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CELEB TALKS 14CHARLIE'S ANGELS READY FOR INDIA

ANALYSIS 9DARK DAYS ARE

AHEAD FOR INDIA

SPORTS 16RAHANE BACKS ROHIT

FOR NEW ROLE

HYDERABAD, FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 354*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published FromHYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 26, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Bhdrapada & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Trayodashi : 07:30 pmChaturdashi: 03:46 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Purva Phalguni: 01:05 am

(Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 10:37 am – 12:17 pmYamagandam: 03:06 pm – 04:35 pmVarjyam: 11:02 am - 12:27 pmGulika: 07:38 am - 09:08 amGood Time: (to start any important work)Amritakalam: 07:28 pm - 08:52 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:43 am - 12:30 pm

Forecast: Isolated ThunderstormsTemp: 29/22Humidity: 90%Sunrise: 06.05Sunset: 06.08

PNS n BHOPAL

Even as 12 top servingbureaucrats and eight for-mer Ministers of MadhyaPradesh seem to be in a bigtrouble in the honey trapscandal, the kingpin of scan-dal Shweta Jain has confessedto the SIT that she coerced atleast two dozen college goinggirls, from lower middle classfamilies, who were used toseduce the high and mighty ofMP government.

Shweta also admitted thatthe main objective of thehoney trap was to procurelucrative government con-tracts, running into severalhundred crores, from the tar-geted VIPs. Most of the con-tracts were awarded to reput-ed companies by Shweta Jainand her aide Aarti Dayal oncommission basis. Besides,procuring contracts, Shweta

was also managing postingsof several IAS and IPS officersat top of the line assign-ments.

During interrogation bySpecial Investigation Team(SIT) in Indore, Shweta saidthat on demand of bureau-crats she lured many collegegirls and finally coerced themto bed with men, mostly oftheir father's age. In oneinstance, SIT confrontedShweta with a college girlMonica Yadav. Monica dis-closed to SIT that on pretext

of seeking admission in aprestigious college she camein contact with Shweta, whoclaimed that she was close totop brass of the MP govern-ment. To convince Monica,an outsider to Bhopal, Shwetatook her to Secretariat inBhopal where she was intro-duced to three secretary levelIAS officers. Shweta also pro-vided an Audi car to Monicato shuttle between Indoreand Bhopal.

A senior SIT official saidthat Monica initially refused

to oblige Shweta and returnedto her parents home inNarsinghgarh. SubsequentlyAarti Dayal visited Monica'splace and told her fatherHiralal that if he sends herdaughter to Bhopal, then herNGO would bear all costs ofMonica's education.

Later, Hiralal, whose finan-cial condition was not good,allowed her 18 year olddaughter to leave for Bhopalwith Aarti. In a statementgiven to SIT, Monica said thatone day Aarti showed her anMMS of Shweta who washaving sex with a bureaucrat.Aarti told Monica that toreach at the top, one has to doall these things. SIT investi-gation reveals that in thename of the NGO and offer-ing jobs to daughters of lowermiddle class families, Aartiand Shweta coaxed severalcollege going girls and after a

brainwash, introduced theminto the honey trap racket. Inher statement Monica allegedthat on August 30, this year,Aarti and an aide Rupa,brought her to Indore in aluxury car wherein theystayed in the posh Infinityhotel. The next evening agovernment engineerHarbhajan Singh, 60, wasintroduced to her. LaterMonica had to spend theentire night with Harbhajanwho had sex with her. Monicadisclosed that Aarti made avideo recording of the hotelroom where she slept withHarbhajan. Later, on the basisof the video clip, Shwetademanded Rs 3 crore fromHarbhajan Singh. Monica wasalso threatened that if sherevealed anything to her par-ents the obscene video wouldbe uploaded on a website.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n NEW DELHI

By-elections to 15 assemblyseats in Karnataka -- wherethe MLAs were disqualifiedearlier this year for rebellingand bringing down the earli-er Congress-JDS government- wil l be deferred. TheElection Commission todaytold the Supreme Court thatit has decided to postpone theelection so the Court cantake a call on the petitions ofthe disqualified MLAs whohave challenged the Speaker'sdecision.

The hearing in the casestarted yesterday; the top courtsaid they had heard it for twodays and does not want to passany interim order. The courtwill now take up the case onOctober 22. The by-electionswere expected to be held onOctober 21 and the resultswere due by October 24.

By-elections were supposedto be held in the state if thecourt decided to uphold thedisqualifications. But last week,the Commission announcedthe by-elections, setting thedate along with the state elec-tions in Maharashtra andHaryana. The MLAs were dis-qualified in July by thenSpeaker KR Ramesh whenthey resigned, allowing theBJP to challenge the 14-month-old coalition govern-ment of the Congress and HDKumaraswamy's Janata DalSecular, and stake claim to

power. The disqualified MLAsthen approached the court,challenging the Speaker'sorder, which , they said, was"arbitrary" and "unreasonable".

The petitioners say theaction of the Speaker was"arbitrary" and "unreasonable".

They contended that theSpeaker was abusing his pow-ers under the 10th Schedule ofthe Constitution says legisla-tors may be disqualified ongrounds of defection. Theysaid disqualifying them tillthe dissolution of the house isa breach of their fundamental

right to carry on any trade,business and profession guar-anteed under the Articles 19and 21.

The MLAs have argued incourt that they have the rightto resign and if they do notquit the party they cannot bepunished through disqualifi-cation under the anti-defectionlaw, which seeks to preventdefections for money or otherconsiderations.

The Congress and the JDShave both alleged that the BJPhad used money power topersuade the MLAs to resign.

Both parties had expelled therebels. There were also reportsthat the MLAs were offeredministerial berths by the BJP.

Earlier this year, 13 MLAsfrom the Congress and threefrom the JDS had resigned,and two Independent law-makers who were supportingthe government switchedsides, bringing down the num-bers of the government. Afterdays of high-drama and heat-ed debates, the governmentfailed the trust vote, leading tothe formation of the BJP gov-ernment led by BSYediyurappa on July 26.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Congress spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala said,"There were rampant defec-tions in Karnataka mocking atthe Constitution and also theanti-defection law enshrinedin the Constitution where anelected government with fullmajority was unseated by agroup of defectors, who wererightfully in accordance withthe jurisdiction of the Speakerunder the Constitution weredisqualified."

He said until today theSupreme Court has not stayedthe order of the Speaker thatmeans the order must be cor-rect.

Surjewala was responding toa question after the SupremeCourt agreed to the demandsof the Election Commission topostpone bypolls forKaranataka Assembly seats.

Karnataka bypolls deferredl Till top court decides on disqualified MLAs l Cong says unprecedented

Politicians, bureaucrats in honey trap, clips outDuring interrogation by Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) in Indore, Shweta said that ondemand of bureaucrats she lured manycollege girls and finally coerced them to bedwith men, mostly of their father's age

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) onThursday conducted simulta-neous searches in the officesand residences of officials ofInsurance Medical Services(IMS) and others as part of itsprobe into alleged scam inpurchase of medicines forstate-run hospitals and dis-pensaries. The bureau,directed by the gov-ernment to take upthe probe, said ithas found theDirector of IMSand other officialswere "involved inmaking fakeindents, falsificationof records, violatingthe rules and regulations inpurchase of medicines, surgi-cal kits and caused loss to theexchequer.

A case has been registeredunder the Prevention ofCorruption Act and IndianPenal Code sections and thesearches were conducted at theoffices and residences ofDirector and Joint Director ofIMS and 15 other officials

besides at the premis-es of four privateindividuals, includ-ing a reporter of aTelugu TV channel,

the ACB said in arelease here.

In all, searcheswere being carried out at

21 places in the city and oneplace each in Warrangal andMahabubabad.

Earlier, the vigilance andenforcement wing had held aninquiry into the allegationsthat no proper eligibility cri-teria was followed by theDirector of IMS in the selec-tion of firms for supply ofmedicines.

Continued on Page 2

The MLAs have argued in court that theyhave the right to resign and if they do notquit the party they cannot be punishedthrough disqualification under the anti-defection law, which seeks to preventdefections for money or other considerations

Ad hoc ‘Secretariat'conditions insanely badNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Long queues at elevators, maskson the nose and old furniturelying all around are what visi-tors see as they enter BurgulaRamakrishna Rao (BRKR)Bhavan premises. The firstglimpse of the new Secretariatis messy. There are more work-ers than officials, indicatingthat a lot of work still needs tobe done. The corridors arestrewn with wood planks, bro-ken chairs, sofas, cables, tiles,fridges, among others.

A first impression of thetemporary Secretariat would bea very uninspiring to any for-eign delegate visiting the state.No wonder then that most vis-itors choose to meet officials atplaces other than theSecretariat. At 11.30 am onThursday, a long queue ofabout 15-20 people is formed atthe elevator. The elevator itselfis not in proper functioningcondition. It stops randomlyhalf way through trips.Secretariat employees are how-ever accustomed to its erraticfunctioning. When it got stuckbetween zero floor and firstfloor, one of them said, "It's notoverloaded; don't go out. Thislift gets stuck like that often.Wait for two minutes and it willstart again." And quite surely, itdid start after a small stutter. But

then it stopped again at the fifthfloor all by itself. The thing evi-dently needs immediate repairs.This is the common lift; the VIPlift reportedly has less snags.Another employee admittedthat the Secretariat is very

untidy at the moment. Exceptfor the officials' chambers,everything else is haphazard.With renovation work on, con-struction material is all spreadall over the corridors.

Continued on Page 2

TS medicinespurchase scam: ACBconducts searches PNSn HUZURNAGAR

Following in the footsteps ofArmoor farmers who enmasse had made the estab-lishment of Turmeric Boardand MSP for red sorghum keypoll issues, sarpanches drawnfrom across Telangana are setto file nominations against theofficial candidates of majorparties in the Huzurnagar by-poll, with the unresolved issueof cheque power being theirmain plank. They have vowedto lodge their protest againstthe state gov t and give a toughfight to the bypoll contestantsas part of their long-drawn"Hallo Sarpanch…ChaloHuzurnagar" programme.

Continued on Page 2

251 to filepapers inHuzurnagarby-poll

PNS nMEDAK

Finance Minister T HarishRao has decided to gift 10grams gold to in-chargeteachers who were instru-mental in at least 20 studentsof the Zilla Parishad HighSchool in Indiranagar getting10/10 GPA. He promised togive Rs 11 lakh additionallyfor the school's development.

Inaugurating theAlpaharam- Adhika Vidyaprogramme (free breakfastfor students) in the school,Harish appreciated the schoolfor giving tough competitionto corporate schools. At atime when the State govern-ment was conducting Badibaata programme to enrolschool dropouts in govern-ment institutions, the ZPHigh School at Indira Nagarhad displayed 'No admission'board, he observed.

Continued on Page 3

Harish to gift10g gold toteachers

PNS n RIYADH

Saudi Arabia's crown princesaid he bears responsibilityfor the killing of journalistJamal Khashoggi last year bySaudi operatives "because ithappened under my watch,"according to a PBS documen-tary to be broadcast next week.

Mohammed bin Salman, thekingdom's de facto ruler, hasnot spoken publicly about thekilling inside the Saudi con-sulate in Istanbul.

The CIA and some Westerngovernments have said heordered it, but Saudi officialssay he had no role. The deathsparked a global uproar, tar-

nishing the crown prince'simage and imperilling ambi-tious plans to diversify theeconomy of the world's top oilexporter and open up clois-tered Saudi society. He has notsince visited the United Statesor Europe.

Continued on Page 3

Gen Rawat tohead Chiefsof Staff panel

Social mediaplatforms tofollow ‘code ofethics' in polls

First JammuInternationalfilm fest beginsJAMMU: The inaugural edi-tion of Jammu InternationalFilm Festival began here onThursday.

Thirty seven short filmsand documentaries from 11countries besides 10 projectsfrom native filmmakers willbe screened at the two-day-long festival. "It was dreamcome true for the people ofJammu that first ever film fes-tival is being organised here.My wish was fulfilled," Mayorof Jammu Chander MohanGupta told reporters here.

Festival directors RakeshRoshan Bhat and his broth-er Rohit Bhat said manyBollywood actors, directors ofother film festivals and par-ticipants from all over thecountry have arrived here tobe part of the festival.

NEW DELHI: Social mediaplatforms like Facebook,Twitter and WhatsApp haveagreed to follow the "volun-tary code of ethics" in allfuture elections, includingthe upcoming Maharashtraand Haryana assembly polls,the Election Commissionsaid on Thursday.

The code, which wasderived to act against paidadvertisements that violatenorms set by the ElectionCommission, came into forceon March 20 in the last LokSabha polls.

NEW DELHI: Indian Armychief General Bipin Rawatwill be appointed as the newChairman of the Chiefs ofStaff Committee (CoSC) onFriday, defence sources saidhere on Thursday. Rawat willtake over as the CoSCChairman from India AirForce (IAF) chief BirenderSingh Dhanoa, who is set toretire on September 30.

The Chairman of theCoSC is responsible for inter-services synergy between theArmy, the Air Force and theNavy. The senior-most chieffrom amongst all the threeservices of the defence forcesis selected as the Chairman ofCoSC.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The Huzurnagar bypoll inTelangana is not just anotherAssembly by-election beingheld along with 64 otherAssembly constituencies inthe country on October 21.The stakes for major parties inTS are so high that at least theruling Telangana RashtraSamiti and oppositionCongress have made it a pres-tige issue and are preparing fora 'do-or-die' battle.

It is not that the TRS gov-ernment will collapse if it failsto win the Huzurnagar seat.Nor can the Congress hope tocome to power if it retains it.Still, both the parties are leav-ing no stone unturned to win

this seat and have beenengaged in a fierce politicalbattle from the word go.

For the first time, TRS chiefand Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has decid-ed to personally campaign inthis by-election, reflecting theimportance the seat has

assumed in the changed polit-ical scenario in Telangana.That is not all. KCR's son K TRama Rao, who is party'sworking president and ITMinister, too has decided tospend five days in Huzurnagarfor campaigning.

Continued on Page 2

When a by-poll becomesprestige issue...

Khashoggi murder done under my watch: Saudi Prince

The vigilance andenforcement winghad held an inquiryinto the allegationsthat no propereligibility criteria wasfollowed by theDirector of IMS in theselection of firms forsupply of medicines

IMD trashes 100-yearrain reportsMAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

The trouble with journalismbased on hearsay, and not onhard facts and incontestablefigures, is that information thatmatters can get 'clouded'or blown out of pro-portion, especiallywhen the reportspertain to torren-tial rains on par-ticular days or rain-fall over a definedperiod.

No wonder, therewas hype in a sec-tion of the media thatHyderabad has just recordedthe highest-ever rainfall inSeptember after more than 100years! However, according to

the Indian MetrologicalDepartment's (IMD)'s obser-vatory', the city received75mm in the 24 hours up toWednesday at 8.30 am.

Soon after Minister of ITand Municipal Administration

and Urban DevelopmentKT Rama Rao shared

news about the down-pour on Twitter, asection of the mediawent into overdriveabout the 'record'

levels of the record-ings. That apart, theinformation beingshared on some social

media platforms too is incor-rect, going by official, availablerecords of IMD.

Continued on Page 3

l KCR to campaign,stay put inHuzurnagar for five days

l Ministers among30 incharges to camptill polling

BRKR BHAVAN NO PLUG AND PLAY OFFICE

(Above) Office furniture placed in a haphazard manner near the staircase at BRKRBhavan. (Below) Glass and other construction material lie strewn about in thelobby Photos bby Naveena G

From lobbies to elevator and cabins towashrooms, the new Secretariat bettershape up quickly for sake of State's image

Plethora of work in progress leaves ambience messy

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HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 hyderabad 02

Andhra cricketer G Hanuma Vihari being felicitated by former India star VVS Laxman at St John's Cricket Academy in Secunderabad on Thursday

VIHARI FFETED OON HHOME GGROUND

EGGRATES

` 38,260 (10 gm)

` 320

GOLD

` 46,300(1kg)

` 11800

HYDERABAD 398VIJAYAWADA 381VISAKHAPATNAM 370RETAIL PPRICE `3.98

SILVER

HYDERABADBULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `144

Without Skin `163

Broiler at Farm `99

`/KG

(IN HYDERABAD)

PNS n SRISAILAM

Inflows into various reservoirsacross two Telugu states -Telangana and AndhraPradesh, are very heavy fol-lowing downpour in the twostates forcing authorities ofSrisailam Project to releasewater downstream lifting fiveof the project's gates.

As on Thursday, inflowsinto the Srisailam reservoirare measured as 1.69 lakhcusec while the outflow is putat 2.25 lakh cusecs. InTelangana, Nagarjunasagarproject officials are releasingwater by lifting six gates.Against an inflow of 1.50 lakhcusecs, the outflow is 65,000cusecs.

Officials of Narayanapurproject have lifted 13 gates tolet out 15,960 cusecs. Theinflow into the project reser-voir is put at 90,000 cusecs.Against 492.252 meters FRL ofthe project, the water level inthe reservoir recorded as492.10 meters. Officials havelifted three gates of Jurala pro-ject tolet out 70,000 cusecs. Theinflows into the reservoir aremeasured as 70,000 cusecs.

Meanwhile, thePriyadarshini Jurala Project isset to receive yet another roundof heavy inflows withKarnataka releasing large vol-umes of water from its Almatti

and Nayaranpur dams inKarnataka on Thursday. Thefresh spell of rains in the river'scatchment in Karnataka haveresulted in that State beginningreleases of 1,49,400 cusecs ofwater from Narayanpur dam tothe downstream Jurala reser-voir in Telangana.

On Thursday, Almatti damreceived inflows of 1,33,000

cusecs and the same amount ofwater was released toNarayanpur dam, as Almattihad already reached its maxi-mum storage capacity of 123TMC. Jurala continued toreceive inflows, as 83,000cusecs of inflows were record-ed by 3 pm and 98,822 cusecswere released towardsSrisailam project using 7 gates

of the project. A total of 44,953cusecs were released for powergeneration and Krishna waterswere released into variouscanals under the project. Inaddition, water is being con-tinuously lifted to cater to theneeds of the various lift irri-gation schemes that depend onwater from Jurala.

Even the flood forecast ofthe Central Water Commissionhas forecast a rising trend in allthe projects across the Krishnabasin as on Thursday, includ-ing the Tungabhadra dam,which has also reached itsmaximum storage capacity of100.84 TMC.

HEAVY INFLOWS INTOPROJECTS CONTINUE

On Thursday, Almatti dam receivedinflows of 1,33,000 cusecs and thesame amount of water was released to Narayanpur dam

IT Minister KT Rama Rao at a review meeting with officials in Hyderabad on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

IT Minister KT Rama Raoreviewed the status of re-opening of the RamagundamFertilizers and ChemicalsLimited (RFCL), here onThursday. He held discus-sions with the factory repre-sentatives on the measures tobe taken to expedite re-open-ing it as part of its electoralpromises.

He said that the Telanganagovernment has given prior-ity to the renovation ofRamagundam FertilizerFactory. He added that thegovernment had taken a stakein the company and will con-tinue to support the same.KTR will write a letter to theUnion Minister for therestoration of the formerKendriya Vidyalaya in thefactory premises.

Asserting that the localsshould be given preferenceduring employment, RamaRao offered to provide nec-essary skill development pro-grammes for local youththrough TASK (TelanganaAcademy of Skills andKnowledge) at free of cost.

Social Welfare MinisterKoppula Eeshwar, PeddapalliMP Venkatesh Netha andRamangundam MLAKorukanti Chander, alongwith senior officials from theindustries department andrepresentatives of fertiliserscompany were present.

Ramagundam FCL to bereopened soon, says KTRn IT Minister reviews renovation steps

Union Minister SadanandaGowda slams TRS govt PNS n PEDDAPALLI

Union Minister SadanandaGowda on Thursday assert-ed that the RamagundamFertilizers and ChemicalsLimited (RFCL) would startproducing urea in the nextsix months. The Ministerwas on a visit to inspectthe works on RFCLand said the con-struction of thecompany would becompleted by 15December this year.

The Minister said theRamagundam Fertiliser cor-poration limited is the onemajor unit that is establishedwith the gas-based produc-tion and he assured the localsthat it would be provide

employment opportunitieswithout any hassle.

During his visit, the localleaders protest his visit to theunit. Reacting to it, theMinister said the tocal par-liament member belongingto the TRS has never repre-

sented any matter tothe Centre for the

completion andaccommodationof locals in thecompany.

These people aredeliberately politi-

cising the matter fortheir vested political gains,Gowda said. The ministerreviewed the works with thedistrict Collector, MP, andMLA and directed the offi-cials to speed up the works.

Collectorserves noticeson Sarpanch,10 othersPNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

District Collector VenkatRao, who has been workinghard to ensure effectiveimplementation of the 30-dayaction plan across the district,on Thursday served notice tothe Sarpanch ofSarghakhanpet village andten other others holdingthem responsible for poorimplementation of 30-dayaction plan in the village.

The Collector Venkat Raomade a surprise visit to thevillage located in the KosigiMandal of Narayanpet dis-trict on Thursday morning.However, the Collector, dur-ing his visit, noticed that the30-day action plan was notbeing implemented in the vil-lage. Following this, theCollector issued show causenotice.

The four Collectors of erst-while Mahabubnagar district- Mahabubnagar,Wanaparthy, Gadwal andNagarkurnool are monitoringthe 30-day comprehensiveaction plan thoroughly, andas per the officials, they aremaking surprise visits peri-odically. Each Collector is vis-iting ten to fifteen villagesevery day as part of their vil-lage visits.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Finance Minister T HarishRao on Thursday exhortedthe local body representativesin general and the ZPTCs inparticular to take part in the30-day special action plan witha renewed verve.

Addressing the SangareddyZilla Parishad General bodymeeting, the Minister said theadoption of this plan wouldenable the villages achieve allround growth.

The general body meeting ofthe new Zilla Parishad dis-cussed in length about various

development and welfareschemes undertaken by thegovernment for the upliftmentof the villages in particular.

The Minister said the local

body's strength would take thestate towards a certain progressand it would bring about thedesired change in the villages.MLAs Gudeppad Mahipal

Reddy, Kranthikran , ManikRao and T Jagga Reddy , MLCBhupal Reddy were present inthe meeting. The Congresslegislator Jagga Reddy felicitat-ed the Minister at the ZPGeneral Body meeting.

The meetingdiscussedvariousschemesundertaken bythe state govt

30-day plan will achieve all-round growth: Harish

Ready to holdmunicipal polls:SEC to HCPNS n HYDERABAD

The State ElectionCommission on Thursdaytold the Telangana HighCourt that it was ready toconduct municipal electionsas there was no stay orderissued by the apex court onconducting the elections.

The Commission madethis submission in responseto two Public InterestLitigations filed against theconduct of the municipalelections. On its part, the stategovernment told the HC thatit has completed the pre-pollprocess such as division ofwards and provision of reser-vations on the basis of pop-ulation as per the rules andregulations and urged thecourt to allow them to holdthe municipal elections.

However, the counsel forthe petitioners' objected tothe arguments of the stategovernment and told thecourt that several irregulari-ties took place in the pre-pollexercise undertaken by thestate government. They alsotold the court that the HChad granted stay on the con-duct of elections in 75 munic-ipalities of the state.

They urged the court toallow the municipal electionsonly after the disposal of all thecases filed against their con-duct. A division bench of theHC later posted the matter toFriday for further hearing.

Time for crusade against climate change: GuvPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan underlined theneed and importance of con-serving the environment andcultivating a mind-set ofresponsible and sustainabledevelopment. She urged thepeople to make green as a wayof life and appreciate the boun-ty of nature.

The Governor was speakingafter inaugurating the 17thedition of the CII-IGBC GreenBuilding Congress 2019.Speaking on the occasion, theGovernor said, "Due to popu-lation explosion and uncon-trolled development, naturalresources are exploited unsus-tainably. As a responsible citi-zen, I would like to highlightthe small ways in which we allcontribute to the destruction ofour environment, such as our

daily wastage of water. It is inthe nature and traditions of ourcountry that we save and wor-ship our trees, and we need tohold firm to these principles ofconservation of nature."

"Raj Bhavan has imple-mented several green building

measures, such as net metering,energy efficient lighting, rain-water harvesting, solar power,and a policy of no single-useplastics. Let us all pledge ourcommitment to build a green-er and healthier India. Morethan out of any compulsion

from Governments, we shouldall contribute to greening ourenvironment and buildingssimply out of our own love fornature. To make that possible,we need to cultivate a love andappreciation for healthy andgreen environment, especiallyamong the younger genera-tions of the Country," she fur-ther said.

CII's Indian Green BuildingCouncil is organising the 17thedition of Green Building

Congress 2019 from 26-28September 2019 at HICC,Hyderabad, with Governmentof Telangana being the PartnerState for the event. The eventfeatures an international con-ference and an exhibitionwhere over 100 companies areshowcasing their green build-ing products and technolo-gies. Over the three days, theevent features several confer-ences and programmes, includ-ing a conference on GreenPro,a conference on Green Rail, aconference on green hotelsand resorts, a training pro-gramme on green buildings, aprogramme for IGBC projectawards, and a programme onadvancing Net Zero.

Jamshyd N Godrej,Chairman, CII Godrej GBCunderlined the importance ofconservation of water, in hisaddress for the event.

Due to populationexplosion anduncontrolled

development, naturalresources are exploitedunsustainably

TAMILISAI SOUNDARARAJANGovernor of

Telangana

Ad hoc‘secretariat’...

Medicinespurchase scam...

Continued from Page 1

The wing, which filed areport in March this year,had found medicines werebought at exorbitant prices,in violation of the procure-ment procedures and the e-tender processes.

Listing the alleged irreg-ularities, the ACB releasesaid among others two fakeindents for medicines worthRs 1.03 crore were preparedby the Joint Director inMay last year and the billswere passed by the Director.

Similarly, medicinesworth Rs 1.23 crore wereindented and received bythe Joint Director but thestock was not sent to thedispensaries, it said.Another allegation was thatthe Director and other offi-cials caused a loss of Rs 9.43crore tothegovernment inpurchase of medicinesthrough 2017-18.

Continued from Page 1

Workers are seen carryingsheets of plywood via the stairsin the most unsafe manner.And the on-going carpenteringwork has got some peoplewearing breathing masks orcovering their nose with hand-kerchiefs to avoid air-bornewood and cement particles.

Another employee, whowished not to be named, said,“Not all are immune to aller-gies, so some of them tiemasks to avoid problems.”The partly-renovated premiseis also otherwise a risk foremployees' health for the san-itation conditions are prettypoor. Washrooms for women,which seem renovated, alreadyneed repairs and better upkeepof hygiene. That's the case withthe men's washroom too. Oneemployee said, "The bath-room looks renovated, butthere is no maintenance. It'd bereal bad for asthma patients.”

251 to file papers inHuzurnagar by-pollContinued from Page 1

All this has made theHuzurnagar by-election curi-ouser, while parties are prepar-ing the ground to file nomina-tions. Huzuarnagar Congresscandidate Padmavati filed oneset of papers on Thursday. HerTRS rival Sanampudi SaidiReddy will file the papers onSeptember 30. To protest thestate government's "style offunctioning", the sarpanchesassociation plans to get 251sarpanches to file nominationsagainst the official candidates ofthe main parties.

In the December 2018Assembly elections, 17 candi-dates were in the fray. The totalvotes polled then was 1,92,844.

However, the contest would belimited to main parties in thefray.

In the Lok Sabha electionsheld this year, red sorghumfarmers filed nominations enmasse (236 in all) seekingMSP for turmeric and redsorghum. As a result, sittingMP K Kavita lost the electionto her BJP rival.

In the Telangana region, thepractice of en masse filing ofpapers is not new. In 1996, atthe behest of the Jala SadhanaSamiti, 515 fluoride wateraffected persons filed theirnominations en masse from theNalgonda LS seat, highlightingthe need to provide safe drink-ing water and water for irriga-tion in the region.

When a by-poll becomes prestige...Continued from Page 1

Besides, 30 incharges, includingTRS senior leaders and minis-ters, have been asked to campin Huzurnagar till the date ofpolling. The hot topic in polit-ical circles is: Why KCR andKTR are giving so much impor-tance to a single Assembly seat,and that too in a bypoll?

The reasons are not far toseek. In the 2018 Assemblypolls, TRS made a clean sweep,bagging 88 out of 119 seats inTelangana. In Nalgonda dis-trict, considered bastion ofthe Congress for decades, itbagged 8 out of 11 Assemblyseats. More importantly, ittrounced Congress heavy-weights in the district, includ-ing K Jana Reddy(Nagarjunasagar), NPadmavathi Reddy (Kodad), RDamodar Reddy (Suryapet),Komatireddy Venkat Reddy(Nalgonda), Addanki Dayakar(Thungaturthi), B

Bhikshamaiah Goud (Alair), KAnil Kumar Reddy (Bhongir)and R Krishnaiah(Miryalaguda).

The saving grace for theCongress was that Uttam fromHuzurnagar, KomatireddyRajagopal Reddy fromMunugode and ChirumartiLingaiah from Nakrekal couldtame the TRS wave in the2018 Assembly polls. It is a dif-ferent matter that of thesethree prized Congress win-ners, Chirumarti Lingaiah laterdefected to TRS andKomatireddy Rajagopal Reddyis expected to join BJP anytime.

So, TRS feels that ifCongress is defeated in theHuzurnagar bypoll, the grandold party would be wiped outfrom Nalgonda district. Thatapart, for TRS leadership,Uttam's win has been a thornin the flesh as the TPCC chiefhad been projected as CM can-didate. Rubbing salt into thewounds of TRS, Uttam dealt a

blow again by winning theNalgonda Lok Sabha seat inMay 2018. KCR and KTRwant to avenge these defeatsand consolidate TRS' posi-tion. A decisive win in theHuzurnagar bypoll can send amessage to the entire opposi-tion in Telangana. The spin-off would be that TRS can thensilence Congress and BJP andreassert the TRS’ supremacy inTelangana once and for all.

TRS won 88 seats in theDecember 2018 Assemblypolls and its tally in the Househas since increased to 102, fol-lowing the subsequent 'merg-er' of 12 Congress MLAs and2 independent MLAs. Thereis no main opposition in theLegislative Assembly, with 12of 19 Congress MLAs switch-ing loyalty to TRS. TheAIMIM, with seven MLAs, isalso supporting TRS as a'friendly party', apart fromone nominated ChristianMLA.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana government's start-up initiative for women, WE-Hub, which has been sectoragnostic will now focus ontechnology, e-commerce,FMCG and social entrepre-neurship. WE-Hub onThursday organised a gradua-tion ceremony of the'Incubation Cohort' for the2018-19 batch.

Chief Secretary SK Joshisaid the occasion, "In India, wehave an abundance of naturaland human resources, and thepath to unlocking it is entre-preneurship. And for that Imust applaud Jayesh and the ITE&C Department for intro-ducing initiatives like this."

The graduating start-upshave scaled operations, andeach of them has been provid-

ed the opportunity to extendtheir incubation period basedon assessment. WE-Hub took26 start-ups into their flagshipcohort in September 2018.Over the past year, the start-

ups have gone through cus-tomised training with a goal-based program structure - 24of these start-ups have movedat least three stages. Four of thestart-ups have received fund-

ing, and a few are in theprocess of raising funds.

Jayesh Ranjan, PrincipalSecretary in the IT E&Cdepartment, said, "I congratu-late the graduating cohort fortheir growth over the pastyear. From the support that youhave received; it is your respon-sibility to give it back and helpmore start-ups scale heights."

Moving forward, WE-Hubwill accept applications on arolling basis -Deepthi Ravula,CEO of WE-Hub said, "Werealised that a cohort systemconstrains the number of start-ups that we can help scale.Considering we are deliveringa customized program to start-ups, each enterprise has a dif-ferent pace of growth, and wewant to start accepting appli-cants on a rolling basis, to max-imise our impact."

RIMEORNERC

160 kg ganja seized,four arrested HYDERABAD: The Medchalpolice seized 160 kg marijuanaworth Rs 10 lakh from fourpeople on Thursday morning.The accused, identified as PNikhil, Pawar Srinivas, PawarSatish and Rathod Srikant,were caught by officials duringvehicle checking. Two moreaccomplices of the gang,Danraj and Rathod Raju, werereported absconding. The carwas stopped and checked bythe police who found 160 kgganja being transported fromRangareddy district toSangareddy.

Blast in Warangalfactory; 5 injured WARANGAL: A blast occurredin a chemical factory inRampur industrial estate ofWarangal urban injuring fiveworkers on Thursday.The blast occurred in VajraMatrix Industries, in which fivewomen workers sufferedcritical injuries. Police said thelegs of one of the workers werecompletely damaged by theimpact. All five were shifted toa hospital in Warangal. LocalACP Nagaraju reached the spotafter the incident.

Police's womensafety wingholds workshopHYDERABAD: A one-dayworkshop on issues related tomarital cases was held in theTelangana police's womansafety wing. DGP MahendarReddy was Chief Guest at theevent. Investigating Officialswere briefed about proceduresto be adopted in marital casesand ensure that they are takento their logical end, said IGPSwati Lakra. A session ongender sensitisation was alsoheld for all the officers.The state's NRI Women SafetyCell, a module within thewomen safety wing, deals withdisputes arising in maritalcases where the husband orrelatives are NRIs.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 hyderabad 03

FOR SUBSCRIPTION, RENEWALS AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT DELAYED PAPER DELIVERY, PLEASE CONTACT 040-23322341-43

PNS n HYDERABAD

Marketing department offi-cials have said that supply ofvegetables to the city fromadjoining districts hasincreased, easing the prices andbringing relief to consumers.

Prices of almost all vegeta-bles have gone down, saidmarketing department offi-cials. Farmers bring vegetablesfrom Rangareddy, Medak,Siddipet, Mahabubnagar,Nizamabad and Nalgonda dis-tricts to sell them inHyderabad.

Traders in the main whole-sale markets at Bowenpally,Gudimalkapur, LB Nagar,Madannapet and MondaMarket in Secunderabad saidthat supply of vegetables to citymarkets from the rest ofTelangana has improved vast-ly in the last two days.

Not just main wholesalemarkets, Rythu Bazaars in thecity too are full with supplies.Till a few days ago, tomato soldat Rs 50-60 a kg, beans Rs 80-100, cluster beans Rs 50-60 andbrinjal Rs 40-60. Now, toma-to sells for Rs 30 a kg, potatoRs 30 a kg and cluster beans Rs40. As against the sale price ofRs 60-80 a kg, green chilli nowsells for Rs 40 a kg.

Traders said supply of veg-etables doubled compared tosome time ago with the mainmarkets receiving supply fromMaharashtra, Karnataka, UPand Andhra Pradesh.

Veggie prices ease assupply doublesTraders say prices have normalised with supplyfrom Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan etc

PNS n HYDERABAD

Wholesale markets in the cityhave been receiving damponions from exporting stateslike Maharashtra andKarnataka, leading to only amarginal dip in prices from Rs4,600 a quintal to Rs 4,300 inthe last two days.

Drastic reduction in supplyof onions to the city has led toprice escalation. However,some traders hoarded the com-modity to sell when prices rise.But since prices of onion arevery high all over the country,hoarders have started export-ing them to Delhi, jacking upprices in the local market.

The city markets received 70lorry-loads of exports but theprices still remained firm. Infact, 90 per cent of onion sup-ply received in the city hasbeen found to be dampbecause of heavy rains in thesupplying states of AP,Maharashtra and Karnataka.The demand for damp onionis low because of its very lowshelf-life. However, in view ofthe acute shortage, traders arereluctant to slash onion pricesand continue to charge asmuch for the sub-standardstock.

Of the 110 lorry-loads ofonions received here, a major-ity were found to containdamp produce. But tradersare not willing to lower prices,a wholesale trader DharanikotaSudhakar said.

The price of a kg of onionsis Rs 60-70 in the markets, andhence there are hardly any buy-ers. The sale price in RythuBazaars, however, is Rs 20-odda kg. Long queues are seen infront of onion outlets in RythuBazaars. The onion sold theretoo is damp though.

City receives damponion stocks from states

But traders don'treduce prices forsub-standardstock; still sells forRs 60-70/kg

Continued from Page 1

"It happened under mywatch. I get all the responsi-bility, because it happenedunder my watch," he told PBS'Martin Smith, according to apreview of a documentary,"The Crown Prince of SaudiArabia," set to air on October1, ahead of the one-yearanniversary of Khashoggi'sdeath.

After initial denials, the offi-cial Saudi narrative blamed themurder on rogue operatives.The public prosecutor saidthe then-deputy intelligencechief ordered the repatriationof Khashoggi, a royal insiderwho became an outspokencritic, but the lead negotiatorordered him killed after dis-cussions for his return failed.

Saud al-Qahtani, a former

top royal adviser whomReuters reported gave ordersover Skype to the killers,briefed the hit team onKhashoggi's activities beforethe operation, the prosecutorsaid.

Asked how the killing couldhappen without him knowingabout it, Smith quotes PrinceMohammed as saying: "Wehave 20 million people. Wehave 3 million governmentemployees."

Smith asked whether thekillers could have taken privategovernment jets, to which thecrown prince responded: "Ihave officials, ministers to fol-low things, and they're respon-sible. They have the authorityto do that." Smith describes theDecember exchange, whichapparently took place off cam-era, in the preview of the doc-

umentary.A senior U.S. administration

official told Reuters in June theTrump administration waspressing Riyadh for "tangibleprogress" toward holding toaccount those behind thekilling ahead.

Eleven Saudi suspects havebeen put on trial in secretiveproceedings but only a fewhearings have been held. AU.N. report has called forPrince Mohammed and othersenior Saudi officials to beinvestigated.

Khashoggi, a WashingtonPost columnist, was last seen atthe Saudi consulate in Istanbulon Oct. 2, where he was toreceive papers ahead of hiswedding. His body was report-edly dismembered and removedfrom the building, and hisremains have not been found.

Continued from Page 1

The first women SSP ofIndore, Ruchi Vardhan Singh,a key member of the SIT, saidthat Shweta and Aarti eyedcollege girls and by persuad-ing them to lead a modernhijinks life, they graduallypushed these young girls intothe honey trap scam.

The girls were first shownthe glamour and luxury offive star culture and later werepaid handsome amounts inlieu of honey trapping politi-cians and bureaucrats.Besides college going girls,over 40 call girls were alsohired by Shweta to cater towide range of clients whichincluded a former Chief min-ister of Madhya Pradesh.

Khashoggi murder doneunder my watch: Saudi Prince

Politicians,bureaucratsin honey trap,clips out

PNS n HYDERABAD

As rains subside over the city,GHMC staff is out in full forceto conduct anti-larval opera-tions on a large scale.

GHMC Commissioner DSLokesh Kumar on Thursdayheld a review meeting on fog-ging and spraying and otherwork to be carried out by theDepartment of Entomologyin the city after three days ofintense rains in GreaterHyderabad. It has been decid-ed to carry out anti-larvalscraping on all schools on awar-footing as mosquitoes arelikely to return in the prevail-ing damp conditions.

The civic body has under-taken a large number of aware-ness campaigns in the city forthe prevention of dengue andmalaria. In particular, the 2,375staff at the GHMC'sEntomology Department areinvolved in larval preventionand pollution prevention. It istaking up all precautions for

effective surveillance and con-trol of mosquito breeding andspread of vector-borne dis-eases using 150 portable fog-ging machines, 13 vehicle

mounted machines, 667 knap-sack sprayers and 30 powersprayers.

About 309 dengue and 151malaria high-risk areas were

identified in the city. Weekly anti-larval opera-

tions are being taken up with642 teams as per the Pin PointProgram (PPP) in domestic,peri-domestic mosquito breed-ing sources (house-to-house)every day, covering on average1.50 lakh houses. About 18Anti Larval Operation (ALO)teams with 54 workers areconducting operations in Musiriver from Attapur toChaderghat bridge for edgecleaning and spraying.

Water hyacinth removedfrom 15 tanks, lakes and pondsas part of the de-weeding exer-cise. The GHMC has taken uplarval survey, indoorpyrethrum space spray andfogging activities for all thereported cases of dengue andmalaria in a bid to arrest fur-ther transmission.

A start-up representative explains a concept at the WE-Hub event on Thursday

n 2,348 schools to becovered under indoorresidual spray andfogging.

n Information, educationand communication (IEC)activities are being takenup regularly involvingschools children. So far,1,266 schools have beencovered under themosquito-controlawareness campaign.

Rains subside, GHMCgets down to fogging ops

Anti-larval drive started on large scale to preventproliferation in prevailing damp conditions

SPECIAL FOCUS ON SCHOOL PREMISES

PNS n HYDERABAD

A study conducted ahead ofWorld Tourism Day onSeptember 27 by digital lend-ing platform, IndiaLends,found that 85 percent of indi-viduals, who applied for loansbetween Rs 30,000 and Rs2.50 lakh for travel purposes,were millennials.

The research surveyedsalaried and self-employedpeople across six major metros,including Hyderabad, andfound that 20 percent of mil-lennials -- born between 1980and 1994 -- were from

Hyderabad, followed byMumbai at 19.7 percent andBangalore 19 percent.

Looks like a whole genera-tion of young, salaried andtech-savvy professionals in thecountry are not averse to tak-ing loans for travel, and don'tlike the idea of approachingbanks for that given the lengthyapplication process it involves.They prefer and trust theonline method.

"The emergence of leisureconsciousness across India'syounger generation, and therealisation that a balancedlifestyle is important, led toan increase in domestic aswell as international travel,"said Gaurav Chopra, founder

of IndiaLends.They are turning to digital

lending companies whichgive salaried individuals'new-to-credit' with zerocredit history, including mil-lennials, easier access toloans.

According to the data, mil-lennials usually opt for coun-tries that offer visa on arrivalcountries such as Dubai,Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal,Maldives, Bhutan, andIndonesia. Most populardomestic destinations for themillennials are Goa, Kerala,Ladakh and Rajasthan.

City's millennials’ mantra: Travel now, pay later

WE-Hub to focus on tech, e-commerceTS’ initative for women completes 1 year, will target selected sectors only

Study finds Hyd accounts for 20% of those seeking loan for travel

PNS n HYDERABAD

A photo of a crack on PVNarasimha Rao Expresswayis being widely shared onsocial media. Tollywooddirector Kona Venkat alsoshared a picture of a damagedpillar on Thursday. He point-ed out that pillar number 20of the Expressway had devel-oped cracks and neededurgent repair before it claimsany life. The director taggedGHMC and Minister KTRama Rao. An HMDA offi-cial said that the crack isminor, will be repaired in thenight and there is no need topanic.

HMDA chief engineerBLN Reddy said, "Pillar 20 isa very minor issue and we aretaking action. Proper repairwork will be carried outtonight."

Following the incident of a24-year-old home womandying after a block of thecement fell on her head at theAmeerpet Metro station onSunday, residents are beingwatchful of the condition offlyovers and other construc-tions in the city.

Continued from Page 1

Mohan Rao, a meteorolo-gist from IMD, explained,"We frequently refer to themeasurements made by theState Government agency --Telangana State DevelopmentPlanning Society (TSDPS)through their AutomaticWeather Stations, which arenew to the city. And, hence,they do not have 100-year-oldrecords." He said, "Very fewmeteorological observatorieswere established in India bythe British East IndiaCompany; one or two mighthave been there in Hyderabadtoo, but we cannot say as perthe data goes, Malkajgiri,which was not a part ofHyderabad, on September14, 2017, recorded a rainfallof 201.5 mm, which is at least70 mm higher than whatwas recorded in Tirumalagiri,which recorded 132.0 mm onWednesday. And so, therecord is just a hypothesis."

What is in store today?The sky in Hyderabad is

likely to remain cloudy, withlight rain or drizzle for thenext three days.

Community hallsto serve as BastiDawakhanasPNS n HYDERABAD

GHMC will set up BastiDawakhanas in 48 communi-ty halls owned by it in the city.The Dawakhanas, or hospitals,will be set up on an area of 500sft. The GHMC StandingCommittee passed a resolutionin this regard on Thursday.

Mayor Bonthu Rammohanpresided over StandingCommittee meeting withGHMC commissioner DSLokesh Kumar where in 16 res-olutions were passed. The com-mittee also passed a resolutionfacilitating online membershipto people who use 135 ModernGyms through GHMC portal.It was decided that GHMC willsend to the government pro-posals to award annual con-tracts for maintenance of687.31 km of major roads inGreater Hyderabad.

Continued from Page 1

Describing it as a matter ofpride, the minister said that theschool had set an example forthe whole country to emulate.

Later, speaking at the ZPmeeting, Harish said that waterfrom the Kaleswaram projectwould reach Singuru by nextyear. The government was keen

on lifting water from Gutpa andAli Sagar through lift-irrigationschemes to take the water toSinguru. Implementation of the30-day action plan in the dis-trict was good. The contours ofmany villages had undergonetransformation, he said, anddescribed the change as"unprecedented during the past60 years".

PNS n HYDERABAD

Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB),Hyderabad was opened toPublic on Thursday as part ofcelebrations for theFoundation Day of Council ofScientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR).

The centre received morethan 9000 visitors on the'Open Day'. Most of the visi-tors were students interested inbiology. Researchers from

CCMB showcased the exhibitsexplaining the fundamentalscience behind processesoccurring in different kinds ofliving cells - microbial, plantsand animals. Students got achance to peer through elec-tronic microscopes which canmagnify an object up to a hun-dred thousand times with aresolution of 50 picometers.

Scientists associated withCCMB also had discussionson genes in individuals togenomes of populations.

School children check out the science exhibits at CCMB on Thursday

Over 9,000 studentsthrong CCMB show

PNS n HYDERABAD

A new Hyderabad-based ride-sharing service called 'Prydo'was launched in the city onThursday. Owned and run bycity-based Praneeth Group,'Prydo' will have 14,000 dri-ver-partners to begin withand will start operations onSeptember 29.

"Our app Prydo is integrat-ed with the Telangana gov-ernment's Hawk-Eye applica-tion to ensure the safety of rid-ers," said Prydo's founder andMD Narendra KumarKamaraju.

The move comes after estab-lished ride-sharing servicesOla and Uber started rollingout insurance products for itscustomers, ranging fromhealth insurance to in-tripproducts.

Like its cab-hailing servicecompetitors, Prydo will ensuresurge-free rides for customersand offer its driver-partners aslew of welfare benefits. Prydo

will offer services in threevehicle categories i.e. hatch-back, sedan and SUV.

Prydo's new app will beavailable on Google Play andiPhone's iStore beginningThursday. The company alsoplans to expand its services toDelhi, Bengaluru and othermetros, with an investment ofadditional Rs 100 crore overthe next one year.

"The new ride-sharing appwill charge a commission in

the range of up to 10 per centfrom driver-partners, whichwill depend on the number ofrides per month," saidNarendra. We hope to com-plete over one million rides inHyderabad in the next threemonths," he added.

Prydo will charge a small orzero commission for a highernumber of rides every month,and ensure transparency inbilling and invoice systems, thecompany said.

City gets homegrown ride-sharing service ‘Prydo'Operations start on Sept 29 with 14,000 drivers;company says it will not have surge-pricing

Ride-sharing service 'Prydo' launched in the city on Thursday

Crack appearson PVNRexpressway,creates scare

Harish to gift 10g gold to...

IMD trashes100-year rainreports

The crack visible on PVNRexpressway above Pillar no. 20

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 hyderabad 04

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Congress candidate UttamPadmavathi Reddy has filedtwo sets of nomination paperson Thursday for Huzurnagarby-elections. Speaking on theoccasion, Padmavathi allegedthat the TRS government hasdeployed its total strengths inHuzurnagar constituency todefeat Telangana 'Aadabidda'.She urged Huzurnagar votersto comfort her ensuring victo-ry by casting their votes.

TPCC chief and NalgondaMP Uttam Kumar Reddy stat-ed that Huzurnagar by-electionis going to turn the state his-tory. He described the contestbetween Congress and TRS isa contest between righteous-ness and unrighteous. "Thefight between justice and cor-ruption, atrocities", he exhort-ed. He slammed the TRS say-ing that they are resorting tobad politics with the help ofpolice. He alleged that the TRSleaders filing falsehood casesand sending them to jail. Moreso, the TRS leaders are pur-chasing Congress leaders withmoney, he lamented.

KTR a 'baccha': UttamCondemning the commentsof TRS working president KTRama Rao against him, Uttamadvised KTR, who got posi-tions with the help of his fatherK Chandrashekhar Rao, not tobehave arrogantly. "I never didfamily, caste and bad politicslike KTR. KTR is a 'baccha' andspeaks as he wished", heslammed. Demanding the IT

Minister to tell the people as tohow many crores were lootedin Mission Bhagiratha scheme,Uttam termed KTR's survey inregard to Huzurnagar by-elec-tion as 'bogus.'

He asked KTR to tell as towhy the TRS leaders are pur-chasing Congress leaders ifthey have 14 per cent moresupport of the people thanCongress. He also questionedKTR to tell as to how the TRSallotted ticket to Andhra per-son from Yamaram inDachepally mandal in Gunturdistrict. Further targeting theLegislative Council chairmanGutha Sukhender Reddy,Uttam alleged that Gutha wasindulging in 'political prosti-tution'. He said that theCongress ensured the victory ofGutha, who was being thrown

out by Chandrababu Naidufrom TDP, as an MP for twotimes spending own money.Gutha is doing degraded pol-itics even after becomingCouncil chairman, Uttamalleged saying that theCongress will lodge a com-plaint with Governor withproofs. The TPCC presidentdemanded the ElectionCommission to use centralpolice in Huzurnagar by-elec-tions as Congress has no beliefin local police. Finding faultwith KTR, for using degradedlanguage against him, Uttamsaid that the Court dismissedthe case filed by KTR's uncleagainst him. "KTR is usingsingular form while criticizingme. KTR has to change his lan-guage", he suggested.

Meanwhile, former Deputy

Chief Minister DamodaraRajanarsimha exuded confi-dence that Congress will reg-ister victory in Huzurnagarby-elections. He asked partyactivists not to get confusedwith the comments of partyleaders.

He opined that Huzurnagarby-election will not be consid-ered as referendum. "If theCongress MLAs, who joinedTRS, contests elections by ten-dering resignations will beconsidered as referendum", hesaid. He said that changeswould take place in the partyonly after the by-elections.

Teach a lesson to TRS candidate: Kusuma

TPCC working presidentJetti Kusuma Kumar has calledupon the Huzurnagar voters to

teach a lesson to TRS candi-date the way Nizamabad vot-ers taught a lesson to KKavitha in Lok Sabha elec-tions. Alleging that TRS' sur-veys are fake surveys, Kusumasaid that Huzurnagar is aCongress bastion. He calledupon the voters saying, "Willdefeat corruption in

Huzurnagar to protect democ-racy by ensuring the victory ofCongress".

Further, he asked theHuzurnagar voters to decidewhether they want UttamPadmavathi, who fought onpublic issue, or a corruptMinister G Jagdish Reddy's'benami' S Saidi Reddy.

‘Huzurnagar by-poll will create history’Congress will win the seat with huge margin, says TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy

Padmavathi Reddy greets the crowd after filing her nomination in Huzurnagar on Thursday

TDP likely toskip by-election PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telugu Desam Party(TDP), which stayed awayfrom the Lok Sabha polls inTelangana, is unlikely to con-test the by-election to theHuzurnagar Assembly seat,scheduled to be held onOctober 21, party sourcessaid.

The party, which is facingan existential crisis inTelangana, has left the deci-sion to party national presi-dent N Chandrababu Naidu.A section of TDP leaders feelthat the party should skip theby-election to save itself fromembarrassment, while othersfavour joining the fray toshow that it is still alive in theregion.

The TDP didn't field anycandidates for the 17 LokSabha seats in the 2019 polls.It was the first time since itsformation in 1982 that the

party stayed away from pollsin the region. Analysts say,that the TDP, seen as an'Andhra party' by many, isalmost finished in Telanganaas it lost almost its entireleadership to the TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS) since2014. In recent months, someleaders have joined theCongress and others haveswitched to the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP).

After making inroads inthe Lok Sabha polls by win-ning four seats, the BJP isprojecting itself as an alter-native to the TRS and thereis hardly any political spaceleft for the TDP in Telangana,say analysts. The TDP is alsodemoralised after losingpower in Andhra Pradesh.Though Naidu recently heldtalks with few party leadersfrom Telangana, theprospects of a revival appearbleak.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy at a meeting inHyderabad on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddysaid Centre would allocate Rs1,813 crore additional fundsfor the new works and devel-opment of existing railwayprojects in Telangana. KishanReddy also expressed displea-sure over several railway worksand projects getting delayed inthe state due to the negligenceof Telangana Government.

In a first-of-its kind, SouthCentral Railway GM GajananMallya held a meeting withMPs from Telangana andHyderabad-Karnataka regionto review the ongoing railwayworks and discuss problemsfaced by passengers in SCRregion. While Union Ministerof State for Home Affairs GKishan Reddy presided themeeting, Soyam Bapu Rao,

P Ramulu, Revanth Reddy,Nama Nageshwar Rao, BandiSanjay, Dharmapuri Arvindand others from Telangana,Amaresh Nayak, Umesh GYadav and others fromKarnataka took part in it.

Most of the MPs urged SCRGM Gajanan Mallya to expe-dite the ongoing works andintroduce additional services

in busy routes, as existingtrain services are unable tocater to the passenger rush inseveral routes.

"Discussion in the reviewmeeting included various issuespertaining to the upcoming ter-minal at Charlapalli,Ghatkesar-Yadadri MMTSworks, Hyderabad MMTSPhase 2 and others. MPs havegiven representations to launchnew line and trains. I'll taketheir requests to Union RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal.Telangana has been severelylacking in railway infrastruc-ture and facilities. Therefore todevelop new lines and launchnew train services, Centre isallocating an additional Rs1,813 crore for Telangana.

The Union Ministerexpresseddispleasure overrailway works andprojects gettingdelayed in thestate due to thenegligence of TRS government

Kishan blames TRSfor delaying projects

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hundreds of poor patientsand local residents attendedthe free health camp organisedby Hyderabad City CongressCommittee (HCCC)Minorities DepartmentChairman Sameer Waliullahand TPCC Spokesperson SyedNizamuddin, in associationwith Healthier HeartsFoundation, at First Lancer onThursday.

According to SameerWaliullah, the health camp atFirst Lancer was the first one ina series of free medical campswere being organised in vari-ous slum areas to facilitatepoor people undergo variousmedical tests including ECG,2D Echo, Blood Tests, SugarGRBS, BP, etc., at free of cost.Sameer Waliullah informed

that hundreds of people fromSyed Nagar, Bhola Nagar andother localities of First Lancervisited the health camp andunderwent medical tests. Theywere also given prescribedmedicines at free of cost.General physicians and spe-cialists, including cardiologists,were available in the camp.

TPCC MinoritiesDepartment Chairman ShaikAbdullah Sohail, YouthCongress president AnilKumar Yadav, Sajid Shareef and other senior lead-ers of Congress party also vis-ited the camp and participat-ed in distribution of free med-icines.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The State BJP unit urged theGovernor, TamilisaiSoundararajan to intervene tostop illegal granite mining inKarimnagar district, which hasbeen adversely affecting theenvironment and people livingin the areas surrounding gran-ite quarries.

A delegation, including BJPchief K Laxman, Bandi Sanjay,and others met the Governor,Tamilisai Soundarajan here onThursday and explained herabout the ill effects of illegalmining and also highlightedthat illegal granite quarry own-ers, who are mostly supportersand leaders of ruling TRS, areevading seignior age and taxesto the tune of Rs Rs 749 crore

to the government. "Illegal granite quarries run

without permissions from thegovernment are adverselyaffecting the environment inKarimnagar district. Due tothese illegal quarries, greencover is being destroyed, watertable is dropping affecting agri-

culture and people are sufferingfrom pollution due to environ-mental destruction.Karimnagar district was oncehome to green hillocks, wildbears and diverse flora andfauna. But due to illegal gran-ite quarries, all these are beingdestroyed," said Bandi Sanjay

speaking after meetingGovernor. "All these illegalgranite quarries are run by rul-ing party leaders. Besides min-ing illegally, these quarry own-ers have evaded seigniorageand taxes to the tune of Rs 749crore to government. Knowingwell about these illegal quar-ries, the state government isnot taking any action.Therefore we have urgedGovernor to order for aninquiry on illegal granite quar-ries in Karimnagar," BandiSanjay further said.

BJP also requested theGovernor to order for aninquiry on the irregularities inthe tendering process for smartcity works taken up inKarimnagar by KarimnagarSmart City Corporation.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Mahila Congresshas found fault with the TRSgovernment for destroyingthe 'self respect' of Telanganawomen by giving Rs 100sarees. Telangana WomenCongress chief NerellaSharada said that the thenCongress government hasextended help to the womenof the state by giving Rs 10lakh loans but the presentTRS government is makingthe women to wait for hoursfor cheap sarees.

TPCC Mahila Congressexecutive meeting was heldon Thursday at GandhiBhavan under the leadershipof Nerella Sharada. MahilaCongress leaders and dis-tricts Mahila Congress chiefsparticipated in the meeting.Sharada stated that the inci-dent of a woman, who waskilled after a concrete slab fellon her at Ameerpet MetroStation, was unfortunate. Thethen Congress governmenttook the Metro Rail project asa prestigious one but TRSgovernment constructed theMetro Rail bridges with infe-rior quality.

Mahila Congress leadershave discussed on strength-ening the wing in Telangana.Sharada said that there is aneed to the women leaders indistricts to respond speedily tostrengthen the women wing indistricts. She called upon thewomen to prove their strengthin Huzurnagar by-elections byensuring the victory of UttamPadmavathi. TelanganaMahila Congress in-chargegeneral secretary Fatima Rosaparticipated in the meeting.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Basing on the 2014-15 rulesrelating to loan waiver, theAgriculture Department hasprepared draft guidelines forfresh loan waiver and sentthem to the state governmentfor approval. The departmenthas expressed its readiness tocome out with 'farmer-wise'loan data should the draft beapproved.

As per the draft, 35 lakhfarmers would stand to bene-fit to the tune of Rs 28,000crore. The guidelines are cru-cial as the government givesmoney directly to farmers.

It may be recalled that thegovernment gave RythuBandhu cheques to farmersduring the last Kharif season.It is likely to follow the samemethod again.

Earlier, the loan waiver wasincluded under Annexure-5, anofficer said, adding that thedepartment was ready to do thesame this time also uponapproval by the government.

The TRS regime, during itsfirst stint, waived farmers' loansin four tranches- Rs 4,040 cr

(2014-15), Rs 4,040 crore (2015-16), Rs 4,025 cr (2016-17) andRs 4,033 crore (2017-18).Thereafter, there has been noclarity regarding the number oftranches for the loan waiver. Thegovernment is likely to make astatement on this only on receiptof the guidelines. The cut-off

date to implement the loanwaiver has been fixed asDecember 11. The departmentsays that the number of benefi-ciaries remains more or less sta-tic. However, the quantum ofloan to be waived would

increase. Against targeted croploans totaling Rs 29,000 croreduring the Kharif, the bankershave advanced only Rs 14,588crore so far. The government issore at bankers for the poor croploan record. As the old loanshave not been cleared, thebankers are not advancing newloans, causing inconvenienceto farmers.

The Chief Minister recentlyasked farmers to clear the loansthey had borrowed prior toDecember 11 last year and thenseek new loans. While imple-menting the loan waiver, theamount would be given to farm-ers directly for having clearedthe loan. The farmers are con-fused since there are no ordersfrom the department. But, somefarmers, heeding the ChiefMinister's advice, have decidedto clear their loans.

Telangana crop loan waiver guidelines readyRs 28,000 crore required for 35 lakh farmers

The TRS regime,during its firststint, waivedfarmers' loans infour tranches- Rs4,040 cr (2014-15),Rs 4,040 crore(2015-16) Rs 4,025cr (2016-17)

Settle claims, Talasanitells insurance companies

Mahila Congslams TRS overBathukammasareesPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress Legislature Partyleader Mallu BhattiVikramarka has alleged thatthe state economic condition isreminding Sathyam Companyand said that the state eco-nomic condition is on theverge of collapse.

The Chief Minister, KChandrashekhar Rao isdegrading the state with debts,he alleged stating that KCR willnot run the state if not bringdebts further. He demandedthe Chief Minister to take upreverse tendering even inTelangana similar to AndhraPradesh government.

The Chief Minister may notintroduce Rs 5 lakh croreBudget but he will make thedebts up to Rs 5 lakh crore by

2023, he said. He said there isno need to surprise if the daysof taxing on drinking waterand on air by the KCR gov-ernment comes in near future.

On Thursday, Bhatti gave apower point presentation onthe status of Telangana State'seconomic condition and ondebts brought by the TRS gov-ernment and on the develop-

ment. While giving powerpoint presentation, Bhatti saidthat burden of debts will fall onthe common man ofTelangana.

He alleged that the Budgetintroduced by the TRS gov-ernment is based on lies. Thereis a far distance between 2019-20 Budget estimations andrealities.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Animal husbandry ministerTalasani Srinivas Yadav onThursday asked officials to set-tle insurance claims pertainingto dairy animals and sheepswithin a fortnight.

Reviewing the activities ofhis department with secretarySandeep Kumar Sultania andother officials, he said that thegovernment distributed dairyand sheep units treating theprogramme as a matter ofprestige and got the cattle andsheep insured. However, heasked the representatives ofthe insurance companies toresolve the pending insuranceclaims in a fortnight and trans-fer the amount to the accountsof district collectors.

Later, the Minister askedofficials to take steps to pur-chase and distribute milchanimals among those farmerswho paid the margin moneythrough demand drafts. Hewanted distribution of milchanimals to take place as per therules and said that he wouldnot tolerate irregularitiesunder any circumstances.

A Brazilian delegation,headed by a noted animal sci-entist, called on the Ministerand invited him to visit thecattle and sheep farms andoffered to extend the technol-ogy available in Brazil toTelangana.

Vijaya Dairy MD SrinivasaRao, Mother Dairy ChairmanGutta Jitender Reddy,Karimnagar Dairy chairmanRajeswara Rao, Mulkanurdairy Chairman Vijaya,National Assurance Companyrepresentative Gitanjali andothers took part in the meet-ing.

Minister Talasani at a meeting with officials on Thursday

Govt will promoteNeera, says Minister PNS n HYDERABAD

Excise Minister V SrinivasGoud on Thursday declaredthat the state governmentwould soon launch NeeraPolicy and promote salesthrough specially erected stallsand encourage sale of Neera bysetting up restaurants in thedowntown Tank Bund areaand promote its sale alongwith the other traditional cui-sine of Telangana.

Adequate publicity would begiven to neera (palm nectar)through Telangana TourismDepartment, he said addingthat the drink would be pro-moted as traditional Telanganadrink.

He made it clear that neeraproduction would be extend-ed to all districts in phases.Quoting Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao as saying,he said that there are medici-nal properties in neera.Diabetes will be under controlwith consumption of neera.This was proved by researchconducted by various organi-sations. License for sellingneera would be given toGowdas and Eediga commu-nities.

Production of Neera washigh in Cambodia, Africa,Indonesia, Malaysia and SriLanka. The USA is importingNeera from Africa. The drinkis being sold in Maharashtra,Kerala, Gujarat and Rajasthan.In Telangana, neera is beingsold for several hundreds ofyears. This is used as a medi-cine for several diseases.Laboraory analysis proved thatthe palm nectar has medicinalproperties, he added.

K Laxman Bandi Sanjay

TS' economy on the brinkof collapse, says Bhatti

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka addresses the media on Thursday

Man fined asson damagessaplingsPNS n SURYAPET

A boy, who damaged thesaplings planted as part ofHarita Haram was asked topay a fine of Rs 5,000. Theboy was identified as the sonof Ayush Bhanu living inBalajinagar of the first wardin the town. The municipalauthorities noticed that theboy on Wednesday damagedsome of the saplings.Therefore, his family wasasked to pay the fine.

Similarly, the authoritiesfound that a goat devouredon some of the saplings plant-ed and imposed a fine on thegoat's owner. In Sarvel village,the authorities impoundedtwo goats belonging to GantaMaraiah and asked him topay a fine of Rs 600.

Congress leaders at the health camp in Hyderabad on Thursday

Cong organises free health camp

Stop granite mining in Karimnagar: BJP

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Maha: BMC employeeends life by jumpingoff office buildingMUMBAI: A 23-year-oldemployee of the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)allegedly committed suicide byjumping from his officebuilding in Dadar area onThursday, a police official said.Sumit Kurale, a peon with theBMC, jumped from the terraceon sixth floor of the civicbody's superintendent officebuilding, located at the SewageTreatment Centre on SenapatiBapat Road, around 10.20 am,he said. He was immediatelyrushed to a nearby hospitalwhere doctors declared himdead, the official said. Thedeceased was a resident ofDombivali town inneighbouring Thane district, hesaid. The reason behind hisextreme step was yet to beascertained, he said, addingthat a case of accidental deathwas registered.

AAP appoints SanjaySingh in-charge forDelhi polls

Govt nod to building1.23 lakh housesunder PMAY-UrbanNEW DELHI: The governmenthas approved the constructionof 1.23 lakh houses under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban), taking the totalnumber of houses sanctionedunder the scheme to over 90lakh, a statement said onThursday. The approval wasgiven by the CentralSanctioning and MonitoringCommittee (CSMC) onWednesday evening. "TheCSMC, headed by UnionHousing and Urban Affairssecretary Durga ShankerMishra, approved 630proposals from participatingstates for construction of 1.23lakh houses with an overallinvestment of Rs 4,988 crore,"it stated. For West Bengal,approval was given for 27,746houses, while Tamil Nadu gotapproval for construction of26,709 houses under the PMAY(U), followed by Gujarat(20,903), Punjab (10,332),Chhattisgarh (10,079),Jharkhand (8,674), MadhyaPradesh (8,314), Karnataka(5,021), Rajasthan (2,822) andUttarkhand (2,501). With thisapproval, over 90 lakh houseshave so far been sanctionedagainst the target of 1.12 croreby 2022 under PMAY (Urban),a flagship programme of theModi government.

RBI allows coop bankPMC customers towithdraw Rs 10,000MUMBAI: In a relief to theharried customers of crisis-hitPunjab & MaharashtraCooperative Bank, the ReserveBank Thursday increased thecash withdrawal limit to Rs10,000 per account, which willhelp over 60 percent customersof the crippled lender. The RBIhad Tuesday imposed a slew ofrestrictions on the bank for sixmonths, allowing withdrawal ofonly Rs 1,000 for the bank'sdepositors, leaving thecustomers, who are typicallynot from the well-heeled aworried lot. The move cameafter the central bank has foundcertain irregularities in thebank, including under-reportingof NPAs and had put restrictionon fresh lending. "It has beendecided to allow depositors towithdraw a sum not exceedingRs 10,000 (including the Rs1,000 already withdrawn) of thetotal balance held in everysavings bank account orcurrent account or any otherdeposit account," RBI said in arelease. The regulator said, thehigher limit is subject to factthe customer does not haveany liability with the bank byway of loans of surety for athird-party loan.

NEW DELHI: The Aam AadmiParty on Thursday appointedsenior leader Sanjay Singh asits in-charge for theforthcoming assembly electionsin Delhi. The AAP alsoappointed its national secretaryPankaj Gupta as the campaigndirector for the polls, at a meetof its Political AffairsCommittee chaired by convenorArvind Kejriwal. In a statement,the AAP said the appointmentsare a part of its electionstrategy as dates for the Delhielections are likely to beannounced soon. "The AAP willcontest the Delhi Assemblypolls on the basis of thehistoric performance its electedgovernment, which haschanged the face of the nationalcapital and has ensured allround development," it said.

PNS n CHENNAI

The Madras High Court onThursday issued notice toprison authorities on a peti-tion filed by Robert Payas, aconvict in the Rajiv Gandhiassassination case, seeking a30-day parole to makearrangements for his son'smarriage.

A division bench ofJustices MM Sundresh andRMT Teekaa Raamanordered notice to DeputyInspector General of Police,Prisons and theSuperintendent of Police,Central Prison, Puzhalreturnable by two weeks.

The petitioner submittedthat he has been in prisonsince August 16, 1991 and hascompleted actual imprison-ment of more than 28 years.

During this period, he saidhe had not utilised the emer-gency or ordinary leave pro-vided to him under TamilNadu Suspension of SentenceRules, 1982 despite his goodconduct in the prison.

He also submitted that hemoved the court as therewas no progress on the rep-resentation made by him tothe DIG of Prisons to grantparole of 30 days.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar, arrested in amoney laundering case by theEnforcement Directorate,moved the Delhi High Courton Thursday seeking bail.

He has challenged the trialcourt's Wednesday order bywhich his bail plea was dis-missed.

The trial court had said thatShivakumar's release at thecrucial stage of investigationmay hamper the probe, whilenoting that he is an influentialperson and may influence wit-nesses or tamper with docu-ments.

"The investigating agency

must have a full, fair and freechance to investigate in depthso that it can reach to a logicalconclusion.

"The release of the applicantat such crucial stage of inves-tigation may hamper the inves-tigation. Therefore, I am of the

considered view that the appli-cant is not entitled for bail atthis stage of investigation," thejudge had said while denyingShivakumar relief

Considering his bail appli-cation, the court had said thatwhile it has to be conscious of

the liberty of an individual, itcannot ignore the interest ofsociety.

A balance has to be struckbetween the two as the inves-tigation in the present case wasstill at the initial stage, it stat-ed.

The court had also perusedShivakumar's medical reportand noted that although he hasundergone angiography, hiscondition was stable and hasbeen advised medication.

The ED had in Septemberlast year registered the moneylaundering case againstShivakumar, Haumanthaiah,an employee at the KarnatakaBhavan in New Delhi, andothers.

PNS n PUNE

Calling frequent elections in thecountry a matter of concern,Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Thursday pitched for"simultaneous and broad" elec-tions in the country.

He was speaking at the'Punyabhushan' award cere-mony. He presented the presti-gious award to noted archaeol-ogist G B Deglurkar.

"Since elections are aroundthe corner and model code ofconduct is being enforced andsome of the friends (MP andministers) could not come tothe function...the frequent elec-tions in the country is a matterof concern," Naidu said.

Because of elections, therewill be a code of conduct foralmost one and a half months andeveryone has to follow a three-line formula - election, selection,and correction, he said.

"That is why it is in the inter-est of the country (that) thereshould be a broad and simul-taneous election across thecountry within 15 days' period

so that there is no deviation,dilution, and diversion of thepublic work," he said.

Lauding Deglurkar, Naidusaid archaeological sites are thebridges that connect the presentwith our past.

"Archaeology is a fascinatingsubject that enhances ourunderstanding of historythrough hard evidence. Becauseof this characteristic, it can bemore credible than any otherhuman science," he said.

Naidu said archaeology playsa significant role in revealingdifferent facets of the past. It isthe primary source of infor-

mation for prehistory and veryuseful in revealing differentfacets of the past to mankind,he added. "I believe that it hasa tremendous potential toreconstruct and re-correct his-tory," he said.

"Archaeology helps in bring-ing to light the diversity in var-ied cultures and civilisations. Ithelps in discovering not onlythe other civilisations but alsoin rediscovering our ownselves," he said.

Stating that Deglurkarbelongs to an "exclusive" club ofarchaeologists, Naidu said,"When he excavated identical

ivory dolls from Bhokardan inJalna district of Maharashtra andPompeii in Italy, he conclusive-ly established the presence ofRoman tradesmen in this regionduring Satvahana rule." Publicsector companies, private sectorfirms and individuals must beencouraged to adopt sites andtake part in the preservation ofour heritage, Naidu said. Hecalled for bringing together var-ious academic disciplines suchas history, archaeology, anthro-pology, iconography, epigra-phy, and sociology.

PNS n JAMMU

The BJP on Thursday hit out atsenior Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad for his remarksthat democracy does not existin Jammu and Kashmir, sayinghe is "mentally bankrupt".

Azad on Wednesday hadsaid there is no democracy inJammu and Kashmir andpeople are living in fear afterthe Centre scrapped thestate's special status onAugust 5.

"Ghulam Nabi Azad is men-tally bankrupt who says thereis no more democracy in J andK after the abrogation of Article370 and the reorganisation ofthe state," senior state BJPleader and MLC Ramesh Aroratold reporters here.

He said Azad should respectthe majority's decision thatsupported the revoking ofJammu and Kashmir's specialstatus and the bifurcation of thestate into two UnionTerritories.

"In fact, Azad is speakingsuch words which kills thebasic spirit of democracy.

Pakistan is projecting this viewpoint at the international levelas it suits them," Arora said.

The Congress leadership has"failed" to understand the grav-ity of the situation, the BJPleader added.

"Azad should explain whythe Kashmir issue was taken tothe UN by former prime min-ister Jawaharlal Nehru andwhy his party did not have thecourage to solve the internalissue itself," he said.

"Azad should explain whydemocracy was killed in 1975when Sheikh Abdullah was

installed as chief minister of Jand K when the Congressheaded by Syed Mir Qasim wasin power. It was the murder ofdemocracy," Arora said.

He also charged Azad overthe imposition of Emergency in1975 by the Congress govern-ment at the Centre.

Arora said the BJP govern-ment has taken a decision to"correct the blunders commit-ted by the Congress leadershipfrom time to time".

"Abrogation of Article 370was welcomed in the country,"he added.

PNS n PUNE

At least 17 people were killedin various incidents of flood-ing and wall collapse afterintense rainfall batteredMaharashtra's Pune city andvarious other parts of the dis-trict, officials said on Thursday.

Nearly 16,000 people,including some stuck onrooftops and trees, were res-cued from Pune city and otherparts of the district, they said,adding that four persons weremissing.

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis said he was pained toknow about the loss of livesdue to heavy rains in Pune.

He said teams of theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) were deployedin the city and Baramati tehsil,and all necessary assistancewas being provided in theaffected areas. Schools andcolleges in various tehsils ofPune declared a holiday onThursday in view of the deluge.Five people sleeping at a dar-gah in Khed-Shivapur village,located on the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway,were washed away after the

heavy downpour,Superintendent of PoliceSandip Patil said.

Besides, 12 people, includ-ing five women, lost their livesin various other rain-relatedincidents.

Of these, five people, includ-ing a nine-year-old boy, werekilled in incidents of wall col-lapse in the floodedAranyeshwar area, chief fireofficer Prashant Ranpise said.

One person was found deadnear a school in an inundatedlocality in Sahakar Nagar whilebody of a 52-year-old man wasfound in a car washed awaynear Sinhgad road. Anotherperson was found dead in hiscar near Katraj, while two oth-ers were washed away inParvati area, he said.

According to police, twoother persons also lost theirlives in the deluge. Four per-sons - two in the city and asmany in Purandar tehsil -were reported missing, theysaid. "Over 15,000 people fromlow-lying areas in Baramatiwere shifted to safer placesafter water was released fromNazare dam, built on the Karhariver near Jejuri," Patil said.

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha Government hasdecided to go for prematureretirement of employees ofdoubtful integrity or ineffi-ciency from public service toensure efficiency in adminis-tration, an official said onThursday.

The General Administrationand Public Grievance depart-ment has issued a circular inthis regard to all the secretariesasking them to weed out offi-cers and employees of doubtfulintegrity or inefficiency frompublic service.

The employees who havecompleted 30 years of service orhave attained 50 years of age,whichever is earlier, and thosewho have attained the age of 55,will come under the purview ofthis process, the circular said.

Performances of such stategovernment employees belong-

ing to Group A, B, C and D cat-egories will be reviewed bycommittees every threemonths.

The secretary of the admin-istrative department is alsoempowered to constitute inter-nal committees to scrutinise allthe cases to be reviewed in eachquarter and finalise the specif-

ic cases to be reviewed.The committee will recom-

mend retirement of theemployees whose integrity isdoubtful or is found to beineffective, the circular saidadding that the basic consid-eration of identifying suchemployees should be fitness/competence of the employee to

continue in the post whichhe/she is holding.

While the entire servicerecord of an officer should beconsidered at the time ofreview, no employee shouldordinarily be retired on theground of ineffectiveness, if hisservice during the preceding 5years or where he has been pro-moted to a higher post duringthat 5 years period, his servicein the higher post, has beenfound satisfactory.

Odisha govt to prematurely retireemployees of doubtful integrity

M Venkaiah Naidu

‘It is in thecountry’s interestthat there shouldbe simultaneouselections acrossthe country within15 days' period sothat there is nodeviation anddiversion of publicwork'

BJP MLC RameshArora said Azadshould respect themajority's decisionthat supported therevoking of J-K'sspecial status andthe bifurcation of the state into two UTs

General Administ-ration circular tosecretaries asksthem to weed outemployees ofdoubtful integrityor inefficiencyfrom public service

PNS n JODHPUR

Bollywood actor SalmanKhan will appear before aJodhpur court in the black-buck poaching case on Fridayamid a death threat by agangster. The death threatwas issued by gangster 'GarryShooter', who belongs to theLawrence Bishnoi gang,through a Facebook post onSeptember 16.

The actor had filed a pleaagainst his conviction by alower court, which had sen-tenced him to five years injail.

During a hearing on July 4,Sessions Court JudgeChandra Kumar Songara haddirected him to appear beforethe court on September 27,failing which his bail pleamay be cancelled.

However, there are appre-hensions that the actor maynot appear though policehave claimed to put in placeadequate security measures.

Ghulam Nabi Azad

The trial court hadsaid thatShivakumar'srelease at thecrucial stage ofinvestigation mayhamper theinvestigations

D K Shivakumar

BJP slam Azad for J-K remarks,says he is ‘mentally bankrupt'

BLACKBUCK CASE

Salman toappear beforecourt ‘faces'death threat

Anotherconvict in Rajiv murder case seeks parole

PNS n SRINAGAR

Students stayed away fromschools, markets remainedshut and public transportstayed off the roads in the val-ley for the 53rd day onThursday as the shutdownover the Centre's decision torevoke Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status continued, offi-cials said.

Classes were not held inmost schools across Kashmiras students did not turn up dueto the prevailing situation,they said.

The officials said the stategovernment is trying its best toensure that schools functionnormally but its efforts havenot borne fruit as most parentscontinue to keep their childrenat home due to apprehensionsabout their safety.

Main markets and otherbusiness establishments in the

valley remained closed. Onlythe stalls of a few vendors atthe TRC Chowk-Lal Chowkroad were open, they said.

Public transport largelystayed off the roads. Few inter-district cabs and autorick-shaws were seen plying insome areas of the city, the offi-cials said. The movement ofprivate cars was unhindered,they added.

Normal life in the valley has

remained crippled sinceAugust 5, when the Centrerevoked Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status under Article 370and announced the decision tobifurcate the state into twoUnion territories.

Restrictions imposed by thegovernment were lifted inphases. However, the normallife in Kashmir continues to bedisrupted due to the shut-down.

Rain pounds Pune; 17killed, 16,000 rescued

Shivakumar moves HC seeking bail

Simultaneous polls betterthan frequent ones : Naidu

Day 53: Normal life remainscrippled in Kashmir

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP and the Shiv Sena willcontest the Maharashtra stateelections together and havecome to an understanding onseat division that gives thelion's share to the BJP, sourcestold NDTV. The BJP will con-test 144 of the state's 288seats. The Sena will contest126 seats and 18 seats havebeen allotted to the smallerallies. The Sena will also getthe post of the Deputy ChiefMinister, sources in the BJPsaid.

Elections will be held inMaharashtra on October 21and the results will be declaredon October 24.

With less than a month togo for the polls, the rulingalliance came to an under-standing after an internalmeeting of the BJP earliertoday, where party chief AmitShah and Working PresidentJP Nadda took a call on the

issue. The meeting was attend-ed by Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis and the party's corecommittee for the state --including Pankaja Munde,Sudhir Munghantiwar andstate leaders like GirishMahajan.

With the Sena aiming for a50:50 divide a section of stateleaders were in favour of end-ing the alliance and having theBJP go on its own. Given theparty's showing in the state inthe Lok Sabha election, therewere expectations that unlikethe 2014 state elections, theparty will achieve majorityon its own.

Chief Minister Fadnavis,however, was in favour of thecontinuing the alliance andearlier this week, and hadtold reports that it was on. TheSena was not keen to break offthe alliance either, but waspreparing for that eventualityin view of the state BJP lead-ers' views.

Maharashtra seat pactsealed, BJP to contest144, Sena 126 seats

Tribunalupholds ban on JKLF-YasinMalikPNS n NEW DELHI

A tribunal of the Delhi HighCourt has upheld the banimposed on Yasin Malik-ledJammu Kashmir LiberationFront (JKLF) under theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, the HomeMinistry said.

The ban on JKLF-Yasin wasupheld by the tribunal head-ed by Justice Chander Shekhar,a Judge of the Delhi HighCourt, a Home Ministry noti-fication said on Wednesdaynight.

The JKLF-Yasin wasbanned on March 22 this yearfor "promoting" secession ofthe militancy-hit state from theUnion of India.

The outfit was declaredunlawful days after attack ona CRPF bus in Pulwama inFebruary in which 40 jawanswere killed.

On its decision to ban JKLF-Yasin, the Centre cited 101 vio-lent incidents of killing, kid-napping, bombing and extor-tion that include killing of fourand seriously injuring 10 per-sonnel of the Indian Air Forceon January 25, 1990 on theoutskirts of Srinagar and the1989 kidnapping of RubaiyaSayeed, daughter of the thenUnion Home Minister MuftiMohammed Sayeed and sisterof former Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti, for gettingfive of the outfit's terroristsreleased from custody inexchange of her release.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 nation 06SHORT READS

Body of manbelonging to businessfamily recoveredAKOLA: A 27-year-old manfrom a leading business familyin the city, who had gonemissing four days back, wasfound dead and his body wasrecovered from Katepurna damnear here on Thursday, policesaid. The deceased wasidentified as Amit JaiprakashSawal, police said, adding thatit was a suspected case ofsuicide. "Amit's familymembers had filed a missingperson'sreport with Khadanpolice station ever since hewent missing four days back," apolice official said. A Pinjarpolice station official said thatthe deceased's body wasrecovered from Katepurna damaround 11.30 am on Thursday."It is suspected that Amit endedhis life by jumping into thedam. An emergency squad hadbeen conducting a searchoperation in and around thedam for the last four days andrecovered the body today," theofficial added.

Army porter injured inmine blast along LoC

India's economicmomentum drops to a ‘historic' low NEW DELHI: India's economicmomentum has dropped to a"historic low" but thegovernment does not have anyplans to make it better, CPI(M)general secretary, SitaramYechury on Thursday said.Hitting out at the Modigovernment, he said destroyingthe economy and the societyare the achievements of thepresent dispensation which isbusy with "tamashas'(spectacles) and PR'. "India'seconomic momentum drops toa 'historic low'. This is beyondnumbers, as livelihoods arelost, prospects are bleak andthe govt has neither any plansto make it better for ordinaryIndians nor to takeresponsibility. "Destroyingsociety, destroying economy,busy in tamashas and PR, thatis what this govt has for itsachievements," he tweeted.

Maha: Truck hitsconvoy of ex-Unionminister Ahir; 2 killedCHANDRAPUR: Two people,including a CRPF jawan, werekilled after a vehicle in thesecurity convoy of formerUnion minister Hansraj Ahirwas hit by a truck inMaharashtra's Wardha districton Thursday, an official said.Five Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) jawans alsoreceived injuries in the mishap,he said. Ahir escaped unhurt ashe was not in the ill-fatedvehicle, he said. The formerminister was heading towardsNagpur along with his securityconvoy in four vehicles whenthe mishap took place at Jamvillage on Chandrapur-Nagpurroad, around 233 km fromhere. When the truck drivertook a sharp turn to save amonkey crossing the road, it hita vehicle of Ahir's convoy inwhich security personnel weretravelling, he said.

Bypolls on Oct 16 tofill vacancies ofJaitley, JethmalaniNEW DELHI: The bypolls forthe two Rajya Sabha seats,which fell vacant following thedeath of former FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley and seniorlawyer Ram Jethmalani, fromUttar Pradesh and Biharrespectively, will be held onOctober 16, the ElectionCommission said on Thursday.Counting of votes will takeplace on October 16.The poll panel in a notificationsaid: "There are two casualvacancies each from UttarPradesh and Bihar followingthe deaths of Jaitley on August24 and Jethmalani onSeptember 9." The poll panelsaid that the notification for thebypolls of the two seats will beissued on September 27, whilethe last date for filingnominations is October 4.Scrutiny of the nominationpapers will take place onOctober 5. The Commissionsaid the last date for withdrawalof candidatures is October 9.

JAMMU: An Army porter wasinjured in a mine blast alongthe LoC in Jammu andKashmir's Poonch district,officials said on Thursday.Sajjad Ahmed was carryingsome material to a forwardpost along the LoC in Mandibelt when the mine explodedon Wednesday evening, theysaid. He has been admitted to ahospital.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Thursday told theDelhi High Court that it want-ed custodial interrogation ofRobert Vadra because the"money chain" in a case ofmoney laundering was alleged-ly directly linked to him.

Vadra, Congress chief SoniaGandhi's son-in-law, was notcooperating with the investi-gation in the case, the agencyadded before Justice ChandraShekhar.

Vadra is facing allegations ofmoney laundering in the pur-chase of a London-based prop-erty -- at 12, Bryanston Square-- estimated at 1.9 millionpounds (over Rs 17 crore). Thecase is being probed under theprovisions of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act.

"We need his custodial inter-rogation as the money chain isdirectly linked to him," theagency's lawyer told the judge.

Denying the ED's claims,Vadra's lawyer said his clienthad cooperated in the investi-gation by appearing before theagency whenever summoned.

The lawyer also said his

client answered the questionsput to him by the ED. "Notconfessing" to allegationsagainst him does not mean hewas not cooperating, he said.

After hearing the briefarguments, the court listedthe matter for final argumentson November 5.

The court was hearing theED's plea challenging the antic-ipatory bail granted to Vadraby a trial court.

On Tuesday, Vadra opposedthe plea saying there was nosingle instance of his non-cooperation in the investiga-tion and there was no risk of

him tampering with any evi-dence as the agency hadalready seized from him everydocument pertaining to thecase.

The ED was conducting a"fishing and roving enquiry"and has no material to supportthe allegations made againsthim, he claimed.

The probe agency sought thecancellation of Vadra's antici-patory bail on the ground thatit required his custody as hewas not cooperating in theinvestigation.

Regarding the allegation offlight risk, Vadra said in his

reply, "The conduct of therespondent (Vadra) in return-ing to India from abroad vol-untarily upon reading pressreports that ED was investi-gating him made it abundant-ly clear that Vadra had nointention of whatsoever offleeing the country and wasdetermined to stay in India andclear the name."

The response added thatVadra has volunteered toappear before the probeagency even though he was yetto receive summons fromthem.

No specific allegation hasbeen made by the agency tosuggest that Vadra has in anyway attempted to or actuallysucceeded in tampering withany evidence or witness, itsaid.

"Vadra has no propertiesoutside India whatsoever nordoes he have any beneficialownership of any propertyoutside India," the reply hadclaimed.

It added that Vadra hasnever received any 'kickback'for any 'deal' and any allega-tions of this nature are com-pletely false.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Muslim parties onThursday took a U-turn onquestioning the authorship ofthe 2003 report of theArchaeological Survey of India(ASI) and apologised to theSupreme Court for wasting itstime in the Ayodhya land dis-pute case.

A five-judge constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi was told bysenior advocate Rajeev Dhavanthat they do not wish to ques-tion the authorship of thesummary of the ASI report.

"It is not expected that everypage is to be signed. Theauthorship of the report andthe summary need not bequestioned. If we had wastedmy lords time, then we apolo-gise for that. There is no pointgoing into that.

"The report in question hasan author and we are notquestioning the authorship,"Dhavan, representing theMuslim parties, said.

On Wednesday, senioradvocate Meenakshi Arora,also representing the Muslimparties, questioned the ASIreport saying every chapter isattributed to an author but thesummary has not been attrib-uted to anyone.

The bench also comprisingJustices S A Bobde, DY

Chandrachud, AshokBhushan and S Abdul Nazeersaid that Dhavan in his open-ing remark has said that he hasnot forfeited his right to ques-tion the report but the evi-dences cannot be discreditedafter being accepted by the

court. At the outset, the benchasked both Hindu and Muslimparties to specify the timeframe for completing theargument saying that therewill not be any extra day afterOctober 18.

"There will not be any extraday after October 18. It will bemiraculous, if we deliver thejudgement in four weeks in thematter," Chief Justice Gogoisaid.

The court asked the Muslimparties to wrap up their argu-ments on the ASI report dur-ing the course of the day.

It said there are holidays inOctober and only one advocateof the four Hindu parties willbe allowed to give rejoinderarguments.

PNS n NEW DELHI

CPI general secretary D Rajaon Thursday admitted that hisparty had taken funds from theDMK ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections but said the transferof funds was done in a trans-parent manner and its detailswill be provided to the ElectionCommission.

His comments came after anelection expenditure affidavitfiled by the Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (DMK) before theEC revealed that it had donat-ed Rs 15 crore each to its allies,the CPI and Kongunadu

Makkal Desiya Katchi, and Rs10 crore to the CPI(M) duringthe last Parliamentary elec-tions.

Raja conceded that his partyhad taken the funds from theDMK and said that it was partof coalition politics in TamilNadu

"It is a fact that funds weretaken by the party from DMKin Tamil Nadu. There is noth-ing unethical about it.Everything was transparentand through bank transfer.Everything will be clear whenwe submit out accounts to theEC. This is part of coalitionpolitics in the state," he said.

Raja further said that theparty had to work in 40 con-stituencies and in each, thecoalition partners have to workfor one another. He alsoclaimed that the deal betweenthe parties are in "writing"and in a "signed agreement".

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Thursdayhit out at the Yogi Adityanathgovernment in Uttar Pradeshover the arrest of the studentwho has accused formerUnion minister SwamiChinmayanand of rape, andasked if this is the BJP's jus-tice. The law student was onWednesday arrested oncharges of extortion and sentto 14-day judicial custody.Hours later, her bail plea wasrejected.

"Unnao rape case: Victim'sfather is killed. Victim's uncleis arrested. Following massivepublic pressure and after 13months, accused MLA arrest-ed. Attempt to kill the victim'sfamily. Shahjahanpur rapecase: Victim arrested. Victim'sfamily being pressured,"Priyanka Gandhi said in atweet. Police deliberatelydelayed action againstaccused BJP leader and it wasafter public pressure thatthey arrested him, said theCongress general secretaryin-charge of eastern UP.

"Even the charge of rapehas not been put on theaccused BJP leader. This isBJP's justice?" she said.

Chinmayanand, sent tojudicial custody after hisarrest, was booked undersection 376C of the IPC, acharge with lesser punish-ment than rape.

PNS n HISAR (HAR)

The Army is likely to startusing artificial intelligence (AI)in the next couple of years withan aim to boost its combatcapabilities, and the first one toget the technology will be itsmechanised forces, a top com-mander has said. Speaking toreporters on the sidelines of aseminar on AI at the militarystation here on Wednesday,South Western Command'sChief Lt Gen Alok Singh Klersaid from ground to space -artificial intelligence will assistthe Army in every sphere.

"For using AI for militaryusage and mechanised forces,the Army has to become com-pletely network-centric.Presently, we are very network-enabled," he said.

"Very soon in the next 2-3years, the Army may beinducting AI for constructiveand disruptive usage, and thefirst one to use that will be themechanised forces," said theArmy commander of theJaipur-based 'Sapta Shakti'.

The seminar on AI, a first inconnection with military fieldformation, was organised bythe South Western Command'Sapta Shakti' and also attend-ed by domain experts from

academia and the industry.Kler said the seminar was a

"big step" towards boostingcombat capabilities.

"Initially, AI will be for con-structive use, helping the com-mander take his decision.Taking an information andconverting into intelligence,that is possibly the first usageof AI for Army in a construc-tive manner," he said.

"But, soon we will have totake into account the disrup-tive use of artificial intelli-

gence," he added.Asked if AI can help predict

accidents like the MiG-21 jetcrash, he said safety of humansshould be put above safety ofa system.

"Any system can crash, butwhat is important is that evenif we incorporate AI, safety ofhumans has to be more impor-tant over safety of machines.And, in today's crash, what ismore important is that the twopilots are safe," the comman-der said.

INS n NEW DELHI

After onions, tomatoes arenext in line to bear the bruntof supply shortages and risingprices. Since the past fewweeks, tomato prices haveseen a surge of around 70 percent in Delhi. People are fac-ing a hard time in the festiveseason due to the price hike.

The prices of vegetables inMaharashtra, Karnataka andthe northern regions havebeen shooting up due to var-ious factors including heavyrain.

While the prices of onionsalmost doubled in comparisonto the rates at the same timelast year, tomatoes had, so far,stayed more or less unaffect-ed.

Tomatoes in Delhi-NCRhave started selling for Rs 40-Rs 60 in retail since the last fewdays and prices are expected toincrease further in the comingdays.

Noida resident Manju Singh

said that due to the hugeincrease in the prices of onionsand tomatoes, the kitchenbudget has gone haywire. Themodal price of tomatoes inDelhi was Rs 30 per kg but hasnow jumped to Rs 40-Rs 60per kg.

Not only in Delhi, tomatoprices have increased drasti-cally across the country.According to the website of theCentral Consumer AffairsDepartment, onion price inChandigarh was Rs 52 per kgon Wednesday.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Top Congress leaders onThursday wished former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh onhis birthday and recalled hisdedication and selfless serviceto nation building.

Extending greetings to Singhwho turned 87 today, CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi saidpresent day leaders across thespectrum have much to learnfrom his innate wisdom.

Recalling his tremendouscontribution to the task ofnation building, inclusivegrowth and economic resur-gence, Gandhi said, "His saga-cious leadership ensured thatIndia took a determined leapforward, even during tryingtimes."

"Present day rulers across thespectrum have much to learnfrom his innate wisdom," shesaid.

The Congress Presidentwished Dr Singh a happy andhealthy life and many moreyears in the service of theNation, as indeed the CongressParty.

Congress leader RahulGandhi wished good healthand happiness to Singh.

"On his birthday, let usacknowledge Dr Manmohan

Singh Ji's selfless service, ded-ication & incredible contribu-tion to the cause of nationbuilding. My best wishes tohim on his birthday. I pray forhis good health and happinessin the years to come," RahulGandhi said on Twitter.

Former finance minister andCongress leader PChidambaram, who is cur-

rently lodged in Tihar Jail,asked his family to tweet on hisbehalf and wished Singh on hisbirthday.

"I urge the Government tolisten to the wisdom of DrManmohan Singh. If anyonecan show the way for the coun-try to come out of the currenteconomic slump, it is DrSingh," he said on Twitter.

Chidambaram also said "Thefundamental error of theGovernment's approach is thatit has not understood the maincausative factor of the eco-nomic slowdown - it is lack ofdemand and a growing pes-simism about jobs, wages andopportunities".

Senior Congress leaderJairam Ramesh said Singh'swisdom is needed now morethan even before, as he recalledhis momentous days and thehistoric budget of 1991.

"Today Dr ManmohanSingh turns 87. He trans-formed the Indian economywith his budget of July 24 1991.I have described thosemomentous days in To theBrink & Back: India's 1991Story. His wisdom is needednow more than ever before,"Ramesh tweeted.

The Congress also put out avideo detailing the life of Singh.

Cong leaders wish former PM on birthday

PNS n RANCHI

Amid campaign against sin-gle-use plastic in the country,President Ram Nath Kovindwill be welcomed with flowerswrapped in paper, when hewill arrive at the city airport onSeptember 28, an official state-ment said on Thursday.

Kovind will be coming herefor a three-day visit toJharkhand.

"The president will be wel-comed with flowers at theBirsa Munda Airport on hisarrival in Ranchi. The flowerswill be covered with paperinstead of plastic," the officialrelease said.

Recently, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had called toput an end to single-use plas-tic.

Modi had on two occa-sions -- on Independence Dayand during the 14th confer-ence of parties to the UNConvention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD)hosted by India -- said it wastime to say "goodbye" to sin-gle-use plastic urging people to

attempt curbing its use fromOctober 2, 2019, the 150thbirth anniversary of MahatmaGandhi.

The President will reachRanchi from Bhubaneswar onSaturday and will stay at RajBhavan.

On Sunday, he will go toGumla to attend a programmeof 'Vikas Bharti', an NGO, andafter the function, he will visitDeoghar to offer prayer at theBaidyanath temple.

Kovind will attend the con-vocation ceremony of RanchiUniversity on September 30and return to New Delhi onthe same day, the releaseadded.

PNS n KOLKATA

A spacecraft systems engineerat NASA has said that therecent Chandrayaan 2 mis-sion has been a "learningexperience" for Indian scien-tists as it has helped ISRO togather a lot of informationabout the Moon.

Anne Devereaux, workingat the Jet PropulsionLaboratory (JPL) of NASA, isthe lead flight system engi-neer for the US spaceagency's Mars 2020 mission.

Speaking at the AmericanCenter here on Wednesday,Devereaux said, "The Indianscientists did very well. Lot ofinformation (was) gathered.The orbiter has been suc-cessful".

Chandrayaan 2, the secondIndian lunar mission, hadsuffered a snag while attempt-ing a historic landing on theuncharted South Pole of theMoon.

The lander 'Vikram' lostcommunication with groundstations during its final 2.1-km descent on September 7.

When asked what couldhave happened to the lan-der, the NASA engineersaid, "It is up to ISRO sci-entists to figure out whatwent wrong.

Robert Vadra's custodialinterrogation required: ED

Robert Vadra

The probeagency soughtthe cancellationof Vadra'santicipatory bailon the groundthat it requiredhis custody ashe was notcooperating intheinvestigation

Manmohan Singh

"On his birthday, let usacknowledge Dr ManmohanSingh Ji's selfless service,dedication & incrediblecontribution to the cause ofnation building. My bestwishes to him on his birthday. Ipray for his good health andhappiness in the years tocome," Rahul Gandhi said onTwitter

AYODHYA CASE

Muslim parties apologise in SCfor questioning 2003 ASI report

"The report inquestion has anauthor and we arenot questioningthe authorship,"Dhavan,representing theMuslim parties,said

"Very soon in the next 2-3 years, the Armymay be inducting AI for constructive anddisruptive usage, and the first one to usethat will be the mechanised forces," saidthe Army commander of the Jaipur-based‘Sapta Shakti'

Raja concededthat his party hadtaken the fundsfrom the DMK andsaid that it waspart of coalitionpolitics in TamilNadu

Army likely to use AI toboost combat capabilities

Chandrayaan 2 a learning curve:NASA engineer

‘This is BJP'sjustice?'Priyanka on lawstudent's arrest

D Raja

‘Transfer of funds to CPI from DMK transparent’

Tomatoes in Delhi-NCR have startedselling for Rs 40-Rs 60 in retailsince the last fewdays and pricesare expected toincrease further inthe coming days

Not just onions, nowtomatoes too willpinch your pocket

Ram Nath Kovind

Kovind to be presentedflowers wrapped in paper

world 07HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

IRAN LEADER SAYS EUROPEUNTRUSTWORTHYTehran: Iran’s supremeleader accused EuropeanGovernments of “hostility”on Thursday, saying theiractions showed they cannotbe trusted and termed themas “untrustworthy”. “TheEuropeans presentthemselves as mediatorsand say many things, butthey are all hollow,”Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saidin a statement on his officialwebsite.

HONG KONG FACES CRITICISMAT TOWN HALL MEETINGHong Kong: Hong Kong’sembattled leader endured abarrage of criticism at atown hall meeting onThursday night that laid bareanger coursing through thecity after months of huge,sometimes violent pro-democracy protests. Chief Executive Carrie Lamfaced more than two hoursof grilling at a public“dialogue session”, the firsttime her pro-Beijingadministration has sat downwith its critics in 16consecutive weeks ofunrest.

AP n WASHINGTON

The secret whistleblowercomplaint at the center of

Congress' impeachmentinquiry alleges that PresidentDonald Trump abused thepower of his office to "solicitinterference from a foreigncountry" in next year's U.S.Election.

The White House thentried to "lock down" the infor-mation to cover it up, the com-plaint says.

The 9-page document wasreleased Thursday ahead oftestimony to House investiga-tors from Joseph Maguire, theacting director of national intel-ligence, who acknowledged thatthe complaint alleged seriouswrongdoing by the presidentbut insisted that it was not hisrole to judge whether the alle-gations were credible or not.

Maguire said he was unfa-miliar with any other whistle-blower complaint in Americanhistory that "touched on suchcomplicated and sensitiveissues." "I believe that this mat-ter is unprecedented," he said.

The document, with itsprecise detail and clear narrative,will likely accelerate theimpeachment process and putmore pressure on Trump torebut its core contentions andon his fellow Republicans todefend him. The complaintprovides a road map for cor-roborating witnesses and evi-dence, which will complicate thepresident's effort to character-ize the findings as those of a lonepartisan out to undermine him.

Trump insisted anew thatit is all political. After the

complaint was released, heimmediately tweeted, "TheDemocrats are trying todestroy the Republican Partyand all that it stands for. Sticktogether, play their game andfight hard Republicans. Ourcountry is at stake."

The tweet was in all capi-tal letters.

The whistleblower com-plaint centers in part on a Julyphone call between Trumpand Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy in whichTrump prodded Zelenskiy toinvestigate Democratic politi-cal rival Joe Biden. The WhiteHouse released a rough tran-script of that call onWednesday.

"In the days following thephone call, I learned frommultiple U.S. Officials thatsenior White House officialshad intervened to 'lock down'all the records of the phone call,especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call thatwas produced as is customaryby the White House situationroom," the complaint says.

The anonymous whistle-blower says that despite his orher not being present for thecall, multiple White Houseofficials shared consistentdetails about it.

Those officials told thewhistleblower that "this was'not the first time' under thisadministration that a presi-dential transcript was placedinto this codeword-level systemsolely for the purpose of pro-tecting politically sensitive —rather than national securitysensitive — information," thecomplaint said.

Whistleblower: White House tried to ‘lock down' call details

AFP n NEW YORK

Adownbeat Donald Trumpon Wednesday dismissed

as a “joke” the grounds laid outfor the impeachment inquiryinto him, as Democrats stoodfirm in accusing the US presi-dent of a “mafia-style shake-down” of his Ukrainian coun-terpart. Trump denied claimshe abused his office by repeat-edly urging PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky to probehis rival Joe Biden — as con-firmed in a call transcriptreleased by the White House.

The next explosive episodein the rapidly unfolding impeach-ment drama is set for Thursday,when acting director of nation-al intelligence Joseph McGuiretestifies on Capitol Hill.

“They are getting hit hardon this witch hunt becausewhen they look at the infor-mation, it’s a joke,” said the pres-ident, who struck an unchar-acteristically subdued tone athis first news conference sinceDemocrats launched an officialimpeachment inquiry.

Trump and his allies claimedthe July 25 call contained no evi-dence of a quid pro quo pres-suring Zelensky to probe thepresident’s top Democratic rivalfor the White House.

AFP n WASHINGTON

The transcript of the July 25phone call between US

President Donald Trump andhis Ukrainian counterpartVolodymyr Zelensky raises acurtain on the generally secre-tive world of discussions carriedout between American andglobal leaders. Presidents andprime ministers frequently holdcamera-friendly discussionsabout the “close,” “great” or“special” relationship betweentheir countries, before slinkingbehind closed doors for meet-ings that are top-secret, the con-tents only revealed years later.

The phone conversationsof US presidents take thingsone step further: The WhiteHouse no longer systematical-ly publishes a list of Americanleaders’ calls, meaning theoccurrence itself could be aclosely guarded secret.

AFP n LONDON

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson suffered yet anoth-

er setback on Thursday afterMPs rejected his call to brieflysuspend their business for hisparty’s conference, highlightingthe hostility he faces in parlia-ment just weeks before Brexit.

In his seventh successivedefeat in parliament, MPs votedto reject his call for three days offnext week to hold hisConservative party’s annual con-ference. Parliament usually holdsa recess during all the mainparty’s conferences, but the votecame as tensions among MPsreached boiling point overBritain’s EU exit next month.

The Supreme Court onTuesday ruled that Johnson’sdecision to suspend parlia-ment for five weeks was unlaw-ful, as it had the effect of frus-

trating lawmakers ahead ofthe Brexit deadline.

MPs reconvened onWednesday but, in a stormysession, Johnson showed nocontrition and instead vowed topress ahead with his plan toleave the EU, no matter what.

His inflammatory languagedrew accusations — includingfrom his sister Rachel — ofstoking divisions in a countrystill split over the 2016 refer-endum vote for Brexit.

Johnson only took office inJuly but his threat to leave theEU on October 31 with orwithout a divorce deal withBrussels has put him on a col-lision course with MPs.

Thursday’s vote was theseventh in a row that Johnsonhas lost in the Commons,where he no longer has amajority and where most MPsoppose a “no-deal” exit.

AFP n SYDNEY

Abortion was decriminalisedin Australia's state of New

South Wales on Thursday afterweeks of contentious debate,bringing its laws into line withthe rest of the country.

Politicians from acrossthe political spectrum votedto overturn the laws that dateback to 1900 and meantwomen seeking an abortion inSydney or elsewhere in thestate and their doctors couldface up to 10 years in prison.

The legislation wasdelayed for months by a smallgroup of conservatives fromthe ruling Liberal Party whorebelled against their leader.

The passage of the bill wascheered by pro-choice advo-

cates, who had staged severallarge demonstrations in itssupport in recent months,countered by similarly pas-sionate pro-life rallies.

Alex Greenwich, the inde-pendent representative forSydney who introduced the bill,said he was "sorry it has takenus so long" to remove abortionfrom the criminal code.

"My deepest gratitude goesto my parliamentary colleaguesand to the dedicated women'srights campaigners who havefought toward this for decades,"he said in a statement. Thoughprosecutions were rare, theprocedure was only consideredlegal in Australia's most popu-lous state if the doctor believedthe woman's physical or men-tal health was in danger.

Trump callsDemocraticimpeachmentenquiry a ‘joke’

Trump-Zelenskytranscript shedslight on world ofclassified convos

UK PM loses freshparliamentary voteas tensions rise

Last Australian statedecriminalises abortion

AP n WASHINGTON

The White house claims theintelligence whistleblow-

er’s complaint about PresidentDonald Trump’s efforts to seekdirt from Ukraine on formerVice President Joe Biden“shows nothing improper.”

Press secretary StephanieGrisham argues the complaint“is nothing more than a col-lection of third-hand accountsof events and cobbled-togeth-er press clippings.”

Grisham adds that Trumpreleased a rough transcript ofhis call with UkranianPresident Volodymyr Zelenskiyon Wednesday “because hehas nothing to hide.”

House Democrats whohave read the document say it’s“deeply disturbing.” Grishamsays, “The White House willcontinue to push back on thehysteria and false narrativesbeing peddled by Democratsand many in the main streammedia.”

White Housedefends Trump ascomplaint released

The Indian economy has been ona ventilator for a while now.Despite the Government’s numer-ous attempts to claim the oppo-site, the crisis is very much visi-

ble. This time around, the Modi-ledGovernment cannot wriggle its way out byfudging data as it had been doing until now.

Over the last four months, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman hasannounced some policy initiatives every fewweeks to boost the economy. While these areparaded as reforms, she has effectivelyreversed all the decisions made in her firstmaiden budget. Nevertheless, she deservescredit for finally acknowledging that theeconomy is in trouble and that steps needto be taken to alleviate the current crisis.

Last week, the Finance Ministerannounced a fiscal stimulus of `1.45 lakhcrore in the form of tax exemptions.Corporate tax rates for domestic companies,which do not avail of any tax incentive, werecut to 22 per cent from the existing 30 percent. For new manufacturing firms, the exist-ing tax rate of 25 per cent has been broughtdown to 15 per cent.

For a country that has had one of thehighest corporate tax rates in the world, themove to lower the rates and make it moreinvestment-friendly is welcome. With thepresent move, corporates will now have moreresources at their disposal to invest in grow-ing their business through takeovers or cap-ital investment projects. The decision has alsobrought cheer among the corporate world.The stock market, too, shot up by over 2,000points, a sign that reflects it has welcomedthe Government’s proposal.

An interesting phenomenon observedby this writer over the last few years will serveas the basis of this column. Every time a pro-business reform like the corporate tax cut isunveiled by the Modi-led Government, itreceives praise from all quarters. But whena pro-people reform like the waiving of elec-tricity charges for households consuming lessthan 200 units per month is announced bythe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government,it is often met with criticism and is termedas a waste of the State’s resources. If criticsunderstand some of the basic tenets of eco-nomics, they will realise that both the ini-tiatives are essentially aimed at boosting theeconomy. Let me explain this further.

Delhi has an estimated population ofabout 18-21 million. As per official data,there are about 4.2-6 million households inthe capital city. Reform measures initiatedby the Delhi Government to provide freewater and cheap electricity alone resulted inhouseholds saving close to `1,500 everymonth. With the standard of schools andhealthcare registering drastic improvements,families are making an additional saving of`1,000 every month. While this is just anapproximate figure, these four reformsalone have resulted in families saving at least`2,500 per month. With six million house-

holds in the capital, the total sav-ings will amount to ̀ 1,500 croreevery month and ̀ 18,000 croreevery year.

Similarly, in June, the AAPGovernment announced itsintent to offer free rides for allwomen in city buses and metrotrains. This policy was intro-duced on the same principle ofpromoting savings. Historically,Indian women have beenknown to be prudent in resourcemanagement skills, often savingmoney and reducing coststhrough ingenious ways. Theproposal to offer free rides willensure that a woman can saveanywhere close to `100 everyday or `3,000 a month. For lowand middle income families, thisis a substantial sum of moneythat will suddenly be availableand which had not beenaccounted for or expected ear-lier. These finances can be re-deployed by the women intobuying a two-wheeler for herhusband or paying tuition feesfor her children.

Some of the great economistsof our time like Adam Smith andJohn Maynard Keynes them-selves recognised the advantageof savings, which pay for thegrowth of businesses and pro-mote economic activity as well.When people save more and theninvest their savings, it helps boostproductivity, create jobs and fuelthe growth of the economy. Thehealth of the economy is, hence,

closely related to the savingsrate or the amount of moneysaved by people.

Money that is set aside inbank accounts, retirement plansas also other forms of savingsalso contributes largely to thenation’s growth as these resourcesare made available to the banksto lend it to businesses. Savingsalso make their way into pensionfunds, which is often reinvestedin stock markets and providesbusinesses the necessary capitalto finance expansion plans.

The other economic con-cept that will be useful to under-stand the logic of the AAPGovernment’s pro-people initia-tives is “consumer buyingpower.” It is defined as the abil-ity of an individual customer ina specific market to buy certainquantity of goods and services.When a consumer has a higherbuying power, it effectivelymeans that his/her disposableincome is higher and that theindividual concerned has thepurchasing power relative to thesupply and prices of the goodsavailable. One of the majorissues that the Indian economyis currently facing is that con-sumers are unable or unwillingto purchase even basic necessi-ty items like biscuits and soapsamong others. Faced with thissituation, consumers have lowbuying power ie, they don’thave enough money to purchasegoods at current market prices.

While this issue is a lot morepronounced in other parts of thecountry, this writer believes thatthe Delhi Government deservesat least some credit for offeringits citizens a cushion to deal withthe prevailing economic crisis.This will ensure that families donot have to experience much ofa decline in the overall quality oflife. When a family saves sub-stantially, it opens avenues formembers to invest in improvingthe overall quality of life.

In Delhi, we have seen howthe availability of extra moneyevery month has resulted infamilies investing in electronicgoods like fans, televisions,mobile phones and computersamong other things. In theevent of an economic slow-down, these expenses wouldhave been postponed but Delhiis bucking the trend.

The Delhi Government hasbeen receiving internationalacclaim for its path-breakingreforms in the education andhealthcare sectors. At the sametime, it has also been prudent toensure that it does not run intoany kind of fiscal deficit. Insteadof criticising the AAPGovernment for its pro-peopleinitiatives, it’s time we alsoacknowledged it as one of themost business-friendly admin-istrations in the country.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, an MP and currently amember of the AAP)

Remember the eight-year-old Kathua rapevictim, who was murdered so that shewouldn’t be able to identify her tormen-

tors? Or the 14-year-old Dalit girl inMuzaffarnagar district, who was burnt aliveafter being violated? The list of rape-murdersis long and hangs like a Damocles’ sword overthose who survive the ordeal and might bethinking of fighting back. It is intended to scarethem away from the criminal justice system.The survivors think twice about even register-ing their cases as reports pour in of intimida-

tion, police apathy, forced compromises, out-of-court settlements, dragged outcases besides societal slurs and condemnation. And when powerful men areamong the accused, leave alone justice, even their lives are in danger. That’sbecause the accused can avail bail, roam free and use resources to snuff outall charges. Given this grim scenario, it is indeed laudable that Delhi High CourtChief Justice DN Patel has sought to protect survivors, making it mandatory forcourts to ensure they are present at the time of bail hearing of the accused. Thiswould give them a fighting chance to argue their case, put the accused behindbars and shield themselves from death threats. The court has built in procedur-al insurance, making it mandatory for the investigating officer to notify the girlsthe moment any of their violators moved for bail. It is a sad reflection on ourcriminal justice system that Justice Patel had to issue this directive, almost rein-terpreting the amendments made to Section 439 of the Criminal Law in 2018.Under this, courts must notify the public prosecutor within 15 days of receiv-ing the bail plea from the accused. Not just this, it is also obligatory for the vic-tim to be present at the hearing, either in person or through her lawyer. Yet veryfew survivors are aware of these existing rights. It was rampant non-compli-ance of this year-old provision that forced Justice Patel to define what it meansin terms of execution. One hopes the order is respected by every law officer.

If anybody has any doubt about why a campaign on protecting survivors isnecessary, just consider the recent example of the law student who accusedformer Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand of rape. While the police and Stateadministration dragged their feet to arrest him till she publicly appealed to UttarPradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, they were very quick in arresting her forextortion. The girl was also denied bail by the court and sent to 14 days’ judi-cial custody instead. Chinmayanand is on break, in “hospital.” If this isn’t anattempt to turn the case on its head and put pressure on the woman to with-draw her petition against a powerful man affiliated with the ruling party, then whatis? This comes close on the heels of the Unnao rape case, where the girl, in adesperate bid to get justice a year after her horror, tried to immolate herself out-side the CM’s residence. Before this she had kept quiet. Yet she paid for speak-ing out loud. Half of her family and witnesses were dead before the rapist, KuldeepSengar, was taken into custody. It is precisely because of the belief that there’salways a loophole in the legal system to be exploited that people like Chinamayanandand Sengar get away. According to National Crime Records Bureau, around 100sexual assaults are reported every day. The actual number of attacks is far high-er with a Government survey finding that 99.1 per cent cases of sexual violencego unreported due to fear and coercion.

Privacy or personal freedoms and trans-gressions in exercising these rights haveled to so many grey areas in the open

democracy of the internet that it has nowbecome incumbent upon the Supreme Courtto lay down razor-sharp guidelines of what issafe and what is not. And after studied con-sideration, it now favours fixing accountabil-ity of intermediaries, such as WhatsApp andFacebook, when their platforms are used tothreaten the integrity and sovereignty of thenation, encourage hate speeches and pornog-

raphy and promote illegal trade of drugs and contraband. It has, therefore, askedthe Government to file an affidavit within three weeks, outlining a strategy to getsocial media platforms to share information with law enforcement without com-promising the privacy of citizens or national security. Now, this is the tricky part,completely surrendering the agency of monitoring to a ruling regime. The mootpoint here is that neither the Government nor the platform providers can walkthe thin line, having overstepped it more than once themselves. The Government,which has used social media and its follower brigade to amp up its own posi-tion and muzzle that of others, is hardly expected to overlook its interests at atime when going digital is the easiest way to generate a swell of opinion andspread its propaganda. Can it really be righteous enough about separating strandsof coercion and restriction? Social media giants, particularly Facebook, have hadtoo many run-ins with stakeholders on accountability and clandestine data-shar-ing. Remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal that swung an electoral opin-ion and allegations of influencing the US elections and Brexit? As for trolls, Twitteris yet to demonstrably react to group bullyism impinging on the personal digni-ty of a single user although free conversations are meant to be an exchange ofideas, not a slanging match of slander. Who will decide what constitutes a nation-al threat and what is democratic dissent? Giving the Government an upper handmight just obfuscate the real concern of a watchdog society justifying anythingfor the sake of national security. And social media firms sharing information undergovernment pressure would not even be looked at as committing an offence.

Most importantly, who decides what privacy should be for the vast millionswho have made smartphones a part of their lives? There’s no doubt that hatespeech and fake news have diluted the empowering strength of the internet butregulation will always raise questions about whether it impinges on fundamen-tal rights and freedoms. Yes, it is the duty of social media platforms to exercisepowers to remove obnoxious material from their servers. They have done thatjob well by tracking and taking down videos of child pornography, abuse, harass-ment on a routine basis. But when it comes to crimes that propagate certaincauses/interests, crucially the proliferation of fake news through forwarded mes-sages at a scale never seen before, social media firms are at fault for the sim-ple reason of being both reluctant and hesitant. The Government cannot be givenabsolute responsibility either. If it does want restrictions, an intricate frameworkof contexts and rules must be created to maintain objectivity. It should not beleft to the authorities to interpret them in their own ways. There is a need to revis-it Section 69 of the Information Technology Act. Most importantly, it is the topcourt which has to create an appropriate legal redress, not throw a sensitivematter in the deep end.

Privacy vs security

Social reformer

Sir — The great educationist,writer and social reformer, IshwarChandra Vidyasagar, was born inan orthodox family on September26, 1820, at Birsingha village inthe Ghatal subdivision of PaschimMidnapore district in WestBengal. One of the most promi-nent campaigners for women’srights, he worked tirelessly to pro-vide them equal education andwas very vocal about the oppres-sion they faced. His endless worktowards social emancipation, too,is not unknown. Besides, he wasalso one of the key figures of theBengal Renaissance who refinedthe way Bengali prose was taughtand written.

As we celebrate Vidyasagar’sbirth anniversary, it must beacknowledged that the countryneeds more such personalities ofexceptional character, dedicat-ed, humble and determined. Hewas one who worked tirelesslysolely for the betterment of thesociety, even above his own inter-est. He never bowed down to theBritish officials or to the inhumanrituals in our society.

Sujit DeKolkata

Out of context

Sir — One is rendered speechlessby the fact that Amruta Fadnavis,wife of Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis,called Prime Minister NarendraModi the “father of our country.”

One wonders as to what prompt-ed her to see a reflection ofMahatma Gandhi in Modi, theman who is known to have failedto uphold his raj dharma. Was hermistake prompted by images ofModi at the charkha in theGandhi ashram?

The dissimilarities between

the two figures could not bemore pronounced. A string offailures proves that Modi doesnot deserve the elevated positionthat Amruta Fadnavis tried togive him.

One cannot forget the adver-sities that people had to face asa result of demonetisation, the

faulty implementation of theGoods and Services Tax (GST),the falling rupee against dollar,high oil prices and its failure tocreate jobs. These are enough toput Modi out of the runningwhen it comes to being the“father of the country.”

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Troubling times

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “In tears over onion”(September 24). With onion ratestouching `80 per kg in some partsof the country, the Governmenthas gone all out to bring the pricesof this vegetable, which is a keykitchen staple. To tackle the prob-lem, the country is also import-ing onions from neighbouringnations like Afghanistan.Thankfully, the prices have shotup ahead of the week-longNavratri festival during which itsconsumption mostly comesdown. Hopefully, we will be ableto sail the tide.

KhushiVia email

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

08

State of the economy

AJOY KUMAR

While Central reform measures receive fulsome praise, the Delhi Government, too, deservessome credit for offering its citizens a cushion to deal with the prevailing economic crisis

India's economic momentum has dropped toa historic low but theGovernment does not have any plans to make it better

CPI(M) general secretary—Sitaram Yechury

I often try and direct myhusband in real life and that seems like a mammoth task, so I don’twant to try and direct him in reel-life as well!

Actor—Twinkle Khanna

It is politically perceived injus-tices that produce desperatepeople. But now we hear aboutradical Islam. There is only oneIslam, of Prophet Muhammadwhich we follow.

Pakistan Prime Minister—Imran Khan

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

UK court sets an example for other nations

The UK Supreme Court has shown that it can ruleindependent of the interest of the Government ofthe day, something judiciaries in other democra-

cies can emulate. Its unanimous ruling that the proro-gation of the British Parliament by Prime Minister BorisJohnson was unlawful, upheld the Parliament’s sover-eignty and its supremacy over the Government. It wasa ruling that is relevant and applicable to our own coun-try as our Parliament is modelled on the British sys-tem. The UK’s top court made it clear that if the rulingvindicated the Opposition’s stand on the prorogation ofthe Parliament and benefitted it in the political tussleto get the upper hand, it was only incidental to its estab-lishing the illegality of the prorogation.

The real intent for prorogation was to stymie par-liamentary scrutiny at the crucial stage of negotiationsof the deal for Brexit. Despite a string of political andlegal setbacks like losing parliamentary majority andreceiving court strictures for preventing the Parliamentfrom doing its job and attracting the charge of stiflingdemocracy, Johnson declared that the ruling — withwhich he strongly disagreed and termed a serious mis-

take — would not deter him from delivering Brexit onthe October 31 deadline. There is now considerableuncertainty over Brexit. The Labour Party’s stand isthat Johnson has no mandate for a no-deal Brexit andthe crisis can be settled only by a general election.London must get an extension from Brussels to avertthe risk of its crashing out of EU without a deal.

G David Milton Maruthancode

WHEN PEOPLESAVE MORE AND

THEN INVESTTHEIR SAVINGS, IT

HELPS BOOSTPRODUCTIVITY,

CREATE JOBS ANDFUEL THE

GROWTH OF THEECONOMY.

HEALTH OF THEECONOMY IS,

HENCE, CLOSELYRELATED TO THE

SAVINGS RATE ORTHE AMOUNT OF

MONEY SAVED BYPEOPLE

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Survivor’s rights

There is tremendous potentialto re-construct and re-correctIndian history. We need to re-discover ourselves andpresent the real history ofIndia to the world.

Vice President —M Venkaiah Naidu

The Supreme Court needs to codify a standard matrixrather than rely solely on Govt recommendations

The Delhi HC ruling, allowing rape survivors theright to decide bail for their tormentors, is needed

Why stories need to be told

SHAME ON THE BJP FOR CREATING PANIC OVER NRCIN BENGAL, IT HAS LED TO SIX DEATHS. BJP SHOULD

STOP SPREADING RUMOURS OVER IT.—WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER

MAMATA BANERJEE

THE TMC IS CREATING FEAR. IF ANYBODY DIES DUETO THE NRC PANIC, THEN MAMATA BANERJEESHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THAT.—WEST BENGAL BJP PRESIDENTDILIP GHOSH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

It was just beginning to get dark in her villagewhen Gauri came out of her house. Afterfurtive glances to make sure no one was

around, she quickly pulled out a wet piece of clothshe was hiding behind her back and hung it todry on a nearby bush. Next morning just as dawnwas breaking, Gauri removed the cloth althoughit was still damp. She didn’t want anyone to knowshe was in the middle of “those days.” In her hurryshe didn’t notice the tiny insect atop the cloth.This was to prove fatal. A few days later, she diedbecause of infection that spread from her vagi-nal tract.

Why is this story important? It is significantbecause every life is valuable and by telling it, themedia brings to the fore the reality that still exists.The fact that lives get tragically cut short by pre-ventable causes underlines the need for more suchstories to be told. Had menstruation not beensomething to hide or be ashamed of, Gauri wouldhave been alive. Ignorance can be just as fatal. Likeit was for Meera who died from tetanus causedby a rusty hook on the old blouse she used dur-ing her periods. Everyone was told that it wastetanus that led to her death. Only her sister whohad lent the blouse later understood the rootcause of her death. Both the women knew thatthe hooks were rusted but didn’t think it wasimportant or that they would matter.

Only 48 per cent of rural women usehygienic methods of menstrual protectionaccording to the latest National Family HealthSurvey (NFHS-4). How 52 per cent of ruralwomen cope with “those days” is not known.What is known is that women often use the dirt-iest cloth in the house during their menstrualcycle. This cloth is reused many times withoutproper washing. Sometimes, two or three womenin a household use the same piece of cloth. Poormenstrual hygiene can kill and yet talking aboutit still remains taboo.

Recently the Centre for Health Education,Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA)an Ahmedabad-based not-for-profit working forwomen’s empowerment, conducted a survey insix districts in Gujarat to study the levels of men-strual awareness and methods being followed.Their findings revealed that of about 600 femalesbetween the ages 13-35 interviewed, 67 per centbelieved that periods should be kept a secret and29 per cent adolescent girls and women report-ed that they feel ashamed talking about it. Amajority (60 per cent) felt the blood was impureand 65 per cent felt “unclean.” So, women andgirls were forced to hide all signs of it.

In such a scenario, the media has an impor-tant to play. By sharing this kind of data throughtheir stories, it can help organisations workingin the field tweak communications programmesto adapt to the situation. This has been done inthe Ramapur gram panchayat in Varanasi. In anattempt to buck the trend of adolescent girls miss-ing or leaving school due to period-related issuesin Uttar Pradesh, a programme by Rajiv GandhiMahila Vikas Pariyojna, a non-profit organisa-tion, used the Hindi version of Menstrupedia, anovel comic book and guide to periods for younggirls that dispels myths, to educate and empow-er 7,309 young women’s self-help groups. Witheach such group boasting a membership of 10-12 unmarried girls, aged 13-21, it was able to

reach out to a huge number. This led toyoung girls questioning myths relatedto periods, especially why they should-n’t touch the pickle during those days.In addition to touching the pickle andbusting the myth that it would be con-taminated, the Ramapur group evenpersuaded the principal of the localschool to install an incinerator for safedisposal of sanitary pads. This was ahuge achievement because it was thefirst of its kind in the panchayat.Stories like these show it is possible tobreak the silence on periods. Just as sto-ries on Menstrual HygieneManagement (MHM) innovations onlow-cost, good quality and bio-degrad-able menstrual hygiene products ormachines that can be used by self-helpgroups to manufacture sanitary napkinslocally help to showcase last mile deliv-ery for those who tend to fall throughthe cracks. The innovative tactile bookand apron of the reproductive systemthat helps visually-impaired girls nav-igate puberty are a boon for over 24 lakhwomen with visual disabilities.

If the silence and stigma aroundmenstruation make it hard for womenwith sight to manage their periods, itbecomes far more challenging for thevisually-impaired. The fact that girls areoften pressured by their families to havetheir uterus removed so that they stopmenstruating underlines the impor-tance of this innovation. It was devel-oped by the Water Supply andSanitation Collaborative Council(WSSCC) in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, the Centre of Excellence inTactile Graphics, Saksham Trust, andthe Noida Deaf Society. The media alsoplays a critical role in raising awareness

about how menstrual waste is contribut-ing to increasing environmental haz-ards. Over 113,000 tonnes of such wasteare created every year and can take over250 years to fully decompose. Lack ofproper disposal facilities means thiswaste clogs the urban sewage systems,piles up in landfills and contaminatesrural ponds.

The Government, realising theimportance of MHM, began distribu-tion of low-cost sanitary napkinsthrough health workers under theNational Rural Health Mission(NRHM) in 2010. Official data revealsthat 42 per cent of women use sanitarynapkins (NFHS-4). But, just how envi-ronment-friendly are these sanitarynapkins? Also are there proper dispos-al and waste management facilities? Byraising such questions, the media high-lights not just the environmental costsof the absence of such facilities but alsothe possibilities of putting the health ofgirls and women at risk of infections dueto overuse of menstrual hygiene prod-ucts. By sharing good MHM practices,the media connects many to solutionsthey can adapt and scale up. The initia-tive taken by the Pune MunicipalCorporation (PMC) is one example ofhow good implementation can workwonders. The PMC’s decision to sup-port SWaCH, India’s first cooperative ofself-employed waste collectors andother urban poor, in managing solidwaste collection has ensured both theenvironment and the health of theseworkers are not compromised. SinceSWaCH waste-pickers handle about 20metric tonnes of household sanitarywaste every day, the need to manuallysegregate the degradable and bio-

degradable waste leads to several infec-tions. PMC asked SWaCH to makepaper bags to give to households to dis-pose used sanitary napkins and active-ly promoted their usage. Householdswere also made aware of howunwrapped sanitary waste exposedthem to multiple deadly pathogens.

In addition, a system for scientificdisposal of such paper bags was put inplace by designating three locationsacross the city, where 600 to 900 piecesof sanitary napkins are scientifically dis-posed daily at each location. A systemof collection, transportation and dispos-al has been especially developed.

So just as the media highlights suchgood practices, it also looks at MHMholistically with the help of information,evidence and data, both official and thatgenerated by robust research by non-governmental organisations. In doingso if it requires the media to ring thealarm bells, it doesn’t step away fromdoing so.

The story on how hysterectomiesbecame the norm in Beed, Maharashtra,because cane-cutting contractors wereunwilling to hire women as periods hin-der work is one such example. There areno bathrooms for cane cutters whooften live in cane fields. It becomes evenmore difficult for a woman if she hasperiods in these conditions. The storyled to national outrage with the NationalCommission for Women issuing anotice and the State Governmentinstructing surgeons not to conducthysterectomy unnecessarily. Such casesunderline once again the critical role ofthe media, and seeing it as an ally andnot an adversary, benefits all.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Ignorance on periods can be fatal. By sharing good Menstrual Hygiene Managementpractices, the media connects many to solutions they can adapt and scale up

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Dark days areahead for India

To divert the attention of people from problemsbesetting the country, a scapegoat has to be

found, just as Hitler found in the Jews

SWAPNA MAJUMDAR

THE NEWS STORYON HOW

HYSTERECTOMIESBECAME THE

NORM IN BEED,MAHARASHTRA

BECAUSECANE-CUTTINGCONTRACTORS

WERE UNWILLINGTO HIRE WOMEN,

AS PERIODSHINDER WORK,

LED TO NATIONALOUTRAGE. THE

NATIONALCOMMISSION FORWOMEN ISSUED A

NOTICE AND THESTATE

GOVERNMENTINSTRUCTED

SURGEONS NOTTO CONDUCT ANHYSTERECTOMYUNNECESSARILY.

SUCH CASESUNDERLINE ONCE

AGAIN THECRITICAL ROLE OF

THE MEDIA ANDSEEING IT AS AN

ALLY AND NOT ANADVERSARY,

BENEFITS ALL

Something has happened in India which reminds me of what hap-pened in Germany during the Nazi era. After Hitler assumed powerin January 1933 almost the whole of Germany went into a fren-

zy, with people shouting “Heil Hitler” (Hail Hitler), “Sieg Heil” (Hailvictory!) and adoring that despot without thinking.

Germans are such highly cultured people, who produced greatscientists like Max Planck and Einstein, great writers like Goethe andSchiller, great poets like Heine, great musicians like Mozart, Bach andBeethoven, great reformers like Martin Luther, great philosophers likeKant, Nietzsche, Hegel and Marx, great mathematicians like Leibnitz,Gauss and Riemann and great statesmen like Frederick the Great andBismarck. Nevertheless, when Hitler came on the scene and saidGermans were “Herrenvolk” (master race) and Jews were respon-sible for all their ills, they believed it and did little against atrocities onthem, which led to the Holocaust (many supported it).

How did this happen? Surely Germans are not inherently evil?I have always maintained that 99 per cent people of all countries,religions and races are good. Then how could Germans send six mil-lion Jews to the gas chambers? It happened because modern pro-paganda is such a powerful thing that minds of even the most cul-tured and intelligent people can be poisoned by it. This is what hap-pened to most Germans of that time. The distress of Germans aftertheir defeat in World War-I and the massive unemployment, inflationand economic crisis following the Great Depression of 1929 was easyfodder for Hitler for his evil propaganda.

The same has happened now to most Indians. Ever since theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Right-wing Hindu party, come to powerin 2014, a huge communal propaganda has been unleashed in Indiaagainst the Indian minorities through hate speeches, accusing themof killing cows, seducing Hindu girls (love jihad) and so on, poison-ing the minds of most Hindus. The demand for building the Ram tem-ple and lynching of Muslims was a regular feature over the last fewyears. The air strike on Balakot in Pakistan and the war hysteria whippedup by the pliant media, was part of this campaign and all this paidrich dividends in the form of a landslide spectacular victory for theBJP in the parliamentary elections. The abolition of Article 370, whichto my mind will not solve any real problem, has resulted in most Hindusbecoming jingoistic.The real problems in India — record unemploy-ment (as revealed by the National Sample Survey, a Government organ-isation), appalling child malnourishment (every second child in Indiais malnourished), huge number of farmers suicides (over 300,000),almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the mass-es, widening gap between rich and poor (seven Indians own morewealth than the bottom half of India’s 1.36 billion population) — wereall non-issues in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Secularism is a feature of industrial society, like those in NorthAmerica and Europe. It is not a feature of feudal or semi-feudal soci-eties, as in most Asian countries. Merely mentioning secularism inour Constitution does not make the country secular. India is still semi-feudal, as is evident from the rampant casteism and communalismprevalent here. Most Indians are deeply religious and since about 80per cent Indians are Hindus, they are easy prey for communal pro-paganda. My own understanding is that most Indians are commu-nal. When I am among my Hindu relatives and friends, most spoutvenom against Muslims. When a Muslim is lynched most Hindusare indifferent, some even happy. One terrorist less!

Communalism (hatred of minorities, particularly Muslims) wasalways latent among most Hindus, only waiting for a spark from some-where to turn the powder keg into an explosion. Between 2014 and2019 the communal fire was stoked by the BJP, which is dominat-ed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Now that the BJPand its leader Narendra Modi have won an astounding victory, therewill be great pressure on them from the people to create jobs, alle-viate farmers distress, reduce malnourishment, provide good edu-cation. But this they have no idea how to do. Instead what has hap-pened is that the economic situation has taken a nosedive, with theGross Domestic Product (GDP) dropping to five per cent, steep declinein manufacturing, real estate, power and mounting unemployment.

So to divert the attention of the people from these real prob-lems, which are unsolvable within the present dispensation and infact worsening, a scapegoat has to be found, just as Hitler found inthe Jews. In India this scapegoat will be our Muslims and Christians,and I fear that now there will be recurrent atrocities on them. Just ashistory was perverted in Nazi Germany, so was it in post 2014 India.And just as Goebbels took over the German media, the Indian mediahas largely caved in and is saluting our master ‘Ave Caesar Imperator’.Dark days are ahead for India.

(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.)

Though tourism represents tenper cent of the global GrossDomestic Product (GDP), one

in ten jobs and seven per cent of theworld’s exports, the sector is usuallyundervalued, especially in addressingunemployment problems. As per a2017 United Nations World TourismOrganization (UNWTO) reporttitled, “Tourism and SustainableDevelopment Goals — Journey to2030”, given these numbers, tourismhas a decisive role to play in theachievement of the UN’s 2030 agen-da, which is “Decent Work andEconomic Growth.”

Being of a labour-intensivenature, tourism is a major contribu-tor in generating employment which

has a significant multiplier effect evenon its related sectors. The global trav-el and tourism sector grew at 3.9 percent to contribute a record $8.8 tril-lion and 319 million jobs to the worldeconomy in 2018, according to theWorld Travel and Tourism Council(WTTC)’s 2018 Economic ImpactReport.

The sector has been largelyuntouched by the global economicslowdown while the number ofworldwide international touristarrivals on an average grew at 4 percent or above from the last few years.However, now there is a need todevise and implement policies to pro-mote sustainable tourism by takinginto consideration the impact of cli-mate change in relation to job cre-ation and promotion of indigenousculture and products. The role of theindustry in employment generationand entrepreneurship is often under-estimated in policy formulation andimplementation. And this sector isalso facing difficulty in attracting andretaining human resource talent,due to the casual approach towards

creating a dynamic working environ-ment. Market uncertainties, like thecollapse of a major travel firm likeThomas Cook, are another hin-drance to attracting and retaining tal-ent. According to the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO) 2018data, global unemployment hasreached more than 192 million,which is on the higher side and needsimmediate attention of the worldcommunity. Therefore, there is a needto create conditions for more jobs. Inthis scenario, embracing new technol-ogy could play a key role in achiev-ing the goal of better job creation.

Tourism, primarily a people-to-peo-ple sector, with an impressive growthrate can also serve as a natural ally ofthe ILO’s human-centred agenda forthe future of work. In spite of thenotion that women face exclusion interms of access to education andtraining, they play a significant rolein tourism entrepreneurship.However, in the workplace in thetourism industry, one of the majordeterrents faced by women is a hugepay gap, where they are paid a quar-ter less than male workers, even afteracquiring comparable skills.

India’s first National Tourism

Policy was formulated in 1982 andthe National Tourism Policy 2002 wasformulated with the objective ofpositioning tourism as a major con-tributor to economic growth whileensuring that environmental sus-tainability is maintained. Then, tocope with the widespread, interrelat-ed global developments and advance-ments in the tourism sector, a newdraft National Tourism Policy wasformulated in 2015 with a vision todevelop and position India as a“Must experience” and “Must revis-it” destination for global travellers.Recently on August 15, 2019, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi also encour-aged Indians to explore their owncountry by visiting 15 domestictourist destinations by 2022.

Globally, India has improved itsTravel and Tourism Competitiveness(TTC) index and has been ranked34th out of 140 world economies, saysa TTC biennial report published byWorld Economic Forum. With a newUnion Tourism Minister, there areexpectations that the new NationalTourism Policy will soon come out

and help achieve newer milestones. Although tourism creates jobs, a

policy push is needed to realise itstrue potential and create more oppor-tunities. Also, given the advancementin global technology, the need of thehour is to develop a holistic approachin sync with all the stakeholders fromthe public and private sectors, so thata gap between the skills that tourismemployers need and that are taughtin educational institutions, is closed.More specifically, the digital revolu-tion and use of Artificial Intelligenceshould also be included in curriculato enhance skills in the sector.

Supporting opportunities forindustrial experiences like internshipsor scholarships, along with spe-cialised education and training willalso contribute towards creating askilled workforce for the sector. Thetime has arrived to embrace tourismand recognise its potential as a keysector for creating jobs.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Indian Institute of Tourism and TravelManagement, under Ministry ofTourism, Madhya Pradesh)

Tourism the biggest job-creatorBeing of a labour-intensive nature, tourism is a major contributor in generating employment, which

has a significant multiplier effect even on its related sectors

JEET DOGRA

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

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F O R E I G N E Y E

Impeachment is the mostserious action thatCongress can take against aPresident, but necessarygiven Trump's refusal toabide by political norms.Democrats have unifiedaround a purpose: What arethey in Congress for, if notto hold the President toaccount? The power ofaccountability growsstronger with use. To standby now would be sending amessage of impunity toTrump and those whosucceed him.

(The Guardian editorial)

TIME TO TEACHTRUMP A LESSON

MARKANDEY KATJU

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

EoI deadlineextension for PawanHans, 4th since JulyNEW DELHI: Failing to getdesired response from privateplayers, the government hasnow extended the date forsubmitting expression ofinterest (EoI) by two weeks fordivesting 51 per cent stake inpublic sector chopper serviceprovider Pawan HansHelicopters Ltd (PHHL).This is the fourth extensionsince July after a PreliminaryInformation Memorandum(PIM) for strategicdisinvestment was floated toinvite interest from globalplayers. The last date forsubmission of expression ofinterest (EoI) for strategicdisinvestment of PHL, inresponse to the PreliminaryInformation Memorandum(PIM) issued on July 11, 2019,has been extended up toOctober 10, 2019," an officialstatement said. It added that thetimelines for all othersubsequent activities willchange accordingly.

Global smartphonessales to decline by3.2% in 2019: GartnerSAN FRANCISCO: As thelifetime of premium phonescontinued to extend through2019, global sales ofsmartphones will decline by 3.2per cent this year, the worstdecline the category has seen,according to a Gartner forecaston Thursday. "This is due toconsumers holding onto theirphones longer, given the limitedattraction of new technology,"Ranjit Atwal, Senior ResearchDirector at Gartner, said in astatement. The study estimatesthat the share of 5G-capablephones will increase from 10per cent in 2020 to 56 per centby 2023. "The major players inthe mobile phone market willlook for 5G connectivitytechnology to boostreplacements of existing 4Gphones," said Atwal. Thesmartphone market will,however, return to the growthpath at 2.9 per cent in 2020,Gartner said."To ensuresmartphone sales pick upagain, mobile providers arestarting to emphasize 5Gperformance features, likefaster speeds, improvednetwork availability andenhanced security," Atwal said.

PNS n NEW YORK

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas urged global CEOs and topAmerican executives to lever-age the 'Startup India' innova-tion platforms to formulatesolutions for the entire worldon challenging issues like nutri-tion and waste management.

Chairing an exclusive round-table with 42 global CEOs andtop executives from across 20sectors, Modi on Wednesdaystressed on continued politicalstability in India, predictabili-ty of policy, and pro-develop-ment and pro-growth policies.

He emphasised the devel-opment of tourism, plasticrecycling and waste-manage-ment initiatives, and toenhance the business ofMSMEs, especially those whichcreate more opportunities forfarmers and agriculture.

"Captains of industry inter-act with PM Narendra Modi inNew York. The extensive agen-da includes harnessing invest-ment opportunities in Indiaand boosting commercial link-ages between India and USA,"the PMO said in a tweet.

"PM at the CEO Roundtablein New York highlighted thesteps taken by India to build aUSD 5 trillion economy. Globalbusiness community is upbeatabout the India success story,"Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumartweeted.

The CEOs appreciated theefforts made by India in striv-ing towards ease of doing busi-ness and many reforms thathave led to a conducive envi-ronment for investors. Theyalso lauded Modi for takingstrong decisions and makingIndia more investor-friendly.

"The leaders also mentionedthat their companies remainedcommitted to the growth storyof India and, on the back of this,continued to grow their foot-print in India," an official state-ment said after the meeting.

The CEOs briefly outlinedtheir specific plans in India andput forth recommendations toaid India's efforts towards skilldevelopment, Digital India,Make in India, inclusivegrowth, green energy and

financial inclusion.The companies that partic-

ipated in the roundtable had acombined net worth of USD16.4 trillion, of which their networth in India is USD 50 bil-lion.

The CEOs Roundtable wasattended by IBM Chairman,President and CEO GinniRometty, President and CEOof Walmart DouglasMcMillon, Chairman andCEO of Coca-Cola JamesQuincey, Lockheed MartinCEO Marillyn Hewson, JPMorgan Chairman and CEOJamie Dimon, CEO ofAmerican Tower Corporationand co-chair of the India-USCEO forum James Taiclet,MasterCard CEO Ajay Bangaand Senior Executives fromApple, Google, Marriott, VISA,3M, Warburg Pincus,AECOM, Raytheon, Bank ofAmerica and Pepsi.

Modi "urged the companiesto leverage the Startup Indiainnovation platforms in part-nership with other countries —to make solutions not only forIndia, but for the world, includ-ing challenging issues likenutrition and waste manage-ment," the statement said.

The DPIIT- and InvestIndia-organized interactionincluded Commerce MinisterPiyush Goyal and senior offi-cials from the Department ofPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade and Ministry ofExternal Affairs.

Following the roundtable,Bank of America CEO BrianMoynihan said it is alwaysgreat to hear from the primeminister about his vision forIndia.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, interacting with CEOs at a Roundtable, in New York, USA

The CEOs appreciated the effortsmade by India in striving towards easeof doing business and many reformsthat have led to a conduciveenvironment for investors

Centre mulls sops forfirms employing SC, STsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Labour Ministry isbelieved to have discussed aproposal to give incentives topublic and private companiesfor recruiting SC and ST can-didates under affirmativeaction by the industry.

Under the affirmativeaction, industry bodies havevoluntarily committed toensuring equal opportunitiesfor members of ScheduledCast and Scheduled Tribescommunities. The concept wasformally adopted by industrybodies like CII andASSOCHAM.

"We keep discussing on var-ious proposals for affirmativeaction to give benefit to work-ers," Labour Minister SantoshGangwar told reporters whenasked whether his ministry isconsidering any proposal toencourage recruitment of SC &ST candidates under the affir-mative action.

"We can tell you exactlyabout the contours of the pro-posal after seeking detailsabout it. We receive manysuggestions during discussionswith stakeholders," the minis-ter said on the sidelines of aFICCI conference on indus-trial safety.

A senior official toldPTI, "Retirement fundbody EPFO is collectingdata about SC and STemployees in the publicsector as well as pri-vate sector throughits over 136 region-al offices."

The official also said,"Labour Ministry is collectingthe data through EmployeesProvident Fund Organisationunder a study piloted by gov-ernment think tank NITIAayog, to assess the financialimplication of various incen-tives for encouraging recruit-ment and giving equal oppor-tunity to SC and ST candi-dates."

The Labour Ministry isalready running a schemecalled Pradhan Mantri RojgarProtsahan Yojana (PMRPY)for encouraging recruitment

by the industry from all com-munities.

Under the scheme, the gov-ernment provides employ-ers' share of contributiontoward social securityschemes run by the EPFO fornew recruits for three years.The scheme is effective fromApril 2018.

This scheme has dual ben-efits. The employer is incen-tivised for increasing theemployment base and a largenumber of workers find jobs.A direct benefit is that theseworkers have access to socialsecurity benefits of the organ-ised sector.

Earlier addressing the con-ference, the minister said,"The ministry would sooncirculate rules for implemen-tation of recently passed Codeon Wages Act for public com-ments. Besides, theParliamentary StandingCommittee on Labour would

soon vet the OccupationalSafety, Health and WorkingConditions Code, 2019.The committee has beenconstituted under thechairmanship of Biju

Janata Dal MP B Mehtab."About the Code onIndustrial Relations,

the ministerinformed that it ispre-legislative

stage as thedis c uss ionwith stake-

holder areon.

We can tell youexactly about thecontours of the

proposal after seekingdetails about it. Wereceive manysuggestions duringdiscussionswithstakeholders—SANTOSHGANGWAR

LabourMinister

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian economy is expect-ed to start its recovery fromlater part of this fiscal thanksto the initiatives taken by theReserve Bank for policy ratetransmission and steps by thegovernment to boost growth,says a report.

According to D&B EconomyObserver report, a pick-up inthe industrial production willonly be gradual and an uptickis expected to be visible duringthe festive months ofSeptember and October 2019.

"The slowdown is real andthere is ‘need' to be cautious,but it is ‘too early' to press thepanic button," Arun Singh,Chief Economist, Dun &Bradstreet India said, addingthat the magnitude of slow-

down is not as deep as was wit-nessed during the global finan-cial crisis in 2009 and the debtcrisis in 2012.

Economic growth hit oversix-year low of 5 per cent forthe first quarter ended June2019 mainly driven by demandslowdown.

He further noted that theloss of momentum in invest-ment demand is "worrying".Besides, low business opti-mism, low returns on invest-ment by the corporate andincrease in inefficiency in cap-ital employed, also raises con-cerns over the pace of revival

in investment.The spate of measures taken

by the government includingreducing the corporate taxrates is expected to revive thecorporate sentiment and pro-vide an impetus to the corpo-rate to kick-start their capexplans.

However, amid variousemerging challenges both glob-ally and domestically, "it ishighly likely that the slowdown

that will last longer thanexpected earlier", he said.

"We expect the economy tostart recovering from lateFY20, as the funding con-straints ease further with theRBI's recent measures tostrengthen the transmissionchannels and the stimulusmeasures taken to address thecurrent issues from both shortterm and long-term perspec-tive," Singh said.

According to D&B Economy Observerreport, a pick-up in the industrialproduction will only be gradual and anuptick is expected to be visible duringthe festive months of September andOctober 2019

Govt to take call on relief in incometax at appropriate time: ThakurPTI n NEW DELHI

The government will take adecision on raising the incometax exemption limit at anappropriate time, Minister ofState for Finance Anurag SinghThakur said on Thursday.

Last week, the governmentlowered the corporate tax to 22per cent from 30 per cent andthere has been a clamour forraising income tax exemptionlimit to push demand andconsumption with a view tofuel economy.

"When the time arises totake a call on it (income taxrelief), the government will doso. The government in thepast has also increased (thelimit) from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5lakh. In future, whenever the

time arises, we will look intothe matter," he said here.

With regard to curbs onPunjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank) bythe RBI, the minister said thecentral bank has its own role inthe country and it does its jobwell.

"After considering all aspectsthey (RBI) will take a decisionso that it benefits both cus-tomers and the bank," it said.

The central bank on Tuesdayput a slew of restrictions on theMumbai-based lender, creatingpanic among thousands ofdepositors.

Major restrictions includecapping withdrawal at Rs 1,000per customer during the six-month period, and banning thebank from extending newloans. The lender has aroundRs 11,000 crore of publicdeposits.

With regard to AntiguaPrime Minister Gaston Brownereiterating that Mehul Choksimay be extradited to India afterhe exhausts all legal optionsavailable with him, Thakursaid it is because of the effortsof the Narendra Modi govern-ment.

The government throughmany legislations includingInsolvency and BankruptcyCode has ensured that nobodyflees the country with the pub-lic money, he said.

NCLAT allowsDutch officialto attend Jetcreditor meetPTI n NEW DELHI

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)on Thursday allowed theDutch court administratorof Jet Airways to attend themeetings of the bankrupt air-line's Committee of Creditors(CoC). With this ruling, theNCLAT has finalised thecross-border insolvency pro-tocol for the airline.

The order comes after thecounsel representing boththe resolution professional(RP) of Jet Airways and theDutch court administratorinformed the appellate tri-bunal last Friday that bothsides have agreed to cooper-ate in the insolvency pro-ceedings of the airline.

The three-member benchheaded by the NCLATChairman S.J. Mukhopadhayasaid that the Dutch adminis-trator is equivalent to the res-olution professional in India,and under the law also has theright to attend CoC meetings.

In the previous hearing too,Mukhopadhaya had observedthat it is the right of the Dutchadministrator to attend theCoC meetings and both sidesshould go together.

The debt-ridden Jet Airwaysis facing insolvency proceed-ings in The Netherlands too. Itwas declared bankrupt thereafter it had failed to pay twoEuropean creditors. The Dutchcourt subsequently appointeda bankruptcy administrator.The Mumbai bench ofNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT) had reject-ed the Dutch administrator'splea to recognise their pro-ceedings, following whichthe administrator approachedthe NCLAT.

Liquidity not a crisis, saysNirmala Sitharaman aftermeeting bank chiefsPNS n NEW DELHI

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday saidthat liquidity is not a cri-sis. Ms Sitharamanwas speaking at apress conferenceafter meetingbanks andfinancial institu-tions. "Sum andsubstance of whatI heard was thatthere is no liquiditycrisis", she said. "If therewas a problem of liquidity, itwas in the wholesale financing,and not in the retail," sheadded.

"Many of the MFIs andmicro-finance units which

have come here are in deepcountry, they said that inthose areas there is stilldemand and they are extend-

ing loans. All of themclearly voiced a posi-

tive growth which isa good encourag-ing story," MsSitharaman fur-ther added.

Ms Sitharamanmet private sector

banks, non-bankingfinancial companies

(NBFCs) and Housingfinance companies. Issues suchas liquidity, rate cut and cred-it disbursal were on the topagenda of discussions betweenthe Finance Minister and thelenders.

Somaiya, depositorsfile police complaintsagainst PMC BankPTI n MUMBAI

Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiyaand several account holders ofthe crippled Punjab andMaharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank filed police com-plaints on Thursday againsttop officials of the bank andHDIL for allegedly looting Rs3,000 crore of the depositors,police said.

Somaiya went to MumbaiPolice's Economic OffencesWing (EOW) and filed a writ-ten complaint, alleging thatmoney of at least 9.12 lakhdepositors of the PMC Bankwas looted by its top manage-ment and real estate firmHDIL, he said.

Speaking to reporters out-side the EOW office, Somaiyaalleged that there was con-spiracy between the PMCBank management andHDIL's owner to loot thedepositors, and sought aproper investigation in thematter.

He said the Reserve Bank ofIndia's administrator shouldfile a criminal complaintagainst officials concerned ofthe HDIL and PMC Bank, onwhich the RBI has imposedoperational restrictions.

Somaiya also demanded afull-fledged forensic audit ofthe bank's transactions withHDIL.

"Out of Rs 8,000 croreadvances, more than Rs 3,000crore was given to HDIL andthe group's benami compa-nies. Even after the HDILdefaulted, the bank gave ithundreds of crores of loanwithout any proper docu-mentation," he alleged.

"There should be a detailedinvestigation in the case afterfiling of offence of cheatingand fraud against the topmanagement of the bank andHDIL owner, he said.

While investigating the case,all efforts should be madetowards the bank's survival, headded.

Ericsson setsaside $1.2 bnto settle USgraft probeAFP n STOCKHOLM

Swedish telecoms equipmentmaker Ericsson saidThursday it had made a USD1.2 billion provision to coverthe costs of resolving a UScorruption investigation.

The charge, which willimpact the company's thirdquarter earnings, covers thepenalty Ericsson expects toreceive, it said. Ericsson hasbeen cooperating since 2013with an investigation by theUnited States Securities andExchange Commission (SEC)and, since 2015, with aninvestigation by the USDepartment of Justice.

People wait outside a PMC Bank branch in Mumbai to withdraw their money,Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya (Inset)

PNS n MUMBAI

The risks of a large fiscal slippagein the current year are expectedto be addressed through largernon-tax revenues and the savingson interest expenses, ratings andresearch firm Acuite said, addingtherefore, fiscal deficit in the cur-rent fiscal may remain limited to3.5-3.6 per cent moderately high-er by 0.2-0.3 per cent over thebudgeted levels. Additional non-tax revenues, particularly dis-investment profits, can be a keydriver Acuite Ratings believesthat there is still a significantscope to limit India's fiscaldeficit to 3.5-3.6 per cent, if thegovernment gives high priori-ty to disinvestment and there is

a sustainable revival in con-sumption and market senti-ment, expected to be brought inby the sharp cut in corporatetaxes up to 10 per cent, over thenext two quarters.

The government is alreadyworking on the disinvestmentof a few large public sector com-panies and if the equity marketsrespond well to the efforts

made to revive economicgrowth, the government maysucceed in exceeding the dis-investment target of Rs 1.05lakh crore, said the report.

Acuite's analysis further sug-gests that over and above theuse of the escape clause underthe FRBM Act, which permitsan additional 0.2 per cent slip-page, any sharp increase in thefiscal deficit triggered by theliberal corporate tax cuts canbe offset by the special divi-dend from RBI, additionalnon-tax revenues broughtabout by the cuts and a likelyreduction in interest obliga-tions due to larger rate reduc-tions by RBI than expected inthe budgetary figures.

Fiscal deficit may remain at3.5-3.6% post-corp tax cuts

When the timearises to take a callon it (income tax

relief), the government willdo so. The government inthe past has also increased(the limit) from Rs 2.5 lakhto Rs 5 lakh.

—ANURAG SINGH THAKURMinister of State for Finance

Modi urges global CEOs toleverage ‘Startup India' platforms

SOLUTIONS ON GLOBAL CHALLENGES

‘Indian economy may recover from late FY20’

eeping in mindthe increase indemand forbooks in region-al languagesacross the India

many publications areexpanding their horizon toencompass more lan-guages.

Following the same trend,one of India’s largest bookpublishing platform,Notion Press, announcedits entry into IndianLanguage publishing bybuilding support for asmany as eight majorregional languages. Apart from English, theplatform now supportsbooks in Hindi, Marathi,Konkani, Gujarati, Bengali,Tamil, Kannada andMalayalam. Indian writerscan soon publish their sto-ries in their preferred ver-nacular in both paperbackand eBook format.

“There is a growingdemand for quality pub-lishing in India. XpressPublishing is the solutionfor aspiring authors in thiscountry who don’t get theirwork published becausethey don’t have access toquality publishing,” saidNaveen Valsakumar, CEOof Notion Press.

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@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

When I visited a school for the blind in Hyderabad,

the students told me about the difficulties they faced

when they studied in a school earlier that did not take

their disability into consideration. But, when they

enrolled in the school for the blind they began to feel

good about themselves as they found a group they

could mingle with. Some of those students now

represent India in international blind cricket. This is

possible because they overcame their problems

M. VINAY REDDY, PHOTOGRAPHER

NOTION PRESS HADRECENTLYLAUNCHED XPRESSPUBLISHING, A DO-IT-YOURSELFPLATFORM FORASPIRING AUTHORSTO PUBLISH BOOKSWITHIN 30MINUTES

FridaySeptember 27, 2019

DIVERSITY INPUBLISHING

PHOTOGRAPHYNalgonda-based photographer M Vinay Reddy's exhibition,

Batuku, narrates stories of people who continue to fight for theirgoals despite hardships, reports V SATEESH REDDY

epartment ofLanguage andCulture,Government ofTelangana, will beorganising a photog-

raphy exhibition titled Batukuby M. Vinay Reddy fromOctober 1 to October 5 atRavindra Bharati. Batuku aimsto narrates the stories of peoplewho despite facing many hur-dles in life managed to over-came their fears and troubles tosucceed.

This is the first solo photog-raphy exhibition for M. VinayReddy, who is works as a cine-matographer for Tollywoodmovies. Vinay worked for

movies like Natyam andEdureetha. He also worked asan assistant to cinematographerRaju Thota.

For this exhibition, Vinaytoured all over Telangana tocapture stories of people and toshow what problems they facewhile working towards success.

When asked about whatinspired him to start this exhi-bition, Vinay shares, “When Ivisited a school for theblind in Hyderabad, thestudents told me about thedifficulties they facedwhen they studied in aschool earlier that did nottake their disability intoconsider-

ation. But, when they enrolledin the school for the blind theybegan to feel good about them-selves as they found a groupthey could mingle with. Someof those students now representIndia in international blindcricket. This is possible becausethey overcame their problems.”Vinay added that he met manypeople during his journey ofwhom he

took photos of and eachphoto has its own story.He said that he is happyfor being associated withthe Cultural Departmentfor the exhibition.

He said that photography is afield with many avenues and itcan narrate stories to peoplefaster than any other medium.About his next work,

he says, “I’m working on aproject called Hands On. It willshowcase various professionsonly through images of hands.It will be exhibited soon.”

D

K

Building schools of thought from scratchn Delhi, thegovernment hastaken many ini-tiatives to pro-vide qualityeducation on

par with private schoolsand this has given a boostfor government schoolsacross India. Governmentschools in many states lackfacilities which results in ahigh dropout rate. Withthis issue in mind,Hyderabad Round Table 8(HRT 8) started an initia-tive ‘Project 511’ in 2003 to

create an education friend-ly environment in govern-ment schools so that thechildren can benefit frombasic amenities that areoften taken for granted bythe rest of the world.

Project 511 works withall the stakeholders — thegovernment, other NGOs,corporates and local com-munities — to improve thestatus of governmentschools.

To collect funds forProject 511, HRT 8 has seta unique tradition of host-

ing an exclusive black-tiecharity dinner, Food forChange (FFC), the pro-ceeds of which go towardsthe work being done by theProject 511.

“FFC is an event thatconnects the citizens ofHyderabad for the cause ofeducating the underprivi-leged. FFC has been atremendous success in thepast six years with about800 guests attending eachyear. This year, FFC eventwill be held on October 6at JRC Conventions,” says

Maneck Debara, Chairmanof Project 511.

He adds, “Many poorchildren attend privateschools despite governmentschools being free. This isbecause private schoolshave the resources to createa good schooling environ-ment, whereas the govern-ment schools lack in basicfacilities — blackboards,benches, toilets, runningwater, cleaning staff andothers. The governmentalong with other RoundTables in the area, corpo-

rates and individual donorshave come forward to helpachieve our goal of provid-ing the basic facilities ingovernment schools.Started 16 years ago, weraised 16.8 crores for theseactivities.”

Suresh Babu Daggubati,director of SureshProductions who is alsopart of the programme,says “To date, we helpedmore than 1,300 schools.When we started offProject 511, we witnessedthat a government schoolchildren writing on com-pound walls due to the lackof blackboards. We are alsoobserved that dropouts ofgirl students are more dueto no toilets in schools. Weconstructed toilets in manyschools. With our efforts,many of those governmentstudents are now studyingin IIT’s.”

To date, through Project511, 142 classrooms and530 toilet blocks were con-structed. Around 6,820blackboards, 26,448 seatingbenches, 307 science labkits were donated. AnEnglish learning pro-gramme is now beingimplemented in more than50 schools. Project 511 iscurrently working with1,022 schools inHyderabad, Ranga Reddy,Sangareddy, Medchal andMedak districts. — VSR

Project 511 is aninitiative by the

Hyderabad RoundTable 8 that is

helping provideamenities ingovernment

schools

India is brimming with buddingauthors, each with a uniquevoice and publishing houses arebranching out through new-agemethods to tap into this talent

I

NARRATING STORIES THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

SETTING ATRENDApopular mall in the

city opened itsnew branch at AS

Rao Nagar, Hyderabadrecently. Guests at theevent were thrilled tohave one of SouthIndia’s most trendingactors VijayDeverakonda at theinaugural ceremony.The mall displayed itslatest collections in arelaxing ambience,along with chic andresplendentcreations to cater todiscerning tastes ofnot just thecommoners butcelebrities as well.Attendees were leftenthralled by anamazing array ofextremely stylishdesigner apparelthat follow thelatest trends infashion.

12

Hyderabad Friday September 27, 2019

lThis is a show wherecomedian AnubhavSingh Bassi will tell youan honest story abouthis career choices andlifestyle. ‘Bas Kar Bassi’is what he said tohimself when he wasfired from his last job.The show will be heldtill October 16 atKulapati MunshiSadan, King Koti,Basheer Bagh.

CITY GUIDE

INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVALlThe fifth edition ofthe IndianPhotography Festivalwill be held tillOctober 20 at variouslocations inHyderabad. IPF is aninternationalphotography festivalwhich showcasesvarious events, inclu-ding talks, discus-sions and more.

EXHIBITION

ART AAND CCULTURE

EMERGING PALETTES lA group art exhibition, aplatform for emergingartists to display their work,has organised its 11thedition in collaboration withGoethe-Zentrum. The eventwill be held till October 6 atShrishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills.

COMEDY

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get yourevents listed, please send your detailsalong with a poster and contact number

to features.pioneer@gmail.com

BAS KAR BASSI

FUNNY BUZZNESSlFunny Buzznessis a well knowncomedy gig seriesby Buzz KyaEntertainment andhas beeninstrumental inbringing up artistslike Amit Tandon,Sorabh Pant,Sumukhi Sureshand NaveenRichards.October 20 at 6pm HICC.

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

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.

FUN TIME

what’s brewing?24-CARATLAUNCHAbrand new collection of unique

designs were unveiled by apopular jewellery brand in the

city ahead of the festiveseason.The exclusively designedjewellery was worn by severalcelebrities who graced the occasion.More enticing pieces of jeweleryshall be showcased at anupcoming exhibition which willbe held from September 27-29at Taj Deccan, Banjara Hills.

PAR

TY

l Mamta Trivedi

l Bhavana l Tara Chowdary

l Chitra and Sowjanya l Lakshmi

l Vijay Deverakonda

lSu

maja

lSa

ndhy

a

lPr

eeti

Harja

s

Phot

os bb

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Char

y

fter waiting for a right release date forover six months, filmmaker Sai KiranAdivi of Vinayakudu and Kerinthafame has finally made up hismind to release

Operation Gold Fish, his latestdirectorial, next month.Featuring Aadi SaiKumar, Parvateesam,Karthik Raju, Nithya Naresh andManoj Nandam in lead roles, thefilm, shot in Kashmir Valley, Lambasingi,Araku and Hyderabad, is a cross-genreentertainer, serving both as a rom-comand an action drama. It touches upon the evic-tion of Kashmiri Pandits (in the late 1980s)from Kashmir. It has been cleared with a ‘U/A’certificate.

Aadi will be seen as an NSG commando inthe film, which in more ways is a make or breakproject for him on the career front. He is goingthrough a lean phase as his last spate of films— Sukumarudu, Pyaar Mein Padipoyane,Gaalipatam, Rough, Chuttalabbai andShamanthakamani — haven’t fared well at thebox-office. Although Rough and Chuttalabbaiwere safe films for distributors, a super hit haseluded him. His recent releases as well —Burrakatha and Jodi — have tanked miserably.

Operation Gold Fish will have some compe-tition from Vijay Deverakonda as well, as hisproduction venture, Meeku MaathrameCheptha, featuring Tharun Bhascker, AbhinavGomatam and Vani Bhojan, too is eyeing anOctober release.

Hyderabad Friday September 27, 2019

A

13

PURI BIRTHDAY

GIFT TO FANS:

iSMART'S

RE-RELEASE

ne of the biggest hits of the year,

iSmart Shankar, starring Ram, will be

visiting the cinema halls again starting

today. Film’s producer Charmmee Kaur

announced that the film, which grossed more than Rs 70 crore,

will be screened for three days this week in select theatres across the

Telugu states. She informed the re-release idea is director Puri Jagannadh’s birthday gift to

his fans. The director will be celebrating his 53th birthday on Saturday. The film

’s video songs

- Dhimaak Kharaab and the title song — both of which have been released earlier this week

have already set the YouTube on fire, clocking more than 18 million views till

Thursday

evening.

Meanwhile, we’ve learnt that new schedule of Puri’s production Romantic,

featuring his son Akash and newbie Ketika Sharma, will commence next

Monday in Hyderabad and will go on for 20 days. The director-produc-

er wants the film to be wrapped up by November. Prominent VFX

technician Anil Paduri is turning director with a project, a love

story written by Puri himself.

o

opular Tamil producer K.Gnanavel Raja, who has dis-tributed multiple Tamil filmsstarring Karthi in Telugubesides producing Vijay

Deverakonda-starrer NOTA, hasmoved Tamil Nadu Film ProducersCouncil (TFPC) recently, accusingcelebrated actor Kamal Haasan of notrepaying him Rs 10 crore.

The story supposedly goes like this:Haasan took a loan of Rs 10 crorefrom Raja when his Uttama Villainwas going through release woes. Heassured the producer that he wouldbe acting and directing a film with-in a budget of 40 crores (including theborrowed 10 crore rupees) for hisproduction house Studio Green soon.However, that didn’t happen. Neitherdid Kamal pay back the amount hetook despite four years passing bynor did he start work on the moviehe promised. What irked the produc-er further, according to reports, is thefact that Kamal is doing Indian 2besides contemplating a film for hisown production house, RajkamalProductions. Kamal hasn’t respond-ed on the issue yet.

OGF TO RELEASE,FINALLY!

p

GNANAVEL RAJAFILES COMPLAINTAGAINST KAMAL

tollywood

nnounced towards theend of May earlierthis year, Sumanth’snew project withdirector SantoshKumar who had earli-

er assisted for films likeAnaganaga O Dheerudu ,Jhummandi Nadam and EvarainaEppudaina has been called off.This newspaper has learnt thatsome creative differences betweenthe actor and the director are saidto be the reason. The film was tosee Sumanth in the role of a gang-ster.

“Sumanth initially said hewould be doing the project andlater proposed some changes tothe script. He was particular of hispart having a love story, while thedirector wasn’t, feeling that themovie will become a mash up ofall sorts. The latter wanted to keepthe film absolutely grounded andhe wasn’t in a mood to budge.Sensing that their differencesmight not be in the best interestof the film, they both parted waysamicably. The director has now

initiated talks with a prominentsupporting actor,” informed asource. Speaking about the themeof the film, the director earlier hadsaid people are never born goodor evil but are purely a victim oftheir surrounding circumstances.

“If they control their situations,they will do wonders in life. If sit-uations control them, they turnbad. That’s the line I'm treadingin the film,” he had said.

— NG

THE PRODUCERALLEGES THATKAMAL HASN’TREPAID RS 10 CRORETHE ACTOR TOOKFROM HIM

A

CREATIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ACTORSUMANTH AND DIRECTOR SANTOSH KUMARREGARDING THE SCRIPT ARE SAID TO BE THEREASON BEHIND CANCELLING THE PROJECT

SUMANTH'sgangster movie withdebutant called off

NAG TOINTRODUCEANOTHERDIRECTOR

fter Manmadhudu 2dashed his hopes,Nagarjuna was in aquandary whether to pro-ceed with Bangarraju, asequel to Soggade Chinni

Nayana or to look for other scripts.Although the buzz about him show-ing interest in Oopiri and Maharshiwriter Soloman's directorial debutmade rounds as soon as he returnedfrom Spain after where he celebratedhis 60th birthday, nothing substantialhas emerged, until now. After multi-ple rounds of narration, the superstarhas finally said yes to Solomon, ThePioneer has reliably learnt. The yet-to-be-titled film will be a light-heart-ed family entertainer dotted withaction.

"Nag has liked the content in thefirst narration itself but after hearingthe complete story in another sittinghe was convinced that this would behis next assignment. He also toldSolomon to go ahead with the pre-production. He rates the writer highas the former worked with VamshiPaidipally on adapting the story ofFrench hit movie The Intouchablessuccessfully into Telugu as Oopiri in

which Nagarjuna was the lead. Also,the fact that his son Naga Chaitanya,who will play a key role in Bangarraju,is occupied for the next six monthswith Sekhar Kammula's and DilRaju's production venture AdheNuvvu Adhe Nenu meant that he hadto push the sequel to the summer ofnext year," informed a source close tothe development.

The source further added Nag'sfilm with Solomon will go in front ofthe cameras in December. "The direc-tor is presently on location scouting.He is looking at New Delhi andMumbai to set portions of the film.Niranjan Reddy of MatineeEntertainments will produce it," thesource added.

In his 30-year old career, the super-star has always made it a point to workwith debutant directors. He intro-duced the likes of Ram Gopal Varma,U. Narayana Rao, Dasaradh, Kiran,Lawrence and Kalyan Krishna to thetinsel town. He believes workingwith the younger lot made him a star."The freshness they brought helpedme not only with my career but alsomy performance," he had said whilepromoting Manmadhudu 2.

A

Known for introducing new filmmakers tothe industry, Nag will now take a chance withOopiri writer, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

fter piquing the curiosity offans with cryptic posts ear-lier in June, Naomi Scott,Kristen Stewart and EllaBalinska have finallyrevealed the release

date of their much-awaited filmCharlie’s Angels reboot in India.The film, which is slated to hitthe theatres in English andHindi, will release onNovember 15. Film critic andtrade analyst Taran Adarshshared the news on his Twitterhandle along with the poster ofthe film. An intriguing poster ofthe movie shows Kristen stand-ing on top of the league followedby Ella in the middle, with gunsin both hands and standing at thelast spot was Naomi. The posterdescribes the tri as “unseen,”“undivided” and “unstoppable.” Thefilm is directed by Elizabeth Banks.Apart from the actor, another set oftrio Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, andLana Del Rey are seen featuring in thelatest track Don’t Call Me Angel from thefilm which is garnering several likes on socialmedia. Apart from the main leads, the film alsostars Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Tucker, Noah

Centineo, Sam Claflin and Djimon Hounsou.

ctor Aditya Seal, whowas last seen in Studentof the Year 2, has beenchosen as the leadingman of choreographer-director Bosco Leslie

Martis’ dance-horror-comedy film.Bosco said, “Aditya is a multi-talent-

ed artiste, who is a skilled dancer, actorand action performer. He fits in the lead-ing character’s shoes perfectly. We arefinalising the screenplay and should startthe pre-production work by October andrelease the film by February 2020,” headded. It is a Zee Studios production.

Some of the participants of DanceIndia Dance, a reality show that Boscojudges, will get an opportunity to act inhis upcoming film.

A

A

Hyderabad Friday September 27, 2019

14

celeb talks

ull House star John Stamosand actor Graham Phillipshave been cast in theupcoming live musical TheWonderful World ofDisney presents The Little

Mermaid Live!Stamos will reprise his role as the

eccentric French cook Chef Louis inthe one-night only special televisedevent. He previously portrayed thepart during a HollywoodBowl productionof the classicDisneyfilm

The Little Mermaid, reportsvariety.com.

Phillips will take on the role ofPrince Eric. Stamos’s other stageexperience includes a Broadway debutin How to Succeed in Business WithoutReally Trying, as well as being a partof the Tony Award-nominated TheBest Man and Tony-winning Nine andCabaret.

Phillips’ past live theatre experienceincludes originating the role of

Evan in Broadway’s 13.

AISHWARYATO PLAY

DOUBLE ROLE INMANI RATNAM'S

ADAPTATIONishwarya Rai Bachchan’s name made it to the

trending news on social media afterreports of her playing a double rolein Mani Ratnam’s next film sur-

faced. Going by a recentHindustan Times report,

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be seen in a double role inthe film, which is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s popu-lar historical novel Ponniyin Selvan (The Son of Ponni).

The Tamil film is being produced by LycaProductions and it is expected to go on floors

next year. As of now, the official cast of the filmhas not been announced. However, stars like

Amitabh Bachchan, Karthi, Jayam Ravi,Anushka Shetty, Keerthy Suresh,

Aishwarya Lekshmi and Amala Paulwill reportedly be a part of the pro-

ject.Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s lastrelease was the 2018 musical

Fanney Khan, co-starring AnilKapoor and Rajkummar Rao,which was a box office debacle.

She will next be seen in GulabJamun, co-starring her actor-hus-band Abhishek Bachchan. The filmwill be produced by Anurag Kashyap.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has earli-er worked with Mani Ratnam in the

2007 film Guru and the 2010 filmRaavan, both of which featured

Aishwarya’s husband AbhishekBachchan. The duo even worked

together in the 1997 Tamil film Iruvar,which marked Aishwarya’s debut in the

Tamil film industry.

t’s almost time for

singer Justin Bieber

and model Hailey

Baldwin’s big day!

The much-in-love

couple, who secretly

tied the knot last year, will be get-

ting hitched once again in an

extravagant ceremony, which is

scheduled to take place at the end

of this month. And with the wed-

ding date approaching, the prepa-

rations are in full swing.

A source told E! News that

Bieber and Baldwin intended to get

married in the presence of their

friends and family at the Montage

Hotel’s Palmetto Bluff location.

“They love the Montage brand

and visited the property and fell

in love with Palmetto Bluff and

the area,” the source said.

Although a source said “they

changed their minds so many

times,” it seemed like there was

no going back, especially because

they’d sent out the save the date

cards, according to TMZ.

With time ticking away, the

couple decided to go with South

Carolina. With the major details

squared away, Hailey and Justin

are really excited about the big day

but are hoping that hurricane

does not play spoilsport.

“They are also looking into hav-

ing a ceremony in California as a

last-minute alternative. They real-

ly want to have the ceremony at

their favourite hotel in South

Carolina, but are really in limbo

with any decision-making until

they figure out the storm situa-

tion,” the insider added.

According to the source, the

power couple is looking forward

to getting married outdoors,

amidst nature.

Speaking about the decor, the

source shared, “It will be partially

tented, but they want to get mar-

ried out in nature. The decor is

going to be very chic and neu-

tral. Hailey wants all white and

champagne-coloured decor

with beautiful green foliage. It’s

going to be classy.”

As for the guests, the cou-

ple is planning to invite a few

of their celebrity pals,

including Kourtney

Kardashian and Kendall

Jenner. When it comes to

the music, Bieber and

Baldwin have booked the

Love Again singer Daniel

Caesar. Daniel is a 24-

year-old singer. He was

born in Ontario,

Canada, just like Bieber!

So, the duo has a home-

town connection.

I

A

ADITYASEAL TOSTAR INBOSCO'SNEXTFILM

HAILEY AND JUSTIN'S WEDDING

PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING

CHARLIE'S ANGELSREADY FOR INDIA

F

JOHN STAMOS PARTOF THE LITTLEMERMAID'S CREW

sport 15HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

AFP n MADRID

Real Madrid's crisis hasbeen averted for thetime being at least after

they beat Osasuna 2-0 withoutEden Hazard and Gareth Baleto go top of La Liga.

Hazard and Bale wereamong a number of playersrested by coach ZinedineZidane, with Real facing sevengames in 21 days, the next ofthem against city rivalsAtletico Madrid on Saturday.

Vinicius Junior, who hasendured a diff icult fewmonths, filled the void, bend-ing a shot into the top cornerbefore crying tears of whatpresumably were a mixture ofjoy and relief on Wednesday.

This time last year the 19-year-old exploded onto thescene but injury and then a dipin form saw him drift, withthis a chance to reassert him-self in a much-rotated line-up.

If Vinicius was Madrid'sBrazilian sensation 12 monthsago, Rodrygo might be one forthe present.

The 18-year-old, who wasbought from Santos in 2018but joined last summer, addeda superb second goal, and hisfirst for the club, just oneminute after coming off thebench for a remarkable debut.

“I’m glad for them,” saidZidane. “Sometimes we forgetthey are 18 (and 19) years old.We have seen the emotion theyfelt about scoring at theBernabeu. I liked Rodrygo’sgoal but I liked the controleven more.”

Earlier, Atletico’s AlvaroMorata made a swift impacttoo but with less positiveresults after he was sent offeight minutes after beingintroduced as a substituteagainst Real Mallorca.

Atletico were already 2-0up thanks to goals from DiegoCosta and Joao Felix butMorata will now be suspend-ed for the derby at the WandaMetropolitano.

The Spaniard's dreadfulnight got worse as he alsoappeared to engage in a heat-ed exchange with a fan as helater left the stadium.

A week ago it would havebeen almost unthinkable thatAtletico would play their rivals

in a contest of first against sec-ond in La Liga but that couldnow be the setting this week-end, depending on Sevilla andReal Sociedad's results onThursday.

La Real beat Atletico, whowere then held to a goallessdraw by Celta Vigo, but by farthe deeper sense of gloom hadengulfed Zidane's side, afterthey were humbled 3-0 by

Paris Saint-Germain in theChampions League.

That was Real's worstdefeat under Zidane as coachand prompted questions aboutthe Frenchman's future, withJose Mourinho available andseemingly waiting in thewings.

Instead, back-to-back vic-tories for the first time sinceZidane came back in March

have lifted the malaise andoffered hope there is still lifein this Madrid squad, despitethe lack of change since thesummer.

“We believe in what wedo,” Zidane said. “With humil-ity and work you achieve a lot.This is just the start.”

JOVIC DENIEDThe only disappointment

might have been the lack of agoal for Luka Jovic, whomissed some excellent chancesand then did score, only tohave it ruled out by VAR.

Vinicius had started thefirst two games of the seasonbut none since, while he waswithout a goal himself in sevenmonths.

His first under Zidane wasa peach, coming in the 36thminute, a curling effort thattook the slightest of deflectionson its way into the top corner.

Jovic saw a smart finishruled out and then watched asRodrygo scored almostinstantly after coming on. Theteenager cushioned Casemiro's

crossfield pass beautifullybefore nipping inside Osasunadefender Lillo and banging theball low and into the net.

Atletico's players mighthave been keeping tabs ontheir way home from Mallorcabut their job was already doneafter Costa and Felix finallygot the goals to suggest theymight form a potent partner-ship together.

Costa’s was simple, asMallorca failed to clear Koke’scross and the striker nipped into head past goalkeeperManolo Reina.

Felix’s was more complexbut owed something to fortunetoo. The Portuguese did bril-liantly to bring a looping balldown but his finish on the turntook a cruel deflection beforespinning up and into the farcorner.

Morata’s moments of mad-ness, that included two book-ings in as many minutes afteran argument with Mallorca'sXisco Campos, should meanCosta and Felix reunite thisweekend.

AFP n LONDON

Manchester United sur-vived a League Cup scare

against third tier Rochdale asthey won 5-3 on penalties,while West Ham suffered ashock 4-0 defeat at Oxford.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer'sstruggling side were held to a1-1 draw at Old Trafford after16-year-old Luke Mathesonscored a 76th minute equalis-er following MasonGreenwood's opener forUnited eight minutes earlier.

With United in danger ofa humiliating exit, they heldtheir nerve in the shoot-out,winning 5-3 as Daniel Jamesconverted the decisive kickafter Sergio Romero savedRochdale's second penaltyfrom Jimmy Keohane.

Although United avoidedthe embarrassment of losing toa team 17th in League One, thesloppy manner of their perfor-mance will raise fresh ques-tions about Solskjaer’s ability toinspire his side.

United are languishing ineighth place in the PremierLeague after Saturday’s dismal2-0 defeat at West Ham leftthem with just two wins fromsix games.

“We go 1-0 up and youthink ‘come on, get a second’.It’s a learning curve,” Solskjaersaid.

“At this club we don’t sitback and think that's goodenough. That's not what wewant here.”

Liverpool eased to a 2-0victory at third tier MK Donsas Harvey Elliott became theyoungest player to start a com-petitive match for the club.

The 16-year-old put in anaccomplished display andtwice hit the crossbar as JamesMilner profited from terriblegoalkeeping from StuartMoore to put the Reds infront before Ki-Jana Hoeverwrapped up the win.

Frank Lampard got a firsthome win as Chelsea bossunder his belt as his youthfulside thumped fourth divisionGrimsby 7-1. Ross Barkleyopened the floodgates andMichy Batshuayi struck twice.

CHELSEA KIDS SHINE There were also goals for

Pedro, Kurt Zouma, ReeceJames and Callum Hudson-Odoi — the England wingermaking his first appearancesince suffering an Achillesinjury in April.

Lampard handed debuts tofour academy graduates as wellas a first start for Billy Gilmour.

Gilmour was a stand-outperformer in midfield and fel-low rookies James and MarcGuehi also impressed.

“I’m pleased, some debutsand the young lads who cameon improved the team whichwas nice. It's nice to get thatfirst home win,” Lampard said.

“I thought Gilmour ran thegame from midfield. It says alot about the academy, andnights like this give the oppor-

tunity to mix the team up andgive them a chance.”

At the Kassam Stadium,third tier Oxford reached thefourth round for the first timein 22 years thanks to a stun-ning victory against WestHam.

Second-half goals byElliott Moore, Matty Taylor,Tariqe Fosu and ShandonBaptiste left West Ham shell-shocked.

Hammers boss ManuelPellegrini made nine changesand handed a full debut toacademy graduate NathanHolland, but the understudiesweren’t up to the task.

Max Power's superb 25-yard strike in the ninth minutefired third tier Sunderland toa surprise 1-0 win at PremierLeague side Sheffield United.

Bournemouth were thethird Premier League club tocrash out as third tier Burton-- semi-finalists last season —won 2-0 in a match delayedthree times by floodlight fail-ure at the Pirelli Stadium.

Wolves beat second tierReading 4-2 on penalties aftera dramatic 1-1 draw.

Debutant Bruno Jordaoput Wolves ahead but LucasBoye headed Reading level inthe ninth minute of stoppage-time, setting up a shoot-outthat the Premier League teamwon comfortably.

Aston Villa cruised to a 3-1 win at Brighton thanks togoals from Jota, ConorHourihane and Jack Grealish.

AFP n ROME

Inter Milan made it five wins from fivegames with a 1-0 victory over Lazio as

Antonio Conte’s men reclaimed top spot inSerie A.

However, they needed goalkeeper SamirHandanovic, on the occasion of his 300thgame for Inter, to pull off a series of fine savesto ensure a win which allowed his team torestore their two-point lead over champi-ons Juventus on Wednesday.

The only goal of the game at the SanSiro came in the 23rd minute when Italianinternational full-back Danilo D'Ambrosioheaded in from close range off a cross fromCristiano Biraghi.

At the other end, Handanovic madesure that Inter’s miserly defensive record thisseason, which has seen just one goal con-ceded, remained intact as he denied FelipeCaicedo and Bastos before he thwarted TucuCorrea with a spectacular one-handedsave.

Inter summer signing Romelu Lukakuwas unable to add to his three goals in fourSerie A games having earlier been deniedthe chance to play against younger broth-er Jordan who was sidelined with a kneeinjury.

Lazio, meanwhile, went into the gamewith Ciro Immobile left on the bench aftera touchline row with coach Simone Inzaghiin last week's 2-0 win over Parma.

Duvan Zapata and Marten de Roonscored second-half goals as Atalanta con-demned Roma to a first league defeat of theseason, dashing England internationaldefender Chris Smalling's hopes of a win-ning debut.

The win at the Stadio Olimpico allowedAtalanta to climb into third place in the

table.Paulo Fonseca's Roma, meanwhile, are

in sixth spot, seven points off Inter Milan’space.

Atalanta opened the scoring in the 71stminute when Colombian internationalZapata, on as a second-half substitute,tucked the ball away from close range.

Dutch midfielder De Roon made sureof the victory with a last-minute, close-rangeheader after Roma goalkeeper Pau Lopezfailed to collect a cross.

It was a disappointing night for Smallingas the 31-time capped defender finally madehis Roma debut after moving on loan to Italyfrom Manchester United in the summer.

Napoli lost ground after a 1-0 defeatagainst Cagliari in Sardinia.

It was a second league defeat of the sea-son for Carlo Ancelotti’s side who dominat-ed large parts of Wednesday's match beforethey were undone by a goal on the counter-attack by Lucas Castro three minutes fromthe end. Dries Mertens twice his the wood-work for Napoli whose miserable eveningsaw Kalidou Koulibaly red-carded in thedying moments for protesting the goal.

Fiorentina moved off the bottom of thetable after a 2-1 win over Sampdoria gavethem a first win of the campaign.

AFP n PARC DES PRINCES

Paris Saint-Germain fell to ashock 2-0 loss to Reims at the

Parc des Princes on Wednesdayas headers from HassaneKamara and Boulaye Dia gavethe visitors a famous win.

The Ligue 1 champions,depleted by a spate of injuries,remain top of the table afterseven games, but have alreadylost twice this season after defeatat Rennes last month.

It was PSG's first home lossin the league since a 2-0 reverseat the hands of Rennes in May2018, ending an unbeaten run of22 matches at the Parc.

PSG only lead second-placed Angers on goal differ-ence, after Rachid Alioui's latedouble grabbed StephaneMoulin's side a 2-0 win atToulouse.

"I'm disappointed with ourperformance. The first 10,maybe 15, minutes went well butthen every minute that passedwas worse and worse," said PSGcoach Thomas Tuchel.

"We did not show what weare capable of doing -- so defeatis deserved."

Neymar, who had scoredlate winners in each of his pre-vious two Ligue 1 games, start-ed alongside Eric MaximChoupo-Moting and PabloSarabia up front, with EdinsonCavani, Kylian Mbappe andMauro Icardi all still injured.

But the Brazilian, who failedto force through a return toBarcelona in the close-season,was a peripheral figure and wasguilty of gifting Reims posses-sion on numerous occasions.

Tuchel was also forced toplay a makeshift midfield featur-ing full-back Juan Bernat, withMarco Verratti suspended.

The hosts made a slow start,despite Neymar going close witha free-kick, and fell behind justbefore the half-hour mark.

Reims, who also beat PSG 3-1 on the final day of last season,launched a rare attack andHassane Kamara rose to power-fully head home ZimbabweanMarshall Munetsi's right-wing

cross.PSG's injury woes intensi-

fied further shortly before half-time as Choupo-Moting hob-bled off to be replaced by AngelDi Maria, who had originallybeen rested and named as a sub-stitute.

Reims came agonisinglyclose to doubling their advan-tage in first-half injury-time, ascentre-back Yunis Abdelhamid'sheader bounced narrowly pastthe post.

PSG dominated possessionfor much of the second halfwithout posing a serious threat,and Reims again came withincentimetres of making it two assubstitute Remi Oudin's low,

left-footed effort struck the baseof the post.

And Dia entered the fraybefore planting another fineheader past the despairing diveof home goalkeeper KeylorNavas, sealing a richy-deservedvictory.

- Lille's Osimhen scoresagain -

Earlier on Wednesday,Nigerian striker Victor Osimhenscored as Lille moved into thirdwith a 2-0 victory overStrasbourg, while Lyon wereheld by Brest.

Last season's runners-upLille have now won all four oftheir home league games thisterm and sit two points adrift ofPSG.

Osimhen scored his sixthleague goal of the season

The 20-year-old Osimhenput Christophe Galtier's Lilleinto a 43rd-minute lead at theStade Pierre-Mauroy by lashinghome after some slackStrasbourg defending to net hissixth goal in seven games thisseason.

The three points weresecured 19 minutes into the sec-ond half as Osimhen turnedprovider for former Chelseaand Marseille forward LoicRemy to slide in his first goal ofthe campaign.

Elsewhere, Lyon saw theirwinless streak extended to sixmatches in all competitions witha 2-2 draw at promoted Brest.

AFP n CHINA

Ashleigh Barty marched intoher sixth semi-final of the sea-

son Thursday, describing her vic-tory over Petra Martic in Wuhanas one of the best matches she'splayed in recent times.

The world number oneimpressed in a highly-entertainingquarter-final that saw her fire 39winners en route to a 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 6-3 win against Martic.

Barty now gets a shot atrevenge when she takes on pow-erful Belarusian Aryna Sabalenkaon Friday in a rematch of theirWuhan semi-final last year.Against Martic, Barty fell behindearly in the first and third sets, butretaliated with some creative shot-making to reach the last four fora third year in a row.

"I think that was a very, veryhigh-quality match. I think thatwas probably one of the bettermatches that I've played in recenttimes," said the reigning FrenchOpen champion. "It could havegone either way. I was happy howI was able to fight in the end, puta lot of pressure on her in a lot ofthose service games in the third."

Martic, the world number 22from Croatia, had not lost a three-setter since March, but saw herstreak of 16 on the trot snapped bythe relentless Barty.

"She's one of the best moverson the tour," Barty said of Martic."That (streak) doesn't surprise

PTI n ANTWERP

Mandeep Singh and AkashdeepSingh scored in the second

half to guide the Indian men's hock-ey team to a superb 2-0 win overBelgium in the opening game of thethree-match series here on Thursday.

Mandeep and Akashdeep sound-ed the board in the 39th and 54thminute respectively to seal the matchin India's favour.

In a gritty first quarter, India werethe ones who took the initiative early,forcing Loic van Doren into a savefrom the first Penalty Corner of thegame.

Soon it was India's turn to defendand Krishan Pathak, who started thegame in the goal was up to the task,

pulling off a smart save off a BelgiumPenalty Corner to ensure the teamswent into the break locked in a stale-mate.

India rushed off the blocks inthe second quarter and had a suc-cession of Penalty Corners withinthe first minute of the period.

The Belgium defense was athand though denying them anopener. Despite controlling a largeamount of possession, India foundit difficult to find a breakthrough.The teams went into half-time

without troubling the scorers.India kept the tempo up in the

third period and forced van Doreninto multiple saves. All the circleentries and creative play finallyfound it's reward in the 39thminute as Mandeep scored to givethem the lead. It was this narrowlead they carried into the finalquarter.

Belgium were forced in theattack in the final quarter andalmost immediately tested Sreejeshin goal. He was up to the task

pulling off a succession of saves tokeep his team in the lead.

India capitalised on Belgium'sattacking necessity to earn a pair ofPCs themselves. Van Doren's hero-ics prevented a second. In the54th minute, Akashdeep Singhfinished off a slick move to doubleIndia's lead.

It was a lead they held to fin-ish the game and take a 1-0 lead inthe series.

The second game will be playedon September 28.

Brazilian flair at Bernabeu

Red Devils escapesetback at Old Trafford

Barty in partymood after epicWuhan win

Inter make it five out of 5 PSG suffer first home defeat

INDIA BEAT BELGIUM 2-0

Vinicius, Rodrygo score as Real Madrid beat Osasuna to go top of La Liga

WE BELIEVE INWHAT WE DO,"ZIDANE SAID.

"WITHHUMILITY AND

WORK YOUACHIEVE A LOT.THIS IS JUSTTHE START

PTI n MUMBAI

India’s Test vice-captainAjinkya Rahane finds it“hard” to see Rohit Sharma

sitting out as he seeks to revive hiscareer in the traditional format inthe role of an opener.

Rahane was back in formduring the West Indies series andalong with Hanuma Vihari, hehas cemented the two availableslots in the middle-order,prompting the team manage-ment to try out Rohit as an open-er in the upcoming South AfricaTests.

Rahane was asked to give hisopinion on Rohit’s new role andthe ever non-controversial right-hander didn't give a direct reply.

“You want an answer actual-ly? I don't know yet whetherRohit will open the innings. If hedoes, I will be happy for him. Isaid in West Indies also, it is hardto see a special talent like Rohitsitting out,” Rahane said at a pro-motional event here on Thursday.

Rohit has three hundreds in27 Tests and an average of a shadeunder 40. Many believe thatRohit's audacious strokeplay hasbrought about his downfall, butRahane thinks otherwise.

“He has worked so hard andif he gets an opportunity, I amsure, he will do well,” Rahaneexuded confidence.

“We all know the quality hehas — special talent. Test crick-et is all about mindset and ODIcricket, you can just go out thereand back yourself. In Test crick-et, sometimes if two bowlers arebowling good spells, you need torespect that and come out strongand play your game after that,” hesaid.

For the 31-year-old, one of

the bigger challenges is to getmore matches when someone isjust playing one internationalformat, which is Test cricket inhis case.

“The only challenge you haveis getting match practice.Sometimes, match practice isreally important and facing qual-ity bowlers is important. At thehighest level, you face qualitybowlers all the time. All of themare equally good. You don't getloose balls easily.

“You need to practice reallyhard. Your practice sessionsshould be really hard so thatwhen you step into play a match,it gets easy for you. Preparationand process is the key.

“You need to believe yourselfand come out strongly. If I cankeep my mind at the present —that is Test cricket — otherthings will fall automatically," saidthe senior batsman, who hasplayed 58 Tests and 90 ODIs.

Having last played an ODI 18months ago, Rahane wants tohave another shot at the 50-overformat.

“Apart from Tests, I reallyenjoy playing ODI cricket aswell. I want to comeback toODIs. Right now, the focus iscompletely on this series. Afterthe Australia series, there was along break. When I got to knowthat I was not part of the WorldCup squad, my plan was to playcounty cricket and luckily theHampshire people called me andasked about the county cricket.”

Time at English countyHampshire was well spent, saidRahane.

“I thought I can actually usemy time really well and learnabout cricket and life. It’s a com-pletely different experience when

you play county cricket. Here, weget things so easily. In countycricket, you need to do every-thing on your own,” recalledRahane.

County cricket provided himwith a lot of soul searching andhe fell in love with the sport allover again.

“Apart from cricket, smallthings helped me a lot. I used towalk alone after the practice ses-sion and think what was mythinking when I started playingcricket. The answer was that Ienjoyed cricket rather than focus-ing on the outcome. When youthink about focus and outcome,you put yourself under pressure.

“In county cricket, those twomonths, I learnt a lot. I playedseven matches and the focuswas actually on red ball becauseI knew we would play Dukes ballin the West Indies. Trusting yourability was thekey.”

W h i l eIndia will bef a v o u r i t e sagainst SouthAfrica, Rahanesaid that the likesof Kagiso Rabadaand KeshavMaharaj need to berespected.

“Rabada is aquality bowler. He is awicket-taker. It doesn'tmatter how the wicket willbe. We have to respect him andthe other bowlers.

They have got a relativelyyoung team, but their bowlingattack -- fast bowlers and spinnersare experienced. Keshav Maharajhas played county cricket and didwell in red ball. You need torespect them," he signed off.

sport 16HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

PTI n VIZIANAGARAM (ANDHRA PRADESH)

Bracing up for the upcoming Test series againstIndia, South African batsman Aiden Markram has

acknowledged that some of his teammates "might stillbe carrying a bit of baggage” of the 0-3 drubbing theyendured in 2015 here.

The last time South Africa toured India for Testsfour years ago, the visitors were thrashed by ViratKohli’s men. Markram was 20 then and had not yetmade his international debut. The upcoming three-match series starts October 2 in Visakhapatnam.

“I remember watching that series a few years agoand it looked incredibly difficult. And I'm sure there'sa bit of baggage that certain players that were on thattour might still be carrying but that's completely fine,”Markram was quoted as saying by ICC's official web-site. “I think it's never an easy tour coming to anywherein the subcontinent, let alone India. It's full of chal-lenges, but if we can conquer those challenges it willbe really rewarding,” he added.

The opener, who has played 17 Tests so far andscored 1358 runs, hoped to draw from his recent expe-rience with the A team.

“From a personal perspective, it was nice to spendtime out in the middle. I think the wickets we get will

be a lot different to the wickets we gotin the A series,” Markram said.

"In the field as well, it was nicefor us as fielders to be on our feetfor long periods of time and for our

bowlers to bowl plenty of spells inthese hot conditions. I took a lot

from the A side games and I'mready to go in the Test match-es.” The 24-year-old Markramprepared for the Tests with afine 161 for the 'A' side in theirsecond four-day gameagainst India A in Mysore.

“The guys are positiveand upbeat and we're main-

taining a really good lan-guage in the change-room, a really stronglanguage. “At the end ofthe day, we're not going

to harp on about condi-tions, we pretty much know whatto expect and we just need to getthe job done,” he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former India opener GautamGambhir feels it is not fair to

criticise Rishabh Pant so early inhis career and urged skipperVirat Kohli and coach RaviShastri to guide him on shotselection.

Pant, who is India’s firstchoice wicketkeeper in all threeformats, received flak for hispoor shot selection following astring of low scores in therecent limited over series againstWest Indies and South Africa.

“I feel if you focus solely ona young player, who has been inthe international arena for justaround a year, he will feel thepressure,” Gambhir said on thesidelines of an event.

“In such a short time, he(Pant) has smashed two Testtons. If you don't find his shotselections ideal, it is his style ofplay. If you give him a chance inthe team then kindly back himand it is wrong to criticise himso early.

“Not only (Virat) Kohli butalso coach Ravi Shastri shouldtalk to Pant. It is the duty of theteam management to personal-ly talk to the player who is notin form or if he is not perfectwith his shot selection as it

would help him improve andregain his touch. There is a needto give him freedom,”heexplained.

There has been a lot ofspeculation regarding formerskipper Mahendra SinghDhoni’s retirement after hemade himself unavailable for theseries against West Indies andSouth Africa.

“I have always said that thedecision to retire is anyone's per-sonal call. I feel the selectorsshould talk to Dhoni and askhim about his plans because ifyou play for India, you cannotselect the series you want toplay,” Gambhir said.

On the conflict of interest

issue surrounding former cap-tain Rahul Dravid, Gambhirsaid: “It is a tough question.Nothing could be better for thecountry and the youngsters ifDravid is the NCA coach.”

Jasprit Bumrah has beenruled out of the three-matchhome series against SouthAfrica due to a back injury andGambhir said India will miss theservices of the experiencedpacer. “He is the number onebowler in Test cricket. Surely, theteam will miss him. Bumrah isundoubtedly a great challengefor any team in any format ofthe game and his absence willaffect the side,” said the Delhibatsman, who was part of India’s

2011 World Cup winning team.Rohit Sharma has been

included in the Test team as anopener and Gambhir said theMumbaikar is ready for the

challenge.“Rohit slammed five cen-

turies in the World Cup and so,his inclusion in the team is nota surprise,” he said.

PTI n INCHEON

Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap on Thursdayadvanced to the Korea Open men’s singles quar-

terfinal after a three-game triumph over Malaysia'sDaren Liew here.

The 33-year-old from Hyderabad prevailed21-17 11-21 21-12 over Daren, who is a 2018World Championship bronze medallist, in a con-test that lasted 56 minutes.

He will next square off against for-mer world no 2, Denmark’s Jan OJorgensen, an opponent he lastplayed five years ago at theDenmark Open.

The 31-year-old Danish shut-tler beat eight seeded IndonesianAnthony Sinisuka Ginting 17-21 21-16 21-13 in 58 minutes.

Overall, Kashyap has a 2-4record against Jorgensen, a2015 World Championshipbronze medallist.

“In the first patch inthe second game hewas playing really well.I was struggling andonce he had a big lead,he played some verygood shot. It was toughto make the scoresequal.

“In the third game,I pushed the tempoand played a fast-paced game. I didn'tgive him a big lead.”

On playingJorgensen after a long

gap, Kashyap said: “It would be a good match. Hebeat Ginting, so he is in good form. I don't knowwhy he didn't play China Open. It will be a toughmatch. Let's see.”

The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist is the lone Indian left in the fray in theBWF World Tour Super 500 tournament.

Kashyap entered the match with a 2-2 head-to-head record against Daren, having beaten theMalaysian on the way to his CommonwealthGames gold in 2014.

In the match, Daren opened up a 4-2 leadearly on but Kashyap ensured he had a 11-8advantage at the interval. The Indian reeled offfour straight points after the break to make it15-10.

Daren, however, reduced the deficit to 14-15 before Kashyap accumulated three

points at 18-17 to pocket the openinggame.

In the second game, Daren cameout firing on all cylinders and grabbed13 straight points to create a huge gap,

which Kashyap couldn't bridge toallow the Malaysian to roar back

into the contest.In the decider, Kashyap

produced a blazing run, surg-ing from 1-2 to 12-2 with 11

points. The Indian contin-ued to move ahead evenas Daren crumbled.

Earlier, worldchampion P VSindhu and thes e a s o n e d

Saina Nehwalcrashed out follow-

ing first-round setbacks.

PTI n JAMSHEDPUR

Chief national badmintoncoach Pullela

Gopichand on Thursdayexuded confidence thatIndian shuttlers will put upa good show at the TokyoOlympics, bettering theirperformance from the lasteditions.

“We have been perform-ing well for the last over adecade and God willing, wewill win better medals in the2020 Olympics,” Gopichandsaid when asked if Indianshuttlers will be able tochange the colour of themedal at the Tokyo OlympicGames.

Saina Nehwal had wonthe bronze medal in the2012 London Olympicsbefore P V Sindhu betteredit with a silver in the last edi-tion at 2016 Rio Games.

“God willing, we willwin better medal as thecountry has been perform-ing well since 2008 at inter-national arena,” Gopichandsaid.

Gopichand, who washere to attend a function‘Celebration of Sports’ orga-

nized by Tata Steel, said:“During the last threedecades, we have achieved’alphabetical' and ‘numerical’literacy but have gone downas far as 'physical literacy'was concerned." Gopichand,a 2001 All EnglandChampion, advised childrento be disciplined and workhard to achieve goals.

Recalling his formativeyears when he had failed inan engineering examinationin 1991, Gopichand said,“My mother used to apply

for a job for me in every cor-porate house as she was verymuch concerned about myfuture.

“However, I had wonthe junior national title andalso joined Tata Steel inJamshedpur in the same year(1991),” Gopichand said.

To a question on diet andsport science, Gopichandsaid, "Indian culture, knowl-edge and age-old traditionhave a lot of values and weshould not leave it to go afterWestern world completely.

RAHANE BACKS ROHIT FOR NEW ROLEIndia Test vice-captain says Test cricket is all about mindset and he is sure Rohit will do well as opener

Players still carryingbaggage of lastdefeat: Markram

IANS n MUMBAI

India head coach Ravi Shastrihas put his weight behind

under-fire Rishabh Pant, sayingthe wicketkeeper-batsman is aworld class player and the teammanagement will give him allthe support he needs to prosperin international cricket.In the recent times, Pant hasbeen criticised for his lack ofconsistency with the bat,compounded buy the manner inwhich he gets dismissed."Pant is different, he is worldclass and is a brutal match-winner. Very few around in theworld game; I can't pick five onmy hands when it comes towhite-ball cricket, T20 cricket.So the patience we will havewith him is a lot," Shastri toldHindustan Times.He further said the 21-year-oldhas "already done enough" andwill only learn with experience

in the time to come.“All your media reports and allthe experts writing (but) Pant isin great space with this Indianteam. Experts, they have a job,they can speak. Pant is a specialkid and he has already doneenough. And he is only going tolearn. This team managementwill back him to the hilt.”The Indian head coach alsospoke about his previouscomment on Pant where he hadasked the left-handed batter totake more responsibility.“Don't say team management, Ispoke about 'the rap on theknuckles’ . If someone goofsup, I have to pull them up,” hesaid.“Am I there only to play tabla?But this guy is world class, thisguy can be destructive, can be adestroyer. And we will give himall the support that he needs toprosper in international cricket,”he added.

We have patience with ‘worldclass' Pant: Shastri

Gopichand hopeful aboutgood show at Olympics

Kashyap in Korea quarters

AFP n KARACHI

Karachi hosts a one-day inter-national for the first time in

10 years when Pakistan take ona depleted Sri Lanka on Friday,furthering the country's revival ininternational cricket.

“History will be made onFriday when Karachi will host thefirst ODI,” said Pakistan captainSarfaraz Ahmed.

“We must thank the SriLankan team for touring us.”

Teams have been reluctant tovisit the cricket-mad countrysince a militant attack on the SriLankan team bus in Lahore in2009.

Although no players werekilled in the attack, several wereinjured and eight people died.

The attack forced Pakistan toplay all their “home” Tests andmost of their short-form gamesin the United Arab Emirateswith Zimbabwe becoming thefirst team to return to Pakistan in2015.

That tour was followed by aTwenty20 series by a World XI in2017, a one-off T20 match againstSri Lanka that same year, and theWest Indies for a Twenty20 seriesin Karachi in 2018.

The current tour — compris-ing of three one-day internation-als and as many Twenty20s —was tainted by the withdrawal of10 Sri Lankan players who citedsecurity fears.

Sri Lanka then stalled thetour after receiving informationof a possible militant attack on theteam, before the all clear wasfinally given last week.

High security Pakistan have put in place

stringent security measures nor-mally reserved for heads of state.

All the arrangements arebeing led by the country's mili-tary, with around 2,000 securitypersonnel on alert at the team's

hotel and at the ground.Sri Lankan skipper Lahiru

Thirimanne -- captaining theside after regular skipper DimuthKarunaratne pulled out -- is con-fident cricket will be in focus.

“The security has been real-ly first class," said Thirimanne onThursday. "We didn't have anyproblems. The facilities here arereally good. Actually we are notallowed to go out from the hotel,so we did some get together andplayed some FIFA games and car-rom.”

Thirimanne, the most expe-rienced player in the squad with125 ODIs, accepted the serieswould be difficult without somany key men.

“It’s a good challenge because10 of our senior players are nothere. First of all we must respecttheir decision because it's notabout personal decision, youhave to talk about with your fam-ilies when you take this kind ofdecision.

“Regarding the challenge weare getting here, it’s a very goodside, I must say that Pakistan hasnamed their best side so, yeah,the thing is we’ll have lot ofyoungsters so it's good opportu-nity for them to come up andshowcase their talent.”

Sarfaraz and fast bowlerWahab Riaz are the onlyPakistani players who haveplayed a one-day international inKarachi before — back in 2008.

“I can't wait for Friday,” saidSarfaraz, who took over as ODIcaptain in 2017.

The remaining ODIs willalso be in Karachi on Sundayand Wednesday.

The two teams will alsoplay three Twenty20 interna-tionals — all in Lahore — onOctober 5, 7 and 9.

Teams:Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed

(captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asif Ali,Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail,Mohammad Hasnain, IftikharAhmed, Imad Wasim,Mohammad Amir, MohammadNawaz, Mohammad Rizwan,Shadab Khan, Usman Shinwari,Wahab Riaz

Sri Lanka: LahiruThirimanne (captain),Danushka Gunathilaka,Sadeera Samarawickrama,Avishka Fernando, OshadaFernando, Shehan Jayasuriya,Dasun Shanaka, MinodBhanuka, Angelo Perera,Wanindu Hasaranga, LakshanSandakan, Nuwan Pradeep,Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha,Lahiru Kumara

PTI n VIZIANAGARAM

The opening day of thewarm-up game

between Board President'sXI and the visiting SouthAfrica side was washedout after heavy rain playedspoilsport here onThursday.

The first day's pro-ceedings was called off inthe post-lunch session asrain lashed the PVG RajuACA Sports Complex.This is South Africa's onlywarm-up game before thef irst Test begins inVisakhapatnam onOctober 2.

The focus of thewarm-up match is BoardPresident's XI skipperRohit Sharma, who will beopening the innings as apre-cursor to the openingTest.

The other two Indiaplayers in action are open-er Mayank Agarwal andpacer Umesh Yadav.

Karachi readyfor ODI return

Rain washout1st day of SAtour gamePakistan to host Sri Lanka for 1st ODI

at National Stadium after 10 years

Kohli should talk to Pant: Gambhir