vol. 84 no. 78 established 1938 pages plus a copy of4-page

c m y k c m y k

Vol. 84 No. 78 Established 1938 | 24 PAGES PLUS A COPY OF 4-PAGE DC ESTATE | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I SATURDAY I 20 MARCH 2021

COUNTER POINT

Max: 34.4OCMin: 21.5OC RH: 33%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Partly cloudysky. Maximum/

Minimum temp. 36/21ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDESarvari; Uttarayana

Tithi: Phalguna ShuddhaSaptami full day

Star: Rohini till 4.42 pm Varjyam: 7.42 am to 9.30 am;

10.55 pm to 12.41 amDurmuhurtam: 6.23 am to

7.59 amRahukalam: 9 am to 10.30 am

HIJRI CALENDARSha’ban 6,1442 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.22 am

Zohar: 12.34 pmAsar: 4.44 pm

Maghrib: 6.33 pmIsha: 7.40 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.27 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.19 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 10.47 AMMOONSET NA

L. VENKAT RAM REDDY I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The state government isseriously considering aproposal to stop offlineclasses and promote allstudents to higher class-es without exams tillClass 9. This is in view ofthe fresh rise in Covid-19cases and the disruptioncaused to the academicschedule in the 2020-21academic year.

According to officialsources, Chief MinisterK. Chandrashekar Raowould make an annou-ncement on this in theAssembly on March 22.

All schools had remain-ed closed from March2020 until February 2021following the Corona-virus-linked lockdown.The schools were reopen-ed in February for stu-dents from Class 6 to 10as was directed by thestate government.

Students were confinedto their homes, attendingonline classes for mostpart of the academic year2020-21. The governmentallowed schools to con-duct offline classes for

Class 9 and 10 studentsfrom February 1 and forClass 6, 7 and 8 studentsfrom February 24.

However, with freshrise in Coronavirus casesin schools especially ingovernment-run schools,

the government is plan-ning to order closure ofthese institutions againand promote students tohigher classes.

■ Page 2: Govt keen onholding SSC, Inter exams

State may cancelexams till Class 9Favours promoting all students to higherclasses in view of increasing Covid cases

HARLEEN MINOCHA &BALU PULIPAKA | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

Twenty-two studentsfrom the tribal welfareresidential school inRajendranagar testedpositive for Covid-19 onFriday. Besides, the STBoys Hostel welfare offi-cer and watchman alsocontracted the disease.

Fresh cases of Covid-19among students werereported from Nagarkur-nool, Rajanna-Siricilla,Adilabad, and Jagitialdistricts.

According to reports, 26

students tested positivein a social welfare resi-dential school in Jagtialdistrict, as also 15 chil-dren from a KasturbaGandhi Girls School inRajanna-Sircilla district.

Four children from twoprivate schools in Adila-bad district were alsoreported to have testedpositive for Covid-19. Thetotal for the day stood at67 cases. Till Thursday,174 children attendingclasses school havebecome Covid infected.

■ Page 2: Random testsrevealed Covid infection

More studentscontract Covid

MADDY DEEKSHITH I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

With no candidate secur-ing more than 50 per centof votes in the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahbub-nagar and Nalgonda-W a r a n g a l - K h a m m a mgraduate constituencies ofthe Legislative Council,the Election Commissionhas begun counting thesecond preference votesfor both the seats on thethird consecutive day ofcounting of votes for theelections.

In Nalgonda, of the total3,87,969 polled votes,3,66,333 were found validand 21,636 invalid. Thehalf-way mark is about 1.8lakh votes, which the win-ning candidate has tocross.

The counting of validfirst preference votes wascompleted in seven roundsin which TRS candidatePalla Rajeshwar Reddywas ahead with 1,10,840votes while independentcandidate TeenmarMallanna was placed sec-ond with 83,290.

This put RajeshwarReddy ahead by 27,500votes against his nearestrival in first preferencevotes. In the due process,55 out of 71 candidateswith the least votes wereeliminated and the TRScandidate was leadingwith 1,11,190 votes whileMallanna got 83,629.

Telangana Jana Samiticandidate Prof. Kodan-daram who got 70,472 votesturned out to be crucial todecide the winner.

■ Page 2: 43,000 votesdeclared invalid in MLC poll

VANI, PALLA LEADMLC RACE, THIRDPREFERENTIALVOTES TURN KEY

PAWAN BALI I DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 19

US secretary of defenceLloyd James Austin IIIon Friday reached NewDelhi for a three-dayofficial visit, at a timewhen India and the USare concerned over anincreasingly assertiveChina in the region.

This is the first high-profile contact betweenthe Joe Biden adminis-tration and the Indianpolitical leadership. Thevisit is seen significantas Austin included Indiais his first foreign tourwith the US seekingallies to counter the Chi-nese.

He called on PrimeMinister NarendraModi and conveyedBiden’s greetings.

A PMO statement saidthe Austin reiteratedWashington's continued

commitment towardsstrengthening the bilat-eral defence ties and“expressed strongdesire” to furtherenhance the strategicpartnership for peace,stability and prosperityin the Indo-Pacificregion and beyond.

He was scheduled tomeet National SecurityAdviser Ajit Doval onFriday and hold bilater-al talks with defenceminister Rajnath Singhon Saturday.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The real estate, informa-tion technology and ind-ustries sectors remainthe top job providers inthe state, according tothe Socio-economic Sur-vey Outlook 2021 tabledby the state governmentin the LegislativeAssembly on Friday.

Medchal-Malkajgiri dis-

trict topped in attractingindustries. Ranga Reddydistrict topped in job cre-ation and investments.The survey noted that theCoronavirus-linked lock-down and subsequentslowdown of the econo-my had adversely affect-ed job creation in 2020-21.

The real estate, IT andindustries sectors togeth-er provided employmentto 1,24,829 people in 2020-

21, significantly lowercompared with the cre-ation of 3,95,964 jobs in2018-19 and 1,64,023 in2019-20. The decrease in2019-20 is attributed tothe global economic slow-down. Pharma and tex-tile sectors together pro-vided employment to9,371 people in 2020-21.

■ Page 2: Ranga Reddygets lion’s share of funds

Real estate, IT, industries topjob providers for Telangana

US def sec listsstrategic ties

LEFT IN KERALAOFFERS PENSIONFOR HOUSEWIVESGILVESTER ASSARY I DCTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MARCH 19

The ruling Left Democr-atic Front (LDF) inKerala, which is makingan all-out effort to retainpower in the state, hascome out with a slew ofpromises in its manifestoincluding 20 lakh jobs forthe educated unemplo-yed, pension for home-makers, and investmentworth `10,000 crore inthe next five years.

The state is scheduledto go to polls for the 140member assembly in asingle phase on April 6.

The LDF promised toimplement a pensionscheme for home-makersin recognition of theimportance of domesticchores.

The LDF, however, didnot give details of theamount of pension orany criteria for it.

New Delhi, March 19: TheSupreme Court on Fridaysought to know from a peti-tioner-NGO whether thestate legislatures have theright to express their opin-ion or not on central lawsand asked it to do somemore research on the sub-ject.

The top court was hearinga PIL filed by an NGO chal-lenging legislative compe-tence of different StateAssemblies in passing reso-lutions against central lawslike Citizenship Amendm-ents Act (CAA) and thethree farm laws saying itfalls under the Union Listof the Seventh Schedule.

The NGO has made theCentre and the Speakers ofthe Legislative Assembliesof Punjab, Rajasthan,Kerala and West Bengalparty in the petition, sayingthe apex court is alreadyseized of multiple petitionschallenging these laws

passed by Parliament.A bench of Chief Justice

Bobde and Justices A.S.Bopanna and V. Ramasubr-amanian adjourned thehearing on the PIL afterfour weeks while observ-ing, “We don’t want to cre-ate more problems thanresolving the issue. We willsee.”

During the hearing,senior advocate SoumyaChakraborty, appearing forNGO Samata AndolanSamiti said that the stateAssemblies are incompe-tent to pass such resolu-tions against the centrallegislations.

The bench asked the

counsel to show the resolu-tions he was objecting to.

Referring to CAA law andthe Kerala Assembly reso-lution, Chakraborty saidthe state legislature saidthat central law wasagainst the basic structureof the Constitution. “This isthe opinion of majority ofKerala Assem-bly and thismay not have the force oflaw. This is just an opinion.They have simply request-ed the Centre and soughtrepeal of the law. Do theyhave no right to expresstheir opinion? They havenot asked the people to dis-obey the Central law,” thebench observed. — PTI

Can states criticise Central law?SC to hear PIL on states passing resolution on CentreLEGAL | MAZE

SHORT TAKES

FASTag lands in Bombay HC

Mumbai: The BombayHigh Court on Friday

directed the Union gov-ernment to file an affi-davit in response to a

public interest litigation(PIL) challenging the

decision to makeFASTag, the electronic

toll collection chip,mandatory for all vehi-

cles at toll plazas onnational highways.

Twitter seekspublic opinion

New Delhi: Twitter hassought public opinion on

whether world leadersshould be subject to thesame set of rules as oth-

ers on the microbloggingplatform. “Should a

world leader violate arule, what type of enfor-cement action is appro-priate,” the microblog-

ging platform asked.

Centre moves HCon WhatsApp

New Delhi: The CentreFriday urged the DelhiHigh Court to restrain

WhatsApp from imple-menting its new privacypolicy and terms whichare to take effect fromMay 15. Under the newpolicy, users can either

accept it or exit the app,but they cannot opt not

to share their data.

Lloyd James Austin III

● The PIL sought direc-tion from the SupremeCourt to declare thatstate legislatures haveno jurisdiction to dis-cuss and make any res-olution against any lawconcerning subjectsmentioned in Union list

From Page 1

In the previous academ-ic year, all the studentstill Class 12(Intermediate) were pro-moted to higher classeswithout exams as thefinal exams could not beheld due to the coronalockdown. This time, thegovernment is keen onconducting board examsfor SSC andIntermediate students.

The government isexamining a proposal onwhether to allow onlineor offline classes evenfor SSC and Inter stu-dents. As new Covid-19cases are being reportedfrom welfare hostels anduniversity campuses,the government mightclose all these hostels.

From Page 1

They include kids fromgovernment schools, gov-ernment-run residentialschools, as well as fromsome private schools.

The cases at theRajendranagar schoolemerged when the healthteam conducted randomtests at the hostel premis-es on Thursday.

Ninety-two hostel board-

ers and staff were testedfor Covid-19 at the school,of whom seven studentseach from Classes 8, 9 and10 and one student fromClass 7 got a positiveresult, a statement fromthe commissioner of trib-al welfare said.

The students and staffmembers were all asymp-tomatic.

Officials said that whilethe remaining students

who tested negative weresent to their homes byarranging transportation,those who tested positivehave been kept in quaran-tine at the hostel.

They have also been pro-vided with a duty doctorand medicines by theRanga Reddy district med-ical and health officer.Dry fruits and food sup-plements were provided tothe students.

CITY pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 20 MARCH 2021

Random tests reveal Covid

HARLEEN MINOCHA | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

Over 200 students staged aprotest at OsmaniaUniversity on Friday seek-ing Covid-19 testing andpostponement of exams,after they claimed that sixstudents there tested posi-tive for the coronavirus.

The infections came tolight when the universitytested 150 students fromthe Science department.The authorities refused toconduct tests for theremaining hostel inmates,the students alleged.

The university howeversaid only two girls at thehostel tested positive andthey were isolated imme-

diately. Arrangementswere being made to testthe remaining hostellers,it said, but refused topostpone the examina-tions. More than 8,000 stu-dents are set to appear forthe exams including thosefrom other districts.

“Some 3,000-4,000 stu-dents are living in the hos-tels, and we all come incontact with each other.After conducting tests forjust 150 students, the uni-versity says it would notdo further tests as we haveexams the next day. This isnot fair,” a student atOsmania University said.

Students said, “The uni-versity is neither agree-

ing to postpone the examsnor conduct tests at thecampus, but wants aCovid-negative test reportfrom all of us. We weretold that tests for all thosereturning to hostels willbe conducted. Now, a daybefore our exams, the uni-versity is asking us to pro-duce a negative reportwhile denying test at thecampus.”

The university hasassured students thatthose who cannot appearfor examinations, for thereasons of Covid-19, cansit for a re-examinationand this will not be treat-ed as supplementary. Thestudents are not happywith this response.

Students protest over Covidtest, want OU exams delayed

GOVT KEEN ONHOLDING SSC,INTER EXAMS

Girl students from Osmania University sit on the footpath near the administrativeblock on the campus, demanding postponement of their exams after some studentstested Covid-19 positive, in Hyderabad on Friday. — DEEPAK DESHPANDE


The Covid-19 disease,which showed signs ofabatement in its spreadearlier this year inTelangana, now appearset on an upward trajecto-ry. In the past week, thedaily cases, which stood at216 on March 12,increased to 313 on March18.

The last time the statewas recording more than300 cases a day was in thefirst week of January.

In what could be a wor-rying development, simul-taneously, the number ofactive cases too has risenfrom 1,918 on March 12 to2,434 on March 18.

On the other hand, the

number of patients whowere admitted to privatehospitals in the state rosefrom 775 to 1,046 for thesame dates while in gov-ernment hospitals, therise was from 364 to 445patients.

The last time the statehad so many active caseswas on February 1.

According to the dailyCovid-19 bulletin issuedon Friday, with the 313cases reported inTelangana on Thursday,the total cases rose to3,02,360 while the deathsfrom the disease rose to1,664 so far with two morepersons dying from Covid-19 on Thursday.

Ten districts, includingthe the GreaterHyderabad Municipal

Corporation (GHMC) lim-its that includesHyderabad district,reported cases in doublefigures, up from six dis-tricts on March 12.

Hyderabad city and theGHMC area reported thehighest daily cases at 47,followed by 29 in RangaReddy, 25 in Nirmal, 20 inMedchal-Malkajgiri, 16 inKamareddy, 15 inNizamabad, 13 inSangareddy, 12 inRajanna-Sircilla, and 10each in Mancherial, andAdilabad districts, accord-ing to the bulletin.

It said that 142 peoplewere declared recoveredon Thursday and of the2,434 active cases for theday, 943 were in home orinstitutional isolation.

In 1 day, TS sees313 Covid casesLast time over 300 cases was reported in Jan.

● ● THIS TIME, the gov-ernment is keen on con-ducting board exams forSSC and Inter students.The government isexamining a proposal onwhether to allow onlineor offline classes.

From Page 1

The food processingindustry stood next byemploying 7,936 people.The engineering sectorprovided jobs to 7,360 peo-ple. The other sectorstogether employed 24,427people.

In all, these sectorsunder the industrial cate-gory provided jobs to1,78,771 people in 2020-21.This is a drastic fall com-pared to the creation of6,63,365 jobs in 2018-19and 2,38,066 jobs in 2019-20. Ranga Reddy districtremained at the top inattracting investments,thanks to its proximity toHyderabad.

Companies prefer tolaunch operations on thecity outskirts, since 2015when the state govern-ment launched the TS-iPASS to give approvalsto industries within threeweeks via online and self-certification mode.

Ranga Reddy attractedinvestments worth`67,431 crore, followed by

Nalgonda (`27,061 crore),Bhadradri (`21,917crore), Peddapalli(`13,644 crore) andM e d c h a l - M a l k a j g i r i(`13,592 crore).

However, Medchal-Malkajgiri district stoodfirst in terms of attract-ing more industries — atotal of 3,327 units. Thiswas followed bySangareddy (1,149),Ranga Reddy (1,089),Karimnagar (996) andJagtyal (611).

In job-creation, RangaReddy district topped byemploying 8,81,050 peoplebetween 2015-20.Warangal Rural districtstood next with 1,90,557jobs, with Medchal-Malkajgiri (1,04,539),Sangareddy (95,767) andMahbubnagar (19,689)coming next.

Overall, under TS-iPASS from 2015-20, asmany as 14,268 units havecome up, which invested`2.07 lakh crore and pro-vided jobs to 14.58 lakhpeople, according to thesurvey.

Ranga Reddy getslion’s share of funds


SHORT TAKES

KTR ORDERS MEETING ON SCB

ROAD CLOSURET.S.S. SIDDHARTH | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

In a respite for residents of thenorth-eastern colonies, minis-ter K.T. Rama Rao on Fridayasked Arvind Kumar, princi-pal secretary, municipalaffairs and urban develop-ment, to have a preliminarymeeting with the LocalMilitary Authority (LMA) onthe closure of roads in theSecunderabad Cantonmentarea.

The minister said onTwitter: “Request @arvindku-mar_ias to have a preliminarymeeting on the illegal closureof roads in SCB. We will cer-tainly stand with our citizensin ensuring the unwarrantedinconvenience is addressed(sic).”

Rama Rao’s Twitter postcame after the GreenSainikpuri group asked theminister for political interven-tion in reopening the roads.“There has been systemic clo-sure of roads in the area.From 2018 onwards, a total of21 roads have been sealed andthe people are facing the bruntof the closure,” C.S.Chandrasekhar of GreenSainikpuri told DeccanChronicle.

RLY EMPLOYEESENTENCED FORHARASSEMENT


A railway employee was sentenced to three years in jailfor harassing his wife andmarrying another woman. His mother Lakavath Lathaand his sister LakavathArchana were convicted to one rear rigorous imprison-ment.

The employee, L. PremKumar, 35, had two childrenfrom his first marriage. Hisfirst wife complained to theKushaiguda police that in May 2016, Prem Kumar camehome in an intoxicated stateand abused and beat her. Hewas already married to anoth-er woman, the complaint stated.

The Kushaiguda police regis-tered a case and collected evi-dence and arrested Kumarwhose sentencing wasannounced on Friday.

Pipeline works stopped midway due to lack of permissionfrom Archaeological Survey of India adds to the hardshipsof people at Laad Bazaar in Charminar on Friday.

— P. SURENDRA

DC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, MARCH 19

A resident of LansumHousing, on Road No. 78of Jubilee Hills, had anarrow escape when atree got uprooted andnearly fell on him earlierthis week — and socialmedia followed it up witha long list of complaintsagainst the realty firm.

In the CCTV footage ofthe incident, a few sec-onds after the tree fell, acrane was seen trippingover on the walking area.Residents complainedthat the residential areais poorly organised andmanaged.

“The managementseems to be very insensi-tive towards flat-buyers.Lots of flat-buyers intheir flagship project inHyderabad have repeat-edly complained aboutthem, especially theirmiddle and lower levelcadre. Project amenitieshave been delayed aswell,” said SatishSrivastava, a resident.

The crane incidentoccurred on Tuesdayaround 6 pm when theresident was taking awalk. CCTV footage

showed him walkingaway from the camerawhen the tree fell inchesbehind him. The smallbranches brushedagainst his back and hecan be seen waving theleaves off and walkingaway, just as the crane fellwhere the tree stood.

Speaking about mainte-nance costs and unprofes-sionalism, Siva Naresh,another resident, saidthis firm was new to theapartment constructionbusiness, the quality ofthe construction was nothigh.

“The project wasdelayed by more than ayear and the clubhouseconstruction got stalled.Not one response to cus-tomers’ emails.

Mandating 100 per centtwo-year upfront mainte-nance costs is ridiculouswithout completing andproviding the promisedbasic facilities,” Nareshalleged.

He added, “The mostunethical thing is thatthey charged customers24 per cent interest peryear on the disbursementdelay right from the dayof their disbursementrequest.”

Asked about the resi-dents’ condition, an offi-cial from the TS humanrights commission said,“They can eitherapproach the police tobook a case or we canbook a suo motu casebased on the media reportof the issue.”

Another resident,Satish Gandham, saidsince this was Lansum’sfirst project inHyderabad, “We werehoping they would set agood example. Date afternew date (was given foroccupation) withabsolutely no work hap-pening in between. Theproject is delayed by 18months. You don’t evenget the delay penalty withtheir ridiculous 24 percent interest per yearright from the day thedemand letter is raised.”Gandham said.

“Even after requestingthem several times torespond and share regu-lar updates, all our emailsgo unanswered. Therewere changes to the mas-ter plan, for example, andthe removal of one of thetennis courts wasn’t com-municated to the buyers,”he claimed.The residenthad another complaint."We had a damaged maindoor frame. We gotapproval to have itchanged after chasingthem for three months.After some days, theysaid the door frame waschanged and they pol-ished the door. When I

asked them to show meproof (of changing theframe), they said themanager at that time hadresigned and they don’thave the details. Luckily, Ihave the photos beforethe polish,” Gandhamsaid.

“I had the daunting taskof convincing them thatthe door frame wasn'tchanged. Now I have beenfollowing up with themfor two months to get itreplaced. All our doorshave cracks at the locksand they are proposingsome makeshift arrange-ments. So much for thepremium specs. Whilethis had everything to becalled a landmark proj-ect, the poor manage-ment, lack of intent andtaking buyers for grantedhave let the projectdown,” Gandham said.

Asked about the inci-dent, Hyderabad WestZone DCP AR Srinivassaid that if they receive acomplaint, they wouldtake action. Jubilee Hillssub-inspector NaveenReddy said, “We have notreceived any complaint.”

Officials from LansumProperties were unavail-able for comment.

Narrow escape from tree fallLansum residents complain of poor facilities, insensitive management


One Kumar Rajvansh, 49, was arrested forcheating a woman of hermoney under the pretextof marriage. TheRachakonda cybercrimepolice said Rajvansh hadposted his details inonline dating sites wherehe met the victim, awidow. Rajvansh intro-duced himself asdivorcee and business-man.

Once they agreed to marry, Rajvansh start-ed extracting moneyfrom her by citing vari-ous reasons like expan-sion of business andmedical emergency.After taking `3 lakh, he stopped taking hercalls.

After realising that shewas cheated, sheapproached the cyber-crime police who trackeddown Rajvansh.

MAN HELD FORCHEATING WOMANON PRETEXT OFMARRIAGE

Laad Bazaar pipelinework halted midwayATHER MOIN I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The Hyderabad MetroWater Supply & SewerageBoard (HMWS&SB) hasstopped the work on re-lay-ing of the old sewagepipeline from Laad Bazaarto Moti Galli Crossing afterofficials of theArchaeological Survey ofIndia raised objections.

This followed complaintsthat the contractor used anearthmover-powered pneu-matic drill to tear the cob-blestone flooring and reinforced concrete base onthe Laad Bazaar stretch toreach the old pipelineburied five feet belowground.

Ghansi Bazaar corporatorPraveen Sultana said thedecades-old eight-inchpipeline was damaged andit got frequently blockedand overflowed twice aweek, causing difficulties tothe residents and shopkeep-ers. The HMWS&SB hasdecided to replace it with an18-inch pipeline to take thesewerage load.

The corporator claimedthat, with the new 450-mmpipeline, the problem willbe solved. Officials of thecivic body have contactedthe concerned authoritiessix months back and start-ed the works, she said.

He said the Centre hadamended the AncientMonuments andArchaeological Sites andRemains Act in 2017.“These amendments allowconstruction of publicworks within a 100-metreradius of a protected monu-ment for public purposes.ASI officials should realisethat the pipeline is beinglaid down in the interest ofthe public; and with thiswork, inside seepage willstop.”

Khader Mohiuddin, gen-eral manager, Charminarzone, of the HMWS&SB,confirmed that the works have been stopped,based on the objectionraised by ASI, but he con-tended, “We will get anagreement signed with ASIand the works will beresumed shortly.”


An open air gym and awalking track will soon beready at Rajunagar inRiyasatnagar. The work,costing `16 lakh, is in its final stages of construc-

tion. According toRiyasatnagar corporatorMirza Saleem Baig, thefacility will provide anopportunity to the people tokeep themselves healthyand fit, especially those whocannot afford to go to gyms.

NEW OPEN AIR GYM AT RIYASATNAGAR

CCTV footage shows the resident escaping from thefalling tree. — BY ARRANGEMENT

Hyd woman swims into recordsDC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, MARCH 19

A 46-year-old entrepre-neur from Hyderabad, G.Syamala, on Fridayswam into the recordbooks as only the secondwoman to swim acrossthe 30-km Palk Straitthat separates India fromSri Lanka.

In achieving this feat,Syamala also became thefirst Telugu woman tonot just undertake, butalso complete, the daunt-ing task of swimmingacross the Palk Strait.

According to informa-tion reaching here,Syamala set out from SriLanka at 4.15 am onFriday and reachedDhanushkodi inRameswaram in TamilNadu after swimming for13 hours and 43 minutes.

Syamala, who took upswimming just a fewyears ago, had previous-ly made her mark in theNational Open WaterGanga River SwimmingCompetition, completingthe 13 km course in onehour and 50 minutes.

She also previouslyrepresented Telanganain the World MastersChampionship in

Gwanju, South Korea,organised by theF é d é r a t i o nInternationale De

Natation (FINA) — theinternational federationrecognised by theInternational OlympicCommittee for holdinginternational watersport competitions.

Syamala trained at theSports Authority ofTelangana State swim-ming pool at Gachibowlifor her latest swimmingchallenge. She was ini-tially trained by seniorIPS officer Rajiv Trivedi,currently the DGPrisons, and a formerPalk Strait swimmerhimself — he swam fromTalaimannar in SriLanka to Dhanushkodiin 2011 in 12 hours and 31minutes — and later byswimming coach AyushYadav.

G. Syamala

● ● SYAMALA, WHO tookup swimming just a fewyears ago, had previous-ly made her mark in theNational Open WaterGanga River SwimmingCompetition, completingthe 13 km course in onehour and 50 minutes.

● ● K.T. RAMA RAO’S Twitterpost came after the GreenSainikpuri group asked theminister for political inter-vention in reopening theroads.


A BJP delegation submitted arepresentation to DGP M.Mahendar Reddy about thealleged attack on the convoyof party state presidentBandi Sanjay Kumar inKodad.

On Friday, the leadersincluding former ministerVijaya Rama Rao, former MP

Ravindra Naik and formerMLA Kuna Srisailam Goudmet the DGP and told himabout the threats that Sanjaywas receiving.

The leaders requested theDGP to provide protection forSanjay to prevent any unto-ward incident.

They also demanded that acase be filed with regard tothe Kodad attack. Later,speaking to the media, the

leaders recalled the allegedattack on Sanjay ahead of theGHMC elections in Decemberlast year at People’s Plaza onNecklace Road in the city. Itwas repeated during theDubbak bypoll, they said andalleged that there were sever-al attempts to block Sanjay’sconvoy.

There were also attempts toattack him physically, theBJP leaders said.


SHORT TAKES

Attack on Bandi’s convoy:BJP delegation meets DGP


Under the guise of GST, itseems an “inspector raj” ison, the Telangana High Courtobserved on Friday whilehearing a case filed by a steeltrader who alleged officialsasked him to pay `5 crore asbribe to get out of a tax-eva-sion case.

The court questioned thejurisdiction and powers vest-ed in the GST authorities inarresting traders on the alle-gations of tax evasion.

A division bench compris-ing Justice M.S.Ramachandra Rao andJustice Tadakamalla VinodKumar observed that itseemed the GST officialswere wrongly following thelines of the local police han-dling matters of law andorder.

The bench heard a petitionfrom J.S. Sridhar Reddy ofBharani Commodities, whichruns steel business in thewholesale market.

He submitted that he was inSingapore on February 27,2019, when a search of hishouse and office premises atPunjagutta was done by theGST anti-evasion cell. Afterthe search, they took his wifeto their office at Basheerbaghand she was made to remainthere up to 4 am the next day,after officials accused thathis firms indulged in a taxevasion of the order of `8.74crore.

He told the court that theofficials Anand Kumar, C.Sudha Rani and B. SrinivasaGandhi had demanded thathe pay `5 crore as bribe tothem to escape from the case.

“These officials told me thatthe amount would be handed

over to the principal commis-sioner M Srinivas and themoney will be sharedbetween officials as per asecret understandingbetween them,” the petition-er said.

The petitioner said the taxevasion charges were beingregistered against him basedon statements given by thirdparties and he was notallowed to cross-examinethem.

Citing Supreme Courtorders in similar cases, inwhich the apex court allowedcross-examination, the peti-tioner complained that theGST officials took a differentstand. Thereon, the benchcriticised the GST authori-ties and allowed the petition-er to cross examine the thirdparties who had given state-ments against him and hiscompanies.

Corruption case: ‘Inspector raj’under guise of GST, says HC


The All India Majlis-e-I t tehad-ul -Muslimeenchief Asaduddin Owaisisaid the party will be con-testing elections from theUnion Territory of Delhiin the future.

He has nominatedKalimul Hafiz as the pres-ident of the party’s Delhiunit.

Sources said Owaisiwants to launch the MIMin a powerful manner inthe MunicipalCorporation of Delhi(MCD) elections sched-uled for next year.

He has started the exer-cise to strengthen theparty base at NationalCapital Territory (NCT)-Delhi by constituting thestate committee.

Hafiz owns severalhotels and runs educa-tional institutions.

Asaduddin Owaisi wasbusy in Delhi negotiatingwith senior politicians. Itis learnt that several lead-ers belonging to differentpolitical parties are intouch with him.

MIM TO CONTESTPOLLS IN DELHI,SAYS OWAISI


AICC spokesperson DrSravan Dasoju askedChief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao tosack ThatikondaSwapna, chairpersonof the Tandur munici-pality, for allegedlycasting a bogus vote inthe LegislativeCouncil election forthe Hyderabad-RangaReddy-Mahbubnagargraduates constituen-cy.

He said that the alle-gations made by theCongress onTelangana RashtraSamiti (TRS) haveturned out to be true.

Dr Dasoju ques-tioned the TRS gov-ernment in state forindulging in irregu-larities by casting afake vote which wasauthorised by theV i k a r a b a ddistrict collectorate.“Thatikonda Swapnaunconstitutionallyexercised her fran-chise at polling stationNo. 283 in theGovernment JuniorCollege during theMLC poll on Sunday,”he alleged.

SACK TANDURMUNICIPALITYCHIEF: DASOJU


Describing the stateBudget, presented inthe Assembly onThursday, as “all icingand no cake”, BJP sen-ior leader GudurNarayana Reddy onFriday said that it wasfilled with imaginaryfigures.

He said that while thegovernment had esti-mated revenues for2020-21 at `1.82 lakhcrore, it had onlyearned `1.66 lakhcrore. The actual rev-enue expenditure was`1.33 lakh crore.

The deficit for 2021-22is about `54,000 crore.The Budget has esti-mated that about`4,000 crore could beearned through thesale of lands. “Withthis it is clear that the

government will bor-row `50,000 crore. Itmeans that about 21per cent funds wouldbe gathered throughborrowings,” he said.

After the end of the2021-22 year, the totalborrowings of the gov-ernment and corpora-tions would be about`4 lakh crore. The gov-ernment has to pay`40,000 crore in theform of interest andprincipal in the nextfinancial year. The

total debt servicewould be about 17 percent of the Budget.Every month it has topay more than `3,000crore towards interestand principal.

Narayana Reddy saidthat the per capita debtwould be about `1.05lakh by the end of thenext financial year,`10,000 more than thepresent financial year.The government maytry to earn morethrough taxes andduties. The BJP leaderalleged that the gov-ernment had tried topaint a rosy picture ofthe finances whichwere in a bad positiondue to increasingdebts. He said that asthe government con-tinued to borrow, ithad pushed the stateinto the vicious cycleof debt servicing.

43,000 VOTESINVALID IN MLC POLL

From Page 1

In Hyderabad, TRS nomineeSurabhi Vani Devi was leadingwith 1,12,921 votes followed byN. Ramchander Rao, theincumbent MLC from the BJP,with 1,04,885 votes and inde-pendent candidate Prof KNageshwar with 53,747 votes.Vani was winning all succes-sive rounds in first and secondpreferences votes. As many as49 candidates out of the total93 with the least number ofvotes were eliminated.

Trends suggest that Surabhiwould most likely touch themagic figure of 1,68,519 votes(half-way mark) +1 vote toemerge as the winner.

As many as 43,000 votes havebeen declared invalid in bothseats. On the instruction ofthe Election Commission,returning officers at thecounting centres deployedmore staff to speed up thecounting.

If the main candidates do notget a majority in the secondpreference vote, the EC willhave to take up the counting ofthird preference votes. Thiswould require another 24hours and the process wouldcontinue till any one candidategets 50 per cent-plus one vote.

Officials said that atN a l g o n d a - W a r a n g a l -Khammam constituency,counting of third preferencevotes would be inevitable andthe results will most likely beannounced after Saturdayevening.

GIVE DETAILS OFPHARMACYSTORES: HC

VUJJINI VAMSHIDHARA I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The Telangana High Court hassought details from the stategovernment as to how manypharmacy shops are regis-tered in the city and in thestate, and how frequently arethey being inspected to con-firm whether they follow theprovisions of the Drugs andCosmetics Act as also thePharmacy Act.

A division bench comprisingChief Justice Hima Kohli andJustice B. Vijaysen Reddyissued the order while dealingwith a Public InterestLitigation (PIL) filed by phar-macist Seetharam Babu.

Babu complained that mostof the pharmacy establish-ments in the state andHyderabad are not deployingthe trained and registeredpharmacists.

According to the petitioner,provisions of the relevant lawcontemplate that pharmacyestablishments must have aregistered pharmacist withfull-time working.

Yet, “stores are running inthe absence of qualified phar-macists and most medicinesare supplied without duechecks and also without pre-scription from doctors.Untrained persons are imper-sonating as pharmacists inmost medical shops, the peti-tioner told the court.

The government has filed anaffidavit, but, it lacked detailsas to how many pharmacystores were registered andhow many trained pharma-cists were registered in thestate.

The bench sought relevantdetails and said these shouldbe submitted within fourweeks. The High Courtadjourned the case to June 24.

BDL SIGNS MEGA CONTRACT WITH

DEFENCE MINISTRYDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

Bharat Dynamics Limited(BDL) has signed a contractworth `1,188 crore on Fridaywith the defence ministry forthe manufacture and supply ofMilan-2T anti-tank guidedmissiles.

The contract was signed byDipti Mohil Chawla, joint sec-retary (AM & LS) on behalf ofthe defence ministry’s acquisi-tion wing and CommodoreT.N. Kaul (Retd), executivedirector (marketing), onbehalf of BDL.

BDL chairman and manag-ing director CommodoreSiddharth Mishra (retd) statedthat receipt of the order hadgiven a boost to the order bookof the company which nowhas orders worth over `9,000crore.

In line with Centre’sAtmanirbhar Bharat initia-tive in the defence sector,many items have been exclu-sively earmarked for Indianindustry and a negative list ofimports has been released bythe defence ministry.

High alert

Rapid Action Force personnel stand guard near the Charminar during the Friday prayers at the MaccaMasjid. — P. SURENDRA


The announcement ofthe TRS candidate forthe upcomingNagarjunasagar Assem-bly byelection is likelyto be delayed further.

TRS sources said thatthe party president andChief Minister K.Chandrashekar Raowas planning toannounce the candidateonly after the ongoing

Budget session of theLegislature ends. TheBudget session isexpected to concludeMarch 26.

The ElectionCommission hasannounced bypollschedule on March 16.The election notifica-tion will be issued onMarch 23 and the nomi-nation process willbegin the same day. Thelast date of filing thenomination is March 30.

Sources saidChandrashekar Raowants to announce thecandidate on March 26and the nomination willbe filed on March 27.Polling will be held onApril 17 and counting ofvotes will take place onMay 2.

Sources said the ChiefMinister wants to com-mission a few more sur-veys by independentagencies inNagarjunasagar before

taking a final decisionon the candidate.

With the TRS doingbetter in graduate MLCpolls by leading in thefirst preference votes inboth the seats — andone of the seats coversNalgonda district ofwhich Nagarjunasagaris part —Chandrashekar Raowants to assess thepulse of the votersagain in the changedpolitical scenario.

TRS candidate forbypoll after sessionCM to hold few more surveys before taking final decision

Budget is ‘all icing, nocake’, remarks Gudur


Veteran Congressleader V. HanumanthaRao on Fridayannounced that healong with otherCongress leaderswould hoist theNational Flag atGymkhana Ground inVijayawada on April 1.

Mahatma Gandhihad hoisted theTricolour, designed byPingali Venkayya, forthe first time inVijayawada during theAll India CongressCommittee meeting onApril 1, 1921, he said.To commemorate theevent it was decided tohoist the tricolour onthe same day at thesame venue,Hanumantha Rao toldmediapersons.

He criticised PrimeMinister NarendraModi and ChiefMinister K.Chandrashekar Raofor ignoring the great-est contribution of aTelugu — PingaliVenkayya, who haddesigned the Tricolour— by not celebratingthe centenary of the

National Flag.Theyare restricting them-selves to celebrating75 years ofI n d e p e n d e n c e ,Hanumantha Rao, aformer MP, said.

AP CongressCommittee presidentS. Sailajanath and for-mer MP G. HarshaKumar and severalother Congress lead-ers would be presentat the event.

VHR to hoistFlag on April 1

6th ANNIVERSARY

S. SHYAMD.O.E: 24-02-2015

From Sunrise to Sunset, every momentwould have been more wonderful, if youwere with us today.Your memories will never be forgotten.

We miss you.Inserted by:

S. Anuradha (Wife)S. Sanjay (Son), S. Nishitha (Daughter)

(M): 9985850954 / 8179663968

We sincerely regret to inform you that our fatherShri THOGARI RAMASWAMY breathed his laston 19th March 2021 at 3:00 PM.The Final rites will be conducted atBANSILALPET Cremation Ground,Secunderabad on 21st March around 11:00 AM.

Inserted by:Mrs. Thogari Tulasi (Wife)Dr. Ramani (Daughter) Dr. Narsing Prasad (Son-in-law)Dr. Rajani (Daughter) Mr B. Prakash (Son-in-law)Mr.Raghuram (Son) Mrs. Sangeetha (Daughter-in-law)Dr. Rohini (Daughter) Dr. Venkatvardhan (Son-in-law)Dr. Ravi Mohan (Son)Dr. Sarala (Daughter-in-law)

and their Grand Children

(S/2021/D01361)

Shri T.V. RAMASWAMY(Retd Additional Registrar of

Co-Op Society of AP)

OBITUARY

Mr. B.D. Sampath Kumar, B.D.Manmohan, Near & Dear Family Members. Contact: 9849045885, 7893710710

BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE“I SHALL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF

THE LORD FOR EVER” (Psalms: 23:6)

Mrs. MAVIS GOVINDW/o Late C.S. Govind

Retd Nurse ESI Hospital SanathanagarD.O.B: 20-03-1934 D.O.D: 23-05-2019

Inserted by: Daughter, Grandson,Grand Daughters,

Great Grand Children (Twins)Leonard Venantius & Noah Venantius.

(S/2021/D01311)

In Loving memory of Late Mrs. Udumula Arogyamma

3rd ANNIVERSARYAnd God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as heraised our Lord from the dead. 1 Corinthians 6:14

Late. UDUMULA AROGYAMMAD.O.B: 15-10-1940 D.O.D: 20-03-2018

“YOUR MEMORIES REMAIN IN OUR HEARTS FOR EVER”Inserted by:

Husband: Sri U.G.REDDY & Family MembersSt. Anthony’s High School - Himayath Nagar,St. Joseph’s Public School - King Koti,St. Joseph’s High School - King Koti,St. Joseph’s School - Malakpet,St. Joseph’s School - Habsiguda.

With Profound Grief WeAnnounce the Sad Demise of

LEONORA (LEENA) ROZARIOD.O.B: 06-05-1945 D.O.D: 19-03-2021

The Funeral mass will be held on20th March 2021 at St. Andrew’sChurch, Bandra (west) at 11:00 AM.

Followed by Burial.Inserted by:

Stanley Rasheed & Family

(S/2021/D01362)

OBITUARY

G.P. TEJAS/o G.P. Palguna

D.O.B: 11-05-1998 D.O.D: 19-03-2021Funeral on 20-03-2021 at 10:30am, near Mahatma Nagar BusStop, behind Ashok Garden,Hasmathpet Road.Ph: 9885507638, 9849129921

(S/2021/D01360)

Gudur Narayana Reddy

Veteran Congressleader V. HanumanthaRao displays an oldphotograph ofMahatma Gandhi atVijayawada AICC meetin 1921 when for thefirst time the Nationalflag designed byPingali Venkaiah washoisted.


SHORT TAKESFOREST DEPT,

CCMB CONDUCTTRAINING SESSIONDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The state forest department, inassociation with the Centre forCellular and MolecularBiology (CCMB) on Fridaybegan a training programmefor its field officers and staff in biological sample col-lection at the Amrabad tigerreserve in Nagarkurnool dis-trict.

Department staff and offi-cials from different parts ofthe state are undergoing thetraining which includes theo-ry and practical classesm oncollecting samples fromwildlife crime scenes. Propercollection of samples — especially when a carcass ismutilated or rotting or whenonly traces are left at a crimescene — will help in accurateidentification of the victimanimal but also help in identi-fication of an animal thatmight attack humans or farmanimals.

HC: Encroacher mustvacate journos’ landSays govt followed due procedure by serving noticeDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The Telangana HighCourt on Friday askedcounsel for D. NarendraBabu, who encroachedupon a part of the gov-ernment land in SurveyNo. 332 in Nizampet, tomake clear how muchtime he would take tovacate the plot andremove all the structuresand machinery he hadillegally erected there.

The land was part of 32acres allotted to theJawaharlal NehruMutually AidedJournalists’ CooperativeHousing Society.

Considering a petitionfiled by Narendra Babuchallenging the evictionnotice issued by revenueauthorities, Justice P.

Naveen Rao noted thatthe petitioner was anencroacher of govern-ment land and he hadadmitted this himself.The government followeddue procedure by servingan eviction notice, thecourt said.

“You get word fromyour client as to howmuch time he wouldrequire to vacate theland,” Justice Rao askedpetitioner’s counsel.

The court posted thematter to Tuesday anddirected revenue authori-ties to not remove struc-tures as adequate time

should be given to theencroacher to removethem.

Bachupally tahsildarN.R. Saritha issued theeviction notice, giving indetail the illegal stepstaken by Narendra Babuand also the misrepresen-tation of facts thereof.

Representing the jour-nalists’ housing society,advocate R.N. Hemendra-nath Reddy brought tothe court’s notice the rep-eated attempts of theNarendra Babu to holdon to the land by filing aseries of cases. “In allthese cases, the encroach-er was misleading thecourt. While he owns oneacre and 15 guntas in adj-oining Survey No. 333, healso encroached on landin Survey No. 332,” He-mendranath Reddy said.

On an earlier occasion,when revenue authori-ties tried to demolish ille-gal structures, NarendraBabu misled the courtthat the authoritiesdemolished structures onhis land. He also misin-terpreted facts by sayingthe AP State Finance Co-rporation had sold landin both survey numbersbut the records showedthat the corporation hadsold an acre and 15 gun-tas in Survey No. 333.

Reddy also brought tothe court’s notice that theSupreme Court had givenan order to the govern-ment to hand over posses-sion of the land to thesociety and to preventencroachments there.“After all, an open gov-ernment land is anorphan,” he pointed out.


In a first-of-its-kind move,the state government is toidentify open areas that aregood for plantations, plantsaplings there and monitorthe plants by geo-tagging.

Telangana RemoteSensing Application Centre(TRAC), the nodal agency, isto provide a dashboardthrough which the govern-ment can access informa-tion, said Srinivas Reddy,additional DG, TRAC.

He said, “The systemfacilitates in identifyingpotential avenues, blocks

and individual sites for plantation throughhigh-resolution satellitedata.”

On Friday a presentationwas made to ChiefSecretary Somesh Kumarand senior officials. Kumarsaid, “This system will be agame-changer. It is verytimely and is in sync with the Chief Minister’svision of making the stategreen. It will help officialsfocus on multi-layer avenueplantation, inch by inchplantation along lakes,roads and scattered landsso as to ensure that no areais left vacant.”


The Vanasthalipurampolice booked a caseagainst a Bahadurpurapolice constable, AajujoniArun, 27, for drunk driving and creatinga nuisance late onThursday night.

According to the police,he rode up to the deer parkat Vanstalipuram at around11 pm on Thursday in adrunken condition and

entered into argumentsome transgender personswho were there.

Passersby informed thepolice who reached the spot and tried to pacify thecop and the transgenders.

Arun argued with thepolice patrol staff in an ine-briated condition and was sent to the traffic police station atVanasthalipuram wherehis breathalyser testrevealed his blood alcohol percentage as 145.

Constable bookedfor drunk driving

New tool in placeto geo-tag plants


Rachakonda police arresteda man, DandupallyChennakeshavulu, 45, forcultivating opium poppyplants and and seized 390 kgof the narcotic worth of `20lakh on Friday.

He was cultivating opiumpoppy in Lemur village ofKandukur mandal in RangaReddy district, with thehelp of another person,Dhimmir Venkataramana

and selling it to customersin Bengaluru. Venkatar-amana was arrested by theSpecial EnforcemnetBureau of Chittoor district.

They were cultivatingopium poppy straw on twoacres of land saidRachakonda police commis-sioner Mahesh M. Bhagwat.

2 held for cultivating opium poppy● ● POLICE SEIZED 390 kg ofthe narcotic worth of ``20 lakh.

● ● HC DIRECTED revenueauthorities to not removestructures as adequatetime should be given tothe encroacher toremove them.

HC pulls up laboursecy over delay insetting up boardDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

The Telangana High Courthas pulled up RaniKumidini, principal secre-tary, labour, over her failureto constitute the state-levelsocial security board forunorganised workers forlast four years.

Though the secretary submitted that the boardwas being constituted andsome 28 members werebeing appointed, she failed to explain the delay offour years. The process ofappointments was taken upa few days ago after thecourt took note of thedelay. A division benchcomprising Chief JusticeHima Kohli and Justice B.Vijaysen Reddy was dealingwith a petition fromCongress leader C.Damodhar Rajanarasimha,former deputy chief minis-ter.

Asking the officials towake up from their slum-ber, Chief Justice Kohliadvised them to better liveup to the people’s expecta-tions.

Based on the petition, onFebruary 25, Chief JusticeKohli had given an ultima-tum to the officials of thelabour department to eitherconstitute the board or beready to be jailed. Thebench had ordered thelabour secretary to explainthe delay.

Thereon, governmentcounsel for labour department Arun Kumarsubmitted an affidavit onbehalf of the principal

secretary, stating that theboard has been constitutedand its members are being appointed at present.

But the affidavit, submit-ted in a casual manner, didnot explain why the delayand whether members fromthe SC, ST, minority, andwomen categories havebeen appointed. Even thedetails of the formation ofthe board, like whether ithad started functioning ornot, were missing in theaffidavit.

This angered the court and it observed thatthe officers were acting in acallous manner and not per-forming their duty. Bynoticing only one namefrom women category, outof the 28 members, theChief Justice questionedwhether the state wasfalling short of competentwomen to form part of theboard.

“You do not wake up tillthe court pinches you buthow can courts monitor theadministration’s function-ing on a regular basis,” theCJ asked.

The court reprimandedthe labour secretary, in spe-cific, for filing an incomplete affidavit. Thecourt also pulled up thegovernment counsel forapproving such an affidavit and desired thatcounsels showed due dili-gence.

The court sought a copy ofthe minutes of the boardmeeting and details of reg-istration of unorganised workers.

EDIT pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 20 MARCH 2021

Pakistan’s Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has apparently renewedefforts for a move toward long-term peace between his country and India.His remarks last month had paved the way for the culmination of a cease-fire agreement between the militaries of the two countries on February 25.

Although these are early days, the ceasefire is holding. In the past six years theceasefire signed in 2003 had been observed in the breach, with LOC cross-fireacquiring menacing proportions at times.

Are General Bajwa’s observations made at the first edition of the IslamabadSecurity Dialogue on Thursday in the nature of a natural follow-up that goesbeyond the military dimension to embrace a political process underwritten by gov-ernments? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating — or at least in a trial tasting.

Just for the record, after the ceasefire was activated, India permitted an eques-trian team from Pakistan for a sporting event after a dry spell of no contactsextending many years. This is a move on. Waters are once again being tested

although New Delhi’s sated position remains:“terror and talks cannot go together”. This is nota rejectionist stance. India must seek “an envi-ronment free of terror”, above all when it dis-cusses Kashmir, the principal issue for Pakistan.

In his most recent remarks Pakistan’s ArmyChief has called on India and Pakistan “to burythe past” by resolving the Kashmir issue peace-fully. He has held out the bait that this would“unlock” the resources of Central and South Asiaand permit India direct access to Afghanistan andbeyond.

Let’s remember that conceptually there is noth-ing new here. Times without number, at variousforums, including SAARC, India has sought topersuade Pakistan of the benefits of genuinepeace. If the Pakistani generals are taking that

line, it is to be welcomed. But given the history, it has to be ensured that we arelooking at a genuine article, and not a counterfeit.

A day before General Bajwa spoke, Prime Minister Imran Khan said prettymuch the same thing adding, however, that it was for India to “take the first step”.He is a politician, and this is understandable. What’s important is to ascertain theprocesses that lie beneath.

In this context, the first thing that comes to mind is that General Bajwa’sFebruary intervention and his most recent remarks come at a time whenAmerica’s new Biden administration is in the process of working through its end-game plans for Afghanistan in which India too — for once — is formally at the tablealong with Pakistan and other key players.

If, as before, Pakistan continues attacking Indian interests in that country, theUS plans may be affected in the event India retaliates militarily. The US wouldn’twant that. Nor would Pakistan since its protégé Taliban are poised to gain the mostthrough the US peace plans. By bringing India to the talking table on Afghanistan,and by urging Pakistan to be conciliatory, Washington would hope to moderateIndia’s behaviour.

For a start, on Kashmir, we can revert to alluding to the four-step Musharraf-Manmohan Singh formula to test Pakistan and to see whether it is ready — at thisstage — to give geo-economics a real chance and bury the past.

Peace whiff, but Pak hasto show that it’s serious

For a start, on Kashmir,we can revert to

alluding to the four-stepMusharraf-ManmohanSingh formula to test

Pakistan and to see whether it is ready

— at this stage — togive geo-economics

a real chance and bury the past

The political gol-mal going on inMumbai readslike a tawdry,hastily written

script of a C-grade 1970s’Bollywood flop. It’s soembarrassingly gauche,one wonders if the mainplayers even realise howclumsily they have cut offtheir own feet (and someother vital parts of theiranatomy!). The bunglingand subsequent coverupattempts — in the incredi-ble case of a gelatin-sticksladen car parked close tothe most-discussed per-sonal residence on earth(“Antilia”) has to be oneof two things — a publici-ty stunt that backfired, oran actual plot to assassi-nate the top industrialistin India, and one of thewealthiest people on theplanet. Which one is it?

Let’s just call it a stunt,publicity or otherwise.Better still: a diversion-ary tactic. There’s toomuch at stake riding onUddhav Thackeray hang-ing in there asMaharashtra’s CM, whenthere are enough rivalswho want him out. Thealliance has been tenuousfrom the word go. As thesaying goes, where thereis Pawar, there is threat.Sharad Pawar is the onepolitician in India whonobody has been able totake on so far. And that’show it is in Mumbai now.A high-profile, super-flamboyant police com-missioner (ParambirSingh) got kicked aroundlike a football. But who isRonaldo in this match?And the well-timed penal-ty kick was scored bywhom? Which team?Why? Since there are noreferees in this particulargame, it’s a free for all,and it certainly looks likeDevendra Fadnavis willshow the “yellow card” toThackeray, making iteasy for the BJP to grabthe vacated throne. Totide over this far-from-pretty mess, SharadPawar will smoothly bro-

ker whichever deal comeshis way: with a caveat, ofcourse. His party willhang on to the home min-istry and control the cops— rogue cops included.He who controls theMumbai police controlsthe city. To make it look alittle credible, AnilDeshmukh (home minis-ter) may be given theheave-ho! It will be inter-esting to see how thisimbroglio pans out. Somany dirty secrets, somany skeletons in VVIPclosets! And the cops haveall the ammo to fix,silence anybody whocrosses their path.

The brand-new top copcomes with his owndodgy personal history. Iwas reminded about it byconcerned citizens after Itweeted approvinglyabout the appointment.Hemant Nagrale was thesurprise choice, replacingthe swashbucklingParambir Singh, whorode into town like a cow-boy from a bhelpuriWestern, all guns blazing.Singh often referred tothe trigger-happy, cur-rently disgraced, APISachin Vaze as his hand-picked protégé, who had“thoko-ed” over 60 badguys! The encounter spe-cialists (like Vaze) are afeared lot, by those whohave a lot to fear. Theyterrorise, intimidate andextort at will, are “crimi-nals in uniform”, as leg-endary top cop JulioRibeiro described themrecently.

The new guy (Nagrale)has candidly admitted thepolice is going through a“very tough phase” andhas promised to “regainthe glory and pride of theMumbai police”. Amen tothat. His professional cre-dentials are impressive —recipient of thePresident’s Police Medaland other honours, he’san avid golfer, tennisplayer with a judo blackbelt. But… how can oneoverlook the seriouscharges officially docu-

mented by his wife (2008),accusing him of physicaland mental abuse? Thereis also a 2009 departmen-tal inquiry ordered by theBombay high court ask-ing the ACB to investigatethe disproportionateassets case based on acomplaint by his wife.

Meanwhile, a sidelinedcop — the state’s senior-most IPS officer — is ruf-fling far too many feath-ers, naming names, andbeing very vocal aboutthe injustices he endured.Sanjay Pandey has foundmany takers and support-ers, and he will get hisdue after these disclo-sures. His “shortcom-ing”? He’s upright andhas refused to play ballwith venal politicians. It’sa good thing he has cho-sen to go public with hisgrievances and embar-rass the government.Wish there were morecops like this IIT Kanpuralumni, who hadn’t hesi-tated to take on the likesof Gopinath Munde in thepast.

Devendra Fadnavis hashinted dark forces work-ing behind the scenes;and he must know whathe’s talking about! Thenexus between cops andnetas isn’t unique toMaharashtra: except thatin Mumbai, this nexusbites back when situa-tions get murky. A threatto blow up “Antilia” guar-antees front-page news,especially if “detected” intime. If someone is reallyserious about carryingout such a dastardlycrime, no prior warningis issued! Besides, the carwith the explosives wasparked more than 300metres from “Antilia”: atbest it would have blownup the shops and a por-tion of adjoining residen-

tial homes if activated.The motive remainsfuzzy. The modus operan-di, embarrassingly ama-teurish. The biggesttragedy here is the deathof Thane businessmanMansukh Hiran, whoseScorpio was used by themastermind behind the“Antilia” threat. Hiran’sbody was found dumpedin a nullah and attemptswere made to call it a sui-cide. That was no suicide.Had his shocked andgrief-stricken wife notnamed Sachin Vaze asher husband’s murderer,even this cold-bloodedkilling would have beenswiftly buried by the cops,supported by their politi-cal minders.

Fadnavis is on a roll —he’s likely to up the heattill he gets Uddhav into acorner. As he accuratelystated, Parambir Singh is“small fry”. Fadnaviswants Singh’s politicalpatrons exposed. Buthey… between Singh andhis henchman (Vaze),they know one hell of alot. This is the time forthem to pull out all theammo and bring a fewfolks down with deadlydisclosures. Vaze is likelyto sing soon… unless… letme not even go there. Toomany people have been“vanishing”, and aseverybody knows, deadmen tell no tales. By mak-ing all kinds of insinua-tions, Fadnavis is behav-ing like he’s holding theultimate trump card inhis hand. Maybe he is!More heads are expectedto roll this week. And afew buried scandals mayalso get dug up in the bar-gain. It’s being whisperedthat Rhea Chakraborty’slife is going to gettougher. And the SushantSingh Rajput case couldbe revisited too. If thathappens, God knowswhat will come up? Onemore masala “MumbaiSaga”, this time with real-life villains, notBollywood actors.

The heat in Mumbai iskilling at the moment.One hears those poor pen-guins in the zoo are reallysuffering, especially thebabies. Ice, Ice baby!

Readers can send feedback to

www.shobhaade.blogspot.com

Had his (MansukhHiran) shocked andgrief-stricken wife

not named Sachin Vaze as her

husband’s murderer, even

this cold-bloodedkilling would have

been swiftly buriedby the cops,

supported by theirpolitical minders

Something rotten… Whyis Maha in such a mess?

For all those who got the shock of their life a few weeks back when theChief Justice of India enquired a man accused of raping a minor girl if hewas willing to marry her, there is some reason to cheer now. A refresh-

ing thought in the form of a judicial verdict has come out of the same precinctseffectively putting an end to the practice of Indian courts playing patron saintsof patriarchy while adjudicating cases involving gender-related crimes. Suchcases should be decided and bail conditions imposed strictly in accordancewith the requirements of Indian Criminal Procedure Code and they should notreflect stereotypical or patriarchal notions about women and their place insociety, the court has now ordered. It has also prescribed an elaborate set ofguidelines that take into account the sensitiveness of the topic for the courts inthe country to follow.

The apex court’s pathbreaking order has come while annulling an order ofthe Madhya Pradesh high court that had directed a man accused of having out-raged the modesty of a woman to present himself before her so that she may tiea rakhi on his wrist to be eligible for bail. Using rakhi-tying as a condition forbail transforms a sex-assaulter/groper into a “brother” by a judicial mandate,the court observed ands said in no uncertain terms that this thought processwas “wholly unacceptable”. The courts should ask for nothing suggestive of acompromise between the prosecutrix and the accused as it is beyond theirambit of jurisprudence, the apex court reminded the lower courts.

The seriousness with which the court has approached the issue is reflectedin its directive to the National Judicial Academy, which trains young judges,to incorporate gender sensitiveness in its programmes. The Supreme Courthas taken a major step towards gender justice, and it’s for the nation to do thefollow-up.

A welcome directive by SC

“The spoof of the bidding is in thecheating.

The source of the ruse is known aspropaganda.

One man’s meat is a cannibal’s horizon.

People in glass houses should keeptheir clothes on…”

— From Bar Bar To The Bar MyFriends by Bachchoo

Sarah Everard, 33, was walkinghome at night in SouthLondon. She crossed ClaphamCommon and walked down the

South Circular, one of London’s arte-rial roads, to get home — a distanceof about half an hour perhaps. Shenever got there.

She was reported missing, a policeinquiry was launched and a couple ofdays later her remains were found inwoodland in Kent, around 50 milesaway. A policeman in his 40s wasarrested and charged with her mur-der. That one death was, with all theCovid-19 deaths raging aroundBritain, a shocking and dominatingnational event.

The trial of the alleged murdererwill in all probability ascertain themotive for her abduction and mur-der. As yet, nothing is clear.

To Britain the murder of Sarah waswhat the Nirbhaya rape-murder wasto India. It was the straw whichcracked the camel’s back of toleranceof the crimes against women. In thelast available statistic for March2020, there were 207 women mur-dered in the UK in a year. Of these, 57per cent were by partners, ex-part-ners or family members of the vic-tims. The previous year’s figureswere higher by 30 per cent.

Sarah’s abduction and murderbrought thousands of women ontothe streets and the commons ofBritain to express dismay and dis-gust at this palpable vulnerability.Women are targeted on the streets forbeing women. The protests had nouniform demand. That men changetheir attitudes, that Parliament stiff-en the punishment for crimes againstwomen, that the law take the prose-cutions for rape more seriously asonly 5.7 per cent of cases brought tocourt resulted in convictions, wereall possible.

Feminist organisations contendthat this statistic in itself suggests akind of decriminalisation of theoffence of rape. It sends out the signalthat rapists, using one or other triedand now tested defence, can get away

with it.One of the demonstrations by

women and their men sympathisersgathered on Clapham Common onSaturday night. The demonstratorsby and large wore masks and heldaloft their phone torchlights.

The Metropolitan Police, London’sforce, moved in. The demonstratorswere openly breaking the lockdownlaws passed by Parliament. Scufflesbroke out and 16 people were arrest-ed. Young women who offered resis-tance to the arrests were physicallysubdued, handcuffed and led away topolice vans.

A huge outcry followed. Women’sorganisations demanded the resigna-tion of Cressida Dick, theMetropolitan Police commissioner,the ultimate head of the force thatconfronted the demonstrators.Others went further, demanding theresignation of Pritti “Clueless” Patel,the home secretary, who is ultimate-ly responsible for all UK policeforces.

No resignations followed. CressidaDick said her men were enforcing thelockdown law and the public shouldrespect the fact. The demonstrators,everyone, were certainly consciousthat they would be violating the lock-

down and possibly endangering theirown lives and others they came intocontact with.

And therein lies the question.Should the police have stood by andmade an exception, using their judg-ment? If the virus was to be spread bythe demonstrators being where theywere, the damage was surely done bythe time they saw fit to wade in? Avast section of the public would cer-tainly sympathise with the policeaction if it were against an illegalrave or drinks and drugs party. But ademonstration of mostly youngwomen protesting against the unsafe-ty of the country’s streets at night?

I wonder what the arresting offi-cers, male or female, said to theyoung women they were carryingaway in their vans to police stationsand cells to be processed for their“crime”.

I ask the question, gentle reader,because of my own experience ofbeing arrested at a demonstrationyears ago.

That demo was in support of themainly Asian workforce of a factorycalled Grunwick. The workers whowanted, almost unanimously, to joina union had been denied that rightand dismissed. I joined the protests

as the member of a union myself andof a black and Asian radical organi-sation called Race Today.

I won’t rehearse the circumstancesof my arrest, but I found myself hand-cuffed to a police constable, being dri-ven to the police station. He began, ina pseudo-friendly way, to questionme and to express his own viewsabout troublemakers andCommunists. He said he was res-olutely against this sort of demon-stration which would lead to anar-chy. I just laughed and reminded himthat his police union had recentlyfought for an increase in wageswhich the government had grantedthem.

The memory made me wonder whatthe arresting officers thought theywere doing on Clapham Common.The old dog Lenin said that the Statewas a group of armed men acting inthe interests of a class. Did these offi-cers think they were acting in theinterests of the health of the nation?

And what do the soldiers whoattack, kill and imprison pro-democ-racy protesters on the streets ofMyanmar or Hong Kong think or feelthey are doing? Do any of them sym-pathise with their victims and evenperhaps contemplate mutiny?

FarrukhDhondy

For UK, SarahEverard killinga wake-up calllike Nirbhaya

Subhani

Shobhaa De

Of Cabbages & Kings

20 MARCH 2021

DECCAN CHRONICLE

KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAREditor Printer & Publisher

DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at:

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BJP’S ‘REALITY’I read with bewildermentthe comments made bythe state BJP leadershipthat the Budget presentedby finance minister T.Harish Rao was far fromrealistic (Budget proposalsnot rooted in reality: BJP,March 19). The Centre hasensured that fuel priceswill soon hit the three-digit mark, and LPG pricesfour digits, breaking thebacks of most Indians.One wonders whichBudget, the central or thestate, is more realistic?

Dr Prasad ChitraHyderabad

GOVT SCHOOLS It’s heartening that Harish Raoprovided `4,000 crore for theupgradation of governmentschools. Government schools arethe most neglected. We shouldlearn from the countries likeFinland, Japan and Denmark onhow public schools are managed.

P.J. David Hyderabad

COVID ALERTThe Telangana High Court hasexpressed its anguish over thespread of Coronavirus cases. It istime the government is more alertand ensures that the protocolsagainst the spread of the deadlyvirus are implemented strictly.Special teams must visit huge gath-erings an anyone found not follow-ing the rules should be punished.

D. Manoj Kumar Secunderabad

Bengal certain to havenon-marxist govt.

NEW DELHI, MARCH. 19The formation of a non-Marxist

Ministry in West Bengal became anear certainty today after an hour-long meeting of the CentralParliamentary Board of theRuling Congress at which PradeshCongress leaders — Mr. B.S.Nahar, Mr. Tarun Kanti Ghoseand Mr. Siddhartha Shankar Ravi– were also present.

The board, which met informal-ly, could not, however, decidewhether it should itself form a sin-gle-party Ministry or worktowards a coalition Ministry com-prising the Congress (R), theCommunist Party of India and oth-ers ready to join in such an effort.

50 YEARS AGO IN

LETTERS

MANOJ ANAND | DC GUWAHATI, MARCH 19

Rahul Gandhi on Fridaysaid that if the Congress isvoted to power in Assam, itwould ensure that theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) is not implemented inthe state.

Addressing an interactionwith college students atLahowal in poll-boundDibrugarh district, Gandhialso slammed the BJP at theCentre for the decline indemocracy, increasing une-mployment amongst youth,CAA and farm laws protest.

Asserting that no religionteaches enmity, Gandhi acc-used the BJP of selling hat-red to create divisions amo-ng people. “It is the BJP thatuses hatred to divide society.No matter where they go tospread hatred, the Congresswill continue to spread loveand harmony,” he said.

In an obvious reference tothe RSS — the BJP’s ideolog-ical fountainhead — theCongress leader said there is

one force in Nagpur that istrying to control the entirecountry but the youths mustresist this attempt with loveand confidence as they hap-pen to be the future of thecountry.

“You think democracy isdeclining. Youth is unem-ployed, farmers are protest-ing, CAA is there. The ques-tion is what is India? Peoplefrom different cultures, lan-guages, religions make upIndia. We can’t ask the peo-ple of Assam to forget theirculture, history and lan-guage if they come to Delhi.The day we say this, the ideaof India ends. One force,born in Nagpur, trying tocontrol the whole country,”said Gandhi.

During the student interac-tion ahead of the AssamAssembly elections, Gandhialso urged the youth toactively participate in poli-tics and fight for the statewhen they feel the state isbeing robbed by an outsideforce. “Democracy meansthe voice of Assam should

control Assam,” he added.Gandhi who is campaign-

ing in the tea-belt of thestate said, “BJP promised`365, but gave `167 to Assamtea workers. I’m not Naren-dra Modi, I don’t lie. Today,we give you five guarantees— `365 daily wage to tea wo-rkers, non-implementationof the CAA, five lakh jobs,200 units of free electricityand `2,000 for housewives.”

On the tea industry, he saidthat the Congress manifestowas in consultation with thetea tribe and the people, andnot framed behind closeddoors. “For the tea industry,we will start a special min-istry to solve all your issues.Our manifesto is in consul-tation with the tea tribe, peo-ple, and not framed behindclosed doors,” he said.

Assuring that if Congressis voted to power, it willensure all round develop-ment of the state, Gandhisaid that the BJP spreadshate, increases unemploy-ment while the Congressworks to erode hate.

NATION pg 7DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 20 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKES

ED SUMMONS 3CIVIL SERVANTS

FROM BENGAL

TMC REPLACESFOUR CANDIDATES

AFTER DISSENT

RSS LIKELY TOREPLACE

‘BHAIYYAJI’ JOSHIDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 19

The two-day long meet of theRSS’ decision making body-Akhil Bharatiya PratinidhiSabha began in Bengaluru onFriday amid speculations thatSangh’s second-in-commandSuresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi couldbe replaced due to health rea-sons. While name of joint gen-eral secretary DattatreyaHosabale is doing the roundsto succeed Joshi, there is abuzz that another joint generalsecretary’s name is also beingconsidered for the post.

However, the decision toreplace Joshi or not, will betaken by the core group of theRSS. Election in the Sanghnational office-bearers teamtakes place every third yearand this is for the first timethat the pratinidhi sabha ismeeting outside Nagpur dur-ing the election year.

Vaidya, who briefed themedia, said there is a “grow-ing curiosity to know aboutRSS” and in the next three ye-ars, the Sangh aims to reachall the mandala in the country.

DC CORRESPONDENTKOLKATA, MARCH 19

Hit by a massive dissentrecently over distribution oftickets for the Assembly elec-tion in West Bengal, the rulingTrinamul Congress, in a majormove, on Friday replaced fourof its candidates, droppingtwo more sitting MLAsRamendra Nath Biswas andDhiman Roy among themwhile bringing back one sit-ting MLA for his demand.

At the Kalyani constituencyin Nadia, Aniruddha Biswashas been fielded in place ofRamendra Nath whileNarayan Goswami will contestfrom Ashoknagar in North 24Parganas, instead of Roy. Thelist of replacement also sawRafikur Rahman, the sittingMLA of the TMC at Amdangain North 24 Parganas, gettingback to contest from his con-stituency where a new face:Mostaque Mortaza Hossainwas the candidate.

Followers of Rahman, anMLA of the seat since 2011, bu-rst into protest and blockedthe road after his name wasdropped from the TMC candi-dates’ list on March 5. At Dub-rajpur in Birbhum going topolls on April 29 in the eighthand final phase, the TMC madeDebabrata Saha it’s candidatein place of Asima Dhibar fol-lowing a discontent againsther within the party. This wasthe second time Chief Mini-ster Mamata Banerjee’s partyhad to change its candidates.

Earlier Sarala Murmu wasreplaced by Pradip Baske atHabibpur in Malda of NorthBengal after she refused tocontest the polls because shewanted a different seat.

DC CORRESPONDENTKOLKATA, MARCH 19

Expanding its net on thebureaucratic coterie of WestBengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on the eve ofthe Assembly election, theEnforcement Directorate (ED)has summoned three of hertrusted civil servants for ques-tioning in two different high-profile financial scams.

Two of them are the CM’sprincipal secretary GoutamSanyal and a senior IAS officerB.P. Gopalika who was earlierposted as the secretary of thestate animal resources depart-ment. Sources claimed that theduo has been called for grillingnext week in the controversialdivestment of 47 per cent stakeof the state government inMetro Dairy in 2017.

Their summons coincidedthe ED’s questionning of ano-ther senior IAS officer RajeshKumar Sinha, now posted asthe secretary of the state agri-culture marketing depart-ment, during the day. Recently,state home secretary H.K.Dwiwedi got summons fromthe ED asking him to appearbefore it on March 23.

Meanwhile, state securityadvisor and Surajit KarPurkayastha, got summons inthe multi-crore Saradha chitfund scam. The former stateDGP has been asked to appearbefore the ED on March 25. Inthe same case, another retiredIPS officer Rajat Majumdar,who was earlier arrested bythe Central Bureau of Investi-gation, has been called by thesame agency a day before Pur-kayastha’s date.

Congressleader RahulGandhi eatslunch with teagarden work-ers at Chubatea estate,ahead of thestateAssemblyelections inDibrugarh dis-trict on Friday.

— PTI

I’m not Modi, Idon’t lie: Rahul Gandhi promises `365/day to tea workers, 5ljobs, 200 units of free power, no CAA in Assam

Kamal for whiterevolution in TNDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, MARCH 19

Promising to turn thestate into a trillion dol-lar economy by takingit to a level on par withdeveloped nations, theMakkal Neethi Maiam(MNM) lashed out atthe DMK and AIADMKfor taking the statedown the hill.

Calling it a 10 yearvision plan for the sta-te, the election manife-sto, running to 108 pag-es, enumerates its sch-emes under 41 heads,envisaging a ‘whiterevolution’ that meanproviding a clean corr-uption free govern-ment and was unveiledby party founderKamal Haasan atCoimbatore on Friday.

Under Blue Revolut-ion, it talks about link-ing water bodies. Mett-ur and Vaigai will belinked through a 350km waterway and sowill be other waterbodies like Mettur andPalar (250 km), Vaigaiand Tamarabarani(130 km) andTamarabarani andPerunchani to createthe Tamil Nadu SmartWaterway Grid.

One important prom-ise is a change in theliquor policy. TASMC

would be partly priva-tised, prices of liquorwill be hiked with one part of the addi-tional revenue going to the private partner,one part to the govern-ment and another partto the families ofthe liquor consumersby allowing them tomake purchases incanteens.

The ban on toddy, theindigenous drink, wo-uld be lifted if theMNM came to powerand any loss incurredby the government inregulating the sale ofalcohol would be com-pensated by sellingpurified water, mani-festo said.

It promised to trainaccredited journalistsfor six months and oneyear in the IIMs andprovide them life andaccident insurance co-ver for `10 lakh. For tr-aders a Daily Loan andDevelopment Bankwould be set up to pro-tect them from usury.

On developing airtravel, it said trips percapita would be increa-sed from the present0.04 to 0.55, the presentratio of one aircraftfor 2.89 million peoplewould be changed toan aircraft for everymillion people.

Puducherry, Ma-rch 19: TheCommunist Party ofIndia (Marxist) hasnamed its candidatefor the Muthialpetseat in the April 6Puducherry Asse-

mbly elections whileannouncing that itwould support theSecular DemocraticAlliance (SDA) inother constituen-cies.

— PTI

PUDUCHERRY: CPM NAMES CANDIDATE

RAJIB CHOWDHURI | DCKOLKATA, MARCH 19

Congress presidentSonia Gandhi has repo-rtedly lauded ShikhaMitra, wife of late chiefof the party’s WestBengal unit SomenMitra, for refusing tocontest the Assemblyelection on a BJP ticket.Thanking Mitra for herbold decision, Gandhialso assured her of get-ting her “due respect.”

On Thursday eveningGandhi dialled Mitraafter learning about hermove as the BJP, whileannouncing its list ofcandidates from NewDelhi in the afternoonfor the last four phasesof the polls, fielded herat Chowringhee seat incentral Kolkata without “consulting” her andagainst her “wish.”

According to sources,Gandhi, during a talk of15 minutes with Mitraover phone, said that

the way she turneddown the saffron par-ty’s offer, demands prai-se. “It was expected fr-om you. The party willgive due respect to youfor this,” sources quot-ed Sonia as telling Mit-ra who is among twoBJP candidates who ha-ve refused to contest thepolls after the annou-ncement of theirnames. Speculation isrife that Mitra may geta ticket from theCongress.

Sonia lauds Mitra forrefusing BJP ticket

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 19

India on Friday recordednearly 40,000 fresh infec-tions of Coronavirus asMaharashtra, Punjab,Kerala, Karnataka andGujarat continue to regis-ter the highest single-daysurge. The 39,726 freshcases were highest daily-rise since November 29while 154 deaths wererecorded.

The spike comes aheadof Assembly elections inAssam, Tamil Nadu, WestBengal, Kerala andPuducherry where main-taining Covid protocols inbetween political ralliesand campaigns is turningout to be a huge challengefor the authorities.I n c i d e n t a l l y ,Maharashtra, Kerala andPunjab account for 76.48per cent of India’s totalactive cases.

In the wake of rise indaily cases, Maharashtra,which is reporting 65 percent of the daily cases inthe country, has issuedfresh curbs till March 31in several cities whileBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) hasmade RT-PCR negative

test report mandatory forpeople entering shoppingmalls. The BMC will alsobe conducting rapid anti-gen tests at various placesin Mumbai to detect infec-tions. Mumbai’s slumareas has about 34 con-tainment zones and 270buildings have beensealed after Covid-19patients were found there.

As Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav

Thackeray warned peopleof another strict lock-down if safety protocolswere not followed, thestate government onFriday issued orders cur-tailing the capacity in the-atres and private officesby 50 per cent till March31. “I see lockdown as anoption going ahead. But Itrust people of the state tocooperate (and follow theCovid-19 norms voluntari-

ly) like the last time,” hesaid. When the pandemicbegan last year, there wasnothing to fight the viruswith,” Thackeray said.

“All private officesexcept related to healthand other essential servic-es to function at 50%capacity,” the order saidwhile allowing govern-ment and semi-govern-ment offices to take a callon staff attendance.

Covid: Uddhav warnsof another lockdownIndia records 39,726 cases, highest daily rise since Nov. 29

NATION pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 20 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKES

NO RELIEF TOMUFTI FROM HC

ON ED SUMMONSDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 19

The Delhi High Court onFriday refused to stay sum-mons issued to former Jammuand Kashmir chief ministerMehbooba Mufti by theEnforcement Directorate in amoney laundering case. Abench of Chief Justice D.N.Patel and Justice JasmeetSingh said they are not granti-ng any relief to the PDP leader.

The 61-year-old leader, whowas released last year aftermore than a year in detentionfollowing the scrapping ofJammu and Kashmir’s specialstatus, has been served noticeto appear at the ED headquar-ters in the national capital.The court asked the ED to filea short note of submissionalong with compilation ofjudgements relied upon bythem before the next date onApril 16.

It also asked Mufti’s counselto file their short note.Solicitor General Tushar Meh-ta, representing the ED, saidMufti just has to appear beforethe officials. The ED, whichhad earlier summoned Muftifor March 15, had not insistedfor her personal appearance atthat time. The former Jammuand Kashmir chief ministerhas been now summoned forMarch 22 by the ED

Senior advocate NityaRamakrishnan, representingMufti, urged the court to askED not to insist for her person-al presence as was done earli-er. To this, the bench said, “Weare not giving any stay. We arenot granting any relief.”

Mufti has sought quashing ofsummons issued to her by theED in a money launderingcase. She has also sought todeclare section 50 of thePrevention of Money Laund-ering Act as void and inopera-tive, being unfairly discrimi-natory, bereft of safeguards,and violative of Article 20(3) .Section 50 of the Act empow-ers the authority, that is, offi-cers of ED, to summon anyperson to give evidence or pro-duce records. All persons sum-moned are bound to answerthe questions.

People, not wearing face masks, walk at the Heritage Street near Golden Temple,amid Coronavirus pandemic in Amritsar on Friday. — PTI

SONU SHRIVASTAVA | DC MUMBAI, MARCH 19

A day after Maharashtrahome minister AnilDeshmukh said that IPSofficer Param Bir Singhhad to be shunted fromMumbai police commis-sioner’s office because of“serious mistakes” thatwere “unforgivable”, theShiv Sena on Fridayclaimed Singh was a vic-tim of a “Delhi lobby”.The reason behindSingh’s transfer was theTRP scam case that upseta certain Delhi lobby, theparty claimed.

An editorial inSaamana, the Shiv Senamouthpiece on Fridayalso defended Param BirSingh stating that thetransfer of Singh fromMumbai Police Commi-ssioner does not makehim guilty. “Param BirSingh was replaced in thepost of Mumbai PoliceCommissioner, whichdoesn’t mean he is gui-lty,” reads the editorial.

The MVA governmenton Wednesday had trans-ferred Singh to HomeGuards. HemantNagarale had beenappointed new Mumbaipolice commissioner. The

transfers were precededby marathon meetingsheld by Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray onTuesday night andWednesday morning withministers, bureaucratsand police officers includ-ing Singh himself.

The editorial also ques-tioned the move of theNIA taking over the probeinto the Gelatin-ladenSUV found parked nearindustrialist MukeshAmbani’s house lastmonth, saying that theagency generally investi-gates terrorism-relatedcases, but there was noterror angle involved inthis episode.

It also said that NIAprobes terrorism-relatedcases. The NIA’s probeinto the terror attacks ofUri, Pathankot andPulwama is still a mys-tery. “How many peoplehave been arrested so far(in these cases)?,” the edi-torial asked.

The Sena also allegedthat the opposition ispoliticising the death ofHiran and lowering themorale of the state police.

Shiv Sena claimsParam Bir victimof ‘Delhi lobby’ SHAHAB ANSARI | DC

MUMBAI, MARCH 19

The NationalInvestigation Agency(NIA) on Friday told alocal court in Mumbaithat they are not gettingany cooperation fromSachin Waze in theinvestigation of MukeshAmbani security scarecase.

Before a court inMumbai, the agencyclaimed that it has notbeen able to conduct aproper interrogationbecause of non-coopera-tion by Waze.

The special NIA courtin Mumbai on Fridayrejected an applicationby Waze seeking permis-sion to consult hislawyer and speak to himin private during hisremand in the case relat-ed to the recovery ofexplosives-laden Scorpionear industrialistMukesh Ambani’s resi-dence in South Mumbai.The judge said that theorder passed by courtabout his consultationwith lawyer is clear. Thecourt has allowed Waze’slawyer to remain pres-ent at NIA’s office duringWaze’s interrogation buthe can stay at a distancefrom where he can seeinterrogation but can’thear it.

On the same day, twosenior NIA officers metnewly appointedMumbai police commis-sioner Hemant Nagrale.

Inspector general AnilShukla and superinten-dent of police VikramKhalate of the NIA metnewly-appointed citypolice commissionerHemant Nagrale in theafternoon.

The NIA officials spe-nt around 30 minutes atthe police commission-er’s office and Joint Co-mmissioner of Police(Crime) Milind Bhara-mbe and Deputy Commi-ssioner of Police (Cr-ime) Akbar Pathan werealso present at the meet.

WAZE NOTCOOPERATING:NIA TELLS COURT

AKSHAAY KUMARSAHOO | DC BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 19

Nearly two lakh OliveRidley turtles have turnedup in the last 10 days formass nesting atGahirmatha MarineSanctuary in Odisha’sKendrapara district.

Although not in largenumbers, a total 2,03,635sea turtles have been

spawning at Nasi-2 islandof Gahirmatha sanctuaryfor the past 10 days, forestofficial sources said onFriday. The mass nestingprocess had begun onMarch 8 at Gahirmatha.

While a minimal numberof endangered turtles par-ticipated in mass nestingon the first day, the num-ber increased later.

According to data, 300Olive Ridleys laid eggs on

March 8, 800 on March 9,1,250 on March 10, 7,940 onMarch 11, 425 on March 12,

210 on March 13, 18,350 onMarch 14, 32,560 on March15, 72,600 on March 16 and69,200 on March 17.

The mass nesting ofOlive Ridley turtles atGahirmatha shore wasfirst spotted in 1975. Thestate government has pro-hibited fishing in sea upto20 km from Gahirmathaafter declaring it as thefirst marine sanctuary onSeptember 27, 1997.

Around 4.70 lakh femaleturtles had turned up in2020 to lay eggs atGahirmatha. The annualsojourn of the female tur-tles to lay eggs is alsocalled Arribada.

The hatchlings mostlyemerged during the firstfortnight of May. Eachfemale lays around 100 to120 eggs. Hatchlingsemerge out of the eggsafter 45 to 50 days of the

incubation period.Olive Ridley turtles have

a high mortality rate, withjust one in thousand grow-ing into an adult.

“It’s a rare visual treat asthe delicate hatchlingswith mothers nowhere insight generate a hissingnoise, creating a soothingcacophony. Later, theymake a beeline towardsthe sea,” said a senior for-est official.

2L Olive Ridley turtles arrive on Odisha coast● ● THE MASS nesting ofOlive Ridley turtles atGahirmatha shore wasfirst spotted in 1975. Thestate government has pro-hibited fishing in sea upto20 km from Gahirmathaafter declaring it as thefirst marine sanctuary.

● ● SHIV SENA defendsParam Bir Singh statingthat the transfer does notmake him guilty.

MOUSE PLAGUESWEEPS RURAL

AUSTRALIASydney: Swathes of Aust-ralia’s rural east are battling a“plague” of mice that is infest-ing crops and producing hair-raising scenes of rodents run-ning amok. Farmers in NewSouth Wales have reported “adrastic increase” in the mousepopulation, with the creaturesinvading grain silos, barnsand homes, according to theNSW Farmers association.

Videos captured on theMoeris family farm in Gilga-ndra — a five-hour drive nort-hwest of Sydney — show thou-sands of mice scurrying fromunder pipes, through storagecolumns and over machinery.

The skin-crawling clips weretoo much for some social med-ia users. “This is exactly whatnightmares are made of ! I ca-n’t even watch the videos,” sa-id one Facebook user in resp-onse to Melanie Moeris’ posts.

WORLD US, China clash during first talksBlinken says China’s actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stabilityWashington, March 19:US Secretary of State TonyBlinken has bluntly toldChina’s top diplomats thatBeijing’s actions havethreatened the rules-basedorder that maintains glob-al stability, as the two sidesexchanged sharp rebukesin public during their firstin-person high-level meet-ing since President JoeBiden took office.

The talks involved Secre-tary of State Antony Blin-ken and National SecurityAdviser Jake Sullivan onthe US side, facing off withChina’s top foreign policyofficial, Yang Jiechi, andforeign minister Wang Yi.

In his opening remarksto the much-anticipatedUS-China talks being heldin Anchorage, Alaska, onThursday, Blinken saidthat the issues to be raisedby his delegation are rele-vant not only to the twocountries but to othersacross the region andindeed around the world.

The Biden administra-tion, Blinken asserted, iscommitted to leading with

diplomacy to advance theinterests of the UnitedStates and to strengthenthe rules-based interna-tional order. “That systemis not an abstraction. Ithelps countries resolve dif-ferences peacefully, coordi-nate multilateral effortseffectively, and participatein global commerce withthe assurance that every-one is following the samerules,” Blinken said.

“The alternative to arules-based order is aworld in which mightmakes right and winnerstake all, and that would bea far more violent andunstable world for all ofus,” he said.

At the first-ever meetingof the Quad last week, USPresident Joe Biden,Prime Minister NarendraModi, Australian PrimeMinister Scott Morrisionand Japanese PrimeMinister Yoshihide Sugasaid they were committedto promoting a free, open,rules-based order, rootedin international law toadvance security and pros-

perity and counter threatsto both in the Indo-Pacificand beyond.

“We support the rule oflaw, freedom of navigationand overflight, peacefulresolution of disputes,democratic values, andterritorial integrity,” thetop leaders of the US,India, Australia and Japansaid in a joint statement,amidst China’s aggressiveactions in the strategicIndo-Pacific.

Blinken said the meetingwas an opportunity to dis-cuss key priorities, bothdomestic and global, sothat China can better und-erstand the Biden admin-istration’s intentions andapproach. The relationsbetween the US and Chinaare at an all-time low.

The two countries arecurrently engaged in a bit-ter confrontation over var-ious issues, including tr-ade, Beijing’s aggressivemilitary moves in the dis-puted South China Sea andhuman rights in HongKong and Xinjiang region. — PTI

‘Strong smell of gunpowder’sensed during meet: ChinaBeijing, March 19: Chinasaid on Friday a “strongsmell of gunpowder anddrama” resulted fromtalks with top Americandiplomats in Alaska, con-tinuing the contentioustone of the first face-to-face meetings under theBiden administration.

Foreign Ministry spok-esman Zhao Lijian, speak-ing in Beijing, said Ame-rican officials at the Al-aska meetings had provo-ked Chinese officials intomaking a “solemn resp-onse” after US officialsmade “groundless attacks”against Chinese foreignand domestic policies.

Secretary of StateAntony Blinken andChinese Communist Partyforeign affairs chief YangJiechi took aim at each

other’s country’s policieson Thursday in their meet-ing in Anchorage.

Zhao accused the US sideof overrunning the agreedtime for opening remarks,prompting the sharpresponse from the Chinesedelegation.

The meetings, set to con-tinue Friday, come amiddisputes over trade, tech-nology, human rights andChina’s territorial claimsto Taiwan and islands inthe South China and EastChina seas.

China has also stronglyobjected to US calls forgreater transparencyabout the origins of thecoronavirus pandemic,the first cases of whichwere recorded in the cen-tral Chinese city ofWuhan in late 2019.

“It was the US side that... provoked the dispute inthe first place, so the twosides had a strong smell ofgunpowder and dramafrom the beginning in theopening remarks. It wasnot the original intentionof the Chinese side,” Zhaotold reporters at a dailybriefing.

At the Alaska meeting,Blinken affirmed US soli-darity with its allies inpushing back againstChina’s increasing effortsto spread its authoritarianmode of government thro-ugh political and econom-ic pressure. Yang respond-ed with a list of Chinesecomplaints, accusing Was-hington of hypocrisy forcriticising Beijing onhuman rights and otherissues. — AP

Europe resumesAstra jab rolloutParis, March 19: Sever-al European countries re-sumed AstraZeneca vacc-inations on Friday afteran all-clear from EU regu-lators, as US PresidentJoe Biden was set to meethis goal of having 100million Americansinoculated weeks aheadof schedule.

Worries thatAstraZeneca’s Covid-19vaccine may cause bloodclots have seen countriesfrom Venezuela toIndonesia pause its use inrecent days, a setback forthe drive to vaccinatepopulations against avirus that has killednearly 2.7 million people.

Germany and Italy, bothof which are attemptingto fight off a third wave ofthe Coronavirus, annou-nced they were using thejab again as of Fridayafter the European Medi-cines Agency said it was“safe and effective”.

Other European coun-tries including theNetherlands, Spain andPortugal are also endingtheir suspension, whilein Asia, Indonesia said itwould follow suit.

The vaccine was alsobrought back into use inFrance on Friday — butjust hours later, the nati-onal health regulator rec-ommended it should onlybe given to people aged 55and over, given thereported blood clots wereonly seen in younger peo-ple. Prime Minister JeanCastex — who is himself55 — received an AstraZe-neca dose on Friday in abid to reassure citizensthat it is safe. Around athird of France’s popula-tion will enter a newmonth-long, limited lock-down from Saturday, afterthe country recorded itshighest new caseload innearly four months.

— AFP

Yangon, March 19:Roads out of Myanmar’sbiggest city were chokedon Friday with people flee-ing the junta’s deadlycrackdown on anti-coupdissent, as authorities in neighbouring Thailandsaid they were preparing for an influx ofrefugees.

Myanmar has been inturmoil since the militaryousted civilian leaderAung San Suu Kyi onFebruary 1, triggering amass uprising that securi-ty forces have sought tocrush with a campaign ofviolence and fear.

At least two more pro-testers were killed Fridayin a small trading town innortheastern Myanmar, afuneral home employeetold AFP by phone, bring-ing the confirmed deathtoll across the nation sincethe coup to nearly 230.

The junta also this weekimposed martial law oversix townships in Yangon,the nation's former capitaland commercial hub,

effectively putting nearlytwo million people underdirect control of militarycommanders.

Some of those areas havebecome battle zones, withprotesters firing slingshots and throwing petrolbombs at security forceswho have fired liverounds.

Smoke has also risenabove nearly desertedstreets, with securityforces burning barricadesmade of vehicle tyres andfences that have been setup by protesters.

— AFP

Myanmar crackdown triggers exodus● ● MYANMAR HAS been inturmoil since the militaryousted civilian leaderAung San Suu Kyi onFebruary 1, triggering amass uprising that securi-ty forces have sought tocrush with a campaign ofviolence and fear.

● ● AT LEAST two moreprotesters were killed on Friday.

A protester pours Coca-Cola on the face of a comrade to diminish the effects of teargas during a crackdown by security forces on a demonstration against the militarycoup in Yangon’s Thaketa township on Friday. — AFP

TANZANIA GETSFIRST WOMANPRESIDENTDar Es Salaam, March19: Samia Suluhu Hassanwas sworn in on Friday asTanzania’s first femalepresident after the suddendeath of John Magufulifrom an illness shroudedin mystery.

The 61-year-old, dressedin black suit and red head-scarf, took the oath ofoffice in Dar es Salaambefore inspecting troops ata military parade andreceiving a cannon salute.

“I, Samia SuluhuHassan, promise to be hon-est and obey and protectthe constitution ofTanzania,” she said beforea room of dignitaries, whoapplauded when the briefceremony was complete.

Under the constitution,Hassan will serve theremainder of Magufuli’ssecond five-year term,which does not expireuntil 2025. She is the onlyother current servingfemale head of state inAfrica alongside Ethiopia’s President Sahle-WorkZewde, whose role is main-ly ceremonial. — AFPBIBI FATE RESTS

ON RAZOR-THINMARGIN IN POLLS

Jerusalem: A final batch ofpolls by Israeli media outletson Friday showed a razor-thinelection, with Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu’s fatelikely turning on the perform-ance of small parties and a for-mer ally who has criticisedhim but has not ruled out join-ing his coalition.

The elections next Tuesday —the fourth in less than twoyears — are widely seen as areferendum on Netanyahu,Israel's longest-serving primeminister, who has presidedover one of the world’s mostsuccessful coronavirus vacci-nation campaigns but is also ontrial for corruption.

The polls show Netanyahu’sright-wing Likud party in thelead, projecting that it will winaround 30 seats in the 120-mem-ber Knesset, Israel’s parliam-ent. But an alliance with hisnatural allies, the ultra-Orthod-ox parties and a small far-rightparty, would only yield around50 seats. On the other side is anideologically diverse array ofparties committed to oustingNetanyahu, which together areprojected to win 56-60 seats,also just short of a majority.

SHORT TAKES

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pg 10

CHINA HEARINGON CANADIANSPOOK ENDS

Dandong, China,March 19: The courthearing for a Canadianman detained in Chinafor more than two yearson espionage chargesfinished after less thanthree hours on Friday, aCanadian diplomat said.

Michael Spavor is oneof two Canadians deta-ined, in apparent retalia-tion for Canada’s arreston a US extradition war-rant of Huawei execu-tive Meng Wanzhou, andformally charged lastJune with spying.

Canada has attackedthe charges against itscitizens as “trumped-up”, and the three caseshave sent relationsbetween Ottawa andBeijing to their lowestpoint in decades.

Spavor’s family havecalled for his uncondi-tional release, insistingthat he was innocent ofthe accusations and haddone much as a busi-nessman to “build con-structive ties” betweenCanada, China andNorth Korea.

Jim Nickel, the charged'affaires of theCanadian embassy inBeijing, told reportersoutside the courtroom innortheastern China thatthe hearing had fin-ished, and officials wereawaiting the verdict.

Nickel had earlier toldreporters outside thecourt in the city of Dan-dong near China’s bor-der with North Koreathat Canada was “disap-pointed by the lack oftransparency and thelack of access” to theproceedings. — AFP

INDIA RANKS 139

OUT OF 149 IN

WORLD’S HAPPIEST

COUNTRY: REPORTHelsinki, March 19:Covid-19 has done littleto alter the ranking ofthe world’s happiestcountries, with Finlandat the top for a fourthyear running, an annualUN-sponsored reportsaid on Friday.

The researchersbehind the WorldHappiness Report, nowin its ninth year, usedGallup data asking peo-ple in 149 countries torate their own happi-ness, also taking intoaccount measures suchas GDP, social support,personal freedom andlevels of corruption togive each nation a hap-piness score, which isan average of the pastthree years.

Once again, the topspots were dominatedby European countries—with Denmark com-ing second, followed bySwitzerland, Icelandand the Netherlands.

New Zealand, fallingone place to ninth, wasagain the only non-European nation in thetop ten.

Other climbers includ-ed Germany, up from17th to 13th, and France,rising two to 21st. TheUK, meanwhile, fellfrom 13th to 17th place,while the US fell onespot to 19th.

African nationsLesotho, Botswana,Rwanda and Zimbabwecame at the bottom ofthe table, but ahead ofAfghanistan which wasclassed as the world'sunhappiest nation thisyear.

The authors also com-pared this year’s data toprevious years’averagesto gauge the impact ofthe pandemic, andfound “significantlyhigher frequency ofnegative emotions” injust over a third of thecountries.

But positive emotionsincreased in 22 coun-tries, and “surprisinglythere was not, on aver-age, a decline in well-being when measuredby people's own evalua-tion of their lives,”John Helliwell, one ofthe report's compilers,said in a statement.

“One possible explana-tion is that people seeCovid-19 as a common,outside threat affectingeverybody and that thishas generated a greatersense of solidarity andfellow-feeling.”

India has been ranked139, out of 149 countriesevaluated, in the WorldHappiness Report 2021.

— AFP

pg 11HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 20 MARCH 2021

Fares hiked by 5% to `2,310 & `7,560

Airfare floorraised again

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, MARCH 19

India received $232.4 bil-lion as PE/VC invest-ments in the past decade.

Between 2011 and 2020,Indian companies andstartups received a total of$232.4 billion. This is morethan twice the valuerecorded in the precedingdecade. Of the total invest-ments, 68 per cent or$158.5 billion came in dur-ing the last four years, asper an IVCA-EY report.

Financial services,infrastructure, real estate,e-commerce and technolo-gy were the most pre-ferred sectors for PE/VCinvestments accounting

for 60-70 per cent of allinvestments during thedecade.

“2011-2020 was a pivotaldecade for the IndianPE/VC industry duringwhich the industry grewfrom a nascent asset classto a mature ecosystem,crossing many significantmilestones,” said VivekSoni, partner and nationalleader for private equityservices, EY.

“A large part of the

funds invested weresourced from globally fun-gible pools of capital man-aged by internationalGPs(general partners).Only $58.2 billion of Indiadedicated funds wereraised between 2011 and2020 and this is approxi-mately 25 per cent of thePE/VC investments of$232.4 billion invested dur-ing this period,” addedSoni.

The Flipkart-Walmartdeal was a turning pointfor the Indian PE/VCindustry.

Notwithstanding thepandemic, the decadeended on a record high of$47.6 billion in PE/VCinvestments in 2020.

KURT WAGNERMARCH 19

Facebook Inc is buildinga version of the photo-sharing tool Instagramspecifically for childrenunder the age of 13, aneffort to get its popularproducts into the handsof the next generation ofinternet users.

The new app wasannounced internally onThursday, but is not yetlaunched. Instagram cur-rently requires thatusers must be at least 13years old. BuzzFeedNews previously report-ed on Instagram Kids.

Instagram, bought byFacebook almost adecade ago for $1 billion,has become one of itsmost popular products ata time when its mainsocial networking prop-

erty has failed to res-onate with some youngerusers.

"Increasingly kids areasking their parents ifthey can join apps thathelp them keep up withtheir friends," JoeOsborne, a Facebookspokesman, said in astatement. "Right nowthere aren't manyoptions for parents, so

we're working on build-ing additional products—-like we did withMessenger Kids—thatare suitable for kids,managed by parents.We're exploring bringinga parent-controlled expe-rience to Instagram tohelp kids keep up withtheir friends, discovernew hobbies and inter-ests, and more."

Messenger Kids is aversion of Facebook'smessaging app for pre-teens. That app includesa number of parentalcontrols, but a flaw previ-ously allowed some kidsto chat with people theirparents had notapproved. The incidentsparked concern fromregulators that it didn'tadequately protect chil-dren.

— Bloomberg

Facebook building kids’version of Instagram

SANGEETHA GWITH AGENCY INPUTSCHENNAI, MARCH 19

Airfares will pinch thepocket of passengers a lit-tle more now, as the gov-ernment has increasedthe lower limit on airfaresby five per cent amidst ris-ing aviation turbine fuel(ATF) prices, civil avia-tion minister HardeepSingh Puri on Friday. ATFprices have risen 150 percent in the past ninemonths from their lowsduring the lock-down.

The upper limit on air-fares will remain as it isfor now. A month back, theCentre had increased thelower and upper limits ondomestic airfares by 10-30per cent.

While announcingresumption of scheduleddomestic flights in Maylast year, the aviation min-istry had placed limits onairfares through sevenbands classified on thebasis of flight duration.

The first band consists offlights having less than 40-minute duration and itslower limit has beenincreased to Rs 2,310 onFriday. The threshold farefor the highest band offlights having duration of180-210 minutes was fur-ther hiked to Rs 7,560.

"There has been a con-tinuous rise in price ofATF so it has been decidedto increase the lower fareband by 5 per cent keepingthe upper fare bandunchanged," Puri tweeted."We may open the sectorfor 100% operations when

daily passenger trafficcrosses 3.5 lakhs on 3 occa-sions in a month."

Currently, the airlinesare permitted to operatenot more than 80 per centof their pre-Covid domes-tic flights.

"Last few days have seena decline in the number ofair passengers largely dueto restrictions & imposi-tion of compulsory RT-PCR test by various states.Due to this we have decid-ed to retain the permissi-ble limit to 80% of sched-ule," Puri added.

Scheduled internationalpassenger traffic contin-ues to remain suspendedin India since March 23,2020 due to the pandemic.However, special interna-tional flights have beenoperating since July 2020under air bubble arrange-ments formed with vari-ous countries.

While the governmenthas allowed carriers toincrease the air fares by 10to 30 per cent earlier, mostof them were not able tohike the rates owing tolow capacity levels.

ATF prices in New Delhihave risen from about Rs21.45 per litre on May 25,2020 to Rs 53.80 per litre ason February 1, 2021-- anincrease of 150.8 per centin nine months, the gov-ernment informedParliament.

The government onFebruary 11 increased theminimum fare by only 10per cent and the maximumfare by only 30 per cent.However, the industry hasnot been able to hike rates."The carriers are runningat around 75 per cent capac-ity. Unless they return to 90-92 per cent capacity utilisa-tion, they won't be able tohike the rates. Due to theheavy competition in thesector, they have not beenable to resort to dynamicpricing as earlier,' saidMayur Milak, seniorresearch analyst--auto &aviation sector atIndiaNivesh Securities.

The domestic trafficreduced from around 10.8crore during April-December 2019 to aroundthree crore during April-December 2020.

INDIA GETS $232 BN PE/VC FUNDS IN A DECADE

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, MARCH 19

Nazara Technologies' Rs583-crore IPO was sub-scribed over 175 times,with heavy demandfrom high networthindividuals (HNI)investors on the finalday of subscription onFriday while SuryodaySmall Finance Bank'sIPO of Rs 582 crore wassubscribed 2.37 times.

As per stock exchangedata, non-institutionalinvestors or the HNI cat-egory was subscribed389.89 times, qualifiedinstitutional investors’’portion was subscribed103.77 times and retailindividual investor por-tion was subscribed75.29 times.

Ace investor RakeshJhunjhunwala holdsmore than 10 per centstake in NazaraTechnologies.

Nazara, a India baseddiversified gaming andsports media platformhad raised Rs 100 crorein February 2021 fromHornbill CapitalAdvisers, an investmentvehicle of the NorthAmerica based HornbillOrchid India Fund andRs 261 crore just beforethe public issue openingon March 16 from over-seas and domesticinvestors like Govern-ment of Singapore, AbuDhabi InvestmentAuthority, GoldmanSachs, SBI MutualFund, HDFC MutualFund, ICICI PrudentialMF, Kotak MF, Axis MF,Sundaram MF, AdityaBirla Sunlife MF, amongothers.

NAZARA TECH IPOSUBSCRIBED 175

TIMES, SURYODAYSFB 2.37 TIMES

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State Bank digital transaction sharereaches 67% State Bank of India has seen aperceptible increase in thenumber transactions happen-ing at its multiple digital chan-nels, with the percentage shareof such transactions moving upfrom 60 per cent in the pre-pandemic period to 67 percent, chairman Dinesh Kharasaid. The rise in digital transac-tions was largely driven by e-commerce, which gave thebank’s digital channels “widercurrency and acceptability.”

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Manoj, Aijaz have ball of a timeDinakar, Manish, Izhan, Mudassir, Mehul, Ujjwal, Vinay, Akhilesh and Hussain also shineDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

D. Manoj Kumar tookseven wickets in theHyderabad CricketAssociation’s two-dayleague while Aijaz Mehdigot eight in the one-daysection to emerge top per-formers in matches playedon Friday.

Manoj ran through theMega City line-up to fin-ish with fine figures of10.4-2-67-7 that bowledOurs to a comfortable vic-tory.

South Raymond’s Aijazmade LNCC batsmendance to his tune as hebowled them out for a pal-try 166 to return with fan-tastic figures of 9.2-3-29-8.Raymond romped homewith five wickets in hand.

I. Sai Dinakar (5/53) andD. Manish Reddy (5/72) ofTeam Speed; AdilabadDistrict’s Md Izhan Awaiz(5/23); Md MudassirAhmed (5/39) of Elegantand Shanti XI’s Mehul

Dayani (5/48) were theother performers in theTwo-Day league.

In the One-Dayers,Ujjwal (5/20) of SuttonCC; Mahesh CC’s VinayReddy (5/21) and Akhilesh(5/29); and SyedMohammed Hussain (110)of St Andrews CC rose tothe top.Brief scores:

TWO-DAY LEAGUE

■ Ours 291 in 79 overs vs MegaCity 208 in 55 overs (Zubair 46,Prakash Lamani 56, D. ManojKumar 7/67 — 10.4-2-67-7).Points: Ours 5, Mega City 0.■ Team Speed 680/5 in 90 oversbt Crown 190 in 39.2 overs (D.Sharank 61, P. Tarun SaiKrishnamurthy 61, I. Sai Dinakar5/53, D. Manish Reddy 5/72).Points: Team Speed 5, Crown 0.

■ Adilabad District 243 in 71overs bt PKMCC 107 in 49.2 overs(Md Izhan Awaiz 5/23). Points:Adilabad District 5, PKMCC 0.■ Elegant 116 in 50.3 overs btShalimar CC 99/8 (all out) in 26.4overs (Md K. Mudassir Ahmed5/39). Points: Elegant 5, ShalimarCC 0.■ Shanti XI 435 in 89.5 overs btXI Master 125 in 36.1 overs (KiranPaul 37, Mehul Dayani 5/48).Points: Shanti XI 5, XI Master 0.■ WMCC 347 in 68 overs lost toNizamabad District 348/9 in 74.1overs (Md Adnan 46, J. RohitKumar 44, N. Anish Reddy 4/95).Points: Nizamabad District 5,WMCC 0.■ Noble 271 in 55.5 overs vsAdams XI 112 in 32 overs (HussainBin Jaffa 4/53, Rahul Reddy4/20). Points: Noble 5, Adams XI0.■ Vijaypuri Willowmen 383 in 66overs bt Bharat 161/9 (all out) in55 overs (Rahul Revant 83).

Points: Willowmen 5, Bharat 0.■ Rakesh XI 541 in 84.2 overs btHUCC 173 in 41.3 overs (V. Prem51, S. S. Prana 35). Points: RakeshXI 5, HUCC 0.■ Hyderabad Cricket Academy402/7 in 90 overs bt Saint Sai 185in 52.1 overs (Nayak 42,Nagaparvarthan 37, Sahil 4/11).Points: Academy 5, Saint Sai 0.■ Acrylic CC 273/7 in 90 overs vsWarangal District 234 in 54.2overs (M Devender 40, B. Kumar32, Sai Prateek 4/50, Sankeerth4/81). Points: Acrylic 5, Warangal0.

ONE-DAY LEAGUE

■ LNCC 166 in 42.2 overs(Prathap Goud 80, Aijaz Mehdi8/29 — 9.2-3-29-8) lost toSouthend Raymond’s 168/5 in26.3 overs. (Noman Ahmed 64n.o)■ Lucky 256 in 43.4 overs(Minumula Karthik 40, ShashiKamal 57, Kaleem 35, Ujjwal

5/20) bt Sutton CC 243 in 44.2overs (Aashish 91, Hyder 3/20)■ Mahesh CC 251 in 41.3overs (Sai Charan 68, Abhinav 33,Ram 36, Ugender 3/48) bt YouthCC 147 in 35 overs (Vinay Reddy5/21, Akhilesh 5/29)■ St Andrews CC 274/8 in 50overs (Aditya 37, SyedMohammed Hussain 110, VedVyas 38 n.o, Anurag 3/65)bt Cosmos 187 in 42.1 overs(Ganesh 33, Abdul 40, YuvrajYadav 3/34)■ St Marys 258/8 in 50 overs(Melvin Oldbury 60, Karthik 30,Lavonn Johnson 39, Ritvik 3/44)bt Navjeevan Friends 157 in 39.1overs (Krishna 39, Teja 4/34)■ Starlets CC 150/5 in 25 overs(Advith Reddy 76, R. Shashank37) lost to Victory CC 151 no lossin 12 overs (Paul 80 n.o, Navdeep63 n.o)■ Safilguda CC 212 in 41.3 overs(J. Ayush 33, V. Vineeth Pawar 33,Ranjith Yadav 41) bt Natraj CC179/5 in 50 overs (Arun 64,Sannith 35 n.o)■ Consult CC 269/9 in 49 overs(Jaydev 60, Abhinav 75, Sai 38)bt Sutton CC 175 in 36 overs(Madhav 83 n.o, Sikander 33, Sai3/31)■ Hyderabad District 159 in 38.3overs (Praveen 30, Akshay 4/26)lost to Akshit CC 160/5 in 28.2overs (Ishan 35, Anirudh 36,Ashish 48, Umang 3/61).

Raheen bags grand double titleDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

Raheen Taranum andVineeth Muthyalaemerged champions inthe girls and boys singlesrespectively at the Under18 age group tennis tour-nament held at VasishtaTennis Academy inSainkpuri, Secunder-abad.

In the final, Raheensummoned her best gameto topple top seed M.Srivalli Varma with a 6-4,4-6, 7-5 scoreline.

Vineeth had it easy inthe title round though ashe powered past ParthMalik of MadhyaPradesh in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

The boys doubles titlewas won by RitvikNadikudi and P.Rajeshwar Reddy whotamed Hansh Karthikeyaand Parth Malik 7-5, 6-2.

Raheen made it a granddouble when she won thedoubles title partneringSrivalli Varma as theybeat MonishaDevarakonda and Sachi

Patwardhan 6-1, 6-2 in thefinal.

THE RESULTS (all finals)■ U-18 boys singles:Vineeth Muthyala (TS) btParth Malik (MP) 6-2, 6-2.■ U-18 girls singles: Raheen

Taranum (TS, 7) bt M.Srivalli Varma (TS, 1) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.■ U-18 boys doubles: RitvikNadikudi/ P. RajeshwarReddy (TS) bt HanshKarthikeya V (TS)/ Parth

Malik 7-5, 6-2 (MP).■ U-18 girls doubles:Raheen Tarunum/ SrivalliVarma M (TS) bt MonishaDevarakonda (TS)/ SachiPatwardhan (Mah) 6-1, 6-2.

SANJANA IN FINAL OFBHILAI ITF TOURNEY

Meanwhile, Hyder-abad’sSanjana Sirimalla madeit to the final of the BhilaiInternational ITF Grade 5tennis tournament inChhattisgarh. She hadwon the ITF Grade 5 titleat Deharadun last week.

In the semifinals playedon Friday, Sanjana defeat-ed Rutuja Chapalkar 6-3,6-2. Earlier in the quarter-final, she had beatenAarni Reddy 3-6, 6-4, 6-4before nailing NaishaShrivastav 6-3, 6-0 in thepre-quarters and Kotishta6-4, 6-3 in the first round.

Shrivalli Rashmikaa isanother Hyderabadi whois doing well on the tenniscircuit. On Friday, shebeat Soha Sadiq ofKarnataka 6-3, 6-1 in thequarterfinal of the HardCourt National Champ-ionship at Gurugram.

SHORT TAKESTFA secy’s sondies in mishap

Telangana teamsfor roller hockey

Hyderabad: Tragedy struck thefamily of Telangana Football

Association secretary and inter-national player G. P. Palguna

when his 22-year-old son Tejadied on Friday in a road accidentin Bengaluru, where he was pur-

suing his MBA.Teja was University

level football player. Hisfuneral will be held in

Bowenpally,Secunderabad, onSaturday morning.

Palguna’s elder son(Chankya) too had died in a road

accident in Hyderabad back in2011, at the age of 19 while hewas pursuing his Engineering.Former player and HyderabadGlobe Football Club secretary

Syed Sadi expressed his condo-lences. “It is very sad to hear

that a young man from the foot-ball family has passed away. My

deepest condolences to thebereaved family. May his soul

rest in peace,” Sadi said.Former Indian football captain

Victor Amalraj too expressed hiscondolences to the bereaved

family members.

Hyderabad: Following playershave been selected for the

Telangana State Roller Hockeyteam that will particiate in the

58th National Roller HockeyChampionship to be held in

Chandigarh from April 4 to 10.This will be the third consecu-

tive Nationals in the Junior cate-gory for goalkeeper Mohammed

Muzakkir.The 17-year-old is an

Intermediate second year stu-dent at Avinash College of

Commerce and trains at the VPGSkating Club in Chaderghat

under coach Abood Qureshi.Junior boys: Krishang

Srivastava, Mohit Agarwal (goal-keeper), Mohammed Muzakkir

(goalkeeper), Saurav SinghMakhan, Syed Mohammed

Hashmi, Kunal Sharma, AvinashSharma, Naga Rama Hari Kumar,Vijaya Abhiram, Venkata Kushal

(goalkeeper), MohammedQuadais Ali Khan, Pabba Vitesh

Kumar.Junior girls: Pranitha, Taruni,

Dhriti, Pragnya, Methre Ankita,Syeda Asiya Hashmi, Sonali

Toshnival, Kudipudi Alekhya,Nayati Kaur Bagga, Mehar KaurSaluja, Srivalli, Tarandeep Kaur

(goalkeepers).

GAMES

Aijaz Mehdi Sai Dinakar Manish Mudassir Mehul Dayani Hussain

Tee time at NISADC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

Ravi Yerra, Sudhakar Murthy, Col Hemant andRaghunath Reddy won the spot prizes as the inauguralNISA Open Golf Tournament got underway at the NISAEnvironmental Park and Training Area (NEPTA) inHakimpet, Hyderabad, on Friday.

Ravi Yerra and Sudhakar Murthy were the closest tothe Pin in the first and second sessions respectively whileCol Hemant and Raghunath Reddy took the awards forthe Arrow Strike in the two sessions.

As many as 45 golfers entered the fray with 36 makingSunday’s final after two rounds of qualification.

Sports getsbig boost inTS budgetDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 19

Sports Authority ofTelangana State (SATS)Chairman AllipuramVenkateshwar Reddythanked the governmentfor allocating huge funds(`113 crore) to the sportssector in the annual budg-et for the year 2021-2022.

The amount is almost`100 crore more than lastyear and includes `46crore for construction ofnew stadia and sportsfacilities, `20 crore forcash rewards for sportsbodies and sportspersons;`23 crore to SATS; `14crore to Warangal andKarimnagar SportsSchools and `9 crore tothe State Sports School.

Mr Reddy thanked ChiefMinister KCR, MinistersKTR, Srinivas Goud,Harish Rao and FinanceDepartment chief secre-tary Ramakrishna Raofor the financial boost.

C. V. Anand, IPS, Director of the National IndustrialSecurity Academy, tees off to inaugurate the NISA OpenGolf Tournament at the NISA Environmental Park andTraining Area in Hakimpet, Hyderabad, on Friday.

Ritvik Nadikudi (left) and P. Rajeshwar Reddy posewith their trophies after winning the boys doubles titleat the AITA Championship Series U-18 tournament.

G. P. Teja


The Telangana State Chess Association is conductingthe 31st Telangana State Ranking Chess Tournment onSunday at the Lal Bahadur Stadium’s Yoga Hall inHyderabad.

Competitions will be held in the Under-9, 11, 13 and 15categories for boys and girls.

Matches will be played under the Swiss format overfive rounds in each of the age groups, with a time con-trol of 30 minutes +5 seconds increment from moveone for each player.

Interested players should register their names bySaturday on the website www.chesstelangana.com orover phone numbers 7337578899, 7337399299.

Spot entries are not accepted at the tournamentwhich starts at 10 am. Players must follow Covid-19precautions and must wear masks as well as gloves,the organisers stated in a press release.

STATE RANKING CHESS INHYDERABAD ON SUNDAY

GAMES pg 12DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 20 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKESSutirtha, Kamal

qualify for Tokyo

Anjum, Divyansh, Arjun in final

Doha: India’s second-highest-ranked female table tennis play-

er Sutirtha Mukherjee and dis-cus thrower Kamalpreet Kaurqualified for Tokyo Olympics.

Sutirtha did it via a 4-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5, 11-4) win

against Manika Batra at theAsian Olympic Games

Qualification Tournament inDoha. Despite her defeat

against Sutirtha, Manika is alsoset to make the cut because of

her ranking.Meanwhile, discus thrower

Kamalpreet Kaur booked herTokyo Olympics berth with a

sensational national recordeffort of 65.06m at the

Federation Cup Senior NationalAthletics Championships in

Patiala. — PTI

New Delhi: Tokyo Olympicsquota holders Anjum Moudgil,

Divyansh Singh Panwar andArjun Babuta qualified for the

women’s and men’s 10m air riflefinals respectively on the open-ing day of the ISSF World Cup

here on Friday.In the 60-shot qualification, the

18-year-old Panwar finishedsixth with a total of 629.1, while

2016 ISSF junior world cupbronze medallist Babuta

grabbed the third place afterfiring 631.8 at the Karni Singh

Shooting Range. Anjum, 27,qualified for the women’s 10m

air rifle final final by finishing animpressive second after aggre-gating 629.6 over six series of

60 shots. — PTI

Regd. No. HQ/SD/509/2021-23Printed and Published by K. Sudhakar on behalf

of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed at DeccanChronicle Press situated at Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, Vallabh

Nagar Taluk, Medchal Malkajgiri Dist. Telangana and Publishedat 36, S.D. Road, Secunderabad-3.

RNI Registration No. 3081/1957. Editor: Kaushik Mitter

New Delhi, March 19:Continuing her giant-killing run, Indian boxerNikhat Zareen on Fridaystunned two-time worldchampion NazymKyzaibay of Kazakhstanto enter the women’s 51kgsemifinals at theBosphorus BoxingTourna-ment in Istanbul.

Zareen, who had earlierdefeated 2019 world cham-pion Paltceva Ekaterinaof Russia in the pre-quar-terfinals, looked unfazedand confident against heropponent fromKazakhstan.

She stamped her author-ity right from the begin-ning and prevailed 4-1win over Kyzaibay, a goldmedallist from 2014 and2016 WorldChampionships.

Zareen has ensured her-self at least a bronzemedal with a place in thelast-four. Apart fromZareen, 2018 Common-wealth Games gold medal-

list Gaurav Solanki (57kg)also sailed into the semifi-nals after a tough contestagainst local pugilistAykol Mizan.

Both the boxersattacked throughout thebout but Solanki showedhis technical supremacyto secure a 4-1 win andassured himself of atleast a bronze medal.Among other women box-ers, Sonia Lather (57kg),Parveen (60kg) and Jyoti(69kg) made exits withlosses in their respectivequarterfinals. Mean-while, Shiva Thapa (63kg)lost 1-4 to Turkey’s HakanDogan. The fourth day ofthe tournament will seetwo Indian boxers fight-ing in their respectivesemifinal bouts later onFriday. Zareen will faceanother tough challengeas she takes on BusenazCakiroglu of Turkeywhile Solanki will be upagainst Argentina’s NircoCuello. — PTI

Nikhat on a roll,strolls into semis

India’s Nikhat Zareen punches two-time world champi-on Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan at the BosphorousBoxing Tournament in Istanbul on Friday. — PTI

Live on TVCRICKET

India vs England: Fifth T20 from 7.30pm on Star Sports 1, HD

India vs South Africa women: 1st T20from 7 pm on Star Sports 2, 3

BADMINTON

All England Open: Semifinal matchesfrom 3.30 pm on Star Sports 2 HD,

Star Sports 3

FOOTBALL

FA Cup Quarterfinals: Bournemouth vsSouthampton from 5.45 pm; Everton

vs Manchester City from 11 pm onSony Ten 2, HD

Ahmedabad, March 19:Having outsmartedEngland in challengingconditions, a confidentIndia will back themselvesto win the series-deciderhere on Saturday and takeanother firm step towardsfinalising their core forthe T20 World Cup.

India find themselveswell-placed in their prepa-rations for the mega eventat home later this year,irrespective of what hap-pens in the fifth game.

India, who did not havethe depth earlier to attackin all situations, findsitself full of ‘x-factor’ withthe emergence of IshanKishan and SuryakumarYadav, whose willowbludgeoned the Englandbowlers, making it adream debut on Friday.

His innings at numberthree was pure delight andleft even the likes of Kohli“stunned”, reinforcing therole of IPL in providingpolished talent to thenational team.

With Kishan andSuryakumar making mas-sive impact in their maid-en series, Rahul Tewatia isthe only one in the squadleft to make his debut andthat could happen onSaturday. Another big plusfor India in the series hasbeen Hardik Pandya con-tributing with the ball reg-ularly.

Rahul Chahar also did adecent job whileWashington Sundar had arare off day. India will nowbe hoping K. L. Rahul firesat the top, having showedsome form in the previousgame following scores of1, 0, 0.

England, on the otherhand, will expect JosButtler Dawid Malan toshow more consistencywith the bat. Jofra Archerand Mark Wood have beenimpressive but they havenot got a lot of supportfrom Chris Jordan, wholeaked most runs in thefourth T20. — PTI

FINAL SHOWDOWNBattle for glory among two best teams in last gambit

Prasidh, Krunal and Suryain India ODI squad vs EngNew Delhi, March 19:Karnataka pacer PrasidhKrishna, all-rounderKrunal Pandya andSuryakumar Yadavearned their maiden ODIcall-up on Friday as selec-tors named them inIndia’s 18-member squadfor the three-match seriesagainst England.

Krishna and Krunalhave been rewarded fortheir good performancesin the recently held VijayHazare Trophy whileSuryakumar’s selectionwas not a surprise givenhis stupendous T20 debutin the fourth T20 againstEngland. Krishna, whohas been on the radar for awhile and has also earnedVirat Kohli’s praise, took14 wickets in the domestic

50-over competition whileKrunal, who has played 18T20s, earned his maidenODI call-up by scoring twohundreds and as manyfifties in five games forBaroda. All three ODIswill be played in Pune,starting March 23.

Rishabh Pant and pacerBhuvneshwar Kumar areback in the side and so isWashington Sundar, whoplayed his only ODI inDecember 2017.

Bhuvneshwar is set toplay his first ODI sinceAugust 2019. In theabsence of the restedJasprit Bumrah andinjured MohammadShami, the UP pacer willlead the pace attack.

T Natarajan hasregained fitness andtherefore finds a place inthe squad following animpressive outing inAustralia. It seems, thesquad has been picked insuch a way that India con-tinue to work on theirpreparation for the T20World Cup. — PTI

Indian skipper Virat Kohli and England captain Eoin Morgan in this file photo.

LAKSHYA LIMPSOUT OF ALLENGLAND OPENBirmingham, March 19:Indian ace Lakshya Sencrashed out of the AllEngland Open Champio-nships quarterfinals afterlosing to Mark Caljouw ofthe Netherlands 17-21, 21-16, 17-21 here on Friday.

The match, which lasted55 minutes, saw the end ofIndian challenge in men’ssingles.

The women’s doublespairing of AshwiniPonnappa and N. SikkiReddy also bowed out ofthe tournament followingtheir defeat in straightgames to Netherlands’Selena Piek and CherylSeinen in the quarterfi-nals.

The World No.30 Indianpairing went down 22-24,12-21 to 24th-ranked duo ofSelena and Cheryl in 39minutes.

Men’s doubles pairing ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddyand Chirag Shetty, seededsixth, had crashed out ofthe event after losing 16-21, 21-11, 17-21 toDenmark’s Kim Astrupand Anders SkaarupRasmussen in the secondround.

In the men’s singles,Sameer Verma too suf-fered a second successiveloss to third seed AndersAntonsen of Denmark,going down 22-20, 21-10 inthe second round.

The mixed pairing ofDhruv Kapila andMeghana Jakkampudialso bowed out after losing19-21 8-21 to Niclas Nohrand Amalie Magelund ofDenmark.

Caljouw, who had defeat-ed Sen once before,claimed the first set 21-17in seventeen minutes.

— PTI

■ Virat Kohli (Captain), RohitSharma (vice-captain),Shikhar Dhawan, ShubmanGill, Shreyas Iyer,Suryakumar Yadav, HardikPandya, Rishabh Pant (wick-et-keeper), Lokesh Rahul(wicket-keeper), YuzvendraChahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Krunal Pandya, WashingtonSundar, T. Natarajan,Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Mohammed Siraj, PrasidhKrishna and Shardul Thakur.

THE SQUAD

SANJAY SAMUEL PAUL

Modi Properties, inthe field of con-struction for 40years, has success-fully completed

4,000 homes spread over five mil-lion square feet. The company ison the verge of completing anoth-er 1,500 houses covering anotherthree million square feet.

The company designs its pro-jects to provide a great lifestyle toits customers. Its projects aregated communities with modernamenities, such as clubhouses,swimming pools and sportingfacilities. The company firmlymaintains a focus on keepingeach of its projects environmen-tally friendly, and all its projectsare designed and constructed inwell-connected areas. The com-pany is prompt in delivery, mostof the projects have been com-pleted within the short span of ayear.

Modi Properties are focusing ontheir ongoing projects - VistaHomes at Kapra, 403 flats on 5.65acres; Nilgiri Estate, 188 villas on10 acres at Rampally; Bloomdale,72 villas on five acres atShamirpet; Silver Oak Residencyat Cherlapally; AVR GulmoharHomes, 91 villas on 6.5 acres atMiryalaguda; and Morning GloryApartments, 30 flats at GenomeValley, all scheduled for comple-tion this year.

The other projects, which willbe completed in 2022 and 2023, areSilver Oak Villas Phases 1, 2, 3, 95villas on 6.5 acres of land atCherlapally; BloomdaleResidency @ Genome Valley, 108flats, near Shamirpet; MayflowerPlatinum, 189 flats at Mallapur;Greenwood Heights, 119 flats atKowkur; and GulmoharResidency, 354 flats on eightacres of land at Mallapur.

The commercial projects ofModi Properties which are shap-ing up now are Innopolis whichis a 6 lakh square feet lab for lifesciences on 9.2 acres at Genome

Valley; Colabs, another lab spacefor life sciences with 1 lakhsquare feet on an area of 2.25acres also at Genome Valley.

The success of the company isseen in its completed projects,the three phases of Silver Oakbungalows, 250 villas on 25 acres,at Cherlapally; Nilgiri Homes atRampally with 95 villas;Gulmohar Gardens Phases 1 and2 on 5 acres with 505 flats inMallapur; Villas at Silver Creek,54 villas at Nagaram andGreenwood Residency, 345 flatson 6.1 acres of land at Kowkur.

The Modi Properties' hallmarkalso shines through MayflowerHeights, 280 flats on four acresland at Mallapur; ParamountResidency, 260 flats on 3.1 acresat Nagaram; Silver OakApartments, 120 flats atCherlapally; Mayflower Park, 545flats at Mallapur; MayflowerGrande, 370 flats at Mallapur;Paramount Avenue on two acreswith 208 flats at Nagaram; VillaOrchids at Kowkur on 21 acreswuth 340 villas and SereneFarms, 50 farm houses on 32acres at Chevella.

Pg II | >> Design speaks in many languages Pg III | >> Feel like a king in your own castle

CREDAI office-bearers announce the 10th edition of Hyderabad PropertyShow 2021.

DC CORRESPONDENT

The three-day HyderabadProperty Show-2021, organisedby Credai, will be held at Hitex

beginning April 16.Announcing the event on Friday,

P. Rama Krishna Rao, president ofConfederation of Real EstateDevelopers Association of India(Credai), Hyderabad, said this is thebiggest property show organised inthe city where every participantwith homes or office spaces to offeris allowed to showcase their projectsonly after every required govern-ment permission is obtained.

"Every exhibitor taking part in theCredai property show follows ourcode of conduct and follows everygovernment rule and regulation.Only properties that have receivedall government and regulatoryapprovals are offered, cutting acrossbudget ranges, and customers can

be assured that the investmentsthey might make, are safe," Rao tolda press conference.

He said that strict Covid-19 safetyprotocols will be in place at thevenue with wider walkwaysbetween rows of exhibitors, whowill have larger stalls to ensureenough distance between peoplestopping by for enquiries. He saidthe residential and office propertymarket has stayed robust despiteinitial fears over the impact on thehome construction industrybecause of Covid-19 pandemic.

According to V. Rajashekar Reddy,general secretary, Credai-H,Hyderabad has seen the highestnumber of launches for residentialand commercial projects, backed byrapid absorption in the last quarter.“We urge the people to use the pre-sent low prices and purchase theproperty as the prices will increasemany-fold shortly,” he said.

Credai’s show fromApril 16 will featureapproved projects

Modi Properties blaze trail

Exhibitors at the three-day exhibition must follow Credaicode and have government clearance for their projects.The exhibition at Hitex will follow Covid-19 guidelines.

c m y k c m y k

DCESTATEDECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021

Modi Properties is known for their timely delivery of projects.Their constructions are typically completed in a year and handedover to customers.The company is working on a slew of projectsthat will be completed this year, and is planning many more.

An example of residential flats and villas in Hyderabad that are partof the repertoire of Modi Properties.

DCESTATE DECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021 II

DURGA PRASAD SUNKU

Agood design improves the way you live, saysArvind Kumar Nanna, principal designer andfounder of Dot Design Studio. What was once thenearly exclusive domain of a carpenter or a

mason has changed with people paying more attentionnot just to the basics but to the aesthetics of a home. Thishas paved the way for interior design professionals.

The studio specialises in classical styles and caters todifferent demands like contemporary, minimalist andMediterranean. In the city, the demand is more for con-temporary style, said Kumar who has been observing thetrends for 15 years.

“We do a lot of researchon different styles andwhat caters to the need ofcustomers. We believe inthe flexibility of designstyles to create new envi-ronments to suit theclient’s requirements andvision," said Kumar.

Classical interior designmeans a blend of harmony,balance and order. It hasits own aura and nevergoes out of style. Some keyfeatures are symmetry,colours and elegant fibres.

Contemporary styledepends on trends andundergoes a rapid changeevery 10-20 years.

“We concentrate onlocalisation and sustain-ability of material,”Kumar said, adding, “InItaly, most of the architec-ture orginiated locally. In India we see mixed architec-ture. We have forgotten our traditional architecture. Wecan find them in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu. We takethe responsibility to create awareness among the cus-tomer about our traditional architecture. If they are will-ing to go for it, we design accordingly.”

For sustainability of material, his firm encourages useof Tandur and Kadapa stones which are more environ-mental-friendly when compared to others.

The pandemic has affected budget and high-end cus-tomers. “Renovation of old furniture is an option manybudget customers opt for to cut costs,” he said. An interi-or designer can help customers choosing an appropriatedesign that suits their lifestyle and their budget.

T.S.S. SIDDHARTH

The pandemic hasmade it difficult forpeople to step out,

turning their homes intooffices, classrooms, the-atres and more. Expertssay that lighting — nat-ural and artificial —plays a vital role andenhances the experienceat home.

“Many people are ofthe opinion that they canset up a bulb or tube-light. But these are arti-ficial lights and there isalso the concern of addi-tional expenditure in theform of electricity bills,”Prof. S.K. Rahman,director (academics andplanning), JawaharlalNehru Architecture andFine Arts University,told Deccan Chronicle.

Earlier, people wouldorient their house to thenortheast. “The NE-fac-ing house was ideal as ithad both natural light-ing and cross-ventila-tion. Now, things havechanged as the customeris looking for Vaastu.Providing lighting issomething only an inte-rior designer can do. Herjob is to ensure that thehouse is given the rightamount of natural light.The colour scheme playsa vital role,” Prof.Rahman said.

If a person chooses coolcolours — blues and gre-ens — it shows that he isfacing stress as thesewalls keep the mindcool. If he has warmcolours — reds, yellows,orange hues — it showsthat the person is invit-ing some warmth.

“This is all part of thepsychology, which istaken into considerationby an interior designer,”Prof. Rahman said.

What thelights andcolours say

Design speaks inmany languages

WE TAKE theresponsibility to

create awareness amongthe customers about ourtraditional architecture.

ARVIND KUMAR NANNAFounder of Dot

Design Studio

ATHER MOIN

Attraction to the uncommon is acommon instinct. Having some-thing rare not only feels pleas-

ant, but can also project a higher sta-tus and pride for the possessor as tra-ditional pieces have distinct visualmarkers that bring back warm fuzzyfeelings. Antique pieces usually carrythis aura. With real antiques hard tocome by, and which can be expensivewhen available in the market, or forsale by their owners, a market hasdeveloped by master craftsmen whocan create that antique look, be it infurniture, lighting fixtures, and thelike.

Most of such antique fur-niture is made fromhardwood such

as mahogany, cherry wood, dark pearwood, oak, elm, beech, silver birch,teak, ebony. Most of it, is made byhand, by skilled craftsmen. The tradi-tional furniture made kings andqueens of commoners — even if thatregal feeling has been limited to justtheir living room. That is the reasonpeople show interest in the vintagefurniture. If they do not find vintagearticles, they try to decorate theirhouses with copies of master antiquepieces. Mir Abbas Ali Moosvi, anexpert in antiques said there was a lotof difference between the furnitureused in palaces and houses of noblesof the past, and the people of that time.

“If you see furniture in royal palacespalaces of the past, you will find a fewkinds of chairs and in the Mughal era.During the 18th century, furniturebegan to be imported from Europe.Later, foreign companies opened theirworkshops here and started makingfurniture with the local craftsman,using their own patterns.” Moosviexplained.

He said that though the use of tradi-tional furniture has declined sharply,as its cost is out of reach of most peo-ple, many love to have traditional fur-niture in their homes. “There aremany craftsmen who can copy theantique pieces here in the city,”Moosvi said.

If you can’t have the original, you can have a copy. Many families get copies of antique furniture made for their homes.

Old-style furniture evokes warm,fuzzy feelings which is why there is ademand for them.

DCESTATEDECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABAD

SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021 III

Feel like a king inyour own castleCraftsmen in the city can make old-style furniture if youcannot lay your hands on the expensive antiques.

The traditionalfurniture made

kings andqueens of

commoners

c m y k c m y k

DCESTATE DECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021 IV

vol. 84 no. 78 established 1938 pages plus a copy of4-page

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