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ANALYSIS 7GET THE RIGHT POLICY LEVER

SPORTS 12SATWIK-CHIRAG FINISH

SECOND IN FRANCE

VIJAYAWADA, TUESDAY OCTOBER 29, 2019; PAGES 12 `3

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BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

*Late City Vol. 1 Issue 362*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

}ASHWATHAMA IS BASED ON INCI-

DENTS FROM NAGASHOURYA'S LIFE

Page 11{

NAIDU'S LEADER OF OPPNSTATUS UNDER THREATL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

If indications coming in fromthe ruling YSRCP hold true,the TDP is set to lose its mainOpposition status, which couldalso mean curtains forChandrababu Naidu's posi-tion as Leader of Opposition(LoP) in the Andhra PradeshAssembly.

TDP's Gannavaram MLAVallabhaneni Vamsi created afurore two days ago by resign-ing as a legislator as well as aprimary member of TDP. Heeven went to the extent ofannouncing his decision toquit politics altogether.However, political circles sensea 'larger political strategy' ofYSRCP chief and AP ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy to stamp out the 'mainopposition' TDP from the APLegislative Assembly, behindVamsi's resignation fiasco.

Speculations are rife thatVamsi may eventually joinYSRCP. As for his announce-ment to quit politics, that is justa part of the strategy to silencethe rising unrest in YSRCPagainst new entrants into theparty - given that GannavaramYSRCP leader YarlagaddaVenkat Rao lost to Vamsi by aslender margin and is strong-ly opposed to the entry of hisrival.

It is understood that Vamsi

will quietly join YSRCP at alater date after the dust settleson his sudden resignation, orif Jagan works out some'accommodation' forYarlagadda.

In any case, questions arebeing raised about why Vamsisubmitted his MLA resignationto TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu, when as per norms itshould be submitted toSpeaker. That act creates sus-picion about whether he is real-ly serious on quitting the MLApost.

Jagan's calculation seems tobe that since Vamsi tenderedhis resignation to the TDP, heis no more a TDP MLA andwill be treated as anIndependent MLA. Thereforethere is bar on an IndependentMLA joining YSRCP and it willnot be viewed as 'defection'technically.

Continued on Page 3

Suggestions sought frompublic on new capital cityPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The six-member ExpertCommittee formed by the gov-ernment to review develop-ment plans and also suggest acomprehensive strategy for theState's all-round development,including the new capital, onMonday invited suggestionsfrom the people.

Though constituted onSeptember 13, the committeestarted actual functioning onlylast week and has six weeks tosubmit its report to the govern-ment. Committee convenerand retired IAS officer GN Raoin a release on Monday saidthey have decided to elicitviews from the people on var-ious development aspects,including the capital.

"People can email their sug-gestions to expertcommit-tee2019@gmail.com byNovember 12. We will consid-er them while preparing ourreport," Rao said.

Amid growing uncertaintyon whether or not Amaravatiwill remain the capital ofAndhra Pradesh, the JaganMohan Reddy government hasappointed the ExpertCommittee, essentially toreview the development plans

and also suggest a comprehen-sive strategy for the State's all-round development.

"The Expert Committee willundertake a quick review ofthe development plans initiat-ed so far and suggest a compre-hensive strategy for all-rounddevelopment of the entireState, including the capital," thegovernment had announcedwhile constituting the commit-tee. Minister for Municipal

Administration BotsaSatyanarayana announced thatthe government would take acall on the "scope and shape"of the capital based on theExpert Committee's recom-mendations.

Sources said the committeemight submit its report inmid-December and the gov-ernment's decision on the fateof the capital city wouldbecome clear in the New Year.

Sources said the Expert Committee mightsubmit its report in mid-December and thegovernment's decision on the fate of thecapital city would become clear in the new year

Govt to paystipend to jr advocatesVIJAYAWADA: Asannounced earlier, theYSRCP government hasdecided to provide a month-ly stipend of Rs 5,000 tojunior advocates. The govern-ment issued an order to thiseffect on Monday.

According to the order,applicants should possessgraduation in Law and theirnames should be entered inthe rolls of advocates beingmaintained by the AndhraPradesh State Bar Council.

Applications from freshLaw graduates, who passedout in the year 2016 andafterwards, are only eligible.The period of first threeyears of practice shall becounted from the date ofcertificate of enrolment.

Continued on Page 3

44,941 postsin govt deptsto be filledVIJAYAWADA: The Stategovernment is gearing up tofill 44,941 posts in variousdepartments. According toofficial sources, recruitmentwill be done for 13,591 postsin the police department,20,000 teacher posts, 2,750posts in the forest departmentapart from 2,600 Group - IVand 1,000 Group- II posts.

In addition to these, 5,000posts in other departmentswill also be recruited.Candidates applying for theposts should be in the agegroup of 18 to 30 years.Minimum educationalrequirement is a pass in grad-uation.

Amrapali Katagets CentraldeputationHYDERABAD: IAS officerAmrapali Kata is deputed tothe Centre to serve as 'deputysecretary' in the Union cabi-net secretariat. The officer of2010 batch is among theyoungest bureaucrats to beappointed to the post.

The transfer order wasissued from the establish-ment officer to GOI, depart-ment of personnel & training,New Delhi on Monday.

The order said, "Ms.Amrapali Kata was recom-mended for Central deputa-tion by the state government(referring to Telangana) . Shehas been selected for appoint-ment as deputy secretary inthe cabinet secretariat - underthe central staffing schemefor 4 years'.

The Centre has directedthe Telangana state govern-ment to relieve her fromduties to take up a newassignment. The officer hasbeen given three weeks timeto take charge.

TDP MLA sticksto guns on quittingNaidu says resigning ‘not solution'PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP MLA VallabhaneniVamsi, who resigned from theparty and his post on Sunday,stuck to his guns on Mondayeven as TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu wroteback saying "resigning or quit-ting politics is not correctsolution."

Vamsi wrote a letter toNaidu on Sunday saying hedecided to "quit politics" tosafeguard the (party) cadre.

"I had the satisfaction ofdoing commendable andunparallelled public service asa legislator... Now, having beenelected again as a legislator, me,my associates and followers arein neck deep troubles due tothe vindictive attitude of localYSRCP in-charge and partisanattitude of some governmentemployees," Vamsi stated in theletter to Naidu.

He said their (associates)problems could compoundbecause of him, if he continuedas a legislator. Replying to this,

Naidu wrote back saying, "Ithink resigning or quittingpolitics is not correct solution."

"Let me reaffirm that youquitting politics will not stopthe harassment and vindictivepolitical actions unleashedby the YSRCP and theirstooges in the government. Itis our responsibility to fightagainst such unconstitution-al and undemocratic methodsof the present government bybringing awareness amongthe public."

Continued on Page 3

Vallabhaneni Vamsi

Vizag girl ends life over‘menstruation harassment’Girl's granny restricted her to one room in thehouse as her father is on an Ayyappa DeekshaSUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a shocking incident thatspeaks about the menstruationtaboo in society, a 16-year-oldgirl committed suicide afterher grandmother confined herin a room and not to roaminside the house during themenstrual cycle.

The incident took place atTummatipalem underKancharapalem police stationlimits in Vizag on Sunday.The deceased was studyingIntermediate in the city. As shewas on period, the girl's grand-mother has asked her to sitaside in the home and not to

touch clothes in the house.Moreover, as the girl's father ison an Ayyappa Deeksha, hergrandmother told that duringthe menstrual cycle, she shouldnot touch anything.

The girl felt bad about it. Asthey have asked her to sit

quiet, she felt mentally sick.Saying that she needs tochange the dress, the girl hasclosed the door and commit-ted suicide by hanging fromthe ceiling fan. The deceased'sbrother broke open the doorand found her hanging. Shedied while shifting to a hos-pital.

Kancherapalem police reg-istered a case under Section174 of Cr PC. KancherapalemInspector P Krishna Rao said,"Parents informed us soonafter the incident. We regis-tered a case and sent the bodyfor post-mortem. On Monday,we handed over the body toher parents."

Staffer posted at Sathupally Depot hangs self

PNS n KHAMMAM

A woman bus conductor work-ing for Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation(TSRTC) allegedly commit-ted suicide by hangingat her residence here,a senior police saidon Monday.

Neeraja, a con-ductor working inSathupally Depot tookthe extreme step onSunday night, policeCommissioner Tafseer Iqubalsaid. "We just got the informa-tion that she committed suicide.Reasons for the suicide are yetto be established," the officialtold PTI.

RTC employees who havebeen agitating since October 5over certain demands, gatheredin large number at the residenceof Neeraja and shouted slogansagainst the state government.

Earlier, Srinivas Reddy, work-ing in the Khammam depot asdriver committed suicide set-ting himself ablaze at his housein Khammam on October 12.

Over 48,000 employees of theRTC are on strike demand-

ing among others themerger of the corpora-tion with the govern-ment, a demand reject-ed by Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao.The family members of the

deceased alleged that Neerajawas depressed over losing herjob in the wake of the ongoingstrike. Neeraja was working asa conductor for the past fouryears. Police were informedabout the incident around 12noon on Monday. Last week,Neeraja took her two childrento celebrate Deepavali at hermother's place in Pallegudem,while her husband went to hismother's place.

Was driver for JeeyarSwamiji for 8 days: KCRPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao said hisbelief and worship of the Lordstems from the upbringing hegot from his parents, and thathis childhood has passed in theVaishnava tradition. Talkingabout he came close to ChinaJeeyar Swamiji, the ChiefMinister said that Swamiji hadcame to Siddipeta for the inau-guration of a temple manyyears ago, and stayed in hishouse.

During his stay, the CMsaid, he worked for Swamiji asa car driver for eight days andheard his enlightened words.KCR said he had no priorintroduction with China JeeyarSwamiji. "Devotees and VikasaTharanigni friends had cometo me in 1986-87 as they pro-posed to performBrahmayagnam, and asked meto do the programme in myvillage. I said OK. After this,friends started the necessaryworks. At that time, there wasno Brahmana Parishath in myvillage. People asked me tohave Jeeyar Swamiji stay in myhouse as there was no suitableplace for him in village. It wasa great fortune that I could

urge Swamiji to stay in myhouse. Swamiji accepted myrequest. In that period, I servedas a driver for Swamiji andwent around several to tem-ples," he said.

The Chief Minister partici-

pated in TirunakshthraMahotsavam (birthday cele-brations) held at China JeeyarSwamyji Ashram located inMuchhinthal here on Monday.Talking about spirituality, hequoted the example ofSiddipeta former MLA GuruvaReddy, who he said was ahardcore Communist, buteventually the same Guruvaconstructed a Ramalayam. TheCM said that everyone, what-ever status they may hold,turns towards God at onepoint of time.

Continued on Page 3

The CM said duringSwamiji’s stay at hishouse, he worked forthe seer as a car driverand was enlightenedby his words

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at China Jeeyar Swamiji's TirunakshthraMahotsavam function in Hyderabad on Monday

Kanna termsJagan govt as inefficient

Kanna Lakshminarayana

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

BJP State president KannaLakshminarayana said thathe has never seen such aninefficient government asthe one led by YSJaganmohan Reddy. Thisgovernment is only capableof painting governmentbuildings in YSRCP coloursand showing off, but not inruling the State properly.

In a tweet in Telugu onMonday, Lakshminarayanasaid Jaganmohan Reddy, whohas won 150 seats, had givena return gift to constructionworkers landing them in a sit-uation where they are not ina position to earn even Rs 150per day.

Cancel EU MPs’visit to Kashmir,says SwamyPNS n NEW DELHI

In an embarrassment for thegovernment, Bharatiya JanataParty MP SubramanianSwamy, here on Monday,slammed the decision toallow a delegation ofMembers of European UnionParliament to visit Kashmirand demanded its cancella-tion.

Swamy described the moveas a "perversion" of the coun-try's policy.

"I am surprised that theMEA (Ministry of ExternalAffairs) has arranged forEuropean Union MPs, intheir private capacity (notEU's official delegation), tovisit Kashmir. This is a per-version of our national poli-cy. I urge the government tocancel this visit because it'simmoral," Swamy tweeted.

The delegation ofEuropean Parliamentarianswill be travelling to J&K onTuesday, nearly three monthsafter the state's special statusunder Article 370 was abol-ished and it was divided intotwo Union Territories.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Exposing a fake online datingplatform, the Vizag CyberCrime police arrested 24 girlsand three men based out ofKolkata. Many people, includ-ing Vizagites, had got trappedpaying money to become partof dating clubs.

The members of the fakedating team have cheated hun-dreds of people across thecountry. The accused expect-ed that no one would com-plain to the police about theracket as it involved theexchange of money for mas-sages and sex. Some otherVizagites were also duped tothe tune of Rs 2 to 3 lakh each,according to the cops.

The racket came to lightwhen a month ago, cyberpolice received a complaint

from one youngster, who is anemployee at a private firm inVizag city.

Continued on Page 3

n The racket came to light when amonth ago, cyber police receiveda complaint from one youngster,who is an employee at a privatefirm in Vizag city

n He complained that the onlinedating club took about Rs 18lakh from him on the guise ofproviding young girls for dating

Vizag cyber cops bustonline fake dating racket

PNS n NEW DELHI

Over 3,700 people were killedin Naxal violence in 10 states,the highest in Chhattisgarh, inthe last nine years, theMinistry of Home Affairs saidin its annual report.

In its report for 2018-19, theministry said the CPI (Maoist)continues to be the mostpotent among various LWEoutfits in the country andresponsible for more than 88per cent of the total violentincidents and resultant deaths.

"Amidst increasing revers-es, the CPI (Maoist) has beenmaking efforts to expand tonew areas along the inter-state borders without any sig-nificant success," the reportsaid. As many as 3,749 peoplelost their lives in 10,660 inci-dents of violence in 10 statessince 2010, the report said.

The highest number ofcasualties due to the Left WingExtremism (LWE) took placein Chhattisgarh where 1,370people were killed in 3,769violent incidents perpetratedby the Maoists between 2010and 2018.

Altogether 997 people werekilled in 3,358 LWE violencein Jharkhand in last nine yearswhile 387 people lost theirlives in 1,526 similar violentincidents in Bihar during thesame period.

Subramanian Swamy

3,749 killed in Maoistsviolence in 9 yrs: MHA

RTC woman conductorcommits suicide

TSRTC employees taking part in a funeral procession of woman bus conductor,who committed suicide, in Khammam district on Monday

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated October 28, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Kartik& Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Dwitiya: 03:47 pm Nakshatram: Visakha: 11:12 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 02:51 pm – 04:16 pmYamagandam: 09:08 am – 10:33 am

Varjyam: 03:00 am- 04:31 am

Gulika: 11:59 am - 01:25 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 03:04 pm - 04:32 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:36 am - 12:22 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Clear with periodic cloudsTemp: 32/24Humidity: 86%Sunrise: 06.13Sunset: 05.46

Printed and Published by B Krishna Prasad on Behalf of CMYK Printech Limited. Printed at Jagati Publications Limited, Sakshi Press, Door No. 5-625, Vadlamudi Road, Atmakuru Village, Mangalagiri Mandal, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.Published at Door No. 40-4-11, Flat No.501, Sujatha Citadel, Jasti Venkataratnam Street, Behind DV Manor Hotel, Vijayawada, Krishna District, AP. Resident Editor B Krishna Prasad RNI title Code no. APENG03628. Phone No. 0866-2479001.

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

CAPSULE

Ankurarpanam forHoma MahotsavamsVIJAYAWADA: Ankurarpanam forHoma Mahotsavams will beperformed from October 29 tillNovember 26 at Sri KapileswaraSwamy temple in Tirupati. Everyyear, during the holy Karthikamonth, TTD observes this month-long celestial fete on a religiousnote in this famous templededicated to Lord Shiva. This fetecommences with Ankurarpanamon Tuesday evening. Deputyexecutive officer Subramanyamand superintendent Bhupati aresupervising the arrangements.

Inter-school quizcompetition on Nov 6VISAKHAPATNAM: As part of NavyDay celebrations, the Eastern NavalCommand (ENC) is organisingInter-school quiz competition atSamudrika Naval Auditorium onNovember 6. The competitioncoordinated by Navy Wives WelfareAssociation (NWWA) EasternRegion, is open for students ofClasses VI, VII and VIII from allschools in the district. On the spotregistrations will be open at thevenue on November 6 from 8.30am onwards. A preliminary roundwill be held from 9 am to 10.30 amto select six schools that willadvance to the finals. More detailscan be obtained from CommandEducation Office over 0891-2812957 during working hours.

Pedda Sesha VahanaSeva at TirumalaVijayawada: In connection withNagula Chaviti on October 31,Pedda Sesha Vahana Seva will betaken out in Tirumala. SriMalayappa Swamy flanked by Histwo Consorts Sridevi and Bhudeviwill be taken on a ride along thefour mada streets on that daybetween 7 pm and 9 pm. PeddaSesha is the five hooded divinesnake and often revered asAdisesha - the serpent king, whoserves his beloved Master as anumbrella, cot, ornament andevent owns the privilege of beingthe first carrier of Lord duringBrahmotsava Vahana Sevas.

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019 vijayawada 02

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

RINL is observing theVigilance Awareness Week-2019 from October 28 toNovember 2 with a view to cre-ate awareness among theemployees to promote integri-ty and probity in public life.The CVC has chosen 'Integrity- A Way of Life', as the themefor this year, to emphasise onthe need to imbibe integrity asa core value.

PK Rath, CMD, RINL-VSP,along with P J Vijayakar, IFS,CVO, RINL, K C Das, Director(Personnel), VV VenugopalRao, Director (Finance), K KGhosh, Director (Projects),AK Saxena, Director(Operations), administered theintegrity pledge to all employ-ees at the main administrativebuilding here on Monday onthe occasion of beginning ofthe Vigilance Awareness Week-2019.

Senior officers, HODs of

various departments andemployees participated andtook the integrity pledge. Inorder to sensitise the citizens in

the surrounding villages,'Gram Sabha' is planned forawareness at Gorlivanipalemvillage on October 29.

To promote integrity amongthe younger generation, vari-ous competitions on the themeof the week were conducted inthe schools and colleges in thevicinity of the plant. Elocutioncompetition for employees inthree languages will be con-ducted on October 30. Allprize winners of various eventswill be felicitated at the valedic-tory function on November 2.

Integrity pledge administered

To promote integrity among the youngergeneration, various competitions on the themeof the week were conducted in the schoolsand colleges in the vicinity of the plant

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Timpany Schools hostedFarmathon, a national farmer'snetwork, here on Monday cel-ebrating the 25 years of theProgramme of EnvironmentalAwareness in Schools (PEAS)in India. Children and teach-ers from schools, farmers andFarmathon representativeswere present.

Starting with a march aim-ing at spreading environmen-tal awareness, the groupassembled in the TimpanySchool grounds. Chairman ofPEAS, also Chairman ofTimpany Schools, Dr KenGnanakan addressed the gath-ering underlining the impor-tance of children becomingaware of environmental issuescausing damage to humans aswell as nature.

Atchuta Rao, founder ofNational Farmathon, said it

was an opportunity to recog-nise and appreciate their tire-less efforts and labour byTimpany schoolchildren andtheir parents in Vizag. In thecity, it was a fusion of cultures,with many getting an opportu-nity to understand natural ter-race gardening, backyard gar-dening and integral multi-crop natural farming methods.

The event highlights the

importance of sustainable farm-ing, community farming andshared resources for farming atthe first-of-its-kind event thatattempts to bring together thosewho support and thoseinvolved in natural farming.

Annie Cherian, Director ofTimpany Schools thanked allthose present and outlinedsome activities that they will bepursuing next year.

A rally being taken out by schoolchildren, farmers and others to create awarenesson nautural farming in Visakhapatnam on Monday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TTD JEO P Basant Kumardirected all the in-charge offi-cers of TTD InformationCentres and KalyanaMandapams located acrossthe country to speed up thedevelopment works of therespective areas.

A video-conference with allthe officers of the TTDInformation Centres located atKanyakumari, Hyderabad,Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai,Kurukshetra and New Delhiwas held by JEO at the confer-ence hall in TTD administra-tive building on Monday.

He directed the officers con-cerned to implement paperlessadministration, ERP and inter-

nal audit in their respectivecentres and also ensure that

there is no staff crunch. "If anyproblem is there, it should be

immediately brought to mynotice without any delay", heinstructed.

PNSn HYDERABAD

Veteran Telugu journalistChakravarthula Raghavachari,who was the former editor ofVisalaandhra, a Telugu daily,passed away in Hyderabad in theearly hours of Monday. He was80-year-old. Raghavachari, whohailed from Shatapuram inWarangal district's Palakurthi man-dal, was undergoing treatment at ahospital in Hyderabad since a fewdays for age-related ailments.

The senior journalist was theeditor of Visalaandhra, a paperaffiliated to the CPI for severaldecades. His body was shifted toMakdoom Bhavan inHyderabad, the state headquar-ters of the CPI. Several party lead-ers and workers paid floral trib-utes to him. The body may later

be shifted to the main office ofVisalaandhra in Vijayawada forpeople to pay their last respects.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddyexpressed his grief over his death."Raghavachari believed in value-based journalism, which reflect-ed in his writings and has beenan inspiration to younger gener-ations," the Chief Minister's

Office said in a statement. TDPchief and Leader of OppositionN Chandrababu Naidu alsoexpressed grief at the death."Raghavachari was committed tothe development of the underriv-ileged. I pray to God for his soulto rest in peace, and I extend mydeepest sympathies to his fami-ly," Naidu tweeted.

Former ‘Visalaandhra' editorC Raghavachari passes away

n Raghavachari, whohailed fromShatapuram inWarangal district'sPalakurthi mandal, wasundergoing treatmentat a hospital inHyderabad since a fewdays for age-relatedailments

TTD Info Centre officials told to expedite development works

TTD JEO P Basant Kumar addressing a meeting in Tirupati on Monday toreview TTD development works

TTD JEO directedthe officersconcerned toimplementpaperlessadministration,ERP and internalaudit in theirrespectivecentres and alsoensure that thereis no staff crunch

Farmathon spreadingenvironmental awareness

IANS nWASHINGTON

As President Donald Trumpand senior advisers settled intothe Situation Room, elite USforces more than 6,000 milesaway launched one of the mostsignificant counterterrorismoperations in the campaignagainst the Islamic State.

Taking off in eight helicoptersfrom northern Iraq, the troopsflew over hostile territory forhundreds of miles in the morn-ing darkness.

Their target, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the brutal founder andleader of the Islamic State, washoled up in a compound innorthwestern Syria with familymembers and associates, and theUnited States had been watchinghim for days.

What followed was whatTrump called a "dangerousand daring nighttime raid"that was carried off "ingrand style." It ended, hesaid, with Baghdadi flee-ing from advancingUS forces intoa dead-e n dtunnela n d

detonating a suicide vest, killinghimself and three of his children.

"He didn't die a hero. He dieda coward," the presi-

dent said. "Crying,whimpering,screaming and

bringing kidswith him to die.

Certain death."

Other US officials declined todescribe Baghdadi's state in hislast moments. How the operation- named for Kayla Mueller, anAmerican aid worker, who wasabducted and raped repeatedlyby Baghdadi before she waskilled, according to US officials- came together is still somethingof a mystery. Among the details

that remain unknown are thecomposition of the force involvedand how they communicatedwith more senior commanders inWashington and beyond.

But, in colourful and at timestaunting language, Trumprevealed details of an operationthat marks one of the major vic-tories in the five-year US-led

campaign against the IslamicState.

The President, speaking atthe White House, said he "gotto watch" much of the raidbeginning about 5 pm inWashington. He credited undis-closed technology for givinghim "absolutely perfect" visualsthat were "as though you werewatching a movie.

The ‘dangerous night time raid' to kill Baghdadi‘Talented' doginjured in raid’IANS nWASHINGTON

A US service dog was injured inthe "daring" American air raid innorthwest Syria that ended in thedeath of dreaded ISIS terroristAbu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, PresidentDonald Trump said on Sunday.President Trump said when theAmerican troops landed in eighthelicopters along with speciallytrained canines, they also hadwith them a robot, the first of itskind, to go after the ISIS terror-ist inside the tunnel.

Being chased by dogs towardsthe dead end of a tunnel, AbuBakr Al-Baghdadi killed himselfby blowing up his powerful sui-cide vest. As such the robot wasnot used, the president toldreporters at the White House, giv-ing details of the operation innorthwest Syria. "Nobody waseven hurt. Our canine as they call,I call it a dog, a beautiful dog. Atalented dog was injured andbrought back," Trump said inresponse to a question.

The US troops blasted theirway inside the strong compound,he said. "They blasted their wayin so quickly. It was incredible.Because the building was quitepowerful, strong. They blastedtheir way in and then all hell brokeloose. It's incredible that nobodywas killed or hurt. We hadnobody even hurt. That's why thedog was so great," he said.

"We actually had a robot to goin the tunnel, but we didn't get itbecause we were tracking it veryclosely," Trump said, revealingone of the highly guarded secretsof the American counter-terror-ism operation. "We had a robotjust in case because we wereafraid he had a suicide vest on.And if you get close to him andhe blows it up, you're gonna die,"Trump said explaining the ratio-nal of having a robot in the oper-ation to kill Baghdadi.

He had a very powerful suicidevest while they had it, Trumpsaid, adding that he was gettingfull reports literally on a minute

by minute basis. It was brutal.When he blew himself up, thetunnel collapsed on top of him ontop of everything. He led his threechildren to death, he said. Trumpsaid the robot was not used.

"We were moving fast. Weweren't 100 per cent sure aboutthe tunnel being dead ended. It'spossible that there could havebeen in the escape patch some-where along that we didn't knowabout. So we moved very, veryquickly. These people were mov-ing. They were chasing," he said."Even not going through the frontdoor. You'd think you go throughthe door. If you're a normal per-son, you say, knock, knock, mayI come in? The fact is that they(commandoes) blasted their wayinto the house in a very heavywall and it took them literally sec-onds," he said.

"By the time those things wentoff, they had a beautiful big halland they ran into. They goteverybody by surprise.Unbelievably brilliant as fighters.I can't imagine there could beanybody better than our topoperations people," he said. AbuBakr Al-Baghdadi was the lastman that came out from the hide-out, before which many of hispeople were killed or gave up,Trump said.

WASHINGTON: US PresidentDonald Trump on Sundayannounced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of terrorgroup ISIS died during anovernight raid led by USmilitary forces in Syria.Here is a description of the raidaccording to Trump, who wentinto unusual detail during anational address broadcastfrom the White House. TheUnited States began to receiveintelligence on thewhereabouts of Baghdadiaround a month ago, includingsome "helpful" informationfrom the Kurds, said Trump.US intelligence officials wereable to "scope out" his exactlocation two weeks ago, whileTrump himself became awareof the planned raid three daysago. As part of the plan, theUnited States had to securepermission from Russia, Iraqand Turkey to fly over theirairspace, according to Trumpand National Security AdviserRobert O'Brien.Trump said theWhite House did not disclosethe nature of the operation toRussia, but told Russianofficials they would "like" it.

Trump saw raidthat killed ISISchief unfold live

IANS n BAGHDAD (REUTERS)

In their long hunt for Abu Bakral-Baghdadi, Iraqi intelligenceteams secured a break inFebruary 2018 after one of theIslamic State leader's top aidesgave them information on howhe escaped capture for so manyyears, said two Iraqi securityofficials.

Baghdadi would sometimeshold strategy talks with hiscommanders in movingminibuses packed with vegeta-bles in order to avoid detection,Ismael al-Ethawi told officialsafter he was arrested by Turkishauthorities and handed toIraqis.

"Ethawi gave valuable infor-mation, which helped the Iraqimulti-security agencies teamcomplete the missing pieces of

the puzzle of Baghdadi's move-ments and places he used tohide," one of the Iraqi securityofficials said.

"Ethawi gave us details on fivemen, including him, whomwere meeting Baghdadi insideSyria and the different locations

they used," he told Reuters.US President Donald Trump

said on Sunday that Baghdadidied "whimpering and crying"in a raid by the US special forcesin the Idlib region of northwestSyria.

In a televised address from

the White House, Trump saidthe Islamic State leader diedalongside three of his childrenwhen he detonated an explo-sives-laden vest after fleeing intoa dead-end tunnel during theattack.

The path to Baghdadi'sdemise was full of frustrationsfor Western and Arab intelli-gence agencies, which havepored over clues to the where-abouts of a man, who imposeda reign of terror across a largeswathe of Syria and Iraq, order-ing his men to carry out massexecutions and beheadings.

He is also responsible forgruesome attacks across fivecontinents in the name of hisultra-fanatic version of Islam.Turning militants such asEthawi was critical to the agentstrying to track Baghdadi.

Being chased bydogs towardsthe dead end ofa tunnel, AbuBakr Al-Baghdadikilled himself byblowing up hispowerful suicidevest

Who went into unusual detail during a national address broadcastfrom the White House. The United States began to receiveintelligence on the whereabouts of Baghdadi around a month ago,

including some "helpful" information from the Kurds, DONALD TRUMP, America President

Their target, Abu Bakral-Baghdadi, the brutalfounder and leader ofthe Islamic State, washoled up in acompound innorthwestern Syria withfamily members andassociates, and theUnited States had beenwatching him for days

‘Baghdadi's aide was key to his capture’

Officials of RINL administering pledge to mark Vigilance Awareness Week in Visakhapatnam on Monday

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Visakhapatnam Port Trustand Dredging Corporation ofIndia Limited jointly observedinaugural function of VigilanceAwareness Week here onMonday at DCIL office.

Deputy chairman of VPT PLHaranadh and managing direc-tor of DCIL Rajesh Tripathiadministered the integrity pledgein English and Hindi to the offi-cers and employees of both theorganisations.

J Pradeep Kumar, ChiefVigilance Officer, VPT, whilespeaking on the occasion, stat-ed preventive vigilance as thebest form of vigilance andexhorted the need for availabil-ity of information in the websiteas knowledge was always power.He emphasised that organisa-tions should identify the greyareas and eradicate those withhelp of technology. He furtheradded that by creating an envi-ronment where discretion wouldbe minimised and direct inter-face to be reduced as corruptionaffects the quality of life ofcommon people.

PL Haranadh while deliveringaddress appreciated the initia-tives taken by the VPT to curbcorruption. He further addedthat the best way to combat cor-ruption is to strengthen thesystem. He said honest systemproduces honest officers. He fur-ther added value system andbelief in 'karma' would certain-ly help in reducing corruption.

Rajesh Tripathi, ManagingDirector of DCIL, empha-sised the need of preventivevigilance. He further stressedon the role and importance oftechnology in combating cor-ruption. He applauded theefforts put by both organisa-tions in taking the message ofCVC to grassroot level byconducting several activities.

Chief guest of the occasion PVimaladitya, CBI SPVisakhapatnam, emphasizedthe importance of effective vig-ilance, which actually speed upthe process in manifold. Citingthe examples of IRCTC andpassport, he lucidly explainedthe role of technology not onlyin reducing man hours andenergy but also in helping tobring down the corruption.He further added that the prac-tice of integrity would makehumans mature. The event wasattended by officials of bothDCIL and VPT.

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

Two held for sellingliquor illegallyVISAKHAPATNAM: A belt shopowner tried to attack constableswhen they found liquor bottleson the premises of his residenceon Sunday. Constables ofPedana Police Station receivedinformation stating that oneAshok of Pedapullapadu villagein Pedana mandal of KrishnaDistrict was selling liquor bottlesfrom his residence. Immediately,they had gone to his house andfound liquor stock. But, theaccused Ashok and his brotherKishore created a furore allegingthat constables entered theirhome forcibly and assaultedthem. Immediately, localvillagers gathered and with theirsupport, Kishore and Ashokmade a bid to attack constables.But, on receiving informationSub-Inspector of Pedana withadditional force reached thelocation and controlled thesituation. Sub-Inspector ofPedana said "Our constablesfound liquor stock at the homeof Ashok. After questioningthem, they tried to create ascene colluding with a few localvillagers and tried to attack ourconstables. But, we foiled theirattempt and taken them intocustody. We registered a caseunder Section 353 forobstructing police duty and acase under Excise Act.

Two injured incracker unit blastsuccumb to injuriesKAKINADA: Two persons, whosustained burn injuries in theblast in fire carjacker makingunit on November 18 at GVemavaram in Tallarevu mandalin East Godavaridistrict,succumbed to burninjuries. In all, 10 persons wereengaged in the work in the illfated unit when the incidentoccurred. Of the two, whosuccumbed to injuries in theblast, Y Naga Babu died twodays ago and the second one YSatyam died on Monday whileundergoing treatment. Theremaining eight are stillundergoing treatment at theKakinada government hospitaland their condition is said to bestable. With these two deaths,the number of victims in firecracker unit blasts has gone upto eight. On September 28, ablast occurred at G Medapaduin Smarlakota mandal in whichsix women workers succumbedto burn injuries afterundergoing treatment for aweek. According to informationavailable, Mummivaram MLAPonnada Satish Kumarapproached the Collector toextend the same compensationof Rs 10 lakh to G Vemavaramfire cracker unit deceased asextended to six women, whodied in fire cracker unit blast atG Medapadu on September 28in the district.

G RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

The foundation for capital cityAmaravati was laid amid hypeand hoopla, but after YSJaganmohan Reddy assumingcharge as the Chief Ministerthe construction activity inthe capital city came to astandstill.

Though an ExpertsCommittee was appointed bythe government on the capitalcity development, actions indi-cate that the government isreportedly nullifyingAmaravati plans.

Meanwhile, a few peopleexuded confidence that byminimising the budget, thegovernment may finish thecapital city construction. But,it seems the government is notkeen on continuing any con-struction activity in the capital.

While some others opinethat the government is notkeen on the development of thecapital city, as it is accordingtop priority for the implemen-tation of welfare schemes andmost of the funds are beingallocated for them only.

Allegations were levelled by theOpposition party that the gov-ernment is killing the conceptof capital city Amaravati in var-ious ways.

TDP MLC BuddhaVenkanna said: "The govern-ment has created a lot of con-fusion by making contradicto-ry statements on the capitalcity. A few buildings are underconstruction and roads werelaid to an extent, but every-thing came to a grinding halt."

Earlier, a few expected thatminimum buildings will be

constructed like Secretariat,Assembly and others. WhileHappy Nest, a project ofCRDA, also stalled. Now, cus-tomers are demanding theCRDA to return their bookingmoney.

One of the CRDA officialssaid "If there is no permanentSecretariat, Assembly andother constructions, then thereis no meaning of having quar-ters here, which are underconstruction. May be due tothat, the government is not ini-tiating any work here."

He further said: "Even, ouremployees were downsized.Most of the outsourcing andcontract employees quit. Noconsulting agency is function-ing. Only skeletal staff areworking. And now, the duty ofthe CRDA is to give permis-sions to new buildings or ven-tures in its region and takingaction against illegal construc-tions."

Work in capital citycomes to a standstill

Tourism Minister pays visit toThotlakonda, assures restoration

n The government is notkeen on thedevelopment of thecapital city, as it isaccording top priorityfor the implementationof welfare schemes andmost of the funds arebeing allocated for themonly, opine politicalanalysts

n Allegations were levelledby the Opposition partythat the government iskilling the concept ofcapital city Amaravati invarious ways

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Five days after the collapse ofthe reconstructed mahastupaof Thotlakonda, Minister forTourism Muttamsetti SrinivasaRao (Avanthi Srinivas) visitedthe site on Monday, alongwith officials, and examinedthe ancient Buddhist stupathat had crumbled during therains recently.

Even though the modernmahastupa was reconstructedin 2016 despite the wide-rang-ing protest of heritage expertsas reconstruction or rebuildingany structure on a heritage siteviolates norms of archaeology,the minister and officials againspoke about rebuilding thecollapsed structure.

"We will explore the causesof the wreck and rebuild thestructure. The previous gov-ernment had put in lakhs ofrupees on this and carriedout an inferior quality work.We will investigate into thecause of the collapse of themahastupa and action wouldbe taken against the staff foundresponsible for it. We will alsoredevelop the entire area andset up an International YogaCentre here," the minister said.

The minister said shelterswould be provided besidesarrangement of bus trans-

portation for tourists. Stepshave been taken to provide forwatering the trees within thepremises.

The ancient heritage sites ofThotalkonda and Bavikondaon Vizag-Bheemili routehouses 2000-year-old monas-tic complex with stupas,Chaitaya Grihas and Viharasatop Thotlakonda Hill andBavikonda Hill. In 2015,despite severe objections fromIntach (Indian National Trustfor Art and Cultural Heritage)and other heritage activists,the State government wentahead with reconstructingthe structure with modern

bricks, building material androcks brought fromVijayawada and Yendada onthe excavated base of theoriginal stupa flouting her-itage conservation norms.

Minister for Tourism Muttamsetti Srinivas Rao, along with officials, inspectingThotlakonda in Visakhapatnam on Monday

n The ancient heritagesites of Thotalkondaand Bavikonda on Vizag-Bheemili route houses2000-year-old monasticcomplex with stupas,Chaitaya Grihas andViharas atopThotlakonda Hill andBavikonda Hill

LEADERS TAKE GOVT TO TASK ON SAND CRISIS

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Polepalli Venkatesh, who usedto work as a plumber inGuntur, committed suicideafter recording a video onmobile. He committed suicideon September 28, but thevideo came to light on Sunday.

He stated in that video thathe is unable to earn moneyand said sorry to his wifeRaasi, daughter Chaya and hisfather-in-law. He stated inthat video that as there is nowork, he is unable to earnmoney. Hence, he has no valueamong relatives and othersand has become as an inca-pable person before them, hereportedly recorded in thevideo.

His wife Raasi lodged acomplaint with police abouther husband's suicide andstated "He is in depression hewas deprived of work as workswere stalled for the past manymonths due to sand crisis. Notonly our family, but also manypeople belonging to our villagebecome jobless."

Venkatesh hailed fromGorantla village in Sattenapallimandal. In this village, manyused to work in the construc-tion sector.

Leader of Opposition NChandrababu Naidu hastweeted on this suicide sayingthat without having work forfive months, building workersare committing suicides. Hedemanded that the govern-ment wake up from slumberand pay compensation to theworkers, who lost their liveli-hood due to sand crisis. He hasposted the video of thedeceased also. TDP leadersPrattipati Pulla Rao, DokkaManikya Vara Prasad visitedthe home of Venkatesh andconsoled his wife and familymembers. They handed overRs 2 lakhs compensation onbehalf of TDP.

Jana Sena chief Pawan

Kalyan announced Rs 1 lakhcompensation to theVenkatesh's family. Heappealed to the Union govern-ment to intervene on sandscarcity. Due to hasty decisionand incapability of the Stategovernment, lakhs of buildingworkers are in pathetic condi-tions, he added. He said thata rally will be taken outNovember 3 inVisakhapatnam and appealedto all the victims to participatein the rally.

It may be recalled that onSaturday, Naga Brahmmaji ofMunipalle village, Ponnurumandal in Guntur districtand P Venkata Rao of Gunturcity committed suicide at

their homes respectively.Both used to work as mason-ries and lost livelihood due tosand scarcity.

AP Building and OtherConstruct ion WorkersFederation State secretaryNarasimha Rao said "Thegovernment has created acrisis. The National GreenTribunal has given permis-sion to 247 quarries, but thegovernment opened only 41.The online website is work-ing only for a while in a dayand that too to book the sandby the mafia, which is sellingit for high prices in the blackmarket. The flood situationis only in September andOctober, what about earlier

months? We demand thegovernment to pay Rs 10,000to workers as compensation.We appeal to workers tofight against the governmentand not to resort to theextreme step."

n Polepalli Venkateshsaid he is committingsuicide as he is unableto find work due tosand crisis

n TDP chief tweets onsuicide posts video ofthe deceased

n TDP leaders PrattipatiPulla Rao, DokkaManikya Vara Prasadvisited the home ofVenkatesh andconsoled his wife andkin.

n They handed over Rs 2lakhs compensation onbehalf of the party

n Pawan Kalyanappealed to the Uniongovernment tointervene on sandscarcity

n Rajesh Tripathi,Managing Director ofDCIL, emphasised theneed of preventivevigilance. He furtherstressed on the roleand importance oftechnology incombating corruption

n J Pradeep Kumar, ChiefVigilance Officer, VPT,emphasised thatorganisations shouldidentify the grey areasand eradicate thosewith help of technology

n Rajesh Tripathi,Managing Director ofDCIL, emphasised theneed of preventivevigilance

Jobless plumber records video before ending lifeVPT, DCI observe Vigilance Awareness Week

Initiatives taken by VPTto curb graft lauded

Continued from Page1

Jaganmohan, in his maidenspeech in Legislative Assembly inJune, had announced that hewould not encourage defectionslike Naidu did, saying he wouldlike to do things differently com-pared to his predecessor.

The Chief Minister warnedthat he could easily strip Naiduof the Leader of Opposition sta-tus by taking five or six of TDPMLAs into YSRCP, but he wouldnot to that. Jagan had put a pre-condition that any MLA fromanother party who wanted to join

YSRCP should first resign fromthe MLA post and contest elec-tions afresh.

However, five months afterJagan's maiden statement, thereis suspicion that Jagan may havechanged his stance on defections.

It requires 19 MLAs for anyparty to secure 'main opposition'status in AP Assembly.

TDP won just 23 seats in 175-member Assembly in May 2019.With the exit of Vamsi, itsstrength would come down to 22.Rumour mills are abuzz thatfour-five TDP MLAs fromPrakasam district are keen to

adopt 'Vamsi formula' andbecome Independent MLAs andjoin YSRCP later. If that happens,

the TDP's strength in theAssembly could fall to 18. Thiswill lead to TDP losing the

'main Opposition' status andNaidu losing Leader ofOpposition status in Assembly.

Naidu's Leader of Oppn status under threat

Continued from Page1

"Therefore, in the interest ofthe future generation, safe-guarding and upholding thedemocratic values, we have tofight the injustice of the presentgovernment, the TDP chiefadded.

Naidu assured that he andthe party would "stand by youwholeheartedly and uncondi-tionally" in the fight againsthigh-handedness of the presentgovernment. "Always remem-ber that whenever injustice ismeted out, we have to fightinstead of giving up," he added.

Responding to this, Vamsithanked the TDP president for

"appreciating my concerns." "Isincerely thank you for stand-ing by me. But, I would not liketo prolong the issue. I hope youwould pardon me, if I had inad-vertently overstepped my brief,"he said.

Vamsi, who was elected tothe Assembly for a third termfrom Gannavaram in Krishnadistrict, met Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy three daysago, triggering speculationabout his political moves.

He was first elected to thethen united AP Assembly in2004 as a TDP 'rebel.' He lostthe 2009 Lok Sabha election asa TDP nominee fromVijayawada by a margin of

10,000 votes. After the Sstate'sdivision, he won theGannavaram Assembly seat in2014 and again in May 2019,despite a strong anti-TDP wave.

Meanwhile, YSRCPGannavaram in-chargeYarlagadda Venkat Rao, wholost the May election, is strong-ly opposing Vamsi's possibleentry into the ruling party.

"For five years as an MLA,Vamsi harassed our party cadreno end. Hundreds of policecases were foisted on them.How can we allow such a per-son into the party now," VenkatRao questioned. Rao said hewould discuss the issue withYSRC chief Jagan.

TDP MLA sticks to guns on quittingContinued from Page1

The Chief Minister said theYadadri temple construction wasnearing to completion and hewould perform the 'MahaSudarshana Yagam' there inFebruary with 1,008 gundamsunder the aegis of China JeeyarSwamiji. He said that he willinvite all Vaishnava Peethamslocated across the world andYagam would be conducted ingrand manner. The CM said theChina Jeeyar Swamiji's Peethamwould be seen on a higher pedestalalthough there will be manySwamijis in the Yagam.

KCR recalled that his marriagetook place when he was 14 yearsof age at Chithaluru in Warangaldistrict. He said that such eventswere considered special in thosedays as 'gurus' used to visit the vil-lages. KCR is thin, but brave:China Jeeyar Swamiji Spiritual

guru China Jeeyar Swamy show-ered praise on Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao stating thatthe latter has undertaken manyprogrammes for the benefit of peo-ple and established a place for himpolitically. He said people in pol-itics are generally afraid to talkabout God, but KCR is a goodexample of piety.

The Swamiji appreciated thatthe Yadadri Temple is being builtas a magnificent shrine and KCRis trying to make it the best tem-ple in India.

Was driver for JeeyarSwamiji 8 days: KCR

Govt to paystipend to Jr Advocates

Continued from Page1

For sanction ofstipend, JuniorAdvocates shall submitan affidavit attested bytheir Senior Advocatewith 15 years of practice,Bar Association con-cerned or the presidingofficer of the court, everysix months.

The order further saysthe applicants shall haveAadhaar cards and notexceed 35 years of age.They shall register theirnames on the websiteviz., https://ysr-lawnestham.ap.gov.in byuploading the certificatesin the application formatand furnish details oftheir bank account towhich the stipend shallbe credited.

Vizag cyber cops bust online fake dating racketContinued from Page1

He complained that the onlinedating club took about Rs 18 lakhfrom him on the guise of provid-ing young girls for dating. Kumarsaid that he received SMSs fromdifferent unidentified phonenumbers with offers of member-ship to the clubs for casual dat-ing and sex. Later, he received aphone call from a girl fromPurple Fantasy dating website,who spoke to Kumar in a sweetvoice. The girl also offered toarrange hotel rooms, body mas-sage, and privacy to members and

also offered sex with beautifulgirls on payment. Kumar paid atotal of Rs 18 lakh at various phas-es for the membership in the cluband also for multiple services

from the girls. But, Kumar neverheard back from the club andrealised that he was cheated andapproached the police.

Inspector of Cyber Crime

Police Station, V Gopinath andhis team investigated the casebased on the complaint. Thegang had been operating fromKolkata in West Bengal.Gopinath and his team with thesupport of the Kolkata police car-ried out a raid on Ocelum ITServices Pvt Ltd at TollygungeCircular Road from where thegang was operating the racket.

Gopinath said that three per-sons employed girls to run theracket. The girls trapped somemale persons by promising themoffers of various services, includ-ing sex.

Nursing student commitssuicide in Vizag cityPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A final year nursing studentstudying at the King GeorgeHospital Nursing School com-mitted suicide by hanging in herhotel room on the KGH premis-es here in the early hours ofMonday.

She was identified as BabySivalaxmi of Anakapalle. Shewill be completing her course inanother three months. She spoketo her family members on

Sunday morning to greet themon the occasion of Diwali. Nosuicide note was found. Herfamily members alleged that shemight have been harassed by thefaculty. Two Town police shift-ed the body to the KGH mor-tuary and registered a case ofsuspicious death. In the secondincident 16- year-old K Hyndavicommitted suicide in her bed-room in Kancharapalem underFifth Town Police Station limitson Sunday morning.

PNS n WARANGAL

Selections for the Faculty posi-tions in the levels of AssistantProfessor Grade and the pro-motion of Professors to theHAG Level were conductedfrom 13 - 24 October at NITWarangal. While 135 postswere advertised for all levels ofFaculty, selections in the firstphase were conducted at theentry level i.e., AssistantProfessor. Selection processinvolved seminar presenta-tion and personal interviews.

Preference was given to thecandidates who have obtainedtheir qualifying degrees fromthe Centrally FundedTechnical Institutes (CFTIs)and other top Institutes withNIRF ranking up to 100. Thescrutiny also involved weigh-tage for the Research projects,Patents and Journal paperspublished in the SCl/SCO-PUS/ WEB OF SCIENCE. TheSelection Committees con-sisted of experts from IITsand other NITs. The Interviewswere also conducted throughSkype for candidates workingabroad. The institute has beenable to select 73 new faculty

members in the entry level invarious departments. TheInstitute has also ensured prop-er reservation system selectingcandidates belonging toSC/ST/OBC and EconomicallyWeaker Sections.

With the addition of above73 faculty members, the fac-ulty strength of NIT Warangalwill go up to 342, making itthe Institute with the largestnumber of faculty among the31 NITs, and also the best stu-dent faculty ratio. Prof NVRamana Rao, Director, NITWarangal informed that thenew faculty will bring in pro-fessionalism and will help inenhancing the research aswell as academic output fromthe Institute.

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019 vijayawada 04

IT Minister KT Rama Rao congratulates Saidi Reddy in Hyderabad on Monday for winning the Huzurnagar by-election

JUBILANT TTRS MMLA CCALLS OON KKTR

RTC employees, along with Congress leaders, staging a dharna in Hyderabad on Monday

n CHIEF MINISTER HAS NO SINCERITY IN SOLVING THE ISSUE, SAYS VHPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao has allegedthat the Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has nosincerity in resolving RTCworkers problems. He ques-tioned KCR to tell as to why themerger of RTC into govern-ment is not possible when theAndhra Pradesh ChiefMinister, YS Jagan MohanReddy, did the same.

RTC JAC has organised a'maha dharna' on Mondaybefore the HyderabadCollectorate as part ofCollectorates' seizure pro-gramme across the state. VHparticipated in the dharnaalong with various left partiesleaders. On the occasion, theRTC workers raised slogansagainst the Chief Minister.While speaking on the occa-sion, VH said that he never saw

a Chief Minister like KCR inhis life. He reminded that theRTC workers were facing lot oftroubles by not celebratingDasara and Diwali festivals. Hedemanded the Chief Ministerto interfere in the issue by ini-tiate steps to make the RTCworkers withdraw their strike.

Later, the employees havesubmitted a memorandum tothe Hyderabad DistrictCollector Manik Raj. On the

other hand, the RTC employ-ees demonstrated dharnasbefore Collectorates across thestate. The RTC workers, whostaged dharna beforeRangareddy Collectorate office,have submitted a memoran-dum to Collector Harish. TheCollector responded in a pos-itive manner stating that he willtake the issue to the notice ofthe government.

In Warangal district, the

RTC employees organised ahuge rally from Ekashila Parkto the Collectorate office.Congress, CPI and CPM lead-ers have extended their supportto the RTC workers by partic-ipating in the rally. However,the police obstructed the rallyand allowed the RTC JACleaders to submit their mem-orandum to collector.

In Mahabubnagar, the RTCworkers staged dharna beforethe Collectorate and submitteda memorandum to JointCollector. In Vikarabad district,the RTC employees stageddharna before the Collectoratebefore submitting the memo-randum.

Tension prevailed atRajanna Sircilla Collectorateoffice when the RTC employ-ees tried to lay seize toCollectorate office. Jostlingtook place between RTC JACleaders and police.

PNS n HYDERABAD

It was a dark Diwali for over48,000 employees of TelanganaRoad Transport Corporation(TSRTC) as their indefinitestrike entered 24th day onMonday. With no signs of anend to the stalemate and theyare yet to get salaries forSeptember, the "sacked"employees and their familiesspent the festival of lights inprotests in front of the TSRTCdepots across the state.

After a low-key Dasara, thedrivers, conductors and otheremployees of the state-ownedpublic utility spent Diwali withno celebrations. The employ-ees, along with women andchildren, staged a sit-in on thefestival day. Some of thewomen spoke of the difficul-ties faced by them in meetinghousehold expenditure.Children said instead of burst-ing crackers like others, theywere forced to sit on protest astheir parents have not receivedsalaries. As KCR already

declared that the strikingworkers ceased to be employ-ees of the TSRTC, they face anuncertain future. The strikealready saw two employeescommitting suicide due todepression over not gettingsalaries and the fears of losingthe jobs. Leaders of employeeunions said six other employ-ees died of cardiac arrest.

The employees are on strikesince October 5 to press for

their demands including thedemand to merge the TSRTCwith the government so thatthey are treated at par with thegovernment employees. Thegovernment termed the strikeillegal and ruled out talks withthe employees. The CM evenannounced on October 6 thatthose who failed to join dutybefore the deadline lost theirjobs as they dismissed them-selves.

Dark Diwali for RTC staff

RTC employees hold placards at a protest in Hyderabad on Monday

RTC STAFF STORM COLLECTORATES ACROSS TS

RTC JAC has organised a ‘mahadharna' on Monday before theHyderabad Collectorate as part ofCollectorates' seizure programmeacross the state. Congress seniorleader VH also participated in the dharna along with various leftparties leaders

Cops foil CPI'shunger strikePNS n WARANGAL

Tension prevailed nearJayashankar Smritivanamarea of Balasamudram inHanamkonda town when thepolice officials lifted the CPIprotest camp on Monday.The CPI leaders' orgainsed aone-day relay hunger strike insupport of the strikingTSRTC employees. Thepolice lifted the protest campstating that permission wasnot accorded for the relayhunger strike.

While the All party actioncommittee and the TSRTCJAC took up protests to stormthe district collectorates, theCPI took up relay hungerstrike. The police took upprecautionary measures atthe district Collectorates ofWarangal Urban, WarangalRural, Jangaon,Mahbubababad, Bhupalpalliand Mulugu districts.

No end in sight to RTC strikePNS n HYDERABAD

Former CPI MLA KSambasiva Rao, who beganan indefinite fast two daysago in support of the strik-ing employees of TelanganaState Road TransportCorporation (TSRTC), hasbeen shifted to the govern-ment hospital here by policeon Monday after his healthcaused concern.

The former MLA, wholaunched his fast onSaturday last, was admittedto the state-run Nizam'sInstitute of Medical Sciences(NIMS) in the early hours ofMonday as his blood pres-sure and sugar levels weredown, police said.Sambasiva Rao, however,claimed that he was contin-uing his fast in the hospital.Condemning police actionin shifting him to hospital,he said Telangana peoplewould not appreciate if theTRS government headed by

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao con-ducted a "police rule".

Sambasiva Rao recalledthat he, as MLA, had sup-ported the indefinite fastundertaken by KCR for aseparate Telangana. FormerCongress MP VHanumantha Rao and the

leaders of RTC employeesunions expressed solidaritywith Sambasiva Rao.

Meanwhile, RTC employ-ees and the activists ofCongress and other opposi-tion parties held protests onMonday in support of thestrike which entered the24th day on Monday.

Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao and others call on former CPI MLA K Sambasiva Rao at the NIMS in Hyderabad on Monday

NIT-W has largestnumber of faculty

‘Karimnagarwill be abeautiful city’PNS n KARIMNAGAR

BC Welfare Minister GangulaKamalakar has laid the foun-dation stone for the finallayer works of the 14.5 kmroad between SRR collegeand Markfed here onMonday. He said that theworks on the 14.5 km roadhas reached the final stage.

"The road work was takenup under Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's assur-ance scheme that ensuresrepairs of roads dug up dueto laying of pipelines ofMission Bhagiratha project.Rs 2.85 crore was sanctionedto lay 2.5 km stretch finallayer of the road from CourtChowk to RTC workshopand Rs 2.30 core allocated for1.6 km road stretch fromJayaram Hospital toMarkfed," he said.

Besides 14.5 km road,internal road have also beentaken up under Karimnagarsmart city scheme. AfterHyderabad, Karimnagar willemerge as one of the mostbeautiful city once all theworks are completed, theMinister said.

KCR betrayingpeople of TS,IndrasenaPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP senior leader N IndrasenaReddy slammed ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao saying that KCR has spo-ken blatant lies in Huzurnagarmeeting and misled people.Indrasena mocked KCR,stressing that the later deservesa place in Limca Book ofRecords for speaking lies.

"KCR has spoken blatantlies during his visit toHuzurnagar. KCR claimedKaleshwaram water is beingsupplied to Tungaturthi con-stituency, which is absolute-ly wrong. The water beingsupplied to Tungathurthiconstituency is being donefrom Sri Ram Sagar Projectsince 2010, when K Roshaiahwas the Chief Minister. Hecheated Huzurnagar peopleby coming up with a series oflies during his meeting. KCR is the first CM in theentire history to speak lieswithout a break and cheats people. KCR nameneeds to be proposed forLimca Book of Records forspeaking lies," said BJPnational executive memberIndrasena Reddy.

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

A fresh case of conspiracy wasregistered in the Nair familydeaths case on Monday againsttwo care-takers, a formerbureaucrat and seven others bythe police probing into usurpingof properties of the family ofdeceased, who died between2000 and 2017. But there hasbeen no charges of murder inthe new case, according to thepolice. Among those who havebeen charge sheeted includes

Names of Ravindran Nair,principal caretaker of theGopinathan Nair family, asso-ciate caretaker Sahadevan andretired senior bureaucrat N.Mohandas figure in the case,filed on the basis of a complaintby Prasanna Kumari, a familykin. The deaths took place in the

Gopinathan Nair familybetween 2000 and 2017. Thedeceased included Nair, his wifeSumukhi Amma and their chil-dren -- Jaybalakrishnan,Jayprakash, Jaysree -- and twonephews Unnikrishnan andJaymadhavan. A special inves-tigation team has been set up toprobe the case, including usurp-ing of Rs 30 crore properties.The police, which launched theprobe after a complaint from afamily member and a neighbour,decided to widen the investiga-tion after finding irregularities.

Ravindran, a distant relativeof Nair, is suspected to bebehind these deaths. But he hasdenied any wrongdoing andhas stated that the complaint wasfiled to harass him as he deniedto yield to the demands of somefamily members of the deceased.

3 Maoists shotdead in KeralaPNS n PALAKKAD

Three alleged Maoists, includ-ing a woman, were shot deadby Kerala Police's Thunderboltteam after an exchange of firein the forests in Kerala'sPalakkad on Monday, officialssaid. Sources close to the policesaid the three killed were notKeralites and hailed fromneighbouring states.

The Thunderbolt team hadgone for combing operationsinside the forests after reportsabout presence of Maoiststhere. According to reports, aseven-member team ofMaoists, seeing theThunderbolt team, opened fireon them but in the retaliatoryfire, three ultras were shotdown and the rest managed toescape back into the forests.However, the Congress MPfrom Palakkad, V.K.Sreekandan, urged the Keralagovernment to come clean onwhat was happening as, accord-ing to his information, therehave been no reports of Maoistsin the forests. "This could wellbe a ploy to divert attentionfrom the huge onslaught thatthe Kerala government is fac-ing in the way the police han-dled the case of the murder oftwo young girls near here

Fresh case registeredin Nair family deaths

Discussions conducted on

commissioning of N5 Taxi trackPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Chairman of AirportAdvisory Committee andlocal MP MVV Satyanaryanaconvened a meeting withairport officials and theAirport Advisory Committeemembers on Monday oncommissioning of N5 Taxitrack to facilitate increasednumber of f l ights atVisakhapatnam airport.

Satyanarayana held a dis-cussion with Raja Kishore,Director, AAI,Visakhapatnam, andAdvisory Committee mem-bers, including O NareshKumar, DS Varma and SVijay Mohan, at the airport.

The Chairman advised theAAI Director to complete the

commissioning of N5 with-in a month to accommodatemore number of flights.Currently N3 and N4 taxitracks are in operational andhandling 10 movements perhour. The airport directorhas informed the membersthat AAI has spent around Rs23 crore on additional tar-mac and N5 taxi track toaccommodate additional air-crafts.

Currently no permission isaccorded for any new flightsin the morning between 9 amand 12 pm and in the after-noon 3 pm to 4 pm and inthe evening from 7 pm to 9pm. The AAI Directorinformed that Air Asia wasdenied slots in peak hours.Currently, the airport has 14

parking bays out of which sixare newly constructed park-ing bays and the runway is10,100 ft long and can han-dle B767 class of aircrafts.

With the commissioningof new tarmac and N5 taxitrack, six additional flightmovements for every hourcan happen as per AndhraPradesh Air Travel lers 'Associat ion and it wasrequested that these newslots be allotted only forcivilian aircrafts as Vizag canbe considered commercialcapita l of the State.Reduction of slots for newaircrafts will hamper thegrowth of the state, said rep-resentatives from AndhraPradesh Air Travel lers 'Association (APATA).

Migrant labour kids sufferingfrom TB, asthma: StudyPNS n HYDERABAD

National Institute of RuralDevelopment and PanchayatiRaj (NIRDPR) conducted astudy to analyse the workingconditions and socio-eco-nomic status of the migrantpopulation in the states ofTamil Nadu and UttarPradesh. The study highlightsthe dynamics of people move-ment, their contribution to thelocal as well as to nationaldevelopment. The study hasrecently been published in theNational Journal of Labourand Industrial Law.

One of the major issues thestudy found was the prevalenceof the Child Labour in stonequarries. In addition, the studyalso found various health haz-ards that these people face

due to poor living and work-ing conditions. The migrantlabourers become prone tovarious respiratory diseasessuch as tuberculosis, bronchi-tis and asthma. Women andchildren suffer from malariaand anaemia due to lack ofnutritious food, according to apress release issued by the

Institute here on Monday.Speaking on the findings, Dr

Chinnadurai, co-author of thepaper and Associate Professor,Centre for DecentralisedPlanning, NIRDPR, said, "Thenature of high mobility inchanging of worksites and sta-tus of non-local labours werehardly united to fight against ordemand for their rights. Noneof the labour organisation wasregistered in any of the worksites. But there are NGOsworking for their welfare.Awareness creation of therights and provisions of variouslaws pertaining to labour underthe Constitution of India, mak-ing adequate initiatives toimplement the protective andwelfare measures for the bet-terment of the working condi-tions are the need of the hour."

Prof NV Ramana Rao

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

French nationalrobbed by 3 menposing as copsNEW DELHI: A Frenchnational's belongings wereallegedly stolen by three peoplewho posed as police personneland frisked him in Karol Baghhere, officials said on Monday.According to the officials,Joseph was stopped by theaccused and searched onSunday when he reached KarolBagh. Police said a case hasbeen registered and the matteris being investigated. Footage from CCTV camerasinstalled in the area is beingexamined to identify theperpetrators, a senior policeofficer said.

Firecrackers dumped onvacant plot explode inJalandhar, cause panic

Post-Diwali, air qualityin Delhi much betterthan in 2018: GahlotNEW DELHI: The air qualitylevel post Diwali this yearseems much better than what itwas after the festival in 2018,Delhi Environment MinisterKailash Gahlot said on Monday.Interacting with reporters onthe sidelines of an event here,he said people are also tellingthat less crackers have beenused this time compared to lastyear. "The air quality on themorning after Diwali this year iscomparatively better than thatof last year. I am not sayingthis as an environmentminister, but every person I ammeeting is saying that the airquality is much better thistime," Gahlot said. He thankedthe people of Delhi for usingless crackers while celebratingthe festival of lights on Sunday.The national capital's air qualitydropped to the season's worston the morning after Diwali, butthe situation was still betterthan the last three years,according to governmentagencies.

Congress will slide nofurther, can now reversetide: Salman KhurshidBENGALURU: Senior Congressleader Salman Khurshid said onMonday the outcome ofHaryana and Maharashtraelections indicates that hisparty's slide in the country hasstopped and it can now lookforward to reversing the tide.The party has now come out ofa bad period of confusion andself-doubt, the former UnionMinister said, obviouslyreferring to the party's poorshow in the Lok Sabhaelections, Rahul Gandhi quittingas the party President andsome leaders deserting in a fewStates. Terming the electionresults in the two States as"encouraging", he said the partyworkers are very pleased.In Haryana, the Congressdoubled its 2014 tally, and itMaharashtra, the Congress-NCP alliance improved its tallyconsiderably.

CHANDIGARH: Bomb disposalsquads and fire departmentpersonnel were scrambled afterseveral boxes of crackersdumped on a vacant plot inJalandhar exploded, triggeringpanic among residents andshattering window panes onDiwali night, police said.Residents said the explosionscould be heard over a longdistance from Baba Mohan DasColony. Eyewitness told policethat pellet-like structuresscattered in the air after theexplosions. A policeinvestigation has ruled out thepossibility of any terror angle."We conducted an investigation.No terror angle has beenfound," a police official said.On taking action against peoplewho dumped firecrackers on avacant plot illegally, the officialsaid the police department is"already proceeding as per lawagainst those guilty".

PNS n BENGALURU

Congress leader D KShivakumar has drawn flakfrom some of his party lead-ers for holding the JD(S) flagwhen he returned here fromDelhi after getting bail in amoney laundering case.

Shivakumar, arrested by theEnforcement Directorate, andin judicial custody at the TiharJail, returned on Saturday to arousing welcome here, wherebesides Congress leaders, therewere those from the JD(S)waiting to receive him.

When he was being taken ina procession in a flower-bedecked vehicle, a JD(S)worker handed over a partyflag to him which theCongress leader received,waved it for a while andreturned it to him.

A video of the incident hassince gone viral.

A video of former ChiefMinister and Congress leaderSiddaramaiah criticisingShivakumar for the act, in aprivate conversation, is alsonow in wide circulation insocial media.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Only 153 IAS officers wereappointed on central deputa-tion under the central staffingscheme (CSS) in 2018-19, thelowest in the last five years,according to the latest data ofpersonnel ministry.

A total of 340 IAS officerswere appointed under the CSSduring 2014-15 as against 320in 2015-16 and 247 during2016-17, it said.

As many as 211 officers ofthe Indian AdministrativeService were given posting atthe Centre during 2017-18,said the annual report of theministry.

The central staffing scheme,which is in operation fordecades, provides a systemat-ic arrangement for selectionand appointment of eligibleofficers from the participatingservices at the level of deputysecretary, director, joint secre-tary, additional secretary and

secretary in the Central gov-ernment.

To encourage officers fromparticipating services, includ-ing the IAS, to come on CSS,official communications areissued twice a year requestingall cadre authorities to nomi-nate eligible officers for depu-tation.

Giving details of otherGroup A services like theIndian Revenue Service (IRS)and Indian Postal Serviceamong others, the ministrysaid 196 appointments weremade under the CSS in 2014-15.

A total of 237 such officerswere appointed on central dep-

utation in 2015-16, 246 in2016-17, 171 in 2017-18 and195 in 2018-19, the data said.

The personnel ministrydata also indicates shortfall inthe central deputation reserveor CDR that shows the num-ber of officers presently oncentral deputation from eachcadre.

IAS, IPS and IFoS officersare allocated cadre which iseither state, a group of stateor/and union territories.

The total authorisedstrength of IAS officers is 6,500as on January 1, 2019 and theCDR is 1,381.

Out of these 1,381 IAS offi-cers, there were 507 IAS offi-

cers working at the Centre.Of the central deputation

reserve of 74 IAS officers forBihar cadre, 38 officers wereworking at the Centre. A totalof 17 IAS officers of Gujaratcadre were posted at the Centreagainst 64, the personnel min-istry data said.

As many as 44 IAS officersof Uttar Pradesh cadre were atthe Centre as against its CDRof 134, 22 of Tamil Nadu(against 81), 18 of Rajasthan(against 64), 15 of Punjab(against 48), 20 of Odisha(against 51), 24 of Maharashtracadre (against 78) and 28 ofMadhya Pradesh against itsreserve of 90, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Monday told a delegation ofEuropean Union MPs thaturgent action was neededagainst those supporting andsponsoring terrorism.

There should be zero toler-ance for terrorism, Modi toldthe delegation that had calledon him ahead of its visit toJammu and Kashmir.

Expressing hope that theparliamentarians' visit to vari-ous parts of the country will befruitful, Modi said the visit toJammu and Kashmir shouldgive them a better under-standing of the cultural andreligious diversity of the regionsof Jammu, Kashmir andLadakh, a statement issued bythe Prime Minister's Officesaid.

The prime minister alsohoped that it will give them aclear view of the developmentand governance priorities of theregion, it said.

Without naming any coun-try, Modi said urgent action isrequired against all those whosupport or sponsor terror activ-ities and use terrorism as a statepolicy. The prime ministeralso highlighted the jump inIndia's position in Ease ofDoing Business rankings from142 in 2014 to 63 now.

This is a massive achieve-ment for a country of such

enormous size, demographyand diversity. Governance sys-tems are today enabling peopleto move in an aspirationaldirection, he said.

Modi also underlined thefocus of the government onensuring Ease of Living for allIndians.

He mentioned about thesuccess of key programmes ofthe government includingSwachh Bharat and AyushmanBharat. Modi reiterated India'scommitment to eliminate TBby 2025, five years before theglobal target.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Thirteen employees of airlinesand airports have failed breathanalyser tests since September16 and they have been sus-pended for three months, aDGCA official said on Monday.

Seven employees of IndiGo,and one airside worker each ofGoAir and SpiceJet have failedthe alcohol tests since the ruleswere issued, the official said.

"13 employees of varioustypes have been found positiveduring the breath analyser testsin the voluntary phase... Themandatory phase begins inNovember and shall entail our'surveillance and watch' on aregular basis," the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) official said.

"Importantly, most of these,are involved in safety sensitivefunctions at an airport and canbe a potential source of seriousincident or accident," the offi-cial said.

Two Bengaluru InternationalAirport Limited employees --one a senior assistant and theother a manager at the airlineoperations control centre --have failed the test, accordingto the official.

An employee of the DelhiInternational Airport Limited,who is an aerobridge operator,failed the alcohol test onOctober 21.

The DGCA official said inMumbai, a senior airport elec-trician, who was working for asub-contractor, AMA PrivateLimited, failed the test on

October 18.The aviation regulator on

September 16 had issued rulesfor the tests to be conducted atall airports for airside workers,including those handling air-craft maintenance, air trafficcontrol (ATC) and ground han-dling services.

The rules say, if any per-sonnel is tested positive foralcohol for the first time,refuses to undergo the test orattempts to evade it by leavingthe airport premises, "then heor she must be kept off dutyand their license/approvalshall be suspended for a peri-

od of three months"."Employers have taken puni-

tive action as proposed in theCivil Aviation Requirement(Rules) and we acknowledgetheir cooperation and support",the official said.

The official said of the sevenIndiGo airside workers, whofailed the tests, two are cus-tomer service officers, four aredrivers and one is a cleaner.The suspended SpiceJet andGoAir employees are a driverand a senior ramp officerrespectively, the DGCA officialadded.

The aviation personnelunder the ambit of these rulesinclude aircraft maintenanceengineers, other technicallytrained person authorised tocarry out maintenance of air-craft, vehicle drivers who drivefuelling and catering vehicles,equipment operators, aero-bridge operators, marshallers,personnel manning apron con-trol, ground handling servicespersonnel as well as ATC per-sonnel, according to theDGCA.

Seven employeesof IndiGo, and oneairside worker eachof GoAir andSpiceJet havefailed the alcoholtests since therules were issued,a DGCA official said

There should bezero tolerance forterrorism, Moditold the delegationthat had called onhim ahead of itsvisit to Jammuand Kashmir

The personnel ministry data alsoindicates shortfall in the centraldeputation reserve or CDR that showsthe number of officers presently oncentral deputation from each cadre

PNS n NEW DELHI

The selection of wrong can-didates and factional fights inthe Congress in Kerala havecost the party-led UnitedDemocratic Front (UDF)"dearly" in the October 21assembly bypolls in the state,senior Congress leader P CChacko said on Monday.

Chacko said the ruling LeftDemocratic Front (LDF)wrested the Konni assemblyseat in Pathanamthitta dis-trict from the Congress, whichheld it for nearly 23 years.Similarly, the Vattiyoorkavuseat, held by the Congresssince 2011, was lost to theLDF's CPI(M) candidate, hesaid.

"The Congress would havegained these two seats if onlythe winning ability of thenominees was considered andthe right candidates selectedinstead of succumbing to pres-sure from factions," Chackotold PTI in an interview.

"These have cost the party-led UDF dearly in thebypolls," Chacko, who is alsothe Congress' Delhi unit in-charge, said.

He said the only point ofconsolation is that the UDFwas able to win with a marginof 2,079 votes the Aroor seatin Alappuzha district, con-sidered a "citadel" of theCPI(M) for the last 42 years.

Five assembly seats went tobypolls on October 21.

Two seats were won by theLDF and UDF won theremaining three of whichCongress won two and IUMLone.

The Congress leader also

dismissed reports that theBJP's poll-percentage hadimproved in the elections.

People have dashed theBJP's hopes of gaining afoothold in Kerala. The partytried to make a footing byraising Sabarimala and otherreligious issues, Chacko said.

The Supreme Court, in itsverdict on September 28 lastyear, overturned theSabarimala Ayyappa temple'sban on women of menstruat-ing age (10-50 years) fromentering the hill shrine.

Chacko, who is a formerLok Sabha MP from Thrissur,claimed that people andAyyappa devotees are with theCongress as it had taken upthe issue to the SupremeCourt by filing a review peti-tion. Chandrakant Patil Arvind Kejriwal

Narendra Modi

D K Shivakumar

PNS n NEW DELHI

India has taken up Pakistan'sdenial of use of its airspace tothe prime minister's flightwith the International CivilAviation Organisation, gov-ernment sources said onMonday ahead of NarendraModi's visit to Saudi Arabia ona bilateral visit.

India sought overflightclearance from Pakistan forthe prime minister's aircraft togo to Saudi Arabia on Monday,but Islamabad cited allegedhuman rights violations inJammu and Kashmir to denythe request.

Sources said the govern-ment of India is of the viewPakistan should reflect on itsdecision to deviate from wellestablished international prac-tice, as well as reconsider itsold habit of misrepresentingthe reasons for taking unilat-eral action.

The sources added that

India regrets Pakistan's deci-sion to yet again deny over-flight clearance for the VVIPspecial flight, granted rou-tinely by any normal coun-try.

In September, Pakistandenied overflight clearance tothe prime minister's aircraftduring his visit to the US.

India has taken up the issueof denial of overflight clear-ance with the relevant inter-national civil aviation body,they said. The ICAO is a spe-cialised UN agency.

Minimum wagerevision to help55 lakh workers:KejriwalPNS n NEW DELHI

Around 55 lakh workers in thecity will benefit from theincreased minimum wagesthat have been notified by theDelhi government followingthe Supreme Court's recentorder, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said on Monday.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Kejriwal saidemployees will also get dear-ness allowance for the monthsof April to September, besidesa Diwali bonus of one month'ssalary. He said 44 employers'associations had filed a petitionagainst the Delhi government'sprevious notification toincrease minimum wages.

Later, the high court struckdown the notification and thegovernment challenged it inthe Supreme Court, the chiefminister added. "On October14, 2019, the Supreme Courtgave order in favour of theDelhi government on mini-mum wages. "We have notifiedincreased minimum wages,"the chief minister said.

The move will be effectivein reducing poverty and deal-ing with the economic slow-down, he said, adding that thestep will lead to an increase indemand and production, andgenerate employment.

After poll win,Maha BJP chiefto gift sarees towomenPNS n PUNE

Maharashtra BJP chief andstate minister ChandrakantPatil, who won from Kothrudin Pune district in the justconcluded Assembly polls,has decided to distributesarees to women in his con-stituency as a 'Bhau- beej' gift.

Patil, who was earliertermed as an "outsider" by hisrivals since he hails fromKolhapur district, won fromKothrud by defeating MNScandidate Kishor Shinde byover 25,000 votes in the stateAssembly elections held lastweek.

"I thought on this 'bhau-beej' (to be celebrated onTuesday), I should do some-thing for my sisters who areeconomically backward,livein slums and work as domes-tic helps. I appealed to someof my friends and several ofthem have responded posi-tively by giving new sarees,"he said. Patil said the sareedistribution exercise will berestricted to his Kothrudconstituency. "This year, weare starting with Kothrud, butfrom next year, my targetwould be to implement thisexercise in all eight con-stituencies of Pune," he said.

‘Congress wouldhave won 2 moreseats if winningability of nomineeswas considered,and the party hadnot succumbed topressure fromfactions’

Shivakumar introuble, wavesJD(S) flag

Govt is of the viewPakistan shouldreflect on itsdecision todeviate from wellestablishedinternationalpractice

PNS n KOHIMA

Ahead of another round ofpeace talks on October 31, theseven-parties conglomeration-NNPGs- which is pushing foran early resolution to the vexedpolitical issue, has urged elect-ed representatives not to main-tain "neutral stand" and cleartheir position when the gov-ernment was keen to find asolution to the matter.

The Naga National PoliticalGroups (NNPGs) - holdingseparate talks with the Centresince 2017- made the appeal tothe elected representativesthrough a statement releasedby its media cell on Sundaynight.

The Nationalist SocialCouncil of Nagaland, Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), whichsigned a framework agree-ment with the Centre inAugust 2015, had been insist-ing on a separate flag andconstitution, despite the gov-ernment's refusal to grant itsrequest.

Nagaland Governor R NRavi, who is also Centre'sinterlocuter will be holding atalk with the NSCN-IM inDelhi on Monday.

Ravi had said on October 19that the NSCN-IM "has adopt-ed a procrastinating attitude todelay the settlement raising the

contentious symbolic issues ofseparate Naga national flagand constitution on which itwas fully aware of the govern-ment of India's position".

In the statement, the NNPGsasserted that the elected rep-resentatives of Nagalandshould not be maintaining aneutral stand on the matter,now that the government waskeen on finding a solution.

"Unresolved matters shouldbe decided through politicaland democratic process... Theposition and status of electedrepresentatives of Nagalandcannot remain lukewarm Theycannot choose to hide behindthe boulders blocking the way,"it said.

The Centre had set a dead-line for peace talks, in the wakeof the Naga society's demand

for an early solution to the six-decade-old issue, the state-ment insisted.

"It is time for political par-ties in Nagaland to clear theirstand in the interest of theNaga people... If the politicalparties of Nagaland fail intheir constitutional duties andobligations, they should resignand allow the ElectionCommission of India to dere-cognise the parties," theNNPGs, which has seven Nagaoutfits as its members, added.

The statement came twodays after a senior NSCN-IMleader, along with 16 others,quit the rebel group accusingit of being "insensitive" to thepeople's plea for an honourablesolution to the vexed issue, andjoined the NNPGs.

Claiming that future of Nagagenerations must not be jeop-ardised by unresolved symbolicissues, Hukavi Yeputhomi saidthe working committee of theNNPGs had been more "prac-tical and realistic" in its nego-tiation with the Centre.

Nationalist DemocraticProgressive Party (NDPP) andBJP coalition is in power in theNortheastern state ofNagaland.

Naga People's Front (NPF)headed by former chief minis-ter TR Zeliang is the mainopposition party in the state.

NNPGs ask legislators to clearstand on Naga peace process

Wrong candidates,infighting cost UDF‘dearly’ in Kerala: Chacko

India takes Pak denialof airspace to intl body

The Naga National Political Groups(NNPGs) - holding separate talks withthe Centre since 2017- made the appealto the elected representatives througha statement released by its media cellon Sunday night

Action must againstsponsors of terror:PM Modi to EU MPs

P C Chacko

13 staffers of airlines, airportsfailed alcohol test since Sep 16

153 IAS officers appointed on centraldeputation in 2018-19, lowest in last 5 yrs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call toshun single-use plastic during hisIndependence Day address, which was

reiterated at the 14th Conference of Parties(COP14) of the UN Convention to CombatDesertification (September 9), could fail totackle the scale of the plastic menace unlessscientists and entrepreneurs join the fight.Previously, in April 2011, former Delhi ChiefMinister Sheila Dikshit had imposed a blan-ket ban on the manufacture, sale, storage anduse of plastic bags but it soon withered away.In March 2016, the Union Government moot-ed the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016,to ensure that organisers of public functions(rallies, weddings) remove all plastic litter atthe venue at the end of the function. It washardly known among the citizenry.

India generates a staggering 26,000tonnes of plastic waste daily; there are no reli-able statistics about how much is collected and(hopefully) recycled; most probably end upin rivers and landfills. Some have begun tobe used in making more sturdy roads.

National Geographic noted that 40 percent of the plastic produced every year are sin-gle-use items like carry bags and food wrap-pers that are needed for just a few minutesor hours but linger in the environment forhundreds of years. Sometimes additives areused to make plastics stronger and durable,which increases their lifespan. The UNEnvironment Programme estimates thatonly nine per cent of all plastic waste is recy-cled; 12 per cent incinerated and 79 per centdumped in landfills or the natural environ-ment. Worldwide, plastic pollution has madeits way into the oceans, where it is destroy-ing marine life and coral reefs. Research pub-lished in Science Advances states that since the1940s, the amount of microscopic plastics inocean sediments has doubled every 15 years.In 2010, plastic pollution touched almost 40particles per 10cm x 10cm patch of the oceanfloor. On Henderson Island, an uninhabitedatoll halfway between Chile and New Zealand,scientists found plastic items from Russia, theUS, Europe, South America, Japan andChina, carried by the South Pacific gyre, a cir-cular ocean current.

Every year, nearly 12.7 million kg of plas-tic enters the oceans and this could doublein the next decade, according to OceanConservancy. By 2050, almost every seabirdon the planet will have plastic in its stomach.Oceans will have more plastic than fish,according to a World Economic Forumreport. Plastic nano-particles ingested bymarine animals are entering the food chain,affecting fish fertility and food security ofcoastal populations.

Scientists believe that human beings con-sume at least 50,000 micro-plastic particlesevery year, through food and water. The healthimpact of this intake has not yet been med-ically assessed but micro-plastics can releasetoxins that may penetrate body tissues andcause cancer and other afflictions.

India needs solutions now, before plas-

tic pollution unleashes multiplehealth epidemics like those trig-gered by the green revolution,which experts are only nowbeginning to admit. The mega-solution is generating waste-to-electricity, the technology forwhich exists in countries likeSingapore where no waste goesto the landfills or oceans.Strangely, Indian entrepreneurshave not entered this arena,which could be very lucrative.Perhaps the Government couldconsider asking medium enter-prises to enter this field and hireexperts to mentor this sunriseindustry.

Biological solutions havebeen found but have not beenadopted even on a pilot basis. InApril 2017, Spanish scientistFederica Bertocchini accidental-ly discovered that wax worms eatplastic. The University ofCambridge, the UK, promptlybegan a study (published inCurrent Biology) wherein it dis-covered that the worms candegrade polythene, one of thetoughest materials in the world.Waxworms (Galleria mellonella)are caterpillars, commonly usedas fishing bait and are readilyavailable. They love beeswax andoften attack beehives; possiblythey find plastic similar tobeeswax; 100 wax worms canbiodegrade 92 milligrams ofpolyethylene in 12 hours.Polyethylene is the most com-monly manufactured plastic thatis used to make shopping bagsand food packaging.

Scholars are now searching

for the single enzyme responsi-ble for this chemical process,which, if reproduced largescale,could solve the world’s plasticproblem. Indian scientists needto join this quest, especially asplastic retains utility in manyareas (medical syringes, IV bags,surgical gloves, packaging,garbage disposal bags and binsamong others). Above all, thou-sands of manufacturing units andlakhs of jobs are at stake, whichis why a total ban is nearlyimpossible. Moreover, theGovernment must decide if thepetrochemical-based shoppingbags, which have entered themarket in recent years and takethe same time to degrade as plas-tic, should be allowed to aggra-vate the waste disposal crisis.Alternatives like biodegradablehemp-based or bamboo-basedplastic should be promoted.

Previously, Japanese scien-tists found a bacteria (Ideonellasakainesis 201-F6) that ate poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET),the plastic used to manufacturedisposable water bottles (Science,March 2016). Laboratory testsshowed that Ideonella sakainesisuses two enzymes to break downthe molecular bonds of PETplastic and consider it as a foodsource. The scientists believethat this happened because thebacteria were put in a place withonly one food source and adapt-ed to consume it, a hearteningexample of Nature’s resilience.

Recently, in the GreaterNoida wetlands, scientists at theShiv Nadar University discovered

two strains of plastic-eating bac-teria (Exiguobacterium sibir-icum DR11 andExiguobacterium undae DR14)that can decompose polystyrene,a key ingredient in single-useplastics. Both strains used poly-styrene as a carbon source andcreated biofilms, thus paving theway for its natural degradation.Indian scientists must grow allsuch bacteria strains to industri-al-strength so that small or medi-um enterprises could degradeplastic waste on a district-widebasis. Such solutions need littlespace and investment.

Recently, Irish teenagerFionn Ferreira won the GoogleScience award ($50,000) andfunding for a promising inven-tion to remove micro-plasticsfrom water. Ferreira was kayak-ing when he saw a rock coveredin oil from a recent spill, whichhad attracted tiny pieces of plas-tic. Using ferro-fluid (a magnet-ic, oil-based liquid invented byNASA in 1963), Ferreira made amore environment-friendly ver-sion with recycled vegetable oiland magnetite powder andremoved 88 per cent of themicro-plastics in his test samples.This could eventually be used atwastewater treatment plants to fil-ter micro-plastics before thewater is released into rivers oroceans. With technology nowoffering multiple solutions, weneed every one of them.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressed arepersonal)Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed

Caliph of the Islamic Caliphate that hefounded, a man, who despite making

headlines in The Washington Post normalisinghim, was responsible for the deaths of tens ofthousands and the misery of tens of millions,was allegedly killed in a raid conducted by theUS military in northwest Syria. The Islamic State(IS) at one time controlled huge swathes of Iraqand Syria, dominated the oil trade and enslavedand raped millions of women as well as pre-cipitated a refugee crisis in Europe. But like so

many other terrorist leaders such as Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed,Baghdadi was in essence a coward. His “thought” leadership never translatedinto actual on-ground leadership although his perversion of Islamic teachings impact-ed the lives of millions. He died, as US President Donald Trump, remarked, “whim-pering, like a dog”, which to be honest was unfair to our canine friends. His bru-tality spared none. Scared of being killed by American special forces or worsestill, captured alive, he blew himself up with a suicide vest, killing at least threeterrified children whom he was using as human shields.

If it was not Baghdadi and IS, it would have been someone or something elsethat would have risen from the ashes of post-occupation Iraq. The war on SaddamHussein was fought on very tenuous legal grounds by the US and Great Britainand the coalition was desperate to “clean up” Iraq from the influence of Saddam’sBa’ath Party and as a result gutted it. While the Americans in particular had playedan immense role in restructuring post World War-II Germany and Japan, eventhe most militaristic of American Generals, Douglas MacArthur, realised the impor-tance of state continuity in Japan, which is why the Japanese monarchy survivedthe war. The war in Iraq was fought without any post-liberation plan or under-standing of the deep sectarian issues in the region. It had not factored in howIran and Turkey would fiddle around. A US-imposed government was bound tofail and it did. It was unable to control much of Iraq outside Baghdad and in acountry awash with guns and a history of violence, with continuous wars from1980 onwards as well as thousands of unemployed soldiers and officers, thearrival of IS on the scene became a matter of when and not if. Nobody expectedthe sheer brutality that was to follow, particularly against the Yazidis, but the killingof Baghdadi was just the US trying to clear up some of the mess it had createdas Donald Trump attempts to leave the area. However, while Baghdadi’s deathmight have killed the IS until leaders in the region and major global powers donothing to stabilise the situation, another Baghdadi might rise. And given the waythat wannabe-dictator, Recip Tayyep Erdogan of Turkey, is acting right now, thenext Baghdadi is only months away.

In the end, the BJP-Shiv Sena combination hasthe numbers, the propriety bestowed by a ver-dict and long-term political survival at stake

to let the cookie crumble. All that has been goingon in between is about posturing and extract-ing respective pounds of flesh from a fortunebuilt on Hindutva’s most rewarding phase sofar. Truth is both cannot do without each otherin Maharashtra. In a State that is fiercely loyalto Maratha pride and manoos, one cannot writeoff either the Shiv Sena, which has an ideolog-ical hold on the masses, or Sharad Pawar, who

has been a true Maratha warrior in this round of State elections. And if the Senais seen as a pesky ally of the BJP, it’s only because it has lost its “big brother”status in the alliance. But at least for its constituency, it has to keep fighting thistakeover of numbers with its championship of rights and issues. The BJP accom-modated the Sena only because of this groundswell, though some of its leadershad been insisting that the party go it alone. From the Sena’s point of view, thisis the best time to go on the offensive and fulfill its founder Bal Thackeray’s dreamof having a Sainik as Chief Minister. But the Thackerays never fought an election,choosing to be mightier as puppeteers than players. That outlier status workedgiven the heaving persona of Balasaheb Thackeray but his descendants fell farshort of it without electoral credibility. Which is why they fielded his grandson Adityaafter they held the BJP to its word that it wouldn’t do a repeat of 2014 when thetwo parties contested the Lok Sabha polls together but fell apart during the Assemblypolls months later. The BJP kept its promise and even agreed to give 124 seatsto the Sena though it had won only 63 seats in 2014. Now, the Sena claims, therewas also a pre-poll agreement on a rotational chief ministership. The Sena haswon lesser seats, 56, this time but has scented blood with the BJP tally downfrom 122 to 105. It desperately wants to claim the notional status of being “bigbrother” and dominate the alliance government and hence the State. Even if bothparties get Independents in their shopping carts, the numbers wouldn’t be enough.

Of course the BJP could opt for a minority government, as it had done withChief Minister-elect Devendra Fadnavis before, but would find itself horribly exposedfrom within and without — the Sena chomping away at its authority if not includ-ed, the Opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine now aforce with 98 seats. It is because of this predicament of the BJP that the Sena,now with an elected family member, is settling for nothing less than a written com-mitment for 50:50 chief ministership. And though the wily Pawar has decided tosit in the Opposition rather than toy with the arithmetic of the Congress-NCP-Senaunderstanding, he has lent moral heft to Aditya Thackeray’s right to chief minis-tership. This underlines an endorsement of Maratha leadership. At this point, theBJP cannot afford a hitback of the Jat kind in Haryana. And whether Aditya becomesa deputy CM or a half-CM, the fact is Sena has never been better placed to recov-er lost ground. But Uddhav’s waiting game, which has done nothing so far, maynot hold with Sainiks now that they have come so close to power. This internecinepush and pull dynamic is something that the BJP has to live with. This could turnproblematic in day-to-day governance with the Sena posing hurdles to each andevery policy decision or amending it to suit its concerns. Already Sena cadreshave felled the BJP by campaigning against it in places where they didn’t get tick-ets. Of course, the BJP could circumvent the obstructionist ways by reaching outto Pawar, who had supported it in 2014. But this is a changed man who is notforlorn anymore. And as he thundered in Marathi through blinding rain in Satara,it was enough to defeat the BJP who had thought poaching his man UdhayanrajeBhosle was as good as getting the old warhorse. Symbolically and numerically,he has the winning card now, one that he will use for his own benefit. Unless theED cases against his kin bother him too much. Besides, with 20 of its rebel can-didates winning in the State, the BJP is in quite a pickle. It still has the edge thoughbut the course ahead is on a rocky mountain high.

Maharashtra blues

Setback for BJP

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Wake-up calls” (October 25).The Assembly poll results inMaharashtra and Haryana and anumber of by-elections in variousStates recently seek to underlinethe importance of bread-and-butter issues over Hindutvanationalism by delivering punish-ing blows to the BJP, whichdeclared itself the victor.

The results, however, showedthat the electorate sought tojudge the BJP State Governmentsover some of the most pressingissues and did not get swayed toomuch by the aggressive national-ist pitch. In rally after rally inMaharashtra and Haryana, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadasked the voters to punish theCongress and the NationalistCongress Party (NCP) for oppos-ing his government’s decision toabrogate Article 370 in Jammu &Kashmir. In one rally, he even saidthat the Opposition should“drown” in shame for sayingArticle 370 had nothing to dowith the State polls.

BJP chief and Union MinisterAmit Shah’s hubris-laden slogan of“abki baar, pachhattar paar (this

time, we’ll cross 75)” for the 90-member Haryana Assembly musthave been shattered with the BJPending below the halfway markwith a tally of 40 seats. If the partydoes hold on to power, it can onlybe on the back of unscrupulousgames, not driven by the famedelection-winning machine pow-ered by Modi and Shah.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

No complacency

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Wake-up calls” (October 25).Though the diminishing returnshave set in for the BJP and theShiv Sena, even though thealliance has retained power inMaharashtra, the man who halt-ed the Modi-Shah juggernaut isNationalist Congress Party

(NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. Butright now, he is the least of theruling dispensation’s worries.The more pressing concern isthe prospect of the Shiv Sena,bolstered by a hugely improvedperformance, playing spoilsportunless the BJP agrees to a 50:50division of Cabinet berths and aturn at the Chief Minister’s post.

In Haryana, the BJP hassomehow managed to form a

Government by agreeing to apower-sharing agreement withDushyant Chautala’s JannayakJanata Party. Nothing could bemore agonising for a party thatwon the Lok Sabha elections fivemonths ago with an overwhelm-ing majority here.

Surely the voters of Haryanaand Maharashtra have prickedthe party’s bubble of invincibil-ity. Accepting the mandate withhumility and recalibrating itspolicies should be the way for-ward. There is no room forcomplacency any more.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

Election takeaways

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Wake-up calls” (October 25).The BJP must learn lessons fromthe Assembly elections inMaharashtra and Haryana.Narendra Modi’s personal imageand magic did not work so well inStates where local issues and qual-ity of leadership matter more.

ShashankVia email

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

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06

Together, we can

SANDHYA JAIN

To win the war on single-use plastic, we need not just bans but scientists and entrepreneurs who can make technology a viable tool

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

State voters have made their choice

This refers to the editorial, “Wake-up calls” (October25). The recent results of the Maharashtra and HaryanaState elections have once again proved that Parliament

and Assembly elections are completely different ball-gamesand nationalism matters little in State elections. The BJPwas gung-ho about winning 220-plus seats in Maharashtraand 75-plus seats in Haryana but it only managed to crossthe line in Maharashtra and will have to bank onIndependents. Five months ago, the BJP won all 10 seatsin Haryana and 23 in Maharashtra during the general elec-tions; it has slipped significantly in these State polls.

With the Shiv Sena's excellent performance and theBJP's dependence on it, the former will bargain hard toget its pound of flesh. In Haryana, too, Independents —most of whom are rebel BJP leaders — have played ittough. There are multiple reasons for the below-par per-formance of the BJP. Issues at the grassroots level suchas farmers' woes and unemployment could not be ignored.The Jats consolidated against the BJP in Haryana while

the cooperative sugar belt rallied behind the NationalistCongress Party’s (NCP's) Sharad Pawar. The BJP musttake this as a warning sign that good governance and soundeconomic performance cannot be substituted. The partycan still correct its course and be more humble.

Bal GovindNoida

INDIA NEEDSSOLUTIONS NOW,BEFORE PLASTIC

POLLUTIONUNLEASHES

MULTIPLE HEALTHEPIDEMICS LIKE

THOSE TRIGGEREDBY THE GREENREVOLUTION,

WHICH EXPERTSARE ONLY NOW

BEGINNINGTO ADMIT

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Finally dead

The BJP may iron out differences with the Sena but thequestion is will it be ready for a perennial rocky ride?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the notorious IS leader, ran out of life.But he was a symptom and not a cause

55 lakh contractual workerswill benefit from increase inminimum wages approvedby the SC recently. It was due to our struggle.

Delhi Chief Minister—Arvind Kejriwal

The House must be briefedon this raid, which theRussians but not topCongressional leadershipwere notified of in advance.

US House Speaker —Nancy Pelosi

Alex played a great tournament as well. But what a moment for me towin my 10th (title) here inmy hometown of Basel.

Swiss tennis ace—Roger Federer

S O U N D B I T EIf I had to filter an old habit ofmine, I stress about thingsthat have not even happened.I am hoping that I can stopbeing that person.

Actor, TV show host—Neha Dhupia

Get the right policy lever

THE JJP HAS DISRESPECTED THE MANDATE OF THEPEOPLE. VOTE KISIKO, SUPPORT KISIKO (VOTE WASFOR SOMEONE ELSE, SUPPORT TO SOMEONE ELSE).

—FORMER HARYANA CHIEF MINISTER BHUPINDER SINGH HOODA

FOR THOSE WHO ARE SAYING VOTE KISIKO,SUPPORT KISIKO, DID WE ASK FOR VOTES FOR THEM?—HARYANA DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTERDUSHYANT CHAUTALA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The fact that our economic growth hasslowed down is not a surprise to anyone.This trend started from September last

year and there are reasons to believe that we maybe witnessing signs of an early recovery. A like-ly casualty of the fiscal downturn is that eventhe naysayers have started to believe in India’sofficial statistics, just like the recently-conclud-ed Assembly elections have punctured the nar-rative regarding faulty Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs).

Some may continue to question the officialstatistics and the fact remains that no statisti-cal data is completely free from errors. However,the problem is not with the methodology andtherefore, if there are issues, they must be withthe Ministry of Company Affairs’ websiteMCA-21’s database. But, with the first quarter(Q1) of the financial year (FY) 2019-20 growthat five per cent, one can argue that the officialstatistics indeed are reflective of what’s going onin the economy. That is, we’ve slowed down fromeight per cent to five per cent in a span of fourquarters.

How did this happen? The answer is ourbanking sector which continues to reel undersubstantial pressure. The recent deceleration ofthe economy coincides with the IL&FS crisiswhich spread to other Non-Banking FinancialCompanies (NBFCs).

It is important to recognise that the finan-cial system is fragile and interlinked, therebyresulting in spreading and enhancement of risks.This makes it more important to handle suchsituations with utmost care and dissolve themas quickly as possible. The fact that we saw aNBFC crisis at a time when we were alreadydealing with the Non-Performing Asset (NPA)crisis only choked our financial sector, therebyresulting in a full three per cent decline in growthover four quarters.

Luckily, we’ve witnessed impressive filingsby banks for the second quarter profits whichsuggest that problems in the banking space seemto be largely over. It is, therefore, important thatwe address any fresh vulnerabilities that mayemerge. There are two important points worthnoting here. First, credit offtake is sluggish asmost bankers are indeed wary of lending.Therefore, while banks may have adequate liq-uidity, it is not translating to credit at the retaillevel.

Second and more importantly, the processof NPA recoveries has invariably stigmatisedbank-financed debt and, therefore, small andmedium businesses seem to be a bit wary of bor-rowing from banks.

While there are many ways to address thefirst part of the problem, it is difficult to addressthe second aspect with any policy intervention.These two factors combined ensure that cred-it-offtake is sluggish, which inadvertently has anadverse impact on our economic growth.

Even for existing loans, we see businessesbecoming eager to repay the debt while beingcautious about financing fresh investmentsthrough debt. This trend needs to be reversedand there’s an urgent need to de-stigmatise busi-ness failures. The first step towards achieving thiswould be separate cases of bank frauds with gen-

uine business failures. This is important andimperative at this juncture as we aspire to cre-ate an innovation-led, entrepreneurship-driven$5 trillion economy.

Further, it is important to recognise theproblems in our policies, especially the mone-tary one. We had a prolonged period ofextremely high real interest rates which have onlyamplified the problems in the banking space.This recognition is important as it may ensurewe avoid such a mistake in the near or even dis-tant future. There may still be some room forfurther interest rate cuts and we will get to knowmore on this only after the October inflation fig-ures become known.

The Government will indeed have a fiscalstrain due to the ongoing slowdown as tax rev-enues will fall short of targets. Many estimatessuggest that we’re looking at a `2 trillion short-fall in the current fiscal. While I am not a fis-cal hawk and there are reasons to be less wor-ried about the deficit, the Government, too, hasacknowledged that fiscal deficit is not a causeof concern at the moment.

Given the track record of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) to stick to its ownstated fiscal deficit targets, one can safelyassume only a minor deviation from the same,despite the revenue shortfall. The gap will verylikely be filled up with the aid of non-tax rev-enues through either disinvestment or privati-sation.

At the same time, it is important to recog-nise the second and third-order effects of deci-sions made by different departments on theIndian economy. For instance, let’s look at thetelecom sector that has been struggling since the2G scam. The sector grew over the last coupleof years primarily due to increased debt.However, there was some confusion withrespect to what constituted as revenue under thespectrum revenue-sharing agreement with theGovernment. The amount due, combined withpenalties and interest on it, is to the tune of`92,000 crore, which the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT) is seeking from tele-com companies. This, at a time when the sec-tor has witnessed two successive exogenousshocks, is only likely to compound their prob-lems. Given the state of the telecom sector, the

Government should consider foregoing the exist-ing demand and move to the new agreed rev-enue formula as prescribed by the SupremeCourt (SC). Doing so will give the sector a freshimpetus and undo the damage caused by the 2Gfiasco.

It is interesting to note that just at the timewhen the Government is keen on privatisation,it has announced a revival package for BharatSanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and MahanagarTelephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). If historyhas shown us anything, it is that the Governmentcan’t run anything. Therefore, the package forBSNL and MTNL is likely to be money whichcould have been productively used elsewhere.The only positive about the package is the vol-untary retirement scheme and likely mergerwhich may pave the way for future consolida-tion, down-scaling and eventual partial privati-sation of its non-strategic operations.

While many would argue for reforms in fac-tor markets such as land or labour, it is equal-ly important to avoid overzealous departmentsfrom taking decisions that will dampen thegrowth of sectors.

At the same time, recognising the limitationsof the Government and its ownership will enablea more ambitious privatisation programmewhich will unshackle our economy leading toa productivity surge-led growth.

There are a lot of low-hanging fruits in Indiawhen it comes to policy levers and reforms.Therefore, just focusing on them is going to putus back on a seven per cent or plus growth path.The mantra for the same is simple, reform andavoid taking decisions that would dampengrowth in any sector.

The first United Progressive AllianceGovernment didn’t undertake any reforms butjust avoided decisions that dampened growth,thereby reaping rich dividends from the reformsundertaken by the Atal Bihari VajpayeeGovernment. In contrast, both the terms of theNarendra Modi Government have witnessed acontinuous agenda of reforms. Imagine theimpact on India’s economic growth if this wascombined with a check on overzealous depart-ments.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policyresearcher)

Imagine the impact on economic growth if we just reform, avoid taking decisions thatdampen growth in any sector and combine this with a check on overzealous departments

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

Measurement ofhuman evolution

VINAYSHIL GAUTAM

It’s about time some stream of science addressedbasic questions about what yardsticks are best

for rating mankind’s advancements

KARAN BHASIN

If there is anything left on which an app has yet to be developed,it is on human relationships within an organisation. Be it a rela-tionship involving one-to-one contact, one-to-many or many-

to-many, there is often a feeling of tentativeness which leaves asense of discomfiture with many stakeholders to the situation.

No psychologist, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst or anybodyof that breed has been able to engineer a response to this, whichis reasonably reliable or durable. In short, the human mind, thepsyche, the cognitive system are so complex and their interpretersare so much at sea on these issues that the best of them is notable to fashion anything with some quality of predictive validity,on what intervention would trigger what response. It is, as if it were,the boundary lines of technological intervention being drawn onthis issue.

The entire theory of predictive validity converts itself into a hugearc of grey in behavioural matters. Under these circumstances,sentiments of loyalty, friendship, reliability, fidelity or for that mat-ter even enmity and dislike are difficult to sustain, maintain andbe used as a platform of assurance. If everything is unpredictable,if everyone is changing — almost without a design, without caprice— from one moment to another, then how does one create a plat-form of sustainability and predictability?

This has almost universal ramifications. The issue of interper-sonal relationships can be ignored only up to a point so far as run-ning of an organisation is concerned. It also has ramifications onthe working of groups. The gravity of this poser is obvious, if oneonly reminds oneself that organisations and groups are central tohuman existence.

It is widely felt that work in organisations very often gets doneon the network of personal rapport and relationships. There is noth-ing “abnormal” about it. Then there is the question and act of “inter-pretation” within the high-flying domain of the decision-maker. Thebandwidth of interpretation is so wide that a large number of mat-ters can be settled from one end of the spectrum to another withdecisions, which on the face of it, appear almost mutually incon-gruous. Obviously this opens the way for a lot of quips and at timesmisplaced sniping. Yet, from a behavioural point of view, this istotally understandable and capable of near-rational justification.

The above narrative raises certain fundamental dilemmas withreference to the scientific nature of human relationships or for thatmatter even scientific manner of running an organisation.However, if one conclusion is obvious, it is with reference to theintrinsic “value of data.” This is often times as good as the valueof its interpretation and indeed the ability to see correlations of onecomponent of data with another. Careers may be made in analyt-ics. Demanding and providing statistical proof may be the favouritehaunt of some people. But the day where an entire life could beprogrammed and existence of things living and matters dead couldbe fully programmed, alas, is not even on the horizon.

This simple reality plays havoc with coping strategies of life.It would also be worth reminding oneself that it puts organisations,as an entity, in a very vulnerable state. The text began with refer-ence to interpersonal dynamics. Perhaps it is the ultimate triggerof all human action. It sought to establish how efforts to run anorganisation are nettled with contradictions.

These dilemmas are nowhere being soluble or indeed, even,comprehensible in their entirety.

A simple extension of this line of thought would clarify the pointfurther. It has to do with the nature of human achievement(s).Consider the act of mankind reaching the Moon and a man-madevehicle landing there. Clearly it’s a watershed in human history. Ithas been celebrated widely and, rightly so. Yet it was several yearsafter the landing on the Moon that mankind realised that it wouldbe a great deal simpler to carry a piece of luggage if one put wheelson it. Clearly it is the basic and everyday experiences of life, whichneed equal, if not more sustained attention, for evolution of mankindto be more sustained. It need not be a matter of debate to figureout which of the two events, referred to in preceding lines, is moreconducive to human comfort.

No public answer can be given to these question. It’s abouttime some stream of science — biological, life, physical, socialscience or whatever — made it its business to address some verysimple basic questions. What yardsticks are best for measuringhuman evolution? What is the price payable for rapid growth? Arethere limits to technological intervention? Perhaps a part answerlies in looking at the life of tribals, who have endured endless neglect,inanity, not to forget prosecution and yet managed to survive with-out losing their moorings.

(The writer is a well-known management consultant)

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas been making the rounds offriendly countries over the

last few months, visiting his coun-terparts in France and the US andinitiating cyber security talks inAustralia. During a recent visit to theUS, Modi highlighted a renewedawareness of the expectations of thewider world towards India. Thisconstitutes both a sense of respon-sibility and a challenge that Indiansare eager to meet.

Although Modi’s State visitsand meetings addressed a numberof topics of interest for the countryand the world at large, one majorsubject concerned the ongoing

threat of cyber crime and preven-tion. Preparing for a new generationof computing that entails everythingfrom the Internet of Things (IoT) to5G, is essential for any rising super-power that hopes to compete — per-haps even lead — as we movetoward the middle of the 21st cen-tury. So where does India stand nowin these regards and where does ithope to go in the future?

The current state of cybersecurity in India: Statistics reveala lot about where technology isheading and how far it still has togo. Currently, there are more than370 million active computer users inIndia, making up about 30 per centof the total population and nearlyequalling the total population of theUS. That makes it the second-largest global Internet market.

Although India ranks first incyber attacks, it is 15th in terms ofcyber security. This is mainly due toa combination of increased relianceon mobile technology and cheap,unprotected devices, which lands itwithin the top 10 nations worst inmobile security.

In a move towards modernisa-tion and a new spirit of global coop-eration, members of the e-Governance, InformationTechnology, and Cyber Diplomacydepartment of the Indian Ministryof External Affairs met with theircounterparts in Australia for aseries of talks, the latest of whichtook part in New Delhi a few weeksago. These talks revolved arounddecreasing the frequency and sever-ity of cyber crimes that threaten todestabilise economic security aswell as disrupt international peaceand trade.

So far, they’ve agreed to estab-lish a Joint Working Group onCyber Security Cooperation; imple-ment the United Nations Group ofGovernmental Experts (UN GGE)reports of 2013 and 2015; continuereciprocal reporting on policiesregarding engagement with the pri-vate sector, telecommunicationsand important legislative develop-ments. The meeting between Modiand the French President EmmanuelMacron resulted in similar points ofagreement.

For instance, they reached aconsensus on such measures assharing information regarding legaland regulatory frameworks; sharingcyber security best practices and rec-ommendations; working together toprotect Economic InformationInfrastructure, especially withregards to national security in bothcountries; unifying regulationsregarding digital product develop-ment, including design, testing,and certification; implementing theframework of the General DataProtection Regulation (GDPR) inorder to facilitate more secure datasharing and protection betweenthe two countries and last but notthe least, preventing the spreadand controlling the impact of fakenews and personal data profiling.

India is not part of the “FiveEyes Alliance” that makes up thebulk of cyber superpowers butdeeper cooperation means that itcould be held to their standards andsubject to their laws. Regulationsabout data integrity and privacyunderline the importance of usinga virtual private network (VPN)

before 5G becomes widespread.The fundamental encryption under-lying both VPN and Secure SocketsLayer (SSL) technology will helpensure compliance with regulationslike the GDPR while protectingusers and site owners from intrusiveGovernment oversight and poten-tial abuses.

The future of India and cybersecurity: One key player who’sworking hard to put a new “DigitalIndia” on the map is KhushhalKaushik. An ethical hacker, it’spartly his passion to turn the per-ception of India as a cyber securityliability around, that is moving thecyber security technology sector inthe country forward.

The key, he believes, is height-ening India’s presence and visibili-ty in matters of cyber security.

One of the first things Kaushikdid in an effort to destroy the mythof India’s substandard cyber securi-ty is to insist on his name andnationality being included when hispaper was selected for publicationin UNESCO’s annual magazine. Hewas the first ethical hacker to

receive such an honour. He has alsobeen invited to lecture on cybersecurity at such institutions as theNorthwestern University inChicago.

For his part, Kaushik believesthat there should be a stronger part-nership between the Governmentand the private industry in India.Giving preference to local develop-ers will enhance India’s standing andremove responsibility for her secu-rity out of foreign hands. Allowingprivate DevSecOps (a natural andnecessary response to the bottleneckeffect of older security models onthe modern continuous deliverypipeline) to work with local andregional law enforcement authori-ties will allow these agencies to havethe tools and knowledge necessaryto tackle cyber crime on a local level.

Direct tech-related subjects arenot the only way to give India a seatat the table and bring us into theconversation as a technology super-power. Changes in the agriculturesector are a good example of howtechnology can increase India’sstanding in the world and improve

the living standards of people. Modernisation through tech-

nology will provide some of the careand vision needed to protect anindustry that 70 per cent of the pop-ulation still depends upon for theirlivelihood. This will also play a partin the Prime Minister’s plan to trans-form India into a $5 trillion globaleconomy.

As one of the world’s mostpopulated countries and with 243million active Internet users, Indiahas a big stake in the evolution ofcyber security and crime prevention.

Every burgeoning superpower isgoing to endure some growingpains and missteps along the way.Pushing forward with determina-tion and a vision for the future willhelp ensure that India and her peo-ple will become a guiding force forcyber freedom and security in theinformation age.

(The writer is a retired Defenceanalyst for the US Navy and specialis-es in diplomacy and national secu-rity, with emphasis on technologytrends in cyber warfare, cyber defenceand cryptography.)

A place at the cyber security superpower tablePushing forward with determination and a vision for the future will help ensure that India and its people will become a guiding

force for cyber freedom and security in the information age

SAMUEL BOCETTA

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

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DEBT WHILE BEINGCAUTIOUS ABOUTFINANCING FRESH

INVESTMENTSTHROUGH DEBT.

THIS TREND NEEDSTO BE REVERSEDAND THERE’S ANURGENT NEED TODE-STIGMATISE

BUSINESSFAILURES. THE

FIRST STEPTOWARDS

ACHIEVING THISWOULD BE

SEPARATE CASESOF BANK FRAUDS

WITH GENUINEBUSINESSDEBACLES

VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

Centre's green nodfor Rs 819 cr Kochiwater metro projectNEW DELHI: The Centre hasgiven the environmentclearance for Rs 819 crorewater metro project that aimsto provide better connectivityof islands around Kochi withthe mainland, according toofficial document. The UnionEnvironment Ministry hasgiven the final environmentclearance to the proposedproject after taking intoaccount the views of its greenpanel. Kochi Metro Rail Ltd(KMRL), a joint venture firm ofthe Centre and Keralagovernment, is theimplementing agency of theproposed project. As per theproposal, the project will cover15 identified routes in Kochiconnecting 38 terminalsacross 10 island communitiesacross 78.2 km channel lengthand two boatyards. KMRL hasproposed to take updevelopment of 7 additionalterminals (Info Park,Vaduthala, Njarackal,Mulavukad View Point andEmbarkation jetty) as a socialinitiative, the document added.

RIL's digital biz rejigmay bring its appson investor radarNEW DELHI: RelianceIndustries' move to create anew subsidiary combining alldigital initiatives will make thedigital platform increasinglyattractive to potentialinvestors, according toanalysts. RIL's restructuringof telecom/ digital businessraises focus on assetmonetisation and debtreduction, Morgan Stanleysaid. "Consolidated debtremains unchanged, butplatform apps move ontoinvestor radar, clarity oncorporate structure improvesand interest capitalizationconcerns lessen," MorganStanley said in a report onMonday. IIFL InstitutionalEquities in a recent report saidthe move, which involvestransferring telecom ventureReliance Jio's debt to parentbalancesheet, should makedigital platform "increasinglyattractive to potential strategicinvestor". Reliance IndustriesLtd (RIL) last weekannounced it will set up a newsubsidiary to bring all itsdigital initiatives and appsunder a single entity, andinfuse Rs 1.08 lakh croreequity into this new unit.

70 SENIOR BANKERS INFRAY FOR LVB TOP POSTPNS n MUMBAI

Close to 70 senior bank exec-utives are in the fray to occu-py the corner room office of thechief executive and managingdirector of the Tamil Nadu-based lender Laxmi Vilas Bank.

The Chennai-headquarteredmid-sized private sector bankhas been headless since mid-September after the then chiefexecutive ParathasarathyMukherjee left before the com-pletion of his three-year term.

The bank, which has beenplaced under the prompt cor-rective action by the monetaryauthority since August for lowcapital buffer and higher NPAscoupled and mounting losses,is scheduled to complete theprocess by November 10.

“We have received as manyas 68 applications for the postof chief executive and manag-ing director, signalling higherinterest in the nearly 100-year-old private sector bank,” a banksource privy to the develop-ment told PTI.

Senior executives from lead-ing private sector lenders likeICICI Bank, Kotak MahindraBank, Axis Bank, foreign lenderStandard Chartered Bank andpublic sector bank CanaraBank have applied for the post,

the source added.The list also has a few turn-

around specialists who have thetrack-record of making loss-making banks profitable, thesource said. The recruitmentprocess, which is currentlyunderway, will get over byNovember 10 and the newmanagement will take chargeby the first week of December

if the Reserve Bank approvalcomes in.

The new chief executive'sfocus will be to turn around thebank, which has already initi-ated a slew of measures forfaster recovery, added thesource. The bank has alreadykicked off a fast-paced exerciseto improve asset quality byrecovering bad loans and to

shore up its capital buffer, bothhave been below the regulatorylevels. The ongoing plan isimplemented with the involve-ment of all including the branchheads, added the source.“Simultaneously, cost-controlmeasures are also in place toboost profitability,” the sourcesaid. The bank is also in talkswith potential investors to raisefunds, including some PE funds.

Following the failure of get-ting RBI nod for the mergerwith Indiabulls HousingFinance and being placed underthe PCA, there were lots ofrumours about the bank beingshuttered in social media, forc-ing it last week to file an FIRwith the cyber cell of theChennai police. The accountsagainst which the bank, whichhas been placed under opera-tional restrictions, also includeone named 'Priyanka Gandhi -Future of India'. One of the fakemessages spoke about the clo-sure of its branches and ATMs,the bank said in the complaint.

For the June quarter, LVBreported higher losses at Rs 237crore, up from Rs 142 crore ayear ago on higher provision-ing and lower growth in netinterest income as its grossNPAs touched 17.3 per centfrom 10.73 per cent.

The recruitment process, which iscurrently underway, will get over byNovember 10 and the newmanagement will take charge by thefirst week of December if the ReserveBank approval comes in

Assocham to holdevent for buddingbizmen in JammuPNS n JAMMU

With a view to promote entre-preneurship in Jammu andKashmir, industry bodyAssocham is organising anevent 'Startup Elevator Pitch'here on Wednesday.

The event will be held at theUniversity of Jammu onOctober 30 which will helpcreate new startups in theregion and enable them togrow quickly to become suc-cessful examples in theirrespective fields, the industrybody said in a statement here.

Assocham Launchpad -Startup Elevator Pitch Series,an initiative and platform forbudding entrepreneurs isbeing organised in 12 citiesacross India.

Under this initiative,Assocham is giving upcomingstartups in tier II and III citiesof India access to industryexperts who can give them theguidance they need on busi-ness, product, marketing andalso connect them with theright people that can helpwith funding process andproper guidance on how to

setup business case for fund-ing, the statement said.

“Startups in Jammu coulduse the Assocham platform tonetwork with high net worthindividuals and generatebusiness or funding oppor-tunities for themselves,"Assocham National Councilon Startups chairman AnilKhaitan said.

AssochamLaunchpad -Startup ElevatorPitch Series, aninitiative andplatform forbuddingentrepreneurs isbeing organisedin 12 citiesacross India

RBI imposes Rs 35 lakh fineon TamilnadMercantile BankPNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank hasimposed a penalty of Rs 35lakh on Tamilnad MercantileBank for violating norms onfrauds classification and noti-fication.

The central bank imposedthe fine via an order datedOctober 24, 2019.

The bank has beenpenalised for "non-compli-ance with certain provisionsof directions issued by RBI onfrauds classification andreporting by commercialbanks and select FIs direc-tions 2016," the RBI said in arelease on October 25.

"This action is based onthe deficiencies in regulato-ry compliance and is notintended to pronounce uponthe validity of any transac-tion or agreement enteredinto by the bank with its cus-tomers," the central banksaid.

The RBI had conducted astatutory inspection ofTamilnad Mercantile Bankon its financial position ason March 31, 2017, basedon which a show causenotice was issued to thebank as to why penaltyshould not be imposed fornon-compliance with thedirections.

After considering thebank's reply to the notice andoral submissions made inthe personal hearing, the RBIconcluded that the non-com-pliance warranted imposi-tion of monetary penalty, itsaid further.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Unemployment and sluggisheconomic growth are fuellingsocial tension and popularprotests in several Arab coun-tries, the InternationalMonetary Fund said Monday.

The unrest is in turn con-tributing to slower growth inthe Middle East and NorthAfrica (MENA) region, along-side global trade tensions, oilprice volatility and a disorder-ly Brexit process, the IMF saidin a report on the regional eco-nomic outlook.

Earlier this month it loweredthe 2019 forecast for the region-- taking in the Arab nationsand Iran -- to a meagre 0.1 percent from 1.1 per cent last year.

The IMF slashed its outlookfor the region's three largesteconomies -- Saudi Arabia,Iran and the United Arab

Emirates.The risks around the forecast

of earlier this month "areskewed to the downside andare highly dependent on glob-

al factors," the IMF said in itsreport on Monday.

"The level of growth thatcountries in the region arehaving is below what is need-

ed to address unemployment,"said Jihad Azour, the IMF'sdirector for the Middle Eastand Central Asia.

"We are in a region where

the rate of unemployment atthe youth level exceeds 25-30per cent and this requiresgrowth to be higher by 1-2 percent" in order to make a dentin joblessness, Azour told AFPin an interview. The IMF reportsaid that the high unemploy-ment was worsening socialtensions in Arab countries.

"Unemployment averages 11per cent throughout the regionversus seven per cent acrossother emerging market anddeveloping economies," it said.

"Women and young peopleare particularly likely to be outof work, with more than 18 percent of women... without jobsin 2018." Violent protests havebroken out in several Arabcountries since early 2010 andturned into bloody civil wars inSyria, Yemen and Libya.

A new wave of demonstra-tions erupted over the last yearin Algeria, Sudan, Iraq andLebanon, typically demand-ing economic reforms andaction against corruption.

Unemployment fuels unrest in Arab states: IMFThe unrest is in turn contributing toslower growth in the Middle East andNorth Africa (MENA) region, alongsideglobal trade tensions, oil pricevolatility and a disorderly Brexitprocess, the IMF said

63K bottles oferosiveesophagitis tabsto be recalled PTI n NEW DELHI

Jubilant CadistaPharmaceuticals Inc isrecalling 63,216 bottles ofPantoprazole Sodiumdelayed-release tablets in theAmerican market andPuerto Rico, as per the latestreport of the US health reg-ulator.

The tablets are used for theshort-term treatment of ero-sive esophagitis associatedwith gastroesophageal refluxdisease (GERD).

Jubilant CadistaPharmaceuticals Inc is recall-ing 63,216 bottles of thetablets in the strength of 40mg, manufactured by JubilantGenerics Ltd at its Roorkeeplant, the EnforcementReport of the US Food andDrug Adminstration(USFDA) said.

The reason for the recall is"CGMP Deviation: Presenceof dark brown discolorationon edges of tablets," it added.

The ongoing voluntaryrecall is a class II recall, thereport said.

NCLAT sets aside insolvencyproceeding against AmbiencePTI n NEW DELHI

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal has set asidean NCLT order to initiate insol-vency proceedings against realestate development companyAmbience Ltd over the plea ofVistra ITCL India (formerlyknown as IL&FS TrustCompany).

A three-member NCLATbench headed by ChairpersonJustice S J Mukhopadhaya hasremitted the matter back to theNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT), directing it todecide afresh as the order waspassed by a single memberonly.

Vistra ITCL India's plea toinitiate insolvency was heard bya NCLT bench comprising --Member (Judicial) andMember(Technical) -- and theorder was reserved on April 22,2019 for judgement.

However, Member(Technical) retired on July 9,2019 and the order to initiateinsolvency proceeding waspassed on August 27, 2019 byMember (Judicial) only. Thiswas challenged by AmbienceDirector Raj Singh Gehlotbefore the NCLAT, contendingthat final order cannot be passedby Member (Judicial) alone asit was being heard by a benchof two-members.

"We accordingly, set aside the

impugned order dated August27, 2019 without extending anyopinion on merit of the claimand counter claim of the parties.

"The matter is remitted backto the NCLT Bench III, NewDelhi should be heard by

Divisional Bench of MemberJudicial and Technical as per theprovisions of the Act and afternotice and hearing, theAdjudicating Authority passappropriate order...,” NCLATsaid.

Plea for insolvency proceedingsagainst Intex Tech dismissedNEW DELHI: The NCLAThas dismissed a plea to initi-ate insolvency proceedingsagainst smartphone andmobile accessories makerIntex Technologies India Ltdby one of its creditors.

A three-member NCLATbench headed by ChairpersonJustice S J Mukhopadhayaupheld the order of the NCLTDelhi, which had dismissed theplea of the operational creditorafter observing a pre-existenceof dispute over the claims.

Earlier, on September 1,

2019, the National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) Delhihad rejected the applicationfiled by Avalon Sports andMedia on the same ground,following which it was chal-lenged before the NCLAT bythe firm.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Asian stock markets followedWall Street higher Monday asinvestors looked ahead to acrowded week of corporateearnings, a possible US interestrate cut and other potentiallymarket-moving events.

Benchmarks in Shanghai,Tokyo and Hong Kong all roseas fears about US-Chinesetrade tension and Brexit reced-ed.

Markets shrugged off softearnings from US companiesincluding Boeing andCaterpillar. Some 160 morecompanies are due to announcetheir earnings this week, includ-ing Alphabet, Apple, Facebook,General Electric and ExxonMobil.

Investors are looking to theFederal Reserve for anotherUS interest rate cut this week.

Central banks in Japan andCanada also are due toannounce interest rate deci-sions.

The US Treasury is due toreport which governments aredeemed to manipulate theircurrencies to boost exports, adesignation that can triggerpenalties.

A watch list issued in Mayincluded China, Japan andGermany.

This will be "one of the mostsubstantial data and event riskweeks of the year," said JeffreyHalley of Oanda in a report.

Asian stocks rise asBrexit fears recede

Benchmarks inTokyo and HKrose as fearsabout US-Chinatrade and Brexitreceded

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) andthe civil aviation ministry arelooking at the possibility ofrelaxing foreign direct invest-ment norms to attract biddersfor national carrier Air India,an official said.

The government for longhas been trying to sell debt-ridden Air India but could notattract bidders. It has nowagain decided to call bids forsale next month.

In the aviation sector, 100per cent FDI is allowed underautomatic route forO(Maintenance, Repair,Overhaul), ground handling,and aircraft purchase.

"But in airline operation,

there is an issue of substantialownership and effective con-trol. So there, we are talking tothe civil aviation ministry tosee whether they are interest-ed in liberalising it," the offi-cial said.

"It is felt that if you allow100 per cent foreign directinvestment (FDI), probably itwill have a better effect on theAir India bidding prospects.The civil aviation ministry isalso aware of that. We are tak-ing it up with them also," theofficial added.

AI sale: Aviation minmay ease FDI norms

PTI n NEW DELHI

Insurance sector regulator Irdaihas imposed a fine of Rs 4 lakhon SBI Life Insurance CompanyLtd for violating norms onadvertisement and protection ofpolicyholders' interest.

The Insurance Regulatoryand Development Authority ofIndia (Irdai) said it had exam-ined samples of proposal formssigned on November 30, 2016;

December 23, 2016; February17, 2017; and March 23, 2017.

It was found that provisionsprior to the Insurance Laws(Amendment) Act, 2015, wereincorporated instead of newprovisions. Besides, the provi-sions of the Section 45 ofInsurance Act, 1938, whichdeals with advertisement anddisclosure norms were not prop-erly reflected, the regulator said.

Irdai said the dates on which

the samples were examinedalmost two years after the pro-mulgation of Insurance Laws

(Amendment) Act, 2015, whichindicated a casual approach ofthe life insurer in adhering tothe regulatory norms.

"A proposal form is a basisof the contract and the provi-sions of the referred sections ofInsurance Act, 1938, should beclearly and correctly mentioned.The lapses on the part of the lifeinsurer not only violate theprovisions of regulations butalso indicate lack of proper

internal controls in usage ofapplications for insurance,which may jeopardize the inter-ests of the prospects/insureds,"Irdai said in its order.

Hence, the authority as perthe powers vested in it underSection 102(b) of the InsuranceAct, 1938, a penalty of Rs 4 lakh(Rs 1 lakh for lapse noticed ineach of the four proposal forms)is imposed on the life insurer,"it said.

SBI Life fined Rs 4L for violating policyholder norms

CCI to look intocompetitionamong sportsfederationsPTI n NEW DELHI

Anti-trust watchdog CCI plansto hold interactions with stake-holders in sports sector toaddress competition concernsin connection with sports fed-erations without disturbingthe essential elements of their"self regulatory" frameworks.

Competition Commissionof India (CCI) ChairmanAshok Kumar Gupta said thatof late, the regulator has comeacross numerous matters relat-ing to the sports sector involv-ing competition concerns.

"A major issue is that somefederations, that also play a keyrole in selection of players fornational teams, have restric-tions that do not allow otherbodies to organise tourna-ments," he told PTI.

The regulator keeps a tabacross sectors against anti-competitive ways and in thepast have also clamped downon such practices related tovarious sports. In some cases,Gupta said the players are alsorestricted from playing in tour-naments organised by others.

"The Commission is propos-ing a sectoral workshop in thisarea which will provide anopportunity to various stake-holders to express and exchangeviews on relevant issues.

TuesdayOctober 29, 2019

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

ormal education isnot always neces-sary for success asmany people,including Micro-soft founder Bill

Gates, has proved it time andagain. Some people scale newheights with their own pas-sion. Kotii Reddy Saripalli,from the Krishna district inAndhra Pradesh, also provedthe theory right. From beinga data entry operator inGudivada and becoming theYoungest Java CertifiedProfessional (JCP) in India,while banking a job inMicrosoft without anydegree, to starting his owncompany, he has seen it all.He is now serving back tosociety through varioussocial causes.

Speaking about his jour-ney to The Pioneer Kotii

Reddy said that he hailedfrom a typical middle-

class family. Reddy wasfond of reading bookssince his childhood andhe was an avid readerof books about psy-chology. He said thatBill Gates’ book, TheRoad Ahead,inspired him toachieve somethingfor himself in life.

Reddy says, “Icompleted my Class

X in 1998 and laterlearned the PGDCA course.Once a tech giant, SatyamRamalinga Raju, was myinspiration to learn com-puters. So I came toHyderabad and worked as

a C Language faculty forsome time. After witness-ing my skills in comput-ers, a software companyoffered me a job.”

Reddy started learn-ing various computercourses through hisjob. He became the

Youngest Java CertifiedProfessional (JCP) in Indiaand word of his skills thatcaught the attention ofMicrosoft got him aninterview with the firm in2007.

He said that even thoughhe cleared 12 rounds, thevery next day, he was rejectedfor not having a degree incomputers. “After my success-ful interview I was asked topresent my educational cer-tificates to initiate the joiningprocess. I told them that Idon’t have any degree certifi-cate because I never did.Later they informed me thatthey don’t hire people with-out a degree. It did not makesense to me so I just askedthem one question. ‘How cana successful company found-ed by a college dropout is notwilling to hire talent withouta degree?’ After a few days, Igot a call from the higherofficials of the Microsoft andthey told me that they had noproblem with my qualifica-tion and hired me. I’m thefirst person from India to gethired in Microsoft without adegree,” he shares.

Later, Reddy completed hisgraduation and got a doctor-ate from the University ofWashington. After workingfor more than ten years inMicrosoft, Reddy quit his joband started his own companyKotii Group of Ventures tohelp the needy people withvarious projects such as pro-viding education for the poor,

financially helping the needyand more. He says that “Tohelp the government schoolstudents, I adopted twoschools, ZPHS in Nandivadaand MPHS in Jonapadu. Weinstalled all the required facil-ities for the students in thesetwo schools and encouragedstudents to pursue variousprofessions. I was very happythat these two schoolsachieved a 100 per cent passrate in Class X results with

700 students till date.”He also started various

technologically driven pro-jects in the fields of agricul-ture, construction, education,health and media. He spends33 per cent of his profits forthe poor.

One of his current projects,Bharath Health Care aims toempower 783 crore people ofthe world spread across 238countries. He plans toempower them in terms of

they taking charge of theirhealth. Another projects ofhis, e-Gudi, provides thetechnology to religious placesand helps devotees from anyplace to have darshan andservices of the God with ease.

He shares, “We are living ina society where we can getanything at our fingertips withjust a click. We need to peoplebecoming more aware aboutthe benefits of technology.”

His Kotii Foundation ishelping senior citizens, singlemothers and widows withfinancial empowerment tohelp them live on their own.He says, “Our SevaFoundation is identifyingschool and college dropoutsand helping them pursuetheir studies. Our other pro-

ject, Pinnacle BloomsNetwork, is a first-of-its-kindnetwork that aims to bringsmiles to kids with neurologi-cal and congenital condi-tions.”

He concluded that hewants to help as many as peo-ple as he can through his pro-jects that directly work forthe betterment of the public.

— VSR

ONE OF KOTII'SPROJECTS, BHARATHHEALTH CARE, AIMSTO EMPOWER 783 CRPEOPLE ACROSS 238COUNTRIES

Dr Surabhi Ramesh talks to V SATEESHREDDY about the importance of basiceducation in theatre and the way Surabhigroup has shaped the theatre scene in the city

n the 134-years-old legacy ofSurabhi Theatrefamily, DrSurabhi Rameshis the only person

to acquire a PhD. Speakingto The Pioneer, Dr SurabhiRamesh says, “The Surabhifamily contributed a lot forthe theatre. But it is sad thatnot many from the familyhave pursued PhD in the-atre research. But we did notget the time and space topursue higher studies as wewere always working hard tokeep the theatre scene alivein the Telugu states.”

Dr Ramesh is also theonly member from the the-atre fraternity to deliver aspeech on the ‘Women’s rolein Surabhi’ to delegates fromall over the world atShanghai, China as part ofthe International Federationof Theatre Research’s (IFTR)cultural exchange event.

Surabhi artists are verygood at technical aspectscompared to other theatregroups. He explains that, “Itis not easy to enthral audi-ence a 1,000 times with thesame performance. Wealways look for new tech-niques to captivate theirattention. Surabhi dramasurvives only by the collec-

tions of theatre but ourtechniques are high end.The way we create theeffects of rain and fire onstage to symbolise the entryof gods have been a fanfavourite for many.”

“In the beginning,Surabhi theatre comprisedmore than 40 societies, eachconsisting about 80 people.Now, we have only five soci-eties and 400 families aretrying to sustain the art. Allthese members live inSurabhi Colony at Serling-ampally,” Dr Ramesh said.

Dr Ramesh did his PG intheatre arts from the TeluguUniversity in 2004. Later, hedid research on the famousMayabazaar play that was

staged every week by theSurabhi Theatre inHyderabad. He shares,“Mayabazaar, the movie,has an unfailing legacy thatis more than 50-years-oldbut Surabhi staged it as aplay even before the moviereleased. The play was

outstanding and continuesto attract many people tilldate. I did my MPhil on thesame subject where I gave acomplete picture about theplay and the techniquesbehind it.”

For every play, more than20 technicians from theSurabhi family work hard in

background. He says, “Inmy PhD, I researched aboutthe technical aspects thatthe Surabhi family uses dur-ing plays. What goes intobuilding the sets, the effectson stage and the budgetbehind all that and moreformed my thesis. My workgives a complete pictureabout how the Surabhi fami-ly works. In my recentspeech about ‘Women’s rolein Surabhi’ at the IFTR cul-tural event, I explained thekey role of women inSurabhi plays.”

He opined that Surabhiinstitution needs to take

theatre art forward to theyounger generations. Hesays, “Education in theatreis important. Surabhi musthave a theatre institute forthe future genera-tions. I’m alsoplanning topublishbooksabout myresearch.”

IIn tthe bbeginning, SSurabhi ttheatre ccomprised mmorethan 440 ssocieties, eeach cconsisting aabout 880people.. NNow, wwe hhave oonly ffive ssocieties aand 4400families aare ttrying tto ssustain tthe aart. AAll tthesemembers llive iin SSurabhi CColony aatSerlingampally. IIt iis nnot eeasy tto eenthral aaudience aa1,000 ttimes wwith tthe ssame pperformance

DR SSURABHI RRAMESH, SCHOLAR ON THEATRE

EDUCATION IN THEATRE IS REWARDINGEDUCATION IN THEATRE IS REWARDINGEDUCATION IN THEATRE IS REWARDING

Kotii Reddy Saripallihas never forgotten hisstruggles from being adata entry operator to

becoming the ChiefApplication Architect in

Microsoft. He nowworks for the social andfinancial empowerment

of the needyF

Sharing success WITH SOCIETY

10

Vijayawada Tuesday October 29, 2019 what’s brewing?

he upcomingbiopic Gandhi KiPrerna Kasturbatraces KasturbaGandhi's influenceon Father of the

Nation Mahatma Gandhi.After a special screening inMumbai, Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari ofMaharashtra said it is veryimportant that the young gen-eration watch this film.

Directed by Manish Thakurand produced by ManojPandey, the film primarilyfeatures theatre actors in thecast. While Preeti Jha essaysthe role of Kasturba Gandhi,the film also features DeepakAntani, Dhruv Raj andShambhavi Sthapak.

The makers arranged a spe-cial screening for GovernorKoshyari. After watching thefilm, he said, “I am veryhappy to watch the film onKasturba Gandhi's life andeveryone should know abouther life. Even I am veryinspired by her life, especiallythe way she supportedGandhi ji in every area. Shesacrificed so many things andnever thought of getting intoa comfort zone.”

“She never let children take

the liberty of Gandhi ji's namefor materialistic things. I mustsay that she has played a veryimportant role in Gandhi ji'sbecoming Mahatma,” men-tioned Koshyari.

He added that the younggeneration should watch thefilm.

“They should watch thisfilm in order to understandthe significance of relation-ship and love. These days,wives are called the better halfin order to show off. Earliershe was the ardhagini out ofrespect. These days people arelosing respect for each other.That is something we canregain after watching thisfilm,” said Koshyari.

Although Gandhi ji hasbeen celebrated in the historyof Indian freedom movement,not many stories are heardabout his wife Kasturba, whowas born in Porbandar in1869.She actively participatedin the welfare of women inChamparan, Bihar, and theQuit India Movement, amongother protests during the free-dom struggle.

Considering the fact thatthere are very little storiesknown of Kasturba, directorManish Thakur said the film's

team had to go through a longand extensive researchprocess.

“Kasturba Gandhi is notthat popular a freedom fight-er. She gets a very small spacein our history books. So, itbecame difficult for us to getinformation about her. Thenwe started visiting Gandhiashrams and interacted with alot of old people to gatherinformation about her. Ourwriter Shakeel Khan did afantastic job in collectinginformation and interpretingit,” said the director.

“After hard work of sevento eight years, we were able toprepare the script,” he added.

Did he think of casting abig name from Bollywood, asit would have given the film awider reach? “We didn't castbig names due to a lot of rea-sons. Firstly, the budget was aproblem. Secondly, the loca-tions chosen by us would betough for big celebrities tosurvive. We are the peoplefrom the world of theatre, andwe have made a film with alot of hard work. We havehoping it does well,” said thedirector.

The release date of the filmis yet to be decided.

New film to traceKasturba’s influenceon Mahatma Gandhi

he ever-expanding worldof OTT platforms inIndia has introduced abreed of new-age stars,who believe in the powerof over-the-top content

but not in the concept of over-the-top stardom.

The stories being churned outfrom the world of OTTs are notonly changing the storybook of theentertainment world, but also give abigger playground to buddingactors to break ground, courtinstant fame and be a part of thiswhole changing idiom of stardomwhere actors, and not glamourgods, are kings.

“I really hope and pray that theidea of stardom doesn’t take overthe OTT platforms. I personallydon’t believe in it, and I am notsomeone who propagates it. Weshould be wary of bringing theBollywood concept to OTT,” saidactress Kirti Kulhari, who has founda new standing as actor mainlythanks to her digital shows withFour More Shots Please! and Bard ofBlood.

“With OTT coming in, I believeeverything is about actors, aboutplaying different characters andabout playing them well. I hopethere are actors getting betteropportunities, that you are cast notbecause you are a star but becauseyou are apt for the role. I hope OTTbrings this trend rather than againmaking stars out of people who areartistes,” added the actress.

New generation actors from vari-ous backgrounds are finding promi-nence thanks to OTT shows. Thelikes of Pankaj Tripathi, SumeetVyas, Maanvi Gagroo, ShriyaPilgaonkar, Shweta Tripathi, KubbraSait, Amol Parashar, Angad Bedi,Priyanshu Painyuli, Bani J, SayaniGupta and Nidhi Singh are amongthe many names who can hugelyattribute the advent of OTT forbecoming household names.

Many of these actors were strug-gling to make a mark in Bollywoodfor a while. With good shows onOTT, their demand in the bigscreen world has also increased.

Then there are more experiencedactors as Nawazuddin Siddiqui,Manoj Bajpayee, Saif Ali Khan,Emraan Hashmi, Radhika Apte, AliFazal, Kalki Koechlin, HumaQureshi, Richa Chadha, Adil

Hussain, Shefali Shah and RasikaDugal who have taken their game tothe next level thanks to the digitalplatform.

According to Sumeet, who rose tofame with web series PermanentRoommates, the idea of stardom haschanged.

“The audience finds people work-ing on the web more approachableand human. For instance, peopledon't hesitate to come to me to havea conversation, or ask for a photo-graph. It didn't happen with themovie stars. The idea of stardom isnot worship now, but likability, andrelatability” he said.

To this, Maanvi, star of AmazonPrime's Four More Shots Please!,asserted that one doesn’t need tohave connections to get on the lad-der of stardom in the virtual world.

“There is a different kind of star-dom which has come in. Internet isa democratic medium. You don'thave to be star kids or industrialist'sor sportsperson's child to be famous

on social media. Youcan just start creat-ing content onYouTube or TikTok.There is new kind ofstardom that hascome in. Digital stars are in themiddle of that stardom,” Gagrooexplained.

Priyanshu Painyuli, who gaveBollywood a not-so-impactful shotwith Bhavesh Joshi Superhero awhile back, right now has focustrained on him after the release ofhis Netflix film, Upstarts. He alsohas the Chris Hemsworth-starrerDhaka added to his resume. Thefilm is distributed by Netflix.

“Stardom on big screens in the-atres is completely different. It isdifficult to achieve stardom on thatlevel. But a huge audience followsand loves actors on the web as well,which creates web stars. I hope star-dom doesn't hold back actors onweb to experiment with stories androles. Today, there are many stars

on web but only few of them shinebright,” he said.

The lack of time restraint, morefocus on character-building anddetailing, and a vast canvas splashedwith hues of different genres, aresome of the factors that drive fameon the OTT platform in India andon the foreign shores.

“Everyone is thinking out of thebox, trying to tell stories which aredifferent, and actors are a big partof the storytelling process,” Kirtisaid.

To this, Mirzapur star ShriyaPilgaonkar added: “While mostfilms tend to bank on star power tosell themselves, OTT series mainlyrely on strong scripts, and that iswhat makes an actor take risks.”

— IANS

WEB SPECIALISTS:

OTT redefines success for new-age actors

T

T

FUN TIME

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

ctress KajalAggarwal hasopened up abouther plans to settledown in a conversa-

tion with Lakshmi Manchuon Voot’s Feet Up with the

Stars Telugu.When Lakshmi asked

her about her weddingplans, Kajal said, “Yes,

I am planning for awedding soon.”

When askedabout the qual-ities that shewould want inher husband,

she said, “Quitea lot of things, but

most importantly he should bepossessive, caring and spiritu-

al.”The actress also opened

up about her beliefs, saying“I’m very spiritual, I

even have a small idolof Lord Shiva which

travels with mewherever I go.”

During a gameof ‘Kill, Hook Upor Marry’, Kajalreveals that shewould chooseto ‘kill’ RamCharan, ‘hookup’ with N.T.Rama Rao Jr.and ‘marry’Prabhas.

t was earlier learntthat actor NagaShourya hasbagged a film thatwill be producedby Shankar Prasad

Malpuri and Usha Malpuri,and he will be cast alongsideMehreen Peerzada. In a latestdevelopment, the makers ofthe film announced a power-ful title for the film -Ashwathama while releasingthe first look of the poster.

For the first time, KGFfight master, Anbu Arivu,will compose the actionscenes in the film that isbeing directed by debutantRamana Teja.

Speaking on the occasion,Usha said, “This will be afirst-of-its-kind film in NagaShourya’s career. Debutantdirector Ramana is going todo an amazing job by doingjustice to the story. Shootinghas been completed exceptfor one song. The post-pro-duction work is going on in

full swing.” The film will havemore action scenes and themakers are planning to rele-ase it in February, 2020.

Heaping praise on directorRamana Teja, Shankar Prasadsaid, “Ramana is a personwith a lot of clarity in histhoughts. He turned NagaShourya’s real story into areel story. He earlier worked

in the USA and has nowreturned to India.”

Speaking about the film,he said, “We have shot actionscenes continuously foralmost 30 days. Despite beingpre-occupied, master Anbumade time for this film as hereally liked the script.”

Ramana Teja said, “Thisfilm is an emotional action-

thriller. The story is based onNaga Shourya garu’s real lifeincidents. I’m very happy thatthey chose me to direct thefilm. Despite being injuredon the set, Shourya garu per-formed the stunts withoutany dupes. Shourya will playa character bounded by fami-ly emotions hence even acommon person can connect

to the film.” “I didn’t under-stand how they made a scriptout of an incident as it is asensitive topic to begin with.This film will be a visual treatfor everyone as it revolvesaround a real life story with-out being preachy. This filmshows how a common manreacts if he gets into a prob-lem,” says fight master Anbu.

Vijayawada Tuesday October 29, 2019

I

11

The basis ofalmost all goodfiction is a true

story. Themakers of new

Naga Shourya’sfilm follow this

mantra to createa masterpiece,

findsK RAMYA

SREE

ASHWATHAMA isbased on incidents fromNaga Shourya's life

tollywood

Flops might pushTarun BhasckerTO ACTING

t’s widely known that Tarun

Bhascker who created a

niche for himself after

directing Pelli Choopulu has

now turned into an actor for

Meeku Matrame Cheptha, scheduled

to release on November 1.

“Vijay (Deverakonda) called me

one fine day and said I'm the hero in

the film. I couldn’t believe it but Vijay

kept insisting. He couldn’t act in the

film due to other commitments and

he was reluctant to give the story to

someone else. So he was hell bent on

making me the actor,” said Tarun

while speaking to the media here in

the city adding, “When I first heard

the narration along with Vijay, I did-

n’t know that I would be playing a

role. I told Vijay immediately that

this story is relevant to most people

and it is well-written.”

The director-cum-actor, who

feels he can put on multiple caps,

be it an editor or a director, initial-

ly felt scared thinking he might

have to undergo a rigorous body

transformation for the film. Thanks

to Vijay he kept it real except for a few

kilos he had to loose for the character.

The film talks how about ‘how far

is too far’ when it comes to uploading

content on social media leaving no

space for private life. Although a seri-

ous concept, it is shown in an enter-

taining way where audience will thor-

oughly enjoy the film, said Tarun who

adapted the Tamil script into Telugu.

My wife who was initially hesitant

about the film later accepted it and

in fact designed all my costumes

for the character, he said speaking

about the support he received

from his family.

When asked about if

he wants to continue

as an actor, he

straight away

refused. “I can

earn more money

as a director and

also I have a lot of

stories with me to

work on. Being an

actor is really tire-

some. Maybe I will

get back to acting if

I get three flops in a

stretch,” he says

with a laugh.

He also confirmed

that he is are work-

ing on a film

with actor

Venkatesh.

We areplanning a

sportsdrama and I

need to do

some research

before helm-

ing it. — KRS

Ahead of therelease of Meeku

MatrameCheptha, Tarun

Bhasckerinteracts with themedia and sharesinsights about the

film, his futureprojects and

more

I

First look at Nithiin-Rashmika's romantic entertainer

BHEESHMAakers ofBheeshma —written anddirected byVenky

Kudumula, and pro-duced by SuryadevaraNaga Vamsi underSithara Entertainments— released the film’sfirst look on the occa-sion of Diwali. Nithiinand RashmikaMandanna will be theleads in the film.

Speaking about thefilm, director VenkyKudumula said, “We arevery happy and excitedwith the response wehave been receiving for

the first look. With theuniqueness in script andscreenplay, audience willinstantly connect toNithiin and Rashmika’scharacters.”

The film, a romanticentertainer that runs onmany fun elements, willhit theatres in February,2020.

Currently the team isbusy shooting keyepisodes in and aroundRajahmundry.

The film will also seeactors Naresh, Sampath,Ananth Nag, JisshuSengupta, Raghu Babuand Vennela Kishore inkey roles.

M

he makers of actor Nandamuri Balakrishna’s 105th filmRuler released the movie’s first look on Diwali.

The actor, who will be playing the role of a powerfulpolice officer, was seen donning the khaki uniform inthe first look. He is also seen sporting a different hair-

style and beard in the poster holding a hammer. The film being produced by C. Kalyan under Happy Movies

banner. Sonal Chauhan and Vedhika will be the leading ladieswhile Prakash Raj and Bhumika Chawla are also given key roles.

The film has recently wrapped up a schedule at the RamojiFilm City and the next schedule will commence in Hyderabadsoon. The makers have locked the release date for December 20this year.

Balayya's RULER tohit screens onDecember 20

TA

KAJALwants to getmarried soon

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 29, 2019

PTI n PARIS

The Indian men’s doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty’s best efforts went

in vain as they lost to top seeds MarcusFernaldi Gideon and Kevin SanjayaSukamuljo of Indonesia in the final ofthe French Open Super 750 here.

The duo suffered a 18-21 16-21loss to Marcus and Kevin, who areenjoying their 121st week as worldnumber one. Satwik and Chirag hadcome into the match with a 0-6head-to-head record against the

Indonesian pair and it has nowbecome 0-7.

Satwik and Chirag, who had wontheir maiden Super 500 title at theThailand Open in August, looked a bitnervy in the 35-minute final.

Despite the loss, the duo’s effortis commendable as this is the first timean Indian men’s doubles pair hasreached a World Tour 750 final.

Partho Ganguli and Vikram SinghBisht were the last all-Indian pair towin the French Open in 1983.

In singles, Kidambi Srikanth hadwon the men's title in 2017, while

Saina Nehwal was the only otherIndian to make it to the women’s finalin 2012.

Satwik and Chirag looked rusty inthe match and didn’t have a good startas the world no 1 Indonesian pairmoved to a huge 7-1 lead.

The Indian duo showed the stom-ach to fight, clawing their way back at17-17 with some clever play fromSatwik and equally supported byChirag.

However, the Indonesians soongrabbed three game points. TheIndians saved one but lost the next to

hand over the game to theIndonesians.

In the second game, the Indiansfell back a bit before levelling thescores at 6-6 with Satwik winning avideo referral.

The two pairs moved together till10-10 before the Indians netted oneas Marcus and Kevin went into thebreak with a slender one-point advan-tage.

Marcus and Kevin then broke offat 12-12 and gathered some quickpoints to move to 18-13 by puttingcontinuous pressure on the Indians.

The Indonesian duo soon grabbedfour match points and sealed theirseventh title of the year after Satwikhit out.

The World No. 11 Indian pair hadan impressive week as they shockedreigning world championsMohammad Ahsan and HendraSetiawan, before scripting stunningwins over World No. 8 Kim Astrupand Anders Skaarup Rasmussen andWorld No. 6 Hiroyuki Endo and YutaWatanabe.

“We have a similar kind of gamebut we made mistakes. We shouldhave slowed down the game. It wasnot nerves, may be if we could havewon the first game, things couldhave been different,” Chirag told PTI.

“We made slow starts in both thegames in the final. Kevin and Marcusdominated the first seven points butwe fought back to 17-17. With a bitof luck and better shot selection wecould have won.”

About their performance thisweek, Chirag said: “We are happy withthe way we played this week. It hasbeen pretty good seven days. I wouldrate it the second best because ofcourse Thailand open win was the bestwe played.”

Meanwhile, Rio Olympics cham-pion fifth seed Chinese Chen Longgrabbed the men's singles trophywith a 21-19, 21-12 win overIndonesia’s Jonathan Christie in thefinal which lasted 51 minutes. Longbecame the second shuttler in the his-tory of French Open to retain the titlesince India’s Vimal Kumar did in1983-84.

In the women's section, Koreanteen sensation An Se-young stunnedreigning Olympic champion CarolinaMarin in an epic final to lift thewomen's singles title at the FrenchOpen badminton tournament, here onSunday.

The 17-year-old Korean erased aone-game deficit to beat the three-time World Champion 16-21 21-18-21-5 in a gripping 69-minute contest.

It was Se-young’s fourth title of theseason and first at BWF Super 750level as she further underlined hergrowth as a world class shuttler.

IANS n ABU DHABI

Ireland have qualified fornext year’s ICC T20

World Cup after finishingat the top of their group inthe ongoing World CupQualifier.

Ireland finished at thenumero uno spot in GroupB after Jersey earned ashock 14-run win overOman on Sunday.

The result meantIreland progressed as groupwinners as UAE couldmanage to beat Canada by14 runs. Ireland won fourand lost two of their sixmatches in the ongoingtournament and will playtwo more matches nextweek, with mainly ranking

points at stake.Meanwhile, Papua New

Guinea (PNG) earned theirmaiden qualification for2020 World T20 slated to beheld in Australia after fin-ishing at the top of GroupA.

PNG first defeatedKenya by 45 runs in athrilling morning matchon Sunday and the failureof the Netherlands to beatScotland in 12.3 overs oftheir chase meant PNGcould book their tickets tothe premier event DownUnder next year.

The next year’s WorldT20, the seventh edition ofthe prestigious tournament,will be held from October18 to November 15.

IANS n MUMBAI

Team India fielding coachR. Sridhar, whose con-

tract has been extended by theBCCI, believes RavindraJadeja is possibly the bestIndian fielder of the decade. Itis under the watchful eyes ofSridhar that the team’ fieldinghas improved dramatically inthe recent past.

While Sridhar showeredpraise on Jadeja, he said thatan improvement in the ‘mind-set’ and ‘fitness’ of the playershas been the reason behindIndia’s dominance in worldcricket.

“Jaddu’s presence on thefield lifts the team’s spirits. Heis someone who can keep theopposition on their toes withhis fielding. He has an intim-idating presence on the field,"Sridhar was quoted as saying

by Times of India.“I wouldn’t like to go very

far but in the last decade or soJadeja has been the best field-er India has had,” he added.

Speaking about thechanges, he said: “The changehas been in two areas: mind-set and fitness. Changing themindset is pertaining to whatthe teams want to achieve, andfitness was a crucial part ofthat.”

The fielding coach saidthat improving their slip cor-don is something that they arelooking at.

“Developing a pool ofplayers who can field at slipcordon is an area we areworking on. In shorter for-mats, lateral movement andthrowing from the deep arethe areas we are focusing onas we head into the World T20next year,” Sridhar said.

PTI n DHAKA

Bangladesh Cricket Board pres-ident Nazmul Hasan ‘Papon’ has

alleged that there has been constantattempts to sabotage Bangladesh'supcoming tour of India and thestrike by country's top cricketerswith 11-point demand was anextension of that.

Bangladesh players called offthe strike after BCB agreed totheir demands of better pay pack-age at the international and first-class level days before their four-week long tour of India where theyare supposed to play 3 T20s andtwo Tests.

“You people (media) haven’t yetseen anything about the India tour.Just wait and watch. If I am sayingthat I had specific informationthat this was a conspiracy to sab-otage India tour, then you shouldbelieve me,” Hasan told country’spremier bengali daily ‘ProthomAalo’ in an interview.

Asked to explain in detail whyhe thought so, Hasan has expressedhis suspicion in the manner senior

opener Tamim Iqbal has pulled outof the tour citing his wife's deliv-ery as a reason after initially agree-ing to only skip the final Test.

“Tamim had initially told methat he will only skip the secondTest (in Kolkata from November22-26) for the birth of his secondchild. However after the meetingwith players, Tamim comes to my

room and said, he wants to opt outof whole tour. I asked him ‘why so?’but he simply said he won’t go,"Hasan revealed to the Bengalidaily.

Bangladesh are due to arrive inNew Delhi on Wednesday, October30 but BCB president is scepticalthat there could be a few more pull-outs.

“Now after this, I won’t be sur-prised if I find that someone elsepulls out at the eleventh hourwhen we would be left with noother options. I have called Shakibto have a chat. Now if he also pullsout, where do I even find a captain?I might have to change wholecombination. What do I even dowith these players,” he said.

The top boss is still livid withthe arm-twisting tactic employedby senior cricketers and feels hemade a mistake by agreeing to theirdemands.

“I still can’t believe it. I speakto them everyday. They didn’t evenintimate me before calling a strike.I feel that it was a mistake on mypart to have agreed to theirdemands. I should have never donethat,” he said.

“I should have told the players,‘Unless you call off strike, we willnot sit with you guys across thenegotiation table. Speaking to var-ious member boards, I felt that thisshould have been our approach butthe media also created pressure onus,” Hasan also added.

AFP n SHENZHEN (CHINA)

Defending champion ElinaSvitolina continued her

dominance over world num-ber two Karolina Pliskovawith a straight-sets victory atthe WTA Finals in China onMonday.

Opening Purple Group,the eighth seed started her titledefence impressively with a 7-6 (14/12), 6-4 win in one hourand 53 minutes at theShenzhen Bay Sports Centre.It was Svitolina's fourthstraight victory over a misfir-ing Pliskova who had 42unforced errors.

"I was trying to be readyfor her big serve and then takeon the second serve," Svitolinasaid after the match. "Thesurface is a little bit slow andI had more ti... It benefited myreturn."

It was a disappointingresult for Pliskova who start-ed well, mixing trademarkhard-hitting blows from thebaseline with softer touch --including an exquisite dropshot to capture a break in thefirst game.

But Svitolina slowly

clawed her way back into thematch and broke in the fourthgame as Pliskova's radar wentawry.

It was a tense contestextending into a nerve-jan-gling tiebreaker with Pliskova'sbold approach saving six setpoints, but she miscued on theseventh as the Ukrainian final-ly drew first blood.

A frustrated Pliskova wasbroken immediately to openthe second set and never seri-ously threatened to stage acomeback against an increas-ingly confident Svitolina.

The 25-year-old is hopingto end a barren season on ahigh having not captured atitle since last year's WTAFinals triumph.

Pliskova, who has a tour-leading four titles this season,is making her fourth straightappearance at the round-robintournament and has reachedthe semi-finals for the past twoyears.

US Open championBianca Andreescu takes onWimbledon winner SimonaHalep in the later match in abattle of the past two GrandSlam champions.

PTI n NEW DELHI/KOLKATA

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Mondayremained hopeful that Bangladesh will

agree to play the first-ever Day/Night Testbetween the two countries, notwithstanding theneighbours' apprehension about facing the pinkball.

The Test is scheduled to be held at the EdenGardens from November 22-26.

The final outcome of Bangladesh CricketBoard's (BCB) meeting with its senior playerswill be intimated to the BCCI president by lateMonday evening or Tuesday morning.

"I spoke to the BCB president (NazmulHassan). They are agreeable, they wanted tospeak to the players. I'm sure it will be aday/night match. Theywill also officiallyannounce it soon.Hopefully, by 10-10:30pm tonight, we will get aconfirmation," Gangulytold PTI.

BCB's head of cricketoperations and formerskipper Akram Khanacknowledged that thereare practical issues likelack of preparation as faras playing with the pinkball under lights is con-cerned.

"It's a great initiativebut we need to take theplayers into confidence. If you look at the itin-erary, we would probably get two days(November 20, 21) for training with pink ballunder lights. That's too little time for prepa-ration. The players are meeting the presidenttoday. Hopefully, by tonight or tomorrow(Tuesday) morning, a decision will be made,"Khan said.

Ganguly, on his part, wants a final intima-tion by Monday night only so that preparationstarts in full swing with other arrangements.

"If we get to know by tonight and then wewill go forward with our plans by tomorrow."

There are plans to invite India's legendaryOlympians like Abhinav Bindra, M C MaryKom and P V Sindhu and felicitate them fortheir contribution to the country's Olympicmovement.

"We want to invite and have plans to felic-itate Mary Kom, Sindhu and all (greatOlympians). We are just waiting for the BCB'sconfirmation at the moment. There are alsoplans to bring in school children, providingthem free passes for the game," Ganguly said.

A lot like Cricket Australia's annual 'PinkTest' (players wear Pink caps) in associationwith the Jane McGrath Foundation to raiseawareness about breast cancer, Ganguly alsowants the Eden's Day/night Test to be an "annu-al affair".

"I want the Eden (Day/Night) to be anannual affair," the president said without elab-orating whether there would be some charityinitiatives taken by the BCCI or the CricketAssociation of Bengal (CAB).

Indian cricketers have for long objected toplaying with the pink ball but Ganguly recent-ly said that skipper Virat Kohli has agreed tothe idea.

Satwik-Chirag finish second in France

Jadeja is possibly best Indianfielder of decade: R Sridhar

Svitolina easespast Pliskova

People trying to sabotage India tour: BCB prez Day/Night Test:Ganguly hopeful, BCBset to take final call

PNG, Ireland secure spot in World T20

The Test isscheduled to

be held atthe EdenGardens

fromNovember22-26.The

finaloutcome ofBangladesh

CricketBoard’s

AFP n PARIS

World number threeRoger Federer

announced on Monday thathe was withdrawing from thisweek’s Paris Masters in orderto “pace” himself for the nextyear.

“I am extremely disap-pointed to have to pull out of

the Paris Masters,” he said ina statement.

“I have to pace myselfsince I want to play as long aspossible on the ATP Tour.

“I am sorry for my Frenchfans who I will see next yearat Roland Garros.”Tournament director GuyForget said he was “disap-pointed” with Federer’s late

decision to withdraw.The 38-year-old Federer

warned on Sunday after win-ning his 10th Basel title thathe may skip the trip to Paris.

“My fitness is fine, I’mhappy with how I feel,” hesaid.

“I just don”t know if Ishould play next week. I'll fig-ure it out with the team.”

Federer returned to the ParisMasters last year for the firsttime since 2015 and reachedthe semi-finals where he losta three-set semi-final thrillerto Novak Djokovic, who is topseed ahead of Rafael Nadal inthe French capital this year.

Federer will be replacedby a lucky loser in the maindraw.

“I HAVE TO PACEMYSELF SINCE I

WANT TO PLAY ASLONG AS

POSSIBLE ON THEATP TOUR.“I AM

SORRY

Federer withdraws from Paris Masters