inflation rises to 15-month high

ATHER MMOIN || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Majlis Bachao Tehreekpresident MajeedullahKhan Farhat on Tuesdaysaid the Muslims of Indiawill never forget theBabri Masjid demolitionand the injustice done tothem. “India was a landof peace and unity tillNovember 9, but thejudgement converted itinto a hostile land forMuslims,” he said.

At a public meeting onMilad-un-Nabi, Mr Khancontended that by exer-cising the discretionarypower conferred underArticle 142, the SupremeCourt showed that it wasa judgement of the stateand not of the judiciary.

After the masjid’s dem-olition the P.V. Narasim-ha Rao Cabinet hadresolved for an excava-tion to establish whethera Hindu structure hadbeen demolished to buildthe Masjid, the then Pres-ident, Shankar DayalSharma, referred the res-olution to the SupremeCourt, which observedthat an excavation couldnot be construed as analternative dispute reso-lution for deciding thetitle. He argued that adiscretionary power con-ferred under Article 142cannot surpass Articles14, 15 and 21. “I reject theSupreme Court verdicton the Ayodhya dispute,”Mr Khan said.

■ Page 55: MMuslim lleadersgave uup, ssays KKhan

c m y k c m y k

COUNTER POINT

Max: 29.7OCMin: 17.6OC RH: 63%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Cloudy sky,with haze. Max/Min

temp. 30/18 ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDEVikari; Dakshinayana

Tithi: Kartika Bahula Vidiya till7.51 pm

Star: Rohini till 10.44 pmVarjyam: 2.29 pm to 4.08 pm

and 4.26 am to 6.04 am (Friday) Durmuhurtam: 10.08 am to 10.53

am and 2.37 pm to 3.22 pmRahukalam: 1 pm to 3 pm

HIJRI CALENDARRabbi-ul-Awwal 16,1441 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.17 am

Zohar: 12.10 pmAsar: 4.05 pm

Maghrib: 5.46 pmIsha: 6.56 pm

SUNSET TODAY 5.41 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.20 AM

MOONRISE TOMORROW 6.28 PMMOONSET TODAY 6.47 AM

Money Bill goesto larger bench

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesdaystruck down the rules

formulated by the Centreon appointment and ser-vice conditions for mem-bers of various tribunals,

and referred to a largerbench the issue of exam-

ining the validity of thepassage of the Finance

Act 2017 as a Money Bill.

■ Full rreport oon PPage 66

Aadhaar addresschange rule eased

New Delhi: The govern-ment has allowed

migrants to changeaddress on Aadhaar by

giving self declaration, amove aimed at helping

them open bank accountand promote financial

inclusion. The changeswere made by amending

the Prevention of Money-laundering Rules on

Wednesday. — PTI

Congress, NCPtalk on Maha

Mumbai: The Congressand the NCP on Wednes-day started their deliber-ations on the modalities

of government formationin Maharashtra. Both theparties expressed confi-

dence that they will soonform a government along

with Shiv Sena, whosechief Uddhav Thackeray

met Congress leaders.

■ Full rreport oon PPage 66

Dual nationalityhaunts RajapaksaColombo: Two Sri Lank-an civil society activistson Wednesday filed an

appeal before theSupreme Court against

the alleged dual nation-ality of main opposition

presidential candidate G.Rajapaksa. The former

president claims to haverenounced his US citizen-

ship in April this year inorder to qualify to be a

candidate. — PTI

Vol. 82 No. 314 Established 1938 | 32 PAGES | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle

TABLOIDSPORTS|14Shun harmful chemicalsto look and feel great

Sindhu, Prannoysail; Saina loses

MADDY DDEEKSHITH || DCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Tourists go there at mid-night to escape the daytimerush and savour the localcuisine. Youngsters fromHi-tech city bike over inthe wee hours to grab a biteand generally mellow out.Charminar is more thaniconic — it is an after-hours refuge. But bone-headed police prudishnesshas led to restrictionsaround Charminar frommidnight to 4 am the past

few days. It isn’t official,but barricades are erectedevery late night on a 200metre radius.

When queried, policeclaimed the “posh crowd”played loud music in ahaze of alcohol, and then,horror of horrors, told thepolice off. Thus the barri-cades police deployment atfour entry and exit points.It has left tourists disap-pointed.

Though eateries and com-mercial establishments areclosed after midnight, the

youth has madeCharminar a favouritehangout spot. “They boozeand make out,” insisted apoliceman. No official com-plaint exists, but policeclaim there were three

cases of “public display ofaffection” (PDA) in the lastsix months. Such vigi-lance. Police said touristsand religious groups grip-ed, so they curtailed theentry of citizens, including

the “posh crowd”, fromfour sides includingMadina, Shalibanda, LaadBazaar and Sardar Mahal.

A constable posted onduty at Madina road saidCharminar had become afavoured night destinationfor those from the IT corri-dors. He whispered thatcouples parked their vehi-cles and opened the bottle.They also turned on theloud music. “Influentialpeople have been visitingand disturbing touristswith loud music and vul-

gar dance moves with theirpartners,” he said.

N. Buchaiah of theCharminar police stationsaid that restrictions wereimposed only to preventuntoward incidents and tosafeguard the harmony ofthe Charminar. “Whyshould people be allowedin the vicinity when shopsare closed by midnight,” heasked, forgetting aboutindividual liberty. He reit-erated the police’s usualbooze-and-PDA song-and-dance.

Prudish cops limit night access to Charminar■Charminar police claims curbs were imposed to prevent untoward incidentsMORAL | POLICE

Bolivia Senator isstand-in Prez

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I THURSDAY I 14 NOVEMBER 2019

Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, alights from an electric autorickshaw during his visit to the India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) at Mausam Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. Prince Charles, who arrived here on Wednesday,is on a two-day visit to India. This is his 10th official visit to the country. — PTI

Clean and green

PARMOD KKUMARwith aagency iinputsNEW DELHI, NOV. 13

Bringing down the curtainon a nearly decade-olddebate, the Supreme Courton Wednesday held thatthe office of the ChiefJustice of India (CJI) is apublic authority and iscovered under the Right toInformation Act (RTI), butadded that disclosure ofany information soughtwill have to be balancedwith the independence ofjudiciary, which itself is amatter of public interest.

Upholding a 2010 DelhiHigh Court verdict, thefive-judge constitutionbench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi, cau-tioned that RTI cannot beused as a tool of surveil-lance and held that judi-cial independence andright to privacy have to bekept in mind while dealingwith transparency.

On whether the delibera-tions of the SupremeCourt collegium compris-ing five senior-mostjudges in the appointmentof judges or lawyers willbe made public, the topcourt ruled that it shouldbe decided on a case-to-case basis keeping in mindthe larger public interest.

The bench said that onlythe names of judges rec-ommended by the col-legium for appointment

can be disclosed, not thereasons. Transparencyand openness in judicialappointments juxtaposedwith confidentiality ofdeliberations remain oneof the most delicate andcomplex areas.

Besides CJI Gogoi, otherjudges on the benchincluded Justice N.V.Ramana, Justice D.Y.

Chandrachud, JusticeDeepak Gupta and JusticeSanjeev Khanna.

While the Chief Justiceand Justices Gupta andKhanna wrote one judg-ment, Justices Ramanaand Chandrachud havewritten separate verdicts.

■ Page 88: RRTI, PPrivacy aaretwo ssides oof tthe ssame ccoin

RTI law appliesto CJI office: SCSays reasons for the appointment of judgeswon’t come under the purview of the info law

DC CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 13

In a mixed verdict, theSupreme Court on Wedne-sday upheld the disqualifi-cation of 17 KarnatakaMLAs belonging to theC o n g r e s sand theJanata Dal(Secular), but set asidethen Speaker K.R. RameshKumar’s order unseatingthem for the remainder ofthe current Assembly’sterm, paving the way forthem to contest the com-ing byelection to 17 seats.

After the court’s verdict,

all eyes were on the BJP’snext move, on whether itwould give tickets to theCongress-JD(S) rebels.

Karnataka deputy chiefminister C.N.Ashwathnarayan said thedisqualified MLAs would

join the BJPon Thursd-ay.

The Supreme Court hasalso said that if elected inthe bypolls, the disquali-fied MLAs can becomeministers or hold publicoffice.

■ Page 88: IIf aan MMLA qquitsout oof ffree wwill, aaccept iit: SSC

Disqualified cancontest polls: SC

FC BBUREAUNEW DELHI, NOV. 13

Breaching the centralbank’s four per cent targetfor the first time, con-sumer retail inflation roseto 15-month high of 4.62per cent in October.

Driven by skyrocketingfood and vegetable prices,retail prices have raisedconcerns among house-hold consumers national-ly. Food basket priceswere the hardest hit, ris-ing by 7.89 per cent, acco-rding to government datareleased on Wednesday.Incessant rain, that pro-longed the monsoon andplayed havoc with farm

output, is the culprit. The inflation-based

Consumer Price Index(CPI) was 3.99 per cent inSeptember and 3.38 percent in October 2018.However, food price grew7.89 per cent in October asagainst 5.11 per cent inSeptember, according tothe data. Core inflation,excluding food and oil, for

October stood at 3.5 percent against 4 per cent inSeptember.

Prices of cereals andproducts were also high at2.16 per cent against 1.66per cent a month ago.Vegetables inflation forOctober stood at 26 percent against 15.4 per centin September. Besides,pulses and products toorecorded high of 11.72 percent in October against 8.4per cent in previous mon-th, according to the data.

October also saw exorbi-tant onion and tomato pr-ices due to unprecedentedrains, disruption in supplychain and acquisitionrestrictions on traders.

However, most econo-mists feel that the rise istemporary and expectaverage retail inflation toremain below four percent in the current finan-cial year.

The rise in inflation isunlikely to sway theMonetary PolicyCommittee (MPC), whichmeets next month.

Rahul Gupta of EmkayGlobal Financial Servicessaid that the retail infla-tion hike was a surprise.“We expect the RBI to con-tinue easing on the back ofsluggish growth and weakcore inflation and cut itsrepo rate at Decembermeeting,” he said.

Inflation rises to 15-month highVegetables fuel inflation; RBI may ignore price rise to cut rates

VUJJINI VAMSHIDHARA || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Sticking to its guns thatthere would not be anyreconciliation and negoti-ation proceedings withthe RTC trade unions, theTelangana government onWednesday expressed itsunwillingness to acceptthe High Court’s proposalfor a high-powered com-mittee, comprising threeretired judges of the Supr-eme Court, to examine theissues leading to theTSRTC employees’ strike.

Chief Secretary Shailen-dra Kumar Joshi fur-nished an affidavit statingthe government had seri-ously and sincerely exam-

ined the High Court’sorder. However, he expre-ssed the state’s inability toaccede.

On Tuesday, the divisionbench comprising ChiefJustice RaghavendraSingh Chauhan andJustice A. AbhishekReddy had offered to con-stitute the committee tosort out the issue andasked advocate-generalB.S. Prasad to respond.

The chief secretary’saffidavit said: “There is noprovision of the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947, (for) ahigh-powered committeeof former judges … or anyother dignitaries to recon-cile the parties or to referto adjudicate an industrialdispute.”

The CS also prayed thatthe matter be referred tothe labour commissioner,who was seized of the mat-ter but keeping it in abey-ance due to the pendencyof PILs on the RTC strike.

The Advocate-General(AG) submitted thatcourts cannot dole outcases as per their choicesand that the labour courtis the competent authorityto adjudicate. Further, hebrought to the notice ofthe bench the SupremeCourt finding fault inHigh Courts appointingcommittees, particularlyin the Group-2 exams mat-ter.

■ Page 55: UUnions ddefendHC’s ppower tto aappoint ppanel

TS rejects HC’s 3-judgepanel to end RTC strike

D. SSIVA RRAMI RREDDY || DDC KURNOOL, NOV. 13

The baby of a rape victimis now a golden girl: a ch-ampion swimmer. Pooja— christened so by formerPresident A.P.J. AbdulKalam — is making waveson the national swimmingscene. A gold winner in200-metre freestyle in theeight-state southwestzonal swimming champi-onship in 2018, Pooja willnow represent AndhraPradesh in the under-17competition in New Delhi.

Rescued by the RajaFoundation in Mylava-ram, Kadapa, 11 yearsago, she exhibited an awe-some growth of talentdespite the absence of par-ental care. “Eleven yearsago, a deaf and dumb you-ng woman was raped on aroadside and made preg-nant,” said Raja Reddy.“Sitting under a tree oneafternoon in RailwayKoduru, she gave birth toa beautiful girl in a pool ofblood without nursingcare or midwife’s assis-tance.”

The foundation broughtboth mother and baby tothe Daddy Home onSeptember 5, 2007. “She

was hardly 5 hours oldwhen she arrived, full ofblood scars,” Raja Reddysaid. “Even her umbilicalcord was not cut proper-ly.”

Raja Reddy wrote to for-mer President Kalam,requesting him to namethe newborn. Kalam, as asymbol of religious unity,named her Pooja Eeman(faith/trust in God).

In Pooja’s name the fou-ndation started a schoolin Abdul Kalam Nagar,Chowduru, Kadapa, backin 2008. Raja Reddy saidPooja was active from thebeginning. She is intelli-gent and has good sensoryperception. She is a goldmedallist in the under-14swimming competitionsin south India. She left forDelhi on Wednesday forthe national under-17sswimming championship,representing AP.

Rape victim’s babyis a ‘gold’ swimmer

PAK TO CHANGEARMY LAW FORJADHAV, ICJ

MUSLIMS CAN’TFORGET BABRIDEMOLITION: MBT

■ CITY.. PG2People in 30s at risk

from diabetes■ CITY.. PG3

Tourism centres to comeup at Anantagiri Hills

INSIDE

■ ■ Prices of cereals andproducts were also highat 2.16 per cent against1.66 per cent a monthago. Vegetables inflationfor October stood at 26per cent against 15.4 percent in September.

PG 8 | SC VERDICT ON SABARIMALA CASE ANDCONTEMPT PLEA AGAINST RAHUL TODAY

■ ■ When queried, police claimed the “posh crowd” played loud music in a haze of alcohol, and then, horrorof horrors, told the police off. Thus the barricades policedeployment at four entry and exit points.

■ ■ No official complaint exists, but police claim therewere three cases of “public display of affection” in thelast six months.

SRIDHARKUMARASWAMI aandSHAFQAT AALI || DDCNEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, NOV. 13

Pakistan is planningto amend its ArmyAct in order to permitimprisoned Indianformer naval officerKulbhushan Jadhavto file an appeal in acivilian court againsthis death sentence.This is in line withthe International Co-urt of Justice’s (ICJ)verdict in July. A Pa-kistani military courthad in April 2017 sen-tenced Jadhav oncharges of espionageand sabotage.

Currently, underthe Army Act individ-uals are forbiddenfrom filing an appealin a civilian courtagainst cases undertrial in Pakistani mil-itary courts.

Officials in Islama-bad said Pakistan’sgovernment has alre-ady prepared a draftto amend Army Act.

■ Page 66: PPak AArmydenies aany cchange

WORLD|9

KARNATAKA MLAS

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Type 1 diabetes continues toplace a big financial burdenon a patient’s family. Also

known as juvenile dia-betes, patients with it

need insulin for sur-vival. And insulin

doesn’t come cheap— patients have tospend anywhereup to `5,000 forsufficient quanti-ties for a month.It is the under-privileged classthat suffers themost because ofthis.

Syed Samdan(14) was diag-nosed withType 1 diabeteswhen he wasjust nine years

old. His family’slife has not been

the same since. Hisfather Syed Habeeb

(42) used to be a clothwholesaler but had to

stop working when hesuffered a stroke a couple

of years ago. “I was very worried about

getting my son treated. Iwould be tense all the timeabout where I would get themoney to buy his medicines.I suffered a stroke because ofthat. I am partially paral-ysed waist down,” he said.There are no breadwinnersin the family today; Habeeb’swife passed away last year.They depend entirely oncharitable institutions suchas the Helping HandFoundation (HHF) for mone-tary assistance. Young SyedSamdan has stopped going toschool because it was diffi-cult to keep tabs on his diet.

“His friends used to feedhim chocolates and otherstuff, which would increasehis sugar levels massively.Last year, he ate too muchsugar and went into a coma.It took him 10 days to recov-er. I made him stop going toschool after that,” says hisfather.

Government hospitalssuch as Gandhi, OsmaniaGeneral and NIMS have spe-cial programmes that givefree insulin, which diabeticsneed to balance their sugarlevels. But Mujtaba HasanAksari from HHF said mostpatients are either unawareof this or simply don’t trust

government hospitals.“Government hospitals givefree insulin vials, along withproviding free consultation.But a lot of the people whocome to us for help say theywon’t go to them. They aredistrustful of the bureaucra-cy there and think the treat-ment will be inferior innature,” says Mr Aksariwho believes that diabetespatients, and not just thosewith Type 1 diabetes, mustbe brought into the publichealth system. “Many peo-ple cannot afford insulininjections. Families beg,borrow or steal for them.Since they are so costly, wehave seen cases wherepatients skip doses or takesmaller than required dosesto save insulin. If the gov-ernment wakes up to thisproblem and promotes dia-betes treatment, it will bereally helpful to everyone,”he said.

There indeed seems to bedistrust about governmenthospitals. NooruddinMohammed (25) was diag-nosed with insulin-depend-ent diabetes a few years ago.In his childhood, he wasafflicted with polio, whichhas left him immobile. Hismother Shaheena Begumsaid, “My husband is a cardriver. We don’t have themoney to buy insulin.Family members usuallyhelp us with the expenses.”Mohammed’s family takeshim only to private clinics.Also, though he is a gradu-ate, he sits at home sincehis disability and the dia-betes are too difficult tomanage. “We tried going toOsmania Hospital when hewas diagnosed, but theywere not helpful. Theymade us run around fromone office to another forfour days. For a wheelchairfor my son, they charged us`200. We spent `2,000 onauto rickshaw rides alone.The whole exercise was use-less,” she said.

In addition to insulin,Mohammed takes a courseof Unani medicine. His fam-ily was told it wouldimprove his condition.

Dr V.K. Bhargava, chair-man of the Telangana chap-ter of the Research Societyfor the Study of Diabetes inIndia, warns against Type-1diabetes patients subscrib-ing to alternative medicinesystems.

people,whosuffer fromtype 2 dia-betes in the

world, need insulin, according to a WHOrelease. Yet, only half of them can access it

because of high prices. Insulin is needed bytype-1 patients for survival.

The decision is part of a series of steps WHOwill take to address the growing diabetesburden in all regions.

A day ahead of World DiabetesDay (November 14), the WHO

announced a pilot programme toprequalify human insulin toincrease treatment of diabetes inlow and medium income countries.

WHO prequalification of medicines isa service provided by WHO to assessthe quality, safety and efficacy ofmedicinal products.

Patient’s family suffersfrom financial burden

PAGE

2CityTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Bangaru TelanganaCongress MLA Jagga Reddy said Telangana wasformed to end suicides and deaths due to hunger.The state was formed, deaths haven’t stopped.

BJP would showcaseits strength in the

upcoming electionsto urban local bodies

— K. Laxman

Telangana state BJP president

IN BRIEF

Krishnam Rajuhospitalised

Hyderabad: Veteran actorKrishnam Raju was admitted

in a private hospital inBanjara Hills on Wednesday

with pneumonia. The 79-year-old actor is also a dia-betic. When contacted, the

actor’s personal managersaid it was a routine check-

up and there was nothingserious. "He is suffering withpneumonia. Every winter heis admitted with such com-plaints and is discharged ina couple of days," she said.

Chiron Behringrebrands vaccineHyderabad: Bharat Biotechsubsidiary, Chiron Behring

Vaccines, on Wednesdayrelaunched its rabies vaccine

in the country under theChiroRab brand. Earlier, the

vaccine was marketed asRabipur. “The new vaccine

is being manufactured usingthe same technology (as

Rabipur) at the samesite...we were highly com-

mitted in expediting themanufacturing and commer-

cialisation of ChiroRab,”Bharat Biotech Chairmanand MD Krishna Ella said.

ICE INDIA’S HQTO HIRE 100

PEOPLE IN A YRDC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

A t l a n t a - b a s e dIntercontinental Exchange(ICE), which owns the NewYork Stock Exchange, plans tohire around 100 people overthe next year for its recently-inaugurated Hyderabad cam-pus, according to a top official.

ICE also operates stockexchanges, commodityexchanges, clearing housesand information services thattraders rely upon to invest,trade and manage risk acrossthe global.

Speaking to the media onWednesday, ICE said that thecurrent facility spans 85,000square feet and has 500 people— outsourced by Genpact —working on the floor.

“Before we even had a localpresence in the country, wehad a strong and healthy rela-tionship with Genpact.However, in future, hiring inthe campus will have a multifold strategy. Other than cam-pusing at top colleges in India,hackathon will also play a rolein our hirings,” KiranmaiPendyala, head HR, ICE India.

The Hyderabad facility wasinaugurated on Tuesday and itwill focus on ICE DataServices’ reference data usingnew technologies such asmachine learning and dataanalytics.

Congress wants deadline extended

Hyderabad: The Congressparty on Wednesday demand-

ed extension in last date forsubmission of applications

under ‘Driver EmpowermentProgramme’ of Telangana

State Minorities FinanceCorporation (TSMFC). Led byTelangana Pradesh Congress

Committee (TPCC) MinoritiesDept chairman Shaik Abdullah

Sohail, a delegation compris-ing of TPCC Spokesperson

Syed Nizamuddin, HyderabadCongress Minorities Dept

Chairman Sameer Waliullahand others, met TSMFC

Chairman Syed Akbar Hussainat Haj House and submitted a

representation. The TSMFChad invited applications from

eligible minority drivers foravailing financial assistance

for purchase of Maruthi SwiftDzire Tour-S vehicle under

'Driver EmpowermentProgramme and the last date

for submission of applicationsis November 15. However,

Abdullah Sohail said manyapplicants were unable to

organise neccessary docu-ments from the MRO due to

holidays. — INN


Residents living within theSecunderabad CantonmentBoard precincts haveaccused the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation board of notbeing serious about sanita-tion and clearing ofgarbage in their areas.

Mr Venkatramana, a res-ident of Trimulgherrytold Deccan Chronicle thathe had complained againstcommercial establish-ments burning theirgarbage in the open to MrM. Devender, GHMCsuperintendent for SolidWaste Management. But

such burning of garbageis continuing adding to thepollution in the area.

The Trimulgherry resi-dent said he had recentlycome across a sweeperwho was burning drygarbage instead of dispos-ing it in a waste bin.

When he was confronted,the sweeper took the stancethat burning the garbage isbetter as it would otherwisescatter due to the wind.

“The waste bin was only afew metres away. He couldhave easily disposed it ofproperly. Instead he burntit causing air pollution.Such violation is happen-ing because of the lethargicattitude of SCB officials.They think they can getaway with this behaviour,”Mr Venkatramanaremarked.

He said when he spokeGHMC superintendentDevender, he was asked totake a picture or recordthe video of offenders.

“The burden of proof ison us, the common citi-zens. When I sent him avideo, the superintendentcasually told me he would

look into it,” the angry res-ident protested.

When contacted, thesuperintendent main-tained that the SCB tookthe issue of garbage dis-posal seriously. “We haverecently penalised nearly15 commercial establish-ments that were burningtheir garbage in the open.We understand the seri-ousness of the matter,” hemaintained. Mr Devendersaid that since Tuesdaywas a holiday due to GuruNanak Jayanti, he couldnot attend to MrVenkatramana’s com-plaint. “We will get on to itas soon as possible,” headded.

WORLD DIABETES DAY

65 MN

KANIZA GGARARI || DCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Experts speaking aheadof the World DiabetesDay, which is observed onNovember 14, said thatpeople in their 30s aredeveloping diabetes, put-ting a burden on social,medical and financialservices in managing thedisease.

The early onset of dia-betes leads to early com-plications in kidney,heart and eyes, whichrequires proper medicalmanagement and finan-cial resources.

Diabetes is not heredi-tary, but when parentsdevelop it, the likelihoodof children also sufferingfrom the disease is high.Poor lifestyle, in the formof wrong eating habits,lack of exercise, stressand working on nightshifts are among the fac-tors contributing to thedevelopment of diabetesat an younger age.

Dr Shyam Kalavalapalli,a senior endocrinologistsaid, "We see around 50diabetic patients everyday and almost half ofthem are in their 30s.This shows that those inthe productive age groupare suffering from the dis-ease. They need to learnproper medical manage-ment and despite medica-tion, after a decade theywill need support in car-diac and also kidney care.Later, they will need tomonitor their eye sight.Hence, the burden of thedisease is very high."

In the West, diabetes isstill seen mostly in peopleover 50 years of age.

Dr Ch Vasanth Kumar,president-elect of theResearch Society forStudy of Diabetes said,"The incidence of dia-betes among the poor isvery high because theyare the least attended to.They are in theunchecked and non-moni-tored groups who come toan institution very late.They suffer from diabetesand due to recurrent

i n f e c t i o n s ,develop tuber-c u l o s i s .Complicationsamong thisgroup are veryhigh, but theyare not docu-mented as theyare at thefringe."

Diabetes is notcovered by thegovernment pro-gramme ofA a r o g y a s r i .Hence, patientshave to pay fortheir own medi-cines. While anti-dia-betic drugs are on theNational List ofEssential Medicines,they are available only ingeneric stores, which areonly at a few places andrarely present in themore remote areas. Mostpatients are thus depend-ent on branded drugswhich are very expensive.

The treatment can beinexpensive and afford-able, but it is not beingmade so as there is toomuch dependence ondrugs. The disease can bemanaged by preventionand medication, butinstead it has become atreatment-oriented dis-ease. Due to this, lifestylechanges such as exercis-ing and diet modifica-tions are not explainedproperly to each patient.

Dr T.N.J Rajesh, con-sultant of internal medi-cine at Star Hospitals,said, "There are a lot ofmisconceptions and ablind following of west-ern diets. Take the recentfad of consuming oliveoil, which is good for theheart. But, it is unstableat high temperatures.Indian cooking takesplace at high tempera-tures. It is better only forthe Mediterranean diet,which includes saladsthat don't require cook-ing. For Indians, ricebran oil is the best option,as it has a good amount ofmonounsaturated fattyacids and is stable at hightemperatures."

DC CCORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, NOV 13

Eye-check up in diabetesis as important as bloodsugar. But the problem isthat while blood sugar ischecked the eyes aregiven a miss. For thisreason, the reducedvision due to the highsugar levels are diag-nosed too late.

Opthalmologists statethat people who are suf-fering from diabetes for10 years come only afterthey have developedsight issues for check-ups. Dr P. MuralidharRao, senior vitreo retinalsurgeon at Maxi VisionSuper Specialty Eye hos-pital explained, “Thosewho have been diagnosedwith diabetes must gettheir eyes checked once

in a year. Those who havebeen suffering from dia-betes for more than 10years must check theireyes atleast three timesin a year. It is a simpletest and will help them

restore their vision. Theproblem is that peoplecome so late that apartfrom surgical and laserinterventions there areno other options. If theywant their sight must beretained annual check-up’s will help as the prob-lem can be taken care ofquickly.”

Diabetic retinopathy issilent blindness and thevision deteriorates slow-ly. The vision reducesfrom the sides first anddue to that reason theperson cannot under-stand. A recent study byAll India Institute ofMedical Sciences in 2017has shown that one inevery 46 diabetic is blindand one in seven hassome form of visionimpairment due to highblood sugar levels.

Diabetic patients mustgo for eye check-ups

People in30s at risk WHO ANNOUNCES PILOT

PROGRAMME TO PREQUALIFY HUMAN INSULIN

● Diabetic retinopa-thy is silent blind-ness and the visiondeteriorates slowly.● Opthalmologistsstate that peoplewho are sufferingfrom diabetes for10 years come only after theyhave developedsight issues forcheck-ups

A screengrab from a viral video that shows garabage is being burnt and not properdisposal methods are being followed.

GHMC is burning the garbage, allege SCB residents GHMC SI allegedly asked complainant to take a picture or record video of offenders

Cement prices in city risedue to doldrums in APT.S.S. SSIDDHARTH || DCHYDERABAD, NOV 13

In what can be called acascading effect, the lackof sand in the neighbour-ing state of AndhraPradesh has jacked up theprices of cement inTelangana, a 50 kg bag ofcement costing anywherebetween `350 to `400, asagainst the usual price of`250.

According to those inthe know of things, the‘cartelisation’ of cementtraders in both states isdue to the lack of con-struction activity in AP.“The recent torrentialrainfall in AndhraPradesh has resulted in alack of river sand avail-able for construction.

In a bid to make up fortheir losses, cementtraders are hiking the

prices in Telangana,” saida member of TelanganaDevelopers’ Association,requesting anonymity.These cartels, he said, aremaking hay while the sunshines.

The cartels usually hikethe prices wherever thereis a lot of constructionactivity. “There is no let-up in construction activi-ty in the city or the wholeof Telangana for that mat-ter. Taking advantage ofthese circumstances, theprice of cement has beenincreased,” he adds.

To meet the city’s sandneeds, he said that thereal-estate in the city hasdeveloped, hence they areusing robo-sand to take uptiling and other menialwork.

“These sands cannot beused for slab-work but canbe used for laying tiles. So

that is keeping the real-estate booming inHyderabad,” he said.

River sand which is aptfor construction is usuallyprocured from the river-sides in Andhra Pradesh.However, in a bid to tacklethe ongoing crisis, theAndhra Pradesh govern-ment has announced thata ‘Sand Week’ would beconducted fromNovember 14 to 21 to solvethe sand crisis in thestate.

The average sanddemand in AndhraPradesh is 80,000 tons.Due to floods and sinkingof the reaches, thisdemand could not be met.Over the past week, thesituation has improvedconsiderably and the min-ing has increased to 1.20lakh tonnes on a dailybasis.

BURNING | LUNGS

■ ■ Refutes allegations,SCB said that the issueof garbage disposal istaken quite seriously.

Winged wanderers

Migratory birds arrive at the Gandipet Lake wait for their catch. The lake is a popular tourist destination. Its parks,resorts, and amusement park are a major attraction. — DEEPAK DESHPANDE


S.V. Krishnadvaita,of the ZillaParishad HighSchool in RangaReddy district, hasbeen named as oneof the recipients ofthe NationalCultural TalentScholarship 2019-20.

She won the schol-arship due to hercreative writing.Krishnadvaita isthe only Telugu girlto have received thescholarship tilldate.

Krishnadvaita isthe daughter of S.V.Krishna andKrishnajayanthi.

PAGE

3CityTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Charity, not justiceThe prerequisite for peace or love between any twogroups is justice an equality. What we’ve been givenis charity, says Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi

24-hour sanitationwill be implemented

in 27 tourist places tokeep the premises

neat and clean.— Lokesh Kumar

GHMC municipal commissioner

IN BRIEFLOCOMOTIVE

PILOT REMAINSCRITICAL


The medical condition of loco-motive pilot, Mr L. ChandraShekar, who survived an eight-hour ordeal after the MMTS-Intercity train crash onMonday, remains critical.

He was rescued from thecrushed coach of Multi-ModalTransport System (MMTS)train, which rammed theIntercity Express nearKacheguda Railway Station.

Doctors at Care HospitalNampally said on Wednesdaythat his condition is improv-ing gradually, but he is still ina critical condition.

On Wednesday, vascular sur-geons attended on him andtried to improve blood circula-tion in the lower part of thebody. He is on ventilator sup-port with Continuous RenalReplacement Therapy (CRRT).Depending on how heresponds, doctors will decidethe next course of treatmenton Thursday.

ADITYA CCHUNDURU || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

For many children, beingable to spend some timewith their parents can bethe best gift. A day aheadof Children’s Day, onWednesday, many parentsreceived text messagesfrom their children’sschools, asking them toswitch off all their gadg-ets between 5:30 pm and7:30 pm on Thursday, andspend quality time withtheir children.

Several schools are par-ticipating in the exercise.Vidya Rao, vice principal

of Pallavi School in Alwal,said, “It is important thatchildren spend qualitytime with their parents.We have been sending outmessages to parents ask-ing them to take sometime out and learn what isgoing on intheir chil-dren’s lives.”

Psychologists believethis is a step in the rightdirection.

Dr Harini Atturu, a psy-chiatrist who works withmajor hospitals in the city,said, “This is a great idea.In fact, I would suggestfamilies go gadget-freeevery day, not just once on

Children’s Day.” Dr Atturusaid the idea stems from adesire to address internetand gadget addiction.

“It is a legitimate behav-ioural addiction, notunlike smoking or gam-bling. Parents might be

using gadg-ets for workpurposes but

they do not realise howmuch time they end upspending on them,” shesaid.

If a family gets togetherand watches TV, it doesn'tcount as family time, shesaid. “A parent mightcome home early and be inthe same room as his or

her children. But if theyare spending time on theirown gadgets, it does notcount as time spenttogether. Also, if parentsdon't make an effort tospend time with their chil-dren, the children willeventually forget what itfeels like to be together,”she said.

Reducing time on gadg-ets would also be helpfulin regulating sleep cycles, the psychiatristsaid.

“Overall, this is a greatstep. Addictions are hardto break, but attemptsneed to be made,” DrAtturu said.

Awareness drive

City police commissioner Anjani Kumar (left) and additional commissioner of police (traffic) felicitate motorists forabiding traffic rules as part of the road safety awareness programme, at the traffic police control room onWednesday. — S. SURENDER REDDY

■ ■ L. CCHANDRA SSHEKAR,was rescued from thecrushed coach of Multi-Modal Transport System(MMTS) train, whichrammed the IntercityExpress near KachegudaRailway Station.

Depressed anaesthetistinjects himself to death

TTD tenderto shift coins

TALENTSCHOLARSHIPFOR CITY GIRL

DCCORRESPONDENT TIRUPATI, NOV. 13

The TTD has invit-ed sealed tendersfrom qualifiedbanks and recog-nised foreignexchange dealersfor lifting andtransportation ofthe foreign coinscollected in TTDhundis, which werenow kept in thetreasury at TTDa d m i n i s t r a t i o nbuilding inTirupati.

The coins belong-ing to Malaysia,USA, Europe,S i n g a p o r e ,Australia, Canada,

Lanka, Kuwait,Bahrain, Thailand,Nepal, NewZealand, Qatar andOman and othernations. Foreigncoins can be foundin the SrivariHundi at Tirumalaand at the Hundisin other TTD tem-ples too.

The TTD said thatsealed tenderswould be opened atthe office of the DyEO of Treasury andInventories at theTTD admin build-ing in Tirupati onNovember 28.

Interested personscould log onwww.tirumala.orgfor more details.

JAYENDRA CCHAITHANYAT. || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

A 36-year-old anaesthesi-ologist is said to have com-mitted suicide by inject-ing himself with anunidentified poison at hishome in Hayathnagar.

M. Ramesh, 36, a nativeof Ongole district inAndhra Pradesh, workedas an anaesthesiologist ata private hospital Ongole.He left the job about twomonths ago and came toHyderabad to stay withhis parents at LecturersColony in Hayathnagar.

He was married in 2013and had a son aged fivewho lived with his wife, adoctor herself, who lived

separately. Ramesh wassaid to be depressed afterthe separation.

Two days ago, Rameshtold his parents that he

was going upstairs to rest.When he did not reappear,they thought he had goneout. Only on Tuesday didthey find his body on therooftop.

Inspector K. Satish ofthe Hayathnagar policesaid that Ramesh’s fatherM. Muralidhar Raonoticed his son’s body onthe rooftop on Tuesday ataround 7.30 am. An injec-tion was lying beside thebody. An autopsy was con-ducted and the body hand-ed over to the family after-wards.

A case has been regis-tered on the complaint ofthe father and the investi-gation is on. Police saidthey are investigating thecase from all angles.

Three tourist spots soon to bedeveloped at Ananthagiri Hills

MADDY DDEEKSHITH || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

After successfully con-ducting a 10-day specialdrive to collect scrap,Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) is to embark ona drive to collect debrisfrom every household.That apart, the civicbody has decided to layspecial focus on touristspots and implementa-tion of 24-hour sanita-tion facilities.

Corporation Commi-ssioner Mr DS LokeshKumar said that in orderkeep tourist spots clean,they would engage a pri-vate agency for upkeepof sanitation. He said afew spots will be handedover on a pilot basis andbased on the perform-ance, their services willbe utilised in the remain-ing places.

The civic bodyCommissioner said thatnearly 235 metric tonnesof waste material wascollected during therecent special drive. Hesaid bolstered thus, theyare planning to take up aspecial circle-wise driveon debris, which couldlater be made ward-wise.

Mr Kumar also briefedabout various other sub-jects.

Development of sliproads: Followinginstructions from theM u n i c i p a lAdministration andUrban DevelopmentMinistry, and as a moveaimed at easing trafficflow, GHMC has identi-fied parallelroutes/stretches of up to100kms in the city, whichwill be made availablefor commuters byFebruary.

As a first step towardsachieving a better trafficflow, they will removesmall bottlenecks alongthe route.

DPR has been preparedwith an outlay of `200crore, which has beenearmarked for develop-ing these internal andparallel roads like layingroads, providing ameni-ties and signage, amongother things.

Maintenance of mainroads of up to 709 kms byprivate agencies and fora five-year period withan outlay of `1,800 croreis in an advanced stage,which is the tenderprocess. It will be fundedby the government. As ofnow, the GHMC’s annualexpenditure on mainte-nance of roads is around`900 crore.

Double Bed Rooms:Out of the proposed con-struction of one lakhhouses in GHMC, tillnow 49,000 2BHK housesare nearing completionand the remaining targetwill be completed in thestipulated period.JNNURM houses thathave left over will beallotted to the beneficiar-ies, shortly.

Rupee term loans:GHMC has received per-mission to raise up to`2,500 crore. As the rateof interest for bonds ismore, GHMC is opting togo in for term loan asthey could save on inter-est and there is a two-year moratorium.Although, as of nowaround `9,000 croreworth works have beensanctioned, only worksto the tune of `300 crorewill be on because oflimited machinery at thedisposal of GHMC con-tractors.

Transfer stations: Inthe recent festivals, a lotof garbage has been gen-erated. A day after thefestival around 8,200metric tonnes ofgarbage was lifted by theGHMC.

The garbage in 14 of 18transfer stations wasshifted immediately toJawahar Dumping Yardwhile dryness is main-tained in transfer stations.


Tourism minister V. SrinivasGoud and education ministerMs. Sabitha Indra Reddy onWednesday said that threetourism centres will be devel-oped at Ananthagiri Hills inVikarabad district.

Both the ministers held areview in Vikarabad with theofficials concerned after visit-ing the tourist spots locatedon the Ananthagiri Hills andhaving the Darshan at LordPadmanabha Swamy Temple.

They said that the state gov-

ernment has planning toreform the Ananthagiri Hillsas Ooty of Telangana and pro-posed to Temple Tourism,Wellness Tourism andAdventure Tourism Centre onthe Hills.

In view of scenic beauty ofthe Hills and the nature andthe air at hills which is notedto cure various prolonged ill-nesses including theTuberculosis, the chief minis-ter mooted several proposalsto develop turn theAnanthagiri as most attrac-tive tourism destination in thestate, the ministers added.

The ministers also remindedthat the Vikarabad DistrictAdministration has intro-duced Aero and Water sportsand bird watching at touristspots of Ananthagiri Hills,Kotpally and SarpanpallyLakes of the Vi districts.

They said that “Ananthagirihills, one of the most attrac-tive tourist spots in Telanganais the pride of Vikarabad dis-trict and Ananthagiri hills,the birthplace of river Musiattract many nature loverswho are enthralled by themesmerizing beauty of thehills.

■ ■ RAMESH WWAS marriedin 2013 and had a sonaged five. His wife, a doc-tor herself, lived sepa-rately with the son.Ramesh was said to bedepressed after the sepa-ration.

■ ■ POLICE SSAID thatRamesh’s father M.Muralidhar Rao noticedhis son’s body on therooftop of the houseTuesday. An injection waslying beside the body.

■ ■ The civic bodyCommissioner said thatnearly 235 metric tonnesof wastes was collectedduring the recent specialdrive. He said bolsteredthus, they are planningto take up a special cir-cle-wise drive on debris,which could later bemade ward-wise.

Now, drive tocollect debris

CHILDREN’S DAY

Turn off phones, spendtime with kids todaySchools send message to parents to switch off gadgets

CityTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Elusive KCRChief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is not meetinganyone. Why is he not meeting the very people thatelected him, asks CPI leader Chada Venkat Reddy

Traffic Police hasbeen successful in

reducing roadaccidents by 10%.

—Anil Kumar, Addl.commissioner of police, traffic

IN BRIEF

LOCALS DOUSEBLAZE, FIREMEN

RETURNDC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

In what can be called a weirdincident, and one that is seenin films where police person-nel arrive at the crime spot atad too late, a fire tender,which was rushing to quash ablaze in Gandhi Nagar nearKavadiguda, was asked toreturn to the station. The rea-son was that the locals haddoused the fire!

A fire broke out in a residen-tial apartment in the weehours of Wednesday, and afrantic emergency call wasmade to the fire department.

But, according to senior offi-cials, the fire-tender that head-ing to the accident spot wasasked to turn around as resi-dents had put-out the fire.

“We are unsure of the causeof the fire because we did notreach or investigate at thespot. Because of this, we can-not estimate the quantum ofdamage,” said a senior officialof the fire department.

Calling for trouble

A school bus driver talks over phone while driving on a busy Begumpet road on Wednesday. — S. SURENDER REDDY

Sale of pepper sprayup after police order T.S.S. SSIDHARTH || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

The sale of pepperspray in Hyderabad hasseen a rise after districtheads and sometimesthe police have askedwomen to carry pepperspray along with them.

In light of recentevents where aTahsildar Vijaya Reddywas burnt alive, theTahsildars' Associationhas asked officials totake precautions toensure the 400 womentahsildars in the statedo not suffer any moresuch attacks.

Speaking to DeccanChronicle, V. Lachi

Reddy, president of theassociation, said thatthere have beeninstances where thewomen staffers of the

district offices havebeen threatened.

“Carrying a pepperspray would act as adeterrent in such situa-tions,” he said.

Not just the associa-tion, even police chiefs,suggest that womenshould carry suchdefensive articles withthem. "A woman on thestreet is entitled to safe-ty. We strongly supportwomen who carry a pep-per spray. There arevideos of how to makepepper spray on theinternet. Women mustwatch and learn thetechniques," saidRachakonda police com-missioner, Mahesh M

Bhagwat. Further, theassociation is nowmulling plans to havevisitors to the districtoffices screened beforemeeting officers.

These measures ofstringent security arespecifically to keep thetahsildar officials sepa-rated and safe from thepublic as much as possi-ble. Visitors on Tuesdayunderwent strict securi-ty scans and metaldetectors at the districtcollectorates beforemeeting tahsildars.

Also, all departmentswould now have properCCTV surveillance toprevent such untowardincidents, he added.

Jewellery store staffattacked, `30L stolen

OBITUARY

GANJI SHASHI RAJDOD: 12.11.2019

Anthima Yatra today at 11:00a.m. from Vittalwadi to GolnakaSmashan Vaatika.

Inserted by: Family & FriendsPh: 6304146893, 9246330641

(S/1920/D01232)

OBITUARY

GANJI SHASHI RAJDOD: 12th Nov. 2019

Anthima Yatra today at 11:00a.m. from Vittalwadi to GolnakaSmashan Vaatika.

Inserted by:Oorjita Builders & Developers Pvt. Ltd.

Ph: 9246847281, 7416091883(S/1920/D01233)

40th DAY REMEMBRANCE“I have fought the good fight.I have finished the race. I havekept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

KOKILA MARIA TURNERDOB: 04.02.1956 DOD: 06.10.2019

Inserted by:NORMAN TURNER and

Family Members(S/1920/D01212)

BHOG AND ANTIM ARDAS

S. SATINDER KAUR BHATIA(Aurangabad)

D.O.B: 14.03.1939 D.O.D: 10.11.2019Bhog and Antim Ardas will take placeon Thursday - 14th Nov. 2019. Time -12:00 Noon to 1:00 p.m. Followed byGuru Ka Langar at Gurudwara GuruSingh Sabha (Ashok Nagar, Afzal Gunj)

In profound griefEntire Family Members

Bhatia Wheels (9246348100)

(B/1920/D00133)

OBITUARY

Dr. V. CHANDRAMOWLII.A.S. (Retd.)

(1937 -- 2019)Reached Mahaperiva

on 13-11-2019Cremation on 15.11.2019.

Ph.No. 9704144452/53(S/1920/D01235)

Women can carry it for their defence

MAN RAPES THREE-YEAR-OLD GRANDCHILDDC CCORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA NOV. 13

In a shocking incident, a 59-year-old man raped 3-year-oldgranddaughter atBhairavapatnam of Ma-ndavalli mandal in Krishnadistrict on Tuesday night.

The incident came to light onWednesday.

According to police, thefather of the girl returnedhome at about 9 pm to find hisdaughter lying unconscious.He took the girl to the Kaika-luru government hospitaland the doctors found signs of

the girl being raped. The father lodged a com-

plaint with the police that hisfather-in-law had raped thegirl.

Gudivada DSP N. Saty-anandam reached the hospi-tal and conducted prelimi-nary inquiry.


Two bike-borne sus-pects pepper-sprayed ajewellery store workerat General Bazar inSecunderabad areaand fled with a bagcontaining `30 lakhcash on a stolen bikeon Tuesday night. Itwas found that the bikewas stolen from thePeddamberpet area ofHayathnagar.

The incident thattook place at a stone’sthrow distance fromMahankali police sta-tion, threw a challengeto the city police.

Suspecting that therobbers would haveabandoned the bike ata busy public area, theteams from Mahankalipolice station and TaskForce are on the job ofsearching for the bikeat the bus station, rail-way stations and ateam went to the air-port to see if the bagwas abandoned there.

On Tuesday evening,Ruparam, an employee

of Rohit Jewellers, runby Srinivas Varma,went to NavkarJewellers owned byAnil Jain at a lane inGeneral Bazar close tothe Mahankali policestation. RohitJewellers manufactureornaments on demand,and Navkar Jewellerspurchase the orna-ments and sell them.

Ruparam was giventhe task to get `30 lakhcash from Anil’s shoplocated on the firstfloor of a commercialcomplex. After collect-ing the cash, whenRuparam was gettingdown the stairs, anunidentified personpepper-sprayed on hisface. The suspectsnatched the bag con-taining the cash andfled away along withhis associate on a bike.

After coming to hissenses, Ruparaminformed his employerwho in turn alerted theMahankali police andlodged a complaint.The police registered acase and, subsequently,special teams were putin action, along withTask Force personnel.

According to sources,CCTV camerasinstalled in the vicini-ty had footage throughwhich the bike used bythe suspects was iden-tified. On verification,the bike was found tohave been stolen on theroad in front of a wineshop located atPeddamberpet inHayathnagar onOctober 21.

Further, the policefound that the suspectshave been using thebike carefully, ensur-ing that they do notincur any traffic viola-tion so that the vehicleowner would notreceive the messagefrom the Hyderabadtraffic police, sourcessaid.


Hyderabad trafficpolice has succeeded inreducing road accidentsby 10 per cent. Police ismaking efforts to makeevery journey safer anddelightful.

These came up at a‘traffic and road safetyawareness’ camp con-

ducted by theHyderabad trafficpolice after it was inau-gurated by City PoliceCommissioner MrAnjani Kumar. Thefunction was presidedover by AddlCommissioner ofHyderabad TrafficPolice, Mr Anil Kumar.

The departmentjoined hands with a

Multinational food out-let group, which distrib-uted 300 coupons. Policeofficials said that theywill be given as rewardsto those riding bikes bymaintaining safetynorms. They haveundertaken severalsuch initiatives in thepast 18 months. Safeand responsible ridingfor six months will be

duly applauded.Anjani Kumar said

“there are approximate-ly 10 million road usersin the city.”

These types of pro-grams will spreadawareness. We hopemore companies comeon board and help thepolice to reach out tomore people, who swearby safe driving.”

Road mishaps down 10%: Cops

TS GETS FIRSTCHILD-FRIENDLYPOLICE STATION


For the first time inTelangana, a child-friendlycourt is being started by theRachakonda police in coordi-nation with the BachpanBachav organisation atMedipally on Thursday.

The first of its kind policestation which would have aplay area, books and otheramenities like a cot. The child-friendly police station willhave staff in civil costumes toattend the children whoaccompany their parents tothe police station.

The child-friendly stationwill also help in questioningthe juveniles arrested in vari-ous cases, and ensure thatthey do not get exposed to theuniformed officials.

The staff will also be giventraining on the laws related tothe children and to addressthe issues relegated to thechildren. Since formation ofRachakonda commissioner-ate, the police have rescued900 of the 954 missing chil-dren, and also had unitedthree children with their fam-ilies after identifying themwith the facial recognitionsoftware.

■ ■ The incident tookplace at a stone’sthrow distance fromMahankali policestation.

■ ■ IN LLIGHT of recentevents where aTahsildhar, VijayaReddy, was burntalive, the Tahsildars’Association hasasked the officials totake up precautionsto ensure that 400women tahsildars inthe state are bereftof any more suchattacks.

AVINASH PP.SUBRAMANYAM || DDC TIRUPATI, NOV. 13

The Nellore district policeresolved to set up eight inter-state/inter-district check postsand nine check posts at thestock yards across the district,in coordination with the rev-enue and mines departmentpersonnel, to prevent illegalexcavation and transportationof sand.

Superintendent of PoliceAishwarya Rastogi recentlytook a decision to set up checkposts on inter-state, inter-dis-trict borders and also at sandstock yards.

Check posts would be set upat the following places-- inte-grated check post at Tada,Jonnawada – Badvel, Sangam –Somasila, Nelaballi onNaidupeta–Srikalahasthi,Venkatagiri–Yerpedu, Sri City- SEZ Point, Thatiparthi-Varadai-palem andAthmakuru–Marripadu.

Also, nine check posts at sandstock points will come up atPottepalem of Nellore Ruralmandal, Mudivarthi ofVidavalur, Jonnawada ofBuchireddy Palem,Swarnamukhi barrage ofVakadu, Pala-churu Anicut of

Naidupeta, Kota Anicut ofKota, Chillakur ofChinthavaram, Viruvuru ofPodalakur and Pada-matiKambampadu ofAnanthasagaram mandals.

Explaining about the stepstaken by the police departmentin order to control illegal sandmining, the SP said, "All thecheck posts have been func-tioning round the clock inthree shifts with personnelfrom the police, revenue andmines departments sinceOctober 29, 2019. They willcheck all vehicles shifting sandand verify the authenticity,quantum of sand and otherlegal aspects before releasingthe vehicle from the sandreaches. Logistic support hasalready been provided at allcheck posts.”

Special squads have also beenformed and these will be mov-ing in the district in vehicles tocheck illegal transportation ofsand. In addition, SHOs andlocal police will also conductsurprise checking on roads,”he added.

According to the officialreports, the police booked 117cases in the district since May30, 2019 on illegal excavationand transportation of sandand also seized 258 vehicles,

Check posts to curtailillegal sand shifting

S.A. IISHAQUI || DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

With record productionof paddy and cotton inthe current Kharif sea-son, the state govern-ment is makingarrangements toimprove the procuringof the crop.

Agriculture ministerS. Niranjan Reddy toldthis newspaper that inthe current Kharif sea-son, paddy was sowedin 41. 35 lakh acres andthey are expectingaround 65 lakh metrictonnes of produce com-pared to 41 lakh metrictonnes in the Kharifseason of 2018.

“In view of the recordproduction, we are set-ting up 3,500 procure-ment centres across thestate and so far, 1,100centres have alreadybeen established andaround 1.1 metrictonnes of crop havebeen procured,” theminister added.

He said that `1,815 hasbeen fixed MSP forcommon variety ofpaddy per bag and`1,835 per bag forGrade-A paddy. Therecent market rate is`1,581 to `1,608 per bagof common paddy and

`1,436 to `1,661 per bagof Grade–A paddy.

Mr Reddy said that on22.11 lakh hectares, cot-ton was sawn and it isexpected to produce54.63 lakh MTs morethan the last year and itwill be the highest pro-duction so far in thehistory of the State.

He said that theCentre has increasedMSP for Cotton from`5,450 to `5,550. He saidthat the move couldbring down the marketprices globally.

The minister said thatthe director of agricul-ture marketing in

September submittedproposals to the CMD ofCCI, Mumbai for open-ing of 340 centers in thestate in the interest ofthe farming communi-ty. The CMD hasfinalised 96 AMC cen-ters in the state underwhich 252 ginning millswould be developed asCCI procurement cen-ters to help the cottonfarmers, he added.

He said heavy collec-tion of cotton willbegin from November15 and collection ofpaddy is also set beginin many of the districtsof the state.

PAGE

5PoliticsTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Privilege noticeCongress MLA D. Sridhar Babu to will send a privilege notice against Singareni Collieries fornot inviting him to the MLAs and MPs’ meet

TRS govt is illegal.HC should register asuo-motu case and

start hearing it— Mallu Ravi

TPCC Vice-President

IN BRIEF

Career Chronicle

Netas escape inillegal cash casesCases booked against only drivers, couriersSANJAY SSAMUEL PPAUL | DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

The Forum for GoodGovernance, a city-basedNGO, has found thatpoliticians fromTelangana state andAndhra Pradesh havespent more money ontheir election campaignsthan those from any otherstate.

The office-bearers of theNGO, Justice ReddappaReddy, retired judge of theTelangana High Court, M.Padmanabha Reddy andformer IFS officer andCaptain Dr. V.B. Rao VBChelikani on Wednesdayheld a press meet and dis-closed data of differentsurveys and statisticsrelated to the campaignexpenditure of differentpolitical parties.

The surveys have shownthat 90 per cent of thoseelected either to theParliament or to variousstate Assemblies are fromvery rich families. Thesepeople spent hugeamounts of money tobribe voters. They alsofound that politicians ofSouthern states spentmore money on cam-paigns than those fromother states.

Mr Padmanabha Reddysaid that there had beenaround 640 cases where ina total of `84.36 crorewere reportedly seized,but FIRs were filed only in159 cases (`28.27 crore).

Mr Reddy said that therewere instructions not toask for the source ofmoney when the cash seized is less than`50,000.

Mr Padmanabha Reddysaid that in cases whereinevidences of illegal trans-actions have been estab-lished had to be handedover to the ED, but it wasnot done.

“When these amountswere seized, the personstransporting them gave

statements that they hadbeen given to them bypolitical candidates to dis-tribute among voters. Butthe FIRs were filedagainst the persons carry-ing the cash, ignoring thepoliticians allegedlyresponsible for it,” MrPadmanabha Reddy said.

“The Bonakal police ofKhammam district seized`49 lakh while it wasbeing transported to theTelugu Desam office inKhammam. Money seizedwhen the Model Code ofConduct is in operation,implies that it wasbrought for the specificpurpose of bribing thevoters. Sec 171 IPC clearlydefines the offences relat-ing to bribery, undueinfluence etc,” Mr Reddysaid.

Retired JusticeReddappa Reddy said,“There should be a specialcourt to expedite punish-ment. There are 3 crorecases pending othercourts.” He said theForum for GoodGovernance appeals to theElection Commission tofollow up with police offi-cers about the proceed-ings in the cases so thatthey could be brought to alogical conclusion beforethe next election.

Students wait at a bus stop in Begumpet for buses to reach their educational institutions as the TSRTC employees’agitation continues on Wednesday. — S.SURENDER REDDY.

IREDDY SSRINIVAS RREDDY| DDCHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

President of the BJP'sstate unit Dr K. Laxmanon Wednesday said thatChief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao'spolitical “graph” has fall-en after he came to powerfor the second time, butPrime Minister NarendraModi's "graph" has goneup.

Addressing the media atthe party office onWednesday, he said thatseveral TRS MLAs were intouch with him. He saidthey would like to join theBJP, so that they couldwork in accordance withthe provisions of theConstitution.

Dr Lxman said thatmany MLAs of the rulingparty were waiting for thepeople to rebel against thestate government. He alsosaid that once the peopleraised their voices againstthe current government,many MLAs would leavethe TRS.

Dr Lakshman said thatthe implementation ofseveral welfare schemes,including the RythuBandhu, KalyanaLakshmi and Asara pen-sions, have been halteddue to lack of funds, butthe TRS government wasmisleading the people byprojecting false figures.

The BJP leader said thatthere was no debate onHyderabad being made"the second capital" of thecountry.

The BJP leader also saidthat former MaharashtraGovernor Vidyasagar Rao

has also become silentabout the "second capital"issue.

He said his party waswell prepared for theupcoming municipal pollsand would contest in allUrban Local Bodies.

He said that like atNandyal in AndhraPradesh, where the thenruling Telugu Desam had

won but lost in 2019, inHuzurnagar, though theruling TRS has won now,it will lose in the 2023 elec-tions. Dr Laxman saidthat the Telangana StateRoad TransportCorporation (TSRTC) wasnot under the UnionGovernment and theCentre was not interven-ing in the strike issue.

MUSLIM LEADERSGAVE UP, SAYSMAJEEDULLAH

From Page 1

“Though I respect theCourt, I respect a judge-ment which upholds thelaw. We should not see ajudgement from aMuslim or Hindu view-point, but we feel thatthis judgement was notdelivered consideringthe tenets of the law,”Majlis Bachao Tehreekpresident MajeedullahKhan Farhat.

Muslim organisationsand leaders surrenderedbefore the judgement,Mr Khan said, sayingthey would accept what-ever judgement mightcome.

“No one dared to saythat we would accept thejudgement which upheldthe rule of law,” he said.

Mr Majeedullah Khanappealed that mosques’sermonizers shouldhighlight this injusticeduring the Jumma ser-mon. He also asked advo-cates to questionwhether Article 14 and15 was abolished. “Wefailed to inform our newgeneration about theBabri Masjid matter,” hesaid.

Mr Khan pointed outthat Muslims ruled thiscountry for more than700 years and had con-tributed to its develop-ment. They had strug-gled to liberate Indiafrom the British and sac-rificed lives for India’sfreedom, but faced injus-tice after liberation.

“I can migrate to anycountry, but I will stayhere and fight for ourrights,” Mr MajeedullahKhan said.

Caught in the crossfire

Modi’s political ‘graph’ up,KCR’s fell, says Laxman

FIVE LEADERS IN RACE FORPOST OF STATE BJP CHIEFDC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

The race has begun forthe BJP state president'spost as the term of Dr K.Lakshman will be overby the end of December.

Several senior andyoung leaders, who aresaid to be in the race arelobbying in Delhi,emboldened by theparty improving itsposition in the state bywinning four seats inTelangana state.

After an improved per-formance in the LokSabha elections, the BJPhigh command is of theopinion that strengthen-ing the party in the stateby bringing in morenew faces and seniorpoliticians from otherparties would help itgrab the power in the2023 Assembly elec-tions.

According to sourcesin the BJP, KarimnagarMP B. Sanjay Kumarhas a fair chance as he

belongs to BackwardClasses and has defeat-ed TRS senior leader B.Vinod Kumar in the LokSabha polls.

Mr ArvindDharmapuri is also saidto be in the race. Hedefeated Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao'sdaughter K. Kavitha inthe LS polls. But sourcessaid he was trying for aplum post at the Centreand the party high com-mand has promised toconsider his request.

Former MahbubnagarMP A.P. Jitender Reddy,former minister D.K.Aruna and MLCRamachandra Rao arealso contenders for thepost of the state partychief.

Dr Lakshman is alsotrying for a second termas the party did well inthe state under his lead-ership, but partysources said the highcommand was planningto use his services at thenational level.

RTC unions defend HC’spower to appoint panel

From Page 1

Additional AG J.Ramachandra Rao repre-senting the RTC submit-ted that the strike was ille-gal and the High Courthad powers to declare itso. The AAG said thestrike violated Sections 22and 24 of the IndustrialDispute Act, which saysno employee shall go onstrike within six weeks ofnotice period, and afterthe conclusion of the con-ciliation process, employ-ees must wait seven daysto go on strike.

Differing with the gov-ernment’s affidavit andthe AG’s arguments,Rapolu Bhasker, arguingfor one of the petitioners,quoted Supreme Courtjudgments in support ofthe High Court’s right toconstitute such a commit-tee.

He said 27 workers havecommitted suicide duringthe strike and urged thecourt to instruct the gov-ernment to take necessarysteps so that the agitationis called off.

Reacting to the AG’s con-tention that the state has

power to invoke the ESMAAct against the strikingemployees, as it was estab-lished under section 3 ofthe RTC Act and nothingbut bifurcated from theAPSRTC, the Benchrecalled the Central gov-ernment’s submissionthat TSRTC has no legalsanctity as it was notapproved by it under sec-tion 47(a) of the RTC Act.

However, the AG differedwith the Union govern-ment and said that section47(a) had nothing to dowith TSRTC. Telanganastate was formed underthe AP Re-organisationAct by Parliament’sapproval under Article 3.Further, the Acts madeunder Article 3 cannot bequestioned.

The PILs wereadjourned to Monday asD. Prakash Reddy, seniorcounsel representing thetrade unions sought timefor his arguments. TheBench agreed with AG’srequest to hear the PILchallenging the Cabinetdecision for the privatisa-tion of 5,100 bus routes.That case will be heard onThursday.

State to boost paddy,cotton procurement

■ ■ Agriculture ministerS. Niranjan Reddy saidthat this Kharif season,paddy was sowed in 41.35 lakh acres and theyare expecting around65 lakh metric tonnesof produce.

■ ■ He said that `1,815 has been fixed MSPfor common variety of paddy per bag and`1,835 per bag for Grade-A paddy. Therecent market rate is `1,581 to `1,608 perbag of common paddy and `1,436 to`1,661 per bag of Grade–A paddy.

■ ■ SURVEYS HHAVEshown that 90 per centof those elected eitherto the Parliament or tovarious stateAssemblies are fromvery rich families.

■ ■ THE SSTUDIES alsofound that politiciansof Southern statesspent more money oncampaigns than thosefrom other states.

TS IS NEW SUICIDECAPITAL, SAYS

CONGRESS MLADC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Congress MLA T. Jaya PrakashReddy (Jagga Reddy) onWednesday said that the statehas become a suicide capital.

Mr Reddy said that during theTelangana movement, TRSchief K. Chandrasekhar Raohad said that if a separate statewas be formed there would beno suicides. He said that in thepresent Telangana state, therewas no value for the past strug-gle.

Mr Reddy also described theRTC strike as a fight between aweak person and a strong per-son. He said the farmers andRTC workers were committingsuicide and it was unfortunatethat the RTC strike hasstretched for 40 days.

The leader also said that evenafter the High Court expressedits anger on the government,the government was not will-ing to resolve the issue. Healleged that the employeesunion leaders are not speakinghave become puppets of thestate government.

ACCESS TO GOV ISEASIER THAN TO CM,

SAYS VENKATADC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

CPI State Secretary ChadaVenkata Reddy on Wednesdaywondered why Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao was notmeeting Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan, when she wasgiving audience to everyone inRaj Bhavan. He said Mr Raowas destroying democracy inthe State with his attitude andadministration style.

Speaking to media atSangareddy, he charged that itwas this very behaviour thathad forced the disgruntledTSRTC employees to go onstrike, which is continuingdespite his deadlines andwarnings. He said the ChiefMinister was responsible forthe death of around 27 RTCworkers.

He asked the StateGovernment to come clear onland records cleaning pro-gramme, because most of therecords were false and fabricat-ed. He said irrigation projectshad come to a grinding haltwhile the TSRTC was heavilyin debts.

Mr Venkata Reddy said it wasunbecoming of Mr Rao toblame revenue department offi-cials, whom he had praisedrecently for doing their jobswell. He alleged that the ChiefMinister was taking the Stateto the brink of bankruptcy.

CONGRESS CALLSMEGA MEET ON

SATURDAYDC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Saturday will be a decisive dayfor the Congress as the highcommand has called for a full-fledged meeting in New Delhion that day.

All AICC general secretaries,secretaries, Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) presidentsand Congress LegislatureParty (CLP) leaders have beendirected to attend the meeting.

Apart from finalising the pro-posed agitation in all statesagainst the Centre’s policies,the meeting will take stock ofthe present political scenario,particularly with regard toMaharashtra, Jharkhand andKarnataka. Jharkhand, inci-dentally, goes to polls onNovember 30 while the situa-tion in the other two states isfluid.

According to an AICCGeneral Secretary, the party islikely up the ante and go to thepeople on a more aggressivenote while exposing the acts ofomissions and commissionscommitted by the Union gov-ernment.

ANOTHER TSTRCDRIVER COMMITSSUICIDEDC CCORRESPONDENTWARANGAL, NOV. 13

A TSRTC driver attachedto Mahbubabad depot, A.Naresh, committed sui-cide on Wednesday byconsuming pesticide.

In a suicide note alleged-ly written by him, he heldChief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Raoresponsible for his death.He pleaded to the ChiefMinister to understandthe condition of the work-ers and their familiesbefore making any deci-sion. He said the state-ment of Mr Rao that allemployees have been dis-missed deeply hurt him.

After he consumed pes-ticide, his family mem-bers shifted him to a near-by hospital where he diedunder treatment. RTCemployees took out aprotest march to theMahbubabad bus depot.

NationTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Health mattersSP founder Mulayam Singh Yadavwas hospitalised on Wednesdaydue to some health issues

Blaming, cursing oneanother will not help

curb pollution— Prakash Javadekar

Union environment minister

IN BRIEF

SUPRIYOFACES

PROTESTNamkhana/Fr aserg anj(WB), Nov. 13: Union minis-ter Babul Supriyo onWednesday faced massiveprotests and was asked to goback by a group of peoplewhen he arrived in South 24Parganas district to take stockof the situation in cyclone‘Bulbul’-hit areas.

Supriyo, who said onTuesday that he had beenasked by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to visit thestorm-ravaged areas inBengal, claimed that the agita-tors were activists of the rul-ing Trinamul.

Supriyo was shown blackflags and was asked to stopplaying politics over a naturalcalamity.

Criticising the MamataBanerjee-led party for engag-ing in “dirty politics” over hisvisit, the Union minister saidhe would submit a report on the ground situation toModi.

VISVA-BHARATIGETS CISFSECURITY

New Delhi, Nov. 13: TheUnion home ministry hasaccorded its approval fordeployment of the CISF at theVisva-Bharati University inWest Bengal. They said thecentral paramilitary force willsoon constitute a ‘board ofofficers’ who will conduct asecurity audit of the facility atSantiniketan.

An in-principle approval hasbeen given by the ministry ofhome affairs for deploymentof the Central IndustrialSecurity Force personnel atthe Visva-Bharati University,they said. Once formalised, itwill be the first case of an edu-cational institution or centraluniversity to have armedparamilitary personnel sta-tioned permanently on cam-pus. The audit team of theforce will assess placement ofcheck points, towers and entryand exit points in the universi-ty campus before they projectthe exact number of troopsrequired to render the task ofguarding the facility, theysaid.

PAK ARMYDENIES ANY

AMENDMENTFrom Page 1

However, it will only be appli-cable to the ICJ’s judgments.The amendment is apparentlyto help determine the legalprocedure of filing an appealagainst military court deci-sions.

But on Wednesday evening,Pakistan Armed Forcesspokesperson and directorgeneral of Inter ServicesPublic Relations (ISPR) Maj.Gen. Asif Ghafoor claimedthat while “various legaloptions for review and recon-sideration of the case arebeing considered”, the “specu-lation for amendment in thePakistan Army Act to imple-ment the ICJ verdict regard-ing ... Kulbhushan Jadhav areincorrect”.

He added, “The final statusshall be shared in due courseof time.”

Islamabad claims thatJadhav was apprehended byPakistan law enforcementagencies on March 3, 2016after he illegally crossed overinto Pakistan and that heengaged in espionage, terror-ist and sabotage activitiesaimed at destabilising andwaging war against Pakistan.New Delhi has consistentlyrubbished these claims asfalse and baseless. India saysthat Jadhav was kidnappedfrom Iran, where he was car-rying on business after retir-ing from the Indian Navy, andwas then shown to have beenarrested in Balochistan” on 3March 2016.”

Smog shrouds Delhi again; schools shut till tomorrow■ Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says odd-even scheme can be extended if needed PRECAUTIONARY | STEP

New Delhi, Nov. 13: Thenoxious smog resultingfrom raging farm fires andunfavourable weatherpushed pollution in Delhi-NCR towards the “emer-gency” zone onWednesday, promptingauthorities to order clo-sure of schools tillNovember 15 — a secondtime in two weeks.

With the CentralPollution Control Boardfearing a similar situationwill prevail over the nexttwo days, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said theodd-even road rationingscheme can be extended ifneeded. The EnvironmentPollution (Prevention andControl) Authority(EPCA) also extended the

restrictions on dirty-fuelbased industries in Delhi-NCR, hot mix plants andstone crushers till themorning of November 15,as the MeT departmentsaid strong winds areexpected from Friday,which will bring down theair pollution levels to thevery poor category.

The schools in thenational capital will beclosed on Thursday andFriday, the Delhi govern-ment said.

On November 1, theSupreme Court-mandatedpanel EPCA declared apublic health emergencyas air pollution neared theemergency levels and theadministration orderedclosure of schools till

November 5. The city’s overall air

quality index read 456 at 4pm, up from 425 at 4 pm onTuesday.

Rohini and DwarkaSector-8 were the most-pol-luted areas with an AQI of494, followed by NehruNagar (491) and Jahang-irpuri (488). Faridabad(448), Ghaziabad (481),Greater Noida (472),Gurgaon (445) and Noida(479) also choked onextremely polluted air.

In neighbouringHaryana, Hisar andBhiwani (470) districtsreported the worst airquality, followed by Jind(445), Fatehabad (430),Sirsa (415), Rohtak (412)and Panipat (408). In

Punjab, Amritsar's AQIwas 362, followed byBathinda (333), Patiala(285) and Jalandhar (276).

An AQI between 201 and300 is considered ‘poor’,301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401-500 ‘severe’. An AQI above500 falls in the ‘severe plus’category. The levels of PM2.5 - tiny particulate mat-ter less than 2.5 microns indiameter that can enterdeep into the lungs andeven the bloodstream -breached the emergencythreshold of 300 micro-grams per cubic metre inDelhi-NCR on Tuesdaynight and shot up to 354micrograms per cubicmetre, around six timesthe safe limit of 0-60, in themorning. — PTI

JNU partially rolls back fee hike

NAYEAR AAZAD || DDC PATNA, NOV. 13

Nitish Kumar-led govern-ment facing attack overrising crime graph was infor another setback after acattle trader was killed bya group of men for refus-ing to pay extortionmoney.

The incident occurredon Monday when a cattletrader identified asMohammad Jamal wasgoing to neighbouringWest Bengal to sell hiscows. The police investi-gating the case feel thatthe real cause of the inci-dent could be personalenmity between the vic-tim and the accused whois also involved in the cat-tle trading business.

The incident took placein the presence of Jamal’syounger brother who wasescorting him to a weekly

market in West Bengal tosell the cattle. Policeinvestigating the case saidthat FIR against oneSagar Yadav and threeothers was registered onthe basis of complaintfiled by the victim’s broth-er.

“We have registered anFIR against those who areinvolved in the case.Manhunt has beenlaunched and raids arebeing conducted in thearea to nab the accused,”the police said.

Sources from Katiharsaid that Jamal wasstopped by motorcycle-borne men who asked himfor money. “They attackedhim after he refused topay them. He was rushedto the hospital where hewas declared dead”.

Meanwhile, local peopleblamed the district admin-istration for rising crime

graph in the area anddemanded immediatearrest of all the accusedwho has been abscondingafter the incident.Protesters also demandeda compensation of `25lakh for the family mem-bers of the victim.

As per an assessmentover two dozen cases oflynching and mob attackhave rocked the state inthe last couple of months.In view of some of therecent incidents, districtadministration has beenasked to launch a cam-paign and create aware-ness to counter rumoursleading to violence.

Social activists, however,feel that rivalry betweentwo cattle traders led tothe killing of MohammadJamal in Katihar andurged the police to arrestall the accused involved inthe case.

JNU students celebrate after partial roll-back in the fee hike by the University administration at the UGC office inNew Delhi on Wednesday. Facing intense agitation for over two weeks, JNU on Wednesday rolled back the hostelfee hike partially for the BPL students not availing any scholarship, a move which failed to satisfy agitating stu-dents who dubbed it as an “eyewash”, and decided to continue with the strike. — PTI

AKSHAYA KKUMARSAHOO || DDC BHUBANESWAR, NOV. 13

The Odisha governmenton Wednesday said that`2,552.64 crore was dis-bursed to 51,05, 290 farm-ers under Kalia(Krushak Assistance forLivelihood and IncomeAugmentation) schemeout of which the ineligi-ble beneficiaries countstood at 45,965.

In September, the gov-ernment had said thatonly 32,000 of the total51.05 lakh Kalia benefici-aries were ineligiblebeneficiaries.

In his written reply toa question by CongressMLA Tara PrasadBahinipati in theAssembly, agricultureminister Arun KumarSahoo said that in thefirst installment,51,05,290 beneficiaries(36,34,710 small and mar-ginal farmers and14,70,580 landless) wereenrolled in the Kaliascheme. The block-wiseand district-wise list isavailable on kalia.co.in.The `5,000 cash assis-tance was deposited intheir accounts betweenJanuary 2019 and May2019.

As per governmentreports, 45,965 personshave been identified sofar as ineligible and thecash benefits extendedby government from thestate exchequer to thesebogus beneficiaries,amounts to `22,98,25,000(`22.98cr). Steps arebeing taken to recoverthe money from them,said Sahoo.

The Odisha govern-ment has in the firstphase provided `5,000 toKalia beneficiaries.Thus, ineligible havepocketed `22.98 cr.

INELIGIBLE KALIABENEFICIARIESPOCKET `22CR

MP WOMANOFFICER TOUCHESMANTRI’S FEET RABINDRA NNATHCHOUDHURY || DDC BHOPAL, NOV. 13

A video in which awoman officer was seentouching feet of statepublic works ministerSajjan Singh Verma inpublic has gone viral.

The video clip showedcommissioner of DewasMunicipal Corporationin Madhya Pradesh,Sanjana Jain, touchingVerma’s feet in the dis-trict headquarters ofDewas. The ministerwas visiting the gurud-war on the occasion ofcommemoration of550th birth anniversaryof Sikhism’s founder,Guru Nanak Dev.

State BJP vice-presi-dent Brajesh Lunawatsaid, “This is newMadhya Pradesh.Bureaucracy is underminister’s feet.

Cattle trader beaten todeath in Bihar, probe on

‘Sena demandsunacceptable’Shah says Fadnavis-as-CM was made clear

Brasilia, Nov. 13:Russian PresidentVladimir Putin onWednesday invited PrimeMinister Narendra Modifor the Victory Day cele-brations in May next yearas the two leaders methere and discussed waysto further cement theirspecial strategic partner-ship.

Modi, who is in Brazilfor the 11th Brics Summitwhich will focus on build-ing mechanisms for count-er-terrorism cooperationand strengthen India’s tieswith the world’s five majoreconomies, met Putin onthe sidelines of the meet-ing.

During the bilateralmeeting, Modi said that“frequent meetings havestrengthened our rela-tions. Our bilateral rela-tions are growing. Youhave invited me to visitRussia in May for the

Victory Day celebrations. Iam happily waiting that Iwill get an opportunity tomeet you once again,” thePrime Minister said.

Putin said that bilateraltrade has registered agrowth of 17 per cent.

“We have been imple-menting major bilateralprojects and strengthen-ing technical cooperation

and our culturalexchanges are expand-ing,” the RussianPresident said.

The annual May 9Victory Day parade inMoscow, where Russiashows off its militarymight, commemorates theMay 1945 allied victoryover Nazi Germany.

The two leaders are

meeting over two monthsafter holding extensivetalks in Russia’s far eastVladivostok city on thesidelines of the EasternEconomic Forum (EEF)during which they dis-cussed ways to furthercement the Special andPrivileged StrategicPartnership between thetwo countries.

On September 5, Modisaid the friendshipbetween India and Russiawas not restricted to gov-ernmental interactions incapital cities, but wasabout people and closebusiness relations. Indiahad announced an“unprecedented” US$1 bil-lion line of credit forRussia’s resource-rich FarEast with Prime MinisterModi vowing to supportPresident Putin’s “stupen-dous efforts” to developthe extremely harshregion. — PTI

Putin invites Modi for Victory Day

New Delhi, Nov. 13:Pneumonia killed morethan 14 children underthe age of five years everyhour in 2018 in India,which was among the topfive countries responsiblefor over half of the childdeaths due to the diseaseglobally that year, a studyhas said.

The study — Fightingfor Breath in India — bySave the Children, Unicefand Every Breath Counts,said pneumonia killedmore than 1,27,000 under-five children in 2018.

In India, one childunder the age of fiveyears dies every 4 min-utes due to pneumonia,with malnutrition andpollution as the twomajor contributors, DrRajesh Khanna, deputydirector of Health andNutrition, Save theChildren said.

Just five countries wereresponsible for more thanhalf of child pneumoniadeaths — Nigeria(1,62,000), India (1,27,000),Pakistan (58,000), theDemocratic Republic ofCongo (40,000) andEthiopia (32,000), it said.

“Acute malnutrition isassociated with morethan half of childhoodpneumonia deaths.Indoor air pollution con-tributes to 22 per cent andoutdoor air pollution con-tributes to 27 per cent ofthese deaths,” he said.

Pneumonia alsoemerged as the world’sleading infectious killerof children, claiming thelives of more than 8,00,000children under the age offive every year, more than2,000 every day.

In India, 5 per 1,000 livebirths under five mortali-ty rate due to pneumoniain 2018, the study said.

“In India, 14 per cent of

child deaths were due topneumonia in 2017, and itwas the second biggestkiller of children under-five in 2017 (after wast-ing). Pneumonia killedmore than 1,27,000 chil-dren under-five in 2018more than 14 childrenevery hour,” the studysaid.

The study further saidUS$16 was spent by thegovernment on health perperson in 2016 in India.

“Every day, nearly 2,200children under the age offive die from pneumonia,a curable and mostly pre-ventable disease. Strongglobal commitment andincreased investmentsare critical to the fightagainst this disease,”Henrietta Fore, executivedirector of Unicef said.

Pneumonia is caused bybacteria, viruses or fungi,and leaves children fight-ing for breath as theirlungs fill with pus andfluid.

Globally, more childrenunder the age of five diedfrom pneumonia in 2018than from any other dis-ease.

— PTI

Pneumonia kills1,27,000 kids

■ ■ IN IINDIA, OONE childunder the age of fiveyears dies every 4 min-utes due to pneumonia,with malnutrition andpollution as the twomajor contributors

■ ■ JUST FFIVE countrieswere responsible formore than half of childpneumonia deaths —Nigeria (1,62,000), India(1,27,000), Pakistan(58,000), the DemocraticRepublic of Congo(40,000) and Ethiopia(32,000)

Tourists wear anti-pollution masks amid heavy smog as the air quality further dips tosevere category in New Delhi on Wednesday. — PTI

New Delhi, Nov. 13: BJPpresident Amit Shah onWednesday rejected theOpposition’s criticism ofPresident’s rule inMaharashtra as “outrightpolitics” to gain publicsympathy, and said ShivSena’s demands, includ-ing sharing the ChiefMinister’s post, were“unacceptable” to hisparty.

In his statement andtweets, Shah, also theUnion home minister, saidhe was not in favour ofmid-term elections in thestate and noted that allparties have six months tostake claim to form gov-ernment if they manage amajority.

In his first comments onthe political crisis in thestate, he rejected Senachief Uddhav Thackeray’sclaim that the BJP hadagreed to share the CM’spost with the ally, sayingPrime Minister NarendraModi many times and he“at least 100 times” hadsaid in public during theAssembly elections cam-paign that DevendraFadnavis will again headthe government if the saf-fron alliance gets a major-ity. The Sena never ques-tioned their assertionsthen but has now put forth

demands which wereunacceptable to the BJP,Shah said.

“We got people’s man-date but now our ally hasmade demands which areunacceptable to us.”

He, however, in the state-ment did not touch on thedetails of the agreementbetween the two allies of30 years, saying it is not

the values of the BJP tobring to public what hasbeen discussed in private.

Shah accused theOpposition of doing “out-right politics” over theCentre’s decision toimpose President's rule inMaharashtra, and assert-ed that if there was anyparty which has “suf-fered” it is the BJP as ithas lost its caretaker gov-ernment.

Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari gave the parties18 days to stake claim forforming government andthen invited them as wellbut, Shah said in a seriesof tweets, none of themcould prove a majority.

“Even today if any partyhas a majority, then it maymeet the governor to stakeclaim,” Shah said.

“The opposition’s reac-tion to President’s rule inMaharashtra is outrightpolitics. The honourablegovernor has never com-promised with constitu-tional norms,” he said.

Shah said he is not infavour of mid-term pollsin the state. He saidPresident’s rule wasnecessitated so thatOpposition could notaccuse the governor ofrunning an "indirect BJPrule" in the state.

TheOpposition’s

reaction toPresident’s rule inMaharashtra isoutright politics.The honourablegovernor has nevercompromised withconstitutionalnorms

AMIT SHAH

PM Narendra Modi with Russian President VladimirPutin on the sidelines of Brics summit in Brazil.

OpedTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

GIRAFFITI FEARDOMWord SPY

Graffiti painted in a very high spot

The state of living in fear or being subject to laws and policies based on fear

There should nothave been anyhiccups in theformation of aB h a r a t i y aJanata Party( B J P ) - S h i vSena Maha

Yuti coalition governmentafter the MaharashtraAssembly election results. Thepre-poll alliance of the BJP-Shiv Sena with its strength of161 in the 288-memberAssembly should have formedits third, and second succes-sive, government withoutmuch ado. The demand of theShiv Sena that the chief minis-ter’s post should be rotated hascome as a rude reminder thatpolitical games are quiteunpredictable. The moot pointin the unexpected crisis inpost-poll Maharashtra is notthe imposition of President’s

Rule, apparently on the recom-mendation of governor BhagatSingh Koshiyari, but the breakbetween the two right-wingparties.

Shiv Sena chief UddhavThackeray’s demand for ashare in the chief ministerialterm is, on the face of it, unrea-sonable. The Sena does nothave the numbers to back thedemand. Mr Thackeray saysthat there was a pre-poll agree-ment on the issue, and theBJP’s weak denial makes itcuriouser. It can only be specu-lated that the BJP might havenodded in passing about thearrangement because theparty, despite the hyperbolicswagger of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and home min-ister-cum-party presidentAmit Shah and their relianceon the abrogation of Article 370in Jammu and Kashmir as the

poll talisman, there must havebeen apprehensions that theparty may not cross the win-ning line on its own. Of course,these closed-door parleys andarrangements can’t be verifiedbecause they are not backed bya written agreement. They can-not be. Neither side can pro-duce documentary evidence toprove that the other side islying.

There is also a clear indica-tion that the BJP was gradual-ly marginalising the Shiv Senain state politics. The strike rateof the victories of the BJPunder the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duumvirate has ledthe party to treat its allies fromthe perspective of a patronrather than that of a partner.The BJP has very nearlyemerged as the single domi-nant party of Indian politics inthe past five-and-a-half years,and the space of the allies hasbeen shrinking, whether it beof the Shiromani Akali Dal inPunjab, the Janata Dal(United) under Nitish Kumarin Bihar, and the Shiv Sena inMaharashtra. The irrationaldemand of Mr Thackeray forthe Shiv Sena’s turn in thechief minister’s post arisesfrom this anxiety to retain its

position in the political space.Somewhere and somehow theBJP under Mr Modi and MrShah have failed to honourwhat has come to be known as“coalition dharma”.

The Sena and the BJP mayget back together sometime orthe other because the two havemuch in common in terms ofthe majoritarian politics ofHindutva, though the frictionbetween the Maratha-led Senaand the Brahmin-led BJP inMaharashtra needs to besmoothened. The BJP has forsome years been deftly manag-ing caste equations by fallingback on the numerically small-er caste groups in order to fightdominant castes in politics.The question is whether the

BJP can outflank the domi-nance of Jats in Haryana andRajasthan, the Yadavs in UttarPradesh and Bihar, and theMarathas in Maharashtra.

Despite Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s desperateattempts to appropriate Dr B.R.Ambedkar, dalits have not beencompletely incorporated in thewider Hindutva core con-stituency. The party wants toinclude Muslims too, but itknows that in doing so it willalienate its Hindutva base. TheBJP is then faced with the vexa-tious task of balancing the casteequations. BJP veteran LalKrishna Advani’s ambition tounite Hindu society under theHindutva banner to counterMandal politics remains a dis-tant dream. The Hindu majori-ty in the country is not a mono-lithic block, and the BJP cannothope to ride on the Hindutvaplank for too long.

The political turbulence inMaharashtra reflects the nat-ural faultlines in the Indianpolity. The Shiv Sena will notever become a dominant playerin the state despite it champi-oning the interests of “Marathimanoos” because the partydoes not have a presence inmany other parts of the state,

and it is incapable of articulat-ing the aspirations of regionslike Vidarbha andMarathwada, though it hasgained a foothold of sorts inMarathwada. The Shiv Sena,like the BJP, is not geared toabsorb dalits and Muslims,who form a distinct element inthe state’s polity.

The two right-wing partiesthen must review their ideolog-ical and political positions ifthey want to become majorplayers. It is perhapsinevitable that the BJP andShiv Sena have to learn theCongress’ trick of playing thecard of “inclusive politics”, themuch-abused political cliché.In the next election, wheneverthat happens, the BJP and theShiv Sena must fight on theirown and test their respectivevoter bases.

In the shorter term, democra-tic norms would have requiredthat the BJP, which is the sin-gle largest party with 105 mem-bers in the Assembly, shouldhave formed the governmentand faced the pinpricks of anumerically larger Opposition,where it would have had toensure a consensus on admin-istrative and policy measures.That would require greater

political sophistication on thepart of all political parties,which they sadly lack. In theUnited States Congress (com-prising the House ofRepresentatives and theSenate), members from eachparty are found to vote acrossthe aisle whether any one ofthe two parties have a majorityor not.

Meanwhile, it should notcause much consternation thatthere is a delay in the forma-tion of government. All that theShiv Sena, the NationalistCongress Party (NCP) and theCongress have to ensure is thatthey do not fall apart soon afterthey come together. Somethingsimilar had happened inKarnataka in May 2018. TheBJP, the Congress and theJanata Dal (Secular) there havelanded themselves in a mess byfilching members from otherparties to muster the numbers,as can be seen from theSupreme Court upholding thedisqualification of the defec-tors on Wednesday. There ismuch that Maharashtra canlearn from Karnataka’s politi-cal shenanigans.

The writer is a Delhi-basedcommentator and analyst

The verdict in theAyodhya caseconsidered indetail three suitsfiled by the

Nirmohi Akhara (Suit 3),the Sunni Central WaqfBoard (Suit 4) and by RamLalla the deity (Suit 5). Thesuit by Nirmohi Akharawas dismissed for beingbarred by limitation. Thedeity’s suit was decreedwith conditions for fram-ing of a scheme and a trustfor the construction of thetemple at RamJanambhoomi, the thendisputed land, while theprayers in the suit was fora declaration of premisesthat it belonged to it and aninjunction prohibiting thedefendants from obstruct-ing construction of a tem-ple. The Waqf Board’s suitwas partly decreed, despitethe Supreme Court findingthat “the destruction of themosque and the oblitera-tion of the Islamic struc-ture was an egregious vio-lation of the rule of law”.The court went on to addthat “this court in the exer-cise of its powers underArticle 142 of theConstitution must ensurethat a wrong committedmust be remedied”. It fur-ther emphasises that “his-tory and its wrongs shallnot be used as instrumentsto oppress the present andthe future”.

In the wake of the courtfinding that the “destruc-tion of the mosque was aviolation of the rule oflaw” and holding that “theConstitution postulatesthe equality of all faiths;tolerance and mutual coex-istence nourish the secularcommitment of our nationand its people”, will theorder directing that that“land measuring five acresbe allotted to the SunniCentral Waqf Board” be ajustifying relief “neces-sary to provide restitution

to the Muslim communityfor the unlawful destruc-tion of their place of wor-ship for the Muslims”?

There are reasons for atleast the plaintiff, the WaqfBoard, to feel that justicewas not adequately extend-ed to it while invokingArticle 142. Further, theterms, used as “Hindus”and “Muslims”, do notappear blissful to be usedin all the occasions in thejudgment since the partiesin the suits may not betreated as the representa-tion of all Hindus or allMuslims in the country fordeciding a question of lawor a question of fact.Judicial decision-makingmay call for religious emo-tions, which the court hasadequately considered andperhaps which led to theconclusion of the opera-tional part of the judg-ment.

In this context, the posi-tive appreciation of theverdict still remains to beobserved in the days tocome.

The Supreme Court, inits verdict, discussed indetail the Places ofWorship (SpecialProvisions Act) Act 1991and asserted its signifi-cance in the constitutionalscheme of things and theresponsibility of all to hon-our it.

Section 2 of the Actdefines places of worshipand Section 3 enacts a baron the conversion of aplace of worship of anyreligious denomination ora section of it into a placeof worship of a differentreligious denomination orof a different segment ofthe same religiousdenomination. The courtendorses this Act bysaying that it was enactedto preserve secularism, abasic feature of theConstitution. “The statehas, by enacting the law,

enforced a constitutionalcommitment andoperationalised itsconstitutional obligationsto uphold the equality ofall religions andsecularism, which is a partof the basic features of theConstitution”. The courtsaid, “The Places ofWorship Act imposes anon-derogable obligationtowards enforcing ourcommitment to secularismunder the IndianConstitution. The law ishence a legislativeinstrument designed toprotect the secularfeatures of the Indianpolity, which is one of thebasic features of theConstitution”.

Further, it observed,“Non-retrogression is afoundational feature of thefundamental constitution-al principles of which secu-larism is a core compo-nent. The Places ofWorship Act is thus a leg-islative intervention,which preserves non-retro-gression as an essentialfeature of our secular val-ues”.

“In its purest form, thenon-retrogression princi-ple holds that governmentmay extend protectionbeyond what theConstitution requires, butit cannot retreat from thatextension once made”. TheSupreme Court introducedthis principle in the judg-ment of Navtej SinghJohar vs Union of India.

A strict implementationof the Act is demandedthus by the Supreme Courtin order to get liberatedfrom any movements thatmay lead to a threat to sec-ular values and generate

communal unrest by rais-ing entitlements of owner-ship/possession over exist-ing structures on the basisof alleged historic wrongs.

The Supreme Courtremarked that the law hasbeen enacted to fulfil twopurposes: “First, it pro-hibits the conversion ofany place of worship. Indoing so, it speaks to thefuture by mandating thatthe character of a place ofpublic worship shall not bealtered,” and thus bans theconversion of a place ofworship or even a sectionof it “into a place of wor-ship of a different religiousdenomination or of a dif-ferent segment of the samereligious denomination”.

The second purpose, thecourt observed, was thatthe law “seeks to impose apositive obligation tomaintain the religiouscharacter of every place ofworship as it existed onAugust 15, 1947 when Indiaachieved independencefrom colonial rule”.

Section 6 mandates athree-year “imprisonmentand a fine for contraveningthe provisions of Section3”.

While rejecting the rul-ing made by Justice D.V.Sharma of the Allahabadhigh court, who had heldthat the protection given tothe religious structuresexisting as on August 15,1947 could be challenged,the court has asserted theprotected freedom andrights over places of wor-ship, that historicalwrongs cannot be reme-died by people taking thelaw into their own hands.Further by upholding thatParliament has mandatedin no uncertain terms thathistory and its wrongsshall not be used as instru-ments to oppress the pre-sent and the future, thecourt was again calling forthe stoppage of any futureconflict regarding places ofworship and preserve thecharacter of places of pub-lic worship as it existed onAugust 15, 1947.

The writer is a former faculty member of the

National Judicial Academy, Bhopal

When asked about the age of hisgrandchildren, grandpa explained,“The doctor is five years old, andthe lawyer, four”. Today, on

“Children’s Day”, instead of moulding ourchildren and grandchildren into clones likeus, couldn’t we learn to be a little more likethem? Said Jesus to his disciples, “Unless youchange and become like children, you willnever enter heaven”. Then, pointing to achild, he added: “Whoever becomes humblelike this child is the greatest in the sight ofGod.” Humility is the hall-mark of children. Purged ofego, children think little ofthemselves; at most they’llbrag about daddy’s musclesor mommy’s cooking.

Children are avid learners.Psychologists tell us thatchildren learn more quickly in the first fouryears of their life than at any other giventime. The love and care received duringchildhood makes them develop a healthysense of self and security, reaping lifelongbenefits.

Children never bear grudges but forgiveand forget easily. Growing up in Mumbai, anunwritten rule among all our parents was:“Do not interfere in children’s fights, forthey’ll soon be friends!” Indeed, while manyboyhood games ended up as boxing bouts, thenext day the “fighters” would be the best offriends.

Unless scarred by violence or abuse, chil-dren are happy and hopeful — totally trust-ing in tomorrow while treasuring the here-and-now. Kids know how to celebrate life andlove others without prejudices of class, creedor caste. Differences don’t matter; everyoneis family and friend.

Nehru also said, “I may not have time foradults, but I have enough time for children”.

Francis Gonsalves is a professor of theology.He can be contacted at [email protected]

Children’s Day:Celebrate the child

within you

BJP-Shiv Sena cracks a sign of power imbalance

Lech Walesa is probablythe most famous of allthe thousands — actual-ly millions — who strug-

gled against the oppression ofCommunist rule in EasternEurope and the Soviet Union.The only person with a similarlevel of fame is Vaclav Havel inwhat was then Czechoslovakia.Walesa was the leader of theSolidarity trade union which,according to the legend, grewfrom ten members to ten mil-lion in a single year, fundamen-tally challenging the totalitari-an rule of the CommunistParty. He was awarded theNobel Peace Prize in 1983. Hewas imprisoned multiple times.But eventually, Solidarityforced the government to allowother parties to compete foroffice, and this led to the fall ofthe Communist regime inPoland and contributed to thecollapse of Communist rulethroughout Eastern Europe.People of my generationremember the TV pictures ofthe dynamic, good-looking manhe once was, addressing ship-yard workers. For us, LechWalesa is a hero.

Meeting him now, he hasbecome a more rotund figurewith a slightly puffy face.Apparently, he has not beenwell, and I was fortunate to getan interview. But it proved a lit-tle trickier than I had expected.I asked him about the first timehe was arrested. “I don’t wantto talk about the past,” hedeclared.

He said he couldn’t rememberthe past anyway, and it wasmore important to talk aboutthe future. My heart sank. I hadcome all the way to Gdansk onthe Baltic Sea. I tried reasoningwith him. I said young people inBritain know practically noth-ing about what happened underCommunism and if people donot know such things, they willrepeat the same mistakes. Heconceded the point but coun-tered that this could be left tohistorians.

He seemed to enjoy beinguncooperative and it got worse.Realising I am British, heannounced that Britain hadbetrayed Poland in 1939. We hadpromised to help Poland if itwas attacked by Germany butwe had not done so. Britain andAmerica had again betrayedPoland in 1944. We had let theRussians take over.

As a last resort, I argued thatBritain was in no position tofight in 1939. We had not got thearmaments or the trained men.We were barely in a position todefend ourselves, let alonePoland. As I got quite animatedabout it, Anastazja put her headin her hands but stoically con-tinued to translate my words. Itwas a high-risk approach butthank goodness, it worked.Suddenly everything becamecalm. Perhaps he’d had his fun.“Now,” he said. “I will answeryour question”.

I asked how he hadapproached the many interro-gations he had faced. He saidthat he would say to the inter-

rogator things like “You arereally gifted but this system iskeeping you down. You ought tojoin us!” and “In my Poland,your life would be much betterand you could make moremoney”. He told me how hiswife, Danuta, had torn a stripoff the secret police when, fromtime to time, they came toarrest him. She bashed andpulled at them furiously.

He said he was never tortured.By the 1980s, belief in theCommunist system was not asfierce and sincere as it had beenpreviously. Everybody knewperfectly well that Poland wasdoing badly compared to theWest. He said that by thenmany Poles were “radishes” —only red on the outside.

This is an important point. Inthe early days, the Soviet-domi-nated Communist regime wasbrutal. Witold Pilecki, for exam-ple, an astonishingly braveman, resisted both the Nazisand the Communists. TheCommunists tortured him hor-ribly over a long period beforeexecuting him in 1948. Later on,resistance was more likely tomean not getting a job andmaybe a spell in prison. It wasnasty and career-destroying butnot as horrible.

While Walesa is a hero to mostof my generation, his reputa-tion in Poland is under attack.Some opponents claim hesigned a document agreeing tobe an informer for the secretpolice. They say his codenamewas “Bolek”. My posting aboutthe interview soon attracted theresponse that he was actually“Agent Bolek”.

It is impossible for an outsiderlike me to know the wholetruth. But I was struck by acomment by Jacek Taylor, agenial former legal adviser toSolidarity in its glory days. Hesaid that during early strikes in1970, before Solidarity existed,when 30 strikers had been shotin the street, those who werearrested were often beaten, andsome were even beaten todeath. It was so terrifying thateverybody arrested signed aform agreeing to inform with asingle exception. But here is thekey point: a great differenceexists between signing a formand giving information thatdamages your comrades.

If Lech Walesa was aCommunist agent, he was sure-ly the most spectacularlyunsuccessful one of all time —what with leading a trade unionthat overturned a Communistregime. Taylor, who was thereat the time, certainly regardshim as having been a majorasset to the movement becauseof his oratory and leadership.

A common view, I suspect,was given to me by the daughterof a man who was shot by theSoviets in the Katyn massacreof 22,000 Polish officers andother members of the elite in1940. She said, “Walesa is a sim-ple man but a brave one. I thankGod for giving him to us”.

By arrangement with the Spectator

There is a clear indica-tion that the BJP wasgradually marginalisingthe Shiv Sena in statepolitics. The victoriesof the BJP under theNarendra Modi-AmitShah duumvirate hasled the party to treatits allies from the per-spective of a patron.

The terms, used as‘Hindus’ and‘Muslims’, do notappear blissful to beused in all occa-sions in the judg-ment since the par-ties in the suits maynot be treated asthe representationof all Hindus or allMuslims

James BartholomewFrancisGonsalves

Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr

Sheena Shukkur

SC places focus on ’91 law toprotect places of worship

Hero or double agent?Walesa now faces flak

NationTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Vital meetExternal affairs minister S. Jaishankarmeets French President Emmanuel Macronin Paris to discuss strategic issues

BSY can rungovernment safely forremainder of his term

— Deve GowdaJDS Supremo

IN BRIEF

CHAUTALAGIVEN 11

DEPARTMENTSChandigarh, Nov. 13:Haryana deputy chief minis-ter Dushyant Chautala wasallocated 11 departments onWednesday, a day before thefirst expansion of theManohar Lal Khattar-led cabi-net.

Khattar (65), who took oathas the Chief Minister for thesecond time on October 27,and Dushyant Chautala (31),who was sworn-in as hisdeputy, are the only two mem-bers of the present cabinet.

On the advice of the ChiefMinister, the governor allocat-ed the departments to theexisting council of ministers,according to an official order.

The BJP had formed govern-ment in the state with the helpof the Jannayak Janta Party(JJP) led by Chautala, thegreat grandson of formerdeputy prime minister lateDevi Lal.

The seven Independents arealso supporting the govern-ment.

GOVT GRILLEDON BHOPAL

GAS TRAGEDY RABINDRA NNATHCHOUDHURY || DDCBHOPAL, NOV. 13

A local court on Wednesdayasked the Centre to explain asto why summons issued by itwere not served to US-basedDow Chemical in a case relat-ed to the 1984 Bhopal gastragedy, which had left over15,000 people dead and aroundone lakh others maimed.

The court directed theundersecretary, internal secu-rity-II division, ministry ofhome affairs (MHA), to appearbefore it on January 20, 2020 toexplain why it has not beenable to serve the summons toDow Chemical in the case.

The court’s directive came inthe wake of the CBI present-ing its status report thatdespite reminders issued bythe MHA to the US depart-ment of justice, the summonshas not been served and aservice report is still awaited.The court had earlier issuedsummons to Dow Chemical toappear before it in connectionwith the case.

RAJNATH ONFIRST VISIT TO

ARUNACHAL PAWAN BBALI || DDCNEW DELHI, NOV. 13

Defence minister RajnathSingh will begin a two-dayvisit from Thursday to the sen-sitive border state in north-east, Arunachal Pradesh. Hewill review the preparednessof security along the borderwith China.

He will be in Tawang onThursday where he is expect-ed to visit the TawangMonastery. It is the largestmonastery in India and sec-ond-largest in the world afterthe Potala Palace in Lhasa,Tibet.

The defence minister will laya wreath on the Tawang WarMemorial which is dedicatedto the heroes of Sino-Indiawar that took place in 1962.

Singh will visit the IndianArmy post in Bum La area onFriday.

This is for the first time thatSingh will be visiting the lineof actual control (LAC) as adefence minister. Bum La isthe last Indian Army post atthe India-China border at analtitude of 15,700 feet abovesea level.

He will also inaugurate animportant river bridge in thearea. This is also Singh’smaiden visit to ArunachalPradesh as defence minister.The area has been in news dueto transgressions from theChinese army. China claimsArunachal Pradesh as part ofsouthern Tibet.

‘Miracle tree’ frenzy leaves 11 cops hurtRumours started after farmer claimed he was ‘cured’ by tree FAKE | CLAIM

RABINDRA NNATHCHOUDHURY || DDCBHOPAL, NOV. 13

A core area in SatpuraTiger Reserve (STR) inMadhya Pradesh’sHosangabad district onWednesday turned a bat-tlefield when a swellingcrowd grew restless totouch a ‘miracle tree,’ aMahua tree believed tocure sick people, andattacked the policedeployed in the area, inthe process, leaving 11cops injured.

Hundreds of people fromvarious parts of the statethronged the forested vil-lage of Nayagaon to wor-ship the ‘miracle’ tree,leading to a stampede-likesituation there.

They turned violent

when police tried to pushthem away to control thesituation. The irate mobthen pelted stones at thepolice, causing bleedinginjuries to 11 cops.

“As many as 11 police-men were injured in theincident,” Hosangabaddistrict additional super-intendent of policeGhanashyam Malavya toldthis newspaper.

He said that the tree hasbeen attracting peoplefrom the state and outsidefor the last three monthsafter rumours that it haspowers to heal even termi-nally ill people spread likewildfire in the region. No

less than 10 lakh peoplehave visited the village sofar to worship the tree,police said.

STR sub-divisional offi-

cer Lokesh Nirapure said people were seen car-rying infirm and oldpatients, administeredwith IV drips, to the tree

with the hope of finding acure.

“Even a woman who suf-fered brain haemorrhagewas discharged from ahospital in Bhopal andbrought to the village in astretcher by her relativesso that she could touch thetree and get completelycured,” he said.

A senior forest officerdeployed in the STR toldthis newspaper that a localfarmer, identified as RoopKumar Singh, was thebrain behind the miracletree. The farmer washeard saying in a videoshot by a guard of the STRthat he was drawn to thetree when he was passingby it three months ago andthen got his limping legcured when he came incontact with it.

Protesting dengue disaster

Police personnel baton charge a BJP activist during a protest against the spurt indengue cases, in Kolkata, on Wednesday. At least 35 BJP workers were either arrest-ed or detained and around 60 members were injured during a clash that brokebetween the two sides. As many as 44,852 dengue cases have been reported fromKolkata and its adjoining areas, while 25 people have reportedly died of dengue inWest Bengal since January. — PTI

DC CCORRESPONDENTTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,NOV. 13

With the Supreme Courtset to pronounce its judg-ment in the review peti-tion filed by the Tanthri(head priest) ofSabarimala and othersseeking a review of theSeptember 28, 2018 his-toric judgment allowingentry of women of men-struating age to the hilltemple on Thursday, thestate is awaiting the ver-dict with great anticipa-tion.

The government hasmade it clear that whatev-er may be the verdict of

the Supreme Court, it willabide by the judgment andimplement it.

Earlier this month,Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan reiterat-ed in the Assembly thatthe government was con-stitutionally bound toimplement the SupremeCourt verdict. He clarifiedthat since it was not possi-ble for the state govern-ment to bring any legisla-tion to circumvent theSupreme Court verdict, allsections should wait forthe outcome of reviewpetition.

With just three days leftfor Mandala Makara-vilakku pilgrim season,

the ruling and oppositionparties, socio, religiousorganisations and devo-tees at large are keepingtheir fingers crossed overthe SC verdict.

The apex court verdictallowing women of allages to the temple had trig-gered a major upheaval inthe state.

While the governmentwent ahead with the deci-sion to implement the ver-dict, the opposition par-ties, including UDF andBJP, came out on thestreets along with commu-nity organisations likeNSS to oppose the entry ofmenstruating women tothe temple.

Kerala braces for SC order on SabarimalaWith just 3 days left for pilgrim season to kick in, political parties, social groups await top court order

Verdict on Rafale pleas todayNew Delhi, Nov. 13: TheSupreme Court is sched-uled to pronounce onThursday its verdict onpetitions seeking a reviewof its judgment giving aclean chit to the Modi gov-ernment in the Rafalefighter jet deal withFrench firm DassaultAviation.

On May 10, the apexcourt had reserved thedecision on the pleas,including the one filed byformer Union ministersYashwant Sinha, ArunShourie and activist

lawyer Prashant Bhushan,seeking a re-examinationof its findings that therewas no occasion to doubtthe decision-makingprocess in the procure-ment of 36 Rafale fighterjets.

The top court is likely topronounce verdicts onthree review petitions

filed by the trio, lawyerVineet Dhandha and AamAadmi Party lawmakerSanjay Singh.

On December 14, 2018,dismissing the petitionsseeking a probe into the`58,000 crore deal, theapex court had posedsearching questions to theCentre on its deal withFrance to buy 36 Rafalefighter jets on issues like‘waiver of sovereign guar-antee’ and the absence oftechnology transfer clausein the pact.

— PTI

■ ■ A RREVIEW PPETITION onthe SC judgment was filedby Yashwant Sinha, ArunShourie and PrashantBhushan.

From Page 1

Upholding the disqualifi-cation orders passed bythen Speaker RameshKumar on July 25 and July28, 2019, a three-judgebench comprisingJustices N.V. Ramana,Sanjeev Khanna andKrishna Murari set asidethe part of the Speaker’sorder unseating the 17 forthe rest of the Assembly’sterm.

Calling for the strength-ening of the anti-defectionlaw to ensure that “unde-mocratic practices are dis-couraged and checked”,Justice Ramana said therewas a “growing trend” ofSpeakers “acting againstthe constitutional duty ofbeing neutral”.

The court also lamentedthat “horse-trading andcorrupt practices” associ-ated with defections andchange of loyalties for the“lure of office or wrongreasons have not abated”.

As a principle, the courtsaid it was the prerogativeof a member to resign andhe could not be compelledto continue in the legisla-ture.

“Once it is demonstrateda member is willing toresign out of his free will,the Speaker has no optionbut to accept the resigna-tion” — a point empha-sised by the 17 MLAs inthe course of the hearing.

Not accepting the dis-qualified MLAs’ argumentthat the disqualificationproceedings cannot becontinued if the resigna-tions are tendered, thecourt said: “Even if theresignation is tendered,the act resulting in dis-qualification arising prior

to the resignation does notcome to an end.”

However, the verdict saidthat “a member disquali-

fied under the TenthSchedule shall be subject-ed to sanctions providedunder Articles 75(1B),

164(1B) and 361B of theConstitution, which pro-vides for a bar from beingappointed as a minister orfrom holding any remu-nerative political postfrom the date of disquali-fication till the date onwhich the term of hisoffice would expire or ifhe is re-elected to the leg-islature, whichever is ear-lier”.

Rejecting the plea by theCongress and JD(S) thatthe entire issue be sent toa larger five-judgeConstitution Bench,Justice Ramana said:“The existence of a sub-stantial question of lawdoes not weigh on thestakes involved in thecase, rather it depends onthe impact the ‘question oflaw’ will have on the finaldetermination.”

Making it clear therewas no “substantial ques-tion of law” in this matterwhich needs reference to alarger bench as sought bythe Congress and JD(S),the court said: “If thequestions having a deter-mining effect on the finaloutcome have alreadybeen decided by a conclu-sive authority, then suchquestions cannot be calledas ‘substantial questions’of law.”

Meanwhile, R. RoshanBaig, one of the 17 dis-qualified MLAs, is notlikely to join the BJP onThursday along withother disqualified MLAs,with his name missingfrom the invitation sentout by the BJP which liststhe names of 16 disquali-fied MLAs but omits thename of Baig. This issuewas discussed in Delhi,sources said.

If an MLA quits out of free will,accept it, says Supreme Court

All 17 disqualifiedMLAs to join BJPDC CCORRESPONDENTBENGALURU, NOV. 13

Hours after the SupremeCourt gave its order allow-ing the disqualified MLAsto contest the December 5byelections, the state BJPswung into action toinduct all 17 into the partyand brainstormed onfielding them as its candi-dates for the seats thathave fallen vacant follow-ing their resignations inJuly.

The former legislatorsthemselves, headed byRamesh Jarkiholi rushedto the residence of BJPnational organising secre-tary, B.L. Santhosh inDelhi, and discussed withhim the formalities ofjoining the party and laterleft for Bengaluru wherethey will join the saffronparty on Thursday.

Soon after the verdict,the BJP core committeeheld a meeting inBengaluru on Wednesdayand decided to induct allthe disqualified MLAsinto the party.

Although after a lengthydiscussion, the meetingchaired by BJP state pres-ident, Nalin Kumar Kateelarrived at a consensus ongiving tickets to them,there was some indecision

on Athani, Ranebennur,and Shivajinagar con-stituencies. BJP seniorleader and party corecommittee member,Aravind Limbavali saidthe disqualified MLAswould join the BJPThursday morning andthe party would take adecision on fielding themfor the bypolls byThursday evening.

“The disqualified MLAsmet our national leadersin Delhi after theSupreme Court verdictand will join the BJP at itsstate office Thursdaymorning. The core com-mittee has decided toinduct all the MLAs intothe party. But it has notyet taken a decision ongiving tickets to all theMLAs for the bypolls. Theparty will announce itscandidates for all 15Assembly constituenciesby Thursday evening," headded.

WEIRDNEWS

From Page 1

“Judicial independenceand accountability gohand in hand,” said thejudges, and added, “Thus,when public interestdemands the disclosure ofinformation, judicialindependence has to bekept in mind while decid-ing the question of exer-cise of discretion.However, we should notbe understood to meanthat the independence ofthe judiciary can beachieved only by denial ofaccess to information.Independence in a givencase may well demandopenness by furnishingthe information.”

Further, while applyingthe proportionality test,the type and nature of theinformation sought is arelevant factor, the judgessaid.

Concurring with themain judgment but givingseparate reasoning,Justice Chandrachudsaid the judiciary cannotfunction in total insula-tion as judges enjoy a con-stitutional post and dis-charge a public duty.

Noting that there is avital element of publicinterest in knowing aboutthe norms which aretaken into considerationin selecting candidatesfor judicial appointments,Justice Chandrachud

said that if the content ofthe right to know and theenforcement of right toknow law are to possess a“meaningful dimension”,certain steps are neces-sary, and the foremostamong them is that the“basis for the selectionand appointment ofjudges to the higher judi-ciary must be defined andplaced in the publicrealm.”

Justice Ramana, in aconcurring judgmentwith separate reasoning,said there should be a bal-ancing formula for rightto privacy and the right totransparency, and theindependence of the judi-ciary should be protectedfrom any breach.

Stating that “trans-parency cannot beallowed to run to itsabsolute”, JusticeRamana added, “We maynote that right to infor-mation should not beallowed to be used as atool of surveillance toscuttle effective function-ing of judiciary. Whileapplying the second stepthe concerned authorityneeds to balance theseconsiderations as well.”

“The Right toInformation and Right toPrivacy are two sides ofthe same coin. None cantake precedence over theother,” the court said in amajority judgment.

Finance Act issue referred to larger bench

■ ■ THE FFORMER legisla-tors led by RameshJarkiholi rushed to theresidence of BJP nation-al organising secretaryin Delhi and discussedwith him the formalitiesof joining the party.

RTI, Privacy aretwo sides of thesame coin: SC

New Delhi, Nov. 13: In ablow to the government,the Supreme Court onWednesday struck downin entirety the rules for-mulated by the Centre onappointment and serviceconditions for members ofvarious tribunals, andreferred to a larger benchthe issue of examining thevalidity of the passage ofthe Finance Act 2017 asMoney Bill which was vig-orously opposed inParliament by Oppositionparties.

The questions the apexcourt framed for consider-

ation included whetherthe ‘Finance Act, 2017’,insofar as it amends cer-tain other enactments andalters conditions of serv-ice of persons manningdifferent Tribunals, can betermed as a ‘Money Bill’under Article 110 and con-sequently is validly enact-ed.

The top court held thatSection 184 of FinanceAct, 2017, which empowersthe Centre to frame rulesrelating to appointmentand service conditions ofmembers of various tri-bunals, does not suffer

from excessive delegationof legislative functions asthere are adequate princi-ples to guide its framing.

However, a 5-judgeConstitution bench, head-ed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi, said:“Tribunal, AppellateTribunal and otherAuthorities (Qualifi-cations, Exper-ience andother Conditions ofService of Members)Rules, 2017 suffer fromvarious infirmities asobserved earlier.

“These Rules formulatedby the Central Govern-

ment under Section 184 ofFinance Act, 2017 beingcontrary to the parentenactment and the princi-ples envisaged in theConstitution as interpret-ed by this Court, are here-by struck down in entire-ty.”

The apex court directedthe Centre to re-formulatethe rules strictly in con-formity and in accordancewith the principles delin-eated by it.

The bench, also compris-ing Justices N.V. Ramana,D.Y. Chandrachud, DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khanna,

said the new set of rules tobe formulated by the gov-ernment should ensure“non-discriminatory anduniform conditions ofservice, including assuredtenure, keeping in mindthe fact that theChairperson andMembers appointed afterretirement and those whoare appointed from theBar or from other spe-cialised professions/serv-ices, constitute two sepa-rate and distinct homoge-neous classes”.

— PTI

People throng the miracle tree in Satpura Tiger Reservein Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.

VERDICT ONRAHUL’S ‘CHOR’REMARK TODAYNew Delhi, Nov. 13: TheSupreme Court is sched-uled to pronounce onThursday its verdict onthe criminal contemptplea filed against Congressleader Rahul Gandhi byBJP MP Meenakshi Lekhifor wrongly attributing tothe apex court his ‘chowki-dar chor hai’ remark inRafale case against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

— PTI

WorldTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Critical meetTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and PresidentDonald Trump will meet as relations between the twoNato allies are at their lowest point in decades

We must do more toprotect immigrant

workers so they canboost economy

— Kamala HarrisIndian origin senator

IN BRIEF

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES

POUND GAZAGaza, Nov. 13: Israeli airstrikes pounded Islamic Jihadtargets in Gaza on Wednesdayand militants resumed rocketfire toward Israel after a briefovernight lull, as the death tollrose to 23 Palestinians, includ-ing a 7-year-old boy and twoother minors, in the heaviestround of fighting in months.

The military said, more than250 rockets were fired atIsraeli communities since theviolence erupted following anIsraeli airstrike that killed asenior Islamic Jihad com-mander. With the strike, Israelstepped up its battle againstIran and its proxies.

The latest fighting broughtlife in much of Israel to astandstill. Schools were closedin Israeli communities nearthe Gaza border and restric-tions on public gatherings con-tinued as rockets rained down.Air raid sirens continued towail throughout the day.

The fighting was triggeredby Israel’s targeted killing ofBahaa Abu el-Atta and hiswife as they were sleeping.Rocket fire from Gaza reachedas far north as Tel Aviv. PrimeMinister Benjamin Netan-yahu told a special Cabinetmeeting that Israel has nointerest in sparking a widerconfrontation.

No sign of newgovt in Lebanon

Car bomb blastkills 7 in Kabul

Kabul: At least seven peoplewere killed and 10 others,

including four foreignnationals, wounded in Kabul,

when a van packed withexplosive targeted a vehiclebelonging to a foreign secu-rity company, Afghan securi-

ty officials said. There wasno immediate claim of

responsibility in the rush-hour attack, that comes a

day after the Afghan govern-ment agreed on a prisonerexchange with the Talibaninsurgents in the hopes of

reviving peace talks. NasratRahimi, a spokesman for the

interior ministry, said a sui-cide bomber driving a van

targeted an armoured vehi-cle that belonged to

GardaWorld, a Canadiansecurity company that saw

four of its staff wounded.

Beirut: Main roads acrossLebanon were closed on

Wednesday in fresh protestsafter President Michel Aoun

angered demonstrators byurging them to end theirrevolt against corruption

among the country’s rulingelite. His remarks in a televi-

sion interview late onTuesday ignited demonstra-

tions overnight in which aprotester was shot and killed

after an altercation withLebanese soldiers at a road-

block south of Beirut.The killing marked a bloody

twist to the crisis that hasgripped Lebanon for nearly amonth, escalating tensions ina country ensnared in a deeppolitical and economic crisis.

Russell Crowe’shome destroyed

NSW: Bushfires ragingacross Australia’s east coast

destroyed two buildings on arural property owned by

Russell Crowe, the Oscar-winning actor said on Twitteron Wednesday. The 55-year-old posted a video and pic-

tures on his Twitter feed of ahelicopter water-bombing

smoke-filled trees near afence and driveway, com-

menting ‘Top shot son!’Meanwhile, Crowe’s neigh-

bours have claimed theirhouses were left to burn

while fire trucks passed byto save the Hollywood star’smansion. The Gladiator starlives with his family in Nana

Glen in New South Wales,Australia which is currentlybeing ravaged by bushfires.

People walk across the flooded St. Marks square, with St. Marks basilica and the Bell Tower in background, after an exceptional overnight ‘AltaAcqua’ high tide water level, on Wednesday in Venice. The region was hit by the highest tide in more than 50 years with tourists wading throughflooded streets to seek shelter as a fierce wind whipped up waves in St. Marks Square. — AFP

‘Garbage from India,China floats into LA’New York, Nov. 13: USPresident Donald Trumphas said countries likeChina, India and Russiaare doing ‘absolutelynothing’ to clean up theirsmokestacks and indus-trial plants and thegarbage that they drop insea floats into LosAngeles.

Terming climate changeas a ‘very complex issue’,Donald Trump said heconsiders himself to be,‘in many ways, an envi-ronmentalist, believe it ornot’. “So...I'm very muchinto climate. But I wantthe cleanest air on theplanet and I want to haveclean water,” he said.

He added that the USwithdrew from the ‘one-sided, horrible, horrible,economically unfair,Paris climate accord thatkilled American jobs andshielded foreign pol-luters.” He said the Paris

climate agreement was a‘disaster’ for the US,adding that the dealwould have resulted in‘trillions and trillions ofdollars’ of destruction toAmerica.

“And it is so unfair. Itdoesn’t kick in for Chinauntil 2030. Russia goesback into the 1990s, wherethe base year was the dirt-iest year ever in theworld. India, we are sup-posed to pay them moneybecause they are a devel-oping nation. I said,“We’re a developingnation, too’,” Trump saidevoking laughte from theaudience. — PTI

IMPEACHMENTHEARINGS GOPUBLIC IN U.S.Washington, Nov. 13:The US House of Rep-resentatives launchedmomentous televisedimpeachment hearingson Wednesday as Dem-ocrats seek to make thecase to the Americanpublic that PresidentDonald Trump abusedthe powers of his office.

“There are few actionsas consequential as theimpeachment of a presi-dent,” said House Inte-lligence Committee chai-rman Adam Schiff, theCalifornia congressmanoverseeing the historicinquiry in the Dem-ocratic-controlled Ho-use.

“The questions pre-sented by this impeach-ment inquiry arewhether President Tru-mp sought to exploit(Ukraine’s) vulnerabili-ty and invite Ukraine’sinterference in our elec-tions,” Schiff said. “Ifthis is not impeachableconduct, what is?”

Trump faces the mostperilous challenge of histumultuous three-yeartenure in the WhiteHouse as the publicimpeachment hearingsbegan under the glare oflive TV cameras. — AFP

■ ■ TRUMP SSAID UUS withdrew from the horrible, economicallyunfair Paris accord thatkilled American jobs andshielded foreign polluters

Venice floods highest in 50 years China weighingoptions in HKBeijing, Nov. 13: A sharpescalation of violence inHong Kong is once againraising the question ofhow China’s central gov-ernment will respond:Will it intervene, or allowthe chaos to persist?

The Liaison Office,which represents main-land authorities in HongKong, said on Wednesdaythat actions in the semi-autonomous territorywere ‘slipping into theabyss of terrorism’. Itpointed out that a manwas set on fire Mondayduring an argument withdemonstrators, leavinghim in critical condition.

On the same day, apolice officer shot a pro-tester who was then takento a hospital, also in criti-cal condition.

The unabating tumult,now in its sixth month,may give China’s rulingCommunist Party the jus-tification it needs to takemore direct action, ana-lysts said. The LiaisonOffice described the act ofsetting the man on fire as“flagrant terrorism,” andpledged support for HongKong authorities takingmeasures to curb ‘variousillegal acts of violenceand acts of terrorism’.Chinese authorities hadcalled the demonstrators‘rioters.’ — AP

CHINESE PUPILSFLEE HONG KONGAFTER VIOLENCEHong Kong, Nov. 13:University students frommainland China are flee-ing Hong Kong, and class-es in primary and second-ary schools have beensuspended as clashesturn increasingly violentin the city’s 5-month-longanti-government unrest.

Marine police used aboat on Wednesday tohelp a group of mainlandstudents leave theChinese University ofHong Kong, whichremained barricaded bydemonstrators after vio-lent clashes with policeon Tuesday.

The Technical Univ-ersity of Denmark urged36 students in Hong Kongto return home, saying‘some of our studentshave been forced to movefrom their dormitoriesbecause they were put onfire’.

The protests have takenon a strong anti-Chinabent, with radical demon-strators trashing branch-es of mainland banks,and pro-China restaurantchains. — AP

TRUMP WANTEDHILLARY INFOON WIKILEAKSWashington, Nov. 13:President Donald Tru-mp’s 2016 campaign waskeen to keep abreast ofthe release of emailspotentially damaging toDemocratic candidateHillary Clinton, reach-ing all the way toTrump, the Republican’sformer deputy campaignchairman testified incourt on Tuesday.

Rick Gates, testifyingin the criminal trial ofPresident Donald Tru-mp’s longtime politicaladviser Roger Stone,said he witnessed a callwith Trump and Stonerelated to WikiLeakswebsite in late July 2016.

WikiLeaks disclosedseveral batches of stolenemails in the monthsbefore the election thatdamaged Clinton.

Gates said that within30 seconds or so ofTrump hanging up withStone, Trump said that‘more information woul-d be coming,’ in anapparent reference toWikiLeaks. — AFP

Donald Trump

■Jews and Muslims top hate crime victimsHATE | CRIME

Sikhs 3rd most targeted in USWashington, Nov. 13:Around 60 incidents ofhate crimes against Sikhswere reported to the USFederal Bureau ofInvestigation in 2018, mak-ing the community thethird most commonly tar-geted religious group afterJews and Muslims in theUS, according to an annu-al report released by theFBI on Tuesday.

A total of 7,120 hatecrimes were reported tothe FBI by law enforce-ment agencies around thecountry last year, slightlydown from 7,175 in 2017,the FBI said, adding thatthis involved 8,496 offens-es.

The largest number ofhate crimes based on reli-gion were reportedagainst Jews (835), fol-lowed by Muslims (188)and Sikhs (60).

According to the FBI

report, 91 hate crimeswere reported againstother religions, including12 against Hindus and tenanti-Buddhist crimes.

Of the 4,047 hate crimesbased on ethnicity, the

maximum 1,943 hatecrime incidents wereagainst anti-Black orAfrican Americans, fol-lowed by anti-White (762)and anti-Hispanic orLatino (485).

The FBI reports as manyas 148 hate crimes againstAsians in 2018, while thoseagainst Arabs were 82,anti-American Indian orAlaska Native (194).

The Sikh coalition in astatement said it is ‘dis-heartening’ that hatecrimes remain systemati-cally ‘under-reported’across the United States.

According to the FederalBureau of Justice Stat-istics, Americans experi-ence an average of 2,50,000hate crimes per year; thislatest FBI data, by con-trast, only managed todocument 7,120 incidents,with less than 13 per centof law enforcement affir-

matively providing rep-orts of hate crimes, itsaid.

“While hate crimesremained relatively stea-dy nationally, reportedanti-Sikh hate crimes roseby 200 percent since 2017,making Sikhs the thirdmost commonly targetedreligious group in thedataset,” it said.

“At the end of the day,this data simply isn’t giv-ing us the accurate infor-mation we need to effec-tively counteract hateagainst targeted commu-nities,” said Sim J Singh,Sikh coalition senior man-ager of policy and advoca-cy. “It’s past time foraction. Congress mustpass the next generationof common-sense legisla-tion that equips lawenforcement to betteridentify and track hateincidents,” he said. — PTI

■ ■ ANTI-SSIKH hatecrimes rose by 200 percent since 2017, makingSikhs the third mostcommonly targeted reli-gious group

■ ■ THE SSIKH coalitionsaid it was ‘dishearten-ing’ that hate crimesremain systematically‘under-reported’ acrossthe US

■ ■ THE LLARGEST num-ber of hate crimesbased on religion werereported against Jewsfollowed by Muslims

La Paz, Nov. 13: Bolivianshave new uncertainty tograpple with now thatopposition Sen. JeanineAñez declared herselfinterim president of thecrisis-torn Andean coun-try just hours after EvoMorales flew off to self-exile in Mexico.

Questions remainedabout who might rallyaround Añez, whileMorales’ supporters angri-ly accused her of trying toseize power in her declara-tion on Tuesday, raisingthe prospect of more trou-bles following weeks ofclashes over the disputedOct. 20 presidential elec-tion.

Some people took to thestreets cheering and wav-ing national flags afterAñez claimed the post ofSenate leader, the positionnext in line for the presi-dency. Furious supportersof Morales responded bytrying to force their way tothe Congress building inLa Paz yelling, “She mustquit!”

Añez, a women’s rightsactivist and former TVpresenter, seemed in a ten-uous position. She decl-ared herself interim presi-dent even though shelacked a quorum in theSenate after Morales’party boycotted the ses-sion, and she wasn’t swornin by anyone beforeappearing on a balcony ofthe old presidential palacewearing the presidentialsash.

“My commitment is toreturn democracy andtranquility to the coun-try,” she said. “They cannever again steal ourvote.”

Morales resigned under

pressure from Bolivia’smilitary chief followingthe weeks of violentprotests fed by allegationsof electoral fraud in theOct. 20 election, which heclaimed to have won.

Although Añez met withGen. Williams Kaliman,the armed forces com-mander, it was uncertainhow much support shecould count on from other

power centers. Moralesresigned shortly after anOrganisation of AmericanStates audit reportedwidespread irregularitiesin the vote count. Bolivia’sfirst indigenous presidentarrived in Mexico onTuesday under a grant ofasylum. But his resigna-tion still needed to beapproved by both housesof Congress, and lawmak-

ers could not assemble thenumbers needed for for-mal sessions.

Añez forged ahead any-way, arguing that Boliviacould not wait and be leftin a power vacuum. AfterMorales quit, resignationsby allies left vacancies inthe only posts listed by theconstitution as presiden-tial successors — the vicepresident, the head of the

Senate and the leader ofthe lower house.

Añez was a second-tieropposition figure untilMorales, Latin America’slongest serving leaderresigned after nearly 14years in power.

She immediately tried toset differences with thesocialist leader. She greet-ed supporters at an oldpalace instead of the near-

by modern 26-story presi-dential palace with a heli-port that was built byMorales and that his foeshad criticised as one of hisexcesses. She also carrieda Bible, which had beenbanned by Morales fromthe presidential palace.

Morales said that Añez’s‘self-proclamation’ was anaffront to constitutionalgovernment. — AP

Bolivia Senator stand-in PrezOpposition Sen. Jeanine Anez declares herself interim president of crisis-torn country

LAST WOMAN STANDING

■ ■ CONSERVATIVE SSENATORJeanine Anez was unknown to

many Bolivians before shestepped out beaming and

waving a Bible on the balconyof the government palace.

■ ■ A LLONGTIME critic of herleftist predecessor Evo

Morales, she stepped into thepower vacuum left when hesuddenly fled the country to

escape a violent crisis.

■ ■ ANEZ IIS a 52-year-oldlawyer from the northeastern

region of Beni, borderingBrazil.

■ ■ AS SSECOND deputy speak-er of the Senate, Anez was

sworn in by her allies after allthe other officials in line to

act as interim president hadfled.

■ ■ SHE IIMMEDIATELY made apoint of marking herself out

from Morales, a socialist whohad done away with religious

oaths of office.

■ ■ SHE CCAST herself as the only one in a posi-tion to lead the country out of its crisis, sparkedby claims that Morales rigged his re-electionlast month.

■ ■ MORALES BBRANDED her 'a coup-mongeringright-wing senator.' He said she had “declaredherself... interim president without a legislativequorum, surrounded by a group of accomplices.”

■ ■ ANEZ BBECAME the South American country’s66th president and the second woman to holdthe post.

■ ■ THE LLAST woman to serve as Bolivia’s presi-dent was Lidia Gueiler, who held the post forless than two years before being deposed in amilitary coup in 1980.

■ ■ ANEZ PPROMISED to hold fresh elections ‘assoon as possible’.

■ ■ ANEZ SSERVED from 2006 to 2008 as memberof an assembly that drew up the current consti-tution. She has been a senator since 2010.

■ ■ SHE IIS a member of aminority conservativepolitical group,Democratic Unity.

■ ■ SHE WWAS named second deputyleader of the Senate in line with atradition that all parties be repre-sented in the top posts.

■ ■ HER SSWEARING-IIN, approvedby the Constitutional Court,sparked jubilation in her home-town of Trinidad.

EVO'S ALLIES WHO HELD SENIOR POSTS FLED, LEAVING ANEZ THEMOST SENIOR OFFICIAL STILL STANDING. SHE DECLARED THAT IT WASUP TO HER TO TAKE THE REINS OF POWER IMMEDIATELY

TechnomicsTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

free softwareTwitch publicly launched Twitch Studio, itsnew software designed to help newstreamers get started broadcasting.

TESLA TO SETUP FACTORYIN BERLIN San Francisco,Nov. 13: A newTesla auto factoryto serve theEuropean marketwill be based inGermany, chiefexecutive ElonMusk said Tuesday.

Musk said duringa ceremony atGermany's GoldenSteering Wheelawards that the new“ G i g a f a c t o r y ”would be “in theBerlin area.”He saidthe companyplanned the facility“near the new air-port” in Berlin andthat Tesla wouldalso set up a designcenter in the area.

“Everyone knowsthat German engi-neering is outstand-ing and that's partof the reason we arelocating ourGigafactory Europein Germany,” hesaid on stage.

“We are also goingto create an engi-neering and designcenter in Berlinbecause I thinkBerlin has some ofthe best art in theworld.”The newshighlights a furtherglobal expansionfor the electric carmaker, which lastmonth said its fac-tory in China hadstarted production.Musk offered fewdetails, but reportshave said the com-pany hopes to beginEuropean produc-tion by 2021.

“Giga Berlin,”Musk tweeted,bookending thewords with heartemojis.

“Will build batter-ies, powertrains &vehicles, startingwith Model Y,” headded in anothertweet.

Tesla is estimatedto have some 30 per-cent of the Euro-pean market for bat-tery-powered cars.Musk's announce-ment is good newsfor the German autoindustry, accordingto professor Ferdi-nand Dudenhoefferof the Center forA u t o m o t i v eResearch at theUniversity ofDuisburg-Essen.

Tesla producingelectric cars inGermany couldwave a checkeredflag at the localcompetition, suchas VW, BMW, andDaimler, speedingup innovation inthe sector there,Dudenhoeffer said.

Tesla last monthannounced that itposted a profit inthe recently endedquarter instead oftaking a loss as ana-lysts expected.Tesla said it is pro-ducing vehicles “ona trial basis” at itsrecently opened“Gigafactory” inShanghai, whichwill help boost glob-al production andsales. Musk wasoptimistic that theShanghai factorycould begin crank-ing out Model Yvehicles by the mid-dle of next year.

— AFP

Houston, Nov. 13:Researchers have devel-oped a speech-based mobileapp that uses artificialintelligence to categorize apatient’s mental health sta-tus, an advance that maylead to a tool to assist psy-chiatrists in diagnosingmental illnesses.

The study, published inthe journal SchizophreniaBulletin, noted that manypeople in remote areas donot have access to psychia-trists or psychologists,and others can't afford tosee a clinician frequently.

The researchers, includ-ing those from theUniversity of Colorado atBoulder in the US, said

therapists base their treat-ment plan largely on lis-tening to a patient talkwhich they said was anold, subjective and unreli-able method.

They developed amachine learning technol-ogy that can detect day-to-day changes in speechwhich hints at mentalhealth decline.

As an example, theysaid, sentences that don'tfollow a logical patterncan be a critical symptomin schizophrenia.

Shifts in tone or pacemay suggest mania ordepression, and memoryloss can be a sign of bothcognitive and mentalhealth problems, theresearchers said.

“Language is a criticalpathway to detectingpatient mental states,”said study co-author Peter

Foltz from the Universityof Colorado at Boulder.

“Using mobile devicesand AI, we are able totrack patients daily andmonitor these subtlechanges,” he added.

The study noted that thenew mobile app askspatients a 5- to 10-minuteseries of questions whichthey can answer by talk-ing into their phone.

The patients are askedabout their emotionalstate, or to tell a shortstory, or to listen to a storyand repeat it.

The app also gives thema series of touch-and-swipe motor skills tests.

— PTI

CHINESE SCIENTIST PLEADSGUILTY TO TECH THEFTWashington, Nov. 13: AChinese scientist pleadedguilty on Tuesday to stealingnext-generation batterytechnology from theAmerican petroleum compa-ny where he worked, theDepartment of Justice said.

Hongjin Tan, 35, a Chinesenational who was a perma-nent legal resident of theUnited States, was arrestedin December 2018 andcharged with stealing trade

secrets. The DoJ said Tanpleaded guilty in US DistrictCourt for the NorthernDistrict of Oklahoma to theftof a trade secret, unautho-rized transmission of a tradesecret, and unauthorizedpossession of a trade secret.

The market value of thenext-generation batterytechnology Tan was accusedof stealing was more than $1billion, it said.

— AFP

SHORT TAKES

FB UNIFIES PAYSYSTEM ACROSSITS PLATFORMS

Bengaluru, Nov. 13:Facebook Inc (FB.O) said onTuesday it was launchingFacebook Pay, a unified pay-ment service through whichusers across its platformsincluding WhatsApp andInstagram can make pay-ments without exiting theapp.

The social network said theservice would allow users tosend money or make a pay-ment with security optionssuch as PIN or biometrics ontheir smartphones.

Chief Executive OfficerMark Zuckerberg said earlierthis year the company is plan-ning to unify the messaginginfrastructure across its plat-forms.

He said the company wouldencrypt conversations onmore of its messaging servic-es and make them compatibleas direct messaging was like-ly to dwarf discussion on thetraditional, open platform ofFacebook’s news feed in a fewyears.

Facebook said the new serv-ice will collect user informa-tion such as payment method,date, billing and contactdetails when a transaction ismade and that it would usethe data to show targetedadvertisements to users.

Advertising practices ofFacebook have been in thespotlight for the past fewyears amid growing discon-tent over its approach to pri-vacy and user data.

Facebook Pay will be avail-able on Facebook andMessenger this week in theUnited States, the companysaid in a blog post.

— Reuters

Beijing, Nov. 13:China’s central banksaid on Wednesday ithad not issued any dig-ital currencies norauthorized any asset trad-ing platforms to trade suchcurrencies, denying rumorsabout the issuance of suchcurrencies.

The central bank is stillstudying and testing its owndigital currency and atimetable circulated online forthe roll-out of digital curren-cy is not accurate, the People’sBank of China said in a state-ment on its website.

— Reuters

Guwahati, Nov.13: Researchers at theIndian Institute ofTechnology (IIT)Guwahati have developeda paper-based sensor thatcan accurately asses thequality and freshness ofmilk within minutes bychanging its colour.

The quality and fresh-ness of milk are decidedby the invasion and pres-ence of microbes in themilk, the researchersexplained in the studypublished in the journalBiosensors, andBioelectronics.

They noted that bacte-ria and other microbesthat grow in milk can notonly affect its taste andfreshness, but also resultin health issues.

Pasteurisation is com-monly used to kill themicrobes in milk and var-ious tests are used toensure the effectiveness ofthe process, according tothe researchers led byPranjal Chandra, an assis-tant professor at IITGuwahati.

Commonly used testssuch as the methyleneblue test, are time con-suming, and could takemany hours for colourchanges to indicate thepresence and absence ofmicrobes. Commercialphenol-based tests requiresophisticated spectropho-tometers and involvemulti-step procedures,which necessitates dedi-cated testing centres and

skilled personnel.The team,

includ-

ing scho-lar Kuldeep Mahato,developed the simplevisual detection tech-nique to asses the qualityof milk, without the needfor special equipment andinstruments. “It would beuseful if the quality ofmilk can be tested at thepoint of collection ofmilk or even in the homekitchen,” Chandra said ina statement, adding thatsuch testing requireseasy-to-operate andportable detection kits.

Chandra explained thatAlkaline Phosphatase(ALP) is a metalloproteinfound naturally in rawmilk samples, and is con-sidered an important bio-marker in the qualitycontrol of milk. It isfound in raw milk and isdestroyed during pas-teurisation. ALP is alsofound in higher amountsin the case of milk derivedfrom animals with infec-tion in the mammaryglands, he noted.

Detection of ALP in milkcan thus point to inade-quate pasteurisation andperhaps contamination.“Despite ALP’s recognis-able detection potential innative milk, the multi-stepnature, and requirementof sophisticated bulkyanalytical instrumentsand trained personnel, todetect ALP, limit their useas a sensor of milk qualityin remote settings and inhome kitchens,” addedChandra.

The researchers usedsimple filter paper, chemi-

cally modified it,

and loaded itwith a recognition ele-ment — anti-ALP —which captures the ALPpresent in the milk.

Upon treatment withthe colour-forming com-pound 'BCIP', the cap-tured complex of ALPforms a blue-greencoloured precipitate, thatotherwise does not givesany colour in the absenceof ALP. The intensity ofthe colour indicates theamount of ALP present.The researchers used asmartphone to capturethe image of the colour.

They used the RGB filterin the phone to profile thecolour obtained, whichcould be co-related to theconcentration of ALPpresent in the test sample.“Our sensor takes merely13? minutes to detect ALP,and hence it can beapplied for quick onsiteanalysis,” said Chandra.

The researchers success-fully tested milk obtainedfrom villages and commer-cially available milk sam-ples using their paper-based sensor kit, andfound that they coulddetect down to 0.87 units ofALP per millilitre of milkto about 91100 per centaccuracy. This detectionlimit and accuracymake it possible to dis-criminate raw milkfrom pasteurised orboiled milk whichcontains ALP inultra-trace am-ounts, research-ers said.

— PTI

Milk quality can now beassessed in

minutesIIT-G’s paper sensor can test milk

without any special devices

AI-created artworks go upfor auction in New YorkNew York, Nov. 13: Twopaintings up for auction inNew York highlight a grow-ing interest in artificial intel-ligence-created works — atechnique that could trans-form how art is made andviewed but is also stirring uppassionate debate.

The art world was stunnedlast year when an AI paintingsold for $432,500, and auction-eers are keen to further testdemand for computer-gener-ated works.

“Art is a true reflection ofwhat our society, what ourenvironment responds to,”said Max Moore of Sotheby's.

“And so it's just a naturalcontinuation of the progres-sion of art,” he added.

Sotheby’s will put two paint-ings by the French art collec-tive Obvious up for sale on

Thursday, including “LeBaron De Belamy.” TheEuropean classic style por-trait is part of the sameseries as “Portrait ofEdmond Belamy”, which soldfor more than 60 times thelowest estimate at Christie'sduring the 2018 fall auctions.

The paintings were madeusing a technique called“generative adversarial net-work,” or GAN.

GAN involves feeding thou-sands of images of the samestyle into a computer untilthe machine concludes that ithas created a new portraitthat it thinks accuratelyreflects that style.

“Katsuwaka of the DawnLagoon” was created in aJapanese style using thesame GAN algorithm.

Auctioneers have put mod-

est prices on the two paint-ings. “Katsuwaka” has a pre-sale estimate between $8,000and $12,000, while “Le Baron”has been priced between$20,000 and $30,000.

“We do not expect as big aresult as last year,” saidPierre Fautrel, one of thethree members of Obvious.“We just want to see if thereare people who are ready tobuy around these prices andif the market will continue tobuild,” he added.

Moore said the sale of“Portrait of EdmondBelamy” showed that there is“a marketplace for this newbody of work” but that it'sstill “in the very earlystages.” “That will be a goodindicator of where the mar-ket is,” he said.

— AFP

AI can categorise mental status

‘CHINA HAS NOTISSUED DIGITALCURRENCY’

MINECRAFTEARTH GOESLIVES IN U.S.

Washington, Nov. 13:Microsoft, in a bet on real-world augmented reality gam-ing, had announced MinecraftEarth. Now, the game, whichallows players to collectblocks and critters whereverthey go, has gone live for play-ers in North America, the UKand a number of other areas.

THURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABAD

New Delhi, Nov 13:The Department ofTeleco-mmunications(DoT) has issued noticeto telecom operators topay their revenue sharedues within threemonths as directed bythe Supreme Court,according to an indus-try source.

The DoT has givenoption to telecom opera-tors to clear all the dueson a self-assessmentbasis.

The Supreme Court inits last month's rulingsaid, “We give threemonths' time to depositthe amount, which isdue and compliance bereported.”

“...You are thereforedirected to make thepayment in accordancewith the order of theHon'ble Supreme Courtdated October 24, 2019and submit the requi-site documents toensure the compliancewithin the stipulatedtimeframe,” said anotice, which isreceived by the source.

According to an inter-nal estimate preparedby the DoT, total dueson the telecom serviceproviders arising out ofSC order are around Rs1.33 lakh crore.

As per DoT's estimate,liability of BhartiAirtel Group is Rs62,187.73 crore,Vodafone Idea is Rs54,183.9 crore and BSNLand MTNL is Rs10,675.18 crore.

Companies underinsolvency likeReliance Communi-cations and Aircel havedues outstanding worthRs 32,403.47 crore andcompanies under liqui-dation Rs 943 crore.

—PTI

Sugar millsget 6 moremonthsto repaysoft loan

Unsoldhousingstock overhangeases a bit

DoT tells telcos to clearrevenue shareas per SC order

■ Impact of DDT prompting firms to invest in debt

SHRUTI SSRIVASTAVANEW DELHI, NOV. 13

In a bid to goad companiesto boost spending andrevive foreign fundinflows, India is consider-ing changes to its dividenddistribution tax, accord-ing to people with knowl-edge of the matter.

The budget statementdue February may includea proposal to tax dividendsonce they are paid toshareholders, rather thanthe current system wherethe company pays the levy,the people said, asking notto be identified as thedeliberations are private.

The move would be thelatest in a series of stepsfrom Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s govern-ment to prop up growthfrom the lowest in sixyears. Over recentmonths, authorities haveslashed corporate taxes,rolled back a levy on glob-al funds, injected $10 bil-lion into struggling statebanks, and eased foreigninvestment rules toencourage companies toboost spending.

The impact of the divi-dend tax has been prompt-ing firms to invest in debt

“thereby depriving com-panies of much-neededequity,” to expand, saidDaksha Baxi, Mumbai-based head of internation-al taxation at law firmCyril AmarchandMangaldas. For investorsthe tax meant they can’ttake credit “for taxes paidby Indian companies andsecondly, their tax inci-dence goes up.”

A spokesman for theFinance Ministry couldn’tbe immediately reached

for comment. The move isamong recommendationsof a government-appoint-ed panel, media reportssaid earlier.

Indian companies needto pay 15 per cent tax ondividends declared, whichrises past 20 per cent oncesurcharges are added.Investors, who are alsotaxed on their earnings,have protested these mul-tiple levies.

The dividend distribu-tion tax brings about Rs

60,000 crore to the excheq-uer each year and theplanned changes won’taffect collections, the peo-ple said.

Share of gross fixed cap-ital formation in India’sGDP has been falling ascompanies have refrainedfrom investing. The meas-ure stood at 29.7 per centin the June quarter, hover-ing near the record low of27.9 per cent.

— Bloomberg

SANGEETHA GGCHENNAI, NOV. 13

After a slow Q2, logisticscompanies saw a slowerDiwali this time. Whiledemand from automotivesegment was badly hit,even the best of the sec-tors—e-commerce—sawsome slackness in vol-umes.

In September quarter,logistics volumes recordedaround 5 per cent drop dueto the sluggishness in theeconomy. Railway freightvolumes too dropped by 3.7per cent in Q2. The slug-gishness was evident inmost of the core sectors,including coal, cementand steel. The automobileindustry witnessed 20–25per cent decline in logis-tics demand.

“The unorganised sec-tor, which accounts for thelarger share of market,saw volumes dropping by4 to 6 per cent. The organ-ised sector has been gain-ing market share postGST and e-way bill andhence they registered agrowth of 4 to 6 per cent.New-age tech-driven logis-tic service providers forma small segment of theindustry. From a smallerbase they have been grow-ing faster. Overall, thelogistics sector saw flat tonegative volume growthin Q2 against 14 per centgrowth in the year-agoquarter,” said ShamsherDewan, Vice-President,Icra ratings.

According to industryplayers, the demand fur-ther got squeezed duringthe Diwali season this

time. “Usually Diwali sea-son sees a spurt in logis-tics activity and the majorcontributors are FMCG,industrial goods, whitegoods, auto and auto ancil-lary and e-commerce.Logistic demand from theautomotive sector wouldhave fallen by around 50per cent this time. Evenother sectors saw volumesde-growing,’ said SumitSharma, Co-founder ofGoBOLT.

E-commerce has beenone sector which has beenrecording phenomenalvalue growth during fes-tive season year-after-year. Technology-drivenlogistic companies, whichlargely handle the logis-tics for e-commerce com-panies, found that despitethe growth over last year,volumes did not touch lastyear’s growth levels.

“Usually e-commercecompanies give us volumeprojections for the festiveseason and we prepareourselves to meet those

projections. Till last year,we always used to overachieve the festive seasonvolume projections. Thistime, the projections werenot met. The projectionswere under-achieved by 10to 15 per cent,’ he said.

According to PushkarSingh, CEO ofLetsTransport, the projec-tions of e-commerce com-panies were lower thanthe previous years. ‘Thisyear the projections of e-commerce companieswere not as ambitious aslast year. E-commerce stillperformed much bettercompared to automobilesand other high valuegoods,” he said.

The overall slump indemand had influenced e-commerce companieswhile making projections.Further, with the maturi-ty of the sector, the valueof products sold onlinekeeps on increasing everyyear. This leads to highervalue growth compared tovolume growth.

Dividend tax burdenmay shift to investors

PATTURAJAMURUGABOOPATHYNOV. 13

India’s passive index-tracking equity funds areset to beat their activestock-picking counter-parts in returns for a sec-ond successive year asfund managers grapplewith volatility and thechallenges of outperform-ing benchmark indexes.

According to RefinitivLipper data, India’s pas-sive funds have deliveredan average return of 9.6per cent so far this year,much higher than activefunds’ 5.7 per cent. In 2018,passive funds posted 2.3per cent gains, while activefunds had negativereturns.

Active funds have histor-ically outperformed pas-sive funds in India whenshare price moves weremore broad-based andmarket inefficiencieshelped stock pickers asthey hunted for shareswhose prices were nottruly reflective of theirworth.

But India’s stock marketrally has been much nar-rower in the past twoyears, with investors pre-ferring some well-estab-lished heavyweights oversmaller ones owing tobroader uncertaintiesaround a slowing domesticeconomy and the US-Chinatrade war.

For instance, the Nifty-50has risen 9.67 per cent sofar this year, but the NiftyMidcap Index has shed 6.2per cent and the Small-capIndex has slumped 11.4per cent.

Pratik Oswal, head ofPassive Funds at MotilalOswal Asset ManagementCompany, said 85 per centof the Indian stock markethad become efficient.

“Finding mispricings hasbecome harder than it was5-10 years ago,” he said. “Asharp correction in mid-and small-caps, coupledwith mega caps becominglarger, has led to underper-formance of most activefund managers.”

Also, the Securities andExchange Board of India’s

(Sebi) rules on holdings oflarge-cap and mid-capfirms have affected theperformance of activefunds, analysts said.

At the end of 2017, Sebisaid a large-cap equityfund must invest at least80 per cent of its portfolioin large-cap stocks andmid-cap funds must investat least 65 per cent in mid-caps.

Prior to that, active fundmanagers had the flexibili-ty to allocate largeramounts to other cate-gories to boost their funds’performance.

Nonetheless, active fundsremain more popular withIndian investors who stillhaven’t taken to indexinvesting, unlike in devel-oped markets.

The passive funds’ assetsunder management (AUM)is lower than that of activefunds, according toRefinitiv Lipper data.Active funds’ AUM stood at$94.4 billion at the end ofthird quarter, while pas-sive funds’ AUM were just$3.3 billion.

In the US, passive funds’AUM stands at more thanhalf of the active funds’AUM, the data showed.

“We don’t have a lot oflong-term money flowinginto index, the way it doesin America or other devel-oped markets,” saidDhirendra Kumar,Founder and ChiefExecutive Officer of ValueResearch.

“Indian investors havebecome curious and theyare beginning to invest (inpassive funds). But I don’tthink it is very big time.”

— Reuters

Logistics demand for autohalves in festive season

FALAKNAAZ SSYEDMUMBAI, NOV. 13

The rupee extended itsbearish leg against the USDollar tracking weaknessin the Yuan and growingconcerns over health ofthe domestic economyamid soft capital marketsentiments and anticipat-ing FPI outflows. Therupee tumbled by 62 paiseor 0.87 per cent to breach72 per dollar mark andended at over two-monthlow of 72.09 on Wednesday.

After opening lower at71.75 against the green-back, the rupee fell to asmuch as 72.10 in intradaydeals. On Monday, the cur-rency had closed at 71.47against the dollar. Forexmarket was closed onTuesday for Guru NanakJayanti. According toforex experts, the rupeewould continue to remainweak on global anddomestic concerns.

Showing signs of slug-gishness in the domesticeconomy, the industrialproduction shrank inSeptember to 4.3 per centin September from 1.1 percent contraction in July,data released by CentralStatistics Office showedon Tuesday, registeringthe weakest performancein seven years due to out-put decline in manufac-turing, mining and elec-tricity sectors.

The numbers highlight-ed the persistent structur-al slowdown in the econo-my and firmed expecta-tion of further monetaryeasing by the RBI.

This lowered thedemand for domesticassets. Domestic equitiesended with 0.60 per centcut while the benchmarkbond yield came lower by3 basis points to 6.52 percent.

The Dollar Index, whichtracks the greenbackagainst a basket of sixmajor currencies rose by0.02 per cent to 98.32 com-pared with previous closeof 98.25.

The greenback gainedagainst major counter-parts after the USPresident Donald Trumpsaid a trade deal withChina was "close" butwarned that he would"substantially raise" tar-iffs if the deal collapsesmaking investors con-

cerned over the uncer-tainty in US-China tradedeal. He dubbed China acheater on trade.

Harihar Krishnamoor-thy, treasurer withFirstRand Bank said, “AllAsian currencies are look-ing weak. If the US-Chinatrade deal goes through,the US interest rates willrise and some amount ofrupee weakness couldcontinue as dollar-index isstrengthening. Global cap-ital inflows could fall. Thetrading range could risefrom 71-72 to 71.50 to 73 inthe short term. As therupee weakens, exportersmight look to sell the dol-lars and book their exportreceivables.”

Abhishek Bansal,Chairman, ABans Groupof Companies said, “TheIndian rupee is underpressure after India'scredit ratings outlook wascut to negative from stableby Moody's InvestorsService. Growing debtburden and the govern-ment's struggle to narrowthe budget deficit are thecritical reason. A slumpin factory production hasincreased probability of asharper rate cut byReserve Bank of India.India’s factory output con-tracted to 4.3 per cent inSeptember (for the secondconsecutive month),which is lowest since2012.”

Rupee tumbles 62p,could remain weak

Passive funds set to beatactive funds for 2nd year

RAVI RRANJAN PPRASADMUMBAI, NOV. 13

More than 50 per cent ofglobal fund managers sur-veyed by Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch during thefirst week of Novemberexpect equity to be best per-forming asset class in 2020.

According to the survey,recession concerns havevanished and fund man-agers expect a strongerglobal economy in the nextyear.

“Over half of investorssurveyed (52 per cent)

expect equities to be the topperforming asset class in2020, followed by commodi-ties (21 per cent) and cash(10 per cent),” the surveysaid.

“The bulls are back,” saidMichael Hartnett, ChiefInvestment Strategist, ofAmerica Merrill Lynch.“Investors are experienc-ing FOMO—the fear ofmissing out—which hasprompted a wave of opti-mism and jump in expo-sure to equities and cycli-cals,” Hartnett said.

Investors added risk in

November as their portfo-lios are no longer explic-itly geared to assetsthat outperformin a low growth& low inflationbackdrop, thesurvey said.

Allocation toglobal equitiesjumped, indicat-ing the highestlevel in one year asinvestor cash levels fellfrom 5.0 per cent lastmonth to 4.2 per cent inNovember, the biggestmonthly drop since

November 2016 and lowestcash balance since June

2013.Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynchglobal fund man-ager survey wasc o n d u c t e dbetween Novem-ber 1-7 and 230

panelists with$700 billion of

asset under manag-ment participated in total.According to the survey,

the US dollar is expected todepreciate in the next 12months, say 37 per cent of

investors surveyed saidmaking it the weakest out-look on the US dollar sinceSeptember 2007.

Trade war concerns (39per cent) continued to topthe list of tail risks cited byinvestors, followed by abond market bubble (16 percent), monetary policyimpotence (12 per cent) anda slowdown in China (11per cent).

The dominant concernsof investors since 2011 havebeen Eurozone debt &potential breakdown;Chinese growth; populism,

quantitative tightening &trade wars.

Trade war has topped thecharts for 19 of the past 21surveys, the report said.

US tech & growth stockstopped the list of the mostcrowded trades identifiedby fund managers, ahead ofUS corporate bonds.

Allocation to commodi-ties fell as trade war con-cerns slightly subsided andallocation to emergingmarket equities rose monthon month and EM becamemost preferred regionamong equity investors.

Global fund managers see equity as best doing asset class in 2020

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 40,116.06 -0.57Nifty 50 11,840.50 -0.61S&P 500 3,092.10 +0.01Dollar (`) 72.18 +0.88Pound Sterling (`) 92.75 +1.07Euro (`) 79.40 +0.01Gold (10gm)* (`) 38,124▲404 +1.07Brent crude ($/bbl)* $62.39 +0.33IN 10-Yr bond yield +6.528 -0.033US 10-Yr T-bill yield +1.872 -0.037

* As of 9:30 pm IST

Jaypee: NBCC,Suraksha askedto give fresh bidsNBCC and Suraksha Realtyhave been asked to submitfresh bids to acquire debt-laden Jaypee Infratech in anongoing insolvency process,sources said. Lenders ofJaypee Infratech will meet onNov. 18 to discuss the bids ofNBCC and Suraksha Realty,which are expected expectedto be submitted by the end ofthis week, they added.

Govt extendsrelaxed normsfor onion import

The Agriculture Ministryextended relaxed fumigationnorms for imported onions upto Dec. 31, in a bid to improvedomestic supply. On Nov. 6, theministry had liberalised fumiga-tion provisions under the PlantQuarantine (PQ) Order, 2003till November 30 to facilitateimport of the key kitchen staplefrom Afghanistan, Egypt,Turkey and Iran.

BHEL posts 42%rise in Q2 netprofit at `121 crBharat Heavy Electricals Ltd(BHEL) posted a 42 per centjump in consolidated net profitat Rs 120.95 crore in the secondquarter against Rs 85.24 crorereported in the year-ago quar-ter. Total income stood at Rs6,359.68 crore versus Rs6,934.06 crore a year ago. ButBHEL reported a consolidatednet loss of Rs 97.98 crore forthe first half of the fiscal.

BVR Subbu joins board ofOla Electric

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Deccan Chronicle Press at DeccanChronicle Holdings Ltd. #563/9/D&9/E,Behind Andhra Bank Pet Basheerbagh,

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Overleaf

Automotive industry veteranBVR Subbu joined the board ofOla Electric Mobility as a mem-ber. He currently manages astrategy-consulting firm,Beyond Visual Range, advisingglobal PE funds. Subbu hadpreviously worked with TataMotors and Hyundai. He said"Ola Electric is the perfectamalgam of the passion and social consciousness ofyouth.”

Indian passivefunds’ AUM

Figures in million Source: Refinitiv Lipper/Patturaja Murugaboopathy

Source: Refinitiv Lipper/Patturaja Murugaboopathy

■ Active funds ■ Passive funds

New equationIndia’s passive funds have beaten theactive funds in the past two years

3500

2500

15002012 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

2010 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

50403020100-10-20

52%expect

equities to bethe top performer

in 2020, followed bycommodities

(21%) and cash(10%)

THURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABAD

SANGEETHA GGCHENNAI, NOV. 13

Cumulative unsold housingstock across top 7 citiesdropped 5 per cent at theend of September quarter.The average time needed toclear this unsold stock hasreduced to 30 months from37 months in the year-agoquarter.

The top 7 cities collective-ly had a total unsold stockof nearly 6.56 lakh units inQ3 2019 end, 5 per centdown from 6.87 lakh unitsin Q3 2018 and nearly 12 percent lower than 7.44 lakhunits as on Q3 2017.

Bangalore’s unsold stockas on Q3 2019 stood at 63,540units, declining the maxi-mum among top cities by 17per cent in a year and over38 per cent in two years.This made Bangalore, thecity with the lowest unsoldinventory overhang of 15months as on Q3 2019 from19 months a year ago and 25months in Q3 2017.

Hyderabad has the leastunsold inventory amongtop cities at 23,890 units ason Q3 2019. It was over27,000 units a year ago anda little more than 27,500

units in 2017. Hyderabad’sunsold inventory will take16 months to clear in thepresent scenario as against20 months in Q3 2018 and 22months as on Q3 2017.

“The annual change ofunsold inventory overhangin the third quarter of 2019was fairly better than theprevious year. This sug-gests that builders now arefollowing a laser-focusedapproach towards clearingtheir previous unsoldstock. Simultaneously,

unlike earlier, buildershave now also limited theirnew supply into the mar-ket. No wonder, newlaunches in Q3 2019 fell by13 per cent against the year-ago period in the top 7cities whereas it hadincreased by 51 per cent inQ3 2018 as against Q3 2017,”said Anuj Puri, Chairman,ANAROCK PropertyConsultants.

However, NCR will take atleast 44 months to clear itsunsold stock. Back in Q3

2018, it was 58 monthswhile in the correspondingperiod of 2017, it was 59months. NCR has also seena decent decline in itsunsold stock over the years– it reduced from 2.1 lakhunits in Q3 2017 to 1.90 lakhunits in Q3 2018 and thenfinally to 1.78 lakh units in2019. Nevertheless, the citystill has the second-highestunsold inventory afterMumbai MetropolitanRegion (MMR).

MMR with nearly 2.21lakh units, saw a mere 1per cent yearly decline inits unsold pile while on atwo-yearly basis, the stockreduced only marginallyby 2 per cent. MMR’sinventory overhang stoodat 34 months as on Q3 2019end from 46 months a yearago and 51 months back inQ3 2017.

Contrary to the trend,Chennai’s unsold stockincreased by 4 per cent onyearly and 12 per cent on atwo-yearly basis. ThoughChennai’s unsold inventoryoverhang has reduced from35 months in the third quar-ter of 2018 to 31 months in2019, it was lowest best at 26months in Q3 2017.

Financial

Unsold housing stockoverhang eases a bit

■ Time needed to clear stock comes down to 30 months from 37

New Delhi, Nov 13: As theRs 15,000-crore soft loanscheme for sugar mills ismoving at a snail's pace,the government hasextended the moratoriumperiod for repayments bysix more months, accord-ing to sources.

Now, the moratoriumperiod is one-and-a-halfyears.

A moratorium period is atime during the loan termwhen the borrower is notrequired to make anyrepayment.

The Centre hadannounced the loan pack-age, or concessional loans,in two tranches—first inJune 2018 amounting to Rs4,440 crore and the other inMarch 2019 of Rs 10,540crore. The objective was tohelp millers in clearingcane arrears and divertsurplus sugar for ethanolmanufacturing.

“When the soft loanscheme was launched toaugment ethanol produc-tion in the country, oneyear moratorium was pro-vided. This has now beenextended to 1.5 years in theinterest of sugar mills andfarmers,” a highly placedsource said.

A notification in thisregard will be issued soon,the source added.

Of 418 applications forthe loan, the food ministryhas found 282 eligible. Ofthis, 114 applications havebeen cleared for loansamounting to Rs 6,139.08crore, as per official data.

However, banks havesanctioned the loan to 45applicants and disbursedRs 900 crore to 33 appli-cants till September-end,the data showed.

The soft loan package isbeing implemented by thefood ministry, which pro-vides a list of eligible loanapplicants to banks for fur-ther process.

According to industryexperts, only 5-6 per cent ofthe total soft loan amountof Rs 15,000 croreannounced under thescheme has been disbursedso far by banks.

The sugar industry is ofthe view that much of thetime is being wasted in thefirst screening at the min-istry level. Ideally, banksshould check the eligibility

criteria and sanction theloan amount accordingly.

“In this process, thescheme has not been able totake off properly.

The scheme was launchedin June 2018 and still theministry is screening theapplications. At this pace,mills may not benefit fromthe scheme.

It takes at least 18 monthsto establish an ethanolunit,” another industryofficial said.

At present, 3-4 lakh tonneof sugar gets diverted forethanol making.

With creation of addition-al capacity under thescheme, 9-10 lakh tonne ofsugar is expected to bediverted for ethanol pro-duction.

Sugar mills have supplied175 crore litres of ethanolto oil marketing companies(OMCs) till October 22 ofthe 2018-19 season (October-September) and helpedthem achieve 5.2 per centblending with petrol, as perindustry data.

The soft loan wasannounced to improve liq-uidity of mills, reducesugar inventory and facili-tate timely clearance ofcane dues of farmers.

However, cane arrear stillremains high at Rs 9,000crore so far this year basedon the sugarcane pricefixed by both the Centreand states, as per the min-istry data. There is a sugarglut in India, the world'ssecond largest sugar pro-ducer after Brazil. Thecountry had produced 32.5million tonne and 33.1 mil-lion tonne in 2017-18 and2018-19 seasons (October-September), respectively,much higher than thedomestic consumption of25 million tonne.

— PTI

Sugar mills get6 more monthsto repay soft loan Beijing/Mumbai, Nov

13: Global stocks sankWednesday afterPresident Donald Trumpthreatened more tariffhikes on Chineseimports if talks aimed atending a trade war fail toproduce an interimagreement.

Market benchmarks inLondon, Frankfurt,Shanghai and Tokyodeclined.

Trump said on Tuesdaythat an agreement on the“Phase 1” deal announ-ced last month “couldhappen soon.” But hewarned he was ready toraise tariffs “very sub-stantially” if that fails.

The two sides disagreepublicly about whetherWashington agreed toroll back some punitivetariffs imposed in thefight over Beijing's tradesurplus and technologyambitions. The Chinesegovernment said lastweek that was settled,but Trump denied that.

Trump's comments“served as a reminder ofthe challenge that thetwo sides face,” saidJingyi Pan of IG in areport. However, shesaid, investors saw themas “positioning state-ments.”

On Wednesday, USstocks sagged at theopen. Investors were alsodigesting congressionaltestimony by US FedChair Jerome Powell,who predicted a "sus-tained expansion" butsaid trade frictionsremain a threat.

About 10 minutes intothe day's trading, theDow Jones IndustrialAverage was down lessthan 0.1 per cent.

In late morning deals,the London stock marketindex dropped by 0.7 percent, Paris fell by 0.5 percent and Frankfurt wasoff by 0.8 per cent.

In India, bourses saw abroad-based sell-off asweak macro data, stum-bling rupee and confu-sion over US-China tradedeal fanned investorworries.

The Sensex settled229.02 points, or 0.57points, lower at 40,116.06.The Nifty dropped 73points, or 0.61 per cent, toclose at 11,840.45.

—Agencies

New Delhi, Nov 13:Low cost carrierSpiceJet on Wednesdayreported a widening ofloss to Rs 462.6 crore inthe three months endedSeptember, mainly hit byexpenses related togrounding of Boeing 737MAX planes and changesin accounting norms.

In the year-ago period,the airline's loss stood atRs 389.4 crore.

Operating revenue roseto Rs 2,845.3 crore in thesecond quarter of thecurrent financial yearfrom Rs 1,874.8 crore inthe same period a yearago.

The airline said theloss of Rs 462.6 crore inthe latest Septemberquarter was mainly onaccount of inflated costswith respect to MAXgrounding and a season-ally weak quarter. —PTI

Global stockssink afterTrump speak

SpiceJet posts`463 crorequarterly loss

NINA CCHESTNEYLONDON, NOV. 13

Growth in global oildemand is expected to slowfrom 2025 as fuel efficiencyimproves and the use ofelectric vehicles increases,but consumption is unlike-ly to peak in the next twodecades, the InternationalEnergy Agency said onWednesday.

The Paris-based IEA,which advises Western gov-ernments on energy policy,said in its annual WorldEnergy Outlook for theperiod to 2040 that demandgrowth would continue toincrease even though therewould be a marked slow-down in the 2030s.Theagency’s central scenario -which incorporates exist-ing energy policies andannounced targets - is fordemand for oil to rise byaround 1 million barrelsper day (bpd) on average

every year to 2025, from 97million bpd in 2018.

Demand is then seenincreasing by 0.1 millionbpd a year on average dur-ing the 2030s to reach 106million bpd in 2040.

“There is a materi-al slowdown after2025, but this doesnot lead to a defin-itive peak in oiluse,” the IEA said,citing incre-aseddemand from trucksand the shipping, avia-tion and petchem sectors.

The IEA has been criti-cised by groups concernedabout climate change whosay the outlook underplaysthe speed at which theworld could switch to rene-wable energy and under-mines efforts to keep rise inglobal temperatures within1.5-2 degrees Celsius.

This year, the IEArenamed its main scenario“Stated Policies”, instead of

“New Policies”, to clarifythat it reflects current poli-cies. It is one of three sce-narios used to show howenergy demand couldevolve over the next two

decades.This change is ani m p r o v e m e n t ,said Joeri Rogeljof the GranthamInstitute atImperial College

London.But the IEA’s

most ambitious sce-nario “remains inconsis-

tent with 1.5 C and severalaspects of the ParisAgreement and doesn’tpresent a scientifically con-sistent narrative”, headded.

The IEA outlook sees pri-mary energy demand grow-ing by a quarter by 2040,with renewable energyaccounting for half of therise.

— Reuters

Growth in global oil demandto slow from 2025, says IEA

New Delhi, Nov. 13:Increasing migration offlexible office space and co-working locations beyondmetropolitan cities globallycould contribute over $254billion to local economiesin the next decade, accord-ing to a study.

Flexible office operatorRegus, the operating brandof International WorkplaceGroup (IWG), conducted astudy to analyze the socio-economic benefits for localeconomies by growth offlexible workspaces in sec-ondary towns and cities,and in suburban locationsof major cities in 19 coun-tries.

These 19 countries are— Australia, Austria,Belgium, Brazil, Canada,China, France, Germany,India, Italy, Japan, theNetherlands, New Zealand,the Philippines, SouthAfrica, Spain, Switzerland,the UK and the US.

“The increasing migra-tion of flexible office spaceand co-working locations toareas outside of major met-ropolitan cities globally iscreating a ‘flex economy’that could contribute morethan $254 billion to localeconomies in the nextdecade,” Regus said.

It revealed that on aver-age 121 new jobs are creat-ed in communities thatcontain a flexible work-space, with an extra $9.63million going directly intothe local economy.

By 2029, the ‘flex econo-my’ in India is expected tocontribute an annual valuearound $14,663 million perannum (in terms of 2019prices), of which about$5,737 million per annumwill be retained by localeconomies.

The study also predicts,there could be a total ofover 9,79,000 people work-ing at local flexible work-

spaces across India, provid-ing net additional employ-ment opportunities forlocal residents amountingto nearly 4,03,000 jobs.

“This rise in local work-ing is being largely drivenby big companies adoptingflexible working policies,moving away from relyingon a single, central HQ andincreasingly basingemployees outside of themajor metropolitan hubs inflex spaces. Most are doingso to improve employeewellbeing by allowing theirpeople to work closer tohome, and also to savemoney and boost productiv-ity,” the statement said.

Across the 19 countriesanalysed, the average indi-vidual workspace sustains218 jobs and in India, theaverage individual work-space sustains 235 jobs.

This includes temporaryjobs created during the fit-ting-out stage too. — PTI

Flexible office growth in non-metrosglobally may add $254 bn by 2029

ASHWIN JJ PPUNNENMUMBAI, NOV. 13

The home-grown financialservices major CentrumGroup, with diversified feebusinesses and lending plat-forms is expanding its oper-ations in overseas marketslike Singapore and Dubai aswell as the UK market.

“We see high growthpotential in the overseasmarkets where Indians arein considerable numbers,prompting us to widen thebase and offer services toIndians overseas.” saidCentrum Group’s ExecutiveChairman Jaspal SinghBindra in an exclusive inter-view to the FinancialChronicle.

Bindra, a banker with aglobal MNC career of over30 years was previously theAsia-Pacific Head ofStandard Chartered Bank

and had also worked withBank of America & UBS,before joining Centrumgroup.

Under his leadership, theCentrum Group has diversi-fied its operations from a feebased business to a fee-cum-lending model with theintroduction of HousingFinance, SME & MicroFinance businesses.

“We received a licensefrom the Monetary

Authority of Singapore andhave started offering wealthmanagement services in theregion. Centrum will facili-tate inward and outwardinvestment flows. HNIs andfamily offices in Singaporecan take advantage of theinnovative investmentopportunities in Indiathrough regulated AIFs,structured products and bepart of India’s economicgrowth. Similarly using theLRS route, Indians canmake dollar investments inSingapore. Our currentAssets Under Advice areover $3.2 billion and weexpect a growth of 20-25 percent YoY due to growth inthese international mar-kets” he said.

Centrum, founded in 1997,has a pan-India presence in84 cities.

“We have also received anin-principle approval from

the DIFC to commence simi-lar operations in Dubaifrom where we will be ableto cater to the entire MiddleEast and North Africa(MENA) region, anothergrowing market” Bindrasaid.

As part of its overseasplans, Centrum has chosenthese two geographiesspecifically for the sizeableIndian population, globalacceptance and robustfinancial regulations there.The group is looking atbuilding a client base inthese geographies and even-tually cross-sell its servicesof investment banking,institutional broking andalternative investment man-agement.

Talking about the globalplans, he said the next mar-ket will be the UK, again amarket a with strong contin-gent of Indian population.

Centrum expanding foreign operations

PAGE

12

New Delhi, Nov 13:The government willpush OccupationalSafety, Health andWorking Conditions(OSH) Code in theBudget session ofParliament for approval,said Labour MinisterSantosh Gangwar onWednesday.

The Code was intro-duced in the Lok Sabhaon July 23, 2019. It isexpected to enhance thecoverage of workersmanifold and also merge13 central labour lawsinto a single code whichwould apply to all estab-lishments employing 10or more workers.

It will subsume 13labour laws relating tosafety, health and work-ing conditions. Theseinclude the FactoriesAct, 1948, the Mines Act,1952, and the ContractLabour (Regulation andAbolition) Act, 1970.

"We will definitelybring the OccupationalSafety, Health andWorking Conditions(OSH) Code, 2019, in theBudget Session. Parlia-mentary standing com-mittee has sought publiccomments on the Code,"the minister said. — PTI

Govt to pushOSH Codein Parliament

New Delhi, Nov 13:Falling for the fourthstraight month, India'sengineering exportsdeclined over 6 per centto $6.36 billion inSeptember as against$6.77 billion in the samemonth last fiscal, EEPCIndia said on Wednesday.

The country's engineer-ing shipments contribute25 per cent to the overallmerchandise exports.

A clearly visible globalslowdown is biting engi-neering exports, suffer-ing setbacks in almost allmajor destinationsincluding the US,European Union, MiddleEast, South Asia or evenCIS countries, withSeptember shipmentsconceding fourthstraight monthly declineand fifth in fiscal 2019-20,the engineeringexporters body said.

Engineering exportsfrom the country wit-nessed over 6 per centdecline in September,dropping in all months offiscal 2019-20 barringMay, it added.

Cumulative engineer-ing exports during April-September 2019-20dropped to $38.74 billionfrom $40.26 billion a yearago. — PTI

Engineeringexportsdecline 6%

MICHAEL GGONSALVESPUNE, NOV. 13

Tata Motors, India’sbiggest automaker byrevenues, on Wednesdayinaugurated a new facili-ty called the AdvancePower SystemsEngineering Tech Centreat the EngineeringResearch Centre (ERC)in Pune.

This futuristic tech cen-tre will play a key role inengineering, testing anddeveloping cutting-edgepowertrain solutions forall its products, bringingin synergies across pas-senger vehicles, commer-cial vehicles and hybridand electric vehicle busi-nesses.

This new world-classfacility will primarilyfocus on future develop-ment of BS6 (Phase 1 &2), Real Driving Emiss-ions (RDE), CAFÉ II,Hybrids, Electrificationand BS7.

“This facility will act asa hub to develop class-leading powertrain solu-tions for our vast productportfolio across ICE(internal combustionengines) and Electric,”Guenter Butschek, chiefexecutive officer andmanaging director, atTata Motors, said.

Tata Motorsopens R&Dunit in Pune

ANDY MMUKHERJEE

For Kumar MangalamBirla’s textile-to-telecomempire, adversity is a 100-year-old companion. In 1919,when the Indian business-man’s great-grandfatherwanted to start a jute mill,the dominant British firm,Andrew Yule & Co., boughtall the surroundingCalcutta land. The ImperialBank, the forerunner oftoday’s State Bank of India,initially refused Birla aloan.

The government of post-independence India stymiedthe Birla conglomerate withkindness. Soviet-style plan-ning and state socialismprotected the family’s lega-cy licensed firms by keepingcompetition out. But theyinhibited growth. Birla’sfather, Aditya Vikram, went

to Thailand, Indonesia andthe Philippines because hewasn’t allowed to expand athome. “I for one fail to seewhere the concentration ofeconomic power is: with thebig business houses or withthe government?” he won-dered in 1979.

Fast forward 40 years, andthe 52-year-old currentChairman of the groupwould be justified to reprisehis late father’s frustration.The liberalising spirit of the1990s Indian economy haslost much of its force. Afterdismantling the license raj,a system of strict govern-ment-controlled production,and encouraging capital-ism, New Delhi is grippedonce more by a feverish sta-tism that’s making Birla’sshareholders nervous. Theslide began before PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

came to power in 2014, andwas one of the reasons whybusinesses backed his callfor “minimum government,maximum governance.” Butfive years later, relationsbetween private enterpriseand the government have

turned even testier.Take telecommunications,

the main source ofinvestors’ anxiety.

Ever since India openedup the state-run sector inthe 1990s, the Aditya BirlaGroup has beenan anchori n v e s t o r .Partners andrivals likeAT&T Inc., India’s TataGroup, and Li Ka-shing’s CKHutchison Holdings Ltd.came and went, but Birlaremained. Currently, thegroup owns 26 per cent ofthe country’s largest mobileoperator by subscribers,Vodafone Idea Ltd., with theBritish partner controlling45 per cent. An Indian courtlast month directed thisbruised survivor of a nastyprice war to pay Rs 28,000crore ($4 billion) in past gov-

ernment fees, interest andpenalties. Overall, Indiawants to gouge its shriveledtelecom industry of $13 bil-lion. The fund-starved gov-ernment expects operatorsto cough up more at 5G auc-

tions next year.How long canthe Birla bosshang in? WithVodafone Idea

saddled with losses and $14billion in net debt, should heeven bother?

It’s doubtful whether part-ner Vodafone Group Plc willlinger. This isn’t the firsttime it has been clobberedby unreasonable govern-ment demands. In 2012,India retrospectivelychanged its tax law to pur-sue a $2.2 billion withhold-ing tax notice against theUK firm. Seven years later,that dispute is far from

resolved, and the unit hasnow been slapped with anew bill.

In its half-yearly earningsreported on Tuesday inLondon, Vodafone fullywrote down the book valueof its India operations, andwarned that the unit couldbe headed for liquidation.Vodafone’s 42 pr cent stakein a separate cellular towercompany in the country,once sold, will get usedlargely to pay off the loan ittook to pump capital intothe main telecom venture.After that, the UK firm willhave a little over $1 billionleft to support VodafoneIdea, according to IndiaRatings & Research, a unitof Fitch Ratings. However,the India business would berequired to find $5.5 billionjust for interest—and spec-trum-related payments until

March 2022.Out of the Indian group’s

26 per cent in VodafoneIdea, about 11.6 per cent isheld by Grasim IndustriesLtd., and another 2.6 percent is owned by HindalcoIndustries Ltd. Hindalco,among the world’s largestaluminum makers, is bat-tling weak metals demandand a complicated takeoverof the US-based AlerisCorp. The bulk of the bur-den of a telecom rescue —should there be one —would fall on Grasim. It actsas a holding company forBirla’s cement and financialservices businesses, apartfrom directly owning facto-ries that churn out wood-based fibre and chemicalslike caustic soda used insoap and detergent.

— Bloomberg

India imperils foreign investment with telecom cash grabVodafone has written down the value ofits Indian joint venture to zero

A missed call

—Vodafone/Bloomberg

Euro 2.0 B

1.0

0

■ Book value of Vodafore’s 45% stake in India business

Jun Sep May Nov2018 2019

Column

Jaspal Singh Bindra

TheIEA outlook

sees primaryenergy demand

growing by aquarter by

2040

Djoker Dominicked

PAGE

13THURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

SHORT TAKESKabaddi World

Cup from Dec. 1Chandigarh: The 2019 World

Kabaddi Cup, to be orgainsedby the Punjab government, willbe held from December 1 to 9,

state’s Sports Minister RanaGurmit Singh Sodhi said on

Wednesday. He also said thatthis year’s tournament would

be dedicated to the 550th birthanniversary of Sikh guru, Guru

Nanak Dev ji.Sodhi said nine teams — India,

USA, Australia, England, SriLanka, Kenya, New Zealand,Pakistan and Canada — are

expected to take part in thetournament.

He, however, informed thatPakistan and Canada are yet to

get clearance from the Indiangovernment. “Barring, Pakistanand Canada, all teams have got

NOC from the CentralGovernment. The NOC with

regard to these two countries isstill awaited,” he said in

a statement.The inauguration of the eventwould be held on December 1

at Guru Nanak Stadium,Sultanpur Lodhi and four

matches would beheld that day.

The closing ceremony would beheld at the Shaheed Bhagat

Singh Sports Stadium in DeraBaba Nanak. — PTI

IOA lines up onelast shot at CGF

New Delhi: The Indian OlympicAssociation (IOA) will make a

last-ditch effort to bring shoot-ing back on the 2022

Birmingham CommonwealthGames roster when it meets top

officials of the CommonwealthGames Federation (CGF) here

on Thursday.The IOA brass, including

President Narinder Batra andSecretary General RajeevMehta, along with Sports

Minister Kiren Rijiju will meetCGF President Louise Martin

and CEO David Grevemberg toprotest shooting’s exclusion

from the CWG. Shooting hasbeen dropped owing to logisti-

cal issues cited by the localorganising committee.

The meeting was agreed uponfollowing IOA’s proposal to theSports Ministry in July, to boy-

cott the Games over shooting’sexclusion.

“The main agenda of the meet-ing is shooting’s exclusion fromthe Birmingham Games. We will

strongly put forward our casebefore the CGF in front of theSports Minister. We will try toexplain it to them how India’s

medals tally will be affected byshooting’s exclusion from the

CWG,” Mehta said. — PTI

We are like a familyand all families

havedisagreements.

— Gareth Southgate, Englandcoach, on Raheem Sterling’s on-

field spat with nationalteammate Joe Gomez

BowSlovakian DominikaCibulkova has retiredfrom tennis, at 30

GamesSindhu, Prannoysail; Saina loses

Gopi carries on asthere’s no reserve

Killing fields! Drug cartels and their football kick

Big teams in fray as racefor Euros gathers steam

Hong Kong, Nov. 13:World Champion P. V.Sindhu made a positivestart to her campaign butSaina Nehwal and SameerVerma were ousted fromthe Hong Kong Open aftersuffering contrastingdefeats in the openinground of the $400,000 eventhere on Wednesday.

Sixth seed Sindhu, whohad faltered in the openinground in a couple of recenttournaments, took 36 min-utes to see off World No.19Kim Ga Eun of Korea 21-15,21-16 to progress to the sec-ond round.

The Olympic silvermedallist will faceThailand’s BusananOngbamrungphan next.

H. S. Prannoy alsocrossed the opening hur-dle, beating China’s HuangYu Xiang 21-17, 21-17 in 44minutes to a clash withsixth seed IndonesianJonatan Christie.

However, eighth seedSaina, who claimed theIndonesia Masters inJanuary this year, sufferedher fifth first-round loss inthe last six tournaments,going down 13-21, 20-22 toChina’s Cai Yan Yan for the

second successive time.She had lost to Cai at ChinaOpen last week.

World No.16 Sameerfought for 54 minutesbefore going to Wang TzuWei of Chinese Taipei 11-21, 21-13, 8-21 in the open-ing match. It was his thirdsuccessive loss in the open-ing round.

Women’s doubles pair ofAshwini Ponnappa and N.Sikki Reddy also couldn’tcross the opening round,losing 13-21, 12-21 toDenmark’s MaikenFruergaard and SaraThygesen.

World No.6 Sindhu movedto a 8-4 lead early on butKim managed to turn thetables, holding a 11-10advantage at the breather.The Indian then reeled offsix points at 13-13 to marchahead and seal the openinggame.

The second game was nodifferent as Sindhu againbroke off at 5-5, grabbingseven points on the trot tomove to a massive 12-5lead. The Indian kept mov-ing ahead and eventuallyshut the door comfortablyon her opponent.

— PTI

Mumbai, Nov. 13: Chiefnational badminton coachPullela Gopichand onWednesday said the reasonhe continues to coach isthat the players need himand there is still no succes-sion plan in place.

“Well, to be honest, thereason why I continue tocoach and I am obsessedabout it is also because Ihaven’t had... I don’t seethe succession plan comeby so easily, it is beentough,” said Gopichand.

“I wish, now... to be hon-est, I feel it like a burdenand a responsibility, I can’tlet go the kind of (perform-ance) we have achievedand the players need meand that becomes a burdeninternally,” he added.

He was addressing a sem-inar ‘EDGE 2019’ on thetheme ‘The Power of One’organised by EdelGiveFoundation.

Gopichand has producedOlympic medallists includ-ing Saina Nehwal and P. V.Sindhu.

“So in the last few years, Iwas silently talking to peo-ple, in the last few months Ihave been talking to thepress a little loudly aboutthe need for coach educa-tion, need for coaches to beempowered and a system tobe in place. It is my selfish

desire to rest and relax,” headded.

The image of a “calm andcomposed” Gopichand sit-ting courtside duringmatches is quite familiarand he revealed that henever intends to put addi-tional pressure on shut-tlers when they are alreadyunder pressure.

“When I am sittingbehind the player, I con-sciously think that mypressure should not add tohim, he is already in apressure cooker,” he said.

Saying that winning andlosing was part of thegame, Gopichand said itwas important to maintainequilibrium when it comesto displaying emotions. “Ina tournament, I have 10kids playing and six ofthem have lost on Day One,three of them have lost onDay Two, so if I start feel-ing bad and miserable eachtime they lost or feel excit-ed each time they win, thenit is not very healthy forme. It is important for meover the years to realisethat winning and losingare part of the game. If youget too elated when youwin, you will very feellousy when you lose, just tocontrol it and keep thatequilibrium, is impor-tant,” he stressed. — PTI

Paris, Nov. 13: Athrilling crop of youngplayers has Euro 2020 inits sights as theNetherlands prepare fora return to the big stage.

Ronald Koeman’s sideneed just a draw atNorthern Ireland onSaturday to guarantee aspot at their first inter-national tournamentsince coming third at the2014 World Cup.

The 56-year-old hasrevitalised his country’sdormant national teamwith the help of a crop ofyoung players who areputting a famous foot-balling nation back onthe map.

Rising stars includingFrenkie de Jong, Donnyvan de Beek and Matthijsde Ligt have joined moreexperienced campaign-ers Virgil van Dijk,

Georginio Wijnaldum,Daley Blind and RyanBabel to go top of GroupC ahead of the final tworounds of qualifiers.

Germany meanwhilejust need to better

Northern Ireland’sresult to make sure oftheir place.

France are among sev-eral big hitters also ahair’s breadth away fromthe Finals. They mightqualify before they eventake the field againstMoldova on Thursday,should third-placedIceland not beat Group‘H’ leaders Turkey.

England can rubberstamp what has longlooked to be certain qual-ification with a drawover winless Monte-negro, with GarethSouthgate’s side anotherone pushing young play-ers to the forefront.

Reigning Europeanchampions Portugalmeanwhile will have thechance to defend theirtitle with a win overLithuania. — AFP

London, Nov. 13:Dominic Thiem produceda scintillating display ofattacking tennis to beatNovak Djokovic and quali-fy for the last four at theATP Finals on Tuesday,leaving the Serbian facinga shootout against RogerFederer.

In the standout match sofar at London’s O2 Arena,the Austrian fifth seedtook the fight to the worldnumber two, recoveringfrom losing the first set totriumph 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-6(7/5).

Earlier, Federer put him-self back in the mix at theend-of-season event with a7-6 (7/2), 6-3 win againstItalian debutant MatteoBerrettini in their round-robin clash.

Federer and Djokovicwill face off on Thursdayin a repeat of this year’sWimbledon final to deter-mine who else willprogress from GroupBjorn Borg.

Thiem was forced to playhigh-stakes tennis againstthe 16-time Grand Slamwinner, taking the breathaway with some of hisinside-out forehands andsingle-handed backhandsForced to play at his limit,he hit 50 winners com-pared with Djokovic’stally of 27 but also rackedup 44 unforced errors.

“This was really one ofthese special matches,what I’ve practised all mylife for, all my childhoodfor,” Thiem said.

“Really epic one in anamazing atmosphere,beating a legend of our

game. And also I’ve quali-fied for the semifinals,which is the best.

“Coming back from 1-4(down in the deciding tie-break) was a little bit ofluck, but it was an unbe-lievable match and one I’llnever forget. Novak is thebest player in the worldand I had to do somethingspecial,” he said.

In a captivating first setthe players swapped a

break apiece but Djokovic,a five-time ATP Finalschampion, edged the tie-break. Undaunted, Thiembroke his opponent at thefirst opportunity in thesecond set and, withDjokovic’s errors, went onto level the match.

Thiem also drew firstblood in the decider butcracked in the sixth gameas Djokovic levelled thematch and appeared to

have engineered a switchin momentum.

The Austrian successful-ly challenged at 30-30 inthe 10th game after hisforehand was ruled out,preventing a match pointfor Djokovic and hetoughed it out to level at 5-5. He then broke Djokovicto love to earn a chance toserve for the match butstumbled and the deciderwent to a tie-break.

Still the drama was notfinished. Thiem slipped to4-1 down but battled backto win it on his secondmatch point whenDjokovic dumped a fore-hand into the net.

Djokovic is hunting asixth ATP Finals title topull level with Federer’srecord and is also seekingto pip Rafael Nadal to theyear-end number oneranking. — AFP

Bogota (Colombia), Nov. 13:Former Colombian footballerFaustino Asprilla has claimed adrug trafficker offered to mur-der ex-Paraguay goalkeeperJose Luis Chilavert after an on-field clash between the SouthAmerican pair.

Speaking in a documentaryabout his life, due to bescreened at the end of the week,Asprilla said the extraordinaryoffer came in 1997.

That was just three years afterColombian defender AndresEscobar was gunned down inhis home city of Medellin bysuspected drug cartel membersafter scoring an own goal in a 1-2 defeat to hosts USA at the Fifa

World Cup Finals in 1994.“But you’re mad! What will

happen to Colombian football?It’s not possible. No, no, no!”was Asprilla’s response, the 50-year-old told the documentarymakers.

Asprilla and Chilavert hadboth been sent off during aWorld Cup qualifier in theParaguayan city of Asuncion —won 2-1 by Paraguay — ahead ofthe 1998 tournament.

Afterwards, Asprilla says hereceived a phone call from JulioFierro, described by Colombia’sattorney general’s office as adrug trafficker, who invited himto a hotel in Asuncion alongwith fellow former Colombia

international Victor HugoAristizabal.

There, Fierro was waiting forthem “with 10 people, drunk,and with pure Paraguayanwomen.”

“We were annoyed because

we’d lost when the man arrived(and said) ‘we need you toauthorise these two guys to stayhere in Paraguay, Asuncion,they want to go and kill thatfatty Chilavert’,” said Asprilla.

He told them that what hap-

pens on the pitch stays thereand that the issue was over.

But the “hitmen” insisted andasked him, “give us the order.”

Fierro’s body was discoveredin 2004 in what authoritiesbelieved to have been a settlingof scores.

The 1990s was a sorry periodin Colombian football. Severalteams, including America,Millonarios and Envigadoreceived mafia funding andwere duly punished for it.

Before even Escobar wasassassinated, the Colombianteam had been threatened dur-ing the 1994 World Cup.

Midfielder Gabriel Gomez leftthe tournament after playing

one match because threats weremade against him and his fami-ly should he play in the secondgame against hosts the UnitedStates.

The coach FranciscoMaturana also received a deaththreat should he pick Gomez.

The team’s spokesman at thetime said there was nothinguncommon about playersreceiving threats.

Asprilla, known affectionatelyas “Tino,” made his name inEurope for Italians Parma, win-ning the now-defunct EuropeanCup Winners’ Cup in 1993.

Three years later he moved toNewcastle in the EnglishPremier League. — AFP

Dushanbe, Tajikistan:Struggling to find consistency

in a winless campaign so far,the Indian football team needs

nothing less than a win in itscrunch World Cup qualifying

round match againstAfghanistan to be played in

freezing temperatures here onThursday.

India began the second roundof the qualifiers with a narrow

1-2 defeat to higher-rankedOman before a memorable

goalless draw against Asianchampions Qatar in Doha in

September.The good show in the first twomatches raised hopes of a pos-sible third round berth but a 1-1

draw against eastern neigh-bours Bangladesh in Kolkata onOctober 15 came as a dampen-

er. Had it not been for AdilKhan’s last-gasp header (88thminute), the home side wouldhave disappointed the crowd.

The team is now at fourth placein the Group ‘E’ with two points

from three matches. With therunner-up in the five-team

group not even assured of athird round slot, India cannot

afford to lose againstAfghanistan.

The Afghans, who are 149th inFIFA rankings against India

106th position, are placed thirdin the group with one win and

two losses. — PTI

INDIA WARMUP FOR COLD

AFGHAN GAME

France’s Fed Cup winning tennis team members Pauline Parmentier (from left), Caroline Garcia, Alize Cornet andFiona Ferro pose with French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) and the trophy during a reception at the Elyseepresidential palace in Paris on Tuesday. France beat Australia 3-2 in the final in Perth, Australia, on Sunday. — AFP

Joshua Kimmich takes part in a training session of theGerman team in Duesseldorf on Wednesday ahead oftheir Euro 2020 qualifier against Belarus on Sunday.— AFP

New Delhi, Nov. 13: Some of the top shuttlers includ-ing World Champion P. V. Sindhu will be in actionwhen the fifth edition of the Premier BadmintonLeague (PBL), featuring eight teams, gets underway onJanuary 20.

The upcoming season which concludes on February9 will be staged this time in Chennai, Delhi, Lucknow,and Bangalore.

While Kidambi Srikanth-led Bengaluru Raptors hadlifted the trophy in the last edition, HyderabadHunters, Chennai Smashers, Delhi Dashers, andHyderabad Hotshots are the other past winners.

“India’s prowess in badminton has been re-estab-lished once again as Sindhu became the first Indian tobecome the world champion. Sai Praneeth alsobrought a men’s singles medal after 36 years, signify-ing India’s stupendous development in the sport. Thefifth season of PBL will give badminton lovers a price-less opportunity to watch these champions live,” saidHimanta Biswa Sarma, President of BAI. — PTI

PBL-5 TO BE PLAYED IN4 CITIES FROM JAN. 20

Thiem trumps Djokovic in ATP Finals thriller

● Colombian ex-footballer Faustino Asprilla says adrug trafficker offered to murder former Paraguaycaptain Jose Luis Chilavert after the two clashedon the field during a World Cup qualifying match.

● That was just three years after Colombiandefender Andres Escobar was gunned down in hishome city of Medellin by suspected drug cartelmembers after scoring an own goal in a 1-2 loss tohosts USA at the Fifa World Cup in 1994.

BADMINTON | BLOCK

Dominic Thiem of Austria celebrates his victory over Novak Djokovic of Serbia in their round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennistournament at the O2 Arena in London on Tuesday. Thiem won 6-7, 6-3, 7-6. — AFP

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CricketTHURSDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2019 | HYDERABADDECCAN CHRONICLE

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by

T. Venkateswarlu on behalf ofDeccan Chronicle Holdings Limited.Printed at Deccan Chronicle Presssituated at Plot No. 9 Alwal Village,

Vallabh Nagar Taluk, MedchalMalkajgiri Dist. Telangana andPublished at 36, S.D. Road,

Secunderabad-3.RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.

Editor: Aditya Sinha

We are missingthree players in

two players.Shakib bhai is two

players in one.— Mominul Haque, Bangladesh captain

NemesisAustralian legend Adam Gilchrist has described HarbhajanSingh as his nemesis, saying the Indian off-spinner was one ofthe toughest he faced during his international career

Ruthless India look to overpowerBangla as first Test begins today

Indore, Nov. 13:The action begins

with the red cherry butthe focus is firmly onthe pink ball as a formi-

dable India looks to over-power a depleted-but-grittyBangladesh in the first Testof a two-match series start-ing here on Thursday.

The rubber opens here butthe buzz and the talk hasbeen consistently centeredon the second game inKolkata, which will beplayed under lights — a his-toric first for both the teams.This is also that one series inthe World TestChampionship calendar, inwhich Virat Kohli’s men,currently in the “pink ofform”, can steamroll the rag-tag opposition well insidefour days.

In fact, on paper, it is diffi-cult to imagine howBangladesh, without TamimIqbal and the suspendedShakib Al Hasan, will evenbe able to compete in a for-mat, which has been theirweakest till date. Havingcrushed South Africa intheir last series, this Indianteam, with inarguably theirgreatest-ever pace unit tilldate, will definitely be toohot to handle for a sidewhose best batsman — skip-per Mominul Haque — hasless than 10 Test hundreds(eight).

Although MushfiqurRahim and MahmudullahRiyad are committed crick-

eters but in the longest for-

mat, they aren’t exactly for-midable names. Comparethat to India’s premier wil-low wielders — Kohli (26hundreds), Ajinkya Rahane(11), Cheteshwar Pujara (18).They have 50 plus ton collec-tively and it will be one hellof a task for the MustafizurRahamans, Taijul Islams andMehidy Hasan Mirajs to stopthis line-up.

And before these three evencome into play, Bangladeshwill have to deal with open-ers Mayank Agarwal and theindomitable Rohit Sharma,who can make mincemeat oftheir bowling attack.

Add to it, India’s bowlingunit with 800-plus scalps,this is one contest where the‘David’ looks incapable ofslaying the proverbial‘Goliath’. Not to forget thatBangladesh, in their last Testmatch under the mercurialShakib’s leadership, lost toAfghanistan in a one-offgame. Shakib was ousted

from this series owing to atwo-year suspension for fail-ing to report corruptapproaches to the ICC.

The Indians, however, donot want to take anything forgranted. “Bangladesh is avery good team. We playedvery well against SouthAfrica but that’s past now.With (World) TestChampionship, every matchis equally important,” vice-captain Rahane said.

— PTITHE SQUADS

India (from): Rohit Sharma,Mayank Agarwal,Cheteshwar Pujara, ViratKohli (captain), AjinkyaRahane, Ravindra Jadeja,Wriddhiman Saha (wk),Ravichandran Ashwin,Mohammed Shami, UmeshYadav, Ishant Sharma,Kuldeep Yadav. Reserves:Shubman Gill, HanumaVihari, Rishabh Pant. Bangladesh: MominulHaque (captain), ImrulKayes, Mushfiqur Rahim(wk), Mahmudullah Riyad,Mohammed Mithun, LitonKumar Das, Mehidy HasanMiraj, Mustafizur Rahaman,Naeem Hasan, Saif Hasan,Shadman Islam, Taijul Islam,Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain,Al Amin Hossain.

INDIA-BANGLADESH IN TESTSVenue Played Ind won Ban won DrawnIn Bangladesh 8 6 - 2In India 1 1 - -Total 9 7 - 2

India 687/6 decl. at Hyderabad2016-17Bangladesh 400 at BangabandhuStadium, Dhaka 2000

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTALS

India 243 at Chittagong 2010Bangladesh 91 at BangabandhuStadium, Dhaka 2000

LOWEST INNINGS TOTALSIndia 248* Sachin Tendulkar atDhaka 2004Bangladesh 158* MohammedAshraful at Chittagong 2004

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORESIndia 7-87 Zaheer Khan atMirpur, Dhaka 2004Bangladesh 6-132 Naim-ur-Rehman at Dhaka 2000

BEST BOWLING IN AN INNINGSIndia 11-96 Irfan Pathan atMirpur, Dhaka 2004Bangladesh 7-174 Shakib AlHasan at Chittagong 2010

BEST BOWLING IN A MATCH

David vs Goliath

STATS: S. PERVEZ

QAISER

Wriddhiman Saha andRavindra Jadeja look inawe of Virat Kohli dur-ing a training session inIndore on Wednesday.

— AFP

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SHORT TAKES

Pooran bannedfor ball-tamperingDubai: West Indies wicketkeep-er-batsman Nicolas Pooran wason Wednesday handed a four-match suspension after admit-

ting to ball-tampering in thethird ODI against Afghanistan,

an offence for which he alsoissued a public apology.

Pooran will now miss the nextfour T20 International games

for the West Indies and willhave five demerit points added

to his record. The game inquestion took place in Lucknowon Monday. “Nicolas Pooran has

been handed four suspensionpoints after admitting breach-ing level 3 of the ICC Code of

Conduct for Players and PlayerSupport Personnel...,” the

International Cricket Councilsaid in a statement. “Pooran

was charged with violatingArticle 2.14 of the code, whichrelates to ‘changing the condi-

tion of the ball’ after videofootage showed him scratchingthe surface of the ball with his

thumbnail,” it added. Pooranadmitted the offence on

Tuesday and accepted thesanction proposed by match

referee Chris Broad. “I recog-nise that I made an extreme

error in judgement and I fullyaccept the ICC penalty. I wantto assure everyone that this isan isolated incident and it willnot be repeated,” Pooran stat-

ed. “I want to issue a sincereapology to my teammates, sup-

porters and the Afghanistanteam for what transpired on the

field of play.” — PTI

New Delhi: New Zealand fastbowler Trent Boult will play for

Mumbai Indians in next year'sIndian Premier League while

domestic pacer Ankit Rajpootwill represent Rajasthan Royals

after they were successfullytraded by their respective fran-

chises. According to an IPLstatement, Boult will play for

Mumbai Indians after beingtraded by his current team

Delhi Capitals, while Rajpoothas been traded successfully byKings XI Punjab. Boult made his

IPL debut in 2014 and playedfor Delhi Capitals in the 2018

and 2019 season. He has 38 IPLwickets from 33 games.

Rajpoot, a right-arm fast bowlerwho joined KXIP in 2018, has

played 23 IPL matches and has22 wickets in his kitty. — PTI

Boult to play forMumbai Indians

Indore: He is new to captaincybut Bangladesh skipper

Mominul Haque is confidentthat the added responsibility

will not affect his batting, whichwill be crucial to his team’s

chances of upstaging anaccomplished India in the Test

series starting here onThursday.

The 28-year-old Mominul hasreplaced Shakib Al hasan, who

was suspended for two years(one year suspended) by the

ICC for failing to report multi-ple corrupt approaches. “I am

not feeling pressure justbecause I have been appointed

captain. The way I battedbefore captaincy, I will bat inthe same way now,” he said.

“I always try to think about thepositive aspects. There are a

few positives in being captainas well. Your knowledge aboutthe game increases. You tend

to become more responsible asa player. So I think, it will helpme improve my performance,”

he added. Mominul feels thatsince expectations from his side

are not particularly high, thepressure is also a bit less.

Asked about India’s pace bowl-ing might, Mominul said: “India

is such a team that they canchallenge different opponents

in different ways. — PTI

Mominul readyfor responsibility

Tilak thumps ton; Harshmakes it double in leagueDC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, NOV. 13

Promising batsman N.Thakur Tilak Varma,Shaswat Rawat, M.Abhirath Reddy andRajat Dey hit centuriesin the BCCI matcheswhile, HarshwardhanSingh batted exception-ally well to score a dou-ble century in aHyderabad CricketAssociation’s two-dayleague match here.

In the men’s Under 19Challenger, Tilak ofIndia ‘B’slammed 101 off106 balls smashing 10boundaries and threesixes to lead his side to aseven-wicket victoryover India ‘C,’ for whomShaswat hit 129 off 119balls.

Replying to India C’s229 in 47.2 overs, the ‘B’side made 230 for 3 in 42.3overs.

In another match, India‘A’ posted 247 in 48.2overs and later restrictedNepal U-19 to 140 for 9 in50 overs.

Abhirath was the othercenturion. In the BCCI U-23 one-day trophy, he hit102 off 79 balls asHyderabad made 323 for6 in 50 overs againstTripura for whom Rajathit 187 off 119 balls as theteam posted 322 for 5 in50 overs. Hyderabad wonby four wickets.

In a BCCI women’s U-23

T20 trophy match, D.Ramya of Hyderabad hit52 not out to lead her sideto victory against CAPondicherry. Replying toPondicherry’s 73 for 7Hyderabad made 76 for 1.

In an HCA two-dayleague match,Harshwardhan hit anunbeaten 201 off 252balls with 27 boundariesand two sixes asBrothers XI (408)thrashed Osmania (177).Brief scores:UNDER-19 CHALLENGER

■ India U-19 ‘C’ 229 in 47.2overs (Shaswat Rawat 129— 119b), Vikrant Singh 41,Kumar Kushagara 28,Akash Singh 3/38, AaqibAbudllah 2/44, NirmalKumar 2/37, AtharvaAnkolekar 2/53) lost toIndia U-19 ‘B’ 230/3 in 42.3overs (N. Thakur TilakVarma 101 — 106b, 110x4,3x6), Yash Dhull 86,Divyansh Joshi 22 n.o.,Vidyadhar 2/27).■ India U-19 ‘A’ 247 in 48.2overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 33,Sai Bharadwaj 34, DhruvJurel 74, K. Nitish Kumar30, Kritigya Singh 26,

Akash Chand 2/30, SheerMalla 3/54) bt Nepal U-19140/9 in 50 overs (BishalBikram 71, K. Nitish Kumar2/21, Sameer Rizvi 2/24).

UNDER-23 ONE-DAY■ Tripura 322/5 in 50overs (Bikram Kumar 50,Rajat Dey 187 — 135b),Subham 50, Mickil Jaiswal2/22) lost to Hyderabad323/6 in 50 overs (M.Abhirath Reddy 102 —79b), A. Sai Pranay 47, T.Santosh Goud 69, RahulBuddhi 33, C. Hitesh Yadav35 n.o., Subham 2/57,Bikram Kumar 2/45).Points:: Hyderabad 4,Tirpura 0.VIJAY MERCHANT TROPHYDay-2:■ Hyderabad 261 in 87.5 &46/3 in 18 overs vsTamilnadu 127 in 74.2overs (Wafar 39, MdSikander 35, Pranay Varma3/20, Nitin Sai Yadav 2/19,Ashwad Rajiv 2/25)

TWO-DAY LEAGUE■ Brothers XI 408/9 in 90overs (HarshwardhanSingh 201 n.o — 252b,27x4, 2x6) bt Osmania 177in 31.2 overs (Anish Rao78, M. Manikant 39 n.o.,George Hestern 3/35,Aliga Nitin 4/85). Points:Brothers XI 4, Osmania 0.

WOMENS UNDER-23■ CA Pondicherry 73/7 in20 overs (G. Trisha 2/6,Varsha 3/15) lost toHyderabad 76/1 in 11.1overs (D Ramya 52 n.o.).Points: Hyderabad 4, CAPondicherry 0.

Abhirath, Shaswat and Rajat also do well

Tilak VVarma Harsh

Indore, Nov. 13: The pink ballswings more than the red one but howit would behave after getting old,especially when dew will be a factor,is keeping India skipper Virat Kohliintrigued ahead of team’s historicday-night Test against Bangladesh.

The pink ball Test is still a few daysaway but Kohli, on the eve of theseries-opener, was busy answeringquestions related to the second Teststarting November 22.

“I think it’s a new way to bringexcitement to Test cricket. The pinkball I played yesterday, I felt it swingsa lot more as compared to the red ball

because there’s extra lacquer (quoteof paint) on the ball which doesn’t goaway too fast. And the seam holdsupright quite a bit,” the skipper’s ini-tial observation seemed in sync withwhat his deputy Ajinkya Rahane hadassessed.

“If the pitch has extra help for thebowlers, then they will be in thegame, especially fast bowlersthroughout the course of the Testmatch. I don’t know how the old ballbehaves because with the dew and thelacquer going off, it will be interest-ing to see how much the old balldoes,” he said. — PTI

INTERESTING TO SEE HOW PINKBALL BEHAVES WITH DEW: KOHLI

inflation rises to 15-month high

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