HYDERABAD, MONDAY, JUNE 14, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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Sena treated asslaves in BJP govt

Pradhan: Cong-ruled states

must cut tax on fuelRaashi Khanna to play a

psycho killer?P5

P8

P11

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERR

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Month & Paksham:

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Tithi : Chaturthi: 10:33 pm

Nakshatram : Pushya: 08:36 pm

Time to Avoid : (Bad time to start

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Rahukalam : 07:23 am – 09:00 am

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Amritakalam : 01:47 pm – 03:29 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:50 am – 12:42 pm

Maha updates Covidnumbers with delayed

data to 1.08L deaths

Over the past few days,

Maharashtra hasbeen revising its

Covid death numbers to reflect datathat came in with some lapse of time.

This exercise over the past 12 dayshas resulted in the state's overall

pandemic-related mortality zoomingby over 8,800 to 1.08 lakh now. Thismassive data reconciliation exercisesince June 1 has seen deaths being

reported with a delay from Pune,Thane, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad,

Ahmednagar, and Yavatmal. Of these,the first three alone reported 1,368,

1,167, and 503 updates, a governmentstatement said.

Delhi's unlocking: All shops,

restaurants to reopen

Shops, malls and restaurants in

Delhi will open fromtomorrow as Covid numbers

in the national capital drop to a three-month low. Shops will be open seven

days a week instead of the currentodd-even system. Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal, however, said this willbe on trial basis for a week and strict

action will be taken if the Covidnumbers rise. Shop timings will

remain the same, from 10 am to 8 pm,Kejriwal said. Restaurants -- which

were open only for takeaways andhome deliveries -- can now have

diners but with only 50 per cent ofseating capacity.

Milkha Singh's wife Nirmal dies

due to Covid

Former Indian women volleyballteam captain Nirmal Kaur, who

is the wife of sprint legendMilkha Singh, died at a Mohali hospitaldue to complications related to COVID-

19 infection she had contracted lastmonth. She was 85 and is survived by

his husband, one son and threedaughters. "We are deeply saddened to

inform you that Mrs Nirmal MilkhaSingh passed away after a valiant battle

against COVID at 4 PM today," astatement from the spokesperson of

the Milkha family said. "A back bone ofthe Milkha Family, she was 85 years

old. It is tragic that the Flying SikhMilkha Singh ji could not attend the

cremation which was conducted thisevening itself as he is still in the ICU (of

PGIMER in Chandigarh) himself."

Christian Eriksen ‘stable’after collapse, sends

‘greetings to teammates"

Denmark midfielder Christian

Eriksen remained inhospital but is in a "stable"

condition after collapsing in hiscountry's Euro 2020 game against

Finland on Saturday, the DanishFootball Union (DBU) said Sunday.

"This morning we have spoken toChristian Eriksen, who has sent his

greetings to his teammates. Hiscondition is stable, and he continues

to be hospitalized for furtherexamination," the football body said in

a post to Twitter. DBU also said thatthe team and staff had "received crisis

assistance and will continue to bethere for each other after yesterday's

incident."

In brief

PNS n NEW DELHI

The US mission in India is "activelyworking" to accommodate as manystudent visa applicants as possible inJuly and August, and facilitating theirlegitimate travel remained a top pri-ority for it, a senior American diplo-mat said on Sunday.

Don Heflin, the MinisterCounselor for Consular Affairs at theUS embassy, also said that the US-bound students will not require anyproof of COVID-19 vaccination toenter the country. They will need anegative report of their COVID-19test taken within 72 hours prior totheir departure.

There has been growing anxietyamong a sizeable number of Indianstudents aspiring to fly to the US forhigher studies in view of certainrestrictions in getting visa appoint-ments due to the coronavirus pan-demic. The embassy will start givingvisa interview slots for Indian stu-dents from Monday.

"We recognise the stress and anx-iety this has caused to students andtheir families, and we are activelyworking to accommodate as manystudent visa applicants as possible inJuly and August. Facilitating legiti-mate student travel to the UnitedStates remains a top priority for the

US Mission to India," Heflin told PTIin an interview.

The official was asked about therising uncertainty among the Indianstudents wanting to travel to the US,which had imposed fresh travelrestrictions in May.

"Students returning to academic

programmes that resume on or afterAugust 1 may travel to the UnitedStates up to 30 days before the pro-gramme resumes. There is noNational Interest Exception requiredin this situation," he said.

"We recommend continuing stu-dents discuss their specific resump-tion plans with their respective uni-versities to develop a travel timeline,"Heflin said.

The National Interest Exceptions(NIE) allow travel to the US for per-sons whose entry is considered ofnational interest.

"We intend to start an intensivetwo months of interviewing studentvisa applicants on July 1. We will planto open as many appointments as wecan safely accommodate, based onlocal pandemic conditions acrossIndia," Heflin said.

"Student visa applicants do notneed an expedited appointment toschedule their visa interview.

No clarity on Covid vaccineprocurement: Pvt hospitalsPNS n NEW DELHI

Several private hospitals across thecountry said they have no clarityon procuring COVID-19 vaccinesunder the new policy announcedby Prime Minister Narendra Modiand that it has led to the vaccina-tion being put on hold at theircentres.

The hospitals havesought a proper mecha-nism and a single-windowsystem to be put in place forprocurement of vaccine doses.They also claimed that theyhad approached the vaccinemanufacturers -- BharatBiotech and Serum Institute ofIndia (SII) -- and also state gov-ernments, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, in a recent commu-nication to the Union health min-istry, Prakash Kumar Singh, direc-tor, Government and RegulatoryAffairs at SII, is learnt to have writ-ten, As per your direction, we arenot accepting any furtherorders/payment from any privatehospital in the country. We await

your further direction with regardto roadmap for future supplies toprivate hospitals.

Elaborating the problems facedby private hospitals, S C L Gupta,medical director, Batra Hospitalsaid, "The problem is that there isno clarity on how we will beprocuring the vaccines. When weask the state government officials,they say wait till June 21 stating

that the policy is not yet clear.The central government also

has asked us to wait. We haveapproached the companies

too, but they are alsonot clear on the

methodology ofprocurement,

he said.

Lord Balaji temple in Jammu in 18 months: L-G SinhaPNS n JAMMU

Describing the 'Bhoomi Pujan'ceremony of Sri VenkateswaraSwamy temple here as a "historicand proud day" for Jammu andKashmir, Lt Governor Manoj Sinhaon Sunday said the temple isexpected to be constructed in 18months in two phases at a cost ofRs 33.22 crore.

Sinha said the construction ofthe temple would open up oppor-tunities across sectors and wouldcertainly change the economy ofthe region.

In a series of tweets, the office ofthe Jammu and KashmirLieutenant Governor said themuch-awaited 'Bhoomi Pujan' cer-emony of Sri Venkateswara SwamyTemple by Tirumala Tirupati

Devasthanams (TTD) was held atMajeen here.

Took part in Bhoomi Pujan andunveiled the plaque to mark the lay-ing of foundation stone in presenceof Union MoS Dr Jitendra Singh,Union MoS G Kishan Reddy,Chairman TTD Board and otherdignitaries, Sinha said.

He expressed sincere gratitudetowards TTD Board and the Union

government for fulfilling the longpending wish of people of J&K andnorth India for establishing thetemple of Lord Balaji on the landof Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.

"It is a historic and proud day forJ&K. Lord Balaji's divine blessingis a state of inner celebration. VedPathshala in the second phase willstrengthen the foundation of Indianculture, the Lt Governor said.

63.25L farmers to get Rs7,509 cr Rythu BandhuK VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister SingireddyNiranjan Reddy has said that63.25 lakh farmers in the state willget Rythu Bandhu assistance thisVanakalam, including 2.81 lakhnewly identified farmers with66,311 acres of additional landincluded for the investment sup-port scheme.

He said that the ChiefCommissi-oner of LandAdministration had handed overthe final list of eligible farmers tothe Agriculture Department. Thegovernment needs Rs 7,508.78crore for 150.18 lakh acres, withfarmers numbering 63,25,695.

In a statement issued on Sunday,the Minister asked the newlyidentified farmers who are eligiblefor Rythu Bandhu to meet thelocal AEOs and AOs and handedover photocopies of their pattadarpass book, Aadhaar card, andbank account details. He askedanxious farmers, whose bankaccount IFSC codes have changedfollowing the merger of banks, notto worry. Local officials of theAgriculture Department wouldclear their doubts if any, he said.

The Minister said that Nalgondadistrict had the highest number offarmers -- 4,72,983 with 12.18 lakhacres --and they would get

Rs.608.81 crore under the RythuBandhu scheme. However,Medchal Malkajgiri district hadthe lowest number of farmers(39,762 with 77,000 acres) andthey would get Rs.38.39 crore.

After Nathwani, now Adanito Rajya Sabha from YSRCPAmit Shah proposed to YS Jagan in the recent discussionsSNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

The bonds between AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy and Bharatiya Janataparty brass are strengthening.

According to sources, Jagan hasaccepted in principle a requestmade by Union Home MinisterAmit Shah to send Gautam Adani,one of the richest industrialists inthe country, to the Rajya Sabhawith YSR Congress giving theberth in the next biennial elections.

It may be recalled that, at thebehest of Prime Minister NarendraModi and Shah, in the previous

Rajya Sabha elections YSRCongress party gave ticket toParimal Nathwani, senior grouppresident of Reliance Industriesowned by Mukhesh Ambani.

Jagan, during his recent trip toDelhi, held lengthy discussions

with Shah. According to sources,during the discussions Shah pro-posed Rajya Sabha ticket to Adanifrom YSR Congress. Like MukeshAmbani, Adani is close to the BJPleadership.

Four Rajya Sabha members fromAndhra Pradesh are retiring on21st June 2022. They are BJP mem-bers Y Sujana Chowdary, SureshPrabhu and TG Venkatesh as wellas YSR Congress member VijayasaiReddy. Going by the parties' rela-tive strength in the Andhra PradeshAssembly, all the four Rajya Sabhaseats will go to YSR Congress.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Following the resignation of formerhealth minister Eatela Rajendar asMLA; all eyes are now on theHuzurabad Assembly seat. Usually,after the vacation of any Assemblyor Lok Sabha seat is notified, bye-election should be conducted with-in six months. However, in view ofthe raging Covic-19 pandemic, it isnot clear when a bye electionwould be conducted for theHuzurabad Assembly seat by theElection Commission in time.

The Election Commission hasalready postponed the MLC elec-tions in the Telugu states. However,Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)

president K Chandrasekhar Raohas directed Finance Minister THarish Rao and others to concen-trate on the Huzurabad Assemblysegment with immediate effect.

Post resignation, Eatela has madeit clear that he is ready to face the

Huzurabad bye-election. By accept-ing the resignation of Eatelapromptly and notifying the vacan-cy to the Election Commission, theTelangana Assembly secretariathas indicated the state govern-ment's (TRS) readiness to conductthe Huzurabad bye-election.

The outcome of the HuzurabadAssembly by-poll is crucial in thepresent circumstances. Should theTRS win the bye-election; its grum-bling leaders will keep quite. If theTRS loses the bye-election, the TRSleadership will stop making harshdecisions and will take decisionscarefully in the future.

Congress needs widespread reforms: Kapil SibalPNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress must bring wide-spread reforms across all levels ofthe organisation to show it is nolonger in a state of inertia and topresent itself as a viable politicalalternative to the BJP, party veter-an Kapil Sibal said on Sunday.

Sibal, who was among the G-23leaders whose letter to CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi last yeardemanding a meaningful overhaulof the party had triggered a storm,hoped the organisational polls,recently postponed in the wake ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, willhappen sooner than later .

In an exclusive interview to PTI,the former union ministeracknowledged that at presentthere is no strong political alter-native to the BJP but said thatPrime Minister Narendra Modihas lost the moral authority to ruleand the Congress can present analternative due to the currentmood in the country.

He also noted that while form-ing committees to review electionlosses is good, it will have noimpact unless remedies suggestedare implemented.

Noting that the party's allianceswith the All India UnitedDemocratic Front (AIUDF) in

Assam and Indian Secular Front(ISF) in West Bengal were notthought through , Sibal said theCongress has failed to drive home

the point that minority and major-ity communalism are equally dan-gerous for the country.

He cited this as one of the rea-

sons for the poor performance ofthe party in recent assembly polls.

Amid defections of young lead-ers Jyotiraditya Scindia and nowJitin Prasada to the BJP, the for-mer minister said there is anurgent need to strike a balancebetween experience and youth.

He has earlier said that fromaaya ram, gaya ram politics, it hascome to "prasada politics nowand asked whether Jitin will getthe 'prasada' from the BJP, sug-gesting that leaders were movingout of the party to serve theirpolitical interests.

Car swallowed by sinkhole atMumbai parking lot after rainPNS n MUMBAI

A parked car disappeared withinseconds into a sinkhole at a resi-dential complex in Mumbai, whichhas been receiving heavy monsoonrainfall over the past few days.

A video of the bizarre incidentin Ghatkopar, which is doing therounds on social media, showsthe car's bonnet and front wheelsenter the sinkhole first.

The rear part of the car followsand soon the vehicle disappearswhole under the water. The othervehicles parked near the car,including one right next to it,were not affected.

The video has emerged at a timewhen Mumbai, along with otherareas in coastal Maharashtra, is get-ting heavy monsoon rainfall.

Roll back fuel pricehike: Left partiesPNS n NEW DELHI

The Left parties in a joint state-ment on Sunday demanded therollback of hike in petroleumproducts and urged the govern-ment to control prices of essen-tial commodities and drugs.

The joint statement has beensigned by Sitaram Yechury,General Secretary, CommunistParty of India (Marxist); DR aja , General Secretar y,Communist Party of India;Debabrata Biswas, GeneralSecretary, All India ForwardBloc; Manoj Bhattacharya,General Secretar y,Revolutionary Socialist Partyand Dipankar Bhattacharya,General Secretary, CommunistParty of India (Mar xist-Leninist)Liberation.

Alleging that the govern-ment, instead of helping peo-ple to combat the ravages ofthe Covid health catastrophe,hiked the prices of petroleumproducts by at least 21 timesafter the announcement ofresults of the recent assemblyelections on May 2, the partiessaid that this is leading to a"cascading inflationary spiralwith the Wholesale PriceIndex (WPI) rising to an 11-year high." "The prices offood articles have risen bynearly 5 per cent in April.

All eyes are on Huzurabad

Facilitating legitimate travel for Indian students a top priority: US diplomat

2.81 lakh new farmers to getassistance for the first time

Medchal-

Malkajgiri has

the lowest

number of

farmers

(39,762)and 77,000acres; to get

Rs.38.39crore

Nalognda

district tops

with

4,72,983farmers and

12.18lakh acres;

to get

Rs.608.81crore

He also noted thatwhile formingcommittees toreview electionlosses is good, itwill have noimpact unlessremediessuggested areimplemented

3

2

2

2

22

Top TS police officialscall on CJI NV RamanaPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Director General ofPolice M Mahendar Reddy, alongwith other senior police officials,called on Chief Justice of India NVRamana at Raj Bhavan here onSunday. Police Commissioners ofHyderabad, Cyberabad andRachkonda - Anjani Kumar, VCSajjanar and Mahesh Bhagwat - areamong the officials, who met theCJI, according to an official release.

The officials interacted with theChief Justice Ramana on coordina-tion between different stakehold-ers in the criminal justice system,the release said. Telangana ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoand representatives of the BarCouncil of Telangana and severalother dignitaries on Saturday calledon the CJI, who is camping at theRaj Bhavan during a visit to the city.

- Pictures inside

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021

n HC UPADHYAY

Recently the Union cabinetapproved the draft ModelTenancy Act, 2020 (MTA)prepared by the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs.The MTA has the objective ofbalancing the interests andrights of landlords and ten-ants and in intended to cre-ate an efficient and transpar-ent system for dealing with allaspects of renting, residentialand commercial (exceptindustrial) premises.

The government expectsthat State tenancy laws basedon the MTA will benefit bothlandlords and tenants. Thedraft bill also aims at speedydisposal of tenancy disputes.

Among the salient featuresof the bill, the importantones are: compulsory regis-tration of written agreementbetween the landlord and thetenant with the designatedauthority, limit of securitydeposit payable by the tenant

to a maximum of 2 months'rent in case of residentialpremises and 6 months' incase of non-residentia lpremises, prohibition of with-holding essential supplies orservices on the premisesoccupied by the tenant andexemplary fines for not hon-ouring the terms of the rentalagreement.

Touted as a substitute tothe country's archaic lawsand an engine to the targetof 'Housing for all by2022', the new bill despiteit's having balancing fea-tures may not really be ofmuch help to pro-vide succor to help-less tenants. In fact,the gap betweenthe availability ofhomes and shelter-seekers is very widewhich ultimatelycreates 'the seller'smarket'. The onlyviable a lternat ive is toencourage housing activity bythe public sector. After all,

even the private housing sec-tor heavily leans over thepublic money to completehousing ventures.

It is unfortunate that sinceIndependence, despite mak-ing tall claims about povertyelimination by providingfood, clothing and shelter topeople, successive govern-ments have done preciouslittle. In the 50s and 60s, the

housing problem whichwas confined only tothe big c it ies l ikeMumbai, New Delhi,

Kolkata and Chennaip e r c o l a t e d

down toeven the

smaller cities andtowns. With the rapid

industrialization andgrowth of trade, theemployment avenueshave definitely increasedmanifold. Most of theemployment opportuni-

ties are available in the bigcities and towns which resultsin large scale migration of

people from rural areas tourban areas.

In other words, the hous-ing problem has its roots innon-availability of amplehouses and giving tons ofmoney to private developersto address this problem iscertainly not a proper solu-tion. In a situation like havesand have-nots it is alwaysthe haves who will have theupper hand. It is one thingto provide a sound mecha-nism to regulate the rentalactivity and for the disputeredressal, but the million-dollar question is: how effi-ciently the Model TenancyLaw would be enforced bythe respective governments.As it is, most of the stateshave the authority to searchfor the vacant houses andallot the same to public ser-vants. But, the ground real-ities are hopelessly disap-pointing.

Indeed, the gospel truth isall laws are good; but onlytheir implementation is

defective.It a l i a n m a r i n e ' s c a s ecomes closer to the end

Considering the fact thatthe Republic of Italy hasdeposited a sum of Rs.10crtowards compensation, theSupreme Court is likely to passappropriate orders on the appli-cation filed by the central gov-ernment to quash the criminalproceedings pending in Indiaagainst Italian marine MassiMilano Latorre and SalvatoreGirone in connection with thesea-firing incident near Keralacoast, resulting in the death oftwo Indian fishermen in 2012.

A division bench of JusticeIndira Benerjee and JusticeM.R Shah adjourned the mat-ter to June 15 for orders.

The Italian marine's casehad generated much dust anddin, particularly because of itspolitical contours. The amica-ble settlement and the amountof compensation notwithstand-ing, one must admit that Indiaas a sovereign nation has hadto eat the humble pie in the

entire episode.Rajasthan HC on live-inrelationship

A single bench of JusticePankaj Bhandari of theRajasthan High Court recent-ly held that a live-in relation-ship between a married andunmarried person is not per-missible under law. Refusing togrant protection of life and lib-erty to the petitioners, thecourt observed that the peti-tioner No.2 (man) was alreadymarried. Hence, relying onthe apex court verdict inD.Velusami V.s D.Patchaiammal(2010) 10 SCC469, the petition was dis-missed.

However, there seems to bea legal dichotomy in this mat-ter. On June 7th the Punjaband Haryana High Courtdirected SSP, Faridkot to lookinto the grievance of an alreadymarried women and anunmarried man in a live-inrelationship and seeking pro-tection of life and libertyagainst private parties.

Further, there are severalother similar cases also wherethe High Courts have takendifferent views and it will be inthe fitness of things if theApex Court sets right theissues.

J&K HC on reopening of acase

By an order dated June 4, asingle-judge bench comprisingJustice Sanjaydhar of theJammu and Kashmir HighCourt held in Ajjit Chopra V.sUNION territory of J&K andothers held that once a case hasbeen closed by the superiorauthority, it is not permissibleto the subordinate office toreopen it.

Terming the courts adoptedby respondent No.3 in the saidcase as not only amounting toabuse of process of law but alsosmacking of insubordination,the court held that the action ofreopening the case by respon-dent No.3 is not sustainable inlaw and as such, the samedeserves to be quashed. The

court also granted liberty to therelevant authorities of the PoliceDepartment "to take appropri-ate disciplinary action againstrespondent No. 3 for havingacted in a manner whichsmacks of insubordination."

New CJ for Allahabad HCThe acting Chief Justice of

Allahabad High Court, JusticeSanjay Yadav, has been appoint-ed as the Chief Justice of thesame Court by a PresidentialOrder dated June 10.TS -HC judges' strengthincreased:

The Supreme Court ofIndia has approved the sanc-tioned bench strength ofTelangana High Court to 42.At present, the strength is 24.

Out of the proposed 42judges, 32 will be permanentjudges and 10 will be addi-tional judges. The composi-tion of the 42 judges will be28 from the Bar and 14 fromthe judicial services. The pro-posal had been hanging firesince 2019.

LEGAL

ROUNDUP

New tenancy law in offing: pros and cons

With rapidly changing geo-political equations globally,precious metals, includinggold and silver, remainedfirm. Covid-19 pandemic hascertainly impacted small andmedium investors and theirbuying activities.

Consequently, New Yorkgold closed at US $ 1,877.80(per ounce), while silverremained steady and closedat $ 27.92 (per ounce).Platinum and palladiumclosed at $ 1,144 (per ounce)and $ 2,704 (per ounce)respectively.

Other economic parame-ters remained moderate.Brent closed at US $ 72.69(per barrel) while CrudeMCX oil was quoted atRs.5,208 (per barrel). GoldMCX stood at Rs.48,880 (per

10 gms), MCX Silver closedat Rs.72,216 (per kg) andCopper MCX closed atRs.748.25 (per kg). Sensexand Nifty 50 closed at52,474.76 and 15,799.35points. Leading foreign cur-rencies' exchange closingrates were: US $: Rs.73.23,British Pound: Rs.103.31,Euro: Rs.88.68, Singapore $:Rs.55.24, Swiss Franc:Rs.81.52, Australian $:Rs.56.45, Saudi Riyal:Rs.19.53, NewZealand dollar :Rs.52.20, KuwaitiDinar: Rs.243.60,Omani Rial:Rs.190.22and UAED i r h a m :Rs.19.94, Japanese Yen:Rs.0.67 and Hong Kong dol-

lar: Rs.9.44.In local markets, standard

gold (24 carats) declined byRs.170 and closed atRs.49,900 (per 10 gms).Ornamental gold too fol-lowed suit and was quoted inthe range of Rs.45,650 -45,750 on the closing day.Silver (0.999) further appre-ciated by Rs.1,000 and closedat Rs.77,300 (per kg). Amidstthe prevalent market uncer-

tainty due to Covid-19pandemic conditions,

all major marketshave suffered heav-

ily. However, fol-lowing the grad-

ual easing ofl o c k d o w nrestrictions,

an air of optimism hasbuoyed up the market mood.

COMMODITIESThe sentiment in principal

wholesale commodity mar-kets in the twin cities turnedmoderate due to welcomerain showers of the currentmonsoon season. RythuBazars and the various com-modity markets located inBegum Bazar, Kishangunj,Mukthyargunj, RisalaAbdullah, Mir Alam Mandi,Dilsukhnagar, Kukatpally,Bowenpally and GeneralBazar registered moderatetrading.

During the week, com-mon pulses such as tuar dal,masoor dal, moong dal andurad dal and commoditieslike chil lies and garlicremained unchanged at theirrespective last week's closinglevels, while staple food

grains and common ediblerecorded a negligible decline.

Common vegetables suchas cabbage, caulif lower,ribbed gourd, snake gourd,lady's finger, cucumber, pota-toes, onions, French beansand leafy vegetables flared upstill further in the range of8% to 14%. Tomatoes contin-ued to rule at lower levels.Mango growers have suf-fered huge losses due to pre-monsoon and cyclonic windsthat have devastated mangocrop on a large scale.

The NECC wholesale priceof egg in Hyderabad appreci-ated by Rs.2 and closed atRs.510 (per 100). The high-est price of Rs.575 wasrecorded at Kolkata, whileLudhiana recorded the low-est price of Rs.499.

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW

Precious metals remain firm

Congress needs widespread...Continued from page 1

At present, there is definitely avoid in terms of a strong polit-ical alternative. It is exactly inthis context, that I had givensuggestions for some reformsin my party so that the coun-try has a strong and credibleopposition.

"But what comes out of it isnot something for me to fore-tell. But I am sure, a time willcome when the people of thiscountry will decide what isgood for them, Sibal told PTI.

The veteran added that Indianeeds a resurgent Congress andthe party needs to rope in theright people to drive its pollstrategy so that it can build uponthe failures of the government.

Victory of non-BJP parties inrecent assembly elections hasshown the chinks in the BJP'sarmour in terms of its vulner-ability to losing when faced witha stronger opposition, he said.

India needs a resurgentCongress. But for that, the partyneeds to show that it is active,present, aware and is in themood to engage meaningfully."For this to happen, we willneed to have widespreadreforms at the organisational

hierarchy both at the centraland state levels to show that theparty is still a force to reckonwith and is no longer in a stateof inertia, he said.

Exuding hope in the grandold party's resurgence at a timeof newly emerging politicalequations across India, Sibalsaid that despite a poor show-ing of the Congress electorally,the current mood in the coun-try provides an opportunityfor it to emerge as a viable alter-native, owing to the party'span-India presence. The Modigovernment's inept handlingof the pandemic and the resul-tant anguish among peopleacross the country needs to bechannelised.

"The Congress has to take itupon itself to provide an alter-native roadmap in the nation'sinterest and I am sure, we willemerge victorious in this enter-prise, he said just two days afterstrategist Prashant Kishor metNCP chief Sharad Pawar inMumbai, triggering speculationof a potential third front. Askedif the Congress had learnt itslessons from the Antony com-mittee report after the 2014Lok Sabha debacle, Sibal saidthe party had not been able to

stress that all forms of commu-nalism were dangerous.

The Antony committee setup by Congress chief SoniaGandhi soon after the 2014Lok Sabha elections hadrightly pointed out that fight-ing the polls on secularismversus communalism plankhurt the Congress that wasidentified as pro-minority,resulting in substantial elec-toral gains for the BJP.

"More importantly theCongress also failed to drivehome the point that minori-ty and majority communal-ism were equally dangerousfor the country. In my view,the decision to ally with AllIndia United DemocraticFront (AIUDF) in Assam andIndian Secular Front (ISF) inBengal was not thoughtthrough, said Sibal.

When pointed out that hehad sought urgent party elec-tions in the letter to SoniaGandhi and if he agreed withthe postponement of the exer-cise, Sibal said, On January 22,the CWC had met to discussthe schedule for electing thenew party chief in May. It wasdeferred by a month owing tothe Assembly polls.

‘Project O2 for India' initiated to meetrising oxygen demand amid pandemicPNS n HYDERABAD

The office of the PrincipalScientific Adviser to theGovernment on Sundaysaid ‘Project O2 for India’has been initiated to ensuresupply of critical raw mate-rials such as zeolites, settingup of small oxygen plants,and manufacturing of com-pressors.

T h e s e c on d w ave ofCovid saw an increase indemand for medical oxygenin different parts of thecountry, it said in a state-ment.

While meeting the cur-rent demand, manufactur-ing medical oxygen alsobecame important to ensurethe country has adequate

supply in the future. 'Project O2 for India' of

the Off ice of Pr incipalScientif ic Adviser is toenable stakeholders work-ing to augment the coun-try's ability to meet this risein demand for medical oxy-gen.

"Under Project O2 forIn d i a , a Nat i on a lConsortium of Oxygen isenabling the national levelsupply of critical raw mate-rials such as zeolites, settingup of small oxygen plants,manufacturing compres-s or s , f i n a l pro du c t s ,i.e.,oxygen plants, concen-trators, and ventilators,"according to the statement.

The consortium is notonly looking forward to

providing immediate toshort-term relief but alsoworking to strengthen themanufacturing ecosystemfor long-term preparedness.

A committee of expertshas been evaluating criticalequipment such as oxygenplants, concentrators, andventilators from a pool ofIndia-based manufacturers,start-ups, and Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises(MSMEs).

The manufacturing andsupply consortium includesBharat Electronics Limited(BEL); Tata C onsult ingEngineers (TCE); C-CAMP,Bengaluru; IIT Kanpur; IITDelhi; IIT Bombay, IITHyderabad; IISER, Bhopal;Venture Center, Pune; and

more than 40 MSMEs, itsaid.

The consortium has start-ed to secure CSR/philan-thropic grants from organ-i s at i ons l i ke U S A I D,E dw ard s L i fe s c i e n c e sFoundation, Climate WorksFoundation, etc, it said.

Hop e Fou n d at i on ,A m e r i c an In d i anFou n d at i on , Wa l m ar t ,Hitachi, BNP Paribas, andeInfoChips are procuringoxygen concentrators andVPSA/PSA plants as part oftheir CSR efforts to aid theconsortium's work.

NMDC Ltd has agreed tofund the procurement ofraw materials like zeolitefor the manufacturers in theconsortium, it added.

All eyes are

on HuzurabadContinued from page 1

The Huzurabad bye-electionis likely to be a straight fightbetween TRS and BJP or atriangular fight, shouldCongress leader KaushikReddy step in. There arespeculations that KaushikReddy may join TRS, thoughhe has scotched the talk. Butin politics anything can hap-pen even in the last minute.If Kaushik Reddy does notjoin TRS, the fight will turntriangular.

In the 2018 Assembly elec-tions, Eatela, as TRS candi-date, got 1.04 lakh votes andthe Congress candidateKaushik Reddy got morethan 61,000 votes. The BJPcandidate, Puppala Raghu,got only 1,683 votes. At 2,867,NOTA votes outnumberedthe votes polled by the BJPcandidate.

Financially speaking, TRSand BJP are very strong andKaushik Reddy of theCongress is also financiallystrong. If it is going to be a tri-angular fight, voters ofHuzurabad should be consid-ered lucky.

Roll back fuel pricehike: Left partiesContinued from page 1

Primary commodities saw arise of 10.16 per cent and man-ufactured products have risenby 9.01 per cent. By the timethese commodities reach theretail markets, the consumersare charged much more.

"This is happening whilethe economy is witnessing adeep recession, gallopingunemployment, collapsingpurchasing power and risinglevels of hunger.

Clearly, unscrupulous

black-marketing and hoard-ing is taking place understate patronage. The Modigovernment must strictlycrackdown on such black-marketing especially of essen-tial drugs, vital for people's

survival," the statement said.The parties demanded that

the government must imme-diately give direct cash trans-fers of Rs 7,500 per month forsix months to all families notfalling in the income tax pay-ing bracket.

The statement further saidthe provisions announced byPM Modi regarding extensionof PM Garib Kalyan AnnaYojana (PMGKAY) till Diwaliof 5 kg foodgrains is "com-pletely inadequate and doesnot cover the most needy."

After Nathwani,now Adani to...Continued from page 1

Recently the Andhra Pradeshgovernment gave theGangavaram port to the Adanigroup of companies. Jagan is ofthe considered view that if thecountry's richest industrialistsare given Rajya Sabha tickets,the image of the party willimprove. At the same time, theindustrialists will invest hugemoney in the state. MukheshAmbani and Adani are interna-tionally famous industrialists.

A close associate of Jagansaid:" I do not know whetherUnion home Minister AmitShah has proposed Adani'sname for Rajya Sabha or not,but if Shah requests us to sendAdani to Rajya Sabha, YS JaganMohan Reddy, who is also anindustrialist, will definitelyaccept it".

63.25L farmers toget Rs 7,508 cr... Continued from page 1

Seven districts would getRythu Bandhu amountsranging between Rs.300-400 crore; 11 districtsRs.200-300 crore and 10districts would get Rs.100-200 crore. Warangal Urbanand Mulugu and Medchaldistricts would get belowRs. 100 crore.

The Minister said thatfarmers would get RythuBandhu amounts from June15 to 25. Farmers would begetting the Rythu Bandhuamounts successfully forthe 7th time, he pointedout. The government hadbeen releas ing RythuBandhu amounts for thethird time under financialstress due to the impact ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.The state government hadreleased Rs.14,656.02 crorefor the Vanakalam andYasangi seasons last year.The government had allo-cated Rs.14,800 crore inthe Budget for theVanakalam and Yasangiseasons, Niranjan Reddyadded.

Monday Mirchi‘Long, long-standing' babus

edgy amid reshuffle talk

Murmurs of reshuffle in the administra-tion can make even stoic babus edgy. Suchis the power structure in the Secretariat,whether centralized or scattered for admin-istrative convenience like in TS. Afteralmost one and a half years, TelanganaChief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao isgoing to reshuffle babudom. According tosources in the Chief Minister's Office, 'long,long-standing' IAS officers will be movedto other departments. In babudom, 'longstanding' in itself signifies working in oneplace continually at least for about threeyears. Now, IAS circles are anxiously wait-ing to know whether only long-standingofficers will be moved or even 'long,long-standing' officers will also be dis-turbed. Some IAS officers have beenworking in the department for about fiveyears. They have, their peers say, becomefixtures. Ministers are changing but IASofficers are continuing in the same depart-ment. Some district collectors are fed upwith the corona pandemic and want tomove to some other posts. Some collectorshave conveyed their wishes to higherauthorities. Some IAS officers want tomove from their present place to some'good' (you know what it means!). If theChief Minister makes a major reshuffle,there will be not be another rejig till thenext elections; except for one or two offi-cers, and that too, should there be a neces-sity. District collectors in particular arehoping against hope.

When hunks are at helm, itpays to hunker down

The public in Prakasam district arepresently witnessing a rare situation of hav-ing to hunker down as two handsomehunks, and that too fitness freaks, are occu-pying high posit ions. PrakasamSuperintendent of Police SiddharthKaushal is known for his looks and fit body.Now, Praveen Kumar, who has taken overas the new Collector of Prakasam district,may give a tough competition to Kaushalas Praveen is also known to be a fitnessfreak in bureaucratic circles. Praveen's col-leagues always wonder how he maintainssuch a fit body and does his workouts,despite his hectic work schedule every sin-gle day. Incidentally, both are northIndians. Now they may share a same gymas well.

Thriving T-Hub andunderperforming CIOs, CEOs

There are government organizations inwhich a committed workforce, driven byable superiors and motivated by command-ing taskmasters, makes the CEO redun-dant. Led by Jayesh Ranjan, the IT

Department has a lot of foreign returneeswho have taken up befitting roles in gov-ernment and are doing exceptional work,except perhaps for the Chief InnovationOfficer and T-Hub CEO. The Governmenthas taken a step back to think about whowould be the right person to headTelangana's startup initiative. ExistingCEO Ravi Narayan has announced that heis moving out. Noticeably, the governmenthas not extended his contract. Whatevermerit T-Hub has today is largely due toconstant promotion and motivation byJayesh Ranjan and his political boss and ITMinister KT Rama Rao. T-Hub has virtu-ally been reduced to a building as both thepast and present CEOs have not been ofmuch use for this initiative requiring ahands-on approach. The performance of T-Hub has been so bad of late that the latestAnnual Report of the IT Departmentshows that the relatively smaller We-Hubtouched 4,500 women entrepreneurs, whileT-Hub supported 2,000 startups. Ravi, whois now Chief Innovation Officer of thestate, couldn't live up to the minimumexpectation of the past CIO. It would beinteresting to watch how the state wouldpick the next leader as it is going to unveilT-Hub2 building, largest incubator inAsia, towards the end of this year.

Bouquets for Ministers,brickbats to govt servantsWanna grievance fixed? Post it on social

media platforms and tag the Minister con-cerned. Response guaranteed. This chan-nel celebrates Ministers' responsiveness andpaints babus in poor light as it appears asif officials act only if nudged their politi-cal bosses at public fora. The Telanganagovernment created 33 districts ostensiblyto make administration easily accessible topeople. Definitely small is beautiful whenit comes to paying attention to the public,delivering services, and addressing publicgrievances. The whole idea was that theDistrict Collector, overseeing a relativelysmaller geographical area, would ensureproper implementation of programmes andobtain feedback in real time. Alas! Peoplestill rely on MLAs and Ministers for get-ting things done, be it sourcing medicines,oxygen concentrators or correction oferrors in pattadar passbooks for upload-ing particulars in Dharani portal. Socialmedia platforms have become virtualoffices for grievance redressal, often replac-ing the official mechanizm.

Sensing the public mood, Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao has announcedthat he would make 'surprise' inspectionsof villages and municipalities in variousparts of the state. Heads may roll if X orY is caught napping at their workplace.KCR is known for making spot decisions!

- Yours truly

Unscrupulous black-marketing andhoarding is takingplace under statepatronage

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

Petrol prices in the city aretouching almost centum.

The fuel prices wereincreased again on Sunday,making it the seventh hike inthe month of June alone. As onJune 13, the petrol price in thecity was Rs 99.90 per litrewhereas diesel was priced at Rs94.82 per litre.

On June 1, the petrol anddiesel prices in the State wereRs 98.10 and Rs 92.98 per litrerespectively. The fuel priceshave been increasing con-stantly since the last monthand were hiked more that 15times in May. In many districtsof Telangana, includingNizamabad, Khammam andparts of Siddipet, the petrolprices already crossed Rs 100per litre on June 9.

Rajiv Amaram, JointSecretary of Consortium ofIndian Petroleum Dealers,

says, "It is expected that thepetrol prices will go up fur-ther in the coming weeks. Ason June 1, the base price ofthe petrol in the country wasRs 35.63, and that of dieselwas Rs 38.16. The sales priceof fuel is determined afteradding various costs such asexcise duty, dealer commis-sion, VAT, etc, to this."

Fuel prices differ from onestate to another depending onthe amount of local taxes suchas VAT and freight chargesthat are levied, he said.

In several other states ofthe country, includingMaharashtra, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh the per litrepetrol price has crossed Rs 100.

Fuel prices touch almost centuryin Hyderabad after Sunday hikePNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State PowerDistribution Company Limited(TSSPDCL) has sustained atotal revenue loss to the tune ofRs 4,00 crore on account of dipin demand for power in 2020and 2021 summer season. Thisis attributed to Coronavirus sit-uation affecting industries,hotels, cinema theatres, ITunits and ITES units, educa-tional institutions and hostels.Exports and imports have beenaffected.

The TSSPDCL during Apriland May this year sustained lossin additional revenue to thetune of Rs 25 to 30 crore amonth. It may be recalled thatthe power demand reachedthe peak level of 70 millionunits per day in May last yearas against 60 MU during thecorresponding month this year.

Under GHMC limits, thereare over 50 lakh power con-nections, including 7 lakh com-mercial power connections and50,000 industrial power con-nections. The total number ofLow Tension (LT) consumers isput at over 45 lakh. Monthly,over 2,000 new connections areissued. From revenue perspec-tive, the High Tension (HT)consumers are more valuedthan LT consumers. Generally

speaking, the unit cost for HTconsumers is high. Closure ofvarious commercial establish-ments and ITES units due tolockdown and due to suspen-sion of export and importactivity, industries cut downtheir production.

Because of the work fromhome option, the power con-sumption in offices - bothgovernment and private - hascome down, affecting the rev-enue of the TSSPDCL.

The power consumptionsgoes to 350 units a month dur-ing March-June period asagainst the 200 units a monthduring July-February period.The TSSPDCL expected apower demand of at least 75

MU per day. But in sharp con-trast, the demand did not cross55 MU per day in May thisyear. This is due to impositionof lockdown due to the secondwave of Covid-19. Last yearMay recorded 60 MU demandper day.

TSSPDCL director (opera-tions) Srinivasa Reddy saidthat the per day power demandin summer was estimated to bearound 75 MU, but the sum-mer this year was less harshcompared to the summer lastyear. Moreover, the lockdownhas been imposed. The con-sumers did not use air-condi-tioners much, causing a dent inthe revenue of the distributioncompany.

Pandemic dents TSSPDCL revenue

Telangana senior police officials called onChief Justice of Supreme Court of IndiaNV Ramana at Raj Bhavan on Sunday.Director General of Police MahenderReddy, Rachakonda Commissioner of

Police Mahesh Bhagwat, Hyderabad CPAnjani Kumar, Cyberabad CP VC Sajjanar,ADG (Law and Order) Jitender, Intelligencechief Prabhakar Rao and others interacted

with the CJI about the coordinationbetween different stakeholders in criminal

justice system.

COURTESY CALL

PNS n HYDERABAD

Greater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation launched anexclusive number to reportgrievances pertaining to stormwater drains.

Citizens with grievancescan WhatsApp the details to9848021665 and they can alsosend pictures along the loca-tion of the drain that needs tobe fixed. People can alsodirectly report the grievancesto 9848098166- phone numberof Animal Husbandry MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadav. Stategovernment sanctioned Rs 45crore to widen and repair the

drains.To make sure theseworks are executed efficient-ly and on a war footing basis,elected representatives willinspect their respective juris-diction from June 14 to 19.

The Animal HusbandryMinister will also inspect thestorm water drains works inBegumpet on June 14.According to a press releaseissued by the minister's office,Telangana Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao andMunicipal Administration andUrban Development MinisterKT Rama Rao are constantlymonitoring the works relatedto nalas.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Five persons who were sellingAmphotericin B injectionsillegally were caught by theCommissioner's Task Force(North) team on Sunday. Thepolice seized nine injectionsand three mobile phonesfrom them.

Acting on a tip off, theHyderabad Commissioner'sTask Force (North) teamcaught V Venugopal, a med-ical agent from SR Nagar andnative of Krishna district inAndhra Pradesh, G Naveenof Banjara Hills, V Ashok ofKothapet, K Prasad ofNizampet and B Harish ofKukatpally.

"Due to the demand of theAmphotericin injection usedduring treatment of blackfungus, the gang procured itand planned to sell it at ahigher price to relatives ofpatients," said P RadhaKishan Rao, DCP Task ForceHyderabad.

On information, the policelaid a trap and nabbed them.The five persons along withthe property were handedover to the SR Nagar policestation for further action.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Cyberabad police on Sundaybooked 31 youngsters fororganising birthday party inviolation of Covid lockdownnorms at Kadthal nearHyderabad.

The youngsters includinggirls participated in thebirthday party which wasorganized at a farm house atKadthal in Ranga Reddy dis-trict under the limits ofCyberabad PoliceCommissionerate.

In blatant violation of theCovid-19 protocol and theongoing lockdown, theguests consumed liquor anddanced with DJ. The partic-ipants, most of them collegestudents, violated social dis-tancing norms and manywere without mask.

On receiving informationabout the party, policereached the venue in theearly hours of the day.Deputy Commissioner ofPolice N. Prakash Reddy saidthe police seized liquor bot-tles.

Police booked a caseagainst the organizers andguests for violation of the

lockdown norms and took upfurther investigation.

The organizers choose thefarm house outside the cityfor the birthday party, appar-ently to avoid police.

This is the second suchcase in less than a week.Hyderabad police had onJune 11 booked nine personsfor celebrating birthday inviolation of Covid protocol.The police had taken actionafter a video of the celebra-tion in Habeeb Nagar areawent viral on social media. Alarge maskless crowd wasseen in the video dancing toloud music and flashingswords.

The birthday celebrationwas organized late on June 9.Birthday boys Arjun andSriram were among thosebooked for flouting Covidnorms.

Covid induced lockdownnorms are in effect acrossTelangana till June 19. Thelockdown is in force between6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

All gatherings includingsocial, political, religious,sports, entertainment, acad-emic and cultural are pro-hibited.

5 held for selling Amphotericin B,nine vials seized

31 youngsters booked for organising birthday party

Now, report grievances to GHMC on WhatsAppHelpline to report storm water drains

PNS n HYDERABAD

A fire broke out at famousNizam Club on Sunday earlymorning.

Officials said that the furni-ture and interior were gutted.According to the sources, thefire control room has receivedinformation about fire acci-dent, upon which three firetenders were rushed to thespot. The fire fighters startedextinguishing operation at firstfloor of Nizam Club and aftertwo hours the fire was broughtunder control.

During the incident, theserver room, furniture andthe interior decoration wasgutted. On receiving infor-mation, a team of SaifabadPolice reached the spot andregistered a case.Investigation is underway.

However the police aretrying to gather informationabout the cause of fire.

Nizam Club India is one ofthe oldest clubs inHyderabad established onSeptember 26 in 1884 byNawab Mir Mahboob AliKhan, Asaf Jah VI.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Vehicles lined up at Telangana-Andhra Pradesh State borderat Ramapuram crossroads nearKodad in the district withincrease in traffic coupled withpolice allowing vehicles onlyafter checking the e-pass.

Following further relaxationfrom 6 am to 6 pm inTelangana State, people whowent to their native places inAP are keen on returning toHyderabad to resume theirwork here. With this, the flowof vehicles towards Hyderabadon National Highway No. 65suddenly increased fromSunday morning.

Three police teams weredeployed at the state border tocheck the e-passes beforeallowing the vehicles into thestate.

The police sent back thevehicles, which don't have e-passes. Vehicles were linedup for more than kilometerslong at the state border.

The police made it clear tothe vehicular that e-pass wasmandatory to enter into thestate until the state govern-ment makes an announce-ment.

They asked the people notto plan any travel to Telanganafrom Andhra Pradesh withoutan e-pass.

Vehicles line up at T’gana-AP border

PNS n HYDERABAD

A Hyderabad based-NGOnamed Freedom AgainFoundation has been offeringtheir services to governmentschools since 2015.

Mushir Khan, the founderof Freedom Again Foundationsaid, "In India, even if a per-son belongs to a middle classfamily or to a even to a lowerincome family, he/she wantshis child /children to study ina private school and would notprefer a government school.This is something that has tochange and that is why I havestarted working over schooleducation in governmentschools." He further said thatthe foundation has legallyadopted two governmentschools here in Hyderabadand are providing the stu-dents with several facilities.

Khan said that they havegiven projectors to severalgovernment schools. Hementioned that due to theseactivities, we were able to seean increase in the number ofstudents attending the school.

Hyd based-NGO adopts two govt schools in state

PNS n HYDERABAD

Two persons were injuredafter an Innova car over-turned on PVNR Expresswayat Mehdipatnam on Sunday.

According to police, themulti purpose vehicle (MPV)coming from Mehdipatnamtowards Aramgarh jumpedthe divider and turned turtlearound 9 am near Pillar no 38.

Apparently the driver whowas driving at high speed lostcontrol over the vehicle, thepolice said. On informationthe police reached the spotand shifted the vehicle fromthe road.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad police have arrestedan activist after a womanYouTuber attempted suicide dueto defamatory comments manhad been making against her.

Syed Saleem, who runs anNGO, was arrested after avideo of the woman YouTubersurfaced. The woman said thatshe was ending her life due toharassment by the accused.

The victim, a YouTube repo-rter who also runs Khidmat e-Khalq Charitable Trust, report-edly tried to commit suicide byconsuming sleeping pills.

Saleem, a resident of HafeezBaba Nagar and president of anNGO, had allegedly madecomments against the womanand posted videos against her.

Mild tension prevailed nearthe house of Saleem when hewas being arrested. Some peo-

ple who had gathered theretried to attack the accusedand hurled abuses. Meanwhile,MBT leader Amjedullah Khanalleged that the police arrest-ed Saleem under pressure fromMIM. He said there was mock-ery of democracy and break-down of law and order whenMIM workers including cor-porato-rs gathered and tried toattack Saleem and used filthylanguage in presence of police.

Activist arrested after suicide bid by woman YouTuber over harassment

The southwest monsoon has arrived with the onset of monsoonwinds in the city for the last two weeks. In this context, thedepartment of electric supply, TSSPDCL has been alerted to its

duties and roles in the metropolitan area. Southern Power DistributionCompany Limited, the biggest power distributor in the metro city hasformulated a special operation scheme with department personnel toprevent any problem in providing uninterrupted power supply duringthe monsoon. Overall there are nine circles in the Greater Hyderabadcity area and the Operations Department officials have set up disastermanagement teams consisting of three members in each circle foruninterrupted distribution of power and effective work. Propermeasures will be taken to ensure uninterrupted power supply duringthe monsoon season beginning in June and continuing through July,August and September. TSSPDCL this year has taken proper measuresand is constantly vigilant at the field level by recruiting additional staffin addition to the staff currently working. Officials said TSSPDCL hasset up a control room in every circle office and disaster managementpersonnel are available at the control units to go immediately to aplace where there is a power problem. The staff will be available 24hours a day. 11 KV lines had already been specially inspected andrepaired wherever necessary, to ensure that there were no powershortages to businesses, commercial connections and industries, aswell as to home users. Superiors have already issued orders toprepare as many personnel as needed to ensure that there is nodisruption anywhere within the nine circles. If there are any complaintsregarding power supply within the nine circles in Greater Hyderabad,the authorities have asked consumers to call the 1912 toll-freenumber. They have made available the technology to register a largenumber of complaints at one time - nearly 60 complaints will beregistered at once. Authorities advised city residents to be constantlyvigilant of the power poles and other electrical systems when theyleave their homes. During the monsoon season, there is a risk ofaccidents mainly due to the passing of electric power through ironpillars in many places. For this at the field level, the staff membershave inspected them section by section and instructed the linemenalong with the AEI to take measures to avoid any accidents there.

Ready to tackle monsoon

Fire breaks out at Nizam Club

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana on Sunday record-ed 1,280 new Covid cases and15 deaths, pushing the tally sofar to over six lakh and 3,484respectively.

The GHMC accounted forthe highest number of caseswith 165 followed by Kham-mam (156) and Nalgonda (80)districts, a bulletin said. Thenumber of active cases was21,137. The number of cases inTS stood at 6,03,369 whilewith 2,261 people being cured,the recoveries were 5,78,748.

Over 91,000 samples weretested today. Cumulatively,over 1.58 crore samples havebeen tested. The samples test-ed per 10 lakh population

were over 4. 26 lakh, the bul-letin said. The case fatality ratein the State was 0.57 per centwhile it was 1.3 per cent at thenational-level.

TS logs 1,280 Covid cases

Continued from Page 1

On June 14, we will open Julyand August appointments forstudents," he added.

Asked about apprehensionsrelating to vaccination, theofficial said proof of vaccina-tion is not required to enter theUnited States.

"Please note that proof of anegative COVID-19 test result,taken within 72 hours of yourflight's departure, is required toboard a flight and for entry intothe United States.

"While proof of vaccinationis not required to enter theUnited States, individualschools or institutions may settheir own requirements. TheUS education system operates

independently from the feder-al government, and studentsshould consult closely withtheir host institution to ensurecompliance with individualvaccination requirements," headded. Heflin said there aremore than 4,500 accredited

universities in the US thatoperate autonomously, and thepolicy adopted by one schoolfor its students and teachingcommunity may not be thesame as that for another one.

Asked if an exception will beconsidered for a parent who

wishes to accompany a studentheaded to the US, the officialsaid parents travelling to thecountry, in that case, will beclassified as tourists.

"Tourist travel remains pro-hibited pursuant to PresidentialProclamation 10199," he said.

In view of surging Covidinfections in India, PresidentJoe Biden authorised a travelban for certain nonimmigrantsfrom India under a PresidentialProclamation that came intoeffect on May 4.

Heflin said student visaapplicants with a cancelledappointment will need to makea new appointment and thatnew student visa appointmentswill be made available on afirst-come, first-served basis.

Facilitating legitimate travel for Indian students...

Continued from Page 1

In the whole process, Guptasaid, vaccination of people isgetting delayed.

"With fear of a possiblethird wave hitting India, wewant to vaccinate as manypeople as possible. Also severalpeople and many of ourhealthcare workers who havetaken the first dose are wait-ing for their second dose," hesaid. P K Bhardwaj, ChiefExecutive Director and Headof Department of Surgery,Saroj Hospital also said thatnothing has been clearly speltabout procurement by pri-

vate hospitals and how muchvaccines will be given to eachprivate hospital.

The vaccinations at most ofthe private hospitals are onhold and the public, especial-ly those patients who need toget the second doses, are at thereceiving end.

"The government shouldsoon come out with transpar-ent and clear guidelines so asto avoid any further delay inthis crucial exercise of inocu-lating people against the dead-ly virus," Bhardwaj, who is alsosecretary of the DelhiVoluntary Hospital Forum,said.

No clarity on Covid vaccineprocurement: Pvt hospitals

MPV overturns on PVNR Expressway,2 persons injured

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021

It has become a fashionthese days to ridicule and

speak badly aboutManusmrithi, Manu DharmaSastra, Brahmanism, Hindureligion and connected beliefsystems. Little-known polit-ical sociologists here andthere unequivocally professhatred towards the ancientdharma, thousands of years ofold ancient Hindu religion,Manu dharma etc.

It is essential to clarify forthe benefit of such criticswhat Brahmanism, ancientdharma, human dharma thatthey criticize day in and dayout is all about so that theywould set themselves right.

These people conduct sem-inars and symposia with sub-jects such as Anti-Brahmanism and "uppercaste domination" and liber-ally use a word "spiritualdemocracy". In fact, in eachand every word ofManusmrithi it is crystal clearthat the so-called spiritualdemocracy is reflected. Thesepeople also indulge in criticiz-ing the Hindu religion andpraising Buddhism, Islamand Christianity! If, accord-ing to them, these three reli-gions are spiritual fragrances,then even Hinduism is equal-ly and for that matter more ofa spiritual fragrance. On theone hand they profess caste-less society and on the otherthey divide Brahmins andDalits and speak of themdifferently. In any reform insociety anywhere in the coun-try Brahmins have playedtheir role. Why criticize themfor no reason?

If anyone feels that he orshe knows everything and noone need tell them anythingthen they should be treated asstupid according to latePullella Srirama Chandrudu,an Indian scholar of Vedanta,Vyakarana and AlankaraSastra and a prolific writer ofSanskrit and Telugu literature.

Writing introduction to abook on Manusmrithi inTelugu authored by lateKomaragiri YogananandaLaxmi Narasimha Rao, pop-ularly known as KYL, latePullella mentioned that ifanyone desires to know aboutjustice, injustice, virtue, sin,heaven, hell, life and death,God, relationship etc. onehas to look at Vedas. Amongseveral books written by KYL,Manusmrithi needs specialmention.

Manusmrithi or ManuDharma Sastra, whose basisis Vedas, is an all-time greatbook, a work of genius.Author KYL, in his introduc-tion and as well as in subse-

quent chapters, has enunciat-ed several aspects with appro-priate examples and said thatfor all types of Justice -dhar-ma --the foundation is laid inthe Vedas. Manusmrithi isnothing but an extension ofVedas' philosophy and prin-ciples. For the entire Hinducommunity, it is aConstitution-like book. Infact, based on this, India's firstGovernor General WarrenHastings brought out a com-prehensive legal code. Takingcue from him, William Jones,who was Supreme CourtJudge while Hastings wasGovernor-General, got ittranslated and printed inEnglish.

For this work, the BritishGovernment honoured Joneswith "Sir" title. The thenBritish Government alwaysrespected Indian and Hinduliterature and also the ancientculture, tradition and reli-gious beliefs and with a viewto enrich the British officersabout the legal proceduresthey got Manusmrithi trans-lated into English.

The Manu Code is ency-clopaedic in nature andapplicable for all times. It hasincluded in it a variety ofancient codes on dharmaand thus evolved as the bestavailable code of dharma andinfluenced for centuries theHindu and Indian society. Infact, Manusmrithi has eveninfluenced the world societytoo in different ways. ManuCode is nothing but a HumanCode of dharma and severalextraordinary human beings

or may be humans withsupernatural powers mighthave compiled it after years ofhard work.

Manusmrithi professes allvirtues only…it speaks ofwelfare of society and varietyof procedures everyone has toadopt in life. It has neverbelittled women…it onlymentioned about proper pro-tection to women like the"Nirbhaya" Act or for thatmatter the SHE Teams. It iscrystal clear in the Shloka"Yatra naaryastu poo-jyamte…phalaa kriyah"meaning 'where women arerevered, there we find godsand goddesses'. In the societyvisualized by Manu, womanhas a respectable place. It hasin it 2,684 shlokas.

Only when one reads itwith an open mind one willbe able to understand it. Onehas to understand the innermeaning in it. Whatever ismentioned in it may not beapplicable for all the times tocome and in some areas; itmight require amendmentslike we do for ourConstitution. However, thebasic structure ofManusmrithi shall remain intact. At least let us take thebest part of it and apply in ourlife.

'Hinduism', whether it isa religion or not, is a way oflife and questioning it isnothing but questioningthe way of life of millions ofpeople who have followed itfor centuries.

Indian culture and Hinduculture are one of the bestcultures in the whole world.It has come to stay despiteumpteen social revolutionsand continue to stay as away of life for more andmore centuries to come.The reason for this is that,its roots are in the Vedas.

Those who cr it ic iseManusmrithi should under-stand that it is fundamen-ta l ly an age-oldConstitution which suitedthose times in toto when itwas written. With the pas-sage of time, all that ismentioned in it may not berelevant to the moderntimes, but certainly thespirit of it can be imbibed.

Manusmrithi: fundamentallyan age-old Constitution

VANAM JWALA

NARASIMHA RAO

CHIEF PUBLIC RELATIONS

OFFICER OF CHIEF MINISTER

OF TELANGANA

Manusmrithi professes all virtuesonly…it speaks of welfare ofsociety and variety of procedureseveryone has to adopt in life. It hasnever belittled women…it onlymentioned about proper protectionto women like the "Nirbhaya" Act orfor that matter the SHE Teams.

PNS n WARANGAL

Noted historian RatnakarReddy traced a Lajja Gouri siz-zling drawn on a huge rockduring the Kakatiya period atCheryala in Siddipet district ofTelangana on Sunday. The cav-ing is drawn on an eight-foot-high rock near the Sub-Registrar office at Cheryala inwhich an infant sat depictingthe childbirth. Ratnakarobserved that people used topray for children and for yield-ing more crops. He said LajjaGouri culture of sizzlings wasspread all over the world andthey are similar everywhere.The rock has also a KalaBharaiva idol. The ArcheologyDepartment has to report afterstudying the drawings on therock, he said.

Ratnakar, who was research-

ing Kothagutta and its sur-roundings said a group of abo-rigines made a shelter atKothakonda Illara Gundu.Along with Kolleti Srinivas,Rajender and other team mem-bers, Ratnakar Reddy inspect-

ed the hillock of 'Illara Gundu'.Kothakonda hillock inBhimadevarapalli mandal ofWarangal urban district wasfamous for its historical factsand it was proved that Harappaculture was spread up to the

Kotha Konda where the stoneage human beings lived thereway back 10,000 years. Sometreasure hunters dug the tombswhich are believed to havebelonged to the Stone Age inthe village.

'Illara Gundu' means asprawling rock that was 30-foothigh on the Veeranna Gutta onway to Gummi Gutta. A hugecave with 12-feet in height, 100-foot length and 45 feet in widthwas noticed and it was closedfrom the inside on the otherend. Demand was growing inthe area to develop Kothakondaas a tourism centre as devoteesthrong to have darshan atVeerabhadra Swamy temple onthe hillock in huge numbers.The government has to devel-op the Illaragundu and its sur-roundings to attract moretourists and pilgrims as well.

Maoist Katti Mohandies of cardiac arrest

Kakatiya period rock carving uncovered

PNS n JAYASHANKAR

BHUPALPALLY

Naxalbary movement second-generation leader Katti MohanRao @ Prakashanna @ DamaDada died of a heart attack onJune 10, Communist Party ofIndia (Maoist), Telangana unitspokesperson Jagan said in apress release on Sunday.

Born in a middle-class fam-ily at Garla village in Bayyarammandal of Mahabubabad dis-trict, Katti Mohan Rao becamepart of the revolutionarymovement for the past 39years. He studied intermediateat Mahabubabad, a degree inKhammam and M.Sc inKakatiya University where hebagged gold medal twice. Heworked in the RadicalStudents Union in 1982 andsince then he served theMaoist party in many capaci-ties for 39-long years.

Jagan said Mohan Rao wasarrested in Khammam districtin 1985 and spent six years injail. After he released in 1991,he worked in the Mahadevpurarea Dalam in JayashankarBhupalapally district. As partof the expansion of the move-ment, he worked as deputycommander of the newlyformed Kinnera Dalam and in1992 he promoted as com-mander for the same Dalam.The same year, he was postedas DVC. He worked in thepress unit for some time andworked as a Khammam dis-trict committee member in2002 and Khammam andWarangal division committeemember and secretary afterthe plenary in 2003 till 2007.

Jagan said because of neces-

sities in the revolutionarymovement, he was transferredto Dandakaranya in 2008.Despite his illness with asth-ma, BP and sugar, ComradeDama Dada made efforts inevery turn of the event withpolitical maturity and in-depthideologist knowledge and hefaced many challenges and upand downs. Because of his ill-health, Comrade Dama Dadaworked as a teacher at theJanathana sarkar-run school inDandakaranya and groomedmany children.

Despite the age factor andill-health, Jagan said that hefought till his last breath over-coming them with revolu-tionary inspiration. Raisingslogans as "Sobha Roy amarrahe", he went inside the campand collapsed on June 10. Amemorial meeting was orga-nized on June 11 and the lastrites were performed amidrevolutionary slogans raised bythe PLGA members. Statingthat the party could not handover the body of Katti MohanRao to his family members,the Maoist Party Telanganastate committee paid rich trib-utes to the departed leader.

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

In the pretext of apprehensionsof the third wave of the Coronapandemic, the health officialsshould be prepared to face itwith proper planning and actionplans and as part of it more peo-ple be inoculated, DistrictCollector S Venkat Rao said onSunday.

While addressing a videocon-ference from his camp officehere on Sunday, DistrictCollector Venkat Rao directedthe officials to initiate specialsanitation works for one week inthe villages and municipal townsfrom Monday. With supportfrom all people, the Covid pos-itive rate has come down from34.2 to 3.2 per cent in the dis-trict and commended the offi-cials who were responsible forachieving it.

He said no single positive caseof the corona was recorded in233 village panchayats and 53wards in the district and effortsshould be made for making

Covid-free areas in other wardsand villages. As the cases havereduced, the usage of oxygenwas also declined and despitethe fall in cases, doctors, officialsand officials of other depart-ments should continue to fightagainst the Covid. The districtshould be prepared even toface the third wave of coronapandemic, he said and addedthat it was time for educating thepeople with pamphlets andshort films to take care of chil-dren.

The Collector asked the

DM&HO to commence thevaccination drive from tomor-row as the government hasrecognised another 10 cate-gories under superspreaders aspart of the vaccination pro-gramme. Steps should be takento give vaccination in allPrimary Health Centres, sixvaccination centres which wereallocated for super spreaders inJedcherla, and Mahabubnagartowns. The RBSK staff should bemade part of the containingcorona, he added.

He said inoculation would be

given from Monday to all thebank employees, excise, trans-port, postal, electricity and spe-cial branch and directed the offi-cials to issue the slips to them.About 50 tonnes of waste wasremoved as part of the sanitationdrive at the government gener-al hospital. Later, the Collectorreviewed the basic infrastructurein the hospital, oxygen plant,200-beds and other details. Heasked the officials to increase thebed strength to another 60 inSNCU. Stating that the basthidavakhanas were functioningwell, the Collector said the doc-tors and other staff shouldextend support and welcomedthe private hospitals for extend-ing support for catering for themedical experts along with doc-tors and staff.

Revenue Additional CollectorK Seetharama Rao, DM&HODr Krishna, main hospitalSuperintendent Dr Ramkishan,Deputy DM&HO Dr Sasikanth,SM IDC Sarat, LDM NagarajaRao and others were present.

Prepare plans to face thirdwave corona, says Collector

PNS n WARANGAL

The Warangal PoliceCommissionerate secured itsplace in the World Book ofRecords. The police have beenranked in the Best Policingand Public Health ServiceCategory in the World Bookof Records for the measurestaken on the prevention ofpandemic.Warangal PoliceCommissioner Dr Tarun Joshiwill soon be presented theWorld Book of Records andthe Certificate of Commitm-ent by a London delegates inconnection with the record.The World Book of RecordsHead of Europe Wilhelm Jezl-er informed that the WarangalPolice Commissionerate hasbeen selected for taking safe-ty measures in line with WHOguidelines for the coronavirus.

Warangal top copgets place in WorldBook of Records

PNS n MULUG

The Incherla nursery site wasalmost finalised to constructthe new Collectorate complexin 25 acres of revenue land inMulug district. The proposedsite was centrally located forthe people of both Wazedu andVenkatapuram in the district.

The Mulug district spreadsaround 200 km fromMohammad Gousepally toBrahmanapally, Wazedu andVenkatatapuram and the pre-sent site was located besidenational highway No 163.

Mulug District CollectorKrishna Adithya said a site atthe Gattamma area has beenidentified to construct theCollector office, but it wouldcome under the reserved for-est jurisdiction. However, themajority of politicians pre-ferred the Incherla nurserysite instead of going for areserve forest area.

MLA Seethakka maintainedthat the officials have to takepermission from the forestdepartment If Gattammapremises was chosen. She saidthe government has allocatedRs 55 crore for the Collectoratein which 57 offices would beaccommodated.

The revenue division wasupgraded as district headquar-ters after Mulug was formed asa new district. AdditionalCollector Adarsh Surabhi andother district officials werestaying in rented houses due tothe non-availability of govern-ment buildings with campoffice facility.

The SP office and CRPF

camp office buildings werelikely to come up behind theIncherla Haritha Hotel inJangalpally. District CollectorKrishna Aditya and SP DrSangram Singh G Patil werealso holding additional chargeof Bhupalpally district eventhough it was the painstakingtask to shoulder the responsi-bility of both the districts.

Site to build new collectorcomplex finalised

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

The Lok Satta Udyama SamsthaKarimnagar district unit hasurged Governor and ChancellorDr Tamilisai Soundarajan tointervene in the affairs ofSatavahana University whichwere embroiled in a controver-sy over the appointment of OSDto the VC recently.

In a memorandum sent to theGovernor and a copy of whichwas released to the media here,Lok Satta district secretaryPrakash Holla and district lead-ers R Chandra Prabhakar, MGangadhar, T Ganga Rao,Damodar, M Mahender Reddy,KS Narayana, P Nagamohanand others said that the Lok Sattahad received complaints from theacademicians stating that newlyappointed Vice-Chancellor SMallesh, who took charge onMay 24 this year had appointeda tainted faculty member Vannala

Ramesh, an assistant professor inthe Sociology department as theOSD to VC on June 10.

Lok Satta Udyama Samsthainformed that then UniversityRegistrar Umesh Kumar hadissued orders informing the uni-versity authorities not to allocateany administrative duties toVannala Ramesh for a period ofthree years from 2020 to 2022 ashe had violated the norms offinancial discipline and code ofthe university and resorted totemporary embezzlement of uni-versity funds.

Ramesh worked as SportsSecretary from August 8, 2012, toFebruary 22, 2018, in the univer-sity. During 2017-18, he hadtaken advances to the tune of Rs7,79,400 in four spells to meet theexpenditure in conducting vari-ous games and sports in the uni-versity colleges. But he failed tosubmit the bills of expendituredespite oral instructions.

Governor urged to intervenein Satavahana varsity row

PNS n HYDERABAD

Nominated MLA Stephensoncaught in another controver-sy over a land encroachmentthat came to light on Sunday.The followers of Stephensonallegedly flattened a farmowned by a person and theythreatened him of dire conse-quences when he tried toobstruct them.

With the threats ofStephenson's followers, thelandowner lodged a complaintwith the local Chengomilpolice station. The victimNarsimhulu said he owned3.10 acres of land and he sold1.25 acres to Stephenson'sdaughter Jessica in 2016.However, Narsimhulu's sonVenkataiah alleged that

Stephenson's followers pres-surized his father to sell anoth-er 1.25 acres to Jessica. Whenhe rejected, Stephenson's fol-lowers entered into the landand took into their possession.He complained to the policeseeking justice. It may berecalled that Stephenson wasa key person in a sensational'vote for note' case.

Water inflowssurge inSrisailam damPNS n NAGARKURNOOL

Following the onset of themonsoon, heavy rains lashedin the upstream areas of theKrishna River for the past fivedays causing heavy waterinflows into the projects likeAlmatti and Narayanpur. Asthe Jurala project receivedheavy f loodwater, theSrisailam project floodedwith water flows.

About 20,239 cusecs ofwater received to the Juralaproject from Narayanpur andthe officials were reportedlytaking steps to release 20,239cusecs of water from Juralaand 3,284 cusecs from theSunkesula project. Accordingto the officials, Srisailamwater inflows recorded at12,167 cusecs and the presentwater storage in the damwas 33.76 tmc. As the powergeneration came to a halt inthe right and left banks of theSrisailam project, the engi-neers were on high alert forthe past three days.Meanwhile, as the sufficientwater levels reached theJurala Project, power gener-ation commenced in the twounits there. Since heavy rainswere forecasted in the next sixdays, the officials said heavyinflows of water were expect-ed to reach the dam, officialssaid on Sunday.

Mega vax camp launched for Singareni workers PNS n PEDDAPALLY

Singareni Collieries Directorfor Operations S Chandrasekharinaugurated a mega Covid vac-cination camp at a communityhall in Sector 1 in the Singareniarea of Godavarikhani inPeddapalli district on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion,Chandrasekhar said Singareniworkers and employees agedbetween 18 and 60 would beinoculated as per the directivesof Singareni Chairman andManaging Director N Sridhar.He said the Singareni Collierieswas taking all precautionarymeasures to protect the workersfrom the corona pandemic andas part of it without hesitating onthe expenditure, it decided togive a free vaccination to all

Singareni employees.Commending the employeeswho came for the vaccination,Chandrasekhar said four vacci-nation centres were opened inthe RG1 area at Communityhall, Vithal Nagar Dispensary,CER Club and TTC/VTC cen-tres. He interacted with thepeople who have taken the jab

and took their opinion. Area GM K Narayana said the

vaccination would be organizedfor three days and people whowished to take a jab could go tothe Community Hall. SO toGM Thyagaraju, agents ChilakaSrinivas and Srinath, DGM civilNaveen, Madanmohan and oth-ers were present.

MLA Stephenson caught in a land row

nation 05HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021

PNS n MUMBAI

The Shiv Sena was virtuallytreated as "slaves" and attemptswere made to finish off theparty politically when it was inpower with the BJP inMaharashtra from 2014 to2019, Sena MP Sanjay Raut hasalleged.

Addressing Sena workersin Ja lgaon in northMaharashtra on Saturday,Raut said, "The Shiv Sena hada secondary status in the pre-vious government and was(treated) like slaves. Attemptswere also made to finish offour party by misusing thever y power which wasenjoyed because of our sup-port".

Raut's remarks came daysafter Maharashtra ChiefMinister and Shiv Sena pres-ident Uddhav Thackeray metPrime Minister Narendra

Modi in Delhi separately, set-ting off political speculationsin the state.

The Shiv Sena-BJP alliancecrumbled in 2019 over theissue of chief ministership.

The Sena, which was one ofthe oldest allies of the BJP, laterformed an unlikely alliance

with the NCP and Congress toform the Maha Vikas Aghadigovernment in Maharashtra.

Raut said he always thoughtthat the Sena should have itschief minister in Maharashtra.

"Even if Shiv Sainiks don'tget anything, we can proudlysay the state's leadership is now

in the hands of the Shiv Sena.The Maha Vikas Aghadi gov-ernment was formed with thissentiment (in November2019)," he said.

Recalling the drama pre-ceding the formation of thetripartite government inNovember 2019 after theAssembly elections, Rautsaid senior NCP leader AjitPawar, who briefly switchedsides to form a governmentwith the BJP underDevendra Fadnavis, is nowthe "strongest spokesman "ofthe MVA. The secondFadnavis-led governmentwhich was formed with AjitPawar had lasted for just 80hours.

"....Anything can happen inpolitics. Ajit Pawar, the deputyCM of Maharashtra, is nowworking shoulder to shoulderwith Chief Minister UddhavThackeray," Raut said.

‘Shiv Sena was treated asslaves in erstwhile BJP govt’

Covid: Rlys' income dip by 94 pcwith no sale of platform tickets PNS n NEW DELHI

The railways' earnings fromplatform tickets took a severehit in 2020-21 with revenuefrom sale dipping by about 94per cent as compared to theprevious year due to restric-tions imposed on entry intostations because of the coron-avirus crisis, a RTI has found.

In a reply to a RTI queryfrom Madhya Pradesh-basedChandra Shekhar Gaur, therailways said it earned Rs 10crore till February in 2020-21through sale of platform tick-ets.

In 2019-2020, the railwaysnetted Rs 160.87 crore whichwas the highest earning fromplatform tickets for the nation-al transporter in the last fiveyears, the RTI has found.

The railways took the step torestrict overcrowding at rail-way stations even before thenationwide lockdown wasannounced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in March 2020.

With the divisional railwaymanagers empowered todecide on the rate of platformtickets and the decision onwhether to restrict entry, sev-eral railway zones completelydenied entry and allowed only

valid ticket holders entrancefor most of the year.

Later, a decision was alsotaken to increase the prices ofplatform tickets from Rs 10 toRs 30 and even Rs 50 in cer-tain zones in an effort to dis-suade people from enteringstations.

The railways, however, main-tained that the rise in prices oftickets was temporary and ameasure to counter the pandem-ic.

Revenue from platform tick-ets has lingered around the Rs131 crore mark except 2018-2019 when it shot up to Rs139.20 crore.

In 2019-20, it touched the Rs160 crore mark, but dippedseverely to Rs 10 crore in 2020-

21 until February this year.With the easing of restric-

tions, the Northern Railways --the largest zone of railways -- onSaturday announced that theyhave decided to restart the saleof platform tickets at eight majorstations in the Delhi Division.

The rates of the platformticket have been enhanced toRs 30 per ticket in order to pre-vent unnecessary crowding atthe station, it said.

The eight stations wherepassengers can avail of theplatform ticket facility includeNew Delhi, Delhi Junction,Hazrat Nizamuddin, AnandVihar Terminal, Meerut City,Ghaziabad, Delhi SaraiRohilla and Delhi Cantt rail-way stations.

Direct link between malnutrition and diseases: UN's WFPPNS n NEW DELHI

Underlining that there is adirect link between malnutri-tion and diseases, India coun-try director of UN World FoodProgramme Bishow Parajulisuggested safeguarding andpromoting access to nutritious,safe, and affordable diets andinvesting in improving mater-nal and child nutrition to pro-tect children's right to nutritionin the COVID-19 pandemic.

India has been battling highprevalence of malnutritionamong its population, especial-ly children, with NationalFamily Health Survey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16) data showing that35.7 per cent children belowfive years are underweight,38.4 per cent are stunted and 21per cent are wasted in thecountry. Even NFHS-5 whichwas conducted in 22 statesand union territories present-

ed a grim scenario and showeda rise in malnutrition.

In an interview with PTI, theWorld Food ProgrammeIndia's country director saidmalnutrition is particularlylethal in combination withinfectious diseases such asARI, malaria, measles, diar-rhoeal diseases -- the major

killer diseases affecting chil-dren.

Responding to a question ifmalnutrition can become acomorbidity for childreninfected with COVID-19, hesaid in general, there is a directlink between malnutrition anddiseases like coronavirus dis-ease.

"Malnutrition can make aperson more susceptible toinfection through a loweredimmune response, and infec-tion further contributes tomalnutrition resulting in avicious cycle of repeated infec-tions, reduced immunity, anddeteriorating nutritional status.

It is known that malnutritionmagnifies the effect of diseaseand a malnourished person hasmore severe disease episodes,more complications, andspends more time ill for eachepisode," he said.

There have been specula-tions that the third wave ofCOVID-19 may impact chil-dren more. However, the avail-able evidence show that chil-dren are as much affected asadults.

"It is, however, importantthat parents and caregivers ofchildren get vaccinated so thatthey act as a protective ring

around the children till suchtime vaccination is not openedup to young children," he said.

Noting that even thoughmany programmes are still inplace, the country director saidto mitigate the impact of thecrisis on families and societyand to protect the nutrition ofthe most vulnerable familiesand individuals, further actionis urgently needed from nation-al and state governments.

He suggested five urgentactions to protect children'sright to nutrition in theCOVID-19 pandemic -- safe-guarding and promoting accessto nutritious, safe, and afford-able diets, investing in improv-ing maternal and child nutri-tion through pregnancy, infan-cy, and early childhood, re-acti-vating and scaling-up servicesfor the early detection andtreatment of child wasting,maintain the provision of nutri-

tious and safe school meals forvulnerable children and expandsocial protection to safeguardaccess to nutritious diets andessential services.

Elaborating on WFP'swork on fortification andtake-home ration (THR), hesaid WFP is collaboratingwith Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, and Odisha todesign nutritious take-homerations aligned to both ICDSnorms and global guidelinesfor such products for youngchildren and pregnant/lactat-ing women; set up THR pro-duction units where the sameis produced by women's self-help groups following indus-trial quality assurance andcontrol protocols; capacitybuilding of women's self-help groups and establishthe link between THR andsocial behaviour changecommunication.

‘Love jihad', ‘cow terror' will notwork in UP polls: RLD chiefPNS n NEW DELHI

Asserting that the BJP's alleged"apathy" towards protestingfarmers will hurt it in theUttar Pradesh Assembly polls,RLD chief Jayant Chaudharyon Sunday said artificial issuessuch as "love jihad" and "cowterror" will not work as issuesof development will win in theelections.

As the focus shifts from theWest Bengal polls earlier thisyear to the high-stakes electionbattle in Uttar Pradesh in2022, newly-appointedRashtriya Lok Dal chiefChaudhary asserted that hisparty will not allow a commu-nally polarised campaign toruin the Hindi heartland statein the run up to the assemblypolls.

In an interview with PTI,Chaudhary, who took over asRLD chief after his fatherChaudhary Ajit Singh's demiselast month, said his party andthe Samajwadi Party have agood rapport and a strongworking relationship.

He said details need to beworked out for a formalalliance for the polls.

Asked if a 'Mahagathbandhan'or a grand alliance is needed inUP to take on the BJP andwhether the BSP and theCongress would be part of suchan alliance, Chaudhary said, forhim, issues come first and anunderstanding of those needs tobe built between all alliancepartners.

"Who can be accommodat-ed depends on who is honest-ly open to working together onthe common framework," the42-year-old leader said.

On whether the Congress

would play a significant role inthe assembly polls despite itspoor showing in the panchay-at elections, Chaudhary said hewould not like to comment onthe Congress' plans andchances.

Asked about the speculationover UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath's political future asCM and reports about Cabinetreshuffle in the state,Chaudhary said the BJP isjust trying to divert attentionand create an illusion of dia-logue to manage the disgrun-tled elements in the party.

"Social engineering doesn'tcome about by tinkering withone or two leaders at the top.The fact is that BJP's UttarPradesh government has beencaught in a caste-based matrixand has not delivered jobs, eco-nomic growth, and efficientgovernance to people," healleged.

The state government'sCovid response has been atro-cious and no one can forget thescenes of dead bodies in theGanga, he added.

Cong must clear standon Digvijay's remarks PNS n NEW DELHI

Senior BJP leader and Unionminister Ravi Shankar Prasad onSunday asked the Congress lead-ership to make its stand clear onthe purported remarks of DigvijaySingh that his party will have a"relook" at Article 370 revocationif it returns to power, saying "timeof silence is over".

A row erupted on Saturdayover Congress leader DigvijaySingh's comments in an audiochat on social media that his partywill have a "relook" at Article 370revocation and Jammu andKashmir's lost statehood if itreturns to power, with the BJPaccusing him of spewing venomagainst India in "collaboration"with Pakistan.

"It is now more than a daywhen the central leadership of theCongress is maintaining a con-spicuous silence on its standabout Article 370. Does theCongress want restoration ofArticle 370 as Digvijay Singh hasindicated? Time of silence is over.Please explain your clear stand,"

Prasad wrote on Twitter.Singh had said, "The decision

of revoking Article 370 and reduc-ing the statehood of J&K isextremely, I would say, sad deci-sion, and the Congress partywould certainly have a relook onthe issue.

Singh was responding to aquestion about the "way forward"on the issue "once the Modi gov-ernment is gone" .

While abrogating Article 370,good governance was promisedboth in J&K and Ladakh.

The speed with which vaccina-tion against COVID-19 is going oneven in the remotest parts of J&Kand Ladakh is a sign of pro-peo-ple good governance in the region,Prasad said in another tweet.

Singh's remarks to a person,who the BJP said was a journal-ist of Pakistani origin, were seizedby its leaders on Saturday tounleash a torrent of criticismagainst the opposition party anddemand statements fromCongress president Sonia Gandhiand her son Rahul Gandhi on theissue.

Three bodiesfound floatingin GangaPNS n KANNAUJ(UP)

Three bodies, includingthat of a woman, werefound f loating in theGanga on the Kannauj-Hardoi border, police saidon Sunday.

The bodies, found onSaturday, have been hand-ed over to the Hardoipolice, they said.

Kannauj SP PrashantVerma said the bodieswere found floating in theriver near the BadnapurGhat on Saturday.

Since the bodies werespotted in the area underthe Hardoi district, theHardoi p ol ice wasinformed, and they werehanded over to theHardoi police, Vermasaid.

Children orphanedby Covid seek aidPNS n NEW DELHI

Losing a loved one is nevereasy but if one were to com-pare, there would not be a lossthat could quite match theseverity of losing one's parents,especially for dependent chil-dren.

The death of a parent stripsaway the child of not just theemotional blanket of com-fort, but also in several casestakes away the financial sup-port, leaving their futures in alurch.

According to the NationalCommission for Protectionof Child Rights (NCPCR),3,621 children have beenorphaned during the pan-demic, and over 26,000 chil-dren have lost one parent.

Ten-year-old Deepika is oneof them.

She lost her father toCOVID-19 less than a monthback and is trying to get herlife back to normal, but hermother Kalpana said "nothingwill ever be normal again", andwho could argue?

The sole breadwinner of thefamily, her 57-year old-husband-- an editor at a Hindi publish-ing house -- was gone almost ina night's span, without even get-ting a chance at proper treatment,and now she is at a loss for ideasto secure her daughter's future.

"He had low grade fever anda slight cough, which actually gotbetter in a few days, but onemorning he suddenly collapsed.Although we managed to revivehim then… after scrambling foran ambulance and a bed forhours, by the time we reached thehospital, we had lost him,"Kalpana said.

MP: 5k Pakistanrefugees to get jabsPNS n INDORE

About 5,000 Pakistani refugeesfrom the Hindu Sindhi com-munity living in MadhyaPradesh's Indore will beadministered COVID-19 vac-cines, an official said onSunday.

The representativesof the Pakistanirefugees from theHindu Sindhi com-munity had recent-ly requested theadministration foranti- coronavirus inocu-lation, District ImmunizationOfficer Dr Praveen Jadia toldPTI.

"This demand has beenaccepted following the stategovernment's approval. ThesePakistani refugees will now beable to receive anti-coron-avirus jabs at the city's vacci-nation centres by showingtheir passport as the identity

card," he said.Jadia estimated that about

5,000 Pakistani refugees areliving in Indore and most ofthem are settled in the city'sSindhi Colony area.

"We are administering anti-COVID 19 doses to all

adults on humanitari-an grounds. Lastmonth, we had vac-cinated a Dutch cit-izen who had cometo Indore for some

work," he recalled.Indore district,

which is the worst hit bythe pandemic in MadhyaPradesh, has so far recorded1.52 lakh COVID-19 casesincluding 1,370 fatalities,according to officials.

About 13.53 lakh peoplewere administered the firstdose of the vaccine in theIndore district while 2.35 lakhpeople had received bothdoses.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Defence Minister RajnathSingh has approved budgetarysupport of nearly Rs 499 crorefor research and innovation inthe defence sector for the nextfive years.

The Defence Ministry onSunday said the funds will beused to provide financial sup-port to nearly 300 start-ups,micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSMEs) and indi-vidual innovators with a larg-er goal of ensuring self-reliancein the defence sector.

The scheme is in sync withthe government's push to cutimports of military hardwareand weapons and make Indiaa hub for defence manufactur-ing.

"Defence Minister RajnathSingh has approved the bud-getary support of Rs 498.8crore to Innovations forDefence Excellence (iDEX)-

Defence InnovationOrganisation (DIO) for thenext five years," the ministrysaid in a statement.

It said the iDEX–DIO hasthe primary objective of self-reliance and indigenisation inthe defence and aerospace sec-tor.

The ministry said the settingup of the iDEX framework andestablishment of the DIO bythe Department of DefenceProduction (DDP) is aimed atcreating an ecosystem to fos-ter innovation and technology

development in the defenceand aerospace sector.

"The scheme, with bud-getary support of Rs 498.8crore for the next five years, isaimed at providing financialsupport to nearly 300 start-ups/MSMEs/individual inno-vators and 20 partner incuba-tors under the DIO frame-work," the ministry said.

It said the DIO will enablethe creation of channels forinnovators to engage and inter-act with the Indian defenceproduction industry.

"The scheme aims to facili-tate rapid development of new,indigenised and innovativetechnologies for the Indiandefence and aerospace sectorto meet their needs in shortertimelines," it said.

In the last couple of years,the government has unveiled aseries of reform measures andinitiatives to make India ahub of defence manufacturing.

PNS n RANCHI

Concerned over "exploitation"of Jharkhand migrant workersin various parts of the country,especially in difficult terrains,Chief Minister Hemant Sorenhas voiced the need to put inplace a robust mechanism tocheck such practices and saidhe would hold necessarydis-cussions with his counterpartsfrom other states.

Soren also claimed that sev-eral central government agen-cies have failed to protect therights of the workers after hir-ing them for development pro-jects, while underlining that a"nexus between recruitingbodies and contractors" makessuch unfair treatment possible.

"It pains me to see theirplight...The workers are deniedtheir legitimate dues evenwhen organisations such asNTPC and BRO engage them

through contractors or middle-men. Policies to protect theirrights do exist, but they areusually not implemented,"Soren told PTI.

The CM further stated thathe had been raising the issueon different platforms but toavail.

"Once we tide over theCOVID-19 crisis, I will per-sonally hold meetings withchief ministers and adminis-trators of Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh among

other states and UTs and pitchfor a robust mechanism tocheck workers' exploitation,"Soren said.

He lamented that the statehad to use its own resourcesduring catastrophes to evacu-ate workers or in some casesbring their mortal remainshome, having received no helpfrom the stakeholders.

Citing examples, the CMsaid 15 Jharkhand migrantworkers engaged by BorderRoads Organisation (BRO) inUttarakhand's Chamoli dis-trict, near India-China bound-ary, had lost their lives in anavalanche in April.

Similarly, several workerswere killed in February whena devastating flash flooddemolished a 13.2 MW hydelproject and caused extensivedamage to another NTPC ven-ture in along Dhauliganga inUttarakhand, he said.

Need to check exploitationof migrant workers :Soren

Delhi: 4.5L non-PDSpeople get foodgrainsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Arvind Kejriwal govern-ment on Sunday said it hasprovided food grains to over4.5 lakh people who did nothave ration card under a newscheme in the national capital.

Starting from June 5, thescheme allows those whodon't have a ration card toavail five kilogram of foodgrains by showing theirAadhaar card.

"The scheme caters to peo-ple who do not possess rationcards, including unorganisedworkers, migrant workers,building and constructionworkers, and domestichelpers. More than 4.5 lakhpeople have been aided upuntil now through thisscheme," the Delhi govern-

ment said in a statement.Under the scheme, the ben-

eficiaries receive four kg ofwheat and one kg of riceeach.

It added that 5,000 metrictonne ration has been providedto the people and another 5,000metric tonne will be reachingthe distribution centres.

A total of 280 Delhi govern-ment schools, one in everymunicipal ward, have beendesignated for distribution offood grains.

"We assure you that thingswill be further streamlined inthe coming days to make theentire process smooth andhassle-free. Your governmentbelieves that ration is theright of people," Food andCivil Supplies Minister ImranHussain said.

Guj FDCA seizesover 24,000pregnancytermination kits PNS n AHMEDABAD

The Food and DrugsControl Administration inGujarat seized 24,363 preg-nancy termination kitsworth over Rs 1.5 crorealong with narcotic and psy-chotropic drugs that werebeing sold illegally, leadingto eight people being arrest-ed, officials said on Sunday.

These people have beencharged under the Drugsand Cosmetics Act, whileone of the accused has beenarrested by Gujarat policeunder the NDPS Act afterdrugs were found in hispossession, DCACommissioner HemantKoshia said.

He said such abortion kitscould be sold only on theprescription of gynecolo-gists as per the provisions ofthe Medical Termination ofPregnancy Act.

Rs 499-cr budget approvedfor defence innovations

Bishow Parajuli

was out of regard for me orin expectation of our spend-ing `4 crore. The audiencelaughed, which eloquentlymeant the latter. I said wewould meet again to decidewhat development works weshould do and where.

The next day I went tosee the District Collector,who was warm and friend-ly. My request to him was tohelp me implement thisscheme as I had no machin-ery. I went on to say that Idid not wish to mix it upwith my business. His advicewas that I should set up anNGO and get the schemeimplemented through it.

Another wise man I con-sulted advised me to get myparty MLAs together and afew active workers, and thenverbally distribute the totalfund amongst them. Thatmeant that if an MLA was toget `20 lakh, up to this fig-ure, whatever work he rec-ommended in his con-stituency, I would sign on.He would do the rest and Iwould ask no questions,except go to inaugurate hiswork if he invited me. Thewise man went on to say:“Then you see how thesepeople work for you at elec-

tion time in case you contestfor the Lok Sabha next time.”

Meanwhile, someonenon-political suggested thatI should build as manySulabh Shauchalayas as pos-sible on Vadodara’s streets.The common people, espe-cially the women, wouldbless you. This suggestionnot only gave me confi-dence but also a reliable,known and professionalimplementer.

It took two odd years toget all the piece of land toofor 10 bus stops in the city.In the rural sector, 88 brickand mortar bus stops werebuilt, fortunately obliged bythe same agency. Medicalequipment for Ahmedabad’spublic hospital Sheth VadilalSarabhai, a computer systemin a school in Vadodara cityand several anganwadis in afew villages were also set up.Imagine the amount of workthat could be done with amere `4 crore!

In many cases, the MPfinds it difficult to imple-ment projects. In my time,no particular item couldentail more than `10 lakh.This meant that I had tospend my total grant on atleast 40 small projects.

Therefore, some MPs have ago at a few projects and leavethe remaining fundsunspent. Some distributethe money among localMLAs and others. Othersuse their own NGOs. Thewhole scheme is so clumsythat it is wasteful. It wascomprehensively useful ifthe purpose was only to dis-tribute perquisites to theMPs.

In spite of these short-comings, if there be a parlia-mentar y consensus forresuming the grants to MPs,be it so. But a change in pro-cedure is necessary; let akeen MP apply to theFinance Minister givingwhat s/he proposes to doand how, within how muchtime. If an earmarked jointsecretary finds the proposalviable and useful for theparticular area, an approvalcould be given but subject toaudit by a licensed auditorempanelled for MPLADS.The result would be benefi-cial to the area’s people, exe-cuted economically and witha degree of uprightness.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor. The views expressedare personal.)

The past weekend had barely tiptoed into infancy when the entire world suddenlywent numb and stood still. Apart from praying lips, the only other thing that movedwere zillions of nimble, and concerned, fingers on Twitter and other social media

sites. No, it wasn’t because of a hallucination-inducing party drug but because Denmark’sace attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen had suddenly gone down. For no apparent rea-son. Inexplicably. Right there on the field, near the touchline, just four minutes before thereferee would have blown his whistle to indicate half time. The boisterous Copenhagenstadium suddenly went into mute mode; not only the home crowd but even the visiting

Finnish spectators were taken aback by the sudden turnof events as millions of pairs of palm after palm piercedthrough the evening air in its hurry to clasp the unbe-lieving eyes and quivering lips. The palpitation in thehearts is an altogether different story. In sadness, inwonderment, in care, in concern, in poignancy, it wasan emotional union of the two rivals and their specta-tor fans in the face of the fear of the unknown. As adark hush fell down upon the stadium, clamorous ashell only a few seconds ago with the hosts dominat-ing the on-field proceedings and the Finland nativesegging their team on to put some spirit into the game,the Finnish fans also fell quiet with discernible distress.

For their part, the Finland players — who had been getting the short shrift in theexchange of affairs thus far — also now stood as heroes, shoulder to shoulder withtheir Danish counterparts to shield Eriksen from the view of the public and roving tele-vision cameras so that he could receive immediate medical attention in relative peaceand privacy. It reminds one of several similar incidents where competing players andthe spectators immediately forged into one entity, a solid mass of humanity, in the faceof unanticipated adversity; the most notable being in the 1982 FIFA World Cup whenWest German goalie Toni Schumacher deliberately thudded into French player PatrickBattiston and knocked him down unconscious. But Saturday night’s scene was a tadmore touching, perhaps a reminder as it were in these trying times of the COVID-19pandemic that whatever our nationality, religion, gender or belief, we are one race, onepeople: Humans, first of all and after everything else!

The Government has taken a welcome step in deciding to declassify, on a case-to-case basis, details of the wars fought by India. The new policy for archiv-ing, declassifying, compiling and publishing such records is going to be put in

place. The modalities for taking up declassification one by one are being worked out.For a country that has fought as many as six wars since Independence but has man-aged to declassify the operations of just the 1948 Jammu and Kashmir operations,this is a giant step in transparency. The new policy says records should ordinarilybe declassified in 25 years and transferred to the National Archives of India oncethe war or operations histories have been compiled. The policy statement alone shouldmean that the official records of the 1962, 1965 and 1971 conflicts, Operation Pawarof the IPKF in Sri Lanka (1987-1990) be declassified right away. The Kargil affair

still has over a couple of years of secrecy left. Thereare two issues with this policy. First, the implica-tions of opening secret details of the past. In a coun-try like India where political leaders and their actionsare assessed not in terms of their times but by cur-rent political standards, the declassification canbecome a Pandora’s box. Take the Henderson-Brooks-Bhagat report on the 1962 India-China war,for instance. Technically, the report is yet to be madepublic though a foreign journalist did just that withpart of the report he accessed. That section of thereport has some startling revelations about India’s

Forward Policy adopted by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.One can well imagine the implications of judging Nehru’s thinking at that time by

today’s standards. The BJP, which till early 2014 was demanding release of the report,made a U-turn once it came to power. If much of any war report is to be kept hid-den either on ground of military relevance or political sensitivity, the purpose of thenew policy will be lost. Two, there is a clear case for the bull being taken by the hornsand past war records being declassified at once. A Defence Ministry official rightlysaid: “Timely publication of war histories would give people an accurate account ofthe events, provide authentic material for academic research and counter unfound-ed rumours.” Even though the United States faced condemnation for its reasons forthe war on Iraq, it did declassify records in 2013 to mark the 10th anniversary. Thedocuments showed how ineptly it caused and handled the war, but the country didnot hide the secrets from the American public. Secrecy is also redundant becauseit has no place today when technology has turned war into an algorithm and whereevery military moment can be recorded live and strategies assessed and analysedin real time. At best, old files can muddy the records of individuals — political ormilitary — who made controversial decisions. Unclassified records can at best keepthe past hurts buried.

Opening up

COVID: ACCURACY IN FIGURES NEEDEDSir — The official COVID-19 toll so far inIndia is around 4 lakh lives. However,experts are of the opinion that this is not anaccurate figure. They think that the real fig-ure will be much higher. It is assumed thatover a million people may have lost theirlives due to COVID-19, which is consideredthe second largest cause of death in thecountry. It is worrisome that COVID-relat-ed data is not properly collected and main-tained. Recording of accurate data helpsunderstand the enormity of the disease andthe steps to be taken to combat it. Further,demographic and geographical data willhelp combat the third wave.

As any kind of death is a great loss to thefamilies concerned, the families of COVIDvictims too deserve to be treated fairly by theGovernment. However, unlike railway acci-dents or industrial disasters, the families ofCOVID victims are not compensated. Justas the Government holds the responsibilityto compensate those rendered jobless or des-titute, it has the responsibility to compensatethe families of COVID victims.

A number of factors have contributedto India’s underreporting of COVID deathdata. As a consequence, it has raised doubtsabout India’s real COVID-related death toll.In fact, many countries have not reportedaccurate COVID death toll.

Venu GS | Kollam

ECOLOGY MORE PRECIOUS THAN ECONOMYSir — This decade has been designated asthe “decade of ecosystem restoration” by theUN. The ongoing pandemic must serve asa wake-up call for humanity to revisit theconcept of GDP as a true measure of a coun-try’s growth. In fact, economic parameteralone does not present the true picture ofa nation’s growth and development, even ashalf of the world’s GDP is dependent on nat-ural resources alone.

But several developed and developingcountries, in the guise of developing natur-al areas, resort to commercial plantationsand designate them as forested areas, whichgoes against the tenets of natural law. It isno wonder then that the UN has declared

the (2021-2030) decade a time for ecosys-tem restoration, and called on the world torestore at least 1 billion hectares (2.5 billionacres) of degraded land in the next decade.

It is also an alarming situation that if theecosystem services decline at a steady rate,an estimated $10 trillion in global GDP maybe lost by 2050. In this context, Uttarakhand,also called the Dev Bhumi (god’s paradise),has become the first State in the country toassign monetary value to natural resourceslike air, water, forest and soil to arrive atGross Environmental Product (GEP) inevaluating the GDP.

Vijay Singh Adhikari | Nainital

GST COUNCIL AND COVID-19 RELIEFSir — The GST Council meeting has turnedits back on COVID-19 relief. The lone deci-sion we might be satisfied with was thewaiver of the tax levied on two critical drugsagainst COVID-19 and mucormycosis,Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B.

Instead of reducing tax on Remdesivirand anticoagulants like heparin, medical gradeoxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators,BiPAP machines, pulse oximeters and test-ing kits from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, andfrom 18 per cent to five per cent for hand sani-tisers, temperature checking equipment, gasor electric furnace for crematoria and from28 per cent to 12 per cent for ambulances andkeeping the tax on COVID-19 vaccinesunchanged at five per cent, the GST Councilshould have made all COVID-19 relatedproducts, technologies and service tax-free.

It is inconceivable that the Governmentis insisting on raising revenue by taxing whatis needed to fight the battle against the pan-demic. Why on earth should anyGovernment with compassion and empathytax electric/gas furnaces used in crematoria?

G David Milton | Kanyakumari

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

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HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021

06

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CompassionThe world froze in prayers for a good half hour when

Christian Eriksen collapsed during a UEFA match

The fund allocated to all MPs for local area development is hardly utilised

for above-board projects that would really benefit the locals

PICTALK

Clean Ganga Mission workers spray bioremediation solution in the river, at Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi PTI

INDIVIDUAL MPS ARE NOT

ACCOUNTABLE TO ANYONE

REGARDING WHATTHEY HAVE DONE

WITH THEIR `25 CRORE

DURING THEIRTERMS. THERE IS NO AUDIT AT

ALL. AT ITS MOSTPRACTICAL, IT ISMONEY FOR JAM.AT ITS INACTION,

IT REMAINSUNSPENT

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

PRAFULL GORADIAThe Government is quite right in deciding to

declassify details of all of India’s wars

The Government’s revised vaccination policyhas brought fresh hope to students eyeingadmission at foreign universities, job offers

and also for the States that have faced difficul-ties in procuring vaccines and managing funds.Changing the previous policy of making the Statesprocure 25 per cent of the doses through openmarket to vaccinate the 18-44 age group, nowthe States will have no role in procurement andthe Centre will distribute vaccines to States forfree, who will inoculate their populations.

From June 21, every Indian citizen willreceive free vaccination at the Centre and State

Government-run centres. Earlier, the Centreprovided free vaccination only to three prioritygroups: Healthcare workers, frontline workers andpeople aged above 45 years. Else, for the 18-44age group, the vaccines were free only at theState-run centres. As the Centre moved to a cen-tralised procurement mechanism, the UnionGovernment said that both the State and Centralcentres will administer vaccines to all free of cost.

The vaccination at private centres will notbe free; they can charge up to the maximum priceas set by the Centre, besides a service charge.The Centre will directly procure three-fourth ofthe doses that the vaccine makers manufactureto distribute among States and administerdoses. The number of doses allocated to a Statewill be based on three factors: Population, theprogress of vaccination and degree of thespread of infection and the degree of wastage ofvaccines. A number of measures in the revisedpolicy will help smaller private centres based atremote locations to procure vaccine supply. FromJune 21, all centres will start on-site registration.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

Revised vax policy makes sense

MPLADS: A boonor necessary evil?

Members ofParliament LocalArea DevelopmentScheme, or

MPLADS, which allots `5crore annually to every MP,was suspended for 2020-21and 2021-22, and for good rea-son. But several MPs feel thescheme should be revived.There are 543 Lok Sabha and250 Rajya Sabha MPs, a total of793. Each was last entitled to`5 crore for this purpose. Iffully utilised by every member,the Government of Indiawould spend `19,825 croreover five years (the RajyaSabha’s term is six years but letus ignore the sixth year for thetime being). Over five years,the Government’s outlay wouldtotal up to `99,125 crore ornearly `1 lakh crore onaccount of MPLADS.

Individual MPs are notaccountable to anyone regard-ing what they have done withtheir `25 crore during theirterms. There is no audit at all.At its most practical, it ismoney for jam. At its inaction,it remains unspent. It wasintroduced by Prime MinisterNarasimha Rao, in my view, tokeep the MPs happy as hisCongress Government wassome 50 MPs short of a major-ity. The figure then was `2crore annually; ManmohanSingh increased the figure to`5 crore, again to keep the MPshappier. In both cases, thisscheme was a baksheesh toevery MP in exchange of sup-port, present or future, to theGovernment — as cynical asthat.

Rather than comment, letme give my own experience ofthe `4 crore allocable to me formy two-year membership. Myparty al located to meVadodara, the city as well asthe district. We are talking ofthe period towards the end of2000. The party held a meet-ing of local workers, of whomsome 30 persons turned up.They warmly applauded mycoming and garlanded me. Ihad never before been so hon-oured. In my brief speech, Ithanked them but asked jocu-larly whether their warmth

SOUNDBITEStalin had opposedthe opening ofTasmac shops underthe AIADMKGovernment. Now inpower, the DMK-ledGovernment is opening theseliquor shops.

Tamil Nadu BJP president

— L Murugan

Historically, the peo-ple of Mongolia andwe Tibetans havebeen like twin broth-ers and sisters.

Tibetan spiritual leader

— Dalai Lama

Buzzed Asymmetry.#HairMajesty#supershort #one-side #love. Fewpeople know, I hada boy cut for alarge part of my childhood.

Singer

— Sona Mohapatra

We will observe the situation of the markets andrestaurants for oneweek. If the casesdo not increase, wewill continue with the phase-wiseunlock.

Delhi Chief Minister

— Arvind Kejriwal

This (English) bat-ting line-up is frag-ile. We have tonow start lookingat players andwondering if they

are good enough.

Former England skipper

— Michael Vaughan

India gets poorer,investors richer

DIGVIJAYA SINGH TELLS A PAKISTANI JOURNALISTTHAT IF CONGRESS COMES TO POWER, THEY WILL

RECONSIDER THE DECISION ON ARTICLE 370.— BJP IT CELL CHIEF

AMIT MALVIYA

CERTAIN UNEDUCATED PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE NOT UNDERSTOOD THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “SHALL” AND “CONSIDER”.— SENIOR CONGRESS LEADER DIGVIJAYA SINGH

The Corona pandemic may have broughtabout sharp deceleration in India's eco-nomic growth - the sharpest ever duringthe lastfour decades or so - but has yield-

ed a bonanza for the investors. The wealth of investors in the stock market

as represented by the market capitalization ofIndian equities (market value of shares multipliedby their number) almost doubled from around Rs113 trillion (a trillion equals 100,000 crore) as onMarch 31, 2020 to Rs 226 trillion as on March 31,2021. In contrast, India's GDP at current pricesdeclined from Rs 203 trillion during 2019-20 toRs 197 trillion during 2020-21. As a result, themarket capitalization to GDP ratio almost dou-bled from 56 per cent during 2019-20to 115 percent during 2020-21.

Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of a countryis the total value of goods and services producedduring a specific time frame say a quarter or a year.Used worldwide, it is the most crucial economicindicator for reflecting on the economic health ofa country. For developing countries such as India,a high year-on-year GDP growth should result inincreasing prosperity for its people and vice versa.

During 2020-21, when the Corona pandem-ic destroyed economic activity on a mammothscale, annihilated millions of micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs), took away jobs oftens of millions and severely impacted earningsof others, one section that went unscathed was thecorporate sector in particular, the investors whomade huge gains from their shareholdings in cor-porate entities across all categories such as large-caps, mid-caps, small-caps etc. So, what explainsthis anomalous situation?

The market value of a share depends on thedemand or investors' interest which in turn, is afunction of the company's current profitability andtheir assessment of how this is expected to be inthe years to come.

During the year, profitability of majority of thelisted firms increased despite decline in revenue.This was made possible due to higher prices oftheir products on the one hand and reduction inexpenditure (that included expenses on wages andsalaries, other fixed costs, interest outgo, etc.) onthe other. As regards expectation for the future,investors including foreign investors have confi-dence in the fundamentals of firms and their abil-ity to deliver good returns in the medium to long-term. This is vindicated by a record FPI (foreignportfolio investment) of about US$37 billion dur-ing 2020-21.

Even the measures announced by the UnionGovernment and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)purportedly to revive growth, boost aggregatedemandand promote 'inclusive' developmentwith emphasis on reinvigorating MSMEs endedup adding to the fortunes of the corporate sector.

The steep reduction in the corporate tax rateto 15 per cent for new enterprises set up afterOctober 1, 2019 and to 22 per cent for existingentities (subject to their foregoing exemption anddeductions available under existing dispensa-tion)meant leaving an additional about Rs 150,000crore in the hands of corporate in a full year. Thecorporate entities also benefitted from the reduc-tion in the policy rate (interest rate at which RBIlends money to commercial banks) by 1.15 percent during 2020 over and above a total cut of1.35 per cent delivered during 2019.

Of the much trumpeted special package of Rs

2100,000 crore announced by theFinance Minister, NirmalaSitharaman (May, 2020) under the'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan', amere about Rs 200,000 crore wasspent on catering to food and otherbare basic needs such as higher sub-sidy on LPG, hike in wages underMGNREGA (Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act), financialassistanceto farmers under PM-KISAN, ex-gratia to Jan Dhan (JD) accoun-tholder etc. under PM Garib KalyanYojna (PM - GKY).

The rest Rs 1900,000 crore wasgiven as(i) liquidity support byRBI (measures announcedbyGovernor, Shashikant Dason March27 and April 17, 2020injected closeto Rs 500,000 crore followed byanother Rs 300,000 crore on May22); (ii) increasing resources ofbanks and other financial institu-tions (FIs) to enable them on-lend;(iii) releasing pending dues to agen-cies tasked with implementation ofwelfare schemes of theUnionGovernment. A big slice of thesefundseither landed with corporateentities or remained un-utilized.

For instance, out of the Rs100,000 crore auction of targetedlong-term repo operations (TLTRO- 1) of three-year tenor bythe RBI,Rs 75,000 crore went to the big cor-porate. The apex bank tried to rec-tify this anomaly when under theTLTRO 2.0 (April 17, 2020) itreserved 50 per cent of additionalliquidity injection Rs 50,000 crorefor small and mid-sized non-bank-ing financial companies (NBFCs)and micro-finance institutions

(MFIs). One wonders whether thisreserved quota of Rs 25,000 croreactually went to small players.

Consider Rs 300,000 croremeant for MSMEs or identifiedstressed sectors under theEmergency Credit Line GuaranteeScheme (ECLGS). As against a tar-get of eight million MSMEs bene-ficiaries, only four million got loanaggregating to Rs 150,000 crore.Even today, the money availableunder the scheme remains un-uti-lized; this has prompted theGovernment to extend the schemetill September 30 and even relaxedthe conditions to allowfirms withoutstanding up to Rs 50 crore (upfrom existing Rs 25 crore) avail ofthe facility.

Look at the payment of Rs65,000 crore to fertilizer manufac-turers (in additionto Rs 71,000crore allocated in the budget for2020-21) towards subsidy duesbeing carry forward from previousyears. These payments went towardsbolstering their bottom-line.Likewise, Rs 90,000 crore given topower distribution companies(PDCs) (amount since raised to Rs130,000 crore) eventually landedwith power generation companiesbeing former's pending dues to thelatter. As for food subsidy, theGovernment paid to the FoodCorporation of India (FCI) Rs350,000 crore (as per RE) over andabove the budget provision of Rs116,000 crore for 2020-21. A goodchunk of this was used by the FCIfor clearing dues to itscreditors/companies.

Thus, contrary to the stated

intent of the Atmanirbhar packageto provide succor to MSMEs andmillions of workers in informal sec-tor etc., on ground zero, the moneywas given mostly by way of tax cuts,reduction in interest rate, loans, liq-uidity support and clearance of dueswhich contributed to enrichment ofthose (read: corporate) who werealready well-off. The latter alsogained a lot from the recklessspending by governments in devel-oped countries (a gargantuan US$9trillion was pumped in) even as a lotof that money found its way toemerging market economies includ-ing India.

To sum up, the highlyinequitable outcome during 2020-21 was due the Government relyingtoo much on monetary support-which was availed mostly by corpo-rate entities and too little fiscal sup-port (free food, subsidized LPG,PM-KISAN etc) which barelyhelped tens of millions low-incomeearners keep their head above water.In contrast, imagine if all of the Rs2100,000 crore under theAtmanirbharpackage were to be dis-tributed among 40 crore workers inthe informal sector. This would havegiven the much-needed boost todemand across all sectors and resul-tant fillip to inclusive growth, butthat was not to be.

Even as the pandemic contin-ues to bite during the current yearas well (though, to a lesser extent),will the Government give a big fis-cal push directed at these most vul-nerable people? Going by FinanceMinister's stance thus far, it seemsunlikely.

Imagine if all of `2100,000 crore under Atmanirbhar package had been distributedamong 40 crore workers in the informal sector; it would have boosted demand

KOTA SRIRAJ

TO SUM UP, THE HIGHLY

INEQUITABLEOUTCOME

DURING 2020-21WAS DUE THEGOVERNMENTRELYING TOO

MUCH ONMONETARY

SUPPORT WHICHWAS AVAILED

MOSTLY BYCORPORATE

ENTITIES AND TOO LITTLE

FISCAL SUPPORT(FREE FOOD,

SUBSIDISED LPG,PM-KISAN ETC)WHICH BARELY

HELPED TENS OF MILLIONSLOW-INCOME

EARNERS KEEPTHEIR HEAD

ABOVE WATER

As a result of rapid industrialization, theever-hungry indus-trial nations consumed natural resources at an alarmingrate. The collateral damage became evident through

adverse impacts on environment - air and water pollution of airand water to the global problem of climate change. Today everynation is suffering contamination of ecology due to anthropogenicintervention. Issues like dwindling groundwater or soil erosionapart, the world faces serious consequences of 'development'virulent viruses such as the novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2 forexample.

Covid-19 has unleashed unimaginable fury on people's livesand livelihoods. The Scientific Reports (Nature research) Journalsaid an astounding 20,507,518 life years have been lost world-wide including India due to the pandemic. Statista Data figuresshow that the world lost over $4 trillion in economic output. Theseconsequences are a direct result of overzealous human activ-ities that have disrupted normal ecological conditions causingrare virus strains to surface. Sixty per cent of the world's ail-ments stem from animals, of which 72 per cent is from wildanimals. Usually referred to as the 'reservoir' species they donot infect humans directly; the infection happens through an 'inter-

mediary animal' or the 'carrier animal' because the virus in thelatter undergoes mutation and becomes contagious. Virus muta-tions are normal processes in the evolution of a virus and occurat gene level and, therefore, cannot be avoided.

Various studies point out that intact ecosystems and bio-diverse nature hotspots are supremely successful in drawingthe crucial line of separation between humans and animals. Butinsatiable human hunger for natural resources-driven econom-ic prosperity means that mankind is crossing the invisible lineand driving into the 'prohibited' sphere of the wild plant and ani-mal world that are replete with hitherto unknown viruses thatquickly latch on to the 'human hosts'. This trespass into nature'sdomain has its own set of penalties and associated costs.

The breakage of ecosystem integrity usually occurs whendeforestation, change in land use and mining sort of activitiesabound. These activities triggered by human intervention havean irreversible impact of the ecosystem biodiversity as they for-ever alter the indigenous specie population and density. Thishelps viruses to spill over, mutate and multiply finally leadingto more toxic and contagious phenotypes against which human-ity has no known remedy or protection available.

Given these conditions, it is easy to comprehend that restora-tion of lost ecosystems and ensuring preservation of existingones is a primary priority for mankind. India must understandthat the biodiversity of the ecology is irreplaceable and that thedisruption of the same means inviting certain death and destruc-tion. Towards that end, India must take immediate measuresto preserve the sanctity of its ecology by first gently encourag-ing the population to adopt environmentally friendly lifestyles whichare less and less dependent on precious natural resources.

A resource-exploitative lifestyle that is intensely dependenton harvesting precious natural assets of the environment is alsounable to develop and retain natural immunity against commoninfections and viruses. This is due to over dependence on med-icine regimes. An eco-friendly lifestyle will ensure resurrectionof biodiversity which in turn will help revive the natural immu-nity that humans are born with.

(The author is an environmental journalist. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

In wake of the Indo-UKtrade discussions, many'experts' argue for reduc-tion in tariff, particularly

slashing custom tariffs onimported Scotch and on'Intermediate' products whichthey say are nothing but high-strength, potable, undenaturedethyl alcohol used for bottlingand blending in India.

They argue on three maingrounds. One, that India has alarge trade surplus in the cate-gory and can afford greaterimports; two, customs dutyreduction on intermediate prod-ucts will encourage 'Make inIndia'; and three, even if tariff isreduced the bulk of consumptionwill remain locally producedwhiskies -- so why bother.

This industry contributesnearly Rs 250,000 crore in taxes

and for most states it constitutes15-30 per cent of revenue.Customs duty is not even Rs5000 crore in comparison.Second, this industry uses agri-cultural products as primaryraw material and nearly 50lakh farmers depend on it. Itprovides employment to 20lakh people. Any disruption willhave widespread ramificationsfor the government, farmersand labour market.

The problem with the firstargument is that it hides thetrue balance of trade on alco-holic beverages using a widerhead of 'Food and Drinks'. Ifone separates alcoholic bever-ages/products for human con-sumption from the wider club-bing of Food and Drinks, a verydifferent picture emerges.

As per DGFT data for

2018-19, India exports only Rs5 crore worth of alcoholic prod-ucts/beverages to the UK,against import of Rs 1300 crore.Clubbing alcohol under a muchbigger Food & Drink categoryto claim favourable balance oftrade is highly misleading.

The second argument isalso a misconception. Scotchwhisky goes through two majorstages of productions -- distil-lation and bottling. The'Intermediate' Scotch whisky isactually the output of the firststage, it has been produced andmatured in Scotland. Whathappens in India is only bot-tling. Therefore, while incen-tivising Intermediate productsthrough reduced or zero dutywill lead to an increase of usageof bottling plants in India,which will be a big loss for

Indian farmers and manufac-turers.

The third argumentmissesout on three vital points. One,in product categories with mul-tiple price segments like whisky,consumers seamlessly shift tothe next category up or downdepending on affordability.

So, when a Scotch whiskyis sold at a lower price it takesaway consumers from productsin the price segment, starting a

domino effect that makes thedomestic industry the net loser.Two, introduction of Scotchwhisky at lower price attacks theprofit driving end of portfolioof Indian companies, thus jeop-ardising their viability.Third,Indian premium whiskies likeAmrut, Paul John or Rampurare now regarded amongst thebest in the world but are unableto make the same headway inthe domestic market due to anunsupportive regime andreducing customs duty furtherjust will not help.

Another notion worth dis-pelling is that Scotch whiskiesare costlier to produce. Rather,it costs at least 50 per cent moreto produce a whisky of similarquality in India than inScotland. This is primarily onaccount of a higher cost of cap-

ital and higher taxes in India,interstate restrictions and high-er evaporation losses.

Also, many states offerconcessionary taxes on import-ed products, but reduction incustoms tariffs cannot be donewithout removing compen-satory state-based concessionsas otherwise it will create ahugely discriminatory taxregime against Indian products.

If we talk about reciprocalduty concessions, the problemis that barriers put up by the UKare not tariff based but non-tar-iff ones. India, being a sugarproducing country, has evolvedwhisky recipes based on spiritdistilled from molasses. The UKdoes not accept this as it is not"recipe standards". The result ofthese non-tariff barriers is thatof the 70 lakh cases of whisky

exported from India every year,the whole of the EU includingthe UK accounts for less than30,000!

Indian industry is notagainst reducing customs dutyon alcohol, but it should be ina phased manner and up to apoint where it creates a levelplaying field.

Accordingly, it has put for-ward its recommendation toreduce import taxes, aggregateof customs duty and AIDC,from 150% to 100% now and to75% in five years' time. It hasalso recommended a thresholdimport price for taxation at $5per bottle, and reciprocal con-cessions from the UK allowingwhiskies from India to beallowed in the UK market as'Indian Whisky' without mini-mum maturity conditions.

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMN

HONOUR SANCTITYOF ECOLOGY

Disrupted ecology invites virulent viruses; Indiamust cut dependence on scant natural resources

UTTAM GUPTA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The author is a policyanalyst. The views

expressed are personal.)

India-UK trade talks: Case for tariff optimisation

VINOD GIRI

(The author is DirectorGeneral of the

Confederation of IndianAlcoholic Beverage

Companies. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

A notion worth dispelling is that Scotch whiskies are costlier to produce; it is 50 per cent more expensive to produce it in India than in Scotland

HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

State-owned CIL's 114ongoing coal projects,costing Rs 20 crore and

above, are under differentstages of implementation,according to a report.Implementation andcompletion of these projectsdepend upon criticalextraneous factors such aspossession of land, green clearances and evacuation infrastructure,the Coal Ministry said in its annual report 2020-21. In 2020, total 34projects were sanctioned and nine mining projects completed byCoal India Ltd (CIL), it said. The coal behemoth took variousmeasures to ensure timely completion of projects. There waspersistent persuasion by CIL with state governments for expeditingland authentication in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh and Maharashtra. "Further, land owners are beingconstantly persuaded to accept compensation and handover landacquired by the company," the report said.

CIL’s 114 grounded projectsunder different stages: Report

In line with the proposeddeal, Axis Bank is likely toraise its stake in Max Life

Insurance to about 20 per centover the next 12-18 months,said the insurance company'sCEO Prashant Tripathy said.Currently, Axis Bank and itstwo subsidiaries -- Axis CapitalLtd and Axis Securities Ltd --collectively own 12.99 per cent in Max Life Insurance post approvalof the deal in April this year. With this, Axis entities have nowbecome co-promoters of Max Life with three board seats. "Axis Bankis to increase to 19.99 per cent in tranches. Thirteen per cent isalready done over the next two quarters, we will seek approval forthe balance seven per cent. So, it will reach about 20 per cent andthat will be the ownership of Axis Bank," Tripathy told PTI. Whenasked about the timeline for the completion of the remaining staketransfer, he said: "It should happen in the next 12 to 18 months."Under the deal, the Axis entities also have the right to acquire anadditional stake of up to seven per cent in Max Life, in one or moretranches, subject to regulatory approvals.

Axis Bank stake in Max Lifeto rise to 20 pc in 18 months

State-run power giant NTPC hasfloated a global expression ofinterest (EoI) for setting up

hydrogen fuel-based power backupsystem and a standalone fuel-cellbased microgrid system, astatement said on Sunday. Throughthese projects, NTPC is looking tofurther strengthen its footprint ingreen and clean fuel, the company said. NTPC will collaborate forimplementation and further commercialization of the projects. This isin line with NTPC's initiatives towards adopting hydrogentechnologies. The power PSU is exploring the use of hydrogen-based fuel cells-electrolyser systems for backup power requirement.Currently, the backup power requirement and micro grid applicationsare being met from diesel-based power generators. Looking at theseas early adopter use case of hydrogen based technologies, NTPC isworking towards creating solutions which are a green alternative todiesel generators.

NTPC invites EoI for hydrogenfuel cell-based pilot projects

Leading exchanges BSE and NSE willsuspend trading in the shares ofDewan Housing Finance Corporation

Ltd (DHFL) with effect from Monday.The move, aimed at avoiding "marketcomplications", comes against thebackdrop of the National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) approving PiramalGroup's resolution plan for thebankrupt-DHFL. The resolution plan under the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) was approved by the tribunal on June 7. Inseparate but similarly-worded circulars issued on Friday, BSE andNSE said they would suspend trading in the shares of DHFL witheffect from June 14.The approved resolution plan provides fordelisting of equity shares of the company. As per the circulars, thecompany made an announcement on June 9, saying that "no valuewas attributable to the equity shares as per the liquidation value ofthe company estimated by registered valuers appointed under theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India Regulations, 2016".

Exchanges to suspend tradingin DHFL shares from today

PNS n NEW DELHI

With petrol and diesel pricesclimbing to record high, OilMinister Dharmendra Pradhanon Sunday asked Congressgovernments in Rajasthan andMaharashtra to cut sales tax ifthe party was concerned aboutfuel price burden on commonman, but did not say if BJP-ruled states like MadhyaPradesh and Karnataka, wherepetrol has crossed Rs 100 mark,would do the same.

Petrol and diesel have risento all-time high across thecountry after fuel rates rose byRs 5.72 to Rs 6.25 per litre inless than six weeks. This is dueto a combination of risinginternational oil prices andrecord high central and statetaxes.

Talking to reporters on thesidelines of an event organisedto inaugurate oxygen plant setup by Indraprastha Gas Ltd atMaharaja Agrasen Hospital,he said central and state gov-

ernments need additionalmoney from the taxes onpetrol and diesel to meetexpenses for fighting pan-demic as well as developmentwork.

"I accept that fuel prices arepinching consumers," he said,adding the government isspending Rs 1 lakh crore on

providing free food grains topoor this year alone besidesspending money on vaccinesand healthcare infrastructure.

Asked about Congress leaderRahul Gandhi's repeatedattacks on the Modi govern-ment for skyrocketing fuelprices, Pradhan said, "Why isfuel expensive in Maharashtra,

Rajasthan and Punjab (whichare ruled by the party)?"

"If Rahul Gandhi is con-cerned about the poor being hitby fuel prices, he should askchief ministers of Congress-ruled states to cut taxes. Heshould ask (Maharashtra ChiefMinister) Uddhav Thackerayto reduce taxes," he said.

He, however, did not say ifBJP-ruled states like MadhyaPradesh and Karnataka, whichtoo have seen petrol pricecross Rs 100 a litre mark dueto local taxes, would follow suit.

Fuel prices differ from stateto state depending on the inci-dence of local taxes such asVAT and freight charges. Andbecause of this, petrol retails atover Rs 100 per litre mark inseven states and union territo-ries -- Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Karnatakaand Ladakh.

Of these states, Congress isin power in Rajasthan and is acoalition partner with Shiv

Sena and NCP in Maharashtra.BJP rules Madhya Pradesh andKarnataka and Ladakh too isunder central rule. AndhraPradesh has YSR-Congress inpower while TRS rules inTelangana.

Rajasthan levies the highestvalue-added tax (VAT or salestax) on petrol and diesel in thecountry, followed by MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh, Telangana andKarnataka.

While international oilprices have crossed USD 72 perbarrel in anticipation ofdemand recovery followingthe rollout of vaccination pro-gramme by various countries.

Last year when rates col-lapsed to two-decade low, theunion government instead ofpassing on the benefit to con-sumers raised excise duty torecord high. The excise tax onpetrol was Rs 9.48 per litrewhen the Modi governmenttook office in 2014, and that ondiesel was Rs 3.56 a litre.

Pradhan says Cong-ruled statesshould cut tax on petrol, diesel PNS n NEW DELHI

Former RBI Governor DSubbarao has expressed con-cerns over "extreme uneven-ness" in economic recovery and"sharpening inequalities"between upper income seg-ments and lower income house-holds in the country, cautioningthat the trend will hit growthprospects going forward.

Terming the uneven recov-ery "morally wrong and polit-ically corrosive", he said liq-uidity in the domestic marketand foreign fund inflows areleading to soaring of prices ofstocks and other assets despitedisruptions due to Covid pan-demic. The ex-central bankgovernor further said that ear-lier expectations of a sharpeconomic recovery this yearhave been dashed by the newpandemic wave.

"The economy contractedlast year, for the first time infour decades, by as much as7.3 per cent. That was lessdeep than we had first fearedbut still deep enough to havecaused distress to millions offamilies in the informal sector.There was expectation of a

sharp recovery this year butthose expectations are nowtempered by the impact of thesecond wave," Subbarao toldPTI.

The RBI too reduced itsgrowth forecast for the currentfiscal by one percentage point,from 10.5 per cent to 9.5 percent, he said adding that even9.5 per cent growth mightseem impressive but note thatthis is coming on a very lowbase of last year.

"Even if we clock this growthrate, the output during this fis-cal 2021/22 will still be less

than the output two years agobefore the pandemic hit us.Compare that with Chinawhich never fell below its pre-pandemic level and the USwhich is expected to recover toits pre-pandemic level thisyear," the former RBI chiefsaid.

Expressing concerns,Subbarao said that while themajority of people have lostjobs and saw reduction intheir income, the wealth ofsome rich individuals haveincreased during the pandem-ic period.

n FALMOUTH (ENGLAND)

The Group of Seven leadersaim to end their first summitin two years with a punchy setof promises Sunday, includingvaccinating the world againstcoronavirus, making huge cor-porations pay their fair share oftaxes and tackling climatechange with a blend of technol-ogy and money.

They want to show thatinternational cooperation isback after the upheavals causedboth by the pandemic and theunpredictability of former U.S.President Donald Trump. Andthey want to convey that theclub of wealthy democracies —Canada, France, Germany,Italy, Japan, the UnitedKingdom and the United States— is a better friend to poorer

nations than authoritarianrivals such as China.

But it was uncertain howfirm the group's commitmentswill be on coronavirus vac-cines, the economy and theenvironment when the leadersissue their final communique.Also unclear was whether all of

the leaders would back theUnited States' call to chastiseChina for repressing its Uyghurminority and other abuses.

UK Prime Minister BorisJohnson, the summit's host,wanted the three-day meetingto fly the flag for a “GlobalBritain,” his government's ini-

tiative to give the midsizedcountry outsized influencewhen it comes to global prob-lem-solving.

Brexit cast a shadow overthat goal during the summit onthe coast of southwest England.European Union leaders andU.S. President Joe Biden voicedconcerns about problems withnew UK-EU trade rules thathave heightened tensions inNorthern Ireland.

But overall, the mood hasbeen positive: The leaderssmiled for the cameras on thebeach at cliff-fringed CarbisBay, a village and resort thatbecame a traffic-cloggedfortress for the meeting. Thelast G-7 summit was in Francein 2019. The pandemic scuttledthe planned 2020 event in theUnited States.

G-7 urged to deliver on vaccines, climate

PNS n NEW DELHI

Domestic equity marketswould track inflation data,the pace of COVID-19 vacci-nation and reopening of theeconomy this week, say ana-lysts.

Market participants are alsoawaiting the US central bank'smonetary policy meeting forits stance on continuing stim-ulus measures, they said.

"This week, India's infla-tion data for May will be thekey economic driver in thedomestic market. On the glob-al front, the Fed's monetarypolicy meeting will be in focusas the market awaits its stance

on continuing stimulus mea-sures," said Vinod Nair, Head

of Research at Geojit FinancialServices.

Nirali Shah, Head of EquityResearch, Samco Securitiessaid the US FOMC meetwould keep markets volatile.

During the last week, the 30-share BSE benchmark jumped374.71 points or 0.71 per cent.The 30-share benchmarktouched a lifetime high of52,641.53 points on Friday.

"Investors will continue tomonitor economic data andCOVID-19 related updates,"said Sumeet Bagadia,Executive Director, ChoiceBroking.

"The key factors to watchout remains the pace of vacci-nation and the re-opening ofthe economy. We would also

be watchful of trends in glob-al liquidity and the policystance of central bankers,"Shibani Sircar Kurian, SeniorEVP & Head- Equity Research,Kotak Mahindra AssetManagement Company said.

Besides, movement of Brentcrude, rupee and foreign insti-tutional investors (FIIs) wouldalso be watched by investors.

Shrikant Chouhan,Executive Vice President,Equity Technical Research atKotak Securities said, "Marketsare expected to monitor thespread of monsoon in the com-ing weeks, daily new case countand easing of lock down restric-tion."

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vision care provider EssilorGroup has said it is looking toadd 2,000 Eye Mitra opticiansacross India by the end of2022, as this inclusive businessprogramme seeks to addressissues of providing vision cor-rection, developing skills andcreating jobs.

"Currently, more than 8,000Eye Mitra opticians are success-fully running their micro enter-prises (optical stores) in India."And, by the end of 2022, weare aiming to add 2,000 moreand have a total of 10,000 EyeMitra opticians across thecountry," EssilorLuxottica Vice-President (Inclusive Businessand Philanthropy) for Asia-

Pacific Saugata Banerjee said.The company will add the EyeMitras in Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Maharashtra,Karnataka, West Bengal,Odisha, Madhya Pradesh,Haryana, Andhra Pradesh andBihar, he added. "The pro-gramme is fully managed andfunded by the Essilor group.

"The implementation of theprogramme is done by theNSDC-accredited skillingorganisations and we workwith multiple implementingpartners in different geogra-phies," Banerjee said. Theimplementing partner isresponsible for mobilising andenrolling prospective candi-dates, training and handhold-ing for shop set-up, he added.

Essilor Group to add 2K Eye Mitra opticians

PNS n NEW DELHI

Overseas investors pumped ina net Rs 13,424 crore so far inJune as risk-on sentimentimproved with decliningCOVID-19 cases and hopes ofearly opening of economy.

Depositories data showedthat foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) invested Rs 15,520 crorein equities during June 1-11.

"The robust net inflows overthe last two weeks could beattributed to the improvementin investor sentiments on theback of consistently falling

coronavirus cases in the coun-try and hopes of an earlyopening of the economy," saidHimanshu Srivastava, associ-ate director - managerresearch, Morningstar India.

At the same time, FPIs with-drew Rs 2,096 crore from thedebt segment during the periodunder review. The total netinflow stood at Rs 13,424 crore.This comes following a netwithdrawal of Rs 2,666 crore inMay and Rs 9,435 crore in April.

For the inflows in June, VKVijayakumar, chief investmentstrategist at Geojit Financial

Services, added that it appearsfrom fourth quarter corporatefigures that a cyclical recoveryin Indian economy is immi-nent post the progressiveunlock that is happening now.

"The FPI activity was cen-tred around IT, financial andenergy sectors," noted S Ranganathan, Head of Research atLKP Securities.

Overall, the MSCI EmergingMarkets Index has lost 0.91 percent this week, noted ShrikantChouhan, executive vice pres-ident, equity technical researchat Kotak Securities.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Realty major DLF aims a 30per cent jump in its salesbookings to Rs 4,000 crore thisfiscal, as the company expectsa rise in housing demanddespite the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The company will launchvarious projects, comprising 8million square feet of saleablearea, to tap this growingdemand for residential proper-ties, especially those built bytrusted developers.

In a conference call withanalysts, DLF's new CEO

Ashok Kumar Tyagi gave salesbookings guidance of Rs 1,000crore per quarter during thecurrent financial year.

During the financial year2020-21, DLF sold residentialproperties worth Rs 3,084crore, up 24 per cent from theprevious year, despite muted

sales in April-June 2020 due toa nationwide lockdown.

DLF's Group ChiefFinancial Officer (CFO) VivekAnand said the company iscommitted to delivering onsales bookings guidance.

"Internally, we are gearingfor even higher number,"Anand said adding that saleswould be slow in the currentquarter due to the secondwave.

On supply, DLF's CFO high-lighted that the company tar-gets to launch eight millionsquare feet area in the currentfiscal.

PNS n KOLKATA

Amid COVID-19 pandemicand slump in the hospitalityindustry owing to lockdownand travel restrictions, ITCHotels is optimistic aboutdomestic tourism prospectsand planning to increase thenumber of properties underthe brand Welcomhotel.

The Rs 45,000 crore hospi-tality arm of ITC, said it wasplanning to increase the num-ber of properties under thebrand Welcomhotel to 25 in ayear's time from 19 now.

"ITC Welcomhotel will be a25 property brand over next 12

months," an ITC official toldPTI.

The brand opened two prop-erties in a span of six months.Welcomhotel Tavleen Chailwas unveiled on Thursday andWelcomhotel Shimla about sixmonths ago. And WelcomhotelAhmedabad and WelcomhotelPort Blair were relaunched inMarch quarter.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Total outstanding dues owedby electricity distributionutilities or discoms to powerproducers fell 11.2 per cent toRs 81,628 crore in April 2021from a year ago.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total Rs91,915 crore to power gener-ation firms in April 2020,according to portal PRAAP-TI. However, outstandingdues of discoms towards elec-tricity producers have beenincreasing year-on-year aswell as month-on-month foryears showing perennial stressin the power sector tillFebruary this year. It hasstarted tapering off fromMarch 2021.

Total dues in Aprilincreased sequentially com-pared to Rs 78,841 crore inMarch this year. Total out-standing dues of discoms haddipped 3.4 per cent in Marchthis year from Rs 81,687 crorein the same month last year. InApril 2021, the total overdueamount, which was notcleared even after 45 days ofgrace period offered by gen-erators, stood at Rs 68,732crore as against Rs 76,117crore in the same month ayear ago. The overdueamount stood at Rs 67,656crore in March this year.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Czech car maker Skoda Autois confident of crossing its his-toric peak sales volumes inIndia achieved nearly a decadeago by the middle of next yearas it continues ramping up andlaunching new productsdespite businesses being hit bythe second Covid wave.

Skoda Auto India, which hitits peak volume of 34,265 unitsin 2012, is targeting to sell atleast 60,000 units next year as itbrings new products, includingthose under Volkswagen group'sIndia 2.0 project. "Historically,

we sold 35,000 cars and I thinknext year we will surpass thatnumber, probably in the middleof the year already. We plan tosell at least 60,000 cars. So cer-tainly we are on a huge growthpath and the long term plan isto sell 1 lakh cars,” SkodaDirector Zac Hollis said.

The sales growth will be dri-ven by new products that thecompany is bringing to themarket, including the newlylaunched fourth generationOctavia sedan and the upcom-ing SUV kushaq along with amid-sized sedan at the end ofthe year.

ITC hotels to expand‘Welcomhotel’ brand

PNS n NEW DELHI

Mid-sized motorcycle makerRoyal Enfield expects thecurrent fiscal to be one of thebest for the company in termsof new model launches as itlooks to drive in an array ofnew products for domesticand international markets,according to a top companyofficial.

The company, which ispart of Eicher Motors, notedthat it has a rich pipeline ofproducts under developmentwhich could hit the market inthe coming days.

DLF targets 30% growth insales bookings to Rs 4Kcrs

Discoms' duesto gencos fall11.2 per cent to Rs 81,628 crore

FPIs invest Rs 13,424 cr inIndian mkts in June so far

Skoda eyes going pastall-time peak sales vol

‘Income inequalities telling story of ‘uneven’ economic recovery’

RE: This fiscalmay see highestmodel launches

Stock markets to follow Fed interest rate decision

he work-from-home situationmandated by thepandemic hasmade it challeng-ing for profession-

als to maintain routines andefficiency. This disruption ofthe regular working experi-ence is causing increasedphysical, mental and emo-tional stress for many that arenow working from home.

Employees struggle withthe concept of unpluggingand ending their workday

compared to those who workin an office setting. A sudden stress responseexperienced by working pro-fessionals causes increasedheart rate, increased respira-tory rate, tremors, sweating,headache, dry mouth/throat,concentration issues, perfor-mance issues, fear, and anxi-ety. negativity, uneasiness,and body pain.

Yogic practices help toovercome the effect of stressat physical, mental, and emo-tional levels and thus ensure

overall wellbeing. Here are some yoga prac-

tices which will help inrelieving stress arising fromworking from home.

It is recommended to holdeach posture for three to fivebreaths (one breath equalsone inhale and exhale cycle).

Seated twist

With both knees facingforward, bring your left handto your outer right knee. Situp tall and activate your abs.The right hand can rest at

your side or down by yourright hip.

On every inhale, sit up alittle taller, and on everyexhale, move your rightshoulder back an inch asyour left shoulder moves for-ward.

Pull your left hip back asyou twist to the right; youwant the twist to stay in yourlumbar spine.

Also, don’t twist too far;you’ll know you’ve overdoneit if it is challenging to keep asteady breath and a tall spine.

You can look toward theright, and eventually towardyour right shoulder. Breathehere for a couple of counts,then repeat on the other side,toward the left.

Benefits: This simple twistpromotes good posture, stim-ulates circulation, and aidsdigestion.

Mountain pose –Tadasana

Inhale, stand with feettogether big toes touching.Spread the toes, firm the feetand leg muscles, bend theknees slightly, draw theabdominal muscles in andup.

Exhale, tuck the tailbonedown, draw the low ribs in,straighten the spine, broadenthe shoulders away from theears, take the hands open anddown by the sides. Chin islevel with the floor.

Hold this posture for threeto five breaths.

Benefits: Lengthens andstrengthens the spine, legs,and feet, can relieve sciaticapain.

Caution: Those with lowblood pressure should prac-tice with a hand on a wall orthe back of a chair for bal-ance.

Side stretch

From Tadasana, extendyour right arm toward theleft side of your body, findingas much length as possiblefrom right hip to rightarmpit.

Palm can face to the left,and gaze can shift up towardyour bicep if that feels okayon your neck. Create spacebetween your shoulders and

ears. Tip:Keep your

shoulders in linewith each other toavoid leaning for-ward or back —only sideways.

Studiesshow lookingdown at a smartphone orscreen can add as much as 60extra pounds of pressure onyour spine, so daily stretchescan also help you practicegood posture.

When stressed, it’s com-mon to find your shouldersslowly creeping towards yourears, causing your neck andshoulders to become stiffover time.

Next time you feel youranxiety levels rise, this movewill help you roll away thetension and restore mobilityin your neck in 10 secondsmax.

Cow – Bitilasana / Cat –Marjariasana

Inhale lengthen the spineand come down to hands andknees on a yoga mat

Cow: Find a “tabletop”position with the handsshoulder-width apart, wristsunder the shoulders, kneeship-width apart, spine is neu-tral, eyes looking down.From here, inhale to cow:arch the back, drop the belly,lift the sitting bones, lift thechest forward, and look for-ward or up.

Cat: From cow, exhale anddraw the spine back to neu-tral, then continue roundingthe back up toward the ceil-ing for cat pose. Draw theabdominal muscles uptoward the spine and the sky.

Aim the crown of the head tothe floor.

Repeat cow/cat poses threeto five times—inhaling toarch the spine for cow, andexhaling to round the spinefor cat.

Benefits: Lengthens andstretches the muscles of theback, torso, and neck; gentlymassages spine and internalorgans.

Caution: Those with backor neck injuries should keepthe back of the neck long andneutral.

Bhujangasana

Inhale, press the palms tothe floor under the fronts ofthe shoulders, engageabdominal and pelvic floormuscles, and press the pubicbone into the mat.

Straighten the arms asmuch as possible without dis-comfort in the back, neck, orshoulders.

Draw the shoulder bladestogether, lift the chest (butnot forward), and the bellylifts. Thighs stay on the mat.

Breathe here for about threeto five breaths.

Relaxing asanas inacute stress

Shavasana andMakarasana

1. It helps to relieve muscletension.

2. All vital organs get to

rest in this position. 3. Strain on joints also

relieves.4. Heart rate decreases and

metabolic rate also slowsdown.

5. Breath becomes slow,rhythmic, and deep whichhelps in the relaxation of alltissues.

For mental and emo-tional stress breathingpractices/ pranayamaare extremely effective.The following routinecan be followed every-day for best results

Breath awareness- Keepthe breath as it is (or slight-ly slow and feel the touch ofair inside the nostrils.”Slow deep breathing- 30to 50 rounds.”Anulom – vilom- 20rounds.”Bhramari- 20 to 30rounds.”Omkar Chanting- 20 to30 rounds.

The above yoga practicesshould be undertaken at least3 hours before or after ameal.

Daily practice of just 30 to45 minutes will ensure youhave the energy and enthusi-asm to work with your fullefficiency at home withoutany stress.

(The writer, Subodh Tiwari,is the CEO of Kaivalyadham.)

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@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

MondayJune 14, 2021

engali belleRaima Sen waslast seen in theethereal of TheLast Hour, asupernatural

mystery series thatstreamed on AmazonPrime Video, wholly shotaround Sikkim, it sure wasa pleasure to watch. Herappearance in the serieswas timely, a gobsmacking-ly stunning one in a redsaree! Many of us werefound holding our breathto know what her title rolein it was, why she appearsin parts and portions ofthe episodes, if she’s a merespectre, what’s her tale, etc.With mountains allaround, she manages todraw us all so closely like astory never told before — astory revolving around‘Shamans’! Raima wassearching for some vindi-cation and revival for herdaughter at some givenpoint in the series.

Following her return tothe entertainment realmnow, it was with RituparnoGhosh’s film ‘Chokher Bali’that Raima got fame! Shehas also done a Malayalamfilm, a Telugu, and a Tamilone too. While garneringimmense praises from fan-dom on social media forher latest venture, she feelsThe Last Hour was a veryfascinating and authenticconcept during which shehad to also give her first-ever screen test too. “I gotto know about a lot ofthings, including shamanictraditions. I said yes to theseries after watching Amit

Kumar’s Monsoon Shootoutbecause I really liked thefilm. He was screen-testingin Calcutta. He told meabout doing one, and I toldhim that I had never donea screen test. I did it andgot the part. This was myfirst, full-fledged screentest.”

She made her debut inthe critically acclaimedfilm Godmother back in1999, and was later seen inDaman as RaveenaTandon’s daughter. Talkingabout celebs and reminisc-ing her olden times on set,she speaks about her latestco-star Sanjay Kapoor whoplayed her husband in TheLast Hour. “I had a greattime working with him! Heis a big foodie, we wereshooting in very remoteareas and it was freezing.We knew that if we needfood, we could go toSanjay. We went to arestaurant in Darjeeling.Also, he has a great senseof humour,” she adds. Shealso shares about her most-worked with Bengali co-star ParambrataChattopadhyay, withwhom she’s alos shooting anew music video, aBangladeshi song. “Wehave done so many filmsand ads together. Whenthe makers think of me,they think of Param andvice-versa. We have a reallynice, easy-going on-screenchemistry, my motherthinks so too. She feels it isreally cute. I understandhim and his humour andhe understands me. Ofcourse, there is always a ‘tu

tu main main’ between us.We shot the song in Tajpur,four hours away fromCalcutta and also in ahouse in Bangladesh. Thisis my first Bangladeshimusic video,” an excitedRaima informs.

What excites the veteranactress-turned-politicianMoon Moon Sen and hus-band Bharat Dev Varma’sdaughter in choosing hercharacters at the momentwhile she has already deliv-ered so many acclaimedperformances in the pasttwenty years? She says, “Itdepends, if the director orthe role is really good, I'llsay yes and if the pro-duction house is reallybig, we go ahead anddo the film!” Alsosometimes, theremight be a very goodco-star that she wouldlike to work with, thattoo, could inspire herto say yes to the film.But, life is very unpre-dictable. The game oflife is full of twists andturns, changing direc-tion to forge new pathsthat are not anticipatedsometimes. What if a filmdoesn’t work? Raima neverloses hope. “One has tolearn from mistakes. Youdo your work with all thededication and honestyand learn as you go along.It is a part of life. Just likein life, there will be upsand downs in your career.Initially, I used to feel badabout trolls, but I’m notbothered now. If I read it,I’ll throw it out of mybrain. I usually engage

with social media mostlyto give out informationabout my work and forendorsements. And then Ishare my pictures. Iknow that it isimportant to bevisible. Also,I retweet.But Iamnot

an

activist. Ido itbecause youhave to do it,”she tells us.

With one Telugu filmalready in her kitty, Raima

would love to work morein the industries downsouth!

“Let’s see what happensonce everything opens up

and another Tamil filmof mine releases.

I am a go-with-

the-

flow kind of person. I don’tplan ahead too much.From the beginning of mycareer, films just startedcoming, one after theother. Now, I take up workwhen I want to, when I feellike it. I don’t take anyextra pressure where I haveto constantly do films as I

used to, earlier. Since thepandemic, our outlook

towards life haschanged. Earlier,

one would makeplans for thefuture. But nowwe take eachday as itcomes andenjoy themoment.You neverknowwhat’sgoing tohappennext. Idon’t liketo wastemy timeunnecessar-ily. Now Ido things

that areimportant.”

Recently,Raima’s bold

avatar on socialmedia created a

sensation and alsoraised a few eye-

brows. Currently, she’senjoying the success ofher recently released

web series and welook forward to

more of RaimaSen in films and

OTT.

Raima Sen hasworked withthe Hindi,Bengali,Telugu, Tamil,and Malayalamfilm industries,and forayedinto the OTTspace longbefore it wasconsidered thenext big thing.The actress ofDhairyam,Dus,ForbiddenLove, and TheLast Hourfame, talks toThe Pioneer'sSHIKHADUGGALabout herchoice of roles,and upcomingprojects.

B

T

‘Would love to do moreprojects down south'

WFH STRESS? YOGA TO THE RESCUE

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

10

Hyderabad Monday June 14, 2021what’s brewing?

FUN

ere’s a look athighlight films,shows andseries that arescheduled todrop in the dig-

ital space this week.KHWABON KE

PARINDEY, Season 1(Series on Voot, June 14)Cast: Asha Negi, MrinalDutt, Manasi Moghe,Tushar Sharma; Direction:Tapasvi Mehta

The drama series isabout three friends and astranger, and unfolds inAustralia. It is a story ofrealisations in life througha journey of love, friend-ship, hope, despair, joysand sorrows.

THE REPUBLIC OFSARAH, Season 1, (Serieson Voot, June 14) Cast:Stella Baker, LukeMitchell, Megan Follows,Ian Duff; Created by:Jeffrey Paul King

When the greedy waysof a mining companystarts destroying a town,high school teacher SarahCooper unearths anobscure cartographicalloophole to declare inde-pendence.

WORKIN' MOMS,Season 5 (Series onNetflix series, June 15)Cast: Catherine Reitman,Dani Kind, Juno Rinaldi,Jessalyn Wanlim; Createdby: Catherine Reitman

Season five of the popu-lar Canadian sitcom, cre-ated by CatherineReitman, brings backReitman along with co-stars Jessalyn Wanlim,Dani Kind and JunoRinaldi as the workingmom buddies who face anew set of challenges.

LET’S EAT, Season 1(Series on Netflix series,June 15) Cast: ApinyaSakuljaroensuk; MawinTaweephol; Direction:Sarawut Wichiensarn

Not to be confused withthe hit Korean show of thesame name, this Thaishow is a new rom-comabout a food-blogginginsurance agent whomeets an old school friendand soon becomes hersidekick.

RHYME TIME TOWN,Season 2 (Series onNetflix, June 15) Voicecast: AnnabelleWestenholz-Smith, LukeAmis; Developed by: DanBerlinka

The popular children’sanimation show returns inits seacond season. Thepre-school series is aboutDaisy and Cole who solveproblems in a town full of

nursery rhyme characters. THE SILVER SKATES

(Film on Netflix, June 16)Cast: Fedor Fedotov, SofyaPriss, Kirill Zaytsev;Direction: MichaelLockshin

The Russian periodadventure film is inspiredby Romeo And Juliet andthe novel Hans Brinker, OrThe Silver Skates.

Set in Saint Petersburgduring the winter of1899it tells the story ofromance that bloomsbetween Matvey thecourier and Alisa the aris-tocrat.

PENGUIN TOWN,Season 1 (Series onNetflix, June 16)

Documentary xeries setin South Africa, where anendangered group of pen-guins flock to find mates,raise families and mixwith the locals.

KATLA (Series onNetflix; June 17) Cast:Guorun Yr Eyfjoro, IrisTanja Flygenring; Createdby: Sigurjón Kjartansson

and Baltasar Kormakur The Icelandic sci-fi

thriller series is about howa catastrophic eruption ofthe sub-glacial volcanoKatla turns a nearby com-munity's world upsidedown as mysteries beginto emerge from the ice.

SHERNI (film onAmazon Prime Video,June 18) Cast: VidyaBalan, Vijay Raaz, SharatSaxena; Direction: AmitMasurkar

Newton director AmitMasurkar presents VidyaBalan as as a forest officerwho must lead a team oftrackers and locals intend-ing to capture an unset-tled tigress, while battlingintense obstacles andpressures, both naturaland man-made.

JAGAME THANDI-RAM (Film of Netflix,June 18) Cast: Dhanush,Aishwarya Lekshmi,James Cosmo; Direction:Karthik Subbaraj

The Tamil actionthriller is about a clever

gangster who is hired by acrime lord to take down adangerous rival.

LUCA (Film onDisney+ Hotstar, June 18)Voice cast: JacobTremblay, Jack DylanGrazer, Emma Berman;Direction: EnricoCasarosa

Pixar’s new animationfilm is set in the 1950s, ina seaside town on theItalian Riviera. A youngboy Luca shares adven-tures with his new bestfriend Alberto. They arehiding a secret from eachother — they are both seamonsters.

ELITE, Season 4 (Serieson Netflix, June 18) Cast:Itzan Escamilla, MiguelBernardeau, Danna Paola;Created by: CarlosMontero

Season four of theSpanish suspense dramaseries is about a group ofmiddle-class students whohave an altercation withtheir wealthy and influen-tial classmates in the elite

school they enrol, whichleads to a horrific murder.

THE RATIONAL LIFE,Season 1 (Series onNetflix, June 18) Cast: BaoWen Jin; Calvin Li, LanQin; Direction: Hsu FuChun

The Chinese romanticdrama series is about acareer-driven youngwoman balancing work-place tension with a lovetriangle and a naggingmother at home.

A FAMILY (Film onNetflix, June 18) Cast: GoAyano, NaoyukiFernandez, HayatoIchihara; Direction:Michihito Fujii

The Japanese actiondrama is about Kenji,whose father died fromusing a stimulant drug,following which he joins acrime syndicate and Kenjidiscovers a new conceptof the family.

MOUCHAK (Series onHoichoi, June 18) Cast:Monami Ghosh, KanchanMallick, SouravChatterjee, ApratimChatterjee; Direction:Sayantan Ghosal

The Bengali comedyseries marks the OTTdebut of popular televi-sion star Monami Ghosh,as the friendly neighbour-hood ‘boudi’ or sister-in-law.

EL CORAZON DESERGIO RAMOS: LALEYENDA DE SERGIORAMOS (Series onAmazon Prime, June 18)

Documentary series onSpain and Real Madridcaptain, the legendarydefender Sergio Ramos.The series narrates theincredible story of thefootball superstar who hasgarnered popularity theworld over.

CHIVAS: EL REBENOSAGRADO, Season 1(Series on Amazon PrimeVideo; June 18) A docu-mentary series for LatinAmerican football buffs,about the unforgettableseason of Mexico’s home-grown club, the Chivas ofGuadalajara, as it resur-rects the legendary teamafter five consecutive sea-sons of failure.

NEVERTHELESS,Season 1 (Series onNetflix, June 19) Cast:Song Kang, Han So-hee;Direction: Kim Ga-ram

The Korean teenybop-per drama is about a cyni-cal youngster who isdrawn into a friends-with-benefits arrangement byhis flirtatious art schoolclassmate.

COMING UPTHIS WEEK

Hot on OTT:

decade ago, globalpopstar, Lady Gagagave the world itsmost unapologeticunofficial prideanthem as she sang ‘I

am beautiful in my way, causeGod makes no mistakes… I’m onthe right track baby… I was bornthis way’. Taking this very celebra-tory spirit of individuality andinclusivity, Lomotif announces itslatest campaign, ‘#BeProud’. Juneis the month of pride, acceptance,and celebration of the LGBTQAI+community, and above all love.Extending their support, for theentire month – the video sharingplatform will also don the rain-bow pride flag on their logo!

With a meaningful messagewrapped in the most excitingmanner, the ‘#BeProud’ campaignthat started on June 10 will go ontill June 30. It will host colorfuleffects, glittery themes, and footthumping music to celebrateYOU. All you have to do is shareyour unique transition videos andor remix your favourite influ-encers’ videos with your own clipssprinkled with pride flavour andshare them on the platform.Guess what? There are prizes tobe won too. The top five remixeswith the most likes will win a vir-tual meet and greet with some ofyour favourite influencers thatinclude the likes of SushantDivgikr (@sushantdivgikr),Benafsha Soonawalla (@benafsha-soonawalla), Paras Tomar(@parastomar) and Deepti Sati(@deeptisati). Popular actorSophie Choudry(@sophiechoudry) is also showingher support for the #BeProud

campaign by remixing with thecommunity.

Beaming with enthusiasm to bea part of the campaign, SushantDivgikar, popularly known asRani KoHenur says, “Initiativeslike these deserve appreciation.We have all grown up learning theadage that it’s our work, wordsand how we conduct ourselvesthat define us as human beings.But when it comes to acceptingthe rainbow community, we for-get everything we have learnt. Tomake things a little dramatic, letme say this loud again that wehave the same blood and upbring-ing as anyone else. So, I am veryexcited to see how this campaignrolls out and the kind of videosLomotif users are going to createto celebrate the pride month. The

fact that everyone, irrespective oftheir age and orientation can par-ticipate, is what makes this cam-paign special. The idea has alwaysbeen to make people aware thatwe all are equal, and simple thingslike love, support and recognitionmake the pride communityhappy.”

Well, there’s more to spice upthe thrill. The app will also pay aspecial tribute to Gaga’s Born ThisWay that completes ten gloriousyears. Hope you have already gotyour thinking caps on. This isyour time to shine with ‘Pride’.Don’t ponder, take the plunge.Remember, your favourite socialmedia influencers are waiting tohave a fun-filled virtual meet andgreet with you. So, just let yourcreative juices flow!

#BeProud andcelebrate YOU

ctress RashmiAgdekar, who playsa homosexual char-acter in the seriesDev DD feels thatwhile the discus-

sion around the LGBTQ+community has started in thesociety, we still have a long wayto go! She also feels that it isimportant not to stop themovement.

“Our cultural and societalvalues are deep-rooted. Achange in such a society can’thappen overnight, but we arehaving an open conversationabout the existence and rightsof the LGBTQIA community,which is a step in the rightdirection. There are definitely alot of problems and we are faraway from making a safe placefor them. This will take time,but we shouldn’t give up andlearn to be better allies to the

community,” Rashmi told. Theactress, who plays the characterof Chandni in both parts of theseries, also asserted that playinga homosexual character in theseries made her more awareand responsible as a citizen.

“My character was wel-comed very well, it gave me asense of responsibility for rep-resenting the LGBTQIA com-munity through my work. I amhappy that I could supportthem in my little way,” she said.The actress also added, “It is avery important and correctstep towards the inclusion ofthe community. The introduc-tion and conditioning of theseconcepts from an early age willmake it a safe space for chil-dren to not only come out, butalso be accepting of those withdifferent sexual orientations.After all, they are the future ofthis world.”

‘Playing a homosexual character inthe series made me more aware'

H A

A

11

Hyderabad Monday June 14, 2021 tollywood

Despiteturning to be

a hit, thesecond

season ofThe Family

Man has hadits fair shareof obstacles.

ManojBajpayee,

who plays thelead, has, for

the first time,responded

to thecontroversies.

he Family Man 2received a goodresponse but alsofaced the ire of cer-tain sections beforeand after the release,

over allegations that it depictedTamils in an “objectionablemanner”. Manoj Bajpayee, whoplays the lead role SrikantTiwari, feels the series hasworked, and that proves peopleknow the story isn’t about hurt-ing sentiments.

“We as a team — our direc-tors, writers — are very senti-mental to each and every per-son and state. We are sensitiveto culture. We would never do

anything to offend anyone.Even in the first season, and inthis season of The Family Man,we don’t talk about politics. Weput the characters there andlook at those characters in ahumanised way. All those char-acters are heroes of their ownstory. Now, the show hasreleased and is for you to see.We see many of you loving it,because it turned out to benothing like you were appre-hensive about. It is talkingabout you and your sentimentin a very respectful mannerwith love,” Bajpayee said.

Controversy erupted whenTamil Nadu Minister for

Information Technology, ManoThangaraj, had written a letterto the Union Minister forInformation and Broadcasting,Prakash Javedkar, on May 24,calling for a ban of the webseries.

In his letter, Thangaraj saidthat “the series had depicted theEelam Tamils in a highly objec-tionable manner and that ifallowed to stream it would beprejudicial to the maintenanceof harmony in the state”.

The Family Man 2 hasSamantha Akkineni in herdebut OTT role, as a Sri LankanTamil suicide bomber namedRaji, and also brings back

Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, andSharad Kelkar in familiar roles.

On pre-release expectations,Bajpayee said, “You don’t expectthe extent of response. You areconfident that people will like itbut to what extent they will likeit is unpredictable. It has takenus by surprise and we are over-whelmed with the response.The show is going to be thereforever and I have read thatmany people are watching it asecond time. It is not only flat-tering but it makes you feel soindebted and grateful.”

The series created by Raj andDK streams on Amazon PrimeVideo.

or a longtime, therehave beenreports thatactor-politi-cian

Nandamuri Balakrishnawill team up withyoung director AnilRavipudi of F2 fame.However, neitherBalayya nor the directorresponded to thesespeculations. RecentlyBalakrishna, whileinteracting with hisfans, opened up aboutthese speculations andspoke in detail during aNew Jersey fans’ zoommeet.

Speaking there, theLegend actor first con-

firmed his film withGopichand Malineni,followed by a film withAnil Ravipudi.

In the zoom meeting,the actor also expressedhis interest to workwith young directorsand that he would begiving more chances toyoung directors hence-forth.

It is learnt that AnilRavipudi met Balayyaand narrated a strongmass story and that theactor was impressedwith his script and gavehis nod for the film.This film is expected toroll early next year.

Meanwhile, we havereports coming in that

Anil Ravipudi will bepresenting the actor ina complete mass avatarand it will bebankrolled by the ShineScreens banner. On theother side, Balakrishnais currently working forAkhanda, which is onthe verge of completion.The action drama,which is being directedby Vinaya VidheyaRama fame BoyapatiSrinu, has PragyaJaiswal in the femalelead role. Currently,Anil Ravipudi is helm-ing F3 starringVenkatesh Daggubati ,Tamannah Bhatia,Mehreen Kaur Pirzada

and Varun Tej.

Balayya confirms filmwith Anil Ravipudi

oung and ener-getic actor RamPothineni hasteamed up withlegendary Tamildirector

Lingusamy for an upcomingbilingual drama that will bemade in Telugu and Tamil.The upcoming film marksthe iSmart Shankar fameactor’s debut in Kollywood.

Recently numerous reportssurfaced that R Madhavanwill have a key role to playin Ram Pothineni andLingusamy’s project. ButMadhavan took to Twitterto clear the air about thereport. He tweeted, “I wouldlove to work with the direc-tor Lingusamy and recreatethe magic on the screenbecause he is a wonderfuland loving man but unfor-tunately no truth in thenews doing the roundsrecently (sic).”

He clarified that he wasnot approached for a role inthe Ram Pothineni-starrer.

Uppena fame Kriti Shettyhas been roped in as thefemale lead and Devi SriPrasad will render thetunes.

Ram Pothineni was lastseen in action-drama Red,the remake of the Tamilfilm Thadam.

‘ALL CHARACTERS IN THE

FAMILY MAN 2 ARE HEROESOF THEIR OWN STORY’

t is already report-ed that RaashiKhanna is going towork with AjayDevgn in anupcoming web

drama Rudra. Ajay Devgn isforaying into the OTT spaceand is making his web seriesdebut with the show, Rudra –The Edge Of Darkness onDisney+ Hotstar VIP, which isa remake of the British show,Luther.

Rudra will be RaashiKhanna’s second OTT outingin Hindi after Raj and DK’sweb series alongside KabirSingh fame Shahid Kapoor.Recently, the World FamousLover actress revealed thatwith two big and exciting pro-jects in her kitty, she is look-ing forward to seeing her on-

screen! Now according to thelatest update, Raashi Khannais playing the role of a psychokiller, who has a fluctuatingmindset, in Ajay Devgn star-rer web drama Rudra.

Sources say that the makersof psychological crime thrillerdrama Rudra are looking totake the project on the floorsby July 21, which is nextmonth. Produced by ApplauseEntertainment in associationwith BBC Studios India, theHotstar Specials series will beshot across iconic locales ofMumbai.

On the other side, RaashiKhanna was last seen playingthe female lead in VijayDeverakonda-starrer roman-tic movie World FamousLover, which did average busi-ness at the box office.

Madhavan not part ofRam-Linguswamy film

F

T

Y

I

uper Star MaheshBabu is currentlybusy with hisupcoming enter-tainer Sarkaru

Vaari Paata under thedirection of Parasuram.Mahesh Babu is playing therole of a bank officer whileKeerthi Suresh plays the

role of his subordinate inthe film which is all aboutvarious banking scams hap-pening in the country.

In the meantime, we hearthat Sarkaru Vaari Paatawill have Mahesh Babu’sfamily in it. It is known thatMahesh Babu is delightingfans by sharing videos ofhis children Sitara andGautam Krishna on socialmedia.

Insiders tell us thatMahesh Babu is planning tocast Sitara and Gautam

Krishna in Sarkaru VaariPaata. Son Gautam Krishna

already made his debut onscreen in Mahesh Babu’s1—Nenokkadine and Sitarahas become the brandambassador for a 3D ani-mated web series for chil-dren Fantastic Star.

The prospect of watchingMahesh Babu’s childrenSitara and Gautam inSarkaru Vaari Paata is excit-ing for all his fans. Mahesh,apart from Sarkaru VaariPaata, will soon star in thedirection of TrivikramSrinivas and Rajamouli.

Mahesh's children in

Sarkaru Vaari Paata

S

Raashi Khannato play a

psycho killer?

sport 12HYDERABAD | MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021

shortpassesCILIC WINS STUTTGART FINALBERLIN: Felix Auger-Aliassime suffered moreheartbreak on the ATP Tour as he lost hiseighth straight final on Sunday, going downto Marin Cilic in straight sets at Stuttgart'sgrass-court tournament. Cilic won the 19thcareer title with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 victory.

MCKEOWN SMASHES WR ADELAIDE: Australia's Kaylee McKeownthrew down the Olympic gauntlet toAmerican rival Regan Smith by smashing her100m backstroke world record on Sunday,while Ariarne Titmus fired a warning shot tosuperstar Katie Ledecky with the secondfastest 400m freestyle ever.

MALVIKA REACHES FINALKAUNAS: India's Malvika Bansod defeatedFrance's Anna Tatranova 21-13, 21-10 toenter the women's singles final at RSLLithuanian International badmintontournament on Sunday.

DU PLESSIS RECOVERING ABU DHABI: Much to the cricketcommunity's relief, South African star Faf duPlessis on Sunday said he was back from thehospital and ‘recovering’, after suffering aconcussion during his Quetta Gladiators' PSLmatch against Peshawar Zalmi.

SÁNCHEZ OUT OF COPA SANTIAGO: Striker Alexis Sánchez will nottravel to Brazil with the rest of the Chilesquad and will miss at least the group stageof Copa America due to a calf injury.

MANKAD IN ICC HALL OF FAME DUBAI: The ICC on Sunday inducted 10icons of the game, including India's VinooMankad, into its illustrious Hall of Fame withtwo players each from five eras, dating backto cricket's early days, making it to the list.

HASAN ALI TO MISS PSLABU DHABI: Islamabad United fast bowlerHasan Ali will miss the remainder of the PSLbecause of family commitments. Agencies

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

New Zealand overpoweredEngland by eight wickets in

the second Test at Edgbaston onSunday as they sealed a 1-0series win with more than a dayto spare.

Set a target of just 38 afterEngland tailender Olly Stonewas out to the very first ball ofthe fourth day, the Blackcaps fin-ished on 41-2.

Tom Latham, captainingthe team in place of the injuredKane Williamson, hit the win-ning boundary to be 23 not outafter the first Test of a two-matchseries at Lord’s last week endedin a draw.

Victory gave New Zealandjust a third win in 18 Test seriesin England, and a first this cen-tury after their 1986 and 1999triumphs.

And it means they will headinto next week’s inaugural WorldTest Championship final againstIndia at Southampton in confi-dent mood.

“It’s great to get an extra day

of rest before India but we’ll cel-ebrate as well — we’ve not wonhere since 1999, so it’s importantto celebrate those achievements,”said Latham at the presentationceremony.

By contrast, this wasEngland’s first series loss athome since a 2014 defeat by SriLanka.

“It hasn’t been our bestweek, has it?” England captainJoe Root told BBC Radio.

“I think we’ve massively

underperformed. Credit to NewZealand, they have outper-formed us throughout thegame.”

Matt Henry was namedplayer of the match followingoverall figures of 6-114.

South Africa-born openerDevon Conway was namedNew Zealand’s player of theseries after he followed aremarkable 200 on Test debut atLord’s with 80 in the first inningsof this match.

Black Caps win Test series

New Zealand players celebrate with the winners trophy after win in 2nd Test AP

AFP n PARIS

French Open championBarbora Krejcikova com-

pleted a rare sweep of titlesat Roland Garros as she wona third women’s doublesmajor trophy with fellowCzech teammate KaterinaSiniakova on Sunday.

Less than 24 hours aftershe claimed her maiden sin-gles slam title, Krejcikovabecame the first womansince Mary Pierce in 2000 tolift both trophies at the clay-court major. Only sevenwomen have completed thetit les sweep at RolandGarros.

“Right now after all ofthis happened, this last twoweeks, last two days, I feelreally relieved and relaxed,”Krejcikova said.

“I just know from now

on I can really enjoy becauseI have pretty much achievedeverything I really wanted.Now I can just improve,that's the only thing I can do,just improving.”

In addition to her pair oftrophies, Krejcikova willreclaim the No 1 spot in thedoubles rankings next week.

“We will have a little bitglass of champagne,”Krejcikova said. “I alreadysaid I don’t really drink butI think it’s a time to actuallycelebrate it. I think we goingto really enjoy.”

Krejcikova, who defeat-ed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkovafor the women’s singles titleon Saturday, also becamethe first player to sweep bothtitles at any Grand Slamtournament since SerenaWilliams at Wimbledon in2016.

Barbora Krejcikova, right, and compatriot Katerina Siniakova kiss the cup afterdefeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Iga Swiatek in women's doubles final AP

Barbora completes rare sweep,

wins women’s doubles crown

AFP n LONDON

Raheem Sterling ignitedEngland’s Euro 2020 cam-paign as the Manchester City

forward’s clinical finish sealed a 1-0 win against Croatia in theirGroup D opener on Sunday.

Gareth Southgate’s side werestruggling to break down Croatiauntil Sterling struck in the secondhalf at sun-baked Wembley.

The 26-year-old’s first goal ata major tournament — in his 13thgame — was the perfect riposte tocritics who questioned Southgate’sdecision to select him instead ofJack Grealish.

Sterling has endured a che-quered relationship with Englandfans after being hounded followinghis tame performances at Euro2016.

He also struggled to hold downa place with Premier League cham-pions City this term, culminatingin his lacklustre display in theirChampions League final defeatagainst Chelsea.

But, days after he was given anMBE in the Queen’s BirthdayHonours List for his anti-racismcampaigning, Sterling enjoyed aperfectly-timed moment ofredemption.

In a rematch of the 2018 WorldCup semi-final won by Croatia,England were hampered by a lackof cutting edge until Sterling cameto the rescue.

Sterling’s winner eased thetension at Wembley and got fansbellowing ‘Football’s coming home’in the hope England can emulatetheir run to the semi-finals whenthey hosted Euro 96, and maybe

even win a major tournament forthe first time since the 1966 WorldCup.

In truth, this was a far fromconvincing performance, butSouthgate will take heart from theway his team kept their nerve ona pressure-packed occasion.

England host neighboursScotland in their second Group Dmatch on Friday before taking onthe Czech Republic in their finalgame of the first stage on June 22.

FINLAND SNATCH WINCopenhagen: Finland beat

Denmark 1-0 in their openingmatch of Euro 2020 which wasovershadowed by ChristianEriksen collapsing and having tobe revived on the field by medics.

Joel Pohjanpalo scored theonly goal on the hour mark of aGroup B match which wasstopped for nearly two hours afterDanish playmaker Eriksenslumped to the turf towards theend of the first half.

The match, which had kickedoff at 1800 local time (1600 GMT),resumed two-and-a-half hourslater in front of a passionate

crowd at the Parken Stadium.The two teams played out an

uneventful final few minutes ofthe first half after both sets of play-ers returned to the pitch with sev-eral Danish players in tears.

After a short break of fiveminutes the second half of thematch continued with a similarpattern as before Eriksen’s col-lapse.

Pohjanpalo stunned the crowdinto silence with when he headedhome Jere Uronen’s cross, capital-ising on Finland’s one true chanceof the game.

Sterling saves England’s dayThree Lions make winning start as Raheem strike sinks Croatia

St Petersburg: Belgium strikerRomelu Lukaku sent a message ofsupport to his stricken InterMilan team-mate ChristianEriksen after scoring, as his dou-ble helped the Red Devils opentheir Euro 2020 campaign with a3-0 win over Russia on Saturday.

Lukaku gave Belgium anearly lead in Saint Petersburg,then shouted “Chris, Chris, staystrong - I love you” into a pitch-side camera during the celebra-tion for his opening goal.

“I am really happy with thewin, but it was hard for me to playbecause my thoughts were withChristian Erkisen,” said Lukaku,who revealed he cried tears ofconcern before kick-off for hisInter team-mate.

Substitute Thomas Meunier

doubled Belgium’s lead on 34minutes before Lukaku put theresult beyond doubt with a latesecond goal.

Belgium, the world’s top-ranked team, are under pressureto deliver at the EuropeanChampionship as some punditsclaim this is Martinez’s lastchance to win a title with an age-ing squad.

Yet even with ManchesterCity playmaker Kevin De Bruyneand Borussia Dortmund mid-fielder Axel Witsel sidelined byinjury, Belgium were too strongfor Russia.

Before kick-off, the Belgiumteam were booed for taking aknee to highlight racial injustice,while their Russian opponentsstood. AFP

No 1 for a reasonLukaku scores brace in Belgium’s 3-0 win

Raheem Sterling, center, celebrates after scoring England’s opening goal against Croatia at Wembley stadium in London AP

Belgium's Thomas Meunier, right, celebrates with Romelu Lukaku after scoring his sidessecond goal against Russia on Saturday AP

EURO2020BRIEFLYVERRATI CLOSE TO RETURN Rome: Italy midfielder Marco Verratti isclose to regaining fitness after missing hiscountry's opening Euro 2020 match with aknee problem, the team's medical chief saidon Sunday. PSG's Verratti sat out Italy's 3-0win against Turkey, but has returned totraining this weekend. The team are nowhopeful the 28-year-old could be fit for thefinal Group A games against the Swiss onWednesday and Wales four days later.

PORTUGAL'S CANCELO OUTLisbon: Portugal's Joao Cancelo has testedpositive for Covid-19 and is out of Euro, thedefending champions' announced onSunday. Manchester United's Diogo Dalot,on loan to AC Milan, has replaced theManchester City right-back in the Portuguesesquad with the titleholders opening theirGroup F campaign against Hungary inBudapest on Tuesday.

BENZEMA, GRIEZMANN FINE Paris: France coach Didier Deschamps gaveKarim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann aclean bill of health on Sunday ahead of theworld champion's Euro 2020 opener againstGermany on Tuesday. The pair emerged fromteam's final friendly win against Bulgaria fivedays ago with niggling injuries — a dead legfor Benzema and calf issue for Griezmann.

RUEDIGER READY TO GET DIRTY Munich: Chelsea defender AntonioRuediger insists Germany need to get a littledirty in their Euro 2020 opener againstFrance on Tuesday in order to subdue theworld champions' forward firepower. Francestart as clear favourites for the Group F clashwhile Germany's defence faces a stern testhaving leaked 20 goals in 13 games thisseason. Fresh from winning the ChampionsLeague final with Chelsea, Ruediger insiststhe Germans can ill afford to allow France'sstar forwards like Kylian Mbappe andAntoine Griezmann room to attack. “Ofcourse, they have good forwards, we have tobe ready to win the one-on-one challenges,”Ruediger said. We have to be a little dirty,not always be nice or try to play nicefootball. “Against players like them, you haveto throw down a marker.”

ITALY'S HUNGER IS LIKE CHELSEARome: Italy midfielder Jorginho said onSunday that he sees the same hunger in hisnational side's Euro 2020 squad as hisChelsea team that recently lifted theChampions League trophy. “This groupresembles Chelsea, it's wonderful, they areso hungry and want to prove something,from the youngest to the most experienced,”former Napoli player Jorginho told a pressconference. “We have learned (coachRoberto) Mancini's philosophy, what hewants is in our heads. “I still have a greatdesire to win. I don't want to stop now. Iwould like to experience those sameemotions with the national team.”

ERIKSEN STABLE POST COLLAPSECopenhagen: Denmark midfielder ChristianEriksen remained in hospital but is in a‘stable’ condition after collapsing in hiscountry's Euro 2020 game against Finlandon Saturday, the Danish Football Union(DBU) said Sunday. “This morning we havespoken to Christian Eriksen, who has senthis greetings to his teammates. Hiscondition is stable, and he continues to behospitalized for further examination,” thefootball body said in a post to Twitter.

MATCHES TODAYScotland vs Czech Republic (6:30pm)Poland vs Slovakia (9:30pm)Spain vs Sweden (12:30am)

Live ttelecast iin SSony TTen 22 NNetwork

Birmingham: India is dan-gerous on all fronts, NewZealand vice-captain TomLatham on Sunday said oftheir challengers for theWorld Test Championshipcrown, describing the Virat-Kohli unit a “completelydifferent side” from van-quished England.

In the absence ofinjured Kane Williamson,Latham led the team to amemorable 1-0 Test seriestriumph in the two-matchrubber against hostsEngland, their first in theUK since 1999.

Asked where does hesee the biggest danger fromIndia coming, Latham said,“All around the board.”

“They’ve got a fantasticset of bowlers, a lot of qual-ity batsmen that have scoredruns in different conditionsall round the world. Theywere over here a few yearsago and played really well,so we know we’ll have toplay well to beat them.”

While the team cele-brated a fine series triumph,Latham said the focus willshift to India in two days’-

time.“The preparation has

been great but it’s importantthat we do shift our focus

and adapt to a completelydifferent side,” he said at thepost-match press confer-ence.

Latham said that India’sperformances on their tourof England in 2018 — albeitin a 4-1 series defeat —showed that they would betough to beat at the AgeasBowl.

The inaugural WTCfinal is scheduled to be heldin Southampton from June18-23.

With the match finish-ing in under four days, theKiwis will get a day extra torest and prepare for theIndia challenge.

“Great to put the feet upfor a day, big challengecoming up but looking for-ward to celebrating, haven’twon here since 1999, so cel-ebrate tonight and thenlook forward,” Latham said.

“Great support fromKiwis, the English and alsoback home. Atmospherewas amazing.”

GREATEST OF ALL TIMEDjoker comeback from 2 sets down to beat Tsitsipas &win his second Roland Garros title

AP n PARIS

Novak Djokovic has wonhis second FrenchOpen championship

and his 19th Grand Slam titleby rallying past Stefanos

Tsitsipas in a seesaw final atRoland Garros. The score was6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Djokovic also erased atwo-set deficit to win in thefourth round, and has done itsix times in his career.

The 22-year-old Tsitsipaslooked like the fresher playerearly on, and Djokovic wascoming off an epic semifinalvictory over Rafael Nadal. Butthe 34-year-old Serb found hisform and held every service

game in the final three sets.Djokovic improved to 35-

10 in five-set matches. He haswon the first two majors of theyear, and at Wimbledon he'llhave a chance to match themen’s record of 20 Grand

Slam titles shared by Nadaland Roger Federer.

Djokovic joined RodLaver and Roy Emerson as theonly men to win each of thefour major tournaments atleast twice.

Big challenge coming up: Latham on WTC final