PNS n HYDERABAD

Free diagnostic tests under theGHMC limits have resumed onTuesday in variousGovernment-run hospitals andeach hospital will collect 250samples per day. The testshave begun at Sarojini DeviEye Hospital, GovernmentNature Cure Hospital,Government AyurvedicHospital and NizamiaHospital at Charminar.

D RAMA MOHAN n HYDERABAD

People working in the small scalesector, vendors and casuallabourers are leaving Hyderabadfor their native places fearing thatChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao is serious about introducinganother phase of lockdown inthe state.

People are being seen travel-ling to their villages or towns onwhatever mode of travel theycould find. From Mondaymorning onwards, crowdsstarted thronging bus stationsand railway stations in thecity. The general perceptionamong them is that their nativeplaces are safer compared tothe city. Those who are stayingback in the city are making

arrangements to deal with thesituation in case another doseof lockdown is implemented.

People were seen standing inserpentine queues in front ofsuper markets and also in front

of wine shops. Mechanics andother self-employed people arequite worried about theirfuture in case lockdown wereto be clamped again.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday announcedextension of the PradhanMantri Garib Kalyan AnnaYojana (PMGKAY), a pro-gramme to provide free rationfor over 80 crore people, most-ly poor, by five more monthstill November end.

In a televised address to thenation, the prime minister saidover Rs 90,000 crore will bespent on the programme'sextension, and if the last threemonths expenditure on accountof the free ration scheme isadded then the total budget willbe about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The scheme was rolled outfor three months from Aprilsoon after the nationwidelockdown was announced tocombat the COVID-19.

Modi noted that July marksthe beginning of the festiveseason when people's needs aswell as expenditure increase.

"Keeping all these things inmind, it has been decided toextend Pradhan Mantri GaribKalyan Anna Yojana up toDiwali and Chhath Puja till theNovember end," Modi said onthe eve of the start of 'Unlock-2' for a graded exit from thenational lockdown that wasimposed on March 25.'Unlock-1' ends on Tuesday.The prime minister said in his16-minute address that thecentral government is also

working on the "one nation,one ration card" initiativewhich, he added, will benefitpeople living outside theirhome for employment andother needs the most. This isModi's sixth address to thenation after the outbreak of thecoronavirus pandemic.

Underscoring the enormityof the free ration scheme, Modisaid it covers two and half timesthe population of the UnitedStates, 12 times the populationof the United Kingdom anddouble the population of theEuropean Union.

Free ration for 80 crpeople till Nov: PM

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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Woman assaulted forasking to wear mask

ANDHRA OFFICIAL HELD

PNS n NELLORE

After a public uproar, theAndhra Pradesh police onTuesday arrested a governmentofficial, since suspended fromservice, on charge of brutallyassaulting a differently-abledwoman colleague in officeafter she advised him to weara face mask.

2

Jagan in aquandary overCouncil abolition

5

Govt ‘extorting'people with fuelprice hikes: SoniaGandhi

8

Need to cut logistics cost, says Gadkari

Keeping all these thingsin mind, it has been

decided to extend PradhanMantri Garib Kalyan AnnaYojana up to Diwali andChhath Puja till the November end

— NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister

{SP TO PRODUCE

LOCAL ANDNATIONAL WEB

CONTENT

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Two persons died and fourothers took ill in a gas leak ata pharmaceutical unit inVisakhapatnam on Mondaynight, the second industrialdisaster to strike the port cityin less than two months.

The incident occurred atSainor Life Sciences PrivateLimited, a pharma companylocated at Jawaharlal NehruPharma City in Parwada onthe city outskirts around11.30 p.m. on Monday.However, it came to lightonly in the early hours ofTuesday.

Revenue Divisional OfficerP. Kishore told reporters at thescene that Hydrogen Sulfide(H2S) leaked while it wasbeing pumped from one reac-tor to the other.Initially, theleaked gas was suspected to be

benzimidazole.Six people working there

inhaled the gas. While twopersons died, four others wereshifted to a hospital, wherecondition of one of them isstated to be critical.

The deceased were identi-fied as shift incharge R.Narendra, 33, and chemist M.Gowri Shankar, 26.

2 killed in Vizagpharma firm gas leak

Fearing lockdown, people flee HydSpike in ‘To Let’ boards K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

A drive around Hyderabadwould reveal that an unusuallyhigher number of ‘To Let’boards are being seen acrossthe city, especially in the newerareas. This sight has been morevisible over the last week or so,as the month-end neared andpeople wanted to vacate theirrented accommodation insteadof delaying their stay and payinganother month’s rent. While thenumber of ‘To Let’ hasincreased, so are scenes ofpeople sitting in auto-trolleys ortrucks laden with household

items, returning to their nativeplaces. The sight of ‘To Let’boards is more predominant inareas where the less financiallyfortunate live, but not limited tosuch localities.

TS, AP to get lower tax devolution

Trump order leaves many stuck in IndiaNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The Trump administrationorder on visas has left not onlypeople desirous of working inthe USA stumped, but alsomany who came to Indiastranded here.

“I am so missing my dad. Ihave to go to the USA but Idon’t have stamping. I cannotdo, I want to be with my dad,please” (sic), a young girlstranded in India says in avideo posted on Twitter.

Several stranded Indians

have been requesting the USauthorities to allow themreturn to work.

A Swathi Mekapothula, whoposted this video in a tweet said,“A daughter missing her father.

Please help us to reunite with ourfamilies. We are group 1000 H4dependents stranded in Indiamore than 4 months. ExemptH4 visa from the proclamation,where H1B primary spouse is inUSA with valid visa”.

With the world gradually‘unlocking’ from theCoronavirus scare, life foralmost everyone returned to asemblance of normalcy, exceptfor stranded NRIs.Trump'sexecutive order is the latest stepin his years-long tightening ofUS immigration policy.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The financial crisis that hasembroiled the cash-starvedTelugu States is likely to wors-en in the coming days with theCentre planning to cut taxdevolution to Statesby 9 per cent for themonth of June.The amount willbe released inJuly. The tax devolu-tion was alreadyslashed by 17.81per cent for allStates in the coun-try in April.Due tothis, the Telangana gov-ernment, which was expectingRs 1,195 crore in April,received just Rs 982 crore.

TS brings ordinance to borrow moreHYDERABAD: The stategovernment on Tuesdaypromulgated an ordinance toamend the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management Act,

2005. The ordinance ‘TheTelangana Fiscal

Responsibility andBudget Management(Amendment)

Ordinance, 2020' waspromulgated with the

approval of GovernorTamilisaiSoundararajan. The

ordinance was brought toraise the state's borrowing limit

to 5 per cent of GSDP from theexisting 3 per cent at present.With the state government

earnings taking a drastic hitsince mid- March due to Corona-induced national lockdown, thegovernment is heavily dependenton loans to meet its expenditureand fund welfare schemes anddevelopment programmes. Thegovernment is entitled to raiseRs 15,000 crore by auctioningbonds for this fiscal 2020-21 asper existing FRBM Act. But, thegovernment already raised Rs13,500 crore in the first threemonths of this fiscal itself. Thegovernment needs to raise itsborrowing limit to mobilise fundsfor the remaining 9 months ofthis fiscal which necessitatesamendment to FRBM Act.

n Besides the MGBSand Jubilee Bus Station,people were seenthronging at the busstations inMehdipatnam, Uppal,LB Nagar, Bala Nagar,Secunderabad,Aramghar,Lingampalli and ,Shamshabad tocatch buses totheir native places.

n Petty employees werereported to have quit their

job since payment of salarywas irregular and heading

to their native places.

n Serpentine queues are seen in front ofliquor shops from Sunday eveningswith many customers purchasingmany bottles to avoid shortage

in case lockdown isclamped.

KCR not keen on totallockdown in GHMC limits

PNS n HYDERABAD

Ever since Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao hinted atreimposing lockdown inGHMC limits, speculationsare rife that the restrictionswould be stifling.

Howver, official sources saythat CM is not keen on reim-posing total lockdown inGHMC limits. Instead, hewould prefer strict curbs to beconfined only to containmentzones in GHMC limits fromthe first week

of July, sincethis area haswitnessed asharp spike incorona cases.

KCR on Sunday had statedthat the State Cabinet will meetin the next 3 to 4 days to dis-cuss and take a decision onreimposition oflockdown inGHMC lim-its in thewake ofh e a l t hdepartmentsubmitting areport togovern-mentseek-

ing curbs on public movementfor at least 15 days to containthe spread of coronavirus.

The corona situation inGHMC limits has becomealarming especially after June1, when the earlier lockdowncurbs were eased. GHMC lim-its continued to record nearly1,000 cases per day over the

past few days.Though the date for

Cabinet meeting hasnot been anno-unced so far, offi-cial sources saythe CM isexpected to con-vene the meetingon July 2 or 3.

Free testing resumes ingovt hospitals in city

HYDERABAD: The Covid-19tally in Telangana rose to 16,339

on Tuesday with 945 newinfections reported in thelast 24 hours andseven deaths. Withthis, the death toll in

the state due to thevirus rose to 260.

TS reports 945 cases,tally touches 16K

Visakhapatnam collector Vinay Chand and other officials inspecting the leakagesite at Parawada on Tuesday

Telangana postpones all CETs including EamcetPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State govern-ment on Tuesday announcedpostponement of all entranceexaminations in the statescheduled to commence fromWednesday.

An affidavit was submittedin the state High Court by the

state government saying thatthe decision to postpone allentrance tests was taken in thewake of the proposal to reim-pose complete lockdown inHyderabad and its surroundingdistricts due to growing num-ber of Covid-19 cases.

The entrance tests –Engineering, Agriculture and

Medical Entrance Test (EAM-CET), Polycet (entrance forpolytechnic courses),Integrated Common EntranceTest (ICET for admission intoMBA and MCA courses),ECET (Engineering EntranceTest meant for lateral entry forpolytechnic students into engi-neering courses), PGCET

(common entrance for post-graduate courses in variousuniversities), Lawcet (com-mon entrance test for admis-sion into law colleges) andEdcet (common entrance testfor admission into educationcolleges) were originally sched-uled to begin from July 1.

ACB sleuths bookArogyasri officer PNS n HYDERABAD

Officials of Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB) are carryingout searches at the office ofArogyasri coordinator,Rangareddy district, after hewas arrested while acceptinga bribe of Rs 25,000 for doingan official favour.

n Wants strict lockdown only in containment zonesn Cabinet likely to meet on July 2 or 3 to take a decision

PNS n HYDERABAD

The State government hasdeposited Rs 210 crore intofarmers’ bank accounts aspayment of arrearstowards the agri-cultural producethat they sold toM a r k f e d .Markfed paidMinimum Support Price(MSP) for maize, jowar,chickpea and sun flower pro-cured from farmers.

Govt deposits Rs 210 crin accounts of farmers

The incident occurredat Sainor Life SciencesPrivate Limited, apharma companylocated at JawaharlalNehru Pharma City inParwada on the cityoutskirts around 11.30p.m. on Monday.

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INDIA'S FISCAL DEFICIT TOUCHES 58.6%OF ANNUAL TARGET IN TWO MONTHS

TIKTOK GOES COMPLETELY OFFLINEIN INDIA AS BAN TAKES EFFECT

TikTok has now completely stopped working in India. After the Indiangovernment imposed a ban on TikTok last night, the app was delisted

from Google Play and App Store both soon after. However, it continuedto work for those who had it already installed on their phone. Now, theTikTok app has completely stopped working on all devices, including thedesktop website, and a user notice is displayed inside the app toinform users about the ban. Alongside, TikTok, 58 other Chineseapps have also been banned in the country. The TikTok appnow shows a network error alongside a notice that reads,“Dear users, we are in the process of complying with theGovernment of India's directive to block 59 apps.

India’s federal fiscal deficit in the first two months through May stoodat 4.66 trillion rupees ($61.67 billion), or 58.6% of the

budgeted target for the current fiscal year, governmentdata showed on Tuesday. Net tax receipts during April-May period were 338.5 billion rupees ($4.48 billion),while total expenditure was 5.12 trillion rupees, thedata showed, indicating the government was front-loading its budgeted spending to combat the impactof pandemic. India’s federal fiscal deficit touched4.6% of GDP in 2019/20 fiscal year ending March,from initial estimates of 3.3%.

Awedding ceremony in rural Patna a fortnight ago where the groom wasrunning high fever, two days before he died and his body cremated

without being tested for COVID 19, appears to have set off the biggestinfection chain in Bihar so far, health department officials said on Tuesday.More than 100 people have tested positive inPaliganj sub-division of Patna district, about 55 kmfrom the state capital, in the last few days, out ofover 350 who have been tested upon contact tracing,they said. Fifteen of his relatives who attended thewedding tested positive for the contagion andapparently infected others.

WEDDING PARTY LEAVES MORE THAN 100 CORONA POSITIVE, GROOM DEAD

In a big relief to train passengers, the Indian Railways has resumedbookings of Tatkal tickets for all 230 special trains from June 29, a

service that was stopped in the wake of the novel coronaviruspandemic. The Railways had suspended passenger, mail and expresstrains during the nationwide lockdown fromMarch 25. A senior Railway Ministry official saidhere that the public was made aware on May 31that the Tatkal quota facility could be availed inall special trains from June 29 onwards."Tatkal bookings were done on Monday fortrains commencing from Tuesday," he said.

BIG RELIEF TO TRAIN PASSENGERS ASTATKAL TICKET BOOKINGS RESUME

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERR

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated June 30, 2020 5:00 PM

AALLMMAANNAACC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Ashadha & Shukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Ekadashi: 05:29 pm

Nakshatram :Vishakha: 02:34 am

(Next Day)

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 12:20 pm – 01:57 pm

Yamagandam: 07:27 am – 09:04 am

Varjyam: 09:19 am – 10:49 am

Gulika: 10:42 am - 12:20 pm

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 06:19 pm – 07:49 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham: NIL

FFoorreeccaasstt:: Mostly cloudyTTeemmpp:: 31/24HHuummiiddiittyy:: 76%SSuunnrriissee:: 05.45 amSSuunnsseett:: 06.54 pm

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020 hyderabad 02

EGG RATES

` 50,480 (10 gm)

180

GOLD

` 48,550 (1kg)

` 8800

HYDERABAD 346

VIJAYAWADA 364

VISAKHAPATNAM 349

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `33..6600

SILVER

HYDERABADBULLION RATES

`//110000

CHICKEN RATES

Dressed/With Skin `157

Without Skin `178

Broiler at Farm `108

`//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD)

Is AP Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy recon-sidering his 'emotional'

decision of getting the stateLegislative Council abolished?

Indications are that he is,and for good reason too.

It’s a known fact thatJagan decided to scrap theCouncil as his party lacksmajority in the UpperHouse. This has resultedin several crucial Bills —including the Bill on decen-tralisation of administration —stalled.

This Bill has been stronglyopposed by the Telugu DesamParty that has got the supportof farmers who gave up vasttracts of highly fertile land forthe purpose of constructingthe capital city.

It’s no secret that a sizeablenumber of TDP leaders orsympathisers have majoritylandholdings in Amaravati,the capital of residuary APconceptualised and conceivedby none other than N.Chandrababu Naidu.

As much as 80 per cent ofthe landholdings in Amaravatiwrests in the hands of one pre-

dominant caste —Kamma —which hasbeen the driving forcebehind the TDP since itsinception 38 years ago.

However, theparty in power at present,

the YSRCP, is backed by thepolitically strong Reddy com-munity that holds a record ofhaving ruled undivided AP fornearly decades. It’s nothing butirony that the Reddy commu-nity has failed to get majoritylandholdings in the StateCapital Region as those landsare firmly in the clutches ofKamma community.

This one crucial point isbelieved to have influenced theYSRCP leadership and ledJagan to take such an extremestep of decentralisation ofadministration and separatecapitals.

However, the LegislativeCouncil, where the TDPenjoys an overwhelmingmajority, blocked Jagan’s plans.

Not only that, for the firsttime in the state theAppropriation Bill, which iscrucial for financial manage-ment of the state, failed to getnod from the Council.

Due to this, Jagan decided todo away with the thorn in hispath and abolish the Councilitself. The decision broughtimmediate criticism since itwas his father, the late YSRajasekhara Reddy, who hadstrived to revive the UpperHouse in 2007.

Interestingly, TDP founderand the then Chief MinisterNT Rama Rao faced a verysimilar situation in the mid-1980s — not getting the

approval of the House for hisgovernment's decisions dueto the Congress having major-ity in the Council — and hadabolished the Upper House inthose days.

The biggest irony of the pre-sent situation is that whileNTR abolished the Council,YSR revived it and now, YSR’sson has announced that hewants the Upper Housescrapped.

However, YSR had a verygood reason for reviving theCouncil a good two decadesafter NTR abolished it —political unemployment.

The same reason holdsgood; a functioning Council

may help Jagan satiate thethirst of many for a seat in theState Legislature.

If the Council is indeedabolished in the near future,Jagan would find it difficult tonot only rehabilitate the party’sMLCs who would be out of theLegislature, but would find itdifficult to create enough postsfor other YSRCP leaders whohave been hoping to get their

share in the pie of gover-nance.

Till such time the Centreapproves abolition of theCouncil, the YSRCPGovernment will have to fillvacancies that are created dueto retirement of existingMembers.

Last week, former ministerDokka Manikya Varaprasadswitched loyalties to theYSRCP by resigning as MLC,and was reelected to the post.

Dokka joining the YSRCP isbelieved to be a blow to Naidusince the MLC hails from theSC Madiga community.Interestingly, Dokka came intothe political limelight beingpushed by the then CongressMP Rayapati Sambasiva Raowho made him contest theTadikonda (SC) seat in 2004.It was a shocking moment forYSR then who had decided toallot the same seat to hisstaunch follower K. SambasivaRao. Using his good offices

with the Congress high com-mand, Rayapati ensuredDokka got the ticket, againstthe wishes of YSR. Now, he hasgot political rebirth with thepatronage of his YSR’s Jagan.

Meanwhile, two ministersPilli Subhashchandra Bose andMopidevi Venkataramana Raohave been elected to the RajyaSabha, as promised by Jaganafter he took the decision toabolish the Council. Thosetwo seats in the Council willhave to be filled and there aremany who wish to be thechosen ones.

Another two vacancies willbe created due to the impend-ing retirement of T. Ratna Baiand Kanteti SatyanarayanaRaju. These two seats too areto be filled as per electionprocess.

Raju is hoping to return tothe Council with his contactsin the central BJP leadership.Interestingly, the same Rajuhad strived hard for revival of

the Council in 2007, so muchso that he was acknowledgedas ‘Council Raju’ by Congresscadres.

In this way, five vacancies inthe Council are to be filleddespite in the near future, andthis may happen even beforethe Centre approves abotion ofthe Upper House.

The scenario is like gettingready to conduct a marriageon a grand scale after firmlydeciding to get divorce imme-diately after the function ends.

With the process to fill upthese five seats almost a cer-tainty, it wouldn’t be surpris-ing if Jagan reconsiders hisdecision to abolish theCouncil.

After all, the issue of deal-ing with political unemploy-ment may get out of control ifJagan deprives himself of postsfor his party’s aspirants.

As things stand, the YSRCPis poised to gain majority inthe Council, provided it is notabolished, by 2021.

If Jagan waits patiently forone more year, he will have thecake and be in a position to eatit too.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

It’s no secret that a sizeable number ofTDP leaders or sympathisers havemajority landholdings in Amaravati, thecapital of residuary AP conceptualisedand conceived by none other than N.Chandrababu Naidu.

PIN POINT

Jagan in a quandary over Council abolition

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Met office has gotdesigned three mobile applica-tions to inform, warn farmersand people of impending rains.According to Met office direc-tor Naga Ratna, the apps are --- Rain Alarm App, DaminiApp, Meghdoot App.

The farmers, while workingin their fields, when it rainsthey normally gather under theshade of a tree, which is dan-gerous. If they install thesemobile applications in theirphones, they can receive earlywarnings and can save theirlives. Those who want todownload the mobile applica-tions should register theirphone number and the place ofresidence.

The Rain Alarm App sendsinformation about the possibil-ity of rainfall within a radius of20 km from the place of resi-dence of the user. The DaminiApp sends alarm and cautionin case of possibility of show-ers and thunder showers with-in a radius of 20 km from user.

The Meghdoot App predictsthe areas to experience rainfallin the next five days. It alsoinforms the extent of rainfallreceived at various places.

Meanwhile, the RegionalMeteorological Centre (RMC)issued a weather warning forthe State, cautioning of thun-derstorms accompanied withlightning in all districts till July3. In the city, the RMC's weath-er forecast says there willcloudy skies with one or two

spells of rains or thunder-showers till July 5. RMC offi-cials attributed the prevailingweather conditions to acyclonic circulation over southcoastal Andhra Pradesh.

The monsoon has seenHyderabad recording a rainfallof 189.2 mm so far against anormal rainfall of 103.4 mm,while Rangareddy andMedchal Malkajgiri havereceived 137.9 mm and 158.3mm respectively.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Days after a video of a mon-key being hanged to deathfrom a tree in Khammamdistrict went viral, three peo-ple have been arrested in con-nection with the incident.According to SathupalliForest Range Officer AVenkateswarlu they filed aPreliminary Offence Report(POR) under the WildlifeProtection Act of 1972against the perpetrators andthey were arrested onMonday.

"As it is a bailable offencethey were later granted bailon personal bond," he said.

The official said that a noticeunder section 41 (A) of theCrPC (notice of appearance)was also served to them andthey have to appear beforethe forest officials wheneverthey are asked to do so as partof investigation.

The incident happened onJune 26 at Vemsoor villageand the video of the primatebeing hanged using a ropewent viral, prompting theofficials to investigate. Forestofficials said the accusedwanted to scare other mon-keys by hanging the onewhich was caught and theylater found the carcass in adecomposed state.

3 held for hangingmonkey to death

App to warn usersof impending rains

Continued from Page 1

Area Hospitals at Kondapurand Vanasthalipuram, UrbanPrimary Health Centre atBalapur and the PHC atMaheswaram were given tar-gets to test 150 samples perday. With Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao orderingconduct of 50,000 tests underthe GHMC limits, over 36,000samples were gathered fortesting Corona patients sinceJune 16.

The laboratories are notable to finish testing the sam-ples even if they work round-the-clock. Therefore, the offi-cials suspended sample collec-tion. As the pending sampleshave been tested, the collectionof samples resumed fromTuesday.

Continued from Page 1

As per the FRBM Act, stategovernments are entitled toborrow loans up to 3 per centof GSDP, but there is a provi-sion for the Centre to allowstates an additional 0.5 percent loans in the case of 'rev-enue-surplus states'. In May,Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman hadallowed the states to raise thenet borrowing limit from 3per cent of the GSDP to 5 percent to tide over Corona-induced financial crisis aspart of the Centre's 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan'package. However, the Centrehad mandated the respectivestate governments to makenecessary amendments intheir FRBM laws for the pur-pose. Punjab and Uttar

Pradesh governments hadrecently amended their

respective FRBM laws.Following this, Telangana hasdecided to follow suit.

Out of the 2 per cent bor-rowing limit granted by theCentre, only 0.5

per cent is unconditional.The remaining 1.5 per cent ofthe borrowing limit is condi-tional; and to avail this bene-fit, the Centre had mandatedstate governments to bringreforms in four sectors:Universalisation of 'OneNation, One Ration' pro-gramme, Ease of DoingBusiness; power distributionand ramping up revenues ofurban local bodies.

Further 0.5 per cent will beallowed if milestones in atleast three out of the four areasare achieved.

Continued from page 1

Besides the main bus sta-tions of MGBS and JubileeBus Station, Mehdipatnam,Uppal, LB Nagar, Bala Nagar,Secunderabad, Aramghar,Lingampalli, Shamshabad andother bus stations, where dis-trict services are available,were seen busy with peoplegathered there to reach theirnative places.

The occupancy ration inthe district bus services hasincreased. More or less simi-lar sized crowds were wit-nessed at various city railwaystations. Meanwhile, provi-sional stores have increasedprices by 4\5 to 20 per cent.

For example, a kg of tur dalis being sold at Rs 110 as

against the earlier Rs 90-95 akg. Similarly, black gram isbeing sold at Rs 130 a kg asagainst the normal price of Rs115 a kg. Green gram is beingsold at Rs 150 a kg as against

the normal price of Rs 120-130 a kg.

Over 1.5 lakh casual work-ers who recently returned tothe state from various statesare tense again.

Spike in tolet boards Continued from Page 1

Not surprisingly, the reversemigration has picked pace afternews started doing rounds thatthe government was planningto impose lockdown again inHyderabad following the sharpspike in corona cases. Ramu, a labourer fromNagarkurnool district whoworks at Gachibowli area, left

the city on Monday. He said "Iwas stuck during the previouslockdown. I don't want to bestuck again so that I am goingto my village beforeannouncement if lockdown byvacating my house. I hope Iwill get at least MNREGA worksin my village. I will not be in aposition to pay the rent for myaccommodation if lockdown isimposed again.”

TS reports 945cases, tallytouches 16K

Continued from page 1

So far, over 7,294 peoplehave recovered from theinfection, of which 1,712 weredischarged on Tuesday alone.Of the 945 fresh infections,869 are from Hyderabad, 29from Rangareddy, 13 fromMedchal and 21 fromSangareddy districts.

The state has conducted88,563 tests so far, of which8,785 are active cases. OnTuesday, 3,457 tests wereconducted of which 2,512returned negative.

TS postpones all CETs...

2 killed in Vizag pharma firm...Continued from page 1

The condition of L.V.Chandrashekhar, a helper,was critical. He was kept ona ventilator. The other affect-ed persons were out of dan-ger and they were identifiedas P. Ananad Babu, a helper,

and D. Janaki Rao and M.Surya Narayana, bothchemists. VisakhapatnamSuperintendent of Police R.K. Meena and DistrictCollector Vinay Chand visit-ed the plant. The collector hasordered an inquiry into theincident.

Continued from page 1

It was hearing a PublicInterest Litigation petitionquestioning the scheduleannounced by the state gov-ernment to conduct variousentrance tests, at a time whenthe Coronavirus situation inthe state was worsening by theday.The petitioner wonderedhow the government was

planning to hold the exami-nations while considering re-imposition of lockdown tocontain the virus spread.TheHigh Court asked the govern-ment whether there were anyplans to impose lockdown inthe state. The advocate gen-eral, appearing for the stategovernment sought sometime till afternoon to submitthe affidavit.

Continued from page 1

Similarly, AP government,which was expecting Rs 2,100crore, received just Rs 1,982crore. While both the stategovernments are alreadygrappling with shortage offunds due to corona-inducedlockdown since mid-Marchand relying heavily on mar-ket borrowings through auc-tion of bonds, the latest moveof the Centre to cut tax devo-lution further by 9 per centwould add to their financialwoes. The tax devolution isdone as per the recommen-dations of the 15th FinanceCommission, which suggest-ed that the 41 per cent of thedivisible pool be devolved tothe States in the verticaldevolution formula.

TS, AP to getlower tax...

TS brings ordinance to...

Woman assaulted for asking...Continued from page 1

The incident occurred in theTourism Department's office inNellore on June 27 but came tolight on Tuesday after the shock-ing visuals recorded on CCTVsurfaced on the social media.Andhra Pradesh TourismDevelopment Corporation(APTDC) announced the sus-pension of Deputy Manager

C.A. Bhaskar who assaulted thewoman colleague. The Nellorepolice said the official wasbooked the same day underIndian Penal Code Sections 354(assault or criminal force towoman with intent to outrageher modesty), 355 (assault orcriminal force with intent to dis-honour person) and 324(Voluntarily causing hurt bydangerous weapons or means).

Trump orderleaves many...Continued from Page 1

The President has arguedsince taking office that thevisa programmes allowemployers to undercut native-born workers on wages.Trump also overruled theobjections of companies thatsay they need highly skilledworkers to fill crucial jobopenings. H-1B holders,about three-quarters of whomwork in the tech sector, havefelt a creeping sense of uneasesince Trump took office. Still,thousands of them continuedto shuttle between the US andtheir home countries — forweddings or funerals — or forwork assignments or to getmundane paperwork takencare of.

ACB sleuths bookArogyasri officer Continued from Page 1

ACB officials are also con-ducting simultaneous searchesat the coordinator's residence.Further details are awaited.On June 8, the ACB officialsfound the involvement of aRevenue Inspector, a PoliceSub-Inspector and a tehsildarin the bribery case. The ACBteam raided the residence ofShaikpet tahsildar Sujatha andfound Rs 30 lakh along withgold and other valuables.

Govt depositsRs 210 cr...Continued from Page 1

Minister for AgricultureSingireddy Niranjan Reddysaid that Rs 198.23 crore waspaid for 9,42,943.600 tonnesof maize procured fromfarmers, Rs 4.09 crore for35,934 tonnes of chickpea, Rs5.69 crore for 18, 487 tonnesand Rs 2.48 crore for 4,493tonnes of sunflower. TheMinister said that CanaraBank released Rs 1,000 croreto Markfed enabling it tomake these payments.

Continued from page 1

The two-month long lock-down in GHMC limits frommid-March to mid-May hadalready resulted in huge suffer-ing for people in the form ofloss of livelihoods, jobs, salariesetc. The state government rev-enue collections also hit badlydue to total lockdown as

Hyderabad alone contributesover 80 per cent of total earn-ings to state government. KCRis learnt to be of the view thatthe government and peoplecannot afford any total lock-down in GHMC limits at thisstage and it would be better toconfine lockdown only to con-tainment zones by enforcingstrict curfew in those areas.

KCR not keen on total...

Free testing resumes...

Fearing lockdown, people flee Hyd

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020 hyderabad 03

RIME ORNERC

Man found deadunder suspiciouscircumstances

HYDERABAD: A 57-year-oldman's body was found undersuspicious circumstances in hiscar in an isolated area nearChoutuppal on Monday. Policeare yet to verify if the mancommitted suicide or wasmurdered. The victim wasidentified as Challati ShanmukhaChary, a resident of Nalgondaand had retired from servicefrom BSNL. According to thepolice, patrol teams discoveredhis body when they noticed hisvehicle near the temple.Preliminary investigationrevealed that on Sundaymorning, Chary set out fromNalgonda without informing hisfamily members. Police officialssaid that the car was locked andthere were signs of fire inside theparked vehicle and the body'shead appeared burnt. TheRachakonda police have begunprobing to find if it was ahomicide or suicide.

Woman killed in hit-and-run

HYDERABAD: A 44-year-oldwoman was killed by aspeeding vehicle in a roadmishap reported at KPHB in thewee hours of Tuesday. Thevictim was been identified asYellamma, a labourer byprofession from Medak,residing at Langer Houz.According to the police,Yellamma was killed after aspeeding vehicle being driven ina rash and negligent manner,rammed into her. She receiveda severe head injury and diedon the spot at NRSA colony ofKPHB. The driver of the vehicledid not stop his vehicle after theoffence and ran away. Thepolice registered a case and areinvestigating the incident.Officials are verifying CCTVfootage of nearby cameras toidentify the vehicle.

Teenager held for wallet theft

HYDERABAD: The Mailardevpallypolice arrested a 19 year-old oncharges of stealing a wallet of abusinessman at BrundavanColony in Rajendranagar here onTuesday. The arrested person isAnwar Ali, a construction workerfrom Babul Reddy Nagar inRajendranagar and a native ofBalrampur in Uttar Pradesh.

State yet to take action against ‘erring' schoolsAs govt vacillates, pvt schools extort more money for ‘online classes’ PNS n HYDERABAD

Officials of TelanganaEducation Department haveadvised school managementsagainst running online oroffline classes for academicyear 2020-21. However theorders remain only to wordsbut not on paper.

The private school manage-ments, in a statement, said thatthere were no written ordersfrom the government officialsor Education Department ormemos issued to the manage-ments advising against therunning of online classes.Therefore, the managementshave advised the members tonurse no inhibitions and con-duct the classes without anyhesitation.

In spite of the orders by theDEO, the private schools arerunning the online classes.They have been collectinghefty fees from the parents. Noclarity has been issued on theissue, in spite of all these devel-opments are taking place.

There are over 30 lakh stu-dents enrolled in 10,700 privateschools. The academic yearshould commence from June12 for the year 2020-21.

The academic year calendarwas not announced by thestate government because ofthe Covid-19 threat. A decisionon the academic year would beinitiated after August 15, theCentre announced. The stategovernment is also more or lesshaving the same notion.

To protect their own crop ofstudents, private school man-agements are collecting tuitionfee in the name of online class-es. The online classes com-menced in private schools inthe GHMC limits and alsothose in districts. Online class-es were started for LKG andkindergarten students as well.

To have access to these col-leges, the managements should

pay tuition fee compulsorily.Thus, the managements putpressure on the parents. Theythreaten the parents statingthat their wards would lagbehind in academics. Parentshave been expressing theirinability to pay fees because ofthe diminished revenue due toCovid-19. The managementsare asking the parents to trans-fer the fees either by digitaltransfer of funds or throughGoogle Pay.

In such crisis situation, mostof the parents would have toborrow funds to pay tuitionfees. At some places, parentsare demonstrating against theattitude of the school manage-ments.

In fact, 90 per cent of theparents are against the conductof online classes because it putsheavy burden on parents andthey are forced to buy laptopsor smart phones.

The parents' associationsand students' association havecomplained to EducationDepartment officials againstthe style of functioning of theprivate managements whichare running online classes, butthe authorities are not takingany action against the erringmanagements.

The association of privateschool managements haveissued a statement stating thatthey can run classes sincethere were no express ordersfrom the government prohibit-ing them from running onlineclasses. Even if the Educationwing gives permission, educa-tionalists are demanding thestate to give clear instructionson running online classes.

As online classes com-menced in corporate and pri-vate schools, parents of govern-ment school students are wor-ried about the future of theirsons since there is no claritywhen the schools are going tobe reopened.

A teacher conducts classes through online mode

It's not that scary as itsounds: Covid warriorNAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

A Covid warrior, or a 'Coronavirusvijetha', is the way HyderabadCommissioner Anjani Kumaraddresses them who bravely foughtthe deadly Coronavirus plaguing thelives of many across the globe andsuccessfully recovered to join backthe force as a frontline worker.

Hyderabad city police, especial-ly the West Zone area, is the mostaffected with the virus in TelanganaPolice Department. A total of 74officers were tested positive forCoronavirus from Hyderabad citypolice commissionerate alone.

A Subramanyam, a constablefrom Banjara Hills Police Stationspeaks to The Pioneer about hisexperience.

"I was working in the generalduty here by helping migrant labor-ers on board to leave the state andalso with the Hospital passes forthose who need to get checksdone. I'm assuming that's when Imust've been infected. On June 11,as many as 26 member staff fromour police station were tested pos-itive, including me," he said.

Explaining his symptoms, hesaid that he experienced bodypains and mild fever but none ofthem showed up much.

"I was asked to go under homequarantine and I immediately sentmy family to our native place tokeep them safe. Initially, I wasscared about the infection andalso felt lonely. Our Sub-Inspectorgave us moral support and asked us

to stay strong. Our ACP handed ushomeopathic medicine andCommissioner gave Rs 5,000 tothose tested positive in the force tobuy immunity boosting food," hesaid.

Three days into home quaran-tine, the symptoms decreased andhe found strength to fight thevirus.

"I used to do yoga, inhale steamand was maintaining a healthydiet along with necessary medi-cines. After 14 days of home quar-antine, 16 of us were tested nega-tive on June 26," he said.

"It is not that scary as it sounds.One must have the support andcourage to get through the infec-tion. We must increase our immu-nity by eating healthy and main-taining a good diet. Social distanc-ing should be looked upon andusage of masks will definitely help.Please go out only if necessary andconsider the lives of your family aswell."

Cops hot on heels ofaccused in Barkasdouble murder casePNS n HYDERABAD

A 27-year-old murder accused, who wasout on bail murdered two of his sisters atChandrayangutta on Monday evening.Police officials of two commissionerateshave begun a hunt to nab the abscondingsuspect.

The accused person, Ahmed Bin SalamBaa Ismail, was residing with his mother,Puthli Begum, at Salala Barkas underChandrayangutta police station limits.He attacked his two sisters with a daggerafter inviting them to dinner at his house.While Razia Begum, 35, died on the spot,Zakira Begum, 45, succumbed to injurieswhile being shifted to hospital.

After stabbing Razia and Zakira, AhmedBin Salam went to the house of hisyounger sister Noora Begum, 30, in NabeelColony and attacked her. "When her hus-band Omer Ba Hassan, 36, came to her res-cue, he was also attacked," said SyedRafeeq, Additional DCP. The couple wereshifted to a hospital for treatment, wheretheir condition is stated to be critical.

Ahmed Bin Salam was arrested inJanuary 2019 on charges of murdering hiswife Fatima Sadi at his house in Salala. Ayear ago he was granted bail by the court.Police said that there were family issuesover a property that could be the reasonbehind the double murder.

After being informed of the incident,senior police officials visited the scene ofoffence and are supervising the investiga-tion. While Chandrayangutta PS is part ofHyderabad Commissionerate, Balapurpolice station comes under RachakondaCommissionerate, the Rachakonda SpecialOperations Team and HyderabadCommissioner's Task Force team aremaking efforts to nab the suspect.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The new railway line betweenPiduguralla - Savalyapuramfor a distance of 46 kms hasbeen completed and commis-sioned for train operations.This new railway line is a partof Nadikudi - Srikalahasti newrailway line project.

The new line will facilitatedirect traffic movement fromSecunderabad to Dhone direc-tion via New Piduguralla,bypassing Nallapadu junction.This 46 kms new rail line willreduce the distance by approx-imately 96 kms for the railtravel between Secunderabadto Dhone via Nadikude as

compared to the earlier routepassing through Nallapadu.

Nadikudi - Srikalahasti newrailway line project is one ofthe important & prestigiousprojects taken up by SouthCentral Railway. The projectwas sanctioned in the year2011-12 for a distance of 309kms at an estimated cost of Rs2,289 crore under 50 per centcost sharing basis betweenRailways and Government ofAndhra Pradesh along withprovision of required landfree of cost by TS government.

Gajanan Mallya, GeneralManager, SCR has congratu-lated all the officials and stafffor the organisation.

New rail line to facilitate Sec'bad-Dhone traffic PNS n HYDERABAD

The efforts of Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation (GHMC)to open Durgam Cheruvu cablebridge for traffic at the earliestgained steam with the mandatoryload test carried out on the bridgeto check the load bearing capacityand other aspects.

The load test was conducted byimposing 1,080 metric tonnes ofload onto the deck in an incremen-tal form.

As many as 36 10-tyre trucks,each with a capacity of 30 metrictonnes were parked on the struc-ture for 24 hours. This is the finallap of tests to be conducted foropening the bridge to traffic. Oncethe experts approve the test results,other works will be expedited onthe structure.

Efforts are on to launch thebridge by July end, said a seniorofficial from GHMC. Currentlyelectrical works are under progressand they are being taken up at briskpace and all other minor works willbe done by July end, he said.

Once opened for traffic, bridgewill be world's longest span extra-dosed cable stayed bridge. The 238-

metre long facility is constructedwith a cost of Rs.184 crore and willaid in cutting down the distanceand travel time from Jubilee Hillsto Madhapur. After opening fortraffic, the GHMC is planning topermit only pedestrians on thebridge during weekends and sus-pend movement of vehicles to letpeople enjoy the scenic ambience.

Load test on Durgam Cheruvu bridge

PNS n HYDERABAD

Mahesh Bhagwat, IPS, RachakondaCommissioner of Police and SudheerBabu, IPS, ACP; launched the drive,initiated by craft services to disinfectand sanitise the vehicle fleet ofRachakonda Commissionerate, at theAmberpet Police Grounds on Tuesday.

All the vehicles of theCommissionerate including two

wheelers and four wheelers will be dis-infected and sanitised in the next fewdays.

Speaking on the occasion, MaheshBhagwat said, disinfecting and sani-tising the police vehicles is of para-mount importance in this hour, asthere are lots of positive cases aroundus and our own police department isalso facing problems due to thisinfection.

Rachakonda police officials spraydisinfectants on patrol vehicles

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020 hyderabad 04

PNS n HYDERABAD

Majority of the companieswhich are into industrial gasesare complying with norms,claims Telangana governmentand that there is no scope for gasleaks. Following the LGPolymers incident in May,Telangana government setupfive special teams to conductinspections in the industries thatinvolved with 'hazardous chem-icals or gases.' When askedabout the report, PrincipalSecretary Jayesh Ranjan said,"The teams didn't find anythingsignificant when they inspect-ed companies which use chem-ical gases. They found properway of stocking and usage, nodeficiencies majorly. Only minordeficiencies were found, whichgot rectified."

PNS n HYDERABAD

The High Court issued noticesto the state government andasked it to file counter affidavitin a PIL filed by former DeputyChief Minister of undividedAndhra Pradesh state CilarapuDamodar Rajanarsimha. He,urged the HC to constitutestate social security boardunder the UnorganisedWorkers Social Security Act ofthe year 2008 and promote thewelfare and social security ofunorganised workers in thestate.

Kondapochamma canal breachesPNS n SIDDIPET

Gushing Godavari watersinvaded homes inVenkatapuram village in erst-while Medak district followinga breach in Kondapochammacanal in the early hours ofTuesday. There were no casu-alties in the village due to theflooding. Loss to the propertyand standing crops could notbe ascertained immediately.Learning about the incident,irrigation officials swung intoaction and closed the canal.

The canal developed breachnear Markuk one month afterChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao declared itopen on May 29. The floodwater entered the homes in thevillage, besides causing damageto vegetable and other stand-ing crops in and around thevillage. Since the canal devel-oped breach during the daytime, major loss to the proper-ty and lives has been averted.Had it occurred at night, theresults would have been dev-astating, the villagers feel.

Alerted by the villagers, theproject officials immediatelystopped release of water fromthe project into the canal.People in and aroundVenkatapuram village are wor-ried about the canal develop-ing a breach after a month ofputting it into operation. Theyare worried about whethersuch incidents do take place innear future too.

If this was the condition ofthe irrigation canals in CM'sconstituency, what would bethe fate of the projects inother districts, the villagersopined. In fact, the place wherethe canal developed breach

was located just 3 km awayfrom Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's farm-house. This is not for the firsttime Kondapochamma canaldeveloped breaches. Earlier,the canal developed breachestwice. Water was released into

the canal on Tuesday to fillirrigation tanks in MTurkapalli and BommalaRamaram mandals ofJagadevpur and AlairAssembly constituencies.

Finance Minister T HarishRao, who became alert on

learning about theKondapochamma Sagar canalspoke to IrrigationDepartment authorities overphone and sought a reportfrom them in this regard.Lambasting the government,the BJP state unit presidentBandi Sanjay Kumar allegedthat the people are living inthe grip of fear psychosisbecause of the execution of

irrigation projects by the TRSgovernment with substandardquality. Telangana PradeshCongress Working PresidentRevanth Reddy respondingto the incident demanded theCentre to order CBI probeinto the canal breach incident.He was apprehensive of thefate of other major canalsexecuted as part ofKaleshwaram project.

The flood water entered the homes in the village, besides causing damage tovegetable and other standing crops in and around the village

HYDERABAD: Telanganga BJPchief Bandi Sanjay Kumar onTuesday said that people livingnear Mallanna Sagar, Mid-Manair,Kondapochamma projects areliving with fear due to defects inquality.

He expressed doubt sayingthat how many breaches wouldtake place in the near future."The incident (breach) took placein Chief Minister kChandrashekhar Rao's ownconstituency. Breach inKondapochamma canal is thebest example as the governmentintroducing schemes for scams,"he alleged.

Demanding the government toown the responsibility forbreaches of canals, Sanjayalleged that these incidents weretaking place repeatedly onlybecause the governmentcolluding with contractors, healleged.

"The reasons for breaches arejust because the contractors are'benamies' of government heads.The government should cancelthe licences of the contractors

who had taken up works. Thegovernment should initiatesevere action against them byrecovering the total amount andtake up repairs immediately," hesaid. Sanjay questioned thevigilance, quality controldepartments to reveal as to whatthey are doing when thecontractors are doing 'qualityless' works. On the other hand,Sanjay expressed happiness overPrime Minister Narendra Modigovernment for taking a decisionto release postal in honorary offormer Prime Minister PVNarasimha Rao on the occasionof latter's birth centenarycelebrations. He termed thedecision of Modi government asan historical decision.

Revanth demands probe HYDERABAD: Malkajgiri MP ARevanth Reddy on Tuesdaydemanded the Centralgovernment to order a CBIinquiry into the irrigationprojects in the state. He alsourged the Centre toinitiate action againstthose involved inirregularities. Revanthsaid that defects in qualityof Kondapochamma Sagarand Kaleswaram works arecoming out one after the other."One can understand the qualityof the projects with theTuesday's incident. TheKondapochamma canal, which isin Chief Minister's constituencydeveloped breach. I am worried

about the condition of projectsconstructed in surface like50tmc capacity Mallanna Sagar,15tmc Kondapochamma Sagarand Gandamalla projects after

seeing the quality of smallcanal," he said. Not asingle village will remainif these projects developbreaches. He alleged

that quality defects inthese projects reflect the

greedy KCR and MeghaCompany for commissions."KCR is indulging in corruptpolitics," he alleged. Anddemanded the government tocompensate the people who losttheir food grains, agri productsdue to the flood water.

Adopt scientific approach tocontrol Covid-19, says UttamPNS n HYDERABAD

Stating that the Coronavirus cases areincreasing across Telangana in analarming proportion, TelanganaPradesh Congress Committee(TPCC) president N Uttam KumarReddy demanded that the State gov-ernment to adopt a scientific andrational approach to control thepandemic to save people's lives.

Addressing a press conference atNalgonda on Tuesday, Uttam blamedthe negligent attitude and unscien-tific, irrational and illogical approachof Chief Minister K ChandrashekharRao for the rise in Covid-19 cases inTelangana. He alleged that KCRconsiders himself to be an authori-ty on all subjects like irrigation, agri-culture and now Coronavirus. Hesaid KCR's 'I know everything' atti-tude has pushed Telangana closest tothe crater of Covid-19 volcano withthousands of people getting infect-ed with the deadly virus.

He reminded that Congress leaderRahul Gandhi has warned about thedangers of Covid-19 on February 12itself. However, neither the Centralnor State Government respondedpositively. He said Chief Minister hadeven ridiculed the Congress leaders

when they spoke about the impor-tance of wearing face masks. KCReven claimed that Coronavirus couldbe treated with a paracetamol andthe virus will die in a temperature of22 Degree Celsius. He also assuredto spend Rs 1,000 crore, if required,to deal with the situation.

Uttam alleged that the TRS gov-ernment has cheated the people byunder-testing and under-reportingcases of Coronavirus only to createa false impression that it has con-trolled the spread of virus. He saidin violation of established norms, thepost-mortem was not conducted

on the bodies of Covid-19 suspectsto ascertain the cause.

Information was suppressed andstatistics were manipulated to makefalse claims of less number ofCovid-19 deaths and cases inTelangana. He said the govern-ment labs were not fully utilised anddespite approval by the ICMR anddirections by the High Court, pri-vate labs were not permitted to con-duct Covid-19 tests. He said that theCongress party even approached theGovernor seeking her interventionto increase Covid-19 tests in theState.

TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy in Nalgonda on Tuesday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Dangerous cardiac complica-tions which can occur due toCovid-19, are seen less in thecountry because of low viru-lent strength or innate immu-nity, the doctors pointed out.

Cardio vascular manifesta-tions like acute heart attack,micro vascular obstruction –STEMI mimics, asymptomatictroponin elevation, multi-organ failure, pericardialinvolvement, arrhythmias canoccur if the Covid-19 symp-toms develop.

According to Dr A SreenivasKumar Director Cardiologyand Clinical Research atApollo Hospitals, “Fortunately,

all these dangerous complica-tions are much less common-ly seen in our country – maybe because of low virulentstrain of virus in our countryor we Indians could have someinnate protection (immunity)

in our bodies due to minorsubclinical infections in ourday today life before. Thesecardiac complications are seenin less than 5 per cent ofCovid infected patients. Butthese are more common in old

age population and in peoplewith pre existing high bloodpressure or diabetes or oldheart attack patients.”

However, all these compli-cations could develop as thevirus progressively invades allthe parts of the body and alsobecause of secondary bacteri-al infections and sepsis devel-oping in the body. He points,“It is very important not tomiss or stop taking old heart,BP or sugar or cholesterolmedicines in these tough timesas this way we could preventgetting infection or atleastprevent getting into more dan-gerous complications as men-tioned above even if we getCovid infection.”

PNS n HYDERABAD

Health Minister EatalaRajender directed authoritiesto increase surveillance andalso door-to-door FeverSurvey Frequency in view ofincreasing coronavirus casesin GHMC limits. With thenumber of Covid-19 casessignificantly increasing, manypeople are coming forward totake tests. Samples are beingcollected for testing at 11centres namely King KotiHospital, Fever Hospital,

Chest Hospital - Erragadda,Nature Cure Hospital, SarojiniDevi Eye Hospital, AyurvedicHospital - Erragadda,Homeopathy Hospital -Ramantapur, Nizamia TBHospital, Charminar, AreaHospital Kondapur, Area hos-pital Vanasthalipuram,Nacharam ESI Hospital,Saroor Nagar ESI Hospital.

“Those who are coming forthe exam are required to weara proper mask and maintainphysical distance at the examcentre,” he said.

Eatala directs officialsto increase surveillance

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Medchal Police, whileinvestigating a hit-and-runcase, uncovered a murder plotand arrested four personsinvolved on Tuesday. On May23, while Dharavath Suresh, aresident Medchal was going onhis splendour, a DCM lorrycrashed into his vehicle andfled the spot. A Swift car pass-ing by stopped and took Sureshto a government hospital wherethe doctors on duty declaredhim ‘brought dead’. During the

course of investigation, suspi-cion arose of the role of theSwift car driver who mysteri-ously appeared out of nowhereand took the deceased to thehospital, pretending to be agood samaritan. Police thentraced and apprehended thedriver of the car, identified asRahul and questioned him onMonday. Rahul then confessedthat Prem Singh hadapproached him, Ajmera Prem,Vangdoth Raju and Suraj andasked them to kill Suresh, mak-ing it look like a road mishap.

Cops crack pre- plannedmurder plot; 4 arrested

No scope forgas leaks in TS

HC issuesnotices to govt

Sanjay slams TRSover canal breach

Cardiac complications seen inless than 5% of Covid patients

Fever 88%Dry cough 68%Fatigue 38%sputum production 33%Loss of smell 15 to 30%

Shortness of breath 19%Muscle or joint pain 15%Sore throat 14%Headache 14%Chills 11%

Nausea or vomiting 5%Nasal congestion 5%Diarrhoea 4% to 31%

Haemoptysis 0.9%Pink eyes 0.8%

Sputum production 33%

Chills 11%Muscle of

joint pain15%

Headache14%

sorethroat14%

Loss ofsmell 15% to

30%shortnessof breath

19%

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

Sikh gurdwaras inNanded no longer partof containment zonesAURANGABAD: Two prominentSikh shrines in Maharashtra'sNanded are no longer undercontainment zones, as no freshCOVID-19 case was reportedfrom the area in the last 20days, a district official said onTuesday. However, gates ofGurdwara Langar Sahib andGurdwara Hazur Sahib willremain closed for devotees tillfurther orders from thegovernment, a gurdwara officialsaid. The Hazur Sahib gurdwarawas sealed on May 1 whenPunjab reported that 91 morepeople who returned from theshrine had tested positive forcoronavirus. At least 197pilgrims out of the 3,500brought back from thegurdwara, among the holiestsites in Sikhism, hadcontracted the infection,authorities had said in Punjab."Gurdwara Hazur Sahib, alsoknown as Takht Hazuri SahibSachkhand, and GurdwaraLangar Sahib are not undercontainment zones anymore.We have not found a patient inthis area for more than 20days," Nanded collector VipinItankar said.

Video on dumping ofCovid-19 victims' bodiesin K’taka triggers outrage

Couple murdered inUP's MoradabadMORADABAD: A couple wasbrutally murdered byunidentified persons in UttarPradesh's Moradabad district,officials said on Tuesday. Thebodies of Mohit, a cableoperator, and his wife Monawere found at their house inThakurdwara area on Mondaynight, they said. While Monawas strangled to death, Mohit'sthroat was slit, police said. Onreceiving the information aboutthe double murder, officers anda forensic team reached thecrime scene, they said.Moradabad SP (rural) VidayaSagar Mishra said prima facie,it appears to be a case ofpersonal enmity. The bodieshave been sent for post-mortem and no arrest has beenmade so far, the superintendentof police said.

BENGALURU: A videopurportedly showing healthworkers burying inappropriatelysome bodies of COVID-19victims in a large pit allegedlyin Ballari district in Karnatakahas surfaced, triggering anoutrage on social media. A topofficial in the district, the nativeof state Health Minister BSriramulu, said they wereinquiring into it. In the video,the workers wearing personalprotection equipment are seenbringing bodies in black sheetsfrom a vehicle parked nearbyand dropping one after anotherinto the large pit, dug up withthe help of an earthmover. Aman who posted the video firston YouTube claimed ithappened in Ballari.

India become a major power with‘Atmanirbhar Bharat' missionPNS n KOLKATA

Asserting that 2020 will be aturning point for India, Unionminister Arjun Ram Meghwalon Tuesday said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant) mission will give thecountry the much-neededthrust to become a majorpower in the world.

Addressing a virtual rally forthe people of Bengal, whichwas attended by Asansol MPand Union minister BabulSupriyo, Meghwal said the PMintends to make the countryself-reliant in every aspect --from thought-process toimplementation of goals.

"On May 12, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi talked aboutIndia becoming an'Atmanirbhar desh' and themost advanced country. ThePM wants to make India'atmanirbhar' in every way --from thought-process to goalimplementation," the Unionminister of state for parliamen-tary affairs said.

Meghwal also said the coun-try has achieved four majorsuccesses within a year of

Modi taking over as PM for thesecond term -- abolition ofArticle 370 and Article 35A ofthe Constitution that grantedspecial status to J&K, SupremeCourt nod for construction ofRam Temple in Ayodhya,enactment of CitizenshipAmendment Act and a lawbanning Triple Talaq.

Bengal is ready to bless theBJP in the 2021 assembly elec-tions to enjoy the fruits ofdevelopment and advance-ment initiated by Modi, heclaimed.

"The slogan of '19 meinhalf, 21 mein saaf ' is poised to

come true and the TrinamoolCongress will bite the dust innext year's elections in thestate," he said.

The Union minister saidthe Mamata Banerjee-ledTMC had raised the slogan --- 'Ma, Mati, Manush' (moth-er, soil and people) to come topower in Bengal, but "all threeare now in distress".

Claiming that the chief min-ister does not believe in con-stitutional propriety, he said, "Itis astonishing that her officialsdo not allow the state governorto visit universities, where heis the chancellor."

Covid-19 vaccination mustbe affordable, universal: PMPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Tuesday reviewed India'spreparations for vaccinating itsvast population against COVID-19 once a vaccine is available andasserted that vaccination must beaffordable and universal.

Modi chaired a high-levelmeeting to review planning andpreparations for vaccinationagainst the novel coronavirus.

At the meeting, the currentstatus of vaccine developmentefforts were also reviewed andthe prime minister highlightedIndia's commitment to play anenabling role in the vaccinationefforts against COVID-19, thePrime Minister's Office (PMO)said in a statement.

Prime Minister Modi notedthat vaccination of India's vastand diverse population will needto factor in issues, includingthose related to management ofmedical supply chains, prioriti-sation of at-risk populations,coordination between differentagencies involved in the process,as well as the role of private sec-

tor and civil society, it said.The prime minister enunciat-

ed four guiding principles thatwill form the foundation of thisnational effort, the PMO said.

He stated that vulnerablegroups should be identified andprioritised for early vaccination,for example doctors, nurses,healthcare workers, non-medical

frontline COVID-19 warriors,and vulnerable people among thegeneral population.

Another guiding principleenunciated by the prime minis-ter was vaccination of “anyone,anywhere” should take placewithout imposition of any domi-cile related restrictions for gettingthe vaccine.

Athlete forced to sellvegetables in JharkhandPNS n RANCHI

Budding athlete GeetaKumari was forced to sellvegetables in the streets ofJharkhand's Ramgarh dis-trict to make ends meet.

Chief Minister HemantSoren's intervention helpedKumari to get Rs 50,000 fromthe Ramgarh district adminis-tration and also a monthlystipend of Rs 3,000 to pursueher athletics career.

Soren received informationon his twitter handle thatKumari has turned into aroadside vegetable seller due tofinancial problems. The chiefminister directed the Ramgarhdeputy commissioner to assistKumari financially so that shecould pursue her athleticscareer.

The Ramgarh DeputyCommissioner (DC) SandeepSingh gave a cheque of Rs50,000 to Kumari on Mondayand also announced Rs 3,000monthly stipend to the athleteand arranged for her trainingat a sports centre, an officialrelease said.

Kumari had won eight goldmedals at state-level walkingcompetitions and won a silvermedal and a bronze medal incompetitions held in Kolkata,the release said.

PNS n MADURAI

The Madras High Court onTuesday ordered the transferof investigation into the deathof a father-son duo inTuticorin, alleged victims ofpolice torture, to the CB-CID, expressing fear that evi-dence could disappear by thetime CBI took over the probe.

The case would be handledby the Deputy Superintendentof CB-CID, Tirunelveli, AnilKumar.

The state government had onMonday transferred the probe tothe central investigation agency.A division bench of Justices P NPrakash and B Pugalendhi saidthe court was handing over thecase to the CB-CID as it fearedthat evidence could disappear bythe time CBI took over.

The Judges felt that the imme-diate transfer of the case to theCB-CID was done so that pub-lic confidence was not lost.

The bench sought the opinionof the state government on theinterim arrangement but trans-ferred the case to the CB CID.

The post mortem report (pre-

liminary) and JudicialMagistrate's report indicatedthere was prima facie material forregistering a murder case in thematter, the bench said. The courtsaid the probe of the case shouldnot be delayed even by a secondand directed the CB-CID totake up the probe immediately.

UP govt trying to cover upunemployment through adsPNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Tuesdayaccused the UP government oftrying to cover up "massiveunemployment" throughadvertisements, and said theground realities were far dif-ferent as 1.5 lakh state resi-dents have left for Mumbai insearch of employment.

"Uttar Pradesh governmentmade several announcementsrelating to job creation at anevent held recently. But thelabourers on the ground havea different story to tell.

"There is no work in UP,which is why everybody hasbeen forced to return to theirprevious places of work.According to data, around 1.5lakh people from UP havealready returned to Mumbai,"

she said in a tweet in Hindi."The state government

through its event tried tocover up massive unemploy-ment on the ground, but howlong advertisements hide thetruth," Gandhi said.

Gandhi tagged a video oflabourers saying there are noemployment opportunities inUttar Pradesh.

UP Cong prez,legislatureparty leaderdetainedPNS n LUCKNOW

Uttar Pradesh Congress pres-ident Ajay Kumar Lallu, leg-islature party leaderAradhana Mishra and sever-al party workers weredetained here on Tuesdaywhile protesting against thearrest of the party's minori-ty cell chief. Lallu and Mishra,accompanied by a number ofparty workers, were stoppedoutside the party office in theMall Avenue area when theywere trying to move ahead toprotest the arrest of UPCongress minority cell chiefShahnawaz Alam in connec-tion with a case of violenceduring an anti-CAA stir inDecember last year.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Women are placed on a higherpedestal and photographsbreaching their privacy cannot beallowed, the Delhi High Courtsaid on Tuesday while hearingformer AIADMK leader SasikalaPushpa's appeal challenging anorder which dismissed her claimthat her image was being tar-nished by alleged morphed pho-tos and videos with a man on thesocial media.

The court also observed thatoutraging modesty of a womanin any manner is a criminaloffence. Facebook, Google andYouTube contended howeverthat they are only intermediariesand do not upload any contenton their platforms.

Sasikala has challenged thesingle judge's order and urged thedivision bench to direct them toremove the objectionable pho-tographs and also to set aside thecost imposed on her by the sin-gle judge.

A bench of Justices SiddharthMridul and Talwant Singh, dur-

ing the video conferencing hear-ing, observed, “We put womenon a higher pedestal. We don'twant any photographs whichbreach her privacy.” The benchasked the social media giants toremove the offending materialfrom their platforms. “No moremud raising, put an end to it,” thebench said.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for Facebook,said it is only an intermediary

and they have not uploaded anymaterial.

The platforms have their ownsystem of checking the objection-able content and keep on remov-ing it, he said, adding that if thecourt will order them to removethe material, they will abide bythe directions.

When the counsel forFacebook said these were con-sensual photographs, the judgesaid that may be so but it could

be for personal consumption andnot to be made public.

Senior advocate ArunKathpalia, appearing for Googleand YouTube, also said theywere intermediaries and do notupload the content on theInternet and can only disable theURLs. He said he was protestingthe practice of impleading onlyintermediaries in a suit and notthe one who has uploaded thecontent on the Internet.

HC transfers to CB-CID probe intodeath of father-son duo in Tuticorin

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a major exercise, 1.6 lakhaccredited social health activistshave tracked in two phases over30.43 lakh migrants whoreturned to Uttar Pradesh dur-ing the COVID-19 lockdownand assisted the state govern-ment in contact tracing andcommunity surveillance, theUnion Health Ministry said onTuesday. The ASHAs tracked11.24 lakh migrant returnees inthe first phase and 19.19 lakh inthe second, the ministry said,adding that they not only iden-tified 7,965 persons with symp-toms but also regularly followedup on their health status.

"With the surge in the cases ofCOVID-19 in the country andthe influx of migrant populationfrom hotspot areas, one of the

major challenges in UttarPradesh was to cater to thehealthcare needs of returneesand arrest the spread in its ruralpopulation. "ASHAs haveplayed a critical role in support-ing the state's COVID-19 man-agement during this crisis," theministry said.

Uttar Pradesh has reported672 deaths and 22,828 cases so

far, according to the UnionHealth ministry data updated at8 AM. The ministry presenteda case study of a 20-year-oldnative of Bahraich district(Huzorpur Block, Nibuhi Kalavillage), who worked at a juiceshop in Mumbai and returnedhome along with other migrantworkers in a truck in early Mayafter travelling for five days.

ASHA workers played critical rolein UP, tracked 30.43 lakh migrants

PNS n NEW DELHI

With 18,522 people testing pos-itive for coronavirus in a singleday, India's COVID-19 tallyclimbed to 5,66,840 on Tuesdaywhile the death toll rose to16,893 with 418 new fatalities,according to the Union HealthMinistry data.

Recording nearly 4,000 casesin the last 24 hours, TamilNadu has surpassed Delhi toregain the second spot amongthe list of worst-hit states bythe pandemic, while Karnatakaalso recorded more than 1,100overtaking Haryana andAndhra Pradesh.

Maharashtra remained thehighest contributor to the singleday rise, registering over 5,200coronavirus infections. Delhisaw an increase of 2,084 cases.

The number of active cases

stands at 2,15,125, while 3,34,821people have recovered, and onepatient has migrated, accordingto the updated data at 8 am.

"Thus, around 59.07 per centof patients have recovered so far,"an official said.

The total number of con-firmed cases includes foreigners.

This is the seventh consecu-

tive day that coronavirus infec-tions have increased by morethan 15,000. The country hasseen a surge of 3,76,305 infec-tions from June 1 till date.

According to the ICMR, acumulative total of 86,08,654samples have been tested up toJune 29 with 2,10,292 samplesbeen tested on Monday.

India's Covid-19 tally climbs to5,66,840, TN surpasses Delhi

SUSHANT CASE:

Actor goes topolice stationto recordstatementPNS n MUMBAI

Actor Sanjana Sanghi went tothe Bandra police station hereon Tuesday morning to recordher statement in connectionwith the suicide of fellow actorSushant Singh Rajput, an offi-cial said. Sanghi is set to makeher Bollywood debut withMukesh Chhabra-directedmovie 'Dil Bechara', the lastfilm of Rajput. She reached theBandra police station in themorning to record her state-ment, a police official said. Thepolice were trying to under-stand reasons behind Rajput'ssuicide and were also probingwhether professional rivalry, ifany, was responsible for theactor's depression. So far, thepolice have recorded state-ments of 28 people, includinghis family members, actor-friend Rhea Chakraborty, cast-ing director Mukesh Chhabraand Yash Raj Films' castingdirector Shanoo Sharma.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court Tuesdayallowed shifting of 65 foreignnationals connected to TablighiJamaat, who participated in thereligious congregation atNizamuddin Markaz eventduring the COVID-19 lock-down, to alternate accommo-dation.

A bench of Justices VipinSanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagarpassed the order after thecounsel for Centre, Delhi gov-ernment and Delhi Police gavethe statements that they do nothave any objection to it.

The high court allowed theplea to shift 65 foreigners fromthe existing accommodation toanother as they were facingcertain issues including unhy-gienic condition.

The bench, which conduct-ed the hearing through videoconferencing, allowed theapplication for modification inthe high court's May 28 orderby seeking to include three

more places of alternateaccommodation for the foreignnationals connected to TablighiJamaat in light of ongoingcriminal proceedings.

On May 28, the high courthad directed that 955 foreignnationals, who had partici-pated in the Markaz, be shift-ed from institutional quaran-tine centres, where they werekept since March 30 despitetesting negative for COVID-19, to nine alternate accommo-dations.

The plea, filed throughadvocates Mandakini Singhand Ashima Mandla, said thatduring the course of themonth, 65 foreign nationalshoused at Meeraj InternationalSchool have faced discomfortwith regard to the arrange-ments there.

On Tuesday, the high courtallowed them to be shiftedfrom Meeraj InternationalSchool to Texan Public Schoolin Moujpur here, a new accom-modation suggested by them.

HC allows shifting of 65 foreignersto alternate accommodation

TABLIGHI JAMAAT:

From gram pradhanto pradhan mantri,no one above rules:Modi on masks

No individual is above the law,including the leader of a

country, Prime Minister NarendraModi said today during his 17-minute televised address to thenation, as he warned peopleagainst disobeying rules in forceto fight the spread of the novelcoronavirus. The PM said"negligence in social and personalbehaviour" had been seen since"Unlock1" - the first stage in thegovernment's "calibrated" re-startof economic activity and normallife - came into effect on June 1and said this could prove disas-trous as India looks to get theoutbreak under control. "We noticenegligence in people's social andpersonal behaviour. We used tometiculously wash hands, usedsanitisers, wore masks, maintai-ned social distancing and avoidedshaking hands," Modi said.

The prime minister enunciated 4 guidingprinciples that will form the foundation ofthis national effort, the PMO said

HC on Sasikala's plea to remove her photos from sites

A bench of JusticesSiddharth Mriduland Talwant Singh,during the videoconferencinghearing, observed,“We put women ona higher pedestal.We don't want anyphotographs whichbreach her privacy”

Women placed on higher pedestal,can't allow pics breaching their privacy

As the city of Mumbai and therest of Maharashtra re-openscautiously but optimistically ina phased manner, it is impor-tant to mention how the Maha

Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government contin-ues to face relentless attack from the mainOpposition party, the BJP, ever since thethree parties — the Shiv Sena, theNationalist Congress Party (NCP) and theCongress — formed a coalitionGovernment and took charge of the Statein November last year. Barely had the MVAGovernment presented its first budget andstarted building a roadmap for the revivalof the State’s economy, the Coronaviruspandemic brought fresh challenges for it.

The Maharashtra Government, name-ly the Chief Minster and the HealthMinister, started providing daily updateson COVID-19 after the first case was reg-istered on March 9. Most cases were relat-ed to travellers returning from abroad, whowere not in the Centre’s scanner list initial-ly. Since then, the State has seen a spurt inthe number of Corona cases. With a totalof 1,69,883 cases, the death toll stands at7,429. There are 73,298 active cases while88,960 patients have recovered so far.

Of course, this has prompted theOpposition to question the StateGovernment’s strategy in handling the pan-demic. It even predicted doomsday scenar-ios with hashtags such as#MaharashtraBachao trending on socialmedia platforms. However, as it is said, thedevil is always in the details. Truth makesthe State’s BJP unit uncomfortable and,hence, it is unable to confront actual fig-ures. The death rate in Maharashtra didclimb up to 7.5 per cent eight weeks agobut it has dropped steadily since then andnow stands at 4.65 per cent. Recovery ratehas seen a marked improvement and nowstands at 52.26 per cent, up from 26.25 percent on May 20. Mumbai’s COVID-19 dou-bling rate is 25 days while the national aver-age is 19 days. The daily death figuresreported by Maharashtra so far, too, havedeclined in the fortnight. In the State cap-ital and the nation’s financial capital city,Mumbai, where the average doubling rateof cases stood at 41 days, Dharavi, whichwas labelled as a ticking time bomb, is nowrecording cases in single digit. Further,Mumbai saw its coronavirus count rise with1,297 new cases being reported in the last24 hours, taking the city’s tally to 72,175.With 44 new deaths reported this week,Mumbai’s death toll stands at 4,179. Thenumber of active cases here are 28,244 and39,744 patients have recovered so far. Thisis way below the estimates provided by afive-member inter-ministerial central teamthat had projected that the number of caseswould spiral to approximately 6.5 lakh bymid-May.

When the State Governmentannounced a phased lifting of the lock-

down, it remained focussed inaugmenting bed capacity to beable to handle a rise in thenumber of cases. Since then,the State Governmentincreased bed capacity in hos-pitals from 400 to 2.5 lakh, ofwhich 25,000 beds had oxygenfacilities. The number of ICUbeds, too, was increased from250 to around 8,500. Hospitalsfor treating infections withisolation facilities, too, wereincreased from just three to2,576.

Moreover, the number ofCOVID-19 testing laboratorieswas raised from three to 100,the highest in the country. TheState Government has alsotaken charge of 80 per cent ofthe beds in private hospitalsand capped the treatment costto ensure patients aren’t used toprofiteer in the times of a pan-demic. The State has neithershied away from testing norfrom sharing data on the same.Trace, test and treat have beenthe guiding principle.

It was ironic that the mediaand certain influencers wokeup to the transparency onceDelhi raced past Mumbai in thenumber of cases reported, forc-ing the Central Government tointervene to help augment theircapacities. The StateGovernment is now entirelyfocussed on bringing down

the mortality rate.It is depressing that the

State has continued to witnesspolitical slugfest ever since theCorona pandemic began whenit had to grapple with a highmortality rate. It continues tofight this battle even as leadersin the Opposition are busyholding press conferences andprotests to give teeth to theirpolitical agenda. They evenmade frequent visits to the RajBhavan to create political insta-bility in the State.

While the country was bat-tling the migrant crisis,Maharashtra, which is home tothe largest migrant popula-tion, created over 18,000 reliefcamps for them. However, themigrants spilled out on theroads in large numbers outsidethe Bandra station after the endof the first phase of the lock-down as a political slugfest overthe Shramik Special trains formigrants workers erupted.

When the unfortunatedeaths happened at Palghar, theBJP left no stone unturned tocommunalise the incident. Thewar of words intensified whenthe Railway Minister tookoffence to Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray’s statementthat the State had the capacityto handle more Shramik trainsthan were allotted to the State.This escalation happened at a

time when the Railways werealready facing flak for the con-ditions of the trains, over 80deaths and approximately 40trains that lost their destinationand reached a different Statealtogether.

Despite provocations, theState Government has stu-diously kept itself out of poli-tics and focussed itself in con-taining the pandemic by work-ing in close cooperation withthe Centre. The StateGovernment was also left bat-tling a second challenge incarrying out relief work thatfollowed before and aftercyclone Nisarga struck its coast.

There could be weakness-es in the State’s health infra-structure, which is being facedby other States as well, but whatis important is that we shouldnot lose sight of being able tohandle this medical andhumanitarian crisis with empa-thy and commitment to thepeople. So, while theOpposition continues with itspolitical agenda, the people ofthe State continue to solidlyback the Chief Minister and theMVA Government to help theState get out of the biggesthumanitarian and medical cri-sis faced by the world.

(The writer is a RajyaSabha MP and Deputy Leader,Shiv Sena)

When the going gets tough, the toughget going. And this is exactly whatIndia’s innovators, scientists and

researchers have shown in the face of theCoronavirus pandemic, most of them as self-starters. A potential COVID-19 vaccine, the firstto be developed in India, has been given theDrug Controller General of India’s (DCGI)approval for Phase I and II human clinical tri-als that are scheduled to start across the coun-try this month. Results are expected to be outby October, following which larger clinical tri-

als will be conducted. The vaccine has been developed by Hyderabad-basedBharat Biotech, which has delivered more than four billion doses of vaccinesworldwide and also created vaccines for H1N1 and rotavirus in the past. COV-AXIN, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the National Institute ofVirology and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), is an inactivatedvaccine, created from a strain of the infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus that has shownpromise in pre-clinical studies, demonstrating extensive safety and effective immuneresponses. The good news is that apart from COVAXIN, four or five other home-grown vaccines are in early stages of development too. Zydus Cadilla is work-ing on two vaccines while Biological E, Indian Immunologicals and Mynvax aredeveloping one each. The rapid strides that are being made is proof that not fornothing is the country among the largest manufacturers of generic drugs andvaccines in the world. It is home to half a dozen major vaccine makers and ahost of smaller ones, making doses against stubborn diseases like polio, menin-gitis, pneumonia rotavirus, BCG, measles, mumps and rubella.

When we began our fight against the pandemic, there was an atmosphereof fear and gloom in the country over the fact that our healthcare facilities wereinadequate. We did not have enough PPEs, testing kits or ventilators and the gen-eral consensus was that with the West and China having massive resources attheir disposal to pump into research, they would be the first ones to come outwith the drugs and vaccines to treat Coronavirus. A vast majority of Indians wereresigned to the fact that even if the vaccine did come out, it would reach us aftera considerable time lapse as the rich and developed nations would get it firstbecause of their money power and clout. If anything, the pandemic has unleashedour determination to find our own solutions since the world is starved of resources.It has also made it imperative for us to invest in research and development, sofar neglected and supported by corporates. After testing kits, ventilators and evenmaking our own PPE kits — we are now exporting the last — we have beeninnovating at a rapid pace. We have also developed robots powered by ArtificialIntelligence to clean Covid wards and look after patients in isolation wards. Thebiggest news in the fight against the virus came on June 21 when the DCGI grant-ed permission to Glenmark Pharmaceuticals to manufacture and sell Favipiravirand also gave Cipla and Hetero emergency marketing approval for Remdesivirfor treating severe COVID-19 patients. We may have not been the first off theblock where the vaccine is concerned as the ones developed by Moderna Inc,China’s Sinovac Biotech and UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca are set to enter late-stagetrials, but the fact remains that we will be independent and not look to the Westor the dragon to tackle our emergency. Our researchers and scientists have shownthat not for nothing are they considered the best minds in the business.

The news that India has banned 59Chinese-made apps did not really comeas a huge surprise to many ever since

the unfolding of events on June 15. Highly pop-ular applications such as TikTok, Shareit andWeChat have been banned. Some of theseapps count India among their biggest markets.For example, India is the biggest driver of theTikTok app and the ban is expected to hit itsowner Bytedance hard as it had plans to invest$1 billion here. So, it would be prudent for theGovernment to make a watertight data secu-

rity and privacy case for banning these apps, much of which have been surrep-titiously used for data mining and surveillance. This wouldn’t be too difficult forsome apps such as TikTok. It is unfortunate though that several Indian youth,particularly from the subaltern classes, are shedding crocodile tears. That said,two and a half decades of the rise of the internet has taught us that platformslike these come and go. So, these “creators” will clearly find something new.Already similar Indian apps like ShareChat are registering higher traffic. Of course,the banning of social platforms is a very small step to counter the Chinese aggres-sion. Nevertheless, the step has been met with widespread approval, even bysome of those who have been directly impacted.

The fact is that over the past few years, China has proven that it is not a“good faith” actor. It has been in its interest that until now India remained weak,both economically and militarily. The fact that Indian soldiers stood up to col-leagues despite having lost 20 of our men gave the Chinese a dose of their ownmedicine. That our soldiers were able to kill many Chinese personnel is telling.Banning apps is one thing and acting against Chinese consumer products willpossibly be next in the line. But extricating Indian industry from the Chinese sup-ply chain is next to impossible. Industries in our country are heavily dependenton Chinese-made capital goods such as power-generating turbines and indus-trial machinery as well as China-made intermediates such as active pharma-ceutical ingredients. Various sectors would collapse in the absence of Chineseproducts. We have only ourselves to blame for putting ourselves in this posi-tion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should harbour some of the blame. His per-ceived bonhomie with Chinese President Xi Jinping was just an act for the lat-ter. And Xi took Modi for a ride. At the same time, the entire philosophy of sell-ing cheap products and the lowest bidder concept has led to India actively import-ing from China instead of building up additional capacity or even consider analternative. Here, the Kolkata and Nagpur metro rail systems are guilty of get-ting new rolling stock from Dalian instead of encouraging local production lines.India must make it clear that it will not allow Chinese companies to bid for infra-structure projects. Most Chinese companies are beholden to the ChineseCommunist Party and, thus, to Xi. We cannot trust the Chinese or their compa-nies. The Ladakh standoff will continue for some time but we have to make itclear to China that India can stand on its own feet. We must reject the Chinesetemptation of cheap products and consumer goods. Enough is enough. Whatis needed is a firm will on the Government to build our own self-sufficienciesand end this dependence.

Ban on China apps

Accept the new normal

Sir — As bilateral ties remainstrained, the Government hassought to ban 59 Chinese appsfrom operating in the country. Indoing so, it would be killing twobirds with one stone. First, thisdigital strike must be acknowl-edged as a crucial move towardsmaking India aatmanirbhar (self-reliant). Second, this sends aclear signal about India’s resolveto take on Chinese aggressionhead-on.

Surely, many users back homewill miss using these apps, espe-cially TikTok. The app hasbecome extremely popular andthere is a lot of creative andhumorous content being pro-duced by its users. As of June2019, it was estimated that therewere 120 million monthly TikTokusers in India. Many are expect-ing that the Government wouldlaunch Indian substitutes of theseapps. But it must not be forgot-ten that not too long ago whenthe app was banned, we had gotused to not relying on it.Adjusting to life after the exit maynot be too hard.

Tushar AnandVia email

Stand up to China

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “No point in this war” (June30). At a time when India’s sov-ereignty and integrity are at stakein view of the country facing mul-tiple challenges, be it the Coronapandemic, the state of the econ-omy or Chinese aggression at theborder, political bickering must be

avoided. Veteran politician andNCP supremo Sharad Pawar wasspot on when he said that nation-al security matters should not bepoliticised. But do our politiciansever let go of any opportunity notto use it for their political gain?

All our internal bickeringwill benefit China. It’s high timethat our leaders put their headstogether to form a consensus onhow to protect the country from

the Chinese threat. China viewsIndia as a major potential threatto its hegemony. A ban onChinese apps or goods alone willhardly serve the purpose. Warisn’t a solution either. The timehas come to send out a clear mes-sage that our territorial integrityis not negotiable and we won’tcompromise.

Azhar A KhanRampur

Be grateful to doctors

Sir — July 1 is celebrated asNational Doctor’s Day every year.It honours doctors across thecountry for their relentless service.This day serves to show gratitudeto all medical practitioners whohave selflessly aided us in our timeof need and tirelessly worked forthe health of their patients by com-memorating the greatest represen-tative of these ideals.

With the number ofCoronavirus cases on the rise, itis important to appreciate theefforts made by doctors, nurses,technicians, medical staff, admin-istrators, food service workers,pharmacists, security guards, ourmilitary deployed to set up hos-pitals and deliver aid and every-body else who are endangeringtheir life for our benefit. Doctorsare special and this year is onewhere we have seen them as ourreal-life heroes. Doctor’s Day is anopportunity to thank all theheroes in the medical fraternityfor their selfless contributions.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020

06

Real test of leadership

PRIYANKA CHATURVEDI

Maharashtra has led by example in reining in the Corona pandemic even as the

Opposition ramped up efforts to pull the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government down

We should do it (sever ties withChinese sponsors in IPL) forthe sake of the nation. Countrycomes first, money is sec-ondary. And it is the IPL, notthe Chinese Premier League.

Indian businessman—Ness Wadia

I don’t think it’s the time tobe selfish or think aboutyourself, but in the largerinterest of what’s going on.Everybody will have tochange.

Actor—Huma S Qureshi

The UP Government isavoiding COVID tests, mak-ing it difficult to assess thecurrent situation. It is alsodifficult to assess when thedisease will reach its peak.

SP chief—Akhilesh Yadav

S O U N D B I T E

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

Migrants represent Indian ethos

The migrant workers have started to return to theStates that they left at the onset of the COVID-19pandemic. It's hunger and hopelessness again that

is pushing them back to the cities from their villages.They have shown no rancour or disillusionment, eitherwith the Government or their employers. They truly rep-resent the ethos of this nation, that of patience, forbear-ance and goodwill. They marched hundreds of miles totheir villages with hope and fortitude for better timesahead, even as they patiently bore the vicissitudes of aninsensitive bureaucracy. The strength of this nation comesfrom the moral fibre of its lower strata of citizens, evenas the upper echelon often weakens it with self-inter-ests in mind.

For a nation that could handle in its stride the mas-sive demonetisation with a four-hour notice, the COVIDcrisis was but a second run with a different script. Thevillain had changed robes but the hero was the same inboth — the lowly common man. He is as indefatigable

now as he was in 2016. He managed with sheer perse-verance and jugaad, purely on the enduring sense ofbrotherhood among men in similar distress. As before,the upper and middle classes would treat this episode,albeit very long, as no more than a temporary blip.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

WHEN THE STATEGOVERNMENTANNOUNCED A

PHASED LIFTING OFTHE LOCKDOWN, IT

REMAINEDFOCUSSED IN

AUGMENTING BEDCAPACITY TO BE

ABLE TO HANDLE ARISE IN THE

NUMBER OF CASES.SINCE THEN, IT

INCREASED BEDCAPACITY IN

HOSPITALS FROM400 TO 2.5 LAKH, OFWHICH 25,000 BEDS

HAD OXYGENFACILITIES

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Our own vaccine

The whole country knows that China has snatchedIndia’s land. Please tell the country how you will evict the Chinese troops and when?

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

The People’s Republic of China has proven itself to not actin good faith. This hitback was coming ever since June 15

Human trials to start this month, results in October. This isreason enough to prioritise Govt funding to R&D

The GST indemnity riddle

KEEPING IN MIND THE FESTIVALS THAT ARE COMING UP,

THIS SCHEME TO PROVIDE 80 CRORE PEOPLE WITH FREE

RATIONS WILL BE EXTENDED TILL NOVEMBER END.

—PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

WE WILL GIVE FREE RATION TILL JUNE 2021. OUR

RATION IS BETTER THAN THAT OF THE CENTRE. ONLY

60 PER CENT PEOPLE HERE GET CENTRAL RATIONS.

—BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER

MAMATA BANERJEE

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The dwindling tax revenue of both the Centreand States since the financial year (FY) 2019-20 has led to a piquant situation. Even as States

expect “full” and “timely” compensation for theshortfall in their tax revenue (their own collectionplus the amount received as their share in indirecttax collected by the Centre as per the FinanceCommission’s devolution formula) vis-à-vis a givenbenchmark, the Union Government has been mak-ing short payments and that too, after a time lag.The compensation to States is intertwined with theGoods and Services Tax (GST) in vogue since July1, 2017. In fact, the passage of the ConstitutionalAmendment Bill (August, 2016) leading to thelaunch of GST was predicated on the Centre giv-ing a legally-binding commitment that it wouldcompensate the States for the loss of revenue theywould incur under the GST vis-à-vis the revenuethey would get under the subsisting dispensationof excise duty, sales tax or Value Added Tax (VAT)plus other local taxes (GST was first mooted in 2006by the then UPA Government but did not bear fruitduring its term as it was unwilling to give this com-mitment).

Accordingly, the Modi Government enacted theGST Compensation Act (2017) to provide for com-pensation to the States for five years between 2017and 2022, for the loss of revenue to be calculatedas the difference between their actual collection(including transfer of their share in indirect tax col-lected by the Centre) and the amount they wouldhave got with annual growth at 14 per cent over the2015-16 level, under the erstwhile dispensation.

However, to ensure that the Centre has enoughfunds to pay for the shortfall faced by States, it alsopassed an amendment to the GST CompensationAct (2018) to levy a cess on the supply of certaingoods and services. The cess is levied on demeritgoods (those which fall in the highest tax slab at 28per cent, with the other slabs being five per cent,12 per cent and 18 per cent, besides the exempt cat-egory) such as automobiles, tobacco, alcohol andso on, with a proviso to use the proceeds for com-pensating States. The cess was to remain in forcefor five years in sync with the Centre’s obligationto compensate States for that period. The rationalebehind keeping these arrangements in place for fiveyears was that at the end of this transition, i.e. 2021-22, the GST dispensation would have acquired themuch-needed “vitality” and “resilience” to yield suf-ficient resources for the States to meet their bud-getary requirements within the prudential limit setunder the Fiscal Responsibility and BudgetManagement Act (FRBM), thereby obviating theneed for any extra support.

Before we proceed to do the number crunch-ing and analyse the situation on ground zero, itshould be abundantly clear that two provisions inthe law viz. one relating to compensation and theother levy of cess (and collection thereof) have tobe viewed in conjunction with each other. In otherwords, the discharge of the constitutional obliga-tion to compensate States for the loss of revenuewould be possible only when there are enough fundsavailable.

During the first two years (since the launch ofGST) viz. 2017-18/2018-19, the collection from cesswas higher than the shortfall in tax revenue facedby the States. During July 2017-March 2018, the cesscollected was `62,600 crore against `41,150 croreneeded for compensating the States. During 2018-19, the cess collection was `95,000 crore against`69,000 crore distributed among States as compen-sation. As a result, even after fully meeting the com-

pensation requirement of the States, at thebeginning of 2019-20, the Centre had asurplus of about `47,000 crore in the taxpool.

During 2019-20, the situation deteri-orated. Against the requirement of over`1,35,000 crore, proceeds from the cesswere just about `95,000 crore leaving adeficit of about `40,000 crore.Notwithstanding this deficit, the Centrecould have drawn upon the surplus fromprevious years to ensure timely release ofthe compensation amount. But, that wasnot to be and there was considerable delay.For instance, the compensation forOctober/November, 2019 about `34,000crore was released in February/April, 2020.

Now, the devastation triggered by thelockdown has led to a steep decline in taxcollection of both the Centre and States(for instance, GST collection during Apriland May was less than 50 per cent of theamount collected during April/May,2019). The collection from cess is alsoexpected to go down drastically. Againstmonthly compensation requirement ofover 20,000 crore, proceeds from the cessare estimated to be just about 9,500 croreleading to a deficit of `10,500 crore oraround `1,25,000 crore for the whole ofthe current year.

Unlike last year when the surplusavailable from the previous years helpedin salvaging the situation, during the cur-rent year, the Centre has nothing to fallback upon. In this backdrop and withStates unwilling to relent on their claimfor compensation in full, the Centre is talk-ing of force majeur. Put simply, the lattermay have expressed its inability to payinvoking an event beyond control or an“act of God” (COVID-19).

Whether or not force majeur can beinvoked, thereby absolving the Centre ofits obligation to compensate the States isfor legal luminaries to decide. However,

the latter need to appreciate that in theabsence of adequate funds in the tax pool,even if the former is willing to compen-sate them, it may still not be able to do it.It can take recourse to additional borrow-ings or ask the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)to print more currency but these optionsentail serious risk.

As regards borrowings, already theCentre has increased its borrowing pro-gramme for the current year by 50 per centto over `12,00,000 crore. While this fac-tored in the liabilities arising from theAatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyanannounced by Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman during May, thereafter, theGovernment has taken onto itself an addi-tional expenditure commitment of`90,000 crore (`50,000 crore on employ-ment scheme for migrant labour and`40,000 crore additional allocation forMGNREGA).

If, to this we add `1,25,000 crorerequired to cover the deficit in the tax pool,the Centre will need to borrow another`2,15,000 crore, taking the total to morethan `14,00,000 crore. This will furthercrowd the market and increase interestrates.

Alternatively, monetising the deficithas inflationary implications; besides, itsends a wrong message to stakeholdersespecially rating agencies about India’s abil-ity to protect its macro-economic funda-mentals. What then is the way forward?How can the States and the Centre wrig-gle out of the riddle without undermin-ing India’s economic fundamentals?

Going strictly by the spirit of the twoconstitutional amendments relating tocompensation and cess, when there is notenough money in the tax pool, the com-pensation amount to the States needs tobe reduced to balance the two. This meansthat the States should be content with whatis available in the tax pool; instead, they

should fund the `1,25,000 crore deficitthrough additional borrowing on theirown or rationalise their expenditure tobring about savings.

An alternative which is expected togive comfort to all stakeholders is to con-tinue the cess on demerit products beyondthe five-year period (this will require fur-ther amendment to the GSTCompensation Act, 2018). The deficit inthe tax pool during 2020-21 should be metfrom additional borrowings by the Centrewith a clear stipulation that these will beserviced from the proceeds of cess dur-ing the extended period say, three yearsstarting from 2022-23.

The States should desist from pursu-ing their demand made before the 15thFinance Commission for continuing withcompensation for three more years. Thisis not only out of sync with the originalintent of the amendment Act on compen-sation (it was meant to be a stopgap aimedat protecting their revenue till such timeGST starts yielding the desired buoyan-cy in revenue) but also will come in theway of servicing the loan taken to fund thecurrent year’s deficit.

When, an overwhelming portion ofthe proceeds from the cess during theextended period is dedicated to givingcompensation to States, there won’t be anymoney left to service the loans taken now.Considering a special dispensation (as pro-posed above) to bail out the States dur-ing the current excruciating year, the GSTCouncil should impress upon States totake urgent steps, like bringing more busi-nesses under the tax net, reining in eva-sion, eliminating fraudulent claims ofinput tax credit and so on, to ensure thattax revenue under the new regime is self-sustaining, obviating the need for compen-sation at least during normal times.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst)

Even as States expect full and timely compensation for the shortfall in their tax revenue, vis-à-vis agiven benchmark, the Union Govt has been making short payment and that too after a time lag

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

MARKANDEY KATJU

UNLIKE LAST YEAR, WHEN THE SURPLUS

AVAILABLE FROMTHE PREVIOUSYEARS HELPED IN SALVAGING

THE SITUATION,DURING THE

CURRENT YEAR, THE CENTRE HAS

NOTHING TO FALLBACK UPON. IN THIS

BACKDROP ANDWITH STATES

UNWILLING TORELENT ON

THEIR CLAIM FORCOMPENSATION INFULL, THE CENTRE

IS TALKING OFFORCE MAJEUR.

PUT SIMPLY, THELATTER MAY HAVE

EXPRESSED ITSINABILITY TO PAY

INVOKING AN EVENTBEYOND CONTROL

OR AN ‘ACT OF GOD’(COVID-19)

What happened recently in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, is worsethan the Nirbhaya case for which four persons involved werehanged a few months ago. A father and son, P Jayaraj and

Fenix, running a mobile accessory shop in Sathankulam town inTuticorin district were arrested by some policemen allegedly for keep-ing their shop open for some time beyond the period permitted dur-ing the lockdown. The two of them were booked under Section 188(disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353(use of force to deter public servant from duty) 269 (negligent actlikely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 506(2)(Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

They were then taken to the police station and brutally assault-ed, evidently by forcibly thrusting rods or sticks into their privateparts (since when they were released from custody their clotheswere torn and covered in blood and they were profusely bleedingfrom their private parts. In fact, they needed multiple changes ofclothes in the hours after they were released by the policemen).Theylater died within a day of each other. In the Nirbhaya case, too, arod was thrust into the private parts of the victim, but it was doneby delinquent citizens who were non-officials. In the case of P Jayarajand Fenix, the brutality was committed by policemen whose dutyit is to uphold the law and protect citizens. Thus rakshaks (protec-tors) turned into bhakshaks(destroyers).

There is a big uproar all over the country, particularly in TamilNadu, over this ghastly incident. There has been an outpouring ofoutrage and shock by the Hindi and southern film industry and DMKleaders have blamed the administration squarely for the occurrence.

In Prakash Kadam vs Ramprasad Vishwanath Gupta, 2011 case,the Supreme Court held that policemen found guilty of fake encoun-ters should be given the death penalty, treating it as a “rarest of rare”case. The court observed: “Policemen are people who are supposedto uphold the law. In our opinion if crimes are committed by ordi-nary people, ordinary punishment should be given, but if the offenceis committed by policemen much harsher punishment should begiven to them because they do an act totally contrary to their duties.”

So if the Nirbhaya accused were hanged, all the more shouldthe policemen in the Tuticorin case be, if held guilty by the court.It may be mentioned that instances of custodial deaths were mount-ing in our country, as noted by the Supreme Court in its landmarkdecision in DK Basu vs State of West Bengal, 1996. Hence Section176 of the Criminal Procedure Code was amended and a specialprocedure created for investigating custodial deaths.

For ordinary crimes, investigation is done by the police. But forcustodial deaths, Section 176 provided that investigation be doneby a judicial magistrate. The purpose of making this special provi-sion for custodial deaths was obvious: The police may not makea fair investigation against a colleague (as there is often a tenden-cy of people in the same service to side with each other).

However, there is nothing in Section 176 which says that police-men accused of custodial death cannot be arrested before the enquiryby the judicial magistrate is completed. In fact, in cases of murder,the police usually arrest the accused immediately and do not waitto do so till the investigation is over. Hence, the policemen involvedin brutalising P Jayaraj and Fenix must be arrested.

In the FIR lodged by the policemen, it was alleged that thedeceased father and son had abused the policemen and threatenedto kill them. This sounds like an implausible claim, as it is difficultto believe shopkeepers would behave like this with policemen. Inany event, assuming this was true, it was no justification for theatrocious and abhorrent acts committed by the policemen on thedeceased. In the police FIR it is also alleged that the two deceasedsuffered injuries because they rolled on the ground. This version islaughable. Why should they roll on the ground? And how can rollingon the ground result in such horrendous injuries as sustained bythe deceased?

In the State of UP vs Mohd Naim, Justice AN Mulla of theAllahabad High Court observed: “There is not a single lawless groupin the whole of the country whose record of crime comes anywherenear the record of that single organised unit which is known as theIndian police force.” No doubt the above observation wasexpunged by the Supreme Court, calling it a “sweeping generali-sation”, but it does indicate that many policemen in India think thatthey are above the law. They seem to believe that the law cannottouch them. This needs to change, else the police brutalities in thecountry will never end and will, in fact, continue to grow each dayas we have recently witnessed during the lockdown. The cases ofharassment of the citizens by the policemen for minor lockdowninfractions and the harsh punishment and humiliation heaped uponthe migrant labourers who were trekking across the country in orderto reach home are some of the cases that come to mind. The bru-tality committed on P Jayaraj and Fenix is unacceptable. It is hightime that the fear of the law was put in the hearts of policemen.

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

Congress leader Rahul Gandhiturned 50 last week and celebrat-ed his birthday quietly in view

of the Coronavirus outbreak. Hisfather Rajiv Gandhi became the PrimeMinister of the country at the age of 40.

Rahul, too, could have become thePrime Minister in 2009 when theCongress Party returned to power orat least a Cabinet Minister during theten years of the UPA’s rule from 2004-2014.

However, Rahul had his own ideasof leadership. At the swearing-in cer-emony in 2009, I asked him why he didnot become a Minister and his replywas, “I don’t want to do ten things at

a time. I want to do only one thing ata time.” Now, Rahul’s loyalists are get-ting impatient to bring him back as theparty chief. Nobody knows why heresigned last year after the Lok Sabhapoll results or why he is coming backas the Congress president. It is perti-nent to note that though not holdingany office, it is Rahul who is fightingfrom the front on behalf of theCongress Party, though Sonia Gandhitoo, is writing letters and participatingin meetings with the political leadersand the Prime Minister.

The indications of Rahul’s returnas the party chief were clear at lastweek’s meeting of the party’s top pol-icy-making body, the CongressWorking Committee (CWC) meeting,where there was a clash between the oldguard and Rahul. The power strugglewas visible when Rahul was critical ofthe old guard for not supporting himin his campaign against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi either now or earlierduring the 2019 poll campaign.

The old guard is wary of person-al attacks against Modi as they feel thatthe negative campaign against thePrime Minister will not work.Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot, a known Sonia loyalist, was theone who raised the issue in the CWCmeeting and the “Rahul lao” chorusbegan soon after. One of them evensuggested that a virtual meeting shouldbe organised to bring Rahul back as thechief of the party.

Rahul 2.0 will see a new brand ofthe Gandhi scion. From the “angryyoung man” of the earlier days, Rahul2.0 will be seen as a mature and effec-tive leader, who alone can take onPrime Minister Modi.

Rahul is being projected as anintellectual who can hold his own withglobal experts and economists. Hisconversations with experts like formerReserve Bank of India GovernorRaghuram Rajan, Nobel laureateAbhijit Banerjee and former US diplo-mat Nicholas Burns were meant to con-

vey that. Rahul has also been engagingthe media as was evident by the threefree-wheeling press conferences heheld in recent weeks.

Rahul also launched his ownTelegram channel this week. The mainpurpose of this exercise was to connectwith the voters directly. It is availableon the messaging app and has so farabout 3,500 subscribers. This is anovel experiment as it gives the pub-lic access to his views directly. Thoughhe came late to the social media gameas compared to the BJP, he has beencatching up fast in the last two years.He has 14.9 million followers on twit-ter and over a million on instagram. HisYouTube channel has 3.1 lakh sub-scribers.

His strategists must have thoughtit is time for a new brand of Rahul. Hecan no longer be called a young manas he is 50 now. Hence, the time hascome to project him as a mature leader,who has a worldview. Even the BJP nolonger calls Rahul the demeaning

names given to him earlier and isengaging with him politically, thoughit is still ridiculing him often.

However, undaunted by the jibes,the new avatar of Rahul has been rais-ing pertinent issues like Modi’s han-dling of the Chinese incursions, the fail-ing economy and the hiccups in thehandling of the COVID-19 pandem-ic on behalf of the Congress and tweetsabout these issues almost daily.

Rahul strategists would like him toshed the image of a dynast and a priv-ileged man. Instead they want him tobe seen as the alternative to Modi. Butbefore that happens, Rahul must firstrevive the party from the grassrootslevel.

He should promote the secondrung leaders in the Congress andappoint the right man for the right job.He must listen to the voices of experi-ence within the party. Second, heshould also try to emerge as a success-ful Opposition leader and unite the till-now scattered Opposition. Right now

it is Sonia Gandhi who is doing that job,but she has not been very successful atit as the regional satraps are all goingtheir own way. Third, and most impor-tantly, the Congress party needs to finda new narrative. Sonia Gandhi was suc-cessful because she thought of the “aamaadmi (common man)” slogan in2004, which clicked well with the elec-torate. Just Modi-bashing is not enoughto get votes. Rahul should be able toconvince the people that he will be thebetter alternative to Modi.

He got everything in politics on asilver plate. He had the family name.He was young and presentable and hadgood opportunities in politics. Hereached the top position in the party.

Now he should not miss a secondchance if he comes back as the partychief. A wise leader would grab theopportunities given to him and Rahulmissed many of them in the past.Hopefully Rahul 2.0 will not miss anyof them.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Rahul 2.0 must not miss opportunitiesJust Modi-bashing is not enough to get votes. Rahul should be able to convince the people that he will be the better alternative

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

UTTAM GUPTA

Arrest thedelinquent copsThe brutality committed on P Jayaraj and Fenix is

unacceptable. It is high time that policemen inIndia also fear the law if they violate it

F O R E I G N E Y E

GOOD NEWS FOR THE EU

It is the EU’s good fortune thatGermany will take over itsrotating presidency this week.Germany’s assured handling ofthe epidemic has enhanced itsauthority and provided thepolitical capital to take necessaryrisks in what has become a crisispresidency. Germany hassometimes been criticised for“leading from behind.” For thenext six months, Angela Merkelwill be leading from the front.(The Guardian editorial)

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Shell writes downoil and gas assetsby $22 billionLondon, Jun 30 (AP) Energyproducer Royal Dutch Shellwarned Tuesday it will slashthe value of its assets by $22billion to account for lower oiland gas prices amid theCOVID-19 pandemic. Thecompany predicted the write-down for the quarter and saidit continues “to adapt toensure the business remainsresilient” in challenging times.Earlier this month, itscompetitor BP, also cut thevalue of its own assets by upto $17.5 billion. Shellpredicted prices for Brentcrude, the international oilbenchmark, would be at $50dollars a barrel in 2022. Earlierit had predicted a price of $60a barrel. On Tuesday, it wastrading near $41 a barrel.

Chola MS GeneralInsurance gets newManaging DirectorCHENNAI: CholamandalamMS General InsuranceCompany on Tuesdayannounced the appointment ofV Suryanarayanan as its newmanaging director with effectfrom July 1. Suryanarayanansucceeds S S Gopalarathnamwho retires on Tuesday afterserving the company for over41 years, the city-basedcompany said in a statement.Cholamandalam MS GeneralInsurance is a joint venturebetween diversifiedconglomerate MurugappaGroup and Japan-basedMitsui Sumitomo InsuranceCompany Ltd.Suryanarayanan currentlyserves the company asPresident and Chief OperatingOfficer and he will take overthe new role on July 1.

SBI launches Yonobranches in threecities

‘COVID-19 may setback Indian banks'recovery by years’

MUMBAI: State Bank of India(SBI) on Tuesday said it haslaunched 'Yono' branches inselect cities, aimed at drivingadoption of digital bankingamong its customers. Yono isthe lender's digital bankingapp. The bank has launchedYono branches in NaviMumbai, Indore andGurugram, one in each city, aspart of its pilot, a release said."We believe the Yono branchwill enable and empowercustomers to adopt digitalbanking to enjoy all bankingservices with ease," SBIChairman Rajnish Kumar said.Through the self-service zone,customers can deposit chequeinto smart cheque depositkiosks, withdraw and depositcash, and print passbook24x7, without depending onbranch staff. The saidbranches have been launchedon the eve of the 65thanniversary of the bank'sfoundation day.

NEW DELHI: The COVID-19pandemic may set back therecovery of India's bankingsector by years, which couldhit credit flows and, ultimately,the economy, S&P GlobalRatings said on Tuesday. TheUS-based rating agencyexpects non-performing loansin Indian banks will hit a freshhigh, raising credit costs, andputting pressure on ratings."In our base case, we expectthe non-performing loans toshoot up to 13-14 per cent oftotal loans in the fiscal yearending March 31, 2021,compared with an estimated8.5 per cent in the previousfiscal year," said S&P GlobalRatings credit analyst DeepaliSeth-Chhabria.

PNS n BEIJING

A day after India banned 59apps with Chinese links forengaging in activities which are"prejudicial to sovereignty andintegrity" of the country, Chinaon Tuesday voiced strong con-cern over the move, and saidthe Indian government hasthe responsibility to uphold the"legitimate and legal rights" ofinternational investors.

India on Monday banned 59apps with Chinese links,including the hugely popularTikTok and UC Browser, forengaging in "activities whichare prejudicial to sovereigntyand integrity of India, defenceof India, security of state andpublic order".

The ban also comes in thebackdrop of the current stand-off along the Line of Actualcontrol in eastern Ladakh withChinese troops.

Reacting to India's ban of theChinese apps at a ChineseForeign Ministry briefing here,

spokesman Zhao Lijian said,“China is strongly concernedabout the relevant notice issuedby the Indian side. We arechecking and verifying the sit-uation.

"I want to stress that theChinese government alwaysasks the Chinese businesses toabide by international rules,local laws and regulations intheir business cooperation withforeign countries," he said.

“The Indian governmenthas the responsibility to upholdthe legitimate and legal rightsof the international investorsincluding the Chinese ones,” he

added. India's InformationTechnology Ministry said onMonday that it has invoked itspower under section 69A ofthe IT Act and rules, and hasdecided to block 59 apps inview of information availablethat they are "engaged in activ-ities which are prejudicial tosovereignty and integrity ofIndia, defence of India, secu-rity of state and public order".

The move will "safeguard theinterests of crores of Indianmobile and internet users. Thisdecision is a targeted move toensure safety and sovereigntyof Indian cyberspace", the min-

istry said in a statement.The Chinese foreign min-

istry spokesman said the prac-tical cooperation betweenChina and India is actuallymutually beneficial and win-win.

“Such pattern has been arti-ficially undermined and it isnot in the interest of the Indianside,” Zhao added.

The list of apps that havebeen banned by India alsoinclude Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vigo Video, Mi VideoCall – Xiaomi, Clash of Kingsas well as e-commerce plat-forms Club Factory and Shein.

The IT ministry statementalso said that it has receivedmany complaints from varioussources, including severalreports about misuse of somemobile apps available onAndroid and iOS platforms for"stealing and surreptitiouslytransmitting users' data in anunauthorised manner toservers which have locationsoutside India".

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex sur-rendered all its early gains toend 46 points lower onTuesday as investors turnedcautious ahead of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'saddress to the nation.

After jumping 272.39 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareindex turned negative and set-tled 45.72 points, or 0.13 percent, down at 34,915.80; whilethe NSE Nifty slipped 10.30points, or 0.10 per cent, to10,302.10.

PowerGrid was the top lag-gard in the Sensex pack, shed-ding around 2 per cent, fol-lowed by Sun Pharma, ITC,ONGC, Bharti Airtel andReliance Industries.

On the other hand, Maruti,Nestle India, ICICI Bank andUltraTech Cement wereamong the gainers.

Indian market pared intra-day gains as participantsadopted a wait and watchapproach ahead of Modi's

address.Concerns over rising

COVID-19 cases and itsimpact on economic recoveryremained a key factor forinvestors, analysts said.

The number of cases aroundthe world linked to the diseasehas crossed 1.03 crore and thedeath toll has topped 5.05lakh.

In India, the number ofinfections spiked to 5,66,840and the death toll rose to

16,893.Meanwhile, bourses in

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Japanand Seoul ended with signifi-cant gains.

However, stock exchanges inEurope started on a tepid note.

International oil benchmarkBrent crude futures fell 1.36per cent to USD 41.28 per bar-rel.

On the currency front, therupee settled 7 paise higher at75.51 against the US dollar.

Sensex, Nifty pare earlygains, end marginally lower

China expresses concern overIndia's ban on 59 Chinese apps

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala-based tech start-upSkyislimit Technologies haslaunched 'Fokuz',a video con-ferencing platform, to cash inon virtual interactions thatwere increasing due to theCOVID-19 situation.

The unprecedented timeshave pushed businesses acrossthe world to shift to remoteworking, and given the rise indemand for a safe and hassle-free platform, Fokuz was devel-oped in four months, the com-pany said ina press release.

It promises unparalleled userexperience like simple clickschedule meetings, high qual-ity video and audio, secureexperience, go live option toany social media handles,effortless screen shares and

built-in recording feature,among others.

Fokuz would be availableacross Android and iOSdevices as well as Windows andmacOS computers thusenabling new seamless experi-

ence for all meeting attendees.Unlike any other such plat-

forms, Fokuz features theoption of unlimited partici-pants.

It would be available free ofcost for the coming twomonths and can be accessedfrom round the globe.

"Working remotely hasposed a huge challenge in theway we work and video confer-encing has become an integralpart of our daily life," founder& CEO (sales, Fokuz),Skyislimit Technologies PvtLtd Manodh Mohan said.

Kerala startup launches ‘Fokuz'

PNS n NEW DELHI

Electric vehicles market inIndia may experience a shift asconsumers seek affordableproducts amid COVID-19,and it could make manufac-turers resume production forconventional vehicles, accord-ing to a report.

The report - Towards aClean Energy Economy: Post-COVID-19 Opportunities inIndia's Energy and MobilitySectors - is prepared by gov-ernment think tank Niti Aayogand Rocky Mountain Institute.

It also said there may bedelays in electric vehicles (EV)production as manufacturersfocus on reviving demandand producing BS-VI vehicles,while curbs on imports of

Chinese components may leadto disruptions in EV manufac-turing.

"Auto sales could decreaseby as much as 45 per cent inthe financial year 2020–21. EVproduction could be affectedin the short term due to lowerdemand and supply-chain dis-ruptions with BNEF estimat-ing an 18 per cent decrease inglobal EV sales in 2020.

Lower disposable incomesand a tendency towards cashsaving will lead to reduceddemand for EV in the shortterm, the report said, adding"some OEMs' customers arepushing back their EV busi-ness plans by two or moreyears". The report also high-lighted the consequences ofpolicy changes.

Manorama firm’sYoY PAT up by 22%PNS n MUMBAI

Manorama Industries, one ofthe leaders in Specialty Butters,Fats and Cocoa ButterEquivalents (CBE) announcedits results on 29 June where itannounced a YoY revenueincrease of 83.83%, EBITAincrease of 55.99% and PATincrease of 22.43%. On an H2comparision basis while itsrevenue increased 37.65%, thePAT saw a decline of 21.29%.As stated by the managementin the release uploaded on theexchanges they are confidentthat in FY20-21 their opera-tions will be smooth and theyanticipate and increase in pro-duction and revenue that willset off the increased costs.

Commenting on the perfor-mance, Ms Vinita Saraf,

Managing Director says, " Weare tapping growth opportuni-ties and the positive perfor-mance during this year was ledby a strong growth in sales.The Bikroni plant has startedfull commercial production ofall its units including the keyprocess of fractionation. Weare also in the process of con-sidering in making our Africaventure a wholly owned sub-sidiary of the company."

Zomato rechristens membershipprogramme Gold to Zomato ProPNS n NEW DELHI

Online restaurant guide andfood ordering platformZomato on Tuesday said it hasrechristened its membershipprogramme Zomato Gold toZomato Pro to include morediscounts and privileges.

"All Zomato Gold mem-bers across 10 countries willautomatically get upgraded toZomato Pro starting August 1,2020," Zomato Co-founderand COO Gaurav Gupta saidin a blog post.

The company has launchedan initiative to rechristenZomato Gold to Zomato Pro— and make it a bigger, betterall-encompassing membershipthat unlocks amazing privi-leges and discounts at the bestrestaurants across dining out

and delivery, he added.This is in addition to some

never-seen-before exclusiveprivileges on the Zomato appand a unique money-backguarantee for all Pro members,Gupta said.

Zomato Pro members willcontinue to enjoy existingoffers (on Zomato Gold) acrossa wide selection of restau-

rants, he added.Zomato Pro has been

designed to be much morefriendly for a wider variety ofrestaurant businesses, Guptasaid.

"We have signed up around50 per cent more partnerrestaurants on Zomato Prothan what we had on ZomatoGold – across dining out anddelivery," he added.

Need to cut logisticscost, says Gadkari

EV mkt may see lowerdemand, says report

PNS n NEW DELHI

India needs to enhance itscargo carrying capacity toreduce logistics cost and thereis a need to look into the pos-sibility of converting old air-craft of Defence and airlinesinto cargo carriers, UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari said onTuesday.

Interacting with membersfrom Domestic Air CargoAgents Association of India,the Road Transport andHighways Minister also saidIndia has huge potential infishery and the fish economycan reach Rs 6 lakh crore fromthe present Rs 1 lakh crore.

"Transportation of agricul-ture, fish and other productsis a major problem the coun-try is facing...We need toenhance the cargo carryingcapacity to bring down logis-tics cost. There is need toexplore the possibility of con-verting old Defence andAirlines aircraft into cargocarriers," Gadkari saidaddressing the Association

through video conference.The Minister said the logis-

tics costs in India is as high as13 per cent as compared to 8per cent in developed nations.

"Defence and airline oldplanes can be converted intocargo carriers for taking prod-ucts to foreign countries andpilots could be employed oncontract basis," the Ministersaid and added that theAssociation should also lookinto the possibility of roping inJet Airways' fleet.

Gadkari also urged theAssociation to look into devel-oping infrastructure aroundairports and if cooling plantsetc could be installed on theside of the airports.

PNS n NEW DELHI

BGR Energy Systems onTuesday reported a consoli-dated net loss of Rs 4.71crore for the January-Marchquarter 2020.

The consolidated net prof-it of the company was Rs31.96 crore in quarter endedon March 31, 2019, a regu-latory filing said.

Total income dropped toRs 320.32 crore in the quar-ter from Rs 1,012.98 crore insame period last year.

For 2019-20, the companyposted a net loss of Rs 9.57crore against consolidatednet profit of Rs 15.10 crorein 2018-19.

Total income declined toRs 2,734.49 crore in 2019-20from Rs 3,275.59 crore in2018-19.

Nationwide lockdownconsequent to spread ofCOVID-19 pandemic hadtemporarily disrupted theoperations of the company,it said.

BGR EnergySystemsreport Rs 4.71crore loss

PNS n NEW DELHI

Exide Life Insurance has reg-istered a 88.7 per cent jumpin net profit at Rs 28.3 crorefor fiscal year ended March2020.

The private sector insurerhad registered a net profit ofRs 15 crore in fiscal year2018-19. This is the eighthconsecutive year in which thecompany has reported prof-it, Exide Life Insurance saidin a statement.

Gross written premiumduring the year rose 12 percent to Rs 3,220 crore.

The company, a 100 percent subsidiary of ExideIndustries, has continued itsemphasis on protection prod-ucts, resulting in protectionbusiness mix increasing from9 per cent of AnnualizedPremium Equivalent (APE)in FY19 to 11 per cent inFY20, the statement said.

Exide Life Insurance said itachieved its highest everclaims settlement ratio at98.15 per cent, and has ahealthy solvency ratio of 210per cent versus the regulato-ry requirement of 150 percent.

Exide LifeInsurance netprofit up 89%

Bengalrealtors seegradualrecovery PNS n KOLKATA

Real estate developers in WestBengal are witnessing a"gradual recovery in sales"after the lockdown restric-tions were eased, and anassociation of the builders haslaunched a digital campaignto attract buyers, industrysources said on Tuesday. Thedevelopers claimed thataround 2,000 inventory units,which remained unsold, havebeen purchased by individu-als, and there will be a 10-15per cent jump in prices fornew ones. "There is a gradualsales recovery since theunlocking of the country,"said an official of the realtors'apex body Credai.

Philips introduces mobile ICUs for IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

Global health technologymajor Royal Philips onTuesday said it has introducedmobile intensive care units(ICUs) for India to address thechallenging needs of critical-care services in the country.

Designed to meet the criti-cal-care requirements ofpatients, each pre-fabricatedICU has a capacity for ninebeds and will be locally man-

ufactured by Philips in India,it said in a statement.

Each ICU unit can beassembled in one day at thechosen site.These portableICUs will be helpful to govern-ment agencies and organisa-

tions looking to enhance com-munity outreach and to miti-gate the impact of natural dis-asters and pandemics like theongoing COVID-19, it added.

When asked about the costof a mobile nine-bed ICU,Philips India told PTI in an e-mailed response, "Price of apre-fabricated 9-bed ICUbegins from 1 crore approxi-mately and can be customizedfurther depending upon therequirement from the cus-

tomer".The company will be direct-

ly selling them to the hospitals,it added.

"Aligned with the govern-ment's commitment to provid-ing quality and accessiblehealthcare to the population inour country, we are proud tointroduce our state-of-the-artmobile ICUs for India," PhilipsIndian Subcontinent ViceChairman and MD DanielMazon said.

Sebi seeksclarificationon CAMS IPOPNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hassought clarifications frommerchant bankers of theproposed initial public offer-ing of Computer AgeManagement Ser vices,which filed draft papers inJanuary to raise an estimat-ed Rs 1,500-1,600 crore.

The CAMS' IPO will sell1.22 crore equity sharesthrough offer-for-sale byGreat Terrain Investment,NSE Investments, AcsysInvestments, HDFC andHDB Employees WelfareTrust, as per the draftpapers.

While Great Terrain is anaffiliate of Warburg Pincus,NSE Investments is a groupfirm of the National StockExchange.

CAIT for probeinto ChineseinvestmentsPNS n NEW DELHI

Traders' body CAIT onTuesday called for an inves-tigation into investmentsmade by Chinese firms invarious Indian startups toensure that data accrued bythese startups is not beingtransferred to Chineseinvestors and there is nothreat to the country's secu-rity.

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) haswritten to Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman,Information and TechnologyMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadand Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal seeking a probeto ascertain that no "foulplay" was taking place underthe garb of investment.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The retail inflation for indus-trial workers dipped to 5.1 percent in May due to lowerprices of certain food itemsand kerosene oil.

The retail inflation forindustrial workers is measuredthrough Consumer PriceIndex for Industrial Workers(CPI-IW). "Inflation based onall items stood at 5.10 per centfor May, 2020 as compared to5.45 per cent for the previous

month (April 2020) and 8.65per cent during the corre-sponding month ( May 2019)of the previous year," a labourministry statement said.

Similarly, as per the data,food inflation stood at 5.88 percent against 6.56 per cent in the

previous month and 5.21 percent in May 2019.

?The All-India CPI-IW forMay 2020 increased by 1 pointand stood at 330. On 1-monthpercentage change, it increasedby 0.30 per cent between Apriland May, 2020 compared to0.64 per cent increase betweenthe same months of the previ-ous year. ?The maximumupward pressure in currentindex came from Food groupcontributing 0.67 percentagepoints rise to the total change.

Retail inflation for industrialworkers eases to 5.1 pc in May

It has launched aninitiative torechristen ZomatoGold to ZomatoPro — and make ita bigger, better all-encompassingmembership

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WednesdayJuly 1, 2020

t the age of 2,DevamshNarayanam staggersnames of over ahundred cars manu-factured across the

world! Having an unusual pas-sion for automobiles, this kid isgifted with an exceptionalmemory and grasping power.Born to the city’s famous cou-turier Archita Narayanam andindustrialist NikhilNarayanam, the kid is like amini encyclopaedia of motormachines.

“We noticed his extraordi-nary abilities during our trip tothe USA when he was just abouta year old. The wide range offour-wheelers there seemed toexcite him to no end. Everytime a car whizzed past, his eyesand focus used to be riveted onthem,” says his mom, Archita.

Pursuing his playgroup classesat Toddlers Den school, initial-ly, it was getting difficult forhim to be alone but in a veryshort time, he has surpassedeveryone in his class both inacademics and sports activities.“The lockdown has been ablessing in disguise, it hashelped both of us identify hisstrong interest in cars and alsohis excellent memory. We thenfelt we can teach him about 20car brands. Then we extendedit unto 50 and he was able tolearn them all within a week.We then made a video of himidentifying and recalling all ofthem at rocket pace. He waseager to learn more and askedus to teach him of new carbrands,” shares his father.

At an age where he couldbarely walk, Devamsh would

always rush to cars wheneverhe saw them and would posefor pictures with them. As hegrew, he was inquisitive aboutthe names of the models andwould recall the details the nexttime he saw them. Unlike otherkids of his age, he was alwayskeen to hear interesting anec-dotes about cars. He now has awide collection of toy cars andspends his time with them.

Unbelievable memory reten-tion and a brain that worksfaster than a boy is whatDevamsh is being known foracross the city now! Apartfrom having mind-bogglingabilities at a tiny age, he’s a reg-ular child who aces his studiesand loves playing. The tiny boycurrently harbours aspirationsof finding a cure for the novelCoronavirus!

OURNEYFROMSPORTS TOACTING...

I was a sportsper-son. I used to attendtriathlons (1.5 km swim-ming, 40k cycling and 10krun). I was a national player.I once attended an auditionfor Chinnari serial in 2006and got through. I played anegative role and I was show-ered with a lot of love andsupport from the audienceback then. That’s how myjourney from sports to actingtook place.

WORKED AS NEWSANCHOR...

Meanwhile, I gave anotheraudition for a film back then,during which I was offered anews anchor job for TV 5. Iworked there for a couple ofmonths for Movies and Mastishow and later took part inKingfisher Superstar ZeeTelugu Anveshana. AlthoughI didn’t win, the channelpromised a role in one oftheir serials. Later, i took partin a similar show on Maa TVand went till the semi finals.Dil Raju sir who was thechief guest for the event atLalita Kalathoranam noticedme and I later received a call

from his office to auditionfor the Kotha BangaruLokam film. I feel lucky, Ibagged the role and it is stillone of my favourite charac-ters I have ever played. Itgave me immense fame.

DIDN'T KNOW HOW TOCHOOSE MY ROLES...

Although I received a coupleof offers from films, i didn’tknow how to choose myroles as I was very new and Iwas doing a couple of serialstoo by then. Since I wasscared to make a decisionabout films, I continued onthe small screen. In 2009, imarried Ravi garu and took abreak from work for a while.I was playing his sister role inthe serial back then. Aftermy marriage, I was asked toleave the show as they didn’twant Ravi’s real life wife toplay his sister on screen. Iwas a little disappointedthen. I also did a film calledNapoleon. One week or sobefore the release of the film,the producer-actor of thefilm happened to meet myhusband and he said theyhad to delete the sceneswhere I was seen to crunchthe length of the film. I wasvery disappointed and decid-ed not to act in small filmsand only accept big projects

that give me good weightage.That’s another reason for notdoing films.

ONLY A FEW SPORTSARE RECOGNISEDHERE...

Once you put the makeupon, you get used to the fameand recognition. You receivesimilar fame even in sports.But here only a few sportsare recognised. It is goodwhen people recognise youand compliment you forwhat you do. I got that fameand love from people for myacting. Another thing is that,in sports, encouragementfrom the government isneeded. And all sportsshould be treated the same.

SUPPORTIVE PARENTS...

When I got into acting, myparents, especially my mom,were very supportive. Mymom too received someoffers back then but shecouldn’t pursue as she wasnot allowed to. My mom did-n’t want to impose thoserestrictions on me. Therewere outsiders who discour-aged my parents for support-ing my decision. They usedto call a few names andwould say that the entireindustry is bad. But we don’t

believe in it. My mom said,just because one person isbad doesn’t mean the entireindustry is bad. She used tocome with me for shoots ini-tially. Later, she stopped asshe is a government employ-ee and she had problems inavailing leaves. My sister’s inlaws would travel with me.

TELUGU ACTORSMUST BE ENCOUR-AGED...

With the Corona effect, ifelt Telugu artists will startreceiving offers but sadly, itdidn’t happen. A lot ofTelugu actors are disap-pointed with the fact thatactors including secondlead and all other roles arebeing hired fromBengaluru and other states.Noone is ready to raisetheir voice against this.There is a lot of talent inTelugu states too. Weshould encourage and pro-mote our people first, laterhire from different states.For instance, Kannada seri-als mostly don’t hire castfrom other states, and simi-lar is the case with Tamilindustry too. I feel we tooshould implement some-thing like that so our localshave a handful of work.Recently, a senior artist was

called for a game show ina popular channel. Shewas without work forsometime and there wasno flow of cash. She wasextremely happy andteary eyed to receivesome amount forattending the show. Weall should come togetherand promote Telugu tal-ent.

CREATING YOUTUBECHANNEL...

Never be disappointedfor not receiving work.There are other ways too toeke out a living. Forinstance, YouTube. Withmy husband’s encourage-ment and support, westarted our own YouTubechannel. Just like mymother, my husband tooencourages me a lot. I’mlucky that my son toounderstands and sup-ports my work. I willnot say, Youtube will payyou a lot of money. Ifthe content is good, peo-ple will watch you andshower their love onyou. I’m saying thisbecause if no one is hir-ing you, then youbecome your own bossand do something outthere on YouTube.

Do you remember Ragasudha from KothaBangaru Lokam? A character that we all lovedfor her innocence and chirpiness. SushmaKiron who played Ragasudha and impressed usall with her acting in many serials, was also anational-level sports player. Yes, you heard itright. Sushma speaks to K RAMYA SREE abouther journey to acting, reason for not doingfilms, encouraging Telugu talent and more.....

J

out of the

BOX

His talents clearly don't giveaway his age. Meet Devamsh

Narayana, a talented 2-year-old sprouting in the cityof Hyderabad who knows and

loves every car he has everseen. This meaningful output

at such a tender age has hisparents talk to The Pioneer'sSHIKHA DUGGAL on how

he excels, his extraordinarytalent, and more...

A

HYDERABAD KAWONDER KID!

Gifting a livelihoodreemasons ofTelangana, on theeve of UniversalBrotherhood day,launched “Gift-A-Livelihood”, an

initiative to help smalltraders, self-employed andpetty traders affected byCOVID-19 to restart theirbusinesses.

A small get-together heldin the city recently waswhere this ambitious projectwas unveiled. A two-minutesilence was observed as aremark of respect to the 20Galwan Martyrs who madesupreme sacrifice in serviceof the nation.

The programme wasorganised under the leader-ship of three AssistantRegional GrandMasters(ARGMs) MadanMohan Lal, Maddulete, andD. Ramchandram. Seniormembers of the fraternityVishwanathan Ganesh,Suresh Khemani graced theoccasion and explained theimportance of UniversalBrotherhood Day. The briefhanding over formality heldin three batches of selectpeople at a time at differenttimings to ensure social dis-tance.

Speaking on the occasionMadan Mohan, Madduletesaid, “The UniversalBrotherhood Day day isobserved to commemoratethe formation of GrandLodge of England whenFreemasonry in its presentform took shape 303 yearsago on this very date in1717”. UBD is observed byFreemasons to propagate,ideate the basic concept ofFreemasonry, added D.Ramchandram.

The group gave awaymaterials, tools, sewingmachines, bicycles to 15beneficiaries. Its membersIndersingh Malhotra andothers helped in identifyingbeneficiaries who comprised

of four women tailors, acobbler, a scooter mechanic,a tea vendor, four priestswho were given away bicy-cles to commute; pushcartfor a fruit vendor, Cutting,Drilling Machines to aCarpenter, an Electrician, apetty trader at Gurudwarawith belts and locks.

A new initiative“Freemasons Meals onWheels” was flagged off tofeed the food to 500 poorpeople in honour and mem-ory of Col B Santosh Babu

and 19 other martyrs. Thiswas taken up in associationwith Amma Odi, an NGO. Itis a pilot project to under-take the distribution ofmeals to the poor continu-ously in the future.

Freemasons earlier hand-ed over a still camera Canon200 D Mark-II to P.Manohar Chary, a 9th ClassStudent who wanted to pur-sue his photography hobbyand also earn pocket moneyto support his education.The boy earned Rs 1,000/-pocket money during thelockdown and support afamily of four with rice suf-ficient for two months. Thetotal project was worth Rs1.65 lakh.

Freemasons of Telanganaplan to extend financial sup-port to the needy, poortraders, self-employed, pettybusinessmen, small-timeworkers who lost theirincome source due toCOVID. The group alsoplans to provide post-COVID survival skills tohelp people earn a betterand more sustainable busi-ness for their living.

F

From sports to acting...

ctress Alia Bhattis looking for-ward to makingher digital debutwith the pre-miere of her film

Sadak 2, and says she isopen to the idea of divingdeep into the streamingplatform.

She even shared thegenre on her wishlist: Aninvestigative limited TVshow.

“Actors not only in theWest but over here also areworking directly on theOTT. (Web) has created ahuge opportunity for actorsto showcase their talent,”she said while using therecent success of web serieslike Sushmita Sen-starrerweb series Aarya andSpecial Ops series to sup-port her point.

“If I’m offered somethingthat I connect with, Iwould love to do an inves-tigative type limited TVshow. It would be quiteinteresting,” she added.

Alia’s Sadak 2 is skippingthe traditional theatricalroute, and going for a digi-tal platform.

The film marks thereturn of Mahesh Bhatt asdirector after two decades,and is a sequel of the 1991hit Sadak, which featuredPooja Bhatt and SanjayDutt in the lead roles.

Without revealing muchabout the plot, the actresssaid that Sadak 2 is not arecreation.

“The film has differentlove stories and also has(an element of) thrill. Thevillain is someone very dif-ferent and totally unexpect-ed,” Alia said.

Sadak 2 also stars AdityaRoy Kapur.

The actress said thatworking on the film was ahomecoming in its truesense.

“That the whole family iscoming to make a filmtogether. That emotion isof another level altogether...I always wanted to be pic-turised in a song from theBhatt camp, which hasbeen famous for its music,” she added.

Alia also released thefirst poster of the film,which showed MountKailash at the end of a longroad. She also read out amessage from her father,which explained thethought behind the poster.

“Mount Kailash, the age-less mountain, has thefootprints of gods andsages. It is the abode of thegod of all gods, Lord Shiva.So do we really need any-thing else or actors in thatsacred space? Since thebeginning of time humani-ty found its shelter in

Kailash. This is a placewhere all search ends.Sadak 2 is the road to love,” she said.

On the personalfront, the actresssaid she isspending herlockdownperiod bylearning gui-tar and doingmeditation.

“I thoughtlearning gui-tar would beeasy, but itis hard. Ihave alsostarted tak-ing medita-tion classes,and helpsme keepcalm dur-ing thistime.. Ihave alsospent mytime watch-ing content onmy TV,” shesaid.

Sadak 2 willrelease on thestreamingplatformDisney+HotstarunderDisney+HotstarMultiplex.

10

Hyderabad Wednesday July 1 2020 what’s brewing?

A

Akshay's ‘Sooryavanshi',Ranveer's ‘83' confirmtheatrical release dates

elease dates of twoof Bollywood'smost anticipatedfilms this year, theAkshay Kumar-starrer

Sooryavanshi and 83 starringRanveer Singh, have beenconfirmed. After beingdelayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sooryavanshiwill release on Diwali while83 has been scheduled forChristmas this year.

The announcements comeat a time when a slew of films— including big-ticket releas-es like the Akshay Kumar-starrer Laxmmi Bomb, Bhujstarring Ajay Devgn, and theAlia Bhatt-starrer Sadak 2 —committed for digital release

on Monday, among otherhyped projects.

While there is no informa-tion yet on when cinemahalls will reopen, multiplexchains have confirmed therelease date of the mostawaited films of the year.

“Exciting times ahead..Gearing up to release RohitShetty’s Sooryavanshi onDiwali and Kabir Khan’s 83on Christmas this 2020!,” atweet by PVR Cinemas read.

Trade expert Taran Adarshalso posted: “BIGGGDEVELOPMENT...#Sooryavanshi and#83TheFilm to release in*theatres* first... Plans torelease #Sooryavanshi in#Diwali and #83TheFilm in

#Christmas *IN CINEMAS*.”In Rohit Shetty’s

Sooryavanshi, Akshay will beseen as ATS officer VeerSooryavanshi on a lookoutfor terrorists planning adeadly strike on Mumbai.Ajay Devgn and RanveerSingh will also reprise theirroles of Singham andSimmba in cameos, to helpAkshay bust the terror plot.Actress Katrina Kaif will beseen as Veer Sooryavanshi’swife while Jackie Shroff playsthe antagonist. Sooryavanshialso features Gulshan Grover,Abhimanyu Singh, NiharicaRaizada, Sikandar Kher andNikitin Dheer. The film ispresented by RelianceEntertainment.

R

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

‘Would love to do investigative

limited TV show'

ctress and newmother KalkiKoechlin hasposted a picturewith her“favourite

munchkin” Sappho onsocial media.

Kalki took to Instagram,where she shared a picture

of herself with her daugh-ter Sappho sitting on herlap. She said that she isloving the job of being amother, hashtaggingwords like “motherhood”and “Lovethisjob”.

“Favorite munchkin#Sappho #motherhood#lovethisjob," Kalki cap-

tioned the adorable image.Kalki’s friend and actressSayani Gupta was quick tocomment on the imageand wrote:‘Olllleeeeeeeeee’.”

Kalki keeps sharingglimpses from Sappho’slife on social media. Theactress and her beau Guy

Hersberg welcomedSappho in February 2020.

On the work front,Kalki was last seen in thefilm Gully Boy starringRanveer Singh and AliaBhatt. The film is directedby Zoya Akhtar. She wasalso seen in the web-seriesBhram.

A

KALKI KOECHLIN ON

MOTHERHOOD: #LOVETHISJOB

ilmmakerRavikanthPerepu is pleasedwith theresponse his sec-ond film,

Krishna and his Leela,which narrates the story ofKrishna (played bySiddu) who is simulta-neously in love withtwo women Satya(Shraddha Srinath) andRadha (ShaliniVadnikatti), hasreceived and is contin-uing to do so.Especially as a writer,his confidence has got ashot in the arm.“Before I question myself-worth again, I wantto write another script,”he smiles, while addingthat his confidencetook a dip a couple ofyears ago when the filmcouldn’t release. “Plus, Ihad the pressure ofmany people asking mewhen it is going torelease. But the periodwas short-lived.”

After a debut likeKshanam, which was laud-ed for its story and the nar-rative, Ravikanth could’velanded a project with a big-ger hero but he chose tomake his second film withhis best pal SidduJonnalagadda, who was yetto establish himself as alead when the film began.Didn’t he feel it was a risk?“From day one of theshoot, I felt the project hada risk factor. Nonetheless, itnever deterred me andSiddu from trying to tellthe story we wanted. Wedidn’t want to fall into thetrap of a commercial suc-cess as we were of the sameconviction that if a story iseffectively told, it will winthe audience love. Yes, wehad pressure which is whywe shot it in a tight bud-get… in a budget where wewere safe,” he states.

He is of the opinion thatif the film was headlined byan actor other than Siddu,he might not have got the

same freedom to tell thestory the way he conceived.“That way I’m lucky withSiddu,” he informs.

Earlier this week, thefilm courted controversywith many north Indiansprotesting that it is

Hinduphobic and an insultto Hinduism. Their objec-tion was that the titularcharacter had sex withmultiple women, with oneof them being Radha. Hashtag Boycott Netflix alsotrended on Twitter. While

offering no commentson the issue,Ravikanth wants peo-ple to watch the filmbefore passing theirverdict.

Up next, the direc-tor wants to make adrama on motivationand he is keen on itnot being preachy. “Ifyou’ve watchedKrishna and his Leela,I ensured that it wasnot preachy anywhere.My thumb rule when Iwrite a script includesnot judging my char-acters, imposing mybeliefs on them andpreaching,” he signsoff. — NG

As a writer, my confidence hasgot a boost: Ravikanth onKrishna and his Leela's success

11

Hyderabad Wednesday July 1 2020

Actors Harsh Vardhan andPriya are presently filmingfor some key indoorsscenes along with a youngnew female actor

tollywood

NAVEEN CHANDRA AND SUDHEER VARMAset for a web show

The series is a dark crime thriller consisting of 10 episodes. It deals with

hawala rackets and has been developed by a new writer who honed his

writing skills in the US, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

ith theatres remain-ing shut, a section ofthe industry is in theprocess of adaptingto modern forms ofstorytelling-on digi-

tal medium. To this end, we’velearnt that director SudheerVarma, who is known for histechnical deftness, and NaveenChandra, who is in much-demand these days, are teamingup for what will be their maid-en web series. Bringing themtogether is 100 per cent Teluguweb channel aha.

A highly-placed source closeto the development tells usexclusively, “The series is a darkcrime thriller consisting of 10episodes. It deals with hawalarackets and has been developedby a new writer who honed hiswriting skills in the US.Sudheer felt that Naveen wasthe best bet to spearhead it andapproached him. Bowled overby the content, the actor too

gave his in-principle nod to theshow. All these developmentstranspired much before the firstlockdown was announced,which is why the series couldn’tbe officially signed on paper.”

The source further adds thatit remains to be seenwhen this project willroll, as both Naveenand Sudheer areoccupied withtheir respec-tive otherprojects.While theformerhassomepend-ingpor-tionstowrapup inVirata

Parvam and Miss India, the lat-ter is set to remake SouthKorean hit Midnight Runners inTelugu with Regina Cassandraand Nivetha Thomas up next.W

F

ctor NaveenNeni, whoplayed smallroles in filmslike NannakuPrematho,

Rangasthalam and NeneRaju Nene Mantriamong others, is goingsolo. As he turned ayear older on Tuesday,production house KSFilm Works announceda new film with him inthe lead. While themakers haven’tannounced moredetails about the film, itwill, however, mark thedirectorial debut of KSHemraj, with Satyan onboard to composetunes

eading producerSuresh Babusays he will waitfor coronaviruspandemic tosubside before

thinking of resuming pro-duction ventures likeNaarappa and VirataParvam. “Both the filmshave sequences which needto be shot with a largecrowd; I can’t shoot themwith 40-50 people. Neithercan I change the scenes.On the other hand, I don’tknow when cinema hallswill reopen. Even if theyopen, there’s a question offootfalls,” the producernotes, adding that theindustry is going through abad phase now. “I don’tknow till when the current

situation continues but theproducers should be pre-pared to face difficultiesfor a year almost. Until thecure for coronavirus comesout, I believe the problemwill persist.”

Going with the trend,Suresh wants to associatewith content for OTT plat-forms. “We’ve preparedweb series content for localand national consumption.We will tie-up with otherproduction houses to pro-duce them,” he notes.

Speaking on his youngerson Abhiram’s acting aspi-rations, the chief of theprestigious SureshProductions adds, “Somedirectors are penning sto-ries for him but nothing’sbeen finalized yet.”

SP to produce local andnational web content

L

A

NaveenNenigoessolo

fter wrapping up close to 40per cent filming of his untitlednext-which revolves aroundthe COVID-19 pandemic-film-maker Prasanth Varma hasresumed shooting in

Hyderabad earlier this week, making itthe third film after Crrush and SuperMachi to have gone back to sets.

From operating with a limited crew tochecking the temperature of artistesbefore entering the set premises to ensur-ing that crew dons masks — the unit isadhering to the guidelines the govern-ment has issued. Actors Harsh Vardhanand Priya are presently filming for somekey indoors scenes along with a youngnew female actor.

According to a source, Prasanth con-ceived an idea — what if a virus attacksus-some six years ago. “However, when hestarted writing the story late last year, henever expected coronavirus to spread as itdid now. The film’s whole theme willrevolve around the virus, its effects,including the search for a vaccine,” point-ed out the source.

Prasanth Varma's film oncoronavirus back on setsA

BOWLED OVER BY THECONTENT, THE ACTORTOO GAVE HIS IN-PRINCIPLE NODTO THESHOW

PTI n JOHANNESBURG

Led by Quinton de Kock,South Africa’s 44 crick-

eters, who are part of a men’shigh performance squad, havereturned to training amid theCovid-19 pandemic after get-ting approval from the coun-

try’s Sports Ministry.According to Cricket

South Africa, the players willtrain in small monitoredgroups with identified coach-es from their nearest franchiseteams.

The sessions will be inaccordance with the guide-lines set out by the CSACovid-19 steering committeeand approved by the NationalInstitute of CommunicableDiseases (NICD).

Plans for the commence-ment of training for the

women’s High Performancetraining squad are still beingdeliberated upon.

TRAINING SSQUADQuinton de Kock, Dean

Elgar, Lungi Ngidi, AidenMarkram, Junior Dala,Theunis de Bruyn, Rassie vander Dussen, Shaun von Berg,Dwaine Pretorius, HenrichKlaasen, Temba Bavuma,Reeza Hendricks, KagisoRabada, Tabraiz Shamsi,Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin,Andile Phehlukwayo, David

Miller, Sarel Erwee, KhayaZondo, Daryn Dupavillon,Keshav Maharaj, SenuranMuthusamy, Keagan Petersen,Imran Tahir, Lutho Sipamla,Edward Moore, AnrichNortje, Sisanda Magala,Glenton Stuurman, Jon-JonSmuts, Rudi Second, Pite vanBiljon, Raynaard van Tonder,Gerald Coetzee, Pieter Malan,Zubayr Hamza, JannemanMalan, Faf du Plessis, Tony deZorzi, Beuran Hendricks,Nandre Burger, George Lindeand Kyle Verreynne.

12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | JULY 1, 2020

BURNLEY IIN CCONTENTION FFOR EEURO SSPOTS London: Burnley captain Ben Mee marked his 300thappearance for the club by scoring in a 1-0 win atCrystal Palace on Monday as the Clarets climbed toeighth in the Premier League table. Victory saw SeanDyche's visitors go level on points with Spurs and keepalive their hopes of European football next season.

AUS-ZZIM OODI SSERIES PPOSTPONED Melbourne: The One-Day series between Australiaand Zimbabwe was on Tuesday postponed by mutualagreement between the two boards due to the Covid-19pandemic. The three-match series was to be played inAugust 9, 12 & 15. Zimbabwe have not visited Australiasince the 2003-04 and in their last ODI meeting, theteam from African nation had beaten Clarke-captainedside in a 2014 tri-series played in Harare.

GETAFE BBOOST CCHAMPIONS LLEAGUE HHOPES Madrid: Jaime Mata scored twice as Getafe beat fellowEuropean hopefuls Real Sociedad 2-1 on Monday togive their push for Champions League qualification fromLa Liga a boost. Getafe had seen their top-four bid hit bya four-game winless run since the league restartedfollowing the coronavirus pandemic, but they movedback to within two points of fourth-placed Sevilla.

BRESNAN PPENS 22 YYR WWARWICKSHIRE DDEALLondon: Warwickshire county cricket club has signedformer England all-rounder Tim Bresnan on a two-yeardeal that covers up to the end of the 2022 season.Bresnan will join the Bears initially on a loan deal,subject to clearance from the ECB, which covers theremainder of the 2020 county season. “I'm thrilled to bejoining Warwickshire. It's a club that I've alwaysadmired, and I've always thoroughly enjoyed playing atEdgbaston with Yorkshire and England,” Bresnan said.

WOMEN'S IINDIAN OOPEN GGOLF CCANCELLED Gurugram: The Hero Women's Indian Open golftournament was on Tuesday cancelled in view of theCovid-19 pandemic. The tournament, co-sanctioned bythe Ladies European Tour in 2010, was scheduled forOctober. It will now return to the Gary Player Course atDLF Golf and Country Club in October next year. TheLadies European Tour and Women's Golf Association ofIndia (WGAI) said “keeping the health and safety as toppriority” such a decision became necessary.

VALENCIA AAPPOINT VVORO AAS HHEAD CCOACHValencia: Spanish football club Valencia have sackedhead coach Albert Celades and have appointed VoroGonzalez as their new manager. “Valencia CF havecommunicated to Albert Celades his removal from hisposition as the first-team coach, with immediate effect,”the club said in a statement. It further said that Gonzalezwill be in charge of the first team coaching staff fromTuesday until the end of the season. This is the sixthtime that he has coached the team.

SILVA, CCHOUPO EEXTEND CCONTRACTS AAT PPSGParis: Paris Saint-Germain have announced thatThiago Silva, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and SergioRico have extended their contracts with the club untilthe end of season. The Brazilian defender, the Cameroonstriker and the Spanish goalkeeper will therefore beavailable for the Coupe de France final against Saint-Etienne on July 24 and the Coupe de la Ligue finalagainst Lyon on July 31. They will also be eligible for thefinal rounds of the CL in Lisbon from August 12 to 23.

AGENCIES

SINGLES

MUMBAI: The weight of expectations in a cricket-mad country like India is huge but Virat Kohli hasdone an exceptional job leading the side, saysAustralia’s limited overs skipper Aaron Finch.

Finch said all players are expected to enduresome bad time but players like Kohli, Steve Smith,Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar are exceptions.

“Every player, regardless of who it is, has a badseries. But very very rarely do you see Kohli, (Steve)Smith, even going back (Ricky) Ponting, Sachin(Tendulkar), these guys they don’t have two badseries in a row,” Finch said on the Sony Ten Pit Stopshow. “The pressure of playing for India is one butalso leading India is another and the way he (Kohli)has done it, so consistently for a long time.

“And taking over from (MS) Dhoni , the lead-ership, that is huge. The expectations were high andhe kept delivering and I think that is the mostimpressive thing,” he added.

Finch was impressed with Kohli’s consistencyas a batsman too.

“What has been so impressive for so long is justhis consistency across three formats. To be the bestplayer of all-time in ODI cricket is one thing butthen to also be in Test cricket and T20 cricket as arounded player that is remarkable,” he said. PTI

PTI n LONDON

Star all-rounder Ben Stokes says hewon’t change his playing approachwhen he will lead England in the

absence of regular skipper Joe Root for theTest series-opener against the West Indies.

Vice-captain Stokes was on Tuesdaynamed captain for the opening Testagainst at Southampton from July 8 inplace of Root, who will be with his wifefor the birth of their second child.

“I hope that I always try to set theexample in terms of attitude and commit-ment If I am in charge that’s not going tochange the way that I go about things,”Stokes was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Stokes had a phenomenal run in thepast one year as he helped England toWorld Cup final victory and played a keyrole in his side’s stunning Ashes win overAustralia at Headingley.

The 29-year-old, who has played 63Tests since 2013, says positivity influenceshis conduct on the field and that will con-tinue.

“In terms of how I want to influencethe game, I try to have a positive effect withthe ball or bat in my hand. No matter whatI do in terms of choosing what to do in asituation, it will always be the positiveroute,” the Durham all-rounder said.

If Stokes is given the captaincy, he willbe first all-rounder since Andrew Flintoffto lead England and 81st skipper overall.

He was named vice-captain in 2017but he lost the position following theBristol nightclub incident that year.

“Getting the opportunity to captain

England is a huge honour — even if it’sonly the once you can still say ‘yeah, I’vecaptained England’.

“It’s a huge honour to think about, andsomething I’m really looking forward to

if the opportunity presents itself, but alsoat the same time I know I’m only steppingin for the one game because of Joe’s per-sonal situation.”

Stokes does not have experience of

leading a side but would bank on supportfrom his experienced players.

“We’ve got some really experiencedguys out in the field who I can use. I’d liketo think that I’ll be quite an open captain

and wouldn’t want to just think that myway is the only way,” he said.

“There are 11 guys out on the field, sowhy not get 10 other opinions on some-thing that you’re thinking about?”

PTI n LAHORE

Six Pakistani cricketers,who were found to be

Covid-19 positive ahead ofthe team’s departure forEngland last week, havenow tested negative for thesecond time in three daysmaking them eligible to jointhe squad in the UK.

Fakhar Zaman,Mohammad Hasnain,Mohammad Hafeez,Mohammad Rizwan,Shadab Khan and WahabRiaz have been found neg-ative in the latest round oftesting conducted by the

Pakistan Cricket Board.“The players were

retested on Monday, 29June, following a first nega-tive test on 26 June,” thePCB said in a statementon Tuesday.

Of these, Hafeezcaused quite a stir whenhe got himself test-ed at a privatefacility, whichfound himnegative just aday after thefirst PCB testput him inthe infectedlist.

Spinner Kashif Bhatti,pacers Haris Rauf andImran Khan and batsmanHaider Ali still remain in

quarantine.In all, 10 Pakistani

players were found coro-navirus-positive beforethe team left for

England onSaturday.

The PCBsaid six play-ers “are noweligible to

join thePakistan men’snational cricket teamin Worcestershire.”

LAHORE: Former Pakistan crick-eter Ramiz Raja has suggestedcurrent Test captain Azhar Alito focus on his own battingand lead from the frontwhen they take on Englandin the much-anticipatedseries in August.

Raja pointedtowards Pakistan’stour of Australialast year whereAzhar couldmuster only 62runs in fourinnings as the

hosts recorded as convincing 2-0 series whitewash. “My advicefor Azhar will be to first focuson his own batting. His captain-cy wasn’t good in Australia andalso in recent times his formhas not been that great,” Rajatold Dawn News. “So he should

be focus on his battingfirst so that he can inspirehis teammates. Also, itsa great chance for

Babar Azam to againimpress the worldlike he did in

Australia,” headded. IANS

PTI n NEW DELHI

Stylish India batsman Rohit Sharmais one of the greatest ever ODI

openers, considering his ability to scoredaddy hundreds, says former captainKrishnamachari Srikkanth.

Out of his 29 ODI centuries, 11times Rohit has scored in excess of 140,including three double hundreds.

Srikkanth, who himself was anexplosive opener during his playingdays, said Rohit will be in the top-3 ortop-5 in the list of all time greatestopeners. “I would rate him as one ofthe greatest all-time one-day openersin world cricket. What’s the greatest

quality in Rohit Sharma is that he goesfor these big hundreds and doublehundreds, that is something amazing,”Srikkanth said on Star Sports showCricket Connected.

“In a one-day match, you will go150, 180, 200, just imagine where youare going to take the team to, that’s thegreatness about Rohit,” said the 60-year-old Srikkanth, who played 43Tests and 146 ODIs between 1981 and1992.

The 30-year-old Rohit has so farplayed in 224 ODIs, scoring 9115 runsat an average of 49.27 with 29 hundredsand 43 fifties. His highest score is 264,which is a world record.

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool defend-er Joel Matip will miss theremaining matches of thePremier League season due toa foot injury, the championssaid on Tuesday. Centre backMatip sustained the injury dur-ing Liverpool’s goalless drawwith local rivals Everton.

He told Liverpoolfc.com:“This season I will be not backon the pitch but for next sea-son, I hope I’m going to bequite early a direct help for theteam.” IANS

PTI n NEW DELHI

Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia

on Tuesday called for agradual end to Chinesesponsorship in theIndian Premier Leagueamid escalating tensionsbetween the two coun-tries owing to the violentclash in eastern Ladakhearlier this month.

Calls for boycottingChinese products haveintensified after 20Indian soldiers werekilled in the GalwanValley clash on June 15.

The incidentprompted the BCCI tocall a meeting of theIPL Governing Councilto review Chinese spon-sorships but that meet-ing is yet to take place.On Monday, Indiabanned 59 Chinese apps.

“We should do it(sever ties with Chinesesponsors in IPL) for thesake of the nation.Country comes first,money is secondary.And it is the IndianPremier League, not theChinese Premier League.It should lead by exam-ple and show the way,”Wadia said on Tuesday.

“Yes it would be dif-ficult to find sponsorsinitially but I am surethere are enough Indiansponsors who canreplace them. We musthave all the respect forthe nation and ourGovernment and mostimportantly for the sol-diers who risk their livesfor us,” said the knownIndian businessman.

Chinese mobile phonemaker Vivo is the IPLtitle sponsor and it paysthe BCCI `440 croreannually for the five-year deal ending in 2022.

Other companiesinvolved in the IPL —Paytm, Swiggy, Dream11 — have Chineseinvestments. Not just theIPL, the teams tooattract Chinese spon-sorship.

While Wadia madehis stance clear, otherteams, includingChennai Super Kings,said they will be happyto go with whatever theGovernment decides.

“It will be tough toreplace them initiallybut if it has to be donefor the sake of thenation, we should do it,”a CSK source said.

Another teamowner said: “Let theGovernment decide first,whatever they decide,we will follow”.

However, Wadiasaid it is not right toawait Government’sdirective on the contro-versial subject as “it isour moral responsibilityto stand with the nationat this hour”.

“If I was the BCCIpresident, I would sayfind me an Indian spon-sor for the upcomingseason.

“Indian companiesneed to step up and seethe same benefits andopportunities thatChinese companies haveseen in the IPL, which isthe best T20 league inthe world.”

CAPTAINCY WON’T CHANGE MY STYLE: STOKESEnglish all-rounder says leadership responsibility will not affect his desire to influence each match as a player

None better than Ben tostep in for Root: HussainLONDON: Former Englandcaptain Nasser Hussainfeels Ben Stokes will dowell as a one-time skipper,however, handing him thearmband permanentlywould be something TheThree Lions should beconcerned about.

“There is no one bet-ter than Ben Stokes to stepin for Joe Root as a short-term captain whenEngland take on WestIndies in the first Testnext week,” Hussain wrotein his column for theDaily Mail.

“Stokes is extremelyloyal, so Root would nothave to worry he would behanding his job over tosomeone with any kind ofulterior motive of wantingto take it for good.

“When Joe returns

Ben will happily hand thecaptaincy back to him.He will certainly bringpassion and energy tocaptaincy,” he added.

Hussain also spokeabout the prospect ofhanding over the role per-manently to Stokes andstated it might not be agood idea to put furtherpressure on someone whois already giving the teameverything in all threedepartments of the game.

“The long term is adifferent matter. With thefull-time England cap-taincy comes expectancy,selection, ups and downsand a lot of things that canweigh you down. So Iwould be concerned aboutgiving it to Ben perma-nently at some point downthe line,” Hussain wrote.

“I don’t think there’sanyone in world cricketwho does as much as BenStokes. Maybe Virat Kohlibut he doesn’t bowl.Stokes’ plate is full andwhen he does somethingthere are never any halfmeasures. Stokes has to doeverything at a hundredmiles per hour — there isno other way for him.

“So his workload is inthe red zone without themental strain of captaincyand history tells you if yougive the job to your bestall-rounder, the graph willgo down the longer hedoes the job. The lastthing England need is forStokes to be affected byhigh office. Some playersdo not need an armbandto lead and Stokes is oneof them,” he added. IANS

IPL should sever ties withChinese sponsors: Wadia

6 Pak players test Covid -ve; to join squad in Eng Ramiz advises Azhar to‘focus on his own batting’

India all-rounder Krunal Pandya on Tuesdayresumed outdoor training after more than threemonths at IPCL Sports Complex Ground inVadodara @krunalpandya24/Twitter

‘Rohit is one of greatest ODI openers’

Rohit Sharma reacts after scoring 264 against Lanka

Matip out of

final 7 gamesProteas return to training

Finch in awe ofKohli’s consistency

Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine fluthat is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study

published Monday in the US science journal PNAS. Named G4, itis genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused apandemic in 2009. It possesses "all the essential hallmarks ofbeing highly adapted to infect humans," say the authors,scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for DiseaseControl andPrevention. From2011 to 2018,researchers took30,000 nasalswabs from pigsinslaughterhousesin 10 Chineseprovinces and ina veterinary hospital, allowing them to isolate 179 swine fluviruses. The majority were of a new kind which has beendominant among pigs since 2016. The researchers then carriedout various experiments including on ferrets, which are widelyused in flu studies because they experience similar symptoms tohumans -- principally fever, coughing and sneezing. G4 wasobserved to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells andcausing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses.Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain fromexposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4.

Indian-American is Biden’scampaign's digital chief

Divorce granted on wife'srefusal to wear sindoor

Observing that the refusal to wear "shaka" (conch shell bangle)and "sindoor" (vermillion) as per customs by a Hindu married

woman amounted to her refusal to accept the marriage, theGauhati High Court has granted divorce to a man.After hearing a matrimonial appeal filed by the husband, a divisionbench comprising Chief Justice Ajai Lamba and Justice SoumitraSaikia set aside an order of the family court which rejected hisprayer for divorce on the ground that no cruelty was found on thepart of the wife against him. The man had appealed in the highcourt against the family court's order. "... her refusal to wear"sakha and sindoor" will project her to be unmarried and/or signifyher refusal to accept the marriage with the appellant (husband).Such categorical stand of the respondent (wife) points to the clearintention of the respondent that she is unwilling to continue herconjugal life with the appellant," the high court said in thejudgment passed on June 19. The man and the woman hadmarried on February17, 2012, but theystarted fighting soonas she starteddemanding not to livealong with his familymembers. As aconsequence, the twohave been livingseparately since June30, 2013.

Indian-American Medha Raj has been named by Democraticpresidential candidate Joe Biden as his digital chief of staff, a

key role in his election campaigns which are entirely goingvirtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. In thiscapacity, Ms Raj will work across all facets of the digitaldepartment to streamline and coordinate how to maximise theimpact of its digital outputs, Joe Biden's campaign said."Excited to share that I've joined Joe Biden's campaign as theDigital Chief of Staff. 130 days to the election and we're notgoing to waste a minute!" she said on LinkedIn. Ms Raj comesfrom Pete Buttigieg's campaign, who has now endorsed JoeBiden. The news was first reported by CNN, which the newschannel said is part of the efforts of the Biden campaign toadapt to an almost entirely virtual campaign trail brought on bythe coronavirus pandemic.

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NYC mayor seeks $ 1bnpolice cut amid protest

Aweek after a “defund the police” protest became a full-blownoccupation outside City Hall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced

Monday he has a plan for the New York City police departmentbudget to be slashed by USD 1 billion. The mayor, aDemocrat, declined to discuss the sources of what he called“savings” for the nation's largest police department, saying at anews briefing that the cuts are still being negotiated with the CityCouncil. But he said spending on capital projects would bereduced by USD 500 million and there could be changes to thedepartment's role in policing schools. Money would be deferred tothe city's chronically underfunded public housing system and toyouth programs, de Blasio said.“The NYPD did a hell a good job insaying, 'Ok, here's a bunch of things we could do while stingfollowing weeks of protests over the deathof George Floyd and other BlackAmericans killed by law enforcement.Organizers have called it “Occupy CityHall” - a nod to the 2011 Occupy WallStreet movement a few blocks away inZuccotti Park.The group directed itsdemands - scrawled on colorfulplacards, a canvass of graffitiand a massive poster tapedover a subway entrance -at de Blasio and CouncilSpeaker CoreyJohnson.

Flu virus with ‘pandemicpotential’ found in China