HYDERABAD, FRIDAY OCTOBER 23, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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MONEY 8‘PRIORITY IN CHARTERING TO BE GIVENTO VESSELS BUILT, FLAGGED IN INDIA’

ANALYSIS 7A TIMELY

INNOVATION

SPORTS 12SRH BACK

WITH A BANG

}BIGG BOSS DIFFICULT

TO WATCH AFTER LIVING IN THE HOUSE:

DIGANGANAPage 11

The Maharashtra government has withdrawn "general consent" given tothe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases in the state.

The decision means the central agency will have to get consent from thestate government for every case it registers inMaharashtra. Maharashtra Home Minister AnilDeshmukh said the government believed the CBIwas a professional and premier investigatingagency, but felt it could act under politicalpressure. He referred to how it was called a "cagedparrot" in the past by the Supreme Court. One ofthe reasons behind the state's anxiety was thesimilar manner in which the Rajput case hadbeen taken over by the CBI.

MAHARASHTRA WITHDRAWS‘GENERAL CONSENT' TO CBI

INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TESTS ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE NAG

Brazilian health authority Anvisa said on Wednesday that a volunteer in aclinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and

Oxford University had died but added that the trial would continue. Oxfordconfirmed the plan to keep testing, saying in a statement that after carefulassessment "there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial."A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the trial would have beensuspended if the volunteer who died had received the COVID-19 vaccine,suggesting the person was part of the controlgroup that was given a meningitis jab. TheFederal University of Sao Paulo, which ishelping coordinate phase 3 clinical trials inBrazil, said an independent review committeehad also recommended the trial continue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded the "dedicationand excellence" of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in India's

progress. The Prime Minister expressed his views while extendingwishes to Shah on his 56th birthday. "Birthday wishes to Amit Shahji. Our nation is witnessing the dedication and excellence with whichhe is contributing towards India's progress," the Prime Ministertweeted. The Prime Ministerrecalled Shah's "noteworthy"efforts to make the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) stronger andwished: "May God bless himwith a long and healthy life inservice of India".

India successfully carried out the final trial of anti-tank guided missile --Nag -- on Thursday. The missile will be inducted soon in the India

Army. In 2008, Ministry of Defence approved procurement of 300 Nagmissiles and 25 missile carriers for Army. The test was carried out at6.45 a.m. at the Pokhran field firing ranges in Rajasthan, DefenceResearch and Development Organisation (DRDO) said. The missile wasintegrated with the actual warhead and a tank target was kept atdesignated range. This was launched from Nag Missile Carrier NAMICA.The missile hit the target accuratelydefeating the armour. Anti-tank guidedmissile has been developed by DRDO toengage highly fortified enemy tanks inday and night conditions.

VACCINE TRIAL WILL CONTINUE, SAYSOXFORD AFTER VOLUNTEER DIES

PM MODI LAUDS AMIT SHAH ON HIS BIRTHDAY

{

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Labour Min releas-es new series ofretail inflation forindustrial staff

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Modi invokesDurga to reaffirmcommitment towomen's safety

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What BCs need is real empowerment

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated October 22, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Ashwin & Shukla Paksha

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Tithi : Saptami: 06:56 am

Nakshatram: Uttara Ashadha: 01:28 am

(Next Day)

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 10:33 am – 12:00 pm

Yamagandam: 02:52 pm – 04:19 pm

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12:00 am – 07:20 am

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FFoorreeccaasstt:: Scattered thunderstormsTemp: 30/21Humidity: 69%Sunrise: 06.11 amSunset: 05.49 pm

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

At a time when leaders of var-ious nations, pharma as well asbiotech majors, and healthagencies across the globe areeagerly awaiting the fast-tracked launch of vaccines toprotect people from Covid-19,along with plans for their roll-out in an equitable manner,CCMB director Rakesh Mishrahas expressed his firm opinionthat an "effective vaccine" couldbe many months or even yearsaway. “It may or may notcome. We should be preparedto fight this pandemic withouta vaccine,” he observed, whilespeaking at the launch of‘CoronaAID’ food supplementon Thursday.

Rakesh urged the public torealise that the present vaccinecandidates were all untested

and the production of success-ful ones for commercial launchcould take several years. “Evenif we are lucky to get a vaccineout by the end of the year orlater, it could take many

months to vaccinate the 1.30billion people across the coun-try because of the logisticsrequired in maintaining coldstorage chains and the likelyrequirement of more than one

dose”. He added that the effi-cacy of a vaccine (deemedsuccessful) could be deter-mined only after six months ora year after putting it to use.

Vaccine for Covid will take moretime, may be years: CCMB chief̈ Rakesh Mishra bats for social distance, masks, hand hygiene

CCMB director Rakesh Mishraspeaking at the launch of ‘Corona AID’food supplement in Hyderabad

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Thursdaydecided to restore with imme-diate effect all existing visas,except electronic, tourist andmedical categories, almosteight months after their sus-pension following the coron-avirus outbreak and subse-quent imposition of a nation-wide lockdown.

The Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) also announcedgiving permission to allOverseas Citizen of India(OCI) and Person of IndianOrigin (PIO) card holders andall other foreign nationals tovisit India for any purpose,except on a tourist visa.

The ministry said in a state-

ment that in view of the situ-ation arising out of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the gov-ernment had taken a series ofsteps to curtail the inwardand outward movement of

international passengers sinceFebruary, 2020.

The government has nowdecided to make a gradedrelaxation in visa and travelrestrictions for more cate-gories of foreign nationals andIndian nationals who wish toenter or leave India.

Under this graded relax-ation, the government hasdecided to restore with imme-diate effect all existing visas,except electronic visa, touristvisa and medical visa, thestatement said.

If the validity of such visashas expired, fresh visas ofappropriate categories can beobtained from Indian missionor post concerned.

Govt restores all existing visas

PNS n HYDERABAD

One of India's largest pharmacompanies, Dr ReddysLaboratories has been hit by acyber-attack, following whichthe company reportedly shutdown its plants across theworld and isolated data cen-tres.

The attack comes five daysafter the drug maker wasgiven approval in India to con-duct phase 2 and 3 clinical tri-als of the Russian Covid vac-

cine Sputnik V. Dr Reddy’s operates plants

in several countries, includingIndia, Russia, the UK, US andBrazil.

Dr Reddy's said in a state-

ment, "In the wake of a detect-ed cyber-attack, we have iso-lated all data center services totake required preventiveactions."

Cyber attack on Dr.Reddy’s IT infra

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Jana Sena Party and theBharatiya Janata Party are like-ly to contest together in theupcoming GHMC polls. BJPleaders have dropped hintsthat their alliance, presentlyconfined to Andhra Pradesh,could extend to Telangana aswell.

Since BJP already has somebase in the Old City, pairingwith Pawan Kalyan's outfit isexpected to facilitate the saf-fron brigade to consolidate itsvote banks in the new city.There are about 50 wards in thenew city dominated by settlers

from Andhra Pradesh,specifically Kapus,whose pulse the JanaSena can easilycatch.

People fromAndhra settled inHyderabad were at thecrossroads in the pre-vious GHMC elec-tions wonderingwhom to vote; for,their choices wereconfined to TRSand national parties.Now, should PawanKalyan's party enter the fray, agood number of residents,most of whom are his follow-

ers, can have a face forthemselves.

So, BJP leaders arestrongly trying to rope in

Pawan Kalyan for makingthe most in the poll fray,

instead of relying merely onsupport. Sources indicated thatBJP was quite accommodative

as far as the conditions of JanaSena are concerned, mainly inorder to muster its strength.With BJP winning four LokSabha seats in Telangana, theparty wants to build on its vic-tories by having a pact withJana Sena.

Jana Sena, which had faileddramatically in AndhraPradesh elections, on its part,is likely to get a chance to testwaters in Telangana and assessits own relevance. Way back inJanuary, Pawan Kalyan hadappointed the party's GHMCCommittee. In a bid to impressthe BJP central leadership thathe is not 'virtually present' but

someone who can rise to theoccasion, Pawan may even goa step forward and launchbroadsides against KCR andKTR.

Should the BJP and JSP joinhands, the upcoming GHMCelection would be interesting towatch as Pawan Kalyan and KT Rama Rao have never been ata war of words and have alwaysdisplayed camaraderie.Moreover, while TRS is almostdone with its list of contestingcandidates; for BJP, the selectionof its candidates is in itself a her-culean task. With Jana Senajoining them, the party will beable to field strong contenders.

BJP and Jana Sena to go together in GHMC polls?US new H-1B plan forspeciality jobs to hit Indians PNS n WASHINGTON

The State Department hasproposed not to issue tempo-rary business visas for H-1Bspeciality occupations whichallowed companies to sendtheir technology professionalsfor a short stay to completejobs on site in the US, a movewhich could affect hundreds ofIndians. The proposal, iffinalised, will eliminate anymisconception that the "B-1 inlieu of H policy" provides analternative avenue for foreignprofessionals to enter the USfor skilled labour that allows,

and potentially even encour-ages them and their employ-ers, to circumvent the restric-tions and requirements relat-ing to the "H" non-immigrantclassification established bythe Congress to protect USworkers, the State Departmentsaid.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar showing the Central team snapshots of the devastationcaused by heavy rains and consequent flooding in the city and elsewhere in Telangana

Central team in Hydassesses flood damage PNS n HYDERABAD

A five-member inter-minis-terial team sent by the Centreto assess the damage causedby the floods in Telanganathe state government officialson Thursday.

The team, led by JointSecretary Praveen Vashista,met Chief Secretary SomeshKumar at the state Secretariatand discussed the flood sit-uation and relief measures inthe state.

Somesh Kumar informedthe Central team that thestate government has takenall measures to minimiseloss of lives and propertyarising out of the recentfloods.

He gave a powerpoint pre-sentation and briefed aboutthe extent of damage causeddue to the floods in the state.A photo exhibition wasarranged to depict the dam-ages caused by the floods.

MahabubnagarMunicipal chief heldfor Rs 1.65 lakh bribePNS n HYDERABAD

Seuths of the Anti-CorruptonBureau red-handedly caughtMahabubnagar MunicipalCommissioner VaddeSurender while he wasaccepting Rs 1.65 lakh asbribe to do official favour onThursday. All Ahamed Khan,resident of Mahabubnagar,was asked to pay the money"to forward the quotations ofthe complainant to theCollector for its approval andto issue work order for erec-tion of a new chlorinationplant at MahabubnagarMunicipality."

Bihar, TN, MPpromise freevaccinePNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP's promise for freecoronavirus vaccine inBihar's election manifestoThursday speedily snow-balled into a huge controver-sy, with opposition partiesquestioning how a life-sav-ing vaccine can be used toget political mileage in elec-tions.

The matter also resonatedon social media, wheremuch censure collectedunder the #vaccineelection-ism hashtag. By late evening,two other states -- BJP-ruledMadhya Pradesh and TamilNadu, where the rulingAIADMK is a BJP ally --promised free vaccine tothe people when it comes.

There has been no wordfrom the Centre on the mat-ter of vaccine pricing,though it said it was expect-ing a vaccine by early nextyear.

Covaxin, BB's Covid vaccine,cleared for Phase 3 trialsNEW DELHI: Covaxin, thecoronavirus vaccine beingdeveloped by Bharat Biotech incollaboration with the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR), has been cleared for thethird phase of clinical trials.

The Hyderabad-based vaccinemaker had applied to the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) on October 2, seeking itspermission to conduct Phase 3trials for its COVID-19 vaccine

candidate.The firm in its application said

that the study would cover28,500 subjects aged 18 yearsand above and would beconducted in 19 sites - includingDelhi, Mumbai, Patna andLucknow - across 10 states.

Besides, Bharat Biotech, anindigenously developed vaccinecandidate by Zydus Cadila Ltd isalso in Phase 2 of human clinicaltrials.

Dr Reddy's said in astatement, "In the wake of adetected cyber-attack, wehave isolated all data centerservices to take requiredpreventive actions."

Jana Sena, whichhad faileddramatically inAP elections, on

its part, is likelyto get a chance to

test waters in TS

Strange coincidence

Raising eyebrows, there is astrange coincidence to the

cyber attack on Dr Reddy Labs.For, this is second cyberattacktargeting a pharma companyworking with a Covid vaccine inthe last two months.It may be mentioned here thatChinese hackers stole data fromSpanish labs that had beenworking on a vaccine, inSeptember.

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PNS n WARANGAL

"Sunny please come back".These were the poignant wordsthat came from the anguishedheart of the father, who couldonly see the body of his child,after four sleepless nights andtense moments during thedays post telephonic conversa-tions with the cold-bloodedkidnapper, who had killed andburnt the boy, DeekshithReddy, hours after abductinghim on October 18, and thencalled the parents to demandRs 45 lakh as ransom.

Although the police got thekidnapper, it was too late forthe parents of nine-year-oldDeekshith.

The mother had hoped thather abducted son wouldreturn. Little did she know thather child was killed hoursafter the kidnap.

Deekshith Reddy, who hadno reason to doubt his father’sacquaintance, went along withhim only to be throttled andtorched on Sunday.

The parents of Deekshithwere inconsolable as the policeinformed them on Thursdayabout the murder of their'sunny'.

Deekshith’s father, RanjithReddy, a journalist, had just

one heart-rending choice ofwords that he uttered over andover while wailing over thebody of his child: “Sunnyplease come back”.

According to the police, theboy was throttled to deathand his body set afire on ahillock on October 18 i.e. theday he was abducted by thekidnapper -- a 23-year-oldmechanic known to the boy'sfather.

‘SUNNY PLEASE COME BACK’

Scribe’s cry of anguish askidnapper throttles, torches his son

OCT 18:Deekshitkidnapped at 6-00 pm

OCT 18: Kidnappers kill theboy, burn his body

by 9-00 pm atAnnaramDanamaiahHall

OCT 22: Police nab kidna-ppers in the early hours,

with the father of theboy waiting

overnight atMadu KotlaX roads

OCT 22: Body of the boyrecovered among hills, 5km away fromMahabubabad

OCT 18: Abductors call the boy'smother at 9-45 pm and demand Rs45 lakh as ransom. Callsmade again on Oct 19,20 and 21 pinpointingplace where themoney should behanded over

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(IN HYDERABAD)

Continued from Page 1

Officials of Irrigation,Municipal Administration,Roads & Buildings,Agriculture, Energy, andPanchayat Raj Departments aswell as from the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) andthe Water Board interactedwith the Central team andgave an overview of the lossincurred in the state.

Officials informed thatthere was excess rainfall dur-ing the last 10 days which hasresulted in flooding. The stategovernment has alreadyreleased Rs 550 crore forimmediate flood relief.

Though there were rains inthe entire state, excessive dam-age was in and aroundHyderabad and the neigh-bouring districts adjoiningthe city. Breaches to threemajor tanks coupled withflooding in Musi river result-ed in low-level areas beinginundated.

The state government offi-cials said damage to publicinfrastructure was enormousand the state government hadalready made a preliminaryassessment of the damage.

While the loss to crops isestimated at Rs 8,633 crore,loss to roads is estimated to bearound Rs 222 crore. The loss

to GHMC is estimated to be atRs 567 crore.

Apart from the Rs 550 crorefor immediate flood relief,the state government told theCentre that food packets weresupplied to more than twolakh people. One kilogram ofbleaching powder and threelakh chlorine tablets were sup-plied to the affected people.

The Central team arrived inHyderabad on Thursday toassess the damage caused byfloods.

It will visit the flood-affect-ed areas to assess the extent ofdamage to properties andcrops during recent heavyrains and floods.

The other members of theteam are R.B. Kaul,Consultant, Ministry ofFinance; K. Manoharan,Director, Department ofAgriculture; S.K. Kushwaha,Senior Engineer, Transportand Highways; and M.Raghuram, Senior Manager,Ministry of Water Resources.

The Centre sent the team aweek after Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao said thatdue to heavy rains and flashfloods, the state suffered loss-es to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.

He wrote a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, urg-ing him to release Rs 1,350crore immediately for the reliefand rehabilitation works.

In the present set-up, thepolitical future of BackwardClasses will be decided by

upper castes who are sup-posed to be the eyes and earsof the ruling dispensation.That is, BCs will have toact as per the diktats ofupper castes, irrespectiveof the party in power.Naturally, any BC leaderwho has bagged one ofthese nominated post willhave limited powers, andvery little scope to work for theuplift of his community.

The State government hassaid that initially theseCorporations will have toshare from a corpus of nearlyRs 20,000 crore — to be spentfor the welfare of these partic-ular castes.

This basically means thatthe chairperson of each corpo-ration would have to limit wel-fare activities to his or her owncaste, leaving little or no roomto grow politically and emergeas a leader for other castes too.

It is a fact that in ourpolitical system, a per-son from the downtrod-den sections gets anopportunity in any rul-

ing party only atthe behest of an upper

caste leader, but never onpar with an upper caste man.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy has, eitherby design or with noble inten-tions, put the BC leaders in afix.

For all it is worth, the settingup 56 exclusive corporationsfor BCs, comprising 139 castes,appears to be a consciousdecision taken by JaganmohanReddy to patronise theBackward Classes while silent-ly keeping them away fromgetting united.

The ruling party in AP isdeliberately describing BCs as

the backbone of society, but itappears that it is consideringthem as a new vote bank.

What would be the fallout ofthe setting up of 56 corpora-tions? Can anybody who findshimself busy in one such cor-poration be able to devotetime in giving shape to his goalof making BCs a formidablepolitical force?

It’s natural for every politi-

cal worker who has beenbestowed a nominated post toshow gratitude towards hisleader. This will naturally betrue of every individual of theBC community that has beengiven a nominated post.

Generally, persons bestowedwith nominated posts are loyalto the party leadership. Theywill act as per the needs ofleadership. In such circum-

stances, how can one workexpressly for his or her ownpeople?

With 56 corporation head-ed by a leader of a differentcaste, the idea of a united BCleadership goes for a toss. The

question that comes to mindis: Have lines of division beendrawn among the BCs in thename of empowerment?

What purpose do thesenumerous corporations servevis-a-vis attainting the ultimategoal of BCs?

By handing over responsi-bility of 56 such corporations,each BC leader will have hishands full, while the membersof his caste become a vote bankfor the ruling party.

Or, will the BCs transformthemselves into individual, yetpowerful group, and unite toachieve real empowerment.This depends on whether theyfind a unifying person or fac-tor or an issue.

As stated earlier, the partyleadership always tries toexploit the sources, andresourcefulness, of a party

worker. Allowing BCs to uniteand grab the opportunities athand to get their share inpower would be the realempowerment, instead of set-ting up dozens of corporationsfor BCs.

Jagan’s deft moves come ata time when the main oppo-sition party in AP, the TDP, islicking its wounds and tryingits best to keep its flock togeth-er. TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu is literal-ly on the verge of losing hisLeader of the Opposition sta-tus.

In this backdrop, beneficia-ries of Jagan’s ‘largesse’ to BCswould prefer playing it safepolitically and sticking withthe ruling party, rather thanrisk political wilderness.

Since all of those beneficia-ries are second-rung leaders in

their respective constituen-cies, they would not be able toconcentrate on the subject ofBCs getting power on theirown on the basis of theirnumerical strength.

“Votes are ours, seats shouldalso be ours” ... has been thecatchy slogan of backwardcommunities for decades andmany have made futile effortsto influence those sociallybackward sections.

But due to backroommachinations of the rulingclasses (upper castes), those'influential faces' failed.

Keeping the powerful andinfluential sections of societyaway from even thinkingabout coming to powerappears to be the strategybehind the Chief Minister’slargesse.

If successful, it simply wouldmean another potential threatout of the way for Jagan’sdesire to remain in power aslong as possible.

(Concluded)

M D RATNA KUMAR

Senior Journalist

It’s natural for every political workerwho has been bestowed a nominatedpost to show gratitude towards his leader. This will naturally be true of every individual of the BCcommunity that has been given anominated post

PIN

POINT

What BCs need is real empowerment

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana's Covid-19 tallycrossed 2.27 lakh on Thursdayas the state reported 1,456new cases during the last 24hours. Health officials saidthe fresh cases pushed thecumulative number to2,27,580. Of this only 20,183cases are active, includ-ing 16,977 who are inhome or institu-tional isolation.Five more personssuccumbed to thevirus during the last24 hours ending 8p.m. Wednesday, push-ing the death toll to 1,292.

The fatality stands at 0.56per cent against the nationalaverage of 1.5 per cent. Theofficials said the percentage ofdeaths due to Covid-19 was44.96 while the remaining55.04 had comorbidities. The

state continued to see morerecoveries than new infec-tions. A total of 1,717 peoplerecovered from the infection,taking the cumulative recover-ies to 2,06,105.

The state's recovery rateclimbed further to 90.56 percent as against the nationalaverage of 89.2 per cent. The

declining trend in newinfections continued

both in the state capi-tal and the districts.According to themedia bulletin issued

by the office of thedirector of public health,

Greater Hyderabad report-ed 254 new cases. After sever-al weeks, none of the districtsreported more than 100 cases.

Medchal Malkajgiri andRangareddy recorded secondhighest number of cases at 98each followed by Nalgonda(92), Khammam and

Komaram Bheem Asifabad(89 each), BhadradriKothagudem (82) and Siddipet(47). Out of 2,27,580 totalpositive cases so far, 70 per cent(1,59,306) were asymptomaticwhile the remaining 30 percent (68,274) were sympto-matic.

During the last 24 hours,38,565 tests were conducted.Of this, 35,931 samples weretested in the government-runlaboratories and 2,634 in pri-vate. Of the total samples16,968 were primary and4,627 were secondary. Withthis the cumulative number ofsamples tested have gone up to39,78,869. Eighteen govern-ment-run laboratories, 46 pri-vate laboratories and 1,076Rapid Antigen test centresare conducting the tests.Samples tested per millionpopulation ratio rose furtherto 1,06,901.

Rains make veggie prices head northPNS n HYDERABAD

Consumers are likely to shedmore tears over high onionprice as unexpected rains havehit the crop in major onion-producing States. The prices ofvegetables, especially onions,have continued to skyrocket inthe city over the past fewweeks. Wholesale oniontraders in Hyderabad saidmajority of the crop inTelangana, Karnataka andMaharashtra have beendestroyed due to unexpectedrains. The price of one kg ofonion has already breached Rs70-mark and it is likely to risefurther. Even in the RythuBazaars, the prices have goneup steadily over the past few

days.The average traded price of

the vegetable in most markets

was around Rs 8,000 to Rs7,000 per quintal. In theBowenpally market, prices

rose from Rs 1,800 per quin-tal at the start of the monthto Rs 8,000 per quintal now.Prices in local markets soaredfrom Rs 36 per kg at the startof the month to Rs 100-120per kg. Similar is the casewith other vegetables, includ-ing potatoes and tomatoes.

Depending on the locality,the onion, an essential formost of the Indian cuisine, isnow being sold for Rs 70 andabove. In the retail shopsand groceries, the prices goup to Rs 80 per kg also.According to market com-mittee authorities, apart fromMaharashtra and Karnataka,Hyderabad also receivesonions from other parts ofTelangana like Moinabad,

Shankarpally and parts ofGadwal and Kurnool. AsHyderabad witnessed short-age of supply, traders havestarted to increase the pricein the local markets. Addingto it, heavy rains also playeda spoilsport.

After the Centre effecteda ban on export of onionsfrom India, which were inmuch demand abroad, theinternational prices, too, havebeen affected. In this sce-nario, if the governmentdecides to import the pro-duce, to meet the currentshortfall, it would take timeand by that time the pricehere would have breached Rs100-mark, say traders in thecity.

TS Covid tally crosses 2.27L

Continued from Page 1

Commenting on this devel-opment, Mukesh Rathi, CIO,Dr Reddy's Laboratories said,"We are anticipating all servicesto be up within 24 hours andwe do not foresee any majorimpact on our operations dueto this incident."

According to reports, DrReddy's Laboratories' plants inIndia, Brazil, Russia, theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States were impacted bythe data breach. It has shutdown all production units,following a breach in the serv-er.

Dr Reddy's Labs' website isalso not functioning althoughthe company is yet to give aclarification on the status of itsplants and what exactly is the

'data breach'.The intimation by the drug

maker did not mention thesource of attack on its ITinfrastructure. The cyberattack reportedly happenedaround 2.30 am IST onThursday. On Thursday morn-ing, Dr Reddy's Labs stock wastrading down by more than 3per cent after reports that itsplants worldwide had beenshut down due to a databreach. The company's stockwent down around 2.96 percent or Rs 149.20 to be valuedat Rs 4,897.55. The price wasRs 5,046.75 when the sessionclosed on the National StockExchange Wednesday, accord-ing to reports.

The Russian DirectInvestment Fund (RDIF),Moscow’s sovereign wealth

fund, tied up with the Indiandrug maker in September tosupply 100 million doses ofSputnik V in India after receiv-ing the necessary regulatoryclearances. The company wasgiven approval to run a trialwith 100 Indians first, usingvolunteers spread out acrossthe country, before conductinga larger trial.

Dr Reddy’s had to reapplyfor permission from the DrugsController General of Indiaafter its initial application wasrejected. The drug regulatorgave its approval based on therecommendations of theSubject Expert Committee(SEC) on Covid-19 vaccinesand drugs. The trial is expect-ed to be a “multi-centre,observer-blind, randomisedand controlled study”.

Cyber attack on...Bihar, TN, MPpromise... Continued from Page 1

Amid the growing contro-versy, Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan tweeted: "Mycountrymen, we have takenmany effective steps to pro-tect the public from#COVID19. Today it is com-pletely controlled. The prepa-ration of Corona vaccine isgoing on fast in India, as soonas the vaccine is ready, it willbe made available to everycitizen of Madhya Pradeshfor free." "Once COVID-19vaccine is ready, it will be pro-vided to all people of the statefree of cost,” said TN ChiefMinister E Palaniswami.

Continued from Page 1

Since Covid-19 vaccineswere RNA-based vaccines,there was a need for coldchain management at minus80 degree Celsius across theentire country, which in itselfwould be challenging.Emphasizing the “social vac-cine” principle, the CCMBDirector asked people to learnto live without 'magic medi-cine' by following social dis-tance, wearing masks, andpractising hand hygiene.

Mishra acknowledged thatnever before in history had somuch effort and money gone

into combating a single virus.He predicted that herd immu-nity could happen in the next6 months-1year as nearly 20-30% of the country's popula-tion had antibodies now,amidst indications of the infec-tion rate coming down.

CCMB, along with CSIR, isworking on three potentialvaccines in Chandigarh andKolkata, as part of a pact withAurobindo Pharma. Thesethree vaccine candidates,based on pseudo viruses andpre-processed proteins, arebeing tested on mice, andthey are in proof of conceptstage.

Continued from Page 1

The boy's mother, Vasantha,who had waited for her son’sreturn until Wednesday night,said,“ I was waiting on the ter-race (of their house) until 2amhoping for my son’s return; soI can open the gate and wel-come him. I couldn’t believewhat the police were saying asmy son was very smart. He wascompletely burnt and the onlything left is his shoe. I could-n’t even caress my son for onelast time”. The mother said shedidn’t know the kidnapper.

Deekshith was abducted onSunday by the mechanic. Thekidnapper feared that the boymight reveal his identity if

released; so, he killed himwithin hours. The accusedthen called up the boy's fami-ly over phone through theinternet, demanding Rs 45lakh as ransom, the policesaid. The abductor wanted tobecome rich within a shortperiod and lead a luxuriouslife-style, police said. After

coming to know that the boy'sfather had bought a propertyrecently, the accused hatcheda plan to earn easy money andresorted to the crime, policesaid. As per the plan, he wentto the boy's house on October18 and called him. Since themechanic was known to himand his father, the boy wentalong with him on a bike,Mahabubabad districtSuperintendent of Police KotiReddy said.

Later, acting on a complaint,the police, upon analysingCCTV footage inMahabubabad, saw theaccused taking the boy on abike and nabbed the mechan-ic. They nabbed him.

Scribe’s cry of anguish askidnapper throttles, torches his son

Vaccine for Covid will takemore time, may be years...

Continued from Page 1

Foreign nationals intendingto visit India for medical treat-ment can apply afresh for amedical visa, including fortheir medical attendants.

Therefore, this decision willenable foreign nationals tocome to India for variouspurposes such as business,conferences, employment,studies, research, medical pur-poses etc.

The government has alsodecided to permit all OCI andPIO card holders and all otherforeign nationals intendingto visit India for any purpose,except on a tourist visa, toenter by air or water routesthrough authorised airportsand seaport immigrationcheck posts.

This includes flights oper-ated under 'Vande Bharat'mission, air transport bubblearrangements or by any non-

scheduled commercial flightsas allowed by the Ministry ofCivil Aviation.

All such travellers will, how-ever, have to strictly adhere tothe guidelines of the Ministryof Health and Family Welfareregarding quarantine andother health/COVID-19 mat-ters.

While the restrictions onvisas were imposed followingthe outbreak of the coron-avirus pandemic in February,

commercial flight operationswere suspended when thenationwide lockdown cameinto effect on March 25.

However, the governmenthas been allowing limitedoperations of Air India flightsunder the 'Vande Bharat' mis-sion for certain categoriesOCI and PIO card holders andthose Indians who were stuckdue to COVID-19 outbreaksince June.

Govt restores all existing visas

US new H-1B plan forspeciality jobs to hit... Continued from Page 1

The move, made public onWednesday, less than twoweeks ahead of theNovember 3 presidential

election, is likely to affect sev-eral Indian companies whichsend their technology profes-sionals on B-1 visas for ashort stay to complete jobson site in the US.

Mahabubnagar Municipalchief held for Rs 1.65...Continued from Page 1

The tainted amount of Rs.1,65,000/- was recoveredfrom his possession at hisinstance. Fingers of his bothhands yielded positive resultin the chemical test.

According to ACB, searches arebeing conducted at variousplaces as the accused officer,Vadde Surendar, MunicipalCommissioner, Mahabubnagar"performed his duty improper-ly and dishonestly to obtainundue advantage".

The abductorwanted to becomerich within a shortperiod and lead aluxurious life-style,police said

Central team in Hydassesses flood damage

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY| OCTOBER 23, 2020 hyderabad 03

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF)Airport Security Group

(ASG) organised a full-fledgedmock exercise on counterterrorist contingency onWednesday at Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport (RGIA) inShamshabad.The drill wasconducted at the western departure ramp of the airport, involving keyairport stakeholders including Octopus, an elite Anti-Terrorist Squad,local police among others.Close to 400 personnel from across CISF,Octopus, local police, GHIAL security, Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting(ARFF), Terminal Operations and Apollo Medical Centre were involvedin the high-decibel counter terrorist drill.

Prof M Jayananda, faculty in the Centrefor Earth, Ocean & AtmosphericSciences, UoH have been elected as a

Fellow of Indian National Science Academy(INSA) for his outstanding contributions onearly earth dynamics, internal architectureand origin of protocontinents, shift fromanoxic to oxygenated environm-ents. TheIndian National Science Academy wasestablished in January 1935 with the objectof promoting science and harnessing scientific knowledge for the causeof humanity and national welfare. The found-ation of the Academy,earlier known as the NISI, was the outcome of joint endeavors ofseveral organisations and individuals and the ISCA playing a leadingrole in this regard. Prof Jayananda focused research through novelmultidisciplinary approach involving field based strain fabrics analysis,geochronology, elemental and isotope tracers on southern PeninsularIndia which classically termed as ‘Dharwar craton’ addressing coupledevolution of crust-mantle system, thermal records, continental growthand redox state of early oceans.

CISF conducts mock counterterrorist drill at Hyd airport

UoH faculty memberelected as Fellow of INSA

In order to facilitate thepassengers, SCR willrun festival special trains

between various destina-tions. There will be severaltrains originating from andcrossing Hyderabad duringDusshera and Diwali. TrainNo. 07641 Kacheguda-Narkher (Except Mondays)Special Train will depart Kacheguda at 07.10 hrs and arrive Narkher at23.10 hrs on the same day. In the return direction, Train No. 07642Narkher-Kacheguda Daily (Except Tuesdays) Festival Special Train willdepart Narkher at 04.30 hrs and arrive Kacheguda at 20.15 hrs on thesame day. Similarly, Train No. 07049 Hyderabad Aurangabad DailySpecial Train will depart Hyderabad at 22.45 hrs and arrive Aurangabadat 13.20 hrs on the next day. In the return direction, Train No. 07050Aurangabad-Hyderabad Daily Special Train will depart Aurangabad at16.25 hrs and arrive Hyderabad at 06.30 hrs on next day.

SCR to operate festival special trains for Dussehra and Diwali

CITY LIGHTS

Google search for customer care may see you connedPNS n HYDERABAD

With the increased use of tech-nology, cyber fraudsters arecoming up with innovativeways to trick or deceive inno-cents.

Now they have come upwith a new way of cheating byuploading their mobile num-bers as customer care servicecontact numbers of variousapplications and sites.

Cyberabad cyber crime offi-cials are receiving similar com-plaints of cheating by the fakecustomer care services. In oneof the recent case, the com-plainant lost his money to thefraudsters innocently by con-tacting such fake customercare number.

The complainant S Rajesh(name changed), a resident ofDundigal stated that, he ownsa business of money transferwith Rapipay Fintech Pvt. Ltd.On October 3, one of his cus-tomers approached him towithdraw amount but it wasnot successful, subsequently

he made a call to the technicaldepartment customer carenumber by searching inGoogle.

After few hours he receiveda call from customer care, whoasked him to install Any Deskapplication.

Next day, the complainantnoticed that an amount of Rs70,000 was transferred from his

South Indian Bank account toCanara Bank account ofMohammad Imran. Later, thecomplainant realised that hewas cheated. Therefore, hefiled a complaint and request-ed for taking necessary legalaction.

Basing on the complaint, acase is registered under Section420 of IPC, 66-C of IT Act.

Describing about the modusoperandi of the fraudsters, thecyber crime police officialssaid, "The fraudsters areuploading their contact num-bers as customercare servicenumbers of various payment,shopping and courier applica-tions or websites. Customers

search for the customer careservice numbers on Googleand contact them. Fraudsterspretend as the customer careexecutives and trick them intorevealing their banking creden-tials or ask them to makenominal payment through linksent by them and cheat inno-cents to the tune of lakhs ofrupees. In some instances theyalso ask them to downloadremote access applications orscan a QR code for immediatedelivery of the products or toresolve the issue and cheatthem."

In this regard, the policeissued an advisory stating notto search for customer carenumbers on Google.

The police advise the citizensto raise any disputes or com-plaints from the genuine appli-cation or the site itself and notto reveal or share banking cre-dentials through any means.

They also suggested not toinstal remote access applica-tions without knowing its pur-pose and genuineness.

Fraudsterspretend as thecustomer careexecutives andtrick them toreveal theirbank details tomake paymentthrough linksent by themand cheatinnocents to thetune of lakhs

Teachers demand DAand other allowancesPNS n HYDERABAD

Teachers Federation demandinterim allowance which wasannounced to be implement-ed from June 2018. They arguethat the government has nottaken a single step in thatdirection.

M Ravinder of TelanganaProgressive Teachers'Federation (TPTF) said, "Sixyears after the formation of thestate of Telangana, the stategovernment is denying therights of teachers and depriv-ing them of the benefits theydeserve. The Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao hadpromised that the interimallowance will be implement-ed from June 2018 and thePRC will be implemented as agift on August 15, 2018.However, not a single rupeehas been released."

The Dearness Allowance ofseveral teachers is also pend-ing. He adds, "Every six or

seven months the Central gov-ernment announces DearnessAllowances. All states are sup-posed to add some amount toit and give it to the teachers ina couple of months. However,no teacher has received anyDA for at least two years inTelangana."

The Federation has alsodemanded that the teachers,who were promoted back in2015, should be promotedand their pay-scale should beincreased.

Motorist rams intersection onDurgam Cheruvu bridge, diesPNS n HYDERABAD

A 24-year-old youth was killedwhen he rammed his motorcy-cle into an intersection on thebusy Durgam Cheruvu flyoveron October 18.

The victim was identified asKrishna Yadav, 24. He wastravelling on the flyover start-ing at Road No. 45 when hemet with an accident.

Krishna Yadav, a cab driverby profession, has become thefirst person to have been killedin an accident on the flyoversince it was opened for trafficlast month.

"Because of over speeding,he hit the intersection on thebridge. He died on the spot,"said P Ravindra Prasad, SHO,Madhapur.So far two acci-dents have occurred on theDurgam Cheuvu bridge inwhich one person was killed

and three others sufferedinjuries. Cyberabad TrafficPolice has registered 1851 casesagainst motorists and civiliansfor various offences tillOctober 17.

Violators were fined for halt-ing on the main carriageway,not wearing helmets, tripleriding, using cell phones whiledriving, disobedience, danger-ous driving, and unauthorisedparking on the cable bridge.

Man fined Rs 2kfor violating lawon cable bridgeHyderabad: A man, whostopped along with his wife andchildren on the Durgam Cheruvucable-stayed bridge to takephotographs violating the law,has been slapped with a fine ofRs.2,315. The man, accordingto the Cyberabad Traffic Police,was earlier fined for wrongparking and not wearing ahelmet. But a few days ago, heagain stopped his motorbike onthe Durgam Cheruvu bridge,where no stopping is allowed,and parked his bike on the side,while his wife got down alongwith their kids and began takingphotographs on her mobilephone.

Cricket bettingracket busted,three arrestedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Commissioner's SouthZone Task Force policearrested three persons whowere organising cricket bet-ting on Thursday.

The police officials seizedRs 73,000 and mobile phonesfrom them.

After receiving a credibleinformation about the bettingracket, the Task Force teamcaught Syed Qasim ul Haq,Mohd Arif and Gulam HasanKhan after raiding a house atMirchowk.

"They were organisingcricket betting and collectingmoney from punters on theongoing Indian PremierLeague cricket matches," saidS Raghavendra, Task ForceInspector.

All the three were handedover to the Mirchowk policefor further action.

Monuments left to the elementsNAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

Seepage and water flow atGolconda fort is a matter ofconcern for heritage expertsand residents of the area. Witha recent collapse of a wall infort, citizens living in the areaare scared about the situation.

Sultan Mohinuddin, a resi-dent of the Golconda areashares, "There is a lot of seep-age in the walls. That's a mat-ter of concern. We haven'tbeen noticing any restorationwork and whatever has beendone is certainly not enough.The fort needs a lot of care."

The heritage activists on theother hand are very livid aboutthe situation. They are alsoworried about other heritagestructures. Celebrated histori-an Sajjad Shahid, shares, "It's asorry state. Since the formationof this state, nothing has beendone to support or enhance thestate of the heritage monu-ments of Hyderabad. The result

is slowly, the monuments areruining. Why just talk aboutGolconda, every other her-itage site in the state is in apathetic state. The govern-ment just doesn't want tospend any money on the her-itage sites."

The Archeological Survey ofIndia, however, is prepping torenovate the monument soon.An official source from ASIshares, "We did a thorough sur-vey of the fort and have iden-

tified its weak points. We agreethat the monument is not in agood shape, but we havealready sent a report and as

soon as the approval comes wewill start the work.

Our problem is that we can-not start the work while therain in on. But, we assure thatno further damage will happento the structure."

Residents ask government for more financial support PNS n HYDERABAD

A house near NoorkhanBazaar under Malakpet con-stituency collapsed onWednesday. However, luckilyno one was injured in the acci-dent as the residents wereevacuated three days ago.

Several people have losttheir houses in these rains insimilar incidents. WhileTelangana government's quickinitiative to pay Rs 10,000 tovictims and the promise ofpaying Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh topeople whose house was affect-ed due to rains has been appre-ciated by several people, butthe citizens who have losttheir homes in this disasterwant some more financial helpfrom the government.

Chakrapani, a driver, wholives in Pragati Nagar sharesthat the damages to his housecan be estimated around Rs 3to 4 lakh, "A wall of my houseis severely damaged. I shiftedmy family to Bodauppal to myrelative's place, as we feared

that the wall may collapse.Apart from that, since myhouse was flooded twice, allthe furnitures, food, kitchenproducts are lost too. My car'srepair will cost me nearly Rs1.5 lakh. So, I need at least Rs5 lakh approximately to re-startmy life. I have been approach-ing people to help me out,

however it would be good ifthe government can adjust thefunds being given to each oneof us depending on the dam-age we have suffered or repairthe damaged part of thehouse." While this is one case,in several other cases furniture,electronic devices and kitchenproducts have been damaged.

Sun shines for 2nd consecutive day in flood-hit HydHyderabad: To the delightespecially of the depressedpeople of the badly batteredareas in Hyderabad due to therecent heavy rains, the Sun cameout and shone brightly over thecity for the second consecutiveday on Thursday. The flood water too startedreceding in the affected areasthough some colonies were stillsubmerged. The weather office,meanwhile, said that light tomoderate rain was likely in thestate during the next 48 hours.

Take actionagainst cop,MLA, NHRC tells TS DGPPNS n HYDERABAD

NHRC has asked the DGP MMahendar Reddy to takeaction against InspectorSaidulu and MLA MagantiGopinath in connection witha complaint received fromKarne Srisailam in respect ofNeelam Bhargava Ram.

In a letter addressed to theDGP, NHRC Assistant Regis-trar Indrajeet said the com-plainant alleged Ram recent-ly expressed his concern onTwitter regarding demolitionof a local Hanuman temple.

On September 25, he wascalled by Saidulu and wasabused in the name of caste.He was further threatened toimplicate in a false case ofrape. Subsequently, the victimattempted to commit suicideby consuming poison.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 23, 2020 hyderabad 04

RVNL sets ‘track record' in doubling of railway linePNS n HYDERABAD

In a record breaking feat onSouth Central Railway, theRail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL)has completed and commis-sioned 69-km of doubling ofrailway line between Uppaluru-Gudivada-Moturu andGudivada-Machilipatnam onThursday, the highest suchachievement on IndianRailways itself. The attainmentcomes as a gift for the peopleof Andhra Pradesh in the ensu-ing festive season.

The newly commissioneddouble rail line section formspart of the Vijayawada -Gudivada - Bhimavaram -Narsapur, Gudivada -Machilipatnam & Narsapur -Nidadavolu Doubling andElectrification project of SCR,which is being executed at acost of Rs 3,000 crore. The plans

for the project were formalisedby the Rail Ministry and workwas entrusted to RVNL, thePublic Sector undertaking ofthe Ministry. Accordingly, theproject execution has beentaken up in different phases.

Out of the total length of 221-km of the project, 124-km isnow completed while the bal-ance of 97-km is due for com-pletion by mid-2021.

The record 69-km commis-sioning of double railway was

achieved by first completing thesection between Gudivada -Machilipatnam followed bycompletion of Uppaluru -Gudivada - Moturu sections. Asa result, the complete 69-kmstretch has been opened fortraffic in one-go. This new lineholds huge potential to ignitethe economy of the CentralCoastal Belt of Andhra PradeshState. In addition to significant-ly strengthening rail transportinfrastructure for seamlessmovement of freight and pas-senger traffic on rails, the newdouble rail line is bound toserve public aspirations in sev-eral ways.

Business activity in the entirehinterland of the region, rang-ing from agriculture to aquaculture will get a big boost withaccess to various marketsbecoming more easy and con-venient. Rail travel from the

region is bound to overcomethe earlier lack of proper con-nectivity, thereby offering scopefor people to conveniently trav-el towards Rajahm-undry,Visakhapatnam, Vijay-awada,Guntur, Nellore, Tirup-ati etc.,in the State. Long distancetravel towards cities as Chennai,Hyderabad, Benga-luru,Kolkata also becomes moreconvenient. Yet another majorbenefit is, the project will paveway for a reliable alternate railroute to main line betweenVijayawada and Visakhapa-tnam, which can be used in theevent of any disturbance totrain services on account of nat-ural calamities like cyclones andheavy rains, the region is pronefor. Gajanan Mallya, GeneralManager, SCR expr-essed hishappiness at this best everachievement of the Zone andRVNL.

Brand image of Hyd damaged: KishanPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyon Thursday visited flood-hitareas in Assembly constituen-cies' areas of Secunderabad,Sanathnagar, Nampally andAmberpet of SecunderabadParliamentary constituenciesand assured assistance to thepeople. He asked the stategovernment to take strict mea-sures to prevent lake breachesin Hyderabad. "If necessary, thestate government should con-vene a meeting with all polit-ical parties and experts andtake tough decisions in thisregard," he said.

"Today the brand image ofHyderabad is damaged and weall have a responsibility toprotect the brand image.Decisive action must be takento support people in distress,"he said.

He was speaking after visit-ing Manikeshwar Nagar andAlugadda Bhavi in the Tarnakaand Mettuguda Divisions ofthe Secunderabad Assembly

which have been severelyaffected by the rains recently.Kishan interacted with the res-idents and assured to worktogether to ensure relief.

During his visit to

Ankamma Basti, Shyamal-akunta and nearby areas of theSanathnagar Assembly, theUnion Minister of State forHome Affairs assessed thedamage caused due to rains. He

also urged party workers toassist all households. In a sep-arate video message, KishanReddy appealed people to cel-ebrate Dassara by taking allprecautions. "As we are allaware, we are living in unusu-al times due to Covid-19 pan-demic. As we continue to fightthis pandemic, it is importantfor all of us to be careful andfollow safety protocols.

The annual BathukammaUtsavalu celebrated inAmberpet is an event that Ilook forward to every year, tojoin my constituents in all thefestivities that follow", saidKishan Reddy. He also statedthat due to Covid restrictions,the celebrations ofBathukamma at Amberpetgrounds will not be celebratedthis year in the interest ofpublic safety and health. "Ihope that all of us get togeth-er to have a glorious celebra-tion next Dussera, in the midstof great culturally vibrantevents and colourful flowersthat form the Bathukamma,"he added.

PM-CARES Fund’s ‘opacity’ hurts CMRFNAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

The refusal of the Central gov-ernment to make public detailsof the PM-CARES Fund,ostensibly set up to deal withthe Covid-19 pandemic in thecountry, has left people appre-hensive about contributing tothe Chief Minister’s ReliefFund. This was evident by thereluctance of several people todonate liberally to the CMRF,even as Tollywood announcedhefty donations.

Many even asked theirbeloved actors not to con-tribute to the CMRF or the PMCAREs, as nobody knows whathappens to the money. A VinayGudheti said: “People onlyknow that celebrities donatedfunds to CMRF, but nobodyknows what happens with it. Itis better to be associated withNGOs or people who can beheld accountable.”

“Is it reaching the commonman?” was the oft-heard ques-tion, posed by fans to thecelebrities. Madhu, a techie,said, “Government had takendonations for corona as well

but they didn't announce howmuch money they actuallyreceived. It’s better to donate tothe needy directly or hand itover to honest NGOs. Thefunds may be misused. It hap-pened with PM CARES.”

The doubts that has takenroot in the minds of some peo-ple regarding the PM CARESFund is now being related toCMRF. Perhaps it’s because ofthis reason that the commonHyderabadi, known to be gen-

erous when it comes to help-ing out his fellow citizens indistress, was so stingy in giv-ing to the CMRF in this timeof crisis.

When Neeraj Sharma, anRTI activist, asked the govern-ment to provide informationon the donations received byPM CARES Fund, the PMOrefused, saying that it does notcome under the ambit of theRTI Act since it’s not a publicauthority, indirectly indicatingthat PM CARES is a non-trans-parent institution.

However, when it comesto CMRF, the politicianshave often provided chequesto beneficiaries and treatedit as a photo opportunity.

Chief Minister ReliefFund is intended to extenda helping hand to the poor-est of the poor who are indistress due to health prob-lems which require expen-sive medicare, loss of life ofkin or kith, loss of proper-ties and sources of liveli-hood due to unforeseenincidents such as naturalcalamities and road acci-dents, fire accidents etc.

TTDP blamesgovt for floods PNS n HYDERABAD

TTDP Chief L Ramana onThursday asked the state gov-ernment to extend help topeople who were affected dueto recent floods. "If the govern-ment fails in this regard, wewill stage a protest at PragathiBhavan and GHMC office," hesaid. While visiting flood-hitareas in Rajendra Nagar Circle,Ramana consoled the kin ofthe deceased.Ramana extended Rs 10,000

each to the bereaved familieson behalf of TDP. Ramanablamed the state government

for the death of people whodied due to floods. "The gov-ernment failed to alert thepeople though the WeatherDepartment alerted the gov-ernment much before.

The government failed torepair all tanks located inHyderabad city and also failedto widen the nalas though itassured in this regard. Not a single assurance givenduring the last GHMC elec-tions was fulfilled. The TRSgovernment forgot the assur-ance of developing theHyderabad city with Rs 30,000crore," he alleged.

Influx into TRS continuesPNS n SIDDIPET

Siddipet MLA and FinanceMinister T Harish Rao onThursday said that the TRSgovernment had done morework in six years than whatCongress and TDP togethercould not do in six decades oftheir rule. Addressing theOpposition party leaders andworkers, who joined the rulingTRS, the Minister said thatthey were taking the State for-ward by giving equal impor-tance to development and wel-fare schemes.

The Opposition Party work-ers from various villages inDubbak have said that theyhave decided to support theTRS candidate as they wereimpressed with the work of theTRS government. Stating thatMallanna Sagar will change theface of Thoguta Mandal, Raohas said that the developmentis possible only with the TRSParty. Asking the people not tobelieve in false campaignsbeing carried out by BharatiyaJanata Party and CongressParty leaders and contestingcandidates, Rao has said that

the Opposition parties willcome to the people only whenthe elections are around.

He has appealed to the peo-ple to know the facts beforevoting. Stating that the TRScampaign is getting over-whelming response, Rao has

said that TRS candidateSolipeta Sujatha will win theelection with a bumper major-ity. Leaders and workers fromGhanpur in Thoguta Mandal,Sherupally, Bandaram, andNarsampet in DoulthabadMandal have joined TRS.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader MarriShashidhar Reddy onThursday demanded the stategovernment to set up StateDisaster ManagementAuthority immediately. Healleged that the flood situationarose as the state governmenthas no prior plan. "There mustbe precautionary measuresand for that the governmenthas to set up a permanent sys-tem to face the floods," heopined.

Addressing the media alongwith senior leaders MKodanda Reddy and GNiranjan at Gandhi Bhavan,Marri Shashidhar Reddyalleged that the government isleast bothered about removingsilt in nalas. "The governmentis getting highest revenue fromHyderabad city, however, thereare no facilities in tune withthe revenue," he claimed.

"The government is stating

that it spent Rs 65,000 crore,but there is no infrastructurein Hyderabad. The city does-n't need beautification and itneeds basic needs," he opined.Finding fault with the TRSleaders for blaming previousgovernments saying that theydid nothing to Hyderabadcity, Marri questioned the TRSgovernment to reveal as towhat it has done to Hyderabadfor the last 6 years. Demandingthe state government to extendfinancial assistance to the floodvictims, Marri ShashidharReddy said that the govern-ment has to extend help to allvictims irrespective of theirpolitical affiliation. He foundfault with the BJP for showingover enthusiasm in the name ofthe Central team. He said thatthe Central team has to visit thestate only after it receives thereport of the state govern-ment. He alleged that the TRSand BJP are over reacting keep-ing GHMC elections.

Compensatefarmers, saysRajagopalPNS n HYDERABADCongress MLA fromMunugode KomatireddyRajagopal Reddy onThursday took up hungerstrike demanding the stategovernment to extend Rs20,000 to each farmer, wholost their crops due to recentfloods. He also demanded the stategovernment to procure thesoaked cotton through CCIprocurement centers. Healleged that the state govern-ment is giving Rs 10,000each to those whose housegot damaged and neglectingthe farmers affected withhuge rains keeping GHMCelections in view. He deman-ded the state gov-

ernment to extend help to thefarmers. He alleged that KCR,who deposits money in theaccounts of the farmers dur-ing elections, habituated thathe will leave the farmers tothe wind after the elections.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana's first HomeMinister and founding mem-ber of TRS party NayaniNarsaimha Reddy was con-signed to f lames atMahaprasthanam funeralhome here with State Honourson Thursday. A large crowdaccompanied his body to thecremation ground while hun-dreds more had convergedthere to be a witness to the lastrites.

He passed away onThursday at 12:30am due topost Covid-19 complications.Tributes for the 86-year-oldpoured in from top the brassof the TRS. Fondly called asBullet Narasanna, his politi-cal journey traversed throughbeing trade union leader tocontinuing as honorary pres-ident of Hindu MazdoorSangh t i l l death. ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao expressed shock over thedeath of Narasimha Reddy.He recalled his associationwith Reddy during the

Telangana movement and inthe state government. TheChief Minister conveyed hiscondolences to the membersof the bereaved family anddirected the Chief Secretaryto arrange the last rites for thedeparted leader with official honours. TelanganaGovernor Dr TamilisaiSoundarajan condoled thedemise and said that Nayinitoiled hard for the TelanganaState formation as an unre-lenting activist and for itsdevelopment as the minister.

Pickpockets have field day Even as TRS rank and file isbidding a tearful farewell to theNayini, pickpockets had a fieldday during funeral. As theleaders are busy condoling thedeath, thieves, who infiltratedinto the gathering hoodwink-ing the police, managed topickpockets of many a leaderand relieved them of theircash and other belongings.However, as misfortune wouldhave it, one of the robbers wascaught in the act of stealingmoney from a leader.

Ex Minister Nayani's funeralheld with State honours

The opposition parties’ workers fromvarious villages in Dubbak have saidthat they have decided to support theTRS candidate as they wereimpressed with the work of the TRS government

‘Set up State DisasterManagement Authority’

Finance Minister Harish Rao inducting opposition party workers in Dubbak

TTDP chief L Ramana interacting with flood-hit victims in the city on Thursday

Congress senior leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy addressing the media at GandhiBhavan in Hyderabad on Thursday

Sujathareaches out to votersPNS n DUBBAK

Dubbak TRS candidateSolipeta Sujatha on Thursdayassured the electorate that shewill live up to the ideals of herhusband late SolipetaRamalingareddy in develop-ing the constituency.

She conducted extensivecampaign in Vallabhapur,Tanda, Narsampalli,Chittojipalli, Polampalli,Pothansettypalli villages ofChegunta mandal of the con-stituency on Thursday alongwith Medak MLA PadmaDevender Reddy, formerminister Sunita LakshmaReddy.

She said that she is contest-ing the by elections with theblessings from the ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao and asked the electorateto give her an opportunity todevelop the constituencymore. She promised to devel-op the constituency morewith the support fromFinance Minister T HarishRao and MP Prabhakar. Sheappealed to the people to givetheir vote to the car symbol.Earlier, the villagers wel-comed the political leadersalong with Bathukammas.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy in city on Thursday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddyon Thursday tested positivefor Coronavirus and isundergoing home quaran-tine. However, he is asymp-tomatic. The Congress MPwent into self isolation afterconfirming corona positive.

Venkat Reddy is workingas in-charge of Doultabadmandal in Dubbak con-stituency by-elections. Heunderwent a test after suffer-ing from illness and testedCorona positive.Komatireddy urged his fol-lowers who met him in thethe last couple of days toundergo Corona test.

Komatireddytests Covid +ve Dry weather for

rest of the monthPNS n HYDERABAD

In a sigh of relief for the statewhich was reeling under heavyrains followed by floods, MetDepartment has predicted dryweather for the rest of themonth. After witnessing heav-iest rain which surpassedrecord of 100 years, Hyderabadwill witness cloud sky withlight drizzle as per IMD.

As per TSDPS predictionfor state and city, “MainlyDry Weather, possibility ofLight to moderateRain/Thundershowers areexpected at isolated places fornext three days”. State

Cumulative rainfall: from 1stJune to 22nd October, 2020 is1,249.1 mm against Normal804.0 mm with deviation 55%.Despite weather systems form-ing in Bay of Bengal, theimpact on Telangana is mini-mal.” As per Skymet weather,“Another cyclonic circulation isforming in the Bay of Bengal offAndhra Pradesh coast on 24October and yet another depres-sion entering the Bay of Bengalfrom Thailand/Myanmar on28/29 October. But all these sys-tems are largely sparingTelangana and minimal activi-ty is expected on 22 Octoberand recedes further thereafter.”

Many people are apprehensive aboutcontributing to the Chief Minister’sRelief Fund following the Centre’srefusal to make public details of thePM-CARES Fund, ostensibly set up to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic

Nearly Rs 9.5 crto CMRFHyderabad: There are manywho have come forward tohelp the people of Hyderabadwho are facing difficulties dueto heavy floods. On the call ofChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, donationswere made to the TelanganaChief Minister's Relief Fund. While the Ramoji Groupchairman made a hugedonation of Rs 5 crore, KimsHospital and Yashoda Hospitaldonated another Rs 1 crore toCMRF. Vellore Institute ofTechnology, donated Rs 1crore to CMRF. The chequeswere handed over to KTR.Sahrudaya Health Care Pvt. Ltddonated Rs 50 lakh to CMRF.Likewise, actor Potineni Ramhanded over a check of Rs 25lakh to CMRF to KTR. Leadingdirector N Shankar alsodonated Rs 10 lakh to CMRF.Uppala Srinivas Gupta onbehalf of his Srinivas AgroProducts donated Rs 10 lakhto the CMRF.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 23, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

The government has shot off astern letter to Twitter CEOJack Dorsey, conveying its

strong disapproval overmisrepresentation of the Indianmap, and asserted that anyattempt by the micro-bloggingplatform to disrespect thecountry's sovereignty andintegrity is totally unacceptable.In a strongly-worded letter, ITSecretary Ajay Sawhney has warned the platform that such attemptsnot only bring disrepute to Twitter, but also raises questions about itsneutrality and fairness as an intermediary. IT Ministry sources told PTIthat Sawhney shot off a stern letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey,conveying strong disapproval of the government overmisrepresentation of map of India. Earlier, Twitter had shown geo-location of Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China. The government made it clear that any attempt by Twitter to disrespectsovereignty and integrity of India, which is also reflected by the maps,is totally unacceptable and unlawful.

Govt conveys strong disapprovalover map misrepresentation

The railways on Thursday saidabout 11.58 lakh of its non-gazetted employees have

been granted bonus equivalent to78 days' wages for FY 2019-20.This productivity linked bonus forrailway employees has beenestimated to be of Rs 2081.68crore. The Union Cabinet in itsmeeting held on Wednesdayaccepted the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment ofProductivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days' wages for thefinancial year 2019-2020 for all eligible non-gazetted railwayemployees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel). The financialimplication of payment of 78 days' PLB to railway employees has beenestimated to be Rs 2081.68 crore. The wage calculation ceilingprescribed for payment of PLB to the eligible non-gazetted railwayemployees is Rs 7000 per month. The maximum amount payable pereligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days.

About 11L railway staff grantedbonus equal to 78 day wages

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath onThursday said a plan is

being prepared for a permanentsolution to the recurring problemof flooding in the state. The chiefminister, who transferred digitallyRs 113 crore compensation to3,48,511 farmers in 19 districtsaffected by flood, said apermanent solution to the problem would be found and a work planwas being prepared. Till then, usual safety measures will be taken inflood-prone areas, he said. The chief minister said the compensationamount was too less as compared to the hard work put in by farmersfor ultivation. It is just a proof of the government's commitmenttowards farmers, he said. Stressing that under the guidance of Modithe state government is committed to safeguard the interests offarmers, he said the Indian economy had not had any major impact ofthe global slowdown because the farmers have continuously workedhard to strengthen the farming sector.

UP CM gives out compensationto flood-hit farmers

Teams have been formedto check violation ofCOVID-19 norms during

the ongoing Durga Pujacelebrations here, an officialsaid on Thursday.“Violation ofCOVID-19 guidelines wouldinvite punitive action,” citymagistrate Manoj KumarSingh told reporters.Massgathering at puja 'pandal' hasbeen banned. The size of the idol for individual or small groups of 8 to10 persons has also been reduced amid the pandemic situation, hesaid.According to officials, taking out processions prior to immersionof the deity has been banned in the city.Not more than four personswould be allowed to go with the idol of Goddess Durga for emersion,they said. Like Janmashtami and Radhashtami, Durga Puja is alsocelebrated with full vigour and enthusiasm in Mathura.Moreover, manynatives of West Bengal reside in certain pockets of the holy city,officials added.

Teams to check Covid violationduring Durga Puja celebrations

PNS n NEW DELHI

The entire Himalayan arc ispoised to produce a sequenceof great earthquakes, and thenext big quake -- of the mag-nitude of 8 or above -- mayoccur during our lifetimes,according to a study reviewinggeological, historical, and geo-physical data.

The human toll of such anevent in the densely populatedcountries across the arc is like-ly to be unprecedented, theresearchers said.

The study notes that thesequence of future Himalayanearthquakes could be similar tothe great earthquakes thatoccurred in the twentieth cen-tury along the Aleutian sub-duction zone, which extendsfrom the Gulf of Alaska toKamchatka in Russian Far East.

The review, which appearedin the journal SeismologicalResearch Letters in August,

used basic geological principles--stratigraphic analysis, struc-tural analysis, soils analysis,and radiocarbon analysis -- toestimate the size and timing ofprehistoric earthquakes andevaluate future risk.

"The entire Himalayan arcextending from the easternboundary of ArunachalPradesh (India) in the east toPakistan (in the west) has in the

past been the source of greatearthquakes," study authorSteven G. Wesnousky told PTI.

"These earthquakes willoccur again and scientifical-ly, it would not be a surpriseif the next great earthquakeoccurred in our lifetimes.But the resolution of ourstudies is at best on the orderof 100 years, longer than ahuman l i fet ime," said

Wesnousky, a professor ofgeology and seismology anddirector of the Center forNeotectonic Studies at theUniversity of Nevada at Reno,US.

Seismologist Supriyo Mitranoted that the researchmatches previous studies.

"The research is a compre-hensive review of paleoseis-mological studies of pastHimalayan earthquakes and aforecast of the future eventsbased on the findings," saidMitra, a professor in thedepartment of Earth sciences

at the Indian Institute ofScience Education andResearch (IISER) Kolkata.

"The Himalayan faults, asshown in the paper, arepoised to produce an 8-plusmagnitude earthquake. Soyes, we are staring at a big onein the future. How far fromnow no one can tell," Mitra,who was not involved in thestudy, told PTI.

Prior studies have exam-ined the rate of strain accu-mulation that is occurringalong the Himalayan arc fromsatellite observations.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP's "free coronavirusvaccination for all" promise inBihar ahead of next week'selection has become hugelycontroversial with the rulingparty fending off allegations ofan "appalling" attempt to usethe vaccine for its politicalagenda.

"As soon as a COVID-19vaccine is available for produc-tion at a mass scale, every per-son in Bihar will get free vac-cination. This is the firstpromise mentioned in our pollmanifesto," Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid today, announcing theBJP's manifesto for the Biharelection.

There is a global race to pro-duce a coronavirus vaccineand trials are on in manycountries, including India. Butthis is the first time that a vac-cine, especially one that iswork in progress, is an electionpromise.

"What about non-BJP ruledstates? Indians who didn't voteBJP will not get free Covid vac-cine?" - tweeted ArvindKejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), raising a question thatmany flagged on social media.

Union Minister of State forHealth Ashwini Chaubey, whois currently in Bihar, was askedthe question. "The corona vac-cine is being made across theworld. When it is ready, wehave prepared an elaborateplan on distributing the vac-cine, who will be given prefer-

ence etc... Every state will begiven free coronavirus vac-cine," the minister toldreporters.

Congress MP and formerunion minister Shashi Tharoortweeted: "Tum mujhe vote domain tumhe vaccine (Give mevotes, I will give you vac-cine)... what appalling cyni-cism! Will the ElectionCommission rap her and hershameless government on theknuckles?"

National Conference leaderOmar Abdullah called it bla-

tant populism. "Will BJP bepaying for these vaccines fromthe party treasury? If it's com-ing from the government trea-sury then how can Bihar getfree vaccines while the rest ofthe country has to pay? Thereis so much wrong with this bla-tant populism that shameful-ly exploits COVID fears," theformer J&K chief ministerwrote.

PNS n KOLKATA

Invoking Goddess Durga,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday reaffirmedhis government's irrevocablecommitment to women'sempowerment and safety.Reaching out to the people ofWest Bengal during the state'sbiggest festival Durga Puja,the prime minister saidthough it was being celebrat-ed on a limited scale due tothe COVID-19 pandemic, the"enthusiasm is still unlimited".

Noting that Goddess Durgawas worshipped as a symbolof 'Shakti' (strength), Modisaid his government was con-sistently working for theempowerment of women.

"From opening Jan Dhanaccounts for 22 crore women,giving soft loans to themunder the Mudra Yojana, tolaunching Beti Bachao-BetiPadhao initiative, grantingpermanent

commission to women inthe armed forces and extend-ing maternity leave from 12 to

26 weeks, we have taken anumber of steps for theirempowerment," he told agathering at Durga Puja cele-bration organised by the BJP.

He also said anti-rape lawswere made more stringent toinclude death penalty.

"We are alert towards thesecurity of women. We havestrengthened laws againstrape. Now, there is even pro-vision for death penalty to theperpetrators," he said in hisvirtual address to the peopleof the state. The prime min-ister's remark came in thebackdrop of a string of inci-

dents of rape and murder ofwomen, including the Hathrasincident that shocked thenation and triggered outrageagainst the BJP government inUttar Pradesh.

Speaking about the devel-opment schemes of his gov-ernment for the people of thestate, Modi said under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojanapucca dwellings were builtfor about 30 lakh poor fami-lies.

“What about non-BJP ruled states?Indians whodidn't vote BJPwill not get freeCovid vaccine?” -tweeted ArvindKejriwal raising aquestion thatmany flagged onsocial media

Noting thatGoddess Durgawas worshippedas a symbol of‘Shakti'(strength), Modisaid his govt wasconsistentlyworking for theempowerment of women

BJP faces flak over ‘freevaccine’ poll promise

Modi invokes Durga to reaffirmcommitment to women's safety

PNS n PANNA

In a suspected case of humansacrifice, a woman allegedlyaxed her 24-year-old son todeath, claiming that she feltlike a goddess, at a village inMadhya Pradesh's Panna dis-trict on Thursday, police said.

The incident took place atKohni village at around 4.30am, when Suniabai Lodhiattacked her son Dwarkawith an axe, said Arun Soni,in-charge of Panna Kotwalipolice station.

The accused, who is in her50s, claimed that she felt likea goddess at times and onWednesday night, she feltthe same way and attackedher son with an axe, the offi-cial said. The police havearrested the woman andseized the weapon used in theattack, he said, adding thatfurther probe is underway."At the time of the incident,Lodhi's husband was asleepin the house and after com-mitting the act, she informedhim that she had sacrificedher son," said a resident.

Himalayan ranges face risk of major quakesThe study notes that the sequenceof future Himalayan earthquakescould be similar to the greatearthquakes that occurred in thetwentieth century along the Aleutiansubduction zone

Claiming to begoddess, womanaxes son in MP

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

The Odisha government hasissued an advisory on post-COVID-19 follow-up proto-col, asking cured patients topractise yoga, pranayama andmeditation and engage inhousehold works, if healthpermits.

More than 2.5 lakh coron-avirus patients have recov-ered from the infection in thestate. A holistic approach isrequired for follow up care andwell-being of all patients whohave recovered from COVID-19, Additional Chief SecretaryP K Mohapatra said.

Quoting the advisory,Mohapatra said if health per-mits, regular household workcan be done. However, profes-sional work will be resumed ina graded manner.

"Daily practice of yogasana,pranayama and meditation, asmuch as health permits or asprescribed" is advised, he said

on Wednesday. Those whohave recovered from COVID-19 may expect cardiovascular,pulmonary and other neuro-logical and endocrinologicalsequelae, Mohapatra said.

He said that cured peopleneed to continue withCOVID-19 safety measureslike wearing masks, washinghands, maintaining respirato-ry hygiene and physical dis-tancing. Daily morning orevening walk at a comfortablepace, balanced nutritious diet,and adequate sleep and rest areadvised.

PNS n KOCHI

Scripting a new chapter, theIndian Navy has got ready itsfirst batch of three womenpilots for MaritimeReconnaissance (MR) mis-sions on Dornier aircraft.

Lieutenant Divya Sharma, LtShubhangi Swaroop and LtShivangi are now ready to takeon all MR missions on Dornieraircraft, a Defence spokesmansaid on Thursday.

They have been "opera-tionalised on Dornier aircraft"by the Southern NavalCommand (SNC) here today,he said. The spokesman saidthe three women pilots werepart of the six pilots of the 27thDornier Operational Flying

Training (DOFT) Course,who graduated as Fully oper-ational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots at a passingout ceremony held at INSGaruda on Thursday.

Rear Admiral AntonyGeorge, Chief Staff Officer(Training) of SNC was thechief guest of the event andpresented awards to the pilots

who are now fully qualified tofly Dornier aircraft for alloperational missions.

While Lieutenant DivyaSharma hails from MalviyaNagar, New Delhi, LieutenantShubhangi Swaroop belongs toTilhar, Uttar Pradesh.Lieutenant Shivangi hails fromMuzaffarpur, Bihar. These offi-cers had initially undergonebasic flying training partlywith Indian Air Force andpartly with the Navy prior to(DOFT) Course. Among thethree women pilots opera-tionalised for MR Pilots flying,Lt Shivangi was the first to

qualify as a naval pilot onDecember 2, 2019.

After 15 days, the two oth-ers--Lieutenant Divya Sharmaand Lieutenant ShubhangiSwaroop--also became pilots.

Later, they were made onebatch and became part of thesix pilots of the 27th DOFTcourse, which is the second andmost important phase of train-ing for becoming missionready pilots, the spokesmansaid. The course comprisedone month of ground trainingphase, which was conducted atvarious professional schoolsof Southern Naval Command

and eight months of flyingtraining at the DornierSquadron of SNC, INAS 550,he said. According to a Navyrelease, Lt Divya Sharma andLt Shivam Pandey wereadjudged First in Flying andFirst in Ground subjects,respectively. The Flag OfficerC o m m a n d i n g - i n - C h i e f(South) rolling trophy in mem-ory of late Lt Simon GeorgePynomootil for the Most spir-ited trainee was presented to LtKumar Vikram.

Odisha advises yogafor Covid survivors

PNS n PATNA

Bihar Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi onThursday said that he hastested positive for COVID-19and was undergoing treat-ment, while also asserting thathis parameters were fine andhe was looking forward to hit-ting the campaign trail soon inthe poll-bound state.

Modi, one of the tallestleaders of the BJP in Bihar, hadbeen missing from action forquite some time and was con-spicuous by his absence whenUnion Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman releasedthe party's manifesto earlier inthe day.

"Tested positive for corona.All parameters normal. Startedwith mild temperature (but)no temperature for last twodays. Admitted to AIIMS,

Patna for better monitoring.CT scan of lungs normal. Willbe back soon for campaign-ing," the deputy CM wrote onTwitter.

The deputy CM was expect-ed to be present at the rallies,along with JD(U) boss andChief Minister Nitish Kumar,who has been declared as theNDA's face for the polls.

Bihar deputy CMtests positive

Navy’s women pilots ready for take-offLieutenant DivyaSharma, LtShubhangiSwaroop and LtShivangi are nowready to take onall MR missionson Dornieraircraft, said aDefencespokesman

PNS n NEW DELHI

The riots in north east Delhi inFebruary this year was the“worst communal riots sincepartition” in the national cap-ital and that it was a “gapingwound” in the conscience of anation aspiring to be a “majorglobal power,” observed aDelhi Court on Thursday.

The remarks by the courtcame while dismissing the bailpleas in three cases of formerAAP Councillor TahirHussain, who allegedly abusedhis “muscle power” and “polit-ical clout” to foment commu-nal violence.

“It is common knowledgethat the dreary day of February24, 2020 saw parts of north-east Delhi gripped by a com-

munal frenzy, reminiscent ofcarnage during the days of par-tition. Soon, the riots spreadlike wildfire across the smoke-grey skyline of Capital, engulf-ing new areas and snuffing outmore and more innocent lives.

The court f u r t h e rsaid the spread of riots on sucha big scale in such a short timeis not possible without a “pre-meditated conspiracy”. It furthersaid that the allegations againstHussain were grave in nature.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A total of 55 complaints,including three againstMembers of Parliament(MPs), were received by anti-corruption ombudsmanLokpal between April andSeptember period of this fis-cal, according to official data.

Of the total complaints, 22were against Group A and Bcategory central governmentofficials, 26 against chair-persons, members andemployees of differentboards/corporations/ autonomous bodies wholly or par-tially financed by the Centreand four were in other cate-gory, it said.

It closed 28 complaintsafter preliminary examina-tion, stated the Lokpal datafor 2020-21 updated till theend of September.

PNS n BALLIA (UP),

Despite the notice served onhim by the BJP over hisrecent remarks, party MLASurendra Singh on Thursdayagain defended a murderaccused, saying "a criminalgot killed at the hands of asoldier in the firing".

Local BJP leaderDhirendra Pratap Singh hadshot dead a 46-year-old manfollowing a quarrel over theallotment of ration shops inBallia district's Durjanpurvillage on October 15.

Surendra Singh, the MLAfrom Bairia, had come out inhis support, sayingDhirendra Pratap Singh had"opened fire in self-defence"as "it was a do-or-die situa-tion for him".

Ballia firing:MLA againdefends accused

‘Worst communal riots sincePartition,’ in capital, says court

Lokpal gets 55plaints betweenApril and Sept

DELHI RIOTS

In the US, the Volstead Actwas passed in 1920 to banalcohol. This prohibitionstretched for nearly 14 yearsand established a parallel

illegal economy, which led to theemergence of the mafia and pro-mulgated a State-sponsored struc-ture that protected the rich andpowerful but came down heavilyon the poor. Media reports of thetime in the US noted that in a par-ticularly amusing incident, whenthe police raided a bar in Denver,they found the local Congressman,the mayor and the sheriff sharinga drink. Who would have thoughtthat Denver of the 1920s and theBihar of today would have somuch in common?

The interesting point is that evenif you had not read the end of thefirst paragraph of this piece, youwould have known that we are talk-ing about Nitish Kumar’s Bihar andmore specifically his prohibition.I use the two terms interchangeablybecause prohibition and the reck-less and arrogant manner in whichit has been introduced and imple-mented in Bihar is also a summa-ry of the National DemocraticAlliance’s (NDA) rule in the State.Prohibition, just like the NDA’s rulein Bihar, has been chequered withproblems of administration andgovernance, and has led to a diver-sion of resources that could havebeen used elsewhere.

Let us start with the arroganceof the move. Nitish, almost whim-sically, decided one fine day thatBihar would be a prohibition State.Any rational Government wouldhave done some research on theeffectiveness of the ban prior totaking such a huge decision orwould have at least examined theabject failure of the policy on theground and admitted that it hadmade a mistake. However, thecurrent NDA Government lacksthe foresight to make deliberateddecisions and the humility toacknowledge its mistakes.

Why do we say that Nitish’s pro-hibition is a barometer of his gov-ernance in Bihar? Let us start withthe suddenness of the move.Reminiscent of the catastrophicdecision of demonetisation takenby Prime Minister Narendra Modi,the ban was absolute. One wouldhave hoped that the Governmenthad already checked whether pro-hibition had popular support onthe ground or not. No such delib-eration was, however, done. As a

result, what this policy has ledto, is a rise in what Gary Becker,a Nobel prize-winning econo-mist, calls “rational crimes.”That is, crimes committed byrational people since they weighthe possible penalty for beingcaught against the chance ofactually being caught. In Bihar,while the penalty is severe, thechances of being caught areactually minimal. Let merephrase. In Bihar, your chancesof being caught are minimal ifyou can oil the palms of thepolice and the relevant author-ities or if you are a VIP. But ifyou are a common citizen, yourfortune rests with the Almighty.

In reality, there is no real pro-hibition in Bihar. Yes, liquor isbanned as a concept but in prac-tice, it is available when onewants to get it. As a travelagent told a reporter of a largenational daily — “What prohi-bition? Daru (liquor) is availableeverywhere…even at localpolice stations.” What Nitish’sprohibition has introduced ismob violence between competi-tors who supply liquor to theircustomers. Since you cannottake another distributor to courtfor supplying liquor, the onlyoption is to establish a localmonopoly through violence. Inthe US, this violence was large-ly perpetrated by mobsters,who profited heavily due to theban. In Bihar, it is often thepolice and Government officialswho help establish monopoliesand tend to profit heavily fromthem. The ones who suffer arenot the suppliers of liquor but

the consumers. According to thelatest records of the police head-quarters in Patna, a total of2,12,323 arrests were made withrespect to possession of illegalliquor, between April 2016 andJanuary this year. Out of thesearrests, only 19,500 were suppli-ers. Most of those arrested werepoor, who could not afford topay bribes, while the officialswho made money off themsuffered few ill consequences.The widespread proliferation ofthis corrupt system of bribingfor liquor is well-known andmany have complained about itand even more, have suffereddue to it.

Another issue with prohibi-tion is that it leads to dangerousforms of spurious liquor beingwidely available. This is becausesince possessing liquor carries acertain amount of risk, bootleg-gers tend to make the spuriousdrink more potent so that it hasthe desired effect in a smallamount. Therefore, it is no sur-prise that reports of deaths dueto consumption of hooch havebeen on the rise, especially inthe rural areas, where many can-not afford the fancy liquor thatthe rich and powerful con-sume.

Going back to the example ofthe US, if Bihar is to be com-pared with Denver during theprohibition era, in a raid, youwill probably find police officialsand senior politicians drinkingin bars but will also stumbleupon the poor dying outsidethat very same public house.

The resources and attention

allocated to this flawed schemehave come at the cost of otherinitiatives. If liquor was regulat-ed and taxed, it would haveraised the revenues of the StateGovernment and would haveallowed it to use these fundstowards education and employ-ment. Instead, what we havetoday is a disproportionate por-tion of the State’s resources, bothmonetarily and in terms ofmanpower, being divertedtowards the Chief Minister’sflagship cause. The absence ofpolice power has led to morecrimes being committed sincepolice officers would ratherhave the chance to earn easymoney from alcohol consumersthan face the prospect of check-ing crimes like rape and murder.

You may be of the view thatthe BJP would try to check thisbehaviour of Nitish and coursecorrect but the party is support-ing him. And going by theexample of Gujarat, a State thatalso follows strict prohibition, itis obvious that the ban in Biharcomes with the blessings of theCentre.

This heady cocktail (excusethe pun) of ill-planning andarrogance displayed by the NDAis ultimately only at the cost ofthe common man of Bihar. Thesituation in the State is soappalling that one can say thatthe Nitish Government in itsenthusiasm to ban liquor mayhave actually driven a fair fewtowards alcoholism.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer and a member of theCongress Party)

There are several logical arguments to be made aboutwhy marijuana and products derived from the plant,colloquially known as ganja, should be legalised

in India. For one, the draconian Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was only broughtin 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi administration as the thenFirst Lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan, was lead-ing a “war on drugs” and India was trying to sidle upto the US. The inclusion of marijuana products was asurprise, given the plant’s long history of usage in Indiafrom ancient times but the NDPS was rarely enforcedagainst small, private users and it is a common joke how

easily ganja and resin-based products are available across the country. That all changedwith the Sushant Singh Rajput case where the Narcotics Control Board went after his girl-friend Rhea Chakraborty with what would be considered a comical use of the NDPS Act.However, as all this was going on, there appeared to be a growing clamour to change theNDPS by a whole host of organisations and think-tanks in India. Some, like the Vidhi Centrefor Legal Policy, issued a white paper on the subject. The points being raised usually comeunder law enforcement, arguing that police resources, already strained in India, would bebetter utilised in tackling high-end drug crimes rather than going after small-time peddlersand private marijuana smokers. However, it might be more radical to consider legalisa-tion of marijuana for another reason, that of riding the major agricultural technology andproduct development wave. As more and more countries in the Western world legalisemarijuana, including many large US States, there is not only demand for the active ingre-dients of the plant but also major opportunities in the product sphere. In the US, a fewcompanies have become billion-dollar entities selling marijuana products. Cultivation ofthe plant has led to major innovations in “Ag-Tech” that are now being used for other com-mercial crops. The rapid development of hydroponics was mainly thanks to marijuana.

There are many reasons why India should legalise marijuana, not just because it willprevent the incarceration of innocent people but because we can accelerate technologyand innovate around a plant that is part of our botanical heritage. Why should foreign com-panies be allowed to create “Big Weed” when India should have the first rights?

Two States are taking up the fight for federal rightsagainst the unilateralism of the Centre — Punjaband Maharashtra — showing an emerging trend

of a new Opposition strategy, that of politically counter-acting the ruling BJP in States controlled by it and com-pelling a discussion on consensus politics. So Punjabhas challenged the three farm Acts and brought its ownamendment Bills while Maharashtra has withdrawn itsconsent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) toconduct probes in the State. Constitutionally speaking,the Punjab Government would have to wait for the Billsto be sent to the Governor and then to the President,

who, acting as he does on the advice of the Union Government, is unlikely to give his assent.Then the State Government could take legal recourse in the Supreme Court. Similarly, whilea State’s consent is needed in pursuing CBI investigations, it cannot deter those that areordered by the Supreme Court. So other than political point-scoring, in real terms, the sorepoint would remain. But it would be worth a fight. The Punjab Government is basing itslegal argument on the fact that agriculture is part of the State List and the Centre has noauthority over it. The latter contends that since the three Acts deal with the trade and com-merce of farmers’ produce, its jurisdiction is valid under the Concurrent List. The PunjabGovernment’s amended Bills seek to address the fears of State farmers about being forcedto sell their produce at less than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in an open market.They seek to ensure that growers are not browbeaten by the heft of food corporations andthat the older system continues without being weakened by a parallel market. The firstamendment says that the sale of wheat and paddy (which are the State’s cash crops) willbe valid only if the seller pays a price equal to or greater than the MSP announced by theCentral Government and that any violation would be punishable. The second Bill reintro-duces the market fees or licences for private players outside the Agricultural Produce MarketCommittee (APMC) mandis, which the Central law has abolished. This, it says, will beused to create a distress fund for small and marginal farmers. The third Bill attacks thecentral Act that gives unlimited power of stocking essential commodities to traders andreassigns that right back to Punjab, arguing that production, supply, and distribution ofgoods is a State subject. The State Government is also planning to use the amorphousdefinition of a “trade area”, where farmers, traders and e-transaction platforms are giventhe freedom to deal in farmers’ produce without any restrictions, to cover the whole State.It is a given that the Centre rushed through the farm Acts, packaging them with good inten-tions but skimming over the devil in the detail and glossing over the practicalities of imple-mentation. And the farmers, who have so far operated in some sort of regulatory mech-anism and built trust within it, would indeed be vulnerable in the absence of guaranteedprotections or an elaborate explainer, a fact that would but naturally be used by food majorsto their advantage. The Agriculture Minister’s refusal to meet stakeholders or even assurethem in person, considering that the BJP’s own farmers’ organisations have raised objec-tions, has only made the Government look more brazen than concerned. Why, instead ofbeing vague about the continuity of MSP, could it not say that “notwithstanding the provi-sions, no trade transactions should take place below the notified MSP?” That would haveallayed the anxieties of farmers. Now, the patchy resistance across States would meanthat there would not be a holistic understanding of reforms or their implementation. Hadthe Government followed the consultative and inclusive model that it used to get the Goodsand Services Tax (GST) rolling and referred the Bills to parliamentary committees, thingswould not have come to such a pass. Many would argue that agriculture merely makesup for 16 per cent of the GDP but farmers make up a majority of every party’s voter baseand should deserve a listen. They are having it rough anyway, battling high input costs,low productivity and falling pick-up prices. A policy pushed without taking them into con-fidence will always run the risk of being hijacked by populism and politics.

With the Centre’s persistent needling, the Maharashtra Government is following otherOpposition States in refusing permission for CBI probes. Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarhand Rajasthan had withdrawn general consent earlier, calling such inquiry interventionistand politically motivated. The Modi regime did follow some form of cooperative federal-ism, GST being a prime example, in its first run post-2014. But after the mammoth vic-tory of 2019, it has begun appropriating federal space, be it under the guise of monitor-ing Centrally-sponsored schemes, using the ruse of national security and interest and man-ufacturing consensus by co-opting self-serving regional players, like the Biju Janata Dal,to push through major policies despite the lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Post-COVID,the coercive federalism gave way to consultative federalism again as health is a State sub-ject. And now that most States have evolved after managing a public health crisis, theyare becoming more confident about asserting themselves and carving out their own pol-icy positions vis-à-vis the Centre. The spate of resolutions in Assemblies against the Citizenship(Amendment) Act was just the beginning. And if more States are to override Central lawswith their own legislative framework, then the Opposition is hell-bent on proving why Indiais a Union of States.

The federal might

Action against hungerSir — India now ranks 94thamong 107 countries in terms ofhunger and continues to be in the“severe” category, according tothe Global Hunger Index 2020.Additionally, 14 per cent of thecountry’s population is under-nourished. On the other hand,the collective net worth of halfthe nation’s 100 richest people, onthe 2020 Forbes India Rich List,saw a rise of 14 per cent. TheSensex, an index of 30 companiesactively trading on the BombayStock Exchange, which is used toobserve “the overall growth,development of particular indus-tries, ups and downs of theIndian economy,” closed at38,673 points on March 31,2019, witnessing an increase of17.3 per cent from its closingvalue of 32,969 as on March 31,2018. One needs to consider allthese and more, along with thedata released by the NationalStatistical Office, which showsthat the economic growthslumped to an 11-year low of 4.2per cent in 2019-20. One schoolof thought holds that the rise inwealth — despite the sharpCorona-inflicted downturn ineconomic and business activities— was partly due to the cut in the

corporate tax rate last year from35 per cent to 25 per cent. Thetrickle-down theory has turnedout to be a mirage, as the growthgenerated by “those with theresources and skills to increaseproductive output” has neverrisen to the level which couldhelp eradicate poverty and fuelthe economic development of thepoor. India needs to re-evaluateits economic reform strategy

and consider course correctionto feed the hungry and createopportunities for gainful employ-ment.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

The right callSir — India has invitedAustralia to the annual Malabarnaval exercises, which include the

US and Japan as the other twomembers, scheduled to be heldnext month. This strategic deci-sion comes against the backdropof the India-China standoff ineast Ladakh. However, there isanother dimension to this devel-opment and one can possiblyinfer that New Delhi seeks to takeits bilateral relations withCanberra forward. The CentralGovernment had selected many

cities for its Smart City Mission,launched in June 2015, but totake it further, it needs Australiafor new and innovative technol-ogy. The latter, on the other hand,seeks qualified engineers anddoctors from India to augmentits technological needs and nour-ish its healthcare system. Hence,India’s decision to includeAustralia in the naval exercisesmarks an important inflexionpoint in the bilateral relationsbetween the two countries.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

Hope and caution Sir — The Calcutta High Court(HC) had earlier declared Durgapuja pandals as no-entry zones.However, easing its previousorder, the HC has now said thatentry of up to 45 people will beallowed. Now the question thatarises is who will regulate thenumber of people entering thepandals? It is imperative that peo-ple realise that we are still livingin a pandemic-hit world andhealth needs to come first.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 23, 2020

06

Politics of prohibitionIn its enthusiasm to ban liquor, Nitish Kumar’s Government may have actually

driven a fair few towards alcoholism. There are better ways to tackle addiction

I reiterate my hope for the earlyconclusion of a Code of Conduct. Icall for peaceful dispute resolution,in conformity with internationallaw, including the United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea.

UN Secretary-General —Antonio Guterres

Centre might drop plasma therapy

The Indian Council for Medical Research’s (ICMR)trial findings indicate that convalescent plasmatherapy does not in any way benefit Corona

patients. A randomised controlled trial was conduct-ed on 464 patients in 39 hospitals of 25 districtsacross 14 States and Union Territories from April 22to July 14. The off-label plasma therapy has been triedin the “hypothetical” hope that the antibodiesderived from plasma, filtered from the blood of thosewho recovered from the virus, would neutralise repli-cating viruses and check the growth of infection. Butit was not to be. The clinical evidence was contraryto this and it showed that plasma therapy neitherreduces mortality nor prevents the progression of thedisease. What was thought to be a silver bullet forCoronavirus treatment and a life-saver has turned outto be clinically unviable.

It is clear from ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava’sstatement that the removal of plasma therapy fromthe National Clinical Management Protocol is in the

offing. The rush to declare a line of treatment, evenin the absence of evidence, while a runaway pandem-ic is on the rampage is understandable. However, thetrial findings do not diminish the value of altruismshown by donors to do everything they could to aidthe recovery of other Corona patients.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Legalise marijuana

Punjab and Maharashtra have taken the Centre head on bycontesting farm Acts and CBI’s rights. Will this be the new trend?

India can accelerate technology and innovate around aplant that is part of its botanical heritage

AJOY KUMAR

ACCORDING TO THE LATEST

RECORDS OF THE POLICE

HEADQUARTERSIN PATNA, A

TOTAL OF2,12,323 ARRESTS

WERE MADE WITH RESPECT

TO POSSESSIONOF LIQUOR

BETWEEN APRIL2016 AND

JANUARY THISYEAR. OUT OF THESE

ARRESTS, ONLY19,500 WERE

SUPPLIERS. THEREST WERE POOR

ALCOHOLICS

When it comes to cricketand IPL, I am a really bigVirat Kohli fan. He nevergives up and alwaysgives his 100 per cent, Ifind that very inspiring.

Wrestler—Ritu Phogat

Unless the Government putsmoney in the hands of the bottom half of the families andputs food on the plates of thepoor, the economy will notrevive smartly.

Former Finance Minister—P Chidambaram

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

Due to sheer hard work and labour of farmers, wecould mitigate the adverseimpact on the economyduring the extraordinaryCorona crisis.

UP Chief Minister —Yogi Adityanath

FIRST, CONGRESS CALLED ME ‘HUNGRY AND ILL-CLAD’

AND NOW SHE (IMARTI) HAS BEEN CALLED AN ‘ITEM’.

THIS SHOWS THE FEUDAL MINDSET OF KAMAL NATH.

—MADHYA PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER

SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN

IF I SAID SOMETHING, IT WASN’T TO INSULT ANYONE. I

JUST DIDN’T REMEMBER THE (PERSON’S) NAME...THIS

LIST SAYS ITEM NO.1, ITEM NO.2. IS THIS AN INSULT?

—FORMER MADHYA PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER

KAMAL NATH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

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

An ancient,crumbling city

KOTA SRIRAJ

No matter how glitzy or well-ranked a metrois, without an efficient network of drains, it can

be brought to its knees within days

Hyderabad usually evokes images of nawabs, Nizams androyalty on one hand and information technology prowesson the other. But for the last few days, the city, famous for

its flawless pearls, has made it to national news for all the wrongreasons. Heavy flooding in the wake of incessant rains has ledto the loss of 50 lives besides causing enormous damage to prop-erty. Hyderabad has always been a dynamic destination for multi-national corporations and Indian businesses alike to set up shop.This is due to the pleasant weather and enabling systems set upby the Government that fast-track foreign investments. Plus, beingthe de-facto information technology hub of the country, it has anabundant supply of talent, manpower and money. These factorsare helping the city score over traditional choices like Delhi,Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Not only corporations, families and individuals, too, are increas-ingly choosing to make the city their home. According to theMercer’s Quality of Living Ranking 2019 survey, Hyderabad hasbeen adjudged as the best Indian city to live in for the fifth yearin a row. With a global ranking of 143, it left Chennai, Kolkata,Mumbai and Delhi behind to capture the tag. Mercer’s findingswere echoed by the survey of 34 cities done by holidify.com whichplaced it as the best city to live in with four out of five points. Thesurvey highlighted the dual charm of a city steeped in history com-bined with all the attractions and facilities of world-class new devel-opment like the Financial District and HITEC City.

However, it is the old part of the city which is now turningout to be the root of all problems in this otherwise splendid metro.The new residential and commercial areas of Hyderabad havealways had a relatively better-designed civic infrastructure, drainageand sewage system. They have a comparatively improved lay-out that consciously steered clear of low-lying lake beds, driedriver beds and other areas, where flooding was normal in the eventof heavy rains, and opened upstream reservoir gates. But the samecannot be said of the old city area, which still survives on sewageand drainage infrastructure built in the early 19th century. As theserelics of a bygone era crumble, the citizens are paying the pricefor it.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) haslargely done a good job of handling the civic infrastructure of thetwin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, including the old cityareas. But the unplanned development and construction that hap-pened in the early 1980s and 1990s has come to haunt it today.

There was unfettered development on canals, lake beds andother water bodies that should have otherwise been leftuntouched. The water bodies of a city are its margin spaces thatnot only play a critical role in absorbing unexpected flood watersbut also protect its ecosystem and biodiversity by providing habi-tat for a variety of flora and fauna. The moment these bodies areencroached upon, urban flooding becomes an obvious outcome.Over the last few years, many of our metros, such as Mumbaiand Chennai, have experienced the painful reality of urban flood-ing. This year it was Hyderabad’s turn. The fact that the city wit-nessed such huge strides of development has not eased its expe-rience with the recent floods.

Another aspect that is making things difficult is the naturalundulations that abound. These varied levels in the city’s topog-raphy result in the water gravitating towards low-lying areas withexceptional force, sweeping away whatever lies in its path. Thetwin cities need to quickly hammer out a long-term strategy tohandle weather extremities in the future, since these floods maynot be the last that Hyderabad will see.

The GHMC needs to resuscitate the water bodies so that itcan fall back upon them in case of heavy rains and floods.Additionally, the water drainage system must be interlinked withthe rainwater harvesting network so that excess water is seam-lessly channelised into large capacity underground storage facil-ities. This can later be utilised to irrigate public parks, roadsidetrees and so on. The municipal corporation will do well to takecues from other metros in the world that are handling similar prob-lems. Many cities in Europe for instance have adopted channeland pipeline systems that carry excess water to the nearby rivers.They have also strengthened embankments so that the increasedwater load is handled without any undue concerns.

No matter how glitzy or well-ranked a city is, without an effi-cient network of drains, a proper sewage disposal system andrain water harvesting, it can be brought to its knees within days.That is what has happened in Hyderabad.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

The Hathras incident forced us allto relive the horrific Nirbhayagang rape. What stands out in

public memory is the burning of theDalit girl’s mortal remains like “trash”in the dead of the night, with police-men standing guard. Official figuresconfirm that on an average 87 rapecases (ten among them are of Dalitgirls/women) are reported daily inIndia. There has also been a 7.3 percent rise in all crimes against women,with Uttar Pradesh (UP) registeringthe highest number of cases, account-ing for 14 per cent of the total incidentsin the country, says a National CrimeRecords Bureau, 2019, report.

In 2018, a Thomson ReutersFoundation Survey labelled India “asthe most dangerous country forwomen…where rape, marital rape,

sexual assault, harassment, femaleinfanticide go on unabated.” Many dis-missed the report as being “perceptu-al rather than based on actual experi-ences”, while the Government declinedto comment on the findings.

Sadly, violence against women isglobally pervasive, and one in threewomen (35.6 per cent) has been a vic-tim of physical and/or sexual violenceeither by intimate partners or non-partners in their lifetime. The preva-lence of intimate partner violence wasfound to be the highest (37.7 per cent)in the South-East Asian region, says a2017 World Health Organisationstudy.

Many researchers ascribe “toxicmasculinity”, which breeds sexualaggression, as the outcome of anunequal power relationship, morecommon in cultures that foster thenotion of male superiority vis a vis thesocio-cultural inferiority of women.Kamala Bhasin, a social activist, saysthat “in deep-rooted patriarchy, a boyinherits a sense of entitlement from hisupbringing, whereas a girl becomes avictim of stereotyping as the weakersex. The existing imbalance in genderrelations has much to do with violence

against women.” Shockingly, in today’smodern, tech-savvy digital India, thecaste factor and group identity furtheraccentuate a dominant-submissivegender role culture, especially in thenorthern States.

Ravi Verma, Director,International Center for Research onWomen, Asia, says, “A strong sense ofimpunity among higher caste men,who consider dehumanising women’sbodies as an ultimate expression ofcontrol and power, is the reasonbehind continued violence againstwomen from marginalised and poorcommunities, including Dalits.” In2019, among the 3,500 Dalit womenraped in India, one third of them werefrom Rajasthan and UP.

But, beyond the socio-culturalstructures, studies have also indicateda negative correlation between the sexratio and the hike in sexual violencecases. Now, India, is a land of “miss-ing women”, contributing one in threeto the world’s missing girls due to sexselection, both pre and post-natal, saysa United Nations Population Fund,2020 report. Rape cases in India roseto 32,033 in 2019 from 2,487 in 1971,an astronomical jump of 1,188 per

cent, while the sex ratio registered anegative growth of 0.65 per cent,plummeting from 930 girls in 1971 to924 girls per 1,000 boys this year.

Moreover, the rising rate of sexu-al violence is likely to create a furtherdip in the sex ratio, especially in theHindi belt. A recent field report of theIndian Council of Social ScienceResearch in UP and Haryana corrob-orated that “there is an increasing trendfor son preference in the face ofgrowing crimes against women, as amale child is culturally viewed as a pro-tector of the family honour, thus safe-guarding the chastity of daughtersfrom the unsafe public spaces.”

Now, if public places are “unsafe”,then how safe is the home for Indianwomen? Certainly, it is not. Themajority of the violence-related casesunder the Indian Penal Code havebeen registered under cruelty by hus-band or his relatives (30.9 per cent), fol-lowed by assault on a woman with theintent to outrage her modesty (21.8 percent) and abduction of a woman(17.9 per cent). India’s criminal lawdoesn’t proscribe sexual violence by ahusband unless the wife is under 18years of age, and there is no culpabil-

ity for marital rape. Another uniquedimension of crimes against womenin India is that 85 per cent of sexualassaults go unreported as there is ahigh share of known offenders, evenif one excludes marital rape. An analy-sis of demographic and health surveysfrom 43 developing countries from2010 onwards revealed that women’sreporting of sexual violence is very lowin India.

Nonetheless, the Nirbhaya casewas a watershed moment in our crim-inal justice system. Asha Devi,Nirbhaya’s mother, while recallingher seven-year-long struggle in nail-ing the perpetrators, said, “The roadto justice is very difficult, arduous andalso hopeless. If you don’t have policesupport, even if the death penalty ishanded out, it has to move through atortuous process and is hardly imple-mented.”

Unfortunately, the post-Nirbhayachanges in criminal law failed to makemuch of a dent in the justice dispen-sation system. The conviction rate ofoffenders remains as low as 27.2 percent and is only five per cent in caseof the death penalty, though rape con-stitutes 11.5 per cent of the total crime

statistics. Many activists lament that thecases get weakened by easy grant of bailto the rape accused. “Even though itis a non-bailable offence, evidence getstampered and extraneous influencesdilute the process of investigation,while the police remain hand in glove… as happened in the Hathras case,when it more or less acted like anaccomplice and not as the upholder ofrule of law,” they point out.

Meanwhile, the much-awaitedpolice reforms get frozen in politicalcold storage. Even the Supreme Court’sdirectives in 2006, which included sep-aration of investigation and law orderfunctions to make the police more“people-centric rather than ruler-cen-tric” are yet to hit the ground. A com-mittee to review the existing criminaljustice system also ran into roughweather when a group of womenlawyers protested over the non-rep-resentation of women on it “when itsremit is largely to reform sexualoffences.”

So, how does one fight it out?Mohini Giri, former Chairperson,National Women Commission, opinesthat the issue has no tailor-madesolutions. “The law cannot be the only

instrument. What is needed is astrong and supportive family, an awak-ened civil society and coordinatedaction among the various serviceproviders in society to nurture a girlchild. We also need a complete over-hauling of our educational inputs todetoxify the overdose of stereotypingfor bringing in attitudinal changes,both in the oppressed and the oppres-sors,” she says. While Bhasin empha-sises that “it is high time that we focuson men and talk in the active voice, likewhy a man commits a rape, rather thanpushing the victimisation theory ofwhy and how a woman has beenraped.”

Well, women across the worldraised their voices against sexual vio-lence under several banners like#MeToo, #TimesUp, #NotOneMore etal. In today’s pandemic-ravaged world,the alarming spike in gender violencehas generated a global movement#orangetheworld and #genera-tionequality to wage an all-out waragainst rape. Like before, India cannotremain untouched by it.

(The writer is a retired IndianInformation Service Officer and amedia educator)

The pandemic of violence against women rages onIn today’s modern, digital India, the caste factor and group identity further accentuate a dominant-submissive gender role culture, especially in the northern States

ARCHANA DATTA

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 23, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

After being diagnosed with tuberculosis(TB), Niyam Mohammed was asked to fol-low the standard Directly Observed

Treatment Short Course (DOTS). In the beginning,he abided by the procedure, which meant takingthe TB medication in front of a DOTS provider(usually a healthcare worker or volunteer). This wasdone to ensure compliance and completion of thetreatment and also to prevent the development ofdrug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB). But for him,visiting the healthcare centre for medicines and reg-istration of compliance daily meant missing manyhours of work. As a construction worker,Mohammed’s survival depended on his daily earn-ings and unable to afford this loss of income, heslowly became irregular, not just in his visits to thehealthcare centre but also in treatment adherence.So, it wasn’t surprising when he was detected ashaving DRTB during a door-to-door TB screen-ing programme in March. Realising that coun-selling and behaviour change was needed to gethim back on track, ZMQ Global, a social enter-prise using technology for development, whichconducted the screening drive, took him under itswing.

Once the team understood that Mohammedwas more likely to adhere to the regime if he did-n’t have to miss work, he was given an innovativePatient’s Active Compliance and Treatment (PACT)tool kit, a patient-centric mobile solution designedespecially for people with DRTB. By using PACT,the construction worker didn’t have to miss workto access treatment because he no longer had topresent himself in front of a healthcare worker daily.Instead, he could show that he was following theregime by clicking a video while having his med-icines and use the app to send the video to the TBunit located in his primary healthcare centre.

Just as Mohammed began his treatment usingVideo Observed Therapy (VOT), a countrywidelockdown due to the COVID pandemic wasannounced. But the worker knew that he didn’thave to worry about access to treatment and carebecause he had been given medication to last fortwo months. More importantly, the patient knewthat he could use the app to consult the doctor viatele-conferencing if he had any problems.

At a time when 51 per cent TB patients inIndia, who were surveyed by the Global Coalitionof TB Activists, said that they were less likely toseek care during the outbreak because they fearedcontracting the Coronavirus, ensuring continuedaccess to DRTB care and management is critical.By leveraging tele-medicine and patient-centricmobile tools to put treatment and care directly intothe hands of patients, PACT has been able toenhance adherence support.

It was after extensive research and trials thatZMQ Global hit upon a three-pronged strategy toaddress the issue. Using its expertise in develop-ing technology solutions, it first created a patienttool kit. This comprises a component whichreminds DRTB patients of the need for taking theirmedication daily and adherence reporting throughthe VOT technology. It has customised data of thepatient with personalised details like the historyof previous illnesses, the treatment regimen, testreports and so on.

This ensures that all information is accessedseamlessly by the healthcare providers and thepatients, too, have access to their treatment histo-

ry and follow-up schedules. Second, theapp allows patients to remotely connectwith the TB Unit (TBU) or SeniorTreatment Supervisor (STS) for consul-tation or emergency care using the videoconnect tool. This means that visits tothe TBU can be substantially reducedand with the pandemic showing no signsof slowing down in India, this can be alife-saving feature for immunity-deficientTB patients.

The third strategy to boost treatmentcompliance was to incorporate digitalbehaviour change communication andmotivational content for DRTB patients.Interesting digital stories, learning toolsand messages have been developed in thelocal language and attractively packagedin the form of audio-visuals to connect,engage, inspire and motivate patients. Inthis way, even those with low literacy lev-els can use the app with ease.

At present, PACT is being rolled outin Nuh (Mewat), Haryana, which is just100 kilometres from the national capi-tal Delhi and considered the most back-ward district in India. In 2018, it wasincluded in the Niti Aayog’s list of “aspi-rational districts” or backward districtsdemanding special attention for its poorhealthcare and development indicators.This happened after a study by SehgalFoundation, a not-for-profit, found thatthe district lagged behind other areas inHaryana.

Nuh has a TB load of over 2,800patients every year. With the treatmentinitiation of DRTB patients being 24 percent and the success rate of treatmentbeing only 35 per cent, it was decided toimplement PACT in Nuh first. Plannersbelieve that anything which works in thisdistrict has the potential to be scaled upto 114 other aspirational districts of

India.It has just been seven months since

the initiative was launched but there arealready signs that the PACT is boostingadherence and compliance. Mohammed,one of the 120 DRTB patients in Nuh,has recorded 85 per cent treatmentadherence using the VOT technology. Hereturned to work after the lockdown waseased and hasn’t let that come in the wayof completing his treatment. He sendsvideos to his designated healthcare cen-tre to show his intake of medicine fromthe construction site even now.

Although Mohammed is considereda successful case because he changed hisbehaviour and adhered to his treatment,the team continues to monitor him.Since he has DRTB, he will have toundergo a longer and more arduous peri-od of treatment. The team wants toensure that the worker remains vigilanttill the end, so it will continue to mon-itor him over the next six months as allpatients under PACT are monitored forat least a year.

PACT, in fact, was specially designedto ensure continuum of care for thosediagnosed and undergoing treatment forDRTB in the wake of the contagion. Itrecently won the Drug Resistant-TBLifeline QuickFire Challenge institutedby pharmaceutical major Johnson &Johnson’s Global Public Health andJohnson & Johnson Innovation.According to Hilmi Qurashi, co-founderof the not-for-profit, they focussed onmaking the solution patient-centric.Since they have been engaged in pro-viding mobile technology solutions forTB and other health issues in other partsof India and Africa, they adapted fromtheir existing bottom-up technology-linked model to provide appropriate

tools in the hands of the patients.This could not have come at a bet-

ter time as recently the World HealthOrganisation in its global report sound-ed a warning that the pandemic wouldcause an excess of 1.8 million TB deathsin 2020. India is among the countriesexpected to bear the maximum burdenof these casualties.

The need for innovation has alsobeen flagged by the ongoing 51st UnionWorld Conference on Lung Health con-vened virtually by the InternationalUnion Against Tuberculosis and LungDisease (The Union), the world’s firstglobal health NGO. Failure to invest inthe health of citizens and defeat pre-ventable, treatable and curable diseasessuch as TB would enhance exposure tothe Novel Coronavirus and future pan-demics, said José Luis Castro, ExecutiveDirector, The Union.

With 75 per cent of TB researcherssaying that they do not have the neces-sary resources, the need to protectexisting ones becomes vital. The concernthat TB medicine, tests, vaccines, evensputum cups may not be available hasbeen expressed by Dr Madhukar Pai,director, McGill University TB Centre.This makes the new tools for TB preven-tion and care, like PACT, even more nec-essary. Never has this innovative tool kitbeen needed more, considering thenecessity to reduce visits to healthcarecentres and contact with healthcareworkers in the Corona era.

If Universal Health Coverage has tobe achieved, there needs to be a reduceddependence on DOT and greater accep-tance of VOT and other forms of inno-vative patient-centric treatment modesfor TB.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

SWAPNA MAJUMDAR

AT A TIME WHEN 51 PER CENT TB

PATIENTS IN INDIA,WHO WERE

SURVEYED BY THEGLOBAL COALITION

OF TB ACTIVISTS,SAID THAT THEY

WERE LESS LIKELYTO SEEK CARE

DURING THEOUTBREAK

BECAUSE THEYFEARED

CONTRACTING THECORONAVIRUS,

ENSURINGCONTINUED

ACCESS TO DRTBCARE AND

MANAGEMENT ISCRITICAL. BYLEVERAGING

TELEMEDICINE ANDPATIENT-CENTRIC

MOBILE TOOLS TOPUT TREATMENT

AND CAREDIRECTLY INTO THE

HANDS OFPATIENTS, PACT

HAS BEEN ABLE TOENHANCE

ADHERENCESUPPORT

A timely innovationIf Universal Health Coverage has to be achieved, there needs to be less dependence onDOT and greater acceptance of VOT and other patient-centric treatment modes for TB

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 23, 2020 money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Bajaj Auto on Thursday saidits consolidated net profitdeclined by 21.62 per cent

to Rs ,193.97 crore for thequarter ended September.Thetwo-wheeler major had posted anet profit of Rs 1,523.31 crorein the July-september period ofprevious fiscal.The company'srevenue from operations declined to Rs 7,155.86 crore during theperiod under review as compared with Rs 7,707.32 crore in theyear-ago period, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing.The Pune-headquartered firm reported total volumes of 10,53,337 units insecond quarter, down 10 per cent from 11,73,591 units in July-September quarter of 2019-20.Domestic two-wheeler volumes,however, saw an increase of 6 per cent at 5,50,194 units during thesecond quarter as against 5,21,350 units in same period last fiscal."Domestic two-wheelers registered a strong turnaround in the firsthalf of the quarter driven by pent up demand. While the exactfestive spike is awaited, early signs show (strong) indications of arecovery," the two-wheeler major noted.

Bajaj Auto net profit dips 22 pc toRs 1,194 cr in Sept quarter

Foreign institutional investors(FIIs) have raised stake inbillionaire Mukesh Ambani-

led Reliance Industries to arecord 25.2 per cent in thequarter ended September 30,according to the company'sregulatory filing. RelianceIndustries (RIL) on Thursdayfiled a statement showing the shareholding pattern for the quarterended September 30. The statement showed FII holding 165.8crore shares or 25.2 per cent of the total shareholding. In theprevious quarter ended June 30, foreign investors held 163.07crore shares of 24.72 per cent. In an investor note, JP Morgan saidFII holding in RIL has hit a new high. "As has been the case nowfor two years, FII's stake in RIL hit new highs. Surprisingly, mutualfunds' (MF) stake declined by 25 basis points quarter-on-quarterand was the second straight quarter of stake decline," it said. Thelast time domestic MFs reduced their holding in RIL over twostraight quarters was back in 2016, it said adding domestic mutualfunds held 5.12 per cent of RIL as of September 30.

FIIs hike stake in RelianceIndustries to 25.2 per cent

PNSn NEW DELHI

In a major boost to shipbuild-ing in India, the governmenthas amended existing normsand now the first priority inchartering of vessels will begiven to ships built and flaggedin India as well as owned byIndians, Union MinisterMansukh Mandaviya said onThursday.

The move in alignment withthe Aatmanirbhar Bharat mis-sion will promote 'Make inIndia' initiatives and give astrategic boost to domesticshipbuilding industries andgenerate employment, the min-ister said. "To boost shipbuild-ing activities in india, theMinistry of Shipping hasamended Right of First Refusal(ROFR) licensing conditions.Now, it has been decided thatfor any kind of charter of a ves-

sel undertaken through a ten-der process, the first priority forRoFR would be given to Indianbuilt, Indian flagged and Indianowned vessels," ShippingMinister Mandaviya told PTI.

The second priority will begiven to foreign built, Indianflagged and Indian-owned ves-sels while the third priority willbe given to Indian built, foreign

flagged and foreign-ownedships, he said and termed thepolicy change a "bold step" inline with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's vision to pro-mote the domestic industry.

The Ministry of Shippinghas reviewed the ROFR licens-ing conditions for chartering ofvessels/ships through tenderprocess for all types of require-

ments in pursuance of 'Make inIndia' policy of the govern-ment. "The revision of RoFRlicensing conditions is a giantstep towards AatmanirbharShipping. It will promote 'Makein India' initiatives throughself-reliance and will give astrategic boost to domesticshipbuilding industries, con-tributing towards long-termeconomic growth of India,"Mandaviya said. "India most-ly handles four types of EXIM

cargo - crude, gas, coal and fer-tiliser. Government of Indiafloats tenders for bringingthese from foreign. So farIndian flags were given prior-ity in tender irrespective ofwhere the ship is built. Now wehave changed that in additionto Indian flag it should be'made in India'. GovernmentPSUs used to give priority toIndian flags till now but nowIndian make has also beenincluded," Mandaviya said.

‘Priority in chartering to be givento vessels built, flagged in India’

The move in alignment with theAatmanirbhar Bharat mission willpromote ‘Make in India' initiatives andgive a strategic boost to domesticshipbuilding industries and generateemployment, said Mansukh Mandaviya

State-owned UCO Bank onThursday reported a netprofit of Rs 30.12 crore for

the second quarter endedSeptember 30. The bank hadposted a net loss of Rs 891.98crore during the correspondingquarter of the previous financialyear. Sequentially, the profitduring the second quarter of2020-21 was higher from Rs 21.46 crore in the first quarter endedJune 2020. Its total income was down at Rs 4,326.14 crore duringthe September 2020 quarter, from Rs 4,533.51 crore a year ago,UCO Bank said in a regulatory filing. Interest income fell to Rs3,614.61 crore during the quarter, compared with Rs 3,804.64crore in the year-ago period. The bank improved on its asset qualitysignificantly by bringing down the gross non-performing assets(NPAs) to 11.62 per cent of the gross advances as on September30, 2020, from 21.87 per cent as of September 2019. In absolutevalue, the gross NPAs were down at Rs 13,365.74 crore as againstRs 25,665.14 crore.

UCO Bank reports Rs 30-crore net profit for Sept quarter

Honda Motorcycle andScooter India (HMSI) onThursday said it has started

exports of its 125cc bike SP125to Europe.The motorcycle isexported via the CKD(Completely Knocked Down)route, the automaker said in astatement."The transition fromBS-IV to BS-VI was a challenging phase for Indian automobileindustry. Honda 2Wheelers India converted this challenge into anopportunity to export to advanced countries and have startedexporting CKD kits of our 125cc Motorcycle SP125 to Europe. "We are looking forward to expanding to many new markets in thefuture," HMSI Managing Director, President and CEO Atsushi Ogatasaid. The exports started in August 2020 and 2,000 CKD kits ofSP125 have already been despatched, the two-wheeler major said. The BS-VI compliant SP125 is currently being manufactured at thecompany's Tapukara plant in Rajasthan.HMSI started exports fromIndia in 2001 with its debut model Activa.The company currentlyhas 25 lakh customers across global markets.

HMSI commences export of 125ccmotorcycle SP125 to Europe

PNSn NEW DELHI

Tech titan Qualcomm has saidit is bullish about 5G prospectsin India based on positivemarket indicators, includinglarge base of telecom sub-scribers, sheer potential fordevice proliferation, and trans-formative power of the futur-istic technology in areas suchas healthcare and education.

Rajen Vagadia, vice-presi-dent and president ofQualcomm India and SAARC,said the company anticipates a"high-velocity progress" on thisfront. He added that progres-sion on the 5G devices side isa "positive" and will spur theoverall ecosystem.

"The progression on thedevices side is far faster...we arelikely to see types of devicesand the price points on 5Gdevices in India irrespective ofavailability of the network,whether it is a trial network orfull-fledged commercial net-work," Vagadia told reportersat a virtual briefing in the lateevening on Wednesday.

He added that the devicesecosystem is going to prolifer-ate and thrive.

Vagadia said the launch of5G devices "is a positive", andwill "motivate the overallecosystem".

"On the infrastructure side,how to measure the market sizeis by the base of the sub-scribers...we are talking abouta billion subscribers, and if weare talking about a billion sub-scribers which other markethas it," he said. Further, theopportunity will be multipled

exponentially when one takesinto account 5G being adopt-ed by healthcare, industrialinternet of things (IoT), educa-tion, and other sectors, headded.

"5G is going to be humon-gous opportunity not just forQualcomm but everybody inthe ecosystem...and the telco-ecosystem," he said.

Vagadia said that while itmay take a few years for a full-fledged 5G rollout across India,"heightened activity" hasalready begun. "In the next 3-

4 years, we will see this evolve,probably this may take a fewmore years before you see full5G rollout pan-India but ofcourse, the use cases will be sounique...it is evolving andevolving faster than anyonecould imagine.

"This is a high-velocityprogress, I would say which allof us should watch," he said.

Recently, Jio Platforms andQualcomm announced theyhave successfully tested 5Gsolutions, and clocked ultrahigh speeds of 1 gbps, in tri-als.

Qualcomm and RelianceJio on Tuesday announcedthey have aligned efforts on5G, in order to fast-track

development and roll-out ofindigenous network infra-structure and services in India.

Earlier this year, RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL)announced that QualcommVentures will pick up 0.15 percent stake in Jio Platforms forRs 730 crore. It recentlyreceived the subscriptionamount for the deal and allot-ted the equity shares.

The latest progress on the5G product portfolio neatlydovetails into Jio's overallplans to develop homegrown5G telecom solutions, as wasoutlined by RIL ChairmanMukesh Ambani during thecompany's annual generalmeeting in July this year.

Qualcomm optimistic about India's 5G prospectsThe progression on the devices sideis far faster...we are likely to seetypes of devices and the price pointson 5G devices in India irrespectiveof availability of the network,” saidRajen Vagadia

PNSn NEW DELHI

State-run power giant NTPCon Thursday said it has fea-tured on the top on the list ofIndian PSUs under 'World'sBest Employer 2020', pub-lished by Forbes.

The recognition is testimo-ny to the NTPC's commitmenttowards inculcating best inclass practices that are thought-fully designed and robustlyexecuted, the company said ina statement.

During the lockdown phaseand the subsequent unlockperiod, NTPC's learning anddevelopment strategy mould-ed itself significantly to furtherevolve as per the requirementof the current scenario, the

power producer said. Its training methodology

enriched the lives of thou-sands of its employees throughintensive digitisation andonline training enabling themto avail services even from

remote locations, it added. The modules have helped

thousands of workforce fromNTPC to grow and thinkbeyond the professional sphere.

In the recent past, the com-pany has initiated an ‘NTPC

Series' on success storiesbeyond official work,'Ambition, Growth, SuccessBeyond Work', a series on theachievements of employeesbeyond their official assign-ments.

NTPC on Forbes' ‘World's Best Employer 2020' listThe recognitionis testimony tothe NTPC'scommitmenttowardsinculcating bestin classpractices, saidthe company

PNSn NEW DELHI

State-owned Indian Bank onThursday reported a 15 percent rise in net profit at Rs412.28 crore for the secondquarter ended September,despite increase in provi-sions for bad loans.

The bank's net profit inJuly-September quarter of2019-20 stood at Rs 358.56crore. The results are notstrictly comparable with thatof previous year's as Kolkata-based Allahabad Bankmerged with Indian Bankon April 1, 2020. IndianBank's total income rose to Rs11,669.11 crore duringSeptember quarter this yearfrom Rs 6,045.32 crore in thesame period of the previousfiscal, it said in a regulatoryfiling. On asset quality front,gross NPA rose to 9.89 percent at the end of September2020 from 7.20 per cent ayear ago.

Indian Bank Q2net profit rises15% to Rs 412 cr

PNSn BENGALURU,

Financial and physical healthhas emerged as the top stres-sor for Indians ahead of rela-tionship and family amid theCOVID-19, according to asurvey.

Nine out of 10 Indians sayfinancial health has a pro-found impact on their well-being, the survey by digitalwealth management platformScripbox revealed.

The survey on Wealth &Well-being', aimed to under-stand investor behaviour andsentiment amid the coron-avirus, was conducted aheadof World Savings Day cele-brated on October 31.

Amid the pandemic,Indians have been the moststressed because of theirphysical health (54 per cent)followed by financial health(46 per cent) ahead of fami-ly (28 per cent) and relation-ships (23 per cent), accordingto the findings. "Indians arealso recklessly safe with theirsavings with a majority pre-ferring fixed income productssuch as PPF, LIC and othertax-saving schemes, fixedand recurring deposits, or justletting it lie in their savingsaccounts,” it said.

‘Financial,health topstressors’

PNSn NEW DELHI

Gold prices fell Rs 95 to Rs51,405 per 10 gram in thenational capital on Thursdayamid a weak global trend andrupee appreciation, accordingto HDFC Securities.

The precious metal hadclosed at Rs 51,500 per 10gram in the previous trade.

Silver prices also declinedRs 504 to Rs 63,425 per kilo-gram from Rs 63,929 perkilogram in the previoustrade. "Spot gold prices for 24carat in Delhi declined by Rs95 on weak global prices andrupee appreciation," HDFCSecurities Senior Analyst(Commodities) Tapan Patelsaid. The rupee appreciated by4 paise to close at 73.54 againstthe US dollar on Thursday. Inthe international market, goldwas trading lower at USD1,918 per ounce, while silverwas quoting flat at USD 24.89per ounce.

Gold declines byRs 95 on weakglobal trend

PNSn NEW DELHI

Embassy Office Parks REITwill acquire property mainte-nance business of two largeoffice parks in Bengaluru andPune for Rs 474 crore fromrealty firm Embassy group.

Last year, Embassy OfficeParks REIT, sponsored byBlackstone and Embassygroup, launched the country'sfirst real estate investmenttrust (REIT) and got listed onthe stock exchages after raisingRs 4,750 crore through publicissue. Embassy REIT said the

board of directors of EmbassyOffice Parks ManagementServices Pvt Ltd, which ismanager to Embassy REIT,has approved the acquisition

of the property maintenancebusiness of Embassy ManyataBusiness Park in Bengaluruand Embassy TechZone inPune from an Embassy

Group firm. "Acquisition costof Rs 4,740 million (Rs 474crore) to be funded throughcoupon bearing debt at REITlevel. Acquisition considera-tion is at 8.5 per cent discountto average of two indepen-dent valuation reports," thestatement said. EmbassyManyata and EmbassyTechZone are part ofEmbassy REIT's existing assetportfolio. But, the propertymaintenance was outsourcedto realty f irm Embassy group's arm Embassy ServicesPvt Ltd.

REIT to acquire property maintenance biz

PNSn NEW DELHI

Labour Minister SantoshGangwar on Thursday releaseda new series of retail inflationfor industrial workers (CPI-IW) with a revised base year of2016 against 2001 earlier.

The Consumer Price Index-Industrial workers (CPI-IW) isthe single most importantprice statistics with financialimplications. The CPI-IW isprimarily used to regulate thedearness allowance of gov-

ernment employees and theworkers in the industrial sec-tors. It is also used in the fix-ation and revision of minimumwages in scheduled employ-ments besides measuring the

inflation in retail prices.In future, the base revision

will be done every five years,Gangwar said in a statement.

"Santosh Kumar Gangwar,Minister of State (IndependentCharge) for Labour &Employment, released the newseries of Consumer Price Indexfor Industrial Worker (CPI-IW)with the base year 2016, beingcompiled and maintained byLabour Bureau, an attachedoffice of Ministry of Labour &Employment," the ministry said.

PNSn MUMBAI

Snapping its four-session ris-ing streak, equity benchmarkSensex ended 149 pointslower, tracking losses in indexmajors Reliance Industries,Infosys and ICICI Bank amidweak cues from global mar-kets. The 30-share BSE indexsettled 148.82 points or 0.37per cent lower at 40,558.49.The broader NSE Niftyslipped 41.20 points.

PNSn NEW DELHI

Asian Paints on Thursdayreported a 1.15 per cent risein its consolidated net profitat Rs 851.90 crore for thequarter ended September 30.

The company had posted anet profit of Rs 842.14 crorein the July-September quartera year ago.

Total income in July-September 2020 increased5.37 per cent to Rs 5,432.86crore, compared with Rs5,155.82 crore a year ago,Asian Paints said in a BSEfiling. Asian Paint Managing

Director and CEO AmitSyngle said all the businesssegments continued to wit-ness improving demandconditions on a progressivebasis during the secondquarter of this financialyear.

Syngle added that theother business segments inIndia, including the twoindustrial coatings business,and both the segments inthe home improvement cat-egor y also experiencedimproving trends in linewith the phased out re-opening of the economy.

PNSn MUMBAI

The rupee appreciated by 4paise to close at 73.54 againstthe US dollar on Thursday, assustained foreign fund inflowsstrengthened investor senti-ment.

However, a strong dollaragainst major currencies over-seas restricted the rupee's gain,forex dealers said. At the inter-bank forex market, the rupee

opened lower at 73.77, butpared all its losses to finallysettle at 73.54, registering a riseof 4 paise.

During the session, thedomestic unit witnessed anintra-day high of 73.53 and alow of 73.78 against the USdollar.

It had settled at 73.58against the greenback in theprevious session onWednesday.

PNSn BEIJING

Global stocks and U.S. futuresdeclined Thursday as investorswatched Washington for signsof whether political leaderscan agree on an economic aidplan in the two weeks beforethe November 3 presidentialelection.

London and Frankfurtopened lower while Shanghai,Tokyo and Seoul retreated.

On Wall Street, the bench-mark S&P 500 index lost 0.2%on Wednesday as U.S. politi-cal leaders wrangled over eco-nomic aid following the expi-ration of extra unemploymentbenefits that propped up con-sumer spending. Democratsare pressing President DonaldTrump's Republicans toexpand a proposed package.

The speaker of the House ofRepresentatives, Nancy Pelosi,said she made progress intalks with the White House.

But a potential agreementmight face opposition in theSenate, where Majority LeaderMitch McConnell told fellowRepublicans he warned theWhite House not to seal arelief deal before the election.

“Fiscal stimulus deal opti-mism has faded,” said MizuhoBank in a report.

In early trading, the FTSE100 in London lost 0.3% to5,756.05 and Frankfurt's DAXlost 0.7% to 12,465.31. TheCAC 40 in Paris retreated0.6% to 4,824.66. On WallStreet, futures for the S&P 500and the Dow Jones IndustrialAverage were down 0.3%.

Asian Paints' netprofit up 1.15 pc

Sensex snaps4-sessionwinning run

Rupee settles 4p higherat 73.54 against Dollar

Global stocks cautiouson lack of US aid plan

Labour Min releases new seriesof retail inflation for industrial staff

s time pass by, westand witnessing achange in the per-ception regardingtheatre and theseunprecedented

times of the pandemic couldalso not stop Rajeev Jaiswal,founder of Bombay TheatreCompany, from showcasingthe talent of budding theatreartists. Migrating to anonline platform, this elitistart is doing quick 10-minutelive theatre productions. The‘Theatre Project 2020’ is alsobreaking linguistic barriers,trying to evolve on its own,and their plays were wellreceived by audiences,because who doesn’t love thesnackable 10-minute formatof entertainment! What ifthey can’t stage their perfor-mance in an auditorium, theyare still receiving auditionclips from over 175 actorsand play scripts from over 70English playwrights.

Theatre is used not only asa form of entertainment butalso to spread social aware-ness and critique the govern-ment. Also with the aim ofproviding a creative outlet to

the performers, RajeevJaiswal is pleased to sharethis new project with thecountry. With contactlessinnovation being the thingnow, The Theatre Project2020 will be staged live ontheir Instagram handle —“This feature allows 2 peopleto go live at once, that’s whywe have limited the cast to 2actors for each play. Therehearsals are also conductedon this medium where theactors log-in from their alter-nate Instagram IDs andrehearse. This helps them toattune to this medium. Theplaywright watches therehearsals as an audiencemember and post that, theentire team connects on aWhatsApp or Zoom call tohave debriefing sessions.”

Technology is encroachingour spaces, and PragyaSharma Jaiswal, the co-founder, is of the thoughtthat the demand forenhanced user conveniencehas always been paramountand acted as a catalyst to dig-ital innovation, so technolo-gy can be viewed as a dou-ble-edged sword in times

likes these. “Looking at thefact that theatre is not an artform which was created for avirtual audience, it willalways be very challenging togain acceptance virtually. Idon’t deny that going virtualwill definitely increase thereach of the art form butthen it will also make it acompetitor to the onlinestreaming apps across theworld. But looking at thistough time, I am proud ofthe entire community of the-atre makers, as we, in someor the other way, are tryingto keep it alive,” she adds.

Two entertainment genresshare a common theme of

telling a story to its audiences— Who’s at par? For artists,acting is a part of their dailylives, they are the performers.The relationship betweentheatre arts and films isapparent. On being askedabout why the audiences aregoing to prefer watching the-atre artists instead of showbizstars, Rajeev Jaiswal shares,“Luckily some of the promis-ing cinema actors in today’stimes have come from thetheatre. They carved theirway into films with theircommand over the craft. Ifpeople are willing to watchthese artists on camera, amsure they would love towatch them on stage as well,provided that they continueto act on stage. Not everyoneis a Naseeruddin Shah whostill values the stageimmensely.”

In wake of the pandemic,this virtual theatre is a digitalequivalent to physical showsand actors are embracing thissuccessful implementation.Considering it to be anengaging online experience,it holds a bigger potential.“We staged ‘Dear Diary’ in a

virtual space. The writer, myco-actor, and I have neverbeen in the same room. Atfirst, I thought, it won’t bemuch work but it was!Instagram is a very interest-ing platform. Your headkeeps getting cut, the frameis too restrictive especiallywith 2 people so we had toget that right, we did multi-ple rehearsals on our alter-nate Instagram accounts. 10minutes before going live, Ihad butterflies in my stom-ach, the ones I have beforegoing on stage which I neverexpected here because therewas no physical live audi-ence. I think the key is alsoto engage them in the begin-ning by involving them - likewe asked them things like‘Are you a fellow theatrelover? If yes, type YES in thecomments’. Coming to ourplay, there’s not much move-

ment we could do due to theframe but small designs likecreating the same coloureddiaries with the same font,same colour and timing ouractions, we could createmoments that could makeone feel the space barriersdidn’t exist. And the theatregods were kind to us. It was ashort yet engaging play. I wasthrilled to be a part of it!Someday I’d like to be in thesame room with this newBombay Theatre Companyfamily! Digital work is verymuch doable,” shares RashmiKhanna, one of the actorswho’s part of this unique pro-ject.

To watch their plays, headto their Bombay TheatreCompany handle onInstagram every weekenduntil 13th Dec 2020. Sowhat’s your plan this week-end?

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

FridayOctober 23, 2020

If we are to list the modes ofentertainment available to us inthe 20th century, most of us willsay cinema, internet, television,online streaming platforms, etc.

A very few select souls willremember to name theatre as a

mode of entertainment!Raveesh Jaiswal, the founder of

Bombay Theatre Company,launched a collaborative theatreinitiative named ‘The TheatreProject 2020'. The founders of

the project, its actors talk toSHIKHA DUGGAL about

Theatre, how it's surviving amidthe pandemic and more

TUNE-IN TO TECH-FRIENDLYTHEATRE PERFORMANCES

A

Pra

chi

Raveesh

THE THEATREPROJECT 2020WILL BE STAGEDLIVE ON THEIRINSTAGRAMHANDLE — THISFEATUREALLOWS 2PEOPLE TO GOLIVE AT ONCE

Online Praying: Community Devotion, Covid-styleavratri or Dussera,India’s arguablybiggest festival andsocial event, is here.There is that distinctfestive nip in the air,

the exquisitely sculptedDurga Pratimas or idols havebeen installed, the devouthave started worshipping thegoddess in her nine differentforms, by offering differentnaivedyam or prasad andclothes, the Garba song anddance moves are beingrehearsed, while the colorfulDandiya gear is being aired.

And yet something crucialhas gone missing in thisextraordinary year. The com-munity spirit of Dussera hasbeen shaken by the sails,somewhat, by the global pan-demic and its social distanc-ing norms, which bar largegatherings. But Durga pujasamitis are finding a way outof keeping the inclusive spiritof “Sarbojannin” (everyone)Puja alive.

Bangiya Sanskritik Sangha(BSS), which hosts the city’slargest Durga pandal at theKeyes High School inSecunderabad, was forced toshift the Puja venue to theneighbouring MehboobCollege auditorium, becausethe Keyes school manage-ment took a policy decisionof not permitting the pujasamiti this year.

“For the first time in 53years, we are hosting DurgaPuja outside Keyes, in factour Puja is synonymously

known as Keyes Pujo to allHyderabadis,” shares DeepakBhattacharjee, president ofBSS. “But we have the policecommissioner’s permissionto allow only 50-60 people atthe pandal at any given timeand so we are adhering tothe strictest guidelines, suchas sanitisation of the premis-es every couple of hours andnot only monitoring temper-atures but also maintaining arecorded register of thesame,” he adds.

Similar is the case withHyderabad Bangalee Samiti(HBS), which hosts one ofthe city’s oldest Pujas (thisyear marking the 79th edi-tion) at Indira Park. “We areshifting venue from themuch larger Pingale Hall to

the adjoining RamakrishnaMission premises,” saysSumit Sen, secretary of HBS,The idol itself is less than 5feet, another of Covid-com-pliant norms to be followedand the Durga idol has beencrafted locally instead of theusual practice of importingour sculptor from KumarTuli, Kolkata,” he adds.

However, the priests havecome from Kolkata ahead ofthe onset of Navratri to fol-low the quarantine normsand so have the Dhakis,without whose mesmerisingdrum beats, no Pujo spiritcan be complete.

But the bhog served some-times to around 10,000 ormore visitors, will be missingthis year. So will flowers forpushpanjali and the live cul-

tural evenings, where artisteslike Papon had sung to mes-merised audiences. And therecitation, singing and dramacompetitions for kids andadults will go missing too.So will the lure of the foodstalls at Keyes, with its rolls,puchka, jhaal muri, biryani,fish orly, sondesh and more.And for those very few whohave booked offline push-panjali slots (of 15 minuteseach in groups of 20), therewill be no marigolds.

However, Puja samitis areorganising live streaming onsocial media like YouTube,Facebook and Instagram ofall the Pujas for the four cru-cial days of Shoshti, Saptami,Ashtami and Nabami begin-ning 8 am to 1 pm, includingonline pushpanjali sessions.

The music programmes willbe streaming in the eveningstoo, with singer Amit Kumar(Kishore Kumar’s son) regal-ing viewers on Ashtami forthe BSS members. The HBSis not far behind, having tiedup with Kolkata musicgroups Cactus andNachiketa.

For the Marwari andGujarati community, theDandiya and Garba fervourof dancing all nine nights atthe biggest venues like theNaamdhaari one is missing.“There are only small privategroups of families and frie-nds organising Dandiya get-togethers, though I am toldthere are a couple of largergatherings like the LegendDandiya Nights. I have beenjudging a lot of Garba dance

sessions on Zoom, though,including from groups as faras from Indore andAhmedabad and I must say Ihave been enjoying the fes-tive spirit online,” says BinaMehta, founder of dancegroup Bina Mehta and group,who is also known by themoniker of Garba Queen.

“This year, I am stayingput at home as my mother is75 plus and I cant afford totake any risks,” says market-ing professional Dolly Singh,who used to be out dancingwith friends at differentvenues like SecunderabadClub, which is not hosting aDandiya night this year. “Iam remembering with nos-talgia the Garba nights mymaternal grandmother, whowas Gujarati, used to organ-ise at our ancestral temple atJira, Secunderabad.”

A challenge for most com-munity Pujas has been todissuade senior citizens

above 65 years and childrenbelow 10 years from visitingthe pandals. Another chal-lenge is sanitisation of thepremises and volunteers areworking round the clock toensure that hand sanitiserpumps are refilled, disinfec-tant is sprayed on floors andsurfaces every couple ofhours and in some cases likethe HBS, there is even nightfogging being done all fournights.

For those who do the Pujaat home, not much haschanged or has it? Homechef-dancer Sreevani Machahas been garnering onlineacclaim for her divine postson her Durga puja at home,with beautiful costumes anddelicious prasads beingoffered everyday. “Whileboth me and my husbandalternate with the Puja bothmornings and evenings, I amdefinitely missing visiting mysister’s and aunts homes,

dressed up in our festivenines and socialising withfamily and friends in theevenings. Even Puja pandalsorganised by Telugu commu-nity this year are very few,”shares Sreevani.

Perhaps, Corona hasbrought the organic spirit ofDurga Puja to rule onceagain, with a direct commu-nion between the devoteeand the goddess. It has alsoprompted compassionategestures such as those ofoffering saris to 1,000GHMC sanitation workersby the BSS and paying theDhakis, sculptor and labour-ers of the HBS Puja, despitetheir being asked to stayaway. “It is festive times andthis time of the year is alsocrucial for their earnings,”reasons Sen.

Perhaps the right festivespirit to adopt in 2020 andon that note, Happy Dussera,dear readers!

SWATI SUCHARITA, Senior journalist

N

Sreevani Macha with her bedecked Durga idol at homeGarba Queen Bina Mehta conducts a workshop inhappier timesThe BSS Durga idol is less than 5 feet

this time but the festive spirit rules

10

Hyderabad Friday October 23 2020

FOREVER TEEN

If you're one looking for fresh brands inthe market, 19Teen – Forever Teen couldbe your jam. Launched by eminent

personalities like actress Nidhhi Agerwalof Ismart Shankar fame, PurnarnaviBhupalam, actress Jyothi, and popularsinger Sunita among others, the women’sclothing brand was an instant hit.

PARTY

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

what’s brewing?

l Poorna

l Jyothi

l Sunita

l Srikanth

l Punarnavi Bhupalam l Sravani l Nidhhi AgerwalPhotos by SV Chary

Dave Franco: FightClub made me wantto be a filmmaker

ctor Dave Franco sayshis job in a video storeas a teenager pushedhim to explore theworld of showbiz.

After featuring infilms like "21 Jump Street", "NowYou See Me", "Neighbors", and"The Disaster Artist", Franco is allset to make his directorial debutwith "The Rental", which also starshis wife Alison Brie.

"'Fight Club' was one of thefilms that really did make mewant to be a filmmaker.My first job was at apop video store whenI was 14, and it wasactually illegal forme to be workingthere at that age.So, they essentiallypaid me by allow-ing me to takehome as manymovies as I wantedand that became myfilm school," Francosaid.

"So, at the time, whenI was 14, it was 1999and one of the bestyears ever forfilm. 'FightClub'

came out and I remember justgoing home and watching that," herecalled.

Franco, who is the brother ofacclaimed actor James Franco,says the film left a deep impact inhis mind. "I just fully kinda startedto grasp like, 'oh, you can reallykind take huge swings and experi-ment with film'. And so it was'Fight Club' and in the same yearthere was 'Being John Malcovich'.All these seminal films -- 'BlairWitch Project', 'American Beauty',

'American Pie', 'Notting Hill' -- all of them came out in

1999 when I was workingat the video store," headded.

Also starring SheilaVand, Dan Stevens,

Jeremy Allen White,Anthony Molinari,"The Rental" tracesthe story of two cou-ples who rent a perfect

house, only to knowthat they are beingspied upon. The thriller

is released in India byPVR Pictures on

October 30.

A

ike with the teaserof Ram Charan asRamaraju earlierthis March, film-maker SSRajamouli on

Thursday made the fans of JrNTR to hang around a littlelonger than the scheduledtime to drop the much-publi-cized teaser of Bheem fromhis ambitious RRR. However,it didn’t dampen the spirits ofTarak’s fans as it receivedtheir unanimous thumbs-up,with many of them goingwild seeing their beloved starin a film teaser after morethan two years.

With Ramaraju’s boomingvoiceover playing in the

background, the one-minute-30-seconds long clip intro-duces Jr NTR as the Telugutribal leader and freedomfighter Komaram Bheem,looking fearless anduntamed. With Rajamouli’sgreat visual sense on full dis-play, it showcases Bheem as alarger-than-life character,flexing his muscles andflaunting his might, courageand determination in a seriesof slo-mo shots. There’s also aflip side to Bheem as he isshown as a religious charac-ter as the teaser culminates tothe finish line. The teaser wasreleased to coincide with the119th birth anniversary ofKomaram Bheem.

The film’s shoot is present-ly progressing in Hyderabadwith Rajamouli filmingscenes on Tarak and Charan.Alia Bhatt, who comes at acrucial juncture (in the film)and changes the course of thestory, will join the sets nextmonth, the makers informed.“The rest of the cast, includ-ing Ajay Devgn and OliviaMorris will join in theupcoming schedules, thedetails of which will beunveiled soon,” they added.

Set in 1920s pre-indepen-dent India, RRR, a produc-tion venture of DVVDanayya, revolves aroundthe fictional exploits of tworeal freedom fighters

KomaramBheem andAlluriSeetharamaRaju. Before thepandemic broughtthe shoot to a halt,Rajamouli managed tocomplete close to 75-80 per cent of theshoot.

An MM Keeravanimusical, the filmwill debut in cine-mas next year.

Behind the schedule by 30 minutes, RRR's newteaser introducing Jr NTR as Bheem had his fansand cinephiles in collective awe, with praise goingto the actor's transformation and Rajamouli's visual

sense, reports NAGARAJ GOUD

11

Hyderabad Friday October 23 2020

JR NTR'S FIRSTGLIMPSE AS THEMIGHTY BHEEM

Ram Charan introduces

tollywood

L

ctor Rajasekhar, who lastweek said that he was testedpositive for coronavirus, ison non-invasive ventilatorysupport in the ICU of CitiNeuro Centre, Hyderabad.

His younger daughter Shivathmikatook to Twitter on Thursday morningto inform that her dad’s “fight withcovid has been difficult” but he is“fighting hard”. “Dear All. Nanna’s fightwith covid has been difficult, yet he isfighting hard. We believe that it is yourprayers love and well wishes that pro-tect us and keep us going. I am hereasking you, to pray for Nanna’s speedyrecovery! With your love, he’ll comeout stronger (sic),” she wrote.

But her tweet was misinterpreted,with some news portals reporting thatRajasekhar's condition has been criti-cal. She immediately put out anotherstatement clarifying that he is stableand is improving. “I cannot thank youall enough for your love and wishes!But please know, he is not critical. He isstable and getting better! We just needyour prayers and positivity. Thank youonce again. Do not panic Please do notspread fake news,” she wrote.

The hospital too issued a statement,saying that the actor’s clinical conditionis stable. “He is responding to treat-ment and continues to be closely moni-tored by our clinical team,” the state-ment read.

As well-wishers continued to pour intheir prayers to Rajasekhar’s family,megastar Chiranjeevi was one of theprominent names from the industry tohave extended his speedy recoverywishes to his colleague. “Dear@ShivathmikaR Wishing your lovingdad and my colleague and friend#DrRajashekar a speedy recovery. Allour best wishes and prayers are withhim and your family. Stay Strong (sic),” he wrote.

In a career spanning more than 25years, Rajasekhar, known for his angryyoung man image, has been part ofmemorable films like Prathighatana,Vandemataram, Ankusham, Magaadu,Anna, Maa Annayya and Simharasiamong others. His last film wasPrasanth Varma’s Kalki, which under-performed at the box-office. He will benext seen in the Telugu remake ofMalayalam hit Joseph.

A

Nanna isfightinghard withCOVID-19:Shivathmika

Big

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oss

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atch

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igan

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a

Hindi-Teluguactress

and Bigg Boss 9 contes-tant Digangana

Suryavanshi says watchingthe popular reality television

show can be difficult once youare out of the house. She adds

that she is not closely followingthe ongoing season 14 of BiggBoss but she is fond of contestantswho hail from the television indus-try.

“I have lived in that house and,honestly, I feel that once you comeout after living in that house itbecomes very difficult to watchthat show. I often watch it on

Saturdays and Sundays thanksto (show host) Salman

(Khan) sir. I enjoy watchinghim on television. I have

been following bits andpieces of the show.

One interestingthing

about‘Bigg Boss’ isthat whether youfollow it or not, it iswidely discussed onsocial media, so you kindof get to know what's hap-pening,” said Digangana.

Talking about her upcomingprojects, the actress, who wasseen in Telugu films like Hippiand Valayam, said, “I am veryexcited for my upcoming projects.Right now, I am doing a Hindifilm and a couple of other things.We will soon make formalannouncements about those pro-jects. Due to lockdown, our lifehas become a bit slow, but then Ilook forward to being on setsvery soon.”

Digangana will next beseen on screen in the sportsaction film Seetimaarralong with Gopichandand TamannaahBhatia.

early eight months afterits shoot was halted dueto COVID-19 pandem-ic, GA2 Pictures pro-duction, ChaavuKaburu Challaga,

fronted by Karthikeya andLavanya Tripathi, resumed inHyderabad on Wednesday inadherence with all safety proto-cols. It is the production house’ssecond film to have the camerasrolling this week. On Monday,their new film, 18 Pages, withNikhil and AnupamaParameswaran, went to floors.

Besides the lead cast of ChaavuKaburu Challaga, Murali Sharmatoo participated in the shoot onWednesday. Lavanya posted aboomerang video on Instagram

Stories, where she is focused on amovie camera. "Round and roundwe go!" she wrote, tagging herpost with #shootingstarts.

Karthikeya will be seen as ahearse driver in the film, a com-mercial entertainer with a differ-ence. Koushik Pegallapati, whodirected short films and musicvideos in the past, is debuting as afeature film director with the film,which also features Aamani andBhadram. Taxiwaala fame JakesBejoy is composing the music.

Karthikeya is looking to wrapthis film by December, afterwhich he will join debutant direc-tor Sri Saripalli’s 40 percent com-pleted still-untitled action-come-dy, where he will be seen as a 24-year-old new NIA recruit.

Chaavu Kaburu

Challaga back on sets

N

I might still doNarthanasala: Balayya

ith 17-minutes footage of Narthanasalaset to drop on Shreyas ET on Saturday,Nandamuri Balakrishna says that heshot only a couple of scenes of the filmrunning into five to six minutes whenit went to sets back in 2004 before it

was immediately shelved. “But the way I piecedthem together will make for an interesting watch.The footage will not be without my fatherthough,” he said with a smile, indirectly implyingthat scenes from the classic Narthanasala (1963)might have been added to extend the runningtime of his film.

He recalled that he sought ten days’ call sheetsof Sarath Babu, Soundarya and Sri Hari back thenbut managed to finish their portions in five days."I belong to the school of NTR. I don’t want towait for every actor to turn up to begin filming. Iwill shoot withthe actors whoare available atthat time,” henoted.

The actor isoptimistic ofreviving the filmagain but itcomes with acaveat. “I wantedto play four rolesin Narthanasala-Arjuna,Brihannala, Kichaka and Krishna and I still wantto play them. The Kichaka role, especially, lingersin my mind. If the audience encourages the filmon Shreyas ET, it will be a big push for me to dothe film again. I might do it,” he said.

W

PTI n SHARJAH

Their campaign turning from badto worse, Chennai Super Kings are

expected to try out a few of theiryounger players when they take ondefending champions MumbaiIndians here on Friday.

Though skipper M S Dhoni con-ceded after the loss against RajasthanRoyals that the season might bealready over them, CSK can still getto 14 points if they win their remain-ing four games, giving them an out-side chance of making the play-offs.

As head coach Stephen Flemingpointed out, the ageing squad mayhave finally “run out of juice” afterdoing well over the past two seasonswhen they won in 2018 and reachedthe final the following year.

Things have gone pear-shaped forCSK since their win over MI in thetournament opener on November19.

The team received a hammeringat the hands of Rajasthan Royals andwould be without the services of theinjured Dwayne Bravo, who is out of

the tournament.The Super Kings batsmen strug-

gled against Rajasthan Royals and itremains to be seen if the untestedplayers in the side get their chance asindicated by Dhoni after the drubbingon Monday.

Dhoni himself has not been at hisbest along with the others barring Fafdu Plessis. The team’s persistence witha struggling Kedar Jadhav has comein for a lot of flak and it needs to beseen if he makes way for either NJagadeesan or Ruturaj Gaikwad.

However, they would be upagainst a formidable MI side whichwon five games in a row before KingsXI Punjab halted the juggernaut,turning the tables in a double SuperOver on Sunday.

The four-time IPL championshave been in ominous form and thevaried bowling attack could prove achallenge for the CSK batters, who arelow on confidence.

At Sharjah, which was a toughvenue for bowlers to startwith, things seem to havechanged with the wicketslowing down andsort of evened outthings.

Also, theMI battingline-up has beenin good nick withQuinton de Kock insplendid form whileRohit Sharma,Suryakumar Yadav andIshan Kishan have hadtheir moments.

That’s not all,the power-hitting

abilities of Kieron Pollard and HardikPandya have rescued MI when the bigguns have not fired. Krunal Pandya has

underlined his utility with somecrucial cameos and tight spellsin tandem with leggie Rahul

Chahar. The Mumbai bowling unit

has been doing well but thethink-tank may consider bring-ing in James Pattinson for

Nathan Coulter-Nile, who hasproved expensive.

A well-rounded and con-sistent Mumbai Indians unit

could provide a huge challenge for anunder-fire CSK battling to salvagesome pride.

Two points on Friday match wouldtake Rohit Sharma’s men closer to seal-ing a play-offs berth while the SuperKings, who are theoretically still in with

a chance, would aim to finish strong-ly in what has been a nightmare of a

season so far.

KL Rahul 540 runs

Kagiso Rabada 21 wickets

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | OCTOBER 23, 2020

12

MOTION PICTURE

DUGOUTInitially I was bowling safe balls,I wasn't attacking, but Zaheerkept on telling me that you arean attacking bowler and cantake wickets, go attack, don'tworry if you are hit for a six

I didn't think there was a lot inthe wicket. Siraj obviouslybowled well and (Chris)Morris at times also. But ifanything, we were just a littletimid in our approach

We hadn't planned that Iwould open but when we wentout, Virat bhai said Miyan,ready ho jao (Sir, get ready!),you will have to bowl. Itboosted my confidence

Shreyas has beenunbelievable as captain. Tolead international players onsuch a big stage, he hasdone well so far. He is alsoleading from the front

TODAY

Live from 7:30pmSTAR SSPORTS 11

VVSS

POINTS TABLEP W L NRR PTS

1 DC 10 7 3 +0.774 14

2 RCB 10 7 3 +0.182 14

3 MI 9 6 3 +1.201 12

4 KKR 10 5 5 -0.828 10

5 SRH 10 4 6 +0.092 8

6 KXIP 10 4 6 -0.177 8

7 RR 11 4 7 -0.620 8

8 CSK 10 3 7 -0.463 6

Indian women cricketers pose for photo after boarding flight toUAE for Women’s T20 Challenge IPL/Facebook

INDIA EVES CONTINGENT REACHES UAE The top 30 women cricketers from India arrived in Dubaion Thursday to take part in the Women's T20 Challenge,which is also popularly known as ‘mini WIPL' andscheduled to be held in Sharjah from November 4-9.Seasoned Indian players such as T20 skipperHarmanpreet Kaur, batswomen Smriti Mandhana andJemimah Rodrigues had a nine-day quarantine inMumbai where they had undergone multiple RT-PCRtests. Just like their male counterparts, the women willalso now undergo a six-day isolation before entering the‘bio-bubble'. They will be tested on the first, third andfifth day before being allowed in the bio-secureenvironment created for them. The tournament will markthe beginning of the Indian women's cricket season.

DESTINY STILL IN OUR HANDS: BAZZDisappointed with his team's “timid approach” with thebat , KKR head coach Brendon McCullum has admittedthat the crushing defeat against RCB would definitelyaffect the morale of the side, but their destiny is still intheir hands. He believes KKR can go all the way to thefinal, despite just hanging on to the fourth spot with 10points from as many games. “This (loss) is going toaffect a little bit in terms of our confidence. We need towork hard on ensuring our morale doesn't drop at thesame time having those honest conversations aroundhow we improve,” McCullum said after the eight-wicketloss. “But I still firmly believe that we have a side whichcan be there later on in the tournament, come finals. Wejust need to improve slightly. “We're still fourth in thetournament, which is very fortunate for us. Destiny isstill very much in our hands. We have just got to tightenup some of those areas where we're deficient and makesure we improve on our performance,” he said.

SLOW WICKET ALLOW TO ATTACK MOREMumbai Indians leg-spinner Rahul Chahar on Thursdaysaid the pitches getting gradually slower in the UAE andbigger grounds than India has allowed him to attack thebatsmen consistently in the IPL. Chahar has taken 11wickets in nine games with a decent economy rate of7.40. Asked to compare between the pitches here andthe Wankhede in Mumbai, Chahar said, “In the startingmatches, we felt that the wickets (here) were similar tothe Wankhede stadium…easy for batsmen.” “Nowgradually the wickets are getting slower, and hence Ihave to make adjustments in lengths. “Like at Wankhedea spinner had to bowl on a shorter side, like five meterlength, but here we are bowling fuller, because thegrounds are big and pitches are slightly slow, we canbowl fuller, and can attack batsmen,” said Chahar.

UAE PITCHES SLOW BUT HELPING SEAMERSIn a tournament where playing surfaces have beengetting slower and drier with every passing day, itremains a surprise that the most successful bowlers inthe IPL so far have been the pacemen. According toKagiso Rabada, the surfaces in the UAE have aidedswing, helping pace bowlers get something out of thewickets. “The conditions here have been tricky. It is alittle bit different. There is seam movement sometimes.In Abu Dhabi, the ball has been seaming around. Allwickets have been slow like India but they have beendifferent kind of slow. I feel there is some seammovement sometimes,” said Rabada.

MATCHES 29

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS 12

MUMBAI INDIANS 17

Stats: Faisel FFeatures

AFP nMADRID

Bayern Munich began theirdefence of the Champions

League title in ominous fashion bycrushing Atletico Madrid 4-0 onWednesday, while Liverpool andManchester City also won but RealMadrid suffered a shock defeat.

Madrid, the record 13-timeEuropean champions, went down toa 3-2 home loss against ShakhtarDonetsk, showing how far ZinedineZidane’s side are just now from thestandards being set by Bayern.

Two months after scoring thewinner in the final against ParisSaint-Germain in Lisbon, KingsleyComan put Bayern ahead againstAtletico in Group A and laterscored a stunning individual effort

to wrap up the victory at an emptyAllianz Arena.

In between Leon Goretzka andCorentin Tolisso were also on tar-get for the German champions, withthe latter’s strike a stunner fromlong-range.

“The winning goal in last sea-son’s final is a good motivator, butit’s in the past now and we have freshgoals this season,” Coman told SkySports.

It was Bayern’s 12th consecutiveChampions League win while theresult for Atletico equalled their

worst defeat under Diego Simeone.Bayern next go to Russia to play

Lokomotiv Moscow, who battledback to draw 2-2 at Red BullSalzburg on Wednesday.

DISASTROUS NNIGHT FFOR RREALReal were 3-0 down at half-time

against Shakhtar at the Alfredo diStefano stadium and fell short witha second-half fightback to get theirEuropean campaign off to a disas-trous start.

A depleted Shakhtar were with-out 10 first-team players and nine

members of staff due to coronavirusinfections and had seven startersaged 21 or under.

Strikes from Tete and ManorSolomon, either side of a RaphaelVarane own-goal, gave theUkrainian champions a three-goalhalf-time lead.

Luka Modric and ViniciusJunior pulled goals back and FedeValverde thought he had grabbed aninjury-time equaliser but his deflect-ed shot was ruled out for an offside.

Missing the injured SergioRamos, Real have now won just one

of their last seven ChampionsLeague home games. This was alsoa second defeat in five days asthey prepare to go to Barcelonafor the Clasico on Saturday.

LUKAKU DDOUBLEReal are already up against

it in Group B, even if rivals InterMilan and BorussiaMoenchengladbach cancelled eachother out in a 2-2 draw at San Siro.

Romelu Lukaku scored twicefor Inter, opening the scoring earlyin the second half and then turningin a late equaliser.

In between Ramy Bensebaininetted a penalty for Gladbach andJonas Hofmann scored what hethought was a late win-ner.

LIVERPOOL WWINWITHOUT VVVD

L i v e r p o o lshook off theabsence of Virgilvan Dijk to edgeAjax 1-0 behindclosed doors in Amsterdamin Group D.

Van Dijk is set to miss therest of the season with a kneeinjury but Jurgen Klopp’s sidekept a clean sheet and took allthree points after NicolasTagliafico turned a wayward

Sadio Mane shot into his own neton 35 minutes.

“It was not sunshinefootball but we wantedthree points and we got it,”said Klopp.

The 2019 Europeanchampions will hope tobuild on this result when

they host Midtjylland next week.The Danes were outclassed at

home by Atalanta on Wednesday,losing 4-0 with Duvan Zapata,Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gomez and Luis

Muriel scoring in the firsthalf and debutant AlekseiMiranchuk adding a latefourth.

Pep Guardiola’s Citymade it three wins forEnglish clubs this mid-

week as they camefrom behind athome to beatPorto 3-1.

Also inGroup C,Egyptian substi-tute Ahmed

Hassan headed ina stoppage-time

winner asO l y m p i a k o sdowned Marseille

1-0.

AP n CAPE TOWN

England will travel to South Africa nextmonth to play six limited-overs games

against the Proteas after the South AfricanGovernment agreed to exempt the touringteam from its coronavirus travel restrictions.

South Africa currently doesn’t allowanyone to travel in from what it terms “high-risk” countries, with Britain on the list of 22nations.

But South Africa eased the rules for theEngland squad, which will be based in CapeTown throughout the three-week tour. Theteams will play three T20 games and threeOne-Day Internationals.

Four games will be at Newlands in CapeTown with the other two in the nearby cityof Paarl, meaning England can stay in a bio-bubble at the same hotel for the entire tour.South Africa has more than 700,000 con-firmed cases of the virus.

England will travel on a chartered flightand depart for South Africa on November 16.The T20s are on November 27, 29 andDecember 1. The ODIs will be playedDecember 4, 6 and 9. No fans will attend thegames.

The England players and staff are expect-ed to be in quarantine for at least a week afterarriving but will be allowed to attend train-ing during that time.

Liverpool's make-shift centre back Fabinho makes stunning goal line clearance to stop Ajax from equaliser goal during Champions Leagueclash at Johan Cruyff Arena on Wednesday AP

SYDNEY: Sydney and Canberra are set to host thewhite-ball leg of India’s tour of Australia after theNew South Wales Government allowed the vis-iting team to train during its mandatory quar-antine upon arrival.

ESPNcricinfo on Thursday reported that NewSouth Wales Government and Cricket Australiahave struck a deal to allow Indian and Australianplayers returning from IPL to train in Sydneywhile quarantining.

The Indian team was initially supposed toland in Brisbane but the Queensland state healthauthorities did not relax their 14-day quarantinerule to allow Virat Kohli and Co to train duringthat period.

India are scheduled to play three T20s, threeODIs and four Tests in Australia.

The first two ODIs are set to be held onNovember 27 and 29 at the Sydney CricketGround before final game of the series inCanberra’s Manuka Oval.

The first T20 will also be played in Canberrabefore the action returns to Sydney for the finaltwo games. PTI

PTI n ABU DHABI

Royal Challengers Bangalorepacer Mohammed Siraj, who

ripped through Kolkata KnightRiders’ top-order with a “magicalperformance”, said skipper ViratKohli’s surprise decision to hand himthe new ball lifted his confidence inthe IPL match.

Siraj’s first three wickets camewithout conceding a run as hebecame the first bowler in IPL his-tory to bowl two maidens in a sin-gle game.

Once Chris Morris generatedswing early on, Siraj was asked tobowl the second over following a dis-cussion with wicketkeeper AB deVilliers.

“We hadn’t planned that I wouldopen but when we went out, Viratbhai said ‘Miyan, ready ho jao (Sir,get ready!), you will have to bowl...’It boosted my confidence,” theHyderabadi pacer, who returnedwith figures of 4-2-8-3, said after theeight-wicket win on Wednesday.

“Morris beat the batsmen (in thefirst over) and then Virat bhai spoketo AB de Villiers (behind thestumps) and gave me the bowl,” headded.

“Initially, I didn’t think it wouldswing so much after seeing the wick-et. I just backed my strengthand really enjoyed a lot.”

Brought in the sec-ond over, Sirajstruck in histhird ballw i t hago o dl e n g t hball that went away ofRahul Tripathi.

In his next delivery, hecleaned up Nitish Rana,with a ball that sharply cutback in and breachedthe left-hander’sdefence. In the nextover, he accounted forTom Banton withanother outswingdelivery.

His bowling figures

became the most economical thisseason.

A natural in-swing bowler, Sirajhas been practising with the new balland generating outswing in thepractice sessions.

“I’ve been a natural inswingbowler but while practising I havestarted bowling outswing a lot bet-ter.

“In our practise sessions, wehave Devdutt Padikkal and ParthivPatel. I bowl the same length to themwhich I bowled to Nitish Rana. I didthe same thing in the game and wasable to execute it well,” he said.

Having endured a tough outingagainst the same side in 2019, it’snow a story of going from being zeroto hero for Siraj.

Siraj was hammered for 36 runsin 2.2 overs before being removedfrom the attack for bowling twobeamers as KKR chased down 206with five balls to spare in their IPL2019 match.

In the same game, Siraj had alsodropped a sitter from Chris Lynnand faced a lot a criticism.

Often sidelined in presence ofChris Morris, Navdeep Saini and thespin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal andWashington Sundar, Siraj got his

fourth match on Wednesdaywhen he was included inplace of ShahbazAhmed.

“I’ve always had alot of support from theRCB setup. All I wanted

to do this year wasgive a magical per-formance. I want-ed to do some-thing different this

year,” Siraj, whoplayed his fourth

match of the season,said. “Whenever I

used to think aboutmy performance in theIPL, I had made up mymind that I would deliv-er a performance toremember. It’s about

doing something dif-ferent, something

magical,” he concluded.

Wanted to deliver magicalperformance for RCB: Siraj

NSW Govt allows TeamIndia to train in quarantine

It’s Now or never for CSK

England to travel SA next

month for 3 ODIS, 3 T20s

Shakhtar shock Los Blancos at home;

Bayern humiliateAtletico 4-0

Bonkers night for

Madrid clubsMadrid clubs

PTI n DUBAI

Jason Holder led a disci-plined bowling display bySunrisers Hyderbad to

restrict Rajasthan Royals to154 for six in an IndianPremier League match here onThursday.

Sunrisers, who are strug-gling at the penultimate spotin the points table with onlythree wins from nine outings,opted to bowl after winningthe toss at the DubaiInternational Stadium.

Playing his first match ofthe tournament, Holder (3/33)came up with an impressivebowling effort while alsoaffecting a run out to desta-bilise the RR innings. RashidKhan (1/20) and VijayShankar (1/15) picked a wick-et each.

For RR, Sanju Samson (36off 26 balls) was the top scorer.

Put in to bat, RobinUthappa looked in rampagingform, hitting the first four and

six of the innings. He quick-ly raced to 19 off 13 balls.

However, his time in themiddle was short lived. AfterBen Stokes (32) hit Holder forback-to-back boundaries inthe fourth over, the WestIndies skipper ef fected

Uthappa’s run out as theIndian was late to turn back atthe non-striker’s end.

The powerplay oversyielded 47 runs, including sixfours and a maximum, for theloss of one wicket.

The big-hitting Stokes was

dropped on 17 in the eighthover by Shankar off a Rashiddelivery. Alongside Samson, hekept the scoreboard ticking.

A 56-run stand betweenthe two was broken in the12th over by Holder. Samson,who had reached his highestscore since the 85 againstKings XI Punjab in RR’s sec-ond match of the tourna-ment, was bowled by a slowoff-cutter, after pulling theprevious delivery over mid-wicket for a huge six.

Stokes’ stay came to anend when the World Cupwinning all-rounder wasbowled by Rashid in thebeginning of the 13th over,with the Sunrisers bowlersmaking a strong comeback inthe middle overs.

RR went lost wickets atregular intervals.

Jos Buttler, too, fell quick-ly as he was sent back byShankar in the 16th over withskipper Steve Smith (19) alsofailing to make an impact.

Jason Holder celebrates with his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammates after taking wicket of Rajasthan Royals batsman during IPL clash on Thursday IPLT20.com

Sunrisers Hyderabad players celebrate wicket of Rajasthan Royals Ben Stokes IIPPLLTT2200

SRH BACK WITH A BANG