PNS n AMARAVATI

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment on Monday appointedover 1.26 lakh employees,claimed to be the first of itskind in the country in terms ofnumbers in a single recruit-ment drive, under a new gov-ernance initiative of Villageand Ward Secretariats, beinglaunched on October 2.

This should be written ingolden letters in the countryshistory. Never before werethese many permanent gov-ernment jobs created in one goanywhere in the country andemployees recruited in arecord time of just two months,Chief Minister Y S JaganMohan Reddy said.

While over 21 lakh candi-dates applied for various postsin these Secretariats, thatwould deliver about 500 pub-lic services, a total of 19.50 lakhappeared for the written exam-inations from September 1 to8. Of the 1,98,164 candidatesqualified in these examina-tions, 1,26,728 have been givenjobs, including 31,640 in urban

areas. The Chief Minister ini-tiated the process of handingover appointment letters to thequalified candidates at a func-tion in Vijayawada on Monday.

The Village and WardSecretariats would becomefully functional across the statefrom December first week, heannounced on the occasion.

Each Secretariat would have10-12 employees related todepartments like panchayat

raj and rural development,revenue, medical and health,animal husbandry, power, agri-culture and social welfare inrural areas and municipal ser-vices in urban areas.

Besides, there would be awoman police and womenand child welfare assistant ineach Secretariat to take care ofwomen protection and coun-selling.

Continued on Page 2

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

CELEB TALKS 14‘MARDAANI 2’ WILL SEE WOMENSTAND UP AGAINST EVIL: RANI

ANALYSIS 9GANDHIGIRIIN REAL LIFE

SPORTS 16CAN’T TAKE PROTEAS

LIGHTLY: RAHANE

HYDERABAD, TUESDAY OCTOBER 1, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

}FELT THE PRESSURE OF

DOING A FEMALE-CENTRIC FILM

Page 13www.dailypioneer.com

{

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 358*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 29, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Ashwini& Sukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Dwitiya : 04:49 pm

Nakshatram: Chitra : 04:29 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 07:38 am – 09:07 pm

Yamagandam: 10:36 pm – 12:06 pm

Varjyam: 09:35 pm - 11:03 pm

Gulika: 01:35 am - 03:04 pm

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 10:47 am - 12:13 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:43 am - 12:29 pm

Forecast: Isolated ThunderstormsTemp: 28/22Humidity: 92%Sunrise: 06.06Sunset: 06.06

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Taking a tough stand on theindefinite strike call given byvarious employees unions ofTSRTC from October 5, theTelangana government is all setto invoke the Essential ServicesMaintenance Act (Esma) toensure there is no disruption inbus services. The strike call hasbeen given bang in the middleof the ongoing festive season ofBathukamma and Dasara, con-sidered major festivals in

Telangana when lakhs of peo-ple travel to their native places.

The strike during Dasara,known to be peak passengerrush season for RTC, came asa jolt to the corporations as wellas the state government.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, who tookserious view of strike called dur-ing Dasara, convened an emer-gency Cabinet meeting onTuesday to discuss measures tobe taken to deal with the RTCstrike.

Continued on Page 2

TS Govt to invoke ESMAto deal with RTC strike

PNS n WASHINGTON

Saudi Arabia's crown princewarned in an interview broad-cast on Sunday that oil pricescould spike to "unimaginablyhigh numbers" if the worlddoes not come together todeter Iran, but said he wouldprefer a political solution to amilitary one.

Speaking to the CBS pro-gram "60 Minutes,"Mohammed bin Salman, akaMBS, the kingdom's de factoruler, also denied that heordered the killing of journal-ist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudioperatives nearly a year ago, butsaid he ultimately bears "fullresponsibility" as the leader ofhis country.

While Khashoggi's deathsparked a global uproar andtarnished the crown prince'sreputation, the Trump admin-istration's tense standoff withIran, Saudi Arabia's arch-foe,has more recently dominatedU.S. policy toward Riyadh,

especially after the Sept. 14attacks on the heartland of theSaudi oil industry. "If the worlddoes not take a strong and firmaction to deter Iran, we will seefurther escalations that willthreaten world interests," thecrown prince said. "Oil supplieswill be disrupted and oil priceswill jump to unimaginablyhigh numbers that we haven'tseen in our lifetimes."

The crown prince, in an

interview conducted onTuesday in Saudi Arabia, saidhe agreed with U.S. Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo that theSept. 14 attacks, which dam-aged the world's biggest petro-leum-processing facility andknocked out more than 5% ofglobal oil supply, were an act ofwar by Iran.

But he said he preferred apeaceful resolution because awar between Saudi Arabia and

Iran would collapse the globaleconomy.

The United States, Europeanpowers and Saudi Arabia haveblamed the attacks on Iran.Tehran has denied any involve-ment. Instead, the Iran-alignedYemeni Houthi rebel groupclaimed responsibility.

"The political and peacefulsolution is much better than themilitary one," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State MikePompeo arrived in the UAEfrom Saudi Arabia on Thursdayfor talks with Abu Dhabi'scrown prince, as tensions grewbetween America and its Gulfallies and Iran.

Continued on Page 3

Saudi prince MBS warns of‘unimaginably high’ oil prices

If the world does not takea strong and firm action to

deter Iran, we will see furtherescalations that will threatenworld interests

— MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, Saudi Arabia's crown prince

AP govt creates history, recruits1.26 lakh staff in one stroke

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy hands over anappointment letter to a woman in Amaravati on Monday

MAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

Telangana's only 'DopplerRadar', which helps track ofcloud movement, makes weath-er forecasts and records rainfallfor the India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) Hyderabadobservatory, has been dysfunc-tional for the third day in a row.

"We are repairing the radar,but cannot say how long it willtake. Engineers from Delhi aretrying to understand the issuerelated to the antenna, which hassome difficulty for about amonth, said IMD meteorologistSridhar. As a result, IMD is rely-ing on satellite material andother tools, which are not very

accurate, to forecast the weath-er in Hyderabad. "The problemwas intensified when it stoppedon Saturday. After that we werenot being able to foresee warn-ings, and therefore we have

been dependent on IMD obser-vatories in Chennai,Machilipatnam andVisakhapatnam. TheVisakhapatnam observatory alsoreportedly stopped working dueto UPS problems," the Met offi-cial said. "Our radar uses elec-

tromagnetic waves to detectthe intensity of surface rainfalland precipitation accumulationamid other things, which help usin composing weather predic-tions for up to 500 km radiusand effectively to up to 300 km,"said Sridhar. "The data we getfrom our radar is priceless," hesaid, adding, "All other privateweather forecast companies like'Skymet Weather' and the'Weather Channel' depend onour data of now-casting, that isweather forecasting on a veryshort term mesoscale period ofup to 2 and 4 hours, which helpsus in declaring real-time warn-ings for the city that now we arenot being able to do."

The automatic weather sta-

tions of Telangana StateDevelopment and PlanningSociety (TSDPS) can be used totrack real-time weather.However, foreseeing warnings istechnically impossible.

Meanwhile, without anywarning, rain poured down itstorrents in Hyderabad onMonday noon. Between 8.30 amand 6.30 pm, western parts ofthe city recorded rainfallbetween 6 and 7 cm. The sub-urbs also recorded rain of about5 cm. In Hyderabad, after a spellof even moderate 5 cm rainmost of the suburbs got partiallyinundated, arterial roads wereblocked and a few were shutdown by the traffic police toavoid casualties.

IMD’s Doppler Radar conks off: Hyd forecasts become iffy

Banks toremain closedfor 11 days in OctoberHYDERABAD: Banks inTelugu States will remainclosed for 11 days in October- counting second and fourthSaturdays, Sundays and festi-vals including Dasara andDiwali, People of the twostates have therefore beenurged to plan their financialtransactions in advance.

Banks will remain closed onOctober 2 on account ofGandhi Jayanti. Further, theywill not do business on October7, a Sunday, on October 7because of Sri Ramanavami fes-tival, and October 8 on accountof Dasara.

Continued on Page 2

SC dismissespetition onInter studentssuicidesNEW DELHI: A SupremeCourt Bench comprisingJustice Naveen Sinha andJustice Gavai on Monday dis-posed of the petition filed bychild rights group BalalaHakkula Sangham and refusedto intervene in the high courtorders on Intermediate stu-dents' suicides due to irregu-larities in the results.

The Sangham hadapproached the SC for ordersto prevent a recurrence of suchincidents. The SC remindedthe petitioner that the courthad already quashed a petitionfiled by Kondal Rao on theissue. It made it clear that thecourt does not concur with theview of the petitioner that the Inter results triggered thesuicides.

Bihar deputy CM, familyrescued from homePNS n PATNA

Bihar Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Modi and his familywere among hundreds ofpeople in Patna who werestranded in their homes afterthe city was pounded by rain,the heaviest in two decades.Mr Modi was seen beingtaken in an orange, inflatablerubber boat along with otherpeople. Heavy rain killed 27people in Bihar as floodwaters swamped the capitalcity, home to around 2 mil-lion, and several other dis-tricts over the last three days.

The Deputy Chief Ministerwas in a pair of shorts, a greypolo-neck t-shirt and Crocswhen he was moved out bythe National and StateDisaster Response Forcespersonnel. After getting outof the boat, he gave instruc-

tions to policemen and otherofficials.

He and his wife were seenstanding behind an ambu-lance with bags next to them.

Private hospitals, medicalstores and other shops inPatna were submerged inwaist-deep water. Visualsshowed flooding at NalandaMedical College Hospital,the second largest health-care facility in the city.Abird's eye view of Patna madethe city appear like a hugelake dotted with concretestructures. Posh low-lyingareas like Rajendra Nagarand Pataliputra Colony wereflooded.

"The rains have stoppedbut there is waterlogging inmany areas," Bihar'sAdditional Secretary in theDisaster Relief DepartmentAmod Kumar Sharan said.

KCR to hold emergency Cabinet meet today

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana HighCourt on Mondayissued notices tothe state govern-ment and othersconcerned torespond to a PILfiled challenging itsdecision to allocate twoacres of prime land toDharmadhikari of Sri SaradaPeetham of Visakhapatnam

district in Andhra Pradesh.The land was allotted to

the Peetham by stategovernment vide GOno. 71 on June 22,2019 at a nominalrate of Re 1 per acre.The land is situated

at Survey no. 240 ofKokapet area in

Gandipet mandal ofRangareddy district.

Continued on Page 3

HC issues notice to TSGovt on land allotment

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Huzurnagar Assembly regis-tered a total of 76 nominationsfor the bypoll by the time filingof nominations closed onMonday. This in itself is animpressive figure for a by-elec-tion, to give company to therecord set in Nizamabad duringLok Sabha polls when a record185 nominations were filed inthe constituency.

To be sure, an astounding 109would-be candidates filed nom-inations on Monday alone, but40 papers filed by villageSarpanchs were rejected by theEC outright. This reduced thefigure of nominations filed to 76at the close.

Among the prominent onesto file papers on the last day wereS Saidi Reddy from the TRS,Padmavathi Reddy fromCongress, Kota Ramarao fromBJP, Chava Kiranmai of TDP,

Parepally Sekhar Rao of CPMand Theenmar Mallanna as anIndependent.

Along with the mainstreampolitical parties, several othersfiled their nominations to lodgetheir protest against the han-dling of affairs by the state gov-ernment. Some student leadersfrom Osmania University andKakatiya Universityfiled theirpapers top r o t e s tthe failureof the gov-ernment in fill-ing job vacan-cies. Some farmerstoo filed papers in protests relat-ed to Podu lands.

Some other Sarpanchs andlabour union leaders also filednominations to protest the stategovernment's stance on 'chequepower' and other issues.Interestingly, an 85-year-oldwoman filed her papers to lodge

protest against the governmentover 'encroachment' on her 100-acre land.

The validity of nominationspapers will be known onTuesday after a scrutiny of thenomination papers is done.

Sources said some of theSarpanchs whose papers were

rejected left the ReturningOfficer's premises in tears.

They were allegedlymade to wait in the

office till 6.30pm, afterwhich officialstold them that

their nominationswould not be accepted, withoutciting any reasons.

The Election Commissionwill scrutinise nominations onOctober 1, while the last date forwithdrawal of nominations isOctober 3. By-elections inHuzurnagar will be held onOctober 21 and the results willbe announced on October 24.

Woman, 85, files papers in protest

PNS n SURYAPET

An 85-year-old woman,protesting against officials notgiving a pattadar passbook forher 100-acre land, on Mondayfiled nomination papers for theby-poll in the HuzurnagarAssembly seat. LakshmiNarsamma of Huzurnagartown has been doing rounds ofthe revenue department officefor the past several monthsseeking issue of the passbook.Residents of Gurrampodutribal hamlet in Mattampallimandal accompanied the oldwoman while she filed thenominations papers. Theyaccused revenue authorities ofdenying pattas due to them.

It may be recalled thatturmeric and red sorghumfarmers of Armoor mandalhad en masse filed their nom-inations in the recent Lok

Sabha elections, protesting thedelay in setting up of turmer-ic board and seeking MSP fortheir produce. Earlier, fluoride-affected people of Nalgondadistrict set the trend by filingnominations en masse in1990s. On the party front,Congress nominee Padmavatifiled another set of nomina-tions on Monday, TDP candi-date Kiranmayee also filedher papers.

Lakshmi Narsamma

PNS n GUJARAT

At least 21 people died and 50others injured when a packedprivate luxury bus overturned inBanaskantha district of NorthGujarat on Monday evening,said officials. The accident tookplace at Trishulia Ghat, a hillypatch on the Ambaji-Dantaroad near Ambaji town ofBanaskantha district, around160km from Ahmedabad. Theprivate luxury bus, carryingaround 70 passengers, over-turned at Trishulia Ghat afterthe driver lost control of thevehicle due to heavy rain in the

area, said Banaskantha districtSP Ajit Rajian. Expressing griefover the accident, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, tweet-ed, "Devastating news from

Banaskantha. I am extremelypained by the loss of lives dueto an accident. In this hour ofgrief, my thoughts are with thebereaved families."

Octogenarian has been seeking pattadar passbookfor her 100-acre land for several months now

21 die as bus overturns in Gujarat

IMD is relying onsatellite materialand other tools,which are not veryaccurate, toforecast theweather inHyderabad

Huzurnagar records 76 nominations

Trouble with radar antenna, engineers from Delhi trying to fix problem: IMD

109 turn up to file papers on last day, but EC rejects 40 nominations filed by village Sarpanchs

UNESCO, DD tieup for TV showon GandhiNEW DELHI: Rarely heardaudio clips of MahatmaGandhi will be featured as partof an hour-long televisionprogramme jointly hosted bythe UNESCO andDoordarshan to commemo-rate the 150th birth anniver-sary of the Father of theNation, officials said onMonday. The bilingual pro-gramme - 'MahatmaLives'/'Bapu Zinda Hain' - willbe telecast on October 1 at 10pm and repeated on October2 at 5 pm across the countryon DD News, they said.

"Rarely heard audio clips ofthe Mahatma will remind usvividly of his thoughts and phi-losophy, focusing specificallyon education, culture and thesciences. The clips include hisspeech from 1947 (November29) in which he addressescorporate leaders and exhortsthem to give wealth for welfareof the society," a UNESCOIndia official said.

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at JagathiPublications Ltd, D 75, E 52, Industrial Estate, Balangar, Hyderabad -500 037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any

damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before

responding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 hyderabad 02

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Bathukamma celebrations in Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday

IN SSYNC

A man without faith is like a drop thrown out ofthe ocean bound to perish. Every drop in the

ocean shares its majesty and has the honour ofgiving us the ozone of life.

— MAHATMA GANDHI

EGGRATES

` 38,050 (10 gm)

` 210

GOLD

` 44,800(1kg)

` 6650

HYDERABAD 405VIJAYAWADA 416VISAKHAPATNAM 415RETAIL PPRICE `4.05

SILVER

HYDERABADBULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `146

Without Skin `167

Broiler at Farm `101

`/KG

(IN HYDERABAD)

When I f irst sawMahatma Gandhiat the Round Table

Conference in 1931, I askedhow far he was saint andhow far astute politician.Later I realised that thequestion was unanswerable:the two aspects were inextri-cably blended in a singularcomplex character. In India,saints can be politicians justas they could in medievalEurope. The ascetic ofsacred writings may win forhimself a place in a stilllargely religious communi-ty which no politician canhope to achieve in the skep-tical and mechanized West.

Gandhi differs from allthe other unclothed holymen whom you may meetanywhere in India becausehis religious inspiration hadsurvived a lawyer's training,a wide reading of Westernbooks, a knowledge of theworld and ruthless examina-tion by his own powerfulintellect. It is this constanttesting and application ofreligious principle by theprocess of reason that fasci-nates me in Gandhi.

The Mahatma never hidthe process of his thought orthe difficulties he found inreaching his conclusions. Inprivate conversation he wasalways ready to argue, andlaughingly admitted incon-sistencies. I had my last talkwith Gandhi on the Mondaybefore his assassination. Hehad completely recoveredfrom his fast; his mind wasas agile as when I first knewhim. He was perhaps rathermore authoritative, and lesslegalistic, in argument. Asalways, he was prepared pre-cisely to explain thenature of his doctrine. Hehad publicly expressedhis deep disappoint-ment, and indeed hismisery of soul, at therevelat ion of theIndian mind after thewithdrawal of Britishcontrol. I asked himwhether his recentconfession of fail-ure, as expressed inHarijan, involved

any revision of his doctrineof ahimsa. He explained thathis doctrine had neverchanged, but that he had dis-covered to his sorrow thatpassive resistance, designedto dislodge the British fromIndia, had been merely theweapon of the weak andnot the genuine ahimsawhich relies only on truth,love and sacrifice. He hadmade this distinction, hetold me, as early as the daysof his first struggles in SouthAfrica when he repudiatedthe idea that he supported"passive resistance".

He never believed in pas-sivity, nor did he ever believein what is today called"appeasement". His advice tomankind is that in any dis-

pute one must firstestablish the truth

and purify one'sown motives.

Then onemust standby the truth,by ahimsa,i f onebelieves

in it andh a st r a i n e doneself fort h a t

method of resistance. Hemore than once surprisedthe world by saying that forthose who are not ready forahimsa, violent resistanceis better than cowardly sub-mission to evil.

Whether ahimsa isextremely successful clearlydepends on whether theopponent has a conscience.

How would t heMahatma, for instance, useahimsa in the immediatei s sue of Kashmir? Hereplied that he believed itpossible for a governmentto use ahimsa, and quotedTolstoy's story of Ivan theFool. He added that SheikAbdullah could use ahimsain Kashmir if he believed init. "I would use it," he said,"against the tribesman andI believe successfully. ButSheik Abdullah does notbelieve in ahimsa." "Do younot," I asked, "sometimesgive practical advice on

political matters wherethe doctrine of ahimsadoes notarise?

He laughed."I most cer-tainly do", he said, and theconversation switched intoa highly realistic and prac-tical discussion of thep o l i t i c a l i s s u e s i nKashmir.

This was very character-ist ic of the Mahatma.Conversation with himabout political matters didnot fol low the normalcourse because he insistedon getting the principlestraight and refusing tocompromise upon it. Hewould apparently stand paton a point of principle untilhe was sure either of thegoodwi l l of hisadversary?which happenedwhen the Cabinet Missionfinally persuaded him of itssincerity?or as in this case ofKashmir, until agreementhad been reached that theideal solution must be, forthe moment, left out of thequestion. He took, as itwere, his bearings by layingdown the principle. Hecould always return to it. Ifthat course was blocked hewould trim his sails, withthe result that while stillpretending to seek the idealhe might find that he hadlost sight of his objective: hepreferred, if he could notsail straight to the goal, toaccept the lower level ofpract ica l pol it ics andfrankly give advice on thebasis of expediency. Not

having lost his bear-ings by tacking, hecould always start

again on the truecourse.

Gandhi never believed inpassivity, nor did he ever

believe in what is today called"appeasement"

—KINGSLEY MARTIN

Mahatma Gandhi:

SAINT orPOLITICIAN

AP govt creates history, recruits...Continued from Page 1

About 500 public services willbe delivered through theseSecretariats with the help of vil-lage and ward volunteers. Wehave already appointed over 2.8lakh village and ward volunteersfor this purpose, Jagan said.

He stressed on ensuringcorruption-free delivery of

government services andexhorted the newly-recruitedstaffers to treat this not mere-ly as a job but a service.

He said a social audit wouldbe conducted periodically toensure transparency andaccountability and bring incredibility to the system.

The Chief Ministerannounced on the occasion

that henceforth, recruitmentexaminations would be con-ducted every year fromJanuary 1 to 31 to fill upvacant government posts indifferent departments.

In all, 11,158 VillageSecretariats and 3,786 WardSecretariats (in urban areas)are proposed to be openedacross the state.

TS Govt to invoke ESMA...Continued from Page 1

The CM is learnt to havemade up his mind on invokingEsma and a decision in thisregard would be taken in theCabinet meeting.

Besides, the Cabinet willalso take a decision on makingalternate arrangements toensure uninterrupted bus ser-vices during strike period, espe-cially Dasara. Hiring of privatebuses, temporary drivers andstaff and run the bus serviceswith police protection areamong the measures that arebeing seriously considered bythe government.

The Cabinet will give a strictwarning to striking employeesthat they would be sacked ifthey go on strike or disruptalternate bus services providedby the government.

Esma says: "Any personwho commences a strike orotherwise takes part in anysuch strike shall be punishablewith imprisonment for a termwhich may extend to sixmonths, or with fine whichmay extend to two hundredrupees, or with both."

The Act reads, "Any personwho instigates a strike whichis illegal under this Act shallbe punishable with imprison-ment for a term which mayextend to one year, or withfine which may extend to onethousand rupees, or withboth."

Esma was enacted by theCentre in 1968 to maintain"certain essential services andnormal life of the communi-ty".The Act includes a long listof "essential services" in itsCharter, ranging from postand telegraph, through rail-way, airport and port opera-tions and prohibits keyemployees in these servicesfrom striking.

l Decides not to budgeon RTC staff's maindemand of ‘merger' withGovtl Govt will hire privatebuses, temporary driversand staff to run buseswith police protectionduring Dasara

Banks toremain closed Continued from Page 1

Again on Oct 12 and 13,banks will remain closedbecause of second Saturdayand Sunday. Again on Oct 26,27, 28 and 29 they will remainclosed. Oct 26 is fourthSaturday and 27 is Sunday andalso Diwali. On October 28and 29, banks will remain shuton account of GoverdhanPuja and Bhai Dooj festivals.

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

T-Wallet, the official digitalwallet of TelanganaGovernment, which can nowbe used to make payments forcommodities purchased in fairprice shops under the PublicDistribution System, will ben-efit 506 ration dealers in thedistrict and helps them aug-ment their income.

The T-Wallet services willtake digital services closer tothe people. With the help of theservice, people can transactbusiness worth less than orequal to Rs 2,000 by visitingthe fair-price shops. The ser-vice will transform the FPshops into mini-e-Sevakendras. The FP dealers havebeen imparted necessary train-ing. On the whole, there are2,37,114 food security cards inthe district. Civil SuppliesDepartment district managerChandrasekhar, elaboratingon the T-Wallet services, said

that the dealers were given spe-cialised training on the use ofthe mobile application onSeptember 14 with the help ofthe state-level project associa-tive Durga Prasad and Projectofficer Bhanu Shyam.

The mobile application isuseful in recharging mobile

phones, cash transfer, pay-ment of DTH and electricitybills, making travel and busbookings, payment of Internetmonthly bills and so on. Thestate government gives com-mission to the fair-price shopdealers on the basis of thetransactions carried out.

l The officialdigital walletof the govtwill benefit506 rationdealers inMahabu-bnagar district

l The T-Walletservices willtake digitalservices closer to the people

l The FPdealershave beenimpartedtraining

Thedealers

were givenspecialised

training on theuse of the

mobileapp

Fair price shops inT-Wallet pool soon

50 double-bedroomhouses inauguratedPNS n MEDAK

Siddipet MLA and FinanceMinister T Harish Rao inau-gurated 50 new double bed-room houses in Bachepallivillage in Narayankhed.

The Minister said that theTRS government was firm ondeveloping Narayankhed andsaid that the government hadestablished 8 residentialschools within 5 years.

"The state has sanctioned600 English medium schoolsand it has succeeded inupgrading the Thandas intoGPs as per its assurances," hesaid. He said that Bachepallihousing colony resemblesgated community andannounced that the thanda inthe surrounding would berenamed after Bhakthidamathanda from Bachepalli than-da as per the villagers request.

AP BOAT MISHAP

Salvage ops under wayPNS n KAKINADA

A 25-member team, headed byDharmadi Satyam of BalajiMarines, that left forKachchaluru to salvage theill-fated Royal Vasishta havedropped five anchors at theaccident spot. One of theanchors reported to havestruck something heavy.

Heavy rains in East andWest Godavari districts causedhindrance to salvage opera-tions till now. Earlier, the teamarmed with iron ropes, heavyropes, reverse punts, proclain-ers reached the Kachchaluruand dropped five anchors intothe river leading to one of theanchors hitting a heavy object.

The team said that it wouldnot be able to say anythingabout the boat right now.Intense boat salvaging opera-tions are underway. The policehave made elaborate securityarrangements to rule out any

interruption to the work. It may be recalled the East

Godavari government award-ed the Rs 22.50-lakh contractto Satyam to salvage the boat.Officials barred people fromgathering near the place andimposed Section 144 there.

The team requisitioned 800meter wire rope, two anchors,three Leyland roes, 10 jockeysand other paraphernalia. In all,25 fishermen are taking part inthe operations. The boatremained trapped at a depth of

210 meters. A boat and apunter have been located atthe accident spot. A crane anda proclainer have been posi-tioned on the river bank at adistance of 700 meters fromthe accident spot.

The plan is to salvage theboat by dropping anchorsfrom boat and the punts with-out getting the team's feetwet. While 26 persons of the77 tourists survived thetragedy, 36 bodies have beenidentified.

Heavy rains in East and West Godavaridistricts aredelayingsalvageoperations inKachchaluru

BJP solealternative toTRS: SantoshPNS n WARANGAL

Union Minister for Labourand Employment SanthoshKumar Gang war onMonday assured that theESI scamsters would bebooked and stringent actionwill be initiated againstthem. He was responding toa representation of the localBJP leaders in Warangal inthis regard.

Speaking on the occasion,the Minister said that thepeople of Telangana statehave now concluded that theBJP would be the only alter-native to the ruling TRS. Heexuded confidence that theBJP will form the governmentin 2023. He called upon thecadre and leaders of the BJPto take the aspirations of thepeople of Telangana to thenotice of the national govern-ment.

‘Cong victory must to protect democracy'PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress candidate UttamPadmavathi Reddy has filedanother set of nominations forthe Huzurnagar by-electionson last day here on Monday.

Later addressing the media,Padmavathi described the by-election as the electionbetween TRS' atrocities andthe people. She alleged that theMinisters and ruling partyMLAs are insulting her by noteven considering her as awoman.

Senior Congress leadersMarri Shashidhar Reddy, MKodanda Reddy, SambaniChandrashekar, B KamalakarRao, G Niranjan and AShyam Mohan urged theHuzurnagar people to votefor the victory of PadmavathiReddy to protect the democ-

racy in the state. They alleged that Chief

Minister K ChandrasekharRao is destroying the democ-racy though the people havegiven thumping majority.KCR inducted the opposition

MLAs into his party to makethe laws as he wished, theysaid.

The senior leaders allegedthat KCR is looting the publicmoney in the name ofKaleshwaram project, Mission

Kakathiya and MissionBhagiratha projects. The gov-ernment is not in a position todeposit Rhythu Bandhuscheme money in the accountsof the farmers.

The government has failed

to give new patta pass books to25 lakh farmers assuring thatit will purify the revenuerecords. They urged theHuzurnagar people to casttheir vote to Congress candi-date to protect the democracyand to protect the state fromdebt burden.

Party senior leaders-TPCCChief and Nalgonda MP NUttam Kumar Reddy, CLPleader Mallu BhattiVikramarka, AICC in-chargesecretary Saleem Ahmed, for-mer Union Minister BalaramNaik, former Ministers K JanaReddy, R Damodar Reddy,Konda Surekha, Bhongir MPKomatireddy Venkat Reddy,former MP PonnamPrabhakar and Mulugu MLASeethakka participated in theelection campaign meetingheld in the Huzurnagar.

Congress candidate Padmavati Reddy greets the crowd at a public meeting in Huzurnagar on Monday

SRSP to touchcapacity levelPNS n NIZAMABAD

The Sriram Sagar Project(SRSP) may well touch its FullReservoir Level (FRL) of1,091 ft and total storagecapacity of 90 TMC in thenext few days if the rains fore-cast in Maharashtra and con-sequent inflows into the pro-ject from the Godavari occur.The project would be filled tocapacity after a gap of threeyears.

According to officialsources, the inflows into theproject on Monday eveningwas 22,480 cusecs with thewater level touching1,086.80 feet and storage at72.588 TMC.

The last time the SRSPsaw water storage at fullcapacity was in 2016.Though there were copiousrains in the catchment areasof Godavari in Maharashtrathis monsoon, the projectdid not record significantinflows on account of theneighbouring Stateimpounding water in thevarious dams it had builtacross the river.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 hyderabad 03There is nothing so powerful as fasting and prayerthat would give us the requisite discipline, spirit of

self-sacrifice, humility and resoluteness of will withoutwhich there can be no real progress

— MAHATMA GANDHI

RIMEORNERC

Property offendersheld, bootyrecoveredHYDERABAD: The East ZoneTask Force team ofCommissioner's Task Forcearrested two property offendersand seized 30 tolas gold and 1.5kg silver articles from them. Thearrested were identified as MalaYogender, 39, and VallabojuSrinivas Chary alias Sampath,32. Both Yogender and Charywere habitual offenders with theformer being involved in 18cases and the latter beinginvolved in 11 cases in the TriCommissionerate. They meteach other while serving jailtime at Chanchalguda prisonand started to commit offencesas a team, said the AdditionalDCP of Commissioner's TaskForce, S Chaitanya Kumar."They were nabbed when theycame to Hyderabad to disposethe stolen property by the taskforce teams and were handedover to Osmania Universitypolice for further investigation,"said the official.

Police warn againstspreading rumoursHYDERABAD: The HyderabadCity Police have warned ofcriminal action against personsspreading rumours on socialmedia to instigate trouble. In amessage to the citizens, CityPolice Commissioner AnjaniKumar appealed to the publicnot to forward any unverifiedposts on social mediaplatforms. The message was inthe background of a fewquarters spreading pictures andfake news on the situation inKashmir. "The purpose of thesemischief makers is to createlaw and order problem in thecity of Hyderabad. They areusing pictures and videos ofincidents which have nothing todo with our country . In thename of Kashmir, they arecirculating old pictures of Iraqand Afghanistan," he said. Heappealed to all citizens not toget carried away by suchmotivated and pre plannedconspiracies. "Criminal caseswill be booked if you forwardsuch images," he said.

One more held in ESI scamHYDERABAD: The AntiCorruption Bureau officialshave arrested another person inconnection with ESI scam. MSurendranath Babu, a seniorassistant in the director's officewas arrested at RC Puram onMonday. Surendranath, whohas been working unofficiallyfor six years, was accused ofplundering crores of rupeeswith no bills to run medicalcampus. According to ACBofficials, he has been accusedof forging false medical bills,threatening 12 pharmacistswho were working forDevikarani and Padma in thedirector's office. The ACB hadearlier arrested the director ofInsurance Medical Services(IMS), Hyderabad, Dr DevikaRani. Apart from her, jointdirector K Padma, assistantdirector Vasantha Indira, seniorassistant Harshvardhan,pharmacist Radhika, managingdirector of Omni Medi, Srihariand his employee Nagarajuwere also arrested.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana High Court ChiefJustice RS Chauhan flagged offa shuttle services between theHC and MGBS Metro stationat the court premises onMonday. The services will beoperational from Monday toSaturday from 9 am to 6 pm.The 15-minutes interval ser-vice will cater to HC staff, lit-igants and lawyers who comethere in large numbers everyday. Speaking on the occasion,

the Chief Justice requestedthe MD of HMRL NVS Reddyto introduce similar services toall district courts located in theTwin Cities from the nearestMetro station.

Justice Naveen Rao suggest-ed to the MD to introducemore Electric Vehicles toencourage green mobility in thecity. NVS Reddy said the newshuttle services will be free forthe first one week, after whichthe MGBS Metro station-HighCourt trip will cost Rs 15.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Newly elected president ofHyderabad Cricket Association(HCA) Mohd Azharuddin saidhis main priority is to bringback the past glory ofHyderabad cricket. "I want togive it back to Hyderabad crick-et. This is my home. The asso-ciation in the past has been verysupportive to me. I want tomake use of my experience todevelop cricket in the State. Wewant more players fromHyderabad to excel at thenational level," the formerIndian captain told media aftertaking charge at the RajivGandhi International CricketStadium, Uppal on Monday.

The 56-year-old also out-lined his vision to develop

Hyderabad cricket. "The aim isto bring more integrity and tomake our association a muchmore professional unit. As anadministrator, I will be open toall kinds of views. We want torun the association as it shouldbe done. There will be timeswhen we will have to takesome hard decisions. However,

it has to be done for the bestinterest of the game," Azharadded.

Talking about corruption,Azhar said he is not interestedto comment on the allegationsagainst former HCA officebearers. "I don't want to com-ment on what has happened inthe past. But from now

onwards, it is going to be a cleansystem. I will show the exam-ple by being accountable," hesaid. Azhar also expressed dis-appointment in the lack ofcricket infrastructure in the city."Good grounds are a basicright of any aspiring cricketer.We will look to improve thefacilities. I will soon inspect allthe cricket grounds, not just in

Hyderabad but all the 33 dis-tricts because it is important todevelop cricket at the districtlevel. I know that several tal-ented cricketers are not gettingenough exposure as they lackproper facilities in the district.I want to change this at the ear-liest," he said.

When asked whether he willcontest for BCCI presidentpost in the future, Azharremarked he is only interestedin leading the HCA. Earlier,Azhar inspected Uppal Stadiumalong with other office bearersand lauded the ground staff."The curator and ground staffhave been receiving muchappreciation and awards fromBCCI. Hopefully, the associa-tion will also win some awardsin the future," Azhar said.

HCA president Mohd Azharuddin with HCA officials in Hyderabad on Monday

The aim is to bringmore integrity andto make theassociation a moreprofessional unit. Iwill be open to allkinds of views, theex-cricketer said

High Court CJ Justice RS Chauhan launches the service on Monday

CJ flags off HC-MGBSMetro shuttle services

Will restore past glory of HCA: Azhar

PNS n HYDERABAD

TSRTC has introduced twonew bus routes - Kokapet toPatancheru and Kokapet toMMTS Hitech city. TheServices were launched by theCommissioner of Police,Cyberabad VC Sajjanar onMonday which was attendedby the DCP Traffic SM VijayKumar and the GeneralSecretary of SCSC KrishnaYedula.

Buses in Route Number195HG with 24trips and217W with 12 trips will coverthe Kokapet SEZ from HitecCity and Patancheru respec-tively.

Society for CyberabadSecurity Council (SCSC) in itscontinuous efforts to serve bet-ter the public in Cyberabad ITCorridor in association ofCyberabad Police have organ-ised series of meetings withTSRTC. CP Cyberabad andDCP Traffic along with SCSChave efforts to make this pos-sible and RTC ExecutiveDirector Venkateshwarlu hasdone his part in convincing hishigher ups and got this intoreality.

More buses to ply onKokapet route

3 members ofPardhi gangarrestedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad policeformed a team consisting ofofficials from PetBasheerabad, Alwal and CCSBalanagar and apprehendedthree members from the infa-mous Pardhi gang who triedto run over a police SubInspector in a stolen vanearlier last week.

The gang, fromMaharashtra, was involved in11 offences including houseburglaries, vehicle lightingin Hyderabad and CyberabadCommissionerates. Officialsseized stolen property of Rs17.40 lakh net cash fromthem.

The arrested were identi-fied as Tillipithaiah RanjithSingh, 19, Raneeth Singhalias Banda Singh, 43, andNarsingh Singh, 50, the policesaid. Three more, KaranSingh, Karthar Singh andManohar Singh were report-ed missing.

"The members of the gangcame to Hyderabad by trainfrom Jalna in Maharashtraand took shelter at their rel-ative's house in slum areas inHyderabad. After mid night,the gang leaves from there onfoot and hotwires a car or anyvehicle to commit burglariesand offences. The PD Act wasimposed on one of the gangmember, Raneeth Sing aliasBanda Singh at NizamabadDistrict in 2016," said PVPadmaja, DCP Shamshabad.

Post the attempt to mur-der on the Sub Inspector ofDundigal, the gang havebecome the most wantedfor the Cyberabad Police inproperty offences. Uponreliable information and ajoint operation of the policePet-Basheerabad, Alwaland CCS Balangar theaccused were arrested atKompally cross roads onMonday" said an the offi-cial.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Dengue cases in the city aredeclining due to the anti-larvaloperations taken up by thecivic body, said GHMCCommissioner Lokesh Kumar.According to the commis-sioner, 1,043 dengue caseswere reported in the city so farthis year. For the past couple ofdays, there are about 40 denguecases daily when compared to100 to 120 cases in the past. Hesaid, "Around 1.25 lakh hous-es were covered with foggingand spraying to control spread

of seasonal diseases. Denguecases are decreasing day by dayas the GHMC is taking effec-tive measures like fogging,spraying at vulnerable placeswhich are prone to larva breed-ing and taking various aware-ness campaigns at local Bastis,Schools and conduct of healthcamps in slums and at BastiDawakhanas".

Speaking about reducingusage of plastic he said, "FromOctober 2, GHMC will active-ly participate in implementa-tion of ban on single use ofplastic and special drive will be

conducted and awareness willbe created among the citizensnot to use of single use of plas-tic. GHMC is finding variousoptions how to recycle theused plastic".

Meanwhile, GHMC is clear-ing the baby ponds for Dasaraand Bathukamma festivals.Commissioner said that thewater from baby ponds arebeing diverted to the nearestSTP instead of letting it intolakes as it further pollutes.Regarding financial position ofthe civic body, he said, "thereis no dearth of funds inGHMC, as the collection prop-erty tax is Rs 200 crore morethan last year and revenuefrom Town Planning is alsoincreasing by way of issuingbuilding permission".

PNS n HYDERABAD

The officials of EnforcementDirectorate (ED) are now clos-ing in on the Multi-LevelMarketing (MLM) companiesand those who duped thepublic in the name of Ponziand Pyramid schemes, byattaching their properties. TheCyberabad police are contin-uing their investigation intothe racket parallelly.

Based on First InformationReports (FIRs) by theCyberabad police, the ED tookup investigation and attachedproperties of eBiz.com PrivateLimited and Future MarkerLife Care Private Limitedworth Rs 277.97 crore and Rs261 crore, respectively.Properties worth Rs 299 crorebelonging to the Heera Groupof Companies were alsoattached for cheating people inthe name of Ponzi schemes.

The properties wereattached under provisions ofPMLA. The PMLA stipulatesthe ED Director or DeputyDirector and above rankauthorised by him can issueorders for attaching a proper-ty allegedly acquired with theproceeds of crime. IneBIZ.com Company's case,residential plots, apartments,farms houses and commercialbuildings in Delhi and Noidaalong with balances in bank

accounts belonging to thecompany's directors and otherassociates were attached.

Assets such as residentialplots, agricultural lands andhouses worth over Rs 261crore belonging to directors ofFuture Maker Life Care PrivateLimited, along with their fam-ily members and other asso-ciates were also attached. Inanother case, the ED attachedassets worth Rs 299.99 crore ofHeera Group of Companies,The assets spread across mul-tiple States includingTelangana and AndhraPradesh were attached in con-nection with the Ponzi schemecase. The ED has also soughtdetails of another MLM com-pany, QNet.

Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner VC Sajjanar,who neutralised the operationsof MLM companies, said theyhad only shared the casedetails including FIRs with theED.Z

ED cracks the whipon MLM companies

Continued from Page 1

The crown prince also saidU.S. President Donald Trumpshould meet with IranianPresident Hassan Rouhanito craft a new deal onTehran's nuclear programand influence across theMiddle East.

Efforts to bring the twotogether last week at theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly failed. Tensionsbetween Washington andTehran have escalated overthe U.S. withdrawal from anIranian nuclear deal and itsreinstatement of sanctionsagainst Tehran.

Days before the anniver-sary of the killing ofKhashoggi in a Saudi con-sulate in Turkey, the crownprince said: "Absolutely not,"when asked if he ordered themurder.

Saudi princewarns ofunimaginably...

Continued from Page 1

The petition was filed byone Ch Veera Chari, a nativeof Lalapet area ofSecunderabad. In his peti-tion, he urged the HC todeclare the action of the stategovernment in allocating theland to the Peetham as arbi-trary and illegal and set asidethe order. The case wasadjourned for four weeks bya division bench of the HighCourt.

HC issuesnotices to TS...

PNS n HYDERABAD

A committee of three ChiefEngineers is working on thedesign of duty procedures forhanding over the major roads inthe city to private agencies.GHMC Commissioner DSLokesh Kumar on Monday saidthat committee has already con-vened twice and will submitproposals to the governmentshortly. On Thursday, GHMCstanding committee proposedhandover the annual mainte-nance of 687.31 km of majorroads within Greater Hyderabadto private agencies.

These 687.31km roads arehigh density roads and are like-

ly to be given for 5-year main-tenance contract. The corpora-tion is purportedly betting bigon firms like L&T, MEIL andNCC constructions among oth-ers to participate in the tenderprocess.

As part of road maintenance,the private agencies have to takeup periodic, unscheduled anddisaster maintenance, andattend to water-logging, waterstagnation points and blackspots. It may be mentionedhere that GHMC reportedly

spends Rs 600 crore on roadmaintenance annually only onpotholes and patchwork on9,000 km of roads maintainedin its limits.

Meanwhile, GHMC is gen-erating about 56 tons of BT torepair pot holes emergingeveryday for the past one weekin the wake of fresh showers inthe city. The Commissionersaid, "Due to recent incessantrains in the city for the pastthree-four days, some of theroads were damaged, creatingnew pot holes. These would berepaired in couple of days oncethe rains recede. The re-carpet-ing of damaged roads will betaken up after a week."

PRIVATISATION OF ROADS

3-member panel reporton city roads soon687 km roads likely to be given on 5-year maintenance contract

Lokesh Kumar

Private agencieshave to take upperiodic, unsche-duled and disastermaintenance, andattend to water-logging, waterstagnation points

PNS n HYDERABAD

Metro authority shuts downgates at its stations if footfallsthere are low. For instance, theexit A and D at Bharatnagarstation has remained closedover two months. A bannerreads 'Please use next entry'.

When netizen JannuPraveen asked L&THRML onTwitter about the closure ofexits, it said that these exits hadlow footfalls. It further saidthat the measure saves energywhich the Hyderabad Metro iscommitted about. This how-ever did not go down well withmany netizens, who ventedprotested Metro prioritising itsprofits over commuters' ease ofuse and ability to access ser-vices. A Mounish Ravi said,"How is Metro saving energyby closing an entry point andhow can access to a station becut when the whole trans-portation system is supposedto be multimodal. When itrains you let out water on toroad and then talk about sav-ing energy and environment."

This lack of accessibility isnot just confined to closure ofexit points, but also usage oftoilets. A road user wanting touse the washroom at a Metrostation is made to shell out fourtimes more money than evena conventional pay-and-usefacility.

A pregnant woman, PRenuka, had to use washroomat the Assembly Metro stationafter she was dropped at theexit. "I wasn't aware which sidethe washroom was and sowhen I climbed the stairs, I

realised I had to swipe myMetro card to use the wash-room. I had to get down on theopposite side and swipe againbecause there was no exit nearthe washroom side. Thus, Ipaid Rs 20 for using the wash-room. I wonder how pregnantwomen and differently-ablepeople will even cross the roadwhen exits and entries areopened or closed forL&THMRL's conveniencewhile ignoring people's con-

cerns," she said.People have been asking

L&THMRL to reconsider itsdecision on closure of gatesand accessibility to washrooms.Transport researcher GS RChaitanya said, "L&THMRLnever told us gates will beclosed. Keep all gates open orgive notice in advance explain-ing reasons for doing so. MRTin Singapore does day-longannouncements if trains arestarting an hour late."

Metro keeps station gatesclosed due to low footfallsMove inconveniences commuters acutely, especially elderly and the differently-abled

When netizen Jannu Praveen askedL&THRML on Twitter about the closureof exits, the ahency said that theseexits had low footfalls. It said themeasure saves energy, which theHyderabad Metro is committed about

PNS n HYDERABAD

In a bid to build trust with cit-izens, GHMC CommissionerD S Lokesh Kumar asked offi-cials to click a photo or selfiewith the Prajavaani com-plainant after the issue isresolved. The Commissionerheard about 15 complaintsduring Prajavaani at GHMCHeadquarters on Monday.While redirecting the issues tothe officials, Lokesh Kumarasked the official assigned theactivity to click a picture aftersolving the grievance with thecitizen. This picture taken bythe official has to be sentthrough WhatsApp to theCommissioner who will bekeeping track of the griev-ances raised.

Commissioner LokeshKumar said that the issue of pub-lic grievances in the GHMCwould be given utmost impor-tance. He said that grievances

will be addressed immediatelyby the authorities and take stepsto resolve them. He said thatprompt resolution of non-finan-cial complaints was a priority.

Selfie mandatory withPrajavani complainant

Citizens file complaints at the Prajavaani centre in Hyderabad

Clinical trials done atNiloufer were legal: GovtPNS n HYDERABAD

The three-member committeeof the Director of MedicalEducation (DME) Telanganaassembled at Niloufer Hospitalafter allegations were made bya senior doctor, against theHoD of PediatricsDepartment, which stated thatclinical trials were being per-formed on underprivilegedpatients on behalf of pharmacompanies and without prop-er informed consent from theparents.

On Monday, SuperintendentDr Muralikrishna andPediatrics Department HoDDr Ravi Kumar were in theboard room to brief the panelwith explanations on the issue.

The committee started inquir-ing into allegations of unlawfulscientific trials at NilouferHospital. Denying the allega-tions, Dr Ravi Kumar repeated-ly said he is among the investi-gators who conduct the clinicaltrials. He said, "The EthicsCommittee approved the trailswe conduct. Our Superintendent

Dr Muralikrishna also signed onthe clinical trials. When DMERamesh Reddy was the super-intendent here, he too signed onit."

"This is being done only todefame me," added Dr Ravi."According to the law, volunteerswere not made a part of a clin-ical trial until they gave theirapproval and the process impliedthrough an Ethics Committee,"said DME, K Ramesh Reddy,who also warned doctors against"defaming their institutions" byleveling false allegations.

Dengue cases decline in city: GHMC

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 hyderabad 04Death is no friend, he is the truest of friends. Hedelivers us from agony. He helps us against

ourselves. He ever gives us new chances, new hopes. Heis like sleep a sweet restorer.

— MAHATMA GANDHI

2,500 Yadadri

laddus spoiled

PNS n YADADRI

The officials of the YadadriLakshmi NarasimhaSwamy temple have dis-carded over 2,500 laddus asthey developed fungus.

The total loss to the templebecause of the discarding ofladdus was put at Rs50,000.

The laddus, made 10days ago, were kept inprasaad counters, where

these have developed fun-gus because of prevailingpoor ventilation and severerains.

Devasthanam officialsattribute laddus gettingspoiled because of poor

ventilation and dampatmosphere because ofrains. One year ago, simi-lar situation prevailed, butthe temple officials seem tohave not learnt theirlessons.

‘TRS, Congignored BCs’PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP candidate K Rama Rao hasfiled nomination amid fanfarefor Huzurnagar constituencyon Monday. In a show ofstrength, BJP senior leadersstate president K Laxman, MLCN Ramchander Rao, GarikapatiRammohan Rao, and othersaccompanied Rama Rao.

"Only BJP fielded a BC can-didate, while all other partiesneglected BCs. While Congressis supporting dynastic politics byfielding Uttam Kumar Reddy'swife Padmavathi Reddy, TRShas given the ticket to anAndhra person Saidi Reddy. Itsonly BjP which has given theticket to a common man likeme. Therefore people will con-nect with me. Also, NeitherCongress nor TRS developedHuzurnagar. Therefore peopleare looking towards BJP. Also,step-motherly treatment ismeted out to Huzurnagar asPower Minister Jagadish Reddyis diverting the Rs 300 crore rev-enue received from industries inHuzurnagar constituency in theform of cess to Suryapet con-stituency. Besides stopping thisloot, I will develop Huzurnagaron all fronts," said Rama Rao,after filing nomination.

As BCs form about 38 per-cent of population inHuzurnagar constituency, BJPhas fielded Rama Rao in Reddydominated area, surprisingeveryone. "The huge size ofgathering witnessed inHuzurnagar during Rama Rao'snomination proves that peopleare enthusiastic about BJP andincreases our confidence overvictory. Both Congress andTRS have done nothing forHuzurnagar. In fact TRS haseven humiliated Telanganamartyr Srikanth Chary's moth-er Shankaramma badly. BothUttam and KCR are goodfriends in reality but act asopponents to cheat people. Thisby-poll is the right opportuni-ty for Huzurnagar people toteach a lesson to Congress andTRS and welcome positivechange in Telangana politics byvoting for BJP," said K Laxmanspeaking on the occasion.

Huzurnagar by-poll hasturned a litmus test for BJP toprove that the 4 MPs it won inLoskabha polls was not a flukehappening influenced PMModi's charisma. Therefore BJPleadership has asked all thesenior leaders to stay inHuzurnagar till the polling dayand work at ground level.

Govt Chief Whipassumes officePNS n HYDERABAD

Warangal West MLA DasyamVinay Bhaskar assumed office asGovernment Chief Whip in hischambers at the State LegislativeAssembly on Monday. MinistersErrabelli Dayakar Rao, VemulaPrashanth Reddy, SatyavathiRathod, Warangal MP PasunuriDayakar, former Deputy ChiefMinister and MLC KadiamSrihari, Rajya Sabha memberBanda Prakash and others werepresent.

Speaking on the occasion,Vinay Bhaskar said he followedthe directions of the thenTelangana Statehood movementleader and now Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao toachieve Statehood forTelangana. He vowed to con-tinue to work as per directionsof the Chief Minister for devel-opment of the State and ensurethat the State government's ini-tiatives for people's welfare arehighlighted in the StateAssembly. "We will definitelygive a fitting reply to theOpposition's allegations. I willwork hard to make the legisla-tive session smooth by coordi-nating with all political parties,"he said. He thanked the ChiefMinister for giving him theopportunity.

Pinapaka MLA Rega Kantha

Rao also entered his officialchambers and took charge asGovernment Whip in theAssembly on Monday. Hethanked Chandrashekhar Raofor giving him an opportunity toserve the people and promisedto be the voice of the State gov-ernment in the Assembly.

I will continue to workas per directions ofthe Chief Minister for

development of the State andensure that govt's initiativesfor people's welfare arehighlighted in State Assembly

VINAY BHASKARGovernment Chief Whip

Two heldfor robberyKOTHAGUDEM:

The police havecracked a robberycase that took placein the first week ofSeptember with thearrest of two per-sons, KothagudemDSP S M Ali, saidon Monday.

The accusedwere identified asMd Aftab andIrkhar Ahmed ofUttar Pradesh.They robbed Rs 54lakh cash from apassenger on Sep 5on a bus at NKNagar. The duowas nabbed atRegalla Cross Roadu n d e rLaxmidevipal lypolice station onSunday.

BJP state president K Laxman in a rally in Huzurnagar on Monday

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Explosion in paintmanufacturing unit in AmritsarAMRITSAR: An explosion tookplace at a paint manufacturingunit located on Tarn Taran roadhere on Monday, police said.There was no casualty in theincident but adjoining buildingsdeveloped cracks due to theblast, they said. There was anexplosion in a container filledwith chemicals, police said,adding that investigations wereunderway to find out whatcaused it. A forensic team wason the spot, they said. Firefighters helped douse theflames, officials said.

Army defuses mortar shell along Indo-Pak border

INX Media case: HCrefuses to grant bail to ChidambaramNEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt Monday refused to grantbail to former finance ministerP Chidambaram in the INXMedia corruption case. JusticeSuresh Kait denied bail to theCongress leader, saying there isno chance of tampering withevidence but there is apossibility that Chidambaramcan influence witnesses.Chidambaram, who is incustody since his arrest by theCBI on August 21, did notapproach the trial court andhad directly filed the regularbail plea in the high court. Hewas arrested from his Jor Baghresidence here and is in TiharJail under judicial custody tillOctober 3. The CBI hadregistered an FIR on May 15,2017, alleging irregularities inthe FIPB clearance granted tothe INX Media group forreceiving overseas funds of Rs305 crore in 2007 duringChidambaram's tenure as thefinance minister. Thereafter, theED lodged a money launderingcase in this regard in 2017.

TMC leaderSabyasachi Dutta to join BJPKOLKATA: Senior TMC leaderSabyasachi Dutta, stripped ofhis powers for alleged anti-party activities, has said he willjoin the BJP on Tuesday in thepresence of its nationalpresident Amit Shah. Shah isscheduled to address a seminaron National Register of Citizensand Citizenship (Amendment)Bill at Netaji Indoor Stadiumhere. "I will join the BJPtomorrow at Amit Shah ji'sprogramme at Netaji IndoorStadium. The TMC is no longera party of the masses, it hasbecome a family enterprise,"Dutta told PTI over phone onMonday. The TMC MLA fromRajarhat-New Town, who wasseen hobnobbing with BJPleader Mukul Roy over the pastfew months, resigned from thepost of Bidhannagar MunicipalCorporation mayor in July thisyear.

Three of a familykilled in wall collapsein JharkhandDUMKA (JHARKHAND): Threemembers of a family died inAmjhar village of Jharkhand'sDumka district after a wallcollapsed on them followingheavy rain in the region,officials said. All three ofthem were sleeping when oneof the rain-soaked walls oftheir mud house collapsed onSunday night, killing them onthe spot, Dumka sub-divisional officer (SDO)Rakesh Kumar said. Thedeceased have been identifiedas Lakhu Marandi, his wifeLukhi and mother AmdarMurmu. Kumar said theDumka administration hasgiven 50 kg rice and Rs20,000 in cash to their familymembers and have assuredmore relief from the DisasterManagement Department.Three other houses in thearea have also been damagedby the incessant rain, he said.The dministration is providingfood grain, blankets, tarpaulinand other relief materials tothose affected by thedownpour, the SDO added.

JAMMU: The Army defused amortar shell fired by Pakistanitroops along the Indo-Pakborder in Pukhrani belt ofJammu region, officials saidMonday. Pakistan troops hadfired a 120 mm mortar alongthe border, which landed in asheep farm in Pukhrani area onSaturday but did not explode,they said. Army troops laterdefused it.

Have found that life persists in the midst of destructionand therefore there must be a higher law than that of

destruction. Only under that law would a well-orderedsociety be intelligible and life worth living.

— MAHATMA GANDHI

PNS n MUMBAI

In a setback for the Oppositionahead of the MaharashtraAssembly polls, NCP leaderNamita Mundada, who wasgiven party ticket to contestfrom Kaij, Vanchit BahujanAghadi (VBA) leaderGopichand Padalkar andCongress MLA KashiramPawara joined the BJP onMonday.

Padalkar, who lost the LokSabha polls earlier this yearfrom Sangli on VBA's ticket, islikely to take on senior NCPleader and former state deputychief minister Ajit Pawar inBaramati Assembly con-stituency.

Padalkar and Pawara wereinducted into the BJP inMumbai in the presence ofChief Minister DevendraFadnavis, party's state presi-dent Chandrakant Patil andcity unit head Ashish Shelar.

Mundada joined the saf-fron fold in Beed district in thepresence of BJP's Lok Sabhamember Pritam Munde andstate minister Pankaja Munde.

Her candidature from Kaij

seat in Beed was earlier thismonth announced by NCPchief Sharad Pawar for theAssembly elections, scheduledto be held on October 21.

During the 2014 state polls,she lost to BJP's SangeetaThombre from Kaij seat.

Her mother-in-law VimalMundada was a former stateminister from the NCP.

While inducting Padalkarinto the BJP, Fadnavis said, "Heis like a tiger, who shouldchallenge a major establishedleader. If he is ready, I will tryto field him from BaramatiAssembly seat."

Baramati has been a strong-hold of the NCP after Sharad

Pawar formed the outfit in1999. His nephew Ajit Pawarhas been representing the con-stituency for over a decade.

Kashiram Pawara, who wonfrom Shirpur seat on Congress'ticket, is a close associate ofparty MLC and former minis-ter Amrish Patel from Dhuledistrict.

After inducting him into theBJP, Chandrakant Patil said,"With Pawara, I am hopefulthat Patel will also join the BJPin coming days. We are plan-ning to hold one more suchfunction here to welcomesome more leaders."

PNS n BHADOHI (UP)

A case has been registeredagainst 40 people for alleged-ly raising derogatory slogansagainst UP Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath and othershere, police said on Monday.

The accused, including acandidate for the president'spost in the students unionelection of a local college,Luvkush Yadav, had allegedlyraised derogatory slogansagainst the chief minister andalso used foul language withthe staff at the district collec-torate last week, police said.

The accused were angryafter District MagistrateRajendra Prasad cancelled the

election to the students unionof Kashi Naresh GovernmentPost Graduate College due toheavy rains on Tuesday last.

The video of the incidentwent viral on Sunday afterwhich an FIR was lodged,police added.

40 booked for raisingslogans against Yogi

PNS n NEW DELHI

A PIL can be preferred forthose who are unable to cometo court, the Delhi High Courtsaid while dismissing anNGO's plea seeking disbursalof salaries to primary teachersof schools run by North andEast Delhi municipal corpora-tions.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice D N Patel and Justice CHari Shankar said the teacherscan always approach the courtif their salaries have not beenpaid to them.

"We see no reason to enter-tain this writ petition as a pub-lic interest litigation (PIL) onbehalf of those who are them-selves educated. Teachers canalways approach this court iftheir salaries are not paid to

them. They can always initiateaction in accordance with law,"the bench said.

The high court said a PILcan be preferred normally forpersons who are unable tocome to court either due toignorance or because of pover-ty viz. belonging to down-trodden class, illiterate persons,etc.

For such types of petitionersor public, the writ petition attheir behest is tenable in law, itsaid. "Those persons who areotherwise well educated, whoare teachers, and teaching oth-ers, can always approach theconcerned court over non-payment of their salaries oremoluments. Hence, we see noreason to entertain this writ

petition. With these observa-tions, this writ petition is here-by dismissed," the bench said.

The PIL was moved by NGOSocial Jurist on Friday, seekingdirections to North and EastDelhi municipal corporationsto disburse the salaries ofMarch and April to the pri-mary teachers and doctorsemployed by them.

It said while the teachershave not been paid for thesetwo months, in February theyreceived meagre amounts likeRs 4 and Rs 8 as salaries aftertax deduction.

The petition had contendedthat non-payment of the teach-ers' salaries would adverselyaffect the education of thou-sands of students studying inthe schools run by the two cor-porations.

PILs okay only for poor, illiteratewho can’t come to court: Delhi HC

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court Mondaysought response from the DelhiAssembly Speaker's office andthe Election Commission onthe pleas of ex-AAP MLAs,Anil Bajpai and DevenderSehrawat, who have challengedtheir disqualification.

A bench of Justice NaveenChawla issued notices to theoffice of Assembly SpeakerRam Niwas Goel, the EC andthe complainant -- AAP MLASaurabh Bhardwaj.

The bench posted the mat-ter for November 20.

The ex-AAP MLAs havechallenged in the high courttheir disqualification underthe anti-defection law. Thecourt had earlier dismissedtheir pleas seeking recusal ofthe Legislative AssemblySpeaker from the disqualifica-tion proceedings against them,saying it finds no reason toentertain the appeals.

The MLAs had challengedthe single judge's order whichdismissed their pleas for adirection to Goel to recusefrom hearing the petition fortheir disqualification.

The single judge, in its July

8 order, had said there was "noinfirmity" in the procedureadopted by the Speaker andrejected the MLAs' allegation ofbias as also the contentionthat he should have first decid-ed their application for recusalbefore going ahead with dis-qualification proceedings.

AAP MLA SaurabhBharadwaj on June 10 moveda petition in the DelhiAssembly and sought disqual-ification of its two rebel MLAs-- Anil Bajpai from GandhiNagar and Devinder Sehrawatfrom Bijwasan seat -- who hadbeen openly critical of theparty and had joined the BJPon May 3 and May 6 respec-tively.

PNS n KOLKATA

The Calcutta High Court islikely to pronounce its judge-ment on October 1 in theanticipatory bail plea of formerKolkata police commissioner

Rajeev Kumar in theSaradha chit fund scam casefollowing conclusion of hear-ing on Monday.

CBI lawyer Y J Dastoorconcluded his submissionsopposing Kumar's pre-arrestbail plea before a divisionbench comprising justices SMunshi and S Dasgupta.

The bench, which heardthe proceedings 'in-camera',adjourned the matter for theday after the CBI lawyer con-cluded his submissions.

Kumar's lawyers had con-cluded their arguments infavour of his pre-arrest bailplea on Thursday before thedivision bench.

His counsels had prayedfor 'in-camera' proceedingsin the case which the courtagreed to on September 25,directing that only those advo-cates who are related to the

case would be present duringthe hearing.

A pre-arrest bail plea byKumar was earlier rejected bythe Alipore District andSessions Court on September21.

The central probe agencyhas given multiple notices toKumar, who is currently theAdditional Director General inthe West Bengal CrimeInvestigation Department(CID), to appear before it forquestioning as a witness in themulti-crore Saradha chit fundscam.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The over 4.2 km-long GreyLine of the Delhi Metro, whichwill connect urban village areaof Najafgarh to the rapid tran-sit network, will be opened forservices on October 4, officialssaid on Monday.

The corridor consists ofthree stations -- Dwarka (inter-change with Blue Line), Nangliand Najafgarh.

"The Dwarka–Najafgarhcorridor of Delhi Metro will beformally f lagged off onOctober 4 by MoS(Independent) for Housing &Urban Affairs and CivilAviation Hardeep Singh Puriand Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal," a seniorDMRC official said.

The flagging-off ceremony is

slated to take place at MetroBhawan at 12.15 pm and pas-senger services on the sectionshall commence from 5 pm onthe same day, said Anuj Dayal,the executive director, corpo-rate communication of theDMRC.

With the opening of this sec-tion, the Delhi Metro networkwill expand to 377 km with 274stations, including the Noida-

Greater Noida Aqua Line,"The Grey Line is a stan-

dard-gauge section and out ofthe 4.295 km, 2.57 km is ele-vated and 1.5 km under-ground. With the opening ofthis section, the Dwarka metrostation is all set to emerge as aninterchange facility that willconnect the sub-city with thelocality of Najafgarh," Dayalhad said.

PNS n RAJNANDGAON

Security forces destroyed aMaoist camp after a gun bat-tle with ultras on Monday inChattisgarh's Rajnandgaon dis-trict, a senior official said.

The encounter took place inthe morning on a forested hillnear Pugda village when somejoint teams of various securi-ty forces were out on an anti-Naxal operation, RajnandgaonSuperintendent of PoliceKamlochan Kashyap said.

On getting a tip-off aboutpresence of a dozen Naxals attheir camp on the hill betweenPugda and Korcha villages,various joint squads of the

District Reserve Guard (DRG),Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), Chhattisgarh ArmedForce (CAF) and local police

launched the operation, hesaid.

When one of the patrollingteams was advancing through

a forest in Pugda, the rebelsfired at them from the hill,forcing the security men toretaliate, he said.

After heavy firing from boththe sides for a brief period,Maoists escaped into the denseforest, Kashyap said, addingthat there was no casualtyamong the security personnel.

Later, the security forcesdemolished the Maoist campand recovered a claymore mine(explosive), utensils, campingmaterial and a huge cache ofdaily use items from there, hesaid.

Search operation was stillunderway in the area, headded.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The names of over 100 hospi-tals found involved in mal-practices have been put up onAyushman Bharat's officialwebsite as part of the govern-ment's "name and shame" ini-tiative to create deterrenceamong healthcare establish-ments, Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan said onMonday.

Addressing the 'ArogyaManthan' organised on thefirst anniversary of AyushmanBharat-Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY),Vardhan said the governmentis also planning to implementa "name and fame" initiative tofelicitate hospitals performingwell under the scheme.

"As part of the government'szero-tolerance towards cor-ruption, names of 111 hospitalswhich have been de-empan-elled after they were foundinvolved in some kind offraudulent activity or mal-practices have been put up onthe official website of the AB-PMJAY as a part of our 'nameand shame' initiative.

"We are now also planningto implement a 'name and

fame' initiative to felicitatethose hospitals which are per-forming well under the schemeso that their best practices canbe emulated by others,"Vardhan said.

The 'Arogya Manthan' wasorganised by the the NationalHealth Authority (NHA), theapex body implementing thescheme.

The minister said a strongfraud prevention, detectionand control system is provingto be critical for PMJAY toensure that frauds are pre-vented and even if they areattempted, they are quickly

detected and strong action istaken.

Nearly 1,200 cases of fraudhave been confirmed andact ion has b een takenagainst 338 hospitals in theAB-PMJAY, Vardhan hadsaid, adding that FIRs havebeen lodged against six andpenalties amounting to overRs 1.5 crore have beenlevied.

Vardhan said 32 states andUnion territories have alreadyimplemented the scheme. Heexpressed sadness over theremaining four states whichhave not implemented the

scheme because of which itscitizens are not able to reap thethe scheme's benefits.

The health minister alsocongratulated the people whoplayed major roles in con-ceptualising and implement-ing the scheme according toPrime Minister's vision withthe use of technology and sci-ence to ensure that its bene-fits reach people living in theremote corners of the coun-try.

"These soldiers and innova-tive minds will discuss theachievements and the short-comings of the scheme whichwas launched last year. Theywill also deliberate on ways tomake it state-of-the art pro-gramme and strong ITenabled," he said.

With NHA's governingboard recently overhauling the

existing health benefits pack-ages and rationalising theircosts to remove any aberra-tions, most of the demands ofthe private sector has been met,he said.

Since the launch of PMJAYon September 23, 2018, morethan 47 lakh hospital treat-ments worth over Rs 7,500crore have been carried out.

Of the total amount utilised,55 per cent has been on tertiaryprocedures.

In addition, over 10 crorebeneficiary cards have beenissued and the governmenthas so far spent Rs 7,500 croreon treatment of patients underthe scheme.

As many as 18,073 hospitalsand healthcare providers havebeen empanelled across thecountry and of these, 53 percent are private.

Harsh Vardhan

111 hospitals have been de-empanelledafter they were found involved in somekind of fraudulent activity ormalpractices have been put up on theofficial website of the AB-PMJAY as apart of our ‘name and shame' initiative,said Union Health Minister

Namita Mundada

Rajeev Kumar

While inductingPadalkar into BJP,Fadnavis said, ‘Heis like a tiger, whoshould challenge amajor leader. If heis ready, I will tryto field him fromBaramati’

The bench postedfor Nov 20. Theex-AAP MLAshave challengedin the high courttheirdisqualificationunder the anti-defection law

HC seeks response ofDelhi Speaker, EC ondisqualification plea

Rajnath launches websiteof DefExpo 2020PNS n NEW DELHI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singhon Monday launched the web-site of the 11th edition ofDefEXpo, which will be held inLucknow in February next year,officials said. The event will behosted from February 5-8.

"The website, www.defex-po.gov.in, provides online ser-vices to exhibitors, besides host-ing informative content aboutthe product profile of DPSUs(Defence Public SectorUndertakings) and ordnancefactories," a senior official said.

The website enablesexhibitors to register and bookspace online as per theirrequirements on a first-come-first-serve basis, make onlinepayments, book conference

halls and venues for Business-to-Business (B2B) meetings,the Defence Ministry said in astatement. Exhibitors can availearly bird discounts by bookingspace on the website beforeOctober 31, it said.

Trade visitors will be able tobuy their tickets using the web-site for visiting the show dur-ing business days which will befrom February 5-7, the officialssaid. Entry for general publicwill be free on February 8.However, general visitors arerequired to pre-register on thewebsite.

Delhi Metro's Dwarka-Najafgarhcorridor to open on Oct 4

Yogi Adityanath

Rajnath Singh

Forces destroy Maoist camp in C'garh

NCP poll candidate, VBAleader, Cong MLA join BJP

HC verdict on Rajeevbail case likely today

Names of 111 hospitals put up onAB-PMJAY's site for ‘name & shame’

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 nation 06SHORT READS

CCTV cameras to beinstalled at policestations, posts in J-KJAMMU: CCTV cameras will beinstalled at police stations andposts in Jammu and Kashmiras a security measure and toensure accountability, a seniorofficial said on Monday. Jammuand Kashmir has over 350police stations and police postslocated in three regions."Tenders have been invitedfrom manufacturers or theirauthorised dealers for thesupply of supply, installation,commissioning andmaintenance of the CCTVsurveillance system at policestations and police posts ofJ&K," Assistant InspectorGeneral (AIG) of PoliceMubassir Latifi said. Police areprocuring 2 MP bullet camerawith eight channels and alarmtrigger for video tempering,motion detection and illegallogin. It should detect intrusion,trip wise crossing detection,with a switching capacity of 20GBPs, according to officials.The WWSs must have trigger-based locking units with GPStrackers so that they cannot bemisused and can be speedilytraced, Latifi said. This isaimed to bring furthertransparency in the system atpolice stations and ensuresecurity, the officials said.

Family's suicide pact:Woman's body found,pet dog saved

15 suffer burns atcement factory inChittorgarhJAIPUR: Fifteen labourerssuffered burn injuries at theBirla cement factory inRajasthan's Chittorgarh district,an official said here on Monday.The incident took place onSunday evening when burningcoal fell on them at the factoryfalling under the Chanderiapolice station. The injuredwere were rushed to agovernment hospital inUdaipur. Owing to criticalinjuries, doctors referred 14 ofthe labourers to Ahmedabad fortreatment, Additional DistrictCollector Mukesh Kalal said. Hesaid the matter was beinginvestigated and a report wouldbe prepared after verifying thesecurity measures available atthe factory. Police said a casehad been registered against thefactory management underSections 287, 336, 337 and308 of the IPC.

MANGALURU: The body of thewoman who jumped into theNethravati river with hermother, brother and pet dogwas recovered early Mondaywhile the pooch has beensaved even as search was on totrace the brother's body, policesaid. Unable to bear the deathof her husband Kishan (65) onSaturday, Kavita Mandanna(55), her son Kaushik (30) anddaughter Kalpita (20) enteredinto a suicide pact, the policesaid. Even before Kishan'sfuneral on Sunday, the familyovercome with grief left a notesaying 'miss you' beside thecorpse, then went to the bridgeacross Nethravati atPanemangalore with the dogand jumped into the river.Eyewitnesses saw the threetaking the plunge along withthe pet, and tried to save them.Kavita was saved but she diedon the way to hospital, whileKalpita's body was recoveredearly Monday. Search forKaushik's was still on, theysaid. The dog has beenrescued and was being giventreatment in a veterinaryhospital.

Religions are different roadsconverging upon the same point.

What does it matter that we take differentroads so long as we reach the same goal?

— MAHATMA GANDHI

PNS n RANCHI

President Ram Nath Kovind onMonday called upon studentsto use modern technology andbecome job creators.

Addressing the 33rd convo-cation of the Ranchi Universityhere, Kovind said, nowadaysyouth have access to moderntechnology that leads to manynew opportunities.

"Our previous generationsdid not have those facilities," hesaid.

Mentioning that the Centreand the state governments aregiving fillip to employment(opportunities), Kovind urgedthe students to fully utilise theopportunities.

"Jharkhand has severaltourist places and quality edu-cational institutions. The statehas many specialities and onthe basis of the talent of peo-ple like you (students), newdimensions can be set fordevelopment," he said.

Jharkhand possesses notonly 40 per cent of the coun-try's minerals but also hassubstantial human resources,Kovind said.

"I can say to Chief MinisterRaghubar Das that your stateis full of natural resources. Italso has one of the largesthuman resource repositories,"Kovind said, congratulatingabout 3,000 students who wereawarded degrees at the convo-cation.

He appreciated the univer-sity for starting 'Jan Jati and

Khetriya Bhasa Vibhag' (Tribaland regional languages depart-ment), for teaching five triballanguages---Kuduk, Ho,Mundari, Santhali and Khadia.

The President also recalledthe role of Birsa Munda whospearheaded an uprisingagainst the British in the ChotaNagpur region in the early19th century.

"Birsa Munda, whom werefer to as 'Bhagwaan', was one

of the greatest freedom fight-ers from this region, and asource of inspiration not onlyfor Jharkhand but for the entirenation," he said.

He also recalled the contri-butions of other tribal iconslike Sidho-Kanho, Jatra TanaBhagat and Chand-Bhairov,and appreciated therole of Tana Bhagats, whofollowed the path of MahatmaGandhis non-violence during

the freedom movement.The President said that one

should learn from tribals howto live in harmony with nature.

Presenting gold medals to 11of the 56 gold medalists,Kovind said in a lighter vein, "Itold a girl that I envy her forgetting gold medal for LLM(Masters in Law) while I amonly LLB."

He also praised the academicperformance of the girls as itwas five times better than boyswith 47 of the 56 gold medal-lists being girls.

Praising the developmentaland social welfare programmesof the central and the state gov-ernments, the President saidthat it was from Jharkhand thatthe worlds biggest health insur-ance scheme, Ayushman

Bharat, was launched.Pension schemes for farmers

and traders were also launchedfrom here, he said.

The President called uponthe students to learn from thelife of Mahatma Gandhi and dosocial service on the 150thbirth anniversary of the Fatherof the Nation.

The President said that insti-tutions like Vikas Bharati inGumla are active in the regionfor all-round tribal develop-ment. "I was to visit Gumla yes-terday but due to bad weatherI could not go," Kovind said.

He urged students to takeinspiration from institutionslike Ramakrishna Missionwhich works for the develop-ment of the health and educa-tion sectors.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reduction of coal consumptionis not a one-day process andIndia has a long-term plan togradually replace coal withrenewable energy, a top envi-ronment ministry official saidon Monday.

Union EnvironmentSecretary C K Mishra saidcoal based plants will contin-ue using coal but a long termplan was in place to reduce itsconsumption.

"Reduction of coal is not aone-day process. We have aplan in place. A long-termplan where we will replacecoal with renewable energyslowly to achieve the goalannounced by the prime min-ister to reach 450 gigawatt.

"But plants which are alreadycoal based, will continue toconsume coal," Mishra said.

He was addressing the mediaon the first day of the five-daymeeting of the

Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC)Working Group III SixthAssessment Report here.

On the issue of reducing coalconsumption and carbon emis-sions, he said, "We have already80 gigawatts renewable energyreplace coal in last 5 years andwe are moving towards it but

we cannot deny that coal willstill continue to be required forsome time in India".

The secretary also acknowl-edged that the demand forelectricity in India will contin-ue to rise due to which coalcannot be totally banned. Hesaid this does not mean that thegovernment is not working on

the the process to replace coalwith alternative renewableenergy. "The demand for elec-tricity in India will continue torise. That does not mean we arenot quickening the process ofreplacement.

"We already have 80 gigawattof renewable in last 2-3 years.Ultimate idea is reduction ofcoal but we cannot deny thatcoal will still continue to berequired for some time inIndia,” Mishra said.

The IPCC Working GroupIII is working on the SixthAssessment Report to mitigateclimate change with over 200

authors, in which 12 are fromIndia. "The reports of theIPCC on land, ocean etc havemeant a lot and added a lot ofvalue to policy making,"Mishra said.

Jim Skea, Co-Chair ofWorking Group III also high-lighted the role of the SixthAssessment Report.

He said "Building on pre-vious Working Group IIIassessments, this report willemphasize what can be donein the near term to mitigateclimate change and how mit-igation actions can be enabledthrough policy, institution-

building and finance."He also added that India will

be playing a key role in thepreparation of this report interms of intellect and finances.

"We completely rely on thesupport of the government.There are 200 authors, with 12from India. India is making asubstantial contribution to thisreport in terms intellect, assess-ment and financial support.We are thankful to India formaking a major contribution,"Skea said, adding that thereport will be finalised by mid2021.

India is hosting the SecondLead Author Meeting of theIPCC Working Group III SixthAssessment Report at NewDelhi from September 30 toOctober 4, 2019.

More than 200 experts andauthors including 12 fromIndia and from around 65countries are expected to par-ticipate in this week-long meet-ing at New Delhi.

‘India has plan to replace coal with renewable energy’

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court soughtthe ED's response on Mondayon the bail plea of KarnatakaCongress leader D KShivakumar in a money-laun-dering case.

Shivakumar, arrested in acase under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED), approachedthe high court challengingthe trial court's order denyinghim bail.

The court issued notice tothe agency, asked it to file astatus report and listed thematter for further hearing onOctober 14.

In the high court,Shivakumar has cited medicalreasons as one of the groundsfor securing bail.

In the petition, the Congressleader has said he is a seven-time MLA and not a flightrisk. He has contended that itis a case based on documen-tary evidence and there is noground to keep him in custodyas he has no criminalantecedents.

Meanwhile, the court hadreserved order on anotherplea moved by Shivakumar,seeking a copy of his state-ments recorded by the ED inthe money-laundering case.

Denying him bail, the trialcourt had said Shivakumarwas an influential person andif released at a crucial stage ofthe investigation, might influ-ence witnesses or tamper withdocuments.

The trial court had perusedthe Congress leader's medicalreport and noted that although

he had undergone angiogra-phy, his condition was stableand he was advised medica-tion.

The ED had, in Septemberlast year, registered the money-laundering case againstShivakumar, Haumanthaiah,an employee at the KarnatakaBhavan here, and others.

The case was based on achargesheet (prosecution com-plaint) filed by the Income-Taxdepartment against thembefore a special court inBengaluru last year, allegingtax evasion and "hawala"transactions worth crores ofrupees.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Mondayrefused to entertain a plea offlat owners seeking stay on itsorder on demolition of fourapartment complexes inKochi's Maradu which werebuilt in violation of CoastalRegulation Zone norms.

A bench of justices ArunMishra and S Ravindra Bhatdismissed the plea of flat own-ers, who have also challengedthe legality of a panel whichhad recommended the demo-lition.

The apex court had onFriday directed demolition ofthe flats within 138 days, atimeline given by the Keralagovernment, and had askedthe state to pay Rs 25 lakhinterim compensation toeach flat owner within fourweeks.

It had said the governmentmay consider recovering theinterim compensationamount, which will be paid toflat owners, from the buildersand the promoters.

The court had ordered set-ting up of one-member com-mittee of retired high courtjudge to oversee the demoli-

tion and to assess total com-pensation payable to affectedflat owners.

Besides, it directed freezingof assets of builders and pro-moters who were involved inthe construction of illegalbuildings in the coastal zoneareas of Kochi.

The court had clarified thatits primary concern was thatno construction should havebeen carried out at the eco-fragile coastal zone and thequestion was not regardingany individual.

The state government hadsubmitted a plan under whichin 138 days the structurewould be demolished --including 90 days for demoli-tion and 38 days for removingof debris.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Mondayalleged that the ElectionCommission's reducing ofSikkim Chief Minister PremSingh Tamang's disqualifica-tion period by almost fiveyears gives the "clear mes-sage" that one is immunisedfrom the law of the land if thatperson sings praises for thegovernment.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi said recentexamples of Tamang's case, theHome Ministry's decision tocommute the death sentence ofBalwant Singh Rajoana in theassassination case of formerPunjab chief minister BeantSingh, and the Chinmayanandcase in Uttar Pradesh, have arunning thread of "completeabuse of law".

The actions in these casessend a "clear message that youare immunised from the law ofthe land if you chant 'Tusi greatho' (you are great), day in andday out, and you are subject-ed to harassment, vendetta, ifyou do not chant this. Itexhibits extreme irresponsi-bility about the law," Singhvisaid at a press conference here.

The EC on Sunday reducedTamang's disqualification peri-od by almost five years undera provision of the electoral law,paving the way for him to con-test the state assembly elec-tions. His disqualification peri-od of six years, during whichhe was barred from contestingpolls, began on August 10,2018 -- the day he completeda year's jail term in a corrup-

tion case. It was to end onAugust 10, 2024. But theElection Commission (EC) onSunday reduced it to one yearand one month.

Tamang, whose SikkimKrantikari Morcha Party wonthe state assembly electionsheld in April, took over as chiefminister on May 27. However,he could not contest the elec-tions due to his disqualifica-tion. He has to contest assem-bly polls within six months ofbecoming the chief minister tohold the office.

Tamang was found guilty ofmisappropriation of govern-ment funds in a cow distribu-tion scheme while he wasminister of animal husbandry

in the 1990s.Referring to Tamang's con-

viction, Singhvi said he wasguilty of what could be calleda 'chaara ghotala' (fodderscam).

Singhvi also drew a parallelwith former Bihar chief min-ister Lalu Prasad Yadav, sayingif he wants relief, he also mustsing praises for the govern-ment.

"I wonder how many peoplein the country are fortunateenough to get this benevo-lence, this largesse, this gen-erosity of a generous ElectionCommission and of a supergenerous government of India.

"I would suggest all suchpeople who want this gen-erosity, (they) should startchanting a different mantra,"he said. A case was registeredin 2003 under the Preventionof Corruption Act that wassubsequently repealed.Tamang has served the fullsentence.

The EC order said Tamang'sdisqualification stands reducedto one year and one month.

In July, Tamang hadrequested the poll panel towaive his disqualification peri-od under Section 11 of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Minister Nitin Gadkarion Monday inaugurated theDelhi-Meerut Expresswayphase-3, built at a cost of Rs1,058 crore.

The 82-kilometre longDelhi-Meerut Expresswayconnects Delhi with Meerutin western Uttar Pradesh.

A sum of Rs 8,346 crore islikely to be spent on the pro-ject.

The third phase or packagefrom Dasna in Ghaziabad toHapur is over 22-km long,with a civil cost of Rs 1,058crore.

This 6-lane section has 2+2lane service roads on eithersides, and a 4.68-km long 6-lane elevated corridor atPilkhuwa.

The project involves con-struction of a major bridgeacross upper Ganga canal,seven new minor bridges, aflyover at Hapur bypass, 11vehicular underpasses, twopedestrian underpasses, twofoot overbridges, six majorjunctions and 105 minorjunctions.

The project will help indecongesting National CapitalRegion and bring significantreduction in pollution level,the Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways saidin a statement. It will also lead

to reduction in travel time bymore than an hour.

The 4.68-km long 6-laneelevated corridor at Pilkhuwahas been conferred goldmedal for innovation in con-struction technology.

The Pilkhuwa Viaduct hasalso been awarded as out-standing concrete structure ofwestern UP.

President Ram Nath Kovind at the 33rd convocation of Ranchi University in Ranchi on Monday. Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das andother dignitaries are also seen

‘Jharkhand has several tourist placesand quality educational institutions. Thestate has many specialities and on thebasis of the talent of people like you(students), new dimensions can be setfor development,’ the President said

Congress spokesperson AbhishekSinghvi said the actions in these casessend a “clear message that you areimmunised from the law of the land ifyou chant ‘Tusi great ho' (you aregreat), day in and day out”

Union Environment Secy CK Mishra saidcoal-based plants will continue, but along-term plan was in place to reduceits consumption. “Reduction of coal isnot a one-day process. We have a planin place,” he said

President stresses need foruse of modern tech by students

SING PRAISES FOR GOVT, GET IMMUNISED FROM LAW

Cong slams EC reducing SikkimCM's disqualification term

Prem Singh Tamang

HC seeks ED responseon Shivakumar's bail plea

Shivakumar,arrested in a casemoney launderingcase byEnforcementDirectorate,approached HCchallenging thetrial court's orderdenying him bail

The 6-lane sectionhas 2+2 laneservice roads oneither sides, and a4.68-km long 6-lane elevatedcorridor atPilkhuwa

The SC benchdismissed plea offlat owners, whoalso challengedthe legality of apanel which hadrecommendedthe demolition

Maradu flats: SCrefuses to entertainstay plea of flat owners

Rs 1K cr Delhi-Meeruthighway inaugurated

PNS n NEW DELHI

Veteran actor Viju Khote, bestknown for his roles in filmssuch as Sholay and AndazApna Apna, died in Mumbaion Monday morning, report-ed news agency PTI. VijuKhote was 77. Speaking to PTI,the actor's niece BhavanaBalsavar said: "He passed awaytoday at 6.55 am peacefully inhis sleep at the residence. Hehas been unwell since quitesom etime. He had multipleorgan failure." Ms Balsavaralso said that Viju Khote wasbrought back home from thehospital as he wanted to bewith his family in his final days.

Viju Khote is credited withhaving starred in over 300films across Hindi andMarathi cinema. Some of VijuKhote's most rememberedroles include dacoit Kalia in

Sholay, who was second incommand to Amjad Khan'sGabbar. His dialogue "Sardarmaine aapka namak khayahai" from Sholay continues tobe a famous reference till date.Viju Khote is also well remem-bered for his dialogue "Galti semistake ho gaya" in AamirKhan and Salman Khan'sAndaz Apna Apna.

Viju Khote

Actor Viju Khote of Sholay-fame dies at 77

Nitin Gadkari

D K Shivakumar

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 world 07

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

FACTORY FIRE KILLS 19 INEAST CHINA: OFFICIALBeijing: A factory fire has killed 19people in east China, local authoritiessaid Monday, in the latest deadlyincident to hit the country’s industrialsector. The fire broke out on Sunday ata factory in Ninghai county, easternZhejiang province, said the localGovernment on its official Twitter-likeWeibo account.

FRENCH BID FAREWELLAT COFFIN OF CHIRACParis: Thousands of people on

Sunday queued in Paris to bid afinal farewell to France’s formerpresident Jacques Chirac, fondlyremembered as a charismaticgiant of domestic andinternational politics despite amixed legacy.

STORM IN CENTRALEUROPE KILLS TWOBerlin: High winds swept acrossparts of central Europe onMonday, leaving two peopledead, disrupting transport andcausing power outages forthousands of households.

IRAN: READY FOR TALKSON ‘REGIONAL COALITION’Tehran: Iran on Mondayannounced its readiness for talkson a regional coalition forestablishment of peace, themedia reported.

RISING AIR POLLUTION:THAI ISSUES WARNINGBangkok: Thai authorities onMonday issued an alert over anincrease in air pollution inBangkok and recommended thepeople to exercise precaution.

Sanaa (Yemen): Yemen’s rebelson Monday released scores ofdetainees they had rounded upand held for years in rebel-con-trolled territory, a develop-ment that raised hopes of reviv-ing stalled peace talks betweenthe warring sides.

The InternationalCommittee of the Red Crosssaid the Iran-aligned rebels,known as Houthis, freed 290detainees.

Franz Rauchenstein, theICRC’s chief in Yemen, said theRed Cross facilitated the releasefollowing a request from theHouthis.

He expressed hope thiswould open the door to “fur-ther releases to bring comfortto families awaiting reunifica-tion with their loved ones.”

Most of the prisoners weretaken in raids since 2014, whenthe rebels overran the capital.

AP

Manchester : UK PrimeMinister Boris Johnson facedpolitical opposition and per-sonal allegations on Monday ashe tried to fulfil his pledge tolead Britain out of theEuropean Union in just over amonth.

As he tried to energiseConservative members andlawmakers at the party’s annu-al conference, Johnson wasforced to deny a journalist’sclaim that he had grabbed herthigh at a private lunch twodecades ago.

Sunday Times columnistCharlotte Edwardes says theincident took place when sheworked at The Spectator, aconservative newsmagazine,while Johnson was its editor.

Asked Monday if the alle-gation was true, Johnson said:“No.”

Edwardes stood by herstory, tweeting: “If the primeminister doesn’t recollect theincident then clearly I have abetter memory than he does.”

Johnson also is underscrutiny for claims that anAmerican businesswoman,Jennifer Arcuri, receivedmoney and perks from London

coffers while Johnson wasmayor of the British capital.

He also denies wrongdoingover Arcuri, who was givengrants and places on overseastrade trips for her small techstart-up, saying everything wasdone “with full propriety”.

The case has been referredto Britain’s police watchdog,which will decide whether toinvestigate Johnson for mis-conduct in a public office.

Johnson has vowed thatBritain will leave the EuropeanUnion on the scheduled date ofOctober 31, with or without adivorce deal governing futurerelations with the bloc.

His foes in Parliament aredetermined to avoid a no-dealexit, which economists saywould plunge Britain intorecession.

The personal allegationsovershadowed theConservative Party’s four-dayannual conference inManchester, northwestEngland, where Johnson is try-ing to rally the party — andprepare for an election thatcould come within weeks —under the slogan “Get BrexitDone.” AP

Dakar: Senegal’s PresidentMacky Sall has pardoned for-mer Dakar mayor and politicalrival Khalifa Sall, who hadbeen sentenced to prison forfraudulent use of public funds,the presidency announced onSunday.

Khalifa Sall, no relation ofthe president, has been in jailsince March 2017 and wassentenced to five years inprison in August 2018.

He was therefore barredfrom taking part in the presi-dential election in February.

Khalifa Sall emerged fromprison a few hours after thepardon was announced to begreeted by a crowd of sup-porters.

Police fired tear gas to dis-perse the crowd, witnesses.

AFP

AP n WASHINGTON

The president’s lawyer insiststhe real story is a debunked

conspiracy theory. A seniorWhite House adviser blames the“deep state.” And a Republicancongressman is pointing at JoeBiden’s son.

As the Democrats drive animpeachment inquiry toward apotential vote by the end of theyear, President Donald Trump’sallies are struggling over how heshould manage the starkestthreat to his presidency. Thejockeying broke into the openSunday on the talk show circuit,with a parade of Republicanserupting into a surge of second-guessing.

At the top of the list: RudyGiuliani’s false charge that it wasUkraine that meddled in the2016 elections. The former NewYork mayor has been encour-aging Ukraine to investigate

both Biden and Hillary Clinton.“I am deeply frustrated with

what he and the legal team isdoing and repeating thatdebunked theory to the presi-dent. It sticks in his mind whenhe hears it over and over again,”said Tom Bossert, Trump’s for-mer homeland security adviser.“That conspiracy theory has gotto go, they have to stop withthat, it cannot continue to berepeated.”

Not only did Giuliani repeatit Sunday, he brandished piecesof paper he said were affidavitssupporting his story.

“Tom Bossert doesn’t knowwhat’s he’s talking about,”Guiliani said. He added thatTrump was framed by theDemocrats.

Senior White House policyadviser Stephen Miller, mean-while, noted that he’s worked inthe federal government “fornearly three years.”

“I know the differencebetween whistleblower and adeep state operative,” Millersaid. “This is a deep state oper-ative, pure and simple.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim

Jordan, R-Ohio, heatedly saidTrump was merely askingUkrainian President VolodymyrZelenskiy to root out corrup-tion. That, Jordan said, includesHunter Biden’s membership onthe board of a Ukrainian gascompany at the same time hisfather was leading the Obamaadministration’s diplomaticdealings with Kyiv. There hasbeen no evidence of wrongdo-ing by either of the Bidens.

Mixed messaging reflectsthe difficulty Republicans arehaving defending the presidentagainst documents released bythe White House that featureTrump’s own words and actions.A partial transcript and awhistleblower complaint formthe heart of the House impeach-ment inquiry and describeTrump pressuring a foreignpresident to investigate Biden’sfamily.

In a series of tweets Sundaynight, Trump said he deservedto meet “my accuser” as well aswhoever provided the whistle-blower with what the presidentcalled “largely incorrect” infor-mation.

Beijing: Chinese President XiJinping vowed on Monday touphold the “one country, twosystems” principle in HongKong, after months of pro-democracy protests in thesemi-autonomous city.

Speaking at a reception inBeijing the night before cele-brations to mark the country’s70th anniversary, Xi said thecountry would “continue tofully and faithfully implementthe principles of ‘one country,two systems’” and a “highdegree of autonomy.” HongKong has been plagued bymonths of unrest over whatprotesters say are eroding free-doms in the financial hub,which was handed back toChina by Britain in 1997.

“We are confident thatwith the full backing of themotherland and the concertedefforts of our fellow Chinese in

Hong Kong and Macau wholove the motherland... (HongKong) will prosper andprogress alongside the main-land,” Xi said.

China is preparing for ahighly-choreographed anniver-sary celebration on October 1,including a huge militaryparade and anniversary gala.Protesters in Hong Kong arehoping to upstage the eventwith another demonstrationon Tuesday following a week-end of intense clashes withpolice.

Beijing has been position-ing the event as a triumphantcelebration of its economicgrowth over the last sevendecades, as well as emphasisingthe importance of a unified ter-ritory and nationalism.

“Unity is iron and steel.Unity is a source of strength,”Xi said in his speech. AFP

Democratsplow ahead

WASHINGTON: PresidentDonald Trump is warning thatthe Democrat-driven impeach-ment proceedings and any moveto oust him from office amountto “treason” and would spark acivil war, prompting outragefrom a Republican congressman.

Trump tweeted a conserva-tive pastor’s comment thatremoving him would provoke a“civil war-like fracture” inAmerica.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, aformer Air Force pilot who rep-resents an Illinois district Trumpwon in 2016, tweeted on Sunday,“I have visited nations ravagedby civil war. ... I have never imag-ined such a quote to be repeat-ed by a President. This is beyondrepugnant.”

Trump on Monday wasthundering through a newround of counter-punchesagainst his opponents by ham-

mering home the suggestion thatthey should be arrested andcharged with treason and couldlaunch a civil war — or a com-bination of those. His top foeswere the whistleblower whosecomplaint launched the House’simpeachment investigation andthe congressman leading it,Intelligence CommitteeChairman Adam Schiff.

“Arrest for Treason?” Trumptweeted of Schiff on Monday inone of many presidential sug-gestions that his opponents

should be investigated for oper-ating under their constitution-al duties and within the law.

Fact check: Treason isextremely narrowly defined,both in the nation’s foundingdocument and in federal law.

The Constitution states:“Treason against the UnitedStates, shall consist only in levy-ing War against them, or inadhering to their Enemies, giv-ing them Aid and Comfort.”

Note the word “only.”Treason occurs when a U.S. cit-izen, or a non-citizen on U.S. ter-ritory, wages war against thecountry or provides materialsupport, not just sympathy, to adeclared enemy of the UnitedStates.

That came after Trumptweeted a comment from theRev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of theSouthern Baptist megachurchFirst Baptist Dallas. AP

Trump warns of treason, civilwar; GOP congressman outraged

Washington: Top aides toDonald Trump sought Sundayto turn the tables on Democratspushing for his impeachment,insisting the president was thetrue “whistleblower” in urgingUkraine to probe the son ofrival Joe Biden for corruption.

Trump’s Republican allieshave closed ranks as he battlesthe deepest crisis of his presi-dency, flatly denying he abusedhis power and seeking to dis-credit the anonymous whistle-blower who exposed the scan-

dal. That person will testifybefore Congress soon, law-makers said.

“The president of theUnited States is the whistle-blower,” Trump advisor StephenMiller told “Fox News Sunday.”“This individual is a saboteurtrying to undermine a democ-ratically elected government,”he said. “Getting to the bottomof a corruption scandal inUkraine is in the Americannational interest.”

AFP

Washington: PresidentDonald Trump said Sundayhe wants to meet the anony-mous whistleblower at thecenter of the scandal threat-ening his presidency.

Trump has been relative-ly quiet this weekend but in aseries of evening tweets healso blasted Democratic law-makers and the media as herailed against the impeach-ment inquiry launched lastweek.

That probe was triggeredby the release of a rough

transcript of a July phonecall in which Trump asked thepresident of Ukraine to inves-tigate Joe Biden, a potentialDemocratic candidate in the2020 US election.

He also enlisted his attor-ney general and personallawyer to help in that effort.

The whistleblower filed acomplaint over the contents ofthe conversation back inAugust, saying Trump hadtried to get a foreign power tointerfere in a US election forhis own gain. AFP

Aides claim Trump the true‘whistleblower’ in Ukraine scandal

Ukraine scandal: Trump wantsto meet whistleblower

UK’s Johnson denieswrongdoing asallegations mount

Yemen rebels free290 detainees,reviving hopes of talks

Senegal prezpardons KhalifaSall, ex-mayorof Dakar

China’s Xi vows to uphold ‘onecountry, two systems’ in HK

Sydney: Australia’s AttorneyGeneral Christian Porter onMonday announced measuresto protect journalists who facecharges over revealing sensitivesecurity or defence-relatedinformation in their reporting.

Porter, however, said mediapersons could be prosecutedonly in the most extreme cases.

The order comes at a timewhen Australian authoritiesare probing two journalists ofstate broadcaster ABC andanother working for the NewsCorp media group over alle-gations that they released infor-mation that violated secrecylaws. IANS

Australian AGvows to protectjournos fromprosecution

Republicans split over impeachment pushback

Gulalai Ismail, activist forwomen’s empowerment andPashtun human rights,escaped to the US inSeptember after four months

in hiding after denouncing the PakistanArmy’s alleged involvement in sexual vio-lence and disappearances. Expressinganxiety for her parents left behind, shesaid, “I do not see a prosperous Pakistanuntil the military establishment decidesit needs to go back to its barracks.”Unfortunately, the Army sees itself as theguarantor of a security state and thePashtun Tahafuz Movement, like theBaloch activists, is now in its crosshairs.

West Punjab-dominated Pakistan isnow in open conflict with activists fromBalochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,even Gilgit Baltistan. All are highlightingthe atrocities being perpetrated by thePakistan Army. Islamabad’s machinationsrecently made Pakistan-born Balochactivist, Baseer Naveed, stateless. Thougha permanent resident of Hong Kong, theexecutive director of the InternationalHuman Rights Council, Hong Kong(IHRC-HK) is now in danger of arrest,deportation or house arrest. After his sonwas killed in 2004, Naveed moved to HongKong in 2006 and took cases of enforceddisappearances in Pakistan to the UNWorking Group on Enforced andInvoluntary Disappearance (WGEID).

After an attempt to pick him up inThailand in 2016 failed, Naveed decided toseek Chinese citizenship with Hong Kongpassport, which was approved by theHong Kong Immigration in January 2018.As required, he surrendered his nationalidentity card and passport but the PakistaniConsulate-General retained his passport(now expired) at the behest of unseen mas-ters, his Renunciation Certificate ofPakistan Citizenship was cancelled, mak-ing him very vulnerable.

An elected member of the UN HumanRights Commission, Pakistan, has breachedArticle 15 of the Universal DeclarationHuman Rights that states, “Everyone hasthe right to a nationality” and “no one shallbe arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nordenied the right to change his nationality.”

Meanwhile, disappearances continue.On March 23, 2019, medical doctor ZafarSaleem was picked up by intelligenceagencies from Turbat, Kech, and releasedin a very critical condition in May 2019.In Karachi, doctors said his head injury,sustained as a result of torture, was fatal.Despite four months in hospital, he diedon September 2, 2019.

On September 4, 2019, UsmanMaqbool and his cousin Doda Rashid wereabducted from Pidrak, Kech, by ShahmeerAziz of Lashkar-e-Khurasan, an IslamicState affiliate. They left Maqbool’s minorson behind. Both men were handed overto the Frontier Corps and have since been

missing. On September 10,2019, activist Mir AliMohammad Chakranireturned home in Washuk dis-trict after attending a weddingwhen Armymen dragged himout in front of his family andsprayed him with bullets. Fivemembers of Chakrani’s familyhad been abducted previously;while four were released againsta ransom of `6.5 million, thefifth is still missing.

Newly wed HammalMurad and seven others wereforcibly abducted from TankGazzi in Mashkay, Awaran, inAugust 2019. On September 9,the Army brought Murad’sdead body home to show hisparents but took it back to theOoghaar military camp andburied it in an adjacent grave-yard. One abductee wasreleased the same day but thewhereabouts of the other six areunknown.

On September 16, 2019,Hani Gul, a student fromGwadar, told the media that sheand her fiancé, MohammadNaseem, were picked up byintelligence agencies fromKarachi, where they werestudying, and kept in torturecells for three months. At theVoice for Baloch MissingPersons’ protest camp in frontof Quetta Press Club, Hani Gulsaid that while she was released

after three months, her fiancéis still missing.

Meanwhile, four unidenti-fied bodies, discovered sepa-rately, were brought to CivilHospital, Quetta, where theywere declared unrecognisableand buried in Dasht onSeptember 16, 2019, by EdhiFoundation volunteers. Manymutilated bodies are routinelyburied every year even thoughPakistani courts have orderedthat DNA analysis must beconducted on all “beyondrecognition bodies.”

At the UN Human RightsCouncil (UNHRC) meeting inGeneva (September 9-27,2019), Baloch writer QambarMalik warned, “Islamic radi-calisation in Balochistan isbeing used by the Pakistaniauthorities as a tool to counterthe Baloch national strugglefor the right to self-determina-tion. These go together withthe enforced disappearancesand extra-judicial killing ofBaloch nationalists by thesecurity forces.” Malik saidthat the number of madrasas,which are a major source ofrecruits for the Taliban and theIslamic State, now exceeds thenumber of schools inBalochistan. Schools and uni-versities are under constantattack from Islamic militants.Activists from Sindh also

spoke of the grim atrocitiesinflicted on the people by themilitary, claiming that over300 people have disappearedsince February 2017.

The Government-estab-lished Commission of Inquiryon Enforced Disappearanceshas registered around 5,000cases of enforced disappear-ances since 2014, most ofwhich are still unresolved.Independent Pakistani andinternational human rightsorganisations claim that thenumbers are much higher.Nearly 20,000 have reportedlybeen abducted fromBalochistan alone; of thesemore than 2,500 have beenfound riddled with bullets andbearing signs of extreme tor-ture. In fact, before he becamethe Prime Minister, ImranKhan often stated in mediainterviews that Pakistan’s intel-ligence agencies were involvedin enforced disappearances andextra-judicial killings ofactivists in the country; hepromised to resign if he failedto end this practice and bringthose involved to account.

Samad Baloch, Secretary-General of the Baloch HumanRights Council, accusedPakistan of institutional viola-tion of human rights in theprovince, in Sindh, and KhyberPakhtunkhwa. Mehran Marri,

son of veteran Khair BakhshMarri, told the UNHRC thatPakistan continues to commit“genocide and human rightsviolations in Balochistan”, evenas it petitions the internation-al community about humanrights in Kashmir. Marri saidPakistan poses as internation-al policeman for safeguardingthe rights of Muslims aroundthe world but cannot dare seewhat is happening to theUighur Muslims in Xinjiangprovince because Beijing is a“partner-in-crime” inBalochistan.

At the UNHRC session,Pakistan failed to muster min-imum support for a resolutionagainst India for reorganisingits northern state of Jammu &Kashmir, while activists fromBalochistan, Sindh, Pakistan-held Kashmir and KhyberPakhtunkhwa clamoured for aUN investigation into thePakistani States’ crimesagainst humanity. Indeed, thePakistan Army has enjoyedtoo much impunity for osten-sibly serving Western strategicinterests. But now, it is appar-ent that it cannot provideWashington with a safe exitfrom Afghanistan.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressedare personal)

The attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil facil-ities last month saw only a temporary hikein the price of crude oil across the world. But

the recent defeat of a Saudi Arabian military force,commanded by former Pakistani Army GeneralRaheel Sharif, by Houthi rebels inside its own ter-ritory with over 2,000 Saudi “affiliated” soldiers— a polite word for mercenaries — is proofenough that there is serious escalation of tension.The Yemeni rebels, who are funded and armed byIranians, have been in a proxy war for two decades

now. The Iranians blamed Saudi Arabia and its young Crown Prince, Mohammedbin-Salman, for the collapse of the nuclear deal between them and the US. Onthe other hand, the Saudis feel that Iran is encircling them by funding uprisingsin Yemen and Iraq. This can also be seen as a continuation of the centuries-longShia-Sunni schism in Islam where both nations are the biggest players. And ifthis clash escalates from its current nature to a full-blown explosion, there arerisks of hundreds of thousands dying. There is even the probability of nuclearescalation and, of course, the global economy is bound to be affected. As theSaudi Crown Prince warned, oil prices will shoot to “unimaginable” levels.

India will also find itself in a horrible quandary if the downhill slide to a waris not arrested. Our economy has benefitted from a historic period of lower oilprices, without which the current economic situation would have been even worse.We have extremely good ties and historically important relations with both Iranand Saudi Arabia, although there has been a dramatic improvement in ties withthe latter. India’s substantial Shia community, particularly in the erstwhile Stateof Avadh, have ties with Iran’s top leadership. Saudi Arabia has just promisedan investment of $100 billion for us. India’s stand during a potential conflict willbe interesting as it has a tough balancing act at hand. And after a relatively suc-cessful US tour, the current crisis will be a matter of immense concern for ForeignMinister S Jaishankar. But is there any need for a war in the first place? The factis that both Iran and Saudi Arabia are at the mercy of leaders who detest eachother, so the region has been a pressure cooker for decades. But Iran is feelingthe heat of sanctions and is of the view that there may not be much to lose. Tohit Saudi Arabia just as it plans to open up might be the best time to strike. Thelatter itself has seen bin-Salman purge the royalty of lackeys and hangers-on,sometimes violently and has few, if any, ways to have back-channel contactswith Iran. War should always be the last option but it seems horribly certain now.

If young climate activist Greta Thunberg isgiving a conscience call on what we aredumping on her generation, Mother Nature

knows best. For she makes us feel the dis-astrous reality of climate change all aroundus, radically altering our lives as we knew it.Aberrations, like the wettest September after102 years, are likely to become the “new nor-mal.” The frequency of extreme weatherevents is likely to increase, be it as unexpect-ed high and low temperature differentials ofsummer and winter or the frequent floods anddroughts. The calamity that ravaged most

parts of the eastern State of Bihar is only the latest in a string of freak nature out-bursts that have destroyed lives, land and crops in Maharashtra, Kerala and Assamthis monsoon. Bihar, for example, had a rain deficit of 20 per cent in the four-month monsoon period (between June and September), crucial for its food-grow-ing regions. Suddenly, the sputtering rain turned into a great deluge, dramatical-ly reducing the rain deficit to almost nil over the past three days. Distressing imagesof flooded streets, submerged railway tracks, boats ferrying people to safe places,though not new, pinched us under our skin simply because these are not pho-tos you associate with an Indian autumn. Even pure statistics are indeed star-tling: The number of floods in India rose to 90 in the 10-year period between2006 and 2015, up from 67 in the 10 years between 1996 and 2005, accord-ing to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. In the same vein, the death tollcontinued to rise — from 13,660 between 1996 and 2005 to 15,860 between2006 and 2015.

One of the key reasons for floods wreaking havoc in rural as well as urbanareas is the fact that overflow, consequent to a rise in water levels in rivers, doesnot find adequate diversionary channels. Clearly, the existing ones have eitheroutlived their utility in unforeseen circumstances or been shoved under the debrisof human material greed. Besides, fervid urbanisation has led to land reclama-tion in the most unscientific manner. In Bihar itself, while levels in the Ganga andKosi surged, stormwater channels were found to be clogged with plastics. Existingwetlands and flood plains could have stemmed the angry surge but have beentaken over by massive illegal construction on river banks and encroachments.The changing or constricted course of rivers and their tributaries have meant thatvast tracts of rural countryside and its villagers live in unpredictable scenariosas riverine refugees shift to temporary camps, lose standing crops, stare at abattered land, give up their traditional livelihood and economic activities for what-ever jobs are available. Some of them sink to deeper debts. The other alarmingreport is that all reservoirs across the country are full and are fast reaching theirsaturation limit. Gross mismanagement of dams is one area that needs to beaddressed as a shared concern than a show of territorial rights. Many times,despite early warning systems, States fail to release water at the apt time andinvolve themselves in a brawl. When water is released, coinciding with exces-sive rainfall, the flooding just worsens. Over the years, States have seriously takennote of the issue and have also taken corrective steps but there has to be anintegrated mechanism for the riverine ones. For there is only this much we cando in terms of disaster preparedness and management, which has improved great-ly, the rescue after cyclone Fani-hit Odisha being a good example. More than amillion people were evacuated into 9,000 shelters in just 24 hours. But Bihar justshowed us that while we may have excelled in one area, we are not complete-ly ready with preventive protocols. Reinforcing embankments is just a tradition-al and temporary way of handling flood pressure. Nothing substantial has beendone to address silt accumulation. Understanding sediment dynamics is impor-tant as a channel that is sediment-heavy may lead to overtopping of the banks.Any solution to this problem must first lead to an understanding of the river pat-tern, which differs from State to State and from season to season. Besides, floodmanagement strategies must be attuned to the specific parameters of the riversand predictive models with the help of technology should be used to plan analternative survival matrix. India’s vast plains are at great risk.

Tame the flood fury

Befitting reply

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Takeaways from UN” (October1). It just took less than six min-utes for Vidisha Maitra, FirstSecretary for India’s PermanentMission to the UN, to counterPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan’s pack of lies at the UnitedNations General Assembly.Pakistan stood thoroughlyexposed in the eyes of the globalcommunity for its nuclear sabre-rattling and its thinly-disguisedagenda to instigate communaltensions in the neighbouringcountry. Khan’s appeal to the larg-er Islamist world that they shouldcome forward and help rescue theMuslims in Kashmir shows hismeanness. For Pakistan, the onlymatter worth talking about ininternational fora is Kashmir. ButIndia has been very firm in itsstand that it is totally its internalmatter.

That said, despite the discor-dant voices back home, PrimeMinister Modi has every right tofeel contented with his week-longstay in the US. He emerged as aclimate change champion bypromising to front-load India’sgreen energy commitments,

though the over-polluted andfilthy cities suggest we have a fairdistance to travel beyond declara-tory pronouncements. India maynot have become a better place in

five years but the Prime Minister’svisit to the US was indeed animage-booster.

KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru

Dangers of smoking

Sir — In his monthly radio address,Mann ki Baat, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi asked people toshun tobacco and said that e-cig-arettes had been banned to preventthe youth from falling into the newmethods of intoxication.

As modern technology striveshard to make our living morecomfortable and enjoyable,advanced technology, too, findsways to entertain people at theexpense of their health. The useof e-cigarettes, vapes, vape pensand e-hookahs has seen anincreased use among the youththough the Electronic NicotineDelivery System (ENDS) wasbanned long back. A myth doingthe rounds among them is alsothat e-cigarettes pose no danger.

Unlike conventional ciga-rettes, vapes do not let out anodour as fragrant chemicals areadded to it and these chemicalsare harmful to one’s health. Youngpeople are the asset of the nationand if they are not physically andmentally sound, they cannot lead.It is the responsibility of thosewho are aware of the ill-effects ofsmoking to wean others off thishealth hazard.

TK NandananChennai

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019

08

Human rights graveyard

SANDHYA JAIN

The Pakistan Army has enjoyed too much impunity for ostensibly serving Western strategicinterests. But now, it is apparent that it cannot provide Washington with a safe Afghan exit

The atmosphere of J&K isone of fear, and since itbecame a Union Territory,the Centre is threatening thelocal administration.

Congress leader—Ghulam Nabi Azad

The first responsibility thatan actor has towards theaudience is to give them anhonest portrayal. I think thathappens very rarely.

Actor—Shahid Kapoor

Known as the Mahatma, hisspirit and deeds not onlyinspired the people of Indiabut also left a precious spiritual legacy to the world.

Chinese official—Geng Shuang

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

The Mahatma’s ideals should keep guiding us

As the nation celebrates the 150th birth anniversaryof Mahatma Gandhi, it will be right to aver that heis fast losing relevance as one of those freedom

fighters who contributed the most towards ensuring thatthe nation achieves its free status. The country remem-bers Gandhi as a political and spiritual leader who playeda key role in the Indian independence movement. Nowafter seven decades of freedom, fingers are being point-ed against him for his lack of foresightedness. He isbeing criticised for his role in Partition. His detractorscontend that despite him having shown us the path ofnon-violence, when independence did finally come, itdid so awash with blood.

That the Hindu-Muslim divide showed its ugly sidesoon after independence is an indication of the politi-cal deviousness of the leaders of that era. Unfortunately,the situation is no different today. The current crop ofpolitical leaders can only harp on religious nationalismto keep communities at loggerheads. Although India con-tinues with its secular disposition, with the sort of pol-itics being enacted today, it is becoming extremely dif-ficult to place the pieces of the jigsaw together. The furyof Partition is being resurrected and, therefore, the mod-ern generation sees leaders of that era as “architects”of that shameful act. Attempts should not be made tore-write history by piecing together unverified facts. By

inciting public outrage against decisions that should actu-ally be seen as commitments towards prevailingdemands, the new generation is taking an unethical viewof the events of the past. Till the very end, divide andrule was a deliberate strategy for the British and anunwary nation of Hindus and Muslims fell victim to theempire’s guile. Gandhiji, on the other hand, lived forpeace, harmony and reconciliation and laid down his pre-cious life for the vindication of these ideals. The nationshould always be grateful to him.

Pachu MenonMargao

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Slowly but surely…Some fights get personaland there is nothing wrongwith that. Sometimes it isnice to get personal withsomeone.

BJP MP —Gautam Gambhir

Global warming means more extreme weather events and asBihar shows, there is a need for greater river management

...the world is heading to another huge conflagration in theArabian peninsula and the subsequent increase in oil prices

Gandhigiri in real life

ISI AND PAKISTAN ARMY TRAINED AL-QAEDA ANDOTHER GROUPS TO FIGHT IN AFGHANISTAN. THERE

WERE ALWAYS LINKS BECAUSE THEY TRAINED THEM.—PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER

IMRAN KHAN

I THINK EVERYONE CAN SEE THROUGH THAT.PAKISTAN IS JUST SAYING (SORRY) THIS TO GETTHE FUNDS FROM THE US IN THE BEGGING BOWL.—BALOCH LEADER MEHRAN MARRI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

On his visit to London for the Round TableConference of 1931, Mahatma Gandhi wasgrossly under-clothed to face the British

winter. Dressed in his trademark homespun loin-cloth, a sartorial choice picked to identify withIndia’s poorest, Gandhi went all the way to theBuckingham Palace to meet King George V. “TheKing was wearing enough for both of us”, heremarked later with characteristic humour whenasked if his clothing felt appropriate for such ameeting. When then British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill disparagingly referred to himas the “half-naked fakir”, he took it as a compli-ment!

Gandhi’s sense of humour was an insepara-ble part of his personality, as were his views onnon-violence, sustainable living, economical useof resources, role of mass media in a nation’s devel-opment and humane treatment to animals. Therewere multiple dimensions to his personality, muchbeyond the saintliness we usually associate withhim. Unfortunately, in the process of revering himas the Father of the Nation, we have unwittinglyburied a series of interesting facets of his thoughtand philosophy, rendering him a uni-dimension-al monotonous figure. This failure to keepGandhi alive as a living philosophy is responsi-ble for the young generation’s loss of interest inhim.

Popular yet misunderstood: If you ask ayoung Indian about Mahatma Gandhi, chancesare that he/she will fail to identify him as anythingbeyond a freedom fighter. Worrisomely, a num-ber of youngsters bred on a constant diet of socialmedia forwards even openly deride him, holdinghim responsible for a series of ills, including India’sPartition, failure to seek clemency for Bhagat Singhand for preferring Jawaharlal Nehru over SardarPatel. The problem lies in the fact that the Statehas failed to make Brand Gandhi relevant to thepeople. The Father of our Nation was much morethan a saint or a leader of a non-violent freedommovement. As a human being, he deeply under-stood this country and laid out a philosophy thatcovered all dimensions of our lives. Truth be told,never have Gandhi’s ideals been more relevant tothe world and to our country than they are today.As we face unprecedented challenges of violence,hate, environmental degradation, depletion ofresources and increasing chasm between the richand the poor, we desperately need Gandhi’s phi-losophy as a guiding light.

There is also an urgent need to rebrandGandhi to make him more palatable to the youngIndians. This needs to be done by popularisingthe unknown facets of his personality.

Rebranding the Mahatma: In 2006, aBollywood comedy called Lage Raho Munna Bhaidid more to popularise Gandhi among the youththan State-led programmes could do in 60 years.It did so by simplifying his teachings and exhibit-ing how they can make a real difference in ourdaily lives. However, we need more than a filmto realise this goal, we need to contemporiseGandhi for contemporary Indians and restore dig-nity to his brand.

Gandhi’s ideas on sagacious use of resources,blunting hatred with love and forgiveness, andinvesting in nature are key to this age of excess-es. His unknown love for music, his absolute ded-

ication towards fitness (who could havewalked 284 km to Dandi at the age of63?), his advocacy of eco-friendly prac-tices and his emphasis on humility andnon-violence need to be revived andadopted.

Environment and sustainability:Millions of young people took to thestreets across the world last weekdemanding concrete action from thecountries to curb and reverse climatechange. The explosion of the youthmovement ignited by Swedish activistGreta Thunberg reminded the worldabout how the human race has endan-gered itself through its unsustainableexploitation of natural resources. As wecelebrate Gandhi’s150th birth anniver-sary, it is pertinent to revisit his idealson environment and sustainability.

As an astute critic of greed-centricmodernity, Gandhi was very concernedabout the social order that exploited nat-ural resources for short-term and short-sighted gains. He wrote extensivelyabout our need to exercise collectiverestraint when it came to exploitingnature. What seemed like counter-fac-tual thinking at the time has nowbecome mainstream with climate changebecoming the single-greatest threat tothe future of human beings as a species.

Gandhi had astutely foreseen aworld running rampant with unre-stricted materialism and industrialism,a world where the natural resourceswould not be enough to sustain the bur-geoning population and its needs. It istime we understand the value of hisvision to the discourse on climatechange, environmental conversation,and sustainability.

Gandhian philosophy: The centraltenet of Gandhi’s philosophy was thatman should be at the centre of any devel-opmental roadmap. He believed that itwas essential to take the long-term view

of things into account to ensure ourprosperity and wellbeing. He advocat-ed using natural resources judiciouslywithout disturbing the ecological balanceof increasingly fragile ecosystems. Healso talked about a developmentalmodel where everyone could partake inthe progress. In his translation of JohnRuskin’s tract on political economy,Gandhi used the term sarvodaya, (wel-fare of all), which was to become the cen-tral basis of his beliefs and actions laterin life. He was a strong proponent of acommunity-based approach towardsenvironmental sustainability andbelieved that by keeping the welfare ofall human beings at heart, we will be ableto avoid exploitation of man and natureand uphold human dignity.

Although he did not present astructured model for the conservationof environment and sustainable devel-opment, we can form a picture of hisvision by linking his thoughts together.He was strongly for dencentralisation ofpower at all levels of society. He visu-alised sarvodaya at the national level,Gram Sabha at the local level andSwaraj (economic freedom) at the indi-vidual level. He firmly believed that thepower to change the world resided in theindividual and that by mutually interde-pendent cooperation, we would be ableto create a noble environment for all.Every individual is the trustee of thewealth generated by our collectiveefforts and we should always try to con-vert that into wealth of all for a betterworld instead of selfishly pursuing indi-vidual interests and personal gains. Byachieving inward change, we can affecta shift from a consumer society to a con-server one.

Energy crisis and sustainable trans-port: During the historic Dandi march,a supporter on a bike offered oranges toGandhi. He politely declined them and

told him to walk and avoid using thebike. This in many ways formed theessence of his thought. Gandhi was anadvocate of walking and cycling. In ret-rospect, his ideals seem far ahead of histimes, but relevant nonetheless.Indiscriminate use of fossil fuels has ledto global warming. Increasing use ofethanol and biodiesel from sugarcaneand corn will result in food shortage andincreased water consumption. We con-tinue to mindlessly consume unsustain-able resources. The solution lies intempering our wants and turning to sus-tainable transport as much as possible.Simple changes to our lifestyle, such aswalking and cycling, car pooling and theuse of non-conventional energy sourceswhen adopted on a large scale, can makea positive impact.

Water problems: When Kathiawarin Gujarat experienced drought duringthe Independence struggle, Gandhiurged the people to plant more trees,knowing very well that afforestation ona large scale can help curb water crisis.He also pushed for the practice of waterharvesting for irrigation to avoid foodshortages and famines, a suggestion thatwas well ahead of its time. As we wit-ness a major impending water crisis anddepletion of ground water resources,invoking Gandhi’s ideals seems to be thenatural recourse. Gandhi famously saidthat “If you want to change the world,start with yourself.” If we had paid heedto his words earlier, we wouldn’t be ina world where future generations areblaming us, and rightly so, for the worldwe are leaving them with. Unless indi-viduals rethink their consumer lifestyleand governments rethink developmentagenda to make them sustainable, therecan be no lasting peace and happiness.

(The writer is Director and CreativeStrategist at an advertising and consult-ing agency and Return of Million Smiles)

The popular yet often misunderstood Mahatma needs an image makeover as India’sfailure to keep him alive as a living philosophy is responsible for the loss of interest in him

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

Safe blood startswith altruism

IF YOU ASK A YOUNGINDIAN ABOUT

MAHATMA GANDHI,CHANCES ARE THAT

HE/SHE WILL FAIL TOIDENTIFY HIM AS

ANYTHING BEYOND AFREEDOM FIGHTER.

WORRISOMELY, ANUMBER OF

YOUNGSTERS BREDON A CONSTANT DIET

OF SOCIAL MEDIAFORWARDS EVEN

OPENLY DERIDE HIM,HOLDING HIM

RESPONSIBLE FOR ASERIES OF ILLS,

INCLUDING INDIA’SPARTITION, FAILURETO SEEK CLEMENCYFOR BHAGAT SINGH

AND FORPREFERRING NEHRU

OVER SARDAR PATEL

In spite of the technological and medical advances achieved overthe last millennium, it is still not possible to substitute any man-ufactured product for the transfusion of blood. The only source

of blood as a therapeutic product is another human being and it’snot without its own risks. Although, the more commonly discussedones are the transmission of infectious diseases like HumanImmunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B, C, malaria and syphilis, thereare other immune and non-immune reactions that can occur. Thesecan range from transient fever to life-threatening immunologicallymediated reactions or life-long sensitisation. The potential risk of trans-mission of infections can be reduced if it can be assured that thedonors who are the source of the blood do not carry infection.

The first line procedure is a donor interview, which when per-formed meticulously, can ensure that donors who are at potentialrisk of being in the window period can be determined and exclud-ed, most of the time. It is expected that the giver will be truthful anddivulge confidentially, information that may disqualify them as a can-didate. Appropriate information and counselling have to be provid-ed to the person who needs to be deferred. The blood collected fromscreened donors then needs to be subjected to various mandatorytests to ensure freedom from infections. The interview process isoften trivialised in many centres and observed in the breach duringmost blood donation camps, especially the “mega-camps” wherequantity often takes precedence over quality and safety.

The importance of a reliable contributor in the quest to ensuresafe blood is often taken for granted, not just in our country, but inthe South-East Asia region, which collects 15 per cent of the glob-al blood to cater to 26 per cent of the world’s population. Barring afew countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand, most countries still reporta significant proportion of replacement donors. According to the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO), voluntary non-remunerated blood dona-tion (VNRBD) means that a person gives blood, plasma or cellularcomponents and receives no payment for it, either in cash or kind.

Studies have shown that first-time voluntary contributors havea similar risk profile to replacement donors. It is only when the per-son has donated repeatedly over a period of at least two consecu-tive years, that it becomes possible to be confident about the reduc-tion in risk. The frequency of contribution depends on the commu-nity from which the person is selected and the existing regulatorynorms and guidelines for selection. In India the recommended timeinterval is 90 days between donation for males and 120 days forfemales. Developing a pool of repeat voluntary blood givers is nomean task. It requires careful planning, targetted and sustained cam-paigns in the community.

Currently, the process of creating awareness, motivating, recruit-ing and retaining of repeat VNRBD is the responsibility of the bloodbank. For an entity that is already struggling under the existing reg-ulations for operations and compulsions to keep costs down (thereis a prescribed cap on how much can be charged for blood), theresources allocated to this task — in terms of human resources,planning and implementation — are meagre. Sustained engagementwith contributors requires more than sporadic messages on elec-tronic media, posters or one-off TV advertisements. The State andnational blood transfusion services also have not been able to investconsistently to systematically develop awareness and conduct anationwide campaign. Although educational organisations facilitateblood donations, it is often to fulfil the letter of regulation (to con-duct one donation camp in an academic year) rather than to nur-ture a sense of altruism. Blood donation is not something that istalked about in our society. Most of the conversation lasts a coupleof days during the year — the International Blood Donor Day (June14) or the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day (October 1). Mostpeople only think about blood donation when their close relatives orfriends are in need of a transfusion. Unless they are fortunate to bein close proximity to a blood bank that has adequate supply, theywill go through a fairly traumatic experience of finding replacementdonors to ensure that the blood bank gets enough donors of anygroup in exchange for the units given to their patient. This memoryusually fades after the immediate demand is addressed. The lackof a dependable pool of repeat voluntary contributors and the absenceof commitment to donate regularly contributes to periodic shortageof blood in the hospitals.Unless we as a nation are willing to changeour mindset and be receptive to the idea of “giving without gettingin return” our blood banks and hospitals will continue to be caughtin a regular cycle of shortages and never wean off dependence onreplacement blood donors. It’s time we took the 2000 WHO sloganseriously: “Safe blood starts with me: blood saves lives.”

(The writer is Professor. Department of Transfusion Medicineand Haematology, Christian Medical College, Vellore)

Say they’re smug and superior. Say theirapproach to public policy makes youwant to tear your hair out. ……But

don’t call them worthless. At least, don’t doit in front of me. The people that I have methave been extraordinarily qualified. Theirintent is good. Their commitment is true.They are righteous, and they are patriots.And I’m their lawyer,” says the RepublicanAinsley Hayes in the popular TV show TheWest Wing. Ainsley’s words could come asa wake-up call to many who dismiss theGovernment and its leaders as “worthless”and often choose to undermine the workaccomplished as they run after mirage-likechampions of causes. Therefore, it is impor-tant to set the record straight. Over the lastfew weeks, so much has been said about cli-mate change, the environment and sustain-

ability, with Prime Minister NarendraModi’s participation at the United NationsClimate Action Summit in New York. OnOctober 2, the Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) completes five years. Therefore, it isimportant to recall how sustainability andenvironmental consciousness have been atthe heart of several policy intervention.

It is also important to highlight thatthemes like cleanliness, toilet construction,sanitation, environmental impact ofLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylindersand solar energy have emerged at a globalstage consistently over the last five years,which is unprecedented. Therefore, it wouldbe prudent to discuss three major reformsof Swachhta, Ujjwala and Saur Urja (solarenergy) in this context.

When we talk about SBM, it is impor-tant to note how the mission has evolvedfrom a sanitation, open-defecation free(ODF) behavioural mass movement andurban waste-segregation initiative to free-ing the country from single-use plastic. FromMicrosoft founder Bill Gates to SulabhInternational founder Bindeshwar Pathak,the far-reaching impact of the SBM has beenassessed through different parameters, bothtangible and intangible. Pathak has rightlysaid that it took Prime Minister Narendra

Modi’s courage and steady focus to bring an“unpalatable” yet fundamental subject liketoilet construction to the fore and make ita people-centric movement.

Some facts with regards to SBM mightbe known to us — the increase of rural san-itation coverage from 38 per cent in 2014to 99 per cent in 2019, construction of 110million toilets and 30 States and UnionTerritories becoming Open Defecation Free(ODF). Recent studies by UNICEF and theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have alsoascertained the effect of the SBM on theenvironment and in terms of money spenton information, education and communi-cation (IEC) activities. The studies conclud-ed that achieving the goal of ODF villageshas positively affected the quality of ground-water by reducing contamination. Thestudy found that non-ODF villages were“11.25 times more likely to have theirgroundwater sources contaminated (12.7times more from contaminants traceable tohumans alone).”

The findings of the Gates Foundationstudy are particularly interesting in the back-drop of the criticism received on the expen-diture on IEC-related activities. It says, “Anaverage person living in rural India wasexposed to between 2,500-3,300 SBM-

related messages over the last five years.”While the targeted communication throughIEC interventions is a tangible outcome,Modi’s consistent mention of the theme inhis Mann Ki Baat radio programme has alsocatalysed the necessary behavioural change.Yet, Modi, does not choose to stop at thispoint and gave a clarion call to make Indiafree of single-use plastic.

It’s well known that environmentaldegradation has a disproportionate impacton the poor and lack of access to resourcesis responsible for depletion, which furtherperpetuates poverty. The fact is that thisrenewed understanding has become an inte-gral aspect of India’s new development par-adigm.

Let’s consider indoor air pollution,which is known to cause asthma or bron-chitis. Several estimates suggest that the costof asthma treatment per year for 2015 was`139.45 billion. Part of this cost is on theGovernment, while the rest comes from out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare. TheGovernment launched the Ujjwala Yojanaand has already distributed over eight croreLPG cylinders to facilitate a switch fromburning firewood in rural areas. Doing sohas already started to show a considerableimpact in reducing indoor air pollution,

which will further reduce the incidences oflung-related disorders, eventually savingmoney for both the Government and thepoor. There’s recognition of the linkagesbetween the environment and its conse-quences on health outcomes, be it access toclean fuel or improved sanitation. The socialbenefits of these programmes are not justlimited to environment preservation, as theywill yield rich dividends in terms ofimproved healthcare outcomes which willonly reduce the burden of disease.

India’s pollution woes are not just lim-ited to indoor air. Several of our major citiessuffer from poor air quality, while our riverstoo, have witnessed a steady increase in pol-lutants over the last couple of decades. Thefact that these changes can be catastrophicis well known and perhaps that explains oneof the world’s most ambitious renewableenergy initiatives.

The International Solar Alliance, aimedat reducing India’s global carbon footprint,was launched by New Delhi in 2015. It hasbeen joined by 121 countries, which showsthe extent of the impact that India has hadin shaping the global environmental conser-vation discourse. India’s target for solar gen-eration is an ambitious 450 gigawatt (GW)and the country is now making rapid strides

towards achieving the target of 175 GW by2022.

It is equally important to recogniseIndia’s push towards electric vehicles (EVs)to further reduce its carbon footprint. Be itthrough tax incentives for electric cars or thepush for electric buses, there’s a concentrat-ed effort by the Government to create arobust infrastructure that facilitates asmooth transition to a cleaner technology.

Though reducing our carbon foot-print will help address the problem of cli-mate change that affects the entire planet,moving towards EVs and reducing India’sreliance on coal-based power plants are crit-ical towards reducing air pollution in someof our major cities.

There are long-term benefits from allsuch interventions and these benefits are notjust limited to India and its citizens, but theyare global. While we may have several envi-ronmental activists, who find it convenientto consider development as a direct conflictwith environmentalism, India has managedto balance the two and carve out a practi-cal model of sustainable development.

(Bhasin is a New Delhi-based public pol-icy researcher and Chauthaiwale is a digitalcommunication and policy professional)

Walking the sustainable development talkAs the Swachh Bharat Mission completes five years tomorrow, it is vital to recall how sustainability and environmental

consciousness have been at the heart of several policy interventions of the Government

KEWAL KAPOOR

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

KARANBHASIN

PRERITA CHAUTHAIWALE

JOY MAMMEN

Repeat voluntary contributions are the only wayto reduce dependence on replacement donors

and meet shortage

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

Kalpataru bagsorders worth Rs 775 croreNEW DELHI: Kalpataru PowerTransmission Ltd (KPTL) onMonday said it has baggedorders worth Rs 775 crore intransmission and distributionsegment. According to acompany statement, KPTL andits international subsidiaryhave secured the orders fromthe government and privateclients. "These new orders willhelp us to strengthen our T&Dorder book particularly in Indiaand Bangladesh. Our totalorder inflows in FY19-20 hascrossed Rs 4,300 crore andadditionally we have a L1position of approximately Rs2,000 crore," KPTL's MD andCEO Manish Mohnot said.KPTL is engaged in powertransmission & distribution(T&D), oil & gas pipeline,railways, infrastructuredevelopment, civil contractingand warehousing & logisticsbusiness with a stronginternational presence inpower T&D. The company isexecuting several contracts inIndia, Africa, the Middle East,CIS, SAARC and Far East.

Vistara to start directDelhi-Patna flightfrom November 3NEW DELHI: Full-servicecarrier Vistara will start dailydirect flights between thenational capital and Patnafrom November 3. The airlinewould also have daily servicesbetween Varanasi andKhajuraho from November 5,according to a release."Introductory, all-inclusive,one-way economy fares startfrom Rs 3,099 for Delhi-Patnaand Rs 3,686 for Varanasi-Khajuraho," the carrier said inthe release on Monday. Theairline's Chief Strategy OfficerVinod Kannan said Patnacontinues to record double-digit growth in domesticpassenger traffic. "Vistara'sexpansion to these cities willcertainly help us to widen ourcustomer base that prefers afine flying experience on theirleisure or business travels," headded. A joint venturebetween Tatas and SingaporeAirlines, Vistara now connects30 destinations and operatesnearly 200 flights a day.

PMC Bank crisis ‘eye opener',RBI looking at lapses: ThakurPNS n NEW DELHI

Terming the Punjab andMaharashtra Cooperative(PMC) Bank crisis as an "eyeopener", Minister of State forFinance Anurag Thakur onMonday said the banking sec-tor regulator RBI is lookinginto various aspects, includinglapses on part of auditors.

The bank came under stressdue to alleged financial irreg-ularities forcing theReserve Bank of India(RBI) to impose restric-tion on the Mumbai-based lender.

"The role of regulatorsis very important but atthe same time the role ofauditors, directors, bankofficials is equally impor-tant. And what theyhave been doingfor last somany yearsand peopleresponsi-ble for it, It h i n kregulator

(RBI) is looking into this. Atthis stage, I would not like tosay much to that.

"But the kind ofmedia reports and

articles havecome, some ofthem are veryshocking. Ithink it is veryvery important,an eye openerfor the bankingsector... suchinstances should

not takeplace

at the outset. It also raises ques-tion mark on role of variouspeople whether it is regulator,auditors, directors and otherofficials," he said on the side-lines of an event organised byPunjab National Bank here.

Asked if the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs is also look-ing into the matter, Thakursaid the government will lookinto all the areas where everrequired because eventuallyit's going to impact commonman.

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

Major restrictions includecapping withdrawal at Rs10,000 per customer duringthe six-month period, and

banning the bank from extend-ing new loans. The lender hasaround Rs 11,000 crore ofpublic deposits.

With regard to resolution ofbad loans, the minister said theNational Company LawTribunal should be the lastresort.

The bank should exploreother options for resolutionwhich is good for the bankersto recover more amount andalso for the various stakehold-ers.

He also said that the bank-ing sector will play a crucialrole in achieving aspiration ofUSD 5 trillion economy by2024-25.

Praising Punjab NationalBank (PNB) for standing tallduring tough times, Thakursaid, the credit should go to allthe stakeholders especially offi-cials of the bank.

He inaugurated the heritagemuseum showcasing thebank's journey of 125 yearsfrom its humble beginning inLahore to its new corporateoffice.

But the kind of media reports and articles havecome, some of them are very shocking. I think it isvery very important, an eye opener for the banking

sector... such instances should not take place at the outset.— ANURAG THAKUR, Minister oof SState ffor FFinance

Buyback rules eased for coswith housing finance wingsPTI n NEW DELHI

Capital markets regulator Sebihas eased its norms for buy-back of shares by listed com-panies, especially those havingsubsidiaries in housing financeand NBFC segments.

The notification comes afterthe board of Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)approved norms in this regardin August.

The repurchase of shares bylisted companies is governedby the Buyback Regulations ofSebi as well as the CompaniesAct.

Among the main condi-tions that the companies needto follow, the buyback offercannot exceed 25 per cent ofthe aggregate paid-up capitaland free reserves of the com-pany, but shareholders'approval is required through aspecial resolution in case thesize exceeds 10 per cent.

Also, a buyback is permittedonly if the ratio of the aggregateof secured and unsecured debtsowed by the company after thebuyback is not more than twicethe paid-up capital and freereserves, unless a higher debt-to-equity ratio is specifiedunder the Companies Act.

While Sebi takes intoaccount financial statementson standalone as well as con-solidated basis for evaluatingthe buyback thresholds, severalissues have been raised inthe recent past withregard to consideringconsolidated financialstatements for com-panies with sub-sidiaries having high-er debt due to theirpresence in businesseslike Non-BankingFinancial Company(NBFC) and housing

finance segments.Sebi's decision to amend its

regulations also follows a noti-fication by the CorporateAffairs Ministry permittinggovernment companies carry-ing out non-banking financeand housing finance activitiesto launch buybacks resulting inup to 6:1 debt to equity ratiopost the share repurchase.

After taking into account thefeedback to a public consulta-tion process launched in May,Sebi has decided to continue

with the current approach ofallowing buybacks

resulting in post-buy-back debt-to-equityratio of up to 2:1,except for compa-nies for which ahigher ratio hasbeen notified under

the Companies Act,based on both stand-alone and consolidat-

ed basis.

However, if the debt to equi-ty ratio on standalone basisdoes not exceed 2:1, butexceeds this threshold on con-solidated basis, buybackswould still be allowed if theconsolidated ratio is up to 2:1after excluding the subsidiariesthat are NBFCs and housingfinance companies regulatedby RBI or National HousingBank, the regulator said in anotification dated September19,

But, the standalone debt toequity ratio of all such exclud-ed subsidiaries should notexceed 6:1, as per the approvednorms, it added.

Earlier, Sebi had proposed tokeep this threshold at 5:1.

Under the new rules, thefinancial statements would beconsidered on both stand-alone and consolidated basis todetermine the maximum per-missible buyback size andother related requirements.

The notification comes after theboard of Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) approved normsin this regard in August

Sacked HK’s Cathay staff decry ‘Cultural Revolution' purgeAFP n HONG KONG

Former Cathay Pacific staffwho say they were fired forsupporting Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters accusedbosses on Monday of carryingout a "Cultural revolution"style political purge.

The Hong Kong-based air-line has had a torrid few weeksafter Chinese state media andauthorities blasted the compa-ny because some of its 27,000employees had taken part in -- or were sympathetic to -- anti-government protesters.

China's aviation regulatorbarred staff supporting protestsfrom working on flights to themainland or traveling throughits airspace, setting off chaosinside the company as it fran-tically tried to win backBeijing's favour.

Both the airline's CEO andChairman made surprisedepartures as bosses issuedrepeated warnings to staff not

to take part in the protests cur-rently engulfing the financialhub.

In recent weeks staff havedescribed deleting their socialmedia accounts, fearful thatcolleagues might inform onthem while Cathay announcedit had sacked multiple stafflinked to the protests.

On Monday, a group of for-

mer employees held a pressconference alongside officialsfrom the Hong Kong CabinCrew Confederation and flightattendant unions.

They said at least 26 peoplehad been fired from Cathay inprotest-linked terminations.

Hiding their identitiesbehind sunglasses and facemasks they described summa-

ry firings, often after beingshown screengrabs of theirFacebook and other socialmedia posts.

"It's regrettable to see CathayPacific encouraging staff toreport and criticise (others)internally," one woman, whogave her first name as Jackie,told reporters. "The situation isjust like in the CulturalRevolution." "Some crew wereshown posts and updates ontheir private social mediaaccounts and required to pro-vide an explanation with evi-dence. Others were handed

termination letters without anyaccusations," she added.

One woman, who gave hername as Chris, tearfullydescribed human resourcesasking her to explain threescreenshots, one of whichoffered an opinion on theprotests.

She said she was initially sus-pended and then fired.

"I wasn't given any explana-tion. I was just escorted out ofthe office. I was very furiousand devastated," she said.

In a statement, Cathay saidit had to abide by all regulations

placed on it in any jurisdictionswhere it operates, "includingthose prescribed by the author-ities in mainland China".

"We will ensure 100 percent compliance with all ourregulatory duties. Quite sim-ply, this is our licence tooperate; there is no groundfor compromise," the airlineadded.

The protests have also hitCathay's bottom line withAugust passenger numbersdown 11.3 per cent on last year,inbound Hong Kong trafficdown 38 percent and out-bound down 12 per cent year-on-year, the biggest falls in adecade.

Beijing's crackdown onCathay has heightened fearsamong many Hong Kongersthat the city's free speech lawsare increasingly under threat-- particularly within any com-pany that does business with-in the authoritarian main-land.

The Hong Kong-based airline has hada torrid few weeks after Chinese statemedia and authorities blasted thecompany because some of its 27,000employees had taken part in -- or weresympathetic to -- anti-governmentprotesters

Exports of e-cigarette bannedPTI n NEW DELHI

The commerce ministry onMonday said it has bannedexports of electronic ciga-rettes, e-Hookah and othersimilar devices.

The notification was issuedto comply with the govern-ment's ordinance issued onSeptember 18 to ban produc-tion, import, distribution andsale of electronic cigarettes.

"Export of electronic ciga-rettes including all forms of

Electronic Nicotine DeliverySystems, Heat Not BurnProducts, e-Hookah and thelike devices by whatever namecalled and whatever shape,size or form it may have...isprohibited," the DirectorateGeneral of Foreign Trade(DGFT) said in a notification.

However, it said the bandoes not conclude any prod-uct licensed under the Drugsand Cosmetics Act, 1940.

The ordinance issued onSeptember 18 bans e-ciga-

rettes, making the production,import, export, transport, saleor advertisements of such

alternative smoking devices acognizable offence, attractingjail term and fine.

First time violators willface a jail term of up to oneyear and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.For subsequent offences, a jailterm of up to three years or afine of Rs 5 lakh, or both,according to the ordinance.

The storage of e-cigarettesshall now be punishable withimprisonment of up to sixmonths or a fine of up to Rs50,000 or both.

DGCA actsagainst twoSpiceJet pilotsPTI n NEW DELHI

Aviation regulator DGCAhas suspended the flyinglicences of two SpiceJet pilotsfor four months for lapsesthat led to pressurisation fail-ure onboard a Hyderabad-Jaipur flight in June, accord-ing to a senior official.

The lapses of the crewjeopardised the safety of air-craft and its occupants, as perthe watchdog. A SpiceJetBoeing 737-800 plan made anair turn back due to pres-surisation failure on June 14this year.

The official noted that thecrew forgot to put the "bleedswitch to 'ON' position dur-ing cockpit preparation,departure briefiing and aftertakeoff checklist which result-ed into pressurisation failureduring climb".

Generally, bleed air switchis used to maintain cabinpressure.

Captain Sunil Mehta, whowas commanding the plane,and Captain Vikram Singhhave been suspended for fourmonths from the date of theincident, the official added.

Lupin’s erectiledysfunction tablaunched in USPTI n NEW DELHI

Pharma major Lupin onMonday said it has launchedits Sildenafil tablets used forthe treatment of erectile dys-function in the US market.

The company has launchedSildenafil tablets USP in thestrengths of 25 mg, 50 mg and100 mg after receiving approvalfrom the United States Foodand Drug Administration(USFDA) earlier, Lupin said ina filing to the BSE.

Clix Capitalraises $40 mnfrom existinginvestorsPTI n NEW DELHI

Clix Capital Services, a digital-lending NBFC, on Mondaysaid it has raised USD million(about Rs 280 crore) from itsexisting investors, includingAION Capital Partners, tofund growth plan.

The company is targetinga loan book of Rs 5,500-6,000crore by the end of the cur-rent fiscal as compared to Rs5,000 crore currently, ClixCapital Services said in astatement.

Augmenting the compa-ny's original capital base ofUSD 250 million (Rs 1,800crore), the latest round offunding will be used toexpand the business across itsvaried segments especiallyconsumer finance and digitalplatforms.

Clix has a presence across12 cities in India and envis-ages deeper penetration inthese markets, it said.

With the fresh equity infu-sion, Clix is planning to con-tinue its steady credit quali-ty-led growth, focussing onthe retail-lending segmentto achieve about 70 per centcomposition by March 2020,it said.

‘Current slowdownan opportunity togrow our books’PTI n MUMBAI

HDFC Bank on Mondayasserted there is no stress onits credit portfolio because ofthe slowdown and it sees thecurrent phase as an opportu-nity to grow its book.

Its managing director andchief executive Aditya Purialso informed that a searchpanel of the board announcedearlier will be formed byJanuary, to ensure the chosensuccessor to lead thebank can work withhim for 1-2 months.

The bank hadreported a 1.40 percent gross non- per-forming assets ratioin June quarter. Growth slip-ping to six-year low primari-ly on a slip in consumption hasraised concerns on the wayforward forbanking.

"We will grow, ourassets will grow, ourliabilities will grow,our swipes will grow,our number of cus-tomers will growand we arevery con-f ident,"Puri toldreportersh e r e ,replyingto ques-t i o n saround thee c o n o m i c

slowdown.He said that there have not

been retrenchments in theindustry which shouldmake a lender wary andemployment is growingoverall, and added thatauto majors may haveretrenched some tem-porary workers.

Listing out positives whichwill work in the economy'sfavour like the good monsoon,expectations of more divest-

ments and the sentimentturning positive with thetax cuts, he said the banksees this as a "majoropportunity" to grow.

"We see this as a majoropportunity as a bank and

we see no strain on ourcredit portfolio," he

said, adding it hasnot compromisedon its creditstandards and

is not lend-ing to

o v e r -l e v e r -a g e dpersons.

Maruti drives in mini SUVS-PRESSO at Rs 3.69 lakhPTI n NEW DELHI

The country's largest car makerMaruti Suzuki India (MSI) onMonday launched a mini SUVS-PRESSO priced between Rs3.69 lakh and Rs 4.91 lakh (ex-showroom).

The new model, which isbased on the company's fifthgeneration HEARTECT plat-form, comes with a BS-VIcompliant one-litre petrolengine with a claimed fuel effi-ciency of 21.7 km per litre.

S-PRESSO comes equippedwith both manual and auto gearshift (AGS) transmission options.

"Today, compact is the nat-ural choice of India's car cus-tomers. At the same time,today is the age of disruptions.We realised that entry levelcompact segment needs a freshdesign language," MSIManaging Director and ChiefExecutive Officer KenichiAyukawa told reporters here.

The company's engineersand designers have createdthis new mini SUV which isaggressive on the outside andcomes with bold and dynam-ic interiors, he added.

"Nothing like this has everbeen attempted before, on avehicle in this segment. It con-nects with today's aspirational

and passionate youth,"Ayukawa said. The model willdefine the next generation ofdesign for compact vehicles inthe country, he added.

The S-PRESSO has beendesigned, developed and vali-dated using Suzuki's globaldevelopment processes andwill be sold countrywidethrough the company'sARENA retail network,

Ayukawa said. "While working with their

counterparts in SMC, Japan,engineers from Maruti Suzukiworked on this car.Theyworked on it here in India, atour world-class R&D Center atRohtak," Ayukawa he added.

The model brings contem-porary and relevant globaltechnology to Indian cus-tomers, he added.

The new model, which is based on thecompany's fifth generation HEARTECTplatform, comes with a BS-VI compliantone-litre petrol engine with a claimedfuel efficiency of 21.7 km per litre.

We will grow, ourassets will grow, our

liabilities will grow, ourswipes will grow, our numberof customers will grow andwe are very confident

ADITYA PURI HDFC Managing Director

Enough seeds, fertilisersto meet rabi demand: MinPTI n NEW DELHI

There is sufficient supply ofseeds and fertilisers to meetthe demand of farmers for therabi sowing season begin-ning mid-November,according to anagriculture min-istry official.

The ministryhas estimatedthe country'stotal seedrequirement at149 lakh tonne andfertilisers at 319 lakhtonne for the rabi season of2019-20 crop year (July-June).

"We have enough supply ofseeds for the forthcoming rabi

sowing. We have about 169.67lakh tonne of various seeds,more than the requirement of149 lakh tonne for the rabi sea-son of this year," the officialtold PTI.

Wheat is the main rabicrop. The country has

about 140 lakh tonneof wheat seeds forthis year, against therequirement ofabout 122 lakh

tonne for the sameperiod.The second major

rabi crop is chickpea, avail-ability of which is 24 lakhtonne against the requirementof 21.06 lakh tonne for thisyear's rabi season.

t has often beennoticed that provi-dence and a quirkof fate has seen theemergence ofmany a poet and

author. Most from this genrehave made optimal use oftheir time when they fell sickand the doctor advised bed-rest for an extended period.

Philip Joshua, aSecunderabadi in letter andspirit belongs to this catego-ry. Confined to bed after sus-taining an injury a year ago,he decided to successfullytranslate a long cherisheddream — come up with acollection of original poems.

September 29 of this yearmarks a Red-Letter day in hislife as his maiden book ofpoems was released at a func-tion graced by luminaries.

The title Silences @61 ren-ders poetic justice as the poetwas 61 years of age when hebegan working on it.Unveiling the first copy, for-mer Hyderabad police com-missioner MV Krishna Raoleft the gathering in peals oflaughter with his subtle andperfect use of words filledwith wit and well-intendedhumour. He touched uponvarious pages from the bookand recalled his own anec-dotes. Krishna Rao contend-ed that Joshua’s accident thatgave life to his literary jour-

ney was an act of God.Like RK Laxman, whose

books and novels revolvedaround day-to-day life,Joshua’s collection makes thereader recall similar experi-ences as they can relate tomost topics that the poet hasdealt with. They include one-

self, family, various sectionsof society,festivities, celebra-tions and issues concerninghumanity like yearnings forharmony and peaceful co-existence.

In her address, former topcop and the first woman IPSoffice from AP cadre, Aruna

Bahaguna stated that the titlewas apt as ‘silence’ per sedenoted many things tomany people. She said Joshuahad done an excellent job asa poet with free usage ofverse.

In fact, what stands out isthat unlike a poet’s penchantto make use of superlatives,Joshua has used simple butlucid style interspersed withmetaphors here and there.

This drew appreciationfrom Prof Kota R Subbaram,who has a PhD from IITKanpur, and is a prominentliterary critic.

Joshua stated that the bookcomprised 61 poems to com-memorate his age and wasinspired by life as he saw andexperienced.

(Presently working as Headof corporate communicationsdepartment in NCC Limited

Formerly NagarjunaConstruction Company

Limited, his interests includephotography, freelance writ-

ing, and social service).

After starting the Geetham foundation, Iwitnessed that manystudents from slum areasand orphans were in need

of money tocontinue theirstudies. It is when I

started helping them. Everyyear, we are taking care ofmore than 30 students’education completely.

RAMTILAK CHERUKURI

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

THE TITLE SILENCES@61 RENDERS POETICJUSTICE AS THE POETWAS 61 YEARS OFAGE WHEN HE BEGANWORKING ON IT

i

TuesdayOctober 1, 2019

hile education is afundamentalright, it is, however, not apossibility formany

children in India.Regardless of governmentschools and other facilities,many underprivileged stu-dents find it difficult to stayin school and continue theireducation because of pover-ty or lack of resources. Toprovide education for poorpeople, Hyderabad-basedRamtilak Cherukuri startedGeetham Cultural andSocial Organisation in 2012and helping poor kids topursue higher studies by

adopting them. Ramtilak is also the

Telangana State Chairmanfor National Human Rightsand Anti Corruption Force.Hailing from Guntur,Ramtilak completed hisdegree in Guntur and laterhe studied Diploma inHuman Rights.

Ramtilak says, “Mygrandfather is a musicteacher and he helped manylearn music. He inspired usto do something for society.After starting the Geethamfoundation, I witnessed thatmany students from slumareas and orphans were inneed of money to continuetheir studies. It is when I

started helping them. Everyyear, we are taking care ofmore than 30 students’ edu-cation completely. Apartfrom these students, we arealso distributing school kitsfor many underprivilegedkids across Telugu states.”

This foundation alsoperforms marriages of

physically handicapped people by providing finan-cial support to them.Ramtilak shares, “It is noteasy for physically handi-capped people to get mar-ried. We are helping themto overcome this problemby performing their mar-riages. Even after the mar-riage, we are helping them

to get jobs and stay strongfinancially. To date, we per-formed more than 10 mar-riages.”

Ramtilak’s efforts to erad-icate child labour is laudedby people from acrossTelugu states. Whenever hefinds any child labour atmechanic sheds or waterplants, he meets their par-ents and explains to themthe importance of educa-tion. Later, he adopts thosekids and takes care of theireducation. Through hisfoundation, he is also help-ing leprosy patients to getproper treatment.

Ramtilak says, “Everykids has their own talent.

But, they lack support fromtheir family members. Weare identifying the talentedpeople in various profes-sions and giving them therequired support to achievetheir goals.”

He informed that manypeople are dying due to noavailability of blood in righttime. He says, “We are con-ducting blood donationcamps and health camps allover the Telugu states. RedCross society and some cin-ema artists are helping us tospread our blood and healthcamps.”

He is striving againstworkplace harassment andbribing by working as

Telangana state chairmanfor National Human Rightsand Anti Corruption Force.He is also felicitating thehonest officers of variousdepartments to inspire others to be honest.

By recognising his services in various fields,Gandhi Peace Foundation of Nepal recently appointedRamtilak as peace ambas-sador for India and Nepal.

He shares, “We are plan-ning to undertake variousactivities for the bettermentof society. Our programmeabout traffic awarenessyielded good results andmany appreciated for ourwork.”

Hyderabad-based CherukuriRamtilak is helping

underprivileged students tocontinue higher studies by

adopting them besidesconducting various activities

for the betterment of society,finds V SATEESH REDDY

W

STRIVING FOR AVIBRANT SOCIETY

(From left): Babjee, MV Krishna Rao, poet Philip Joshua, Prof Kota V Subbaram and Aruna Bahaguna at the launch of Silences@61 in Secunderabad

When injury turns poeticEvery person has a

poetic side to them.

While some get to know

their inherent talent at a

young age, many turn

poetic due to the

circumstances. One

such Hyderabadi wrote

a book of poems at the

ripe age of 61. Why and

how did he do it? writes

SRIDHAR K PENNA

Have money, will handleit our way, say women

espect the moneythat you earnedas it is not easy toearn. We strugglea lot and sacrificea lot. So women

must not only know how tomanage their hard-earnedmoney, but also take chargeof it, says actress and modelGenelia Deshmukh, whileparticipating in a panel dis-cussion on FinancialLiteracy for Women organ-ised by Million Moms atPoorna Konvention Centre,Madhapur. This is an initia-tive to keep mothers healthy,fit and financially indepen-dent.

Dr Mani Pavitra,Founder of Million Moms

said this year’s focus wouldbe financial literacy forwomen. Until now wefocused on their health andfitness. The mother sacri-fices her life and career forthe family, but does not getthe respect she deserves.That should be reversed.“While women lead in allfronts, why should they lagin one area,” she asked. “Wehave planned this panel dis-cussion as an effort to closethe financial literacy gap,”she added.

“Besides the husband, ifthe wife is also financiallyliterate, it will be collectivewisdom. Two minds are bet-ter than one. This helps thefamily invest wisely.

Whatever I earned as anactress has been investedsmartly. Now that I haven’tworked for over eight years,I am reaping the benefits.My parents taught me howto handle finances and myhusband also respects it,” sheadded while debating on thesubject at the panel discus-sion.

Financial literacy is equal-ly important both for a manand a woman observed S.K.Joshi, chief secretary of thegovt of Telangana. Financialliteracy must be taught as asubject in school, he saidadding that governmentschemes are always focusedat women. “In my house, myfinances are handled by mywife. Though she sacrificedher career for my sake, shetakes care of the house andmanages the finances well.My daughter is also finan-cially literate,” he said.

The event saw many lumi-naries from the film worldlike Kalathapasvi K.Vishwanath, ParchuriGopalakrishna, KrishnaVamshi, Pragathi, Uttej,Bharani and others in atten-dance.

Earning money isnot easy for

anyone, be itAmbani’s or the

daily wagelabourers from

small villages. Itinvolves hard work,

sweat andsacrifices. Butmany families

follow a systemwherein the men

handle the finances,even if the womancontributes to themonthly income

r

12

Hyderabad Tuesday October 1, 2019

BAAGHl Baagh, a play written byBadal Sircar and directedby Malyaban Lahiri hasfriendship andrelationships at its core.The play revolves aroundrepressed pain,relationships, and structures that we adhere to.October 2 at 8 pm, Phoenix Arena

MAHABHARATA - THE EPIC TALEl All historyand mythologyis based oncause andeffect.Mahabharata -The Epic Tale...in-depth dealswith theprimaryemotional andpsychologicalcauses that were the genesis of this destructivewar. The planet has witnessed destruction basedon the whims of a few people. Till October 6, multiple venues

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.

THEATRE

CITY GUIDE

PISINARI / MANCHAM MEEDA MANISHI

lThe fifth edition ofthe IndianPhotographyFestival will be heldtill October 20 atvarious locations inHyderabad. IPF is aninternationalphotography festivalwhich showcasesvarious events,including talks,discussions andmore.

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

l SamahaaraWorkshopProductions iscoming upwith two playson October 4and 5 titledPisinari andManchammeedaManishi.Pisinari is written by Moliere and translated intoTelugu by Vinayamani. While Mancham meedaGovindam is a satire written by Appalachari. Bothplays will be held at Lamakaan, Banjara Hills.

lUdaan Performing Arts Presents its 43rd theatreproduction 'Pichle Ikkis Saal', Originally written byDharmakirti Sumant ( Pune ) Translation, Design &Direction by Saurabh Gharipurikar.October 2 at 8 pm

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events 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 — AmitTandon, SorabhPant, SumukhiSuresh andNaveen Richards.October 20 at 6pm HICC.

PARTY

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

l Deepthi l Manasa

l Abhilasha l Swetha Reddy

PICHLE IKKIS SAAL

INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

what’s brewing?

lSh

alina

lCh

eruk

u M

anas

a

l Divya

A FESTIVE AFFAIRThe Deepthi Mamidi Tattva Foundation

organised an evening of Batukammacelebrations in the city recently. Several elite

personalities were spotted at the event. Theattendees had a gala time as they danced awayto well known Bathukamma folk songs. Theevent was organised at Banjara Function Hall.

Phot

os bb

ySV

Char

y

he combination ofVarun Tej and VenkyAtluri who’ve createdmagic with TholiPrema last year are setto reteam again? Well,

that’s what the word is in FilmNagar circles. Bringing themtogether, according to thebuzz, is none other thanleading producer DilRaju, who of late hasramped up his pro-duction and dis-tributionactivitieslike

never before. He was attachedto produce Tholi Prema to beginwith but backed out in the lastminute, before handing it overto fellow producer BVSN Prasad.

The film in question, said tobe a light-hearted romanticdrama, will go to floors in thesecond half of next year. Varun,

who is hot off the success

of Valmiki, will join the sets ofdebutant Kiran Korrapati’s long-in-the-development boxingdrama up next. He is also intalks with a couple of otherdirectors to squeeze in anotherproject before he allots dates toAtluri, who on the other hand, isoccupied with the pre-produc-tion of Rang De with Nithiin.

THE FILM IN QUESTION, SAID TO BE A LIGHT-HEARTED ROMANTIC DRAMA, WILL GO

TO FLOORS IN THE SECOND HALF OF NEXTYEAR. VARUN TEJ WILL JOIN THE SETS OF

DEBUTANT KIRAN KORRAPATI’S LONG-IN-THE-DEVELOPMENT BOXING DRAMA UP NEXT

opichand, who islooking forwardto the release ofChanakya, a spythriller in whichhe plays a RAW

agent, hoped that he contin-ues to be showered love andaffection by his fans in thefuture as well. “I got injuredwhile performing an actionsequence for Chanakya butfans kept enquiring about myhealth status and evenextended their speedy recov-ery wishes messages. I herebydeclare that I will give backthe love with Chanakya onOctober 5. It’s going to rock,”the actor thundered. He wasspeaking at a promotionalevent of the film in

Visakhapatnam over theweekend. “The film has allthe elements-fights, nice dia-logues-that you look forwardin a film of mine. Directorhighlighted the hero just theway a hero needs to be.”

Heaping praise on thefilm’s antagonist RajeshKhattar, who is making hisTelugu debut with the film,Gopi added, “He is knownfor his baritone and it wasdifficult to match to hisvoice during dubbing. I hadto report to dubbing studioearly in the morning to takeadvantage of that freshvoice. He is a terrific actoras well and I hope to seehim many more good filmsin Telugu.”

Hyderabad Tuesday October 1, 2019

G

13

tollywoodast seen in mys-tery thrillerSubrahmanya-puram, EeshaRebba is glad tohave bagged an

opportunity to headlinedirector Sreenivass Redde’scrime suspense thrillerRagala 24 Gantalalo. “Everyactress desires films thatcompletely revolve aroundthem but rarely do we getsuch stories. I’m lucky inthat aspect that I got to doRagala 24 Gantalalo. Thefilm required to be moreresponsible. Only after did Istart shooting for it, did Irealise how tough it is topull off a female-centricfilm. I’m there in everyscene of the film and thecharacter I play goesthrough a myriad of emo-tions, so there was pressurephysically and mentally,” shetells The Pioneer in anexclusive conversation.

It’s the twists and turns ofthe script that sealed thedeal for the Hyderabadi. “It’sa different kind of thriller.The viewers wouldn’t beable to foretell what happensnext. I generally visualisethe script when the directornarrates it to me and despitemy best efforts I couldn’t getone twist right,” she chor-tles, promising that it will bean edge-of-the-seat enter-tainer with thrills and chillsaplenty.

The actress is guardedabout revealing anythingabout the plot, feeling that itwill be spoiler alert of sorts.About her role though, she

adds, “I play Vidya, anorphan, who believes inhelping others. She takescare of an orphanage whereshe spends most of her time.A series of incidents leaveher emotionally and mental-ly shaken from her cocoonand how she faces it is whatthe film’s gist all about.”

Eesha, who believes inprepping for the part beforelanding on the sets, cher-ished working with Redde,who has carved a niche forhimself with his slow-bud-get rib-ticklers likeBommana BrothersChandana Sisters, YamagolaMalli Modalaindi, Tata BirlaMadhyalo Laila andAdirindayya Chandram.“My reactions to certainsequences needed to benoisy and such portionsdrain you out mentally. Infact, I heard that during themaking of Arundhati,Anushka fainted after enact-ing a challenging sequence.This is my first film where Ihad to scream and shriekout loud. Screaming for realand when you act, tend tobe naturally different. I did-n’t know whether I couldn’tget that real scream or Icouldn’t imagine myself insuch a situation like Vidya,but Redde sir bailed me outin such scenes with hisinputs and tactics. At placesas soon as ‘action’ wasuttered, he would scream hislungs out. Seeing him dothat, I would scream backout of fear. Initially, I wasshocked when he did thatbut he could capture my real

emotion on camera. No onewould employ such tacticsnowadays, right? That wayRedde sir belongs to oldschool and a fairly good oneat it,” she remembers fondlywith a smile.

The film also helped herdiscover that she can workmultiple days on the straightwithout a break. “Afterwrapping up this film, Irealised that I can get onwith work for 12-15 hoursstraight without a nap. I jug-gled between the sets of thisfilm in Hyderabad and myTamil film with GV Prakashin Chennai on a regularbasis, sleep deprived. I did-n’t feel the fatigue when Iwas on sets but once I hitthe bed, I would literallydie,” she concludes with ahearty laugh.

FELT

THE

PRE

SSUR

EOF

DOI

NG A

FE

MAL

E-CE

NTRI

C FI

LMEesha Rebbahas recentlybagged anopportunity toheadlinedirectorSreenivassRedde's crimesuspensethrillerRagala 24Gantalalo,findsNAGARAJGOUD

L

I play Vidya, an orphan,who believes in helpingothers. She takes care ofan orphanage where shespends most of her time.A series of incidents leaveher emotionally andmentally shaken from hercocoon and how she facesit is what the film’s gist allabout

— EESHA REBBAON RAGALA 24 GANTALALO

Gopi vows to return fans’ love with

CHANAKYA

PARICHAYAM LADSIGNS HIS SECOND FILM

fter his debut filmParichayam, releasedlast year, tanking at thebox-office, actor ViratKonduru has moved onto his next. The actor

told us that he has signed directorG Nithin’s film, which will bejointly produced by Santosh YKand Nimesh Desai under theirproduction houses The Monk and

Archie Films International. Thedirector is presently awaiting therelease of Ashwamedham inTelugu. He has also done a handfulof Marathi and Gujarati films inthe past. “The film is a revengedrama. However, it’s not in a com-plete commercial space,” Viratsaid.

The actor added the script hasn’tbeen fully developed yet. “We will

get the first draft of the script bythe second week of October. Weare planning to go in front of thecameras in December.”

Virat admits that he is stillproud of Parichayam. “I still lovethat film. I will probably be doinganother film with directorLakshmikanth Chenna soon,” heinformed.

— NG

A

ere is the first look ofRomantic, starring AkashPuri and Ketika Sharma.Producers Puri Jagannadhand Charmme Kaur haveunveiled the look on

Monday, saying that ‘romance is alwaysintense’ and hence the poster, which fea-tures the leading lady in a topless avataras she embraces Akash tightly. As ThePioneer reported last week, the freshschedule of the film commenced inHyderabad on Monday and will go onfor another 20 days. Prominent VFXtechnician Anil Paduri is turning direc-tor with a project, a love story pennedby Puri himself.

HFirst look

T

THOLI PREMAactor-director set

for an encore?

eteran actor of Marathi and Hindifilms Viju Khote, who was popularfor his Kalia character from the 1975cult classic Sholay is no more. He was78.

Viju passed away early on Monday,family sources said. He is survived by his actorsister Shubha Khote, who was elder to him byfive years. Their father Nandu Khote was anoted stage actor too, and he worked in moviesduring the silent era.

Viju Khote made his big screen debut with YaMalak in 1964 and went on to do some of the

most remembered characters in the Hindifilm industry.

In a career spanning almost sixdecades, Viju worked in over 300 films,

including Phir Hera Pheri, Andaz Apna Apnafrom the modern era besides some television shows and ads.

Renowned for comedy roles, Viju was famed

for the evergreen reply to Gabbar Singh’s‘Kitne Aadmi The?’ in Sholay. Do, Sarkar wasthe bumbling sidekick was Kalia’s response,which said it all — that they failed their ganglord Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan.

He is also fondly remembered as the naiveRobert from the film Andaz Apna Apna andwas loved for his dialogue galti se mistakehogaya.

On television he is most remembered forhis role from the 1993 sitcom ZabaanSambhalke, the Indian version of the Britishsitcom Mind Your Language.

Viju played the character of Vittal BapuraoPote, a Maharashtrian who worked in a localNautanki. He often came to class in play cos-tumes.

His other work includes Golmaal 3, AjabPrem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Money Hai Toh HoneyHai, Halla Bol, Garam Masala, AamdaniAtthanni Kharcha Rupaiya, among others.

hahid Kapoor said he approaches

characters with fearless honesty, never

succumbing to the pressure of being

one of those actors who want to

manipulate the audience to be liked.

Shahid’s recent turn in Kabir Singh

ignited a debate about romance and the toxicity

in a relationship. While the film went on to

become one of the biggest grossers of the year, it

was also met with criticism for its hero-like por-

trayal of a flawed man.

“The first responsibility that an actor has

towards the audience is to give them an honest

portrayal. I think that happens very rarely.

Because of these kind of pressures, people are so

careful that ‘if I do this people will like me, if I do

this people won’t’.

“That’s manipulating the audience to like

you. I don’t want to be that kind of an actor,”

Shahid said. The actor said if sometimes audi-

ences react strongly towards his portrayal, it

encourages him.

“If that means that at certain points of time

they don't like me, I take that as a big compli-

ment. That’s what acting is all about.

You’re meant to play characters and

represent life the way it is.”

Shahid said even in reality, there

is no one who has loved him at

every point in his life.

“I must’ve gone through

phases where even my parents

probably really disliked me. If

I’m playing a character why

should I be not showing all

those facets? Why should

we create this bubblegum

reality which doesn’t exist.

Today a film which is so real

and raw is making Rs 280

crore.”“We need to wake up

and realise that the

audience wants to

see a little bit of

the truth. They

don’t want to

watch single

dimensional

films.”

riends actor James Michael Tyler says hedoesn’t see a reason to revisit the popularshow but if anything ever came up in thefuture, he would definitely bleach his hair again and reprise his characterGunther. He played the coffee shop

owner Gunther on the 90s sitcom Friends, whose10-year love for character Rachel Green (actressJennifer Aniston) was unrequited.

“She’s (Aniston) such a consummate professionaland a lovely, lovely human being,'” Tyler told DailyMail Australia.

“She’s very tender, open and honest, down-to-earth and grounded. She embodied the character ofRachel so perfectly.” “It was just a joy to work withher, as a fellow actor. She was very professionalon the set, always on time, always knew herlines and was also very generous as an actor.”

Despite the gushing comments, theMississippi-born star admitted there’s no reasonto film a reunion episode.

“I know that the creators of the showhave all said in the past, that

they’d wrapped up the showin the way that they want-

ed,” he said.

“And I have to agree with them on that. They tiedup a really good series, which at this point has agood beginning, middle and end, and myself...I don’t see a reason to revisit it, that’s just myopinion,” Tyler added.

“That being said, if anything ever cameup in the future, I would definitely bleach myhair again and reprise Gunther, as I really didlove that character.”

Gunther’s character was certainly not planned.“I never auditioned, I came on the first episode

of the first season pilot as an extra. I was a background performer,” he said.

“I did not have the nameGunther until the 33rd

episode which was midway through the

second season. Thewriters gave me oneword to say, ‘Yeah’, andit just kind of built upfrom there.

It was never intended tobe a character.”

V

F

uby Rose recently took to Instagram andshared a graphic video of an emergencysurgery she had to undergo following aserious stunt injury. The actress wrotethat she had left her with two herniateddiscs that were close to severing her spinal

chord, leaving her at risk of paralysis. She added thatshe was in “chronic pain” but could not feel her arms.

Referring to the video of the surgical procedure,Ruby joked, “To anyone asking why I let them videoit.. Did you not watch that Grey’s Anatomy episodewhere they left a towel in a patient?? Also, I wantedto see what happens when we go under.” Theactress also thanked her doctor, “I am forever inyour debt.”

According to People.com, Ruby had under-gone surgery after suffering from years of

back pain. She had said that she had evenquit smoking ahead of the procedure.

Ruby gained stardom when she wascast in season three of Netflix’s Orange

is the New Black. The actress hasbeen cast as Batwoman for The

CW. She will play the firstopenly LGBTQ superhero

to headline a TVseries. She had

previ-

ously said that she was “thrilled and hon-oured”, and an “emotional wreck” over thenews. However, the Australian actor hadto unfortunately delete her Twitteraccount due to fan backlash.

“Her being gay, it’s definitely part ofwho she is, and it’s definitely part of thestory and establishing why she’s not inthe military anymore. But the show isnot about a gay superhero. It’s about asuperhero,” Ruby had explained in aninterview, reports Daily Mail. The firstlook poster unveiled her black and redsuperhero costume.

Caroline Dries and Greg Berlantihave developed the show fromBerlanti Productions alongsideWarner Bros Television. Batwomanwill premiere in the USon October 6.

S

Hyderabad Tuesday October 1, 2019

14

celeb talks

BATWOMAN STAR RUBY ROSE

UNDERGOESEMERGENCY SURGERYAFTER STUNT INJURY

R

ctress Rani Mukerji, whois gearing up for the second installment of theMardaani franchise, saysthe film will see a womanstand up against evil,

against crimes committed on womenand take a bold and brave stand.

Rani is set to reprise the role ofthe fearless and committedSuperintendent of Police, ShivaniShivaji Roy in Mardaani 2.

Director Gopi Puthran says,“Rani as Shivani will be seen in amassive showdown with a 21-year-old villain who is an embodiment ofpure evil. He is a dangerous crimi-nal who targets women.”

The film marks the directorialdebut of Puthran, who was thewriter of the first Mardaani film.

The film will show that Rani willstand up against crimes on women.

Rani said, “The film will see awoman cop fighting a pure evil of aperson to end crimes againstwomen. As we all know, Navratristands for the victory and battle ofgood over evil across India.”

“Whether it is Goddess Durga’svictory over the demon

Mahishasura or Lord Rama’s victory over Ravana, Navratri’ssignificance is key to this assetlaunch. So, we decided to startthe journey of Mardaani 2 onthis auspicious occasion.”

Rani is thrilled that the “firstkey communication ofMardaani 2 is happening during Durga Puja that celebrates woman power in its truest and bravest form.”

She added, “Maa Durga took on the forces of evil and defeated it and Mardaani 2 willsee a woman stand up againstevil, against crimes committedagainst women and take a boldand brave stand.”

The film was shot extensivelyin Jaipur and Kota in Rajasthan.

Mardaani, released in 2014,was directed by Pradeep Sarkarand produced by AdityaChopra. The film tells the storyof a policewoman whose interest in the case of a kid-napped teenage girl leads herto uncover secrets of human trafficking by the Indian mafia.

A

MARDAANI 2 WILL SEEWOMEN STAND UPAGAINST EVIL: RANI

SHOLAY'S KALIA NO MORE

FRIENDS ACTOR: I DON'T SEEA REASON TO REVISIT IT

‘I DON'TWANT TO

MANIPULATEAUDIENCE

TO LIKE ME’

PTI n VISHAKHAPATNAM

There is a definitespring in AjinkyaRahane’s steps after

he ended a 17-Testrun of not scoring a

hundred, a numberwhich has proved

to be lucky forhim.

Rahane,India’s Test

vice-cap-tain, wasu n d e rp r e s -sure to

performin the West

Indies and he delivered withan 81 and 102 in the first Testin Antigua.

“You get to learn fromevery match and every seriesand I had to wait for twoyears, 17 Tests, for my Testdebut and for this century(in West Indies) I had towait for 17 Tests. I thinkthere was some co-ordi-nation,” said Rahane aheadof the first Test againstSouth Africa beginninghere on Wednesday.

“When I was playingfor Hampshire, I was

thinking, when I made mydebut, how my mindset wasbefore that. In these 17Tests, I was not getting a

hundred, I was going behind

getting a hundred and it was not com-ing.

“So, in the West Indies, my thoughtprocess was that I will not think of get-ting a hundred even once, whatever hasto be happen will happen. If a hundredhas to come, it will come,” said Rahanewho could not hide the excitement ofbecoming a father soon.

Rahane insisted that he did notwork too much on his technique to getback amongst the runs.

“From outside it may look easy,for me it was about believing in myability. Not thinking about the tech-nical stuff, it was all about how I makethe mental adjustment like handlingdifficult situations,” said the 31-year-old.

South Africa may not have theservices of star players like AB deVilliers and Dale Steyn anymore butRahane said India cannot afford totake the Proteas lightly. India ham-mered them 0-3 at home four yearsago.

“There are five Tests at home ver-

sus South Africa (three Tests) andBangladesh (two Tests). Because of theTest Championship, you cannot takeany team lightly. Even before the cham-pionship, we were not taking any teamlightly and since the points system isinvolved, every match is important.

“There is a big difference betweenwinning and drawing a Test in terms ofpoints. When you win home Tests andthen go away, there is an advantage thatyou have points.

“Also, the likes of Aiden Markramand Temba Bavuma did well in thewarm-up and Faf du Plessis is an expe-rienced campaigner. You can’t takethem lightly.”

The pitch for the game looks like aflat one with hardly any grass on it. Indiaare expected to play two spinners and asmany pacers.

“Depending on the conditions wewill decide the combination. Hanuma(who bats at 6) can also bowl some spinand that makes a difference. In India, wehardly see three pacers playing,” headded.

AFP n DOHA

Jamaican sprint queenShelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

surged to an unprecedentedfourth 100m crown and USlegend Allyson Felix brokeUsain Bolt’s Gold medalrecord tally as the returningnew mothers lit up the WorldChampionships here Sunday.

Fraser-Pryce and Felix,both racing in their firstmajor championships sincetaking time off from thesport to have children, lit upa pulsating day three of com-petition even if the actionwas played out inside a near-empty Khalifa Stadium.

The 32-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who skipped the 2017championships to give birthto her first child, delivered abarnstorming run to takethe 100m in 10.71sec.

Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith took Silver with atime of 10.83sec while IvoryCoast’s Marie-Josee Ta Louclaimed Bronze in 10.90sec.

“To be standing here asworld champion again afterhaving my baby, I am elated,”said Fraser-Pryce.

“The females keep show-ing up. We love to put on aperformance and for me I amjust really happy to comeaway with the win.”

The two-time Olympicchampion’s dominant dis-play was the highlight of aday three which also saw UStrack queen Felix win a

record 12th WorldChampionship Gold medal.

Felix only returned to thesport in July after a 13-month layoff which saw hergive birth to her daughterCamryn by emergency C-section last November.

The 33-year-old, whofailed to qualify for the indi-vidual 400m event in Doha,took Gold in the 4x400mmixed relay as the UnitedStates motored to victory ina world record time of 3min09.34sec.

Felix’s 12th gold medalbroke Jamaican legend Bolt’srecord tally of 11 WorldChampionship Gold medals.

Overall, she now has anincredible 26 medals, a daz-zling haul that also includessix Olympic Golds. Therewas another victory for areturning mother in the finalevent of the day, the women’s20km race walk, where

China’s 2016 Olympic cham-pion Liu Hong won Gold.

Liu, 32, who took amaternity break from 2017-2018, shrugged off steamyheat and humidity to lead aChinese sweep of the medalsin 1hr 32min 53sec andsecure her third world title.

Qieyang Shenjie took

Silver in 1:33:10 while com-patriot Yang Liujing wonBronze in 1:33:17.

Elsewhere Sunday, triplejump king Christian Taylorcompleted a superb hat-trickof World Championshiptitles after surviving nearelimination in a nerve-jan-gling final.

sport 15HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019

PTI n VISASKHAPATNAM

South Africa’s most experienced spinner KeshavMaharaj wants to be as consistent as seasoned

Indian duo of Ravindra Jadeja and RavichandranAshwin during the upcoming three-Test.

The orthodox left-arm spinner with 94 wick-ets from 25 Tests had a successful county perfor-mance and is hoping to make life “uncomfortable”for the Indian top-order.

“It is nice that people speak highly of you. Lookat Jadeja and Ashwin. Ashwin has got a lot of vari-ations and Jadeja keeps it simple but the key is con-sistency and that make it uncomfortable for thebatsmen. I can (want to) emulate that going for-ward and do my job from one end,” said Maharaj,who is on his maiden Test tour of India.

Spin will hold key but reverse swing can alsoplay a huge role in the series, he said.

“You got to expect the ball to turn in the sub-continent and that is why people carry an extraspinner here. As far as bowling to Indian batsmengoes, you can only Test yourself against the best.The series will tell me how good I am and if Ibelong here in international cricket,” Maharaj said.

“Besides spin, reverse swing will be key. Everybowling unit everywhere in the world likes to utiliseif reverse swing is available. India have got strongbowlers including Mohammad Shami, who isunplayable at times. If it starts to reverse, then wehave also got amazing bowlers, who can utilise theconditions.”

The South Africa pace attack comprisesVernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

India will be without the the services of theirlethal weapon Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled outof the series due to a stress fracture in the lowerback. Maharaj said India will miss him badly.

“It is a big loss for India. He has turned thewhole Test side for India in terms of playing in var-ious conditions but lets face it India have enoughquality to replace him. Umesh Yadav is anotherworld class bowler.”

South Africa got a decent hit in the middle

AFP n KARACHI

Stylish batsman Babar Azamthrashed a swashbuckling hun-

dred to steer Pakistan to 305-7 inthe second day-night interna-tional against Sri Lanka onMonday as Karachi staged its firstODI in ten years.

The 24-year-old proved he iscurrently one of the best batsmenin limited overs cricket with a105-ball-115 to lift Pakistan to abig total after the home team wonthe toss and batted.

Azam, when on 54, becamethe fifth batsman to complete1,000 ODI runs in 2019 — behindIndia’s duo Virat Kohli and RohitSharma, and Australian coupleAaron Finch and UsmanKhawaja.

He added an innings building111 for the third wicket withHaris Sohail (40), as Sri Lankanbowlers toiled to break the stand.

It was only through an unfor-tunate run out that Sohail fell,leaving Azam to anchor theinnings. He square cut pacerLahiru Kumara for a boundary tocomplete his 11th ODI hundredoff 97 balls.

Azam was finally out at deepmid-on off Kumara, crackingeight boundaries and four sixes.

Iftikhar Ahmed battedaggressively for his 20-ball 32 notout — two sixes and as manyboundaries — as Pakistan made89 in the last ten overs.

Openers Fakhar Zaman (54)and Imam-ul-Haq gave Pakistana solid start of 73 before SriLanka’s best bowler, leg-spinnerWanindu Hasaranga, trappedImam for 31.

Hasaranga also had Fakharfor 65-ball 54 studded with sixboundaries and a six. Hasarangafinished with 2-63.

Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed wasalso run out for eight while ImadWasim made 12.

While the first match wasrained off in Karachi on Friday,the third and final game will beheld in the city on Wednesday.

IANS n MELBOURNE

After helping Australia retainthe Ashes, pacer Pat

Cummins now wants to emu-late his good show in the short-est format of the game with aneye on the 2020 T20 World Cupon home soil.

The T20 World Cup is theonly major trophy that haseluded Australia’s male crick-eters.

Cummins, ranked No 1 inthe world, took 29 wickets inthe five-test Ashes which endedin a 2-2 draw and bowled themost overs by an Australian fastbowler in a Test series since theturn of the century.

“It was a really tense series,so it felt like every day’s play wasquite exhausting,” Cumminstold cricket.com.au. “I felt like Ineeded a break. Those last twoweeks I bowled close to 100overs. That was pretty taxing.But I’ve had a good week off, so

feeling pretty good now,” headded.

Talking about the T20World Cup, the 26-year-oldsaid: “The last year has been areal one-day focus leading intothe (50-over) World Cup. Ithink we'll see a shift,” saidCummins.

“We’ve got 20-odd gamesbefore that T20 World Cup.Personally I want to be in thatWorld Cup squad, so I want toplay as many of those games aspossible.

“There’s a lot I want to workon in T20 cricket, so it's goodthere’s more opportunity now toconcentrate on that with sixgames in a row (to start thesummer). I don’t feel like I’vehad that in a long time.”

Cummins has beenextremely consistent despitenot missing a single match inAustralia’s World Cup cam-paign and then taking part inthe gruelling Ashes.

DOHA: Top Indian woman javelin throw-er Annu Rani qualified for the final roundof the World Athletics Championships bysmashing her own national record hereon Monday.

The 27-year-old Annu sent the ironspear to a distance of 62.43m in her sec-ond round throw, bettering her earliernational record of 62.34m, which sheachieved in March, to book a place forTuesday's finals.

In the process, she became the first

Indian to reach the finals of the women'sjavelin throw in the WorldChampionships.

Annu finished third in Group A andqualified for the finals as the fifth best per-former of the qualification round.

Only two javelin throwers, Asianchampion Lyu Huihui (67.27m) of Chinaand Christin Hussong (65.29m) ofGermany, could cross the automaticqualification mark of 63.50m whileanother 10, including Annu, made up the

12, who will compete in the finals.Annu opened with a 57.05m before

coming up with her career-best throw inthe second round. She had a 60.50m inher third and final throw.

World leader and Asian Gameschampion Liu Shiying (63.48m) of Chinaand Ratej Martina (62.87m) of Sloveniafinished ahead of Annu in Group A, whilereigning Olympic champion Sara Kolakof Croatia was sixth with a best throw of60.99m. PTI

IANS n KOLKATA

When a SouthAfrican team in

transition take on Indiain the three-Test series

starting Wednesday, theywill be more relieved inthe knowledge that Jasprit

Bumrah will not pick upthe red cherry and come atthem than Virat Kohli pick-ing up the bat and sendingtheir bowlers on a leatherhunt.

Arguably one of thebest in the business,Bumrah has been ruled outof the series due to a minor

stress fracture in his lowerback. Needless to say, it was abody blow to the team man-agement as they lost a playerwho in 12 Test matches haspicked up 62 wickets, all onforeign soil including a hat-trick in the West Indies.

Sources in the team man-

agement have said that theBangladesh series is not in theradar as skipper Kohli andcoach Ravi Shastri wantBumrah to recover complete-ly and return to action asIndia also have an eye on the2020 World T20 in Australianext year.

Many have spoken aboutthe 25-year-old’s workloadtaking a toll on his body. Butthe overall picture which hascome to the fore is how doesthe bowling unit, spearhead-ed by the ace fast bowler, per-form without his services.

A young South Africanteam, thin on batting experi-ence after the retirement ofHashim Amla, might not testa strong Indian bowling bat-tery but it surely will lackteeth against the likes of Fafdu Plessis, Aiden Markramand Temba Bavuma overthree five-day rubbers despitehome conditions bringing

into play spin factor morethan pace.

Bumrah is yet to play athome and the injury has now

delayed his debut as he isunlikely to take part in theBangladesh series also. Butgoing by his exploits in 12

Tests, odds were that the sec-ond-ranked bowler in red-ball cricket would definitelyhave had an impact in theoutcome of the series, whichnow will rest on his supportcast led by veteran IshantSharma, who is perhaps bowl-ing like he has never bowledin his career.

Besides Ishant, a leanerand meaner MohammedShami will also look to shoul-der more responsibility andtake the load of spinnersRavichandran Ashwin,Kuldeep Yadav and RavidraJadeja, based on whoever isplaying.

It is also an opportunityfor Bumrah’s replacementUmesh Yadav to impress theselectors and team manage-ment and get back in thesquad after falling down thepecking order due to a seriesof underwhelming perfor-mances.

Bumrah's absence a call for Ishant, Shami to take lead

PTI n DUBAI

India go into the three-match homeseries against South Africa looking

to build on their early success in theICC World Test Championship, whilethe visitors open their campaign in thecompetition.

India’s 2-0 victory in the WestIndies series helped them grab the full120 points available for a series, theonly team to do so in three seriesplayed so far.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand drewtheir two-match series 1-1 and are on60 points each in the points table whileEngland and Australia are on 56 eachafter their five-match Ashes seriesended 2-2.

Each match of the India-SouthAfrica series, to be played inVisakhapatnam, Pune and Ranchi isworth 40 points since points in theWTC are evenly distributed over thenumber of matches in a series (two tofive), ranging from 60 points for eachmatch of a two-Test series to 24 foreach match of a five-Test series.

So, India can go up to 240 pointsby grabbing all the points at stake inthe series starting Wednesday. On theother hand, South Africa can joinIndia at the top of the table with 120points.

India look to buildon early success inWorld Test C’ship

PTI n VISAKHAPATNAM

Weather could play spoilsportduring the first Test between

India and South Africa starting hereon Wednesday with rains predicted onall five days.

It has been raining here regular-ly since the last one week and thereis an 80 percent chance of showers onthe opening day of the series opener.

There is 50 and 40 percent chanceof rain on day two and three and playcould also be affected on the final twodays.

The warm-up game betweenSouth Africa Board President’s XI inVizianagram, around 50 kms fromhere, too was affected by rain. No playwas possible on day one of the three-day game and start of day two wasdelayed due to a wet outfield.

Rain threat looms over 1st Test

Maharaj wants toreplicate Ashwin &Jadeja’s consistency

Babar liftsPak to 305-7

Time to prepare forT20 WC: Cummins

SHELLY, FELIX SEAL RECORD GOLDS

Annu qualifies for javelin throw finals

4x400m mixed relayteam finishes 7thPTI n DOHA

The Indian 4x400mmixed relay team fin-

ished seventh in the finalrace of the WorldChampionships with a sea-son best effort here.

The team ofMuhammed Anas, V KVismaya, Jisna Mathewand Tom Nirmal Noahclocked 3 minute 15.77seconds to finish seventh inthe field of eight countrieson Sunday.

It was just a tad slow-er than the 3:15.71 clockedby the Indian team whilewinning Gold in the AsianGames last year.

Anas began the race inlane number 8 and early inthe second leg, Vismayawas running last. Third legrunner Jisna collided witha second leg runner ofanother country after col-lecting the baton fromVismaya, leading to theloss of crucial time thoughIndia was at the last spot bythat time.

in the one-off practice gamedespite the rain with AidenMarkram (100), TembaBavuma (87) and Philander(47) getting some much need-ed in the middle. Maharajstruck thrice in that game.

“It was important that ourbatters got some time in themiddle. They have been work-ing on how to tackle Indianconditions and it is nice to geta hit.”

Can’t take Proteas lightly: Rahane

AFP n LONDON

Bayern Munich captainManuel Neuer heads intotoday’s Champions League

clash with Tottenham Hotspur atWhite Hart Lane aiming for a dis-play that settles the debate aboutwhether he should remainGermany’s first-choice goalkeep-er ahead of Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The showdown in Londonwill be key in deciding who willwin Group B, with Bayern cur-rently top after beating Red StarBelgrade 3-0 in their opener afortnight ago and Spurs needinga home victory to get back ontrack after throwing away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw atOlympiakos.

Neuer will want to use thehigh-profile clash to prove hisform after a shaky display onSaturday, in which he was twicebeaten — including once fromlong-range effort — at bottomclub Paderborn.

Neuer could do little about thefirst goal, but was at fault whenPaderborn defender JamiluCollins scored from 30 metres outto make it 3-2 and give Bayern anervy final 10 minutes before theyeventually won and topped theBundesliga for the first time thisseason.

That display came on thesame day Ter Stegen launchedBarca to a 2-0 win at Getafe witha sensational long-range pass forLuis Suarez’s opener after snuffingout an attack from the homeside.

Ter Stegen had sparked a warof words between Germany’s topgoalkeepers when he said it was a“tough blow” to remain on thebench after watching Neuer beat-en four times in a heavy homedefeat by the Netherlandsin this month’s Euro 2020qualifier.

The Barca keeperhad been promised moregames in 2019 by nation-al coach Joachim Loew,but he has so far only hada 45-minute cameoagainst Serbia in March, andNeuer telling the 27-year-old hiscomments were unhelfpful toteam spirit only led to a terse replyof “Manu doesn’t need to com-ment on my feelings”.

At 33, Neuer is entering thelatter stage of his career and onlya strong display at Spurs willsilence the raging debate backhome as to whether his rivalshould be promoted and endNeuer’s nine-year reign asGermany’s first-choice stopper.

With a high-profile friendlyinternational looming at home to

Argentina, Loew is under pressureto drop his captain who has keptnearly 300 clean sheets in just over600 Bundesliga games and wasnamed in FIFA’s World XI fouryears running up until 2016,when he was made German cap-tain.

HAPPY WITH SQUAD’ Tottenham boss Mauricio

Pochettino said he is “so happy”with his squad as they prepare to

face Bundesliga leadersafter a turbulent fewweeks.

Spurs have strug-gled to find consistencythis season after anunsettling summertransfer window beforelast week’s League Cup

exit against fourth-tier Colchesterwas a low point and Pochettinoblamed that setback on “differentagendas in the squad”.

But their 2-1 victory againstSouthampton on Saturday liftedthem to fifth in the PremierLeague table and helped calmnerves.

Spurs let slip a 2-0 lead intheir Champions League openeragainst Olympiakos to draw 2-2but Pochettino pointed out thatlast season the club had just a sin-gle point after three games andstill reached the final, where they

lost to Liverpool.“I am so happy with the

squad and we’re in a positionwhere everything is possible,” theSpurs boss told his pre-matchpress conference on Monday.

“We need to be calm and bestrong in our mentality. The mostimportant thing is the belief andspirit.”

sport 16HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2019

AFP n BEIJING

Bianca Andreescu said that she has“forgotten how it feels to lose”

after the US Open champion reeledoff her 14th victory in a row onMonday in Beijing.

The 19-year-old Canadian beatAliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the China Open firstround despite a second-set wobble.

But Simona Halep became thefirst major casualty in the Chinesecapital, beaten by Russia’s EkaterinaAlexandrova with the Romanianstruggling once more with a backinjury.

Andreescu’s run of victories hasbrought her the US Open and herhome Canadian Open in recentweeks, propelling her into the lime-light.

“I wanted to just keep themomentum going,” said the teenag-er, after her first match since stunningSerena Williams in the final atFlushing Meadows.

“I’m on a roll right now, hopeful-ly I can just keep it up because I thinkit gives me a lot of confidence,” addedthe world number six, who qualifiedfor the season-ending WTA Finals.

“I don’t want to sound cocky or

anything, but I kind of forgot how itfeels to lose, which I think is a goodthing.”

In round two the Canadian playsElise Mertens, the world number 23from Belgium.

HALEP HEADS HOMEReigning Wimbledon champion

Halep lost 6-2, 6-3 in 64 minutes tobring her campaign to an early end.

She was far from her best as shewent down meekly to Russia’s 38th-ranked Alexandrova in the secondround.

“I didn’t recover well after my firstmatch so it was very tough for me toplay and she played really well,”Halep said.

China Open title-holder CarolineWozniacki swatted aside LaurenDavis of the United States, 6-1, 6-3,to give her the perfect start.

In the men’s draw, second seedAlexander Zverev of Germany was acomfortable 6-3, 6-2 winner over theAmerican Frances Tiafoe.

HEALY ENTERS ’CLUB 100’ IN T20ISydney: One of Australian team's key players inrecent years, wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy on Mondaybecame the ninth woman to appear in 100 Twenty20Internationals. The 29-year-old is only the secondAustralian to achieve the feat after Ellyse Perry. Healygot there during the second T20 Internationalagainst Sri Lanka at North Sydney Oval.

MANDEEP TO LEAD IN JOHOR CUPNew Delhi: Defender Mandeep Mor was onMonday named as captain of the 18-member juniormen's team for the ninth Sultan of Johor Cup to beheld from Oct 12 to 19. India will face off againstMalaysia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and GreatBritain in the round-robin league stage and will behoping to improve its performance here afterfinishing a disappointing sixth at the Eight-NationTournament in Madrid in June.

NAGARKOTI BACK FOR EMERGING CUPNew Delhi: Young pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti onMonday returned to the Indian team for theupcoming Emerging Asia Cup after a 19-monthinjury layoff. The pacer, who excelled in India'striumphant U-19 World Cup campaign has beenconstantly monitored by experts at the NCA, wherehe underwent rehab following a stress fractures inhis lower back, heel and ankle. The 19-year-old, lastplayed a competitive game during the Vijay HazareTrophy last year. The tournament is scheduled to beheld in B’desh in November.

POREL TAKES 6 IN BENGAL’S WINJaipur: India A speedster Ishan Porel bowledbrilliantly to grab six-wickets while ShreevatsGoswami made an unbeaten 86 to guide Bengal to acomfortable eight-wicket win over Jammu andKashmir in a Group C Vijay Hazare Trophy match onMonday. Porel (6/34) came up with a devastatingopening spell that sent Jammu and Kashmir reelingas they were skittled out for 169 in 48.2 overs.Chasing the modest score, left-handed Goswamistruck 10 boundaries and one six during his 80-ballknock and together with Abhimanyu Easwaran (51)stitched 118 runs for the opening stand as Bengalcomfortably rode home, reaching 175 for two in 28overs. Meanwhile in another Group C matches,Madhya Pradesh defeated Bihar by seven wicketswhile Gujarat beat Tripura by a comfortable 101-runmargin.

RIBERY’S FIORENTINA PUNISH MILANMilan: Franck Ribery sealed a 3-1 win for Fiorentinaagainst ten-man AC Milan that pushed thenortherners down to 16th in the Serie A table with athird consecutive defeat. Former Bayern Munichmidfielder Ribery sealed back-to-back wins forFiorentina for the first time this season. Riberyscored the third goal after 77 minutes to add toGaetano Castrovilli's 66th-minute effort with ErickPulgar slotting in a penalty on 14 minutes. Milanplayed most of the second half a man down afterMateo Musacchio was sent off for a foul on Riberyon 55 minutes. Milan goalkeeper GianlugiDonnarumma did well to deny Federico Chiesa'spenalty kick with Rafael Leao pulling a goal back forthe hosts ten minutes from time.

DOUBLES DEFEAT FOR DJOKOVIC Tokyo: World number one Novak Djokovic, forcedout of the US Open with a shoulder injury, suffereda doubles defeat at the Japan Open on Monday, butproved his recovery is on track. Bruno Soares ofBrazil and Mate Pavic of Croatia beat the 32-year-oldSerbian star and his countryman Filip Krajinovic 6-2,4-6, 10-4 to progress to the quarter-finals. Top seedDjokovic will make his Japan Open singles debutlater this week playing Alexei Popyrin at the AriakeColiseum. His main challengers in the Japan eventwill be second seed Borna Coric and Belgian thirdseed David Goffin.

SEVILLA EDGE OUT REAL SOCIEDADSeville: Sevilla avoided a third consecutive defeatin La Liga and stopped high-flying Real Sociedadfrom going top after coming from behind to beatthem 3-2 on Sunday. The Basque outfit could haveclaimed first place in Spain but came up short in apulsating contest at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Itlooked good for the visitors when Mikel Oyarzabalgave them a fourth-minute lead but Nolito equalisedfor Sevilla with a sumptuous half-volley beforeLucas Ocampos and Franco Vazquez completed thecomeback in the second half. Portu still set up anervy finish when he added a second for RealSociedad in the 87th minute but Sevilla held on for amuch-needed win.

Q ATAR TO TEST STADIUMSDURING CLUB WCDoha: Qatar will inaugurate the third of its eightWorld Cup stadiums when the Education Cityground hosts the Club World Cup semi-final tie onDec 18, FIFA said on Monday. The 40,000-seatvenue seven kilometres outside central Doha willalso host the third-place play-off and the final of thetournament which gets underway on December 11.“With all three venues located a maximum of 12kilometres from central Doha, the FIFA Club WorldCup 2019 will provide a glimpse of Qatar's compactnature ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022,” FIFA saidin a statement. AGENCIES

SINGLES

PTI n BUENOS AIRES

Indian tennis player SumitNagal notched up a straight-

set win over home favouriteFacundo Bognis to claim themen’s singles title at the $ 54,160ATP Challenger Tournamenthere.

The 22-year-old fromHaryana, seeded seventh, out-classed 8th seed Bognis ofArgentina 6-4, 6-2 in an hourand 37 minutes to win the title.

It was Sumit’s secondChallenger title of his career, fol-lowing the triumph in theBengaluru Challenger event in2017.

“Brilliant performance@nagalsumit and I extendhearty Congratulations onWinning ATP Buenos Aires

Challenger Title. Sumit Nagalwill enter Top 135 in Rankings!,”Sport minister Kiren Rijiju wroteon his Twitter handle.

The talented youngsterjumped of 26 spots to achieve acareer-best ranking of 135 onMonday.

NEW DELHI: The All India FootballFederation technical director Isac Doruon Monday said players in all age-groupsneed to be exposed to more competitionsand big games for building a betterfuture.

The technical director believes thatthe state units, along with their respectivedevelopment officers, will be crucial inspreading the sport throughout India.

“The states covered by development

officers gives us opportunity to cover alarger area and a larger number of peo-ple. This larger reach can only be capi-talised upon if more competitions areheld, giving the footballers across all lev-els more opportunities to play the gameand improve themselves,” said Doru.

“We need more competitions. Weneed more games to build a better future.I read a lot about training techniques, andthis and that. But the harsh reality is thatwe need our footballers to play moregames, to play more competitions. A larg-er reach will certainly help us attain that.”

He stressed on the significance of“capacity building” of the state associationsduring a FIFA capacity-building work-shop.

Doru stated that the state associationsare the “building blocks” of Indian foot-ball. “The state associations are the bricksthat build up the future of Indian football.These bricks make up the foundation. Itis our job, as the federation, to worktogether in harmony and help footballgrow,” said Doru. PTI

AFP n MANCHESTER

Mislav Orsic gaveDinamo Zagreb a

dream start in theChampions League witha sensational openinground hat-trick againstAtalanta, and now thejourneyman striker has ashot at downing all-con-quering Manchester City.

The 26-year-old isthe competition’s leadingscorer heading into theirdaunting clash at theEtihad Stadium alongsideRB Salzburg’s teenagesensation Erling BrautHaaland.

Dinamo go into theirtrip to City top of GroupC thanks in large part to

Orsic’s treble over fanciedAtalanta, who are takingpart in their first-everEuropean campaign.

That is already a bigstep up for a club thatfailed to score a singlegoal on their way to los-ing all six matches in

their last group stageappearance in 2016-17.

Dinamo already haveone goal more than intheir previous 12 tourna-ment matches.

Pundits in Croatiasay that Nenad Bjelica’sside are ready to make animportant step forwardand could even fight forthe second place in agroup that also includesShakhtar Donetsk, andOrsic shares that viewafter seeing the team getto the Europa Leaguelast 16 last season.

“We already had a

great European result lastseason and this is onlythe continuation. Wehave everything neces-sary to become a pres-ence in Europe,” he said.

Orsic is an evenoptimist ahead of theencounter with City.

“We all know whowe are playing but thatshouldn’t demotivate us,”he said.

“We badly wantedthe Champions Leagueand to compete with thebest clubs and that's whatwe have, it’s all up to us.

“If we play to 110percent of our abilitiesand catch City by sur-prise then anything ispossible”.

Man City vs D ZagrebLive from 12:30am IST

SONY TEN 1 NETWORK

EYES ONTHE POSTEYES ONTHE POSTEYES ONTHE POST

German goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer trains during Bayern Munich’s practice session Bayern/Twitter

Tottenham vs BayernLive from 12:30am IST

SONY SIX NETWORK

AFP nMADRID

Eden Hazard said on Mondayhe is ‘one goal’ away from

launching his Real Madrid careerhaving failed to score since join-ing the Spanish clubthis summer.

Hazard, who costReal 100 millioneuros in July, is yet to get off themark during the new seasonwith his appearances restricted tofour matches due to a thighinjury.

“Honestly I feel at 100 percent, the injury is behind me.When I start scoring, being deci-sive, having good matches, it willall come together,” Hazard said

ahead of playing Club Brugge.“That’s what I’m missing,

one good match, one goal, onepass, something to start my sea-son.

“When I say it’s down to con-fidence, once I’m con-fident, I’ll give my beston the field.”

Real host Bruggeafter falling to a humiliating 3-0loss to Paris Saint-Germain intheir opening Champions Leaguegame of the campaign.

They sit top of the La Ligatable after seven matches withFrance international KarimBenzema their top goal-scorer onfive, followed by Wales forwardGareth Bale on two.

Real vs Club BruggeLive from 10:30pm IST

SONY TEN 2 NETWORK

‘ONE GOAL’

Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale during Real Madrid’s training session RM/Twitter

Hazard says he is one strike awayfrom kick-starting Real career

AFP n TURIN

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarribelieves his side need to enjoy

themselves more if they aregoing to have any chance ofending their 24-year wait forthe Champions League tro-phy.

The 60-year-old Sarriwill oversee his f irstChampions League matchat home in the AllianzStadium today.

Juventus host BayerLeverkusen in theirsecond Group D clash,having being held 2-2at Atletico Madrid intheir opener.

“The ChampionsLeague is really thetop for a player andcoach, but at thesame time weshould also havefun,” Sarri told apre-match pressconference inTurin.

“At themoment it’s diffi-cult for Italianteams to be amongthe favourites.English teams arefavourites for obviousreasons but we shouldbe easier on ourselves.

“The idea is to really cheerup a little bit.

“Our goal is to go all theway until the ChampionsLeague final but it’s a competi-tion that can only be determinedin certain moments.

“I’m expecting a goodresult tomorrow.”

The eight-time reigningItalian champions are unbeaten

so far this season.They are up against a Bayer

Leverkusen, who finishedfourth in the Bundesliga lastseason, and are sixth this term.

The Germans slumped to asurprise 2-1 defeat at home

against Lokomotiv Moscowin their opener.

Leverkusen won 3-1 thelast time the two teams metin 2001-02, when theGermans reached the final.

Sarri said he wouldmake his team selection after

training on Monday,deciding who would

play up fronta l o n g s i d eC r i s t i a n oRonaldo.

“ P l a y i n gRonaldo, (Paulo)Dybala and( G o n z a l o )Higuain alltogether from

the start is a fasci-nating suggestion,

but we are not readyyet for the level ofbalance required,”said Sarri.

“For now we couldonly try this solutionfor parts of the match.”

Leverkusen’s dan-ger man could be 20-year-old German mid-fielder Kai Havertz, aplayer Sarri tipped to“become one of themost important play-ers in Europe”.

In the other gamein Group D,Lokomotiv hostAtletico Madrid inMoscow.

Juventus vs LeverkusenLive from 12:30am IST

SONY TEN 2 NETWORK

Juve need to ‘lighten up’

Orsic out to surprise City

Halep turfed out of China Open

Bianca Andreescu during practice session AP

Nagal wins title atATP ChallengerSumit also achieves career-best ranking of 135

Sumit Nagal poses with trophy ATP

India need more gamesfor better future: Doru

Neuer out to settle keeper debateagainst Spurs as he faces stiffcompetition from ter Stegen for DieMannschaft’s No 1