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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 26*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The torching of a womantahsildar in broad daylight rightin her office on the outskirts thecity on Monday exposes thesensitiveness of land disputes inTelangana, which prides onhaving undertaken the processof 'purification' of records.

Although the motive behindthe murder is yet to be estab-lished, preliminary investiga-tions and circumstantial evi-dence point to an unresolved'land dispute' as the trigger forthe revolting incident.

The assailant, Suresh, afarmer who owns seven acreson the outskirts of the city in thenewly created zone, reported-ly resorted to the step in a fit ofrage as the tahsildar did notoblige his request to correct cer-tain errors in the land recordsand the pattadar passbookregarding ownership of theland in question.

The Telangana governmentundertook land records 'purifi-cation' drive in September 2017with the professed aim of end-ing land disputes once and forall across the state. The statedobjective was to makeTelangana a 'land dispute freestate' with clear titles on own-

ership. The drive was supposedto be completed on December31, 2017, but was stretched tillApril 2018 due to the sheernumbers of revenue recordsrequiring cleaning up. The newdigital pattadar passbooks wereissued to land owners from May2018 upon the so-called purifi-cation.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao claimedhuge success of the land purifi-cation drive. He asserted thatTelangana State was the onlystate in the country that couldsuccessfully "purify" 93 percent of the land records. TheChief Minister even announcedone-month salary as one-timebonus for revenue staff forachieving the task.

Continued on Page 4

Tahsildar's murderexposes ‘flawed' landrecords purificationl Land disputes continue to claim lives despite govt'sclaims on having ‘purified’ 93% of land records

PNS n HYDERABAD

Internal squabbles amongsenior babus of the YSRCongress party governmentin Andhra Pradesh headed byY S Jagan Mohan Reddy result-ed in the abrupt transfer ofChief Secretary L VSubramanyam on Monday.

Subramanyam was shuntedout of his post by the very sameIAS officer Praveen Prakash,Principal Secretary (Political)in the Chief Minister's Office(CMO), against whom he hadissued a show-cause noticethree days ago.

This is for the first time inthe history of the Telugu States,or any state for that matter, thata CS has been transferredabruptly.

Normally, senior IAS offi-cers towards the fag end of

their career are appointed asCS and they would be in aposition to retire from serviceas CS.

Subramanyam, who still hasfive months service left beforeretirement, has been posted asDirector-General of the APHuman ResourcesDevelopment Institute atBapatla in Guntur district - a

rather insignificant post for hisstature. He was asked to handover the charge of ChiefSecretary to another senior IASofficer Neerabh Kumar Prasad,Chief Commissioner of LandAdministration.

A 1983-batch IAS officer,Subramanyam is the mostsenior IAS officer in the state.He was ignored by the previ-ous TDP government headedby N Chandrababu Naidu inthe appointment as chief sec-retary. Naidu preferred AnilKumar Punetha as the CS.

However, Subramanyamwas appointed as the ChiefSecretary by the ElectionCommission of India, just aweek before the elections inApril. Jagan retained him asthe Chief Secretary in view ofhis seniority.

Continued on Page 4

Andhra Chief Secy shiftedamid row with colleague

Raut meets Guv, says Sena nothindering govt formationPNS n MUMBAI

The Shiv Sena is notcreating any hurdlesin formation of agovernment inMaharashtra, seniorparty leader SanjayRaut said onMonday after meetingthe governor as thepolitical stalemate saw no

sign of resolution nearly twoweeks after assembly

election results.Whoever enjoys

majority shouldbe allowed toform govt, saidRaut, who has

been at the fore-front of vociferous-

ly articulating theSena's demand for equal

distribution of power and shar-ing the chief minister's post.

The Rajya Sabha MPdescribed his meeting withGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari as a "courtesy call".

"We informed the governorthat the Shiv Sena is notresponsible for the currentpolitical situation in the stateover formation of new gov-ernment," he said.

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

Reflecting a shocking trend ofpeople taking the law intotheir own hands, a man,incensed over an unsolvedissue concerning his land,allegedly set ablaze a womanTahsildar in her office atAbdullapurmet here onMonday around 2-00 pm. Theincident happened apparentlyafter the MRO and the manhad heated discussions forabout 20 minutes.

According to reports basedon eye-witness accounts, theTahsildar or Mandal RevenueOfficer (MRO), Vijaya Reddy,was alone in her office whenthe assailant, Kurra Suresh,set her on fire after dousing herwith petrol that he had man-aged to carry into her room ina bottle. The MRO came outof her room screaming and twoof the staffers immediatelycovered her in a blanket, butshe collapsed in her office.The assailant, who also sufferedburns in the process, did escapefrom the scene, but collapsedoutside the office. His condi-tion was stated to be critical.

Officials from theRachakonda police said thatthere had been a fall-outbetween the two of them overseven acres of land nearBacharam village. Vijaya Reddywas the first to be appointed as

Tahsildar after the formation ofthe Abdullapurmet zone. Shewas allegedly harassing Suresh,who, despite making repeatedvisits to her office, could not getthe registration done, followingchanges made recently torevamped land records. Sureshsubsequently claimed beforepolice that she had asked for abribe.

Vijaya's body was shifted toOsmania General Hospital

Rachakonda PoliceCommissioner MaheshBhagawath said that therewould be a thorough and sci-

entific investigation in the case."We have learnt that disputeover land was ongoing in theHigh Court, which could bethe accused's motive to carryout the attack by reportedlypouring petrol over her at theoffice. This is a daylight mur-der of a government officialand the accused will not bespared. We will see what all hasled to this incident. The manis already in our custody. Weare also probing if anyone hadprovoked him. We will finishthe investigation in a limitedtime and take it to a fast-trackcourt for swift punishmentand see that he is hanged forthe crime," he said.

ACP Vanasthalipuram SJayaram said that the accusedhad suffered 63 percent burnsand was being treated. "Twopeople were injured in theincident, including Suresh. Weare collecting statements fromall the witnesses to proceedwith the investigation. We havealready booked cases undersection 302 (murder) and 307(attempt to murder) of the IPCagainst the accused. The evi-dence gathered from the sceneof offence, including cloth andbottles, are being sent to labo-ratory to test," said the official.

Several senior police officialsand Ranga Reddy DistrictCollector visited the spot.

Continued on Page 4

Woman MRO set ablaze in officel The Tahsildar was alone in her office when the assailant set her on fire l She allegedlyharassed Suresh, who, despite making repeated visits to her office, could not get his work done

No evidence tocorroboratewhistleblowers'charges: InfosysNEW DELHI: Infosys onMonday said it is yet toreceive any evidence to cor-roborate complaints byanonymous whistleblowersthat alleged unethical prac-tices by the company's topmanagement.

"With respect to the anony-mous complaints, there is noprima facie evidence that thecompany has received untildate to corroborate any of theallegations made," Infosystold the National StockExchange. On October 24, theNSE sought clarification fromthe IT major on the whistle-blowers' allegations and whythe company had not dis-closed the same to theexchanges.

Passengerssuffer at airportsas IndiGo's servergoes downNEW DELHI: Passengerstaking IndiGo flights onMonday morning at airportsall over India faced major has-sle as the airline's server weredown for around an houracross the entire network. Asservers were down, the check-in counters of the budget-car-rier were unable to issueboarding passes to passengers,leading to long queues at air-ports. With around 48.2 percent share of the domestic airpassenger market, IndiGo isIndia's largest airline.

"We regret the inconve-nience caused to our passen-gers today in the morning dueto system being down acrossairports for under an hour.Our flights and check-in sys-tems are operating normallynow," IndiGo said in a state-ment issued around 2 pm.

Pawar meetsSonia at 10JanpathNEW DELHI: NCP chiefSharad Pawar on Mondaymet Congress president SoniaGandhi at her residence hereamidst an impasse betweenthe BJP and its ally the ShivSena on the government for-mation in Maharashtra.

Sources said the meetingwas earlier expected to takeplace in the afternoon butwas delayed as Pawar had toattend a parliamentary stand-ing committee meeting.

During the meeting, thetwo leaders are expected todiscuss the current politicalsituation in Maharashtra inview of the tussle between theBJP and its ally the ShivSena, which is playing hard-ball on the issue of chief min-ister's post and demanding anequal division of the toppost's tenure.

RTC officials hopeful staff in goodnumbers will resume work todayPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State Road TransportCorporation (TSRTC) officialsare hopeful striking employeesin good numbers would reportto duty on Tuesday as the stategovernment's deadline to themto return to work ends onNovember 5.

There were only a few takerson Sunday as the government'sdeadline for striking workers to

return to duty neared, accord-ing to RTC sources.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Raohad on Saturday saidthe state cabinetdecided to allot 5,100of 10,400 routes toprivate operators andwarned that the otherroutes would also be givento them if those on strike don'tjoin duty by the midnight of

November 5. The RTC employ-ees continued protests at

various places onMonday which is the31st day of theirstrike.

They sat in frontof RTC bus depots

and raised slogans insupport of the strike.

As the RTC tried to runbuses as part of alternative itsarrangementsin view of the

strike, the protesting employees,at some places, attempted to pre-vent the buses from being oper-ated. An employee of RTC diedof heart attack in Nalgondadistrict, the staff claimed onMonday.

Three employees had alleged-ly ended their lives and at leastfive suicide attempts werereported since the strike beganon October 5.

Continued on Page 2

TS lawyersabstain fromcourtPNS n HYDERABAD

Advocates practising in vari-ous courts in Telangana,including the high court, onMonday abstained from judi-cial work protesting the allegedattack on their colleagues inDelhi by police personnel.

Telangana HC AdvocatesAssociation T Surya KaranReddy said that their membersin the HC and in civil andcriminal courts stayed awayfrom proceedings "expressingour support to the Delhi lay-ers and we also held a rally atthe HC gate." According toreports received from variousparts of the state, severallawyers abstained from courtwork. Lawyers and police hadclashed at Tis Hazari courtduring which at least 20 policepersonnel and several lawyerswere injured.

India won't join Asian trade deal RCEP: PMl Modi says ‘conscience won't permit’ l India has called for a mutually beneficial RCEPPNS n NEW DELHI

India will not be part of the theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership or RCEP— which will be the world'slargest free trade pact of 16nations. India has called for a"mutually beneficial RCEP inwhich all sides gain reasonably",which, on the ground, involvesmarket access and tariffs.

There were indications thatthe 16 nations which would bepart of the world's largest free

trade pact, may proceed withoutIndia to announce a provision-al agreement amid trade ten-sions continue between the USand China, pushing economicgrowth in the region to its low-est in five years. The deal isexpected to be signed next year.

In his address, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said the presentform of the RCEP Agreement"does not fully reflect the basicspirit and the agreed guidingprinciples" or India's concerns.

Citing the country's farmers,

traders, professionals and indus-tries, and workers and con-sumers, who have a stake in

such decisions, he said: "WhenI measure the RCEP Agreementwith respect to the interests ofall Indians, I do not get a posi-tive answer. Therefore, neitherthe Talisman of Gandhiji nor myown conscience permits me tojoin the RCEP". India has beenforcefully raising the issue ofmarket access and tariffs amidconcern that the country mightbe flooded with cheap Chineseagricultural and industrial prod-ucts once the deal is signed.

Over the weekend, the trade

ministers from 16 RCEP nations— who met on the sidelines ofthe ASEAN summit — failed toresolve the outstanding issuesthough back-channel talks.

Sources said India was con-sistent in raising its concernsfrom Day One during the RCEPnegotiations. The issues flaggedincluded possible circumventionof Rules of Origin, trade deficits,opening of services and safe-guard mechanisms to preventimport surges and protect thedomestic industry.

KTR: Huzurnagar win reflectspeople’s faith in KCRARUN DANIEL YELLAMATY n HYDERABAD

TRS Working PresidentKTR held a meetingwith the Ministers,MLAs, MPs andother public rep-resentatives whoworked for theparty's victory inHuzurnagar by-elec-tions. "This victory is likea tonic which has brought innew energy into the party," hesaid. Working President KTR

said that the people reposedtheir faith in Chief MinisterKCR's governance and leader-

ship. TRS Party's victory inHuzurnagar is a standing

testimony for the same,he continued.

KTR stated that thepeople of Huzurnagarhave given a fitting

reply to the false pro-paganda of the opposition

parties. With this election,people now know the strengthsof each party in the state.

Continued on Page 4

PNS n HYDERABAD

The State government hasdecided not to take back onrolls RTC employees whofail to report for duty byTuesday midnight.

The state government is ofthe firm view that a "goodopportunity" has been givenand it is up to the RTC work-ers and employees to joinduty before the deadline andprotect their jobs.

The government has nowmade it clear that if the work-ers and employees do not joinduty as per the fresh deadline,even in the rest of as-yetRTC-operated 5,000 routes,private buses will be givenpermits so that there wouldnot be any need for RTC inthe State.

Continued on Page 4

Natl disastermgmt schemesoon: ShahPNS n NEW DELHI

Urging all SCO countriestowards joint assistance indealing with earthquakes,Home Minister Amit Shah onMonday said India would sooncome up with a nationalscheme which would not onlycover the disaster risk renew-al Sendai Framework but alsothe goals of permanent devel-opment and climate relatedagreement. Speaking at theJoint Exercise on UrbanEarthquake Search and Rescue2019 in Delhi, Shah said Indiahas completed the amend-ment process in the country'sNational Disaster ManagementScheme launched in 2016.

Noting that all 28 states,nine Union Territories and 90per cent districts have com-pleted their disaster manage-ment schemes.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT Achilling video of the revolting incident is doing the rounds

on social media platforms. Shot minutes after Suresh setReddy on fire, it shows the MRO struggling to get help after shecomes out of her room, stumbling and screaming in excruciat-ing pain, while people around try their best to save her. As perwitness accounts, the assailant emptied petrol on Vijaya Reddyand set her ablaze. This happened after he had a short discus-sion with her on Monday afternoon. Since it was around lunchtime, most of the staffers were not around. The place, otherwisenondescript, witnessed a throng of curious and furious onlook-ers post the mishap, with policemen all over.

Full Report in Page 2

The Telanganagovernmentundertook landrecords ‘purification’drive in September2017 with theprofessed aim ofending land disputesonce and for allacross the state

l CM holds reviewmeetingl To make TS ‘RTC-freestate' if unions continuestrike after deadlinel All remaining RTCroute permits could be issued to privateplayers

TS govt firm on Nov 5deadline on RTC strike

(Top) The MRO, Vijaya Reddy (right) her torched body and the accused Suresh

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Karimnagar's MCHCC sets record in deliveries PNS n KARIMNAGAR

The Mother and Child HealthCare Centre (MCHCC) in thetown, that has been attractingpregnant women not onlyfrom old Karimangar but alsofrom adjacent districts, set arecord of sorts by performinghighest number of deliveries of901 in October.

A total of 901 babies weredelivered in the month ofOctober. MCHCC, which per-formed the highest of 800deliveries in a month last year,reset its own record by per-forming 901 deliveries.

District Collector SarafarazAhmed appreciated hospitalstaff for excellent performance,thanks to KCR Kits that hasbeen attracting pregnantwomen to MCHCC. Best facil-

ities are being provided tomother and child by utilisingmodern equipment.

While private nursinghomes charge between Rs25,000 to Rs 40,000 for adelivery, State government is

giving the mother an incentiveof Rs 12,000 (in case of boy)and Rs 13,000 (in case of girl)for coming to governmenthospitals for delivery underKCR kit. Impressed by thegovernment scheme, a major-

ity of pregnant women are opt-ing for government hospitalsduring delivery.

Also, MCHCC doctors aregiving top priority to normaldelivery and have been coun-selling pregnant women aboutthe issue. As a result, thenumber of normal deliverieshave been increasing gradual-ly. Out of 3,101 deliverieswhich took place in the hospi-tal since January this year,around 1,490 are normal ones.

According to hospital sta-tistics, of 322 delivers inJanuary, 103 were normal; of266 in February, 85 were nor-mal; of 337 in March; 114were normal; of 364 in April169 were normal; of 397 inMay, 199 were normal; of349 in June, 194 were normal;of 333 in July, 176 were nor-mal; of 376 in August, 226were normal; and of 357deliveries in September, 226were normal.

Mother and Child Health Care Centre,which performed the highest of 800deliveries in a month last year, reset itsown record by performing 901deliveries in October

Who is to blame for MRO's murder? PNS n HYDERABAD

Has Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao's overtcampaign against RevenueDepartment and government'slack of vision taking a toll onrevenue employees inTelangana? The murder of tah-sildar Vijaya Reddy has shak-en the whole state, pushing rev-enue employees into a state ofshock and disbelief.

Immediately after the newsof Vijaya Reddy's murder wasreported, opposition leaderscame down heavily on theChief Minister, saying KCRhas presented RevenueDepartment as the most cor-rupt and instigated hatredtowards revenue employees.

"Government is responsiblefor tahsildar Vijaya Reddy'smurder. Lady MRO's murderwas instigated by the govern-ment. The Chief Minister haspresented revenue employees ascorrupt and created hatredamong the public against them.The government also failed tomanage revenue employeesproperly and define work struc-ture and guidelines. As a result,work pressure also increased onrevenue employees, makingthem incapable of addressingall the pleas and applicationsfrom people due to work bur-den," said Congress seniorleader Seethakka commentingon Tahsildar's death.

Firebrand Congress MLA TJayaprakash Reddy (JaggaReddy) also fired on the TRSgovernment stressing that CM’sstatements and 'Dharmaghanta'campaign taken up by a mediaoutlet associated with TRS

leaders has created a riftbetween people and revenueofficials. A senior leader fromTNGOs also expressed dis-pleasure over government pre-senting all revenue employeesas corrupt.

"It is unfortunate that CMKCR himself has called revenueofficials as corrupt and createdanimosity against Revenuedepartment. If revenue employ-ees are corrupt then the govern-

ment should take action and ini-tiate corrective steps instead ofpresenting them in bad lightbefore people. Also, revenueemployees have been facingsevere work pressure due to themismanagement of government.At least now government shouldtake steps to protect revenueemployees. If this is the situation,then government employees of alldepartments will fear to work,"said a leader from TNGOs.

Opposition leaders came downheavily on the Chief Minister, sayingKCR has presented Revenue Dept as the most corrupt and instigatedhatred towards revenue employees

n Oppn holds CM responsible for presenting Revenue Dept as most corrupt and instigated hatred towards staff

PNS n WARANGAL

Revenue employees took upa protest in all the six districtsof erstwhile Warangal districton Monday afternoon afteran on-duty woman Tahsildarwas set ablaze by a man at heroffice in Abdullapurmet.

They demanded that thegovernment to provide secu-rity to the revenue employees.Expressing shock over theincident, the association ofTelangana Gazetted officersin Warangal announced thatthey would launch a stirseeking security and healthywork conditions for theemployees in their respectiveplaces.

The TGOs associa-tion leader,A n n a m e n a n iJaganmohanRao said thei n c i d e n thas creat-ed somesort ofpanic likesituationamong theemployeesand it such acondition con-tinues the rev-enue employeeswould go for spate ofprotests in all the districtsand revenue mandal areas ofthe state.

Employeesdemandsecurity

Govt policies ledto murder: CongPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MLA fromSangareddy T Jagga Reddyblamed Excise Minister VSrinivas Goud, who is also thehonorary president of TGO,TNGOs leaders RavinderReddy and Mamatha for MROVijaya Reddy's murder. Theincident occurred inAbdullapurmet Tahsil Officein Ranga Reddy district

Addressing the journalists atCLP office on Monday, healleged that the governmentpolicies and employees unionsattitude were the reason for themurder of MRO. He demand-ed the government to wake up

at least now to createamicable situation

between offi-cials and

people. "Orelse statew o u l dturn as afire ball,"h ewarned.

J a g g aReddy said

that thechanges in

revenue laws,which were flexible

to farmers and officials, byChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao after theformation of Telangana statehave been creating troubles tothe farmers and officials. Hesaid that the 'Dharma Ghanta'features in a media outletassociated with TRS leadershiphas created rivalry betweenfarmers and officials. The fea-ture ‘Dharma Ghanta’ hasmade the farmers to hate therevenue officials. Farmersstarted hating revenue officialsdue to ‘Dharma Ghanta’ fea-ture, he pointed out.

He said that ChiefMinister's behavior towardsrevenue department is thereason for the murder ofMRO Vijaya Reddy. Heopined that it is not possiblefor any leader to control cor-ruption in the society. Hesaid that the leaders ofemployees unions were alsoreason for the death of MRO.He questioned the employees'leaders to tell whether they

were blindly supporting thedecisions of Chief Minister iscorrect or not.

TPCC vice-president MalluRavi has alleged that the stategovernment is the reason forthe Abdullahpur incident. Healleged that the Chief Ministerdestroyed the revenue systemand described the revenueofficials as corrupt. Hedemanded the state govern-ment to own the responsibil-ity of MRO's murder.

Telangana Mahila Congresschief Nerella Sharada con-demned the murder of MROVijaya Reddy. It is utterlyinhumane to have such anincident on a tehsildar whoprotects the public, she stated.She alleged that KCR inten-tionally made provocativestatements against revenueofficials.

She said that the incidentslike injustice to families ofTelangana martyrs, injustice toDalits, injustice to inter stu-dents, injustice to unemployedyouth, intermediate students'suicides, Hazipur murders,RTC workers suicides andmurder of MRO took place inthe state one after the otherafter the formation ofTelangana state.

Malkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy has also expressed deepshock over the incident.

Callfor bandh on

TuesdayEmployees associations have called for the

statewide bandh on Tuesday protestingagainst the murder of tahsildar Vijaya

Reddy. TNGOs, TGOs, TelanganaTahsildars Association and other

employees bodies will takepart in the bandh.

PNS n HYDERABAD

It was a legal dispute with hisown brother over 7-acre-landat Bacharam village nearOuter ring road that madealleged culprit Kurra Sureshset ablaze Abdullapurmet tah-sildar Vijaya Reddy as hisproblem was not solved.

Reportedly, Suresh wasangry at the Tahsildar for notsettling the land dispute in hisfavour. The man was fed-upof making rounds to Vijaya'soffice. According to sources,the accused Suresh's fatherKrishna, who live inGouravelli, said that though

they are struggling for a pieceof land, the case is in Courtand not related to Tahsildaroffice. They are clueless aboutwhy did Suresh setAbdullapurpet TahsildarVijaya Reddy on fire.

Suresh has reportedly toldpolice that he is a farmer andwas also into real estate andco-owned 7-acre agricultureland along with his brother.The land was transferred to atenant and a dispute hasarisen over it and a litigationwas in the High Court. Hefurther claimed that injusticewas meted out to him in theland issue, an investigating

official said. Asked aboutreports that the accused hadfaced problems in settingright his land records, theofficial said they could not

confirm it as Suresh wasundergoing treatment. VijayaReddy, a 2009 group-II offi-cer, is survived by husbandand two children.

The Rachakonda Police arecollecting eyewitnessaccounts and also gatheringstatements from the people atthe building, including theaccused to know more andshed light on his motive. "Heis undergoing treatment andwe will be speaking to him asand when the doctors let us.More details will be knownshortly and we are doing ourbest to finish the investiga-tion" said an official.

Reportedly,Suresh wasangry at MRO fornot settling theland dispute. Heman was fed-upof making roundsto Vijaya's office

Land dispute the reason behind murder

PNS n HYDERABAD

A chilling video of the revolt-ing incident is doing therounds on social media plat-forms. Shot minutes afterSuresh set Reddy on fire, itshows the MRO struggling toget help after she comes out ofher room, stumbling andscreaming in excruciatingpain, while people around trytheir best to save her.

As per witness accounts, theassailant emptied petrol onVijaya Reddy and set herablaze. This happened after hehad a short discussion withher on Monday afternoon.Since it was around lunchtime, most of the staffers werenot around.

The place, otherwise nonde-script, witnessed a throng ofcurious and furious onlookerspost the mishap, with police-men all over.

Rachakonda CommissionerMahesh M Bhagwat saidaround 1.40 p.m, Suresh, a res-ident of Gaurelli village,walked into the room of theTahsildar Vijaya Reddy. Theassailant had come to theTahsildar office in the after-noon and waited for close to30 minutes before committingthe crime.

Mondays are dedicated forpublic hearing at theTahsildhar's office. Thestaffers noticed him, but notthe fuel he managed to carryinside the MRO's room.

"After speaking with her fora few minutes, Suresh dousedthe Tahsildar with fuel and sether ablaze before walking out.Two of the employees - anattender and driver of the ladyofficer -- tried to save her.However, she ran onto theverandah in the building andcollapsed before dying on thespot," said the Commissioner.Suresh was later spotted nearthe Hayathnagar Police Stationwith burn injuries on his hands.When questioned by the police,he said injustice was meted outto him in a land issue.

A person in the buildingsaid that he noticed a mangoing inside and locking thedoor. "Soon, I heard Madam(MRO Reddy) shouting forhelp and the door opened upwide, following which Sureshran away while on fire. Madamthen stumbled out and col-lapsed as she was strugglingwith flames engulfing herbody. We immediately got athick blanket and doused theflames, but it was too late asshe had already succumbed,"said the man.

An attender at the officesaid that he had seen Sureshcouple of times before at thebuilding. "Madam looked afterher employees very well andwas a good person. She has afamily and used to treat uswell. We have seen Suresh vis-iting her once a week regard-ing the case and we thoughteven today it was a regularvisit. He used to talk to her andleave. However, he was carry-ing the fuel in a bag this timeand we did not find anythingsuspicious. He used a cigarettelighter to start the fire and fledthe scene," said the attender.

The Tehsildar's driver, whowas also injured, was rushed tothe Hayathnagar hospital.Eyewitnesses said the assailantran out with burns after theincident. The two staffers whohad attempted to save VijayaReddy also sustained burninjuries.

n RachakondaCommissionerMahesh M Bhagwatsaid around 1.40 p.m,Suresh, a resident ofGaurelli village,walked into the roomof the Tahsildar VijayaReddyn He waited for closeto 30 minutes beforecommitting the crime

‘Chaddi gang’strikes againPNS n NIZAMABAD

A five-member Chaddigang created ruckus inLalitha Nagar inNizamabad on Sundaymidnight. The gangsneaked into the house ofa businessman Timmaiahand threatened him atknifepoint and made awaywith 16 tolas of gold and Rs50,000 cash. Later, the ganglocked up the business-man's family in a room andfled away. Meanwhile,locals came to the rescue ofthe family hearing theirscreams. The police regis-tered a case and are inves-tigating.

CCTV thievescaught inNalgondaPNS n NALGONDA

Nalgonda Town-I police onMonday arrested two personswho had committed thefts atdifferent places in Nalgondatown. The arrested were iden-tified as NallagantlaPenchaiah (32) and AnnepuriRamulu.

Presenting the arrested ata media conference inNalgonda Town-I police sta-tion, Circle Inspector KSuresh said the duo commit-ted theft in Sri Venkateshwaratemple and stole 5 CCTVcameras and other puja mate-rial on October 22.

‘Environmental protection need of the hour'PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for AnimalHusbandry Talasani SarinivasaYadav on Monday plantedsaplings as part of HarithaHaram on Minister Road alongwith Minister for Forests AIndrakaran Reddy and exhort-ed one and all to remain com-mitted to protect environment.

Addressing a gathering inthis connection, he pointed outthat because of air pollution inDelhi, holidays have beendeclared to schools and askedthe people to take steps to pro-tect environment to avoid suchunpleasant situation here.

Stating that the governmenthas been implementing mea-sures to restore the depleting

forest cover, he described theHaritha Haram is one suchprogramme being implement-ed for the past four years toprevent environment frombeing polluted. Growing treeswould be not only economical,

but also improve state's rev-enues, he reasoned.

Forest Minister AIndrakaran Reddy expressedconcern over the depletion ofthe forest cover from the pre-vious 33 per cent to 24 per

cent. He exhorted the people toplant a sapling without fail toprotect environment. Toreduce growing pollution,launching of a massiveafforestation drive held thekey, he felt.

School and college students,people's representatives andofficials planted at least 2,000saplings on the either side ofthe road from Rasoolpura toRani Gunj. The GHMC vigi-lance and enforcement direc-tor Viswajit, GHMC deputycommissioner NaliniPadmavati, corpoators ArunaGoud, Seshukumari, U Taruni,K Lakshmi, A Roopa andHemalata and horticulturalauthorities and others tookpart in the programme.

RTC officials hopefulstaff in good numbers...Continued from Page 1

The Joint Action Committee ofTSRTC employees' unions,which is spearheading theindef-inite strike, said on Sunday theTelangana government shouldfirst hold talks to resolve the issueeven as it said the stir would con-tinue. Reacting to TelanganaChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao setting November 5 as thedeadline for TRSTC employeesto give up their stir and join duty,TSRTC-JAC leader EAshwathama Reddy on Sundayalleged he (the chief minister)could not create confidenceamong workers, rather he is "try-ing to provoke" them.

"Talks should first be held toresolve the issue. It could be acommittee of ministers or RTCmanagement... but the ChiefMinister is seeking to dictateterms to courts and taking uni-lateral decisions. Nobody has theright to remove anyone fromjobs," he said. AshwathamaReddy had on Saturday said theywere planning to meet UnionHome Minister Amit Shah toseek the Centre's intervention inthe issue.

In a related development,Hyderabad PoliceCommissioner Anjani Kumaron Sunday said the safety and

security of RTC employees whowere willing to join duty wouldbe taken care of.

All depots are provided withsufficient security, he said andwarned that anyone who takeslaw into their hands would bedealt with firmly.

Employees and workers ofTSRTC have been carrying outprotest rallies across the stateover their demands with politi-cal parties and different organ-isations extending their sup-port.

Nearly 48,000 employees andworkers had boycotted workand began an indefinite strikefrom October 5 across Telanganaon a call given by the JACdemanding merger of the RTCwith the government, pay revi-sion, recruitment to variousposts, among others resulting instate-run buses staying off roadscausing inconvenience to com-muters.

Ruling out discussions withthe agitating unions, Rao hadearlier said the 48,000 strikingRTC staff had "self-dismissed"themselves, as he also made itclear under no circumstanceswould the RTC be merged withthe government. He had alsosaid the employees stir was ille-gal as it caused immense incon-venience to the public.

The governmentshould wake up at

least now to createamicable situation betweenofficials and people, or elsethe state would turn into afire ball

—T JAGGA REDDYCongress MLA

Ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav and A Indrakaran Reddy at Haritha Haramprogramme in Hyderabad on Monday

Vijaya Reddy with her family

Eyewitness recallchilling incident

PNS n HYDERABAD

A much-awaited relief measureto ease traffic congestion onthe Mehdipatnam-Kukatpallyroute came in the form of thesecond level f lyover atBiodiversity junction, whichwas thrown open to traffic byMunicipal Administration andUrban Development MinisterKT Rama Rao on Monday.

In addition to opening thestructure to traffic, theMinister also laid the founda-tion for three more projects tocome up at a cost of Rs. 330crore. These projects includeconstruction of a six lane bidi-rectional second level flyoverfrom Kondapur towards ORRat Gachibowli junction; a four-lane bidirectional flyover fromShilpa layout to ORR nearGachibowli junction; and avehicular underpass across theexisting gas godown road.

All these three projects arebeing implemented under theStrategic Road DevelopmentPlan (SRDP). These projectsare expected to ease trafficcongestion at Gachibowli junc-tion, besides providing betterconnectivity between HitechCity and Financial district.

With the opening of flyoverat Biodiversity junction onMonday, commuters headingtowards Hitec City fromMehdipatnam end throughBiodiversity junction can nowpass comfortably devoid of

any traffic hurdles en route.Built with a cost of Rs 69.47crore, this is the fourth struc-ture to be completed underStrategic Road DevelopmentProgramme (SRDP) to easetraffic congestion in the city'sIT corridor

The 990-metre-long flyovercommences from RaidurgPolice Station on theMehdipatnam end and dropnear IKEA showroom towardsKukatpally end. Given thepresence of a large number ofIT and corporate companies,Biodiversity junction witness-es heavy vehicular movementwith traffic snarls being acommon woe. It is also used bymotorists to pass to reachNational Highway (JNTU end)

from old Mumbai highway.The peak-hour traffic at the

junction as per 2015 surveywas 14,001 Passenger CarUnits (PCUs) and it increasedto 22,400 PCUs this year andis expected to escalate to30,678 PCUs by 2035.Accordingly, to ensure conflict-free movement for motoriststhrough the junction, theGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) con-structed the second-level at thejunction. In addition to thisfacility, the municipal corpo-ration is also constructing afirst-level flyover to furtherease traffic congestion at thejunction which facilitates traf-fic flow from Gachibowli endtowards Mehdipatnam.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019 hyderabad 03

Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO, being honoured with the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute'sGolden Jubilee Award for excellence in Science and Technology by Nirmala Birla, chairperson, BM Birla Science Centre, atBirla Science Museum in Hyderabad on Monday

HONOURED

RIMEORNERC Hyd police book 1,744

for drunk driving in OctPNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Traffic Policeimposed fines of a total of Rs1.71 crore on drunken drivingoffenders in October. As perpolice statistics, as many as1,744 drivers were found dri-ving under the influence ofalcohol during the period.

Traffic Police ACP DSChauhan said charge-sheetswere filed and they were pro-duced in the MetropolitanMagistrate Court in Nampally.

The court awarded impris-onment to 282 respondentsand permanentlycancelled/suspended driver'slicenses of five persons for acertain period as per theiroffence and blood alcohol level(BAC). A total fine of Rs1,71,51,200 was imposed ontraffic violators, while thosesentenced to imprisonmentwere sent to Chanchalgudajail, Chouhan said.

Cyberabad Traffic Policealso caught 1,415 persons andbooked cases for drunk drivingduring October. A total of 144persons were convicted fordurations ranging from oneday to 20 days, besides being

fined. Two minors too werecaught, police said.

Cyberabad traffic police saidspecial drives were conductedat various points in the com-missionerate from October 1 toOctober 31. Cases were bookedagainst them, who were laterproduced before local courts inKukatpally, Medchal,Rajendranagar and Shadnagar.As many as 263 drunk drivingcases were booked on theOuter Ring Road covering theCyberabad Commissionerateduring the month. A totalpenalty of Rs 44.6 lakh was

imposed on them.According to the Cyberabad

Traffic Police, of the 1,415persons, 590 were agedbetween 18 and 30 years, 536(31-40 years), 233 (41-50 years)and 54 (above 51 years). Asmany as 811 two-wheelers, 84auto-rickshaws, 486 cars and34 heavy vehicles were caughtduring the special drives.

Of the 1,415 cases, the high-est number of 239 cases werebooked in Rajendranagar andthe lowest i.e., 89 in Jeedimetla.While 139 cases were bookedin Kukatpally and 161 in

Balanagar, as many as 138cases were booked in Alwal,116 in Shamshabad and 114 inShadnagar.

The respondents who wereconvicted in drunken drivingmay face difficulties in gettinggovt. jobs, passport and visaclearance. The violators whocommitted the offence werealso counselled at TTI,Goshamahal and Begumpet.The drive against drunken dri-ving and other violations willcontinue for the safety of com-muters on the road. HyderabadTraffic police request allmotorists not to drive the vehi-cle under the drunken condi-tions.

n Collect Rs 1.71 crore in fines; Cyberabad cops book 1,415 cases

Cyberabadtraffic policesaid specialdrives wereconducted atvarious points in thecommissioneratefrom October 1to October 31

File Photo

The flyover which was inaugurated by IT Minister KT Rama Rao at Biodiversity junction on Monday

Biodiversity flyoverthrown open to public

In addition to opening the structureto traffic, the Minister also laid thefoundation for three more projects tocome up at a cost of Rs 330 crore

Mental stress taking a heavy toll on studentsARUN DANIEL YELLAMATYn HYDERABA

With the death of the PSiddharth, an engineering stu-dent of the Indian Institue ofTechnology- Hyderabad, one ofthe biggest issues that contin-ue to haunt is the stress thatone undergoes due to educa-tion and when one is comparedto their peers in everythingthey do.

In the suicide note written bythe 20-year-old, he stated howhe was compared to his peersfor things he would do. "Thereis a critic within me question-ing my every move to theextent that I feel I shouldn'texist. I shouldn't exist becauseI am a self-obsessed guy. I wasbrought up that way, beingcompared with my peers all thetime," read the suicide note

written by them. A few monthsago a student at St Francis col-lege too committed suicideover depression. The cops alsoconfirmed that the IITianended his life due to depressionover study stress and that is notthe only case.

India has one of the world'shighest suicide rates amongyouth aged 15 to 29, accordingto a Lancet report, which illus-trated the need for urgentinterventions for this demo-graphic, and the largest num-

ber is to end their lives are stu-dents.

One of the major things onelacks in a country with over abillion people is a proper men-tal support system and lack ofmental health programmes,especially for children andyoungsters. Many colleges,schools do not have coun-selors who can identify peoplesuffering any sort of depressionand also help people with anysort of depression symptoms.In India, parents often do not

agree and ignore such caseswhen it comes to their child'smental health, stating, "Mychild has no such problems!".

An official from Roshini,one of the NGOs working insuicide prevention for a longtime, says that one of the majorcalls they receive every day is

in regard to tress and depres-sion on education. Anothervolunteer working at an NGOcalled Youngistaan Foundationworking on Medical Healthcare and organises various spe-cial campaigns on suicide pre-vention Shalini Chandrashekar,says, "We have been creating

various campaigns at collegesand schools fighting depressionand trying our best to create ahealthy mindset among young-sters. However, very few col-leges and schools are properlyequipped with a counselorwho can keep a tap on a stu-dent's mental health, this is theneed of the hour."

Dr Bharath, a psychiatristwith Apollo hospital who alsoruns a private clinic of his ownsays, "Education stress and peerpressure are in a major rise noth-ing is being done on these lines.A lot of intermediate studentscommitted suicide in recentstages, but we haven't seen thegovernment working towardsmental health at all. Students inall the colleges are struggling andlooking for mental support fromcolleges, friends, and parents,there is no proper support. “

India has one of the world's highestsuicide rates among youth aged 15 to 29, according to a Lancet report which illustrated the need for urgent interventions

Youngster rapesminor girl

Anine-year-old girl wasallegedly lured, taken into an

agricultural field and raped by ayoungster in Maldakal mandalon Saturday. The girl, a residentof Maldakal mandal, was luredby Naresh (25), a resident ofthe same village. Police said hetook her on his motorcycle tothe village outskirts, raped herand dropped her back home onSaturday evening. When the girlcomplained of severe stomach-ache, her grandmother took herfor a medical check-up onSunday, when the truth cameout. Maldakal police have regis-tered a case under POCSO Actof 2012, and have formed aspecial team to nab theaccused, who was abscondingas of Monday morning.

Teacher commitssuicide in Jagtial

Depressed over beingthrashed by locals for mis-

behaving with a girl student, agovernment teacher committedsuicide in Korutla of Jagtial dis-trict on Sunday night. VenkataRamana Sharma has harasseda student to bring the projectfrom home and misbehavedwith her. The parents of the girlnoticed the teacher misbehav-ing their daughter and thrashedhim. Since then Sharma wasdepressed and hanged himself.

TSSPDCL jobs:coaching forST/SC/BCcandidatesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Tribal WelfareDepartment is planning toprovide free coaching to eli-gible ST/SC/BC Candidatesof Telangana State forTSSPDCL recruitment forthe posts of Junior Linemen,Junior Personnel Officer andJunior Assistant cumComputer Operator for (30)days from November 14 atPETC Hyderabad.

Seventy two seats for STs,15 seats for SCs, 10 seats forBCs and 3 seats for PHC can-didates are reserved. TheST/SC/BC candidates ofTelangana State who wouldlike to avail the facility shoudapply online by visiting web-site http://studycircle.cgg.gov.in, from November 5to 10. The ST/SC/BC candi-dates, whose parental annu-al income is below Rs 1.5 lakhin rural area and Rs 2 lakh inurban area are only eligible toapply. For further details con-tact 040-27540104 between10:30 a.m and 5 pm on work-ing days.

Two held for cheatingpeople, booty recoveredPNS n HYDERABAD

The Commissioner's TaskForce, North Zone team,Hyderabad on Monday appre-hended a two-member gangfrom Uttar Pradesh who cheat-ed people and seized fakegold-coated coins and aMahavir jain idol from theirpossession.

The arrested were identifiedas Arjun Singh (35) and MohdKallu (34), both residents ofKannauj of Uttar Pradesh.Officials seized Rs 9 lakh incash, Mahavir Jain Idol (anantique idol weighing 5 kg),380 copper coins, 5 gold-coat-ed coins and two cell phonesfrom their possession.

The duo claim that theyobtained gold coins and a goldantique idol while cultivatingagricultural lands at a village inAkramabad, Kannauj districtof Uttar Pradesh. They showedpure gold coin as a sample and

after gaining customers confi-dence they delivered fake goldcoated copper coins afterreceiving payment. They thenfled the areas after conningpeople in this way.

The complainant, a resi-dent of Amberpet said that hewas cheated of

Rs 13,45,000 by them andwas delivered 380 fake gold

coated copper coins and disap-peared from the place with themoney.

On Monday, when the duowere trying to sell the copperMahavir Jain Idol to a prospec-tive customer for Rs 40 Lakhnear Alpha hotel road, theNorth Zone Task Force teamnabbed them based on a tipoff.

Man held for sellingsedative illegallyPNS n HYDERABAD

The HyderabadCommissioner's Task Force,South Zone Team along withthe Drug Inspector, SouthZone, Hyderabad nabbed aman who was supplyingNitravet-10 MG tablets illegal-ly in and around Hyderabadand seized tablets worth Rs 2lakh from his possession onMonday.

The arrested was identifiedas 23-year-old Mohd. Osman,a native of Yadgir in Karnataka.He migrated to Hyderabadalong with his family and isresiding at Bhavaninagar. Theystarted chappal business atDilsukhnagar. However, hewas addicted to bad vices andneeded money to sustain hishabits.

Osman hatched a plan tosupply Nitravet-10 MG tablets,a prescription tablet that is asedative used for patients withsevere sleep disorder, to cus-tomers illegally. He then wentto Yadgir, Karnataka and methis cousin, Dastagiri and asper their plan, Osman brought35 boxes, each box containing20 strips from Karnataka. TheMRP of each tablet is Rs 5, butOsman sold each tablet for Rs40 to 50. Based on a tip off, the

Task Force team apprehendedOsman at Razzak Galli inBhavani Nagar while he waswaiting to sell the tablets tocustomers and seized 5,400Nitravet-10 MG tablets, amotorcycle and a cell phone,all worth Rs 2,50,000 from hispossession. The apprehendedaccused and seized propertywas handed over to SHO,Bhavani Nagar Police Station,Hyderabad for further action.

Speaking to the media,Anjani Kumar, Commissionerof Police, Hyderabad askedyouth/students not to fall preyto drugs and requested theparents to keep a watch ontheir children.

Osman hatcheda plan to supplyNitravet-10 MGtablets, aprescriptiontablet that is asedative usedfor patients withsevere sleepdisorder, tocustomersillegally

Three arrested forcheating job aspirantsPNS n HYDERABAD

The Detective Department ofthe Cyber Crime Police,Hyderabad, arrested three per-sons who cheated people onpretext of providing job, hereon Monday. The arrestedwere identified asNaveen Kumar(26), a native ofHapur, UttarPradesh, ZubairKhan (23), anative of MayurVihar, Delhi andNihkhil Pal (30), anative of Noida, UttarPradesh.

The police received a com-plaint from a resident ofHumayun Nagar inHyderabad in which he statedthat he was contacted byunknown persons through aphone call and was offered ajob as a Site Coordinator atL&T MNC company.

He was lured to transfer an

amount of Rs 10,90,600 totheir bank accounts. Aftertransferring the money, theaccused persons switched offtheir phones. Based on thecomplaint, the police regis-tered a case. The Police said

that the trio procured infor-mation of job seekers

through online jobportals and madecalls to them. Theyoffered jobs andcollected moneythrough bank

accounts as securi-ty deposit fees, regis-

tration fees, deductedcharges, GST fee, refunding

fees, etc. After collecting themoney, they would switch offtheir mobile phones andchange them frequently.

"The trio have cheatedmany persons across the coun-try. An investigation is oninto identifying the victimsscammed by them" said anofficial.

Now GHMC to collectscrap at your doorstepPNS n HYDERABAD

Citizens now can reach out toGHMC to throw their unuseditems from their houses andbackyards instead of pilling itup and not using them.GHMC Khairatabad ZonalCommissioner Musharraf AliFarooqi and Mayor BonthuRammohan have started aunique door-to-door collec-tions drive of unused materi-als like mattress, old furniture,TV and more to avoid peoplefrom throwing trash on theroads and drains.

GHMC Khairatabad ZonalCommissioner Musharraf Ali

Farooqi, said, "We have foundso many old furniture's invarious drains, roads and dust-bins and most of the timethese drains get stuck due tothese furniture thrown bypeople. So we decided to col-lect it ourselves and take careof them."

If anyone has any old furni-ture which aren't being usedand is piling up the extraspace at your house like oldcoolers, television, furniture,mattresses and more, call theGHMC helpline, 040-2111111,the GHMC team will come toyour house and will pick upyour belongings.

Police officials present the seized fake gold-coated coins and an idol on Monday

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019 hyderabad 04

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao has urgedthe High Court chief justice tosummon Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao to ques-tion him on RTC strike direct-ly. He also asked Union HomeMinister Amit Shah to tell asto why he was not initiatingany action against the ChiefMinster.

He demanded the Centre toinitiate action against the ChiefMinister, who allegedly havemoney laundering, irregular-ities, and CBI cases registeredagainst him. Alleging thatKCR is transforming the youthas drunkards in Telangana,VH said that KCR is trying tohandover the RTC assets to hisfollowers. He said that theCongress would obstructKCR's efforts in this regard.

While speaking to themedia on Monday, VH allegedthat KCR has no knowledgeon constitution as the latterwas stating that the RTC strikeis illegal. "As per what law theRTC strike is against law? Asper what law, KCR had takenup strikes during Telanganamovement? KCR says he read80,000 books. KCR wouldhave read constitution," hequestioned. He said that KCR

family only got benefited withthe creation of separateTelangana state. KCR hadcome to the power whilespeaking several lies, he stat-ed. "KCR is not ruling thestate like father but is rulingthe state like a dictator. Issuingdeadline stating that the RTCworkers have to join in theirservices before November 5midnight was not correct onthe part of KCR," he alleged.

VH alleged that KCR hasbrought the situation to passthe time by creating differ-ences among the RTC work-ers.

VH urges HC tosummon KCR

PNS n HYDERABAD

Agitating RTC employeescontinued their strike againstthe government even onMonday, by not reporting toduty, though two days passedafter Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao setdeadline. Even some of thosewho reported for duty onSunday joined back in agita-tion on Monday, as theTSRTC strike entered thethirty-first day.

"Though CM KCR himselfhas announced deadline, noRTC employee is coming for-ward to join duty. Though 11employees joined duty onSunday, five among themjoined agitation again. CMshould act in a humane way inthe case of RTC employees.Instead of threateningemployees and issuing warn-ings to join duty uncondi-tionally, CM should inviteemployees for talks. RTCemployees are ready to endthe strike and join duty if CMinvites for talks. If not we willcontinue with our strike," saidTSRTC JAC convenorAshwathama Reddy speak-ing in Hyderabad.

All the unions in TSRTC

JAC held a meeting atSundaryaa Vignan Kendra onMonday to discuss on thefuture course of agitation, asCM set Tuesday midnight asdeadline for joining duty.Meanwhile RTC employeesheld protests at bus depotsacross state and even tookpledge that they would notjoin duty unless the govern-ment invites them for talks.

While Tuesday is the thirdand last day for joining dutyaccording to the deadline setby CM KCR, TSRTC JACdecided to held an all-partymeeting with political parties

on the day, to discuss on theaction plan, as KCR warned ofcomplete to privatisation ofTSRTC if RTC employees donot join duty. RTC JAC hasalso given call for employeesto hold human chain pro-gramme at all depots.

With just hours to go forthe completion of KCR'sdeadline and RTC employeesappearing determined to stickto agitation, not just RTCemployees but lakhs of RTCcommuters are eagerly track-ing the developments andkeeping their fingers crossedover the future probabilities.

RTC employees shout slogans holding placards at a rally in Hyderabad on Monday

Though theChief Ministerhas announceddeadline, noRTC employeeis comingforward to joinduty, said JACconvenorAshwathamaReddy

3 employees join dutyAtotal of three employees

of RTC have joined theduty responding to the call ofthe Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao onMonday. One driver, oneconductor and a depot clerkwere among the employeeswho have resumed to theirduty. Though the officialsand the ruling party leadersexuded confidence that theyare keen on securing the

resumption of operations ofthe employees in their respec-tive areas, their hopes seemto be fading away after thenews about the employeesunwillingness to join theduties poured in from sever-al parts of the state. There wasa talk that the political sup-port was slowly coming to ahalt in many parts, but theemployees have not taken itas a pessimistic view.

RTC EMPLOYEES'DEFIANCE CONTINUES

RTC buscrashesinto forestPNS n WARANGAL

A TSRTC bus crashed into aforest after the driver lostcontrol over the vehiclewhile giving way to a carhere at Mulugu of erstwhileWarangal district. However,no casualties have beenreported. The bus was head-ing towards Hanamkondafrom Timmampeta. Theincident took place betweenTadwai-Pasra village.Around 40 passengers insidethe bus breathed a sigh ofrelief after escaping themishap. The police regis-tered a case and are lookinginto it. On Saturday, aTSRTC bus rammed into acar near ORR at HayathNagar. Four people wereinjured in the mishap.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The new map of the countryreleased by the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs onSaturday included the newUTs Jammu-Kashmir andLadakh, but the AP state cap-ital's name Amaravati wasfound missing among the listof the state capitals. However,Hyderabad has been includedas the joint capital of Telugustates.

This has been fuelling acontroversy between the rul-ing YSRCP government andthe Opposition TDP.Commenting on the latestfeatures of the map, TDPleader Varla Ramaiah, speak-ing to a prominent nationalmedia establishment, object-ed to this and suspected thatChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy mighthave spilled the beans on thepossible shift of the state cap-ital to the Center. Hence,Amaravati did not figure inthe revised map of the coun-try.

He pointed out that it wasthe Prime Minister, NarendraModi who had laid the foun-dation stone for the new statecapital of Andhra Pradesh -The Amaravati. Moreover, forthe past five years, all activitiesof the administration are beingrun from Amaravati and

transfer of communicationbetween the state and the cen-tral governments has beentaking place from the veryplace.

YSRCP legislator AllaRamakrishna Reddy describedthe development as unfortu-nate and blamed the TDP forthe new map not featuringAmaravati. He pointed outthat the earlier TDP regimehad only taken up construc-tion of only temporary struc-tures, instead of the perma-nent ones, and maintainedthat no gazette notification hasbeen issued showing thatAmaravati is the capital of AP.

Amaravati finds noplace in new map!

YSRCP MLA AllaRamakrishnaReddy describedthedevelopment asunfortunate andblamed theprevious TDPregime led byNaidu for thenew map notfeaturingAmaravati

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is under-stood to have decided to takethe opinion of Centre on howto deal with the ongoingTSRTC strike, which entered31st day on Monday.

The CM is expectedto write a letter toCentre on RTCissue in a dayor two.

The rea-son, theCentre holds31 per centstake inTSRTC and assuch CM feelsthat it requires theapproval of Centre forany decision taken by thestate government on TSRTC.

RTC employees and work-ers went on indefinite strikefrom October 5, demanding'merger' of TSRTC with stategovernment besides 25 otherdemands.

The cabinet has recentlydecided to issue 5,100 routepermits to private bus opera-tors to end the monopoly ofTSRTC in public transporta-

tion system with a view thatthe RTC employees unionshave been resorting to 'black-mailing tactics' now and thento achieve their 'unjustifieddemands' from the govern-ment due to monopoly ofTSRTC.

KCR has set a deadline ofNovember 5 midnight for

the striking staff toend their strike and

join duties. Hewarned that theremaining 5,000route permitscurrently heldwith TSRTC

will also beissued to private

players, if theemployees fail to end

strike and join duties onNovember 6.

In this backdrop, the RTCunions have lodged a com-plaint with the Centre ques-tioning how Telangana gov-ernment can take unilateraldecisions on privatizing RTC,when the Centre also has 31per cent stake in the corpora-tion. The Telangana BJP lead-ers also complained to Centreagainst KCR on the way he isdealing with RTC strike.

Sanitation workers are silent heroes: Ex-MPPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forAgriculture and FarmersWelfare ParshottamRupala has participated inthe Gandhi Sankalp Yatrahere on Monday. Heundertook the Padyatrastarting at AtmakurMunicipality accompaniedby Former MahabubnagarMP AP Jithender Reddy,Former State Minister DKAruna, BJP TelanganaState Treasurer ShanthiKumar Bhandari,Mahabubnagar dist presi-dent G Padmaja Reddy,Narayanpet dist president

Rathanga Pandu Reddy,Makthal BJP leadersKondaiah & JalandherReddy and BJP youthLeader AP Mithun Reddy.

Continuing the padya-tra from Atmakur toAmarchintha, a few kmsaway, the BJP leaders tookup the brooms and partic-ipated in Swachh Bharat

Mission. On the occasion,Rupala commented thatwhen Gandhi ji was askedif he prefers Swachhta orSwantrata, he answeredSwachhta. The Yatraended at Amarchinthatown square with honour-ing of sanitation workers,khadi weavers and labour-ers. Former MP AP

Jithender Reddy said, "Thesanitation workers aresilent heroes. When we aresleeping at night, theyclean our towns, cities androads, so we wake up toclean, swachh bharat. Theydeserve utmost respect."

During the Yatra, theMoS met several groups ofRTC Employees whoexplained their grievancesto him and how CM KCRhas not even met theirUnion representativesonce in the last one month.Rupala offered his support& promised to take up thematter with Govt of India. Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, former MP Jithender

Reddy and others during a cleanliness drive on Monday

Andhra ChiefSecy shiftedamid row withcolleagueContinued from Page 1

Trouble began when Jaganbrought Praveen Prakash fromDelhi as the Principal Secretary(political) in the CMO and hestarted wielding powers overother bureaucrats.

Last week, PraveenPrakash issued a controversialGO modifying the businessrules on the pretext thatsenior IAS officers are not fol-lowing instructions from theChief Minister or CMO inissuing government orders(GOs) in time.

Praveen Prakash threat-ened to serve show-causenotices on top IAS officers, ifthey failed to issue orderswithin the stipulated periodsfor implementation of theorders of the Chief Ministerand CMO.

His orders apparently ledto rumblings in the bureau-cracy. On Saturday,Subramanyam issued a show-cause notice to PraveenPrakash for bypassing himand including certain items inthe agenda for the recentcabinet meeting.

Tahsildar's murderexposes ‘flawed' ...Continued from Page 1

However, it turned out that,the "purification" drive failedto end all the land disputesbecause no proper survey wasconducted at the ground levelby the revenue staff to settleunderlying issues in someareas. To sweep dirt under thecarpet, what they did in somecases was to simply 'copy-paste' the land details (withpre-existing errors) on oldpattadar passbooks and issuedthe new digital pattadar pass-books.With this, the 'new'passbooks, though meant tobe 'error-free', became mere-ly digital versions of the erro-neous old passbooks.

Land owners were shockedto find in the new passbooksthe very same errors thatplagued their old pattadarpassbooks. These includederrors like the extent of landbeing recorded less than whatthe owners actually owned,change in ownership of lands,digital passbook being issuedon someone else's name,instead of the actual owner etc.

The government has linkedpayment of Rs 5,000 per acreRythu Bandhu amount tothose having digital passbooks,compounding the situation.For, due to errors, severalgenuine beneficiaries either

cannot access the benefit alto-gether or get lesser amountthan what they deserve.

This has caused heartburnamong some land owners whoare running around tahsildarofficers, seeking correction indigital passbooks.

This has increased corrup-tion in the RevenueDepartment, with officialsdemanding bribes from landowners for corrections they areobliged to do freely, but withdue diligence.

The government receivedlarge-scale complaints onerrors in passbooks andagainst revenue staff who aredemanding bribes.

The situation worsened tosuch as extent that at one pointthe Chief Minister announcedthat he would scrap the 'cor-rupt' Revenue Department bybringing in a new Revenue Actsoon. Following uproar fromthe department, which attrib-uted the graft to some blacksheep among them, theprocess of scrapping thedepartment was put on holdstrategically.

Earlier, the Chief Ministerclaimed that the purification ofnearly 93 per cent of the landrecords in the State had beencompleted, against a total of2.56 crore acres land identifiedin the State.

TS govt firm on Nov 5 deadline...Continued from Page 1

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao held areview at Pragati Bhavan hereon Monday in the backdrop ofthe RTC strike and the HighCourt hearings on the matter.Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar,Chief Advisor to GovernmentRajiv Sharma, Chief SecretarySK Joshi, Senior officials SNarsing Rao, RamakrishnaRao, Sunil Sharma, SandeepSultania, Arvind Kumar,Lokesh Kumar, Advocate-General Sivananda Prasad,

Additional AG RamachandraRao and others participated.

The discussion centered onthe strategy to be followed inthe backdrop of the strike andthe High Court hearing of thematter. Advice from legalexperts was taken. Labourlaws and Central government'samended Motor Vehiclse Actwere examined.

According to an officialpress release, the key pointsthat emerged from the meet-ing are as follows:

"The government has givena good opportunity to the

workers and employees by giv-ing them a deadline byTuesday midnight to joinduties. The future of the work-ers and their families are not inthe hands of anyone else. It istotally in the hands of workersto protect their jobs. TheLabour Department hasalready declared the on-goingRTC strike as Illegal and it gavea report in this regard. But yet,the government acted with alot of humanity. If the oppor-tunity given is not utilized,there is no meaning. Workerscannot blame anyone.

KTR: Huzurnagar win...Continued from Page 1

KTR said that people haverejected the Congress party inHuzurnagar which was theirbastion and also TPCCPresident's own constituency.

Talking about the BJP, KTRsaid that the earlier victoriesregistered by the BJP inTelangana Parliament electionswere just a fluke. They don'thave any credibility among thepeople here. "An independentcandidate whose election sym-bol looked similar to that of theTRS party's symbol won morevotes than the BJP," he said.

"We will show our gratitudeto the people of Huzurnagar byfulfilling all the promises madeby the TRS party during the by-elections," said KTR. He direct-ed the MLAs to come up witha plan of action and take up theresponsibility of leading theparty towards victory in theupcoming municipal elections.

Working President KTRthanked Ministers ErrabelliDayakar Rao, Jagadish Reddy,Satyavathi Rathod, InchargeMLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddyand the party leaders and cadrefor playing an important role inthe party's victory.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Central government onMonday appointed TelanganaHigh Court advocate NRajeshwar Rao as AssistantSolicitor General (ASG) of Indiafor the apex court of the state.

The Union Ministry of lawand Justice issued the orders tothis effect. The post of the ASGfell vacant following elevationof former ASG K Lakshman asjudge of the High Court inAugust this year. He has beenworking as the Central gov-ernment counsel for armed

forces tribunal for its regionalbench at Chennai and circuitbench at Hyderabad so far.

He would continue in thepost for a period of threeyears. Born on June 30 1969,Rao hails from Sudanpally vil-lage of Mahbubabad district.After completing his law, heenrolled himself as advocatewith the erstwhile bar councilof Andhra Pradesh in the year2001. Later , he worked in theoffice of the Senior CentralGovernment Counsel CVRamulu, who was later elevat-ed as the Judge of the HighCourt of AP Rao began hisindependent practice from theyear 2003.

HC advocate appointed as ASG

Woman MRO setablaze in office

Continued from Page 1

Condemning the incident,Minister Sabita Indra said:"Stringent punishment will begiven to whoever is theaccused. If the public has anytrouble with officials, itshould be brought to theattention of the higher-ups todeal with the problem. Theseheinous acts will only makethings worse. We will order aprobe soon." In June thisyear, Forest Range Officer Ch Anitha was attacked by a mob while she was onduty in Sarsala village. In themelee, Anita was attacked bysticks.

KCR to seek Centre'sview on RTC strike

During the Yatra, Union MinisterParshottam Rupala met several groups of RTCemployees who explained theirgrievances to him

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

SP demands sackingof UP minister for rolein DHLF scamBALLIA (UP): The SamajwadiParty on Monday demanded aprobe by a sitting high courtjudge into the investment ofover Rs 2,600 crore of UPpower corporation employees'provident fund in scam-hithousing finance firm DHFL. Theopposition party also demandedthe sacking of state EnergyMinister Shrikant Sharma andthe principal secretary of hisdepartment. "Investing Rs 2,600crore of employees' PF in DHFLis a loot which could not havehappened without knowledge ofthe energy minister and theprincipal secretary concerned.They should immediately besacked and sent to jail, and aprobe should be handed over toa sitting HC judge," Leader ofOpposition in the StateAssembly Ram GovindChaudhary told reporters. Thesenior SP leader said that tillthey remained on their posts,an impartial probe was notpossible.

Pollution in Delhi-NCR: SC slamsauthorities

1 killed, 13 injured inSrinagar grenade attackSRINAGAR: Terrorists lobbed agrenade in a busy market in theheart of the city, killing oneperson on Monday, almostthree months since theKashmir Valley shut down inresponse to the Centrerevoking the special status ofthe erstwhile state of Jammuand Kashmir, police said. Atleast 13 people were injured inthe grenade attack, the secondin less than a month, and wererushed to the nearby SMHShospital where the condition oftwo is critical, officials said.The attack took place at 1.20pm, a time the Hari Singh HighStreet market was crowdedwith people and roadsidevendors. On October 12,terrorists injured five people ina similar grenade attack in thearea. Security forces havecordoned off the area. Trafficwas scarce in the city with thecapital of the newly createdunion territory of Jammu andKashmir shifting to Jammu forthe winter. On August 5, theCentre announced therevocation of the erstwhilestate's special status underArticle 370 and the bifurcationof the state into two unionterritories, Jammu andKashmir, and Ladakh.

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt Monday slammedauthorities for failing to curbpollution in Delhi-NCR and saidthey have left people to die. Abench of Justices Arun Mishraand Deepak Gupta took seriousnote of crop burning in Punjab,Haryana and Western UttarPradesh and said it cannot gounabated every year. "Can wesurvive in this atmosphere?This is not the way we cansurvive," the bench said. "Delhiis choking every year and weare not able to do anything.Question is that every year thisis happening," the bench said,adding, "It cannot be done in acivilised country".The bench was told by senioradvocate Aparajita Singh, whois assisting the apex court asan amicus curiae in the airpollution matter, that as per theCentre's affidavit crop burninghas gone up by 7 per cent inPunjab and is down by 17 percent in Haryana.

Senior BJD leaderarrested oncharge of sexualharassmentPNS n BHUBANESWAR

Senior BJD leader PramodKumar, who is also the presi-dent of Kendrapara CreditCo- Operative Society, wason Monday arrested on thecharge ofs e x u a l l yharassing afemale col-league, policesources said.A team ofpolice person-nel, led byAddit ionalSuperintendent of Police BGagarin Mohanty, picked upSahu from his residence inBaniamal area of Kendraparadistrict on Sunday night. Hewas subjected to hours ofinterrogation before his arrest,they said.

"Sahu was arrested onMonday morning under vari-ous sections of the IPC, includ-ing section 354 (assault orcriminal force to woman withintent to outrage her modesty)and 506 (criminal intimida-tion)," Mohanty told reporters.

The former BJD state gen-eral secretary was then pro-duced before the Sub-Divisional Judicial MagistrateCourt, which remanded himin judicial custody for 14 days.

In her complaint, thewoman alleged that Sahu hadsexually harassed her on sev-eral occasions at their place ofwork. She also said that thepolice had initially ignoredher written complaint, sub-mitted in April, and refused toregister a case against the BJDleader.

‘LEGISLATION ON SABARIMALAWOMEN ENTRY NOT POSSIBLE’PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan on Monday said it wasnot possible for the state tobring in any legislation to cir-cumvent the Supreme Courtverdict permitting women of allage groups into the SabarimalaLord Ayyappa temple.

The apex court verdict ofSeptember 28 last year was notsimilar to that of the rulingrelated to Jallikattu or bullockcart race, he told the stateassembly in response to a ques-tion by the opposition UDF.

"The Supreme Court verdictregarding the Sabarimalawomen entry is the one relat-ed to that of the fundamentalrights. The state government isbound to implement the apexcourt order," Vijayan said.

The Supreme Court had inSeptember last year paved theway for entry of women of allages into the Ayyappa temple atSabarimala, lifting the ban onwomen in the age group of 10

to 50 from worshipping at theshrine. A review petition hasbeen filed against theSeptember 28, 2018 verdictand the top court is expected todeliver its order on it later thismonth.

Barring women in menstru-al age would amount to the vio-lation of their fundamentalrights and would go against theConstitution, the chief minis-

ter said. As per legal opinionreceived by the state govern-ment, it was not possible tobring in any legislation to getaround the verdict, he said.

Those who talk about bring-ing in legislation on Sabarimalawomen entry were "cheating"devotees, he said. The Left vet-eran also reiterated his gov-ernment had not forced anywoman to climb Sabarimala

and it was up to the women todecide whether they want to goto the Lord Ayyappa temple ornot.

The CPI(M)-led LDF gov-ernment, led by Vijayan, hadfaced severe criticism overthe entry of two women in themenstruating age group, intothe Sabarimala shrine duringthe last annual pilgrimageseason. The portals of theshrine would be opened forthe three-month long annualpilgrimage season this year onNovember 16.

PNS n NEW DELHI

There is need to form a gov-ernment in Maharashtra at theearliest, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said onMonday after meeting UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.

As the BJP and its ally ShivSena continue their tussle overgovernment formation in thestate, Fadnavis reached here onMonday morning to meetShah, also the BJP president athis residence, party insiderssaid. "There is need to formthe government inMaharashtra at the earliest... Iam sure, I am confident thatthe government will beformed," Fadnavis toldreporters after the meeting.

He later met BJP generalsecretary Bhupendra Yadavwho was in charge of electionsin Maharashtra.

Unlike the last assemblyelections, the BJP and theShiv Sena this time foughtelections in alliance with eachother. The BJP won 105 seatsand the Shiv Sena 56.

The two parties are caughtin a stalemate over the chiefminister's post, with the Senademanding an equal divisionof the top post's tenure and theBJP rejecting it.

However, officially Fadnavismet Shah to seek more helpfrom the centre for a packagefor Maharashtra's farmerswhose crops have been affect-ed by unseasonal rains.

The Supreme Courtverdict regarding theSabarimala women

entry is the one related to thatof the fundamental rights. Thestate government is bound toimplement the apex courtorder

— PINARAYI VIJAYANKerala Chief Minister

Fadnavis meets Shahin Delhi, says need toform govt at earliest

PNS n NEW DELHI

Asserting that "Make inIndia" has become "Buy fromChina", Congress leaderRahul Gandhi on Mondayhit out at the RCEP andalleged that the proposedfree trade deal will flood thecountry with cheap goods,resulting in millions of joblosses and crippling theeconomy.

Gandhi's takedown of theproposed trade agreementcame as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was inBangkok where negotiationsfor the long-overdueRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Par tnership(RCEP) was heading towardsfinality.

" 'Make in India ' hasbecome 'Buy from China'.Each year we import Rs.6,000 worth of goods fromChina for every Indian! A100 per cent increase since2014," the former Congresschief said in a tweet.

"RCEP will flood Indiawith cheap goods, resulting

in millions of job losses &crippling the Indian econo-my," Gandhi said. Hisremarks come two days afterCongress president SoniaGandhi launched a blisteringattack on the government'seconomic policies and saidsigning the RCEP agreementwill deal a "body blow" to the

economy, result ing in"untold hardship" for farm-ers, shopkeepers and smallenterprises. The proposedfree-trade agreementincludes 10 member-coun-tries of the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations(Asean) and six of the bloc'sdialogue partners — China,Japan, South Korea, India,Australia and New Zealand.

The possible delay in firm-ing up the RCEP during thethree-day Asean summit inBangkok has been attrib-uted to India's demands onmarket access and tariff-related issues.

Hardball negotiations toaddress sticky issues wentdown to the wire on Sunday,with India holding on to itsdemand for amicable reso-lution of its demands.

‘Make in India' has become‘Buy from China': Rahul

Oppn leaders meetto discuss economicissues, RCEP

BJP’s RS MP Vijay Goelviolates odd-even rulel Issued a challan of Rs 4,000 by copsPNS n NEW DELHI

Senior BJP leader Vijay Goelon Monday violated the odd-even rationing scheme by dri-ving an SUV with an odd lastdigit in its registration numberand termed the initiative "anelection stunt" by the Kejriwalgovernment.

He termed it a "symbolicprotest" against the scheme.

Reacting to Goel's protest,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia said the BJP leader'sjob was to do politics and hehad no solution to the prob-lem. He said if Goel was soconcerned about the people ofDelhi, then he should haveasked Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekarto convene a meeting with thestates to deal with the menaceof pollution.

Earlier, BJP vice presidentShyam Jaju and other partyleaders accompanied Goel inthe saffron SUV which hedrove from his residence onAshoka Road, before beingstopped near Janpath by traf-fic police personnel who chal-laned him.

Violation of the odd-evenrule is punishable with a fineof Rs 4,000. The fine was Rs2,000 in earlier two editions of

the initiative in 2016.According to the scheme, non-transport vehicles having oddor even last digit of registrationnumber are allowed to run onodd and even dates, respec-tively.

Goel's car featured slogansthat said 'pradushan kizimmedar Kejriwal sarkar,odd-even hai bekar' andtermed the scheme a drama.

"I am doing this as a sym-bolic protest against theKejriwal government's failureto do anything in five years tocurb the pollution in Delhi. Itis now enacting a drama andelection stunt in view of thecoming assembly pollsthrough odd-even scheme,"Goel told reporters at his res-idence.

Hitting out at the BJP leader,

Sisodia said, "Now when thereare clouds of pollution overDelhi, he (Goel) says he willbreak the odd-even rule.People of Delhi have stoppedconstruction of their houses,let him start construction,they (people) have stoppedusing generators, let him dothat. It is his wish. If he wantsto spread pollution, let him dothat." Delhi Transport MinisterKailash Gahlot later met Goelwith a bouquet of flower, urg-ing him not to violate the ruleas it was aimed at bringingdown pollution.

Gahlot said that people ofDelhi are following thescheme and BJP's protest byviolating it was wrong. Theodd-even scheme will con-tinue from 8 am to 8 pm tillNovember 15.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Senior opposition leadersmet here on Monday to dis-cuss the slide in the econo-my as well as the ongoingRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership(RCEP) negotiations inBangkok and the agree-ment 's implications forIndia. Congress presidentSonia Gandhi and NCPleader Sharad Pawar werenot present when the meet-ing started. Ghulam NabiAzad, Ahmed Patel andRandeep Surjewala of theCongress attended the meet-ing, which also saw the pres-ence of RLSP chief and for-mer Union ministerUpendra Kushwaha, CPIgeneral secretary D Raja,CPI(M)'s T K Rangarajan,RJD leader Manoj Jha,TMC's Nadeem ul Haque,DMK's T R Baalu, and

Sharad Yadav. There was norepresentation from theSamajwadi Party, theBahujan Samaj Party andthe Aam Aadmi Party. Themeeting was convened byAzad who is the leader ofopposition in the RajyaSabha. According to sources,discussions focussed on thejoint opposition's strategyto corner the government onpoor economic indicatorsand India's decision to con-sider signing the RCEP.

The leaders at the meetingwere deliberating on a strat-egy to take on the govern-ment both inside and outsideParliament. The Congressplans to hit the streets fromTuesday till November 15 tohighlight the "failures" ofthe BJP government at theCentre on issues such as"economic slowdown, risingunemployment and farm crisis".

Goel's carfeatured slogansthat said'pradushan kizimmedarKejriwal sarkar,odd-even haibekar' andtermed thescheme a drama

Lokpal, NITI Aayog should enableIndia realise its strategic objectivesPNS n NEW DELHI

The strength and resilience ofcritical institutions of theLokpal, GST Council and theNiti Aayog, along with the gov-ernment's sponsored pro-grammes, should enable thecountry realise its strategicobjectives, senior IAS officer VSrinivas has said in his newbook. In the book, titled"Towards a new IndiaGovernance Transformed 2014-2019", Srinivas has talked aboutin detail some of the govern-ment's key programmes andinitiatives such as Digital India,social inclusion measures,cooperative federalism, improv-ing justice delivery system andIndia's fight against corrup-tion.

"Corruption impacts servicedelivery, when speed money isasked for registration of docu-ments, sanctioning bank loans,amendments in land records,driving licences, and other rou-tine services. Every form of cor-ruption has an economicimpact, and fighting corruptionis an imperative need," he said.

Srinivas, who is at presentposted as additional secretary inthe ministry of personnel, pub-

lic grievances and pensions,cited the role of cooperative fed-eralism through the working ofsome of the constitutional insti-tutions.

The appointment of theLokpal demonstrates to theworld that India is not secondto any nation in making its pub-lic administration clean and fair,he said.

The strength and resilience ofIndia's 3 critical institutions -

the Lokpal, the GST council andthe NITI Aayog, coupled withthe government's numerouscentrally sponsored programsshould enable the nation realisethe strategic objectives laiddown in New India@75,Srinivas said.

The Niti Aayog had releasedthe strategy for New India@75(in 2022) in December 2018.The strategy paper seeks tobring together innovation, tech-nology, enterprise and efficientmanagement, at the core of pol-icy formulation and imple-mentation, to ensure that devel-opment becomes a "janandolan" (mass movement).

In his book, Srinivas said theNiti Aayog continues to face thechallenge of reforming the cen-trally sponsored schemes.

The appointment of the Lokpaldemonstrates to the world that Indiais not second to any nation in makingits public administration clean andfair, IAS officer V Srinivas said

PNS n ALIGARH (UP)

Ahead of the verdict in theAyodhya case, AMU ViceChancellor Tariq Mansoor onMonday asked all sections ofsociety especially the AMU fra-ternity not to make any state-ment or indulge in any activitythat could vitiate the peacefulatmosphere in the country.

AMU authorities have alsocautioned people againstrumour mongering or fake newscirculation on social media.

In an open letter to all sec-tions of society, Prof Mansoorsaid the "world will judge us asmembers of a responsible soci-

ety by the way we show ourrespect to the rule of law andthe grace and maturity withwhich we accept the decision of

the highest court of the land".He said, "No statement or anysort of activity should beindulged in which could in any

way vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the city and thecountry".

In his letter, the VC said, "Thedecision on the Ayodhya casewould give us an opportunity toshow the world that we are agreat nation of diverse cultures,languages and religions and wehave the world's richest heritageof a pluralistic society withgreat strength in its unity indiversity".

The Vice Chancellor hascalled a meeting of topUniversity officials today totake stock of the situation andstep up all security measures asa precautionary step.

The AMU campus has a totalstrength of about 30,000 stu-dents, the majority of whomreside in hostels spread all overthe campus.

Earlier, District Magistrate,Aligarh, Chandra BhushanSingh, had said that strict vigilis being maintained on all socialmedia posts and action will betaken against those indulging inrumour mongering, especiallyon social media.

A 5-judge Constitution benchheaded by the CJI had reservedthe verdict on October 16 afterconcluding the 40-day-longhearing in the politically sensi-tive case.

AMU authorities ask people to maintain peaceAYODHYA VERDICT

HEALTH MINISTER VARDHAN TWEETSADVICE ON POLLUTION

PNS n NEW DELHIF

As the national capital con-tinues to grapple with severelevels of air pollution, UnionHealth Minister HarshVardhan took toTwitter to impartsome advice onhow to counterpollution-relat-ed problems.

V a r d h a n ,who is a doctorby profession,suggested eatingcarrots and food itemswith high level of antioxi-dants to combat pollution-related health issues.

In a tweet on Monday,Vardhan said oxidative stresstriggered by various pollu-tants has serious negativeeffects on human health.

"One positive action is toinclude food items with highlevel of antioxidants that canneutralise this. Of course, thesolution lies in exposure pre-

vention and control," he said.On Sunday, he had tweeted,

"Eating carrots helps the bodyget Vitamin A, potassium andantioxidants which protectagainst night blindness com-

mon in India. Carrots alsohelp against other pollu-

tion-related harm tohealth."

Pollution level inDelhi peaked to athree-year high onSunday notwithstand-

ing claims of height-ened checks and curbs by

authorities.According to the Central

Pollution Control Board(CPCB), the national capital's24-hour average air qualityindex (AQI) stood at 494 at 4pm on Sunday, the highestsince November 6, 2016 whenit was 497.

All schools up to Class 12have been closed in theNational Capital Region tillTuesday due to the spike inpollution level.

Eat carrots, food itemsrich in antioxidants

Each year we import Rs. 6,000 worth of goods fromChina for every Indian! A 100 per cent increase since2014. RCEP will flood India with cheap goods,

resulting in millions of job losses & crippling the Indian economy— RAHUL GANDHI, Congress leader

Recently, Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra claimed that SardarVallabhbhai Patel was a dedicat-ed Congress leader and a closeassociate of former Prime

Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She also mockedat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for try-ing to appropriate the Sardar’s legacy.

Priyanka Gandhi is not the first from herparty to shower encomiums on SardarPatel and question the legitimacy of the BJPto celebrate his life. Many others have donethis over the last five years but it appears tobe a case of too little, too late because nobodyis buying this line. The reasons why theCongress’ present-day claims vis-a-vis theSardar sound hollow are many but there isone prime explanation – the insecurity andpettiness of the Nehru-Gandhis since thedays of Nehru. But before we address thisissue, let’s take a brief look at the extraordi-nary achievements of the unifier of India.

Sardar Patel is hailed as the Bismarck ofIndia because he took upon himself theunenviable task of integrating over 560princely States, who had the option duringIndia’s Independence day to remain indepen-dent or join Pakistan or India. Even if a fewof these princes had exercised the first twooptions, the unification of India would havebeen in doubt.

For example, the Nizam of Hyderabadand the Nawab of Junagadh decided toaccede to Pakistan and the ruler of Bhopalwanted to proclaim independence. Patelcoaxed, cajoled and when necessary, pres-surised these princes to fall in line. But forhis cool determination and single-mindedcommitment to the unification of the coun-try, the idea of India would never have takenoff. The India, which woke up to freedomin August 1947, would have been in tatters.Therefore, we owe our geographical andpolitical unity to Patel. He achieved this stu-pendous task despite failing health and hedied on December 15, 1950.

Let us take the Kashmir issue. WhileNehru was dilly-dallying and wonderingwhat to do, Sardar Patel got the Maharaja ofthe former State to sign the Instrument ofAccession and took a firm stand to fly outthe first contingent of troops to Srinagar onOctober 27, 1947, a day after it was signed.

Such was the situation that the thenGovernment was not sure whether this air-craft could land at the Srinagar airportbecause hordes of Pakistani infiltrators hadmoved into the former State. Luckily, the firstbatch of soldiers was able to land and securethe airport for the arrival of several morecontingents. The Indian Army then fannedout and re-captured many of the townsseized by the Pakistanis.

Meanwhile, even as the Army kept dri-ving out the intruders, Nehru took the fate-ful decision to move the United Nations, thusinternationalising the issue.

In fact, there is much more to the per-sonality of Sardar Patel than just being a

“man of steel.” He was a disci-plined soldier of the Congress,probably much more disciplinedthan Nehru because of the extra-ordinary sacrifice he made in1946. That year, the Congresshad to elect its new chief, whowould also become independentIndia’s first Prime Minister. TheAll India Congress Committeecalled for nominations fromthe 15 Pradesh CongressCommittees. Twelve of themvoted for Sardar Patel, whileother committees voted fornone. Thus, Nehru did not getthe support of a single PradeshCongress Committee. Despitethis, he made it known toMahatma Gandhi that he wouldnot play second fiddle to anyone.Gandhi, for reasons best knownto him, wanted Nehru as PrimeMinister and asked Sardar Patelto step down. Patel obliged.This was indeed a huge sacrificefor the sake of the unity of theCongress.

Since the Congress func-tioned like a private limitedcompany, owned and controlledby the Nehru-Gandhis, it dideverything since 1947 to belittlethe contributions of party lead-ers not belonging to this familyand exaggerating the achieve-ments of those who belonged toit. Although Nehru is hailed asa great democrat, this process

began in his lifetime itself.Among those who fell victim tothis family’s attempt to obliter-ate the great achievements ofothers were Sardar Patel, BRAmbedkar, Subhash ChandraBose, Lal Bahadur Shastri andmany others, including PVNarasimha Rao, one of thegreatest Prime Ministers Indiahas produced.

Sardar Patel gave us a uni-fied India yet Nehru did notconfer the Bharat Ratna on himafter it was instituted in 1954.Instead, Nehru gave it to him-self in 1955. Again, formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhigave herself the Bharat Ratna in1971 and it was conferredposthumously on Rajiv Gandhiin 1991 but none of them con-sidered either Sardar Patel orAmbedkar, who were worthy ofthe nation’s highest honour.

Finally, it was left to non-Congress Governments toaccord this honour to these twogreat Indians.

Nehru also ordered theUnion Government officers notto attend Sardar Patel’s funeralin Bombay in December 1950.

Similarly, the family wasmost unnerved by the phe-nomenal popularity andachievements of two PrimeMinisters — Lal BahadurShastri, who led the country to

victory in the India-Pakistan warof 1965 and PV Narasimha Rao,who between 1991 and 1996,ended militancy in Punjab andbailed out India, which wassinking into an unknown eco-nomic abyss after having mort-gaged gold to the Bank ofEngland for just $200 million.When he demitted office, India’sforeign exchange reserves stoodat over $50 billion. He was alsothe chief of the Congress for fiveyears. Yet, when he died in2004, “The Family” orderedthat Rao’s body would not enterthe premises of the party’sheadquarters on Akbar Road.

Fortunately, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s decision tobuild the world’s tallest statue forSardar Patel in Kevadia inGujarat and his efforts toenlighten the people have turnedthe focus on Patel’s huge contri-bution.

The people are also nowacquainted with the pettinessand cunning displayed by asingle political family over sevendecades to mask the achieve-ments of the “iron man ofIndia.” Try as they might, theycan never retrieve him becausehe now dwells in the hearts of abillion grateful people.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.)

The 16-nation Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP), whichcontributed 30.8 per cent to global trade

in 2017, had the potential to become one ofthe largest trading blocs of our times.Essentially a free trade agreement (FTA)between signatories, it had the promise ofopening up markets of each of the partnercountries to the others. But that’s just the sheenthat blunts the fine print. That is free trade does-n’t mean all are equals. So India has rightlywalked out of it as the disadvantages far out-

weigh the advantages. As potential group members gathered in Bangkok to closethe deal, India, worried about a potential flood of Chinese imports without a cor-responding increase in our exports to that country and a lopsided trade deficit,asked the right questions. First, China is pushing this as part of its escape routefrom the trough that its tariff war with the US is forcing it into. By virtue of itshold on the region, it would automatically helm the group and make its partnerslook anti-US, something that the Modi Government could ill afford now. Second,with the deal allowing China free access to our markets, there were fears thatChina would dump cheaper goods in India using the RCEP as a major tool. Thiswould kill our small businesses. Had we joined RCEP, India would have to com-mit to tariff elimination for about 90 per cent of items from the ASEAN, Japanand South Korea, and over 74 per cent from China, Australia and New Zealand.Indian negotiators failed to convince the forum members about adequate pro-tection against cheap Chinese imports and other safeguards in order to makethe deal more acceptable to domestic concerns. Even in the services exchangemarket, with many Southeast Asian countries offering lower wages, Indian work-ers would be left out from outsourced jobs. Then there were issues related tolimiting technology transfer of foreign companies, possible circumvention of rulesof origin and no credible assurances on market access and non-tariff barriers.

Critics may argue that not being a part of the bloc is tantamount to not hav-ing an even footing in terms of preferential access and losing export competi-tiveness. Yet the fact remains that we cannot ignore our interests. An FTA port-folio can on paper attract external investments but none of India’s other FTAshas worked significantly so far. Still, India was in favour of a well-negotiated RCEPin which all sides would gain reasonably instead of absolutely. India would notget too large a slice of the cake under China’s neo-imperial designs. It must,therefore, strengthen sub-regional cooperation like the BIMSTEC. Pragmatismdoesn’t mean we are shy, it means measuring our chances wisely.

The time for learning lessons and pass-ing the parcel of responsibilities is over.We are suffering our worst consequence

as climate deniers. The solution to Delhi’salarming toxic air is in treating it not just asan environmental crisis but a public health haz-ard, which is killing us as if we are in a con-flict zone, and needs our collective last shotat survival. So the political blame game, thatcharacterises this annual debate, needs to stopright now. We require a bipartisan approach.This is a national emergency, considering that

the whole of North India is affected and a seriousness of purpose in Delhi wouldautomatically trigger corrective speed in the hinterland and other city adminis-trations. No doubt, the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi has taken sever-al commendable steps and ensured protocol compliances to get things mov-ing in a city that had done little since the green fleet of CNG changed public trans-port during the Sheila Dikshit regime. But clearly, its claim of 25 per cent reduc-tion in pollution holds no ground in the face of its worst stranglehold this sea-son and just sets up a comparative competition with rival political parties. Particularlyat a time when Assembly elections are around the corner, each is upending whycertain moves were made or unmade. For example, for all talk of curbing vehic-ular pollution through the odd-even scheme, one forgets that no party wants toever talk about rationing the most polluting two-wheelers, too, for fear of a votebacklash. Given the Delhi Government’s crossfire with the Centre, pollution hasclearly become fodder for another round of conflict over territorial and admin-istrative roles that require a proactive module from the Centre no less, which isstill in two minds about striking hard on farmers in the time of an agriculturalcrisis. The Congress has also got into the game with Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh claiming that despite his own efforts in arresting stubble burn-ing, the Centre should give a policy direction. Party chief Priyanka Gandhi calledfor a civic bandh to force the Centre into action even as PMO officials huddledto get rid of the haze. At least Modi 2.0, which professedly prioritises the farmeconomy, should incentivise stubble burning and buy up farm residue till mech-anised shredders become viable in numbers and prices. Even in competitive stakes,State governments could re-allocate funds from within the populist schemes alreadyannounced. Farm policies must be tweaked to reorient cropping patterns on ascientific zoning basis rather than rely on past practice. We must discouragewater-guzzling and stubble-generating crops like rice in Punjab and Haryana, therice bowls in the plains being enough to sustain volumes.

Only if all put their heads together for a concerted plan of action instead ofharvesting political capital out of a killer or claiming credit for being a saviour,would we have a chance. Populism should be replaced by pragmatism and notbe dependent on the Supreme Court, which has imposed a ̀ 1 lakh fine on garbageburning and has made everybody directly accountable to it for stubble fires, bold-ly saying “farmers cannot be allowed to kill people.” But the court’s ruling, too,is not heeded when it crosses paths with political agenda. In 2016, the SupremeCourt committee had warned how regularising unauthorised colonies in Delhiwould stress existing infrastructure and increase carbon footprints. But clearlywith an eye on the Delhi elections, the Modi Government has given ownershiprights to residents in poorer settlements. Politicking needs to give way to cogentand actionable policies, right now. For this is not just about momentary gainsor our lifetime, it is generational. A CSE report says that 8.5 of every 10,000children in India die victims of pollution before turning five. What we need is notjust a stopgap measure but a comprehensive national policy and a law like theClean Air Act in the US. In other words, a legal rather than political mandate.One that ensures crackdowns, encourages alternative energy players to inno-vate and develop economies of scale and ensures deterrence, accountability andcompensation. We need to recast the 1981 Air Act, which does not link pollu-tion to health hazards. And overarchingly, everything should be transparent insteadof a numerical puzzle. Everybody should be a leader, not an opportunist.

End the blame gameP A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019

06

Reclaiming the Sardar

A SURYA PRAKASH

People are now acquainted with the pettiness and cunning displayed by theCongress to mask the achievements of Sardar Patel

AMONG THOSEWHO FELL VICTIM

TO THE DYNASTY’SATTEMPT TO

OBLITERATE THEIRGREAT

ACHIEVEMENTSWERE SARDAR

PATEL, BR AMBEDKAR,

SUBHASH CHANDRABOSE, LAL

BAHADUR SHASTRIAND MANY OTHERS,

INCLUDING PVNARASIMHA RAO,

ONE OF THEGREATEST PMsINDIA HAS HAD A walkout on our terms

A legislation with multi-sectoral appeal is needed tocombat pollution than letting politicians rule air time

India has to watch its slice of the cake and China’sambitions. The RCEP clearly doesn’t work

What’s the point?

Sir — The President of Indiaissued a notification that the mapof the country had been redrawnto depict the newly-formed UnionTerritories (UT) of Jammu &Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh.

But the big question is, will theUnited Nations (UN) recognisethis new political map of J&K andLadakh UTs? As it is China is notfalling for Indian assurances on theLine of Actual Control (LAC)and is interpreting the bifurcationas a challenge to Aksai Chin andits China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK). Pakistan hasalready refused to accept the newmap and China is sure to counterit its own version. Another roundof pow-wow awaits.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Find a solutionSir — This, refers to the report“Delhi pollution 3-year high”(November 4). A week after Diwali,Delhi’s Air Quality Index shot upto 625 on Sunday, the highest levelit has touched in three years.Twenty-one of the 37 air quality

monitoring stations recorded theAQI between 490 and 500 with airquality sensors at Aya Nagar,Ashok Vihar, Anand Vihar andAurobindo Marg peaking at 7

pm. In the National CapitalRegion, Faridabad with AQI (493),Noida (494), Ghaziabad (499) andGreater Noida (488), Gurugram(479), residents choked on toxic air.

A public health emergency hasalready been declared in thenational Capital and people arecomplaining of breathing prob-lems. Even 37 flights were divert-

ed due to the heavy smog.However, even as the citizens con-tinue to suffer, the DelhiGovernment and the CentralGovernment are indulging in ablame-game. It’s sad that whensomething as fundamental as thehealth of our children and theelderly is at stake, we are bickeringirresponsibly. The Governmentshould devise a more robust, per-manent solution to tackle theproblem of pollution, just like theUS and China.

T Anwar Bengaluru

Maharashtra impasseSir —The present crisis of govern-ment formation in Maharashtra isa sad reminder of a similar episodein Karnataka and is indicative ofthe malice that has penetrated ourpolitics. Politicians don’t seem tobother either about their ideologyor negating the verdict of theelectorate. As such hoisting on thepeople a Chief Minister from apolitical party with minimumseats is becoming a norm thanexception.

BP SrivastavaNoida

‘Make in India' has become‘Buy from China.’ Each yearwe import `6,000 worth ofgoods from China for everyIndian!

Congress leader— Rahul Gandhi

Every year, as the fires rageand California burns, hecomes to the FederalGovernment for $$$ help. Nomore.

US President —Donald Trump

So disappointed Emirates. Ihave a confirmed flight andthey tell me that they are over-booked and want me to traveleconomy on a business ticket!

Cricketer—Chris Gayle

S O U N D B I T E

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

Why is the Centre silent on Snoopgate?

This refers to the news item, “Priyanka’s mobile toohacked, alleges Cong,” (November 4). The WhatsAppsnoopgate controversy took a new turn on Sunday with

the Congress claiming that the phones of three Oppositionleaders, including Congress general secretary PriyankaGandhi, were hacked. It may be recalled that West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday had levelledan explosive allegation that her phone was tapped whileshe was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of theChhat puja celebrations in Kolkata. Fanning the controver-sy, the Congress media in-charge Randeep Surjewala alsomade the disclosure when he was asked if any party lead-ers were alerted by WhatsApp that they were targets of analleged snooping operation involving the Israeli spywarePegasus. Surjewala said, “WhatsApp supposedly sent mes-sages to different people whose phones were hacked. Onesuch message was also received from WhatsApp on thetelephone of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.”

The Government is tight-lipped on this raging issueand its silence has spawned much speculation that some-thing is fishy about its stand on this matter. Meanwhile,the Israeli surveillance firm, the NSO Group, has made itclear that its Pegasus spyware is only sold to Governmentagencies. At this juncture, Surjewala asked the ModiGovernment to reveal who bought and deployed it and whoauthorised the purchase. Charging the Government with

being involved in the breach, Surjewala said, “It is, thus,clear that the Government and its agencies bought the spy-ware. It could neither be bought nor deployed by any pri-vate operator.” The Congress spokesperson asked why theGovernment had remained silent although it was alertedabout the hack in April-May 2019, before the general elec-tion. Since allegations of phone-tapping are coming fromdifferent corners, the Centre has to come out openly witha statement as to their veracity. If it continues to be reti-cent, then the allegations of the Opposition parties will haveto be construed as genuine.

T K Nandanan Kochi

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Every next year, all your lovemakes my birthday bigger. Imust be the only person in theworld who feels happy gettingolder! Love you all

Actor—Shah Rukh Khan

Identity matters

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The trans-community is not happy with theTransgender Persons (Protection of Rights)Bill, 2019 and some of its provisions are being

widely debated, criticised and opposed by it. “Somemay see it as positive socio-cultural change but thelegal aspect of this Bill is bad,” says Anirudh Gupta,an activist and member of the trans-community.Is the Government listening to these voices?

What has majorly upset the trans-communi-ty is that the Bill was drafted without taking anyinputs from it and there are many loopholes thatneed to be plugged.

The right to self-identification: The mainconcern of the community is that the Bill doesn’tgrant it the right to determine gender. Instead, itsmembers have to present their cases before aDistrict Magistrate (DM) to get certified as a trans-gender. Prior to applying for an identification cer-tificate, the Bill mandates them to secure a med-ical certificate from the area’s Chief Medical Officerconfirming their orientation. This, the communi-ty believes, is in gross violation of the 2014 SupremeCourt verdict in the National Legal ServicesAuthority vs Union of India case. The ruling haddirected the Central Government to allow trans-genders to determine their own gender irrespec-tive of hormonal or surgical interventions. This isalso contrary to another provision of the Bill thatthey would have the right of self-identification.

Shanthi Muniswamy, a member of the com-munity, says, “How can a screening committee beauthorised to confirm whether or not I am a trans-gender? The lawmakers should be sensitive. Whatif they need to prove their genders to officers andconfirm it with a certificate? There is no such lawfor a male and female. Then, is it justified to makeit a rule for the third gender?”

No room for appeal or review after rejectionby the DM: As per the Bill, if the DM refuses toacknowledge the medical certificate, the appellantwill not get the certificate of identification. Theapplication will not be reviewed after that. The factthat the petitioners will not have any forum toappeal to has the trans-community up in arms. Thisprovision is unjust to an extent where it will notonly deprive these individuals of their basicrights but even their identity. The trans-commu-nity has fought this battle of identity since birthand hasn’t succumbed to societal pressure. But asthis battle goes legal, its members will legally haveto live with the same situation and same identityfor the rest of their lives. Lawmakers need toacknowledge the fact that the rejection of a per-son not being a transgender can be due to sever-al reasons, including corruption and medical neg-ligence. In all legal matters, the Constitution accordsevery person the right to appeal to higher author-ities and even to the Supreme Court (SC). TheGovernment assigns a public prosecutor foralleged criminals. So the question arises why thisbasic right is being denied to the third gender?

If this Bill is for the emancipation of transgen-ders, then why are their basic rights differing fromthat of other citizens on the basis of gender? Thisin a way, violates Article 15 of the IndianConstitution, which prohibits discrimination ongrounds of race, caste, sex or place of birth.

Sex work is an issue which the Bill fails toaddress: Isn’t sex work a harsh reality of our soci-ety? The streets of Central Delhi at midnight areflooded with sex workers, including transgenders.The Government has failed to address this issue.

The extent of exploitation of transgen-ders in this trade is beyond imagination.They are beaten up, sexually assaultedand thrown into the streets. Their com-plaints are barely registered in such casesas a transgender getting molested orraped is not something that society wantsto accept.

A major explanation of this negationby society lies in the argument that thesex trade is exploitative, irrespective ofthe gender. But when we talk of womenin prostitution and rehabilitating them,then why aren’t we talking and thinkingabout transgenders the very same way?How can there be such a stark demar-cation of exploitation and brutalitybased on gender? Have we found a newcategory that we can discriminate? It isimportant to accept that trans people aremarginalised in layers. More than a meredrafting of a Bill, the Government needsto empower transgenders economicallyand socially.

Discrimination over the com-plaints of sexual harassment betweenwomen and transgenders: TheTransgender Persons (Protection ofRights Bill), 2019 states the period ofpunishment for sexual harassment andassault on a transgender to be sixmonths which can exceed up to two yearsin prison with penalty. A period of oneto five years is the least imprisonmentwhen the same cases are lodged for anassault on a woman.The punishment forsexual assault, harassment and bondedlabour is comparatively stringent incase of heterosexuals as compared totransgenders.

Definition of family: The Bill does-n’t recognise hijra households where theyall feel protected and find a sense ofbelonging. The Bill defines a family as agroup of people related by blood, mar-

riage or adoption. The community doesnot find this in consonance with the real-ity of their lives, where trans-children aremostly abandoned and disowned at atender age. Grace Banu, a transgenderwoman from Tamil Nadu, said “that myfamily got me admitted in an asylum afterknowing about my gender.” Since then,she herself has adopted seven trans-kids.Stories like these are neither rare norunreal. Therefore, how can the definitionof the family be so unreal and incom-plete?

Awareness in households, publicoffices, educational institutes, hospitalsand police stations: Despite making lawsand drafting Bills, there have been anumber of cases where transgenders havebeen harassed and discriminated inGovernment institutions.

The case of Shanavi Ponnusamy, atrans woman from Tamil Nadu, comesto mind. She was allegedly denied the jobof cabin crew by Air India despite clear-ing the exam. Another widely knowncase is of K Prithika Yashini, the firsttranswoman Sub-Inspector in India. Ittook an order from the Madras HighCourt for the Tamil Nadu RecruitmentBoard to appoint her.

Unfortunately we have a huge num-ber of cases like these where the basicopportunities of education and livelihoodof the transgenders have been ques-tioned. Therefore, there is a huge demandof sensitisation in all walks of public andprivate sphere.

The question arises, Are theMinisters themselves ready for this Bill?Why is this issue being discussed amidsome or the other scuffle? The historyof this Bill reflects the loopholes everysingle time it is drafted. The TransgenderPersons (Protection of Rights) 2018consisted of many lacuna such as illog-

ical and narrow defining of the transgen-der which was, “Somebody as not nei-ther wholly male nor wholly female.” Itcriminalised begging on the streetsexclusively for the transgenders. TheNational Council for TransgenderPersons was to have a psychiatrist in thepanel along with the DM. How then arethe Government and the so-called pol-icy makers any different from any otherill-informed person, who sees it as a men-tal illness which is to be treated by a psy-chiatrist. If the aim is to pass a Bill justfor the sake of having another law in thecountry, then it will face the same fate asmany other pre-existing laws. Forinstance, despite decriminalisation ofArticle 377, recently RasikaGopalkrishnan and Shivani Singh, twofemales in their early twenties, werethrown out of a Chennai hotel late atmidnight for holding hands and hugging.It is one of the trillion examples of theflawed implementation of laws.

This subsidiary and secondaryapproach towards deliberating and draft-ing a Bill for transgenders will result ina half-hearted implementation, leadingto forged data and stereotypes. It is cru-cial to realise that rights and justice havelately been denied to the “Third Gender”despite being recognised in 2014. It ishigh time for the Government to pay therequired attention while deliberating therights of these individuals. This is a mat-ter of identity, life, right and fight of ahuge part of society. The realisation thatit is not just any other issue will help theGovernment in taking all concerns intoaccount which will ensure better possi-bilities of the law being implemented onthe ground.

(The writer is post graduate scholar,Department of Political Science, Universityof Delhi)

This subsidiary and secondary approach towards deliberating and drafting a Bill for transgenderswill result in a half-hearted implementation, leading to forged data and stereotypes

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

Correct pastmistakes

KARAN BHASIN

If we can stick to the reforms suggested by theHLAG report and check any manipulations of thetrade agreement, we may climb out of the trough

POOJA JHA

IF THIS BILL ISFOR THE

EMANCIPATION OFTRANSGENDERS,

THEN WHY ARETHEIR BASIC

RIGHTS DIFFERINGFROM THAT OF

OTHER CITIZENSON THE BASIS OFGENDER? THIS INA WAY, VIOLATES

ARTICLE 15 OF THEINDIAN

CONSTITUTION,WHICH PROHIBITS

DISCRIMINATIONON GROUNDS OF

RACE, CASTE, SEXOR PLACE OF

BIRTH

Yes, we need to be cautious no doubt but there is a lot of mis-information that has been spread by special interest groupswith respect to the Regional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement. These groups want India toavoid becoming a member of one of the region’s biggest tradingblocs and their arguments are like the ones made by many duringIndia’s Independence. Consequently, India embarked on a protec-tionist regime post-Independence till we opened up our economyin 1991.

Since then, the country has witnessed an impressive growthrate and it has lifted millions out of poverty. Several estimates sug-gest that at present, India’s poverty rate as per the Suresh TendulkarCommittee’s poverty line, is in single digits. One may disagree withthe Tendulkar poverty line (I know I do!) but that’s a separate sub-ject which we will discuss later. For now, it is important to recog-nise that the country’s growth rate accelerated during the trade lib-eralisation regime. Consequently, we’ve witnessed an ever-widen-ing level of prosperity which coincides with an increase in India’smiddle class population base.

During the recent launch of a report by the High-Level AdvisoryGroup (HLAG), it was mentioned that no country had managed tosustain a growth rate of over seven per cent without exports. Indeed,evidence does point to this fact and, therefore, we must look at exportsas an important driver of our growth. This is precisely why the RCEPis critical as the nature of world trade has become far more com-plex today than what it was during the 1990s.

Globalisation 1.0 ensured that manufacturing value chainsemerged across countries and value-addition, therefore, took placeacross a host of countries. This was made possible by the low costof containerisation, competitive advantage of several countries anda regime of low import tariffs that ensured low cost inputs wereaccessible for further value-addition. Unfortunately, the countrymissed out on this opportunity due to our high levels of tariffs andwhile the Unite Progressive Alliance Government (UPA) did intro-duce some trade agreements, the high levels of corporate tax ratesand high cost of capital made Indian industries uncompetitive. Thingshave changed, especially since one of the biggest corporate tax cutsof the 21st century which was announced by the Finance Ministeron September 20. Moreover, we’re looking at further lowering ofinterest rates which implies a relatively lower cost of capital in thenear future. India’s recent investments in infrastructure and improve-ments in ease of doing business are also critical in improving thecountry’s competitiveness.

The HLAG committee has demonstrated how the country ben-efits from entering into the trading bloc. It has further identified sec-tors where India has a competitive advantage and has provided adetailed roadmap of reforms over the next couple of months. If theGovernment undertakes these reforms, then combined with the lowercorporate tax rates and low cost of capital, we’d witness our first-ever industrial revolution. The arguments for protectionism are explic-itly political in nature and have been provided in the past. The mostcited argument is the “infant industry argument” which states thatthe domestic industry won’t be able to compete with internationalproducts and, therefore, we should protect the same.

However, it has been found repeatedly that protectionism does-n’t help domestic industries become competitive. Further, our lackof trade agreements with many countries, including the EuropeanUnion (EU), has often resulted in our exports being less competi-tive as our competitors are in general quick to enter into such agree-ments with other countries. Moreover, by protecting industries throughtariffs, especially for sectors that produce critical raw materials forother industries, we subject the other industries to a high input cost.This in turn makes even our competitive industries uncompetitivein the international market. To those who are stating this argument,one must ask why despite competitive costs of taxation, adequateinvestments in infrastructure and strong domestic markets, are theyunable to be competitive? The ongoing trade war has resulted in aunique opportunity to bring some of the global manufacturing play-ers that are looking for a China plus one manufacturing strategy tothe country. However, if India wants to be integrated into the glob-al value chain, then it must be a part of regional trading blocs andrevert to the policy of gradually reducing tariffs across commodi-ties.

We embarked on a policy of high tariffs and barriers to tradefor decades only to realise later the opportunity costs we paid forthe same. The low growth of our industries, scarcity of resourcesand inefficient enterprises are all a legacy of the socialist policiesbefore the 1991 reforms. The current trade war, possibility of a Brexit,RCEP and trade negotiations with the US are all an opportunity toseize the moment and embrace globalisation.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based public policy researcher)

As the sun sets, a child jingles afew coins in his tiny hands,which are his earnings for

working 14 hours straight at a Delhi-based bangle manufacturing unit. Ithas been just a few months since hemoved to Delhi, with a bhaiyya(brother) from his village. Little didhe know that his bhaiyya had deviseda cunning ploy to push him into thedark and dingy world of child labour.Confined to the factory, he would toilall day and through the night to makebangles that would one day adorn thearms of women.

This is the story of Ashiq, aneight-year-old boy from the hinter-lands of Bihar, and that of thousandsof children like him, who are traf-ficked every year and forced to liveand unlawfully work in deplorableconditions. Among the children whoare rescued from bonded labour, traf-ficking and abuse, trauma is often adominant factor impacting theirdecisions, making them unsociableand aloof, even after being freed andrepatriated. The stigma associatedwith being rehabilitated often push-

es the children to believe that theyhave committed a crime. Their cop-ing mechanism fails to help them re-integrate with other children in thecommunity and they often end upgrowing into dysfunctional adults.

In the past decades, however,organisations, Government andNGOs have been working diligentlyat the grassroots with an aim to intro-duce mechanisms that would notonly ensure full protection of therights of children working as labour-ers in brick kilns, circuses, textile fac-tories, bangle factories and the car-pet industry but also help in rebuild-ing their lives.

A Nobel Peace Prize for India in2014 for fighting for the rights of chil-dren and youth was an importantturning point. Apart from the pub-licity that the movement receivedbecause of the award bestowed uponKailash Satyarthi, this period was alsomarked by a significant step forwardin the field of protection of childrights by way of improving andamending the existing child protec-tion laws such as the Juvenile Justice

Act, the POCSO Act and other pro-visions that support children in dis-tress. These amendments have furtherhelped a great deal towards creatinga safer environment for children insome communities while others stillremain vulnerable to incidences oftrafficking, forced labour and sexu-al abuse.

Currently, under the Child andAdolescent Labour (Prohibition andRegulation Act) 1986, children res-cued from labour may receive mon-etary benefits from the Governmentof up to ̀ 15,000, in addition to theirback wages. If the children are foundto have been bonded in their employ-ment, there are additional provisionsfor benefits of up to ̀ 3,00,000 underthe Central Sector Scheme for theRehabilitation of Bonded Labourers,2016. The nature of the rehabilitationsupport available today is plainlyfinancial, and the funds rationed bythe Government for providing for thesurvivors of child labour fall short byalmost 60 per cent.

When the rescued children arereunited with their families, they are

often looked down upon by their par-ents and society. Not only this, theemployers also threaten the parents.They are often made to believe thatbeing rescued means getting caughtand the child is responsible for theloss of income. For impoverished par-ents and children, this translatesinto direct pressure and they give into the threats of the employers. Insuch situations, factors such as delayin receiving compensation, lack ofawareness among parents about theavenues open for their children,social stigma and lack of communi-ty support, unavailability of educa-tional and vocational opportunities,poverty and the family’s lack ofaccess to social security schemesforces them to re-enter the world oftrafficking and slavery.

Since it’s known that the vulner-ability of a potential victim stemsfrom the lack of a feeling of security,it’s really important that the child isempowered and safe, once backhome. A comprehensive rehabilita-tion process must be implementedthrough a series of interventions that

span mental, social, psychological,physical, aptitudinal and scholasticgrowth of the children.

With a goal to offer proper reha-bilitation, shelter homes have been setup across the country that offer sup-port to survivors of the heinouscrimes of trafficking and forcedlabour. Many shelter homes also runprogrammes to provide immediatecare and protection to rescued chil-dren.

Rehabilitation programmes haveto be more efficient than the short-term solutions that focus only on pro-viding immediate care and support.There should be a pragmaticapproach towards designing pro-grammes with realistic time-framesthat must replace the current short-term yet seemingly never-endingprocesses. A comprehensive rehabil-itation policy that addresses the cur-rent challenges must be introduced.Besides this, efforts must be made totrain the stakeholders for effectiveimplementation of laws related tochild rights and protection. There isalso a need for comprehensive

research since there is hardly any doc-umentation on ideal rehabilitationpractices. An advocacy campaignmust be launched to ensure allocationof adequate funds for effective reha-bilitation of children. To operate ona scale as big as required, adoption oftechnology to efficiently deliver ser-vices is imperative.

The need of the hour is to makeconcerted efforts at the district levelin order to create maximum impact.District-level centres should be madewith facilities such as hostels, whereapart from lodging, a holistic learn-ing environment is provided to chil-dren. It is equally important to pro-vide counselling resources to parents.Awareness-building initiatives arealso necessary in order to ensure thatthe activities of agents are monitored.A lot of this work can be executedthrough consultants and volunteersoperating at the panchayat, block anddistrict level in partnership with thelocal administration. This will notonly help us research the issues in-depth but also get to the root causesof child trafficking and the mindsets

that cause problems in proper reha-bilitation.

Today, after years of continuous-ly learning about the problems facedby children, we have developedinsights in fields that not only direct-ly impact their protection and devel-opment but also provide a con-ducive environment for growth. Wehave greater understanding of howdeep-rooted the problems are. TheBal Mitra Grams’ participation-basedmodels have thrown up results.

It has taken India years to recog-nise the effects of child labour andgive at least some attention it reallydeserves. The significant reforms inthe child rights and protection poli-cies have been pivotal in the fightagainst child labour. However, we stillneed greater collective effort to beempathetic towards children in need.This would certainly secure thefuture generations. They are morethan capable of striking gold out ofwhatever they get.

(The writer is former Chairperson,Bihar State Commission for Protectionof Child Rights)

Just rescuing our children is not enoughThe country needs a comprehensive policy framework to ensure proper rehabilitation and protection of children who have been trafficked and

made to work as child labourers so that they don’t fall back into the clutches of those they were rescued from, says Nisha Madan Jha

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

WHATSAPP SENT MESSAGES TO PEOPLE WHOSE PHONESWERE HACKED. ONE SUCH MESSAGE WAS ALSO RECEIVED

ON THE TELEPHONE OF PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA.—CONGRESS MEDIA IN-CHARGE

RANDEEP SURJEWALA

THEY CLAIMED THAT RAHUL’S LIFE WAS IN DANGERWHEN A VIDEO CAMERA LIGHT FLASHED ON HIS FACEDURING A MEDIA BRIEFING. THAT’S THEIR CREDIBILITY. —BJP’S IT CELL CHIEFAMIT MALVIYA

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019

CAPSULE

‘India appreciates Myanmar'ssteps against insurgent groups’PNS n BANGKOK

Prime Minister NarendraModi has conveyed toMyanmar's State CounsellorAung San Suu Kyi about theimportance India attaches toher country's cooperation inensuring that insurgent groupsdo not find space to operateacross the India-Myanmar bor-der.

Prime Minister Modi alsoconveyed to Suu Kyi aboutIndia's readiness to expand itssocio-economic projects in thecountry's Rakhine state,months after New Delhi imple-mented a housing project inthe restive province.

Modi made the proposalduring a meeting with Suu Kyion the sidelines of the ASEANsummit on Sunday.

In the talks, Modi alsoemphasised that the speedy,safe and sustainable returnfrom Bangladesh of displacedpeople to their homes inRakhine State was in the inter-ests of the region, the displacedpersons, and all three neigh-bouring countries -- India,Bangladesh and Myanmar, theMinistry of External Affairs(MEA) said.

The two leaders also agreedthat a stable and peaceful bor-der was an important anchorfor the continued expansion ofbilateral partnership and thatprime minister Modi empha-sised the value India attachesto Myanmar's cooperation in

ensuring that insurgent groupsdo not find space to operateacross the India-Myanmarborder.

Myanmar is one of India'sstrategic neighbours and sharesa 1,640-km-long border with anumber of northeastern statesincluding militancy-hitNagaland and Manipur.

According to security agen-

cies, there were over 50 campsof insurgent groups from thenorth-east in Myanmar tilllast year.

The armies of India andMyanmar carried out a three-week-long coordinated opera-tion from May 16 in theirrespective border areas, tar-geting several militant groupsoperating in Manipur,

Nagaland and Assam.Defence sources said that

during the "Operation Sunrise2" in May, the armies coordi-nated with each other to bustcamps of militant outfits,including the KamtapurLiberation Organisation(KLO), the NSCN (Khaplang),the United Liberation Front ofAssam (I) and the NationalDemocratic Front of Boroland(NDFB).

In June 2015, the IndianArmy had carried out an oper-ation against NSCN(K) mili-tants in areas near the Indo-Myanmar border, days aftermilitants killed 18 armymen inManipur.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi meeting the State Counsellor of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, on the sidelines of the 16thIndia-ASEAN Summit, in Bangkok, Thailand

Myanmar is one of India's strategicneighbours and shares a 1,640-km-long border with a number ofnortheastern states includingmilitancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur

‘Draw up norms to have control over Google, FB, Twitter’PNS n BENGALURU

The likes of Google,Facebook and Twitterhave became bigmonopolies and timehas come for govern-ments around theworld to have acontrol overthem, informa-tion technologyindustry veteran TV Mohandas Paisaid on Monday.

The former Chief

Financial Officer of Infosyssaid the government shouldthrough its probe agencies

investigate theWhatsApp snoopingscandal, come outwith a report and

place it beforethe people.

" T o d a yplatforms likeG o o g l e ,F a c e b o o k ,

Twitter havebecome big monopolies andthey are trying to sensor and

monitor what is happening,(and) they are trying to con-trol the minds of citizensglobally", Pai told PTI.

"They have access to a lotof information, they arerepository of information,and they have to tell all of us

how they are going to protectthe information from mal-ware or any technology thatcan snoop on us", he added.

He said there is a lot of per-sonal data on these plat-forms which run algorithmsto find out patterns and do

psychometric analysis."It's a very dangerous sit-

uation".Pai stressed the need for

the Government to draw upnorms vis-a-vis functioningof such big platforms.

"Privacy cannot be pro-tected by contract with thesecompanies. Big companiessay we have a contract, wewill protect you but the con-tract is totally one-sided...they have control overyou, they dominate you", hesaid.

"It's time that all legisla-tures around the world,including Indian Parliament,have control over them. Ourgovernment shouldprotect us", Paisaid.

"We don't havenorms to dealwith them. Weare way behind. Idon't knowwhether we mon-itor, we don't haveenough thingsgoing on".

Today platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitterhave become big monopolies and they are trying

to censor and monitor what is happening, (and)they are trying to control the minds of citizens globally

— T V MOHANDAS PAI, Information TTechnology IIndustry VVeteran

HC to RBI: Spell out steps taken

to help PMC Bank depositorsPNS n MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court onMonday sought to know fromthe Reserve Bank of Indiawhat steps it has taken to pro-tect the interests of depositorsof the crisis-hit Punjab andMaharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank.

A division bench of JusticesS C Dharmadhikari and R IChagla was hearing a bunch ofpetitions filed by the bankdepositors, challenging restric-tions imposed by the RBI onwithdrawals.

On September 23, the RBIimposed regulatory restric-tions on the PMC Bank for sixmonths over alleged financialirregularities. The withdrawallimit for account holders wasinitially Rs 1,000 per each cus-tomer for six months, whichwas later raised to Rs 10,000and then to Rs 40,000.

On Monday, the bench saidit only wanted to know whatthe RBI was doing in the case.

"The RBI knows all theaffairs of the bank in question.The RBI is the bankers' bankand an expert body on suchissues. We don't want to inter-fere and dilute your (RBI's)authority," the court said.

It said in such financial

issues, the RBI will be the judgeand not the court.

It directed the RBI to file itsaffidavit and posted the mat-ter for furtherhearing onNovember 19. Thecourt refused togrant any interimrelief in the matter.

One of the peti-tioners sought direc-tion to the RBI to permit depos-itors to access their lockers.

The court, while refusing topass any order, said, "Thecourt cannot allow access.

How can we or anyone preventthe RBI from taking action? Ifthe RBI says 'stay away fromthe bank', then do so." It said

the depositorscould sue the bankif they wanted.

The bench saidby filing multiplepetitions, lawyersshould not givefalse hopes to

depositors that the courts willhelp them. "Courts are notmagicians. Let us not givefalse hopes to the depositors,"Justice Dharmadhikari said.

It directed the RBI to file its affidavitand posted the matter for furtherhearing on November 19. The courtrefused to grant any interim relief inthe matter

‘Indian govt needs to undertake heavy disinvestment prog’PTI n NEW YORK

The Indian government needsto reduce its reliance on bondmarkets and undertake a heavydisinvestment programmealong with urgently imple-menting land, labour and agri-cultural reforms, former RBIDeputy Governor ViralAcharya said.

Speaking at a panel discus-sion at Columbia Universityhere on Friday on the 'IndianEconomy: The Next Five Years',Acharya outlined a few "possi-ble remedies" and recommen-dations for the Indian econo-my going forward.

"I think my main recom-mendation for the years to fol-low is that maybe we need tocarefully consider doing less. Ithink less may be more for theeconomy as far as government

programmes are concerned atthe present," Acharya said.

"It may not be easy to pullback on certain announcedprogrammes. But in that case,one has to rationalise heavyprogrammes that are not deliv-ering the supposed objectives,"he said, adding that those pro-grammes which are maybe theleast attractive politically can bewound down as soon as possi-ble.

"Some space needs to befreed up for others to borrowin the Indian economy," hesaid.

Acharya, Professor ofEconomics at New YorkUniversity Stern School ofBusiness, was speaking at theColumbia Indian EconomySummit hosted by the Deepakand Neera Raj Center onIndian Economic Policies at

Columbia University's Schoolof International and PublicAffairs in partnership with theConsulate General of India,New York. He was RBI'sDeputy Governor fromJanuary 2017 to July 2019.

He further said that the gov-ernment needs to reduce itsreliance on the bond markets.

"I think it has to undertakea really heavy disinvestmentprogramme ideally by selling ofmajority stakes so that there issome improvements in pro-

ductivity beingaccumulated atthe same timeby raising gov-ernment fundsthrough equitymarkets rather thanbond markets."

He alsost ress e dthat hestronglys u p -p o r t sc r e -

ation of an independent fiscalmonitor, on the lines of a con-gregational budgeting office,where every time a programmeis announced, there is an auditwithin two months that looksinto what are the next five yearimplications of financing to be

met for the particular pro-gramme.

"I think this could alsohold a mirror to the gov-ernment funding as awhole if the targets are

being just softened overyear after year after

year with someconvenientexcuse orthe other.I thinkt h e r eshould bea muchg r e a t e r

discussion on this in the coun-try."

Acharya also emphasisedthat the time is "really ripe" forland, labour and agriculturalreforms in India.

"Without doing them(reforms), I find it very hard tosee how we can bring the nextrung of 200-300 million peo-ple into the middle class thatcan consume at 6-10 per centyear after year because theexisting middle class cannotconsume at 10 per cent forev-er. It's not possible," he said.

The panel discussion wasattended by Director at the RajCenter and former NITI AayogVice Chairman ArvindPanagariya and professor andeminent economist JagdishBhagwati as well as other leadingmembers of the academic andIndian-American community.

I think my main recommendation for the years tofollow is that maybe we need to carefully considerdoing less. I think less may be more for the

economy as far as government programmes are concernedat the present

VIRAL ACHARYA, Former RBI Deputy Governor

Sensex scales newclosing peak;Infosys rallies 3 pcPNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark BSE Sensexon Monday rose 137 points tohit a new closing high of40,302, led by gains in IT,metal and financial stocksamid positive global cues.

Extending its gains for theseventh consecutive session,the 30-share Sensex settled136.93 points, or 0.34 percent, higher at 40,301.96. Theindex also hit its lifetime intra-day high of 40,483.21.

The broader NSE Nifty tooadvanced 50.70 points, or 0.43per cent, to close at 11,941.30.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included Infosys,Vedanta, Tata Steel, ONGC,and ICICI Bank, rising up to3.05 per cent.

HDFC too gained 2.48 percent after the mortgage lendersaid its consolidated net profitjumped over 76.3 per cent to Rs10,748.69 crore in the secondquarter ended September 2019.

On the other hand, Maruti,Hero MotoCorp, IndusIndBank, Tata Motor andPowerGrid lost up to 2.54 percent.

According to experts, better

liquidity from foreign funds,de-escalation in geopoliticalrisks and focus on upcomingreforms to revive growthbuoyed domestic investor sen-timent.

Globally, bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong andSeoul settled higher on opti-mism over the US-China tradedeal after China's commerceministry on Saturdayannounced that top Chineseand US trade negotiators"reached consensus on princi-ples".

PNS n NEW DELHI.The Atal Pension Yojana(APY), a flagship pensionscheme of the government tocover the workers in the unor-ganised sector, has crossed1.9 crore subscriber mark,pension sector regulatorPFRDA said.

The primary reason for theuptick in enrollment wasachievement of targets allo-cated to banks for opening ofnew APY accounts, it said ina statement. "In this financialyear, the response towards theenrollment of APY was over-whelming and more than 36lakh APY accounts have beenadded till October 31, 2019indicating a growth of 33 percent in comparison to 26 percent growth during the corre-sponding period, last fiscal,"the Pension Fund Regulatoryand Development Authority(PFRDA) said. APY is beingadministered by the PFRDA.

Out of the 36 lakh new APY

accounts, 27.5 lakh weresourced by public sector banks,5.5 lakh accounts by regionalrural banks and around 3 lakhaccounts by private sector andpayment banks.

Among public sector banks,State Bank of India contributedwith nearly 11.5 lakh additionsin APY accounts followed byCanara Bank and Bank ofIndia. In terms of averageaccount per branch, SBIsourced highest APY accountsfollowed by Indian Bank andBank of India.

Among RRBs, Baroda Uttar

Pradesh Gramin Bank,Dakshin Bihar Gramin Bankand Andhra PradeshGrameena Vikas Bank sourcedmaximum APY accounts,whereas in terms of averageaccounts per branch TripuraGramin Bank, MaharashtraGramin Bank and BarodaUttar Pradesh Gramin Banktopped the list.

In the payments bank cat-egory, Airtel Payments Bankhas sourced around 1.8 lakhAPY accounts so far in this fis-cal, against the annual target of50,000 APY accounts.

Atal Pension Yojana has over1.9 crore subscribers now

HDFC Q2 netprofit up 76%at Rs 1,749 crPNS n NEW DELHI

Mortgage lender HDFC onMonday said its consolidat-ed net profit jumped over76.3 per cent to Rs 1,748.69crore in the second quarterended September 2019.

Its consolidated net profitduring the correspondingthree months of 2018-19stood at Rs 6,096.85 crore.

Total income on a consol-idated basis rose to Rs32,850.89 crore in the saidquarter from Rs 22,950.66crore a year ago, HDFC saidin a regulatory filing.

On a standalone basis, itsnet profit rose by 60.6 percent to Rs 3,961.53 crorefrom Rs 2,467.08 crore in theyear-ago period.

Total income (standalone)increased to Rs 13,494.12crore from Rs 11,256.96 crorea year ago.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) on Mondaypermitted its policyholders torevive their lapsed policies ofover 2 years, a move that willhelp improve persistency ratio.

The policies that have lapsedfor more than two years andwere not allowed to be revivedearlier can also be revivednow, LIC said in a statement.

After the Irdai ProductRegulation 2013, which cameinto effect from January 1,2014, revival period wasrestricted to two consecutiveyears from the date of firstunpaid premium, duringwhich the policyholder is enti-tled to revive policy which was

discontinued due to non-pay-ment of premium, it said.

Earlier, all policies takenafter January 1, 2014 could notbe revived if they remained inlapsed condition for a periodexceeding two years.

With a view to extend thebenefit of continued life cover,LIC approached Irdai andextended the benefit of longerrevival period to even thosepolicyholders who boughtpolicies post January 1, 2014,LIC said.

HT Mediareports Rs 21cr loss for Q2PNS n NEW DELHI

HT Media on Mondayreported a consolidated netloss of Rs 21.48 crore for thequarter ended September30, 2019-20.

The company had report-ed a loss of Rs 44.33 crore inthe year-ago period.

Total income howeverrose to Rs 580.02 crore ascompared with Rs 570.97crore in the same period ofthe previous fiscal, HTMedia said in a regulatory fil-ing.

"Slowing economicgrowth has hit advertisingspends in key categories,putting pressure on rev-enues across the mediaindustry. As a result, ourPrint and Radio (on like-to-like basis) businesses sawrevenues dip as compared toa year-ago," HT Media &Hindustan Media VenturesChairperson and EditorialDirector Shobhana Bhartiasaid.

In terms ofaverage accountper branch, SBIsourced highestAPY accountsfollowed byIndian Bank andBank of India

Top gainers in theSensex packincluded Infosys,Vedanta, TataSteel, ONGC, andICICI Bank, risingup to 3.05 %

LIC allows revival oflapsed policy of over 2 yrs

Bank credit growthto moderate to 8.5pc in FY20: IcraNEW DELHI: Growth in bankcredit may decelerate sharplyto 8-8.5 per cent during 2019-20 from 13.3 per cent lastfiscal, mainly due to decline inincremental credit in first halfof the current financial year,rating agency Icra said in areport. "Moreover, with thebond markets remaining riskaverse towards NBFCs, theYoY growth in the volume ofbonds outstanding is expectedto moderate to about 4 percent in FY2020 from 12 percent in FY2019," it said.Additionally, the recent changesin mutual funds regulations arelikely to result in a decline inthe volume of commercialpaper (CP) outstanding byMarch 2020, it said.Considering these threedomestic sources of funding,that is bank credit, corporatebonds and CP outstanding, Icraexpects year-on-year creditgrowth to decline to 6.2-6.8 percent in FY20 from 13.5 percent in the last financial year.

NASSCOM to holdproduct conclave inBengaluruBENGALURU: The NationalAssociation of Software andServices Companies(NASSCOM) is hosting itsflagship event NASSCOMProduct Conclave (NPC) in thecity from Tuesday.The 16th edition of the annualevent, will highlight the theme"10X Challenge: Scale@Speed"and focus on creativelyenhancing businesses anddeveloping products that drivethe digital transformation wavein India, NASSCOM said in astatement.NPC 2019 will hold a myriadof roundtables, plenaries,curated sessions, keynotes,summits and a showcasededicated to cutting-edgeproduct start-ups from India, itsaid. The 10X Challengeentails the vision held by theproduct sector to drive itsgrowth from USD eight billionin 2019 to USD 80 billion by2025, NASSCOM said.

Infosys to help SiemensGamesa RenewableEnergy digitalise itsBENGALURU: Infosys onMonday announced astrategic long-termpartnership with SiemensGamesa RenewableEnergy (SGRE) to support itsdigital transformation journey.Infosys will provide end-to-end IT infrastructuretransformation of SGRE,including hybrid cloudtransformation, roll-out of asoftware defined network, theset-up of an intelligent servicedesk, and digital workplaceservices, the Bengaluru-headquartered company saidin a statement.

money 08

hile there are loadsof arguments thatfavour the inclu-sion of subjectslike EVS(Environmental

Science) and Moral Studiesin our era, ironically they arestill sidelined in several edu-cational institutions. Theimportance is emphasisedwell enough on paper but notapplied so much in real life.Why this discrepancy?

“Environmental studiesinvolves understanding ourimmediate surroundings anddeveloping human valuesthrough conserving naturewhich is the only way to saveour future. The presentationby the teachers handling thissubject has to be made moregenuine and teachers are yetto be well informed aboutmodern issues arising fromharmful human activities,”says Bindu Abraham, teacherat St. John’s High School,Neredmet. Given current cli-mate crisis, now would be theright time to pay attention tothe subject. But what do stu-dents have to say about thegeneral indifference towardssuch subjects?

“In schools, generally, stu-dents usually tend to priori-tise subjects that they findrewarding — in terms of

their interest and the weigh-tage in marks that the sub-jects have. EnvironmentalSciences and Moral Sciences,as subjects, have never creat-ed a fan base for themselvesbecause, while being impor-tant subjects, they are oftenoverlooked as our educationsystem is inclined towardsrewarding the ‘theoreticalapplication’ of the subjectinstead of taking a more‘practical’ stand,” says ArunThomas who studiesBachelors In Biotechnology,Genetics and Chemistry.

In response to how thesesubjects can be taught tomake them more interesting,he says, “As students we lookfor ways to get out of the classand have fun. Why not applythe same idea forEnvironmental Sciences orMoral Science subjects? Inaddition to learning about iton paper, we could be encour-aged to perform tasks whichwould not only enable us tounderstand the topic but willalso spark interest among usto pursue them as a career.”

Prachi Nath, lecturer forEnglish and EnvironmentalSciences at Bhavan’s Viveka-nanda Degree College atSainikpuri says, “EVS wasadded to the curriculumbecause there was an urgent

need to address environmen-tal matters. But it hardlymakes any difference. EVSshould be taught both theo-retically and practically toawaken the individual’s con-science. Environmental con-sciousness is not a one-timeaffair but a continuous and aconsistent effort, and that’swhy we need to inculcate inthe students. That’s why we,at Bhavan’s, are combiningtheory and practice and sen-sitise students about the envi-ronment around them.”

When it comes to subjectssuch as these even parentsoften overlook the attentionpaid by their wards. It’s theprevalent expectation that thechildren’s focus must be onsubjects that will help themestablish themselves in a

career. “More than studentsand parents, it is the faultyeducation system that is toblame. The focus has shiftedfrom holistic learning to rotelearning and a race for topscores. EVS is taught solely asa theoretical subject, and ulti-mately its value is lost on thestudents. Holistic learning,like the gurukul system, madesure that nature and all itscomponents got due respectand protection; it was a partof our Indian culture, tradi-tion and values,” she says.

To prevent naturalresources from further degra-dation, the Supreme Courthas initiated several measurestowards environmental pro-tection through governmen-tal and non-governmentorganisations. But at the endof the day, it’s not just theapex bodies of education lawsor the government, but theresponsibility to follow upwith the expectations falls onall of us equally and it's abouttime we pay attention tothings that matter.

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@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

More than students andparents, it is the faulty

education system that is toblame. The focus has shiftedfrom holistic learning to rote

learning and a race for topscores. EVS is taught solelyas a theoretical subject, and

ultimately its value is lost onthe students. Environmentalconsciousness is not a one-time affair but a continuousand a consistent effort.

PRACHI NATHLECTURER AT BHAVAN’SVIVEKANANDA DEGREE

COLLEGE

Environmental Sciences and Moral Sciences, as subjects, have never created a fan base for themselves because, whilebeing important subjects, they are often overlooked as oureducation system is inclined towards rewarding the ‘theoretical application’ of the subject instead of taking a more ‘practical’ stand

ARUN THOMAS, STUDENT

Environmental studies involvesunderstanding our immediatesurroundings and developinghuman values throughconserving nature which is theonly way to save our future.The presentation by theteachers handling this subjecthas to be made more genuineand teachers are yet to be wellinformed about modern issues

arising from harmful humanactivities

BINDU ABRAHAMTEACHER AT ST JOHN’S

HIGH SCHOOL

TuesdayNovember 5, 2019

Given the boom in population,urbanisation and poverty, natural

resources have taken a hitresulting in degradation of theenvironment. But are schools

and colleges paying attention tosubjects like EVS and moral

science, asks ANUSHKAPRADEEP

IGNORING ENVIRONMENT IN w

Adithi, Sree Sharanconquer Hyderabadleg of TPL Talent Day PNS n HYDERABAD

dithi Are andLaxmi SahitiReddy beat someof the best juniortalent of the city towin the Talent Day

and join the FinecabHyderabad Strikers andBengaluru Hawks in the 2ndTennis Premier League to beheld at the Celebration SportsClub, Mumbai, fromDecember 12 to 15. In theBoys U-14 Category, VibhuChallagundla (BengaluruHawks) and Sree SharanKanugovi (FinecabHyderabad Strikers) emergedvictorious.

Founded by Ex-NationalPlayer Kunal Thakkur andactor/entrepreneur Mrunal

Jain, the 2nd edition is sched-uled to be bigger and betterwith top sporting personali-ties and movie stars likeLeander Paes, Sonali Bendre,Rakul Preet Singh and AditiRao Hydari getting involvedas co-owners. The talent daywas conducted for the GirlsU-18 and Boy's U-14 cate-gories and played in a knock-out format. The winner andrunners-up from both cate-gories will play for theBengaluru Hawks andFinecab Hyderabad Strikersand rub shoulders with topstars like Vishnu Vardhan,Prajwal Dev, MohitMayurand Riya Bhatia.

Brij Gopal Bhutada, MD,Finecab wires and cables said,"Hyderabad has producedgreat champions like Sania

Mirza, We at Finecab cablesand wires are always willingto support good initiativesand through Tennis PremierLeague. We wish to supportthe top players of Hyderabadalong with the promisingupcoming junior's. We arelooking forward to makingthe Finecab HyderabadStrikers one of the strongestteams of TPL".

All participants enrollingfor the talent day will begiven a T-Shirt, Medal and 2complimentary event passes.The organisers will also takecare of the refreshments forthe players. The winners &runners-up Girls U-18 willreceive a cash prize of 20,000while the Boy's U-14 will beawarded 10,000 each for theirefforts.

A

aking his directorial debutwith Bombhaat, whichmeans ‘super’ in some ruralpockets of Telangana, film-maker Raghavendra Varma

dubs the film as a commercial lovestory with a sci-fi twist to it.The director started hiscareer working forRaghavendra Rao’sRK Telefilms in2001 and thenworked as ananimator andeditor for over19 years. He evena s s i s t e dRaghavendra Raofor his feature filmslike Shirdi Sai andOm NamoVenkatesaya. Now, the leg-endary director is instrumentalfor Varma’s maiden film. “After OmNamo Venkatesaya he wanted toknow about my future plans. I toldhim about my direction ambitions. I

also narrated some of the stories Ihave to him. They rejected sevenideas and finally chose Bombhaat,”Varma told The Pioneer.

As an afterthought, he added,“Raghavendra Rao garu believes in

catering the audience’s needsin a commercial way.

There are no two waysabout it. There’s a

nice love story,glamour in theBombhaat scriptbut the way sci-fielements blendedinto the narrativeseamlessly sealed

the deal for him.After he greenlit the

plotline, it took mesix months to pen a com-

plete script.” The movie willbe spearheaded by Sai Sushanth

Reddy (Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi fame),Chandini Chowdary and Simran.

With the trailer set todrop in a couple of

weeks, the director is guarded aboutthe film’s plotline. “Sushanth will beseen as a final year engineering stu-dent whose story opens the sci-fi

angle. Chandini too plays a B.Tech

student while Simran comes toHyderabad from the US. MakrandDeshpande is the main antagonistwho will be seen as a professor, whileVineet Kumar has played a comic vil-lain. Tanikella Bharani and Hema areSushanth’s parents who will providethe fun,” he said and added that,“We’ve completed the film in 38 daysstraight and invested close tothree months on post-produc-tion. The whole film has beenshot in Hyderabad except fora song which was filmed inAraku.”

— Nagaraj Goud

RAGHAVENDRA VARMAto debut with a sci-fi love story

M

SUSHANTH WILL PLAY AFINAL YEAR ENGINEERINGSTUDENT WHOSE STORYOPENS THE SCI-FI ANGLE.CHANDINI PLAYS A B.TECHSTUDENT WHILE SIMRANCOMES TO HYDERABADFROM THE US

Raghavendra Varma

10

Hyderabad Tuesday November 5, 2019

l The playINDRAJAL isone of themasterpiecesof Hindiwriter JaiShankarPrasad. It is alove storybetween Belaand Goli, members of a travelling community whodream of devoting their entire life to each other andhow different reflections of our society play a role.It will be held at Pheonix Arena on November 16 at7.30 pm.

l Sur-O-Dhwani Foundation is conducting amusical evening Ninaad on November 16 atNritya Forum for Performing Arts, Road No 2,Jubilee Hills from 6:30 pm. Barnali Bhattacharyawill present traditional Khayal, accompanied byDr Abhijit Bhattacharya on tabla and RahulDeshpande on harmonium.

CITY GUIDE

lGHAC’s Hyderabad Triathlon is an annual sportingevent with an objective to create awareness aboutTriathlon fitness among the general public andmaking it a family-friendly event to encourage theparticipation of families for a healthier lifestyle. Theevent will be held on November 10 at GachibowliStadium.

ART AAND SSPORTS

MELANGE

THEATREJOD TODlJod Tod, a Hindicomedy playpresented byKalayan Theatregroup fromBengaluru,is a funfilledcrackling comedyplay aboutquintessentialrelationships andits complications. This light hearted funfilled playwill be held on November 30 at 7.30 pm atLamakaan, Banjara Hills.

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, please send your detailsalong with a poster and contact number to features.pioneer@gmail.com

CHUHALBAAZIYANlThis is aplay based ontheconversationbetween twolegendaryUrdu writers.Ismat Chugtaiand SadatHassan Mantowhile they were friends in mumbai for sevenyears. The similarity between both was theirobservation of society. The play will be held atLamakaan on November 10 at 7.30 pm.

HYDERABAD TRIATHLON 2019

lAn NGO,Cultivating Art, isconducting thesecond edition ofHyderabad OpenArt Competitionon November 10at Phoenix Arenafrom 10 amonwards. It is a platform to encourage everyone,especially schoolchildren to practice art, exploreideas and encourage budding artists.

OPEN ART COMPETITION

INDRAJAL

STEPPINOUT NIGHT MARKET

ARIJIT - LIVE PERFORMANCE

l ‘My music, my country’ is bringing in ArijitSingh for a live performance. It was initiated byHyderabad Talkies as a platform for gifted indianartists and to re-introduce the ethnicity of IndianMusic. The event will take place on November 232019.

lNi

thika

MUSICAL JOURNEY

l The Steppin Out Night Market, ChristmasEdition in association with CRED Experiences, willbe held at Taj Krishna. It’s a one-step gateway tothe world of fashion with clothing, jewellery, homedecor, and lots more which will be held onDecember 14.

what’s brewing?

FUN TIME

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

PARTY

CAKEMIXINGThe Park, Necklace Road,

was brimming with gleefulfaces at the ‘Cake Mixing

Ceremony’ over the weekend.This is a ritual followedreligiously all over the world andis said to be a harbinger of goodtidings and happiness. Peoplewere delighted to have theirhands full mixing theingredients. This unique eventdrew a lot of people from acrossthe city.

lDi

sha

l Meenu Soni l Ananya Simlai

l Sashi Nahata

l Sushila Bokadial Payall Sheena Kaur Photos bby SV Chary

ore than a year after his last, Devadas, hitthe cinema halls, director Sriram Adittya

is set to begin his next shortly. ThePioneer was the first to report on May

27 that he will be introducing AshokGalla, son of industrialist and Guntur MP

Jay Galla, as an actor with his fourth feature film. To thisend, the latest is that Adittya has got the nod of

iSmart Shankar girl Nidhhi Agerwal to be thefilm’s leading lady. The film is a layered love

story and will carry Adittya’s style. The hero-ine’s part carries equal weight as the hero andthough he considered other names, Adittyafinally zeroed in on Niddhi, it is said. It’s a

glamorous role with a lot of scope forperformance. Despite repeated attempts,

the director couldn’t be reached for acomment on the actress’ signing at

the time of this report going to thepress. Who would produce thefilm is still shrouded in mys-

tery. While Jay Galla wastipped to pool in

resources sometimeback, it is now

believed that DilRaju will shepherd

it under his SriVenkateswara

Creations.

ith Vijay Sethupathi’s popularity on the rise,production house Harshita Movies hasdecided to dub the actor’s next Tamilrelease, Sanga Thamizhan, into Telugu andrelease it on the same day as its Tamil coun-terpart — on November 15. It’s a first for the

actor. The Telugu dubbed version has been titled VijaySethupathi. Harshita Movies is planning to conduct apre-release event with Sethupathi and other membersof the cast and crew in Hyderabad shortly. With thefilm featuring familiar faces like Raashi Khanna,Nivetha Pethuraj and Ashutosh Rana in pivotal roles,Harshita Movies chief RavuriSrinivas is hopeful thataudience will treat it asa Telugu film andencourage it. Thefilm, an intenseaction-drama, isdirected by Sketchfame VijayChander.

nnounced earlylast month,SundeepKishan’s newmovie, A1Express, with

debutant director DennisJeevan Kanukolanu, hadits muhurat shoot inHyderabad on Monday.The filming too kicked offon the same day.Supporting actors MuraliSharma and Raghu Babuparticipated in the shootalong with Sundeep.

A joint productionventure between G.Vishwa Prasad,Abhishek Agarwal,Sundeep Kishan andDaya Pannem, the filmis a sports dramaabout hockey, a first forTelugu industry. It has

music by Hiphop Tamizha,while Kavin Raj is the

director of cinematography.Speaking to The Pioneer ear-

lier, Dennis Jeevan had statedthat A1 Express will not be a

regular sports drama that willfollow the story of an under-dog who makes it big in theclimax. “My film is set in asports backdrop but it will bedifferent for sure. Nowadays,it’s not about popularity ofthe sport or the people. Theoutcome of games is decid-ed by businessmen. Howthat is connected to ourfilm forms the crux of themovie. It’s a new-age sportsentertainer dotted withhumour, family emotionsand romance in equal mea-sure. It will be everyone’s cupof tea,” he had said.

Meanwhile, according tosources, Sundeep’s other film,Tenali Ramakrishna BA BL,with G. Nageswara Reddy, willbe releasing on November 15.Hansika is cast oppositeSundeep in the film which is acourtroom-crime comedypeppered with action.

Hyderabad Tuesday November 5, 2019

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tollywood

s expected, therelease of Nani’snext, V, withIndragantiMohana Krishnahas been deferred

to next year. With Christmasseason jammed up with filmslike Ruler, Prathiroju Pandageand others, there was no wayV could’ve made it to a year-end release, which was theoriginal plan. Nani was ini-tially keen on having a thirdrelease for the year after

Jersey and Gang Leader.Speaking to us earlier thisApril, he had said, “There is aproper plan in place for V torelease towards the year-end.”

However, with Indraganti’sfather, Srikanth Sharma,passing away three monthsago, and Nani deciding totake a break with family postGang Leader, the shoot hasbeen delayed. “Film’s produc-er Dil Raju felt it is better toschedule the film next yearinstead of rushing it this year.

Nani was okay with it, espe-cially after his last, GangLeader, failed to get a goodrelease date,” said a source.

V, an action-thriller, willnow be flying into the cine-ma halls as an Ugadi offeringon March 25. As of now, ithas a solo release window,with no competition.“Violence kavalannaru ga :)Istha... UGADI ki SOLID gaistha ...#VTheMovie (Youwanted violence, right? I willgive it in abundance this

Ugadi),” tweeted Nani onMonday. A brand new posterwith guns blazing and aquote that read “At this hourlie at my mercy all mine ene-mies (sic)” accompanied thetweet. Nani and Indragantiare reteaming for the thirdtime after their successfultwo ventures — AshtaChamma and Gentleman.Naturally, the buzz surround-ing the film, which is theactor’s 25th, in business cir-cles is high. Around 80 per

cent of the shooting has beenwrapped up. A couple ofaction sequences and a songneed to be filmed with whichthe entire shoot will be com-pleted.

Also starring SudheerBabu, Aditi Rao Hydari andNivetha Thomas in promi-nent roles, the film has musicby Bollywood musician AmitTrivedi.

NANI'S25th film

V moved toUGADI

Nani had a great 2019 with Jersey and GangLeader setting a trend for other filmmakers. Butthe actor's desire for a hat trick had to be put on

hold, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

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TURNING 47 IN STYLE

s acclaimed actress Tabu celebrated her 47thbirthday on Monday, the makers of AlaVaikunthapuramlo unveiled her look from thefilm. This movie will mark her comeback toTelugu cinema after 11 years. She plays PoojaHedge’s mother in the family entertainer and

has a full-length role. After her look in the movie isthe released netizens couldn’t help but gush over howglowing she still looks. “Wishing Tabu garu a happybirthday, we look forward to many more collabora-tions,” read a post from the film’s team.

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Nidhhito star alongsideAshok Galla?

A1 EXPRESSTAKES OFF

A first for VIJAYSETHUPATHI

DIL RAJU FELT IT IS BETTER TO SCHEDULE THEFILM NEXT YEAR. NANI WAS OKAY WITH IT,ESPECIALLY AFTER HIS LAST, GANG LEADER,FAILED TO GET A GOOD RELEASE DATE

sport 12HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 5, 2019

IANS n NEW DELHI

If the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI)

revolutionised T20 cricketby introducing the IndianPremier League (IPL), theyare looking to take it onestep further by bringing inthe concept of Power Playerin the next edition of thecash-rich league. Teams willbe allowed to substitute aplayer at the fall of a wick-et or at the end of an overat any point in the game.

A senior BCCI officialsaid that the concept hasalready been approved, butwill be discussed further inthe IPL Governing Councilmeeting that will take placeat the BCCI HQ in Mumbaitoday.

“We are looking at ascenario where a team willnot name the Playing XI.They will announce the 15and a player can be substi-tuted at either the fall of awicket or at the end of theover at any point in the

game. While we are lookingto introduce it in the IPL,trying the concept first inthe upcoming Mushtaq AliTrophy could be the idealway forward,” the officialsaid.

Explaining how the ideawill actually change thegame, the official said theconcept has the capacity tochange match situations andinduce out-of-the-boxthinking and strategisingfrom the two teams andengage even the fans further.

“Imagine you need 20

runs off the last six balls andyou have Andre Russell sit-ting in the dug-out as hewasn’t a hundred percentand wasn’t part of the orig-inal XI. But now, he can justwalk in and go slam-bangand win you the game.

“Similarly, say you needto defend six runs off thelast over and you havesomeone like a JaspritBumrah sitting in the dug-out. So, what does the cap-tain do? Brings in Bumrahat the end of the 19th overand there you go. The con-cept has the potential tochange the game,” the offi-cial said.

Apart from deliberat-ing on this concept at theIPL GC on Tuesday, themembers will also reviewthe 2019 edition of the cash-rich league. The team willalso discuss how to go aboutmaking the next edition ofthe league bigger and betterwhen it comes to not just thegame, but also fan engage-ment.

HARSHIT BISHT n NEW DELHI

He failed to help Tigers get past thefinish line when his team suf-fered a heartbreaking one-run

defeat against India during the 2016 ICCWorld T20 match on March 23 inBengaluru. But senior batsman and themost experienced player available in theBangladesh line-up during first Twenty20 match at Arun Jaitley stadium onSunday, Mushfiqur Rahim buried thedemons of past and take visitors tomaiden win over Men in Blue in theshortest format of the game.

The former skipper’s unbeatenknock off 60 runs which came in 43 ballshelped Bangladesh win the first-everT20 match against India in the ninthattempt.

Speaking after the match during thepress conference, wicket-keeper batsmantermed historic win as ‘great moment’.

“This is a great moment forBangladesh cricket because we haven’twon against them (India) in the T20 for-mat. We were missing a couple of keyplayers but the way youngsters sticktogether and all the bowlers bowled inthis track is outstanding. They set thegame.”

“And when we were chasing, it wasstill a defendable score because the wick-et wasn’t that easy to bat on, especiallywith the new ball and also later becauseof the quality of Indian spin attack butwe stick to the plan of taking the gamedeep and get the result in our favour.”

The senior pro added that “We hadnothing to lose coming into this gameand also in the series, so that gives us agreat cushion and freedom to play ourpotential and fearless cricket.”

The 32-year old said the strategywhile chasing was, one of the top fourbatsmen had to stay at the crease till 18or 19th over so that it gets easy to go forbig hits in the final over’s and that iswhat happened in the game also.

Rahim, who came to bat at 4, scoredfour consecutive boundaries in the 19thover bowled by Khaleel to take his sidejust a boundary short of the target.

“When I and Shomu (SoumyaSarkar) were batting in the middle, wehad a chat that if one of us stay till the19th over, we can get close to the target

because then we will need just one big16 plus or 20 runs over to take thingsunder control.”

Two years back in almost the simi-lar situation, needing two runs off lastthree balls, Bangladesh choked, butthis time they came prepared to dealwith such situation and Mushfiqur said,“As long as you are learning from yourmistakes that is the important part. Afterthat incident (World T20 match) I havebeen closing the games probably on 3-4 occasions in T20I and ODI format, sothat gives me a lot of confidence and alsoa bit of experience of what to do whenthe similar situation arrives rather thanwhat I did in the past.”

“I had a chat with Riyadh bhai(Mahmudullah) before the start of 20thover, making sure we get some ones andtwo’s and close in,” he added.

Discussing the impact of the win,the wicketkeeper-batsman said, “Wecame here to compete in each game. Playconsistent cricket and improve each day.After this win, we are now surely look-ing to win another game or two. And ifwe can fill the gaps in our death bowl-ing where we give 10-15 extra runs today(on Sunday), nothing is impossible inthe next couple of games also. We willtry our level best to take the series.”

He was pleased with the pacers’ per-formance and offer special praise to AfifHossain for his spell.

“It was a great start by our seamers.They haven’t played much in recenttimes but all of them chipped in and Afifbowled really well.”

Rahim said the “last two weeks werethe most difficult” in his 15-year career,referring to players’ protest followed byShakib Al Hasan’s two-year suspensionby the ICC for breaching anti-corrup-

tion code.“In my 15 years career, the last two

weeks were the toughest I face. So beforeleaving Bangladesh, I told journaliststhat everything can come on the righttrack if we win a couple of matches there(in India) and play really well. That’swhat we have done and it brings smileand calmness in our team and also thewhole nation, so we will try to contin-ue this form,” he concluded.

PTI n NORTH SOUND

Punam Raut starred with thebat before spinners put up a

fine performance to set upIndia's comfortable 53-run winover West Indies in the secondICC Women’s ChampionshipODI here.

India were able to defend amodest 191 by bowling outWest Indies for 138 in 47.2 oversand level the three-match ODIseries 1-1 here on Sunday night.

The spin troika of — left-arm orthodox RajeshwariGayakwad (2/27), leg-break spe-cialist Poonam Yadav (2/26)and off-spinner Deepti Sharma(2/25) returned with two wick-ets each to restrict the hosts tobelow-par score.

Opting to bat, India beganon a shaky note with openersPriya Punia (5) and JemimahRodrigues (0) departing cheap-ly, leaving the side reeling at 17for 2 in nine overs.

However, Punam (77), whowas the top scorer for India, andskipper Mithali Raj (40) andvice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur(46) steadied the ship putting upa modest target on the board.

Punam and Mithali shareda 66-run stand, scoring fourboundaries each before ShenetaGrimmond dismissed the latter

in the 29th over.Punam then joined forces

with Harmanpreet. The duokept the scoreboard movingwith a 93-run partnership beforethe Indian vice-captain wasbowled off an Aaliyah Alleynedelivery in the 48th over.

For West Indies, Alleyne(2/38) and Afy Fletcher (2/32)picked two wickets each, whileShabika Gajnabi (1/23) andGrimmond (1/22) scalped onea piece.

Chasing 192, West Indiesgot off to a bad start losing open-er Stacy-Ann King (6) in thefourth over. The home side wasstruck with a major blow in the25th over when opener NatashaMcLean (15) retired hurt.

Captain Stafanie Taylor (20)then joined ShemaineCampbelle in the middle butwas unable to lead her side tovictory as she was caught infront of the wickets by PoonamYadav.

The Indian bowlers led bythe spin trio of RajeshwariGayakwad (2/27), PoonamYadav (2/26) and Deepti Sharma(2/25), kept striking at regularintervals to deny West Indies ofa substantial partnership.

Campbelle (39) top-scoredfor West Indies as the home sidefolded for 138 in the 48th over.

PTI nMUMBAI

Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh onMonday slammed the MSK Prasad-led

national selection panel, saying there is adefinite need for having better selectorsas the current committee’s “thinking interms of modern-day cricket” is not up tothe mark.

“We do need better selectors, for sure.

Selectors’ job is not easy. Whenever theyselect 15 players, there will be talks thatwhat will happen to the other 15. It’s a dif-ficult job but their thinking in terms ofmodern-day cricket is not up to the mark.It’s my opinion,” Yuvraj told reporters.

“I am always in favour of protectingthe players and being positive about them.By talking negative about your players andteam doesn’t show you in true light. Thecharacter only shows when things aregoing wrong and you motivate the play-ers. In bad times, everyone talks bad. Wedefinitely need better selectors,” he said.

All-rounder Vijay Shankar was India’ssurprise pick in the World Cup squad buthas not made a comeback since recover-ing from an injury. Yuvraj took anotherjibe at the five-member panel.

“In between, there was your VijayShankar, now he has vanished. You playhim and then remove him. How can youmake players this way? You cannot pro-duce players by giving them just three offour innings, you have to give somebodya longer run,” he added.

PTI n RANCHI

Kedar Jadhav conjuredup a well-calculated

86-run knock before left-arm spinner ShahbazNadeem claimed fourwickets as India B liftedthe Deodhar Trophy witha comprehensive 51-runwin over India C in thefinal, here on Monday.

Electing to bat, IndiaB recovered from earlyjolts to post a competitive283 for 7, courtesy well-compiled fifties by Jadhavand Yashasvi Jaiswal (54)and a 33-ball 45 fromVijay Shankar down theorder.

The bowlers led byShahbaz Nadeem (4/32)and Mohammed Siraj(2/43) then joined theparty as India B restrict-ed India C to 231 for 9 tocomplete the victory.

India C lost skipper,20-year-old Shubman Gill(1), who on Mondaybecame the youngest cap-tain to lead a side in theDeodhar Trophy final,surpassing Virat Kohli’s

PTI n FUZHOU

Kidambi Srikanth has decided togive China Open a miss but top

Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and SainaNehwal will have their task cut outwhen they begin their campaign at the$700,000 event, beginning here today.

Former world number oneSrikanth was pitted against reigningtwo-time world championship andnumero uno ranked Kento Momotaof Japan in his opening round but hepulled out of the tournament.

Srikanth will now feature at theHong Kong Open World Tour Super500, next week.

Sindhu and Saina will once againbe India’s best bet as they look to putup a good show this week.

All eyes will also be on men’s dou-bles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddyand Chirag Shetty, who had reachedthe finals at the French Open lastmonth.

Both Sindhu and Saina had madeearly exits in three successive tourna-ments at China, Korea and Denmarkbefore somewhat regaining formwith a quarterfinal finish at theFrench Open and the duo will be des-perate to go deep in the draw.

Sixth seed Sindhu will begin hercampaign against Germany’s YvonneLi, while eighth seed Saina will openagainst China’s Cai Yan Yan.

Sindhu is likely to face eitherthree-time World Champion CarolinaMarin or World number one Tai TzuYing in the quarterfinals if she clearsthe initial rounds.

Saina, on the other hand, mightcome across Japan’s second seedAkane Yamaguchi in the last-eight buthas to trump her opponents in the firsttwo rounds.

The BWF World Tour Super 750tournament will also feature a host ofIndian male shuttlers as they vie forhonours this week.

MEN'S TTT TTEAM AACHIEVES BBEST RRANKINGNew Delhi: The Indian men's table tennis team onMonday achieved its best ever ranking by moving upto the ninth spot in the ITTF rankings. The Indianteam comprising World No 30 G Sathiyan and WorldNo 36 Sharath Kamal, is tied with 10th-placedAustria on 272 points but is ranked ninth. They arethe only two Indians in the top-100. India numberthree Harmeet Desai is ranked 104. China are theexpected number one in the team rankings, followedby Japan and Germany.

INDIA EEND WWITH 22 SSILVERS IIN UU-223 CC’SHIPBudapest: Ravi Rathi (97kg) suffered a 0-8 lossagainst Belarus' Dzmitry Kaminski in the Bronzemedal play-off in Greco-Roman category as Indiangrapplers ended their campaign with two Silvermedals at the UWW Under-23 WorldChampionships. Ravi had emerged victorious in therepechage bout when he edged Uzur Dzhuzupbekovof Kyrgyzstan 3-1 on Sunday but he couldn't bringhis best to the fore during the Bronze medal play-off.With this, India's campaign at the tournament cameto an end with Ravinder (61kg) and Pooja Gehlot(53kg) returning with Silver medals.

SURYA LLEADS MMUMBAI IIN MMUSHTAQ TTROPHYMumbai: Batsman Suryakumar Yadav will lead the15-member Mumbai squad in the Syed Mushtaq AliTrophy, the national T20 tournament, beginning fromNovember 8. The squad was announced by theMumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Monday. Itdoes not feature young prodigy Yashasvi Jaiswal ashe is likely to participate in an age-group tournament.One of the major omissions from the squad waspacer Tushar Deshpande. Other regulars, includingbatsmen Jay Bista, Aditya Tare, Sarfaraz Khan andSiddhesh Lad, have made it to the squad. PacersDhaval Kulkarni, spinners Shams Mulani, DhurmilMatkar have also found a place in the team.

CAMP FFOR UU-117 EEVES IIN KKALYANIKalyani: The Indian team will undergo a 10-daycamp here later this month as part of preparationsfor the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup to behosted by the country. The India U-17 women's teamhas already been in the camp for the last four monthsand after a brief break, the players will once againassemble here on November 9. The probables in thecamp will be divided into four different teams to playeach other in the round-robin format on November11, 13, and 15. Coach Alex Ambrose, who recentlyled India to the SAFF U-15 Women's Championship2019 title last month, believes that these matcheswill help the coaching staff gauge the talent pool thatthey have at their disposal.

SHOOTERS OOUT TTO GGET MMAX OOLYMPIC QQUOTALusail: Indian shooters will look to grab as manyquota places as possible when the 14th AsianShooting Championship begins today at the LusailShooting Complex. An Indian team of 63 men and 45women will take part in the senior, junior and youthcategories across rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplinesin the 10-day continental championship which offers38 Tokyo Olympic quota places across 12 of the 15Olympic shooting events. The three mixed teamevents do not carry quota places while the men's 25mrapid fire pistol competition will give out a maximumof four quotas in an event. India has already securednine Tokyo quotas in rifle and pistol. AGENCIES

SINGLES

The first of manyMushfiqur terms maiden T20 win over India as ‘great moment’ forTigers & promises to continue good run in remaining series as well

Bangladesh’s captain Mahmudullah, behind center, hugs Mushfiqur Rahim after wining first T20 AP

Eves level ODI seriesPunam’s 77 help Mithali’s side beatWindies by 53 runs in second game

Punam Raut raises her bat after completing fifty Punam/Twitter

India B lift Deodhar Trophy titleout by Ruturaj Gaikwad andAxar Patel, whileSuryakumar Yadav toocouldn’t reach double figuresafter being bowled byNadeem in the 16th over.

Dinesh Karthik (3) alsodisappointed as his stay last-ed only 10 balls with India Cslumping to 77 for five in the18th over.

Last match’s hero AxarPatel then joined hands withGarg and shared 63 runs.However, Garg became avictim of Siraj after he triedto play a big shot only to seehis stumps disturbed.

Once Patel walked backto the hut in the 35th over, itseemed all over for India C.Jalaj S Saxena (36 not out)and Mayank Markande (27)took the team across the200-mark but scoring atmore than 10 runs an over inthe remaining over provedtoo tall a task for the tail-enders as India C endedtheir innings at 232 for 9.

Earlier, medium pacerIshan Porel (5/43) returnedwith a five-wicket haul butIndia B still managed to posta decent score on the board.

10-year-old record.After Gill’s departure, Mayank Agarwal

(28) and Priyam Garg (74) added 54 runsbefore the opener was sent back by Nadeemin the 12th over.

In the next over, Virat Singh, who hadscored a superb 76 in the last match, was run

Yashasvi Jaiswal in a file picture PTI

BCCI plans game-changer‘Power Player' in IPL

We definitely needbetter selectors: Yuvi

Srikanth pulls outof China Open

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian team paid the price forRishabh Pant’s poor DRS calls

against Bangladesh and skipper RohitSharma says that he doesn’t want tojump to a conclusion yet whether theyoungster is good enough to taketricky review decisions.

India did not review the decisionwhen the umpire turned down anlbw appeal against Mushfiqur Rahimin the third ball of the 10th over,bowled by leg-spinner YuzvendraChahal.

Rahim was on six at that timeand went on to make an unbeaten 60to lead Bangladesh to a comfortableseven-wicket win.

“Of course, Rishabh is young andhe will need time to understand. It’stoo soon to judge whether he canmake those decisions. Plus, thebowlers as well. It’s a combinationwhen the captain is not in the rightposition to make that decision,”Rohit said at the post-match confer-ence.

In the last ball of that Chahal’sover, when the umpire turned downa caught behind appeal againstSoumya Sarkar, Rohit reviewed thedecision on Pant’s insistence but lostit since there was no edge.

“When you are not in the rightposition (as a fielder), you have totrust your bowler and the wicket-keeper. Based on that, you have tomake that decision, whichever formatyou play.”

Rohit felt that 148 was a defend-able score had they been smart on thefield.

“We would have defended it if wewere smart on the field. A couple ofdecisions we did not get it right onthe field and that went against us.That’s where we lacked in decisionmaking,” he said.

Too soon to passjudgement whetherPant can take DRScalls: Rohit