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NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The impact of economic slow-down is reflecting in IT com-panies here in multiple formssuch as limited salary hikes,layoffs built into the annualappraisal process, terminationwith immediate effect, andcost-cutting.

Compared to last year, moreemployees were terminatedduring the year-end processthis year. G Abhishek, who wasworking with one of the BigFour accounting firms inHyderabad, said, "I was askedto leave as part of the year-endprocess. Typically when theygive a 4 rating, there would bePIP for 45 days, but this timepeople with such rating wereasked to leave immediately. Iasked them to give me 2 weeks'time to find another job, butthe HR told me, if I give youtime, I have to give it to the2,000 employees whom we areremoving. We saw moreemployees being told to leavethe company as a very big andlong-running project has gonefrom the company."

Industry experts claim thatthe year-end process hasbecome very stringent.Sundeep Kumar Makthala,president of TITA said, "There

is certainly impact on IT com-panies due to automation andinflation. During the ratingprocess, we will be informedon how many people should begiven what kind of rating. Itdepends on project to project.Typically a company keeps 30percent employees on bench.These are called deployablepool, but now companies are

keeping only 20 percent onbench and they are the firstones to be impacted as they arenot tagged to any project."

To avoid facing the wrath oflaw and public scrutiny, the ter-minations were made as part ofthe year-end review process.

Sanjay Gupta, working in anIT company employing morethan 30,000 people in

Hyderabad, said, "Our fear oflosing jobs was disguised underthe appraisal process. In fact,when we asked that there arecertain items which we need toreturn to the company, theywere not even ready to give usan hour. It was like terminat-ed with immediate effected andwe were escorted outside byHR. They paid two months'salary and didn't want to giveus time. This year, we got a lotof last-day emails, compared toprevious years."

Even the hikes the employ-ees got this year were relative-ly low. P Kiranmayi, working inone of the Big Five IT compa-nies, was disheartened afterlooking at her appraisal.Despite being a top performerand getting a promotion, thehike she got was very less. Sheclaims it to be similar to whatpeople of 3 rating got last year.That has become the norm. Shesaid, "A top performer getsminimum 15 percent hike andlot of us got less than 10 per-cent hike. In fact, the cost- cut-ting was seen in every project.Those who were onsite to othercountries returned and there is'no-fly' rule for those whoreturned. Even in the partiesand other activities at the firmthere was cost-cutting."

Continued on Page 2

PNS n MUMBAI

As the Shiv Sena-BJP allianceis all set to form governmentin Maharashtra, the clamourfor making young Sena leaderAaditya Thackeray as the nextChief Minister of Maharashtrahas become louder in the partyfounded by late Bala SahebThackeray. According toreports, a large section of ShivSena leaders and party's newly-elected MLAs have demandedthat Aaditya be made the nextchief minister of the state.

Interestingly, posters depict-ing Aditya Thackeray as thenext chief minister of the statewere put up in his constituen-cy Worli, Mumbai. The postersalso feature photos of ShivSena patriarch Bal Thackerayand party president UddhavThackeray in the backgroundand have been put byHanuman Seva Mandal.

Although nothing has beenannounced in this regard asyet, if the demands are met,Aaditya Thackeray willbecome the youngest ChiefMinister of Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena MLA PrakashSurvey said, ''We want Aadityaas our CM. This is our first andforemost demand. Beforeassembly election, both BJPand our party had agreed on50-50 power-sharing formula,which we wan to be imple-mented in letter and spirit.''

''We are confident that partychief Uddhav Ji will stick to it

during his negotiations withthe BJP high command,'' headded.

Another Shiv Sena MLAPratap Sarnaik reiterated thata large number of party legis-lators want to see Aaditya asnext Maharashtra CM

As the Shiv Sena-BJP

alliance is all set to form gov-ernment in Maharashtra, theclamour for making youngSena leader Aaditya Thackerayas the next Chief Minister ofMaharashtra has become loud-er in the party founded by lateBala Saheb Thackeray.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samitichief and Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao will visitHuzurnagar on Saturday toparticipate in a 'thanksgivingrally' being organized on agrand scale.

The pink party has orga-nized this public meetingmainly to thank Huzurnagarvoters for giving a stupendousvictory to TRS in the bypoll,though the seat has been thebastion of the Congress.

TRS candidate Saidi Reddytrounced Congress candi-date N Padamavathi, wife ofTPCC chief and NalgondaLok Sabha member N UttamKumar Reddy, by a margin ofover 43,000 votes -- thehighest-ever in this con-stituency.

KCR was supposed toaddress a meeting inHuzurnagar on October 16 tocampaign for the party's can-didate Saidi Reddy.

Continued on Page 2

KCR to attendthanksgivingrally inH’nagar today

Strike will continue: JAC PNS n HYDERABAD

A day after Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao made itclear that the strike is illegaland that the unions have beenmisleading RTC workers,Telangana State RoadTransport CorporationEmployees Unions' JointAction Committee (JAC) con-vener Ashwathama Reddyinsisted that the strike wouldcontinue. The strike entered21st day on Friday.

Trying to justify the actionsof the unions, Reddy said theChief Minister was "hurtingthe sentiments" of RTC work-ers by his statements. He was

speaking to the media at theTelangana Mazdoor Unionoffice here.

Reddy sought to know whythe State government was not

holding talks. He assertedthat the strike would contin-ue till the demands of JACwere met.

Continued on Page 2

KCR's ‘two-pronged strategy' to resolve RTC strikeL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samiti chiefand Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is under-stood to have adopted a two-pronged strategy to tackle theongoing TSRTC strike, whichentered 21st day on Friday.

KCR has reportedly direct-ed his party MLAs to negotiatewith the striking RTC staff intheir respective constituenciesand convince them of the direneed to withdraw from thestrike and join duty.

Following this, TRS MLAssprung into action on Friday. Inall 103 of the 119 Assemblyconstituencies in Telangana

are represented by TRS MLAs.If these MLAs succeed in theirefforts, TSRTC strike could beresolved in almost all the dis-tricts. That apart, KCR will tryto resolve RTC strike throughtalks as per the directions of theHigh Court.

The six-member panel of

RTC's executive directors(EDs), constituted to study thedemands of RTC unions bar-ring the one relating to merg-er of TSRTC with the govern-ment and make recommenda-tions on the pros and cons ofimplementing the 'practical'ones, submitted its report tothe state government on Friday.

Transport Minister PuvvadaAjay, transport secretary SunilSharma and other officialsrushed to Pragathi Bhavanand submitted the report toKCR. After examining therecommendations of thecommittee, the Chief Ministerheld a meeting with the min-ister and officials.

Continued on Page 2

No visa requiredfor Chinese,Indians: BrazilSAO PAULO: BrazilianPresident Jair Bolsonaro saidon Thursday the SouthAmerican nation will drop itsrequirement that visitingChinese and Indian touristsor businesspeople obtainvisas. Bolsonaro, a far-rightpolitician, came to power atthe beginning of the year andhas made it a policy to reducevisa requirements from anumber of developed coun-tries. But the announcement,made during an official visitto China, is the first he hasmade expanding that policyto the developing world.

Earlier this year, theBrazilian government endedvisa requirements for touristsand business people fromthe United States, Canada,Japan and Australia.

GermanChancellorarriving onNov 1NEW DELHI: GermanChancellor Angela Merkel isarriving in India onNovember 1 for the the fifthbiennial Inter GovernmentalConsultations (IGC).

She will be accompaniedby several ministers and statesecretaries of her govern-ment, as well as a high-pow-ered business delegation.

Under the IGC format,the counterpart ministersfrom both the countries willhold initial discussions intheir respective areas ofresponsibility.

The outcome of these dis-cussions will be reported atthe IGC to be co-chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi and Chancellor Merkel.

2,155 liveslost inmonsoon rainsNEW DELHI: As many as2,155 people lost their livesand another 45 were report-ed missing this monsoonseason in rains and floods,which affected more than 26lakh people in 22 states,Union Home Ministry offi-cials said on Friday.

The maximum number of430 people died inMaharashtra, followed by 227in West Bengal in rains,floods and landslides thathit as many as 361 districts inthe country.

According to the officials,803 people were injured andnearly 20,000 animals lostacross the country in theheavy rains and floods, whichfully damaged 2.23 lakhhouses, partially damaged2.06 lakh houses anddestroyed 14.09 lakh hectaresof crops.

Reviews come in handy forIT firms to mask layoffs

TRIMMING DUE TO SLOWDOWN

Industry experts claim that the year-endprocess has become very stringent. To avoidfacing the wrath of law and public scrutiny, theterminations were made as part of the year-end review process. Even the hikes thebest-perfoming employees got this year wererelatively low

JAC convener Ashwathama Reddy addressing media persons at the TelanganaMazdoor Union office in Hyderabad on Friday

RTC driver approaches police against JAC leaderPNS n HYDERABAD

A TSRTC driver on Fridaylodged a complaint againstRTC employees unions' JointAction Committee (JAC)convener AshwathamaReddy, alleging that he wasmisguiding RTC employeesand continuing the strike,thereby putting their liveli-hood at stake.

The driver, K. Raju fromthe Kukatpally bus depot,said in his complaint to theKukatpally police that Reddy

had induced employees togo on strike with demandslike merger of RTC with thegovernment. Reddy wasresponsible for the suicides of

RTC employees, Raju said.The Chief Minister had

given a chance to the employ-ees to return to work, butReddy continued to misleadthem, he added.

The police registered FIRbased on the complaint filedby the driver.

Raju said, "It's already 21days since the strike began.No one knows when this willend as both government andJAC leaders have stuck totheir respective stands.

Continued on Page 2

New chief for TPCC likely in NovPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) is likely tohave a new chief ahead of themunicipal polls, most proba-bly in the first week ofNovember.

According to sources, theincumbent TPCC chief, NUttam Kumar Reddy, will urgethe party high command torelieve him from the respon-sibilities of the party unit,considering his long stint sinceMarch 2015.

Speculations were rife that

Uttam Kumar Reddy resignedas TPCC chief on Friday itself.For, he was in Delhi on Friday.He attended a meeting of theParliamentary StandingCommittee for Environmentand Forests as its member.

During his stay in Delhi,Uttam reportedly soughtAICC chief Sonia Gandhi'sappointment. Since she wasbusy with Haryana andMaharashtra political affairs,Uttam could not meet her. So,he will return to Hyderabad onSaturday morning.

Continued on Page 2

PNS n NEW DELHI

Despite several sectors facingeconomic slowdown, the con-sumer electronics industrybroke all records to touch anew high in the Diwali salesseason.

India saw a record shipmentof 4.9 crore smartphones in thethird quarter of 2019, driven bynew launches, discounts andvarious pre-Diwali sales chan-nels, even as the economicslowdown affected other sec-tors, according toCounterpoint Research.

With a 26 per cent marketshare, Chinese handset makerXiaomi continued to dominatethe India smartphone market.Players such as Realme, Vivo,itel and OnePlus were thefastest growing smartphone

brands shipping record vol-umes.

Apple made an entry intothe top 10 smartphone brandsdue to price cuts on iPhone XRalong with good demand for itsiPhone 11. Apple is set for abumper festive season sales

and the iPhone 11 series --starting from Rs 58,900 -- hasregistered very strong demandfrom the consumers in thecountry.

In the smartphone category,there has been 15 times growththis year, led by brands like

Samsung, OnePlus, Apple,Xiaomi and Vivo onAmazon.in.

The feature phone playerssuch as itel, Lava and Karbonnregistered positive annualgrowth despite the overall seg-ment declined. itel emerged asthe number two feature phonebrand in Q3.

OnePlus said it gained arecord Rs 1,500 crore in grossmerchandise value (GMV)worth of sales during the ongo-ing Diwali sales across plat-forms. Riding on the success ofthe recently launched productsincluding OnePlus AndroidTV, the company has emergedas the best-selling premiumbrand in both smart TV andsmartphone categories onAmazon and offline partnerstores.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Five months after the LokSabha victory, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP)-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)has suffered a loss in its voteshare in Haryana andMaharashtra.

The major loss is in Haryana,where the party vote share hasbeen drastically reduced by 22per cent in comparison to theLok Sabha polls. Held in April-May, the BJP's vote share was58 percent and it won all theten Lok Sabha seats in the state.However, the vote share hascome down to 36.49 per centin the Assembly elections,

which though is three per centmore than the 2014 polls.

The BJP is, however, con-sidering this as a victory. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi dur-ing his address to the party

workers on Thursday at theparty headquarters mentionedabout the three per centincrease in an effort to boostthe morale of the workers.

Continued on Page 2

NDA vote share down in Assemblypolls compared to LS polls

Cong, NCP rule out backingSena to keep BJP out of powerPNS n MUMBAI

Chances of another BJP-ShivSena government inMaharashtra brightened onFriday as oppositionCongress and NCP ruled outaligning with the Shiv Sena tokeep the BJP out of power. Inthe 288-member Assembly,the BJP has won 105 seats,while ally Sena bagged 56.The NCP bagged 54 seats andthe Congress emerged victo-rious in 44 seats. The results

for the October 21 poll weredeclared on Thursday.Maharashtra Congress pres-ident Balasaheb Thorat ruledout joining hands with theShiv Sena to keep BJP out ofpower, saying the mandate forhis party was to be a respon-sible opposition. Addressinga Press conference on Friday,Thorat said the Congressdoesn't have a "strategy or aproposal" to back a ShivSena-led government.

Continued on Page 3

Not deputy CM, Shiv Senawants Maha CM's chair

Mobile, TV sales break records this Diwali

BJP allieswith JJP inHaryana PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP is all set to form a newgovernment in Haryana afterclinching an alliance with theJannayak Janata Party, whichhas won 10 seats in the 90-member assembly, by giving itthe post of deputy chief minis-ter. BJP president Amit Shahannounced at a press confer-ence, held with JJP leaderDushyant Chautala, that thechief minister will be from hisparty and the deputy chief min-ister from the regional party.

DETAILED REPORT ON PAGE 5

PNS n SANGAREDDY

Finance Minister T HarishRao on Friday said theTelangana Model of develop-ment had become the buzzword at the national level withmany States and even theUnion government drawinginspiration from the welfareschemes and development pro-grammes launched by the Stategovernment.

Addressing sarpanches,MPTCs, ZPTCs and officialsbefore distributing 56 tractors aspart of 'Palle Pragathi' pro-gramme at Ambedkar Stadiumin Sangareddy district, theMinister said that that UnionMinister for Animal HusbandryGiriraj Singh was surprisedwhen he came to know that theTelangana government wasoperating ambulances to pro-vide treatment to livestock inthe State. "The Union Ministerremarked that in Bihar, theadministration doesn't haveambulances even for humanbeings," he said, adding thatmany Union Ministers andChief Ministers of various Stateswere inspired by the schemesconceived by Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao.

Harish Rao also elaboratedon how various states and theCentre had replicated schemessuch as Rythu Bandhu andMission Bhagiratha, among

others, that were first intro-duced in Telangana.

Stating that distribution oftractors to each of the 12,751gram panchayats in the Statewas another revolutionary ini-tiative, the Minister said the dis-tribution of tractors will changethe face of villages forever. Hefurther said that people ofHuzurnagar Assembly con-stituency once again placedtheir faith in the Chief Ministerby electing the TRS candidatewith a thumping majority in theby-election. "The outcome ofthe by-election proves that the

allegations of Opposition par-ties carry no weight at all sincethe people have decided toback the Chandrashekar Raogovernment," he said.

Stating that tractors wouldbe distributed to all the pan-chayats within a short periodof time, Rao called upon the

sarpanches, panachyat secre-taries, MPTCs, public repre-sentatives and other officials tojoin hands to make the villagesa model for development.

The Minister said the trac-tors can be used for multiplepurposes such as a tanker,earth mover and garbage col-

lection. "The panchayats usedto spend lot of money in hir-ing tractors and other vehiclesfor various works. The distri-bution of tractors will put apermanent end to the hurdlesfaced by sarpanchs since theycan spend the money availablewith them on other develop-ment works," he said.

The Minister called upon thesarpanches, MPTCs, ZPTCsand officials to ensure that allthe panchayats have a dump-yard and Vaikunta dhamas byJanuary 1. He further said thedistrict administration hadallotted land to these dump-yards, and Vaikunta dhamas inalmost all the villages.

Speaking on the occasion,Medak MP Kotha PrabhakarReddy said that health of thepeople was an indicator ofdevelopment. "The ChiefMinister focused on this areaand launched the clean up vil-lages mission with the 30-dayaction plan," he said.

District Collector MHanumantha Rao said the dis-trict administration had donesome wonderful work duringthe 30-day action plan becausethey had the support of all sec-tions of people. ZP chairpersonK Manjusri, Zaheerbad MP BBPatil, MLAs M Mahipal Reddy,Chanti Kranthi Kiran, K ManikRao and MLC Farududdinand others were present.

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‘Telangana model' of developmentinspires states, Centre: Harish Rao

Union Minister for Animal Husbandry Giriraj Singhwas surprised when he came to know that theTelangana government was operating ambulances to

provide treatment to livestock in the State—T HARISH RAO, Finance Minister

Action plan forvector-bornediseases in offingPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary SK Joshiinstructed officials to prepare aspecial action plan to preventvector-borne diseases, particu-larly dengue, malaria, chikun-gunya and filariasis in the State,in response to the HC order.The instructions were issued ata review meeting on Friday.

Joshi also thanked theCentral government that senta team of officials to the Statefor discussions on containingthe spread of vector-bornediseases. Steps should be takento prevent mosquitos frombreeding. And in localitieswhere cases of such diseasesare reported from, effectivemeasures to stop the spread ofdiseases should be taken, hesaid.

Calling for a coordinatedapproach between various

departments for disease pre-vention and containment,Joshi told officials to use theright equipment for the needsand said fogging in areaswhere mosquitoes are foundshould be done in an effectivemanner.

The meeting discussed indetail the steps already beingtaken to control mosquitoborne diseases. The meetingwas attended among others bySpecial Chief Secretary(Health) Shanti Kumari,Vaidya Vidhana ParishadCommissioner Yogita Rana,Director of Health SrinivasaRao, National Vector BorneDisease Control DeputyDirector Suman Lata Patel,consultant Kaushal Kumar,and Integrated DiseaseSurveillance ProgrammeDeputy Director PranavKumar Varma.

Chief Secretary SK Joshi in a meeting with health officials in the city on Friday

Srinivas Goud at an inspection site in Mahabubnagar city on Friday

VRO suspendedfor demandingbribePNS n BHUPALPALLY

A Village Revenue Officer(VRO) has been suspendedby the District Collector,Vasam Venkateshwarlu forallegedly demanding bribefrom farmers to issue pat-tadar passbooks.

Farmers of Nacharam vil-lage in Malharrao mandal hadlodged a complaint with thecollector alleging that VROSurender was harassing them,and demanding that they paybribe to get the passbooks.

Following this, the collec-tor ordered an enquiry inwhich it was found that theVRO was indeed involved incorruption. Based on thereport, the collector suspend-ed the VRO, a press note said.

One killed astruck hits SUV PNS n SANGAREDDY

A man was killed and six oth-ers sustained injuries as atruck, coming in the oppositedirection, hit an SUV atPaswalwadi village on NH-161 in Sangareddy district onFriday. All seven peopleaboard the SUV have sufferedmultiple injuries. One ofthem died on the spot. Thecondition of three of theinjured was critical. Theywere shifted to a hospital inHyderabad for better treat-ment. The victims, who werenatives of Mehdipatnam wereheading to Bodan to attend amarriage of a common rela-tive. Sangareddy rural Policehave registered a case.

SCR plans foradequateavailability offertiliserPNS n HYDERABAD

A high-level meeting wasconvened by South CentralRailway (SCR) to plan foradequate availability of fer-tiliser for the forthcomingcrop season. The agenda wasto plan for the transportationof fertiliser to Telangana andAndhra Pradesh by way offaster evacuation of import-ed fertiliser from the ports ofKakinada, Krishnapatnam,Visakhapatnam andGangavaram.

In view ofthe stateg o v e r n -m e n t ' sprojectiono fincreasedi r r i g a t i o nfacilities in thecoming months, TelanganaAgriculture PrincipalSecretary C Parthasarathirequested the railways toincrease rail unloading pointsin the state.

SCR indicated variousadditional unloading points,which the fertiliser compa-nies can explore. The compa-nies agreed to consider thenew unloading points toensure fertilisers reached themarket in the shortest timepossible. Several officialsfrom the Railways, the stategovernment and portsattended the meeting.

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Excise Minister Srinivas Goudon Friday inspected the clean-liness drive undertaken in theShahsaab Gutta Thanda,Shahsaab Gutta and BK Reddycolony areas of Mahabubnagarcity.

The Minister was accompa-nied by district CollectorRonald Ross. The Ministerinspected the city planningcleanliness drive undertakenwith the guidance of the spe-cial officer during his visit.Later, the Minister studiedthe feasibility of implement-ing the schemes undertakenby the government in otherparts of the city. InChristianpalli area of the city,the Minister and Collectorinspected the land for theDouble Bedroom Scheme forthe Journalists.

Speaking on the occasion,the Minister said the cleanli-ness drive in Mahabubnagarand other four districts in theerstwhile Mahabubnagar aremaking rapid strides whatwith the meticulous imple-mentation of the process.

Minister inspectscleanliness drive

Delivery boys shouldering your festive burdenPNS n NEW DELHI

They are the young men andwomen tasked with deliveringfestivities to our doorsteps,constantly on the move andalmost unseen in the crowd asthey lug loaded backpacks tohomes and offices in distantcorners of the city.

The squad that makes surethe process of online shoppingis smooth for both the con-sumer and the supplier is alsothe one that shoulders the fes-tive burden of discounts andthe frenzy to buy new things.

Riding two wheelers withhuge backpacks, delivery boysare a regular sight at traffic sig-nals, waiting at apartmentgates wiping the sweat offtheir brows, and going up anddown stairs as they go aboutdelivering everything fromearphones to flat-packed fur-niture.

Running into women exec-

utives dragging bags as big asthemselves and manoeuvringtheir way up one, two, some-times even four floors hasbecome pretty common too.

It is not always the "khushiy-on ki delivery", as a pizzabrand famously said.

Akshay*, who delivers pack-ages for the fashion e-com-merce company Myntra, saidthe festive season is a time he

looks forward to for that extraincome.

But the few extra buckscome with longer workinghours, dealing with rude cus-tomers, and often no addition-al help from the online portalshe delivers for.

"I get paid Rs 14 per deliv-ery, and since there are a lotmore orders during the festiveseason, it helps me take home

a little more than usual,"Akshay*, who lives inWazirabad, told PTI.

In these days before Diwali,he hits the road at 7 am toreach the Paharganj ware-house in time to load hisbackpack with the day's orders.The number of deliveries goesup to 100 every day during thepre-Diwali sale, compared tothe rest of the year when hedelivers a maximum of 60orders in a day.

He said he moves around hisdesignated central Delhi areasaddling the backpack thatweighs anything between 40-

50 kgs, and is on the job till 8pm. In all of this, he said, thebike is his own, so is the fuel.And god forbid, if there's anydamage to a product, the costtoo is for him to bear.

A Myntra insider said thecompany's supply chain teamconsists of store partners anddelivery agents and is geared tohandle peak season. The com-pany has scaled up their deliv-ery network through itsMENSA (Myntra ExtendedNetwork for ServiceAugmentation) programmewhich consists of 15,000 kiranastores across 50 cities.

NO DIWALI BREAK FOR THESE HARD-WORKING FOLKS

The drive inMahabubnagarand other fourdistricts wasprogressing welldue tometiculousimplementationof the process,he said

Riding bikes with huge backpacks,delivery boys are a regular sight attraffic signals, waiting at apartmentgates, and going up and down stairsas they go about delivering goodies

Strike willcontinue: JAC Continued from Page 1

Mentioning that RTC was acommon man's service andthat it should not be operated onprofit/loss basis, Reddy claimedthat they were only asking thegovernment to safeguard pub-lic transportation and offer bet-ter bus services to passengers.The JAC, he said, would stagea protest on Saturday involvingthe children of RTC workers,while on Monday they wouldlay siege to all district collec-torates. There would be a 'SakalaJanula Samara Bheri' onOctober 30, he said.

NDA voteshare down...Continued from Page 1

In Maharashtra, the vote sharein the Assembly elections hasdeclined in comparison tothe 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Inthe previous Assembly elec-tion in the state, the party hadsecured 47 lakh votes and 122seats, and this time the num-ber has come down to 41 lakhand 105 seats.

The BJP and the Shiv Senahad fought the elections sep-arately the last time but thistime they fought together.

The BJP said that the party'sstrike rate this time was bet-ter. Being in the alliance, itmeant that the party was fight-ing on a lesser number of seatsthan the last polls.

Reviews come in handy forIT firms to mask layoffsContinued from Page 1

C Vinod Kumar, convenor ofFITE Telangana, said, "There areillegal layoffs and forced resigna-tions going on recently in manybig companies. There is noproper mechanism for control-ling the layoffs and employeescannot resist termination. Theburden on IT employees to out-perform is increasing. Mostcompanies operate from 9 am to6 pm, but many employees com-plain that they are being askedto work from 7 pm to 11 pm.Many companies are putting a

condition to do overtime andovernight duties. The state gov-ernment has exempted the ITsector from the Shops andEstablishments Act and theIndustrial Disputes Act. This hasbecome a curse for employees."

While freshers continue to getjobs, it is people with above 4 years'experience who are impactedmost. Sundeep said, "In 2014, therewere 3.2 lakh IT employees, whilenow there are around 5.46 lakh inHyderabad. Typically the employ-ees who are at manager level orabove are hit, as the firm can hirethree freshers at the cost of one."

KCR's ‘two-pronged strategy'...Continued from Page 1

Official sources said that theChief Minister gave his nod toRTC management for resum-ing talks with the RTC unionson Saturday.

It may be recalled that theHigh Court has asked the stategovernment and RTC unionsto hold talks and submit areport on the outcome of theirtalks on October 28. So, thetalks are likely to be held overtwo days. The government willsubmit the report to the HighCourt on October 28.

In this backdrop, the offermade by CM to employeeshaving second thoughts oncontinuing the strike, askingthem to submit applications atthe respective bus depots forjoining duty, evoked luke-warm response on Friday.

Employees who fear losingtheir jobs permanently (asKCR warned on Thursday thatTSRTC will be closed, mark-ing the end of strike) came for-ward and submitted applica-tions in some of the districts.

However, the RTC has cho-sen to keep the numbers ofsuch applicants in various dis-

tricts a 'secret'. It is likely tokeep these numbers underwraps till October 28.

KCR to attendthanksgiving...Continued from Page 1

However, the programme wascancelled in the last minute dueto heavy rain that day inHuzurnagar, leaving TRS lead-ers and cadre disappointed.Now that TRS has emergedvictorious, the party hasplanned a 'thanksgiving rally'on a grand scale to also enthuseparty leaders and cadre inerstwhile Nalgonda district.

The Chief Minister isexpected to shower sops onHuzurnagar during the meet-ing as payback to voters,many of whom perhaps votedfor the TRS for the first timesince its inception. KCR isexpected to announce variousdevelopmental programmesand release funds for devel-opment of the Huzurnagarconstituency.

Power Minister G JagadishReddy and MLC PallaRajeshwar Reddy reviewedthe arrangements being madefor KCR's meeting inHuzurnagar on Friday.

RTC driver approaches police...Continued from Page 1

But the families of RTCemployees and workers aresuffering a lot with no paymentof September salary so far dueto strike. There is no scope forgetting October salary also aswe are on strike since October5. The Chief Minister made itclear at the press conference onThursday that the merger ofTSRTC with the state govern-ment was not possible and ifworkers still continued thestrike, it would only lead to clo-sure of RTC and loss of jobs for

workers. Aswathama Reddy isstill misleading RTC workersthat merger demand could beachieved. We are not ready tolose our jobs and trouble ourfamilies. CM has given a gold-en opportunity to all to joinduties again by submitting anapplication at respective depots.I have decided to join the dutyand urge all RTC workers to dothe same for the sake of our-selves and our families."

Raju said if AswathamaReddy still wanted to press formerger, let him do it alone bymeeting the PM or President.

n RTC officials to hold talkswith JAC leaders from today n Panel of RTC EDssubmits report on 21demands, barring 'merger'

n TRS MLAs askedto convince RTCstaff to join duty intheirconstituencies

New chief for TPCC likely in November Continued from Page 1

Gandhi Bhavan sources, how-ever, said that there was nochance for replacement ofUttam as Telangana PradeshCongress Committee chief inview of the fast-approachingmunicipal elections in thestate.

A senior leader of the partyfrom Karimnagar dis-trict, who did notwant to be identi-f ied, told ThePioneer that theparty high com-mand would appointa new PCC chief in thefirst week of November, well

ahead of the municipal elec-tions.

Party leaders, particu-larly Member ofPralament A RevanthReddy andKomatireddy Venakt

Reddy, have been jockey-ing for the TPCC chief

post. Senior leader V

Hanumantha Rao also hasbeen demanding the highcommand to consider hisname for the position.

According to GandhiBhavan sources, the high com-mand may appoint a non-controversial leader to mendparty affairs before the nextAssembly elections.

Finance Minister T Harish Rao rides a tractor before handing it over to ZP officials on Friday

K RAMYA SREEn HYDERABAD

The festival of Diwali isassociated with two of its mostessential features - the diya andfireworks. Age is certainly nota factor for bursting crackersand everyone loves fireworks.But with accidents related tofireworks increasing each year,it is essential to take care whilehandling them.

Most eye injuries occur dur-ing this season as the eyes bearthe brunt as they are sensitive.A large number of ocularinjuries are reported everyyear, mainly caused due tofirecrackers. In fact, the eyes arethe second most commonaffected area after the handsand fingers. Some commoninjuries are caused by sparklers,bombs and 'chakra'.

Dr Gaurav Arora of DrAgarwal's Eye Hospital tells ushow to protect eyes and have asafe festival.

High-risk individualsAlong with individuals who

handle crackers, more than 50per cent bystanders are at a riskof being exposed to firecrack-ers ignited in the streets.

Mode of InjuryThe severity of ocular injury

can range from mild irritationand corneal abrasions to reti-nal complications and openglobe injury leading to poten-tial blindness. Chemical

injuries are due to chemicals inthe gunpowder mixed in thecrackers. The constant smokecan cause irritability and water-ing of eyes. Fumes emanating

from firecrackers may alsocause laryngitis and otherthroat infections. Sparklers aredangerous because they burn ata temperature hot enough to

melt gold (1,800°F). for refer-ence, that temperature is near-ly 1,000 degrees hotter than theboiling point of water and ishot enough to melt glass andcause third-degree burns to theskin. Necessary precautionsneed to be taken to avoid suchinjuries.

Most fireworks contain gun-powder, which cause thesedevices to explode. As suchexplosions are unpredictable,injuries can occur even if theperson is careful. Pollutionlevels are also at their highestduring Diwali, with nitrousoxide and sulphur dioxide lev-els rising considerably.

Also, noise pollution levelscross the permitted levels.Flowerpots and crackers arepacked with multiple smallparticles which travel at highspeed and cause damage to thetissues.

Contact lenses may causeirritation to the eyes ifexposed to direct heat for along time. So people wearingcontact lenses should be dou-bly cautious while burstingcrackers. In a nutshell, thedamage of the eye by a crack-er depends on the velocity ofthe cracker or the intensitywith which it hits the eye,chemical reaction in the eyeand thermal burns.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019 hyderabad 03

MAJOR EYE INJURIESn OPEN GLOBE INJURY - Full thicknessinjury of the eye wall

n CLOSED GLOBE INJURY - Injury tothe globe without a full

thickness ocular walllaceration/rupture

n CONTUSION - Bruisearound the eye

n LAMELLAR LACERATION -partial thickness wound of the

eyeball

n LACERATION - Full-thickness injury ofeye wall caused by a sharp object

While fireworks are fun, let them be safe too

n PENETRATING INJURY - An Openglobe injury with an entrance wound

n PERFORATING INJURY - An Open globeinjury with an entrance and exit wound

Although patients with closed eye injuries were treated on an outpatient basis, most cases withopen eye injury were advised admission for further management and observation. Admittedcases included patients with corneal and scleral tears, traumatic iridodialysis with hyphema,suspected intraocular foreign body (IOFB), and globe rupture.

n Remember tomaintain a safe

distance from thefirework even while

watching it. Thisreduces the

possibility of debrisentering your eye.

n If you are theone lighting the

firework it isalways better to

have some form ofprotection for youreyes, usually in the

form of goggles

n If an accidentoccurs, make sure

to rush to thenearest hospital anddo not try to remedy

the injury at home

n Professional eyecare is always the

best measure to takewhile in this situation

n Never rub youreyes after theinjury as you riskfurther worseningor spreading theinjury

n Store fireworksin a closed box in asafe location, awayfrom the reach ofchildren

n Keep fireworksaway from theface, hair andclothing

n Maintain adistance of anarm's length whilelightingfirecrackers

EASY TIPS TO FOLLOW DURING DIWALICELEBRATIONS

DOCTOR, TWO NURSES,ELECTRICIAN BOOKEDPNS n HYDERABAD

Following the major fire thatoccurred at a children's hospi-tal in LB Nagar, the policebooked the on-duty doctor,two nurses and the electricianof the hospital apart from theowner of the hospital for neg-ligence that caused the death ofan infant and grievouslyinjured four others.

Officials investigating theincident at Shine Children'shospital where the fire mishaptook place said that they wereable to identify that a blast hadoccurred in the AC controlroom where the NeoNatalIntensive Care Unit (NICU)was located on the fourth floorof the building. Police said thefire reportedly emanated froma refrigerator and was capturedin webcams in the hospital.

A 4-month-old boy namedVicky, who was kept in a bedclose to the refrigerator, died inthe fire after receiving severeburns. The boy's father policeconstable Dongari Naresh hadfiled a complaint against thehospital management with the

LB Nagar police. Officials filed a complaint

against Dr V Sunil KumarReddy, managing director ofShine Children's Hospital, forfailing to keep fire protectionequipment, fire alarm system,fire extinguishing sprinklersas per the norms. Investigatorsalso found that the hospital wasbeing run without necessary

permissions from the the direc-tor of Enforcement, Vigilance& Disaster Management,GHMC and without a fireNOC from the fire department.

A case was also filed againstthe on-duty doctor and nurs-es for negligence. Dr HariKrishna, the duty doctor in thehospital at the time of the inci-dent, neglected his duty to pro-

tect the infants and did notreach the NICU immediatelywhen the fire and blastoccurred.

The nurse, Sravanthi, whowas supposed to be on duty inthe NICU, was not present inthe NICU from 01.57 am andhad closed the door and goneaway. Another nurse, ShanthiDeepika, was the duty nurse inthe pediatric ICU, which is aneighbouring wing, who didnot bother to rescue the chil-dren in the NICU.

Police also booked Basheer,an electrician whose duty wasto maintain all the equipmentfrom electric fire hazards --installations such as the refrig-erator and air conditionersthat were installed in theNICU.

The police said that the neg-ligence of the doctor, nursesand electrician had exposed thelives of the 43 children under-going treatment inside thehospital to fire hazard, leadingto the death of one, causingburns to four children andendangering the lives ofremaining 37 children.

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FIRE CASE

n Police say their negligence exposed 43 children to hazards of the fire

Hospital did not have necessary permitsfrom GHMC's Enforce-ment, Vigilance &Disaster Management wing

Cracker sales down, it'smore about diyas, lights nown Police to enforce ‘8 pm to 10 pm’ order strictly

ARUN DANIEL YELLAMATY n HYDERABAD

Air and sound pollution wasone of the major concerns inthe city every year duringDiwali. A lot of fireworks usedto be burst from very longbefore the festival. Thisbrought in good business fortraders dealing in fireworksand crackers. However, aware-ness about pollution has hadan effect on people's behaviorand attitude towards burstingof crackers, which in turn hasled to a decline in the sale andpurchase.

Fireworks sellers say thatthere has been a massivereduction in sale of crackers inthe city over the years. Sometraders however are unhappywith the decline in business.They claim that social mediacampaigns and education insti-tutes' programs on fireworksmisleadingly state that firecrackers are the reason for airpollution while there are manyother reasons for it.

Nitin Samrat, owner ofJonnada Balaji store, one of theoldest firecrackers stores inthe city, says, "There has beenover 50 % reduction in the salesof crackers this year; all this isbecause of all the false infor-mation that people have spreadeither through social media orin school that crackers are pol-luting the air. There was a sur-vey recently that all the farmwaste, trash waste, vehicles, airconditioners and others pollutethe air far more than crackers.We have suffered huge losses inthe last few years and this yearit's really bad."

With the changing scenario,many firecrackers shops haveintroduced a new variety called"green crackers", which theyhope will help them push

sales. Sari Kumar of MeghanaFireworks, says, "This year wehave introduced a few 'greencrackers' which are not tooloud and do not affect the envi-ronment. We hope that peopletry these."

However, the TelanganaState Pol lut ion ControlBoard officials says that airand sound pollution hasreduced in the recent times,but still it is yet to get in thesafe zone. A pollution boardofficial said, "Many crackerssold in the stores are still veryharmful. The smaller thecracker, the worst it is forlungs. There is a 'black snake'cracker which is the worst,and yet many kids play withthis and this spoils theirhealth badly." He continues,"We have also asked the gov-ernment to ban a lot of lead-based crackers which were indemand due to their bigsound and lights. We have

hoping that this year peopleresearch a little about weath-er crackers are good for themor not before they end upbuying them."

A lot of local residents toosay they have now stoppedbusting crackers and want torestrict themselves to just light-ing up their houses with diyasand lights. Shrenika K, a pri-vate employee, says, "I used tobust crackers a lot as a kid, butnow after reading and learninghow bad it is for health I havedecided to celebrate the festi-val using only light."

The courts also haveimposed timing restrictionson burning firecrackers --allowed between 8 pm and 10pm on Diwali. ACP KachigudaS Sudhakar says, "People foundbusting crackers after the allot-ted hours will be booked.Residents can reach out to usfor complaints about crackerbursting after 10 pm."

Traders have, however, introduced anew variety called ‘green crackers',which they claim are not too loud anddo not affect the environment

500 pigeons shiftedfrom MJ Marketbefore renovations PNS n HYDERABAD

The GHMC shifted about 500pigeons from MJ market toSrisailam forests in a bid torenovate the market. TheGHMC took up renovation ofMJ market at cost of Rs10crore of which 70 percent ofworks have been completed.The dome and clock work arecomplete.

However, the regenerateddome was being defaced withpigeon droppings. Cleaning upand repairs had become aburden on GHMC officials.Besides this, there are a largenumber of haphazardly run icecream shops, meat shops andbakeries in the market.

GHMC said in a pressrelease that the thousands ofpigeons in the market arecausing respiratory infections

and health challenges forhumans. To address this issueon Friday, 500 pigeons knownas blackjack were handed overto forest department whichwere safely released in the for-est area of Srisailam.

Feeding of pigeons in allhorticultural parks of GHMCis prohibited. On Friday, offi-cers of the veterinary wing ofGHMC seized sorghum thatwas being sold for feedingpigeons in the MJ market.Wilson, deputy director ofGHMC veterinary division,Khairatabad, said, “Thesepigeons are known for caus-ing a high risk of respiratorydiseases, particularly in chil-dren and the elderly. We urgepeople not to feed thepigeons, especially in themarkets and shops sellingfoodstuff.”

Grant bail to TV9 ex-CEO: HC tells lower courtPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onFriday directed the Kukatpallycourt to grant bail to formerCEO of Telugu TV newschannel TV 9 Ravi Prakash ina case registered against himat Cyber crime police stationin Cyberabad.

The HC also asked the

lower court to grant bail to thejailed CEO on furnishinga personal bond for Rs15,000 with twosureties. The cyberwing of Cyberabadpolice had booked acriminal against RaviPrakash under sections420, 468, 471, 120 B of IPC andSection 66 C and 66 D of

Information Technology Act,following a complaint by

director of Alanda Mediaand Entertainment PvtLtd Kaushik Rao whoalleged huge irregular-ities by former the CEO.

Ravi Prakash has been injail in ever since a fresh case

was filed by Banjara Hillspolice some time ago.

Five arrested forextortion

The commissioner's taskforce on Friday

apprehended five persons whowere absconding after anextortion incident. Thearrested persons wereidentified as Pagadala Madhu(25), Panja Kumar (19),Manthavar Krishna (24), DPrabhu Michael (21) andMohd Jaffer (25). Accordingto the police, the group of fivehad gone to a bar inKavadiguda on Tuesday. PanjaKumar asked the complainant,P Srinivas, who was in thesame bar, for a matchbox.When Srinivas said he didn'thave one, the group snatcheda mobile phone from him.They then demanded Rs 500from Srinivas to return thephone. Srinivas gave them themoney but they didn't returnhim his phone or his moneyand fled the bar. Srinivaslodged a complaint with theGandhinagar police. During theinvestigation, officials identifiedthe five men from CCTVfootage and arrested them.

PD Act invoked againstproperty offenderPNS n HYDERABAD

A habitual propertyoffender, identified asTellanella Srikanth,was detained underthe preventive deten-tion (PD) order underthe Act No.1 of 1986by the Hyderabad CityCommissioner ofPolice, Anjani Kumaron Friday. 24-year-oldTellanella Srikanth,committed a series ofthefts from passen-gers boarding/travel-ling in RTC buses inthe l imits of

Hyderabad andCyberabad PoliceCommissionerates.

He along with hisassociates committedthese thefts in anorganized manner tofund their lavishlifestyle. Srikanth wasarrested by theBollarum Police on25th March this yearand was remanded tojudicial custody. He iscurrently lodged in theCentral Prison atChanchalguda wherethe PD act wasinvoked against him.

Gang breaksinto home,robs couplePNS n HYDERABAD

A man and his wife wererobbed by a gang at theirresidence in Kuntloor areaof Hayatnagar in the weehours of Friday.

According to the police,the gang of four, armed withsticks, broke open the lockon the door to gain entryinto the house of KishoreChary.

They then threatenedKishore, his wife and theirteenage son and robbedcash and gold worth lakhs,police said. Reports said itcould be the work of thenotorious Chaddi Gang,but police did not confirmthis.

Following a complaint, acase was booked under rel-evant sections of the IPC.The Clues team visited thespot to collect evidence andis investigating the case cus-tody.

Event organisersbooked for harmto govt propertyPNS n HYDERABAD

An event organiser wasarrested on Thursday fordamaging government prop-erty in the Financial Districtarea in the city. Sources saidthe event organiser had stuckposters and pamphlets ontraffic speed limit signboards.Cyberabad traffic policebooked cases against otherevent organisers in the citytoo.

Gachibowli police onThursday arrested the primeaccused, P Pramod while fil-ing cases against other eventorganisers Deepthi and Adif,organisers of GhoomarDandiya Night, and the in-charges of Mera Events andBookMyShow.

The Gachibowli policeinspector K Ramulu said thatthe public is not aware thatthey are not supposed tostick posters on any publicproperty.

Not deputy CM, Shiv Sena...Continued from Page 1

According to reports, alarge section of ShivSena leaders and party'snewly-elected MLAshave demanded thatAaditya be made thenext chief minister ofthe state.

Interestingly, postersdepicting AdityaThackeray as the nextchief minister of the statewere put up in his con-stituency Worli, Mumbai.The posters also featurephotos of Shiv Sena patri-arch Bal Thackeray andparty president UddhavThackeray in the back-ground and have beenput by Hanuman SevaMandal.

Although nothinghas been announced inthis regard as yet, if thedemands are met,Aaditya Thackeray willbecome the youngestChief Minister ofMaharashtra.

Shiv Sena MLA

Prakash Survey said,''We want Aaditya asour CM. This is our firstand foremost demand.Before assembly elec-tion, both BJP and ourparty had agreed on 50-50 power-sharing for-mula, which we wan tobe implemented in let-ter and spirit.''

''We are confident

that party chief UddhavJi will stick to it duringhis negotiations withthe BJP high com-mand,'' he added.

Another Shiv SenaMLA Pratap Sarnaikreiterated that a largenumber of party legis-lators want to seeAaditya as nextMaharashtra CM.

Cong, NCP rule out..Continued from Page 1

"So the question of weoffering support to theUddhav Thackeray-led party doesn't arise.If Shiv Sena approach-es us, we will seekadvice from our cen-tral leadership andtheir decision wouldbe final," he said.NCPchief Sharad Pawaralso ruled out anyalliance with the Sena.He said, "We will notgo with Shiv Sena.

NCP- Congress andother allies will decidetogether the futurecourse of action."

With the BJP fallingshort of the halfway-mark on its own, ShivSena chief UddhavThackeray sought tostrike a hard bargain,saying it was time toimplement the "fifty-fifty" formula forpower-sharing, whichhe said was decidedwith BJP presidentAmit Shah earlier.

Pigeons being taken away from MJ Market in view of renovations at the site

RIMEORNERC

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019 hyderabad 04

Karin Stoll, Consul General of Germany in Chennai, calls on Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at the Raj Bhavan inHyderabad on Friday

COURTESY CCALL

Cong for judicial probe into RTC's affairsPNS n HYDERABAD

All India Congress Committee(AICC) national spokespersonDr Dasoju Sravan on Fridaydemanded that the StateGovernment order a probe bya sitting judge of High Court onthe income, losses, assets, lia-bilities and other aspects ofTelangana State Road TransportCorporation (TSRTC).

Addressing a press confer-ence at Gandhi Bhavan, Sravanstrongly condemned ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao for his statement on theRTC, its employees, theirunions and the ongoing strike.He said that the state govern-ment should release a WhitePaper on the assets and liabil-ities of RTC. While the ChiefMinister claimed that the StateGovernment has spent Rs.4,250 crore on RTC, theunions argue that theamount was onlyRs. 702 crore. Hesaid this contra-diction could becleared only if thematter is probedby a sitting judge ofHigh Court.

The Congress leadersaid that victory and defeatwere part and parcel of elec-toral democracy. However, hesaid that the arrogance withwhich KCR addressed a pressconference after TRS wonHuzurngar by-elections onThursday was highly con-demnable. He said victory ofruling party on a seat in a by-election could not be consid-ered an endorsement of KCR's

dictatorial policies. He allegedthat the TRS won the electionsby misusing official machinery

and distributing hugecash and liquor.

Sravan saidbefore advisingthe oppositionparties, KCRshould do a seri-ous introspection

of his own behav-iour. He said the

culture of purchasinglegislators of opposition

parties like livestock was start-ed by KCR. Referring to KCR'sdispleasure and criticism onRTC strike and union leaders,he reminded that it was theKCR himself who launchedTelangana Mazdoor Union andmade Harish Rao its HonoraryPresident. He said union lead-ers Ashwathama Reddy andThomas were groomed by

KCR and used during the state-hood movement. He said thatthe Chief Minister was nowcriticising the same leadersafter his purpose is solved.

The Congress leader saidthat all employees and workersbelonging to all sectors have aConstitutional right to formtheir union. He said if it waswrong for employees to asso-ciate themselves with unions,then why the Chief Ministerheld talks with representativesof TGOs and TNGOs. He also

dismissed KCR's contentionthat unions were going onstrike before every election. Hesaid that the Chief Minister hasalready decided to privatise theRTC and now trying to blamethe union leaders and workersfor the same.

Sravan ridiculed KCR'sclaim that he was an authori-ty on RTC and he had broughtthe corporation from losses toprofits during his tenure asTransport Minister in the unit-ed Andhra Pradesh. He said if

KCR's claim was true thenwhy he did not turn RTC intoa profitable institution duringthe last five years and why is henow trying to privatise citingdebts and losses.

TSRTC employees stage protest at Ranigunj Bus Depot on Friday

Don't sell RTC's assets: Bhatti

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Mallu BhattiVikaramarka has urged ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao not to keep the RTCassets for sale. He requestedthe Chief Minister to fulfillthe High Court orders,which stated the govern-ment to solve the RTC strikeproblem by October 28.

Finding fault with theChief Minister for statingthat the RTC was a 'closedmatter', Bhatti questionedthe Chief Minister to tellwhether the latter will sell thestate as he brought Rs 3 lakhcrore? He alleged that thereal face of Chief Ministercame out on October 24with his conspiracy of pri-vatizing the RTC.

He said that KCR's arro-gant attitude clearly reflect-ed in the press conferenceconvened on October 24.Stating that strike is laborers'right, Bhatti said that KCRspoke with limitless arro-gance and feudal attitudewith the victory ofHuzurnagar by-electoin.

KCR's suppressive feudalmentality came out clearly,

he said reminding the Courtjudgment that the demandsof RTC workers were noteconomy based. The RTCworkers demands were forthe betterment of their lives,he said welcoming the HighCourt comments.

Stating that the govern-ment has the responsibility ofproviding basic amenities tothe RTC workers, CLP leadersaid that it is paining that thestate has such Chief Minister,who has no awareness on it.He lamented that one percent of the people of thenation were enjoying the 73per cent of nation's asset,however, 50 per cent of thepeople were sharing mere 1per cent asset of the nation.

Pointing out that KCRdidn't establish RTC, Bhattisaid that RTC is a continu-ous asset of the state. Healleged that TRS govern-ment mortgaged the state."Stop borrowing loans andstop mortgaging the lives ofthe people", he asked.Questioning the ChiefMinister to tell why hedoesn't care the courtorders, Bhatti said that thecourt expressed its views indignified manner.

Initiate actionagainst CM,VH tells GuvPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress seniorleader V Hanumantha Raomet the Governor,Tamilisai Soundararajanon Friday and urged thelatter to initiate actionagainst the Chief Ministerfor his remarks on thestriking RTC employees.VH also explained aboutthe conditions prevailingin the state besides stategovernment's attitudetowards them. VH alsoinvited the Governor toattend SathyanarayanaVratham to be performedin his residence onOctober 31.

MRPS expressessolidarity with RTC staffPNS n MANCHERIAL

Madiga Reservations PorataSamithi (MRPS) extended itssolidarity to the ongoing RTCstrike, with its leader, MandaKrishna Madiga, taking part ina demonstration here on Friday.

Krishna flayed the State gov-ernment for its stance on thestrike and said Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao was notshowing interest in resolving thedemands of the workers.

He demanded Rao to invitethe striking workers for con-sultations to put an end to thestalemate. Else, the agitationmight result in unexpectedturns, he cautioned.

Earlier, police personnel tried

to raid a lodge where Krishnawas staying. Meanwhile, RTCauthorities said alternative busservices were operated on dif-ferent routes belonging to sixdepots of erstwhile Adilabaddistrict. The quantum of ser-vices went up manifold. Asmany as 428 buses were run asagainst 498, the total fleet of thepublic transportation system.

Intensify stir: BJP to RTC employeesPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP Telangana state unit hasalleged that the TRS leaders areeyeing on the assets of TSRTC.The party made it clear that theBJP's national leadership isconsidering the RTC workersstrike issue seriously when itbrought the issue to the noticeof central leadership.

It also stated that the partycame to power for two times atthe Centre after several defeats.They warned Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao that hewill face the same fate of formerAndhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu.

On Friday, BJP state presi-dent Dr K Laxman had ameeting with the RTC JACleaders at BJP office. Theydiscussed about the RTC strikeand future course of actionalong with RTC JAC leadersAshwathama Reddy and RajiReddy.

Later, Laxman said thatBJP's main aim was to protectthe RTC assets. "We will cer-tainly break the TRS govern-ment's conspiracy of lootingthousands of crores of rupeesworth RTC assets. The BJP willextend its full support to the

protest programmes taken upby the RTC JAC. We will takethe movement up to Delhi ifneeded. The RTC workershave to continue their strike indemocratic manner withoutany fear", he said.

Laxman said that there isno link with Huzurnagarelection and RTC strike.However, K ChandrashekharRao, who didn't organisepress conference after hisdaughter lost Nizamabadelection and when threeMLCs lost elections, madeprovocative remarks after theresult of Huzurnagar electionby conducting press confer-ence for more than one hour.

On Huzurnagar result, hesaid that KCR had spentcrores of rupees by misusing

power and assigning leadersto every caste and religion.We will do politics but not touse Brahmastra against RTC.

Govt. is trying to break thestrike: RTC JAC leaders

Meanwhile, JAC convenorAshwathama Reddy lamentedthat the Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao spoke inan insulting manner towardsRTC workers. "No RTC work-er is afraid of Chief Minister'sthreats. K ChandrashekharRao also spoke in a negligentmanner towards Courts. Wewill organise 'Sakala JanulaSamme' on October 30 atSaroornagar grounds. The gov-ernment is trying in all aspectsto break the ongoing RTCstrike.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former Minister and ex-Leader of Opposition inTelangana Legislative CouncilMohammed Ali Shabbir saidthat the Congress party hasmade an impressive come-back in the just concluded

Assembly elections inMaharashtra and Haryana.Similarly, the Congress partyhas performed well in the by-elections for Assembly seats in17 States, he said.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Gandhi Bhavan onFriday, Shabbir Ali said thatthe Congress party not onlywon more number of seats thistime, but its vote share too hasincreased significantly com-pared to 2014 elections. Hesaid that the BJP has failed tolure voters in name of Article370 and other issues. He saidthat the voters gave preferenceto State issues and expressedfaith in Congress party and itsally Nationalist CongressParty. He said Congress partywas able to win three out of sixAssembly seats in by-elec-tions in Gujarat, which clear-ly shows that the party wasmaking a strong comebackand this would improve fur-ther in the days to come.

Commenting onHuzurnagar by-electionresults, Shabbir Ali said thatthe TRS won the seat by mis-

using official machinery andthrough huge distribution ofcash and liquor. "TRS victoryin Huzurnagar is not genuineand everyone knows about it.Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao hasexpressed over-excitement ona tampered verdict and fabri-cated result," he said addingthat the Chief Ministeraddressed a press conferencefor over an hour to show as ifhis party got some certificatefor its achievement. He saidKCR shows interest only inelections and not in delivery ofservice to people.

Referring to the strongremarks made by the HighCourt on State Government'sfailure to control Dengue,Shabbir Ali said KCR was notin a mood to wake up fromslumber. He also condemnedKCR's remarks on RTC andsaid a well-established publictransport system could not befinished citing financial loss-es as the reason. He saidRTC was not KCR's person-al 'jagir' (fiefdom). He said itwas the duty of the govern-ment to implement measuresto bring RTC into profitsinstead of closing down thecorporation.

Congress vote share increasedsignificantly: Shabbir

Shabbir Ali saidthat BJP-ShivSena alliancewould not havegot majority inMaharashtrawithout MIM'shelp. HecongratulatedOwaisi onwinning 2 seats

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Archaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) has unearthed a2000-year old historic tradesettlement in Andhra Pradesh'sGottiprolu village, along witha Pallava-period Vishnu statue,it said on Friday.

The excavation done, 80km east of Tirupati andNellore, by the ASI team hasdiscovered the remains of ahuge settlement surrounded bya massive brick enclosure.Among many antiquitiesunearthed, is a life-sizedVishnu sculpture and a widevariety of pottery of the earlycenturies of the current era.

As per the ASI, a major findfrom the project was a two-metre high, four-armedVishnu "standing over apedestal carrying chakra andconch in his upper right andleft hands respectively. Thelower right is in bestowingboon and the left hand in 'kati-hastha' (resting on the hip)posture."

On the basis of icono-graphical features such as elab-orate headgear, thick holythread and decorative drapery,ASI has dated it to 8th-centu-ry AD in the Pallava period,which is said to have ruled thearea from early 4th to late 9thcentury AD.

However, other finds, likeelliptical, circular and rectan-gular brick structures, possiblydate back to a much earliertime.

"The available brick sizes(43-48 centmetres) are com-parable with the Satavahana orIkshvaku period structures inKrishna river valley(Amaravati and

Nagarjunakonda). On the basisof brick size and associatedfindings, they can be placedanywhere between 2nd-1stcentury BC or little later, whichmakes them nearly 2000 yearsold," the ASI said in a state-ment.

It also suggested that the sitecould have functioned as atrade centre, given the pres-ence of Roman-style amphoraewares mostly used to transportliquid commodities. Proximityto the seacoast also suggeststhe site could have been astrategic settlement involved inmaritime trade.

According to the ASI, "fur-ther explorations within aradius of 15 kilometers have

revealed a fortified early his-toric settlement at Puduru,Subrahmanya temple atMallam, a unique rock-cutlaterite stepped well at Yakasiri,(and) Vishnu temple atTirumuru".

It also found a female ter-racotta figurine with twohands lifted upwards. Othermajor antiquities unearthedinclude copper and lead coins,iron spear head, stone celts,terracotta beads, ear stud insemi precious stone and hop-scotches. The ceramic assem-blage of the site consisted offine quality black and redware, conical jars, roulettedsherds, and russet coatedware.

ASI finds 8th centuryobjects in Andhra

The excavation done, 80 km east of Tirupati andNellore, by the ASI team has discovered theremains of a huge settlement surrounded by a massive brick enclosure. Among manyantiquities unearthed, is a life-sized Vishnusculpture and a wide variety of pottery of the earlycenturies of the current era

Municipal pollsnotificationsoonPNS n HYDERABAD

The State ElectionCommission will shortlynotify elections toMunicipalities and MunicipalCorporations where electionsare due. The ward-wise photoelectoral rolls of theseMunicipal Bodies were pre-pared and published on 16July 2019 by the MunicipalCommissioners by adoptingAssembly Electoral Rollspublished by ElectionCommission of India.

Only those persons whosenames are found in the wardwise photo electoral rolls areeligible to vote in the elec-tions. Mere possession of anEpic card or the fact that youmay have voted in a recentlyheld elections does not enti-tle you to vote in MunicipalElections unless your name isenrolled in the Electoral Rollspecifically prepared forMunicipal Elections. One cancheck the status on the webportal of Telangana StateElection Commission(tsec.gov.in) by downloadingvoter slip through "VoterPortal" module. One can alsoensure one's name in theMunicipal Electoral roll byensuing that the same isenrolled in the concernedAssembly ConstituencyElectoral Rolls.

Hence, it is essential thatone's name should be firstfound in the AssemblyElectoral rolls for it to appearin the Ward wise photo elec-toral rolls of the concernedMunicipality or theMunicipal Corporation.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Victory in the by-elections toHuzurnagar Assembly seatwith a massive majority madehardly any difference to theruling Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) with the partybeing firmly in saddle, but itshows that the oppositionCongress remains in totaldisarray.

S Saidi Reddy's win with amajority of 43,358 votes overhis nearest rival PadmavathiReddy of Congress provedTRS remained invincible,notwithstanding opposition'simpressive show in the LokSabha elections. That the TRScould sweep the by-poll with-out party president and ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekharRao addressing a single elec-

tion rally in the constituencyshows that the opposition is nomatch for the ruling party.

After retaining power witha landslide victory inDecember 2018, TRS with itsmassive win in Huzurnagarproved that the huge publicsupport for it has not eroded.The Lok Sabha polls in April

this year had come as a shockto TRS as the Bharatiya JanataParty made huge inroads towin four seats while Congresstoo bagged three seats to shat-ter TRS' dream of a cleansweep.

Out of 2,00,754 votes polledin Huzurnagar, TRS secured1,13,095 votes while Congress

bagged 69,737 votes. The one-sided result proved wrong allpredictions of a close-fight.The vote share of Congress fellto 30.46 per cent from 47.82per cent in 2018, when itsleader Uttam Kumar Reddydefeated Saidi Reddy of TRSby 7,466 votes.

The BJP candidate finisheda poor fourth with 2,639 votes.In fact, an independent can-didate polled more votes thanthe BJP. The party was nevera force in the constituency andit garnered only 1,555 votes in2018. The Telugu Desam Party(TDP), which had stayed awayfrom Lok Sabha elections afterfacing the drubbing inAssembly polls, fielded itscandidate in Huzurnagar in abid to show that it exists inTelangana.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Vice-Chariman of the StatePlanning Board B Vinod Kumarhas taken up the matter ofinjustice being done to ITIapprentices with respect toapprenticeship opportu-nities offered by rail-ways in the State andhas written toRailway MinisterPiyush Goel toaddress this issue.

In his letter, VinodKumar said the SouthCentral Railway was not fol-lowing the apprenticeship guide-lines which was resulting in greatloss of experience to ITI gradu-

ates from Telangana and AndhraPradesh. He asked Goel to issueinstructions to SCR to provideopportunities to all ITI gradu-ates who had registered them-selves with the local employment

exchanges. Though it wasmandated that such

graduates be providedthe opportunities, theSCR was ignoring theguidelines, VinodKumar said. He fur-

ther said that becauseof this, the ITI graduates

from the two States were alsolosing out on the 20 per centreservations in jobs meant forthose who have apprenticedwith the railways.

SCR not followingguidelines: Vinod

Huzurnagar result shows Cong in disarrayThe vote share ofCongress fell to 30.46per cent from 47.82per cent in 2018,when its leader UttamKumar Reddydefeated Saidi Reddyof TRS by 7,466 votes

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka interacts with RTC JAC leaders onAssembly premises on Friday

BJP state president K Laxman with RTC JAC leaders on Thursday

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Going solo in bypollshelped expose BJP's‘darker side': AkhileshLUCKNOW: The decision byopposition parties to go solo inthe Uttar Pradesh bypollshelped expose the BJP's"darker side" and effectivelyconveyed message of their"failure", Samajwadi PartyPresident Akhilesh Yadav said.Fresh from the SP's victory inbypolls, Yadav also said that hewill revamp the party soon. TheSP turned out to be a majorgainer in the UP Assemblybypolls for 11 seats, wresting aseat each from the ruling BJPand the BSP, while the NDA goteight, one less than it held.Hitting out at the BJP, Yadavsaid the people voted againstthe saffron party and thepolitics of hatred, casteism andcorruption. "The BJP used toshield itself from its failure onissues related to the commonman by making allegationswhenever we formed analliance to take on the saffronparty jointly.

EPCA for SC fiatagainst burning ofwaste in Haryana, Rajand UP

Naptha-ladenunmanned cargo shipdrifts towards Goa RajBhavanPANAJI: An unmanned cargoship loaded with naptha isdrifting towards the Raj Bhavannear Panaji from close toMormugao Port Trust, but GoaChief Minister Pramod Sawanton Friday said there was noneed to panic. Sawant, whochaired a high-level meetingwith officials, including NorthGoa district collector, Captain ofPorts and others, said thecaptain of the unmanned shipwould be arrested for derelictionof duty. The 3,000-tonnecapacity tanker was anchoredunmanned off Mormugao Portwhen it started drifting towardsthe Raj Bhavan at Dona Paulanear Panaji on Thursday amidheavy rains and strong winds.The Raj Bhavan is located on acliff in Dona Paula village nearthe state capital. Talking toreporters on Friday, Sawant saidthe ship is currently located 2.5km away from the Raj Bhavan."Action would be initiatedagainst Mormugao Port Trust,the company which owns theship and also the captain of thevessel," the chief minister said.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt-mandated EPCA onFriday urged the apex court todirect the pollution controlboards of Haryana, Rajasthanand Uttar Pradesh to ensurethat no waste is burnt in theirregions and chimney emissionsare strictly monitored. In aspecial report on pollutionhotspots in NCR submitted tothe court, the EnvironmentPollution (Prevention andControl) Authority (EPCA) saidit found massive quantities ofplastic, industrial and otherwaste dumped and burnt invacant areas across pollutionhotspots in the national capitalregion. The court may directthe pollution control boards ofthe three states to "ensure thatno waste is burnt in theirregions and that they findmethods to remove the piled-upwaste to process or incinerateit," the EPCA report said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress' top brass onFriday met under the chair-manship of Sonia Gandhi todeliberate on issues related tothe interests of India's farm-ers, shopkeepers and theindustry which the partyclaimed were being "barteredaway and sold openly" by theBJP government.

A 17-member group ofleaders, set up by SoniaGandhi which includes formerprime minister ManmohanSingh and Rahul Gandhibesides other top leaders, metat her 10 Janpath residence tohold discussions on key issuesfacing the country.

The meeting holds signifi-

cance as it comes a day afterthe results of the assemblyelections in Haryana andMaharashtra were declared.

"Today detailed discussionstook place under the leader-ship of Sonia Gandhi alongwith various leaders of theparty.

‘Interests of farmers, firms‘sold openly' by BJP govt’ PNS n NEW DELHI

Railways has decided to con-vert 200 saloons into 10 luxu-ry tourist trains to be run bythe IRCTC in a bid to regulatethe use of the colonial era-stylecarriages and generate addi-tional revenue for the nation-al transporter, sources said onFriday.

Conceived initially as inspec-tion cars to be exclusively usedby railway officials to visit farflung areas, these saloons com-prise of two bedrooms, alounge, a pantry, a toilet and akitchen which are built to facil-itate stay for up to five days. "While a designated number ofsaloons will be kept for use ofrailway officials for inspec-tion, 200 of them will be turnedover to IRCTC and will beoperated as tourist trains. Upon

conversion, around ten suchtrains can be put into servicefor public use," the source said.

Last year, amid concernsover misuse of these saloons byofficials, Railway ministerPiyush Goyal had given up the

use of his own personal ones,calling them "trappings of acolonial mindset". He had alsourged zones to give up saloonsfor public use.

Sources said the RailwayBoard has prepared a set of

instructions for its zones to"strictly regulate" the numberand use of such saloons.

It also said that these shouldbe used primarily for inspec-tion purposes with focus onsafety.

Besides, the saloons andobservation car for zonal gen-eral managers, each zone willhave two additional carriagesfor inspection purposes only,the Board is learnt to havedecided.

Each railway division willhave a self-propelled inspectioncar with windows at both ends.

As per the instructions, theremaining should be used for"premium tourist traffic" toearn "additional revenue" forthe railways.

Railways has a total of 336saloon cars across railwayzones, among which manyhave already been condemned.Around 62 are air-conditioned.

IRCTC ran the first private-ly-occupied saloon coach,complete with air-conditionedrooms, valet service andattached bathroom in Marchlast year. The cost of charteringthe saloon was around Rs 2lakh. Once routes are finalised,the details will be made avail-able on the IRCTC website forbookings of these saloons,sources said.

Railways to convert 200 saloons into 10 tourist trains

BJP allies with JJP, regionalparty to get Dy CM post: ShahPNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP is all set to form a newgovernment in Haryana afterclinching an alliance with theJannayak Janata Party, which haswon 10 seats in the 90-memberassembly, by giving it the post ofdeputy chief minister.

BJP president Amit Shahannounced at a press conference,held with JJP leader DushyantChautala, that the chief ministerwill be from his party and thedeputy chief minister from theregional party.

Incumbent Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar is likely tobe elected the BJP legislativeparty leader at a meeting inChandigarh on Saturday and willthen stake claim before the gov-ernor to form the government.Chautala is likely to be hisdeputy, sources said.

"Going by the mandate of thevoters of Haryana, leaders ofboth parties have decided thatBJP and JJP will form the gov-ernment together. The chiefminister will be from the BJP anddeputy chief minister will befrom the JJP," Shah told reporters.The alliance is in line with the"spirit" of people's mandate, headded.

Shah and Chautala were alsojoined by Khattar and other BJPleaders at the press conference.

Chautala said that his partybelieved the alliance was neces-sary for stability in Haryana.

Top BJP leaders moved swift-ly since Thursday night to cob-ble together a majority in the 90-member Haryana Assemblyafter the party's tally fell to 40 inthe state, six short of the major-ity mark. Seven independentMLAs also pledged their supportto the party.

The BJP's decision to win overChautala underlines its quest toplacate Jats, a dominant com-munity in the state who are

believed to have voted mostlyagainst the saffron party in therecent polls, to ensure a smoothrun of its government.

It will also ensure that it willnot have to depend on inde-pendent MLAs for its govern-ment's survival.

PNS n PANAJI

Heavy rains continued topound Goa for the third con-secutive day on Friday, throw-ing life out of gear with noimmediate respite in sight.

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment's (IMD) Goaobservatory also issued a freshwarning and advised tourists tostay indoors and asked fisher-men to avoid venturing into thesea in view of bad weather con-ditions.

Several roads, includingparts of the highway connect-ing Canacona to Margao inSouth Goa, were submerged. Aroad at Gudi village in SouthGoa, 15km from Margao, andseveral stretches in VernaIndustrial Estate were water-logged due to heavy downpour.

A senior official from theFire and Emergency Servicesclaimed they had received over50 calls from different parts ofthe state since Thursday nightto clear uprooted trees fromroads. Water level of theMandovi river has been rising,restricting the movement ofpeople to and fro the islands ofChorao and Diwar, locatedacross the river near Panaji, anofficial said.

Heavy rains inGoa, fishermenasked to keepoff sea

PNS n MUMBAI

As many as 24 women, includ-ing two independents, havemade it to the newMaharashtra LegislativeAssembly, two more than theoutgoing house. Out of the 24women MLAs declared elect-ed on Thursday, half are first-timers.

The outgoing Assembly has22 women legislators. As manyas 14 women elected in theOctober 21 polling belong tothe ruling BJP-Shiv Senaalliance.

The BJP had fielded 17women, of which 12 wereelected. Its ally Shiv Sena hadgiven tickets to eight womencandidates, of which twoemerged successful.

Among the opposition par-ties, the Congress had fielded14 women, of which five won,while the NCP had given tick-ets to eight women, of whichthree emerged victorious.

The sitting MLAs who wereelected are: Manda Mhatre

(Belapur), Manisha Chaudhari(Dahisar), Vidya Thakur(Goregaon), Devyani Farande(Nashik Central), Seema Hiray(Nashik West), Madhuri Misal(Parvati), Monica Rajale

(Shevgaon) and BharatiLavhekar (Versova) - all fromthe BJP.

From the Congress - PranitiShinde (Solapur City Central),Yashomati Thakur (Teosa) and

Varsha Gaikwad (Dharavi)retained their seats. On theNCP's side, Suman Patilretained her Tasgaon- KavatheMahankal seat in Sangli district.

Among the newcomers areSaroj Ahire (Devlali) from theNCP, Lata Sonavane (Chopda)and Yamini Jadhav (Byculla),both from the Shiv Sena.

From the BJP, ShwetaMahale (Chikli), MeghanaBordikar (Jintur), NamitaMundada (Kaij), Mukta Tilak(Kasba Peth) and from theCongress Pratibha Dhanorkar(Warora) and Sulbha Khodke(Amravati) made it to thehouse for the first-time.

Two independents - GeetaJain (Mira Bhayander) andManjula Gavit (Sakri) - are alsonew entrants in the assembly.Prominent women candidatesto taste defeat included BJP'sPankaja Munde from Parli inBeed district.

As many as 235 womenwere in the fray out of the 3,237candidates who vied for 288assembly seats.

New Maha Assembly gets24 women MLAs

PNS n MUMBAI

A day after MaharashtraAssembly election resultsshowed a dip in BJP's tallycompared to 2014 polls, ShivSena MP Sanjay Raut posted acartoon to take a dig at hisparty's senior alliance partner.

The cartoon, posted by Rauton his verified Twitter account,shows a tiger (Shiv Senas partysymbol) wearing a clock lock-et (NCPs party symbol) sniff-ing a lotus (BJPs party symbol).

While the post is captioned"bura na maano Diwali hai" todenote it was made in jest, theunderlying meesage echoeswhat former chief ministerPrithviraj Chavan sought toconvey about the Sena, NCPand Congress coming togeth-er to prevent BJP from retain-ing power in Maharashtra.

Chavan had on Thursdayspoken of an "interesting pos-sibility", that of the Sena, NCPand Congress aligning to upsetthe BJP's applecart.

In the 288-memberAssembly, the BJP won 105seats, while ally Sena bagged56. The NCP bagged 54 seatsand the Congress emergedvictorious in 44 seats.

In the 2014 polls, the BJP

had won 122 seats, the Sena 63,the Congress 42 and the NCP41.

Chavan said the results havethrown up an "interesting pos-sibility", but stopped short ofindicating if the Congress andNCP will align with the Sena- which he termed as the 'less-er evil' (compared to BJP) - toform the next government inMaharashtra.

In terms of the increase innumber of seats compared tothe 2014 polls, the SharadPawar-led NCP emerged as thelargest gainer, while the BJP'stally took a considerable dip.

Meanwhile, the Senamouthpiece Saamana onFriday had a big headline on itsfront page, proclaiming thatthe Uddhav Thackeray-ledparty has the "keys to power"in Maharashtra.

Sena's Raut posts cartoon takingpotshots at alliance partner

PNS n MUMBAI

The cyclonic storm "Kyarr" islikely to bring very heavy toextremely heavy rains incoastal districts of Ratnagiriand Sindhudurg inMaharashtra in the next 12hours and also cause strongwinds, the Met office said onFriday.

The warning was issuedthis afternoon by the Mumbaicentre of the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD).

A deep depression in theArabian Sea intensified intocyclonic storm Kyarr duringearly hours of Friday.

Kyarr is very likely to inten-sify into a severe cyclonicstorm during the next 12hours and into a very severeone during the subsequent 24hours, said an IMD official.

Subsequently, the cyclonic

storm will move towards thecoast of Oman, the IMD pre-dicted. A red alert, indicating'extremely heavy rainfall', hasbeen issued for Sindhudurgdistrict, which would meanprecipitation of 204.5 mmrainfall in 24 hours, it said.

Cyclone Kyarr would resultinto gale winds, reaching thespeed to 85 kmph and bySaturday it would become 110kmph, the IMD official said.

"Squally wind speed reach-ing 55-65 kmph gusting to 75kmph is likely to prevail alongand off Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg,Raigad districts ofMaharashtra as well as Goa.

"Wind speed of around 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmphis likely to prevail along theremaining coastal districts ofMaharashtra, north Karnatakacoast as well as in the Arabiansea off the Gujarat coast dur-ing the next 24 hours," he said.

Cyclonic storm ‘Kyarr'may unleash strongwinds, heavy rains

PNS n RAJGIR (BIHAR)

President Ram Nath Kovindon Friday inaugurated thegolden jubilee celebrations ofthe Vishwa Shanti Stupa here,a peace pagoda situated on theRatnagiri hills.

The pagoda was built by aJapanese Buddist rattled by theatomic bombing of Hiroshimaand Nagasaki. He also foundsolace in the teachings ofMahatma Gandhi.

Kovind, who had served asthe governor of Bihar beforeassuming the highestConstitutional office, com-menced his brief address withthe chant of 'Na Mu Myo HoRege Kyo' a mantra madefamous worldwide by Japan-based Buddhist sect Nichiren,to which the stupas founderNichidatsu Fujii belonged.

Bihar Governor FaguChauhan, Chief MinisterNitish Kumar and DeputyChief Minister Sushil KumarModi were among those pre-sent on the occasion.

"The Vishwa Shanti Stupa

stands for establishing unityand peace across the world andpromoting non-violence. Itsfoundation stone was laid bythe then president SRadhakrishnan in 1965 and

the inauguration took placefour years later, by the thenpresident V V Giri when thenation was celebrating thebirth centenary of MahatmaGandhi," Kovind said.

When he was the governorof Bihar, he had the privilegeof attending many pro-grammes at the Vishwa ShantiStupa in 2015 and 2016. Hehad also come here in 2018 totake part in the internationalconference on religions,Kovind said.

"I take this opportunity to wel-come followers of the Buddhistfaith from adjoining countrieslike Nepal and Sri Lanka besidesfar-off ones in Asia, Europe andAmerica," he said.

Speaking on the occasion,Nitish Kumar spoke about hisambitious project of establish-ing an international centre forconflict resolution in Rajgirwhich was "a historic place,held sacred by followers of allfaiths, by virtue of its associa-tion with Lord Buddha,Mahavira, Guru Nanak andother holy men".

Prez opens golden jubileefete of Vishwa Shanti Stupa

AIMIM's victoryin Kishanganjdangerous forBihar: Giriraj PNS n PATNA

Terming the victory AIMIMin the Kishanganj Assemblyby-poll as "dangerous" forBihar, Union minister GirirajSingh on Friday accausedAsaduddin Owaisi's party ofadhering to the ideology ofPakistan founder Mohd AliJinnah.

The BJP leader, known forhis hardline stance onHindutva and nationalism,said the maiden victory of theAll India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen (AIMIM) inBihar could imperil "socialharmony" in the state.

"In the Bihar by-elections,the most dangerous out-come is the result ofKishanganj. Owaisi's partyAIMIM adheres to Jinnah'sideology. They hate (nation-al song) Vande Mataram.Bihar's social harmony facesa threat from them. Thepeople of Bihar must thinkabout their future," Singhwrote on his official Twitterhandle.

Among the opposition parties, theCongress had fielded 14 women,of which five won, while the NCPhad given tickets to eight women,of which three emerged victorious

BJP confident of securing support ofall Independent MLAs in HaryanaPNS n NEW DELHI

Five Independent MLAs,along with Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarand BJP's Haryana in-chargeAnil Jain, met the party'sworking president, J P Nadda,at his residence here on Fridayto finalise the modalities ofgovernment formation in thestate, sources said.

The five Independent leg-islators -- DharampalGondan, Nayanpal Rawat,Sombir Sangwan, RakeshDaulatabad and RandheerGolan -- met Nadda andextended their support to thesaffron party, BJP leaderJawahar Yadav said.

"These Independent MLAsreached J P Nadda's housewith an intention to extendsupport to the BJP govern-ment," Yadav, who accompa-nied the MLAs, said.

Daulatabad, who was elect-ed from Badshahpur, was alsoamong the Independent legis-lators who met the party pres-ident, he added.

"We have come here toextend our support to theKhattar government inHaryana," Rawat, who waselected from Prithla, said.

After meeting Nadda, show-ing his letter of support to theBJP, Sangwan said he hadextended his unconditionalsupport to the saffron party.

Besides these fiveIndependent MLAs, RanjeetChautala has also extendedhis support to the BJP. He metboth Khattar and Nadda earli-er in the day.

BJP leaders are confidentthat seven Independent MLAsand Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) leader Abhay Chautalawill back the party's claim toform government.

Sources said theRailway Boardhas prepared aset ofinstructions forits zones to"strictlyregulate" thenumber and useof such saloons

First Lt Governorsof JK and Ladakhappointed; Oath onOctober 31PNS n NEW DELHI

Girish Chander Murmu, asenior IAS officer, who workedclosely with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in Gujarat andis currently the expenditure sec-retary, was on Friday appointedthe first Lt Governor of Jammuand Kashmir, six days ahead ofthe state becoming a union ter-ritory. Murmu, 59, an IAS offi-cer of 1985 batch, worked asModi's additional principle sec-retary during his tenure asGujarat chief minister. He wasdue for retirement on November30. He will be administered oathof office on October 31 inSrinagar after which he will bethe administrative head ofKashmir and Jammu provinces.The state's third province --Ladakh-- has been carved out asa separate Union Territory.

I take thisopportunity towelcome followers

of the Buddhist faith fromadjoining countries likeNepal and Sri Lankabesides far-off ones in Asia,Europe and America

— RAM NATH KOVIND , President

There is an open shadow-boxing ofa considerable bitterness that isensuing between New Delhi andAnkara as each seeks to hit theother where it hurts. While

Turkey has always had fraternal relationswith Pakistan — the former has stood by thelatter during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakwars — the sheer distance and limited strate-gic overlap between New Delhi and Ankaraensured a modicum of agnosticism in thebilateral relationship between themselves.The advent of Turkey’s autocratic strongmanRecep Tayyip Erdogan in 2003 has revivedthe nationalistic impulse and ambitions thatare instinctively revisionist and reimaginingthe lost glory of the Ottoman Empire.

Today Erdogan’s imperious grandstand-ing in the international affairs is in stark con-trast to that of other Middle Eastern pow-ers. Turkey does not shy away from break-ing ranks with its ostensible allies like theUS to assert its own voice and relevance inglobal geopolitics. Recognising the desper-ation and isolation of the Pakistani diplo-matic fate, with most members of theOrganisation of Islamic (OIC) embarrass-ingly distancing themselves from thePakistani position on Kashmir, Afghanistanand terror — Erdogan (along withIslamabad’s “all-weather-friend” China) hasstepped in to fill the void and supportIslamabad in most multilateral forums.

While Turkey “fully supported” thePakistani position on the recent Kashmir-related concerns, India hit back deliberate-ly, visibly and cuttingly by cosying up to thethree nations that are known to have anti-Turkey stands ie, Greece, Armenia andCyprus. India further retaliated by freezingthe export of dual-usage materials like explo-sives and detonators to Turkey as also byputting the $2.3 billion deal to construct sup-port vessels for the Indian Navy in aTurkish shipyard on the backburner.

The Turkish outreach to endear itself tothe Pakistanis has been a project in the mak-ing with it incredulously withdrawing itsenvoy from Bangladesh in 2016 after Dhakahad executed the head of Jamaat-e-Islami,Motiur Rahman Nizami. That Nizami washeld responsible for at least 480 deaths in thePakistani pogrom preceding the indepen-dence of Bangladesh mattered little. Turkey’sposition on the 1971 war trials has beendecidedly pro-Pakistani and it noted thatNizami had not committed any “earthly sins.”

Today, this ensures that despite incon-trovertible evidence to prove Pakistan’scomplicity in the terror industry, Turkey hasprovided yeoman service to it by routinelybailing it out from getting “black-listed” bythe Financial Action Task Force (FATF).Pursuant to such reciprocal gratification,Pakistan offered the rare succour to Turkeyin its offensive in northern Syria against theKurdish forces, with Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan unequivocally telling Erdogan:“Pakistan stands in full support and solidar-

ity with Turkey.” India noted thatit was “deeply concerned” overthe “unilateral military offen-sive” by Turkey. In many ways,the Turkish and Pakistani nar-rative are eerily similar withtheir restive, uneasy and inter-dependent moorings with theUS. The “nationalistic” leadersin both Ankara and Islamabadare not wary of flexing their cir-cumstantial muscle to extracttheir respective pounds of flesh.

While Imran Khan hascried himself hoarse with the“nuclear” threat in the Indo-Pakimbroglio, the Turks are mud-dying the waters with the pres-ence of 50 B61 nuclear gravitybombs at Incirlik airbase, whichcomplicates the situation for theUS as it plays out as a utility-lever for Erdogan.

Turkey is too committed inits path to retract from thedefinitive track in the Indo-Pakdimension. The recent moveswill only strengthen the “divide”between New Delhi and Ankara.Pakistan’s ability to unilaterallyappropriate, invoke and posturethe historical Khilafat move-ment as an exclusive Pakistaniinitiative has also helped feed theromance associated with the col-lapse of the Ottoman Empireand its powerful sense of hurt inmodern Turkey.

The Turkish bid to reclaimthe times of the Caliph hasnecessitated that it is seen to beespousing the cause of the

Ummah (even if it does notapply to co-religionist Kurds)across the world and postureitself as the leader of the Islamicworld. Turkey has tied up withPakistan and Malaysia (who,too, is toeing the Turkish line onPakistan) to jointly start aEnglish language channel “ded-icated to confronting the chal-lenges posed by Islamophobiaand setting the record straight on our great religion —Islam.”

Erdogan’s quest for carvingout an important role for itselfin the global sweepstakes hasseen it do reckless realpolitik,even if it amounts to renegingon previously-held positions orquestioning its own commit-ment and sincerity in furtheringthe cause of the Ummah.

Erdogan, who had earliercalled the Chinese treatment ofits beleaguered Uighurs a “greatembarrassment for humanity”,did a quick flip-flop and thenstated that “Turkey firmly sup-ports the ‘One China’ policy. It’sa fact that residents of all ethnic-ities in China’s Xinjiang are liv-ing happily amid China’s devel-opment and prosperity.”

Both Turkey and Pakistanhave been routinely called outfor their strong-arm, illiberaland unilateral actions — with“nationalistic” leaders in bothcountries short-selling and way-laying the dreams of theirfounding fathers — the secular

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk andMohammed Ali Jinnah. Thehurry to stich its aspired destinyhas led Turkey to convenientalliances with communist Chinaor even Russia’s Vladimir Putinto spite the US.

If Pakistani dalliances withterror organisations have beenwell documented, questionsabout Erdogan’s dubious com-mitment in taking on the mostdangerous terror organisation inthe world ie, the Islamic State(IS), have raised many eye-brows. On the contrary, theKurds, who have been at theforefront of fighting the IS, aregetting bombed by the Turkishforces. Wikileaks published upto 58,000 mails documentingErdogan’s son-in-law, BeratAlbayrak, buying oil from thecash-strapped IS.

There is a certain com-monality of governance instinctsbetween Pakistan and Turkeythat is amoral, transactionaland churlish. It binds the twonations, who believe they canbluster, blackmail and intimidatetheir way on to the global stage.India needs to recognise theinevitability of the fractiousrelationships with both coun-tries as pacifism is a logicalanathema to the chosen path byAnkara and Islamabad.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governorof Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry)

The BJP’s experiment with the “OneHaryana” concept, where it consolidat-ed all other communities except the dom-

inant Jats, cost Manohar Lal Khattar a vote offaith despite his steadying chief ministership.With a hung House and a resurgent Congresssnapping at its heels, the party is desperateto stitch up a rainbow coalition government.Having already notched up 40 seats on theboard, the BJP really doesn’t need much,maybe six to 10 to stake claim. And picking

up Independents is not too tough a task for party managers, who actually ferriedsome of them to Delhi. In that haste, it made a grave tactical error by getting HaryanaLokhit Party’s Gopal Kanda, whose political downfall was triggered by a suicidenote left by an air hostess with MDLR Airlines, implicating him in rape and mur-der. As a swarm of protests flooded discussion boards, old-school BJP leaderUma Bharti, too, warned that winning an election would not absolve him. Besides,the Independents are mostly disgruntled rebels of both the BJP and Congress,left out by their parent parties for incompetence and could turn burdensome inno time at all. So the BJP, more than numbers, needs to win over the Jats, whohave clustered around the Congress and their new-age champion Jannayak JanataParty (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala, the last combining grassroots logic withmodern marketing effortlessly. Having won 10 seats convincingly, the LawrenceSchool Sanawar alumnus has proved that he is just as qualified in the politicalchessboard as his great grandfather Devi Lal. Dushyant is being wooed desper-ately by both sides — the BJP using the old family friendship between the Badalsof Punjab and the Chautala clan, the Congress using its Jat network to rope himin. In this tug-of-war, the young Chautala has smartly raised his stakes in thenegotiations, agreeing to support whichever side guarantees 75 per cent employ-ment to the local youth of Haryana and takes up “public interest” issues like old-age pension. In positing himself as a kingmaker, Dushyant is making sure thatat least he can be the king of people’s hearts. While the BJP certainly looks athim with interest, it is also true that if it manages the numbers from a bunch of“others”, it would perhaps not give in to all his demands and settle for an issue-based understanding. But can the party avoid further Jat alienation? As it is, byexcluding them, by continuously harping on Kashmir in areas which send thehighest number of soldiers to the Army, the BJP has earned nothing but wrath.It needs Dushyant as a bridge. On his part, Dushyant may use the BJP to writeoff the cases against his family. Meanwhile, the Congress will also not find itselfas comfortable with the JJP leader, considering that the Chautalas had been impris-oned by senior leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The last certainly wouldn’t wantanother clansman on the horizon. But given their combined strength, they couldhave formed a potent Opposition and force the BJP Government’s hand on issues,if not try to topple it mid-term. As for Dushyant himself, he may just want to stayout of governance and not betray the prevailing sentiment of anti-incumbencyagainst Khattar or appear like a junior partner to Hooda. He may look at a moreindirect involvement and shore up his image in the process, considering he hascome this far since his debut in 2014. In this election, the JJP presented itselfas an alternative to the traditional parties, promoting youth leadership, a corrup-tion-free governance and socially meaningful policies. Dushyant may not wantto waste this hard-earned political capital and choose to walk alone. If he doesindeed assume a post, deputy chief ministership as is being speculated, then itwill surely be on his terms and conditions. For in the smorgasbord of Haryanapolitics, he still offers optics and a freshly-minted hope. Everybody would needthat for sustenance.

Under the stewardship of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, India has seen amarked increase in the World Bank’s

“Ease of Doing Business” ratings. From beingoutside the top 100, the country now ranks63rd, making a 14-point leap from last year.For the third consecutive year, India also fig-ured in the top 10 most improved nations inthe world. In fact, the Prime Minister has madeIndia’s improvement on this front a matter ofpersonal pride. And while there might be sev-eral questions about the methodology of the

survey — it only measures parameters from India’s two largest cities of Delhiand Mumbai, which are better run and managed than most others — it is anindicator that establishing and running a business in India has become far eas-ier than ever before. And that fear and doubts are ebbing away, one of the keyreasons for improvement being the successful implementation of the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code. The problem is that through a combination of a lack ofconsumer demand and regressive tax terrorism, business itself is suffering andthat is showing in a rapidly slowing economy. With more cases of Non-PerformingAssets (NPAs), particularly in real-estate, popping up at the rate of one everyweek, it appears that things might get a lot worse before they get better even ifIndia’s ranking in “Ease of Doing Business” is improving.

Several problems faced by crucial sectors, like real estate, today are left-overs from the politically connected profligacy during the UPA regime. There islittle doubt about this. The Wadhawan brothers of HDIL and DHFL groups madehay a decade ago, thanks to their political patrons, even as other real estatedevelopers, big and small, felt the heat. Loans were forwarded to fugitive busi-nessmen like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya not during Modi’s tenure but earlier.Modi though has not been firm enough in prosecuting some of these econom-ic offenders. While much is being done to repair the public sector banks, thefact is they are not lending money anymore and credit offtake has hit multi-yearlows. That is evident not just in the collapse of the real estate sector but alsoother indicators such as the flattening curve of car sales. It is probably time forthe Prime Minister to bring in some outside economic analysts into the Government.There needs to be a revival of animal spirits in the economy and growth has tocome back. Simply making business easier will not help anyone because thereis no business left to be done. At the same time, while doing business is eas-ier in Delhi and Mumbai, one forgets that both these cities have steady electric-ity and water and a fairly upgraded infrastructure. Many of India’s other cities,including the satellites of the national capital and Mumbai, are chaotic. Whilesome like Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are relatively well-managed, others, par-ticularly in States which need to attract investment such as Uttar Pradesh, area morass of bureaucratic ineptitude. In fact, one can safely argue that improve-ments in the bigger cities are widening the gulf between them and the rest ofthe country. And despite great strides, India still remains far away from its com-petitors like China, which ranks 31st on the same index.

Easy deal

Long-term implications

Sir — The new policy directionof the Government to reviveBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd(BSNL) and MahanagarTelephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL)should not come as a surprise.Considering the Government hasgone in for an amalgamated pub-lic telecom, it must be taken as anacid test for the acumen of theGovernment and its bureaucracy.This might set a new tone anddirection in the emancipatedgovernance of public sectorundertakings in future.

The entire exercise forinstalling a model commercialentity, with differing compo-nents of finance, HR and mar-keting, would need a lead min-ister and a capable team toshape a competitive and progres-sive company. This team shouldnot only be able to win back the lost clientele but also leveragechanging technology to attractnew adherents. There has to bean independent and profession-al board at the helm with tech-nology and marketing as itsmain remit.

R Narayanan Mumbai

Introspection needed

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Wake-up calls” (October26). The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-Shiv Sena alliance is onthe road to power inMaharashtra while Haryanaemerged a cliffhanger with noclear majority for either the BJP

or the Congress. It looks after giving the BJP

a phenomenal victory in the LokSabha elections, the electoratehas voted differently in theAssembly elections. The under-par performances inMaharashtra and Haryana are awarning sign that the saffronparty must not ignore otherState elections on their way.

There seems to be an under-current against local BJP leaders,going by how the Opposition hasperformed better than what theexit polls were willing to grant it.Meanwhile, the Opposition willhave to work harder to negate theBJP’s advantage in terms ofresources and visibility.

J AkshayBengaluru

Independent directors

Sir — This is with respect to therecent move by the Governmentto conduct a preliminary test forindependent directors. The needto address the candidate’s pre-paredness for the role in terms ofexpertise, experience and integri-ty may not be achievable througha one-time preliminary assess-ment. Independent directors aregenerally appointed because ofthe specific expertise they bringin and, thus, add value to theboard. Therefore, the need to holda preliminary assessment test inorder to be recognised as an inde-pendent director appears to be anaive move by the Government.

The Government can insteadplan innovative learning andtraining programmes so thataspirants are accustomed to thenuances of corporate governance,including company laws. Thepreliminary test can be replacedeither with a short term or long-term Board familiarisation pro-gramme.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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 | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019

06

Turkish non-delights

BHOPINDER SINGH

There is a commonality of governance between Pakistan and Turkey that binds them. Bothbelieve they can bluster, blackmail and intimidate their way on to the global stage

Our role is that people havegiven us the opportunity tosit in the Opposition and not form the Government.We will carry out our work efficiently.

NCP chief —Sharad Pawar

We continue to press for therelease of detainees for the fullrestoration of everyday services,but most importantly, for aroadmap to the restoration ofpolitical and economic normalcy.

US diplomat—Alice G Wells

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

Takeaways from Assembly elections

This refers to the editorial, “Wake-up calls” (October26). The election results, of a win with a reducedmajority in Maharashtra for the Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine and a cliff-hanger inHaryana for the saffron party, make it abundantly clearthat the country is not moving towards a one-party sys-tem. The results also put to rest all talk of “one nation,one party” and concerns over the possible emergenceof a “unipolar polity.” The BJP’s inability to make theresults from both States as landslide victories have dent-ed its image as an unstoppable election war machinebulldozing its way.

The inflated claim that the Modi-Shah juggernautis formidable has turned out to be untrue. The electionresults augur well for our multi-party democracy. Overall,the Opposition did better than generally expected andhas given a good fight to the NDA that looked invinci-ble with its unlimited and unmatched resources, its shift-ing the emphasis away from the economic slowdownto “nationalist” and “majoritarian” issues and its engi-

neering defections and targetting Opposition leaders todemoralise them. A look at the seats and vote shareswon by the NDA and the Opposition shows that votershave been discerning. Impoverished voters in the gripof economic hardships seem to say that they need some-thing more than the Hindutva diet for subsistence.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

IF PAKISTANIDALLIANCES WITH

TERRORORGANISATIONS

HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED,

QUESTIONS ABOUTERDOGAN’S

DUBIOUSCOMMITMENT IN

TAKING ON THEMOST DANGEROUS

TERRORORGANISATION INTHE WORLD, THE

ISLAMIC STATE,HAVE RAISED

MANY EYEBROWS

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Game of thrones

BJP's Hindutva national-ism emotion is not work-ing anymore. Even afterlosing people's mandate,it will be hijacking theirmandate.

CPI-M general secretary—Sitaram Yechury

It may be easier to do business within the country but isthere any transaction happening at all?

With Dushyant Chautala emerging as kingmaker,he sets terms of negotiation for both BJP and Cong

Some of the things that youdon't think about will happen to you and they are the bestthings of life. I don't want toshow off but I'm genuinely adream come true.

Actor—Shah Rukh Khan

Rethink the two-child norm

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

One of the most difficult battles thatSabita Sethi had to fight when she decid-ed to stand for ward elections in Odisha’s

Khurda district was getting her husband’s con-sent. But although she won over her husband andemerged victorious in the polls at Balianta block,Sethi had to pay a heavy price for success. Shewas forced to put up the youngest of her threedaughters for adoption after objections wereraised on the number of children she had. If shehad not done so, Sethi would have been disqual-ified for violating the two-child eligibility cri-teria for contesting local Government polls inOdisha.

Sethi is not the only one forced to take suchheartbreaking decisions. The political participa-tion of women, primarily from marginalisedcommunities, has been adversely affected by thetwo-child norm, introduced in India for localGovernment elections or panchayats in 1992.Brought in to “control” the population by pro-hibiting people with more than two childrenfrom holding any post in panchayats and urbanlocal bodies, the policy has violated the repro-ductive and human rights of women. If they arecandidates, they have to abort or give up a childif they want to continue in their post or else theyface disqualification. As spouses, they facedesertion or forced abortion so that their hus-bands can contest. In both situations, it is thewomen who suffer.

With the minimum age for contestingthese elections lowered from 26 to 21 years, manymore women in the reproductive age brackethave been negatively impacted in States likeGujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,Maharashtra and Rajasthan which follow thetwo-child norm.

With the Assam Government announcingthat those having more than two children willnot be considered for Government jobs witheffect from January 1, 2021, women in Assamcan expect to meet a similar fate. Paradoxicallythis has been called the ‘Population and WomenEmpowerment Policy of Assam’ and the exist-ing Government staff also has to follow it.

Does Assam really need to follow this pol-icy? According to Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal, this was necessary as the State regis-tered a 16.93 per cent population growth in thelast 10 years. A look at the official statistics showsthe official birth rate of Assam came down to22 in 2015 and to 21.7 in 2016. It is slightly high-er than the national birth rate which was 20.4in 2016. The birth rate is defined as the num-ber of live births per 1,000 total population eachyear.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Assam is2.2 children per woman. TFR indicates the aver-age number of children expected to be born toa woman during her reproductive span of 15-49 years. Interestingly, the State is almost atreplacement level fertility of 2.1, that is the num-ber of children needed to replace the parents,after accounting for fatalities, skewed sex ratio,infant mortality and so on. The population startsfalling below this level.

Fertility has been on the decline in Assam.According to National Family Health Survey 4(NFHS-4), in Assam, fertility decreased by 0.2children in the 10 years between NFHS-3 andNFHS-4. In fact, fertility in urban areas, at 1.4

children per woman, is well below thereplacement level and even in ruralareas it is close to replacement levelsat 2.3 children per woman.

Just like in the rest of the country,in Assam also there is a strong prefer-ence for sons and this has been under-scored by the NFHS-4, which foundthat 18 per cent couples want moresons than daughters and only three tofour per cent of women and men pre-fer to have daughters. In such a sce-nario, once the two-child policy comesinto existence, Assam is most likely togo the Odisha way.

In Odisha, the deeply entrenchedpreference for sons led to increased dis-crimination against the girl child afterthe enforcement of the two-child normon panchayat representatives. Thisreflected in worsening of the alreadydeclining child sex ratio in the State.From 953 girls for 1,000 boys in the agegroup of 0-6 years in the 2001 census,it dropped to 941 in the 2011 census.

The discrimination was evident inSethi’s district Khurda, which inciden-tally has the lowest child sex ratio inOdisha. From 926 girls for 1,000 boysin 2001, it went down to 916 girls inthe 2011 census. Women activistscontend that the two-child norm hasplayed a critical role in this decline.

Instead of implementing a coercivetwo-child policy, Assam should focuson improving its high MaternalMortality Rate (MMR), InfantMortality Rate (IMR) and Under FiveMortality Rate (U5MR). In all thesecrucial areas, Assam fares worse thanthe national average. In 2016, it had thehighest MMR in the country at 237 perlakh live births. The State’s IMR at 44and U5MR at 52 are far higher than the

national average of 33 and 37 respec-tively. It can also focus on evidence thatshows that the proportion of womenwho start bearing children increasessharply to 21 per cent among womenwho are 18 years of age and to 32 percent among women who are 19.Further, research has shown thatwomen, who have had no schooling,are more than eight times as likely tostart a family than women with 12 ormore years of schooling. In otherwords, at the current fertility rates,women with no schooling will have 1.2children more than women who stud-ied till high school or beyond. Thismeans that uneducated women willhave a TFR of 2.9 as compared to a TFRof 1.7 for those who studied till highschool at least.

According to data, the IMR is 63per 1,000 live births for teenage moth-ers. Also, children of uneducatedmothers are more than twice as likelyto die before their first birthday as com-pared to children whose mothers havecompleted 10 or more years of school-ing (NFHS 4).

So then, isn’t reaching out toyoung women and improving theireducational prospects a better way tocontrol the population and empowerwomen, than putting them in a situa-tion where they are forced to give uptheir reproductive rights?

Further, nearly 39 per cent of thebirths in the State occur within threeyears of the previous birth. Studies haveshown that waiting at least three yearsbetween children reduces the risk ofinfant mortality.

But family planning in Assam isnot popular and unplanned pregnan-cies are relatively common. However,

if all women were to have only thenumber of children they wanted, theTFR would be considerably below thereplacement level. It would be at 1.8children per woman, instead of the cur-rent level of 2.2 children per woman.Moreover, by giving women the repro-ductive choice, the State could helpIndia keep its promise as a signatoryto the International Conference onPopulation and Development’sProgramme of Action to enable cou-ples and individuals to decide freelyand responsibly the number and spac-ing of their children.

But the contraceptive prevalencerate among the married women in theState in the age group 15-49 has comedown from 57 per cent (NFHS-3) to 52per cent (NFHS-4). Ironically, theunmet need for family planning hasgone up to 14 per cent in 2015-16(NFHS-4) from 11 per cent in 2005-06(NFHS-3). So women who want toplan their families either don’t haveaccess or the information to do so.

Statistics disaggregated by gender,play an important role in developingpolicies to achieve gender equality andfoster inclusive development. It informspolicies and interventions in areas likehealth, education and participation indecision making, politics and labourforce. Already the national workforceparticipation rate for women is 25.51per cent compared to 53.26 per cent formen. So how can there be women-leddevelopment when there is enough evi-dence to show that the two-childnorm will only benefit and strength-en traditional structures of patriarchythat have always restricted women’sentry into public space?

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Isn’t reaching out to women and improving their educational prospects a better way tocontrol the population than forcing them to give up their reproductive rights?

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

The humanexistential crisis

TUHIN BANIK

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to tackleclimate change and we need to marshalall our resources to do that at the earliest

SWAPNA MAJUMDAR

JUST LIKE IN THEREST OF THECOUNTRY, INASSAM ALSO

THERE IS ASTRONG

PREFERENCE FORSONS. IN SUCH ASCENARIO, ONCETHE TWO-CHILDPOLICY COMES

INTO EXISTENCE,ASSAM IS MOST

LIKELY TO GO THEODISHA WAY. THE DEEPLY

ENTRENCHEDPREFERENCE FOR

SONS LED TOINCREASED

DISCRIMINATIONAGAINST THE GIRLCHILD IN ODISHA,

AFTER THEENFORCEMENT OF

THE TWO-CHILDNORM ON

PANCHAYATREPRESENTATIVES

Climate change is the most important crisis the planet is fac-ing today. Millions of people from all over the world took tothe streets recently demanding urgent governmental action

to help control the ongoing environmental degradation and reversethe negative impact of climate change. We will need to marshal allour resources, including Artificial Intelligence to save the Earth fromperil, if not total annihilation.

Some of the foremost minds in machine learning and ArtificialIntelligence recently published a study and outlined 13 crucial areaswhere machine learning can be used to mitigate the adverse effectsof climate change.

The recommendations they made were divided into three majorcategories — high leverage solutions, where machine learning canmake a noticeable impact, long-term solutions that will take at leasta couple of decades to make a difference and finally, high-risk pur-suits, where the technology is either not mature enough or we don’tknow enough to effectively predict the consequences.

Policy measures by the Government should focus on imple-menting some of the high leverage solutions at scale to reduce ourcarbon footprint. Let us take a look at some of these steps that canmake a significant difference.

Improve predictions on electricity needs: To deploy renew-able energy in a more efficient way, utilities must be better able topredict energy requirements, both in real time and over a longertime period. There are plenty of algorithms that can already predictenergy demands and we can refine them further by consideringclimate patterns, local weather and household energy usage. Bymaking the algorithms more understandable, we can greatly assistutility operators interpret outputs and use the results to schedulewhen to switch over to renewable energy in the power grids.

Discover more energy-efficient materials: Scientists are con-stantly looking for ways to harvest, store and utilise energy in amore efficient manner. However, the process of discovering or syn-thesising new materials is slow and not very precise. Machine learn-ing can help speed up the process of designing novel chemical com-pounds with energy-efficient properties.

For instance, it can help us design solar fuels that can captureand harness the Sun’s energy more efficiently, identify materialsthat absorb carbon dioxide better and design structural materialsthat take a lot less carbon to manufacture. The day is not far whenthe latter would replace cement and steel, which will be a changefor the better, as their production accounts for nearly 10 per centof greenhouse gas emissions.

Design energy-efficient buildings: Intelligently designed con-trol systems can drastically reduce the energy consumption of build-ings. They can be programmed to take building occupancy, weath-er forecasts and other miscellaneous environmental conditions sothat residents can adjust the cooling, heating, lighting and ventila-tion needs indoors. Smart buildings can also directly communi-cate with the electricity grid and reduce power usage if there is pauci-ty in low-carbon power.

Help scale up precision agriculture: Monoculture currentlydominates the agricultural sector. It refers to the practice of grow-ing one crop in a vast area. Adopting this approach is easy for farm-ers as they can deploy tractors and automated tools to managethe upkeep of their fields.

However, it reduces the nutrient content of the soil and ham-pers productivity over time. Consequently, farmers have to heavi-ly rely on nitrogenous fertilisers that produce nitrous oxide, whichis one of the most potent greenhouse gases.

By deploying robots that use machine learning based software,farmers can manage a mixture of crops more efficiently and ArtificialIntelligence algorithms can help predict the right mixture of cropsto plant to regenerate soil health and reduce fertiliser use.

Improve the tracking of deforestation activity: Deforestationis a major contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases. However,the prevention of deforestation is a laborious on-ground manualprocess. Satellite imagery combined with computer vision technol-ogy can help us scan for the loss of green cover more efficientlyand on a much larger scale. Sensors, if planted strategically on theground, can be used in combination with algorithms to detect axeand chainsaw sounds. This will greatly help law enforcement offi-cers detect and put an end to illegal deforestation activity.

For people in the field of machine learning, this is an excitingtime to use their skills for the greater good. Identify opportunitiesin your community and outside where you can help build a lowcarbon economy and contribute to the global fight against climatechange.

(The writer is founder, CEO and search scientist at an AI-powered digital marketing firm)

Going by the Constitution, pub-lic health is a State subject,which implies that access to

adequate and affordable health ser-vices is a citizen’s right and hence, theGovernment needs to ensure that.However, the growth of medical carein India has been largely restricted tobig cities where both public and pri-vate healthcare providers are battlingto care for an increasing number ofpatients, many of whom are residentsof smaller cities and villages.

The abysmal State-level doctor-patient ratio remains at 1:1,700, farbelow the international norm of1:1,000 as directed by the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO).

In spite of being the fifth-largesteconomy in the world, India’s health-

care industry has been ranked a poor145th globally in terms of quality andaccessibility. This is because a largeportion of the rural population lacksadequate healthcare due to a shortageof drugs and the prohibitive cost ofprescribed medicines in their areas.

Many specialised, experiencedand newly-qualified doctors in thecountry, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, do not have a platform to pro-vide and share knowledge due to lackof opportunities or enough support interms of financial capabilities to deliv-er their expertise and knowledge.

The significant gap in existinginfrastructure for healthcare in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities is the biggest rea-son why people are forced to come tourban hubs for treatment.

However, most of these people arenot insured, and even if they are, insur-ance does not pay for other necessaryspending such as lodging, transport,and food. It is no wonder that health-care constitutes a large share of theannual out-of-pocket expense Indianshave to bear.

According to a FICCI report

released last month, at 65 per cent,healthcare is the top reason forovernight domestic travel in the coun-try as a whopping 80 per cent of sec-ondary and tertiary care beds are locat-ed in urban areas and there is a needfor nine lakh beds in the next 10 years.

The Herculean task of providinghealth cover to the entire country willcertainly need more than public hos-pitals only. As Ayushman Bharatopens the doors to private medical careproviders and encourages them toserve the people in smaller cities, thehealthcare industry increasingly realis-es the challenges that lie in the modal-ities — developing and managing thefacilities and attracting and retainingtalent being the main areas of concern.

A Public-Private Partnership(PPP) model helps to address many ofthe challenges faced by private health-care providers who want to set up newfacilities — land acquisition, finance,and permits to name a few. WithGovernment support, many of theseissues ease out.

However, that may not be enoughto make operations a win-win for all.

The crux lies in managing financesand optimum use of resources — thecost-per-bed of setting up a privatehospital in a metropolitan city can goas high as a whopping `1.30 crore.

Relocating a reputed specialistfrom a big city to a Tier-2 or Tier-3 cityis another financial and operationalchallenge. Retaining his/her interest isanother. Since most of the smallercities have a miniscule pool of med-ical institutions, the staff that can besourced locally may be less than ade-quate. Filling vacancies puts an addi-tional cost burden, a major cause ofconcern for private medical servicesproviders.

Recently, the MunicipalCorporation of Greater Mumbai(MCGM) introduced two PPP mod-els — private funding and public ser-vices, and private funding-privateservices with public monitoring.

In April 2018, the Government ofHaryana announced its intention toestablish a 500-bed multi-specialityhospital in Gurugram under the PPPmode to provide treatment at a min-imal cost. The new hospital will have

advanced facilities such as electroen-cephalography (EEG), cochlear labo-ratory, dialysis centre, ventilators,advanced Operation Theaters, and CTscan unit, among others, addressingthe enormous unmet need for spe-cialised healthcare at an affordableprice in a metropolitan city area. Itshows that increasingly, StateGovernments are realising that thebest way to deal with these concernsis by enabling a PPP mode where theGovernment and the private operatoract as collaborators.

There is no national frameworkright now that guides the StateGovernments on how to engage pri-vate players in healthcare. Besides,health is a State subject and there is alack of clarity on institutional arrange-ments to implement and managePPP projects. Implementing the ideaof impact bonds, as per the UnitedNations Development Programme(UNDP), may provide a solution.Impact bonds are PPPs that allow pri-vate impact investors to provideupfront capital for public projects thatcan deliver social and environmental

outcomes. For a successful project, theinvestors are repaid by theGovernment through social impactbonds or an aid agency or other phil-anthropic funders through develop-ment impact bonds. For a PPP pro-ject approved to operate independent-ly, the Government must keep an eyeon things, as any such project withoutmonitoring may fail to gain the trustof the people. The fact that theGovernment is watching reassuresthem.

It is heartening to see that the con-tribution of private players in health-care has become dependable. Realisingthe importance of the role of privatepartners in the wellness sector, theNational Health Policy of 2017 empha-sises it can help achieve India’s aim ofuniversal health coverage. TheGovernment intends to attract carefrom private facilities and clinicsstrategically to improve access andaffordability of quality healthcare andPPP can help the country take a majorstep towards achieving that goal.

(The writer is chairman of a digital healthcare platform)

Give healthcare the PPP booster shotThe significant gap in existing infrastructure for medical services in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities is the biggest reason why

people are forced to come to metros for treatment. A public-private partnership can help solve this problem

BHAVESH SHAH

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

I THANK THE PEOPLE (OF HARYANA) FOR MAKINGBJP THE SINGLE-LARGEST PARTY AND GIVING US

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THEM.—HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

DEFECTIONS ARE COMING TO PLAY WITH ALLUREMENTSOF MONEY AND POWER BEING THE SOLE CRITERIA FOR(BJP) FORMING A GOVERNMENT IN HARYANA.—CONGRESS CHIEF SPOKESPERSONRANDEEP SURJEWALA

F O R E I G N E Y E

There is no pressing needfor a general election untilthe Parliament has resolvedits position on Brexit. Thatmay be only a few sittingdays away. But BritishPrime Minister BorisJohnson has absolutely noright to hold a gun toParliament’s head. It is forParliament to make adecision about a generalelection once its corebusiness, Brexit, iscompleted. That time is notnow. MPs should insist ondoing first things first.

(The Guardian editorial)

NO NEED FOR EARLYPOLLS RIGHT NOW

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

Strides Pharmapegs Q2 net profitat Rs 142 crNEW DELHI: Drug firm StridesPharma Science on Fridayreported a consolidated netprofit of Rs 141.91 crore forthe September quarter. Thecompany had posted a loss ofRs 8.70 crore for thecorresponding period of theprevious fiscal, StridesPharma Science said in a BSEfiling. Consolidated totalincome stood at Rs 728.08crore for the quarter underconsideration as against Rs529.46 crore for the sameperiod year ago. "Thisquarter's financial resultsvalidate our reset strategy,with enhanced focus ongrowth and marginopportunities from regulatedmarkets," Strides PharmaScience Group CEO and MDArun Kumar said. Thesemarkets now contribute toover 85 per cent of company'srevenues, establishing thestrength of its operating modelbuilt around diversifiedmarkets and carefully selectedproduct portfolio, he added.

MG Motor delivers700 units of Hectoron DhanterasNEW DELHI: MG Motor Indiaon Friday said it has delivered700 units of its SUV Hectoracross the country onDhanteras. The company saidit delivered around 200 carsfrom a single point in Delhi-NCR, marking one of thelargest vehicle delivery eventson Dhanteras. "Customers andcommunity are at the core ofeverything that we, at MGMotor India, do. Our latestround of Hector deliveries –one of the highest in a singleday, underlines ourcommitment to facilitatingbest-in-class experiences forour customers," MG MotorIndia Director - Sales RakeshSidana said in a statement.

Forex reserves cross$ 440 bn-mark, upby USD 1.04 bnNEW DELHI: Continuing itsnorthward surge, India's forexkitty has swelled by USD1.039 billion to a new life-timehigh of USD 440.751 billionfor the week ended October18, the Reserve Bank said onFriday. The forex reserves hadrisen by USD 1.879 billion to anew record high of USD439.712 billion in the previousreporting week. For the weekunder review, the foreigncurrency assets, which are thebiggest part of the reserves,increased by USD 931 millionto USD 408.881 billion, theRBI said.

INFOSYS WHISTLEBLOWER CHARGES

US SEC TO SEEK SEBI'SHELP IN PROBEPTI n NEW DELHI

US market regulator SEC willbe seeking cooperation from itsIndian counterpart Sebi in itsprobe into Infosys, which hasbeen rocked by whistleblowercomplaints of several allegedirregularities, sources said onFriday.

They said the Indian capitalmarkets watchdog will provideall possible help to the USSecurities and ExchangeCommission (SEC).

Infosys is listed in India aswell as in the US, where a classaction suit has also been filedagainst the Indian IT major torecover what has been termedby the litigants as losses suf-fered by investors there.

Queries sent to the SECwith regard to cooperationsought from Sebi remain unan-swered.

The SEC has initiated aprobe on whistleblower com-plaints that alleged "unethicalpractices" by top managementof Infosys and Bengaluru-based IT major has said it willcooperate with the investiga-tion.

The Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) has alsosought additional informationfrom the company, while theNational Financial ReportingAuthority (NFRA) - which ispart of the corporate affairsministry - has been asked to

look into the matter."The company has been in

touch with the SEC regardingthe anonymous whistleblowercomplaints (anonymous com-plaints) and has learnt that theSEC has initiated an investiga-tion into this matter. The com-pany will cooperate with theSEC's investigation," Infosyssaid on Thursday.

Also, Sebi requested addi-tional information from thecompany concerning the

anonymous complaints, andInfosys will provide the infor-mation as per its request, thecompany said.

Infosys said it isalso "aware of asecurities classaction lawsuit"that has been filedagainst the com-pany in federalcourt in the US, based on thegeneralised allegations in theanonymous complaints. The

company intends to defenditself vigorously in such a law-suit."

US-based Rosen Law Firmhad previously said it waspreparing a class action lawsuitto recover losses suffered byInfosys investors in the US.

Following reports ofwhistleblower allegations onMonday, Infosys had informedstock exchanges of havingreceived anonymous whistle-blower complaints alleging cer-tain unethical practices.

Infosys, which is India's sec-ond largest IT services firmafter Tata ConsultancyServices, had said these hadbeen placed before the auditcommittee.

On Tuesday, in a moredetailed statement, InfosysChairman Nandan Nilekanisaid the whistleblower com-plaint dated September 20 aswell as an undated complainthad been received by one of theboard members on September30.

These were placed before theaudit commit-tee on October10, and thec o m p a n y ' snon-executiveboard mem-bers onOctober 11

(also the day when Infosysannounced its second quarterresults).

The SEC has initiated a probe onwhistleblower complaints that alleged"unethical practices" by topmanagement of Infosys and theBengaluru-based IT major has said itwill cooperate with the investigation

Jewellers see no sparklein sales this DhanterasPTI n NEW DELHI / MUMBAI

Gold and jewellery sales weremuted so far on the occasionof Dhanteras as people pre-ferred silver coins and utentilsfor token buying amid sluggishconsumer spending and highrates of the precious metal,according to industry players.

Dhanteras, celebrated innorthern and western parts ofIndia on Friday, is consideredan auspicious day for buyinggold, silver and other valuables.

However, organised playerslike Titan and UT Zaveri arehopeful of good footfalls laterduring the day as many peopleare taking delivery of pre-booked orders.

Gold prices are ruling ataround Rs 39,000 per 10 gramon this Dhanteras, as againstRs 32,690 per 10 gram on thesame day in 2018.

In India, unorganised play-ers make up for roughly 70 percent of the country's gold sales.

"Being a working day, thefootfall is not much. We havegot reports of slow sale fromacross the country. However,we expect the momentum togather after 4 pm. Despiterain alerts, we expect goodbusiness this Dhanteras, espe-cially after evening," All IndiaGem and Jewellery DomesticCouncil (GJC) chairmanAnantha Padmanabhan toldPTI.

Stating that high gold ratesand demand slump are likelyto dent sales this time, Delhi'sKarol Bagh JewelleryAssociation President Vijay

Khanna said most buyers arerestricting their purchase totokens, especially for invest-ment purpose.

"We see flat sales thisDhanteras but hope to recov-er during the wedding seasonin the coming days," he added.

Kumar Jain of UT Zaverifrom Mumbai's Zaveri bazaarsaid, "Since auspicious muhu-rat was between 9am to 12.30pm, we are getting footfalls,mostly from those of pre-booked orders who want to

avoid the evening rush."Being a working day, more

footfalls are expected in theevening after office hour, headded.

Titan Jewellery DivisionSenior Vice President (Retailand Marketing) SandeepKulhalli said: "The market hasbeen impacted by a suddengold rate surge in July, and gen-eral downturn in consumerspending. Growth has beenmuted so far but we have seenan upsurge in our businesssince the last few days."

Diamond sales are certain-ly outgrowing gold sales.Tanishq stores across the coun-try are all packed since last fewdays and hence the company isexpecting a robust Dhanterasand Diwali sales, he added.

Khanna Gems Pvt LtdManaging Director PankajKhanna said there is a "positivetrend" in terms of silver coinsales this time as buyers arepreferring white metal due tohigh rates of gold.

Gold prices areruling at aroundRs 39,000 per 10gram on thisDhanteras, asagainst Rs32,690 per 10gram on thesame day in 2018

Airtel buys 8.82%in Bengalurusoftware start-upPTI n NEW DELHI

Bharti Airtel Ltd has acquireda minority stake of 8.82% inBengaluru-based softwaredevelopment startup VahanInc.

The company however didnot disclose the cost of theacquisition. In a regulatory fil-ing it said the Indicative timeperiod for completion of thestake acquisition is By October31, 2019. The acquisition ofVahan is a part of Airtel'sStartup Accelerator Programto support the growth of early-stage Indian tech startups.

Vahan, which specialises inproviding jobs by using artifi-cial intelligence driven bot(web robot) and a messagingplatform, is the first companyto join the program.

"Airtel announced theinduction of Bengaluru-basedtech startup Vahan into itsStartup Accelerator Program.Airtel will acquire a stake inVahan and partner with themin building significant scale toachieve their vision ofenabling jobs for the next bil-lion internet users" the state-ment said.

The initiative will give star-tups early access to Airtel'sonline and offline distributionnetwork, deep market under-standing and ecosystem ofglobal strategic partners. Airtelhas also developed strong in-house capabilities aroundmachine learning and artificialintelligence, which can beleveraged to aid the growth of

startups.Startups will also access to

advisor y ser vices fromAirtel's executive team, itsaid. "Vahan is focused onfinding blue collar jobs formillions of young Indians indelivery, driving, retail, BFSI(banking, financial servicesand insurance), BPO (busi-ness process outsourcing)and hospitality sectors withcompanies such as Zomato,Swiggy and Dunzo as clients,"the release said.

Airtel's scale and digitalcapabilities around distribu-tion and payment can drivegrowth for startups that facemultiple challenges in scalingup, said Airtel Chief ProductOfficer Adarsh Nair.

The acquisitionof Vahan is apart of Airtel'sStartupAcceleratorProgram tosupport thegrowth of early-stage Indiantech startups

SBI posts six-fold rise in Q2 profit at Rs 3,375 crPTI n NEW DELHI

The country's largest lenderSBI on Friday reported a near-ly six-fold jump in itsSeptember quarter consolidat-ed net profit at Rs 3,375.40crore, prominently aided by apartial stake sale in its lifeinsurance venture.

The bank's net profit was Rs576.46 crore in the July-September period of the pre-vious fiscal.

State Bank of India's (SBI)total income on a consolidat-ed basis rose to Rs 89,347.91crore in the quarter underreview, compared to Rs79,302.72 crore in the year-agoperiod, the bank said in a reg-ulatory filing.

"Exceptional items repre-sent net profit of Rs 3,190.97crore on sale of partial invest-ment in SBI Life InsuranceCompany. Consequently, theholding of SBI in the subsidiaryhas reduced to 57.60 per centfrom 62.10 per cent," it said.

SBI sold 4.5 per cent stake inSBI Life Insurance inSeptember as part of its effortto increase public float as perthe regulation.

On standalone basis, thebank's net profit for theSeptember quarter rose near-

ly three-fold to Rs 3,011.73crore as against Rs 944.87crore in the correspondingthree months a year ago.

Standalone income came inat Rs 72,850.78 crore duringJuly-September, against Rs66,607.98 crore a year ago.

Net interest income, or thecore income, rose 17 per centyear-on-year to Rs 24,600crore, surpassing the Rs23,075-crore estimate.

The asset quality of the bankimproved with gross non-per-forming assets (NPAs) decliningto 7.19 per cent of gross advancesas on September 30, 2019, from9.95 per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs or bad loans toodeclined to 2.79 per cent ofadvances from 4.84 per cent inthe year-ago period.

As a result, gross NPAs inabsolute terms reduced to Rs1.61 lakh crore from Rs 2.05 lakhcrore in the year-ago quarter.

Similarly, provision for badloans declined to Rs 11,396.87crore as compared to Rs10,381.31 crore in the samequarter a year ago.

With regard to gross slip-page, the bank said, it hasdeclined to Rs 8,805 croreduring the quarter from Rs10,725 crore in the year-agoperiod.

The bank's net profit was Rs 576.46crore in the July-September period ofthe previous fiscal

PTI n MUMBAI

Domestic equity benchmarksSensex and Nifty settled a tadhigher after a choppy sessionon Friday amid mixed domes-tic cues.

The 30-share Sensex swungover 523 points before settling37.67 points, or 0.10 per cent,higher at 39,058.06. It hit anintra-day high of 39,241.61and a low of 38,718.27.

The broader NSE Niftyclosed at 11,583.90, up by just1.30 points or 0.01 per cent.

Yes Bank was the top gain-er in the Sensex pack, followedby SBI which rallied 7.19 percent after the lender reporteda nearly six-fold jump in itsconsolidated net profit for thesecond quarter endedSeptember.

ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma,TCS, HCL Tech, Maruti,Bharti Airtel and Infosys toorose up to 3.18 per cent.

On the other hand, TataMotors, Vedanta, HDFC,

Kotak Bank, Hero MotoCorpand NTPC tumbled up to4.87 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai, Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul ended on amixed note.

Equites in Europe weretrading in the red in theirrespective early deals.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated 12 paise to70.90 against the US dollarintra-day.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, slipped0.18 per cent to USD 61.56 perbarrel.

The 30-shareSensex swungover 523 pointsbefore settling37.67 points, or0.10 per cent,higher at39,058.06

Sensex, Nifty endmarginally higher;SBI rallies 7 pc

Indian real estate attracts $ 3.8 bn PE PTI n BENGALURU

India's real estate marketattracted USD 3.8 billion privateequity investment from Januaryto September 2019, a nearly 19per cent yearly rise, accordingto research by ANAROCKProperty Consultants.

Private equity investmentswere over USD 3.2 billion incorresponding period of 2018.

Commercial sector com-prised 79 per cent overallshare, attracting close to USDthree billion funds, saidShobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO,ANAROCK Capital.

"Foreign private equity fundscontinued to dominate the realestate investment scene. Topinvestors included Blackstone,Hines, Ascendas andBrookefield," Agarwal said.

Residential sector attractedUSD 295 million during

January-September 2019 againstUSD 210 million a year ago.

Retail and logistics & ware-housing saw total inflows ofapproximately USD 260 mil-lion and USD 200 million in2019, respectively.

MMR (MumbaiMetropolitan Region) sawmaximum inflows at USD 1.59billion this year, recording ayearly increase of three percent.

Pune saw more than 200 percent yearly rise in investmentsfrom USD 125 million in 2018to nearly USD 390 million in2019.

Tata Steel, six other firms join hands with WEF PTI n NEW DELHI

Seven mining and metals com-panies, including Tata Steelfrom India, have partneredwith the World EconomicForum (WEF) to accelerateresponsible sourcing of rawmaterials with the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF).

Geneva-based WEF, whichdescribes itself as a public-pri-vate partnership for interna-tional cooperation, said thenew 'Mining and MetalsBlockchain Initiative' willexplore the building of ablockchain platform to addresstransparency, the track andtracing of materials and thereporting of carbon emissionsor increasing efficiency.

Besides Tata Steel, otherfounding members of the ini-tiative are AntofagastaMinerals, Eurasian ResourcesGroup Sarl, Glencore, Klockner

& Co, Minsur SA and AngloAmerican/De Beers (Tracr).

The initiative will worktowards experimenting,designing and deployingblockchain solutions that willaccelerate responsible sourc-ing and sustainability prac-tices.

These companies will poolresources and cost, increasespeed-to-market and improveindustry-wide trust that cannotbe achieved by acting individu-ally. It aims to be a neutralenabler for the industry, address-ing the lack of standardizationand improving efficiency.

The intention is to send outa signal of inclusivity andcollaboration across theindustry. The group will lookto develop joint proof-of-con-cepts for an inclusiveblockchain platform. Overtime, this could help theindustry collectively increasetransparency, efficiency orimprove reporting of carbonemissions.

The WEF has offered itsplatform and expertise to helpindustry leaders better under-stand the impact and potentialof blockchain technology. It

will provide guidance on gov-ernance issues related to thedelivery of a neutral industryplatform and the expansion ofmembers.

Tata Steel's MD and CEO TV Narendran said, "As aresponsible player in the min-ing and metals industry, we arecommitted to building a sus-tainable future.

"We believe enhanced col-laboration across the industryto facilitate collective action,leveraging technology toreduce emissions, and con-serving the environment is

imperative and critical in ourjourney towards attaining acarbon-neutral future."

WEF's Blockchain ProjectLead Nadia Hewett said, "Thedistr ibuted nature ofblockchain technology makesit the ultimate networkedtechnology. Forward-thinkingorganizations are starting tounderstand the disruptivepotential of blockchain tosolve pain points, but arenow also recognizing thatindustry-wide collaborationaround blockchain is neces-sary."

Competitors within the sameindustry who research andexperiment with blockchainor distributed ledger technol-ogy are increasingly exploringconsortium formation to accel-erate and strengthenblockchain technology knowl-edge and potential research anddevelopment.

The initiative will work towardsexperimenting, designing anddeploying blockchain solutions thatwill accelerate responsible sourcingand sustainability practices

13 lakh new jobscreated in Aug:ESIC payroll dataPTI n NEW DELHI

Around 13 lakh jobs were cre-ated in August, lower than14.49 lakh in the previousmonth (July), according to thepayroll data of Employees'State Insurance Corporation(ESIC).

Gross enrolments of newsubscribers with the ESICwere 1.49 crore during 2018-19, the National StatisticalOffice (NSO) said in areport.

It also showed that duringSeptember 2017 to August2019, around 2.97 crore newsubscribers joined the ESICscheme.

The NSO report is basedon the payroll data of newsubscribers of various socialsecurity schemes run by theESIC, retirement fund bodyEPFO and the Pension FundRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA).

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dailypioneer

Be yourself and do not let anything stop you. If youwant to choose a different path, just do it. Ireceived a lot of flak for wearing shorts and playingKabaddi during a time when girls were notexpected to be seen participating in anything apartfrom what was believed to be ‘suitable for thefemale’. I didn’t let society’s conservative ideals getto me and I would advise the same to the youthtoday. Just be yourself unapologetically

MAJOR USHA SHREE (RETD)DIRECTOR, MILITARY TRAINING TSWRAFPDCW

I believe entrepreneurship is the way to go forwomen. Even if faced by initial resistance, theirsuccess will only result as a source of pride forfamilies in the long run and they must focus onthat. They handle so many responsibilities at thesame time that the mind of a woman is alreadycapable of tackling multiple challenges thatmight arise in the world of entrepreneurship

AGNELO RAJESHENTREPRENEUR

SaturdayOctober 26, 2019

Women’s guideTO SUCCESS

Women empowerment canstart with something as singular

as a simple speech. Imaginewhat can be achieved with aday-long event dedicated to

providing a platform forunderstanding how to make

work and life better for women,finds ANUSHKA PRADEEP

o everything, keepexperimentinguntil you find yourpassion. It’s onlywhen you experi-ence different

things can you recognisewhere your interest lies,” saidLakshmi Manchu, popularactress and TV host whenasking about finding one’spurpose in life. She was talk-ing at the 5th Indian womennetwork (IWN) organised bythe Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) at the HotelTrident, Hitec City onThursday.

It was a day dedicated toall the women across thecountry with the event’stheme being ‘Rise above’.Governor of Telangana DrTamilisai Soundararajan,

Tollywood director NandiniReddy, Additional commis-sioner Shika Goel, wereamong several other dignitieswho graced the event.

The inaugural sessioncomprised of a welcomeaddress by the Chairwomanof IWN Telangana SwathiKantamani followed by a spe-cial address by CII TelanganaChairman D. Raju andShikha Goel. Joel R. Reifman,US Consulate General ofHyderabad offered the keynote address. In herInaugural address DrTamilisai Soundararajan setthe mood for the entire eventwith her statement, “Wewomen already have what ittakes, within us,” referring tothe strength and potentialhidden in every woman.

DTaking steps towards chang-ing the notion of what "agirl is supposed to be like"

Speaking at the event,Lakshmi opened up about thepressures and expectationsthat were a part and parcel ofbeing the daughter of famousactor Mohan Babu apart fromthe obvious benefits. The pop-ularity was ‘a double edgedsword’ as she calls it. Whileher status provided her withexclusive access to almost any-thing she wanted to do, shegrew up in a shielded environ-ment in order to be the personshe was expected to be notonly because she was the sisterand daughter of prominentactors but because she was agirl, which in turn restrictedher from all the access shecould avail. It was once she leftto America that her lifechanged. Her life on the otherend of the world provided her

with a change from the stereo-typical narrative that she wastied down with. This was thetime her career took off aswell. She then decided that shewould take the first steptowards changing the notionof what ‘a girl is supposed tobe like’ and change the narra-tive for her daughter as wellwhich she advised the audi-ence to do as well.

Entrepreneurship is the way to go

At the event, members ofITC Vivel came forward toconduct a session to helpwomen become aware of therights that they are entitledto. The ‘know your rights’initiative by Vivel is designedto raise awareness about thelegal rights that empower andsafeguard women. Throughtheir motto #absamjhau-tanahinthey spread the word

of empowerment and lend ahand towards the making ofa gender-equal India.

Agnelo Rajesh, an entre-preneur, spoke about theinfluence of women in hisown life. He spoke about hisjourney from humble begin-nings to where he standstoday, all thanks to the factthat his family was led by awoman. In an exclusive con-versation with The Pioneerabout the struggles womenface in their careers, he said,“I believe entrepreneurship isthe way to go for women.Even if faced by initial resis-tance, their success will onlyresult as a source of pride forfamilies in the long run andthey must focus on that.They handle so many respon-sibilities at the same time thatthe mind of a woman isalready capable of tacklingmultiple challenges thatmight arise in the world of

entrepreneurship.”An intense panel discus-

sion followed post lunch withNandini Reddy and MajorUsha Shree (retd.) directorMilitary Training, TSWRAF-PDCW along with AsmitaMarwa, fashion designer. Thediscussion was moderated byPurnima Kamble, convenor,policy advocacy, IWNTelangana.

Major Usha currentlyheads a project by theTelangana state governmentto help underprivileged kidsmake their mark in theArmy. The panel delved intotheir lives and what it tookfor them to reach where theyare today. “I come from ahumble family and my jour-ney to make it to the creamof the Army industry wasanything but easy. It was onlymy passion, and presence ofmind that kept me going,”Usha said.

People were surprised tofind a woman director:Nandini Reddy

Nandini Reddy said, “Irealised I was not cut out tofit in to the typical frame-work of the society when Iwas studying political scienceat JNU. Whenever someonetried to fit me into a box, myfirst instinct was always toget out of the space they putme in.” When asked aboutwhat inspired her into step-ping into the film industry,she replied, “I never thoughtthat I would turn to this field.Directing was in fact an acci-dental venture. I just knewthat I had a love for storiessince my childhood. I wasalways fascinated by theAmar Chitra Katha series,and even now I have theentire compilation with me.Directing was the means Ichose to narrate stories to thepeople. Also, I never knewinitially that I was among thefirst set of female directors inthe industry back then.People were surprised to finda woman director and butmost of them were support-ive.”

Asmita Marwa was amongthe designers who played acrucial role in reinventing theconcepts of stylists anddesigners for the film indus-try. “Back then only costumedesigners existed in the filmindustry. Though I happenedto make my way to the movieindustry by co-incidence, theprocess of making my markin the industry did takeeffort. After doing severalrunway shows and experienc-ing the glam of fashion andfilm industry, I am back towhere my roots are. Myinterest in Kalamkari cloth-ing marked my footing in the

fashion industry back then,and now I am returning onceagain to a space where thepriority of my profession isdesigning clothing of myinterest and the yearn to cre-ate more eco friendly andsustainable clothing.”

They also discussed vari-ous social issues faced bywomen including workplacebias, taboos faced by womenin general. “But it is also afact that the world hasbecome more welcoming towomen in this day and age,”said Nandini Reddy in con-clusion to the panel discus-sion. Major U.K. Sharma, asan advice to the next genera-tion, exclusively spoke to thisnewspaper as to what itwould take to make it big.“Be yourself and do not letanything stop you. If youwant to choose a differentpath, just do it. I received alot of flak for wearing shortsand playing Kabaddi during atime when girls were notexpected to be seen partici-pating in anything apart fromwhat was believed to be ‘suit-able for the female’. I didn’tlet society’s conservativeideals get to me and I wouldadvise the same to the youthtoday. Just be yourselfunapologetically.”

Pallavi Rao and YogeshAgiwal were among otherspeakers at the event. WhilePallavi motivated the audi-ence with the story of herjourney and ordeals, Agiwalgave the audience a pep talkon navigating the work envi-ronment and home. Severalunsung heroes were felicitat-ed at the event along withother talks and speeches allensuring that the members ofthe audience left with a smileon their face and a renewedstrength in their minds.

Bodybuilding at its bestThe amount ofdedication and

discipline that goes intobuilding one's body is

all too familiar,especially for many

who buy exerciseequipment or gym

membership just to letit go waste. MeetHyderabad-based

bodybuilder Altaf Khan.He has managed toturn his passion forbodybuilding into a

career, finds V SATEESH REDDY

odybuilder Altaf Khanis unstoppable in win-ning laurels. He hasalready won manymedals at many nation-al and state levels and

back home too, he has ruled theMr Telangana and Mr Hyderabadcompetitions for two years. Hewon the silver medal for MrTelangana in 2018 and this year hewon the gold in the same competi-tion. Similarly, he won gold medalsin the Mr Hyderabad competitionfor 2018 and 2019. Now, he is get-ting trained under C. Rahul, who isthe first bodybuilder fromTelangana to win a bronze medalin the world championship held inThailand in 2016.

Speaking to The Pioneer, Altafsays, “I started practising body-building from Class X inspired bymy brother’s daily workout. Myfamily members also encouragedme to continue my passion.”

Altaf wakes up at 4 am everydayand is at the gym by 4:30 am wherehe exercises for 45 minutes on car-dio and 15 minutes on abs. “Myworkout week starts from Monday.On Monday, I workout on chestand back followed by shoulder andarms on Tuesday. I dedicate everyWednesday for legs and Thursdaysfor chest and back. Friday and

Saturday are left for shoulders,arms and legs. Sunday is for com-plete rest,” he shares.

Food is an important part of thebodybuilding regimen. His firstmeal consists of five egg whites anda scoop of protein powder. Amongthe four meals he has in a day, healso consumes oats along with 10egg whites.

Studying B.Com in Sultan-Ul-Uloom Educational Society, Altafsaid that hard work, dedicationand patience are key to success inbodybuilding. “Rahul is the onlyreason for my success in the field.Without him, I’m nothing,” heshares.

Bodybuilding is a costly affairbut the dividends are high. “Mymonthly expenditure for the gymcomes around Rs 25,000 to Rs28,000 including food and pro-teins. I wish to reach new heightsin bodybuilding with the supportof my well-wishers. The sport isgaining prominence in many citiesin the country includingHyderabad. There are manyyoungsters who are coming for-ward to take up bodybuilding astheir career option,” he says.

“My ultimate goal is to win theworld championship for India inbodybuilding,” he signs off with asmile.

B

Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan

10

Hyderabad Saturday October 26, 2019

l Deepthi Ganesh

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l Sudiptal Supraja

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FUN TIME

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

what’s brewing?PARTY

l Kissago Theatre isstaging a play Chuhalon November 26 atPhoenix Arena from8 pm. The storybegins whenSudheer comes to‘see’ Aarti formarriage and goeson to evaluate,through these twocharacters, the existentialist tussle between whatone has to be vs what one wants to be, how onechooses to live vs how one wishes to live.

THE BIG SHORT l CinephilesFilm Club will bescreening themovie The BigShort atLamakaan onOctober 30 from7 pm. The filmis based on the2010 book, TheBig Short: Insidethe DoomsdayMachine, byMichael Lewis showing how the financial crisisof 2007–2008 was triggered by the UnitedStates housing bubble.

CITY GUIDE

lGoethe-Zentrum incollaborationwith Salar JungMuseum isconducting aphotographyexhibition, ‘ThePower ofEmotions' till

October 31 atSalar JungMuseumbetween 10 amand 5 pm.

ART AAND CCULTURE

CHALAM'S MAIDANAMlSamahaaraTheatre Co-operative isstaging a play,Chalam'sMaidanam onNovember 2 atPhoenix Arenafrom 7.30pm. It isone of the mostfamous and mostcontroversial of Chalam's novels, dramatises hisideas on marriage, freedom and the moral issuesinvolved in them.

COMEDY

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

COMEDY CRACKERSlFunny side up inassociation withComedy Central Indiapresents a new materialnoght show —Comedy Crackers —with Hyderabad's veryown Rohit Swain andSaikiran where theyperform many of theirnew jokes some good,some bad, mostlyinteresting.At CLOwork tomorrowat 11.30 am

POWER OF EMOTIONS

lAn NGO,Cultivating Art isconducting thesecond edition ofHyderabad OpenArt Competitionon November 10at Phoenix Arenafrom 10 amonwards. It is a platform to encourage everyone topractice art, explore ideas from school children,encourage all budding artists.

OPEN ART COMPETITION

CHUHAL

l NEB Sports Entertainment in association withIDBI Federal Life Insurance is conducting the thirdedition of Hyderabad Half Marathon on November3 at Gachibowli Stadium. Pullela Gopichand is theface of the event.

HALF MARATHON

PETEX INDIA

l India’s largest exhibition on pet care products,Petex India 2019, will be held at HICC from November1 to November 3 between 10 am and 8 pm.

SPLENDOURAND BEAUTY

City designer Deepthi Ganesh showcased her latestwinter/festive bridal couture collection 2019 atIndia Runway Week, Delhi. She displayed the

recreation of an exotic royal Indian era of grandeur,splendor and beauty of royal Indian palaces amidst

fashion lovers. The collection also exhibited finetechniques of motifs, embroidery, embossed

3D embroideries and beautiful coloursincluding rose gold and beige.

lNe

ha

roducer Dil Raju’s wishof seeing Adhe NuvvuAdhe Nenu with NagaChaitanya in the leadmight not be a realityafter all. If reports are to

be believed, the actor, who hasturned extremely choosy after themassive success of Majili, isn’tpleased with certain elements in thesecond half of the script. Debutantdirector Sasi has been fine-tuningthe script for the past six months,attending to whatever suggestions

Chay made. However, thetweaks haven’t turned

up to the satisfac-tion of the actor,

who, accordingto the

grapevine,wantseverythingto be per-fect at thescriptlevel. Alsohe hasn’t

had muchsuccess with

first-timedirectors in the

past, so he does-n’t want to put his

foot in the wrong placeagain. Left with no option,

Raju, it is believed, is in a dilemmawhether to proceed with the pro-ject or not.

To rewind a bit, Adhe NuvvuAdhe Nenu is the same film thatthe Tollywood heavyweightlaunched with Ashok Galla, sonof TDP MP Jay Galla, lastDasara, but called off soonafter due to reasons best keptsecret.

et to don khaki for the firsttime in his career for his nextwith debutant Pradeep Varma,Sree Vishnu has begun exten-sive prepping for the film.Inspired from the lives of many

eminent cops, the as-yet-untitled film willbe shot like a thriller, but being low onheavy-duty action sequences. The filmingwill kick off with a schedule inVisakhapatnam next month. It will beshot in forests of AP and Hyderabad overthe next four months.

Vishnu, who is hot off the success ofBrochevarevaru Raa, will be seen as a copwho moves through the ranks. Thisrequired him to put on four variations inhis looks. “The shoot will begin with theportions related to the circle inspector forwhich I need to put on weight. My weightgenerally hovers around 75 to 76 kg. I’vedecided to bulk up till 85 kg for the CIpart. Right now, I’m 83. In another weekmostly I will achieve the desired look.After shooting for the CI portions, I willgradually shed weight in a phased manneras I need to look like a middle-aged manfor some parts of the film. For the SI por-tions of the film I will be around 70-71kg,” he tells The Pioneer about his processand how he has been studying English copfilms to get into the groove. He also told

us about his meeting with crime branchofficials to get the nuances of his partright.

“I’ve recently approached the crimebranch commissioner to lodge a com-plaint against some miscreants who’vecreated my fake Facebook and Instagrampages. Over the course of my interaction,I’ve mentioned about my cop film and hedirected me to some officers from thedepartment. They’ve been extremelycooperative in answering all my queries.They’ve become my friends now. Frommy interactions I realised how tough thework is and how it tests the patience andperseverance of everyone who works forthe police department. There is assertive-ness in being a cop that comes from prideof the work. Hopefully, I can put that togood use in the film,” he says with a smile.

Being bankrolled by M.L.V. Satya-narayana under Lakshya Productions, thefilm has music by Mani Sharma, whilesenior cameraman Shekar V. Joseph is thecinematographer.

Hyderabad Saturday October 26, 2019

BASED ON SAHITYAAKADEMI-WINNINGWRITER POOMANI’SBOOK VEKKAI, THEFILM IS ABOUTFARMER SIVASAMIAND HIS FIGHT TOSAVE HIS LAND

S

11

tollywood

eading producerSuresh Babu onThursday eveningannounced thathis superstarbrother Venkatesh

will headline the Teluguremake of Asuran. Theannouncement assumed sig-nificance as the actor isattached to star in TharunBhascker’s next film but therehave been no major develop-

ments about the film since itsannouncement, that wasmade on his father Dr DRamanaidu’s birth anniver-sary earlier this June.

As far as Asuran remake isconcerned, the SureshProductions chief will beshepherding it along with itsoriginal producer Kalaipuli S.Thanu. Released earlier thismonth in Tamil Nadu,Asuran, starring Dhanush and

Manju Warrier, has set thecash registers ringing andcontinues to draw good foot-fall. Based on SahityaAkademi-winning writerPoomani’s book Vekkai, thefilm, an action-drama, isabout farmer Sivasami (playedby Dhanush) and his fight tosave his land from the mostaffluent family in the village.

Suresh hasn’t revealed whowill direct the film. “It’s not

easy to direct a Vetrimaaranfilm. Frame-to-frame remakeof Asuran will spell doom asthe director needs to tailorthe story to suit Telugu sensi-bilities and handle it in a waythat the tension is felt allthroughout its running time.Suresh understands what heneeds to do with the film. Hehas some names in mind andwill take a call soon,” said asource. — NG

Asuran directed by director Vetrimaaranwas released recently and has received bothcritical and commercial success. Venkatesh

plans to adapt the film for Telugu audienceto recreate the film’s success

L

P

VENKY to starin ASURAN remake

SREE VISHNUjourneys into lifeof a copAll roles need prep butsome need more thanothers. From watchingcop movies to meetingreal cops, Sree Vishnugets ready for his rolein his next film, findsNAGARAJ GOUD

ctor Vijay Deverakonda’s firstproduction venture MeekuMathrame Chepta is gearing upfor release soon. The team is

busy promoting the film. On Thursdayevening, the actor invited 200 of his fansto launch a music video from the filmthat releases on November 1.

The event took place at the AMBCinemas in Hyderabad with a lot of fan-fare. Vijay was also seen dancing withhis fans while Nawab rap gang set thebeat for the crowd.

Speaking about the video, VijayDeverakonda said, “This one was quite afun video but a lot of hard work wentinto it. Our choreographer Vijay has put

in more effort than even me. Tharunand Abhinav Gomatam struggled tomatch the steps with me but, in the end,it came out quite well! I want to thankAditya Music for buying the rights forthe film’s music. Also, I thank UmeshGupta garu for being here and his coop-eration has been great! The score byShiva and the performances of Tharunand Abhinav are going to be memorable.I am sure you all will love the film.”Umesh Gupta of Aditya Music said, “Wehad released Geetha Govindam andTaxiwaala albums and now we are gladto now release Meeku MathrameCheptha. I hope this film will be a suc-cess!”

Sriram's breakupsong to highlightTholubommalata

ith the songSamajavaragamana inAllu Arjun-starrerAla Vaikuntha puram-

lo emerging as the most likedTelugu song on streamingsites, Sid Sriram has lent hisvocals for a song inTholubommalata, starringveteran actor RajendraPrasad, Viswant andHarshitha. ManasaraManasara is the numbercomposed by Suresh Bobbilliwhile Chaitanya Prasadpenned the lyrics. Expressinghis happiness over the song,Sriram said, “The beautifullines and soothing musichelped me in getting the songright.”

Film’s director ViswanathMaganti promised thatSriram’s song will be a high-light in the film. “It comesafter the breakup scenebetween Viswant andHarshitha and would help theaudience to immerse them-selves in the film,” the direc-tor said, adding that that the

film boasts of four othernumbers sung by VijayYesudaas, Chinmayi,Anurag Kulakarni, YazinNazir, Sameera Bharadwajand Hemachandra.

Presently, in post-pro-duction, producerDuragaprasad Maganti isplanning to release theflick next month. He saidthat the film is a dramathat unfolds acrossthree generations of afamily.

W

DIL RAJUdrops AdheNuvvu Adhe

Nenu?A

Deverakonda fanslaunch music videoNUVVE HERO

sport 12HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 26, 2019

PTI n BENGALURU

KL Rahul presented him-self as a potent keeper-batsman option with a

strong show while birthday-boyAbhimanyu Mithun savoureda rare hat-trick as Karnatakalifted the Vijay Hazare Trophytitle with a 60-run win overTamil Nadu in the rain-hitfinal at M Chinnaswamy onFriday.

Rahul remained in thethick of things after hosts elect-ed to field under overcast con-ditions, contributing in dis-missal of four Tamil Nadubatsmen.

Mithun returned with hisfirst ever five-wicket haul in

List A games, which includeda hat-trick in the final of theinnings. He cleaned up MShahrukh Khan, MMohammed and MuruganAshwin as Tamil Nadu foldedfor 252 in 49.5 overs.

The MSK Prasad-led selec-tion panel on Thursday pickedRahul in India’s Twenty20squad for the Bangladesh seriesalong with Rishabh Pant andSanju Samson.

Prasad said they are willingto give Pant a long rope despitehis below-par show of late butRahul by keeping the wickets inthe semi-final and final hasmade a case for himself, look-ing at the future.

His batting talent has never

been doubted and in the final,which had to be called off dueto rain, Rahul scored anunbeaten 52 off 72 balls inKarnataka’s total of 146 for onein 23 overs.

He lost his opening partnerDevdutt Paddikal (11) butadded 112 runs with MayankAgarwal for the second wick-et, keeping Karnataka ahead allthe time in the contest.

It will be interesting to seeif KL Rahul can go the RahulDravid way as the latteremerged a wicket-keeper bats-man after the 1999 World Cup,where had to keep wicketsbecause of an injury to NayanMongia but from 2002 becamea regular keeper-batsman, giv-

ing much needed balance toIndia’s ODI side under SouravGanguly.

Eventually, Karnataka weredeclared winner in the final onVJD method (used in domes-tic cricket in rain-affectedgames), giving the hosts theirfourth title on domestic ODItournament. They had won in2013-14, 2014-15 and 2017-18.

Tamil Nadu, who havebecome champions five timesin the past, struggled to put afighting total with onlyAbhuinav Mukund (86) andyoung Baba Aparajith (66)managing fighting half-cen-turies.

Vijay Shankar (38) andShahrukh (27) got starts butcould not convert them intobog knocks as Mithun ranthrough the middle and lower-order.

Karnataka captain ManishPandey was naturally delight-ed.

“We are very happy withthe results. The mindset of theboys is they want to win everymatch they play. Hopefully wewill continue doing well,” hesaid.

Tamil Nadu skipper DineshKarthik too expressed happi-ness for the way they playedthroughout the tournament.

“I think we played terrificcricket, one bad day doesn’tmake a bad team. This shouldgive confidence going into theT20s and the Ranji Trophy,” hesaid.

AFP n DHAKA

Members of theBangladesh cricket

team joined a training campfor next month’s tour of Indiaon Friday, formally endingtheir strike for better pay andbenefits.

The players called offtheir strike late onWednesday as the BangladeshCricket Board accepted mostof their demands, includinga 50 percent pay hike for first-class players, expansion ofnational pay contracts and ashare in BCB’s revenue.

Announced by nationalTest and Twenty20 captainShakib Al Hasan, the strikehad cast doubt onBangladesh’s tour of India fea-turing three Twenty20 inter-

nationals and two Tests.Shakib had to skip the

opening training session dueto illness but other playersjoined the session, attendedby South African head coachRussell Domingo.

Former New Zealandcaptain Daniel Vettori alsojoined as Bangladesh’s spinbowling coach on Friday,replacing India’s Sunil Joshi.

Vettori, the Black Caps’record wicket-taker whoretired in 2015, will work for100 days leading up to nextyear’s World Twenty20 inAustralia.

The arrival of the newspin coach was eagerly wel-comed by Arafat Sunny, whowas recalled for the IndiaTwenty20s after three years inthe wilderness.

“As a left-arm spinner, Ialways followed his bowling.He is a great left-arm spinner.He is my coach now. Today ishis first day, so let’s see, wehave more practice sessionscoming,” said Sunny.

Sunny has not played forBangladesh since he was sus-pended during the 2016 ICCWorld Twenty20 for an ille-gal bowling action.

“He was an internation-al player and also did coach-ing in IPL. So maybe if I talkwith him and get some adviceon how I can improve, it willbe better for me,” Sunny said.

Bangladesh will starttheir India tour with the firstTwenty20 international inDelhi on November 3.

The team is expected todepart on October 30.

AFP n LAHORE

Newly-installed Pakistan captainBabar Azam admitted his team

will face a stern test during nextmonth’s tour of Australia, but vowedhis players will go for victory.

Azam last week replacedSarfaraz Ahmed, who was dumpedas skipper and left out of the squadfollowing the shocking 3-0 rout ofthe T20 side — ranked number onein the world — at the hands of aninexperienced Sri Lanka earlier thismonth.

He was also removed as Testskipper and was replaced by AzharAli.

Pakistan wil l play threeTwenty20 internationals in Sydney(November 3), Canberra (November5) and Perth (November 8). The twoTests will be in Brisbane (November21-25) and Adelaide (November29-December 03).

Azam, who will be country’syoungest skipper in Twenty20 crick-et at 25, said Australia will pose ahuge challenge.

“Every tour is tough andAustralia is always a challengingplace because of the extra bounce,but we will go for wins as we alwaysdo,” he said a day before the team’sdeparture.

Azam, the number one batsmanin Twenty20 rankings, said he feelshonoured to have the chance to leadhis country, 12 years after he entereda stadium as a ball picker.

“I am proud that now I am theskipper,” he said.

The Sri Lanka debacle, in whichhe managed scores of 13, three and27, did not appear to have dented hisconfidence.

“Don’t judge me on just threematches,” he said.

“I have toured Australia as skip-per of Pakistan Under-19 (2012) andwith the Pakistan team three yearsago, so I have experience of thoseconditions.”

Pakistan will also be withoutsenior stalwarts Shoaib Malik andMohammad Hafeez, who were notselected for the tour.

AFP n CAPE TOWN

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis on Fridaysaid that full-time appointments con-

cerning the national team’s coaching staff andselectors needed to be made urgently.

Speaking on the team’s return from athree-Test trouncing in India, Du Plessis saiduncertainty over key positions was “a massivered flag”.

Cricket South Africa fired coach OttisGibson, his back-up staff and the selectorsafter a poor World Cup campaign.

They announced a new structure head-ed by a director of cricket and a team direc-tor.

Former one-day international playerCorrie van Zyl and 37-year-old Enoch Nkwewere appointed in an interim capacity, withNkwe in charge of the team in India.

Du Plessis said he is committed to con-tinue as captain despite going through whathe described as “the toughest period in mycricket journey”.

But he said his own position and thoseof the other key posts “needs to be resolvedas soon as possible”.

“The most important thing right now isclarity,” he said.

“Someone needs to make decisions, thedirector of cricket first and then filter downso everyone else can make decisions,” headded.

Du Plessis also called for former playersto be involved with the national team.

“It’s obvious that we need to make moreuse of ex-players but it also comes with chal-lenges,” he said.

‘COPY AAND PPASTE’Du Plessis admitted that South Africa

had been outplayed in India and acknowl-edged that the team had lacked mentalstrength.

“It was obvious from the way we playedthe last Test match. We started really well butby being put under pressure for a long peri-od of time through the series, slowly but sure-ly we started playing worse.”

The South African captain said losing thetoss in all three Tests had made an alreadydifficult task almost impossible.

“Every Test match they bat first, theyscore 500, they declare when it’s dark, theyget three wickets when it’s dark and when daythree starts you are under pressure. It was likecopy and paste in every Test match.”

He repeated his call for the toss to bedone away with for Test matches.

“Then away teams will have a betterchance. In South Africa I don’t mind that,we bat on green tops anyway.”

IANS n CHENNAI

India bowling coach Bharat Arun believesthe team, at present, has a variety of great

options available in Ravichandran Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav whenit comes to spinners. Anyone of them canbe picked for a Test match depending uponthe conditions on offer.

In the recent series against South Africawhich India won 3-0, Ashwin and Jadejashowed their prowess by emerging out as theleading wicket-takers from both the sides.

Ashwin, who didn’t feature in WestIndies Test series, was brilliant with his skillsand picked up 15 wickets at an average of25.26 in his comeback series.

Jadeja, who has been a regular featureof the side in all the three formats in last twoyears, was equally effective as he scalped 13wickets, besides scoring 212 runs at an aver-age of 70.66.

Left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav,who has picked 24 wickets in the six Testshe has played so far, couldn’t get a gameagainst the Proteas. He got injured beforethe third Test and in his place ShahbazNadeem was included in the XI in Ranchi.

“He (Ashwin) is among the best spin-ners in the world, top class, and is approach-ing 400 Test wickets. In fact Ashwin wentto England and Australia as our No 1 spin-ner then ran into fitness issues,” Arun saidin an interview to The Hindu.

“Ravindra Jadeja grabbed his chance,giving us control with the ball, solidity withthe bat and fielding brilliantly. Away from

home, if we have to pick one of the two inthe eleven, it will be horses for courses look-ing at the conditions and the opposition.

“Then we have Kuldeep Yadav whopicked five with his wrist spin in his last Testin Sydney. We have an embarrassment ofriches,” he added.

The bowling coach also heaped prais-es on Umesh Shadav and Shami, who per-formed exceedingly well against SouthAfrica and played a crucial role in India’sfirst-ever series whitewash over the Proteas.

While Shami picked up 13 wickets inthe three Tests he played, Umesh scalped 11

wickets in the two games he played.“He’s (Umesh) strong and quick and

now he is bowling in better channels, mak-ing the batsman play around the off-stump. He’s got reverse swing, has a nastyshort ball. He and Shami, who is fast, accu-rate and dangerous, are a potent combina-tion,” said Arun.

“We not only have quality pace bowlersbut quality fast bowlers with different skillsets. And unlike in the past where we hadone or two exceptional bowlers, we nowhave a bunch of pacemen who can bowl atover 140 kmph,” he added.

PTI n KOLKATA

The BCCI president Sourav Gangulyon Friday said that Indian skipperVirat Kohli is open to the idea of play-

ing day-night Tests and it could be a real-ity in near future.

He had a meeting with Kohli inMumbai on Thursday where the idea wasfloated.

“I must say that Virat Kohli is agree-able to it. There are reports that he does notwant to play day-night Tests which is notthe fact. So once the captain of India isagreeable to it, life becomes a lot easier. Wewill see how we can push it. The gameneeds to forward,” Ganguly said during hisfelicitation by the CAB at the EdenGardens.

The former India captain had been avocal advocate of pink ball Test in order tobring back the spectators to the stadium.

“We all are thinking about this and wewill do something about it. I am a firmbeliever in Day Night Tests. I don’t knowwhen will that happen. But till the time Iam around, I will be pushing for it,”Ganguly said.

However it must be mentioned that ifGanguly’s tenure is not extended beyondJuly, the Day-Night Test might not be real-ity as India next play five-day games athome only in December 2020-January2021. The home Tests against Bangladeshare last for this season.

As a technical committee chairman,Ganguly in the past was a part of the deci-sion to have Duleep Trophy under lightswith pink ball. However the domesticbowlers had complaints about the qualityof the SG Test pink balls which were used.Also dew became a factor in the northernpart of India taking spinners completely outof equation.

From 2016-17 season, it was playedunder lights before being scrapped during

the ongoing season by the domestic crick-et operations team of the board.

At this point, even the Indian team isnot too keen on playing Day-Night Test

matches and they had rejected CricketAustralia’s offer during the last away series.

Ganguly reiterated the need to have arelook at the Conflict of Interest clause

which is making it very difficult for himto get quality cricketers on board.

"It definitely needs a re-look. We losea lot of quality cricketers because they are

involved in a lot of other things. Conflicthas to be sensible. Nothing is a conflict ifyou hold an administrator's role in theBCCI.

“We need to keep that simple and takeit forward. We don't want to lose the likesof VVS Laxman, Azharuddin, SachinTendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev orSunil Gavaskar helping the Indian crick-et. Realistic look needs to be taken.”

Asked whether he now is training hissights on the ICC chairman’s post, Gangulysaid: “It’s just two days since I was appoint-ed, let’s not look that far ahead.”

But he was ready to make it clear thathe is his own man contrary to popularbelief that some people in the old guard aretrying to influence him.

Ganguly also highlighted that Indiahave not won a world tournament for along time.

“A cricket nation is known by the num-ber of Tests and world tournaments won.It’s pretty simple as sometime we compli-cate the game too much. We try to dothings which don’t exist.

“The team has played well over the lastthree years as you can see we have not aworld tournament for last seven-eightseasons. But I’m sure there’s enough talentin the team to do that.”

Ganguly also spoke about the IPL andhow it has grabbed the eyeball.

“The IPL is probably is biggest leaguein the world. That two and half months isno way inferior to the English PremierLeague. In terms of TV rating and eyeballs.For me, it’s important to bring the systemback in plan all levels.”

Former India captain MohammedAzharuddin and VVS Laxman, both ofwhom had played some incredible knocksat the Eden Gardens, felicitated its favouriteson, presenting him with bouquets.

Ganguly was welcomed at the EdenGardens with giant placards of ‘Dadagiribegins once again’ and Sachin Tendulkar’siconic statement “When people throwstones at you, you turn them into mile-stones”.

Virat has agreed to play Day/Night Tests: Ganguly

New captainBabar up forAus challenge

Mithun, KL lead K’taka to Hazare title B’desh train for India tour

Spoilt for choice in spin dept: Arun Faf calls for coaching ‘clarity’