitted by then Union Home Minis-ter Rajnath Singh in 2014,” Mann said.
He also asked about their thoughts on Article 74,“under which you are compelled to act in accordancewith the advice of the council of ministers provided thatyou may ask them to reconsider” their advice. “Would itbe your opinion to your council of ministers to allow for agreater federal interpretation of the Constitution of Indiaspecifically Enforce riparian laws since water is a statesubject under Schedule VII, List II, Entry 17, Uphold theright of states in the use of its state police under the StateList entry 1 and 2, rather than central forces within thestate,” Mann wrote.
He also asked the candidates to clarify their opinionon emergency, which provides draconian powers toarmed forces such as AFSPA.Mann also asked if theywould press for early SGPC elections, which was lastheld in 2011. “Since the Supreme Court has asked theCentre to abolish Section 124A of the IPC we would alsolike to know your opinion on the freedom of speech andexpression and the international obsolescence of lawsregarding sedition,” he wrote.
Cannot share evena drop of water
GNS News Agency, July 11The Punjab government Saturday urged Centre to
set up a new tribunal for assessment of situation of riverwater in the state.State Water Resources Minister HarjotSingh Bains raised the issue during the Northern ZonalCouncilSoon after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar LalKhatta demanded completion of the Satluj Yamuna Link(SYL) canal, Bains said that Punjab does not have evena single drop of water to share with other states.He saidthat the ground water level in state is already depletingand most of the blocks are in dark zone.Bains said thatthe assessment of river water sharing made by tribunalsin the past was obsolete now in current scenario.Bainsdemanded water for Punjab from Haryana from Yamunaciting Indus Commission report of 1972 and said that afresh tribunal must be constituted to assess the currentwater situation in the state. He said that it will clear thepicture and allow the judicious use of water in thestate.The minister said that it is need of hour to ensurethat Punjab’s water was not diverted to any other statethrough SYL or any other mean.Taking part in delibera-tions, Finance Minister Harpal Cheema opposed anychange in the nature and character of the PanjabUniversity.Cheema stated that PU was established in
Lahore and after partition it was shifted to Hoshiarpurand then to Chandigarh.He said that any move by Centreto convert PU into a Central University will be opposedtooth and nail.The ministers also opposed the discon-tinuation of a member from Punjab in the BBMB sayingthat it was not at all acceptable.They said that no temper-ing should be made in existing provisions of theBBMB.Both Cheema and Bains also opposed the pro-posal of Rajasthan and Haryana governments to fully fillthe Pong and Bhakra dams.They said that such a movewill results in floods in Punjab.
Agnipath scheme complements IAF’s long-termvision of ‘lean & lethal’ force: Air Chief Marshal
GNS News Agency, July 11The ‘Agnipath’ scheme complements the Indian Air
Force’s long-term vision of being a “lean and lethal” forcewith the best manpower and the new recruitment modelwill in no way reduce its operational capability, Air ChiefMarshal V R Chaudhari said .The Chief of Air Staff said13 teams will take care of enrolment, employment, as-sessment and training of recruits within the four-yearengagement period.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari told PTI that any sav-ings in pensions and other expenditure through the imple-mentation of the scheme are only incidental and not thereason for initiating the reform.“The Agnipath schemefurthers the IAF’s manpower optimisation drive that hasbeen ongoing for a decade wherein we have reviewedmany human resource policies and organisational struc-tures,” he said.Nearly 7,50,000 candidates have regis-tered for around 3,000 positions in the IAF under the newscheme.The scheme complements the IAF’s “long-termvision of being a lean and lethal force with the best hu-
man resource as we strongly believe that the men andwomen behind the machine make all the difference whenit matters,” the Chief of Air Staff said.The scheme, an-nounced on June 14, seeks to recruit youths betweenthe age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 for only fouryears with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15more years. For 2022, the upper age limit has been ex-tended to 23 years.Several parts of India witnessed vio-lent protests last month against the scheme with theagitators demanding its roll back as the new model doesnot provide a job guarantee to 75 per cent of recruits.“Withevolving technology, the basic requirements from an airwarrior have also seen a qualitative shift. We feel that theyouth of today brings along a different and much requiredset of skills as well as adeptness with technology,” hesaid.Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said the synergy oforganisational requirements and the aspirations of theyouth shall provide the IAF with an “ideal amalgam” to bean effective force in the future.“With a restructured train-ing pattern that is contemporary, technology-based andtailor-made for our operational commitments, we envis-
age the implementation to be seamless,” he said.TheIAF chief noted that the need for transformation in thehuman resources in the services has been widely delib-erated and steps have been taken to gradually addressthe recommendations of the Kargil ReviewCommittee.“This human resources transformation ca-ters to the requirements of the impact of changing tech-nology, the complexity of machines, automation andoptimisation of resources including manpower of the IAF,”he said.Describing the Agnipath scheme as a major “hu-man resources transformation” for the armed forces, hesaid the IAF has already received an overwhelming re-sponse for this scheme.“The process of selection is inprogress. We have formulated 13 teams for seamlessenrolment, training, role, employment, assessment andtraining of Agniveers within the four-year engagementperiod,” he said.“The HR transformation in no way re-duces the operational capability that we possess. In fact,this would provide the armed forces with the advantageof attracting talent and engaging with the youth who arekeen to serve the nation,” the IAF chief said.
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Centre to incur ‘huge expense’for Agnipath: Meenakshi Lekhi
GNS News Agency, July 11Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Cul-
ture Meenakshi Lekhi Saturday said that while severalcountries make military service compulsory, the Indiangovernment has chosen to undertake a “huge expense”by bringing in the Agnipath scheme.
Lekhi was speaking at the book launch of “SwadhintaSangram na 75 Shoorveero” which tells a page-long
summary of 75 freedom fighters of India.Pointing out thatcountries “such as Singapore, Israel” compulsorily “re-quire children after their schooling to work with the army”,Lekhi said, “Here, the government is taking (recruiting)you officially and also paying you Rs 22 lakh in fouryears… Where else does one get Rs 22 lakh in fouryears? This is a huge expense that the government isundertaking.”The Union minister further said people “at-tempting to spread false rumours” about the Agnipathscheme are probably the same people who were“spreading false rumours” during the Covid-19 pandemicabout the vaccine.“ It is not necessary that there is a ladaika mahaul (war-like situation), but even without a war-like situation, there can be a disaster-like situation thatthe country sees frequently. So, if there are people trained(dealing with disasters) that work will be done,” Lekhiadded.Part of the event included 75 children dressed asthe 75 freedom fighters who have been written about inthe book.
As anger explodes on Colombo streets,Delhi treads with caution: Wait, watch
GNS News Agency, July 11Indian diplomats in Colombo were keeping a “close
watch” on the ground situation – the Indian High Com-mission is located barely a few kilometres from thePresident’s residence.Sources in the Indian establish-ment said the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa asPrime Minister in May was the beginning of the end of theRajapaksas — and the Saturday storming of the Presi-dential home, with Gotabaya’s whereabouts unknown,was “a natural outcome”.With Sri Lanka Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe also offering to resign, the gov-ernment in Colombo is in a state of flux, and turmoil.InNew Delhi, sources watching the events unfold said thefinancial crisis has crippled the island nation, and no-body in the political class wants to take the lead. “They allknow that it is an insurmountable crisis in the short-term,and nobody wants to clear the financial mess created bythe Rajapaksas,” a source told The Indian Express.ForIndia, anarchy on the streets of Colombo and a potentialrudderless political leadership do not bode well.As SriLanka’s neighbour and first responder, India’s recenteconomic aid stands at USD 3.5 billion.
Last month, New Delhi sent an Indian delegation— led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, it comprisedtop officials of the Finance Ministry including the ChiefEconomic Advisor — to meet the Sri Lankan leadershipincluding Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe.The team conveyed that India stands ready to help Sri
Lanka in quick economic recovery by promoting invest-ments, connectivity and strengthening economiclinkages.New Delhi also supported Sri Lanka during themeetings at the IMF in March this year and on subse-quent occasions in different fora including regional andplurilateral organisations.Sources said Delhi has under-scored that the economic, financial and humanitarianassistance of over US$ 3.5 billion to the people of SriLanka was guided by its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policyand ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR)’vision.
While India has been engaging with the politicalleadership, it has also kept reiterating that it is workingfor the “people of Sri Lanka” — a careful messaging tonegate any apprehension that it is backing the Rajapaksafamily or any particular political leader.Sources said thatin a “fluid situation” like this, the Indian strategic estab-lishment does not want to take sides, but wants “rationalactors” to take control of the situation so that there is“stability in the country and the region”.From Delhi’s stra-tegic perspective, sources said a “stable and peaceful”Sri Lanka is in India’s interest “just as it is for Sri Lanka’sinterests” as well.“Political stability is the most importantelement,” a source said, adding that Delhi is in closecontact with all “relevant stakeholders”, both inside andoutside the government.
What is important right now for Delhi is to see whoare the main actors who emerge from the crisis — in the
political, military and civil society fields.Sources in theIndian establishment said that one of the lessons of theArab Spring is that the “power vacuum” gives space to“radical and extremist actors”. And that is something Delhiis extremely wary of, at the moment.With China’s strate-gic footprint growing in the region and the 2019 Easterbombings pointing to Islamic extremism in the islandnation, Delhi wants stability and peace in the countrywhere its security and strategic interests are notimpacted.India, sources said, will not “give a runningball-by-ball commentary” on the internal affairs of Lanka— there were no tweets by the Indian High Commissionon Saturday’s events, but diplomats on the ground havebeen engaging with key players in the Sri Lankan estab-lishment to manage the crisis-hit economy and effortsundertaken towards achieving economic recovery.
States discuss issues of river water sharing,women’s safety, fast-track courts with Shah
GNS News Agency, July 11Three states and as many Union Territories dis-
cussed issues of river water sharing, safety of women,setting up fast-track courts, cyber security and the issueof strengthening rural banking with union Home MinisterAmit Shah during a meeting of the Northern Zonal Coun-cil in Jaipur on Saturday.According to the Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA), Shah asked the states to resolve the is-sues amicably and through discussion.
The “complex problems” of sharing river wateramong the member-states were discussed, and Shahasked the states to take a “cordial approach to the issueand find a time-bound solution”, the MHA said in a state-ment. “Shri Amit Shah said that all stakeholders shouldcome together to establish a strong cooperative mecha-nism for development, for which purpose the regionalcouncils were created.”The meeting was attended byRajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Haryana CM Manohar LalKhattar, Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur, Delhi L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena, Ladakh L-G Radha KrishnaMathur, Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit,who is also the Governor of Punjab, Delhi Deputy CMManish Sisodia, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal SinghCheema, and senior ministers of the member-states.
In the meeting, Shah said although the Council’srole is advisory, he is happy to note that in his three years(as Home Minister), more than 75 percent issues in theCouncil have been resolved by consensus. “A total of 47issues were discussed in the 30th meeting of the North-ern Zonal Council held in Jaipur today and the 19th meet-ing of its standing committee,” the MHA stated. “Of these,four issues have been identified as important topics atthe national level; these are being regularly discussedand monitored in the meetings of various zonal councils.These include improving banking services in rural ar-
eas, monitoring cases of rape and sexual offensesagainst women and children, setting up fast-track courtsfor such cases and implementing Direct BenefitTransfer.”Of 47 issues discussed, 35 have been re-solved, according to the ministry. The growing threat ofcybercrime and strategies for its prevention were alsodiscussed, the MHA stated.Shah “stressed upon theStates and Union Territories to conduct awareness cam-paigns on cyber-vigilance through various mediums”, itstated. “In view of the profound impact of cyber crimes onnational security, public order and economic activity, theCouncil emphasized the need to ensure security of thenation’s cyber space and the security of citizens as awhole.”It was also decided in the meeting that a commit-tee chaired by the Union Home Secretary, along with alldepartments concerned and state governments, will pre-pare a strategy to deal with growing menace ofcybercrime.The Union Home Minister said that in thenorthern region, inter-state interaction and resolution ofproblems between the Centre and States are very impor-tant for development of the country and for strengtheningthe federal structure…,” it added.
23 press conferences in aday: Congress seeks to counter
BJP on nationalism GNS News Agency, July 11With the Monsoon Session of Parliament set to be-
gin on June 18, the Congress is keen to keep the issuealive to corner the government and the ruling party on theissue of nationalism.The Congress held 23 press con-ferences across the country on Saturday, accusing theruling BJP of playing a “disgusting game” to hollow outthe country under the garb of nationalism. Its spokesper-sons asked the BJP to introspect regarding how suchelements were finding their way into its fold and providean explanation for it.
The opposition party has already asked the NIA toexpand its investigation into the Udaipur killing to probethe allegations that Mohammad Riyaz Attari, one of themain accused in the killing of Kanhaiyalal, had links withthe BJP.The Congress’s offensive stems from a freshthinking in the party that the BJP needs to be counteredstrongly on its nationalism plank. On Saturday, the Con-gress attacked the BJP for allowing the production andimport of polyester and machine-made nationalflags.“The BJP has links with terrorists, what is this rela-tionship called?…Today, 23 of our leaders and spokes-
persons exposed the BJP’s links with terrorists by hold-ing press conferences in different cities of the country,”AICC general secretary in charge of communication de-partment, Jairam Ramesh, said.Sources in the party saidits MPs will raise the issue in Parliament and seek an-swers from the government, signalling that the MonsoonSession could be a stormy affair.
Addressing a press conference in Raipur, Congressmedia department head Pawan Khera said the partynever favoured doing politics on the issue of terrorism,but the way the “links of terrorists and criminals with theBJP are coming to light one after another, it has becomenecessary to ask questions and put facts beforepeople”.“In the garb of nationalism, the BJP is playing adisgusting game to hollow out the country,” he said.InMumbai, party spokesperson Ajoy Kumar raked up theKandahar terrorist swap. He said the BJP governmenthas the dubious distinction of having released dreadedterrorist Masood Azhar in 1999 during the Kandaharhijacking.“Azhar went on to establish the Jaish-e-Muhammad terror group that was responsible for the2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacksthat caused hundreds of deaths. Jaish also master-minded the 2019 Pulwama attack, in which 44 CRPFpersonnel died after 200 kg of high explosives, includingRDX, somehow made it past multiple security check-points. Why an inquiry into Pulwama has not been heldremains a mystery,” he said.
Regulation of medical devices: Draft Bill suggestsseparate expert group, check on online pharmacies
GNS News Agency, July 11The Union Health ministry has released the new
draft ‘Drug, Medical Devices, and Cosmetics Bill-2022’that separately defines medical devices, makes provi-sion for constitution of a separate expert group on medi-cal devices, and calls for setting up of central and statemedical device-testing laboratories on the lines of thenetwork of drug-testing laboratories. The draft Bill alsosuggests that the Central government formulate rulesfor regulating online pharmacies.The draft Bill has sepa-rate definition for medical devices that bring under itsambit diagnostic equipment, its software, implants, de-vices for assistance with disabilities, life support, instru-ments used for disinfection, and any reagents or kits.The previous 1940 Act regulated the medical devices asone of the four categories of “drugs”.
But the Bill doesn’t stop at just defining medicaldevices, it makes provision for creation of a ‘medicaldevices technical advisory board’ on the lines of the ex-isting drugs technical advisory board. This board will notonly include medical professionals, but also people withtechnical knowledge of the devices. Other than officialsfrom the Health ministry, the board will also includepeople from the department of atomic energy, depart-ment of science and technology, ministry of Electronics,DRDO, and experts in the field of biomedical technology,biomaterials, and polymer technology.So far, decisionsregarding medical devices were taken by the drugs tech-nical advisory board that was not necessarily equippedto understand the engineering aspects of the device,according to the people working in the field.“We are dis-appointed that the aspirations of a separate Act for medi-cal devices have not been addressed. On the positiveside, we are pleased to find the proposal of a separateBoard, which was a long-pending demand,” said RajivNath of the Association of Indian Medical Devices Indus-try (AiMeD).The draft Bill also proposes medical devicetesting centres on the lines of drug laboratories in statesand at the central level.
Other than bringing in provisions for medical de-vices, the new Bill also proposes compulsory permis-sion of the central licensing authority for clinical trials orclinical investigation of drugs and medical devices. Al-though companies at present also have to seek permis-sion from the apex drug regulator to conduct trials, it wasnever mentioned in the previous law.The draft Bill statesmedical management and compensation has to be pro-vided to persons who are injured while participating insuch trials. And, in case of death, the legal heir of theparticipant should be awarded the compensation.TheBill also touches upon the contentious issue of e-phar-macies, which drug store owners say are hard to regu-
late. “Many do not have a licence and just sell drugs thatare available with other licensed stockists. They offeronline consultations and just prescribe medicines, whichare not always a transparent mechanism. If you ask forthe highly regulated MTb drug, you will probably get it. Inaddition, they offer big discounts and the product is notalways of quality,” said JS Shinde, president, All IndiaChemists and Druggists Association (AIOCD).The draftBill also specifically states that the Central governmentmust come up with rules to regulate online sale of drugsand for online pharmacies to operate “in accordance witha licence or permission issued”.
SC order on quantum ofsentence to Vijay Mallya on July 11
GNS News Agency, July 11The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on
July 11 its order on the quantum of sentence againstfugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, accused in bank loandefault case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunctKingfisher Airlines, in a contempt case where he hasbeen found guilty.As per the cause list of July 11 uploadedon the apex court website, a bench headed by Justice UU Lalit would pronounce the order.
The bench, also comprising Justices S RavindraBhat and P S Narasimha, had on March 10 reserved itsorder in the matter observing that proceedings againstMallya have hit a “dead wall”. The apex court had heardsenior advocate and amicus curiae Jaideep Gupta onvarious aspects related to the contempt law and evendecided to permit the counsel, who was earlier repre-senting Mallya, to file written submissions, if any, in thecase by March 15.Mallya’s counsel had on March 10 toldthe bench that he was handicapped in the absence ofany instruction from his client, who is in the United King-
dom, and would not be able to argue on the quantum ofsentence to be awarded in the contempt case.“We havebeen told that there are some proceedings going on inthe United Kingdom. It is like a dead wall, something ispending we do not know. What is the number (of cases)we do not know. The point is how long can we go on likethis so far as our jurisdictional power is concerned,” thetop court had orally observed.
Observing that it had waited “sufficiently long”, theapex court on February 10 had fixed the contempt caseagainst Mallya for hearing and had given him the lastopportunity to appear before it either personally or throughhis lawyer. The top court had said it has given multipleopportunities to Mallya to appear either personally orthrough a lawyer and had even given specific directionsin its order dated November 30, 2021.Earlier, a consor-tium of lending banks led by State Bank of India hadmoved the apex court alleging that Mallya was not follow-ing the court orders on repayment of loan which wasthen over Rs 9,000 crore. It was alleged that he was notdisclosing the assets and moreover, transferring themto his children in violation of the restraint orders.SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, hadearlier said that the court has inherent jurisdiction in con-tempt cases and that it has given enough opportunity toMallya, which he has not taken. On November 30 lastyear, the top court had said it cannot wait any longer andthe sentencing aspect in the contempt matter againstMallya would be dealt with finally.Mallya was held guilty ofcontempt in 2017, and the matter was thereafter to belisted to hear him on the proposed punishment to beawarded to him.The top court had in 2020 dismissedMallya’s plea seeking review of the 2017 verdict whichheld him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 mil-lion to his children in violation of court orders.The apexcourt had noted that as per an office memorandum, un-der the signature of the deputy secretary (extradition) ofthe Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the proceedings forextradition have attained finality and Mallya has “ex-hausted all avenues for appeal” in the UKMallya has beenin the UK since March 2016. He is on bail on an extradi-tion warrant executed by the Scotland Yard on April 18,2017.
As per the cause list of July 11uploaded on the apex court website,a bench headed by Justice U U Lalitwould pronounce the order.
Rift being created between communities dueto political opportunism: Amartya Sen
GNS News Agency, July 11Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Saturday said a rift
is being created between communities on account of“political opportunism”.Sen also lamented that the colo-nial practice of imprisoning people due to political rea-sons is still being continued, decades after India gainedindependence.“There is an effort to divideIndians…create a rift in the co-existence of Hindus andMuslims on account of political opportunism,” he saidduring a virtual address at the centenary celebration of‘Anandabazar Patrika’.The first edition of the Bengali lan-guage daily, one of the largest newspapers in the coun-try, was published on March 13, 1922 with PrafullakumarSarkar as its founding-editor. The newspaper which hada decidedly nationalistic stance, was described at birthby the Englishman newspaper as “a new Bengali daily… coloured (Red) like a danger signal.”Speaking of theearly days, Sen said, “At that time (pre-independenceperiod), several people in the country including relatives
working for the Anandabazar Patrika were imprisonedfor political reasons… I was very young then and whilevisiting them at jail, I often used to question whether thispractice of incarcerating people without their committingany crime will ever stop.” “Subsequently, India becameindependent, but this exercise is still very much in exist-ence,” the 88-year-old celebrated economist said.He saidthat while independent India had made progress on manycounts, issues such as poverty, health concerns re-mained and the newspaper had been highlighting thesein an objective manner.There is no doubt that efforts mustbe made to pursue the path of justice, he added.Earlierthis month, Sen had expressed concern over the currentstate of affairs in India, and said people should worktowards maintaining unity.“I think if someone asks me ifI’m scared of something, I would say ‘yes’. There is areason to be afraid now. The current situation in the coun-try has become a cause for fear,” the Nobel laureate hadsaid at the inauguration of Amartya Research Centre inSalt Lake in Kolkata.
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Protesters in Sri Lanka claim they find millionsof rupees inside President Rajapaksa’s house
GNS News Agency, July 11The Rajapaksa brothers were hailed by many in Sri
Lanka as heroes for winning the civil war against theLTTE but they are now blamed for the country's worsteconomic crisisThe anti-government protesters in SriLanka who stormed embattled President GotabayaRajapaksa's official residence have claimed to have re-covered millions of rupees inside his mansion, accord-ing to a media report on Sunday.
A video is being shared on social media showingthe protesters counting the currency notes that were un-earthed. The recovered money was said to be handedover to the security units, the Daily Mirror newspaperreported.Authorities have informed that they will takesteps to announce the ground situation after probing therelevant facts, the daily reported.Hundreds of anti-gov-ernment protesters on Saturday stormed intoRajapaksa’s residence in central Colombo's high-se-curity Fort area after breaking the barricades, as they
demanded his resignation over the island nation's worsteconomic crisis in recent memory. Another group of pro-testers entered the private residence of Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe and set it on fire.The President'swhereabouts is still not known. His only communicationoutside since the protesters stormed into the city hasbeen with Parliament Speaker Mahinda YapaAbeywardena, who announced late Saturday night thatthe President would resign on Wednesday.PresidentRajapaksa informed the Speaker about this decision toquit after Mr. Abeywardena wrote to him seeking his res-ignation following the all-party meeting of leaders heldSaturday evening.The Speaker would become the actingPresident in the absence of both the President and thePrime Minister. Later, an election among MPs must hap-pen to elect a new President. Prime MinisterWickremesinghe has also offered to resign.In May, Presi-dent Gotabaya Rajapaksa's elder brother and Prime Min-ister Mahinda Rajapaksa had to quit in the face of mas-sive anti-government protests.The Rajapaksa brotherswere hailed by many in Sri Lanka as heroes for winningthe civil war against the LTTE but they are now blamedfor the country's worst economic crisis.The expected exitof President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday andthe resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Ministerin May is a dramatic fall from grace for a powerful familythat has dominated Sri Lankan politics for more than adecade.Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is un-der the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, theworst in seven decades, crippled by an acute shortageof foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay foressential imports of fuel, and other essentials.The coun-try, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted inforeign debt default, had announced in April that it is sus-pending nearly $7 billion foreign debt repayment due forthis year out of about $25 billion due through 2026.
Boris Johnson's exit unlikely toimpact India-U.K. FTA talks
GNS News Agency, July 11In April, PM Modi and his then U.K. counterpart, Boris
Johnson, had set the deadline for Diwali for the negotiat-ing teams to conclude the FTA talksThere are no imme-diate indications about the impact of the recent politicaldevelopments in Britain on the advanced India-U.K. ne-gotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) which aims atfurther strengthening economic ties between the coun-tries, an official said.On July 7, British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson announced his resignation as Conser-vative Party leader following an unprecedented mutinyfrom within his Cabinet and after being abandoned byhis close allies in the wake of a series of scandals thatrocked his government, triggering a leadership electionfor a new Tory leader who will go on to become his suc-cessor.
In January, both countries formally launched talksfor a free trade agreement, which aims to boost bilateraltrade and investments.In such pacts, two countries ei-ther eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties onthe maximum number of goods traded between them,
besides easing norms for promoting investments andservices trade.“The development in the U.K. has hap-pened very recently… We have not received any indica-tions about having any effect of resignation on the ongo-ing FTA talks. Since the Conservative Party is still goingto be in the government, we do not see any immediateproblem and we have not heard of any reason whichmay affect the strong bilateral partnership between Indiaand the U.K.,” the official said.The official added that thetalks are at an advanced stage and both sides haveagreed on many chapters of the proposed pact.Getting agood, fair and equitable trade deal that would boost ex-ports and create numerous jobs across India is the pri-ority, the official said.When asked about meeting thedeadline of concluding talks, the official said: “FTA nego-tiations are very complex area and they involve a lot ofcareful assessment of different elements of FTAs andwe continue to do that in right earnest both sides and wewill put in our best effort to meet these very challengingdeadlines.”In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi andhis then U.K. counterpart, Boris Johnson, had set thedeadline for Diwali for the negotiating teams to concludethe FTA talks. Diwali falls on October 24 this year.TheU.K. is also a key investor in India. New Delhi has at-tracted foreign direct investment of $1.64 billion in 2021-22. The figure was about $32 billion between April 2000and March 2022.India's main exports to the U.K. includeready-made garments and textiles, gems and jewellery,engineering goods, petroleum and petrochemical prod-ucts, transport equipment and parts, spices, metal prod-ucts, machinery and instruments, pharma and marineitems.Major imports include precious and semi-preciousstones, ores and metal scraps, engineering goods, pro-fessional instruments, non-ferrous metals, chemicalsand machinery.In the services sector, the U.K. is one ofthe largest markets in Europe for Indian IT services.
Luis Echeverria, former MexicanPresident blamed for massacres, dies
GNS News Agency, July 11Echeverria positioned himself as a left-leaning
maverick allied with Third World causes during his presi-dency, but his role in the notorious massacres of leftiststudents in 1968 and 1971 made him hated by MexicanleftistsFormer Mexican President Luis Echeverria,blamed for some of Mexico’s worst political killings ofthe 20th century, has died at the age of 100, current Presi-dent Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Saturday.Inhis Twitter account, López Obrador sent condolences toEcheverria’s family and friends “in the name of the gov-ernment of Mexico,” but did not express any personalsadness about the death. López Obrador did not providea cause of death for Echeverria, who governed Mexicofrom 1970 to 1976.He had been hospitalized for pulmo-nary problems in 2018 and also had neurological diffi-culties in recent years.
Echeverria positioned himself as a left-leaningmaverick allied with Third World causes during his presi-dency, but his role in the notorious massacres of leftiststudents in 1968 and 1971 made him hated by Mexicanleftists, who for for decades tried unsuccessfully to havehim put on trial.In 2004, he became the first former Mexi-can head of state formally accused of criminal wrongdo-ing. Prosecutors linked Echeverria to the country’s so-called “dirty war” in which hundreds of leftist activists andmembers of fringe guerrilla groups were imprisoned,killed, or simply disappeared without a trace.Special pros-
ecutor Ignacio Carrillo asked a judge to issue an arrestwarrant against Echeverria on genocide charges in thetwo student massacres, the first of which occurred whenserved as interior secretary, overseeing domestic secu-rity affairs.On October 2, 1968, a few weeks before theSummer Olympics in Mexico City, government sharp-shooters opened fire on student protesters in theTlatelolco plaza and soldiers posted there opened fire.Estimates of the dead have ranged from 25 to more than300. Echeverria had denied any participation in theattacks.According to military reports, at least 360 govern-ment snipers were placed on buildings surrounding theprotesters.
In June 1971, during Echeverria’s own term as Presi-dent, students set out from a teacher’s college just westof the city center for one of the first large-scale protestssince the Tlatelolco massacre. They didn’t get more thana few blocks before they were set upon by plainclothesthugs who were actually government agents known asthe “Halcones,” or “Falcons.” Prosecutors say that groupthat participated in the beating or shooting deaths of 12people.That attack was depicted in the Oscar-winning2018 movie “Roma,” in which two characters stumbleacross the violence, which turns out to involve one oftheir boyfriends as a member of the Halcones.In 2005, ajudge ruled Echeverria could not be tried on genocidecharges stemming from the 1971 killings, saying thatwhile Echeverria may have been responsible for homi-
cide, the statute of limitations for that crime expired in1985.In March 2009, a federal court upheld a lower court’sruling that Echeverria did not have to face genocidecharges for his alleged involvement in the 1968 studentmassacre, and ordered his absolute freedom.Echeverrianever spent a day in jail, though he was briefly declaredunder a form of house arrest.Echeverria’s death came ata time that his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI —which ruled Mexico with an iron hand for seven decades,before losing power for the first time in the elections of2000 — is losing what little power it still had, discreditedand riven by internal scandals and disputes.
Sri Lankan President GotabayaRajapaksa's whereabouts still unknown
GNS News Agency, July 11The anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka on July
10 continued to occupy the residences of PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime MinisterWickremesinghe, a day after they stormed into the pre-mises and set on fire one of the buildings protestingover the nation's severe economic crisis even as theisland nation is still in the dark about the embattledPresident's whereabouts.Mr. Rajapaksa's only commu-nication outside since the protesters stormed into thecity has been with the Parliament Speaker Mahinda YapaAbeywardena, who announced late Saturday night thatthe President would resign on Wednesday.President
Rajapaksa informed the Speaker about this decision toquit after Mr. Abeywardena wrote to him seeking his res-ignation following the all-party meeting of leaders heldSaturday evening.The Speaker would become the actingPresident in the absence of both the President and thePrime Minister. Later, an election among MPs must hap-pen to elect a new President. Prime MinisterWickremesinghe has also offered to resign.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe whose privatehouse suffered an extensive arson attack last night re-mains in position despite calls to quit.In a statementSaturday night, Mr. Wickremesinghe, who has expressedhis willingness to resign, said “this country is grippedwith fuel and food shortages. There will be an importantvisit scheduled by the WFP next week while crucial talkshave to be continued with the IMF. So if the current gov-ernment is to quit it must be replaced by the next.”SpeakerAbeywardena had asked President Rajapaksa and PrimeMinister Wickremesinghe to resign immediately to make
way for an all-party government after the country wit-nessed its biggest protest yet amid an unprecedentedeconomic crisis.The IMF on Sunday said that it wasclosely monitoring the ongoing developments in SriLanka and hoped that the political crisis will be resolvedsoon to allow for the resumption of dialogue on an IMF-supported programme in the cash-starved country.
The chief of defence staff General Shavendra Silvaappealed for calm. He said that an opportunity to resolvethe current political crisis in a peaceful manner is nowavailable and said the public must assist the securityforces to maintain peace and stability.Meanwhile, the Co-
lombo national hospital said 102 people hadbeen admitted with injuries. Among them are 11media personnel.The police’s special task forcewas accused of brutally assaulting two televisionjournalists at the prime minister’s private resi-dence protest .The attack triggered the backlashwhich resulted in the house being set on fire bythe protesters.
The main Opposition SJB said their con-stituent parties are to meet this morning to takestock of the political situation.At least four Cabi-net ministers offered their resignations. Agricul-ture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said he wouldbe quitting the moment he ceremonially receivedthe stock of fertiliser which is due on Sunday fromIndia.“I will resign today after receiving the 40,000MT of urea which we have received under theIndian credit line yesterday," Mr. Amaraweera toldreporters.In May, President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa's elder brother and Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa had to quit in the face of massive anti-gov-ernment protests.The Rajapaksa brothers were hailedby many in Sri Lanka as heroes for winning the civil waragainst the LTTE but they are now blamed for the country'sworst economic crisis.The expected exit of PresidentRajapaksa on Wednesday and the resignation of Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in May is a dra-matic fall from grace for a powerful family that has domi-nated Sri Lankan politics for more than a decade.SriLanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip ofan unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in sevendecades, crippled by an acute shortage of foreign ex-change that has left it struggling to pay for essential im-ports of fuel, and other essentials.The country, with anacute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debtdefault, had announced in April that it is suspendingnearly $7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this yearout of about $25 billion due through 2026.Sri Lanka'stotal foreign debt stands at $51 billion.
U.S., China top diplomats hold'constructive' first talks in months
GNS News Agency,July 11
The meeting focusedon preventing competitionspilling over into conflictand Washington's opposi-tion to Beijing on a rangeof issues including Taiwanand human rights.TheUnited States and Chinaheld ‘constructive’ talksSaturday, the two sidessaid, after an unusuallylong meeting aimed at pre-venting bilateral tensionsfrom spiralling out of con-trol.
U.S. Secretary of StateAntony Blinken and Chi-nese Foreign MinisterWang Yi held their first talkssince October on the Indo-nesian island of Bali as thetwo powers stepped up in-teraction at a time when theWest is focused onRussia's invasion ofUkraine."Despite the com-plexities of our relation-ship, I can say with someconfidence that our delega-tions found today's discus-sions useful, candid andconstructive," Mr. Blinkensaid after five hours oftalks."The relationship be-tween the United Statesand China is highly conse-quential for our countriesbut also for the world. Weare committed to manag-ing this relationship — thiscompetition — responsi-bly," he said, promising tokeep open channels of di-plomacy withBeijing.China's foreignministry said the two sideshad broadly agreed to workto improve ties — but alsoreeled off a laundry list ofgrievances against Wash-
sues including Taiwan andhuman rights.
"I conveyed deep con-cerns of the United Statesregarding Beijing's in-creasingly provocativerhetoric and activity to-wards Taiwan and the vitalimportance of maintainingpeace and stability acrossthe Taiwan Strait," Mr.Blinken said.He alsovoiced concerns overUkraine, pressing Mr.Wang on Beijing's tacitsupport of Moscow's inva-sion of its neighbour andcalling for it to distance it-self from Russia a day af-ter the Kremlin's top diplo-mat faced a barrage ofWestern criticism at theG20 talks."This really is amoment where we all haveto stand up, as we heardcountry after country in theG20 do, to condemn theaggression, to demandamong other things that
ington, accusing theUnited States of "smearingand attacking" its politicalsystem."The two sides...reached a consensus topromote the Sino-US jointworking group consultationto achieve more results," itsaid, reporting they "alsoagreed to strengthen coop-eration on climate changeand public health"."Bothsides believe that this dia-logue is substantive andconstructive, which willhelp enhance mutual un-derstanding, reduce mis-understandings andmisjudgements, and accu-mulate conditions for futurehigh-level exchanges be-tween the two countries," itadded.The meeting largelyfocused on preventingcompetition from spillingover into unintentional con-flict and also onWashington's oppositionto Beijing on a range of is-
Russia allow access tofood that is stuck inUkraine," Mr. Blinkensaid.U.S. officials havealso been cautiously up-beat about China's stanceon Ukraine, condemningits rhetorical backing ofRussia but seeing no signthat Beijing is backing itswords with material sup-port.
Before the meetingstarted, Mr. Wang told re-porters that China’s Presi-dent Xi Jinping believed incooperation as well as“mutual respect” betweenthe world’s two largesteconomic powers and thatthere needed to be “normalexchanges” betweenthem."We do need to worktogether to ensure that thisrelationship will continue tomove forward along theright track," Wang said infront of US and Chineseflags.
Three held for bike theftin Hyderabad
GNS News Agency, July 11Hyderabad: Three persons, two of them juveniles,
were apprehended by the Afzalgunj police and 13 bikesincluding Royal Enfields, Yamaha R15s and Bajal Pul-sars stolen from the city were recovered from them. Threeother suspects were absconding.The arrested personwas identified as Mohammed Mahboob (24) while theabsconding suspects were Azher, Fazil and Salman. Allof them were natives of Bidar in Karnataka, police said,adding that the gang was involved in bike theft cases inAfzalgunj, Chaderghat, Miyapur, Sanathnagar in
Hyderabad and Kohir, Zaheerabad and Sadashivpet inSangareddy district.The police have asked two-wheelerowners to fix GPS trackers to their vehicles so that it wouldbe easy to find if stolen.
Ranga Reddy INDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLE TUESDAY 12 JULY 20226
RBI to remain flexible whileaiming to tame inflation: Das
Reserve Bank of India will continue calibrating policyto preserve and foster macroeconomic stability whilebringing down inflation and will remain flexible in its ap-proach, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Saturday.Theglobal economy is going through an uncertain time and
concerns around growth and inflation persist, but thecentral bank believes that there could be some respitefrom rising prices in the coming months, Mr. Das told aneconomic forum in New Delhi."Our current assessmentis that inflation may ease gradually in the second half" ofthe fiscal year to March, given a favourable supply out-look and "high frequency indicators pointing to resilienceof the recovery" during the three months to June, he said.
Retail inflation eased marginally in May, after touch-ing an eight-year high of 7.79% in April, but remainedabove the central bank's tolerance band of 2% to 6% fora fifth month.The Reserve Bank of India raised its infla-tion projection for this fiscal year to 6.7% from 5.7% ear-lier. Mr. Das said it will likely remain above the bank' up-per tolerance band in the first three quarters of the finan-cial year.The governor also highlighted the need for en-hanced policy coordination and dialogue among coun-tries at a time when global factors play a key role in do-mestic inflation dynamics.The bank's raised rates by 50basis points in June after a 40-bp increase in May, toprevent growing inflationary pressure from becomingbroad-based.
Adani confirms entry into telecom spectrum race;to use 5G spectrum for private network
Billionaire Gautam Adani’s group on Saturday con-firmed its entry into the race to acquire telecom spec-trum, which it said will be used to create a private net-work to support its businesses from airports to power aswell as data centres.“As India prepares to roll out thenext generation of 5G services through this auction, weare one of the many applications participating in the openbidding process,” the group said in a statement.PTI hadon Friday reported Adani group making a surprise entrywhich will pitch it directly against Mukesh Ambani’s Reli-ance Jio and telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel.“Weare participating in the 5G spectrum auction to provideprivate network solutions along with enhanced cybersecurity in the airport, ports and logistics, power genera-tion, transmission, distribution, and various manufactur-ing operations,” the statement said.
Adani Group plans to use the airwaves for its datacentre as well as the super app it is building to supportbusinesses from electricity distribution to airports, gasretailing to ports.“As we build our own digital platformencompassing super apps, edge data centres, and in-dustry command and control centres, we will need ultrahigh quality data streaming capabilities through a highfrequency and low latency 5G network across all our busi-nesses,” it said.Applications for participating in the July26 auction of airwaves, including those capable of pro-viding fifth-generation or 5G telecom services such asultra-high-speed internet connectivity, closed on Fridaywith at least four applications.Jio, Airtel and VodafoneIdea – the three private players in the telecom sector –applied.
The fourth applicant is Adani Group, which had re-cently obtained National Long Distance (NLD) and Inter-national Long Distance (ILD) licences.“If we are awarded5G spectrum in the open bidding, it will also align withour recent announcement of significantly increasing theAdani Foundation’s investments in education, healthcareand skill development in rural areas, each of which standsto benefit from 5G technology,” Adani group said.“All ofthis is aligned with our nation building philosophy andsupporting Atmanirbhar Bharat.” As per the auctiontimelines, ownership details of applicants are to be pub-lished on July 12 and the bidders should be known then.Atotal of 72,097.85 MHz of spectrum worth at least ?4.3lakh crore will be put on the block during the auction, setto commence on July 26, 2022.The auction will be heldfor spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz,900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300
MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.Ambani andAdani, who hail from Gujarat and went on to build megabusiness groups, had till recently not had a direct face-off. While the former expanded from the oil and petro-chemicals business into telecom and retail, the latterdiversified from the ports segment to coal, energy distri-bution and aviation.Adani has in recent months set up asubsidiary for a foray into petrochemicals, a businessthat Ambani's father Dhirubhai began with before its down-stream and upstream operations.Ambani too has an-nounced multi-billion-dollar plans for new energy busi-ness, including Giga factories for solar panels, batter-ies, green hydrogen and fuel cells. Adani, who had previ-ously announced plans to be the world's largest renew-able energy producer by 2030, too has unveiled hydro-gen ambitions.And now, if the Adani group participates inthe 5G auction on July 26, it will be the first direct compe-tition with Ambani.The Cabinet, last month, approved 5Gauctions at reserve prices recommended by the sectorregulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).The regulator had recommended an about 39% cut infloor price for the sale of 5G spectrum for mobile ser-vices.
Fittr eyes 100% revenuegrowth this fiscal
Driven by the strong focus on fitness post the pan-demic, online fitness start-up Fittr said it was aiming todouble revenue to ?200 crore in the current fiscal andexpand operations by onboarding 1,000 additionalcoaches.“We are going steady. We have a target for 100%revenue jump this year as well, and for that we need thesupport of coaches who will drive the other end of thegrowth and make sure that customers are being ser-viced well,” said Jyoti Dabas, co-founder of Fittr, & CEO –INFS (Institute of Nutrition and Fitness Sciences).Ms.Dabas said since the pandemic, people had realisedthat they needed to give priority to fitness, which could bedone online. Consequently, Fittr’s business hadgrown.Pointing out that the number of people going outfor walks and those looking for healthier options hadincreased, she added that during the pandemic, as manyas 71,000 new fitness and health apps were launchedglobally.“We started the online personal training verticalduring this time, and now it is doing phenomenally well.It has grown 100% over the last one year,” Ms. Dabassaid. “Right now, we have 650+ INFS certified coachesincluding fitness and nutrition coaches and personaltrainers. We continue to hire more people; we plan tohire 1,000 more coaches over the next 12-18 months,”she added.
Fittr supports the coaches on its platforms for thefirst three months, wherein it guarantees them a mini-mum pay. The revenue model after three months is com-mission-based. Interestingly, most of the Fittr coachescome from within the community. More than 30% of thecoaches had previously been Fittr’s clients.The companyrecently tied up with fitness wearable brand Garmin. “Fittris working towards collaborating with like-minded brandsto offer holistic wellness solutions to the masses,” Ms.Dabas said. “One such collaboration is with Garminwhich caters to the users who are looking at leading ahealthy life by mapping their progress on a day-to-daybasis,” she added.Fittr is also planning to do a smallproduct launch this year for its user base, where it willoffer a starter kit, some apparel, weighing scale, andsipper bottle to users. “The main goal is that when some-one is starting their fitness journey, they don’t have tospend a week or 2 weeks trying to buy all these productsso that they can begin their fitness journey. We are notlooking at it as a major revenue stream,” she added.ForFittr, about 35% of its user base is situated outside ofIndia with a strong following in markets like the U.S.,Canada, Australia, the U.K., and West Asia. Gender wise,it's an almost a 50-50 split, and in terms of age group,between 25 and 40 years is where it sees most of thetransactions happening.
Govt. seeks bids from merchant bankers,legal advisers for HZL stake sale
The Centre has sought bids from merchant bank-ers and legal advisers for selling residual governmentstake of 29.53% in Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (HZL)."The Gov-ernment of India intends to disinvest its entire residualshareholding of 29.535 per cent paid up equity capital ofHZL through SEBI approved methods in the open mar-ket in tranches," the Department of Investment and Pub-lic Asset Management (DIPAM) said.The last date forputting in bids by merchant bankers is July 28, while forlegal advisers it is July 29.HZL was a CPSE under theadministrative control of the Mines Ministry and wasprivatised in 2002.
Currently, Vedanta Ltd. holds 64.92% in HZL, whilethe government holds 29.53 per cent. Only 5.5% stake iswith the public.The Union Cabinet had in May approvedthe sale of 124.9 crore shares or 29.53% stake the gov-ernment holds in zinc producer HZL, which was sold tomining mogul Anil Agarwal's Sterlite Industries in2002.The government disinvested 26% of its equity hold-ing in HZL along with transfer of control to Sterlite Oppor-tunities and Ventures Ltd (SOVL), on March 28, 2002.Sub-sequently, as per provisions of share holding agreement,the strategic partner exercised its call option and thegovernment transferred 18.92% to SOVL, which is part ofAgarwal's Vedanta group.
Tasty Vamakku Bajjito beat monsoon blues
Hyderabad: Bajji, also referred to as fritters or pakora,is a common and popular snack in all Indian house-holds.
A variety of bajjis are made with potato, plantain,spinach, brinjal, onions, carom leaves, green chillies,paneer, bread, etc. Made with gram flour and a vegetableof our choice, the bajjis deep fried in oil. They can becrisp and crunchy or soft as well, depending on our choiceand taste. Typically served with chutney or sauce as a teatime snack or on special occasions, this traditional snackis sold everywhere, including street vendors, sweetshops, and restaurants, and homes.
Bajjis made with carom leaves (readily availablethrough the year) are tasty, flavourful, and nutritious. It isa tasty way to consume these leaves with numerousmedicinal benefits. This delightful snack served with acup of hot tea or coffee makes it a perfect combo duringthis monsoon. So, let’s give this recipe a shot.
Ingredients* Carom leaves: A few* Bengal gram flour: 1 cup* Rice flour: 1/4 cup* Crushed carom seeds: 1/2 tsp* Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp* Salt: to taste
* Chilli powder: 1/2 tsp* Soda: A pinch* Water: As needed* Oil:As needed for deep fryingMethod* Take a few carom leaves (vamaku), clean and wash
them 2 to 3 times, and keep aside for a while.* Take a cup of bengal gram flour in a mixing bowl,
add 1/4 cup of rice flour to it to make fritters crisp.* Add 1/2 tsp crushed carom seeds, 1/4 tsp turmeric
powder and salt to taste.* Add 1/2 tsp chilli powder and a pinch of soda; Mix
all together well.* Add a little water and mix into a smooth batter, a bit
thicker than the dosa batter.* Adjust the taste, dip a leaf and check if the batter is
coated well or not. If not adjust the consistency of thebatter as needed.
* Heat a pan with oil needed for deep frying thefritters, dip the leaves in the batter well coated and dropthem in oil, in batches.
* Flip and fry them all on both sides until brown, andtransfer them to a bowl.
* Your tasty and yummy carom leaves fritters areready — serve hot as an evening snack.
Gardening can promote bettermental health: Study
Washington: New research suggests that manypeople may indeed reap mental health benefits fromworking with plants even if they’ve never gardenedbefore.In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE,University of Florida scientists found that gardening ac-tivities lowered stress, anxiety and depression in healthywomen who attended twice-weekly gardening classes.None of study participants had gardened before.“Paststudies have shown that gardening can help improvethe mental health of people who have existing medicalconditions or challenges. Our study shows that healthypeople can also experience a boost in mental wellbeingthrough gardening,” said Charles Guy, principal investi-gator on the study and a professor emeritus in the UF/IFAS environmental horticulture department.The studywas co-authored by an interdisciplinary team of research-ers with the environmental horticulture department, theUF College of Medicine, the UF Center for Arts in Medi-cine and the UF Wilmot Botanical Gardens, which alsohosted all the study treatment sessions.Thirty-two womenbetween the ages of 26 and 49 completed the study. Allwere in good health, which for this experiment meantscreening for factors such as chronic health conditions,tobacco use and drug abuse, and having been prescribedmedications for anxiety or depression. Half of the partici-pants were assigned to gardening sessions, while theother half were assigned to art-making sessions. Bothgroups met twice a week for a total eight times. The artgroup served as a point of comparison with the garden-ing group.
“Both gardening and art activities involve learning,planning, creativity and physical movement, and they areboth used therapeutically in medical settings. This makesthem more comparable, scientifically speaking, than, forexample, gardening and bowling or gardening and read-ing,” Guy explained.In the gardening sessions, partici-pants learned how to compare and sow seeds, trans-plant different kinds of plants, and harvest and taste ed-ible plants. Those in the art making sessions learned
techniques such as papermaking, printmaking, drawingand collage.Participants completed a series of assess-ments measuring anxiety, depression, stress and mood.The researchers found that the gardening and art mak-ing groups experienced similar improvements in mentalhealth over time, with gardeners reporting slightly lessanxiety than art makers.
Given the relatively small number of participants andthe length of the study, the researchers were still able todemonstrate evidence of what medical clinicians wouldcall the dosage effects of gardening — that is, how muchgardening someone has to do to see improvements inmental health.“Larger-scale studies may reveal moreabout how gardening is correlated with changes in men-tal health,” Guy explained. “We believe this researchshows promise for mental wellbeing, plants in healthcareand in public health. It would be great to see other re-searchers use our work as a basis for those kinds ofstudies.” The idea of using gardening to promote betterhealth and wellbeing — called therapeutic horticulture— has been around since the 19th century.But why doesbeing around plants make us feel good? The answermight be found in the important role of plants in humanevolution and the rise of civilization, the study’s authorsexplain. As a species, we may be innately attracted toplants because we depend on them for food, shelter andother means of our survival.Whatever the deeper rea-sons might be, many of the study participants left theexperiment with a newly discovered passion, the re-searchers noted.“At the end of the experiment, many ofthe participants were saying not just how much they en-joyed the sessions but also how they planned to keepgardening,'” Guy said.
Snapchat’s parent companyonboards US Secret Service head
San Francisco: Snap, the parent company ofSnapchat, has confirmed that the US Secret Service Di-rector James Murray, who is retiring from his current post,will join the company as a chief security officer at the endof the month.According to The Verge, Murray’s privatesector move was first reported this week, shortly after thelongtime protective service official’s departure from thegovernment was announced by the Secret Service in apublic statement.“We are thrilled to welcome Jim Murrayto Snap and look forward to him joining our team onAugust 1,” Pete Boogaard, Snap spokesperson, wasquoted as saying in a statement to the website.Murraywill report directly to CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel.
In his new role, Murray will help protect the safetyand security of the company’s employees and will alsowork with law enforcement when necessary.The US Se-cret Service released a statement praising Murray for hiswork navigating “the unique challenges presented by thehistoric Covid-19 pandemic” while carrying out theagency’s “integrated mission of providing protection tosenior elected leaders and investigating crimes target-ing our financial infrastructure”.The agency is mostlyknown for its work protecting the safety of presidents,their families, and other high-level US officials.
But over the last few weeks, the US Secret Serviceagents have been roped into the House’s January 6thprobe into former President Donald Trump’s role in al-legedly inciting riots at the US Capitol.
Ranga Reddy INDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLE TUESDAY 12 JULY 20227
Jameela Jamil responds to criticism of her lookin Marvel’s upcoming ‘She-Hulk’ series
Washington: British actress Jameela Jamil provedthat she doesn’t get angry when fans question her look
in the upcoming Marvel series ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’.According to The Hollywood Reporter, after an im-
age of her She-Hulk villain Titania was shared to socialmedia ahead of the project’s August 17 premiere,Jameela took to Twitter and responded to posts that werecritical of her appearance, with some individuals voicingquestions about the character’s hairstyle.On Saturday,Jameela wrote, “Omg this photo. Guys… I accept everyounce of shade here, but in defenCe of my excellent hairstylist, this is just my hair after a 14-hour stunt day inAtlanta heat. Just after being upside down. She did a*great* job on the show I promise. I love her. Boobs lookok tho?” Among an array of other messages, she postedabout the fan reaction was a tweet that read, “I dutifullyaccept the crowd attack.” In response to a fan who waslater critical of her character’s costume, the actress wrote,“You’ll get it when the show comes out. It fits the charac-ter.” ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’, which stars TatianaMaslany in the title role. also stars Ginger Gonzaga, ReneeElise Goldsberry, Tim Roth, Mark Ruffalo and BenedictWong.The upcoming series follows Jennifer Walters asshe navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-some-thing attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk.As per The Hollywood Reporter,the show’s first promo collected 78 million views in itsfirst 24 hours when it launched in May, making it the sec-ond-biggest trailer debut for a Marvel Studios series.
Ranbir Kapoor surprises wife Alia Bhatt as shearrives back from ‘Heart of Stone’ shoot
Mumbai: Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt on Sundayreceived a special surprise from her actor-husbandRanbir Kapoor, as the ‘Saawariya’ star came to receivehis pregnant wife at the airport.
In a viral video, the ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ actor canbe seen walking out of the airport in a super cool casualoutfit, the paparazzi gathered around her and congratu-lated her on her first pregnancy.Alia can be seen runningtowards her car, while saying ‘baby’, as she was sur-prised that her husband Ranbir came to the airport topick her up, which she wasn’t expecting. Both the actorsshared a warm tight hug and looked excited, as the papscaptured their happy reunion.The ‘Raazi’ actress donneda long white shirt over a white t-shirt and black joggers.She accessorised her look with a white luxury side bagand a black face mask.
Whereas, the ‘Sanju’ actor was spotted sitting in-side his luxury car in a blue and yellow coloured checkshirt and blue denims.The couple recently announcedtheir first pregnancy with a special post onInstagram.Soon after the video went viral on social me-dia, fans flooded the comment section with heartemoticons.
“The way Alia called Ranbir ‘Baby’ and hugged himwas actually very cute,” a user commented.Another userwrote, “They r literally each other’s home”.Meanwhile, onthe work front, the ‘Dear Zindagi’ actress recently wrappedup her Hollywood debut film ‘Heart of Stone’ with GalGadot. She will be next seen in ‘Darlings’ alongsideShefali Shah and Vijay Verma. The film is slated to streamon Netflix from August 5.Apart from that she also has‘Brahmastra Part One: Shiva’ with hubby Ranbir andAmitabh Bachchan, which will release on September 9,
and ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ with Ranveer Singh,which is gearing up for release on February 11,2023.Ranbir on the other hand will be next seen in‘Shamshera’ with Vaani Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. Thefilm is all set to hit theatres on July 22
Deepika Padukone thanks FarahKhan ‘Ma’ for having faith in her
Mumbai: Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, onSaturday, shared a heartfelt note, thanking her debut di-rector Farah Khan for believing in her when no one elsedid.Taking to Instagram, the ‘Main Hoon Naa’ directorshared an image of the’ Chennai Express’ actor’s adver-tisement for a luxury brand, to which she captioned, “Look-ing Good Baby”.In response to her story, the ‘Piku’ actor,thanked and shared a heartfelt message for her first di-rector and wrote, “Thank you MA…YOU had faith in mewhen no one else did” following with a white heartemoticon.Reacting to Deepika’s message, the ‘TeesMaar Khan’ director wrote, ” You were a star even then..soproud” followed by a red heart emoticon.Farah launchedthe ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ actor in Bollywood along-side Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Om Shanti Om’, the film be-came a blockbuster hit and Deepika became a starovernight.Post the success of their first film, the duo thencollaborated for the second time for ‘Happy New Year’ in2014, which also starred Shah Rukh Khan, AbhishekBachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Jackie Shroff inprominent roles. Their second collaboration was alsodeclared a hit, as the film collected over Rs 400 croreworldwide.Meanwhile, the ‘Race 2’ actor will be next seenin Sidharth Anand’s next action thriller ‘Pathaan’ along-side Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham. The film isslated to release on January 25, 2023.Apart from that,she also has ‘The Intern’ with Amitabh Bachchan, ‘ProjectK’ with south superstar Prabhas and ‘Fighter’ with HrithikRoshan.She will also be seen in a cameo role along-side Ranveer Singh in Rohit Shetty’s next comedy-drama‘Cirkus’ which is slated to release on the occasion ofChristmas 2022.
‘Baahubali: The Beginning’completes seven years
New Delhi: Seven years ago, the world witnessedthe biggest blockbuster film in the history of Indian cin-ema, director S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali: TheBeginning’.Written by K.V Vijayendra Prasad, the periodaction film gathered a lot of appreciation from the netizensand collected over Rs 650 crore worldwide with an esti-mated expense of over Rs 200 crore, and it gave theTollywood industry a whole new identity.
As the clock turns seven for the Prabhas-starrer,Dharma Productions on their Instagram, shared a spe-cial post, to celebrate seven years of the period massentertainer project.“A movie that truly captured the es-sence of larger-than-life filmmaking and received fan-fare like no other! Celebrating 7 years of Baahubali.”Dharma captioned.Produced by Karan Johar, the filmstarred south actors Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty,Tamanna Bhatia and Ramya Krishnan in prominentroles.The big-budget period film was over three years inthe making, and a massive set was created at RamojiFilm City, Hyderabad.The high on VFX film was awardedthe ‘National Award for the Best Feature film’, in the year2016 and director Rajamouli received the ‘Filmfare BestDirector-Telugu Award’.Post the grand success of‘Baahubali: The Beginning’, actor Prabhas garnered alot of appreciation for his amazing transformation anddedication to Rajamouli’s dream project.After waiting fortwo years, the makers released ‘Baahubali: The Conclu-
sion’ in 2017, which till date is the highest-grosser inIndia. The sequel collected over Rs 1,800 crore at thebox office worldwide.
Kareena drops a ‘fresh’ glimpse ofTaimur and Saif from Winchester
Mumbai: Bollywood royalty Kareena Kapoor droppeda glimpse from her visit to Saif Ali Khan’s boarding schoolin Winchester with Saif, Taimur Ali Khan, and his‘godfather.’Sharing a photo from her weekend in Win-chester, England, with her husband-actor Saif Ali Khanand their elder son Taimur Ali Khan. Kareena also shareda photo of Taimur’s godfather on Instagram.In theglimpse, Saif Ali Khan, Taimur Ali Khan, and another per-son, who appears to be Saif’s best friend from Winches-ter College Andreas Campomar, walk down the 600-year-old board’s corridor. Saif dressed down for their day outin a blue shirt, half sweater, denim, and a cap. Taimurwas dressed in a hoodie and denim.In the photo, Saifwalked ahead, followed by Taimur Ali Khan and his god-father. Kareena, who took the photo, captioned thepost,”Father…Godfather …Son… (red heart emoji) Win-chester 2022…(red heart emoji).Fans dropped a bunchof heart emoticons in the comment section, giving im-mense love to the post.
Prior to this, Kareena, sister Karisma Kapoor, AmritaArora and Natasha Poonawalla hit the streets of Londonin style.Taking to Instagram, Kareena dropped a stun-ning picture with her BFFs.In the image, Kareena is seendonning a beautiful black glamorous dress and a blackleather jacket. Karisma paired her floral dress with blackboots, while Amrita Arora sported a flowing pleated dress.Natasha opted for a white dress.“You can’t sit withUS…but you can stand and pose with US..cause that’swhat we love to do,” Kareena captioned the post.
The divas reminded the Internet of Carrie Bradshaw,Samantha Jones, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbesfrom the epic series ‘Sex and the City’ and Kareena tooagreed with them.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Kareena will next beseen in ‘Laal Singh Chadha’ opposite Aamir Khan.Thefilm is slated to release on August 11. She also recentlywrapped up shooting her OTT debut project helmed bySujoy Ghosh. The film is based on the Japanese novel‘The Devotion of Suspect X’, which also stars JaideepAhlawat and Vijay Varma in the lead roles.
Nikkhil Advani’s short-film‘Guddu Engineer’ topremiere on Zindagi
Hyderabad: “Your task is not to seek love, but merelyto seek and find all the barriers within yourself that youhave built against it” – based on this simple yet impactfulpoem by Rumi, Zindagi announces the Indian televisionpremiere of its romantic short-film, ‘Guddu Engineer’.
Setting the perfect vibe for a Sunday binge fest,‘Guddu Engineer’ is a story that will nudge your heartsand leave you ecstatic and wanting more. Produced byMonisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani (Emmay Entertainment)the film is set to premiere on Zindagi’s DTH platformsTata Play, Dish TV and D2H on July 10 at 8 pm.‘GudduEngineer’ traces the story of three friends living at a hos-tel in Varanasi. Guddu, the primary character, who can’tspeak, falls in love with Sonia. To celebrate her birthday,he makes a list of her favourite things and makes anattempt to fulfil all her wishes. However, a certain turn ofevents causes him to make a choice between love andhate, which, in turn, alters everything around him.
Talking about his film ‘Guddu Engineer’, directorNikkhil said, “I believe films and stories inspire peopleand bring to them a different perspective of things eachtime. Great stories help connect to a larger audienceand rise above all kinds of barriers. I am looking forwardto the television premiere of the film and I am sure audi-ences will enjoy this one!”Actor Prabuddh Dyma said,“‘Guddu Engineer’ is a film that is supremely close to myheart. Playing Guddu, a person that can’t speak was chal-lenging yet rewarding. The film is brought to life by thecharacters that surround him, they are relatable and theirperformers are exceptional. The film, just like Guddu, isall heart and I am looking forward to the premiere of thisfilm on Zindagi’s DTH platforms.”‘Guddu Engineer’ aimsto instil the spirit of love, hope and friendship in the heartsof the Zindagi audiences yet again.
From Paris, with love
Hyderabad: It all started a week ago when sheteased her followers with a cryptic post on Instagram.“From one kind of runway to the next… something excit-ing is happening… Stay tuned,” Sudha Reddy wrotealongside a photo of her posing on a runway under abright blue sky with aircraft in the background.And, herfollowers stayed tuned, closely following a series of reelsand stories to know what the philanthropist is up to now.The thing about Sudha isshe takes her followers on avirtual journey to wherever she is — be it dropping off herson at Oxford, soaking in the architectural history of Milanor simply spending the day with her pooch in the garden.
Coming back to her recent cryptic posts — the build-up was worth it as Hyderabad’s very own fashion iconlanded in the French capital for the Paris Couture Weekin style. After her jaw-dropping appearance at the 2021Met Gala red carpet, Sudha’s fashion game seems tohave just gotten stronger. From hand-picked avant-gardelooks by Ralph & Russo, Halston, Balmain, JennyPackham, Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Carolina Herrera andRami Al Ali, she turned heads not just in Paris, but alsoback home.“After my Met Gala outing, the committee ofthe Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture extendedan invitation to my international team and I was excited toparticipate. I enjoy being a part of global red carpetevents,” the wife of Hyderabad-based billionaire MeghaKrishna Reddy tells ‘Telangana Today’. Shecomplimented her looks with accessories from Judith
Leiber, Hermes, Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana,Moschino and bespoke jewellery by Indian designerGhanasingh Be True. But at the end of the day, it was herglobal team — comprising Danish-born makeup artistCharlotte Willer, Zimbabwe-raised session hairdresserPeter Gray and New York-based celebrity stylist Ise White— that made her look divine in all those flowing gownsand power suits.
Her posts and photos of her debut appearance atthe Paris Couture Week go to show how enviously wellshe has blended into the international fashion circuit.She was seen rubbing shoulders with the living legendsof the haute couture industry at private and exclusiveevents by Fendi and Dior. “I thoroughly enjoyed myselfmeeting with like-minded individuals. I reunited with AnnaWintour (editor of ‘Vogue’) once again. She is the ulti-mate embodiment of grace andsophistication and is sucha bright mind when it comes to world fashion trends. Ialso interacted with Giorgio Armani, Rahul Mishra, JuliaFox and Miss Fame,” she says.But the one thing thatdefines her experience is the fact that she could witnessParis in its full glory and cherish “glorious moments withfriends and family”. “The luxury here is priceless andbespoke,” adds Sudha.Being a fashionista is not justabout following trends and wearing outfits worth millionsof dollars. And, Sudha seems to know that. “Fashion ishighly individualistic and personalised. Anything bespokeand tailor-made enjoys a certain degree of authenticityand exclusivity, and this is what inspires me about fash-ion. It’s not solely about following trends, but also creat-ing newer ones and setting milestones. The world is abeautiful place and fashion makes it better,” shebelieves.For someone who lives and breathes fashion,Sudha uses such global platforms — Met Gala and ParisCouture Week — to highlight the rich artistic lineage ofIndia. Calling this the need of the hour, she says: “Indiais an integral part of the ever-evolving landscape of worldfashion. The craftsmanship, textiles and artisans needto be celebrated at every available juncture and requirethe right international spotlighting.”
With an educational background in fashion and suchwide exposure to the industry, does she ever see herselflaunching a label of her own? “I would love to launch aninternational line of Indian couture in partnership with aleading global designer. The highlight would be a seam-less blend of Eastern and Western fashion sensibili-ties,” says Sudha, who is inspired by Italian fashion de-signer Donatella Versace.After all this, one may thinkthere’s not a brand that Sudha hasn’t worn. Well, shedreams of seeing herself in the ‘Nightingale of KualaLumpur’ by Malaysian designer Abdul Faisaly. Wonderwhat’s the big deal? The red-chiffon dress costs $30million and is covered with over 700 diamonds andSwarovski crystals. Now, won’t that be a stunner!It was aproud moment for me to represent South India on theworld couture stage. It was a surreal feeling to be theonly Hyderabadi at such a prestigious event.
Ranga Reddy INDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLEINDIAN CHRONICLE TUESDAY 12 JULY 20228
Printed and Published by V. Srinivas Reddy, on behalf of M/s Sai Krishna Publications, Owned by M/s Sai Krishna Publications, Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.98/1, Co-operative Industrial Estate, IDA,Gandhinagar, Quthbullapur Mandal, Medchal-Malkajgiri Dist, Telangana. Published at Plot No. 3, Flat No.13, Surya Saroj Apartments, Huda Complex, Saroor Nagar, Ranga Reddy Dist. T.S. 500 035.
Editor: V Srinivas Reddy RNI No. APENG/2013/49469, Cell No. 9440231967.
Mumbai City FC completesigning of Rostyn Griffiths
GNS News Agency, July 11Indian Super League franchise Mumbai City FC on
Sunday announced the signing of central defenderRostyn Griffiths. Indian Super League franchise MumbaiCity FC on Sunday announced the signing of central de-fender Rostyn Griffiths. The 34-year-old joins the Island-ers from fellow City Football Group side and A-Leagueoutfit Melbourne City FC after putting pen to paper on aone-year contract which runs until the end of the 2022/23season.He won the A-League Premiers and Champion-
ship double in the 2020/21 season and also featured inthe club’s debut continental campaign at the 2022 AFCChampions League, before getting his hands on a sec-ond consecutive Premiers title in 2021/22 with theMelbourne-based club.Griffiths started his career withthen-Premier League side Blackburn Rovers beforemoving to Australia to ply his trade. He made his A-leaguedebut with Adelaide United and went on to represent NorthQueensland Fury and Central Coast Mariners, where hehad a very successful spell, winning the Premiers in the2011/12 season.Griffiths then featured for China’sGuangzhou City and the Dutch club Roda JC before re-turning to A-league with Perth Glory. Prior to joiningMelbourne City, he turned out for Uzbek side PakhtakorTashkent in the 2017/18 Uzbekistan Super League.Hehas a total of 321 appearances and 23 goals to his namein his club career so far. “Personally, this is a new chal-lenge in my life and I’m ready for it. The club’s vision andambition is a huge factor in helping my decision to comehere along with what Des Buckingham intends to buildhere at Mumbai City,” Griffiths was quoted as saying in amedia release.The club’s head coach Des Buckinghamdescribed the 34-year-old as a top player.
Will Russia try to politicizeRybakina’s Wimbledon win?
GNS News Agency, July 11Match point secured against Ons Jabeur, Rybakina
lightly clenched her left fist, wiped her mouth with herwrist band, expelled a breath and sauntered forward tothe net to shake the hand of a crestfallen Jabeur, thenwaved to the crowd with as much urgency as QueenElizabeth waving to the hoi polloi out the window of hercarriage.Rybakina was smiling, to be sure, after her vic-tory, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, but for a 23-year-old player whose ca-reer had just been transformed by a stunning run to thetitle, this was understated stuff even by Englishstandards.“She wins the trophy for the least emotionalSlam win,” said Martina Navratilova, a nine-timeWimbledon singles champion.But it should come as nosurprise that Rybakina’s feelings were simply underwraps, and a couple of hours later, after she had posedwith the gilded dish awarded to the champion, she wasasked at her news conference how her parents mightreact to her victory when she finally got the chance tospeak with them.“You wanted to see emotion,” she said,fighting to regain her composure. “Kept it too long.”
It was a poignant moment, more moving, to be truth-ful, than anything that happened Saturday on CentreCourt, the Shakespearean scene of so many break-throughs and breakdowns, including Jana Novotna’scrying on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after blow-ing a lead against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final.The history,all those ghosts on the grass, can hit a player hard asthey try to join the club, and Rybakina and Jabeur cer-tainly had to work their way through early jitters as theyboth played in their first Grand Slam final.True stylisticdifference is rare in the big matches in the women’sgame, but Rybakina versus Jabeur provided plenty ofcontrast as they explored the backcourt and the forecourtof the most famous showplace in tennis.Rybakina, a leanand long-legged 6-footer who represents Kazakhstan,has intimidating power and a first and second serve thatcan attain speeds that would suit the men’s tour.Jabeur,a stockier and much shorter Tunisian, is a creative force:
walking jauntily around the court between points and fa-voring drop shots and abrupt rhythm changes once theybegin.But force would trump finesse in this new-arrivalfinal: the first at Wimbledon between two first-time majorwomen’s singles finalists since 1962, when KarenSusman of the United States defeated Vera Sukova ofCzechoslovakia.“I didn’t play my best tennis, let’s say, inthe second and third set,” Jabeur said. “She started to bemore aggressive. I think she stepped in the court muchmore and put a lot of pressure on. That, I didn’t find asolution for unfortunately today.”Rybakina’s ability to navi-gate the big points with sang-froid and timely serves wasremarkable and never more helpful than when she es-caped from a 0-40 deficit when serving at 3-2 in the thirdset.But that rise-to-the-occasion tennis came as no sur-prise to her coach, Stefano Vukov, a Croatian who waswatching from the players’ box Saturday. He noticed itwhen he first decided to work with her near the end of the2018 season.“Everybody feels the nerves, but she is avery clutch player,” he said. “She showed me in the firsttournaments we ever played. When the scores were get-ting close, she was always the one coming out the win-ner of these close contests. So, it was mostly effortlessfor her, just her personality and her style of game.”
Her victory at Wimbledon was deeply impressivebut not the outcome that most in Centre Court or on thepayrolls of the All England Club were yearning for.TheNo. 2-ranked Jabeur is not only a sympathetic figure butalso a deeply symbolic one as an Arab woman succeed-ing at the highest reaches of a sport that aspires to betruly global. Rybakina plays for Kazakhstan but is a Rus-sian who was born, raised and, until this year, based inMoscow, where her parents still live.Wimbledon oncefeted another tall, blonde Russian newcomer when MariaSharapova won the title by surprise in 2004 at age 17.But Rybakina’s arrival comes at an awkward moment forthose with Russian connections. The tournament barredall Russian and Belarusian players (and journalists) thisyear because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.The
move came after pressure from the British governmentled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who just resigned.But the ban was also put in place to deprive Russia andits leadership of the chance to use any Russian suc-cess at the tournament for propaganda.Rybakina, whobegan representing Kazakhstan in 2018, was asked ifher native country might try to politicize her victory.“I don’tknow,” she said. “I’m playing for Kazakhstan for a very,very long time. I represent it on the biggest tournaments,the Olympics, which was a dream come true. I don’t knowwhat’s going to happen. I mean, it’s always some news,but I cannot do anything about this.”That is certainly true.Wimbledon, after all, has barred players who representRussia, not players who used to represent Russia. Andit is a challenge to see how the Russian government orsports officials could use Rybakina’s success as a brightand shiny tale of Russian triumph when it was Russia’slack of support for her career that ultimately caused herto switch allegiances.“I didn’t choose where I was born,”she said. “People believed in me. Kazakhstan supportedme so much. Even today, I heard so much support. I sawthe flags, so I don’t know how to answer thesequestions.”She is hardly the first Russian tennis playerto take the cash and amenities and choose to representKazakhstan. She is hardly the first tennis player to takethe cash and amenities and choose to represent an-other country.
Paul Pogba refuses to sign ManUnited shirt after Juventus transfer
GNS News Agency, July 11paul pogbaPaul Pogba refused to sign a Manches-
ter United shirt after being mobbed by fans ahead ofJuventus transfer. In a video that has gone viral on socialmedia, French footballer and Juventus’s new signingPaul Pogba can be seen refusing to sign a Manchester
United shirt when he was mobbed by fans after his medi-cal with the Bianconeri.Pogba, who left United when hiscontract expired at the end of last month, joined the SerieA giants after a free transfer.Juventus are set to officiallyannounce his return on Monday and the 29-year-old isexpected to wear the No. 10 shirt.Pogba underwent hismedical with Juventus on Sunday, welcomed by circa2,000 Bianconeri fans.Pogba was accompanied by hisrepresentative Rafaela Pimenta when he was signingautographs for Juventus fans after his medical tests butapparently refused to put his signature on a ManchesterUnited shirt. Pogba rifiuta di firmare la maglia delloUTD ?? pic.twitter.com/3hJkfZRdRa — AverageJuventino Guy (@AJG_Official) July 9, 2022Pogba re-signed for United from Juventus in 2016 but failed todeliver on his huge promise, often struggling for consis-tency at Old Trafford.After coming through the youth ranks,Pogba left United for Juventus on a free transfer in 2012before being lured back by manager Jose Mourinho, whopaid a then world-record fee of £89 million ($111.96 mil-lion) for him.
Tennis is done With COVID-19, butthe virus isn’t done with tennis
GNS News Agency, July 11Rafael Nadal can play top-level tennis with a zom-
bie foot and a tear in an abdominal muscle, but only forso long. Iga Swiatek is beatable, at least on grass. WithMoscow-born, Kazakhstan-representing Elena Rybakinamaking the women’s singles final, barring Russian play-ers does not necessarily make a competition free of Rus-sian players.But perhaps most surprisingly, after 27months of tournament cancellations, spectator-freeevents, constant testing and bubblelike environments,tennis may have finally moved past COVID-19.For nearlytwo years, longer than just about every other major sport,tennis struggled to coexist with the pandemic.In Novem-ber, when the NFL, the NBA, the Premier League andmost other sports organizations had resumed a life thatlargely resembled 2019 — no masks, no testing, nobubbles — tennis players were still living with restric-tions on their movements, conducting online video newsconferences and having cotton swabs stuck up theirnoses at tournaments.A month later, Novak Djokovic, thenthe No. 1 men’s singles player, contracted a second caseof COVID-19 just in time to secure, he thought, specialentry into Australia to play the Australian Open, eventhough he was unvaccinated against COVID-19 and thecountry was still largely restricted to people who had beenvaccinated. Australian officials ended up deporting himbecause they said he might encourage other people notto get vaccinated, a drama that dominated the run-up tothe tournament and its first days.The episode crystal-lized how tennis, with its kinetic international schedule,had been subjected to the will and whims of local gov-ernments, with rules and restrictions shifting sometimes
weekly. The frequent travel and communal locker roomsmade the players something like sitting ducks, alwaysone nasal swab away from being locked in a hotel roomfor 10 days, sometimes far from home, regardless ofhow careful they might have been.
Tennis, unlike other sports that surged ahead ofhealth and medical guidelines to keep their coffers filled,has had to reflect where society at large has been atevery stage of the pandemic. Its major organizers can-celed or postponed everything in the spring and earlysummer of 2020, although Djokovic held an exhibitiontournament that ended up being something of asuperspreader event.The 2020 U.S. Open took place onschedule in late summer without spectators. To be at theusually bustling Billie Jean King National Tennis Centerthose weeks in New York was something like being onthe surface of the moon.
A rescheduled French Open followed in the chill of aParis fall with just a few hundred fans allowed. Australialargely subjected players to a 14-day quarantine beforethey could take part in the 2021 Australian Open.As vac-cinations proliferated later in the year, crowds returned,but players usually had to live in bubbles, unable to moveabout the cities they inhabited until the summer eventsin the U.S. But as the delta variant spread, the bubblesreturned. Then came Australia and Djokovic’s vaccineconfrontation, just as disputes over mandates were heat-ing up elsewhere.In recent months though, as publicattitudes toward the pandemic shifted, mask mandateswere lifted and travel restrictions were eased, even ten-nis has seemingly moved on, even if the virus has notdone the same.There was no mandatory testing forWimbledon or the French Open. People are confusedabout what they must do if they get the sniffles or a sorethroat, and tennis players are no different. Many playerssaid they were not sure exactly what the rules were forthose who started not to feel well. While two widely knownplayers, Matteo Berrettini and Marin Cilic, withdrew fromWimbledon after testing positive, without a requirementto take a test, they, and any other player, could have optednot to take a test and played through whatever symp-toms they were experiencing.
“So many rules,” Nadal said. “For some people,some rules are fine; for the others, rules are not fine. If
there are some rules, we need to follow the rules. If not,the world is a mess.”After nearly two years of bubble life,though, hard-edge complaints about a don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach and safety mandates were virtuallynonexistent.Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, whose countryhad some of the strictest pandemic-related policies, saidshe remained cautious, especially at the bigger events,but she had reached the point where she needed to finda balance between safety and sanity.“I just try to takecare of myself as much as I can where I’m still not com-pletely isolating myself, where it’s not fun to live,” saidTomljanovic, who lost to Rybakina in thequarterfinals.Paula Badosa, a Spanish star, said she hadstopped worrying about the virus.“I had all type of COVIDspossible,” said Badosa, who first tested positive in Aus-tralia in January 2021 and has had it twice more. “I hadvaccination, as well. So in my case, if I have it again, it willbe very bad luck.”Officials with the men’s and women’stours said that regardless of infection levels, their orga-nizations had no intention of resuming regular testing orrestricting player movements. They said they will followthe lead of local officials.With testing, quarantine andisolation requirements having all but disappeared, ormerely existing as recommendations, tennis finallyseems to have entered a stage of pandemic apathy,much like a lot of society, omicron and its subvariants bedamned.There is, of course, one major exception to allof this, and that is Djokovic, whose refusal to be vacci-nated — unique among the top 100 players on the men’stour — will seemingly prevent him from playing in theU.S. Open.U.S. rules require all foreigners entering thecountry to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic hassaid he believes that individuals should be allowed tochoose whether to do so without pressure from govern-ments.
Also, because he was deported from Australia,Djokovic would need a special exemption to return to thecountry to compete in the Australian Open in January. Hehas won the men’s singles title there a record ninetimes.Unless the rules change, he may not play in an-other Grand Slam tournament until the French Open nextMay, something he said that he was well aware of butthat would not shift his thinking about whether to take thevaccine.In other words, COVID-19 really isn’t done play-ing games with tennis.
Should I hit him, if he comes in the way’:Watch Rishabh Pant’ hilarious mid-pitch
conversation with Rohit SharmaA hilarious incident took place in the first over of
India’s innings when the men in blue met England in thesecond T20I of the three-match series at Edgbaston onSaturday.Opening the batting with Rohit Sharma,Rishabh Pant took a risky single to open hisaccount.However, the bowler, David Willey, obstructed hisway which almost led to a collision.After completing therun, Pant was caught on stump mic asking his captain:“Yeh saamne aa gaya yaar, saamne aa gaya” (he camein front of me while running).“Takkar maar du kya?”(Should I hit him, if he comes in the way).“Maarde aurkya,” (Yes hit him what else) replied Rohit Sharma. In thepast, Rohit Sharma has had similar issues. In a T20match against Bangladesh, he was miffed after seamerMustafizur Rahman had come in his way and expressedhis displeasure. Soon, MS Dhoni, who was the then cap-tain of the side, shoved Rahman aside while taking asingle. Dhoni was also fined 75 percent of his matchfees while the bowler was docked 50 percent. When MS Dhoni taught Mustafizur a lesson he’ll never forgetMeanwhile, India clinched the Twenty20 series againstEngland after a 49-run rout in the second match atEdgbaston .
Edgbaston Test racism | Birmingham policearrest man for alleged abuse at Indian fans GNS News Agency, July 11Birmingham Police have arrested a man for "racially
aggravated public order offence", following allegationsof racist abuse aimed at Indian fans during the resched-uled fifth Test between India and England at Edgbaston.#ARREST | A 32-year-old man has been arrested for a
racially aggravated public order offence after reports ofracist, abusive behaviour at the test match in #Birming-ham on Monday. He remains in custody for questioning.pic.twitter.com/ROp6PVUsUz
— Birmingham Police (@BrumPolice) July 8,2022"A 32-year-old man has been arrested for a raciallyaggravated public order offence after reports of racist,abusive behaviour at the Test match in Birmingham onMonday. He remains in custody for questioning," Birming-ham Police tweeted on Friday.Several Indian fans had
taken to Twitter to report the racist behaviour theyendured during the fourth day's play on Mondaynight. They had claimed that some British fanshurled racial taunts at them.England won theTest by seven wickets on Tuesday."We'velaunched a criminal investigation into reports ofracist, abusive behaviour at the Test match inBirmingham," a West Midlands Police spokes-person told Sky Sports News. "We're liaising withEdgbaston officials to understand what's hap-pened and would encourage anyone who heardany racist language or gestures, or has videofootage that could help, to get in touch."We'reaware of images circulating on social mediashowing an alleged offender. We're making en-quiries to identify the person and would urgehim to come forward and speak to us."In a slew
of measures, Warwickshire County Cricket Club hasdecided to deploy "undercover football crowd-style spot-ters" in the stadium at Edgbaston, which will also hostthe second T20I between India and England on Satur-day, to listen and report abusive behaviour.
Essential shines in morningtrials at Hyderabad Race Course
GNS News Agency, July 11Hyderabad: Essential moved well when the follow-
ing horses were exercised at Malakpet Race Course onSunday morning.
SAND:1000m: Sopranos (Apprentice) 1-17, 800/1-0, 600/
46, moved well. Theo’s Choice (Trainer) 1-19, 800/1-2,600/46, moved easy. NRI Angel (Apprentice) & City OfHustle (Koushik) 1-19, 800/1-3, 600/47, pair movedeasy.Essential (K Mukesh) & Barbet (SS Tanwar) 1-16,800/1-0, 600/46, former moved well. Linewiler (P Vikram)& Ashwa Raudee (K Mukesh) 1-17, 800/1-1, 600/47, pairhandy.
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