HYDERABAD, FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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4 terrorists killed inencounter; hadcome to execute‘big plan’: Police

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NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The Telangana Rashtra Samitiparty has no alliance with theAll India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen and TRS will defeatMIM in at least 10 wards in theOld City in the GHMC elec-tions, against the five we wonin the 2016 polls, said partyworking president K T RamaRao.

During his interaction at a'Meet the Press' programmeorganised by the HyderabadPress Club on Thursday, KTRsaid, “Previously, we won fivedivisions in the Old City andthis time I can assuredly saythat we will win more than 10seats and defeat the Majilis.

Last time, we lost Jambagh toAIMIM by five votes; thistime, we will definitely defeatthem there. If they like our pol-

icy, they will support us. Wealso supported some goodpolicies like GST of the BJPgovernment in Delhi. Thiscannot be termed as friend-ship”. KTR exuded his confi-dence that the Mayor postwill go to a TRS woman leader.

n 'No place for saffron flag on Golconda'

n 'Pink flag will be hoisted on GHMC building'

n ‘I can show 100 works done by TRS in the city, let BJP show one

‘No pact with MIM,we'll defeat them’

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Promising the moon to thegullible is OK and quiteunderstandable during elec-tions.

What if somebody takesblack humour to the nextlevel? Can the blame for traf-fic violations be laid at thedoor of GHMC?

On Thursday, Hyderabadiswere shocked by the BJP'sG H M C - p o l l - o r i e n t e dpromise that, should the saf-fron party get the Mayorpost, it would get GHMC topay challans imposed by traf-fic cops!

BJP promisesto get GHMC to pay trafficchallans

PNS n HYDERABAD

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), itappears, has become the cen-tral figure in the planks ofmajor political parties fightingthe GHMC elections this time,overshadowing civic issues.Going by the poll rhetoric,MIM has become a punchingbag for the BJP and a hot pota-to for the TRS.

This is an unusual phenom-enon for the GHMC polls this

time as previous elections werefought around 'developmentagenda' as well as challengesand counter challenges among

parties over which party devel-oped Hyderabad, which partymade Hyderabad an "IT hub"and which party brought 'glob-al city image' to Hyderabad etc.

The ruling TRS and oppo-sition BJP, engaged in a tug ofwar in the GHMC polls thistime, are seeking votes on theplank of AIMIM and by drag-ging AIMIM into their politi-cal tussle.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Call it sacrilege or a new low ofdragging the sanctum sancto-rum of a shrine into politics, onThursday a row erupted aftersome overenthusiastic activistsof TRS draped the party scarfaround the neck of the presid-ing deity at the LakshmiGanpati temple at RTC CrossRoad here.

This happened after MLCKalvakuntla Kavitha partic-ipated in the process of fil-ing nomination of the party'sGandhinagar division candi-date Mutha Padma Naresh atAbids Office. The processionstarted from the LaxmiGanapathi temple, whereinKavitha, a long withMusheeerabad MLA Mutha

Gopal and GandhinagarDivision candidate from TRSparty, sought blessings forthe victory of TRS party inthe upcoming elections.While offering prayers, TRSparty scarf was drapedaround the idol of LordGanesh.

This did not go down wellwith VHP and BJP activists.Ravinoothala Shashidhar, VHPspokesperson said, "When thecode of conduct is in place, theywent into temple and put theparty flag on God. The StateElection Commission shouldtake immediate action on this.MLC Kavitha, local MLA andthe corporator candidateshould be disqualified.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Taking serious objection toChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's criti-cism of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, TelanganaBJP chief Bandi SanjayKumar said on Thursday thatit was atrocious on the part ofKCR to allege that Modi,who sold chai once, was sell-ing the nation now.

Asking KCR not to "stoopso low", Sanjay said that KCRchanted about 'fronts' when-ever elections came. However,KCR would remove his 'tent'immediately after elections."We will remove this 'worsthistory of KCR' fromTelangana and then only peo-ple will get justice," heobserved.

It was shameful on the partof KCR to criticize Modi, whoalways thought about nation,dharma, society and MotherIndia to keep it in top posi-tion, in an insulting manner,Sanjay said. Sanjay mockedKCR, saying "Modi mighthave to indulge in 'liquor pecharcha' for the sake of KCR,instead of 'chai pe charcha'.

Punching bag for BJP, hot potato for TRS

Sanjay saysKCR bringsFront onlyduring polls

PNS n HYDERABAD

All the major parties areindulging in ‘hide and seek’game when it comes toannouncing the lists of theircandidates for the GHMCpolls.

None of the major partieshas come out with the com-plete list of 150 candidatesso far, with the last date forfiling of nominations just aday away.

This is because there isroom for ‘accommodation’.Each party is waiting for itsrivals to release their listsfirst in the hope that strongcandidates or sitting corpo-rators who fail to get ticketsin their own parties mayknock on their doors fortickets at the eleventh hour.

BJP, Congress, TDP andJana Sena Party have kepttheir doors open for suchdisgruntled, but strong lead-ers or sitting corporatorsfrom TRS who may fail tosecure tickets. They will beoffered ‘instant tickets’; ifthey join their parties.

The ruling TRS, whichclaims to be in a position towin 105 seats out of 150 inGHMC polls this time, toois dilly-dallying in announc-ing its candidates’ completelist.

MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, Gandhinagar division candidate Mutha Padma Nareshand party activists at the Lakshmi Ganpati temple at RTC X Road on Thursday

BLACK HUMOUR

CANDIDATES’ LIST

All parties play ‘hide and seek’ game

PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy has alleged that ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoand Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar are trying todivide society. Both KCR andSanjay had made MIM as their

tool and wereworking with thesame agenda ofhelping each otherand weakeningthe Congress.

The MIM was extending fullcooperation to the BJP wherev-er elections were held and theTRS had been coordinating it,

like in Bihar. Claiming thatDubbak MLA M RaghunandanRao had worked as a lawyer forMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi,Revanth Reddy alleged that BJPand MIM “fight in front of thescreen and are friends behindthe screen”.

MIM working for BJP victory: Revanth

PNS n HYDERABAD

Deeply hurt at being denied aticket to contest the comingGHMC elections, BJP leaderfrom Nacharam VijayalathaReddy on Thursday attemptedto end her life by consumingan overdose of sleeping pills.She is undergoing treatment ata private hospital. VijayalathaReddy has alleged that formerMLA NVSS Prabhakar haddeceived her by not ensuringher the ticket.

BJP ticketaspirantattempts suicide

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Row as TRS scarf drapedaround Lord Ganesha

2

FACING PROBE, NITISH’S MINISTERQUITS HRS AFTER TAKING CHARGE

DELHI COP FOUND 76 MISSING KIDS,1ST TO BE PROMOTED OUT OF TURN

A"confidential legal issue" is stalling the extradition of business tycoonVijay Mallya, wanted in India for defaulting on loans worth thousands of

crores of rupees, from the UK and the government is following up withBritish authorities, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

"We've been told that there's a confidentiallegal issue which needs addressing,

following which Vijay Mallya can be extraditedto India. No particular timeline has beenindicated to us and we continue to take upthis issue with UK authorities," Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokesperson AnuragSrivastava was quoted as saying by newsagency ANI.

Twitter was reportedly questioned today by a parliamentary panel for notremoving stand-up comic Kunal Kamra's "offensive tweets" targeting the

Supreme Court earlier this month. Twitter policy head Mahima Kaul wasgrilled by the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill headed bythe BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi, sources said. Both Lekhi and Congress leaderVivek Tankha took the lead in questioning Twitter for keeping the posts, saidthe sources. Twitter is already in trouble for geo-tagging Ladakh as a part of China and haspromised the panel that it will be corrected byNovember 30. Twitter sent an apology letter tothe panel over the lapse, which was revealedafter users tagged their posts as being in Ladakhbut the geo-tag showed their location in China.

In a first, a Delhi police officer -Seema Dhaka - has been promotedbefore time for finding 76 missing children in nearly three months

under a new incentive scheme. "We we join police force, we're aware ofthe challenges involved, and we're aware of the risk to our lives. Thatdoesn't deter us," Ms Dhaka told NDTV todayas she shared that the acknowledgment of herefforts has greatly motivated her. Ms Dhaka,posted as Head Constable at northwest Delhi'sSamaypur Badli Police station "is the firstpolice personnel of Delhi Police, who has beengiven OTP (out-of-turn promotion) for tracingmissing children under the incentive scheme,"the Delhi Police said in a statement.

‘SECRET’ LEGAL ISSUE HOLDING UPMALLYA EXTRADITION: INDIA

PARL PANEL GRILLS TWITTER OVERCOMIC KUNAL KAMRA'S TWEETS

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's fourth term started with theresignation of a minister three days after he and his 14-member

cabinet took oath. Education minister Mewalal Choudhary had to stepdown after the Opposition Rashtriya JanataDal flagged a three-year-old corruption caseagainst him and questioned why he wasinducted in the government. A criminal casewas filed against the JD(U) MLA from Tarapurback in 2017 after allegations that he wasinvolved in irregularities in the appointmentsto posts of assistant professor and juniorscientists as the vice-chancellor of Bhagalpuragriculture university.

MIM IN FRAY

2

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(IN HYDERABAD)

The Ministry of Powerhas brought out for dis-cussion a draft Bill to

amend various provisions inthe Electricity Act 2003. It’salso proposed to carry outchanges in the ElectricityRules.

The proposed Bill is said tocover four broad aspects —consumer centrality, ease ofdoing business, enhancingsustainability of the powersector, and promoting greenpower.

However, the proposal toreplace the present net meter-ing with the gross meteringfor above 5 kwp solar rooftopsystems can impose a heavyprice on the environment andmay hamper growth of greenenergy in the country.

As a country with abundantsolar insolation, India hadcovered a long distance fromearlier subsidy based regimesof renewables to their integra-tion with the energy markets.

Subsidy is now available to alimited number of products.

For example, solar waterheating systems were earliereligible for almost 50 percentsubsidy but there is no suchsubsidy now. Eventually, afterthe markets attain a certainmaturity, renewable energysystems can thrive on theirown, provided they are givena level playing field by remov-ing the bias in favour of con-ventional energy.

As a follow-up to the ParisDeclaration of 2015 on cli-mate change, the internation-al solar alliance was launchedand has played an importantrole in improving efficiency,reducing cost and enhancingthe coverage of solar energysystems.

In India, solar installedcapacity has reached about35,700 MW. Solar rooftopcould grow even at a fasterrate, provided dilatory tacticsare avoided by utilities biased

in favour of conventionalpower.

Adoption of net meteringby certain states was one ofthe most important factorsencouraging growth of therooftop solar power. The factthat rooftop system does notrequire any extra land puts itan advantage.

What are the environmen-tal benefits of solar rooftoppower? A standard solarrooftop plant of 14 kwp pro-duces about 21,000 kWh ofenergy per annum under typ-ical climatic conditions in

India. Converting it in terms of

environmental benefits, oneplant alone reduces emissionof about 8,700 kg of carbondioxide annually. A similarquantity of coal is also saved.In terms of reducing defor-estation, it is equivalent to notsaving fully grown 1201 treesin a year.

The benefits far outweighthe losses to distribution com-panies. This is also financial-ly attractive to prosumers(producers those are also con-sumers) in the higher tariff

slab. A prosumer with a 14kwp solar rooftop plant in thetariff category of Rs 9.50 perunit can save about Rs 2 lakhper annum in power bills.

The draft electricity rulespropose that the residentialrooftop solar projects ofcapacity up to 5 kWp will fallunder the net metering and

projects above 5 kWp will beeligible only for gross meeting.

The difference betweengross and net metering issignificant. In gross metering,a consumer is compensated ata fixed feed-in-tariff for thetotal number of units of solarenergy generated and fedinto the grid while in netmetering, the exported solarpower is adjusted in the elec-tricity bill against the powerconsumed.

The installation of solarrooftop systems requires highinitial investment by theowner along with promo-tional subsidy to meet theoverall costs. This fixed tar-iff system is likely to reducethe benefits accruing to pro-sumers and in turn dis-incen-tivising private investment,thus slowing down adoptionof such green practices.

Those supporting thischange rightfully feel thatnet metering above 5 kWp

benefits only well off sectionsof society. However, shouldany one distinguish betweenthe mitigative measures takenby rich and poor benefitingthe environment?

Does it mean that the bet-ter-off sections of society,those having financial muscleshould be discouraged to con-tribute towards environmen-tal mitigative measures. Ifthere are not adequate returnson green investments whywould anybody adopt suchmeasures?

The path to adopting greentechnologies for sustainabledevelopment is not a simpleone, and certainly needsinvestments. TheGovernment alone cannottake the burden of promotinggreen technology through-out the country to the extentrequired by India to reduceher carbon footprint.

The contribution of thosewho can afford such technolo-

gies privately, therefore,becomes essential to moveforward. The State ElectricityRegulatory Commissionsshould also keep environ-mental concerns in view whiledetermining tariff for variouscategories of consumers.

Prosumers invest moneyon solar rooftop system, saveon their power bills and helpin mitigating the environ-ment.

Distribution companiesshould be prepared to lose apart of their revenue fromhigh-end consumers for thesake of promoting green ener-gy. Instead of resorting togross metering rooftop solarbeyond a threshold, it wouldbe appropriate to maintainstatus quo by way of netmetering for sustaining longterm interest.

Of course, the quantum ofone time subsidy given tohigher capacity solar rooftopcould be reconsidered.

DR SHAILENDRA JOSHI,IAS (RETD)

However, the proposal to replacethe present net metering with thegross metering for above 5 kwpsolar rooftop systems can impose aheavy price on the environment andmay hamper growth of green energyin the country

Changes to Electricity Act-2003 may impede adoption of green energy

GHMC elections alitmus test for TRSRAJESH JAIN NIDARKARn HYDERABAD

For every political party inHyderabad, winning GHMCelection is not just a matter ofprestige but also a litmus test.Political analysts, taking intoaccount the mood of voters,say the fight this time will betough by all counts.

Following defeat in Dubbakby-election, the GHMC elec-tions has become prestigiousfor TRS party chief and ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao. Even though the neces-sary pre-emptive strategy hasbeen finalised, the signs seemto be far from predictable.Reaching the target is becom-ing more difficult as there willbe neck and neck fight. Also,the Dubbak by-election resulthas raised hope for oppositionparties. All parties are busyfinalising candidates list.

With the release of the StateElection Commission notifica-tion without giving any time topolitical maneuvers, the selec-tion of candidates is becomingmore difficult. Under thesecircumstances, the main contestseems to be between the TRS

and the BJP. However, the TDP,CPM, CPI, MIM and JanaSena, along with another majorpolitical party, the Congress, arealso trying to dominate theGHMC elections.

Parties are chalking outaction plans to corner as muchas seats. There is a possibility ofa large number of votes beingsplit due to multi-corneredcompetition. Analysts say thatmostly TRS votes will split. Thevast majority of those whowant to run as independentcandidates are from that party.While five major party candi-dates are contesting from eachward, more than 10 candidatesare likely to be independents.

Political analysts are of theopinion that the TRS will loseif the votes are split in these cir-cumstances. There are clear

signs that victory will not beeasy for any party. Dubbak by-poll result was not limited tothere and anti-TRS winds wereblowing across the state. Inmany ways, the TRS is disturbedby the strength of the Majlis invarious parts of the city ofHyderabad. On the other hand,the BJP's aggressive posturing togarner non-Muslim votes is acause of worry for TRS. If thereis real opposition to the TRSparty as some analysts say, theBJP will be likely gainer.

The BJP is in the upbeatmood. BJP Telangana presidentBandi Sanjay’s claim that theMajlis party is his main rival canbe seen as an attempt to garnerHindu votes. In this situation, theGHMC elections look like atough test for Minister KT RamaRao, who has taken on theresponsibility of making theTRS a success. There is also acampaign that KTR could takeover the Chief Minister's pedestalif TRS wins the elections. KTRhas already come forward asKCR’s successor. However, it isnow clear that the TRS 'victoryin the GHMC elections will notbe as easy as expected if it doesnot implement its objective.

580 nominationsfiled on 2

nd day

PNS n HYDERABAD

As the parties started namingtheir candidates, on the sec-ond day of nominations forthe GHMC elections, 522candidates filed 580 nomina-tions. So far, 537 candidateshave filed 597 nominations.Of those who filed nomina-tions on Thursday, 140 werefrom the BJP, one from theCPI, four from the CPI (M),68 from the Congress, 27from the MIM and 195 fromthe TRS, 47 from TDP, onefrom YSRCP, 15 from recog-nized and registered politicalparties and 110 indepen-dents filed nominations. Thenomination process will endon Friday.

No pact with MIM, we'll...Continued from Page 1

“Why will we give Mayorpost to Majilis? Are we mad?We won 99 seats and are inMayor seat. We have noalliance with the Majilis andare alone in this battle. We willcompete in all 150 wards,” heobserved.

Referring to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s slogan 'vocalfor local', KTR quipped:"Going by the slogan, peopleshould vote for the TRS. Oursis a local party, while theirs(Bharatiya Janata Party) isnot.”

The TRS working presi-dent said due to the policies ofthe BJP-led government atthe Centre, the country'seconomy had witnessed slow-down for eight consecutivequarters, pushing it into reces-sion. Alluding to UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman's remark on theimpact of Covid-19 on the

nation's economy, KTRremarked: “They might call it'act of God', I would call it 'actof fraud, absolute fraud'. Whatthey’ve done, what they haveperpetrated in this country, isfraud”. Responding toTelangana BJP presidentBandi Sanjay’s statement thatthe BJP was poised to unfurl'saffron flag' at the GolkondaFort, KTR said, “The ChiefMinister has already hoistedthe Tricolour on the Fort andthere is no place for the saf-fron flag there. It is certainthat the TRS is going to unfurlthe pink flag on the GHMCbuilding”. Answering a ques-tion on TRS' defeat in theDubbak bypoll and why thepink party was giving impor-tance to BJP, KTR said,"Politics is not static. It'sdynamic. We have to con-stantly see what is that peoplethink. The same party lostmany elections in the past”.KTR said that the BJP had

done nothing in the last sixyears, except for raking upissues like Hindu-Muslim andIndia-Pakistan. In the nextbreath, the IT and MA&UDMinister warned of stern actionagainst divisive forces. He said,“We will not allow the brandimage of Hyderabad to sufferat the hands of these commu-nal forces”. The Ministerclaimed that some forces werehatching conspiracies to createcommunal disturbances topush the city back to the daysof bomb blasts and curfew. TheTRS working president chal-lenged BJP leaders to show atleast one work their govern-ment at the Centre had done inHyderabad. "I will show 100works which the TRS govern-ment has done in Hyderabad.Let them show at least onework they have done," he said,while reiterating that the BJPcannot do anything other thanwhipping up communal pas-sions.

All parties play ‘hide and seek’ gameContinued from Page 1

However, TRS is somewhatbetter placed in this regard.The party has alreadyannounced 125 candidates outof 150 so far. It came out withfirst list comprising 105 candi-dates on the first day(Wednesday) and the secondlist of 20 candidates onThursday. It has still kept thenames of 25 candidates pend-ing as it looks at other partiesto release their lists to makeappropriate changes in its finallist, considering the last-minuteaccommodation factor for

strong candidates from otherparties. The BJP, which is pro-jecting itself as a strong alter-native to TRS in the GHMCpolls after its recent surprisevictory in Dubbak Assemblyby-poll against TRS, couldrelease the first list with just 21candidates out of 150 so far. Itreleased the first list onWednesday. It has kept themajority (129) seats pending asit is looking at TRS andCongress rebel candidates tocome to its fold at the lastminute after failing to securetickets in TRS and Congress.The BJP wants to field strong

candidates from TRS, Congressand sitting corporators fromTRS, who fail to secure ticketsin their parties.

The Congress, which isstruggling to position itself asthe main political rival to TRSwithout allowing BJP tobecome No.2 in Telangana,too could announce the namesof only 38 candidates so far.These names too were releasedin two phases on Wednesday.In the first list, the Congressannounced 22 candidates andin the second list, it announced16 candidates.

The disgruntled leaders in

all parties, besides those lead-ers who doubt getting tickets intheir own parties, are holdingparleys with all the parties tosecure tickets at the last minuteon Friday -- the final day.They have decided to file nom-inations individually, irrespec-tive of whether they get respec-tive party tickets or not andhold negotiations later tosecure tickets since there is aprovision to submit B-form(official candidature of anyparty) to the State ElectionCommission till the deadlinefor withdrawal of nominationends.

Row as TRSscarf drapedaround LordGanesha Continued from Page 1

KCR and TRS party shouldapologize to Hindus. TRSparty is working with anti-Hindu agenda and hurtsHindu beliefs. People shouldteach appropriate lesson".

BJP leaders later lodged acomplaint at theChikkadpally Police Station,demanding the disqualifica-tion of Kavitha and MLAGopal for committing actsthat hurt the sentiments ofHindus.

On the occasion, BJYMcity president Vinay Kumarsaid that the TRS leadersinsulted the sentiments ofHindus by putting a TRSscarf around the neck ofLord Ganapati. "We want theElection Commission to dis-qualify the 'Gang Padma'.By Friday, Kavitha, MLAMutha Gopal and corporatorcandidate Mutha Padmashould apologize to theHindu community; if notlarge-scale agitations will betaken up, and we will obstructthe campaigns of TRS lead-ers," he said.

MIM: Punching bag for BJP, hot ...Continued from Page 1

While BJP is trying to polariseHindu votes in its favour by pro-jecting the TRS-AIMIM friend-ship, the pink party is trying toprevent polarisation of votes infavour of the saffron party by try-ing to project AIMIM as justanother political. The BJP is pro-jecting TRS and AIMIM as'friendly parties' and calls theirties 'anti-Hindu'. The BJP istaking up an extensive campaigncautioning Hyderabad votersthat their vote for TRS wouldactually result in vote forAIMIM, considering "TRS isplanning to hand over not only

Old City to AIMIM, but even thenew city by giving the Mayor'spost to AIMIM this time". TheBJP, in support of its claim, iswidely circulating photos ofAIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisimeeting TRS chief and ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoat Pragathi Bhavan, just two daysahead of the State ElectionCommission issuing notificationfor GHMC polls, giving a shock-er to all opposition parties withits decision to complete theentire poll process in just twoweeks and thereby leaving notime for opposition parties evento find and field strong candi-dates or take up campaigning

against TRS. The TRS, on theother hand, is countering thiscampaign by denying anyalliance with AIMIM. TRS lead-ers are campaigning that theywould a give a tough fight toAIMIM in the Old City this timeby fielding strong candidates andissuing statements that a TRSwoman corporator will be theGHMC Mayor and not anAIMIM candidate. The BJP hasflooded various social mediaplatforms with videos that showAkbaruddin Owaisi praisingTRS and KCR to the skies andsupporting each and every deci-sion announced by KCR in theAssembly.

Sanjay says...Continued from Page 1

He went on to add that barsand pubs would alwaysremain open for KCR afterthe GHMC elections.

Sanjay said that Modi didseveral things for the sake ofthe nation and asked KCR totell as to what he had done inthe last six years. He said thatthe TRS party had removedits last election manifestofrom the website, but the BJPwas in possession of it still.He asked KCR to tell as towhy the latter didn't speakabout 80 per cent of theState's population that wereHindus when he spoke about30 crore Muslims in thenation. He alleged that KCRwas maintaining relationswith terrorists and extendingsupport to the AIMIM, whichprovoked communal riots.He asked KCR whether thelatter wanted to win theGHMC elections by belittlingthe nation.

MIM workingfor BJP victory:RevanthContinued from Page 1

He pointed out thatthough Nizamabad MP DArvind had lodged com-plaints against KCR’s ‘soul’Jupally Rameshwara Raoalleging that the businessmagnate had indulged inmining irregularities, UnionMinister Kishan Reddy hadobstructed the MiningMinistry from taking actionagainst Rameshwara Rao.For this, Kishan met theMining Minister along withRameshwara Rao and hisson, Revanth claimed. Hedemanded the BJP to sus-pend Raghunandan Raoand Kishan Reddy from theparty if it was sincere.

Releasing a video clipthat shows Kishan Reddyand Asaduddin Owaisisharing warmth, RevanthR e d dy d e m and e d t heCentre to remove KishanReddy from the UnionCabinet.

Revanth maintained thatBJP, TRS and MIM werewaging a fight against theCongress. The Congresswould go to voters witht he s l o g an “B a s t h iHamara, Baldia Hamara”,he added.

BJP promisesto get GHMC...Continued from Page 1

Telangana BJP presidentBandi Sanjay said, "In thecase of challans, when threeyouth are riding on a bike orcrossing the road, this ChiefMinister targets the youth.In the name of challans, thegovernment is behaving asthey wish. The GHMC willpay for the challans imposedby the traffic police whenBJP adorns the post ofMayor in Bhagyanagar(Hyderabad). We will takemeasures to ensure 100%per cent challans are paid byus". Sanjay then went on toreason that parents, in thehope that their kids wouldstudy, purchase bikes. Butthe government is reckless-ly imposing challans. Manynetizens were taken abackby these preposterous state-ments. They asked:"Whatkind of promise is this?"One Ravi Kiran Puppalasaid: "These senseless talksput a national party in badlight. On the one handunder MV Act GOI forsafety of people bring inhefty fines for traffic viola-tors and he talks of GHMCpaying the penalties. Whyshould my tax money bepaid for traffic violations;just for the sake of votes?"Some even asked if BJP wasencouraging traffic viola-tions. A Vishal Kumar said,"That means people canviolate the rules freely with-out worrying about beingpenalized, or that those whofollow the traffic rules aredumb?"

Although the promise ishard to believe, some foundit tempting. People alsocame in support and saidthat GHMC has to paybecause it failed in main-taining roads and easingtraffic issues.

Pay your challans first,Bandi told TRS followersasked the BJP state presidentto first pay pending challanson his bike.

Based on informationgiven by the pink party,Bandi owns a Hero HondaSplendor on which twochallans totalling ?335 arepending. A TRS follower YSathish Reddy said, "Insteadof worrying about other cit-izens' challans, Bandi Sanjayneeds to start obeying rules& pay traffic fines first orask his Delhi friends to payfor him".

SL.NO DIV NO DIV. NAME CANDIDATE

1 70 MEHDIPATNAM D. Gopalakrishna

2 72 ASIF NAGAR Chennabatni Lavanya

3 73 VIJAYA NAGAR COLONY Durga Ashwini

4 74 AHMED NAGAR Radha Bhai

5 75 RED HILLS Seema Singh

6 76 MALLEPALLY Kolluru Ushasri

7 79 HIMAYAT NAGAR Laxmi Goud

8 80 KACHIGUDA Umarani Ramesh Yadav

9 81 NALLAKUNTA Y. Amrutha

10 82 GOLNAKA Kattula Saritha

11 83 AMBERPET A. Yeshwanth

12 84 BAGH AMBERPET Padma Venkat Reddy

13 91 KHAIRTHABAD Veena Madhuri

14 92 VENKATESHWARA COLONY Uma chandrashekar rao

15 96 YOUSUF GUDA Kunjala Gangaraju

16 97 SOMAJIGUDA C DurgaVijaya Yadav

17 102 RAHAMATH NAGAR Kolan Venkatesh

18 103 BORABANDA Srinivas Goud

19 85 ADIKMET C. Sunitha Prakash Goud

20 86 MUSHEERABAD M. Supriya Goud

21 87 RAM NAGAR Kunthuru Ravichary

22 89 GANDHI NAGAR Smt Pavani Vinay Kumar

23 90 KAVADIGUDA G. Rachanasree

24 98 AMEERPET Ketineni Sarala

25 100 SANATH NAGAR Kanjerla Annapurna Yadav

26 142 ADDAGUTTA Ashwini Manda

27 143 TARNAKA Banda Jayasudha

28 144 METTUGUDA Uduta Sharada Mallesh

29 148 RAMGOPALPET Cheera Suchitra

30 149 BEGUMPET Rajyalaxmi Rajagopal

31 150 MONDA MARKET Kontham Deepika

32 23 GADDIANNARAM B Prem Mahesh Reddy

33 93 BANJARA HILLS Baddam Mahipal Reddy

34 95 JUBILEE HILLS Veldandi Venkatesh

BJP’s 3rd list of candidates

Khammam IT Hub tobe inaugurated in DecPNS n KHAMMAM

IT and Industries MinisterKT Rama Rao is likely toinaugurate the IT Hub, newPolice Commissionerate andthe newly-built RoB atDhamsalapuram inKhammam in December firstweek, Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumar said.KTR will also inaugurate sev-eral other newly developedfacilities like Khanapurammini tank bund and NSPcanal walk-way, he said.

Speaking to the media at

his residence here, AjayKumar further informed thatRoads and Buildings MinisterV Prashanth Reddy andHome Minister MohammadMahmood Ali will be attend-ing the inauguration cere-monies. NSP canal surround-ings beautification works areunder progress with anexpenditure of Rs 5 crore byKhammam MunicipalCorporation. The walk-wayworks are at final stages andit will help the poorer sectionsresiding in the area to havepleasant morning walks.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020 hyderabad 03

Maulana AzadNational UrduUniversity

(MANUU) has joinedhands with the UnitedNations PopulationFund (UNFPA) toempower madrasastudents in Bihar.Under the AdolescentEducation Programme (AEP), students of madrasas in Bihar will behelped to acquire scientific, technical and social skills. Jamia MilliaIslamia and the Bihar State Madrasa Board are the other partners inthe programme. The inauguration of the state-level training for theAEP was held in Patna on Wednesday. More than 84 master trainersand facilitators from 12 districts of Bihar attended the programme.The pilot was launched last year in two districts of Purnia and Katiharand following its successful implementation, the Bihar governmentdecided to expand AEP to the entire state. The selected mastertrainers and facilitators are undergoing training from November 18 to24 at the Youth Hostel in Patna. Abdul Qayyum Ansari, Chairman,Bihar State Madrasa Board said that AEP is an ideal programme thatwill pave the way for the young generation to develop critical thinkingand become responsible citizens.

Centre of Innovation andEntrepreneurship (CIE-IIITH) Avishkar

accelerator program startupInstoried raises $1 millionfrom pre-series A round ofinvestment, with MumbaiAngels leading the round,and follow-on investmentsfrom Venture Catalysts' 9 Unicorns Fund London-based JPIN andothers. The AI-driven content startup has created a tool which helpsbrands to strategise, execute, and deliver content using predictiveanalysis to increase customer engagement. The B2B SaaS-basedstartup helps brands to boost engagement and increase contentproductivity in real-time. Instoried’s AI tool helps large companiesbuild personal connections with their audiences by using technologyto measure the effectiveness of content and rewrite theircommunication. The company’s approach is data-driven, scalableand measurable with long-lasting, visible results.

MANUU joins hands with UNFPAto empower madrasa students

IIITH’s AI-driven content startup Instoried raises $1 mln funding

Doctors at theContinentalHospitals have

saved the life of anacute Covid-19positive patient whowas suffering fromliver abscess and alsosuffered AcuteRespiratory DistressSyndrome (ARDS).Liver abscess is aserious medical condition where patients have a mass filled with pusinside their liver. The 46-year-old patient from Vijayawada was rushedto the hospital in a critical condition. The Covid-19 inducedpneumonia made his condition worse, necessitating mutualtreatment protocols to treat ruptured liver abscess and curecoronavirus. The illness was complicated due to ARDS from Covidinfection that required high dose of steroids and ventilatory care.Radiologist Dr Khajindar conducted minimally invasive therapythrough percutaneous drainage of abscess to treat the patient’s livercondition. The patient required four weeks for recovery.

Corona patient with liver diseaserecovers through invasive therapy

CITY LIGHTS

Telangana GovernorDr TamilisaiSoundararajan on

Wednesday said thatchild healthcare needsmore attention in orderto reduce the infantmortality rate. TheGovernor stated that itwas high time that moreequipment andinfrastructure wascreated to ensure better infant and maternal care. She called upon thedonors to supplement liberally to the existing infrastructure andmedical equipment. Dr Tamilisai appreciated the donation of threeultrasound scanning machines by Synchrony Financials, Hyderabad,at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. The Niloufer Children's Hospital andMNJ Cancer Institute have given one ultrasound scanning machineeach, while the Raj Bhavan Dispensary was also given one ultrasoundscanning machine. The donated GE-make ultra sound scanningmachines were of compact inbuilt, portable and could be taken to thepatient to perform the ultrasound scanning.

Cops gear up for second war on virusPNS n HYDERABAD

In a bid to serve the commu-nity during these trying timesthe Telangana State policedepartment is gearing up totake up the cudgels against theCoronavirus once again withrenewed vigor. During theearly days of the virus outbreakand subsequent lockdown peri-od they did a commendable jobin making people aware of thedisease and helping them tofollow the rules chalked out tokeep the virus at bay.

This time the police will bearmed with technology such asartificial intelligence (AI) anduse social media extensively intheir fight against the deadlyvirus as experts feel that thevirus can spread further thiswinter.

During the lockdown peri-od police were on their toes toensure that all people woremasks and maintained thesocial distance. They alsoensured supply of essential

items to the household in areasunder complete lockdown.They not only took recourse tospreading awareness amongthe people, but also imposedfine to pull up the erring citi-zens and filed cases againstthem in a bid to make themmore disciplined in the fightagainst the virus.

Now, the country and thestate are going through unlockprocess. In these times some

people are neglecting themandatory dos, such as wear-ing the mask and maintainingsocial distance, especially dur-ing times of festivities. The topbosses of the police departmenthave therefore decided to gobeyond imposing fines andregistering cases. They want tomentally transform the people,so that they abide by the setnorms. Employees in manygovernment and private firms

have already being sworn in tofollow the norms in their fightagainst Covid.

The police are planning toemploy the process of swearingamong the people too tochange their mind set of ignor-ing the precautionary stepslike wearing masks, using sani-tisers and maintaining socialdistance. It is learnt that theDGP has directed the districtauthorities to make effectiveuse of social media in theprocess and use AI to handlecrowds and festivals.

Damage to the policedepartment

In their fight against theinvisible enemy, the policedepartment had to pay a bigprice too, especially while dis-charging their duties during thelockdown. Duties in the metr-opolis were at times monoto-nous during the lockdownperiod. The police had to goout of their way to help thepeople in the rural areas.

Beginning with identifying theaffected patient to taking himor her to the hospital to alert-ing the neighbours of the vic-tims of coronavirus, the dutiesof the police were many in therural areas. And in the processit was found out that fightingthe virus was deadlier thanfighting the maoists or theextremists. The police depart-ment had to pay a big price interms of their personnel gettinginfected with Covid.

More than 5,700 police offi-cers were infected with thevirus during this period. Thismeans that one in every ten ofthe nearly 54,000 strong policedepartment had coronavirus,turning the department to bethe most affected by the virusamong all government depart-ments.

As experts feel that the virusmay spread further in the win-ter, the police department istaking no chances and arepreparing to take on the viruswith renewed enthusiasm.

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

The residents of Serilingam-pally are doing all they can tosave the Nallagandla lake. Thecitizens complaint that a con-struction firm Vertex HomePvt Ltd has been trying to alterthe route of a nala that carriesthe rain water into the lake,and thus harming the lake.

A resident of SS AdityaSreenikethan, A Ramakrishna,shares that the issue has beengoing on since 2017. He says,"It is an unauthorised act ofchanging the direction of thepublic nala in our locality.There is a drain of about fivefeet width which flows throughthe middle of the land pur-chased by the Vertex Home PvtLtd. That open land shares theboundary with a few apart-ments and also a church. Thenala has been there for sever-al years and it carries the rainwater to the lake."

He adds that the builderchanged the direction of thenala deliberately and made itnarrow to less than 2 feet.

"Such unscientific and unau-thorised change has obstruct-ed the flow of the drainage andcaused havoc flood in ourlocality. Many buildings weresubmerged for days and bothprivate and public propertieswere damaged. A vast openarea is now under stagnantwater and we fear that it couldcreate a permanent structuraldamage to buildings around."

As per the citizens, thechange in the direction of thenala has caused severe proper-ty damage during the recenttorrential rains. They share thatthe damaged vehicles costedaround Rs 15,00,000, whereasthere is an estimate of structur-al damage of Rs 3,00,000.

There are also other costs ofbuilding lifts, electrical wiringand water tanks, that the res-idents had to bear.

Another citizen from thelocality, Sumanta Saha, sharesthat despite complaining sev-eral times no action was takenby the authorities. He informs,"We started complaining in2017 itself. And back then thework stopped. However, itstarted again recently and wecomplained again to the offi-cials of GHMC in July andthen in October. Initially, theydidn't respond. After manycalls they told us that this com-plaint should be made to theIrrigation Department. So, weapproached them, howeverwere also lax about the matter."

When approached the Irr-igation Department AssistantEngineer, Seshagiri Rao, hesaid. "We have spoken to thebuilder and want to make surethat no harm is done to theproperties. We have also instr-ucted the builder to ensure thatnala flows in the correct direc-tion and the width of itremains the same."

Citizens try to save Nallagandla lake

3 nabbed with Mephedrone worth Rs 10 LPNS n HYDERABAD

The Commissioner's TaskForce (North) team caughtthree drug peddlers andseized 200 gm ofMephedrone drug and sevenmobile phones from them onWednesday.

The arrested persons wereidentified as Tejavath Suresh(38) of Punjagutta, ShaikMiya (35) and Ahmed ofBowenpally while one of theirassociate, MohammedSalman of Banjara Hills wasabsconding.

"The four persons wereprocuring drugs fromMukesh, Sanjay, Sohel Nawaband Hassan- all fromMumbai for Rs 2,500 pergram and selling it for Rs5,000 to customers in thecity," said P Radha KishanRao, DCP Task Force. Twodays ago Salman and Sureshhad gone to Mumbai andprocured the drug from thereand smuggled it to the city.

"On information our teamraided a house at Bowenpallyand seized the drug storedthere. It is valued at Rs.10lakh," said the official. Thethree persons along with thecontraband were handed overto Bowenpally police for fur-ther action

Cops rescues 11 kidsworking in paper mill PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad Police onThursday rescued children,gathering scrap papers fromDivya Shakthi Paper Mill inthe limits of Dondurg policestation. The Operation Smileteam and Child Line team offi-cials raided the mill at Kond-urg and found that 11 minorchildren were engaged in gath-ering of scrap papers.

The children were made tokeep these papers in water,which was then loaded in themachinery which was adverse-ly affecting their health.

All the children were brou-ght from Bihar and Jharkhandby labour contractors on anagreement that they will bepaid Rs 12,000 per month.

The contractors collected acommission of Rs 1,000 fromeach one of them and chargedthem more than Rs 5,000 forration and other necessities,which meant that the childrenwere given only 4,000 to 5,000per month.

A case was registered atKondurg Police Station againstthe owner of Divya ShakthiPaper Mill for violation of TheChild Labour Act.

Usage of internet spikes in villagesPNS n HYDERABAD

India is among the top twocountries globally on manykey dimension of digital adop-tion. India is number one glob-ally by enrolling 1.2 billion peo-ple in the world's largest uniquedigital identity programmeAadhar, said Siddhant Agarwal,Google Developer Relationswhile speaking in the StartupMaster class on 'Building forthe new billion users'.

By the year 2025, digitalcould transform India's econ-omy, he pointed out.

Accessing internet is key. Sothe product developers mustkeep this in mind and optimisetheir product for entry-leveldevices. Aarogya Sethu, thecontact tracing app did someremarkable job by reaching outto those who did not havesmart phone, said Siddhanth.

The second big issue is data.Companies building productsfor the new billion users must

come out with innovative solu-tions for data conscious users.

Siddhanth gave an exampleof how Vodafone-Idea Phoneline with the Google Assistanthelped people without dataand internet connection withinformation. Companies mustexplore new ways to supportconnectivity.

He spoke about Facebook

Discover which helped peoplebrowse the internet for freewith the help of their partners.

Around the world, manyinternet users remain under-connected, regularly droppingoff the internet when theyrun out of data. Discover isdesigned to help bridge thesegaps, keeping people connect-ed more consistently until they

can purchase data again, heshared

He spoke about identity,accessing internet, voice andother related issues, tacklingvernacular users and theirissues how the GoogleAssistant has become morehelpful in ordering food handsfree and getting things donewith the power of voice.

The day-long session wasalso addressed by Pratap Rajuof Climate Collective on com-municating startup or offerings, technical solutions better.

Deva P. Seetharam, Startupadvisor spoke on managingrisks in their entrepreneurialjourney. Jonathan Talbot fromWorld Startup also spoke

Jayesh Ranjan is to inaugu-rate a two-day conference aspart of this week-long event.

Parvathy Krishnan infor-med that the two day confer-ence will feature keynotes andpanel discussions by delegatesfrom governmental and publicsector organisations such asWorld Bank, Pulse Lab Jakarta,Emerging Technolo-gies Wing- Government of Telangana,National Health Authority -Government of India, startupsand innovation hubs, ImpactScientist,Know- ledge ExchangeInnovation Center Thailand,FluxGen Technologies, IroIro,and Khetee.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana's Coronavirus casestally crossed 2.60 lakh onThursday as the state logged1,058 new cases, health officialssaid. After recording a surge ofless than 1,000 cases for the lastfew days, the numbers surgedbeyond 1,000 during the last 24hours, pushing the cumulativenumbers to 2,60,834.

According to the govern-ment's daily media bulletin,active cases in Telangana nowtotal 12,682, of which 10,352are in home or institutional iso-lation. As many as 1,440 morepatients recovered during thelast 24 hours, taking the totalrecoveries to 2,46,733. Therecovery rate improved furtherto 94.54 per cent as against the

national average of 93.6 percent. Four more people suc-cumbed to the virus, taking thestate's death toll to 1,419.

The fatality rate remains at0.54 per cent as against thenational average of 1.5 percent. According to Director of

Public Health and FamilyWelfare, 44.96 per cent of thedeaths were due to COVID-19while remaining 55.04 were onaccount of comorbidities.Greater Hyderabad continuesto report daily count of lessthan 200 new cases. During the

last 24 hours ending at 8 pm onWednesday, the state capitaladded 168 corona cases to itstally. Medchal Malkajgirireported the second highest 93cases, followed by Rangareddy(91), Bhadradri Kothagudem(58), Karimnagar (53), andNalgonda (43).

Laboratories in the stateconducted 38,757 tests duringthe last 24 hours, taking cumu-lative tests to 50,11,164.Eighteen government-run lab-oratories, 50 private laborato-ries and 1,076 Rapid Antigentest centres are conducting thetests. Out of 38,757 samplestested during the last 24 hours,35,779 samples were tested ingovernment-run laboratoriesand 2,978 samples in privateones.

1,058 new cases push TS' tally over 2.60LTS HC pulls up govtover low virus testingPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onThursday expressed its dis-pleasure over the less numberof Covid tests being done inthe state.

The HC opined that thegovernment appeared to beincreasing the tests duringthe hearing of the cases anddecreasing the number later. Itasked the government to hold50,000 tests per day as against40,000 tests per day now. Thecourt added that the testsshould be increased to 1 lakhper day in the days to come inorder to know the gravity ofCovid in the state during theongoing winter season.

A division bench of HC alsodirected the state governmentto inform the court about theaction taken against the hos-pitals which have chargedexorbitant bills for extendingCovid treatment in violation ofthe rules.

Citing that the second waveof Covid is staring at the stateduring the winter season, thecourt asked the state govern-ment to ensure the stocks ofRT-PCR kits in all the districts.

The HC expressed angerover the non submission ofCovid disaster managementplan. It asked the state to sub-mit the plans by November 24.The HC later adjourned thecase to November 26, 2020.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Several students across thecountry have started a Twittercampaign to address theirconcerns regarding the phys-ical exams to persuade theInstitute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI).#ICAI_DENIES_SAFETY hasbeen trending on Twitter.

The students claim thatICAI is not responding totheir queries which includewriting exams located in con-tainment zone, near Covidhealthcare centres, safety pro-tocols among others. Theexams are scheduled fromNovember 21 to December 14.

Taking to twitter, RupeshReddy, wrote, "For all the peo-ple who claimed ICAI hasdone excellent and fantasticwork round the clock, kindlyanswer this. Where is 6 feetsocial distancing norms?"(sic)

Sharing pictures of theexamination centre's poorarrangement, several studentquestioned ICAI if theCoronavirus spreads only side-ways, as there is no spacebetween two desks in the cen-tre.

Student who recentlyappeared for the Advance ITTexams earlier this month, also

shared that the arrangementswere not up to mark. AbhinavSunil Rathi, a student from thecity, wrote on Twitter, "Dear@theicai, I have appeared foran Advanced ITT exam on10th November 2020 withlack of safety measures at thecentre. Now i have the symp-toms of Covid 19. It's onlybecause of your lack of safetymeasures. What should I donow." (sic)

On the other hand there arestudents, who do not want theexam delayed. S Rakesh, a stu-dent from Hyderabad said, "Ihave prepared a lot for thisexam and can't afford to loseone year. So many exams havebeen conducted during thepandemic already. We cantake all precautions, includingmasks, gloves and sanitiserswhile giving the exams. But, Ihope the ICAI doesn't post-pone the exam again."

Students upsetover CA exams

CREDAI officialscall on Somesh PNS n HYDERABAD

The officials and members ofCREDAI and TREDA onThursday called on ChiefSecretary Somesh Kumar inthe context of development ofDharani Non AgriculturePortal.

Stating that the experi-ence in Dharani Agriculturalportal which was launched bythe Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao onOctober 29, 2020 has beenvery encouraging, theyexpressed hope that similaradvantages would be broughtby Dharani Non Agricultureportal also.

CONVENER QUOTA

7K seats up forgrabs throughEAMCET BiPCcounselingPNS n HYDERABAD

A total of 7,825 seats underconvener quota are up forgrabs through the EAMCETBiPC admission counselling.

The certificate verificationwill be held on November 20and 21 while web options canbe exercised from November20 to 22. A total of 8,216 stu-dents paid processing fee andbooked slots on Thursday.

"TS gives permission forexemption of bridge course inmathematics for BiPC stu-dents to get admission intoBTech Bio-Technology to thecondition that passing of thecourses on 'Fundamentals ofMathematics' or equivalent ismandatory," TS EAMCETconvenor Navin Mittal said.

‘Child healthcare needs attentionto reduce the infant mortality rate’

1 5 Mallapur Devender Reddy

2 9 Ramanthapur Gandham Jyotsna

3 50 Begum Bazar Pooja Vyas Bilal Rajasthani

4 57 Suleman Nagar A Saritha Mahesh

5 58 Shastripuram B. Rajesh Yadav

6 59 Mailardevpally T Premdas Goud

7 60 Rajendra Nagar Korani Srilatha

8 79 Himayatnagar Hemalatha Yadav

9 84 Bagh amberpet Padmavathi Reddy

10 88 Bholakpur Bingi Naveen Kumar

11 94 Shaikpet M Satya Narayana Yadav

12 106 Serilingampally Ragam Nagender Yadav

13 120 Balanagar Ravinder Reddy Avula

14 121 Kukatpally Satyanarayana Jupalli

15 122 Vivekananda Madavaram Roja RangaraoNagar Colony

16 137 Vinayak nagar Baddam Pushpalatha Reddy

17 142 Addagutta Prasanna Laxmi

18 144 Mettuguda Rasuri Sunitha

19 146 Boudhnagar Kandi Sailaja

20 149 Begumpet Maheshwari Srihari

S.NO DIV NO NAME OF NAME OF THE DIVISION THE CANDIDATE

New faces in TRS' second list The Telangana Rashtra Samithi

(TRS) has released thesecond list of 20 candidates forGHMC elections on Thursday.With this the total number ofcandidates declared by the partyso far has reached to 125. TheTRS first list with 105candidates, released onWednesday, gave priorityto the sittingCorporators.However, the partygave tickets tosome new faces inits second list.The party allottedtickets to three newfaces in SecunderabadAssembly Constituencyfrom which Deputy Speaker TPadmarao Goud is representing.The new faces include --Prasanna Laxmi (Addagutta), RSunitha (Mettuguda), KandiSailaja (Boudhanagar). Theparty gave ticket to sittingcorporator Maheshwari Srihari

(Begumpet division) whichcomes under Sanath NagarAssembly Constituency fromwhich Animal HusbandryMinister Talasani Srinivas Yadavrepresents. The party allotted Balanagarticket to Avula Ravinder Reddy

and Vivekananda NagarColony ticket to

Madhavaram RojaRangarao. PujaVyas Bilal gotBegum Bazarticket. Mallapur,Ramanthapur,Suleman Nagar,

Shastripuram,Rajendranagar,

Himayath Nagar, BaghAmberpet, Bolakpur, Shaikpet,Sherilingampally, Vinayak Nagar,Kukatpally tickets were allottedto sitting corporators and keptCherlapally ticket on hold.However, Mayor BonthuRammohan's wife Sridevi isexpecting this ticket.

CITIZEN’S CCORNER

Our biggest issue is thenalas that overflow everrainy season. There have

been several complaints, butnothing has happened as yet.Whenever the Safilguda Lakeoverflows, all the water comestowards our residency. Thegarbage management is alsoquite poor. The roads of lanesand by-lanes are also a majorissue. They get washed awayafter every rain and no one takescare of them.

Venkat Sainath, Tarnaka

We are dealingwith overflowingdrainage for ages

now. My area got floodedrecently. But the waterlog-ging issue is there everyyear. The problem is whythe authorities would startcleaning the drainagewhen the rains just start.Why the same work can'tbe done in summer? Thereare many nalas that over-

flow here. Another issue is of the bad roads, the main roadsare fine, but the connecting roads are horrible.

Anonymous, Seethphalmandi

We have 220 flatsin our apart-ments, and

have been paying regularproperty tax to the gov-ernment. However, whenthe colony got floodedrecently, the sanitisation done was quite poor. They did-n't clean the place for days. Another problem that the wholelocality has been facing is of drinking water. The corpo-ration doesn't provide us with tankers as well. We buy waterfrom the shops. Some people have water purifier at homeand they use bore water. There are no parks or groundsin the area and the roads are very bad too. One other issueis that of the stray dogs. There are many dogs in the streetand despite the complaint no action has been taken.

Krishnapuram Tulasiram, General Secretary of ManjuShankar Apartments

CIRCLE SECUNDERABAD

MALKAJGIRI CIRCLE

Nagole (Circle - Hayathnagar)

poor drainage system, roads are

not maintained properly and

sanitisation

Mansoorabad (Circle -Hayathnagar)

poor drainage, roads get floodedeasily and poor roads.

Gosha Mahal (Circle - GoshaMahal)

poor drainage, sanitisation andno daily drinking water

Moosarambagh (Circle - Malakpet)

Poor drainage, no public parks,no timely garbage management,

no education institutes

Amberper (Circle - Amberpet) -

Poor drainage sanitisation,washed away roads, with no

maintainence, public park is notwell maintained

Madhapur (Circle - Chandanagar )

Rainwater clogging is a majorissue. No drinking water.

Several stray dogs. No garbagemanagement.

Lunger House (Circle -Karwan)

Citizens conplaint of bad roadsand no maintainence. The

power cut is frequent in someareas. Residents at suncity

road complaint of a cremationroad, which isn't suppose tobe there. Some potholes arealso not covered. They also

complaint that no one comesto pick the garbage from the

area for days.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Stepping up the attack on theBJP, the ruling TRS onThursday hit out at the han-dling of the economy, allegingit was now in a recession, pre-ceded by a slowdown for eightconsecutive quarters prior tothe Covid-19 -induced lock-down.

"While the NDA govern-ment may call it an act of God,I would call it an act offraud....What they have done,what they have perpetrated onthis country, is an act of fraud,without a question. Lakhs ofworkers have suffered," saidTRS working president KTRama Rao.

KTR, who is the MunicipalAdministration Minister, madethe comments at a 'Meet thePress' at the Press Club ofHyderabad, a day after hisfather and Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao launcheda scathing attak on the BJPwhile sounding the poll bugefor the Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation polls.

Rama Rao noted that therehas been eight consecutivequarters of slowdown, "whichhas now led to a recession andis a fact."

On BJP's reported claimthat the development inHyderabad (with Rs 67,000crore as announced by TRSgovernment) has been possiblewith the Centre's support, herecalled late NT Rama Rao's

comments that "the Centre isa myth." The ruling party at theCentre should show at leastone thing it has done forHyderabad, he said. Whilepeople in Telangana paid Rs2.72 lakh crore as taxes to theCentre in the last six years, thestate received only Rs 1.40lakh crore through Centraldevolution, which is the state'sright, he said. "The BJP made

tall claims by returning 25paise after having taken Rsone," he said. While the NDAgovernment released Rs 600crore to Karnataka just fourdays after its Chief Ministerwrote to the Centre, there wasno response to one written bythe Telangana Chief Ministersix weeks ago, seeking assis-tance for flood relief works inHyderabad, he claimed.

Asked if the CM's com-ments of convening a conclaveof opposition parties againstthe disinvestment and 'anti-farmer' farmer policies of NDAgovernment would materialiseor if was a knee-jerk reactionto TRS' loss in the DubbakAssembly bypoll, KTR said hewas focusing on local issuesand would leave the matter toparty chief (ChandrasekharRao). KTR dwelt on the TRSgovernment's achievementssince coming to power in 2014like addressing shortage ofwater, electricity, industrialinvestments and other matters,"without putting any burdenon the people."

ON RECESSION

It's not ‘act of god', but‘act of fraud', says KTR

TRS working president KT Rama Rao addressing the media in city on Thursday

n MCC applies to political

parties, contesting

candidates, Ministers,

employees of the State

Government and local

bodies and other public

servants connected with

local body elections

n No party or candidate shall

indulge in any activity

which may aggravate

existing differences or

create mutual hatred or

cause tension between

different castes and

communities, religions or

languages

n No party or candidate shall

hold public meetings or

processions without

obtaining necessary

permission

n No contesting candidate

shall incur the election

expenditure in excess of the

expenditure fixed by SEC

n The Ministers shall not

combine their official visit

with electioneering work

and shall not make use of

official machinery and

personnel or other

Government resources

including Government

vehicle for furtherance of

interests of any candidate.

MCC FOR POLLS

PNS n HYDERABAD

Member of Legislative CouncilK Kavitha, who said the TRSwould sweep the GHMC elec-tions, said the BJP and theCongress had no right to seekvotes from the people as theyhad forcibly stopped distribu-tion of the interim financialassistance from the govern-ment to flood-affected familiesin the city.

She was interacting withthe media after accompany-ing the TRS candidate in theGandhinagar division MuttaPadma for filing her nomina-tion papers at the municipaloffice in Abids. The BJP-ledNDA government had notgive a single paisa for thefamilies in the city and on topof that, it had also stalledwhatever assistance the Stategovernment was trying toextend to the affected people,she said.

Centre immuneto TS' problems,says Kavitha

PNS n HYDERABAD

TRS Rajya Sabha memberDharmapuri Srinivas onThursday took a dig at the stategovernment and said that thissort of elections was never heldin the last 50 years. "What isthe need for the TRS govern-ment to conduct GHMC elec-tions in a hurry after assuringthat it will extend Rs 10,000each to the flood-hit victims.Lakhs of people are facingproblems due to floods," hesaid.

"The government has timetill December-end to conductelections. It would have askedthe State Election Commissionto conduct elections a bit later.

There won't be any oppositionfrom the people if the electionsare conducted a bit later," hesaid, suggesting the TRS todevelop its credibility. Healleged that the TRS lead-ers are seeking votes bygiving false promises."It's been over sixyears since TRS cameto power inTelangana. It shouldreveal where it laidroads. Also, it is not cor-rect on part of government togive such a short notice for fil-ing nominations. The elec-tions must be held in democ-ratic manner and the SEC hasto run as per Constitution," hesaid.

Srinivas said that he didn'tunderstand as to why the ChiefMinister stated that he willlaunch a war with the Centre.

Dubbak constituency isbetween KCR, KTR

and Harish Rao'sconstituencies andeveryone wit-nessed the ver-dict of theDubbak people,

he said. Srinivasalleged that the Chief

Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is thinking moreworried about the Centre thanthe state. Srinivas urged peo-ple not to vote for the partieswhich are resorting to gim-micks to win the elections.

Srinivas takes a dig at TRSAll parties in the fray in the GHMC elections are getting

campaign vehicles modified to suittheir needs. Apart from

photographs of party leaders,symbols and slogans, the modifiedcars are fitted with public addresssystems used for both speeches

and playing of party songs.

— SV Chary

ELECTION CARAVANS

PNS n HYDERABAD

The YSRCP has decided notto contest GHMC elections.Though there have beendemands and pressures fromthe party leaders and work-ers in the city, the party lead-ership is not inclined to con-test the elections. In a state-ment issued on Thursday,YSRCP Telangana state pres-ident Gattu Srikanth Reddysaid that the party leadershipis chalking out a specialaction plan to strengthen theparty in Telangana. He askedthe the cadre to considerthis and act accordingly.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP on Thursdayannounced its star cam-paigners for GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation elections. BJPstar campaigners include --Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar, UnionMinister of State for HomeAffairs G Kishan Reddy, BJPnational vice-president DKAruna, BJP National OBCMorcha president Dr KLaxman, former BJP nation-al general secretary PMuralidhar Rao, former MPDr Vivek Venkat Swamy,former MP GarikapatiMohan Rao, GOshamahalMLA T Raja Singh,Nizamabad MP DharmapuriArvind, Dubbak MLA MRaghunandan Rao.

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

With the GHMC electionsjust couple of weeks away andvarious candidates startingtheir election campaigns, thecitizens of Amberpet Cirlclehave decided that if theirdemands are not met, they willall cast NOTA on December 1.

The residents have beendenied the extension of theburial ground in the area forover a decade and do not wishto fall for politico's falsepromises again. Md Shoukath,a social activist and a residentof the area said, "This issuestarted at least 15 years back.The grave yard was full and wehave been demanding theauthorities to allot more spacefor the same for over a decade.However, each time there is anelection, people ask us forvotes and promise us thatthey will give us the space tobury our dead, but no one hasdone anything for us."

The situation is so bad thatthe residents have been forcedto bury more than one body inone grave. S Salauddin, a res-ident of Amberpet says,“When we take our relative'sbody to the graveyard, they ask

us if there is any other familymember buried there. Whenwe show them that grave, theydig it and bury the new bodythere. It's disrespecting thedead.”

As a solution to their prob-lems, the citizens have comeup with two options. "The firstand more suitable option rightnow is casting NOTA," sharesMd Shoukath, adding, "We didthe same during the LegislativeAssembly elections as well.However, this time we will runa campaign and ask morepeople to join us. Otherwise,we will look for an indepen-dent candidate, amongst our-selves, who will certainly makethis happen."

One of the residents ofAmberpet, P Munir AhmedJaber, who is contesting fromthe area on Congress ticket,says that if he wins it will behis first priority to give morespace for the graveyard. Hesaid, "I have lived in this areaall my life and understandthe issues being faced by theresidents. So, my first prior-ity will be to extend thegraveyard. I will also worktowards the betterment ofroads and drainage systemsin the area."

Amberpet residentsplan to cast NOTA

YSRC not tocontest polls

BJP announcesStar Campaigners

— By Namrata Srivastava

SL.NO DIV NO DIV. NAME CANDIDATE

1 49 GHANSI BAZAR Renu Soni

2 62 ZIAGUDA Boyini Darshan

3 63 MANGALHAT Shashikala Munnurkapu

4 64 DATTATREYA NAGAR M. Dharmendra Singh Lodh

5 67 GOLCONDA Pasam Shakuntala Yadav

6 71 GUDIMALKAPUR Devara Karunakar Kuruma

7 77 JAMBAGH OC-Marwadi

8 11 NAGOLE Chintala Aruna Yadav

9 12 MANSOORABAD Koppula Narsimha Reddy

10 13 HAYAT NAGAR Kallem Navjeevan Reddy

11 14 B.N REDDY NAGAR M. Lachireddy

12 17 CHAMPAPET Vanga Madhusudhan Reddy

13 18 LINGOJIGUDA Akula Ramesh Goud

14 21 KOTHAPET N. Pavan Kumar Mudiraj

15 22` CHAITANYAPURI Ranga Narsimha Gupta

16 19 SAROOR NAGAR Akula Sreevani

17 20 R.K. PURAM Radha DheerajReddy

18 59 MAILARDEVPALLYUN Thokala Srinivas Reddy

19 45 JANGAMMET K. Mahender

PNS n HYDERABAD

BJP MP from NizamabadDharmapuri Arvind onThursday stated that BJP'sfight in GHMC elections iswith MIM but not with TRS.Addressing the media here atthe BJP state office, the BJPMP ridiculed KCR for declar-ing war against the Centre."KCR should first come out ofhis farmhouse beforeannouncing war against theCentre. The State ElectionCommission is workingunder the control of TRSparty. We will lodge a com-plaint against some officials inthis regard. We will address aletter seeking transfer ofGHMC commissioners. The

BJP will not keep quiet ifpolice try to suppress theBJP in GHMC elections, hesaid.

Arvind said, "Both KCRand KTR are 'Kaliyuga' jokers.People are venting their ire onKTR on social media plat-forms. People would beatKTR if he asked for votes inGreater Hyderabad limits.KTR has to get ready toaccept 'chappal' during hiscampaign. TRS's defeat hasbeen confirmed when theyoffered TRS kanduva to god.The state government wouldhave conducted elections afterhelping the flood-hit people.I urge the people to cast theirvote to BJP after takingmoney from TRS party."

BJP's fight is withMIM, says Arvind

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020 nation 05

Participants during ‘Tigress On The Trail’, a women bikers rally organised by MP Tourism Board to promote tourism inBhopal on Thursday

WOMEN PPOWER INDIA CORNER

Five persons were killed andfive others critically injuredin a blast in a plastic factory

in West Bengal's Malda districton Thursday, police said. Theincident took place in Sujapurarea around 11.30 am, a seniorpolice officer said. "Four factoryworkers were killed on the spotand one was brought dead tothe hospital. Five others have been critically injured in the explosionthat ripped the establishment apart," he said. Preliminary investigationhas found that a technical fault in a heavy machine inside the factorycaused the high- intensity blast, Superintendent of Police Alok Rajoriasaid. "The explosion happened during plastic manufacturing. We areprobing all the angles and a forensic team will visit the spot," he said.A huge police contingent has been deployed at the spot to keep thesituation under control, the officer said. The state governmentannounced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased.

A40-year-old woman wasmauled to death by a tigerat her home in the buffer

zone of Sanjay Gandhi NationalPark in Madhya Pradesh'sShahdol district on Thursday, aforest official said. The incidenttook place at around 5.30 amwhen the big cat entered thehome of Samaria Patel in

Aketpur village, around 100 km from the district headquarters,Shahdol north divisional forest officer (DFO) Siddharth Gupta said.Following the attack, locals in the area protested and demanded thatthe forest department take measures to prevent such incidents. Thefamily of the deceased woman has been given a compensation of Rs4 lakh, the official added.

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh's sonRaninder Singh on

Thursday appeared before theEnforcement Directorate at itsJalandhar office in an allegedForeign Exchange ManagementAct (FEMA) violation case. Hearrived at the ED office alongwith his counsel and Congressspokesperson Jaiveer Shergill. The ED had summoned Raninderpertaining to a case registered by the agency under FEMA withregard to alleged possession of undisclosed assets abroad. Earlier,Raninder did not appear before the ED on October 27 and November6. Raninder was questioned by the ED in 2016 and was asked toexplain the alleged movement of funds to Switzerland and thecreation of a trust besides a few subsidiaries in the British VirginIslands. The alleged instances of possession of properties abroadwas first investigated by the Income Tax Department.Raninder had earlier denied any wrongdoing. Last month, the All-India Congress Committee general secretary and in-charge of partyaffairs Harish Rawat had questioned the timing of summons to him.

Tiger mauls woman to death inMP's Shahdol district

Punjab CM's son Raninder Singhappears before ED in FEMA case

Five killed, 5 critically injured inblast in Bengal plastic factory

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court onThursday asked the Centre torespond to a PIL seeking a dec-laration recognising same sexmarriages under the HinduMarriage Act (HMA) andSpecial Marriage Act (SMA).

Issuing notice to the Centre,a bench of Justices Rajiv SahaiEndlaw and Asha Menon askedit to file a counter affidavitwithin four weeks.

It also asked the Centre torespond to the points raised bythe petitioners in an addition-al affidavit. Petitioner AbhijitIyer Mitra and three othershave contended in the petitionthat marriages between samesex couples are not possibledespite the Supreme Courtdecriminalising consensualhomosexual acts. The benchtagged this petition with twoother pleas -- one filed by twowomen seeking to get marriedunder the SMA and challeng-ing provisions of the statute to

the extent it does not providefor same sex marriages, andthe other by two men who gotmarried in the US but weredenied registration of theirmarriage under the ForeignMarriage Act (FMA).

ll three petitions are nowlisted together for hearing onJanuary 8, 2021. The highcourt had earlier sought

responses from the Centreand the Delhi government onthe plea filed by the twowomen and also asked thecentral government and theConsulate General of India inNew York to respond to thepetition by the two men.

The Centre was represent-ed by Additional SolicitorGeneral Chetan Sharma. The

petition filed by equal rightsactivists Mitra, Gopi ShankarM, Giti Thadani and G.Oorvasi contended thathomosexual sex has beendecriminalised by the apexcourt but same sex marriagesare still not being allowedunder the provisions of theHMA.

“This is despite the factthat the said Act does not dis-tinguish between heterosexu-al and homosexual marriage ifone were to go by how it hasbeen worded. It very clearlystates that marriage can

indeed be solemnised between'any two Hindus'. “In thisview of the matter, it can bestated that it is against the con-stitutional mandate of non-arbitrariness if the said right isnot extended to homosexualapart from heterosexual cou-ples,” the petition, f i ledthrough Raghav Awasthi andMukesh Sharma, said.

The denial of this right tohomosexual couples is alsoagainst the mandate of variousinternational conventions thatIndia is signatory to, the pleasaid.

HC asks Centre’s response on plea torecognise same sex marriages under law

It also asked the Centre to respond tothe points raised by the petitioners in anadditional affidavit. Petitioners havecontended in the petition that marriagesbetween same sex couples are notpossible despite the SC decriminalisingconsensual homosexual acts

PNS n JAMMU/SRINAGAR

Four suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists werekilled and two policemen wereinjured in a gunbattle on theJammu-Srinagar nationalhighway after a truck carryinga group of freshly infiltratedmilitants was intercepted bysecurity forces on the out-skirts of Jammu city onThursday, top police officialssaid.

The terrorists had come toexecute a "big plan" which hasnow been foiled, InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP),Jammu, Mukesh Singh, said.

In Srinagar, IGP, Kashmir,Vijay Kumar said the four ter-rorists were on their way to theKashmir valley to disturb theDistrict Development Council(DDC) polls scheduled laterthis month, as Pakistan hasbeen trying to cause trouble inthe political process.

Giving details of theencounter, IGP Singh told apress conference in Jammuthat during checking a truckwas stopped at Ban toll plazain Nagrota area at 5 am but thedriver fled leaving behind thevehicle.

CRPF and police personnelmoved to search the vehicleand came under fire of the ter-rorists hiding in thetruck.They retaliated resultingin an encounter.

Other forces also joinedresulting in a fierce gunbattlein which terrorists firedgrenades and arms, he said.

In the three-hour-long gun-battle, four terrorists werekilled and two policemenwere injured, he said, addingthe policemen were out ofdanger. A huge cache of arms,ammunition and explosivematerial was recoveredincluding 11 AK rifles, 3 pis-tols, 29 grenades and 6 UBGLgrenades, he said.

As per weapon recoveryand past instances, it appearsthat they belong to JeM, headded.

Speaking on the sidelines ofa function in Srinagar, IGPKumar said, “For the last fewdays, Pakistan has increasedattempts to infiltrate mili-tants into this side and to dis-turb the elections for whichthe process is on. In this con-text, Jammu Police and secu-rity forces have done a goodjob by neutralising fourPakistanis (militants). Their(militants') aim was to cometo Kashmir to disturb theelection process".

4 terrorists killed in encounter; hadcome to execute ‘big plan’: Police

PNS n SRINAGAR

Amid a spike in infiltrationattempts by terrorists along theLine of Control (LoC), the BSFchief on Thursday said theperiod before very heavysnowfall in Kashmir is "verysuitable" for militants to crossover to this side and thatsecurity forces were prepared totackle the situation.

Director General of BorderSecurity Force (BSF) RakeshAshtana said the forces werefully prepared to face anychallenges on this front. "We arethe first line of defence and weare committed and determinedto protect the country...," he saidwhen asked about thecontinuous infiltration attemptsalong the LoC. He was speaking

to reporters on the sidelines ofthe flagging off ceremony of the6th edition of 'Infinity Ride2020' from Kashmir toKanyakumari to support para-athletes. Asthana said Pakistanwas making increased attemptsto infiltrate more militantsbefore the heavy snowfall, butthe BSF and all other agenciesand forces are prepared and aretackling the situation as best asthey can.

"There are attempts to pushmilitants into our country andparticularly this period is verysuitable for such activities, so allthe counter-measures we aretaking are very effective and asDG BSF I can tell you we arecommitted to foil such attemptsand we will tackle the situationeffectively.

Measures being taken to checkinfiltration by terrorists: BSF DG

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar on Thursday saidpolitical killings are continuingunabated in the state, and thechief minister, chief secretaryand the DGP have not issuedany "firm directive" to thepolice and administration to be"politically neutral" despite hisinsistence.

In a video uploaded onTwitter, the governor, who hasbeen at loggerheads with theTrinamool Congress govern-ment since he assumed officein July 2019, claimed that theadministration has become sopoliticised that it is difficult touphold the democratic systemin the state.

"There is no sign of waningof political violence, political

vendetta and political killingsand I fear that the number ofsuch deaths may go up tothree-digit numbers," he said.

The governor said that hehas been repeatedly cautioningthe government, chief secretaryand the director general ofpolice (DGP) on these issues,

but they have not issued any"firm directive" so far.

When the "situation wenttotally out of control", the gov-ernor said, he had written toChief Minister MamataBanerjee on November 15 thatgovernment officials cannotwork as political workers.

In the letter, Dhankhar said,he had written that it will be ahuge challenge for the demo-

cratic system if governmentofficials work as political work-ers. "It is imperative?@MamataOfficial? to observepolitical neutrality. So farunfortunately inspite of myinsistence CM, CS and DGP ?@WBPolice ? have not issuedfirm directive to police andadministration to be political-ly neutral, he said in a tweetalong with the video.

‘No sign of waning of political violence in WB’

PNS n PATNA

Bihar education ministerMewa Lal Chaudhary,whose appointment to thepost had triggered a contro-versy on account of a cor-ruption taint, on Thursdaytendered his resignation,barely three days afterbeing sworn in as a mem-ber of the Nitish Kumarcabinet.

Chaudhary, who wasallocated the portfolio onTuesday, a day after takingoath, sent his resignationimmediately after assumingcharge at 1 P.M., informedsources said.

Bihar educationminister resignsover graft taint

PNS n NEW DELHI

International arms expertRobert Elgood explores historicIndian firearms in a new bookby focusing on the famedJodhpur collection thatincludes the best Indianmatchlocks, modern Britishand American sporting guns,shotguns, revolvers and auto-matic pistols.

In 1972, Maharaja Gaj Singhof Jodhpur-Marwar trans-formed the Mehrangarh Fortinto a Rajput museum and cul-tural centre. As part of thiswork, the MehrangarhMuseum Trust commissionedthe book "The Maharaja ofJodhpur's Guns".

According to publishers

Niyogi Books, this is the firstspecific work on historic Indianfirearms by an internationalarms expert.

Elgood says the early histo-ry of gunpowder and firearmsin India is complex, regionaland often depends on ques-tionable or ambiguous textualevidence.

The initial chapters talkabout the invention of gun-powder weapons and theirarrival in medieval India,matchlock guns with revolvingmechanisms in the Portugueseeastern empire, and the Indianmatchlock.

The book then showcasesnumerous lamchars, swivelguns or Shuturnals, 17th-19thcentury banduks, Sindhi jeza-

ils, Balochistan matchlocks,Indian blunderbusses,matchlock pistols and combi-nation weapons, powder flasks,miniature cannon, British mil-

itary guns, European civilianguns, 19th- and 20th-centuryEuropean and American pis-tols, and late 19th- and 20th-century air pistols.

It also includes an analysis ofadvances in sporting guns inIndia in the 19th century, achapter on hunting with spearand gun in Rajasthan, a set ofpages transcribed from the1926 hunting diary of MaharajaUmaid Singh, and a catalogueof his sporting guns.

Among the weapons men-tioned in the book is the dis-guised .22 pen-pistol, one of theinventions of MaharajaHanwant Singh of Jodhpur.His son Gaj Singh II says themaharaja took his passion forguns to a different dimension;setting up a gun factory inMehrangarh Fort, and design-ing his own firearms.

The maharaja made pencilguns in his workshop and gave

some to friends. Elgood men-tions an incident when themaharaja had one of these'pens' in his pocket when heonce went to a meeting inDelhi. V P Menon, politicaladvisor to Lord Mountbatten,had led the maharaja to believethat the British officer wasexpecting him. "The maharajabecame extremely irritated atbeing kept waiting and finally,when admitted to Menon'soffice, pulled out the pistol andin mock anger threatened toshoot him. Mountbattenwalked in on the scene. Themaharaja explained that hewas showing his new inventionto Menon and gaveMountbatten the pistol as agift," Elgood writes.

Book chronicles journey of historic guns in India

PNS n NEW DELHI

India has seen an "unparalleledachievement" of providinghygienic toilets to crores ofpeople in the last few years,Prime Minister NarendraModi said on Thursday on theoccasion of World Toilet Day.

World Toilet Day isobserved globally to raiseawareness about making safesanitation accessible to all.

Building toilets as part of hisgovernment's 'Swachh Bharat'programme has broughttremendous health benefitsalong with dignity, especiallyto women, Modi said.

The Prime Minister tweet-ed, "On World Toilet Day,India strengthens its resolve of#Toilet4All. The last few yearshave seen an unparalleledachievement of providinghygienic toilets to crores of

Indians. It has broughttremendous health benefitsalong with dignity, especiallyto our Nari Shakti."

Provided hygienic toiletsto crores of people: PM

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Thursday paid tributes toformer prime minister IndiraGandhi on her birth anniversary.Born on 19 November, 1917,Gandhi served as prime ministerfrom 1966 to 1977 and thenagain from 1980 until herassassination in 1984.In a tweet, the prime ministersaid, "Tributes to former PMSmt. Indira Gandhi Ji on herbirth anniversary". Gandhi is oneof the most iconic leaders of theCongress.

PM PAYS TRIBUTES TOINDIRA GANDHI

PNS n CHENNAI

The DMK alienated TamilNadu by not allowing learn-ing of Hindi, BJP's nationalwomen's wing chief VanathiSrinivasan alleged onThursday and said legendaryTamil women would be pop-ularised in north India by herparty.

After assuming office asthe president of the Saffronparty's Mahila Morcha inDelhi, she said in a tweet thather's is the "only party wherean ordinary karyakarta(worker) from a humblebackground can reach the topmost political office out ofsheer merit."

Vanathi Srinivasan, whowas with the Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad in the1980's later joined the BJPand had held various posi-tions in the state unit of theparty including that of vice-president and general secre-tary.

In a series of posts on herTwitter handle, in Tamil andEnglish, she alleged it was theDMK which did not allowlearning of Hindi in TamilNadu and thus alienated thestate from the national main-stream.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The widow of a CRPF jawan,who died fighting terroristsduring the 2002 Jammu andKashmir assembly polls, hasreceived ex-gratia paymentfrom the Election Commissionafter 18 years following theintervention of the top brass.

Anguished by the delay,Chief Election CommissionerSunil Arora wrote a letter toPramila Devi, personally apol-

ogising on behalf of the admin-istrative machinery. TheCommission decided to pro-vide her Rs 20 lakh ex-gratia asan exception, which is thepresent admissible amount.

In 2002, the admissibleamount for ex-gratia was Rs 5lakh.

The amount has been trans-ferred to her bank account.

Ramesh Kumar of the 45thbattalion was deployed forelection duty in the 2002

Jammu and Kashmir assemblypolls. On October 8 that year,he died fighting terrorists at apolling booth in Doda TownHall area.

His widow Pramila Devi,who lives in Bhiwani inHaryana, first wrote to theCommission in December2019 requesting early pay-ment of ex-gratia permissible.

Her request was forwardedto the chief electoral officer ofJammu and Kashmir.

Widow of CRPF jawan killed by terrorists during2002 JK polls gets ex gratia after 18 years

DMK alienatedTN by notallowing Hindilearning: BJP

In a video uploaded on Twitter, theGovernor, who has been at loggerheadswith the TMC govt, claimed that theadministration has become so politicised that it is difficult to uphold the democratic system in the state

In Nazi Germany, certain lawswere announced inNuremburg, which prohibit-ed Jews from marrying or hav-

ing intimate relations with personsof “German or related blood.” AJew would have to prove his/hercredentials by showing that he/shehad three or four Jewish grandpar-ents. The aim of the law was, ofcourse, to alienate the Jews fromGerman society and to furtherentrench prejudices against thatcommunity as a whole.

In India, over the past fewweeks, States like Haryana, MadhyaPradesh and Karnataka have beenmulling and working towardsdrafting a law that targets the prob-lem of “love jihad.” All of these havea BJP government handling theropes. The Madhya PradeshGovernment, as an example, hasdecided to bring in the DharmaSwatantrya Bill 2020, which makescoercing or pressurising an individ-ual into marriage a punishableoffence, non-bailable in natureand proposes a five-year rigorouspunishment. Furthermore, the Billcodifies that in case someonewishes to undergo voluntary con-version for marriage, they will haveto mandatorily apply to the collec-tor a month in advance. In a soci-ety that is yet to come out of therevenge code of honour killings,would not a public declaration oflove and conversion invite a hit-back? Consider the consequencesif the person seeking an inter-faithunion is a young girl. We just sawthe backlash following an adver-tisement campaign by a jewellerybrand of an inter-faith marriage,where none of the partners wereshown as changing their religion.If that had to be taken down, imag-ine what could happen to two peo-ple making independent choices.

One of the most importantquestions to ask in this regard is ifat all there is a need for such a law.And more importantly is it evenconstitutionally valid? What is rel-evant is how many instances of“love jihad” are actually recorded.According to the Central govern-ment, not too many. In Februarythis year, for example, whileresponding to a question on thesubject, the Government informedParliament that the term “lovejihad” had not been defined underany law and no case had beenreported or registered by anyCentral agency. Therefore, it is evi-dent that the Central Government

itself does not really considerthis to be a problem. Anotherimportant consideration toassess whether these BJP-ledState governments need to comeout with such a law is to exam-ine if there is an absence of ade-quate legal provisions that crim-inalise the act of forced conver-sions at present. On this count,too, the claim of these StateGovernments fails. For example,Section 366 of the Indian PenalCode criminalises any act ofkidnapping, abducting or induc-ing a woman to marry by forceand punishes such an act withimprisonment for up to tenyears.

The next question iswhether a move to target inter-faith marriages is constitution-ally valid? The answer to thisquestion, too, appears to befirmly in the negative. Article 21of our Constitution gives eachindividual in our country aright to life and personal liber-ty and one of the most funda-mental expressions of this rightto exercise one’s life choices is tochoose who to marry.

Therefore, if there are hard-ly any instances of “love jihad”and if adequate laws are alreadyin place to prevent forced mar-riages and conversions, what isthe motive behind introducingor talking about such a law? Thewords of Pandit Nehru fromdecades ago may provide theanswer. While debating on laws

to safeguard against forced con-versions, he displayed character-istic prescience in noting thatsuch laws “will not help verymuch in suppressing the evilmethods [of gaining converts],but might very well be thecause of great harassment to alarge number of people.” PanditNehru went on to state that “themajor evils of coercion anddeception can be dealt withunder the general law. It may bedifficult to obtain proof but sois it difficult to obtain proof inmany other offences, but to sug-gest that there should be alicensing system for propagat-ing a faith is not proper. It wouldlead in its wake to the policehaving too large a power ofinterference.”

Few can explain the poten-tial risks better. Such a move,therefore, is not grounded inreality but is merely a stunt tofan emotions against particularcommunities and arouse fearwhen there is little reason to beworried. Such a move wouldalso be antithetical to what theBJP has spoken till now withrespect to the Uniform CivilCode (UCC). As noted byFaizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor of the NationalAcademy of Legal Studies andResearch (NALSAR), the UCCencourages or at the very leastmakes it easier to enter intointer-faith marriages. However,the spectre of these State laws

being mooted by BJP govern-ments would in effect createhurdles for such marriages,which is wholly incongruouswith the idea of a uniform civilcode. It is no wonder then thatthe BJP only speaks about UCCwhen talking about triple talaqbut finds no mention of it whentalking about inter-faith mar-riages. Stoking hate and feardoes, unfortunately for the BJP,come with its own set of uniquecontradictions.

The real danger is the slip-pery slope that such a movewould lead to. For example, thefirst supplemental decree of theNuremberg Laws extended theprohibition of marriage andintimate relations from Jews tobetween people who could pro-duce “racially suspect” offspring.This was later interpreted by theNazi government of the time tomean relations of “Germans ofrelated blood” with gypsies,Blacks or their offspring. So whois to say that after such seeds ofhate have been planted, the bit-ter fruits that will follow may bethe restraint of marriagebetween different castes orbetween different classes. At atime when the rest of the world’srespected democracies are work-ing towards celebrating love, wemust make sure that we are notthe ones who seek to destroy it.

(The author is former IPSand member of the CongressParty)

Deep Kalra, Chief Executive Officer of MakeMyTrip,India’s largest online travel agency (OTA), recent-ly spoke about the concept of “revenge travel,”where people, bored out of their minds being stuck

at home, are travelling to resorts and destinations acrossthe country to make up for lost vacation time. They haveoften been using their personal modes of transport for that“disinfected” comfort. That said, with international travel,particularly leisure travel, still in the doldrums with limitedflights and all sorts of rules, the revival of the travel and

tourism sector is still a season away. For example, while there are “air bubbles” betweenIndia and some countries, transit through a third country is prohibited. So while an Indiancan travel to the United Arab Emirates or the US, transiting via Dubai to go to the US isnot allowed without some sort of quarantine. And even as domestic air travel is pickingup, traffic is still around two-thirds of what it was before the pandemic hit. Even as newsof a vaccine has lifted spirits, particularly on the stock markets, it is still a long time beforeany of it can be deployed. Now Expedia, one of the world’s largest OTAs, has said that itmight be summer of 2021 before the travel and tourism industry actually recovers to anysemblance of what it was before the pandemic. Many frequent fliers still do not have theconfidence to fly even as airlines and airports talk about enhanced sanitisation.

The collapse in the travel industry has hit several parts of India, which depended oninternational tourists, really hard. There are no European tourists to be seen in Rajasthanright now, hitting not just hotels but also the livelihoods of artisans and folk performers.As a third wave of COVID-19 cases hits cities like Delhi, it is inevitable that the cases willspread and the restrictions on weddings will become more widespread. That will devas-tate another money-spinner, the destination wedding sector. The Government has tried toshore up the industry. Nevertheless millions of livelihoods have been impacted by the dropin travel and tourism and the Government must find a practical way to assist the affect-ed. They might have been airline pilots or an artisan selling trinkets to tourists, they couldhave been guides at the Taj Mahal or a self-employed taxi driver. We should not fool our-selves by pretending that things will become alright now that an effective vaccine has beendeveloped. The smaller players in the hospitality business may not last that long.

In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has upheldfederalism and drawn a clear line between the Centre’sswamping tendency and the States’ right to autono-

my. It has laid boundaries between the misuse of Centralpower for coercion and the use of guaranteed power towithstand it by the States. In doing so, it has upheld thespirit of the Constitution, something which has increas-ingly come under attack in recent times. The court hassaid that the Centre cannot, on its own, extend the juris-diction of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with-out permission from the States, and that a CBI probecannot begin without consent from the Centre and the

State in question. As of now, the CBI can override the States only when the Supreme Courtorders a national inquiry and empowers it to do so on a case-specific basis. The ruling,therefore, justifies the move by eight Opposition-ruled states – Rajasthan, Bengal, Jharkhand,Kerala, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Mizoram – to revoke the blanket consentgiven to the CBI for probing cases in their States. They argued that the Centre was usingthe CBI to carry out vendetta against Opposition and dissenting leaders, and by extensionwas stifling the emergence of an alternative discourse. Justices AM Khanwilkar and BRGavai, in fact, underlined that “the law is in tune with the federal structure of the Constitution”andwas a foundational tenet. And lest there be any confusion, the judges also referred to theDelhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act of 1946, clarifying that “though Section 5enables the Central Government to extend the powers and jurisdiction of Members of theDSPE (CBI) beyond the Union Territories to a State, the same is not permissible unless aState grants its consent for such an extension.” The top court obviously still believes thatthe CBI is, what it once described, a “caged parrot” and, therefore, needs to be depoliti-cised. The States have sought a protective sheath not without reason. The DSPE Act wasused prominently in 2018, when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) left the BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA), and fearing political retaliation, blocked the CBI from enteringits State. It was only in mid-2019 that the position changed after the BJP-friendly YSRCongress regime came to power in Andhra Pradesh. Similarly, the West Bengal Governmentruled by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) refused the agency permission during the probeinto the Sarada scam, when the latter summoned the Kolkata Police Commissioner. In theend, it was the Supreme Court, after judging the merits of the case and verifying claimsof obstructive justice, that handed over probe rights to the CBI.

This bureaucratic one-upmanship or playing favourites is not new to the CBI, whichhas since inception been a political tool for the government of the day, each using its inves-tigative depth to uphold the power of coercion rather than dispensation of justice, deep-ening a fear of the establishment rather than truth. And though the Modi government isunder the scanner at the moment, the fact is the dilution of the CBI’s independence hadbegun much earlier in the Congress years. A CBI inquiry had become the ruling dispen-sation’s bargaining chip to keep the Opposition and regional leaders in check, either byover or under-cooking of corruption cases that every politician has indulged in this coun-try. A CBI probe had even been dangled to buy allegiance, particularly of regional parties,to stitch up grand coalitions of survival. And whenever an honest, upright officer had got-ten too close for comfort to nail the political biggies, he had routinely been told to “goslow” or been simply shunted out. However, this does not mean that the present govern-ment or any regime hereafter should not try to change the status quo. The only problemthe CBI might face vis-à-vis the consent clause is in pursuing investigations in State-levelbranches of Central Government departments, PSUs, banks and so on. As per the newrules, the CBI has to get a local sanction for starting an investigation against officers undersuspicion. This means getting a permit from the senior officers of the organisation whichis being probed. In such cases, there is always the risk that the time lag will allow the trailto go cold and let the officers tamper with evidence. The Government insists that this wasdone to protect officers from being targetted but what if they are complicit in the crime?The Supreme Court had slammed the CBI for dragging its feet in the Jain hawala caseand had laid down guidelines to ensure the agency’s independence and autonomy, sug-gesting that it be placed under the supervision of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)and be freed from executive control or interference. But we have seen the spirit of thislandmark judgment mauled during the tussle between the CBI Director Alok Verma andSpecial Director Rakesh Asthana. Unfortunately, the CBI now runs on political allegiancesand that can be curbed only when it is made accountable to a neutral, collective authori-ty, like a parliamentary committee, may be a rights watchdog or made supreme like theComptroller and Auditor-General. Aware that it would be under a public scrutiny of sorts,the CBI could actually then exercise more autonomy and not be compelled to remain astooge. Besides, as the country’s premier investigative agency, it has superior officers, who, freed from controls, could professionalise the institution as a modicum ofpropriety and fairness.

SC upholds federalism

Modi and Biden talkSir — It is a good thing thatPrime Minister Narendra Modicalled up US President-elect JoeBiden and Vice-President-electKamala Harris and congratulat-ed them on their victory. He alsodiscussed the Indo-US relation-ship, priorities and concernsregarding the COVID-19 pan-demic, climate change and coop-eration in the Indo-Pacificregion. Thankfully, climatechange is back on the talks agen-da under Biden. But equallyimportant from India’s perspec-tive is the continuing focus on theIndo-Pacific region.

The leaders agreed to workclosely to further advance theIndia-US Comprehensive GlobalStrategic Partnership, built onshared values and common inter-ests. Now, it remains to be seenwhat will be the US’ response toIndia’s escalating conflict withChina and Pakistan. It is turningout to be dangerous in the regionand could lead to a two-front warfor India. That is why it is vital forIndia to have the US on its sideas it cannot afford to be isolatedat this point of time.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

Clear encroachments Sir — Increasing the number ofhospital beds, includingIntensive Care Units (ICUs),ramping up the availability ofventilators and all other medicalfacilities now planned by theCentral and Delhi Governmentsare simply an eyewash. Curative

steps for treating Coronaviruspatients in Delhi will remaingrossly insufficient till real pre-ventive steps are taken to stopthe spread. That means ensur-ing behavioural discipline, earlytesting and treatment.

Even daily statistical datagiven by Government agenciesregarding new Corona cases

and deaths may be far below theactual figures because these donot include those undergoingself-isolation in homes withoutinforming the agencies con-cerned. One of the reasons forthe spread of COVID during thefestive season is the encroach-ment of footpaths and marketplaces in the city. This lack of

space led to overcrowding andpeople being forced to shop incongested and spilling at theseams markets.

The Government must dowhatever it can to get rid of thesquatters. However, sadly, allpolitical parties avoid touchingencroachers because they are thereal vote bank and law-abidingcitizens are in a minority. Hence,a tough drive is urgentlyrequired to remove all encroach-ments from all over Delhi. Butsadly, there is no political will todo the same. As a resultDelhiites will continue to suffer.

Subhash Chandra AgrawalNew Delhi

A wise moveSir — At last, good sense has pre-vailed and the Government hasdecided to bring the number ofpeople being allowed to attendweddings down from 200 to 50.This may inconvenience thefamilies of those getting marriedbut it will certainly help in keep-ing the number of new infectionslow. It is a small price to pay forthe greater good.

Naushad Ali New Delhi

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

06

Love and warIf there are hardly any instances of love jihad, according to Govt data, and with

laws to prevent forced marriages and conversions, why do we need a new law?

Marathas are also Hindu followers. There is a differencebetween development of Marathi and Maratha. Maratha is a community and they are Hindus.

Karnataka Chief Minister—BS Yediyurappa

Quad: A good strategic exercise by India

Vacating Chushul Heights without full restoration ofstatus quo ante will be squandering a strategic asset,particularly as the ninth round of the commander-

level talks is expected later this month. Strategic edgeis one reason why we still do not give up Siachen. ThePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) has managed to creepforward towards its 1959 claim line and annexed Indianterritory. The Chinese have intruded 18 km intoDepsang and blocked Indian patrols. The Quadrilateral(Quad) coalition (India, US, Japan and Australia) isfocussing on containing China's military expansionismin the Indo-Pacific region.

The navies of the four nations began the secondphase of the Malabar series of exercises in the north-ern Arabian sea on November 17, after the successfulcompletion of the first phase earlier this month, whichtook place in the Bay of Bengal from November 3 to 6.The participation of the USS Nimitz, the world's largestwarship and the Indian Navy's Vikramaditya carrier bat-tle group were the highlights of the exercise. The

Australian Navy has deployed HMAS Ballarat, an Anzac-class frigate, while the Japanese Navy has sent its lead-ing destroyer JS Murasame. The two carriers, along withother ships, submarines and aircraft of the participat-ing navies engaged in high-intensity naval operationsover four days. This is a good strategic move and shouldmake China re-think before it challenges India further.

TV JayaprakashPalakkad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Holidays a far cry

Top court says Centre can’t extend the jurisdiction of CBI to States without their consent, curbs political vendetta

While ‘revenge travel’ has perked up hope, the overalltourism sector is still far from recovery with curbs in place

AJOY KUMAR

As long as this fakeGovernment remains inpower, the poor cannotrun a household andthey will not be able toobtain cheap medicine.

PML-N vice-president—Maryam Nawaz

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

S O U N D B I T EThe Indian film industry haslost a legend. I am eternallygrateful that I got to workalongside Soumitra sir inAhalya. He was a true gentleman and a kind soul.

Actor —Radhika Apte

THE SPECTRE OF THESE STATE

LAWS BEINGMOOTED BY BJPGOVERNMENTS

WOULD IN EFFECTCREATE HURDLESFOR INTER-FAITH

MARRIAGES. THISIS WHOLLY

INCONGRUOUSWITH THE IDEA OF A UNIFORM

CIVIL CODE

I think bubble life is alot easier than quarantine. There are a few things you can get out to do and playing cricket as well. That is a huge bonus.

Australian cricketer—Josh Hazlewood

Empowered PRIs fight virus

THE CONGRESS’ POSITION DEMANDING THAT MODI

NOT DRAG INDIA INTO AN UNFAIR RCEP, AS WAS

BEING PLANNED, STANDS VINDICATED.

—CONGRESS LEADER

JAIRAM RAMESH

INDIA’S DECISION OF NOT JOINING THE RCEP IS

UNFORTUNATE. IT IS IN INDIA’S STRATEGIC AND

ECONOMIC INTERESTS TO BE A PART OF IT.

—CONGRESS LEADER

ANAND SHARMA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The spirit of decentralisation runs deep with-in the consciousness of India. Local gover-nance had been at the core of functioning of

the country’s rural and urban administration evenbefore it was mandated by the 73rd and 74th con-stitutional amendments in 1992. At present, thereare 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, over six lakh villages,around 4,500 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and 4,000census towns in the country. Being at the forefrontof rural governance, panchayats have borne the bruntyet stood resilient amid the COVID-19 outbreak.It is important to note that they have played a piv-otal role in saving lives even before the pandemic,because women members of panchayats help inbuilding trust among the village folk and the health-care providers, the locals wary of visiting doctors.

These women even helped the doctors and nurs-es to explain to the villagers the diseases they weresuffering from and the treatment protocols in a lan-guage they understood. Consequently, the numberof villagers availing medical services without fear oranxiety increased exponentially over the years. Intimes of COVID-19, the trust developed by thePanchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) has aided theUnion and State Governments’ efforts to test, traceand treat people and contain the crisis in rural areasto a very large extent.

This, in the words of Professor James Manor,an expert on the study of decentralisation in India,would further deepen accountability and transparen-cy at the grassroots, drawing ordinary people in vil-lages into democratic processes to pursue their rightsand contribute towards poverty alleviation.According to Manor, the world has a lot to learn fromthe Indian panchayat system. He exemplifies howBritain is centralising the system to tackle the con-tagion, which in turn is costing the lives of peopleeven as the neutrality of local councils is beingignored. In a similar manner, the decentralisationsystem has been weakened in South Africa wherelocal councils are being dominated by people at high-er levels. Thus, all efforts to implement the ruralemployment guarantee Act, that has been styled onthe lines of the National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act in India, failed in South Africabecause of restricted access to financial resources.Now, even the COVID testing, tracing and treatmentin South Africa have lagged because of this weak-ening of local councils.

The constitutional duties of the panchayats arelisted under Schedule 9, Schedule 11 and Schedule12 of the Indian Constitution. Its makers foresawthat a major health emergency in the country, likethe present contagion, would require a resolutionat both rural and urban levels. So they devised amechanism called the District Planning Committee,on which members elected to the panchayatswould have a major representation as compared tothose elected to municipal bodies. According to leg-islation under Article 243G, panchayats have thepower and authority to enable them to function asinstitutions of self-government in respect of prepa-ration of plans and implementation of schemes foreconomic development and social justice. The 73rdAmendment left the decision to delegate powers,functions and finances to PRIs to the State legisla-tures. Item 23 of Schedule 11 of the Constitutionrelates to the empowerment of PRIs where healthand sanitation are concerned, including hospitals,primary health centres and dispensaries, which issignificant in view of the current pandemic. Stateshave fulfilled the constitutional mandate to empow-

er the PRIs to look into health and sani-tation, which are intimately connectedwith COVID-19 and where such respon-sibilities are institutionally exercisedthrough hospitals, primary healthcare cen-tres and dispensaries under their overallsupervision. A staunch advocate of demo-cratic decentralisation and a formerUnion Panchayati Raj Minister, ManiShankar Aiyar, says that the pandemic hasaffected many vital areas and vulnerablesections of rural society. First it has hitwomen and child development whereAnganwadi workers along with auxiliarynurses, midwives and Accredited SocialHealth Activists (ASHAs) are responsiblefor development of children, pregnantwomen and lactating mothers. Second,mentally and physically challenged peo-ple, who are not able to access medicalcare, have become even more vulnerable.While people with money and thosebelonging to higher castes in rural Indiawould be able to access medical care dueto their influence in society, it would bedifficult for people with less money orthose belonging to the backward castes toaccess the same. Lastly, the PublicDistribution System (PDS), which canprovide food access to the underprivileged,as mandated by Schedule 11, has been hittoo.

The optimism that PRIs would begreatly successful in attending to problemsbrought on by COVID-19 is strengthenedby Kerala’s demonstrated capacity todecentralise the planning system in theState and strengthen local governance inmatters of health, sanitation, women andchild development, welfare of the weak-er sections of society, the PDS, feeding ofthe destitute, free day care centres for thedifferently-abled and so on.

Financially-empowered panchayatsalong with the Kudumbashree movementfor economic empowerment of womenand inclusion of schools and district col-leges in the panchayat systems have all ledto consolidating holistic efforts to effec-

tively combat the pandemic with minimalloss of lives. Thus, Kerala’s panchayats havesmoothly transitioned to take care of thoseaffected by COVID-19.

Similarly, in Karnataka, panchayatlevel COVID-19 task forces were formedand are working successfully. They com-prise primary health centre doctors, aux-iliary nurses, midwives, ASHA workersand elected representatives and panchay-at-level staff. Present across the State, thesetask forces have been at the forefront ofpandemic management. This has result-ed in strict enforcement of lockdowns, dis-infection, providing food to the needy,ensuring the supply of essential services,and so on.

Over the years, Odisha has wit-nessed strengthening of panchayats, whichhave played an important part in combat-ing natural disasters. As a result, duringthe pandemic-induced reverse migrationof labourers, the role of panchayatsbecame crucial. The State Governmentworked in close coordination with PRIsand delegated the powers of the DistrictCollectors to the latter to work towardscontaining the spread of the Coronavirusin each panchayat. Women-led PRIs haveproactively engaged with Self Help Groups(SHGs) in running free kitchens and inmaking face masks to contain the spreadof COVID-19.

Such responses from the PRIs are veryencouraging as they are going the extramile to ensure continuity of essential ser-vices, especially for the vulnerable. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, too, hasapplauded the efforts of the PRIs to fightthe pandemic and remarked that thestronger the PRIs, the stronger the democ-racy of a country. In fact, in order tostrengthen PRIs, the Government hasannounced two projects: The e-GramSwaraj App, where details of the develop-ment work of panchayats and the fundswill be available and the Swamitwa Yojana(ownership plan), where each property inthe village will be mapped through drones

after which a certificate of ownership willbe issued. This will help in removing con-fusion about the property and help inproper policy planning, too. Further, theUnion Ministry of Panchayati Raj hasexhorted all States to use a tool forassessing the community response toCOVID-19 at the village and panchayatlevel for timely action in containing thespread of the virus and vector- borne dis-eases. This includes eight areas for actionat the village level: Creating awarenessregarding preventive measures, solidari-ty to address the associated stigma, sup-port for home as well as community quar-antine, help in surveillance activities’identification, support to needy families,ensuring availability of routine healthcareservices, prompt response in case of pos-itive cases and maintaining hygiene andsanitation at the village level. The infor-mation in this check list will help the pan-chayats to self-assess their preparednessand identify what more they may do. Thiswill also help the health department to taketimely and corrective measures.

To effectively handle the crisis, it isimportant to look at the number ofrecoveries and the number of fatalitiesalong with co-morbidities. There exists apositive correlation between operating thePRIs and effectively handling the pandem-ic. COVID-19 should be a lesson for thecurrent and future governments to makePRIs an inclusive part of governance. Thechallenges pertaining to provision of suf-ficient protection kits for frontline pan-chayat workers, inadequate funding, dilu-tion of powers of panchayats in normaltimes, strengthening management infor-mation systems for accurate panchayat-level data, and so on, remain to beaddressed as policy priorities. Only thenMahatma Gandhi’s dream of “an India inwhich the poorest shall feel that it is theircountry, in whose making they have aneffective voice”, would be fulfilled.

(The writer is CEO and EditorialDirector, IMPRI)

In times of COVID-19, the trust developed by the Panchayati Raj Institutions has aided theGovt’s efforts to test, trace and treat people and contain the crisis in rural areas

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

Good cause, bad tactics

GWYNNE DYER

Hong Kong’s freedom was always conditional andultimately doomed but last week’s blundering

collapse was premature and far from inevitable

SIMI MEHTA

THE CHALLENGESPERTAINING TOPROVISION OF

SUFFICIENTPROTECTION KITS

FOR FRONTLINEPANCHAYATWORKERS,

INADEQUATEFUNDING,

DILUTION OFPOWERS OF

PANCHAYATS INNORMAL TIMES,

STRENGTHENINGMANAGEMENTINFORMATIONSYSTEMS FOR

ACCURATEPANCHAYAT-LEVELDATA, AND SO ON,

REMAIN TO BEADDRESSED AS

POLICYPRIORITIES

One Hong Kong lawmaker, Claudia Mo, said it was “the death-knell of Hong Kong’s democracy fight.” But she was partof it: One of the 15 remaining pro-democracy members of

the Legislative Council (Legco) who resigned recently in protestat the expulsion of four other democratically-elected members ofthe pseudo-Parliament. Wu Chi-wai, speaking for the 15 whoresigned, tweeted that, “‘One country, two systems’ in Hong Konghas come to an end.” That is true, and it is regrettable, but it’shard to see how a mass resignation that eliminates all pro-democ-racy legislators from Legco helps the cause. Bad tactics in a goodcause has been the hallmark of the democratic movement’s behav-iour throughout the last 18 months. It mobilised a very effectivenon-violent protest campaign when the Communist Governmentin Beijing introduced a law in June 2019 that directly challengedthe deal signed by China and the former colonial power, the UK,in 1997.

The UK ignored the democratic rights of the city’s Chinesemajority for most of its 155-year tenure, but when it handed thecolony back to China in 1997, it did get a guarantee that HongKong could keep its free institutions, including freedom of speechand of the Press, impartial courts, and a separate, partly demo-cratic Government for 50 years. “One country, two systems” wasthe slogan. Beijing’s new law would have allowed Hong Kong res-idents to be transferred to mainland courts for certain “security”offences. So the protesters spilled out into the streets to protectthe status quo, which kept all Hong Kongers free fromCommunist interference and made some very rich. Within threemonths, Chief Executive Carrie Lam withdrew the legislation. TheHong Kong Government is not an entirely free agent and Lam ini-tially went along with Beijing’s demand. By withdrawing it, shewas signalling that Beijing was willing to drop the matter for now.But the protesters snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The sensible thing to do was accept the concession and gohome. Beijing’s demand might come back again in five years, butenjoy the time you have won. The Communist regime will neverlet you have any more than this, and the mainland population out-numbers you 200-to-one. Instead of going home happy, the pro-testers stayed out in the streets and raised the stakes, demand-ing fully free elections and more autonomy for Hong Kong. Theyalso broke the prime rule and allowed their protests to becomeviolent. (Don’t explain that the police are being violent; your onlysafety lies in remaining non-violent regardless of the provocation.)

So Xi Jinping’s Communist regime in Beijing struck back hardagainst what it saw as a serious challenge to its authority. A newlaw was imposed on Hong Kong, contrary to the 1997 agreement,that effectively subordinates the city’s legal system to Beijing’swhims. It was the end of Hong Kong’s legal autonomy, and torub it in, four pro-democracy legislators were expelled from theLegco. In a final Quixotic gesture last week, all the remaining democ-rats in the Legco quit too. It’s a prelude to a far larger abandon-ment. Hong Kong’s relative freedom was always conditional andultimately doomed (2047 at the latest) but last week’s blunder-ing collapse was premature and far from inevitable. Only two sub-stantive questions now remain. What happens to Taiwan, and wherewill all the Hong Kongers, who want to leave, go? One-third ofHong Kong’s seven million people were born on the mainland:Some of them moved to the city for the money, but most wereundoubtedly getting away from the Communists. Another thirdwill be the children or grand-children of those refugees (the city’spopulation was only 6,00,000 in 1945) and will probably sharetheir opinions. A lot will leave.

An estimated 6,00,000 Hong Kong residents already hold fullforeign passports, half Canadians and most of the rest Australian,British or American ones. They acquired them as an insurancepolicy, and this is the contingency they were insuring against.Another three million people hold British National (Overseas) pass-ports or can easily acquire them, and London promises that theycan all move to the UK if they wish. The “central range” estimateof the British Home Office is that between 2,58,000 and 3,22,000Hong Kongers will come within five years, but it could be manymore. That’s unless Beijing stops them from leaving. But if it clos-es the gates like that, it would be the definitive end of Hong Kongas a great international trading city. And what about Taiwan? Well,“one country, two systems” was also the promise Beijing washolding out to Taiwan to seduce it into peaceful reunification. Ithas now been comprehensively trashed, and the long-term like-lihood of an attempted military “solution” to the Taiwan “prob-lem” has just risen significantly.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

The last few decades have wit-nessed vast changes in politicalideology and economic policies

across the world. People of differentcountries have been affected different-ly, but always in a significant mannereverywhere. Goa has achieved remark-able progress since liberation fromPortuguese rule on December 19,1961. The greatest gain of this freedomhas been the feeling of self-respectregained, the opening of the portals ofopportunity, particularly to the vastmass of people who were deniedupward mobility over the centuries andperhaps millennia.

Great strides have been made incore sectors such as education. In 1961,the literacy rate here was 30 per cent.Goa is now a fully literate State if we

exclude some people above the age of50 and a section of migrant labourers.

This has been achieved mainlythrough private institutions.Regrettably, Government schoolsthemselves are in an appalling condi-tion. As a result, only those who can-not afford to enroll their children in pri-vate schools send them to theGovernment schools in the State. TheFundamental Right to Education for allchildren up to the age of 14 years isenshrined in our Constitution. Whatis required is a law to determine thefacilities which the State Governmentshould provide to the children so thatthey can exercise this fundamentalright.

“Free education” means not mere-ly freedom from tuition fees but alsoadequate classrooms and teachers,free uniforms, textbooks and othereducational material. Inequalities ineducation will be accentuated in thecomputer age. The dangerous “digitaldivide” can only be prevented if nec-essary steps are taken right now. Theideal is the “Common School System”with quality Government schools,known as “neighbourhood schools”, inevery locality where all children, irre-

spective of social class or religious affil-iation can attend. This is the systemprevailing in Scandinavia and othereducationally-advanced countries.

The Goa University ought to bea centre of academic excellence at thenational as well as at the internation-al level. It should be a powerful instru-ment to enable the youth of Goa andof the country at large to deal with andthrive in today’s increasingly compet-itive world, the global “knowledge soci-ety” where education is the key to suc-cess. Turning Goa University into aCentral University would haveadvanced this objective and would haveimproved significantly our universityeducation.

The Official Language Act wasenacted in 1987. It was intended tostrengthen our common cultural her-itage and achieve greater unity and har-mony among our people. Yet, in theprocess of implementing the Act,those who write Konkani in theRoman script are entitled to the sameprotection available to those whowrite in Devanagari. This is theirright and it flows from Article 29 (1)of the Constitution of India. Konkaniwriters in Roman script should have

access to literary awards, representationin literary bodies, financial assistanceand so on, to the same extent availableto those who write in Devanagari.However, Konkani should be taught inschools through the Devanagari scriptonly. The reason is that children learnthe Roman script through the study ofEnglish, which is important for inter-national communication and for avail-ing the increasing employment oppor-tunities in the country itself.Devanagari is equally important foraccess to Indian culture and otherIndian languages. The importance ofnational languages and assertion ofnational cultural identity are growingeverywhere in the world. India is notand should not be an exception.

In the 1960s, tourism was adopt-ed as a key sector for Goa’s develop-ment primarily because of its potentialto generate employment in a State withan increasingly educated workforce andlimited industrial growth. The objec-tive of employment has been achievedto a great extent in as much as almostone-third of Goa’s population isengaged in tourism-related activities,directly or indirectly. However, Goabeing a small State, its carrying capac-

ity in terms of its size, facilities avail-able and ecological fragility should beconsidered.

Very little awareness existed untila decade ago among policymakers inGoa or elsewhere in the world aboutthe need for sustainable tourism devel-opment. It is now accepted that tourismshould be developed in a manner thatmeets the requirements of the presentwithout compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their ownneeds.

Sustainable tourism developmentconsiders three fundamental elements,economic, social and environmental.Economic sustainability consists inmaintaining the growth rate at a man-ageable level to avoid consumer dissat-isfaction. In Goa, it is necessary toupgrade the basic physical infrastruc-ture. Social sustainability refers tosociety’s ability to absorb tourist arrivalswithout adversely affecting local well-being and value systems.

Environmental sustainabilityrelates to the capacity of the environ-ment to handle population impactwithout damage. Mega constructionprojects have transformed the land-scape of Goa. Huge buildings have now

progressed from the coastline into thehinterland and they have a negativeimpact on the lifestyle of the local pop-ulation. Big buildings, especially in thevillages, destroy the environment andshould not be permitted. Non-dispos-al of garbage, particularly inorganic, ina scientific manner is also assumingmenacing proportions. This mattershould be tackled with a sense ofurgency. There is apprehension inour State regarding the influx of peo-ple from other States who come heremostly for employment.

The Department of NRI Affairspublished in 2008 the first-ever GoaMigration Survey. It identified theGoan diaspora in 43 countries and stat-ed that “the actual number of countrieswould be much larger. Goans arefound the world over and it would bedifficult to name a country without aGoan community.”

The United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) released its annu-al Human Development Report underthe caption “Overcoming Barriers:Human Mobility and Development.”The report deals entirely with migra-tion within and among countries. Itfinds that migrants boost economic

output and, contrary to commonly-held beliefs, immigration generallyincreases employment in host commu-nities, does not crowd out locals fromthe job market and improves the rateof investment in new businesses andinitiatives.

The UNDP report recommendsthat Governments should reflect on thebenefits and costs of migration on theirstrategy and plans. Migration from oneregion to another puts pressure on theexisting infrastructure and social ser-vices such as housing, electricity, waterand sanitation.

While Goans can be justifiablyproud of the vast social and econom-ic progress achieved over the last fivedecades, they do also face several chal-lenges at this point of time. Goansought to confront these hurdles withconfidence and commitment to valuesthat shape a forward-moving and pro-gressive society. These values should betaught at school and at home so thatour land is prosperous and free fromoppression of any sort, where justiceand fairplay do indeed prevail.

(The writer is a former Union Minister)

Progress and challenges go hand in handThe UNDP report recommends that Governments should consider the benefits and costs of migration on their strategies and plans

EDUARDO FALEIRO

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020 money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro(L&T) on Thursday said it has bagged

an order worth over Rs 7,000 crore toconstruct a part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR),also known as the Bullet Train Project.The engineering and constructioncompany, however, did not provide the

exact value of the contract, but specified that as per its classification,the mega project is of over Rs 7,000 crore. The transportationinfrastructure business of L&T Construction has secured megacontract from the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL)to construct 87.569 km of the MAHSR project, L&T said in aregulatory filing. The scope of the order includes the construction ofviaducts, one station, major river bridges, maintenance depots, andother auxiliary works.

Shares of Pfizer Ltd rose nearly 4per cent in early trade on

Thursday after Pfizer Incannounced that the COVID-19vaccine developed in partnershipwith BioNTech was found 95 percent effective in the final analysis ofthe Phase 3 trial.The stock surgedby 3.83 per cent to Rs 5,098 onthe BSE.Similarly, on NSE, shares

of Pfizer Ltd rose by 3.85 per cent to Rs 5,096.20. Globaldrugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech said on Wednesday that theirCOVID-19 vaccine was found 95 per cent effective in the finalanalysis of the Phase 3 trial, including in people aged over 65 years,paving the way for the companies to apply for emergencyauthorisation from US regulators within days. Further, Pfizer andBioNTech said they have concluded phase 3 study of their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2, meeting all primaryefficacy endpoints. Based on current projections, the companiesexpect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Omega Seiki Mobility Pvt Ltd onThursday announced a

partnership with Transport Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration(TRANS ACNR) for jointly workingon refrigerated containerisedelectric vehicles with lithium-ionbatteries. To begin with, the

partners have agreed to work jointly on design, development andmaking a prototype sample for refrigerated unit and insulated boxfor electric three-wheeler, Rage+, said Omega Seiki Mobility, whichis a part of Anglian Omega Group. Commenting on the collaboration, Anglian Omega Group Chairman Uday Narang said, "We aredelighted to collaborate with TRANS ACNR in order to give betterlast mile delivery vehicles of a cold chain production process toensure efficient and flexible delivery of COVID-19 vaccines -- onceavailable, pharmaceuticals preparations, fresh food, flowers andother products with requirements regarding storage temperature."

Omega Seiki partners TRANS ACNRfor refrigerated containerised EVs

News broadcaster New DelhiTelevision Ltd (NDTV) on Thursday

said NSE has imposed a penalty ofRs 1.88 lakh on the firm for delay inappointing the sixth director on theboard. On Wednesday, BSE too levieda fine of Rs 1.88 lakh on the companyfor the same reason. "The NSE... hasimposed a penalty on the company of

Rs 1,88,800 for the alleged delay in appointing a sixth director tothe board of the company, as required by Regulation 17(1)(c) ofSEBI Regulations, 2015," NDTV said in a regulatory filing. Thispenalty pertains to the period July 1- August 1, 2020. NDTV saidsince the alleged non-compliance was solely on account of theCOVID- 19 pandemic, the company shall file an application within15 days to seek waiver of the penalty imposed by NSE inaccordance with the carve-out policy, which allows for waiver offines. It said on March 30 and June 29 this year, the companywrote to SEBI, explaining its difficulty in finalising a candidate forthe appointment of the sixth director on account of the pandemic.

L&T bags over Rs 7,000-cr order toconstruct part of Bullet Train Project

Moody's ups FY’21 Indiagrowth forecast to -10.6%PNS n NEW DELHI

Moody's Investors Service onThursday upped India's growthforecast to (-) 10.6 per cent forthe current fiscal, from its ear-lier estimate of (-) 11.5 per centsaying the latest stimulus pri-oritises manufacturing and jobcreation, and shifts focus tolonger-term growth.

Last week, the governmentannounced a new fiscal pack-age amounting to around Rs2.7 lakh crore, which includedproduction-linked incentivescheme for manufacturingunits and enhanced creditguarantee programme forsmall businesses.

Moody's said the latest mea-sures aim to increase the com-petitiveness of India's manufac-turing sector and create jobs,while supporting infrastructureinvestment and is "credit pos-itive" as it presents potential

upside to growth forecasts."We have revised our real,

inflation-adjusted GDP fore-cast for fiscal 2020 (April 2020-March 2021) to a 10.6 per centcontraction, from a 11.5 percent drop previously," Moody'ssaid. In September, the globalagency had projected Indianeconomy to contract 11.5 percent this fiscal.

For fiscal 2021-22, India'sgrowth is projected at 10.8 percent, as against the previousestimate of 10.6 per cent,Moody's said adding that in themedium term the growth islikely to settle around 6 percent.

"The country's mixed trackrecord on revenue-raisingmeasures lowers prospects for

fiscal policy-driven budgetconsolidation. A sustainedincrease in GDP growth wouldtherefore likely be a majordriver of any durable future fis-cal consolidation," it said.

Moody's forecasts govern-ment debt to increase to 89.3per cent of GDP in fiscal 2020and decline to 87.5 per cent infiscal 2021, from 72.2 per centin fiscal 2019.

According to Moody's fiscaldeficit would reach around 12per cent of GDP, with someupside risk, in fiscal 2020 andnarrowing to about 7 per centof GDP over the medium term,still above the deficit of 6.5 percent of GDP in 2019.

Moody's, however, said thatconsumer confidence in Indiaremains relatively low amid acontinued elevated number ofdaily new coronavirus cases,although this has come downfrom a peak in September.

India to see Rs 10k-crinvestment in LNG stns

PNSn NEW DELHI

Many IT leaders in India areplanning to make significantincrease in 2021 cloud budgetsin order to facilitate remoteworking, according to a survey.A research from Amdocsfound that Indian enterprisesare focusing on hiring andreskilling employees on cloudservices.

It said 250 senior IT profes-sionals in India businesseswere surveyed.

The survey revealed that 73per cent of India's IT leadersplan to make significantincrease in their 2021 cloudbudgets in order to makeremote working easier, andpotentially, permanent.

"Upskilling and reskillingare going to be crucial to shift-ing work patterns, with 59 percent of India enterprises aim-ing to upskill staff in cloud

security practices," it said in astatement.

Security and data were seenas top concerns around cloudadoption, as per the research.

Indian enterprises will alsobe hiring staff to help with theirnew cloud and remote workinginitiatives, Amdocs said addingthat 40 per cent of enterprisessaid they will be hiring newdata engineers. An equal pro-portion said they will be hiringdata scientists.

The survey found thatIndian enterprises have alreadytaken major steps to adopt thecloud.

It said 69 per cent of Indianenterprises are trainingemployees on cloud-based dataand analytics skills.

As many as 77 per cent ofIndia-based IT leaders saidtheir organisations were doingenough to constantly reskillemployees on cloud services.

Many IT leaders planning significanthike in 2021 cloud budgets: Survey

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexplunged 580 points onThursday, tracking heavy prof-it-booking in financial stocksamid a weak trend in globalmarkets.

After briefly touching itsrecord intra-day high of44,230 in a volatile session, the30-share BSE index ended580.09 points or 1.31 per centlower at 43,599.96.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty hit a fresh intra-daypeak of 12,963, before ending166.55 points or 1.29 per centlower at 12,771.70.

SBI was the top laggard inthe Sensex pack, tumblingaround 5 per cent, followed byAxis Bank, ICICI Bank,UltraTech Cement, BajajFinance, HDFC Bank andBharti Airtel. On the otherhand, PowerGrid, ITC, NTPC,Tata Steel and Titan wereamong the gainers.

"Domestic equities wit-nessed sharp fall as fear of eco-nomic restrictions after closureof public school system in NewYork resulted in profit book-ing across all markets," said

Arjun Yash Mahajan, HeadInstitutional Business atReliance Securities.

After seeing such a sharprally since the beginning ofNovember, profit-booking wasanticipated, he said, addingfinancials witnessed steep cor-rection. Most of the sectoralindices ended in red. However,traction in mid-cap and small-cap stocks remained visible, headded. Elsewhere in Asia,bourses in Hong Kong andSeoul ended in the red, whileShanghai and Tokyo closed inthe positive territory.

Stock exchanges in Europealso opened with sharp losses.

Meanwhile, Brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, slipped 0.65 per cent toUSD 44.05 per barrel.

Sensex tanks 580points; Nifty dropsbelow 12,800

REUTERS n NEW DELHI

Adani Green Energy's record $6billion solar power projectannounced in June has noguaranteed customer, its dealwith India's main solar-adop-tion agency shows, and mayexpose the company to higherfinancial risk.

Shares in the firm, con-trolled by billionaire GautamAdani, have soared three-foldsince the signing of the 8gigawatt (GW) multi-plant deal,which Adani hailed as the“largest of its type, ever” and alandmark for India.

However, previously unre-ported details of the agreementbetween Adani Green and SECIreveal the agency has no “legalor financial obligation” to sup-port the project if SECI fails tofind buyers.

This would be the first majorSECI project without a state-guaranteed PPA, which analystssay has been key to building upIndia’s renewable energy sector.

When SECI floated the ten-der for the project in June2019, it had said a PPA wouldbe assured, but it withdrew theclause guaranteeing purchase inthe deal signed a year later.

“There shall not be any legal

or financial implication to SECIin relation to such (unsold)quantum including associatedquantum of manufacturingfacilities,” the agreement,reviewed by Reuters, says.

Adani Green has said 2 GWof generation capacity will comeonstream by 2022, while the restwill be added in annual 2GWincrements through 2025 as apart of the agreement.

There are no buyers lined upfor the project yet and it isunclear when SECI will be ableto find buyers, a process thattypically takes months.

Auctions by the SECI usual-ly attract greater participationbecause of the assurance ofpower purchase and payments.

But the lack of such a guar-antee could undermine investorand lender confidence, raisingfinancing costs in a market likeIndia where power demandgrowth has repeatedly fallenshort of expectations amidslowdown. The quality of “fed-eral government-guaranteedcontracts with cashflow pay-ment certainty provideinvestors the confidence todeploy tens of billions of dol-lars”, said Tim Buckley, directorat the Institute of EnergyEconomics.

Adani Green has noguaranteed buyer for$6 bln solar project

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee depreciated 8 paiseto settle at 74.27 (provision-al) against the US dollar onThursday, tracking muteddomestic equities and strongAmerican currency.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic unitopened at 74.28 against theUS dollar and touched anintra-day high of 74.22 and alow of 74.33.

It finally closed at 74.27against the greenback, regis-tering a fall of 8 paise over itsprevious close.

On Wednesday, the rupeehad settled at 74.19 againstthe US dollar.

Rupee settles8 paise loweragainst US $

PNSn NEW DELHI

Gold prices on Thursdaydropped Rs 248 to Rs 49,714per 10 grams in the nationalcapital, as investors andtraders switched to riskierassets on new vaccine devel-opment, according to HDFCSecurities.

The precious metal hadclosed at Rs 49,962 per 10grams in the previous trade.

Silver also declined by Rs853 to Rs 61,184 per kg,compared to the previousclose of Rs 62,037 per kg.

"Spot gold prices for 24karat gold in Delhi fell belowRs 50,000 by Rs 248, reflect-ing overnight selling interna-tional gold prices," HDFCAnalyst Tapan Patel said.

Gold slips Rs 248, silverdeclines Rs 853

PNSn NEW DELHI

Healthcare major ApolloHospitals Group and TataMDon Thursday announced a col-laboration to introduceTataMD CHECK diagnostictest for Covid in the country.

Apollo Hospitals along withits subsidiary Apollo Diagnos-tics will offer the Tata MDCHECK testing in the nation-al capital region from the firstweek of December and there-after it will be rolled out acrossall major metros in the coun-try, the companies said.

These metros will beKolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad,Bengaluru, Chennai,Ahmedabad and Pune, they

added. "There cannot be abetter partner we can think ofin the Indian context thenApollo Hospitals... It is a greathonour and a proud momentto associate with Apollo fromthe Tata group, from the Tata

Medical and Diagnostics Ltd asto announce as our preferredand most important partner tomake this product availableand accessible nationwide,"TataMD CEO GirishKrishnamurthy said.

SpiceJet shares jump 12 pcPNSn NEW DELHI

Shares of SpiceJet zoomed over12 per cent on Thursday afterFAA of the US approved thereturn of Boeing 737 MAX air-craft to commercial service.

DGCA on Wednesday saidit will study FAA's decision andtake "some time" before takinga final call on allowing Boeing737 MAX planes to fly again in

the Indian skies.On BSE, the shares closed

the counter at Rs 74.35, rising12.06 per cent over the previ-ous close.

During the trading session,the scrip rose as much as15.74 per cent to Rs 76.8.

Following a similar trend onNSE, the scrip rallied 11.7 percent to Rs 74. It touched anintra-day high of Rs 76.8 by

rising 15.92 per cent.In terms of traded volume,

68.54 lakh shares were tradedon BSE, while over 5.67 crorescrips changed hands on NSE.

The US FAA on Wednesdaypaved the way for the MAXaircraft to return to commer-cial service after a comprehen-sive and methodical safetyreview process that stretchedfor 20 months.

TCS shares riseon shareholders'approval for 16kcr buyback plan

PNS n NEW DELHI

India will see an investment ofRs 10,000 crore in the nextthree years in setting up ofLNG stations, a fuel thatpromises to revolutionaliselong-haul transport withreduced cost and lesser emis-sions, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said onThursday.

Liquefied natural gas(LNG), which is supercoolednatural gas, is favoured bylong-haul buses and trucksdue to its higher energy den-sity than CNG, its ability togive a 600-800 km run on asingle fill, and it being 30-40per cent cheaper than diesel.

So far, India uses petrol,diesel, CNG and auto-LPG asfuels to run automobiles. LNGis a new fuel that can be dis-pensed from outlets similar topetrol pumps, and is used notjust in long long-haul busesand trucks but also in runningmining equipment, as bunkerfuel, and rail locomotives.

LNG will reduce the cost ofoperation as well as reducecarbon emissions, Pradhansaid at the launch of construc-tion of the first 50 LNG dis-pensing stations.

"In the next three years, Rs10,000 crore will be spent onsetting up of 1,000 LNG sta-tions in the private and pub-lic sector," he said. LNG as afuel, he said, is poised to bringa transformational change inthe way transportation hap-pens. "There are around 10million trucks in the country.If we are able to convert even10 per cent of them, imaginethe savings it will bring con-sidering the fact that LNG isup to 40 per cent cheaper than

PNSn NEW DELHI

Shares of Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS) on Thursdayrose over 0.5 per cent after itsshareholders approved up toRs 16,000-crore share buy-back plan.

On the BSE, it ended at Rs2,637.05, higher 0.42 percent. Intra-day, it rose 2 percent to Rs 2,678.6.

On the National StockExchange (NSE), TCS' shareswent up by 0.52 per cent toclose at Rs 2,640.25.

Last month, TCS' board ofdirectors approved a propos-al to buy back up to5,33,33,333 equity shares ofthe company for an aggregateamount of up to Rs 16,000crore. "The members of thecompany have duly passedthe special resolution approv-ing the buyback," TCS said ina regulatory filing onWednesday. The voting,which started on October 20and ended on November 18,saw 99.57 per cent of thevotes being cast in favour ofthe buyback offer. There was100 per cent voting in favourof the proposal by the pro-moters, 98.11 per cent bypublic institutional share-holders and 98.43 per cent byother shareholders.

NSE imposes penalty on NDTV fordelay in appointing board director

Pfizer shares surge nearly 4 per cent on vaccine report

PNSn NEW DELHI

S&P Global Ratings onThursday said the ReserveBank of India's swift resolutionof troubled Lakshmi Vilas Bankwill keep contagion at bay andhelp maintain stability in thebanking system.

The Reserve Bank has pro-posed merging Lakshmi VilasBank (LVB) with DBS BankIndia Ltd (DBIL). As part of theproposal, DBIL, the whollyowned subsidiary of Singapore-based DBS Bank, will inject Rs2,500 crore into the mergedentity to support its financialposition.

S&P said this deal is posi-tive for India's banking sectorand will bring much-neededrelief to LVB, which has beenstruggling for many years.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) had put the private-sec-tor lender under prompt cor-rective action (PCA, or underwatch by the central bank) inSeptember 2019, and thesearch for a white knight hadbeen on since then.

"The RBI's swift resolution oftroubled Lakshmi Vilas Bankwill keep contagion at bay andhelp maintain stability in the

banking system. We believe theRBI took into account DBIL'shealthy balance sheet and cap-italization when consideringpotential suitors for LVB," S&Psaid.

LVB, which has only a 0.2per cent market share, is theonly non-government-ownedbank under PCA. Recently,the shareholders of LVB attheir annual meeting ousted

seven directors of the bank,including its managing direc-tor and CEO. The RBI had tostep in and appoint a panelcomprising three independentdirectors, S&P said.

The US-based rating agencysaid it has always viewed theIndian government as highlysupportive of the banking sec-tor as it has consistently sup-ported weak commercial banksby promoting the merger ofdistressed institutions withstronger lenders.

It has historically notallowed commercial banks tofail and has swiftly stepped into address trouble. In this casealso, the RBI and the govern-ment stepped quickly to pre-vent any loss to the creditors,including depositors, andmaintain system stability.

RBI's swift resolution of LVB will maintain sector stability

PNSn NEW DELHI

Around 1.4 lakh people haveapplied for 147 senior officerspost at capital markets regu-lator Sebi.

The regulator, in March,had invited applications forthese positions as part of itsplan to beef up the headcountfor faster and more effectiveexecution of its job.

A total of 147 vacancieswere notified for OfficerGrade A by the markets watc-hdog to hire legal as well asIT experts and other officialsfor general administration.Around 1.4 lakh candidateshave applied for these vacan-cies, the Sebi showed.

Around 1.4 lakhpeople apply for147 Sebi jobs

Apollo hsptl, TataMD to launch ‘TataMD CHECK' test for Covid

LVB sharesslump 20 pcPNSn NEW DELHI

Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bankslumped further and fell 20per cent to hit its lowest per-missible trading limit in earlytrade after the governmentplaced the lender under aone-month moratorium andsuperseded its board. Theshares plunged 19 per cent.

Similarly, on NSE the scriphit a lower circuit of Rs 10,diving 19.68 per cent.Meanwhile, Capri GlobalHoldings, a public share-holder sold shares worth Rs2.54 crore on Wednesdaythrough a bulk deal on BSE.

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FridayNovember 20, 2020

We saw her firstopposite Happy

Day’s VarunSandesh in

BrammigadiKatha, and later in

Aadu MagaadraBujji. She’s backwith a web series— Poison 2, and

how! ActressAsmita Sood talks

to The Pioneercorrespondent

K RAMYA SREEabout how she

bagged her debut,roles down south,

her latest role and more

ctressAsmitaSood, whomade heractingdebut with

Tollywood’sBrammigadi Kathaalongside VarunSandesh has grabbedeveryone’s attentionwith her role in Zee5’slatest series Poison 2.

Having manoeu-vred from films totelevision to OTT,Asmita has done it all.She was also seenalongside SudheerBabu in AaduMagaadra Bujji, whereshe played Indu, a‘bubbly and chirpycollege-goer’.

Asmita, who hasnine south films to hercredit, is also a trainedKathak dancer and shehas been able to suc-cessfully manoeuvrethrough all of them. AMiss India 2011 final-ist, and a commercegraduate from theD.U., she was also seenin the song Filhall withAkshay Kumar.

Starting her careerwith modelling, herjourney to bagging herfirst

filmis nothingless than a filmy story.She tells us, “After anad film shoot, I waswalking on the roadwhen a casting directorbumped into me andasked if I wanted to actin films. She asked meto audition for the roleand I bagged my firstfilm in Tollywood. Iended up doing quite alot of work in theSouth, after which Istarted taking actingseriously. Never in mydreams did I ever thinkof becoming an actor.”

Taking us throughher role in Poison 2,Asmita says, “Aditya isthe main protagonistand my character’sname is Heena. Theshow is all aboutrevenge, deceit, jeal-ousy and negative emo-tions. Everybody is outthere to cut each other’spath. But Heena is theonly person who does-n’t have an agenda buthelps Aditya get hisrevenge done, onlybecause she is in lovewith him. She bringslove and drives the

storythat way.”

She says, south filmswidened my perspec-tive towards films andacting. “I learnt Teluguwhile working inTollywood. South filmswidened my perspec-tive towards films andacting, while televisionhelped me reach awider audience and ittaught me how to workunder pressure. Butworking for OTT was alot of fun. I’m enjoyingthe phase where OTTsare coming up with funcharacters without anyboundaries. There isscope for all kinds ofactors,” Asmitaexplains.

The actress loves thewelcoming nature hereand the homely feelingit gives to actors espe-cially outsiders.Speaking of her experi-ences in south films,she says, “I love theirprofessionalism and Ilove the fact that theyrespect women and

their treat-ment. Even thoughthere was a slight lan-guage barrier, I still feltat home. Their wel-coming and warmnature is what I love,even outside the shoot.Even though you are anewcomer, they don’ttreat you that way.They ensure you arecomfortable.”

She feels south filmsare technically soundand their direction isbeautiful. Great story-line and the raw natureof the film is whatattracts Asmita insouth films. Theactress signs off witha hope to workmore in the Southwhile exploringfurther in OTTsregardless ofthe language.

A

ASMITA SOOD TESTS OTT WATERS

A magician’s traveloguene man, sevencities and an exhil-arating journey tofind magical ele-ments acrossIndia. Neel

Madhav, the illusionist, isback with a thousand newtricks up his sleeve in thenew show — You Got MagicWith Neel Madhav. This time,the series will witness Neelbring to life the cultural rich-ness of the country andunravel folk secrets acrossplaces like Dehradun, Kerala,Uttarakhand, Ahmedabad,Agra, Deogarh andChandigarh.

Can you tell us aboutthe series — You GotMagic with NeelMadhav?

In the show, I travel toplaces in and around India toexplore magic with locals andalso, to feel the magic of eachplace. So, we are starting offwith me going back to myroots, which is to Dehradunbecause I was in the boardingof Doon School there foralmost six years. So I thoughtmaybe lets give people a tasteof the kind of education Ihad. I have been going to alot of schools lately for mybook promotion and some-

thing I realised that wasmissing was a sense of pridetowards their own country.So I thought it would be agreat idea to start with thebasics and then move for-ward to the kind of magicour country offers.

Tell us some of the bestmemories while travel-ling for this series?

One of the memories isfrom Dehradun itself. In myschool, we had a thing calledthe Rose Gold, it’s an audito-rium which houses around4,000 people and it was builtby the students at the school.Any person who got a chanceto perform at the auditoriumwas a huge deal. So, in theshow, I got the entire schoolcoming into the Rose Goldand did a two-hour perfor-mance for them. It was veryspecial for me. It was mereliving my old school life.

How does your interestin Neuro-LinguisticProgramming andCriminal Psychologyhelp you in your magic?

Neuro-LinguisticProgramming and CriminalPsychology are not used todo tricks. They are used tounderstand people. And once

you do that, then you knowwhat kind of tricks to do withthem. The amount of mentalhealth cases in India aregrowing and it’s very impor-tant to understand wherethey come from. At the endof the day, when to studyhumans, it’s important tounderstand why they do thethings they do and why theyare like that. Before perform-ing magic, I think it’s impor-tant to understand what kindof feeling they want to gener-ate. And that’s where Neuro-Linguistic Programminghelps me in doing the rightkind of trick.

What’s so special aboutthe cities covered inthis series and why didyou pick them?

Dehradun is nostalgic. Wehad to go there. Then wewent to Kerala because wehad the boat race happeningthere, so we were intrigued toknow how communities gettogether for this mega event.We went to the backwaters ofKerala as well and I got toexperience the boat racefirsthand. That was some-thing magical about Kerala.After that we visitedAhmedabad, there we hadthe kite festival happening,

an amalgamation of colours.It was truly aesthetic. Kiteflying is an art form and it’sabout bringing humanstogether. We also went toAgra. It has a place calledSheroes, which is a restau-rant run by acid attack sur-vivors. How they pulledthemselves out from miseryand torture is as magical asanything can be. It highlight-ed the darkside of our cultureand humanity. But those whowere inflicted by the dark-ness came out stronger, thatwas inspirational. So, weencountered such amazingstories from different parts ofour country. I think everyoneneeds to cherish and cele-brate them.

How has the lockdownbeen for you? Withrestrictions on travel,what kept you busy?

I had no problems in lock-down whatsoever. I actuallywrote my second book thislockdown. I think it was atremendous few months. Asmuch as the world was suffer-ing, as much as I’d like tophysically help them, but theleast I could do is make peopleunderstand the workings ofthe mind through my book.This pandemic has pretty

much increased the amount ofmental health patients. So, itwas quite productive. I gottime to spend time withmyself and respect my work.

What’s the next adven-ture that’s drawing yourattention?

Undoubtedly, my book.The first draft has been com-pleted. Now it’s going forchecking. There’s still a littleway to go. But before thathappens, I am really excitedabout my show. It’s a hugeplatform and a lot of Indianslove to watch shows that edu-cate them about variousthings of our country, So Iam kind of humbled to beable to show my journey ontelevision. My show comesfrom a very non-judgmentalperspective. I am looking for-ward to people taking backsome magic as the showrightly says, You Got Magic.

O

‘Took inspirationfrom Robert Di Nirofor my role in Bhor'

ith a range oftraining andrehearsal tech-niques, actorNalneesh Neelis one of the

epitomes who encouragesincere and emotionallyexpressive performances.He who was seen in filmslike Gulabo Sitaboo,Chhichhore, Raees, etc.,also received an award forbest actor in a negativerole in CaleidoscopeIndian Film FestivalBoston for the film Bhordirected by KamakhyaNarayan Singh. He hasnow set the standard ofsuccess mobilising theaudience’s consciousthought.

Known for minimisingat the table discussions, hevery well knows how toimprovise the sequences ofdramatic situations. Bymaking use of experiencesfrom his own life bringingus closer to the experienceof the character he’s play-ing seems to be the reasonfor him to win this presti-gious award. On express-ing his joy for receiving theaward he shares, “This is aDiwali gift for me. This ismy first award so it’s a veryspecial one for me. We hadreally worked hard for thisfilm to delve into this char-acter. I took inspirationfrom actors like MarlonBrando in The God Fatherand Robert De Niro inTaxi Driver while preppingfor the role. Not just that, Iam so into the craft that Ibegan living in Bihar’sMusahar community foralmost two months.”

“I’m extremely over-whelmed as it feels sogreat when you get hon-ored on an internationalplatform. My institutionBNA has shaped my foun-dation as an actor. The

film also received anaward for best picture onsocial issues atCaleidoscope Indian FilmFestival Boston. It hasreceived more than 25awards to date and we arethankful to the audiencesfor supporting us through-

out. I want the film toreach out to every nookand corner so that peoplelearn more about theprevalent social issues thatthe film deals with.Looking forward to moresuch quality scripts,” theactor signs off. — PNS

W

IAM SO INTOTHE CRAFTTHAT WHILEPREPPINGFOR THEROLE, IBEGANLIVING INBIHAR’SMUSAHARCOMMUNITYFOR ALMOSTTWOMONTHS

Travelling tothe mostvibrant cornersof India,illusionist NeelMadhavunravels theculturalrichness ofIndia andexplores magicin everyelement hestumbles uponin his newshow, You GotMagic. By PNS

PARTY

l Sashi Nahata

l Pooja l Sahana l Madhavi Reddy

Ph

oto

s b

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V C

ha

ry

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

10

Hyderabad Friday November 20 2020 what’s brewing?SHOPPING

DONE RIGHT!

Diwali is done, but celebrations won'tstop, believe shoppers who checkedout and grabbed some great items

on sale during the two-day AkrutiExhibition at Taj Deccan Hotel.

The exhibition had beautiful apparel, latest designs by Sashi Nahata

and more.

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anas

a

ollywoodsuperstarAkshayKumar hasfiled adefamation

suit of crores against aYouTuber who broughtup his name whilespreading fake news.

Akshay has served aRs 500-crore defama-tion suit against aYouTuber namedRashid Siddiqui, whobrought up his name inthe

Sushant Singh Rajputcase.

Siddiqui was earlierarrested for spreadingfake news and draggingthe name ofMaharashtra ChiefMinister UddhavThackeray and his son,minister AdityaThackeray, in the case.

The YouTuber usedthe digital media toallegedly mislead peo-ple and spread fakenews about severalcelebrities.

He named Akshayon several occa-

sions in his videosand levelled vari-ous allegations.In one instance,Siddiqui claimedthat Akshay wasunhappy withSushant gettingbig films like MSDhoni: TheUntold Story, and

alleged that

the actor had “secretmeetings” with AdityaThackeray and theMumbai Police.

It has been reportedthat Siddiqui, a civilengineer from Bihar,has been accused ofdefamation, publicmischief and intention-al insult.

Siddiqui had alsolinked Akshay with lateactor Sushant’s girl-friend, actress RheaChakraborty, claimingthat the actor helpedRhea to escape toCanada.

It is believed thatSiddiqui earned aroundRs 15 lakh in a span offour months and hissubscribers also grewfrom 2 lakh to over 3lakh.

Sushant was founddead in his apartmenton June 14. MumbaiPolice initially probedthe case and declaredthat the actor had com-

mitted suicide. Thecase has subse-quently been takenover by CBI, withthe NarcoticsControl Bureau

andEnforcement

Directoratejoining theinvestiga-tion.

Akshay Kumar filesRs 500Cr defamationsuit against YouTuber

B

ctress PayalRajput says shewas apprehensiveabout signingAnaganaga OAthidi, fearing

that she might not be able toace the part. “I wasn’t surewhether I would be able todo the justice to my part ornot but I did quite a bit. I’memotional right now and ithappens to me every timewhen a film of mine nearsrelease. I become really vul-nerable, but this timearound the experience is alittle new,” she said, opti-mistic of the web film’schances when it drops onaha today. She was speakingat the promotional event ofthe film in Hyderabad onWednesday evening.

Anaganaga O Athidi is theofficial remake of 2018Kannada-language suspensethriller Aa Karaala Ratri.Based on a Kannada play byMohan Habbu which wastranslated from the tragicEnglish play Lithuania by

Rupert Brooke, the film toldthe chain of events thatunfold after a mysterioustraveler visits a poverty-stricken family and requeststo be allowed to stayovernight. Original directorDayal Padmanabhan haswielded the megaphone forthe Telugu version as well,marking his Telugu debut.

Dayal, who has a richbody of work in Kannada,said that he shot the originalwith the money (nearly Rs30 lakh) he earned from hisstint in Bigg Boss (2017). “Icompleted it in 13 days andit was released in 2018 togreat acclaim and was ahuge box-office success.When I was approached forremake rights from otherindustries I didn’t oblige,telling them that I had aplan for it. On the contrarythough, I didn’t have anyplan. But I knew it was agolden goose and if I wait, itwould fetch me fame andmoney. My predictionturned out to be right. Early

this year, the Karnataka gov-ernment awarded it as theBest Film and I was declaredthe Best Director. Theawards helped it to becomepopular in other languagesand later it came to aha,” hepointed out.

He noted that he wantedto start the remake in Aprilbut the pandemic playedspoilsport. And once he feltthat he could start inAugust, he quickly swunginto action and invested 17days on the pre-production.“I’ve shot the film in 18 daysalthough I was given 23days. In another 21 days, thefinal copy was ready. WhenAllu Aravind saw the roughcut, he told me, ‘Being inthe industry for the last 50years, I never knew thatsuch a quality film can bemade in 17 days’. I was sohappy with his praise. Thecorporate experience withaha was challenging but I’mlearning a lot from them,” hestated.

Dayal added that as a pro-

ducer he sawhighs and lowsbut in 2013, hedecided to doaway with takingthe help offinanciers andspend his ownmoney on hisventures. “But Iwas having lessmoney, so Idecided towrite storiesthat fit themoney I pos-sess. So in away econom-ics forcedme tobecome acontent-ori-ented film-maker.Now, I’mproud todeclare thatI madeprofits,” herevealed.

A

11

Hyderabad Friday November 20 2020tollywood

Megastar Chiranjeevi recently shot for aha's talk show Sam Jam hosted bySamantha Akkineni. The streamer's PR team on Thursday released some picturesfrom the show, which have gone viral. The 65-year-old came wearing a green coat

with beige trousers, looking dapper as ever. His daughter Sushmita styled him. Thestreamer is yet to announce when they will telecast this episode.

ANAGANAGA OATHIDI: PAYAL

“I’ve shot the film in 18 days. In another 21 days, the finalcopy was ready,” director Dayal Padmanabhan, who is on

cloud 9 with praises from industry biggies, tells NAGARAJ GOUD

Was apprehensive of signingIdhe Maa Katha is a screenplaybased movie: SRIKANTH

fter resuminglast month, themakers ofSrikanth andSumanthAshwin-starrer

adventure drama complet-ed the Hyderabad leg offilming. On Thursday theyheld a presser inHyderabad to announcethe title as Idhe Maa Kathaand reveal the first look ofthe characters played bySrikanth, Ashwin, Bhumikaand Tanya Hope.

Speaking later, GMahesh, who is producingthe film under GurappaParameswara Productions,said it is everyone’s story,including his own. “It is thereason why I’m eagerlyawaiting the release. Thescript revolves aroundmany emotions,” he added.

Director Guru Pawansaid his team was disap-pointed when the shoothad to be halted dueto COVID-19 earlythis summer afterthey've shot some por-tions in Ladakh and itssurroundingareas.

“Nonetheless, we resumedlast month in Hyderabadby taking all safety precau-tions and even completedthe new schedule. TheManali schedule is pend-ing, which we intend tocomplete next month, call-ing it a wrap to the shoot.I’m a rider in my originallife and so, I’ve penned thestory on a group of bikers,”he said.

Ashwin said that he lovesbike riding but as he is nota professional rider, he tookthe help of Pawan in thelockdown to sharpen hisskills.

Srikanth said that as ayoungster, he undertookmany trips on a bike.“Once, I travelled toLadakh from Hyderabad ina car. It was a good experi-ence to have gone toLadakh with a good team.

The film is a screen-play-based moviewith a uniquestory. The cine-matography ofRamprasad and

Jawahar Reddy willbe a major plus,”

hepromised.

A

CHIRU SHOOTS FOR SAM JAM

rabhas-starrerAdipurush, whichwas announced inAugust earlier thisyear, has booked itsrelease date. On

Thursday, the actor took tosocial media to share that it willopen in cinema halls on August11, 2022. “#Adipurush inTheatres 11.08.2022,” (sic),” hewrote. Producer BhushanKumar and film’s director OmRaut too shared the same mes-sage on their social media pro-files.

Interestingly, the film, whichwas announced six months afterNag Ashwin and Prabhas unti-tled sci-fi drama, might takeprecedence shoot-wise.According to the buzz, Prabhaswill join the sets from Januaryitself. He was recently seenmaking a trip to Mumbai,where he is believed to haveparticipated in the looktests for the project.There is no word yet onwhen the actor will startshooting for Ashwin’sfilm.

Adipurush, ascreen adap-tation ofa chap-terfrom

Indian epic Ramayana andrevolves around the triumph ofgood over evil, will be shot inHindi and Telugu simultaneous-ly and later dubbed into Tamil,Malayalam, Kannada and otherforeign languages.

Speaking about the projectearlier, Prabhas said that por-traying a character likeAdipurush comes with tremen-dous responsibility and pride.“I’m excited to portray thischaracter of our epic, especiallythe way Om has designed it,” hehad said.

Bollywood actor Saif AliKhan will be seen as Lankesh,an intelligent demon who ismenacing, lethal and brutal, all

at the same time. A3D action-drama

high on visualeffects, it is ajoint produc-tion venturebetweenBhushan

Kumar,Krishan

Kumar, OmRaut, Prasad

Sutar andRajesh Nair.

Adi

puru

sh s

eals

its

date

P

Shreyas Srinivas and scriptdrove me to sign Crazy

Uncles: Sree Mukhictor-TV hostSree Mukhi,who is playinga key role inCrazy Uncles,says that the

primary reason that ledher to hop on to the pro-ject was Shreyas Srinivas,film’s producer. “I’ve host-ed many events for hisevent management groupShreyas Group and enjoya good working relation-ship with him. He con-ducted many events suc-cessfully and on a grandnote. So I know howconcentrated he wouldbe on his productionventure. The other rea-son was the script

penned by Sriwass garu.A situational comedybetween three uncles andthe part played by me, itbecomes a meaningfulfilm as it culminates. Westarted on Dasara and wewrapped up 90 percent ofthe film,” she said. Shewas speaking at a pressmeet of the film, starringRaja Ravindra, Mano andBharani in the titularroles, in Hyderabad onThursday.

Sriwass, who is jointlyproducing the film alongwith Srinivas, pointed outthat they’ve initiallythought of making it as aone-hour film but afterrealizing the scope the

story had, they decided tomake it as a regular fea-ture. “We are planning tosend it to OTT or ATTplatforms. It will be a wel-come departure fromcrime dramas andthrillers that dot OTTplatforms. It is a familyentertainer,” he said. Headded that he is lookingforward to producingmore concept-drivenfilms with Srinivas in thefuture.

Also featuring PosaniKrishna Murali, Hema,Gayatri Bhargavi andVenkata Giridhar, thefilm, directed by ESattibabu, has been writ-ten by Darling Swamy.

A

AFP n LONDON

Romelu Lukaku helped fireBelgium into the UEFA

Nations League finals by scoringtwice in a 4-2 win over Denmarkon Wednesday, while Italy alsosecured a place in the last four withvictory away to Bosnia andHerzegovina.

The world’s number one-rankedside, Belgium only required a drawfrom their last League A, Group 2game at home to Denmark behindclosed doors in Leuven and took anearly lead through Youri Tielemans.

Jonas Wind equalised forDenmark, but Lukaku got a sec-ond-half double and Kevin DeBruyne made sure of the victory forRoberto Martinez’s side afterThibaut Courtois allowed a NacerChadli back-pass to squirm underhis leg and in for an own goal.

Italy secured first place inGroup 1 with a 2-0 triumph in

Sarajevo thanks to a goal in eachhalf from Torino’s Andrea Belottiand Domenico Berardi of Sassuolo.

That ensured they finished apoint ahead of the Netherlands,who came from behind to beatPoland 2-1 away with captainGeorginio Wijnaldum scoring thewinner after Memphis Depay’spenalty cancelled out KamilJozwiak’s opener.

Italy and Belgium join Spainand World Cup holders France ina final tournament which is expect-ed to be held in Italy in Octobernext year.

Before the finals, Europeannational teams will start their 2022World Cup qualifying campaign inMarch and then the delayed Euro2020 is set to go ahead next Juneand July.

England have more than oneeye on that tournament, with thesemi-finals and final scheduled forWembley, and Gareth Southgate’steam rounded out their NationsLeague campaign with a 4-0 winover Iceland.

Declan Rice and Mason Mount

scored in the first half andManchester City’s Phil Foden gothis first international goals with alate brace as England had threeplayers aged 21 or younger score inthe same match for the first timesince 1883.Birkir Mar Saevarsson was sent off

for Iceland who, like Bosnia, are rel-egated and will compete in LeagueB in the next edition.

WALES MMOVE UUPWales won promotion to League

A with a 3-1 win over 10-manFinland that allowed them totop Group B4.

Despite manager RyanGiggs being missing afterhis recent arrest on suspicionof assaulting his girlfriend,Wales came good with goalsfrom Harry Wilson, DanielJames and Kieffer Moore. TeemuPukki netted for Finland, who hadleft-back Jere Uronen sent off afterjust 12 minutes.

While Wales go up, Scotlandmissed out on promotion fromLeague B, Group 2 after losing 1-

0 in Israel, their second consecu-tive loss since clinching qualifica-tion for Euro 2020.

Manor Solomon’s first-halfgoal sunk the Scots, and the CzechRepublic won promotion at theirexpense after beating Slovakia 2-0.

Also securing promotion tothe top tier were Austria, who drew1-1 with a Norway side deprived ofstars Erling Braut Haaland and

Martin Odegaard after beingordered to quarantine becauseof a positive coronavirus test intheir squad. Hungary won pro-motion too thanks to a 2-0 vic-tory over Turkey combinedwith a 5-0 hammering forRussia at the hands of Serbia.

The Republic of Ireland avoided rel-egation to League C after drawing0-0 with Bulgaria, but NorthernIreland and Turkey were among thesides to go down, while Montenegro,Armenia, Slovenia and Albania goup to the second level.

PTI n CAPE TOWN

South African players won’ttake the knee in their limit-

ed over series against England athome as they have alreadyexpressed their support towardsthe Black Lives Matter move-ment during the 3TC game inJuly, coach Mark Boucher hassaid.

South Africa will appear intheir first international assign-ment since the Covid-19-induced lockdown in Marchwhen they host England forthree T20Is and as many ODIs,beginning on November 27 atNewlands.

South African players,match officials, administrators

and commentators, includingdirector of cricket GraemeSmith, had taken the knee whilewearing black arm-bands withthe BLM logo on it at the3TCricket match in Centurionfor the Solidarity Cup on July 12.

“I have spoken to the guy(Lungi Ngidi) who was drivingthe whole movement withinour set-up, he is pretty happythat we have done what we

needed to do, in particular atthat (3TC) game,” Mark Bouchertold ESPNcricinfo.

“It’s not something that wehave to continue to show. It’ssomething that you have tolive... If guys who brought it upare happy with it, that’s great, butif they feel we have to do more,that will be a chat and that theyare open to express their opin-ions.”

sport 12HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

PTI n SYDNEY

India will “not be clear intheir own mind” about theirbatting order after the

departure of talismanic captainVirat Kohli at the end of firstTest Down Under, feelsAustralian great Ricky Ponting.

The 32-year-old Kohli hasbeen granted paternity leave bythe BCCI to be with his wife forthe birth of their first child.

“India will feel that withoutKohli there (for three Tests), forhis batting and leadership,that’ll put all sorts of pressureon different players,” Pontingwas quoted as saying by crick-et.Com.Au.

“You’d think (Ajinkya)Rahane will take over the cap-taincy, which will put extrapressure on him, and they’vegot to find someone to bat atthat really important No 4 spot.

“I don’t think they’ll beclear in their own mind, evennow, what their batting orderwill look like for the first Test.Who’s going to open, who’ll batat four when Kohli goes?”Ponting added.

The Indian bowling attackwill comprise Jasprit Bumrahand Mohammed Shami in leadroles. The tourists will call onIshant Sharma if he recoversfrom the side injury sustainedat the IPL while Umesh Yadavand Navdeep Saini are alsopart of India’s Test squad.

With so many options,Ponting feels India will have toanswer more questions than the

hosts.“The questions that are

being asked around Australiawith Pucovski and Green, Ithink India have got a fewmore questions to answer.

“Shami, Jasprit Bumrah —will it be Ishant, will it beUmesh Yadav, will it be a youngguy like Saini or Siraj?

“They’ve got a lot of ques-

tions to ask as well. And whichspinner? They’ve got a fewspinners in their squad andthey’ve got to figure out whichone to pick for the pink-ballgame in Adelaide,” Pontingsaid.

India made history by win-ning their first Test series onAustralian soil in the 2018-19series. However, the hosts were

then without their star batsmenDavid Warner and Steve Smith,who were were serving bans fortheir involvement in the 2018ball-tampering incident.

“The one thing we haven’tspoken enough about is yesIndia were really good here lasttime, but with those guys(Smith and Warner) missing atthe top of the order, that leaves

a big gap in any team,” Pontingsaid.

The-45-year-old backedincumbent opener Joe Burns tostart ahead of the young WillPucovski.

“Burns hasn’t done muchwrong. If you go back to lastsummer, he played really well inthe first Test in Brisbane and Iremember saying then to lockhim in and give him a good goat it for a while.

“We read a lot into what’shappened in the first fewrounds of Shield cricket, andbecause they haven’t played aTest match for so long, a lotpeople are forgetting what hap-pened last summer.”

Pucovski is coming offback-to-back double hundredsin the Sheffield Shield and is insensational form. His inclusionhas set up a competition withBurns, who is feeling the heatafter a disastrous start to thefirst-class summer.

“But I think that’s wherethis one becomes a uniqueone; Burns is about 30, andyou’ve got a young guy whoseems to be at the peak of hispowers, who’s been touted as avery good player for Australiaand has been for a few years.

“That’s where the decisionis going to be a really tough onefor them.”

Head coach Justin Langerand and skipper Tim Paineboth have hinted at persistingwith the experienced Burns atthe top.

“I’m just reading the tealeaves a little bit, even with what

Justin had to say about the rela-tionship between Burns andWarner, my gut feeling is theywon’t go to Pucovski just yet.

“But it’ll only be a few slipups from a few players and weknow who the next cab off therank is going to be. (Opening)is just another string to(Pucovski’s) bow,” Pontingadded.

PTI n SYDNEY

Cameron Green has earnedthe right to make his Test

debut as a batsman but needsto make his case as an all-rounder for the ODIs againstIndia starting November 27,said Australian coach JustinLanger.

Green, who can also bowlexpress pace, and WillPucovski are among the fivefresh faces in the Australiansquad for the high-profileTest series against India, whichwill take place after threeODIs and as many T20s.

“In one-day cricket he’llonly play if he can bowl a fewovers because that’s how we’llset up the team. He hasn’t hadthe white-ball experience to

come in as a pure batsman butif he can bowl a few overs, mygosh he becomes a goodprospect,” Langer was quotedas saying by cricket.Com.Au.

“But Test cricket is differ-ent. He’s earned the right toplay Test cricket on his batting.I love watching him bat. For

such a tall batsman, he’s got somuch time.”

Green has been ratedhighly by the likes of GregChappell, who called the 21-year-old the best batting tal-ent he had seen since the greatRicky Ponting.

Green said he would gaina lot of experience from hisdebut series, whether he playsor not.

“The results I’ve had infour-day cricket are definite-ly a lot better than what I haveshown in T20s. If I don’t play,I’ll get a lot of experience andhopefully take a lot out of it.

“There’s probably no bet-ter place to keep learning andevolving your game thanaround world-class coachesand players,” said Green.

PTI n MELBOURNE

Australia’s premium spin-ner Nathan Lyon has

missed the adrenaline rush ofTest cricket while he was awayfrom the game due to theCovid-19 pandemic but saysthe break has rekindled hisdesire to go beyond 500 wick-ets in the format.

Lyon, who is just fourgames short of playing100 Tests, has captured390 wickets so far, themost by any Australianoff-spinner.

“I still feel I’m get-ting better and stillfeel like I’ve got a lot ofcricket to offer CricketAustralia,” Lyon, whoturns 33 on Friday,was quoted as sayingby foxsports.

“Definitely 500and beyond is onmy radar.”

Lyon willbecome just the10th player inAustralian history

to reach 100 Tests, in thefourth and final match againstIndia in Brisbane early nextyear.

The veteran spinner lastplayed a Test in January thisyear before the Covid-19 pan-demic shut down cricketacross the globe. He says thebreak has made him hungri-er to perform.

“Probably it’s driven mylove for the game,” Lyonsaid.

“Without being ableto play the game that

you love so muchand not being

able to play thatregularly that’sdriven my pas-sion to get outthere and thathunger to per-

form well again.“The most I’ve

missed is that pres-sure that comes

along with playingTest cricket.

Missing that adren-aline.”

ROHIT BBEGINS FFITNESS TTRAINING AAT NNCA Bengaluru: Australia-bound Rohit Sharma startedhis fitness training at the National Cricket Academyhere on Thursday. Rohit is not part of India's limitedovers squad for the Australia tour but is in the revisedTest squad after he played two IPL games for MumbaiIndians besides the final. Though Rohit said he wasabsolutely fine, the BCCI felt he needed more time torecover from his hamstring injury he had sufferedduring the IPL. Rohit's fitness has become even morecrucial since regular skipper Virat Kohli won't beavailable after the first Test.

GAYLE, MMALINGA PPULL OOUT OOF LLPL Colombo: Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga, two ofT20 cricket's biggest draws, have pulled out of theinaugural Lanka Premier League along with Englandpacer Liam Plunkett, dealing a huge blow to thetournament even before its take-off. While Gayle andPlunkett's withdrawals were confirmed by theirfranchise Kandy Tuskers, Malinga pulled out citing“inadequate preparation time”, according to a reportin ESPNcricinfo. England batsman Ravi Bopara, whowas drafted into the Jaffna Stallions franchise, toohas pulled out. He has confirmed to the franchise thathe will not play.

PPRRAAJJNNEESSHH AADDVVAANNCCEESS TTOO OORRLLAANNDDOO QQ//FFOrlando: Prajnesh Gunneswaran reeled off sevengames in a row before his opponent Tung-Lin Wuretired in the decider as the Indian player entered thequarterfinals of the Orlando Challenger event, here.The fourth seed Prajnesh was leading 5-7, 7-5, 2-0when Wu opted out of the second round contest thathad already spanned two hours 30 minutes. Prajneshwas trailing 5-7, 2-5 at one stage and the Taipei playerwas serving for the match but the Indian kept hisnerves and forced a decider in the $52,080 hard courttournament by winning the next seven games. He willnow face Kazkhastan's Dmitry Popko, ranked 172.

LLAAMMIICCHHHHAANNEE JJOOIINNSS HHOOBBAARRTT HHUURRRRIICCAANNEESS Hobart: Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane willhave a new Big Bash home this season as he hassigned with the Hobart Hurricanes for the upcomingedition. The 20-year-old burst onto the radar ofAustralian fans when he made his BBL debut for theMelbourne Stars back in season 8. In his previoustwo seasons of BBL, he taken 26 wickets at anaverage of 19.80 in the 20 matches he's played. “I amhumbled and honoured to join the Hobart Hurricanesfamily for BBL 10. I have always got a lot of love andsupport in Australia, and the premium quality ofcompetition in Big Bash is exciting. I can't wait to playat the Blundstone Arena,” said Lamichhane.

BINDRA IIS AADHM EEVENT AAMBASSADORNew Delhi: India's only individual Olympic Gold-medallistshooter Abhinav Bindra was on Thursday named eventambassador of the 16th Airtel Delhi Half Marathonscheduled to be held on November 29. “Today, the AirtelDelhi Half Marathon has motivated individuals, young andold, to adopt a healthy lifestyle, run for a cause andempower women to put their best foot forward. The spiritof the event ener gizes runners; instills faith. In spite of thechallenges this year, the amateurs have the opportunity toparti cipate from different parts of India but finish togetherin spirit through the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon MobileApp,”he said. AAggeenncciieess

SINGLES

PTI n SYDNEY

Cheteshwar Pujara, whohas not played competi-

tive cricket since March, hadan extensive net session hereon Thursday and looked com-fortable facing the fast bowlersas he geared up for whatpromises to be a gruelling red-ball series against Australia.

Pujara batted both at theside nets and the centre stripwhere he faced Ishan Porel,Kartik Tyagi, who are with theteam as net bowlers, UmeshYadav and RavichandranAshwin.

The BCCI posted a shortvideo of Pujara’s net session on

social media.The Indian team is

allowed to train in its 14-dayquarantine, having arrivedhere last week.

While most India playerscompeted in the IPL, Testregulars Pujara and HanumaVihari joined the nationalteam bubble in the UAEbefore reaching Australia.

Pujara, who last playedthe Ranji Trophy final, wasinstrumental in India’s historicwin over Australia two yearsago and his role at numberthree will be of immensevalue, especially after ViratKohli’s departure followingthe first Test.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Frequently changing captains andcoaches has hurt Kings XI Punjab

in the past and that is why the fran-chise has decided to work on a three-year plan under Anil Kumble and KL Rahul to take the side forward, co-owner Ness Wadia has said.

It was a roller-coaster ride forKXIP this IPL. They lost six out oftheir first seven games before win-ning five in a row to storm back intoplay-off contention. The Rahul-ledside needed to win its last leaguegame against Chennai Super Kingsto reach the top-four but it couldn’t.

Looking back at the recently-concluded season, Wadia said theumpiring error to call a short-runwhen it wasn’t, cost the team a play-off berth though it did not show therequired consistency in the firstyear under captain and coach com-bine of Rahul and Kumble.

“It is a new captain, new teamwith a lot of fresh faces, sometimesit clicks and sometimes it doesn’t.The auction is coming up soon andwe would be looking to plug the gapsin the middle-order and our bowl-ing,” Wadia said.

“The international players didnot perform to the expected level,”he said referring to the likes of GlennMaxwell and Sheldon Cottrell, forwhom KXIP paid big money at lastyear’s auction.

He also said that Chris Gayle,

who was surprisingly not picked inthe first half of the tournament, haddone enough to be playing fromgame one next season.

“The team management didwhat it thought was best for theteam. It is important to back expe-rienced players and Gayle hasdemonstrated that he should playevery game next season,” said the co-

owner.Talking about the future under

Kumble and Rahul, Wadia said:“We have a charted a three-yearstrategy with Anil. We revamped thisseason and finished sixth and lost(the play-off spot) only by onegame.

“K L has been with us for threeyears and there was a reason why wewent after him so aggressively. Hehas proved us right,” he said, refer-ring to the tournament’s highest-rungetter.

“It is tough for the top orderwhen your middle order is not per-forming. The good thing is that wehave an established core now (Rahul,Agarwal, Pooran, Gayle and Shami)and we need to plug the gaps whichare quite apparent (middle-order anddeath bowling).”

Kumble took over from MikeHesson, who parted ways after oneseason, while Rahul was appointedcaptain after R Ashwin’s switch toDelhi Capitals.

“...KXIP’s record of making toomany changes in captaincy andcoaching is something which wewant to correct,” he said.

“Rahul captained exceedinglywell and gained in confidence witheach game. We are lucky to havehim. Shami has been brilliant tooand has adjusted brilliantly to theT20 format. Pooran and the youngRavi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singhtoo performed well.”

AP n LONDON

Daniil Medvedev is enjoyingthe ATP Finals a lot better

in his second appearance.Medvedev secured a spot

in the semifinals of the season-ending tournament by domi-nating five-time championNovak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 onWednesday for his secondstraight win of the group stage.

Medvedev, who lost allthree of his group matcheslast year on his tournamentdebut, has now beatenDjokovic in three of their lastfour meetings. The top-rankedSerb can still advance ifhe beats 2018 champi-on Alexander Zverev ina winner-takes-allmatch on Friday.

Zverev kept histournament hopes alivewith a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3victory over DiegoSchwartzman earlier onWednesday.

Medvedev broke Djokovicthree straight times to go from3-3 in the first set to a 3-0 leadin the second. The first breakcame after a marathon gamewhen the Russian finally con-verted his third break pointwhen Djokovic missed a fore-hand after a long rally.

Djokovic then double-faulted on set point and neverlooked likely to stage a come-

back in the second.Medvedev saved the onlybreak point he faced at2-0 and then securedthe victory with aforehand winner onhis first matchpoint.

“He was justbetter, no questionabout it,” Djokovicsaid.

“Just not a greatmatch from my side. Ithought I could haveand should havedone better, butcredit to him forplaying on a highlevel.”

AFP n MANCHESTER

Pep Guardiola has endedspeculation over his

Manchester City future aftersigning a new two-year contractextension on Thursday.

Guardiola was due to beout of contract at the end of thisseason and it had been suggest-ed he might be ready to leaveCity. But the 49-year-old hasnow agreed to stay at the EtihadStadium until at least 2023.

“Manchester City arepleased to announce that PepGuardiola has signed a newtwo-year deal with the club,” a

statement on Man City’swebsite said.

FormerBarcelona and

BayernMunich bossGuardiola is

midwaythrough his

fifth campaignwith the Premier

League and hisnew deal will

extend what isalready his

longest stay atany club.

India will feel extra pressure without Kohli in Tests: PontingGreen’s ODI debut hingeson ability to bowl: Langer

Lyon wants to go beyond500 Test wickets

Indian skipper Virat Kohli arrives at crease to bat during 4th Test against Australia at SCG in January 2019 cricket.com.au

Pujara gets into groove Proteas won’t take knee against Eng: Boucher3 SA cricketers isolatedCape Town: Three players of the South African men’s cricket teamhave been placed under isolation after one of them tested posi-tive for Covid-19 ahead of the white-ball series against England,the country’s cricket board confirmed. Cricket South Africathough, did not disclose the names of the three players. PTI

SA pacer Lungi Ngidi @OfficialCSA

We’ve charted a three-year plan under Kumble: Wadia

Kings XI Punjab coach Anil Kumble IPLT20

Medvedev beats Djoker Pep extendsMan City stay

Belgium, Italy into Nations League finals

Italian players celebrate after win against Bosnia and Herzegovina @EURO2020