Record 86.33% polling marks crucial Huzurabad by-election

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PNS n HYDERABAD

As expected, voters in Huzurabadconstituency queued up onSaturday in front of polling stationsin the constituency to exercisetheir franchise in one of the mostkeenly contested by-elections in thehistory of the State.

The polling percentage wasrecorded at 86.33 percent by closeof voting. However, this figuremay be revised by the ElectionCommission once all ReturningOfficers report back to the pollpanel.

From the time polling opened at7 am, brisk polling was noticed andthe pace gained tempo after 3 pmto register 61.66 percent. By thetime polling ended at 7 pm, peo-ple were still standing in longqueues before some polling sta-tions.

All those standing in the queuebefore 7 pm would be allowed tocast their vote.

The outcome of the by-electionthat generated interest across theState will be known on November2 when counting of votes will betaken up to know whom the peo-ple of the constituency chose in theelection that was fought on theplank of self-respect and justice vswelfare and development pro-grammes of TRS government.

Polling over all went off peace-fully barring some minor incidentsin some areas of Veenavanka and

Kamalapur mandals where TRSand BJP indulged in minor clash-es and levelled allegations againsteach other of influencing the vot-ers by distributing cash and aboutnon-locals going round the pollingstations.

TRS leader Kaushik Reddy and

Tula Uma of opposition wereobstructed by rival party workerswhen they tried to go round thepolling stations.

Chief Electoral Off icerShashank Goel said the ElectionCommission received 88 com-plaints and the election observers

were gathering more informa-tion. Complaints about distribu-tion of cash were being lookedinto at the field-level and if proventrue, action would be taken evenafter the election, he said.

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Record 86.33% polling markscrucial Huzurabad by-election

‘Plug and Play’ to launchIndia’s first tech centre in cityNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad will be the first city inIndia to welcome ‘Plug And Play’,the world’s leading open innova-tion platform in the first week ofDecember.

The announcement came afterthe executives from the companymet with IT Minister KT RamaRao in Paris. The executives fromPlug And Play said that India’s first‘Plug And Play’ centre would belaunched in the presence of KTR,and the company’s founder andCEO Saeed Amidi.

In Hyderabad, Plug And Playwill be focusing on building theecosystem for Mobility, IoT,Energy, and Infrastructure. Seattle-based Triangulum Labs, a VentureFoundry, will be partnering withPlug and Play Tech centre in

Hyderabad to run the incubationfor IoT and Smart Cities.

In a press communique, KTRsaid: “This is a great boost to theinnovation ecosystem in Telanganawhich is prominently known forthe T-hub, the India’s largest start-up incubator.”

The Minister said that Telanganahas been able to attract severalmajor investments in the mobili-ty sector in the recent past.

Complaints, clashes, curses: Crucial contest culminatesML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

The intensely fought by-election ledto some minor clashes betweenTRS and BJP activists on pollingday in Huzurabad.

Kaushik Reddy, the Chief ElectionAgent for TRS candidate Gellu Sri-nivas Yadav went round some pol-ling stations in Veenavanka mandalin the afternoon, faced some heatfrom BJP workers who raised slo-gans against him asking him to goback as he was a non-local and wasviolating the model code of conduct.

Tula Uma of BJP met with the samefate when she visited some polling sta-

tions in Veenavanka mandal as TRSworkers objected to her presence.

In many areas, TRS and BJPworkers traded charges againsteach other of creating disturbancesto scare away voters. There werealso allegations of distribution ofcash even as the polling was inprogress by both the parties.

TRS leaders lodged a complaintwith the Election Commission ag-ainst BJP candidate Eatala Rajenderand some news channels for broad-casting his remarks after casting hisvote in Kamalapur polling stationalong with his wife Jamuna.

In TRS-BJP battle, Cong trying to save depositSNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

The battle for the crucialHuzurabad Assembly by-electionhas ended and now, all the twofrontrunners – BJP and TRS – cando is to wait for 48 hours to knowthe fate of their candidates.

In Huzurabad, the contestbetween the BJP and the TRS hasbeen closer than either party wouldhave liked. In fact, the contest is

considered to be so close thateven those on the ground arewondering whether the result willbe on the lines of the DubbakaAssembly by-poll that was won bythe BJP, or the Nagarjuna Sagar by-election, that the TRS won.

The BJP is confident that theDubbaka result will be repeated inHuzurabad while the TRS is sure thatits Nagarjuna Sagar victory will berepeated in Eatala Rajender’s bastion.

The Huzurabad Assembly by-

election is the costliest by-electionso far in Telangana’s political his-tory. Local politicians said that boththe BJP and the TRS have spentmoney like water.

Victory in Huzurabad is moreimportant to the TRS as a partythan its candidate Gellu SrinivasYadav. However, the by-poll is farmore important to BJP candidateEatala Rajendar than for the BJP.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Notwithstanding the high voltagecampaign, all exit polls exceptone on Saturday predicted that BJPcandidate Eatala Rajender is head-ed for a comprehensive victory inthe prestigious Huzurabad by-poll.

Political Laboratory, MissionChanakya, Kautilya Solutions,Murthy Atmasakhshi Group andHMR Research Private Limitedpredicted that the BJP candidatewould register an easy victory,while the one conducted byNaganna said that Gellu SrinivasYadav would win.

According to all the exit polls,except one, Eatala Rajender waspoised to win the by-election witha majority of 10,000 to 25,000 votes.

However, all pollsters were inagreement that Congress candidateBalmoor Venkat Narsing Raowould not only be relegated to thethird place, but would also lose hisdeposit as he wouldn’t be able tocross the 10 percent vote margin.

Political Laboratory, in its exit

poll, predicted that Eatala wouldwin by a margin of 23,000 to24,000 votes, bagging 51 percentvotes. It said that Gellu Srinivas willget 42 percent votes and NarsingRao a measly 2-3 percent.

Mission Chanakya gave 59.20percent votes to Eatala, 39.26 per-cent to the TRS candidate and ashockingly low 0.69 percent to theCongress candidate.

TS rolls the red carpet for French companiesPNS n HYDERABAD

A delegation from Telangana, ledby IT Minister KT Rama Rao, helda series of meetings with variousFrench industrialists and CEOs.

KTR met the top managementteam of Servier on the sidelines ofAmbition India Business meet inParis. Servier is the second largestpharmaceutical group in Francewhich has a presence in 150 coun-tries with 4.7 billion Euros in revenue.

IT Minister KT Rama Rao with representatives of the world's largest leading innovationplatform Plug and Play that will be launching its centre in Hyderabad, in Paris on Saturday.

Will support KCR ifhe tries to uniteTelugu States: Jagga PNS n VATICAN CITY

TPCC working president T. JaggaReddy on Saturday said that hewould extend his support toChief Minister K. ChandrasekharRao if the latter strives to unite thetwo Telugu States by launchingthe ‘Samaikya Vadam’ movement.

Jagga Reddy, who is also theSangareddy MLA, made it clearthat his support is only for a unit-ed Telugu State.

Jagga Reddy was taking part inan interaction with journalists atthe CLP office on Saturday.

He said that there are manywho are now speaking for a unit-ed Telugu State as he had said inthe past.

“Leaders who criticised meduring the Telangana movementare now extending support to talkof a united Telugu State,” theCongress leader said.

Jagga Reddy said that KCR’sstatements at the TRS plenarywere politically confusing.

PM Modi invitesPope Francis to IndiaPNS n VATICAN CITY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi onSaturday said he had a "very warmmeeting" with Pope Francis anddiscussed a wide range of issues,including the Covid-19 pandem-ic and the challenge posed by cli-mate change, with the head of theRoman Catholic church and alsoinvited the Pontiff to visit India atan early date.

Modi, who is the first IndianPrime Minister to meet Francissince he became Pope in 2013, alsotweeted pictures of him embracingPope Francis.

"Had a very warm meeting withPope Francis. I had the opportu-nity to discuss a wide range ofissues with him and also invitedhim to visit India,” Modi tweetedafter the historic meeting.

Pope Francis received PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in aprivate audience at the ApostolicPalace in the Vatican, theMinistry of External Affairs saidin a press release.

Modiji powerful because of Congress: MamataPNS n PANAJI:

Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Saturday slammedthe Congress for making PrimeMinister Narendra Modi (and theBJP) "more powerful" by acting asthe party's publicist, and appearedto rule out any possibility of analliance ahead of elections in Goanext year.

She accused the Congress of fail-ing to recognise the need for theopposition to unite and underlinedthe importance of regional partiesto counter the BJP and strengthenIndia's federal structure.

"Modiji is going to be morepowerful because of the Congress...because the Congress is the BJP'sTRP (television ratings points). If

they (the Congress) cannot take adecision... the country will suffer.Why (should) the country suffer...

they have had enough opportuni-ty," the Trinamool chief said.

In Goa to campaign for the

Trinamool - and hold talks withVijay Sardesai's Goa Forward Party(formerly an ally of the ruling BJP)- she pointed to the April-May elec-tion in Bengal. The Congress hadthen turned down a chance to allywith the Trinamool, opting insteadto work with the Left and, contro-versially, the Indian Secular Front.State Congress chief Adhir RanjanChowdhury grandly declared "therewill not be any BJP or Trinamool...only the grand alliance will remain."

It slumped to defeat at the polls- neither the Left nor the GOP wona single seat. The Trinamool -which claimed a strong win - thisweek lamented the Congress'unwillingness to join hands.

Lengthy queues of voters seen waiting to exercise their franchise during the by-election for the Huzurabad Assembly seat on Saturday.

All partiescomplainedabout cashdistribution: CEOPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Electoral Officer ShashankGoel on Saturday said that pollingin Huzurabad by-election con-cluded peacefully and amidst asafe environment with adher-ence to Covid-19 protocol.

He said that till 7 pm, a recordpolling percentage of 86.33 wasregistered in all the polling sta-tions across the constituency,barring two, where voting was stillin progress.

There were complaints that afew EVMs did not function andthe technicians appointed by thepoll panel addressed the issues.“In two places, they replaced theEVMs and after that, pollingwent on smoothly,” Goel said.

In many placesacross theconstituency,TRS and BJPworkers tradedcharges againsteach other ofcreatingdisturbances toscare awayvoters.

The Congressmade Narendra

Modi more powerful asit failed to recognisethe need for theopposition to unite theregional parties tocounter the BJP andstrengthen India'sfederal structure

— MAMATA BANERJEE

West Bengal Chief Minister

Badvel by-pollpeaceful; voterturnout 68.12%PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The electorate in the Badvel Asse-mbly segment of Kadapa districthas not shown much interest inexercising their franchise in theby-poll held on Thursday.

According to election author-ities, when polling closed at 7pm, the overall poll percentagestood at 68.12 pc, showing asharp decline from the voterturnout in 2019 polls.

2 IAF officials testpositive for Zikavirus in KanpurPNS n KANPUR

Three people, including two Ind-ian Air Force personnel, on Sat-urday tested positive for the Zikavirus in Kanpur, officials said.

"With three fresh cases of Zikavirus infected persons, the tallyreached four. All the three freshcases are males, of which two areIAF personnel, and one is a civil-ian. Kanpur reported its first everZika virus case on October 23 whenan IAF warrant officer was testedpositive for Zika virus," ChiefMedical Officer of Kanpur, DrNepal Singh said.

In Hyderabad, PlugAnd Play will befocusing on buildingthe ecosystem forMobility, IoT, Energy,and Infrastructure.

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New US Consulateto open in city in

’22, boost biz ties

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Exit poll prediction by Politcal Laboratory agency

Look like BJP edges by23,000-24,000 votes

Exit polls favour Eatala

BJP 51%

TRS 42%

INC 2-3%Others <1%

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Gudur notices neem trees acrossState drying up, seeks govt helpPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP senior leader GudurNarayana Reddy on Saturdaydemanded the State govern-ment take steps on a war foot-ing to save the neem trees thathave been drying up due to anunidentified disease.

He said that neem trees havebeen drying up at several placesin the State. “The leaves andbranches are drying up, turn-ing into yellow colour and thetrees on the verge of dying,” thesenior politician said, addingthat this was unusual sinceneem trees generally do notcatch disease.

Gudur said that there is anurgent need to protect theneem trees as they have a lot ofmedicinal value and play a keyrole in maintaining ecological

balance.He said that he has seen

neem trees drying up at sever-al places. On enquiries, hefound that this phenomenonhas been observed in manyplaces across the State. “Threeneem trees in my courtyardhave dried up suddenly in thepast three days,” Gudurinformed. He said that he hasbeen observing the neem treeson his way to several placesaround Hyderabad and nearbydistricts and found that theyare drying up.

The senior politician saidthat usually, the deciduous(drying and drop of leaves)takes place during the SisiraRutuvu period in January andFebruary. “But in this year,neem tree leaves are drying upmuch earlier,” he said.

Gudur said that the ForestDepartment, which has littleto offer to the society, shouldcome forward immediatelyand identify the reason forthis peculiar phenomenon.He said that the department

should take the help of spe-cialists from other States ifrequired.

He said that services of toparborists could be utilised toidentify the disease that hasbeen plaguing the neem treesand suggested that if need be,the State government shouldtake the help of the Centre.

Gudur said that ironically,the State government or theForest Department did nottake notice of this peculiar phe-nomenon and did not takesteps to save the Neem trees sofar.

“The government has beenspending thousands of croreson the Haritha Haram pro-gramme but not taking care ofthe Neem trees which play avital role in purifying the air.Haritha Haram programme

would be a futile exercise if theneem trees are not protected,”Gudur said.

He said that Neem tree hasmedicinal values and its leavesare being used to treat severaldiseases. Neem leaf is used forleprosy, eye disorders, bloodynose, intestinal worms, stom-ach upset, loss of appetite,skin ulcers, diseases of theheart and blood vessels (car-diovascular disease), fever, dia-betes, gum disease (gingivitis),and liver problems.

The veteran politician saidthat the leaves are used to con-trol chickenpox. New motherswould be bathed with hotwater mixed with neem leaves.The floors would be sweptwith neem leaf brooms to wardoff pests from homes, Gudursaid.

Complaints, clashes, curses:Crucial contest culminatesContinued from page 1

Speaking to some news chan-nels, Eatala alleged that thoughthe ruling party violated allnorms and resorted to misuse ofpower, liquor flowed freely andcash was distributed to votersright under the nose of police-men.

He alleged hundreds of croreswere distributed and in someareas, some people openly sat ona dharna that they did not getthe money thus ‘making amockery of democracy’.

“Perhaps Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao did notwant Eatala to enter theAssembly and thus used every-thing in his power to ensure that.

If people did not resist this, soci-ety would be enslaved in thedays to come,” the former min-ister cautioned.

“However, the enthusiasticturnout of people, defyinginducements to cast their vote tothe person of their choice wasquite heartening to see and wasa sign of better things in store,”the BJP candidate said.

TRS leader Kaushik Reddyalleged that BJP workers werefrustrated and aware that theywere losing the election, as seenby the overwhelming responseto the TRS campaign.

Gellu Srinivas who cast hisvote at Himmatpur polling sta-tion in Veenavanka mandalappealed to everyone to exercise

their franchise and ensuredemocracy thrives.

Meanwhile, the TRS socialmedia cell lodged a complaintwith Hyderabad Cyber CrimePolice against those circulatingfake videos in the social mediaagainst their party in the wakeof by-election.

The videos related to FinanceMinister Harish Rao who spokeafter the Dubbak by-electionwere deliberately posted andmade viral in the context ofHuzurabad by-election, allegedsocial media cell representativesKrishank and others.

He alleged that BJP workersresorted to such false propagan-da as they were scared of losingthe by-election.

Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar's last rites on Oct 31PNS n BENGALURU

As thousands of grieving fanscontinue to f lock theKanteerava stadium here onSaturday to pay their finalrespects to Kannada film starPuneeth Rajkumar, KarnatakaChief Minister BasavarajBommai said the last rites ofthe actor will be performed onOctober 31.

The late actor's family andthe government had earlierplanned to perform the lastrites this evening, once hisdaughter, who is in the US,reaches the city.

"Puneeth's daughter hasreached Delhi and is travellingto Bengaluru and may reachthe city by about 6 pm.Secondly, there is lot of crowdhere (Kanteerava Stadium) andmany people wish to see him

for one last time, also after 6pmwhen it will be dark it will bedifficult to perform last ritesthere (Kanteerava studio),"Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here,he said keeping all this inmind and after discussing withPuneeth's elder brothersShivarajkumar, RaghavendraRajkumar and other familymembers, it has been decidedto conduct the last rites tomor-row.

"So we have made an oppor-tunity for more people to paytheir last respects till tomorrowmorning. I appeal to his(Puneeth's) fans to pay theirlast respects with patience andby maintaining peace, as thereis time till tomorrow morning,"he said.

Considered as the Kannadacinema's reigning star, Puneeth,

youngest of the five children ofthespian and matinee idol DrRajkumar, passed away at theage of 46, after suffering a car-diac arrest on Friday.

Requesting fans to cooperatewith police as there is enoughtime, the CM said, "Police per-sonnel are here for us and tosee to it that things go on in adisciplined way, they too areour people and are fans (ofPuneeth)."

"Everyone should cooperatein maintaining peace andorder... timing of the last riteswill be decided late night,depending on the situationand will be informed," headded.

Puneeth's elder brother andactor Raghavendra Rajkumartoo thanking fans for cooper-ation so far, clarified that lastrites will be during the first half

tomorrow."As Appu's (as Puneeth is

fondly called by fans) elderdaughter was in New York forstudies, there is some delay inher arrival. As the last rites can-

not be performed after dark, wewill decide on the timing of thelast rites tomorrow, late in thenight today, once she arrives.We are aware that you (fans)are also in pain," he said.

RSS plans to expand itsbase in all developmentblocks of IndiaPNS n DHARWAD

The Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh as part of expanding itsactivities is mulling reaching alldevelopment blocks of thecountry in the next three years,RSS general secretaryDattatreya Hosabale said onSaturday.

"We have decided to expandour activities. At present wehave our presence in 4,683 outof 6,483 development blocksbut we want to reach all thedevelopment blocks of India byMarch 2024," he said,

briefing reporters on thedecisions taken during thethree-day Akhil Bharatiya

Karyakari Mandal (ABKM)meeting here, which conclud-ed today.

The Sangh has also appealedto those who wish to volunteerto work for two years to expandits base across India and ensureits presence in all the develop-ment blocks by 2025 when itcelebrates its centenary.

The RSS functionary saidthe Sangh does not have itsactivities in Mizoram,Nagaland, Kashmir andLakshadweep.

He added that the Sanghwas running its Shakhas inKashmir but after the migra-tion of Hindus from there,activities were affected.

Record 86.33% pollingmarks crucial Huzurabad...Continued from page 1

The polling was conducted inadherence to the Covid-19 pro-tocol and voters were seenmaintaining physical distance.Shashank Goel also visited somepolling stations in Kamalapurduring the day to observe thetrend of polling.

In all, 306 polling stationswere set up with web castingfacility to enable the officers toexamine the polling process inall the polling stations.

Twenty companies of centralforces and 3,865 policemenwere deployed to ensure smoothpolling and all facilities wereprovided at the polling sta-tions. Wheelchairs were provid-ed for the convenience of phys-ically-challenged and healthworkers were stationed at everypolling station to provide masksto those who needed and offersanitiser.

The Election Commissionhad extended the polling timeby two hours beyond 5 pm inview of the Covid-19 situation.However, a majority of the vot-ers in five mandals of the con-stituency cast their vote by 6 pm.The rise in poll percentage isattributed to huge turnout ofwomen and youth particularlyafter 3 p.m.

Both the ruling TRS andBJP have been hoping that thesignificant rise in poll percent-age would be advantageous tothem in the neck and neck elec-tion but both the parties wereunable to predict the majority.

The by-election preceded byover five month long intensecampaign marked by padayatraby Eatala and road shows andmeetings with various com-munities by Ministers generat-ed never before interest in theoutcome.

While the opposition parties

have predicted the by-electionresult would bring a sea changein the political scene in the State,the ruling party exuded confi-dence that its welfare and devel-opment programmes would beblessed by people once again.

Exit polls...Continued from page 1

Kautilya Solutions wasmore adventurous in itsprediction, putting themargin of victory forEatala at 13,935 votes or 47percent. It said that GelluSrinivas Yadav would bag79,632 votes at 40 percentand Narsing Rao 8 percentor 15,226 votes while theothers would get 5 percentor 9,950 votes.

Murthy AtmasakshiGroup predicted thatEatala would win the by-poll with 10,500 to 12,300votes or around 50.5 per-cent. It said that GelluSrinivas Yadav will get43.1 percent votes andNarsing Rao 5.7 percentvotes.

HMR Research PrivateLimited exit poll predict-ed that Eatala will get51.16 percent, SrinivasYadav 44.98 percent andNarsing Rao 2.81 percent.

However, Naganna’s preand tele exit poll by 6 pmpredicted that SrinivasYadav will win the by-elec-tion with 45.30 to 48.9 per-cent votes and Eatala willget 42.90 to 45.50 percentvotes. Naganna said thatthe Congress candidatewill get 2.25 to 4 percentvotes and others will get5.51 to 6.50 percent votes.

However, Naganna’s exitpoll took into account thevotes cast till 6 pm.

‘Plug and Play’ to...Continued from page 1

The componies include ZF,Fiat Chrysler / Stellantis, KTRsaid adding that the State is inthe process of creating aworld-class mobility ecosys-tem in partnership with sev-eral OEMs and Tier-I suppli-ers.

“Innovation is the key dri-ver for growth of this sectorand we are glad that Plug AndPlay has chosen Hyderabad forits entry into India. Telanganais also moving up in its valuechain in the areas ofHealthcare, IoT, Energy, andFintech and we look forwardto the collaboration with PlugAnd Play to play a majorrole,” the Minister said.

The leadership team fromPlug and Play, OmeedMehrinfahr, MD and co-headEMEA from the Paris office,Sascha Karimpour, MDGermany and StartupAutobahn from the StuttgartCentre, and HannahBoomgarden, ProgramDirector Startup Autobahnmet the delegation fromTelangana including KTR,Principal Secretary JayeshRanjan, and Chief RelationsOfficer Amarnath ReddyAtmakuri at the French Senatein Paris and held discussionsfor opening up the location inHyderabad.

Sascha Karimpour said“With the enthusiasm and thesupport that the Minister hasshown, Plug And Play willbuild the most successful col-laboration platform in India

and emulate the success of theStartup Autobahn inGermany, which in recordtime, became an internation-al epicentre for new tech col-laboration between establishedcorporations and tech startupsin the mobility sector.”

The meeting was held onthe sidelines of the AmbitionIndia event hosted by FrenchGovernment and BusinessFrance.

Plug And Play’s networkincludes over 35,000 vettedstartups globally in itsPlaybook and 530+ world-leading corporations, and1,500 active portfolio invest-ments as on date that haveraised US$ 9 billion in venturefunding.

It has 37 offices worldwideincluding Silicon Valley inthe USA, Stuttgart inGermany, Paris in France,Osaka in Japan, Shanghai inChina, Valencia in Spain,Amsterdam in Netherlands,and several other countries.

The company made 162strategic investments in theyear 2020.

Omeed Mehrinfahr said:“In Hyderabad we like to startfocusing on the topicsMobility, IoT, Energy andInfrastructure and in the nextstep possibly expand toFintech and Health. For eachof these verticals we will inviteleading industrial companiesfrom India and PnP's interna-tional network (500+ leadinginternational companies) tohelp accelerate innovationefforts.”

2 IAF officials...Continued from page 1

Soon after diagnosing an IAFpersonnel with Zika virus, thehealth officials collected sam-ples of 22 people who were inclose contact with the infect-ed person, for testing and allsamples were tested negativefor Zika.

Elaborating further, theCMO said 465 samples,including that of a pregnantwoman and those sufferingfrom fever, were collectedover two consecutive days onThursday and Friday thatwas sent to KGMU Lucknowlab for testing. Of this, 3 sam-ples came out positive forZika virus, he added.

Those tested positive werein the age group of 30 to 41years and a couple of themwere asymptomatic andresiding in the vicinity of IAFstation hangars.

All partiescomplained...Continued from page 1

He said all the EVMs werestored in the strong room ofSRR College in Karimnagarand candidates and theiragents could examine thesafety of EVMs.

He said all parties com-plained about distribution ofcash to voters and every sin-gle complaint would beexamined. In some com-plaints, police booked cases,Goel said.

Badvel by-poll...Continued from page 1

Saturday’s voter turnout wasthe lowest in the last few elec-tions to the reservedAssembly segment.

According to the poll datain the 2019 Assembly elec-tions, Badvel recorded a voterturnout of 77.64 pc. Theturnout in the 2014 Assemblyelections was 73.04 pc and in2009 it was 73.07 pc.

The low voter turnout haddampened the spirits of theruling YSRCP leaders whohoped to improve their votemargin if the polling percent-age increases. Barring a fewminor incidents, the Badvelby-poll passed off smoothlyand peacefully.

Modiji powerful...Continued from page 1

"Instead of contesting againstthe BJP they (the Congress)contested against me in Bengal...the morning shows the day,don't you think? They contestagainst me... my party. What doyou think... we will give flow-ers to them?" Ms Banerjee said.

TS rolls the red carpet for French companiesContinued from page 1

Servier, head of open innova-tion and scientific affairsOlivier Nosjean, manufactur-ing control, R&D VP PatrickGenissel, MD internationaloperations of South Asia &Australia Bernard Parrin werepresent in the meeting.

During the meeting, KTRgave them an overview ofTelangana's robust life sciencesand pharma ecosystem. Heexplained to them about vari-ous initiatives of Telanganagovernment like Research andInnovation Circle ofHyderabad (RICH) whichfacilitate industry, academiacollaboration.

The Minister welcomed

them to participate in the 2022BioAsia event and explorepotential collaborationavenues.

Later in the day, KTR metJean Paul Alary, CEO SafranAircraft Engines andAlexandre Ziegl, Senior EVP,International and PublicAffairs, and formerAmbassador of France to Indiaat Safran headquarters in Paris.

Safran Electrical and Power,part of the French multination-al aircraft and rocket engine,aerospace component, defenceand security company recent-ly expanded its aircraft enginesfacility in Hyderabad.

In the meeting, the Ministerdiscussed potential for settingup a dedicated skill develop-

ment initiative for aerospaceand defence sector inTelangana

Air Attaché at the IndianEmbassy in France, AirCommodore Hilal Ahmad, wasalso present in the meeting.

The delegation met alsoPhilippe Orliange, DirectorAsia and Middle East, FrenchDevelopment Agency on thesidelines of the Ambition Indiaevent in Paris.

The French DevelopmentAgency (AFD) group finances,supports and accelerates tran-sitions towards a more just andsustainable world. AFD teamsare involved in more than4,000 projects in overseas ter-ritories and 115 countries.

Later, KTR held a meeting

with Thales Group EVP MarkDarmon and the company’sIndia CEO Ashish Saraf.

Thales is a major Frenchmultinational company whichhas a rich history of over a cen-tury. The company operates infive verticals- Digital Identity& Security, Defence & Security,Aerospace, Space & Transport.Thales has operations in fivecontinents and employs over80,000 people.

KTR discussed Telangana'sforays into several emergingtechnologies and the recentlaunch of the ‘Medicines fromthe Sky’ project in collabora-tion with WEF.

The delegation also held ameeting with Keolis CEOBernard Tabary.

Will support...Continued from page 1

“However, I know KCR andhis strategies very well. KCRmight have made thosecomments for political gainsor for something else,” hesaid.

Jagga Reddy said that KCRmay have his own strategy instating that people fromAndhra Pradesh were askinghim to launch the TRS thereand AP Minister Perni Nani’sreaction that it is better forKCR to unite the TeluguStates instead of floating aparty in AP.

In TRS-BJPbattle, Cong...Continued from page 1

In the 2004 and 2008 Assemblyelections, TRS had fielded V.Lakshmi Kantha Rao fromthe seat and had won. From2009 onwards, it was Eatala allthe way, contesting on TRSticket. After Eatala’s exit fromthe TRS, the BJP welcomedhim with open arms and gavehim the ticket to contest the by-election.

The BJP and the TRS havetaken the Huzurabad by-elec-tion very seriously and theresult is important to both theparties. A victory or defeatwill bring no change in thegovernment. If the BJP winsits strength will increase tothree from two in theAssembly and if the TRSwins, its strength will remainthe same.

The result may not changethe state’s political scene as thenext Assembly elections arefar away. But the winningparty will get a major moralebooster.

The Congress has alwayscome second in the constituen-cy since the TRS started win-ning here. But this time theCongress is likely to comethird as Eatala is giving the rul-ing party a tough fight.

Legal notice on phone checksDAVE BENNETT SILVERY

n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Police Commiss-ioner Anjani Kumar was iss-ued a legal notice after videosof police officials checkingthe phones of private citizenswent viral.

Activists said that the checksclearly violated the citizen’sright to privacy as well as otherrights.

Srinivas Kodali of theInternet Freedom Foundation(IFF), sent the legal notice tothe official demanding toacknowledge the issue and toput an immediate stop to theillegal surveillance.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Srinivas Kodali said that thestatement from theCommissioner said that it wasa routine check at a crimescene.

PM Modi invites Pope Francis to...Continued from page 1

This was the first meetingbetween an Indian PrimeMinister and the Pope in morethan two decades. In June 2000,late Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee had last visited theVatican and met the then Pope,His Holiness John Paul II.

India and The Holy See havefriendly relations dating back tothe establishment of diplomat-

ic relations in 1948. India ishome to the second largestCatholic population in Asia,the release said.

During the meeting, the twoleaders discussed the Covid-19pandemic and its consequencesfor people across the world.They also discussed the chal-lenge posed by climate change,it said.

The Prime Minister, who is inItaly to attend the G20 Summit,

briefed the Pope about theambitious initiatives taken byIndia in combating climatechange as well as India's successin administering one billionCovid-19 vaccination doses.Prime Minister Modi will alsoattend the Climate Summit to beheld in Glasgow from Sunday.

His Holiness appreciatedIndia's assistance to countries inneed during the pandemic, therelease said.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY| OCTOBER 31,2021 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

Ahead of Diwali, the historicCharminar will once againhost ‘Ek Shaam Charminar KeNaam’, the event organised byGHMC and QQSUDA.

Special Chief SecretaryArvind Kumar announced theschedule of events that will takeplace at the Tank Bund andCharminar this Sunday.

The civic bodies havearranged a plethora of activi-ties to engage the visitors andmake it an evening well spent.

From band performance toSufi night, games for kids toclowns and jugglers, caricatur-ists to temporary tattoo artists,matka chai to delicious Old Citydelicacies and lastly, handi-crafts to artificial jewellery willbe present at the same place.

The Telangana State Police

Band will be back this Sundayto set the evening alight withtheir instrumental music. Thiswill be followed by a Sufi /Ghazal performance to set themood for the evening. Theseperformances will be plannedin a manner that there is nomusic or disturbance during

azaan, namaz and pooja tim-ings.Free saplings will be dis-tributed by HMDA to all visi-tors.

Food stalls were a massivehit last time and this time too,all those stalls – non-veg deli-cacies, chaat and snacks, icecream and desserts will be

back. For the shopping lovers,handicrafts, artificial jewellery,bangles, etc will be present.Caricature artists, face painters,temporary tattoo artists, magi-cians, etc were all big hits withthe public and will be back thistime too.

Mobile toilets will be set up

at various locations for theconvenience of the public.Necessary parking arrange-ments have been made for allthe visitors.As per the release,all visitors have been request-ed to wear face masks andmaintain social distancing at alltimes.

Memorable ‘Sunday Funday’ awaits citizensGHMC OFFICE ON THE SARDAR MAHAL ROAD

OLD PENSION OFFICE, MOTIGALLI

QQ STADIUM

MJ BRIDGE

SYJ COMPLEX

CHARMINAR BUS TERMINAL – IN-GATE

AU HOSPITAL, CHARMINAR

FREE PARKING WILL BE AVAILABLE AT

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Forest Department hasinitiated carnivore sign surveyas part of All India TigerEstimates 2021-22 at theAmrabad Tiger Reserve.

To understand the pattern ofmovement and feeding of wildanimals, nearly 300 excretasamples have been collectedfrom the tiger reserve by ForestDepartment personnel.

As per forest officials, "Weare collecting tiger poop forresearch in scat and paralysislaboratory in Amrabad TigerReserve. This is to analyse theparasitic load and to knowabout the pattern of feedingand movement of wild animals

.Till now, close to 300 sampleshave been collected".

Additionally, the ForestDepartment has deployedcamera traps as part of All

India Tiger Estimates 2021-22in the reserve.

A special party is deployedto set up camera traps in chal-lenging places.

300 excreta samples collectedfrom Amrabad Tiger Reserve

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad city policehave announced a major arrestin the ongoing operationagainst narcotic drugs after amainline drug supplier wasapprehended by the Mangal-hat Police on Saturday. Offi-cials seized 20 kg marijuanathat was meant for distributionto suppliers in the city.

The arrested person, HAkash Singh, 32, is a residentof Jhansi Chowrai in theLower Dhoolpet area ofMangalhat.

Police said that during theraids against drugs, Singh’sname kept coming up whensmall-time dealers were inter-rogated in the Dhoolpet area.

Soon, police learnt that Sin-gh was the main supplier tomost of the dealers and was inhiding. On Saturday, the Ma-ngalhat Police apprehendedSingh with 20 kg ganja, hiddenunder the rear seat of his car.

While officials were inter-rogating him, it was learnt thatSingh procured the narcoticfrom his source, Satya Teja, ofVisakhapatnam.

The drug was purchased atRs 2,000 per kg and was being

sold for Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000per kg. Akash Singh hadengaged a worker, identified asChintu Singh, to assist him insupplying the drug.

The police also learnt thatAkash’s mother and brotherwere in the ganja business andthat cases had been bookedagainst them at the DhoolpetExcise Police Station.

Akash Singh started sup-plying ganja in 2019. While hestarted off by purchasing smallquantities between 1 to 3 kgfrom his supplier, he laterstarted buying large quantities,said the police, adding that hehad purchased 50 kg twomonths ago.

While the police registeredcases against Akash and havebegun an investigation into hisnetwork, cases had alreadybeen booked against his reg-ular customers and a few werein jail, said the police. A huntis on to nab Chintu Singh andSatya Teja, who are abscond-ing.

The police seized two plas-tic gunny bags containingloose ganja weighing 20.5 kgand a Toyota Innova car,which was being used to trans-port the narcotic substance.

Drug supplier heldwith 20 kg ganja

PNS n HYDERABAD

Stating that US-India businessrelationship in Telangana wasa major reason why “an amaz-ing new Consulate” is beingbuilt in Hyderabad, USConsul-General Joel Reifmanon Saturday said that the newUS Consulate is expected to beready for inauguration by Fall-2022 (September-December).

Reifman said, "If you arewondering why the US gov-ernment is investing so muchin this new building, it'sbecause we see the tremendousprogress happening now andwe are confident that the tiesbetween US and Telanganawill only grow in future."

In 2018, the foundationstone for the new US consulatewas laid in the FinancialDistrict. “This modern facili-ty will feature state-of-the-arttechnology to conserve energy,

recycle rainwater and preservethe natural rock formationsand native plants that giveHyderabad its distinctive land-scape.

"We are building withregionally sourced materialsthat highlight local craftsman-

ship. This new US Consulate will

be a manifestation of the depthof the relationship betweenHyderabad and The UnitedStates," the Consul-Generalsaid.

Responding to Reifman, IT

Minister KT Rama Raothanked him and said in atweet, "Thanks to Joel Reifmanfor the endorsement forTelangana’s progressive policies& reiterating the important roleof Telangana in strong India-US relationship".

New US Consulate to openin city in ’22, boost biz ties

PNS n HYDERABAD

A man from Nizamabadthreatened to jump off amulti-storeyed building atChaderghat on Saturday. Theincident created a traffic jamin the area for a brief period.

Police said the man hadcome from Armoor inNizamabad and had threat-ened to commit suicide byjumping from the roof of themulti-storeyed building onSaturday morning.

The Mirchowk Police laterconvinced the man to getdown and took him to thepolice station. The crowdthat gathered there was dis-persed and traffic cleared, thepolice said.

The man was disturbedand had threatened suicideon the spur of moment, saidthe police who later let off theman after counselling.

However, according tosources, the man claimedthat he was being harassed byBJP workers and wanted tomeet Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao to seekhelp.

PNS n HYDERABAD

For better management of san-itation in the city, GHMC willadd another 1,350 Swachh au-to tippers to its fleet inHyderabad.

According to the GHMC,the procurement process hasbeen completed and delivery isexpected very shortly. For doorto door collections, each autotipper will cover 450 house-holds.

As per a press release, due tothe rapid development in thecity, the existing auto tippersare not enough to collect over6,500 metric tonnes of garbagethat is generated every day inthe city.

In this context, steps havebeen taken to distribute autotippers as required. From 2015,as many as 2,500 auto tipperswent door-to-door and col-

lected wet and dry garbageseparately in GHMC limits.

Clean auto tippers collected3,500 tonnes of waste per dayin 2016 and 4,500 tonnes in2017. Against this backdropanother 650 clean auto tipperswith a capacity of 3.3 cubicmeters were distributed for thesecond time under the Driver-cum-Owner scheme. Each ofthese vehicles collected 1.5

metric tonnes of wet and drygarbage each day house-to-ho-use in the newly-formedcolonies.

In addition to the existing3,150 clean auto tippers,another 1,350 vehicles will bedistributed through the Driver-cum-Owner scheme, wherein10 percent is to be paid by thebeneficiaries and the remain-ing 90 percent is lent by banks.

GHMC to add 1,350 Swachh autotippers to garbage collection fleet

Man allegesharassment, attemptssuicide

PNS n HYDERABAD

Right from the day she tookcharge as Hyderabad Mayor,Gadwal R Vijayalakshmi hasbeen in the news for all thewrong reasons.

While earlier this week shewas slapped with a fine fordefacing the city by setting uphoardings for the TRS plenary,now Vijayalakshmi is appar-ently ignoring the provisions ofthe GHMC Act itself.

According to the Act,GHMC Council should meetat least once every threemonths. However, it’s beenfour months since the lastmeeting was held.

The last meeting was held on

June 29.BJP Corporators tried to

meet the Mayor on Saturdaybut she remained unavailable.

Saroornagar DivisionCorporator Srivani Anjan said,"We BJP Corporators went tomeet the Mayor on prior

appointment to discuss thegeneral body meeting but shedidn't turn up."

Monda Market DivisionCorporator KonathamDeepika said, "Today, 25Corporators visited the GHMChead office and have submitteda notice under Section 88D i.e.to conduct a general bodymeeting which has to be con-ducted at least every threemonths. The last meeting wasvirtual and was held fourmonths ago.”

Even in June, the firstCouncil meeting was mired incontroversy as the Mayordecided to hold it virtually,even as her counterpart inWarangal held a physical meet-

ing.“Last time around, the

Mayor did not give us time toprepare an agenda to hold thevirtual meeting and we wereforced to hold the meetingwithout a proper agenda,” saidsome Corporators.

Meanwhile, BJP Corporatorssaid that they would try tomeet the Mayor again onMonday to submit a represen-tation demanding a specialmeeting of the GHMCCouncil.

In the last GHMC elections,the TRS won 56 wards whileBJP and AIMIM won 48 and44 wards respectively.However, a Corporator of theBJP died before taking oath.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana on Saturday added168 new Covid-19 cases,pushing the tally to 6,71,342,while the death toll rose to3,955 with one more fatality.

The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) accounted for themost number of cases with62, followed by Karimnagarand Ranga Reddy (12 each)districts, a state governmentbulletin said, providingdetails as of 5.30 PM today.

With 191 people recover-ing from the virus, the cumu-lative number of recoveriesnow was 6,63,315, leaving4,072 active cases.

The bulletin said 37,882samples were examined todayand the total number testedtill date was 2,75,44,810.

Mayor ignoring provisions of GHMC Acton Council meetings: BJP Corporators

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar has said every personshould avail of the seconddose of Covid vaccine beingadministered as part of a spe-cial drive launched in GreaterHyderabad on Saturday.

The Chief Secretary visiteda mobile vaccine centre set upat Sunrise Home Colony,Rajendra Nagar Circle, in thecity on Saturday. Medical &Health Secretary S.A.M Rizviand GHMC Commissioner

Lokesh Kumar were also pre-sent on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion,the Chief Secretary said thatmore than three crore Covidvaccine doses had already beenadministered in the State.Vaccination was the only wayto prevent spread of Covid, hesaid citing experts.

Medical and HealthSecretary Rizvi explained thatnearly 90 per cent of citizenshad been vaccinated inHyderabad city and the seconddose would be given through

150 mobile vaccine centres,which will be on the move cov-ering deferent areas in theCity from Saturday.

GHMC CommissionerLokesh Kumar explained thateach mobile vaccination vehi-cle would cover two or threecolonies in the city in a day.The mobile vaccination vehi-cles will be covering over 450colonies every day. He said thatif necessary the vaccinationprogramme would be extend-ed, according to an officialpress note.

CS visits mobile vax centre,urges people to get jabbed

Telanganalogs 168 newCovid cases

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad police havearrested seven persons forviolating the NDPS Act onFriday. While six cases wereregistered against them, thepolice also registered 49 E-petty cases against personsfound smoking in publicplaces or using gutkha.

The police seized two kilo-grams of marijuana and 110mls of hash oil from them.

The KPHB police arrestedthree persons, including atechie, found with ganja onSaturday.

The arrested persons,Bommi Manas Akhil, 25, aprivate sector employee,Maddirala Govind, 25, anMNC employee and MorthaNikesh, 25, a software engi-neer, were found consuminga narcotic substance at AbdulKalam Park, in the 6th Phasearea of KPHB.

Receiving a tipoff, thepolice rushed to the sceneand apprehended the three.Police learnt that the mainaccused, Abbas Ali, had sup-plied the three with the nar-cotic.

Cyberabadcops nab 7 fordrug offences

PNS n HYDERABAD

The social media wing of theTRS has lodged a complaintwith the Central CrimeStation, Hyderabad, against aBJP worker for circulating oldvideos of Minister T HarishRao.

According to the com-plaint, a Facebook profileoperated by one ProdduturiVinay Kumar Reddy pub-lished old videos of HarishRao on social media amidstthe ongoing by-election atHuzurabad.

The complainants saidthat the videos were beingused as a publicity tactic toimpress voters before the pollended, violating the code ofconduct of the ElectionCommission.

The video is being used toinstigate violence and misleadvoters, the TRS workers saidin their complaint.

The complainant asked thepolice to take action againstthe persons mentioned inthe complaint before theydisturbed law and order.

TRS files plaintwith CCS overvideo clips

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar along with Health Secretary SAS Rizvi, GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar monitor thesecond dose mobile vaccination centre at Sun Rise Home Colony in Rajendranagar, Hyderabad on Saturday.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar on Saturday inspectedthe Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation's plan-tation programmes on thebunds of 185 tanks and pondsin the city as well as on tankbeds.

He visited the MalkaCheruvu in Attapur and plant-ed saplings in the model plan-tation there. Along withGHMC Commissioner LokeshKumar, he inspected the modelplantation works there.

As part of the Harita Haramprogramme, he suggested

planting of saplings withoutleaving small space. He urgedofficials to step up the pace ofplanting saplings in all tanks.He suggested that authoritiesshould plant pongamiasaplings.

On the lines of MalkaCheruvu, model plantation

should be taken up in all othertanks, he said. Earlier, GHMCofficials explained to the ChiefSecretary that over 30 plantspecies had been planted in theMalka Cheruvu. The plantedspecies were locally available.By recourse to a multi-layermethod, flower plants, medi-cinal plants, plants that spreadfragrance had been planted,they said. A one-km longwalking track had been pro-vided on the tank bund, theytold the CS. GHMC AdditionalCommissioner Krishna, ZonalCommissioner Ashok Samratand others were present on theoccasion.

CS inspects GHMC plantation programmes

PNS n HYDERABAD

‘WEHUB’, Telangana's startupinitiative for women, in col-laboration with Jammu &Kashmir EntrepreneurshipDevelopment Institute, haskicked off a co-designed pro-gramme – Wenture – to sup-port early stage startups fromJammu and Kashmir.

Wenture is a three-monthpre-incubation programme foraspiring entrepreneurs fromJ&K and the last date to apply

is November 30.The 12-week programme

will inculcate the knowledge ofentrepreneurship and enableaspiring entrepreneurs to val-idate and gauge the feasibilityof their ideas.

The programme also pro-vides the required tools intranslating ideas into sustain-able business models.

Deepthi Ravula, We-HubCEO tweeted, "Startups thrivewhen ecosystems collaborate.Glad We-Hub is co-designing

the pre-incubation programmewith JKEDI4U for startupsbased in J&K.”

The applicant should have anew idea, aiming to solve anexisting problem, and be mar-ketable.

This programme supportsonly entrepreneurial projectsand not enterprises that havebeen registered. The criteria forwomen-led teams, the womenentrepreneur must be the 51percent stakeholder in thecompany.

WEHUB backs ‘Wenture' for J&K startups

PNS n HYDERABAD

Excise Minister V SrinivasGoud was bereaved as his ail-ing mother passed away onFriday night while undergo-ing treatment in YashodaHospital, Somajuguda fol-lowing a heart attack.

Her family members saidthat her last rites would beperformed in the family farmin Mahabubnagar.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao con-veyed his sympathies to thebereaved family members.

Excise Ministerbereaved

04HYDERABAD | SUNDAY| OCTOBER 31,2021

PNS n WARANGAL

Rajya Sabha member Capt.V.Laxmikantha Rao, Secretaryand Correspondent of theKakatiya Institute ofTechnology and Science,Warangal, said on Saturdaythat four B.Tech. final year stu-dents had been selected byExperian IDC, Hyderabad assoftware engineers with a package of Rs 16.00lakh per annum(LPA). Threeof them viz. Mankala SaiVythik, Maada Amith Reddy,

Mudigiri Susmitha were fromthe CSE Department and theother one Madugula AkishithReddy was from ITDepartment.

As many as 88 students gotinto Wipro Elite NationalTalent Hunt, Hyderabad and60 entered Mu Sigma,Hyderabad from the engi-neering branches viz. CSE,ECE, IT, EEE, EIE, Mechanicaland Civil Engineering. Thesestudents secured jobs duringcampus recruitment, headded.

Campus recruitment

at KITS Warangal

PNS n HYDERABAD

YSRTP president Sharmila hasalleged that graduates andpost-graduates are workingas hamalis in Telangana andexpressed her concern overeducated unemployed per-sons committing suicide out ofshame.

She was addressing peopleof Ranga Reddy district dur-ing her 'Praja Prasthanam'padayatra here on Saturday.She said that the BharatiyaJanata Party was a communalparty, while the Congress didnot bother about the welfare ofpeople.

In spite of suicides amongthe unemployed, ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao was unmoved, sheobserved. The Chief Ministerlooked down on the poor.There was no protection to

women in Telangana, she said.KCR gave Dharani portal withone hand and snatched landsof the poor with the otherhand, she alleged. The statewas in dire straits. BarringKCR's family, no other fami-ly had prospered in Telanganasince the TRS assumed power.It was time for people to thinkabout leadership change, shesaid.

KCR unmoved by suicides

of the jobless: Sharmila PNS n SURYAPET

State Energy Minister GuntaKandla Jagadish Reddy hasdirected officials of theAgriculture and HorticultureDepartments to make specialefforts to ensure that farmersin the district do not cultivatea single crop, but switch toother lucrative crops.

The Minister, along withDistrict Collector T.VinayKrishna Reddy, participated ina review on agriculture here onSaturday.

Speaking on the occasion,the Minister said that a revo-lutionary crop cultivation sys-tem was before the state; so,agriculture horticulture expertsand scientists should makefarmers fully aware of the prof-itability of the new crop culti-vation system. He said thatfarmers should take stepstowards plant protection andshift to integrated agriculture.The advice and suggestionsfrom scientists should be

explained to farmers cluster-wise and they should be keptinformed about the crop rota-tion process. It was suggestedthat the affiliated branches atthe field level should be avail-able to farmers. "We are rais-ing awareness on the policy,"the Minister said. He said 2crore 80 lakh metric tonnes ofgrain was already in storageand the next crop could addabout 3 crore metric tonnesthis monsoon season. He saidthat other states in the coun-try were also cultivating paddyalong with other crops. Hesaid farmers in particularshould adopt a crop rotationapproach as well as focus on

high-yielding crops. He point-ed out that grains used to beexported from the state toalmost all the states in thecountry previously, but nowthose conditions did not exist.Land cultivation in Telanganahad increased a lot and farm-ers were being urged to culti-vate alternative crops. "We arenow competing in nationallevel food products," he said.Farmers were advised toexplain through their forumshow much income came fromharvesting other crops. Heexplained that in Punjab, it wasnot through a single crop, butby crop rotation that land wasstrengthened.

‘Make farmers switch to lucrative crops’

M L MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

The Cabinet Subcommitteethat submitted its report toChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao on findinga solution to the issues of Podufarmers moved to the nextphase and held all-party meet-ings in Mulugu and Nirmal dis-tricts on Saturday in a bid toreach consensus.

Committee Chairman andTribal Welfare MinisterSatyavathi Rathod held a meet-ing at Mulugu Collectoratewhile Forest MinisterIndrakaran Reddy and a mem-ber of the Subcommittee heldanother meeting at NirmalCollectorate with people’s rep-resentatives and leaders of allpolitical parties, apart from dis-trict officials.

The Ministers said thatefforts were on to provide apermanent solution for thePodu lands issue and the gov-ernment was in favour of iden-tifying all the eligible beneficia-ries to do justice to them.They sought the cooperation ofleaders of all political farmers.

There are Podu farmers whohave been cultivating forestlands for at least two to threegenerations and the govern-ment would want to help them

get good returns for their agri-cultural efforts, they said. Atthe same time, the governmentwas equally determined to pro-tect and sustain the forests forthe benefit of future genera-tions and the environment bypreventing further encroach-ments, the Ministers said.

Satyavathi Rathod said thatafter the Recognition of ForestRights Act came into force in2006, the then governmentreceived 2,04,176 claims for 6.9lakh acres. Of that, rights cer-tificates were issued for 96,676claims pertaining to 3.08 lakhacres. Another 91,942 claimsover 3.27 lakh acres wererejected and another 15,558claims related to 53,565 acres

were pending.Indrakaran Reddy reminded

that the Chief Minister hasinstructed that claims shouldbe accepted from tribals andothers involved in Podu culti-vation from November 8 toDecember 8. To facilitate this,preparatory meetings shouldbe held at various levels to formvillage level committees as perthe RoFR Act.

After the formation ofTelangana State, officers iden-tified 68 lakh acres of forestlands. Prior to 2006, over sixlakh acres of forest lands wereunder cultivation. With anintention to stop further Poducultivation, the Chief Ministerput new claims on hold till

now, Satyavathi Rathodexplained. The governmenthowever did not want anyinjustice to be done to farmerswho were already practicingPodu farming, she said.

Erstwhile Adilabad is amongthe districts where Podu culti-vation is rampant and the for-est land is also extensive. Hencethe problem should beexplained to people for anamicable solution, IndrakaranReddy said and instructed theofficers to take up field-levelinspections and collect detailsof every Podu farmer. He saidofficers of Forest, Revenue andTribal Welfare departmentsshould work in coordination.Only after a comprehensivestudy, rights certificates wouldbe issued to eligible Podu farm-ers, the Minister said.

The Chief Minister has takenforest rejuvenation as a majorprogramme under HarithaHaram and in many agency vil-lages, the State governmentsanctioned Rs 230 crore for sin-gle phase electricity. Every eli-gible Podu farmers under theRoFR would be given pattasand liaison officers would beappointed to address griev-ances and give approvals andgovernment’s decisions wouldbe to help the poor.

Satyavathi Rathod said that

Gutti Koyas who came fromoutside the State created 80 vil-lages in the State. While peo-ple could eke a living anywherein the country, rights given tolocal people would not beextended to outsiders, she said.

After the constitution of vil-lage, mandal, division, districtand State level committees, ameeting would be convenedagain to give rights to all eligi-ble Podu farmers, the Ministersaid.

District Collector KrishnaAditya said that a Forest RightsCommittee would be appoint-ed for every habitation and thecommittee would work underthe supervision of Gram Sabha.He said they were in possessionof satellite maps since 2005 tocross -check the claims andgive rights to the eligible.

Congress MLA Seethakka,MC BalasaniLakshminarayana, ZP ViceChairperson Nagajyothy, addi-tional Collector Ila Tripathi,leaders of all parties and offi-cials were present at the meet-ing in Mulugu Collectorate.

MLAs Vithal Reddy, RekhaSyam Naik, ZP Chairperson KVijayalakshmi Reddy, CollectorMusharaff Ali Farooqui, lead-ers and officials were present atthe meeting held in NirmalCollectorate.

Govt favours rights to eligiblepodu farmers, say Ministers

PNS n NALGONDA

The fifth annual two-dayState Medical Conference ofthe Telangana State unit of theIndian Medical Association,with 'Building a HealthierTomorrow Together' as thetheme, opened on Saturday inthe auditorium of the AsianInstitute of Gastroenterology,Gachibowli with Dr DNageshwar Reddy as chiefpatron. The conference isbeing hosted by IMA,Hyderabad branch.On thisoccasion, the Indian MedicalAssociation, Nilagiri branch,Nalgonda is proud that it gotstate awards branch-wise andits branch leaders too gotawards individual-wise. Itmay be recalled that IMANilagiri branch is not onlyserving its members withprofessional activities, butserving society in variousfields though its communityoutreach.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Excise Minister V SrinivasGoud was bereaved as his ail-ing mother passed away onFriday night while undergo-ing treatment in YashodaHospital, Somajuguda fol-lowing a heart attack.

Her family members saidthat her last rites would beperformed in the family farmin Mahabubnagar.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao con-veyed his sympathies to thebereaved family members.

Excise Ministerbereaved

SNV SUDHIR

n VIJAYAWADA

The proposed giant FerrisWheel on the lines of LondonEye and Singapore Flyer tout-ed to have the potential tobecome a major attraction fortourists who visit AndhraPradesh will come up atKailasagiri in Vizag.

While the State InvestmentPromotion Board (SIPB)chaired by Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy recentlygave its nod for the LondonEye project in Vizag, sourcesin the State Tourism depart-ment said that the giant Ferriswheel will come up atop theKailasagiri. Officials of thedepartment are also scoutingfor a new location to establishthe Sky Tower, which wasoriginally planned atop theKailasagiri.

Kailasagiri hill offers apanoramic view of the sea andalso the city is already a hugehit among locals and tourists

who visit Vizag. SwarnamukhiAgency signed an MoU withthe then State governmentduring the partnership sum-mit held in 2017 to build a SkyTower. After YSRCP came topower, VMRDA floated anotice inviting some moreagencies to take up the project.As none responded, VMRDAshelved the project.

Later the original proponentthen submitted a revised pro-

posal that was accepted by thegovernment. However, thetower will not come up onKailasagiri as planned origi-nally.

“Among the prestigious pro-jects approved by SIPB devel-opment of a unique project onthe lines of “London Eye” atKailasagiri is one.Development of Sky Towerwill be at a location to be iden-tified,” said a senior official of

the state tourism department.The London Eye project at

Vizag was first mooted in2013. IL & FS has also pre-pared a blueprint for the pro-ject along with four othermega tourism projectsplanned in Vizag. However,due to unknown reasons andalso owing to the situation thathad arisen due to State bifur-cation, the London Eye pro-ject failed to make headwayand the current YSRCP gov-ernment that had announcedVizag as the Executive capitalof the State recently revivedthe project.

The London Eye is a giantFerris Wheel situated on thebanks of the River Thames inLondon. The entire structureis 135 metres - 443 ft tall andthe wheel has a diameter of120 metres- 394 ft. It is thetallest Ferris wheel in Europeand the most popular paidtourist attraction in the UnitedKingdom, visited by over 3.5million people annually.

The Singapore Flyer wasconstructed between 2005 and2008. Described by its opera-tors as an observation wheel,it is a 42-storey structure witha total height of 165 m - 541ft, making it the tallest FerrisWheel in the world, 5 m or 16ft taller than the Star ofNanchang and 30 m or 98 fttaller than the London Eye.

Situated on the southeast tipof the Marina Centrereclaimed land, SingaporeFlyer offers broad views of thecity centre and beyond toabout 45 km, including theIndonesian islands of Batamand Bintan as well as Johor,Malaysia.

The proposed sky tower is120 m tall and will house ahuge observation centre withlifting and rotating circularpassenger cabin carrying 80passengers, gives a 360-degreeview of the entire city and theocean At night, it will be illu-minated and can be seen fromall the corners of the city.

Giant Ferris Wheel to woo Vizag tourists

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Vice-Chancellor of NTR HealthUniversity Dr. Shyam Prasadhas called upon the medical stu-dents to understand the patient’smental ability before treatingthem. He said that the medicalgraduates have to select theirbranches in post-graduationaccording to their interests.

While attending as a chiefguest at the graduation ceremo-

ny of the Great Eastern MedicalSchool and College (GEMS),Srikakulam, the Vice-Chancellor said that the medicalprofession is completely differ-ent from any other profession.The doctors should speak to thepatients cordially before treat-ing them, he added. CollectorShrikesh Lathkar called uponthe medical graduates to take upan additional responsibility oncethey complete their course.

Noted Tollywood director SS Rajamouli called upon theyoung doctors to select theirspecialisations according totheir interests. Self-confidenceand reliance would increasethe capacity building internal-ly.

CMD of KIMS Hospitals, BBhaskara Rao, GEMS CollegePrincipal Dr. P Lakshmi anddoctors Sudheer and Praveenalso addressed the gathering.

Pick PG courses as perinterests, medicos told

Honours forIMA, Nilagiri br

PNS n HYDERABAD

Curtains were finally drawnover the nerve wrackingHuzurabad by-election afterfive long months on Saturday,amidst demands for moneyand its distribution, even asnon-locals were evicted fromthe constituency.

So prevalent has the ‘cash-for-vote’ culture become thatmoney continued to be distrib-uted even on polling day. Localand non-local leaders tried toinfluence voters even at the lastminute, hoping that the sightof currency notes wouldchange the minds of the voters.

Election officials and thepolice failed to curb thismalaise during polling heldacross the constituency.

This is not to say that pollingwas without incident -- tensionprevailed in Ghanmukla vil-lage when TRS leader PadiKaushik Reddy reached apolling station. Ghanmuklaresidents and BJP leaders con-fronted him, asking what hehad done for them as he is anon-local.

A verbal duel took placebetween the BJP leaders andKaushik Reddy leading to sometense moments. The BJP lead-ers ignored Kaushik Reddy’s

response that he was the chiefelection representative of theTRS. Kaushik soon left theplace.

He had the same experienceat the Veenavanka polling sta-tion too. All political activistsexcept those of the TRS block-ed him and asked him to leave.

In Jammikunta, the TRSand BJP leaders entered into anargument creating tension.

The BJP leaders wereoffended when TRS leadersaccused them of distributingmoney. This incident tookplace at the JammikuntaGovernment Degree College(Booth 176).

At some places confusionprevailed in polling booths asofficials misplaced the EVMs.

At some places, the voterschased away non-local leadersand at other places, second-rung leaders caught their oppo-nents who were distributingmoney.

The public caught a TRScorporator’s husband, YedlaAshok, for distributing moneyin Huzurabad and some othersat Hanuman Mandir. Non-locals distributed money atSirisedu village in Illandakuntamandal. The people pulled upGajwel TRS leader MadasuSrinivas at Sriramulapally while

he was distributing money.Locals staged a dharna at

Jammikunta town alleging thata particular councillor wasdistributing money. The localsalso caught non-locals dis-tributing money at otherplaces.

BJP activists blocked non-locals at Ippala Narsingapur vil-lage in Huzurabad mandal andaccosted Vardhannapet MLAAroori Ramesh’s PA Kiran.

TRS MLA candidate GelluSrinivas’s wife Swetha blockeda BJP leader Thula Uma askingthe latter as to why Uma, a non-local, was campaigning inHuzurabad during the polling.

Tension over distribution of money in HuzurabadTPCC’s digital membershipdrive from November 1PNS n HYDERABAD

The Congress is launching adigital membership drive inthe state for the first time.

TPCC working presidentMahesh Kumar Goud saidafter the TPCC PoliticalAffairs Committee meetingheld at Gandhi Bhavan onSaturday that the digitalmembership drive will belaunched on November 1 atthe Gandhi Bhavan.Membership will be given onthe basis of voter ID cards.

The party aims to enroll 30lakh members within four

months. He said the PACmeeting has decided toexpose the failures of theState and Central govern-ments by taking upJanajagarana padayatras fromNovember 14 for a week.

Goud said the party wouldcelebrate 75 years of freedomand for that the party isappointing a committee.

The TPCC is going to givetraining to mandal and blockCongress presidents onNovember 9 and 10. Theparty would also appointcoordinators in all the 119constituencies, he added.

Compensate farmers for paddy,provide MSP for crops: CongressPNS n HYDERABAD

Former minister and ex-leaderof the opposition in theTelangana Legislative Council,Mohammed Ali Shabbir, hasdemanded that the State gov-ernment should not use forceto prevent farmers from culti-vating paddy.

"Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao mustpersuade the Centre to directthe Food Corporation of India(FCI) to withdraw its report-ed order not to procure paddyduring the Yasangi season. Heshould take an all-party dele-gation to New Delhi to pres-surise the Centre. Instead ofusing intimidating tacticsagainst farmers, the govern-ment must explore alternativesto procure paddy," ShabbirAli demanded in a statementon Saturday.

He pointed out that farmersearn more profits by cultivat-ing paddy compared to othercrops. He said farmers earnabout Rs 58,200 per acre if theyget an average yield of 30quintals and sell it at an MSPof Rs 1,940.

After reducing the inputcost of nearly Rs 27,000, paddyfarmers make a profit of aboutRs 31,200 per acre. The profitmargins may increase ordecrease depending upon thequality and quantity of theyield and market conditions.Farmers cannot make similar

earnings if they opt for othercrops, he said.

"The government shouldannounce a package to ensurethat the earnings of farmers donot get affected irrespective ofwhat crops they grow. KCRcannot push farmers into aneconomic crisis by asking themto avoid paddy cultivation," hesaid.

The Congress leader saidthat most farmers do not wantto cultivate crops like cotton orsesame as they are labour-intensive and need mechanisa-tion. Further, cotton cannot beraised during Rabi. Thereforethe government should comeup with scientific solutionsinstead of enforcing a ‘regulat-ed cropping system,’ Shabbiradded.

He also questioned the ratio-nale behind the governmentaiming for zero paddy cultiva-

tion in view of the FCI's deci-sion. He said as against an esti-mated paddy production of 1.35crore tonnes, the FCI has report-edly decided to procure only 59lakh tonnes. Therefore, zeropaddy cultivation might createproblems in meeting domesticrequirements next year.

The government mustdevise a formula to compen-sate farmers for reducingpaddy cultivation and pro-vide MSP for alternative crops,he demanded.

The Congress leader said thegovernment should not reactin a haphazard manner. As perthe Agriculture Action Plan2021-22 released by the gov-ernment in August, it wasplanned to take up paddy cul-tivation in about 41.85 lakhacres. The government cannotdrop this plan due to a decisiontaken by the FCI, he added.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 31, 2021 nation 05

The Maharashtra BJP onSaturday announced that it will

be holding a state-wide agitationon Monday to protest the stategovernment's failure to addressthe woes of farmers, whosuffered losses due to excessrainfall. Speaking to reportershere, the party's state chiefspokesperson Keshav Upadhye

said BJP leaders have decided to register their protest by wearingblack bands on their shoulders in public places.“The party hasdecided to register its protest on Monday by sporting black bands inpublic places. Local leaders will submit a memorandum of demandsat concerned government offices," Upadhye said. The state BJP isappalled at the MVA government's insensitivity, as lakhs of farmershave lost their crops, soil and livelihood due to excess rainfall, hesaid. “The damage assessment is yet to be completed in severalvillages and districts. Farmers have not yet received theircompensation.

The All India Majlis-e-Itthehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) will contest all

elections in Maharashtra fromhere on and the option ofentering into alliances is alsoopen, party presidentAsaduddin Owaisi said here onSaturday. On a two-day tour of

Aurangabad, Owaisi also criticised the Narendra Modi government onwhat he claimed was the inept handling of the China and Kashmirissues. "China is on your ground but the government refuses (toacknowledge it). If nobody is holding onto your land, then why havethese rounds of talks (between the two nations). The BJP should take ateam of MP's to Ladakh and show the ground reality then. But the BJPand RSS are quiet on this issue," he alleged. He also said moves likedoing away with the provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmirhad done nothing to change the ground situation in the restive region, asjawans and civilians were being killed in terror attacks.

Will contest all Maha polls,says AIMIM chief Owaisi

The Centre has launched aninitiative to enable women

associated with self helpgroups (SHGs) to earn Rs 1lakh per annum, the ruraldevelopment ministry said onSaturday. With an aim to takewomen to the higher eco-nomic order, the ministry willalso provide livelihood sup-

port in the next two years to 25 million rural women associated withSHGs."The focus will be on diversifying livelihood activities at thehousehold level to realise the goal of an annual income Rs 1 lakh,"the ministry said in a statement. Based on various models of womenSHGs across the country, a detailed advisory has been issued tostate governments, it said.Under the National Rural LivelihoodMission, 7.7 crore women have been mobilised into 70 lakh SHGs.Initial capitalisation support to SHGs to the tune of Rs 80,000 croreannually is being credited, according to the statement.

Centre launches initiative forwomen associated with SHGs

Union Minister L Murugan, who is on athree-day visit to Lakshadweep

Islands, on Saturday visited the SeaweedDemonstration project site at KavarattiIsland in the Union Territory. During thevisit, he interacted with the members ofthe local women self-help groups,research scientists, entrepreneurs andother stakeholders who are involved in

seaweed cultivation in the archipelago. The Minister of State forInformation and Broadcasting & Fisheries, Animal Husbandry andDairying was accompanied by the Advisor to the island Administrator,A Anbarasu and Secretary, Fisheries, an official statement said here.Murugan spoke to the women SHG members and learnt about the chal-lenges faced by them. He also assured them that the union govern-ment, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wouldextend all required assistance and support for developing Lakshadweepas the seaweed hub of the country in order to provide economic uplift-ment and livelihood opportunities to the local community.

INDIA CORNER

PNS n AGRA

Several lawyers' associations ofAgra have decided to deny legalhelp to the three Kashmiristudents of an engineering col-lege here, who were chargedwith sedition.

The students were bookedunder the Act that dates backto the British era allegedly forposting a WhatsApp statuspraising Pakistan players afterthe team's victory against Indiain a T20 cricket match onOctober 24.

"We will not provide anylegal help to those who areinvolved in anti national activ-ity or anti social activity,” Nitin

Verma, President of the YoungLawyers' Association, Agra,told PTI.

“It will send a message to thecountry that the lawyers ofAgra have decided not to pro-vide legal help to anyone whois involved in anti nationalactivity,” he said.

Verma argued that freedomof speech doesn't allow engag-ing in “anti-national” activitiesand that he condemns the stu-dents' praising of the Pakistancricket team.

"We will also oppose anylawyer who agrees to providelegal help to these studentswhenever he comes to Agra,"he added.

Sunil Sharma, President ofthe Agra Advocates'Association, echoed the samesentiment.

“No organisation has the

right to involve in anti-Indiaactivity. The decision oflawyers' to not provide legalhelp would send the message toevery one in the country that

no one should help thoseinvolved in anti-national activ-ity,” Sharma said.

Besides these two, JanpadBar Association, AdhivaktaSehyog Samiti, and other sim-ilar bodies, too have issuedsimilar dicta against the threeKashmiri students.

Nasir Khuehami, nationalspokesperson of the Jammu andKashmir Students' Association,said the body will extend legalhelp to the students.

"This is true that lawyersassociations in Agra haverefused to provide help toKashmiri students and havesaid they won't plead the case.

“But the J&K Students

Association has decided tosupport and extend them ahelping hand as far as legal sup-port is concerned,” he said.

"We have got a lawyer nowthrough our Delhi team andfriends there. AdvocateMadhuvan Dutt Chaturvediwill defend the students onbehalf of the Association," headded.

Khuehami also expressedworry that sedition will ruincareers of these students.

On Thursday, when the stu-dents were exiting the court,few right wing activists raisedslogans against Pakistan in thecourt's premises and chased thestudents.

‘Lawyers refuse legal help to Kashmiri students booked for sedition

PNS n PUNE

Taking potshots at the rulingBJP, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Rauton Saturday said a coalitiongovernment with Congress asa major party will come topower in 2024, when generalelections are due, which willend the reign of the incumbentone-party government.

Speaking to reporters inPune city of Maharashtra afteraddressing JS Karandikarmemorial lecture organised bythe Pune press club, Raut said,"No government can be formedwithout Congress, which is amajor and deeply-rooted partyin the country. Congress is themain opposition party too.Others are regional parties."

Queried about politicalstrategist Prashant Kishor'sreported statement that BJPwill remain in power for manydecades, Raut said the BJP willstay in Indian politics but as anopposition party.

"BJP claims that it is theworld's biggest party. If the

world's biggest party loses elec-tions they will become anopposition party. For example,in Maharashtra, the BJP is themain opposition party with105 MLAs", he said.

The BJP's estranged ally ShivSena shares power with NCPand Congress in Maharashtra.Speaking about the upcomingAssembly elections in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Raut said,"Presently we are focusing inDadra, Nagar Haveli, and Goa.There is still time for UP elec-

tions. We are a smaller playerin UP but we will contest".

Earlier, addressing the lec-ture, Raut underlined variouschallenges being faced by themedia. "Since the last two years,media persons are not allowedin the central hall of Parliamentby the ruling party citing thereason of coronavirus pan-demic. But the real reasonbehind the ban is fear thatmany things might come out ifreporters are allowed to speakto ministers who are being

asked to maintain distancefrom journalists. They (theCentral government) has askedministers to keep their distancefrom reporters, even they areunder the scanner. Media wasnot stopped even duringEmergency like it is now," Rautclaimed. He underlined vari-ous challenges before the printand electronic media.

Raut alleged the (Central)government only wantsfavourable reporting."After a newspaper reportedabout corpses floating in theGanga river (during the worstphase of the COVID-19 pan-demic) the Income Tax depart-ment raided the offices of thatnewspaper," he said.

He alleged that industriesthat wanted licenses to operatewere made to invest in mediaorganisations so that they (thegovernment) can control themedia.

"Top ten industries havebought media houses. The gov-ernment is behind this," healleged.

PNS n PANAJI

Kickstarting the Congress'spoll campaign in Goa, whereAssembly elections are dueearly next year, Rahul Gandhion Saturday asserted that theassurances that his party willgive in its election manifestoin the state will not just be acommitment, but a "guaran-tee" as not keeping the wordwill dent his credibility.

Addressing members ofthe fishermen community atVelsao beach in South Goafollowing his arrival in thestate for his day-long visit, hesaid his party will prepare thepoll manifesto in an open andtransparent manner afterholding talks with differentstakeholders in the state, andits focus will be environ-ment protection.

He also alleged that whilethe BJP indulges in hatredand divides people, theCongress spreads love andaffection as it believes inuniting people and takingthem forward.

"I am not here to wasteyour time or my time. Just as

your time is important, mytime is important...The com-mitment that we will make toyou in manifesto is not just acommitment, but a guaran-tee," he said.

"My credibility is impor-tant to me. Unlike manyother leaders, when I saysomething here, I will makesure it happens. If I comehere I say to you that we willnot allow coal hub and I don'tdo it, next time I come hereI will have no credibility," hesaid.

Gandhi said the party hasfulfilled the commitmentsmade to the farmers inChhattisgarh on waiving

their loan. "You can go toPunjab and Karnataka, wedid the same thing," he said.

"We are going to write theCongress's manifesto for thecoming election. It is going tobe written in an open andtransparent way. We will haveconversations with fisher-men, environmentalists,workers, labourers in Goaand we will ask them whatthey want in Congress man-ifesto," Gandhi added.

The thread that will runthrough the party's manifestowill be protection of environ-ment, of fishermen and of allthe underprivileged people inthe state, he said.

Shah seeks another termfor BJP in UttarakhandPNS n DEHRADUN

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Saturday saidUttarakhand has developed onall fronts under the BJP rule andsought another mandate forthe party to bring prosperity toevery home under the leader-ship of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Pushkar Singh Dhami.Launching his party's poll cam-paign in Uttarakhand at a pub-lic rally at the Bannu schoolground here, Shah said Modibrought road and rail infrastruc-ture development projectsworth Rs 85,000 crore duringhis tenure and challenged theopposition Congress to showwhat it had done for the stateduring its time.

"Congress was in power at theCentre for 10 years under theleadership of Manmohan Singh.What did it do for Uttarakhand

during the period? It should tellthe people of the state," he said.

Modi's vision for the recon-struction of Kedarnath whichhad suffered extensive damagein the 2013 disaster led to thenever-seen-before developmentin and around the temple, hesaid. The prime minister willunveil a statue of Adi GuruShankaracharya in Kedarnathduring his visit to the temple onNovember 5.

Modi's forthcoming visit tothe Himalayan temple will markthe completion of the first phaseof reconstruction works inKedarpuri and beginning ofthe second phase.

Advising people not to makeany mistake with their choice inthe assembly polls inUttarakhand early next year,Shah asked them to give anoth-er opportunity to the Modi-Dhami team to bring prosper-ity to every home.

PNS n PANAJI

Goa Chief Minister PramodSawant on Saturday recalledhow he decided to let go of theopportunity to become a classI officer so that he can joinpolitics and said he hadonce dreamt ofbecoming a CM ofthe state. Sawanttook charge of theoffice on March 19,2019, after thedemise of BJP stal-wart Manohar Parrikarwho was heading the gov-ernment at that time.

“I passed my 12th sciencefrom GVM higher secondary.I let go class 1 gazetted officer's

post so that I can enter poli-tics,” Sawant said whileaddressing a gathering ofyoungsters in Ponda taluka.

Sawant said he didn't let goof that opportunity just

because it occurred tohim in his dreams

that he willbecome anMLA or a CMone day.

“But I surehad a dream to

become an MLAand a chief minis-

ter of Goa,” he said.Referring to criticism of the

Goa government, Sawant said,“You often criticise the govern-ment of Goa.

PNS n NEW DELHI

In view of rising coronaviruscases, weekly positivity rates anddecreasing testing figures inAssam and West Bengal, theCentre has asked the state gov-ernments to undertake a reviewof these parameters while stress-ing on strict enforcement ofCovid-appropriate behaviour.In a letter to chief secretaries ofAssam and West Bengal onOctober 26, AdditionalSecretary in the Union HealthMinistry, Arti Ahuja, highlight-ed increase in weekly newCovid cases since the past week(October 20-26) and early signs

of rise in positivity since the lastfour weeks till October 25.

On October 22, UnionHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan had also written toWest Bengal expressing con-cern over the rise in Covid

cases in Kolkata, followingDurga Puja celebrations earli-er this month.

Ahuja, in her letter toAssam, pointed out that therehas been 41 per cent increasein weekly new cases since the

past week (October 20-26) andthat there have been earlysigns of rise in positivity sincelast four weeks from 1.89 percent in the week of September28-October 4 to 2.22 per centin the week of October 19-25.

"The state has also wit-nessed decline in tests con-ducted from 1,64,071 in theweek of September 28-October 4 to 1,27,048 in theweek of October 19-25.Because of the rising positiv-ity, the state needs to conductenhanced testing while main-taining the required RT-PCRshare as it will aid in earlyidentification of infection inthe state," he said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Seven legislators - one from theBJP and six suspended from theBSP - joined the SamajwadiParty (SP) in Uttar Pradesh onSaturday in the presence ofAkhilesh Yadav, who hit out atChief Minister Yogi Adityanathand also claimed the BJP andthe Congress "are the same''.

"The people of the state areso agitated that the BJP will bewiped out in the coming daysand Bhajpa pariwar (BJP fam-ily) will appear as BhaagtaPariwar (runaway family)," theSP chief said here while taunt-ing the ruling party over itsMLA Rakesh Rathore's deser-tion and indicating that someothers from the BJP were also

in touch with him in the poll-bound state.

Those who joined the SP -BJP MLA from Sitapur RakeshRathore and BSP rebels Aslam

Raini (Shrawati), Sushma Patel(Madiyahon), Aslam Ali(Hapur), Hakim Lal Bind(Handia), Mujtaba Siddiqui(Phoolpur) and Hargovind

Bhargava (Sidhauli) - expressedtheir resolve to make AkhileshYadav the chief minister againin the coming elections.

Taking to Twitter, Yadavclaimed that the BJP will not getenough ticket-aspirants ''even ifit declares 403 chief ministers"as the party is staring at defeatin the assembly polls. The UPAssembly's strength is 403.

Earlier this year, an audioclip purportedly of Rathorecriticising Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for asking peo-ple to clap and clang bells andplates during the COVID-19pandemic had gone viral onsocial media, after which he wasasked by the party leadership toexplain his alleged anti-partyactivities.

PNS n MIRZAPUR (UP),

A man was allegedlylynched by a group of peo-ple here on suspicion ofbeing a thief, police saidSaturday.

Early on Saturday, policewere informed about anunidentified body lying inKrishnapuri Colony thatfalls under the Katra policestation area, Inspector KatraSwaminath said.

PNS n CHENNAI

Reversing a previousAIADMK government'sdecision, the rulingDMK in Tamil Naduon Saturday said thestate's FormationDay will now be cel-ebrated on July 18, inlines with the rechris-tening of its name to thepresent one and not onNovember 1.

Chief Minister M K Stalin'sannouncement in this connec-

tion drew theAIADMK's criticism,

which alleged itwas done due to"political vendet-ta." K Palaniswami, as Chief

Minister in 2019,had announced

Tamil Nadu Day will beobserved on November 1 fol-lowing requests from various

quarters then.On Saturday, chief minister

Stalin said that on November1, 1956, Linguistic Reorganisation of States was done inthe country following whichparts of Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Kerala "wentaway" from the then MadrasState. Subsequently, the previ-ous government hadannounced November 1 from2019 as Tamil Nadu Day, herecalled.

Tamil Nadu Day to be celebratedon July 18, not Nov 1, says Stalin

UP man lynchedon suspicion ofbeing thief

Had a dream to becomeCM of Goa: Pramod Sawant

Cong’s assurances in manifesto not justcommitment, but guarantee :Rahul

Rahul has lunchat roadside eatery,rides pillion ontaxi for few kms

‘Coalition with Congress asmajor party will come to power’

BJP MLA, 6 BSP legislators join SP

Rising Covid-19 cases in Bengal,Assam: Centre alerts states

Union Minister visitsSeaweed Demo project site

BJP to protest over non-paymentof compensation to farmers

2024 GENERAL ELECTION

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,who is on a day-long visit to Goathat will go to Assembly pollsearly next year, on Satur day hadlunch at a roadside eatery at avillage and then travelled on two-wheeler taxi for around fivekilometres. Gandhi arrived in thestate on Saturday morning. Afteraddressing the fishermen inSouth Goa, Gandhi ate lunch at aroadside eatery at Bambolimvillage on the Panaji-Margaohighway. He was accompaniedby Goa Pradesh CongressCommittee president GirishChodankar and Leader ofOpposition Digambar Kamat.After that, Gandhi took a lift froma motorcycle pilot, a two-wheelertaxi, to reach the resort, where hewas scheduled to meet thepeople dependent on the miningindustry in the state, which hasstopped functioning following theSupreme Court's orders in 2018.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY| OCTOBER 31,2021 money 06

MONEY MATTERS

Cigarettes and tobacco productsmaker Godfrey Phillips India Ltd

on Saturday reported a 2 per centincrease in consolidated net profit atRs 104.91 crore in the secondquarter ended September 30, 2021.

The company had posted aconsolidated net profit of Rs 103.06crore in the same quarter last fiscal,Godfrey Phillips India Ltd (GPI) saidin a regulatory filing. Consolidatedtotal revenue from operations stood

at Rs 772.72 crore as compared to Rs 822.21 crore in thecorresponding period last fiscal.Cigarettes, tobacco and relatedproducts clocked a revenue of Rs 677.52 crore as compared to Rs749.24 crore in the year-ago quarter, the company added. GPI saidits retail and related products segment had a revenue of Rs 90.47crore as against Rs 70.97 crore in the same period last fiscal. In thefirst half of the fiscal (H1) ended September 30, 2021, the companyhad a consolidated net profit of Rs 217.31 crore as compared to Rs158.64 crore in the same period last fiscal, the filing said.Consolidated total revenue from operations in H1 this fiscal stood atRs 1,508.21 crore as against Rs 1,284.78 crore in the same periodlast year, GPI said.

Godfrey Phillips India Q2 net up 2 pc at Rs 105 crore

Agri chemical firm DhanukaAgritech Ltd on Saturday

reported a 10 per cent fall in itsconsolidated net profit at Rs 63.37crore for the quarter endedSeptember. Its net profit stood atRs 70.08crore in the year-agoperiod. Total income also fell to Rs445.75 crore during the secondquarter of this fiscal year from Rs450.61 crore in the corresponding

period of the previous year, according to a regulatory filing. TheGurugram-based firm had posted a total income of Rs 1,421.17crore during the last financial year.

Dhanuka Agritech Q2 profitdown 10 pc to Rs 63.37 cr

PNS n ROME

The leaders of the world's eco-nomic powerhouses gatheredSaturday for the first in-personsummit since the coronaviruspandemic, with climate change,COVID-19 economic recoveryand the global minimum cor-porate tax rate on the agenda.

Italian Premier MarioDraghi welcomed the Group of20 heads of state to Rome'sNuvola cloud-like conventioncenter in the Fascist-era EURneighborhood, which wassealed off from the rest of thecapital. Saturday's opening ses-sion was focused on globalhealth and the economy, witha meeting on the sidelines forkey leaders to discuss nextsteps on Iran's nuclear pro-gram.

Italy is hoping the G-20 willsecure key commitments fromcountries representing 80% ofthe global economy — andresponsible for around thesame amount of global carbonemissions — ahead of the U.N.climate conference that beginsSunday in Glasgow, Scotland.

Most of the heads of stateand government who are inRome will head to Glasgow as

soon as the G-20 is over.Russian President VladimirPutin and Chinese leader XiJinping are participatingremotely.

On the eve of the meeting,U.N. Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres warned thatthe Glasgow meeting riskedfailure over the still-tepid com-mitments from big pollutersand challenged the G-20 lead-ers to overcome “dangerouslevels of mistrust” amongthemselves and with develop-ing nations.

“Let's be clear — there is aserious risk that Glasgow willnot deliver,? Guterres toldreporters in Rome. He said cur-rent, formal commitments by

governments “still condemnthe world to a calamitous 2.7-degree increase” in global tem-peratures.

A recent U.N. environmentreport concluded thatannouncements by dozens ofcountries to aim for “net-zero”emissions by 2050 could, iffully implemented, limit a glob-al temperature rise to 2.2degrees Celsius (4 F). That'scloser but still above the lessstringent target agreed upon inthe Paris climate accord ofcapping global warming at 2degrees Celsius (3.6 F) com-pared with pre-industrialtimes.

The U.N. chief also blamedgeopolitical divides for ham-

pering a global vaccinationplan to fight the COVID-19pandemic, saying action “hastaken a back seat to vaccinehoarding and vaccine nation-alism.''

He blasted how in the rich-est countries, people are gettinga third dose of the vaccinewhile only 5% of Africans havebeen fully vaccinated.

Aiming to address theinequalities, British PrimeMinister Boris Johnsonannounced as he arrived inRome that the U.K. woulddonate 20 million doses of theAstraZeneca coronavirus vac-cine to developing countries.Some 10 million doses havebeen sent to the UnitedNations-backed COVAX vac-cine-sharing programme, and10 million more will follow inthe coming weeks, the U.K.said.

The G-20, though, will like-ly be a celebration of oneagreement, on a global mini-mum corporate tax. The G-20leaders are expected to formal-ly affirm their commitment toestablishing a 15% global min-imum corporate tax rate by2023, a measure aimed at pre-venting multinational compa-

nies from stashing profits incountries where they pay fewor no taxes.

The move has been praisedby White House officials as a“game changer” that wouldcreate at least $60 billion in newrevenue a year in the U.S. - astream of cash that could helppartially pay for a nearly $3 tril-lion social services and infra-structure package thatPresident Joe Biden is seeking.U.S. adoption is key because somany multinational compa-nies are headquartered there.

But Biden is struggling tocome to agreement with mem-bers of his own party on whatwill be included in the massivespending plan, not to mentionhow it will be paid for. Thepresident's struggles to come toterms on U.S. legislation werenot expected to be a centralpart of Biden's conversationswith fellow leaders, WhiteHouse officials said.

Biden is also expected toraise concerns about an imbal-ance in supply and demand inthe global energy markets,according to a senior adminis-tration official who briefedreporters Friday on the condi-tion of anonymity.

PNS n ROME

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson has denied that hisgovernment's policies on coaland air travel undermine hismessage that the world needsto wean itself off of fossil fuels.

Johnson will welcomeworld leaders to Glasgow,Scotland, for a United Nationsclimate summit on Sundayand wants them to improve ontheir commitments to cuttinggreenhouse gas emissions.

But at home, his govern-ment this week slashed tax ondomestic air fares, and it isconsidering whether toapprove the U.K.'s first deepcoal mine for decades.

Johnson said Saturday thatBritain's pledge on cuttingcarbon dioxide emissions wasone of the “punchiest” of any

country.“People can see what Britain

has done,” Johnson said inRome, where he is attending aG-20 summit. “When I was achild, 80% of our power camefrom hydrocarbons,” but by2035 “we will not have any

hydrocarbons in our powergeneration at all. We're themost ambitious country inEurope. "By 2030, we're sayingthat we won't have hydrocar-bon internal combustionengines for new cars. That's avery, very ambitious timetable.”

Climate, Covid and corporatetax on the G-20 agenda in Rome

Johnson denies UK policiesundermine green aims

PNS n HYDERABAD

Finally, gold is set to regain itssparkle this Diwali as jewellersare expecting up to 30 per centsales growth over the pre-Covid levels on the back of afaster-than-expected econom-ic recovery along with lowerprices and pent-up demand.

The gems and jewelleryindustry witnessed a nearwashout during 'Diwali' and'Dhanteras' 2020, following theCovid-19 related disruptions,including lockdowns andrestrictions in movementsacross the country.

"We are witnessing a growthin momentum since 'Shradh',the third quarter of the calan-der year, usually considered asubdued month for the indus-try. However, the drop in goldprices to around Rs 42,500 per10 grams level resulted inuptick in consumer demand,"All India Gem And Jewellery

Domestic Council chairmanAshish Pethe told PTI.

He said the healthy Goodsand Services Tax (GST) collec-tion in the last few monthsindicates that economic recov-ery is on track and the wed-dings postponed due to thepandemic taking place thisyear end will boost gems andjewellery sales.

"Looking at the thepositive consumer and marketindications we expect 20-25 percent growth in sales compared

to 2019. We are witnessing thispositive momentum fromacross the country," Petheadded.

Gold price, which hadtouched a peak of Rs 56,000level, on Saturday was rulingover Rs 49,200 per 10 gramslevel in the country.

Meanwhile, World GoldCouncil (WGC) RegionalCEO, India, SomasundaramPR demand is primarily drivenby what appears to be a firmgrip on the pandemic with

higher vaccination rates andfalling infection rates, leadingto a strong rebound in eco-nomic activity.

"While gold jewellerydemand increased by 58 percent to 96.2 tonnes, investmentdemand for bars and coins alsogrew by 18 per cent, in the July-September quarter that tends tobe seasonally subdued due tomonsoons and inauspiciousperiods like Pitru-Paksha whenbuyers stay away. Softer goldprices has also generated signif-icant consumer interest aheadof seasonal demand," he saidquoting WGC's Q3 GoldDemand Trends 2021 report.

Looking ahead withrestrictions being graduallylifted across the country, retaildemand is bouncing back topre-Covid levels, he stated.

"With the upcoming festiveand wedding season, there is allthe more enthusiasm towardsgold demand, and we anticipate

it to be the busiest gold-buyingseason, since the start of Covid-19 pandemic," he added.

PNG Jewellers Chairmanand Managing DirectorSaurabh Gadgil stated that themarket has been seeing strongdemand since the start ofNavratri.

We expect to 25-30 per centmore business compared to2019 and almost double thanlast Diwali, which was a nearwashout. People seem to havemoved past Covid-19 and thereis new enthusiasm and excite-ment among consumers. Theyare betting on a positive futureand are making themselveshappier by purchases like jew-ellery. Also, the wedding sea-son is expected to continue forthe next 3-4 months, which isa great boost to the industryand the positive effect of thesame is likely to spill overthrough march next year ifthere is no impact of the third

wave," he added.Malabar Gold & Diamonds

Chairman Ahammed MP saidthe company expects healthyconsumer demand for goldjewellery during Dhanterasthis year due to pent-updemand. "As the economicrecovery is gaining pace, weexpect a positive consumersentiment during Diwali. Weexpect a 30-40 per cent increasein sales compared to that of lastyear during Diwali," he added.

WHP Jewellers DirectorAditya Pethe said the industryis very optimistic about theupcoming festive season andhas very high expectationsfrom the same."Since Dussehrawe are seeing a good build upin sales. Slowly the clouds ofthe pandemic are fading andconsumer confidence is recov-ering. We are expecting thepent-up demand to boost salesduring Diwali and the upcom-ing wedding season.

Gold to sparkle this ‘Diwali’ drop in price, pent-up demand

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),the nation's largest oil firm, onSaturday reported a marginalrise in net profit in the secondquarter of the current fiscal aslower inventory gains offsetbetter operational perfor-mance.

Net profit of Rs 6,360.05crore, or Rs 6.93 a share, inJuly-September compared withRs 6,227.31 crore, or Rs 6.78per share, in the same perioda year back, according to thecompany's filing to the stockexchanges.

Sequentially, net profit washigher than Rs 5,941.37 croreearned in the April-June quar-ter.

Officials said the flattishnet profit was largely due tolower inventory gains in thesecond quarter.

In Q2 last year, the compa-ny had large inventory gainsbut this year they were lower,they said.

Inventory gain arises whena company buys raw material(crude oil in case of IOC) at aparticular price but by thetime it is able to process it intofinished products (petrol,diesel etc), rates have gone up.Since retail rates are bench-marked at prevailing interna-tional prices, an inventorygain is booked. Inventory lossis booked when the reverse

happens. IOC said it sold almost 19

million tonnes of fuel in July-September, up from 17.7 mil-lion tonnes last year.

With demand returningwith a bounceback in theeconomy, refineries turned15.27 million tonnes of crudeoil into fuel in Q2, higher than13.96 million tonnes last year.

Revenue rose 46 per cent toRs 1.69 lakh crore as interna-tional oil prices rose to multi-year highs.

Better operational perfor-mance was also offset by high-er expenses, which jumped byalmost 50 per cent in July-September.

IOC further said its boardapproved an interim dividendof 50 per cent (Rs 5 per equi-ty share) for the year 2021-22.

For the first half of currentfiscal, net profit soared 51 percent to Rs 12,301.42 crore.

Revenue was up at Rs 3.24 lakhcrore in April-September fromRs 2.04 lakh crore a year back.

The firm earned USD 6.57on turning every barrel ofcrude oil into fuel duringApril-September.

"The core gross refining mar-gin (GRM) or the current priceGRM for the period April-September 2021 after offsettinginventory loss/gain comes toUSD 3.47 per barrel," it said.

IOC's operations thatinclude selling fuel such aspetrol, diesel and LPG andpetchem, were "considerablyaffected" last year after mobil-ity restrictions imposed tocurb the spread of COVID-19dented demand.

"However, since then, theimpact has significantlyreduced as is evident from thephysical performance duringApril-September 2021," IOCsaid.

IOC Q2 net at Rs 6,360 crPNS n NEW DELHI

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) onSaturday said it expects anadverse impact on productionat its two plants in Haryanaand parent Suzuki's Gujaratplant in November on accountof supply constraint of elec-tronic components due tosemiconductor shortage.

Terming the situation asquite dynamic, the country'slargest carmaker noted in a reg-ulatory filing that as per currentestimates the total vehicle pro-duction volume across bothlocations in Haryana nextmonth could be around 85 percent of normal roll-out.

"Owing to a supply con-straint of electronic compo-nents due to the semiconduc-tor shortage situation, thecompany is expecting anadverse impact on vehicleproduction in the month ofNovember'21 in both Haryanaand its contract manufactur-ing company, Suzuki MotorGujarat Pvt Ltd (SMG)," MSIsaid in a regulatory filing.

The company's productioncapacity at Gurgaon andManesar plants in Haryana isaround 15 lakh units perannum.

SMG Gujarat, which sup-plies vehicles exclusively toMSI, has an additional

installed production capacityof 7.5 lakh units per annum.

The company had earlierstated that the total vehicleproduction volume acrossboth locations in Octobercould be around 60 per cent ofnormal production. It hadnoted that the vehicle produc-tion in September would bejust 40 per cent of its normaloutput due to the shortage ofsemiconductor chips.

Earlier this week, MSI report-ed a 66 per cent year on yeardecline in consolidated net prof-it at Rs 487 crore in the secondquarter ended September 30,2021, impacted by the ongoingsemiconductor shortage andincrease in commodity prices.

The auto major could notproduce around 1.16 lakhvehicles during the secondquarter owing to the elec-tronics component shortagemostly corresponding to thedomestic models, the compa-ny had stated.The companyhas more than 2 lakh pendingcustomer orders at the end ofthe quarter for which it ismaking all efforts to expeditedeliveries.

Semiconductors are siliconchips that cater to control andmemory functions in productsranging from automobiles,computers and cellphones tovarious other electronic items.

Maruti sees adverseimpact on production

PNS n NEW DELHI

Windmill power generationfirm Kirloskar Industries onSaturday reported 79 percent jump in consolidated netprofit from continuing oper-ations at Rs 134.72 crore forSeptember quarter 2021-22on the back of higher rev-enue.

The company had posted anet profit from continuingoperations at Rs 75.13 crorefor the same period last fis-cal year, Kirloskar IndustriesLtd (KIL) said in a regulato-ry filing.

Total revenue from opera-tions during the period underreview stood at Rs 985.2crore as against Rs 497.48crore in the year-ago period.

Total expenses were at Rs804.96 crore as compared toRs 407.58 crore in the corre-sponding quarter last fiscalyear. Cost of materials con-sumed was Rs 575.18 crore asagainst Rs 250.78 crore in theyear-ago period, the compa-ny added.

Commenting on the per-formance, KIL ManagingDirector Mahesh Chhabriasaid,"We are pleased withour Q2 FY 2022 performancewith 97 per cent growth intotal income and 79 per centgrowth in net profit at consol-idated level."On the sub-sidiaries side, he saidKirloskar Ferrous IndustriesLtd (KFIL) reported a strongperformance in Q2. The pro-jects undertaken for the realestate subsidiary AvanteSpaces Limited are progress-ing as planned, he added.

"With this, we are positiveabout the growth plans wehave set (for) the company,"Chhabria said.

KirloskarIndustries Q2profit jumps

PNS n MUMBAI

Debt-ridden InfrastructureLeasing and Financial Services(IL&FS) on Saturday said it hasreceived approval from NCLTfor launching phase I of itsInfrastructure Investment Trust(InvIT). The group, in arelease, said the approval from theNational Company Law Tribunal(NCLT) was received on Saturday.

With this approval, six roadprojects -- Barwa Adda

Expressway Ltd, BaleshwarKharagpur Expressway Ltd,Sikar Bikaner Highway Ltd,East Hyderabad ExpresswayLtd, Moradabad BareillyExpressway Ltd and JharkhandRoad Projects ImplementationCompany Ltd -- will be trans-ferred to the newly formedRoadstar Infra Investment Trustunder its InvIT Phase I.

These six road projects' spe-cial purpose vehicles (SPVs)will be transferred to the InvIT

at an aggregate valuation of Rs9,214 crore -- determined by anindependent valuer appointedin accordance with Sebi InvITregulations, the group said.

On transfer to the InvIT, thesesix SPVs would move away fromdebt servicing moratoriumextended to the IL&FS Groupcompanies and will start servicingtheir debt, resulting in resolutionof these SPVs, the release said.

IL&FS proposes to addressmore than Rs 16,000 crore

through InvIT in phases. Itwill be adding additional fiveroad assets in phase 2, onreceipt of applicable approvals,it said. State Bank of India,Punjab National Bank, CanaraBank, Bank of India and IndianOverseas Bank are some of thekey lenders to IL&FSTransportation Networks Ltd(ITNL), a subsidiary of IL&FS,and will largely benefit by theformation of this InvIT, therelease said.

Uttam Galva Steels posts Rs 90 cr net loss in Jul-Sep qtr

Uttam Galva SteelsLimited on Saturday

posted a consolidated netloss of Rs 90.17 croreduring the second quarterended September 30,2021.The company hadposted Rs 19.31 crore netprofit in the year-agoquarter, Uttam Galva Steelssaid in a regulatory filing.During the July-Septemberperiod, the company's total

consolidated income however increased to Rs 222.21 crore, fromRs 194.94 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal. Itsexpenses during the quarter were at Rs 296.48 crore, higheragainst Rs 175.63 crore a year ago.

IL&FS gets NCLT nod for phase 1 InvIT

PNS n CHENNAI

City-based information andcommunications technologysolutions provider SifyTechnologies on Saturday saidthe company reported a netprofit of Rs 356 million for thequarter ending September 30,2021, against Rs 257 million in

the corresponding quarter lastyear. The revenue stood at Rs6,986 million against Rs 5,899million.Earnings before inter-est, tax, depreciation andamortisation (EBITDA) wasRs 1,477 million against Rs1,189 million. The capitalexpenditure was Rs 1,497 mil-lion.

Sify Technologiesreports Rs 356

sundaymagazine

98Paean for an unsung hero

HYDERABAD, October 31, 2021

Eating out is a part of life, be it forleisure or due to travel. However, themore frequently you eat out, themore calories you ingest, gettingheavier in the bargain. You don’t

need me to tell you that, you know it already.While both Sanjeev and Rajesh hailed

from the INT, it was the language that hadseparated them. Sanjeev mainly performed inGujarati plays, while Kaka performed inHindi. Due to the paucity of Gujarati theatreartists of Sanjeev’s calibre in Bombay, directorswere eager to work with him. Rajesh Khanna,on the other hand, was one of many Hindi-speaking actors desperate for a break. At onetime, while Sanjeev was acting in five differentplays simultaneously, Rajesh barely had one.Reduced to playing small roles, like that of adoorman in V.K. Sharma’s Mere Desh Ke Gaon,Kaka had watched from the sidelines asSanjeev walked away with meatier roles andawards. It took numerous attempts for RajeshKhanna to finally lay his hands on a collegefestival award for his role in Aur Diya BujhJaye. When he won this award, he organized aparty to celebrate, and invited Sanjeev Kumar.The latter did not bother to even respond tothe invitation, let alone show up.

Notably, although Sanjeev received offersfor film roles before Rajesh Khanna did, hehad also been struggling for longer. It hadtaken Sanjeev five years to make the movefrom theatre to cinema, while Kaka was onstage for barely two years before shifting to thesilver screen, according to the director RameshTalwar.

Perhaps the two came from worlds so farapart that they could never reconcile their dif-ferences. A dishevelled Hari in his raggedkurta pyjamas might have seemed to RajeshKhanna the very antithesis to the glamorousworld of cinema they both were aspiring toenter. Rajesh Khanna, meanwhile, flittingbetween auditions in his expensive car, wouldhave presented the picture of privilege to thestruggling Sanjeev Kumar.

While still a stage actor, Rajesh Khannawas a reticent man, only interacting with hisfellow actor Anju Mahendru. He would cometo meet her while she was working in B.S.Thapa’s Mehenga Sauda, but remained alooffrom all the other actors present on set,including Sanjeev Kumar. Many assumed thathis attitude implied an arrogant belief that hewas made for bigger, better things than theHindi stage.

Anju Mahendru, meanwhile, was goodfriends with Sanjeev Kumar as well. RajeshKhanna was often suspicious of their friend-ship, their easy camaraderie making himbelieve that they shared a romantic relation-ship. Although Anju tried to convince him ofthe contrary, he continued to harbour his sus-picions. Sanjeev Kumar had often warnedAnju to steer clear of Rajesh Khanna, clearly a

man given to jealous fits of passion. He didnot believe it would be possible for her to finda stable life with such a fickle man.

In 1969, setting personal differences aside,Rajesh Khanna and Sanjeev Kumar cametogether to work with G.P. Sippy for Bandhan.Anju Mahendru also acted in the film. Despitethe friction, however, they behaved profession-ally and the movie was completed without anyuntoward incidents. As time passed, RajeshKhanna delivered hit after hit, and soon cameto be known as the first superstar of Hindicinema. Sanjeev had made considerable stridesas well and was offered roles in numerous crit-ically acclaimed movies. Known for his sensi-tive, visceral portrayals, he came to play avariety of roles, while Rajesh Khanna carved aniche for himself in the romantic genre.

Towards the end of the 1960s, HrishikeshMukherjee had started planning his ambitiousproject Anand (1970) with N.C. Sippy. Basedon Raj Kapoor and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’sfriendship, the film was initially slated to starKishore Kumar and Mehmood. The title rolewould go to Kishore Kumar, while Mehmoodwould play Babu Moshai. Unfortunately,Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Kishore Kumar hada tiff and fell out. Consequently, Kishore leftthe film and Mehmood followed his friend,although he was unaware of what had tran-spired. In his biography Mehmood: A Man ofMany Moods, Mehmood says:

If I had known what had happened withHrishi-da at that time, I would have spoken toKishore and sorted the matter.

When Rajesh Khanna heard of Anand, heapproached the director for the titular role.Delighted at the opportunity to cast the super-star, N.C. Sippy and Hrishikesh Mukherjeereadily agreed.

The role of Babu Moshai was still availableand Mukherjee decided to approach SanjeevKumar, who had already worked with him inSatyakam (1969) and Aashirwad (1968).Sanjeev, as always, spotted the potential of thescript and agreed to do the film.Unfortunately, when Rajesh Khanna wasinformed of Sanjeev’s casting, he grew inse-cure about his role. Although he had the titu-lar role, the development of Babu Moshai’scharacter was crucial to the plotline. Khannadid not want to share the limelight withSanjeev. Ultimately, Amitabh Bachchan wascast in the role that Mukherjee had reservedfor Sanjeev. This was the first of the two timesthat Sanjeev Kumar lost a role to Bachchan;the second being for Rajshri Productions’acclaimed project Saudagar (1973).

As Anju Mahendru remembers, RajeshKhanna always remained insecure about hisacting prowess in comparison to Sanjeev’s.Every time she went to meet Sanjeev, Rajeshwould get upset. Sagar Sarhadi remembers thisas well. Almost everyone knew the two actorscould not stand each other.

The writer duo Salim-Javed was very closeto Rajesh Khanna, having written a screenplayfor his film Haathi Mere Saathi (1971). SalimKhan and Rajesh Khanna would meet everyday at Aashirwad, Khanna’s Carter Road resi-dence. On one occasion, when Salim metRajesh, he was sitting on the bonnet of his car,holding a film magazine. He asked Khan if hehad indeed hailed Sanjeev Kumar as one of thebest actors of his time in an interview featuredtherein. A straightforward man, Salim repliedthat he had. Visibly upset, Rajesh Khannaasked him if he thought Sanjeev was the betteractor. Taken aback, Salim Khan explained thathis praise for Sanjeev Kumar had been in thecontext of a specific role, and if he was inter-viewed about Rajesh Khanna’s role, he wouldhave appropriate praise for him as well. RajeshKhanna was not to be comforted. Brooding, hetook off for another shoot, leaving Khandumbfounded. The incident stayed with SalimKhan for a long time. Chintamani quotes him,saying that Kaka was extremely insecure andpossessive. Later, when Salim-Javed startedworking with other actors, he took it as abetrayal of sorts. As Chintamani writes: “Bynow, Khanna’s insecurity had started taking atoll on him. As a person who by nature washighly insecure and continually sought posi-tive reinforcement, he had surrounded himselfyes-men . . .”

Since a palpable tension existed betweenSanjeev and Rajesh, very few film-makers werekeen on taking on the task of working withthem together. However, J. Om Prakash madethe surprising choice to cast them both in hisdirectorial debut, Aap Ki Kasam (1974), aremake of the Malayalam film Vazhve Mayam(1970).

For the lead role, Rajesh Khanna was hisfirst choice. He was a star who could pull hugecrowds to the theatre, and following the suc-cess of Anand, audiences knew him as a capa-ble actor as well. Having decided to cast him,Om Prakash made a small change to thescript-an ending similar to that in Anand.Armed with his script, Om Prakash metKhanna and narrated the film to him. Awareof Om Prakash’s impressive track record,Rajesh Khanna accepted the role eagerly. Hewas then informed that Sanjeev Kumar wouldbe cast as the second lead. He seemed acquies-cent, and Om Prakash went to meet SanjeevKumar.

By this time, Sanjeev had started playinglead roles in acclaimed films like Khilona(1970), and Om Prakash was worried hewould not accept the role. Upon meetingSanjeev Kumar, however, Om Prakash wasimpressed with his humility. Before he narrat-ed the script to him, he warned him that hewanted to cast him in the second lead. Sanjeevagreed to the role. Om Prakash signed him onfor two other films as well, Aakraman (1975)and Aandhi (1975). According to one of

Kumar’s friends, Sanjeev supposedly signedthe film seeing it as an opportunity to sort outhis differences with Khanna. Om Prakash wasdetermined to complete his film on time.

He went through every detail with histechnicians to ensure that the shoots ransmoothly and with minimal interruptions. Thefirst shoot was held at Mehboob Studios.Prakash decided to begin shooting with themost crucial and tricky scene-where RajeshKhanna was to slap Sanjeev Kumar. OmPrakash wanted to see whether the actorswould be able to work together. Before hestarted the shoot, he warned the cast and crewthat while he was open to suggestions, hewould not tolerate interference or indisciplineon his sets. He explained the scene in detail toboth actors together, then ordered the camerasto roll. The scene was shot without a hitch,and the actors shared the stage effortlessly.Although a first-time director, Om Prakashhandled the shoot so well that Sanjeev Kumarlater congratulated him for it.

Om Prakash remembered Sanjeev Kumaras a flawless actor — fluent in Hindi despitebeing Gujarati, with proper diction and dia-logue delivery. The only problem with Kumarwas his perpetual tardiness. Prakash got soused to Sanjeev being late that, to save time,he would complete scenes with other actorsbefore Sanjeev arrived.

The climax of the film was shot withRajesh Khanna’s character dying in SanjeevKumar’s lap. Khanna was sure he would walkaway with the laurels for the scene as thedying hero, but Sanjeev’s dialogues were sopowerful that they stole the show. His screenpresence, coupled with the haunting song‘Zindagi Ke Safar Mein’ enchanted the audi-ences.

Aap Ki Kasam was completed in tenmonths and released within a year. It was asuperhit at the box office, and Prakash workedwith Khanna and Kumar again in Aakraman.Unfortunately, Aakraman did not do very well.Although Sanjeev claimed that he had noproblem working with Khanna, putting hiscraft before petty rivalries, this was the lastfilm in which they would work together. Longafter this, Prakash worked with Sanjeev Kumaragain for Apnapan (1977). His memories ofthe actor were summed up best, according tothe film-maker himself, by the song ‘AadmiMusafir Hai’.

Over twenty-five years in the industry,Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Khanna never visit-ed each other at their homes. However, inNovember 1985, when Sanjeev Kumarbreathed his last, Rajesh Khanna visited to payhis respects, his eyes brimming with tears.

Excerpted with permission from An Actor’sActor: An Authorized Biography of

Sanjeev Kumar by Hanif Zaveri & SumantBatra, Rupa, `599

Escape From Pakistan is a first-handaccount of a daughter's view of her latefather, Commodore Garnet Milton Shea

You have to beconfident enough topick yourself up andgo to 30 meetings

and be told noevery time and nottake that to heart— Jodie Comer

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

With the onset of winters, poor air qualitywill make the matter worse with thecases of lung cancer,

Take a safe step

A LEGENDRY RIVALRY(From left) Sanjeev Kumar provided a strong supporting act in the Rajesh Khanna-starrer Aap Ki Kasam; A still from Hamare Tumhare; Sanjeev Kumar and Rakhee starred in quite a few family melodramas in the 1970s

Over 25 years in the

industry, Sanjeev

Kumar & Rajesh

Khanna never visited

each other at their

homes. However, in

November 1985, when

Sanjeev Kumar

breathed his last,

Rajesh Khanna visited

to pay his respects, his

eyes brimming with

tears, write authors

HANIF ZAVERI &

SUMANT BATRA in

their book, An Actor’s

Actor: An Authorised

Biography of Sanjeev

Kumar. An edited

excerpt:

PERHAPS THE TWOCAME FROM WORLDS

SO FAR APART THATTHEY COULD NEVER

RECONCILE THEIRDIFFERENCES. A

DISHEVELLED HARI INHIS RAGGED KURTA

PYJAMAS MIGHT HAVESEEMED TO RAJESHKHANNA THE VERY

ANTITHESIS TO THEGLAMOROUS WORLD

OF CINEMA THEY BOTHWERE ASPIRING TO

ENTER

Cre

dit:

Indi

an C

inem

a H

erita

ge F

ound

atio

n

sundaymagazine

books 8HYDERABAD, October 31, 2021

THERE ARE WORSECRIMES THAN BURNINGBOOKS. ONE OF THEM IS

NOT READING THEM— RAY BRADBURY

To tell us the story of Delhi,journalist AdrijaRoychowdhury takes adeep dive into the legendsbehind the names of itsmany streets. Delhi, in ThyName is a compellingaccount of the manyemotions, aspirations, desires, identities,histories and memories that went behindthe naming of places in the national capitalof India. From the crevices of ChandniChowk to the arcades of Connaught Placeand the quarters of CR Park, the bookdelves into the little secrets that wentbehind naming Delhi, as recounted by thepeople of the city.

NEWARRIVALS

DELHI, IN THY NAME: THEMANY LEGENDS THAT

MAKE A CITY Adrija Roychowdhury

Rupa, `295

In the vast sea of availableknowledge on the topic thatis ‘Bengal’, this book is awave navigating its waythrough the depths. But thejourney, necessarily, is aunique one.This story of Bengalglimpses into aspects of the charted routesof known history—political, social,economic, cultural—but is narratedthrough the prism of the author’s ownexperiences. Familiar grounds are coveredbut conveyed through fresh perspectives,interpreted with original insights andinfused with new views and voices—thoseof a gamut of experts including academicsand actors, economists andenvironmentalists, sociologists andscholars, politicians and evenpsychologists. In telling and retelling bitsand pieces of the life of Bengal, a plethoraof gaps are plugged—chinks created bytime and space — in the story. The authorflashes the torchlight into these shadowynooks and crannies and ferrets out whatoccurred and where it was difficult toassess what did actually go on.

THE BENGAL BOOK

Dola Mitra

Rupa, `395

There is an inherent tendency amongcriminals and other dubious oper-ators to conceal income generated

from illegal activities such as smuggling,drug trafficking, proceeds of corruptionin public offices etc from the eyes of theGovernment and its agencies whomthey have reason to fear. However, peo-ple tend to hide even income earned fromlegitimate sources with the sole intent ofavoiding payment of tax or any otherlevies such as stamp duty, registrationcharges, market fee etc. The income con-cealed from the public eye is blackincome.

Black income has the effect of deny-ing the Government access to resources,be it by way of taxes foregone or fundssiphoned off from the welfare schemes orinflated payments made to private con-tractors in lieu of bribe received by cor-rupt officials and their political bosses etc.This in turn, affects the pace of buildinginfrastructure, funding other develop-ment activities and provides incomesupport to the weaker sections of the soci-ety.

It impacts economic growth and sta-bility in a variety of other ways. Thecolour of currency note — irrespective ofwhether it is under regulatory oversightor not — being the same and accumu-lated in plenty by the dubious operators,these holders can cause prices to rise andmay even use the money to hoard essen-tial commodities, in the process createmiseries for majority of the low incomeearners. They siphon off money to safehavens thereby seriously impacting India’sbalance of payments (BoP) and foreignexchange reserves.

The reverse flow of this money —after doing several rounds in trade cir-cuits also termed as ‘round tripping’ —back to India in the guise of foreign directinvestment (FDI) or foreign portfolioinvestment (FPI) or even infused into‘Start - ups’ can have a destabilising effecton the economy.

The author lucidly deals with thenuances of black income; how it is gen-erated; how it is moved within nationalboundaries and globally across jurisdic-tions; how it gets integrated with the‘legitimate’ economy to camouflage itstrue character; how it gets converted into‘white money’ and the modus operandiused to achieve their (read: offenders)nefarious goal and how it impacts themacro-economy.

For decades, successive regimes —

prior to the incumbent Government ledby Narendra Modi — had remained coolto the dire need for taking measures tocheck the proliferation of black money.This is amply demonstrated by absenceof any action on the Benami Law for yearsdespite the recommendation of LawCommission in 1973 and even after thelaw was enacted in 1988, the rules werenot framed (sans these, the law has nomeaning) until 2016 when Modi did it.

Also, look at the Double TaxAvoidance Agreement (DTAA) signed byIndia with Mauritius in 1982. Despite itspersistent misuse and evidence of Indianresidents moving money to that jurisdic-tion only to come back as FDI — solelywith the aim of avoiding payment of taxin either jurisdiction — the Governmentof the day never bothered to take a re-look at agreement. It was only in 2017 thatModi-regime has made necessarychanges.

Far from making an assault on the

black money, the ruling dispensation inthose times did things to legitimise it. Forinstance, the Voluntary Disclosure ofIncome Scheme (VDIS) brought out bythe then Finance Minister, PChidambaram (1997) enticed hoarders todeclare their undisclosed income, pay tax@30% with an assurance that they won’tface any penalty or prosecution. It liter-ally gave them a clean chit for all theirwrongs done in the past.

Shshank has touched upon all suchlackluster actions of the past regimes. Hehas also recognized the moves by Modigovernment to tackle black money andrelated malpractices. Apart from theBenami Law (2016) and revision inDTAA (2017), other reform measuresimplemented by it includeDemonetization (November 8, 2016); theGoods and Services Tax (GST) (July 1,2017); Black Money law (2015);Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)(2016) etc.

While, the above measures werepretty tough on hoarders, at the sametime, Modi treated them with a kid gloveby coming out with a flurry of amnestyschemes such as ‘Sabka Vishwas’ Scheme(SVS) (Sept 1, 2019); Income DeclarationScheme (IDS - I) (June 1-Sept 30, 2016);IDS - II (Dec 16, 2016 to March 31, 2017);and ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ (VSV) (Feb 1 -June 30, 2020). To a great extent, theseoffers took the sting out of the far reach-ing reforms such as demonetisation andundermined their effectiveness.

Another area wherein Modi govern-ment has taken innovative steps relatesto use of information technology (IT),data analytics and coordination betweenits various wings such as the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT), CentralBoard of Indirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)etc and financial institutions and banksto identify mis-matches between theincome as per IT return filed by the

assesses and his actual income therebypreventing tax evasion and short pay-ments. It has also extensively used directbenefit transfer (DBT) for transferringmoney to the beneficiaries under welfareschemes thus reining in leakage.

The author has also touched upon theefforts being made at the internationallevel especially under the aegis of OECD(Organisation for Economic Co-opera-tion and Development) and G-20 to reinin MNCs — including digital giants —which are depriving ‘source’ countries bil-lions of dollars in tax revenue as alsothose involved in financial crimes andfugitive offenders. At the same time, hecandidly recognizes as to how theseefforts are undermined by abetment of‘tax havens’ even by the very countries(say, USA) who claim to be victims.

The book is a good read for all thosewho want to get a sense of how cheats aredefrauding India of its limited resourceswithout getting lost in financial jargons(illustrating complex modus operandiwith simple examples will keep even a lay-man engrossed). The policy makers andregulators can also benefit a lot from thesuggestions in the Chapter “Way forward”to handle the increasingly tech-savvy eco-nomic offenders and tax evaders.

The reviewer is a policy analyst

Famous British writer CS Lewis saidthis of literature. “Literature addsto reality, it does not simplydescribe it. It enriches the neces-sary competencies that daily life

requires and provides; and in this respect,it irrigates the deserts that our lives havealready become.” He famously goes on tosay, “We read to know that we are not alone.”Reading, as they say, is a dying art. Andgiven our hectic lifestyles and the increas-ing love for “instant gratification” where theworld is at our “fingertips”, it is indeed achallenge to find the time to pick up a book.Hence, in today’s world, where more andmore people are veering away from theprinted word and preferring to opt for pod-casts and videos instead, it is books like‘Escape from Pakistan’ that remind us of thepleasures of reading and the treasures thatthe printed word hides within itself.

I am not equating the first-time authorDeborah Ann Shea, to the greats of contem-porary non-fiction literature. Far from it!But the fact that she, in her first-effort ever,has churned out a book that is gripping aswell as unputdownable, is a feat that few canaccomplish.

What makes this book so compellingis the fact that it is a labour of love. In theeyes of the author, it is the story of anunsung hero that needed to be told to theworld. It is the first-hand account of a lov-ing daughter’s view of her late father,whom she sees as a hero and the dangersher father Commodore Garnet Milton Sheaor ‘Jack Shea’ as he was more popularlyknown as, faced while deputed in Karachi,Pakistan as Naval Attaché in the IndianHigh Commission in his youth.

It is a fact that India has retained itsindependent state and our military has got-ten the image of being one of the best inthe world, owing to the hard work, intelli-gence, diligence, discipline and sacrifices ofmany officers over the decades. Sadly, savefor a few like Sam ‘Bahadur’ Manekshaw,General Cariappa, 2nd Lieutenant ArunKhetrapal, Captain Vijayant Thapar andCaptain Vikram Batra, our military histo-ry has been an endless saga of one unknownhero after another, just fading into obliv-ion, despite sterling service to the nation.So, it comes as a breath of fresh air thatthrough the efforts of a loving daughter whorefused to let the feat performed by an intre-pid mariner die out, a legendary figure has

emerged. His is a tale that just had to be told.Author Debora Ann Shea has made a

remarkable effort to right the wrongs of thepast and ensure that the hitherto unpubli-cized exploits of Commodore Shea arebrought to life through her book ‘Escapefrom Pakistan.’

“My inspiration for the book came frommy early life. One that was filled withmoments of pure terror! I first thought ofwriting the book as a tribute to my father.Over the years, the book evolved in mymind. When I finally put pen to paper, Iknew that I wanted the book to serve as areminder for all Indians to know andacknowledge the price of freedom that ispaid by our men in uniform, then and now,”Debora told The Pioneer.

The book begins with the personalprice that Captain Shea has to pay for serv-ing his country, when, in infringement ofall diplomatic conventions and treaties,Pakistani hit-men enter the Indian HighCommission in Karachi to jump themariner at a party and leave him for dead.The writer then begins the narrative of whythe attack took place. As the name of thebook suggests, the main plot of the storyrevolves around the daring escape of FrankDewars, the First Secretary in the IndianHigh Commission in Karachi who actual-ly belonged to the Indian Police Service. Hewas crucial in collecting information thatkept the Indian security forces a step aheadof Pakistan throughout the 1965 war.Naturally, the Pakistanis wised up to the factthat someone had helped the Indian mili-tary trounce them by passing sensitiveinformation.

They zeroed in on Frank Dewars andan arrest warrant was issued in his name.However, the Indians got wind of that andthey would have none of it. They decidedto “repatriate” Frank and his family back toIndia before the Pakistanis laid hands onthem.

Everyone knew that the job was fraughtwith risk and the whole operation wouldhave to be meticulously planned else pre-cious lives would be lost or Dewars and hisfamily would be incarcerated in Pakistan.It would also result in a major diplomaticspat between the two neighbours, whoserelations can at best be termed as tenuous.

The Indian High Commissionerordered the mariner to execute the daring‘Escape from Pakistan.’

Shea, who was a Captain back then,outlined an extremely complex and daringoperation and set it in motion with preci-sion and care.

Consequently, Pakistani security guardsfailed to notice Dewars when he left theIndian Mission in Karachi crouchedbetween the back and front seats of a carcovered with a blanket. Relying on

Pakistanis who worked for the Indian intel-ligence, Dewars got into a jeep driven byan Indian, who could pass for a Pathan andspoke Urdu and Punjabi well enough toreach a village close to the Indian border,a distance of 200 km, without arousing sus-picion. If nothing went wrong, the journeywould consume about six hours.

The rest of the book details the daring

attempt at escape and how Dewars ultimate-ly reached India and how Captain Shea thenexecutes the second part of the plan to sendthe entire Dewars family home.

Though it is a well-written and well-researched book, one cannot help but won-der how the writer has revealed it all with-out ruffling many feathers in the PakistaniIntelligence, Defence and diplomatic com-

munity. Because, make no mistake, this isone chapter in their history that thePakistanis would not like to be madeknown.

Deborah recounts: “The difficulty ofwriting the book was to talk about andreveal sensitive information about a neigh-bouring country with whom we do not havegood relations. It comes with a lot of chal-lenges. There is a very uneasy peacebetween our two countries, and both theGovernments are trying to walk a tightrope.So sometimes, silence is the best solution.But on the other hand, the attack and trau-ma that my father underwent in Pakistanshould not go unheard and unrecognised.The people of India must know about thesacrifice made by my father to protect andsave a diplomat and his family. In the finalanalysis, I believe that the truth will alwaysprevail. And I should do the rightful thingby my father. This book is a tribute to him,and for his bravery and courage in the faceof great danger to his life.”

In the final analysis, ‘Escape fromPakistan’ is not just a great story filled withthrill and romance, it is a golden chapterin India’s military history.

The truth about the money trap

PAEAN FOR AN UNSUNG HEROThe book is a first-hand account of a daughter’s view of her late father, Commodore Garnet Milton Shea & the dangers he

faced while deputed in Pakistan as Naval Attaché in the Indian High Commission in his youth, writes REENA AMOS DYES

Shshank Saurav’s book, Anatomy of Black Money, is a good read for all those who want to get a sense of howcheats are defrauding India of its limited resources without getting lost in financial jargon, writes UTTAM GUPTA

ESCAPE FROM PAKISTAN

Deborah Ann Shea

Penguin Enterprise, `599

ANATOMY OF BLACKMONEY

Shshank SauravVitasta, `250

With Diwali around the corner,Delhi’s Air Quality Index(AQI) has deteriorated to 353.Currently, Delhi has 13 pollu-tion hot spots including

Rohini, Okhla Phase-2, Punjabi Bagh, VivekVihar, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, andNarela; these were identified by the CentralPollution Control Board in 2018.

The other locations which feature regular-ly on the top five most polluted hot spotsinclude Nehru Nagar, Mundka, Shadipur andDilshad Garden.

With the existing poor air quality, theonset of winters have started making the mat-ter worse with the cases of lung cancer, chron-ic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) andasthma on rise.

Dr Shuchin Bajaj, Founder and Director,Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals tells us thatthe air pollution resulting from Diwali wouldbe the final nail in the coffin because the festi-val of light marks the last day of harvest,thereby paving the way for highly-pollutedstubble burning in the Northern states.

On top of that the bursting of unregulatedfirecrackers release huge quantities of toxicchemicals into the air. Dr Bajaj syas, “Healthexperts have warned people against the bad airquality and said exposure to every slightincrease in air pollutants is associated with asubstantial increase in the risk of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like lungcancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), and asthma.

In the past too, we have seen how theharmful particulate matter present in the airexacerbates outcomes for those who do haveCOPD, lung cancer and asthma. They alsoincrease one’s risk of developing these diseasesif exposed to such bad air quality for a longerperiod of time.

“Last year, doctors had witnessed manyfresh cases of respiratory disorders and NCDsin their OPDs. When there is also a pandemic,we need to act on multiple fronts to get holdof the situation. This is the high time that weshould look for sustainable solutions for con-trolling air pollution as it has been causingconsiderable deterioration of the vital organs,”says Dr Bajaj.

He shares some of the pertinent healthissues due to air pollution during Diwali:

Asthma and Pulmonological Problems:Pollutants can cause eye irritation,

headaches, pulmonary emphysema, chest andthroat blockages, coughs, colds and respirato-ry allergies are more likely to cause problemsin people suffering from asthma. Other prob-lems include bronchial asthma, eye infections,allergic bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, COPD

(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease),allergic rhinitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, pneumo-nia and the common cold. If you are a patientof asthma, do not light firecrackers. Use amask or cover your nose and mouth with awet towel to avoid toxic air.

Cardiovascular issues: High decibel noise and polluted air during

Diwali can bother people with existing heartconditions and high blood pressure. This canfurther lead to sleep disturbances, and othercomplications. A sudden loud noise can causetemporary or permanent deafness or even aheart attack. Use earbuds, cotton, or noise-cancelling headphones to reduce crackernoise.

Mental health problemsWhen it comes to mental health issues,

loud Diwali celebrations and polluted air canaffect the normal functioning of the brain andresult in restlessness, impulsive behaviour,anger, extravagance and overreacting to anysituation. It especially occurs in young chil-dren, pregnant women, heart patients andpeople suffering from respiratory problems. Insevere cases, people may experience nauseaand a temporary state of mind.

Air pollution can lead to DNA mutation:Air pollution does not only cause consid-

erable deterioration of the vital organs but alsodamage on the cellular level. Breathing inhighly polluted air on a regular basis, or longterm exposure can compromise cellular com-position, which in turn leads to DNA muta-tions. Any level of cellular damage can causeorgan damage and compromise the body'simmune response leading to viral multiplica-tion. Those with organ damage and compro-mised response are at a higher risk for COVIDseverity. Various studies have suggested thatair pollution can lead to endothelial damage,inflammation, which in turn can lead toclogged arteries and heightened cardiovascu-lar risk. Hypertension, which is one factorwhich poses risk to cardio health, is bad forCOVID. Hypertensive patients tend to be lowon some form of receptors in the body, knownas ACE2, which coronavirus spike proteinsinteract with and attack the body.

C for SkinKeeping one’s skin healthy and hydrated is

as important. With the festival season upon us,outings are frequent. With so much on our plates,from cleaning our house to moving out for shop-ping, it is obvious that our skin will come in con-tact with a lot of dust and pollution but at thesame time it is important to keep a check on yourskin and take care of it.

By including Vitamin C, an antioxidant, inyour diet, applying it on your skin directly or con-suming it in the form of a capsule can help keepyour skin healthy and blooming.

“Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can helpus fight the devastating effects of pollution. It canrid our bodies of free radicals that cause our cellsto age more rapidly. It can also help us breatheeasier,” says Dr Karuna Malhotra, Cosmetologistand Homeopath Physician, Cosmetic Skin andHomeo Clinic, Rajouri Garden.

Natural sources for Vitamin C are availablein plenty, especially in a diet full of fresh foodsand nutrient rich fruits and vegetables. If you’relooking for the best sources of Vitamin C,

oranges, pineapples, guavas, papayas, strawber-ries, amla (gooseberry) are all ideal choices.

“I highly recommend that you make a pasteof amla and add it to a litre of drinking water.Sip on this throughout the day.” Dr Malhotraadds.

Vitamin C is also found in vegetables, stockup on capsicum, kale (a kind of spinach), broc-coli, chilli peppers, cauliflower, and brusselsprouts. For a steadier, more measured dose,chewable tablets of 1000 mg Vitamin C are alsoan option. For more protection inside and out,try a Vitamin C serum (a lotion with at least15-20 % Vitamin C), applying it to the face atnight, she suggests.

Dengue spreadDelhi-NCR among other states has wit-

nessed rapid increase in the number of denguecases in the past two weeks. The paucity of bedsin both government and private hospitals hasworsened the situation even more, such grimcircumstances that only those seen bleeding andwith platelets fallen till 30,000 are being priori-tised and given admissions. With the COVID-19 virus still around and new variants emerg-ing every now and then, Dengue just aggravatesthe situation.

It is important that with the utmost joy dur-ing the celebrations in this festive season, wetake care of ourselves and the surroundings.Storing or leaving the water stagnated outsideor inside the house can be a breeding groundfor Aedes mosquitoes. High time that we stopourselves and others from doing things thatwould only give space to such happenings.

“Unlike bacterial infections, we do not haveeffective antiviral drugs for most viral infectionsand hence prevention is the best bet,” says DrHari Kishan Boorugu, Consultant Physicianand Diabetologist, Yashoda Hospitals,Hyderabad.

He tells us that Dengue and Chikungunyaviruses are transmitted by the Aedes mosqui-to. Unlike the Anopheles mosquito which trans-mits malaria, the Aedes mosquito is predom-inantly a daytime feeder.

“Aedes mosquitoes can grow in smallwater collections also. Because of its ability togrow in small water collections and daytimefeeding habits, it is difficult to prevent its bitesand hence Dengue infection’” he says.

To prevent Dengue infection, we need toact both at the public health level and individ-ual level. Dr Boorugu tells us how, “At the pub-lic health level, regular spraying of anti-mos-quito insecticides, ensuring good drainage, andprevention of waterlogging would be helpful.

At an individual level, simple measures likewearing full-sleeved clothes, trousers insteadof shorts, and shoes when we venture out willhelp prevent mosquito bites to some extent.”

special 09HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 31, 2021

TAKE ASAFE STEP TAKE ASAFE STEP

With the onset of winters, poor air quality will make the matter worse with the cases of lung cancer,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma increasing and the air pollution resulting from Diwaliwould be the final nail in the coffin. Keeping looming virus, Dengue, skin health and nutrition in mind,SUPRIYA RAMESH speaks with experts on how to be safe this season

‘Along with festivities, comes fear of gaining fat’

Festive season is around the corner!Festivities, positive vibes, socialgatherings, sweets and what not.

But along with these comes, the fear ofgaining fat. “To enjoy the season andensure that we don't gain a lot of fat, firstof all, we should not deem that we wouldgain fat/weight during this period,which leads to us not taking any actionto mitigate the gain,” says Yash Vardhan

Swami, Health and Fitness Coach andNutritionist. So, the first thing which needs tochange is our mindset and understand-ing that we can easily mitigate the fes-tive weight gain by using these simplestrategies. First we need to understandthe main reason and science behindweight gain. When we consume morecalories than what we burn, overtime.

We gain weight/fat.To mitigate this, Swami shares ways:1. Control the amount of calories beingconsumed.2. Control the amount of calories beingburnt. .Talking about the caloric intake, we cansimply skip one of the meals for the daywe are indulging in our favorite foods.We can have another meal with just veg-

etables/fruit and protein source andtowards the end of the day, we can havea meal of choice, in moderation (andguilt free as we have already pre com-pensated). Apart from that, we can preplan what we would eat during theindulgence, so that we don't ‘over eat’food which we don't generally crave for.We can also have a small low caloriemeal (with a protein source and vegeta-

bles/salad) before the indulgence, whichwould again help with caloric control.We can also choose low calorie variantsof our favourite sweets. We can also stickto our nutrition plan, if craving levels forthe indulgences are not high and keepthem to a minimum.On the calorie burning spectrum, we cansimply continue our regular workouts orensure that we are working out at least

three times a week to keep up the calo-rie burning.Along with that, my favourite calorieburning hack is walking! Aiming to walkat least 8000-10000 steps everydaywould ensure that we are burningenough calories to attenuate some of thefat gain. And all of this walking can bedone at home too! Just track them andget going!

AIR POLLUTIONRESULTING FROMDIWALI WOULD BETHE FINAL NAIL INTHE COFFIN BECAUSETHE FESTIVAL OFLIGHT MARKS THELAST DAY OFHARVEST, THEREBYPAVING THE WAY FORHIGHLY-POLLUTEDSTUBBLE BURNING INTHE NORTH

— DR SHUCHINBAJAJ, FOUNDER AND

DIRECTOR, UJALACYGNUS GROUP OF

HOSPITALS

An Indian-origin top executive of a pharmaceuticalcompany in the US state of New Jersey was shot dead

by a gunman who followed him home from a casino forrobbery, media reports said on Saturday. Sree Ranga Aravapalli,

54, a resident of New Jersey's Plainsboro, was killed shortly after arrivinghome by a gunman who, according to authorities, followed him from acasino outside Philadelphia at around 3:30 AM (local time) on Tuesday, theCBC New York newspaper reported. The “wealthy pharmaceutical executive” wasfollowed for 50 miles (80 kms) from a Pennsylvania casino to his New Jersey homewhere he was murdered in an attempted robbery while his wife and daughter weresleeping, the New York Post newspaper quoted the police as saying. Aravapalli cashed outhis night's big winnings, about USD 10,000, in the early morning hours of Tuesday at the ParxCasino in Bensalem when he was spotted with the loot by 27-year-old Jekai Reid-John, ofPennsylvania's Norristown, the Post report said. The police have arrested Jekai Reid-John andcharged him with first-degree murder.

New coronavirusrestrictions cameinto effect across

Russia on Saturday withauthorities looking to stemsoaring infections and deathsin Europe's worst hit countryby fatalities.

Saturday's governmenttally recorded 40,251 newcases, the highest figure fornew infections since thebeginning of the pandemic.

President Vladimir Putin

last week ordered a paid hol-iday from Saturday toNovember 7 in a bid to breaka recent chain of records indaily cases and deaths.

Russia has held back onimposing significant nation-wide measures since endinga short lockdown at thebeginning of the pandemicand instead placed its hopeson the rollout of severalhomegrown vaccines,including Sputnik V.

Even though several jabshave been freely available formonths, just 32.5 percentof the population havebeen fully vaccinat-ed, according togovernmentstatisticsSaturday.

Have you noticed morecats riding in strollerslately? Or bumper

stickers that read, “I love mygranddogs”? You're not imag-ining it. More people areinvesting serious time, moneyand attention in their pets.

It looks an awful lot likeparenting, but of pets, notpeople.

Can this kind of caregivingtoward animals really be con-sidered parenting? Or issomething else going onhere?

I'm an anthropologist whostudies human-animal inter-actions, a field known asanthrozoology.

I want to better understandthe behavior of pet parentingby people from the perspec-tive of evolutionary science.After all, cultural norms andevolutionary biology bothsuggest people should focuson raising their own children,not animals of a completelydifferent species.

More child-free people,more pet parents

The current moment isunique in human history.Many societies, including the

U.S., are experiencing majorchanges in how people live,work and socialize. Fertilityrates are low, and people havemore flexibility in how theychoose to live their lives.

These factors can lead peo-ple to further their educationand value defining oneself asan individual over familyobligations. With basics takencare of, people can focus onhigher order psychologicalneeds like feelings of achieve-ment and a sense of purpose.

The scene is set for peopleto actively choose to focus onpets instead of children.

In earlier research, I inter-viewed 28 self-identifiedchild-free pet owners to bet-ter understand how theyrelate to their animals.

These individuals pointed-ly shared that they hadactively chosen cats anddogs instead of children.In many cases,their use of par-ent-child

relational terms – callingthemselves a pet's “mom” forinstance – was simply short-hand.

They emphasized fulfillingthe species-specific needs oftheir dogs and cats. Forexample, they might fulfillthe animal's need to forage byfeeding mealsusing afoodpuz-zle,

while most children are fed atthe table.

These pet owners acknowl-edged differences in the nutri-tion, socialization and learn-ing needs of animals versuschildren. They were notunthinkingly replacing humanchildren with “fur babies” by

treating them like small,furry humans.

Other researchersfind similar con-

nections, show-ing that child-free pet ownersperceive their

companions asemotional, think-

ing individuals.This way of understanding

the mind of the animal helpslead to the development of aparent identity toward com-panion animals. In othercases, uncertain individualsfind their need to nurture suf-ficiently fulfilled by caring forpets, cementing their fertilitydecisions to remain child-free.

Nurturing others is part ofbeing human

Yet, these findings still donot answer this question: Arepeople who choose pets overchildren truly parenting theirpets? To answer, I turned tothe evolution of parenting and

caregiving.Evolutionary

anthropolo-gist Sarah

Hrdy

wrote in 2009 that humans arecooperative breeders.

This means it is literally inour DNA and our ancestralhistory to help care for off-spring who are not our own.Anthropologists and biolo-gists call this trait alloparent-ing.

It is an evolutionary adap-tation that helped humanbeings who cooperativelyraised children survive. Forearly humans, this ancientenvironment was likely madeup of small, foraging societiesin which some peopleexchanged child care for foodand other resources.

I propose that it is thisevolutionary history thatexplains pet parenting. Ifpeople evolved to alloparent,and our environment is nowmaking caring for childrenmore difficult or less appeal-

ing to some, it makes sensefor people to alloparent

other species enteringtheir homes.

scopekaleidHYDERABAD | SUNDAY | OCTOBER 31, 2021

backpage

Turkey deported 8,500terror suspects since

Syrian war beganMore than 8,500 for-

eign fighters havebeen deported fromTurkey since the start ofthe Syrian civil war 10years ago, the TurkishInterior Ministry said onSaturday.

Terror suspects from102 countries wereexpelled, including 44from the US and 1,075from EU states, accord-ing to a ministry state-ment.

In the first 10 monthsof this year, 61 suspectsfrom eight EU countrieswere deported.

The ministry said atotal of 8,585 fighterswere “deported as aresult of Turkey's effortsto secure its securitywithin and beyond theborder” since 2011.

The deportees had lefttheir home countries tojoin groups such as theIslamic State group andthe Kurdistan Workers'Party, or PKK, as well asits affiliate in Syria.

Turkey has carriedout three military cam-paigns in north Syriasince 2016 and main-

tains a military presencein the northwestprovince of Idlib as wellas other areas inside theSyrian border.

It is currently con-ducting operationsagainst the PKK innorthern Iraq.

The Islamic Stategroup carried out anumber of major terrorattacks on Turkish soilin 2015 and 2016 afterAnkara joined theinternational coalitionto fight the militants.

The bomb and gunattacks left hundredsdead.

The conflict with thePKK has caused tens ofthousands of deathssince the grouplaunched its armed cam-paign in southeastTurkey in 1984.

The PKK is consid-ered a terrorist organisa-tion by the US and mostWestern states.

The PKK's Syrianwing was instrumentalin supporting US-ledefforts to drive IslamicState fighters fromnorthwest Syria.

Russia’s nationwide paid holidaycomes into effect to curb Covid

Cat and dog ‘moms’ and ‘dads’ parenting their pets

Indian-origin pharma CEO shot dead by gunman

Pakistan allows‘diplomats’ totake charge ofAfghan embassy

Pakistan has quietlyallowed the

Taliban-appointed“diplomats” to takecharge of the Afghanembassy and con-sulates in the country,a media report said onSaturday.

Although Pakistandoes not recognise theTaliban as the legiti-mate government inKabul, it still issuedvisas to the appointed“diplomats”.

Sardar MuhammadShokaib has startedworking as the firstsecretary in the Afghanembassy in Islamabad,while HafizMohibullah, MullahGhulam Rasool andMullah MuhammadAbbas have beenassigned to thePeshawar, Quetta andKarachi consulates ofAfghanistan, the Dawnnewspaper reported.

Shokaib would effec-tively be the Afghancharge d'affaires inIslamabad.

The Afghan embassyhere has been withoutan ambassador sinceJuly when the lastenvoy under the previ-ous regime, NajibullahAlikhil, left because ofcontroversy due toalleged abduction ofhis daughter SilsilaAlikhil.

FBI using Navajo language incampaign targeting hate crimesThe FBI has begun a

campaign to use theNavajo language onsocial media to combathate crimes.

The federal enforce-ment agency saidFriday that it has an adin the Navajo languageon Facebook thatencourages victims andwitnesses to contact theFBI, which also has

posted messages in theNavajo language againsthate crime on Twitter.

“Our message is clearand simple: Hate hasno place on the NavajoNation or anywhereelse,” said Special Agentin Charge RaulBujanda of theAlbuquerque FBIDivision. “For thosemore comfortable com-

municating in Navajo,we hope this outreachencourages them to callus or go online if theyare aware of a hatecrime.”

The FBI said it alsohas translated intoNavajo numerousposters seeking infor-mation about unsolvedhomicides and missingperson cases.

Covid memorial creators reflectas world nears

5M deaths

As the world nears the milestone of5 million COVID-19 deaths,

memorials large and small, ephemeraland epic, have cropped up around theUnited States.

In New Jersey, one woman's modestseaside memorial for her late brotherhas grown to honour thousands oflost souls. In Los Angeles, a teen'smiddle school project commemorat-ing her city's fallen through a patch-work quilt now includes the names ofhundreds more from around theworld.

Here's a look at what inspired someU.S.-based artists to contribute to thegrowing collection of memorials hon-ouring the nearly 5 million deadworldwide from COVID-19.WASHINGTON, D.C.

Back in June, Suzanne BrennanFirstenberg purchased more than630,000 small white flags in prepara-tion for staging a massive temporarymemorial on the National Mall.

It would be more than enough, shethought, to represent all theAmericans who would have suc-cumbed to the virus as the pandemicseemed to be on the retreat.

She was wrong. By the time “ InAmerica: Remember ” opened Sept.17, more than 670,000 Americans haddied as the virus' delta variant fueleda deadly resurgence. At the end of theexhibit's two-week run, the numberwas more than 700,000.

Firstenberg was struck by howstrangers connected in their grief atthe installation, which ended Oct. 3.

“I was blown away by the willingnessof people to share their grief and by thewillingness of others to lessen it, tohonor it,” she said. “So when I lookedout on those flags, I saw hope. I reallybelieve humanity is going to win out.”

The installation was the secondmonumental exhibit to remembervirus victims that the Maryland-basedartist has staged. Firstenberg previ-ously planted nearly 270,000 whiteflags outside Washington's RFKStadium last October to represent thenational death toll at the time.

Climate activist LavetanalagiSeru has been watching

COVID-19 case numbers rise inthe UK ahead of the UN climateconference beginning Sunday,and it scares him — even thoughhe's been vaccinated and is only29.

But the campaigner from thePacific Islands Climate ActionNetwork is determined to travelfrom his home in Fiji to Scotlandto bring attention to the plight ofisland nations being battered byclimate change.

“It's a scary time to be travel-ing,'' he told The AssociatedPress. “But I'm putting myhealth at risk to make surePacific Island states are heard.''

Despite the concerns of someof the delegates from aroundthe world, the British govern-ment decided to hold an in-per-

son conference, arguing thatworld leaders must act now toprevent catastrophic globalwarming — and that they willbe more effective if they cantalk face-to-face.

The meeting was originallyscheduled to be held last yearbut was postponed due to thepandemic.

The government insists it cannow be done safely — and saidit had worked “tirelessly'' toensure an inclusive, accessibleand safe summit in Glasgow“with a comprehensive set ofCOVID-mitigation measures.''

“COP26 has already been post-poned by one year,'' AlokSharma, the president-designateof the conference known asCOP26, said last month. “And weare all too aware climate changehas not taken time off.''

As Covid cases rise, some activists

fearful of climate talks