HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 9, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 3 ISSUE 51*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

NATION 5AMID SLOGANS AND SPEECHES, FARM-

ERS OBSERVE ‘BHARAT BANDH’

ANALYSIS 7DIAL M FOR

HEALTH

SPORTS 12WINNING STREAKCOMES TO END

}KRITI SANONTESTS POSITIVE

FOR COVID

Page 11

India, Qatar toboost ties

5

2

8

{N

epal and China today jointly announced that the revised height of theworld's highest peak Mount Everest was 8,848.86 metres, about 0.86

metres or 86 centimeters more than the previous measurement done byIndia in 1954. The Nepal government decided to measure the exactheight of the mountain amid debates that there might have been achange in it due to various reasons, including thedevastating earthquake of 2015. The new height ofMt Everest, the world's highest peak, is 8,848.86metres, China and Nepal jointly announced today,China's state-run Xinhua news agency said in a briefreport. Nepal recalculates the height of MountEverest at 8848.86 metres, the country's ForeignMinister Pradeep Gyawali announced in Kathmandu.

MOUNT EVEREST 86 CENTIMETERSHIGHER THAN INDIA'S CALCULATION

AAP SAYS KEJRIWAL ‘UNDER HOUSEARREST’, DELHI COPS DENY IT

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has unfollowed everyone from hisTwitter account, including his first wife Jemima Goldsmith.According

to a report by The News International, on Monday evening, users ofPakistani Twitter space noticed that PM ImranKhan was no longer following anyone onTwitter from his official @ImranKhanPTIaccount. Meanwhile, Twitter has noticed thathe unfollowed Jemima Goldsmith, a filmproducer and his former wife. Imran Khan,who had created his Twitter profile in 2010,had continued to follow his first wife JemimaGoldsmith even after parting ways with herand getting married twice.

An 87-year-old man and his 83-year-old wife from the north east ofEngland on Tuesday became the first Indian-origin couple in the

world to get a vaccine against COVID-19, after they got injected withtheir first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at a hospital inNewcastle. Dr Hari Shukla, arace relations campaignerbased in Tyne and Wear, hadbeen contacted by theNational Health Service (NHS)based on the criteria set forthe world's first vaccine toreceive regulatory approvalsin the UK last week.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been placed under "housearrest" by the police ever since he met with the protesting farmers

yesterday and has been forced to cancel his meetings, the ruling AamAadmi Party (AAP) alleged this morning. The Delhi Police denied thecharge. AAP also alleged that the Chief Minister wasdeliberately blocked because of the Bharat Bandhcalled by farmers protesting against the centralgovernment's new farm laws.In the afternoon, DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia arrived outside MrKejriwal's residence. Speaking to mediapersons, healleged that the Chief Minister was being mistreatedby the central government for having deniedpermission to use stadiums to jail protesting farmers.

IMRAN KHAN UNFOLLOWSEVERYONE, INCLUDING EX-WIFE

INDIAN-ORIGIN COUPLE IN UK AMONG1ST IN WORLD TO GET COVID VACCINE

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated December 8, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Kartik & Krishna Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Navami: 03:16 pm

Nakshatram: Uttara Phalguni: 12:32 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 12:08 pm – 01:31 pm

Yamagandam: 08:01 am – 09:23 am

Varjyam: 08:21 pm – 09:50 pm

Gulika: 10:46 am - 12:08 pm

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 05:16 am – 06:45 am

Abhijit Muhurtham: Nil

FFoorreeccaasstt:: SunnyTemp: 28/15Humidity: 42%Sunrise: 06:35 amSunset: 05:42 pm

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) hasbooked a case againstKasukurthi SujathaConstructions Pvt. Ltd and itsmanaging director in connec-tion with a loan fraud case.The firm reportedly defraud-ed Indian Bank to the tune ofRs 137.36 crore.

The premier investigationagency named KasukurthiSujatha Constructions Pvt.Ltd., Hyderabad (M/sKSCPL) represented by itsmanaging director K. JaganMohan Rao and directors K.Sujatha, K. Rajesh; K. Radhikaand K. Mounika as accused.

CBI books aconstructionfirm in Rs 137cr loan ‘fraud’ PNS n HYDERABAD

The TS unit of the IndianMedical Associated held a silentprotest on Tuesday, condemningmodern surgery in AyurvedaPG courses and reiterating itsopposition to 'mixopathy. TheTelangana Junior DoctorsAssociation has decided to boy-cott non-essential duties onDecember 11, 2020 in supportof the Indian MedicalAssociation's fight against'mixopathy' and 'quackery'.

Jr docs toboycott non-essential dutieson Friday

KCR ‘MASTER PLAN' tofix BJP in Mayor electionTRS to force BJP to field candidate for GHMC Mayor

VENKAT RAM REDDY LAKKADIn HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samitisupremo and Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao as well asAll India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen supremo andHyderabad Lok Sabha memberAsaduddin Owaisi are learnt tohave devised a 'master plan' tofix BJP in the election of Mayorand Deputy Mayor of GHMC.

The recent GHMC pollsthrew a 'hung GHMC', with noparty's tally reaching the magicfigure of 76 seats required fora simple majority in the 150-member GHMC Council.

Even the inclusion of ex-offi-cio members of TRS, BJP,AIMIM and Congress, com-prising MPs, MLAs and MLCs,will not help any party to bagthe Mayor, Deputy Mayor

posts on their own. While TRSemerged as the single largestparty, winning 55 seats; BJP is atsecond position, with 48 seats;AIMIM at third, with 44 seats;and the Congress at fourthposition, with just two seats.

BJP had anticipated that TRSand AIMIM would join handsto bag Mayor, Deputy Mayorposts. The saffron party waskeen on projecting this asanother example of 'TRS-AIMIM friendship' aggressive-ly so as to polarise Hindu votesin its favour and capture powerin Telangana in the December2023 Assembly polls.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The ruling TRS, oppositionparties including the Congressand various unions on Tuesdayheld protests across Telanganaas part ofthe 'Bharat Bandh'against the NDA government'snew agri laws. Expressing sup-port to the bandh, the TRSdecided to actively participatein the protests in the state toensure it was a success.

State Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumar and TRSleader in Lok Sabha NamaNageswara Rao attended a sit-in protest at Khammam.

State women and child wel-fare minister SatyavatiRathod and EndowmentsMinister A Indrakaran Reddyparticipated in protests atMahabubabad and Nirmal

towns respectively.Congress Legislature Party

(CLP) leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka attended a 'rastaroko' at Shamirpet here along

with other party leaders.Telangana Jana Samiti(TJS)leader M Kodandaram, CPIstate secretary Chada VenkataReddy, his CPI (M) counterpart

Tammineni Veerabhadram andactivists of Left parties and Left-affiliated trade and otherunions held a protest at Kothiin the city.

Buses lined up at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in Hyd due to suspension of TSRTC services in view of ‘Bharat Bandh' on Tuesday

Centre readies Delhi,Hyd airports for first lot of vaccinesPNS n NEW DELHI

The existing cold chain facili-ties in India are capable of stor-ing the first shipment of near-ly three crore novel coronavirusvaccines that have been ear-marked for frontline healthcareand medical workers, theHealth Ministry said onTuesday evening.

The Government had earli-er also indicated that old peo-ple suffering from serious med-ical conditions will be givenpriority. Delhi and Hyderabadairports have already begunprepping temperature-con-trolled containers and zones tostore millions of doses expect-ed to be made available over thenext few weeks and months.

Both airports, whichalready have advanced phar-ma and vaccine storage andprocessing zones, also havespecial "cool chambers" inwhich temperature can be setas low as -20 degrees Celsiusand "cool dollies",

Heavy metal content in waterblamed for mysterious illnessPNS n ELURU

An investigation by a team ofexperts from All India Instituteof Medical Sciences (AIIMS)found lead and nickel particu-late matter in the blood samplesof the patients who sufferedmysterious illness in Eluru of inWest Godavari district which sofar claimed one life and left over500 people sick.

Based on the preliminaryfindings of the expert teamsfrom AIIMS and other state andcentral institutions, health offi-cials presented a report to ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddyhere on Tuesday.

A CMO release said lead andnickel were found to be thecausative agents for the myste-

rious disease, citing a report pre-pared by the AIIMS experts.

The disease saw people sud-denly falling unconscious aftersuffering from fits and nauseasince Saturday night.

The symptoms, according toGGH doctors, included a boutof epilepsy for 3-5 minutes,memory loss for a few minutes,anxiety, vomiting, headacheand back pain.

KCR's conclave unlikely anytime soonPNS n HYDERABAD

The much-talked-about 'con-clave' of non-BJP, non-CongCMs and chiefs of like-mind-ed parties this month pro-posed by TRS supremo andTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is unlike-ly to happen anytime soon.

It may be recalled that KCRrecently declared that he wouldhost a "national conclave" ofnon-BJP parties in the secondweek of December inHyderabad against the "anti-

people, anti-farmer, anti-work-er and PSU divestment policiesof the Narendra Modi-led gov-ernment at the Centre. KCRalso said that TRS wouldlaunch a countrywide agitationagainst the Modi government.

KCR made this announce-ment on November 18, whileaddressing a joint meeting ofthe TRS Legislature Party, TRSParliamentary Party, and itsGHMC division in-charges atthe party's headquartersTelangana Bhavan. "The mainopposition party, Congress,

which is supposed to fightagainst the BJP, has fallen flatand has no clue on how to

oppose the BJP," the ChiefMinister observed then. "Boththe Congress and the BJP havefailed to show any direction tothe country and they are like theBade Bhai (big brother) follow-ing the Chhota Bhai (youngerbrother). Hence, the TRS is tak-ing the onus and showing therequired and needed initia-tive," KCR had said then.

The TRS supremo also stat-ed then that he had alreadyspoken to West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,

TS labour minister bookedfor criminal intimidationPNS n HYDERABAD

The Dundigal Police have reg-istered a case against TelanganaLabour Minister Ch MallaReddy, his son and others foralleged land-grabbing inHyderabad, following a com-plaint lodged by a woman.

The police said on Tuesdaythat an FIR was registered onDecember 6 under IPC sec-tion 447 (criminal trespass)and 506 (criminal intimida-tion) against the Minister and

others at Dundigal Police sta-tion, after the womanapproached the High Court.

According to the com-

plainant Ponnaboina ShyamalaDevi, her mother PonnaboinaPadmavathi is the pattadar of2-13 land in Survey Nos 115,116, 117 in Suraram. The landin question is located in themiddle of two hospitals ownedby Malla Reddy. She allegedthat latter was demanding andthreatening her to sell the landto him in order to merge thesaid land with his land.

When the complainant andher mother refused to do so,

K’taka removesrestrictions onbuying farm landPNS n BENGALURU

The Karnataka governmenton Tuesday passed the con-troversial Land Reforms(Amendment) Act in theLegislative Council with sup-port from the Janata DalSecular, which had earlieropposed the amendmentsbut whose 10 votes provedkey for the ruling BJP.

The Act was passed by 37votes to 21 with nine mem-bers of the Congress absent;the party said it woulddestroy the rural economy.

The JDS's support wascrucial for the BJP, whichdoes not have the numbersin the Legislative Council. Inthe 75-member body theBJP has 31 members to theCongress's 28 and the JDS's14. The Act had been passedby the Karnataka Assemblyin September after theCongress tore up papers andstaged a walkout.

"They want to keep thefarmers as slaves so we areopposing this tooth andnail," DK Shivakumar, chiefof the party's state unit, hadtold NDTV after the walk-out. The Land Reforms Actremoves almost all restric-tions on the purchase ofagricultural land, paving theway for industrialists (orany other individual) to pur-chase agricultural landdirectly from the farmers,pending government clear-ance.

Andhra had encounteredmystery illness a decade ago

BBhhaarraatt BBaannddhh:: TRS, oppn partieshold protests in Telangana

Over 60 foreign envoys inHyd to visit pharma Cos

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Infirst such initiative, over 60foreign envoys will be taken toHyderabad-based leadingbiotech companies BharatBiotech and Biological E onWednesday in view of growingglobal interest in vaccinedevelopment programme inIndia against coronavirus, offi-cial sources said on Tuesday.

The move comes over amonth after the Ministry ofExternal Affairs briefed over

190 heads of diplomatic mis-sions and representatives ofleading international organisa-tions on COVID-19 relatedissues. Official sources said thevisit of the foreign heads ofmissions in India toHyderabad is being organ-ised as part of MEA's COVID-19 briefing initiative.

The tour will be followed byvisits to facilities in othercities, they said.

"The mainopposition party,Congress, which issupposed to fightagainst the BJP, hasfallen flat and hasno clue on how tooppose the BJP,"

SUMIT ONKA n VIJAYAWADA

Before the outbreak of the Eluru unknown disease, undividedAndhra Pradesh had reported a mystery illness that had created asimilar panic between 2004 and 2008. While the present mysteryailment has claimed one life, the early ailment had claimed the livesof around 200 children, who died of brain fever or encephalitis. That virus, later known as Chandipura virus, spread from animal tohumans through sandfly.

For Congress, Dec 9will always be bittersweet

India needs morereforms, states musttake lead: Kant

2

22

2

2

2

2 2

2

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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 any

damage 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 before

responding 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.

hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020

EGG

RATES

` 50, 830 (10 gm)

` 740

GOLD

` 69, 500 (1kg)

` 5,600

HYDERABAD 395

VIJAYAWADA 410

VISAKHAPATNAM 441

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀33..9955

SILVER

HYDERABAD

BULLION RATES

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `162

Without Skin `185

Broiler at Farm `112

`̀//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD)

December 9 wouldalways be a bitter-sweet day for the

Congress, since it’s thebirthday of the party’sundisputed supremoSonia Gandhi, and alsothe day when it made thehistoric midnightannouncement of separatestatehood for Telangana.

Every single day of these 11years that have passed sincehas been painful for the partyin both Telangana State andresiduary Andhra Pradesh.

While there is no doubt thatthe Congress decided to bifur-cate undivided AP expectingthe decision would bring theUPA back to power for a thirdconsecutive term, the planbackfired, and how!

Undoubtedly, the Congressleadership thought thatDecember 9 announcementwould be a watershed momentin the party’s contemporary

history. The thoughtturned out to be true,but not in the sensethey imagined.

To survive and thrive,every political

party has to protect itsstrength by keeping its bas-

tion and the conducive atmos-phere intact. For this, it has tobe flexible and adapt to the sit-uation. In short, the Congresswould have been better servedif it had maintained status quovis-a-vis composite AP.

It’s a fact that undivided APhad stood by the Congress inits most turbulent times. In1977, when the Congress firsttasted defeat, it was AP thatgave the party 41 Lok Sabhaseats. The state patronised theCongress in 2004 and 2009,and helped it st itch analliance (the UPA) with like-minded parties. The partybagged 30 of the 42 LokSabha seats in undivided AP

in 2004 and 2009, the onlystate it could win such alarge chunk of seats.

But for the support extend-ed by AP, the Congress wouldnot have got an opportunityto rule the country for 10years.

After over 150 years,Telugu people had been inte-grated for 58 years. The AsafJahis had ceded districts ofthe present-day Rayalaseemaregion to the British in the

year 1800. Since then, Telugupeople lived in the MadrasPresidency and Nizam'sprincely state of Hyderabad.Hopes of a united Telugustate rose with the accessionof Hyderabad State intoIndian Union in 1948 bring-ing an end to the 224-yearrule of the Asaf Jahi dynasty.

A separate Andhra statewas carved out of compositeMadras state in 1953 whenthe Nehru Government

implemented its policy toreorganise states on linguis-tic basis. This was nothingbut implementation of theresolution adopted by IndianNational Congress in 1936.

Andhra Pradesh came intobeing on November 1, 1956,the first state to be formed onthe basis of linguistic policy

of the Congress. Some prominent leaders

like Moulana Azad argued forcontinuance of Hyderabadstate since it was a multi-cul-ture, multi-ethnic state. Butwith the Asaf Jahi shadowlooming large, theGovernment of IndependentIndia decided on disintegra-tion of Hyderabad State andmerge its provinces withstates according to the lan-guage spoken.

Former chief minister ofHyderabad state BurgulaRamakrishna Rao played acrucial role in this episodeand ult imately saw theunfolding of new unifiedstate for Telugu people bymerging the Telangana regionof Hyderabad state with thenew state of Andhra that wascarved from composite stateof Madras.

Over the decades that fol-lowed, regional differences

cropped up, and leaders withpolitical ambitions fannedthe flames. Perhaps somemight put Sonia Gandhi intothis category, going by herrole in the bifurcation of AP.

She began to be seen as aperson with great animositytowards the Telugu people.Soon, reasons were attributedto this. Some said that heranimosity towards the Telugupeople was probably becauseher husband Rajiv Gandhifaced some embarrassingmoments at the hands ofleaders like S Jaipal Reddyand P Upendra following theBofors scandal. However, noone could quite explain whyshe got both of them into herparty fold.

Nor could anyone con-vincingly explain what madeSonia Gandhi take a decisionthat would ultimately result inthe downfall of the mightyCongress, a party that literal-

ly spearheaded the nationalmovement with the ultimategoal of getting freedom forthe country.

The Congress gained noth-ing from breaking up undi-vided Andhra Pradesh orsnatching overnight the rightof five crore people on thecapital city of Hyderabad.

This heartburn literallyburnt the Congress' futureand the party failed to win asingle seat in 2014 or 2019 inresiduary AP. Even more dis-tressing for the Congress is itspitiful position in Telangana.

Sonia Gandhi was probablygiven the feedback that bifur-cating Telangana would bringrich dividends for the party,but this was not to be.

Now, December 9 everyyear is remembered for theill-advised decision of theCongress, that ultimately ledto the downfall of a once trulyhegemonic

M D RATNA KUMAR

Senior Journalist

The entire country is turning its face

towards the revolting incident in

Hathras, where a 19-year-old Dalit girl

was raped and murdered by four upper

caste youth. The way the district

administration and the police behaved

thereafter amounts to rubbing salt on

the wounds of the bereaved family

PIN

POINT

For Congress, December 9 will always be bittersweet

Indian tech cos witness $38 bninvestments during Covid: Kant

Over 60 foreign envoys in Hyd to visit pharma CosContinued from page 1

Asserting that India has beencontributing significantly toglobal efforts against COVID-19pandemic, a source said,"there isa lot of interest in India's vaccinedevelopment efforts. More than60 HoMs are being taken toleading biotech companies in,Hyderabad, Bharat Biotech andBiological E."

The coronavirus pandemicis continuing its spread acrossthe globe with more than 68million confirmed cases andover 1.5 million deaths beingreported so far from at least190 countries. India hasalready announced that itsvaccine production and deliv-ery capacity will be used tohelp all humanity in fightingthe COVID-19 pandemic and

it will also help countries inenhancing their cold chainand storage capacities.

In the last few months,India has provided medicalsupplies to nearly 150 coun-tries, more than half on a non-commercial basis. India alsosent medical teams to a num-ber of its neighbouring coun-tries to help them in dealingwith the pandemic.

PNS n HYDERABAD

India has witnessed USD 38billion investments in techcompanies during the past sixmonths when the whole worldis reeling under COVID-19pandemic, NITI Aayog CEOAmitabh Kant said on Tuesday.

Speaking in a session of thethree-day TiE Global Summit(TGS)being held virtually,Kant said the Indian startupecosystem witnessed launch ofmore than 55,000 start- upswhich had raised over USD 60

billion in funding in the lastfive years and currently hometo about 34 unicorns and 52soonicorns (soon to be uni-corns) with a potential tobecome unicorns by 2022.

"While the world is reelingunder the impact of COVID-19 pandemic India has seentech investments crossing overUSD 38 billion in the just lastfive or six months and this isabsolutely massive and speaksvolumes about potential ofIndia, particularly when itcomes to the technology," he

said in an interactive session.Replying to query, he said

artificial intelligence is going tobecome one of the biggestopportunities for India withrespect to technology applica-tions and the emerging tech-nology is expected to addUSD 957 billion to the Indianeconomy by 2035.

On data protection, the offi-cial said in an evolving and fastchanging digital landscapeIndia we not only needstronger data protection butalso data empowerment.

Continued from page 1

Preliminary investigationsrevealed that the accusedavailed loans on the basis offalse and fabricated auditedfinancial statements. Furtherprobe revealed that theydiverted the loan amount forpurposes other than businessactivities, including for per-sonal gains, and submittedfalse stock statements to theBank to conceal their irreg-ularities, falsified their booksof accounts, and willfullydefaulted in repayment;caused wrongful loss to theIndian Bank.

Based on a complaint fromSantanu Bal, Asst. GeneralManager and Branch HeadIndian Bank, Koti, Hyderabad,the agency booked a case andinvestigation is underway.

Prima facie it appears thatthe accused committed theoffences of cheating; , for thepurpose of cheating, usedforged documents as genuine,falsified books of accountsfollowing criminal conspira-cy by M/s Kasukurthi SujathaConstructions Pvt. Ltd.,Hyderabad (M/s KSCPL); itsdirectors and guarantors andunknown public servants andunknown others, accordingto officials.

CBI books a...

Continued from page 1

The association decried theCentre's move to allow Ayushdoctors in the country to practiceand perform surgical proceduresand techniques of modern allo-pathic Medicine, despite the lackof basic expertise to perform theprocedures.

The TJUDA believes thatdecision made by the Indiangovernment would inadver-tently affect the Indian HealthCare System and concurrent-

ly the quality of heath of thepatients immensely. The doc-tors' association strongly con-demned the government'smove, saying it would endan-ger modern medicine and itssurgical disciplines.

TJUDA said that it hadresisted the sabotaging of mod-ern medicine by the CentralCouncil of Indian Medicine, intheir attempts to legalize theamalgamation of the twoschools of medicine (Modernmedicine & Indian Medicine)

to undertake surgical proce-dures. It stated that the asso-ciation would initiate publicdemonstrations, withdrawalfrom non- essential non-Covidservices to support the strug-gle against the decision.TJUDA decided to supportthe IMA undertaking legaloptions to reinforce the strug-gle. If necessary, doctors' asso-ciations may also boycott elec-tives and emergency services tofight against the Union govern-ment's decision.

Jr docs to boycott...

Continued from page 1

But KCR and Owaisi's 'masterplan' could dash the hopes ofBJP in the entire process ofelecting Mayor and DeputyMayor. According to TRSsources, the master plan is thatboth TRS and AIMIM wouldcontest for Mayor, DeputyMayor posts on their ownwithout any tie-up. This willforce BJP also to contest forMayor and Deputy Mayorposts. In this arrangement,corporators of respective par-ties will vote for their own can-didates.

Thus, TRS can bag bothMayor and Deputy Mayorposts on its own without anyhelp from AIMIM and thiswill also not give scope for BJPto project "TRS-AIMIMfriendship". Even if BJP doesnot contest, this arrangementwill create a situation whereBJP will be forced to abstainfrom voting because it cannotvote for AIMIM (its mainrival on religious grounds)and TRS (it main political rivalin TS).

If BJP abstains from voting,it will give scope for TRS to saythat BJP 'ran away', instead ofvoting against AIMIM, askingpeople to see through 'secretfriends' of AIMIM.

Both KCR and Owaisireportedly agreed to this plan,which will be executed duringthe election of Mayor andDeputy Mayor before the termof the present GHMC Councilends on February 10, 2021.Although two other planswere considered initially, bothwere rejected later to avoidgiving political advantage toBJP.

The first plan was to askex-officio members and afew corporators of AIMIM toabstain from voting on 'per-sonal' grounds, thus ensuringjust the quorum required tosuit TRS' purposes to winMayor and Deputy Mayorposts. The second plan wasto get AIMIM to boycottvoting completely by rakingup some controversial issuein the election process, thushelping TRS to bag Mayor,Deputy Mayor posts on itsown. It was felt that boththese plans would give anopportunity for BJP to project"TRS-AIMIM" friendshipand derive political mileagein future elections throughpolarisation of votes.

This strategy of BJP inGHMC polls benefitted bothBJP and AIMIM immenselyand caused huge loss to TRS,Congress and other parties.

Continued from page 1

he reportedly grabbed a pieceof the land and constructeda compound wall.

However, Malla Reddy col-luded with their advocateLaxminarayana and took sig-natures of the complainant'smother and her sister onstamp papers on the pretextof filing a suit in the court.Furthermore, Malla Reddymade a fabricated sale deeddocuments claiming that theparticular land had been soldto one Gudur Masthan, abenami.

The woman lodged a com-plaint with the police againstMalla Reddy, his son BhadraReddy, his henchmen SMRaju, Masthan, Pullaiah,Chandraiah, Laxminarayana(advocate) and others for fre-quently visiting the com-plainant's residence and threat-ening her with dire conse-quences if she does not regis-ter the land in their name.

TS labour...

V-P: Nurture entrepreneurial talent at university campusesPNS n HYDERABAD

Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu on Tuesday eveningasked the universities to set upincubation centres to tap andnurture entrepreneurial talentamong youngsters.

Addressing after formallyinaugurating the three-day TiEGlobal Summit-2o20,theworld's largest entrepreneurshipsummit, through video confer-encing from Visakhapatnam,Naidu appealed to the corporatesector to come forward to fundand promote an entrepreneur-ial ecosystem on universitycampuses.

The summit aimed at foster-ing entrepreneurship hastouched a record of about50,000 registrations, which is aunique milestone in the histo-ry of TiE, a Silicon Valley-basednon-profit organisation sup-porting start-ups through net-working and its Summit-2020will be showcasing opportuni-ties to get mega investmentsinto India.

The grand opening ceremo-

ny was graced by UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari.

Venkaiah Naidu emphasisedthat fostering student-entre-preneurship through innova-tion programmes is extremelycritical and universities need toestablish close linkage withindustries to mentor and hand-hold students with novel busi-ness ideas.

Mentioning that the youthcomprise about 65 per cent ofIndia's population, the VicePresident stressed that the vastenergies of the talented youthshould be tapped fully and

their mindset should bechanged from being job-seek-ers to job creators.

He also wanted a specialdrive to be launched for pro-moting entrepreneurshipamong women. There is a hugepotential for promoting womenentrepreneurs in the country, hesaid and expressed happinessover the fact that TiE has

impacted 50,000 aspiringwomen entrepreneurs throughmentoring.

Describing India as home tothe world's third-largest start-up ecosystem, Naidu quoted arecent NASSCOM that about50 per cent of the Tech start-ups are confident of reachingrevenues of the pre-COVID-3.9 level.

Modi: Country in advantageous position with skilled workforceO

bserving that overcoming challenges in the post Covid world andkeeping up with the emerging trends is crucial for businesses,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was in an advantageousposition with its huge pool of skilled workforce. In a written messageto the three-day TiE Global Summit (TGS) being held virtually, Modisaid over the last six and of years, the government has injected anew spirit through wide- ranging reforms in policies and governanceand as a force multiplier, technology has been making a positiveimpact in lives of crores of people. "Overcoming the challenges in thepost COVID-19 world and keeping up with the emerging trends andopportunities is crucial for the businesses and enterprises to stayrelevant. In such a scenario India finds itself in an advantageousposition with its huge pool of skilled workforce and demographicpotential," he said in the message.

KCR ‘master plan'...

KCR's conclave unlikely anytime soonContinued from page 1

Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik andDMK chief M.K. Stalin. Headded that he also spoke to for-mer chief ministers of UP,Maharashtra, Punjab,Karnataka - Akhilesh Yadav,Sharad Pawar, Prakash SinghBadal and H.D. Kumaraswamy,respectively - besides CPI andCPM leaders on organizing theconclave. Interestingly, he did

not mention the names of APChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy and TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu.

However, according to TRSsources, even the process ofinviting non-BJP, non-Congleaders has not begun so faras KCR was busy with theGHMC polls till December 4.Thereafter, with no partysecuring the required major-ity in GHMC polls, he hasbeen busy devising strategiesto bag the Mayor and DeputyMayor posts. He presently

has no time to focus on theconclave.

Moreover, there seems to beno consensus among non-BJP parties over whether tocountenance leadership ofKCR. For instance, MamataBanerjee has declared herown fight against the Modigovernment on the issuesraised by KCR.

This apart, there are grum-blings over how KCR hadskipped previous non-BJPconclaves attempted or organ-ised by non-BJP parties dur-

ing Modi's first tenure as PMbetween 2014 and 2019 whenBJP was weaker in Telangana.

Now that BJP has emergedas a threat to TRS in Telanganaby trouncing the pink party inthe Dubbak Assembly by-polland capturing almost equalnumber of seats and vote sharein the recent GHMC polls, thetalk of holding the conclave inthe present circumstances hastriggered apprehensionsamong non-BJP parties thatKCR is trying to fire at Modifrom their shoulders.

Heavy metal...Continued from page 1

"More tests are being conduct-ed by Indian Institute ofChemical Technology and otherinstitutes and the results areexpected soon. The ChiefMinister directed the authoritiesto conduct a thorough investi-gation on the heavy metal con-tent in the patients' bodies andconstantly monitor the treat-ment process," the CMO releaseadded. According to the healthauthorities here, of the 505 per-sons infected, over 370 hadrecovered and another 120 werebeing treated in thehospital.Another 19 people weresent for better medicare to gov-ernment hospitals inVijayawada and Guntur.

Apart from experts deployedby the World HealthOrganisation, a three-memberteam drafted by the UnionMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare arrived in Eluru onTuesday and went round theaffected areas to collect samples.

Deputy Chief Minister(Health) Alla Kali KrishnaSrinivas said the affected peo-ple were recovering well andthere was no need to panic.

"Full details as to what trig-gered the mysterious diseasewill be known only after the

central agencies submit theirreports. Primarily, lead hasbeen found to be the cause ofthe outbreak," he said.

A special sanitation drive wasundertaken in Eluru city andalso in the adjoining ruralpockets and Denduluru fromwhere the cases were reported.

Andhra had...Continued from page 1

Affecting about 11 districts inundivided AP, it killed around200 children with brain feveror encephalitis. The present illness was firstdetected Saturday evening inEluru, famous for its hand-woven products. Since then,symptoms ranging fromnausea and anxiety to loss ofconsciousness have beenreported in 546 patientsadmitted to hospitals.Chandipura virus emerged asa major encephalitis pathogen. The virus caused outbreaks inAndhra Pradesh between 2004and 2008 and later in Gujaratand Maharashtra, according toa study published in the OpenVirology Journal in August2019.

Centre readies...Continued from page 1

or special trolleys that ensurevaccines are protected (andoptimum temperatures main-tained) during movement ofcargo between the aircraftand cargo terminal.

In addition, both airports,which operated as major hubsin the early days of the pan-demic and transported mil-lions of PPE kits, medicalsupplies and perishable goods,have also taken steps to min-imise human contact withthe chain of transportationand storage of the vaccinedoses.

An expert panel will meeton Wednesday to reviewrequests by the SerumInstitute of India, pharmagiant Pfizer and BharatBiotech to approve emer-gency use of their Covid vac-cines in India; this will allowthe vaccine to be adminis-tered for a limited period oftime or on specific groups ofpeople.

The Serum Institute vaccinewas developed byAstraZeneca and OxfordUniversity. Interim clinicaltrial data from the UK andBrazil shows it is up to 90 percent effective.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020 hyderabad 03

Freight Loading in HyderabadDivision of South CentralRailway (SCR) has shown

considerable improvement duringthe current financial year bysurpassing the previous financialyear's total freight loading. Thefreight loading registered 1.06metric tons by December 7, 2020which is 58 per cent more than the freight loading during thesame period of the previous financial year, SCR said on Tuesday. Ithas also crossed the mark of previous financial year's total loadingwhich was only 1.05 metric tons. The reduction in the operation ofpassenger train services, improved track maintenance as well ascontinuous monitoring has helped to enhance the average speedof freight trains to 50 Kmph from the previous year's averagespeed of 27 Kmph.

The Entrepreneur Zone (TEZ - aStartup Accelerator) inassociation with Technology

Incubators at University ofHyderabad (UoH) is invitingapplications for the StartupLauncher Program. The last date to apply is December 20.Theprogramme, which starts on January 16, 2021 runs over three-months, is designed as a combination of online weekendmentorship sessions and startup incubation and support servicesto help the aspiring entrepreneurs to start and scale. It covers -Idea Assessment & Market Validation, Customer Discovery,Business Modelling, Product development-MVP, RegulatoryCompliances, Go-To-Market Strategy, Finance & Funding, BusinessPlan & Pitch Deck, communication and networking.

Hyd division of SCR surpassesprevious year in freight loading

CITY LIGHTS

PNS n HYDERABAD

More than 90 per cent beds ingovernment-run hospitalstreating Covid patients in stateremain vacant as the numberof infected people continuedto decline, officials said.

Of the 8,561 beds availablein 61 government hospitalstreating Covid-19 patients,7,803 beds were vacant as onTuesday. Only 758 people wereundergoing treatment in thesehospitals. Similarly in 220 pri-vate hospitals treating Covidpatients, only 1,304 beds wereoccupied. Of the 8,470 beds,7,166 were vacant. The state onTuesday reported 682 newcases during the last 24 hours,taking the tally to 2,74,540.Three more persons died dueto the virus, taking the deathtoll to 1,477.

According to the Director ofPublic Health and Family Wel-fare, 44.96 per cent of the deat-hs were due to Covid while theremaining 55.04 per cent weredue to comorbidities.

Telangana's Covid recover-ies continued to outnumberthe daily count of new infec-tions as the recovery ratejumped to 96.65 per cent.

Greater Hyderabad report-ed 119 new cases. MedchalMalkajgiri district has the sec-ond highest number at 64, fol-lowed by Rangareddy 47, Wa-rangal 41, Khammam 38, Nal-gonda 31 and Karimnagar 30.

During the last 24 hours,55,645 samples were tested -53,789 in government-runlaboratories and 1,856 in pri-vate labs. With this the num-ber of cumulative tests hadgone up to 58,68,233.

Over 90% beds vacant in TS' Covid hospitals

ANUSHA UPPALA n HYDERABAD

To avoid seizure of your vehi-cle keep the hard copy of yourDriving Licence (DL) or atleastsoft copy in your phone other-wise your vehicle will be takeninto police custody byCyberabad Traffic Police.Cyberabad Traffic Police isstrictly implementing this rulein Cyberabad city limits due toincrease in road accidents andthey have found that manypeople are not having thelicence.

As many as 364 road acci-dents occurred in the month ofNovember 2020, among which287 road accidents were non-fatal and 77 were fatal. As manyas 81 people died among 364road accidents and 414 wereinjured.

As many as 71 accidentsoccurred in the month ofNovember in Cyberabad lim-its, among which 12 accidentswere fatal, in which 12 peoplelost lives in the road accident.Among the 71 road accidents,59 were non-fatal and 97 per-sons were injured. All the dri-

vers involved in 71 accidentswere driving without a DrivingLicense.

Cyberabad traffic policebooked 460 cases for drivingwithout Driving License inthe month of November 2020.With the increase of road acci-dents in Cyberabad limits, the

traffic police officials startedseizing vehicles of commutersfor not carrying DrivingLicense. During special drivesto check Driving LicenseCyberabad traffic policebooked 57 vehicles in last onemonth.

Sai Teja, a commuter fromHyderabad who was checkedduring special drives byCyberabad Traffic Police toldThe Pioneer, "While I was dri-ving in the city I was stoppedand checked and I was asked toshow my Driving License.Unfortunately, I forgot to carryhard copy of my driving licensethat day and police officialswere about to book a case fordriving without licence.However, after I showed thesoft copy of my vehicle I wasspared otherwise I would havebeen booked too for not carry-

ing licence. During the checks,the police officials have foundthat many people are not hav-ing the licence, while some arenot carrying it while driving.So it is advisable for the com-muters to carry their drivinglicence to avoid seizure of theirvehicles by the traffic police."

Cyberabad Traffic DCP,Vijay Kumar told The Pioneer,"Having a valid DL for drivingany vehicle on public roads isthe basic necessity. Also, pos-sessing the DL always (either inphysical form or digital form)and showing it to police offi-cers is a necessity. Not possess-ing a valid DL will result inserious consequences in case ofany accidents viz., insurancewill not be applicable, penaltywill be harsher. Parents shallnever encourage minors todrive any vehicle anywhere".

Drivers in 71 Nov mishaps were not carrying DL

PNS n HYDERABAD

Once again Hyderabad TrafficPolice facilitated the transportof the live organs (Lungs) onTuesday by providing non-stop movement to the ambu-lance carrying the organ.

At 09:12 hours, theHyderabad and CyberabadTraffic Police coordinated andarranged green channel fortransportation of live organsfrom Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Shamshabad to KIMS Hospital,Begumpet. The organs cameby flight from Goa.

The distance betweenRGIA, Shamshabad to KIMSHospital, Begumpet is 37.2KMs which was covered in 27minutes. The medical team

carrying live organs (Lungs)left at 0912 hours from RGIA,Shamshabad and reachedKIMS Hospital, Begumpet at09:39 hours, according to traf-fic police sources.

The efforts of Hyderabadand Cyberabad Traffic Policein the transportation of liveorgans (Lungs) were applaud-ed by the management ofKIMS Hospital, Begumpet, asit would help in saving pre-cious lives.

K VENKATESHWARLU/RAJESH JAIN NIDARKAR n HYDERABAD

The nationwide Bharat Bandhcalled by farmer unions inprotest of the Centre's threefarm laws received widespreadsupport on Tuesday as protest-ers and several organisationsheld symbolic 'chakka jam'demonstrations across thestate.

Minor tensions and clasheserupted in some places acrossthe state. Apart from TRSMinisters and MPs, the party'slegislators and other publicrepresentatives led the protestson highways, leading to hugetraffic jams.

Leaders of the Congress,Communist Party of India,Communist Party of India-Marxist, other Left parties,farmers' groups, trade unions,people's organisations, empl-oyees, techies, transporters,lawyers and others also partic-ipated in the protests.

'Rasta roko', dharnas, ralliesand public meetings markedthe shutdown, which evokedgood response as shops andbusiness establishmentsremaining closed and buses ofstate-owned Telangana StateRoad Transport Corporation(TSRTC) and most cabs andauto-rickshaws were off theroads.

TRS working President andIndustry Minister KT RamaRao led the protesters nearShadnagar on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru National Highway.

Accompanied by TRSGeneral Secretary K KeshavRao, other party leaders andworkers, Rama Rao sat on thehighway. He held a placardwith slogans 'stand with farm-ers' and 'farmers not terrorists'.

Dubbing the new centralfarm legislations as 'blacklaws', Rama Rao called forraising a unified voice againstwhat he called a "conspiracy tohand over farm sector to thecorporate entities and makefarmers labourers puppets atthe hands of the big corporateplayers".

TRS leader and LegislativeCouncil member K Kavithaled the road blockade on theHyderabad-Nagpur highwaynear Kamareddy. She alongwith other protestors releasedblack balloons in the air to reg-ister their protest against thefarm legislations.

"KCR with farmers -- With-draw farm Bills' was written onthe placard held by Kavitha. Alarge number of TRS workersjoined her in the protest. AtKodad in Suryapet, farmersparked their tractors on theHyderabad-Vijayawada high-way, leading to nearly two-km-long traffic jam. Leader ofCongress in TelanganaAssembly Mallu BhattiVikramarka led the protest atShameerpet on the outskirts ofHyderabad. A large number ofCongress leaders and workersjoined him and raised slogansagainst the central govern-ment to demand withdrawal ofthe said laws.

‘BHARAT BANDH’ PEACEFUL IN TELANGANA

PNS n HYDERABAD

All buses of the Telangana StateRoad Transport Corporation(TSRTC), including city services,went off the road across theState on Tuesday amid growingsupport for farmers groups-called Bharat bandh that receivedsupport from all parties in thestate except the BJP.With employee unions ofTelangana State Road TransportCorporation (TSRTC) backing theshutdown call, buses wereconfined to depots.Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station andJubilee Bus Station, two biggestand busiest bus stations inHyderabad, wore a deserted look.Some commuters who reachedthe bus stations early morning toboard buses to their destinationswere seen returningdisappointed. Similarly, all thestate-wide operations of nearly

3,000 buses from the MahatmaGandhi Bus Station have beensuspended due to the bandh.Since morning on Tuesday, allthe 3,000 city buses remained intheir respective bus depots in thecity. Meanwhile, trains are beingoperated as per schedule. SouthCentral Railway officials saidthere were no cancellations ordiversion of train services. Most

of the cabs and auto-rickshawsalso went off the roads as theunions of taxi and auto driversbacked the Bharat Bandh insupport of the demand byfarmers' groups asking forrollback of the new farmlegislations by the centralgovernment. Cyberabad policehas issued a traffic advisory inview of the bandh.

Several protests might be held atvarious places, including onroads and junctions in andaround the city, affecting regularmovement of traffic, DeputyCommissioner of Police (Traffic)SM Vijay Kumar said. Peoplegoing to Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport are advisedto take the Outer Ring Road andplan their travel accordingly, hesaid. Free passage for emergencyservices and ambulances will beensured on all roads.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hundreds of IT professionalsfrom Forum of InformationTechnology (IT) Professionalsstaged a protest Raidurg MetroStation on Tuesday in support ofBharat Bandh. Forum of ITprofessionals expressed theirsolidarity with the farmersprotests that are happeningaround India in response to theanti farmer laws that are beingput forward by the government.The group took a rally from the

Raidurg Metro Station to TCSDeccan Park and also did aRoadBlock at the Lemon TreeJunction. The employees haveraised slogans in support of thefarmers - from 'memu saitam,raitu kosam' to 'people unitedshall always be victorious'.Bhavabhuthi an IT Employee,Hyderabad told The Pioneer, "Itook leave to participate in this

demonstration. Happy to seemany IT employees empathisewith farmers who are fightingfor their survival. Bringing inprivate mandi is not the problembut making farmers sell forciblyto them in order for the privatecorporations monopolize themarkets is evil." Kiran Chandra,President- Forum of ITProfessionals said, "It is not justabout the farmers, the farm billhas a greater connection withthe information technology. Theentire bill paved the way for acorporate takeover of theagrarian sector most importantlythe gig economy players likeamazon, Big basket and also theindustrial houses like relianceand putting the control of entireagrarian economy into theirhands. The entire argument ofsaying that any farmer can sellhis/her produce to any othermarket is hollow and lame.”

Buses go off the road

Techies join protest

CYBERABAD LIMITS

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad SHE teamsreceived 147 complaints fromthe women victims in themonth of November.

Among the 147 complaintsmost of the petitions filed areagainst phone harassment (57)followed by hurling abusive

comments (29) andcheating womenunder the guise ofmarriage (22) otheracts include harass-ment over socialmedia, taking pic-tures, showing privateparts, touching improp-erly.

The Cyberabad SHEteams have dealt

some of the impor-tant case whichincludes a womanharassed by a bank

employee, a cab dri-ver who misbehaved

with a woman amongothers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

A man who worked at a teastall and was involved in the-ft of motorcycles was arrest-ed by the Task Force team onTuesday. Two motorcyclesstolen from different places inthe city were recovered at hisinstance.

The accused MohammedKhan alias Mammu, 20, ofKhader Bagh in Tolichowkiworks at a tea stall inNanalnagar. “Khan gotaddicted to ganja and otherbad habits over a period oftime. Facing difficulty inarranging money for ganja,he started stealing motorcy-cles parked at public places,”said P Radha Kishan Rao,DCP Task Force.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Three days after a man hangedhimself in a village inNizamabad district, his bodywas brought down from thetree on Tuesday and was shift-ed for autopsy following anassurance by the authoritiesthat justice will be done to hisfamily.

Tension prevailed inNayavanandi village as peoplecontinued to resist the police'sattempt to shift the body of TGangadhar for autopsy,demanding justice for thefamily.

The 43-year-old had hangedhimself due to alleged harass-ment by the police in connec-tion with the suspicious deathof a woman.

The villagers were demand-ing that Gangadhar's family bepaid a compensation of Rs 25

lakh and employment be pro-vided to one eligible familymember. Gangadhar wasfound hanging from a tree inthe village on Sunday.

The police had questionedhim in connection with thedeath of a woman under sus-picious circumstances. Hisrelatives and villagers allegedthat the police harassed himand beat him up. Unable tobear the harassment and tor-ture, Gangadhar committedsuicide, they alleged.

Following protests by thevillagers, Inspector General(Nizamabad Range) NShivashankar Reddy constitut-ed a special team to probeGangadhar's suicide.

Several top officials heldtalks with the villagers andfinally on Tuesday theyallowed the police to shift thebody.

Man's body removed fromtree three days after suicide

Habitual propertyoffender held, 2bikes recovered

PNS n HYDERABAD

Excise and enforcementteam seized LSD drugs froman accused and three kgs ofganja from three accused inseparate cases on Tuesday.

In the first case, with cred-ible information, the Exciseteam intensified the vigil atMehdipatnam. On suspi-cion, the team intercepted aperson in possession of 55LSD blots.

The accused identified asMohd Sohaib, 22, is takingorders of LSD blots throughInstagram and acceptingpayments through bit coins.

In the second case, exciseofficials arrested three drugpeddlers including a techie ,who were in possession ofganja. The accused were ide-ntified as R Sandeep Reddy,Bolla Durga Prasad andKancharala Sathyanarayana.

Excise team interceptedthe vehicle and recovered akg of dry ganja, which wasbeing smuggled by RSandeep. When questioned,Sandeep disclosed that ganjawas supplied by Prasad andSathya-narayana. Excise offi-cials proceeded to the spotand nab both the suppliers inMedchal and seized 2 kgsganja from their possession.

Cops arrest fourdrug peddlers in separate cases

UoH invites applications for startup launcher programme

Traffic police facilitate transport of live organ

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Shamshabad CentralCrime Station (CCS) copsalong with the Narsingi policearrested a burglar atTolichowki on Tuesday.

The police recovered cash,gold and two-wheelers; alltogether worth Rs 52 lakhfrom him.

The arrested person, MirKazam Ali Khan alias Kajualias Surya Anna, 28, a resi-dent of Paramount Colony inTolichowki, was allegedlyinto burglaries since a decadeand was involved in about 70cases, police said. He hadbroke into houses posing aselectrician or plumber andused motorcycles for com-mitting thefts and wore a hel-met and mask to hide hisidentity.

Burglar held,property worthRs 52L seized

SHE teams received 147 plaints in Nov

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020 hyderabad 04

L VENKAT RAM REDDY

n HYDERABAD

After defeating the ruling TRSin Dubbak Assembly bypoll inNovember and reducing TRStally to 56 from 99 in recentGHMC polls, the BJP has nowset its eyes on conqueringGreater Warangal MunicipalCorporation (GWMC).

This is because similar cond-itions prevail in Warangal dueto floods as witnessed inHyderabad before GHMCpolls. Warangal was floodeddue to heavy rains in August aswell as in October this year and

people had to face severe hard-ships as they had to live in floo-dwater for several days.

There is severe resentmentagainst TRS, TRS Mayor andTRS corporators of failing toaddress flood water manage-ment and drainage issues inWarangal city for five yearseven after Warangal votersgave thumping majority toTRS in 2016 GWMC polls.

There are 58 wards inGWMC. Of them, TRS securedrecord majority of 44 seats in2016. While Congress won 4seats, the BJP and CPM wereconfined to just one seat each.

Independents and others won8 seats. BJP made big gains inGHMC polls by exposing thefailure of TRS government in

flood management and floodrelief distribution. BJP baggedmajority seats in flood affect-ed areas in GHMC polls indi-

cating the people's anger onTRS in these areas.

The BJP hopes to repeatGHMC in Warangal by takingup extensive campaigningagainst TRS failure in handlingflood situation in Warangal.

The TRS leaders in Warangalare accused of encroachinglakes and nalas in Warangal orhand in glove with encraocherswhich resulted in Warangalfloods due to choking of nalas.Added to this, the flood affect-ed victims are yet to get com-pensation. The BJP leadershiphas decided to go all out towrest the prestigious GWMC

from the ruling TRS and con-solidate BJP as the only alter-native to TRS in Telangana.Elections for GWMC arescheduled to be held in March2021.

Though Khammam munic-ipal corporation elections arealso scheduled in March 2021,the BJP leadership has set itsfocus more on Warangal due topresence of strong cadre inWarangal.

BJP views that a victory inWarangal will make TRS weak-er morally and politically as itis considered to be the pinkbastion.

BJP banks on Warangal floods for GWMC polls

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP unit presidentBandi Sanjay Kumar onTuesday demanded the stategovernment to resolve theproblems faced by the govern-ment employees, teachers andpensioners immediately.

Talking to newsmen at BJPstate headquarters, BandiSanjay said that the BJP wouldintensify protests at all theMunicipalities in the statesoon by demanding to imple-ment Interim Relief (IR) andPay Revision Commission(PRC) for Governmentemployees.

He said that the new farmlaws introduced by the Modigovernment for the welfare ofthe farmers. So that the BharatBandh failed.

Alleging that the TRS lead-ers participated in the BharatBandh only to divert the atten-tion of the people from theTRS party's defeat in the recent

GHMC elections, BandiSanjay questioned the ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao to tell why the latter hasfailed to participate in theBharat Bandh.

Questioning the ChiefMinister to tell why the latterhas failed to take up the move-ment all these days against theCentre's new farm laws, BandiSanjay said the Bharat Bandh,which they claimed to be forthe support of farmers, washeld without the participationof farmers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee President N UttamKumar Reddy demanded thatthe BJP government immedi-ately withdraw the contentiousnew farm laws to protect theinterest of farmers. He alsourged Chief Minister K Cha-ndrashekhar Rao to convene aspecial session of LegislativeAssembly to pass new laws tooverride BJP Government'santi-farmer Acts.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Gandhi Bhavan onTuesday, Uttam Kumar Reddysaid that the Bharat Bandh wassuccessful in Telangana asCongress cadre participated inprotests across the state.Describing the three new farmlaws as ‘draconian’, he con-demned the BJP governmentat the Centre for neglecting theinterest of farmers only to ben-efit a few corporates likeAdanis and Ambanis.

He also alleged that theModi government was tryingto sabotage the farmers' agita-tion using false propaganda.He said that the Congress hasfought inside and outside par-liament for withdrawal of anti-farmer laws brought in byModi Government.

Further, the Modi Govern-ment appears to be in nomood to protect the farmers'interest in contract farming.

The TPCC chief ridiculedthe TRS party for its supportto Bharat Bandh call given bythe farmers. He alleged thatChief Minister K Chandras-hekhar Rao was an equal part-ner with Prime Minister Modiin committing crimes againstthe farmers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Nizamabad MP D Arvind onTuesday described the polit-ical leaders staging protests inTelangana against the newfarm laws as 'brokers' andChief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao as chief broker.

Arvind has launchedscathing attack against theChief Minister, alleging thatKCR is standing as vertebraeto the anti-farmer move-ment. He alleged that theChief Minister is extendinghis support to the move-ment of 'commission agents'.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The residents have revoltedagainst MLA ArikepudiGandhi, while he was partic-ipating in Bandh on Tuesday.

The MLA has reportedlypushed a resident, when hequestioned the protestingMLA to tell the reason for theprotest and why they have setup barricades.

Expressing anger over theresident, Arikepudi Gandhiassaulted the resident andpushed him away saying,"We know what we aredoing...go away from here".

MP terms KCRas chief broker

MLA assaultscommon man

BJP, TRS are ‘anti-farmergovernments’, says Cong

MASSIVE UUPROAR

Leadersof all political

parties, including TRS,Congress, CPI and CPMextended their support to

agitating farmers by stagingdemonstrations across

Telangana

‘Resolve problems ofteachers, pensioners’

The Western Naval Commandof the Indian Navy observedthe 53rd Submarine Day here

on Tuesday, an official said. ViceAdmiral Ajit Kumar, Flag OfficerCommanding-in-Chief of theWestern Naval Command, laid awreath at the memorial of INSVajrabahu at Naval Dockyard here,a release stated.Submarine Day is observed to remember andhonour submariners who made supreme sacrifice in their service,it was stated.The Vice Admiral was by accompanied by RearAdmiral VSrinivas, the senior-most submariner presently posted inMumbai.The 53rd Submarine Day commemorates the maidenunfurling of the naval ensign on the erstwhile INS Kalvari at Riga,Latvia, the release said.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

The raids conducted by theIncome Tax department againstan Odisha-based group

involved in manufacturing andtrading of steel products has led tothe detection of about Rs 170 croreblack income and presence ofbogus directors who are actuallygullible daily wage earners, theCBDT said on Tuesday. The group which has premises in andaround Rourkela was searched on December 3 by the department."The group entities were booking bogus purchases of around Rs 170crore for two financial years in the name of 17 bogus entities," theCentral Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. Theadministrative authority for the I-T department did not identify theentity raided, but said all the 17 entities have "confessed" in thestatements recorded during the course of search that they wereunaware of any such business concerns in their name."It is alsoobserved that the total amount was withdrawn in cash from the bankaccounts of these bogus entities.

Rajasthan Governor KalrajMishra on Tuesday saidcoordination between

educational institutions and theindustry was necessary to helpeducated youth not only becomeself-employed but also createemployment opportunities forothers. Mishra was speaking duringan event held online and organised jointly by Manipal University andRajasthan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Research workshould be done in coordination with educational institutions andindustries and the focus should be to make maximum use of nationalresources in human interest, he said.

ADelhi court Tuesday granted bail to a man in a case related tonortheast Delhi riots, saying one of the offences under which hewas booked is “debatable”. While granting the relief to Furkan,

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said that section 436 of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) was applicable in a case of mischief in respectof destruction of a building, which was ordinarily used as a place ofworship, human dwelling or as a place for the custody of property, butthe vehicle which was allegedly burnt by the riotous mob was parkedat a road. The court further said that besides section 436, rest of thesections under which Furkan has been booked were bailable. Furkanwas arrested under sections 147 and 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawfulassembly) and 436 of IPC. “From the reading of the complaint itselfand the FIR, the vehicle in question, which was burnt by fire, wasparked at a road. The same is also depicted in the site plan, where theplace of incident is marked as A, which appears to be on the road,

Delhi riots: Court grants bail to man,says penal section invoked debatable

PNS n NEW DELHI

Rousing speeches and slogansreverberated through the air atTikri border, one of the protestsites against the Centre's newfarm laws, where farmersobserved 'Bharat Bandh' onTuesday.

Chants of 'Jai kisan','Humara bhaichara zindabad,Kisan ekta zindabad, tanashahinahi chalegi', could be heardloud and clear as over 2,000farmers shouted in unison

Flags of different farmersunions were planted sporadi-cally across the venue. Thenational flag was raised in thecentre from where the leadersdelivered their speeches.

Calling on his farmer broth-ers, a BKU leader said, "This isthe last leg of our 'andolan' andit is important that we remaindisciplined to make our protestsuccessful." As farmers sat onthe ground listening to hisspeech, the leader added, "It isunfortunate that today in ourcountry, if someone raisestheir voice and talks about thegood of the country, they aretermed anti-national"

Although the farmers hadrequested that shops remainclosed in support of BharatBandh, almost all shops in thevicinity of the protest site wereopen. However, there wasn'tany incidence of violence.

"I have kept my shop openso that the farmers can getwhatever they need. I whole-heartedly support the farmersprotest," said Anil Kumar, whoruns a departmental store inBaba Azad colony located adja-cent to the protest site.

With the farmers in the cen-tre, the police has created amulti-layered barricadingaround them to prevent anypossibility of the bandh turn-ing chaotic.

"Although we don't expectthe protest to turn violent, weare prepared. We havedeployed enough force," aDelhi police official said.

Tikri is one of the borderpoints of Delhi where thou-sands of farmers, mainly fromPunjab, Haryana and UttarPradesh, have been protesting

against the three contentiousfarm laws of the past 13 days.

The farm laws enacted inSeptember have been project-ed by the government as majorreforms in the agriculture sec-tor that will remove the mid-dlemen and allow farmers tosell anywhere in the country.

However, the protestingfarmers have expressed appre-hension that the new lawswould pave the way for elim-inating the safety cushion ofMinimum Support Price anddo away with the mandis,leaving them at the mercy ofbig corporates. The Centrehas repeatedly asserted thatthese mechanisms will remain.

Amid slogans and speeches,farmers observe ‘Bharat Bandh’

PNS n PANAJI

The ‘Bharat Bandh' against newagri laws called by farmers'organizations did not evoke anyvisible response in Goa onTuesday.Offices, banks, markets,shops and educationalinstitutes remained open whilepublic transport too was notaffected though oppositionparties supported the shut-down."We carried out strict patrollingacross the state to ensure therewas no untoward incident," asenior police officer said.The liferemained normal in the state, headded. Opposition parties

including the Congress, NCP, GoaForward Party and AAPparticipated in demonstrationsheld by farmers' organizationsand trade unions including the AllIndia Kisan Sabha, AITUC andCITU at Azad Maidan in Panaji.Leader of Opposition DigambarKamat, state Congresschief Girish Chodankar and GFPchief Vijai Sardesaiparticipated in the protest."We have asked people tovoluntarily join in theprotest. No one is forced to shuttheir shops or industries,"Suhas Naik, general secretary,AITUC, Goa, said earlier in theday.

Bandh evokes no response in Goa

PNS n BHOPAL

The Bharat 'Bandh' called byfarmer unions and supported bythe Congress and otherorganisations evoked a mixedresponse in BJP-ruled MadhyaPradesh on Tuesday barringsporadic protests. In Gwaliordistrict, police used watercannons to disperse agitatorswho were led by a Congressleader. Shops remained open inseveral cities even as Congressworkers took out rallies appealingshop-keepers to downshutters. In Morena, the Lok

Sabha constituency of Unionagriculture minister NarendraSingh Tomar, the bandh evoked amixed response as farmerscouldn't reach the AgricultureProduce Market Committee(APMC) to sell their produce.Functioning of APMCs in manyparts of the central Indian state,including in Bhopal, was affected

as farmers failed to reach themarket yards to sell theirproduce. Bhopal vegetablemarket, however, functionednormally. In Gwalior, Aam AadmiParty (AAP) workers staged asit-in protest outside theresidence of Tomar, followingwhich police detained 50 ofthem. In Bhopal, farmers tried totake out a march on theresidence of chief ministerShivraj Singh Chouhan under thebanner of the Rashtriya KisanMajdoor Sangh, but policestopped it midway atChunabhattiarea.

Protests in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh

PNS n NEW DELHI

Public transport services in thenational capital remained largelyunaffected during a ‘Bharat Bandh'on Tuesday even though someauto and taxi unions kept theirvehicles off the roads in supportof the shutdown called by farmersprotesting against the new agrilaws.' Kamaljeet Gill, the Presidentof Sarvodaya Driver Association ofDelhi which represents driversworking with app-based cabaggregators, claimed most of its

members were on strike."Thereare around 4 lakh app-based cabsin Delhi-NCR. Most of ourmembers are on strike," he said.Many users of app-based cabservices though said they did not

face much difficulty in bookingrides. Autorickshaws were alsoeasily available on the roads, saidsome other commuters. SanjaySamrat, the President of Delhi TaxiTourist Transporters Association,said drivers associated withseveral unions including thoseaffiliated to Delhi State TaxiCooperative Society and KaumiEkta Welfare Association were onstrike."Our strike in support ofBandh has been successful,claimed Samrat. The members ofstriking auto, taxi unions held an

‘Akhand Paath' at Bangla Sahibgurudwara praying for thewellbeing of farmers, he said.However, other unions claimed thestrike did not have any impact ontransport facilities in Delhi."All our autos and taxis arerunning normally and the strikehas no impact at all. We supportthe farmers and their demands,but strike causes problems only toordinary people," said RajenderSoni, the general secretary of theDelhi Auto Rickshaw Sangh andDelhi Pradesh Taxi Union.

Auto, taxi unions join bandh, public transport normal

PNS n DEHARADUN

The 'Bharat Bandh' called byfarmer unions against the agrilaws evoked a mixed response inUttarakhand on Tuesday, withlittle effect seen in the hilldistricts of Chamoli, Pauri,Uttarkashi and Rudraprayagwhile the border district ofPithoragarh observed a completestrike. In the state capital, scoresof party workers led by PCCpresident Pritam Singh marchedfrom the state party office here toPaltan bazar to enforce the bandhbut ran into arguments with shop

owners who refused to downtheir shutters. Later they sat on adharna at the busy clock towershouting slogans against the newfarm laws causing a brief trafficjam in the area.However, policeintervened to restore trafficdetaining the PCC presidentalong with his supporters andtaking them to the police lines.

Mixed response in Uttarakhand

PNS n NEW DELHI

Opposition party leaders havetaken a conscious decision tostay away from protest sites,Left leaders said on Tuesday asthey extended their support tofarmer groups who have calleda nationwide bandh against thefarm laws.

The government hasaccused the opposition partiesof supporting the farmersprotest for political gains, anallegation denied by the par-ties, which said that thedemands of the farmers werelegitimate.

"It is a conscious decision onour part to stay away from theprotest sites. The farmergroups themselves also told usthat they would want it thisway. So, we have no party ban-ners at the protest sites.

"However, our MPs arethere, as parliamentarians, toshow solidarity. We do notwant to politicise the issue. It'snot just the Left parties, but allopposition has taken this callthat except MPs no leader willjoin the farmers," said CPI(M)general secretary SitaramYechury.

Yechury said that partyworkers are at the spot, butwithout party posters or ban-ners. However, at the protestsites, banners of politically-aligned farmer groups andother trade unions could beseen on display.

CPI general secretary DRaja also said that the farmers'agitation was completely non-political and the absence ofpolitical leaders at the sites wasa decision taken to highlightthat.

"We are not sitting at any ofthe borders because we havedecided not to make this strug-gle political. We are there withthem every step of the way.

Our workers are there and allour party units are holding ral-lies and demonstrations. Wedon't want to politicise it," saidRaja.

A nationwide strike calledby farmer unions against theCentre's agri laws was under-way on Tuesday with rousingspeeches and sloganeering atDelhi's border points amidtight security arrangements,even as most of the city's mar-kets remained open. Protestingfarmers have threatened toblock key roads and occupytoll plazas as part of their callfor a 'Bharat Bandh' to press forrepeal of the new farm laws.

‘Oppn leaders have decidedto stay away from protests’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Qatar's Emir SheikhTamim Bin Hamad Al-Thanion Tuesday vowed to boostbilateral cooperation in thefields of investment flows andenergy security, and decided tocreate a special task-force tofurther facilitate investmentsby the Gulf country into India.

In a telephonic conversa-tion, Modi conveyed his felic-itations to the Qatar Emir forthe forthcoming National Dayof Qatar, the Prime Minister'sOffice said in a statement.

While thanking PrimeMinister Modi for the greet-

ings, the Emir appreciated theenthusiasm with which theIndian community in Qatarparticipates in the National

Day celebrations. He also con-veyed warm greetings to Modifor the recent Diwali festival.

The two leaders discussed

the robust cooperationbetween both countries in thefields of investment flows andenergy security, and reviewedrecent positive developmentsin this regard, the PMO said.

They decided to create a spe-cial task-force to further facil-itate investments by QatarInvestment Authority intoIndia, and also resolved toexplore Qatari investments inthe entire energy value-chainin India. The leaders agreed toremain in regular touch, andlooked forward to meeting in-person after the normalisationof the public health situationcaused by the COVID-19 pan-demic, the PMO said.

India, Qatar to boost ties

Kalraj: Coordination between eduinstitutions, industry necessary

PNS n NEW DELHI

A PIL has been moved in theDelhi High Court claimingthat the Centre and the AAPgovernment have not yetissued any regulations regard-ing minimum standards to bemaintained by different cate-gories of mental health estab-lishments under the MentalHealthcare Act.

The petition by advocateand mental health activistGaurav Kumar Bansal statesthat a similar plea filed by himearlier was disposed of by thehigh court by directing theCentre to treat it as a represen-tation and take a decision onit as expeditiously as possibleand practicable.

However, till date the cen-tral government has not noti-fied the minimum standards,he said in the petition.

It further states that underthe Mental Healthcare Act of2017 the minimum standardswere to be notified within 18months of commencement ofthe statute.

The high court on October12 had directed the Centre totreat Bansal's earlier similarplea as a representation and todecide it in accordance withthe law, rules, regulations andgovernment policy applicableto the facts of the case as expe-ditiously as possible and prac-ticable.

The direction had comeafter the central governmentsaid the draft minimum stan-

dards are ready and would bepublished/notified as soon asthey are finalised.

In his latest plea, Bansalstates there are many establish-ments in the country whichclaim they can cure or treatmentally ill people throughAyurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy.

"However, these establish-ments never register them-selves with the Central MentalHealth Authority or StateMental Health Authority asrequired under the MentalHealthcare Act, 2017.

"Since till date respondent2 (Delhi government) has nei-ther issued any notificationprescribing minimum stan-dards for such establishmentsnor has clarified whether suchestablishments shall be treat-ed as mental health establish-ments, persons with mental ill-ness are finding it difficult toapproach such entities," thepetition claimed.

PNS n KOLKATA

The West Bengal governmentis planning to roll out ascheme to procure kharifpaddy for its public distribu-tion system, as it seeks tomaintain unhindered supplyof free rice to nearly 10 crorepeople till next June, a stateminister said on Tuesday. Under the scheme, the govern-ment aims to enrol over 30lakh farmers, state food andcivil supplies ministerJyotipriya Mallick said. Nearly 13 lakh of an estimat-ed 72 lakh paddy farmers inWest Bengal have registeredthemselves for the scheme sofar, he said. "We are planningto reach out to as many farm-ers as possible, with an aim toprocure paddy to maintainunhindered supply of rice forour public distribution system.The scheme will be rolled outsoon and we will start procur-ing paddy later this month,"Mallick explained.

A super harvest this seasonand low demand have hitpaddy prices, which have fall-en below the government-announced minimum sup-

port price (MSP), a senior offi-cial of theagriculture depart-ment said.

"We are planning to impsea ceiling on the amount ofpaddy to be procured fromeach farmer. This will help usenrol more and more farmersunder this scheme," he said.

The government is planningto procure around 45 quintalsof paddy from each farmer. Last year, the maximum pro-curement went up to 90 quin-tals for every farmer at an MSPof Rs 1,868 per quintal.

"The price, this time, is yetto be fixed. It will be donekeeping in mind the interest ofthe farmers," the official said.

The state also has plans toset up a special surveillancesystem to ensure that theenrolled farmers sell their har-vest to the government andnot to hoarders, he added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chief of Army Staff Gen MMNaravane on Tuesday left ona six-day tour of the UnitedArab Emirates and SaudiArabia, in a first-ever visit bya head of the Indian Army tothe two strategically importantGulf countries. The visit by theArmy chief is seen as a reflec-tion of India's growing strate-gic ties with the two countriesand is expected to furtheropen up new avenues forcooperation in the defenceand security sphere.

Gen Naravane's visit comesin the midst of fast-paceddevelopments in the Gulfregion including normalisa-tion of Israel's relations withseveral Arab countries as wellas situation arising out of theassassination of Iran's topnuclear weapons scientistMohsen Fakhrizadeh.

The Army chief 's first des-tination will be the UnitedArab Emirates where he willmeet senior military officialsand discuss avenues forenhancing bilateral defencecooperation.

Army Chief leavesfor UAE, Saudi

PNS n NEW DELHI

As part of the Sweden-IndiaNobel Memorial Week 2020,the Embassy of Sweden inIndia has organised a virtualevent celebrating women sci-entists and entrepreneursfrom both the countries.

The event, 'SHE STEM:Women Leading the Way',was attended by nearly 5,000people on Monday, accordingto the organisers.

Held in collaboration withthe 'Atal Innovation Mission',the government of India'sflagship initiative to promotea culture of innovation andentrepreneurship in thecountry, it honoured womenworking to bring cutting-edge Science and Technologyto global sustainability efforts.

"The factors for bringing inthis change are to fight thestereotyping, discriminationand gender inequality whichstill marks the lives of sever-al girls around the world.Sweden's Feminist ForeignPolicy seeks to be a transfor-mative agenda that influ-ences certain changes andstructures.”

Sweden-IndiaNobel MemorialWeek honourswomen scientists

‘No regulations on minstandards for mentalhealth establishments’

WB to launch scheme for paddy procurement I-T raids on Odisha group yields

Rs 170 crore black income

Mumbai: Indian Navy observes53rd Submarine Day

Soldiering is extremely riskybusiness, even without theescalation to a full-fledgedwar. The unpredictablevagaries of nature,

machines, circumstances and theoperating turf combine to test thewarrior at each step – it is from thatfount of perennial uncertainty thatthe military families silently invoke,“We wait. We hope. We pray. Untilyou’re home again.” The truism ofthe daily dangers that beset a war-rior’s life manifested in the tragicincident of Indian Navy’s MiG-29K,which went down over the ArabianSea. While one of the pilots wasimmediately rescued, the other,instructor Commander NishantSingh, had remained untraceable.Tragically and finally, the family,squadron and the other loved onesof Commander Nishant Singhwere joined in their prayers by agrateful nation, in the poignantmoment of necessary “closure”, asthe news of a body believed to behis was recovered from high seasafter 11 days of relentless search.

In an ode to the timeless spir-it of “I will never leave a comradebehind,” which underpins thesacred ethos of all warriors, theIndian Navy launched intensivesearch operations, deploying ninewarships, 14 aircraft and fast inter-ceptor craft.

Even among the comity of war-riors, the naval aviators are cut froma brazenly different cloth, as theyearn their swaggering-flyer mys-tique owing to the inherent dangersand glory that accompany theirprofessional calling. These very fewmen and women manage the addi-tional complexity of landing theirmachines on a moving aircraft car-rier deck by snagging the “tailhook”to arresting high-tensile wires, afterhaving approached the deck atexactly the right angle. Then thepilot counterintuitively pushes theengines to full power, in order tostop. All strategising and coordina-tion has to happen in a matter ofseconds. The complexities, theadrenaline rush and the dangers aresimply unmatched.

Despite the advent of moderntechnology and guiding systems,naval aviation remains among theriskiest services. The soul of a truenaval aviator is forged amid thattrying loneliness of flying over theendless azure of daytime or thehaunting darkness of the openocean at night – either way temper-ing mind into steel so that when

that split second critical decisionis required, it is done to perfec-tion. These rare warriors need tocombine the multiple dimen-sions of sea, air and land, simul-taneously.

Conversely the extremepressures of job also lead tounique personalities that typifynaval aviators. Ironically, it wasNishant who had jumped intopopular imagination with anow-famous letter written to hissenior, seeking permission to“bite the bullet (get married).”Nishant had asked tongue-in-cheek, “I regret to be droppingthis bomb on you at such a shortnotice, but as you would agree,I intend to drop a nuclear one onmyself and I realise that just likeall the split second decisions wetake up in the air in the heat ofcombat, I cannot afford to allowmyself the luxury to re-evaluatemy decision,” and had serendip-itously added, “I promise tonever repeat such a perfor-mance in air or teach it to mytrainee pilots.” His CommandingOfficer, another naval aviator,had matched Nishant’s good-humoured (albeit, private com-munication) with, “But all thegood things have to finally cometo an end” and recorded hisacquiescence with jest, “wel-come to hell!” Certainly, no onehad imagined or ever assumedthe “end” to imply death. Beyondthe obvious camaraderie and theclassic flamboyance and élan ofnaval aviators, there is also thehuman side of warriors whocherish nothing more thanhome and family, above all.Very often, owing to ignoranceor sheer lack of concern, the cit-

izenry forgets the dangers thatare inherent, routine andunimaginable on land, air andsea, in the course of maintain-ing the sovereignty of the nation,which could lead to the paymentof the “ultimate price” in the dis-charge of military duties.

It was to its home base atINS Hansa, Goa, that the all-weather, carrier-based, multi-role fighter aircraft, i.e. MiG-29K, was flying back from theaircraft carrier, INSVikramaditya. Part of the IndianNavy’s famed “Black Panther”squadron, this has been thethird accident involving theMiG-29K fighter in the last oneyear, albeit, this entailed thetrainer two-seater variant. LastNovember, a trainer crashed inGoa after engine failure due toa bird hit. Both pilots ejectedsafely. In February, a MiG-29Kon a routine training sortiecrashed off Goa due to techni-cal glitch. The pilot ejected safe-ly and was recovered. Of course,the aircraft has reported glitch-es in the past and in othercountries though the Navy hasrectified the engine. Hopefully,going forward, operational defi-ciencies will be looked at muchmore keenly before acquisitions.

But while the armed forceswill never forget its own inCommander Nishant Singh, itwill persevere whatever theodds, as they do not know of anyother way, except to fight theodds, everyday. The flyers havea unique tradition of honouringtheir fallen pilots with flying ina “missing man formation.” Lastyear, the Indian Air Force Chiefhimself led a group of MiG-21s

to give a symbolically movingaerial salute through the “miss-ing man formation” to honourthe valour and supreme sacri-fices of its pilots at Kargil.

The pain of not knowingthe fate and hoping-against-hope that the family ofCommander Nishant Singhhad to endure for all of 11 daysis of indescribable magnitudebut it ends now. The author toohad a family elder, Lt BikramSingh Rathore of 6 Kumaon,who took the “last stand” in thefierce Battle of Walong in 1962.At 22, the lionheart had foughttill last man, last bullet. Thenoble warrior had stoutlyrefused to surrender or retreat,and towards the same actionTime magazine famously noted,“At Walong, Indian troopslacked everything. The onlything they did not lack wasguts.” Lt Bikram Singh Rathorewas last seen dragged away bythe Chinese, never to be afford-ed a “closure” for the family asthe official status is “missing,believed killed.” Such are theways of the profession of armsthat seldom does a warrior out-live a couple of chances, yet thesoldiers will always back theirinstincts and take calculatedchances to fight another day.“I’ve got your back” is a reas-surance they convey each otherbut for now, the nation mournsits naval aviator, CommanderNishant Singh, who will remainsymbolically the “missing man”for his family, squadron and thenation.

(The author is former LtGovernor of Andaman andNicobar Islands & Puducherry)

Ever since the Resolution Professional (RP)appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal(NCLT) recently decided that the Murari Jalan and

Kalrock consortium will take over the assets of the mori-bund Jet Airways, there has been intense speculationof what the airline’s version 2.0 will look like and whatmodel it will follow. In an email sent out by their pub-lic relations agency yesterday, the new owners of Jetoutlined some of their ambitions for the future. But itwas far from a clear plan of how the airline will acquire

either the slots they need to operate, given that rival airlines have gobbled them up sincethese are not “owned” by any airline, or where Jet Airways will acquire new aircraft tooperate new flights. Besides, civil aviation is certainly not the most promising sector ina pandemic-hit world and a new player certainly cannot get adventurous in a slump. Thestatement thus reads more like a wishlist more than anything else.

Sure, Jet Airways has undeniable brand equity among flyers but in a price-sensitivemarket, they care more about prices and schedules. Besides, it will not be easy to repli-cate the old Jet Airways’ standards of service given that several of Jet’s older employ-ees have found new jobs elsewhere. Also, while Jet Airways did own some aircraft, theyhave not been flown for over a year and the cost of bringing them up to safe flying con-ditions is considerable. The plans outlined by the new ownership have no details aboutthe additional funding that the owners will bring in to not just revitalise aircraft but acquirenew planes and the costs of restarting an operation. A line in a statement said that theowners looked at starting a new airline but decided against it, so they are essentially start-ing a new airline with an old brand. How much is that brand worth is a debatable pointbecause when Jet Airways crashed and burned, it also lost several of its high-value cus-tomers. To assume things will be alright quickly by the summer might be expecting toomuch and makes one wonder if the owners really know what they are doing.

If Union Home Minister Amit Shah has stepped in tosolve the farmers’ protest over the new laws enact-ed by his Government, it shows that he has sensed

the runaway consequences of a localised dissent turn-ing into a national movement. And that’s because thisagitation, quite unlike the demonstrations over the citi-zenship law or the students’ protests, cannot be attrib-uted to liberal advocacy, ideological conflict or theOpposition’s conspiracy, but is coming from the sonsof the soil. And they have decided to speak for them-selves without taking the help of either politicians, rightsactivists or celebrities, drawing traction with their quiet

dignity and right to live with it. They have demanded their equity in the new order, not asa constituency or votebank, but as conscious citizens. In that sense, they embody thedeeper undercurrent of a revolt against the authoritarian dispensation of the day that expectsits people to yield to the weight of majoritarianism. The farmers have shown that heft isn’talways about numbers. In fact, the subliminal resentment now has vented itself and becomea voice that doesn’t need endorsement. On the contrary, politicians, sportsmen, civil soci-ety, celebrities are latching on to them than the other way round, when the cause needsto rent them. True, the farm laws attempt structural reforms to liberalise the agriculturemarket but they do not factor in the farmers’ well-being and comfort or hand-hold themto a new regime where they have a level-playing field. They have, therefore, become theignored voice of the common man at the mercy of the State’s imposition. That’s why thefarmers have resurrected Guru Gobind Singh’s Pagri Sambhal Jatta Lehar movement. Forthe Sikh guru made it a symbol of honour, the right of every honest man to live a life ofdignity and declassified it as a right of the elite. Peasants, who rose against the British Raj,used the pagri to band together dissolving their identity based on religion or caste. That’swhy though the Government has been trying to box the protesters in as belonging to Punjaband button-holing it as a State problem, the farmers are reminding us that this is not aproblem of Sikh farmers, redefining the pagri as worthy of any one of them who fightsfor their rights. It is this universalising of agenda, with some farmers’ unions now draw-ing attention to other causes, like the incarceration of students, activists and teachers, thathas made their activism credible enough to be taken seriously by the establishment. Particularlywhen it is spreading in State after State and farmers’ lobbies, through NRI pressure groups,have been successful in getting legislators in the US, UK and Canada involved and defendtheir right to protest.

Their integrity and commitment have been strong enough to draw in other trade unions,be it of transporters, traders, taxis, banks, railways, even lawyers, basically working classpeople who almost always turn out to vote. This coalescence is stronger than any of Shah’sintention to break up the unions. This is a political capital too difficult to ignore. One thathas forced all parties, particularly those in the Opposition, to ignore their hypocrisy andstand with farmers. Which is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself called ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal on his birthday, more to assuage concerns,considering that the latter had returned the Padma Vibhushan, demanding rollback of thefarm Acts. In fact, with Punjab Assembly elections in 2022, the SAD couldn’t risk its imagewith farmers. So it walked out of its alliance with the BJP and withdrew its Minister forFood Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader AmarinderSingh went a step further, amending the Central law and bringing in fresh Bills in the Assembly,guaranteeing existing rights of farmers. This seems odd considering the Congress, whichhas itself been reformist on the agriculture sector and favoured some of the measures inthe farm Acts, has done a U-turn. It even advocated dismantling the State Agriculture ProduceMarketing Committee (APMC) Acts in its 2019 manifesto. And despite promising loan waiversin States ruled by it, it has failed to provide even limited relief. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),which initially had a hands-off attitude to the farmers’ stir, is now supporting it primarilybecause it is still ambitious about making inroads into Punjab. Hence AAP leader and DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made it a point to visit agitators at the State’s borders. Thisdespite the farmers refusing AAP support for community kitchens and shelters. BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose State wouldn’t be much affected by the new laws,has now sided with the unions, given that Assembly elections are months away and theissue has turned out to be even bigger than those on the citizenship law or students, whichwere limited to their constituencies and hadn’t galloped with such frenzy. Clearly, the Oppositionhas once again been reactive rather than being proactive. By being disunited on the farm-ers’ issue, they failed to either block the Ordinance on farm reforms or muster enoughnumerical strength to outshout the ruling party in the Rajya Sabha, force a debate and dis-cussion in the House or at least make sure that the legislation was scrutinised by parlia-mentary committees. And till the farmers landed in Delhi, none of them had planned acohesive national campaign on their rights. Now that the issue has become a veritable tin-derbox, they have no choice but to look concerned. That actually makes them look evenmore unconcerned. In the end, the Government has to give a price guarantee of sorts asthe Minimum Support Price (MSP) has itself become unremunerative given rising inputcosts. Farmers are but naturally wary of any contracted price in the open market that couldpush them further down the trough they are in. They are not entirely unreasonable or againstmarket economics. If only the Government had acted with reason than haste.

Shah steps in

All religions are equalSir — All religions teach human-ity vital lessons in tolerance.Religion is not subject to anyplace, time, colour, person ornation and it is the same foreveryone. In a United Nations(UN) discussion on the “Cultureof Peace,” India criticised theWorld Union for being “selective”in the protection of theAbrahamic religions, Islam,Christianity and Judaism and notspeaking out for the remainingreligions of the world. The UNshould not be partisan and mustcondemn hatred against all reli-gions as that represents thewicked face of civilisation. Itshould be discouraged andcrushed wherever in the world itraises its ugly head.

Sunil ChilwalHaldwani

When will this stop?This is with reference to the arti-cle, “Girls please, not brides.” It isa sad fact that the Coronavirusoutbreak has pushed so manychildren into marriage at a timewhen they are not mentally,emotionally and physically readyfor it. It is an evil that is hidingin plain sight. And the irony is

that while we can put an end toit by raising awareness and beingalert, we choose to ignore it. We,as a nation, refuse to heed theclarion call of “Beti padhao, betibachao.” How many of ourdaughters will need to be sacri-

ficed at the altar of a patriarchalsociety? We cannot absolve our-selves of this responsibility in anation that worships goddesses asmuch as it worships male deities.

Abhinav SharmaDelhi

Leave the IIMs aloneSir — The Ministry of Educationis considering a proposal that willempower it to initiate an inquiryagainst the Board of Governorsof any of the 20 IIMs if they are

found to be in violation of theIIM Act. The heads of the insti-tutes are alarmed, rightfully so,at this clear move to encroach onthe autonomy guaranteed to theIIMs almost three years ago bythe very same Act. The recentstand-off between the Government and the IIMs involves itsone-year programme. The IIMscall it an MBA degree, as is theglobal norm in many businessschools. This illustrates the kindof tussle over trivialities thatbureaucratic systems expendenergies on, almost by reflex.

This kind of a war eruptedin 2016, too, but at that time thePMO interfered in the matterand it was settled amicably.The Prime Minister has cham-pioned the autonomy of theIIM, a system which has provedits mettle over and over again.The National Education Policy(NEP) 2020 too envisagesgreater freedom for institutionsof higher learning. Neither ofthose objectives are met by thisattempted change in law.

Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020

06

Missing Man, RIP!Despite the advent of modern technology and guiding systems,

naval aviation remains among the riskiest services

I have been detained onceagain because I wanted to visit Budgam where hundreds of families were evicted from their homes.

PDP chief—Mehbooba Mufti

Our rich should be more giving

The list of India's top philanthropists and their contri-butions that is released every year is not one that makesus very proud. This year, too, the list shows that the

country's record of generosity is poor. Most of the namesthat find a place in the list are known and familiar, and eventheir order, in terms of the size in contributions, remainsmore or less unchanged.

While the difference between the top and second con-tributor is striking, still more striking is the general unwill-ingness of India's rich and privileged class to do their bitto help the poor and the needy with voluntary acts of giv-ing. Philanthropy has grown in India over the years buthas not kept pace with the growth of wealth and individ-ual incomes in the country. The number of billionaires andmillionaires has increased steadily but with that the gapbetween the rich and poor has grown, too.

Even during COVID times, it is not the rich but thepoor who have suffered. They have not only lost their livesdue to the disease, a large number of them have lost theirlivelihoods, too. Yet, there has not been an outpouring ofhelp and charity from our rich and famous. They wouldmuch rather spend the money they have in buying moreproperty, fancy cars and luxury goods for themselves thanhelp an underprivileged family. If every rich person were

to adopt a village or orphanage or old people’s home oran animal shelter, they would make a major difference tothe lives of so many people. No one can change the world,but they can change a small part of it.

Though there is much more scope for philanthropyand charity in India, the country has lagged behind Westernnations in this respect. We think that the Western societyis individualistic, materialistic and acquisitive and that wehave higher values of renunciation and compassion whichplace the community over the individual. But our actionsbelie the values we claim to have.

Shovanlal ChakrabortyKolkata

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Brown wingsJet Airways’ new owners hope that ‘Jet 2.0’ can take wing

in summer. They are being very optimistic

BHOPINDER SINGH

Believe it or not, I'm one of

the fortunate, among very

few, who reached the top

with a single kidney, with a

dead takeoff leg.

Former long jumper —Anju Bobby George

Canada could start its COVID-19 vaccine plan nextweek. This will move us for-ward on our whole timeline of vaccine rollout.

Canadian Prime Minister

—Justin Trudeau

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

S O U N D B I T EI'm a huge advocatefor therapy. I think it's such a normalthing, especially nowadays.

Singer and actor—Selena Gomez

EVEN AMONG THECOMITY OF

WARRIORS, THENAVAL AVIATORSARE CUT FROM A

BRAZENLYDIFFERENT CLOTH,

AS THEY EARNTHEIR MYSTIQUE

OWING TO THEINHERENT

DANGERS ANDGLORY THAT

ACCOMPANY THEIRPROFESSIONAL

CALLING

The self-starter farmers’ protest has snowballed into a nationalmovement, one that has made the Govt uncomfortable

Dial M for health

THE AAP WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE NATIONWIDE

STRIKE. I HOPE THE WHOLE COUNTRY JOINS IT

PEACEFULLY AND SUPPORTS THE FARMERS.

—DELHI CHIEF MINISTER

ARVIND KEJRIWAL

THE FARMERS ARE JUST AN EXCUSE

FOR THE AAP AND ARVIND KEJRIWAL TO

COME TO POWER IN PUNJAB.

—BJP LEADER

GAUTAM GAMBHIR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Astrong Primary Health System (PHS)ensures equity, efficiency and effectivenessin extending healthcare facilities to people.

The local health centre is the first point of con-tact between the citizens and the healthcare sys-tem. India started working on the establishmentof the PHS with the implementation of its firstNational Health Policy (NHP) in 1983, based onthe World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) AlmaAta declaration of 1978. According to the decla-ration, the objective of a PHS should be to deliv-er “curative, preventive, promotive and rehabili-tative” health services. However, even afterdecades, these objectives still pose a challenge topolicymakers. Though consistent efforts arebeing made in this direction, one of the key fac-tors that can help achieve the NHP’s objectives isto ensure that care providers are able to reach outto people in the remotest parts of the country. Inrural India, the first point of contact with the com-munity is the sub-centre at the gram panchayatlevel, that is supposed to take care of five to sixvillages.

The basic healthcare facilities offered at thesub-centre are through the Accredited SocialHealth Activists (ASHAs) and the Auxiliary NurseMidwife (ANM). The next level is the PrimaryHealth Centre (PHC) that takes care of the pop-ulation of around 50-60 villages. The PHC is thereferral unit for six sub-centres, a medical officerand around 14 paramedics. The uppermost is theCommunity Health Centre (CHC) for 100 villagesor one lakh population. It provides the facility ofa 30-bed hospital with specialised services. A CHCis termed a fully-operational first referral unit ifit is equipped to provide round-the-clock emer-gency obstetric care and blood storage.

The Urban PHC (UPHC) is structured in asimilar way. For a population of 50,000-60,000 andfor every five to six UPHCs, there is an UrbanCommunity Health Centre (UCHC), whichincludes empanelled secondary/tertiary privatehealthcare providers. Though historically, India’spolicy has been rural-centric, in May 2013 theNational Urban Health Mission (NUHM) waslaunched as a part of the National Health Mission(NHM). This was done to cater to the healthcarerequirements of an increasing number of urbanpoor as a result of a mass exodus of people fromrural to urban areas. A strong PHS has immenseimportance in a country like India, which is a vastnation of over 1.36 billion people with diversityin terms of needs, socio-cultural norms, aninequitable distribution of facilities and so on. Thisis because the primary healthcare system involveseducating the community about the prevailinghealth problems and methods of preventing andcontrolling them.

Also, it operates using socially-acceptablemethods and technology with full community par-ticipation. For example, the network of ASHA andAnganwadi workers at the PHC level played a piv-otal role in helping to achieve rapid progress inreducing the Child Mortality Rate (CMR) byensuring that Government schemes on immuni-sation reach the beneficiaries. Plus, the PHS doesnot involve huge infrastructure costs while deliv-ering major benefits. The Health and WellnessCentres announced in 2018 under the AyushmanBharat scheme now aim to build on health sys-tems, thus strengthening the NRHM.

In rural India, considerable progress has beenmade in the number of sub-centres, PHCs andCHCs. However, there is still a huge shortfall ascompared to the population. As per data available

in the Ninth Common Review MissionReport, 2015 of the NHM, there has beena 5.2 per cent increase in the number ofsub-centres, 8.9 per cent increase inPHCs and a 61.3 per cent increase in thenumber of CHCs since 2005 to 2015,

In India, the States are responsiblefor organising and delivering health ser-vices to the citizens. Vast disparities existas far as the condition of the PHS in dif-ferent States and the health outcomes areconcerned. This is also true for rural andurban areas. There are some States thatare leading in terms of achievement ofhealth outcomes, whether it is maternal,child or general healthcare, whereassome are way behind. In States likeRajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, onePHC caters to around 41,000 peoplewhereas ideally there should be one PHCfor a population of 20,000. The story isrepeated in many other States around thenation, meaning that the first line ofhealthcare services is very weak.

One way in which this problem canbe overcome is through use of technol-ogy, especially mobile technology. Thereis a need to step up investments in thefield of mHealth, which is basically theuse of mobile communication devices(such as personal digital assistants,smartphones) to enhance the delivery ofhealthcare services and the technologyfor healthcare in the developing world.

The ubiquity of mobile phones andinternet penetration in rural and remoteareas of India has paved the way forincreased use of mobile phones asdevices to deliver healthcare services inseveral ways. The mHealth applicationson phones (smartphones or simplehandsets) are being used to send SMSreminders for prenatal or postnatalcheck-ups in case of maternal and childhealthcare. These reminders help the

ANMs track the medical records of preg-nant women and infants, which ulti-mately helps to improve maternal andchild mortality. Much research is beingcarried out in emerging economies andmany projects have been carried out inIndia to prove the effectiveness of suchinterventions on healthcare.

Mobile phones with internet con-nectivity can also help in connectingpatients in remote areas to obtain pre-liminary diagnostic services from qual-ified doctors sitting miles away fromthem. Many start-ups are developingmobile applications for this, sensing thebusiness opportunity. For example, anapp named “Aayu”, available in Hindiand English, can be easily downloadedon an Android phone and is fairly sim-ple to use. Patients just have to just press“E-Consult” after which s/he can justchoose the category that best describesthe ailment.

The categories range from issues likeacidity, breathlessness, common cold, eardiscomfort, fever, headache, insect bite,joint pain, loose motions and skininfections among others. The patientthen needs to answer some questions tonarrow down the problem, and finallya specialist doctor is matched, who maygive diagnosis and prescribe medicinesas required. Interaction with the doctorsis possible through video calls. Suchmobile applications would solve theproblem of access to qualified doctors.It also provides digital records to patientsthat can be used by them in the futureas well.

Not only as a tool for providingaccess to healthcare services in remoteareas of developing countries but glob-ally, too, the mobile healthcare marketis growing exponentially due to fastinternet connectivity, increasing cost and

space constraints for hospitals, less sup-ply of qualified doctors in comparisonto demand, the increasing problem oflifestyle diseases and an increasingnumber of consumers who demandhealthcare anywhere and anytime.

The number of mHealth apps avail-able in the market globally has increasedsubstantially. There are now over3,18,000 healthcare apps available on thetop app stores worldwide, nearly dou-ble the number of apps available in 2015.This amounts to more than 200 appsbeing added each day.

According to a report titled MobileHealth App Market: Industry, Trends,Opportunities and Forecasts to 2023 byResearch and Markets, the globalmHealth app market is projected to bevalued at $28.320 billion in 2018 and isexpected to reach up to $102.35 billionby 2023. With such investments expect-ed in mHeath app market, one shouldhope that these serve the purpose ofenabling delivery of quality healthcare,especially primary healthcare services,in developing and under developedcountries.The recent COVID-19 crisiscaught the world quite unprepared as faras development of the health infrastruc-ture, required to deal with a prolongedpandemic, is concerned. Not only this,the research on microbial diseases, itsimpact and public awareness aboutsuch epidemics was found wanting.

Taking proactive steps, govern-ments in developing countries must nowstep up research in the field of mHealthand increasingly leverage mHealth appli-cations for solving the problem of pro-viding quality healthcare services to theirpeople.

(The writer is Joint Director, NationalInstitute of Labour Economics, Researchand Development, NITI Aayog)

The ubiquity of mobile phones and internet in rural and remote areas has paved the wayfor increased use of phones as devices to deliver healthcare services

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

On the right trackduring a crisis

RAM C ACHARYA

Taking advantage of the lull in operations, the East Central Railways fast-tracked projects wheresuspension of traffic for long periods was needed

MEENAL SHARMA JAGTAP

TAKINGPROACTIVE

STEPS,GOVERNMENTS IN DEVELOPING

COUNTRIESMUST NOW

STEP UPRESEARCH

IN THE FIELD OF

MHEALTH ANDINCREASINGLY

LEVERAGEMHEALTH

APPLICATIONSFOR SOLVING

THE PROBLEMOF PROVIDING

QUALITYHEALTHCARE

SERVICES TO THEIR

PEOPLE

In order to carry out urgent works, repairs and modificationsto the existing railway infrastructure in the country, suspen-sion of all train movement in a given section is inescapable.

This cessation of all activities is called a “traffic block” in rail-way parlance. Over the years it had become hard, if not impos-sible, to order a “traffic block” on account of the exponentialgrowth of the Indian Railways, where over 16,000 trains orig-inating everyday run on the vast network of 67,000 km.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has adverselyimpacted the nation’s economy over the last nine months, result-ed in the number of trains originating daily from all over thenation, dropping to less than half. Due to this, a “traffic block”could now be ordered at the drop of a hat. Taking advantageof the lull in operations, the East Central Railways (ECR) fast-tracked nearly a dozen projects where suspension of rail traf-fic for long periods of time was involved. These projects hadbeen dragging on for years as train operations were being rou-tinely accorded top priority and stopping all train movement forthem was simply out of the question, unless it was for a safe-ty-related task.

However, due to the Coronavirus, upgrading the 390-kmlong Jhajha to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU), the erstwhileMughalsarai station route, to run trains at 130 kmph insteadof the earlier 110 kmph became possible since long “trafficblocks,” extending up to six hours, could be ordered. Thisinvolved extensive replacing of existing rails with those of high-er Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS). Hence, Plasser Quick RelayingSystem (PQRS) machines that could lay down 230 m-long weld-ed rail panels in one go were deployed for the completion ofthe task.

The Jhajha-DDU section, though an alternative to theAsansol-Dhanbad-Gaya-DDU route, had suffered neglect fordecades. But having gained adequate traffic over the last decadeor so, it was now ripe for an upgrade. No less than six sta-tions that had the antiquated system of hand-lever cabins withsemaphore signals were replaced by electronic interlocking andcoloured-light signals. Similarly, electronic-interlocking was com-missioned at the Kiul-Lakhisarai section and an IntermediateBlock Hut (IBH) was provided at the Sachivalay Halt, Block HutC, Hathidah, Bhalui and Chaura. This upgrade had a salutaryeffect on the speed of trains, and the time to cover the Jhajha-DDU stretch was now cut by almost half an hour.

Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) is the gold standard for trainoperations, where hundreds of train-routing points and signalsin major yards can be operated from a Central Cabin. Long-pending projects for Patna (`30 crore), Danapur (`52 crore)and Kiul-Lakhisarai (`21 crore) were taken up and complet-ed. This was a very difficult, if not impossible, task to finish inthe pre-Coronavirus era of busy rail traffic.

Another work from the vast basket of projects of the ECRthat had been in a limbo for a number of years, too, got spedup. This was a bridge over the River Kosi, that would bring pros-perity to the remote region of north Bihar. The old bridge, builtin 1887, between Nirmali and Saraigarh (district Supaul) in northBihar (along the Nepal border) had been destroyed in an earth-quake in 1934, snapping rail connectivity to this region. Thefoundation stone for a new bridge had been laid by Atal BihariVajpayee in 2002 and the project was in the final stages of com-pletion, waiting for rail approaches from the Nimarli and Saraigarhends. This project, costing `323 crore, picked up momentumwith resources now available due to the pandemic, and the 1.9-km long railway line, along with the mega-bridge over Kosi, wascompleted at a final cost of `620 crore. It was dedicated tothe nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September.

Connectivity between south and the equally, if not more,prosperous north Bihar has always been an issue. Constructedat a cost of ̀ 2,800 crore four years ago, a rail-cum-road bridgeover the Ganga provides a vital connection between Mungerand Katihar, bypassing the congested Barauni Junction routefor movement from south to north Bihar and beyond, to Bengaland Assam.

It was indeed a red-letter day for the Indian Railways whenthe more than 3-km-long bridge over the Son River was con-verted from double to triple track, with advance signalling fea-tures, thanks to less than half the level of rail traffic now mov-ing due to the pandemic. A major upgrade for the Grand Chordroute (Dhanbad-DDU), it also involved RRI work at the Dehri-on-Son and Sonnagar stations of the DDU division. Expectedto make a significant impact on the throughput of coal trains,it is slated to hike the potential for supplying coal to power plantsby 20-25 per cent, meeting the burgeoning demand of elec-tricity for the Indian economy.

(The writer is a former member, Railway Board)

Be fearful when others are greedy,and be greedy when others arefearful.” This statement by the

famous investor Warren Buffett puts ina nutshell the concept of contrarianinvesting. It is an approach that has ben-efited many successful investors likeBuffett himself and billionaires likePeter Lynch and John Templeton, toname a few. Contrarian investing is anapproach that follows rational behav-iour when the popular sentiment on thebourses is irrational. Contrarianinvestors go against the prevalent mar-ket sentiment and invest in stocks andsectors that have vast growth potentialin the long run but are currently

undervalued due to a short-term neg-ative sentiment. The stock market ismade up of traders and investors.Traders have a short-term view andinvest based upon the temporary upsand downs which are created by posi-tive and negative news and investor sen-timents. Stocks which are not funda-mentally strong get overvalued in a bullphase and scrips, which are intrinsical-ly strong, get beaten down in a bearphase. This definitely does not meanthat every stock that is overvalued isstrong or every scrip that is underval-ued is fundamentally weak.

A long-term or fundamentalinvestor identifies healthy companieswhose share value increases proportion-ately as the business grows and investsin them. Many times, due to temporaryeconomic conditions, war, or pan-demics, stock markets enter an extend-ed bear phase. During this time, allstocks, strong or weak, take a beatingand their values go down. This time ismarked with extreme pessimism whereall investors panic, behave irrationally

and start selling their shares. The gen-eral view is that such times are unsuit-able to start investing in scrip. However,this view is not shared by the contrar-ian investors, who look at the beatenmarket as an opportune time for bar-gain hunting and invest in stocks thathave strong fundamentals.

The 2008 economic crisis is onesuch instance when the investors acrossthe globe went into panic selling mode,leading to massive selling on the glob-al bourses. Shares of fundamentallystrong companies were available at hugediscounts. During this time, contrari-an investors avoided the herd mental-ity and picked up beaten but healthycompanies and subsequently enjoyedsignificant returns during the recoveryphase. The main strength of a contrar-ian investor is to identify scrips that arefundamentally strong but undervalued.They use financial ratios like low Priceto Earnings (PE), Price to Book Value,Price to Cash Earnings and otherfinancial ratios to discover undervaluedstocks. Over the years, contrarian

investors started using several addition-al ratios like Earnings to Price (E/P),they use Book to Market (B/M), CashFlow to Price (C/P) and Past Growthof Sales (GS) to ascertain the value offirms. Studies regarding contrarianinvesting can go back as far as 1977when Basu analysed the performanceof US stocks, based on their PE ratio,for a period of 14 years from 1957-1971,and found that lower PE stocks gener-ate higher returns when compared tohigher PE scrip. Here are some contrar-ian investment strategies that are fol-lowed by most successful investors.Swim against the tide: As humans aresocial animals, almost all of them arebound by social confirmations. Whena majority of people believe in some-thing, it is thought to be true. This herdmentality is also visible in stock mar-kets during a bear or bull phase.Investors tend to follow others either inpanic selling or buying, irrespective ofthe valuation of the shares. So they endup either buying overvalued or sellingundervalued stock.

Contrarians, on the other hand,have independent thinking and do notfollow the crowd. They make invest-ment decisions based on the fundamen-tals of the stocks.

Seeing opportunity in a crisis: Forirrational investors, a market crash is abad news as they panic and follow theherd. For contrarians, every marketcrash is an opportunity. They wait forthe downward slide in the market tobuy good stocks at a bargain.

Be a long-term investor:Contrarian investors believe in long-term investing. They pick up greatstocks when they are undervalued andwait patiently for the prices to go up.

Research: Due to changing eco-nomic and business scenarios, a con-trarian investor should not depend onlyon the past performance of the scrip.Research has to be continuous asmany stocks that were consideredintrinsically strong earlier are nowhereto be found now. If a company is show-ing continuous downfall in financialperformance, it is better to exit the stock

and look for an alternative. Any investment style is not with-

out its pitfalls, and so is contrarianinvesting. It is hard to practise, as goingagainst the general market sentiment isnever easy and is often marred by self-doubt. Despite having the backing ofresearch and careful analysis, contrar-ian investing does not guarantee suc-cess. Even a shrewd and experiencedbusinessman like Buffett lost $443million by investing in Dexter Shoes in1993, that was making year-on-yearprofit, but went out of business in 2008as competition increased.

To conclude, contrarian investingis a technique practised by a handful ofinvestors who have the expertise andrationality to pick intrinsically-strongbargain stocks, and extreme optimismto see hope in market downturns.Through a careful analysis, the righttiming and expertise, a contrarianinvesting approach can make a fortunefor investors.

(The writer is Associate Professor,Amity University, Noida)

Investing against the tide pays offThrough a careful analysis, the right timing and expertise, a contrarian buying approach can make a fortune for investors

HIMA BINDU KOTA

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Britain’s departure from theEU under Boris Johnsonwith — or without — a freetrade deal will dimprospects for the UK nextyear. At best Johnson willsecure a deal at the lastminute that eliminates tariffson trade. Brexit reveals theGovernment’s ideologicalcommitment to take thecountry back to whereMargaret Thatcher left it.(The Guardian editorial)

WILL THE UK GOBACK IN TIME?

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Mindspace BusinessParks REIT on

Tuesday said it will raiseup to Rs 200 crorethrough issuance ofdebentures on a privateplacement basis. Thedecision was taken at anexecutive committeemeeting of K Raheja CorpInvestment Managers LLP, manager to Mindspace Business ParksREIT (Mindspace REIT), according to a regulatory filing. Thecommittee has approved the issue of non-convertible debentures byMindspace REIT on a private placement basis for an aggregateamount of upto Rs 200 crore in one or more tranches. MindspaceBusiness Parks is India's second REIT (Real Estate InvestmentTrust), and got listed this year after a successful launch of publicissue of about Rs 4,500 crore.The country's first REIT, EmbassyOffice Parks, got listed in April last year after raising Rs 4,750 crore.

Manufacturer of two and three-wheeler tyres TVS Srichakra Ltd

announced Rs 1,000 crore capitalexpenditure plan which includeramping up of capacities at itsfacilities, the company said onTuesday. The investment spread overa three-year period wouldresult in 25-30 per cent increase intwo-three wheeler tyre capacity and

also doubling of 'off-highway' tyre at its facilities in Madurai and PantNagar, respectively. The proposed capital expenditure would be metthrough "a mix of debt and internal accruals', the Tamil Nadu basedcompany said." "We are further strengthening our manufacturingcapabilities to cater to the growing demands in India and abroad. Webelieve that this capital outlay will enable TVS Eurogrip to further itsgrowth aspirations and help strengthen its partnerships with vehiclemanufacturers...," TVS Srichakra Ltd Director, S Ravichandran said. "Theinvestment reflects our fullest confidence in India's recovery and itsprospects in the medium to long-term and is our contribution to(Centre's) Atmanirbhar Bharat," he added. The expansion programmewould focus on setting up additional capacities to cater to the growingdemand across its customer base in domestic and overseas markets.

Gold prices zoomed Rs816 to Rs 49,430 per 10

gram in the national capitalon Tuesday on a positiveglobal trend, according toHDFC Securities. Theprecious metal had closedat Rs 48,614 per 10 gramin the previous trade. Silveralso witnessed hecticdemand, with pricesjumping Rs 3,063 to Rs 64,361 per kilogram from Rs 61,298 perkilogram in the previous trade. Spot gold prices for 24 carat in Delhirallied Rs 816, reflecting gains made in international gold prices,HDFC Securities, Senior Analyst (Commodities), Tapan Patel said. Inthe international market, gold was quoting in the green at USD 1,864per ounce, while silver was trading flat at USD 24.52 per ounce.Navneet Damani, VP – Commodities Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services said, "Gold prices rose amidst mounting COVID-19cases and comments of various Fed officials which showed concernregarding the impact of Covid on the economy." "Other then that,there are a lot of positive expectations regarding the Covid bill thisweek, hence supporting the metal prices," he added.

ABB India on Tuesday said it willprovide digital solutions to ease

water shortages at Koppal districtin Karnataka. In a project led byL&T Construction Water &Effluent Treatment for theKarnataka government, ABB'send-to-end solutions will help thelocal water authority to track,measure and optimize water use

in this drought-stricken region of southwest India, as well as pumpand distribute clean treated river water to village homes, an ABBIndia statement said. The solution includes 635 digital flow metersand technologies to improve control at pumping stations andreservoirs. With a population of around one million, the Koppaldistrict is regularly challenged by water shortages, it added. Untilnow, responses have ranged from preserving ancient wells tofollowing age-old water conservation practices, but thanks to digitaltechnologies, the Kushtagi and Yelburga villages will soon benefit

TVS Srichakra lines up Rs 1,000 crcap-ex spread over three years

Gold zooms Rs 816, silver jumps by Rs 3,063

ABB to provide digital watermanagement solutions in Karnataka

PNS n NEW DELHI

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kanton Tuesday said it is difficult tocarry out tough reforms inIndia as there is 'too much ofdemocracy', and emphasisedthat more reforms need to bedone to make the countrycompetitive.

Addressing a virtual eventorganised by Swarajya maga-zine, Kant said for the firsttime, the Centre has carriedout hard reforms across sec-tors, including mining, coal,labour, agriculture, and thenext wave of reforms must bepushed by the states.

"Tough reforms are very dif-ficult in the Indian context, wehave too much of democra-cy...You needed political will tocarry out these reforms (min-ing, coal, labour, agriculture)and many more reforms stillneed to be done," he said.

It is not easy to compete

against China without hardreforms, Kant said.

"This government hasdemonstrated political will tocarry out hard reforms," headded.

The Niti Aayog CEOstressed that the next wave ofreforms must come from states.

"If 10-12 states will grow athigher rates, then there is noreason why Indian won't growat higher rates. We have askedunion territories to privatisediscoms. Discoms mustbecome far more competitiveand provide cheap power," hesaid.

Replying to a question onprotests by farmers, mainlyfrom Punjab and Haryana,against the Centre's new farmlaws, Kant said the agriculturesector needs reforms.

"It is very important tounderstand this that MSPs(minimum support price) willbe there, mandis willremain...farmers must have achoice to sell their products asthey benefit out of this," henoted.

On sourcing of raw materi-al for manufacturing electricbatteries in India, Kant point-ed out that lithium (which isused for manufacturing batter-

ies) is available in large quan-tities across the world, includ-ing Australia, "We don't antic-ipate any shortage of lithium,"he said.

On Modi government's'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initia-tive, he said it is not aboutlooking inwards, but unleash-ing the potential of Indiancompanies.

The government has identi-fied 10 champion sectors forproduction-linked incentives(PLI) scheme and these sectorswill play a major role in mak-ing India a manufacturing hub,and give the countryeconomies of scale, Kant said.

"The PLI scheme is going toprovide a huge opportunity tothese sectors for 4-5 years toexport," he added.

Noting that India must tech-nologically leapfrog, Kant saidit is also important for thecountry to get into sunriseindustries.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian electric vehicle (EV)market could be worth aroundRs 14.42 lakh crore if the coun-try were to achieve its 2030 EVambitions but would needcumulative investment of aboutRs 12.50 lakh crore for thesame, according to a study byCEEW Centre for EnergyFinance (CEEW-CEF).

According to the study, aninitiative of think tank Councilon Energy, Environment andWater (CEEW), although at theend of March 2020 the totalnumber of registered EVs inIndia stood at only half a mil-lion, the cumulative EV sales inall vehicle segments could crossover 100 million units by FY30,200 times its current marketsize.

The study also said realisingIndia's EV ambition wouldrequire an estimated annualbattery capacity of 158 GWh byFY30, thereby presenting amassive market opportunity

for domestic manufacturers. Citing NITI Aayog's target,

the CEEW-CEF study saidIndia's 2030 EV ambition"states that 70 per cent of allcommercial cars, 30 per cent ofprivate cars, 40 per cent ofbuses, and 80 per cent of two-wheeler (2W) and three-wheel-er (3W) sales in 2030 would beelectric".

"India's electric vehicle mar-ket could be worth nearly USD206 billion (about Rs 14,42,000crore) in the coming decade, ifIndia were to achieve its 2030electric vehicle (EV) ambi-tions," it said.

Moreover, it said that an esti-mated cumulative investmentof over USD 180 billion (aboutRs 12,50,000 crore) will beneeded in vehicle productionand charging infrastructureuntil 2030 to meet India's EVambition.

Commenting on the find-ings, Senior Analyst at CEEW-CEF Vaibhav Pratap Singh,who is also the lead author ofthe study, said, "Availabilityand affordability of capital forOEMs, battery manufacturers,charge point operators, andend consumers would be key todetermining the pace, efficien-

cy and cost of India's transitionto electric vehicles."

Consistent policy supportwould also be critical. Therecent announcements by thegovernment to set up EV kiosksacross 69,000 petrol stations inthe country and permit salesand registration of EVs withoutbatteries can give a boost to thesector, Singh added.

As per the study, realisingIndia's EV ambition wouldrequire an estimated annualbattery capacity of 158 GWh byFY30. This presents a massivemarket opportunity for domes-tic manufacturers.

"Even if 50 per cent of thebattery manufacturing capaci-ty were indigenous, invest-ments would amount to asmuch as USD 6.1 billion (Rs42,900 crore) by FY30. Further,the cumulative investmentsrequired would exceed USD12.3 billion (Rs 85,900 crore) incase of 100 per cent indigeni-sation of battery manufactur-ing," it added.

India needs more reforms,states must take lead: Kant

Rs 12.5 lakh-cr investment needed torealise India's 2030 EV targets: Study

PNS n NEW DELHI

Corporate India is showing"healthy signs of recovery" andplans to hire more people in thefirst three months of 2021compared to the quarter end-ing December, a survey said onTuesday.

According to theManpowerGroup EmploymentOutlook Survey that covered1,518 employers across thecountry, the employmenttrends in the first quarter of2021 is expected to be on therise with a Net EmploymentOutlook of 5 per cent.

The outlook has registeredan increase of two percentagepoints for the first threemonths of 2021 compared tothe December quarter.

The sectors expected to drivethe job market in the 2021 firstquarter include finance, insur-

ance and real estate, and min-ing & construction sector. Allother sectors indicate negativegrowth in this quarter, thesurvey said.

"Corporate India is showinghealthy signs of recovery andan overall positive sentiment isgripping the market. Many ofthe deep-rooted structural fac-tors that have sustained Indianeconomy over the years likegeopolitical stability, diversifiedeconomy, demography etc. arelikely to play a pivotal role inthe new normal.

"Besides, the governmentmeasures and attention to poli-cies spurring private sector,encouraging competitivenessand self-dependence(Aatmanirbhar) are likely influ-encers too," Sandeep Gulati,Group Managing Director ofManpowerGroup India, said.

With the onset of the festive

season, the economy is gradu-ally gaining momentum.Employers are also depicting anoptimistic outlook towardsbouncing back in terms of hir-ing within the next six to ninemonths.

As per the ManpowerGroup'ssurvey, which also included theimpact of COVID-19, nearly 65per cent of employers reported

that they may return to pre-COVID-19 hiring within thenext nine months as comparedto 44 per cent in the Decemberquarter.

The strongest hiring outlookwas recorded in small sizedorganisations followed by thelarge and medium sized organ-isations. From a region per-spective, East indicate a more

positive outlook followed byWest.

Further, Gulati said therecent labour reform billspassed in the Lok Sabha willalso benefit the labour forceand employers alike. Labourreforms were long overdue asthe current laws are antiquat-ed, he added.

"With the changing land-scape of economy, we neededa much simpler yet holistic wayof looking at labour-relatedissues. Codification of labourlaws will remove multiplicity ofdefinitions and authoritiesleading to ease of compliance.

"It simplifies access tonumerous provisions of the lawby all concerned stakeholdersand also increases job creationby streamlining the laws. Mostimportantly, bringing Gigworkers in the ambit of newlabour code is a welcome step

towards free market system.This will create more trustbetween the employer and theemployees," Gulati said.

Globally, ManpowerGroupinterviewed over 38,000employers in 43 countries andterritories on hiring prospectsin the first quarter of 2021.

Employers in 32 of the 43countries and territories sur-veyed by ManpowerGroupexpect to add to payrolls in theperiod up to the end of March2021. In six countries and ter-ritories, employers expect toreduce payrolls while flat hir-ing activity is forecast in five.

Taiwan (23 per cent), the US(17 per cent) and Singapore (15per cent) record the strongesthiring sentiment globally, whilePanama (-) 7 per cent, the UK(-) 6 per cent and Switzerland(-) 4 per cent reported theweakest hiring sentiment.

Indian employers have better hiring intentions now

PNS n LONDON

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson will fly to Brussels thisweek for crunch talks to tryand break the deadlock withthe European Union (EU) overa post-Brexit trade agreementahead of the December 31deadline.

The clock is ticking for theend of the Brexit transitionperiod and unless the UK andEU are able to thrash out andratify a deal by the end of thismonth, Britain will have leftthe 27-member economic blocon January 1, 2021, with theprospect of tariffs and quotason goods as both sides trade onWorld Trade Organisation(WTO) terms.

Johnson and EuropeanCommission President Ursulavon der Leyen issued a jointstatement on Monday nightafter their respective ChiefNegotiators, Michel Barnierand Lord David Frost, failed toovercome the final hurdles inthree key areas of divergence.

"We agreed that the condi-tions for finalising an agree-ment are not there due to theremaining significant differ-

ences on three critical issues:level playing field, governanceand fisheries," the joint state-ment noted.

"We asked our ChiefNegotiators and their teams toprepare an overview of theremaining differences to bediscussed in a physical meet-ing in Brussels in the comingdays,” it said.

The two leaders spent overan hour talking on the phoneon Monday night but failed toresolve any of the key remain-ing differences. While no datehas been set for their face-to-face meeting, it is expectedeither before or after a sched-uled EU summit on Thursday.

Barnier and Frost, mean-

while, will meet on Tuesday todraw up a list of the outstand-ing differences between thetwo sides, ahead of the EUsummit.

The UK and EU have beentrading for years without pay-ing tariffs or conducting cus-toms or border checks, all ofwhich is set to change at theend of the Brexit transitionperiod unless they are able toagree a new pact. The majorstumbling blocks to such a pactremain a set of shared rulesand standards, or level playingfield, to ensure businesses inone country do not have anunfair advantage over theircompetitors in others.

Brussels wants the UK tofollow EU rules closely inareas such as workers' rightsand environmental regula-tions, but Britain says the verybasis of the Brexit vote in theJune 2016 referendum was tobreak free from following com-mon rules and set its own reg-ulations. Linked with this, isthe disagreement over howany future trading disputesshould be resolved and the roleof the European Court ofJustice in Luxembourg.

UK PM headed for Brusselsfor crucial post-Brexit deal

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal government hasput 6,000 acres of land meantfor the industry in the WBIDCland bank for greenfieldinvestment or expansion ofexisting operations, officialssaid.

The 6,000 acres of devel-oped and underdevelopedindustrial land is readily avail-able in the land bank of WestBengal IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(WBIDC).

"There are 1,411 acres and27 lakh sq feet developedindustrial land in nine districtswhile another 4,630 acresundeveloped land is ready foruse in seven districts of thestate," officials said.

Paschim Medinipur andPaschim Bardhaman have thehighest developed land of 474acres and 380 acres respectively.While, Purulia's Raghunathpurhas 3,199 acres of undevelopedland. The land belongs to WestBengal Industrial DevelopmentCorporation (WBIDC), West

Bengal IndustrialInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (WBIIDC), WestBengal Small IndustriesDevelopment Corporation(WBSIDC) and SAIP. TheWest Bengal governmentlaunched the Scheme forApproved Industrial Park(SAIP) with the objective toencourage the private sector toset up industrial parks on theirown land."WBIDC will extendall support for all kinds ofindustry be it small or bigwithin the regulatory frame-work," WBIDC chairmanRajiva Sinha said. He had metrepresentatives of all the busi-ness chambers of the city andassured them of state support.

Bengal earmarks6,000 acres of land for industry

WBIDC will extend all support for all kinds of industry be itsmall or big withinthe regulatoryframework

Godrej Properties acquires18-acre land in BengaluruPNS n NEW DELHI

Realty firm Godrej PropertiesLtd on Tuesday said it hasbought an 18-acre land parcel inBengaluru to develop a housingproject, as part of its expansionplan.

Property consultant Anarockfacilitated the deal betweenGodrej Properties and the locallandowner.

In a regulatory filing, thecompany informed that "it hasentered into an outright trans-action to purchase a well locat-ed land parcel in Whitefield,Bangalore."

The company did not sharethe total value of the land deal.However, market sources saidthe per acre cost in theWhitefield area would bearound Rs 13-15 crore per acre,pegging the deal value at aboutRs 250 crore.

Spread across approximately18 acres, this project will offer0.22 million square meters (2.4million square feet) of saleablearea comprising primarily res-idential apartments, it added.

"Bangalore is a key market forus and this project fits well withour strategy of deepening ourpresence across the country'sleading real estate markets,"Pirojsha Godrej, ExecutiveChairman, Godrej Properties,said. Separately, Anarock said ina statement that it facilitated the18-acre prime land sale.

Godrej Properties plans todevelop an about 1,600-unithousing project over 2.4 millionsq ft area, the consultant said.Godrej Properties is aggres-sively adding more projects fordevelopment either throughoutright purchase of land orforming a joint venture withland owners.

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee surged by 30 paiseto settle at 73.60 (provision-al) against the US dollar onTuesday, buoyed by foreignfund inflows and heavy buy-ing in domestic equities.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 73.83 against theUS dollar and witnessed anintra-day high of 73.59 and alow of 73.83. The local unitfinally closed at 73.60 againstthe American currency, reg-istering a rise of 30 paise overits previous close.

On Monday, the rupee fellby 10 paise to settle at 73.90against the US dollar.

"The rupee traded strongon the back of inflow ofmoney into capital markets asrupee took support near73.95 levels," Jateen Trivedi,Senior Research Analyst(Commodity & Currency) atLKP Securities, said.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback'sstrength against a basket ofsix currencies, was up 0.01per cent to 90.80.

Rupee soars 30paise to end at73.60 againstUS dollar

PNS n MUMBAI

Rising for the fourth straightsession, equity benchmarkSensex jumped 182 points toend at its fresh lifetime peak onTuesday, tracking gains inindex majors RelianceIndustries, TCS and Infosysamid persistent foreign fundinflows.

After touching a recordintra-day high of 45,742.23, the30-share BSE index climbed181.54 points or 0.40 per centto finish at 45,608.51.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose for the sixth consec-utive day, up 37.20 points or0.28 per cent to 13,392.95 -- itsnew lifetime closing high. Ittouched its intra-day record of13,435.45 in early trade.

UltraTech Cement was the

top gainer in the Sensex pack,rising around 3 per cent, fol-lowed by TCS, RelianceIndustries, HCL Tech, Infosysand Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, SunPharma, IndusInd Bank,NTPC, Tech Mahindra,ONGC and Asian Paints wereamong the laggards.

"Domestic equities contin-ued to defy weak global mar-kets by registering gains.

Financials (mainly supportedby PSU banks), IT andReliance Industries supportedmarket today, while profitbookings were seen in pharmaand metal packs," said BinodModi, Head-Strategy atReliance Securities.

Continued foreign portfolioinvestment flows remained adominant factor and given theconsistent weakening of dollaralong with increased possibil-ity of new fiscal stimulus,domestic equities are expect-ed to continue getting supportfrom FPIs in the near term, headded. Foreign portfolioinvestors (FPIs) were net buy-ers in the capital market as theypurchased shares worth Rs3,792.06 crore on Monday,according to provisionalexchange data.

Markets scale new peaks;Sensex jumps 182 pts

Indian toolingindustry to riseto Rs 26,000 crPNS n NEW DELHI

Indian tooling industry isestimated to grow up to Rs26,000 crore in value by 2025on back of strong growth inkey end-user segments butgovernment support andintervention is required onmany forefronts to augmenttooling ecosystem in India,according to a report by NRIConsulting and TAGMA.

Inverted duty structure,challenges in access tofinance and lack of skilledworkforce are some of the keychallenges ahead of theindustry and it needs govern-ment support to address thesehurdles, said the Indian ToolRoom Industry by NomuraResearch Institute Consulting& Solutions India Pvt. Ltdand TAGMA.

Mindspace REIT to raise up to Rs 200 cr via debentures

Sruthi, a very popular TV actress, hailing from Vizag, who rose to fame withRuthuragalu, has over 100 serials to her credit in her three-decade-long

career. From telefilms to daily serials to films, the actress has been a partof everything and has witnessed all kinds of changes that took place

in the industry. The actress is back with another banging role inZee Telugu's Nagabhairavi, where she will be seen playing a

108-year-old witch. Sruthi, a Nandi award winner, speaks toK RAMYA SREE about her 30-year-long journey, and the

need to change the content of serials, among others.

From a village belle to a witch, acing it all

er debut into acting hap-pened accidentally whenshe came to Hyderabadafter her Class X exams tovisit her mother Nagamani,

who is also an actress. The director ofthe project her mother was shootingfor, asked Sruthi to play a village belle.Although her mother was initiallyhesitant, Sruthi managed to convinceher and bagged her first-ever projectfor Doordarshan.

Sruthi tells us, “While I was shoot-ing for my very first project, I begangetting many other offers. I managedto do another project before Ireturned to Vizag to continue myhigher studies. Despite raining offers,my mother was hellbent on me finish-ing my studies first. The directors heresomehow convinced my mother say-ing they wouldn’t disturb my educa-tion and that they would shoot onlywhen I had free time. Eventually, Imoved to Hyderabad and completedmy graduation at Wesley DegreeCollege, Hyderabad.”

Majorly, Sruthi played damsel-in-distress roles, where she’s alwaysshown being sad and crying. It cameas a shocker to the industry when sheplayed her first negative role in theserial Nagasthram. Ever since, therehas been no looking back. She createda mark for herself that she is capableof playing any character on screen.

Not just actor, Sruthi is also ananchor, an All India Radio jockey anda dubbing artist. She dubbed for over15 films for Silk Smitha and manyother top heroines of the time. Shelent her voice for more than 100movies. Even to date, the actressprefers to dub for all her roles no mat-ter how busy she is.

Sharing how she baggedRuthuragalu, she says, “I was dubbingfor a project till late in the night and Itook a nap in the dubbing studio that

night. Around the same time, ManjulaNaidu garu was short-staffed and waslooking for a dubbing artist. Whenshe saw me resting on the couchthere, her team approached me andasked if I would dub and I did. A cou-ple of months later, I got a call fromher office saying Manjula Naidu want-ed to cast me in her next project,Swathichinukulu.”

Having been in the industry for

over 30 years,Sruthi feels themakers of serialsshould up theirgame and come upwith good contentto be on par with theongoing competition.She says, “During my era,serials were very natural. Aperson who is watching the ser-ial could easily connect to ourcharacters. Even the outfits, makeupwas subtle and natural. In today’s gen-eration, we are incorporating a lotfrom our northern counterparts. Theoutfits, make up, etc are too loud.More than the content, the focus is onoutfits, jewellery, make up etc.Characters should be more to reality.With the increasing competition withOTTs, we need to up the content.Many people have already moved toOTTs, we need to protect the audi-ence we have left. The storylineshould be gripping. Also, I sometimesfeel like the ‘Teluguthanam' in serialsis lost.”

Sruthi is married to MadhusudhanSingmapalli who is also an actor andis now a leading villain in the Tamiland Kannada industries. She feels, fora married woman to be successful, sheneeds to have a supporting husbandand considers herself lucky to havefound Madhusudhan, who supportsher in everything.

Sruthi will next be seen inNagabhairavi, where she will be play-ing a 108-year-old witch, who iswicked and scary from the looks of it.She says it has been the most chal-lenging task to play such a characterthat involves a lot of yelling and scaryavatar.

In conclusion, the actress who alsostarred in a web series, MuddugaareYashoda, thanked everyone for accept-ing her roles and every character she

played.“I wanttobe remem-bered as some-one who can playany role you giveme regardless of theage, shades or profes-sion,” she concludes.

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

WednesdayDecember 9, 2020

H

Badshah's new find :Reet Talwar!

alent, I believe, is most likelyto be found among noncon-formists, dissenters andrebels", said once DavidOgilvy! Aren’t you amazed asto how many new talents one

can see emerging in the entertain-ment fraternity from the greatest

sensations! Talking about the newtalent, the Bollywood rapperBadshah has a new find for theentertainment freaks. Reet Talwar,who has come in as a fresh whiff ofair in the Indian female singer'sspace, is being hailed as an enigmawho has stolen people’s hearts as thenew national crush!

Ever since her introductionthrough the latest independent col-laboration Awaara with anthemmaker Badshah, the super chill vibeof 'the song is steadily climbing allcharts across YouTube, making herthe latest popular face. Reet Talwar,is successfully living up to people’sexpectations as lifts her head up andbegins to speak, her voice escalatingwith every note that she comes outwith. She sure is the new sensationto listen to. Her soothing words willindeed release the tension within.Her passion for singing comes fromdeep within her soul, mind andheart.

“Badshah is an amazing soul! Hisguidance did the magic, when Ising, I sing from all my heart andthat's what perhaps attracted himtoo. If you understand your voicedeeply and have an ear for diversemoods around, it becomes easier for

us to display versatility in our songs.Singing is the intoxication that Ineed in my life,” shares Reet.

Are there any disadvantages of aninflux of new talent? Perhaps, not!New talent always bring somethingdifferent onto the plate and encour-aging them, would only fetch newsurpluses. But who inspires Reetevery day to take her every steptowards the pathway of singing? Avery simple answer to it would be,she herself! As astounding as itsounds, it lays down the idea thatbeing inspired by others is extreme-ly easy but to be your own rolemodel, you need courage and a pos-itive attitude, and that’s what Reetsignifies. “When everyone has to bethemselves in their own uniqueways, why follow anyone else?Imagine how it would feel whenpeople look up to you trying to beyou and I believe it is very impor-tant to authentically carry yourselfthe way you are. As long as youtruly believe in what you think,stand up for yourself and at thesame time treat people with respectand compassion, you cannot gowrong ever,” she adds.

Considering Freddie Mercury’sperformance set to be the best ever,

Reet considers herself to be herbiggest competitor. She wakes upevery day with a new challengepushing the bar higher and higher!Looking forward to be a beamingpersonality in the entertainmentindustry, she’s learning to appreciateall the good things that are happen-ing in her life without letting heroutlook and relationships affect it.Go to your search tabs right awayand catch Reet having a gala timewith rap sensation Badshah trend-ing the charts now.

T

Badshah is an amazing soul!His guidance did all the magicfor the song. When I sing, I doit with all my heart, and that'swhat has, perhaps, attractedhim too. If we understand ourvoice deeply and have an earfor diverse moods around, itbecomes easier to displayversatility in all our songs.Music is the right intoxicationI need in my life.

REET TALWARSINGER

he lockdownwas indeed adifficult andcomplextime for allus as nobody

was used to isolation. ButDevangi Dalal, the co-founder of

Josh Foundation, an organisation thatworks toward curing hearing impair-

ment in children, took full advantage ofthis time. Helping with productivity and

optimism levels, keeping it all high, thesocial activist who also works for hearingimpaired children across India as one of thepioneering audiologists launched her first-ever book titled Spreading Positivity on 7thDecember 2020.

Spreading Positivity is an attempt to set-tle people's minds and lives to ease, and

reiterate the missing positive energythat one might face during these

testing times. “I believe that posi-tivity guides us in the right

direction to strengthen andnourish the society and

the country we live in.We need to fill our

hearts with loveand support for

the less fortu-nate and

educateour-

selves as a society at large, about shortcom-ings and struggles. All these years, my experi-ence with hearing-impaired patients and theirfamilies have given me an unimaginableamount of warmth, respect and patience andthis is my prized possession,” shares Devangi.

She is the first Indian to win theHumanitarian award from the AmericanAcademy of Audiology in 2012 in Boston(U.S.A). She was the youngest executivemember of the Indian Speech & HearingAssociation and has been consistently partici-pating and representing India in PediatricAudiology related Conference worldwide. So,when the world, as everyone knew had gonefor a toss, it was quite difficult to emerge pos-

itive, especially when surrounded by doomand gloom filled with news of death and

ailment, but Devangi Dalal made sureshe makes optimism her strongest

friend amid these times. Penningdown her thoughts amid iso-

lation period into a bookdepicting to be able to

stay positive in hardtimes, using every

ounce of energywithin us, she

emphasiseson using

thistime

to enjoy the present and rediscover passionsor connect with nature by valuing co-exis-tence.

“We can achieve this approach by changingour attitudes. Keep an open mind, be accept-ing and allowing life experiences to evolve us.We need to be passionate about what we doand have compassion for others. Our faith,our spirituality should navigate us to find thetrue meaning of life and resonate positivevibes around us. Nature, too, constantly keepssending us signals towards harmony so thatwe dream big and fulfil the unlimited possi-bilities that are available for us,” she adds.

The biggest thing available to us right nowis the gift of this very moment and the bookSpreading Positivity attempts to shift our

focus to what makes us happy andwhat we are thankful for, while

also training our minds tothink positive through

it all.

Being isolated formonths together has

been tough on all of us, butthere were some that capitalised on

the time they had at hand, andDevangi Dalal, co-founder of Josh

Foundation, is one of them. She penned herbook Spreading Positivity during the

lockdown, which talks about putting awaynegativity in these trying times. She talks about the

gift of time, the present moment we ought to make useof, and positive attitude, to SHIKHA DUGGAL

Gift of the very moment

We can achieve a positive approach bychanging our attitudes. Weeep an openmind, be accepting and allowing lifeexperiences to evolve us. We need to bepassionate about what we do and havecompassion for others. Our faith, ourspirituality should navigate us to find thetrue meaning of life and resonate positivevibes around us.

DEVANGI DALALWRITER

T

10

Hyderabad Wednesday December 9 2020 what’s brewing?PARTY

STYLINGIT RIGHT!

Style Bazaar, one of the most happening designerand lifestyle exhibitions in the city, in its 2-daysale is showcasing the best of emerging andestablished fashion, lifestyle, jewellery,

accessories, footwear and more. ActressJenny Honey, Honey Chowdhary and other

top models graced the grand launch ofthe label at hotel Taj Krishna, Banjara

Hills, Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Phot

os bb

ySV

Cha

ry

l S

usila

Bok

adia

l S

neha

Cho

wda

ry

l S

heet

al J

ain

l M

anju

l H

oney

l P

rana

li

l J

enny

Hon

ey

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

FUN

y goal is to act instory-oriented,script-driven filmsand to become asuccessful heroinein all languages,”

said Amrin Qureshi. A pakkaHyderabadi girl, she is cur-rently working for twoBollywood projects, one beingthe Telugu super hit CinemaChupista Maava’s remake,called Bad Boy. Amrin isbeing pairing oppositeNamashi Chakraborty, son ofpopular actor, veteran heroMithun Chakraborty. RajKumar Santoshi is directingthis film while Sajid Qureshiis producing under InboxPictures’ banner.

Speaking to the mediawhen she was shooting in

Hyderabad for a song in thefilm, Amrin said, “Hyderabadis my birthplace. I did myschooling here and underwenttraining at an acting school inMumbai. I am thrilled to be inmy city.” Asked what madeher choose acting as a career,she replied, “I wanted to be abusinesswoman as a kid. But,subconsciously acting wasalways there in my mind andso eventually had to chooseacting as my profession. AfterI completed my training atMumbai, I learnt of auditionsfor Bad Boy and tried my luck,and here I am today.”

Telugu remakes have almostalways turned out to be block-buster hits for Bollywood, andso the actress hopes this filmmeets the same fate. “I amvery confident about my twofilms. Those two are remakesof Telugu super hits. I feelproud as a Telugu girl to act inTelugu remakes in Hindi.Both films underwent somechanges to match the senti-ments and trend pan-India,”she informed. When quizzedif she has any favourites whenit came to acting, she took thenames of Tollywood actressSavitri and Sridevi.

Mentioning her favouritesin Tollywood, she said, “I’dlove to work with MaheshBabu, Prabhas, Ram Charan,

Allu Arjun and VijayDeverakonda someday. Ialso love Sai Pallavi's act-ing and dance.”

Speaking about work-ing with NamashiChakraborty, shesays he a greatactor and ahardworkingone. “He helpedme a lot duringdubbing andshooting songs.I feel very com-fortable workingwith him,” sheadded.

For her fanshere inHyderabad,Amrin said, “Ihave a specialbond withHyderabad.Many of myfriends and rel-atives are fromhere. I ameagerly waitingto act in Telugufilms, I’ve been get-ting good offers too.So let’s see.”

The film Bad Boy isslated to release as a sum-mer special, while hernext, which is a remakeof Allu Arjun Julayi, is tostart work soon.

roduction house LightHouse Cine Magic thatgave films likeAkkadokadaunnadu andRaghava Reddy, is all setfor its production num-

ber — 3 that will be directed byBhojpuri star director SubbaraoGosangi. This will be the director’sre-entry to Tollywood after a long

gap. The film is to star actors SivaKantamaneni, Pakhi Hegde, Sri Suryaand Preeti Shukla in lead roles.

Crucial scenes of the film are cur-rently being shot in and around the cityof Hyderabad. Speaking about the film,actor Siva said, “I instantly fell for ourdirector Subbarao Gosangi’s working

style and talent. The film is sure toentertain audiences of all ages.Bhojpuri’s top actress Pakhi joined thecast only after she heard the director’sname. That is what he carries withhim.” Actress Pakhi too said she is lov-ing every bit of the shooting and con-siders being introduced to Tollywoodby Gosangi’s directorial venture, ablessing.

Director Subbarao Gosangi said thathe is both excited and nervous abouthis re-entry into the Telugu film indus-try after a long gap and that he hopesthe audiences will love the upcomingfilm. Producer Ravula VenkateshwarRao said that the film is a light film thatis fun and loaded with action.

Hyderabad Wednesday December 9 2020

11

M

ctressKriti Sanon,ofNenokkadinefame, has testedpositive for

Coronavirus. The actress was inChandigarh shooting with actorRajkummar Rao for an upcomingfilm until last week, according to areport in filmfare.com.

News of the actress contracting thevirus was out when celebrity photogra-pher Viral Bhayani shared a photo ofthe actress on his verified Instagramaccount with “Covid +” written on it,with a caption that read: "Call it badluck inspite of taking all safety mea-sures. She recently returned fromChandigarh, where she was shootingfor an upcoming movie withRajkummar Rao. She even told us thatshe would not remove her mask even

for a second. #kritisanon.” The Dochayactress is yet to put up news about the

virus herself. Incidentally, Bollywood actors

Varun Dhawan and Neetu Kapooralso recently tested positive. They

were in Chandigarh too, on an out-door schedule for the film Jug Jugg

Jeeyo, which has now come to ahalt.

Varun recently confirmed insocial media that he had tested

positive shooting for the filmJug Jugg Jeeyo in the city. The

film's director Raj Mehtaalso tested positive.

P

Actress and producerNiharika Konidela and

Chaitanya Jonnalagadda’ssangeet at Udaipur on Mondaynight was an event full of light,love laughter and fun. Niharikalooked drop-dead gorgeous ina green gown and decided tokeep her makeup subtle whileher fiancé Chaitanya opted togo for an ivory sherwani for

the ceremony. The two are setto tie the knot on December 9!

NIHARIKA-CHAITANYALIGHT UPUDAIPUR

A

Kri

ti S

anon t

ests

posit

ive f

or

CO

VID

City lass in B’woodremake of Cinema

Chupista Maava

tollywood

Bhojpuri star directormakes re-entry toTollywood

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2020

PTI n SYDNEY

Australian bowlers heldtheir nerves to come uptrumps against the

genius of Virat Kohli, stalling anIndian clean-sweep with a 12-run victory in the third andfinal T20I at Sydney CricketGround on Tuesday.

While India won the short-est format 2-1, it was overall aneven result for the two teamswhich won three white-ballgames each. Tuesday’s lossended the visitors’10-matchwinning streak in the format.

Kohli got as many as fourreprieves and cashed in wellenough to smash his way to 85off 61 balls but India could onlyreach as far as 174/7 in theirpursuit of 187 in 20 overs.

It was a slash drive offAndrew Tye in the penultimateover which was plucked inch-es off the ground by DanielSams, who compensated for aforgettable day with the ball.

An over before that HardikPandya’s swagger was checkedby Adam Zampa (1/21 in 3overs). Zampa’s leg-breakturned enough to force the‘Baroda Bomber’ to hit oneagainst the turn and be caughtat short third-man.

Once Pandya was gone,there was too much pressure onKohli and this was one rareoccasion when he failed totake the team home.

While he hit four fours andthree sixes, Kohli did lead acharmed life as Steve Smithmissed a dolly at deep mid-wicket fence when he gaveMaxwell the charge.

Then Sean Abbott failed toget his hands on a tough returncatch while another slippedthrough Tye’s palms. During thefag end, Matthew Wade missedan easy stumping.

The Indian captain scoredhis third fifty of the tour and aneffortless six off Abbott afterthe completion of the milestonegave much-needed relief tothe Indian dug-out. This wasafter man of the matchSwepson’s (3/23) innocuousleg-breaks reduced them to100 for 4.

Swepson would be the firstto admit that he was lucky todismiss Shikhar Dhawan (28 off21 balls) with a half-tracker andever unreliable Sanju Samson(10) with a low full-toss.

The only wicket-takingdelivery he bowled was the onethat got Shreyas Iyer out for afirst-ball duck.

Earlier, Wade’s second con-secutive half-century was well-complemented by Maxwell’sblazing strokeplay as Australiaposted a competitive 186 for 5after being put into bat.

Wade, who has played allhis big T20 knocks againstIndia, smashed his way to 80 off53 balls with the help sevenfours and two sixes.

Maxwell, who struggledwith his timing initially, also gotinto the act during the last sixovers with a 35-ball-54 and athird-wicket stand of 90 runs in8.4 overs with Wade.

PTI n SYDNEY

In the form of a sedate half-century, Wriddhiman Sahagot himself some invaluable batting practice ahead of

the first Test against Australia, but his other famed Indiancolleagues failed to bat long as their warm-up gameagainst Australia A concluded in a draw here on Tuesday.

Medium pacer Mark Steketee, who returned impres-sive figures of 5/37, came in the way of what could havebeen a few sessions of good batting practice on the thirdand final day for the touring Indians.

Making up for his first-innings nought, Saha top-scored for the visitors with 54 after facing 100 deliver-ies at the Drummoyne Oval on the final day of tune-up.

Bracing for the first Test, the seasoned Saha foundthe fence seven times during his stay in the middle.

Beginning with a deficit of 59 runs, the Indiansdeclared their second innings at 189 for nine and in reply,the Australians, needing 130 in 15 overs to register anoutright victory, reached 52 for one when the stumps weredrawn for one last time in the game.

India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who is going tolead the team in the absence of Virat Kohli after the firstTest, followed up his neat first-innings century with aknock of 28. Cheteshwar Pujara, who made a solid half-century in preparation for the marquee series opener,however, failed to open his account in the second essay.

The young opening duo of Prithvi Shah (19) andShubman Gill (29) added 37 runs for the first wicketbefore Cameron Green sent the former back.

Pujara did not last long and was bowled by MichaelNesar, which brought to crease Hanuma Vihari. Viharimade 28 before Nesar had him caught by Burns.

For the home team, Green enjoyed a fine all-roundouting having scored a hundred in the first innings whichended at 306 for nine declared.

After his impressive performance in the first innings,during which he picked up three wickets, pacer UmeshYadav added another scalp to his name when theAustralians went out to bat again.

PTI n SYDNEY

Potentially in line for a Test debutagainst India, Australian bats-

man Will Pucovski suffered a con-cussion after being struck on thehelmet by pacer Kartik Tyagi dur-ing the warm-up game againstIndia A on Tuesday and was ruledout of the second tour game start-ing December 11.

Considered a sure-shot selec-tion for the series-opener, begin-ning December 17 in Adelaide,with David Warner ruled outowing to an injury, Pucovski wasbatting on 23 when he was hit onthe helmet by a delivery from Tyagiin the 13th over of Australia A’s sec-ond innings.

“Will experienced mild con-cussion symptoms but was able toleave the field unassisted,” teamdoctor John Orchard said in a state-ment posted by cricket.Com.Au.

“He was monitored in ourmedical room and was communi-cating freely with staff and team-mates as well as family over the

phone.“Will will remain with the

Australia A squad but will not playin the three-day tour match againstIndia at the SCG,” he added.

Pucovski was hit on the frontof his protective equipment and hefell to his knees, staying there fora few minutes before managing towalk off the field.

The 22-year-old opener was

immediately attended to by themedical team even as he droppedthe bat and remained on his handsand knees for a few minutes on thepitch.

The impact had put a questionmark on his availability for the firstTest but Cricket Australia con-firmed that he was able to walkafter being attended by team doc-tor John Orchard.

PTI n SYDNEY

Impressed by newcomer TNatarajan’s ability to deliver

under pressure, India captainVirat Kohli on Tuesday saidthe seamer could be a greatasset for the team heading intonext year’s T20 World Cup.

The 29-year-old fromTamil Nadu has been sensa-tional since making his inter-national debut in the thirdODI at Canberra, snappingeight wickets in four matches.

“Special mention forNatrajan, in the absence of(Mohammed) Shami andJasprit (Bumrah), he stoodout and really delivered underpressure,” Kohli said at thepost-match press conference.

“It is outstanding becausehe is playing his first fewgames at the internationallevel. He looks very com-posed, he is a humble and hardworking guy, he is sure of whathe is doing.”

India is scheduled to hostthe T20 World Cup in Octoberand November next year.

“I hope he continues tokeep working hard on hisgame and gets better becausea left-arm bowler is an assetfor any team and if he cankeep bowling in this way con-sistently, it will be a great thingfor us heading into the WorldCup next year,” Kohli said.

India lost the third T20Ibut claimed the series 2-1, andKohli said he was impressedwith the way the team nevergave up despite missing expe-rienced players such as Rohit

Sharma, Bumrah and Shami.“We played good cricket

over the last 11-12 T20s, thefact that this squad had play-ers that don’t have much expo-sure in international cricket,from that point of view it wasa nice performance especiallyafter losing the first two ODIs.We came back nicely andshowed belief.”

“We carried the momen-tum, fighting back again in thefirst T20s and even tonight,the game was close, so thestandout is that guys are notgiving up.”

PTI n SYDNEY

Swashbuckling India all-rounder Hardik Pandya on

Tuesday said he is “headingback home”, two days afterraising hopes of extending hisstay in Australia for the upcom-ing Test series following hisincredible outing in the limit-ed-overs leg.

Coming off a back surgeryand yet to start bowling on aregular basis, Pandya’s showingin the just-concluded limitedovers leg of the tour gave riseto hopes that he might be con-sidered for Test selection.

And those beliefs werestrengthened when the all-rounder, after his match-win-ning effort on Sunday, said hewouldn’t mind staying back ifthe team management wants.

However, two days later, heconfirmed that he is goingback to India.

“I think I should headback home and spend somequality time with my family. Ihaven’t seen my child for four

months, so I’d like to spendsome time with family rightnow,” Pandya said after thethird T20I.

“Maybe in the future. Idon’t know, maybe,” he addedwhen asked about his Testcomeback.

PTI n SYDNEY

Adjudged Player of the T20Series for his superb show

with the bat against Australia,India all-rounder HardikPandya on Tuesday said thatnewcomer T Natarajandeserved it more than him forhis “outstanding” bowling per-formance.

The 29-year-old fromTamil Nadu has been sensa-tional since making his inter-national debut in the thirdODI, snapping eight wickets infour matches.

“Natarajan, you were out-standing this series. To per-form brilliantly in difficultconditions on your India

debut speaks volumes of yourtalent and hardwork. Youdeserve Man of the Seriesfrom my side bhai!Congratulations to#TeamIndia on the win,”Pandya tweeted.

PTI n SYDNEY

Hardik Pandya’s stupendousbatting in the white ball

series has given him an extraoption of a designated “finish-er” but India skipper ViratKohli is clear that the all-rounder needs to start bowlingregularly in order to be consid-ered for Test cricket.

Pandya has had scored of90 and 92 in the first and thirdODIs respectively and a match-winning knock of 42 not out in22 balls in the second T20I,which helped India to seal theT20 series, got him the Man ofthe series award.

Asked if he would betempted to keep Pandya backas a pure batting option for theupcoming four-Test series,Kohli answered in the negative.

“Hardik couldn’t bowl andwe knew he will not be able tobowl but we saw in the IPL theheadspace that he has been.But Test cricket is a differentchallenge and we need him tobowl,” Kohli was clear about

priorities.“We have spoken about it.

He is one guy who brings in alot of balance for us in overseasconditions like South Africa,England. We were able to com-pete for longer periods of timeand he adds a lot of balance interms of his bowling.”

Kohli believes Pandya isgetting into the zone where he

would like to perform in allformats of the game.

“He is definitely in a zonewhere he wants to perform forIndia in all three disciplines.That’s always been his ‘X-fac-tor’. In white ball cricket, wefound some one who can fin-ish games consistently,” theskipper said.

But according to him, even

Pandya realises that he needsto get back to peak bowlingform.

“He himself wants to getback into the bowling spaceand make sure he is available

in Tests because it becomesway more important for fivedays, that little bit extra.

“He understands that hehas to come back the fittest heis able to,” he added.

AFP nMANCHESTER

Paul Pogba is “unhappy” atManchester United and should

leave in the next transfer window, hisagent Mino Raiola said, in commentsthat may signal the exit of the one-time world’s most expensive player.

Raiola said the World Cup-win-ning France midfielder, 27, needs a“change of scene” after struggling toestablish himself under United man-ager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“Paul’s unhappy at ManchesterUnited, he can’t express himself anymore as he would like to and as weexpect of him,” Raiola told Italiannewspaper Tuttosport.

“He has to change teams, he needsa change of scene. His contract is upin a year-and-a-half, in the summerof 2022, but I think the best solutionfor all sides is a transfer in the next

window.”He added that Pogba, who

returned from a spell at Juventus fora then world record fee of £89 million($118 million) in 2016, has no plansto extend his contract.

“The club... knows it risks losinghim for nothing, as at the moment theplayer has no intention of extending

his contract,” Raiola said. “If anyonedoesn’t understand, they don’t under-stand anything about football.”

SAINTS UP TO 5THBRIGHTON: Southampton extendedits unbeaten run against Brighton toeight games and moved into fifth placein the Premier League with a 2-1 win.

Brighton took the lead from thespot in the 25th minute, when PascalGross sent goalkeeper Alex McCarthythe wrong way after James Ward-Prowse handled the ball in the area.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s lineup equal-ized just before halftime after Ward-Prowse made up for his earlier errorto pick out Jan Vestergaard, who head-ed home the corner.

With 10 minutes remaining, sub-stitute Danny Ings fired home on hisreturn from injury after Southamptonwas awarded a disputed penalty.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s No1 wicketkeeper BJ Watling is setto return from injury for the sec-ond Test against the West Indies,while the tourists suffered a dou-ble blow on Tuesday with KemarRoach and Shane Dowrich out.

Pace bowler Roach isreturning home following thedeath of his father last weekwhile wicketkeeper Dowrichcontinues to be troubled by thehand injury that sidelined himafter day one of the first Test.

Watling, who had been suf-fering a hamstring strain, wasconfident he would be able totake his place in the Black Capsline up when the second Teststarts on Friday in Wellington.

“It seem to be progressingpretty well,” he said. “I’ve beenthrough a few fitness tests anddid a bit of training last weekduring the Test match and itseems to have pulled up prettygood.” AFP

AP n CAPE TOWN

Two people in the Englandcricket tour party who gave

unconfirmed positive coron-avirus tests in South Africawere cleared on Tuesday andfreed from self-isolating.

The two positive tests,along with an outbreak in theSouth Africa camp and amongworkers at their shared bio-secure hotel in Cape Townprompted the rest of the tourto be abandoned on Monday.

England officials still want-ed independent ratification ofthe positive results in its camp.

“Following further testingand analysis, in the opinion ofthe independent virologistsbased in Cape Town andLondon, the two individualsare not infected, and do notpose any risk of passing on theinfection to the rest of the

party,” the England and WalesCricket Board said in a state-ment.

“The advice is they arenow free to join the rest of thegroup and are no longer self-isolating.”

The England party willhead home on Thursday.

The teams played out athree-match Twenty20 seriesbut the first one-day interna-tional scheduled for last Fridaywas postponed to Sundaybecause of another infection inthe South Africa team, thencanceled when two hotel work-ers caught the virus. Thatmade England undergo around of tests, producing twounconfirmed positives.

With outbreaks apparent-ly in both camps, officials can-celed the other scheduled ODIson Monday and Wednesday,too.

AFP n CHRISTCHURCH

Pakistan’s cricketers left quarantine inChristchurch on Tuesday after testing

negative for Covid-19, New Zealand healthauthorities said.

The touring party of more than 50 play-ers and officials had been holed up in theirhotel for two weeks as they underwentmandatory isolation under New Zealand’sstrict coronavirus protocols.

They had been confined to their roomsunable to train for most of that time after 10virus cases were detected among the group,with coach Misbah-ul-Haq complaining thisweek about the impact on his players.

But New Zealand’s health ministry con-firmed on Tuesday that the latest swabs hadall come back negative and the bulk of thegroup had been cleared to leave quarantine.

“After extensive testing and completionof their time in managed isolation inChristchurch, the Canterbury (district)

medical officer of health is satisfied thesepeople pose a very low risk to the commu-nity,” it said.

The department said one person wasbeing kept in isolation at the Christchurchquarantine hotel to ensure he was fully recov-ered from the virus.

The tourists will travel to Queenstownfor training ahead of their first Twenty20match against the Black Caps in Aucklandon December 18.

Pakistan will play three T20s and twoTests in New Zealand.

SYDNEY: The 30 extra runs thatAustralian keeper-batsmanMatthew Wade scored after alucky reprieve due to a delayedDRS call by the Indian teamturned out to be decisive andskipper Virat Kohli termed thelate reaction as “unacceptable”.It was in the 11th over thatWade was rapped on the padsby a Natarajan delivery thatstraightened after pitching.While the umpire ruled it notout, the Indian team, after some

deliberations, decided to appealand the umpire signalled forDRS.

However, Wade promptlyobjected stating that the stipu-lated 15 seconds for taking areview were over for the Indianteam and the decision of allow-ing the DRS was overturned.

“That LBW was a strangeone, we were still discussing thatif ball was going down leg sideand decided to go for the reviewbut umpire said nothing can be

done,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference.

“We felt as management,such mistakes (being late) can-not be done at the highest level.In an important game it canprove really costly.”

The TV replays showedthat it would have been LBW inIndia’s favour and what wouldpinch them is the victory mar-gin of 12 runs as Wade added30 more to his score of 50 at thetime of the incident. PTI

Kohli earmarks Natarajan for T20 WC

India's poor day with the DRS

WINNING STREAK COMES TO ENDAus stop Kohli, prevent clean sweepby India with 12-run win in final T20I

SYDNEY: India captain ViratKohli on Tuesday hinted that hemight skip the three-day pink-ball warm-up game ahead of theeagerly-awaited Test seriesagainst Australia after an intenselimited-overs leg of the tourwhich ended on Tuesday.

The tour game againstAustralia A is due to begin inthree days time and will beIndia’s final tune-up before theopening day-night Test inAdelaide from December 17.

Kohli will lead the team inthe opener of the four-matchseries, after which he will goback to India for the birth of hisfirst child.

“I will wake up tomorrowand see if I can play the tourmatch. Playing it on and off is

not my thing and I like to playthe full game. I will talk to ourphysio and then decide on myparticipation,” Kohli said afterthe third T20I.

Having won the series,Kohli was looking forward to theTests and said the current teamis stronger than the one thatmade history by winning its firstTest series Down Under twoyears ago.

“We need to take the samecompetitive attitude into theTests, and having played here afew times, we can score runs aswell.

“Once it’s time to capitaliseand score, we need to do thatsession by session. I’m sure thecurrent side is stronger than lasttime,” Kohli said. PTI

Kohli might skip pink-ball warm up game

Pandya ‘heading back home’You deserve man of theseries: Pandya to Natarajan

Saha strikes fiftybefore Test opener

Pucovski concussed by bouncer Watling fit forNZ return

Eng camp cleared of virus,free to leave South Africa

Pak team head to Queenstown for training ‘Pogba is unhappy at Man Utd & should leave’

Hardik can only play as all-rounder in Tests: Virat

Indian players and support staff pose with T20 series trophy after the end of third and final T20 at Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday AP