Kejriwal terms present situation of Covid-19 in Capital ...

Mother of lynched Bihar cop

dies of shockPatna, April 11 (UNI) Urmila Devi, the 70-year-old mother of a senior Bihar police offi-cial Ashwani Kumar, who was allegedly lynched by a mob in West Bengal, died of shock in Purnea district on Sunday. Police said that the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kis-hanganj police station Kumar led a police team to Pantapara village near Panjipara under Goalpokhar police station area at Islampur district of West Bengal early on Satur-day morning when a mob attacked them. Kumar,50, died on the spot. Soon after hearing the news, Devi, who was a heart patient, became unconscious and went in a deep state of shock that re-sulted in her death. "Kumar had informed his Bengal counterpart prior to the raid. While carrying out the raid, over 100 men attacked them and brutally assaulted the SHO until his death," said a police officer of the Kishan-ganj police station. Sources said that seven more police personnel who had accom-panied Ashwani for the raid fled the spot after the attack. Meanwhile, the family mem-bers of the slain cop have al-leged conspiracy behind the incident. Taking a strong note of the incident, Kishanganj SP Kumar Ashish has suspended all the seven police personnel including the circle inspector Manish Kumar for fleeing the spot. "We have suspended the seven policemen for unable to perform their duty well and had left their team leader at the spot. We have also initi-ated a departmental action against them. If a conspiracy angle comes during investiga-tion, they will be booked un-der IPC sections," Ashish said.

4 cops injured in attack by goons in

Bihar, 2 heldPatna, April 11 (UNI) A day after a senior Bihar police of-ficial was allegedly lynched by a mob in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district, a video of local goons attacking a police team in Katihar district, went viral on Sunday.SHO of Barsoi police station, Sunil Kumar, has said that the gruesome incident took place on April 7 and two people were arrested in connection with the case, that had left four cops injured."Acting on a tip off that some drunk men had been hid-ing at Raghunathpur village, a police team headed by ASI Sanjay Kumar went there to conduct a raid. On reach-ing the area, a group of local goons, apparently liquor ma-fias, pounced on the team and brutally assaulted four police personnel including Kumar and three other women con-stables," police said.

The SouTh IndIa TImeSVOL NO. XII ISSUE NO. 223 PagES. 8+8 4/-`

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12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

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pm modi posts four requests for countrymen in his ‘Tika Utsav’ message

New Delhi, Apr 4 (UNI) As the ‘Tika Utsav’ (Vac-cine festival) begins from Sunday to intensify the Coronavirus vaccinations in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted his four requests to the countrymen in a statement along with his Twitter message.

“Today, we are starting the Tika Utsav across the country. In this round of the fight against corona, I have four requests...” PM Modi said, attaching a statement where these re-quests were posted: Each One- Vaccinate One, Each One- Treat One, Each One- Save One, and cre-ation of micro-contain-

ment zones.In his first request, Mr

Modi said Each One-Vac-cinate One means help-ing those (such as less

educated and old) who cannot get themselves vaccinated.

Each One-Treat One is about helping those who

do not have the means to or do not know about the facilities available, for vaccination. Under the third request, Each One-

Save One appealing for wearing masks that will help saves the lives of the people. PM Modi said his fourth request as people must lead in the creation of micro-containment zones. Wherever a Co-vid-19 positive case has been reported, people of that family and locality must create a micro-con-tainment zone. He also stressed to give special emphasis on personal hygiene as well as social hygiene, saying he has full confidence that with the people’s participation, awareness, and fulfill-ing our responsibility, we will again be successful in containing coronavirus.

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) Terming the present situation of COVID-19 in the national capital ‘worrisome’, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged people to stay at home as much as possible, as the ongoing peak has surpassed the intensity of November 2020, with Delhi recording 10,732 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Addressing a digital press conference here, the Delhi Chief Minister asked people to use face masks and sanitis-ers and maintain social distancing.Mr Kejriwal added that the government in Delhi does not want to impose a lockdown. He said, “We do not want to impose a lockdown but yesterday, helplessly, the government has been ordered to impose a few restrictions. For instance, buses would ply only at 50 per cent capacity, there would be 50 per cent occupancy in the metros, bars and restaurants would function at 50 per cent occupancy- such re-

strictions have been imposed for your own safety and health. I would like to appeal to you all to follow it properly.”

Mr Kejriwal said, ‘Corona is ris-ing rapidly in the entire country. In Delhi too, it has increased signifi-cantly in the past 10-15 days. It is the fourth wave in Delhi. Prior to this, Delhi has seen three waves; all of us Delhiites faced it quite nicely and it was resolved. The fourth wave is very

dangerous. It is spreading very fast so much so that it is beyond the under-standing of many people.” He said, “For instance, until a few days ago, that is till mid-March, the number of cases reported per day, was less than 200. The report that would be pub-lished in the evening states that Delhi reported 10,732 new cases in the last 24 hours. The day before yesterday, there were 7,900 cases; before that,

there were 8,521 cases. You can see that in the past 3 days itself, the cas-es have increased so rapidly. First 2 days there were 8000-8500 cases and yesterday 10,732 cases came up.’‘No doubt, the situation is worrisome. However, your government is keeping an eye on the situation. I’m personally monitoring it. We are doing whatever needs to be done, taking everyone’s aid,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.

Mr Kejriwal said, “Currently, we are working on 3 levels. First, how can we stop the spread of Corona? In this regard, the government won’t be able to do much single-handedly. The citizens of Delhi will have to col-laborate. You did cooperate earlier as well- any time we encountered a new wave, you cooperated with great vigour. Not for anyone else, but for ourselves, our own health and our own family; we will have to follow all the protocols strictly.’

Kejriwal terms present situation of Covid-19 in Capital ‘worrisome’

Mamata says “EC should rename MCC as Modi Code of Conduct”

Kolkata, Apr 11 (UNI) Irked by the EC’s blanket ban on the politic from visiting the trouble-torn Cooch Behar dis-trict where four youths fell to the bullets on Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said. “EC should rename MCC as Modi Code of Conduct” as the TMC supremo has to cancel her visit there. Hours after four youths, aged between 22 to 24, were killed when the cen-tral security opened firing in self-defence at a polling booth at Mathabhanga under Sital-kuchi assembly constituency during polling onSaturday, Ms Banerjee had announced to visit there on Sunday. Howev-er, the Election Commission of

India after studying the reports from the poll observers on Sat-urday itself announced that no politician could proceed in the trouble-torn Coochbehar for the next 72 hours. Ms Baner-jee, who was also scheduled to

hold two rallies in the neigh-bouring district Jalpaiguri on Sunday has rescheduled her itinerary and decided to visit there on the 4th day.

“ EC should rename MCC as Modi Code of Conduct,” Ms

Banerjee said on her Twitter account. She further said,” BJP can use all its might but noth-ing in this world can stop me from being with my people & sharing their pain. They can restrict me from visiting my brothers & sisters in Cooch Be-har for 3 days but i will be there on the 4th day!” Ms Banerjee also countered the central forces versions of the shoot-ing incident ‘in self-defence’ in Cooch Behar and had said her government will initiate a CID probe into the incident.

“A CID probe will be initi-ated to find out the circum-stances behind the incident,” the CM had said. The poll body also put in place restrictions, including extending.

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) In-dia on Sunday reported 1,52,879 new cases of COVID-19 dur-ing the past 24 hours, the data by the Union Health Ministry stated on Thursday. With this, the country’s overall Covid tally now stands at 1,33,58,805.

The death toll mounted to 1,69,275 with 839 more fatalities in the past day, highest in six months. According to the Union Health Ministry, the active cas-es rose by 61,456 to stand at 11,08,087. It is now 8.29 per cent of the total caseload.

The past 24 hours saw 90,584 people recovering from the deadly virus, taking the total recovery count to 1,20,81,443, which is 90.44 per cent of the case tally. The fatality rate stood at 1.27 per cent. Meanwhile, the

Indian Council of Medical Re-search (ICMR) said that a total of 25,66,26,850 samples have been tested so far for coronavi-rus. Out of this, 14,12,047 were tested in the past one day. On the vaccination front, a total of 10,15,95,147 people have been vaccinated across the country till now with 35,19,987 vaccina-tions administered in the past 24 hours.

COVID-19: India records 1,52,879 fresh

cases, 839 deaths

New Delhi, April 11 (UNI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will begin campaigning in West Ben-gal from April 14 where he will address the rallies in Goalpokhar and Matigara-Naxalbari.

The former Congress president will start the campaign after four phas-es of polling has ended in the state where the party is contesting on 92 seats in allianc with the Left.

The party is filled up with energy after the an-nouncement as it was struggling to find leaders to campaign in the state as state in-charge Jitin Prasada tested positive

for Covid. The only big names from Delhi who had campaigned here are Salman Khurshid and Jaiveer Shergill. Apart from them, party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ran-jan Chowdhury is also holding the fort in the state. Sources said that lack of positive feedback

from the state is stopping the leaders from com-ing here.While the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in direct contest, the Left is trying to win back its rural support, and the Congress is trying to retain its last tally of 44, in 2016 elections.

Rahul Gandhi to campaign in WB from April 14

Shantipur, Apr 11 (UNI) Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday held West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee re-sponsible for the death of 4 people saying her “provocative” speech at Sitalkuchi, Cooch Be-har, set people against central forces, who re-sorted to firing in self defence. Appealing to the people of West Ben-gal to maintain peace in the remaining four phases of voting and choose their

favourite candidate, Mr Shah also assured that once the BJP gov-ernment came to pow-er after May 2 there will

totally violence free state. After holding a

roadshow in favour of party candidate Jagan-nath Sarkar for Santi-pur assembly seat in Nadia, Mr Shah said any death was very sad-dening and held TMC supremo Mamata Ba-nerjee’s provocative speech some day ago at Sitalkuchi where four people fell to the bul-lets. He said the central forces opened firing

when attempts were made to snatch their weapons at a booth in Sitalkuchi assembly constituency, the place where Ms Banerjee held electioneering early this week.

Mr Shah said Ms Banerjee had con-doled the death of four youths, but she had not condoned the death of Ananda Burman.

Amit Shah holds Mamata Banerjee responsible for death of 4 people

after her Sitalkuchi speech

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12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

Europe’s progressive intelligentsia have come to scorn political “centrism.” A misguided focus on the middle ground, critics argue, precludes the formulation of political alternatives, and leads to the rise of extremist parties on the left and right. Seen through this lens, the corollaries of centrism are populism, polarization, and ultimately a growing distrust of democratic principles. This analysis is not without merit. Democracy requires candid and controversial conversations about the best way forward. Closing the door to political alternatives by blindly embracing the status quo is a recipe for disaster. “Debate is never finished,” wrote the late Polish-born sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. “It can’t be, lest democracy be no longer democratic.” But this does not mean that left-of-center political parties should turn their backs on pragmatism and moderation. In fact, evidence from some of the world’s current electoral hotspots suggests they should do the opposite. Despite increasing political polarization in many countries, large numbers of voters seem considerably more comfortable with centrist positions than is often assumed. Left-wing political parties keen on sharpening their ideological profile therefore face a dilemma. Whereas party activists frequently demand greater ideological clarity, voters increasingly favor pragmatism over purity. So, the most promising course of action for progressive leaders is probably to combine a long-term ideological vision with the reality of incremental change. Consider Joe Biden, the US Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Although Biden’s agenda clearly is more progressive than those of recent Democratic nominees, it appears significantly more centrist than those of two of his main challengers for the Democratic nomination, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.Biden’s platform is notable not only for what it endorses but also for what it does not. On immigration, the former vice president advocates humanitarian generosity but has not called for decriminalizing illegal border crossings. On climate change, while he champions carbon-neutral housing and calls for the US power sector to be carbon-free by 2035, he has steered clear of fully embracing the Green New Deal favored by his party’s left wing. Likewise, Biden is shying away from calls to ban fracking, defund the police, and introduce universal single-payer health care. Biden’s centrism is shared by his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who has faced criticism from within her own party for her allegedly weak progressive credentials. But Biden’s commanding lead over US President Donald Trump in opinion polls suggests that the Democrats may have found a winning formula. A similar story is unfolding in New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won convincingly in the country’s October 17 general election. In progressive circles, Ardern is widely heralded as a global icon. She is only the second prime minister in modern times to have given birth while in office, is known for her open and honest communication, and most recently was a serious contender for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. But, in contrast to her global image, Ardern’s domestic success has resulted from centrist flexibility rather than transformative ambition. Heading a three-party coalition in her first term, Ardern was unable to implement her most far-reaching policy proposals – in particular, solving New Zealand’s housing crisis. But she benefited from her effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic, and her compassionate and determined response to the March 2019 Christchurch massacre in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed. In its recent election campaign, Ardern’s Labour Party focused on moderate reform proposals that appealed to centrist voters. These included limited increases in the minimum wage and slightly higher taxes for the wealthy as part of a responsible economic recovery, in addition to law-and-order policies such as increasing, not reducing, the number of police officers serving their communities. The current momentum enjoyed by political progressives who are consciously addressing the political center holds important lessons for struggling counterparts elsewhere.

A chance to centrism

2EDIT12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

Email : [email protected] / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMESTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES PAndeMic, vAccine And controversy

The pandemic seems to be on its way out, but not yet gone. The vac-cine seems to be on its way in, but has not yet reached households. The one thing that has remained unmoved throughout is contro-versy! As I write this on January 9, the numbers are a grim reminder of the havoc wrought by Covid-19. The number of infections is 1,04,31,639 (second place after the United States); the number of deaths is 1,50,798 (third after the US and Bra-zil); and the number of active cases is 2,24,190. With a population of 138 crore, we can count ourselves lucky but certainly not a shining example of pandemic control and management. There are six ap-proved vaccines in the world. We know little about the Russian and Chinese vaccines although they are being distributed and administered extensively in the respective coun-tries. As far as I know, no other ac-knowledged, long-standing regula-tor has approved for use the Russian or Chinese vaccine.

That leaves four. The first is Pfizer’s, approved by the US FDA which, in the scientific world and among the medical profession, is the gold standard. The vaccine’s immunogenicity, safety and efficacy have been proven in the mandatory three phases of the trials. The draw-back is the conditions of stor-age (-70 degrees C) and cost in India (undetermined). Pfizer applied for Emergency Use Ap-proval (EUA) to the Drugs Con-troller General of India (DCGI), but did not appear to present its case to the Expert Committee despite three opportunities. My hunch is Pfizer is not keen on marketing and distributing its vaccine in India because it has assumed that, in India, its cost will be unaffordable and the conditions of storage will not be met. Since Pfizer’s vaccine has been approved by many coun-tries/regulators and the de-mand is high worldwide, Pfizer

may have placed India low in its order of priority. The second is Oxford-AstraZeneca’s, that is being manufactured under a licence by the Serum Institute of India (SII). We can be proud that an Indian research-cum-manufacturing company has qualified to test, manufacture and distribute a vaccine under the name Covishield. The third is Moderna’s. It has not yet ap-plied in India for approval.

The fourth is Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. While the company may have drawn on the work and knowledge of foreign re-searchers and scientists, Co-vaxin is a 100 per cent Indian product. It is a proud moment for India. The vaccine’s approv-al was mired in an unnecessary controversy. The DCGI and the government’s spokespersons (especially Dr V K Paul and Dr Balram Bhargava) should have,

at the outset, made it clear that Covaxin’s EUA was for distribu-tion-cum-Phase III clinical tri-als and the results — especially the results on efficacy — will determine its further distribu-tion and use. It is true that re-puted scientists, virologists, mi-crobiologists and doctors have questioned the speed (or haste) in granting approval even when Phase III clinical trials are un-derway. Desperate situations may require desperate rem-edies. India’s requirement of vaccines (by volume) is so huge that neither the SII’s Covishield nor imports can meet the de-mand for a quick nationwide roll-out. It is wise to encourage a potential candidate (a life saver) to complete the testing process quickly and also to keep ready a vaccine as a back-up for emer-gency use. My personal view is that we should be charitable to

the DCGI and the government. There is no evidence that Co-vaxin is harmful. The trials, so far, have qualified the vaccine on immunogenicity and safety. No adverse reports on efficacy have been received. We should collectively hope that Covaxin will complete Phase III clini-cal trials by the end of January and the results will be evalu-ated by March. Thereafter, we can accelerate the roll-out with two vaccines — we may also export reasonable quantities to developing countries — and acquire a place among nations that were able to research, find, manufacture, distribute and use a vaccine in 12 months.

There was, I suspect, a tinge of business between the SII and Bharat Biotech. Happily, both Mr Adar Poonawalla and Mr Krishna Ella buried the hatchet in a couple of days

and promised to cooperate and work together. That is the way frontline companies, es-pecially in research and devel-opment, should conduct their affairs, with a right mix of pub-lic good and private profit. The real test begins now. How will the government vaccinate the bulk of the 138 crore popula-tion? Here are a few thoughts: – There must be an order of priority and no breaches of that order should be permit-ted under any circumstances. – The vaccine must be admin-istered free of cost in govern-ment hospitals and vaccina-tion centres. Levying a charge will encourage people to cut corners and, consequently, lead to corruption.

– When supplies improve, private hospitals should be brought into the roll-out. If they wish to buy.

In the wake of the col-lapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there were ex-pectations that Turkey and Russia would engage in a serious rivalry in the Caucasus and Central Asia, which are areas that Moscow considers to be its backyard and part of its sphere of in-fluence. In fact, the two countries have engaged in a constructive dialogue concerning their areas of interest, limiting their de-scent toward direct com-petition.

The Joint Action Plan for Cooperation in Eur-asia, signed in 2001 be-tween Turkey and Russia, is noteworthy. The plan was prepared with a vi-sion of increasing mul-tidimensional coopera-tion between Ankara and Moscow throughout Eur-asia, including the possi-bility of the two countries working together in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. It not only served to spot-light their cooperation on areas of mutual concern, but also brought on to the agenda the topic of inter-national terrorism, which had always been a gray area between them. Thus, through this plan and thanks to the regional de-

velopments of the early 2000s, relations between Turkey and Russia were increased to the level of a cohesive and construc-tive cooperation.

Setting aside their countries’ historical ri-valry, both Moscow and Ankara, under the lead-erships of Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdo-gan, respectively, wanted a state of cooperation on

a wide range of issues, including economic, po-litical and cultural. How-ever, the foundations of these multidimensional relations that have ex-isted since the early 2000s were seriously tested with the Arab uprisings that took place in late 2010.

Over the past decade, while the two countries maintained their politi-cal and economic coop-

eration in some areas, they have started to face each other from oppos-ing sides on several fronts across Eurasia, from Lib-ya to Syria, and now also in the Caucasus, due to the Armenian-Azeri con-flict. Lastly, Monday’s Russian strike on a Turk-ish-backed group in the northwest Syrian prov-ince of Idlib led their re-lations to a critical junc-

ture. The attack on Idlib — which is a delicate area in the “controlled coop-eration” between Ankara and Moscow in Syria — includes hints and in-sights into the policies of Turkey and Russia vis-a-vis developments in the Caucasus.The airstrike, which took out dozens of Turkish-backed rebel fighters, marked a sig-nificant escalation. Ac-

cording to analysts who follow the truce on Idlib, Moscow aims to gain le-verage against Ankara by hitting the city. Referring to Turkey’s military in-volvement from the east-ern Mediterranean.

to the Caucasus, ana-lysts connect the Rus-sian strike in Idlib and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, since Turkey gives its full support.

turkish-russian ‘controlled cooperation’ at a critical juncture

3NATION12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

Email : [email protected] / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh) April 11 (UNI) In a shocking incident, a patient at the district hospital in Shahjahanpur killed another patient over a dispute over a bed. The victim, Hansraj, had been admitted into the holding area of the hospital and was allotted bed num-ber 21 on Saturday night. Hansraj was admitted after he complained of severe pain in the abdomen.

The accused patient, Ab-dul Rehman, said to be men-tally unstable, was admitted on bed number 27.

Rehman, according to re-ports, went to the washroom on Sunday morning and when he returned, he forgot his bed number. He started arguing with Hansraj alleg-

ing that the latter had forc-ibly occupied his bed.

As the argument heated up, Rehman lifted Hansraj from the bed and threw him on the ground. Hansraj died on the spot. The fam-ily members of the deceased created a ruckus, accusing the hospital administration of negligence.

The police have detained the accused patient and his father. The body of the deceased has been sent for post mortem. Circle Officer Praveen Kumar said that the accused had been taken into custody and the FIR would be lodged on receiving the complaint from the family of the deceased.

Patient kills another patient in UP hospital

Lucknow, April 11 (UNI) The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Ut-tar Pradesh has cancelled the ticket of Sangeeta Senger, wife of former MLA and rape convict Kuldeep Senger.

The party, two days ago, had announced the candidature of Sangeeta Sengar from Fatehpur Chaurasi seat in the up-coming panchayat elec-tions. Sangeeta had earli-er held the post of the zila panchayat chairperson. UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said that a fresh panel of candidates was under consideration.

Party sources said that Sangeeta's candidature had been withdrawn af-ter the rape victim's fam-ily threatened to launch a campaign against her in the polls. Kuldeep Singh

Sengar was a BJP MLA who was expelled from the party following his conviction in a rape case.

Sangeeta Senger was made the candidate, keeping in mind the in-

fluence that her family wields in the area and the sympathy that they have earned after Kuldeep Senger's arrest in April 2018. Many still believe that he is innocent.

Ghaziabad, April 11 (UNI) The Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway, which was blocked by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday for 24 hours, has finally been opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday. The SKM, the coalition of farm-ers organisations, has now an-nounced to celebrate the birth anniversary of social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on Sun-day at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazi-pur borders in the national capital.

It has been 136 days since farmers began protesting against the three farm laws at the various borders of Delhi. According to SKM, Jyotiba Ph-ule was a great social reformer

who raised her voice for the rights of the farmers, besides fighting for gender justice. Sev-eral programmes will be held in her honour."We (farmers) have opened the KMP Expressway after 24 hours, now all vehicles can operate smoothly. We want to thank everybody who extend-ed their cooperation," said a farmer leader. Farmers are busy in giving a strong impetus to the ongoing farmers' agitation at the borders of Delhi, that is why they are constantly finding new ways to intensify the agitation. They have been protesting at various borders of the national capital since November 26 last year demanding a repeal of the three farm laws.

BJP cancels candidature of Kuldeep Sengar's wife

Srinagar, April 11 (UNI) Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have killed 12 mili-tants during the last 72 hours in four encounters in the Val-ley, Dilbagh Singh, director general of police (DGP) said.

"The slain militants be-longed to Al-Badr, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Ansar Ghaz-watul Hind (AGUH) outfits.

"Seven of them belonged

to AGUH including the group's chief, 3 to Al-Badr and 2 to LeT", the DGP told reporters. He said 2 of the slain LeT militants had car-ried out the killing of a terri-torial army soldier on April 9 at Bijbehara in Anantnag district. "Both of them were hard core militants. With the elimination of 7 AGUH militants,

12 militants killed in 72 hours in Kashmir: DGP

Closure of schools in UP extended to

April 30Lucknow, April 11 (UNI) With Covid

cases rising alarmingly in the state, Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday decided to extend the closure of schools from Classes 1 to 12 till April 30. All coaching centres will also remain closed during this period. "Classes of all the government/non-government schools from Classes 1 to 12 will remain closed in the state until April 30. Coaching centres will be closed. Pre-scheduled examinations may take place during this period. Teachers and other staff can be present as per the requirement," Chief Minister Yogi Adity-annath said in a meeting of team 11 here. Earlier, it was announced that students of Classes 1 to 8 studying in the state gov-ernment schools would be promoted to the next Class without appearing for any exams. However, the pre-scheduled ex-ams will take place. Teachers and school staff would be called to schools.

KMP expressway opened after 24 hrs

Mumbai, April 11 (UNI) Moving ahead with its probe, the Central Bureau of Investi-gation (CBI) on Sunday began questioning two personal as-sistants of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with allegations of bribery and misuse of office.

A CBI source told the agency is questioning Palande and Kundan, both PAs of Deshmukh, about the alleged allegations made by arrested Mumbai Police cop Sachin Vaze and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. The CBI has ques-tioned Singh, Vaze twice, and ACP Sanjay Patil and DCP Raju Bhujbal in connection with the case. The CBI also recorded the statement of two other people.

The CBI had registered a PE

on Tuesday night. Two teams of CBI-led by SP level officers have arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday and Wednesday to probe the matter.

The Bombay High Court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary probe against

Deshmukh on Monday. Soon after the ruling, Deshmukh stepped down from his post.

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the pleas of the state government and Deshmukh challenging the High Court order.

CBI questions Deshmukh's 2 PAs over bribery allegations

Srinagar, April 11 (UNI) Three terrorists were gunned down on Sunday during an encounter between the ter-rorists and the security forces in South Kashmir's Shopian district.

While congratulating the police and other security forc-es for showing patience dur-ing the operation, the Kashmir range Inspector General of Po-lice Vijay Kumar appealed to all the misguided youths, who have joined the terror ranks, to shun the path of violence and return to mainstream.

He said the society needed them and most importantly their parents wanted them by their side. "We will welcome and accept them with open arms," he said.

Police said on Saturday on a specific input generated by the Shopian Police regarding the presence of terrorists in orchards of the Reban Band-pawa area of Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by the police, the Army's 34 RRA and 178 Bn of the CRPF.

During the search opera-tion, as the presence of the terrorists got ascertained they were given an opportunity to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which retali-ated leading to an encounter. In the initial retaliatory firing, one terrorist was killed, but

the operation was suspended to give the trapped terrorists another chance to surrender.

"The joint teams exercised maximum restraint and facili-tated the presence of family members of a holed up ter-rorist Faisal Gulzar to the en-counter site so as to persuade him to surrender. However, despite repeated appeals by his family members and as-surances by the security forc-es, the other terrorists didn't allow him to surrender. Ulti-mately in the wee hours, dur-ing the fierce gunfight both the trapped terrorists were killed and bodies of all the three killed terrorists were recovered from the site of en-counter," police said.

They have been identified as Aasif Ahmad Ganai and Faisal Gulzar Ganai both the residents of Chitragam Kalan. However, the identity of the

third killed terrorist is being ascertained. Police said as per its records they were part of groups involved in many terror crime cases and linked with proscribed terror outfit Al Badr. Arms and ammuni-tion, including one AK-56 rifle, two pistols and other incriminating materials were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other ter-ror crimes. Police said the last rites of the killed terrorists shall be performed after con-ducting medico-legal formal-ities at Handwara and their nearest family members shall be allowed to participate in the last rites. Police have reg-istered a case under relevant sections of law and investiga-tion has been initiated.

3 terrorists killed in Kashmir encounter

Govt must reconsider conducting CBSE exams: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, April 11 (UNI) Amid rising cases of Covid-19, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has asked the government to recon-sider decision on conduct-ing CBSE board exams, and advised it to consult all stakeholders before tak-ing a decision. Rahul Gan-dhi in a tweet, said, "In the light of the devastating Corona second wave, con-ducting #CBSE exams must be reconsidered. All stake-holders must be consulted before making sweeping decisions.""On how many counts does GOI intend to play with the future of In-

dia's youth?" he added.Earlier in the day Con-

gress General Secretary Pri-yanka Gandhi Vadra wrote to Education Minister Ra-mesh Pokhriyal Nishank that its 'shocking' that the CBSE has decided to go ahead with exams despite parents expressing fears and 'apprehensions' about assembling at exam centres in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic. She said these 'apprehensions' are not 'Unreasonable', so exams should be cancelled.

She, in her letter said, "It will be practically impos-sible to ensure the safety

of students at large and at crowded exam centres. Ad-ditionally, given the nature and the spread of the virus, it is not just the students who will be at risk but also their teachers, invigilators and family members who are in contact with them. Aside from this, by forcing the children to sit for these exams during a raging pan-demic, the Government and the CBSE board will be held responsible in the event that any of the exam cen-tres prove to be hotspots at which large numbers of children become infected with the disease."

Lucknow, April 11 (UNI) The Yogi Aditya-nath government in Ut-tar Pradesh is planning to provide employment op-portunities to the youth in fish farming.

The state government sees considerable em-ployment potential in this sector and believes that it can play an important role in rural development and the economy. This

easy-to-start business can be started with low capital.

According to the gov-ernment spokesman, the chief minister plans to launch many beneficial schemes through the Department of Fisheries, which will not only pro-mote fisheries business but will also provide jobs to the needy that will help them become self-reliant

once again. This will also help in increasing the in-come of the village pan-chayat from the ponds built on the barren Pan-chayati land in the village.

"Along with impart-ing training on fisheries, efforts are being made by the government to ex-pand this business on a larger scale. Now farmers can increase their income by farming as well as fish-

eries," the spokesman said. It may be recalled that the state government has already increased the duration of fishery reser-voirs from 3 years to 10 years. This is the reason that the state has pro-duced 26.44 lakh MT of fish during the last four years. As many as 1,191.27 crore fishery seeds were produced in four years and 5,902.

Yogi to provide employment to youth through fish farming

4SOUTH12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

Email : [email protected] / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

Chennai, April 11 (UNI) K. Annamalai, former IPS offi-cer and BJP candidate from Aruvarakurichi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu has tested Covid-19 positive. Annamalai has tweeted that he has tested positive and re-quested those who have come in contact with him of late should be on guard against symptoms relating to Covid.

Annamalai is admitted in a hospital at Madurai. Anna-malai (36) was a 2011 batch IPS officer and has a Mechani-cal Engineering degree and an MBA. A tough officer, he earned the name "Singham Of Udupi" as he had taken strong measures against communal elements, resolved student issues and was tough against criminals and lawbreakers.

He had quit the Civil services

after putting in nine years and had then stated that he was into training youths. However he later joined the BJP and has now contested from Aruvarakurichi

constituency against Senthil Ba-laji of the DMK who was the for-mer Transport minister of Tamil Nadu. The former IPS officer had while joining the BJP told the me-

dia that he had found all the traits necessary for an administrator in Narendra Modi and that he had joined the BJP as he liked the ideas of the Prime minister.

Former IPS officer and TN BJP candidate tests Covid positive

ArrayThiruvananthapuram, April 11 (UNI) Moopen Institute for Local Empowerment - MILES is a commu-nity organization developed by Pad-masri Dr Azad Moopen established in 2010 and is now into wholesome development of his home village Kalpakanchery Panchayath in Kera-la's Malappuram district.

Dr Azad Moopen, an alumini of the prestigious Calicut Medical Col-lege has established several hospi-tals within and outside the country and alongside his professional com-mitments as a medical doctor is en-gaged in total and comprehensive development of his home village, Kalpakanchery.

The organization has been work-ing in areas of Education, Employ-ment, Human Resources Develop-ment, Community Health, Women Empowerment and Environmental studies since it was established in 2010. The study conducted by MILES in association with Kalpak-

anchery grama panchayath has found that almost all sections of the civil society has benefitted from the involvement and intervention of MILES in issues that the panchayath was not able to handle on its own.

MILES is now conducting a com-prehensive study in Kalpakanch-ery panchayath in collaboration with IRDP (Initiative for Develop-ment Research and Practice) and panchayath. The study mainly fo-cusses on Youth, women, children and general public.Kamarudhin, Administrative Officer of MILES who manages the institution while speaking to said, "The program is being organized with the support of Kalpakanchery Panchayath and elected ward members are totally in support of our project and in each ward elected members lead our program."The organization con-ducts Village walk which is an effec-tive tool to touch the rural life and to know more on it for further studies

and research before intervention in the specific issues pointed out dur-ing the walk. Specific data will be collected through questionnaires from youths and general public. Fo-cused Group Discussions(FGD) will be conducted with a maximum of eight participants drawn from the sections of the ward which include ward member (Current member, Past member (optional), Social ac-tivists (2), Youth representatives (1 male, 1 female), Professionals 2 (Preferably from social sector), An-ganwadi Teacher (1) and Kudum-basree members (2). This group will conduct a one hour focused group discussion and implement the proj-ects which are in the priority follow-ing these discussions.

The organization uses Participa-tory learning and Action (PLA) and Participatory Rural Apprisal (PRA) in the study and brings out solutions and executes the necessary require-ments.

MILES for overall development of Kalapakanchery Panchayath

Chennai, April 11 (UNI) Even as the legal validity of Tamil Nadu State Informa-tion Commissioner S. Muth-uraj's recommendation - to send nine IAS officers on compulsory retirement for dereliction of duty - is ques-tioned, it will surely sound alarm bells ringing in the minds of all public infor-mation officials (PIO) who dilly-dally on details sought under the Right to Informa-tion Act, said activists. "The recommendation is appre-ciated. It is an eye opener as to whether an Information Commissioner can make such a recommendation," Senthil Arumugham, Gener-al Secretary, Satta Panchayat Iyyakkam told .

Recently, the Tamil Nadu Information Commission had recommended to the state Chief Secretary to take legal action to compulsorly retire nine IAS officers - Surjith K. Chaudry, Vibhu Nayar, Kakarla Usha, D. Ja-gannathan, K. Srinivasan, K. Nandakumar, S. Jayandhi, N. Venkatesh and G. Latha- for dereliction of duty while heading the Teachers Re-cruitment Board as its Chair-man between June 2011 and October 2020.

"The order is a warning to all the PIOs and others that if they don't respond to RTI queries properly then there will be disciplinary action," Jayaram Venkatasan, Con-venor, Arappor Iyyakam told

. Citing various provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Muthuraj, the State Information Commissioner had also recommended to the state Chief Secretary to register in the annual con-fidential reports of the nine IAS officers that they failed in ensuring transparency and accountability during their tenure at the Teachers Recruitment Board. Candi-dates who had appeared in the competitive exam held for recruiting the teachers had approached the Com-mission stating that despite marking the right answers for the questions, they were marked wrong, thereby, they failed to get the job.

In his order Muthuraj said despite various orders issued earlier by the Commission on such complaints the is-sue of publication of 'Wrong Key' for questions continues which shows that the senior officials of Teachers Recruit-ment Board had functioned irresponsibly.

The Tamil Nadu Informa-tion Commission ordered: (a) appointment of Chair-man, Teachers Recruitment Board as the Public Infor-mation Officer and provide all details sought by the ap-plicants within 20 days of the order and (b) take action against those who had pre-pared the questions and the answer key for the competi-tive exam.While apprecating the Tamil Nadu Information

Commission for its order, Ar-umugam of Satta Panchayat urged the former to ensure that all public offices volun-tarily declare various details on their own as per Section 4 of the RTI Act.

Arumugam also said the Commission should enable people to apply for informa-tion online.

"In Tamil Nadu one has to seek information in the tradi-tional mode-by filing a writ-ten application," Arumugam said. According to him, the Commission can start being transparent about its func-tioning itself by uploading the pending case details and their years of pendency.

Arumugam said it takes couple of years for the Com-mission to decide on ap-peals.

"Information delayed is information denied. Many a times, a delayed informa-tion turns out to be useless for an applicant. There is no timeline for the Commis-sion to decide on the cases that come to it," Arappor Iyyakam's Venkatesan said.

"Even after the issuance of a show cause notice the Commission does not act fast against the delinquent public information official," Venkatesan said. Jayaram also said the law makers should deliberate on the annual reports of the Tamil Nadu Information Com-mission which is laid on the table of the House.

TN's info body seeks retirement of 9 IAS, a

warning bell

'No change in schedule of varsity-level

exams in K'taka'Bengaluru, April 11 (UNI) Karnataka

Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayana has said that university-level examinations, including graduation, post-graduation, engineering, diploma and other courses, will be conducted according to the schedule.

Narayana also clarified that following the completion of the impending exami-nations, there will be no summer holi-days. The Deputy CM, who is also the in-charge of higher education portfolio, told media that the academic activities for the year 2021-22 have already been delayed and there should not be further delay, therefore no academic activities will be suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic but will be held as per the scheduled time table. He added that in case of any further delay, the cycle of course period, test, results, employment, further stud-ies would get severely affected hence, the state government would be taking tough measures to ensure the academic activi-ties for the year 2021-22 are not affected based on the year-long experience of tackling the pandemic. "I appeal to the student community to not harbour any doubt about the scheduled time table of the examinations," Narayana added. "Ac-ademic year 2021-22 will start functioning immediately and students will have both the options of offline and online classes," he said, adding that online classes would start quite early and this year it will be mandatory for students either to attend the classes. The Deputy CM said that all the universities and colleges will have to follow the standard operating procedure to contain the spread of Covid, when con-ducting the off-line classes. "Those insti-tutions opt to conduct off-line classes, they will have to adhere to all SOP's in the interest of those who attend the physical classes. Sanitization of classrooms, main-tenance of hygiene, Covid test, mainte-nance of physical distance and wearing of masks will be compulsory," he added.

Amaravati, April 11 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh government has initiated a demand survey for middle income groups housing scheme near municipal corporations and munici-palities, which on fructifi-cation could give a run for the money to realtors. This is the government's brain-child: Acquire land about 3 km to 5 km away from the municipalities and mu-

nicipal corporations will develop them neatly into plots with facilities such as approach roads, parks, drainage system, street lights and several other attractive amenities. And most important of all, sell these plots without a profit motive, contrasting with the profiteering real estate agents, middlemen and companies. Looking like the second iteration of a

government land scheme, following the free distribu-tion of land to thousands of poor people, this new ini-tiative, believed to be called as 'Jaganna smart town' will cater to income groups in the range of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 18 lakh per annum.Only one plot for family and government employ-ees are also eligible. Be-ing promoted through AP government's grassroots

governance system, ward volunteer and secretariat mechanism, the scheme is proposing to offer housing sites in three dimensions: 150 sq yards, 200 sq yards and 240 sq yards, translat-ing into 3 cents, 4 cents and 5 cents of land. Though the scheme will be open for everybody, Municipal Ad-ministration special chief secretary Y. Srilakshmi said a committee will decide as

to who will get how much quota. "Actually it is open for everybody but we will be giving a percentage to non-locals (non-munici-pality residents) and the rest to locals. So we haven't discussed that and put it before a committee. They will come with their rec-ommendations. Most like-ly we will give 5 per cent for ex-servicemen," Srilak-shmi told .

Will AP's middle income groups land scheme dent real estate cos?

Chennai, April 11 (UNI) Coimbatore and surrounding areas re-mained tense after the Saturday late night at-tack on Hindu Mun-nani leader and Ukkad-am unit Vice president, S. Ramakrishnan, 36, by two unidentified men. Ramakrishnan, a catering worker was waylaid after he was returning home and hit with an iron rod on his head causing grave in-juries to his head. Two motorcycle borne as-sailants escaped after local people rushed to the spot. Ramakrish-nan who is admitted at Coimbatore Medi-cal College Hospital

is still not out of dan-ger. Coimbatore had witnessed a series of bomb blasts on Febru-ary 14, 1998 in which 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured. The first blast had gone off at a place which was hardly 100 meters from the venue from where the then Deputy Prime minis-ter and BJP leader L.K. Advani was to address the people. This was followed by 11 more blasts within a radius of 12 km. Hindu Munnai activists have laid siege to the Coimbatore dis-trict collectorate de-manding arrest of the accused and to bring

out the conspiracy be-hind the attack against Ramakrishnan. There have been some is-sues between Hindu Munnani workers and certain Islamist groups in Coimbatore and Uk-kadam areas.

BJP Women's wing national president and party's Coimbatore South candidate Vana-thi Srinivasan visited the injured Ramakrsih-nan at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospi-tal. Vanathi speaking to media persons outside the hospital said, "Po-lice must arrest those responsible for the at-tack immediately and justice be delivered.

The law and order situ-ation has to be main-tained and strict police vigil is the need of the hour to prevent any further escalation of the issue."Coimbatore had witnessed a se-ries of bomb blasts on February 14, 1998 in which 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured. The first blast had gone off at a place which was hardly 100 meters from the venue from where the then Deputy Prime minister and BJP leader L.K. Advani was to address the people. This was followed by 11 more blasts within a radius of 12 km.

Amaravati, April 11 (UNI) Despite grand plans to vaccinate six lakh people per day, during the Tika Utsav which began on Sunday, Andhra Pradesh has had to settle for just one lakh vaccinations - its entire stock in hand. The depleted vaccine stocks have forced the officials to postpone the campaign in some districts, and orga-nise it on a lower scale in other districts.

Chief Minister Y.S. Ja-gan Mohan Reddy had announced that the state would be vaccinating six lakh persons per day, dur-ing the four day Tika Utsav campaign called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The chief minister had also written to the centre, requesting 25 lakh doses of covid vaccine, in this regard.

But with the central government yet to re-spond to the state's re-quest, the stocks have dropped abysmally. As a result, the Utsav had to be postponed till the ar-rival of fresh stocks in An-antapur district. District authorities said that vacci-

nation would commence on a war footing in the district, as soon as fresh stocks arrive.

The situation is not very different in most of the other districts which are grappling with low stocks and growing demand.

State officials said that East and West Godavari, Nellore, Prakasam, Vi-sakhapatnam, and other districts are using the available stocks to vac-cinate people in urban areas. In some other dis-tricts, the authorities are

using the limited stocks for vaccination in both, urban rural areas. With no sign of fresh stocks ar-riving soon, and Covid cases on the rise with ev-ery passing day, authori-ties are a concerned lot in Andhra Pradesh.

Coimbatore tense after Hindu Munnani leader attacked

Andhra's Tika Utsav target hits wall on depleted stocks

OP-EDIndian HorizonSaturday, April 10, 2021 7

Who has the lead role in the latest talks between the US and Iran?By Khaled Abou ZahrThe Latin phrase “bis repetitas

placent,” which means “that which pleases is twice repeated,” cer-tainly seems to apply for many of the stakeholders in the new round of discussions between the US and Iran — and especially the Europe-ans. Prior to considering the pos-sible outcomes of the talks, which are taking place in Vienna, one can observe and enjoy the fine detail and the theatrics of these negotia-tions. The fact that the US and Iran are “not in the same room,” for example, with the Europeans, Chi-nese and Russians acting as go-be-tweens, is quite revealing in terms of expected outcomes.

For the Iranians, the exercise is first and foremost about being able to project to their audience the message that they will not yield to any new US conditions. As proof of this, they can say that they did not even sit in the same

room as the Americans and so this was not a negotiation but a pro-cess toward a full reinstatement of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). No con-cessions are being made and this is simply a mechanism to restore the nuclear deal.

This level of attention to detail by the Iranians is, once again, brilliant. The fact that the inter-national community accepts it so readily, is not.

I would much prefer that all regional parties meet and openly discuss all the issues that the re-gion is facing — and, more spe-cifically, confront the Iranians about their behavior. Indeed, such a meeting should include nations from the Greater Middle East, including Arab countries, Turkey and Israel.

The fact that Tehran has the capacity to frame the dialogue and compartmentalize it puts the

regime at a clear advantage. One might say, therefore, that on this point the Iranians are correct: The current process is not a negotia-tion and both parties are already in agreement. Only the process needs to be mapped out and all the rest is simply theatrics.

It is highly doubtful that any-thing involving Tehran’s missile program or its activities in the re-gion will be a focused negotiation point, beyond being raised by the Americans and denied by the Ira-nians.

Whether a US return to JCPOA happens in this round of talks or the next, the most important fact is that it is happening. The Iranian regime, the US and the interna-tional community, including na-tions in the Middle East, are all aware of this.

Can we therefore expect chang-es in the behavior of Iran, in-cluding a more constructive ap-

proach? Can we expect Tehran to withdraw its illegal and military support to the Houthis? Can we expect it to stop smuggling weap-ons and cash to Lebanon and Syr-ia? Can we expect it to stop sup-porting Iraqi militias?

The answer to all these ques-tions is no. Each of these issues comes with its own price and the

Iranian regime will want to bar-gain for them, as part of its suc-cessful attempt to compartmen-talize the negotiation process.

The view generally put forward in favor of “bis repetitas placent” as it applies to the JCPOA is that a policy of applying maximum pressure on Tehran did not work under the Trump administration

and so the international commu-nity should return to the existing deal to halt Iran’s nuclear activi-ties.

Yet this is not the correct way to frame the discussion because it ignores Iranian interference in the region. In my view, the day will come when Tehran will want more concessions and so will re-buff and challenge the US and the Europeans once again until they yield to its demands. This day will come sooner rather than later.

Because, in essence, the 2015 JCPOA did not work. The view of the Obama administration at the time was that the nuclear deal would encourage the Iranian re-gime to transform its behavior in the Middle East. Yet, the opposite happened. The Islamic Revolu-tionary Guards Corp (IRGC) ex-panded its activities in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria.

Arab News

By Hassan Al-MustafaAs chairman of NEOM’s board of directors,

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the launch of The Line city proj-ect last January The ambitious and unique project seeks to “achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in terms of economic diversification by providing 380,000 job op-portunities and contributing $48 billion to the GDP by 2030,” according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

On the 24th of the same month, the crown prince appeared again, this time in his ca-pacity as chairman of the board of directors of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to an-nounce the adoption of the PIF’s strategy for the next five years, indicating that it aims to “grow assets to more than SR4 trillion ($1.07 trillion) and create 1.8 million jobs, directly and indirectly.”

A few days later, during the fourth con-ference of the Future Investment Initiative, the crown prince revealed a new vision for

Riyadh, saying that it aims “to make Riyadh one of the 10 largest economic cities in the world.”

Saudi projects continue to be launched at a rapid pace. In early February, the crown prince announced the “development of a sys-tem of specialized legislation,” stressing that the government is working to “develop and reform systems that preserve rights, establish principles of justice and transparency, pro-tect human rights, achieve comprehensive development, and enhance the Kingdom’s global competitiveness.”

These significant economic projects are worth billions of dollars of investment and are attracting both foreign and domestic capital. It is important to grant capital own-ers legal guarantees and create a regulatory environment that ensures their rights. It is also important to have commercial courts in place in which to settle disputes and prevent one party from infringing on the other.

These legislative steps, to the extent that

they will give investors greater confidence in the Saudi market, will enhance the local human rights environment; they will allow the judiciary to function in a more efficient, modern and transparent way, and prevent personal judgment and discrepancies from influencing rulings. There will be a clear, writ-ten legal system, which will be a reference for all litigation.The draft personal status system, the draft civil transactions system, the draft penal system for discretionary penalties and the draft evidentiary system are legal proj-ects under preparation. Together they will establish respect for the culture of human rights and individual freedom and limit the power of hard-line clerics and old social, trib-al norms. This last point will help create an open, tolerant and flexible social atmosphere that will attract families from inside and out-side the Kingdom to contribute to the goals that the government aims to achieve.

The Saudi work ethic, which reflects a structural change in administration by mak-ing it more efficient, resulted in the launch of the Green Saudi and Green Middle East ini-tiatives on March 28. The crown prince said, according to the SPA, that the initiatives aim to “plant 10 billion trees within the Kingdom in the upcoming decades, the equivalent (of) rehabilitating roughly 40 million hectares of degraded lands, translating to a 12-fold in-crease from current tree covers.”

Saudi Arabia is strong, keen to develop its legislative structure and diversify its sources of income, and it has many opportunities for investment in a variety of fields.The crown prince, aware of the importance of protecting the environment and of the responsibility of oil-producing countries to mitigate negative climate impacts, indicated that the govern-ment will work diligently to “reduce carbon emissions by more than 4 percent of global

contributions, through renewable energy projects that will save 50 percent of the pro-duction of electricity within the Kingdom by 2030.” Projects involving clean hydrocarbon technologies “will eliminate more than 130 million tons of carbon emissions, in addition to raising the proportion of waste diversion from landfills to 94 percent.”

The crown prince not only launched the two initiatives but also communicated with many regional political leaders to explain his goals and create partnerships with interested countries. He also wants to convince govern-ments of the importance of strengthening the vegetation cover, which helps to preserve water, air, and food, thus protecting human safety and reducing disease, desertification, and drought.

The Green Middle East initiative takes into account the difficulties that many countries face from pollution, desertification, the ero-sion of vegetation cover, the extinction of rare animals and the scarcity of water suitable for human use. Saudi Arabia believes that these problems are no less dangerous than terror-ism or other such challenges facing human-ity. Furthermore, these environmental issues may be the cause of political conflicts — as is happening now between Egypt and Sudan on the one hand and Ethiopia on the other — related to the Renaissance Dam project on which negotiations have stalled.

The crown prince realizes that environ-mental issues may be the cause of future mili-tary confrontations. He knows that there is a shift in the patterns of environmental and cli-mate-friendly industries and that this directly affects the “quality of life,” the improvement of which is one of the main goals of Saudi Vi-sion 2030. Thus, the Green Saudi and Green Middle East initiatives complement Saudi strategic plans regarding afforestation, the

humanization of cities, and the preservation of wildlife.

On the last day of March, the crown prince held a virtual meeting with senior executives and businessmen, inaugurating the largest partnership project between the government and the private sector inside Saudi Arabia. Shareek, meaning “partner,” is the name given to the ambitious project, which aims to “accelerate the injection of investments worth about SR5 trillion into the local econ-omy by 2030.”

Although many of the above projects are economic in nature, they have numerous so-cial, cultural, and behavioral impacts. They will create new patterns of thinking, produc-tion and behavior and thus reshape relation-ships in a more dynamic and modern way, allowing Saudis to contribute to the process of change and reform.

The examples above are testaments to the great vitality of the Saudi government and society as well as business and invest-ment sectors. Many governments lack such dynamism, especially in these times during which the world’s most powerful economies are suffering due to the pandemic. In Saudi Arabia, however, where vaccination opera-tions are accelerating and have exceeded 5 million doses administered in more than 500 centers, the government has sent messages of reassurance to citizens, residents and foreign investors. The message is that the Kingdom is strong, keen to develop its legislative struc-ture and diversify its sources of income, and that it has many opportunities for investment in a variety of fields. The management of the pandemic has demonstrated the Kingdom’s ability to govern in such a way to reduce the financial and health burdens on the people and the economy.

Arab News

By Andrew HammondThe International Monetary Fund (IMF)

and World Bank are holding their annual spring meetings this week amid the most ex-traordinary economic and political contexts in at least a generation.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgie-va previewed these sessions last week, say-ing that the fund expects a complex, “multi-speed” recovery from the pandemic because economic fortunes are diverging so widely as a result of varying vaccination rates around the world.

She went on to warn that preexisting in-equalities that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis might lead not only to macroeconomic instability but also greater polarization, the erosion of trust in govern-ments, and growing social unrest.

This troubled landscape reminds many of the aftermath of the 2007-2008 international financial crisis. The fallout from that shock was profound, not only economically; there was very significant international political turbulence, including the rise of anti-estab-lishment populists riding an anti-globaliza-tion mood across much of the world.

The global economic shock from the pan-demic has been even greater. Recognizing

the challenges that lie ahead, Georgieva last week called on governments to give “every-one a fair shot” as they build on the extraordi-nary $16 trillion in global fiscal and monetary stimulus packages provided so far in 2020 and 2021. Without these, Georgieva said, the downturn would have been three times worse.

The remaining problem is, in her words, that economic prospects are “diverging dan-gerously,” with the global economy now in a multi-speed recovery that is increasingly powered by the US and China. However many other countries are falling behind, with new strains of the virus holding back growth prospects, especially in Europe and South America.

It is widely considered that the peak of the political aftershock that followed the 2007-2008 international financial crisis came in 2016, when Donald Trump was elected US president and the UK voted to leave the EU. What was so striking about both of these events was that the actions of two countries previously known for political stability, and being traditional rule makers of the interna-tional order, caused the world to become a significantly more uncertain place.

While 2016 might prove a defining year in

the eyes of some historians, however, sig-nificant political volatility has been a fea-ture of international politics for much of the post-financial crisis period. The most eye-catching examples of this were the political revolutions, popular uprisings and protests in emerging markets.

These include the so-called “Arab Spring” that began in Tunisia and spread to include revolutionary changes of power in countries such as Libya; the transfer of power in Ye-men; plus demonstrations and uprisings in countries such as Algeria. In addition, there was the Ukrainian revolution of 2014, which resulted in the ousting of pro-Moscow Presi-dent Viktor Yanukovych; the Brazilian dem-onstrations of 2013 that were, at the time, the largest in the country for about two decades; and the 2011 Azerbaijani protests against the government.

Developed countries also took a political hit. In Europe, for instance, millions took to the streets and administrations in more than half of the 27 EU states fell or were voted out of office between spring 2010 and 2012 alone. Within the core eurozone, 11 of 14 govern-ments collapsed or lost elections during that same period. Looking ahead, a key question is whether political instability will rise signifi-

cantly, especially in parts of the world where growth is sputtering. Much of the answer, as Georgieva asserts, rests with policymakers, and the IMF recommends measures includ-ing reforms of tax policies and the bolstering of social safety nets such as healthcare and education. The fund acknowledges that the cost of these reforms, for 121 emerging mar-ket economies to provide such basic services, will be about $3 trillion.

The IMF estimates that faster progress in ending the health crisis, including a more eq-uitable sharing of vaccines, could add almost $9 trillion to the global gross domestic prod-uct by 2025. Georgieva last week highlighted the fact that only one country in Africa, Mo-rocco, so far has started a program of corona-virus vaccinations.

It is widely considered that the peak of the political aftershock that followed the 2007-2008 international financial crisis came in 2016, when Donald Trump was elected US president and the UK voted to leave the EU.

Therefore while the window of oppor-tunity to tackle the crisis remains partially open, it already seems likely there will be significant political consequences of the pandemic. In part this is because the sa-lience of economic inequality has grown

in many countries. Both the populist right and the left have capitalized on this, as shown not only by Trump’s victory in 2016 but also the 2018 landslide victory of An-dres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico. Both of these victories were framed by the anti-globalization backlash.

Moreover, the consequences of the health crisis are likely to endure for many people, including the young, who have suffered the most in terms of unemployment. This puts many at risk of long-term damage to their earning potential and job prospects, which could fuel discontent that might well lead to protests.

With the world now in the second year of the pandemic, the prospects of increased po-litical volatility around the globe in the com-ing decade are significant.

While the circumstances will vary from country to country, this future political insta-bility will potentially be fueled by economic inequality and the legacies of the health cri-sis, such as higher levels of youth unemploy-ment, and also by longer-standing political and socioeconomic discontent arising from previous crises, including the 2007-08 finan-cial crash.

Arab News

The many Saudi initiatives paving the road to the future

The world is facing even greater political upheaval in post-pandemic world

The views expressed in these columns are the writers’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Indian Horizon or its management.-Editor

5OP-ED12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

Email : [email protected] / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES

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Iranian parliament files charges against

presidentTehran, April 11 (UNI) The Iranian parliament has filed charges against President Hassan Rouhani, in an intensifying power struggle between hardliners and moderates in the country. The deputies accuse him of having disregarded laws passed by parliament. Citing the Fars news agency, DPA reported on Sunday that 190 of the 235 lawmakers present voted in favour, without providing any further background or detail. Observers see a connection between the vote and the renewed nuclear negotiations in Vienna, which may require a compromise with the hardliners' arch-enemy, the US. Shortly after their victory in parliamentary elections in February 2020, the hardliners and conservatives have pressured the moderate president to be called in and ultimately resign. They argue that Rouhani distanced the Islamic Republic from its ideological goals with pro-Western policies and the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement. Rouhani for his part accuses the hardliners in parliament of sacrificing national interests for domestic power struggles ahead of the presidential election in June. Rouhani himself may not be able to run again after two terms in office, but according to observers, the hardliners also want to minimize the chances of the other moderate candidates.

US Defence Secretary in Israel for

high-level talksTel Aviv, April 11 (UNI) US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ON Sunday began talks with Israeli leaders, in the first visit by a member of new US President Joe Biden's Cabinet. Austin was received with military honours before meeting his counterpart Benny Gantz, DPA news agency reported. The Israeli minister is expected to raise the recent negotiations between world powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, saying Israel hoped for a better deal to be agreed in the future. Israel had been vehemently opposed to the original 2015 deal and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers Iran to be Israel's most dangerous enemy. Austin is also due to meet Netanyahu during his two-day visit. Netanyahu is in an uncertain political position as he tries to pull together enough seats to form a coalition government after recent elections. Austin is not expected to visit the Palestinian Territories, although Biden has signalled that he wants to rebuild ties with the Palestin . The previous administration of Donald Trump made several major diplomatic moves which were welcomed by Israel but denigrated by the Palestin , including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and weakening support for a two-state solution. Austin is expected in Germany on Tuesday, and in Brussels after that.

Russian fighter intercepts US

reconnaissance planeMoscow, April 11 (UNI) A Russian MiG-31 fighter has intercepted a US reconnaissance plane above the Pacific Ocean, the Russian Defence Ministry said. Russian airspace control systems detected an air target approaching the Russian state border and a MiG-31 of the Eastern Military District took off in response, the ministry said on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported. The crew of the Russian jet identified the air target as an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force and escorted it over the Pacific Ocean. After the US aircraft flew away from the Russian border, the MiG-31 returned safely to its home airfield. The Russian fighter strictly complied with international rules for the use of airspace during its flight, the centre added.

Britons pay tribute to late Prince Philip

London, April 11 (UNI) Despite Covid-19 restrictions, mourners have continued to travel to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh who passed away on Friday at the age of 99. Britain's Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, died at Windsor Castle on Friday morning. All British government buildings have been told to fly official flags at half-mast in tribute to the duke on the day after the his funeral, Xinhua news agency reported. Gun salutes have been fired across Britain on Saturday, on land and at sea in memory of the duke, the BBC reported. Saluting batteries began firing 41 rounds at one round every minute from midday on Saturday in cities including London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, as well from Royal Navy warships. The royal family website has asked people not to leave flowers and tributes at royal residences.

Berlin, April 11 (UNI) The coronavirus situation in Germany remains "very, very serious" according the country's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control, which recorded high infection numbers on Sunday.

Within 24 hours, the RKI reported 17,855 new infections and 104 deaths. On Sundays figures tend to be slightly

lower due to less testing on the weekend. But one week ago, the RKI reported 12,196 cases and 68 deaths, showing cases are rising.

The so-called incidence rate of infections per 100,000 people in seven days rose to 129.2 from 127 one week ago, the RKI said, DPA news agency reported.

According to data from 70 hospitals around the country,

more and more young people were being hospitalised with respiratory infections and intensive care units were rapidly filling up. With infection numbers high and the vaccine rollout in Germany achieving only limited coverage so far, the organisers of popular fairs and festivals have said that such large-scale events will not be able to take place until herd immunity

is achieved. "Working with rapid tests, when you have large crowds such as the Kranger fair, we won't have that," Albert Ritter, president of the German fairground people's guild, told dpa.

Meanwhile, Labour Minister Hubertus Heil announced plans to introduce free rapid coronavirus tests in all workplaces. "Everyone has to do their part, also the

world of work. To protect those who cannot work from home, we need comprehensive tests in businesses," Heil told newspaper Bild am Sonntag. At present, only 61 per cent of businesses offer free coronavirus tests to their employees. The proposal, to be discussed by cabinet on Tuesday, would make it mandatory for employers to test their workers.

German coronavirus situation 'very, very serious': RKI

Washington, April 11 (UNI) NASA has decided to postpone the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first ex-perimental flight to April 14 after a test completed earlier than planned.

The flight was earlier scheduled for April 11.

"During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a 'watchdog' timer expi-ration," NASA said in a statement on Saturday.

"This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from 'Pre-Flight' to 'Flight' mode. The helicopter is safe and healthy and communicated its full te-lemetry set to Earth," the US space agency said.

The watchdog timer oversees the command

sequence and alerts the system to any potential issues. It helps the system stay safe by not proceed-ing if an issue is observed and worked as planned.

The helicopter team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the issue, following which they will reschedule the full-speed test, NASA

said. The Mars Helicop-ter, Ingenuity, is a tech-nology demonstration to test powered flight on another world for the first time. It hitched a ride to Mars on the Perseverance rover, which made a Feb-ruary 18 touch down on the Red Planet.

Once the rover reach-es a suitable "helipad"

location, it will release Ingenuity to perform a series of test flights over a 30-Martian-day experi-mental window. For the first flight, the helicopter will take off a few feet from the ground, hover in the air for about 20 to 30 seconds, and land. That will be a major milestone: The very first powered

flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars. After that, the team will attempt additional exper-imental flights of incre-mentally farther distance and greater altitude. After the helicopter completes its technology demon-stration, Perseverance will continue its scientific mission, NASA said.

NASA delays first flight of Mars helicopter to April 14

Buenos Aires, April 11 (UNI) New lockdown measures took effect in Argentina to ensure the public continues to keep its guard up against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said.

However, "all measures will be insufficient if people do not become aware of the size of the problem," Fernandez told local radio on Friday as restrictions aimed to keep people from gathering, especially at night, by closing bars and restaurants early, among other things, Xinhua news agency reported.

Argentina reported 23,683 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the highest number recorded in a single day since the onset of the outbreak in March 2020.

The new rules impose a nighttime curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. to oblige people to stay at home, and mandate that bars and

restaurants close from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. According to Fernandez, the measures aim to keep people socially distanced at the moment of greatest social relaxation, which is at night, and when infections occur the most.

In the second half of April, more vaccines will arrive in the country to "speed up the rate of vaccination ... which is what matters most to me, because through vaccination, (Covid-19) becomes a bearable disease for adults, it does not end people's lives, and I am the best example of that," the president said.

Fernandez was reported to have tested positive on April 3, but he said he has had none of the symptoms.

"The antibodies generated by the vaccine were very effective. There is no doubt that the vaccine let me ride out this contagion ... without any symptoms," he said.

'New lockdowns aim to keep guard up

against Covid-19'

Chilean govt calls for national unity

after reporting 9,171 Covid-19 cases

Santiago, April

11 (UNI) Chilean Health Minister En-rique Paris called for national unity after 9,171 new Co-vid-19 cases were registered in the last 24 hours, a record number and the first time the country ex-ceeded 9,000 daily cases. "We are living through a critical moment of the pandemic. The key word is prevention; I call for national unity," the official said during a brief press conference on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

With this record, the total number of Covid-19 cases climbed to 1,060,421, while 129 more deaths were reported in the last day, bringing the total to 24,108.

Chile is experiencing a new wave of infections, after the end of the summer season in the Southern Hemisphere and the relaxation of restrictive measures from January to March. Currently, over 80 per cent of Chile's population is under quarantine and the country has closed its borders and restricted trade in goods and services.

BEIJING Apr 11 : In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vac-cines, the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is consid-ering mixing them to give them a boost.

Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Dis-ease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Cheng-du.

Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of dos-es in other countries while also trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of Western vaccines.

“It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vac-cines from different techni-cal lines for the immuniza-tion process,” Gao said.

The effectiveness rate of a coronavirus vaccine from Sinovac, a Chinese devel-oper, at preventing symp-tomatic infections has been found to be as low as 50.4% by researchers in Brazil. By comparison, the vaccine made by Pfizer has been found to be 97% effective.

Beijing has yet to approve

any foreign vaccines for use in China, where the corona-virus emerged in late 2019.

Gao gave no details of possible changes in strat-egy but mentioned mRNA, a previously experimental technique used by Western vaccine developers while China’s drug makers used traditional technology.

“Everyone should con-sider the benefits mRNA vaccines can bring for hu-manity,” Gao said. “We must follow it carefully and not ignore it just because we

already have several types of vaccines already.”Gao previ-ously raised questions about the safety of mRNA vac-cines. He was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying in December he couldn’t rule out negative side effects because they were being used for the first time on healthy people.

Chinese state media and popular health and science blogs also have questioned the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine, which uses mRNA. As of April 2,

some 34 million people have received both of the two doses required by Chinese vaccines and about 65 mil-lion received one, according to Gao.

Experts say mixing vac-cines, or sequential immu-nization, might boost effec-tiveness rates. Trials around the world are looking at mixing of vaccines or giving a booster shot after a longer time period. Researchers in Britain are studying a pos-sible combination of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Official says Chinese vaccines’ effectiveness is low

7SPORTS12 MONday, aPrIL, 2021

Email : [email protected] / (H.O) HyderabadTHE SOUTH INDIA TIMES SportsIndian HorizonSunday, April 11, 2021 11

Midfielder Fernandes renews contract with FC

Goa for 3 yrs

Indian women’s tennis team reaches Latvia for BJK Cup

Goa, April 10 (IANS) At-tacking midfielder Brandon Fernandes, who is also a vi-tal member of the Indian na-tional football team, will con-tinue to be a part of the FC Goa setup for another three years after he decided to ex-tend his contract with the In-dian Super League (ISL) club till June 2024.

The 26-year-old Fernandes has been an integral part of the FC Goa team since he was selected during the 2017 ISL Draft. Since then, the Goan has gone on to become one

of the vital cogs in the top ISL club side, which has qualified for the ISL playoffs in each of the past four seasons.

Fernandes’ tenacity in the midfield has helped him be-come an India international with all three goals scored by In-dia during the latest World Cup qualification campaign coming via assists from the Goan.

“Playing for FC Goa has al-ways been special ever since I arrived here four years back. I feel at home here. Together we have been able to stitch together a lot of successful

chapters over the past few years and I am looking for-ward to continuing in the same vein in the years to come,” said the club’s No. 10 who holds the record for the highest number of assists recorded by an Indian in the ISL.

“I am convinced that the best days - both for me and the club -- lie ahead of us and I intend to start working towards that. Being a Goan, it gives me great pleasure to continue to wear this shirt and represent my people for many more years to come.”

Riga (Latvia), April 10 (IANS) Three members of the Indian wom-en’s tennis team along with their coach Vishal Uppal arrived in the Latvian capital of Riga on Saturday to play in the Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup on April 16 and 17.

“Our team has arrived in Riga and were welcomed by Mr Praveen, Ms Elina and Ms Santa representing the Indian Embassy and Indian Latvian Cultural and Economic Forum,” an All India Tennis Association (AITA) tweet said.

While Rutuja Bhosle, Zeel Desai and Karman Kaur Thandi took the flight to Riga from New Delhi, In-dia’s tennis ace Sania Mirza and An-kita Raina will join their team-mates directly from Dubai where they have been training for the past week.

“Our team will have a day break and are expected to start practice on Monday,” wrote AITA. Before leaving Indian shores, Uppal had tweeted, “Exciting times for Women’s Tennis in India. Look forward to uniting with the whole team in Latvia!”

This is the first time in history that the Indian women’s team has made it to the World Group Play-offs of the tournament, but their outing won’t be easy as they have to con-tend with the likes of former French Open champion and current world No. 54 Jelena Ostapenko and 2018 US Open semi-finalist Anastasija Sevastova, who was ranked world No. 11 at her peak.

The other members of the Latvian team are Diana Marcinkevica, Dan-iela Vismane and Patricija Spaka.

Rohit Sharma’s special gesture at rhino con-

servation

Delhi Capitals win toss, elect to field

Chennai: Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma made a strong pitch for the conserva-tion of the ‘Great One-Horned Rhinoceros’ during the open-ing match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) against Royal Chal-lengers Bangalore (RCB), which the defending champions lost by two wickets in a last-ball thriller.

The opening batsman came out to bat at the MA Chidam-baram Stadium on Saturday sporting a unique design on his shoes, which showcased the ‘vul-nerable’ species.

The one-horned rhinos were being driven to extinction by poachers before conservation efforts saw them survive. They are now on the ‘vulnerable’ list of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF).

Taking to Twitter, Sharma shared pictures of the shoe with the message: “Yesterday when I walked on to the field, it was more than just a game for me. Playing cricket is my dream and helping

make this world a better place is a cause we all need to work for.”

In another tweet, he added, “It was special for me to take up a cause so close to my heart with me on the field while I do what I love. Every step matters.”

Sharma was in 2018 made the WWF-India Rhino Ambassador. After taking pledge, Sharma had said, “My love for rhinos sparked when I first heard about Sudan, the last male northern white Af-rican rhino who passed away this year thus leading to the inevitable extinction of the entire species and that broke my heart.

“I researched. The best way for me to help prevent some-thing like this happening and the best way I know how is to create awareness. After getting in touch with WWF I learnt that 82 per cent of the world’s rhinos reside in India and I am honoured to be WWF-India’s rhino ambassador to spread awareness and do my bit to contribute to the protection and survival of the rhino.”

Mumbai, April 10 (IANS) Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to field in their IPL 2021 opening match against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.

Opposition skipper MS Dhoni also wanted to field, saying, “We were also looking to bowl. It is slightly difficult to defend on this ground.”

Playing XIs:Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dha-

wan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(wicket-keeper/captain), Marcus Stoi-nis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ash-win, Tom Curran, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan.

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(wicket-keeper/captain), Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.

Chennai, April 10 (IANS) With pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar back in their ranks, SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take on Kolkata Knight Rid-ers (KKR) in the third match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday night.

The Hyderabad franchise, though more powerful and well-rounded and having qualified for play-offs last year, have an inferior head-to-head record against their Kolkata counterparts.

SRH have won just seven of the 19 encounters between them and have lost 12.

However, man to man in all de-partments, they look far stronger

than Eoin Morgan’s KKR. David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have put up several century partnerships for SRH. Bairstow has been in great form and is already warmed up after suc-cess in the recent limited-overs series against India.

The return of India pace bowler Bhuvneshwar will strengthen their bowling attack, which already has the likes of Rashid Khan, Jason Holder and T Natarajan.

Bhuvneshwar missed a part of last year’s IPL due to an injury. The right-arm pace bowler did well in the recent limited-overs series against England.

The SRH pace attack as well as spin attack will be a challenge for KKR who

struggled with their batting in the last IPL season in the UAE.

KKR’s hard-hitting all-rounder An-dre Russell failed to get going with the bat and that had a massive impact on their batting.

A lot will depend on skipper Eoin Morgan, batsmen Shakib Al Hasan and Shubman Gill as well as Russell if KKR are to score big in the first match of the tournament against a strong SRH bowling line-up.

KKR’s strongest point is their bowl-ing, especially the spin bowling at-tack. They have also included Harb-hajan Singh to Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Shakib.

Pat Cummins will lead their bowl-ing and Russell mixes the deliveries well. It is their batting though which will have to rise to the occasion.

Squads:SRH: David Warner (captain), Ab-

hishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhu-vneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow (wicket-keeper), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswa-mi, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhi-man Saha (wicket-keeper), Abdul Sa-mad, Jason Roy, Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Mu-jeeb ur Rehman, J Suchith

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) India’s top javelin thrower and Tokyo Olympic Games medal hopeful, Neeraj Cho-pra, on Saturday gave the credit for his string of good performances recently to the support given by the Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

The Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist said that without the support of the TOPS programme, it would have been difficult for athletes to return to competition in the pandemic-hit times.

Chopra, who will be leav-ing for a training stint in Tur-key later this month along with compatriot Shivpal

Singh, posted a video on the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Twitter handle, saying that the support from SAI and TOPS were the main rea-son why Indian sportsper-

sons were doing well on the international stage.

“Their (SAI and TOPS) sup-port and financial assistance for equipment, international exposure trips and help to

players injured during compe-tition and training is helping us in a big way,” said 23-year-old Chopra, who set the world record on way to gold during the 2016 World U-20 Champi-onships in Poland.

“They are motivating us to give it our best shot. SAI en-sured that athletes could get back to training as quickly as possible after the lock-down and that the ground and training facilities were promptly opened with Cov-id-compliant protocols.”

Chopra, who holds the na-tional record of 88.07 metres in javelin, conceded that the lockdown had taken a mas-sive toll on the mind and body, but “with the training

back in full swing, it won’t be long to return to full fitness”.

Espousing the virtues of patience, Copra said the trait had been ingrained in him since childhood.

“I have suffered several in-juring in my career and made several comebacks too, but I kept my patience and focus on the work on hand, and I am sure, it will ensure suc-cessful in future.”

He asked the budding ath-letes to not go after instant performance because that puts more pressure on the body and urged them to “not eat something extra because of pressure of performance” as it could be detrimental to their careers.

Mumbai, April 10 (IANS) Saturday night’s match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Capitals (DC), termed as the clash between master and apprentice, has got even the India coach Ravi Shastri going.

The former India all-rounder has called on his followers to follow the stump mic. It will be interesting to see what Pant says when comes onto the crease. “Guru vs Chela. Ba-hot Maza aayega aaj (Master vs Apprentice, we will have a lot of fun). Stump Mic suni-

yega zaroor (Please listen to stump mic) #DhoniReturns #Pant #IPL2021 #DCvsCSK -- @ChennaiIPL @DelhiCapitals,” tweeted Shastri on Saturday afternoon.

Pant has, in the past, called Dhoni his role model. “He (Dhoni) has been like a mentor to me, on and off the field. I can approach him freely with any problem I may be facing, and he will never give me the entire solution for it,” Pant was quoted as saying last year.

Hyderabad, April 10 (IANS) In-dian Super League (ISL) club Hy-derabad FC on Saturday agreed to the transfer of their young forward Liston Colaco to ATK Mohun Bagan for an undisclosed fee, the club an-nounced.

The 22-year-old Goa-born player, who made 23 appearances, scoring four goals and three assists for Hy-

derabad FC, will officially join ATK Mohun Bagan from June 1. He also went on to make his national team debut after a stellar season for the club.

With focus on long-term sustain-ability, Hyderabad FC agreed to Lis-ton’s move in a deal that fetches the highest-ever transfer fee received for an Indian player.

Strong SunRisers Hyderabad take on Kolkata Knight Riders

‘TOPS programme has spurred India’s Olympic medal hopes’

Guru vs chela, listen to stump mic: Shastri on Pant vs Dhoni

Liston Colaco joins ATK Mohun Bagan in big-ticket move

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ENTERTAINMENTIndian Horizon

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Kiara Advani, the diva of Bollywood has teamed up with Var-

un Dhawan for her upcom-ing fi lm 'JugJugg Jeeyo'.

Directed by Raj Mehta, the fi lm will be a roman-tic comedy that also stars Anil Kapoor and Neetu Ka-poor and both are paired romantically for the fi rst time.Kiara, who is currently

in Chandigarh shooting for 'JugJugg Jeeyo' has taken it to Instagram to share the fi rst look from the fi lm.

Kaira shared some pic-tures with Varun Dhawan which seemed to be a part of the photoshoot for the fi lm poster.

In the pictures, both can be seen twinning with the same denim pants

and shirts. While sharing the fi rst look, Kiara wrote, "#JUGJUGGJEEYO Happy Husband, Happy Life!".

From the caption, it's pretty clear that Varun and Kiara are playing a mar-ried couple in the fi lm. Not only Kiara, but Varun also shared the same pictures on his Instagram handle.

Courtesy : Santa Banta

KIARA ADVANI AND VARUN

DHAWAN'SFIRSTLOOK FROM

'JUGJUGG JEEYO' WILL MAKE

YOU GO WOWW!

start rolling for the action fl ick 'Pathan', today!

Jasmin Bhasin is slowly but steadily advancing her game in Bigg Boss 14.

The actor, who is currently locked up in the house, is being loved for the way she is conducting herself in the house as well as her fash-ion style. Her easy-breezy outfi ts, comfortable shorts and sundresses are being

loved in the house. Before she went in, we got a chance to have a candid chat with her, and here is what she has to say about her sense of fashion. `For me, fashion is something that makes me feel comfortable. I should feel comfortable carrying it, wearing it and also makes me feel sassy,` she says,

adding, `My party clothes are comfortable shoes and clothes in which I can look classy, as well as I, can dance comfortably. I love wear-ing dresses, casual dresses, shorts, t-shirts, hoodies, track pants.`She has a few favourite brands as well who she is loyal to. `I like Gu-cci because they make really

cool hoodies and dresses. I love For-ever New dresses also Zara,` she says.And what about traditional wear? `I like wearing a simple salwar kameez or a saree when I go for a puja, while for weddings, I like wearing lehengas,` she says.

Courtesy : Santa Banta

SRK & DEEPIKA

After the gap of two years, Shah Rukh Khan is ready to back with a bang with

his next YR fi lm titled action fl ick 'Pathan' which will be helmed by Hrithik Roshan's 'WAR' direc-tor Siddharth Anand. Along

with King Khan, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone are also portraying key roles in the fi lm. Now, after a wait of a long time, Shah Rukh Khan is back on the fi lm sets and starts rolling for the YRF Pathan.Along with him,

Deepika has also joined the actor on the fi lm sets on today. Earlier it was reported that SRK & Deepika will begin the shooting of Pathan after Diwali.Well, John Abraham who is portraying the antagonist role in the fi lm will

join the Pathan cast and crew in the month of January or Febru-ary.John Abraham who plays the villain will join the sets in the next schedule in January/Feb... The Siddharth Anand directorial hits cinemas in 2021!!"As per the

media sources, John Abraham is getting a whopping amount of Rs. 20 Crore for his role in Pathan. Well, the fi lm will wit-ness Shah Rukh Khan and John pitted against each other.

Courtesy : Santa Banta

According to the media reports, "Shah Rukh Khan

and Deepika Padukone are

starting the shooting for YRF's Pathan

today at YRF Studio.

Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh had to learn Marathi for his latest release, Suraj Pe

Mangal Bhari, and he admits that picking up a new language was not an easy task.

"The things that a man must do for love! My character had to learn Marathi for his lady love and I had to for the love for my film. It's the kind of movie

that's so seeped in innocence that you want to work towards making it better. My charac-ter speaks Marathi quite a few times in the film. He is a Bombay boy, so it's a part of his lingo,"

said Diljit."Picking up a new language is always difficult but that was a re-

quirement in this film. It felt authentic.

So when my charac-ter had to woo Fati-

ma's character, he used these a d o r a b l e Marathi lines.

T h o s e scenes are

kinda heart-warming. It was such a joy to see the

work you've put in come alive on screen. It's the kind of sim-ple, uncomplicated love that we don't celebrate enough any-more," he added.

The comedy drama helmed by Abhishek Sharma released on November 15.

It is the first new Bollywood release after the theatres re-opened following the long break due to the Covid-19 lockdown.Diljit even tweeted to thank fans who ventured out to watch the film during the pandemic.

IANS

DILJIT DOSANJH ON LEARNING MARATHI FOR HIS NEW ROLE

"Picking up a new language is always difficult but that was a

requirement in this film. It felt authentic.

JASMIN BHASIN:

I believe in my own happiness!

Kareena Kapoor and Taimur experience mountain bliss with

Malaika Arora

Soha Ali Khan is getting back to routine after Di-wali festivities, which

includes her regular fi tness re-gime.The mother of one took to Instagram to share a boo-merang of herself getting ready

for a workout session."Post Di-wali workout mode on! #work-outmotivation #backtobasics," she wrote with the video.Soha had shared healthy feast ideas for the festival season a while back because she feels it is

easy to get carried away during festivals."The best way to avoid that is by making sure your spread includes healthy foods like almonds, which are a great snack to munch on anytime of the day and they have health

benefi ts across weight and dia-betes management, heart and skin health. And with all the festivities abuzz, it's important to also keep energy levels up," she said.

IANS

SOHA ALI KHAN GETS BACK TO

BASICS

MIRZAPUR ACTOR DIVYENNDU SHARMA :

A video has also been doing the rounds on the internet where Kareena, Saif, Malaika, Arjun and Taimur can be seen taking a stroll on the streets of Dharamshala. "No Photo", Taimur can be heard saying to the people who were clicking pictures and videos.

Malaika Arora is having a great time in the sce-nic Himachal Pradesh

hill town, where her beau Arjun Kapoor is shooting for Bhoot Police along with Saif Ali Khan, Yami Gautam and Jacqueline Fernandez.

Actress Kareena Kapoor and her son, Taimur, have also ac-companied Saif for the shoot, and it seems they are leaving no chance to explore the hills in their free time.

On Tuesday, they paid visit to one of the most popular cafes in Dharamshala. Sharing a glimpse from their afternoon getaway, Malaika posted a picture of her soaking in the winter sun along with Kareena and little Taimur.

"Mountain bliss #timtim @ka-reenakapoorkhan #dharamsha-la," she wrote. She also shared a couple of other photos from the book cafe on her Instagram story.

Courtesy : Bollywoodlife

Now people look at me as a complete actor

My mental health story was twisted into

so many things

Mirzapur actor Divyenndu Sharma talks about his journey as an actor. He said that he is happy now as people look at him as a complete actor.

Mirzapur actor Di-vyenndu Sharma has impressed us

with his performance in the show. However, we all still know him as Liquid from Kartik Aryan's Pyaar Ka Punchnama.

It has been 9 years since Pyaar Ka Punchnama had released and we still see a crazy fan following for the fi lm. Divyenndu Sharma was just amazing and brilliant as Liquid in the fi lm. However, his performance as Munna Bhaiyya from Mirzapur gained him fame. Divyenn-du was seen in many popu-

lar fi lms like Chashme Baddoor, Dilliwali Zaa-lim Girlfriend, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Batti Gul Meter Chalu. All of his characters in these fi lm have been iconic and fans have loved his performance. He was also seen in the web show, Permanent Roommates. Courtesy : Bollywoodlife

SELENA GOMEZ :

Singer Selena Gomez says her mental health

story was twisted a lot, which made

her angry.

In an interview with her mother Mandy Teefey for the newsletter The

Newsette, Selena opened up about going public with her mental health struggles, re-ports eonline.com.

"For me, I had to give up social media, so I would go through these periods when I wouldn't (use my ac-counts)," she said.

The singer-actress contin-ued: "But I got so angry that my story was twisted into so many different things. The first time I posted (again), I was like, 'I claim my own story, so if you don't hear it from me, then it's not true'. Did I go and get help? Yes I did. But I'm not ashamed. I feel better and I feel like

I can understand a lot of things now.'""I think that was my moment when I knew (nobody) was going to take my story away from me. And I really do believe that I made the circle, if you will, of making the media look like s**t if they're making fun of someone who has mental health issues," Selena added.

IANS

3 years ago; says, 'It was an absolute honour to bring back the crown to India'

MANUSHI CHHILLAR RECALLS WINNING MISS WORLD TITLE

Manushi Chillar on Wednesday walked down the memory lane and recalled the moment when she was

crowned Miss World three years ago on this day.

"It was an absolute honour for me to bring back the Miss World crown to India

three years back. It was a really proud and humbling moment for me to win it for my coun-try. It is an extremely competi-tive event and everyone par-ticipates to win but I'm glad I made so many friends there," she said.Manushi also shared her favourite highlights from the day when she was declared winner."For me, there were many highlights (from the night) but my favourite would be hearing everyone scream India on the fi nal night! I love

our tradition and culture and the Miss World platform gave me an opportunity to show-case it to the entire world. It was amazing to see the other participants dance on my country's song and through-out our time there, they would request me to play Sanjay Lee-la Bhansali ji's 'Nagada sang dhol' and try to dance on it. I love that song and wanted to perform on something that was folk and had a hint of the movies, because everyone recognises Bollywood interna-tionally," she added.

IANS

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMESGreater Hyderabad

12 Monday, april, 2021 pages-8

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI): State Health Minister Etela Rajender to-day inaugurated Sudha fertility cen-ter on road number 5 in Banjara Hills.

Speaking on the occasion, he claimed that the

doctors were would receive prayers on a par with various gods of the coun-try . He said that he was happy that the fertility cen-ter was launched to help those cou-ples, who don’t have children, to

have children. The managing direc-tor of the hospital Sudhakar and oth-er took part in the inaugural event. The chairman of the hospital Karna Swami said that they had launched the eighth branch

of the hospital in the state capital with an objective to help those who don’t have children in Telangana. The managing direc-tor of the hospital Sudhakar and other took part in the in-augural event.

Health Minister Etela inaugurate Sudha fertility center

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI) With the continuing surge in Covid-19 cases in Telangana, the state’s daily count of in-fections crossed 3,000. The state reported as many as 3,187 new cases, the highest since August last year when the pandemic during its first wave was at its peak.

The new infections pushed the state’s cumula-tive tally to 3,27,278.

Seven more people suc-cumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours that ended 8 p.m. Saturday, taking the death toll to 1,759. Accord-ing to the director of public health and family welfare, the fatality rate remains at 0.53 per cent against the national average of 1.30 per cent. The number of active cases jumped to 20,184, in-cluding 13,366 who are in home/institutional isolation. A total of 787 people recov-ered from the pandemic dur-ing the last 24 hours, taking

the cumulative recoveries to 3,05,335. The recovery rate has slipped further to 93.29 per cent but still above the national average of 90.4 per cent. Greater Hyderabad crossed 500-mark to report 551 cases while districts bor-

dering it continue to witness a surge. Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts re-ported 333 and 271 cases respectively. Nizamabad dis-trict bordering Maharashtra saw 251 new cases, followed by 154 in Nirmal, 134 in

Jagtiyal, 113 in Kamareddy, 104 in Karimnagar, 104 in Sangareddy, 98 in Warangal Urban, 92 in Adilabad, 83 in Nalgonda and 81 in Siddipet.

The admissions into hos-pitals treating Covid cases have also gone up to 6,818 from 6,296 the previous day.

According to the direc-tor of public health, 4,943 patients were undergoing treatment in 244 private hospitals while 1,875 beds were occupied in 61 govern-ment hospitals. For a third consecutive day, the health authorities conducted over one lakh test. During the last 24 hours, 1,15,311 samples were tested, the highest ever in a single day. Of tis, 1,03,267 samples were tested in government laboratories and 12,044 in private labs. With this, the number of tests conducted in the state so far climbed to 1,09,88,976. Samples tested per million population rose to 2,95,243.

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI) Nagarjuna Sagar As-sembly constituency is all set to witness a triangular fight among ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the April 17 bypoll. Seven time legislator and former Minister K. Jana Reddy of the Congress will be taking on two debutants -- Nomula Bhagat of TRS and P. Ravi Kumar Naik of the BJP.

Stakes are high for the Congress as it looks to wrest the seat from the TRS to re-vive its fortunes in its former stronghold ahead of 2023 Assembly polls. The TRS is making all out efforts to re-tain the seat and banking on sympathy factor by fielding Nomula Bhagat, son of No-mula Narasimhaiah whose death caused the vacancy. Bhagat, 36, is a practising High Court advocate and is highly educated. An engi-neering graduate (B.Tech), he also pursued business management (MBA) and

law (LLB and LLM). Though he was actively involved in his father’s campaign 2014 and 2018 elections, Bhagat is a political novice before Jana Reddy TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chan-drasekhar Rao chose Bha-gat as the party candidate to cash in on the perceived sympathy factor. This was despite TRS losing Dubbak Assembly to BJP in Novem-ber last year though the rul-ing party fielded S. Sujatha, widow of S. Ramalinga Red-dy, whose death had neces-sitated the bypoll. Political

observers say caste factor is likely to play a key role in the by-election. TRS fielded Bha-gat, a member of Yadav com-munity, who constitute 40 per cent of over two lakh vot-ers in the constituency. Jana Reddy comes from the Reddy community that has been a dominant force in the com-bined Nalgonda district.The party will be banking heav-ily on the charisma of Jana Reddy, who won the seat in 2009 and 2014. He was earlier elected five times from Cha-lakurthy constituency, which became Nagarjuna Sagar.

Telangana’s daily Covid tally crosses 3,000-mark

Cong veteran takes on 2 debutants in T’gana’s Nagarjuna Sagar

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 212 Monday, april, 2021

TSIT Hyderabad Bureau (11 April 2021) : On occasion of 194th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule rich floral tributes were paid at the Portrait of Jyotirao Phule by Telangana State Youth Congress Spokesperson S.P.Kranthi Kumar at a program organised at Chatrinaka, Hyder-abad. Speaking on this occasion Kranthi Kumar recollected the remarkable services of Jyotirao Phule for promoting Girls education in India and said he was called as First Mahatma and was a Great Social Reformer and a Great Social activist. Congress activists S.Prudviraj, S.Praneeth, Krishna, Shashank and others participated.

Hyderabad District President of TGO Association M.B.Krishna Yadav pay-ing tributes to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on his 195th birth anniversary by

garlanding his statue at Amberpet on Sunday.

Jyotirao Phule, the radical-reformist who fought caste & gender discrimination - BANNALA GEETHA

The South India Times BureauSrisailam, April 11: As part of five-day Ugadi Mahotsavams at Srisailam Mallikarjuna Swamy temple, Special Pujas were performed to the God and Goddess on Sunday. On the second day of the Ma-hotsavams, Chandeeshwara

Puna, Mandapa Aradhana and Rudrahomam were per-formed in the morning for the welfare of the world. Kailasavahana Seva was per-formed in the evening and later ‘gramotsavam’ followed with the God and Goddess mounted on kailasa vaha-

nam. It is said that the dar-shan of God and Goddess during gramotsavam would bring prosperity and wealth to the devotees. Various cul-tural activities including ko-latam, Kerala Kathakali, Go-ravanrutyam and others were organized in the evening.

MEDCHAL THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES CORRE-SPONDENT: APRIL 12 : On Sunday celebrated 194th birth anniversary of Jyotirao Govinda-rao Phule at Chilkanagar Divi-sion Ward Office. Chilkanagar , Corporator Bannala Geetha on this occasion by placing garlands on his portrait Paid tributes and remember Jyotirao Phule and how he fought for the rights of Dalits and emancipation of women

Corporator on the occasion said Jyotirao Govinda Rao Phule was a social activist, intellectual, anti-caste social reformer and writer. He fought for the rights of the downtrodden and weaker sections of the people and worked for the development of the weaker sec-tions of the society. She lauded his services as a great social reformer who contributed to the education and development of women in the prevention of superstitions in this

program Chilkanagar division TRS Senior leaders paid hom-age to Jyotirao Phule paint-ing with flowers at the event. Division President Bannala Praveen Mudiraj, TRS senior lead-ers Yadula Kondal Reddy, Kom-pally Rajkumar Kokonda Jagan, Allibilli Mahender, Bingi Sriniva-sa, Mahmood, Yadagiri, Pochayya, Pushpa Raj, Balu, Ramana Gupta Kumar, Shyam and others were present on the occasion.

‘Gramotsavam’ at Srisailam on the Second day

Journalist K. SRINIVAS getting appreciation

from all for donating plasma for 4 times

MEDCHAL- THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES CORRE-SPONDENT : April 12 Senior Journalist Koniganti Srinivas is becoming a lifeline by donating blood frequently during Corona time, Cyberabad police specially appreciated Srinivas for donating plas-ma 4 times, blood 34 times and platelets 2 times during covid’s time. Police officials said hope that other covid champions will be inspired by srini-vas and come forward as lifeguards. Donors are asked by police to contact their name at https://donateplasma.scsc.in or 9490617440.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 312 Monday, april, 2021

The South India Times Bureau Nizamabad April 11;On the oc-casion of 195th birth anniver-sary of Mahatma Jyotiraobapule the NUDA Chairman Prabhaker Reddy paid tribute. He said that Pule is a social philoso-pher who worked for the better-ment of the backward classes. He believes that the education is for all , regardless of caste or gender ,and it is through edu-cation the weaker sections de-velop socially and economically. Similarly Pule not said to be a greater man who fought against untouchability and child marriage. Government today provide edu-cation equally to all communi-ties in line with Pule's ideals. He said the real tribute to the underprivileged and vulnerable is to seize these opportunities and grow further in education ,employment and the economy. In the above programme District Collector C.Narayana Reddy , Mayor Neetu kiran , Munici-pal Commissioner Jitesh v patil

, Nuda Chairman Prabahaker Reddy, Nuda Director Dandu Rajendra Prasad , NMC Ex floor

leader Murali , Jagruti state lead-ers pradeep, Jaipal , and others participated.

Nizamabad Urban Development Authority paid tribute to Mahatma Jyotiraobapule on

his 195 Birth Anniversary

On Sunday at SriSailam, ugadi mahOtSavam - KailaSha vahana Seva - maha durga alanKaram

- gramOtSavam

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI): Telangana Govern-ment today conducted programs to commemo-rate the services of social reformer Jyothibha Phule to mark 195th birth an-niversary of Phule the government conducted profrsms and recalled his services. Ministers Srinivas Goud,, Kamalakar Eshwar, Dayakar Rao Satyavathi Rathod,, have paid rich tributes to Jyothirao Ph-ule at various places and districts. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is fol-lowing ideals of Phule and reaching the unreached sections, the ministers said.The ministers stated that Phule fought for jus-tice, education, health, welfare, and equal rights of

backward classes and de-prived sections. Telanga-na Government they said is following ideals of Phule and implementing several welfare schemes.

The KCR government is emulating the Phule ide-als for fast development of weaker sections. Like Ph-ule, KCR is batting for wel-fare despite criticism by political parties. The op-position parties are stall-ing the development and irrigation projects they charged. Though our gov-ernment of KCR is moving ahead for the develop-ment, welfare and irriga-tion projects. They further said that the government of KCR is for upliftment of the BCs. Our schemes are meant for development of

the BCs, welfare and pro-vide support for deprived classes. The BC students are studying abroad and higher education by gov-ernment support they claimed.They said they several schemes of welfare are being implemented in the state for the BC com-munity and marginal classes. The government offers help to BCs and other poor scholarships, financial assistance for foreign studies. They said that Phule had shown path of welfare and the Govern-ment is encouraging the poor to study and develop. The ministers said that the government has started hundreds of schools and colleges for the backward classes.

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI): Telangana Auto drivers JAC while wel-coming launching of new Political party by YSR Sharmila has announced its decision to confer “Telangana Nightin-gale” & “ Telangana Ris-ing Star” two titles soon to YSR Sharmila for her bold decision to “Live & Die” For Telangana Cause In Future. Besides she will be weighed in coins.Mohd.Amanul-lah Khan convenor in a press statement an-nounced that the JAC has also decided to support to Sharmila’s proposed a 3-day hunger strike in Hyderabad from April, 15 demanding that the government issued job notifications without

further delay. Further, he said that he had been to Khammam day be-fore yesterday along with some of his support-ers accompanied with sharmila and came back to the city the same night after attending the pub-lic meeting. He informed that his committee mem-bers had met Sharmila at her Loutus Pond resi-dence one month back and held talks with her and had sought her clari-fication on prohibition issue whereupon she made it clear that YSR in fact, was in favour of en-forcing prohibition in a phased manner and that her party would adopt the same policy. She also promised that her party will support the Auto

Drivers just and reason-able demands and would join in the Auto Drivers Struggle directly as an when necessary.

Khan said that the Auto Drivers have the history of supporting NTR, KCR when they had launched new political parties be-fore coming to power. Similarly when the Auto divers opposed any po-litical party it lost power. Now that the Auto Driv-ers are supporting YSR Sharmila’s party we are

confident and sure that her party will come to power in next assembly elections with thump-ing majority. Finally he said that new party was needed to question pow-er and to snatch power from wrong-doers.

KCR government follows Phule Ideals: Ministers

Auto Drivers JAC announces support to Sharmila’s 3-Day

Hunger Strike on April, 15

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 412 Monday, april, 2021

Pawan Kalyan opts for quarantine as team members test Covid positive

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI) JanaSena Party founder and Tollywood film star Pawan Kalyan has gone into self-imposed quarantine, a statement issued by the party said on Sunday.

According to the state-ment, several members of the JanaSena Party presi-dent’s personal team, and security team have tested Covid positive. Moreover, with several members of his family also found to be Co-vid positive, doctors have advised Pawan Kalyan to self-quarantine as a precau-tionary measure.

He will, however, con-tinue his routine party ac-tivities during quarantine,

and interact with party col-leagues through video con-ferencing, the statement said.As an ally of the BJP, Pawan Kalyan has been ac-tively campaigning for the BJP candidate Ratnamala in the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-poll scheduled for April 17.

Pawan Kalyan was sched-uled to participate in an election campaign meeting in Tirupati along with BJP national President J.P. Nad-da on April 12. Pawan Kaly-an is also currently riding high on the response to his latest movie ‘Vakeel Saab’ -- a remake of Amitabh Bachchan starrer “Pink” -- released this week to packed houses.

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI) Depression and anxiety could be the symptoms leading to Parkinson’s disease, says doc-tors on the occasion of World Parkinson’s Day on Sunday. Parkinson’s disease is a progres-sive nervous system disorder that affects the movement of the human body. Symptoms start gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common but the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement.

While proper diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is difficult, particularly in the early stages, it may take years before the ail-ment is accurately diagnosed. The fact that symptoms and progression of symptoms vary between individuals adds to the complexity of diagnosing Parkinson’s disease. “Though Parkinson’s disease causes slowing of overall body move-ments, mental health issues are quite common (70-80 per cent) in such patients. Not often the disease manifests with mental

disorders (anxiety, depression) rather than physical slowing. These mental disorders have a greater impact on the overall quality of life than the physi-cal disability. Depression is the commonest mental disorder presenting as reduced interest and motivation along with fear of socialising among Parkin-son’s disease victims,” said Ab-hinay M. Huchche, Consultant Neuro-Physician, Sree Lakshmi Gayatri (SLG) Hospitals.

According to him, various types of sleep disturbances, vi-sual hallucinations, thoughts filled with paranoia are also no-ticed in the patients.

Screening for mental health issues in the first visit to the neu-rologist is a must. In the busy clinics, the caretaker must pro-actively bring up issues pertain-ing to mental health so that they could be addressed. Usually a multidisciplinary approach is needed to tackle mental health issues. “An exercise programme for victims of Parkinson’s dis-ease helps boost their motiva-tion and support groups help

them overcome the depression. Appropriate medicines are add-ed as per the need. Psychosis (hallucinations and delusions) wherein Parkinson’s disease in-dividuals lose touch with reality has to be dealt with sensitively. Caregivers and society need to be told that it is their faulty mind and not the original person that is behaving abnormally. Psy-chology, therapy and drugs form the core of therapy,” added Ab-hinay Huchche.

Commenting on the ailment’s frequency, Kailas Mirche, Con-sultant Neurologist, Continental Hospitals, pointed Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s dis-ease. The ailment is witnessed more commonly in men than in women. “The prevalence of Par-kinson’s increases with age and only 4 per cent of Parkinson’s cases are diagnosed before the age of 50. While approximately 1 per cent of the population above 60 years suffers from Parkin-son’s, its instance increases to 5 per cent among those above

86 years.” “Parkinson’s disease is already the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world; and some international studies suggest that the number of people with Parkinson’s has increased by over 35 per cent in the last 10 years. Although Par-kinson’s disease can’t be cured, it is important its victims know about the condition at an early stage which could be managed using medications. Occasion-ally, doctors may suggest sur-gery to regulate certain regions of brain to improve the symp-toms,” Ketan Chaturvedi, Senior Consultant, Neurology, Wock-hardt Hospital at Nagpur.

“Mental health issues are underrated, stigmatised and unaddressed in our society; and such conditions could be linked to more serious complications like Parkinson’s disease. It is im-portant we take a sympathetic approach to the victims of Par-kinson’s disease, and the social circle around such individuals promptly identifies these symp-toms and provides help in im-proving the overall quality.

Depression, anxiety could be leading to Parkinson’s disease

Rana Daggubati: Time and again films have

broken barriers

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI) Actor Rana Daggubati feels that films from South industry have always been pan-India but the globally renowned film “Baahubali” showed the way to make business the right way in a pan-India arrangement. Rana played the role of antagonist Bhallaladeva in the two-part film franchise. Talking to , about the culture of Pan India films spreading and how “Baahubali” started it, the ac-tor reflects on other films in the past, which have also had a huge reach nationally. “I was an audience before an actor and to me whether I was watching a Hindi film or a Telugu film the sentiment was the same. I live in Hyderabad and for me be it (Amitabh) Bachchan sir’s film or a Kamal Haasan film, the vibes were the same. Time and again there were films which broke the barriers. Like Mani (Ratnam) sir’s film ‘Roza’, that was originally a Tamil film. Nobody in the Hindi belt had a problem with that. They loved it as much as the South Ind loved it. Audience neverA has a problem (with language),” says the actor, who recently released his film “Aranya” in Telugu and “Kadaan” in Tamil.

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI) Telangana has also joined the states facing shortage of Covid-19 vaccines as the state government has urged the Centre to imme-diately provide at least 30 lakh doses. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar wrote to the Union Health Secretary that the state was left with only 5.66 lakh doses of vac-cine which would last for three days at maximum. “Covid-19 vac-cination has been ramped up in the state. Due to concerted efforts, the number of vaccinations in the state, in one day, crossed 1.15 lakh

yesterday. In the coming days this will be enhanced to over two lakh per day,” Somesh Kumar wrote in a letter dated April 10. “Therefore, I would like to request you to ur-gently provide at least 30 lakh dos-es of vaccine to Telangana for the next 15 days,” reads the letter. The chief secretary sent the letter a day after state health officials claimed that there was no shortage of vac-cines in the state. Meanwhile, the state health authorities adminis-tered 1,62,385 doses on Saturday. This is the highest number of dos-es given in a single day so far. They include 9,090 beneficiaries who received second dose. According to the director of public health, the cumulative doses given rose to 20,61,395 including 2,99,742 sec-ond doses. Those given vaccines on Saturday include 781 health-care workers, 22,578 frontline workers and 1,39,026 beneficiaries who are 45 years and above.

Telangana also hit by Covid vaccine shortage

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 512 Monday, april, 2021

*urgeS Cm KCr tO COnSider the riSing unemplOyment in

telangana aS a SOCial emergenCy and in-

CreaSe the eligible age limit Of yOuth frOm 34

yearS tO 44 yearS *requeStS the Chief

miniSter tO COnStitute a SpeCial taSK fOrCe tO addreSS the unem-

plOyment iSSueS in telangana

*dr Sravan in hiS letter tO Cm KCr ap-

pealS fOr an all party meeting tO diSCuSS On theSe impOrtant

iSSueS

Hyderabad, April 11, 2021: AICC National Spokesperson Dr Sravan Dasoju on Monday demanded the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to increase the upper age limit of youth by 10 years to enable them to apply for all the job recruitment notifi-cations issued in Telangana. Ac-cording to the senior Congress party leader, the upper age limit should be fixed at 44 years, as done in the past, from the exist-ing 34 years that is eliminating millions of beleaguered unem-ployed and qualified Telangana youth from applying for new jobs in the state. Dr Sravan today dashed out a letter to the Chief Minister in which he urged to consider the rising unemploy-ment in Telangana as a social emergency and appealed to him to constitute a special taskforce to address the sensitive issue with high priority to make sure our youth are protected from the desperate and frustrated conditions. While setting aside politics, Dr Sravan requested an all party meeting to discuss the

unemployment issues to find out a way forward to provide them adequate job opportunities in the public and private sectors. “As you may be aware that the recent job notification no. 3/2021 issued on 31 March 2021 by TSP-SC has reduced the candidates’ upper age limit at 34 years, there-by eliminating lakhs of unem-ployed youth who have aggres-sively participated in Telangana movement ever since the year 2009. The unemployment prob-lem in Telangana and also the prevailing conditions of the pan-demic Covid-19 outbreak crip-pled the normal life of every indi-vidual including the unemployed youth. In a context, where most of them are still eagerly waiting for their turn for a government job and to have better liveli-hoods, reducing the upper age limit to 34 years is a brutal shock to them”, Dr Sravan explained. He further stated that the major-ity of the unemployed youth are in deep distress, unable to face their parents, family and friends, unable to get married and settle

in life and leading a miserable life and some of them are finally com-mitting suicides with hopeless-ness. “It’s so pity that at least 50+ youth have committed suicide in the last seven years and 7 of them died in the last one week itself reflecting the agony and dejected conditions in the state”, he said. Dr Sravan pointed out that the government of Telangana had re-laxed the upper age ceiling by 10 years through various GOs pre-viously between 2015 and 2017 with which the candidates’ eligi-bility has gone up from 34 years to 44 years and that rational act cer-tainly benefited some candidates in the past. But due to lack of big recruitments in the last 7 years, the youth got frustrated and left without any option other than to wait for a fresh notification. “We must always be cognizant of the contribution made by the students and unemployed gradu-ates to the separate Telangana movement that brought us the freedom and a separate state. We shall not ignore the agenda of the Telangana Statehood movement,

i.e., equal share of Water, Funds and Jobs – to all the citizens of our state”, Dr Sravan suggested. AICC leader criticized that in the last 7 years, none of these things are being paid adequate attention and more importantly leave aside making proactive strategies to provide employ-ment to our youth as promised, unfortunately, the Telangana Govt completely failed even to comprehend the problem of ev-er-increasing unemployment in the state. At a time there are 1.93 lakh government jobs are vacant and 1.20 lakh contract employees are awaiting for regularization, it is unfortunate to have about 40 lakh qualified unemployed youth in the state, which is the highest for any state in India. “All of us believed that your gov-ernment would be able to defi-nitely generate at least 4-5 lakh additional Govt jobs having cre-ated additional 21 Districts and 100+ new Mandals for not only better governance to the citizens of our state and fulfill the com-mitment of providing employ-

ment to our qualified youth. But, unfortunately that didn’t happen”, Dr Sravan lamented. Citing CMIE report, the senior Congress party leader said that Telangana was highest in unem-ployment among the graduates in the country. Moreover, the re-cent Coronavirus attack followed by the stringent, un-planned extended lock down forced mil-lions of private employees to lose their jobs and struggling for their survival in our state which has further worsened the unem-ployment scenario in Telangana where he sought the immediate intervention of the chief minister. Dr Sravan criticized that the gov-ernment of Telangana has com-pletely ignored the promotion of self employment and entrepre-neurship. He pointed out that while lakhs of unemployed youth belonging to BC, SC, ST and Mi-nority communities applied for self employment loans with their respective financial corpora-tions, not even 2-3% of the funds allocated were finally released. Hence he said that the Telangana youth who with high hopes that the government will extend the fi-nancial support to stand on their feet through entrepreneurship and self employment, were total-ly disappointed and left in lurch. “Therefore, I request you to kindly instruct the TSPSC to im-mediately recall its latest em-ployment notification no.3/2021 and issue a revised job notifica-tion with the clear age relaxation of 44 years replacing the existing 34 years ceiling. And, request you to make sure this decision is applied across all the depart-ments of the Government of Telangana and also the Govern-ment Corporations, Universi-ties and Affiliated Bodies among others”, Dr Sravan appealed. He reiterated that to provide em-ployment is not only an agenda of Telangana movement, but also the constitutional respon-sibility being the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Telangana. We must

seriously recollect and remem-ber the ferocious sacrifices made by our youth and emphatically respond to them and their prob-lems. “Where there is will there is a way. It is high time that we keep all our politics aside and let us collectively figure out a way and a way forward to protect our youth … our own youth who struggled and sacrificed their lives for Telangana”, Dr Sravan asked. Dr Sravan appealed the following in his letter addressed to CM KCR: 1. Declare unemploy-ment problem in Telangana as a SOCIAL EMERGENCY 2. Restore the upper age limit of 44 years as done in the past, en-abling lakhs of unemployed youth to become eligible and be able to apply for above cited notifica-tion and also future notifications 3. Release unemployment al-lowance of Rs 3016/- immedi-ately that was promised during 2018 elections and help to sus-tain in this social crisis and help them relieve from their distress 4. Set-up Skill Development Cen-ters across Telangana through all ITIs, Polytechnic and Engineer-ing Colleges of both private and government and other means 5. Implement ITIR, Gaming and Animation Industries that will majorly resolve unemployment problem and attract more foreign capital investment to Telangana 6. Develop Agro and food pro-cessing industries, region specif-ic skill/ talent related industries 7. Attract more of Large and MSME manufacturing industries 8. Release Special Financial Package to all Private Sector employees who lost jobs due to Covid and help them have sus-tainable livelihoods in this crisis 9. Constitute a HIGH LEVEL SPECIAL TASK FORCE to pre-pare and implement innovative strategies to address the issue of unemployment in Telangana. 10. Extend loans to promote self employment and entrepreneur-ship through BC, SC, ST and Mi-nority Finance Corporations.

AICC Spokesperson Dr Sravan Demands for Increasing Age Limit by 10 years of Youth for All

Job Notifications in Telangana

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 612 Monday, april, 2021

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI): Research is the foundation of social development. Researchers are concerned about the future, and it is this concern that contributes to the overall development of society. Prof. SM Rahmathullah, I/c Vice Chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), expressed these

views today while inaugurating the Five Day Online Workshop for Research Scholars being jointly conducted by Centre for Professional Development of Urdu Medium Teachers (CPDUMT), The Office of Dean, Research & Consultancy of MANUU and Telangana State Urdu Academy (TSUA), Hyderabad.

The Workshop “Research Methodology and ICT Tools” will continue till April19, 2021.

Prof. Rahmatullah appreciated Urdu Academy for the efforts towards the welfare of Urdu speakers. Speaking as the Chief Guest, Dr. Md. Ghouse, Director/Secretary, TSUA opined that scholars should take their

research seriously and strive with religious zeal to find the facts about their chosen topic. The guest of honour, Dr. Jahangir Ehsas highlighted the importance of the workshop.Prof. Salma Ahmed Farooqui, Dean Research and Consultancy delivered the welcome address and also briefed about the aims and objectives of

the workshop. Prof. Mohd Abdul Sami Siddiqui, Director, Centre convened the inaugural session. The workshop coordinator, Mr. Jameel Ahmed proposed vote of thanks.In the first session, Prof. Siddiqui Mohd. Mahmood, Registrar I/c, MANUU dealt with the challenges faced by Urdu Medium scholars.

research is the foundation of Social development: prof. Sm rahmathullah

In our day-to-day beauty regime, psy-chological peace and spiritual balance play a relevant role. We never think but most of our skin problem are due to vari-ous imbalance in our body fluids, blood circulation, no exercise and stress too. Apart from its innumerable health bene-fits, Yoga also helps to beautify skin. Prac-tising yoga daily is beneficial and helps eliminate toxins from your body through sweating, breath-workout and poses which detoxify the body and increase blood circulation, points out cosmetic surgeon Dr Geeta Grewal.

Increase blood flows to your faceStanding forward bend and let your

head free or uttanasana and viprita ka-rani. These poses help blood to rush to your head, reverses aging effect and giving your cells a rejuvenating boost of oxygen.

Eliminate wrinklesYoga also makes your skin tighter and

smoother, as you work with muscles of forehead and around your eyes that helps to erase the effects when you per-formed. When you practice facial yoga like the lion, the V and smiling faces, it helps to reduce your forehead wrinkles by increasing circulation, relaxing mus-cles and reducing stress.

Glowing skinThe downward facing Mudras like

Marichyasana, Dhanurasana and hala-sana, reduce dullness and clear the acne, disseminating that amazing young-look-ing glow and improve your complexion drastically.

Reduce facial fatAt one point of time, you will stop lik-

ing the chubbiness of your cheeks and facial fat. Yoga pose for cheeks, lips and jaw can help you to tighten your skin and reduce your facial fat. The cheeks work-outs are easiest workout that you can do anywhere anytime to tone and firm your facial muscles, cheeks and lips. Some of them are the V, smiling etc.

Exterminate double chinYoga poses like chin lift, rolling the

neck, lip pull, jaw release, platsyma tone help to get chiseled jaw line and high cheek bone which are in the trend that define the face.

Yoga increases blood flow, removes toxins and capture free radicals that helps you to get rid of pimples. Pimples mainly caused due to stress and hor-monal changes. Thus, yoga helps to balance hormones, relax your body and relieves stress. Various yoga poses like uttanasana, trikonasana, kapalbhati, vi-parita karani, pavan muktasana can help you fight with pimples.

Free from acne and scarsAcne and scars are very common these

days; seven out of 10 people are fac-ing the problem of scars and acne. This

causes mainly due to poor digestion, imbalance hormones, toxication in liver and kidney and improper blood circula-tion. Pranayam breathing, rabbit pose, child pose, spinal twists, adequate sleep help you to get rid of scars and acne.

Remove dark circlesNatural way to zap those dark circles

away is yoga like hastpadotasan, samb-havi mudra and surya namaskar.

Faster Hair GrowthYoga is also highly capable of treating

all types of hair and scalp problems. If you have been suffering from the prob-lem of hair loss, you can try various yoga poses for actual results. Some of the best poses of yoga for hair growth that also help to prevent hair loss are Vajrasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Sarvangasan and Balyam Yoga.

Yoga for firm face and glowing skin Understanding Urticaria If you tuned into the latest Bollywood-related show on a streaming service over the weekend, you must have come across various health-related issues the ladies face, from air sickness, to skin aging and a certain condition known as Urticaria. Dr Smriti Naswa Singh, Consultant Dermatologist, Fortis Hospital, Mulund explains the definition of the condition, its causes, and treatment.What is Urticaria?Urticaria, commonly recognised as ‘hives’ is an outbreak of red and prickly bumps that suddenly appear on the skin. The reasons could be due to certain allergies, or at times for unknown reasons. The bumps or rash may vary in size and cause severe itching; it may also cause burning on the skin, causing discomfort as well as disturbing one’s daily routine. The bumps/ wheals may suddenly appear anyplace on the body - the face, hands or legs even the lips, tongue, ears, or throat. The swelling of lips, eyelids, genitals can be painful, and swelling of throat/wind pipe can cause breathlessness which is an emergency and the patient has to be rushed to hospital. Depending on the severity of the condition, it may last for a few hours, or fade away after the reaction runs its course. Usually an Urticaria reaction lasts for less than 24hours and fades off only to recur at same or other area. If Urticaria lasts beyond 72hours, one has to find the causes beyond skin (involving inflammation of blood vessels), called as Urticarial Vasculitis.What are its causes?Urticaria is a type of skin allergy. Allergy means body’s hyperresponse to normal, common, harmless stimuli like dust, dirt, cat fur, pollen, change of weather etc. Urticaria ensues when the body reacts to the release of histamine which is found in the body’s cells or other chemicals into the bloodstream. Inflammation is caused due to histamine, and fluid accumulates under the skin eventually causing ‘hives or welts’. It is said that “anything under the sun, including the sun can cause Urticaria”. Sometimes its very easy to find the cause, when Urticaria erupts immediately after ecposure to allergen, but sometimes it takes long history taking in OPD, or systematic diary entries for days & weeks to pin point the cause. However, the common triggers to this reaction are:Reaction to medication such as antibiotics or Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), or vaccinesInsect stingsChange in temperature or extreme temperaturesFood - shellfish, nuts, Wheat products, food additives, cow milk protein etc.Secondary infectionsExposure to sunlightPollen/ dust mitesStressAnimal-related allergiesChronic illness - ThyroidWhat is the treatment?Hives are treated using anti-histamines, this nullifies the effect of histamine. It is to be used regularly for a few weeks, as prescribed. Chronic hives are generally treated using anti-histamines or a combination.

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 712 Monday, april, 2021

After Sputnik V vaccines clinical trial’s preliminary results showed its efficacy at above 90 pe rcent, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Gamaleya Insti-tute offered AstraZeneca the use of one of its two compo-nents in their own clinical trials. AstraZeneca accepted the proposal and will begin clinical trials of its vaccine in combination with Sput-nik V’s human adenoviral vector type Ad26 by the end of 2020. This research will allow AstraZeneca’s scien-tists to study the possibility of boosting their vaccine’s efficacy through the appli-cation of this combined ap-proach. Sputnik V is among the world’s most effective and safe vaccines due to its unique technology combin-ing two different human adenoviral vectors, provid-ing for a stronger and lon-ger-term immune response

compared to vaccines using the same component for both inoculations.

The regimen with two dif-ferent adenoviral vectors for a prime and a boost im-munisation is a unique and ground-breaking discovery of the Gamaleya centre sci-entists. It helps to complete-ly avoid immunity to the first vector, which forms af-ter the first inoculation and thus to raise efficacy and create long-term immunity.

Among the leading Cov-id-19 vaccines, only Sputnik V is using the two-vector tech-nology. RDIF’s offer to As-traZeneca was an example of Russia’s proactive approach: it has not only created one of the world’s most effec-tive vaccines to date against coronavirus, but is ready to share Sputnik V vectors with those willing to produce vac-cines using the two-vector technology. Kirill Dmitriev,

CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said: “This unique example of coopera-tion between scientists from different countries in jointly fighting coronavirus will play a decisive role in achieving a final victory over the pan-

demic globally. Russia’s Sput-nik V vaccine is already saving people’s lives in Russia today through a large-scale vacci-nation programme. The deci-sion by AstraZeneca to carry out clinical trials using one of two vectors of Sputnik V in

order to increase its own vac-cine’s efficacy is an important step towards uniting efforts in the fight against the pandem-ic. We welcome the beginning of this new stage of coopera-tion between vaccine produc-ers. We are determined to

develop this partnership in the future and to start joint production after the new vac-cine demonstrates its efficacy in the course of clinical trials. We hope that other vaccine producers will follow our ex-ample.”

A high powered vaccine advisory panel, after a marathon 9 hour debate on safety and efficacy data, has en-dorsed emergency use approval of the Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vac-cine for mass vaccinations of Ameri-cans. The vaccine advisory group, in a 17-4 vote, decided that Pfizer’s shot is safe in people aged 16 and older. The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommenda-tion and set the ball rolling for an epic vaccination drive in America.

Before the final vote, which came just before 6 pm EST, regulators boiled down all of their findings into a single question: Do the benefits of the Pfizer vaccine outweigh its risks for vaccination in people aged 16 and older? The sticking point for the last one hour of the debate was around the issue of whether or not to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for 16 year olds. “The data is thinnest in this age group,” said one of the vac-

cine advisory members. At least three members said they would prefer vac-cinations only for people older than 18. Pfizer made a strong pitch for its vaccine for “prevention of Covid-19 in individuals 16 years and older, with or without evidence of prior infection”.

Pfizer said its overall vaccine effica-cy of 95 per cent was observed in both younger and older adults as well as in diverse demographics.

“In addition, we have demonstrat-ed a favourable safety and tolerability profile in more than 40,000 individu-als,” Kathrin Jansen, Head of Vaccine research at Pfizer, told US regulators in a historic science court-style meet-ing Thursday. Responding to multiple questions on efficacy in 16 and 17 year olds (the EUA has been requested for vaccinating people 16 and older), Pfizer and the FDA both suggested

that efficacy in older populations could be extrapolated for older pedi-atric participants.

“mRNA vaccine can be boosted repeatedly, an important consider-ation when persistence of vaccine immunity is not yet known. They can be developed and scaled up quickly,” Jansen told members of FDA’s Vac-cines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. William Gruber, Pfizer’s Senior Vice President of Vac-cine Clinical research, listed fever, chills and pain at the injection site as the most commonly reported effects after vaccination.

Pfizer’s dash to the finish line has broken all vaccine development speed records, and on a new mRNA technol-ogy platform. The coronavirus itself isn’t there inside the mRNA vaccine. Instead, it is embedded with a piece of genetic code that trains our bodies to recognize imminent enemy action from the spike protein on the surface

of the virus. When the mRNA enters our cells, it begins to spew copies of the coronavirus’ spike protein. That prompts the immune system to churn out antibodies against the virus.A In virology, generating neutralizing anti-bodies is a good surrogate of our bod-iesae ability to protect from sickness. Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is poised to become the first of several shots to get US Food and Drug Administration authorization as the US gets crushed with record deaths during a pandemic winter surge.The FDA is not required to follow the committee’s advice but all indications point towards a swift greenlighting. The US government’s vaccine czar Moncef Slaoui is confi-dent about shipping millions of doses to states within 24 hours of FDA’s okay,Plenty of questions were raised Thursday, mostly relating to efficacy of the vaccine in older teens since the emergency use authorisation request covers those about 16.

US panel endorses emergency use of Pfizer vaccine; over to FDA now

astraZeneca will test Sputnik v component in clinical trials of its own vaccine

THE SOUTH INDIA TIMES 25 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST, 2020 812 Monday, april, 2021

Auto Drivers JAC announces support to Sharmila’s 3-Day

Hunger Strike on April, 15Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI):

Telangana Auto drivers JAC while welcoming launching of new Political party by YSR Sharmila has announced its decision to confer “Telangana Nightingale” & “ Telangana Ris-ing Star” two titles soon to YSR Sharmila for her bold decision to “Live & Die” For Telangana Cause In Future. Besides she will be weighed in coins.

Mohd.Amanullah Khan con-venor in a press statement an-nounced that the JAC has also decided to support to Sharmila’s proposed a 3-day hunger strike in Hyderabad from April, 15 de-manding that the government

issued job notifications without further delay. Further, he said that he had been to Khammam day before yesterday along with some of his supporters accom-panied with sharmila and came

back to the city the same night af-ter attending the public meeting. He informed that his committee members had met Sharmila at her Loutus Pond residence one month back and held talks with

her and had sought her clarifica-tion on prohibition issue where-upon she made it clear that YSR in fact, was in favour of enforc-ing prohibition in a phased man-ner and that her party would adopt the same policy. She also promised that her party will sup-port the Auto Drivers just and reasonable demands and would join in the Auto Drivers Struggle directly as an when necessary. Khan said that the Auto Driv-ers have the history of support-ing NTR, KCR when they had launched new political parties before coming to power. Similar-ly when the Auto divers opposed any political party it lost power.

Rs 1000 fine to people without masks: govt

Hyderabad, April 11 (UNI): Telangana Government today issued orders to collect Rs 1000 fine from people who not wearing face masks in public places. As cases of Corona are increasing day by day the government has imposed strict or-ders to wear masks or pay Rs 1000 penalty norms. In its or-ders the officials concerned under disaster management act directed DGP, Collectors of all districts to strictly implement the orders. The government order issued by the Chief Sec-retary Somesh Kumar said that the Corona cases are surging despite Corona pandemic. Despite Corona pandemic some youth and or people are not wearing the masks. Any deviation in these stipulations would attract prosecution under section 51 to 60 of Disaster Management Act, 2005.