Page 11  · 1 day ago  · hands with soap over sanitiser NAVEENA GHANATE ... history of Telangana. After a series of meetings, AWS has ... The Spark Revolution in India" by industry

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Top court suggests witness protection

CASES AGAINST LAWMAKERS

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court hasdirected trial courts to consid-er granting protection to wit-nesses in cases against sittingand former lawmakers underWitness Protection Schemewithout their making any spe-cific application in this regard.

A three-judge bench ofJustices NV Ramana, SuryaKant and Anirudhha Bose,said the Witness ProtectionScheme, 2018, approved by itshould be strictly enforced bythe Union, States and UnionTerritories.

"Keeping in mind the vul-nerability of the witnesses insuch cases, the Trial Courtsmay consider granting protec-tion under the said Scheme towitnesses without their mak-ing any specific application inthis regard," the bench said.

The apex court noted thatmost witnesses are unwillingto appear before the respectivecourts to make depositions incourts.

It directed that no unneces-sary adjournments be grantedin cases related to lawmakerskeeping in mind the publicinterest involved in these mat-ters.

Doctors take U turn, bat for washinghands with soap over sanitiserNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Following the Supreme Court'sobservations on Monday ques-tioning the Centre as to why,despite conceding that spray-ing of chemical disinfectants isphysically and psychologicallyharmful, it has not banned theuse of tunnels for disinfectingpeople; experts are now raisingconcerns over the extreme useof sanitisers.

Sanitizers have become apart of life as they are moreconvenient than washinghands frequently with soapand water. However, consider-ing the negative impact of theoveruse of sanitisers, doctorsare now advising people not to

prefer use of sanitizer to wash-ing hands with soap and water.

While alcohol- based handsanitisers can kill coronavirus,they are ineffective towardscertain types of bacteria and

viruses. For instance, handsanitizers cannot kill C. diffi-cile, which causes diarrhoeafrom antibiotic overuse.

Director of Public Health DrG Srinivasa Rao said: "Initially

we used disinfectant tunnels,but it has more disadvantagesthan advantages. We are seeingsanitisers as an alternative towashing hands with soap andwater. Regular sanitising ismaking some of the virusesresistant. The easiest and mostinexpensive way of maintain-ing hygiene is use of soap andwater. It doesn't matter howmany times one washes therehand with soap and water".

Even the US Centers forDisease Control andPrevention (CDC) recom-mends using an alcohol-basedhand sanitizer with at least 60%ethanol, only when soap andwater aren't available.

Amazon puts TS on ‘cloud' nineAWS to pump Rs 20,761 cr in its Hyd Cloud Region by mid-2022PNS n HYDERABAD

Amazon Web Services (AWS),an Amazon.com company, hasannounced investments total-ing Rs 20,761 crore ($2.77 bil-lion) to create multiple datacentres, making it the largestFDI investment in the State.

AWS is investing the moneyto set up an AWS Region withthree Availability Zones (AZs)in Hyderabad. The AWS AsiaPacific (Hyderabad) Region isexpected to start operations bythe middle of 2022.

AZs consist of multiple datacentres in separate distinct loca-tions within a single region thatare engineered to be opera-tionally independent of oneanother with independent power,cooling, physical security, andconnections via a low-latency.

Telangana Industries and ITMinister KT Rama Rao tweet-ed on Friday, saying, "Happy toannounce the largest FDI in thehistory of Telangana. After a

series of meetings, AWS hasfinalised investment of Rs20,761 crore ($2.77 billion) toset up multiple data centres inTelangana. The AWSCloudHyderabad Region is expectedto be launched by mid-2022."

The investment from AWS

would position Telangana asone of the preferred destina-tions for other companies thatare looking to set up data cen-tres in the future.Establishment of data centreslike AWS is expected to sup-port Telangana's digital econ-omy and IT sector in multipleways.

The new AWS Asia Pacific(Hyderabad) Region willenable even more developers,startups, and enterprises aswell as government, education,and non-profit organizations torun their applications andserve end-users from data cen-ters located in India.Establishment of data centresin a region will increase theoperations of sectors such as e-commerce, public sector,

INKESHAF AHMED n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onFriday paved the way for therelease of maverick moviemak-er Ram Gopal Varma's contro-versial film 'Murder', whichallegedly revolves around thelife of Nalgonda-basedAmrutha, whose husbandPerumalla Pranay, was killed inbroad daylight at the behest ofher father Marurthi Rao.

It also set aside the order ofa lower court of the SpecialSessions Judge for SC and STcourt from Nalgonda stayingthe release of the film.

The lower court issued itsorders on August 24,2020.

A division bench, compris-

ing Justice MS RamachandraRao and Justice T. AmarnathGoud, directed the film direc-tor and producer to not use thephotos and names of Pranay,Amrutha and Maruthi Rao torelease the film. The benchpassed these orders while deal-ing with an appeal filed by RamGopal Varma and the produc-er of the movie Natti Karuna.

HC paves way forrelease of RGV's film

TV channelsbreak liveTrump addressSeveral US TV networks

late Thursday halted livecoverage of Donald Trump'sfirst public appearance sinceelection night after conclud-ing that the president wasspreading disinformation.

Trump unleashed a floodof incendiary and unsub-stantiated claims in a 17-minute address, insistingthat Democrats were using"illegal votes" to "steal theelection from us."

The president spoke aslate vote counting in battle-ground states showedDemocrat Joe Biden steadi-ly closing in on victory.

"OK, here we are again inthe unusual position of notonly interrupting the presi-dent of the United Statesbut correcting the presidentof the United States," saidMSNBC anchor BrianWilliams,

n AWS is investing the moneyto set up an AWS Region withthree Availability Zones (AZs) in Hyderabad

n The new AWS Asia Pacific(Hyd) Region will enableeven more developers,startups, and enterprises

n WASHINGTON

Democrat Joe Biden took the lead inkey battleground state Pennsylvaniaon Friday, where a victory for the for-mer vice president would push himpast the threshold of electoral votesneeded to win the White House, offi-cial data showed.

More ballots are yet to be counted,but shortly before 1400 GMT, Bidenhad moved ahead of incumbentPresident Donald Trump by morethan 5,500 votes, according to officialprovisional results from the state gov-

ernment. Biden is now require onlysix electoral college votes and enjoy-ing lead in all five states where count-ing is underway.

In Georgia, after the latest round ofcounting results, Biden edged pastTrump with a slender lead of 1096votes, a remarkable development forthe former vice president who untilWednesday night was trailing hisRepublican rival by more than 50,000votes. In Pennsylvania, Biden tookover Trump with a narrow lead of5,587 votes.

Trump has no plans to immediately concede: report

Donald Trump does not have plans to immediately concedethe election to Joe Biden after his Democratic rival pulledahead in key states that could deliver him enough

electoral votes to win the race for the White House, a senioraide of the president was quoted as saying by a media reporton Friday. According to latest US media projections, Bidenpulled ahead of Trump in Georgia. He has also taken the leadover Trump in Pennsylvania. Trump cannot find a route to 270electoral votes without Georgia and Pennsylvania, so hischances of securing reelection will hinge on developments inthe two key battleground states. Continued on Page 2

Woman raped by trio, diesPNS n HYDERABAD

A 30-year-old woman wasallegedly raped by three people,known to her, and later died ofa head injury suffered duringthe assault on the city outskirts,police said on Friday.

All the three, in their 20s,had been arrested and based on

a complaint by the woman'sfamily, two separate cases ofwoman missing and murderregistered, they said.

Two of the men were knownto the woman, a widow, policesaid. The three consumedliquor at a city hotel and one ofthem called her to come toMiyapur here on November 3

night. On seeing three people,she refused to come with them.

However, they then forciblytook the woman in a car to avillage on the city outskirts andraped her in a shed. She suf-fered "an invisible" head injuryin the incident and died follow-ing which the trio fled from thespot, a police release said.

Industry welcomes ‘Work from anywhere'PNS n NEW DELHI

The relaxation in rules to facil-itate 'Work From Anywhere'for the Indian IT-BPM sectoris "long term, progressivethinking" by the governmentand will help create a moreinclusive workforce, accordingto industry executives.

On Thursday, the govern-ment announced simplifiedguidelines for Other ServiceProviders (OSPs), includingBPOs and ITES companies, toreduce the compliance burdenon them and to facilitate 'WorkFrom Home' and 'Work FromAnywhere' framework.

Industry body Ficci said this

step will help the ICT(Information andCommunications Technology)industry deliver essential ser-vices remotely, and help pro-mote new job opportunities,encourage innovation ecosys-tem, and support the develop-ment of an inclusive anddiverse workforce.

"This is a landmark decision.It will go a long way in foster-ing the growth ofIT/ITES/BPO industry... Yetanother decisive reform onease of doing business and cre-ating Aatmanirbhar Bharat,"Ficci President Sangita Reddysaid.

Huge betting on Dubbak resultL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Normally punters stay clear ofthe outcome of a bypoll, think-ing it is not worth betting if itconcerns only one Assembly orLS seat in any state. But in thecase of the Dubbak Assemblybypoll held on November 3, forwhich major parties had stakedeverything; the stakes are toohigh for punters to miss thefun and rake in the moolah.

Huge betting is taking placeon the outcome of the Dubbakbypoll. This is on a scale thatis seen usually only duringAssembly and Lok Sabha elec-tions. The major reasonsbeing cited for this are that allthe three major political par-ties in Telangana, namely theruling TRS and the oppositionCongress and BJP took thisbypoll very seriously. Therespective party high com-

mands too took this bypoll asa prestige issue and roped intheir top party leaders to campand campaign in Dubbak fornearly a month -- somethingunheard-of in Telangana inrecent times. The other reasonbeing cited is the one-week gapbetween the polling held onNovember 3 and the countingof votes to be held onNovember 10.

All of this has createdeuphoria in the betting marketand punters are betting heav-ily on the bypoll result. Amidsall this, the Telangana RashtraSamiti remains the favourite

for punters.Punters also bet on who

would stand at the secondplace among BJP andCongress.

There is unusual interest inDubbak bypoll outcome frompunters not just in Telanganabut also from neighbouringAndhra Pradesh and variousother states. Punters are hedg-ing their bets on who wouldwin and what would be thewinning margin in the Dubbakbypoll. People are betting theirmoney on the TRS, consider-ing it a 'safe bet' .

The winner of the 2020 presidential election isscheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Ifelected, Biden, at 78, would become the oldest personto serve as President, the first candidate to defeat anincumbent president in 28 years and the second non-incumbent vice president to be elected President.

Biden - 73,683,463 votes (51%)

Trump - 69,747,042 votes (48%)

Kollur 2BHKproject bagsHUDCO awardPNS n HYDERABAD

Central public sector under-taking HUDCO, which has'Profitability with sustain-ability' for its motto, haspicked the Kollur 2 BHKDignity Housing project forconferring its award for bestpractices to improve livingenvironment.

Georgia to go forrecount of voteThe US state of Georgia said Friday it will recount votes

from the election in which Joe Biden has eked out a razor-thin lead over President Donald Trump.

"With a margin that small, there will be a recount inGeorgia," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger toldreporters in Atlanta. Raffensperger, the top elected official over-seeing elections, said that the presidential contest in the state"remains too close to call." Georgia is equally critical as it isthe only state holding elections for both its Senate seats thisyear, meaning it will determine which party is in control.

KCR to reviewbudget progressin view of CovidPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao will con-duct a mid-term review of thestate's budget for 2020-21 inview of the impact of Covid-19pandemic on state's finances.

He has called a high-levelmeeting on Saturday on thefinancial losses incurred bythe state on account of thepandemic. He will also con-duct a mid-term review of the2020-21 budget.

According to ChiefMinister's Office, he will dis-cuss at length on the mea-sures to be taken against thebackdrop of the Corona pan-demic, issues to be revisedand other related matters ofthe budget.

BIG WIN FOR DEMOCRATS

JOE BIDEN ISPRESIDENT-ELECT

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All of this has created euphoria in the bettingmarket and punters are betting heavily on thebypoll result. Amids all this, the TelanganaRashtra Samiti remains the favourite for punters

The D-Day

Dharani fails to jack uprevenues

PPaaggee - 44

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Covid-19 has made usrealise the value of lifespent outdoors and the

dire effects of lack of physicalactivity. Therefore, the chal-lenge before policymakers isto make large numbers ofpeople physically active oncethe pandemic subsides. Thisrequires interventions thatinduce physical activity inthe lives of large populations.

Two lessons from activeliving research and practiceare: First, success of tobaccocontrol has shown that behav-iour modification of largepopulations through appro-priate policies and environ-ment changes is more effec-tive, as compared to efforts toinfluence individual decisions.Second, moderate levels ofphysical activity give lifelonghealth benefits. Therefore,introducing five days of mod-erate levels of physical activ-ity in the daily lives of adultpeople may be easier than, say,three days of vigorous physi-cal activity.

Based on these learnings,the goal would be to bring

about moderate levels of phys-ical activity through changesin the urban built environ-ment. Once the pandemicsubsides, the following poli-cies and practices are expect-ed to make people activewhile going about their dailylives.

Recreational resources:In India, parks and open

spaces have the greatestpotential to make large groupsof people reach the recom-mended 30 minutes / day ofmoderately intense physicalactivity (60 minutes foryouth). Parks are used by alarge number of people ifthey are located close tohomes. Studies have shownthat people are willing towalk if parks are availablewithin a 2-3 kilometre dis-tance from their homes. Otherfactors that promote parkusage are: safety, greenery,

attractive landscapes, pres-ence of water bodies, andavailability of play equipmentfor children. Visitors are morelikely to engage in vigorousphysical activity when parkscontain courts, paths andplaygrounds. Moreover, chil-dren are expected to be moreactive in parks with installedplay structures than in openfields.

Land use characteristics:Dividing the city into zones

regulates the use of land inwhich the number, types andfeatures of buildings arerestricted, prohibited, or per-mitted. In turn, zoning isconnected to the Master Plan.The Master Plan is a city-widedocument that regulates andpromotes development and /or redevelopment of an urbanarea with a view towardsachieving maximum econom-ic, social and aesthetic bene-fits. In India, Master Plans

have placed a disproportion-ate emphasis on land use andignored the impact on healthof the roads, footpaths, build-ings, etc. The way forward isto conduct a “Health ImpactAssessment” of the built format the locality level, and reviseMaster Plans in order to pro-mote physical activity in large

numbers of people. For exam-ple, by making parking lots atsome distance from offices orpublic transport stations, peo-ple would be induced to walkat least some distance. Suchsmall walks during the dayadd up to a lot of moderate-ly-active physical activity dur-ing the day.

Locality characteristics: Localities that promote

walking have houses locatedclose to one another (high res-idential density) with proxi-mate shops and public trans-port spots (e.g. bus stands).Walking is also promoted ifinterior roads have a low vol-ume of traffic and footpathsare well maintained, easy towalk on and aestheticallypleasing, street lights are avail-able and functional, andstreets are safe for use by res-idents, particularly womenand children.

Community environmentcharacteristics:

The community environ-ment plays an important rolein encouraging physical activ-ity among the elderly, childrenand women. Senior citizensare more likely to be physical-ly active and engage in com-munity-based activities inneighbourhoods that are per-ceived to be safe and havegreater social ties among res-idents. Doing physical activ-ity with a friend/spouse, see-ing other people exercise, andhaving less social strain areassociated with higher levelsof physical activity amongwomen.

Children and adolescentsare more likely to walk fortransportation if they live inareas with parks, schools andshops nearby. Moreover, thenumber of children who walkto school increases with

improvements to footpaths,street crossings and slow-moving, calm traffic. Finally,safety, availability of toilets,drinking water, lighting andshade are the most importantprompts for parents to takechildren to parks.

The pandemic has givenrise to an inactivity epidem-ic. The way forward is tomake large numbers of peoplephysically active. One way isto create an activity-friendlyenvironment, which wouldbuild physically activity intothe daily lives of large num-bers of people. This is possi-ble if we have a relook at theway our localities are built,and would require retrofittingexisting neighbourhoods in afashion that gives residents avariety of destinations withinwalking distance of theirhomes, and safe and con-nected pathways to get there.

(Author has a PhD fromthe USA and a DLitt fromKanchi University. The arti-cle is based on his researchand practice and views arepersonal)

DR. SAMEER SHARMA

The way forward is to make largenumbers of people physicallyactive. One way is to create anactivity-friendly environment, whichwould build physically activity intothe daily lives of large numbers ofpeople

Covid and the inactivity epidemic

PNS n SIRICILLA

Once a barren upland townwhich attained the dubiousdistinction of highest numberof suicides by powerloomweavers, Sircilla, also called as'Sholapur of Telangana', is ona transition mode since the lastsix years. The conditions inSircilla are now completelydifferent from what they werea decade ago. The textile town,which shot to fame duringBritish period by presenting asilk saree fitted in a match boxto the Queen Victoria is bask-ing under glory with hands ofall weavers full with workorders.

Out of the 34,000 power-looms in Sircilla, 27,000 loomsproduce polyster cloth while7,000 produce cotton cloth. Infact, 25,000 weavers are earn-ing their livelihood in this sec-tor. Activities related to thissector include sizing, warping

and dyeing. For want of works,weavers from the city have ear-lier migrated to town and citieslike Surat, Mumbai, Bhiwandi,Sholapur and so on.

The changes that occurred inthe weaving sector during thepast six years, migration ofweavers has come to an end.Moreover, weavers from Bihar,Odisha and Uttar Pradesh are

earning livelihood here. Toimprove livelihood of weavers,the state government gaveorders to produceBathukamma saree to weavers.

In 2017, orders worth Rs 280crore saree were placed withthe weavers. Besides, theweavers received orders worthRs 100 crore from RVM andthe Social Welfare Department.

During the past four years, theweavers received orders worth

Rs 1,280 crore to weaveBathukamma saree, Rs 400crore from the Sarva SikshaAbhiyan, for KCR kits,Christmas and Ramzan giftsoffered to minorities by thestate government.

The employment opportuni-ties of weavers have improved.The suicide of Konda Kistaiahin 2001 along with family cre-ated a sensation at the nation-al-level. He committed sui-cide by giving cool drink lacedwith poison to his parents, wifeand two children. Only theyoungest daughter survivedthe tragedy.

Astraf Ali, a weaver fromBihar earning a livelihood inSircilla, said that he earns Rs18,000-20,000 a month. Hehails from Madhuvani in Bihar.He has three sons. Once in ayear, he visits his native village.There are many workers from

Odisha and UP who areemployed in Sircilla.

A psychologist K PunnamChander said that there is a seachange in the conditions ofweavers of Sircilla. They haveassured livelihood. They aresending children to schools.They earn better wages withorders in hands from the stategovernment. They are spend-ing good quality time withfamilies. The morale of theweavers has been boosted.

Assistant Director of TextilesDepartment V Ashok Rao saidthat the suicides of farmers,compared to earlier, have comedown. There is no question ofjoblessness in the weaving sec-tor. The weavers hands are fullwith work. Their employmentprospects are better. Thoughthere are some suicides beingreported from the town, thereasons are different. The skilllevel of Sircilla weavers hasincreased.

Sircilla weavers have their hands full Missing cases dealtwith on priority: CPPNS n HYDERABAD

Following High Court's obser-vations asking the state policeto file a status report on themissing cases in the city,Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner VC Sajjanaron Friday said that the depart-ment's focus was on theincreasing number of missingcases across Telangana, includ-ing Hyderabad.

Addressing the media here,the CP said that all the cases reg-istered in their jurisdiction weredue to personal and psycholog-ical reasons. CP said cases ofminors leaving home for rea-sons such as quarreling withparents, or they abusing chil-dren were on the rise. The CPexplained that they were settingup special teams as soon as themissing case was registered.

CP said every case is being takenas a challenge.

On Thursday, the TelanganaHigh Court expressed anger andquestioned the police on theincreasing missing cases. TheCourt was dealing with the peti-tion filed against missing casesin the city. The petition statedthat around 8,000 people havegone missing between 2014and 2019 and all they belongedto SC/ST and other backwardclasses. The court asked thegovernment to submit inteirmreport by December 3.

Big win for ...Continued from page 1

This is significant given thatTrump was leading in the swingstate till Wednesday night withmore than 700,00 votes.

Biden continued to maintainhis small lead in the other twobattleground States of Arizonaand Nevada. To be declared thewinner of the US election,either of the two candidatesneeds 270 of the 538 electoralcollege votes. As per the latestprojections, Biden has 264 elec-toral college votes and Trumptrails behind with 214.

In the US election, votersdecide state-level contests ratherthan a single, national one.Each US state gets a certainnumber of Electoral Collegevotes partly based on the size of

the population, with a total of538 up for grabs. PresidentTrump at a White House newsconference accused theDemocrats of massive ballotfraud and alleged that the elec-tion was being stolen. He didnot offer any evidence to backhis claim.

His campaign has filed mul-tiple lawsuits in the States ofPennsylvania, Michigan,Georgia, and Nevada and hasdemanded a recount of votes inWisconsin. The Biden cam-paign has denied the allegations.Several American news chan-nels on Thursday evening cutoff the live telecast of Trump'sWhite House news conferenceas they believed that his allega-tions of voter fraud were with-out any evidence.

Now, ‘Work...Continued from page 1

OSPs are entities providingapplications services, ITEnabled Services or any kindof outsourcing services usingtelecom resources. The termrefers to Business ProcessOutsourcing (BPOs) orBusiness ProcessManagement (BPM),Knowledge ProcessOutsourcing (KPOs), ITEnabled Services (ITES) play-ers, call centres, amongstothers.

The detailed guidelinesissued by the telecom depart-ment on Thursday said theconcept of 'Work FromHome' will be encouragedand that "work from homehas been extended to provide

Work-From-Anywhere inIndia". This facility of extend-ed agent/ remote agent posi-tion (that is 'Work FromHome/Anywhere') is permit-ted with certain conditions.The agents at home shall betreated as 'remote agents' ofthe OSP Centre and intercon-nection is permitted.

"It helps the tech sectorimmensely, while enhancingsustainability, reducing car-bon foot print and pavingway for a more inclusiveworkforce. This policy willalso spur more innovation inour industry, that is in theforefront of digital transfor-mation of the global enter-prises," HCL TechnologiesPresident and CEO CVijayakumar said.

KCR to review budget progress...Continued from page 1

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar, Principal Secretary,Finance, Ramakrishna Rao,State Planning Board ViceChairman Vinod Kumar andsenior officials from theFinance Department will par-ticipate in the review meeting.

On the estimates arrived atSaturday's meeting, the CMmay have meeting with theministers and secretaries ofal l the departments onSunday.KCR, as the ChiefMinister is popularly known,had on October 23 directedthe officials to have interimreview of the state's budgetfor 2020-21, as there was amajor cut in the funds fromthe Centre following thecoronavirus pandemic, while

the state's revenue droppeddrastically due to the lock-down.

"The Central GDP has fall-en to (-) 24 percent. This hada major impact on the states.Under these circumstances,we have to prepare estimateson how much funds are actu-ally available and how muchfunds can be allocated to thedepartments should be decid-ed," he had said.

At another meeting onSaturday, KCR will review ameeting on Yadadri Templeconstruction works.

YTDA Special Officer G.Kishen Rao, Yadadri DistrictCollector, officials of Roadsand Buildings Department,and the temple's ExecutiveOfficer will participate inthe meeting.

Huge betting onDubbak resultContinued from page 1

Normally, the betting marketworks against the predic-tions. Those betting on TRSvictory can hope for lowerreturns, that is Rs 25 forevery Rs 100 staked.However, those betting on thevictory of the BJP and theCongress can hope for high-er returns (almost double),that is Rs 200 or even Rs 300for every Rs 100 staked.Those betting on who wouldget the second place can alsoexpect to rake in higherreturns. The BJP or theCongress getting secondplace will fetch Rs 150 forevery Rs 100 staked.

Bettings are also done onvictory margins. Currentlymost of those betting on TRSare putting their money on20,000 to 30,000 victorymargin. In the case of thosebetting on the BJP, the victo-ry margin is 5,000 to 10,000.

Amazon puts...Continued from page 1

banking and financial ser-vices (BFSI), IT, and more.

Telangana is one of themost progressive States withpolicies targeted towardsadvancing the growth of ITand IT-enabled services(ITES) companies in India.Hyderabad is a city that hasrecorded the highest growthrate in the IT sector over theyears and is home to manyinnovative startups, enterpris-es, and a skilled workforce.

AWS chose Hyderabadbecause of the support provid-ed by the Government ofTelangana, robust policy

framework, and because itbest met the rigorous require-ments for an AWS Region.

KT Rama Rao had met offi-cials from AWS during hisDavos visit earlier in the yearand subsequently arrived atthe closure on the investmentin a swift manner. On theoccasion of this investmentannouncement, the Ministersaid, "This investment fromAWS is going to be the largestFDI (Foreign DirectInvestment) that the State hasattracted since the inceptionand will act as a strong anchorfor attracting other technolo-gy investments."

Trump has no plans to immediately concede: report Continued from page 1

Georgia's 16 electoral voteswould be enough to guaranteeat least a tie in the 538-mem-ber Electoral College, pendingresults from the other uncalledstates. Pennsylvania, whichhas 20 electoral college votes

would single-handedly deliverthe White House to Biden.

Reacting to the latest devel-opments, the senior Trumpaide told Fox News that thepresident's counsellors havebeen giving him advice inboth directions, with sometelling Trump that a concession

is the correct thing to do, andothers pushing him to contin-ue to fight to ensure the votewas correct and legitimate.

The aide, who was not iden-tified, told Trump's favouritenews channel that the presi-dent is "simply skeptical."

He warned about this for

months, the aide said. Themedia didn't take it seriously,and now, here we are with thescenario.

The aide said, though, thatthe president may ultimatelyconcede.

He's just not there yet, theaide added.

TV channelsbreak liveTrump addressContinued from page 1

The president spoke as latevote counting in battlegroundstates showed Democrat JoeBiden steadily closing in onvictory. NBC and ABC Newsalso pulled the plug on theirlive coverage of Trump. Whata sad night for the Unitedstates of America to heartheir president say that, tofalsely accuse people of try-ing to steal the election," saidCNN's Jake Tapper. Hedescribed it as "lie after lieafter lie about the electionbeing stolen," with no evi-dence, "just smears."

Kollur 2BHK project bags...Continued from page 1

Under the theme 'Housing,Urban Poverty andInfrastructure', it has award-ed cash prize of Rs. 1.00 lakhto the Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation.

HUDCO, which partnerswith the Government inbuilding assets for the nation,lays emphasis on the housingneeds of the "deprived" i.e.Economically WeakerSections (EWS) and Low-Income Groups (LIG).

The Telangana governmenthas taken up construction of15,660 DUs of 2BHK Houses,along with requisite infra-structure and other facilitiesat Kollur (V) (Survey No.203/P, R.C. Puram Mandal) ofSanga Reddy District to pro-

vide 2BHK units to homelessurban poor people free ofcost.

The project is being execut-ed by DEC Infra Project IndiaPvt. Ltd., Hyderabad. Theproject, started on 22February2018, was complet-ed on October31, 2020. TheRs.1311.32-crore project isdue for inauguration.

Extending over 144 acres,each of the 15,660 units inthis project occupies an areaof 560 sqft with 2Bedrooms,Hall,Kitchen,2WCS and utility, including com-mon areas.

Provisions in housinginclude RCC framed struc-ture S+9, S+10, S+11 pattern,two/three staircases in eachblock(12 to 16 DUs), twolofts for each house, stilt

parking, tot lots and firefighting arrangement. Theunits have two lifts withcapacity of 08 persons each,including power back-up forlifts and common lighting incorridor with diesel genera-tors. The Kollur unit isequipped with C.C. roads &storm water drains, potablewater supply arrangementsand piped water supply toeach household. An under-ground drainage system withSewerage Treatment plant(STP) of 8.5 MLD has beenestablished. Recycling oftreated sewerage water forgardening, rain water harvest-ing pits for improvement ofground water, energy-effi-cient electrical fittings andappliances are among theother highlights of the project.

Top court suggests...Continued from page 1

"At the cost of repetition, it isclarified that the directions inthe present writ proceedingsare applicable to both sittingas well as former legislators(MPs and MLAs)," the benchsaid.

The apex court also grant-ed Solicitor General Tushar

Mehta, appearing for theCentre, one more week's timeto file a reply to submit thestatus report relating to inves-tigations against lawmakers byspecial agencies.

The bench was hearing aPIL filed by lawyer and BJPleader Ashwini Upadhyayseeking speedy disposal ofcases against the lawmakers.

Doctors take Uturn, bat for ...Continued from page 1

Health experts of the AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences have previouslywarned that the widespreaduse of hand sanitizers,antimicrobial soaps, andantibiotics during Covid-19can lead to more antimicro-bial resistance. A city-baseddoctor G Abhishek said:"Washing hands with soapand water is gold standardand hand sanitizer should beused only where there is noalternative. There are sever-al homes and offices whichhave almost replaced washinghands with sanitiser. Butagain some of them mightuse anti-microbial soap.”

HYDERABAD | SATUARDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020 hyderabad 03

The Telangana InformationTechnology Association (TITA)which has been entrusted to

carry out the seventh economicsurvey in Telangana is looking toprovide employment opportunitiesto youth with computer literacy.Accordingly, the association hasinvited applications fromyoungsters who have qualifiedclass X (SSC) to work as enumerators for collecting data for theeconomic survey to be carried out by TITA’s digital entity Digithon. Thisis for the first time that the Economic Survey is being carried outdigitally. The survey is carried out throughout the State has covered52 per cent of households, has been launched in Hyderabad on Friday.GHMC Mayor Bonthu Rammohan and TITA Global president SundeepKumar Makthala launched the survey in the city. Mayor Rammohanpraised TITA for bagging the survey work and also employingthousands of youth to carry out the same. Mayor urged the cityresidents to fully cooperate with the enumerators carrying out thesurvey.

Atotal of 76.87 per centhave qualified out of21,559 candidates who

had appeared for theTelangana State Law CommonEntrance Test (TS LAWCET)and TS PGLCET 2020. Theresults were announced byTelangana State Council ofHigher Education Prof. T PapiReddy here on Friday. Chundi Sneha Sree of Hyderabad andSamudrala Srinivasa Krushna Panchajanya of Karimnagar district havesecured the first ranks in TS LAWCET three-year and five-year coursesrespectively. Both have scored 98 marks in their respective entrancetests. Similarly, Tadigoppula Pravalika of Rajanna-Sircilla districtbagged first rank in TS PGLCET (LLM) by obtaining 89 marks. Thisyear, two new courses, namely Criminology & Criminal JusticeSystem, and Human Rights Law are being introduced by the UniversityCollege of Law, Osmania University. These will be offered as the self-finance courses and candidates must have qualified in the TS PGLCETto secure a seat.

Mayor launches 7th EconomicSurvey in Hyderabad

76.87% qualify in TS LAWCETand TS PGLCET

Mayor Dr BonthuRammohan onFriday launched

sanitation special drive inMasabtank tank area.Speaking on the occasion,the Mayor said that due torecent incessant rains andfollowed by floods in thecity huge quantity of debris, garbage and discarded materialaccumulated in nalas and in inundation colonies and bastis and onroads in GHMC and surrounding municipalities. Since, there is achance of spread of seasonal and communicable diseases, as per theinstructions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and KT Rama Rao,the GHMC undertaken special intensive sanitation drive in the city.Later, the Mayor released Gambusia fish in the tank in ITI institute.Speaking on the occasion, he said, for the special sanitation drive,apart from 778 vehicles, and 4,500 workers were deployed fromsanitation, entomology and other wings to remove the debris.Additional Commissioner Rahul Raj, Zonal Commissioner Praveenya,Chief Entomologist Rambabu, AMOH, Senior Entomologist and othersparticipated in the programme.

Special sanitation drivelaunched at Masab tank

CITY LIGHTS

In the last one year, Hyderabad CityPolice have ensured convictions in86 cases. On Friday, Hyderabad

Police Commissioner Anjani Kumarrewarded 151 officers who worked inthe cases. Appreciating the officialsinvolved in getting the convictionsincluding Investigation officers, courtduty officers and prosecuting officers, Hyderabad City Policecommissioner Anjani Kumar rewarded them on Friday. Overall, 151officials ranging from ranks of additional deputy commissioner ofpolice to home guards and prosecuting officers were rewarded forensuring convictions in the 86 cases. Some of the important cases inwhich life conviction was ensured included two Pocso cases reportedunder Begumpet and Shalibanda police station limits.

CP rewards officials forensuring convictions

Preterm births higher due to CovidPNS n HYDERABAD

Covid-19 has the potential toput expectant mothers at ahigher risk of delivering early.According to new data fromthe Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention(CDC), based on data fromalmost 4,500 people who werediagnosed with Covid-19,nearly 13 per cent of babies(about 500) were bornpreterm.

Preterm birth which occursbefore the 37th week of preg-nancy has been on rise ingeneral but due to Covid-19it has surged. Instances ofpreterm deliveries were wit-nessed in Gandhi Hospital aswell. However, of the mam-moth 650 deliveries conduct-ed at Gandhi, authoritiescould not categories them aspre-terms just because ofCovid-19, because thepatients were also having co-morbidities.

Dr G Mahalakshmi, HODGynaecology at Gandhi hos-pital said, "Majority of preg-nancies we dealt were highrisk and had comorbdities.

We used to deal with pre-terms and high risk cases.Most of the patients whom wedelivered were associated withhypertension, diabetes, highfever - in such cases pre-termsare expected. We observedsimilar thing but haven't sep-arated in various categories".

Even CDC pointed thatmany of the characteristicsthat put people at increasedrisk for severe Covid-19 infec-tion, including pre-existing

health conditions. Accordingto WHO, preterm birth is theleading cause of death for chil-dren under five-years-old andbabies also experience bothshort- and long-term healthproblems. "Even in naturaldeliveries also sometimes therewere pre-terms.

It is challenge to conductdeliveries because of diseaseprocess. We have completed650 deliveries and providedpost-natal care for 150 cases.

Only about 8 newborn wereinfected with Covid. Nowhereelse so many deliveries tookplace with such outcome," shesaid.

The deliveries at Gandhihospital have significantlycome down after September."Prior to September, we used todo 200 -250 deliveries.

The number has declinednow and it is around 40-50deliveries. This is possiblybecause of decrease in inci-dence of Covid and infectionrate has come down," said adoctor.

Preterm birthwhich occursbefore the 37thweek ofpregnancy has been on rise in generalbut due toCovid-19 it hassurged

State Govt to involve IIT to check air pollutionPNS n HYDERABAD

The state government, in aneffort to improve air quality inthe city, is bent on ordering asurvey on the air quality in thecity by any IIT. Moreover, itdecided to implement anaction plan to reduce air pol-lution with Rs 117 crore sanc-tioned by the Centre. The cityof Hyderabad, Patancheruindustrial area and Nalgondahave very high levels of air pol-lution.

To reduce the air pollution,the government is keen toorder a study by any one of theprominent institutions IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Mumbai, the NationalEnvironmental EngineeringResearch Institute and Nagpurand Tata Energy ResearchInstitute came forward to con-duct a study.

If the air quality index isbetween 0 and 50, the qualityof air is good. If the index is

between 51 and 100 it will haveimpact on those who have frailhealth. If it varies between 101-200 it would impact peoplesuffering from asthma andheart ailments.

If the index is above 200,people are susceptible to con-tract lung diseases.

The air quality index inHyderabad is recorded as 167.With the funds released by theCentre, air quality monitoringstations will be set up and

roads sweeping machines willbe purchased. BS-6 standardswill be enforced for all vehicles.

Principal SecretaryEnvironment Rajat Kumar saidthat it is important to study thesources of emissions in to theair to regulate them.

The government will ordera study to get at the roots of theproblem. On the basis of theproposed study report, mea-sures to increase the air qual-ity would be taken.

Gandhi to get post Covid-19 wardPNS n HYDERABAD

Realising the growing need tohave a support system forpatients with post-Covidsymptoms, Telangana govern-ment has decided to setup apost Covid-19 care ward inGandhi Hospital. Manypatients who recovered fromCovid-19 got admitted to thehospital due to complicationslike damage to lungs, heartattacks and even neurologicalissues like strokes.

Official from HealthDepartment said, "Lot of sur-vivors are already coming backand majorly complaining oflung related fibrosis. In suchinstances, they face breathless-ness and require continuoussupply of oxygen. In otherinstances, vital organs are alsogetting infected and for whichmultidisciplinary treatment isneeded. So a specialised wardis being setup in GandhiHospital".

Already the Central govern-ment has asked the state gov-ernments to deploy Covid psy-chiatrist in all governmenthospitals. Accordingly the stategovernment is gearing up fordeploying the doctors for therehabilitation of patients suf-fering from post-Covid symp-toms will be set up.

As per official statistics,about 5 per cent of moderateto serious cases are reportingsevere post Covid-19 compli-

cations in Telangana. As perofficial, in serious cases postCovid complications are relat-ed to lung and heart, whilemost of the Covid-19 recov-ered are struggling with fatigueand lack of focus for at least 3-6 months.

Post-Covid recovery,patients face issues like respi-ratory stress, mental trauma,transitory diabetes, cardiac,kidney, pancreatic issues andbody fatigue.

Rachakonda underaddl security coverPNS n HYDERABAD

Labour Minister Ch.MallaReddy and RachakondaCommissioner Mahesh MBhagwat on Friday formallyinaugurated 75 CCTV cam-eras in Pocharam village,which were added as part ofexpanding its CommunityCCTV camera network.

These cameras wereinstalled at a cost of Rs 13.5lakh at strategic locations cov-ering the entry and exits, mainroutes and crime prone areasof the locality.

As of now, there are 396Community CCTV camerasand 2,841 'Nenu Saitham'cameras installed under thelimits of the Ghatkesar PoliceStation, officials said, addingthat in the recent past, snatch-ing cases, burglary and rob-bery cases were detectedthrough CCTV footage.Speaking on the occasion,Malla Reddy said it was a greatinitiative where citizens withthe help of police came for-

ward and installed CCTVcameras for their own securi-ty. Appealing to the public tojoin hands for a saferRachakonda, the minister alsoasked local public representa-tives to ensure installation ofmore cameras in the remain-ing colonies of Boduppalmunicipality.

Bhagwat said CCTV camerashad become an important aspectof modern day policing withalmost 67% of crimes beingdetected with the help of CCTVfootage. He urged the citizensand public representatives tocome forward and install morecameras in their respective areas.

WE-Hub sets uprevolving fundfor entrepreneursPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana’s startup incubatorfor women entrepreneurs,WE-Hub on Fridayannounced the setting up ofa revolving fund for women-led businesses incubated atWE-Hub.

The vision behind creatingthis fund was to financiallyenable women across thespectrum, in view of therepercussions of the pan-demic. A Murali KrishnaReddy, chairman, MAKGroup of Companies, sup-ported the mission of WE-Hub with a revolving fund toreach the most deservingsmall business entrepreneursin India.

WE-Hub CEO DeepthiRavula said that the incuba-tor is also looking at othercorporates and enterprisesto come forward to offersupport to women entrepre-neurs through their CSRactivities.

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

Osmania University has decid-ed to alter its Plagiarism Policyfor all the research scholars.Complying with UGC GazetteNotification 2018, the OUStanding Committee ofAcademic Senate resolved toalter that plagiarism level ofany research paper from 25 percent to 10 per cent. This deci-sion is in effect fromNovember 1, 2020.

Clarifying on the matter DrChakravarthy, AssistantProfessor, Library Sciences,says, "The plagiarism level inany research work indicatehow much of the paper wascopied from an already exist-ing work. Till now, the plagia-rism level allowed by theOsmania University was 25 per

cent. However, from now thesame will be only 10 per cent.We have made these changesin accordance with the UGCGazette Notification 2018."

He further adds, "As per theGazette, the research work car-ried out by the student, facul-ty, researcher and staff shall bebased on original ideas, whichshall include abstract, summa-ry, hypothesis, observations,results, conclusions and recom-mendations only and shall nothave any similarities. It shall

exclude a common knowledgeor coincidental terms, up tofourteen consecutive words."

"Earlier there were about 500research scholars with theUniversity. However after weamended the plagiarism level tobe 25 per cent, only half of themcontinued. Now that we havedecreased it further, I am suremore original work will beencouraged." The authorities ofthe University believe that thiswill not just be helpful to the stu-dents, but also help improve thequality of research. Registrar ofthe University Dr Gopal Reddyshares, "This change will makesure that scholars work harderto make sure that their work isgood. Hence this change willcertainly uplift the quality ofresearch OU does and encour-age the candidates who haveoriginal and authentic ideas."

OU alters policy to check plagiarism

DURGA PRASAD SUNKUn HYDERABAD

Scores of Hyderabadis arebeing duped by unscrupuloustravel agents under the guise ofsending them to Hajj pilgrim-age. During the Hajj season,tales of gullible public formingbeelines in front of police sta-tions demanding justice afterbeing cheated by travel agentshas been a common sight inthe last few years.

The activists demanded toinitiate a stringent actionagainst the travel agents andbook them under PD Act.Further, they demand to forma special cell like Women Cell,SHE teams to look into theseissues. Hajj pilgrimage is amandatory religious duty forMuslims that must be carriedout at least once in their life-time by all adult Muslims whoare physically and financiallycapable of undertaking thejourney. The flight cost fortravelling to Mecca is betweenRs 10,000-30,000. But thefraudsters promise to takethem on fewer charges or free

of cost. People should alsothink about how they cantravel without paying basiccosts and be cautious aboutthem, added activists.

The issue came to the foreagain with the arrest of 8 trav-el agents who duped Hajj pil-grims. The police said that thegang cheated around 500members. Speaking to thePioneer, social activist andMajlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT)spokesperson Amjad UllahKhan said, “In most of thecases, one person, who had acriminal history in duping thepublic is using same modusoperandi and is being involved

in several other offences. Bychanging only name boardsand keeping infrastructureintact, fraudsters are dupingpeople. The travel agent, whowas arrested for cheating,comes out on bail within 2-3days after arrest and commitsfurther offences. They shouldbe booked under stringentlaws and ensure that theywon't go scot-free.”

“In line with Women Cell,She Teams, police should alsoestablish a separate cell to dealwith these types of frauds.Although a high level meetingwas conducted and attended bythe top officials and assured to

wipe out the fraud travel agentsin the city, nothing has hap-pened at the ground level," headded.

Many fraudsters are cheatingthe pilgrims under the pretextof charity and assuring themfree pilgrimage. Anotheractivist SQ Masood said, "Thepolice should take stringentaction against the offenders sothat they won't commit theseoffences. The public shouldalso be cautious regardingthese frauds."

S Raghavendra, Inspectorof South Zone task force teamwho spearheaded the raid on

the premises with a specificintelligence told the Pioneer,"People should also be cautiousabout the frauds. They should-n't blindly believe the assuranceand fall prey for it. They shouldcheck the official websites andembassy socials media handlesregarding the instructions. TheSaudi Arabia had restricted pil-grims this year in view ofCovid-19 pandemic, accord-ingly they should plan the pil-grimage."

He further cautioned themto independently conductbackground checks. It is to benoted that main conspiratorMustafa Mohammed floated acharity under the name ofThariq-Al-Jannah at KakajiCity centre shopping mall,Khilwath, Hussainialam,Charminar.

He further impersonated asDubai sheikh and lured pil-grims under the pretext ofsending pilgrims to Hajj/Umrah at free of cost throughan activity of charity. He forcedthe aspiring pilgrims to coughup Rs 500 to register and Rs2500 for Covid19 tests each.

Activists in thecity demandedpolice officialsto initiatestringent actionagainst thetravel agentsand book themunder PD Act

Hyd police facilitatetransport of live organ

PNS n HYDERABAD

On Friday, once againHyderabad Traffic police facil-itated the transport of the liveorgan (Lungs) by providingnon-stop movement to theambulance carrying the liveorgan. Hyderabad andCyberabad Traffic Police coor-dinated and arranged GreenChannel for transportation ofLive organ (Lungs) from RajivGandhi International Airport,Shamshabad to KIMSHospital, Begumpet,

Hyderabad. The organs cameby flight from Coimbatore.The distance between RajivGandhi International Airport,Shamshabad to KIMSHospital, Begumpet,Hyderabad is 36.8-km whichwas covered in 28 minutes.The medical team carryingLive organ left at 11:11 hrs fromRGI Airport, Shamshabad andreached KIMS Hospital,Begumpet, Hyderabad at 11:39hrs Hyderabad traffic policereiterated that they care for ourcitizens.

Ambulance flagged offunder ‘Gift a Smile'PNS n HYDERABAD

A new ambulance under 'Gifta Smile' initiative was flagged-off at Osmania GeneralHospital (OGH) by the hospi-tal Superintendent, Dr. GNagender on Friday. As perdoctors, it is helpful for shift-ing of patients and referrals.The ambulance is equippedwith a good quality self-stretcher, oxygen cylinder sup-port and emergency kit box.

The Osmania GeneralHospital administrationthanked Health Minister forfacilitating the ambulances.'Gift a Smile' is an initiative ofMinister KT Rama Rao, whoon the occasion of his birthdayhad requested ambulances tobe donated to governmenthealthcare facilities. Since thenministers have been giftingambulances to district hospi-tals in their respective con-stituencies.

Man killed inroad mishapPNS n HYDERABAD

A 48-year-old died after alorry rammed his auto onORR service road underGachibowli Police station lim-its. According to the police, lateon Thursday night, a lorryheading towardsVattinagulapally from Kokapetrammed an auto on ORR ser-vice road. In the mishap, theauto drive, Shaik Usman sus-tained severe injuries and diedon the spot. The police bookeda case and further investigationis underway.

In another case under RGIApolice station limits, drunk dri-ving led to the death of a minorboy. According to police, thepilgrims, who were returningto the city from Yadagiriguttain a car consumed alcohol.Under the influence of alcohol,the driver crashed barriers onORR resulting in the death ofa minor boy.

Many fall victim to Hajj fraud

PNS n TIRUPATI

Lieutenant Governor ofJammu and Kashmir ManojSinha on Friday offeredworhsip at the famous hillshrine of Lord Venkateswaranear here.

He arrived here on his oneday maiden visit as Lt Governoron Thursday afternoon alongwith his family members, atemple official said. After anovernight stay, Sinha and hisfamily visited the over 2,000-year-old hill shrine, where theyoffered obeisance to the presid-ing deity of Lord Venkateswara,he said. On his arrival, Sinha

was accorded a warm welcomeby Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams BoardChairman Y V Subba Reddy,Executive Officer AK JawaharReddy and AdditionalExecutive Officer A V DharmaReddy, the official added. In abrief chat later with mediaper-sons, the Lt Governor said thathe had visited the ancient hillshrine several times in the past.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020 hyderabad 04

Following easing of Covid restrictions, Mini Shilparamam in Uppal is attracting crowds and is teeming with people,especially on weekends and on Sunday

GO-TTO SSPOT

L VENKAT RAM REDDY

n HYDERABAD

Contrary to expectations, reg-istration of agriculture proper-ties through Dharani portal hasfailed to jack up revenues of thestate government, going byearly indications. The govern-ment has earned just Rs 8crore in four days throughproperty registrations, follow-ing the launch of the promis-ing portal on November 2.

The government used toearn Rs 10 crore per day on anaverage through property reg-istrations prior to the launch ofDharani. This is because thegovernment has presentlyallowed registration of onlyagriculture lands throughDharani portal. Officials areclueless on when registration ofnon-agriculture propertieswould be launched.

This has dented the earningsof the state government, whichis already reeling under thecorona-induced financial crisis.The government has already

lost over Rs 500 crore due tohalting of property registra-tions for 55 days to enable thelaunch of Dharani portal --from September 6 toNovember 1.

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar stated on November 2that the government wouldcommence the registration ofnon-agriculture propertiesthrough Dharani portal "in

the next 15 to 20 days", whileadding that Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao wouldmake an official announce-ment in this regard soon. Thegovernment had launched thesurvey of non-agricultureproperties across the state inOctober with the aim ofuploading those details on theDharani portal to enableresumption of property trans-actions online. Teams fromgram panchayats, municipali-ties and municipal corpora-tions visited households andgathered details from people.

However, this exercise hit alegal roadblock, with theTelangana High Court haltingthe Dharani survey of non-agriculture properties, afterpetitions were filed against thegovernment for seeking per-sonal information like caste,Aadhaar numbers etc as partof this survey. The HC askedthe government not to forcepeople to give such personaldetails and directed the gov-ernment to file a counter affi-

davit on this issue. The case islikely to be heard next week.

With this, the governmentis clueless on the fate of resum-ing registrations of non-agri-culture properties throughDharani portal. The govern-ment is suffering huge lossesevery day on account of halt inregistration of non-agricul-ture properties across the state.Even registrations of agricul-ture lands through Dharaniportal have not reached thelevels prevalent during pre-Dharani days due to some ofthe unaddressed technicalglitches in the Dharani portal.

Dharani continues to faceinternet connectivity issues,officials' login issues across thestate, especially in rural andremote areas, where broad-band network is poor. Due tothis, officials could registeronly a few agriculture lands,despite property owners andbuyers having booked largenumbers of slots for propertyregistrations on Dharani por-tal.

Dharani fails to jack up revenues

The govt used to earn Rs 10 crore per

day on an average through property

registrations prior to the launch of

Dharani. This is because the government

has presently allowed registration of only

agriculture lands through Dharani portal

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

While the Telangana state gov-ernment is trying to ease theproblems of the farmers withthe launch of Dharani portal,the banks on the other handare allegedly troubling thefarmers by citing various rea-sons. The banks are asking thefarmers to submit the docu-ments even after the introduc-tion of Dharani portal. Thebanks are not allowing thefarmers to renew their loans.Some bank officials are askingfarmers to submit the Right ofRecords (ROR) documents torenew their loans.

A farmer from Mudwin inKadthal mandal inRangareddy district on condi-tion of anonymity said that theAndhra Pradesh GraminaVikas Bank officials are askinghim to submit ROR when heapproached the bank to renewhis crop loan. However, theMee Seva Centers are not in aposition to give the RORs asthe Dharani portal is not show-ing the RORs though theyappeared for a few days afterthe launch of the portal.

The farmer told The Pioneerthat already the bank officialsstamped on his land pass bookwhen he received the loan,regarding his loan. The farmerlamented that he would losethe benefits given by the Stateand Central governments if hefails to renew his loan before

the due date. More so, he hasto pay 11 per cent interest afterthe due date of the loan.

He further said that theMee Seva Center proprietorinformed him that he has toapproach the Tahasildar officefor the ROR. The farmer said

that by the time he will get theROR, the due date will cometo an end and he will incurhuge loss. "I am not asking fornew loan. I just approached thebank for renewal of my loan.But the bank officials are treat-ing me like a culprit," he said.

Another farmer from thesame village said he is also fac-ing similar issue. He said thathe is not happy with the bankrules as they are creating trou-bles by asking documents forrenewals.

Several farmers across thestate are facing the same prob-lem, it is learnt. However,some banks gave loans to thefarmers by taking land passbooks. These banks are stat-ing that they will return thepass books after they getaccess with the Telanganagovernment's prestigiousDharani portal.

Banks ‘pressurise’ farmers to submit RORs for renewal of loans

Even after thelaunch ofDharani, somebank officialsare askingfarmers tosubmit the RORdocuments torenew theirloans

J&K Lt Guv worshipsat Tirupati shrine

PNS n HYDERABAD

As per the instructions of theChief Minister, Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar on Friday helda meeting with senior officialsof Municipal Administrationand reviewed special sanitationdrive taken up in Hyderabad,functioning of BasthiDawakhanas and distributionof flood relief for remainingfamilies. Principal SecretaryMA&UD Arvind Kumar,GHMC Commissioner LokeshKumar and other officials werepresent.

Chief Secretary informedthat around 52,000 tonnes of

garbage was accumulated postfloods in Hyderabad. Around960 teams were formed andintensive drive was taken up tolift the garbage. Cleaning ofgarbage points, removal ofconstruction and demolition

waste, spraying of disinfectantsare being taken up in all thelocalities as part of thisdrive. Chief Secretary alsoreviewed the functioning ofBasthi Dawakhanas in GHMCarea.

Floods deposited 52,000tonnes of garbage, says CS

PNS n HYDERABAD

The surge in Covid-19 casescontinues in Telangana as thestate added 1,602 new casesduring the last 24 hours, healthofficials said. With the freshcases, the state's tally mountedto 2,47,284. Four more peoplesuccumbed to the deadly virus,pushing the death toll to 1,366.

The fatality rate stands at0.55 per cent against thenational average of 1.5 percent. According to the directorof public health and family wel-fare, 44.96 per cent of thedeaths were due to Covid,while 55.04 per cent ofdeceased had comorbidities.

For the second consecutiveday, the state reported fewerrecoveries than the new cases.

A total of 982 people recoveredduring the last 24 hours, tak-ing the total number of recov-eries so far to 2,26,646. Thestate's recovery rate, whichhad crossed 92 per cent lastweek, slumped to 91.65 per

cent against the national aver-age of 92.3 per cent.

The state now has 19,272active cases, of which 16,522 arein home or institutional isola-tion. The maximum number ofnew cases (295) were recorded

in Greater Hyderabad. Thecases also surged in districts.Medchal Malkajgiri districtrecorded second highest num-ber of infections at 137 followedby Rangareddy (118), Nalgonda(79), Khammam (79),Bhadradri Kothagudem (77),Karimnagar (76), WarangalUrban (49), Nagarkurnool (47),Peddapalli (46) and Suryapet(45). According to a media bul-

letin by the Health Department,a total of 46,970 samples weretested during last 24 hours andout of them 44,008 were con-ducted in the government-runlaboratories. There are 18 gov-ernment and 47 laboratoriesconducting RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TRUENATtests. There are also 1,076 RapidAntigen testing centres run bygovernment.

State continues to see surge in Covid cases

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar on Friday par-ticipated in the final rites ofSrinivas, who succumbed toburn injuries, atThammalonigudem inYacharam mandal ofRangareddy district. Laterspeaking to the media, Sanjayassured the kin of SrinivasYadav that the BJP will standby them. He said that theytried to save the life of Srinivasby providing good treatmentbut in vain.

BJP national vice-presidentDK Aruna, Nizamabad MP

Dharmapuri Arvind,Telangana BJP CoreCommittee member G Vivekand others participated in thefinal rites. DK Aruna saidthat bringing BJP to power inTelangana is a real tribute toSrinivas. Dharmapuri Arvindsaid that Srinivas Yadav's deathis an attack on Hinduthva.

The final rites of SrinivasYadav were held amidst fullpolice security. The BJP leadersparticipated in final rites bywearing black badges. It may berecalled that Srinivas Yadav sethimself on fire at the State BJPoffice on November 1 protest-ing the arrest of Bandi Sanjay.

PNS n HYDERABAD

JUDAs working at GandhiHospital organised a rally onFriday in the hospital premis-es without disturbing thepatient services. The protest-ing doctors displayed slogansand black badges demandingthe resumption of non-Covidservices in the teaching hospi-tal of the state by at mostNovember 15.

Holding placards whichread, 'It's unlock 6.0, butGandhi is still locked', 'suffer-

ing but still serving', ' Save ourAcademics', the doctors tookout a rally. The doctors hadinitially planned to go on anindefinite strike fromNovember 1 to reopen non-Covid services in the hospi-tal, which is one of the majortertiary care hospital in theState. Health Minister inter-vened and spoke to all offi-cials concerned to sort outthings and work towardsreopening of the GandhiHospital for non-Covid ser-vices in 10 days.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) presidentN Uttam Kumar Reddy onFriday urged Governor DrTamilisai Soundararajan toorder a high level probe intothe irregularities in distributionof flood relief in GreaterHyderabad. Uttam spoke to theGovernor over telephone andpointed out several instances ofmisappropriation of fundsmeant for distribution amongpeople affected due to recentheavy rains and floods.

He described the entireoperation as 'open loot inbroad daylight' by the rulingTRS party. He alleged that the

flood relief was not carried outin a transparent manner andthe flood relief amount washanded over to the TRS func-tionaries who misappropriatedthe same. Uttam said that theaffected people should be givenrelief of at least

Rs 50,000 each. He said thatthe government should pay Rs

5 lakh compensation for thefully damaged houses and Rs2.50 lakh for partially damagedhouses.

The TPCC chief pointed outthat the State Governmentissued GO MS No 272 onOctober 19 sanctioning Rs550 crore towards distribu-tion of flood relief among the

affected people. "In a nationalcalamity or crop loss, the offi-cial machinery enumerates thelosses and prepares a list ofaffected people. Later, chequesare distributed to all the affect-ed people. Even a payment ofRs. 100 is paid through cheque.However, of Rs. 550 croresanctioned amount, the stategovernment withdrew Rs 387crore in cash and it was distrib-uted through TRS cadre," hesaid. Uttam said that disburse-ment of relief in cash in suchbig numbers was unprecedent-ed in independent India and italso goes against the principlesof demonitisation and all exist-ing laws which discouragehandling of cash.

Bandi: Will standby Srinivas's family

JUDAs stage protestat Gandhi Hospital

Cong terms flood relief as ‘open loot’PNS n HYDERABAD

The authorities have revisedthe schedule of admission inEAMCET colleges, keepingin view GO 205, issued onNovember 3, as per whichthe State government onTuesday issued ordersextending the benefit ofgrace pass marks to a total of27,589 candidates who wereabsent in the IntermediatePublic Examinations, March2020.

A total of 122 students willbenefit from the new sched-ule. As per the new TSEAM-CET schedule signed byNavin Mittal, Commissionerof Technical Education and

Convenor TSEAMCET 2020Admissions, the online filingof basic information, pay-ment of processing fee andslot booking for selection ofhelp line centre, date andtime to attend for certificateverification for not attended

candidates and eligible can-didates according to therelaxation has been extend-ed till November 7. The cer-tificate verification for stu-dents wi l l be done onNovember 8. The studentswill be provided provisionalseats by November 12. Thecandidates can pay thetuition fees and self reportthrough website to allotedcollege between November12 and 17. Also, the option ofexercising spot admissionswill be available for privateunaided Engineering and BPharmacy college will beavailable on the official web-site of TSEAMCET onNovember 11.

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP Telangana Unit on Fridayurged Director General ofPolice (DGP) M MahenderReddy and PoliceCommissioners of all zonesin Hyderabad to contain therising criminal activities ofdrug peddlers, pedophilesand sexual predators in thecity.

"Many of these criminalsare illegal foreigners who areusing online social mediaplatforms to lure young boysand girls to abuse & victim-ize them," party chiefspokesperson K KrishnaSaagar Rao said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

TRS Corporator ThokalaSrinivas Reddy fromMylardev Pally on Fridaytendered his resignation andjoined the BJP. Speaking tothe media, Srinivas Reddysaid, "The Central govern-ment is contributing to theschemes being implementedby the stateg o v e r n -m e n t .However,the TRSg o v e r n -ment is giv-ing an impres-sion that the Centre is doingnothing in this regard."Srinivas Reddy said that hestrived hard for the growth ofthe party in Mylardevpallyand won as Corporator andstood strong even thoughthe local (Rajendra Nagar)MLA followers troubled himby hatching several conspir-acies. He alleged that thelocal MLA joined TRS afraidof TRS working presidentKT Rama Rao.

MylardevpallyTRS corporatorjoins BJP

PNS n HYDERABAD

Ahead of Vice PresidentVenkaiah Naidu's visit toHyderabad on Saturday,Hyderabad Traffic Police haveissued traffic advisory.Accordingly, the traffic willeither be stopped or divertedat the following places/routes.On Saturday, at 12;30 pm,Venkaiah will arrive atBegumpet Airport and willproceed to Nanakramguda,Gachibowli via PNT Fly Over,Begumpet FlyOver, PanjaguttaFly Over, KBR Junction,Jubilee Hills Check Post, RoadNo. 45 Junction and DurgamCheruvu Cable Bridge.

Traffic curbsfor V-P’s visit

BJP: Containrising criminal activities in Hyd

PNS n SIDDIPET

District Collector BharathiHollikeri has instructed theofficials to make all arrange-ments for the counting ofvotes of the Dubbak by-poll atIndur Engineering College,Ponnala, where the EVMshave been stored in a strongroom. The election for theconstituency was held onNovember 3 and the EVMswere shifted to the strongroom the same night.

During an inspection of

Indur College on Friday,Hollikeri instructed the offi-cials to deploy strict securityat the counting centre on theday of counting besides plac-ing barricades to prevent out-siders from entering thecounting centre.

She directed RDO AnanthaReddy to ensure that no incon-venience is caused to thecounting officials and agents atthe counting place. She alsoasked the official to set up agallery for reporters at the cen-tre.

‘Make arrangementsfor counting of votes’

According to the director of

public health and family welfare,

44.96 per cent of the deaths were due

to Covid, while 55.04 per cent of

deceased had comorbidities

New Eamcet schedule out

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020

INDIA CORNER

The local body polls inKerala will be held in threephases from December 8

adhering to strict COIVD-19protocol, State ElectionCommissioner V Bhaskaran saidhere on Friday. While the firstphase on December 8 will beheld in five districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathnamthitta,Alappuzha and Idukki, the second will be on December 10 atKottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad. The thirdphase on December 14 will be in the remaining four districts ofMalappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod,Bhaskaran toldreporters here. The last date for filing nominations is November19.Scrutiny will be on November 20 and the last date of withdrawal isNovember 23. The counting of votes will be on December 16.

nation 05

PNS n KOLKATA

An embarrassing controversyhas erupted over a statue thatfeatured prominently duringUnion Minister Amit Shah'svisit to Bengal's Bankura dis-trict on Thursday.

Shah, on the first of a two-day visit to Bengal to kickstartBJP's preparations forAssembly elections next year,was in Bankura to tap tribalvotes. The district is part ofthe tr ibal-dominatedJangalmahal area of Bengal.

Shah's first stop was to gar-land a statue of Birsa Munda,the legendary tribal leaderwho fought for India's inde-pendence and was killed at theyoung age of 25. However, atthe last minute, tribal leaderspointed out to the BJP that thestatue was not of Birsa Mundaat all, but a general tribalhunter.

Realising the faux pas, BJPhastily placed a portrait of thetribal leader at the foot of thestatue. Amit Shah showeredpetals at the statue and gar-landed the portrait.

After his visit he tweeted:"Paid floral tributes to leg-endary tribal leader BhagwanBirsa Mundaji in Bankura,West Bengal today. BirsaMundaji's life was dedicatedto the rights and upliftment ofour tribal sisters and brothers.His courage, struggles andsacrif ices continue toinspire..."

Now, though, an organisa-

tion of tribal leaders - theBharat Jakat Majhi ParganaMahal - has declared itselfupset over what they feel is aninsult to Birsa Munda. Today,people from the local tribalcommunity reportedly sprin-kled Ganga water around thestatue to "purify" it.

The controversy has alsoprovided the rulingTrinamool with ammunition

to attack the BJP ahead of nextyear's election. 'Bohiragato'are at it again! Union HomeMinister Amit Shah is soignorant of Bengal's culturethat he insulted BhagwanBirsa Munda by garlanding awrong idol and placed hisphoto at someone else's foot.Will he ever respect Bengal?"the party tweeted this morn-ing.

Row over Amit Shah garlanding‘wrong' statue of Birsa Munda

Local body polls in Kerala to beheld in 3 phases from Dec 8

Aday after it launched anindefinite protest outsidethe famous Tulja Bhavani

temple here in Maharashtra'ssmanabad district to press forthe demand to reopen the placesof worship, a religious outfit onFriday said it has decided topostpone the agitation.Theannouncement comes in thewake of police action against the agitators. Police had earlier said thatafter the Adhyatmik Samanway Aghadi launched the agitation onThursday, notices had been issued to the agitators as permission hadbeen denied for it.Talking to reporters on Friday, Adhyatmik SamanwayAghadi's regional president Aacharya Tushar Bhosale said,"Notices were served to the agitators and the pandal where theprotest was on was forcibly removed by the police."

Protest at Tulja Bhavani temple‘deferred' after police action

Two militants were killedwhile another surrenderedbefore security forces

during an overnight encounter inPulwama district of Jammu andKashmir in which a civilian alsolost his life, police said onFriday. Security forces launcheda cordon and search operationin the Lalpora area of Pampore in the south Kashmir district onThursday following information about the presence of militants there,a police official said. He said as the search operation was going on,militants fired indiscriminately, resulting in injuries to two persons.They were rushed to a hospital here where one of them succumbed tothe injuries Friday morning, he added. The official said the securityforces maintained a tight cordon of the area throughout the night andin the exchange of firing on Friday, two militants were killed.

Two militants, civilian killed inencounter in J-K's Pulwama

The Enforcement Directorate (ED)has attached assets worth over Rs3 crore in a money laundering

probe against former superintendentof Patna Medical College and HospitalO P Choudhary, the probe agency saidon Friday. The properties attached, aspart of a provisional order issuedunder the Preven tion of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), include plotsand flats in Patna, Ghaziabad, Puneand Bengaluru, three four-wheelersand some balance in bank accounts, itsaid. The total value of the attached properties is Rs 3.14 crore, theagency said. Probe found, the central agency said in a statement, that"medicines, chemicals, equipments and machines were purchased bythe officials of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) during2008-09 and 2009-10 from local vendors and commission agentscontrary to guidelines prescribed for purchase of these items."

Rs 3-cr assets of ex-superintendentof Patna medical college attached

‘APPEASEMENT POLITICS’ HURTING BENGAL:HM

PNS n KOLKATA

The TMC leadership on Fridayslammed Union Home MinisterAmit Shah over his "appeasementremark" and said communalpolitics has no place in Bengal.Mocking Shah's scheduled visitto a Matua family forlunch, the party described hisrefugee community outreach as a

"poll gimmick" to divert attentionfrom atrocities committedon backward communities instates ruled by the saffron party.Stressing that there was a needto restore WestBengal's "lost glory", Shah onFriday, during his visit to theDakshineswar temple here, saidthe present "appeasementpolitics" in the state has hurt itsage-old tradition of

upholding the nation's spiritualconsciousness.Shah, who is on a two-day visit toBengal to takestock of organisational activities,ahead of the 2021 statepolls, had on Thursday said hecould sense massive publicanger against the MamataBanerjee government and that thedeath knell of her regime hasbeen sounded.

"What does Amit Shah mean byappeasement politics? Washe speaking as a BJP activist oras the Union Home Minister ofthe country? The government hasto treat all communities withequality and respect. I don't thinkit is a crime to dosomething for the development ofminorities in the state,"senior TMC leader and MPSougato Roy said.

TMC SLAMS SHAH OVER ‘APPEASEMENT’ REMARK, SAYS COMMUNALISM HAS NO PLACE IN WB

PNS n KOLKATA

Stressing that there was aneed to restore West Bengal's"lost glory", Union HomeMinister Amit Shah on Friday saidthe present "appeasementpolitics" in the state has hurt itsage-old tradition ofupholding the nation's spiritualconsciousness. Maintaining thatBengal is the land of luminariessuch as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,Sri Ramakrishna and SwamiVivekananda, Shah said the stateonce used to be the centre ofspiritual awakening in the entirecountry."However, the politics of'tustikaran' (appeasement)has hurt this glorious tradition ofBengal. I hereby call uponthe people of Bengal to wake upand perform their responsibilitiesto bring back the glory of the

state." The top BJP leader, whovisited Dakshineswar temple onthe second day of his two-dayvisit to the state, was taken tothe sanctum sanctorum of thecenturies-old shrine, where heoffered puja to the goddess."I prayed for the well being of theentire state, the country and itspeople. We prayed that thecountry retains its position ofglory in the world under theleadership of (PrimeMinister) Narendra Modi."Shah was greeted at the templeby members of state BJPMohila Morcha, including itspresident Agnimitra Paul, whoblew conch shells and put a 'tilak'on his forehead.Taking to Twitter, he wrote,"Blessed to have offeredprayers at Maa Dakshineswar KaliTemple in Kolkata..."

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Fridayaccused the Modi govern-ment of "fake nationalism"and al leged that it hasbetrayed the armed forces by"snatching away" the pensionof army officers.

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala saidthe Modi government is delib-erately hurting the morale ofarmy officers by "snatchingaway" their pension anddemanded immediate rever-sal of the decision.

"We demand that PrimeMinister Modi comes for-ward and clarifies his stand onthe issue and takes back itsanti-army decision of October29," he told reporters.

The Congress general sec-retary said while the Modigovernment is habitual ofseeking votes on the sacrifice

of brave soldiers and on "fakenationalism", it has becomethe first regime in the coun-try's history to "steal the pen-sion" and alternate careerchoice of those officers whoprotect our motherland.

"This Diwali, PM Modiexhorted the nation to light adiya for our soldiers, but hasensured darkness in theirlives by attempting to reduce

their pension by half. If this isnot BJP's 'fake nationalism',then what is it," he asked.

"The Modi government'sfresh attack on the forces hasexposed the anti-army face ofthe 'fake nationalists'," healleged.

Surjewala said as per theModi government's new pro-posal only those officers whohave spent more than 35 years

in the armed forces shall beentitled to a 'full pension',which will demoralise thearmed forces.

He said the reality is 90 percent of the army officers retirebefore 35 years of service andin such a situation, the gov-ernment is "hatching a con-spiracy" to deny 90 per cent ofarmy officers their full pen-sion.

PNS n NEW DELHI

NREGA is a big success storyof recent times in India, pro-viding protection from starva-tion to vulnerable sections ofthe population, says seniorUN advisor Usha MishraHayes in her book which isabout the ever-shifting world ofpolicy which influences thesocial protection systems inAsian and African countries.

In "Social Protection: Landsof Blossoming Hope", develop-ment expert Hayes uses aninsider's knowledge to examineand dissect the level of interestand also assess the drivers andinfluencers, namely those whooccupy key positions oversee-ing the processing and promo-tion of social schemes, andidentifying obstacles.

She says her book "recounts

our triumphs and follies - it'sabout those of us, the indefati-gable UN staffers, who havebeen driven by the zeal of'making a difference'. It isabout our naivety, our errors aswell as our drive, passion, per-severance and commitment".

According to UNICEF,

social protection is key toinclusive growth and develop-ment, and is defined broadly asa "set of public and private poli-cies and programmes aimed atpreventing, reducing and elim-inating economic and socialvulnerabilities to poverty anddeprivation".

The book takes note of theexperiences and reforms with-in the two largest social protec-tion schemes in India - theNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (NREGA) andIntegrated Child DevelopmentServices (ICDS) - and callsthem major poverty targetingprogrammes.

NREGA, it says, is the "bigsuccess story of recent times"in India.

"This is a fully home-grownmodel, built on the back ofdecades-long efforts towardshome-based relief and pover-ty reduction programmes.NREGA has been a success andhas provided protection fromstarvation to vulnerable sec-tions of the population," thebook, brought out byPalimpsest Publishing House,says.

Hayes argues that while itscontribution to food securityand other development out-comes has been well-estab-lished, the project often hascreated socially and economi-cally useful infrastructure forthe community and con-tributed to its overall develop-ment.

She also says that it will bepertinent here to take a "lookat India's urban poverty sincethere has been a strong trendamong the rural poor tomigrate to the cities looking forlivelihood".

"In response to this emerg-ing situation, there is a deter-mined move to replace thetake-home ration scheme withcash transfers. The govern-ment is working with theUNICEF and the WB in orderto achieve this," Hayes writes.

Cong accuses govt of ‘fake nationalism’,‘stealing’ pension of army officers

Randeep Surjewala

said the Modi

government is

deliberately hurting the

morale of army officers

by ‘snatching away’

their pension and

demanded immediate

reversal of the decision

‘NREGA big success story in recent times’

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court Fridayasked the Centre to respondto a plea by Neelam Katara,mother of murdered businessexecutive Nitish Katara, seek-ing direction to the Centre togrant her protection inUttarakhand where she isshifting soon.

Justice Vibhu Bakhruissued notice to the Centralgovernment and asked it toassess the threat perceptionand take a decision.

“As she was provided secu-rity here, it has to be provid-ed there also,” the judge oral-ly observed. The court listedthe matter for further hearingon November 20, as NeeilamKatara told the bench that shewill be shifting to Dehradunfrom Delhi at the end of themonth. She has been provid-ed security here since 2002,the court was informed. Hercounsel submitted that shefears for her life and the highcourt has the power to directthe central authority to pro-vide her security at both theplaces, Delhi and Dehradun.

HC asks Centreto respond toplea of NitishKatara’s mother

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian and Chinesearmies on Friday held anoth-er round of CorpsCommander-level talks withan aim to chart a roadmap fordisengagement of troops fromall the flash points in easternLadakh, government sourcessaid.

The eighth round of high-level military talks began ataround 9:30 am in Chushul onthe Indian side of the Line ofActual Control (LAC) in east-ern Ladakh, they said.

In the last few days, the topmilitary brass of India held aseries of meetings where theoverall situation in easternLadakh was reviewed and itwas decided to press for com-prehensive disengagement ofthe troops in talks with China.

The seventh round of CorpsCommander-level talks hadtaken place on October 12during which China waspressing for withdrawal ofIndian troops from a numberof strategic heights aroundthe Southern bank of Pangonglake.

However, India maintainedthat the disengagementprocess has to start simultane-ously in all the friction points.

Nearly 50,000 Indian Armytroops are currently deployed

in a high state of combatreadiness in various moun-tainous locations in easternLadakh in sub-zero condi-tions as multiple rounds oftalks between the two sideshave not yielded concrete out-come to resolve the row.

China has also deployedan equal number of troops,according to officials.

The standoff between thetwo sides erupted in earlyMay.

Last week, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar said theties between India and Chinahave come under "severestress" and that the agree-ments inked by both sides onmanagement of the bordermust be respected "scrupu-lously" in their "entirety" torestore normalcy in relations.

The Indian delegation at theeighth round of military talksis being led by Lt Gen PGKMenon, the newly-appointedCommander of the Leh-based14 Corps.

Indian and Chinesearmies hold talks

PNS n PANNA (MP)

Lady luck smiled on a 24-year-old man who overnightbecame a millionaire afterunearthing a 6.92 carat dia-mond, valued at Rs 30 lakh,from a mine near here inMadhya Pradesh, an officialsaid on Friday.

The man, Sandeep Yadav, apolice service aspirant, hadtaken the mine on lease fromthe government after recruit-ment in police force wasdeferred due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subse-quent lockdown.

The precious stone found byYadav can fetch around Rs 30lakh in the market, local dia-mond inspector AnupamSingh said.

Panna, a district in theimpoverished Bundelkhandregion of Madhya Pradesh, isknown for its diamond mines.

Yadav is the fourth personto hit the jackpot in last 30days in the district.

He extracted the diamondon Wednesday from themine located in the KrishnaKalyanpur area, Singh said.

The precious stone hasbeen deposited at a localdiamond centre and it willbe put to auction, he added.

I am overwhelmed withjoy after stumbling uponthe diamond. As recruit-ment in the police force hasbeen frozen due to the coro-navirus outbreak, I thoughtof trying my hands at dia-mond mining, Yadav toldPTI.

I took a tract of mine onlease and after a fortnight -long toil, I found the dia-mond. My family's financialcondition will improve onceI get proceeds from its auc-tion," Yadav added.

Man finds diamondworth Rs 30 lakh

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Haryana Home Minister AnilVij on Friday told the VidhanSabha that the state governmentis considering a law against "lovejihad" and has sought informa-tion from Himachal Pradesh,which had passed a bill on theissue. The HP assembly had lastyear passed a bill against con-version by force, inducement orthrough marriages solemnisedfor the "sole purpose" of adopt-ing a new religion.

PNS n MUMBAI

There was no void in the exist-ing legal framework on reg-ulating the content broadcastby the electronic media andadequate mechanism existedfor the purpose, the Uniongovernment told the BombayHigh Court on Friday.

The submission was made incontext of recent reportage onthe death of actor SushantSingh Rajput and PILs calling

for restrain on media cover-age of the high-profile case.

Appearing for the Centre,Additional Solicitor General(ASG) Anil Singh told a bench

that there existed adequatestatutory as well as self-regula-tory mechanism for the media,including TV news channels,to follow while printing orbroadcasting any news items.

The ASG was responding to

previous queries posed by thebench of Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and JusticeGS Kulkarni while hearing abunch of PILs seeking that thepress, particularly televisionnews channels, be restrained in

their reportage on the death ofRajput.

The PILs, filed throughsenior counsel Aspi Chinoy, byactivists, private citizens and agroup of retired police officers,had also sought that TV newschannels be stopped from con-ducting a media trial into thecase.

Last month, the bench hadasked the Union government ifthere existed any statutorymechanism to regulate thecontent broadcast by the elec-tronic media akin to the regu-latory mechanism exercisedby the Press Council of Indiafor the print media. PNS n NEW DELHI

Police have received prosecu-tion sanction from theKejriwal government againstUmar Khalid, a former JNUstudent leader, in connectionwith a case related to theFebruary communal violencein northeast Delhi, officialssaid on Friday. "We havegiven prosecution sanction inall the Delhi riots relatedcases registered by the police.Now, it is up to the courts tosee who are the accused," asenior Delhi governmentfunctionary said.

The sanction has beenreceived against Khalid inthe Delhi riots conspiracycase, in which he was bookedunder the stringent anti-ter-ror Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act (UAPA). Asenior police officer said thatpolice have received prosecu-tion sanction from both theDelhi government and theUnion Home Ministry againstKhalid in connection withDelhi riots conspiracy case.

‘No legal void to regulate TV news content’Mulling lawagainst 'love jihad':Haryana Minister

AAP govt givesnod to prosecuteUmar Khalidunder UAPA

LADAKH STANDOFF

India celebrates its NationalEducation Day on November11, the birth anniversary ofMaulana Abul Kalam Azad —a great scholar, freedom fight-

er, politician and a firm believer inthe unity of India — but do we hon-our his passion and ideals? Azad isalso remembered as our firstEducation Minister. Born in Meccain 1888, his family moved to Kolkatain 1890. He was self-taught andnever went to school. He startedteaching at the age of 16 and con-tinued his scholarly pursuits evenwhile in the thick of national poli-tics. He wrote poetry, translated theQuran and even authored severalbooks.

Young Azad was influenced byrevolutionaries and was deeplyimpressed by Sri Aurobindo. In1908, he visited Iraq, Egypt, Syriaand Turkey and was pained to findthat while in these countriesMuslims were fighting for freedomand democracy, Indian Muslimswere favouring the British, keepingaway from the nationalist move-ment. To change the Muslim mind-set, he started a journal, Al-Hilal, inJuly 1912. He joined the IndianNational Congress and became itspresident in 1923 at the age of 35.After the two-nation theory and thedemand for a separate nation forMuslims gained ground, Azad couldenvision its conceptual fragility anddisastrous future consequences forthe nation, particularly for theMuslims. Unfortunately, India waspartitioned and even MahatmaGandhi and Azad had to become aparty to it. What followed at the timeof the Partition and the near perma-nency of the India-Pakistan conflictclearly indicate how sound andpragmatic ideas are sometimes lostin the political arena, resulting inunimaginable damage to futuregenerations. Both India andPakistan are perpetual victims of thisscar.

Pakistan — fully submerged inreligious orthodoxy and ignorance— inflicted several self-destructivewounds, suffered a couple of humil-iating military defeats and waseven decimated. It is propagatingworldwide terrorism, and ironical-ly, suffering its venomous conse-quences as well. Azad and KhanAbdul Ghaffar Khan are two out-standing luminaries of the freedomstruggle, who presented the real —liberal and dynamic — version ofIslam before their countrymen.Had the Muslim community paid

heed to them, the world wouldnot have been put under debili-tating violence, insecurity anddistrust that have engulfedhumanity today.

The recent murderous attacksin France have stirred diametri-cally opposite reactions, indicat-ing how serious the issues of reli-gious bigotry, blind fundamen-talism, terrorism and global inse-curity are. The only ray of hopelies in education, formal educa-tion of the young and simultane-ously the education of people inpositions of power and decision-making in their “trusteeshiprole” for the generations ahead.

This year, the NationalEducation Day celebration couldvery well focus on the role of edu-cation in achieving social cohe-sion and religious harmony. Therecently launched NationalEducation Policy 2020 (NEP) hasconsiderable connect with thebasic principles of BuniyadiTalim, which was proposed byGandhi in 1937. Delivering thepresidential speech at the fourthsession of the Central AdvisoryBoard of Education (CABE) onJanuary 13, 1948, Azad, the thenEducation Minister, said: “Inconnection with the scheme ofbasic education, the question ofreligious instruction had croppedup at that time. Two committeesof the board pondered over it butthey were unable to come to anagreed decision. I should like thisquestion to be reconsidered inthe light of the changed circum-stances. For our country, thisquestion has a special meaning.”

A realistic comprehension ofthe spirit and intent of BuniyadiTalim was indeed missed bythose under the influence of “allthat was Western and British.” To

them, the existing transplantedsystem was doing fine. So whydisturb it? It is only now that theconsequences of this approachare before us: Unemployment,poverty, hunger, internal migra-tion, neglect of villages andfarmers and much more.

Everyone talks of a lack ofmoral, ethical and humanisticvalues. Corruption is a conse-quence of diminishing emphasison character-building.Luminaries like Azad had antic-ipated such concerns. After pos-ing the problem and putting it inthe context, Azad articulated itselements: “It is already known toyou that the 19th century liber-al point of view concerning theimparting of religious educationhas already lost weight. Even afterWorld War I, a new approachhad begun to assert itself and theintellectual revolution broughtabout in the wake of World WarII has given it a decisive shape.At first, it was considered thatreligions would stand in theway of free intellectual develop-ment of a child but now it hasbeen admitted that religiouseducation cannot altogether bedispensed with. If national edu-cation was devoid of this element,there would be no appreciationof moral values or moulding ofcharacter on human lines. It mustbe known to you that Russia hadto give up its ideology during thelast World War. The BritishGovernment in England also hadto amend its education system in1944.” With a crystal clear com-prehension, Azad was convincedthat the West felt the need of reli-gious education as without reli-gious influences, people become“over-rationalistic.”

In India, we are surrounded by

“over religiosity.” How secularismis being interpreted in Indialeaves much to be desired, clar-ified and comprehended to bringpeople of varied religious affili-ations to accept the equality of allreligions: “Ekam sat viprahBahudha Vadanti” (There is onlyone truth, learned ones call it byvarious names). What Azadarticulated in the meeting oneducation has a global contem-porary relevance: “Our presentdifficulties, unlike those ofEurope, are not creations ofmaterialistic zealots but of reli-gious fanatics. If we want to over-come them, the solution lies notin rejecting religious instructionin elementary stages but inimparting sound and healthyreligious education under ourdirect supervision so that mis-guided credulism may not affectchildren in their plastic age.”

Azad was India’s EducationMinister for about a decade. Hisconcern on the issue of religiousinstruction indicates his serious-ness on social cohesion, religiousamity, unity and integrity of thecountry, and that all of thesedepend on the right approach toeducation in human values andcontinued insistence on charac-ter formation. He was convincedthat Indians would like their chil-dren to get religious education.If the State refused, they woulddo so privately. He was con-cerned that private sources werealready working and wereentrusting religious education tothose teachers “who though lit-erate are not educated. To them,religion means nothing but big-otry.” To save the “intellectual lifeof our country,” Azad emphati-cally warned all concerned not toentrust the imparting of early

religious education to privatesources. Further, no nationalGovernment could shirk theresponsibility of moulding the“growing minds of the nation onthe right lines” as it is its prima-ry duty.

Here, Azad offers a global edu-cation policy guideline:Imparting quality education andinitiatives like Right to EducationAct are fine but these remainincomplete without a clear men-tion that such education shall beprovided only by competent andqualified teachers. Further, noth-ing that distorts the sensitiveyoung minds in any way shall beallowed to permeate the educa-tional endeavour.

Education must be free fromvested interests that believe in thesupremacy of any single religion,which does not subscribe to theequality of all religions and refus-es to introduce transparency intheir schools — in approach,content and pedagogy.

It is well-known that schoolsof certain denominations arenot preparing children for aworld of peace and tranquility, foracceptance of diversity, for socialcohesion and religious amity.And it is not a new phenomenon,as would be clear from Azad’sdescription given over 72 years:“The method of education, too,is such in which there is no scopefor a broad and liberal outlook.It is quite plain, then, that thechildren will not be able to driveout the ideas infused into themin their early stage, whatevermodern education may be givento them at a later stage.” At thisstage, it is a global phenomenonthat terrorist and fundamental-ist organisations suffer no dearthof highly educated and technical-ly qualified and competent youngpeople.

The implementation of theNEP 2020 has begun in earnest.The growth, progress and devel-opment of India would dependon the quality of its educationand the level of social cohesionand religious unity, seeds ofwhich are to be sown in itsschools, classrooms and play-grounds. The NEP 2020 mustequip every Indian to stand upand repeat with full convictionwhat Azad had declared in 1940:“I am part of this indivisible unitythat is Indian nationality. I amindispensable to the noble edificeand without me this splendidstructure of India is incomplete.I am an essential element whichhas gone to build India. I cannever surrender this claim.”

The great visionary paved thepath for every Indian to moveahead and in the process madea singular contribution in thehuman march towards a worldof peace, non-violence and love.

(The writer works in educationand social cohesion)

In the 60s, Indian immigrants to the US had to facediscrimination and have racist slurs like “brownie”thrown at them. Fast forward to 2020 and Indian-ori-

gin Americans have become an influential community.They own a third of all Silicon Valley start-ups and twoper cent of the Fortune 500 companies of American ori-gin. Their talent pool and skill set have meant that largecorporations like Microsoft, Alphabet, Adobe, IBM andMasterCard are led by Indian-American CEOs. That isnot to say that they don’t face racism anymore but asmore of them have entered the political arena to maketheir relevance felt, and done well, they do have a voice

now. To the extent that both the Democrat and the Republican campaigns had initiatedseveral diversity measures to woo the approximately 1.8 million members of the com-munity who have emerged as a critical voting bloc in the battleground States of Florida,Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. And to their credit, the Indian-American candidates have made their mark in this presidential election. Not only is part-Indian origin Democrat Kamala Harris waiting to become the Vice-President, four of fiveDemocratic lawmakers, who make up the so-called “Samosa Caucus”, have trouncedtheir Republican rivals. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal, Roh Khanna and Ami Berahave been re-elected to the House of Representatives. However, Rikin Mehta and SaraGideon have lost their Senate race from New Jersey and Maine. But with record partici-pation by Indian-Americans, 2020 has been a starting point for empowerment.

Even as we celebrate the victories of Indian-origin politicians in the US, it is high timewe realise that most of them do not even relate to the country of their ancestors’ origin.Being second or even third-generation US citizens, their focus is on the country they areliving in and what good they can do for themselves and their constituencies. Plus, themain contours of the foreign policy of the Biden-Harris administration, should it come topower, vis-a-vis India are expected to be similar as the US believes in strategic continuityof interests it holds dear. Of course, Harris favours a more immigrant-friendly approach,So, having someone with pro-immigrant values in the White House is bound to benefitIndians in some way, even though it will be as beneficial for China. Whoever gets the ver-dict, this balancing will have to be done if the US wants India as its bulwark in the East.

Pakistan and soft diplomacy are highly incompat-ible. There was little doubt that it was enshriningKartarpur’s iconic value as the resting place of the

founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, to further its separatistagenda of indoctrinating and radicalising Sikhs and reviv-ing the Khalistani movement all over again. And for allthe sweet talk of cultural contiguity and goodwill byPakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the corridor link-ing devotees on both sides of the border was intendedto be a conduit of the Pakistan Army and Inter-ServiceIntelligence to refuel militancy in Punjab and give us anoth-er security bother. Hence there was a deliberateness of

mixed signals, be it in wooing the Sikh community worldwide through its grandstandingof allowing pilgrim access, politicising it and provoking us at the same time. And now Pakistanhas unmasked its real intention, by transferring the management of the Kartarpur Sahibgurdwara from a Sikh body to a separate trust. Instead of the Pakistan Sikh GurdwaraParbandhak Committee, the shrine’s administrative control has now been entrusted to theEvacuee Trust Property Board. This allows Pakistan direct control over its operations. Indiahas called it out over its unilateral move for violating the spirit of shared concern over afaith shrine that matters to people on both sides of the border. By disallowing Sikh lead-ers to have a say, our neighbour is also running roughshod over the rights of a minoritycommunity to pursue faith on its terms, something that Khan accuses India of. But Pakistan,which had initially claimed a high moral ground in facilitating a cross-border traffic to theshrine, is now appropriating it wholly, simply because its intent of using it as a hub of Khalistaniextremists has not quite materialised to the extent it wanted. And by making an arbitraryannouncement days ahead of the first anniversary of the corridor’s inauguration on November9, Pakistan is sending out a strong message that the days of even posed bonhomie areover. Its angst is understandable considering its failure to globalise the Kashmir issue despitethe abrogation of Article 370, its helplessness to stem the West, particularly the US, fromgravitating towards India and its inability to convince the Arab world to take a stand againstus. Since none of these has materialised and it is strategising its relevance with China andits neo-Islamic ally, Turkey, it doesn’t need to posit itself with diplomatic niceties. In fact,with the takeover move, it is making it abundantly clear that there is no scope for peaceovertures and that it is back to daggers drawn.

Guru Nanak is not just a Sikh guru in the sub-continent but embodies a conscious-ness. As scholars have chronicled his travels across Saudi Arabia, Tibet, Sri Lanka,Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, India and Pakistan, he spread what is called a “Nanakpanthiculture.” Its practitioners are syncretic groups of people in the Indus plains who followGuru Nanak’s teachings irrespective of them being Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. As believ-ers, they broke down barriers of faith and cultures and were undiluted even by the Partitionin 1947. So the Kartarpur corridor, connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan andDera Baba Nanak Sahib in India, in that sense, is a symbolic leap of faith in humanity. Andprobably the antidote that could have helped reconcile the wounds of Partition and beena precursor to some sort of engagement between the two sides. Yet, Pakistan has alwaysbeen abrasive on Kartarpur, using pictures of Khalistani separatist leaders Jarnail SinghBhindranwale, Maj Gen Shabeg Singh and Amrik Singh Khalsa in its promotional videoson the shrine. The video, which was crafted to highlight the harmony between Sikhs andMuslims, also featured known Indian Sikhs like Navjot Singh Sidhu and former Union MinisterHarsimrat Kaur Badal, in a crude attempt to project Khan as welcoming and liberal. In fact,Pakistan has been hell-bent on denying a sense of comfort to us. First, it had issues withthe visa-free passage, then it stopped Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders,the implication being that it wanted to address only a section of Sikhs in India. It also restrict-ed the numbers of pilgrims at a time and the days of visit. So the Pakistan Army, withoutwhom Khan wouldn’t have been in the chair, has always seen the shrine as its bargain-ing chip. Though the Pakistani leadership had for years been cool to the Manmohan SinghGovernment’s overtures on Kartarpur, the fact is it had been using it as a neo-axis of Sikhseparatism since 2003. The gurdwara had been abandoned till then and served as a cat-tle shed for villagers. Pakistan even allowed rampant encroachment till it realised its polit-ical potential. While announcing the Kartarpur project, it appointed several Khalistani sep-aratists on the committee, much to India’s discomfort. Its former Army chief Gen MirzaAslam Beg openly advised the military and the Government to use the corridor for Khalistanterror and “create trouble for India.” The Pakistan Army even got pro-Khalistani support-ers to challenge the reorganisation of Kashmir. No matter how hard India may try to makeKartarpur a matter of people-to-people concern, the fact is that Pakistan’s initiative on thecorridor will never be free of politics. India has to be alert that it doesn’t become a hotbedfor Khalistani propaganda and meetings in the name of allowing faith congregations. WhenPakistan Army chief General Qamar Bajwa stood in Kartarpur, shaking hands with knownKhalistani face Gopal Singh Chawla, it was clear he was starting a new front in the proxywar. Question is how aggressively will he push it this time.

Goodwill over

Will there be change?Sir — Democratic presidentialnominee Joe Biden is inchingtowards 270 electoral votes. It isalmost clear now that he doeshave the popular sentiment withhim. And the chances of theincumbent President DonaldTrump retaining his job by cry-ing foul in the absence of evi-dence are looking difficult at themoment. It is true that the elec-tion result is not an unequivocalrepudiation of Trump’s four-year tenure as the President“crowned” with multiple failures.The consolidation of Whitesupremacist votes is writ large onthe electoral outcome. The polar-isation of the US could not havebeen starker. If the Trump erawere to end, it could mean free-dom from the yoke of an oppres-sively dominant and irrationalleadership.

The change of leadership, if ithappens, would be regarded as awatershed in the US and worldhistory. The new administrationcould redeem the country andthe world from sliding into aworse state. It could help bolsternotions of democracy andhuman equality, propel progress,heal the rifts between communi-ties and nations and forge inter-

national cooperation to meetinternational challenges likeglobal poverty, inequality and cli-mate change. Those with social-ist leanings in the DemocraticParty could then ensure that theimpoverished people in the USand the rest of the world arehelped by social security pay-ments and programmes.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Delhi bans crackersSir — Amid a surge in the num-ber of Coronavirus cases andhigh pollution and smog levels,the State Government has final-ly banned fire crackers. OnNovember 5, even the DelhiHigh Court expressed displea-sure over the rising number ofCOVID-19 cases in the nation-al Capital and observed that the

city could soon become the“Corona capital of the country.”The same day, the overall AirQuality Index in Delhi wasrecorded at 333 (very poor cat-egory), according to the Systemof Air Quality and WeatherForecasting And Research. It iscrucial to remember that highlevels of air pollution can aggra-vate the health condition ofCorona patients.

Delhi and West Bengal havenow joined Sikkim, Rajasthanand Odisha, which have alsobanned firecrackers to combatrising Coronavirus cases.However, this should not belimited to Diwali this year but allfestivals. This will reduce thetoxic fumes and keep the pollu-tion level down all through theyear.

Madhu PVSecunderabad

Repair old ties Sir — India and Nepal havealways shared a unique under-standing based on civilisationalcontiguity. However, the bilater-al relations between the twonations are at an all-time lowafter Kathmandu printed its ownmap, incorporating disputedareas of Kalapani, Lipulekh andLimpiyadhura. With IndianArmy chief Manoj MukundNaravane having left for a three-day visit to Nepal, it could helpreset bilateral ties and evenstrengthen relations between thetwo armies.

Krishnansh SomaniUjjain

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020

06

Forgotten lessons of AzadQuality education and initiatives like Right to Education Act are fine but they are

incomplete without competent and qualified teachers, something he emphasised

The Railways is trying hard torestore train services in Punjab.As per the latest information,blockade at 22 locations is stillcontinuing while farmers havecleared nine locations.

Railway Board Chairman —VK Yadav

A mature response by Tejashwi

After Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s dismal perfor-mance in his last term and people of Bihar look-ing out for a new face to represent them, an unhap-

py alliance partner, the BJP, made sure it used the Modiwave to turn the tide. However, from the speeches PrimeMinister Narendra Modi made so far in his Bihar elec-tion rallies, we can infer that he is not quite capable ofraising the standard of electoral discourse. He scarce-ly displayed the talent to edify the audience, a charac-teristic unique to a statesman. The one catch-phraseModi made abundant use of in rally after rally was “jun-gle raj”, an appellation unjustly conferred to the timewhen Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Chief Minister of Bihar.

Unable to seek votes on the performance of his andNitish Kumar’s coalition Government, he revisited theLalu era, raked up Pulwama and used empty rhetoricto attack the Mahagathbandhan. His mocking char-acterisation of Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav as“double yuvraj” elicited a mature response from theup and coming young Bihari leader in his articulation

that Modi as the country’s Prime Minister was free tomake whatever comments he wanted. Rahul andTejashwi have sought votes on their promise of jobs,better healthcare, education and women’s welfare. Andthat is what Bihar needs right now.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

Send yyour ffeedback tto:[email protected]

Samosa caucus

Pakistan provokes India, takes over Kartarpur shrinemanagement and disempowers Sikh body

JS RAJPUT

In compliance with myconstitutional duty, Iapproved the election law, in preparation forholding early, fair and just elections.

Iraqi President —Barham Salih

There is a concern among the people in UttarPradesh over the risingelectricity bills due to thefaulty electricity metersacross the State.

Congress Leader —Priyanka Gandhi

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

S O U N D B I T EIt was quite difficult to suddenly stop a very activeroutine. But at the same timewe all realised how importantit was to pause everythingand take care of ourselves.

Badminton player —PV Sindhu

Indian-American candidates have made their mark in theUS election but need to consolidate going forward

A crying shame

TODAY I AM SAYING THIS IN BANKURA THAT, WITH

THE BLESSINGS OF BIRSA MUNDA, BJP WILL COME

TO POWER WITH AT LEAST 200 SEATS.

—UNION HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

FROM VIDYASAGAR TO BIRSA MUNDA, HOW MANY

TIMES WILL YOU MISUSE BENGAL’S CULTURE AND

HERITAGE FOR YOUR POLITICAL PROPAGANDA?

—TRINAMOOL CONGRESS MP

NUSRAT JAHAN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Even as the results of the US presidential elec-tion were pouring in and showing theDemocrat challenger to Donald Trump, Joe

Biden, in the lead, the US President unbelievablymade a late-night declaration of victory before hehad earned it and concocted a false narrative asan electoral fraud victim. In doing that, Trumpdenied Biden the consecrating ritual of concession.With this act of Trump, the US’ mechanism forhanding over power has broken down. There is noconstitutional procedure for removing a Presidentwho refuses to accept defeat gracefully.

The Founding Fathers of the US assumed andhoped that incumbents would behave with hon-our, though Thomas Jefferson always feared thata new Caesar might one day overstay his welcome— ironically with one of the Founding FathersAlexander Hamilton immediately in mind.

President Trump’s late-night declaration of vic-tory before he had earned it was an act of politi-cal sacrilege. It was also ruthlessly focussed, theopening move of a scorched-Earth strategy long-prepared by his inner circle should he be at riskof losing the vote. His allegation of a giant “fraudon the American people” was not a reckless off-the-cuff remark in the heat of the moment. Leakedtapes from his Election Day Operations team leaveno doubt that this gambit was pre-planned, a cal-culated move to discredit in advance what he knewwould be a late surge of Democrat votes as postalballots are counted.

This “blue shift” syndrome has become a pat-tern of US elections, and vastly more so this yearafter 100 million people voted by mail or inadvance to avoid the Coronavirus bullet.

Trump has striven for weeks to taint postalvotes and to impugn the credibility of the US elec-toral system — breathtaking chutzpah given thathe controls the Justice Department and thatRepublicans dominate the executive machinery ofthe swing States.

He urged his supporters to vote only in per-son, aiming to create an even greater cleavagebetween the party colouring of the two sets of bal-lots that could then be exploited. This has beenhis strategy ever since Joe Biden pulled ahead inthe opinion polls.

It led to the spectacle that we have all just wit-nessed: An early Trump lead in several States evap-orating later. It is an invitation to conspiracy the-ories, all assiduously amplified on social media,with militia waiting in the wings.

The situation is dangerous and has nothing incommon with Al Gore’s demand for a Floridarecount 20 years ago. Trump has lost the popularvote and probably the Electoral College vote, too,yet he is pulling out all the stops to subvert theresult before this can be confirmed.

A machinery for legal guerrilla warfare hasbeen set in motion across the battleground Statesand will now cause weeks of havoc. Have marketsunderstood the gravity of what is unfolding? TheUS’ succession process relies on the virtues ofLucius Cincinnatus. “Our Constitution does notsecure the peaceful transition of power, butrather presupposes it,” says Amherst law profes-sor Lawrence Douglas.

He says there are design flaws in the architec-ture of the Twelfth Amendment and in theElectoral Count Act of 1887 that make easy preyfor an abusive President. States are not obliged to

follow the outcome of the popular elec-tion when they allocate their vote in theElectoral College though they always doin practice. If doubts can be sown aboutthe validity of the election — or if enoughstreet disorder can be rustled up — theState Legislatures have the constitution-al power to appoint anybody they want.

As it happens, these bodies aremostly controlled by the Republicans inswing States. So what will Trump’s alliesin the Pennsylvania General Assemblydo if the Democrats win, given that healready alleges a stolen election? At whatpoint do they tell their party leader thatenough is enough?

It comes down to whether judgesoften appointed by Trump are willing tostrike down votes because the ballotsarrived late — though posted in time —or had a slightly smudged postmark, andwhether the Republican six-three major-ity on the Supreme Court will validatesuch suppression. I doubt that they will,but upon this question may now hangthe fate of the republic.

At the least, Washington faces weeksof paralysis and legal fights until the “safeharbour” deadline for the ElectoralCollege votes on December 8, andbefore the new Congress validates thepresidential count on January 6. Thischaos will happen in the middle of anescalating pandemic.

Nothing like it has been seen sincethe four-month Interregnum in 1932, theWinter War, when Herbert Hooverdenounced Franklin Roosevelt’s NewDeal as a “march on Moscow” andsought to sabotage his reflation policy inadvance by tightening the Gold Standard.Confidence in the banking system col-lapsed during the hiatus. It was the clos-

est that the US came to a political break-down during the Great Depression. Itwas also the moment when Japan invad-ed China, and Hitler took Berlin, and theworld suddenly changed.

What might Chinese President XiJinping do to Taiwan while Trump is dis-tracted with his army of lawyers and theUS is tearing itself apart? The autocratswill surely relish the spectacle of a USPresident behaving as they do. It is theultimate propaganda coup.

Whatever happens over the comingweeks, the Blue Wave has sputtered out.The Democrats have failed to capture theSenate. They may even have lost seats inthe House. Their mandate for a radicalleftward turn has evaporated.

It has long been an article of faithamong Democrats that “demographicsare destiny”, and that the party’s ethnicand sectarian coalition must eventuallyprevail by force of numbers. But this elec-tion has been a wake-up call. There hasbeen revulsion against identity politicsand corrosive segmentation, and aboveall against the “cancel culture” of theAntifa statue-smashers.

The Democrats lost ground toLatinos in Florida and South Texas,despite the “Wall.” This may shocksome but it should be no surprise giventhe business ethic of Latino immi-grants, their Catholicism, and theirfamily ties to countries with Trumpiancaudillo traditions.

Markets must now confront theWashington gridlock and diminished fis-cal stimulus, already reflected in theplummeting yields on 10-year Treasuries,but not so far on Wall Street.

For a brief moment, Bidenomics hadus all in thrall. It looked as if there might

be a $7.9 trillion Keynesian blitz to “runthe economy hot.” The strategy was con-sciously modelled on Roosevelt’s wartimeexpansion from 1941 to 1945. It aimedto leap-frog supply-side constraints andachieve a virtuous circle of productivi-ty growth, this time relying on the waragainst carbon as the catalyst instead ofmilitary-industrial mobilisation againstfascism.

Biden will not be able to push thesevaulting plans through Congress even ifhe does make it into the White House.The green deal is largely still-born. Hisfront-loaded $1.7 trillion Gosplan for 500million solar panels, 60,000 wind tur-bines, and the like, will be torn to piecesby the Senate.

The equity markets had come to sali-vate over the exorbitant sums. GoldmanSachs, JPMorgan and Moody’s all con-cluded that Bidenomics would tur-bocharge economic growth. They willnow have to settle for thinner gruel. Theplanned $2 trillion of pandemic aid tocover furloughs and insolvent States isfor the birds. It is not clear what skinnyversion will emerge from a lame-duckCongress in this political climate. Don’texpect it soon.

All told, the markets face a harshereconomic winter. The V-shaped reboundhas faded. Investors must instead navi-gate the second dip of an enveloping ‘W’without much help from Washington.

Nor is it obvious that a DemocraticWhite House eager to regulate and aRepublican Senate less inclined to spendwill do much for the animal dynamismof American capitalism. Bet on biparti-san comity and a business boom if youwish. I am fetching my tin helmet.

(Courtesy: The Telegraph)

US President Donald Trump has striven for weeks to taint postal votes and toimpugn the credibility of the American electoral system

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

Hybrid initiativesneed of the hour

KOTA SRIRAJ

Normal economic activities should be regularlycombined with conservation so that development

is not at the cost of the environment

AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD

THE SITUATION IS DANGEROUS

AND HASNOTHING

IN COMMON WITH AL GORE’S

DEMAND FOR A FLORIDARECOUNT

20 YEARS AGO.TRUMP HAS

LOST THEPOPULAR VOTE AND

PROBABLY THEELECTORAL

COLLEGE VOTE TOO, YET HE ISPULLING

OUT ALL THESTOPS TOSUBVERT

THE RESULTBEFORE

THIS CAN BECONFIRMED

In the midst of hectic efforts to revive a sluggish economy thathas been rendered ineffectual by the pandemic, the focus of anervous nation is now shifting to a possible threat of a “second

wave” of COVID-19 infections. What lends credence to the possi-bility of a second wave is the fact that the States of Kerala and Delhihave shown a surge in cases during the ongoing festive season.And with the winter creeping in earlier than usual this year, the threatof the outbreak going out of control soon is not one that can beignored by the citizens, the Government or healthcare authorities.Particularly, Delhi, which has the perennial problem of farm firesfrom the neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjabturning it into a veritable gas chamber every winter, cannot affordto ignore alerts. Amid these depressing conditions, India is fight-ing hard on other fronts too. Be it defending its borders with China,kick-starting the flailing economy or making huge strides in con-serving the environment, the country is doing it all. Recently, theGlobal Himalayan Expedition (GHE), an Indian environmental organ-isation that leverages tourism and technology to assist remote com-munities access solar power, won a prestigious UN award for itsefforts to combat climate change amid the Coronavirus outbreak.

Several conferences and meetings are conducted every yearto thwart climate change and its consequences. Ironically, the con-sequent load on the environment due to hosting these congrega-tions is huge. For instance, the COP24 Conference held in Switzerlandlast year saw nearly 6,000 attendees. Out of this, a sizeable num-ber was ferried to the venue on private jets, with the number of suchtrips totalling 1,000. The carbon footprint of the conference wasso huge that the organisers pledged to plant six million trees to off-set its environmental impact. Embarrassingly, this was not the onlycontroversy generated at the COP24 meet. The lavish, meat-ladenmenu attracted immense criticism for encouraging carbon emis-sions associated with the agriculture sector and livestock rearing.

In the background of such luxurious, emission-heavy confer-ences that are low on productive output, the efforts of organisa-tions such as GHE that work on the ground, without any lavish bud-gets, is worth appreciating. The prestigious United Nations GlobalClimate Action Award is a much sought-after recognition that com-mends productive action to contain climate change. The work ofthe institutions being considered for the awards is quantified andassessed on a number of parameters. Especially the impact of theaction taken by them for managing climate change and helping theindigenous people become more self-reliant in an eco-friendly man-ner in matters pertaining to their energy and other resource needs.

It is a proud moment for India, as according to the statementissued by the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCC), GHE is one of the world’s first outfits to success-fully combine tourism and technology in order to bring solar ener-gy to remote communities. The Hindu Kush region alone, for instance,has 16 million people who do not have energy access. A portionof the expedition fee collected from travellers and hikers is used tofund the capital cost of hardware transportation, installation and train-ing for the village-level micro solar grids. These are eventually trans-ferred to the village community and the training enables them tobecome self-reliant in operations. The GHE till date has success-fully been able to electrify 131 villages in three regions of India, direct-ly empowering 60,000 people.

Plus, travellers get a homestay experience with the villagers.This not only enables them to experience the culture and cuisineof the area but helps them appreciate the difficulties faced by thepeople. Homestays in turn boost the local economy and till nowvillagers have been able to generate an income of nearly$1,14,000. This translates into a 45 per cent rise in their house-hold incomes.

Amid the unproductive noise generated by climate change con-ferences, the actual action to combat global warming, such as thehybrid solution initiated by GHE, needs tremendous encouragement.Normal economic activities should be regularly combined with con-servation so that development is not at the cost of the environmentbut rather complements it.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

The Indian economy has thecapability to grow at the rate ofnine per cent with extreme

favourable policies and around sevenper cent with constraints. But growthin some sectors in September andcontraction in others have raiseddoubts over sustainability. The nar-rative that the lockdown causedmassive damage to the economy ispartially correct as it exacerbated adeceleration which could have beenstemmed with the right prescription.

The ratings firm ICRA has saidthat the September recovery may notbe sustainable in the long run. It saysthat intra-State goods movementand Goods and Services Tax (GST)e-way bills increased nine per centfrom a year earlier against the Augustcontraction of 3.5 per cent. But the

increase in auto production (11 percent), power generation and petrolsales is not reflected in actual retailgrowth. Also, the calculations areagainst the massive 23.9 per centslump. ICRA does not see it sustain-ing beyond the November festivities.

HDFC bank CEO Aditya Purisays the problems for the economyare not over yet. While sales of carsand television sets hold out promiseof a return of nine per cent growth,the rebound is patchy. The countrymay end up with 9.5 per cent con-tractions at the end of the year, as perthe Reserve Bank of India’s projec-tions. He says if semi-urban Indiagrows and there are right infrastruc-ture spends, seven per cent growthis not difficult, though it might takethree years to achieve.

The skewed lockdown has dev-astated the hotel, tourism and eateryindustry that had just started to breakeven after a two-decade struggle.Even the private healthcare sector hasbeen hit. The manufacturing sector’sshare in the economy has graduallyreduced. While the “Make in India”initiative, that is at a nascent stageright now, may turn the tide eventu-ally, the competition in the region ishigh with Thailand, Malaysia,

Vietnam and Bangladesh sniffing atour heels.

Since 2016, the country hasbeen through many man-made crisesthat ailed the economy continuous-ly, though there were some goodpatches in between. However, if thesurging gold prices are any indica-tion, apprehensive investors are shy-ing away from making investments.

This is because the country hasgot its priorities wrong. The exces-sive spending of public money inrebuilding of highways, choking thenational Capital with roads that arenot needed or invasive and contin-ual construction of excessive infra-structure is an indication of this.Extensive concrete constructions inBihar, Odisha, the new State Capitalsin Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh,the eroding hills in Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, the North-Eastand Jammu and Kashmir are dam-aging the fragile ecology of theHimalayas and the rest of India.

The recent f looding ofHyderabad is testimony to the mas-sive damage human greed has done.The cost of these man-made disas-ters is estimated but not taken intofinancial accounts. Rather thesebecome sources of further financial

mismanagement.The United Nations Office for

Disaster Risk Reduction has revealedthat India is among the top five dis-aster-hit countries, which incurredlosses amounting to $79.5 billionbetween 1998 and 2017. Yes, thecountry has been committing thesemistakes continuously, irrespective ofthe party in power.

Wasteful expenditure hasbecome a national character, the lat-est being the plan to build a newParliament building and redevelop

the Central Vista at a cost of over`22,000 crore, the irrational `1.1 lakhcrore bullet train, the `6,000 crorehigh-speed rail corridors or severalsix-lane toll highways (many ofwhich are being rebuilt). The nationhas not learnt from the mistakes ofHyderabad, Bengaluru or the col-lapse of Amaravati and Raipur.

One could argue that peopleneed houses. But a third of the newresidential constructions are unoc-cupied in most cities. Jewar airportor Amaravati type constructions arepromoting speculative activities anddraining the economy, causing pol-lution and worsening living condi-tions for citizens.

The banking system, once theworld’s best, is collapsing due to irra-tional projects, non-repayment ofhuge debts and higher operationalcosts.

India is now one of the mostdegraded countries on the planetwith no national policy on publicspending, securing of public sectorunits, the banking system, farmersand land use.

The 2014 election had generat-ed hope that past wrongs would becorrected. The BJP made the rightnoises before the polls and Narendra

Modi instilled hope. But somewherealong the way, the system got derailedand irrational policies continued.Knee-jerk reactions like demoneti-sation, unnecessary constructionthat depleted the banks, increasingtravel costs following a hike in fuelprices, cess and tolls (for which theprevious regimes were criticised)have only stressed the economy fur-ther.

The promised jobs, a crore a year,could not be provided as the Statewent into penury. The lockdown hasnow made income sustainabilitydifficult as job losses rise despite theunlocking of the economy. Theexploitative situation, legally denyingrights to the labourers and farmers,reminds one of the heavy industri-alisation of the 18th and 19th cen-tury Europe with its concomitantexploitation, leading to the rise ofKarl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Course correction is imperativeto stop the country from slipping intoa deeper crisis. A national dialogueis needed to turn the present morassinto an opportunity. Modi, skilled attaking decisions, is capable of initi-ating this change and ticking theright boxes. Question is, will he?

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Wasteful expenditure has become national characterCourse correction is imperative to stop the country from slipping into a deeper crisis

SHIVAJI SARKAR

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

The calculatedshamelessness of DonaldTrump’s disregard for factsand propriety in hisresponse to the electionsuggests that the comingdays and weeks will also bevicious, bitter andexplosive. Even if Joe Bideneventually enters the WhiteHouse as President inJanuary, he will beimmediately confrontedwith an entrenchedopposition. This is not goodfor the US.

(The Guardian editorial)

NOT GOOD FOR

THE US AT ALL

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020 money 08

MONEY MATTERS

APL Apollo Tubes on Fridaysaid it has signed a pactwith Zamil Steel India to

develop a market for pre-engineered steel buildingsmade from structural steeltubes. The company said theagreement is in line with itsstrategy to create new marketsfor structural steel tubes in India. "APL Apollo Tubes has signed amemorandum of understanding with Zamil Steel Buildings India(Zamil Steel India) to develop a market for pre-engineered steelbuildings made from structural steel tubes," the company said in aBSE filing. Zamil Steel India is a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-basedZamil Industrial Investment Company. Its main factories are basedin Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Vietnam, andIndia. Zamil Steel India's annual production capacity is more than5,55,000 tons of fabricated steel, which is used in low-rise andhigh-rise steel buildings and structures for diverse industrial,commercial, agriculture, aviation, entertainment, and militaryapplications, APL Apollo said.

APL Apollo Tubes signs pact withZamil Steel India

Shares of RelianceIndustries Ltd gained over3 per cent in early trade

on Friday after the company'sretail arm raised Rs 9,555crore from Public InvestmentFund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia. Themarket-heavyweight stockjumped 3.37 per cent to Rs2,021 on the BSE. At the NSE, it rose by 3.32 per cent to Rs 2,020.Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Ltd's retail armon Thursday raised Rs 9,555 crore from Public Investment Fund(PIF) of Saudi Arabia, taking total fundraise in the last two monthsto Rs 47,265 crore. PIF will take a 2.04 per cent stake in RelianceRetail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the Indian firm said in a statement.The investment values RRVL, the retail arm of Reliance IndustriesLtd, at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.587 lakh crore. This is thesecond investment by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund inan Ambani firm. It had previously picked up 2.32 per cent stake inJio Platforms, the digital and telecom arm of Reliance, for Rs11,367 crore.

RIL shares jump over 3 pc afterSaudi’s PIF invests Rs 9,555 cr

India Cements on Fridayreported over 13-foldincrease in its consolidated

net profit at Rs 69.21 crore forthe September quarter of thecurrent fiscal helped by lowerexpenses. It had reported a netprofit of Rs 5.07 crore in theJuly-September quarter a yearago. Its total income during the quarter under review, however,declined 14.18 per cent to Rs 1,094.58 crore as against Rs1,275.44 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal, IndiaCements said in a BSE filing. The company's total expenses in thesecond quarter of the current financial year were down 22.83 percent at Rs 980.83 crore as against Rs 1,271.02 crore in thecorresponding period of the previous fiscal. Shares of IndiaCements were trading 4.24 per cent higher at Rs 126.50 apiece onBSE.

India Cements reports 13-fold spikein Q2 net profit at Rs 69.21 cr

Tata Motors on Fridaylaunched a special editionof its flagship SUV Harrier,

at a starting price of Rs 16.50lakh (ex-Delhi showroom)amid the ongoing festiveseason.The Harrier CAMOedition will be available inmanual transmission from XT variant onwards, and in theautomatic transmission from XZ variant onwards, the automakersaid in a release."We are delighted to introduce the Harrier CAMOEdition of our flagship SUV. We are confident our customers willappreciate the strong, unique form of the Harrier, rendered evenmore robustly in the CAMO Edition, this festive season," said VivekSrivatsa, head of marketing for assenger vehicles business unit atTata Motors. Besides, the company has also introduced a host ofspecial accessories, including special CAMO graphics, Harriermascot on bonnet, roof rails, front parking sensors, sun shades,anti-skid dash mats, among others, along with the special edition.

Tata Harrier CAMO editionlaunched at Rs 16.50 lakh

PNSn NEW DELHI

Asserting that India has fullpotential to emerge as a glob-al hub for electric vehicles by2025, Union Minister NitinGadkari on Friday asked auto-mobile manufacturers toreduce cost and forego profitinitially to capture market andfuel growth.

Once the market picks upthere will not be any lookingback, Road Transport andHighways and MSMEsMinister Gadkari said, promis-ing all support to manufactur-ers in the initiative aimed atcutting India's huge importcosts of crude and arrestingpollution.

The minister said he isscheduled to make an hour-long presentation on EVsbefore the Chief Justice ofIndia post-Diwali. He wasaddressing a virtual "ElectricMobility Conference 2020 -The Spark Revolution in India"by industry body Ficci.

"E-mobility is going to be thefuture mode of economictransport...There is economicviability for manufacturers,but presently they are not in a

mood to reduce cost. Reducingcost may result in some lossesinitially, but will bring greatbenefits. As a marketing strat-egy you have to reduce the costto get numbers," Gadkari said.

He also said that India hasthe potential to become thelargest EV producer in theworld in the next five years.However, Indian manufactur-ers prefer to wait and watchand are late in participating inany global competition.

"Now is the time to harbourthe ambition to become num-

ber one... the raw material isavailable, power rates arereducing...you have a win-winsituation," he told carmakers.

He also cautioned them tonot to be entangled in bureau-cratic tangles.

Globally automobile compa-nies have introduced severalinnovations in the segment, hesaid.

The minister admitted thatsignificant EV-specific con-cerns persist like on batteries,charging, and driving rangethat prevent a large-scale con-

sumer pull, but these issuesbeing addressed rapidly.

He expressed concerns overthe fact that India needs toimport oil to cover over 80 percent of its transport fuel, say-ing import of crude is a bigeconomic problem.

"Air pollution is a million-dollar problem. We need tofind an integrated approach toit. Transport sector alone wasresponsible for 18 per centenergy demand and 70 per centof it was met through import-ed crude oil," Gadkari said.

Terming EVs as a solution toit, he said 22 new greenexpressways are planned,including Bangalore-Chennai -which will be completed inthree years.

"Air pollution is a crucial

issue", the minister said, addingin 2019, three million newcars were registered, whichresulted in huge petrol anddiesel burden. He said thegovernment is committed toprovide all help to EV makersand 100 per cent GST subsidyhas already been offered.

He exhorted people to comeforward to use such vehicles forrental or personal use to pro-mote and support the EVindustry. India has to developa particular set of capabilitieswhich are conducive to sustain-able mobility for acceleratedadoption of EVs, the ministersaid, adding the emphasis ofthe EV Policy is to establishtechnological and manufac-turing leadership in the econ-omy segment of the market.

Gadkari asks automakers to cutEV cost, forgo profit initially

Once the market picks up there will not beany looking back, Road Transport andHighways and MSMEs Minister Gadkarisaid, promising all support tomanufacturers in the initiative aimed atcutting India's huge import costs of crudeand arresting pollution

PNSn NEW DELHI

WhatsApp on Friday said it isrolling out its payments ser-vices in India after receivingnod from the NationalPayments Corporation of India(NPCI).

In 2018, the Facebook-owned company had startedtesting its UPI-based paymentsservice in India, which allowsusers to utilise the messagingplatform to send and receivemoney. The testing was limit-ed to about a million users asit waited for regulatoryapprovals to come in.

On Thursday, NPCI - whichruns the Unified PaymentsInterface (UPI) used for real-time payments between peersor at merchants' end whilemaking purchases - allowedWhatsApp to start its pay-ments service in the country ina "graded" manner, starting

with a maximum registereduser base of 20 million in UPI.

"Starting today, peopleacross India will be able to sendmoney through WhatsApp.This secure payments experi-ence makes transferring moneyjust as easy as sending a mes-sage. People can safely sendmoney to a family member orshare the cost of goods from adistance without having toexchange cash in person or

going to a local bank,"WhatsApp said in a blogpost.

It added that the paymentsfeature has been designed inpartnership with NPCI usingUPI, an India-first, real-timepayment system that enablestransactions with over 160supported banks.

In June this year, WhatsApphad launched 'WhatsApp Pay'in Brazil - making it the firstcountry where the service

was widely rolled out. InIndia, WhatsApp - whichcounts India as its biggestmarket with over 400 millionusers - will compete withplayers like Paytm, GooglePay, Walmart-owned PhonePeand Amazon Pay.

"Payments (service) onWhatsApp is now available forpeople on the latest version ofthe iPhone and Android app...We're excited to join India'scampaign to increase the easeand use of digital payments,

which is helping expandfinancial inclusion in India,"it said adding that users willneed to have a bank accountand debit card in India to sendmoney through the platformin India.

WhatsApp said it is work-ing with five banks in India -ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank,Axis Bank, the State Bank ofIndia, and Jio Payments Bank- and people can send moneyon WhatsApp to anyone usinga UPI supported app.

WhatsApp starts payment service in IndiaIn 2018, the Facebook-owned companyhad started testing its UPI-based paymentsservice in India, which allows users toutilise the messaging platform to send andreceive money. The testing was limited toabout a million users as it waited forregulatory approvals to come in

PNSn NEW DELHI

Co-operative Nafed on Fridaysaid it has finalised bidders andissued orders for timely supplyof 15,000 tonnes of importedonions, which will help boostdomestic availability and checkprice rise.

Since the imported onionswill be delivered at port cities,state governments have beenasked to indent their quantityfor faster dispatch of the com-modity, it said.

Nafed plans to float regulartenders for supply of addition-al supplies of imported onions,it added.

"Yesterday (Thursday),Nafed received a goodresponse in the tenders withoffers to supply at Tuticorinand Mumbai. Nafed veryswiftly has issued confirmationto successful bidders lastevening itself so that timelyreleases are made in the mar-ket," an official statement said.

This time, Nafed insisted thequality and size of onion matchthe choice of Indian con-sumers who generally prefer

medium sized onions where-as in overseas origins the sizesare bigger up to 80 mm, it said.

Unlike last year whenMMTC had directly importedyellow, pink and red onionsfrom Turkey and Egypt, thisyear private importers havebeen offered to supply. Thismay ensure quality supply inminimal time, it added.

Nafed, on the directions ofthe central government, hadfloated tenders on October 31for supply of 15,000 tonnes ofimported red onions at porttowns loaded on truck and railfrom importers.

Meanwhile, onion prices areshowing steady decline in

wholesale and retail, Nafedsaid.

Arrivals from old stock ofrabi (winter) season and newarrivals from kharif (summer)from Maharashtra, Karnataka,Rajasthan and other stateshave arrested the rising trendof onion prices.

Nafed has also opened thefarm gate purchase centres inMaharashtra and Rajasthan tomove the stock to consump-tion centres.

"It is hoped that with poli-cy interventions of the govern-ment and augmented supplyfrom buffer, import and fresharrival, the onion market willsoon normalise," it added.

Nafed issues order for supply of15K tonnes of imported onions

PNSn NEW DELHI

Tyre major MRF Ltd onFriday reported a 79 per centjump in consolidated profitfrom continuing operationsat Rs 410.92 crore for thequarter ended September.

The company had posted aconsolidated profit from con-tinuing operations at Rs228.96 crore in the year-agoperiod, MRF Ltd said in aregulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue fromoperations during the periodunder review stood at Rs4,244.43 crore as against Rs4,007.63 crore in the samequarter of last fiscal, it added.

Total expenses during theperiod was lower at Rs3,717.62 crore as compared toRs 3,760.80 in the secondquarter of the last fiscal. Costof materials consumed waslower at Rs 2,271.82 crore ascompared to Rs 2,425.75crore in the year-ago period,the company said.

Employee benefits' expensewas marginally higher at Rs339.99 crore in the secondquarter as against Rs 336.20crore in the correspondingperiod last fiscal, it added.

MRF reports79pc rise inprofit at Rs 411crore

PNSn NEW DELHI

Speaking at the UK launch ofa global report, tobacco harmreduction advocate andDirector of Association ofVapers India (AVI), SamratChowdhery, said evidence-ledpolicy reforms lead to betteroutcomes than bans in helpingreduce deaths and disease fromtobacco use.

The biennial report, BurningIssues: The Global State ofTobacco Harm Reduction(GSTHR), published by UK-based public health agencyKnowledge Action Change,finds that currently there arenine safer nicotine products(SNPs) users for every 100

smokers globally, most ofwhom live in high-incomecountries.

The report states that over-all 98 million people are esti-mated to use SNPs world-wide. Of those, 68 million arevapers, with the largest vap-ing populations in the US,

China, the RussianFederation, the UK, France,Japan, Germany and Mexico.The rest are users of snus, alow-risk smokeless tobaccovariant popular inScandinavian countries, andnew heated tobacco prod-ucts which deliver nicotine in

cigarette-like form but with-out combustion.

Talking about the hurdlesto wider adoption of SNPs,Chowdhery, who is presidentof global consumer bodyInternational Network ofNicotine ConsumerOrganisations (INNCO) anddirector of Association ofVapers India (AVI), said, "Thereport finds that 36 nationshave banned low-risk alterna-tives, and most of them, bar-ring a few outlier westernnations, are low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) -a large number are in LatinAmerica, many in the MiddleEast, some in Africa and a ris-ing number in Asia."

Tobacco crisis: Policy reforms need of the hour

PNSn NEW DELHI

Gold prices jumped Rs 791 toRs 51,717 per 10 grams onFriday, rallying for the thirdconsecutive day, supported byrally in global precious metalprices, according to HDFC

Securities. In the previoustrade, it had closed at Rs50,926 per 10 grams.In tan-dem with a rise in gold, silveralso zoomed Rs 2,147 to Rs64,578 per kg from Rs 62,431per kilogram in the previousday.

Gold jumps Rs 791

PNSn NEW DELHI

Central Bank of India onFriday reported over 20 percent rise in its net profit atRs 161 crore for the secondquarter ended September30.

The bank had posted a netprofit of Rs 134 crore in thecorresponding quarter ofthe previous financial year.

Its total income grewnearly 2 per cent to Rs6,833.94 crore during July-September 2020, against Rs6,703.71 crore in the year-ago period, Central Bank ofIndia said in a regulatory fil-ing. Operating profitimproved to Rs 1,458 crore,registering a growth of 42.16per cent from Rs 1,026 crorea year ago, it said.

Central Bank ofIndia net profitrises 20 pc

PNSn WASHINGTON

A full economic recovery isunlikely until people are con-fident that it's safe to resumetheir normal activities, US'central bank chief JeromePowell has said, noting that allAmericans can play a role inthe nation's response to thecoronavirus pandemic bywearing masks and followingsocial distancing guidelines.

The US has so far recorded9,606,645 coronavirus casesand 1,232,516 deaths due tothe disease -- both the figureshighest in the world.

"All of us have a role to playin our nation's response to thepandemic. Following theadvice of public health profes-sionals to keep appropriatesocial distances and to wear amask in public will help get theeconomy back to fullstrength," Federal ReserveChairman Jerome Powell saidon Thursday.

"A full economic recovery isunlikely until people are con-fident that it's safe to re-engage in a broad range of

activities," he told a news con-ference here.

The Federal Reserve'sresponse to the economic cri-sis has been guided by its man-date to promote maximumemployment and stable pricesfor Americans, along with itsresponsibilities to promotethe stability of the financialsystem, he said.

Noting that the coronaviruspandemic has left a majorimpact on the US economy,Powell said economic activityin the country has continuedto recover from its depressedsecond-quarter level. Thereopening of the economyhas led to a rapid rebound inactivity and real GDP rose atan annual rate of 33 per centin the third quarter.

‘Full economicrecovery unlikely’

PNSn NEW DELHI

Auto components majorBosch Ltd on Friday report-ed a consolidated net loss ofRs 64.57 crore in the secondquarter ended September30.

The company had posteda consolidated net profit ofRs 98.40 crore in the sameperiod last fiscal, Bosch Ltdsaid in a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenuefrom operations during thequarter under review stoodat Rs 2,479.18 crore asagainst Rs 2,312.68 crore in

the year-ago period, itadded.

"The Indian automotivemarket continues to under-go structural changes. Inorder to be fit for the future,Bosch Limited has continuedinvestment in its 3R strate-gy of restructuring, reskillingand other transformationalprojects. To support this, anadditional amount of Rs 400crore has been provided anddisclosed as an exceptionalitem for the quarter endedSeptember 30, 2020," thecompany said in a state-ment.

PNSn WASHINGTON

Japanese automaker Hondareported Friday that its prof-it rose 23 per cent in the lastquarter, despite a pandemicthat has slammed businessesaround the world.

Tokyo-based Honda MotorCo. said its July-Septemberprofit was 240.9 billion yen(USD 2.3 billion), up from196.5 billion yen a year ear-lier, as the auto market recov-ered in some parts of theworld. Honda said it carriedout aggressive cost cuts thatinvolved a “fundamentalreview” of its operations.

The situation was alsoimproving from earlier thisyear, when lockdowns andother problems related toCOVID-19 caused disrup-tions of some productionand an inventory crunch.

Quarterly sales slipped to3.65 trillion yen (USD 35 bil-lion) from 3.73 trillion yenthe same period a year earli-er.

Japan automakerHonda reportsprofit risedespite Covid

Bosch reports netloss of Rs 64.57 crSamrat Chowdhery,

said evidence-led

policy reforms lead to

better outcomes than

bans in helping reduce

deaths and disease

from tobacco use

PNSn MUMBAI

Rising for the fifth straight ses-sion, equity benchmark Sensexrallied 553 points on Friday,tracking gains in index-heavy-weights Reliance Industriesand HDFC twins amid mas-sive foreign fund inflow.

The 30-share BSE indexended 552.90 points or 1.34per cent higher at 41,893.06.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty surged 143.25 points or1.18 per cent to 12,263.55.

Reliance Industries was thetop gainer in the Sensex pack,surging over 3 per cent, fol-lowed by Bajaj Finserv,IndusInd Bank, HDFC twinsand Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, Maruti,Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints,

UltraTech Cement and NestleIndia were among the lag-gards.

According to HemantKanawala, Head – Equity,Kotak Mahindra LifeInsurance, Indian marketsrallied in sync with its glob-al peers, putting to the back-burner the uncertainties inthe US presidential election.

Global markets havelooked beyond the close fin-ish in the US elections andare gearing up and reacting toa win for the democrats, hesaid, adding that a Democrat-led dispensation with a lessrestrictive trade policy,benign immigration policieswill be a key positive foremerging markets, includ-ing India.

Markets soar for fifth straight day

US' central bank chief Jerome Powell

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SaturdayNovember 7, 2020

‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'‘HYDERABADMERI JAAN HAI'

OW HAS YOUR ASSOCIATIONWITHHYDERABADBEEN?Hyderabad has given

me not some but everything, thereare way too many reasons to lovethis city. Extraordinary peoplewith remarkable public places.Since my dad was making a livinghere, this place was nothing morethan just a makeshift arena for us.We never knew there would comea time when we’d have to perma-

nently move here and it’s anexceptional feeling when I

think of it now. I was headover heels in love with the

savoury food and I stillremember cribbing to my

mum about how shedidn’t know how tocook perfect southIndian food. Movingahead, I gained a pro-fessional understand-ing of dancing here, somy association withthis city is basically

endless and I hopeit never ends.

HOW HASTHE CITYBEENTREATING

YOU?

The city has neverretained a disparity

between northern and south-ern middlemen. Earlier, languagewas a barrier for me, however I’mnow quite fluent with it and itdoesn't seem like a hurdle any-more. I speak better Telugu thanmy mother tongue, Bengali now.Do you know what’s the best partabout being in Hyderabad? Ifound the love of my life here, soas they rightly say in Telugubhasha - I am now the city’sdaughter-in-law, in Telangana.Name, fame, recognition andidentity are the key pillars that I

have been able to lay in this

city.

WHAT KIND OF THOUGHTSHAD YOU ABOUTHYDERABAD BEFORE MOV-ING HERE AND HOW DOYOU FIND IT NOW?

Imagine constantly having tomove to new cities: yes, it’s excit-ing, but after a point in time, ittends to become stressful whilemaking new peers all over again.My second apprehension was overwondering if my eating habitswould change drastically? I wouldonly see around me idli, sambharand vada, which was kind ofproblematic for a while, but I’mglad it was fun coming out of mycomfort zone. Now that I ammarried to a Teluguite, I swim insambhar more often than in theroshogulla sugar syrup, hahaha.

HAVE YOU LIVED INOTHER CITIES TOO? IF SO, HOW IS HYDERABADDIFFERENT?

Even though my apprehensionswere partly right, the scenario haschanged today. Right now, I findHyderabad two hundred per centbetter than my hometownKolkata. I am so much in lovewith this town that I will nevereven think of wanting to moveelsewhere. I have also been anardent native of the city Chennaibut when it comes to Hyderabad,the people here are beautifully dif-ferent. Haven’t we all heard thesaying - ‘It’s who we know and notwhat we know?’ It holds true tomy life. This city has the right net-work of people, to diverse intro-ductions you may want to know, ifyou have migrated recently.

WHAT'S THAT ONE THINGTHAT COMES TO YOURMIND WHEN YOU THINK OFHYDERABAD?

You tell me, what’s the onething you are going to recom-mend to your friends when you

are in town? Of course, theBiryani that this city’s culture isknown for! There are manydebates about which biryani is thebest, but we all know it’s alwaysHyderabad that wins. How canHaleem remain behind then? Weas Hyderabadis wait for this gor-geous time of the year where thereare multiple stalls organised serv-ing the best Haleem. Many hotelshave been serving it too, but theperfect zaika can only be foundeither at the right counter or PistaHouse. I also love Irani Chaiwhich defines Hyderabad.Especially for the college-goingteens, it’s the best hangout prac-tice to have.

CAN YOU SHARE ONE OF YOUR FONDEST MEMORIES HERE?

As I mentioned earlier aboutmy massive love for Kathak dance,I happened to perform at one ofthe Durga Pujas held here andlike a distant dream come true,Gemini television approached us,wanting me to anchor for them.The problem of not being able tofluently speak the language arose,but with my mother’s push andencouragement, I was there at theoffice for the auditions, and therest is history. If I hadn’t taken upthat specific initiative, I wouldn'tbe speaking to you as Anchor

Shilpa today, which gives megoosebumpsnow, as I

speak to you.

HOW HAS THE CITY BEENHELPING YOU IN YOURCAREER?

Initially, my fellow natives didhave slight trust issues with mebeing able to handle large scalelocal events, but things havechanged now. This city has been awitness to the rise in my careergraph and in the way I held on tothe language so superbly. Geminitelevision and Eenadu were thebiggest helping hands on my wayto becoming a successful anchorcum actor. Eenadu offered mevarious soap operas, I had a superbusy lifestyle since then. Tell meone thing that I haven’t been apart of in the Telugu industry —from being a dancer, being fea-tured in daily soaps, emceeing,hosting public events and being apart of a big banner realityshow—I have done it all.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKETO SAY ABOUT YOURJOURNEY IN BIGG BOSS?

My stint in Bigg Boss Teluguwas very short. When I was elimi-nated, I happened to see all thefootages that disappointed me tono end. I was not given therequired screen timing Ideserved to get. I countthe reality show to bethe lowest form ofcontributor to myyears of success.Few of the partic-ipants on the

show took help of demeaningmannerisms to stay in the lime-light, I suppose. It can be theirstrategy to move ahead in thegame, but on a personal note, Ichoose respect over crazy screen-time, popularity and fame. Allsaid and done, I might definitelytake up reality TV projects in thefuture if they come my way.

HOW'S HYDERABAD DIFFERENT AS A VISITOR?

Earlier, I wasn’t ever attached tothis city like I was to my home-land. I couldn’t develop those feel-ings at all, but today, now that I’vepermanently settled here, it’s anunbreakable bond with the city. Ihave seen demographics changingin front of my eyes! From techno-logical shifts, architecture, cuisine,population, etc., it’s a new lifebeginning here every day.Relatives love coming here timeand again only because of the hos-pitality it has shown to them. It’swhat they have begun incorporat-ing in their lifestyles too. This isthe Pearl City with its unmatchedblend of history and modernity,hypnotising everyone who setstheir foot in this beautiful city ofNizams. With a history as old as400 years and the status of a met-ropolitan city, Hyderabad promis-es a uniquely refreshing experi-

ence to all.

WHAT’S HYDERABAD TO YOU?

Hyderbad meri jaan hai!

Anchors are known for their charming looks, aren't they?They help garner higher viewership for the channel theywork for. At any given show, in the absence of any action,an anchor keeps the audiences engaged! ShilpaChakroborthy—known and loved as anchor, actor, realityTv star, Kathak dancing —hails from the city ofroshogullas, but absolutely loves where she’s currentlyresiding — Hyderabad! In an exclusive chat with ThePioneer’s SHIKHA DUGGAL, she talks about how shedigs deep into the city of Nizams to create a moremeaningful bond with the diverse residents here, thewarmth they give, and love for the cuisine, among others.

H

Benafsha Soonawallaadvocates body positivity

Making memories off social mediaThe lockdown shattered the dreams of many, and graduating students are one of those

extremely disheartened groups. They missed their convocation, last day chats with theirprofessors and so much more. But students took it upon themselves to get a shot to all

of these, via social media, writes RACHEL DAMMALA.he pandemic def-initely made finalyear students’lives a bummerthis year. If youare someone that

has graduated in 2020, younot only missed out on yourConvocation, but also yourlast class together, the lastproject group submissionand the final day of collegethat has professors givingtheir priceless life lessonsbefore you depart.

Students wait for years tobe able to have that onegraduation picture that theycan proudly get framed andhung on their walls. Thepandemic spelled troublefor them, nevertheless, somestudents from various col-leges decided to step up andmake the best use of theonly tool they had in hand—social media! OsmaniaUniversity was one of theseveral campuses in the citythat had its students organ-ise unofficial virtual convo-cations, YearBook 2020,pearls of wisdom shared bygraduating students, virtualand timely discussionsabout communication skills,etc., in the face of jobopportunities and more.

Refusing to be boggeddown by circumstancesaround, student groupsfrom various departmentsincluding Law, Technology,

Engineering and Scienceand more, came together tocelebrate a once-in-a-life-time special experience ofbeing outgoing students.Sarthak Ariarra, a graduat-ing student of OsmaniaUniversity, Engineeringdepartment, shares whatthey had been doing for thestudents of their college —“We realised that every stu-dent dreams of being able tograduate with their friendsand make loads of memo-ries before they do. We did-n’t want to make them feelleft out amid the lockdown,hence the decision to take itall online. We made onlinegraduation a success, askedsome students to send intheir videos with answers to

a list of cliché as well asunconventional questionswe sent them from everydepartment. The responsehas been amazing.” Sarthakis the campus representativefor Under 25 (Bangalore-based youth media compa-ny) for the year 2019-20.

After they saw theresponse they had received,the team decided to take itup a notch, and work onpodcasts. “We spoke onissues relating to the currentissues plaguing us, especial-ly ones like Depression andMental Health, that neededto be spoken about on ourshort podcast series TheReal Talk - CampusEdition,” Sarthak shares.After the podcast, came the

Instagram Lives, which wereconversations with outgoingstudents on their campus onvarious topics includingcommunication skills,among others, especially inthe face of several studentslooking to get hired as theygraduate.

Angelina Suganditha, agraduating student, whospoke about the topic‘Importance ofCommunication Skills’,shares, "Real Talks leave alasting impression. Usingpersonal experiences, hardhitting facts, multimedia,interactive learning, discus-sion and reflection, thesetalks engage, educate, equipand empower even in theseuncertain times. It gives an

opportunity to stay connect-ed.”

“We then slowly startedsending out Google formsto all the graduating stu-dents on campus and askedif they’d love to contributeand the response was over-whelming, our page reachhit the roof. We startedinteracting more and therehas been no stopping eversince. My successor Sakethand I have enjoyed thisprocess of hosing severaltalks and creating contentwhich resonates with ourcampus students,” Sarthaktells us.

Loyola Academy went astep ahead and created aYouTube page for better andlonger content. “Freshershad no idea what life atLoyola looks like. So we putup our college tour videosto give them a glimpse ofthat. We celebratedTeachers’ Day virtually, sev-eral departments heldunoffical Zoom farewellsand there was the DandiyaFest,” shares MeghanaManam, Media Head atLoyola Academy.

“We hope to host localartists, promote buddinglocal talent. We’re planningto organise an offline sum-mit too, once the pandem-ic situation improves in thenear future,” Sarthakshares.

ocial media anonymity hasoften been used to troll andbody shame female celebsonline but BenafshaSoonawalla didn’t let the illsof the digital world get to her!

The cute, adorable actress of Netflix’sChopsticks fame, is undergoing weighttraining and the results are for everyoneto see. Her weight training programmewas not adopted to impress the worldbut to feel good about herself and mostimportantly to showcase her amazingbody goals. Has she been trolled timeand again? Yes. However, did that breakher confidence? No. The Internet cansometimes be a place of negativity butthat didn’t make her believe that she’s atthe non-receiving end. She looks muchstronger and hot putting in some mus-cles to aid to her frame.

It’s extremely difficult to live up to anideal body image for actresses that areactually set in the minds of their fanswhich keep fluctuating. “I am blessedwith great genetics but I also put in thehard work. I am doing decent weighttraining that’s four days a week andthat’s keeping me in good stead. Itentirely changes the body. I don’t countmy calories when I eat because I can’trestrict myself too much with food. I amjust getting my macros on point andthat’s a total game-changer,” Benafshatells us. Her skin is gleaming and she’suber-confident about speaking hermind, always striving to spread the mes-sages about body positivity.

Benafsha is putting in the hard yardsand who knows, it might as well be for aproject that she might soon be a part of!The firebrand VJ-turned-actress hascome out in public to bust the myth of aperfect body. She’s hitting the ball out ofthe park in her latest stills which is proofof her not succumbing to society’s pres-sure of looking good but rather doing itfor the sake of self-love and care.

ST

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

10

Hyderabad Saturday November 7 2020 what’s brewing?

At a glittering ceremony

in Hyderabad recently,

Raga Pushyami, daughter

of musician-turned-actor

Raghu Kunche, married

Aasish Varma. Megastar

Chiranjeevi, Koti, Mano,

VV Vinayak, Mano,

Chandrabose, RP Patnaik

and Bhaskarbatla were

some of the notable faces

from the industry who

attended the ceremony

and extended their best

wishes to the newly-weds.

A grand

affair

ilmmakerTharunBhascker, whoproved himselfas an actor withturns in films

like Meeku MaathrameCheptha and FalaknumaDas, has played a “specialrole” in debutant directorVinod Anantoju’s MiddleClass Melodies, fronted byAnand Deverakonda andVarsha Bollama. “It’s moreof a guest appearance buthas its own importance inthe context of the narrative.As I have known him along time, I thought he wasthe best bet to play it. Thefact that he is close toAnand and Vijay(Deverakonda) meant thathe graciously did it,” Vinodtells us.

The director adds that itwas an unusual feelingdirecting Tharun but atthe same time, he washappy. “When I wasdoing short films, he seta benchmark on howshort films should be. Asa young filmmaker I waslooking to match up to hisstandards. So by the time Ibegan my maiden feature,he already directed acouple

of features and was a recipi-ent of the national award.

But hewas

very professional. He cameto Guntur and shot for fivedays. He would be seen asA.E. Babu in the film,” thedirector noted.

A slice of life film minusthe big stakes and outstand-ing drama, Middle ClassMelodies sees Anand play-ing a villager Raghava, anexpert in whipping outMumbai chutney. Hailingfrom Kolakaluru, which is20.5 kms drive fromGuntur, he aspires to open ahotel in Guntur and intro-duce Mumbai chutney tothe locals. It will drop onstreaming giant AmazonPrime on November 10.The promotions will kick-

off from today, with thetrailer releasing on

November 10. - NG

he Pioneer hadpreviously report-ed (October 12)that cinematogra-pher-turned-director KV

Guhan and actor AdithArun have teamed up for atechno thriller tentativelytitled Firewall. To this end,the latest we hear is thatGuhan has cast ShivaniRajasekhar as the leadinglady. This is her third film inTelugu.

A source close to the unittells us, “Shivani plays aninteresting role in the film.It has a lot of depth and islayered. As the film is a newgenre for Telugu cinema, themakers are reserved aboutrevealing more. She has evenshot for the film. In fact, thefilm is wrapped up exceptfor some patch work.”

For the film, Guhan isdoubling up as the camera-man as well. Set inHyderabad, it is being shotfrom a point of view per-spective. The likes of SatyamRajesh, Priyadarshi, DivyaDarshini and Viva Harshaare playing supporting roles.Mirchi Kiran has pennedthe dialogues while Simon KKing is composing music.

Interestingly, Rajasekhar’syounger daughterShivathmika has been pairedopposite Adith in debutantdirector Naresh’s VidhiVilasam. Produced by ShivaDinesh Rahul Ayyar underSKS Creations, the thrillerwas launched in Januaryearlier this year. It was shotbriefly before the pandemicforced the unit to halt theproceedings. It is yet toresume.

11

Hyderabad Saturday November 7 2020tollywood

Now, SHIVANIopposite Adith Arun

Shivani, who hasn't had a release yet, is playing the female leadin 118 fame director KV Guhan's next with Adith Arun. It's a role

with a lot of substance, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

T

hraddha Srinath, who is choosy withher assignments, has agreed to spear-head a female-centric Telugu-Tamilbilingual titled Kaliyugam. A futuristichorror thriller with a running time ofless than two hours, it is set in 2050 and

the story unfolds after the world witnesses amajor calamity.

Pramod Sundar, who directed ad films andshort films, is making his directorial debut withthe project, which rolls in January. The makersare erecting specially designed sets in Chennaifor the shoot.

Shraddha, who is believed to be playing aquirky role, said the moment she heard thefilm's story she felt like doing it. “The story willbe a breath of fresh air for theaudience. To act in such astory at a very early stageof my career is a greatopportunity,” sheadded.

KSRamakrishna isproducing itunder RKInternational,while PCSreeram's assis-tant RamCharan willbe the cine-matograph-er.

S

F

Shraddha signsa female-centric thrillerset in 2050

Matinee tobankroll SreeVishnu's next

with Teja MarniMatinee Entertainment has

always maintained a fine bal-ance between big and smallcinema and their resume is atestament to it. The produc-tion house, which green-litAgent Sai Srinivasa Athreyadirector Swaroop’s sopho-more film, an action-adven-ture drama with a generousdose of humour, recently, willnow be associating with SreeVishnu’s next with Johaardirector Teja Marni.According to a source, pro-ducers Niranjan Reddy andAnvesh Reddy fell in lovewith the story of Teja anddecided to bankroll it.

The source informs, “Thefilm is a buddy comedy abouta group of friends. The entirestory will unfold in a ruralmilieu. The humouremanates from the situationsthat the characters see them-selves in. The principal pho-tography will begin from thelast week of December in andaround Ramachandrapuram,East Godavari. The idea is towrap it up in 55 days overtwo schedules.”

The source adds that themakers are busy finalizingthe heroine, supporting castand technicians right now.

- NG

AshishGandhiturns intoa director

shishGandhi,who isknown forhis perfor-mance in

Natakam, is playingthe lead in anotherthriller, titledDirector. Helmed byduo of KiranPonnada and KarthikKrishna, the film'sfirst look wasunveiled inHyderabad on Friday.Alongside Ashish,Karthik will be seenin the lead role, whileMairina Singh,Aishwarya RajBhakuni and AntraRaut are playing thefemale leads. A jointproduction venturebetween NagamTirupathi Reddy andSrikanth Deepalaunder VisionCinemas and DeepalaArts respectively, thefilm’s shoot has beenwrapped up.

The directors saidthat with the co-oper-

ation of everyone,they have wrapped upthe shoot on time.“The producers sup-port, especially, hasbeen remarkable.They neither compro-mised on the budgetnor on the qualityand our specialthanks to them for it.Although Ashish gotmany offers after hisfirst film Natakam, hewas cautious with hischoices. He was veryimpressed with ourstory and approachedthe project with agreat deal of interest.We are confidentabout the success,”said the duo.

The producersadded, “The lead rolehas been designedaccording to the bodylanguage of Ashishand the film will be agame-changer forhim. AdithyaVardhan's cinematog-raphy will be one ofthe major talkingpoints of the film.”

A

Tharun Bhascker's‘special role' in MiddleClass Melodies

Steve Smith was serving a ball-tampering banthe last time India toured Australia in 2018-19 andWaugh believes Kohli would want to outdo the for-mer skipper this time.

“He (Kohli) is a world class player, he wouldwanna be the batsman of the series. Last time, heand Smith came up against each other in India,Smith really dominated with three hundreds and

Kohli didn’t get many.“That would be at the back of his mind that

last time he was outscored by Steve Smith,”Waugh said.

“So, he will want to score lot of runs andif he does, India will have a great chance ofwinning.”

Waugh feels Kohli is now much morein control as a player and would be keento lead the team to a series win abroad.

“He has definitely matured, he wasalways excitable on the field, may be a lit-tle not in control. But now he is totally incontrol and he has got the team playing

in his mode...,” the former batsmansaid.

“He wants India to prove them-selves away from home to justify thenumber one ranking. He has taken

them to a level that may be they did-n't get to before,” he signed off.

PTI nMELBOURNE

Former Australian skipperSteve Waugh has urged the

side to not get into a war ofwords with Virat Kohli duringthe upcoming four-Test homeseries as it might end up provid-ing “extra motivation” to not justhim but also his teammates.

The Border-GavaskarTrophy will begin with a day-nightencounter at the Adelaide Oval onDecember 17, followed by Tests at theMelbourne Cricket Ground (December26), the Sydney Cricket Ground (January7) and the Gabba (January 15).

“Sledging is not going to worry ViratKohli, it doesn’t work against the great play-ers and you’re better off leaving those guysalone,” Waugh said in a video posted byESPNcricinfo.

“I think any extra motivation will makethem dig in more and get more runs. Soyou’re better off not saying much to him.”

Australia captain Tim Paine and hismen were involved a spat with Kohli dur-ing India’s last tour of Australia with endedwith the visitors registering their first everTest series (2-1) win Down Under.

PTI n DUBAI

Mumbai Indians bowlingcoach Shane Bond has

described his side’s pacespearhead Jasprit Bumrah asthe best T20 bowler in theworld, saying it was always aprivilege to watch him play inthe Indian Premier League.

Bumrah and his pacepartner Trent Boult blewaway the Delhi Capitals bat-ting line-up in the IPLQualifier 1 on Thursday tohelp MI reach the final.

“Jasprit (Bumrah), it’s aprivilege to watch. The bestT20 bowler in the worldgoing about his work,” Bondsaid in a video posted by MIon its Twitter handle.

Bumrah returned withfigures of 4/14 from his fourovers while Boult had 2/9from his two overs as MI beatDC by 57 runs.

Bond also praised Boultfor the impact he has made

for MI in the IPL.“I loved working with

Trent (Boult) since 2012. Wehave seen him at his very bestand I was really excited to

have him at ourteam becausewhat a devastat-ing bowler hecan be and hehas done thatthroughout thetournamentfor us.

“ I t

makes life so much easier.When you are picking upwickets early and he has beenthe No 1 guy in the tourna-ment,” the former NewZealand pacer added.

Talking about his team’sstrengths, Bond said MI havean ‘intimidating’ battingdepartment.

“We’re an intimidatingbatting line-up, it’s just relent-less. Delhi fought really hardin the middle of the inningsand got back themselves wellinto the game. If they had lit-tle bit of more luck, we wouldhave been under pressure atthe back,” he said.

KL Rahul 670 runs

Jasprit Bumrah 27 wickets

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7, 2020

12

MOTION PICTURE

DUGOUTWe have a couple of daysbefore our next challenge.As a group, we have got todig really deep and try andfind ways to get better in ashort period of time

I think we were on top when wegot two quick wickets, and theywere 102-4. We could havecapitalised more at that time, andgotten two more wickets, maybewe could've chased around 170

Every time he (Surya) hascome in to bat, if the earlywicket has fallen, he has comeand taken the pressure awayfrom the team and the batterthat he is batting with

I am okay with not gettingwickets and winning thetournament, I have beengiven a role so I just want toexecute that role. I don'tfocus on the end result

TODAY

Live from 7:30pmSTAR SSPORTS 11

VVSS

Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Manish Pandey lifts weight duringgym session @SunRisers

Sports presenter and Indian cricketer Stuart Binny’s wife MayantiLanger pays tribute to Cupa India for putting itself on the front lineto make others lives better mayantilanger_b/Instagram

Delhi Capitals pacer Kagiso Rabada signs jerseys @DelhiCapitals

AFP n LONDON

Lille’s Yusuf Yazici brought ACMilan and Zlatan

Ibrahimovic down to earth witha bump on Thursday with allthree goals in a 3-0 EuropaLeague win over the seven-time European champions.

The 39-year-oldIbrahimovic had been one of thestories of the early part of theseason after firing seven goalsin four league games to takethe Italian giants top of SerieA, but it was Yazici, who isyet to start in Ligue 1this season, who stolethe show with his hat-trick at the San Siro.

Yazici’s goals putLille, who are unbeat-en in all competitionsthis season, one pointahead of Milan who lostfor the first time sincefootball returned fromthe first coronaviruslockdown.

Celtic are bottom ofGroup H after beinghammered 4-1 at homeby Sparta Prague.

“I thought we couldbe more dangerous, butagainst such a fast teamonce we went 2-0 behindthe game got complicated.They punished us for everymistake,” said Milan coachStefano Pioli after his side’s24-match unbeaten run

came to an end.“(Ibrahimovic) was not sat-

isfied with the team’s perfor-mance nor his own.”

KANE'S DDOUBLE CCENTURYKelechi Iheanachowas the star forLeicester City asthey made it threewins from threewith their 4-0thumping ofPortuguese sideBraga in a matchthat was never indoubt from themoment the

Nigerian opened thescoring in the 21stminute.

He collected hissecond with a long-range effort threeminutes after thebreak before provid-ing the low cross for

Dennis Praet to taphome the third and endthe match as a contest.

James Maddisoncompleted the scoringfrom close range with

12 minutes remaining asBrendan Rodgers’ went threepoints ahead of Braga at the topof Group G.

Fellow Premier League sideArsenal also maintained their100 percent record with a 4-1win over Molde.

Earlier, Harry Kane scoredhis 200th goal for TottenhamHotspur as he helped fire Spurstop of Group J — level on sixpoints with Royal Antwerp andLASK — with a 3-1 win atLudogorets.

England captain Kaneopened the scoring for JoseMourinho’s side with just 12minutes on the clock when heheaded home Lucas Moura’scorner to bring up his doublecentury of Tottenham goals inhis 300th match for the club.

“I’m delighted with thatand I probably could have scoreda couple more in that 45 min-utes,” said Kane.

“It’s a great milestone toreach and hopefully there are afew more to come.”

BENFICA BBOUNCE BBACKRangers were poised to

make it three wins from three inGroup D when they were 3-1ahead at Benfica with 14 min-utes remaining.

But despite losing NicolasOtamendi to a straight red cardwith less than 20 minutes gone,two-time European championsBenfica fought back and inadded time levelled whenDarwin Nunez raced throughand slotted home past AllanMcGregor.

The pair are joined on sevenpoints at the top of the group,four ahead of Lech Poznan whobeat bottom side Standard Liege3-1.

Qarabag lost 2-0 atSivasspor to remain rooted tothe bottom of Group I.

Roma took control of GroupA with a thumping 5-0 win overCluj that put the leaders threepoints clear of the Romaniansand Young Boys.

Fellow Italians Napoli alsowon, 2-1 at HNK Rijeka, tomove level on six points withGroup F leaders AZ Alkmaarand Real Sociedad.

La Liga leaders Sociedadbeat Alkmaar 1-0, leaving thegroup on a knife edge with threematches remaining.

AFP n PARIS

Rafael Nadal battled pastAustralian Jordan

Thompson in straight sets toreach the Paris Masters quar-ter-finals on Thursday, as DiegoSchwartzman moved withinone win of securing an ATPTour Finals debut.

Top seed Nadal got the bet-ter of Thompson 6-1, 7-6 (7/3)to set up a last-eight clashwith fellow Spaniard PabloCarreno Busta, who must winthe title this week to have achance of snatching the lastTour Finals spot fromSchwartzman.

World number 61Thompson missed a set pointto force a decider in his firstmeeting with the 20-timeGrand Slam champion.

“He started to serve well. Imissed a couple of returns Ishouldn’t have,” said Nadal. “Itwas close. I suffered until theend but I found a way to winthe tie-break.”

Nadal, who claimed his1,000th career victory by beat-ing Feliciano Lopez onWednesday, is bidding for afirst Paris indoors triumphwhich would draw him levelwith Novak Djokovic on arecord 36 Masters titles.

The world number two

has still never failed to reachthe quarter-finals at Bercy inhis eight appearances despiteonly making the final once,when he lost to DavidNalbandian in 2007.

Swiss veteran StanWawrinka made the quarter-finals with a comeback 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over in-form AndreyRublev of Russia.

Rublev, who has a season-best 40 wins in 2020, hadalready made sure of his placeat the ATP Finals.

Wawrinka will next faceGerman fourth seed AlexanderZverev who defeated homehope Adrian Mannarino 7-6(13/11), 6-7 (7/9), 6-4

Argentinian Schwartzmanthrashed Alejandro Davidovich

Fokina in the third round.The sixth seed raced to a 6-

1, 6-1 victory in only an hourand will face third seed DaniilMedvedev in the quarter-finalsafter the Russian’s 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over Australia's Alex deMinaur.

Schwartzman will qualifyfor the Tour Finals if he winsthat match or if Carreno Bustadoes not take the title.

The winner ofSchwartzman and Medvedevcould face Milos Raonic in thesemis, after the Canadian sawoff American world number 91Marcos Giron 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.

Former Wimbledon run-ner-up Raonic will play Frenchyoungster Ugo Humbert inthe quarters.

PTI n SHARJAH

Defending championsSupernovas will have to get

past an upbeat Trailblazers hereon Saturday to stay alive in theWomen’s T20 Challenge.

Brimming with confidenceafter a crushing win overVelocity on Thursday, the SmritiMandhana-led Trailblazers willaim for another win to finishwith two victories and enter thefinal on November 9 withmomentum behind them.

They will be up againstSupernovas, a team smartingfrom defeat in the tournamentopener against Velocity. Anotherloss would knock Supernovasout of the tournament.

Trailblazers came up with astellar bowling performance tobundle out Velocity for 47 withEngland’s left-arm spinnerSophie Ecclestone, the world No1 T20 bowler, returning impres-sive figures of 4 for 9 in 3.1 overs.Mandhana will be hoping thatthe bowlers continue the goodwork against a strongSupernovas line-up led byHarmanpreet Kaur.

The southpaw will beaiming to showcase her skillsand expect her batting unit tostep up in a crunch encounter.

Supernovas need a win andthat will bring the net run-rateinto play and possibly eliminateVelocity who have a negativeNRR (-1.869).

Velocity, on their part, willhope Supernovas lose allowingthem to advance to the summitclash.

Kaur, the Indian T20 cap-tain, will look to build on her

performance in the tournamentopener and hope Sri LankanChamari Atapattu continuesher good form.

Supernovas appeared tohave the match under controlbefore Sushma Verma and SuneLuus took it away from them asthe bowlers crumbled underpressure.

On the Sharjah pitch thathas gotten slower progressively,the spinners will have a big roleto play. Ecclestone will again bea key bowler for Trailblazerswith fellow left-arm spinnerRajeshwari Gayakwad and vet-eran Jhulan Goswami expectedto back her up.

Both Supernovas andTrai lblazerspossess quali-ty spinnersand how thebatters ofthe two sidesfare could welldecide the fateof the match.

PTI n ABU DHABI

Sunrisers Hyderabad has madeit to the Qualifier 2 of IPL2020 by winning the

Eliminator against RoyalChallengers Bangalore. SRH vsRCB Eliminator became a verytense affair and was only decidedin the last over. Chasing 132 set byRCB, SRH aided by composed halfcentury by Kane Williamsonsomehow managed to win the lastover thriller. This is 4th consecu-tive victory for resurgent SRH afterthey won 3 league games to makeit to playoffs. SRH will now playDelhi Capitals on Sunday in theQualifier 2. The winner will makeit to the finals of IPL 2020 and takeon 4 times dchampions MumbaiIndians scheduled for 10thNovember. RCB meanwhile hasexited from IPL 2020. Virat Kohli’steam dreams to win their maiden

IPL will still stay a dream for onemore year. Hyderabad produced abrilliant bowling effort to restrict

a batting-heavy Royal ChallengersBangalore to a modest 131 forseven in the IPL Eliminator here

on Friday. Jason Holder led SRH’sbowling attack with impressive fig-ures of three for 25 and was ablysupported by T Natarajan (2/33)as RCB found the going difficultfrom the beginning. AB de Villiers’(56 off 43) scored a timely half-century to somewhat rescue RCBfrom a horrible start and take theteam past the 120-run mark. RCBwitnessed a horrendous start totheir innings as they lost two wick-ets for 15 runs inside four oversafter being sent into bat. SkipperVirat Kohli (6) , who opened theinnings along side DevduttPadikkal (1), was the first todepart, nicking one on the leg sideto injured Wriddhiman Saha'sreplacement Sreevats Goswamioff Holder. An over later, Holderpicked up his second victim whenPadikkal pulled one to PriyamGarg inside the circle as RCBslumped to 15 for two.

PTI n DUBAI

Delhi Capitals headcoach Ricky Ponting

lamented that his bowlerswere miles off in the deathovers against MumbaiIndians in Qualifier 1 andthey will have to “dig deep”as a team to make the IPLfinal.

Delhi will get anothershot at making the titleclash in Qualifier onSunday after being out-played by Mumbai onThursday night.

“It was mainly the exe-cution through our firstfew overs, the first overwent for 15-16, so you areon the back foot prettymuch straight away there.We did fight our way backinto the game.

“We crawled our wayback, from sort of 7-14(overs) were in our favour,they were only about 120/4,so we were hoping for 170total, which might havebeen in our ballpark,”Ponting said at the postmatch press conference.

Delhi ended up leaking78 runs in the last fiveovers.

“...Our execution inthe last four to five overswas miles off where weneeded it to be. We contin-uously fed Hardik Pandyawhere he wants the ball,even Ishan Kishan keptgetting away from us andhe has played well in all thegames we have playedagainst MI, so far in thisseason.

“We felt that we hadplanned very well. Our

meetings have been as clearand as concise as it hasbeen throughout the tour-nament but under pressureour execution today wasmiles off,” he lamented.

He said that the wayDelhi managed the bowlerswas right and it was againthe execution that let themdown.

"We have seen tonightwith Hardik's little cameo,we can see how the gamecan change if you don't getit right or if you exposesomeone that hasn't got

appropriate skill to bowl inthe death overs.

"So, look the way wemanaged the overs wasright, just the execution letus down," he added.

Ponting conceded thatMumbai outplayed them.

"If you look at the dis-missals, Prithvi (Shaw)looked like got a good ball.Ajinkya (Rahane) also gotone that swung back nice-ly and the execution ofBumrah's yorker to Shikhar(Dhawan) was absolutelyfirst-class.

Supernovas face Trailblazersin must-win clash SRH WIN TENSE ELIMINATOR

Jason Holder celebrates aftet dismissing Virat Kohli IPLT20.com

Our execution in death overs was miles off: Ponting

Bumrah is world's best T20 bowler: BondJust want to execute role given by team: BumrahDubai: Mumbai Indianspace spearhead JaspritBumrah says he is reapingthe reward for not worryingabout results and just focus-ing on executing the roleassigned to him by the team.

“I am okay with not get-ting wickets and winningthe tournament, I have beengiven a role so I just want toexecute that role,” Bumrah,who regained the purple capwith a tally of 27 wickets,said.

“I am always ready whenthe captain wants me tobowl. I don’t focus on the endresult. When I have done thatit’s always gone downhill.”

Bumrah had delivered aperfect yorker to get rid of in-form Shikhar Dhawan (0) forhis first wicket.

“Opening yorker wasreally important. I decided Iwill do that early in thegame and when it comes offit’s always nice,” he said.

Bumrah and New

Zealand’s Trent Boult (2/9)had dished out a ‘Test matchopening spell’ to blow outDelhi for 143 for 8.

“I have a great cama-raderie with Boult. We dis-cuss fields, situations, sothere’s a lot to learn fromhim.

“Batsmen have been tak-ing all the awards, so it’s goodto get it as a bowler (laughs).Ah no, I don’t worry aboutawards. As long as the teamis winning I am happy.” PTI

Sledging isn’t going to worry Kohli: Waugh warns Aussies

Nadal close to elusive Paris title HARRY KANE DO ITEnglish captain scores his 200th goal for Spurs in 3-0 away win againstBraga; Lille stun high-flying AC Milan