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CELEB TALKS 10CHARLIE'S ANGELS READY FOR INDIA

ANALYSIS 7DARK DAYS ARE

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SPORTS 12RAHANE BACKS ROHIT

FOR NEW ROLE

VIJAYAWADA, FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2019; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

France has shown keen inter-est in long-term tie-ups withAndhra Pradesh with focuson infrastructure, automo-biles and renewable energy.

A delegation of 39 heads ofFrench companies called onChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy at his res-idence and held discussionson matters of mutual interest.

The Federation of FranceEntrepreneurs (MEDEF), ledby Geoffrey Roux de Bezieux,said, "Andhra Pradesh is thefocal point of partnershipsand collaborations withMEDEF."

The team, which was on atwo-day visit to the State,

stressed long-term and sus-tainable partnerships withAndhra Pradesh. It wasimpressed by Jagan's gover-nance.

MEDEF has shown interestin investing in urban infra-structure, smart cities, urbandevelopment, automobile,solar, renewable energy andlogistics among others.

The Chief Minister wantedfarmers to be benefited andhave sustainable benefits from

the sale of agro-products bythese investments in the State.The government is lookingfor partnership in smart ener-gy systems, smart city admin-istrative systems for deliveryof public services to citizens.

Jagan stressed identifica-tion of infrastructure pro-jects to be established throughPPP model. He promisedsupport in investing in wastemanagement and water treat-ment.

PNS n AMARAVATI

The State Government has doneaway with the internal assess-ment system in SSC publicexams, following allegationsagainst private schools, andalso the age-old practice ofseparate bit paper.

However, the bit paper willalso be given along with themain question paper because ofthe earlier system has beenleading to the malpractice.

Education MinisterAdimulapu Sureshannounced thedecision at a pressconference here onThursday. Healleged that inter-nal marks hadbenefited only stu-dents of corporateschools. Now, thequestion papers will be setfor total marks, he added.

Suresh said that the govern-ment was keeping its promise ofintroducing revolutionarychanges in education system.Accordingly, it introduced somecrucial changes in the SSC pub-lic exam. As the internal marksare included in the main ques-tion paper, the student would beable get full marks with his orher ability.

The question paper will have

objective type,very shortanswers, essaytype questions.Paper-1 and 2

carry 50 markseach, he added.

There will be fiveessay-type questions

each carrying four marks. Thetotal marks would be 20, eightshort answer questions carry 16marks at the rate of 2 for eachquestion. There will be eightsimple answer questions eachcarrying one mark. There willbe 12 very simple questions eachcarrying half a mark. Theanswers would be valued sub-ject wise and total markssecured in two papers would beconsidered for declaring

whether a candidate is success-ful or not. The duration of theexamination will now be 2hours and 30 minutes and anadditional 15 minutes time willbe given to go through the ques-tion paper, he added.

Replacing the system of giv-ing additional answer sheets, thenew system of 18-page bookletswould be introduced. He saidthe reforms have been intro-duced to increase the quality ofeducation in the state. Theminister did not specify whenthe reforms will be introduced.

He stated that during theTDP rule, internal marks wereprovided for SSC students whoparticipated in Swachh Bharatand other programmes. It hasbeen alleged that corporateschools took advantage of thesystem and awarded full marksto their students.

No internal marksin SSC: Ministerl Govt does away with internal assessment system

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy interacting with members of the French delegation in Vijawayada on Thursday

France keen on sustainabletie-up with Andhra Pradesh

MEDEF has shown interest in investing inurban infrastructure, smart cities, urbandevelopment, automobile, solar, renewableenergy and logistics among others

Adimulapu Suresh

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In violation of rules, the author-ities of Sri Durga MalleswaraSwamyvarla Devasthanamhave allegedly awarded con-tracts or sub-contracts to non-Hindus for preparations for theannual Dasara celebrations.While the police say that theworks were allotted to oneShaik Rabbir, Executive Officerof the temple Suresh Babumaintained that they wereawarded to M/s Tumu LakshmiNarasimha Shamianas.

Rabbir admitted that he hadbagged the sub-contract ofwork from LakshmiNarasimha Shamianas.However, the devotees in thecity wonder how the works can

be allotted to a non-Hinduwhen the rules clearly specifythat such a step is illegal.Meanwhile, the EO said com-pensation would be paid to thekin of a labourer who had fall-en to death while at work inconnection with preparationsbeing done for the Dasara fes-tival. The temple staff had shift-ed Jaidev to hospital immedi-ately after he fell down, he saidand added that he died under-going treatment at the hospital.Suresh Babu said the templestaff had cleaned the floor andremoved the blood stainsimmediately after the accident.

He said there is no truth inreports that the devotees wereforced to go for darshan stamp-ing on the blood of the victim.

Row over award ofDurga Temple worksto non-Hindus

67% of India's Internet users are males!PNS n NEW DELHI

About 67 percent of India's451 million monthly activeInternet users are male,according to a report broughtout by industry body Internetand Mobile Association ofIndia (IAMAI).

In terms of Internet users,India is now second only toChina, but with only 36 percent Internet penetration inIndia, there is still muchheadroom for growth, said thereport titled "India Internet2019". The gender gap ishigher in rural areas as thereport showed that in urbanareas, 62 per cent Internetusers are male, but their pro-portion goes up to 72 per centin rural areas.

Among states, Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Delhi have ahigher proportion of femaleInternet users, said the report.

Of the 451 million month-ly active users, 385 million areover 12 years of age and 66million are in the age brack-et of 5 to 11 years, who accessInternet on the devices offamily members. At the statelevel, the National CapitalRegion of Delhi registered

the highest Internet penetra-tion followed by Kerala,Haryana, Himachal Pradeshand Punjab.

Among the cites, Mumbaiand Delhi top the list with11.7 million and 11.2 millionInternet users' respectively.

Bangalore and Kolkata with

6.1 million users are third, fol-lowed by Chennai with 5.4million Internet users. Thereport also finds that 72 percent of urban Internet users orapproximately 139 millionuse Internet daily.

On the other hand, approx-imately 109 million or 57 percent of the rural Internetusers access Internet daily.

According to the report,nearly two-thirds of theInternet population in Indiaare daily users. While nine outof 10 users' in urban areasaccess the Internet at leastonce a week, young users,aged between 16-29 years,are the most frequent users.

However, there is still a sec-tion of users, who use Internetless than once a week.Approximately one in fiverural Internet users belong tothis category.

Continued on Page 3

YSRCP's smear campaign boomeranging on it: NaiduPNS n AMARAVATI

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)chief N Chandrababu Naiduhas said that no other govern-ment in the State has becomeso unpopular in a mere fourmonths as the present YSRCPgovernment.

Addressing the TDP leadersin a tele-conference here onThursday, he said the YSRCPis trying to run a smear cam-paign against the TDP, but it isboomeranging on it.

He said the High Court'sverdict on Power PurchaseAgreements (PPAs) is an exam-ple of mudslinging politics ofthe government. He allegedthat the government hadcaused a loss of Rs 7,500 to theState exchequer by claimingthat it had saved Rs 750 crore.As part of the quid pro quoagreement secretly reached forelectric buses, the companywhich had quoted a higherprice for the Polavaram Projectduring the TDP government,has now quoted less.

IPS Officer N V SurendraBabu had opposed the deal forelectric buses with the MeghaEngineering and InfrastructureLimited as it was a violation ofrules, the State Governmenthad transferred him from thepost of the Managing Director

of the APSRTC, he alleged.He said the government is

trying to divert the attention ofthe public from its misdeeds.

Though floods have reced-ed and private agencies havecome forward to retrieve thecapsized boat from RiverGodavari near Devipatnam,the government is not inclinedto take steps in that direction,Naidu said. Naidu said thatabout 20 lakh people are beingsubject to a lot of hardship dueto non-availability of sand inthe aftermath of the govern-ment announcing the newsand policy.

Stating that the governmentis turning the TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams (TTD)into a controversial body, hecalled upon the party leadersand the cadre to wage a fightagainst it.

G RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

In a significant development,tenders for electric buses havebeen called here on Thursday.However, there is more to it,then meets the eye, when looksat the developments with theAPSRTC.

Has the electric buses issueled to the transfer of RTC MDNV Surendra Babu?

If RTC circles are to bebelieved, the answer is in theaffirmative. Introducing elec-tric buses through a consor-tium will not benefit APSRTCpractically. In a way, the exist-ing fleet will be replaced withthese buses which will be runby a consortium of privateoperators. Surendra Babu islearnt to have differed with thegovernment in this regard, sohe has been shunted, accord-ing to sources

The transfer of SurendraBabu, who has earned the rep-utation of being a good man-ager for his innovative style offunctioning, has surprisedmany, including employees ofAPSRTC. All the systems havebeen streamlined and he hasbeen instrumental in min-imising the losses despite manyodds. Though he is firm onmanagement policies, he has

given priority to the welfare ofthe employees and at the sametime in implementing thereforms, he did not care for theunions. He was the onlyManaging Director, who hastoured all the depots in theState and studied the problemsof the employees at the groundlevel.

He is the man, who hasgiven a clear picture of thefinancial position of the

APSRTC and urged the gov-ernment to save theCorporation by assisting itfinancially.

Now, the question that isuppermost in the minds ofpeople is what could haveprompted the government totake such a decision at the cru-cial juncture of the APSRTC'smerger with the government.

Continued on Page 3

Is Surendra Babu paying the pricefor opposing electric buses move?

The transfer of Surendra Babu, who hasearned the reputation of being a goodmanager for his innovative style offunctioning, has surprised many, including employees of APSRTC

Gen Rawatnew headof Staff panel

Police officialhangs self inVijayawadaVIJAYAWADA: A police offi-cial committed suicide here onThursday, authorities said.Circle Inspector SuryaNarayana was found hangingat his residence in the policequarters in the city'sHanumanpet area. His wifeinformed the police at around5.30 am. Narayana's body hasbeen sent for autopsy. Ill-health is suspected to be thereason behind the suicide, thepolice added. DeputyCommissioner of Police VijayaRao told reporters that theCircle Inspector was sufferingfrom liver cirrhosis and wasmentally disturbed. The offi-cial, belonging to 1989 batch,was posted at Armed ReserveGrounds in Vijayawada.

The police has registered acase of death under suspiciouscircumstances and launchedinvestigations.

Social mediaplatforms tofollow ‘code ofethics' in pollsNEW DELHI: Social mediaplatforms like Facebook,Twitter and WhatsApp haveagreed to follow the "volun-tary code of ethics" in allfuture elections, includingthe upcoming Maharashtraand Haryana assembly polls,the Election Commissionsaid on Thursday.

The code, which wasderived to act against paidadvertisements that violatenorms set by the ElectionCommission, came into forceon March 20 in the last LokSabha polls.

NEW DELHI: Indian Armychief General Bipin Rawatwill be appointed as the newChairman of the Chiefs ofStaff Committee (CoSC) onFriday, defence sources saidhere on Thursday. Rawat willtake over as the CoSCChairman from India AirForce (IAF) chief BirenderSingh Dhanoa, who is set toretire on September 30.

The Chairman of theCoSC is responsible for inter-services synergy between theArmy, the Air Force and theNavy. The senior-most chieffrom amongst all the threeservices of the defence forcesis selected as the Chairman ofCoSC.

Panel to give final report onsingle-use plastic soon: MinisterPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Chemicals andFertilisers Minister D VSadananda Gowda said onThursday an expert commit-tee formed to look into theissue of banning single-useplastics (SUPs) would submitits final report soon.

He said the committee hadsubmitted an interim report.

He said the final reportwould be ready on September30 or October 1 and that hewould have a detailed discus-sion with the EnvironmentalMinistry so that a properplan could be evolved.

Speaking after inauguratinga boys' hostel of the CentralInstitute of PlasticsEngineering Technology

(CIPET) here, Gowda saidthe single-use plastic was lit-tered everywhere causingenvironmental hazards, henceit needs to be banned.

But, it doesn't mean thattotal polymer or plastics arebeing banned.

"Polymer industry caters

to the entire spectrum of dailyuse items and almost everysphere of our life. Use of plas-tics has to be stopped meansit may not be possible nowa-days...plastic plays a majorrole in day-to-day life of eachand every individual. So,awareness has to be created onsingle-use plastics and litter-ing of plastic waste has tostop," the Minister said.

Pursuant to the currentstrategy of ban of single-useplastics, the Department ofChemicals andPetrochemicals has receivedrepresentations from severalstates, plastics industry asso-ciations, who raised concerns,Gowda said.

Continued on Page 3

State cancelsbauxitemining leasePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State government hascancelled the bauxite mininglease in about 1, 520 hectaresin Jarella of Chintapalli Agencyarea in Visakhapatnam district.

The GOs to this effect wereissued here on Thursday stat-ing that 'the governmenthereby revokes the mininglease grant for bauxite inJarrela of Cintapalli RF,Ananthagiri and Araku ofVisakhapatnam district givenin favour of Andhra PradeshMineral DevelopmentCorporation (APMDC) for aperiod of 30 years'.

The government had earli-er granted 30-year lease formining bauxite in the Agencyarea through three separateGOs and in the terms of ref-erence has stated that themining should be carried outafter taking necessary clear-ances. The two-year period forstarting the work ended inJanuary, 2017 and the terms ofthe agreement could not fruc-tify on account of the impos-sibility of performance due torecurring acts of violence inthe area because opposition tothe prospect of mining intribal areas.

The public opinion andmood of the locals was againstthe mining of bauxite in trib-al areas and the work did notcommence due to violenceand other untoward incidents.

Continued on Page 3

Suresh alleged thatinternal marks hadbenefited onlystudents ofcorporate schools.Now, the questionpapers will be setfor total marks

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 26, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Bhdrapada & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Trayodashi : 07:30 pmChaturdashi: 03:46 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Purva Phalguni: 01:05 am

(Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 10:37 am – 12:17 pmYamagandam: 03:06 pm – 04:35 pmVarjyam: 11:02 am - 12:27 pmGulika: 07:38 am - 09:08 amGood Time: (to start any important work)Amritakalam: 07:28 pm - 08:52 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:43 am - 12:30 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: ThunderstormsTemp: 31/25Humidity: 86%Sunrise: 06.05Sunset: 06.08

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CAPSULE

RAILWAY PROASSUMES CHARGEVIJAYAWADA: Nusrat MMandrupkar assumed charge asPublic Relations Officer (PRO),Vijayawada Division, SouthCentral Railway (SCR) onThursday. Nusrat joined IndianRailways in 2007 and worked asProduction Assistant in CPROOffice, Rail Nilayam,Secunderabad. She did hergraduation from Sir J J Instituteof Applied Arts, Mumbai, andtopped her Masters Degree inMass Communication and PublicRelations in December, 2017from Dr. BR Ambedkar OpenUniversity, Hyderabad. Sheparticipated in manyorganisational theatricalproductions, culturalprogrammes and is an avidreader.

FESTIVE SEASONOFFERS FROM BB AND BFVijayawada: The ensuingfestive holiday season augurswell for those keen onshopping. Two leading playersBig Bazaar and Brand Factoryare coming up with excitingoffers in a bid to attractshoppers of every hue.While the former is coming witha public holiday sale fromSaturday to October 2, BrandFactory is commencing a 'buyone apparel and get anotherfree' sale from Friday. BigBazaar customers shoppingabove Rs 4,000 will get cashback worth Rs 800 in theirFuture Pay Wallet. Those usingHDFC debit or credit cards willget an additional discount offive per cent, while it is eightper cent for those using Paytm.According to its CEO SadashivNayak, there are impressivediscounts for a wide range ofproducts, including food,fashion, home furnishing,electronics, kitchenware andluggage. Meanwhile, BrandFactory customers can chooseany fashion apparel for men,women and kids from leadingbrands, said Suresh Sadhwani,its CEO. He said that Dasaramarked the beginning of thefestive season and they likealways will make available thefinest of varieties.

NAVARATRIUTSAVAMS ATTIRUCHANOORTirupati: The annualNavarathri Utsavams willcommence at Sri PadmavathiAmmavaru temple atTiruchanoor from September30 onwards. On each day, thedeity will be dressed indifferent alankaras to matchthe Navarathri occasion.While on the day ofVijayadasami, Goddess willtake a celestial ride on GajaVahanam. Arjitha Sevasremained cancelled duringthese 10 days in the temple.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 vijayawada 02

Andhra and Hyderabad Ranji cricketer G Hanuma Vihari being felicitated by former Test player VVS Laxman at St John’sCricket Academy in Secunderabad on Thursday. Both are protégés of the Academy mentor K John Manoj (extreme right).Another prominent trainee and Team India fielding coach R Sridhar was also feted on the occasion. Vihari slammed hismaiden Test century recently. He said he would aspire to deliver the goods into the future. Former India player MVNarasimha Rao(Bobbji) is also seen

VIHARI FFETED OON HHOME GGROUND

HPCL launches ‘SilverDhamaka' schemePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Ahead of Dasara and Diwalifestive season, the HindustanPetroleum CorporationLimited (HPCL) launched the'Silver Dhamaka' scheme forits LPG distributors here onThursday, said DeputyGeneral Manager (DGM) PRajendra Prasad.

Speaking on the occasion,Rajendra Prasad said that thecompany launched the schemefor those who purchase gasstove and avail the LPG con-nection from the distributors.He called upon the customersin Krishna district to make use

of the opportunity fromSeptember 27 to October 31.Every new HP LPG gas con-nection holder will be givenfive grams of silver coin free ofcost and two silver coins of fivegram each would be given tothose who purchase the gasstove and new connectionfrom the distributors, he said.

The DGM also said thatspecial prizes will be given tothose who exchange their oldstoves during the offer period.

Vijayawada DGM GLNaidu, Chief Manager MSrinivas, Area Sales ManagerSamuel Teja and distributorsalso present.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited officials releasing a poster on ‘SilverDhamaka' scheme for its LPG distributors in Vijayawada on Thursday

Safe driving educationcentre inauguratedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Transport PerniVenkatramaiah appealed tovehicle users to have compre-hensive knowledge over drivingand road safety. Nobody shoulddrive vehicles without under-going training, he said andcalled upon parents of childrenunder the age of 18 years not togive vehicles to their wards.

Addressing a meeting organ-ised after the inauguration ofthe Honda Safe DrivingEducation Centre, set up inassociation with the TransportDepartment at the RegionalTransport Office here onThursday, Venkatramaiah saidall vehicles should be in pos-session of driving licences.They should undergo propertraining and obtain LLR first.They should keep themselvesabreast of rules and regulationsconcerning driving and roadsafety.

Minister for Civil SuppliesKodali Nani complimentedHonda two-wheelers for com-ing forward to set up the safedriving education centre in thecity. He said failure in follow-ing road safety rules is the mainreason behind accidents. Hecalled upon the drivers to becareful and think about theirfamilies and society at largewhile driving their vehicles.

Vijayawada Central MLAMalladi Vishnu said the Stategovernment would take steps toprevent accidents and loss oflife. He said the people of the

State are welcoming the reformsbeing taken up by the YSRCP'sgovernment.

Honda Motorcycle andScooter India Brand andCommunication Vice-President Brabhu Nagaraju,Transport Commissioner PS

Seetaramanjaneyulu, AssistantTransport Commissioner P Srinivas, Deputy SecretarySudhakar, Joint TransportCommissioner SAV PrasadaRao, DTC and S VenkateswaraRao were among those pre-sent.

Ministers Perni Nani,Kodali Nani and MLAMalladi Vishnu displayingthe certificate of HondaSafe Driving EducationCentre in Vijayawada on Thursday

Failure in following road safety rules is themain reason behind accidents, said KodaliNani and called upon the drivers to be carefuland think about their families and society atlarge while driving their vehicles

NGT state-level panel chiefinspects Vja Railway StationPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Justice B Seshasayana Reddy,Chairperson of NationalGreen Tribunal State-LevelCommittee, inspected theVijayawada Railway Station onThursday.

Speaking on the occasion,Justice Seshasayana Reddysaid about implementation ofsolid waste management rules.Later, he inspected cleanlinessin 'Cell Kitchen' and gavesome suggestions in segrega-tion of wet and dry waste gen-erated in the kitchen.

The Justice visited solidwaste processing facility atthe stat ion. G Sumana,Additional DivisionalRailway Manager(Operations), briefed himabout the segregation andhanding over of wet and drywaste separately throughdumper bins provided by theVijayawada MunicipalCorporation. Iqbal Hussain,Health Officer, VMC, spokeon segregation of wet and drygarbage at the main dumpyard and disposal of wet

garbage through the compostplant. The machinery andeco-friendly consumablesused for maintaining cleanli-

ness of the station were dis-played and the functioning of'Pet Plastic Bottle Crusher'was demonstrated.

B Srirama Chandra Sahoo,Sr. DEnHM, S Varun Babu,DEN/East , RameshGaikwad, DEnHM, ADEN,AO, SMR and other officialsof Vijayawada Division, ASubba Rao, SEE, K Sri RamaMurthy, SEE, T Prasad Rao,AEE and other officials of theAP Pollution Control Boardwere present.

The machinery andeco-friendlyconsumables used formaintainingcleanliness of thestation were displayed

Justice B Seshasayana Reddy, Chairperson of National Green Tribunal State-Level Committee, inspecting solid waste processing facility in VijayawadaRailway Station on Thursday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Sarada College Chairman DrY Ramesh Babu said that thepeople are destroying natur-al resources for their benefits,which would leave its effecton GenNext.

Speaking at a programmeon 'Kaveri Calling' here onThursday, he said that thepeople are facing troublesdue to man-made disastersand natural calamities forwhich the government is alsoequally responsible. He said

the management of SaradaCollege has donated 3,300saplings to Isha Foundation,the foundation has planted242 crore saplings to restorethe glory of Kaveri River.

College director Y Bharat

said for development, the gov-ernment and the people fromany place or State or countryfeel the responsibility to pro-tect the environment.

The initiative taken up byIsha Foundation would givegood results for a bettertomorrow. He said the peopleshould cultivate a habit toplant a sapling before startingany work for a better tomor-row. College advisor ESRKPrasad, general manager GVRao, students and others werepresent.

Tollywood lyricist Anant Sriram receiving the cheque from Sarada College Chairman Dr Y Ramesh Babu in Vijayawada onThursday on behalf of Isha Foundation

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Onions would be sold for Rs 25a kg in all the 13 rythu bazaarsfrom Friday, announced jointcollector L Siva Sankar in arelease here on Thursday. Hesaid the marketing depart-ment would procure onionsfrom Kurnool to meet thelocal demand. Each familywould get only one kg per day,he said.

The prices of onion shotthrough the roof after supplyfrom Maharashtra and otherplaces stopped last week cur-rently it is being sold for Rs 60to Rs 65 per kg and longqueues were seen in the rythubazaars. Meanwhile, KrishnaDistrict Collector Md Imtiyazsaid that 112 kg of onions havebeen supplied to Rythu Bazaarsin the city on Thursday.

Inaugurating two onion out-lets at the Swaraj MaidanRythu Bazaar here, he said

stocks of vegetables werebrought to the city fromKurnool. Separate counterswere arranged for men andwomen at the Rythu Bazaars.Onions would be sold at therate of one kg per Rs 25 to eachperson. Special counters wouldbe made available for the ben-efit of consumers till the pricescome down. The marketingdepartment of the State gov-ernment would bear the sub-sidy of Rs 16.

Joint Collector MadhaviLatha said onions are beingimported from Nashik inMaharashtra on a daily basis.Vigilance officials would takestringent action against thehoarders, she warned.

Sarada College donates 3,300saplings to Isha Foundation

The initiative taken upby Isha Foundationwould give goodresults for a better tomorrow

Nusrat M Mandrupkar

GVL visits Vizag PortPNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

GVL Narasimha Rao, Memberof Parliament (Rajya Sabha)and his team P.V.N.Madhav,Member of Legislative Council,and former Member ofParliament, Visakhapatnam KHari Babu visited theVisakhapatnam Port Trust hereon Thursday.

VPT, Deputy chairman, P.LHaranadh took GVL NarasimhaRao, along with other membersaccompanying him, for a cruiseride and explained about theport operations, infrastructureand facilities available for han-dling of different cargoes.

Later, Deputy Chairman,made a Power Point

Presentation in VPT BoardRoom, and guided the memberthrough handling of cargothrough mechanization, mod-ernized Infrastructure facilitiesavailable, covered storage facil-ities, solar power, utilization ofsewage water for Industrial pur-pose through STP, investmentpotential and zone of opportu-nities in exploring imports andexport in Visakhapatnam Port.

Mr Rao was very muchpleased and expressed his satis-faction over the operations of thePort and in up-keeping the Portclean and tidy.

The meeting was attended byHeads of the Departments,Senior Officers ofVisakhapatnam Port Trust.

Rajya Sabha MP and senior BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao at the Vizag port onThursday

Energy leader hat-trick for RINLPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

RINL has been adjudged as“National Energy Leader" forwinning "Excellent EnergyEfficient Unit Award” for theconsecutive three years from2017. The award was given atthe 20th National Competitionfor Excellence in EnergyManagement held at Hyderabadyesterday evening.

PK Rath, CMD, RINL, con-gratulated the employees for thisone of a kind achievement andexhorted them to implementadditional measures to reduceenergy to achieve internation-al bench marks in energy con-sumption, a vital techno-eco-nomic factor in steel makingprocess.

National Energy leader andExcellent Energy Efficient Unit

Award have been conferred onRINL-VSP for consistent andprogressive performance inenergy management, excellentefforts undertaken towardsenergy conservation, overallspecific energy consumptionreduction, implementation ofenergy conservation technolo-gies (such as PCI in BF's, com-missioning of COB-5 turbine),Energy Management System(ISO: 50001), Benchmarking,Road map to reduce energyconservation projects and wasterecycling, various innovative.

These awards were givenaway by D Prabhakar Rao,CMD, Telangana State Genco &Transco and received by S KNayak, DGM(EMD) KSudhakar, DGM(O)-EMD andK Brahmeswara Rao, Manager(M)-TPP of RINL.

PK Rath, CMD,RINL congratulated theemployees for this one of a kindachievement and exhorted them toimplement additional measures toreduce energy to achieveinternational bench marks in energyconsumption, a vital techno-economicfactor in steel making process

CPM opposes GOagainst loan waiverVIJAYAWADA: The CPMon Thursday demanded thatthe YSRCP government with-drew the GO No 99 issuedagainst the implementation ofthe loan waiver schemeannounced by the previousgovernment. In a pressrelease issued here onThursday, the CPM Statesecretary wanted the gov-ernment to pay the fourthand fifth instalments underthe scheme. He said the TDPgovernment had issued GONo 38 for payment of dues,but it was stopped as the pollcode had come into force bythen. The TDP had renderedinjustice to farmers by notfulfilling its promise to them.Therefore, the present gov-ernment should rethinkabout the plight of farmersand implement the scheme,he added.

PavitraSamarpanaconductedTirupati: As a part of theongoing annual Pavitrotsavams in Appalayagunta,Pavitra Samarpana was con-ducted on Thursday. Later inthe evening, the deities of SriPrasanna VenkateswaraSwamy, Sridevi and Bhudeviwere taken on a celestial ride.

Temple deputy executiveofficer Jhansirani, AEOSubramanyam and otherswere present.

Onions at Rs 25 per kg in Rythu Bazaars

Heavy inflowsinto reservoirs PNS n SRISAILAM

Inflows into various reser-voirs across Telugu Statesare very heavy followingdownpour forcing engi-neering authorit ies ofSrisailam project to releasewater downstream liftingfive of the project's gates.

As on Thursday, inflowsinto the Srisailam reservoirare measured as 1.69 lakhcusecs while the outflow isput at 2.25 lakh cusecs.

In Telangana,Nagarjunasagar project offi-cials have been releasingwater lifting six of its gates.Against an inflow of 1.50lakh cusecs, the outflow is65,000 cusecs.

Officials of Narayanapurproject lifted 13 gates to letout 15,960 cusecs. Theinflow into the project reser-voir is put at 90,000 cusecs.Against 492.252 metres FRLof the project, the waterlevel in the reservoir wasrecorded as 492.10 metres.

Officials lifted three gatesof Jurala project to let out70,000 cusecs. The inflowsinto the reservoir are mea-sured at 70,000 cusecs.

EGGRATES

` 38,260 (10 gm)

` 320

GOLD

` 46,300(1kg)

` 11800

HYDERABAD 395VIJAYAWADA 414VISAKHAPATNAM 415RETAIL PPRICE `4.14

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `133

Without Skin `152

Broiler at Farm `92

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 vijayawada 03

TDP denied office onParliament premises

YSRCP gets TDP's Room No 5 PTI n NEW DELHI

For the first time in the TDPhistory, the Telugu DesamParliamentary Party wasdenied an office on the premis-es of Parliament as the strengthof MPs of the party was limit-ed to just five.

The TDP has only three LokSabha members, while four ofits Rajya Sabha memberscrossed over to the BJP leavingonly two MPs in the UpperHouse for the party.

Offices have been allotted toonly those outfits that havemore than five MPs. Moreover,the parliamentary party office

of the TDP during 2014-19 hasnow been allotted to theYSRCP (Room No.5).

On Thursday, 15 politicaloutfits have been allocatedparliamentary party office

rooms on the basis of strengthof their MPs.

The BJP, which is at thepower in the Centre, was allot-ted room Nos 2, 3 and 4, whileits rival Congress was allottedroom Nos. 24 and 25. TheDMK, which commandsstrength of 23 MPs, was allot-ted room No.46. TrinamoolCongress was given the RoomNo. 20-B.

For the first time in the his-tory of the TDP, it was deniedparliamentary party office.The TRS was allotted RoomNo.125 in the third floor, whilethe BJP's ally of Shiv Sena wasallotted Room No. 128.

PNS n KURNOOL

The Village Secretariat/WardSecretariat recruitmentreceived another setback as 40unemployed youth fromTelangana got selected in therecruitment test and call letterswere sent by the authoritiesconcerned to verify their cer-tificates. However, they weredisqualified for the jobs on thegrounds of not being localcandidates leaving them fret-ting and fuming over omis-sions and commissions of APofficials.

Unemployed fromTelangana fared well in therecruitment test with Sravanti(Wanaparthy) getting 72.25%marks, Abhilash (Wanaparti)getting 73.75%.

Similarly, Urugkonda Tejasri(Nagarkurnool) got 55.5%marks, while Sampat Kuamr(Mahabubnagar) bagged66.5%. P Siva Kumar ofNagarkurnool secured 77.5%marks. At least 44 Telanganacandidates under non-localcategory were selected. APofficials sent call letters askingthem to report for certificateverification.

Later, officials refused toverify their certificates as theybelonged to Telangana.Responding on this, candi-dates and their parents submit-ted a representation to theDistrict Selection Committeeconvener Pulla Reddy seekingjustice.

Veterinary SciencesDiploma Holders Associationpresident Ganesh Reddy con-fronted with the DistrictSelection Committee officialsfirst and foremost why appli-cations were received fromother States candidates if thecandidates from other Stateswere not eligible to apply at all?

If that is so, why hall ticketshave been given to the appli-cants and what is the purposeof sending call letters uponrelease of the merit list, he saidobjecting to officials disquali-

fying them at the time of thecertificate verification stage.

Sravanti of Wanaparti feltthat disqualifying them at thecertificate verification stagewas not justified.

The Indian constitution pro-vides for reserving 80 per centof the jobs for locals and 20 percent for non-locals under itsArticle 371-D.

As per this, over 40 candi-dates applied for the job andgot merit. Successful candi-dates approached the AP HighCourt seeking justice.Disposing of the case, JusticeRajani directed the govern-

ment to provide them jobsunder 20 per cent non-localquota as per the Article 371 D.

One of the candidates' fatherRajaram said that the govern-

ment should follow the courtorder quoting the example ofhow the Government ofTelangana gave jobs to theunemployed from AP undernon-local category in the ani-mal husbandry department.

However, District SelectionCommittee convener PullaReddy said that the Village andWard Secretariat posts purelydistrict-level posts and notstate-level posts. The govern-ment is adhering to 80:20 rule.In this context, non-localswould mean candidates livingin other districts of the sameState. However, out of AP col-umn in the application wouldmean candidates belonging tothe State, but living in otherStates. Under this category,the unemployed fromTelangana applied.Considering them to be candi-dates from the district, hall-tickets were issued and latercall-letters were sent. But, whentheir certificates mentionedthem as residents of Telangana,their certificates were not sub-jected to scrutiny. Taking thecase to the notice of higherauthorities, a clear picture hasbeen given to them, he clari-fied.

Ankurappanam, the prelude festivalSEED SOWING FETE ON SEPT 29

PNS n TIRUMALA

The festival of prelude beforethe commencement of annualB r a h m o t s a v a m s ,Ankurarpanam orBeejavapanam will be observedat Tirumala temple onSeptember 29.

This is considered as one ofthe most important rituals ofthe Vaikhanasa Agama.Ankurarpanam is being donein almost all the festivals inTirumala and it means 'sowingthe seed'. The essence of thisritual is to make a wish or'Sankalpa' to celebrate anutsavam (festival) and get thegrace of the Lord.

Interesting Agamic facts ofAnkurarpana

Sastras prescribe doingAnkurarpana nine days orseven or five or three or at least

a day before the main festival.In Tirumala, Ankurarpanam isperformed a day before the fes-tival.

Another important thingto note is that Ankurarpanashould never be done in theday time. This dictum has itsbasis in astrological principles.As Chandra-the Moon, is the'Sasyakaraka' being the con-troller of plants, sowing a

seed in the day time is notconsidered wise. In fact,Chandra is considered strongin the night. Also, an auspi-cious Lagna or muhurtashould be used for this pur-pose as any activity that isstarted in an auspicious timewill yield good results.

Many people find it confus-ing that one has to see an aus-picious time for celebrating a

festival for the Lord. Agamasalso mention that the sproutsthat emanate from the seedsprovide useful hints abouthow perfectly the festival wascelebrated. White and well-developed ankuras, straight oryellow ankuras show pros-perity. Palikas for sowingsprouts The vessels used forsprouting seeds are known as'Palikas' either using gold orsilver or copper or mud forperforming Ankurarpanam,which is otherwise calledB e e j a v a p a n a m .'Samurtarchana Adhikarana'penned by sage Atri.

Later in the evening,Vishvaksena Ardhana andSenadhipathi Utsavam will beconducted before seeds aresowed in different pots. Afterthis in Yagashala the remain-ing ritual takes place.

Stall granite minningin Karimnagar: BJP

ROW OVER VILLAGE SECRETARIAT JOBS

TS candidates approach AP HC

n Officials clarify on non-local status

n Sravanti of Wanaparti feltthat disqualifying themat the certificateverification stage wasnot justified.

n The Constitutionprovides for reserving 80per cent of the jobs forlocals and 20 per centfor non-locals underArticle 371-D.

n As per this, over 40candidates applied forthe job and got merit.Successful candidatesapproached the APHigh Court seekingjustice. Disposing ofthe case, Justice Rajanidirected thegovernment toprovide them jobsunder 20 per centnon-local quota as perthe Article 371 D.

District SelectionCommittee convenerPulla Reddy said thatthe Village and WardSecretariat posts purelydistrict-level posts andnot state-level posts

PNS n HYDERABAD

The State BJP unit urged theGovernor, TamilisaiSoundararajan to interveneto stall illegal granite miningin Karimnagar district, whichhas been adversely affectingthe environment and peopleliving in the areas surround-ing granite quarries.

A delegation, including BJPchief K Laxman, Bandi Sanjay,and others met the Governor,Tamilisai Soundarajan hereon Thursday and explainedher about the ill effects of ille-gal mining and also high-lighted that illegal granitequarry owners, who are most-ly supporters and leaders ofruling TRS, are evadingseignior age and taxes to thetune of Rs Rs 749 crore to thegovernment.

"Illegal granite quarries runwithout permissions from thegovernment are adverselyaffecting the environment in

Karimnagar district. Due tothese illegal quarries, greencover is being destroyed, watertable is dropping affecting agri-culture and people are suffer-ing from pollution due to envi-ronmental destruction.Karimnagar district was oncehome to green hillocks, wildbears and diverse flora andfauna. But due to illegal gran-ite quarries, all these are beingdestroyed," said Bandi Sanjayspeaking after meetingGovernor. "All these illegalgranite quarries are run byruling party leaders. Besidesmining illegally, these quarryowners have evaded seignior-age and taxes to the tune of Rs749 crore to government.Knowing well about theseillegal quarries, the state gov-ernment is not taking anyaction. Therefore we haveurged Governor to order foran inquiry on illegal granitequarries in Karimnagar,"Bandi Sanjay further said.

Reservoirs brimming withwater, says Minister PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for AgricultureKurasala Kanna Babu onThursday expressed happinessover abundant rainfall in theState. "The State has receivedcopious rainfall. All reservoirsare filled with water. We areassisting farmers in carrying tocarry out agriculture opera-tions," said Kanna Babu.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Thursday, he saidexcept Anantapur all the dis-tricts received enough rainfall.Kurnool, Krishna andGodavari districts incurredsome loss due to floods.

He alleged that NChandrababu is feeling sadthat farmers haven't got justiceduring his regime. In 2014elections, Chandrababupromised to waive farm,

DWCRA and gold loans. Thefarmers have 87,162 croreloans to be waived.

"Who cheated whom? Wholooted whom?" questionedKanna Babu citing Naidu'scorruption. The TDP govern-ment had issued the GO 38 onthe day of election notification.The GO stated that loan waiv-er will be done in four to five

instalments. But, the electionnotification has been releasedin the evening on the same day."Have you released the notifi-cation to implement or evade?How did you issue a GO evenknowing about election noti-fication?" Kanna Babu ques-tioned Naidu.

Despite Naidu government'smistake, he is trying to pro-mote propaganda against theYSRCP government that isdoing its best for the well-beingof the people of the State.

The government isassisting farmers incarrying to carry outagriculture operations,says Minister forAgriculture

Is Surendra Babupaying the price foropposing electricbuses move?

Continued from Page 1

The rumour that is doing therounds in the RTC employees' cir-cles is that the issue of electric busescould have weighed down SurendraBabu. Electric buses are proposed tobe purchased from a consortium ofprivate companies. Soon after theconsignment is delivered, the exist-ing fleet will be replaced with them.But, there is no scope for APSRTCemployees to be handle those busesand the revenue accrued from theirinduction will go into the consor-tium's pocket.

Surendra Babu is understood tohave held the view that APSRTCwould not benefit from the induc-tion of electric buses.

He argued that consortium meansprivatisation of services. The Uniongovernment has sanctioned 350buses, but the Chief Minister hasinstructed the Corporation to induct1,000 buses. The differences betweenthe MD and the government havebeen exposed before the Unionleaders.

According to sources, to pave theway for replacing APSRTC buseswith electric vehicles and facilitatesmooth finalisation of consortiumtenders, the government has decid-ed to transfer Surendra Babu.

67% of India's Internetusers are males!Continued from Page 1

In India, nearly one-third ofusers access Internet for morethan one hour in urban India,whereas in rural India, asimilar proportion of usersaccess Internet for 15-30minutes.

With better connectivity,quality of service and afford-ability of mobile Internet,there could be an increase inrural consumers spendingmore time on the Internet in

future. The research foundthat two-thirds of Internetusers in India are in the agegroup of 12-29 years.

Internet consumption athome is still prevalent acrossurban and rural areas.However, with a third of theurban population accessingInternet while travelling, itshows that Internet con-sumption via mobile deviceshas worked its way into thedaily life of the consumerstoday.

Panel to give finalreport on single-useplastic soon : MinisterContinued from Page 1

To address this situation, an expert committee consist-ing of members from policy-makers, industrialists, aca-demicians, and researchers in the field of polymers andallied materials was formed in studying various strategiesof utility of SUPs and its impact on ban, he said.

"The committee has already submitted the draft reportand made a presentation before me. I am going to receivethe final report before October 2 so that we will give anew idea to the whole society what exactly is the ban ofsingle-use plastics, and what all things that we need tolet go in future as far as polymer technology is concerned,"he said. Littering of single-use plastics has to be stoppedfor which Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed seri-ous concern over their use and gave a clarion call towardsmaking the country free of single-use plastics.

"On October 2, we shall wage a war against single-useplastic littering, and we want to see that whole countryshould take it as a movement, he said adding his depart-ment was also organising mass cleanliness drive andawareness campaigns in 80 locations through CIPET forcollecting littered plastic waste.

The Minister further advised CIPET to take up R&Dinitiatives in new technology for recyling, cost-effectivematerial developments, eco-friendly alternative materi-al developments.

CIPET has 36 centres across the country and five morecentres were in the pipeline, he said.

During 2014-2019, about 3.13 lakh unemployed andunderemployed youth were trained and benefited throughtraining programmes and "we intend to train five lakhmore in the next five years," Gowda added.

State cancels bauxitemining leaseContinued from Page 1

The mining lease was in var-ious parts of the agencyarea to APMDC which inturn had signed an MoUwith private parties butcould not carry out the task.

The stretches and extentof land given by miningare: 113.192 hectares inAnanthagiri RF, 152hectares in Chitapalli RF,93.886 in Galikonda ofAnanthagiri, 617 hactares,460 hectares and 85 hectares

in Jarrela of Chintapalliaggregating to 1,520hectares and theGovernment has revokedall of them through six GOs.

Meanwhile, Deputy ChiefMinister Minister for TribalWelfare Pushpa Srivani hadexpressed her gratitude toChief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy for keepingup his word by banningbauxite mining in tribalareas which will be remem-bered by Advasis for a longtime to come.

Union Ministerslams TRS govt PNS n PEDDAPALLI

Union Minister SadanandaGowda on Thursday assertedthat the RamagundamFertilizers and ChemicalsLimited (RFCL) would startproducing urea in the next sixmonths. The Minister was ona visit to inspect the works onRFCL and said the construc-tion of the company would becompleted by 15 Decemberthis year. The Minister said theRamagundam Fertiliser cor-poration limited is the onemajor unit that is establishedwith the gas-based productionand he assured the locals thatit would be provide employ-ment opportunities withoutany hassle.

During his visit, the localleaders protest his visit to theunit. Reacting to it, theMinister said the tocal parlia-ment member belonging to theTRS has never representedany matter to the Centre for thecompletion and accommoda-tion of locals in the company.

Time for acrusadeagainst climate change: TS GuvPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana GovernorTamilisai Soundararajanunderlined the need andimportance of conservingthe environment and cultivat-ing a mind-set of responsibleand sustainable development.She urged the people to makegreen as a way of life andappreciate the bounty ofnature.

The Governor was speak-ing after inaugurating the17th edition of the CII-IGBCGreen Building Congress2019. Speaking on the occa-sion, the Governor said, "Dueto population explosion anduncontrolled development,natural resources are exploit-ed unsustainably. As aresponsible citizen, I wouldlike to highlight the smallways in which we all con-tribute to the destruction ofour environment, such asour daily wastage of water. Itis in the nature and traditionsof our country that we saveand worship our trees, and weneed to hold firm to theseprinciples of conservation ofnature."

"Raj Bhavan has imple-mented several green build-ing measures, such as netmetering, energy efficientlighting, rainwater harvesting,solar power, and a policy ofno single-use plastics. Let usall pledge our commitment tobuild a greener and healthi-er India.

Ready to holdmunicipal polls:SEC to HCPNS n HYDERABAD

The State Election commis-sion on Thursday told theTelangana High Court that itwas ready to conduct munic-ipal elections as there was nostay order issued by the apexcourt on conducting the elec-tions.

The Commission madethis submission in responseto two Public InterestLitigations filed against theconduct of the municipalelections. On its part, the stategovernment told the HC thatit has completed the pre-pollprocess such as division ofwards and provision of reser-vations on the basis of pop-ulation as per the rules andregulations and urged thecourt to allow them to holdthe municipal elections.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Basing on the 2014-15 rulesrelating to loan waiver, theAgriculture Department hasprepared draft guidelines forfresh loan waiver and sentthem to the state governmentfor approval. The departmenthas expressed its readiness tocome out with 'farmer-wise'loan data should the draft beapproved.

As per the draft, 35 lakhfarmers would stand to bene-fit to the tune of Rs 28,000crore. The guidelines are cru-cial as the government givesmoney directly to farmers.

It may be recalled that thegovernment gave RythuBandhu cheques to farmersduring the last Kharif season.It is likely to follow the samemethod again.

Earlier, the loan waiver wasincluded under Annexure-5,an officer said, adding that thedepartment was ready to dothe same this time also uponapproval by the government.

The TRS regime, during itsfirst stint, waived farmers' loansin four tranches- Rs 4,040 cr(2014-15), Rs 4,040 crore

(2015-16), Rs 4,025 cr (2016-17) and Rs 4,033 crore (2017-18). Thereafter, there has beenno clarity regarding the num-ber of tranches for the loanwaiver. The government is like-

ly to make a statement on thisonly on receipt of the guide-lines. The cut-off date to imple-ment the loan waiver has beenfixed as December 11. Thedepartment says that the num-ber of beneficiaries remainsmore or less static. However, thequantum of loan to be waivedwould increase. Against target-ed crop loans totaling Rs 29,000crore during the Kharif, thebankers have advanced only Rs14,588 crore so far. The govern-ment is sore at bankers for thepoor crop loan record. As theold loans have not been cleared,the bankers are not advancingnew loans, causing inconve-nience to farmers.

The Chief Minister recentlyasked farmers to clear the loansthey had borrowed prior toDecember 11 last year andthen seek new loans. Whileimplementing the loan waiver,the amount would be given tofarmers directly for havingcleared the loan. The farmersare confused since there are noorders from the department.But, some farmers, heedingthe Chief Minister's advice,have decided to clear theirloans.

Rs 28,000 crore required for 35 lakh farmers

The TRS regime,during its firststint, waivedfarmers' loans infour tranches- Rs4,040 cr (2014-15),Rs 4,040 crore(2015-16) Rs 4,025cr (2016-17)

Telangana crop loanwaiver guidelines ready

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 region 04

Cops unearthtwo gutkagodownsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Police unearthed two illegalgutka godowns at PedaGantyada and Gajuwakaareas on Thursday. Thebanned tobacco productswere being manufactured,packed and stored herefrom long time.

The police personnelcarried out surprise raids atthe units and seized thestock. As many as 37 gutkabags having different brandnames like Safari 2000,Gokul Deluxe, R ajaPremium and Vimal werefound at a house inSeethanagar of PedaGantyada area.

According to New Portpolice, around Rs three lakhworth stock of gutka pack-ets were stored in the housewith an intention to distrib-ute them illegally to the panshops at high prices inGajuwaka, Peda Gantyadaand Achyuthapuram areas.

Acting on the tip-off,New Port police officialsstopped an auto-rickshawcarrying the gutka packetsand seized worth stock ofRs 2.20 lakh near PalliVeedhi in the same area.

The seized stock includes30 bags of plain zarda, twobags of chekka and fivebags of gutka.

In another stock point atKandepalle in Gajuwakaarea, the police seized 25bags of gutka worth Rs onelakh. The kingpin behindthe racket is yet to be iden-tified by the police.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

North Coastal Andhra hasbeen witnessing moderaterains with isolated heavyspells for the last few days dis-rupting the normal life.Weather forecast said morerains were forecast for thenext three days as a cycloniccirculation over the west-central Bay of Bengal offAndhra coast persisted.

Currently, Coastal AndhraPradesh is rain surplus by fivepercent and Rayalaseema by9 percent.

Meanwhile the incessantrain had thrown life out ofgear across the city. Publicsuffered due to water loggingat several parts of the city andmany low lying areas likeConvent Junction,Kobbarithota, Old Town,

MVP Colony and KRMColony were inundated.

Weather report said thecity received 8.5 cm of rainduring the last three days.Traffic was disrupted in manyplaces and hawkers had toughtime in opening their shops.

Meanwhile, the DistrictEducation Off icer BLingeswara Reddy announcedDasara vacations for all theschools in the district fromSaturday.

The schools would reopenon October 9. But some pri-vate primary schools closedfrom Thursday due to theinclement weather. The DEOwarned the management ofprivate and corporate schoolsof action if they did not closetheir schools from Saturdayor conducted classes duringthe vacation.

Rains inundate low lyingareas in Vizag city

n More rains forecast forcoastal AP

n Dasara holidays forschools from tomorrow

Vizag-Araku route getsfive glass-domed coachesPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

On a lighter note, while com-menting on the demand forretention of Waltair Divisionin the newly carved outSouth Coast Railway (SCoR)headquartered at Vizag,Minister of State forRailways, Suresh Angadi said:You want both father and sonhere, but we are looking intothe demand.

Minister Angadi was inthe city to flag off the double-decker Uday Express con-nect ing Vizag andVijayawada. The train willrun five days in a week.

Speaking on the occasion,Suresh Angadi said:Visakhapatnam being themost beautiful city, rightlynamed as the city of destiny,is heaven on earth. The teamWaltair did excellent work incontributing the good shareto the National carrier. It isthe role model to manyDivisions."

He hailed the division fordeveloping Entertainmentzone at the railway stationand take up innovative initia-tives by the Division.

He also mentioned thatthe Visakhapatnam station isthe cleanest station and alsonominated for the NationalTourism award for the besttourist friendly railway sta-tion.

Prior to inaugural of thenew train, he inspectedVisakhapatnam railway sta-

tion. He also informed thatfive glass-dome coaches weresanctioned for Vizag-Arakuscenic route.

Waltair division was the

first one to get the glass-dome coaches.

The Waltair DRM hasalready received a letter inthis connection. The minis-

tered hoped that the newvista-dome coaches wouldleverage the tourism poten-tial of the region.

Vistadome coach will haveglass roof, LED lights, GPS-based info system and rotat-ing seats among other fea-tures.

The glass-covered coachwas a big hit among thetourists, especially duringwinter when introducedabout two years ago.Enjoying the scenic valley ofAraku through the transpar-ent coach, while passingthrough the tunnels is a visu-al delight.

Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Chanabasappa Angari flagging off Uday double decker train in Visakhapatnamon Thursday

He also mentioned that theVisakhapatnam station is thecleanest station and alsonominated for the NationalTourism award for the besttourist friendly railway station

BAUXITE MINING GO CANCELLATION

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The department of Investmentand Commerce of the State gov-ernment issued GO MS No 85on Thursday cancelling theGOs issued for mining ofBauxite in the Visakhapatnamagency.

The decision of the ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddywas widely welcomed by tribalorganizations, NGOs, environ-mentalists and the Left parties,which have been fightingagainst mining in the agencysince a decade. They weredemanding the StateGovernment to revoke the GOMs No 97 that allowed APMineral DevelopmentCorporation to mine bauxiteore.

The proposal for bauxitemining in the agency (tribaltracts) area of Visakhapatnamdistrict was first floated duringthe period when his father, YSRajasekhar Reddy was in power.

However, subsequent gov-ernments did not go aheadwith the proposal due to theopposition by activists.

The failure to annul the GOtriggered widespread protestsfrom anti-mining activists. TheGO was issued on November 5,2015 allowing APMDC to mine

in 1,212 hectares of reserve for-est area in Chintapalle andJerella blocks.

The killing of Araku MLAKidari Sarveswara Rao and hispredecessor Siveri Soma wasattributed to the mining. Priorto that two ZP elected represen-tatives were killed by theMaoists in the agency.

The tribal organizationsthanked the chief minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy for keep-ing his word. Reddy on the eve

of elections promised the trib-als that the Bauxite and othermining activities would stopped

for good.The tribals on the other hand

stood by YSRCP by supporting

them in 2014 and 2019 gener-al elections.

Former IAS officer and socialactivist EAS Sarma said thedecision taken by the new ChiefMinister to revoke the earlierGO on bauxite mining in theagency area was welcome.

"Minerals like bauxite/alumi-na are scarce resources.Aluminium is a strategic metalthat is used widely in the avia-tion industry and other manu-facturing processes in the west.The price at which Indian min-ers export alumina is severaltimes lower than the globalprice, which implies enormousscope for corruption and blackmoney generation," he told asection of media on Thursday.

Hailing the decision, formerTribal Welfare Minister andJana Sena leader P Balaraju saidall the decisions taken by thenew government should beimplemented in true letter andspirit. He said bauxite was beingsecretly mined in the agencyareas in the guise of lateritewhich should be stopped imme-diately.

AP Girijana Sangham Statecommittee member KilloSurendra said the revocation ofGO was most welcome but thegovernment should not allowbauxite mining in any form.

Tribal bodies, environmentalists laud Jagan

Vechicles caught in the storm water at Convent Junction in Visakhapatnam on Thursday Photo-Tirupathirao G.

The proposal for bauxite mining in theagency (tribal tracts) area ofVisakhapatnam district was first floatedduring the period when his father, YSRajasekhar Reddy was in power

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

An auto-rickshaw driverwas awarded life imprison-ment on Thursday by alocal court for raping aminor girl while she was onher way back home fromschool. The local court alsosentenced the auto-driver'sfriend to three year jailterm for helping the autodriver to kidnap the girl.

There has alsoannounced compensationof Rs three lakh to the rapesurvivor.

On April 23 in 2015, theminor girl, and a Class-VIIIstudent of a private schoolnear Steel Plant area inVizag city was waiting forbus to reach her home afterthe school hours.

The auto-driver Shivaand his friend G NalamahaRaju (27) alias Chantipicked her and took her toan isolated place whereShiva raped the minor girl.However, the girl managedto escape from Shiva andreached her home whereshe narrated the entireordeal.

The judge of the FirstAdditional MetropolitanSession Court, VV SrinivasMurthy on Thursday foundthe accused guilty after lis-tening the witnesses andevidences submitted beforethe court.

Special Public ProsecutorM Venu Gopala Rao saidthat the court has foundShiva (30), a resident ofGangavaram area in Vizagcity, guilty of kidnappingand raping a 14-year-oldgirl. Moreover, the court hasalso announced' A p p r o p r i a t eCompensation' to the tuneof Rs3 lakh to the rape sur-vivor under Rule 7 (2)

Section 33(8) of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO)Act.

The AP government willgive the compensation tothe rape survivor withinone month, the public pros-ecutor said. The court alsoimposed a capital punish-ment of Rs17,000 on Shiva,out of the total fine,Rs16,000 to be paid to themother of the victim.

The victim girl alongwith her parents had lodgeda complaint with Steel PlantPolice Station in Vizag city.The police lodged the caseagainst Shiva underSections 363 and 376 ofIPC, and under relevantsections POCSO Act andalso case against Chantiunder relevant Sections. In,all, eight witnessed wereexamined and as the guiltwas proved. The judgeawarded lift term to Shivaand 3-year jail term toChanti, informed VenuGopala Rao.

Auto driver getslifer for rapingminor girl

The auto-driverShiva and his friendG Nalamaha Raju(27) alias Chantipicked her and tookher to an isolatedplace where Shivaraped the minor girl.However, the girlmanaged to escapefrom Shiva andreached her homewhere she narratedthe entire ordeal

GVL hails trimming down ofPolavaram project costsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Concurring with the decisionof the AP government onPolavaram project, BJP MPGVL Narasimha Rao wel-comed the move of the stategovernment for trimmingdown the expenditure forPolavaram project by riverstendering. However, he hassuggested the AP governmentto reconsider its decision onPower Purchase Agreements.

Speaking to media persons,GVL said, "The decision of sav-ing the public money in

Polavaram works is a goodthing. The BJP is alwaysagainst corruption. The stategovernment has the right tochange the contractors of aproject and the same withPolavarm project.

There will be no objectionby the central government ifthe state government says thatthe project can be completedwith low cost.

We have to welcome if Rs200 crore public money wassaved. The state governmentshould show the proofs aboutthe corruption done by the

previous governments."Responding to questions on

PPAs, Rao said, "We didn't saythat the PPAs were not pur-chased at a high cost. But, thePrime Minister has gone toThe US and many global com-panies are expected to take partthere. It is not to create uncer-tainty over projects at thisjuncture. The suggestions ofthe central minister shouldnot be seen from a politicalangle. We don't have any polit-ical deals with the state govern-ment and the BJP will criticisethem if there is any mistake."

Rajya Sabha member and senior BJP leader GVL Narasimharao addressing a press conference at BJP office in Visakhapatnam on Thursday

AP chambers urged to leverage potential areasPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

BJP MP GVL Narasimha Raourged the AP chambers to lever-age the new potential areas byhaving a broader vision likeinland water ways, port leddevelopment which will alter theface of the economy.

He was speaking at the inter-active session organized by theAP Chambers in Vizag onThursday. He assured the cham-bers that he would take up all theissues raised by the trade andindustry bodies with the con-cerned authorities.

"We collect all the date andissues from every corner of thecountry and consolidate andcome with blue print to imple-ment for the welfare of thetrade and industry", he said.

Stating on the affairs of theState, he said one should workfor the interest of the state andnot for the political party.

Former MP, K Haribabuunderscored the need for rais-ing the genuine issues with con-cerned authorities so that theissues can be resolved throughinteraction at the highest levels.

Continues interaction withthe government officials toimprove the ease of doing busi-

ness is the need of the hour, saidG Sambasiva Rao, President ofAP Chambers of Commerceand Industry Federation.Highlighting the chronic issue ofCredit Information Bureau(India) Limited(CIBIL) score indisbursal of loans to corporatesand entrepreneurs, he said, thereis no clarity and transparency onhow and what basis the banksare following the CIBIL processrating for lending loans.

Highlighting the issues whichwere taken up through Memberof Parliament for the reducingbottlenecks and complianceissues, O Naresh Kumar saidapart from slashing of corporatetax at par with global levels, hesaid, reduction of bank lendingrate on global level is dire needof the hour.

EngineeringCup shuttletourney fromtomorrowPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

VCTPL, Vizag Profilesand Vishwanath Avenueswill jointly sponsorEngineering-Cup 2o19that will be conducted atLaqshya BadmintonAcademy here fromSaturday.

Competitions will beheld separately for boysand girls with those keenparticipating in the eventcan register their entriesonline atw w w . l a q s h y a b a d -minton.com.

According toMuralikrishna, chiefcoach and managingpartner of LaqshyaBadminton Academy, theevent will be inauguratedby Anakapalli LegislatorGudivada Amarnath.

Winners will receiveRs 3, 000 worth giftvouchers while it willworth Rs 2, 000 for run-ners up in each category.Meanwhile, educationalinstitutions that will befield maximum numberof competitors will beentitled for special tro-phies.

Prizes will be distrib-uted by Tourism MinisterMuthamsetti SrinivasaRao in the presence ofGajuwaka MLA TippalaNagireddy.

The Engineering-Cup 2019tournament poster beingreleased in Visakhapatnam on Thursday

K Haribabu underscored the need for raising thegenuine issues withconcerned authorities so that the issues can beresolved through interactionat the highest levels

Competitions will beheld separately for boysand girls with thosekeen participating in the event can register their entries online atwww.laqshya--badminton.com.

VIJYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Maha: BMC employeeends life by jumpingoff office buildingMUMBAI: A 23-year-oldemployee of the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)allegedly committed suicide byjumping from his officebuilding in Dadar area onThursday, a police official said.Sumit Kurale, a peon with theBMC, jumped from the terraceon sixth floor of the civicbody's superintendent officebuilding, located at the SewageTreatment Centre on SenapatiBapat Road, around 10.20 am,he said. He was immediatelyrushed to a nearby hospitalwhere doctors declared himdead, the official said. Thedeceased was a resident ofDombivali town inneighbouring Thane district, hesaid. The reason behind hisextreme step was yet to beascertained, he said, addingthat a case of accidental deathwas registered.

AAP appoints SanjaySingh in-charge forDelhi polls

Govt nod to building1.23 lakh housesunder PMAY-UrbanNEW DELHI: The governmenthas approved the constructionof 1.23 lakh houses under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban), taking the totalnumber of houses sanctionedunder the scheme to over 90lakh, a statement said onThursday. The approval wasgiven by the CentralSanctioning and MonitoringCommittee (CSMC) onWednesday evening. "TheCSMC, headed by UnionHousing and Urban Affairssecretary Durga ShankerMishra, approved 630proposals from participatingstates for construction of 1.23lakh houses with an overallinvestment of Rs 4,988 crore,"it stated. For West Bengal,approval was given for 27,746houses, while Tamil Nadu gotapproval for construction of26,709 houses under the PMAY(U), followed by Gujarat(20,903), Punjab (10,332),Chhattisgarh (10,079),Jharkhand (8,674), MadhyaPradesh (8,314), Karnataka(5,021), Rajasthan (2,822) andUttarkhand (2,501). With thisapproval, over 90 lakh houseshave so far been sanctionedagainst the target of 1.12 croreby 2022 under PMAY (Urban),a flagship programme of theModi government.

RBI allows coop bankPMC customers towithdraw Rs 10,000MUMBAI: In a relief to theharried customers of crisis-hitPunjab & MaharashtraCooperative Bank, the ReserveBank Thursday increased thecash withdrawal limit to Rs10,000 per account, which willhelp over 60 percent customersof the crippled lender. The RBIhad Tuesday imposed a slew ofrestrictions on the bank for sixmonths, allowing withdrawal ofonly Rs 1,000 for the bank'sdepositors, leaving thecustomers, who are typicallynot from the well-heeled aworried lot. The move cameafter the central bank has foundcertain irregularities in thebank, including under-reportingof NPAs and had put restrictionon fresh lending. "It has beendecided to allow depositors towithdraw a sum not exceedingRs 10,000 (including the Rs1,000 already withdrawn) of thetotal balance held in everysavings bank account orcurrent account or any otherdeposit account," RBI said in arelease. The regulator said, thehigher limit is subject to factthe customer does not haveany liability with the bank byway of loans of surety for athird-party loan.

NEW DELHI: The Aam AadmiParty on Thursday appointedsenior leader Sanjay Singh asits in-charge for theforthcoming assembly electionsin Delhi. The AAP alsoappointed its national secretaryPankaj Gupta as the campaigndirector for the polls, at a meetof its Political AffairsCommittee chaired by convenorArvind Kejriwal. In a statement,the AAP said the appointmentsare a part of its electionstrategy as dates for the Delhielections are likely to beannounced soon. "The AAP willcontest the Delhi Assemblypolls on the basis of thehistoric performance its electedgovernment, which haschanged the face of the nationalcapital and has ensured allround development," it said.

PNS n CHENNAI

The Madras High Court onThursday issued notice toprison authorities on a peti-tion filed by Robert Payas, aconvict in the Rajiv Gandhiassassination case, seeking a30-day parole to makearrangements for his son'smarriage.

A division bench ofJustices MM Sundresh andRMT Teekaa Raamanordered notice to DeputyInspector General of Police,Prisons and theSuperintendent of Police,Central Prison, Puzhalreturnable by two weeks.

The petitioner submittedthat he has been in prisonsince August 16, 1991 and hascompleted actual imprison-ment of more than 28 years.

During this period, he saidhe had not utilised the emer-gency or ordinary leave pro-vided to him under TamilNadu Suspension of SentenceRules, 1982 despite his goodconduct in the prison.

He also submitted that hemoved the court as therewas no progress on the rep-resentation made by him tothe DIG of Prisons to grantparole of 30 days.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar, arrested in amoney laundering case by theEnforcement Directorate,moved the Delhi High Courton Thursday seeking bail.

He has challenged the trialcourt's Wednesday order bywhich his bail plea was dis-missed.

The trial court had said thatShivakumar's release at thecrucial stage of investigationmay hamper the probe, whilenoting that he is an influentialperson and may influence wit-nesses or tamper with docu-ments.

"The investigating agency

must have a full, fair and freechance to investigate in depthso that it can reach to a logicalconclusion.

"The release of the applicantat such crucial stage of inves-tigation may hamper the inves-tigation. Therefore, I am of the

considered view that the appli-cant is not entitled for bail atthis stage of investigation," thejudge had said while denyingShivakumar relief

Considering his bail appli-cation, the court had said thatwhile it has to be conscious of

the liberty of an individual, itcannot ignore the interest ofsociety.

A balance has to be struckbetween the two as the inves-tigation in the present case wasstill at the initial stage, it stat-ed.

The court had also perusedShivakumar's medical reportand noted that although he hasundergone angiography, hiscondition was stable and hasbeen advised medication.

The ED had in Septemberlast year registered the moneylaundering case againstShivakumar, Haumanthaiah,an employee at the KarnatakaBhavan in New Delhi, andothers.

PNS n PUNE

Calling frequent elections in thecountry a matter of concern,Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Thursday pitched for"simultaneous and broad" elec-tions in the country.

He was speaking at the'Punyabhushan' award cere-mony. He presented the presti-gious award to noted archaeol-ogist G B Deglurkar.

"Since elections are aroundthe corner and model code ofconduct is being enforced andsome of the friends (MP andministers) could not come tothe function...the frequent elec-tions in the country is a matterof concern," Naidu said.

Because of elections, therewill be a code of conduct foralmost one and a half months andeveryone has to follow a three-line formula - election, selection,and correction, he said.

"That is why it is in the inter-est of the country (that) thereshould be a broad and simul-taneous election across thecountry within 15 days' period

so that there is no deviation,dilution, and diversion of thepublic work," he said.

Lauding Deglurkar, Naidusaid archaeological sites are thebridges that connect the presentwith our past.

"Archaeology is a fascinatingsubject that enhances ourunderstanding of historythrough hard evidence. Becauseof this characteristic, it can bemore credible than any otherhuman science," he said.

Naidu said archaeology playsa significant role in revealingdifferent facets of the past. It isthe primary source of infor-

mation for prehistory and veryuseful in revealing differentfacets of the past to mankind,he added. "I believe that it hasa tremendous potential toreconstruct and re-correct his-tory," he said.

"Archaeology helps in bring-ing to light the diversity in var-ied cultures and civilisations. Ithelps in discovering not onlythe other civilisations but alsoin rediscovering our ownselves," he said.

Stating that Deglurkarbelongs to an "exclusive" club ofarchaeologists, Naidu said,"When he excavated identical

ivory dolls from Bhokardan inJalna district of Maharashtra andPompeii in Italy, he conclusive-ly established the presence ofRoman tradesmen in this regionduring Satvahana rule." Publicsector companies, private sectorfirms and individuals must beencouraged to adopt sites andtake part in the preservation ofour heritage, Naidu said. Hecalled for bringing together var-ious academic disciplines suchas history, archaeology, anthro-pology, iconography, epigra-phy, and sociology.

PNS n JAMMU

The BJP on Thursday hit out atsenior Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad for his remarksthat democracy does not existin Jammu and Kashmir, sayinghe is "mentally bankrupt".

Azad on Wednesday hadsaid there is no democracy inJammu and Kashmir andpeople are living in fear afterthe Centre scrapped thestate's special status onAugust 5.

"Ghulam Nabi Azad is men-tally bankrupt who says thereis no more democracy in J andK after the abrogation of Article370 and the reorganisation ofthe state," senior state BJPleader and MLC Ramesh Aroratold reporters here.

He said Azad should respectthe majority's decision thatsupported the revoking ofJammu and Kashmir's specialstatus and the bifurcation of thestate into two UnionTerritories.

"In fact, Azad is speakingsuch words which kills thebasic spirit of democracy.

Pakistan is projecting this viewpoint at the international levelas it suits them," Arora said.

The Congress leadership has"failed" to understand the grav-ity of the situation, the BJPleader added.

"Azad should explain whythe Kashmir issue was taken tothe UN by former prime min-ister Jawaharlal Nehru andwhy his party did not have thecourage to solve the internalissue itself," he said.

"Azad should explain whydemocracy was killed in 1975when Sheikh Abdullah was

installed as chief minister of Jand K when the Congressheaded by Syed Mir Qasim wasin power. It was the murder ofdemocracy," Arora said.

He also charged Azad overthe imposition of Emergency in1975 by the Congress govern-ment at the Centre.

Arora said the BJP govern-ment has taken a decision to"correct the blunders commit-ted by the Congress leadershipfrom time to time".

"Abrogation of Article 370was welcomed in the country,"he added.

PNS n PUNE

At least 17 people were killedin various incidents of flood-ing and wall collapse afterintense rainfall batteredMaharashtra's Pune city andvarious other parts of the dis-trict, officials said on Thursday.

Nearly 16,000 people,including some stuck onrooftops and trees, were res-cued from Pune city and otherparts of the district, they said,adding that four persons weremissing.

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis said he was pained toknow about the loss of livesdue to heavy rains in Pune.

He said teams of theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) were deployedin the city and Baramati tehsil,and all necessary assistancewas being provided in theaffected areas. Schools andcolleges in various tehsils ofPune declared a holiday onThursday in view of the deluge.Five people sleeping at a dar-gah in Khed-Shivapur village,located on the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway,were washed away after the

heavy downpour,Superintendent of PoliceSandip Patil said.

Besides, 12 people, includ-ing five women, lost their livesin various other rain-relatedincidents.

Of these, five people, includ-ing a nine-year-old boy, werekilled in incidents of wall col-lapse in the floodedAranyeshwar area, chief fireofficer Prashant Ranpise said.

One person was found deadnear a school in an inundatedlocality in Sahakar Nagar whilebody of a 52-year-old man wasfound in a car washed awaynear Sinhgad road. Anotherperson was found dead in hiscar near Katraj, while two oth-ers were washed away inParvati area, he said.

According to police, twoother persons also lost theirlives in the deluge. Four per-sons - two in the city and asmany in Purandar tehsil -were reported missing, theysaid. "Over 15,000 people fromlow-lying areas in Baramatiwere shifted to safer placesafter water was released fromNazare dam, built on the Karhariver near Jejuri," Patil said.

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha Government hasdecided to go for prematureretirement of employees ofdoubtful integrity or ineffi-ciency from public service toensure efficiency in adminis-tration, an official said onThursday.

The General Administrationand Public Grievance depart-ment has issued a circular inthis regard to all the secretariesasking them to weed out offi-cers and employees of doubtfulintegrity or inefficiency frompublic service.

The employees who havecompleted 30 years of service orhave attained 50 years of age,whichever is earlier, and thosewho have attained the age of 55,will come under the purview ofthis process, the circular said.

Performances of such stategovernment employees belong-

ing to Group A, B, C and D cat-egories will be reviewed bycommittees every threemonths.

The secretary of the admin-istrative department is alsoempowered to constitute inter-nal committees to scrutinise allthe cases to be reviewed in eachquarter and finalise the specif-

ic cases to be reviewed.The committee will recom-

mend retirement of theemployees whose integrity isdoubtful or is found to beineffective, the circular saidadding that the basic consid-eration of identifying suchemployees should be fitness/competence of the employee to

continue in the post whichhe/she is holding.

While the entire servicerecord of an officer should beconsidered at the time ofreview, no employee shouldordinarily be retired on theground of ineffectiveness, if hisservice during the preceding 5years or where he has been pro-moted to a higher post duringthat 5 years period, his servicein the higher post, has beenfound satisfactory.

Odisha govt to prematurely retireemployees of doubtful integrity

M Venkaiah Naidu

‘It is in thecountry’s interestthat there shouldbe simultaneouselections acrossthe country within15 days' period sothat there is nodeviation anddiversion of publicwork'

BJP MLC RameshArora said Azadshould respect themajority's decisionthat supported therevoking of J-K'sspecial status andthe bifurcation of the state into two UTs

General Administ-ration circular tosecretaries asksthem to weed outemployees ofdoubtful integrityor inefficiencyfrom public service

PNS n JODHPUR

Bollywood actor SalmanKhan will appear before aJodhpur court in the black-buck poaching case on Fridayamid a death threat by agangster. The death threatwas issued by gangster 'GarryShooter', who belongs to theLawrence Bishnoi gang,through a Facebook post onSeptember 16.

The actor had filed a pleaagainst his conviction by alower court, which had sen-tenced him to five years injail.

During a hearing on July 4,Sessions Court JudgeChandra Kumar Songara haddirected him to appear beforethe court on September 27,failing which his bail pleamay be cancelled.

However, there are appre-hensions that the actor maynot appear though policehave claimed to put in placeadequate security measures.

Ghulam Nabi Azad

The trial court hadsaid thatShivakumar'srelease at thecrucial stage ofinvestigation mayhamper theinvestigations

D K Shivakumar

BJP slam Azad for J-K remarks,says he is ‘mentally bankrupt'

BLACKBUCK CASE

Salman toappear beforecourt ‘faces'death threat

Anotherconvict in Rajiv murder case seeks parole

PNS n SRINAGAR

Students stayed away fromschools, markets remainedshut and public transportstayed off the roads in the val-ley for the 53rd day onThursday as the shutdownover the Centre's decision torevoke Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status continued, offi-cials said.

Classes were not held inmost schools across Kashmiras students did not turn up dueto the prevailing situation,they said.

The officials said the stategovernment is trying its best toensure that schools functionnormally but its efforts havenot borne fruit as most parentscontinue to keep their childrenat home due to apprehensionsabout their safety.

Main markets and otherbusiness establishments in the

valley remained closed. Onlythe stalls of a few vendors atthe TRC Chowk-Lal Chowkroad were open, they said.

Public transport largelystayed off the roads. Few inter-district cabs and autorick-shaws were seen plying insome areas of the city, the offi-cials said. The movement ofprivate cars was unhindered,they added.

Normal life in the valley has

remained crippled sinceAugust 5, when the Centrerevoked Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status under Article 370and announced the decision tobifurcate the state into twoUnion territories.

Restrictions imposed by thegovernment were lifted inphases. However, the normallife in Kashmir continues to bedisrupted due to the shut-down.

Rain pounds Pune; 17killed, 16,000 rescued

Shivakumar moves HC seeking bail

Simultaneous polls betterthan frequent ones : Naidu

Day 53: Normal life remainscrippled in Kashmir

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP and the Shiv Sena willcontest the Maharashtra stateelections together and havecome to an understanding onseat division that gives thelion's share to the BJP, sourcestold NDTV. The BJP will con-test 144 of the state's 288seats. The Sena will contest126 seats and 18 seats havebeen allotted to the smallerallies. The Sena will also getthe post of the Deputy ChiefMinister, sources in the BJPsaid.

Elections will be held inMaharashtra on October 21and the results will be declaredon October 24.

With less than a month togo for the polls, the rulingalliance came to an under-standing after an internalmeeting of the BJP earliertoday, where party chief AmitShah and Working PresidentJP Nadda took a call on the

issue. The meeting was attend-ed by Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis and the party's corecommittee for the state --including Pankaja Munde,Sudhir Munghantiwar andstate leaders like GirishMahajan.

With the Sena aiming for a50:50 divide a section of stateleaders were in favour of end-ing the alliance and having theBJP go on its own. Given theparty's showing in the state inthe Lok Sabha election, therewere expectations that unlikethe 2014 state elections, theparty will achieve majorityon its own.

Chief Minister Fadnavis,however, was in favour of thecontinuing the alliance andearlier this week, and hadtold reports that it was on. TheSena was not keen to break offthe alliance either, but waspreparing for that eventualityin view of the state BJP lead-ers' views.

Maharashtra seat pactsealed, BJP to contest144, Sena 126 seats

Tribunalupholds ban on JKLF-YasinMalikPNS n NEW DELHI

A tribunal of the Delhi HighCourt has upheld the banimposed on Yasin Malik-ledJammu Kashmir LiberationFront (JKLF) under theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, the HomeMinistry said.

The ban on JKLF-Yasin wasupheld by the tribunal head-ed by Justice Chander Shekhar,a Judge of the Delhi HighCourt, a Home Ministry noti-fication said on Wednesdaynight.

The JKLF-Yasin wasbanned on March 22 this yearfor "promoting" secession ofthe militancy-hit state from theUnion of India.

The outfit was declaredunlawful days after attack ona CRPF bus in Pulwama inFebruary in which 40 jawanswere killed.

On its decision to ban JKLF-Yasin, the Centre cited 101 vio-lent incidents of killing, kid-napping, bombing and extor-tion that include killing of fourand seriously injuring 10 per-sonnel of the Indian Air Forceon January 25, 1990 on theoutskirts of Srinagar and the1989 kidnapping of RubaiyaSayeed, daughter of the thenUnion Home Minister MuftiMohammed Sayeed and sisterof former Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti, for gettingfive of the outfit's terroristsreleased from custody inexchange of her release.

The Indian economy has been ona ventilator for a while now.Despite the Government’s numer-ous attempts to claim the oppo-site, the crisis is very much visi-

ble. This time around, the Modi-ledGovernment cannot wriggle its way out byfudging data as it had been doing until now.

Over the last four months, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman hasannounced some policy initiatives every fewweeks to boost the economy. While these areparaded as reforms, she has effectivelyreversed all the decisions made in her firstmaiden budget. Nevertheless, she deservescredit for finally acknowledging that theeconomy is in trouble and that steps needto be taken to alleviate the current crisis.

Last week, the Finance Ministerannounced a fiscal stimulus of `1.45 lakhcrore in the form of tax exemptions.Corporate tax rates for domestic companies,which do not avail of any tax incentive, werecut to 22 per cent from the existing 30 percent. For new manufacturing firms, the exist-ing tax rate of 25 per cent has been broughtdown to 15 per cent.

For a country that has had one of thehighest corporate tax rates in the world, themove to lower the rates and make it moreinvestment-friendly is welcome. With thepresent move, corporates will now have moreresources at their disposal to invest in grow-ing their business through takeovers or cap-ital investment projects. The decision has alsobrought cheer among the corporate world.The stock market, too, shot up by over 2,000points, a sign that reflects it has welcomedthe Government’s proposal.

An interesting phenomenon observedby this writer over the last few years will serveas the basis of this column. Every time a pro-business reform like the corporate tax cut isunveiled by the Modi-led Government, itreceives praise from all quarters. But whena pro-people reform like the waiving of elec-tricity charges for households consuming lessthan 200 units per month is announced bythe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government,it is often met with criticism and is termedas a waste of the State’s resources. If criticsunderstand some of the basic tenets of eco-nomics, they will realise that both the ini-tiatives are essentially aimed at boosting theeconomy. Let me explain this further.

Delhi has an estimated population ofabout 18-21 million. As per official data,there are about 4.2-6 million households inthe capital city. Reform measures initiatedby the Delhi Government to provide freewater and cheap electricity alone resulted inhouseholds saving close to `1,500 everymonth. With the standard of schools andhealthcare registering drastic improvements,families are making an additional saving of`1,000 every month. While this is just anapproximate figure, these four reformsalone have resulted in families saving at least`2,500 per month. With six million house-

holds in the capital, the total sav-ings will amount to ̀ 1,500 croreevery month and ̀ 18,000 croreevery year.

Similarly, in June, the AAPGovernment announced itsintent to offer free rides for allwomen in city buses and metrotrains. This policy was intro-duced on the same principle ofpromoting savings. Historically,Indian women have beenknown to be prudent in resourcemanagement skills, often savingmoney and reducing coststhrough ingenious ways. Theproposal to offer free rides willensure that a woman can saveanywhere close to `100 everyday or `3,000 a month. For lowand middle income families, thisis a substantial sum of moneythat will suddenly be availableand which had not beenaccounted for or expected ear-lier. These finances can be re-deployed by the women intobuying a two-wheeler for herhusband or paying tuition feesfor her children.

Some of the great economistsof our time like Adam Smith andJohn Maynard Keynes them-selves recognised the advantageof savings, which pay for thegrowth of businesses and pro-mote economic activity as well.When people save more and theninvest their savings, it helps boostproductivity, create jobs and fuelthe growth of the economy. Thehealth of the economy is, hence,

closely related to the savingsrate or the amount of moneysaved by people.

Money that is set aside inbank accounts, retirement plansas also other forms of savingsalso contributes largely to thenation’s growth as these resourcesare made available to the banksto lend it to businesses. Savingsalso make their way into pensionfunds, which is often reinvestedin stock markets and providesbusinesses the necessary capitalto finance expansion plans.

The other economic con-cept that will be useful to under-stand the logic of the AAPGovernment’s pro-people initia-tives is “consumer buyingpower.” It is defined as the abil-ity of an individual customer ina specific market to buy certainquantity of goods and services.When a consumer has a higherbuying power, it effectivelymeans that his/her disposableincome is higher and that theindividual concerned has thepurchasing power relative to thesupply and prices of the goodsavailable. One of the majorissues that the Indian economyis currently facing is that con-sumers are unable or unwillingto purchase even basic necessi-ty items like biscuits and soapsamong others. Faced with thissituation, consumers have lowbuying power ie, they don’thave enough money to purchasegoods at current market prices.

While this issue is a lot morepronounced in other parts of thecountry, this writer believes thatthe Delhi Government deservesat least some credit for offeringits citizens a cushion to deal withthe prevailing economic crisis.This will ensure that families donot have to experience much ofa decline in the overall quality oflife. When a family saves sub-stantially, it opens avenues formembers to invest in improvingthe overall quality of life.

In Delhi, we have seen howthe availability of extra moneyevery month has resulted infamilies investing in electronicgoods like fans, televisions,mobile phones and computersamong other things. In theevent of an economic slow-down, these expenses wouldhave been postponed but Delhiis bucking the trend.

The Delhi Government hasbeen receiving internationalacclaim for its path-breakingreforms in the education andhealthcare sectors. At the sametime, it has also been prudent toensure that it does not run intoany kind of fiscal deficit. Insteadof criticising the AAPGovernment for its pro-peopleinitiatives, it’s time we alsoacknowledged it as one of themost business-friendly admin-istrations in the country.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, an MP and currently amember of the AAP)

Remember the eight-year-old Kathua rapevictim, who was murdered so that shewouldn’t be able to identify her tormen-

tors? Or the 14-year-old Dalit girl inMuzaffarnagar district, who was burnt aliveafter being violated? The list of rape-murdersis long and hangs like a Damocles’ sword overthose who survive the ordeal and might bethinking of fighting back. It is intended to scarethem away from the criminal justice system.The survivors think twice about even register-ing their cases as reports pour in of intimida-

tion, police apathy, forced compromises, out-of-court settlements, dragged outcases besides societal slurs and condemnation. And when powerful men areamong the accused, leave alone justice, even their lives are in danger. That’sbecause the accused can avail bail, roam free and use resources to snuff outall charges. Given this grim scenario, it is indeed laudable that Delhi High CourtChief Justice DN Patel has sought to protect survivors, making it mandatory forcourts to ensure they are present at the time of bail hearing of the accused. Thiswould give them a fighting chance to argue their case, put the accused behindbars and shield themselves from death threats. The court has built in procedur-al insurance, making it mandatory for the investigating officer to notify the girlsthe moment any of their violators moved for bail. It is a sad reflection on ourcriminal justice system that Justice Patel had to issue this directive, almost rein-terpreting the amendments made to Section 439 of the Criminal Law in 2018.Under this, courts must notify the public prosecutor within 15 days of receiv-ing the bail plea from the accused. Not just this, it is also obligatory for the vic-tim to be present at the hearing, either in person or through her lawyer. Yet veryfew survivors are aware of these existing rights. It was rampant non-compli-ance of this year-old provision that forced Justice Patel to define what it meansin terms of execution. One hopes the order is respected by every law officer.

If anybody has any doubt about why a campaign on protecting survivors isnecessary, just consider the recent example of the law student who accusedformer Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand of rape. While the police and Stateadministration dragged their feet to arrest him till she publicly appealed to UttarPradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, they were very quick in arresting her forextortion. The girl was also denied bail by the court and sent to 14 days’ judi-cial custody instead. Chinmayanand is on break, in “hospital.” If this isn’t anattempt to turn the case on its head and put pressure on the woman to with-draw her petition against a powerful man affiliated with the ruling party, then whatis? This comes close on the heels of the Unnao rape case, where the girl, in adesperate bid to get justice a year after her horror, tried to immolate herself out-side the CM’s residence. Before this she had kept quiet. Yet she paid for speak-ing out loud. Half of her family and witnesses were dead before the rapist, KuldeepSengar, was taken into custody. It is precisely because of the belief that there’salways a loophole in the legal system to be exploited that people like Chinamayanandand Sengar get away. According to National Crime Records Bureau, around 100sexual assaults are reported every day. The actual number of attacks is far high-er with a Government survey finding that 99.1 per cent cases of sexual violencego unreported due to fear and coercion.

Privacy or personal freedoms and trans-gressions in exercising these rights haveled to so many grey areas in the open

democracy of the internet that it has nowbecome incumbent upon the Supreme Courtto lay down razor-sharp guidelines of what issafe and what is not. And after studied con-sideration, it now favours fixing accountabil-ity of intermediaries, such as WhatsApp andFacebook, when their platforms are used tothreaten the integrity and sovereignty of thenation, encourage hate speeches and pornog-

raphy and promote illegal trade of drugs and contraband. It has, therefore, askedthe Government to file an affidavit within three weeks, outlining a strategy to getsocial media platforms to share information with law enforcement without com-promising the privacy of citizens or national security. Now, this is the tricky part,completely surrendering the agency of monitoring to a ruling regime. The mootpoint here is that neither the Government nor the platform providers can walkthe thin line, having overstepped it more than once themselves. The Government,which has used social media and its follower brigade to amp up its own posi-tion and muzzle that of others, is hardly expected to overlook its interests at atime when going digital is the easiest way to generate a swell of opinion andspread its propaganda. Can it really be righteous enough about separating strandsof coercion and restriction? Social media giants, particularly Facebook, have hadtoo many run-ins with stakeholders on accountability and clandestine data-shar-ing. Remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal that swung an electoral opin-ion and allegations of influencing the US elections and Brexit? As for trolls, Twitteris yet to demonstrably react to group bullyism impinging on the personal digni-ty of a single user although free conversations are meant to be an exchange ofideas, not a slanging match of slander. Who will decide what constitutes a nation-al threat and what is democratic dissent? Giving the Government an upper handmight just obfuscate the real concern of a watchdog society justifying anythingfor the sake of national security. And social media firms sharing information undergovernment pressure would not even be looked at as committing an offence.

Most importantly, who decides what privacy should be for the vast millionswho have made smartphones a part of their lives? There’s no doubt that hatespeech and fake news have diluted the empowering strength of the internet butregulation will always raise questions about whether it impinges on fundamen-tal rights and freedoms. Yes, it is the duty of social media platforms to exercisepowers to remove obnoxious material from their servers. They have done thatjob well by tracking and taking down videos of child pornography, abuse, harass-ment on a routine basis. But when it comes to crimes that propagate certaincauses/interests, crucially the proliferation of fake news through forwarded mes-sages at a scale never seen before, social media firms are at fault for the sim-ple reason of being both reluctant and hesitant. The Government cannot be givenabsolute responsibility either. If it does want restrictions, an intricate frameworkof contexts and rules must be created to maintain objectivity. It should not beleft to the authorities to interpret them in their own ways. There is a need to revis-it Section 69 of the Information Technology Act. Most importantly, it is the topcourt which has to create an appropriate legal redress, not throw a sensitivematter in the deep end.

Privacy vs security

Social reformer

Sir — The great educationist,writer and social reformer, IshwarChandra Vidyasagar, was born inan orthodox family on September26, 1820, at Birsingha village inthe Ghatal subdivision of PaschimMidnapore district in WestBengal. One of the most promi-nent campaigners for women’srights, he worked tirelessly to pro-vide them equal education andwas very vocal about the oppres-sion they faced. His endless worktowards social emancipation, too,is not unknown. Besides, he wasalso one of the key figures of theBengal Renaissance who refinedthe way Bengali prose was taughtand written.

As we celebrate Vidyasagar’sbirth anniversary, it must beacknowledged that the countryneeds more such personalities ofexceptional character, dedicat-ed, humble and determined. Hewas one who worked tirelesslysolely for the betterment of thesociety, even above his own inter-est. He never bowed down to theBritish officials or to the inhumanrituals in our society.

Sujit DeKolkata

Out of context

Sir — One is rendered speechlessby the fact that Amruta Fadnavis,wife of Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis,called Prime Minister NarendraModi the “father of our country.”

One wonders as to what prompt-ed her to see a reflection ofMahatma Gandhi in Modi, theman who is known to have failedto uphold his raj dharma. Was hermistake prompted by images ofModi at the charkha in theGandhi ashram?

The dissimilarities between

the two figures could not bemore pronounced. A string offailures proves that Modi doesnot deserve the elevated positionthat Amruta Fadnavis tried togive him.

One cannot forget the adver-sities that people had to face asa result of demonetisation, the

faulty implementation of theGoods and Services Tax (GST),the falling rupee against dollar,high oil prices and its failure tocreate jobs. These are enough toput Modi out of the runningwhen it comes to being the“father of the country.”

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Troubling times

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “In tears over onion”(September 24). With onion ratestouching `80 per kg in some partsof the country, the Governmenthas gone all out to bring the pricesof this vegetable, which is a keykitchen staple. To tackle the prob-lem, the country is also import-ing onions from neighbouringnations like Afghanistan.Thankfully, the prices have shotup ahead of the week-longNavratri festival during which itsconsumption mostly comesdown. Hopefully, we will be ableto sail the tide.

KhushiVia email

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

06

State of the economy

AJOY KUMAR

While Central reform measures receive fulsome praise, the Delhi Government, too, deservessome credit for offering its citizens a cushion to deal with the prevailing economic crisis

India's economic momentum has dropped toa historic low but theGovernment does not have any plans to make it better

CPI(M) general secretary—Sitaram Yechury

I often try and direct myhusband in real life and that seems like a mammoth task, so I don’twant to try and direct him in reel-life as well!

Actor—Twinkle Khanna

It is politically perceived injus-tices that produce desperatepeople. But now we hear aboutradical Islam. There is only oneIslam, of Prophet Muhammadwhich we follow.

Pakistan Prime Minister—Imran Khan

S O U N D B I T E

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

UK court sets an example for other nations

The UK Supreme Court has shown that it can ruleindependent of the interest of the Government ofthe day, something judiciaries in other democra-

cies can emulate. Its unanimous ruling that the proro-gation of the British Parliament by Prime Minister BorisJohnson was unlawful, upheld the Parliament’s sover-eignty and its supremacy over the Government. It wasa ruling that is relevant and applicable to our own coun-try as our Parliament is modelled on the British sys-tem. The UK’s top court made it clear that if the rulingvindicated the Opposition’s stand on the prorogation ofthe Parliament and benefitted it in the political tussleto get the upper hand, it was only incidental to its estab-lishing the illegality of the prorogation.

The real intent for prorogation was to stymie par-liamentary scrutiny at the crucial stage of negotiationsof the deal for Brexit. Despite a string of political andlegal setbacks like losing parliamentary majority andreceiving court strictures for preventing the Parliamentfrom doing its job and attracting the charge of stiflingdemocracy, Johnson declared that the ruling — withwhich he strongly disagreed and termed a serious mis-

take — would not deter him from delivering Brexit onthe October 31 deadline. There is now considerableuncertainty over Brexit. The Labour Party’s stand isthat Johnson has no mandate for a no-deal Brexit andthe crisis can be settled only by a general election.London must get an extension from Brussels to avertthe risk of its crashing out of EU without a deal.

G David Milton Maruthancode

WHEN PEOPLESAVE MORE AND

THEN INVESTTHEIR SAVINGS, IT

HELPS BOOSTPRODUCTIVITY,

CREATE JOBS ANDFUEL THE

GROWTH OF THEECONOMY.

HEALTH OF THEECONOMY IS,

HENCE, CLOSELYRELATED TO THE

SAVINGS RATE ORTHE AMOUNT OF

MONEY SAVED BYPEOPLE

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Survivor’s rights

There is tremendous potentialto re-construct and re-correctIndian history. We need to re-discover ourselves andpresent the real history ofIndia to the world.

Vice President —M Venkaiah Naidu

The Supreme Court needs to codify a standard matrixrather than rely solely on Govt recommendations

The Delhi HC ruling, allowing rape survivors theright to decide bail for their tormentors, is needed

Why stories need to be told

SHAME ON THE BJP FOR CREATING PANIC OVER NRCIN BENGAL, IT HAS LED TO SIX DEATHS. BJP SHOULD

STOP SPREADING RUMOURS OVER IT.—WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER

MAMATA BANERJEE

THE TMC IS CREATING FEAR. IF ANYBODY DIES DUETO THE NRC PANIC, THEN MAMATA BANERJEESHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THAT.—WEST BENGAL BJP PRESIDENTDILIP GHOSH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

It was just beginning to get dark in her villagewhen Gauri came out of her house. Afterfurtive glances to make sure no one was

around, she quickly pulled out a wet piece of clothshe was hiding behind her back and hung it todry on a nearby bush. Next morning just as dawnwas breaking, Gauri removed the cloth althoughit was still damp. She didn’t want anyone to knowshe was in the middle of “those days.” In her hurryshe didn’t notice the tiny insect atop the cloth.This was to prove fatal. A few days later, she diedbecause of infection that spread from her vagi-nal tract.

Why is this story important? It is significantbecause every life is valuable and by telling it, themedia brings to the fore the reality that still exists.The fact that lives get tragically cut short by pre-ventable causes underlines the need for more suchstories to be told. Had menstruation not beensomething to hide or be ashamed of, Gauri wouldhave been alive. Ignorance can be just as fatal. Likeit was for Meera who died from tetanus causedby a rusty hook on the old blouse she used dur-ing her periods. Everyone was told that it wastetanus that led to her death. Only her sister whohad lent the blouse later understood the rootcause of her death. Both the women knew thatthe hooks were rusted but didn’t think it wasimportant or that they would matter.

Only 48 per cent of rural women usehygienic methods of menstrual protectionaccording to the latest National Family HealthSurvey (NFHS-4). How 52 per cent of ruralwomen cope with “those days” is not known.What is known is that women often use the dirt-iest cloth in the house during their menstrualcycle. This cloth is reused many times withoutproper washing. Sometimes, two or three womenin a household use the same piece of cloth. Poormenstrual hygiene can kill and yet talking aboutit still remains taboo.

Recently the Centre for Health Education,Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA)an Ahmedabad-based not-for-profit working forwomen’s empowerment, conducted a survey insix districts in Gujarat to study the levels of men-strual awareness and methods being followed.Their findings revealed that of about 600 femalesbetween the ages 13-35 interviewed, 67 per centbelieved that periods should be kept a secret and29 per cent adolescent girls and women report-ed that they feel ashamed talking about it. Amajority (60 per cent) felt the blood was impureand 65 per cent felt “unclean.” So, women andgirls were forced to hide all signs of it.

In such a scenario, the media has an impor-tant to play. By sharing this kind of data throughtheir stories, it can help organisations workingin the field tweak communications programmesto adapt to the situation. This has been done inthe Ramapur gram panchayat in Varanasi. In anattempt to buck the trend of adolescent girls miss-ing or leaving school due to period-related issuesin Uttar Pradesh, a programme by Rajiv GandhiMahila Vikas Pariyojna, a non-profit organisa-tion, used the Hindi version of Menstrupedia, anovel comic book and guide to periods for younggirls that dispels myths, to educate and empow-er 7,309 young women’s self-help groups. Witheach such group boasting a membership of 10-12 unmarried girls, aged 13-21, it was able to

reach out to a huge number. This led toyoung girls questioning myths relatedto periods, especially why they should-n’t touch the pickle during those days.In addition to touching the pickle andbusting the myth that it would be con-taminated, the Ramapur group evenpersuaded the principal of the localschool to install an incinerator for safedisposal of sanitary pads. This was ahuge achievement because it was thefirst of its kind in the panchayat.Stories like these show it is possible tobreak the silence on periods. Just as sto-ries on Menstrual HygieneManagement (MHM) innovations onlow-cost, good quality and bio-degrad-able menstrual hygiene products ormachines that can be used by self-helpgroups to manufacture sanitary napkinslocally help to showcase last mile deliv-ery for those who tend to fall throughthe cracks. The innovative tactile bookand apron of the reproductive systemthat helps visually-impaired girls nav-igate puberty are a boon for over 24 lakhwomen with visual disabilities.

If the silence and stigma aroundmenstruation make it hard for womenwith sight to manage their periods, itbecomes far more challenging for thevisually-impaired. The fact that girls areoften pressured by their families to havetheir uterus removed so that they stopmenstruating underlines the impor-tance of this innovation. It was devel-oped by the Water Supply andSanitation Collaborative Council(WSSCC) in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, the Centre of Excellence inTactile Graphics, Saksham Trust, andthe Noida Deaf Society. The media alsoplays a critical role in raising awareness

about how menstrual waste is contribut-ing to increasing environmental haz-ards. Over 113,000 tonnes of such wasteare created every year and can take over250 years to fully decompose. Lack ofproper disposal facilities means thiswaste clogs the urban sewage systems,piles up in landfills and contaminatesrural ponds.

The Government, realising theimportance of MHM, began distribu-tion of low-cost sanitary napkinsthrough health workers under theNational Rural Health Mission(NRHM) in 2010. Official data revealsthat 42 per cent of women use sanitarynapkins (NFHS-4). But, just how envi-ronment-friendly are these sanitarynapkins? Also are there proper dispos-al and waste management facilities? Byraising such questions, the media high-lights not just the environmental costsof the absence of such facilities but alsothe possibilities of putting the health ofgirls and women at risk of infections dueto overuse of menstrual hygiene prod-ucts. By sharing good MHM practices,the media connects many to solutionsthey can adapt and scale up. The initia-tive taken by the Pune MunicipalCorporation (PMC) is one example ofhow good implementation can workwonders. The PMC’s decision to sup-port SWaCH, India’s first cooperative ofself-employed waste collectors andother urban poor, in managing solidwaste collection has ensured both theenvironment and the health of theseworkers are not compromised. SinceSWaCH waste-pickers handle about 20metric tonnes of household sanitarywaste every day, the need to manuallysegregate the degradable and bio-

degradable waste leads to several infec-tions. PMC asked SWaCH to makepaper bags to give to households to dis-pose used sanitary napkins and active-ly promoted their usage. Householdswere also made aware of howunwrapped sanitary waste exposedthem to multiple deadly pathogens.

In addition, a system for scientificdisposal of such paper bags was put inplace by designating three locationsacross the city, where 600 to 900 piecesof sanitary napkins are scientifically dis-posed daily at each location. A systemof collection, transportation and dispos-al has been especially developed.

So just as the media highlights suchgood practices, it also looks at MHMholistically with the help of information,evidence and data, both official and thatgenerated by robust research by non-governmental organisations. In doingso if it requires the media to ring thealarm bells, it doesn’t step away fromdoing so.

The story on how hysterectomiesbecame the norm in Beed, Maharashtra,because cane-cutting contractors wereunwilling to hire women as periods hin-der work is one such example. There areno bathrooms for cane cutters whooften live in cane fields. It becomes evenmore difficult for a woman if she hasperiods in these conditions. The storyled to national outrage with the NationalCommission for Women issuing anotice and the State Governmentinstructing surgeons not to conducthysterectomy unnecessarily. Such casesunderline once again the critical role ofthe media, and seeing it as an ally andnot an adversary, benefits all.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Ignorance on periods can be fatal. By sharing good Menstrual Hygiene Managementpractices, the media connects many to solutions they can adapt and scale up

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

Dark days areahead for India

To divert the attention of people from problemsbesetting the country, a scapegoat has to be

found, just as Hitler found in the Jews

SWAPNA MAJUMDAR

THE NEWS STORYON HOW

HYSTERECTOMIESBECAME THE

NORM IN BEED,MAHARASHTRA

BECAUSECANE-CUTTINGCONTRACTORS

WERE UNWILLINGTO HIRE WOMEN,

AS PERIODSHINDER WORK,

LED TO NATIONALOUTRAGE. THE

NATIONALCOMMISSION FORWOMEN ISSUED A

NOTICE AND THESTATE

GOVERNMENTINSTRUCTED

SURGEONS NOTTO CONDUCT ANHYSTERECTOMYUNNECESSARILY.

SUCH CASESUNDERLINE ONCE

AGAIN THECRITICAL ROLE OF

THE MEDIA ANDSEEING IT AS AN

ALLY AND NOT ANADVERSARY,

BENEFITS ALL

Something has happened in India which reminds me of what hap-pened in Germany during the Nazi era. After Hitler assumed powerin January 1933 almost the whole of Germany went into a fren-

zy, with people shouting “Heil Hitler” (Hail Hitler), “Sieg Heil” (Hailvictory!) and adoring that despot without thinking.

Germans are such highly cultured people, who produced greatscientists like Max Planck and Einstein, great writers like Goethe andSchiller, great poets like Heine, great musicians like Mozart, Bach andBeethoven, great reformers like Martin Luther, great philosophers likeKant, Nietzsche, Hegel and Marx, great mathematicians like Leibnitz,Gauss and Riemann and great statesmen like Frederick the Great andBismarck. Nevertheless, when Hitler came on the scene and saidGermans were “Herrenvolk” (master race) and Jews were respon-sible for all their ills, they believed it and did little against atrocities onthem, which led to the Holocaust (many supported it).

How did this happen? Surely Germans are not inherently evil?I have always maintained that 99 per cent people of all countries,religions and races are good. Then how could Germans send six mil-lion Jews to the gas chambers? It happened because modern pro-paganda is such a powerful thing that minds of even the most cul-tured and intelligent people can be poisoned by it. This is what hap-pened to most Germans of that time. The distress of Germans aftertheir defeat in World War-I and the massive unemployment, inflationand economic crisis following the Great Depression of 1929 was easyfodder for Hitler for his evil propaganda.

The same has happened now to most Indians. Ever since theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Right-wing Hindu party, come to powerin 2014, a huge communal propaganda has been unleashed in Indiaagainst the Indian minorities through hate speeches, accusing themof killing cows, seducing Hindu girls (love jihad) and so on, poison-ing the minds of most Hindus. The demand for building the Ram tem-ple and lynching of Muslims was a regular feature over the last fewyears. The air strike on Balakot in Pakistan and the war hysteria whippedup by the pliant media, was part of this campaign and all this paidrich dividends in the form of a landslide spectacular victory for theBJP in the parliamentary elections. The abolition of Article 370, whichto my mind will not solve any real problem, has resulted in most Hindusbecoming jingoistic.The real problems in India — record unemploy-ment (as revealed by the National Sample Survey, a Government organ-isation), appalling child malnourishment (every second child in Indiais malnourished), huge number of farmers suicides (over 300,000),almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the mass-es, widening gap between rich and poor (seven Indians own morewealth than the bottom half of India’s 1.36 billion population) — wereall non-issues in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Secularism is a feature of industrial society, like those in NorthAmerica and Europe. It is not a feature of feudal or semi-feudal soci-eties, as in most Asian countries. Merely mentioning secularism inour Constitution does not make the country secular. India is still semi-feudal, as is evident from the rampant casteism and communalismprevalent here. Most Indians are deeply religious and since about 80per cent Indians are Hindus, they are easy prey for communal pro-paganda. My own understanding is that most Indians are commu-nal. When I am among my Hindu relatives and friends, most spoutvenom against Muslims. When a Muslim is lynched most Hindusare indifferent, some even happy. One terrorist less!

Communalism (hatred of minorities, particularly Muslims) wasalways latent among most Hindus, only waiting for a spark from some-where to turn the powder keg into an explosion. Between 2014 and2019 the communal fire was stoked by the BJP, which is dominat-ed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Now that the BJPand its leader Narendra Modi have won an astounding victory, therewill be great pressure on them from the people to create jobs, alle-viate farmers distress, reduce malnourishment, provide good edu-cation. But this they have no idea how to do. Instead what has hap-pened is that the economic situation has taken a nosedive, with theGross Domestic Product (GDP) dropping to five per cent, steep declinein manufacturing, real estate, power and mounting unemployment.

So to divert the attention of the people from these real prob-lems, which are unsolvable within the present dispensation and infact worsening, a scapegoat has to be found, just as Hitler found inthe Jews. In India this scapegoat will be our Muslims and Christians,and I fear that now there will be recurrent atrocities on them. Just ashistory was perverted in Nazi Germany, so was it in post 2014 India.And just as Goebbels took over the German media, the Indian mediahas largely caved in and is saluting our master ‘Ave Caesar Imperator’.Dark days are ahead for India.

(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.)

Though tourism represents tenper cent of the global GrossDomestic Product (GDP), one

in ten jobs and seven per cent of theworld’s exports, the sector is usuallyundervalued, especially in addressingunemployment problems. As per a2017 United Nations World TourismOrganization (UNWTO) reporttitled, “Tourism and SustainableDevelopment Goals — Journey to2030”, given these numbers, tourismhas a decisive role to play in theachievement of the UN’s 2030 agen-da, which is “Decent Work andEconomic Growth.”

Being of a labour-intensivenature, tourism is a major contribu-tor in generating employment which

has a significant multiplier effect evenon its related sectors. The global trav-el and tourism sector grew at 3.9 percent to contribute a record $8.8 tril-lion and 319 million jobs to the worldeconomy in 2018, according to theWorld Travel and Tourism Council(WTTC)’s 2018 Economic ImpactReport.

The sector has been largelyuntouched by the global economicslowdown while the number ofworldwide international touristarrivals on an average grew at 4 percent or above from the last few years.However, now there is a need todevise and implement policies to pro-mote sustainable tourism by takinginto consideration the impact of cli-mate change in relation to job cre-ation and promotion of indigenousculture and products. The role of theindustry in employment generationand entrepreneurship is often under-estimated in policy formulation andimplementation. And this sector isalso facing difficulty in attracting andretaining human resource talent,due to the casual approach towards

creating a dynamic working environ-ment. Market uncertainties, like thecollapse of a major travel firm likeThomas Cook, are another hin-drance to attracting and retaining tal-ent. According to the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO) 2018data, global unemployment hasreached more than 192 million,which is on the higher side and needsimmediate attention of the worldcommunity. Therefore, there is a needto create conditions for more jobs. Inthis scenario, embracing new technol-ogy could play a key role in achiev-ing the goal of better job creation.

Tourism, primarily a people-to-peo-ple sector, with an impressive growthrate can also serve as a natural ally ofthe ILO’s human-centred agenda forthe future of work. In spite of thenotion that women face exclusion interms of access to education andtraining, they play a significant rolein tourism entrepreneurship.However, in the workplace in thetourism industry, one of the majordeterrents faced by women is a hugepay gap, where they are paid a quar-ter less than male workers, even afteracquiring comparable skills.

India’s first National Tourism

Policy was formulated in 1982 andthe National Tourism Policy 2002 wasformulated with the objective ofpositioning tourism as a major con-tributor to economic growth whileensuring that environmental sus-tainability is maintained. Then, tocope with the widespread, interrelat-ed global developments and advance-ments in the tourism sector, a newdraft National Tourism Policy wasformulated in 2015 with a vision todevelop and position India as a“Must experience” and “Must revis-it” destination for global travellers.Recently on August 15, 2019, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi also encour-aged Indians to explore their owncountry by visiting 15 domestictourist destinations by 2022.

Globally, India has improved itsTravel and Tourism Competitiveness(TTC) index and has been ranked34th out of 140 world economies, saysa TTC biennial report published byWorld Economic Forum. With a newUnion Tourism Minister, there areexpectations that the new NationalTourism Policy will soon come out

and help achieve newer milestones. Although tourism creates jobs, a

policy push is needed to realise itstrue potential and create more oppor-tunities. Also, given the advancementin global technology, the need of thehour is to develop a holistic approachin sync with all the stakeholders fromthe public and private sectors, so thata gap between the skills that tourismemployers need and that are taughtin educational institutions, is closed.More specifically, the digital revolu-tion and use of Artificial Intelligenceshould also be included in curriculato enhance skills in the sector.

Supporting opportunities forindustrial experiences like internshipsor scholarships, along with spe-cialised education and training willalso contribute towards creating askilled workforce for the sector. Thetime has arrived to embrace tourismand recognise its potential as a keysector for creating jobs.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Indian Institute of Tourism and TravelManagement, under Ministry ofTourism, Madhya Pradesh)

Tourism the biggest job-creatorBeing of a labour-intensive nature, tourism is a major contributor in generating employment, which

has a significant multiplier effect even on its related sectors

JEET DOGRA

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Impeachment is the mostserious action thatCongress can take against aPresident, but necessarygiven Trump's refusal toabide by political norms.Democrats have unifiedaround a purpose: What arethey in Congress for, if notto hold the President toaccount? The power ofaccountability growsstronger with use. To standby now would be sending amessage of impunity toTrump and those whosucceed him.

(The Guardian editorial)

TIME TO TEACHTRUMP A LESSON

MARKANDEY KATJU

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

EoI deadlineextension for PawanHans, 4th since JulyNEW DELHI: Failing to getdesired response from privateplayers, the government hasnow extended the date forsubmitting expression ofinterest (EoI) by two weeks fordivesting 51 per cent stake inpublic sector chopper serviceprovider Pawan HansHelicopters Ltd (PHHL).This is the fourth extensionsince July after a PreliminaryInformation Memorandum(PIM) for strategicdisinvestment was floated toinvite interest from globalplayers. The last date forsubmission of expression ofinterest (EoI) for strategicdisinvestment of PHL, inresponse to the PreliminaryInformation Memorandum(PIM) issued on July 11, 2019,has been extended up toOctober 10, 2019," an officialstatement said. It added that thetimelines for all othersubsequent activities willchange accordingly.

Global smartphonessales to decline by3.2% in 2019: GartnerSAN FRANCISCO: As thelifetime of premium phonescontinued to extend through2019, global sales ofsmartphones will decline by 3.2per cent this year, the worstdecline the category has seen,according to a Gartner forecaston Thursday. "This is due toconsumers holding onto theirphones longer, given the limitedattraction of new technology,"Ranjit Atwal, Senior ResearchDirector at Gartner, said in astatement. The study estimatesthat the share of 5G-capablephones will increase from 10per cent in 2020 to 56 per centby 2023. "The major players inthe mobile phone market willlook for 5G connectivitytechnology to boostreplacements of existing 4Gphones," said Atwal. Thesmartphone market will,however, return to the growthpath at 2.9 per cent in 2020,Gartner said."To ensuresmartphone sales pick upagain, mobile providers arestarting to emphasize 5Gperformance features, likefaster speeds, improvednetwork availability andenhanced security," Atwal said.

PNS n NEW YORK

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas urged global CEOs and topAmerican executives to lever-age the 'Startup India' innova-tion platforms to formulatesolutions for the entire worldon challenging issues like nutri-tion and waste management.

Chairing an exclusive round-table with 42 global CEOs andtop executives from across 20sectors, Modi on Wednesdaystressed on continued politicalstability in India, predictabili-ty of policy, and pro-develop-ment and pro-growth policies.

He emphasised the devel-opment of tourism, plasticrecycling and waste-manage-ment initiatives, and toenhance the business ofMSMEs, especially those whichcreate more opportunities forfarmers and agriculture.

"Captains of industry inter-act with PM Narendra Modi inNew York. The extensive agen-da includes harnessing invest-ment opportunities in Indiaand boosting commercial link-ages between India and USA,"the PMO said in a tweet.

"PM at the CEO Roundtablein New York highlighted thesteps taken by India to build aUSD 5 trillion economy. Globalbusiness community is upbeatabout the India success story,"Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumartweeted.

The CEOs appreciated theefforts made by India in striv-ing towards ease of doing busi-ness and many reforms thathave led to a conducive envi-ronment for investors. Theyalso lauded Modi for takingstrong decisions and makingIndia more investor-friendly.

"The leaders also mentionedthat their companies remainedcommitted to the growth storyof India and, on the back of this,continued to grow their foot-print in India," an official state-ment said after the meeting.

The CEOs briefly outlinedtheir specific plans in India andput forth recommendations toaid India's efforts towards skilldevelopment, Digital India,Make in India, inclusivegrowth, green energy and

financial inclusion.The companies that partic-

ipated in the roundtable had acombined net worth of USD16.4 trillion, of which their networth in India is USD 50 bil-lion.

The CEOs Roundtable wasattended by IBM Chairman,President and CEO GinniRometty, President and CEOof Walmart DouglasMcMillon, Chairman andCEO of Coca-Cola JamesQuincey, Lockheed MartinCEO Marillyn Hewson, JPMorgan Chairman and CEOJamie Dimon, CEO ofAmerican Tower Corporationand co-chair of the India-USCEO forum James Taiclet,MasterCard CEO Ajay Bangaand Senior Executives fromApple, Google, Marriott, VISA,3M, Warburg Pincus,AECOM, Raytheon, Bank ofAmerica and Pepsi.

Modi "urged the companiesto leverage the Startup Indiainnovation platforms in part-nership with other countries —to make solutions not only forIndia, but for the world, includ-ing challenging issues likenutrition and waste manage-ment," the statement said.

The DPIIT- and InvestIndia-organized interactionincluded Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal and senior offi-cials from the Department ofPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade and Ministry ofExternal Affairs.

Following the roundtable,Bank of America CEO BrianMoynihan said it is alwaysgreat to hear from the primeminister about his vision forIndia.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, interacting with CEOs at a Roundtable, in New York, USA

The CEOs appreciated the effortsmade by India in striving towards easeof doing business and many reformsthat have led to a conduciveenvironment for investors

Centre mulls sops forfirms employing SC, STsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Labour Ministry isbelieved to have discussed aproposal to give incentives topublic and private companiesfor recruiting SC and ST can-didates under affirmativeaction by the industry.

Under the affirmativeaction, industry bodies havevoluntarily committed toensuring equal opportunitiesfor members of ScheduledCast and Scheduled Tribescommunities. The concept wasformally adopted by industrybodies like CII andASSOCHAM.

"We keep discussing on var-ious proposals for affirmativeaction to give benefit to work-ers," Labour Minister SantoshGangwar told reporters whenasked whether his ministry isconsidering any proposal toencourage recruitment of SC &ST candidates under the affir-mative action.

"We can tell you exactlyabout the contours of the pro-posal after seeking detailsabout it. We receive manysuggestions during discussionswith stakeholders," the minis-ter said on the sidelines of aFICCI conference on indus-trial safety.

A senior official toldPTI, "Retirement fundbody EPFO is collectingdata about SC and STemployees in the publicsector as well as pri-vate sector throughits over 136 region-al offices."

The official also said,"Labour Ministry is collectingthe data through EmployeesProvident Fund Organisationunder a study piloted by gov-ernment think tank NITIAayog, to assess the financialimplication of various incen-tives for encouraging recruit-ment and giving equal oppor-tunity to SC and ST candi-dates."

The Labour Ministry isalready running a schemecalled Pradhan Mantri RojgarProtsahan Yojana (PMRPY)for encouraging recruitment

by the industry from all com-munities.

Under the scheme, the gov-ernment provides employ-ers' share of contributiontoward social securityschemes run by the EPFO fornew recruits for three years.The scheme is effective fromApril 2018.

This scheme has dual ben-efits. The employer is incen-tivised for increasing theemployment base and a largenumber of workers find jobs.A direct benefit is that theseworkers have access to socialsecurity benefits of the organ-ised sector.

Earlier addressing the con-ference, the minister said,"The ministry would sooncirculate rules for implemen-tation of recently passed Codeon Wages Act for public com-ments. Besides, theParliamentary StandingCommittee on Labour would

soon vet the OccupationalSafety, Health and WorkingConditions Code, 2019.The committee has beenconstituted under thechairmanship of Biju

Janata Dal MP B Mehtab."About the Code onIndustrial Relations,

the ministerinformed that it ispre-legislative

stage as thedis c uss ionwith stake-

holder areon.

We can tell youexactly about thecontours of the

proposal after seekingdetails about it. Wereceive manysuggestions duringdiscussionswithstakeholders—SANTOSHGANGWAR

LabourMinister

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian economy is expect-ed to start its recovery fromlater part of this fiscal thanksto the initiatives taken by theReserve Bank for policy ratetransmission and steps by thegovernment to boost growth,says a report.

According to D&B EconomyObserver report, a pick-up inthe industrial production willonly be gradual and an uptickis expected to be visible duringthe festive months ofSeptember and October 2019.

"The slowdown is real andthere is ‘need' to be cautious,but it is ‘too early' to press thepanic button," Arun Singh,Chief Economist, Dun &Bradstreet India said, addingthat the magnitude of slow-

down is not as deep as was wit-nessed during the global finan-cial crisis in 2009 and the debtcrisis in 2012.

Economic growth hit oversix-year low of 5 per cent forthe first quarter ended June2019 mainly driven by demandslowdown.

He further noted that theloss of momentum in invest-ment demand is "worrying".Besides, low business opti-mism, low returns on invest-ment by the corporate andincrease in inefficiency in cap-ital employed, also raises con-cerns over the pace of revival

in investment.The spate of measures taken

by the government includingreducing the corporate taxrates is expected to revive thecorporate sentiment and pro-vide an impetus to the corpo-rate to kick-start their capexplans.

However, amid variousemerging challenges both glob-ally and domestically, "it ishighly likely that the slowdown

that will last longer thanexpected earlier", he said.

"We expect the economy tostart recovering from lateFY20, as the funding con-straints ease further with theRBI's recent measures tostrengthen the transmissionchannels and the stimulusmeasures taken to address thecurrent issues from both shortterm and long-term perspec-tive," Singh said.

According to D&B Economy Observerreport, a pick-up in the industrialproduction will only be gradual and anuptick is expected to be visible duringthe festive months of September andOctober 2019

Govt to take call on relief in incometax at appropriate time: ThakurPTI n NEW DELHI

The government will take adecision on raising the incometax exemption limit at anappropriate time, Minister ofState for Finance Anurag SinghThakur said on Thursday.

Last week, the governmentlowered the corporate tax to 22per cent from 30 per cent andthere has been a clamour forraising income tax exemptionlimit to push demand andconsumption with a view tofuel economy.

"When the time arises totake a call on it (income taxrelief), the government will doso. The government in thepast has also increased (thelimit) from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5lakh. In future, whenever the

time arises, we will look intothe matter," he said here.

With regard to curbs onPunjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank) bythe RBI, the minister said thecentral bank has its own role inthe country and it does its jobwell.

"After considering all aspectsthey (RBI) will take a decisionso that it benefits both cus-tomers and the bank," it said.

The central bank on Tuesdayput a slew of restrictions on theMumbai-based lender, creatingpanic among thousands ofdepositors.

Major restrictions includecapping withdrawal at Rs 1,000per customer during the six-month period, and banning thebank from extending newloans. The lender has aroundRs 11,000 crore of publicdeposits.

With regard to AntiguaPrime Minister Gaston Brownereiterating that Mehul Choksimay be extradited to India afterhe exhausts all legal optionsavailable with him, Thakursaid it is because of the effortsof the Narendra Modi govern-ment.

The government throughmany legislations includingInsolvency and BankruptcyCode has ensured that nobodyflees the country with the pub-lic money, he said.

NCLAT allowsDutch officialto attend Jetcreditor meetPTI n NEW DELHI

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)on Thursday allowed theDutch court administratorof Jet Airways to attend themeetings of the bankrupt air-line's Committee of Creditors(CoC). With this ruling, theNCLAT has finalised thecross-border insolvency pro-tocol for the airline.

The order comes after thecounsel representing boththe resolution professional(RP) of Jet Airways and theDutch court administratorinformed the appellate tri-bunal last Friday that bothsides have agreed to cooper-ate in the insolvency pro-ceedings of the airline.

The three-member benchheaded by the NCLATChairman S.J. Mukhopadhayasaid that the Dutch adminis-trator is equivalent to the res-olution professional in India,and under the law also has theright to attend CoC meetings.

In the previous hearing too,Mukhopadhaya had observedthat it is the right of the Dutchadministrator to attend theCoC meetings and both sidesshould go together.

The debt-ridden Jet Airwaysis facing insolvency proceed-ings in The Netherlands too. Itwas declared bankrupt thereafter it had failed to pay twoEuropean creditors. The Dutchcourt subsequently appointeda bankruptcy administrator.The Mumbai bench ofNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT) had reject-ed the Dutch administrator'splea to recognise their pro-ceedings, following whichthe administrator approachedthe NCLAT.

Liquidity not a crisis, saysNirmala Sitharaman aftermeeting bank chiefsPNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday saidthat liquidity is not a cri-sis. Ms Sitharamanwas speaking at apress conferenceafter meetingbanks andfinancial institu-tions. "Sum andsubstance of whatI heard was thatthere is no liquiditycrisis", she said. "If therewas a problem of liquidity, itwas in the wholesale financing,and not in the retail," sheadded.

"Many of the MFIs andmicro-finance units which

have come here are in deepcountry, they said that inthose areas there is stilldemand and they are extend-

ing loans. All of themclearly voiced a posi-

tive growth which isa good encourag-ing story," MsSitharaman fur-ther added.

Ms Sitharamanmet private sector

banks, non-bankingfinancial companies

(NBFCs) and Housingfinance companies. Issues suchas liquidity, rate cut and cred-it disbursal were on the topagenda of discussions betweenthe Finance Minister and thelenders.

Somaiya, depositorsfile police complaintsagainst PMC BankPTI n MUMBAI

Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiyaand several account holders ofthe crippled Punjab andMaharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank filed police com-plaints on Thursday againsttop officials of the bank andHDIL for allegedly looting Rs3,000 crore of the depositors,police said.

Somaiya went to MumbaiPolice's Economic OffencesWing (EOW) and filed a writ-ten complaint, alleging thatmoney of at least 9.12 lakhdepositors of the PMC Bankwas looted by its top manage-ment and real estate firmHDIL, he said.

Speaking to reporters out-side the EOW office, Somaiyaalleged that there was con-spiracy between the PMCBank management andHDIL's owner to loot thedepositors, and sought aproper investigation in thematter.

He said the Reserve Bank ofIndia's administrator shouldfile a criminal complaintagainst officials concerned ofthe HDIL and PMC Bank, onwhich the RBI has imposedoperational restrictions.

Somaiya also demanded afull-fledged forensic audit ofthe bank's transactions withHDIL.

"Out of Rs 8,000 croreadvances, more than Rs 3,000crore was given to HDIL andthe group's benami compa-nies. Even after the HDILdefaulted, the bank gave ithundreds of crores of loanwithout any proper docu-mentation," he alleged.

"There should be a detailedinvestigation in the case afterfiling of offence of cheatingand fraud against the topmanagement of the bank andHDIL owner, he said.

While investigating the case,all efforts should be madetowards the bank's survival, headded.

Ericsson setsaside $1.2 bnto settle USgraft probeAFP n STOCKHOLM

Swedish telecoms equipmentmaker Ericsson saidThursday it had made a USD1.2 billion provision to coverthe costs of resolving a UScorruption investigation.

The charge, which willimpact the company's thirdquarter earnings, covers thepenalty Ericsson expects toreceive, it said. Ericsson hasbeen cooperating since 2013with an investigation by theUnited States Securities andExchange Commission (SEC)and, since 2015, with aninvestigation by the USDepartment of Justice.

People wait outside a PMC Bank branch in Mumbai to withdraw their money,Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya (Inset)

PNS n MUMBAI

The risks of a large fiscal slippagein the current year are expectedto be addressed through largernon-tax revenues and the savingson interest expenses, ratings andresearch firm Acuite said, addingtherefore, fiscal deficit in the cur-rent fiscal may remain limited to3.5-3.6 per cent moderately high-er by 0.2-0.3 per cent over thebudgeted levels. Additional non-tax revenues, particularly dis-investment profits, can be a keydriver Acuite Ratings believesthat there is still a significantscope to limit India's fiscaldeficit to 3.5-3.6 per cent, if thegovernment gives high priori-ty to disinvestment and there is

a sustainable revival in con-sumption and market senti-ment, expected to be brought inby the sharp cut in corporatetaxes up to 10 per cent, over thenext two quarters.

The government is alreadyworking on the disinvestmentof a few large public sector com-panies and if the equity marketsrespond well to the efforts

made to revive economicgrowth, the government maysucceed in exceeding the dis-investment target of Rs 1.05lakh crore, said the report.

Acuite's analysis further sug-gests that over and above theuse of the escape clause underthe FRBM Act, which permitsan additional 0.2 per cent slip-page, any sharp increase in thefiscal deficit triggered by theliberal corporate tax cuts canbe offset by the special divi-dend from RBI, additionalnon-tax revenues broughtabout by the cuts and a likelyreduction in interest obliga-tions due to larger rate reduc-tions by RBI than expected inthe budgetary figures.

Fiscal deficit may remain at3.5-3.6% post-corp tax cuts

When the timearises to take a callon it (income tax

relief), the government willdo so. The government inthe past has also increased(the limit) from Rs 2.5 lakhto Rs 5 lakh.

—ANURAG SINGH THAKURMinister of State for Finance

Modi urges global CEOs toleverage ‘Startup India' platforms

SOLUTIONS ON GLOBAL CHALLENGES

‘Indian economy may recover from late FY20’

eeping in mindthe increase indemand forbooks in region-al languagesacross the India

many publications areexpanding their horizon toencompass more lan-guages.

Following the same trend,one of India’s largest bookpublishing platform,Notion Press, announcedits entry into IndianLanguage publishing bybuilding support for asmany as eight majorregional languages. Apart from English, theplatform now supportsbooks in Hindi, Marathi,Konkani, Gujarati, Bengali,Tamil, Kannada andMalayalam. Indian writerscan soon publish their sto-ries in their preferred ver-nacular in both paperbackand eBook format.

“There is a growingdemand for quality pub-lishing in India. XpressPublishing is the solutionfor aspiring authors in thiscountry who don’t get theirwork published becausethey don’t have access toquality publishing,” saidNaveen Valsakumar, CEOof Notion Press.

When I visited a school for the blind in Hyderabad,

the students told me about the difficulties they faced

when they studied in a school earlier that did not take

their disability into consideration. But, when they

enrolled in the school for the blind they began to feel

good about themselves as they found a group they

could mingle with. Some of those students now

represent India in international blind cricket. This is

possible because they overcame their problems

M. VINAY REDDY, PHOTOGRAPHER

NOTION PRESS HADRECENTLYLAUNCHED XPRESSPUBLISHING, A DO-IT-YOURSELFPLATFORM FORASPIRING AUTHORSTO PUBLISH BOOKSWITHIN 30MINUTES

DIVERSITY INPUBLISHING

PHOTOGRAPHYNalgonda-based photographer M Vinay Reddy's exhibition,

Batuku, narrates stories of people who continue to fight for theirgoals despite hardships, reports V SATEESH REDDY

epartment ofLanguage andCulture,Government ofTelangana, will beorganising a photog-

raphy exhibition titled Batukuby M. Vinay Reddy fromOctober 1 to October 5 atRavindra Bharati. Batuku aimsto narrates the stories of peoplewho despite facing many hur-dles in life managed to over-came their fears and troubles tosucceed.

This is the first solo photog-raphy exhibition for M. VinayReddy, who is works as a cine-matographer for Tollywoodmovies. Vinay worked for

movies like Natyam andEdureetha. He also worked asan assistant to cinematographerRaju Thota.

For this exhibition, Vinaytoured all over Telangana tocapture stories of people and toshow what problems they facewhile working towards success.

When asked about whatinspired him to start this exhi-bition, Vinay shares, “When Ivisited a school for theblind in Hyderabad, thestudents told me about thedifficulties they facedwhen they studied in aschool earlier that did nottake their disability intoconsider-

ation. But, when they enrolledin the school for the blind theybegan to feel good about them-selves as they found a groupthey could mingle with. Someof those students now representIndia in international blindcricket. This is possible becausethey overcame their problems.”Vinay added that he met manypeople during his journey ofwhom he

took photos of and eachphoto has its own story.He said that he is happyfor being associated withthe Cultural Departmentfor the exhibition.

He said that photography is afield with many avenues and itcan narrate stories to peoplefaster than any other medium.About his next work,

he says, “I’m working on aproject called Hands On. It willshowcase various professionsonly through images of hands.It will be exhibited soon.”

D

K

Building schools of thought from scratchn Delhi, thegovernment hastaken many ini-tiatives to pro-vide qualityeducation on

par with private schoolsand this has given a boostfor government schoolsacross India. Governmentschools in many states lackfacilities which results in ahigh dropout rate. Withthis issue in mind,Hyderabad Round Table 8(HRT 8) started an initia-tive ‘Project 511’ in 2003 to

create an education friend-ly environment in govern-ment schools so that thechildren can benefit frombasic amenities that areoften taken for granted bythe rest of the world.

Project 511 works withall the stakeholders — thegovernment, other NGOs,corporates and local com-munities — to improve thestatus of governmentschools.

To collect funds forProject 511, HRT 8 has seta unique tradition of host-

ing an exclusive black-tiecharity dinner, Food forChange (FFC), the pro-ceeds of which go towardsthe work being done by theProject 511.

“FFC is an event thatconnects the citizens ofHyderabad for the cause ofeducating the underprivi-leged. FFC has been atremendous success in thepast six years with about800 guests attending eachyear. This year, FFC eventwill be held on October 6at JRC Conventions,” says

Maneck Debara, Chairmanof Project 511.

He adds, “Many poorchildren attend privateschools despite governmentschools being free. This isbecause private schoolshave the resources to createa good schooling environ-ment, whereas the govern-ment schools lack in basicfacilities — blackboards,benches, toilets, runningwater, cleaning staff andothers. The governmentalong with other RoundTables in the area, corpo-

rates and individual donorshave come forward to helpachieve our goal of provid-ing the basic facilities ingovernment schools.Started 16 years ago, weraised 16.8 crores for theseactivities.”

Suresh Babu Daggubati,director of SureshProductions who is alsopart of the programme,says “To date, we helpedmore than 1,300 schools.When we started offProject 511, we witnessedthat a government schoolchildren writing on com-pound walls due to the lackof blackboards. We are alsoobserved that dropouts ofgirl students are more dueto no toilets in schools. Weconstructed toilets in manyschools. With our efforts,many of those governmentstudents are now studyingin IIT’s.”

To date, through Project511, 142 classrooms and530 toilet blocks were con-structed. Around 6,820blackboards, 26,448 seatingbenches, 307 science labkits were donated. AnEnglish learning pro-gramme is now beingimplemented in more than50 schools. Project 511 iscurrently working with1,022 schools inHyderabad, Ranga Reddy,Sangareddy, Medchal andMedak districts. — VSR

Project 511 is aninitiative by the

Hyderabad RoundTable 8 that is

helping provideamenities ingovernment

schools

India is brimming with buddingauthors, each with a uniquevoice and publishing houses arebranching out through new-agemethods to tap into this talent

I

NARRATING STORIES THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

FridaySeptember 27, 2019

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

fter piquing the curiosity offans with cryptic posts ear-lier in June, Naomi Scott,Kristen Stewart and EllaBalinska have finallyrevealed the release

date of their much-awaited filmCharlie’s Angels reboot in India.The film, which is slated to hitthe theatres in English andHindi, will release onNovember 15. Film critic andtrade analyst Taran Adarshshared the news on his Twitterhandle along with the poster ofthe film. An intriguing poster ofthe movie shows Kristen stand-ing on top of the league followedby Ella in the middle, with gunsin both hands and standing at thelast spot was Naomi. The posterdescribes the tri as “unseen,”“undivided” and “unstoppable.” Thefilm is directed by Elizabeth Banks.Apart from the actor, another set oftrio Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, andLana Del Rey are seen featuring in thelatest track Don’t Call Me Angel from thefilm which is garnering several likes on socialmedia. Apart from the main leads, the film alsostars Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Tucker, Noah

Centineo, Sam Claflin and Djimon Hounsou.

ctor Aditya Seal, whowas last seen in Studentof the Year 2, has beenchosen as the leadingman of choreographer-director Bosco Leslie

Martis’ dance-horror-comedy film.Bosco said, “Aditya is a multi-talent-

ed artiste, who is a skilled dancer, actorand action performer. He fits in the lead-ing character’s shoes perfectly. We arefinalising the screenplay and should startthe pre-production work by October andrelease the film by February 2020,” headded. It is a Zee Studios production.

Some of the participants of DanceIndia Dance, a reality show that Boscojudges, will get an opportunity to act inhis upcoming film.

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Vijayawada Friday September 27, 2019

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celeb talks

ull House star John Stamosand actor Graham Phillipshave been cast in theupcoming live musical TheWonderful World ofDisney presents The Little

Mermaid Live!Stamos will reprise his role as the

eccentric French cook Chef Louis inthe one-night only special televisedevent. He previously portrayed thepart during a HollywoodBowl productionof the classicDisneyfilm

The Little Mermaid, reportsvariety.com.

Phillips will take on the role ofPrince Eric. Stamos’s other stageexperience includes a Broadway debutin How to Succeed in Business WithoutReally Trying, as well as being a partof the Tony Award-nominated TheBest Man and Tony-winning Nine andCabaret.

Phillips’ past live theatre experienceincludes originating the role of

Evan in Broadway’s 13.

AISHWARYATO PLAY

DOUBLE ROLE INMANI RATNAM'S

ADAPTATIONishwarya Rai Bachchan’s name made it to the

trending news on social media afterreports of her playing a double rolein Mani Ratnam’s next film sur-

faced. Going by a recentHindustan Times report,

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be seen in a double role inthe film, which is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s popu-lar historical novel Ponniyin Selvan (The Son of Ponni).

The Tamil film is being produced by LycaProductions and it is expected to go on floors

next year. As of now, the official cast of the filmhas not been announced. However, stars like

Amitabh Bachchan, Karthi, Jayam Ravi,Anushka Shetty, Keerthy Suresh,

Aishwarya Lekshmi and Amala Paulwill reportedly be a part of the pro-

ject.Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s lastrelease was the 2018 musical

Fanney Khan, co-starring AnilKapoor and Rajkummar Rao,which was a box office debacle.

She will next be seen in GulabJamun, co-starring her actor-hus-band Abhishek Bachchan. The filmwill be produced by Anurag Kashyap.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has earli-er worked with Mani Ratnam in the

2007 film Guru and the 2010 filmRaavan, both of which featured

Aishwarya’s husband AbhishekBachchan. The duo even worked

together in the 1997 Tamil film Iruvar,which marked Aishwarya’s debut in the

Tamil film industry.

t’s almost time for

singer Justin Bieber

and model Hailey

Baldwin’s big day!

The much-in-love

couple, who secretly

tied the knot last year, will be get-

ting hitched once again in an

extravagant ceremony, which is

scheduled to take place at the end

of this month. And with the wed-

ding date approaching, the prepa-

rations are in full swing.

A source told E! News that

Bieber and Baldwin intended to get

married in the presence of their

friends and family at the Montage

Hotel’s Palmetto Bluff location.

“They love the Montage brand

and visited the property and fell

in love with Palmetto Bluff and

the area,” the source said.

Although a source said “they

changed their minds so many

times,” it seemed like there was

no going back, especially because

they’d sent out the save the date

cards, according to TMZ.

With time ticking away, the

couple decided to go with South

Carolina. With the major details

squared away, Hailey and Justin

are really excited about the big day

but are hoping that hurricane

does not play spoilsport.

“They are also looking into hav-

ing a ceremony in California as a

last-minute alternative. They real-

ly want to have the ceremony at

their favourite hotel in South

Carolina, but are really in limbo

with any decision-making until

they figure out the storm situa-

tion,” the insider added.

According to the source, the

power couple is looking forward

to getting married outdoors,

amidst nature.

Speaking about the decor, the

source shared, “It will be partially

tented, but they want to get mar-

ried out in nature. The decor is

going to be very chic and neu-

tral. Hailey wants all white and

champagne-coloured decor

with beautiful green foliage. It’s

going to be classy.”

As for the guests, the cou-

ple is planning to invite a few

of their celebrity pals,

including Kourtney

Kardashian and Kendall

Jenner. When it comes to

the music, Bieber and

Baldwin have booked the

Love Again singer Daniel

Caesar. Daniel is a 24-

year-old singer. He was

born in Ontario,

Canada, just like Bieber!

So, the duo has a home-

town connection.

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ADITYASEAL TOSTAR INBOSCO'SNEXTFILM

HAILEY AND JUSTIN'S WEDDING

PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING

CHARLIE'S ANGELSREADY FOR INDIA

F

JOHN STAMOS PARTOF THE LITTLEMERMAID'S CREW

fter waiting for a right release date forover six months, filmmaker Sai KiranAdivi of Vinayakudu and Kerinthafame has finally made up hismind to release

Operation Gold Fish, his latestdirectorial, next month.Featuring Aadi SaiKumar, Parvateesam,Karthik Raju, Nithya Naresh andManoj Nandam in lead roles, thefilm, shot in Kashmir Valley, Lambasingi,Araku and Hyderabad, is a cross-genreentertainer, serving both as a rom-comand an action drama. It touches upon the evic-tion of Kashmiri Pandits (in the late 1980s)from Kashmir. It has been cleared with a ‘U/A’certificate.

Aadi will be seen as an NSG commando inthe film, which in more ways is a make or breakproject for him on the career front. He is goingthrough a lean phase as his last spate of films— Sukumarudu, Pyaar Mein Padipoyane,Gaalipatam, Rough, Chuttalabbai andShamanthakamani — haven’t fared well at thebox-office. Although Rough and Chuttalabbaiwere safe films for distributors, a super hit haseluded him. His recent releases as well —Burrakatha and Jodi — have tanked miserably.

Operation Gold Fish will have some compe-tition from Vijay Deverakonda as well, as hisproduction venture, Meeku MaathrameCheptha, featuring Tharun Bhascker, AbhinavGomatam and Vani Bhojan, too is eyeing anOctober release.

Vijayawada Friday September 27, 2019

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PURI BIRTHDAY

GIFT TO FANS:

iSMART'S

RE-RELEASE

ne of the biggest hits of the year,

iSmart Shankar, starring Ram, will be

visiting the cinema halls again starting

today. Film’s producer Charmmee Kaur

announced that the film, which grossed more than Rs 70 crore,

will be screened for three days this week in select theatres across the

Telugu states. She informed the re-release idea is director Puri Jagannadh’s birthday gift to

his fans. The director will be celebrating his 53th birthday on Saturday. The film

’s video songs

- Dhimaak Kharaab and the title song — both of which have been released earlier this week

have already set the YouTube on fire, clocking more than 18 million views till

Thursday

evening.

Meanwhile, we’ve learnt that new schedule of Puri’s production Romantic,

featuring his son Akash and newbie Ketika Sharma, will commence next

Monday in Hyderabad and will go on for 20 days. The director-produc-

er wants the film to be wrapped up by November. Prominent VFX

technician Anil Paduri is turning director with a project, a love

story written by Puri himself.

o

opular Tamil producer K.Gnanavel Raja, who has dis-tributed multiple Tamil filmsstarring Karthi in Telugubesides producing Vijay

Deverakonda-starrer NOTA, hasmoved Tamil Nadu Film ProducersCouncil (TFPC) recently, accusingcelebrated actor Kamal Haasan of notrepaying him Rs 10 crore.

The story supposedly goes like this:Haasan took a loan of Rs 10 crorefrom Raja when his Uttama Villainwas going through release woes. Heassured the producer that he wouldbe acting and directing a film with-in a budget of 40 crores (including theborrowed 10 crore rupees) for hisproduction house Studio Green soon.However, that didn’t happen. Neitherdid Kamal pay back the amount hetook despite four years passing bynor did he start work on the moviehe promised. What irked the produc-er further, according to reports, is thefact that Kamal is doing Indian 2besides contemplating a film for hisown production house, RajkamalProductions. Kamal hasn’t respond-ed on the issue yet.

OGF TO RELEASE,FINALLY!

p

GNANAVEL RAJAFILES COMPLAINTAGAINST KAMAL

tollywood

nnounced towards theend of May earlierthis year, Sumanth’snew project withdirector SantoshKumar who had earli-

er assisted for films likeAnaganaga O Dheerudu ,Jhummandi Nadam and EvarainaEppudaina has been called off.This newspaper has learnt thatsome creative differences betweenthe actor and the director are saidto be the reason. The film was tosee Sumanth in the role of a gang-ster.

“Sumanth initially said hewould be doing the project andlater proposed some changes tothe script. He was particular of hispart having a love story, while thedirector wasn’t, feeling that themovie will become a mash up ofall sorts. The latter wanted to keepthe film absolutely grounded andhe wasn’t in a mood to budge.Sensing that their differencesmight not be in the best interestof the film, they both parted waysamicably. The director has now

initiated talks with a prominentsupporting actor,” informed asource. Speaking about the themeof the film, the director earlier hadsaid people are never born goodor evil but are purely a victim oftheir surrounding circumstances.

“If they control their situations,they will do wonders in life. If sit-uations control them, they turnbad. That’s the line I'm treadingin the film,” he had said.

— NG

THE PRODUCERALLEGES THATKAMAL HASN’TREPAID RS 10 CRORETHE ACTOR TOOKFROM HIM

A

CREATIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ACTORSUMANTH AND DIRECTOR SANTOSH KUMARREGARDING THE SCRIPT ARE SAID TO BE THEREASON BEHIND CANCELLING THE PROJECT

SUMANTH'sgangster movie withdebutant called off

NAG TOINTRODUCEANOTHERDIRECTOR

fter Manmadhudu 2dashed his hopes,Nagarjuna was in aquandary whether to pro-ceed with Bangarraju, asequel to Soggade Chinni

Nayana or to look for other scripts.Although the buzz about him show-ing interest in Oopiri and Maharshiwriter Soloman's directorial debutmade rounds as soon as he returnedfrom Spain after where he celebratedhis 60th birthday, nothing substantialhas emerged, until now. After multi-ple rounds of narration, the superstarhas finally said yes to Solomon, ThePioneer has reliably learnt. The yet-to-be-titled film will be a light-heart-ed family entertainer dotted withaction.

"Nag has liked the content in thefirst narration itself but after hearingthe complete story in another sittinghe was convinced that this would behis next assignment. He also toldSolomon to go ahead with the pre-production. He rates the writer highas the former worked with VamshiPaidipally on adapting the story ofFrench hit movie The Intouchablessuccessfully into Telugu as Oopiri in

which Nagarjuna was the lead. Also,the fact that his son Naga Chaitanya,who will play a key role in Bangarraju,is occupied for the next six monthswith Sekhar Kammula's and DilRaju's production venture AdheNuvvu Adhe Nenu meant that he hadto push the sequel to the summer ofnext year," informed a source close tothe development.

The source further added Nag'sfilm with Solomon will go in front ofthe cameras in December. "The direc-tor is presently on location scouting.He is looking at New Delhi andMumbai to set portions of the film.Niranjan Reddy of MatineeEntertainments will produce it," thesource added.

In his 30-year old career, the super-star has always made it a point to workwith debutant directors. He intro-duced the likes of Ram Gopal Varma,U. Narayana Rao, Dasaradh, Kiran,Lawrence and Kalyan Krishna to thetinsel town. He believes workingwith the younger lot made him a star."The freshness they brought helpedme not only with my career but alsomy performance," he had said whilepromoting Manmadhudu 2.

A

Known for introducing new filmmakers tothe industry, Nag will now take a chance withOopiri writer, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

PTI n MUMBAI

India’s Test vice-captainAjinkya Rahane finds it“hard” to see Rohit Sharma

sitting out as he seeks to revive hiscareer in the traditional format inthe role of an opener.

Rahane was back in formduring the West Indies series andalong with Hanuma Vihari, hehas cemented the two availableslots in the middle-order,prompting the team manage-ment to try out Rohit as an open-er in the upcoming South AfricaTests.

Rahane was asked to give hisopinion on Rohit’s new role andthe ever non-controversial right-hander didn't give a direct reply.

“You want an answer actual-ly? I don't know yet whetherRohit will open the innings. If hedoes, I will be happy for him. Isaid in West Indies also, it is hardto see a special talent like Rohitsitting out,” Rahane said at a pro-motional event here on Thursday.

Rohit has three hundreds in27 Tests and an average of a shadeunder 40. Many believe thatRohit's audacious strokeplay hasbrought about his downfall, butRahane thinks otherwise.

“He has worked so hard andif he gets an opportunity, I amsure, he will do well,” Rahaneexuded confidence.

“We all know the quality hehas — special talent. Test crick-et is all about mindset and ODIcricket, you can just go out thereand back yourself. In Test crick-et, sometimes if two bowlers arebowling good spells, you need torespect that and come out strongand play your game after that,” hesaid.

For the 31-year-old, one of

the bigger challenges is to getmore matches when someone isjust playing one internationalformat, which is Test cricket inhis case.

“The only challenge you haveis getting match practice.Sometimes, match practice isreally important and facing qual-ity bowlers is important. At thehighest level, you face qualitybowlers all the time. All of themare equally good. You don't getloose balls easily.

“You need to practice reallyhard. Your practice sessionsshould be really hard so thatwhen you step into play a match,it gets easy for you. Preparationand process is the key.

“You need to believe yourselfand come out strongly. If I cankeep my mind at the present —that is Test cricket — otherthings will fall automatically," saidthe senior batsman, who hasplayed 58 Tests and 90 ODIs.

Having last played an ODI 18months ago, Rahane wants tohave another shot at the 50-overformat.

“Apart from Tests, I reallyenjoy playing ODI cricket aswell. I want to comeback toODIs. Right now, the focus iscompletely on this series. Afterthe Australia series, there was along break. When I got to knowthat I was not part of the WorldCup squad, my plan was to playcounty cricket and luckily theHampshire people called me andasked about the county cricket.”

Time at English countyHampshire was well spent, saidRahane.

“I thought I can actually usemy time really well and learnabout cricket and life. It’s a com-pletely different experience when

you play county cricket. Here, weget things so easily. In countycricket, you need to do every-thing on your own,” recalledRahane.

County cricket provided himwith a lot of soul searching andhe fell in love with the sport allover again.

“Apart from cricket, smallthings helped me a lot. I used towalk alone after the practice ses-sion and think what was mythinking when I started playingcricket. The answer was that Ienjoyed cricket rather than focus-ing on the outcome. When youthink about focus and outcome,you put yourself under pressure.

“In county cricket, those twomonths, I learnt a lot. I playedseven matches and the focuswas actually on red ball becauseI knew we would play Dukes ballin the West Indies. Trusting yourability was thekey.”

W h i l eIndia will bef a v o u r i t e sagainst SouthAfrica, Rahanesaid that the likesof Kagiso Rabadaand KeshavMaharaj need to berespected.

“Rabada is aquality bowler. He is awicket-taker. It doesn'tmatter how the wicket willbe. We have to respect him andthe other bowlers.

They have got a relativelyyoung team, but their bowlingattack -- fast bowlers and spinnersare experienced. Keshav Maharajhas played county cricket and didwell in red ball. You need torespect them," he signed off.

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

PTI n VIZIANAGARAM (ANDHRA PRADESH)

Bracing up for the upcoming Test series againstIndia, South African batsman Aiden Markram has

acknowledged that some of his teammates "might stillbe carrying a bit of baggage” of the 0-3 drubbing theyendured in 2015 here.

The last time South Africa toured India for Testsfour years ago, the visitors were thrashed by ViratKohli’s men. Markram was 20 then and had not yetmade his international debut. The upcoming three-match series starts October 2 in Visakhapatnam.

“I remember watching that series a few years agoand it looked incredibly difficult. And I'm sure there'sa bit of baggage that certain players that were on thattour might still be carrying but that's completely fine,”Markram was quoted as saying by ICC's official web-site. “I think it's never an easy tour coming to anywherein the subcontinent, let alone India. It's full of chal-lenges, but if we can conquer those challenges it willbe really rewarding,” he added.

The opener, who has played 17 Tests so far andscored 1358 runs, hoped to draw from his recent expe-rience with the A team.

“From a personal perspective, it was nice to spendtime out in the middle. I think the wickets we get will

be a lot different to the wickets we gotin the A series,” Markram said.

"In the field as well, it was nicefor us as fielders to be on our feetfor long periods of time and for our

bowlers to bowl plenty of spells inthese hot conditions. I took a lot

from the A side games and I'mready to go in the Test match-es.” The 24-year-old Markramprepared for the Tests with afine 161 for the 'A' side in theirsecond four-day gameagainst India A in Mysore.

“The guys are positiveand upbeat and we're main-

taining a really good lan-guage in the change-room, a really stronglanguage. “At the end ofthe day, we're not going

to harp on about condi-tions, we pretty much know whatto expect and we just need to getthe job done,” he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former India opener GautamGambhir feels it is not fair to

criticise Rishabh Pant so early inhis career and urged skipperVirat Kohli and coach RaviShastri to guide him on shotselection.

Pant, who is India’s firstchoice wicketkeeper in all threeformats, received flak for hispoor shot selection following astring of low scores in therecent limited over series againstWest Indies and South Africa.

“I feel if you focus solely ona young player, who has been inthe international arena for justaround a year, he will feel thepressure,” Gambhir said on thesidelines of an event.

“In such a short time, he(Pant) has smashed two Testtons. If you don't find his shotselections ideal, it is his style ofplay. If you give him a chance inthe team then kindly back himand it is wrong to criticise himso early.

“Not only (Virat) Kohli butalso coach Ravi Shastri shouldtalk to Pant. It is the duty of theteam management to personal-ly talk to the player who is notin form or if he is not perfectwith his shot selection as it

would help him improve andregain his touch. There is a needto give him freedom,”heexplained.

There has been a lot ofspeculation regarding formerskipper Mahendra SinghDhoni’s retirement after hemade himself unavailable for theseries against West Indies andSouth Africa.

“I have always said that thedecision to retire is anyone's per-sonal call. I feel the selectorsshould talk to Dhoni and askhim about his plans because ifyou play for India, you cannotselect the series you want toplay,” Gambhir said.

On the conflict of interest

issue surrounding former cap-tain Rahul Dravid, Gambhirsaid: “It is a tough question.Nothing could be better for thecountry and the youngsters ifDravid is the NCA coach.”

Jasprit Bumrah has beenruled out of the three-matchhome series against SouthAfrica due to a back injury andGambhir said India will miss theservices of the experiencedpacer. “He is the number onebowler in Test cricket. Surely, theteam will miss him. Bumrah isundoubtedly a great challengefor any team in any format ofthe game and his absence willaffect the side,” said the Delhibatsman, who was part of India’s

2011 World Cup winning team.Rohit Sharma has been

included in the Test team as anopener and Gambhir said theMumbaikar is ready for the

challenge.“Rohit slammed five cen-

turies in the World Cup and so,his inclusion in the team is nota surprise,” he said.

PTI n INCHEON

Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap on Thursdayadvanced to the Korea Open men’s singles quar-

terfinal after a three-game triumph over Malaysia'sDaren Liew here.

The 33-year-old from Hyderabad prevailed21-17 11-21 21-12 over Daren, who is a 2018World Championship bronze medallist, in a con-test that lasted 56 minutes.

He will next square off against for-mer world no 2, Denmark’s Jan OJorgensen, an opponent he lastplayed five years ago at theDenmark Open.

The 31-year-old Danish shut-tler beat eight seeded IndonesianAnthony Sinisuka Ginting 17-21 21-16 21-13 in 58 minutes.

Overall, Kashyap has a 2-4record against Jorgensen, a2015 World Championshipbronze medallist.

“In the first patch inthe second game hewas playing really well.I was struggling andonce he had a big lead,he played some verygood shot. It was toughto make the scoresequal.

“In the third game,I pushed the tempoand played a fast-paced game. I didn'tgive him a big lead.”

On playingJorgensen after a long

gap, Kashyap said: “It would be a good match. Hebeat Ginting, so he is in good form. I don't knowwhy he didn't play China Open. It will be a toughmatch. Let's see.”

The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist is the lone Indian left in the fray in theBWF World Tour Super 500 tournament.

Kashyap entered the match with a 2-2 head-to-head record against Daren, having beaten theMalaysian on the way to his CommonwealthGames gold in 2014.

In the match, Daren opened up a 4-2 leadearly on but Kashyap ensured he had a 11-8advantage at the interval. The Indian reeled offfour straight points after the break to make it15-10.

Daren, however, reduced the deficit to 14-15 before Kashyap accumulated three

points at 18-17 to pocket the openinggame.

In the second game, Daren cameout firing on all cylinders and grabbed13 straight points to create a huge gap,

which Kashyap couldn't bridge toallow the Malaysian to roar back

into the contest.In the decider, Kashyap

produced a blazing run, surg-ing from 1-2 to 12-2 with 11

points. The Indian contin-ued to move ahead evenas Daren crumbled.

Earlier, worldchampion P VSindhu and thes e a s o n e d

Saina Nehwalcrashed out follow-

ing first-round setbacks.

PTI n JAMSHEDPUR

Chief national badmintoncoach Pullela

Gopichand on Thursdayexuded confidence thatIndian shuttlers will put upa good show at the TokyoOlympics, bettering theirperformance from the lasteditions.

“We have been perform-ing well for the last over adecade and God willing, wewill win better medals in the2020 Olympics,” Gopichandsaid when asked if Indianshuttlers will be able tochange the colour of themedal at the Tokyo OlympicGames.

Saina Nehwal had wonthe bronze medal in the2012 London Olympicsbefore P V Sindhu betteredit with a silver in the last edi-tion at 2016 Rio Games.

“God willing, we willwin better medal as thecountry has been perform-ing well since 2008 at inter-national arena,” Gopichandsaid.

Gopichand, who washere to attend a function‘Celebration of Sports’ orga-

nized by Tata Steel, said:“During the last threedecades, we have achieved’alphabetical' and ‘numerical’literacy but have gone downas far as 'physical literacy'was concerned." Gopichand,a 2001 All EnglandChampion, advised childrento be disciplined and workhard to achieve goals.

Recalling his formativeyears when he had failed inan engineering examinationin 1991, Gopichand said,“My mother used to apply

for a job for me in every cor-porate house as she was verymuch concerned about myfuture.

“However, I had wonthe junior national title andalso joined Tata Steel inJamshedpur in the same year(1991),” Gopichand said.

To a question on diet andsport science, Gopichandsaid, "Indian culture, knowl-edge and age-old traditionhave a lot of values and weshould not leave it to go afterWestern world completely.

RAHANE BACKS ROHIT FOR NEW ROLEIndia Test vice-captain says Test cricket is all about mindset and he is sure Rohit will do well as opener

Players still carryingbaggage of lastdefeat: Markram

IANS n MUMBAI

India head coach Ravi Shastrihas put his weight behind

under-fire Rishabh Pant, sayingthe wicketkeeper-batsman is aworld class player and the teammanagement will give him allthe support he needs to prosperin international cricket.In the recent times, Pant hasbeen criticised for his lack ofconsistency with the bat,compounded buy the manner inwhich he gets dismissed."Pant is different, he is worldclass and is a brutal match-winner. Very few around in theworld game; I can't pick five onmy hands when it comes towhite-ball cricket, T20 cricket.So the patience we will havewith him is a lot," Shastri toldHindustan Times.He further said the 21-year-oldhas "already done enough" andwill only learn with experience

in the time to come.“All your media reports and allthe experts writing (but) Pant isin great space with this Indianteam. Experts, they have a job,they can speak. Pant is a specialkid and he has already doneenough. And he is only going tolearn. This team managementwill back him to the hilt.”The Indian head coach alsospoke about his previouscomment on Pant where he hadasked the left-handed batter totake more responsibility.“Don't say team management, Ispoke about 'the rap on theknuckles’ . If someone goofsup, I have to pull them up,” hesaid.“Am I there only to play tabla?But this guy is world class, thisguy can be destructive, can be adestroyer. And we will give himall the support that he needs toprosper in international cricket,”he added.

We have patience with ‘worldclass' Pant: Shastri

Gopichand hopeful aboutgood show at Olympics

Kashyap in Korea quarters

AFP n KARACHI

Karachi hosts a one-day inter-national for the first time in

10 years when Pakistan take ona depleted Sri Lanka on Friday,furthering the country's revival ininternational cricket.

“History will be made onFriday when Karachi will host thefirst ODI,” said Pakistan captainSarfaraz Ahmed.

“We must thank the SriLankan team for touring us.”

Teams have been reluctant tovisit the cricket-mad countrysince a militant attack on the SriLankan team bus in Lahore in2009.

Although no players werekilled in the attack, several wereinjured and eight people died.

The attack forced Pakistan toplay all their “home” Tests andmost of their short-form gamesin the United Arab Emirateswith Zimbabwe becoming thefirst team to return to Pakistan in2015.

That tour was followed by aTwenty20 series by a World XI in2017, a one-off T20 match againstSri Lanka that same year, and theWest Indies for a Twenty20 seriesin Karachi in 2018.

The current tour — compris-ing of three one-day internation-als and as many Twenty20s —was tainted by the withdrawal of10 Sri Lankan players who citedsecurity fears.

Sri Lanka then stalled thetour after receiving informationof a possible militant attack on theteam, before the all clear wasfinally given last week.

High security Pakistan have put in place

stringent security measures nor-mally reserved for heads of state.

All the arrangements arebeing led by the country's mili-tary, with around 2,000 securitypersonnel on alert at the team's

hotel and at the ground.Sri Lankan skipper Lahiru

Thirimanne -- captaining theside after regular skipper DimuthKarunaratne pulled out -- is con-fident cricket will be in focus.

“The security has been real-ly first class," said Thirimanne onThursday. "We didn't have anyproblems. The facilities here arereally good. Actually we are notallowed to go out from the hotel,so we did some get together andplayed some FIFA games and car-rom.”

Thirimanne, the most expe-rienced player in the squad with125 ODIs, accepted the serieswould be difficult without somany key men.

“It’s a good challenge because10 of our senior players are nothere. First of all we must respecttheir decision because it's notabout personal decision, youhave to talk about with your fam-ilies when you take this kind ofdecision.

“Regarding the challenge weare getting here, it’s a very goodside, I must say that Pakistan hasnamed their best side so, yeah,the thing is we’ll have lot ofyoungsters so it's good opportu-nity for them to come up andshowcase their talent.”

Sarfaraz and fast bowlerWahab Riaz are the onlyPakistani players who haveplayed a one-day international inKarachi before — back in 2008.

“I can't wait for Friday,” saidSarfaraz, who took over as ODIcaptain in 2017.

The remaining ODIs willalso be in Karachi on Sundayand Wednesday.

The two teams will alsoplay three Twenty20 interna-tionals — all in Lahore — onOctober 5, 7 and 9.

Teams:Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed

(captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asif Ali,Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail,Mohammad Hasnain, IftikharAhmed, Imad Wasim,Mohammad Amir, MohammadNawaz, Mohammad Rizwan,Shadab Khan, Usman Shinwari,Wahab Riaz

Sri Lanka: LahiruThirimanne (captain),Danushka Gunathilaka,Sadeera Samarawickrama,Avishka Fernando, OshadaFernando, Shehan Jayasuriya,Dasun Shanaka, MinodBhanuka, Angelo Perera,Wanindu Hasaranga, LakshanSandakan, Nuwan Pradeep,Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha,Lahiru Kumara

PTI n VIZIANAGARAM

The opening day of thewarm-up game

between Board President'sXI and the visiting SouthAfrica side was washedout after heavy rain playedspoilsport here onThursday.

The first day's pro-ceedings was called off inthe post-lunch session asrain lashed the PVG RajuACA Sports Complex.This is South Africa's onlywarm-up game before thef irst Test begins inVisakhapatnam onOctober 2.

The focus of thewarm-up match is BoardPresident's XI skipperRohit Sharma, who will beopening the innings as apre-cursor to the openingTest.

The other two Indiaplayers in action are open-er Mayank Agarwal andpacer Umesh Yadav.

Karachi readyfor ODI return

Rain washout1st day of SAtour gamePakistan to host Sri Lanka for 1st ODI

at National Stadium after 10 years

Kohli should talk to Pant: Gambhir