ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

With no signs of any let-up in theintensity of the second wave ofCovid-19, due to which cases aresurging alarmingly, HealthMinister Eatela Rajender reiter-ated on Friday that lockdown orcurfew would be of no help tocontain the pandemic; and,hence, the government was notthinking in that direction.

Rajender, who went toHuzurnagar in Karimnagar toparticipate in various pro-grammes, conceded that therewas shortage of oxygen. He, how-ever, said all measures were being

taken to overcome the shortage.“Vaccine distribution is com-pletely under the Center’spurview. Based on the needs ofthe state and population, alloca-tion is being done. I am talking

to Union Minister Harshavardhandaily. Since vaccine is being madein our state, we urged him to giveus priority.

HYDERABAD, SATURDAY APRIL 17, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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Page 11

VISHWAK SEN'SNEXT A LOVEENTERTAINER

8

SII CEO urges US to lift raw material

export ban

5

Yet another politicalparty in Telangana

is quixotic

2

Senators to Biden:Waive vax intellectu-

al property rules

PAK ORDERS “COMPLETE BLOCKING”OF SOCIAL MEDIA TEMPORARILY

The Pakistan government on Friday orderedan hours-long shut down of socialmedia and instant messaging

platforms, after days of violent anti-Franceprotests. In a notice to the PakistanTelecommunication Authority, the InteriorMinistry requested a “complete blocking”of Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTubeand Telegram until 3pm (1100 GMT). It gaveno reason for the ban, but it comes a day afterFrench nationals and companies in Pakistan wereadvised by their embassy to temporarily leave in the wake of therallies led by an extremist party that paralysed large parts of thecountry and left two police officers dead.

BS YEDIYURAPPA TESTS POSITIVE,SECOND TIME IN 9 MONTHS, HOSPITALISED

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappatoday tweeted to say that he had testedpositive for the novel coronavirus. In a

brief post on Twitter, Mr Yediyurappa saidthat he was fine but had been hospitalisedon the advice of doctors. The 78 year-oldYeddiyurappa was earlier hospitalised onAugust 2, 2020 after he tested positive forcoronavirus. “Upon having mild fever, today Igot tested for Covid-19 and my report hascome out positive. Although I am doing fine, I ambeing hospitalised based on the advice of doctors. I request allthose who have come in my contact recently to be observant andexercise self-quarantine,” the Chief Minister’s tweet read.

‘NEED TO DO BETTER JOB FOR EMPLOYEES’:JEFF BEZOS IN LAST LETTER AS CEO

US tech giant Amazon on Thursdaysounded conciliatory notes as theUS government considers stricter

regulatory measures against America’slargest digital platforms. Founder JeffBezos told investors his e-commerceempire needs a better “vision” for itsworkers, just days after an effort to cre-ate the company’s first labor union wasdefeated. Some Amazon executives hadfired off snappy comments at various politi-cians who supported the labor campaign, but their chief execu-tive took a more circumspect approach to the anti-union victoryat its plant in Bessemer, Alabama.

CISCE DEFERS CLASS 10, 12 EXAMSIN VIEW OF SURGE IN COVID CASES

The Council for the Indian SchoolCertificate Examinations (CISCE) onFriday deferred the board exams for

classes 10 and 12 in view of a rise inCOVID-19 cases across the country. Indiaadded a record 2,17,353 new coronavirusinfections in a day taking the total tally ofCOVID-19 cases to 1,42,91,917, whileactive cases surpassed the 15-lakh mark,according to Union Health Ministry dataupdated on Friday. In light of the nationwide surgein coronavirus cases, the class 10 and 12 exams which were tobe held from May 4 have been deferred, CISCE's chiefexecutive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Actor-politician and Jana SenaParty supremo K Pawan Kalyan onFriday confirmed that he has test-ed positive for Covid-19 and isundergoing treatment under thecare of expert doctors.

According to a statement issuedby the party, Pawan Kalyan hadrecently isolated himself aftermany of his staff members andothers working closely with himtested positive.

According to the statement,Pawan Kalyan had on April 3undergone a Covid-19 test onreturning from campaigning inTirupati for the upcoming LokSabha by-election. Although thetest returned negative, he hadbeen in quarantine in his farm-house on the advice of doctors.

However, the actor-politicianhas since been suffering from

fever and body ache, the statementsaid. On taking the test again twodays ago, it returned positive forthe coronavirus.

According to the statement, DrT Suman, a cardiologist fromKhammam, came to Hyderabad totreat Pawan Kalyan. “Necessarytests were also conducted. He wasgiven antiviral drugs as he has suf-fered infection in lungs, and wasalso provided oxygen support.

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

An analysis of MOHFW data per-taining to allocations of vaccines toStates/UTs by the Centre suggeststhat, at 2.1% the allocation of vac-cines to Telangana is much lowcompared to that of other states,though serpentine queues at vac-cination centers across the statewarrant an immediate increase inthe allocation. At least 16 stateshave been allocated more vaccinedoses than Telangana by theCentre.

Telangana has so far been given30.72 lakh doses of vaccines, ofwhich 27.6 lakh vaccines havebeen consumed. Although vac-

cines are being manufactured inTelangana, the state’s share of vac-cines is less than that of even thosestates whose population is less thanthat of TS. According to MOHFW,Telangana currently has 3.12 lakhvaccines available for use, whileAndhra Pradesh has 3.68 lakh vac-cines.

PNS n NEW DELHI

There is consistent, strong evidenceto prove that the SARS-CoV-2virus, behind the COVID-19 pan-demic, is predominantly transmit-ted through the air, according to anew assessment published onFriday in The Lancet journal.

The analysis by six experts fromthe UK, the US and Canada sayspublic health measures that fail totreat the virus as predominantlyairborne leave people unprotectedand allow the virus to spread.

Although some studies in thepast have suggested that COVID-19 may spread through air, over-all scientific literature on the sub-ject has been inconclusive.

In July last year, over 200 scien-tists from 32 nations wrote to theWHO, saying there is evidence thatthe coronavirus is airborne, and

even smaller particles can infectpeople.

"The evidence supporting air-borne transmission is overwhelm-ing, and evidence supporting largedroplet transmission is almostnon-existent," said Jose-LuisJimenez, from the University ofColorado Boulder in the US.

ABV offers info onViveka murder to CBI PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Suspended IPS officer and formerstate intelligence wing chief, ABVenkateswar Rao has written tothe CBI director, lamentinginaction by the team of CBI’sInvestigating Officer (IO) NMSingh into the murder case offormer minister YS VivekanandaReddy and tardiness in collectinginformation from him regardingthe murder.

In a letter to the CBI chief onFriday, ABV said: “A few monthsafter the CBI took up the case andcoming to know from newspaperreports that the case was not yetsolved, I contacted NM Singhtelephonically and offered to sharewhatever information was availablewith me related to the case.”

Dispose chequebounce casesquickly: SC PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Friday cameout with a slew of directions toensure speedy disposal ofcheque bounce cases across thecountry and asked the Centre toamend laws to ensure clubbingof trials in such cases if they arelodged against a person withina year related to same transac-tion.

The top court in March lastyear had taken cognizance ofhumongous pendency of thecheque bounce cases and onFriday came out with the direc-tions to ensure speedy disposalof such matters which were35.16 lakh as on December 31,2019, out of total 2.31 crorepending criminal cases in thecountry.

A five judge Constitutionbench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, in a common order,took steps to reduce the burdenon the docket of the criminalcourts and asked the high courtsto issue practice directions tomagistrates, trying cheque dis-honour cases, to record reasonsbefore converting trial of com-plaints under Section 138 of the(Negotiable Instruments) Actfrom summary trial to sum-mons trial.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The seizure of illegal inducementsto voters, such as liquor and cash,during the ongoing polls to fiveassemblies and by-polls to someseats has crossed the record valueof Rs 1,000 crore, a whoppingjump of over four times since the2016 polls, the ElectionCommission said Friday.

An Election Commission "pro-gressive" report, which will getupdated as the remaining phases of

poll are conducted, said the maxi-mum Rs 446.28 crore was seized inTamil Nadu, where the electionshave already ended, followed byWest Bengal (Rs 300.11 crore),where four phases are yet to takeplace.

Polling in Assam, Kerala and theUnion Territory of Puducherryhas also finished. Counting ofvotes for these five assemblies isslated to be held on May 2.

The poll-panel called theseseizures by its various field and

technical enforcement teams a "his-toric milestone" achieved "for thefirst time in any assembly electoralprocess , meaning during simulta-neously-held assembly polls.

"The stupendous rise in seizure

figures is because of better pre-paredness and multi-pronged strat-egy of the Commission. TheCommission conducted exhaustivereviews at various levels whichincluded review meetings withenforcement agencies of thestate/UT and central agencies," theEC said in a statement.

The agencies of the Union gov-ernment primarily include theIncome Tax Department, theCustoms and GST directorates andthe Financial Intelligence Unit

(FIU). According to data compiledtill Thursday, the EC said, TamilNadu had reported a total seizuresof Rs 446.28 crore, West Bengal Rs300.11 crore (so far), Assam 122.35crore, Kerala Rs 84.91 crore,Puducherry Rs 36.95 crore.

Additionally, the seizure of cash,liquor, drugs and other freebies ofRs 10.84 crore was reported in con-stituencies that saw by-polls duringthe same period, it said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The surge in COVID-19 cases inTelangana continued with 3,840fresh infections, the highest singleday spike ever, pushing the tally to3,41,885, the government said onFriday.

The toll rose to 1,797 with ninemore fatalities, a bulletin said,providing details as of 8 PM onApril 15. Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation (GHMC)accounted for the most number ofcases with 505, followed byMedchal Malkajgiri (407) andNizamabad (303).

The total recoveries were at3,09,594 with 1,198 patients beingcured and there were 30,494active cases. Over 1. 21 lakhsamples were tested on Thursdayand cumulatively more than 1. 14

crore samples have been tested.The samples tested per million

population was over 3.08 lakh,the bulletin said.

The case fatality and recoveryrates in the state stood at 0.52 percent and 90.55 per centrespectively, while it was 1.2 percent and 87.8 per cent at thenational level.

‘Strong evidence', Covid-19spreading through air: Lancet

Gandhi Hospital to treat only Covid patients

State reports highestever, 3,840 new cases

‘People’s behavior can containCovid, not lockdown or curfew’

Only 2.1% of totalvaccines allocated to TS

Pawan tests positive

Bribes to voters in 5 assembly polls at record high of Rs 1,000 cr: EC

1,189 samples testedpositive for deadlyvariants in IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

A total of 1,189 samples haveso far tested positive for vari-ants of concern of SARS COV-2 in India, the health ministrysaid on Friday as the countryis witnessing a steep surge inCOVID-19 cases.

These include 1,109 sam-ples testing positive for the UKvariants, 79 for the SouthAfrica variant and one samplefor the Brazil variant, theministry said.

Situation is grave,second wave is likeTsunami: DPHPNS n HYDERABAD

Officials in the TelanganaHealth Department have con-ceded that the present situationdue to the second wave ofCovid-19 is 'grave'.

Likening the emerging situa-tion to a 'Tsunami', Director ofPublic Health G Srinivas Raosaid: "Situation is grave. It is liketsunami, may not be inTelangana at the moment, but inthe coming days we cannot sayhow things are going to be.

But in other states l ikeMaharashtra, Chhattisgarh andGujarat, we are witnessing asteep surge in the number ofcases every day".

Dr Srinivas said that theGovernment was prepared totackle the emerging situationand was putting all efforts.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader and formerMLC Konda Murali has claimed thatYS Sharmila, daughter of formerchief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy,had offered him crores of rupees forjoining her proposed party.

Mentioning that values wereimportant to him, he said, "We gota call from Sharmila. However, wemade it clear to her that we will notshift our loyalties to her party at anycost. I tried to bring the now AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy out of jail.However, Jagan did not talk to usafter he came out of prison. Thereis no chance of changing the polit-

ical party. We will continue in theCongress". Konda Murali was speak-ing to media persons after partici-pating in the Congress district lead-ers' meeting in Warangal on Friday.

Sharmila offered memoney to join her party,claims Konda Murali

Nirav Modi'sextradition to Indiacleared by UK govtPNS n LONDON

Scam-accused billionaire NiravModi's extradition to India hasbeen cleared by the British gov-ernment. UK Home SecretaryPriti Patel signed the extraditionorder on Thursday.

Nirav Modi, 50, is a step clos-er to extradition but still has theoption of legally challenging itwithin 28 days before the UKHigh Court. The process may takemonths or even years, as seen inthe case of liquor baron VijayMallya, who went to court againsthis extradition order signed backin February 2019.

n ‘Managements of privatehospitals should showhumanity; it is not the timeto make profits’

n Steps to overcome oxygenshortage in TS

n Centre urged to increase vaxallocation to Telangana

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Ahead of launching herpolitical party on July 8,

YS Sharmila, daughter of for-mer chief minister YSRajasekhar Reddy, sat on fastin Hyderabad on April 15demanding among otherthings, employment to youthin Telangana. She declaredthat she would continue heragitation for the filling up ofthe government vacancies.

Anyone who observedSharmila’s political statementsmade so far referring toTelangana State, will con-clude that she has no clueabout the developedTelangana and the way it hasbeen made a role model byChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao duringthe last seven years.

Sharmila is merely makingdemands that lack essence,basis or evidence. So far, thereasons present by her onwhy she is launching a partyhave no takers.

At the Khammam publicmeeting, she said she wants toquestion the present dispen-sation. If that be so, Sharmilawill go down in history of thiscountry as the only personwho launched a politicalparty to merely question thestate government.

Which scheme, pro-gramme or project willSharmila question?

Is it the Kaleshwaram pro-ject, considered to be a man-made wonder and which haswon accolades the worldover? Will she question thegovernment on how it turnedTelangana, which was on theverge of power crisis, into apower surplus state?

Will she question the gov-ernment on why it is supply-ing quality and free power tothe agriculture sector anduninterrupted power to allsectors? Will she question theKCR Kits scheme which ishelping pregnant women orthe financial help to youngwomen of all communitiesfor their marriage throughKalyan Lakshmi and ShaadiMubarak schemes?

Will Sharmila question thegovernment on why it ishelping farmers throughRythu Bandhu and RythuBima? Will she question thegovernment for eradicatingillicit liquor and playing cardsclubs? Will she question thefinancial help to all the hered-itary professions in the Stateor the creation of SHE teams?The list is endless.

Unfortunately for

Sharmila, she does not havea single programme, policy orscheme that she can question!

In a vibrant democracylike ours, anybody can ques-tion the government butlaunching a political partycan never be the reason forthis.

No political leader or any-one ever had been successfullaunching a political party allby himself or herself.

In the past, leaders likeNadendla Bhaskar Rao, KEKrishnamurthy, Jana Reddy,Mudragada Padmanabham,Vijayashanti, A Narendra, PIndra Reddy, Devender Goudand others launched politicaloutfits and wound them upsooner or later.

At a time when nationalparties like the Congress andBJP are unable to make gainsagainst the TRS in the State,what will Sharmila gainunder these circumstances?

Why should people orleaders from other politicalparties rally behind her?There is absolutely no senti-ment or a great issue onwhich she can take a politicalride.

Telangana state does notrequire another political partyas there are a dozen alreadyin existence.

Since 1947, the Congresshad total control over thepolitical scenario in the coun-try till 1996, except in 1977-

79 (Morarji Desai) and 1989-90 (VP Singh).

The turning point came in1996 when the people gave afractured verdict.

For the first time, the BJPdethroned Congress andVajpayee became the PM for13 days. After the BJP failedto clear the floor test, 13regional parties formed theUnited Front that ruled fortwo years.

Since 1996, all regimes atthe Centre have been coali-tion governments, led eitherby the Congress or BJP. Sincethen, the days of a single partyforming the government atthe Centre were over till 2019when the BJP led by Modisecured 303 seats.

A cursory look at the riseand success of the regionalparties shows that their exis-tence and ability to come topower was always based onmass issue or sentiment.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMKand later AIADMK came topower and still exist drawingtheir strength from theDravidian movement.

Parties like the SamajwadiParty, BSP came into being onthe issues of SCs, STs,Minorities and BCs; TRS wasborn out of a people’s move-ment for separate TelanganaState.

TDP came to powerappealing to the Telugu prideand sentiment; CPI and CPMwere born out of Communistideology while the AIMIMand Akali Dal were formedon religious lines. AAP rodeto power on the issue ofstatehood for Delhi.

Sharmila’s party definitelydoes not fit into any of thesecategories.

The question remains —for what purpose is Sharmilalaunching her party, and atwhose behest?

Such experiments of start-ing new political parties arenothing but quixotic and endup like Don Quixote de laMancha as described in theSpanish novel written byMiguel de Cervantes.

Yet another political partyin Telangana is quixotic

VANAM JWALA

NARASIMHA RAO

CHIEF PUBLIC RELATIONS

OFFICER OF CHIEF MINISTER

OF TELANGANA

At the Khammam public meeting,she said she wants to question thepresent dispensation. If that be so,Sharmila will go down in history ofthis country as the only person wholaunched a political party to merelyquestion the state government.Which scheme will she question?

Continued from page 1

"It is urgent that the WorldHealth Organization andother public health agenciesadapt their description oftransmission to the scientif-ic evidence so that the focusof mitigation is put on reduc-ing airborne transmission,"Jimenez said.

The team, led byresearchers at the Universityof Oxford in the UK,reviewed published researchand identified 10 lines ofevidence to support the pre-dominance of the airborneroute.

The researchers highlight-ed the super-spreader eventssuch as last year's SkagitChoir outbreak in the US, inwhich 53 people becameinfected from a single infect-

ed case.Studies have confirmed

these events cannot be ade-quately explained by closecontact or touching sharedsurfaces or objects, theresearchers said in their ass-esment.

They noted that transmis-sion rates of SARS-CoV-2 aremuch higher indoors thanoutdoors, and transmission isgreatly reduced by indoorventilation.

The team cited previousstudies estimating that silent-- asymptomatic or presymp-tomatic -- transmission ofSARS-CoV-2 from peoplewho are not coughing orsneezing accounts for at least40 per cent of all transmis-sion.

This silent transmission isa key way COVID-19 has

spread around the world,"supporting a predominant-ly airborne mode of transmis-sion," according to the assess-ment.

The researchers also high-lighted work demonstratinglong-range transmission ofthe virus between people inadjacent rooms in hotels,who were never in eachother's presence.

On the contrary, the teamfound little to no evidencethat the virus spreads easilyvia large droplets, which fallquickly through the air andcontaminate surfaces.

"We were able to identifyand interpret highly com-plex and specialist papers onthe dynamics of fluid flowsand the isolation of livevirus," said study lead authorTrish Greenhalgh.

Continued from page 1

Till April 15, 13,614 sam-ples have been processed atthe 10 designated INSACOGlaboratories for wholegenome sequencing (WGS), itadded.

"Of these, 1,189 sampleshave tested positive for vari-ants of concern for SARSCOV-2 in India. This includes1,109 samples with the UKvariants; 79 samples with theSouth Africa variant and onesample with the Brazil vari-ant," the ministry said.

The coronavirus has beenmutating and various muta-tions have been found in sev-eral countries, including theUK (17 mutations), Brazil(17 mutations) and South

Africa (12 mutations)."These variants have a

higher transmissibility. TheUK variant has been foundextensively in the UK, allacross Europe and has spreadto Asia and America.

"The double mutation (twomutations) is another variantand has been found in sever-al countries like Australia,Belgium, Germany, Ireland,Namibia, New Zealand,Singapore, the UnitedKingdom, the USA. Highertransmissibility of this variantis not established as yet," theministry said in a statement.

It said the RT-PCR testsbeing conducted in India donot miss these mutations asthese tests target more thantwo genes.

Continued from page 1

He said, "We brought allprivate hospitals, starting from10-bed hospitals to the toplevel tertiary care hospitals,have been put in place. In thefirst wave we could handlealmost 20,000 beds; now, forthe second wave, we are pre-pared to manage with 60,000beds. From 200 private hospi-tals in the first wave, weincreased it to 1,600 now,leading to an increase of40,000-45,000beds in privatehospitals alone".

He said that even in govern-ment beds were filling up,though there was no dearth of

beds. Dr Srinivas said:"In thelast 5 weeks, cases have beenincreasing in Telangana from300-400 to 4,000. In the nextfew days, the situation willcontinue to be similar.Hospital admissions have alsoincreased. We are increasingbeds by 25%. In the comingdays, there will be certainproblems".

The DPH said thatresources, be it Remdesivirinjections, oxygen or beds,need to be judiciously usedand only for patients withmoderate to severe symp-toms. The Government hasplaced an order for 2 lakh vialsof Remedisivir. He urged peo-

ple not to rely on Tocilzumaband plasma therapy, but leaveit to doctors' discretion.Treatment had been decen-tralised, Dr Srinivas Rao said.

Surprisingly the virus vari-ant in the second wave wasmost infectious and spreadingvery rapidly. It was affectingthe young population in agegroup of 45 years more, thanwas the case in the first wave,he said. "We don't know whereit is going to end. In the last4-5weeks, there has been anincrease in the number ofcases in Telangana in large,densely populated cities likeHyderabad and even in erst-while districts," he added.

Continued from page 1

According to a separaterelease, over 22.90 lakhpeople in the state havereceived their first dose ofCOVID-19 vaccine whileover 3.36 lakh got theirsecond shot also as of April15. Meanwhile, in view ofthe rapid surge of COVID-19 patient load, state-runGandhi Hospitalheresuspended acceptingnon- COVID-19 cases andoutpatient services withimmediate effect.

"Therefore Heads ofDepartments and facultyhereby are instructed notto admit non-COVIDcases, but emergency andterminally ill patientsshould be stabilised andthen transferred," anofficial note said. Thepatients now undergoingtreatment at the respectivewards should be cleared atthe earliest and all the bedsin the hospital should bemade available forCOVID-19 patients, itadded.

Continued from page 1

Andhra Pradesh has vacci-nated 47.6 lakh people and isat 15th position in terms ofallocation, at 3.5%. The coun-try has 2.67crore vaccinedoses available. In all, 11.94crore vaccine doses have beenconsumed as of April 16, 8am.

While the highest alloca-tions, of more than 9 per cent,have been made to UttarPradesh and Maharashtra;Rajasthan,Gujarat, WestBengal have got nearly 8 percent of the allocations.Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,

Kerala, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Odisha, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Jharkhand, Haryanaand Delhi are precedingTelangana in allocations.

Evidently states witnessingelections have got better allo-cations.

Sources in the HealthDepartment indicated thatthe allocations to the state canimprove further as vaccinehesitancy has reduced moreand more people are comingforward to get vaccinated.With increase in cases, short-age of oxygen and hospitalbeds, more and more peoplewant to get vaccinated.

Continued from page 1

Earl ier, the UKWestminster court hadallowed the extraditionplea and sent the case tothe Home Secy.

The jeweller is wanted byIndian courts for fraud andmoney laundering in the ?14,000-crore PunjabNational Bank (PNB) loanscam.

While clearing his extra-dition to India, a UK judgein February dismissedarguments like his mentalhealth worsening duringthe pandemic and poorIndian prison conditions.

Continued from page 1

An appeal has been made to theUnion Health Minister that theState be allowed to administervaccine to everyone aged above25 years,” Eatela said. The UnionMinister responded positively,but did not give an assurance,he added.

Eatela emphasised that peo-ple should exercise self-controland be disciplined. “Whatwould really help in curbing thespread of the virus is self-con-trol and discipline of people.People should stick to wearingmasks, practice hand hygiene,and follow physical distancing.One should come out of thehouse only when it is absolute-

ly necessary,” he observed.The number of people taking

vaccines had increased; yet, thesupply was not in proportion tothe demand. The vaccine couldnot be purchased directly by theState as it was under the juris-diction of the Centre, he said.

The entire State machinerywas working under the direc-tion of Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao to bring thecorona situation under control.Still, there was possibility ofmore number of cases beingreported in the coming days.Every one should cooperate toface the pandemic unitedly, hesaid. Life had to go on, business-es had to run, people had to ekeout their livelihood, and farm-

ers had to bring their produceto the markets and purchasecentres. All this should be donewith utmost awareness and byadhering to Covid- appropriatebehaviour, Eatela said.

With patients rushing main-ly to private hospitals as andwhen the symptoms becomeserious, and with private hospi-tals collecting exorbitant feesand charges for treatments andmedicines, he said the manage-ments of private hospitalsshould show some humanity atthis critical time. They shouldnot fleece people with a com-mercial motive to maximiseprofits at a time when people arestruggling with the disease andfinancial burden. If the private

hospitals did not mend theirways, action would beinevitable, he warned.

This is also the time whenfood grains were being broughtto the paddy purchase centres.So, utmost precautions shouldbe taken by farmers who hadbeen coming in large numbers,he said.Panchayat Raj Minister’sassurance

Panchayat Raj and RuralDevelopment MinisterYerrabelli Dayakar Rao, in aconfidence-boosting messageto his Palakurthy constituencypeople, said that those affectedby Corona should not panic ashe would always be there forthem.

Continued from page 1

He said that Congress lead-ers together would strive torestore the lost glory of theparty. The Congress neededa leader, who would moveamong people now, he said.

Konda Murali asked partyleaders to file their nomina-tions in all divisions andsubmit withdrawal forms."We will give tickets to theleaders suggested by theparty. However, one shouldnot get sold out after gettinga ticket. We are with you.You should be sincere," hesaid.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Konda Surekha saidthough betrayal was com-mon in politics, it was notcorrect. She said that party

leaders should not sellthemselves out to any otherpolitical party in the forth-coming elections to ULBs.

"Selling out to others isnothing but selling ourmother. We will strive foryour victory and bear all theexpenditure required for theelections," she said. She saidthat the corporation elec-tions would be the founda-tion for the 2023 Assemblyelections. She slammed theState Election Commissionfor choosing to conductmunicipal elections at atime when Corona was at itspeak. She alleged that theTRS government had beenconducting elections duringcorona as otherwise thepink party would be defeat-ed.

Pawan testspositiveContinued from page 1

His brother K Chiranjeeviand nephew Ram Charan aremaking necessary arrange-ments for his treatment,” thestatement said. “A medicalteam from Apollo Hospitalhas examined Pawan Kalyanas well. Medications havebeen given to reduce feverand nausea in the lungs.Producer Naga Vamsi isstaying with Pawan Kalyanto oversee necessaryarrangements,” the JanaSena Party said in its statement.

Continued from page 1

In a case tried summarilyunder Code of CriminalProcedure (CrPC), if theaccused does not pleadguilty, it is sufficient for amagistrate to record evi-dence and deliver a judg-ment instantly. But, in sum-mons trial under CrPC, thejudicial officer will have toconduct the entire proceed-ings and record evidence afterthe accused does no pleadguilty.

We recommend that suit-able amendments be made tothe (NI) Act for provision ofone trial against a person formultiple offences underSection 138 of the Act com-mitted within a period of 12months, notwithstanding therestriction in Section 219 ofthe Code, said the bench, alsocomprising Justices LNageswara Rao, B R Gavai, AS Bopanna and S Ravindra

Bhat.The bench took note of the

submissions of amicus curiaeand a provision of CrPCwhich provided that when aperson is accused of moreoffences than one, of thesame kind, committed with-in a space of 12 months, hemay be tried at one trial for amaximum of three suchoffences.

It took note of the sugges-tion that the law on chequebounce can be suitablyamended by the Centre toavoid multiplicity of proceed-ings where cheques have beenissued for one purpose.

CJI Bobde, writing the 27-page order for the bench,said, Inquiry shall be conduct-ed on receipt of complaintsunder Section 138 of the Actto arrive at sufficient groundsto proceed against theaccused, when such accusedresides beyond the territorialjurisdiction of the court.

Continued from page 1

The total value of these seizuresstands at Rs 1001.44 crorewhile it was Rs 225.77 crore inthese five assemblies during the2016 assembly polls.

A pie chart analysis showsthat while liquor (Rs 41.97crore out of total Rs 122.35crore) was the freebie that wasbeing pushed maximum tolure voters in Assam, preciousmetals (Rs 27.42 crore out oftotal Rs 36.95 crore) was usedthe most as a bribe to attractvoters in the Union Territoryof Puducherry.

Similarly, in Tamil Nadu,cash (Rs 236.69 crore out oftotal Rs 446.28 crore) wasabused the most as poll bribe,while in Kerala precious met-als was used the most to attractvoters (Rs 50.86 crore out of Rs84.91 crore).

In West Bengal-- where the

remaining four phases of pollsare scheduled to take place onSaturday followed by on April22, 26 and 29 -- drugs and nar-cotics are the highest categoryof illegal inducements seizedtill now (Rs 118.83 crore out ofthe total Rs 300.11 crore).

The EC said it had deployeda total of 326 special expendi-ture observers for free and fairconduct of these polls, while259 assembly seats weremarked as 'expenditure sensi-tive' for what it called "focussedvigil" to check the flow ofblack money and freebies.

As per the law, distributingcash and gifts during the elec-toral process with the intent toinfluence voters is not permit-ted and such expenditurecomes under the definition ofbribery which is an offenceboth under 171B of IPC andunder the Representation ofPeople Act.

‘Strong evidence' Covid-19... 1,189 samples tested positivefor deadly variants in India

State reports highestever, 3,840 new cases

Situation is grave, second... Sharmila offered memoney to join her party,claims Konda Murali

Nirav Modi'sextradition...

Bribes to voters in 5 assembly polls...

Dispose cheque bounce...

Only 2.1% of total...

‘People’s behavior can contain Covid...

PNS n HYDERABAD

Mayor VijayalakshmiGadwal, who was the onlyMayor from the country to beinvited to the Global Mayor'sconference conducted byUnited Nations Informationand Communicat ionTechnologies (UN ICT),attended the online event onFriday and delivered a speechon 'Advancing a Carbon-Neutral, Resilient Recovery

for Cities and Nations'."We meet at a critical time

when Covid and climatechange are challenging ourlives. The resilience of ourgovernance systems hasensured a quick and ongoingrecovery from the pandemic,with a fast vaccination drive,"she said in the event presidedover by UN Secretar yGeneral Antonio Guterres.

She also emphasised onhow Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao andMinister for IT andMunicipal Administration KT Rama Rao were striving tomake Hyderabad a climateresilient and a low-carboncity. She further started,"Hyderabad is also develop-ing a city biodiversity index,with 64,000 hectares ofurban forests and is planti-ng five million saplings toenhance our carbon sinkssignificantly."

‘CM striving to makecity climate-resilient'

ABV offers infoon Viveka...Continued from page 1

In his letter, ABV goes on tosay that NM Singh agreed totake the information but“there was no effort from histeam in that direction”.

“I called him again on July22, 2020 at his Delhi officeand reminded him. He agreedto direct his team to gatherthe available informationfrom me but so far, there's noaction,” the senior IPS officersaid in his letter.

ABV added it wassurprising that the CBIinvestigation team did nottaken any interest when aDGP-ranked police officer,that too one who was servingas DG, Intelligence at the timeof the murder, has beenvolunteering to provideinformation to help solve aserious murder case whichremained unsolved for morethan a year after the CBI tookit over.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Noted radiologist and formerDirector of Nizam’s Institute ofMedical Sciences (NIMS) DrKakarla Subba Rao passedaway on Friday here. He was94. The family members of DrKakarla Subba Rao informedthat he breathed his last due tothe current Covid conditions.“Ceremonial meeting will notbe held due to Covid,” Sushrut,Shobharani and Dr SushanthKakarla, the family members ofthe departed soul said.

The renowned hospitaladministrator was well-knownfor his efforts to transformNIMS into a super-specialtyhospital. He was the first

Director of NIMS between1985 and 1990 and laterbetween 1997 and 2004, before

retiring.Held in high regard by his

peers, Dr Rao was admitted to

KIMS a month ago with age-related health complications.According to doctors at KIMS,Dr Rao breathed his last, fol-lowing health complications.

He was a Professor ofRadiology at Albert EinsteinCollege of Medicine, NewYork, before he returned toIndia in 1985-86. Influenced bythe call of the late ChiefMinister of Andhra Pradesh, NT Rama Rao, he joined NIMSand strived towards its devel-opment into a highly spe-cialised hospital. In recognitionof his valuable contributions inthe field of medicine, theGovernment of India hon-oured Kakarla Subba Rao withPadmasri in 2000.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021hyderabad 03

Govt committed to supportphysically challenged: KTR

PNS n HYDERABAD

FICCI in a letter addressed toChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao suggestedefforts should be made toavoid introducing a lockdownor even a partial lockdown inthe State. Resorting to this atthis stage may not be con-ducive to the overall situationand will push the economy intodownward spiral, said FICCIpresident Uday Shankar.

The lockdown in 2020,though unavoidable at thattime, exacted a huge cost onthe Indian economy and thelivelihood of the people., hesaid.

The country needs to breakthe chain of Covid spread, hesaid suggesting ramp-up ofCovid testing, hold an aware-ness drive on the importanceof using mask and sanitiser andmaintain social distance.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Spurt in Covid-19 cases is dri-ving people mad and sendingthem to various diagnosticcentres to get themselves test-ed. As the tests and adminis-tering vaccines are taking placeunder one roof the risk of peo-ple getting exposed to the virushas increased. Moreover, thereis a huge rush at these centreswith people congregating atthese centres as some of themmight have contracted thevirus already.

Lab technicians were seenconducting the tests under theshade of a tree due to inade-quate accommodation at thesecentres. Moreover, there is ashort supply of PPE kits.People, who have been waitingin serpentine queues to getthemselves tested, are seenarguing with the testing per-sonnel due to inadequate test-ing kits.

Experts have been advisingthe government authorities tomake use of the vacant schoolbuildings for a vaccination asholidays were declared forschools because of Covid-19 sothat the people visiting the cen-tres to receive the vaccine areunlikely to get infected.

In Hyderabad, Rangareddyand Medchal districts, rapidantigen tests are being con-ducted in 248 centres. These

centres are becoming crowdedas the persons who wish to getthemselves tested are visitingthese facilities along with theirfamily members.

Observing physical distanceis being thrown to winds.People are sitting in chairs notsanitised and getting them-selves tested. The people aregathering under trees ingroups. The tests are beingdone and also the vaccines arebeing administered in oneplace. As a result, expectantmothers and lactating mothersvisiting hospitals for their

monthly check-ups areexposed to the risk of con-tracting the infection.

Vaccines are being admin-istered in 179 governmentand 148 private hospitals. Onan average, 150 persons arereceiving the shot per day. Sofar, 20 lakh people havereceived the vaccines in thethree districts.

Citizens, who are reluctantto receive the shot initially,started congregating at thesecentres because of the spurt incases during the second wave.The number of those visiting

the centres has exceeded thevaccine to people ratio.Therefore, those who havebooked a slot on Co-Winmobile application are notable to get the vaccines too.Those who received the firstshot have to wait for long toreceive the second shot.

A resident of Badangpet –Jagadeeshwar – went toBalanagar PHC on April 4,along with his spouse toreceive the vaccine. The hos-pital is fully crowded withthose who reached there to getthemselves tested for the virus.

Four days after receiving thevaccine, he said that his wifeshowed up symptoms likefever, cold and cough. Upontesting, she was found to havetested positive for the virus. Hesaid that for the past onemonth he and his spouse didnot went out of home, exceptfor receiving the Covid-19vaccine.

Nageswara Rao ofSanathnagar said that hereceived the Covaxin firstdose in a corporate hospitaland went there recently toreceive the second dose, butthe hospital turned him awaysaying that there is a shortageof vaccines. He said that hereceived the first dose 35 daysago. He said that he daily vis-its the hospital in the morningand returns unvaccinated. Heis not sure when he is going toreceive the second shot.

FRIDAY PRAYERSMuslims offering prayers on the first

Friday of holy month of Ramzanacross the city. Some of them areobserving social distance whileothers are not paying attention to

Covid norms

PNS n HYDERABAD

Gated communities, villages andtownships here have focussed oncaptive solar power generationtaking advantage of governmentsubsidy for generation of non-conventional energy and supply-ing the surplus solar power to thepower distribution companiesand thereby greatly slashing theirmonthly power bills.

In fact, 212 MW of solarpower is being generated acrossthe state through 9,515 net-

metering connections. Of which,143.3 MW is being generated inGHMC limits alone.

Though initial costs are high,these communities have takenpains to install the solar panels asthe panels will generate power for25 years in a row.

They not only reduce theirmonthly power bills but also easethe burden on power utilities topurchase power to make up forpower shortage. The solar pan-els making company gives 10-year warranty on the panels

besides taking up the responsi-bility of annual maintenance. Incase of any technical problems,experts will resolve the problemsonsite.

A 518-unit multi-storeyedbuilding, in Bandlaguda, spendsRs 12-14 lakh a month towardspower charges. The house-own-ers pooled resources and installed

750 kW solar panels at a cost ofRs 2.60 crore producing 85,000units every month. Naturally,their monthly power bill hascome down to Rs 4 to Rs 6 lakha month.

The GHMC installed 941 kWsolar panels on the rooftop pro-ducing 1,500 units of power byeach panel in a year. The GHMCis succeeded in reducing itspower bill to Rs 1.50 crore a year.The Agricultural University atRajendra Nagar and its hostelshave reduced the annual power

bill to Rs 40 lakh as against Rs 1crore earlier.

Buildings in Genome Valley inShamirpet installed 952 MWsolar panels, while those inJawahar Nagar installed 947 MWsolar panels, the Open Space inKokapet installed 100 MW solarpanels, the KIMS Residencystructure installed 275 MW solarpanels, the Himayatsagar Owners’Association installed 710 MW ofsolar panels and succeeded inreducing their power bills great-ly.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The government has launcheda novel initiative to help the per-sons with disabilities to liveindependently and distributeddifferent kinds of assistive aidsand appliances worth Rs 24crore to them.

In a programme organised atthe LB Nagar Stadium here onFriday, Minister for IT, Industryand Municipal AdministrationKT Rama Rao said that the gov-ernment was committed to givesupport to the poor and physi-cally challenged and help themlead a life with dignity and self-respect.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao wouldalways tell party leaders andmembers that a person’s lifewould be meaningful only whenhe, or she could understand thehardships of a fellow citizen andextended their support to alle-viate their suffering, he said.

Minister for the Welfare of theDisabled Koppula Eshwarpresided over the meeting where16,600 physically challengedwere given assistive devices freeof cost. Ministers Sabitha IndraReddy and Malla Reddy also

attended the programme.KTR said that the government

was implementing several welfareprogrammes for the physicallychallenged that were not availableanywhere in the country. A meet-ing was held four months ago tounderstand the problems of thephysically challenged and basedon their feedback, the govern-ment took it as a challenge tocome out with new assistivedevices and some of them weredistributed today, he said.

Listing out the welfareschemes for the physically chal-lenged, he said the governmentwas extending pre-matric andpost-matric scholarships, run-ning skill development trainingcentres and giving a pension of

Rs 3,016 and reserving five percent of double bedroom hous-es to persons with disabilities.

The appliances that weredistributed to the physicallychallenged included 900retrofitted motor tricycles,650 battery operated wheel-chairs, 300 laptops, 400 4Gsmart phones, 1,500 tricy-cles, 2,000 wheelchairs, 3,000crutches, 1,460 hearing aids,2,065 walking sticks for thevisually challenged, 800 MP3players, 478 Braille books,165 innovative smart canes,13 innovative wheelchairsfor cricketers, 155 innovativecrutches, 334 artificial limbs,260 calipers and 2,000 bat-tery-operated tri-cycles.

· Innovative assistive aids distributed to over 16,000persons with disabilities

Multi-storey structures switch over to solar energy

n In Hyderabad,Rangareddy and Medchaldistricts, rapid antigentests are being conductedin 248 centres. Thesecentres are becomingcrowded as the personswho wish to getthemselves tested arevisiting these facilitiesalong with their familymembers.

OVERCROWDING A CAUSE FOR CONCERN

Covid bomb ticking at diagnostic centres

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana StateRestaurant and Bar LicenseeAssociation on Friday claimedthat it was also taking part inthe ongoing drive of the gov-ernment to keep the deadlyCovid-19 virus at bay. It alsosaid that it was ready to followall strict rules prescribed by thestate government to preventthe spread of the virus in thewake of its second wave.

Speaking to media personsat Basheerbagh Press Clubhere on Friday, the associationrepresentatives said that theyhad sustained huge amount oflosses due to the lockdownimposed in the state in the lastyear and added that thou-sands of workers had lost their

livelihood due to the closure ofthe restaurants and bars of thestate. They said that all the barsand restaurants were workingvery hard to keep the virus atbay and added that they wouldfollow all norms prescribed bythe state government. Theysaid that they were taking

steps to ensure safe distancebetween tables at the restau-rants. They also said that theywere employing all sanitisationmethods to prevent the spreadof the virus at their establish-ments and added that theywere keeping sanitisers with 60percent of alcohol concentra-tion and tissue papers on allthe tables used by the cus-tomers.

Association state president SManohar Goud, Vice PresidentKotha Venkatesh Goud, statebody Members Savera SrinivasGoud, B Prabhakar Reddy, DSrinivas Reddy, M JanardhanReddy, N Venkatesh Goud, KVarun Reddy, A Santosh Goud,P Eeswar Goud, S PawanKumar and J Chandu wereamong those present.

CM urged toavoid lockdown

ANUSHA PUPPALA

n HYDERABAD

The pandemic significantlyworsened the severity of the mosteye conditions in people, with anincreased number of patients suf-fering from advanced cataracts,eye infections, severe dry eyesand even corneal graft rejection,according to city ophthalmolo-gists.

The worst impact was seen incases of advanced cataracts anddry eyes, all resulting fromdelayed treatment or loss ofwork-life balance due to work-ing from home. The cases of dryeyes due to digital eye strainjumped from 10 percent to 30-50 percent in the last quarter of2020. Ophthalmologists alsonoticed worsening of existingcases of glaucoma in manypatients as they hesitated tocome for regular follow-ups.

According to medical experts,many patients were worriedabout contracting coronavirus ifthey visited the hospitals. Thisfear was very strong in the earlyphases of the pandemic. As aresult, the treatment of patientsgot impacted in a big way. Mostpeople with pre-existing eyeproblems did not go for regularfollow-ups, leading to aggrava-tion of their existing eye prob-lems. Others with new eye prob-lems waited to consult the doc-tors which led to serious conse-

quences, including loss of vision.Even the patients who took tele-consultations wanted all thesolutions remotely and therewas a strong unwillingness tocome to the hospital for physi-cal eye check-ups and investiga-tions even when it was deemednecessary.

"In the last quarter of 2019, lessthan 10 percent of all cataractpatients coming to our hospitalwere suffering from advancedcataracts. In the last quarter of2020, this figure jumped by50%. There were also complica-tions in previous corneal trans-plant patients such as rejection ofcornea and high eye pressure.People with diabetes ignoredtheir periodic eye check-upsduring the pandemic period,leading to severe complicationsin their retina, said Dr. GauravArora, Regional MedicalDirector - Telangana, Dr.Agarwals Eye Hospital. In one of

the cases, an old person whodelayed his cataract surgery aftera few months suffered high eyepressure and partial loss ofvision. In another case, an elder-ly woman’s poor overall healthcondition led to bilateral cornealinfection and eventual loss ofvision in both eyes.

One of the patients with visionin only one eye had a corneatransplant done earlier. He devel-oped an eye infection and couldnot see an eye doctor due to thelockdown. He is now blind inboth eyes and awaiting a repeatcornea transplant. A youngwoman who had earlier under-gone a corneal transplant devel-oped graft rejection and graft fail-ure due to a lack of timely eyetreatment.

“During the last few months,we have also been seeing anincreasing number of peoplewith digital eye strain and dryeyes, which are stemming from

excessive use of gadgets and lossof work-life balance. In the earlyphases of the lockdown, we alsosaw a few patients with con-junctivitis and others with retinalvascular blockage. They werelater confirmed to be corona pos-itive,” said Dr. Bhanu Prakash Sr.Consultant Ophthalmologist.

Dr. Bhanu Prakash also saidthat no health problem is toosmall that merits neglect in thepandemic times. To begin with,teleconsultation is a great optionand, in many cases, should beenough to get the right adviceand treatment. Sometimes thedoctor will advise consulting inperson but that is the timewhen not doing anything canaggravate a minor eye problemto a more serious one. Take allprecautions with face mask,hand sanitization, social dis-tancing, and choose an eye hos-pital where all safety precautionsare being implemented, he said.

Corona aggravates eye problems too

Case 2 - An elderly woman’spoor overall health conditionled to bilateral corneal infec-tion and eventual loss ofvision in both eyes.

INFOGRAPHICS

Case 1 - An old person whodelayed his cataract surgeryafter a few months sufferedhigh eye pressure and partialloss of vision.

Restaurants followingCovid norms, says assn

Noted radiologist Kakarla passes away

PNS n HYDERABAD

Eminent doctor and formerNIMS Director KakarlaSubba Rao passed away whileundergoing treatment at aprivate hospital here onFriday. Dr Subba Rao, whowas ailing was admitted tothe hospital a month ago.

Chief Minister KmChandrasekhar Rao con-doled the death ofPadmashree Dr KakarlaSubba Rao. In a message, the

Chief Minister recalled theservices rendered by DrSubba Rao in the field ofmedicine at the national andinternational level. As theDirector of NIMS, his ser-vices were invaluable.

He expressed his condo-lences to the members of thebereaved family. Dr SubbaRao was born into an agri-cultural family atPedamuthevi vil lage inKrishna district. He did hisschooling at Challapalli and

college education at HinduCollege in Machilipatnam.He got his medical degreefrom Andhra Medical Collegein Visakhapatnam and wentabroad in 1955 and clearedthe American RadiologyBoard exam. He worked inhospitals in New York andBaltimore and returned toIndia in 1956 and joinedOsmania Medical College asan assistant professor andbecame a chief radiologist.Later, he extended services as

Director of NIMS and devel-oped it on par with corporatehospitals. He was awardedPadmashree in the year 2000.

Health Minister EatelaRajender in a condolencemessage said that the servicesrendered by Dr Subba Rao tothe medical field would beremembered forever.

His services as Director ofNIMS were invaluable. Heconveyed his condolences tothe members of the bereavedfamily.

CM, Eatela condole Kakarla’s death

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021

PNS n MULUGU

The last rites of former minis-ter Ajmeera Chandulal, whodied on late Thursday night,were performed atSarangapally village in Mulugudistrict on Friday.

Ministers Errabelli DayakarRao, Satyavathi Rathod,Narsampet MLA SudarshanReddy, Zilla Parishad chair-man Kusuma Jagadishwar,Govind Naik and othersattended the last rites.

Chandulal’s rituals were per-formed with full State honourswhile Armed Reserve Policefired three rounds into the airas a mark of respect to thedeparted leader. MuluguCollector Krishna Aditya andIn-charge Superintendent ofPolice Potharaju Sai Chaitanyawere present at the funeralrites.

Tribal leader AzmeeraChandulal enjoyed much cloutamong the masses particular-ly among his community peo-ple in the erstwhile Warangaldistrict.

He chose the path of demo-cratic politics to serve thepeople though there was ‘much

influence’ of the Naxalism inthe Mulugu and other Agencyareas in the district. He waselected as the sarpanch for hisnative village in 1981 andserved till 1985.

He joined the TDP and wonthe Mulugu Assembly (ST)constituency and served asthe Minister for Tribal Welfarein the NTR’s Cabinet for fouryears. He won the Assemblyelections in 1994 for the sec-ond time.

His victory over Congresssenior leader RamsayhayamSurender in 1996 from theerstwhile Warangal Lok Sabha

constituency was a sensation atthat time. In the midtermpolls, Chandulal retained thepost by winning against Dr TKalpana Devi of Congress.However, political observerssay that Chandulal could winthe Warangal MP seats twiceowing to the support of hiscommunity voters who were inlarge numbers.

Meanwhile, Chandulaljoined the TRS in 2005 andwon the Mulugu MLA seat forthe third time in 2014 polls,and served as the Tribal,Cultural and Youth AffairsMinister.

Chandulal’s last rites heldwith state honours

Ministers Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Satyavathi Rathod and Collector Krishna Adityaand others at the funeral rites of former minister Chandulal at Sarangapallyvillage in Mulugu district on Friday

PNS n NAGAR KURNOOL

In the wake of spurt inCovid-19 cases, District col-lector L Sharman on Fridayexhorted one and all to getvaccinated against the cornavirus without fail.

In a statement, he askedthe Medical HealthDepartment to increase thenumber of tests and subjecteveryone who visits hospitalsto Covid-19 testing.

The pandemic can be keptat bay provided peopleobserve social distance.

He advised people to wearmasks when they come out oftheir houses for urgent pur-poses.

He asked all those who areabove 45 to get themselvesvaccinated againt the pan-demic.He asked the MedicalHealth department to sensi-tise villagers fully on theneedto receive the vaccine shot.He asked the people toobserve precautions.

People urgedto receiveCovid-19vaccinewithout fail

Women sensitised oncomplaining using QR Code PEDDAPALLI: Women's protection wing of Ramagundam policecommissionerate on Friday sensitised women at Mancherial BusStatnd and Railway Station on complaining to SHE teams using theQR Code scanning method so that the police can swing into actionimmediately and review the progress. SHE team district in-chargecircle inspector Srinivas said people can lodge complaint onlineusing mobile phones from any part of the state using QR Codeagainst eve teasing either in public places or at work place. In this method, women and girls need not remember the WhatsAppnumbers and can lodge complaints from anywhere. Srinivas askedthem to save this link in their phone numbers. If the people pressthe link, a complaints page will be opened. Complaint lodged in thisfashion will straight away go to the central server. He said that thecitizens can communicate their response using this QR Code(green). He said that posters on complaining using this methodwould be displayed at all railway stations, bus stations, main roadjunctions and offices.

Task force raids on rice mill,seizes 10 quintals of PDS rice PEDDAPALLI: Ramagundam Task Force on Friday raided on a ricemill and seized 10 quintals of PDS rice meant for recycling and laterselling as fine variety of rice in market. On a tip off that somepersons have been recycling PDS rice and passing it of as finevariety of rice in Dandepalli and its surrounding areas under theRamagundam police commissionerate limits, task force CI Kiran, SILatchanna and Dandepalli SI Srikant and others conducted a raid onVenkataramana rice mill on the outskirts of Medaripeta andconfiscated the PDS rice. The Task force personnel took the ricemill owner Jadipudi Ramesh into their custody for recycling the PDSrice. The Task Force CI Kiran said that the raids were conducted atthe behest of Ramagundam police commissioner V Satyanarayana.The police would not spare those who indulge in selling spuriousseeds, betting, gambling, duping unemployed.

SHORT TAKES

Woman slitsdaughter'sthroatPNS n HYDERABAD

A 32-year old mentally dis-turbed woman has allegedlykilled her six-month olddaughter believing in super-stitions in Mekalapati Tandain Suryapet district, about150 km from here policesaid on Friday.

According to PraveenKumar, sub-inspector,Mothey, B Bharati, a teachinggraduate, slit her daughter'sthroat on Thursday believingthat she was the reason forher miseries.

"We were informed thatshe was mentally unstable forthe past few months. She wasbehaving weirdly practicingpoojas and praying all daylong. Yesterday she slit herdaughter's throat and per-formed pooja," PraveenKumar told P T I, adding thatsome locals had informed thepolice.

The body of the child wassent for post-mortem and thepolice are yet to make anyarrest in the case.

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC general secretary hasapproached the High Courturging it to initiate actionagainst the police ofNagarjunasagar for attackinghim. He urged the court tomake the police department topay Rs 25 lakh as compensa-tion for detaining him illegal-ly by the Nalgonda police.

In his petition, he men-tioned that he filed the writpetition aggrieved by the high-handedness of police in takingthe petitioner into their cus-tody and detaining him illegal-ly more than 24 hours withoutregistering FIR, without serv-

ing any notice mandated underthe law and without followingdue procedure as contemplat-ed in CrPC as illegal, arbitrary,violation of Article 21 ofConstitution.

He mentioned in his petition

that he had participated in theelection campaign inNagarjunasagar byelection insupport of Congress candidateK Jana Reddy staying atSiddhartha Project House,Room No 12 Nagarjunasagar.However, the police entered hisroom forcefully at 9.30 pm onApril 13 night when he washaving dinner and police bru-tally beaten him up anddragged him into the jeep andtaken away to various policestations—Nagarjunasagar,Tirumalagiri, Haliya andNalgonda II Town PoliceStation.

Manavatha Roy mentionedin his petition that the police

informed him orally that sincethere was a meeting of theChief Minister on April 14 atabout 5 pm in Haliya mandal,they have taken him into cus-tody when he questioned abouthis arrest. However, the policekept him in Nalgonda II TownPolice Station and beat him upwithout any reason.

Manavata Roy made HomeDepartment, PrincipalSecretary, DGP and SP ofNalgonda, DeputySuperintendent of Police ofMiryalaguda, Station HouseOfficer of NagarjunasagarPolice Station, Nalgonda TaskForce CI SM Basha as respon-dents.

Police ‘attack’: Roy approaches HC

PNS n SIDDIPET

Finance Minister Harish Rao onFriday announced the TRS firstlist of six contestants for SiddipetMunicipal elections. The follow-ing is the list : 31st ward-JangitiKanakaraju (BC General), 4thWard- Kondam Kavitha -Sampath Reddy (general cate-gory women), 8th Ward-Varalakavitha Suresh (BC Woman),34th Ward- Gudala SandhyaSrikanth (General Woman)37th Ward- Saaki Bal LakshmiAnand (SC woman) and 17thWard Mallyala Jyoti Prashanth.

PNS n MEDAK

Finance Minister T Harish Raoalong with MLAs PadmaDevender Reddy and MadanReddy and MLC Seri SubashReddy and MP Kotta PrabhakarReddy and others performedpuja to Godavari water at HaldiVagu Project at Masaipet in thedistrict on Friday as theGodavari water, released fromKaleswaram project, overflowedthe sluices.

Addressing gathering on theoccasion, he said that the cred-it of making Haldi Vagu into aperennial river goes to TRSgovernment. He said the gov-ernment built KondapochammaReservoir, Mallanna Sagar reser-voirs and filled Haldi Vagu withwater from Kaleswaram project.He said that the name of ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raowill be remembered forever ashe found place in history byturning Haldi Vagu into a peren-nial river.

Kaleswaram waters wouldturn the parched lands of erst-while Medak district into fertilesoil. CM KCR achieved thedevelopment which did nothappen in the past sevendecades. He said that he devel-ops goosebumps as theGodavari water flows acrossthe district. He said theGodavari waters overflowing

the sluices is a wonderful sight. He said that the TRS govern-

ment changed the fate of thestate. He said that the farmersand all living things in their mil-lions are offering their blessingsto the CM.

During summer, cattle usedto migrate to distant lands insearch of water. He said thatavailability of abundant water inHaldi Vagu will fulfil the thirdsof all living things.

People of Narsapur andmedak constituencies will derivebenefit because of pumpingwater into Haldi Vagu. Groundwater table increases in the twodistricts. He alleged hat theerstwhile Andhra rulers wentback on their promise, whileKCR Government fulfilled hispromise to farmers.

Unlike the previous regimeswhich indulged in publicitystunt, KCR government broughtwater in to Kaleswaram projectand washed the feet of farmers,

he said. He pointed out that theerstwhile Andhra rulers did notbuild any new projects otherthan the Manjira project andHaldi project which were builtduring Nizam period. They didnot even wet a single acre ofland.

In future, Medak district willbecome home to oil palmculti-vation. In Telangana, oil palmfarmers of Khammam districtare earning profits. He said thatthe government would speak toCentre to include Medak districtamong the districts that cultivateoil palm and get subsidy for dripirrigation.

As the area under paddy cul-tivation has increased to 53lakh acres in Telangana, the stateranked number one in paddycultivation.

District Collector S Harish,Zilla Grandhalaya SamsthaChairman Chandra Goud andothers were present on the occa-sion.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Janasena Party has lostthe 'glass' symbol in theTelangana mini civic bodypolls. Not convinced withthe explanation given byJanasena Party, the ElectionCommission has announcedto remove the 'glass' symbolfrom the list of poll symbols.

Hence, the Janasena Partyhas lost its 'glass' symbol inthe municipal elections. TheElection Commission made itclear that the symbol wasremoved as the JanasenaParty could not contest evenin 10 per cent of seats in themunicipal elections.

The Janasena Party told ECthat owing to an alliancewith BJP, it could not contestin the last elections.

However, the party wouldfield its candidates in othermunicipality elections includ-ing Warangal andKhammam.

Janasena loses‘glass' symbolin TS civic polls

Harish performs spl puja tooverflowing Haldi sluices

Harish releasesfirst list formunicipal polls

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Congress on Fridayslammed the State ElectionCommission and the TRSgovernment for announcingthe schedule for holding elec-tions to two municipal corpo-rations and five municipali-ties. “It looks ridiculous thatthe SEC has announced thepoll schedule within twohours after the EducationDepartment announced thecancellation of SSC examsand postponement ofIntermediate exams becauseof the Covid-19 situation.

He took Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao to thetask for his dual approach.The government shuts downall schools, but permits liquorshops to operate till late in thenight,” former ministerMohammed Ali Shabbir saidwhile addressing a press con-ference at Gandhi Bhavanhere on Friday.

Shabbir Ali demanded thatthe Telangana governmentdeclare a health emergency inthe State in view of rising

cases of Covid-19 and deaths.He also demanded the post-ponement of municipal elec-tions.

He said that the govern-ment has failed to deal withthe Covid-19 situation. Hesaid no beds were availableeither in the government orprivate hospitals, anywhere inthe State. Furthermore, therewas a huge shortage of oxygenin many government hospi-

tals. Similarly, the ventilatorbeds were not available evenat a premium, he alleged.

Shabbir Ali said that therewas a huge contradiction inthe claims being made byHealth Minister EatalaRajender regarding the avail-ability of facilities in govern-ment hospitals and the realsituation.

He said that the HealthMinister does not even havean idea about available bedstrength in the State. Citing aninstance, Shabbir Ali said thata mandal president ofCongress party fromKamareddy district wasadmitted for Covid treatmentand doctors have recom-mended his shifting to anymajor hospital in Hyderabad.Although the media bulletin

shows that over 2,500 beds arevacant in GHMC limits,which include 1,466 beds inGandhi Hospital and 806 inTIMS. He said he personallyspoke to the Health Ministerseeking his intervention foradmission in any major hos-pital for Kamareddy's leader,but all those efforts provedfutile.

The Congress leaderaccused the TRS Governmentof hiding real statistics per-taining to Covid-19 cases anddeaths. Similarly, he said thatthe details of healthcare facil-ities were also being exagger-ated to stake false claims.

"Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is playingwith the lives of innocentpeople by tampering with theCovid-19 figures. He is appar-ently the only Chief Ministerin the country who did nothold any review meeting onCovid's situation. His onlyfocus is on politics. He is leastbothered whether people liveor die due to Coronavirus. Hisonly concern is to win theelections at any cost," he said.

n Cong slams SEC, TSgovt for announcingcivic poll schedule

n Wants postponementof municipal polls

Shabbir: Declare health emergency in TS

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

The D-day has come for themuch-awaited Nagarjuna Sagarby-elections. The political partieshave put their last-minute effortsto polarize votes in their favor.The important leaders of respec-tive parties had already met thecaste bodies’ heads, peoples’organizations heads, and influ-ential persons of the villages topolarize the votes in favour oftheir candidates besides distrib-uting money and liquor.

The main political parties,particularly the ruling TRS andCongress party did not leave anyoption unexplored even in thelast minute and tried hard toattract the voters. The ruling TRSparty’s leaders, who had comefrom other places left the con-stituency on the evening of April15 entrusting the responsibilitiesto the local leaders, who were

somewhat unhappy all thesedays as they nurtured the feelingof being neglected during thecampaign owing to the domina-tion of ‘outside’leaders. Thelocal lead-ers wereaccusedof puttingin theireffort inpolar izingthe votes in favorof TRS party candi-dates half-heartedly.

However, theCongress candidateK Jana Reddy had fullydepended on the localleaders, instead of leadersfrom outside as he had full gripon them. It is learnt that the localCongress leaders and variouscommunity leaders tried theirbest in polarizing the votes infavor of Jana Reddy even during

the last minutes. It is learnt thatthe political scene in NagarjunaSagar changed in the last fourdays with the polarization of

votes takingplace with

the help ofcommu-nity lead-ers.

It isalso learnt

that bothTRS and

Congress distributedmoney and liquor intheir own inimitablefashion even on the

night of April 16 urgingthe voters not to forget

their candidate. However, themanagement of the poll will playa crucial role on Saturday, April17, in deciding the candidates’victory.

According to political analysts,the senior leader K Jana Reddy,

who lost the 2018 Assembly elec-tions, might not give a chance tothe ruling TRS party this time ashe had learnt from the loss.However, the ruling TRS partyis confident of their candidate’svictory as one-and-half lakhvoters are directly benefittingfrom the government schemes.The party is also confident thatNomula Bhagat will win easily ashis community votes will comein his favour en mass. However,the BJP candidate Dr Ravi Naikalso expects the votes of his com-munity to be cast in his favouralongside votes of the familymembers of his party’s activistsand some neutral votes.However, according to somepolitical analysts, the BJP didn’tput in full-fledged efforts toattract votes in favour of its can-didate though the party had beenstating that they would repeat theDubbak result in the NagarjunaSagar by-poll.

Govt will procurepaddy, including malegrains, says Eatala PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Health Minister EatalaRajender bas said that farmersof the region cultivates maleand female variety of seeds andassured them that the govern-ment will procure every grainincluding the male grains fromthe farmers.

However, he asked the farm-ers to clean the paddy at theirhomes and bring them to pro-curement centres.

He was addressing a gather-ing after inaugurated paddyprocurement centres atTanugula village ofJammikunta mandal andValbhapur in Veenavankamandal of the district onFriday.

He said that the procure-ment would be fair withoutgiving no room for any dis-count. If the farmers bringpaddy with empty seeds and

rocks and paddy with highmoisture content, the procure-ment agencies have to face theblame of discounting paddywhile weighing up to 2 to 3 kg.He asked officials to ensure thatthere is no room for such alle-gations. At the same time, heasked the farmers to bringquality paddy to procurementcentres.

He said that all steps toensure that there is no short-age of hamalis, gunny bags andvehicles to transport procuredpaddy have been initiated. Thedistrict Collector and jointcollector will monitor the pro-curement process till the end.Every one should wear masksand observe physical distanceas Covid-19 cases are on therise. Everyone in the Assemblyconstituency is being subject-ed to Covid-19 testing and aprogramme to administer vac-cines is under way.

NAGARJUNASAGAR BYPOLL

Parties put in last-minute effortsto polarise votes in their favour

Elderly couplecharred todeathPNS n SIDDIPET

An elderly couple wascharred to death when theirhut was gutted in a fire acci-dent at Tangallapally villagein Koheda mandal during theintervening hours ofThursday and Friday.

According to villagers, thevictims Yada Narasaiah (95)and Yada Latchamma (85),both were bedridden, werestaying in the hut. Theirthree sons, who were stayingin separate houses, used totake care of them. Narasaiah’selder son Balaiah (78) said hisfather was a smoker and acigarette butt may have led tothe fire accident.

He said they woke up at2.30 am on hearing his father’scries for help. With the helpof villagers, Balaiah said theymanaged to douse the fire, butcould not save their parents.The death was instant forboth of them. Koheda policehave registered a case.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The TRS has decided not tocontest in the Lingojigudadivision byelections in GHMClimits on humanitariangrounds. This decision wastaken as a response to anappeal made by BJP.

It may be recalledLingojiguda corporator electAkula Ramesh Goud dieddays before the swearing-inceremony. The BJP has decid-ed to field Ramesh Goud's sonin the Lingojiguda divisionbyelections to be held on April30. A delegation led by formerBJP leader N RamchanderRao met TRS working presi-dent KTR at Pragathi Bhavanand appealed to him to facil-

itate the unanimous election ofBJP candidate.

LB Nagar MLA SudheerReddy, late Ramesh Goud'swife and son and leaders fromboth parties participated in themeeting. On the occasion,TRS working president KTRsaid the untimely death ofAkula Ramesh Goud wasunfortunate. The appeal madeby BJP not to field a candidatewas discussed with ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao and as per his instruc-tions, the TRS has decided notto contest in the Lingojigudadivision elections. RameshGoud's family membersthanked Chief Minister KCRand TRS working presidentKTR for their gesture.

KTR shows the way for clean politics;

TRS not to contest in Lingojiguda

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021 nation 05

The Mumbai civic body'splan to convert the JaslokHospital here into a

dedicated facility forCoronavirus patients seems tohave hit a roadblock with thehospital saying that it wouldcontinue to treat other criticallyill non-COVID patients as well.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had on Wednesdayissued a circular, in which it had said that the Jaslok Hospital will nolonger admit non-COVID-19 patients and added that instructions tothis effect had been issued to the hospital's management. It hadtaken this decision in view of the spike in infection cases in the city.However, the hospital issued a statement late night on Thursday,saying that it has increased the number of beds for coronaviruspatients, but it would continue to treat other critically-ill patients also.“Keeping in view the rising cases of COVID-19 in Maharashtra,Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai has increased thenumber of beds allotted to the COVID-19 patients from 58 to 150 tosupport the current crisis. But we continue our efforts in treatingother critically-ill chronic patients and (conducting) procedures,” itsaid in the statement.

Acourt here on Fridayremanded police officerRiyaz Kazi, an associate

of suspended cop SachinWaze, in judicial custody tillApril 23 in connection withthe case of an explosives-laden SUV found nearindustrialist Mukesh Ambani'sresidence and the subsequent

death Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran. Kazi, an assistantpolice inspector, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency(NIA) on April 11. He was produced before a holiday court here atthe end of his NIA remand on Friday. The court sent him tojudicial custody as the central probe agency did not seek his furtherremand. The NIA has alleged that Kazi is involved in the conspiracyof the case, along with Waze, who is the prime accused. Kazi wasinvolved in destroying the evidence, the NIA has alleged.

INDIA CORNER

Madhya Pradesh would get450 metric tonnes ofmedical oxygen from other

states shortly for treatment ofcritical COVID-19 patients, ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh Chouhansaid on Thursday.The new stockof medical-grade oxygen, whosedemand has shot up due to therising coronavirus cases, is beingarranged after talking to the Centre, he said."I had requested UnionCommerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan for oxygen supply to Madhya Pradesh. A consensushas been reached for supply of 450 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen fromBhilai, Devri (Chhattisgarh) and Rourkela (Odisha) to the state shortly,”Chouhan told reporters here.“I am thankful to them,” he added. The chiefminister said the private sector is being roped in to transport the life-savinggas in the state, which has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases."Transportation of oxygen is being done on a war footing," the CM said,adding the support of the private sector, too, is being taken. He saidcontinuous efforts are being made to procure Remdesivir, an anti-viral drugused in treatment of COVID-19 cases.

Plan to convert Jaslok Hospitalinto Covid facility hits roadblock

‘MP to get 450 MT of oxygenfor Covid patients soon’

West Bengal CID Fridaytook over the case ofkilling of four people in

firing by the CISF duringpolling in Cooch Behar districton April 10, a seniorgovernment official said. ASpecial Investigation Team(SIT) of the CriminalInvestigation Department

(CID) has been constituted to conduct the probe in the incidentwhich happened during the fourth phase of polling at Sitalkuchi.The incident had set off an acrimonious war of words between theruling TMC and challenger BJP, and triggered public outrage.Investigators will visit booth number 126/5 in Jorpatki in Sitalkuchiassembly constituency where CISF personnel had opened fire afterthey allegedly came under attack from a group of villagers. The TMChas claimed those killed were its supporters who were gunneddown when they were standing in queue to cast their votes.

CID takes over probe intoCooch Behar CISF firing

Cop Riyaz Kazi remanded injudicial custody till April 23

PNS n MUMBAI

Serum Institute of India (SII)CEO Adar Poonawalla onFriday said the US needs to liftits embargo on raw materialexports to help ramp up vac-cine production.

SII is currently manufactur-ing anti-coronavirus vaccineCovishield, developed byAstrazeneca and OxfordUniversity. The vaccine is notonly being used in India, butexported to a number of coun-tries.

Poonawalla had earlieradmitted that SII has been fac-ing problems in sending outrequired number of batches ofvaccines due to the bureaucrat-ic and government-related hur-dles.

Tagging the twitter handle ofthe President of the UnitedStates, Poonawalla said in atweet, "Respected @POTUS, ifwe are to truly unite in beatingthis virus, on behalf of the vac-cine industry outside the U.S.,

I humbly request you to lift theembargo of raw materialexports out of the U.S. so thatvaccine production can rampup. Your administration has thedetails."

Earlier in March, Poonawallahad said that the production ofcoronavirus vaccines and scal-ing up global availability couldbe seriously limited due to theban on exports of critical rawmaterials by the US.

Speaking at an event organ-

ised by the World Bank inMarch, Poonawalla had saidone of the constraints thatneeds to be addressed butnobody is able to address so faris the availability of criticalitems from the US.

"...There are lot of bags andfilters and critical items thatmanufacturers need. I will give

you an example. The Novavaxvaccine that we are a majormanufacturer of, need theseitems from the US...Now theUS has chosen to invoke theDefence Act, in which there isa sub-clause which prevents theexport of critical raw materialsrequired for their local vaccinemanufacturers," he had said.

SII is currentlymanufacturing anti-coronavirus vaccineCovishield, developedby Astrazeneca andOxford University. Thevaccine is not onlybeing used in India, butexported to a numberof countries

SII CEO urges US to liftraw material export ban PNS n MUMBAI

The Union government hasgiven its permission to theMumbai-based HaffkinInstitute to manufactureCovaxin, an anti-coronavirusvaccine of Bharat Biotech, anofficial said on Thursday.

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray had earlierrequested the Centre to allowthe Haffkine Institute to pro-duce Covaxin, which is cur-rently produced by theHyderabad-based BharatBiotech, the official from thechief minister's office (CMO)said.Renu Swarup, secretaryof the Union Science andTechnology Department sentthe approval letter to theMaharashtra chief secretarySitaram Kunte, the official said.

"Swarup informed the stategovernment that the Centrehas approved its request of

using infrastructure ofHaffkine Bio-pharmaceuticalCorporation Limited forCovaxin production. It wasdone after approval given bythe experts,” he added.

The Union government hasgranted one year period to the

state to carry out the produc-tion.

Accordingly, the chief min-ister has asked Kunte toappoint a senior officer tomonitor and carry out theproduction in the given time-frame, the official said.

Mumbai's Haffkine gets Centre'snod to produce Covaxin

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi Police has arrest-ed six wanted criminals of agang from three states, offi-cials said on Friday.

The accused have beenidentified as Ankit alias AnkitLagarpur (23), Ravi aliasRavi Jagsi (29), Rajan aliasRajan Jaat (24), SumitBichpadi alias Cheetah (24),Amit alias Chhota (35),Sudhir Mann (29), they said.

According to police, theaccused, belonging to KalaJathedi-Lawrence Bishnoigang, were carrying a cumu-lative cash reward of Rs3,50,000 from Delhi,Haryana, Rajasthan andChandigarh.

"Different teams wereformed and dispatched aftercomprehensive briefing. Theteams raided three differentlocations in three states andarrested the accused per-sons," Deputy Commissionerof Police (Special Cell)Manishi Chandra said.

Delhi Policearrests sixwanted criminals

PNS n KOLKATA

Over one crore voters in WestBengal will decide the politicalfate of 342 candidates onSaturday, when 45 assemblyconstituencies go to polls in thefifth phase, amid a raging sec-ond wave of COVID-19.

Security measures have beenheightened for phase five inview of the violence in the pre-vious phase, which witnessedthe death of five people inCooch Behar, including four inCISF firing.

The Election Commissionhas decided to deploy at least853 companies of central forcesto ensure free and fair voting,an official of the poll panelsaid.

It will also put in placemeasures to ensure strictadherence of COVID-19 pro-

tocols during the votingprocess, he said.

West Bengal on Thursdayrecorded the highest single-day spike of 6,769 coronaviruscases and at least 22 more fatal-ities.

Prominent names in thefifth phase include SiliguriMayor and Left Front leaderAshok Bhattacharya, stateministers Gautam Deb andBratya Basu and BJP's SamikBhattacharya.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Businesses owned by womenentrepreneurs in India are like-ly to grow up to 90 per cent inthe next five years, accordingto a new study which also notesthat the uptake of governmentschemes supporting suchentrepreneurs is quite low.

The study by prominentphilanthropic organisation,EdelGive Foundation, was con-ducted across 13 states andUnion territories (UTs).

The mapping of these areaslisted almost 3,300 womenentrepreneurs who were clas-sified into three categories--those engaged in manufactur-ing, retail and service delivery

enterprises. Out of these, 1,235women entrepreneurs weresampled and interviewed forthe study.

In addition to these entrepre-neurs, their family members,employees and clients were alsointerviewed. Besides in-depthinterviews were carried outwith 20 NGOs that directlysupport women entrepreneurs.

According to the study,around 80 per cent of women,from semi urban and ruralIndia, feel a significantimprovement in their socio-economic and cultural statusafter starting an enterprise.

It also found out that despiteseveral state-run schemes andpolicies supporting women

entrepreneurship, the uptake ofsuch initiatives is quite low.

"Only one per cent of thewomen entrepreneurs sur-

veyed have availed of any gov-ernment scheme and this isprimarily because just about 11per cent are aware of such pro-

grammes," the study says.The multi-faceted study has

focused on a cross-section offactors ranging from societal,financial, personal to familialto understand the overall jour-ney of women entrepreneursalong with looking at the roleof government, NGOs andcorporates in the ecosystem.

While the study reportsimprovement in the socio-cul-tural lives of the women entre-preneurs, it reveals that thereare still significant gaps interms of financial knowledgeand resources available to theentrepreneurs along with mar-keting, production, technolog-ical and socio-cultural chal-lenges faced by them.

Study paints rosy picture for women entrepreneurs

PNS n NEW DELHI

To augment hospital infrastruc-ture for management of severecases of coronavirus, the UnionHealth Ministry has advised allcentral ministries to ask hospi-tals under their control or PSUsto set-up dedicated hospitalwards or separate blocks with-in hospitals for COVID care.

The central ministries havealso been advised that details ofsuch dedicated hospital wards orblocks be provided to the pub-lic.The move comes as India bat-tles a massive surge in coron-avirus cases.

In a letter to the ministries, theUnion Health Secretary hassaid that the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country callsfor similar supportive action aslast year from all such centralministries or departments andtheir PSUs and hospitals undertheir control. To substantially

augment hospital infrastruc-ture for effective clinical man-agement of severe COVID-19patients across the country, theministry has advised all centralministries to issue instructionsto hospitals under their controlor their PSUs to set-up exclusivededicated hospital wards or sep-arate blocks within the hospitalsfor COVID care, as was done lastyear.

These hospitals and blocksshould have separate entry andexit points for management ofCOVID-19 cases, to providetreatment services includingspecialised care for confirmedCOVID-19 cases, the healthministry said.

"Additionally, these dedicat-ed hospital wards or blockshave to be equipped to provideall supportive and ancillary ser-vices including oxygen sup-ported beds, ICU beds, ventila-tors and other amenities,” it said.

PSUs asked todedicate hospitalbeds for Covid-19

PNS n KOLKATA

At least five candidates of dif-ferent parties contesting theongoing assembly election inWest Bengal have tested posi-tive for COVID-19, a healthdepartment official said onFriday.

Out of the five candidateswho tested positive, three arefrom the Trinamool Congress(TMC), and one each from theRevolutionary Socialist Party(RSP) and the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), he said.

RSP's Jangipur candidate,73-year-old Pradip KumarNandi, tested positive onWednesday and is now inhome isolation, the officialsaid.

BJP'S candidate forMatigara-Naxalbari seatAnandamay Barman (38),TMC's Goalpokhar nomineeMohmmed Ghulam Rabbani,Tapan candidate KalpanaKisku, and Jalpaiguri candidateDr Pradip Kumar Barma havetested COVID-19 positive, thehealth official said.

5 poll contestantstest positive forCovid in WB

PNS n MUMBAI

The Mumbai police have reg-istered a separate case underthe Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes (Preventionof Atrocities) Act against aman who assaulted an on-duty traffic constable here, anofficial said on Friday.

The accused Jatin Satara(35) had allegedly abusedand used foul language, whileassaulting traffic constableDyneshawar Wagh (32), whohad asked him to remove hisscooter, which was obstruct-ing traffic in Mulund (west)on Thursday, the official said.

Satara, who was without amask, started arguing withthe constable and mentioneda particular community whileabusing him, he said.

Following this, a separateFIR under relevant sections ofthe Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes (Preventionof Atrocities) Act was regis-tered, he said. A video of theincident had gone viral onsocial media, it was stated.

The accused, who wasarrested under relevant sec-tions of the IPC and DisasterManagement Act (in force dueto the COVID-19 outbreak),was later released on bail.

Mumbai: Man bookedunder Atrocities Act forassaulting traffic cop

PNS n IMPHAL

The Manipur government hasissued an order making itmandatory for all personsentering the state to producea negative COVID-19 testreport, an official said onFriday. The official said theorder shall become effectivefrom April 18.

The order issued by DeputySecretary, Health department,Soiminlian Lengen onThursday said that "All per-sons entering Manipur,

whether by air or by road, andirrespective of place of origin,shall be allowed entry only onmandatory production of a

negative RT-PCR/ TrueNat/CB-NAAT COVID-19 testreport taking within 72 hoursfrom arrival in Manipur."

Manipur makes Covid negativereport mandatory for entering state

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odishas COVID-19 caseloadon Friday mounted to 3,61,450after 3,108 more people testedpositive for the infection, hilethree fresh fatalities pushed thedeath toll to 1,938, a healthdepartment official said.

Meanwhile, keeping in viewthe COVID-19 surge, Odishasmajor tourist destination, the SunTemple in Konark, has beenclosed with immediate effect.

The Archaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) said, due to the pre-

vailing COVID-19 situation, allcentrally-protected monuments,sites, and museums in the statewill remain closed with immedi-ate effect.

It will remain in force till May15, 2021, or until further orders,

an ASI official said.Three prominent monuments

and sites, including ShreeJagannath Temple in Puri, SunTemple in Konark and ShreeLingaraj Temple in Puri, areamong the ASI protected mon-uments.

ASI Odisha circle superintend-ing engineer A K Mallick said theauthorities of Shree JagannathTemple and Shree LingarajTemple have been apprised of theASIs decision for closing themonuments for visitors given theresurgence of COVID-19 cases.

PNS n KOLKATA

In view of the sudden spikein COVID-19 cases, ScienceCity Kolkata will remainclosed for visitors fromFriday till May 15, an officialsaid.

A spokesman of theNational Council of ScienceMuseums (NCSM) said in astatement the decision wastaken following the direc-tives of the Union Ministryof Culture. "In view of the

current COVID situation ofthe country, Science City,Kolkata will remain closedfor visitors till May 15, 2021,"the spokesman said onFriday.

He said this was in conso-nance with the directives ofthe Ministry of Culture,Government of India. TheScience City had opened onNovember 10 last year afterbeing closed from March16, 2020 due to the pandemic.

Science City Kolkata to remainclosed for visitors till May 15

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former CBI director RanjitSinha died here on Fridaymorning in what is believed tobe a COVID-19 related death,senior officials said.

He was 68.It is understoodthat he was confirmed positivefor coronavirus on Thursdaynight and breathed his last at4.30 am on Friday, the officialssaid. Sinha, a 1974-batch offi-cer of the Bihar cadre and whohad cracked the coveted UPSCexamination at the age of 21, hadtaken over as the CBI chief in2012.

Ex- CBI directorRanjit Sinhapasses away

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal has called a meetingon Friday to review theCOVID-19 situation in thenational capital.

Coronavirus cases inthe city have been spi-ralling with 16,699 freshCOVID-19 infections and112 fatalities reported onThursday. A senior govern-ment official said, "The chief min-ister has called a meeting to

review the COVID-19 situationin Delhi at 4 PM today. HealthMinister Satyendar Jain and

senior government offi-cials will be present

at the meeting atthe DelhiSecretariat."

The Delhi gov-ernment had on

T h u r s d a yannounced sweeping

restrictions, including a weekendcurfew to break the chain ofCOVID infections in the city.

Kejriwal to hold meetingover Covid situation

Odisha logs 3,108 new Covid cases

Bengal elections: 45 constituenciesto go to polls in fifth phase today

per cent of the country’s forestarea while mildly affectingabout 54 per cent, which makesabout two-third of India’sforests vulnerable to fires.

The question is: Why is itso? Lightning is the mostimportant natural cause.Another is the spontaneouscombustion of dried-upleaves and sticks. The one thathas been an increasinglypotent factor, and is set tobecome even more so, isglobal warming. It dries upthe leaves and shrubbery onthe ground, making themhighly inflammable. It alsodries up the soil. Thus, thelack of soil moisture as a resultof rainfall deficiency duringmonsoons — less than 18 percent and 20 per cent in 2019and 2020, respectively — hasbeen an important factor inthis year’s Uttarakhand fires.In fact, it has been a cause notonly in many other parts ofIndia but the entire world —the blazes bedevillingAustralia, California in the USand the Amazon rainforestsin Brazil are examples.

Human activity, however,is responsible for the over-whelming majority of forestfires the world over. In India,these blazes are mainly causedby the slash-and-burn methodof shifting agriculture, known

as jhum in Arunachal Pradesh,Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram,Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam,where it is practised over about15,000 sq km of forest land.The blazes are also set off toclear the ground for mining,timber felling and the construc-tion of human settlements andindustrial units, besides ward-ing off the wild animals.

People burn dry leavesand shrubbery on forestgrounds, believing that itwould lead to the sprouting ofnew and healthier grass.Poachers light fires on threesides to corner fleeing wildanimals in one area as theirconcentrated presence helpskilling. People visiting forestsare often careless and leavebehind lighted butts of ciga-rettes or bidis, besides inflam-mable material.

Things are made worseby the fact that it is difficultto extinguish forest fires. Theabsence of roads preventsfire tenders from reaching thesites and high winds carry thesparks to new areas.Helicopters are pressed intoservice — as in Uttarakhandrecently where two Indian AirForce helicopters, each witha 5,000-litre water tank, weredeployed. There are, howev-er, limits to the number ofhelicopters that can be used

and the availability of largelakes or rivers from whichthese can draw water.

Forest fires wreak havoc inIndia every year. They destroyforests, cause pollution, turnstreams dry or adversely affecttheir water quality, damage soilnutrients and increase the riskof soil erosion. They killwildlife and insects, includingendangered species, anddestroy their habitats, damagenational parks and sanctuar-ies, driving the wild animalslike tigers, leopards and ele-phants towards human settle-ments, thus aggravating thehuman-animal conflict. And,of course, they kill humansand destroy their property.

The question is: What is tobe done? Forest fires are as oldas forests and will continue tooccur as long as forests exist.One, however, can limit theirincidence by firmly dealingwith the timber, builder andmining mafia, and the poach-ers, and simultaneously enlight-ening people not to carelesslyleave incendiary material inforests. The Central and StateGovernments will have tolaunch sustained campaigns tothis end. The consequences ofnot doing so will be severe.

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Chief Justice of India SA Bobde deserves nothing less than the nation’s applauseand compliments for recently stating unequivocally that the time has come whena woman should head the top court. Hinting that the apex court was already

moving along the right path on the issue, he underscored that there was “no needfor a change of attitude” of the Collegium to ensuregreater representation of women in the judiciary.Hearing a plea by a women lawyers’ body seekingconsideration of the “meritorious” lot among themfor appointment as judges in the High Courts, a Benchcomprising Chief Justice Bobde and Justices SanjayKishan Kaul and Surya Kant said: “Why only higherjudiciary? We think the time has come when a womanshould be the Chief Justice of India.” At this junc-ture, it would be pertinent to mention that currentlythere are only 81 female judges in the 25 High Courtsacross the country against 1,078 male judges. Amongthem, the Madras High Court tops the list with 13female judges, followed by Punjab and Haryana with

11, and the Delhi and Bombay High Courts have eight women judges each.Interestingly, while the Supreme Court’s emphasis on gender issues is to be laud-

ed, it would truly have credibility and value if its own actions were consistent on thissubject. Consider this: There is only one female judge among the 34 positions thatcurrently constitute the Supreme Court. With Justice Indu Malhotra’s retirement lastmonth, the Collegium is considering a few women judges for elevation. The nation’stop court has had only eight women judges since it came into existence on January26, 1950. The first one, Fathima Beevi, made it to the elite club only as late as inOctober 1989. Not a single woman judge has figured in the list of 48 CJIs since itsinception. It would perhaps not be out of the context here to mention that the SupremeCourt had recently pointed to the delay in giving women permanent commission inthe military, blaming it on the “systemic bias” within the Ministry of Defence. Whilethere certainly seems to be some truth in what it said, it is a complicated issue, espe-cially the impact of women in combat roles. That said, in either case, there’s no deny-ing that women are up to performing any professional job with panache while bal-ancing with finesse their roles as mother, daughter, sister, wife and homemaker.

India is hunkering down again to battle the second and more virulent wave of theCoronavirus outbreak. It would have been much better for us had we sincerelystuck to the COVID-19 protocols when the numbers were down and, who knows,

we might have been rid of this pesky virus by now! While the average citizen decid-ed that it was “okay” to return to the crowded restaurants, malls, airports and busand railway stations without masks or social distancing, our short-sighted politicospostponed the all-important Board exams but considered it imperative to hold polit-ical rallies and road shows brimming with nonchalant people ahead of the Assemblyelections, because their future depended on it. The religious leaders found it exigent

for us to wash away our sins by bathing in the mil-lions in the holy Ganga. Now, here’s the result ofour collective endeavours: The Coronavirus casesacross the country hit a record 2,17,353 fresh infec-tions in the last 24 hours, the eighth record dailyincrease in the last nine days. In the same period,1,185 people lost their lives due to the viral disease.The numbers coming out of the Health Ministry saythat India registered a steady increase in the num-ber of active Corona cases for the 36th day in arow. Now, we are scrambling to control the dam-age. The Home Ministry has asked its officers upto the level of Under-Secretary to avail the WFH

option while the Deputy Secretary and above-ranking officials have been asked to attendoffice regularly with the option to stagger timings between 9 AM and 10 AM.

Various States, including the Capital, have also come up with local-level restric-tions — ranging from shutting of malls, gyms, swimming pools and auditoriums,prohibiting dining at restaurants, besides imposing a weekend lockdown and nightcurfew. The Government has assured the citizenry that the “test, trace, treat” andvaccination drive will continue unabated and that the national drug controller will takejust three days to process applications of the foreign-made vaccines once they’vebeen approved for emergency use in India. One can only hope that this time around,the Government grits its teeth and stands by the Prime Minister’s words that “wemust learn to live with the virus”. No matter how many restrictions are placed onrecreation and how many weekends are spent imprisoned indoors, the nation’s econ-omy must not be shut down again. The first wave gave us many lessons on howto identify hotspots, impose local lockdowns and create containment zones in orderto keep the wheels of the industry churning. We have to ensure that our march towardsa self-reliant, New India continues; our ailing economy that was just beginning torevive cannot be delivered another body blow in the form of a hard lockdown. Else,we risk having a comatose economy in our hands. So, the nation would do well togird up its loins and prepare for a bumpy road ahead, but the wheels of the econ-omy cannot stop, no matter what.

Bumpy road ahead

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

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HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021

06

Good omenIt's time for the CJI's wish for a woman judge

to head the nation's top court to come true

Natural causes and human intervention are to blame for the risingnumber of conflagrations not only in India, but the world over

PICTALK

Smoke billows from a forest fire at the Ketli area in Shimla PTI

FOREST FIRES ARE AS OLD AS

FORESTS AND WILLCONTINUE TO

OCCUR AS LONG ASFORESTS EXIST.ONE, HOWEVER,

CAN LIMIT THEIR INCIDENCE

AND ADVERSECONSEQUENCES BY

FIRMLY DEALINGWITH THE TIMBER,

BUILDER ANDMINING MAFIA,

AND THE POACHERS

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

To avoid having a comatose economy now, we must bear the cross of our earlier negligence

India’s flamingforests play havoc

The surge of forest firesin Uttarakhand onceagain underlines thegrowing incidence of the

phenomenon in India. Therehas been a series of these this yearin Himachal Pradesh, theNagaland-Manipur border,Odisha, Madhya Pradesh andGujarat. According to the IndiaState of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR)— the latest in the line of suchreports — released by the ForestSurvey of India (FSI), Dehradun,over 30,000 forest fires werereported in the country in 2019.The report identified nearly 21.67per cent (7,12,249 sq km) of thecountry’s land area as forested.Another 2.89 per cent (95,027 sqkm) was under tree cover.

The report identified 2,77,758forest fire points across the coun-try, and stated that about 21.40per cent of India’s forests are proneto fires. Of this, 3.89 per centbelonged to the category ofextremely fire-prone, 6.01 percent very highly fire-prone and11.50 per cent highly fire-prone.

The forests in Assam,Mizoram and Tripura are“extremely prone” to conflagra-tions. According to the Ministryof Environment, Forest andClimate Change (MoEFCC)annual report for 2020-21, theStates with large forest areas andfalling under the “very highlyfire-prone” category — includ-ing Andhra Pradesh, Manipur,Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,Odisha, Maharashtra, Bihar andUttar Pradesh — were turninginto “extremely fire-prone”hotspots; so were regions likewestern Maharashtra, southernChhattisgarh and areas ofTelangana and Andhra Pradesh,along with central Odisha. Areasunder the “highly prone” and“moderately prone” categoriesmake up about 26.2 per cent ofthe total forest cover — a stag-gering 1,72,374 sq km.

A State prone to forest fires isHaryana which suffered at least540 of these from 2016 to 2020.Uttarakhand and HimachalPradesh are witness to the mostfrequent forest fires annually.According to the National ForestInventory under the MoEFCC,the fires severely affect almost 10

SOUNDBITENEGLIGENCE RESPONSIBLE FOR SITUATION Sir —Instead of getting stunned by the ris-ing number of COVID cases in the coun-try, we must admit the fact that we are notmoving towards a second wave but are actu-ally in its grip. As the demand forRemdesivir surges, the Centre has fast-tracked applications from companies tomanufacture the critical anti-viral drug inorder to ensure its smooth availability. Nightcurfews and partial lockdowns are beingimposed in many parts of the country as ameasure to control the deadly virus. Amidthe rising cases, the Centre has announcedthe cancellation of the CBSE Board examsfor Class 10 and has deferred Class 12exams.

On the other hand, lakhs of devoteeshave been taking a holy dip in the Gangaon the occasion of the Kumbh Mela inHaridwar, flouting the COVID norms. It ishowever ironic that while the Governmenthas no compunction about cancelling theBoard examinations, elections in the coun-try are continuing as if nothing has hap-pened. These fears have been magnified allthe more with the dismal disregard shownby various State Governments to clampingdown on mass public events and gatherings.While a proactive approach to control andmanage the crowds when it comes tostonewalling the widely contagious virus,is a remedy to the problem, the completedisregard shown towards the basic safetyprecautions is indeed perplexing!

Pachu Menon | Goa

TROOP WITHDRAWAL WILL CREATE VACUUMSir — The US’ decision to withdraw troopsfrom Afghanistan is not good at the pre-sent moment as the situation on theground is far from satisfactory. The Talibanis still controlling parts of Afghanistan andthere is considerable influence of Pakistanand support from China, too. The chancesof disintegration of Afghanistan are quitehigh. The withdrawal of the US troopsmight create a vacuum which, if acquiredby the disruptive forces, will push the coun-try into turmoil. President Joe Biden hassaid the US troops will be withdrawn from

Afghanistan beginning May 1 and theprocess will be completed by September 11.For his part, Afghan President Ashraf Ghanisaid he spoke to Biden and that his coun-try respects the US decision.

Maybe the US troops might be shiftedto some other regions of the world. The USis also facing domestic problems and is rav-aged by the COVID pandemic. Washingtonneeds a war to run its economy. Theweapons industry needs insecurity amongthe countries to sell weapons and makeprofits. In my opinion, the US troops willbe shifted to another war. Let’s wait andwatch till the withdrawal in September.

Sunil Pradhan | Odisha

BAN SUPER-SPREADER EVENTS Sir — It refers to the editorial ‘Matters offaith’ (April 16). At a time when theGovernment has done away with bridgingtrials for foreign-made vaccines for

COVID-19 to facilitate acceleration invaccination, it should seriously think aboutbanning religious events like the KumbhMela which has become a super-spreader.In just five days, 1,701 people have testedpositive for COVID-19 in the Kumbh Melaarea. The Uttarakhand Police was unableto impose the standard operating proce-dures (SOPs) on the seers of akhadas andthe ash-smeared ascetics crowding the HarKi Pauri on the two shahi snans becauseof time constraints. Now Niranjani Akhada,one of the 13 akhadas of seers participat-ing in the Kumbh, has decided to returnfrom the event in the wake of the deterio-rating COVID-19 situation. But it is too lateas the damage has already been done.

Bal Govind | Noida

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Politics over the anti-Coronavirus vaccinestarted the day Prime Minister NarendraModi announced free jabs to the people

of Bihar in the run-up to the Assembly elec-tions in October-November last year. The vac-cine policy suffered from the play of politicsand one-upmanship. Besides, appalling naive-ness in assessing the demand during the sec-ond wave, differing norms for affordingauthorisation for use, inertia in augmenting in-house capacity, exports as a policy andimports in fetters together impacted the avail-ability of vaccines in the country. After the

authorisation of the Oxford-assisted Covishieldand the indigenously-developed Covaxin foremergency use, the authorities soft-pedalledon giving authorisation and import/productionlicence(s) to other popular vaccine candidatesin the world. According to the Lancet,Russia's vaccine Sputnik V had the efficacy of91.6 per cent. While the chronic shortage wasbeing felt, the Government allowed the exportsto showcase India as a powerhouse of vac-cines. To draw an analogy, the US has accu-mulated stocks which could vaccinate its entirepopulation.

In fact, the possibility of a furious secondwave was overlooked. India's daily COVIDcount has crossed 2 lakh now. This surge mustbe viewed against the overloaded hospitals,shortage in oxygen supply, inadequacy in life-saving ventilators and shortfalls in vaccines andmedicines. There is an urgent need to reassessthe situation carefully and honestly to mounta multipronged action to crush the climbingcurve and augment treatment facilities.

Haridasan Rajan | Kozhikode

Politicisation of vaccines Being a tourist State,if we impose nightcurfew, it will create aspin-off effect. Peopleshould remain alert.We have issued anadvisory. We are continuing to create awareness.

Goa Chief Minister — Pramod Sawant

If we were to lift the borderrestrictions, youwould see thesecases increase andAustralians would

have to become used to dealing with1,000 cases or more a week.

Australian Prime Minister — Scott Morrison

I would love to singin films that I amgoing to be a part of,as well as for others,as a playback singer.

Actor— Adarsh Gourav

There is no shortageof Remdesivir drugbut if anyone is tryingto misuse thepandemic situation byblack-marketing, thenall those will be punished severely.

Karnataka Home Minister

— Basavaraj Bommai

He is not the MSDhoni which he usedto be probably four orfive years back, wherehe could just come inand start taking on the

bowlers from the word go.

Former cricketer — Gautam Gambhir

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

Time to turn Noceboto Placebo in India

IF CENTRAL ARMED FORCES ARE ATTACKED

THEN SHOTS SHOULD BE FIRED.

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO DIES OR LIVES.

—BJP LEADER

RAHUL SINHA

HE HAS UNMASKED THE TRUE

FACE OF THE BJP. PEOPLE WILL

GIVE THEM A BEFITTING REPLY.

—TMC SPOKESPERSON

KUNAL GHOSH

The pandemic and its prevalence have taughtus many lessons in perseverance and patience.We have raced from one decision to the next,

hoping that the latest one will make everything nor-mal again. While the scientists have been workingrelentlessly to understand the virus and come upwith increasingly promising vaccine candidates, thevirus has been playing truant and evolving in newforms to ditch human efforts and survive as morerobust variants. In the wake of the ever-changingvariants, efficacy statistics and reported side effects,the so-called ultimate solution to end the pandem-ic, the anti-Corona vaccine, doesn’t appear to be soattractive anymore. People are hesitant to take theshot, confirming the ‘Nocebo Effect’ to the perceivedsolution of the pandemic that doesn’t seem to begetting anywhere close to its end. The hesitancy isspread across the globe. Some think they will neverget the disease while others believe the virus is onits way out. Social media has been most instrumen-tal in spreading the hesitancy due to varied opin-ions of people who have wide social media presenceand have contributed to turning the solution fromplacebo to nocebo.

Understanding and addressing vaccine hesitan-cy has become very important in the drive towardsnormalising life, avoiding deaths and allowing theeconomy to run to its full capacity. These were thevery reasons why a COVID-19 vaccine was need-ed in the first place. What made the long wait fora solution turn into vaccine hesitancy needs seri-ous thought. As per the World Health Organisation(WHO), vaccine hesitancy is the delay in acceptanceor refusal of vaccines despite their availability.Medical practitioners and scientists have been mak-ing all out efforts to discuss and address the com-mon causes of concern. Fear and hesitancy comefrom the unknown, hence the awareness needs torise. This has led to a negative mindset against thevaccine. The hesitancy has also been triggered bythe side effects reported in some cases as a resultof administering the vaccine. The directions to con-tinue with the safety measures and stay withCOVID-appropriate behaviour along with report-ing of positive cases in some vaccinated individu-als have amplified the vaccine hesitancy.

With many cases of blood clotting reported asa side effect of the AstraZeneca jab and discontin-uation of the vaccine thereafter in at least a dozenEuropean countries before resuming them again,doubts have grown more than ever. The latest newsthat Denmark has totally stopped the use of theAstraZeneca jab in its inoculation drive is not help-ing the cause and instilling confidence in people.

While Governments across the globe have rolledout the vaccine and invited people to get vaccinat-ed at the earliest, the vaccination centres report adifferent story. Dealing with vaccine hesitancy hasbecome the next big challenge, even in a countrylike India, which is now the second-most badly hitnation in the world after the US.

In order to build trust and confidence in the jab,a multi-pronged strategy is required with transpar-ent communication as the key. With the second wavealready in full swing and numerous variants of theoriginal virus here, the danger is far from over. Herdimmunity, as it was being perceived, is nowhere insight as there are people who have reported a sec-ond infection. The diversity of the disease is unfath-omable.

Attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccines have changed overtimeand varied greatly. The theory ofdeveloping antibodies on beinginfected has also led to a decrease inthe relevance of the vaccine. Infectedindividuals feel they have devel-oped antibodies and are immunisedagainst the disease, so they do notneed a shot. However, the protectiveabilities of antibodies in sero-surveysis unknown and their effectiveness inpreventing reinfection is still to bestudied. The belief that the vaccineis rushed and has not been testedproperly is another setback.

That some of the scientists havebeen supporting this belief has alsogiven boost to hesitancy. It is alsoassumed that the efficacy of the vac-cine is being underplayed so thatpeople do not become lax in observ-ing COVID-appropriate behaviour.Another view being expressed is thatthe immunity after vaccination lastsfor only six months, which wronglyimplies that the shot is not effective.People also think that if the survivaland recovery rate is 99.6 per cent,why even bother getting a jab.

All these supposed opinions andviews have stopped people from get-ting vaccinated. Giving compensa-tion for getting vaccinated has alwaysbackfired as people think that theyare being paid because there issomething to hide. The only groupsthat have justifiable concerns are theelderly, people with co-morbidities,pregnant women and those with highallergic reactions to vaccines. Also,

there is no vaccine to protect our chil-dren, as of now. Though getting vac-cinated is a personal choice, the mostsuccessful inoculation drives havebeen built on knowledge exchange,accessibility and successful stories ofthose getting vaccinated.

Sherita Hill Golden, vice-presi-dent, chief diversity officer and aProfessor of Medicine at JohnsHopkins Medicine talks of 12 thingsyou need to know in the wake of thecurrent vaccine hesitancy. The factsand insights into making a person-al choice to get inoculated include thefollowing: Getting vaccinated canprotect you from getting COVID asyour body will be ready to fight theCoronavirus if you are exposed to it;the people of colour are especiallyvulnerable to severe COVID-19 andits risk factors; getting inoculatedhelps others in the community, moreso when people have chronic med-ical conditions; more vaccinationsmean a chance to return to normalafter having to experience closures,cancellations and postponements;though the vaccine developmentwas fast, no steps were skippedwhile testing for safety and efficacy;diversity in vaccine testing helpedassess safety and effectiveness; sideeffects of the COVID-19 vaccine aresparse and temporary, mainly limit-ed to a sore arm, mild fever or bodyaches; it is possible to get the shotdespite allergies except if you havesevere allergic reactions to vaccines;the vaccine is safe for breastfeedingmothers, though pregnant women

should discuss it with their doctorsas the vaccine have not been testedin pregnant women; the jab can giveyou extra protection, if you alreadyhad COVID-19; waiting too longallows the virus to spread in the com-munity, hence, time is of the essencefor the vaccine; the pandemic canonly be shortened if the vaccine iswell-received.

Hence, people have been advisedto do their own research from reli-able sources and take an informeddecision regarding getting vaccinat-ed. Where the issue of the shortageof the vaccine in the country is con-cerned, the Government is doing allit can to ensure that the needs of thepeople are met at the earliest. Whilethe Russian vaccine Sputnik V hasbeen given the go ahead and will hitthe market soon after short trialshere, the Centre is also looking at fastapprovals for vaccines from othernations that have been approved bythe WHO for emergency use. It isonly a matter of time and the short-age will be a thing of the past. But thebig question is will vaccine hesitan-cy, too, be gone soon?

It is time to put resolve into wide-ly propagating the positives of gettingvaccinated, underplaying the sparsenegatives and whole-heartedly sup-porting the Government’s initiativestowards massive vaccination drivesso that the pandemic situation can becontrolled, the economic downturncan be lifted and normalcy restored.Its time we turned this nocebo to aplacebo and support humanity.

We must widely propagate the positives of getting inoculated, underplay the negativesand whole-heartedly support the Govt’s initiatives towards massive vaccination drives

SONAM CHANDWANI

WHILE THERUSSIAN VACCINE

SPUTNIK V HASBEEN GIVEN THE GO

AHEAD AND WILLHIT THE MARKET

SOON AFTER SHORTTRIALS HERE, THE

CENTRE IS ALSOLOOKING AT FASTAPPROVALS FORVACCINES FROMOTHER NATIONSTHAT HAVE BEEN

APPROVED BY THEWHO FOR

EMERGENCY USE.IT IS ONLY A

MATTER OF TIME AND THE SHORTAGE

WILL BE A THING OF THE PAST. BUT

THE BIG QUESTION IS WILL VACCINE

HESITANCY, TOO, BE

GONE SOON?

The pall of gloom over the real estate industry on account of theCOVID-19 pandemic has brought to light several unconvention-al methods being applied to keep the dreams of property buy-

ers alive, while developers strive to stay afloat. A growing numberof Indians are acquiring slices of rent-yielding residential and com-mercial properties in a way that is comparable to investing in the stocksof a company. Fractional real estate, as the concept is known, allowsinvestors to buy, say, one per cent of a vacation home for a mini-mum amount and use it whenever they want, while earning rentalincome, too. While weekend properties are neither essential nor urgent,the outbreak has changed this perception. Such a realty ownershipconcept has arisen predominantly from the Work-From-Home (WFH)culture and the work-vacation culture, attracting NRIs and domesticbuyers alike. Such a property acts like an asset, attracting a pletho-ra of investors, in the end becoming a potential Special Purpose Vehicle-related investment. From the taxation standpoint, the fractional own-ership of a property opens up such owners to a plethora of taxableliabilities, when comparing the yearly taxation related costs of suchinterests, prospective buyers or their counsel/advisors need to be sureof the usage arrangement, location, ownership size, basic amenitiesand other items.

A unicorn investment refers to a startup avenue/venture, occu-pying less than $1 billion of the industry share. Considering the factthat this sort of timeshare arrangement is a novel arena of invest-ment for Indians, the value of such investment could possibly ren-der the whole idea as a potential cash cow for real estate develop-ers adapting to such forms of investment. With the pandemic hav-ing rendered the traditional and conventional real estate an under-yield-ing area of investment in the markets currently, fractional ownershipmight just pave way for a steady boom in the real estate sector. Whilefractional ownership may appear to be an inexpensive mode of invest-ment to potential investors, it has its pros and cons. Procedures involv-ing the investment in such ventures could involve detailed due dili-gences and legal red-tapism. Not paying attention to such procedurescould end up putting stressed properties in the hands of lesser advisedinvestors.

Moreover, expenses considering maintenance and managementof the property and any such costs could essentially tip the scalesagainst the owners should they not be able to actually utilise the prop-erty within their arrangements. Having said that, the benefits accru-ing out of part ownership of vacation properties, while not account-ing monumentally in financial terms, are manifold where it comes toutilisation. Such a property allows the investors to change their work-space surroundings and choose rather inexpensive modes of vaca-tion and even earn some money out of renting it out to other vaca-tioners. Though fractional ownership could lead to a real estate invest-ment boom the sector so gravely yearns for, the legal proceduresinvolved might turn off a certain class of investors. Moreover, a rel-atively-new arena of investment always ends up taking a lot moretime in yielding benefits, even if the time-value of money is ratherunaccountable, since the property provides more leisurely than com-mercial benefits. Timeshare investments, while popular in the West,are considered to be a nascent area of investment, particularly whilefractional ownership is considered. However, given the correct legalframework and taxation incentives, the current status of such invest-ment could be elevated to providing the work-vacation culture thestability that the recent short-lived boom is testament to.

(The writer is Managing Partner KS Legal and Associates. Theviews expressed are personal.)

The Kumbh Mela wasfirst mentioned in theaccounts of Hiuen

Tsang, the famous Chinesetraveller who visited India inthe seventh century. Thegrand event, with a 2,000-year-old history, commencedthis year in January and willcontinue till the end of April.Currently, at over two lakhnew cases, India accounts forone in six of all new COVIDinfections globally. But theserather grim facts did notdeter nearly 13.5 lakh devo-tees, including the membersof the 13 Akharas from tak-ing the holy dip or the ShahiSnan on April 13.

The consequences of theongoing Maha Kumbh uponpublic health have been dev-astating, to say the least. Inthe last 24 hours, Haridwarhas reported over 1,000 freshCorona positive cases. Withthe Indian Railways running

25 special trains to ferry thepilgrims across the country,the Maha Kumbh is all set tobecome a “Maha COVID-19super-spreader.” The situa-tion looks hopeless unlesseither the event is immediate-ly terminated or social dis-tancing norms are strictlyadhered to. But nothing sig-nificant seems to have beendone by the Governmentregarding it.

Health risks aside, theKumbh Mela is also notsomething that is known forenvironment friendliness.The Maha Kumbh is held atfour locations — Nashik,Haridwar, Prayagraj andUjjain — on a rotationalbasis after an interval of 12years.

While the Kumbh, ingeneral, is celebrated fourtimes over the course of 12years, with the site of theobservance rotating between

four pilgrimage places onthe four sacred rivers, name-ly, at Haridwar on the Ganga,at Ujjain on the Shipra, atNashik on the Godavari andat Prayagraj at the conflu-ence of the Ganga, theJamuna, and the mythicalSarasvati.

The Nashik Kumbh Melaheld in 2015 resulted in25,000 tonnes of solid wasteand faecal sludge that creptinto the groundwater tablefrom 33,000 hastily set-upmobile toilets without anyeffective waste disposalmechanism. It took an inter-national outcry triggered bymedia coverage and the even-tual intervention of theBombay High Court to cleanup the Nashik Kumbh Melamess and rescue the environ-ment. The event also causeda spike in river pollutionmaking it unfit for bathingand other purposes. The

maximum permissibleBiochemical OxygenDemand (BOD) for safebathing is 3.0 milligrams(mg) per litre but it rangedbetween 3.4-8.5 mg per litreduring the event. Meanwhilebacterial coliform rangedbetween 3,300 and 39,000Most Probable Number(MPN) per 100 ml while thepermissible limit is 500 MNPper 100 ml for human

bathing. The Maha Kumbh atHaridwar, too, is no differenteither in terms of the colos-sal health risk it poses or theecological collateral damageit brings.

In the run-up to theHaridwar Maha Kumbh, theNational Mission for CleanGanga (NMCG) has beenworking tirelessly to preventecological damage and as apart of its efforts, the NMCGhas diverted one of thebiggest local sewage drains —the Kassawan nullah — to asewage treatment plant. Butit should have been done ayear ago. This nullah hasemptied its effluents into theGanga for years.

A recent study by theDoon University on the pol-lution levels in the Gangaestablishes that in the stretchfrom Rishikesh to Haridwarthe river was high on pollu-tants due to the pilgrim

bathing load and urban wasteeffluent flow.

The study also revealedthat the overall concentrationof Polypropylene Copolymer(PPCP), a form of plastic pol-lutant in the Ganga wasfound to be up to 1,104.84nanograms per litre. Further,the presence of chemicalswas also found to be high inthe river water samples.

The election season, too,symbolised by huge politicalrallies, coupled with unre-strained religious gatheringsare in total defiance ofCOVID-appropriate behav-iour and protocol. Surely theGovernment is not ignorantof the health costs of theseunabated events during theongoing second wave of theCoronavirus pandemic, butpopulist measures andappeasement tactics are thetop priorities during electionsand they seem to score over

environmental and healthconcerns.

This is not surprising, butwhat is unfortunately star-tling is the inaction on thebehalf of the judiciary whichcould have taken a suo motuinitiative to shorten the dura-tion of the Kumbh Mela,thereby, saving lives and theenvironment. In the absenceof this, the Non-GovernmentOrganisations working in thefield of environment protec-tion and other individualscould have filed a PublicInterest Litigation to thiseffect, but unfortunately, thatalso did not happen yet.

It is a classic case of whowill bell the cat? Sadly, thereluctance of people to takeon what is obviously a com-munally-sensitive issue willcost the environment and thehealth and economy of thecountry dearly. Where are thetrue nationalists now?

The Govt is not ignorant of the health costs of these events during the ongoing second wave of the outbreak but populist measures are the top priority during elections

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021

07

www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

FIRSTCOLUMN

THE NEW REALTYFOR INDIANS

People are acquiring slices of rent-yielding properties ina way that is comparable to investing in a firm’s stocks

DEEPIKA BHASKAR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The writer is Registrar,IIT Delhi.

The views expressed are personal.

The Maha Kumbh of COVID and environmental risks

KOTA SRIRAJ

The writer is an environmental journalist.

The views expressed are personal.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Fortis Healthcare on Fridaysaid its subsidiary,

Escorts Heart Institute andResearch Center Ltd, hasreceived a notice fromcapital markets regulatorSEBI in the matter related tothe alleged diversion offunds from the company byits erstwhile promoters.SEBIhas issued a notice under

Rule 4 of SEBI (Procedure for holding inquiry and imposingpenalties) Rules, 1995 read with Section 15-I of Securities andExchange Board of India Act, 1992 in the matter of Fortis HealthcareLimited to, among others, Escorts Heart Institute and ResearchCenter Limited (EHIRCL)," Fortis Healthcare said in a regulatoryfiling. Fortis Healthcare on Friday said its subsidiary, EHIRCL,received the notice on April 15, 2021.

Escorts Heart Institute gets SEBInotice in funds diversion case

Transporters'body AIMTC on

Friday termed therecent 14-16 paiseper litre cut inpetrol and dieselprices acrossmajor cities as"ostentatious", andsaid there is still aroom to reduction

their prices by up to Rs 40 per litre. In a statement, the AllIndia Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), which claimsrepresenting over 95 lakh truckers and entities, said it is anopen fact that this small cut in the petrol and diesel prices hasa bearing on the election in four states — West Bengal, TamilNadu, Kerala and Assam.All India Motor Transport CongressChairman (Core Committee) Bal Milkit Singh said,

Transporters' body seeksmore reduction fuel prices

Gold prices rose marginallyby Rs 9 to Rs 46,431 per

10 gram in the national capi-tal on Friday, according toHDFC Securities. In the pre-vious trade, the preciousmetal had closed at Rs46,422 per 10 gram. Silveralso gained Rs 53 to Rs67,460 per kg from Rs67,407 per kg in the previous

trade.In the international market, gold was quoting higher at USD1,764 per ounce and silver was flat at USD 25.87 per ounce. "Goldprices rallied supported by dollar decline and fall in US bond yields,"according to HDFC Securities, Senior Analyst (Commodities), TapanPatel. Navneet Damani, VP – Commodities Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services, "Gold traded higher to a more than one-monthpeak as US Treasury yields slipped despite better-than-expected USeconomic data, pushing investors to bullion as a refuge against pos-sible inflation ahead."

Gold, silver marginally up

Top European Union andBritish officials failed to get a

breakthrough at talks onNorthern Ireland trade rulesand said Friday that contactwould continue over the com-ing weeks. The dinner meeting

late Thursday between European Commission Vice President MarosSefcovic and U.K. Brexit minister David Frost took place a monthafter the EU started legal action against its former member country,arguing that the UK had not respected the conditions of the Brexitagreement and violated international law. A British statement saidthat “a number of difficult issues remained and it was important tocontinue to discuss them.” Frost said that “there should be intensi-fied contacts at all levels in the coming weeks.” The two sides aretrying to find common ground on trade rules in Northern Ireland,where Britain's exit from the EU has unsettled a delicate political bal-ance.

EU-UK talks over Brexit fail toreach breakthrough

Exports rose to $13.72 bn duringApr 1-14: Commerce Ministry data

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's exports haveincreased to USD 13.72 billionduring April 1-14 this year onaccount of healthy growth rate insectors such as engineering andgems and jewellery, according to theprovisional data of the CommerceMinistry. Exports during April 1-14last year were aggregated at USD3.59 billion.

In April 2020, the outbound ship-ments had contracted by a record 60per cent due to COVID-19 relatedlockdown. Imports during the peri-od under review swelled to USD19.93 billion as against USD 6.54 bil-lion during April 1-14 last year, thedata showed. The final figures forApril 2021 would be released duringmid-May by the ministry.

Exports have surged by 60.29 percent to USD 34.45 billion in March,even as the outbound shipmentscontracted by 7.26 per cent duringthe full 2020-21 fiscal to USD290.63 billion.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's largest carmak-er Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Friday said it has hikedprices of most of its models byup to Rs 22,500 with immedi-ate effect to partially offset theimpact of the rise in inputcosts.

Barring Celerio and Swift,all the models of the compa-ny will be covered under theprice increase exercise.

"The company is increasingthe price for select modelsowing to increase in variousinput costs," the auto majorsaid in a regulatory filing.

The weighted average priceincrease in ex-showroom

prices (Delhi) across models is1.6 per cent, it added.

The new prices are effectivefrom Friday, MSI said.

The company sells variousmodels ranging from Alto toS-Cross, priced between Rs2.99 lakh and Rs 12.39 lakh(ex-showroom Delhi).

In March, the car marketleader had said that over thepast year, the cost of the com-pany's vehicles has beenimpacted adversely due to anincrease in various input costs.

On January 18 thisyear, the automaker hadannounced to hike prices ofselect models by up to Rs34,000 due to a rise in inputcosts.

Maruti hikes pricesby up to Rs 22,500

PNS n NEW DELHI

Consumer tech productsbrand Boat on Friday said ithas received funding fromQualcomm Ventures, theinvestment arm of QualcommIncorporated. While Boat didnot disclose the quantum offunding received, it said theinvestment will supprt thebrand's plans of rolling outnew audio and lifestyle prod-ucts across geographies aswell as building up R&D andmanufacturing capabilities.

Qualcomm is a world leaderin wireless technologies andBoat has a shared vision ofbuilding world-class productsfor India and the world, Boatco-founder Sameer Mehta saidin a statement.

"As Boat enters the nextphase of growth and innova-tion, we look forward to build-ing a relationship withQualcomm to deepen ourR&D capabilities and furtheraugment our efforts to manu-

facture products in India. Webelieve this relationship willcontribute to greater technol-ogy collaboration,” he added.

Boat has clocked a rapidrevenue growth, witnessingover 100 per cent over the pastseveral years. In the past year,it doubled its employeestrength and built up a localR&D in Bengaluru.

The company also expand-ed into newer categories likesmartwatches, besides launch-ing over 20 new products in theaudio category in 20202-21.

In January this year, Boathad announced raising USD100 million (about Rs 731.6crore) in funding from anaffiliate of Warburg Pincus, aglobal private equity firm.

Boat raises funds from

Qualcomm Ventures PNS n WASHINGTON

Ten liberal senators are urgingPresident Joe Biden to backIndia and South Africa's appealto the World TradeOrganisation to temporarilyrelax intellectual property rulesso coronavirus vaccines can bemanufactured by nations thatare struggling to inoculatetheir populations.

The lawmakers, in a letterdelivered to the White Houseon Thursday evening, wrotethat Biden should “prioritizepeople over pharmaceuticalcompany profits” and supportthe temporary waiver of therules. A waiver could pave theway for generic or other man-ufacturers to make more vac-cines.

The letter was led by inde-pendent Sen. Bernie Sanders ofVermont, along withDemocratic Sens. ElizabethWarren of Massachusetts,Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsinand Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

Democratic Sens. RichardBlumenthal of Connecticut,Chris Murphy of Connecticut,Edward Markey ofMassachusetts, Jeff Merkleyof Oregon, Chris Van Hollenof Maryland and RaphaelWarnock of Georgia alsosigned the letter.

“Simply put, we must makevaccines, testing, and treat-ments accessible everywhere ifwe are going to crush thevirus anywhere,” the lawmak-ers say in the letter, which wasobtained by The AssociatedPress. More than 100 nationssupport a temporary waiver,

which could help vaccine man-ufacturing ramp up in poorercountries that are struggling toacquire vaccine supplies. TheBiden administration has saidit is studying the issue.

Opponents, including phar-maceutical companies, worrythat it would set dangerousprecedent in allowing scientistsaround the globe to copyAmerican and European com-panies' research — some ofwhich was funded by the USgovernment — long beforepatents expire. The Trumpadministration had opposedcalls for the waiver.

The White House did notrespond to a request for com-ment on the lawmakers' letter.

The lawmakers' appeal toBiden came after a group of170 former world leaders andNobel laureates earlier thisweek sent a similar letter toBiden urging him to support atemporary waiver of theWTO's intellectual propertyrules.

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee strengthenedby 58 paise to end at74.35 (provisional)against the US dollar onFriday, supported by pos-itive domestic equitiesamid improving riskappetite.

At the interbank forexmarket, the local unitopened at 74.76 againstthe greenback and wit-nessed an intra-day highof 74.28 and a low of74.76.

It finally ended at74.35 against theAmerican currency, reg-istering a rise of 58 paiseover its previous closing.On Thursday, the rupeehad settled at 74.93against the Americancurrency.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Larsen & Toubro (L&T)on Friday said its con-struct ion arm hasreceived multiple ordersacross business seg-ments in the domesticand international mar-ket.

The company did notprovide the value of thecontracts but said theorders fall under the"significant" category,which ranges betweenRs 1,000 crore and Rs2,500 crore accordingto the classification ofcontracts.

"The construct ionarm of L&T has securedorders from prestigiousclients for its variousbusinesses," L&T saidin a regulatory filing.

The company said itspower transmission anddistribution business haswon orders to designand construct two132/11kV substations inDubai, UAE.

PNS n MUMBAI

The spike in coronavirus casesposes a risk to economic recov-ery, and the GDP is unlikely toachieve the earlier projected 3per cent growth for Marchquarter 2020-21, Wall Streetbrokerage Bank of AmericaSecurities said on Friday.

Noting that a month-longnationwide lockdown canshave off 100-200 basis pointsoff the GDP, the brokerage saidgrowth is still weak, amplifiedby the steep fall in key econom-ic activity indicators and theanaemic loan growth, and thesurging pandemic cases is onlyincreasing the worries on thegrowth front.

However, the report by BofASecurities did not offer a like-ly GDP number for the Marchquarter 2020-21.

The seven-component BofAIndia activity indicator slowedto 1 per cent in February from1.3 per cent in January, thereport said, as 4 of the 7 con-

stituents of the India activityindex slowed in February overthe previous month.

The report also pointed outthat this poses risks to their 3per cent real GVA growthforecast for the March quarter.The index had first time in2020-21 turned positive in

December 2020 after decliningfor nine straight months.

Spike in pandemic casesposes a rising risk to recovery."We estimate that a month ofnational lockdown costs 100-200 bps of GDP," the reportwarned.

The pandemic caseload inIndia has been surging hittingnew records everyday for thepast fortnight. The latest offi-cial number puts the dailyinfections at 2.17 lakh in thepast 24 hours and 1,185deaths-- both are the highestin the world and more than thecombined numbers of the sec-ond and the third most affect-ed countries-- Brazil and theUS.

‘Covid 2nd wave poses risk to recovery’

PNS n BEIJING

China's economic growthsurged to 18.3 per cent over ayear ago in the first quarter of2021 after factory and con-sumer activity returned large-ly to normal following thecoronavirus pandemic.

The figures reported Fridaywere magnified by comparisonwith early 2020, when theworld's second-largest econo-my fell into its deepest contrac-tion in decades.

Manufacturing, auto salesand other consumer activityhave revived to above pre-pan-demic levels since the rulingCommunist Party declaredvictory over the coronaviruslast March and allowed facto-ries and stores to reopen.

The economy “delivered astable performance with a con-solidated foundation and goodmomentum of growth,” theNSB said in a report.

The outsize jump in theheadline number was in line

with expectations by forecast-ers due to the low basis forcomparison in early 2020.

Some warn that despiteChina's impressive recent per-formance, a recovery still isuncertain because globaldemand is weak as some gov-ernments reimpose anti-dis-ease curbs that disrupt busi-ness and trade.

The economy shrank by 6.8per cent in the first quarter oflast year as the rulingCommunist Party took thethen-unprecedented step ofclosing most factories, shops

and offices to fight the out-break that started in the cen-tral city of Wuhan in late2019. It was China's worstperformance since at least themid-1960s.

Growth recovered to 6.5per cent over a year earlier inthe final quarter following theeconomy's relatively earlyreopening while the UnitedStates, Europe and Japan strug-gled with renewed disease out-breaks. China eked out full-year growth of 2.3 per cent,becoming the only majoreconomy to expand in 2020.

China's economic growthsurges to 18.3 per cent

PNS n NEW DELHI

Shares of Wipro zoomed near-ly 10 per cent in morning tradeon Friday after the companyposted a 27.7 per cent jump inconsolidated net profit at Rs2,972 crore for the March2021 quarter, and exuded con-fidence of sustaining stronggrowth momentum in thecoming quarters. The stockjumped 9.51 per cent to Rs 472-- its 52-week high -- on theBSE. At the NSE, it rallied 9.67per cent to Rs 472.35 -- its one-year high. The results wereannounced after market hourson Thursday.

Wipro had registered a netprofit (attributable to equityholders) of Rs 2,326.1 crore inthe year-ago period, as perIndian Accounting Standards(Ind-AS).

Its revenue from operationsrose by 3.4 per cent to Rs16,245.4 crore in the reportedquarter, from Rs 15,711 crorein the same period last fiscal.

Wipro -- which gets a bulk ofits topline from IT services --said it expects revenues fromthat unit to be in the range ofUSD 2,195 to USD 2,238 mil-lion in the June 2021 quarter.This translates into a sequentialgrowth of 2-4 per cent.

Wipro's IT services seg-ment revenue was at USD2,152.4 million in the Marchquarter, a sequential growth of3.9 per cent.

"Our Q4 performance wasbuilt on top of our momentumthat we saw in the last quarter.We have reported a solidgrowth in revenue, healthyorder booking and great exe-cution, resulting in robustmargins.

Wipro shares jump10% after Q4 earnings

PNS n NEW DELHI

Tata Motors on Fridaysaid it is operating itsPune-based manufactur-ing facility with a limit-ed number of employeesas per the guidelines is-sued by the Maharashtragovernment amid surgein Covid cases.

Tata Motors rolls outmodels like Nexon,Harrier, Altroz and Safarifrom the Pune plant.

"The company is run-ning Pune plant in strictcompliance with theguidelines mentioned inthe 'Break the Chain' orderof the Maharashtra gov-ernment. A limited num-ber of employees areattending duties adheringto all safety protocols, dis-tancing norms andhygiene standards," TataMotors said in a statement.

PNS n NEW DELHI

WIMWIsure, AI-enabled insur-ance service platform for on-demand inspection of insurableassets, on Friday said the compa-ny conducted over 2 lakh virtualinspections of passenger and com-mercial vehicles in the financialyear ended March 2021 and alsoturned profitable during the year.

The Indian motor insurancemarketplace has noted a clear shifttowards remote 'Do-It-Yourself 'checks and inspection-as-a-servicebecause of COVID-19 which hasnecessitated moving away from

physical vehicle inspections,WIMWIsure said in a release.

"During the lockdown,Insurtech WIMWIsure has con-ducted more than 2 lakh virtualinspections for passenger andcommercial vehicles through itson-demand artificial intelligence(AI)-enabled video inspectionplatform in the financial year2020-21," it said. The nearly four-year-old company said it saw thebulk of its over 3.5 lakh inspectionstill date during the lockdown, wit-nessing strong demand from tier-II and III cities for mid-rangeSUVs, sedans and hatchbacks.

WIMWIsure conducts2L inspections remotelyin FY21; turns profitable

‘OperatingPune plant asper norms’

Rupee zooms58 paise to settleat 74.35 againstUS dollar

L&T receivesmultiple ordersacross businesssegments

Senators to Biden: Waive vaxintellectual property rules

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facebook.com/dailypioneer

SaturdayApril 17, 2021

ou must do whatyou love, love whatyou do, and delivermore than whatyou promise!That’s exactly what

member of the IndianAdministrative Service JayeshRanjan did. Before 1992, thiscurrent Principal Secretary ofthe Industries & Commerce(I&C) and InformationTechnology (IT) Departmentsof the Telangana governmentmoved from Lucknow toDelhi for further studies andthen preferred to navigate tothe city of Hyderabad becausethe world isn’t custom-made.He was selected to serve theadministrative services fromthe then Andhra Pradeshcadre and here he is today.

How did he feel when hegot to know he would have toleave the place he’s living atand shift to a new one? Well,he was excited! “After myselection in the IAS in 1992, Icame to Hyderabad as myallotted cadre of erstwhileAndhra Pradesh. I have beenworking and living here sincethen, so I can say that morethan half of my life has beenspent in Hyderabad. The cityis extremely supportive of myendeavours! Besides toilingfor the government, I am alsoassociated with a number ofactivities including socialdevelopment projects, sports,arts and culture, literature, etc.In each of these, the city hasembraced me to extents Ican’t imagine,” he shares.

Jayesh Ranjan regards thiscity's culture as very valuable.He has shared experiences ofit as a resident, he views thecity as a patchwork of supercultures. The deccani lan-guage used here can be varia-tions of the many languagesspoken here and what’s evenmore special about it is thatthe ethnic neighborhoodsthrive on it! “I am fromLucknow. Coming toHyderabad for the first time, Iwas more concerned andapprehensive about the cul-tural differences, but to mypleasant surprise, I found thatHyderabad had a very syn-cretic culture which was veryreassuring. The culture offood that exists in the city isquite commendable. What Iappreciate the most about thiscity as compared to the otherthree other cities I have livedearlier, is that it is a very live-able city. Social hierarchies arelow, livelihood opportunitiesare aplenty, the city is afford-able and there is something ofinterest for everyone,” headds.

He holds a Masters Degreein Psychology from the DelhiUniversity, a degree inBusiness Management fromthe Indian Institute ofManagement, Calcutta, and aMasters in PublicManagement from Lee KuanYew School of Public Policy,National University ofSingapore. But little did heknow he’d end up in theneighborhoods of a Nawabicity serving the state govern-ment. The iconic visual scenesof Hyderabad made himrealise the symbolic identityof the city! The one thing thatcomes to his mind when he

thinks of Hyderabad is theNizams. The fascinatinglifestyle led by the Nizams iswhat leaves the dignitary inawe of it! From their palacestouching the sky, to the factthat they own one of the mostprecious diamonds in theworld and stories about all thefancy cars they owned – thereis a lot Jayesh has heard aboutthe opulence and the luxuri-ous lifestyle of the Nizams.

Sharing one of his fondestmemories in the city, he remi-nisces, “I enjoy my earlymorning walk everyday at theKBR Park! Apart from imbib-ing the best of nature fromclosed quarters, it also givesme a chance to plan for myentire day. Although, I woulddefinitely prefer a more civicengagement from the com-mon people in all the vitalmatters that concern every-one.”

Talking elaborately about

his association with theTelangana government andhis distinct role in the pro-gression of the IT industry, hegives a detailed account of itsaying, “I look after the sub-jects of IT and industries inTelangana government andprovide close support to ourChief Minister KChandrashekar Rao. Boththese subjects have doneexceedingly well in the last sixyears, and I feel proud of thecontribution that we havemade. IT is one sector thathas flourished and thrivedafter the new state ofTelangana has come intobeing. In our entire country,Hyderabad has recorded thebest annual growth in termsof IT turnover and number ofnew jobs created year afteryear.”

With the many unspokenadvancements of the economyvitality and dynamism, JayeshRanjan wholeheartedly wantsto continue to settle here posthis services because the verycharacteristics of people toassimilate with others isseemingly very beautiful tosee for him.

While his close relatives areso awestruck about theFalaknuma Palace here, theGolconda Fort andCharminar continue toremain their perennialfavourites!

Born in Lucknow,educated in Delhi,

Calcutta andSingapore, he

landed inHyderabad, andabsolutely loves

how his lifepanned out. In acandid interview,

IT SecretaryJayesh Ranjan

talks to The

Pioneer'sSHIKHA

DUGGAL abouthis life in

Hyderabad, whathe loves mostabout the city,

how it has beengrowing, and

more.

‘SOCIAL HIERARCHYIS LOW, LIVELIHOODHIGH IN HYDERABAD'

yderabad’s 17year old teenag-er, Trisha notonly conceptu-alises one the ofearliest thrift

stores in South India butalso runs it successfullyh.The gen Z entrepreneurasks people to shop clothessustainably for a price thatwill not leave a hole in thepocket.

When the Coronaviruspandemic resulted in lock-down, quarantine and shut-ting down of schools, whatwould a 17-year-old girlhave done? Sit back, enjoythe unexpected holidaysand chill? But Trisha Reddy,an 11th grader girl then(currently in 12th grade)studying at OakridgeInternational School in thecity conceptualised andfounded‘ThriftChicByTrish’, anonline thrift store. Threemonths into it, she sharesher success as one of theearliest entrants into onlinethrifting business.

“With the increased con-versation about repurposingpre-loved fashion and sus-tainability, thrift stores aregrowing in popularity par-ticularly those with anonline presence,” says TrishaReddy.

“Thrifting is an age-oldpractice in India. In thedays of my parents' child-hood, unused clothes werealways given to the youngersiblings in the family. It wasa well-accepted practice andnobody minded it. But,

somehow the present gener-ation lost the practice. Iwanted to revive that age-old practice very unique toour country but add a busi-ness element to it. Thus myonline thrifting store‘ThriftChicByTrish’ wasconceived on Instagram,”she informs. So, she becamea CoronaStudentPreneur.Her thrift store that startedjust a few months ago inJanuary, currently hasalmost 1000 followers.

She began with a sum ofRs 35,000/- loaned by herparents. The investment hasgone basically into thepackaging material for thestore, she shares. “I havedone a business of INR70,000/-, having sold 75pieces of garments out of 87on display. Most of thoseclothes are mine and of afew of the people I know,”Trisha adds.

ThriftChicByTrish usesInstagram as a platform andoffers carefully curated pre-loved, trendy, affordable,

pre-owned clothing piecesfor sale on a particular dayof the week and at a giventime that are just a phoneclick away, and encourages

thrifting to become morethan just a passing trend, atrend here to stay.

The good thing aboutthrifting is giving life to

clothes lying unused inwardrobes. It is an onlinesale of pre-used items atdiscounted prices. Thriftingis a new way of selling high-

end clothing well belowretail prices.

When asked about herinspiration for the idea shesaid “Since I’ve always had a

passion to start somethingof my own in the field offashion and have alreadygained an insight into itthrough blogging, I thoughtwhy not combine my lovefor fashion, contemporaryand high street trends andturn it into a business thatenables a sustainable life?So, I introduced‘ThriftChicByTrish.’”

“The new trend in thefashion industry today is‘Sustainable Fashion’.Socially conscious andresponsible fashion is moreimportant today than everbefore. Eco-friendly fash-ion, ethical clothing, afford-able luxury, clothing rental,buying second-hand cloth-ing are the trends the indus-try is witnessing,” saysentrepreneur Trisha.

“I curated the collectionof clothes I sell, style themfor the picture and sport asa model wearing thoseclothes to showcase them tocustomers,” Trisha explainshow a thrift store works. “Ithen promote them throughmy store on Instagram. Ifthere is any defect on theclothes it is mentioned in

the description. I have cus-tomers from Mumbai,Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai butmost of them are fromHyderabad. My sisterAnoushka Reddy helps mewith the photography aspectand conceptualising thebrand name, logo, packag-ing etc. All my pictures aretaken on either an AndroidSamsung phone or aniPhone-11.”

Currently, it carries onlyfemale clothes. Soon she isplanning to add male cloth-ing as well as Indian wear.She doesn’t rule outexpanding further.

Naturally, people aremore inclined to give theirold clothes a second life.Price is now an additionalincentive for them to giveclothes to thrifting stores,says the teenage entrepre-neur. “No one expects anymoney for the discardedclothes. But, my ventureadds monetisation, which isnow encouraging more andmore people to explorethis.”

Trisha is confident ofdoing well, she wants to goslow but leave her mark.

H

Y

ome-made pas-tries are becom-ing a new trendin India. It hasbecome a formof expression, a

stress relief exercise andmost importantly a displayof skills. As a beginner,whether you’re trying totreat your loved ones afterdinner or you want toimpress your friends onsocial media, you can’tafford to go wrong with apretty cake.

Before you decide to gointo a kitchen, start with thelist of baking tools you musthave. We’ll help you set up abaking kit for beginners. Forthose who already ownthese tools, the list may pro-vide motivation that youneed to prepare the yummi-est pastries or cakes.Building your essential bak-ing toolbox starts here:

Pastry brush

This tool is one of themost important and hasuses more than you canrealise. It can be used togrease a pan before pouringcake in it, to coat doughwith melted butter or eggwash or to paint milk on thetop of pie crust. This is amust-have.

Measuring cups

Baking is all about accu-racy, so having a full set ofmeasuring cups and spoonsis a must. One type of cupfor measuring isn’t enoughfor baking. You will needboth dry and wet measuringcups to precisely measure allthe ingredients you’re

putting in your recipe. Mostmeasuring spoons sets havea tablespoon, ½ teaspoon,and ¼ teaspoon, while mostmeasuring cups come in setswith ½ cup, ½ 1/3 cup and¼ cup.

Whisk

Whisk is used to beattogether a few eggs, but it isused for other things too. Inparticular, it’s one of thebest to thoroughly mix vari-ous ingredients but it is alsogreat for stirring together ahomemade custard.

Baking pan

From flat baking trays forcookies and loaf tins forbreads and loaf cakes tosquare tins for brownies andround tins for classic spongecake, the baking pans comein different sizes and shapes.Non-stick aluminum bakingpan is better than a glassone.

While glass one looksmore stylish and pre-sentable, aluminum hashigh heat conductivity sothat you cook evenly.

Stand mixer

An electric stand mixer isexpensive, but once you useit, you’ll wonder how didyou ever manage without it,especially when you make

things like marshmallows,they require beating for 10or more minutes.

It makes your cookingeasier, takes off the physicalload and saves a lot of time.Most importantly, it gives abetter result in the finalproduct.

Icing spatula

It is needed to evenlyspread the cream all overthe cake. It comes in differ-ent sizes and is needed asper the size/height of thecake. If you don’t have anicing spatula, you can usethe back, straight edge of alarge knife to smooth yourbutter cream and then cleanup the bottom of your cakeplate with a paper towel.

Next, take a freezer bagand fill it with your icing.Push the icing into one cor-ner and twist the bag.

Metal bowls

Baking often necessitatesfrostings, caramels, andcreams, which can befinicky if they’re not kept ata steady temperature, aretoo warm. A frosting mightnot whip properly, forexample, if ingredients aretoo warm. Metal bowls arereally helpful as they are abetter conductor of heatthan glass.

Serrated knife

This is the best knife forcutting a cake in half orthirds. It will help maintaina smooth, precise cut that’sperfect for when you wantto add a flavourful layer offruit jam or fluffy butter-cream to a pastry or a birth-day cake.

Pastry decorating kit

If you want to decorateyour pastries with rosepetals or a basketweave tothe top, then you’ll needsome pastry decoratingtools. This kit contains sixdifferent shaped tips andtwo reusable nylon bags,which are more eco-friendlythan disposable plastic bagsbecause they can be usedover and over again.

Gel-based food dye

Gel-based food dye isused to create vibrant pas-tries and cakes. You shouldavoid water-based dyesfound in little tubes at thesupermarket as these dyesare so weak they’ll producepastels in place of bold, sat-urated ones.

Natural dye is great too,but don’t expect the sameresults.

(The list is shared by topchefs from the Academy ofPastry & Culinary Arts.)

BAKERS’TOOL KIT

Whether you’retrying to treat

your lovedones after

dinner or youwant to

impress yourfriends on

social media,you can’t afford

to go wrongwith a pretty

cake. Here aretop 10 pastry

tools everyhome-bakershould have

GIVING LIFE TO

pre-loved clothes

H

PARTY

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

FUN

10

what’s brewing?

l Pooja Raj

l Sruthi l Akshhatha

l Shazia Ilmi

l Amit Bagaria

Social activist Shazia Ilmi wasthe main attraction at a firesidechat with Amit Bagaria, best

selling author at an event organisedby the Yi (young Indians) chapterof Hyderabad. Many insights intothe political climate of today's Indiawere discussed and ponderedupon.

TALKING FFUTURE

Hyderabad Saturday April 17, 2021

Photos by SV Chary

here were reportsthat Kartik Aaryanwill no longer be apart of KaranJohar’s Dostana 2.The movie was

announced in 2019 but theshoot had to be delayed dueto the pandemic. While noone officially confirmed thenews, a trade source hasannounced that the actor hasbeen replaced from the movieand that Dharma will nolonger work with KartikAaryan in the future. The rea-son stated behind this deci-sion is a fallout betweenKaran Johar and KartikAaryan. Along with the cre-ative differences, it has alsobeen reported that JanhviKapoor and Kartik have had afallout.

The actor initially hadproblems with his dates andschedule, later on, he startedhaving creative issues. It wasearlier reported that Kartikwas replaced from the projectfor dilly-dallying the shoot formonths now. He decided tofirst wrap up Ram Madhvani’sfilm Dhamaka and thatannoyed Karan. A source toldus, “For the longest time,Kartik gave a genuine reasonof the Covid 19 pandemic tonot start shoot. He wantedto ensure safety so Karandidn’t push him much.But when he shot forDhamaka, Karan wasupset. They had anindoor meeting whereKaran expressed hisdisappointment.”

Kartik later did theunthinkable and thatled to major falloutwith Karan Johar.“Kartik got upsetwith the bannerwhen they gaveShashank Khaitan’sYoddha to ShahidKapoor.AlthoughShahid soonquit, theyneverapproachedKartik forthe roleanyway. Also,since Kartik’sdates werenot avail-able forDostana2, Karan

decided to go ahead and startMr. Lele with Vicky Kaushaland Janhvi Kapoor fromApril.

The moment Kartik got toknow about this development;he informed the productionhouse that the only datesavailable for Dostana 2 thisyear will be April onwards.Karan understood whatKartik was doing and quicklyreprimanded him for thesame. He was genuinely upsetwith Kartik as Janhvi had topick between Dostana 2 andMr. Lele. The last we heard,Karan and Kartik are notspeaking a word to eachother.”

Another source said, “Thereason for Kartik Aaryan tonot continue with the film asstated by him is the cre-

ative differences after one anda half years and completingover 20 days of the shoot.This has never happened inthe history of Dharma wherean actor has walked out of thefilm for creative issues.Dharma has decided not towork with him in the future.”

Karan Johar has decided toreplace Kartik and not workwith him in the future havingenough of his tantrums. Thesource further informed,“Dharma is such a prestigiousbanner and KJo is reputed forlaunching careers – but neverat the cost of a film’s futureand the livelihoods of its castand crew.”

There have been no reportsas to who will step in forKartik Aaryan’s role in

Dostana 2.

T

KARTIK AARYAN REPLACED

IN DOSTANA 2; KJO DECIDES TO

NEVER WORK WITH HIM?

11

Hyderabad Saturday April 17, 2021 tollywood

ith increasing Covid cases inthe country, Maharashtra gov-ernment has alreadyannounced further restrictionson public movement in thestate resulting in film and TV

shoots coming to a halt. Much like manyother industries, this is the second timeshowbiz will be going through a majorsetback. Farnaz Shetty, who will be mak-ing her Tollywood debut with InduVadana, is anxious too but trying to staypositive.

Directed by MSR, story, and screenplayby Satish Aketi, the film is produced byMadhavi Adurti along with Giridhar.

“I just finished my second schedule ofthe film in Hyderabad. We started facingcomplications in the last few days butsomehow managed to finish our work.Now only the climax part is left to be shot.I just hope we finish shooting that portionsoon otherwise everything would go for atoss,” Shetty sounds worried.

“The pandemic is far from over andthose who thought ‘corona is gone’ andflouted norms should now learn their les-

son hard”, added the actor.Farnaz shared a pic with a bridge in the

background captioned: “We Build toomany walls, and not enough bridges ??#induvadana”

The actress urges everyone to followCovid protocol.

“You have to understand the gravity ofthe situation and act accordingly. We haveto follow all protocols to break the chain.Panicking is not the solution. I just hopethis pandemic comes to a full stop. Weneed to go back to our normal lives soon.The entertainment industry is facing a cri-

sis of this sort for the first time. 2020shouldn’t get repeated, we must worktowards that. Everyone should get vacci-nated at the earliest,” she adds.

Farnaz is known for shows such as LaalIshq, Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum andSiddhi Vinayak.

riti Sanon is thebusiest bee of tinseltown currently withmore than six films inher kitty. What makesthese even more

interesting is the range of herfilms in terms of their genres.From a horror-comedy to anaction film, the actor will be seenleading multiple genre films.

Talking about having so manydifferent genres in her lineup theAdipurush girl says, “My work isso exciting because no set, nofilm is like the other. Doing suchvaried genres is helping meexplore different shades of myselfas an actor.”

She adds, “From Bhediya beinga horror-comedy to action inGanpath, mythology inAdipurush, and an entertainer

like Bachchan Pandey, I havemany genres that I am workingon right now, which makes allthe work even more exciting andinteresting. It does also keep meon my toes.”

Sanon has a bag of big-budgetfilms in her lineup for which shehas been shooting non-stop for awhile with all safety measuresbeing taken as per governmentguidelines. She has been shootingin Arunachal Pradesh forBhediya with Varun Dhawan,which is a horror-comedy.

She will be seen playing Sita inOm Raut’s mythological dramaAdipurush with Prabhas. She hasalso signed an entertainer filmBachchan Pandey with AkshayKumar and the drama — Mimi,which will star her as the sololead.

t is all over theinternet that YoungTiger Jr NTR andKoratala Siva iscoming togetheronce again for a big-

budget movie, NTR 30, after

successful venture JanathaGarage, a message-orientedfilm.

According to the latest buzz,in this new film, NTR will beseen playing an innocent, naïveman, who comes to the cityfrom the Himalayas, trying tobring change in the society fora good cause. The actor will beseen in a never-before avatarwhich will surely please fans.

This yet-to-be-titled filmwill be presented byNandamuri Kalyan Ram.Kosaraju Harikrishna of NTRArts and Mikkilineni Sudhakarof Yuvasudha Arts will be co-bankrolling this big-budgetpan-India project.

Koratala Siva is currentlybusy with Acharya starringChiranjeevi and Ram Charanin the lead roles which is onthe verge of the completionwhereas Tarak is working withSS Rajamouli for a pan-ndianfilm RRR, which will bereleased on October 13.

NTR AS AN INNOCENT MAN FOR KORATALA’S NEXT?

hisInternationalAnti-StreetHarassmentWeek, Aditi RaoHydari, proudly

raises her voice againststreet harassment. Via asocial media post on herofficial Instagram page,Aditi asked her followersto take the training andStandUp Against StreetHarassment. In her video,Aditi shares, “StandUp is aprogram that is designedtowards creating awarenessand imparting training tocombat street harassment.Sadly, street harassment issomething that we all havebeen through, whether asbystanders or as victimsand I know that it makesme very angry, it makesme feel very helpless and Iam sure it does that to youas well. So, recently I wentthrough this training pro-gram and I was lucky to

have this opportunity. It iscalled the Stand-Up 5 D’straining created by L’OréalParis in partnership withHollaback! Internationallyand Breakthrough inIndia. It has really openedmy eyes and showed mehow easy it is and how wehave such effective tools soreadily available to us —which is basically our ownmind — our presence ofmind. So that we caneffectively and confidentlycombat street harassment.I would really recommendthat each one of us goesthrough this training pro-gram. It is simple, effec-tive, it builds so muchconfidence and it gives usan amazing solution tohelp someone and to helpourselves. So spread theword, tell your friends, telleveryone. Because I thinkthis one is essential. Let ushelp combat street harass-ment effectively.”

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Aditi voicesagainst streetharassment

‘Busy exploringshades of myself’

it actor Vishwak Sen’supcoming film’s makersannounced his seventhfilm’s title as AshokaVanamlo Arjuna Kalyanamon Twitter. Going by the

film’s poster, the look and name of itreveal that it could be of a romanticgenre.

From Vellipomakey to Paagal, theyoung star has mostly done massaction genres and this could be hisfirst out and out love entertainer.

This new film of Vishwak had itspooja muhurtham on Friday. VidyaSagar Chinta will be directing themovie which is touted to be an emo-tional drama. Ravi Kiran has pennedthe story. Vishwak, it is being said, willundergo a slight makeover for this filmand sport a new look.

To be produced by Bapineedu andSudheer Eedara under SVCC Digitalbanner, Ashoka Vanamlo ArjunaKalyanam will be presented by notedproducer BVSN Prasad.

Vishwak Sen's nexta love entertainer

Hit actor Vishwak Sen’s upcoming film’s makersannounced his seventh film’s title as AshokaVanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam. The film, whose storywas penned by Ravi kiran, will be helmed by VidyaSagar Chinta. Touted to be an emotional drama, thefilm will be produced by Sudheer Eedara.

H

NEW BEEFARNAZ ONSHOOTINGAMIDSTPANDEMIC

PTI nMUMBAI

Deepak Chahar’s superb openingspell stood out as Chennai SuperKings restricted Punjab Kings to

a below-par 106 for eight here on Friday.Tamil Nadu’s power-hitter M

Shahrukh Khan was the only Punjab bats-man to make an impression, with a 36-ball 47 (4X4s, 2X6s) before falling to SamCurran in the final over as CSK was allover their opponent.

Sam Curran (1/12), Moeen Ali (1/17),Dwayne Bravo (1/10) were the otherwicket-takers for CSK.

Aiming to bounce back after beingoutclassed by Delhi Capitals in their open-ing match, CSK bowlers justified skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to bowlfirst by reducing Punjab to 26 for four inthe powerplay.

Chahar engineered the Punjab slidein the very first over by sending backMayank Agarwal (0) with a beautywhich nipped away from middle stumpto hit the off stump. Chahar kept up thepressure and increased PBKS’s woeswith his consistency and conceded onlytwo fours in his four-over spell.

In-form Punjab skipper K L Rahul (5)was run-out by a brilliant direct throwfrom Ravindra Jadeja fielding at short-cover as the batsman tried to scramble fora single.

Jadeja was in the act in the fifth overagain, grabbing a superb catch diving full-length to dismiss Chris Gayle for 10 togive Chahar his second wicket.

Nicholas Pooran bagged his secondstraight duck, pulling a short deliverystraight into the hands of Shardul Thakurat long-leg. Deepak Hooda (10), whoplayed a blinder in Punjab's first matchagainst Rajasthan Royals, could notrepeat his heroics, lobbing a simple catchto Faf du Plessis as the team slipped to 26for five in the seventh over.

Shahrukh Khan and Jhye Richardson(15, 22 balls, 2x4s) added 31 runs for thesixth wicket in what was the best partner-ship of the innings. Murugan Ashwin (6)then added 30 runs with his Tamil Naduteammate Khan to help Punjab’s cause inan otherwise nightmare night for them.

PTI n CHENNAI

Getting the combination right would be top-most on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s to-do list

when they take on a qualitatively superiorMumbai Indians in an IPL encounter at Chepaukon Saturday, trying to arrest an early slide afterback-to-back defeats.

To make matters worse, the nature of theChennai track is not great news for the DavidWarner-led Orange Army that failed to chasedown a total which was less than 150.

Chasing has been Sunrisers’ achilles’ heel dur-ing the first two matches, once again bringingunder scanner, their lack of depth in the playingXI and below-par Indian bench strength.

In these circumstances, facing a formidableteam like Mumbai Indians, fresh from theirHoudini Act against Kolkata Knight Riders,would be a difficult proposition.

For skipper Warner, there are some seriousquestions about the choice of the playing XI,which many believe hasn’t been well thought outand the results also back that assessment.

Using two wicketkeepers — Jonny Bairstowand Wriddhiman Saha — in the same XI hasn’tserved any tangible purpose with the veteran Indianlooking completely out of sorts as an opener.

With a seasoned man like Kedar Jadhav inthe dug-out, along with two talented youngstersPriyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma, Saha is onborrowed time as far as his place in the side is con-cerned.

With only Warner and Rashid Khan beingcertainties among the overseas players, a fit KaneWilliamson is a must for SRH, factoring in hisprowess against spin bowling.

The manner in which the likes of ManishPandey and Abdul Samad played cross-batted

shots against RCB left-arm spinner ShahbazAhmed left Warner far from amused.

The other issue hasbeen team’s

bowling with T Natarajan not in the kind of formhe was last season and Bhuvneshwar Kumar alsoon the expensive side. It is unlikely that MI willtinker with their playing XI and more so afterwinning a thriller against KKR. However, theywould like to put up a better account of theirbatting.

12WE WERE 15-20 RUNS SHORT. BUT THERE IS

SOMETHING TO GAIN FROM ROYALS MATCH. THEBOWLERS DID WELL AT THE START. HOPEFULLY

IN FUTURE WE CAN PULL THINGS OFF— RISHABH PANT

CAPTAIN’S CALLHYDERABAD | SATURDAY | APRIL 17, 2021

VVSS

PLAYER RUNS

1. Nitish Rana (KKR) 137

2. Sanju Samson (RR) 123

3. Manish Pandey (SRH) 99

PLAYER WKTS

1. Harshal Patel (RCB) 7

2. Andre Russell (KKR) 6

3. Avesh Khan (DC) 5

MOST SIXES

1. Sanju Samson (RR) 7

2. Nitish Rana (KKR) 6

3. Deepak Hooda (PBKS) 6

SUMMER SLAM

MOTION PICTURE

NORTJE OUT OF QUARANTINE DC pacer Anrich Nortje on Friday came out of his hardquarantine that was extended by a couple of daysfollowing a false Covid-19 positive report. The Proteasspeedster had tested positive for Covid-19 while inquarantine but was retested and came out negative inthree RT-PCR results. “It's nice to be out of the roomand see everyone at breakfast. Excited to get to trainingtoday,” Nortje said in a video posted by the franchise.

KANE HOPING TO BE FIT WITHIN A WEEKKiwi batsman Kane Williamson, who missed SRH's firsttwo matches due to an elbow injury, is recovering welland is expected to attain full match-fitness “within aweek”. Kane suffered a small tear in his left elbowtendon and was ruled out of the home series againstB’desh in March ahead of IPL. However, the NZ captainon Friday said his “recovery is going really well”.

ISHANT SUFFERING FROM HEEL NIGGLEDC head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed thatexperienced pacer Ishant Sharma, who missed histeam's first two IPL matches, is suffering from a heelniggle. “Coming into the first game, Ishant Sharmaobviously had a heel niggle that we have been trying towork through,” Ponting said on Thursday night.

STOKES OUT FOR UP TO 12 WEEKSEngland all-rounder Ben Stokes will be out of action for“up to 12 weeks” as his fractured left index finger willrequire surgery that will take place in Leeds on Monday.A repeat X-ray and CT scan revealed that the 29-year-old has a fracture in his left index finger. Stokes, who iscurrently in Mumbai will fly home on Saturday.

TODAYTODAYLIVE FROM

7:30PM IST

STAR SSPORTS 11 NNETWORK

POINTS TABLEP W L NRR PTS

1 RCB 2 2 0 +0.175 4

2 MI 2 1 1 +0.225 2

3 PBKS 1 1 0 +0.200 2

4 DC 2 1 1 +0.195 2

5 RR 2 1 1 +0.052 2

6 KKR 2 1 1 +0.000 0

7 SRH 2 0 2 -0.400 0

8 CSK 1 0 1 -0.779 0

Matches 16Mumbai IIndians 08Sunrisers HHyderabad 08

LAST YEAR’S MATCHES

Mumbai Indians beat Sunrisers

Hyderabad by 34 runs in

Sharjah

Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated

Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets

in Sharjah

VENUE: CHIDAMBARAM STADIUM, CHENNAI

Krunal Pandya who took 48

wickets at an average of 32.20 in

71 innings of 73 matches, needs

two wickets to become the sixth

bowler to complete a fifty of

wickets for Mumbai Indians in IPL

David Warner who smashed 196

sixes in 144 innings of as many

matches, needs four more sixes

to become sixth batsman to

complete a double century of

sixes in IPLFaisel FFeatures

48

HEAD TO HEADKEY PLAYERS

SURYAKUMAR YADAV

SKY has performed well in the last

three seasons for MI and he'll be

eager to make it big this time too

RASHID KHAN

He is arguably the best T20 bowler

at present and his performance will

be crucial for Sunrisers success

196

Punjab Kings batsman Mandeep Singh’s wife Jagdeep Jaswaland child Rajveer Singh in stands during IPL game betweenPunjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai @IPL

4s 230

6s 89

boundarymeter

COLEMAN'S SUSPENSION CUTGENEVA: World 100m champion ChristianColeman's two-year ban for missing threedoping tests has been reduced by six monthsto 18 months, the Court of Arbitration forSport said on Friday. But the American willstill miss the rescheduled Tokyo Olympicsthis year as his ban runs until November 14.

TSITSIPAS IN MONTE CARLO SF MONACO: Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to thesemi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters onFriday when his quarter-final opponentAlejandro Davidovich withdrew after losing thefirst set 7-5.

ARUNDHATI, CHANU IN QF NEW DELHI: Khelo India Games Gold-medallist Arundhati Choudhary (69kg) andBabyrojisana Chanu (51kg) advanced to thequarterfinals, while three others — AkashGorkha (60kg), Sumit (69kg) and Gitika (48kg)also notched up opening-round wins at theyouth world championships for men andwomen in Kielce, Poland.

HARMAN RECOVERS FROM VIRUS NEW DELHI: Indian women's T20 captainHarmanpreet Kaur on Friday announced thatshe has recovered from Covid-19. She hadtested positive and made it public on March30. After more than two weeks, her RT-PCRreport has come negative. Agencies

shortpasses

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PTI n CHENNAI

Mumbai Indiansbowling coach

Shane Bond on Friday praisedthe team’s leg-spinner RahulChahar, saying the 21-year-old isa wicket-taking bowler and his rolenever changes in the star-studdedteam.

Chahar, who hasplayed 3 T20Is forIndia, returned withmatch-winning fig-ures of 4/27 in a low-scoring thrilleragainst Kolkataon Tuesday.

“He isdoing extreme-ly well, if youlook at Rahul(Chahar), he is stillyoung, who hasplayed a fair-bit ofcricket and nowsome high-pressurecricket, and (in)finals and a keymember of our team,so in terms of hisdevelopment, I still

think he is got a long way to go,”Bond said ahead of the gameagainst Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“He (Rahul) is a good lis-tener and is keen to get out

there and implement itin the game and hopethat will continue overthe next few years,” said

42-year-old Bond, whoplayed 18 Tests and 82

ODIs for New Zealand.According to Bond,

Chahar’s role in the teamnever changes and the sidewants him to bowl wicket-taking deliveries.

“Weh a v eg o ts o m e

o u t -standing strike bowlers tobowl in the power-play,Trent Boult, Booms (JaspritBumrah), and whoevercompliments them,Krunal Pandya who is

brilliant for us in thelast game, probablyslightly moredefensive bowler.

“And Rahul is a wicket-takingbowler, you make him bowl thoseballs that are just too good.

“Example is just the powerful(balls he bowled) in the last gamehe bowled absolute jaffa, his roleis to come and spin the ball and ifthe boys are around and createsome pressure, it gives him oppor-tunity to take those wickets, sothat’s the role we look for him todo in the team.”

Against Sunrisers, Bondstressed that it is important to getrival skipper David Warner andJonny Bairstow out.

“Got to get those two guys(Warner and Bairstow) out. Daveyis one of the best batsmen in theIPL, talisman for their team. Weknow how important they are,” hesaid.

“They (Sunrisers) are verydisciplined with the way they goabout their work. They flogged usin the last game (we played againstthem) last season. They playedbeautifully. We plan the same forevery team — how we are going toget them out, how we are going tobest utilize the conditions,” addedBond.

PTI n ALMATY

Dominating the proceedings ina depleted field, Olympic-

bound wrestlers Vinesh Phogatand Anshu Malik won their maid-en Asian Championship titles aftercomfortable triumphs in theirrespective summit clashes here onFriday.

There was no stopping Vineshin the absence of the Chinese and

Japanese rivals as she cruised to thetitle without losing a point in the53kg category.

Vinesh has notched up sevenpodium finishes at the Asian meetover the years, including threeSilver medals before this edition.

Also standing on top of thepodium was Divya Kakran (72kg)while Sakshi Malik (65kg) settledfor a Silver medal, a performancewhich should boost her confi-dence after enduring a longwretched run.

India has a rich haul of sevenmedals from the women’s event asthe country won four Gold, aSilver and two Bronze medals inthis edition.

Sarita Mor (59kg) had wonGold while Seema Bisla (50kg) andPooja (76kg) settled for Bronzemedals on Thursday.

Young Sonam Malik (62kg)unfortunately could not competedue to an injury. She had baggedOlympic quota along with Anshurecently.

Maiden Asian Goldfor Vinesh & Anshu

SCOREBOARDPUNJAB KINGS

KL Rahul run out (Ravindra Jadeja) 5Mayank AAgarwal b D Chahar 0Chris GGayle c R Jadeja b D Chahar 10Deepak HHooda c du Plessis b D Chahar 10 Nicholas PPooran c Thakur b D Chahar 0Shahrukh KKhan c R Jadeja b Sam Curran 47Jhye RRichardson b Moeen 15Murugan AAshwin c du Plessis b DJ Bravo 6Mohammed SShami not out 9Riley MMeredith not out 0Extras (b 0, lb 0, w 4, nb 0, p 0) 4Total (8 wkts, 20 Overs) 106Did nnot bbat: Arshdeep SinghFall oof WWickets: 1-1 (Mayank Agarwal, 0.4), 15-2 (KLRahul, 2.5), 19-3 (Chris Gayle, 4.2), 19-4 (NicholasPooran, 4.4), 26-5 (Deepak Hooda, 6.2), 57-6 (JhyeRichardson, 12.1), 87-7 (Murugan Ashwin, 16.5),101-8 (Shahrukh Khan, 19.1)BowlingDeepak CChahar 4-1-13-4Sam CCurran 3-0-12-1Shardul TThakur 4-0-35-0Ravindra JJadeja 4-0-19-0Moeen AAli 3-0-17-1Dwayne BBravo 2-0-10-1

Shahrukh steers PBKS to 106

I THINK IT WAS MORESEAM THAN SWING ANDWE BOWLED IN THE RIGHTAREAS. WE GOT SOMETIME TO PREPARE ANDTHINGS WENT OUR WAY ASWE EXECUTED WELL Deepak Chahar, CSK pacer

quoteunquote

‘Rahul is MI’s wicket-taking bowler’SRH search right combo

Chennai Super Kings pacer Deepak Chahar celebrates with skipper MS Dhoni and teammate Suresh Raina after Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul’s wicket @IPL

Dhoni plays 200th match for ChennaiPNS n NEW DELHI

Chennai Super Kings skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday

played his 200th match for the Men inYellow when he took to the field againstPunjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadiumin Mumbai. Dhoni has led the franchisein all but one game (2012 ChampionsLeague T20) when he has been part ofthe XI. Virat Kohli has played 209 T20matches for RCB.

Dhoni has made 176 appearancesfor CSK in the IPL besides having 24outings for the side in the ChampionsLeague T20 tournament in the past. The

former India captain also representedRising Pune Supergiant in 30 IPLmatches in the 2016-17 seasons.

Dhoni, who has led the SuperKings to three IPL titles, is eighth on theall-time IPL batting charts with 4,632runs (4,058 for CSK) at an average of40.63 and a strike rate of 136.67.

In his 24 CLT20 appearances,Dhoni has amassed 449 runs with onefifty while leading CSK to two titles, in2010 and 2014. The 39-year-old veter-an also holds the record of most sixesamong Indians in the IPL with 216,while being the most successful wick-etkeeper with 148 dismissals.CSK congratulate MS Dhoni on his 200th game

AFP n CENTURION

Pakistan beat South Africa by threewickets in the fourth and final T20I

on Friday to win four-match series 3-1.Chasing the target of 145,Mohammad Nawaz finished the gamewith a six on the penultimate ball ofLizaad Williams’ final over of thematch. He remained not out on 25 andtook his side home which looked tohave lost its way in the middle afterFakhar Zaman’s (60) wicket in the 10thover of run chase. From 92-1 in 9.1overs, the tourists were reduced to 129-7 in 18.2 overs, but ice cool Nawazturned the tide in Sisanda Magala’s 19thover to keep Pakistan in fray. Earlier,medium-pace bowler Faheem Ashrafsparked a South African collapse atSuperSport Park in Centurion. Faheemtook three for 17 as South Africa, whowere put into bat after losing the toss,were bowled out for 144 on what is usu-ally a high-scoring ground. Rassie vander Dussen top-scored for South Africawith 52 off 36 balls.

Pak winT20 series

Deepak Chahar's four-wicket spell dismantle Punjab, which couldn't recover from that