Did not expect this outcome: KTR...2020/12/05 · Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502,

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The ruling TRS has paid theprice in the GHMC pollsapparently for its flawed polit-ical strategies, overconfidence,and heavy corruption chargesfaced by its corporators overthe past five years.

TRS miserably failed to liveup to the expectations of peo-ple in Hyderabad, who hadgiven it a huge mandate in the2016 GHMC polls. The pinkparty then won 99 seats out ofthe 150 it contested.

The TRS came to power inGHMC in 2016 with promis-es of making Hyderabad a'world-class city', a 'New YorkCity' and an "Istanbul city";cleansing Hussain Sagar andmake it a drinking water

source; 'slumless city', 'nalaencroachments-free city', andbuilding world-class roads andflyovers, and other infrastruc-ture.

However, it failed to fulfillmost of its major promises inthe past five years which led tosevere resentment amongHyderabad voters.

Soon after TRS' grand vic-tory in 2016 GHMC polls,TRS chief and Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Raorewarded his son KT RamaRao by making himMunicipal AdministrationMinister, promisingHyderabad people that KTRwould take care ofHyderabad's overall develop-ment on his behalf.

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TRS working president KTRama Rao, reacting to theGHMC poll outcome, saidon Friday: "While theresults are certainly not whatwe expected, we are short of20-25 seats, but the fact isthat we lost 10 to 12 divi-sions with a narrow marginof 200 to 100 votes and insome cases less than 100votes".

He added that in BNReddy Nagar andMalkajgiri, the pink partyhad lost by 32 and 80 votesrespectively.

KTR stated that the partywould certainly discuss whyit did not get the desiredresults. He indicated that thenew Council would beformed only after the pre-sent Council's term ends i.e.in February 2021. He saidthey had enough time todecide on a Mayoral candi-date.

In a brief press meet, theTRS working president said:"I would like to thank thepeople of Hyderabad whovoted for TRS and chose itas the single largest party. Ithank everyone, TRS partyleaders and workers whotook part in the campaignand social media warriorswho have supported us".

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TRS chief and Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao's strate-gic decision to advance theGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation polls by over twomonths, apparently to preventthe Bharatiya Janata Party frombuilding on the Dubbak by-poll victory and to leave littleor no time for opposition par-ties to be battle-ready, failed toyield the desired results.

It is a different matter that asimilar 'early polls strategy'

had worked in favour of theTRS in the December 2018Assembly polls. KCRdissolved the TSL e g i s l a t i v eAssembly inSeptember 2018--- nine monthsbefore thetenure of theHouse was toend (June 2019).In the snapDecember 2018Assembly polls, TRS won witha landslide majority. The pink

party won 88 seats out of 119in the Assembly, against 62

seats it won in 2014, andretained power for a

second term.However, the

advanced GHMCpolls seems tohave worked inpreventing BJP

from coming topower in GHMC

due to the 14-day tightelection schedule. The saf-

fron party could not strategise,mobilise and utilise its

resources completely to beatTRS due to lack of sufficienttime. TRS, despite targeting acentury, could emerge as thesingle largest party. Its savinggrace is that it has been savedfrom the embarrassment ofsuffering defeat at the hands ofBJP.

After TRS suffered a shock-ing defeat at the hands of BJPin the Dubbak Assemblybypoll, KCR took a calculateddecision to go for 'early polls'with regard to GHMC.

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Hyderabad is a cosmopolitancity and this incontrovertiblefact reflects in the results of theGHMC elections as well.People hailing from TS dis-tricts typically staying in LBNagar Zone preferred BJP,

while those

from Andhra Pradesh haveendorsed their support to TRSin Serilingampally zone andKukatpally zone. The'Telangana sentiment' is clear-ly no longer on the minds ofpeople, be it those hailingfrom TS or from AP.

According to Bandi Sanjay,"People have endorsed 'Bharat

Mata ki jai ' and 'VandeMataram' in the GHMC elec-tions".

The statement that "Realestate will collapse" by ChiefMinister K Chandrashekar Raohimself has led to the partysecuring a huge win in the westzone of the city.

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Ambassadors and HighCommissioners of around 80countries will be landing in thecity on December 9 to visitBharat Biotech and BE limit-ed which are working on theCOVID-19 vaccine.

An official release said onFriday Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar held a meet-ing with an advance team,including Chief of ProtocolNagesh Singh and othersenior officials of the state gov-ernment and discussed thearrangements to be made inconnection with the high pro-file visit,.

"Chief Secretary informedthat the dignitaries will be vis-iting Bharat Biotech Limitedand Biological E limited theindustrial units which areworking on the COVID-19vaccine in the country.

He asked the officials tomake foolproof arrangementsduly following all the COVID-19 protocols during the visit ofthe dignitaries," the releasesaid. As many as five wellequipped buses and a specialmedical team, should be put inplace for the envoys.

A presentation should alsobe made to showcase the statespotential in the productionand supply of vaccine. headded.

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The Bharatiya Janata Partyhas struck a chord with thedenizens of Hyderabad thistime. People have whole-heartedly welcomed the saf-fron party by giving it 48seats, compared to just fourseats the party won in 2016.This indicates the impact theBJP leaders, particularly thecentral leaders who cam-paigned, had on people bypromising to turn Hyderabadinto a global city and provid-ing basic amenities which havebeen deprived to many sec-tions of people by the govern-

ment. Hyderabad voters havewelcomed BJP into Telangana,paving the way for the party's

better show in the 2023 elec-tions.

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"Saffron strike took placenow, surgical strike will takeplace in the future," observedTelangana BJP chief andKarimnagar MP Bandi SanjayKumar, elated at the saffronparty's victory in around 50divisions.

Speaking to media personsat the BJP state unit officehere on Friday, along withUnion Minister G KishanReddy,

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In the just-concluded civicbody elections, the results ofwhich were announced onFriday, voters of Hyderabadhave thrown up a 'hung'GHMC that leaves the rulingTRS in the bear hug of theMIM, with the BJP taking aquantum leap to be in a posi-tion to breathe down the neckof the pink party. However,none of the parties couldsecure the magic figure of 76out of the 150 seats of the cor-poration.

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Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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Acertain Director of theNational PoliceAcademy used to beau-

tifully describe the differencebetween the police and thearmy as follows — for thearmy, land is the objective andman is the hindrance; for thepolice, man is the objectiveand land is the hindrance.

In other words, the purposeof policing is to always beavailable at hand for citizens.Such service would win thehearts of residents and elicitcooperation. In contrast, thegoal of the army is to captureterritory by eliminatinghumans who stand in theirway.

This tagline arises from thefact that the DNA of thepolice and the army is thesame. During the early yearsof the British rule, army offi-cers were routinely secondedto work in the police. In fact,even today in some statesdistrict police superintendentsare colloquially called ‘kaptansaheb’, and multiple ranks and

accountability to a verticalhierarchy are key aspects ofthe Indian police structure.Another origination is thesystem of Prefects followed inFrance. While introducingthe Police Act, the Britishhad two models to choosefrom — the LondonMetropolitan model and theFrench Prefecture system. Asthe London Metropolitanmodel would have meantacceding ‘real’ power to thelocal people, the British optedfor the Prefecture system. Inthis system, the district mag-istrates became the equivalentof Prefects and the policewere made accountable tothe district magistrates.

Post-1947, the hold of themagistrates gradually weak-ened. This was largely due tothe introduction of democra-tic politics and other legal

changes, such as the completewithdrawal of judicial powersfrom the executive duringthe 70s, as well as the progres-sive adoption of the policecommissioner system by dif-ferent states. As the hold of themagistrates was weakened,the accountability should havebeen handed over to the peo-ple. But this did not happen.One major reason was due towant of an acceptable modelon how to make the policedirectly accountable to thepeople. The result was that thepolice were compelled to

operate in a liminal space. The liminal space is

uniquely Indian. In this space, informality

prevails and as professorAnanya Roy points out, this isan expanse where the lawitself is rendered open-ended.The rendering open of the lawcreates an unstable relation-ship between what is legal andillegal. In turn, this gives greatscope for arbitrariness andfickleness in decision-making.Thus, the liminal space isneither regulated nor unreg-ulated, but arises from the

interplay of multiple interpre-tations and interests and isaptly called ‘deregulated’.

In such deregulated envi-rons, accountability takes ona different meaning. Citizenengagement becomes listeningto people, as therapists do, inorder to give them a good feel-ing because the general belief

is that real peoples’ empower-ment would, in some way,hinder police neutrality andoperations.

One way out of this conun-drum of deregulation is toactualise the idea of democra-tic administration as devel-oped by political scientistVincent Ostrom.

The basic assumption ofdemocratic administration isthat the people having aninterest in a public serviceshould also control and mon-itor its provision. Today, citi-zens take little interest inpublic administration becausetheir demands and prefer-ences don’t count for much. If,the more citizens’ demandsand preferences count, themore scrutiny there would beof the efficiency and integri-ty of government operations.

In order to bring about

democratic administration,governing authority has to bedevolved to people or groupsof people (called “communi-ties of interest”) who have astake in a particular service.Thus, communities of interestcould be locality-based, city /district wide or non-geo-graphically organised depend-ing on the nature of govern-ment service under consider-ation.

Let us apply this to thepolice. In neighbourhoods,the people are most con-cerned about crime preven-tion and safety, thus patrollingwould be monitored and con-trolled by people at the local-ity level. More sophisticatedservices such as crime inves-tigation could be organised athigher levels (e.g.district/state/nation depend-ing on nature/reach of crime).

Similarly, specialised ser-vices (e.g. forensic labs, specialteams) could be organised ata regional or statewide scale.

Thus, the lack of directaccountability of the police tothe people is path-dependent.In order to make themaccountable in the liminalspace, numerous, though notnecessarily more effective,means of police control havebeen laid down.

The way forward is toreplace the vertical account-ability of police with horizon-tal accountability to the peo-ple. The spread of socialmedia and the internet havethe potential to make this hap-pen. Once peoples’ demandsand preferences count, theywill take an interest in policeoperations; thus, making thepolice more accountable tothem.

(Author has a PhD from theUSA and a DLitt from KanchiUniversity. The article is basedon his research and practiceand views are personal)

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Waiting centres for expectantmothers would be set up ingovernment hospitals to pre-vent maternal and infant mor-tality, Health and FamilyWelfare Commissioner VakatiKaruna said on Friday.

She held a meeting with theofficials of health and otherconcerned departments hereon Friday to review the healthservices being offered at gov-ernment hospitals. Sheinformed that Telangana diag-nostic services would belaunched in another 10 days inthe State. The diagnostic ser-vices would help conductblood and other tests ofpatients and offer qualityhealth services. The healthcommissioner asked the dis-trict administration to allotland for setting up a palliativecare unit in the district.

Karuna further informedthat efforts were underway to

introduce tele-consultation ser-vices across the State to treatlife-threatening diseases.Software required for the pur-pose was being developed.Since Kothagudem has thehighest number of tribal habi-tations in remote areas, Tele-consultation would be mosteffective to address the tribal

health needs, she said whileasking the officials in the dis-trict to equip all hospitals withinternet facilities.

Karuna stressed on the needto conduct regular medicaltests of pregnant women in thevillages to reduce the maternalmortality rate. Anemia wasthe main reason for the death

of pregnant women, a villagewise list of pregnant womenhas to be prepared to providethem with nutritious food.Aarogya Lakshmi scheme hasto be implemented effectivelyto offer nutritious food topregnant and lactating women.Similarly, awareness pro-grammes have to be carried outin villages to educate womenabout the care to be taken dur-ing pregnancy, she added.

The health commissionerappreciated the DistrictCollector MV Reddy's effortsmade in arresting the spread ofcovid-19 during the earlymonths of the pandemic out-break. Earlier on the day, shemade a surprise inspection ofBhadrachalam Area Hospital.She, along with the ITDA PO,P Gowtham held a meetingwith the medical officials. TheITDA PO requested the healthcommissioner to address theshortage of staff and equipmentat the Area Hospital.

TRS' Sindhu Adharsh Reddytipped to be next Mayor�*�� (-��.��

TRS woman corporator fromBharathi Nagar, SindhuAdharsh Reddy is tipped to bethe next GHMC Mayor. TheGHMC Mayor post has beenreserved for woman from gen-eral category this time. TRSchief and Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is learnt tohave finalised her candidaturefor the GHMC Mayor post.

As the GHMC Mayoral postwas reserved for a womanfrom the general category forthe next 10 years, all womencorporators have been aspiringfor the post.

Former Congress MLA lateP Janardhan Reddy's daughterVijaya Reddy, who won fromthe Khairatabad division, TRSsenior leader K Kesava Rao'sdaughter Gadwal Vijayalaks-hmi, who won from theBanjara Hills division, are alsoaspiring for the coveted post.

Sindhu Adarsh Reddy isthe daughter-in-law of TRSMLC from Medak V BhoopalReddy. After her victory in

GHMC polls on Friday,Sindhu took to Twitter tothank the people. She tweeted,"I take this opportunity tothank Bharathi Nagar resi-dents, who took time to sup-port me thru the election & forur vote. I'm deeply humbled byur support n I want to assure-I'll work hard to make sure urconcerns r heard & addressedas promised. Thank u againfor ur faith in me."

According to TRS sources,Sindhu Adarsh Reddy, whowon as the TRS corporator forthe second time from BharatiNagar division, reportedlyreceived a call from ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao asking her to visit PragatiBhavan to discuss on Mayoralpost.

Similarly, there is a talk thatDeputy Mayor BabaFasiuddin, who won as thecorporator from Borabandadivision for the second timewould be serving in the samepost for a second term only ifthe post is not offered to theMIM as part of the alliance.If MIM seeks the DeputyMayor post, then the DeputyMayor would be from MIM.

The Mayor's post wasreser ved for a womanthrough a draw of lots held inthe presence of political par-ties at the Director ofMunicipal Administration(CDMA) early this year. Thisis the first time that theMayor's post is being reservedfor a woman.

Continued from page 1

The idea was aimed to giveBJP no leeway for emergingstronger as holding electionson schedule (in February2021) would have given thesaffron party nearly threemonths as the term of the pre-sent GHMC Council was toend on February 10, 2021.

With KCR bent upon earlypolls i.e. in November 2020,the Telangana State ElectionCommission (TSEC) issued anotification for GHMC pollson November 17, catchingopposition parties unawares.For, the TSEC scheduledGHMC polls in such a man-ner that opposition parties

failed to find even candi-dates to field in all the 150seats in the available time, letalone devise an election strat-egy, launch proper campaign-ing, mobilise finance andother essential resources tofight the polls against theruling party.

As per the norms ofElection Commission, thereshould be a 21-day gapbetween the announcementof poll schedule and the dateof polling. Still, the TSECreduced this gap to just 14days. It announced the pollschedule and the notifica-tion for polls on the same day- something unheard-of inrecent times.

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The TRS has emerged as thesingle largest party by winning55 seats out of total 150 seatsit had contested. The BJP,which has given a tough fightto the TRS right from thebeginning of the polls, stoodsecond by winning 48 seats outof the 149 seats it had contest-ed.

The TRS suffered huge loss-es in GHMC polls this time. Ittally has come down to 55 from99 seats it won in the 2016 pollsto the civic body.

In contrast, the BJP's tallywitnessed a steep rise to 48seats, against just 4 seats it wonin 2016.

The AIMIM, which stoodthird by securing 43 seats,proved yet again that it remains

unbeatable in its stronghold:Old City. The Majlis' partyretained its tally of 44 seats, outof the 51 it had contested. TheMIM won 44 seats in 2016.

The Congress failed miser-ably in GHMC polls yet again.It won just 2 seats out of the146 it had contested. Congresswon just 2 seats even in 2016.

The TDP, which contested106 seats, suffered even morehumiliating defeat by failing toretain even the deposit in anyof the seats it had contested.

As none of the parties couldsecure the magic figure of 76seats out of 150 in GHMCpolls, a political deal isinevitable for the Mayor post.

TRS suffered a jolt on twofronts: It cannot bag the Mayorpost, neither on its ownstrength nor with the help of its

31 ex-officio members whocomprise party MLAs, MPs,MLCs who have voting right toelect the Mayor.

A total of 45 ex-officio mem-bers from the TRS, Congressand the BJP have enrolled forGHMC Mayor voting thistime. If these 45 ex-officiomembers are included inMayor voting, the magic figureto bag Mayor seat will increasefrom 76 to 98.

Out of 45 ex-officio mem-bers, the TRS alone has 31members. However, the TRS'strength will increase to only 86seats, which is short of magicfigure 98. It still requires 12seats to bridge this gap.

Nizamabad MLC and ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao's daughter K Kavitha is yetto enroll as an ex-officio mem-

ber. If she enrolls, the TRS stillrequires 11 more seats. Thismakes it imperative for TRS todepend essentially on anotherparty to bag the Mayor post. Inthe present circumstances, theTRS has no choice but to bankon the support (and bear hug)of AIMIM --- its once 'friend-ly party' that became a 'mainrival' under the BJP juggernautfor the GHMC polls.

The AIMIM too has noother option except to tie upwith the TRS as it would noteven think of joining handswith the BJP. The AIMIM,with 44 seats, can easily ensureMayor post for the TRS.

However, both the partieshave to strike a 'deal' for this.This will have to be on the linesof the Congress-AIMIM dealpost the 2009 GHMC polls that

saw a hung verdict.Congress and AIMIM

shared Mayor post for two-and-a-half years each, withthe Congress claiming the postfirst and AIMIM later.

The TRS and the MIM willnow have to work out a simi-lar formula. Since the tenure ofthe present GHMC Councilwill end on February 10, 2021,both the parties have ampletime to strike a deal on Mayor,Deputy Mayor posts. For theBJP, it is not possible to bag theMayor post as it has just twoex-officio members. Itsstrength will only increase to50. For the AIMIM too, it isnot possible to bag the Mayorpost on its own as it has just 10ex-officio members, withwhich its strength will increaseto 54 seats.

Continued from page 1

KTR, who assumed charge asMunicipal minister,announced ambitious plansfor developing Hyderabad ina time-bound manner bylaunching "100-day plans".However, the "100 day plans"failed at the beginning itself asKTR lacked effective execu-tive mechanism for its imple-mentation. Later, he had todrop it. Added to this, major-ity of the TRS corporatorsfaced charges of corruptionwhich led to huge resentmentamong people towards TRS.The pink party corporatorsthreatened people, demand-ed money from people,builders who launched anyconstruction activity, andharassed them by withholdingmunicipal permissions if theydid not pay them bribes.They harassed contractorsfor kickbacks and gotinvolved in land disputes,settlements etc., whichworked against TRS in theGHMC polls this time. Thisapart, KCR remained largelyinaccessible to corporatorsand people.

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OBC Morcha leader Dr KLaxman and others, Sanjayremarked caustically that theparty was dedicating the victo-ry of the saffron party's candi-dates in the GHMC electionsto the State ElectionCommission (SEC) and theDirector General of Police(DGP). The TRS' 'car' (partysymbol) will permanently go toshed after the 2023 elections,he said, while exuded confi-dence that the BJP would con-tinue to be on the ascendant inall coming elections.

Sanjay said that the BJP wasnot against any section of peo-ple. However, political partieshad behaved against the 'Hindudharma'. The people ofHyderabad had handed ahandsome tally of seats to BJPexpecting development andfor their self-respect. He saidthat he was bowing to peoplewho had cast their vote for theBJP. The Centre would help theState, he said. He assured peo-

ple that the BJP would strivefor the sake of dharma. Thesaffron party would fulfill theaspirations of the Telanganamartyrs and work for usheringin a 'democratic Telangana'.

People had handed respon-sibility to the BJP protesting theTRS government's and ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao's 'anti-people policies',Sanjay claimed. He allegedthat the TRS had won its pre-sent tally of seats "by killing

democracy and speaking lies".Sanjay said that people of

Hyderabad had given a verdictstating "BJP is the only alterna-tive to TRS". The results reflect-ed people's aversion to familyrule, he said. He opined thatHyderabad city would havebecome Bhagyanagar had peo-ple given full responsibilities toBJP. Still, the BJP would winfuture elections and Hyderabadwould eventually becomeBhagyanagar.

Sanjay said that they wouldvisit Charminar BhagyalaxmiAmmavaru temple, along withwinning BJP corporators.Stating that the victory of BJPcorporators was the result ofBJP activists' heroic fight in theelections, Sanjay said that theparty would come to power inthe State in the next Assemblyelections.

Sanjay said that SEC andDGP had worked hard for thevictory of BJP. He said it wasatrocious on the part of SEC toissue a circular at midnight.The BJP had the strength of

destroying the 'Dora gadi rule'."We will not behave arrogant-ly. We will fight for the sake ofHyderabad people. Not onlyseats of BJP increased, butalso the party's vote share", hesaid. He said that the cam-paign of national leadershelped in the victory of party'scandidates in GHMC elec-tions.

Union Minister G KishanReddy said that people gaveanswers to the KTR's falsehoodand allegations. The TRS gov-ernment had to accept thechallenge thrown by people, hesaid. The BJP was the onlyalternative to people ofTelangana. The GHMC elec-tions results had given a plat-form for the saffron party tostorm to power in 2023. Healleged that the TRS partyindulged in misuse of power.He alleged that the TRS hadscared Andhra andRayalaseema people throughsocial media and made it clearthat the BJP corporators wouldnot join "collapsing TRS".

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In Serilingampally andKukatpally zone, the partyhas secured a huge majority,leaving only one seat each forBJP.

In fact, Andhra Pradeshvoters have not been swayedby the Pawan Kalyan factor;instead they were even more

unanimous, going by the out-come.

Except Gachibowli, otherdivisions like Hydernagar,Kondapur, Hafeezpet, BalajiNagar, KPHB, Al lapur,Seri l ingampal ly andKukatpally have extendedfull support to TelanganaRashtra Samithi.

Going by the results in

other areas , a typicalTelangana voter has rejectedTRS and in from the nextelections onwards, the pinkparty may not be able to gar-ner votes based on theTelangana sentiment. Areaslike LB Nagar, Saroornagar,Hayathnagar, Vanasthalipur-am, Bagh Amberpet, RamNagar, Ramanthapur, where

people f rom Nalgonda,Suryapet, North and southTelangana reside, have seen amassive change in allegianceby voters towards BJP.

Evidently, wooing onlyAndhra voters is not going tohelp TRS in any way whenthe very core Telangana sup-porters are rethinking theirsupport.

(#��+++Continued from page 1

Evidently, the voters took thewords of BJP leaders serious-ly and made sure that the saf-fronisation of south India willbegin from the city.

Despite the electionannouncement at short notice,apparent misuse of the govern-ment machinery, the saffronbrigade turned out to be hard-working and loyal. Even the Rs10,000 flood relief couldn't

woo the voters as much as theDelhi leadership did.

Youth, who account for asignificant proportion of thecity's population, voted for BJP.However, this win for BJPhas set the record straightthat the 2023 elections won'tbe a cakewalk for TRS. TheBJP has not only consolidatedits position as an alternative toTRS in Telangana, but hastaken on the kin of the firstfamily of the State.

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For the first time in the histo-ry of Telangana after the bifur-cation of state, liquor salestouched all time high inNovember like never before.

Liquor worth Rs 2,567.14crore was sold in the month.The high-voltage campaign forGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) elec-tions could be a reason for therise in the sales. Usually, on anaverage, liquor worth Rs 1,700crore is sold every month.

Excise officials say that it wasthe first time such a largequantity of liquor was sold ina single month.

As many as 31,60,135liquor cases were sold inNovember alone. Similarly,23,85,597 cases of beer caseswere shipped to liquor depotsin the month.

Considering the dip in thesales in the last three days ofDecember, it can be con-strued that GHMC electionscontributed to the rise inthe sales.

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Five killed, 12, including two cops, injured in twin accident �*�� (-��.��

Five persons were killed andtwelve others were injured intwin accident in the same spotnear Siddipet on RajivRahadhari on Friday.

In the first accident, threepersons were killed and sever-al others were injured when acar hit the road divider atRangila Dhaba. Even as policepersonnel were removing thepersons stuck in the car, aDCM hit the police personneland others engaged in the res-cue operation. Two personsdied on the spot and severalothers including Siddipet II-town Inspector Parshuram andconstable Ashok sufferedgrievous injuries.

According to the police, onFriday afternoon, three peopledied on the spot after a car inwhich they were travellingrammed a divider in Siddipet.The victims were identified asNarasimha, 39, an advocatefrom Huzurabad, his fatherRaji Reddy, 62 and motherVijaya, 52.

After receiving the informa-tion, Siddipet police reachedthe spot and were removingthe persons stuck in the car.The onlookers gathered

around to witness the post-accident scenes.

Meanwhile, at around 2:35pm in the afternoon a speed-ing DCM truck which wastraveling from Karimnagartowards Siddipet ran over thebystanders leading to the deathof two persons identified as AMallesham, 36 and Yellareddy,50, who were part of crowd. Asmany as 12 others were injuredincluding Siddipet II-townInspector Parshuram and con-stable Ashok.

Siddipet police commission-er Joel Davis along with ACPRameshwar visited the spot

and took stock of the situation. The CCTV footage from the

ghastly accident shows crowdgathered at the accident spotand looking at the scene. Theywere clueless about the speed-ing truck coming towardsthem by the time they realisedthe truck ran over them.

Pictures from the post acci-dent scene showed the publicgathered around the spot andhelping the officials to shift theinjured persons in the mishap.

All the injured were shiftedto hospital for treatment andthe bodies were shifted to go-vernment hospital for autopsy.

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As the daily Covid count con-tinues to see a decline inTelangana, the cumulative tallynow stands at 2,72,123 with 631cases reported on Friday, while802 people have recovered dur-ing the same period, healthofficials said. Two more deathshave pushed the state's toll to1,467.

The fatality rate stands at0.53 per cent against thenational average of 1.5 percent, health officials said.According to the Director ofPublic Health and FamilyWelfare, 44.96 per cent of thedeaths were due to the Covid-19 while remaining 55.04 percent were due to comorbidities.Number of recoveries contin-ue to outnumber the cases inTelangana. The state's cumula-tive recoveries now stands at2,61,830.

The number of active casesdropped further to at 8,826including 6,817 who are underhome or institutional isola-tion. The recovery rate jumped

to 96.21 per cent, which is high-er than the national average of94.2 per cent. GreaterHyderabad reported 109 newcases. Medchal Malkajgiri dis-trict the second highest num-ber at 57 followed byRangareddy (49), Karimnagar(34), Nalgonda (29) andKhammam (24).

The authorities haveincreased the number of dailytests to 57,405. The daily test-ing target for the state is 5,600per day as per the World Health

Organisation's (WHO) bench-mark of 140 per million perday. Out of 2,72,123 total pos-itive cases so far, 70 per cent(1,90,486) were asymptomaticwhile the remaining 30 per cent(81,637) were symptomatic.The data shows that 63.9 percent of those tested positive sofar were aged between 21-50years. As many as 22.91 percent were aged above 51 years.The positive cases include 13.18per cent who were below 20years.

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Cyberabad Police Commissi-oner VC Sajjanar said thecounting of votes polled dur-ing the GHMC elections wascompleted peacefully at count-ing centres in the limits of theCyberabad Commissionerate.

Speaking after inspectingthe counting centres, he saidthree-tier security was provid-ed at all the counting centresand added that elaborate secu-rity arrangements were madefor the smooth conduct of thecounting.As a precautionarymeasure, the Police Commis-sioner's Reserve Force was

deployed at Mailardevpally,Rajendranagar, Jaga-dgirigut-ta, Jeedimetla, Miyapur, KPHBColony, Kukatpally andSanathnagar.

Apart from counting cen-tres, security has beenstrengthened at sensitive areas.

As many as 7,000 police per-sonnel were deployed at count-ing centres and sensitive areas.

Special police pickets wereposted at sensitive areas underthe supervision of senior policeofficials. Polling agents wereallowed into the counting hallonly after verifying their validpasses issued by the SEC.

Tents, drinking water, sani-tizers and masks were also pro-vided at the counting centres.Sajjanar said victory rallieswould not be permitted till 48hours after completion ofcounting and if anyone tries toviolate the rules, action wouldbe taken against them.

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A man was murdered,allegedly by his colleague, ina men's hostel in KPHBcolony here on Friday.Previous enmity is suspectedto have led to the murder.

Police said Sravan, whoworks for a pharma compa-ny, was attacked by SrikanthReddy, his colleague and afriend, Harshvardhan Reddy.

Police suspect SrikanthReddy and HarshvardhanReddy came to Sravan's roomand picked up an argumentafter which they allegedlykilled him.

The KPHB police havebooked a case and are inves-tigating.

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Panic gripped residents ofareas surrounding theJawaharnagar dump yardwhen they heard an explosionfrom the heap of garbage onTh-ursday night. Nobody washurt in explosion.

The incident triggered panicin the colony with residentsfearing it was a bomb blast. Onreceiving information, the localpolice reached the spot.Samples were collected to iden-tify the substance which led tothe explosion. "It was not abomb. We suspect someonefrom a nearby workshop orchemical factory or automobileservicing centre has disposed

the explosive material here. Weare enquiring with local resi-dents apart from examiningfootage from surveillance cam-eras in the surroundings,"police officials said.

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Sleuths of the anti-corruption bureaunabbed two gover-nment officials red-handed while accep-ting bribe on Friday.

In the first case, ACBofficials trapped the accusedofficers Eslavath Swamy Naik,Site Engineer, Telangana StateEducation Welfare Infrastru-cture Development Corpora-tion, Nalgonda while accept-ing bribe. The officials recov-ered Rs 70,000 from his pos-session. "The accused officerdemanded and ac-ceptedthe bribe amount from com-plainant Somani Naik toforward the recorded mea-surement book to higher offi-

cers to enable complai-nant toget his bill sanctio-ned for Rs

4,25,000," said ACB.In the second case, ACB

officials trapped PradeepKumar, Deputy StatisticalOfficer, Adilabad at his

office while he was acceptingthe bribe of Rs 4,000.

"The accused demanded br-ibe from complainant SharathRao to process and forwardthe cheque of Rs 5,00,000 toMPDO, Adilabad," said ACB.

As both the accused officersperformed their duty improp-

erly and dishonestly,ACB officialsbooked cases andarrested them.Subsequently, theaccused were sent

to judicial custody.

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Depresses after losing his job,a 27-year-old man committedsuicide by hanging at his res-idence in Yellareddyguda onFriday.

The victim was identified asKothapalli Nethaji, 27, a civilengineer by profession, hailingfrom Andhra Pradesh andresiding at Yellareddyguda.

Nethaji lost his job due towhich he went in to depressionand was addicted to alcohol,said his brother KothapalliGandhi, the complainant whowas a doctor. According to thepolice, Gandhi saw his broth-

er hanging to the ceiling fanwith a rope when he returnedto his room on Friday. Gandhibrought him down and triedto give life support and shift-ed him to nearby private hos-pital where the duty doctorshave examined and confirmedthat Nethaji was dead.

Subsequently, he lodged acomplaint with the police.Cops suspect that Nethaji wasdepressed as he lost his job andhanged himself.

The police officials shiftedthe body to Osmania GeneralHospital for autopsy. The copsbooked a case and furtherinvestigation is underway.

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Malkajgiri police arrestedthree persons who weresmuggling PDS rice onFriday. The officials seized300 kgs of PDS from theirpossession.

The accused were identi-fied as Mohammed Yasin, 27,Vadaritham Santosh, 24 andMangapu Veerababu, 28.

On receiving credibleinformation, that PDS ricebags were dumped in OldMalkajgiri, the police raidedthe place and found bagsdumped in an auto-rickshaw

The accused persons whowere in the spot were takeninto custody.

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The massive efforts put inby the Bhartiya JanataParty to expand its base

in Telanagan have paid richdividends in GreaterHyderabad MuncipalCorporation elections. It seemslike the people of GreaterHyderabad have identified BJPas an alternative to the rulingTRS. Joining the bandwagon,senior Congress party leaderand former MP KondaVishweshwar Reddy on hisTwitter post said, "Postal bal-lots reflect the opinion of theemployees and the elderly.Two things to clear: 1. Generalpublic are against TRS 2. Theyfeel only BJP can take on TRSin GHMC not Congress". (sic)

After Dubbak by-electionvictory, the BJP is in full swingand it continued its momen-tum even in GHMC elections.The saffron party's massiveoutreach has cornered the rul-ing TRS and the latter is forcedto do equations and permuta-tions to grab the Mayor posi-tion. Grabbing the Mayor postis not a big thing to the rulingTRS as it has a handful of Ex-officio votes. Also, BJP's surgehas shocked its arch rivalMIM. The saffron party moreseats than AIMIM.

Interestingly, the predictionof Chief Minister KChandrasekahr Rao in regard

to Congress party bagging twocorporators seats in GHMCelections came true. The ChiefMinister, during the partymeeting, predicted thatCongress will be diminished inthese elections. However, theCongress party retained itslast GHMC elections number'2' but stood in fourth placeafter MIM.

However, the people ofHyderabad failed the ChiefMinister's prediction in regardto BJP. The Chief Minister, inthe same party meeting, saidthat the BJP's seats will increasea few more. On the otherhand, the Hyderabad peoplerealised the predictions of ExitPolls in regard to Congress

party. However, the same peo-ple failed Exit Polls in regardto TRS and BJP. The TRS,which grabbed the Mayorposition on its own in lastGHMC elections now has todepend on the MIM as it gotaround 60 seats though it hasex-officio members.

Not surprising though, theCongress Party is hardly mak-ing its presence felt in thesepolls. It wasn't long ago thatINC was the prime mover inTelangana region. But afterthe formation of the new stateunder UPA regime, theCongress not only lost its mas-sive voter base, it has todaybeen reduced to its poor shad-ow.

No green shoots arevisible in TelanganaCongress. After suf-

fering an ignominious defeatin the Assembly elections in2018, the party surprisedeveryone by winning threeLok Sabha seats, but thereafter,the rise in its fortunes has beenmore like a dead-cat bounce,unable to sustain. The elec-tions that followed -- villagepanchayats, ZPTCs, MPTCs,municipal and cooperativesocieties and now GHMC --have proved that the party wasonce again sinking into obliv-ion.

With back to back setbacks,many left the TelanganaCongress and joined the rul-

ing TRS and the BJP. It is saidthat many leaders will quit theparty in near future. Already,party senior leader and formerMP Konda VishweshwarReddy gave indications ofleaving the party. TPCCCampaign Committee chair-person Vijayashanthi's formalentry into BJP is pending.Already, party senior leadersDK Aruna, PonguletiSudhakar Reddy and severalothers joined the BJP. GreaterMLAs Sabitha Indra Reddy,Devireddy Sudhir Reddyjoined the TRS with other 10party MLAs from across thestate. City Congress seniorleader Danam Nagenderjoined TRS much earlier.

Recently, former MLABixapathi Yadav, formerMayor Banda Karthika Reddy,Vikram Goud and several oth-ers joined the BJP. TPCCTreasurer Gudur NarayanaReddy has also sent feelers tothe party by stating that he isalso quitting the party.

According to sources, sev-eral Congress leaders mayjoin BJP as the state Congressis losing its ground totally withthe present leadership. It islearnt that several senior lead-ers may quit the party after thenext TPCC chief isannounced.

A party leader said that theparty high command commit-ted an irreversible mistake bydelaying the announcement ofa new TPCC chief. Appointinga new TPCC chief will affectthe party as some leaders arepreparing ground to quit theparty and join the BJP, it islearnt. While knowing this bit-ter reality, the party is notannouncing the new TPCCchief, one of the leaders told'The Pioneer'.

"X will quit the party if thehigh command appoints Y asthe TPCC Chief and Y willquit the party if X is appoint-ed as the new TPCC chief inthe name of seniority andnew leaders," one of the partyleaders said.

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The theories of electoralbehavior that voters short-sightedly evaluate policy per-formance have been provedagain in the GHMC elections.LB Nagar, Charminar andSecunderabad zone wereamong the worst hit zones byfloods. Voters were not clear-ly satisfied with the relief mea-sures and discrepancies inrelief distribution. LB Nagar zone gave a hugemandate to BJP with morethan 14 seats whileSecunderabad was dividedbetween TRS and BJP. As of6:30 pm, BJP won more seatsin LB Nagar than TRS. 14 outof 22 wards went into BJP’skitty in LB Nagar.Furthermore, BJP also focusedon campaigning in the SouthZone which yielded betterresults. Despite MunicipalMinister K T Rama Rao visit-ing flood hit areas, people wereclearly not impressed by theincumbent leadership.

As reported by ‘The Pioneer’earlier, despite being the‘Century's worst flood’, thenatural disaster turned out tobe a big issue in GHMC elec-tions, especially the floodrelief. In these two zones,many citizens alleged that theflood relief was given to peo-ple living in apartments andthose in slums and tenantshave been left out.However, Charminar contin-ues to be a special case wherethe unity of Muslims standsstrong with voters endorsingAIMIM. They stayed unitedalways irrespective floods orcorruption or nothing shookthem. Standing in queue atMee-Seva has left many dis-gruntled and people wereuncertain that post-election,the government may not dis-burse the amount as promised.Several international studiesshowed that natural disastersinfluence voters’ perception ofincumbent politicians andclearly GHMC is going to beone more case study.

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he counting of votes for theGHMC elections dominatedmajor social media platforms,especially Twitter, on Friday.All through the day, the civicbody election results with thehashtag #GHMCResults andsimilar hashtags trendedacross the country.

From top Journalists topoliticians, political analystsand citizens were seen talkingand tweeting about GHMCelections on social mediaplatforms such as Twitter.GHMC polls was trending onTwitter with five differenthashtags like# G H M C e l e c t i o n s# Hyd e r ab a d C iv i c p o l l s# Hy d e r a b a d E l e c t i o n s# G H M C R e s u l t s#Elections2020. Looking atthe trending hashtags on themicro-blogging site, it was

obvious that people from dif-ferent parts of country weretweeting and eagerly waitingfor the results of civic polls.

Whether it was PoliticalAnalysts like Shehjad Jaihind,Pradeep Bhandari, DhavalPatel or Authors like ShefaliVaidya, Kota Neelima orprominent journalists likeRajdeep Sardesai, SmitaPrakash, ShekharGupta were seen talk-ing about GHMCpolls on Hyderabad.Many even claimedthat the GHMCelections were muchdiscussed because promi-nent BJP leaders like HomeMinister Amit Shah, UP CMYogi Adityanath, BJPPresident J P Nadda, UnionMinister Smriti Irani cam-paigned and visitedHyderabad just for civic polls.

Political analyst PradeepBhandari tweeted, "The BJP

had done a massive dent inTelangana. #GHMCResultsindicate that BJP will be aparty to watch out in#Telangana in the upcomingassembly elections. Telanganawill be heading to a bipolarcontest. Telangana afterKarnataka will be the next BJPpolitical frontier". (sic)

Senior JournalistShekhar Gupta,Founder of 'The

Print' tweeted,"Hyderabad marks

the rise of the BJP asthe main opposition in

Telangana, replacing theCongress. Cong showed nointent to fight, adopting the'Tripura Model' ceding itsvotes, workers & place to theBJP". (sic)

Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted, "Afinal takeaway from#GHMCResults : the Cong isnow becoming an also ran in thestate it helped create. Wherever

it's a declining Cong Vs a strongregional force, the BJP will fill inthe vaccum and replace theCong. Odisha is another goodexample of this trend".

Sasidhar Vuppala, a PoliticalAnalyst said, "It is absolutely truethat this election has been thetalk of the country. It reflects themood of people has beenchanged. It is a clear reflectionthat this election has changedthe dimensions of Telanganapolitics. The ruling party needto introspect on its governanceand policies. BJP has to focus onbuilding the Development nar-rative and Congress has torevamp it's leadership and con-nect style with people".

He further added, "Wehave to agree that BJP's big-heads strategic plan hasyeilded some positive resultsand gained momentum incadre and strength. BJP'swin in no. of seats in GHMCpolls is the reflection of it".

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TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy on Friday blamed themedia for party's defeat inGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation elections. "Themedia didn't play a responsi-ble role in the GHMC elec-tions. The media behavedunilaterally in the elections.The BJP and TRS managedthe media with 'packages'.Media organizations took'Supari' to kill the Congress,"he alleged.

Targeting the media,Revanth Reddy said, "The sit-uation in Telangana is suchthat, every party should havea news channel. People are los-ing confidence in democracy.

The main reason for the loss ofCongress is media. We lostelections as we failed to givepackages. However, TRS andBJP won the seats by givingpackages to the media. Nomedia stated that the BJP hadgot 10.4 per cent votes to BJPin 2016 and did 'Bhajan' to BJP.The Congress vote shareincreased by 4 per cent as com-pared to 2016 elections.”

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"Why are so many Dilliboys coming for Gul lypolls," said the workingpresident of the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) and Minister KTRama Rao. This was atongue-in-cheek referenceto the hordes of nationalBJP l e aders , inc ludingUnion Minis ters , w hodescended on Hyderabadto campaign for the elec-tions to the city municipalcorporation.

Evident from the mandateby the Hyderabadis, Delhileaders impressed the votersmore than the 'gully lead-ers'. Chief Minister's daugh-ter and MLC KalvakuntlaKavitha failed to impress thevoters of Gandhi Nagarwhere she extensively cam-paigned. BJP president JPNadda ' s campaignimpressed the voters of LBNagar Assembly constituen-cy. Minister Sabitha IndiraReddy ' s campaign in

Saroornagar and RK Puramfailed to impress the voters.In S ecunderabad zone,where Amit Shah cam-paigned, BJP gained morethan 10 seats. Ironically,Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G KishanReddy's Amberpet saw animpressive backing to TRSled by Agriculture MinisterNiranjan Reddy.

Likewise, in 2 out of 3divisions campaigned byUtt ar Pradesh Chie fMinister Yogi Adityanath,TRS won. In Kukatpallyand Serilingampally divi-sions, which was covered byYogi, saw a huge backing forTRS. Tejasvi Surya's road-show at Madhapur didn'twork out in favour of thesaffron party. On the con-trary, KTR who was vocalabout 'picking gully leaders'impressed non-locals. Hiscamp aign inSerilingampally, Kukatpallyhas attracted voters on avery large scale.

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In the backdrop of winning48 seats in the GHMC pollsresults declared on Friday,Union Minister Amit Shahsaid "Gratitude to the peopleof Telangana for reposingfaith in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi led BJP's pol-itics of development." Onmicrobloggingp l a t f o r mTwitter, AmitShah, whocampaignedearlier for theGHMC elec-tion, congratulat-ed BJP national president JPNadda and Telangana BJPchief Bandi Sanjay for party'sastounding performance inGHMC elections. " I applaudthe hard work of ourKaryakartas of@BJP4Telangana," he tweeted.BJP improved its share of seatsand votes by nearly ten times.However, in 2016 elections, theparty had 4 seats only.

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As announced by the StateElection Commission, thecounting of votes for theGHMC elections com-menced with the postal bal-lot votes on Friday. The SEChad issued 1,926 votes and asper the preliminary reports,906 votes were termed valid.Of the 906 postal ballot votes,the TRS bagged 281 votes,Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)515 votes, AIMIM got 50votes while Congress bagged40 and others secured 20votes.

Among the six zones inGHMC, the highest numberof valid postal ballot votes -217- were from LB Nagarzone, followed by 212 fromSecunderabad zone. The leastnumber of postal ballot votes- 54 were polled fromSerilingampally zone.

Though, the counting ofpostal ballot votes com-menced early in the day, theexercise took more time thananticipated by the officials.

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Telangana state Congresschief N. Uttam Kumar Reddyon Friday resigned from thepost, owning moral respon-sibility for the party's defeatin GHMC elections. Reddysaid, in a statement, that hehas requested the party's cen-tral leadership to take up theprocess of selection of newpresident of TelanganaPradesh Congress Committeeimmediately. The Congressfaced a severe drubbing withits candidates winning onlytwo divisions in the 150-member GHMC. The partyhad a similar fate in the 2016polls. He has requested theAll India CongressCommittee once again toaccept the same.

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COVID-19 vaccine will befirst given to about one crorehealth workers from both thepublic and private sectors, andthen to about two crore front-line workers, the Union HealthMinistry said in its presenta-tion at the all-party meet onFriday, sources said.

The presentation was givenby Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan at the meeting,which was chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

In its presentation, the min-istry said that COVID-19 vac-cine will be first given to aboutone crore health workers,including doctors and nurses,the sources said.

Thereafter, it will be givento about two crore frontlineworkers such as police and

armed forces personnel, andmunicipal workers, amongothers, they said.

Floor leaders from all par-

ties in the Lok Sabha and theRajya Sabha have been invit-ed to attend the virtual meet-ing which started around

10:30 am.The sources said that 13

leaders from prominent polit-ical parties having five or

more than five MPs, spoke atthe meeting.

Leader of Opposition inthe Rajya Sabha Ghulam NabiAzad will speak on behalf ofthe Congress at the meet, theysaid.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay fromthe TMC, Sharad Pawar of theNCP, Nama Nageswara Raofrom the TRS and VinayakRaut from the Shiv Sena,among others, will also speakduring the meeting, thesources said.

This will be the second all-party meeting called by thegovernment to discuss theCOVID-19 situation since theoutbreak of the coronavirus.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh, Home Minister AmitShah, Health Minister HarshVardhan are present in themeeting.

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The Shiv Sena on Friday saidthat the farmers from Punjabhave brought the Modi govern-ment to its knees throughtheir protest against the newfarm laws and the world hastaken note of the unity shownby them. The party also urgedthe Centre to hear out thedemands of the protestingfarmers.

"Despite the winter chill, thefarmers from Punjab havemade the Modi governmentsweat. The protesters seem to begetting aggressive. The Modigovernment had not faced thiskind of a challenge earlier. Thegovernment's usual weapons ofCBI, Income Tax, ED and NCBare of no use in this case. Thefarmers have brought the gov-ernment to its knees," the Senasaid in an editorial in partymouthpiece 'Saamana'.Thousands of farmers havegathered at Delhi's gateways todemand a repeal of the Centre'sthree new farm laws. Theprotesting farmers are worriedthe new laws will eliminate thesafety cushion of a MSP andprocurement system, while ren-dering ineffective the mandisystem that ensures earnings forvarious stakeholders in thefarm sector.

Farmers have brought Modigovt to its knees: Shiv Sena

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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has granted a sixmonth extension for submis-sion of thesis to MPhil and Phdstudents in wake of prolongedclosure of universities due tothe COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, the students weregranted extension tillDecember 31. However, thesame has been extended tillJune 30 now but the tenure offellowship for PhD and MPhilwill remain the same--5 years.

"Due to COVID-19 pan-demic, the universities haveremained closed for the pastseveral months. Therefore, thestudents have not been able toconduct their research orexperiments in the universitylaboratories nor they were able

to access library services thatare critical for completion ofthesis," UGC Secretary RajnishJain said.

The UGC had on April 29issued guidelines on examina-tion and academic calendar forthe universities in view of theCOVID-19 pandemic and sub-

sequent lockdown. As per theseguidelines, extension of sixmonths was conveyed forMPhil and PhD students whowere to submit their disserta-tion or thesis.

"In view of the above and inthe larger interest of theresearch scholars, a further

extension of six months for ter-minal MPhil and PhD stu-dents, who were supposed tosubmit their thesis byDecember 31, may be grantedby the universities till June 30.Extension of six months, asmentioned above, may also begranted for submitting evi-dence of publication and pre-sentation in two conferences.However, the tenure of fellow-ship of MPhil and PhD will be

the same (5 years)," he added.Universities were closed in

March in order to containspread of novel coronavirus. Anationwide lockdown wasannounced later. The Centrehas permitted phase wisereopening of varsities and col-leges for research scholars andfinal year students while major-ity teaching learning activitiescontinue to be be done online.

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West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Fridayspoke to various farmers'groups protesting at Delhi'sSinghu border againstthe Centre's agricul-ture reform lawsand assured themthat the TMCstands by them,party leader DerekO'Brien said.

Brien facilitatedthe interactions overthe phone. Enacted inSeptember, the three farmlaws are anticipated to bring"reforms" in the agriculturesector by removing middle-men and allowing farmers to

sell their produce anywhere inthe country. Farmers worrythese laws will eliminate thesafety net of the MinimumSupport Price (MSP) and do

away with mandis thatensure earning. But

the government saysthe MSP systemwill continue andthe new laws willgive farmersmore options tosell their crop.

"The CM spoketo the farmers. Four

telephone calls to differ-ent groups from Haryana andPunjab, they shared theirdemands and they were clearthat they wanted the farm bills(laws) repealed," O'Brien said.

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The advocate of activist FatherStan Swamy, an accused in theElgar Parishad-Maoist linkscase, on Friday told a specialcourt here that Swamy hasbeen given a straw and sipperby the Taloja jail authorities.

Swamy, 83, on Friday filedthree fresh applications seekinga direction to the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) toreturn his bag (seized by it atthe time of his arrest), a clonecopy of his hard disk (seized byit) and a direction to not trans-fer him from Taloja jail.

Swamy claimed that heapprehends that he would betransferred from the Talojaprison near here in NaviMumbai.

Swamy, who is sufferingfrom various health ailmentsincluding Parkinson's disease,was arrested on October 8 bythe NIA. Last month, he hadfiled an application seeking theNIA to return the straw andsipper allegedly seized fromhim at the time of his arrest.

The NIA, however, told the

court last month that it had notseized a straw and sipper fromSwamy and hence there was noquestion of returning thoseitems to him.

Swamy then filed an appli-cation seeking a direction tothe jail authorities to providehim a straw and sipper andwinter clothes.

On November 26, the spe-cial NIA Court had directedthe jail superintendent to filehis reply on the application.

On Friday, Swami's advo-cate Sharif Shaikh told specialNIA Judge D E Kothalikar thatSwamy has been providedwith straw and sipper andwinter clothes by the jailauthorities. Swamy had alsofiled a bail plea on medicalgrounds.

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Congress candidate AbhijitWanjari on Friday won theNagpur division graduates'constituency election of theMaharashtra LegislativeCouncil by defeating BJP'sSandip Joshi by a margin of18,910 votes.

This is a big setback to theBJP, as it had held the seat forthe last 58 years. Union min-ister Nitin Gadkari had alsorepresented it for several yearsin the past.

Wanjari defeated his nearestrival Joshi by securing 61,701votes, while the latter bagged42,791 votes.

The counting for the voteshad begun on Thursday andcontinued till Friday after-noon. A total of 1,32,923 vot-ers, out of more than two lakhregistered ones, cast their votesfor this seat.

Voting was held in 322polling booths spread acrossWardha, Bhandara, Gondia,Gadchiroli, Chand rapur andNagpur. There were 19 can-didates in the fray and themain contenders were the BJPand the Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) candidates.

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Scores of farmers opposingthe Centre's new farm lawsstayed put at the Noida-Delhiborder for the fourth day onthe trot on Friday, even as akey road connecting UttarPradesh and the nationalcapital remained partiallyshut due to the stir.

The protesters, includingsome women, are camping atone carriageway of the Delhi-Noida Link Road at the Chillaborder, while some aredemonstrating at the nearbyDalit Prerna Sthal near theMahamaya Flyover, accord-ing to officials.

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Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Friday askedthe Centre to immediatelyrepeal the new farm laws andapologise to the protestingfarmers for allegedly misbe-having with them. "The cen-tral government enacted allthree agricultural bills withoutconsulting the state govern-ments, farmer organisations,agricultural experts and thebills were passed unconstitu-tionally without any discussionin Parliament even when theOpposition was demanding tosend the bills to a select com-mittee,” Gehlot tweeted. Hecriticised the Centre for itshandling of the protests overthe contentious farm laws.

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India on Friday summoned theCanadian High Commissionerand conveyed to him that thecomments made by CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeauand some other leaders there onthe farmers' agitation constitut-ed an "unacceptable interference"in the country's internal affairs.

The Canadian diplomat wasalso told that such actions, ifcontinued, would have a "seri-ously damaging" impact on thebilateral ties, the externalaffairs ministry said. Trudeau,backing the agitating farmers

in India, had said that Canadawill always be there to defendthe rights of peaceful protests,and expressed concern overthe situation.

"The Canadian HighCommissioner was summonedto the Ministry of ExternalAffairs today and informed thatcomments by the CanadianPrime Minister, some CabinetMinisters and members ofParliament on issues relating toIndian farmers constitute anunacceptable interference inour internal affairs," the MEAsaid, adding a demarche wasmade to the envoy.

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The Bareilly police hasattached the property of arape accused for not appear-ing in court, officials said.

The property of NaveenKumar was attached underSection 83 of the CriminalProcedure Code (CrPC) onThursday, they said. Kumarallegedly abducted and rapeda minor girl in Bareilly dis-trict some time ago, policesaid. A case has been regis-tered against the accusedunder relevant sections of theIPC and the POCSO.

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The fate of India and ourfood system rests with apeaceful army of farmersbesieging Delhi. Theyhave blocked borders

and are constantly sending envoysseeking justice. Medieval fears havegripped citizens as food and vegeta-bles prices are already shooting upand hoarders (no longer illegalpost farm Acts) are celebrating anearly Christmas. Meanwhile, policein riot gear are anxious to lath-icharge their own brethren. Theyhave set up unnecessary road blocksall around the city, delaying andimmobilising traffic.

Yet, in the freezing cold, ourannadattas brace up for the watercannons and tear gas. And in dis-tressed times, they have given upself-preservation and stand unitedas ever, demanding fair prices andresisting a “neo-Company Raj.” Forthis has indeed turned into a warbetween the big agricultural corpo-rations, who are reassuring thepublic with their propagandathrough the corporate media, andthe farmers, who anyway are strug-gling with input costs higher thanthe Minimum Support Price (MSP)and now see the rates being drivendown by the inevitable competitivepricing in an open market. Theyhave some legitimate and practicalconcerns that need transitionalhand-holding that the Governmentis not quite doing.

While the farmers’ agitationtrends on Twitter, the Governmentuses an old strategy of “divide andrule” to break the unions, whoserepresentatives have so far evenrefused Government hospitalityduring the talks. The Governmenthas so far called “32 Punjab-basedunions,” leaving out others outsidethe negotiating room. Howard Zinnsniggers at us, as despite his workexposing the American “robberbarons” and their modus operandi,the land of Gandhi is falling prey tothem.

The Government may nowplay favourites, choosing one unionleader over the other, and present aturbid discourse, buying itself timeto incriminate dissenting leaders,and in the final stage may even bringin “strike-breakers” or pro-establish-ment farmers’ groups and corporatefarmers to sign an accord and endthe matter. But in case the mattergets out of hand, one shouldn’t besurprised to hear rumours of theresurgence of the “Khalistan move-ment” in Punjab and how farmer

unions are sympathetic to it.Attempts have already beenmade to classify the agitation asa sectarian uprising.

But back to the deadlock, thefarmers want MSP for crops andthe Government says it can’t dothat. And one doesn’t expect theGovernment to promise some-thing it is powerless to execute.If it introduces MSP as a legalright, it would automaticallyoverturn the three farm Acts asfarm majors won’t buy into a pro-tectionist market. Additionally,how will the Government imple-ment the MSP at the rural mar-ket or local level is a big question.If, since its inception (1960s), theMSP has only covered a smallpercentage of farmers, what isdifferent in 2020? Hence theGovernment can never makeMSP a legal right. It may try totrick the farmers with the “grad-ing” jargon, stating that the MSPwould only be given for gradedproduce, but by accepting thisdeal, Indian farmers would bedestroyed the same wayAmerican farmers were.Corporatisation of agriculture inthe US, where factory farmingbirthed an uninterrupted chainof “farm to fork,” has wiped outrural communities. It all beganin the 1970s with the dream ofbecoming big enough to com-mand the world’s food marketwith industrialised processes,merging of lands and shifting pri-orities to commodity crops. Butin no time there was a glut dueto over-production; farmerscould never get the commensu-rate prices and were driven todebts. They had no option but toforeclose and sell out. Now farm-ers do not even make up a quar-ter of the total US agriculturalproduction. Buying into the

promise of “making it big,” theystretched their resources andwere subsumed by food giants.

Barring Punjab andHaryana, MSP is already a dis-tant dream for farmers. Even ifsome States make MSP the legalright, corporations have thechoice of bulk buying fromStates that don’t do so. What hap-pens to the farmers in that case?

Farm life is tough. Imaginewaking up at the crack of dawn,running to the fields each morn-ing or any odd hour when theirrigation and electricity supplyare selectively guaranteed. Thefarmer’s day passes with weeding,ploughing, seeding and careful-ly guarding his crop for the sea-son while debts and bills burdenthe family. When the harvestarrives, it brings more losses inthe absence of remunerativeprices. If it is the middleman now,it would be the corporations later.Effectively, he has no negotiato-ry power either way. When hecan’t earn enough, he drinks pes-ticides or commits suicide. Morethan 300,000 debt-burdenedfarmers have committed sui-cide in over a decade. So farm-ers are not misled or ill-informed,they live the hard reality. AsPepsico sued them in Gujaratand they are still struggling toreclaim their dues for sugar,they know how corporatisationhasn’t changed their fortunes andrequired Government interven-tion in the end. And as theirresilience is breaking, city peopleflippantly discount them as rus-tic, mock their intelligence andyet we dare not face theircourage. The policy makers can’tanswer their questions. Let’s goback to the �2.5 lakh crore dal scam of 2015when consumers paid the priceby buying arhar dal at � 210/kg.It was reported that a cartel ofagri-business companies wasresponsible by buying dal at lowprices through the supply chainnetwork, storing it overseas andthen creating artificial scarcity. Itprofitted immensely by selling itback to Indians at high prices.The Government used the powerof the Essential Commodities Act

(ECA) to bust hoarders andrecover 75,000 metric tonnes ofdal. But ECA limits on hoardingand stocking have been doneaway with in the new Acts exceptfor some emergency scenarios.

Let’s take the example ofapples from Himachal Pradesh,which make for a huge cash cropfor local farmers. In two decades,three big Indian agri-businessgiants have consolidated themarkets. They store almost all theapples coming out of the State,dictate the prices and have estab-lished an oligopoly. Small tradersoutside their network exist butthey are marginal.

Up against a techno-mili-taristic juggernaut, one feels thatthe farmers and their leadersknow their vulnerabilities —talks are futile and their fate issealed. They know that thismovement will be their final sac-rifice, a mass suicide to awakenthe conscience of our nation.They have come to Delhi notwith a begging bowl but to pre-sent the pitfalls of an unplannedfarm liberalisation agenda. Andone doesn’t doubt that they willbe misjudged and hunted. But forthem it’s their moral imperativeto rebel, for the sake of their chil-dren, their ancestral lands andour civilisation. If the Indian civil-isation has to survive we need ourfarmers to be treated fairly. Forwithout them, we are sowing anew corporate disease that shallfurther destroy India. In thewords of Gandhi, “Strength doesnot come from physical capaci-ty. It comes from an indomitablewill”. Our farmers are possessedby this will and we better listento them.

(The author is Director, Policyand Outreach, National SeedAssociation of India)

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�� Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Vaccine tourism”, publishedin The Pioneer on December 4.It is laughable that affluent peo-ple from India are actually think-ing that they can go and get theirCOVID-19 vaccines from theUK. Do they not realise that theGovernment of the UK willobviously prioritise its own peo-ple, just as the IndianGovernment will, once we havethe vaccine, too? Maybe this isthe first time in their lives thatthe privileged will find out thatothers not as well-heeled can getpriority over them, too.

The unscrupulous travelagents are leading these peopledown the garden path by design-ing “vaccine packages.” Gettinga COVID shot is not somethingthat is in people’s hands, no mat-ter how many “deals” they offerto airlines and hotels and howmany “pacts” they make withhospitals. This pandemic is agreat equaliser and for oncemoney can’t buy everything.

Ashmit AaronNoida

� ��Sir — There is a strong supportfor the farmers protesting

against new farm laws on theborders of Delhi, Uttar Pradeshand Haryana, from variousStates and countries, too. Thetalks between the Governmentand the growers are likely to failas the farmers bodies are askingfor a special session ofParliament for a discussion onthe three farm Acts. The All-India Motor Transport Congress

(AIMTC), an umbrella body ofgoods’ vehicles operators, issupporting the growers and hasthreatened to stop the move-ment of goods across India.This will be disaster for thecountry, coming at a time whenthe economy of the nation isalready in the doldrums. Eachday, more and more farmers aregathering at five spots around

Delhi, with tractors, trucks andtrailers packed with food, water,medicines and essential goods.They are being helped and aidedby ordinary citizens who havecome out with cooked food,blankets, water and so on, tolend the nation’s “annadata” ahand. Every Indian worthhis/her salt is with the impover-ished farmers. Given the sce-

nario, the Central Government,led by Prime Minister NarendraModi, must do all it can todefuse the situation. The Centremust offer middle groundimmediately and bridge thetrust deficit.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

�� Sir — It is to the credit of therepresentatives of the 32 farm-ers’ groups that they refusedluxurious meals with CentralGovernment Ministers and oth-ers during the meeting to discussthe three farm reforms andtheir problems with the Acts.This was their way of showingdispleasure with theGovernment, keeping their self-respect intact and expressingsolidarity with their peers. Theyalso signalled that they cannotbe bought or lured with hand-outs.

The best part about theongoing farmers’ agitation isthat they have kept it apoliticaland taken a united stand.

Raghu SinghDelhi

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In 2018, when the Ministry of Women and ChildDevelopment (WCD) attempted to introduce anew Trafficking of Persons (Prevention,

Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, or TOP Bill, inthe Lok Sabha, it triggered a strong debate both with-in the House and outside. While some wanted it tobe passed, others were strongly opposed to it. Thosefor the TOP Bill lauded it because it aimed to havea single legislation to address all forms of humantrafficking and rectify the current scenario whereeach aspect of the crime — from kidnapping, rape,sexual exploitation, forced labour and bonded labour— is separately covered by different sections in thelaw. This results in fragmented application of laws,flawed investigation and failed prosecution as is evi-dent by the NCRB data on prevalence, prosecutionand convictions of traffickers each year. The com-mon law, supporters of the TOP Bill argued, wouldtake away the arbitrary distinctions between sex,labour and other forms of trafficking, which are aproduct of moral biases against prostitution andnon-recognition of the exploitation and torture inlabour trafficking. Further, the new Bill, howeverflawed, was an improvement on the existing legalframework on human trafficking in India, theyargued.

Those who were opposed to it countered thatthe Bill only strengthened the existing flaws in thelaws and complicated them further. It pushed fora stronger criminalisation approach, rather thanunderstanding that trafficking was an outcome ofsocio-economic problems, disparities in growthbetween regions that pushed for migration but didnot provide a support framework. Activists fearedthat the already prevailing rescue-rehabilitationapproach, which gave the police powers of arrestsand incarceration of voluntary sex workers in shel-ter homes, was perpetuated in the new Bill and thatit seemed to have learnt nothing from the failuresof the past. A third group, also opposed to the Bill,pointed out that creating new laws confounds inef-ficient law enforcement and overburdens judicialsystems even further. So they have no positive bear-ing on curbing human trafficking, on vulnerablecommunities, survivors or the implementers of thatlaw and its policies. It cited several social legislationson juvenile justice and domestic, sexual and caste-based violence. Instead of creating new laws, theGovernment needs to allocate budgets and spendthem, strengthen monitoring and implementationof the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections that per-tain to trafficking, the Immoral Traffic PreventionAct (1986), the Juvenile Justice Act and the BondedLabour Act.

The WCD Ministry has reiterated its intent tobring in a law on human trafficking and is engagedin revising the TOP Bill. Once the draft Bill is placedin public domain for comments and suggestions,will the stakeholders re-engage with a few funda-mental questions that have always led to deadlocksbetween people of different political and moral ide-ologies? The central issues in this debate are likelyto be around the matter of legalisation of sex workand discernment between sex trafficking and sexwork, approaches in rehabilitation of survivors oftrafficking, the prevention approach and its impacton migration rights.

Does India need a new law on trafficking? TheImmoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), that wasformed in 1956 and last amended in 1986, has failedto combat sex trafficking. The ITPA’s approach ofcombating sex trafficking is on criminalisation oforganised prostitution and providing for institution-alisation of survivors and their rehabilitation in shel-ter homes. The law does not directly criminalise sexworkers, except for solicitation in public places.

However, nowhere in India has any of theStates reported a positive outcome of thelaw, either by way of reduction of sex traf-ficking of women and children, convic-tion of customers who demand childrenfor sex or any consistent conviction of traf-fickers’ networks to break source-destina-tion flows of victims for sexual exploita-tion. On the other hand, survivors, whohave been through the provisions of thelaw, have reported grave trauma becauseof forced institutionalisation in shelterhomes. Shelters providing them with non-formal education did not result in bettereducational qualifications. The in-housevocational training courses on book-bind-ing, sewing, tailoring or jewellery-mak-ing did not lead to sustainable employ-ment generation and when they returnedhome, they were left to fend off stigma,poverty and their health distress on theirown. A 2014 research on the health sta-tus of survivors of sex trafficking, who hadbeen rescued from Maharashtra, Delhi,Telangana and Karnataka, found that 86per cent of those tested for psychologicalhealth were found to be suffering fromdysthymia, a state of chronic depressionand anxiety disorder that, the cliniciansfound, were a result of untreated PTSD(post-traumatic stress disorder). Thisindicated the inadequacy of the psycho-social counselling services provided inshelters.

India does not have a law on labourtrafficking. While Section 370 of the IPCwas to have provided us with a compre-hensive definition of trafficking, it fallsshort of mentioning forced labour in itsdefinition of exploitation. Survivors oflabour trafficking across India report thatthere is systemic resistance in recognis-ing them as victims of labour traffickingor of bonded labour. While there is sys-temic exploitation of inter-state migrantlabour being trapped in brick kilns, smallfactories and sweatshops, constructionsites using debt bondage, threats, intim-

idation and violence, the district admin-istration and police resist in recognisingthis as trafficking and would rather inter-pret it as “ill-treatment of labour.”

One of the biggest lacunae in the sys-tem is the absence of any definition of“rehabilitation of survivors of trafficking”and what specifically a survivor may claimas entitlements for recovery and rehabil-itation. The ITPA offers incarceration inshelter homes for up to three years andin-house service delivery without any ac-countability of the service providertowards recovery, employment or reinte-gration. The Bonded Labour Act providesfor a Central sector scheme for rehabili-tation of bonded labour, which focusseson financial benefits, mentioning noth-ing about recovery, repatriation, reintegra-tion or rights of legal representation of vic-tims of labour trafficking. What this cre-ates is a system that can escape responsi-bility towards the future of the survivorsby claiming that it has provided rehabil-itation services but survivors were not ableto benefit from them.

The ITPA and the Bonded LabourAct as well as the IPC fail miserably inprosecution of traffickers. The GlobalTrafficking in Persons Report, 2020,observes, “The Government decreasedinvestigations, prosecutions and caseconvictions of traffickers. The acquittalrate increased to 83 per cent.”

A whopping 90 per cent of humantrafficking in India is inter-state, and fromvillages and small towns to cities. TheMinistry of Home Affairs had recognisedthe need to create an integrated and com-prehensive investigation system in 2008when it passed a directive to form Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) at thedistrict-level, which could pursue inves-tigations seamlessly between States. Thiswould take the burden off from the gen-eral police stations. However, a recentreport, AHTU Watch, found less than 10per cent of the currently-existing 332

AHTUs to be notified and functional, withofficers exclusively in charge of them.Non-notification of AHTUs means thatthey do not have the powers of investiga-tion, rendering their roles largely notion-al. As a result, the bulk of the traffickingcases are investigated by officers from gen-eral police stations, who confine theirprobes to the areas in their jurisdiction.For example, the police team that rescuesa survivor of trafficking from Punewould confine its investigation and pros-ecution to the local brothel but would nottrace back to the traffickers in the sourceState where the victim was abducted. Asa result, such prosecution based on poorprobes can be easily challenged by thedefence. AHTUs have yet to be recognisedunder any legislation and StateGovernments are under no obligation toimplement their advisories.

Those who are worst affected by theinadequacies of the law are survivors oftrafficking themselves. There is truth inthe contention that unless trafficking sur-vivors are empowered to assert their enti-tlements and claim accountability fromoffices at the ground level, the best of poli-cies and laws will remain on paper andhave no impact on the ground. NGOshave their own subjectivities, their ideo-logical battles and limitations in challeng-ing duty bearers.

Survivors of human trafficking can bethe greatest resource in any anti- traffick-ing multi-stakeholder system. Their inclu-sion in national, State and district-levelanti-trafficking committees will need tobe endorsed by law and policy and not leftto the goodwill of individual bureaucratsor leaders. It’s time that survivors ofhuman trafficking were respected asequal members in the anti-traffickingecosystem and not spoken for by activistNGOs.

(The writer is a researcher and advi-sor to the Indian Leadership ForumAgainst Trafficking)

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One of the most difficult yearsin recent memory, 2020 hasbeen nothing less than a

global healthcare nightmare.However, as the year draws to anend, there is good news on the hori-zon. Even as an indigenously-devel-oped vaccine by Bharat Biotech hasentered Phase-3 of clinical trials, sev-eral other international vaccineshave either shown promising resultsor are on their way to reach last-stagetrials. In the UK, the Medicines andHealthcare products RegulatoryAgency (MHRA) has already givenits nod to the Pfizer/BioNTech vac-

cine and the country is gearing upto start mass vaccination of its pop-ulation. Meanwhile, the successfultrials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca andModerna vaccines have raisedtremendous hopes too. WhileModerna and Pfizer haveannounced high efficacy in clinicaltrials for their respective vaccines,that is up to 95 per cent, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can be storedin normal refrigerators. This makesit much easier and cheaper to store,transport and distribute in compar-ison to the other two candidateswhich would need to be stored atminus 20-80 °C.

Being cost-effective and easy tostore, the Oxford vaccine is beingtouted as the most promising can-didate for a country like India,which has cold chain issues. Russia’sSputnik V, another such vaccine thatstays stable between 2 and 8 °C, isalso being considered viable forIndia and other developing coun-tries.

These vaccines not only mark a

defining moment for medicaladvances in the modern era, they area manifestation of the commitmentshown by scientists and researchersacross the world in producing theshots in record time. They remindus how investing in medical researchis critical to beating unforeseenhealth emergencies and vital to thesurvival of the human race.

Race against time: The storiesbehind the development of thesevaccines and the speed at which theywere done is truly inspiring. Let’s takethe case of the Oxford vaccine.British and Irish scientists ProfessorAdrian Hill, Professor Sarah Gilbertand Professor Terese Lambe startedworking on this vaccine in earlyJanuary as soon as scientists inChina published the first geneticsequence of the virus. Given thenovel nature of the Coronavirus, itwas an uphill task but OxfordUniversity and later the Governmentgave the vaccinologists access tounprecedented funding andresources to find the much-coveted

COVID vaccine. The scientists basedtheir work on an existing technolo-gy they pioneered and patentedyears ago in the Oxford labs. In fact,they designed this vaccine that veryweekend itself in January, staying upall night. At that point it wasn’t evenclear how fast the virus wouldspread or how many people it wouldend up infecting, but theseresearchers saw it as an opportuni-ty to demonstrate rapid vaccinedevelopment against a new viralthreat. From here on, within weeksOxford had useable vaccines for labtests and clinical grade shots forhuman trials. The rest, as they say ishistory.

By the beginning of April, theCOVID19 virus had spread to mostparts of the world with the UN chiefAntonio Guterres terming it the“worst crisis” since World War II.With deaths mounting andeconomies crashing one after theother, the development of this vac-cine was much more than a health-care need, it was an economic

urgency as well. The Oxford vaccineis a chimpanzee adenovirus-vectoredshot. It uses a genetically-modifiedversion of a virus strain that is usu-ally found in chimpanzees. Thismodified virus carried with it an ele-ment of the COVID-19 viral strainthat triggers an immune response inthe human body.

Not without controversies:Given the urgency and the compe-tition between pharma companies,vaccine development has under-standably been hasty. The Oxfordvaccine trial discovered up to 90 percent efficacy when the volunteerswere given a half dose before a fulldose booster shot. Interestingly,when given two full doses, the vac-cine showed only 62 per cent effica-cy. While this serendipitous discov-ery gave an expected boost to thevaccine, questions remain over thecause of this surprising trial result.It also brought to the fore discrep-ancy in the narratives of the twopartnering agencies on the project.While the AstraZeneca team insist-

ed that half dosage was given as aninadvertent error, Oxford scientistsunderlined that it was a calibratedmove.

Even as the varying accountsraised concerns, the controversyalso served to remind us how hastytrials can result in handling errors.It also underscores the need forOxford-AstraZeneca’s India part-ner, Serum Institute of India, toensure a highly transparent trial forCovishield to dispel any doubt anddistrust over its efficacy.

Funding medical research mustbe top priority: The adenovirus vec-tor platform that has been used in theOxford vaccine was first developedin the early 1990s and has since thenbeen repeatedly tested and modifiedin continued research and develop-ment. The current vaccine designthat could successfully use the exist-ing platform is essentially based onalmost three decades of research andtesting. With the success of the vac-cine in sight, it is important to under-stand that none of it would have been

possible without years of expertisedeveloped by the scientists and theadequate funding and resource sup-port given to medical research.

These researchers are our mod-ern heroes, who have made tremen-dous sacrifices and given it their all,in order to make a difference tohumankind and create history. In allof this, science will be the winner. Letthis encourage and inspire ouryoungsters to be future scientists whocan make the impossible possible.

Countries like India, where theshortage of medical research fund-ing has been a perennial problem,can also learn vital lessons from this.Notably, the Department of HealthResearch in India was given barelythree per cent of the total healthcareallocation in the Budget 2020-21.India needs to increase funding andspend more on biomedical researchto be able to develop effective drugsand vaccine solutions for multiplediseases in the future.

(The writer is Executive Directorof a pharmaceutical firm)

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With the Budget-making exer-cise in full swing, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das onFriday said Budget 2021-22 isexpected to be prudent andgrowth oriented.

Das before donning the hatof RBI Governor was a careerbureaucrat and was directlyinvolved in crafting of about 10Budgets for the country includ-ing one in the aftermath ofglobal financial meltdown indifferent capacities at theFinance Ministry.

In view of unprecedentedpandemic and its impact on theeconomy, he said the govern-ment has maintained fiscalprudence in the response todeal with the crisis.

"Naturally when we arerecovering from a massivedamage which pandemic hasbrought on the Indian eco-nomic, the budget has to begrowth oriented. And also, letus keep in mind that duringthis year also, all the fiscal mea-sures which the governmenthas announced, I think hasbeen very well calibrated verywell targeted, and they havebeen very prudently drawnout," he said during interactionwith the media after the poli-cy announcement.

In fact, at the beginning ofthe pandemic, there was worrythat the government's fiscaldeficit will go haywire, he said,

adding it has not gone beyondcontrol. "I think the responseof the government (so far) has

been very calibrated and pru-dent. So, the budget next yearalso I expect to be very prudent

but naturally, it has to be agrowth oriented budget. Thatis something which is bound tohappen. It's a no-brainer. It hasto be a good supporting bud-get," he said.

While unveiling fifth bi-monthly monetary policyreview, Das said the economyis recuperating faster thananticipated and growth rate islikely to turn positive in thesecond half of the currentfinancial year. In the year aswhole, the economy is likely tocontract by 7.5 per cent, which

is an improvement overReserve Bank's previous pro-jection of 9.5 per cent contrac-tion, the Governor said.

The economy contracted by23.9 per cent in the first quar-ter and 7.5 per cent in the sec-ond quarter on account of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Observing that the prospectsof growth have brightenedwith the progress on the vac-cine front, Das said, the econ-omy was likely to record agrowth of 0.1 per cent in Q3and 0.7 per cent in Q4.

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State-owned engineeringfirm BHEL on Friday said ithas executed a boiler clean-ing process using an auxiliaryboiler at NTPC's NorthKaranpura Super ThermalPower Project in Jharkhand.

The project is being execut-ed on an engineering-pro-curement-construct ion(EPC) basis, BHEL said in astatement.

"BHEL has implementedan innovative boiler cleaningprocess for coal-fired thermalunits at NTPC's 3x660 MWNorth Karanpura SuperThermal Power Project," itsaid.

The company added thatthe boiler commissioningcycle will reduce from 100days to 80 days by successful-ly completing the main 'boil-er acid cleaning' without itslight-up, by using an auxiliaryboiler, it added.

The public sector under-taking has a proven trackrecord in the supercriticalsegment and has successful-ly commissioned 23 boilerpackages and 19 turbinepackages in the ratings of 660MW, 700 MW and 800 MW,the statement said.

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Flipkart's independent value-driven platform, 2GUD onFriday said it has launched'2GUD Local' aimed at extend-ing the benefits of e-com-merce to traditional retail busi-nesses.

The new format will offeroffline stores, brands and shop-ping destinations an opportu-nity to unlock the benefits oftechnology and the social com-merce hybrid retail model toreach millions of pan-Indiaconsumers, a statement said.

2GUD Local will enablelocal stores (single brand ormulti-brand stores and othershopping destinations) andretailers to expand their digi-tal footprint to connect moreeffectively with their con-sumers, it added.

2GUD Local has startedwith KLM Fashion Mall inBengaluru. Launched in 2017,KLM Fashion Mall hasexpanded its reach through 17showrooms in the last threeyears.

Through long-format videosshot within store premises byinfluencers, coupled withengaging narratives and con-

versations, 2GUD Local part-ner stores will be able to show-case their latest products andcollections and offer them toonline users, the statementsaid.

2GUD Local will assist storesin areas including cataloguing,consumer fulfilment, adver-tising, and marketing.

This engagement will pro-vide retailers with an addition-al channel for sales and accessto new geographies for con-sumer acquisition.

"Value spending and conve-nience are becoming keyaspects of online shoppingexperiences. We have launched2GUD Local to help local

brands leverage traffic on ouralready-popular marketplaceand take their offerings to apan-India market," FlipkartHead of 2GUD ChanakyaGupta said.

He added that audienceengagement on the platform isvery high and it will allowbrands to have more facetime

with shoppers."2GUD Local will enable

them to offer as close to an in-store experience as they can,online. We look forward topartnering with more localpartner brands and servingconsumers across the countryin times when social distanc-ing is of utmost importance,"he said.

2GUD currently coversmore than 600 product seg-ments and offers both new andrefurbished products. The plat-form has more than a millionconsumers across more than15,000 PIN codes in India.

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Markets regulator Sebi hasordered attachment of bankand Demat accounts of AspenIndustries and four others torecover Rs 2.84 crore.

The recovery proceedingshave been initiated againstthem after they failed to repayinvestors money as directed bythe Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) in July2017.

The company raised fundsthrough non-convertibledebentures from investorswithout complying with pub-lic issue norms.

In an attachment notice onThursday, Sebi said the default-ers have already been givensufficient time to disgorge theamount. However, they havenot shown any willingness tocomply with the regulator'sdirection.

Accordingly, Sebi hasordered attachment of bank aswell as demat accounts andmutual fund folios of AspenIndustries Limited, Aspen

Debenture Trust, BhaskarSaha, Abhijit Dasgupta andUjjal Kumar Roy.

Sebi asked banks and depos-itories not to allow any debitfrom the accounts of these

entities. However, credits havebeen permitted.

Further, the capital marketswatchdog has directed thebanks to attach all accountsincluding lockers held by thedefaulters.

The regulator said there issufficient reason to believethat the defaulters may disposeof the amounts in the bankaccounts and securities in theDemat accounts and "realisa-tion of the amount due underthe certificate would, in con-sequence, be delayed orobstructed".

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Tata Power gets letter ofintent for 2 Odisha discoms�*�� "�&��(�

Tata Power on Friday saidthat it has received letter ofintent (LOI) for Odisha'sWESCO and SOUTHCOpower distribution utilities(discoms).

Tata Power has received theLetter of Intent from theOdisha Electricity RegulatoryCommission (OERC) for thedistribution and retail supplyof electricity in Odisha's fivecircles of WESCO and six cir-cles of SOUTHCO, a compa-ny statement said.

As per conditions of biddocumentation, Tata Powerwill hold 51 per cent equitywith management control and

the state-owned GRIDCO willhave the remaining 49 percent equity stake in the com-pany.

The licence enables TataPower to serve the consumersof western part (WESCO) andsouthern part (SOUTHCO)of Odisha with geographicalspread of more than 47,000 sqkm each and will manage net-

work of more than 100,000ckt. kms. each.

The licence period for thetwo distribution utilities shallbe 25 years.

Tata Power is committed toimproving and modernisingthe distribution system inWestern and Southern Odisha,it added. The priority of thecompany is to improve reliabil-ity, reduce AT&C (aggregatetechnical and commercial)losses and offer excellent cus-tomer service.

The company will retain allthe existing employees ofWESCO and SOUTHCO andtheir service conditions shallcontinue as per their existingpolicy structure, it said.

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Silver prices rose by Rs 431to Rs 64,061 per kg in futurestrade on Friday as partici-pants widened their bets onfirm spot demand.

On the Multi CommodityExchange, silver contractsfor March delivery gainedRs 431, or 0.68 per cent, toRs 64,061 per kg in 11,905lots.

Analysts said the rise insilver prices was mostly dueto fresh positions built up byparticipants on a positivedomestic trend.

Globally, silver was trad-ing 0.65 per cent higher atUSD 24.30 per ounce inNew York.

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Gold prices fell Rs 136 to Rs48,813 per 10 gram in thenational capital on Fridayamid a rupee appreciationand choppy global preciousmetal prices, according toHDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theprecious metal had closed atRs 48,949 per 10 gram.

The rupee appreciated by 16paise to 73.77 against the USdollar in the opening sessionon Friday.

Silver also declined Rs 346to Rs 63,343 per kg, from Rs63,689 per kg in the previousday.

In the international market,gold was trading with margin-

al gains at USD 1,842 perounce and silver was flat atUSD 24.20 per ounce.

HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said, "Gold prices contin-ued upside as dollar declineboosted buying in preciousmetals. The renewed stimulushopes have pushed dollardown supporting buying inbullion prices."

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Fair trade regulator CCI willshortly commence a study onprivate equity (PE) invest-ments in the country to look atvarious aspects, includingwhether PE investors' rights ininvested companies could leadto decisions that can impactcompetition.

While mentioning about theproposed study, CompetitionCommission of India (CCI)Chairperson Ashok KumarGupta, on Friday, said that in

the current year, PE invest-ments have surpassed strategicinvestments in the countrydue to the prevailing coron-avirus pandemic situation.

According to Gupta, a newtrend has emerged where FDIand other foreign investmentshave been overtaken by PEinvestments.

The regulator has beenexamining sub-10 per centinvestments in target enterpris-es by PE investors where theyeven have a board seat in thetarget enterprises.

Since many of these PEinvestments are in multiplefirms of the same industry,leading to product-marketoverlaps, the issue of commonownership by minority share-holders across firms and itsimpact on competition needsto be understood, Gupta said.

"In order to understand thetrends and patterns of commonownership by PE investorsacross sectors in India, theCommission is shortly going toconduct a market study," hesaid.

He was speaking at theannual conference on compe-tition law and practice, organ-ised by industry body CII.

The CCI chief said the studywill aim to gauge the commonPE investors' underlying incen-tives and motivation behindsuch investments as it is impor-tant to look at the rights theyget to protect their legitimatefinancial interests from theirshareholdings. It also needs tobe looked at whether these rig-hts can translate into their ab-ility to influence the decision of

the firm, consequently impact-ing competition, or whetherthe investor and the companyholding minority shareholdingwill classify them as passiveinvestors, Gupta said.

He also emphasised that thestudy would help the regulatorin identifying the kind of share-holding rights available tocommon shareholders, the typeof influence these rights pro-vide and the available safeguardin a company's policies for mit-igating competition concerns,if any.

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The rupee snapped its two-daylosing streak to close 13 paisehigher at 73.80 (provisional)against the US dollar on Fridayas the Reserve Bank of Indiamaintained status quo on thebenchmark interest rate for thethird time in a row.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the domestic unit opened

at 73.81 and saw an intra-dayhigh of 73.70 and a low of73.81. It finally closed at 73.80a dollar, registering a rise of 13paise. On Thursday, the rupeehad settled at 73.93 against theAmerican currency.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Friday left interestrates unchanged for the thirdstraight time amid persistent-ly high inflation and said the

economy was recuperating fastand would return to positivegrowth in the current quarteritself.

The MPC "decided to con-tinue with the accommodativestance of monetary policy aslong as necessary — at leastthrough the current financialyear and into the next year,"Governor Shaktikanta Dassaid.

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yderabad is a place ofopportunities, whereyou can excel and makemoney and fortunes, MrGhouse says.His association with

Hyderabad dates back to 1986, asyoungster with high aspirationsmoving to Hyderabad in search ofa job, to make it big in life. He says,“After I graduated, I was very eagerto come to Hyderabad. Eventually,I ended up moving to my dreamcity, and took shelter with some ofmy college friends living here.Though I’m a state rank holder, Ihad trouble finding a job initially.Since I was not offered a job Ideserve, I decided to go back andcontinue my education.”

Because of the rising trend incomputer application, Mr Ghousejoined the course in Salem, TamilNadu, but his thirst for working inHyderabad wasn’t quenched. Andas destiny favours, he bagged a jobin the APSRTC. “Before moving toTamil Nadu, I applied for a fewgovernment jobs. Fifteen days intothe course, I got a job inHyderabad and so I returned toHyderabad leaving the course mid-way because of the conservativeenvironment in Tamil Nadu,” heexerts.

Although he’s Muslim, his child-hood passed with predominantlyspeaking in Telugu because of theplace he grew up — Kadapa. Whenhe moved to Hyderabad, despitebeing a Teluguite, Mr Ghouse says,he had trouble communicatingwith the people here because of thedifference in dialect. “Peoplewouldn’t understand what I speakand I wouldn’t understand whatthey spoke. Initially, the language

was an issue, slowly, I got accus-tomed to the culturehere. People here arevery adaptive and

they respect outsiders,” he says,adding, “The beauty of this place isits multi-cultured localities. TheNizam legacy is so rich and mes-merises me.”

His perspective towards life hasbroadened after he moved toHyderabad and he decided to doengineering here in JNTU whileworking for APSRTC. He alwayshad a dream of joining the Navy

and Air Forces. He landed a job inDRDO in 1992, a job that he isproud of today.

After joining DRDO, Mr Ghousewas posted at various locationsacross the country. Having lived invarious cities, he feels Hyderabad is

a better city to settle downin life.

What makesHyderabad even morespecial to Mr Ghouse

is him meeting his wife here in thecity, while he was working forAPSRTC. Being a Muslim fromKadapa, he got married to aHyderabad Hindu girl. He says,“We were in love for 5 years. Therewas massive opposition from myfather-in-law because of inter-reli-gion marriage. After having our setof hiccups, we could finally con-vince my in-laws and we got mar-

ried in Hyderabad.”What does he like the most

about Hyderabad? He says, “It isvery adaptive. I love its history.The Nizam legacy, the architecture,the food, more importantly, it’scentrally connected, all these fac-tors make it a hub for people likeme coming from other places. Theonly thing I dislike about this placeis its unorganised growth and lackof civic sense.”

Mr Ghouse feels every individ-ual, big or small, should be sociallyresponsible to give back to thesociety. In this endeavour, he start-ed an organisation — FatimaFoundation, in memory of hisbeloved late mother Fatima Bee.The main aim of the foundation isto encourage school children intheir academics etc., and alsoimprove the quality of life in thesociety.

He adds, “Hyderabad is a placeof opportunities. This city has thehighest inflow of migrants. Unlikeearlier, we have people comingfrom across the globe and settling

here. When I movedhere, Hyderabad was aheritage-rich city. Now it’s becomean IT hub. That way, it is satisfyingpeople across all age groups and iskeeping up with the trend. This ismaking Hyderabad the most liv-able city in the country.”

Going down the memory, heshares, “During my youth, getting

a Hyderabadi Biryani, watching amovie was our stress buster. Goingto Irani cafe and having chai andbiscuits was a regular hangouthere. Koi bhi aaye, ‘chalo chai peetehai’ was our thing. I’m a food lover,I have a history of visiting all-newrestaurants regardless of the timeand enjoy the yummylicious foodavailable in the city.”

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SaturdayDecember 5, 2020

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n internship can bean important step-ping stone in yourcareer. It can pro-vide you with vitalopportunities to

turn your classroomlearnings into real-worldpractice. It can help youfine-tune skills that arenecessary for the jobmarket, especially whenyou start looking foremployment. The Coronavirus pan-demic has changedthings and systems dras-tically and internshipsare no exception. Manyemployers had revokedinternship offers in lightof Covid-19. On theother hand, a number ofcompanies are optingfor virtual or remoteinternships honouringthe commitment madeto candidates before theCovid-19 outbreak. AnArts and Humanitiesprofessor fromHyderabad tells us howinternship is a criticalphase as field knowledgeis much more importantthan textbook knowl-edge. “Internship canmake a person streetsmart from being anerd, it also helps youfetch contacts in yourrespective fields evenbefore stepping intoprofessional life. Nowdue to the rising start-ups in our city, there areso many opportunitiesfor students to intern.Amid this lockdown,work from home intern-ships are a bonus!Internships always addan extra feather to theresumes and the jobmarket is so competitivethat it gives recent grad-uates a learning curve,”informs HimabinduAchanta.

Economy is changingdaily and with it talents,skills and experience arealways needed for a stu-dent’s growth cycle. Forgraduates this is one ofthe biggest reasons tohave applied learning inlife and bag diverseinternship opportuni-ties. It integrates class-

room knowledge withpractical applications.But what if a youngster’sinternship prospect ischallenged due to thispandemic? “We as grad-uates in these unprece-dented times have beenhit badly. It’s an immedi-ate crisis and whoknows, it could bring along term problem toour careers. My intern-ship opportunities werecompletely interruptedduring this pandemicwhile it should havebeen my time to shine!As far as virtual intern-ships are concerned, Iam deprived of perks ofattending meetings andapplying practicalknowledge in the realworld setting. Becauselearning is one thing buttaking those skills intoworkforce and, applyingthem is another way ofexploring. I hope we willbe able to minimisefuture scarring andwithout sufficient atten-tion on this crisis ofgraduates, it may riskthe ‘lockdown genera-tion’ that’s us,” sharesSabya Rajput, journal-ism graduate competingagainst the pandemic toland a coveted positionin a reputed company.Immersive internshipsin your field of study arevery essential for suc-cessful outcomes aftergraduation. Learning,growing, and mostimportantly, preparingfor life and a career iswhat internships are allabout. For your careerreadiness, add this aidinto your window ofinnumerable possibili-ties and give wings toyour profession.

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ome songs are sogood that we want tolisten to them onloop. Either yourelate to the lyrics orit just makes you feel

good, and one such song titledCrazy Lady sung by the mil-lenial’s new hot shot AasthaGill is topping the pop genrecharts. Owing to the fact thatbeing crazy is the new mood ofthis year, Aastha embodiedthat very spirit and releasedthis unique self-love anthem.“Crazy Lady is totally based onmy real-life experiences and Ithink that’s a good enoughrelationship with the lyrics forme to choose to sing this par-ticular song. Also, not to forgetthat I am a crazy nut myselfand you have my friends whocan vouch for that.. The titleCrazy Lady in that manner isvery apt,” she laughs.

Crazy Lady is surely going touplift your gloomy mood andmake you groove to its finevocal tunes. The song seems tobe so catchy and stays with youeven when it’s over. The ‘vibe’is what makes it stand outamongst other songs on yourplaylist! And, what’s betterthan knowing that your song is trending wth teens andinfluencers posting reels or

making dance videos on thesong!

A song cannot connect to itslisteners on just notes alone,the music of Crazy Lady doesevoke emotions of all kindsand that’s what has made it ahit number currently.Thinking about the vibe thatAastha wanted to give to hersong, she, along with othercomposers added hip-hoppunches making her pop songbubbly. Wherever you go, lis-teners are humming CrazyLady!

“What’s better than beingthe face of your own song?Hardly playback singers comeon screen as their songs arealready pre-recorded but Idon’t just want to lip-sync tomy songs but enact in themtoo! I am catching up on thenew trend, other singers aretoo. It adds more value to mywork and if I have an extra tal-ent, why not showcase it to myfan-base,” tells Aastha on beingasked about the trend of play-back-singers being the face oftheir own musical videos.

Hoping that Crazy Ladybecomes the timeless song ofthe year and millions of peoplecontinue to hum it, Aastha Gillmanaged to evoke reactionsthat stand the test of self-love.

Self love is that moral flaw thatsometimes gets synonymouswith vanity or self centricbehaviour but Aastha’s newsong debars this notion andhelps give a positive connota-tion to the theme of self love.What also makes the singer’smusic videos stand out apartfrom the vibe she creates is theaddition of vibrant colors. Sheconsciously visualises her ver-sion of a brighter life throughher music videos. Showcasingthe right colours and propswith eye catching backgroundsbrings more clarity to herinternal desires as well. Tellingus about her beautiful life thatis filled with numerouscolours, she believes an indi-vidual portrays the same poisethat he or she lives in. “Whodoesn’t love colours, and as anindividual, I am very lively andcheerful in my real life too so Itry to depict that in my videos.Whatever it takes to attract myfandom’s attention!” shechuckles.

Wishing to learn more fromother artists in her entertain-ment fraternity, Aastha Gillwill be soon seen collaboratingwith versatile singers and com-posers while continuing to stayas the numero uno Crazy Ladyon the chartbuster lists!

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ith cinema halls opening their gatesto the public on Friday, the makersof Orey Bujjigaa decided to slot theirfilm for a theatrical release onJanuary 1st. It is worth mentioning

the film, directed by Vijay Kumar Konda,dropped on aha earlier this October and it isstill streaming there. The theatrical releaseplan by producer K Radhamohan is anattempt to make more revenue as there is

dearth of Telugu content for cinema hallsright now. Most of the halls which openedon Friday are screening old Telugu films likeSarileru Neekevvaru, Ala Vaikunthapuramloand Bheeshma.

Fronted by Raj Tarun and Malavika Nair,Orey Bujjigaa, a Hyderabad-set drama, is onthe lines of director Vijay Konda'sGundejaari Gallanthayyinde. The film, how-ever, was panned by the critics.

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arlier this April, Anasuya Bharadwajexpressed her interest in spreading herwings to Tamil cinema. "Actually I do.Few stories came by.. but something or theother didn't work out. I am looking fwd toyou know (sic)" was her response when a

follower wanted to know if she wants to debutin Kollywood during a Q&A session on herTwitter page. Cut to seven months later, she isnow doing a Tamil film. "Living throughanother good story. #newBeginnings#Kollywood #Tamizh (sic)," the TV presenter-turned-actress posted on her Instagram spaceon Friday. While she hasn't disclosed thefilm's name, many believe it is one of VijaySethupathi's upcoming ventures.

In Telugu though, Anasuya is looking for-ward to the release of Ramesh Raparthy'sThank You Brother, an emotional thriller,which she spearheads. She will be seen a preg-nant woman in the film.

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ashish Khan, who hasfeatured in a coupleof commercials, ismaking her filmdebut with RajTarun's next with

good friend Srinivas Gavireddy.She has already joined the setsand the unit is happy with herskills and dedication, reportsNAGARAJ GOUD

Writer-director SrinivasGavireddy, who is directinggood friend Raj Tarun forAnnapurna Studios, has ropedin New Delhi girl Kashish Khanas the film's leading lady.According to a source, thedirector has auditioned multipleaspiring actresses from Mumbaiand Delhi before zeroing in onKashish, who has featured insome commercials. The projectmarks her debut in Telugu cine-ma. "It has been an extensivesearch for Gavireddy but he ishappy that he got the rightactress in the end. Kashish hasalready won the admiration of

the unit with her acting skillsand dedication. She will be seenas a software employee in thefilm," the source notes.

Launched on September 20 inHyderabad, Gavireddy hasmanaged to wrap up close to 45percent of the film in a 27-dayschedule so far. "Annapurnathink-tank is delighted with thefootage and they believe theyhave a winner in hand. Afterbeing shot in Hyderabad untilnow, the unit is gearing up for amonth schedule inBhimavaram, where the story isset. But before it rolls nextmonth, the director is planningto shoot for three more days inHyderabad," the source informs.

The still-untitled film, anout-and-out entertaining dramawith family emotions, is a GopiSunder musical, while the likesof Posani Krishna Murali, Ajay,Aadukulam Naren, Sudarshanand Bhadram are playing sup-porting roles.

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ith his last film,Nishabdam, too failing towin the love of the audi-ence like his maiden film,Vasthadu Naa Raju,

Hemanth Madhukar has moved

on. We hear he is gearing up todirect a romantic action dramaup next. "Gopimohan is pen-ning the screenplay of this pro-ject while People Media Factoryis attached to produce," a

source close to the director tellsus.

That's not it! Hemanth, whodirected A Flat in Hindi earlier,is also planning to direct amulti-starrer titled Baatein.

Prominent writer Ritesh Shahof Kahaani and Pink fame isworking on the screenplay. ALondon-set drama, Hemanth isplanning to shoot 70 percent ofthe film in the Queen's City.

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esuming in October aftera seven-month COVID-19 induced break, thefilming of Nani-starrerTuck Jagadish has now

reached the fag end. The unitrecently shot for a family song onthe principal cast at the famousSri Ranganayakaswamy Templelocated at Srirangapur,Wanaparthy for four days andresumed the last schedule inHyderabad on Friday. "We arelooking to wrap up the complete

shoot in another 12 days. RFCand surrounding areas will hostthe present leg of filming,"Harish Peddi, who is producingthe film along with SahuGarapati their Shine Screens, toldus when contacted.

An emotional family drama setin a rural landscape, the film, adirectorial venture of ShivaNirvana, sees Ritu Varma along-side Nani, while AishwaryaRajesh is playing a strong sup-porting role. The supporting cast

comprises of Jagapathi Babu,Murali Sharma, Nassar, RaoRamesh, Naresh and Rohini,while CVL Narashimha Rao,Maala Pravathi, Devadharshini,Bindhu Chandhramouli,Praveen, Kishore Polimera andPammi Sai are essaying otherroles. When asked about therelease date, Harish said, "Wehaven't given it a thought yet.Our post-production will taketime, so let's see." - NG

harat AneNenu girlKiara Advanisays she hasnever joined adating appli-

cation and if she everdid so her bio wouldread that she was onlylooking for love.

Kiara is gearing upfor the release of herupcoming film IndooKi Jawani, which tellsthe tale of a small-town girl namedIndira, or Indoo, andher misadventureswith dating apps.

The actress insistsshe is very differentfrom Indoo when itcomes to dating tech-nology.

"I have never triedputting myself on adating app. I don'tthink I have even seen

what a dating applooks like. It was onlywhen I signed'IndooKi Jawaani I actuallygoogled andresearched on differ-ent dating apps avail-able," Kiara said.

However, she nar-rates the incident howher best friend foundlove on a social plat-form.

"But having saidthat I know a lot offriends (who use dat-ing apps). My ownbest friend is nowmarried to somebodyshe met on a datingapp. I think it is quitecool everybody is verystraightforward on adating app and theirintentions are clear. IfI was on a dating appmy bio would be 'onlylooking for love',"Kiara added.

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Celebrations broke out in theBJP camp in Telangana onFriday as the party madehuge gains to win 46 seats inthe Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) elections, emergingas the second largest party.

State BJP leaders and partycadres celebrated the party'spoll success with fireworksand distribution of sweets.Some party workers wereseen dancing amid beating ofdrums, raising slogans. Therewas all round jubilation at thestate BJP headquarters asleaders arrived there with thecounting of votes enteringthe final phase.

Union Minister of State G.Kishan Reddy, BJP's nation-al Vice President D.K. Aruna,party's OBC MorchaPresident K. Laxman, stateBJP President Bandi SanjayKumar and other leaders

celebrated the party's suc-cess with the cadres.The BJP, which had

won just four seats inthe 150-member

G H M C

in the 2016 elections, put upan impressive show tobecome the second largestparty and thus denyTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) a clear majority in themunicipal body.

The counting of votes sawmany twists and turnsthroughout the day. Whenthe counting of postal ballotswas taken up, the BJP was

ahead of theothers. Theparty

was shown to be leading in80 divisions. Congratulatorymessages by party leadershad started doing the roundson social media.

However, the celebrationsproved premature when theballot boxes were openedand TRS established earlyleads in most of the divisions.At one point it looked as ifthe TRS will get a comfort-able majority but in the neck-and-neck race, the BJP over-took TRS in about 15 divi-sions to emerge as the secondlargest party.

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The Union Minister of theState for Home Affairs GKishan Reddy has faced abitter experience inGHMC elections as theBJP lost Amberpet,Golnaka divisions, whichare under his ownAssembly constituency.

The BJP also didn'tperform well in formerMLA ChinthalaRamachandra Reddy'sKhairathabad constituen-cy as well.

However, the party wonfive of six seats in MLARaja Singh and formerMLA Dr K Laxman'srespective constituencies.

On the other hand, theTPCC working presidentA Revanth Reddy'scharisma didn't work inhis Malkajgiri Lok Sabhaconstituency. Congress

party won only twodivisions in hisconstituency.The party wonin Uppal andAS RaoNagar andlost all 41divisionsout of 43divisions inits con-stituencylimits.

However,RevanthReddy blamedmedia for hisparty's failure.Media killed theCongress party taking'supari' from TRS and BJP,he alleged. It may berecalled here that RevanthReddy had ensured mere39 votes where he workedin the village in Dubbakby-elections.

Major setback forRevanth, Kishan ontheir home turfs

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HC suspends SEC’s circular on ‘special' ballot papers

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Telangana High Court onFriday suspended a circularissued by the State ElectionCommission (SEC) whichallows counting of votes with"distinguish marks" other thanthe standard Swastik symbol(crossed arrow mark), for thepolls held for GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation on December 1.

Hearing a House Motion,Justice Abhishek Reddy whilesuspending SEC's circular saidthe ballots which have "distin-guish marks" should be keptseparately and if they are detri-mental to the poll results, theoutcome should not beannounced.

"If the margin is less than thedisputed ballot papers, then thedisputed ballot papers shall notbe taken into account and theresult of the Ward may not bedeclared," the court order said.

Earlier some Returning

Officers asked the SEC whatthey should do in case theyfind some "distinguish mark"instead of Swastik symbol onany ballot paper.

Based on that the SEC onThursday night issued a circu-lar saying "if the intention ofthe voter is clear on markingto a particular candidate thevote can be treated as validsince it is the mistake of thepolling officer..."

The petitioners Antony

Reddy and K Surender (a can-didate in the GHMC polls)sought the court to declare thecircular issued by the SEC asillegal, arbitrary and contraryto the election laws.

Sources in the SEC told P TI that all the returning officershave been communicatedabout the High Court directiveand act accordingly.

The matter was posted toDecember 7 for further hear-ing.

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The GHMC hung verdict hasthrown TRS and AIMIM intoa catch-22 situation. Unlessboth parties join hands, theycannot bag Mayor and DeputyMayor posts.Both the partiesleft clueless on whatto do next:whether to joinhands or not to bagMayor, DeputyMayor posts. This isbecause joininghands involves huge politicalimplications for both par-ties, moreso for the rulingTRS.

This is because the BJPhas taken 'TRS-MIMfriendship' to centre stagein entire GHMC poll cam-paigning to polarise Hinduvotes against TRS. TRS, whichalways and openly claimedseveral times that AIMIM istheir 'friendly party' realisedthe danger very late during

GHMC polls and tried to pro-ject AIMIM as its rival. TheAIMIM too projected TRS asits rival during GHMC polls to

prevent BJP from polarisingHindu votes against TRS.Both the leaders compet-ed with each other in crit-

icizing the other party.In this backdrop,

the hung ver-dict in GHMCpolls on Fridayhas created a sit-uation whereTRS and

AIMIM are left with nooption but to join hands tobag Mayor and Deputy

Mayor posts. But TRS lead-ership is worried that if itjoins hands with AIMIMin GHMC, it will give

ammunition to BJP topropagate 'TRS-MIM friend-

ship' not only in Hyderabadbut across Telangana andpolarise Hindu votes in favour

of BJP for 2023 DecemberAssembly polls.

Political observers say if TRSjoins hands with AIMIM, itamounts to 'political suicide' byTRS. Similarly, AIMIM has nooption but to join hands withTRS in GHMC to claim Mayoror Deputy Mayor post since itcannot join hands with BJP.For this reason, the TRS whichhurried in conducting GHMCpolls by advancing elections bytwo months is now mulling towait till February 2021, whenpresent GHMC council tenureends, o take a call on newMayor, Deputy Mayor posts.

When asked about Mayorpost in Friday's press confer-ence, TRS working presidentKT Rama Rao shot back,"Where is the hurry. We stillhave two months left to take acall on this. We will discuss atlength in the party and take adecision". If there was nohurry, why TRS governmentadvanced GHMC polls by twomonths then? There was noanswer to this question fromanyone in TRS.

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The meteoric rise of BJP inthe GHMC elections has sentdanger bells ringing for rulingTRS and opposition Congressin Telangana ahead of 2023December Assembly polls.BJP achieved the distinctionof the only party to have suc-cessfully stopped the TRSjuggernaut from rolling inTelangana.

TRS was on a roll in all theelections wiping out opposi-tion parties since the forma-tion of Telangana State in2014. However, BJP tamedTRS by defeating TRS in fourLok Sabha seats in April 2019Lok Sabha polls. BJP deliv-ered biggest blow to TRSchief and CM KCR by defeat-ing his daughter K Kavitha inNizamabad Lok Sabha seatbesides trouncing KCR's closeaide B Vinod Kumar inKarimnagar Lok Sabha seat.Both were sitting MPs. Thisapart, BJP defeated TRS inAdilabad and SecunderabadLok Sabha seats.

BJP's wave in Telanganareached to next level after itdealt a blow to TRS in Dubbak

Assembly bypoll results inNovember. BJP defeated TRSin Dubbak bypoll even afterKCR roped his trump cardand party's trouble shooterHarish Rao for two months toensure victory in Dubbak.

BJP emerged victorious inDubbak, that too on KCR andHarish's home turf, which ispart of Undivided Medak dis-trict, considered to be thebastion of TRS. Within fourweeks, BJP gave shock treat-ment to TRS yet again bywinning 48 seats and bring-ing down TRS tally from 99

in 2016 GHMC polls to just55 now. BJP is now gearing up

to face Nagar junasagarAssembly bypoll expectedany time within six monthsdue to untimely death of TRSsitt ing MLA Nomula

Narasimhaiah recently onDecember 1. Large scalemigrations from TRS andCongress into BJP are expect-ed in the coming days andreshape Telangana politicallandscape as battle betweenTRS and BJP and leaving noscope for others. The disgrun-tled leaders in TRS are look-ing at BJP while Congressleaders who see no future intheir party are vying to joinBJP to cash in on BJP's wave.The BJP already pushedprime opposition Congress tothird place in Telangana.

BJP’s rise rings danger bells for TRS, Cong

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After registering decentshow in Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation elec-tions on Friday severalKarnataka BJP leadersincluding Chief Minister, B.S Yediyurappa hailed it as"Spectacular Victory"."

Karnataka Chief MinisterB. S. Yediyurappa on GHMCelection result: "The spectac-ular win for BJP inHyderabad reaffirms peo-ple's faith in PM Modi's lead-ership and in politics ofdevelopment. Hearty con-gratulations to all Karyakartasof Telangana BJP for the stu-pendous feat."

While the BJP nationalgeneral secretary (organisa-tion), B. L Santhosh said inhis tweet that Well doneBHAGYANAGAR ......!!!!Great going team@BJP4Telangana You made amark."

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Did not expect this outcome: KTR...2020/12/05 · Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502,