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‘World's largest vac-cination drive showsdetermination of aself-reliant India’

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WHATSAPP DELAYS POLICY UPDATEROLLOUT TO MAY 15

PM MODI ANNOUNCES RS 1,000-CRORE ‘STARTUP INDIA SEED FUND'

OWNER OF BULL AT ITS BEST IN DODGING,ACE TAMER GET CAR IN TN ‘JALLIKATTU'

COVID PLAYS ‘CENSOR’ AS STARS’ VIRTUALPRESENCE TAKES SHEEN OUT OF IFFI

WhatsApp has decided to delay the rollout ofits new policy update to May 15 after

massive criticism from users globally, includingIndia, over concerns that data was beingshared with its parent company Facebook. Themove assumes significance for users in Indiagiven that the country is among the biggestmarkets for WhatsApp with over 400 millionusers. In a blog post, WhatsApp said it ismoving back the date on which people will beasked to review and accept the terms. "No onewill have their account suspended or deleted onFebruary 8. We're also going to do a lot more to clear up themisinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturdayannounced the launch of Rs 1,000-crore

'Startup India Seed Fund' to support startups andhelp budding entrepreneurs pursue innovativeideas. Addressing the ‘Prarambh: Startup IndiaInternational Summit', Modi exuded confidencethat the growth of startups will help in generatingjobs and improving lives of people in the region."In order to provide initial capital for startups, thenation is launching a Rs 1,000 crore StartupIndia Seed Fund. This will help in setting up newstartups and promote their growth," the PrimeMinister said. The summit marked the fifth anniversary of the Startup Indiainitiative launched by Modi on this day in 2016.

The jallikattu sport was flagged off by ChiefMinister K Palaniswami and Deputy chief

minister O Panneerselvam, here which saw morethan 400 tamers and 800 bulls participating in theannual event held in connection with the Pongalfestival. Kannan of Viralipatti, who managed totame about 12 bulls in the Jallikattu, wasadjudged the best among tamers and wasrewarded with a car.Breeder KuruvithuraiSantosh's bull, which displayed impressivestrength and agility in evading the tamers, wonthe first prize - a car for its owner. Karupannanwho tamed 9 bulls and Sakthi who tamed 8 bulls emerged as second andthird, respectively, and were given 2 cows and a motorcycle, respectively.

With Covid-19 necessitating restriction ofthe number of guests to 250 people at

the inaugural ceremony of the 51st editionof the International Film Festival of India atDr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee IndoorStadium here on Friday, and with starsmaking the most of the 'hybrid mode'introduced this year, the usual euphoria overglitz, glamour and star power at Asia'soldest and India's biggest movie gala wasreplaced by masks, sanitisers and somewhathyper anxious participants this year. In afirst, this year the festival is being conducted in "hybrid mode", underwhich delegates can participate and watch films and events virtually.

PM Modi quotesGurajada in vaccinerollout speechPNS n HYDERABAD

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday quoted renownedTelugu writer and poetGurajada Apparao during thelaunch of nation-wide Covid-19 vaccination programme, todrive home his point of help-ing others selflessly.

"Sontha labham konthamanuko, porugu vadiki thodupadavoyi. Desamante mattikadoyi, desamante manushu-loy," Modi recalled the famousquote of Apparao, which ispart of the writer's poetry.

The quote translates intoEnglish as 'Forego your self-interest to some extent andhelp neighbours. Nation doesnot mean just mud and soil,

but people.' Gurajada Apparao,who lived between 1862 and1915, was born inVisakhapatnam district ofAndhra Pradesh and lived innearby Vizianagaram.

Among his several writ-ings, 'Kanyasulkam',

1.91 L get shots on day 1 as Indiabegins largest vaccination drivePM Modi cautions people on rumours n BJP MP, TMC MLA first politicians to get vaccinePNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday launched India'sCovid-19 vaccination drivewhile reassuring the countrythat emergency use authorisa-tion was given to two made inIndia vaccines only after scien-tists were convinced of theirsafety and effectiveness, andurged people to beware of pro-paganda and rumours.

Addressing the nation aheadof the launch of what hedescribed as the world's largestvaccination programme, Modisaid these vaccines will ensurea "decisive victory" for the coun-

try over the coronavirus pan-demic, but asked countrymen tocontinue wearing masks andmaintain social distancing evenafter receiving the jabs.

Emphasising the enormity ofthe vaccination drive, which helaunched through a remotecontrol amid chanting ofSanskrit shloka that meant 'leteverybody be happy, let every-body be healthy', Modi saidnever before in history, has thistype of a large-scale vaccinationcampaign been undertaken.

There are more than 100countries in the world whosepopulation is less than threecrore and India is vaccinating

three crore people in its firstphase of vaccination, he said.

In the second phase, thenumber of those vaccinated has

to be taken to 30 crore,

Manish, first in IndiaManish Kumar, a 34-year-old sanitation worker atDelhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),became the first person in India to be vaccinatedagainst the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) onSaturday. The Najafgarh resident said he hadvolunteered to be vaccinated first as his colleagueschosen for the drive were "scared" before getting theshot. "I did not know that I am the first person toreceive the vaccine. I had a good sleep last night, camehere in the morning and talked to the other staff whowere to get the shot," said Kumar. "Many of them werescared. So, I went to my seniors and said I should be given the vaccine first. I wanted to prove to mycolleagues that there is no need to be scared," Kumar also said.

Bharat Biotech to paycompensation for side effectsPNS n HYDERABAD

Bharat Biotech, which hasreceived a government pur-chase order for supply of 55lakh doses of Covaxin, aCovid-19 vaccine, said thecompany will pay compensa-tion to recipients in case of anyserious adverse effects experi-enced after receiving the anti-dote.

In the consent form to be

signed by the vaccine recipi-ents, Bharat Biotech said, "Incase of any adverse events or

serious adverse events, youwill be provided medicallyrecognised standard of care inthe government designatedand authorised centres/hospi-tals."

"The compensation for seri-ous adverse event will be paidby sponsor (BBIL) in case if theSAE is proven to be causallyrelated to the vaccine," the con-sent form said.

Eatala Rajender decides against takingfirst covid shot in TS after PM warningPNS n HYDERABAD

When it comes to a choicebetween keeping one's wordand following instruction fromabove, Telangana HealthMinister Eatala Rajenderapparently would always optfor the latter. The HealthMinister, who had declared onFriday that, as the captain ofthe department,

Vaccine rollout begins in Telangana A

mid cheers, a woman sanitation worker received the first dose ofCOVID-19 vaccine at a state-run hospital here as the exercise was

launched in Telangana on Saturday. Union Minister of State for Home GKishan Reddy and Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender formallylaunched the vaccination programme at the Gandhi GovernmentHospital here. S Krishnamma, a woman sanitation worker wasadministered the first shot amid cheers by those present at the GandhiHospital after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation onthe occasion of the vaccine roll out concluded.

Tainted Dasgupta in ICU, chats go viralPNS n MUMBAI

Partho Dasgupta, a former CEO ofTV ratings agency BARC who wasarrested in the Television RatingPoints (TRP) rigging case, has beenadmitted to the ICU of a hospitalhere after his sugar level shot up,officials said on Saturday.

His daughter took to Twitter toallege that he was tortured in prison,and appealed to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and others to `savehis life'.

Dasgupta, a diabetic, was rushedto the state-run J J Hospital herefrom the Taloja Central Prison inNavi Mumbai around mid-nightafter his blood sugar levels shot up,a prison official said.

He was admitted to the ICU andwas on oxygen support, the officialsaid. Dasgupta, former CEO ofBroadcast Audience Research

Council (BARC) was arrested in thealleged TRP rigging scam by crimebranch of the Mumbai Police onDecember 24 last year.

The Mumbai Police had earliertold the court that Republic TVEditor-in-Chief Arnab Goswamihad allegedly bribed Dasgupta with"lakhs of rupees" to ramp up thenews channel's viewership numbersfradulently.

On Saturday, Pratyusha Dasgupta,Dasgupta's daugther, demanded thathe be shifted to a reputed privatehospital. She tweeted a messagetitled "A helpless daughter'sanguished appeal", tagging PMModi, Union home minister AmitShah,

Ashok Gajapathi’s offer ofa new Ram idol rejectedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In another humiliationmeted out toVizianagaram royal scionand TDP politburo mem-ber, the AP EndowmentsDepartment on Saturdayrejected the offer of adonation of Rs 1,01,116 byPusapati Ashok Gajapathi

Raju for a new idol of LordRam to be placed in theshrine at Ramatheertham.

The idol of Lord Ramwas desecrated by miscre-ants last month, leadingto an outcry and protests.

Venting his anger onTwitter, Ashok GajapathiRaju said “First, they uni-laterally dismissed me as

hereditary trustee / chair-man without as much asa notice in complete con-travention of Section 28.Now, they reject my offer-ings to the Lord as a rep-resentative of the founderfamily for the vigrahas.”

He attached the dona-tion slip to his post.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Union Ministr y ofPersonnel, Public grievancesand Pensions, acting on apetition from the president ofthe association of victims ofthe Heera group fraud, shotoff a letter on January 14th tothe Telangana Chief Secretaryfor the second time askingthe state to move for a CBIinquiry in the Rs 50,000 crorescam.

Shahbaz Ahmed Khan,president of All India HeeraVictims Association, told ThePioneer: " For the first timethey have come out and agreedto pay the amount to victims.There are many foreignersinvolved in the fraud. The roleof Pakistan in this also should

be investigated and soughtfor CBI enquiry." AcordingKhan, some Pakistanis areamong the foreignersinvolved in the sensationalcase.

Finally, Govt notifiesGHMC winners!PNS n HYDERABAD

The state government on Saturday notified thenames of the ward members elected for theGreater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation(GHMC) along with their party affiliation andreservation particulars in the notification,paving way for the Telangana State ElectionCommission (TSEC) to hold meeting of thenewly elected corporation for elections to thepost of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

The TSEC will soon announce a schedule forthe conduct of elections to the post of Mayorand Deputy Mayor directing the GHMCCommissioner and Election Authority DSLokesh Kumar to conduct the polls for the twoposts. The term of the newly elected corpora-tion will be five years from the date of the firstmeeting of the Corporation. Elections to theoffices of the ward members of GHMC wereheld on December 1 and the results wereannounced on Dec 4 and in Neredmet, it wasdeclared on Dec 9. The names of the electedward members of 150 wards of GHMC in theelections have been sent to the State ElectionCommission by the Commissioner, GHMC,Hyderabad and Election Authority on Jan 5.

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Based on Khan'spetition, the Centralministry requestedaction from thestate to initiate aCBI enquiry intoHeera group ofcompanies' allegedscam involving Rs 50,000

Two healthworkers fall illsoon aftervaccinationPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Giving some tense moments,two health workers fell ill soonafter getting the Covid vaccineshot in the State on Saturday.Akhila, a health worker fromAnantapur vomited soon afterthe Covid vaccine was admin-istered. She was rushed to theemergency ward where doc-tors attended to her. The med-ical officers later said thatAkhila’s condition was stable.

Elsewhere, another healthworker Radha, who was giventhe Covid vaccine shot at thenew GGH in Vijayawada, fellill after vaccination.Fortunately, she regained herhealth after being attended bythe doctors present.

Krishna district DM&HODr Suhasini said that in bothcases, it appeared that theanxiety associated with beingpart of something new wouldhave a psychological impact.

Centre asks TS againto move for CBI probe

HEERA GROUP FRAUD

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PNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyhere on Saturday requestedChief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao to releasefunds for the early completionof the Multi-Modal TransportSystem (MMTS) project.

In a letter addressed to ChiefMinister, Reddy said theCentral government has sanc-tioned the MMTS secondphase project six years agokeeping in view the increasingtraffic situation. The work wasstarted with the Centre andState partnership at an estimat-ed cost of Rs 816.55 crore.

As per agreement, the Stategovernment was supposed togive Rs.544.36 crore as itsshare to the railways. But the

State government has givenonly Rs.129 crore. In view ofthe traffic requirements of thepeople here, the Centre hasspent over Rs.789.28 crore forthe project.

However, the works werehalted as the State govern-ment did not pay its remaining

share of Rs.414.14 crore. Thecost of the project has nowgone to Rs 951 crore. As perthe estimates, the state govern-ment was supposed to spendRs 634 crore while the railwaysRs 317 crore. The work wouldbe completed once the stategovernment releases the

remaining amount, Reddy said.He urged the Chief Minister totake necessary steps for takingup the sanctioned MMTSworks from Ghatkesar toRaigiri near Bhongir toimprove connectivity to SriNarasimha Swamy Temple inYadadri from Raigiri.

Kishan Reddy writes to CM for release of MMTS funds PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr. TamilisaiSoundararajan on Saturdaysaid that beginning of the vac-cination is the proudestmoment for the country.

"The vaccination to thefrontline warriors is not just amere vaccination, it is indeeda thanks giving injection tothem for their selfless servicessince the outbreak of Covid-19pandemic," she added.

The Governor, along withher husband and renownedNephrologist, Dr P Sound-ararajan, visited the NIMSHospital, here, and launchedthe vaccination programmefor the frontline warriors in theState.

Speaking on the occasion,Dr Tamilisai Soundararajanstated that the launch ofworld's largest vaccination pro-gramme has signaled the endof pandemic and the beginningof protection in our country.

The last year was like theyear of pandemic, now thisNew Year is like the year ofprotection.

The Governor thanked thePrime Minister NarendraModi for the motivation andsupport to the scientists to

develop the vaccine to protectthe people from Covid-19.

"Our Prime Minister haspersonally visited the BharatBiotech Laboratory at theGenome Valley in Hyderabadand motivated the scientists tocome up with effective vaccineto end the Covid-19," sheadded.

The Governor stated thatdue to the relentless efforts ofour scientists, we could comeup with our own vaccine. Wemust be proud that we are notdependent upon any othercountry for the vaccine.

Our own vaccine develop-ment is in the true spirit ofself-reliant India as per the

vision of our Prime Minister'sAtma Nirbhar Bharat.

We must salute our scien-tists for the vaccine develop-ment and making it available.This is the greatest achieve-ment by our scientific commu-nity and shows their capabil-ity, the country is proud oftheir research and innova-tion. She stated that India,especially Hyderabad, isemerging as the pharmaceuti-cal capital of the world. In factwe have been supplying med-icines to more than 150 coun-tries. Many countries are look-ing at India for the supply ofour vaccine to protect theirpeople.

‘Beginning of vaccination isproudest moment for India’PNS n NIZAMABAD

Stray dogs attacked sheeppen at Renjal on Saturdaykilling around 41 sheep.

Nizamabad: In a bizarreincident, street dogs attackeda sheep pen and killed near-ly 41 sheep at Renjal mandalheadquarters of Nizamabaddistrict provided by the Stategovernment under the sheepdistribution scheme. Aroundnine sheep were grievouslyinjured in the incident wherethe shepherd suffered loss ofproperty worth Rs 3 lakh.

Kurma Gangadhar andChettukindi Bhoomaiah,who are shepherds, obtainedtwo units comprising 40sheep and two rams undergovernment sheep's distribu-tion programme. These sheepgave birth to a few lambs inrecent times. On Saturday, so-me street dogs attacked theshelter and killed the sheep.Learning about the incident,mandal veterinary assistantVittal visited the spot andprovided treatment to theinjured sheep. Later, AnimalHusbandry assistant directorNazimuddin visited the spotand recorded the incidentdetails. The shepherds com-plained that street dogs wereattacking the sheep sheltersand killing the sheep.

41 sheep killed by street dogs

PNS n HYDERABAD

With certain instances offraudulent practices comingto the notice where fraudsterswere found duping innocentcandidates with promises ofjobs in different offices ofIndian Railways, the author-ities have alerted job aspirantsto be cautious of such fraud-sters.

According to SCR, the jobsin railways are offered onlyon passing examinations thatare conducted by RailwayRecruitment Board (RRB)and Railway RecruitmentCell (RRC) after well-publi-cised notifications.

Job fraud:SCR alertsaspirants

PNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy has asked theagricultural marketing depart-ment to prepare an actionplan to market the rabi cropsas directed by Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao.

He was addressing a coordi-nation meeting of the agricul-ture and marketing depart-ments at the market yard inBowenpally here on Saturday.

He said that new agricultur-al laws are in vogue, but theCenter did not mention theMSP for various crops in them.Therefore, the state govern-ment, in the absence of the

MSP notified by the Centre,would not be able to procurecrops from farmers, he point-ed out.

Therefore, he asked the offi-cials to explain the inability ofthe government to procure

the crops. He asked them to regulate

the flow of harvested crops intothe agricultural markets bygiving farmers coupons at thetime of harvesting the cropsand provide all amenities to thefarmers like hamalis, shedsand other.

He asked them to ensurethat farmers flood the marketyard with the red chilli crop.

Agriculture secretaryJanardhan Reddy, marketingdirector Lakshmi Bai, horticul-ture director VenkatramReddy, Markfed ManagingDirector Bhaskarachary andothers were present on theoccasion.

Minister asks officials to prepare action plan to market Rabi crops

Continued from Page 1

The PMO as well asMaharashtra chief ministerUddhav Thackeray. It wasapparent that he had been"physically and mentally tor-tured inside the jail", she alleged.Three days before Balakot strike,Arnab Goswami said ‘some-thing big will happen’ onWhatsApp chat with Dasgupta

“Bigger than a normal strike.”That is what Republic TV

Editor-in-Chief ArnabGoswami told Partho Dasgupta,the former Chief ExecutiveOfficer of the BroadcastAudience Research Council ,which measures television rat-ings, in a purported WhatsAppchat on February 23, 2019.

Three days later, on February26, 2019, the Indian Air Forcecarried out a strike targeting aJaish-e-Mohammad trainingcamp in the Pakistani town ofBalakot. The attack was billed asIndia’s response to an attack onFebruary 14, 2019, in Pulwamain Jammu and Kashmir, inwhich 40 Central Reserve PoliceForce personnel were killedafter an explosive-laden cardriven by a suicide bomberrammed into their bus.

The purported chat is men-tioned in a transcript that is partof a 3,400-page supplementarychargesheet filed by theMumbai Police in their investi-

gation into the allegedTelevision Ratings Point scam,according to The Hindu. Thechats, alleged advocate PrashantBhushan on Twitter, “showmany conspiracies & unprece-dented access to power in this”government. According to thetranscript, on February 23,2019, Goswami texted Dasguptasaying: “On another note some-thing big will happen”.

After a few messages onother matters, Dasgupta asked,“Dawood?”, referring to thenotorious gangster who is want-ed in several cases.

The conversation continued: Arnab Goswami: “No sir

Pakistan. Something major willbe done this time.”

Partho Dasgupta: “Good.”Partho Dasgupta: “It’s good

for big man in this season.”Partho Dasgupta: “He will

sweep polls then.”Partho Dasgupta: “Strike?

Or bigger”Arnab Goswami: “Bigger

than a normal strike. And alsoon the same time somethingmajor on Kashmir. On Pakistanthe government is confident ofstriking in a way that people willbe elated. Exact words used.”

The chats also revealinstances of Dasgupta askingGoswami to reach out to thegovernment on his behalf. Inone such exchange on April 4,2019, the former ratings agency

chief asks Goswami if he canstall the Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India’s proposal tomake BARC’s viewing datapublic. Dasgupta asks Goswamifor some action from a certain“AS”. In reply, Goswami says hecould do what Dasgupta askedfor.

The chat also includes a con-versation where Dasgupta asksGoswami to get him a job as“media advisor” in the PrimeMinister’s Office, while at sev-eral instances the Republic TVjournalist refers to his proxim-ity to “PMO” and the Ministryof Information andBroadcasting, The Hindureported.

An operation to manipulatetelevision ratings was uncoveredin October when the BroadcastAudience Research Councilfiled a complaint through HansaResearch Group, one of BARC’svendors, accusing some chan-nels of rigging their ratings bybribing some households towatch their programmes.

On December 25, MumbaiJoint Commissioner of PoliceMilind Bharambe had said thata forensic audit report of the rat-ing agency’s data had revealedthat the numbers had beenmanipulated at least since 2016.Bharambe said that the manip-ulations resulted in Republic TVbeing depicted as the top-ranked channel.

Continued from Page 1

Modi said, pointing out thatonly two countries other thanIndia have a population inexcess of 30 crore — the USand China.

The Prime Minister saidthat those who are elderly, aresuffering from serious illness,will get vaccinated in the sec-ond stage.

"Dawai bhi, kadai bhi (vac-cine also and strict disciplinealso)" should be the mantragoing forward, he said.

"I want to remind people ofthe country that two doses ofthe Corona vaccine are veryimportant. Don't commit themistake that you take one doseand forget the second one. Asexperts have been saying, therewill be a gap of about one

month between the two doses,"Modi said.

He asked people not to lettheir guard down even aftertaking the vaccine as only twoweeks after taking the seconddose, human body will devel-op necessary immunity againstthe virus.

During his speech, the primeminister also turned emotion-al as he spoke of the disruptionthe pandemic caused to peo-ple's lives, isolating victims ofthe coronavirus and denyingthe dead traditional last rites.

In a choked voice, the PrimeMinister also referred to sacri-fices made by healthcare andfrontline workers, hundredsof whom lost their lives to theviral infection.

The Drugs ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) had

earlier this month approvedOxford Covid-19 vaccineCovishield, manufactured bythe Serum Institute, andindigenously developedCovaxin of Bharat Biotech forrestricted emergency use in thecountry, paving the way for themassive inoculation drive.

Modi also reassured thecountry about the safety andeffectiveness of the vaccinesgiven approval by India forrestricted emergency use.

"I want to tell the people ofthe country that only when ourscientists and experts wereconvinced about the safety andeffectiveness of both the made-in-India vaccines, only thenthey gave permission for theiremergency use. That is why thepeople of the country shouldbeware of any type of propa-

ganda, rumours and misinfor-mation," he said.

"Our vaccine scientists, ourmedical system and the processIndia follows holds a lot ofcredibility in the world...wehave won this confidence dueto our track record," Modisaid.

His remarks come amidapprehensions being raised byopposition leaders, includingsome senior Congress leaders,about the process of approvalto the Bharat Biotech vaccine.

"Indian vaccines comparedwith foreign vaccines are muchcheaper and their use is alsovery easy. Even one dose ofsome foreign vaccines costs Rs5,000 and have to be kept atminus 70 degrees Celsius,while the Indian vaccines havebeen made with such technol-

ogy that is tried and tested,"Modi said.

These vaccines, from storageto transportation, are suited toIndian conditions, he said.

"These (made-in-India) vac-cines will ensure a decisive vic-tory for India against coron-avirus," he asserted.

"India begins the world'sLargest Vaccine Drive. This isa day of pride, a celebration ofthe prowess of our scientistsand hard work of our medicalfraternity, nursing staff, policepersonnel and sanitation work-ers," Modi said in a tweet afterthe launch of the drive.

In his remarks at the launchevent, Modi also urged thecountry to show patience dur-ing the vaccination drive as ithad shown till now in fightingthe pandemic.

1.91 L get shots on day 1 as India begins...

Continued from Page 1

He would take the first vac-cine shot, did not do so onSaturday, citing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's "strictinstruction" that health work-ers should be first in line. "Itis important to follow thePrime Minister's instructions.I am a Minister and it is myduty to follow the PM'sinstructions and prioritisehealth workers,'' Rajender rea-soned. On Friday, the minis-ter maintained that should hetake the first jab, it wouldinstill confidence among peo-ple having apprehensions overthe safety of the vaccines.

A sanitation workerKrishnamma became the firstperson in Telangana to get theCovid vaccine. "I appeal to allto go ahead and take the vac-cine. I was also a little appre-hensive but doctors reassuredme and the Health Minister tootold me not to worry. I so farhave no symptoms," she said,holding flowers given byGandhi Hospital, where she

received the jab.On Monday, Modi reported-

ly told Chief Ministers at ameeting on vaccine preps thatpoliticians should not jump thequeue and must await theirturn even if they were only try-ing to inspire confidence.

The Prime Minister's warn-ing came after the Haryanagovernment requested thatpublic representatives like MPsand MLAs be included in thefirst phase of vaccination.Health ministers of Bihar andOdisha also reportedlydemanded that public repre-sentatives from panchayats toParliament be consideredfrontline workers and be vac-cinated.

In the Union government'spriority list for the first round,health workers and frontlineworkers like the police, civildefence personnel and sanita-tion workers are on top. Otherhigh risk groups, includingpeople above 50 and those whohave co-morbidities like dia-betes and hypertension, comenext.

Continued from Page 1

Krishnamma told media-persons that though she wasa little apprehensive earlier,she was reassured by the hos-pital superintendent.

The woman said she didnot have any health com-plaints after taking the vac-cine and appealed to all toreceive the shot with courageinorder to protect one'shealth.

The vaccination campaignalso began simultaneously atvarious other locations inthe state where state ministersand other public representa-tives were present.

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan, a medicaldoctor, visited the state-runNizam's Institute of Medical

Sciences (NIMS) in the city."Nizam institute medical

science Hyderabad to greetthe Recepients of vaccines onthe Historic vaccine launchtoday.

It is a THANKS givingday to all Drs nurses paramedics & sanitary workerswho served covid patients.Visionary @PMOIndia whostood with scientists effortsalways," she tweeted.

The healthcare workersand others, who received thevaccine at different places inthe state, told reporters thatthey did not experience anyhealth issues.

K Jayamma (42), a healthworker, received the first vac-cine shot at the Rural HealthCentre at Narsingi on the cityoutskirts.

Vaccine rolloutbegins in...

Tainted Dasgupta in ICU...Continued from Page 1

Written in 1892 is the mostpopular one.

Modi on Saturdaylaunched the Covid-19 vac-cination drive in the countryand asserted that the made-in-India vaccines being rolledout will ensure a "decisive vic-tory" for the country over thecoronavirus pandemic.

PM Modi quotesGurajada in...

Continued from Page 1

Based on Khan's petition,the Central ministry request-ed action from the state to ini-tiate a CBI enquiry into Heeragroup of companies' allegedscam involving Rs 50,000.Previously the ministry hadsought a CBI enquiry in 2019.Nowhera Shaik, managingdirector of the Heera Group, ispresently lodged in prison.

Meanwhile, according to anaffidavit filed on behalf of theHeera group in the SupremeCourt, there are around 27First Informantion Reportsregistered in Maharashtra,

Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,Telangana and other states.Based on an analysis of thecomplaints, around Rs 25 crorehad to be paid to the victims.

Claiming that the Heeragroup had sufficient amount tocompensate all the victims, theplea in the SC sought interimbail for the MD. Further, thepetitioner sought six months'time to compensate theinvestors.

However after further veri-fication of records, the peti-tioner sought access to recordswhich the authorities hadseized from them.

It is pertinent to note that

initially a case was bookedagainst Nowhera Shaik by theCentral Crime Station,Hyderabad for allegdly operat-ing a Ponzi scheme illegallyand collecting deposits fromlakhs of investors on thepromise of high returns. Later,the ramifications of the casesurfaced.

The next hearing in thecase has been postponed to19th of this month. On 10thJanuary, investors of HeeraGroup met and discussed theirfuture course of action. Themeeting was organised by theAll India Heera VictimsAssociation.

Bharat Biotech...Continued from Page 1

In phase 1 and phase 2 clini-cal trials, Covaxin hasdemonstrated the ability toproduce antidotes againstCovid- 19.

However the clinical effica-cy of the vaccine is yet to beestablished and it is still beingstudied in phase 3 clinical tri-als, the vaccine maker said.

"Hence it is important toappreciate that receiving thevaccine does not mean thatother precautions related toCovid-19 need not be fol-lowed," the consent form said.

According to an industryexpert, the company is liableto pay compensation to peo-ple in case of serious side

effects as the vaccine is beingadministered while in theclinical trial mode.

The central l icensingauthority has granted permis-sion for the sale or distribu-tion of Covaxin for restrict-ed use in emergency situa-tions in public interest as anabundant caution, in clinicaltrial mode.

Meanwhile, Joint ManagingDirector of Bharat BiotechInternational Ltd, SuchitraElla, in her Twitter accountsaid, "Covaxin & BharatBiotech is truly humbled &honoured to be of service tothe nation & the fraternity ofall first responders of Covidwho have served publichealth."

Continued from Page 1

Citing that the senior TDPleader failed to discharge hisduties in temple administra-tion, the AP Government hadremoved him from the post ofchairman of three temples inthe state.

Even earlier, Ashok Gajap-athi Raju was removed as thechairperson of MANSASTrust and SimhachalamDevasthanam Trust Board andreplaced with his niece,

Sanchaita. He was alsoremoved from chairmanshipof 104 temples in Godavaridistricts.

"Ashok Gajapathi Raju hasfailed to discharge his legiti-mate duties and address theissues relating to the securityaspects of the temple andfailed to take steps to preventthe vandalisation of LordRama's idol in Sri RamaSwamy Devasthanam inVizianagaram district," readthe GO of AP government.

Ashok Gajapathi’s...

Centre asks TS again tomove for CBI probe

Eatala Rajender decides against taking...

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | JANUARY 17, 2021 hyderabad 03

Singareni Collieries CompanyLimited has decided to imparttraining to as many as 550 youth

for over 45 days to prepare them forthe army recruitment drive to beconducted from March 5. The trainingsession that will be conducted underthe aegis of Singareni Seva Samithiwill commence from January 20, saidSamithi vice-president K. Ravi Shankar here on Saturday. Last time,35 youth were selected during the army recruitment drive afterundergoing training given by the SCCL. Following instructions fromSCCL CMD N Sridhar, the Samithi is organizing the session to youthin 11 places covering half a dozen districts where the Singareni iscarrying out mining operations. The children of the Singareniemployees including retired staff along with the children from thefamilies affected with the Singareni project and youth from villagesnear mines can appear for the preliminary examination.

CITY LIGHTS

TCulture mobile app, an

initiative of the Telangana Stategovernment to issue identity

cards to artistes across the State toaccess various welfare schemesbagged the prestigious SkochAward. The app, which waslaunched by the TS Department of Language and Culture incollaboration with Telangana Information TechnologyAssociation's (TITA) digital entity Digithon, is a first-of-its-kindinitiative in the country. The app aims to create a database ofartistes in the State to ensure that they get access to the benefitswelfare schemes of the State government. The mobile app islinked with MeeSeva and helps artistes to obtain ID cards. Theapp was made available to the artistes from August 1st 2020.Director, Department of Language and Culture, MamidiHarikrishna expressed happiness over the National Award for TCulture app. TITA, headed by Sundeep Kumar Makthala, apartfrom making daily events of the Department of Language andCulture online for two years, has also made efforts to issue IDcards for all the artistes without the intervention of middlemen,said Mamidi Harikrishna. Mamidi Harikrishna accepted the SkochAward at 70th Skoch Summit conducted virtually.

State government’s ‘T Culture’ app bags Skoch national award

The South Central Railway (SCR)will operate two more specialone way trains on Sunday from

Narasapuram and Anakapalli toSecunderabad to clear the Sankrantirush. "In order to clear extra rushduring Sankranti festival, SCR willrun two one way special trains fromNarsapur to Secunderabad andAnakapalli to Secunderabad," said arailway official on Saturday. Train number 07460 from Narasapuramto Secunderabad will depart Narasapuram in West Godavari districton Sunday at 5.35 pm.to arrive at Secunderabad at 4.10 am onMonday. Likewise, Sankranti special train, 07461, from Anakapalli toSecunderabad will depart Anakapalli in Visakhapatnam district at8.50 pm on Sunday to reach Secunderabad at 8.50 am on Monday.Every January, thousands of people living and working in Hyderabadbriefly visit their native places to celebrate Sankranti, the biggestHindu festival in Telugu culture, with family and friends. Once theharvest festival ends, all of them again rush back to Hyderabad toresume their normal life, choking all modes of transport. The specialtrains are a major relief for the festival celebrants at a time when allmodes of transportation are yet to return to pre-Covid levels.

SCR to run two more special trains to clear Sankranti rush

To regulate the flow of traffic during a procession to mark the354th birthday celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh on Monday,the Hyderabad Traffic Police have imposed certain restrictions in

and around Sultan Bazaar, Charminar and Goshamahal. Theprocession will start from the Central Gurudwara Saheb, Gowligudaand move towards Shanker Sher Hotel – Gurudwara Sri Guru SinghSabha Ashok Bazar – Afzalgunj Island – Afzalgunj ‘T’ Junction –Siddiamber Bazaar – Moazamjahi Market – Jambagh – Puthlibowli –Ram Mandir and return to Central Guru Dwara Saheb, Gowliguda.Accordingly, when the procession starts from Ashok BazaarGurudwara, Afzalgunj the traffic coming from CBS towards Afzalgunjwill be diverted towards SJ Bridge Rotary and CBS. Likewise, whenthe procession starts from the Central Gurudwara in Gowliguda, thetraffic coming from Putlibowli towards Shanker Sher Hotel will bediverted towards CBS via Ram Mandir Road. Traffic from Afzalgunjwill be diverted towards the State Central Library Afzalgunj – SJBridge – CBS – Rangamahal till the procession moves towards toMJ Market.

Police impose traffic curbs in Hyd for Sikh celebrations

Singareni Collieries to trainyouth for army recruitment

RISKY RIDES

Law forbids carrying more than three passengers by auto-rickshaw but finding even 13 people on board is no surprisein this city, even after several people lost their lives due tooverloading three-wheelers. Motor vehicles law permits

adjusting only four people, including the driver, on board anauto-rickshaw. The auto drivers, however, seem to have no

fear of the law. The drivers’s case is that if a fourth passengerwaved at them to stop, how they could refuse to him. No one

minds extra income. While police officials say that even ifauto drivers are issued a challan for overloading, they will

repeat the offence after some time.— SSV CChary

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar has directedthe officials to make elaboratearrangements for the conductof Republic Day Celebrationson January 26th in a befittingmanner, duly taking prevent-ing measures as per Covid pro-tocol.

The Chief Secretary held acoordination meeting with theofficials of various depart-ments at BRKR Bhavan onSaturday. The Chief Secretarysaid proper arrangements to bemade in a coordinated waywith more care. He directedthe officials to make necessaryarrangements for security, traf-fic management, barricading,medical teams, masks and san-itization.

DGP Mahender Reddy,Principal Secretary to GADVikas Raj, Principal Secretaryto TR&B Sunil Sharma,Secretary of HM & FW SAMRizvi, GHMC CommissionerLokesh Kumar and other offi-cials attended the meeting.

Make elaborate arrangements forRepublic Day: CS directs officials

PNS n HYDERABAD

To address the needs of pedes-trians and help them in cross-ing roads and junctions safelyand comfortably, Greater Hyd-erabad Municipal Corporation(GHMC) is constructing 28foot over bridges (FOBs) in dif-ferent parts of the city in thenext three months.

On Saturday, Arvind Kumar,Principal Secretary (MA&UD),tweeted that a total of 28 newFoBs are under construction indifferent parts of the city andwill be ready in next threemonths.

"The Foot over Bridge (FoB)@ GVK Mall Banjara Hillswork is going on in full swingand it should be ready in com-ing 6 weeks," he tweeted.

On Saturday, Arvind Kumardirected the municipal officialsto complete the work of footover bridges on top priority.

The decision comes as amajor relief for pedestrians asseveral busy locations in thecity will be dotted with footover bridges. The work hasbeen taken up under the pedes-

trian-friendly initiatives of themunicipal department of thestate and since the constructionof foot over bridges was pend-ing for years, the principalsecretary has directed the offi-cials to complete it on top pri-ority.

The 28 foot over bridgeswhich are under constructionacross five zones in greaterHyderabad including five in LBNagar zone, three inCharminar zone, four inKhairatabad zone, five in

Secunderabad zone, two inKukatpally zone and nine inSerillingampally Zone.

Officials are planning junc-tion improvement across all thezones.

The major objective is toimprove movement of traffic,reduce journey time, facilitatefree left movements, widenroads at U-turns and take upother road safety measures toreduce accidents and wherev-er it is feasible the bus baywould be installed.

28 more FoBs to dot city soonArvind Kumar

(@arvindkumar_ias)

The Foot over Bridge(FOB) @ GVK MallBanjara Hills.. work isgoing on in full swingand it should be ready in coming 6 weeks A total of 28 new FOBsunder construction indifferent parts of the city & will be ready innext 3 months

PNS n HYDERABAD

Kite flying on the occasion ofSankranti turned tragic inHyderabad as two childrenand a man died in separateincidents since Thursday, thecity police said on Friday.

While the two children wereelectrocuted to death, the mandied after falling from a multi-storied building.

K Rakesh, 13, was electro-cuted while flying a kite fromhis home at Nallavelli villageon the outskirts of the city onFriday. The kite had got stuckin electricity cables in front ofhis house.

The police said that the boytried to remove it with an ironrod from the terrace, sufferedan electric shock and died onthe spot. On hearing his cries,his elder sister Soni tried to res-cue him but she sustainedinjuries and was admitted to ahospital. The incident occurredin the limits of Yacharam pol-ice station under RachakondaPolice Commissionerate.

In another incident, a 12-year-old boy was electrocutedwhile flying a kite from abuilding in Jeedimetla areaon Thursday. Charith Kumar,who was flying a kite alongwith his friends, accidentallylaid his hands on the iron pipesof an electric motor pump. Asthe cables were reportedlydamaged, he suffered an elec-tric shock and died on the spot.

Jeedimetla police, under Cy-berabad police commissioner-ate, registered a case andlaunched an investigation. Inthe third incident, a man died

after he fell from a multi-sto-ried building while flying akite. The incident occurred atAshok Nagar in Chikkadpallyarea under Hyderabad policecommissionerate limits onThursday.

Bangaru Krishna, said to bean activist of TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS), wasflying kites along with familyand friends on the terrace onthe third floor.

He slipped and fell on theiron grills fixed on the com-pound wall. He died whilebeing shifted to the hospital.

Kite flying turns fatal for 2 kids, man on Sankranti

PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan on Saturdaycalled for the promotion ofclean and green energy toprotect the planet earth andensure the survival of life onthe earth.

She said indiscriminateexploitation of naturalresources and the burning offossil fuels were resulting inthe high levels of pollutioncausing global warming.

“The indiscriminate destr-uction of nature has resultedin the present Covid pan-demic crisis causing disrup-tion of activities in almost allthe spheres of life,” she added.

The Governor was virtual-ly inaugurating the month-long Samrakshana-KshamataMahotsav-(SAKSHAM-2021),

organised by the State LevelCoordinator for Oil Industryin Telangana.

Dr Tamilisai Soundararajanstated that it was high time topromote the clean, green, andrenewable energy use at all lev-els so as to reduce the pollu-tion levels in our country inview of the fact that India isthe third largest energy con-sumer in the world.

"We need to emerge as theglobal power house of greenenergy in the days to come. Asper our Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's AtmaNirbhar Bharath vision, wemust become self-reliant inenergy sector. We cannotafford to continue to importoil and gas from other coun-tries as they are draining ourvaluable foreign exchange,"she added.

PNS n HYDERABAD

As per directions of the ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao, Chief Secretary SomeshKumar conducted a reviewmeeting with special chiefsecretaries, principal secre-taries and secretaries on theprogress of promotions invarious departments at BRKRBhavan on Saturday. TheChief Secretary has directedthe officials, to expedite theprocess of promotions likeconducting of DPC's in all thedepartments from Secretariatto District Level Offices at theearliest.

The Chief Secretary hastaken a review each depart-ment level and instructed theconcerned officials to takethis task as it is a top priori-ty of government and to sortout technical issues if any inthe process of promotionsand conduct DPC's as per theguidelines.

In the meeting, PrincipalSecretary to MA&UD ArvindKumar, Principal Secretary toFinance Ramakrishna Rao,Principal Secretary to PoliticalVikas Raj, Principal Secretaryto IT&C Jayesh Ranjan andother Secretaries also attend-ed.

‘EXPEDITE THE PROCESS OF PROMOTIONS'

Promote green energy toreduce pollution: TS Guv

PNS n HYDERABAD

Thieves broke into a pawnbrokering and jewellery shopin Pot Market and decampedwith mortgaged gold and sil-ver ornaments worth Rs 21lakh. The shop owner, AnilJain had locked the shop lateon Thursday because ofSankra-nti festival and wenthome.

On Friday, he sent one ofhis employees Sunil to openthe shop and take care of thebusiness as he would be late.According to the police, whenSunil opened the shop, he fo-und it ransacked and infor-med Jain, who rushed to theshop and found that gold andsilver ornaments worth Rs.21lakh were missing.

“When he checked CCTVcameras at the shop, he foundthat some unidentified per-son had broke into the shopand took ornaments,” policesaid, adding that based on acomplaint from Jain, theMarket police booked a caseand was investigating.

Pawnshopburgled atPot Market

PNS n HYDERABAD

Rachakonda Police arrestedthree robbers and recoveredfour tulas of gold ornamentsfrom them on Saturday.

The accused persons wereidentified as Pastham HariKr-ishna, 25, his wife PasthamRenuka, 22, along with anoth-er accomplice SamudralaRenuka, 38, all hailing fromMahabubnagar.

Based on the complainantfrom G Premalatha, Ghatkesarpolice booked a case and start-ed investigation.

Going into the details, thecomplainant received phonecalls from unidentified personfor work at a function hall inMedipally. On believing hiswords, the complainant methim and reached Maktha vil-lage. Meanwhile, anotherwoman joined him.

The accused persons luredher to consume alcohol. Whileconsuming alcohol, theaccused robbed her ear rings,chains and other gold orna-ments, all weighing around

four tulas and fled away fromthe spot. The victim receivedblood injuries on her ears.

During investigation, thepolice found that the accusedwho robbed the complainantare HariKrishna and S Renu-ka. Krishna's wife P Renukahelped the accused to disposethe stolen property.

Explaining the modusoperandi of the accused policesaid, "The offenders conductrecce at toddy shops in andaround Hyderabad and selecttheir targets during the day.They target people wearinggold and silver ornaments.They commit the offencesduring evening or night hours,while their target was alone."

Meanwhile, Ghatkesarpolice nabbed the accused atMaha Laxmi Wines atBoduppal.

When questioned, theaccused confessed to thecrime. The police have recov-ered the stolen ornaments andsent them to judicial custodyand further investigation isunderway.

Three robbers held, 4tulas of gold recovered

PNS n HYDERABAD

Abids Police arrested six mem-bers of an inter-state burglargang and recovered stolenproperty on Saturday.

With this arrest, the policeclaimed to have solved 26cases including 20 cases in tri-Commissionerate limits andsix cases in Sangareddy districtin one year time.

The arrested were identifiedas Wajeed, 19, Shaik Sonu, 20,

Abdul Sameer, 25, Babu Rao,25, Md Sameer, 21 and Ismail,30. Three other accused iden-tified as Shahid, Amer andIliyas are on the large. Theaccused take shelter at low-rented lodges and conductrecce to select locked housesin the remote localities tocommit offences.

They move out on the roadsat nights and commit theft oflocked motorcycles from thelocked houses.

Inter-state burglars’ gang busted, 6 held PNS n HYDERABAD

WE Hub, a state-run platformfor women entrepreneurs haspartnered with i-Hub, an incu-bation set up of the GujaratGovernment, to encourage andsupport startups in raisingcapital.

An MoU was signed byJayesh Ranjan, TelanganaPrincipal Secretary, IT andIndustriesand Anju Sharma,Principal Secretary Higher andTechnical Education, Gujarat,on Saturday, an official releasesaid. As part of the MoU, as

many as 240 women entrepre-neurs will be selected for thepre-incubation program and atotal of 20 will be shortlisted forthe co-incubation programme.

“The partnership will initiatepre-incubation program for240 aspiring women entrepre-neurs in the EdTech, MedTechand Fintech sectors in the

states of Telangana andGujarat. Post three months ofpre-incubation program andafter rigorous interventions atotal of 20 entrepreneurs willbe selected for the final virtu-al/physical co-incubation pro-gram,” it said.

This co-incubation brings inthe startups the opportunity toscale up to viable enterprisesand receive solid scale-up rapidgrowth mentorship from theleaders at i-Hub and WE Hub.The startups will have govern-ment supported exposure vis-its across TS and Gujarat.

WE Hub, i-Hub tie up for women entrepreneurs

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | JANUARY 17, 2021 hyderabad 04

PNS n JAGITYAL

Karimnagar graduates’ con-stituency MLC T Jeevan Reddyurged the government todevise an NRI policy and givea compensation of Rs 5 lakh tothe bereaved families of Gulfworkers from Telangana. Hewas the chief guest at a meet-ing of the Gulf job victims andNRIs Association here onSaturday.

Observing that injustice isbeing meted out to Gulf work-ers, who had taken part in themovement for Telangana, hesought to know whether ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raois moved by their plight or not.In fact, 10 lakh Telangana per-sons are working in Gulf coun-tries. If each person were tosend home at least Rs 10,000 amonth, the country would geta foreign exchange of Rs 1,000crore. In a year, at least Rs12,000 crore worth foreign

exchange would receive, hecalculated. If the State were toreceive 10 per cent of theamount as its share from theCentre, the State governmentis not even spending 0.1 percent for the welfare of the Gulfworkers. He demanded thatthe TRS government allocateRs 100 crore for Gulf workers’welfare for their benefit.

The State government is notpaying anything except provid-ing an ambulance from theShamshabad airport to theirnative place, he said adding thatit is shameful on the part of thegovernment.

On an average, ambulancestransport at least 200 coffinsfrom the airport to the villagesof the dead, he said. He

demanded a 5 per cent quotafor the Gulf workers' wards inresidential schools ofTelangana. He also soughtemployment for the bereavedfamily members.

He wanted the Centre tomount pressure on Gulf nationsto revise wages of the workersand ensure that the manage-ment would not place curbs onthe Gulf workers from theState. He wanted the State gov-ernment to extend the benefitsbeing extended to farmers toGulf workers too. He soughtemployment to one member ofthe bereaved families. The Gulfworkers have been workinghard as the soldiers did inguarding our frontiers.

The Gulf workers problemsshould be regarded as an apo-litical issue. He assured thegathering to raise the Gulfworkers issue and NRI policyin the next session of theLegislative Council.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Political leaders from all parties,including the top Congress lead-ers have paid rich tributes to for-mer Union Minister late S JaipalReddy on his 79th birth anniver-sary at his memorial located nearSanjeevaiah Park here onSaturday.

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyoffered floral tributes to the lateJaipal Reddy and recalled his ser-vices and statesmanship

Minister for Health EatalaRajender offered floral tributes.Later, speaking to the media, hesaid Jaipal Reddy had left anindelible mark on society and hewas a role model politician. Hehas put immense faith in thedemocratic form of the govern-ment and he left good politicalvalues and ethics, he said.Following his beliefs, values andethics are the best tribute one canever pay to Jaipal Reddy, the min-ister added.

Jaipal Reddy's wife S Lakshmi,Jaipal Reddy's sons Arvind and

Anand Reddy, family members,relatives visited the memorial andoffered floral tributes to him.Several party leaders irrespectiveof party lines also visited and paidtheir tributes.

Among who visited thememorial and paid tributesinclude TPCC chief UttamKumar Reddy, senior Congressleaders K Jana Reddy, VHanumantha Rao, CLP leaderMallu Bhatti Vikramarka,

Congress leader Revanth Reddy,Chinna Reddy, former MPsManda Jagannadham, KondaVishweshwar Reddy, JitenderReddy, former Union MinisterMallipudi Mangapati PallamRaju, MP Komatireddy VenkatReddy, former minister PSudershan Reddy and leaders ofother political parties such as TRSleader Keshava Rao, TDP presi-dent L Ramana and BJP leaderG Vivekanand paid tributes.

PNS n SANGAREDDY

People, who are on cloud ninewith the launch of Covid-19vaccination drive inSangareddy, were worriedwhen the news of a staffer ofthe medical and health depart-ment falling unconscious afteradministering the vaccineflashed on news channels.However, officials heaved asigh of relief when she regainedconsciousness and doctorsafter examining her found thatshe had fainted due to bloodpressure, but not because of thevaccine. Medak MP KPrabhakar Reddy gave the firstvaccine to a medical healthstaffer Sangeetha. However,authorities expressed concernwhen she lost consciousnesssoon after being vaccinated.

Sangareddy District Medicaland Health Officer (DMHO)Mojiram Rathod saidSangeetha, a medical staffer,lost consciousness due to BPand now her condition is sta-

ble. He allayed the fears of peo-ple over vaccine.

Meanwhile, MP PrabhakarReddy launched the vaccina-tion drive at UPHC inIndiranagar, Sangareddy. Hehoped that the Corona wouldbe completely eradicated withthe vaccination. DistrictCollector Hanumantha Raosaid 10,842 people would bevaccinated in the district in thenext four to five days. Earlier,doctors, health workers,Anganwadi teachers and nurs-

es were vaccinated. Coronavaccine has been launched insix centres in the district and180 have been successfullyvaccinated at the rate of 30 percentre.

The Collector then visitedthe Andol Area Hospital andinspected the vaccination drive.Municipal chairperson BongulaVijayalakshmi, vice-chairpersonLata, former MLA ChintaPrabhakar and District LibraryAssociation chairman NarahariReddy were present.

ZAHEERABAD: Theunemployed in Telanganawere "disappointed" as thegovernment had failed togenerate employment,alleged district YouthCongress general secre-tary Indrasena Reddy at apress conference inZaheerabad on Saturday.

The government didnot issue the Group I andII notification in its sixyears rule, he pointed out.He flayed Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao fortaking the youth for aride though he hadpromised to provide jobsbefore coming to power.He should tender an apol-ogy to the jobless for leav-ing them in the lurch. Hedemanded the immediaterelease of notification forpending jobs in govern-ment departments.

PNS n RAJANNA SIRICILLA

District Collector KrishnaBhaskar directed the authoritiesconcerned to make arrange-ments for the reopening ofschools and colleges in RajannaSircilla district from February 1and ensure that all classrooms arecleaned, sanitised and Covidrules are followed while conduct-ing the classes.

The District Collector, alongwith additional collector RAnjaiah, officials of the EducationDepartment and other depart-ments, convened a review meet-ing on the reopening of schoolsand colleges at the Collectoratehere on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, the

Collector said that as per thedirective of the government,classes for the students of IX, X,inter and degree colleges will beconducted from February 1. Hesuggested that top priority shouldbe given to safety measures espe-cially drinking water and toiletfacilities should be provided.

Students are required to sub-mit a written consent form fromtheir parents before coming toschool and awareness should becreated in that regard. It was sug-gested that steps should be takento keep a distance of six feetbetween each of the two students,and two rooms should be usedfor the same class if necessary.

Residential hostels are still saidto be vigilant. Officials should

allay the fears of students and par-ents. The Collector said thatCovid rules must be followedwhile conducting classes.

Additional Collector RAnjaiah advised the students toscan their temperature everyday and if anyone has a fever,cough or other symptoms, theyshould be sent home.

He said classes should be con-ducted in schools and colleges incoordination with health depart-ment officials. District educationofficer Radhakishan, DPORavinder, medical officer DrSuman Mohan Rao, MunicipalCommissioners Sammayya,Srinivas, residential schools dis-trict officer Jacqueline, and oth-ers were present.

CAPSULE

PNS n RAMAGUNDAM

The BJP leaders and workerstook out a rally from the maincentre and laid siege to themunicipal office here onSaturday demanding that theCorporation provide basicamenities and redress griev-ances of people.

Seeking a solution to pend-ing issues under theRamagundam MunicipalCorporation limits, the BJPhas demanded that the gov-ernment provide a 24-hour

water supply to the peoplethrough Mission Bhagiratha.

Those who applied forrations cards, old age, widowand physically challenged pen-sion were pending. No rationcard has been issued to anyonefor the past six years. No onehas been given pensions sincethe formation of the new gov-erning body.

The party leaders demand-ed immediate repairs to thedamaged roads and drainagesas they have been overflowingever for light rains.

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Minister for BC Welfare andCivi l Suppl ies GangulaKamalakar sought the coop-eration of the people to erad-icate the Corona pandemic,which posed a threat to thehealth of the people acrossthe world, and paralysednormal life.

The minister formallyinaugurated the vaccinationdrive at the KarimnagarDist r ic t GovernmentGeneral Hospital and ButtiRaja Ram Colony PrimaryHealth Centre on Saturday.Speaking on the occasion, hesaid that in the first phase inall, 12,419 will be vaccinat-ed in the district.

On the first day, 120 peo-ple were vaccinated at fourcentres in the district. Noone had any problems dur-ing the vaccination.

He said the governmentwas ready to provide imme-diate medical services toanyone who had any prob-lems during vaccination. Asper the directive of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao, public representativesare staying at the field level

in vaccination centres toreassure the people. Theminister started the vaccina-t ion at the Dist r ic tGovernment Hospital inKarimnagar town and theGovernment Urban HealthCentre in Butti Rajaram

Colony, while ManakondurMLA Rasamai Balakishan atThimmappur Primary HealthCentre and Zilla Parishadchairperson Kanumal laVijaya at the Huzarabad AreaHospital. No one had anyreaction, or side effects dur-

ing the vaccination. The dis-trict administration is readyto provide immediate treat-ment if there are any prob-lems. Health workers werevaccinated in the first phase.Hospital superintendentRatnamala was first vaccinat-

ed at the District UrbanDistr ic t GovernmentHospital, while Dr SatyajitRoy was first vaccinated atthe Butti Rajaram ColonyGovernment Hospital, fol-lowed by vaccination ofANMs and ICDS Anganwadiworkers.

MLA Sunke Ravishankar,Karimnagar PoliceCommissioner KamalasanReddy, District CollectorShashanka, Mayor Sunil Rao,District Library Associationchairman Enugu RavinderReddy, medical health officerSujatha, corporators and doctorswere present.

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Minister for BC Welfare, Foodand Civil Supplies GangulaKamalakar on Saturday inau-gurated the InvitationalVolleyball Tournament inChoppadandi on Saturday. Thetournament is organised underthe auspices of theChoppadandi Sports Club. Thecompetition will be held fortwo days. A total of 32 teamsare competing. After inaugurat-ing the competition, the min-ister was honoured with ashawl by the representatives ofthe Choppadandi Sports Club.

Later, the minister playedvolleyball for a while in orderto create enthusiasm amongplayers. Speaking on the occa-sion, he said, "He could not finda bicycle when he went toschool, therefore, I went toschool on foot." He recalledthat volleyball began inAmerica in 1895 and volleyballwas introduced in the 1964Olympics. The TRS govern-ment is promoting sports sothat it can be used for good and

a cricket tournament will beconducted in February, he said.

MLC Nardasu LaxmanRao, MLC Sunke Ravishankar,Satavahana UrbanDevelopment Authority(SUDA) chairman JeeviRamakrishna Rao, DistrictLibrary chairman RavinderReddy, Choppadandi munic-ipal chairperson Neeraja,MPP Ravinder, ZPTCSounjanya, public representa-tives, leaders, ChoppadandiSports Club representativesand sportspersons were pre-sent on the occasion.

PNS n KHAMMAM

Minister for TransportPuvvada Ajay Kumar and LokSabha MP Nama NageswaraRao launched the vaccinationprogramme at the districtheadquarters government hos-pital here on Saturday. Headnurse Mary was the first toreceive the vaccine.

They said that Khammamdistrict received over 153Covaxin vaccines. The govern-ment has been makingarrangements to administervaccines to over 15,970 frontline workers in the district.The government has pre-scribed a dose of 0.5 ml foreach individual. The capacityof each vial is 5 ml, which issufficient to administer thevaccine to 10 persons. OnSaturday, six vaccination cen-tres became functional. Theysaid that the number of vacci-nation centres would beincreased to 36 soon.

Nama Nageswara Rao saidthat the death rate due to thevirus was at its low in the

country because of the seriesof measures initiated by theState and Central govern-ments. The low death rateawed global nations. Becauseof the initiative of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao the Hyderabad-basedBharat Biotech's vaccine -Covaxin - hogged the globallimelight.

District Collector RVKarnan, Police CommissionerT Iqbal, Mayor Dr Papalal,Government hospital superin-tendent Venkateswarlu andDistrict Medical and HealthOfficer Dr Malati and otherswere present on the occasion.

PNS n MAHADEVPUR

Accusing Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao of notpaying attention to ChinnaKaleswaram project works inspite of several reminders, hedemanded him that it washigh time for the ChiefMinister to complete ChinnaKaleswaram project to provideirrigation facility to the catch-ment area.

Manthani MLA DuddillaSridhar Babu appealed to thegovernment to pay compensa-tion to the farmers, who suf-fered crop loss due to inunda-tion from Medigadda reser-voir backwaters and blamedthe officials for not acquiringland for the project properly.Therefore, he wanted the gov-ernment to order a survey ofthe lands for the project andpay compensation to the farm-

ers. He was taking part in theCOVID-19 vaccine adminis-tration programme at the gov-ernment hospital here onSaturday.

Later, he addressed the hos-pital development committee

meeting, which adopted sev-eral resolutions. He resolvedthat the government shouldallocate funds for the develop-ment of the hospital.

He inspected the chilli cropsraised in the catchment area

lands of the Medigadda pro-ject. He charged the govern-ment with taking away water,land and sand from the area tothe detriment of the farmers ofthe region. He also alleged thatthe government is not paying

attention to the ChinnaKaleswaram project, con-ceived in 2008 to irrigate45,000 acres in five mandals ofthe region.

Accusing Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao of notpaying attention to ChinnaKaleswaram project worksdespite several reminders, hedemanded him that it washigh time for the ChiefMinister to complete theChinna Kaleswaram project toprovide irrigation facility tothe catchment area.

He wanted the governmentto inspect the submerged chillicrops and pay compensationto the affected farmers.

MPP Ranibahi Rama Rao,block Congress party presi-dent Kota Rajababu, MandalCongress president AkbarKhan and others were presenton the occasion.

‘Govt leavesjobless in the lurch’

District Youth Congress generalsecretary Indrasena Reddy

SiddipetGovt Degreegets ISOcertificate

SIDDIPET: The facultymet Minister for FinanceHarish Rao here onSaturday on the occasionof receiving the ISO cer-tificate for SiddipetGovernment DegreeCollege and GovernmentWomen's Degree College.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the minister laudedthe faculty for their con-tinuous efforts to safe-guard the autonomy ofSiddipet GovernmentDegree College and con-gratulated the faculty ofthe college on getting ISOcertification.

He spoke to EducationCommissioner NaveenMittal over the phonebrought the problems ofthe colleges to his notice.The review meeting wasattended by SiddipetMarket Committee chair-man Pala Sairam, facultyAyodhya Reddy, GopalaSudarshanam, Women'sDegree College principalPriyanka and SuvarnaDevi.

Jeevan Reddy for NRI policyto benefit Gulf workers

Karimnagar graduates’ constituency MLC T Jeevan Reddy addresses a meetingof Gulf workers in Jagityal on Saturday

Jaipal Reddy a role modelpolitician, recalls Eatala

TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and others payfloral tributes to former Union Minister late S Jaipal Reddy on his 79th birthanniversary at his memorial near Sanjeevaiah Park in Hyderabad on Saturday

Invitational Volleyball Tourneyinaugurated in Choppadandi

Medical staffer faints after vaccination BJP lays siege to RamagundamMunicipal Corporation office

BJP leaders and worker take out a rally in Ramagundam on Saturday

COVID VACCINATION DRIVE LAUNCHED

People's cooperation sought to eradicate Corona

Minister for BC Welfare and Civil Supplies Gangula Kamalakar formally inaugurates Covid vaccination drive in Karimnagaron Saturday

CollectorKrishna Bhaskarsaid that as perthe directive ofthe government,classes for thestudents of IX, X,inter and degreecolleges will beconducted fromFebruary 1

Manthani MLA demands compensation for chilli ryots REOPENING OF SCHOOLSEnsure sanitisation, implementCovid rules, says Collector

Medak MP K Prabhakar Reddy gives the first vaccine to a medical health stafferSangeetha in Sangareddy on Saturday

Minister for BC Welfare, Food andCivil Supplies Gangula Kamalakarformally inaugurates InvitationalVolleyball Tournament inChoppadandi on Saturday

Head nurse in Khammamhospital receives first shot

Head nurse Mary being administeredthe first vaccine in Khammam onSaturday. Minister for TransportPuvvada Ajay Kumar and others arealso seen

Manthani MLA Duddilla Sridhar Babu addresses a meeting at Mahadevpur on Saturday

special 05

She was all of seven when a martialarts teacher came to her colony inAgra, Uttar Pradesh to teach chil-dren this art. Like all kids, she camehome running and told her parents

she wanted to join these classes. Her fam-ily was extremely conservative and with sixsiblings — two elder brothers, there was noway that her parents allowed her to learnthe art that was considered to be only forboys. The fact that she would be the onlygirl in the class went against her. Back then,in the late 1980s, it was unthinkable that agirl would learn martial arts. But shenever gave up hope and spent the next oneyear trying to convince her parents. Finally,her mother gave her consent. That day andthe next 12 years, she went on to excel inmartial arts. So much so that by the timeshe was 19 years old, she had been 16-timechampion. Meet 40-year-old AparnaRajawat.

Everyone expected great many thingsfrom her in the future but a road accidentleft her with seven fractures in her leg. Hercareer to compete in martial arts came toan abrupt end. She was in the hospital forseveral months and the doctors told her thatif she tried to compete professionally, shemay end up in the wheelchair.

“When the doctors told me to stopcompeting I didn’t know what to do. I couldtrain by not compete. Martial arts had beenmy life. I didn’t know anything else eventhough I started playing other sports likebasketball. Back then there was no scope totake up martial arts as a profession. At best,all I would achieve is to become a coach andteach in a school. This avenue didn't allowany growth. My dream was to join theArmy. But after my accident I became unfitfor the forces,” Rajawat recalls.

She had joined martial art classes toescape the bullying from her elder broth-ers. They would really trouble her a lot. Shethought that if she learnt this art form, shewould be able to defend herself. But afterthe accident she found herself with noth-ing to do. That is when she turned to herother passion — dancing. She came toDelhi; joined some classes and worked forthe likes of Daler Mehndi. She worked asa choreographer for the next few years. Buther leg started giving her problems onceagain.

The doctor didn’t have good news for

her. He told her that if she continued to pur-sue her present occupation she wouldbecome paralysed neck down. Anotherblow to her career. But she never allowedherself to be let down by bad news. Backhome in Agra, while thinking of what to doshe came across a tour manager with 15-20 foreigners. That got her thinking.

“When I saw this man talk to these for-eigners, I realised that the work was some-thing that I could do. I found out everythingthat there was to know about how to be atour guide and started looking for work.That it was tough, is putting it mildly.Nobody would give me work. Some eventold me that this is not a woman’s job buta man’s and the best option for me wouldbe to take up teaching. But I never gave up.For the next four-five months, I visited asmany operators as I could only be comeback home frustrated. Finally, I went to atour operator who agreed to give mechance when I told him that even AmitabhBachchan was rejected for his voice. I toldhim how do you know that a womanwouldn’t be able to do this job unless yougive her a chance. This person agreed to giveme work. He told me that he would call ifsomething came up,” Rajawat says.

The next day she landed up at the officewith a book and her lunch box. The oper-ator was surprised to see her and asked whatshe was doing. She told him that her housewas an hour away and if her called her, itwould take her time to reach and she wouldlose the opportunity. She did this for thenext two months.

And finally, her day came. From beinga local tour guide to tour manager with aCanadian company in India to an interna-tional tour director with a company inLondon. She would live six-seven monthsthere and the rest here in India for anoth-er company that dealt with tourists inAmerican and Nepal.

In 2012, she was in London when sheheard about Nirbhaya. The next fewmonths really disturbed her as she followedthe case. However, she continued to workas an international tour director. But thelockdown put traveling on hold and that iswhen she decided to do what she hadthought of doing while she followed theNirbhaya case — provide self-defenceclasses to women.

“I knew that travel will be on hold for

the next few years. So, I have decided tospend my time teaching self-defence.During the Nirbhaya case, I spent the nextfew years trying to read and find everythingthere was to know about crime againstwomen. I was obsessed. I thought of noth-ing but how to prevent crime against them.My bullying days and things that I faced atthe hands of cousin came to mind. I want-ed to teach women the difference betweengood and bad touch and how they coulddefend themselves.” Rajawat says.

She tells you that even though she wasliving a good life — traveling the world,earning big bucks and have every comfortone could thing of — her bled every timeshe heard of a crime that involved awoman. She spoke with her mother, whowas alive back then. She told her that despiteher success, she was not content and want-ed to do something for the women of thiscountry. Her mother, who had always been

a great support to Rajawat and encouragedher to pursue what she wanted, told her thatshe must follow her heart.

“When I told her that I wanted to comeback home, she told me I must do whatev-er my heart told me to do. She said that Ihad overcome every obstacle that life hadthrown at me and excelled in whatever Ichose to do. At death bed, what will go withyou is not the money that you have earnedbut the good deeds, my mother told me,”Rajawat recalls.

That is when she came to India, in 2016.It began with her sponsoring girls whowanted to study more and didn’t have thefinance. One day she was approached to givea motivational speech at a coaching centre.She spoke for 45 minutes about her jour-ney and given the response she got, Rajawatrealised the power of her words and howit can change people’s lives. That is whenshe started talking about the importance

of self-defence. That is how Pink BeltMission came to life a couple of years later.

“Till now I have taught 1.5 lakh womenhow to defend themselves on five differentdimensions — mental, emotional, legal anddigital and physical strength. These are coreareas where each woman needs to be taught.Without this even if one handed a loadedgun to the woman, it would be of no use.I hold workshops form time to time as Itravel the length and breath of the country.Each workshop, meant for college going stu-dents, attracts 2,000-2,500 girls. At the work-shop, I give a a motivational speech, basi-cally my life story, and how I overcamethem. Of course, not all the girls come forthe defense classes that I teach over a peri-od of three days. These classes are extreme-ly taxing and at the end of the day, the girlsare well-equipped to defend against anyassault. My aim is to teach 50 lakh womenself-defence in the next few year,” Rajawattells you.

Once these girls are ready, they are sort-ed in batches of four-five each. There is areason why Rajawat chooses only collegegoers. They are the one’s who have the timeto go to schools and train the girls there.

However, it is not just the girls who aretaught their rights and what is right andwrong. Rajawat holds classes for boys as wellto tell them hoe they should behave in frontof women. She tells you that not many knowthat if a boy stares at a girl more more than15 seconds, it is an offense. That if they lookat girl and starting singing, it is an offense.

“It is so unfortunate that we don’t teachbasic rights to our children. We must teachboys how to respect the women and thatthey are not second-rate citizens I tell girlswho attend my workshop how they mustgive their children a good upbringing; thischange is what we will see after 20 years,”Rajawat says.

She is now working on a campaign tospread awareness on how to provide imme-diate help to the survivors.

“The law says that if there is an sexu-al assault on a woman, no hospital can denyher medical treatment; there is no need forpolice to finish doing its job first. Butnobody is aware of this law. We have beenworking on this. I will travel across thecountry to spread this message. We hopethat this will prevent the crime from tak-ing place to begin with,” Rajawat says.

nWhy did you choose to tell thisstory in a documentary style?

We chose to shoot Pink BeltMission in documentary style becauseAparna Rajawat was attempting tobreak the Guinness World Record formost persons trained in a self-defencelesson. It was to bring worldwideattention to her cause. I wanted to filmher day to day struggle in that attempt.It was thrilling because we didn’t knowif she would succeed. In the movie yousee her, in real life, trying to overcomethe obstacles presented to her. It’squite thrilling because you don’t knowif she and her team can pull it off. Forme it was like watching a greatsporting event. I wanted her to win butthe odds were against her.

nWhat made you tell her story?I wanted to tell this story

because she is a fighter, fighting foran important cause, women’s safety,education and teaching them self-defence. She is such a dynamicperson you can’t say no to her. WhenI met her, her stories werefascinating and movies are only asgood as the stories. I hope to giveher stories the worldwide attentionthey deserve.nWhat were the challenges faced?

A big challenge was the languagebarrier. Half of the movie is in Englishand half is in Hindi. I only know a fewwords in Hindi, so I had to havesomeone translate for me and eachsubject who didn’t speak English. Also,

it is a very tough subject matter andthere are stories of violence againstwomen that are heartbreaking. I wouldgo back to the hotel after filming someof the sad stories and I deeplysympathised with these women’s pain.I felt it in my heart. I cried many timeswhile filming. That was the mostdifficult part. And I felt such aresponsibility to tell their stories thebest that I could. nThe documentary is beingpremiered at the Jaipur InternationalFilm Festival (JIFF). How do youwant people to perceive this?

I hope the film will bring attentionto Aparna and the women of Pink Belt.To shine a light on all the wonderfulworks they are doing. It’s a story that

deserves an audience. I hope theaudience will be moved and inspiredby it. I hope it will reach young girlsand women in the world and they willsay: ‘If Aparna can do it, I can do it’.nDon't you think a commercialrelease would have been a betteroption?

The movie is in the competitionportion of JIFF. I am hoping that it willwin an award to help promote Aparna’scause. To shine a light on Pink BeltMission. One of the ways to bringattention to a film is to get laurels fromfilm festivals like JIFF. It is ourintention to release this documentaryin a wide release in movie theaterswhen it is safe. This year the festival isonline due to COVID-19.

When you met Aparna Rajawat,what was your first impression?

My first impression of Aparna washer hair. She had awesome short hairlike no other woman I had seen inIndia. She told me the story of herfamily taking her to a physchiatristbecause she wanted short hair whenshe was a young girl. That was myvery first impression of her, so wefilmed the very first scene of the movieat a barbershop. She is getting ahaircut and telling the story of thepsychiatrist. nDo you think watching suchdocumentaries will inspire women tobe like her?

I think the Pink Belt Missiondocumentary will inspire young girls

and women in India, but Aparna issuch a powerful person I think shewill inspire women and men aroundthe world. She never gives up nomatter what obstacles cross her path.She continues to fight and it’sinspiring.

Even though it’s a very serioussubject matter, Aparna triumphs andinspires. It’s the perfect time for suchan uplifting film. I, as an audiencemember wanted to cheer for Aparnaand I hoped she would win.Ultimately, I didn’t know if she wouldbreak the world record or not, butthat didn’t matter. What wasimportant is how many young livesshe touched and uplifted. Aparna hasreally inspired me.

‘I cried many times during the filming of Pink Belt Mission’

BIG FIGHTBACKSHALINI SAKSENA brings you a story of 40-year-old APARNA RAJAWAT who has overcome severalroadblocks in her life to become India's 16-time national champion in martial arts and to travel the lengthand breadth of the country teaching 1.5 lakh young girls mental strength, legal rights and self-defence

I KNEW THAT TRAVELWILL BE ON HOLD FORTHE NEXT FEW YEARS.

SO, I HAVE DECIDED TOSPEND MY TIME

TEACHING SELF-DEFENCE TO

GIRLS. DURING THENIRBHAYA TRIAL, I

SPENT YEARS TRYINGTO READ AND FIND

EVERYTHING THEREWAS TO KNOW ABOUT

CRIME AGAINSTWOMEN. I WAS

OBSESSED. I THOUGHTOF NOTHING BUT HOW

TO PREVENT CRIMEAGAINST WOMEN

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | JANUARY 17, 2021

Aparna Rajawat with her Pink brigade during a workshop

Aparna Rajawat showing moves on how to defend oneself

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | JANUARY 17, 2021 money 06

MONEY MATTERS

L&T Finance Holdings onFriday reported a 51 percent decline in

consolidated net profit at Rs287.75 crore during the thirdquarter ended December 31,2020. The company's net profitstood at Rs 591.47 croreduring the same period in theprevious fiscal. The non-banking financial company's (NBFC's) totalincome during the quarter under review declined to Rs 3,622.16 crorefrom Rs 3,735.79 crore in the year-ago quarter. Average assets undermanagement (AUM) declined to Rs 68,976 crore from Rs 71,587 crore inthe corresponding quarter a year ago, the company said in a statement.

L&T Finance Q3 net profit slips51 pc to Rs 288 crore

The Indian Railway FinanceCorporation on Friday raiseda little over Rs 1,398 crore

from anchor investors ahead ofits initial share sale that opensfor public subscription onMonday. A total of 5,34,563,007equity shares have beenallocated to 31 anchor investorsat an upper price band of Rs 26 per equity shares, the company saidin a statement. At this price, IRFC has garnered Rs 1,398.63 crorefrom anchor investors. The anchor investors include HDFC TrusteeCompany Ltd, Nippon Life India Trustee Ltd, Government ofSingapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Kuwait InvestmentAuthority Fund, Kotak Mahindra (International) Ltd, Goldman Sachs(Singapore) PTE, Tata AIG General Insurance Co Ltd and Aditya BirlaSun Life Insurance Co Ltd. The issue is of up to 178.20 crore shares,comprising a fresh issue of up to 118.80 crore shares and offer forsale of up to 59.40 crore shares by the government. The company'sprincipal business is to borrow funds from the financial markets tofinance acquisition/ creation of assets which are then leased out tothe Indian Railways. The initial public offer (IPO) would open on onJanuary 18 and close on January 20. The price band of the issue hasbeen fixed at Rs 25 to Rs 26 per equity share. At the upper end ofthe price band, the IPO is expected to fetch Rs 4,633 crore.

IRFC garners over Rs 1,398 cr fromanchor investors ahead of IPO

Marc Lore, Walmart's e-commerce chief, is leavingthe world's largest retailer,

nearly five years after he joined tosuper charge its online businessamid stiffer competition from onlineleader Amazon. Under Lore'sstewardship, Walmart led theredesign of the company's website,expanded its online assortment from 10 million items to more than80 million and transformed its delivery network to add two -dayand same day delivery. Lore, who served as CEO of Walmart's e-commerce division, joined the company in September 2016 whenWalmart bought Jet.com, an e-commerce company he founded, formore than USD 3 billion.

Walmart's e-commerce chiefresigns after nearly 5 years

Diversified Mahindra Group onFriday said it has registeredinterest to seek COVID-19

vaccines for its employees, as perpriorities and sequence to bespecified by the government. Thefarm equipment-to-aerospaceconglomerate said it would takethe responsibility for theinoculation of its employees rather than have the governmentsubsidise them. "We have registered our interest to seekvaccines for our employees, in accordance with the priorities andsequence to be specified by the government," a Mahindra Groupspokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson furthersaid, "We believe it is our duty to take responsibility for theinoculation of our employees, rather than have the governmentsubsidise them."

Mahindra Group to seek COVIDvaccines for employees

PNS n CHENNAI

Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernor Shaktikanta Dason Saturday said the year2020 could be marked asone of the toughest periodsfor human society causedby COVID-19 and the poli-cies adopted by the centralbank have helped in easingthe severity of the eco-nomic impact of the pan-demic.

"The year bygone couldbe marked as one of thetoughest periods for humansociety. The unprecedentedhealth and economic cata-strophe caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic hasexposed and widened eco-nomic and social fault linesacross countries", Das said.

The Governor made thecomments while deliver-ing the 39th NaniPalkhiva la Memoria lLecture on Saturday.

"It is essential to evolve aprudent and judiciousapproach towards manag-ing the financial systemnot only during the pan-demic but also in its after-