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VIJAYAWADA 9A VALLEY THAT

NO ONE UNDERSTOOD

ANALYSIS 9CHANGING THE

FACE OF KASHMIR

SPORTS 12CAC NOT KEEN ON FOREIGN COACH

VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 7, 2019; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

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Policemen stand guard in a deserted street following restrictions in Jammu. With complete black-out of communications and internet, people remained indoors

UNEASY CCALM Photo: Reuters

PNS n NEW DELHI

Home Minister Amit Shah onTuesday asserted in Lok Sabhathat Pakistan occupiedKashmir (PoK) and Aksai Chinare part of Jammu and Kashmirand said "we are ready to giveour lives for it". Moving a res-olution for revoking provisionsof Article 370 and the Jammuand Kashmir ReorganisationBill 2019, Shah also said thatthere has been a long-standingdemand for giving UnionTerritory status to Ladakhwhich was fulfilled by theNarendra Modi government."Kashmir is an integral part ofIndia, there is no doubt aboutit. When I say Jammu andKashmir, I include PakistanOccupied Kashmir and AksaiChin, both are included in theterritorial boundaries of Jammuand Kashmir," the HomeMinister said.

"Ladakh including AksaiChin will be a Union Territory,Both Hill Councils will con-tinue to be active," he said.

Responding to a querywhether the new provisionswould also include PoK, Shahsaid, "We will give our lives forit." Aksai Chin is a vast area inLadakh which is currentlyunder Chinese occupation.

Shah said the "President hassigned a Constitution Order2019 yesterday, ordering appli-

cation of all provisions of theIndian Constitution to Jammuand Kashmir, this meansArticle 35A is removed". TheHouse also witnessed uproar,with Congress members andShah involved in a war ofwords. Congress Leader of theHouse Adhir RanjanChowdhury questioned thelegality behind introducing

these bills. When some mem-bers from opposition benchesasked why was the home min-ister appearing so aggressive,Shah replied, "I am aggressivebecause you think PoK is nota part of India." Tewari said. ifJammu and Kashmir, Junagadhand Hyderabad are part ofIndia, then it is because ofPandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

To this, Shah said this wasan example of discrediting thecontribution of SardarVallabbhai Patel. "This Househas seen very historical deci-sions, this bill will be writtenin golden letters," Shahadded.

Shah said nobody can stopus from introducing a resolu-tion on Kashmir in Parliament.

PoK, Aksai Chin ours; willgive life for it: Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesdayrejected China's opposition toits move to create a separateUnion Territory of Ladakh,calling it an internal matter ofthe country. External AffairsMinistry SpokespersonRaveesh Kumar said Indiadoes not comment on theinternal affairs of othercountries and similarly expectsother countries to do likewise. "The Jammu and KashmirReorganization Bill 2019,introduced by the governmentin Parliament on August 5,which proposes the formationof a new Union Territory ofLadakh is an internal matterconcerning the territory ofIndia," he said in response to aquery on China's comments onthe matter.

India rejectsChina's oppositionto UT of Ladakh

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Congress leader's self-goal inparliament on Tuesday on thegovernment's big Jammu andKashmir move has upset SoniaGandhi and Rahul Gandhi,sources say. Adhir RanjanChowdhury, the leader of theCongress in the Lok Sabha,deeply embarrassed his party byappearing to suggest thatJammu and Kashmir is not aninternal matter. Amit Shah,after pushing the measures inthe Rajya Sabha, made a state-ment in the Lok Sabha on thedecision to end Jammu andKashmir's special status underArticle 370 and to bifurcate thestate into two union territories.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurydemanded the government'sposition on Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK) while referringto a 1994 resolution by the LokSabha that the entire Jammu andKashmir was an integral part ofIndia. He said the governmenthad thrown rules and regula-tions out of the window byproposing to create two unionterritories out of Jammu andKashmir. "I don't think you are

thinking about PoK, you vio-lated all rules and converted astate into a union territoryovernight," Mr Chowdhury said.

The Home Minister told MrChowdhury not to make a "gen-eral statement". "I want to makeit very clear that Jammu and

Kashmir is an integral andinseparable part of India. Thereis absolutely no doubt over it,and there is no legal dispute onthis," Shah asserted. TheCongress leader then blunderedinto comments that he wouldfind difficult to undo later.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul upsetover ‘self-goal’ on Kashmir

LS passes Kashmir reorganization Bill

The bill to split Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territoriessailed through Lok Sabha on Tuesday, with some opposition

parties walking out, bringing down the majority mark, and otherssiding with the government. Amid a political storm that started onMonday morning since Union Home Minister Amit Shah'sannouncement in parliament, the resolution was passed through adivision of votes - 370 members voted in its favour and 70 votedagainst it. Amid a huge troop build-up leading to unrest in the state,the government on Tuesday morning announced that special status toJammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution has beenremoved by an order from President Ram Nath Kovind.

PIL in SC challenging Presidential order on Art 370

Apetition was filed in the Supreme Court Tuesday challenging thePresidential order on Article 370 which revokes the special status

given to Jammu and Kashmir. The plea has been filed by advocate ML Sharma who claimed that the Presidential order was "illegal" as itwas passed without taking consent from the state assembly. Sharmais likely to mention his plea for urgent listing before the apex courton Wednesday. The Centre had on Monday revoked Article 370which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and proposed thatthe state be bifurcated into two union territories, J&K, and Ladakh.

PNS n ISLAMABAD

Training guns on the RSSover crisis in Jammu andKashmir, Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran KhanTuesday said that in the cur-rent scenario, "all are notequal citizens" in India. "I paytribute to the Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah, whoforesaw how the Muslims ofIndia would be held hostageto the brute Hindu majorityin an undivided India," hesaid, while addressing a jointsession of Pakistan parlia-ment. Pakistan PM arguedModi government's moveagainst Article 370 validatedMohammad Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory. "Jinnah knewthat RSS wants India only forHindus and any Muslimsthere would be treated as sec-ond-class citizens.

Imran threatens ‘Pulwama-likeincidents'

PNS n CHENNAI

The Indian space agency onTuesday successfully raisedChandrayaan-2's orbit for fifthtime at 3.04 p.m. According toIndian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO), the orbitof Chandrayaan-2 was raised

to an orbit of 276x142,975 kmby firing the spacecraft'sonboard motors for 1,041 sec-onds. All spacecraft parame-ters were normal.

The next manoeuver isTrans Lunar Insertion (TLI),which is scheduled on August14, 2019, between 3-4 a.m.

Chandrayaan-2 orbitraised for fifth time

Kia Motors tolaunch its firstcar in APPNS n VIJAYAWADA

South Korea 's second-largest automobile manu-facturer Kia Motors willlaunch its first car in theIndian market in AndhraPradesh on August 8.

Kia Motors ManagingDirector Kook Hyun Shimand Chief AdministrativeOfficer Thomas Kim metChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy at hisTadepalli camp office andinvited him to attend thelaunch of the car Seltos.

MD Kook Hyun Shimstated that yearly three lakhcars would be manufac-tured from Penukondaplant in Anantapur district.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to grant SpecialCategory Status to AndhraPradesh for industrial develop-ment and all-round develop-ment of the State. He also askedfor incentives for establishmentof industries in the State. Heasked for exemption in GST,income tax and 100% insurancepremium for 10 years to indus-tries in the State. He asked thePrime Minister to fulfil thepromises made to the State inBifurcation Act by establishingsteel plant in Kadapa district andconstructing Ramayapatnamport as the construction ofDugarajupatnam port is notfeasible. He explained to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi aboutwater problems in the state andasked to interlink Godavari andKrishna rivers. He told about thedevelopment of Water Grid by2050 for supply of safe drinkingwater to the people in the statewith Rs 60,000 crore investmentand asked for the Central gov-ernment's cooperation.

Along with CM YS Jagan,YSRCP MPs, PrincipalSecretary Rawat, and IAS offi-cer Srilakshmi, were present.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy met Prime

Minister Narendra Modi onTuesday and submitted a peti-tion on different issues. Hereportedly mentioned the actiontaken by the State governmentto curb inequalities in develop-ment and preferential issues.The Chief Minister told PrimeMinister Narendra Modi thatthe previous TDP Governmentis irrational and outlandish insigning Power PurchaseAgreements (PPAs) of renew-able energy which has caused ahuge burden on the exchequer.The Chief Minister said that theexercise was taken up only tobenefit a select few with ulteri-or motives. Though there is apurchase limit of 5-10%, the

TDP government has pur-chased 23.6% of renewableenergy causing Rs 2,654 croreloss to the electricity depart-ment. Due to previous gov-ernment chaotic mechanisms, atotal of Rs 20,000 crore debt islaid on manufacturers. Jagantold that debts of the state for2014-15 financial year are Rs97,000 crore and they areincreased to Rs 2.58 lakh croreby 2018-19. The Central gov-ernment should have releasedRs 2,100 crore over six years forseven backward district out ofwhich only Rs 1,050 crore hasbeen released. He asked theCentral government to releaseRs 23,300 crore for backward.

CM meets PM, reiteratesdemand for SCS

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy giving a memento of Lord VenkateswaraSwamy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday

Floodwater receding in Godavari districtsPNS n NEW DELHI

Over a lakh food packets andover five lakh water packets havebeen distributed among flood-affected families in East andWest Godavari districts, theGovernment of Andhra Pradeshsaid on Tuesday.

"Due to heavy downpour inthe catchment area of Godavaribasin and incessant rains in Eastand West Godavari districts,floodwater discharge at SirArthur Cotton Barrage,Dowaleswaram, inflow:

10,62,488 cusecs, outflow:10,62,488 cusecs at 10 am onTuesday, first-level warning con-tinuing," Andhra Pradesh StateDisaster Management Authority(APSDMA) said in its report onthe deluge.

The government body alsosaid the situation is under con-

trol and necessary measureshave been taken by DistrictCollectors.

"The government has issuedorders to the authorities con-cerned on August 3 for distrib-uting essential commodities forall eligible families. Per family 25kg rice, two litres kerosene, a

kilogram of red gram, one litreof palm oil, one kilogram ofonions and one kilogram ofpotatoes, in flood-hit villages inEast and West Godavari dis-tricts", the report said.

"Out of the total 1,75,226food packets, 94,370 have beendistributed in East Godavari and80,856 in West Godavari districtand out of 5,05,876 water pack-ets, 2,46,750 have been distrib-uted in East Godavari and2,59,126 packets in WestGodavari", the state govern-ment has said.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Lack of global ranking hasthrown Andhra University outof the Institute of Eminence(IoE) race, dashing its hope to getfunding of Rs 1,000 crore andthe privilege of more autonomy.Despite being shortlisted, theuniversity was excluded from thelist of 20 universities which weredeclared as IoE (10 public and 10private institutions), as the var-sity could not make it in the QS-2020 World Rankings.

The UGC had formed anEmpowered Expert Committee(EEC) under the Chairmanshipof N Gopalaswami, which short-listed over 15 public and 15 pri-vate institutions for the Instituteof Eminence tag, where AndhraUniversity had also been chosen.But it had picked only 20 insti-tutes for awarding the IoE basedon their performance in the QS-

2020 World Rankings. If a tiecomes up between two institu-tions in the rankings, the UGCconsiders the QS-2019 rankingand National InstitutionalRanking Framework (NIRF)ranking as the tie-breaker.

According to the MHRD,since the thrust of the IoE ini-tiative was to prepare institutionsfor the global rankings, no exist-ing institution which has not fig-

ured in any of the global/nation-al ranks was recommended forthe IoE status. Only afterexhausting the above criteria andif any slot remained vacant, thatconsideration would be given to'yet to be established(Greenfield)' proposals. A totalof 114 premier institutions in thecountry, including several IIT'sand IIM's, applied for the IoE tagin 2018 after meeting the pre-

requisite criteria. 10 state uni-versities, including AndhraUniversity, have been chosen forthe Rs 1,000 crore fundingunder the Centre's RashtriyaUchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan(RUSA) to promote excellence ineducation. However the 1000crore fund granted to the varsities should be spent byMarch 2020.

Poor ranking throws AU out of IoE race

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Two youngsters were arrestedand produced in the court bythe Jaggaiahpeta police forposting derogatory remarksagainst Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy on socialmedia. Challapalli Avinash ofJaggaiahpeta had posted acomment on Facebook wallagainst the Chief Ministerand Yenika Gopi of Chillakalluhad shared it. As the post washumiliating in nature, YSRCPleaders lodged a complaintwith police and du was tracedthrough their Facebook ID'sand arrested.

Inspector of JaggaiahpetaNagendra Kumar stated thatthe police had to arrest the twoyoungsters for the objection-able post after receiving thecomplaint. "They have beenusing their original IDs, so, wedid not take much time to findthem.

We appeal to all youngstersto take care of what they postonline as they will be punishedif it harms any person orleader as per the Sections pro-vided by the IPC and the ITAct", he said. The police havebeen responding promptly tosocial media posts postedagainst party leaders, whetheragainst the Chief Minister orthe leaders of the opposition.

2 held for FBposts against CM Jagan

According to the preliminary report, 18 mandals in EastGodavari and 22 in West Godavari, 202 villages in Eastand 218 in West have been affected due to floods

Despite beingshortlisted, theuniversity was excludedfrom the list of 20universities which weredeclared as IoE (10public and 10 privateinstitutions), as thevarsity could not make itin the QS-2020 WorldRankings

BJP dividedKashmir and also

Congress

Page 3By Krishna Prasad

VIJAYAWADAWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated August 6, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACMonth & Paksham:Shravana & Shukla PakshaTithi : Saptami: 11:40 am Nakshatram: Swati: 09:36 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:21 pm – 01:57 pmYamagandam: 07:35 am – 09:11 amVarjyam: 03:10 am – 04:45 amGulika: 10:46 am - 12:21 pmGood Time: (to start any

important work)Amritakalam: 01:05 pm – 02:38 pmAbhijit Muhurtham:

Nil

Forecast: Scattered ThunderstormsTemp: 32/27Humidity: 72%Sunrise: 05.56Sunset: 06.46

TODAY

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

CAPSULE

VINTAGE COINS EXPO TODAYVIJAYAWADA: An exhibition ofcoins of Vijayanagara Empire willbe organised by The CulturalCentre of Vijayawada &Amaravati in association withJ.V.S.V. Prasad, retired DGM,BSNL at CCVA on Wednesday onthe eve of 510 th Coronation Dayof Sri Krishnadevaraya,according to Dr E. SivanagiReddy, CEO, CCVA. KrishnaDistrict Collector and DistrictMagistrate Md. Imtiyaz willinaugurate the expo at 10 a.m.in which Velaga Joshi, Principal,SRR & CVR Govt. DegreeCollege and Sandeep Mandava,CEO, MPVL will attend theprogramme as guests of honour.Reddy said the one-day expo willbe open till 4 p.m.

CENTRAL ZONEPOSTS WIN VIJAYAWADA: Central Zonedefeated South Zone by 37 runsin the ACA U-19 women Inter-Zonal one-day tournament atACA Women’s Academy, JKCCollege campus in Guntur onTuesday. The match was reducedto 41 overs aside owing to rain.The scores: Central Zone 183for six in 41 overs (K E. Dayana61, P. Dhanalakshmi 37, KMamatha three for 37, B.Himaja two for 36) bt SouthZone 146 in 36.5 overs (K.Hamsa 58, S Leela Prasannathree for 40, P. Kavya two for 23,G. Sindhuja two for 25).

DR REDDY'SDISTRIBUTESSCHOLARSHIPS TOPOOR STUDENTSVijayawada: YSRCP MLAKolusu Parthasarathy stated thatthe government was keen onstrengthening the educationsector in the state and providingquality education tounderprivileged children.Participating in the scholarshippresentation programme tostudents of Zilla Parishad HighSchools in Krishna districtorganised by Dr Reddy'sLaboratories here on Tuesday,he recalled that the governmentintroduced the Amma Vodischeme, which would benefitboth mothers and their children. The MLA presentedscholarships to 39 students,who achieved good grades inSSC from the ZP High Schoolsfor the academic year 2018 -2019. Dr V Narayana Reddy,Vice President-Head IR,Corporate Affairs and CSR, DrReddy's Laboratories Ltd, statedthat they selected 504 studentsfrom 229 ZP High Schools fromTelangana and Andhra Pradesh(29 schools from Telangana and200 schools from AndhraPradesh) and contributed overRs 54.4 lakh for scholarships.He also said that under theSchool ImprovementProgramme (SIP), whichcommenced in 2011, DrReddy's aimed at ensuringcontinuous quality education tostudents from underprivilegedbackground. The programmewas mainly designed to helpgovernment schools in variousacademic and non-academicaspects such as remedialsupport for enhanced academicoutcome, scholarships tomeritorious students, sports andco-curricular activities for all-round student development andhealth education. The schoolswere also enabled with ROwater plants, solar panels,libraries and better sanitationfacilities.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019 vijayawada 02

EGGRATES

` 35, 910 (10 gm)

` 100

GOLD

` 42, 400 (1kg)

` 136

HYDERABAD 328VIJAYAWADA 339VISAKHAPATNAM 352RETAIL PPRICE `3.39

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `136

Without Skin `155

Broiler at Farm `94

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

ECM robotics lab at SRKITPNS n VIJAYAWADA

City-based SRK Institute ofTechnology is one among the 32engineering colleges selectedby Andhra Pradesh State SkillDevelopment Corporation(APSSDC) to set up mecha-tronics manufacturing clusterwith the help of Germany-based European Centre forMechatronics (ECM), accordingto College principalEkabamaram Naidu here onTuesday.

"A robotics lab was set up atthe college premises to impartpractical-oriented training tofaculty and students paving theway for better jobs in the man-ufacturing sector,” he added.

Faculty of MechanicalEngineering Kranthi Kumar,along with S Srilakshmi ofElectronics andCommunication EngineeringDepartment, took up training inthe first phase and in the secondphase, training will be provid-ed by the German trainers at

VIT- Amaravati until August12. As many as 64 faculty mem-bers from 32 colleges are beinggiven training by the EuropeanMechatronics Centre on ARC

2-0 technology that enhancestheir knowledge in the manu-facturing sector. “Students willalso undergo practical trainingin three phases by the trainedfaculty”.

BS Appa Rao, Chairman,SRK Foundation, and BS SriKrishna, Secretary, SRKInstitute of Technology, con-gratulated the faculty for theadvanced training and felt theirknowledge will be helpful toenhance the reputation of theinstitute.

Polavaram: Centre gave cleanchit to TDP: Ex-MayorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former mayor Koneru Sridharon Tuesday found fault withYSRCP Member of ParliamentVijay Sai Reddy for commentson rampant corruption inPolavaram works.

Speaking to media persons,he said even though theCentral government had givena clean chit to the then TDPgovernment on Polavaramproject, the senior YSRCPleader was time and againmisleading people with hisimproper comments.

“It is becoming a habit toVijay Sai Reddy to destroy theimage of the TDP on a regu-lar basis by using twitter. TheTDP will not tolerate his cheappolitics and will give him a fit-ting reply".

He said it was YSRCP whichwas harming the interest of the

Andhra Pradesh by stalling theworks at Polavaram in thename of reviews. ”Polavaramis the lifeline of five crores peo-ple of Andhra Pradesh andYSRCP is crippling the farmsector by delaying the con-struction".

He said instead of belittlingabusing TDP. The YSRCPshould concentrate fulfilling hepromises and assurance ade tothe people its manifesto.

NAAC team visitsPBSAS CollegePNS n VIJAYAWADA

National Assessment and AccreditationCouncil (NAAC) visited PB Siddhartha Artsand Science College on a two-day inspection,according to college principal Dr MekaRamesh on Tuesday.

He said that the team visited the college forthe third time to assess the quality and stan-dards maintained by the authorities. He saidthat the team was led by Mumbai Universityvice-chancellor Rajan Welukar.

The team inspected the infrastructure,quality of educational standards, resultssecured by the students, laboratory facilities,students talent, campus placements, sports,NCC, NSS and others functionalities.

NAAC team included Lucknow Universityprofessor Kumkum Misra, CoimbatoreInstitute of Management and Technologyprincipal Kumara Swamy. SiddharthaAcademy Academic Adviser LK Mohan Rao,Director V Babu Rao, Dean Rajesh C Jampala,internal quality control department coordi-nator Rajendra Prasad, training and placementhead K Sridhar and others were present.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

VMC Commissioner V.Prasanna Venkatesh onMonday visited maternity hos-pitals in city functioning underVMC and expressed his shockat the status of the hospitals. Heinstructed the officials to takeup the corrective measuresimmediately.

The Commissioner visitedthe maternity hospital at RajivNagar and saw the brokenflooring and damaged tiles. Heinstructed the officials to takeup the repair works by replac-ing the broken tiles with newones.

He saw the ceiling was leak-ing the rainwater. The hospitalstaff had buckets under theleaking ceiling which infuriat-ed the civic commissioner. Hewas surprised at the shabby sit-uation and asked the officialsto take up the repair works tothe ceiling.

He also found out there was

no proper lighting and fans,and TV.

He instructed the officials toreplace lights with LED lightsand procure new fans. He alsoordered to replace old TVswith new LED ones.

The Commissioner saw toi-lets maintained in poor con-dition and witnessed the poordrainage system. He ordered torenovate toilets and to arrangea separate drain.

Later, the Commissioner

visited the Indira GandhiMunicipal CorporationStadium and asked officials toremove the rainwater on theplaying field.

As the parade forIndependence Day was fastapproaching he ordered theofficials to remove stagnatedwater on a war footing andinstructed them to complete upthe drain works around the sta-dium before August 15.

Germany-based European Centre for Mechatronics (ECM) sets up a robotics lab atSRK Institute of Technology in Vijayawada on Tuesday

Burglars strikeat temple,decamp with Rs 25,000PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Burglars decamped with Rs.25,000 from Sri Vijaya KanakaDurga temple at Pothepalli vil-lage of Machilipatnam Mandalon Monday night. Templetrust board chairman CEdukondalu said that the bur-glars entered the temple lateMonday and broke open allthe three hundis in the templepremises and decamped withthe offerings given by thedevotees to the tune of Rs25,000.

The chairman furtherinformed that this was thefourth incident of theft in thisyear 2019 which is creatingpanic among the villagers. Acomplaint was lodged with thepolice and a case was regis-tered by police which hasstarted its investigation.

YSRCP leader VijaySai Reddy was timeand again misleadingpeople with hisimproper comments,alleged former MayorKoneru Sridhar

A robotics lab hasbeen set up on thecollege premises toimpart practical-oriented training tofaculty

National child rights panel team in VZMPNS n VIZIANAGARAM

A four member expert team headedby Paresh Shah, expert education,National Commission for Protectionof Child Rights (NCPCR), arrived inVizianagaram on a three-day visit onTuesday.

Soon after their arrival, theteam visited BC Welfare Hostel forgirls and enquired the facilitiesbeing extended to the inmatesfrom the State and Central gov-ernments. In the same locality, theyvisited Anganwadi Pre-School andinteracted with the children.

Later, they went to headquartersgovernment hospital and inspect-ed the pediatric ward and enquiredspecifically about the vaccines andthe storage facility.

Project director of ICDS KPadmavathi, NCPCR memberKesili Appa Rao, marketingdepartment assistant director KSyam Prasad and others accom-panied the team.

District Collector Dr M HariJawaharlal explained the team onthe efforts being taken by the dis-trict administration with regard to

welfare of the children. Paresh toldthe NGOs later to monitor and the

children homes and child educa-tion institutions in their region tosee that they follow proper guide-lines and regulations of theNCPCR and other child rightsrelated laws.

State president of Child RightsProtection Forum Dr GonduSitaram welcomed the nationalteam to Visakhapatnam. The teamafter completing theirVizianagaram tour, will visitVisakhapatnam on August 8.

Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner Prasanna Venkatesh inspecting a maternityhospital in Vijayawada on Tuesday

Prasannainstructedofficials toreplace lightswith LED lightsand procure newfans and orderedto replace oldTVs with newLED ones

The team visited BCWelfare Hostel for girlsand enquired thefacilities being extendedto them

ACA outplays Chhattisgarh, lifts trophyPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Cricket Associationlifted the coveted KSCA Dr K.Thimmappiah MemorialTrophy at ChinnaswamyStadium, Bengaluru defeatingChhattisgarh in the final onTuesday. ACA receivedRs.2,00,000/- as prize moneyand K.V. Sasikanth receivedRs.50,000 as the man of thefinal.

This is the second timeAndhra team won this tour-nament and earlier being in2017-18 and finished runner-up in 2018-19.

This is a prestigious tour-nament in the country whichattracts foreign teams and thisyear the Bangladesh team par-ticipated and lost in the semi-finals.

Ricky Bhui, the junior IndiaInternational, led the teamfrom the front and scoredtwo centuries including a dou-ble. His astute captaincy wasthe highlight of the triumph.

Shoaib Md. Khan, with his

all-round performance of 298runs and 20 wickets, played acrucial role. C.R. Gnaneswar(238), G. Manish (236), K.Karan Shinde (214), N. JyothiSai Krishna (203) and K.S.Bharat (173) are the other

main contributors.In the bowling department,

G. Manish (18) and P.GirinathReddy (10) are the main wick-et-takers.

“Though, the Andhra teamis without the services ofHanuma Vihari and K.S.Bharat as they were on nation-al duty our team played splen-didly in all the matches dur-ing the tournament. Ourteam is a combination ofyoungsters and seniors whoplayed like a cohesive unit.Special mention must be madeof the support staff of theteam,” said Ch. Arun Kumar,Secretary, ACA.

The members of theAndhra Cricket Associationjoined their President andSecretary in congratulatingthe winning team.

Victorious ACA team with Dr K Thimmappaiah Memorial Trophy at ChinnaswamyStadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday

PNS nVISAKHAPATNAM

Gandhi Institute ofTechnology andM a n a g e m e n t(GITAM) will celebrateits 39th Foundation Day' atDr Yellapragada SubbaraoAuditorium, GIMSR, GITAMCampus, here on August 10.Former President PranabMukherjee will be the chiefguest on the occasion. GITAMwill honour Pranab with theGITAM Foundation Award forhis exemplary service to thenation.

Pranab is a man of unparal-leled experience in governancewith the rare distinction of hav-ing served at different times asForeign, Defence, Commerceand Finance Minister. Over fivedecades of exemplary service,Pranab was elected to the RajyaSabha five times and twice to the

Lok Sabha. Presentationof GITAM FoundationAward will be held inthe presence of M SriBharat, President,

GITAM, and the pro-gramme will be presided

over by Prof K. Siva RamaKrishna, Vice-Chancellor,GITAM.

GITAM Foundation Award isinstituted with a benevolentdonation by Dr MVVS Murthiwith a corpus of Rs 3 crore. Thisaward is being given every yearto an eminent person in recog-nition of the exemplary servicesrendered by him /her in the cho-sen field (Education, Economics,Science, Literature, Fine Arts,Public Service etc) for the ben-efit of society at large. Theaward consisting of a plaque anda cheque for Rs 10 lakhs is pre-sented to the eminent person-ality in recognition of services tohumanity.

Shabby maternity hospitals irk Vja Commissioner

HDPP activitiesshould reacheveryone: EOPNS n TIRUPATI

The Hindu Dharma PracharaParishad (HDP) activitiestaken up by TTD shouldreach everyone in society,said TTD JEO P BasantKumar.

Speaking during the meet-ing with Dharma PracharaMandali members and HDPPprogramme assistants held atSVETA building in Tirupation Monday, the JEO saiddharmic programmes mulled

by TTD should reach eventhe grassroot level. Volunteersand DPM members shouldbe involved in dharmic activ-ities of TTD, he directed theconcerned.

Later, he also discussedabout cultural troupesdeployed for Brahmotsavams,Dharma Ratham andArchaka training, which isbeing imparted under theaegis of TTD. HDPPSecretary Ramana Prasad andothers were also present.

GITAM FoundationAward for Pranab

Lecture onpeaceful uses ofnuclear energydeliveredVijayawada: T h eDepartment of Physics atAndhra Loyola College organ-ised a lecture on 'Peaceful usesof Nuclear Energy for HumanDevelopment ' on Tuesday onoccasion of Hiroshima Day.

College Principal Rev FrVictor Emmanuel was thechief guest for the occasion andshared the experience of hisvisit to the War Memorial atHiroshima twenty years back.He stated that war onlybrought in destruction andmisery, whereas peace broughtin constructive development.

Resource person Dr TSrikumar stated that nuclearenergy could be used forpeaceful purposes in thehealth, agriculture, food, safe-ty and space research industry.He said that Helium III iso-topes could be used for con-verting seawater into drinkingwater and that selectedradioisotopes could be used forthe treatment of cancer andgene therapy.

TTD JEO P Basant Kumar addressing a meeting at Tirumala on Tuesday

PNSn VIJAYAWADA

Tribal welfare department sec-retary Mukesh Kumar Meenaordered officials concerned totake all necessary measures to cel-ebrate the Adivasi Day on a grandnote.

Meena held a meeting withofficials on Tuesday andinformed that as per the UnitedNation, Adivasi Day will be cel-ebrated on August 9 at the ArakuValley. Tribal welfare depart-ment director Ravindra Babu,Tribal Gurukul secretaryBhanuprasad, engineer-in-chiefSheshu Babu, OSD Adinarayanawere present at the meeting and

took a few key decisions to makethe event a big success. Meenasaid that Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy is keen on

the welfare of tribals and the pro-gramme should be designed,which would reflect their cultureand tradition. He said that pro-grammes should enlighten thetribals on various governmentwelfare schemes.

A decision was taken to dis-tribute accessories, cheques totribals besides laptops will be dis-tributed to seven tribal students,who are undergoing IIT training.Rs 5,000 cheques will be distrib-uted to students, who secured10/10 GPA in SSC and students,who scored good ranks inIntermediate. Civil engineeringworks worth Rs 43 crore will beinaugurated on that day.

Adivasi Day to be celebrated inAraku Valley on Aug 9

The Chief Ministeris keen on thewelfare of tribals,saidTribal welfaredepartmentsecretary MukeshKumar Meena

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

ROTARY CLUB DONATES250 BLANKETS TOORPHANAGESVijayawada: Rotary Club 3020Governor M VeerabhadraReddy on Tuesday appreciatedthe service activity done byRotary Club of Mid-Town,Vijayawada, where over 250blankets were distributed toschoolchildren of Don Boscoand Navajeevan Bala Bhavan.Speaking on the occasion,Reddy stated that with thefacilities provided by the RotaryClub, students should strivehard and study to achieve theirgoals. He appreciated themanagement of NavajeevanBala Bhavan for providing thefacilities to the poor and orphanand for guiding them to reachgreat heights in life. RotaryClub President P Anil Babuadded that they would lend ahelping hand to suchorganisations for their selflesshelp to the poor. Secretary KVenkat and other members ofthe Rotary Club of Mid-Townwere present at the occasion.

BOY FOUND DEADVijayawada: An eight-year-old Dasari Aditya was foundmurdered in the BC hostelbathroom at Challapalli villagein Krishna district onTuesday. Aditya is thestudent of government schoolstudying in third standard.Both the school and thehostel are located on thesame premises. The boy wasfound in the bathroom withdeep wounds. Challapallipolice rushed to the spot andtook up investigation. Localswere shocked to see the childin a pool of blood.

8 YEAR OLD BOYMURDERED ATHOSTELVijayawada: An eight yearold boy from class III, Aditya,was found murdered byunknown persons at the BCWelfare Hostel in Challapalli.Students of the hostel cameacross his body in the toiletin the early hours of Tuesday.His throat had been slitacross with a knife.The boy's mother alleged thathis father's brother wasbehind the crime. Shecomplained to the police thather brother-in-law may havedone the deed with the helpof the night watchman. Aditya was the son of DasariRavi and Adilakshmi, and wasthe youngest of four children.His elder brother was also aresident of the hostel and thehostel was just 2 km awayfrom their home. The policehave started investigating thecase.

Anna Canteen workers meet TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu in Guntur onTuesday

Hurdles halt Bandar port workG RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

Renaming of schemes and revis-ing permissions given duringthe erstwhile government isquite common when a newgovernment comes to power.

It seems the YSRCP govern-ment, too, is treading the samepath. It has already cancelled thecontract of Navayuga Companyfor Polvaram project, while itshut down Anna Canteens alleg-ing misdeeds. But speculationsare rife that the governmentwould rename canteens as'Rajanna Canteens after formerChief Minister YS RajasekharaReddy.

But, interestingly, the newgovernment, which criticised theTDP for taking lands fromfarmers for the Bandar port isreportedly following the latterpath.

YS Jaganmohan Reddy hadstated when he was in opposi-tion that 2,000 acres are enoughfor the port. But, now the gov-ernment has been followingthe earlier plan of constructingit in 5,000 acres.

Minister for Transport,Information and PublicRelations Perni Venkataramaiah(Nani) stated that as per the esti-mation 4,800 acres is requiredand the government has morethan 2,000 acres. After addingthe land taken from farmers, still1,000 acres is required, heexplained. It means that the newgovernment has been followingthe final plan of the TDP gov-

ernment. Earlier, the TDP gov-ernment had tried to pool upmore than 15,000 acres, but after

resistance from farmers, it lim-ited the pooling to 5,000 acres.Even the YSRCP had criticised

the final plan.Technically, 2,000 acres is

enough for the port construc-tion at Machilipatnam, but offi-cials explained that more land isrequired for affiliated sectorsand linked sections of the portlike transport companies andothers.

One of the officials on condi-tion of anonymity said "At thisjuncture, getting 1,000 acresfrom the people is also a toughtask. There is no clarity on the

lands given in Amaravati nowunder the new government,how come these farmers willcome forward to give lands.Adding insult to injury, thegovernment is facing financialcrunch, and to top it, the Centralgovernment also not allocatingany funds for the port.

Navayuga Company, whichhas taken up the port work, hastaken its machinery back 10days ago. It assumed that thecompany has left the work dueto bitter experience with thegovernment on the Polavaramproject.

Without a client and fundsfrom the Centre, who can workon a PPP model for the port,said an official and added thatcompletion of Bandar port workis not possible.

He further stated "It seems thegovernment is on a mission ofinvestigation of earlier govern-ment's projects, but not onlaunching new projects andstriving to complete them".

"Our party has alleged thatthe government has issued theGO to share the Bandar portwith the Telangana govern-ment," said TDP MLC BuddhaVenkanna. Political circles havebeen agog that by sharing theport with Telangana in order toutilise it for their state's purpose,financial burden will be sharedand a contractor, who is accept-able for both the governments,can take up the port work. But,it remains to be seen how thegovernment would completethe Bandar port work.

n The TDP government had triedto pool up more than 15,000 acres,but after resistance from farmers, itlimited the pooling to 5,000 acres

n Minister for Transport,Information and PublicRelations PerniVenkataramaiah (Nani) statedthat as per estimates 4,800acres is required and thegovernment has more than2,000 acres. After adding theland taken from farmers, still1,000 acres is required

n "Our party has alleged thatthe government has issued theGO to share the Bandar port withthe Telangana government," saidTDP MLC Buddha Venkanna

"Our party has alleged that thegovernment has issued the GO toshare the Bandar port with theTelangana government," said TDPMLC Buddha Venkanna.

Jagan to visitPulivendulaon August 8PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Kadapa District Collector NHari Kiran on Tuesday saidthat Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy will bevisiting Pulivendula on August8.

Speaking to district offi-cials at the Spandana redressalreview meeting, he said everyofficial in the district admin-istration should be availableand work together to make theprogramme a success. "TheState government had allo-cated Rs 100 crore for thedevelopment of Pulivendularegion".

He instructed officials tomake note of the develop-ment activities needed for theregion and hand it over to him.He asked officials to arrangetableaux and exhibit stalls forthe display on theIndependence Day. He toldofficials to make the list ofemployees, who had per-formed well, and submit it tothe District Revenue Officerbefore 5 pm on August 9.

He instructed them to sendthe list of all the welfare anddevelopment programmesimplemented in the region tothe Public Relations Office by6 pm on August 6.

The newly selected Village

Volunteers will undergo train-ing from August 6 to 9 underthe supervision of the MPDOs.They should also be trained byspecial officers on how toenter details of family mem-bers in the surveys.

Joint Collector Siva Reddy,Assistant Collector SrinivasNupur, Special CollectorSathish Chandra and otherofficials participated in themeeting.

Every official in thedistrictadministrationshould be availableand work togetherto make theprogramme asuccess: Collector

Govt to launch Dist Easeof Doing BusinessPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Based on the District BusinessReform Action Plan recom-mended by the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) andsuggestions from variousentrepreneurs, the State gov-ernment has decided to facil-itate the Ease of DoingBusiness at a deeper level bylaunching the District Ease ofDoing Business (EoDB).

The EoDB aims at guidingdistricts becoming a part of theEoDB fold to benefit fromMSMEs and will be bolsteredby the AP Public ServiceDelivery Guarantee Act thatwill ensure a time boundimplementation of all services.District Collectors will also beprovided with a DistrictBusiness Reform Action Plan(D-BRAP) mandate for imple-menting these reforms in theirrespective districts.

The D-BRAP majorly takesinto account permissionsrequired from Urban LocalBodies and District Collectorsto start and carry out opera-tions of a business, includingsector-specific approvals from

education, mining, agricul-ture, health, food safety andtransport departments at thedistrict level. Reforms of theframework span across eightareas and 218 reform pointstranslating into 43 differentservices.

Additionally, the state hasdecided to take business

process reform to the next levelby going beyond the BusinessReform Action Plan fromDPIIT.

Benchmarking of inspec-tion processes across alldepartments will be carried outwith internationally acceptedpractices, which will bring insignificant improvement inthe way the industry relatedcompliance inspections arecarried out in the state. Thebenchmarking shall focus onthe key areas of minimisinginspections, reducing burdenof inspections, transparency ofprocesses and the Inspectorrating system.

The EoDB aims atguiding districtsbecoming a part of theEoDB fold to benefitfrom MSMEs

Alertpolice savewoman's lifeVijayawada: Promptresponse from the policesaved a woman's life inKrishnalanka on Tuesday.The woman had posted avideo on WhatsApp statingthat she was going to com-mit suicide as she was nothappy with her family.Friends, who saw the video,immediately alerted thepolice and forwarded thevideo. The police tried totrace her location and bothKrishnalanka and Tadepalliarea constables wereinformed of the situation asshe was a native ofTadepalli. A constable laterfound her on the railwayover-bridge at Rajiv GandhiPark and rescued her.

The woman, who had alove marriage a few yearsago, was depressed overthe marriage. Her husbandused to work at Amazon,but was now unemployed.Differences between herand her husband led to herdepression, which led herto take the extreme step.Relatives and friendsthanked the police for sav-ing her life.

Inspector of Krishnalanka Satyanandam stated"We received the informa-tion through the ControlRoom as the woman'sfriends complained by dial-ing 100. We immediatelyalerted police personnel,who were at Krishnalankaand Tadepalli, and tried tolocate her near the RiverKrishna and its canals.Finally, our constable locat-ed her on the over-bridge atRajivgandhi Park andstopped her from commit-ting suicide".

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former Chief Minister andTDP Chief N ChandrababuNaidu assured the formeremployees of Anna Canteensthat the party would fight forthem. The employees, whohad lost their jobs after thecanteens were closed by thepresent government, metNaidu at the TDP party officein Guntur on Tuesday.

Naidu lashed out at theYSRCP government forthrowing thousands ofemployees on to the roads. Hequestioned the governmentover its hasty decision and itsinability to think about conse-quences. He stated that AnnaCanteens through which overtwo lakh people used toreceive food on a daily basiswere closed in a pathetic wayby the government.

Former employees of thecanteen alleged that the gov-ernment did not give anyprior notice before removing

them and that they were all introuble at this point. In all, 500contract employees of the ani-mal husbandry department,who also had been removed bythe government, met the for-mer Chief Minister.

Govt leaves AnnaCanteens’ staff in the lurch

Naidu lashed out atthe YSRCP govt forthrowing thousands ofemployees on to theroads. He questionedthe government overits hasty decision andits inability to thinkabout consequences

n They meet TDP Chief NChandrababu Naidu

n He flays the ChiefMinister for taking a hastydecision

Anna Canteenworkers meetLokeshPNS n GUNTUR

Anna Canteen workersprotesting the government'smove to close the canteensmet with former ministerand TDP MLC Nara Lokeshon Tuesday and submitted arequest letter. The workersexpressed their anguish overthe sudden shut down of thecanteens, and appealed toLokesh to fight against thegovernment so that they andtheir families would not facea hard time. Lokesh suggest-ed that all the Anna Canteenworkers should unite to tack-le the situation together.

Newspapervendor dies inbike mishapPNS n HYDERABAD

A newspaper vendor diedin a road accident atNallakunta on Tuesdaymorning. According tothe police, the deceased,Abhinav (15), was a stu-dent in a private schooland a resident ofMallikarjun Nagar ofNallakunta. He suppliednewspapers to house-holds in OsmaniaUniversity area. Policesaid the boy's motorcyclecrashed into a roaddivider while he out todeliver newspapers. Hefell off the vehicle, suf-fered serious injuries andsuccumbed on the spot.Police shifted the body toGandhi Hospital mortu-ary and registered a case.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Best Teacher AwardeesAssociation on Tuesdaydemanded that the State gov-ernment strengthen the GONo. 101, which has stipulatedadditional one year of servicefor the best teacher awardees.

A state-level emergencymeeting was held at theGovernment Girls' School in

Patamata Lanka to discuss var-ious issues being faced by theassociation. A resolution waspassed to this extent.

Association's honorary advi-sor Kolli Nageshwara Rao saidthe award was being bestowedon best teachers, who hadoffered their services at the dis-trict, state and national-level.

"Along with the award, anadditional one year service is

being provided by the govern-ment. But, unfortunately theGO is not implemented prop-erly and each district has dif-ferent ways of handling theorder. In some cases, theadministration is recoveringsalaries from teachers".

Rao said the best teacherswere facing several difficultiesowing to improper implemen-tation in districts. "The State

government should respondimmediately and take action tostrengthen the GO 101. Thegovernment should also pro-vide travel concessions andaccommodation for the teach-ers while receiving the award.

State Secretary General P Ramesh Babu, Conveners S.Subbaradi, S.Nagabhushanachari and mem-bers participated in the event.

Strengthen GO 101: Best Teacher Awardees

The decision of Modi 2.0government to revokeArticle 370, in what

looks like an internal surgicalstrike, has actually hit theCongress party most. The con-tradictory opinions beingexpressed today by every con-fused leader of the tatteredorganization suggest that theparty, considered by default tobe the major opposition party,has no idea about crucial mat-ters concerning Article 370and Jammu and Kashmir. Infact, the Congress has fumbledmore than once in the last twodays, indicating it continues tobe rudderless and is driftingwith no sense of direction.Senior leaders of the partylike Janardhan Dwivedi, for-mer Lok Sabha memberDeepender Singh Hooda, UttarPradesh MLA Aditi Singh aswell as Abhishek Manu Singhvifavoured the government'sdecision on revoking Article370 and bifurcating the state ofJammu and Kashmir.

The confusion reached thepinnacle when Adhir Ranjan

Chowdhury, the leader of theCongress, sought clarificationon whether J&K is an internalmatter or a bilateral issue. Thisjustifiably received huge criti-cism not only from ruling BJPmembers but also Congressleaders, who knew their fauxpas was indefensible.

The situation across thecountry indicates a favourablesituation for BJP and its 'bold'action on Kashmir. In contrast,the Congress is left with nofriends and has lost many sup-porters because of its mechan-ical opposition to the axing ofArticle 370.

Refreshingly, the LadakhMP welcomed the Centre'smove on creation of Ladakh asa Union Territory."Development, identity, lan-guage of Ladakh sufferedbecause of Article 370 andCongress," Ladakh MP

Jamyang Tsering said.Congress party senior leader

Janardan Dwivedi was the firstto welcome the Modi govern-ment's deci-sion and saidthat the "mis-take" com-mitted after

Independence had been recti-fied. jyotiraditya scindia alsosupported government move.

Haryana Congress leaderand former Rohtak MP

Deepender Singh Hoodatweeted: "I have already sup-ported this idea for long that inthe 21st century, there is no

place forArticle 370and it mustgo."

Rae BareliMLA Aditi

Singh also tweeted: "United westand! Jai Hind. Article 370."

Mumbai Congress chiefMilind Deora said it was "veryunfortunate" that Article 370

was being converted into a "lib-eral vs conservative debate".

"Parties should put asideideological fixations & debatewhat's best for India's sover-eignty and federalism, peace inJ&K, jobs for Kashmiri youthand justice for KashmiriPandits," he said, in a tweet.Rajasthan Minister AshokChandna on Tuesday wel-comed the Centre's decision toabrogate provisions of Article370 that gave special status toJammu and Kashmir, adding tothe list of Congress leaders whohave 'unliked' the party line ofopposing the move.

Chandana, the state youthaffairs and sports minister,however said that it was hispersonal view.

On Monday, the Congresswhip in the Rajya Sabha,Bhubaneswar Kalita, resignedfrom the party and the Upper

House, expressly differing withthe stand taken by theCongress.

The grand old party has lostits friends like Mayawati'sBahujan Samaj Party, NChandrababu Naidu's TeluguDesam Party and ArvindKejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party,thus retaining only Mamata

Benerjee of TMC and MKStalin of DMK in its fightleading nowhere.

Insiders of Congress saythat they have no objection tothe abolition of Article 370 butopposed to bifurcation ofJammu and Kashmir and cre-ation of Ladakh as new unionterritory. They could not spellthe same in the Rajya Sabhaand continued to wallow intheir confusion in the LokSabha, creating an atmosphere,just for the heck of it, that theyare not on board with theUnion government in the abo-lition of Article 370 and the'unifying act'.

This has further a createdgap between common peoplewith 'nationalist' feelings spreadby BJP and the Congress party.Now, BJP has a golden chanceto slowly alienate the principalopposition party by painting it

as one that is not supportingthe will of the majority in ademocracy.

This is the divide whichBJP wants to create with last-ing benefits. By brandingCongress as 'minority appeas-er' it won the Lok Sabha elec-tions with a huge majority.Now, it can easily brandCongress as 'anti-majority'which may ultimately paveway for realizing in full itsdream of 'Congress-mukt'Bharat.

Now, the question is notwhether BJP has followed rulesand democratic systems inachieving its goal. Its intentionto 'set right' the historical blun-der and create a road map tosettle long-standing issueswould be appreciated, thougha lot of it is in the womb offuture. The BJP has sensed thepublic mood and acted accord-ingly with surgical precision.The Congress party, still strug-gling to know for sure whetherit has a president at the helm,has completely missed thepoint only to be bowled out.

BJP divided Kashmir and also Congress

KRISHNA PRASAD

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019 region 04

Wh a tshou

ld be the focusof attention ofany govern-

m e n tthat storms to

power with an over-whelming majority?

Should it be in giving fillip tothe welfare and overall wellbe-ing of the people who put it inthe gaddi in the first place, orshould it restrict itself to eras-ing the indelible footprintsleft by the immediate prede-cessor?

Such doubts will creep in,and quite understandably so,when people take stock of thecurrent state-of-affairs vis-à-vis Polavaram irrigation pro-ject, and the reported 'snail'space' of progress followingthe scrapping of tenders!Quick to seize the opportuni-ty, the Union government hascontended that such a unilat-eral cancellation will hinder itsconstruction process. Ofcourse, there will be politicalramifications one too many inthe days ahead.

Putting it in a nutshell, thefact of the matter is that theproject is the lifeline of AndhraPradesh, whose administrationcan fully utilise the abundantwaters of River Godavari.

It is pertinent that the gov-ernment spells out its priori-ties about which takes prece-dence -- exposing possiblemisuse of funds by the earlierregime or ensuring that theproject is completed early. Leftin a stupor, people's optimismabout 'happy days are here' isgetting drowned in the one-upmanship battle.

What was the motive of theincumbent state governmentin cancelling the tenders andgiving marching orders to thecontracting firm? Was it onlyto settle political scores by wayof accusations of alleged large-scale irregularities in the con-struction of the project, at the'behest' of ChandrababuNaidu?

A school of thought indi-cates that Jaganmohan Reddy'sregime might not get full cred-it if it allowed the present con-tracting firm to continue theconstruction works as it wasawarded the prestigious con-tract by the TDP government.That would effectively dash theaspirations of the present gov-ernment that is keen on win-ning accolades for bringing theproject into 'ready to use'stage! Hence, the 'decision' tocancel the earlier tenders, goesthe argument.

Another faux pas is that thestate government did notinform the cancellation of ten-ders to the Centre nor did itseek its permission. Despitehaving the right to take deci-sions freely in this regard, thestate government must havekept GoI posted as Polavaramproject has been accorded a'national project' status becauseof which the Centre has to bearevery penny of its constructioncost.

Taking note and being waryof the obsessive manner in

which the BJP is trying tomake inroads into south India,especially Andhra Pradesh,where regional parties domi-nate, the YSRCP governmentshould pursue a cordial rela-tionship with the NarendraModi government at theCentre. This bondage willcome as an insurance cover asBJP will not dare touch YSRCP

cadre as long as it enjoys afriendly rapport with YSJaganmohan Reddy.

The situation today is suchthat cancelation of tendershas come as a blessing in dis-guise for the Centre as,although, it agreed to pay inaccordance with the 'revised'estimates of Polavaram, it neednot urgently cough-up moneygiven that the project hascome to a grinding halt.Strictly speaking, even GoIappears uninterested in theproject.

Odisha has been vehement-ly opposing the project citingreasons of submersion of a vastportion of its lands and jun-gles. It has approached theSupreme Court seeking forth-with stoppage of the project.Quite ironically, a strongPolavaram-baiter likeViswabhushan Harichandan,who hails from Odisha, hasbeen made Governor of

Andhra Pradesh. Of course, hehas to discharge his duties asper the Constitution and to theextent that when he address-es joint sessions of bothHouses of Legislature, he hasto utter the words 'my govern-ment' even if the subject per-tains to Polavaram, the bone ofcontention between AndhraPradesh and Odisha!

One dreads at the emergingscenario wherein the 'lifeline'may be rendered 'lifeless' muchto the chagrin of the people ofAndhra Pradesh. On its part,GoI will not release a singlerupee for Polavaram andsquarely blame the state gov-ernment for the fiasco!

This will give rise to a situ-ation, whereupon the govern-ment will have to face thewrath of the people, who sawhope in the new governmentand who await the completionof Polavaram project, which, asa ray of hope to the harrowed

lot, is nothing short of oxygen.What was deemed a neces-

sity during the days of undi-vided Andhra Pradesh,Polavaram has today becomeinevitable for the residuarystate. The sooner it is complet-ed the better it is for the peo-ple, and, in effect, the govern-ment. Moreover, it will alsomake for a politically correctstatement.

The government of the daymust realise that accomplish-ing Polavaram project is farmore important than pointingfingers and maligning theimage of the previous govern-ment.

Poetically speaking, it mayalso emerge as the 'lifeline' forYSRCP and help solidify itsaspirations of enjoying long-term political stability.

(the author can be reached at

ratnakumarmd@gmail.com)

What was the motive of the incumbent stategovernment in cancelling the tenders andgiving marching orders to the contracting firm?Was it only to settle political scores by way ofaccusations of alleged large-scale irregularitiesin the construction of the project, at the'behest' of Naidu?

THE QUIXOTIC POLAVARAM SAGA

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

PINPOINT

Electric buses to hit Vizag roads soonPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

After much dilly-dallyingby the state transport carrier,Visakhapatnam city may wit-ness an eco-friendly transportservice soon. Two electricbuses are soon going to hit theroads of the city as APSRTChas taken a final call on it.

The APSRTC under thescheme of Faster Adoptionand Manufacturing of ElectricVehicles (FAME) India Phase-II had submitted theirExpression of Interest (EoI) inadding to new electric buses totheir region fleet of publictransport in the district.

The FAME scheme aims atpromoting of Electric Mobilityin the country. The phase II ofthe scheme, which was recent-ly approved by the Central gov-ernment, has a total budget ofRs 10,000 crore over a periodof three years, commencingfrom 1 April, 2019. The schemeis an extended version ofFAME India-I, which waslaunched in April 2015, with abudget of Rs 895 crore.

The motto of the FAME is toencourage faster adoption ofelectric and hybrid vehicles inthe country by providingincentives on the purchase of

electric vehicles. Under theFAME scheme, the authoritieswould also establish the neces-sary charging infrastructure

for electric vehicles.A senior APSRTC official

said: "In safeguarding the envi-ronment, electric buses were

going to hit the city roads ifeverything falls at the rightpitch. As per the FAME schemeeligibility criteria is to include

the cities with one million-pluspopulation (as per 2011Census). However the popula-tion of Visakhapatnam is over1,728,128 as per 2011 Census.

"These electric buses arealso likely to be economicaland its operational costs couldbe around Rs 1.3 crore permonth. As part of our propos-al on behalf of APSRTC, weidentified Maddilapalem busdepot, Pedda Waltair bus depotand the Simhapuri Layout nearSimhachalam areas as thepreferable places for arrangingcharging stations to the electricbuses.

"Along with APSRTC ofVisakha region, the GreaterVisakha MunicipalCorporation (GVMC) joinedhands with us and shown inter-est in purchasing electric busesfor operation in the city.Though the GVMC had showninterest before also, but due tosome technical issues it wasdelayed, whereas now theyhave submitted Expression ofInterest (EoI) to the Centreunder the FAME scheme phaseII, in which they can avail asubsidy of 40 per cent on thepurchase of electric vehicles",he added.

Fake psychiatrists on therise at de-addiction centresPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

With the spurt in the demandfor alcohol de-addiction centrein the city, many fake psychia-trists are taking advantage of thesituation.

A person from Vizag (namenot disclosed), taking a resolu-tion to quit alcohol at thebeginning of the year, joined arehabilitation centre to seekhelp in overcoming the addic-tion. After six months of treat-ment, his family membersfound no change in his drink-ing habit. Moreover, his cravingfor alcohol had not come down.He had paid over Rs 30,000 amonth to the rehabilitationcentre, where he was also givencheap quality food. There wasno proper treatment to theside effects caused due to pro-longed medication. However,he did not complain to anyauthority as he felt guilty ofbeing branded as an alcoholic.

Many such instances havebeen coming to light. The gov-ernment de-addiction centreshave been confined to onlypoor and below middle-classpersons. The Ministry of SocialJustice and Empowerment hasbeen providing financial aid toIntegrated RehabilitationCentre for Addicts (IRCAs)under the scheme of Assistancefor Prevention of Alcoholismand Substance (Drugs) Abuse.There are 12 IRCAs in AP, ofwhich a few, in spite of receiv-ing around Rs 18-20 lakh peryear from the government,charge the patients exorbitantamounts.

Several psychiatrists seen inthe advertisements and hoard-ings were not registered with theMedical Council of India. Manydo not even possess a degree inpsychiatry. People still unknow-ingly go to the fake psychiatristsand often get deceived by them.These so-called psychiatristsmake many tall claims such as

de-addiction in 30 days andtreatment without knowledge ofthe patient.

According to the IndianPsychiatric Society (IPS) APChapter President Dr P RaviShankar, it is both illegal andunethical to give treatment topatients without their consent.A qualified medical practition-er should not do that, he said,urging the people to verify thecredentials of the doctor beforethe visit. Unqualified doctorsgive usually give noted tablets inpowder form and collect Rs6,000-8,000 from the patients'family members. "If such med-icines are given to a patientwithout proper guidance, itmay lead to other diseases.

A person is likely to sufferdelirium tremens and brainabnormality after the with-drawal from alcohol. The detox-ification treatment works grad-ually in a natural process alongwith certain good habits likeprayer, trekking and otherhealthy activities, he informed.

The motto of the FAME is toencourage faster adoption ofelectric and hybrid vehicles inthe country by providingincentives on the purchase ofelectric vehicles

n The APSRTC under thescheme of Faster Adoption andManufacturing of ElectricVehicles (FAME) India Phase-IIhad submitted their Expressionof Interest (EoI) in adding to newelectric buses to their region fleetof public transport in the district.

According to theIndianPsychiatricSociety (IPS) APChapterPresident Dr PRavi Shankar, itis both illegaland unethical togive treatmentto patientswithout theirconsent

GITAM NCC cadet toattend Youth ExchangeProgramme in RussiaPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A third year B Tech student ofGITAM Deemed to beUniversity and NCC girls wingcadet Swathi Samntha Ray,was selected for the NCC-YEP(Youth Exchange Programme)to tour Russia for 14 days dur-ing the period of August-September 2019.

Swathi is set to visit Russia,not just as an NCC Cadet, butalso as a cultural representa-tive from India. She is the onlyNCC girl's wing cadet select-ed from AndhraPradesh andTelangana statesunder NCC-YEP.One of the pre-requisites for acadet to be con-sidered for theprogramme is thatshe should havebeen a part of theelite camps of theNCC, namely theRDC (Republic

Day Camp) held in January2019 in New Delhi.

India has a youth exchangetie-up with over 10 friendlynations, includingBangaladesh, Kazakhstan, SriLanka, Bhutan, Nepal,Maldives, Singapore, Vietnam,Turkmenistan and Russia. Theselected NCC cadets will par-ticipate in NCC activities ofthe host country to create anincreased awareness andappreciation of each other'ssocio-economic and culturalrealities. GITAM Deemed to

be UniversityVice-ChancellorProf KSivaramakrishna,GITAM AssociateNCC Officer CaptDr V ParimalaVenu andStudent's AffairsDirector Prof KVeerabhadramappreciated theNCC cadet for herselection.

100 job applicantshoodwinkedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a major job fraud, as manyas 100 people were conned bya fake job consultancy in thecity. The consultancy, in thename of Rainbow Technologies, had taken advancedeposits from the applicants,claiming that they would offertraining in web technology anddesign and recruited morethan 100 members. The con-men charged Rs 9,000 to Rs15,000 from each applicant andcollected about Rs 10 lakh intotal. The incident came intolight when the youth suspect-ed foul play as the manage-ment had not given them anyjobs even after three months.They approached the 3 TownPolice Station and registered acomplaint.

Fire breaks out at Concor PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A minor fire accident tookplace in the ContainerCorporation of India (Concor)premises, opposite to the Vizagairport on Tuesday afternoon.While loading the containers,the dragger suddenly caughtfire at 3 pm. However, therewas no loss of life or injury toany worker.

Three fire engines were sentfrom Marripalem, PedaGantyada and Auto Nagarareas to the accident spot andthe fire was under controlwithin an hour. According toDistrict Fire Officer BVS RamPrakash, the dragger (worthRs 2 crore) and the two con-tainers were partially dam-aged.

He stated that Concor hadnot obtained a 'No Objection

Certificate' (NOC) from theFire Department. "Until thereis a fire accident, we are unableto find out whether an organ-isation has applied for theNOC or not. The staff crunchin the department does notallow us to verify each one," hesaid, requesting all city-basedindustries to acquire fire NOCimmediately.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Researchers have found thatstudents who use their smart-phones five or more hours aday are prone to higher riskof obesity and likely to haveother lifestyle habits thatincreases the risk of heart dis-ease.

According to a study,researchers analysed 1,060students (700 girls and 360boys) of Colombia with anaverage age of 19 years and 20years, respectively.

"It is important for thegeneral population to knowand be aware that, despitebeing undoubtedly attractivefor its multiple purposes,

portability, comfort, access tocountless services, informa-tion and enter tainmentsources, mobile technologyshould a lso be used toimprove habits and healthybehaviours," said study leadAuthor Mirary Mantilla-Morron from the SimonB olivar University inColombia.

The study found that therisk of obesity increases by 43per cent if a smartphone wasused for five or more hours aday, as participating studentswere twice as likely to drinkmore sugary drinks, fast food,sweets, snacks and havedecreased physical activities.

According to researchers,26 per cent of the studentswho were overweight and 4.6

per cent who were obesespent more than five hours

using their device.Spending too much time

using the smartphone facili-tates sedentary behaviours,

reduces the time of physicalactivity, which increases therisk of premature death, dia-betes, heart disease and dif-ferent types of cancer, thestudy said. According toRajesh Kapoor, surgicalGastroenterology, JaypeeHospital, Noida, using smart-phones today is not a merechoice, rather it has becomea necessity. But using it fortoo long may risk yourhealthy life.

"The best way out is toencourage yourself to reducethe duration of time beingused on phones and otherrelated gadgets at the sametime, to indulge in physicalactivities like yoga or any

other sports or exercise pat-tern, and by not becoming acouch potato," Kapoor toldIANS. "It is not a question offive or more hours on thephone. It is a question of howmuch activity level we areable to build into our life,"Achal Bhagat , SeniorConsultant, Psychiatry atIndraprastha Apol loHospitals in Delhi told IANS.

"And if we are not able tobuild it to an adequate level,then it increases the chancesof obesity and related healthrisk factors. Phone is one ofthe ways of exhibiting that weare not doing enough physi-cal activities in our life," headded.

SPENDING 5 HOURS DAILY ON PHONE CAN INCREASE RISK OF OBESITYThe study saidparticipatingstudents weretwice as likely tohave moresnacks anddrinks, anddecreasedphysical activity ifthey used amobile for five ormore hours a day

RevenueInspector in ACB netPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Anti Corruption Bureau(ACB) officials caught aRevenue Inspector red-hand-ed on Tuesday while he wasaccepting a huge amount asbribe from a building ownerfor doing an administrativefavour. According to the DSPof ACB wing B V NageswaraRao, the tainted officer, iden-tified as P Sankar Rao, workedas a Municipal RevenueInspector in Parvathipurammunicipality in Vizianagaram.He had demanded a bribe ofRs 2.8 lakh from the com-plainant Rongali SrinivasaRao of Vizianagaram, toprocess and bring down theassessment of Property Tax forhis newly constructed build-ing.

Meanwhile, Srinivasa Raoapproached the ACB andtipped them off about thematter. As per their direction,he handed over the cash toSankar Rao in front of hisoffice. The DSP stated that acase had been booked againsthim and that the accusedwould be presented in court.

Man gets life term for killing wifePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A resident of Yendada inVizag city was sentenced tolife imprisonment on Tuesdayfor killing his wife by beatingher with an iron rod and set-ting her afire with kersosene.

According to public pros-ecutor R Srinivasa Rao, the

accused, Gangamaya, hadbeen abusing his wife underthe influence of alcohol. OnApril 4, 2004, he returnedhome heavily drunk and beathis wife to death.

MVP police investigatedthe matter and the judgepronounced the verdict onTuesday.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Legal professionals enlight-ened the students of AndhraMedical College on Tuesdayabout the legal repercussionsthey could face for ragging.

Secretary of District LegalServices Authority and seniorcivil judge S Damodar Rao,stated that ragging wasbanned in the country andwas a punishable offence.He said that the governmentof India and the judiciary hadtaken stringent measures tocurb ragging.

Senior advocate andPresident of Forum of LegalProfessionals Kuppili

Muralidhar, stated that theSupreme Court had consti-tuted a committee, headed byformer CBI director R KRaghavan, to study the harm-ful effects and consequencesof ragging and suggest waysand means to curb it. "Widepublicity must be given toexplain what ragging is topeople and all vulnerablespots like hostel rooms andbus stops must be screenedregularly by responsible offi-cials of the colleges," he said.

Advocate J Veera Lakshmi,Dr Devi Madhavi and DrRam Prasad of AndhraMedical College participatedin the programme.

Medical college studentssensitised about ragging

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Farooq neither underdetention nor arrest:Amit Shah in LSNEW DELHI: Former Jammuand Kashmir chief ministerFarooq Abdullah is neither underdetention nor arrest and he is athis home of his own will, HomeMinister Amit SHah informedLok Sabha on Tuesday. He madethese remarks when SupriyaSule (NCP) said Abdullah usedto sit next to him in the House.She said he is not in House andhis voice is not being heard. "Heis neither under detention norunder arrest. He is at his homeon his own will," Shah said.When Sule wondered whetherthe National conference leaderwas unwell, Shah said it was upto the doctors to say. "I can'tcarry out the treatment, it wasup to doctors," he said. TheHouse is debating a motion toabrogate provisions of Article370 in Jammu and Kashmir anda bill to split the state into twounion territories.

TMC will stronglyoppose bill to bifurcateJ&K: MamataKOLKATA: West Bengal ChiefMinister on Tuesday said herparty, the Trinamool Congress,will strongly oppose the Jammuand Kashmir Reorganisation Billthat proposes to bifurcate thestate into two union territories.Banerjee also said the Centreshould have consulted allpolitical parties before comingto a decision to scrapConstitutional provisions thataccorded special status toJammu and Kashmir. The chiefminister was talking to reportersat the Netaji Subhash ChandraBose International Airport herebefore heading to Chennai, tounveil a statue of DMK leaderand former chief minister MKarunanidhi. "The governmentcould have taken the decisionafter consulting all the politicalparties and Kashmiris. Therewas no vote or discussion onthe Kashmir issue. This is notdemocratic. We will oppose ittooth and nail," Banerjee said.Home Minister Amit Shah hadon Monday moved a resolutionin the Lok Sabha for bringing abill to reorganise the state ofJammu and Kashmir into twounion territories -- Jammu andKashmir, and Ladakh. Thegovernment also revoked Article370 which gave special status toJammu and Kashmir. Althoughthe Rajya Sabha TMC MPs inthe Rajya Sabha staged a walk-out during voting on the bill,Banerjee said it did not meanthat the party facilitated thepassage of the bill.

PNS n SRINAGAR/JAMMU

The situation in all threeregions of Jammu and Kashmiris totally peaceful, amidunprecedented security coverand restrictions, top officialssaid on Tuesday.

There are no untowardreports from anywhere in thestate, Director General ofPolice Dilbagh Singh said fromSrinagar, a day after the Centrerevoked Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status and proposed tobifurcate the state into twounion territories.

The law and order situationin Jammu and Kashmir is"totally peaceful", Singh said.

In Srinagar city, where therehas been virtual communica-tions blackout with few phonesand internet connections, peo-ple who have urgent work arebeing allowed to move despitestrict restrictions, DeputyCommissioner, Srinagar,Shahid Iqbal Choduhary said.

In Srinagar, people who haveany emergency or some urgentwork are being allowed tomove despite strict restric-tions, Deputy CommissionerSrinagar Shahid IqbalChoduhary said.

He said the situation is total-ly under control and no reportsof any untoward incident isreported from anywhere.

Former Jammu and Kashmirchief ministers MehboobaMufti and Omar Abdullah,who were under house arrestsince Sunday night, have beenarrested on Monday night as

they were treated a threat to thelaw and order situation, offi-cials said.

Jammu and KashmirPeople's Conference leadersSajjad Lone and Imran Ansariwere among over a dozen whowere arrested, they said.

Orders of their arrests wereissued by magistrates in view oftheir activities to cause breachof peace and tranquillity in theKashmir Valley. In Jammuregion, night curfew was

imposed in Kishtwar andRajouri areas and restrictionsunder Section 144 CrPc wereimposed in all the districts ofJammu region, the officialssaid.

"The situation is totallypeaceful. There were no reportsof any untoward incident fromanywhere. Night curfew wasimposed and restriction are inplace," Deputy CommissionerKishtwar A S Rana said.

Deputy Commissioner

Doda D S Dattatray said thesituation remained peacefulin Doda and have appealed topeople to maintain peace andtranquillity. All educationalinstitutes across the state areclosed for the second consec-utive day, the officials said.

In Kargil, a Joint ActionCommittee has called for a shutdown to protest against thedecision.

On Monday night, Jammuand Kashmir Governor SatyaPal Malik reviewed the securi-ty situation with senior officialsand emphasised the need forconstant alertness and pre-paredness to deal with anyeventuality.

According to a Raj Bhavanspokesperson, the governorheld a meeting with top offi-

cials and reviewed the prevail-ing security and law and orderscenario in the state.

The governor stressed theneed for ensuring safety of gen-eral public and advised theadministration to give dueconsideration to the genuineneeds of the people in the cur-rent scenario, the spokespersonsaid.

Reviewing the law and ordersituation and preparedness ofthe government machinery,Malik emphasised the need forconstant alertness, prepared-ness and synergy among vari-ous departments and agenciesto enable dealing with emerg-ing situation in a coordinatedand effective manner.

The governor reiterated theneed to constantly maintain aclose watch on the ground sit-uation and underlined theimportance of sustained effortsto bring peace and harmony inthe society for overall benefitof people.

Malik has appealed to thepeople and leaders of varioussocial, religious and politicalorganisations to cooperate withthe government machinery tomaintain law and order in thestate, the spokesperson said.

Army's General OfficerCommanding-in-Chief Lt GenRanbir Singh also met the gov-ernor on Monday night andbriefed him about internal andexternal security situation, hesaid. The Army officer alsoapprised him of the prepared-ness for addressing any eventu-ality, the spokesperson said.

‘Situation totally peaceful in J-K’

Former Jammu and Kashmir chiefministers Mehbooba Mufti and OmarAbdullah, under house arrest sinceSunday night, were arrested onMonday night as they were treated athreat to the law and order situation

SEEMA HAKHU KACHRUn HOUSTON

The Indian community in theUS state of Texas, especially inHouston, are eagerly gettingready to welcome PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hereon September 22, where 50,000supporters will gather to hearhim speak. The event, with thetagline 'Shared Dreams, BrightFutures', will shine light on thetremendous contribution ofIndo-Americans in the US andthe strong and lasting partner-ship between the US and India.

Houston, which has one ofthe largest concentration of over500,000 Indian-American com-munity in the US, is the energycapital of the world. Excitementis building in Houston to hostPrime Minister Modi, amidstexpected crowd of 50,000 sup-porters at the sprawling NRGStadium here, the organisers ofthe "Howdy, Modi!" event said.

The Texas India Forum, whichis hosting the event, said that over25,000 attendees, 1000 volunteersand 650 Welcome Partner organ-isations have already signed up forthe Howdy, Modi! event on thevery first week of its registrations."The community's excitementabout this event has been palpa-ble, with a very diverse set of vol-unteers signing up to help and anumber of organisations steppingup, to host meetings at their facil-ities. We are pleased to have suchwidespread involvement fromthe community, said Jugal Malani,convener of the "Howdy, Modi!"organising committee. "This willbe the largest ever gathering ofIndian-Americans and friends ofIndia, with diverse representationfrom the region and across thecountry and for the convenienceof the attendees, we are planningto mobilize over 300 buses totransport them from locationsaround the greater Houston area,"Malani said.

‘Howdy, Modi!'summit to host 50,000people in Houston

NOMINATION OF MLAs TO MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS

HC issues notice to Centre, Delhi govt

PNS n PANAJI

The BJP-led Goa governmentwould amend the Portuguese-era Uniform Civil Code(UCC), introduced in the year1870, so that non-Goans canregister their marriages in thecoastal state, the LegislativeAssembly was told on Tuesday.

The UCC was introducedby the erstwhile Portugueserulers. It was retained evenafter the territory was mergedwith India in the year 1961.Registration of marriage ofnon-Goans is currently

banned in Goa."We would amend the

Uniform Civil Code, afterwhich non-Goans can beallowed to register their mar-riages in the coastal state,which is currently bannedunder this Portuguese-era law.

"Many people want to reg-ister their marriages in Goaas the state is governed by theUniform Civil Code. We willmake a provision throughamendment so that they willbe allowed to do so," ChiefMinister Pramod Sawantsaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court soughtto know the stand of theCentre, the AAP governmentand the Assembly on Tuesdayon a plea moved by BJP legis-lator Vijender Gupta seekingquashing of a notificationnominating a group of MLAsto the municipal corporationsin the national capital.

A bench of justices G SSistani and Jyoti Singh issueda notice to the Ministry ofHome Affairs, the Assembly,the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)government in Delhi and thelieutenant governor's office,seeking their response to theplea. The petition contendsthat 13 MLAs are being nom-inated as councillors in the cor-porations.

Gupta, a Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) MLA from Rohini,alleged that since the AAPformed the government in the

national capital in February2015, the same legislators ofthe party were repeatedly nom-inated as councillors in themunicipal corporations in vio-lation of the laid-down norms.

"As per the provisions of theDelhi Municipal CorporationAct, 1957, the speaker is underobligation to nominate thepersons rotation-wise, mean-ing the MLAs who were nom-inated in the previous years

shall not be repeated again andagain," Gupta said in his peti-tion mentioned throughAshwini Kumar Dubey.

On July 12, a notificationwas issued by the DelhiAssembly to nominate 13 AAPMLAs again to the municipalcorporations -- North, Southand East Delhi municipal cor-porations.

According to Gupta, he filedthe petition on Friday. "Duringthe tenure of the present leg-islative assembly, not one MLAfrom the Opposition has beennominated by the speaker. Notonly this, the speaker hasnominated the same mem-bers of the legislative assemblyas members of the threemunicipal corporations," theBJP leader said in his petition.

"This act of the speaker isbiased, ultra vires, arbitraryand contrary to Article 14 ofthe Constitution of India," healleged in the petition.

PNS n JAMMU

Pakistan has intensified its effortsat increasing the strength of ter-rorists in launch pads along theLine of Control over the past fewdays and pushing infiltratorsinto Jammu and Kashmir, a topArmy officer said on Tuesday.

General OfficerC om m an d i n g - i n - C h i e f ,Northern Command, Lt GenRanbir Singh added that Pakistanis also initiating ceasefire viola-tions.

If the Pakistan Army contin-ues with its disruptive course, theIndian Army will respond withresolve and the costs will be pro-hibitive for them, he said.

A day after the governmentrevoked the special status ofJammu and Kashmir and pro-posed to split it into two unionterritories, Lt Gen Singh chaireda meeting of the Core Group ofIntelligence and Security

Agencies at Srinagar to reviewthe operational readiness to meetany contingency that couldadversely impact the security sit-uation.

According to a press releaseissued by Udhampur-basedArmy officials, Lt Gen Singh alsosaid necessary security arrange-ments had been put in place toensure peace and security.

The Army Commander high-lighted that over the past fewdays, Pakistan had intensified itsefforts at increasing strength ofterrorists in launch pads along

the Line of Control (LoC), initi-ating ceasefire violations, push-ing infiltrators across the LoC,calibrating terrorist actions in thehinterland and also exploiting thesocial media to launch a disin-formation campaign in Jammuand Kashmir. The Indian Armyhas given a befitting response,thwarting their nefarious designsof causing disturbances in ourcountry, he said.

He urged people not to fallprey to the "enemy's evil designsto poison their minds with inces-sant propaganda" and exhorted

them not to proliferate rumoursas well as dissuade their near anddear ones from indulging inrumour-mongering.

Lt Gen Singh warned that ifthe Pakistan Army continuedwith a disruptive course, theIndian Army would respondwith resolve and the cost wouldbe prohibitive for them.

Giving details of security of thehinterland, it was highlighted thatcounter-terrorism and law andorder grids had been strength-ened. The security forces aresuitably deployed to guardimportant vulnerable points andareas, prepared for crowd control,emerging law and order situa-tions, and also to conduct effec-tive counter-terrorist operations,a defence spokesperson said.

The Army Commander stat-ed that security forces weremaintaining a high state of alert-ness and readiness to counter anyinimical designs.

Pakistan intensifying efforts to increasestrength of terrorists along LoC: Army

PNS n PANAJI

Several people were stranded atDiwar Island near Panaji due toflooding in the area followingincessant rains in Goa.

Besides, eight passenger buseswere stuck on the state's borderwith Karnataka due to the heavyrains which inundated severallow-lying areas, officials said.

Local resident ManoharBhomkar, 70, who was strandedat the Diwar Island, posted a videoon social media of some water-logged homes on the island, fol-lowing which state WaterResources Minister Filipe NeriRodrigues said the governmentwould provide all help to them.

The exact number of thosestranded at the island was notimmediately known. In the video,Bhomkar said due to breach inthe embankment of a nearbyriver, water gushed into theirhomes.

"There is flood everywhere.The embankment has breachedand water is entering the islandfrom all sides. We have beenstranded for four days," he said inthe video. Rodrigues said the gov-ernment was making all efforts tohelp those stuck due to floodingat various places. "We will alsoprovide assistance to people atDiwar Island," he said.

The island is located across theMandovi river near Panaji and itsresidents have to use boats toreach the state capital and otherplaces.

However, following heavyshowers, the state river navigationdepartment suspended the ferryservice to some places, includingDiwar Island. The coastal state hasbeen receiving heavy showers forthe last one week, throwing nor-mal life out of gear. Around eightbuses carrying several passengers,including students, were stuck on

the Goa-Karnataka border sinceMonday night due to flooding inthe area after heavy rains, an offi-cial in the Chief Minister's Office(CMO) said.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawantinstructed the officials concernedto rush to Radhanagari village onthe state border with Karnatakato rescue the stranded passengers,he said. "Our teams have rushed

to the spot with water and foodfor the stranded passengers," theofficial added.

Earlier, around 10 peoplestranded at their water- loggedhomes in Pilgaon village of NorthGoa district were rescued by per-sonnel of the disaster manage-ment department on Mondaynight, another state governmentofficial said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Muslims have not been allowedto enter the disputed RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidstructure in Ayodhya since1934, a Hindu group told theSupreme Court on Tuesdayand sought the control andmanagement of the entire 2.77acre land which is under dis-pute.

Nirmohi Akhara, one of theparties to the case, said whileadvancing the arguments thatthe structure has been in itsexclusive possession.

The day-to-day hearing inthe case commenced Tuesdayafter the efforts to arrive at anamicable settlement throughmediation failed.

A five-judge Constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi was told bysenior advocate Sushil Jain,appearing for Nirmohi Akhara,that it was seeking manage-ment and possession of thearea.

The bench, also comprisingJustices S A Bobde, D YChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand S A Nazeer, began the day-to-day hearing by rejectingthe plea of former RSS ideo-logue K N Govindacharyaseeking recording of theAyodhya case proceedings.

The Akhara counsel toldthe apex court that their suitwas basically for belongings,possession and managementrights. "I am a registered body.My suit is basically for belong-ings, possession and manage-

ment rights," said the Akharacounsel.

He also told the court thatthe Akhara was in possessionof the inner courtyard andRam Janmasthan for hundredsof years.

"We were in possession ofinner courtyard and RamJanmasthan for hundreds ofyears. Outer courtyard having'Sita Rasoi', 'Chabutra','Bhandar Grah' were in ourpossession and it was never apart of dispute in any case," thesenior counsel told the bench.

The ongoing hearing alsowitnessed a heated exchange ofwords between the bench andsenior advocate RajeevDhavan, who is appearing fora Muslim party.

While the bench was askingthe counsel for NirmohiAkhara to confine his argu-ments to civil dispute and ask-ing him to skip reading somewritten statements, Dhavaninterfered and said perhapsthere would not be any cur-

tailment of arguments.The CJI replied that there

should not be any doubt inanybody's mind that the hear-ing or the arguments would becurtailed in any manner.

Dhavan did not stop andagain said that is what he was say-ing and made some statement.At this, the CJI said, "Dr Dhavan,keep the dignity of the court."

Dhavan said that he hadreplied to some questions only.The bench told him, "Pleasekeep in mind that you are offi-cer of the Court and all we aresaying that we are not going tocurtail anybody's arguments".

The counsel representingNirmohi Akhara claimed rightover disputed 2.77 acre Ramjanmabhumi-Babri Masjidland and said they have beenpossessing, managing and wor-shipping Lord Ram Lalla sincetime immemorial at the site.

"In any case, you have beengiven one-third of disputedarea in preliminary decree bythe High Court," the bench toldthe Nirmohi Akhara's counsel.

Hindu outfit seeks control of entire 2.77 acre disputed landAYODHYA DISPUTE

A five-judgeConstitution benchheaded by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoiwas told by senioradvocate Sushil Jain,appearing for NirmohiAkhara, that it wasseeking managementand possession ofthe area

PNS n NEW DELHI

Rajya Sabha MP SubramanianSwamy has demanded the with-drawal of former Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru's petition thatsought UN intervention inKashmir. In a tweet, Swamytermed the petition as 'illegal'since it had been filed by Nehruwithout cabinet approval.Speakingto IANS on Tuesday, Swamy saidthat he assumed that cabinetapproval for UN intervention in

Kashmir was not taken becauseSardar Vallabhbhai Patel was stillalive then and would have blockedit. Prime Minister Nehru hadappealed to the UN Security

Council through the petition filedin January 1948 following the out-break of the first war between Indiaand Pakistan. On the basis of thispetition, the Security Council hadestablished the UN Commissionfor India and Pakistan to mediatebetween the two countries. "NowNamo Govt must withdraw thePetition filed by Nehru in theUNSC seeking UN interventionin Kashmir. The Petition wasfiled without Cabinet approvalhence illegal," tweeted Swamy.

Heavy rains in Goa; severalstranded at island, buses stuck

In Kolhapur; 10,000 evacuated,national highway shutPNS n KOLHAPUR

Incessant rains in Maharashtra'sKolhapur district caused flood-ing in several low-lying areas onTuesday, following which10,000 people were evacuatedand power supply to over85,000 consumers was sus-pended, officials said.

The national highwaybetween south Kolhapur andBelgaum in Karnataka wasshut for vehicular traffic due towater-logging in the area,Kolhapur Superintendent ofPolice Abhinav Deshmukh toldPTI. "On Monday, we closedone side of the national high-way. However, as rainsincreased, we had to shut theentire national highway in theearly hours of Tuesday," he said.

Kolhapur has been witness-

ing "unprecedented" rains,causing a flood-like situation inseveral tehsils, he said. "OnMonday, we shifted more than4,500 people from low-lyingareas, and today, over 6,000people have been evacuatedfrom several villages,"Deshmukh said.

Power supply to around85,523 consumers was tem-porarily suspended as a pre-cautionary measure, an offi-cial from the MaharashtraState Electricity DistributionCompany (MSEDCL) said.Teams of the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF), fire brigade, localadministration and policehave been roped in for helpas some rivers in the districtare flowing above the dangermark, Deshmukh said.

Goa to amend Portuguese-era law ‘Withdraw Nehru's illegal petitionseeking UN intervention in J&K’

For allowing marriage registration of outsiders

The UK has been quite unique asa developed nation, having enact-ed the country’s Climate ChangeAct in 2008. According to theCommittee on Climate Change,

a statutory independent body, by 2017 itsgreenhouse emissions were 43 per cent below1990 levels while the economy grew by two-thirds over the same period. The Act callsfor the UK to reduce these emissions by atleast 80 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990levels. The remarkable aspect of this Act isthat it cuts across party lines and binds thecountry to a set of measures enacted byParliament. But, of course, much more needsto be done now to ensure that human soci-ety does not allow the earth’s temperaturesto exceed 1.5°C by the end of this century.

Meanwhile, according to meteorologi-cal information, the year 2019 has alreadycrossed previous limits and is headingtowards becoming the hottest year onrecord. At the same time, all across the world,there are extreme events ranging from heatwaves to extreme precipitation events,which have increased in frequency and inten-sity. This year there were also reports that awidespread area in the Arctic had raging firesright from Siberia to Alaska.

The Arctic region, according to theFourth Assessment Report by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) published in 2007, estimated that theArctic region was warming at twice the rateof the rest of the globe. The extreme heat thisyear and in earlier periods is also melting theGreenland ice sheet at a rapid rate, whichwould enhance sea level rise dangerously.Drastic measures are required to curbgreenhouse gas emissions and these includelifestyle changes as well.

It is questionable whether the newPrime Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, istruly committed to action on climate changeand certainly, he is not likely to make anylifestyle changes himself or motivate othersin the UK to do so. This writer hadaddressed a gathering of professionals inLondon in 2008, where he clearly highlight-ed the need for reducing meat consumption,based on his plea, “Please eat less meat,because you would be healthier and so wouldthe planet.” The UK beef industry, of course,was very critical of this appeal but surpris-ingly, so was the current Prime Minister ofBritain, who was then the Mayor of London.He wrote an op-ed piece in the DailyTelegraph on September 9, 2008, which whileridiculing advice to cut down on meat con-sumption, wrote the following.

“No, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, distin-guished chairman of the panel, I am notgoing to have one meat-free day per week.No, I am not going to become a gradualvegetarian. In fact, the whole propositionis so irritating that I am almost minded toeat more meat in response.

Every weekend, rain or shine, I suggestthat we flaunt our defiance of UN dietary

recommendations with a seriesof vast Homeric barbecues.”

Johnson ignores the factthat the IPCC makes no recom-mendations. Its assessments arepolicy-relevant but not policyprescriptive. He states further,“We are going to have carnivo-rous festivals of chops andsausages and burgers and chit-terlings and chine and offal, andthe fat will run down our chins,and the dripping will blaze onthe charcoal, and the smokyvapours will rise to the heavens.

We will call these meatfeasts Pachauri days, in satiricalhomage to the tofu-chompingUN man who told the humanrace to go veggie.”

There is considerable spec-ulation in the British media onwhether Johnson’s live-in part-ner Carrie Symonds might actu-ally be able to influence his posi-tion on climate change, perhapswith some changes in lifestyle aswell and possibly have himforego the excessive craving formeat feasts, which he hadreferred to as Pachauri days.

While one can be amusedwith Johnson’s humour, it wouldbe unfortunate if the PrimeMinister of a country as impor-tant as the UK, and which hashad the vision of enacting its cli-mate change law, sticks to his oldposition. Who knows, perhapshe has actually reduced his meatconsumption because he cer-

tainly seems trimmer than wasthe case when he was the Mayorof London. It may be thatSymonds will be a productiveinfluence on the man who isnow the British Prime Ministerand, thus, send a message to thepublic in that nation.

Johnson in his article alsostated, “Man is an omnivore, cul-turally and probably biological-ly programmed to take proteinfrom meat; and those meat ani-mals must be farmed.” The meatindustry undoubtedly wasthrilled with this view. Sadly,Johnson obviously has notrealised that the entire globalmeat cycle is very intensive inthe use of energy, right up to thestage where households storemeat in their refrigerators.

Added to that is the clearingof forests as pastureland, such aswith the Amazon rainforest,and providing CO2 intensivefeed material produced in larg-er and larger quantities for live-stock. An IPCC report justreleased provides a stark warn-ing of land just not being avail-able on planet earth if we con-sume meat at current levels. Thisreport establishes the escalatingconflict between meat produc-tion and other more essentialuses of land.

Sadly, the current Presidentof Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, whosubscribes to US PresidentDonald Trump’s and Johnson’s

views, has recently sacked thehead of the National Institute forSpace Research, which has beenmonitoring deforestation in theAmazon region. AfterBolsonaro’s assumption of office,deforestation in June was esti-mated by this organisation as 88per cent higher than the sameperiod last year.

It is unfortunate that leadersof major countries choose toignore the truth or deliberatelyserve the interests of lobbies, whojust want to maximise theirprofits without regard to thefuture impacts of climate change.

This mental inertia has to beovercome through public con-sciousness and grassroots action,as has been the case in severalcountries of the world. It is theyouth of the world who nowneed to take the lead and imple-ment actions to reduce theemissions of greenhouse gases,which are responsible forhuman-induced climate change.

Fortunately, this is nowgaining momentum with theefforts of Greta Thunberg, the16-year-old Swedish activist,and the Protect Our Planet(POP) movement being imple-mented in several countries.But when do we get leaders witha conscience and those who careabout our future?

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change, 2002-15)

When Home Minister Amit Shah toldLok Sabha that the governmentwould not settle for the integration of

Jammu and Kashmir without Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir or Aksai Chin, he drove homethe point that we are now very much preparedto redefine diplomacy in the neighbourhoodand change status quo in that area too. Thatour strategic reboot would mean an unchart-ed approach to both Pakistan and China. Andthat the big powers, particularly the US, havebeen kept in the loop to evolve a new dynam-

ic in a post-Donald Trump era, where extreme coercion would provoke extremereaction. There has been an overnight upending of our terms of reference withPakistan, one that has involved the primacy of Kashmir as a pivot of talks, bethey diplomatic, economic, cultural or about confidence-building. But after thewithdrawal of special status that allowed Pakistan interventionist interest, andnow the downgrade of statehood to a Union Territory (UT), J&K is just anoth-er piece of territory in the Indian Union. And with the government keeping legal-ities and technical arguments within the Constitutional framework of justifica-tion, one wonders if challenges to that can ever wash with the larger diplomat-ic community, who have so far stayed away, except asking both sides to main-tain calm. Considering India had launched its diplomatic awareness drive on its“internal reorganisation for peace” a week before and the P5 members haveso far maintained a hands-off approach, there’s enough indication that a newtemplate has to evolve within the bilateral paradigm. So the pre-condition of Kashmirfor any talks with Pakistan has now evaporated as it is now a legitimised domes-tic matter. Many strategists feel that the unique status of Jammu and Kashmirwas in a way a tacit admission of its controversial status and was obstruction-ist, compromising India’s bargaining power. Now that the Valley is off the table,future negotiations with Pakistan will have to begin from scratch. Of course,Pakistan is not expected to give up so easily without its own takeaways fromit. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has resorted to familiar bluster, warningof ethnic outbursts, more Pulwamas, even a conventional war, if provoked. Hemay keep harping on the refrain of the UNSC resolution though that cannot bea reference point anymore. India’s claim that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is vir-tually an extension of Islamabad’s administration waters down any counter-cam-paign. Perhaps, that’s the reason why Khan absented himself at first from Pakistan’sParliament to debate the reorganisation issue and then came prepared. Nowwhether this is part of a larger understanding — where Pakistan is curryingback its favour with the US by negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan overwithdrawal of troops and a new regime of governance — is open to specula-tion. If its relevance to the US as a strategic ally is conditional on its role inAfghanistan, it may, for the time being at least, not be too aggressive. Its overtpush for mediation in J&K with Trump is, after all, one of the reasons for embold-ening the Modi regime to wall off any attempt at internationalisation.

However, China is gravely disturbed by the UT status to Ladakh as it wouldlend India strategic depth in a region that lies next to Aksai Chin. China, whichgot the Shaksgam Valley in 1963 from Pakistan, has so far argued that its claimthere is contingent on the resolution of the Kashmir issue. Now it is part of theUT of Ladakh and cannot figure as an adjunct of J&K. So it has lambasted India’s“unilateralism”, saying it impinges on its “sovereignty.” Over the years, it hasinvested much, pushing an agenda of cultural contiguity, influencing Buddhistgroups and playing them against each other. It has surreptitiously been fund-ing monasteries in the area to link them to the larger Chinese Buddhism, a strat-egy which has allowed it to make inroads in the Buddhist countries of SoutheastAsia too. Particularly, given Dalai Lama’s ill health, China would like to hold swayover various schools of Tibetan Buddhism and have a say in a post-Dalai Lamascenario. The reorganisation now allows New Delhi direct decision-making andfirst-hand engagement with the Buddhists of Ladakh and could well strength-en the constituency of Himalayan Buddhism. As Sri Lankan Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe said, with 70 per cent Buddhists, Ladakh will be the first Indianterritorial entity with a Buddhist majority. Like Balakot, the redefinition of Kashmirwill compel both Pakistan and China to evolve new reactive strategies. Only timewill tell how provocative they can be. Beyond the obviousness of wordplay.

Strike on status quo

Questionable eminence

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Excellence or not” (August 5).Whether an institution is giventhe tag of an “institute of emi-nence” or not, as long as it doesnot deliver “intelligent and emi-nent students”, which is what isexpected of it, notwithstandingthe different mental make-up ofthe students, the tag is of no value.That many students face difficul-ties in finding a job speak volumesabout the poor standards of edu-cation. The tag alone cannot leadto academic excellence. Affordableeducation with high-quality stan-dards from the primary levelshould be the aim.

VS JayaramanChennai

Can’t blank out people

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Toying with fire” (August 6).With a parliamentary majority onits side, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has implemented a key itemon the core agenda of its parentorganisation RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) —abrogation of Article 370. The

Muslim-majority State’s accessionto India was premised on its spe-cial status. Hence, it is a validapprehension that the BJPGovernment’s unilateral move,done without consulting the stake-holders in the State, may weaken,if not break, the bond betweenKashmir and the rest of India andalso alter the State’s present demo-graphic profile. The saddest partis that the Central Government

has given the impression that theValley’s people are less importantthan its territory.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

No quick solutions

Sir — The Trumpian style ofwhimsical intervention in interna-tional politics, this time in

Kashmir, has abruptly brought apresidential Ordinance on Article35A. Other than sending a subtlemessage to the US, to desist, thepresent step cannot be expectedto find quick solutions. There willbe reactions. But right now, theIndian Tricolour will be hoisted inSrinagar with far greater assertive-ness and Central authority.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

New innings

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Toying with fire” (August 6).Successive Governments at theCentre were scared of burningtheir fingers by touching the spe-cial status granted to the State ofJammu & Kashmir in the form ofArticle 370 and 35A. They pam-pered the Kashmiri separatists aswell as leaders of the State, whoalways threatened New Delhiwith dire consequences if theytouched these provisions.

This situation in Jammu &Kashmir was unacceptable tomost Indians. After the sepa-ratists, the divisive politicians ofKashmir, too, have been showntheir place. Not only Articles370 and 35A have been abrogat-ed but the status and geographyof the erstwhile Jammu &Kashmir State have been changedby splitting it into two Union ter-ritories. This is a bold decision,which has opened a new door fordevelopment and prosperity ofthe Kashmiris.

MC JoshiLucknow

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019

06

Leadership without care

RK PACHAURI

It’s unfortunate that leaders choose to ignore the truth or deliberately serve the interests oflobbies who want to maximise profits without regard for the future impact of climate change

Yeh Hindustan hum sabkaHindustan hai, Hindu ho,Muslim ho, Sikh ho, isai ho, yeh sabka Hindustan tha.

National Conference chief —Farooq Abdullah

We need to be prepared notonly diplomatically but also onground as Pakistan will makenoise over the Centre's move torevoke provisions of Article 370.

Former Army Chief—VP Malik

We will fight it at everyforum. We're thinking howwe can take it toInternational Court (ofJustice)... to the UNSC.

Pakistan Prime Minister—Imran Khan

S O U N D B I T E

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

Undoing errors of the past in a given context

This refers to the editorial, “Toying with fire” (August6). The imposition of Article 370, which accord-ing to legal experts as well as historians of signif-

icance, was more of a tedious machination on the partof two significant dramatis personae — namely thefirst Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and thecharismatic Kashmiri leader Sheikh MohammedAbdullah. This Constitutional provision was supposedto be temporary. The abrogation of Article 370 is, there-fore, a landmark in our timeline.

For long now, there has been a concerted effort byboth sides of the argument surrounding Article 370. Whileon the one hand, leaders such as former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah believe that Article370 is the only Constitutional link between the State andthe rest of India, there are many from across the spec-trum who insist that Article 370 has, in fact, preventedthe State from truly becoming an integral part of India.It is also suggested that any objection to Article 370 is,

in the manner of speaking, an opposition of the socialfabric of the State or in other words, the State's Muslimdominated populace. Would it be too revisionist a thought— now a reality — to consider the abrogation or amend-ment of Article 370 by the very means it was institut-ed, a presidential order? Every new day is an opportu-nity to undo the mistakes of the past. Provided it is donewith current context too.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

WHILE ONE CANBE AMUSED WITH BORISJOHNSON’S

HUMOUR, ITWOULD BE

UNFORTUNATE IFTHE PRIME

MINISTER OF ACOUNTRY AS

IMPORTANT ASTHE UK, AND

WHICH HAS HADTHE VISION OFENACTING ITS

CLIMATE CHANGELAW, STICKS TO HIS OLD

POSITION

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Trade in troubleAre you assuming that insteadof sacrificing lamb, Kashmirisshould sacrifice themselves? Ifyou want that, I'm sure they'lldo that, they've been doing that.

AIMIM leader —Asaduddin Owaisi

The reorganisation of J&K has reset terms of diplomacywith Pakistan and China issuing belligerent counters

For years before he became the 45thPresident of the US, Donald Trump usedthe media platforms to complain about

how other nations have abused America’s trustby skewing the trade system and how“unfair” trade deals were taking away jobs fromhome. His rant against the global trade sys-tem, ironically anchored to the US economy,was popular, particularly among the workingclass Whites in the American Midwest. As aresult, in 2016, he won a surprising numberof States where Hillary Clinton was supposed

to win in a canter. And as promised, he unleashed hell on global trade, renego-tiated deals with his two neighbours, threatened European car imports and evenwine and, of course, trained his sights on China. But the Asian giant was primedfor a fight. With tariffs and counter-tariffs by each side, now China is playing aroundwith its currency and the US has formally declared it to be a currency manipu-lator. This renewed tension has sent shockwaves through global markets. TheIndian rupee and bourses are also getting spooked. Particularly with Trump mak-ing it clear that India has “unfair” trade terms with the US, investors are under-standably worried. Trump’s style of open, public negotiating tactics using Twittermeans that his tweet is a genuine market-moving tool.

India, therefore, finds itself in a particularly strange pickle. It might be target-ted by Trump but if it plays its cards right on the trade front, it could, in returnfor greater market access for some American products like dairy, poultry andmotorcycles, gain greater access for Indian manufactured goods. US firms andtheir suppliers are looking to start new manufacturing bases outside China. Oureastern neighbour could also become a customer of our agricultural produce.This could give a dramatic surge to the “Make In india” programme and poten-tially create millions of jobs that could boost the economy. This is why India shouldtake up trade talks with the US very carefully and with attention from the verytop because dealing with Trump is not easy. Even his much-ballyhooed friend-ship with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un is strange, with the North Koreans firingmissiles over the past few days. Narendra Modi is no ordinary politician and hewill need the skills he has developed over four decades to come to the fore whendealing with the US President on trade.

The trade war between China and the US, where the glovesare now off, will impact India for better or for worse

Saga of greed, dynastic politics

YOU SAY IT (J&K) IS AN INTERNAL MATTER. THE UN HASBEEN MONITORING THE SITUATION SINCE 1948. THERE IS

SIMLA AGREEMENT AND LAHORE DECLARATION. —CONGRESS LEADER

ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY

HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT KASHMIR IS NOT OURINTEGRAL PART AND IT IS NOT OUR INTERNAL ISSUE?THE CONGRESS HAS BECOME MENTALLY BANKRUPT.—UNION MINISTERMUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Think Kashmir without the families of RajaHari Singh, Sheikh Abdullah, MuftiMohammad Sayeed in today’s context and

delete Jawaharlal Nehru and MA Jinnah’s person-al love for the place; surely, the political landscapeof the State would have been completely different.It is axiomatic that Jammu & Kashmir became inde-pendent as soon as it was released from its allegianceto the British crown under the Indian IndependenceAct. The Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir becamethe repository of all power under this Act, whichcreated the two dominions of India and Pakistan.He was free to decide whether he would accede toany one of the two dominions.

Meanwhile, Jinnah visualised Kashmir aspart of Pakistan and dreamt of bracing its climateand Mughal Gardens as the Governor-Generalof Pakistan. He thought it was almost in his pock-et: Whether it came to him willingly or was takenby force was immaterial. The British hadpromised it to him: It was a majority Muslim areaand it had no approach to India except throughPakistan. Being sure of his ground, Jinnah firstmade an approach to the Maharaja for accessionof the State to Pakistan in a very persuasive andfriendly manner. In fact, he lured the then PrimeMinister of Kashmir, Ram Chandra Kak, to bringKashmir to Pakistan. But the Maharaja remainedfirm on the ground that either the State wouldenjoy independent status or it would emerge withthe Indian dominion.

As far as India was concerned, it was indiffer-ent on the subject, though it would have been happyif Kashmir had acceded to India. MahatmaGandhi visited Kashmir before August 15, 1947,to persuade the Maharaja to accede to India buthe remained non-committal. If the Maharaja haddecided to accede to India or to Pakistan beforeAugust 15, 1947, much of the trouble and bitter-ness may well have been avoided. But he was toy-ing with the idea of independence and was rely-ing on his Dogra forces to achieve this end.However, he was completely averse to the idea ofacceding to Pakistan as it would have involved thecomplete destruction of the Hindu population ofthe State and seizure of all that they had, includ-ing abduction of women. Meanwhile, SheikhAbdullah along with his deputy, Bakshi, took overthe leadership of the National Conference (NC) asit was the only political party of the State. NC lead-ers were favorable to the State’s accession to India.The Maharaja felt that there was no option for himbut to accede to India. However, India continuedmaintaining an indifferent approach towardsKashmir. Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel pre-ferred the situation where Kashmir accession mustcome voluntarily to India. Being a liberal democ-rat, Pandit Nehru was keen on the Maharaja hand-ing over the power to Sheikh Abdullah than aboutaccession. In his view, once the State administra-tion had gone to popular hands, the question ofaccession could be appropriately discussed with thepopular Government.

The biggest hurdle to resolving the Kashmirissue has been the business of “plebiscite”, whichPakistan as well as other India-baiters, includingthe so-called liberals, has often raised. The originof that apprehension can be traced to the letter ofOctober 27, 1947, which Lord Mountbatten wroteto Maharaja Hari Singh after the latter had signedhis acceptance on the Instrument of Accession on

October 26, 1947. That letter of Mountbatten waspersonal and it was in reply to the Maharaja’s let-ter of October 26, stating that “'a grave emergency”had arisen in his State and acknowledging that theIndian dominion “cannot send the help asked for”without his State acceding to India. Accordingly,on October 26, the Maharaja attached theInstrument of Accession for acceptance. In his let-ter, Mountbatten wrote, “...my Government hasdecided to accept the accession of Kashmir Stateto the dominion of India. In consistence with theirpolicy that in the case of any State, where the issueof accession has been the subject of dispute, thequestion of accession should be decided in accor-dance with the wishes of the people of the State. Itis my Government’s wish that as soon as law andorder have been restored in Kashmir and its soilcleared of the invader, the question of the State’saccession should be settled by a reference to the peo-ple.” This statement of Mountbatten was to evokean almost violent reaction from MC Mahajan, whowas the then Prime minister of Kashmir and laterbecame the Chief Justice of India.

In his Accession of Kashmir to India (The InsideStory), the learned judge wrote: “The IndianIndependence Act did not envisage conditionalaccession. It could not envisage such a situation asit would be outside the Parliament’s policy. It want-ed to keep no Indian State in a state of suspense.It conferred on the rulers of the Indian Statesabsolute power in their discretion to accede to eitherof the two dominions. The dominion’s GovernorGeneral had the power to accept the accession orreject the offer, but he had no power to keep thequestion open or attach conditions to it.” What isalso not in dispute is the Himalayan bungle creat-ed by Nehru’s Government of the time. OnJanuary 27, 1948, India and Pakistan submitted adraft proposal to the president of the United NationsSecurity Council on the appropriate methods ofsolving the Kashmir dispute. According to theSecurity Council verbatim reports cited by JusticeAnand, the Indian representative on the floor ofthe Security Council made it appear that the finalstatus of Kashmir was to be determined by

plebiscite although the legal nature of Kashmir’saccession was the foundation of India’s case.

Years later, the problem in Kashmir is often rep-resented primarily as a matter between India andPakistan and framed around the issues of the legit-imacy of Kashmir’s accession to India during inde-pendence. But this is not the problem today as cir-cumstances since the accession have changed suchthat insurgency is now largely fuelled by an increas-ingly hardliner Pakistan state. The ethnic and reli-gious diversity in Jammu & Kashmir, which is divid-ed into three regions, has contributed to the com-plexity of the Kashmir problem.

The current violence cycle of the insurgencywas started in late 1980s — it began as an ethnicissue. However, over the years, insurgency has beencarefully and deliberately cultivated into a religiousone. This created an environment of intolerance,intimidation and ultimately, violence throughoutthe Valley that only exasperated other existing ten-sions: A situation that led to the exodus of theKashmiri Hindu pandits from the region. WithPrime Minister Narendra Modi securing a major-ity in the second term and Union Home MinisterAmit Shah at the helm of affairs, the CentralGovernment will now take on the Kashmir issuemuch more assertively than it did in its first term.

One of the key shifts in the new Government’sapproach to Kashmir is that while prior to May2019, the focus was on dealing with the separatistswith an iron hand, the focus now is to make theKashmiri separatist and dynast leaders irrelevantaltogether. National Security Advisor Ajit Dovalhas pushed for a muscular policy in dealing withthe present crisis in the Valley with fair success butIndia was missing a bold Home Minister in Modi1.0 to translate Doval’s initiative at the legislativeplatform. Shah has bridged this gap with Modi 2.0leading to appropriate legislation in the Parliamentto address the Kashmir issue, seeking permanentsolution from an Indian perspective.

On the domestic front, the first part of thepolicy involves scaling up military action againstterrorists in Kashmir. The second part of this pol-icy involves the relentless pursuit of individuals

and outfits, who claim to be self-styled represen-tatives of the Kashmiri Muslims and support rad-icalism — directly or indirectly. No one will bespared, no matter how much influential. TheNational Investigation Agency has already seizedassets worth `1,400 crore and has launched aninvestigation in 21 cases. The Central Board ofDirect Taxes and the Enforcement Directorate areworking overtime in the State, identifying, track-ing and shutting down all means to fund terror-ist activities. A massive crackdown on theJamaat-e-Islami has begun. The outfit has a stronginfluence in south Kashmir and is largely heldresponsible for turning the four districts in theregion into a hub for terrorism. This crackdownis going to get stronger in the days to come untilthe outfit is made completely redundant. Similarly,tougher action is being taken against separatists,not just cosmetic ones. Many leaders have beenshifted to prisons outside Srinagar so that theValley does not come under their influence.

The writing on the wall is clear: NarendraModi and Shah are discarding the old guard inthe State and building a new leadership from thegrassroot. The abrogation of Article 370 and 35Ashall facilitate larger integration of Jammu &Kashmir with the rest of the country. As India ismarching ahead towards becoming a $5 trillioneconomy, policy-makers must not excludeJammu & Kashmir State from the fruits of devel-opment just to please a few feudal families threat-ening the State of India of false repercussions.Jammu & Kashmir has been a victim of protect-ing the rights of a few political families rather thanthe people and then one of the tallest Indian leaderSyama Prasad Mukherjee has correctly predict-ed in 1952 that the Indian State must abandonPrince and Czars of Kashmir to let it freely inte-grate with the Union of India to blossom in a pros-perous integrated society. The historic decisionto abrogate Article 370 and re-organisation of theState by the Modi Government shall facilitatefaster development of the State with the nation.

(The writer is a regular columnist with ThePioneer and Editor-in-chief of Opinion Express)

With Article 370 being revoked, the writing on the wall is clear: The Government is discarding old guard in the State and building a new leadership at the grassroot level

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

A tribute to BR Ambedkar

GURU PRAKASH

The anomalies created due to Article 370 and 35Awere erroneous at many levels. The Government’s

decision will usher a remarkable transformation in thelives of Dalit, tribal and other backward communities

PRASHANT TEWARI

One of the most significant points that is lost in the debateover the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution ofIndia is the plight of the subalterns in the State of Jammu

& Kashmir. The commentariat has missed the impact of removalof Article 370 on the Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs)and tribal communities in the State. The socially, politically andeconomically disadvantaged sections were bereft of anyConstitutional benefits, which were meant for their welfare anddevelopment.

“You wish India should protect your border, it should buildroad in your areas, it should supply you food grains and Kashmirshould get equal status as India. But the Government of Indiashould have limited powers and Indian people should have norights in Kashmir. To give consent in your proposal, would bea treacherous thing against the interest of India and I, as the LawMinister of India, will never do”, observed BR Ambedkar on thedemand of special status to Jammu & Kashmir.

As someone, who dedicated his life for the cause of the Dalits,Babasaheb carefully pre-empted the implications of a distinc-tive Constitutional status. He never compromised with the nation-al interest and the interests of the community. He was unfortu-nately overridden by the then rulers, whose only intentions wereto seek power at all costs.

By revoking Article 370, the Narendra Modi Government hasundone years of oppression and institutional discrimination ofthe socially marginalised sections like the Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes and OBCs.

Coming together of arch-rivalsIt was one of the rare occasions where the Bahujan Samaj

Party (BSP) solidly stood with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Affirmative action policies like preferential treatment to the Dalits,tribal and OBC communities became victims of Article 370, whichcreated a permanent roadblock for Central legislations. It is inter-esting to note that reservation policies were not fully implement-ed in the entire State of Jammu & Kashmir due to Article 370.

Many Valmiki Dalits in Jammu are forced to become sweep-ers because the State legislation does not recognise their com-munity, whose members are conventionally manual scavengers,as State subjects. The members of the community cannot applyfor a Scheduled Caste certificate or a Government job, exceptfor the post of a sweeper. They have been protesting againstthis since a very long time. According to a news report pub-lished by News18 in 2010, one of the Ministers publicly admit-ted that, “The demands of the Valimikis are genuine. They arenot outsiders but adopted ones. Due to Article 370, giving Statesubject to them is difficult. In order to solve their situation, wewill form a committee consisting of all party members, who cansolve their plight soon,” said the then Jammu & Kashmir Ministerfor Relief and Rehabilitation, Raman Bhalla.

“Being denied SC certificate puts them at a disadvantageand they cannot even obtain a loan in the State to pull them-selves out of backwardness. Without residential rights to prop-erty, they have no collateral to mortgage. Even after living inJammu & Kashmir for 62 years, the Valmikis do not have a rightto vote in panchayat, municipality or State Assembly elections”,observed Pallavi Sareen in one of the articles on the plight ofValmikis in Jammu & Kashmir.

This was a gross violation of Constitutional values and spir-it. Valmikis in the rest of the country are recognised as SC andare entitled to benefits in State-sponsored education and employ-ment schemes. Can a similar class of citizens be treated dif-ferently in the same country? It was a matter of embarrassmentas it never caught the attention of intellectuals and activists, whohave systematically benefitted from atrocity narrative.

The story does not end here. It is surprising that thereis no provision of political representation of STs in the Stateof Jammu & Kashmir. Whereas the Constitution of India hasmade special arrangements for their equitable representationat critical decision making positions, the tribal communitieswere still prohibited to enter the legislative chambers of Jammu& Kashmir. With the bifurcation of Ladakh as a separate UnionTerritory, tribal communities will now get what was due tothem since so many decades.

The anomalies created due to Article 370 and Article 35Awere erroneous at many levels. The Modi Government’s deci-sion will usher a remarkable transformation in the lives of Dalit,tribal and other backward communities of Jammu & Kashmir.

(The writer is Adviser, Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerceand Industry (DICCI) and Assistant Professor at Patna University)

August 5, 2019, will remain ahistoric day for the country.On this day, the Modi

Government scrapped Article 370and Article 35A pertaining toJammu & Kashmir in one stroke.Prime Minister Narendra Modihas resolved a complex issue, whichmany Prime Ministers had beengrappling with unsuccessfully forthe past 70 years, boldly within thefirst 100 days of his second term.

As a bureaucrat fr iendremarked, with half a pagePresidential order and four hours ofdebate and discussion in the RajyaSabha, Jammu & Kashmir as a Statedisappeared and in its placeemerged two Union Territories —

Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.The political reason for clubbingJammu & Kashmir might be tomake the State Hindu majority gradually.

Politically, Modi has emergedmuch stronger. The Prime Ministerand Union Home Minister AmitShah get kudos for the bloodlesscoup. “We reiterate our positionsince the time of the Jan Sangh tothe abrogation of Article 370," readthe BJP’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ for the LokSabha election of 2019. Articles 35Aand Article 370, among other issues,including national security, nation-alism and terrorism, had becamemajor election issues.

Interestingly, the Congress hadpromised in its manifesto that noth-ing will be done or allowed tochange the Constitutional positionon Kashmir. Now that the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) is heading thestrongest Government at the Centrein 30 years after having secured amassive majority of its own in the2019 Lok Sabha elections, there waspressure from the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) to acton its promises.

Article 370 of the Constitutiongrants special status to Jammu &Kashmir, while Article 35A empow-ers the Legislature to define theState’s “permanent residents” andtheir special rights and privileges.It also bars a Kashmiri woman fromgetting any property rights if shemarries a person outside the State.

The Modi-Shah duo took everyone by surprise by planning thewhole operation in complete secre-cy. The Opposition has complainedthat no consultations were madewith the stakeholders. In fact, whilethe Bill was introduced in theHouse, two former Chief Ministers— Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)chief Mehbooba Mufti and NationalConference leader Omar Abdullah— were kept under house arrest inSrinagar. Getting the Bill passed inthe Rajya Sabha, where the rulingparty is in a minority, was indeed a feat for the TreasuryBenches. The Congress feels outfoxed.

Modi’s success in the Upper

House was also possible due to thedivision in Opposition ranks. Manyparties, including the Biju JanataDal (BJD), Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS), YSR Congress Party(YSRCP), Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) and the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), sided with the Government,thus isolating the Congress, theTrinamool Congress (TMC) and afew other parties. However, allregional parties in the State, includ-ing NC, PDP, Jammu and KashmirPeople’s Movement (J&KPM) andothers, opposed the measure.

Now that the Parliament hasendorsed the proposal, managingthe aftermath is the challenge aheadfor the Modi Government. ThePrime Minister believes that themeasure will solve the Kashmirproblem and bring peace and pros-perity to the State.

While there has been no imme-diate signs of violence in Jammu &Kashmir as massive forces havebeen deployed, it is too soon to dis-miss any trouble. The gene is outof the bottle and it is not knownwhether it will turn uncontrol-

lable. There are some who fearKashmir might turn out to beanother Palestine.

Second, the State has beendegraded but has the Governmentthought of an economic plan for thedevelopment of these two UnionTerritories? As Amit Shah hadnoted in his speech in Parliamentwhile presenting the Bills, crores ofrupees have been sent to the Statefor development but they neverreached the people. The economicplan is a must for the future and theGovernment is yet to disclose it.

Third, Pakistan, too, must havebeen taken by surprise by thiscoup. Enthused by the good recep-tion Pakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan received in the US recently,with promises of more aid to bailout its economy, the Pakistaniestablishment is upbeat.Encouraged by all these, it cannotbe ruled out that Pakistan mightinstigate some violence in Kashmir.Also the Valley is the most vulner-able to Talibanis and other terrororganisations like Al Qaeda and theIslamic State (IS). There is also the

danger of more home-grown terror-ism and the emergence of moreBurhan Wanis.

Pakistan might also take it tothe United Nations as Kashmircan no longer be on the agenda andalso seek the US’ intervention.

Above all, most Kashmiris inthe Valley feel betrayed. The StateGovernment and the Centre mustdo everything to assuage their feel-ing of alienation and fill up the trustdeficit. Bringing normalcy in theValley should be the top priority.

Overall, while doubts maylinger about the response from theValley, Prime Minister Modi hasearned huge political capital by thismeasure.

If the Supreme Court gives agreen signal by November, the BJPis ready to build the Ram temple inAyodhya, too. There are many,who believe that if elections were tobe held tomorrow, Prime MinisterModi might even beat former PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi’s record ofgetting 405 seats in the 1984 LokSabha elections.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Changing the face of KashmirThe Modi-Shah duo has taken a historic step by rendering Article 370 toothless and repealing Article 35(A). But

managing the aftermath is a challenge with some comparing the State to another Palestine

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

There is still a good chancethat the changes to theConstitution will end upbefore the Supreme Court.But the fires are already lit.The US and China must notallow Kashmir to become apawn in their ongoingdisputes; on the contrary,the US, China, the UN andother powers with influenceover India and Pakistanmust urgently do what theycan to prevent India’s follyfrom escalating into aperilous and unpredictableregional crisis.(The New York Times)

MOST DANGEROUSPLACE IN THE WORLD

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019 money 08

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Investment andInfrastructure Fund (NIIF) onTuesday said Australia's largestsuperannuation fundAustralianSuper and Canada'sOntario Teachers' Pension Planhave signed pacts to invest upto USD 2 billion with the NIIFMaster Fund.

The NIIF invests in equitycapital in the country's coreinfrastructure sectors with afocus on transportation,energy and urban infra-structure.

"The NIIF of India ispleased to announce thatAustralianSuper, Australia'slargest superannuation fund,and Ontario Teachers' PensionPlan (Ontario Teachers'),Canada's largest single-profes-sion pension plan, have eachsigned agreements for invest-ments of up to USD 1 billionwith the NIIF Master Fund,"NIIF said in a statement.

The agreements includecommitments of USD 250 mil-lion each in the Master Fundand co-investment rights of upto USD 750 million each infuture opportunities alongsidethe Fund, it said.

"This marks the third closeof the NIIF Master Fund.AustralianSuper and OntarioTeachers' will now join theGovernment of India (GOI),Abu Dhabi InvestmentAuthority (ADIA), Temasek,HDFC Group, ICICI Bank,Kotak Mahindra Life Insuranceand Axis Bank as investors inthe Fund," the statement said.

AustralianSuper and OntarioTeachers' will also become

share-holdersin NationalInve s t m e nta n dInfrastructure FundLtd, NIIF's investmentmanagement company, itsaid. The Fund also added thatdomestic investors HDFC Lifeand Kotak Mahindra LifeInsurance have further com-mitted Rs 600 million in thethird round.

"With this, NIIF MasterFund becomes the largest infra-structure fund in India withassets under management ofover USD 1.8 billion and a co-investment pool of USD 2.5 bil-lion, which will enable theFund to invest at the scalerequired for the large infra-structure requirements inIndia," it said.

The Master Fund has atenure of 15 years and isdenominated in the Indian

rupees tosuit therequirements of the infra-structure sector.

NIIF Managing Director andChief Executive Officer SujoyBose said, "We are delighted towelcome two of the world'sleading pension funds asinvestors in the NIIF MasterFund and as shareholders ofNIIF, alongside other eminentinvestors. AustralianSuper andOntario Teachers' are amongthe most respected infrastruc-ture investors in the world andbring considerable global per-spective and value to NIIF.

Their significant investmentsdemonstrate the internationalinterest in Indian infrastructureand reconfirms the manystrengths of NIIF, which posi-

tions it as one of the primaryIndian pooling vehicles forglobal capital.

Dale Burgess, senior man-aging director (infrastructureand natural resources) ofOntario Teachers', said, "NIIF'sinvestment strategy aligns withthe long-term and partner-oriented investing approach, wehave successfully used in otherregions."

Ben Chan, regional manag-ing director (Asia-Pacific) ofOntario Teachers', said a com-mitment to NIIF will substan-tially bolster Ontario Teachers'

presence in India, providingus with on-the-ground mar-ket insights and capabilities

to be well-positioned in alarge market with significantexpected growth.

Mark Delaney, chief invest-ment officer withAustralianSuper, said India'sburgeoning infrastructure mar-ket is among the largest in Asia,which presents many opportu-nities for investment. "We arepleased to have entered into thisagreement with the NIIFMaster Fund and to be share-holders of National Investmentand Infrastructure FundLimited and look forward toparticipating in a strongpipeline of projects across arange of sectors."

NIIF is a fund manager thatinvests in infrastructure andrelated sectors in India. Aninstitution anchored by theGovernment of India, NIIF isa collaborative investment plat-form for international andIndian investors with a man-date to invest equity capital indomestic infrastructure.

Australia, Canadian funds toinvest up to $2 bn thru NIIF

The agreements includecommitments of USD 250 millioneach in the Master Fund and co-investment rights of up to USD 750million each in future opportunitiesalongside the Fund, it said

‘Aware of reports on authenticity of Siddhartha's sign’PNS n NEW DELHI

Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd onTuesday said it is aware ofreports questioning theauthenticity of the signatureon the purported letter writ-ten by late founder VGSiddhartha and is cooperatingwith regulatory authorities onthis issue.

The purported letter, whichis believed to be the final noteby the late promoter and wide-ly circulated on social media,contained statements allegingharassment on VG Siddharthaby the Income Tax department.

In a reply to the clarificationsought by the bourses on theissue, Coffee Day Enterprisessaid "the company is aware ofthe news report" and addedthat it is "co-operating with reg-ulatory authorities in relationto the letter and related matter."

On July 30, BSE had soughtclarification from Coffee DayEnterprises over reports thatSiddhartha's signatures on thepurported letter were notmatching with his signature onother documents.

VG Siddhartha, was con-firmed dead on July 31, afterhis body was found in theNetravati river in DakshinaKannada district of Karnataka,a day after he went missing.

On the same day, CoffeeDay Enterprises had namedindependent director S VRanganath as the interimchairman of the company.

In the purported letter,dated July 27, 2019 Siddharthahad said there was a lot ofharassment from the previousDG of the Income TaxDepartment in the form ofattaching "our shares on twoseparate occasions to block our

Mindtree deal and then takingposition of our Coffee Dayshares, although revisedreturns have been filed by us".

"This was very unfair andhas led to a serious liquidity

crunch," the letter, bearing apurported signature ofSiddhartha, had said.

However, the Income TaxDepartment had last weekdenied charges of harassment

during their probe againstSiddhartha and had pointedout that the signatures of theentrepreneur available withthem were different fromthose on a letter being widelypublished on the social media.

"The authenticity of thenote is not known and the sig-nature does not tally withShri VG Siddhartha's signatureas available in his annualreports," the statement fromthe Income Tax Department

had said.In a press statement issued

on July 30, Coffee DayEnterprises had admittedabout the purported lettersigned by Siddhartha and saidthat it has shared it with theauthorities.

"The board also reviewed acopy of the letter purportedlysigned by VG Siddhartha datedJuly 27, 2019 and has shared acopy of the letter with relevantauthorities," it had said.

The authenticity of the note is notknown and the signature does nottally with Shri VG Siddhartha'ssignature as available in his annualreports," the statement from theIncome Tax Department had said

PNS n NEW DELHI

The deadline for submission ofinitial bids for stake sale ofSAIL's three plants -- VISP, ASPand SSP -- has been extendedto August 20.

"The last date for 'submis-sion of EoIs (Expression ofInterests) physically' has beenextended from August 1, 2019to August 20, 2019," said thecompany's website.

However, no reasons weregiven for the extension of thedeadline. The government hadearlier invited bids for 100 percent stake sale in the threeplants. The Department ofInvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) hadinvited EoIs from bidders forSAIL's Alloys Steels Plant(ASP), Salem Steel Plant (SSP)and Visvesvaraya Iron and SteelPlant (VISP).

Deadline for submissionof EoIs for SAIL's 3plants extended

Helmet maker Steelbirdoffers to set up plant in J&KPNS n NEW DELHI

Asia's largest helmet manu-facturer Steelbird Hi-techIndia on Tuesdayoffered to set up am anu f a c tu r i ngplant in Jammu &Kashmir, a dayafter article 35Agranting specialstatus to the statewas revoked by thegovernment.

This will help theKashmir Valley kick-start a new industrialrevolution and employ-ment for the citizens, saidSteelbird in a statement wel-coming the government'smove.

"It is a much awaited moveby Prime Minister NarendraModi and Home Minister

Amit Shah to overrule Article370 . This fantastic moveensures that the Valley enters

the Indian main-stream andbecomes a partof our nation's

c o l l e c t i v egrowth," saidS t e e l b i r dH e l m e t sC h a i r m a nS u b h a s h

Kapur.Until now,

most of the man-ufacturing activity

in J&K has remainedrestricted to the state's inher-ent capacities in agricultureand handicraft, it added.

"We think it will kickstartwith the companies tying upwith established local playersto build the ecosystem. This is

how most cities and statesgrow and we see it as a greatopportunity for localites first,"said Steelbird Helmets MDRajeev Kapur.

"We plan to come up withmanufacturing facility inaccordance to the upcominginvestor summit in the monthof October. We hope the deci-sions will allow the business-es to operate freely under thesame rules in the Valley," headded.

Steelbird already has invest-ed Rs 150 crore in the manu-facturing plants at Baddi,Himachal Pradesh and is nowplanning to enhance the pro-duction capacity to 44,500 hel-mets a day.

It intends to replicate thesame success story for theValley as well, the statementadded.

Jet Airways’employees seekinterim financial reliefPNS n NEW DELHI

Scores of Jet Airways employ-ees on Tuesday gathered in thenational capital and sought aninterim financial assistancetill completion of the insol-vency resolution process.

The once-storied full servicecarrier stopped flying on April17 as it ran out of money fordaily operations.

An employees' consortiumhas demanded that theCommittee of Creditors (CoC)should look at providing onemonth's salary as an interimfinancial assistance.

The consortium representsaround 9,000 employees,including pilots, engineers andcabin crew, according to A KMohanty.

Mohanty, a representative ofthe consortium, said onemonth's salary should bereleased to existing employeesof Jet Airways for their basic

survival.The resolution process

should be fast-tracked andoperations should be restart-ed at the earliest. Thereshouldn't be liquidation, headded.

Most of the employees, whogathered at Jantar Mantarhere, were clad in the airline'suniform.

The deadline for submissionof initial bids under the insol-vency resolution process endson August 10.

In a filing to stockexchanges on Saturday, the air-line said the last date for sub-mitting Expressions of Interest(EoIs) has been extended onthe basis of requests receivedfrom prima-facie credibleinterested resolution appli-cants for some additional time.

An insolvency professionalis managing the affairs of JetAirways under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

KandikuppaSreekantbecomes PowerGrid CMDPNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned Power GridCorporation on Tuesday saidits Director (Finance)Kandikuppa Sreekant hastaken over as the company'schairman and managingdirector.

Kandikuppa Sreekantassumed the charge of thechairman and managingdirector of Power GridCorporation of India onMonday.

According to a statementas per the Ministry of Powerorder, the tenure ofKandikuppa Sreekant will betill December 31, 2023, thedate of his superannuation, oruntil further orders, whichev-er is earlier.

Prior to taking up thisassignment, he was serving asthe director (finance) ofPower Grid.

Sreekant is a B.Com(Hons.) graduate, CMA andPGDBM (finance), havingmore than 33 years of expe-rience in the power sector,involving finance andaccounting functions, long-term financial planning,investment appraisals, for-mulation of capital budgets,resource mobilisation fromdomestic and internationalmarkets and corporateaccounts.

PNS n MUMBAI

Mortgage lender PNB HousingFinance has raised USD 75 mil-lion or Rs 522 crore in externalcommercial borrowing (ECB)under the automatic route.

The proceeds from the ECB,raised from the Singapore-based Sumitomo MitsuiBanking Corporation, will beused as per the applicable reg-ulatory guidelines, a companysaid Tuesday.

"The landed cost of the fullyhedged facility has been muchlower than the present domes-tic pricing for similar tenure.This facility will not only aug-ment our liquidity but will fur-ther balance our long-termasset liability management posi-

tion," PNB Housing Financialmanaging director SanjayaGupta said.

Last month, the companyhad raised USD 100 millionfrom International FinanceCorporation (IFC), a memberof the World Bank Group, tofinance the purchase of afford-able housing projects.

In the June quarter, its net rose

11 percent to Rs 284.50 crorefrom Rs 255.80 crore in the year-ago period, while net interestincome grew 45% to Rs 625.50crore from Rs 432.8 crore.

Gross non-performing assetsstood at 0.85% of the loanassets as against 0.43% a yearago and net NPA stood at0.67% as against 0.33% lastyear.

PNB Housing raises $75 m inECB from Sumitomo Mitsui Bank

PNS n NEW DELHI

Auto components makerMinda Industries onTuesday reported a 26.33per cent decline in consol-idated net profit at Rs 62.33crore in the first quarterended June 30.

The company had post-ed a consolidated net prof-it of Rs 84.6 crore in theyear-ago quarter, MindaIndustries said in a regu-latory filing.

Total income during thequarter under review stoodat Rs 1,446.67 crore asagainst Rs 1,436.32 crore inthe same period last year, itadded.

During the first quarter,there was industry widevolume cuts due to weakdemand environment andmargin pressures acrossOEMs (original equipmentmanufacturers).

The company said itstotal expenses during thequarter stood at Rs 1,362.56crore as against Rs 1,322.21crore in the correspondingperiod a year ago.

Shares of MindaIndustries were trading atRs 294.75 apiece, up 1.60per cent from the previousclose on the BSE.

MindaIndustries Q1net down by26.33 pc

Transasia-Erba groupto double R&Dspending to Rs 200 crPNS n MUMBAI

In-vitro diagnostic company,Transasia-Erba group onTuesday said it is doubling itsannual research and develop-ment (R&D) spend to Rs 200crore as part of its growthstrategy.

The increased R&D spendswill primarily focus on accel-erating cutting-edge productscurrently in the pipeline inareas like molecular diagnos-tics, chemiluminiscence, itsaid in a statement.

At present, there are threecompanies globally who canoffer a complete range ofproducts to a clinical lab, itsaid.

"The Transasia-Erba groupis working to become thefourth company in the worldto offer a complete line of IVDproducts. The company is bet-ting on this as a key elementof its strategy to post sustaineddouble-digit growth year onyear," it said.

In-vitro diagnostic marketin India is likely to exceedUSD 1.8 billion mark by 2025,while the global In- vitro diag-

nostic market currentlyexceeds USD 65 billion and isexpected to grow at a CAGRof 4.75 per cent to reach USD94 billion by 2025.

"In the last ten years, wespent Rs 1,500 crore in 14overseas acquisitions, each ofwhich comes with extensiveR&D capabilities besides aproven product line. Therecent success of the hema-tology range from Europe thatwe launched in India is atemplate we would like toreplicate globally, particularly,in emerging markets which isour main focus.

This requires ongoinginvestments and of course wedon't want to keep our eyes offthe future," Transasia-Erbagroup chairman and manag-ing director Suresh Vaziranisaid.

"Continued investments inour R&D facilities across theworld and in India to ensurewe stay ahead of the curve isanother reason behind theincreased investments. Weonly expect the investments togrow in the years ahead," headded.

HGS Q1 profit at Rs 40.4 cr,sees strong topline growthPNS n NEW DELHI

Hinduja Global Solutions(HGS) saw its consolidated netprofit expand marginally to Rs40.4 crore for the quarterended June 2019 from theyear-ago period.

The company had regis-tered a net profit of Rs 40.3crore in April-June, 2018, HGSsaid in a filing on Mondaynight.

HGS' revenue from opera-tions grew 17.2 per cent to Rs1,290.5 crore in the quarterunder review as against Rs1,100.8 crore in the year-agoperiod. Revenue growth inconstant currency terms was15.3 per cent.

"PAT (profit after tax) wasflat in the quarter, primarilydue to drop in Other Incomearising out of adverse exchangerate fluctuations," HGS CEOPartha DeSarkar said.

He added that HGS' growthmomentum continues in the

new fiscal and the topline hasgrown 17.2 per cent, whileEBITDA more than doubledin the quarter under review.

"Growth was led by organ-ic expansion and new clientramp-up, especially in theUS...Based on the visibilityfrom new wins and a healthypipeline, we expect to poststrong topline growth in therest of year," he added.

DeSarkar said all the geo-graphies are performing asexpected, and AxisPointHealth and India domesticbusinesses continue to showimprovement for the company.

"Our solutions for socialcare, intelligent automation,

analytics and cloud servicesare seeing big demand fromclients. We will increase ourinvestments to build capabil-ities in these growth areas aswe see big opportunities fortechnology-led services," henoted.

At the end of June quarter,HGS had 241 core BPM clientsand 668 HRO/Payroll pro-cessing clients, and its employ-ee headcount was at 42,371.The Board has declared aninterim dividend of Rs 2.50 ashare.

Ajay new CEO of Emaar IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

Dubai-based Emaar Propertieshas appointed Ajay Munot asits chief executive officer(CEO) for its India business,sources said on Tuesday.

Munot was earlier the CEOof Adani Realty. He has beenappointed as the CEO of EmaarIndia after Prashant Gupta lastmonth resigned from the com-pany citing personal reasons.

Gupta had joined Emaar Indiaas CEO in June last year.

In 2005, Emaar Propertiesentered Indian real estate mar-ket in partnership with India'sMGF group and invested Rs8,500 crore through joint ven-ture Emaar MGF Land.

However, in April 2016, itdecided to end this joint ven-ture and two months laterShravan Gupta, the then exec-utive vice chairman and man-

aging director of the joint ven-ture, resigned from the post.

In January 2018, theNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT) approved theproposed demerger scheme ofEmaar MGF Land, paving theway for two joint venture part-ners - Emaar Properties andMGF Development - to go sep-arate ways.

The demerger process gotcompleted in July 2018.

A valley that noone understood

It all started with tourists beingasked to leave J&K and culminated

in Article 370 being scrapped. K RAMYA SREE writes what this

means to Kashmiris in particularand Indians in general with inputs

from SREENATH S KURUP

he Centre's move to scrap Article 370in Kashmir has befuddled peopleacross the country. While a few peo-ple are all praise, others claim this isthe doings of a dictatorship, totalitar-ian government.

Be it the blocking of all communication to andfrom the valley, or asking tourists to leave cit-ing 'security issues,' people have gone througha lot and feel that this has turned out to be a mess.Students are the worst affected as they have lefttheir loved ones at home and come to differentparts of the country to study.

Well, as long as India remains a democracy, eachperson is entitled to his or her own opinion.While the whole issue has snowballed into a messas people are unable to reach their loved onesback home, we asked a few people their opin-ion, and this is what they had to say.Students from Jammu and Kashmir studying inHyderabad shared that scrapping of Article 370was a disrespect to the mandate set by previousleaders. They say that our leaders had reacheda consensus that this should only be amendedfollowing a plebiscite or by the Jammu andKashmir Legislature.

Move is againstthe Instrument ofAccessionExpressing discontent on the

way this was done, BimalShivaji, a senior journalist said,“I feel that this move is againstthe Instrument of Accession.People already feel that laws arebeing imposed upon them, andthis was just the icing on thecake.”

“Curtailing freedom is thefirst thing that a ‘nationalist’government does. This makespeople fear them. House arrestof leaders is another tactic thatsuch governments adopt. Iwould compare this to theErdogan government in Turkeyand sadly, we are on our way toa totalitarian government.Curtailing freedom of speech isthe end result of blocking theInternet. During the Emergency,Indira Gandhi had arrestedsocialist leaders under one pre-text or another. Arresting legit-imate leaders in the state is aserious issue. The NDA govern-ment’s tactics are now out in theopen. Today, if authorities arrestme saying I am a terrorist, it ismy duty to prove that I am not.The onus is on the individual,”he said. “We are further alien-ating people who are alreadydistraught over poor develop-ment in the state,” he adds.

An understandingbetweenModi and Trump“We Indians have reached

such a point that it ishigh time the government doessomething to improve the situ-ation there. While few optimistsfeel there is no fall-out betweenthe Central government andthe people, others feel that thistakes away the identity ofKashmiris,” said D Nagarjuna, amedia faculty in a Hyderabadcollege.

“This move has receivedmixed reactions from both themedia and citizens across thecountry. Some feel that Modi iscurtailing the freedom ofKashmiris, while I strongly feelthis move is an understandingbetween Trump and Modi,” hesaid.

Speaking about communica-tions being cut off and high-level officials being placed underhouse arrest, Nagarjuna said, “Itis more a pre-emptive step andI hope after assessing theIntelligence Bureau inputs, it willbe restored. In the long run,detention of these leaders will becounter-productive.”

Need Brexit style referendum

“Opinion of theK a s h m i r i s

matter. Forced occu-pation is not the rightsolution and cannotbe permanent,” saidGoutam Uyalla, afreelance communi-cation professional.

“Kashmir is anintegral part of thecountry and manyIndians believe inthat, but the govern-ment and militarydoesn’t treat them that way. Kashmir independenceis not a new chorus among the citizens there. Forcedoccupation of the state is paralysing the economy andhuman rights violations are prevalent. There shouldbe a Brexit style referendum in Kashmir so that weknow whether the people want to be with India orbe independent. Does the BJP government have thecourage to take this bold step?” he asks.

‘Feel disturbed’

Another Kashmir-based student, on condition ofanonymity said, “We are disconnected from our

family. It’s been two days since I talked to them. Allof us here share the same thought and are very dis-turbed. We all feel like going back home, but withall the restrictions we don’t think we can do so.”

‘Make Hyderabad a UT’

Applauding the move by the Modi government,Ratna Sagar, a 20-year-old NIT Srinagar student

who is currently travelling to Vijayawada from Jammusaid, “We support the scrapping of Article 370. Thismove is definitely going to help citizens of Kashmirand others. Although we were evacuated in a shortnotice, the government was really helpful in provid-ing us transport to our native region. It not only pro-vided us with transport, but has also given us moneyfor the expenses and a guest house to stay in.”

Speaking about security in Jammu and Kashmir,the AP-based student said that the current situationis extremely dangerous. “My friends in Srinagar havebeen put under house arrest. We are not even ableto reach out to them and find out if they are safe ascommunication has been cut off.”

He said, during a similar incident in 2014, it tookfour months for the government to get things backto normal. Since we are in our final year now, we hopethe government sorts out the situation within amonth, without affecting our academics.

The 20-year-old also demanded that the govern-ment make Hyderabad a Union Territory, as whenAP was bifurcated, crucial assets were left behind inHyderabad.

The relationship is now over“An entire valley has been

under siege. There is a com-munication blackout and citizenshave been placed under housearrest. Due to the blackout, wewere unable to contact our fami-ly. All this started the day beforeyesterday. Kashmiri students havebeen living in fear when they gooutside, especially after some ofthem were beaten up post-Pulwama. This communicationblackout adds fuel to the fire,” saidHadif Nisar, President of Jammuand Kashmir Students Associationof University of Hyderabad and anative of Anantnag

Hadif and the Jammu andKashmir Students Association arehelping a lot of students in need,both mentally and materially. Hesays, “There are new students whohave come out of their home forthe first time and there are alsofew people who get depressed.But, we are reaching out to themconstantly and are collectivelytrying to sort out their issues.Also, many students were sup-posed to get money from theirparents on Monday. But owing tothe circumstances, they haven’t.”

Hadif also said that some ofthem had plans to visit theirhome for celebrating Eid. But,now they had to cancel every-thing.

Speaking on the issue of scrap-ping Article 370, Hadif stated thatit was something that boundKashmir with India. The popularsentiment of the valley dictatesthat once the article is broken, therelationship is over.

TLIGHTS,CAMERA,ACTION!More than six plays, which deal withvarious issues of society, would bestaged as part of the AbhinayaNational Theatre Festival in the cityfrom August 9, finds V SATEESH REDDY

he stage is all set for the 14th national multilingual dramafestival ‘Abhinaya National Theatre Festival 2019’. The fes-tival, being organised by the Department of Language andCulture, Government of Telangana along with South ZoneCultural Centre and Telangana Sangeeta Nataka Academy,will be held from August 9 to 12 at Ravindra Bharati.

Along with Telugu plays, some prestigious plays from other stateswill also be staged during the four-day festival. Speaking to ThePioneer, Abhinaya Srinivas, founder of the festival, who started organ-ising this event in Hyderabad since 2006, says, “During my child-hood, I used to watch many street plays. Those plays inspired me totake up theatre. I acted in my first play Galivana in 1989. Later, I didmany plays. At that time, I wanted to do something for theatre andstarted the magazine Abhinaya to write play reviews. I travelled allover the Telugu states and wrote about many plays. This tour inspiredme to start the Abhinaya National Theatre Festival to encourage the-atre arts.”

Since its inception in 2006, the festival became a trademark forthe great plays. This year, plays including SimnaKanthi, Keratalu,Nangeli, Ippudu, GollaKalapam and Thiruka Raja would be stagedduring the evenings.

When asked about the difference between Abhinaya and other the-atre festivals, Srinivas informs, “Most Telugu plays involve verbal com-munication. If you see plays outside the Telugu States, they use sound,lighting and design to present it more beautifully. In recent times,

some Telugu plays are also using all aspectsof theatre. Through this festival, we areshowing the famous plays of other statesto inspire our theatre artistes to do someexperiments.”

Through the festival, Srinivas stagedmore than 300 plays across India. He isalso organising the same festival every year

in many States. He shares, “This year wehave received more than 120 entries from

all over India. We selected sixplays for the festival.”

Out of the six plays in thefestival, Nangeli, a Hindiplay, explains about thebreast tax (Mulakkaram orMula-karam inMalayam), a tax imposedon the untouchable (out-caste) women inTravancore (in the pre-sent-day Kerala stateof India), until 1924.The governmentforced a tax on thebreast of untouchablewomen. The outcastewomen were not

allowed to wear clothescovering their upper

body in public. The lawresulted from Travancore’stradition, in which thebreasts were bared as asymbol of respect to higher-

status people. In the play,Nangeli was a poor Ezhavawoman from the village calledCherthala. Her family couldnot afford to pay taxes and wasin debt with the rulers. Shechopped her breasts and gift-ed it to the Travancore king-dom. After her death, manyNadar women started protestsagainst this cruel tax system.This play explains the cru-elty actions forced onwomen at that time.

On a concluding note,Srinivas says, “In recenttimes, many IT employeesare staging plays which area good sign for the art.Many women are alsocoming forward to taketheatre as their profes-sion. I hope theAbhinaya festival also

inspires many to takeup theatre.”

T

WednesdayAugust 7, 2019

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

After an overwhelming response toFankind, an online fund-raising

platform founded by Anshula Kapoor,Varun Dhawan’s experience is now liveon the platform where one lucky fanwill get to play a game of paintball withthe actor. Commenting on hisassociation with the brand, he says,“The severe water crisis inMaharashtra has affected the farmersthe most resulting in the loss of theiragricultural livelihood. That is why weare raising funds.”The campaign is live on its website.

Actor ShahRukh Khan isall set to be felicitated

with the Excellence inCinema Awards on

August 8 at theAwards Night ofIndian Film Festivalof Melbourne. He isalso the chief guestat the festival.Helmed by theVictoriangovernment,Australia, the IFFMwill celebrate

‘courage’ as itscentral theme. SRKsays, “I am humbledand honoured for thisrecognition. It will be agreat experience toshare the stage withmy fellow industrymembers.”He will bepresented the awardby Linda Dessau, first

female Governor ofthe State ofVictoria.

outh India is a place ofworship for artists. Theregion is replete withrich and vast cultureand traditions. Eventhough they have kept

their age-old traditions intact, theyhaven’t shied away from embracingmodernity. Its history and monu-ments are evidence of the stories forthe rest of time.

For filmmaker, art-historian andphotographer Benoy K Behl,Kanchipuram became a place ofinspiration. He depicts that in hisdocumentary, Imperial City ofKanchipuram. Behl says thatKanchipuram is one of the sevenmost holy cities for Hindus inIndia.

Many famous Buddhist philoso-phers and thinkers were born in thecity including Bodhi Dharma, whointroduced Zen Buddhism in Chinaat the Shaolin temple during the 6thcentury. The word Zen comes fromDhyana and this form of Buddhismalso spread to Japan, where it madea landmark contribution to Japaneseculture. It is also believed that

Bodhisena, who was invited by theEmperor of Japan to inaugurate the8th century temple of Todaiji inNara, was from Kanchipuram.

Large numbers of Roman coinshave been found in this part ofTamil Nadu, so we know thatRomans did extensive trade in thearea. The considerable trade andinteraction with South East Asia isseen from the fact that the Pallavaalphabet is still used in many of thescripts of South East Asia. Romanscame to Kanchipuram for spices andbecause it was a major cotton weav-ing centre. The cotton, of course,came from further North of theDeccan. It was brought here and theweavers developed this very fine artof weaving the Kanchipuram cottonsaree.

Behl, in his documentary, show-cases the rich history of the city. Hetells us that Kanchipuram was alsoone of the greatest centres for thestudy of Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil.Today, it is known as a city of athousand temples. King Rajasimhamade the glorious KailashanathaTemple here for his personal wor-

ship. A foundation inscription statesthat he erected this great house ofShiva “to reflect his own glory andthe laughter of the Lord.” The tem-ple is dedicated to ShivaGangadhara, the bearer of the riverGanga.

“The entire complex of this royaltemple is grand and lavishly sculpt-ed. Rampant lions and a royal sym-bol of the Pallavas are made every-where. They display the vigour andcourage of the spirit within us, tofight the demons of our ignorance.They also display the glory of thePallava king, who made the temple.It has many images of Durga asMahishasur Mardini. It is one of themost expressive images of Indianart. Durga personifies the energyand power within us to face and todestroy the demon of our igno-rance,” says Behl and adds that thereis a panel of ganas, only thirty inch-es in height, which runs along thebase of the temple. It displays thehigh quality of carving everywherein the temple. Ganas are an impor-tant motif in Shiva temples and theydepict the joyous spirit of the wor-ship of the lord.

The filmmaker shares that thetemple presents the essential fea-tures of the style of South Indiantemples, which were to follow.Near Kanchipuram is a townshipnow called Chinna Kanchipuram,which means little Kanchipuram.In the olden days, this may havebeen Jaina Kanchipuram. TheVaishnava and Jaina establish-ments would have been there,while the Shaivite and Buddhistwere in the main city. “Indeed,Kanchipuram was also a great cen-tre of Jaina and Buddhist learningin ancient times,” says Behl andgoes on to add, “Adi Shankaraestablished Mathas all over India,the four main ones being atJyotirmath, Dwaraka, Puri andSringeri. He also made a Peetha inKanchipuram and after his timethere has been continuity ofShankaracharyas, who have had avery major role in the history ofthe development of Hinduism inthis region. Also belonging toKanchipuram was another verygreat Vaishnava saint Ramanuja.

Behl says that Kanchipuram,historically has been a great cen-tre of Hinduism, Buddhism andJainism.

MelangeVijayawada Wednesday August 7, 2019

‘I feel like I don't belong here. Ifeel like a newcomer. I need tofigure out this new room andthis new club that I've entered.Even though I've been here for15 years, it's not my comfortzone. I need to get my headaround it. I can't feel that Iknow exactly what's going onand what I need to do next.So, I'm trying to keep it simpleand go with my instinct andmy gut.’

— SHAHID KAPOOR

A LOT OF ROMAN COINS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN KANCHIPURAM, SO WEKNOW THAT ROMANS DID EXTENSIVE TRADE IN THE AREA. THETRADE AND INTERACTION WITH SOUTH EAST ASIA IS SEEN FROM THEFACT THAT THE PALLAVA ALPHABET IS STILL USED IN MANY SCRIPTSOF SOUTH EAST ASIA

10

THROWBACKTO HISTORY

For his documentary,Imperial City of

Kanchipuram, filmmaker,art-historian and

photographer Benoy KBehl found his muse in

south India

s

TREND BLAZERSRK CHIEF GUEST ATMELBOURNE FESTIVAL

ROSE COMES UPWITH NEWSERIES

Hollywood actress,Ruby Rose

suffered the slingsand arrows fromschoolmates aboutbeing different beforethe rise of socialmedia. The 33-year-old gender-fluidactress who cameout as a lesbian atage 12 in hernative Australiahopes her titlerole on The CW’snew series,Batwoman letsthe audience knowthey’re not alone. It’sthe first TV seriesheadlined by anLGBTQ superhero.Rose, who has saidshe is bipolar, believesthat society has comea long way inaccepting differentgroups and says, “Iam seeing greaterrepresentation of themon television.” Shewants young peopleto be able to identifyand relate tocharacters onBatwoman.

everal actors, including SanjayDutt, Alia Bhatt and SidharthMalhotra, were scheduled toshoot in Kashmir for forthcom-

ing projects over the next few monthsbut the repeal of Article 370 has putBollywood’s plans to shoot in Kashmiron hold for now.

It has had a ripple effect on the shoot-ing schedules. Sidharth was supposedto shoot for Captain Vikram Batra’sbiopic Shershaah in the Valley. Directedby Vishnu Varadhan from a storywritten by Sandeep Srivastava. The filmis backed by Karan Johar’s DharmaProductions. According to a sourceclose to the actor, the shooting sched-ule has been pushed, with no new dategiven yet.

Sadak 2 makers had plans to shootan important segment of the film withSanjay, Alia and Makarand Deshpande,who essays role of a godman in the film.

It marks the return of Mahesh Bhattas director, and the filmmaker hadplanned to shoot sequences pertainingto the protagonists reaching the god-man’s ashram. The shooting is on holdfor now.

Without revealing names, line pro-ducer Md Abdullah of Hami AstoProductions, who arranges shoots inthe Jammu and Kashmir regions, saidthat two to three Bollywood films andone big Telugu film were slated toarrive over the next few months forshooting.

“There were some big projects in line— two to three Bollywood films andone Telugu film. Now, we can’t say ifthat will happen because of the dis-turbed environment. Maybe they willpush the schedule or maybe they willgo to a different location,” Abdullahsaid.

“We just wrapped up shoot of theTelugu film Venky Mama, which starsVenkatesh. They shot in Pahalgam andSonmarg. The month-long shot waswrapped up in June. One big Bollywoodfilm was supposed to start shooting in

August-end. They all are stuck now,”added Abdullah, who is worried aboutwhat the future holds for local line pro-ducers like him.

“Yeh achanak se hua (this happened allof a sudden). Now, it has been done.Inshallah, things will get settled soon. Ifthat doesn’t happen, it will be a big prob-lem for us because this is our rozi-roti(bread and butter),” added the line pro-ducer, who has worked on JohnAbraham’s Romeo Akbar Walter,Abhishek Bachchan’s Manmarziyaan andArjun Rampal’s Final Call in the past.

The production houses might haveto bear additional expenses owing to theshuffle of the schedule, although theamounts will probably not be exorbi-tant.

“There is some unrest and confusiongoing on in Jammu and Kashmir. Thegovernment has taken measures. So, allthe planned shoots in the region will bedelayed for a while. It will not havemuch negative impact in terms of costescalation, because productions ofthese films were yet to start,” film andtrade expert Girish Johar said.

“Cost would have been a problemhad they started shooting in Kashmirand were forced to come back. Now,there will be a nominal increase in thecost,” Johar added.

The love affair between Bollywoodand Kashmir is long-standing. FromSharmila Tagore to Alia Bhatt, and fromlate Shammi Kapoor to Salman Khan,Indian actors down the generationshave starred in blockbusters that sawfilmmakers capture the beauty of theregion in their films.

—IANS

Forget thewadi as

backdropThe abrogation of Article370 throws Bollywood’s

plans for shooting inKashmir in a tizzy

he manner in which we (journal-ists) accomplish our work is asimportant as the work itself. Thestatement had come from a lead-

ing news organisation’s Code of Ethics.Indeed, when talking about investigativejournalism and the multiple challengesfaced by truth seekers, it has becomeincreasingly difficult in the current envi-ronment for investigative journalism toprevail because of the persecution ofwhistle-blowers.

Journalist Aatish Taseer, the writer of theTime article Divider-in-Chief, as part of apanel at The Media Rumble at IHC, won-dered why does gathering credible newssometimes question the ethics of journal-ism? The conversation escalated to howinvestigative journalism has lesseneddown the years and quoted DavidUsborne, from Quest Research andInvestigations (QRI), who moved frombeing an investigative journalist with TheIndependent to a private investigating firm.

He had said that he had expected tobecome a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ but insteadbecame a “journalist on hire,” being paidby wealthy clients to investigate cases. Buthe started using his subjective discretionto choose cases that do not question jour-nalistic ethics. Adding to this, Josy Joseph,a New Delhi-based award-winning jour-nalist, said, “The kind of media censorshipand fear that the current government hasspread has not been seen in India since thedays of Emergency.” He added that thedays of ‘beat journalism’, where reportershad unfiltered access to corridors ofpower, are over. Sources have dried upbecause protection of such disseminatorsis becoming increasingly difficult.

Among others, the panel discussion TheLayers of Identity in Writing andJournalism saw Madhu Trehan, co-founderand editor-in-chief of Newslaundry, jour-nalist Aatish Taseer, former journalist andnovelist Prayaag Akbar and Raj Kamal Jha,chief editor of The Indian Express.

The panel also spoke about the com-mon themes of their respective books andhow their identities have affected theirwriting, beliefs and worldviews. Thepanel expounded the differences betweenwriting fiction and writing for news,focussing upon the role of identity, lega-cy and historical baggage in writing. Raj,talking about his book The City and theSea, said, “For me, fiction is a place whereI get the space I don’t get in the newsroom.Two plus two equals to four is an estab-lished fact but while talking about free-dom, I mean that the space to show yourrespective interpretation of that ‘two’ is alsoimportant.”

Looking at another aspect of writing injournalism, Aatish talked about how hisupbringing in India and Pakistan helpedshape his identity and understanding ofpolitical perspectives and how an increas-ing use of social media is actually dark forIndian politics but could be a rising stepfor the youth. “Twitter has become a courtof its own. There was a time in this coun-try, a decade ago, when people were notvery active while talking about its democ-racy but now we are blown away by pol-itics. Social media and numerous opinionson the feeds have completely redefinedjournalism and news-gathering amongstyoungsters in India,” he said.

The conversation went on to highlightthe importance of young people cominginto a news organisation with freshthoughts, akin almost to a method ofreverse mentorship.

FINDINGA NEWSUBJECT

There is dire needfor young

journalists tomove outside the

newsrooms toredefine news-gathering and

recreate space forinvestigative

journalismin India

S

T

hen Rahul Ravindran, director of Manmadhudu 2, offeredRakul Preet Singh the female lead of the film, there was noway the actress could’ve said no since “a role like Avantika

is rare to come by”. “She is a prankster, fun-loving, full-of-life, andlives in the present. She also has a mature head because of what shehas been through in the past. It’s a layered role, had a lot to exploreand has equal importance to that of Nag sir’s role. It came at theright time for me and it’s the most I enjoyed playing till now. I hadwithdrawal symptoms on the last day of the shoot, feeling that theshooting went by rather quickly,” Rakulsighs, in a conversation ahead of the film’srelease this Friday.

This is also the first time she is rubbingshoulders with superstar Nagarjuna.Describing him as a secure actor, she

mentions, “The film had sceneswhere he was physically present

but dialogues were reserved forsupporting actors and me.He never forced a dialogue insuch sequences. He looks atthe bigger picture and thathappens only when you aresecure as an actor.”

A fan of Rahul’s maidenwork as a director — Chi La

Sow — the actress believes hehas a long way to go

in the industryand is a talent to watch out for. “He is my

Rakhi brother. He addresses me as‘kiddo’. He is very much into pre-pro-

duction and I got the bound scriptone month in advance, so I was

kind of aware of my lines beforethe actual shoot began. It also

helps to emote better whenyou know about your co-stars’ lines well in advance.He is good at transporting

you into the mood of thescene without pressuring you.

Also, he has maintained ahealthy atmosphere on sets. I’ve

never seen a unit member losinghis cool during the whole shoot,” she

raves.The family entertainer is a remake of

2006 French comedy Prête-moi ta main butRakul chose not to watch the original, fearingthat the original performance will get uncon-sciously registered, which she didn’t want. “Iwanted to approach it in a new way, whichis why I skipped watching it,” she declares.Speaking about remakes, will she topline DeDe Pyaar De remake in Telugu withVictory Venkatesh? “First of all, I’m notoffered the film. Even if I’m offered it,I won’t be doing it. There’s no kick indoing the same role again. I’m notagainst remakes but I don’t want todo a role that I’ve already done inone language.”

The actress has her kitty fullfor the remainder of the year.She has recently signed onacclaimed director Shankar’smuch talked aboutBharateeyudu 2 besides giv-ing her nod to Nithiin’s nextwith ChandrasekharYeleti, where she will beplaying a criminallawyer. She admits tohaving signed anotherfilm, the details ofwhich she will reveallater. Not to forget,she has finishedshooting forBollywood filmM a r j a a v a a nalongside RiteishD e s h m u k h ,

Sidharth Malhotraand Tara Sutaria.

— NG

Vijayawada Wednesday August 7, 2019

GOVERNOR WWATCHES OOH! BBABYelangana GovernorESL Narasimhanalong with his wife

Vimala watched aspecial screening ofSamantha-starrer Oh!Baby at RamanaiduStudios, Hyderabad,earlier this week. Afterthe screening, theGovernor interactedwith the film'sdirector NandiniReddy for a whilebefore leaving.Producers TG VishwaPrasad, Vivek K andAbhiram Daggubatireceived the Governorearlier and werepresent as he exitedthe hall. Meanwhile,efforts are beingmade to dub Oh!Baby in Tamil andMalayalam.

T

W

11

tollywood

ilmmaker PavanSadineni has taken themantle of introducingp r o d u c e rBellamkonda Suresh’syounger son Ganesh as

an actor, The Pioneer has exclu-sively learnt. The youngster has been nursing acting ambi-tions for a while and although he was attached to a pro-ject with a new director, Phani, last year, it didn’t materi-alise. Along with his father, he was on the hunt for a goodscript and the search ended with Pavan’s love story. “As thedirector was on the lookout for a producer to back the hisvision for his third film, he got a call from Suresh, askingif he was interested to pitch it to his son and him. The pro-ducer liked it and felt it’d be a tailor-made story for a newguy. Ganesh echoed the same opinion and within no time,the pre-production kicked off,” informed a highly placedsource close to the development.

According to the source, Ganesh has cut his teeth in film-making in the US, while he got acting training inMumbai. “He has even attended some acting classes inHyderabad. His conversations with Pavan have been fruit-ful so far. Given how natural Ganesh is, he even attendeda workshop, conducted by Pavan, for a month. BekkemVenugopal, who introduced Pavan as a director with theacclaimed Prema Ishq Kadhal in 2013, will be shepherd-ing the project under his Lucky Media,” the source noted.

We further hear the film will roll in September, withthe majority of shooting taking place in the US andHyderabad. “It will be a hatke love story with multi-ple layers to it. Ganesh’s part ages from a boy to a mar-ried man and the film is bound to make everyone fallin love. Five new girls have been cast alongside him.”

Sadineni to introduceBellamkonda

GANESHThe youngster

has beennursing acting

ambitions for awhile and

although hewas attached

to a projectwith a new

director, Phani,last year, it

didn'tmaterialise,

findsNAGARAJ

GOUD

F

‘Avantika is themost I enjoyedplaying on screen'Actress Rakul Preet Singh ravesabout Manmadhudu 2 directorRahul Ravindran's talent anddescribes Nagarjuna as an actorsecure about himself

PRABHAS’THANK YOU NOTEThe actor took to social media to thankthe cast and crew of other films thathad to reschedule their release dates to

accommodate Saahoith Saaho postponed to August 30, the produc-ers of other films who booked their slot dur-ing August-end were a worried lot. However,

realising the mammoth budget of the Prabhas-starrer,films like Chhichhore (Hindi), Gang Leader (Telugu) andBandobast (Tamil and Telugu) were rescheduled for anoth-er date. Harish Shankar’s Valmiki, which was initially

planned for September 7 had to be postponed to September14, to ensure smooth sailing for Saaho in the second week

as well. Prabhas is grateful for this gesture from thefraternity cutting across different industries. “A

big thank you to all the actors, producers anddirectors of the films who have had to

reschedule their release dates to accom-modate Saaho on August 30. TeamSaaho is grateful to you all, and we wishthe very best for your releases,” theactor posted on his social media pageson Tuesday morning.

Production house UV Creationstoo expressed their gratitude,tweeting, “Extremely thankfulfor producers across all the lan-guages for clearing the way for#Saaho and helping for a big-ger release. Action begins in

cinemas from 30th Aug! (sic)”Featuring an ensemble cast

of Shraddha Kapoor, JackieShroff, Neil Nitin Mukesh,

Mandira Bedi, Chunky Pandey,Mahesh Manjrekar, Arun Vijay and

Murali Sharma, Saaho, an action-thriller, is Run Raja Run director Sujeeth

Sign’s second film.

egastar Chiranjeevi, whois playing freedom fight-er UyyalawadaNarasimha Reddy in Sye

Raa Narasimha Reddy, hisOctober 2 release, rues the factthat he didn’t play Bhagat Singhdespite being offered the rolemany times in the past.

“It has always been my dreamto play Bhagat Singh. Despitebeing offered the role back in theday, I couldn’t play it for sever-al reasons and it was later playedby several of my counterparts. Itwas played by several actorsacross languages. I regret miss-ing out on an opportunitybecause I don’t thinkanyone wants to makea film on him today,”said Chiranjeevi,adding that it washis long-timedesire to play ahistoric character.He was speakingin an interviewwith his daughter-in-law UpasanaKonidela for herm a g a z i n e ,Bpositive.

The director hasinitiated talks withVijay Deverakonda

and is looking tocollaborate with

NandamuriBalakrishna again

ith iSmart Shankargrossing more than`65 crore, Puri

Jagannadh is back in demandand how! While on one handhe has already initiated dis-cussions with VijayDeverakonda for his immedi-ate next, the buzz is, he islooking to collaborate withNandamuri Balakrishna againnext year. Paisa Vasool, theirearlier endeavour, sank with-out a trace at the box-office,but the actor-director forgeda great bond on sets, promis-ing to work together in thefuture again. And looks like itstime. This project, in all like-lihood, will go to sets afterBalayya wraps up his filmwith KS Ravikumar.

Meanwhile, it is said thatMythri Movie Makers is keento produce Vijay’s next withPuri, while the director isadamant on Charmme’s par-ticipation in it as a producer.Discussions are going on tothis end and a clear picturewill emerge in the days tocome.

W

M

W

First of all, I’mnot offered De

De Pyaar De’s remake.Even if I’m offered it, Iwon’t be doing it.There’s no kick indoing the same roleagain. I’m not againstremakes but I don’twant to do a role thatI’ve already done inone language

— RAKUL PREET SINGH

Chiru regretsnot playingBhagat Singh

Puri back in the limelight

IANS n NEW DELHI

The uncertainty overwhether Ravi Shastri will

continue to be the head coachof Team India seems all butover, as the Cricket AdvisoryCommittee (CAC) — com-prising Kapil Dev, AnshumanGaekwad and ShanthaRangaswamy — appointed topick the new coach has madeit clear that it is not looking ata foreign face for the covetedpost.

Speaking about it, a CACmember said that with theteam doing so well underShastri, it was all but certainthat the former India all-rounder will continue to coachthe Virat Kohli-led team.

“We are not too keen tobring in a foreign coach. Yes,had someone of the stature ofGary Kirsten applied, we mighthave given it a thought. Buteven then, an Indian would

have always been the priority.After all, the team has alsodone well under an Indianhead coach, so why look for achange? As things stand now,Shastri does look to be thefavourite to be handed a freshcontract,” the CAC membersaid.

A senior BCCI officialhad also recently said thatit was important forShastri to continueas the team wasu n d e r g o i n gtransition.

“Nothingp e r m ane ntwith a longterm effectshould happen at thisstage of transition. Shastriand Kohli complement eachother well and it would beunfair to change half of ateam that has been suc-cessful. A change in coachmay disturb the equation

that exists and allows the play-ers to have the mental space toexcel.

“If a change is made at thisstage, it would be a change ofstrategy and planning for thenext 5 years. It would be unfair

to take such a decision at astage when the stake-

holders are not theones deciding,”

the official said.CoA chief

Vinod Rai hasmade it clear

that the f inaldecision lay with

the CAC and theywill appoint the coach

and there won’t be a case ofthem giving their recommen-dation to the BCCI.

When asked if there was ajoint winner, the CAC membersaid that the vote of Kapilwould come in if at all such ascenario arose.

“See, firstly, it is a three-

member panel, so a split deci-sion is highly unlikely. Butyes, if at all a situation doesarise where A goes for one can-didate, B for another and C foranother, the vote of the chair-man will come in and thedecision will stand. But as ofnow, we don’t see somethinglike that happening,” the mem-ber said.

“But yes, we will give theboard options like our firstpreference is A, second prefer-ence is B and third preferencefor the job is C. That is morebecause there can be a case likeat the time of the women’scoach appointment whenKirsten had IPL commitments.”

The CAC is yet to receive adate from the board as to whenthe shortlisted candidates arewill be interviewed. But theyexpect to get intimation on thesame soon. Rai on his part hassaid that the interviews will takeplace in mid-August.

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 7, 2019

PTI n MUMBAI

The maturity to handlepressure situationswas the recipe for

their success at theThailand Open after a briefdownward spiral post lastyear’s CommonwealthGames success, emergingstar shuttler Chirag Shetty

said on Tuesday.Chirag and his partner

Satwiksairaj Rankireddylast week defeated Li JunHui and Liu Yu Chen ofChina to win their firstever BWF Super 500 event.

However the Mumbailad remembers how theduo lost track having takenunnecessary pressure on

themselves after winningSilver at the Gold CoastGames last year.

“The pressure of expec-tations was there after theCommonwealth Games, welost in three tournaments inthe first round. It wasunnecessary pressure thatwe took upon ourselves,”Chirag said.

“This time, we man-aged the pressure reallywell in the final, eventhough we were playing aSuper Series summit clashfor the first time. We couldhave given into pressureand lost the third gameeasily, having lost the sec-ond. But we handled itpretty well, and that’s howwe were able to comeback.

“I think, we havematured as players and nowthe way we handle pressureis lot better than what weused to handle a year back,”he emphasised.

On a high after theirmaiden t it le tr iumph,Chirag has now trained hiseyes on the upcomingWorld Championship inBasel, starting August 19.

“Well, after this win (inThailand Open), hopefullywe will able to carry themomentum into the WorldChampionships as well. Atthe World Championship,the competition is toughright from first round(itself),” Chirag said.

“This year, we havebeen playing pretty well.Now, we are pretty muchconfident and hopefully wewill be able to carry themomentum in the WorldChampionships,” said the22-year-old.

Asked what this titletriumph means, the young-ster replied: “At an individ-ual level, I feel that it augurswell for Indian men’s dou-bles because for the past somany years, we haven’t wonanything at this level as faras this category is con-cerned. So, hopefully thingschange for better in doublesdepartment for India,” thelanky shuttler said.

For him, this victorysurpasses the Silver medalwon at the Gold CoastCommonwealth Games.

“For us, it is our bestvictory so far. I would rateit above Commonwealth(Games) Silver medal. Thecompetition pool in this

tournament was far morechallenging compared toCWG. Also consideringthat it is an Olympic yearand all the top players werein fray.”

On Tuesday, the pair ofChirag and Satwiksairajclimbed to their career bestworld rank of 9 in the BWFcharts.

While Satwiksairaj told

reporters in Hyderabad thatit’s yet to sink in, Chiragfinds it a bit more believ-able.

“Kind of, now it is littlebelievable. We played ourhearts out and won that titlein Thailand. Now, we needto get ourselves up andstart preparing for the nexttarget, that is the WorldChampionship.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

The season-openingDuleep Trophy, which

has been India’s only day-night first-class tournamentwith pink ball for the lastthree seasons, is set to goback to the day format withred ball due to lack of TVcoverage.

The blue-riband tourna-ment, which will featureIndia’s top domestic stars, willbe played from August 17 toSeptember 9 at Bengaluru’sChinnaswamy Stadium.

India’s next superstarin making ShubmanGill, India A regularPriyank Panchaland VidarbhaRanji championskipper Faiz Fazal will leadBlue, Red and Green teamsrespectively.

However, the BCCI’s GM(Cricket Operations) SabaKarim confirmed that savethe final from September 5-9, which will be telecast liveon Star Sports, all the othermatches will be traditionalred-ball games like the oldtimes.

“We have floodlights atthe Chinnaswamy but weare not playing with pink ballunder lights as there is no livecoverage. Only the finalmatch will be a day/nightaffair as that’s the only matchto be aired live” Karim saidon Tuesday.

Asked if this will be aroadblock in moving towardspink ball Tests in future,Karim disagreed.

“I don’t think so. If every-one associated with Indiancricket is on the same page,may be we can think of hav-ing India A first class gameswith pink balls. I am not say-ing anything is confirmed butyou never know if everyonecomes on same page,” Karimsaid.

However, a senior BCCIofficial said the decision toscrap pink balls save the

final has been done keepingbigger picture in mind.

“The Indian team is notplaying any pink ball cricketin near future. All our Testengagements are a part ofWorld Test Championship.And we are not playing anyDay/Night games in WorldTest Championship,” thesenior official, who is privy toIndian team management’sselection policies, said.

“So what’s the logic ofour supply line of playersplaying a tournament withpink ball when they are inany case going to play red ballcricket if selected for India,”he said.

On the three Duleepsquads formed, most of thecurrent India A players alongwith performers fromVidarbha and other Ranjiteams have got a chance.

The likes of AbhimanyuEaswaran, Anmolpreet Singh,Ruturaj Gaikwad, ShreyasGopal, Jayant Yadav, AxarPatel, all of whom have playedat least one format for IndiaA in the West Indies A tour,are there.

India discards like KarunNair and Varun Aaron are

also in the mix just like lastseason's highest run-scorerMilind Kumar of Sikkim ortalented left-arm seamer fromRajasthan Tanveer ul Haq.

SQUADSIndia Blue: Shubman Gill(captain), Ruturaj Gailwad,Rajat Patidar, AnmolpreetSingh, Ricky Bhui, AnkeetBawne, Snell Patel (wk),Shreyas Gopal, SaurabhKumar, Jalaj Saxena, TusharDeshpande, Basil Thampi,Diwesh Pathania, AniketChoudhary, Ashutosh Amar.India Green: Faiz Fazal (cap-tain), Akshath Reddy, DhruvShorey, Priyam Garg, SiddeshLad, Akshdeep Nath, RahulChahar, Dharmendra Jadeja,Jayant Yadav, Ankit Rajpoot,Ishan Porel, Tanveer ul Haq,Akshay Wadkar (wk), RajeshMohanty, Milind Kumar.India Red: Priyank Panchal(captain), AbhimanyuEaswaran, Axar Patel, KarunNair, Ishan Kishan (wk),Harpreet Bhatia, AdityaSarwate, Mahipal Lomror,Akshay Wakhare, VarunAaron, Ronit More, JaydevUnadkat, Sandeep Warrier,Ankit Kalsi.

IANS n COLOMBO

New Zealand pacer Tim Southeebelieves that adapting to condi-

tions in Sri Lanka will hold the key forthe Kiwis in the upcoming two-matchTest series against Sri Lanka in the IslandNation.

New Zealand will play a three-daywarm-up game against the Sri LankaBoard President XI from August 8before taking on Sri Lanka in the first Testfrom August 14 in Colombo.

Speaking about it, Southee said:“We have some guys who were on the lasttour to Sri Lanka and we had some suc-cess here. So, it’s nice to have that expe-rience. But we know that the conditionshave changed and we need to adapt tothat as quickly as we can.”

The two teams have not playedTests in Sri Lanka since 2012, when NewZealand won the second Test (also at theP Sara Oval) to draw the series follow-ing a heavy defeat in Galle.

“It’s going to be a tough series in thispart of the world. The sub-continent isalways a tough place to come, purelybecause the conditions are quite differ-ent from that we are used to. Here (in SriLanka), the conditions are different from

that of UAE. You get the damp heat anda lot more sweat than UAE. So, we are justacclimatizing to it,” said Southee point-ing at the difference in conditions betweenSri Lanka and UAE, where the Black Capslast played in the subcontinent anddefeated Pakistan in the Test series.

New Zealand are coming fresh from

their heart-wrenching World Cup deba-cle where they lost to England in one ofthe most epic ODI encounters in the finalat Lord’s on July 14. They lost to hosts oncount of boundary after both the regu-lation overs and the subsequent SuperOver ended in a tie.

Southee feels that the group is still try-

ing to coming to terms with the loss, how-ever, they are proud of the way they faredin the showpiece event.

“There are a few guys here who werepart of the World Cup. Our focus wasthere at the ODI format for quite sometime and we now have to shift it to Testcricket. There are still conversationsabout what happened in England and alsoabout what we were able to achieve as agroup in those eight weeks,” said Southee.

“There’s a lot of frustration andother emotions that come to mind. Butwhen we dig deep, we are very proud ofthe way we represented New Zealand,” headded.

The two-match series, which will bebroadcast on Sony ESPN, will see the twoteams beginning their campaign in theICC World Test Championship.

Southee believes the WTC will addfurther excitement to Test cricket as it willbring more context to bilateral series.

“World Test Championship is some-thing new and exciting. There are manyguys who enjoy playing Test cricket. Andso, with the added edge of WTC, Testcricket becomes all more exciting,” saidSouthee.

“It will be nice to go back to Lord’sin a couple of years and play the finals.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Country’s former table tennis coachMassimo Costantini has advised

the Indian paddlers to pick and choosetournaments wisely ahead of the 2020Tokyo Olympic qualifiers.

Under the Italian, India had maderapid strides with historic perfor-mances at the Gold CoastCommonwealth Games and JakartaAsian Games, where the countryended a 60-year-wait for a table ten-nis medal.

However, Constantini had decid-ed against renewing his contract lastyear citing personal reasons. Since hisdeparture, Indian paddlers have beenwithout the services of a nationalcoach.

“Olympics is always very special.I think you have to analyse youropportunities and adopt a balanceapproach towards tournaments. Try toget the proper appetite and miss tour-naments if the need be. They need toplan fitness and training well and strikethe perfect balance,” Constantini saidon the sidelines of Ultimate TableTennis league.

“They have to combine the quan-tity of competition and performance.They must also prioritise their train-

ing plans. Now they have the qualifi-cation stage that they must focus on,”he added.

Constantini, who is currently serv-ing as the High Performance Managerat International Table TennisFederation (ITTF), lauded the Indianpaddlers for their good show despitebeing without a coach.

“Lack of guidance is a major prob-lem. Being alone can be a weakness.

Planning, guidance and support arevery important for players. So I

admire the Indian players thatthey are performingso well in spite ofthat. Manav

(Thakkar), GSathiyan and Manika

(Batra) are doing verywell. They have managed

this period very well,” he said.The 61-year-old backed world

number 30, Sathiyan, to give a goodfight to his opponents at the Olympicqualifiers.

“Sathiyan has a fantastic chance ofqualifying for the Olympics. He can bea big threat for many players. In fact Ifeel Olympics is easier than the WorldChampionships, which has moreChinese, Japanese and Korean com-petitors. Here there is a lesser number.So technically, Sathiyan has a greatchance,” Constantini said.

Constantini also revealed that hehas remained in contact with theIndia paddlers and they are openseek his advice at any point of time.

“I have not only been in touch butI have been following their perfor-mances on the ITTF website. Somehave been still asking me what to do,what to change. Some personally textme which feels great,” he said.

“But that is natural because afterhaving done so much and achieved somuch, I keep following them. Even inITTF training camps, I meet them.”

India’s best shot at winning amedal in table tennis comes from theAsian Games bronze medallist mixeddoubles pair of Manika Batra andSharath Kamal.

Talking about the duo, Constantinisaid if both the players go in with thecorrect mindset, then they can win atTokyo.

“All doubles are very unpredictable,that’s the problem. But Manika andSharath have an edge for sure. Theyhave the authority to be promising can-didates. If you are able to achieve onestage, you can do it again so it is allabout the mindset,” he said.

Took unnecessary pressureafter CWG success: Chirag

Indian paddlers must pickand choose events ahead ofOly qualifiers: former coach

G Sathiyan celebrates after win UTT/Twitter

Indian men’s doubles shuttler Chirag Shetty returns a shot during game BWF/Fansite

Rankireddy-Shettyjump seven spots

PTI n NEW DELHI

Indian men’s doubles pairof Satwiksairaj

Rankireddy and ChiragShetty on Tuesday jumpedseven places to enter thetop 10 of the latest bad-minton world rankings,courtesy their historic winat last week’s ThailandOpen.

Rankireddy andShetty, who created histo-ry on Sunday by becomingthe first Indian men’s dou-bles pair to win a BWFSuper 500 tournament, areplaced ninth in the men’sdoubles rankings issuedon Tuesday.

Rankireddy and Shettystunned reigning worldchampions Li Jun Hui andLiu Yu Chen of China 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 in theThailand Open final to

achieve the feat.The other Indian

men’s doubles duo ofManu Attri and BSumeeth Reddy remainedon 25th spot.

In the men’s singles,there were no significantchanges for Indian shut-tlers as KidambiSrikanth (10th),Sameer Verma (13), B

Sai Praneeth (19), H SPrannoy (31) and SouravVerma (44) are all static atthe respective positions.

Parupalli Kashyapmoved up three places to32nd spot, whileSubhankar Dey climbedtwo places to 39th.

Meanwhile, Olympicmedallists P V Sindhu andSaina Nehwal managed tohold on to their fifth andeighth spots respectively inthe women’s singles rank-ings.

In the women’s dou-bles, Ashwini Ponnappaand N Sikki Reddy movedup a place to 23rd.

But Indians witnesseda downward move in themixed doubles rankings.

While the pair ofPranaav Jerry Chopra andSikki Reddy dropped aplace to 23rd, the duo ofPonnappa and Rankireddyslipped four spots to beplaced 27th.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty

Duleep Trophy back

to red ball format

Shubman Gill (batsman) will lead India Blue in Duleep Trophy IPL/Twitter

CAC not keen on foreign coach

NZ players still discuss WC heartbreak: Southee

Mark Wood celebrates after taking wicket of Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson during World Cup final AP